Chapter 27

Hyperspace.

Approaching the Sidernis system.

"Hyperspace emergence in 3...2...1...Emergence!"

Sarah leaned back in her seat as the Eternal Seeker emerged from hyperspace. Now, more than ever, she needed to stay calm and collected. The discovery of the divinium and the implications of it's existence in the hands of terrorists had agitated her crew, to say the least. Fortunately, they were experienced mercenaries, and they'd shrugged it off, but there was still an undercurrent of tension throughout the whole ship.

"Status?" She asked Elteria as her hologram appeared by her side.

"We have arrived in our jump zone, 15 kilometers off of the center." Answered the AI, before gesturing at the display as it updated. "Scans detect 3 active drive signatures in point blank weapons range, and 18 more within missile range. Running through the transponders now...Confirmed. Detecting 17 merchant vessels, 1 Sidernis Defence Fleet ship and 3 Dominion Navy warships."

Sarah nodded, before looking to the side as Connie raised her hand.

"We're being hailed! Transmission from the Twilight Hunter, Dominion Navy!"

"Put them through."

"Aye aye ma'am."

The system display flickered, and was replaced by a holographic screen showing a woman whose appearance almost made Sarah blink, as her face was covered in burn scars. She knew the Dominion's tech was backwards, but even they should be able to clone skin ! Which meant that this was a deliberate choice on the woman's part.

"Captain Ciel." Said the woman formally, saying her abreviated name with the tone of people that really didn't want to try pronouncing the rest of it. "I am captain Celestia Evator, of the Dominion Navy. I bid you welcome to the Sidernis system on behalf of admiral Soliensky, and would like to forward his invitation for dinner. If you'd be so inclined, my ship will escort you in."

Sarah's eyebrow rose slightly, before she forcibly lowered it, and nodded. She'd already gathered the woman was the ship's captain -Dominion naval uniforms were simple but distinctive, and the woman had the same golden rocket Sarah herself sported, the symbol of a ship captain throughout the Known Universe-, but she had hardly expected her to forward a message from an admiral....especially not the admiral that was supposedly in charge of the entire province.

Besides, they were waiting for her, and while she was fairly sure the escort was mainly a courtesy, it was also a fair sign that refusing would be....counter indicated.

"I would be honored to accept captain Evator, unfortunately I am contracted to captain Gries to escort his ship, the Flowers." Sarah held up her hand as the Dominion captain opened her mouth. "I know you will guarantee his safety-" Which they damned well should, this system housed a stars damned naval base after all. "-but I will take no substitute for protection provided by my ship. If only because the contract obligates me to escort him until he is in orbit of Sidernis Prime. So if you could forward my regrets to the admiral, and tell him that I would be most honored to take him up on his invitation....once the Flowers has arrived in orbit."

Evator stared at Sarah for a few seconds, before smiling and nodding.

"The admiral warned me you'd say that. Alright captain Ciel, we'll wait for your charge, and escort it together to it's destination. Is that satisfactory?"

"It is."

"Excellent! Very well then, until he arrives feel free to power up your weapon systems, but be warned that any use of active sensors will result in retaliatory measures."

"Of course." Said Elteria as she nodded, and the Dominion captain nodded back before cutting the connection. That wouldn't do much for her of course, the Seeker's passive sensors being more than up to the task of providing a target lock as long as no one was throwing ECM and jamming around, but the Dominion captain didn't know that. Besides, she doubted the ships around her would be able to exact much 'retaliation' before being obliterated if she truly wanted to kill them. Speaking of which...

"Elteria, status on the whole system? Especially warships."

Elteria gestured at the display, which zoomed off from their immediate area, and englobed the entire star system.

"So far? I'm detecting over six thousand active grav drive signatures. Most are tied to civilian transponders, and virtually all of the exceptions appear to be from the Sidernis Defence Fleet." Sarah nodded, in a system as strategic as this the Dominion usually subsidized the hell out of the local defence force so they could supplement the Dominion's own forces in the event of a siege. That was the official version of course, most of the time it was just to develop military industries in the system so the Dominion could source cheap, local components for it's garrison, as well as requisition the space yards in times of war. The Dominion Navy also wouldn't hesitate to use the local fleet as a pool of experienced personnel to draft for their own vessels, and use the defence force's ships as expendable meatshields if necessary. "There are a few Dominion transponders, but they are concentrated around the hyperspace beacons, and Sidernis Prime itself." Elteria shook her head. "So far...so far I have detected only a handful of hyperspace capable warships. Half a dozen Hunter class frigates like our friend, and a couple of battle carriers."

Sarah frowned, that...

"That's...concerning. What's the nominal strength of the garrison there?"

"You mean the official roster, or what they actually got most of the time?"

Sarah smiled. The 'official roster' was still based on pre-civil war strength naval allocations. Which meant that if they'd been upheld there would have been an entire damned battlefleet stationed here, and Arion's little problem would have been pacified nigh instantaneously.

"What they actually have please."

"According to my data? 3 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, 60 or so frigates and over 300 corvettes of various sizes, most housed aboard their 30 or so battle carriers. Number of gunships...varies a lot, a thousand or so most of the time."

