Chapter 51

Dagan Min’s ship, The Steadfast, had just jumped into hyperspace, with three other ships of his group following along behind him. They had just left behind the Voleskar hyperspace waypoint, making their way to Drahl’tothen station. With what he knew of the situation of what they needed to help Zuzanna, that was the only place that had everything the Darkstrider crew were searching for.

“So, how long before we reach the next leg of our journey?” Dagan questioned.

“Nearly seventeen hours, sir. I would recommend that you get yourself some rest and relaxation. We still have a long ways to go yet,” the XO of The Steadfast told him.

“Agreed. Pass the order along that everyone is to rest when they can, and attend to their duties where required. We have a long journey ahead of us,” Dagan stated.

“Very good, sir,” the XO said in agreement.

“You have the bridge until my return,” Dagan stated, feeling very weary at that moment.

“Yes, sir!”

Dagan then retired to his cabin, which was just a room away. Stepping through the door, he then turned and locked it, knowing that he would need some rest. It had been a busy twenty-four hours, having pulled up stakes from the world of Prodosia. While it had been a wrench to let go of some of the investments he had made there, he had still made a good profit. Selling off what he owned on the world to his former crew was far more preferable than selling it off to people he didn’t know.

“Hello, Dagan. Busy day?” Kris asked the man, her almond-shaped eyes on him the instant he walked into the room.

“You have no idea, Kris!” Dagan sighed as he walked over to the bed he now shared with her and Tawny, the Latina woman who was sitting opposite Kris. The pair had been playing a game of chess, one of the many things they hadn’t enjoyed growing up. Both women turned to face the man now, as he sat down to think.

“Dagan, I think it is past time that you explained yourself,” Tawny told him, fixing him with a serious gaze.

“Ladies, please, now is not the time!” Dagan argued, but his voice was weak and without any force behind it.

“Now is the perfect time! From what I understand, we will be in hyperspace for a while before the ship requires your attention again! Both Tawny and I would like to know why we are running from a potential enemy, rather than standing our ground and fighting!” Kris told the man, standing her ground on the matter.

“Let’s also not forget the promise that you made to us about speaking the truth! How you would not leave anything out, by lie or omission!” Tawny rebutted, supporting her fellow tribe mate.

Dagan knew they had him dead to rights, with his own words, no less! The man sighed and knew that he’d have to tell them the story of what happened. It had been a wound that cut at him in his weakest moments, when he felt he had nothing. Though he had much to his name now, it wasn’t always so, and it was those moments he would sometimes return to.

“Very well. Since you insisted on coming along with me, and wish to be close to me like this, then you have every right to know. Finish or pause your game, and I will speak of what you wish to know,” Dagan told the women tiredly.

Kris smirked and made her next move, which put Tawny in checkmate. Tawny gawped at her friend and then back at the board, shocked that a single move could end a game she thought she was winning. She looked at the board with a scrutinizing gaze and saw that Kris had won fair and square. Tawny then knocked over her king piece, showing that she conceded the game while Kris smiled in victory.

“You really are picking up that game quite quickly,” Dagan commented approvingly, having seen what tactics Kris was employing.

“Well, I was always told that I had a mind for seeing things that could transpire in a battle. I guess that extends to these ... tactical games?” Kris replied, still unfamiliar with some of the terms that were used in the wider galaxy.

“With enough practice, you could well become a great tactician! Possibly even a master of the game!” Dagan stated, glad to see that these ladies had much in the manner of untapped potential.

“I don’t doubt that she will! Now, tell us of why you are being chased and why you feel the need to run instead of fighting this ... pirate queen,” Tawny told him as she put away the chess pieces and board.

“For that, I will have to go back to the days when I was a young man. When I was wide-eyed and eager to see the galaxy and everything it had to offer me. Back when I still had hair,” Dagan chuckled dryly.

“You, with hair? I couldn’t see it,” Tawny told him with a slight smirk on her lips.

