ter in the skimmer so it could cancel active sensors, but that was as easy as writing a program for it. All the equipment that he'd used for the emitter came out of the _skimmer_ in the first place. That had taken about seven hours to write, test, debug, then integrate with the skimmer's computer. It was so fast because they already had a working program, they just had to make it usable by the skimmer's computer. With that installed, the skimmer could defeat both active and passive sensors, and it was time for the ultimate test... to fly the ship and see if the Faey could detect it when it was on the move and out from under the bridge.

It was such a relief, such a _joy_. The feeling of freedom that Jason had always felt at having a plane, then a skimmer, was suddenly surging in him as he left Chesapeake behind and hurtled high into the sky. From the outside, the ship was nothing but a dark shadow, as the field matrix actively absorbed light energy as well as plasma signatures, and allowed light to pass in through the windshield but did _not_ allow it to pass back out. It made the skimmer a piece of the night, as if the skimmer had wrapped the darkness around itself like a shroud. It was virtually invisible so long as there wasn't a direct light source behind the skimmer, but that wasn't an issue out here in the preserve, where there _were_ no light sources except his own community and the occasional campfire dotting the horizon.

He had to maintain radio silence because he was beyond shortband range, but he didn't mind. He flew at high speeds first, close to the ground, then flew up a hundred thousand feet and went supersonic, always carefully watching his own sensor display to see if any dropships or fighters came to investigate, as he kept his radio tuned to Faey command frequencies to listen for any hint that they'd picked him up. The one flaw in his system was that he couldn't defeat the effect of his skimmer's mass on space, which _was_ detectable, but the counter for that was to stay inside the planet's gravity well, where the effect of the planet's gravity masked the otherwise small effect his skimmer had. That, more than anything, was what he was out here to test, to see how far out he could go before he was picked up.

And he got quite bold. He took the ship all the way out of the atmosphere, in a low-angled orbit that kept him inside the gravity well but outside the atmosphere, so close that he could see one of the huge Faey cruisers above and ahead of him, and behind it the primary space station they had built that acted as the hub of all food transportation. Crops and goods were carried up to that station in dropships, and then loaded onto cargo ships and sent back to the Imperium. Beyond the orbit of the moon, he knew, was the stargate that the Faey had built that linked Earth with the rest of the Imperium, that allowed them instantaneous transport to and from the 72 other worlds of the Faey Imperium. He watched a cargo ship back away from the station, slowly turn around, then head off towards that gate. It passed another, smaller cargo ship that was approaching the station, which rather amusingly looked like a Frisbee nailed to the top of a mop handle, with three rings attached at intervals down that length. Ships docked along the edge of that top saucer and the rings, depending on the ship's size and class. Smaller ships, like passenger ships, docked on the lowest ring. Smaller transports docked at the two middle rings, and the big cargo ships docked on the upper saucer. The station didn't rotate, relying on artificial gravity.

All that hardware. That station and the cruiser hovering protectively nearby were the stark symbols that the Faey were here to stay. He lamented that, though a part of him couldn't deny that in a small way, he was glad they'd come. After all, he'd never have met Tim, he'd never known Jyslin or Symone, and he'd never have known that he too was a telepath. A pity that the price for those good things had been the destruction of his people's entire culture and society and subjugation under the rule of their conquerors. If they'd only just came and _asked_. Odds were, the peoples of Earth would have joined the Imperium _willingly_. But their arrogance had caused them to come with demands, to treat the people of earth like slaves, even as cattle, as nothing but nameless numbers there for no other reason than to farm their food. Jyslin's attitude of humans as members and not slaves was all well and good, until one looked at reality. Humans weren't allowed off Earth unless they were heavily screened by Imperial security. The only people you would find on farms doing the real work were humans, with a couple of Faey agricultural engineers, and lots and lots of Faey guards to make sure their work force didn't disappear in the night. The numbers of humans being trained in Faey technology were paltry, maybe even miniscule, compared to the amount of equipment they had here. They were being trained as low-level workers who would be under the supervision and direction of a Faey. Humans were not in any manner or fashion allowed any kind of self-supervision. Even the human "mayors" and "councilmen" were nothing but mid-level managers answering to a Faey noble, a delusion that reinforced the false belief that humans had any say at all in their state of affairs.

