Exiles

  Chapter 20 Fury

  The mood was tense on the bridge of the Fury. Jasper glowered at everyone as Wilkes replayed the final message from Scott. Scowling as he watched Ford, blissfully unaware that his actions we’re being transmitted across the galaxy, frogmarch Scott off.

  “We’re still at least three jumps away from the Scorpion Nebula, what are your orders sir?” asked Alice cautiously, trying not to invoke his wrath.

  He rubbed his hand across the rough stubble on his chin thoughtfully, his cybernetic eye clicking and whirring, his mind seething with anger. He let the lower level locks slip off and reached out scanning the crew, sensing the mood in the ship. It was sullen and downbeat. He’d cut their R&R short on the legendary pleasure planet of Dionysus. An amoral den of iniquity, open to all and any with sufficient funds to gain entry. A safety valve for the rich, the famous and the infamous. It sat outside the normal boundaries of human space, decency and laws. A place where shady deals were struck, behind the closed doors of bedrooms, banqueting halls, saunas and bath houses. Fortunes squandered and won in casino’s, reputations made and lost. It was here that he’d brokered the secret deal between the governor of Nova-7 and Scott’s Raider’s, with of course a ten percent cut for himself. Now that idiot Scott, who a few short hours ago had promised to deliver Ford and his crew to him on a plate, was now no doubt ready to expose it all to save his own sorry skin.

  Jasper shook his head, at least the stupid bastard had, had, the wherewithal to broadcast his last message on an encrypted channel only the Fury could decipher. “No, there’s nothing there for us now, change course. We’re going directly to Nova-7. If we time it right, unlike that idiot Scott, we’ll be able to eliminate Ford and any other lose ends from our dealings there at the same time.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.” replied Alice as she instructed the crew to plot a new course for Nova-7.

  Jasper turned to Jackson. “Perhaps your experiments, with the last batch of guinea pigs I gave you from the Dracon system, might be of assistance?”

  Jackson smiled. “I’m sure I’ll be able to rustle up something useful.”

  “I’ll get to work on a propaganda strategy for dealing with all potential outcomes.” added Angelica.

  Jasper nodded silently and gestured to Alice to join him in his quarters when she’d finished on the bridge. They were some distance away from Nova-7 and it was Angelica’s turn to wrestle with the green eyed monster of jealously.