“Well, I did have hair, and it looked good, but that’s not the point of this story. The point of it was how I have become the man I am now, and it all started with my first job. You see, as I was eager to get out into the galaxy, I took a job on a merchant ship. We were shipping goods to various ports across many worlds, and I would see many various and exotic locales wherever I went!” Dagan started, getting into a storytelling mode.

“I’ve seen and been to places all over and in many different empires! Salaagh V, Eden’s Dawn and I even had been to Veldhern once, back when it was still a whole planet. I was living a good life and had a plan to one day run my very own shipping business! It wasn’t long after that is when I met ... her. Zerafima Khazarin, the woman who would one day become my wife,” Dagan told them.

“Wait, you have a wife?!? You’re married???” Kris asked, gawping at the man.

“I was, but not anymore. I will get to this point in the tale, as long as there are no more outbursts?” Dagan asked, fixing both women with a glare at being interrupted like this. Kris and Tawny looked chagrined and let the man continue with his story.

“When I first met her, like many a man, I was smitten by her good looks, strong will, complex intellect, and easy charm. The more I spoke with her, the more I fell in love with this woman and, as I said, I was not the only man who desired her. But I was the only man who she allowed to get close to her, to learn more about who she was at heart. It wasn’t long after this that I learned she had come to care for me as I did for her,” Dagan went on.

“When it came to getting her attention, that was more than a little tricky. Many had tried to do what I had, and they all failed. Wooing her was more than an ordeal in itself, as she was exceedingly picky about who she gave her time to. I would later learn that she never wasted time with those who weren’t going to help her in making her way forward in life. She would only associate with those who would propel her forwards, not hold her back,” the smuggler captain continued.

“How it is and why she chose me will always remain a mystery to me. But I believed that in me, she saw someone who would not only help elevate her, but a man who would stand by her, no matter what happened. That I would be the man who would be everything she ever wanted or ever needed in her life. And for her, I was. Or, at least, I tried to be,” Dagan said.

“Eventually, we did it. We finally got our own ships and started a shipping and merchant business together. It was tough at first, but after enough time — sweat, blood, tears and sacrifices — we made it work. Soon enough, we would have a business that was not only profitable, but respectable.”

“Over time, every deal we brokered would not only net us a new client, but others would hear of our business and wished to employ us to move their goods. Our prices weren’t the lowest, but we were the most honest shipping group in the sector. Sometimes, clients would come from several sectors away to seek our business, because of the integrity we had,” Dagan stated as he got a faraway look in his eyes, as his mind hearkened back to better days.

“But, like many good things and good days, it would all come to an end. This end came in the shape of an old friend who I believed would help us in expanding our business. Little did I know I would be making the worst mistake of my life that would not only see the end of my business, but the end of Zerafima and I,” Dagan said in a tone that spoke of regret.

“At first, all seemed well, and Brad was a good fit for our business. He helped propel us to the upper crust of the shipping business, to where we had wealthy clients begging us to ferry their merchandise! We had secured lucrative trade deals that would see us all insanely wealthy inside of another decade’s worth of hard work! For a time, it seemed like everything was going the way we wanted it to!” Dagan said with an air of hope.

“While it seemed like I was helping a good friend out of a slump, little did I know he envied me and all that I had. My business, my finances, and even my wife were all the things he coveted. His plan was to supplant me and muscle me out of the business so he could take the life I had worked so hard to build. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go as he had planned,” Dagan continued, as a smug smirk played across his face.

“Unknown to him, Zerafima and I had already taken steps to ensure than anyone in the business couldn’t do so by any legal skullduggery. So on paper, there was nothing that Brad could do take the business from us. When that idea failed, he then resorted to a more ... scorched earth tactic to see me fall. If he couldn’t take my life for himself, he would then see it burned to the ground, as no one could be better than him.”

“Our business would start encountering irregularities in the goods we shipped. Parts of our shipments would go missing, and even at times, entire ships from our fleet would just disappear! We did everything possible to recover what was lost, but could never find what became of it! What we would find was only scraps of what was once ours, which put the business and my marriage on the knife’s edge,” Dagan sighed.