And now the Imperium was reducing its numbers, giving House Trillane more responsibility, and a freer hand. He wondered how that was going to affect things. He had no idea... only time would tell.

He adjusted course to avoid an incoming dropship, brazenly setting his course so it would pass within a few hundred feet of him, close enough to overhear the sending of the Faey aboard the ship. He wanted to see just how good this cloak was, and this was the best way to do it. The dropship, a large cargo carrier, approached him from below and the left, and he turned his skimmer to keep the bow towards it as it passed, so he could get a look at it. He idly pondered following it, using its mass as a screen to see how far out he could go, at least until he realized that he'd have to get _back_ to the gravity well without a ship on which to piggyback. But, the idea of it at least was a sound one.

When it got close enough, he started hearing sendings. Idle chatter of a Faey flight crew and several passengers, nothing really that caught his attention. But when it got closer, he started hearing other thoughts, thoughts that were _terrified_. They were jumbled, chaotic, a great concentration of fear and uncertainty. It took him a while to straighten things out, to separate single voices out of that cacophony of fear, which also required him to get closer to the dropship.

They were _human_. The dropship was full of humans, men and women, and all of them were afraid. The Faey in there with them were soldiers, and they were all shackled together and sitting on the floor.

Puzzled, Jason looked at the dropship's course. From its trajectory, it took off from England, but its course was taking it _out_ of orbit. It wasn't returning to Earth, it wasn't using an orbital vector to reach a destination on the planet. It wasn't going to the space station either, its course was taking it out into space, towards a cargo ship he could barely make out on the edge of sensor range.

What the hell was this? Why were they taking people to a cargo ship, and not through the station?

A growing bout of horror rose up in him when he realized what was going on. He followed the ship for several minutes, taking pictures of it, getting pictures of the cargo ship, taking sensor readings, and listening _hard_ at what he was hearing. In just a moment, the Faey themselves betrayed their activities with their sending.

_I hope we get a bigger cut this time,_ one Faey sent. _I can't believe that we only got five thousand credits for the last batch. That's almost not worth it, with all the fuckin' Marines crawling around. If they caught us, we'd get slogged on the spot._

_Well, it'll be a hell of a lot easier once they cut back their numbers,_ came an eager response.

_Yeah, and they'll take more out of our cut too._

_No they won't, stupid. We're being paid per head, remember? With fewer eyes, we can round up a shitload of them and ship them off, as fast as the computer geeks can delete their ID numbers and make them disappear from the records. A hundred credits a head ain't much, but when we pack a ship with a few _thousand_ of them, it'll add up fast._

_It's bullshit, Yenni. We get a hundred credits a head, but they're selling these sorry bastards for a thousand a pop on Wonashi, minimum. We should demand more money._

_If you want to try to squeeze more money out of the zarina, be my guest Deri._

_Hey! Quiet down or send privately, fuckheads!_ an angry sending raced through. _We're on the edges of the range of some of the Marines on that station! You wanna get us caught? Idiots!_

Jason felt his stomach go cold. They were kidnapping human beings and selling them into slavery!

He got physically dizzy as his mind spun around that awful revelation. He took a firm grip on the control stick with a trembling hand and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. Those fucking _monsters_! And it was a _noble_ doing it! A noble from Trillane was selling people for _money_! All that big talk about helping people, all that _bullshit_ about humans being a part of the Imperium, it was all just a bunch of fucking _lies_! Trillane was selling the people of Earth to slavers for nothing more than pure _profit_. He would bet his left arm that some of the stories he'd heard of vanishing squatters wasn't just raiders, it was slaving parties raiding the wilderness for humans. He'd bet his other arm that the raiding parties that came in and didn't take people were either Imperial or controlled by nobles within Trillane that weren't in on the slaving ring, but that was no excuse. They should know that it was happening, and god damn it, they should have put a stop to it. But obviously the humans of Earth weren't important enough for that, or maybe it was the ruler of House Trillane itself who was profiting from the slaving, either directly or by bribes to turn a blind eye to it.

To _hell_ with them. To hell with them _all_.

