Blue Star Enterprises

The trip over to the Talon was filled with anticipation that Alexander was finding hard to suppress. He was eager to finally look Harlow in the eyes and lay this long-running nightmare to a close.

Soon they landed on the hangar deck of the large ship and Alexander stepped off the shuttle and made his way to where they were holding the Pirate Emperor.

Krieger was already waiting outside the room for his arrival. "Char filled me in on the plan," the man stated without preamble. "If you want to go that route, it's fine with me, but we will need to transfer him to the ground to make it happen. The Talon doesn't have a holo-recorder."

Krieger's words made Alexander temporarily rethink Katalynn's suggestion, but he shook his avatar. "Sorry, just ignore me. I was coming to an internal conclusion. The Lagertha's plan has merit. I want the universe to see what we did here. For that, I can withhold my vengeance for a little while longer. What I won't wait for is a face-to-face with the man who thought I was a prize he could claim."

Krieger nodded and knocked on the hatch.

A mercenary opened the door and the pair entered a room filled with quite a few more people than Alexander had expected.

Char was here along with her advisors. There was also another man who had similar Asgardian features. He didn't recognize the individual but he knew Jarl Ylva was still unconscious and had been shipped back to Eden's End along with other people who required more medical attention so this individual was likely her Sub-Commander.

Then there was Captain Bloomright and her new XO. The man was young and Alexander hadn't gotten his name yet. Along with that was Team Leader Jallen and his squad followed by a full five Asgardians. The last few people present were technicians and medical personnel.

With everyone present, the large room felt crowded. It didn't help that a good portion of the room was taken up by a partially melted… missile? He wasn't really sure what it was if he was honest.

"Um?" Alexander asked, hoping someone would fill him in.

"Good, you're here," Katalynn said. "Now we can wake the bastard up."

"Wake him up? Was he sleeping?" Alexander felt lost and confused and it wasn't a feeling he enjoyed.

Katalynn decided to fill him in. "During the fight, we saw something launch from Harlow's ship. At first, I assumed it was another plasma missile as it had the same dimensions, but instead of turning toward the fleet, it turned away and started accelerating from the battlefield."

"An escape pod!" Alexander said in shocked understanding. If Harlow had managed to escape the gravity trap and jump, this whole situation could have come about again.

"That was our guess as well. I ordered my ship to try and disable it before it escaped the gravity trap but my weapons were recharging and my point defense couldn't orient quickly enough. Thankfully it wasn't an issue. Your planetary defense laser clipped the rear of his ship as it tried to make its escape. If it had done anything other than clip it, the man would have likely been vaporized and we wouldn't be able to ever prove he was truly dead. I'm not saying the universe would have missed him, but I'm glad we can positively confirm it is him."

"Wait? You don't know if that's Harlow inside this pod?" Alexander asked in surprise. "You said you had him when you contacted me."

"I'm confident that bastard is in there," Katalynn stated without raising her voice. "All that is left is verifying that."

There was a hiss and a popping sound as the hatch on the pod opened. Cold air spilled from the sides, rolling to the floor as visible vapor. Alexander recognized this phenomenon from his own stasis pod. That explained how the man planned to survive a journey in the torpedo-like capsule.

"Vitals are steady," one of the med techs said after waving a medical scanner at the man inside.

Even with Alexander's height advantage over most of the people in the room, he couldn't get a good look at the form inside while the techs and medics were clustered near the opening. He did see one of the techs pull out a DNA scanner and touch it to the man's arm. The scanner beeped once before displaying the output.

"It's him," the tech confirmed.@@novelbin@@

Those two words garnered a collective sigh of relief from the room.

"He should wake in a few minutes," one of the medics stated. "This isn't a full stasis capsule, so it doesn't put all bodily functions on hold."

"We also took his weapons away," another tech said as he held up a flechette pistol and gaudy sword.

"Should have left him with the sword," Katalynn said under her breath, making Alexander turn her way.

The woman looked slightly surprised that he had heard her, but she only smirked.

As the man inside the cramped tube started to stir, pulse rifles were quickly raised toward him.

A hand reached out, looking for something to grab. Once it found purchase, the man groggily pulled himself from the pod and flopped bonelessly to the floor. He said something unintelligible before crawling back toward the pod and propping himself against it.