“When things started to go downhill for us, is when Zerafima and I started fighting constantly. Sure, we fought, like every other couple does, but we would always make up afterwards. This ... it devolved to where it was like we were at an all out war with one another. As we fought, the losses mounted, from ships hit by pirates, to clients losing faith in our business,” Dagan went on, painting a picture of what had happened.

“In the end, we were down to our last client and the only one who had not deserted us despite our hard times. Because of our failing business, it was down to the three of us, me, Zerafima, and Brad. Down to our last ship, we had to carry out the delivery ourselves, or suffer utter ruin. We had to succeed by any means possible, no matter the cost.”

“At first, the journey was going well and without any issues or problems. It was on our third leg, out in deep space, that we were attacked by pirates. I had heard of this group before, as they were making a name for themselves as feared raiders. They boarded us and attacked, doing what they needed to, to keep us at bay as they took what they could.”

“While we weren’t in the best position to do so, we fought back. They must have been expecting us to just lay down and die, as we caught them by complete surprise! We killed several of them and quickly drove them off our ship, putting the fear of the gods into them! Once any pirates were dead or driven off, we sealed the hatches and detached from them, hurriedly making our way to the jump point,” Dagan told them.

“We knew that this was the end of our business and while we did have a fight over it, Zerafima and I mended things. We had seen that things weren’t going to be the same as they were before, but with the two of us, we would find a way forward. It was after that is when we decided to settle up what we could and step away from the shipping business,” Dagan stated with a sigh.

“Zerafima and I had let ourselves drift apart from each other, letting the success of the business get in the way of who we were. We vowed to work on each other, to become better than we were, as our love for one another was strong. There was no way we were going to give each other up without a fight. Sadly, that would never come to be,” Dagan went on.

“We arrived at our final destination to put in for repairs and to deliver what we had left, which wasn’t much. Before we could even dock with the station to deliver what we had, we were intercepted by our client, aboard his ship. We were docked with them and when they saw that most of their cargo, which had been entrusted to us, was gone, they took us prisoner,” Dagan growled as he remembered the audacity of his former client.

“Why did they do that?? Take you prisoner?” Tawny asked, genuinely curious as to why this was.

“The man in charge called it ‘restitution’ for their lost cargo. How we would be forced into indentured servitude to pay off our debt. He went on about how he wasn’t sure what they’d get for me, but Zerafima, as she was, would fetch a high price. She wasn’t having that and tried fighting, but even a woman as fierce as her couldn’t defeat such odds,” Dagan rumbled, still angry about the situation after all these years.

“After we were taken, we were separated, to keep us from planning an escape. We were then brought to the client, one by one, to face ... interrogation. It was ... most unpleasant,” Dagan stated, shivering at the memory of such physical and psychological torture.

“After that first session, I knew I needed to find a way out. Lucky for me I am a slight man and it made escape for me that much easier. The ducts on that ship were more than large enough to accommodate me. So, once I got the local duct grating loose, I climbed in and made my way through the ship,” Dagan said with a smile.

“As I was figuring out which way I had to go to get to my ship, I found myself in a section of ductwork that was close to the client’s cabin. It would be at that moment that I would learn the truth about everything,” the bearded man growled, his anger rising at the memory.

“It was then that I learned that the entire time Brad had been helping me with my business, had all been a clever ruse! He only took the job I offered as a means of taking everything I had. Then, when he figured out that he couldn’t just take it, he then resorted to burning it to the ground. All the missing merchandise, the trouble we had with pirates, all of it was orchestrated by him!” Dagan rumbled, as the bitter tang of betrayal still enraged him.

“Brad, of course, couldn’t do this by himself, so he called up one of his underworld contacts to help him carry this out. The man in question was the man known as Tubal, who would soon after be known as a pirate lord. Out in the galaxy, pirate lords are like their own entities, often with a large fleet backing them up. Even modern governments like the UCW are hesitant to cross blades with a pirate lord,” Dagan sighed.