The urge to bring up his weapons and open fire on the dropship was so powerful that his fingers trembled over the weapons console. Trembling fingers yearned to do it, to open fire on the dropship and attract the attention of the station, but he knew that it would produce nothing. They would rescue the people inside, save a few hundred people, but he would be captured, and what was more, the person _behind_ this operation would just write off those flunkies inside, wait for things to cool off, then go right back to it. The powerful urge to put a stop to it raged with his own sense of self-preservation, and the knowledge that nothing would be done, even if he stopped the dropship. Besides, Jyslin's aunt might be able to have the ship captured, so right now the only thing that mattered was getting in contact with her. _He_ couldn't stop that ship without getting himself captured or killed, but he could get in contact with someone who _could_ stop that ship. He zoomed in and took detailed picture logs of that cargo ship, named _Bresta's Pride_, then swore under his breath as he veered the ship around, turned the nose back towards the planet, then punched the engines into overdrive.

He counted the minutes, watching his rear display as he raced back to the planetary orbit as his mind swam and what could only be called _rage_ burned inside him. He'd never been so angry, never in his life. He was so furious that it took everything in him to keep from turning around and attacking that cargo ship. But that would be a pointless, hollow gesture that would just get him killed and accomplish absolutely nothing. The only thing he could do now was turn to the only Faey that could help, and that was the Imperium. Jyslin and her aunt Lorna were the only ones that could save those people.

The instant he was in range of the comm satellites, he was pounding the keys of his holographic keyboard as the skimmer flew on autopilot. He first tried Jyslin's new phone number for her apartment in Washington, but she wasn't home. He tried her panel, and was redirected to her Marine Barracks headquarters. An armored Faey answered the call, a pretty young Marine with gray hair and amber-yellow eyes, wearing a headset. " Fort Lee Marine Barracks," she said in a pleasant manner.

"Patch me through to Sergeant Jyslin Shaddale _now_," he said with an intense look at her. "I don't care where she is or what she's doing. This is an emergency!"

"May I ask who's calling?" she asked, her face turning serious. "And what kind of emergency? Should I direct her to a hospital?"

"I don't have time for you!" he snapped at her. "Patch me through _now_! I don't care how you do it!"

"I can get you audio only," she said, looking down. "Hold on."

_"Sergeant Shaddale,"_ Jyslin's voice called over the picture, though the answering Marine's face did not disappear.

"Jyslin!" Jason barked.

_"Jason? _Jason_! What the hell are you doing calling me through barracks! Are you nuts!?"_

"Call your aunt Lorna _now_!" he snapped at her. "She's the only one who can stop them before they can get away!"

_"Stop who? What's wrong?"_

"House Trillane is selling people as _slaves_!" he literally shouted at the monitor.

_"What? Why do you think that?"_

"I saw it with my own eyes!" he raged at her. "There's a cargo ship parked beyond the supply station in orbit called _Bresta's Pride_. Have your aunt stop that ship, and you'll find humans on it!"

In his rearview monitor, he saw that cargo ship start turning. The dropship suddenly doubled its speed. "Shit! I'm on an open frequency, and they're receiving me! The ship's about to bug out, Jyslin! Have someone stop it!"

_"I-hold on,"_ she said. _"I'm not sure I believe you, Jason, but I'll call Lorna and tell her what you said. Give me a second, she's within my sending range."_

"You don't believe me? Why the hell wouldn't you believe me? You think I'd do something like call you over an open frequency and give myself away over something I wasn't absolutely sure about? _Think_, woman!"

_"Shut up a second!"_ she barked, and Jason saw that the operator, still on the line and still looking at him, was now furiously typing under the view of the camera.

"That cargo ship's registered as an independent vessel," that operator told both of them. "Licensed under the Umrani Collective, currently under contract from Trillane to move food, replacing a cargo vessel that had an accident and is undergoing repairs. It-um, shit, it says here it has an onboard jump gate. All it has to do is get outside the planetary gravity well, and it can jump out without using the stargate."

"Well, they better hurry, because it's on the move as we speak," Jason growled.

