Chapter 8

“Transition in thirty seconds,” reported Rosie and Colin let out a sigh of relief. The journey that could have taken less than four days had just taken seven because the slavers’ ship only had a class one drive. It had been a journey that was totally boring and Colin was glad that he’d been on the Red Rose and away from the bleating and moaning of the new slaves.

Contact between the ships had been kept to a minimum to reduce the chances of being intercepted on the way to Tor. Colin was certain that the government of Tor, whatever it was, was deeply involved in the kidnapping and slaving operations that went on around its borders and he didn’t want any surprises happening before he was publicly in their system.

“Transition!”

The ship’s systems settled down and Colin had his first look at the baddest planet in the galaxy.

Although it was still several hours away it showed up as a predominantly blue planet on his displays. The data readout for the planet described it as having a gravity of zero point nine five Earth standard, its atmospheric pressure and make up were almost identical to that of Earth before the industrial revolution.

The big difference between Tor and the human race’s home world was in the amount of land available. Whilst Earth had a land surface area of just under one hundred and fifty million square kilometres or in percentage terms nearly thirty percent of the planet’s surface Tor’s equivalent figures showed a mere two and a half million square kilometres, or five percent of the planet’s surface.

This left a lot of water area and had a pronounced impact on the planet’s weather and lifestyle. It also meant the planet was very blue when seen from space.

“Petal wants to know what to do?” said Rosie. They’d taken to calling the slaver’s ship ‘Red Petal’ amongst themselves.

“Let them know we’ll be moving into planetary orbit as soon as we’ve finished scanning,” answered Colin.

“They’ve acknowledged,” replied Rosie.

“So what can we see?” asked Colin.

“The House Graham corvettes are here with the Viking Star,” said Rosie. “There are also six attack craft at various places around the system, they’re all showing Tor customs beacons.” There was a short pause before Rosie concluded, “other than that the only things I can see are a lot of small freighters.”

“Call Captain Hallis and let him know we’re here,” said Colin, “then plot an orbital course that puts us close to the House Graham corvettes and pass it to Petal.”

“Aye-aye, Captain,” responded Rosie with a jaunty salute.

Colin shook his head and grinned before settling down in his chair. “Then I want you to see if you can contact representatives from House Rutgers and House Vogel.” When Rosie nodded he continued, “I doubt if there’s a proper procedure for selling people back to a House but try and keep our business discrete.”

“I’ll try,” said Rosie, “but unless they are willing to give me one of their House codes we’re going to be speaking in clear and I know that House Graham at least will be able to listen in on anything we say.”

They’d been approaching the planet for nearly thirty minutes before a message came in from the nearest customs boat demanding identification information and requiring them to declare the purpose of their visit.

Colin kept it simple, they were here to sell some slaves and pick up supplies before heading out on a scout mission. The closest pair of attack boats moved towards them in a leisurely manner and after a quick pass waved them on.

“I don’t think much for their security,” commented Rosie as the two craft withdrew.

“They don’t want to make it too difficult for people to do business here,” replied Colin, “if they did the place would go bankrupt in a couple of months.”

The insertion into planetary orbit went smoothly as Rosie ensured that the Red Rose took a position astern of the waiting corvettes. The cruise ship was sandwiched safely between the Typhoon and the Sirocco and appeared undamaged to Colin’s untrained eye.

The Petal settled in close to the Rose and both ships lowered their drives into a station-keeping mode. Colin ensured that Rosie had established a secure communications net between the two ships and had them logged onto the planetary node of the Galacticweb.

“Well,” said Colin after a good stretch, “now we wait and see what happens.”

“I’ve established secure communications with both of the Houses you requested,” said Rosie. “They told me they have been expecting us.”

Colin blinked and then chuckled to himself, “Of course they were,” he said. “The cruise ship has been here for a couple of days, so everyone knows what’s happened.”

Colin checked that his jumpsuit was presentable and nodded to Rosie, “House Rutgers first.”

“Richard Van Velt of House Rutger,” announced Rosie as the screen displayed a smooth looking middle-aged man.

The image gave a brief nod before speaking, “Captain Hadden, I’ve been informed by the Captain of the Viking Star of the events aboard his ship and the impact that those events may have had on several people associated with House Rutgers. I’ve also been informed that those people are now in your possession, is this so?”

Colin nodded gently, “I’ve several people who have stated that they used to be members of House Rutgers,” he said.

“You are aware that their convictions are false?” said Van Velt.

“That is a possibility,” acknowledged Colin, “but until the matter is clarified their status remains as it currently is, or so I’ve been led to believe. Do you know any differently?”

