'Well, we expected that, but how did you access the bounty board?'
'It's free,' Ayan shrugged. 'There are a few thousand listings for Greydock alone.'
'That's not a good sign.' Jake said under his breath.
'Why?'
'Well, normally you have to have a licence or register with the local authorities to get access to the bounty boards. If it's free here and anyone can capture someone and claim the bounty, then the hunters are being used for law enforcement. How did I rank, by the way?' Jake asked.
'I thought you'd be wondering. You're the most wanted man on the planet with a local bounty of three point five million if you're turned in alive at the United Core World Confederation. I think they're planning to resell you to the Galactic High Court. That bounty is a lot higher.'
'Oh my God. I'm tempted to turn him in at that price!' Minh burst.
'And the Samson crewmembers?'
'Between fifty thousand all the way up to nine hundred thousand for Frost and Stephanie. She also has two outstanding warrants that apply in Confederation territory.'
'You guys should just sell the rights to the Samson years to some holomovie studio. If they can make fifty films about Billy the Kid, I'm sure they can make just one about Jake and his crew,' Minh chuckled.
Jake chose to ignore the suggestion and pressed on. 'Are the Carthans backing any of the bounties on us?'
Ayan scrolled through the small section of the bounty board reserved for the Samson crew and shook her head. 'If Security Chief Vega pays a two thousand credit fine it'll wipe out the fine they're charging her with. It's a failure to appear for some court date two years ago. She was called as a witness, not the accused.'
Jake nodded, reminded of the incident. 'Right, forward that to her and tell her to transfer the funds so she’s clear with the Carthans, at least. So, what’s Greydock?'
'It's the Carthan Capital for the entire moon, according to the system. Won't there be a ton of bounty hunters looking for you anyway? The bounty board is common here, that's why I could see Confederation marks along with the rest.'
Jake turned and re-checked their navnet course as their small fleet of fighters and damaged ships began making their way to their final approach trajectory. Everything checked out and he half turned to face Ayan again. 'You're right. It looks like you're on your own if you want to visit the Governor and get us proper landing permits. You’ll probably have no problem getting a privateering licence. I’m sure you’re not the only one with recent acquisitions coming in. I wish I could go with you, but I'm sure they’ve got DNA sniffers or deep tissue scanners there.'
“Wouldn’t they leave you alone, since the Carthans are enemies to the Order of Eden and Regent Galactic?”
“Sure, but there’s no telling how many of their people are crooked. The nearest Confederation held solar system is only a few light years away.”
'Maybe I could take Victor and a couple of his squad members along.'
'Bring the whole squad, except for Alaka.'
'I don’t want it to look like I’m there to start trouble, I’m sure just a couple will be fine.”
“I think the smart move here is to bring too many friends. You don’t want to end up a few people light.”
“I think I’ll just take Victor, one of his hand picked people, and Laura,” Ayan countered. “Besides, what could happen in the Governor’s Office? A beaurocracy ambush?”
“You’re the Captain,” Jake dismissed lightly.
“Wow, that was quick,” Minh chuckled. “What are you going to do while she’s off hob-knobbing with the politicians?”
'And help me maintain order,” Stephanie interjected from the communications system. “We’re all secure back here Captain.”
“All our ships have checked in, we’re ready to set down on Tamber,” Lieutenant Garrison reported.
The four occupants of the cockpit fell silent as the Clever Dream began to pass through the atmosphere. Jake watched his tactical screen closely for any signs that the ships in their convoy were running into trouble, focusing mostly on the Samson. Whoever Laura had piloting his old ship was good at their job; they had the vessel angled just right so the more damaged dorsal and port sections saw little or no direct exposure. The shields were still doing most of the work, and he had to admit he was surprised they had managed to get the system back online after the beating it had taken only weeks before. He wouldn't have used the Samson, one of her main beams were twisted, three of the engines were out of commission and two compartments were completely open to space while several others weren't safe for atmospheric entry without shields.
When they came through the thick atmosphere he breathed a sigh of relief. Only one of them had gone slightly off course, a fighter near the rear of the group. The sky was a shade of dun brown, and as they passed through clouds a desert unlike any he'd seen stretched out in front of them.
There were no dunes, no shade indicating golden sand or dark dust, but hundreds of kilometres of gray and deep brown flat, cracked planes. 'Lewis, can you run an analysis on that?'
'On what, exactly?'
'The ground. I know what the advisory said, but can you give me more detail?'
'The terrain below us consists of a combination of formerly life-giving chemicals combined with a porous, clay like medium. It is several meters thick in some places and covers large bodies of water in others.'
'Formerly life giving?' asked Ayan.
'Yes. This material is called Dower Company Life Generating Topsoil, or LGT for short. It is designed to generate a diverse range of plant life in a balanced ecological range.'
'A forest in a box,' Stephanie said as she entered the cabin. 'I saw this from the common room and had to check for myself. Any idea why it failed?'
'Based on what I'm seeing I can only assume something failed early in the chemical reaction, perhaps there was wide spread contamination. I don't have enough information to be certain. There are several unsecured networks within range, would you like me to look into it for you?'
'No, Lewis, thank you,' Ayan answered. 'The last thing we need is to have you detected by some artificial intelligence scanner. Complex AI's are outlawed by the Carthans.'
'I am aware, thank you Ayan.'
'I think you hurt his feelings,' Stephanie said as she patted the ceiling. 'Do you know what exposure to this stuff could do to us?'
'I think you should obey the Carthan advisory to the letter, don't touch it with bare skin and don't breathe too much of the dust. This entire expanse is a low level biohazard.'
The five occupants of the cockpit watched as the Clever Dream completed its descent. The colour of the landscape, the uniformity of it and the level plane of the land made it look like it went on forever. What was there before, no one could guess, but no one was left with any question as to why the place was called the Dower Wastes.
Chapter 16
'Tate's whole squad is down sir,' Foss, the communications and scanning officer stated.
'What? I would have gotten a direct alert if they came under fire,' Sergeant Cameron Steadman replied, flipping the armoured cover to her command display open. The flat screen on the inside of her wrist scrolled to Sergeant Tate's team and for a moment she was puzzled at the results. 'Medical, confirm what I'm seeing.'
Officer Rawdon nodded. 'Their bodies are being stressed by-' he trailed off.
'It's gravity. They're using artificial gravity,' Steadman flipped the display cover closed and waved Foss towards the main console on the darkened bridge. 'Inform Command that we're going to try a hack into their life