_"I'm sorry, but Lorna says that she has no doubt that you believe what you say, but she can't order a ship stopped and searched on the word of a wanted fugitive,"_ Jyslin told him, rather reluctantly. _"She promises to have someone look into your allegations, though. If Trillane is secretly engaged in the slave trade, the Empress would blow a primary coil."_

Jason gave the operator a murderous look, and the woman shrank back from the monitor on her side, visibly going pale. "I pass over a chance to stop that dropship myself, I risk my neck to call you, and all I get is _I'm sorry_?" he said in absolute outrage. "Is that what Lorna's going to tell the people in that ship, about to be sold like cattle? _I'm sorry_? Well that's not good enough!" he screamed, jerking the skimmer around so hard that it crushed him into his chair. "If you won't stop them, then god damn it, _I will_! Even if I have to ram that fucking ship!" He rocketed towards the cargo ship at maximum speed, which was now moving visibly, moving with deceptive slowness away from him, but that was only a trick of size and distance. He had no doubt that the ship was moving at maximum speed, but its size made it appear to move much slower than it actually was.

_"Jason! Jason, don't do anything stupid!"_ Jyslin all but pleaded. _"I'm talking to Lorna right now! Just give me some time, please!"_

The ship before him grew slightly smaller, and then something happened. A strange reddish glow surrounded the vessel completely, like an aura of fire, and then the ship simply _vanished_.

"It's gone!" Jason gasped. "It was right in front of me!"

_"It must have jumped out,"_ Jyslin told him.

Jason closed his eyes, bowing his head. Too late. He'd been too late. He'd had that dropship _in his fucking sights_, but had backed off to tell Jyslin, depended on the law that he knew of that made slavery illegal, he had _put faith in the fucking system_, and it had done nothing more than let him watch that ship get away with innocent people on board, who were now going to be sold as slaves. He had them right there. All he had to do was open fire on that dropship, get the attention of the station, force them to come out and intervene. All he had to do was _not be fucking afraid_, and he could have saved those people, and maybe all the other people in that cargo ship. Him being captured or killed was more than an even trade for the lives that were on that dropship, lives that were now all but over. Lives he could have _saved_.

_"Jason? Jason, are you there?"_

"Goodbye, Jyslin," he said with no emotion at all. "Don't ever talk to me again."

And then he terminated the call.

                                        * * *

It was an empty, cold flight back down.

Nobody understood what had happened, when he landed. Many of the people in the community were there waiting, despite the fact that it was nearly two in the morning. They cheered when he appeared in the doorway, but those cheers faded when they saw the look on his face. He walked right through them without looking at anyone, walked straight to his house, physically kicked Irwin out, who was riding the sensors, then locked his door.

He sat in his room all night. He did not eat, he did not sleep, he did not so much as get up from the chair by his bed. All he could hear was the terrified thoughts that had gripped those poor people. He had heard them, heard how afraid they were, and he had done _nothing_... and now he knew just how stupid he had been to think that he could have somehow convinced Lorna to stop that ship. After all, he was nothing but a fugitive from the law. Instead of doing what was right regardless of who was sending the warning, she had decided that his word that slaving was happening wasn't enough to justify any action... and those people were lost. Had she agreed to act, Jason wouldn't have turned to try to stop the ship, and it wouldn't have accelerated, and they might have had a chance. It may have still gotten away, but there was a chance, and at least there was the knowledge that Lorna had _tried_. But she had not, and he had depended on her. What he had done was just as good as sat there and let them get away, when he had had a chance to do something about it.

All those lives, and now they were gone.

It was then that, without emotion, he realized that nobody was going to do anything except _him_. His misplaced trust in Jyslin and the Imperium's dedication to the protection of its own citizens had cost hundreds of people their freedom, and possibly their lives. Trillane had proved that they were only here to rape Earth for anything they could get away with taking, and the human race would never be safe so long as the Trillane flag flew over the United Nations and the new capitol of Earth, New York City. The nobles of Trillane would keep selling away humanity one cargo ship at a time, and the Marines and the Empress weren't going to do anything about it.

Someone had to do something. And the only someone that would or could was _him_.

Just as the sun came up, Jason had made his decision. And that decision was that no matter what the odds, he would _fight_. He would not rest until Trillane was off of Earth, and either the Earth was free of the Imperium, or it had the right to look after itself.

