Chapter 1
On the fringes of UNSC territory, a small ship drifted away from the system's single inhabited planet, unseen by the several other ships in orbit. The ship was a complete pitch black, with strange angular surfaces. It would have aroused anyone's suspicion had they been able to see it, which they couldn't. This was lucky for the ship's single inhabitant, for though the ship was his, it was definitely not legally his. This had been the case for the last four years, but with no one looking for it, and no one being able to find it if they were looking, the ship's inhabitant was finally becoming secure that the ship would remain "his".
As for the inhabitant, had he not been 6'6" tall and heavily muscled, he would have been a plain sight to look at. His skin had a reddish tint, and a few indistinct freckles scattered at random, with short cut light-brown hair. He had small, almost beady brown eyes, an undefined jaw line, thin lips, and an overall visage that seemed to be unable to decide if it was soft-featured or scowling. The way he hunched over when around others hid most of his height, and even his name, Daniel Webber, added to the effect of making him easily forgettable. Which was just how he liked it.
Daniel stared at the view screen on the bridge of The Highwayman in contemplation, watching the planet slowly drift in the opposite direction. On the night side, he could see a few scattered clusters of light, giving proof to the planet's relatively sparse population. A female voice penetrated his daze, "Systems scan complete Captain." "Operational status Raven?" replied Daniel. "Begin with stealth systems." " Surface coolant system operating at peak efficiency, all reserve tanks full. Electromagnetic dampeners functioning flawlessly. Stealth coating is at maximum coverage. Overall system entropy is minimal. Surface temperature is holding at .06 degrees Kelvin." Daniel nodded. "Good". Considering the ship's history, and utter lack of any external weaponry, the ability to remain unseen was always the highest priority. If it had been anything less, he would have had to go back and have a few threatening words with the man he had just paid a considerable sum of money to do comprehensive maintenance with no questions asked.
"What's the reactor status?" Daniel inquired to the AI. "Fusion reactor output is at 25 percent, Captain. Deuterium reserves will last for a projected 546 days of continuous operation." The AI said in her usual chipper tone. It was programmed this way to give personality to a machine that realistically had very little. When Daniel had bought the "Dumb" AI named Raven two and a half years ago, he had found her to be somewhat irritating. He had needed an AI to monitor the ship's considerable stealth systems, and a simple one was all that he could afford at the time. He had eventually gotten used to her, and even found her somewhat comforting at times, despite being so obviously artificial. She was, after all, the only semblance of companionship he would have for extended periods of time, on space voyages that were long enough to get lonesome, yet not long enough to warrant climbing into a Cryo tube. And it certainly beat having to rely on a simple NAV computer to get him places, as he was forced to do for the first year and a half of his private life. What he could never quite get used to, though, was how she always called him Captain. His former military experience always nagged at him whenever she called him a rank that wasn't his. He had tried having her call him Daniel, but he quickly ended it, being even more unnatural to him. So, unable to think of anything better, he simply went by "Captain".
"What's our ETA to Salamis, Raven?" "We will be jumping in twenty minutes, and will be arriving in 49 hours, 16 minutes and 06 seconds." Daniel read the words as they popped up on the screen while she said them. Daniel was still being taken aback by how precise of time increments the jumps were being measured in, and by how short the jumps were. Not long ago, getting anywhere in two days was completely unheard of, as was being able to say exactly how long you would be in slipspace. Two ships leaving the same place at the same time could arrive at their destination days, or sometimes weeks apart, and hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from each other. But now, Covenant grade slipspace drives were being produced in small numbers, although most were restricted to military purposes. Two months earlier, Daniel had had the tremendous luck of meeting two black marketeers who had gotten their hands on one by means which they would not disclose. Daniel wasn't in a position to be too curious. This drive was so advanced, that he could have jumped from the surface of this planet, straight onto the surface of Salamis. He had not yet been forced to do this, though, as it would cause a rather large explosion on the planet he left behind, as well as being unnecessarily risky. Raven was good enough for most things he needed her for, but the calculations involved for gravity well jumps were a little out of her league. He had asked her about it once, and she had told him that they would have a 90 percent chance of merely surviving the jump, regardless of what condition they would be in on the other side. Needless to say, it was a last resort measure that he hoped he never had to use.
After pooling every last scrap of money in his possession, and even selling some of his things to cover the obscene cost of this little gem, Daniel now had the means to move four times faster than he previously could. It was easily the best investment he had made so far. Now that Daniel could do business a such a breakneck speed, money was hardly an object anymore. In the time since he had bought his new drive, he had already made the money back that he had spent on the it, and that was what he had accumulated since he started working on his own.
The business that Daniel happened to be in was a rather unique one. What he did was whatever his clients required of him at the time. Who his clients were was whoever offered him enough money. Daniel could transport goods of any nature, and rarely bothered himself to even look inside his cargo bay. The Highwayman's sensors could tell if there was anything toxic, explosive, or radiological, and he would prepare accordingly. He could chauffer people to places that they weren't technically supposed to be. He could deliver messages to people without going through the usual channels. Whether it was inside the law or otherwise, Daniel wasn't picky about the job, just the pay. What he truly excelled at, however, was the application of force, where proper channels had failed to resolve matters. Ever since the end of the war, the UNSC had been desperately trying to regain its footing. The outer colonies on the opposite side of the Covenant invasion had fallen into disorganization, and sometimes outright chaos. This meant that his particular brand of service was highly valuable. Daniel could hire himself out as a bodyguard, a mercenary, or even an assassin if he was desperate. There were almost always bounties to collect, and he had taken so many that other bounty hunters sometimes came after him.
It was a fine line Daniel had to walk, though. He was extremely good at what he did, but if he was too good, it would draw unwanted attention to himself, and his very large ill-gotten-gains. He had to do enough work to keep his ship running, but had to simultaneously keep his name from spreading. High-profile assassinations were out of the question, because that would obviously draw too much attention. He didn't dare go near the Inner Colonies, for the more ships that were in the vicinity, the likelier he was to be detected. In the Outer Colonies, he could land his ship legitimately, without having to use stealth, but in the Inner Colonies, there would surely be someone who would get suspicious of a civilian with a military stealth ship. However, things were beginning to look up lately. His new slipspace drive allowed him to travel much further distances between jobs, making it much less likely that people would know him.
In all, Daniel had adjusted to civilian life well enough, and despite his isolation he found his new life to be challenging and interesting. And after all, he could always be confident that even if he did somehow get caught, no one but those in the highest echelons of military intelligence would know who he really was, and even they believed him to be dead. Few people knew even his name of Daniel Webber. There was now virtually no one, not even Raven, that knew his name used to be SPARTAN Daniel-G226.
