Galaxy's End: Book One by LeRoy Clary (pdf ebook reader txt) 📕

have been connected all that time, meaning his parents might have been associated with Kat’s.

However, the fact they now knew Kat had lived on Prager Four showed there should be a loose thread or two that could unravel her history. So, few people left from the sparsely populated Prager Four that there may be records on the planet of travelers—and how many traveled with a four-year-old?

Stone decided to ask Bert to do a background check on Bill’s early life. If he lived on Prager Four, there may be more clues to follow. If he didn’t, that might also lead to added information.

Captain Stone made her rounds of the ship, visiting every space she could enter without invading privacy. Even then, she knocked and entered most. It was technically her ship and her father had taught her well. There are no private places on her ship. It was her duty to know what happened everywhere. Even the smallest incident could endanger a ship, so she made her rounds.

The receptions were uniformly favorable, the crew was anxious to speak with her or show their workspaces with pride. The dead captain had not made routine rounds, she’d found out, but he had instilled a sense of pride in them she found inspiring.

She reluctantly knocked on the door of the steward who had killed him. He called flippantly, “Come on in.”

She opened the door and found Kat sitting with her back to the wall, knees pulled to her chin. She had left the bridge and they had been talking, it was plain to see. Kat excused herself and departed. It was too crowded. Stone took her place on the floor.

Chance asked in a tone that almost sounded amused, “Is there something I can do for you, Captain?”

Captain Stone shifted her position slightly and said in a matching tone, allowing a slight smile to grow as she spoke, “Attempt to get into my mind again and I’ll gut you. Last warning.”

His amusement faded with each word. He said, “You can tell?”

“Yes.”

He waited before speaking. “So, it’s true? Some sensitives can tell when an empath is nearby?”

“When an empath attempts to sway what I think, yes. It’s sort of a tickle in my mind, not a funny one if you understand.”

“There are rumors.”

“Consider what I tell you factual. Do not try to ever use your powers to make me like you, let you go free, or any other thing that you believe might help your situation. I’ll know it and punish you.”

“Then, again I’ll ask, why are you here?”

Captain Stone didn’t know the answer to that question. She decided to withhold the information that they all shared background on Prager Four. Instead, she said, “You use your powers to get your way. By that, I mean you enter into business deals and use empathy to achieve the results you want.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“Like that? What do you mean?” she asked.

“You say it like it is bad or something criminal.”

“Isn’t it?” she asked calmly.

“No. Not at all. You’re the captain of a ship that travels from star-to-star trading goods. You buy here and sell there. You also carry cargo, I hear. When you buy cargo, you use your background, experience, and knowledge of the product, as well as what you know about possible buyers. You buy cheap. You plead a possible loss or anything to lower the cost. When you arrive at the next port, you wear your good uniform for the meeting and plan a strategy with your crew. You arrive at his location in an expensive Town-Car to impress the buyer or seller of goods. I could go on. But my point is that you do all that to achieve the highest profits and see nothing wrong with it.”

“I don’t manipulate the minds of people.”

“Of course, you do. All those things I mentioned are intended to give you a mental edge over whoever is sitting across the table from you. I see no difference.”

“I do not use empathy.”

“However, you do use expensive perfume, you smile at their tawdry jokes, and when you see a weakness, you pounce and pay less when buying. When you sell the same products, you do the opposite. Do you deny that?”

She was sure he was twisting her words. He made it sound like what she did was worse than using empathy to buy and sell. And worse, he was correct on each accusation. She had done all those things and more. Instead of answering and embarrassing herself, she sat and thought.

Chance’s expression rightly said that he believed had made his point. She ignored him as she allowed her mind to reconsider the entire conversation. He had a point, but it was one she could ignore. Bartering, bantering, negotiating, dickering, and driving hard bargains were part of her trade. It was the essence of how traders as far back as those carrying their goods on the backs of camels across endless deserts survived. They found a product that people in a distant place wanted. If they wanted it badly enough and were willing to pay enough, traders took it to them.

It had nothing to do with empathy. If one of the traders had empathic powers, he or she might have made better deals when buying and selling, which was what she intended to do.

No, she was using her abilities to find a chink in the armor of the military she was about to face. She needed something that prevented them from blasting their ship. It had to be instantly valuable to them. Such as modern technology to win the war.

The problem was simple on the face. The crux of it, the important part, was that once the military had the technology, why would they release her, and the ship she commanded?

As a thank-you? No, she didn’t believe that.

The