There was a knock at the door. _Jason?_ Symone sent from the other side. _Jason, can I come in?_

_Assemble the community,_ he sent in reply. _Now. Wake them up._

_I'll see to it,_ she answered.

                                        * * *

Everyone was tense and uncertain.

It had to be something _very_ important if the mayor got everyone out of bed for a town meeting, and just about everyone knew what had happened the night before. They'd been curious and concerned at what had happened on Jason's test flight, and most of them knew that this meeting was probably going to explain that. But whatever it was, they all figured that it had to be major, if it couldn't wait until everyone was awake.

When Jason came in, everyone went dead quiet. He was still wearing the clothes from the night before, and anyone who looked into his eyes could see something there, something that was just a little bit frightening. He stalked up the center aisle, then up onto the podium where the table holding the city council was located. He turned around and faced the crowd, and stared at them for a short moment.

"When the community is safely moved and I'm sure it's safe, I'll be leaving you," he announced in a blunt tone.

That created a sudden storm of shouting and protest, and Jason had to hold up both of his hands to make everyone settle down.

"It has nothing to do with any of you," he told them. "Last night-well, most of you know that something happened last night that upset me. You're right. Last night, while testing the sensor cloak on my skimmer, I stumbled across a Trillane dropship that was smuggling human beings off Earth so they could be sold as slaves."

That created immediate stunned silence, but they listened with rapt attention as Jason related what had happened the night before. "I tried to have it stopped by the Imperial Marines, but-" he closed his eyes and looked away. "But they didn't care. What I _should_ have done was open fire on that dropship to force the space forces in orbit over the planet to send fighters to intervene. But I didn't do that. I put faith in the Imperium, and it cost me the chance to save hundreds of people from being made slaves.

"Last night, I stayed up all night thinking about it, I've come to a decision. I was willing to live out here in peace because I was under the illusion that the Imperium was keeping order and upholding Imperial law on Earth, but it's obvious that they're not. House Trillane is selling us into slavery, and only God knows what else they're doing behind their backs. I don't know about the rest of you, but I just can't live with myself knowing what they're doing, and not doing anything about it. We are _human beings_, we are not _cattle_.

"So, about an hour ago, Jason Fox declared war on House Trillane and the Faey Imperium," he said in a light, off-handed manner, which made a few people chuckle. "I know it's utterly ridiculous. I know that I have virtually no chance of doing anything more than getting myself killed, but I simply cannot sit here and do nothing. Not anymore. What I'm going to do will get me killed, but at least I can go to my grave knowing that I _tried. _My conscious will be clear.

"Obviously, I can't involve the community in this, so I'm going to be leaving you. I won't bring any danger down on you. I'll help you find a new place and set up what you need so you can't be found by the Faey. I'll leave most of my equipment with you, you're going to need it. But when you're settled in, I'll be taking my skimmer and relocating to a new place. I won't tell you where that is, mainly because even I don't know where it is yet."

"But, Mayor, they'll just zap you with their telepathy!" someone called. "Nobody can fight them!" someone else cried out.

"Jason, son, there ain't no way we'll _let_ you leave on a fool's mission," Clem said flatly. "There ain't no way in hell anyone can beat them. They got the guns and the tech, and there's no way around their telepathy."

"I'll _find_ a way," he stated flatly. "I don't care what it takes. Either I find a way to beat them, or I _die trying_. Because at this point, it's going to take the desperate acts of a crazy man to pull it off. You can call me a fool, you can call me a maniac, but it's going to take something radical to get Trillane off of Earth, and damn it all, _someone_ has to try. I just can't sit here and do nothing when I know that Trillane is treating us like _assets_ to be bought and sold instead of _people_."

"And the first time you get within a hundred yards of them, it's _over_," Clem said with surprising intensity.

"Like I said, I'll find a way to beat their telepathy," he said with unruffled calm. "You're not going to change my mind, Clem. No one is. Either we get Trillane off Earth, or I die, because I can't live with myself if I sat back and did _nothing_." He looked back over the community. "I just wanted you to know now, so it's not a surprise."

"Don't you understand, boy? It _can't_ be done!" Clem shouted.

"Actually, it can," Symone said, standing up. "Clem, it's easy to beat telepathy. You just fight fire with fire."