He wasn't what Alexander had expected. The old pictures and holos of Harlow showed him as a large man with impressive muscles, a handsome face, and well-trimmed hair. The man who rested against the tube looked wrung out from a life spent on the streets instead of the images from the past. His hair was long and unkempt, greasy even. His beard was unmaintained and wild with streaks of gray showing the man's nearly forty-plus years of age. The only thing that was well-kept was the bright gold clothing he wore, and that only made it appear like he was compensating for something rather than being actually regal.

The man rested against the side of the pod, letting his sunken eyes and mind clear as he took in the room in silence.

His dumbfounded expression changed to one of anger and outrage as his faculties returned.

"Char," the man literally spat as his eyes locked on the woman. "Kinda hoped you had gotten yourself killed, but I guess my luck wasn't even good enough for that, was it?" Harlow demanded.

"This had nothing to do with luck, Harlow."

The pirate snorted derisively. "That's right, it didn't. You wouldn't have been able to hold up against me at all if you hadn't stolen my prize from me. I'll make you a deal. You give me a ship and send me on my way with my prize and I will forget this little battle ever happened. You can remain in your little backwater kingdom while I continue to gut the STO. It's a win-win for both of us. Whadaya say, hmm?"

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I am nobody's prize," Alexander stated angrily, earning Harlow's attention for the first time. The man didn't seem surprised at all to see him.

"If it isn't Kane's little robot puppet. I'm surprised to see you off the planet. Figured you would stay safe and sound below. How about you be quiet? Your fate will be decided shortly."

Katalynn burst out in laughter, earning a frown from Harlow.

"Did I say something amusing, Char?"

"Your complete and utter ignorance is what amuses me, pirate. Your death will warm my heart, but knowing you were a fool until the end will be a fond memory for me until the day I die. I got the confirmation I needed. Jarl Kane, he's all yours." The woman gave the confused-looking pirate a wink and a smirk before taking her and her entire entourage from the room.

Seeing his only chance of getting out of this alive walking away, Harlow tried to make a break for it. He made it all of a step before falling flat on his face.

He groaned and pushed himself up as Alexander walked over and crouched down in front of him. "Stasis, even partial stasis can leave you rather weak afterward."

Harlow growled. "Kane, if you think I won't destroy this entire planet to claim you, you're mistaken. And if you think my people won't return to avenge my death, you're delusional."

Alexander grabbed the man by his greasy mop of hair and lifted him off the floor effortlessly as the man screamed in pain.

"The only one being delusional here is you," Alexander stated. "Your fleet has been obliterated and if any of your people back in former Coalition space care to try their hand at attacking us, they will find we are an even harder nut to crack the next time around. I doubt they will do that though, because nobody likes or cares about you, Harlow. You were a bully and that was the only thing that made people afraid enough to follow you. Once they realize you are dead and gone, they will likely try to divvy up their spoils until the STO finally gets off their asses and drives them back to Haven." Alexander chuckled at that. "Which I'm told you conveniently leveled out of some fit of rage. It's funny to think that the so-called pirate emperor has done more to set back pirate activity in the last two years than the STO has done in decades. I'll thank you for that, but it's time to go face the music, Harlow."

"I'll give you access to all my technology and ships," the man tried to bargain. "I'll even tell you how to make plasma missiles. That has to be worth my life?"

Alexander laughed as he dragged the man by the hair, barely allowing the pirate to keep his feet on the deck as he pulled him back to their shuttle. "I already know how your little missiles are made, Harlow. It's nothing special. As for your so-called technology and ships, it's all complete crap. And even if it wasn't, your death is worth more than anything you could ever offer. Even if you knew the secrets of the hypergates or artificial gravity plating or any number of other technologies, I would turn it all down just to see the light fade from your eyes once and for all. I'm normally a very friendly person, Harlow, but your actions have brought harm to my daughter, and people I care about, and I can't abide that. So you only have yourself to blame for what comes next."

The man tried to pull a Dalton as he realized nothing he said would save him, but Alexander wasn't having any of that. "Oh no you don't," he said as he shoved his hand into the man's mouth making the pirate gag and preventing him from biting his tongue off. "There will be no getting out of the punishment we have planned for you."

The man screamed in impotent rage as he was unceremoniously dragged aboard the shuttle.

***

It took a full day to set the stage for Harlow's execution. Half of that was actually setting up the stage, while the other half was contacting news outlets in STO space to let them know they were going to provide them with live coverage of breaking news. Some of the stations ignored them, but a few took him up on the offer. Once the others quickly realized what was going on, they would want in, but then they would have to pay for the rights.

The stage was lit with the backdrop of the BSE flag along with the Asgardian colors according to Char. Alexander had decided to add that because he knew it would stir up the STO even if they didn't know who the flag was meant to represent.

