Sten and the Mutineers by Allan Cole

Author:Allan Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, space opera, war, military, adventure
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2016-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

THE NAVIGATOR

The congregation of the Church of the Universal Location sat hunched over their holo boards, crystalline light wands flickering as they built a wondrous image.

Swirling numbers and symbols cometed across uttermost space, leaving glowing trails and bursts of light as miniature suns bloomed, then died; planets were ripped from orbit and thrown into one another, shattering into a great sparkling clouds of rock and ice and dust.

In the center of the group—directing the congregation like an orchestra maestro—was the dark, slender figure of Bishop Shaklin, waving arms elegantly to the rhythm of inner music, beaded dreadlocks clacking, keeping time.

As exotic and complex as the slowly developing scene on the Holoimager appeared, Shaklin devoted only a small part of his brain on the group’s mutual task: navigating the tricky shoals of the Possnet Sector.

It was a desolate place, created by a billion-year-old disaster. It was like the island chains on ancient Earth, where continental shelves collided and volcanoes erupted on the floor of the seas, dribbling out land masses in the form of molten lava.

And like the islands, the desolate mini-worlds of Possnet Sector were inhabited by beings who had fled famine and pestilence and the wrath of others.

It was an ideal “Hole in the Wall” for criminals and terrorists and pirates like Venatora and her Himmenops.

They were by far the most powerful and feared of the Possnet pirates and if Venatora drew Aces in her deadly game for the Emperor’s Imperium X she would rival the Eternal Emperor himself out here in the Fringe Worlds.

And if he tried to send the Imperial Navy in after her, the Emperor’s losses would be enormous.

The Flame sat on the very edge of her domain. Shaklin jabbed his wand at one section, and a red light started flashing. Directing his congregation to follow his lead, he waved his wand, and more red lights popped up.

Some of the lights represented Venatora’s fortresses, all defended by her Zabanya guardswomen. Most were mine fields carefully laid out to confound even the most sophisticated battle computers.

The mines were the best money could buy on the arms black market and were quite capable of taking out an Imperial battleship if an overconfident ship’s captain became careless.

Venatora had been pressing the mutineers to conclude the deal. Zheng and Rual were all but convinced, especially as the anxiety level of the other crewmembers rose to the boiling point.

Still, Shaklin urged patience. He appealed to the greed of Zheng and Rual, pointing out that the Emperor could easily outbid Venatora and there was no reason to believe that he’d ever let all that Imperium X loose on the black market.

Shaklin, however, was mainly concerned about what kind of lonely existence they were all in for if they had to take refuge in the Possnet Sector for the rest of their lives.

“We can never leave,” he told them. “The Emperor will have a price on all our heads. Why, some of the other pirates might even be tempted to betray us to the Imperials.

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