“From eye-undressing to an end-of-life bang, how desperate for life should I feel right now?”

  “That’s your metric? Patience, this is safer than being on the street in Vegas.”

  “That does not instill confidence Kimber!”

  Her desperation shouldn’t be funny, but we’re both pressed into our seats right now as we begin to exit the troposphere. “We’re barely at flattering side-boob. We’ll be transiting past geosynchronous orbit, then we’ll warp to the Hephaestus system. After a day or two in orbit of that star, we’ll warp to Astoria and meet with all kinds of people.”

  “Some travel my ass Kimber!”

  “With that kind of attitude, we won’t land on the Moon on the way back. That suit is planetoid rated, but not naked space. Radiation but no particles of import.”

  Patience starts shouting at me, keeps it up for a solid twenty minutes. I appreciate the silence as the forward viewer goes dark and we initiate our warp sequence.

  \I could make the jump to Astoria with the upgrades I’ve purchased.\

  /Fuck, really? No, no we must not casually break that custom. If Zia or I are in danger, you have permission, otherwise, I don’t want to put Penny in a difficult place./

  \Understood. Initiating warp to Hephaestus in t-20\

  Despite the number of times I’ve been through it, the spatial dilation preceding the warp is disorienting. The viewer fades to transparency again as we coast into glancing contact with the prison planet’s gravity well. The semi-molten hell hole is unlucky enough to have a robust magnetic field and be perfect for low-cost refinery work and prime for aether syphoning. In fact, I know that Penny farms aether in this system pretty ruthlessly as she has no use for the gas giants in outer orbit and the mining contractors do much the same to keep their industry running.

  “Whoa! Is that another planet?!”

  “Yes ma’am. That is Astoria’s Imperial prison planet. This system is also prime for mining, but we’re not near enough to the belt or the gas giant trojans to see mining operations.”

  “So you’ve been to the other systems in the Empire?” Patience asks as she stands close to the viewer panel.

  “Sure. I have industry in the Moiriax and Hades systems, and Astoria is the center of the Empire.”

  “I thought most Humans still live on Earth.”

  “The vast majority, Patience, but the Empire was founded on a larger than Earth, but Earth-like planet orbiting around a close binary pair. The Capitol, Aelea, only has maybe five million people, but is the center of trade and innovation for the civilization that the Empress built.”

  “Says the Empress stan.” Patience smirks at me through her suit’s visor.

  “Guilty. But at the same time, I have a condo in her castle, so be respectful.”

  “You’ve met the EMPRESS!?”

  I snort at that, if only she knew. “Well, yeah. She makes a point to meet major industry leaders in the Empire, and I am the single-largest drug manufacturer in her space. She buys half of it in any case.”

  Aria tells me that Patience is about to feint and I watch it in real time. Weird to see that happen, but good thing she’s wearing a helmet. While she’s out I switch out the battery crystals, do the required checks and trickle in aether from the collectors as protocol requires before clearing us for warp to Astora the next morning.

  “Aria, bring us to Astoria, Astoria.” She chirps in confirmation.

  “Alaris is in system this time. May I visit her?” The hope in her chirps is hard to resist.

  “Sure, arrange for us to have planeside transport, and you’ve earned yourself three whole days of confab.”

  She trills in that cute way of hers and we stretch into our next warp.

  When the viewer comes back online, we’re in a close approach with Mercy, Astoria’s surviving moon, instead of a far-orbit of the planet itself.

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  “Aria? Status.”

  “Yes, Director, we seem to have been shunted outward from our initial destination. Either the Sector Host or the Empress are responsible, and neither would do so for convenience.” A few seconds later alarms ring across my piloting panel and I know something’s up. A dreadnaught-sized transport materializes in geosynch in the typical arrival pattern, but taking up the entire arrival field. Within a few minutes, the ship pushes itself out into a widening orbit, making space for traditional traffic.

  “Director, we are being hailed.”

  “Aria, how the fuck are we being hailed? I haven’t broadcasted yet!”

  “I believe that they are using expensive, higher-order communications devices to bypass many protections in an attempt to discuss your auctions with you.”

  Damnit! Penny was so fucking right. Guh. “On viewer please.”

  A wombat-looking biped appears leaning on a console as they look back at me.

  “Are you NovaChem?” The translation software asks.

  “I am. I am busy and wish to land on Astoria to further said business.”

  “Can comply, NovaChem. Intend to query shoreside while you work. Please accept.”

