Starship's Mage 2 Hand of Mars Read Online Free Page B

operating against Vaughn.
    “With the civilian deaths, Mage-Governor Vaughn has formally requested our assistance. I think something stinks,” she concluded, “but he has that right.”
    Damien slowly nodded, processing as best as he could.
    “So what do we do?” he asked carefully.
    “Three steps,” Alaura replied. “First, we stop the fighting - by whatever means necessary. There is a Navy cruiser squadron in system we can call on for heavy support, but I’d rather negotiate a cease fire.”
    “Second, we identify whatever grievances are triggering this revolt. If they’re legitimate, we arbitrate negotiations to find a compromise acceptable to everyone,” she shook her head. “It’s usually possible, especially when backed by a Hand.”
    “And third?” Damien asked.
    “Third, we punish the criminals,” she said flatly. “Murderers on both sides - rebels who blew up civilians, cops who gunned down innocents. The torturers, the killers - all of them spend a good long while in prison.”
    “Where there are legitimate grievances, we will correct them,” Alaura continued calmly. “But no-one kills or tortures the innocent and walks away.”
    Her words hung in the silent air as Damien considered them. While he knew Hands usually did attempt to find workable compromises, they were more known for the first and third of her steps than the second.
    A ping on Alaura’s computer attracted both of their attentions, and Alaura slowly read whatever showed up on her screen.
    “Interesting,” she murmured slowly.
    “My lady?”
    “I don’t normally like to jump to the interstellars’ bidding,” she told him. “But the CEO of MagnaCorp Interstellar just asked me to meet with him. And offered to break free any two hour stretch that worked for me.”
    “And?” Damien asked.
    “MagnaCorp operates in thirty-six systems and employs just over fifteen million people,” Alaura told him. “Rickard’s time is booked in five minute chunks - six months in advance.”
    “He’ll also have the resources to know I’m heading to Ardennes - and one of their big operations is there.”
    She checked her schedule and glanced back up at Damien with a thin smile.
    “Feel up to a shuttle flight, My Lord Envoy?”
    Damien returned the smile.
    “Only if I get to fly, My Lady Hand,” he told her.

    #

    Despite having kept up his simulator time while secluded in Olympus Mons, Damien let out a sigh of relief as he settled the agile Navy shuttle on the landing pad outside MagnaCorp’s headquarters on Tau Ceti f . Chilly and damp, the planet had decided to show them an unfriendly face with a vicious storm taking shape over the southern continent as they were landing.
    Despite his rustiness, he’d managed to take the shuttle through the rain and gale-force winds without any issues. No-one else needed to know how white his knuckles had been through the process!
    The rain continued to hammer down around the shuttle, make a hissing sound as the drops hit and evaporated from the shuttle’s hull, still heated from entry.
    “We’ll meet Mister Rickard inside,” Alaura told him, unstrapping herself from the co-pilots seat. “I don’t blame him for not wanting to come out in this to greet us,” she gestured at the rain.
    Damien nodded and gestured for her to lead the way. They stepped out into the rain, but none of the drops hit them. He glanced at Alaura and realized she was holding a shield of kinetic energy over their heads. It seemed a waste of energy to him, but he had been trained in a tradition that avoided the open use of magic as a sign of humility.
    “It would never do for a Hand or an Envoy to appear looking like soaked rats,” she murmured to him as they approached the main doors for the central sky scraper of MagnaCorp Interstellar’s corporate campus. The campus was about five kilometers outside Tau Ceti f ‘s largest city, but the central tower rivaled any of the skyscrapers of the official downtown to their