Chapter 22

Josh took them to a break-out room.

He made them tea and sat at the table with them. “I guess you need some explanations. I’ve been undercover with this lot for five months. It wasn’t planned. I was captured when the freighter I was working on was bagged. We had suspected the Captain of the freighter was a smuggler.”

“He was, but he wasn’t involved with this lot. He was an independent arms smuggler. UNSEC has been trying to limit the number of weapons going to Terra. There is nothing to shoot there other than other humans. He mostly dealt with small calibre personal weapons. This lot were more than happy to take them off his hands.”

“There were five of us on his crew and we were given the option of a bullet like he got or to work for them. I took the second option as you can see. I was acting as his navigator and comms operator and I can do basic ship maintenance, so Yafi, who was in charge back then, put me to work but not on comms at first, as he didn’t trust me.”

“He was Fahra’s husband. Nasty piece of work. He was more into boys and had been raping Izmir for years. He got a two for one deal when he married Fahra. He liked to have Izmir screw Fahra, while he screwed him. They were both pretty fucked up. He even gave Fahra steroids to make her look more masculine.”

“Fortunately, for me, he didn’t like very tall men. He did like the Shifters and damn well killed what cash they could get out of the locals spending it back on the Shifters. Strange custom they have here. They have to fall pregnant to a non-shifter at least once before they settle down with whomever they want.”

“With us humans bringing in some new blood, we men were encouraged to use them. They get paid if they work from the House of Pleasure because it is considered a job here. They don’t call it prostitution because they are not forced and they pick their customers. They are also the ones who have magical abilities here. All of the Nobles are Shifters even if they don’t have magical items.”

“Anyway, I digress. Yafi beat Fahra one too many times and she snapped and shot him. He had beaten her pretty bad and Symone had to heal her. That was when they became friendly. Izmir was jealous of their friendship and when Fahra started cracking down on the raping, killing and stealing of locals that pissed him off too.”

“I was wondering how long it would take for him to snap. The last shipment of slaves they sent to Terra was mostly of the locals. That was months ago and after we got word that UNSEC was halting the settlement operation because too many ships were going missing. We hadn’t bagged one since. They go out even further these days.”

“We have been expecting Vezir Hasan Arfa to turn up any day. In fact, he is very late. Fahra was getting worried because Vezir Fiaz Merat was also due. He is one of the heads of the whole operation and controls the shipments to Terra. I’ve only recently learnt that his cousin Vezir Ishmael Merat controls the Earth side of things.”

“Hasan is a nephew of one of Fiaz’s wives but he isn’t so bad. He just follows orders because that way he stays alive. He controlled the distribution of slaves on Terra and he would come here to pick them up. He has his family on Terra in Cyrus City. It’s in Merat’s Kingdom on the continent call Persia.”

“The last time Hasan was here he mentioned to me that UNSEC was getting really strict and were putting new protocols into place to have all ships scanned and tagged when they entered Terran space even before they got to the space station.”

“I told him if he wanted to get out, then to drop a line to Major Carmichael and tell him Josh says ‘G’day mate’. I was hopeful and since you’re here and he isn’t, I guess he got in contact with the Major,” Josh finished.

“What’s the bet that Hasan was the source of the intelligence that dad got?” James said to Darcy.

“Dad? Wait, I know who you two are,” he said and slapped his forehead. “I’ve been out here too long. I barely recognised you two; your pictures do not do you justice. Wow! I finally got to meet the Dynamic Duo. Hot damn. Seriously, you two are why I’m where I am today.”

“Do you know how many people have joined the MPs hoping to get sent to the Moon so they can work with you two? Damn, your case studies Dusty are to drool over,” Josh said with admiration shining from his eyes.

James sniggered and Dusty punched his arm.

“So who here is left to worry about?” Dusty asked Josh.

“Well, the arseholes that were on Izmir’s crew are still about but they’re just bullies and did whatever he said. From what I can gather, somehow, you two took care of the other two crews. Fuck that was funny when they suddenly stopped reporting in; Fahra was just about frothing at the mouth.”

He then looked at them shrewdly, “Your Mages aren’t ya?”

“Sort of,” Dusty said with her disarming smile.

“Yeah, you are, you both glow, you know that don’t you?” he said.

Dusty frowned and James touched Josh’s hand that was holding his coffee cup. “Yep, he sure is,” James said and removed his hand.

“I’m what?” Josh said in confusion and with a slight shudder. He’d never had another man affect him as James just did. It was weird but nice.

“One of us,” Dusty told him. “How strong do you reckon he is?” she asked James.

“Very, it’s probably why he gets in out of scrapes without a scratch. If I wanted to hazard a guess, Earth is one of his strong skills. Energy and Psychic and or Lore are probably the others,” James said sitting back as he considered the man.

“Nah, now Aunty Anne, she is one of you lot,” Josh replied, not quite ready to believe them.

“The Anne Connors?” Dusty asked.

“You know my Aunt? The Connors’ are a big clan in Oz. My mum is a cousin of Anne. Mum moved out to Mars when I was in my early teens but the accent never went away. I’ve only met Anne a couple of times. She glows too but I never told her that. I was always shy around her, as she had this presence. It’s the best way to describe her. A lot like Dusty has,” he told them.

