It is disheartening to know the Union has over five hundred vessels dedicated just to mass transport of large populations ready and easily utilized at a moment's notice. It’s even worse when you realize that’s not even half of the vessels they keep for just this purpose. Able to semi comfortable contain a hundred thousand people in each ship, ten times that in the larger ones, the transport armada is fully loaded and ready to get out of Dodge.

  Getting on the transport is only half the battle. Now my single vessel needs to escort five hundred ships to the other side of the galaxy without incident. Not as hard as it sounds really. The Krint have few enemies so interception from a proper fleet is not an issue. Pirates are always a possibility. A lot of slaves to be in even one vessel. The transports are unarmed but they have enough shielding to make a Bulwark blush. Depends how desperate and stupid they are. Really there should be a proper escort fleet to dissuade exactly that scenario. Seems the Union couldn’t spare the resources. Go figure.

  “Are the shuttles on their way? I want every spare bit of space filled up before we go.”

  “Yes Sir. All shuttles are full and on their way. It is going to be rather crowded. We are not as empty as we were a few weeks ago.”

  “Good. The more the merrier I say.”

  The Moby has over two hundred shuttle craft of various sizes and role. Some are small courier meant to carry 2 or 3 people, plus pilot, short distances. Others are combat craft sending a squad or two for direct assaults. Some are long range transports with their own miniature FTL drives. And some are heavy cargo haulers meant for supply runs and little else. Every one is filled pasted capacity and grabbing as many people as they can.

  “Inquiry: For what reason are we putting such a large amount of resources for a race that does not wish to be part of our government body?”

  “Only the ruling body doesn’t want to be part of the Union. The citizens think otherwise.”

  “Inquiry: Then would it not be the logical course of action to remove the ruling class in favor of a new Union friendly one?”

  “That is not an option either.”

  “Whys is no? People fights for what they believes. If bad Queen, remove Queen. If Beastes wars to you, make wars back.”

  Joan isn’t being particularly subtle with that last one.

  “Not everyone can fight.” Raze is speaking oddly low right now. “Fighting is about more then just willpower and physical strength. You need a lot to keep a battle going. Weapons, tactics, supplies and a plan. And these Krint, they already look so hungry. So tired. If they asked, we Rackter would be here to fight for them in a heartbeat.”

  “And therein lies the problem.”

  Inanna flips to some charts and graphs.

  “We carefully and anonymously held a planet wide vote. Even with zero possibility of direct government retaliation, only 12% of the population voted to remove the current ruling party.”

  “Twelves percent. That is, uh, lets see nows.” Joan starts counting on her hands. “Mores than one in tens, right?”

  “Yes Joan. You are learning quickly.”

  Now there's a winning smile. Save the fangs.

  “So. Ifs thing so bad, stay?”

  Inanna eyes the Diegiton and Harvester.

  “I think both of you could understand how people can be defensive about their homeland.”

  Joan and Deed stare at each other, then quickly look away. Don’t think either of them liked the implication.

  “We are going to take those that want to leave because it’s the right thing to do. The rest can stay and do as they will. Time will tell which will end up regretting it.”

  Fairy gives my arm a little tug.

  “Is it really that common? To leave behind everything, even your home? How can someone do that, just leave their whole history and run?”

  “More often than anyone wishes.”

  “Maaany races wiiithin the Uuunion have lossst their Hommmeworrrlds. In faccct, we Enkephalopod looost ouuur Home lonnng ago.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Fairy’s ears droop.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. How did it happen?”

  “Nooo need to apooologggize. It happeeened long befffore Our timeee. Our starrr burnt out. Weee were looong gonnne before the eeend.”

  “Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky in their evacuation. Planets are fragile things. Sometimes no matter what you do they can’t be saved. There are so many ways to ruin it for yourselves. Pollution, war, famine. And that’s without getting into what your neighbor is doing.”

  Speaking of neighbors. Enemy ships incoming.

  “Enemy ships incoming!”

  Thank you Raze, very helpful.

  “Twenty vessels six hundred thousand kilometers and closing. Priming long range weaponry. We should be able to take them all out in three volleys.”

