The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Eleven

"I'll try...yes, does that work?" Ellie looked up. The schematic of the Solar Forge was gone. Instead, the interstellar transport network filled the screen. Bright dots labelled with the commonwealth stars stretched from one side of the display to the other, and white lines linked the stars wherever beacon pairs existed.

"Perfect, Ellie. Okay, Tila, we are right there, see?"

On the map Praxis glowed as Malachi pointed.

"Thanks, Ellie."

"You're welcome."

"So, where's the other beacon?" said Tila.

"I don't know. It can't be far though, only a couple of systems are in range."

"But they have beacons already so what's the point?" said Ellie.

"Oh. I'm the idiot!" said Tila suddenly. She grabbed Malachi's forearm and squeezed.

"Ow. What?"

"It's obvious. I can't believe you didn't see it before, Mal!"

"See what? And let go of my arm."

Tila pointed at a bright star on the map, the only star not part of the network. The only star someone the commonwealth ever tried to jump to, twelve years before.

"Oh Tila, you're a genius. Ellie, so are you. I can't believe I missed it."

"Only Baru, right? Where the colony mission was supposed to go and build a new beacon."

"Of course! They did build it, and they built another one here. Their own private beacon network. A darknet."

Ellie sat back in her chair and folded her arms. "I told you they jumped!" she said

"Mal, this is it. This is the proof. It's why no-one heard from the mission. They've been coming and going through a secret network."

"For twelve years," he added. The scale of the deception astounded him. It meant new beacon technology not only existed, it had been operational for more than a decade. And the secret of its success had been hidden and controlled by only a few, instead of benefiting the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth which had funded and supported the mission which made all of this possible."

"I still have a question," said Ellie.

"What is it?" said Tila.

"I still don't understand how the mining ship fits in with all this."

"I think I do, but it's not good," said Malachi.

"Mal?" said Tila.

"They're mining in Baru and bringing the material here for processing."

"So, it's a mining scam?" said Ellie. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"Depends what they're mining."

"Can we tell?"

Malachi returned to the database and interrogated the system for cargo manifests. A list of minerals appeared on the cracked display. "There it is."

Tila stood up to read the list. "Iridium, silver, iron, nickel. They're normal. What about the gold and silver?"

"What are the others? What's osmium and tritinium and moly... molybdenum?" said Ellie.

"They're rare minerals. Tritinium is extremely rare. It's used in jump beacons. I don't know about the others but I'm pretty sure there is nothing special about them. Nothing worth all this effort," said Malachi.

"It's the gold and silver," said Tila. They're valuable."

"It's all valuable if you're building something," said Malachi.

Ellie scratched her head. "So, they are mining things in secret? I don't understand why that is so bad."

"Oh," said Tila as it dawned on her. She looked at Malachi and blinked. "It's not the mining that's the problem. It's the miners. They're using the colonists as miners. As slaves."

"Oh," said Ellie. "That's much worse."

Tila suddenly snapped upright. "That's it. We have enough. This is what we need. Mal, I need you to get a copy of everything we just learned. Get as many copies as you can. We need to get this data back to the Commonwealth at once."

"To Parador?"

"To everyone. Conway wouldn't listen, and now I can see why. This wasn't just a theft, this was slavery. I'm not letting him get away with it. Not him, or anyone else involved. How long do you need?"

"Two minutes, then we can leave all this behind."

"Perfect. Ellie, get ready, we're getting out of here."

Ellie, distracted by something at her console, didn't move.

"Ellie!" snapped Tila.

"Uh," said Ellie. "I think I can make it play forward now."

"That doesn't matter now."

"It might," Ellie looked up at Tila. "Another ship just arrived."