  I sigh and shake my head. “Copy, Wombat Dreadnaught. Coordinate your orbit with Astoria and follow my transport with a transport planetside.”

  “Tambori Supercoot will comply.” I watch the massive vessel change course and sigh in relief.

  Knowing that behemoth is here for me is one thing, the fact that it violated many Astorian protocols and probably garnered Penny’s interest is another issue entirely. I alert Aria that she needs to be very vocal about our flight plans to the equatorial plantation we are headed to is the last thing I do before I start plugging through menus to find my notes on my potion making.

  Less than an hour later, I’m standing on solid ground next to a five-foot-tall wombat standing like a meercat and the pixie ruler with the planet namesake.

  “While I understand that the Tambori are only here for NovaChem supplies, you are on my planet. She has business here but you are required to . . .” The wombat raises a blaster and shoots Penny. It bounces back. The wombat keeps shooting and Penny pops its innards and it collapses.

  “Really? I just wanted to do diplomacy! I . . . wait, transporters?” Penny questions as a working wombat with a blaster replaces the dead one. The result is the same, and a new one is transported in to replace the next dead one. Penny sighs and disappears.

  “Now that the nuisance is out of the way, we require the recipe of your crafting potion.” The wombat points its blaster at my head.

  “Dude, I would willingly sell you more, but the recipe isn’t for sale.” This pretentious ass.

  “I was not asking.” He aims, I [Triggered Action] and place pulse pistol rounds through it. The transporter energizes again for a moment before it stutters out and a small show of light can be seen from the sky during the day.

  Penny blips in a moment after. “Well, I sent some notices out, blew up their engines and hopefully crippled their transporters. So, best guesses at this point.” She blows smoke with her sigh. “This was a bit more involved than I thought your stalkers would be, but ‘I told you so’.”

  “Did I just cause an inter-system incident?”

  “Yes and no. I messaged the Andromeda Forum, but I also neutralized their engines. They are stuck in a widening orbit that will eventually decay into Solastra or Solastrab some years from now. Plenty of time for a diplomatic solution.” She huffs and looks around. “Kimber, who’s the girl?”

  “This is my personal assistant, Patience. She’s not acclimated to Astoria yet. Patience, meet Penny.”

  The pixie scoffs at me. “Are you trying to avoid calling me something Kimber? No mind, I just need you to sign for the plantation. Franny left a spot for a ranch house and a factory, so build that and start harvesting. I want that new contract and the Voles have other places they can get Earther drugs.”

  When she says that, I know that she means the black-market goods that her ex-wife peddles. “I get ya, Penny. I still need a line on a freighter and some surface to space transports.”

  “Danny was waiting for you to jump to Ganymede to pick them up you shit. You owe him twelve million, but you get a freighter, a transport fighter and three surface to space transports out of the deal.” She shoves me a folder of data.

  “Five million kilos? That’s a berfy girl, Penny.” I check the bill of sale she sends me.

  “Yeah, I want you running freight to Earth as well. Five million kilos is the smallest freighter that the trip is worth running. The fighter and the transports are current run schematics, so you’re getting a deal.”

  “I’m not scoffing the gear, you pixie brat, I was just marveling at how you can be pushy and helpful at the same time!” I’m wide smiles while I call her a brat.

  Her wings ruffle and her hair poofs in frustration before she realizes the scope of my statement. “You’re welcome, but also, get to work. I’m sending Aria and I guess your . . . Hah! Patience. Love it. The shipments I want you to take on your route back to Earth. I have picked a pilot and crew that are happy to work for the first year, renegotiable after that. You pay after the first two months, per our partnership. Blah blah, business details. Blah. Questions?”

  “How long until you fill the ship and can I use your lab until then to fund the shit my mouth promised?”

  Penny gets a good laugh at the hole I dug myself.

  “Two weeks, and you can borrow the apparatuses that you need for your home lab.” She disappears again and moments later I hear a body hitting the dirt.

  I pick up my assistant and fly us both to the raised plot near a body of water I don’t recognize, to take a look at the area I have to work with. I see a plot cleared of the surrounding jungle and replanted with adult coca trees totaling about 40 hectares. The deed I just paid for was for . . . A THOUSAND!? I could put a town at the other corner and I’d never see it from here. Of course I’ll need to build a processing station, buy the harvesting equipment and the rest of the chain to get this to my factory. I’ll also have to ask Dr. Summers what the yield of this variety of plant is compared to the old one.

  Ugh, so many more questions than answers.