  “Negeative. We aren’t allowed to fire.”

  “Then what was the point of all these new weapons?”

  “Negative action. Save it for next time.”

  Have you ever seen a grown lizard pout? I have.

  “I’m sure they are just here to see us off. Hail them and ask them to kindly back off.”

  There was a bit of debate as to where to put Joan on the bridge. Deed could go pretty much anywhere and be ok. Joan, less so. Eventually we settled on the Comms bay. The panel is fairly simple and she learned new languages surprisingly fast. At my order, Joan sends out the basic hail.

  “No respond. Ears no work?”

  “No, they work. They just aren't answering.”

  “A wall always listens, yet never answers.”

  “Deed, can we get a long range scan?”

  “Confirmation: Scan complete.”

  Those are definitely Krint vessels. Rather small and outdated. Even by Human standards these are quaint. Boxy with an easy to identify underslung kinetic cannon. There is something off, though.

  “Why are their royal insignias missing?”

  Alcea zooms in and inspects the hulls closer.

  “It seems to me, for what that is worth, they removed them. Perhaps a sand blaster? The armor has been scratched horribly.”

  “They got more than enough sand. The question is why.”

  Inanna inspects the screen carefully.

  “Sir, if I may. I would wager it is for political deception. Any action they perform can be claimed to have been done by these “terrorists” and therefore not the responsibility of the ruling body. And if we should retaliate, and win, the action could be claimed as a violation of the treaty and require substantial compensation.”

  “Well they aren’t going to get crap. Those ships couldn’t hurt even a single transport if they tried.”

  “Correction: It would be possible for those vessels to damage our refugee transports if they committed to a suicidal ram attack.Even with their minor mass the combination of sufficient velocity and volatile fuel and ammunition storage could cause significant harm.”

  “Well they aren’t crazy enough to do that, right?”

  The room is quiet for a moment.

  “Right, stupid question. That is on me.”

  “So,” Fairy flips through the refugee trade agreement. “What are our options?”

  “I have weapons charged and ready for full salvo.”

  “Raze, stop. We aren’t going to kill them.”

  “Oh come on. Just one Anti matter missile would send the rest packing.”

  “No missiles. We are not going to use any lethal force.”

  I can feel Raze’s angry eyes trying to bore through my head.

  “Prepair the EMP Projector.”

  Raze raises his fist in triumph and slams the console.

  “Captain, I was not aware the Moby was equipped with an EMP Projector.”

  “I got it on special order. A great Admiral once taught me the hard way that subtlety has advantages.”

  Another great smile. On a roll today.

  “Alright Raze. Disable their vessels. Keep the voltage low enough they won’t even see it with the naked eye. Some political camouflage all our own.”

  Fairy tugs my arm again.

  “Won’t there still be records of us firing?”

  “Deed.”

  “Acknowledgment: Files altered. There shall be no records of the current event.”

  “Perfect. Raze, open fire.”

  Our sensors are sensitive enough to detect the wave crossing countless hundreds of kilometers. Theirs are not. Amazing how far you can accurately hit something when there aren’t jammers everywhere. In space, momentum doesn’t stop. So even with their engines disabled and their navigation down, the ships keep moving forward. Though now they will miss the transports by half a planet.

  A few more shots and their entire little fleet is bricked. Wish I could see the confusion on their faces. Would be priceless. They’ll be at the tenth planet in the system before they figure out how to fix this. Their Prime King wouldn’t be able to complain to anyone. He and his helpless fleet are all on their own now.

  The shuttles return, unloading thousands of Krint into the Moby. This is more what I was expecting. As unfortunate as that is to say. Even from here I can see how thin they are. Even the children are malnourished. They have almost no possessions besides the rags on their backs. The Moby has a full crew. There is only enough space for around a thousand passengers. There are at least five times that. Most will be spending the trip sleeping in halls and across the floor. Remind me of my childhood.

  “Captain, all transports are past the safety threshold and accounted for. Preparing for mass jump at designated coordinates.”

  “Everything went off without a hitch. Let's get out of this barren system. All vessels, jump.”