Epilogue

~ Seven Days After the Welcoming Ceremony ~

Penirgman’s star objects resolved in Airgoidh’s gel HUD as the jump ended, marking her rifter in this system near the Ashab Stargate. Additional scans provided nothing her own perception hadn’t already made available to her. She moved the gel HUD aside and to her right by swiping it as if simply moving a can. She drew a latent image that was underneath up one layer so she could interact with this NeoCom’s connection with the Ministry of Internal Order. The access codes were bypassed and the file opened. Yes, this was the one she wanted.

She willed the ship into warp to a spot just beside the fourth planet. Her rifter, One That Weeps, fell out of warp into the direct flight path of another vessel, a stabber. Pushing that Ministry access window back, she returned the gel HUD back into her main view. The two ships were about 10 kilometers from each other, and the Matari pilot was requesting a comm-interlink with her.

She opened the link by tapping the icon twice.

“Matari vessel, I’ve been waiting for you,” the pilot of the other ship stated. “Our Republic Security Services mission file states we are to locate and stop a slave transport. Acknowledge.”

She remained silent as her targeting scanner acquired a lock on his stabber.

“What are you doing? Cease this action immediately.”

More silence. She pushed the rifter’s afterburners, now orbiting the other Matari at 7.5 kilometers. The pilot was auto-locking her, and would likely fire his missile bays if she failed to respond.

She squeezed the icon of his ship between forefinger and thumb, then jabbed at the icon with her other hand to initiate projectile firing. Three turrets sent titanium sabot ripping into his hull in fast action, and she felt his fear as his heart quickened. He initiated missile launch procedures, and she smiled. Her ship spun quickly about his stabber, turrets turning his hull into scrap.

Three missiles launched and she let them strike her without notice. Minor shield buckling ignored, she continued her strikes. Too slow in response, his stabber came apart. “Why are you doing this?”

His voice reflected his fear and lack of experience. He was trying to warp away, but her turrets sliced him apart. His pod detached from the wreck of the vessel, but she continued firing. Only his corpse remained, riddled and burned somewhat by her attack. She scooped it into the cargo bay, and set course for the Ministry of Internal Order station orbiting Penirgman VII.

Tava Jopri, a Ni-Kunni, sat at her desk trying to filter through the coded and secured messages that entered her inbox every minute. As a low level functionary agent in the Ministry of Internal Order, she was supposed to forward relevant messages onto other higher agents or retain for her own meager staff and runners. Missions for intelligence gathering as well as protecting Amarrian space in the Domain Regions were her main focus.

The office door opened, and she stood as a red haired woman entered dragging a body. The Matari was tall, a Brutor with red marks on her forehead, and what looked to be tattoos of tears running down her cheeks beneath her eyes.

Tava stepped back again, nearly against the bulkhead. A Matari here in the Ministry station? Where were the security guards? She didn’t dare move forward to hit the alarm, nor did she want to stand backed against the wall.

The Matari lifted the body she was dragging onto the desk, letting it splay across her paperwork like so much trash. A voice spoke to her, deep and strongly female, the voice of a Matari without hesitation. “Under mission file Alpha-Zero One, I am claiming the reward for the death of this terrorist.”

Tava could only nod, then moved a little forward to her NeoCom. She moved slowly, and the Matari waited, eyes not seeming to move at all. Was she even looking at me? Tava tapped the file code, and skipped between what the screen displayed and the dead Matari body on her desk.

“I see . . . yes, that mission was activated just this morning. We . . . we . . .”

“. . . received a notice from Internal Order that a terrorist might be seeking to disrupt slave trade in this system,” the red haired woman finished. “I am one of your runners now, Ms. Jopri. I am available for your next assignment.”

Tava nodded, again all she could do. “Please put this Matari . . . um, body in the biomass queue and you will find your next assignment for download there.” She pointed to a data port against the wall near the door. “I’ll just need your . . . um . . . need your name for my reports.” She didn’t want the name of this Matari. Fear is what she wanted to call the woman.

“I am the Weeping Sister.” She turned, taking the body with her, dragging it behind her and out the door, stopping only briefly to wave her PAD in front of the data port. A short hesitation as the door opened. “Do not mistake me, Ni Kunni. I am not to be trifled with. I intend to be your number one runner.”

“Of course. We always need . . . um . . . good people to work for the greatness of the Emperor.” A Matari? Working for the Emperor rather than against the faithful? She wanted to sent a notice to her supervisor, but in tapping in the successful report of the mission Alpha-Zero One, she noticed her rating with the Ministry had improved. She sat back down and thought of her goal of moving into a higher position.

Straightening her desk, she keyed in the next sequence of missions, looking for the ones to give to this . . . this Weeping Sister. The ones with the most risk, and also the greatest gain. She’d just keep this Matari runner secret for now until she had moved up in the ranks. After that, well, the Emperor had stated Matari were to be treated humanly, and a Matari who had offered her obviously skilled services to the Emperor?

Surely, the reclaiming made real here in the backworld system that was Penirgman.

End of Book Two - Tribal Council Trilogy: Revelations of the Faithful