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

west.
    The skyscraper was barely five minutes’ walk away from the landing pad - probably closer than Damien would have been comfortable putting it, but convenient.
    He followed Alaura as she walked through the main doors of the skyscraper like she owned the place, walking up to the front desk as if walking in out of the storm was a normal thing.
    “I am here to meet Tomas Rickard,” she told the receptionist before the elegantly coiffed blond young man finished gawking at her. “We are expected.”
    “So you are,” an amused voice interrupted before the receptionist found his voice. “Space Traffic Control called ahead - I apologize for the weather.”
    “Whatever worlds we travel to, Mother Nature still does not respond to our every whim, Mister Rickard,” Alaura replied, giving the speaker a small nod. “Envoy Montgomery, this is Tomas Rickard, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaCorp Interstellar. Mister Rickard, this is…”
    “Envoy Damien Montgomery,” Rickard interrupted, closing the space and offering his hand to Damien. MagnaCorp’s CEO was an immense man, with skin and hair so fair as to be almost pure white and ice blue eyes. “It is a pleasure to meet the man who ended the Blue Star Syndicate’s depredations upon our galaxy.”
    Damien shook his hand.
    “Many others played a part in breaking apart Blue Star,” he admitted. “You are very well informed - I was not aware my Warrant had been announced in Tau Ceti.”
    “It is… a job requirement,” Rickard said grimly. “I am aware of your Warrant, and also that you and Lady Stealey are headed to Ardennes.” The CEO glanced at the receptionist, then jerked his head towards an elevator.
    “Let’s discuss this in my office,” he continued. “I don’t think what either of us has to say is for everyone’s ears.”

    #

    Rickard’s office was large, as expected of the head of an interstellar corporation, occupying the entire north-western quarter of the top floor of the building. The windows on the two exterior walls gave the CEO and his guests a spectacular view of the vicious storm pounding the complex outside.
    Inside, the office was surprisingly austere for its scale. A significant chunk of it had been re-purposed to a conference room with absolute top-of-the-line communication equipment, but the rest was almost empty beyond a large but simple desk and a collection of more comfortable chairs by an auto-bar.
    He gestured them to the chairs and stepped over to the auto-bar.
    “Drinks? The bar makes a fantastic fortified hot chocolate.”
    A minute later, all three of them settled into the sinfully comfortable chairs with their hot chocolates, watching the lightning outside.
    “I must admit, Mister Rickard, I was surprised by your request,” Alaura told him. “It’s rare that the head of an interstellar corporation is willing to put that much effort into meeting with a Hand.”
    “And it always means we need a favor,” Rickard admitted cheerfully. “In this case, I’m hoping to be able to do you a favor as well.”
    “Oh?” Alaura answered, uncommittedly.
    The CEO sighed and then gestured to the window next to them. An image that Damien guessed had been preloaded for activation loaded onto a video screen concealed in the glass.
    It had been, at some point, a huge industrial complex. Now, a third of the complex was lost to a crater that started outside the image, and many of the remaining buildings were knocked down. Any fires had clearly been put out by the time the photograph was taken, but the complex was probably a complete write off.
    “This was the fusion reactor manufacturing plant on Ardennes,” Rickard said quietly. “We built and tested fusion cores from one megawatt toys to one gigawatt mass-production plants here, then exported them across the Protectorate. This shot was as of two weeks ago, the latest news I have from Ardennes.”
    “What happened?” Damien asked, leaning forward to get a closer look.
    “Our plant