Sarah whistled softly. That was a considerable amount of firepower, and more than deserving the title of 'fleet' by the Dominion's standards.

It was also enough firepower to pacify a hundred star systems in this backwater region. Which begged a lot of questions as to why those ships weren't here. She knew the Dominion Navy was stretched thin, but even under normal operations there should be cruisers and battle carriers coming and going as they resupplied before leaving, which meant that they'd all left more or less at the same time, or simply couldn't afford to come back to resupply.

"Damn. That's....terrifying. What the hell could syphon that kind of firepower?"

Elteria shook her head slowly, before blinking, and her face became grim.

"I just received an update from the system's datanet." Sidernis had the advantage of being developed enough to have communication satellites scattered throughout the system, tying it all into a coherent datanet, or 'internet' as some people called it, in homage of the first such datanet in human history. "The data you asked your friends to provide? I've just gotten it. And to answer your question, how about half the fucking Fringe going up in flames?"

Sarah swallowed. The Fringe was the outermost layer of the Protectorate, a 2 000 astras band encircling the Periphery, which itself encircled the Core. The Fringe was most composed of underdeveloped systems like Sepia or Arion, although it did have a few more capable systems like Calver. Systems like Sidernis on the other hand were considered part of the Periphery.

"Forward me the data."

*****

In the end Elteria's statement turned out to be pessimistic....but not by much. Rebellions and insurrections were blowing up throughout the Protectorate, mostly concentrated in the Fringe, although there were some very worrying reports from systems in the Periphery as well. The Dominion had managed to keep a lid on it for now, but news was beginning to leak out, and it wouldn't be long before things started to go sideways, fast.

"Well shit." Said Sarah as she leaned back in her office's chair. "It looks like our divinium totting friends had a far bigger operation than we anticipated."

"That's one hell of an understatement." Said Elteria as she sat down wearily on the desk. "That's at least ten thousand star systems in active civil war or with their governments already overthrown. Some of that has to be a domino effect from other successful insurrections, but..."

"A lot of it had to have been planned in advance."

"Yeah." Elteria sighed. "The resources required to do that..."

"Are incalculable, I know."

"Not...really, actually. Most of the rebellions seem to be fairly low key, insurrections toppling the local government through coups or such things. Most of them appeared to have been small movements for a while, but they just blew into the light, and the Dominion is scrambling to try and keep a hold of the situation."

Sarah nodded, then stopped.

"Oh shit."

"What?"

"That's exactly what they want. How much do you want to bet that there is a whole pile of systems with small movements like the New Arion Republic? Ones our mysterious friends gave the means to build warships. Then suddenly, as the Dominion is stretched as thin as they are...bam, rebel fleets appear all over the Protectorate, striking at isolated Dominion detachments, linking up with systems that can fuel the shipyards...."

Elteria's face went white.

"The Protectorate would collapse."

"At the very least. If the Protectorate is gone, so is the Dominion."

The AI nodded. They were both morbidly certain that if the Protectorate went down in flames, so would the Dominion. The embers from the civil war were still simmering below the surface, and were only kept quiet through respect and the Dominion Navy. If either or, hell, both took a major hit, the Dominion would fall into another civil war, one it most likely wouldn't be getting back up from.

"Right. Shit. Well, so much for this galaxy being a vacation compared to Weiter Stern."

Sarah winced. The Weiter Stern galaxy had been one of the first places they'd gone to after becoming mercenaries, and it was a complete clusterfuck. Two High Verge galactic superpowers were locked in a cold war, with the rest of the nations caught between them. If her guess was right, that entire galaxy was poised for a war that would consume it. The Dominion and it's Protectorate had been positively calm in comparison.

"Yep. Alright, ETA to Sidernis Prime?"

"36 minutes. Evator also sent a message. The admiral will be waiting for us on the fleet base."

"Right. Get into contact with them, try either to get a shuttle to us or a docking berth. I'll contact Gries to finalize the contract."

"Aye aye ma'am!"

*****

"Captain Ciel-étoilé!" Said the middle aged man behind the desk as he rose.

Sarah smiled as she stepped into the tastefully ornamented office. The Dominion marines that had escorted her had been courteous to the extreme, but she'd still been surrounded by a full fireteam of heavily armed soldiers, and she'd had the unwelcome sensation of being a prisoner.

Fortunately, the station had authorized her ship to dock, and although there was a low chance for trouble, she'd still ordered Hector to gear up for a retrieval mission, just in case. Which had proven completely superfluous because his marines were already in power armor when she'd gone to talk to him. It was nice having competent subordinates.

Sarah stepped forward, and took the man's hand as he extended it. The man was wearing an almost bare jump suit, but the amount of decorations displayed around the room was a pretty clear indication as to who he was, as was the 'receptionist' to his office, who looked like a concentrated bundle of hurt waiting for somebody to happen to. She'd rarely interacted with the Dominion's elite units, but that woman radiated 'special forces' so hard it was almost comical.

The admiral would have looked almost non descript if it wasn't for his impressive sideburn beard, and piercing pure black eyes.

