Edited The Curse of the Wiccan

Chapter 19- Viche's Ascension

            Viche wanted back into the gang. It was the best life he had ever known, but he didn't want to be just any ordinary gang member. He wanted to have a high rank, to one day replace an aging Garfnard.

            His lofty ambitions had him running around trying to satisfy his superior's needs and wants. There was great debate when Viche came back on what to do with him, but he didn't come back empty handed.

"I want back in, boss," Viche stated to Garfnard, of which he was very close to his first time around in the gang.

"You have created many of my headaches in the past," Garfnard admitted, "after I so graciously gave you command of an entire planet. Why should I allow you to even rejoin the gang? I have nerve to end your life right here and right now," Garfnard spoke.

Viche, who still held a place in many of the gang members' minds as one of the greatest leaders of the gang, stated, "I come beating gifts," he motioned for the men to bring in the gift.

"We have plenty of young girls to serve our clientele's needs," Garfnard croaked, unaware of how important the girl in question truly was, and what she would be worth to the right buyers.

"This is no ordinary young girl," Viche smiled crookedly. He came back with the Princess of Hertha, heir to the throne as far as figureheads went.

"Is that the demigod from Hertha?" Garfnard asked, having no problem accepting Viche back into the gang with such an illustrious gift. However Garfnard wasn't the direct cause for Viche's missing trigger finger. The decision to banish Viche from the gang wasn't his own, but he trusted his higher ranking officers to fulfill their duties. And while Viche was a high-functioning addict, Garfnard was pleased with the new addition. "I will grant you amnesty of your former crimes against the gang, but should you make even one simple mistake, let's just say you'll be missing a lot more than a finger," Garfnard threatened.

            It would take a while to totally regain trust from his superiors, but he blamed his falling out on secro. The Triwizards were one of the largest manufacturers of secro in the entire universe, so they understood its effects greatly.

            After doing exceptionally well for the gang, Garfnard took an interest to the castaway member who was rising through the ranks. Garfnard wanted to personally meet him for the first time after his profit margins from that branch had tripled since he'd joined the gang.

            A meeting was arranged.

            "You have fifteen minutes to tell me how you tripled my profits on secro," Garfnard coughed.

            "I started having my people manufacture it cheaper by using synthetic heroin. And I doubled the price because the effects last longer, so I've been telling addicts it's cleaner and more potent," Viche informed.

            Garfnard laughed, "it certainly ain't cleaner."

            "But it is more powerful," Viche argued.

            "More dangerous, too," Garfnard reasoned.

            "I want to apologize for leaving the gang. I'm sorry I let you down," Viche apologized.

            "You're lucky you're still alive. Someone was merciful in my ranks. The only way out of my gang is death," Garfnard reminded.

            "I want to repay you for my good fortune," Viche spoke.

            "I was made much richer because of you," Garfnard admitted. "Price point is very important to me. I am very interested on this war on slavery. It must be waged. Ever since Annette Scher took office in Hertha, the war has seemed to be put aside. If the war is not waged, police will come to Gigar, and my slavery industry will take a massive hit. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

            "Yes, but how do I help?" Viche asked, "I'm just a low level drug dealer. I only command one of the thousands of your planets."

            "You're here to be promoted. I want you to oversee the slaving industry," Garfnard informed.

            Viche took a step back, "I'm honored, sir. What all duties do I have?"

            "I've recently lost most of my slaves on Gigar. I will need you to go to underdeveloped planets and take their people as slaves. The crew is already waiting at the bottom of my skyscraper. You have one hour to prepare and leave," Garfnard informed.

            "Yes, sir," Viche said, "I'm truly, truly honored to have such a high rank."

            "Your fifteen minutes is up," Garfnard said, but Viche stood around for a couple of seconds, "go!"

            Viche went directly to the bottom floor which held thousands of ships. He looked around for someone in charge to speak to about the ship he was going to take. He asked someone, and everyone seemed to know he was getting the promotion.

            "Yes, Captain V," he replied to Viche.

            Viche liked the new nickname, but he was concerned they wouldn't be able to fit enough slaves on the ship. The passenger craft they had only housed two thousand, and he was expecting to get a lot more than two thousand slaves on each trip.

Greedy for more slaves, as it would boost the trust Garfnard had in him, Viche enquired about the transporter flux on the deck.

            "It is not possible."

            "Why?" Viche asked.

            "That ship is reserved for when Garfnard personally extracts slaves."

            "Ah," Viche said, "and how often does he leave Gigar?"

            "He has only personally seen to slave extraction once."

            "So wouldn't it make sense for him to allow us to use it?" Viche quizzed. "We would bring in fifty times the slaves."

            "Garfnard is angered easily," the man spoke. "I would just take the ship he ordered us to prepare."

            "How long would it take to reload the ships?" Viche asked.

            "Time you do not want to spend."

            "I want the transporter," Viche bluntly said.

            "Garfnard gave you the passenger."

            "Would he even notice if his ship was gone?" Viche asked, having been out of the loop for quite some while.

            "That's a ten trillion USD ship. He would notice it was missing. You'd get killed," the man replied.

            "Okay," Viche agreed, "I'll take the passenger craft this time, but I will let him know I could increase time efficiency with the transporter flux."