“Why is that?” Tawny wondered.

“Simple. Challenging one pirate lord is akin to challenging all of them. Especially if they are unified enough to where the Pirate King or Queen declares a full raid on any one sector. Facing the might of seven great battlefleets, all intent on plundering, looting and taking whatever they want, is no small undertaking!” Dagan told the women.

“If these ... pirate lords are so powerful, why don’t they make such raids a regular occurrence?” Kris wondered.

“Because, more often than not, they are at each other’s throats, always vying for supremacy over each other. At least, that is how it was. But, going back to my tale, Brad had gone on about how I had been a silly, trusting dupe, who had taken him at his word. How I did not even suspect that he had ulterior motives until it was too late! I only wish I had trusted my gut more during those days,” Dagan lamented.

“It was then I heard about how their plan to take everything from me, Zerafima included, had worked so well that I fell into a sudden and complete rage. I damn near screamed at them to face me, as they were a bunch of cowards who hid behind their lackeys! How they would not take anything from me without a fight! Thankfully, I kept my temper in check and my mouth shut and kept moving, determined to free Zerafima from her cell,” Dagan went on.

“I don’t know how it happened, or how they discovered I was in the ducts, but soon enough, an alarm was sounded and they all went looking for me. They were stabbing any exposed ductwork they could find, trying to find me as I kept moving. Eventually, I came out of the ducts and found myself in an empty cabin.”

“A pirate walked in a minute or two later and we fought, each one of us seeking to do in the other. I got lucky with pulling the knife at his belt and slitting the man’s throat so he could get no warning off. Once he was dead, I took his weapons and armor and made my way out into the corridors. As it just so happened, the room was located right next to the airlock that led to my ship!” Dagan chuckled at his sudden turn of good luck.

“While I did have this, it was short-lived, as other pirates spotted me and opened fire. I returned fire and tried to gain ground, but there were too many of them. I knew that if I didn’t run right then and there, then I would be back in a cell at the mercy of these pirates. Maybe even dead, since I was of no further use to them. So, I made the most difficult decision of my life and left Zerafima behind, in the hands of those pirates,” said as tears formed in his eyes.

“Once I was aboard, I managed to get the ship decoupled and set my thrusters to full power as I flew away to freedom. Thankfully, I still had several hyperspace jumps pre-calculated before we were captured, and was able to jump away before they could even get their ship pursue. I had my life and my freedom back, but I left behind the most important woman I had ever known ... and it hurt,” Dagan said, as he sobbed.

“It was right after that day that I swore I would do everything in my power to find Zerafima. I didn’t care what happened or how long it would take, but I would find her and save her from the clutches of those ... men,” Dagan breathed, doing what he could to control his emotions.

“So, it was then that stepped into the criminal underworld and became a smuggler for hire. I took my business acumen and put it towards making a profit by any means necessary. I knew all the laws that were in place, so I knew of every way I could skirt the law and no one could come after me. And I got good at it. Very good,” Dagan stated as he continued with his tale.

“At every opportunity, I asked about Tubal and Brad, but mostly, I asked after Zerafima and if anyone had seen her. I had heard that she had become a plaything of Tubal’s, so I started devising ways to try to get to him. But I found that locating anyone willing to speak of anything personal about the man was more than difficult. I would learn that gaining information about a pirate lord was risky business for the seller as much as the buyer.”

“So, I figured the only way to find Zerafima and get her away from Tubal was to do so the hard way. Using what knowledge I could find and what resources I could gather, I started building up my crew and capital to where I could have my own fleet of ships. It wasn’t much at first, but I was gaining ground and making progress in that direction. Fate, it seems, has a cruel sense of humor,” Dagan sighed.

“It was during the point where I had amassed enough capital to buy a fifth ship and look around for good men and women to crew it. I had just completed a smuggling job for a client and was on my way to meet them. Imagine my surprise when I saw the client was none other than my dearest wife, Zerafima.”

