The Carlson Chronicle Chapter 1
Chapter 3

James walked into his study, the other guards, along with Klaus, having cleaned up the mess left behind by Alex. That minor fiasco had cost him just over 8 million dollars as life insurance payouts to the families of the dead guards. He figured he’d take it out of Alex’s hide the next time they crossed paths.

Opening the other secret door, just across the study from the one he was forced to flee through, he walked into what looked like a medieval torture chamber. Hanging from shackles that could have easily dated back almost 500 years were two figures; a dark haired human male, and a redheaded woman. The woman was unconscious but the man was awake and cast a hateful glance at James as he walked in and closed the door behind him.

“Come to beat more information out of me James?” The man asked, causing the woman to stir awake.

“Barnard? We’re still here?” She asked groggily.

“Yes my love. It appears that James isn’t done picking my brain.”

“And when you finally give me something useful, like something from where you’re from perhaps, then maybe I might think about letting you go.”

“I can’t do that James. The technology you speak of would destroy Earth and humanity with it. While it might make you wealthy in the short term, you wouldn’t live long enough to spend it.”

James grunted something unintelligible, pulled a finely crafted Spanish broadsword from a scabbard hanging by the door, and in a flash of steel, impaled the woman right through her heart. She was slain instantly as Barnard looked on in shock.

“The next cut takes her head Barnard.” James said with an evil grin as Barnard weighed the consequences of what he needed to do. Giving James the information he demanded would surely lead to humanity’s inevitable destruction, and while he loved Claudia dearly, he couldn’t allow James to get ahold of the technology he had access to. He also knew that if things were progressing as they had been laid out beforehand by his daughter, Lorelei, his old ship, the ‘Barnard’s Star’, should be safely in Alex’s hands and soon winging it’s way away from Terra and James’ clutches. If only he could confirm these things...

“Wait!” He exclaimed as James pulled back for the decapitating swing.

“Yes Barnard?”

“Bring me my COM. Let me call my ship. My first girl, if she’s still alive, will relay the info you seek.” Barnard said, as Claudia stirred awake. She caught the last of what Barnard had said, and cast a worried glance at her mate. He nodded with a knowing smile. She returned his nod as James moved over to a shelving unit, rummaged through a small box, and came back to Barnard with a small COM unit, no bigger then a cell phone.

“Ok, so how do I turn this thing on?” James asked, looking the COM unit over.

“It’s on. It activates as soon as you touch it.”

“So, now what?”

“Cygna, are you there honey?” Barnard asked. But all they heard was static.

“I...I don’t understand. Why isn’t she answering?”

“Maybe we miss-dialed?” James offered with a mocking laugh. Barnard was not amused however.

“Make sure the ship is still on site.” He told James. Not liking to be told what to do, but figuring the info would be worth something, he made a call on his own hand COM to the star port.

“Francis, Port Maintenance department.”

“Frank, James Carlson.”

“Oh, hey Mr. Carlson, what can I do for you?”

“What pad is your ship on Barnard?”

“Pad 14.”

“You got a Commercant on pad 14 Frank?”

“Had one. The new owner had it scuttled. The breakers just cleared away the rest of the wreckage a few hours ago. You looking for anything in particular?”

“What of the slave girl!” Barnard yelled.

“Well, I had a couple guys get jumped by what they thought was a mountain lion, but we didn’t replace anything like that on board. No one saw anyone, male or female, leave the ship, and security was with us from start to finish.”

“What of the computer core?” James asked.

“That’s the funny thing, we didn’t replace one. The entire ship’s mainframe was gutted. Looked like someone pointed a Gatling Laser at it and melted the barrels down. The whole mainframe is a pile of molten slag.”

“Ok, thanks Frank. I’ll be in touch.” James said, hanging up his phone.

“So, now what do you plan to do with us James? Without that core, I have no way of confirming any information I may give you.”

“Which makes you worthless to me Barnard, and as such, a liability!” He said, swinging his sword at Barnard, Claudia screaming as the blade slammed into his neck, stopping there, drawing a very fine ribbon of blood.

“Tell me anyway. I have some serious minds at C-D, they’ll confirm or deny it if they can figure it out.”

Barnard sighed, knowing this was going to end Humanity badly, but he stopped thinking of himself as a human centuries ago.

“Ever heard of a FOLD engine?” He asked, as James sat down, pad and pen in hand...

Francis Muldowney knew he had something now. When the head of Earth’s premiere weapons designer wants the memory core from a merchant ship, it must have some serious stuff on it. Looking up at the blonde woman in front of him, he had to concentrate to stop staring at her cans. She had a great, round pair.

“Seems this core has some nice goodies on it. That was James Carlson, looking for this. Which means your previous offer is short a few digits, maybe three.”

Delilah Saxon sighed. She had offered 5000 credits for the core, knowing full well who the ship belonged to, and hoping to acquire the drive to help her company back out in OC space. Now she was being jerked around by some two bit wrench monkey. Pulling the small laser pistol from her purse, she cauterized his heart where he sat, took the small cube, 3 inches on a side, slipped the pistol into his hand, turned and left.

30 minutes later, her liner was on it’s first skip to Center...