his own colonies using these tricks. But he could
also produce extra children to sneak off to the hidden stations his
people were building. Every child he kept from The Empire would be one
more crewman he wouldn't have to fight later on. And with so much
traffic in illegal births,
his efforts wouldn't even be noticed.
44 Many of North's other holdings made his other effort unnoticable,
also. Even with his great wealth, and the support of his rebels, they
could not finance a rebellion alone. They had to have other sources of
income, to get the materials and supplies they needed, and already his
freighters were making secret runs into the uncharted systems, making
contact with Hashon holdouts, trading raw materials they had for
manufactured: goods. He had lost two ships making the initial contacts,
but it had been worth it.
45 The holdouts kept in contact with each other and once the word
spread that there were rebels in The Empire willing to sell them
equipment that would update their ships and make their lives more
pleasant, they were more than willing to deal. Much of the materials
North got went to producing equipment that would not show on the
Imperial records; equipment that would someday rip the Empire apart.
46 Morn, too, was making his own contacts. Quietly, surely he was
spreading his influence. In every system he visited, he made friends,
and, enemies. But the friends greatly outweighed the enemies. His route
was in one of the poorer sectors and the ship had not been making much
profit. So Morn leased six cargo vessels from North, and sat them to
work carrying the unimportant bulk cargos he didn't wish to deal with,
while he, himself, carried only priority goods, and, luxury items.
47 He was soon making a high profit on every run. The ship's long
debt began to dwindle and its retirees began to get a meaningful
percentage of the profit. Morn had a happy ship, and, a happy circle.
But he, himself was