The Lagertha had declined to join the festivities, but Jarl Ylva had finally awoken and was sitting beside him in front of the stage, as were a great many people from Eden's End. Some of these people had suffered from Harlow's actions nearly as much if not more so than Alexander had. They all had the right to see the man who had become the nightmare of the STO put down like the rabid dog he was.

Soon, the prisoner was dragged out on stage, still kicking and screaming behind the gag put in place to prevent him from biting or trying to swallow his tongue. The two guards assigned to this duty were the former Marine, Sargeant Galloway, now wearing a BSE dress uniform, and Team Leader Jallen, wearing the Hawks dress colors.

Alexander wouldn't leave them out of such a monumental announcement. He expected quite a bit of fame to be heaped upon the mercenary company after this.

After shackling Harlow to a dais to face his victims, the two men saluted the newly promoted Admiral Krieger and stepped off to the side. Alexander had promoted the man after Katalynn's little talk, giving him insignia that nearly matched the STOs. It would be hard to miss the significance for anyone who understood what it meant.

The entire platform they stood on was being recorded and transmitted via Qcomm in full holo quality, allowing for people to literally step up to Harlow in the recording if they had the technology to do so.

The recording began the moment Admiral Krieger took the stage.

"My name is Admiral Vitor Krieger of the BSE. Today we bear witness to this man's crimes," he stated, gesturing toward the screaming and struggling Harlow. "The man you see before you is a monster the likes of which the galaxy has not seen in a long time. You may wonder who this shackled individual is. Instead of telling you, I will show you," Krieger said as he picked up the certified scanner and walked over to Harlow.

The man tried to lunge at him, but Harlow could do little and Krieger didn't flinch in response. He simply scanned the man and held the scanner up for all to see. Even cheap holos could zoom.

As soon as the scanner data appeared in the live feed, Alexander's message box started flooding with requests from the news agencies that had spurned him. He sent those agencies his contracts and terms and focused back on the play at hand. Lucas had already set up an automated response process if the contract came back signed and the money was deposited in his account.

"To further prove this man is who we say he is and not some trick, we will be claiming his bounty." Krieger walked over to a terminal specifically built for this performance. The man placed the scanner into the correct spot on the terminal which already had the bounty board up.

The bounty board quickly verified the results of the scan and a pending verification of demise screen appeared.

"Now all you need to do is look on the STO's very own bounty board to see that Harlow's bounty is pending. Yes, Harlow Anazi. We do not need to tack any more crimes onto the man's record to justify this execution, but we will. We find Harlow Anazi guilty of nine thousand six hundred and fifty-two additional accounts of murder, nine-hundred fourteen counts of attempted murder, the use of nuclear weapons against a planet, kidnapping by proxy, waging war against the BSE, destroying civilian structures in Asgardian territory, slavery of no less than four hundred individuals," Krieger kept reading off every single charge the man had racked up since entering Asgardian space.

Some of the numbers had to be guessed at since they didn't have exact counts of the people lost in some of the space stations and ships that Harlow had destroyed on his singleminded quest to reach Alexander, but they figured the numbers were close enough. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

Krieger picked up an item from the same table where he had taken the scanner and walked over to stand next to the condemned man. "I would ask how you plead, but I was there to witness a portion of your crimes, and so were a lot of people in this room. Goodbye and good riddance," Krieger raised the laser pistol that Alexander had found aboard Dalton's ship and aimed it at the man's temple.

Even in the face of death, Harlow never stopped screaming behind his gag and trying to pull free of his shackles. He truly was like a wild animal. Admiral Krieger pulled the firing stud and silence filled the room as the beam burned straight through Harlow's skull and impacted the armored wall off to the side that Alexander had put in place for this exact moment. Harlow's corpse sagged in the restraints but was kept upright enough for anyone viewing the broadcast to see he was well and truly dead.

"Justice is served," Krieger said as he lowered the weapon.

With that, the feed was cut and the room broke out in shouts of joy, and relief, as well as sporadic clapping.

Alexander couldn't blame them for cheering Harlow's death. For many, a nightmare was finally over. He would have been cheering as well, but he wanted to be seen as being above such things even though internally he was cheering far louder than any of the people here.

Eden's End would never be completely safe, especially with the corporations having so much power, but with Harlow's demise, it felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. When the corporations came, he would be ready. He already had eight new ring printers and a second ship ring printer being built. There would be no more close calls in the future, he would make sure of that.