Chapter 4

General Dumitrescu was in a foul mood. His "retirement plan" was not proceeding as he had anticipated. The recalcitrant Ragnor colonists had proven to be far too stubborn for their own good.

The plan was simple. Wipe out the small percentage of Ragnor's space fleet that wasn't under his command. Next, take control of the moon base. Use it as a threat to force the leaders to turn over their store of refined amitia. Sell it to the buyers he had lined up and then disappear into one of the hedonistic pleasure planets that the Bacchanalians had created as playgrounds for those rich enough to pay. Ragnor wasn't part of the Federation - no one was going to come to their rescue. But someone was meddling in his plans and that someone was going to pay.

550 billion credits - that's what they said they would give him. Plenty of cash to pay off his men and purchase a villa in one of the in the most expensive and exclusive sections on Bacchus itself. There would be more than enough left over for the annual payola and for the most expensive wines, liquors and foods in the universe. The payola payments provided access to the most beautiful and talented courtesans available.

He had learned that over two years ago, a fungus had been discovered in the equatorial rain forests that ringed the planet below. The fungus was relatively rare and it contained something that was virtually priceless - amitia.

Until the fungus find, amitia was only ever extracted from one other plant: a rare orchid on a sweltering hell-hole of a planet that fought tooth and nail the efforts to harvest the plant. Little was known about the lifecycle of the rare orchid, but fewer and fewer of the valuable flowers were being located every year. Supply and demand - less supply, more demand equalled unbelievable prices.

Amitia was an organic compound that could not be synthesized. It was the primary reactant used in the formulation of some very powerful pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals that were some of the most effective rejuvenation treatments. There was never enough of the reactant around to satisfy the demand. The big drug companies didn't ask too many questions if someone had amitia to sell.

The colonists had not initially harvested the fungus. First they had studied it. Finding out where it could be found, how it spread. They didn't want to repeat the mistakes of others and wipe out the source of such a valuable reactant. Their patience paid off; they found that they could harvest a large portion of a mature fungus and leave enough behind that it would rebound and grow again. They determined the growth cycle and when the fungus released its spores - and how to tell.

Harvesting began in earnest after almost 10 months of research. The cutting for each fungus timed perfectly to just after it released its spores. Extracting the amitia wasn't too difficult and soon they had a substantial stockpile that they planned to sell on the open market to the highest bidder.

"Damn them all to Hell!" roared Dumitrescu. "Get me that rat bastard VonHaden on the communicator, and send in Colonel Haddis. I want him here for this cluster fuck."

"Yes sir, we'll get right on it," the General's aide rushed out of the room, glad to have an excuse to get as far away as he could from the unpredictable tyrant.

The General fumed in silence until Colonel Haddis came through the door. "Reporting as ordered, sir," the Colonel said. He eyed the General warily, aware that his mood was erratic at best.

"You are sure the blockade is tight? No ships can get on or off the planet?" Dumitrescu glared at him.

"Yes sir. I set up the patrols and interdiction platforms around the system myself. No ship can approach or lift off without us knowing about it and scrambling an interception flight. We haven't had so much as a blip from our scanners since last week when that old personal flitter on the north landmass tried to make orbit."

"I'm not interested in old flitters that can barely make it out of the gravity well. I'm concerned about off planet meddlers bringing in medicine to combat our bio weapons. I've just received a report that those damn chameleons have begun distributing anti-virals. Highly effective anti-virals that have removed any threat from our bio weapons. Where the hell did they get it?" The General's stony stare and frown left little doubt as to his feelings.

"What? They didn't get it from off planet; I can assure you of that. There is no way anyone made it past the blockade. Hell, even a small meteor can't enter the atmosphere without us detecting it. We see at least 4 to 5 of those a week." Haddis was completely confident in his sensor web and its abilities. Any question of those abilities he took as a personal affront.

"Bullshit! They didn't manufacture it down there. They didn't have it earlier or they would have used it. I can only think of two, maybe three Federation labs that could even begin to create a counter to that virus." The General was sure it came from off-planet and the blockade was as useful as a sieve.

Dumitrescu started pacing making broad gestures as he ranted, "There was still 5 weeks left on the virus effectiveness before it was going to self-destruct. They didn't know that. I could have gotten them to cough up the amitia by then. I would have had it by now if I knew where they moved the damn stuff to. Your mercs would have gone in and gotten it. I wouldn't have had to release the virus."

The aide entered the room again, "Premier VonHaden is holding sir."

"Put him through," the General waved impatiently.