“She had changed, become harder, stronger, and was even running her own pirate crew now! The moment she saw me, there was shock on her beautiful face, but it was quickly replaced with rage. She drew her sidearm and opened fire, winging me good. My men dove for cover and a firefight erupted, with us against them, all of us trying to survive,” Dagan stated.

“She called out to me, telling me I abandoned her to the mercy of Tubal and Brad. How they used her and cast her aside when she no longer was entertaining enough for them. She blamed me for what she had become after I had run all those years ago. I tried explaining myself, but she wasn’t interested in listening. Only in exacting her revenge and I was the one she was going to punish,” Dagan told the women.

“I tried asking her to remember the woman she was and the love we had for each other. To remember those days before all of this, to remember the woman I called Zerafima. This only served to drive the woman into an insane rage, where she gunned down several of my best men as though they were insects. I never thought her capable of such carnage,” Dagan reminisced, still horrified by the memory.

“We did our best to hold off her crews, but we knew it was only a matter of time until they overwhelmed us. We took several gambles and hit them with what grenades and flashbangs we had, using the distraction to get back to our ships. It worked and most of us managed to get aboard, but some of my men sacrificed themselves to ensure we were free. Their names are remembered and serve as a lesson to what true loyalty to our friends and crews are.”

“It was only after we had left that Zerafima sent us a message, one which still haunts me to this day. That she had never forgiven me for leaving her behind like I did. The only way she would forgive me is when she saw me dead by her own hand. She then swore that her pirate crews, the crews of Captain Zarkazh, would hunt me down like a dog until the end of my days. That I would pay the blood price she demanded for wronging her as I did.”

“I had heard such threats from people before and often managed to walk away from it no worse for wear. But Captain Zarkazh was relentless, hunting down every place that had given me shelter and burning it to the ground. There was no safety, no respite, no place she wouldn’t destroy, just to flush me out. Sadly, things only became worse,” Dagan huffed.

“How?” Kris asked.

“How what?” Dagan questioned.

“How did they get worse?”

“That is simple, really. It became worse when she was anointed by the council of Pirate Lords to become their seventh and final member. The moment she became Lady Zarkazh, is when her hunting campaign escalated. Now that she was a pirate lady, she had access to far more resources in hunting me down. Most especially, was the bounty she had put upon my head.”

“You’re ... a wanted man?” Tawny asked incredulously.

“I am afraid so. It is a hefty bounty upon my head, of nearly five hundred thousand credits to bring me in, dead or alive,” Dagan told them.

“Why do I get the feeling the emphasis is on dead?” Kris asked.

“Probably because it is. But I had learned that if I was brought in alive, there would be a quarter million credit bonus for bringing me in alive. Possibly because Zarkazh wants to punish me herself,” Dagan said with a shrug.

“So, what did you do?” Tawny queried.

“The only thing I could do, run. I ran to the Abandoned Frontier, as I knew that every piece of scum and bounty hunter would be looking for me. A price as high as mine is a hefty payday for anyone who can claim it. But the Abandoned Frontier was the one place few people would even think to look. With a place that has been left to fend for itself with no real law or order, it was the perfect place to hide,” Dagan said with a smirk.

“And that’s where the tale ends?” Kris asked, wondering if there was any more to the story.

“Indeed, it is! Everything else that had happened on Prodosia, you know, or know of. Aside from a few other pieces that have happened in the more recent days,” Dagan admitted.

“Such as?” Kris asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“The fact that Lady Zarkazh is now Queen Zarkazh. Thus, her reach has increased tenfold since her ascension to the rank of Pirate Queen,” Dagan told both of his she-wolves.

“So, she will have a much longer reach when it comes to tracking you down?” Tawny wondered.

“Yes,” the smuggler captain stated with a heavy sigh. “To where she has as much influence as the various governments and empires of the galaxy! That is how great her reach is, now that she is queen.”

“Well, it seems to me that we have something that we have yet to do,” Kris said, after exchanging a meaningful glance with Tawny. The pair of women then stood up and walked forward, kneeling in front of Dagan. They both drew daggers and cut into their palms, drawing blood. Dagan almost said something, but they beat him to it as they spoke in unison.

