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

ended up as the center point of a mid-sized industrial district just outside one of Ardenes’ larger cities. The factory next door was a chemical processing plant. Something went wrong and it blew the hell up.
    “We were on track for a zero fatal accident fiscal year,” Rickard continued quietly. “On the scale we operate, that is something to be damned proud of. And then these idiots killed two hundred and fifty-six of my people.”
    “There was an investigation. Their conclusion was that our neighbors, an Ardennes native corporation, had failed to comply with basic safety standards for the processes they were following.”
    He held up a hand before Alaura or Damien could speak, taking a moment to breathe deeply.
    “We were then informed by Ardennes’ court system that the corporation in question had been granted an exemption from the legal safety code to ‘encourage their investment’. Therefore, under Ardennes law, they were not legally liable for death benefits to their own people’s families, let alone my people.”
    “We will be paying for the benefits ourselves, obviously,” he concluded. “But I have already told my Board that we will not be rebuilding on Ardennes.”
    “They gave an exemption to the safety codes ?” Damien asked incredulously.
    “When we move into a system, we ask for a lot of exemptions and special cases,” Rickard admitted. “Usually, it’s to try to make sure our operations only have to meet Protectorate-wide standards instead of more stringent local ones, and we rarely get many of them. In this case, my understanding is that several of the major shareholders are friends of the Governor.”
    “I see,” Alaura said slowly. “You can prove this?”
    “The details of the court files my local president was provided weren’t supposed to leave the Ardennes system,” Rickard told them. “They’ve been forwarded to your ship, along with all of our local research and information.”
    “That… could be immensely valuable,” Alaura replied. “Thank you.”
    “It’s worse than you think, my Lady Hand,” Rickard warned her. “However bad you think it is, its worse.
    “Vaughn has been determined to drive a major industrial revolution on Ardennes, at any cost. A lot of the money from that has poured into the hands of his friends and allies - and more has gone into funding the security service to keep a lid on protest.”
    “If it was really that bad, he’d have been voted out,” Damien pointed out. “Everything I see shows his party continuing to dominate the planetary legislature.”
    Rickard sighed, looking embarrassed for the first time since they’d arrived.
    “I know , for a fact, that Vaughn has fixed at least the last two Governor elections, and has been heavily restricting who can run for the Legislature,” he admitted. “I know we have an obligation to report that,” he continued, “but I only had two facilities of the size of the one on Ardennes. I couldn’t risk him shutting us down.”
    “Now,” he shrugged. “I’ve paid for every surviving one of my people, and their families and the families of the dead, to be relocated to Sherwood. I’d rather start again from bare rock than touch Ardennes again.”

    #

Chapter 5

    Damien and Alaura were barely out of the shuttle when Mage-Commander Harmon intercepted them.
    “You need to come with me,” the Tides of Justice ‘s commanding officer told them. “I’ve ordered the ship prepared to travel ASAP, but the decision is yours and you need to be fully informed.”
    Alaura wordlessly gestured for the Commander to lead the way, and Damien followed the pair deeper into the ship.
    Harmon didn’t say anything further as he led them to a chamber in the ship that the Envoy hadn’t seen on either of two his times aboard.
    “Where is this?” he asked aloud.
    “Communications Central,” Harmon replied. “We get a lot of transmissions directed at us on a day-to-day basis and, well,” he shrugged, “we