James nodded, “Yes, she does. I felt it too.”

“Well, that explains it. Your father must have had some skills too. Magicians are attracted to other magicians,” Dusty told him.

Josh frowned. “Is that why I like the people here? I’ve made friends with a few of the locals. I get on well with a bloke called Demetri. He came with Symone when she came to heal Fahra and we struck up a friendship. Nice bloke, he’s a bit of a historian too. We’ve had some interesting conversations when I get to go to town.”

“He is, we have also met him, Nature and Lore are his strong suits,” James said.

“You’re getting very good at picking out the skills of magicians, my love,” Dusty told James with a smile.

“Part of that Psychic trait that has been getting stronger,” James suggested.

“Most likely,” she agreed. She then went back to the original topic, “So who else here was heavily involved in the operation?”

“Who, the fuck are you two and why are Fahra and Izmir, lying dead on the bridge’s floor?” a man growled as he came in behind them.

They turned to see a swarthy man with a thick beard, of average height and around forty years of age. He was wearing a tunic styled shirt and loose-legged trousers. He was holding a pistol pointed at them and his black eyes and dark expression informed them that he was not a happy man.

“Him,” Josh said with a grimace.

“So who are they, Josh?” the man asked.

“Your worst nightmare, Nickolas,” Josh answered.

Nickolas scoffed, “A couple of MPs, I doubt it. Friends of yours I assume. I told Fahra not to trust you. Yafi didn’t and I can see he had a good reason. I’d shoot you now but I’m quite sure Ishmael will want to interrogate you. He should be here soon with Fiaz.”

“Was he on the same ship as Fiaz?” Dusty asked.

Nickolas frowned, “What do you know?”

“He was probably the one with his face smashed in. We were not a hundred percent sure who the three men with Fiaz and his son were, as they didn’t have a passenger manifest. They were a bit hard to recognise and we had to send their fingerprints back to Earth for recognition.”

“The people they were raping couldn’t remember their names because of the drugs and the crew who survived the explosions when we blew up the ship weren’t telling while Fiaz was still alive. I could ask them again now he isn’t. Do you know who else was with them?” Dusty asked Nickolas.

Nickolas took a couple of steps back until his back was pressed against the wall. “You killed them, all of the males in the Merat family line?” he said shocked.

“Pirates and slavers get spaced in my systems,” Dusty told him with a hard voice.

“Your systems?’ Nickolas said with confusion.

“Yes, I am the Overlord Wizard of the Tres System. Teha Dusty to you. When my other ship arrives, you will all be questioned. Those found to have actively participated in the acts of piracy; rape, murder or the enslavement of others will be severely dealt with. Which crimes do you wish to admit to?” she asked as she slowly stood and her eyes bored into his.

Nickolas never even saw her hand move. He did feel something wrap around his wrist just before searing pain raced up his arm. He squealed and dropped the pistol as he grabbed his throbbing wrist. “Make it stop, make it stop,” he sobbed.

“Oh dear, it seems that the cuff finds you guilty. I’m sure Rupert will take good care of you when I drop you off to his tender care,” Dusty informed the sobbing man.

“Rupert?” the man said stupidly, as the pain receded.

“Yes, he has become my Prison Warden on the island I send bad people too,” she informed him as she casually wiggled her fingers and called the pistol to her hand.

“He has some odd laws but it’s his Island. He has a thing about Shifters, apparently. He loves me sending them to him. But I’m not going to kiss you.”

“I’m not doing it either,” James replied looking at the man in disgust.

“I wouldn’t ask you too, darling,” she said and smiled at James. “Maybe I should give Nuru the power to do it? Do you think he would like that?”

James chuckled, “In a heartbeat.”

Dusty agreed. “Wait, I have a better idea, I can make a booster shot like the Immo. I’ll just make up a batch and give it to Rupert. He can decide if they get the special shot or not. Some of them may need or want some time before they make the decision to become Shifters like some of his men did.”

“You can turn people into Shifters?” Josh asked in shock. They all ignored Nickolas whimpering that he didn’t like her idea at all.

“Yes, Empress Lee infected us. She said it only affects magical people but I’ve since learnt that I can infect non-magical people. They don’t gain any other magical traits that I’m aware of, just the gene to shift their gender. The men I changed that were non-magical can’t change to animal forms, only their human gender and they don’t infect others,” Dusty told them.

“I’m glad you were able to remove the animal forms,” James replied. “That might have made things harder for Rupert to control if his people turned nasty and used their animal forms.”

“Yes, my thinking too,” Dusty replied. “Well, we had better round-up the people here and sort out the wheat from the chaff. Josh, could you bring that trash with us. Chris is about to land outside.”

Josh shook his head in wonderment and went to help the traumatised Nickolas to his feet.

Josh did the rounding up.

He told everyone that some significate events had happened and for them to meet up out in front of Fahra’s ship. Most had heard that two of their vessels had lost radio contact with them when they were chasing a settlement ship. Quite a few were fearful and they all knew Fahra hadn’t taken it well.