The man before Colin settled back, their starting positions stated. “Whilst we do not agree with the way that the local government does business that is our understanding also. Do you have a suggestion as to how we can mitigate the possible problems that could arise from this situation?”

“Only one that I’ve been informed has been used before in this system,” said Colin. “That is that you ‘buy’ the people from me and place them in safe keeping until such times as the misunderstanding is cleared up.”

“I’m also aware of that method of solving this particular problem,” replied Van Velt, “and I’ve been instructed to offer you a suitable remuneration for several people who may be in your possession.”

“I can send you the details of those people we have who claim to be under House Rutgers protection if that would help,” said Colin.

“Please do so Captain Hadden,” requested Van Velt. Colin nodded to Rosie who nodded straight back.

“As you can see,” continued Colin, “there are six names on the list.” He raised his eyebrows, “Does this tally with what you were expecting?”

“All except for one name,” replied Van Velt and then continued when Colin frowned. “The young lady, Tedi Van Dijk is not on my list. If you’ll hold for a moment I will see if I can find out why?”

Colin nodded and the screen changed to the House Rutgers crest.

“Any ideas, Rosie?” asked Colin.

The holograph shook her head negatively.

“Captain Hadden,” began the returning Van Velt, “I’m afraid that I’m the bearer of bad news. It appears that Ms. Van Dijk’s father died on the cruise ship and as she has no surviving relatives she has no one to fund her release. The House is not willing to do so in this case.”

Colin was shocked, “If you’ll wait a moment,” he said and waved to Rosie to blank the screen.

“Bastards,” he hissed, “I’m sure that dad would recover any of our people that the slavers took from us.”

“I’m sure he would,” agreed Rosie, “but for House Hadden it would only be an occasional occurrence, not an everyday event. House Rutgers could not afford to recover everyone who was caught up in this way. She’s just going to be one of the unfortunate casualties of the way the galaxy works.”

Colin looked glum, “A casualty and I’m going to have to inform that her father is dead and she’s a slave.” He looked at Rosie, “and what am I supposed to do with her?”

Rosie grinned, “Well she is a pretty blond,” she began.

“Wash your mouth out,” snapped Colin before he looked back at the screen. “Connect me,” he ordered.

“Mr. Van Velt,” he started, “It looks like I’m in the slave business for real then.”

“You’re not in that line of work,” asked Van Velt, the surprise clearly visible on his face.

“No,” said Colin angrily,” I just happened to bump into events on the Viking Star and collected your people as I endeavoured to help.”

“Ahhh, that could change things,” said Van Velt. “How much were you thinking of asking for each of our people?”

“The bare minimum that would be acceptable as a transaction,” said Colin. “If it’s too low it calls into question the legality of our dealings. I’m sure that your legal people know what that figure is.”

Van Velt frowned and appeared to be listening to someone off screen. His eyebrows rose a couple of times before he nodded; he turned his attention back to Colin.

“As a starting point I’m told that Ms. De Jong is valued at ten thousand credits on the open market, as is Ms. De Vries. Mr. Jansen would fetch something in the region of fifteen thousand credits whilst in increasing terms of value Ms. Bakker is worth twenty thousand credits and Ms. Van de Berg a rather generous twenty-five thousand credits.” The smooth looking man turned on his smile, “My legal council advises me that the minimum acceptable figure would be around the ten percent mark for some reason though that did cause a moment or two of debate.”

His smile broadened, “I will therefore offer you ten percent and add, say five percent as a finders fee, to their open market value for the transfer of these people to our estate.”

“And Ms. Van Dijk?” pressed Colin.

Van Velt gave a casual wave, “She’s yours,” he said dismissively. On seeing Colin glower he added, “House Rutgers has a policy of not keeping its own people as slaves. If I bought her from you I would have to sell her on immediately. That would only present me, personally, with problems. Problems I am not willing to undertake.”

Still scowling Colin nodded, “You’ve just bought yourself five slaves. I take it that you will be freeing them as soon as possible?”

“That is our current understanding,” said Van Velt. “The legal team I work with have put forward a general request to have all of the convictions carried in the Viking Star’s memory annulled but we doubt if that will happen as there may have been genuine convictions involved.”

“So?” prompted Colin.

“Each case will have to be reviewed individually.” Van Velt gave a slight shrug of the shoulders, “That will take a long time. Even with the House pushing the judicial system here it will take about six months to have all of our people cleared.”

“And the rest?” asked Colin.

“If no one is pushing proceedings, who knows, a couple of years maybe,” said Van Velt.

“How much would it cost to have a case expedited?” said Colin, the glimmer of an idea in his mind.

