“Rodney, can we get a status update on the ship upgrades?” Jean said as he walked into the command center where dozens of humans and Scalador alike were busy planning and executing the next step in their survival.

  Over the past seven months, Narax had truly become the property of the human pirates and any who would join them. At first, it was difficult to convince their former jailors that true freedom was better than living under the thumb of the Stygibora, but that changed as more and more joined their cause. When a fresh wave of guards arrived with no knowledge of the true situation on the surface, the interception team would meet and capture them on the orbital station and ship them down to the surface like the prisoners they were supposed to be guarding.

  Once on the ground, it was fairly easy for Mik’t and his fellow rebels to figure out who was likely to convert from the Stygiboran side and show them the true history of their people the same way Jean had so long ago. There were some who fought back against the revelations, but that was what a well-placed stinger in the night was for. If a guard wouldn’t convert on their own, Monique had no problem sneaking into a cell while its inhabitant slept to administer what she referred to as “final corrective action.”

  “Hey Jean, we’re waiting on the fabricator at this point. To outfit all these ships with the firepower we need to hold off the Scaladorian fleet, we simply need more guns.” The pilot turned project coordinator explained, “Your cruiser is complete, but the others still have a long way to go. Are you still sure you want to hand off command to Mik’t and his men?”

  “Yes, of course I do. Mik’t and the converted have shown nothing but loyalty to us, and it would be disrespectful to doubt them now.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “We have so many humans to protect though, are we sure we can trust them?” Rodney said, referencing the thousands of former prisoners that hadn’t taken up weapons when Jean had overthrown the guards.

  “I trust them.” Monique said as she sauntered up to the men in converted power armor and a stinger hanging from her hip. “I trust them because if we don’t, then we face enemies on both sides. The next ship is due to arrive soon, and we don’t know how many more we can get away with stealing before the Scaladorians catch on.”

  “I guess.” Rodney sighed, clearly uncertain. “Either way, Jean, we’re going to need to locate and capture another fabricator before this is all said and done. Mik’t says he has a soldier with recent knowledge of freight lanes and that most of the large freighters have a fabricator of some kind on board. It won’t be on the same scale as what we have here, but it will be mobile.”

  “Good. Set up a trap on that shipping lane. We want to capture the barge and convert it to our own uses as well. We will need to move fast though. Once we take a civilian vessel, things are going to get much harder for us. Has anyone searched outside the base for things of that nature?” Jean replied, slipping the full coverage helmet over his head and sealing in the atmosphere.

  “We’ve had a few crews go out on patrol. Considering how old the building is, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a backup location somewhere on the surface. What are you planning?” Rodney said, pulling a topographical map of the planet up on the holographic display in the center of the room.

  “Monique and I are taking a crew into the wilds. She already knows where the gun emplacements are, but we also need to make sure we are missing nothing important out there. Our fledgling nation is still much too young to trust freely, and failing to verify that we haven't been found out is a fast way to die.” Jean said through the radio on his suit, resting his metallic hand on the butt of a pistol on his hip.

  “Good luck out there. If you find anything, kill it before it kills you.” Rodney replied, knowing perfectly well how tenuous their existence was on this rock of world.