"Symone," Jason warned aloud, scowling at her.

"They should know, Jason," she said simply. "They'll find out anyway, and I know for a fact that quite a few already suspect it."

"Suspect what?" Clem asked suspiciously.

"Jason is confident that he can beat their telepathy for a simple reason, Clem," Symone said. "It's because Jason is _also_ a telepath. He's a _human_ telepath."

All sound in the auditorium _stopped_.

"Why do you think he came out here? It wasn't to escape from school, it wasn't to get away from Jyslin. Well, not _completely_," she said with a wink at him. "It's because he's a telepath. That's why he's not afraid of the Faey, because they can't use their greatest weapon against him."

"Is she telling the truth, son?" Clem asked, the look on his face seeming to Jason that he had just violated Clem's darkest secret by shouting it from the church steeple.

"Oh, stop that, Clem," Symone said testily. "You know him better than that. He's the absolute soul of courtesy. Jyslin trained him well, and he never eavesdrops on the idle thoughts of those around him. He only listens when he believes he has a _duty_ to listen to protect the community. Think, goof. You really think Jason goes around listening to what you're thinking all the time? Take it from the one you _know_ is a telepath, baby, it's not all it's cracked up to be. And Jason's _human_, so he understands intimately how it feels for you to be violated by having someone listen to your thoughts. You really think he'd do that to you? puh-_leeze_. The only secret that's ever been violated is _his_."

_What do you think you're doing?_ Jason demanded, finally getting over his shock enough to protest.

_Hush, cutie, and watch,_ she replied with an impish look at him.

"So, all of you just calm the fuck down," she told them. "Jason _can_ beat their telepathy, so he'll be safe enough. Of course, that doesn't solve the problem of how to stop it on a large scale, but at least he himself is going to be safe. So don't refuse to let him go just because of that. He's a grown man, after all, able to make rational decisions. I told you his secret so you can see for yourself that for him, this decision _is_ rational. He _can_ stop telepathy against himself."

"How, how _do_ other races stop telepathy, Symone?" someone called.

"Dozens of races have come up with a counter for our telepathy," she said calmly, walking up onto the platform as Jason glared unholy murder at her. "The only way to beat a telepath is with _another_ telepath. Nobody's ever invented a machine that can interfere with telepathy, at least that I know of, but I'm just a grunt," she chuckled. "From what I remember in my history classes and basic training, most of them threw all their resources into genetic engineering projects, artificially creating their own telepaths to deal with us. Every race out there we're in contact with now has their own telepaths as a defense against us. We can't go anywhere outside the Imperium without at least five of those fucking vultures shadowing our every step," she said, making a face. "Okay, so, everyone understand now? Jason's not being a maniac. His decision isn't based on insanity. He didn't want to tell you his secret because he was afraid it would put you in danger if the Faey ever raided the town. But, if the town's going to move to a place where the Faey _can't_ find us, then why does it matter if you know or not? The only way they'd find us is with a low-level dropship scouting the area, getting close enough for the Faey in it to hear us all thinking... but they wouldn't do that in a place where there's nothing to attract their interest and bring them in the first place. I just didn't want everyone thinking Jason was crazy. He's _not_ crazy."

"I didn't know humans could _be_ telepaths," Regina whispered.

"They sure can, Reggie," Symone grinned. "But it seems to be really, really rare though. Only two have been found by the Imperium so far. One of them was captured, one of them was killed while trying to escape. Me and Jason, we had a talk about that a long time ago. Both the telepaths they found, and Jason, all had one thing in common. They were on close terms with Faey, exposed to Faey for long periods every day. We think that exposure to telepathy over a period of time can make it come out in those rare few humans that have the ability. That's why it took so long for it to show up. There's very few humans with talent, and those telepaths have to be very close to a Faey for it to express, because it won't express by itself." She looked around. "You never know, there might be a telepath lurking down in the crowd, just needing enough exposure to me and my talent to wake it up. There's no way to tell, really," she told them with a slight smile, glancing at Tim and Temika. "Well, that's all I had to say."

"You, are going to die," Jason said under his breath at her.

"Just let me take my pants off before you spank me, Jayce," she said with an outrageous grin. "I need so