“By the spirits of our ancestors, we give our minds, bodies, and souls to protect you, Dagan Min. From whatever harm may try to befall you, whoever may want to see you dead, they will first have to come through us. Your enemies have now become ours as we pledge ourselves to your cause. Our duty demands that we end your enemies, as they have tried to end you. Do you accept our pledge?”

Now this was something that Dagan Min did not see coming!! They had just pledged themselves to him, without hesitation!! He had never heard of anything like this happening and was beyond stumped that he had seen such a thing! He’d heard of it, but never seen such a thing occur! The last thing he expected was for it to happen to him!

The women stayed on their knees, as though they were expecting him to say something. They likely were, as they didn’t budge one inch. Dagan took a few moments to collect his thoughts and compose himself. What they were offering to him was serious indeed, and he needed to think on the matter for a moment! After weighing all the options in his mind, Dagan then stood and helped them to their feet.

“I do accept your pledge, Tawny and Kris ... Wolfkin. I know what giving such a pledge means to you, so I will not insult you and refuse such generosity. To do so would be both stupid and foolish,” Dagan told the ladies as they stood to face him.

“Smart man,” Kris replied with a smirk.

“But I must ask, why did you both pledge yourselves to serve and protect me like this? It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, but I am genuinely curious about why you would dedicate your lives to protecting mine,” Dagan stated.

“Since Kris and I have come into womanhood, we have been searching for a proper meaning to our lives. We both have been looking for something or someone who would need us, as we would need them. How they would need to be protected, as they would also protect us,” Kris started.

“Someone who would take us on an epic journey, where we would not only become great warriors, but to be more than that. To where we could find our way out of the endless cycle of hatred and bloodlust that locked us into it. To help us find a way to break the cycle, so we, our children and our children’s children, would avoid what our generation had to endure,” Tawny said, completing Kris’ argument.

“And we believe you are that man,” Kris finished.

“Wha—uh—me?!? But ... I am not that man! I am a scoundrel, smuggler and overall terrible man!” Dagan protested, thinking they had him wrong.

“What of all the food and supplies you dealt out to the people of Tanith’s Gully?” Tawny asked. “Especially the children who needed it most?”

“And what about how you told your men to obey Inari like she was you, when the town was in chaos after the bombings?” Kris queried.

“Also, let’s not forget how you are concerned with the safety and wellbeing of your crews. A truly terrible man would show no concern over not only their physical safety, but their mental wellbeing as well!” Tawny told the bearded man, who was still sputtering to form a response.

“All right, all right, all right!! No need to keep going! You’ve made your point!” Dagan groused, thinking that he needed to do some dastardly things to keep his reputation as a scoundrel alive! Or maybe it was time for things to change?

“Besides, we believe in you, Dagan Min,” both women told the man.

Now the man was truly floored, as it had been years since he’d heard those exact words! The last time he’d heard them had been when ... Zerafima was still the woman he knew. Tears sprung to Dagan’s eyes as his heart was overwhelmed with joy! They believed in him?!? Such words made the man feel alive again!

“I ... I...” Dagan started, before he grabbed both women and pulled them into a bear hug, holding the both of them close to him. The pair of them hugged him back as they knew that the man hadn’t had anything like this for many, many years!

“I am glad to have the both of you with me during this grand adventure! There is much that we will all see and do before it is over! But firstly, we must catch the crew of the Darkstrider, for your sake, as much as mine!” Dagan told them both.

“Why is that?” Kris wondered.

“Because they not only have considerable firepower, but they also have talented individuals that could teach us much. Especially Korsa, teaching you two the Kha’Varen!” Dagan told them.

“Is ... is that what she taught her adopted daughter, Natalya?” Tawny wondered, remembered how Leandra and Nico, the granddaughter and grandson of the tribe’s Alphas, were utterly flattened by chocolate skinned woman.