"Admiral Soliensky. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I can assure you captain, the pleasure is all mine!" Said the admiral, and his tone indicated that he meant it. Which was odd to say the least, as military officers generally didn't like mercenaries, especially high ranking ones, but given the news she'd gotten she was hardly surprised. "Please, take a seat!"

Sarah sat down, and the admiral pulled a bottle and a couple of glasses out of a nearby cabinet.

"Do you like whiskey captain?" Sarah nodded, and the admiral grinned as he poured a generous measure of the amber liquid in both glasses. "Excellent then. Here, to your victory over the New Arion Republic's so called 'Navy'!"

He lifted his glass, and Sarah imitated him, before downing the drink. It was...surprisingly good actually, much better than she'd have expected even a Dominion admiral to have in his cabinet. That, or he was offering her an even more special treatment than she'd been expecting.

"Alright admiral. I see that you are buttering me up for something. So let's get to the point. What do you need from me?"

The admiral blinked, and his smile turned even wider, and Sarah internally cursed. Keeping her negotiating opponents off balance was always a good thing, but it would take more than that to phase that man.

"My, you are as direct as the reports said!" The admiral leaned back into his seat. "Many things actually. First things first, I'd like to assure you that your bounty payment has been made in full, including a full payment for the gunships." Sarah nodded. The Dominion had offered to buy the gunships from her, at a very good price, as soon as she'd reported their capture. Since they'd have been probably been held up as evidence until the investigation anyway if she'd turned them down, she had accepted. "Next, I'd like to personally thank you. The NAR has been a thorn in my side for far too long. Unfortunately they weren't a thorn big enough to warrant sending in a naval detachment, at least from what I knew. If I'd been aware of what they were building, you can be sure I'd have sent a flotilla to stop them." The admiral shook his head as he poured another measure of whiskey in both of their glasses. "To think that they were building a fleet right under my nose...And lastly, I wanted to thank you for the invaluable intelligence you provided. Just the existence of such a shipyard is a vital piece of intelligence I desperately needed, and so is the fact that someone is apparently feeding them materials."

Sarah nodded once more as she took a sip of the drink. It had been made very clear after even a cursory interrogation of the gunship crews that they were receiving regular shipments of materials, especially components the NAR was incapable of manufacturing on it's own, although they didn't know where and from whom.

"That must prove...illuminating, especially considering the current situation." Said Sarah as she casually leaned back and downed the rest of her glass. "It rather puts all those rebellions and insurrections into perspective doesn't it?"

The admiral looked at her, before slowly nodding as he leaned forward to refill her glass.

"I see that you are as well informed as you are competent, captain. Yes, it does put those rebellions into perspective." The admiral leaned back. "Alright, allow me to be frank: if this is even half as bad as I fear, I'm not going to live long enough to see another new year. Neither will most of the people under my command."

Sarah avoided goggling at the admiral in extremis. Frank indeed!

"I wouldn't be this...extreme, but your position does appear precarious."

The admiral smiled, but all of his previous mirth was missing from it, and underneath it Sarah caught a glimpse of the grim, unyielding soldier underneath it. No matter what happened, the admiral wouldn't leave his post, she knew. If his command was to be overrun, he'd stand by his men until the end, and die with them if he had to.

"I hope I am wrong captain, but I am very much afraid I am right. Which brings me to my next point. There is a possibility to avoid that. All of those theoretical shipyards have gone under the radar because quite frankly the groups supposed to house them wouldn't have the resources to fuel them. Which means they are getting virtually all of their critical components from somewhere. And the initial analysis on the gunships you captured shows one thing: they might have erased all the identifying serial numbers, but all of those parts came from the same place, and the initial round of interrogation shows that all of the delivery ships appear to be part of the same organization."

Sarah nodded. That much she'd gathered, although from the intel she had collected it seemed pretty clear whatever organization was funding all this was delivering everything through proxies, most probably through arms dealers or a smuggling network, but weren't using their own people to do it. Which suggested all sorts of interesting possibilities as to why they were so keen to avoid having their organization, or at least it's members, pinned down.

"We'd gathered as much. Probably a cluster of high industrialized worlds, or a large megacorporation, with a bunch of intermediaries to blurr the trail, and final deliveries handled by some kind of smuggling consortium. Your point being?"

"My point being, captain, that if this supply chain was disrupted, it would throw enough of a wrench in my enemies' plans to either give me the time to track down and demolish those shipyards, or outright make them useless by smashing the rebellions supposed to pin us down for the ships they're building." The admiral sighed. "Unfortunately I neither have the ships to spare, or people with the expertise necessary to conduct the investigations necessary to pin down that supply chain. Which brings me to you." The admiral grabbed something from a drawer in his desk, and brought up an ornamented box, with the crossed ships over a lit torch of the Dominion Navy emblazoned on it. "Captain Ciel-étoilé, if called upon..." He opened the box, and the golden rank tabs of a Dominion Navy commodore shone in the light of the office. "Would you serve?"

Sarah stared at the box, then looked up at the admiral's earnest expression.

"Absolutely not."