should be able to break orbit within the hour.”
#
Mikhail Azure, leader of the Blue Star Syndicate, crime lord and master of the underworlds of a dozen systems, floated in zero-gravity in a perfect meditation pose. His eyes closed, he felt the world around him through the tiny twitches of energy and matter carried to him by his magic.
Through his magic he felt the pulsing energy of the Azure Gauntlet , his personal warship. Stolen from the Martian Navy years ago, she represented the ultimate iron fist of his organization. It had been some time since he had been aboard her, and the sense of sheer power the stolen cruiser represented was… calming.
The door to his private zero-gravity meditation room opening should have been a surprise – only one person on the ship would dare interrupt his meditation and only if it was important – and yet, he had known it was coming.
Azure would never claim to any man or woman that he could see the future. Neither magic nor science, for all their many gifts to mankind, had ever managed to peel back the veil of time. He often found, however, that he had flashes of insight into the future. He had known he would be interrupted this time, and it would be good news.
“Mister Wong,” he said softly, without opening his eyes. “What news?”
“The bounty hunter has found Rice’s ship,” the man who commanded the Azure Gauntlet for Mikhail told him calmly as he walked into the room. The scuff of the soft slippers Wong wore aboard the ship was loud in Azure’s ears, revealing the other man was using magic to keep his feet on the floor of the chamber.
“But has not captured him,” the crime lord said softly.
“They are at Amber, and he lacks the courage to challenge even that world’s lax defenses,” Wong replied.
“Do not be fooled by their single aged destroyer, Mister Wong,” Azure replied. “The Amber Defense Co-operative is a stronger force than they pretend– no lesser threat than your Gauntlet would suffice to overwhelm Amber.” He slowly rotated to face his servant, magic rotating his body without visible motion.
“Is Able prepared to pursue them?” he asked. He found Wong’s refusal to use the name of anyone who was not a senior member of the Syndicate or a worthy enemy a… tolerable foible, most of the time. Nonetheless, there were enough bounty hunters in the universe that names helped.
“Once he had access to the transceiver array, they had already fled the system before a Navy destroyer,” Wong told him.
“Able is a Tracker,” Azure said flatly. “He’s almost as good as you are.”
He felt Wong’s self-effacing half-bow, and snorted to himself. To his knowledge, fifteen men and women in all of human space had managed to master the trick of tracking a jump. For all that the jump itself was magic; the key to tracking it seemed to be technology – and an entirely intuitive art of reading the sensor readings of the jump.
Wong was the best at it, and it had made him utterly terrifying as Azure’s main enforcer for years. No enemy would evade him by running away in a jumpship. He claimed to be able to track where a ship had gone for days after it had left.
Able wasn’t that good. But he could track a jump and he’d been in the system when the Jay had left.
“They are shaping a course for the Excelsior system,” Wong said simply. “Able intends to ambush them in the asteroids there.”
Azure opened his eyes and lowered himself to the ground. He stretched, towering over the small form of the cruiser’s commander with the lanky height of those born and raised in low gravity, artificial environments.
“ He will fail,” the leader of the Blue Star Syndicate said calmly.
“ I agree,” Wong said simply.
“Able has underestimated Rice and Montgomery before – at Chrysanthemum,” Azure continued, ignoring his ship’s captain. “He will do so again, and I do not believe he will survive repeating the mistake.”
“Make your course for
#
Mikhail Azure, leader of the Blue Star Syndicate, crime lord and master of the underworlds of a dozen systems, floated in zero-gravity in a perfect meditation pose. His eyes closed, he felt the world around him through the tiny twitches of energy and matter carried to him by his magic.
Through his magic he felt the pulsing energy of the Azure Gauntlet , his personal warship. Stolen from the Martian Navy years ago, she represented the ultimate iron fist of his organization. It had been some time since he had been aboard her, and the sense of sheer power the stolen cruiser represented was… calming.
The door to his private zero-gravity meditation room opening should have been a surprise – only one person on the ship would dare interrupt his meditation and only if it was important – and yet, he had known it was coming.
Azure would never claim to any man or woman that he could see the future. Neither magic nor science, for all their many gifts to mankind, had ever managed to peel back the veil of time. He often found, however, that he had flashes of insight into the future. He had known he would be interrupted this time, and it would be good news.
“Mister Wong,” he said softly, without opening his eyes. “What news?”
“The bounty hunter has found Rice’s ship,” the man who commanded the Azure Gauntlet for Mikhail told him calmly as he walked into the room. The scuff of the soft slippers Wong wore aboard the ship was loud in Azure’s ears, revealing the other man was using magic to keep his feet on the floor of the chamber.
“But has not captured him,” the crime lord said softly.
“They are at Amber, and he lacks the courage to challenge even that world’s lax defenses,” Wong replied.
“Do not be fooled by their single aged destroyer, Mister Wong,” Azure replied. “The Amber Defense Co-operative is a stronger force than they pretend– no lesser threat than your Gauntlet would suffice to overwhelm Amber.” He slowly rotated to face his servant, magic rotating his body without visible motion.
“Is Able prepared to pursue them?” he asked. He found Wong’s refusal to use the name of anyone who was not a senior member of the Syndicate or a worthy enemy a… tolerable foible, most of the time. Nonetheless, there were enough bounty hunters in the universe that names helped.
“Once he had access to the transceiver array, they had already fled the system before a Navy destroyer,” Wong told him.
“Able is a Tracker,” Azure said flatly. “He’s almost as good as you are.”
He felt Wong’s self-effacing half-bow, and snorted to himself. To his knowledge, fifteen men and women in all of human space had managed to master the trick of tracking a jump. For all that the jump itself was magic; the key to tracking it seemed to be technology – and an entirely intuitive art of reading the sensor readings of the jump.
Wong was the best at it, and it had made him utterly terrifying as Azure’s main enforcer for years. No enemy would evade him by running away in a jumpship. He claimed to be able to track where a ship had gone for days after it had left.
Able wasn’t that good. But he could track a jump and he’d been in the system when the Jay had left.
“They are shaping a course for the Excelsior system,” Wong said simply. “Able intends to ambush them in the asteroids there.”
Azure opened his eyes and lowered himself to the ground. He stretched, towering over the small form of the cruiser’s commander with the lanky height of those born and raised in low gravity, artificial environments.
“ He will fail,” the leader of the Blue Star Syndicate said calmly.
“ I agree,” Wong said simply.
“Able has underestimated Rice and Montgomery before – at Chrysanthemum,” Azure continued, ignoring his ship’s captain. “He will do so again, and I do not believe he will survive repeating the mistake.”
“Make your course for
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