At the same time Samir Duran and Alan Schezar were on their way to the colony, another man chased two fleeing smuggling vessels belong to the same smuggling operation that was soon to be Schezar’s. The man was Tom Kazansky a bounty hunter and an expert Wraith pilot. The two fleeing ships were carrying a large quantity of Confederate weapons, weapons that Emperor Mengsk could use.
“Surrender your vessels or be destroyed,” Tom said into his comm.
“No can do buddy,” a man with a southern accent replied.
“So be it,” Tom said and loaded his missiles.
The two ships swerved to left and Tom Kanzansky followed. The ships were traveling and nimble, but their size would make them easy targets. The ships resembled a dropship in almost everyway, but it was just a bit smaller. Tom locked on to one of the targets and fired. The two Gemini missiles rammed right into the side of the ship on the left. It lost control for a moment, but soon stablised.
“We don’t like your attitude buddy,” the pilot of the ship on the right said. “We’s takin’ you down.”
A small portion of the smuggling crafts flew open, and double-barreled laser cannons came out. Tom was actually surprised to see this. They fired and he pulled hard to the right, just barely dodging the incoming lasers. They fired again and he did a barrel roll to dodge them. He decided it was time to fire back. Without having enough time to lock on to any of the ships, he just fired a point blank at the ship on the right. The ship was hit on one of the bottom afterburners. The ship began to do several quick barrel rolls. It had lost control.
“Can you get out of it?” the man piloting the ship on left asked. There was no reply.
Tom fired at it again, and this time the missiles hit the side of one of the afterburners and exploded. The ship immediately stopped and began to float helplessly in space. The other ship picked up speed, firing at Tom as it fled. He dodged and chased it.
“Why won’t you stay still?” the man shouted at him.
Tom grinned and locked on to the ship. The pilot of that ship’s aim was bad, very bad.
“Sorry, but you lose,” Tom said, and then smiled. “Buddy.”
Then he let loose the two missiles and hit the afterburners, sending the ship to halt in mid air. Then Tom switched to another frequency, this one to a Dominion base.
“I’ve disabled the two enemy ships. They’re clear for capture,” he said.
“Roger that. We’re on our way,” a man replied.
Satisfied, Tom turned his ship to return to the base. He would have to take out a couple more of these smuggling ships before he could receive his pay, but that would have to wait until tomorrow.
***
Alan Schezar was quite amazed when he saw the colony. He was expected it to be a rather small colony, but what he saw was an entire base covering a medium sized moon. He could see several turret placements in different locations, and smuggling ships of all types were leaving from the several starports on the moon. Orbiting the moon were squadrons of Wraiths, something Schezar didn’t expect to see.
“Why are there Wraiths orbiting the moon?” Alan asked Duran over his comm.
“They’re part of our personal military. Our main objective is smuggling, but we have to defend ourselves if need be,” Duran told him.
“You’re more organized then I thought then,” Alan said.
“What did you expect to see?” Duran asked.
“Just a small colony with a few smuggling ships coming and going,” Alan replied.
Duran chuckled. “I thought so.”
The two ships made their way closer to the moon and were heading for one of the starports. This one had no ships coming and leaving from it, suggesting to Alan that it was restricted to those of high rank. They landed at the starport, and Alan was relieved to be able to leave his ship. He pushed a button and a walkway came out of the ship. Then Alan shut it down. He stepped out onto the metallic floor of the starport. He was wearing civilian clothes. A white long sleeved shirt with a black vest, black jeans, and black boots. Up ahead he saw Duran, who was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, black jeans, and black boots. They made their way to each other and shook hands.
“I’m really glad you have chosen to help lead this operation, Mr. Schezar,” Duran said politely.
“Just call me Alan, and it seems I’m going to have my hands full from now on,” he replied and smiled.
Duran smiled back turned toward an entryway. “I’ll show you around.”
The two men left their ships and made their way to the entryway. Two armed men in marine armor made a solute. “It’s a pleasure to have you aboard, sir,” one of them said.
Schezar looked up at them. He had not expected any kind of salute from a smuggling organization, but it seemed natural for him to return the salute and continue on.
“As you can see, our men are very loyal. They have each gone through difficult training,” Duran told him. “They are very disciplined and will follow your orders.”
“Interesting,” he replied.
They walked down several corridors; each time they passed by someone that person would salute them. Alan noted that there were no uniforms for them. They just wore normal civilian clothes. After a few more turns, they came into another docking bay. A single transport craft was there.
“We’ll circle around the moon, it will be much quicker and easier for me to point out certain things for you,” Duran said.
They entered the ship and Duran told the pilot what to do. They strapped themselves in and the ship took off, leaving the starport behind them. The takeoff wasn’t even bumpy. When they had left, they un strapped themselves and walked over to the view port. Duran pointed to a large building.
“That building there is our training center. It is where new recruits go to start their training and where already enlisted men keep in shape,” Duran told him. “Those groups of starports are where all the smugglers land, drop off their cargo, receive their pay, and leave. You’ll have to remember that the smugglers don’t actually work for us, they just do the jobs for us.”
Alan nodded. “Of course.”
The ship continued its course around the moon, and Duran told him everything about every building. Alan Schezar listened of course, for he had plans for this smuggling group. He, wanted back at the Confederacy, and seeing how he had now a military under his control, things would work out how he wanted them. In his mind, he smiled. He couldn’t fail.