Van Velt looked interested for a moment; “We have been allocated ten percent of the slaves market value for each person, that’s about the going rate.”

“Uhmm,” murmured Colin as he pulled on his ear in thought. “What would the open market value of Ms. Van Dijk be?”

Van Velt’s eyebrows rose as he saw where Colin was going, “One moment,” he said and the screen went blank.

“Colin, is that the right thing to do?” asked Rosie.

“I’m not sure,” replied Colin, “and if it’s too expensive I won’t...” He stopped talking as the screen displayed Van Velt’s image.

“Captain Hadden, Ms. Van Dijk has an open market value of seven and a half thousand credits.”

“So seven hundred and fifty credits would get her conviction annulled and her freedom restored in, what, about a year?” asked Colin.

Van Velt nodded slowly, “Yes,” he said, “around about that long.”

“If I gave you the money would you be prepared to add her name to your list,” said Colin, “at the end of course.”

Van Velt stroked his chin a couple of times, “I would be working on the case already,” he said softly, “it shouldn’t be too difficult to add her name...”

He looked at Colin, “All right, young man, I’ll do it.”

Colin nodded in turn, “Then take the sum from the money you are sending me and add her name to your list,” said Colin with a grin.

Van Velt smiled in return, “You have yourself a deal, Captain.”

“Well that’s settled,” said Colin, “Will you arrange to have your other slaves collected?”

“We will need some time for that,” said Van Velt, “we hadn’t expected our proceedings to flow this quickly.”

“That’s not a problem,” said Colin, “they can stay in the cells they’re occupying at the moment.”

It was Van Velt’s turn to frown. “They are not being mistreated in any way, are they?”

“Not as far as I’m aware,” said Colin, “but I don’t have room for them on my ship so I’ve left them aboard the slaver with a couple of my crew to keep an eye on them.”

“If they’ve been mistreated in any way...” began Van Velt.

“Don’t go there, Sir,” growled Colin. “They were informed after I picked them up that if they behaved they had a free run of the ship. But they were warned that if they caused any trouble they’d be locked in their cells until I sold them.” Colin looked at the older man angrily, “and at least two of the women were making threats to me before I’d left the ship so I wouldn’t be surprised to find that they’d spent the whole journey tied to their beds.”

Van Velt sat back and looked thoughtful for a moment or two. “That is the extent of their possible mistreatment?” he asked.

“The crew I left on that ship were all women,” said Colin.

“I see,” replied Van Velt, “then I think we can safely say that you’ll hear no more about their treatment.”

“Thank you,” said Colin with a slight inclination of the head, “then I look forward to the credit transfer and the removal of your goods from my ship.”

“As soon as possible,” said Van Velt and after another couple of pleasantries the connection was broken.

“He’s still a slimy bastard,” muttered Colin as the screen went blank.

“Slimy he may be,” said Rosie, “but he’s efficient.”

Colin raised and eyebrow and Rosie went on, “Eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty credits have been transferred to our account already.”

Colin stretched, “Then I’d better speak to House Vogel’s representative before I go over to the Petal and speak to Tedi Van Dijk,” He shook his head sadly, “I’m not looking forward to that at all.”

“So you’re the snivelling little worm that kidnaps children and hangs a dagger over the hearts of their loved ones are you,” growled the man with the dark visage who stared at Colin from the screen. “Well I can tell you that you’ll get no blood money from my House.”

“You are?” asked Colin, his own eyes narrowing as he stared at the man before him.

“You will address me as Lord Goossens,” snapped the man as he puffed up his chest.

Colin shook his head, the various conversations he’d had with the House Vogel people came back to him. The terms belligerent and obnoxious seemed so fitting.

“I’m Captain Hadden,” said Colin. “I have recovered three people of your House from a slaver. I am offering to sell them back to you at ten percent of the current market value, which I am reliably informed is the lowest price I can charge and keep the transaction legal.”

“I told you at the beginning of this conversation, worm. I don’t do business with scum like you!” The man moved forward in his seat. “What’s going to happen is that you will return my two children to me or I’ll hunt you to the ends of the galaxy. You’ll be thankful that I’m going to let you off with your life if you do.”

Colin blinked and sat back; he took a deep breath as he attempted to control his temper. “Listen you obnoxious little toad,” he began, “when it comes to rank I’m your equal at least but that isn’t a problem as far as I’m concerned. What is, is the fact that I’ve got your people on board and it’s three not two because I went to their aid. If you’re too stupid to deal with me in a civilised manner, I’ll speak to House Rutgers and see if they’re prepared to deal with me honourably. If not, I’ll keep the slaves and sell them for a profit.”