Free OMEGA Guardian by Stephen Arseneault Page A

you are in a position of weakness. They could overrun this station and kill everyone on it in a day."
    I nodded. "That is why we need a plan, Mr. Barber. You have knowledge of the slavers, how they operate and where they operate. Instead of complaining, why don’t you try to contribute some of that knowledge?"
    Gerald pulled his hat back on his head, exposing his eyes. "I know the slavers. I can tell you whatever you need to know. I’ve been transporting their agents back and forth for years. I can even tell you where they are active, and who you might negotiate with. They aren’t savages as Malcom says, although they can be if you get in their way. They are just businesspeople with production orders to fill."
    Malcom scowled. "I knew you were running with them. You probably had Hal killed, didn’t you!"
    Gerald stood with a balled fist and angry face. "Hal was a fool. I tried to save his life, but he insisted on popping off to the first thug they sent his way. And who are you to talk, Malcom. You have been going around letting everyone think you are the one that had him done in. Truth is, Mr. Beutcher, neither one of us had anything to do with it. Hal got himself killed."
    I replied, "OK, well, we know they won’t hesitate to take any one of us out. That may change if this station is viewed as once again being in control. They are businessmen; they won’t want a war."
    Roger walked around from behind Malcom’s ship. "I might have a solution for you to pitch to them."
    Malcom turned around with an angry expression. "Don’t you have a reverse thruster to fix? Get back to work and quit bothering us!"
    Roger walked over and leaned in close to Malcom. "I’ve put up with you and your condescending remarks for too long. Now, unless you want a life-ending malfunction to happen on your next trip out, I would suggest you start treating me with a little more respect."
    Gerald chuckled. "This just isn’t your day, is it, Malcom."
    Malcom turned a hostile gaze toward Gerald.
    I spoke. "Roger, if you have a potential solution, we would be interested in hearing it."
    Roger snarled at Malcom and replied, "OK, the way I see it, the slavers need bodies to sell. They probably average a hundred kidnappings a day. What if we instead provide them that labor force they are looking for? What if we make a business arrangement with them to provide bodies? Every colony in this sector has at least one prison, and most of those are over capacity. We start trading off prison time for hard-core labor."
    Malcom scowled. "You can’t take a criminal and pawn them off as conscript labor! That’s not legal!"
    I nodded. "It may not be legal at the moment, but we now control the judges in this sector. Because of the black market nature of the slave trade, I would need a return on investment analysis to be worked up showing the benefits of prison labor over slave labor. As you said, there is an abundant supply of prisoners in this sector. I'm sure most colony Governors would heartily approve of someone taking some the worst prisoners off their hands."
    Gerald leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head. "You know, that idea is crazy enough to possibly work. You would have to sketch out most of the details ahead of time, but presenting a case to them where they could possibly gather more credits while running a legit business—I think they would go for it. The ones you would have trouble with are all the thugs they employ. There are some bad characters in that group who might have difficulty with a transition."
    I stood for several seconds in thought before replying. "I will set up a meeting with the Governor. If we can get his buy-in on this, we could get him to commit the planning resources that would be needed to put this together. Thank you for that thought, Roger. Sometimes a solution is sitting right there waiting to be discovered. In the meantime, I think we should try to come up with alternatives, although this one may be tough