JUNKYARD SABOTEUR

JUNKYARD PIRATE

BOOK 9

JAMIE MCFARLANE

CONTENTS

1. Mining Colony

2. Angel of Death

3. Loyalty Test

4. Skulking About

5. A Coarse Tool

6. Chess Pieces

7. Punishment

8. Every Problem a Nail

9. Secrets

10. High Stakes

11. Team AJ

12. When a Plan Comes Together

13. Fade to Black

14. Poisoned

15. Claustrophobic

16. Perks of the Job

17. Blaze of Glory

18. Open to the Universe

19. Unexpected Allies

20. Trouble Finds Its Own

21. Out Spied

22. Scrapes

23. Gold Stars

24. Gearing Up

25. Running With Bulls

26. Young Love

27. Boiling Frogs

28. Breach

29. Open to the Universe

Epilogue

About the Author

Also by Jamie McFarlane

1

MINING COLONY

AJ shifted impatiently in his seat, the constricting pressure of the armored vac-suit a much-needed reminder of the urgent mission and the squad that would need his undivided attention. Their job was to land on Krevnor, a moon over the planet Drayths, and stabilize a beleaguered mining colony, harried by the Iron Syndicate, a militant, multi-system conglomerate.

“Bub, are you gonna make it? You look like a long-tailed orangutang in a room full of box fans,” Darnell, AJ’s best and oldest friend asked, not taking his eyes from the forward screen of the heavily armored personnel transport.

“It’s cats and rocking chairs,” AJ said.

Between the two, on the forward bulkhead where navigational and tactical data streamed to hardened video displays, an attractive, eight-inch tall, slim, dark-haired woman appeared wearing khaki shorts, shirt and heavy leather boots along with a pith helmet, as if she were fresh from safari. Next to her stood an orangutang which glanced between her and the two men as if being five-inches tall and standing on the bridge of a spaceship was perfectly natural.

“Orangutangs don’t have tails,” Beverly said, lifting the orangutang’s hand so it could slowly turn around, showing off its bare rump. The four-hundred-nanometer-long symbiote that utilized AJ’s body as host, 49231125-0-B, or Beverly as AJ preferred to call her, had the capacity to project visual imagery into AJ’s field of view.

Despite his mood, AJ grunted a quick laugh. “Is that the monkey from the movie Every Which Way but Loose?”

Beverly sighed. “I don’t know why I try. Yes. Again, not a monkey. No tail.”

“You have thirty minutes before we set down on Krevnor,” Lisa Jackson said. “Maybe it’s time to put our game faces on. Seamus has cracked one of the video feeds. We have live video to look at.” Lisa’s symbiote, named Seamus, specialized in code breaking and all things electronic.

“Anything useful?” AJ asked.

A long hallway appeared on the screen. On one side of the hallway was the transparent dome that arced high out of view on the opposite side, a long wall with doors inset in a row of alcoves. The glossy interior wall was opaque for two meters starting at ground level but faded to transparency as it rose several meters above. Importantly, a quintet of armored, rifle-carrying soldiers were chasing a trio of unarmed civilians terrified by the gunfire behind them.

“They’re being herded,” AJ observed.

“With prejudice,” Lisa agreed as one of civilians was clipped in the side by an energy round that sent him spinning to the ground. The remaining two tore at their downed companion’s clothing and dragged him back to his feet. The soldiers were merciless and only one of the civilians escaped their wrath.

“Dammit, is Iron Syndicate already here?” AJ asked.

“Those are IS markings on that armor,” Lisa said.

“They’re doing more than harassing. This just turned from a defensive to an offensive operation,” AJ said. “How much video do we have?”

“Only have a small part of the dome’s video surveillance and nothing from the mine,” Lisa said.

“Tell me again why we were snagged for this?” AJ asked. “Surely in all the Galactic Empire, there’s another team that could have been sent. Did we lose our volunteer status somewhere?”

“Brother, you need to cool it,” Darnell said. “After Lamia took off with that Breanto character, you lost your crap. We figured this would be a good way to get you dried out and back on track.”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to get drunk, between BB messing with my liver and the genetic tomfoolery from those damn Tok?”

“You didn’t seem to mind tossing those bouncers around on Xandarj,” Darnell said. “They’d have chewed you up if you weren’t at least part Stora.”

“The Stora thing has more benefits than it sucks,” AJ said. “It’s hard to get a good sulk on, though.”

“I didn’t get the sense that Lamia really wanted to go with Breanto,” Lisa said.

“That’s your read? I watched her go. She knew I was right there and would pull that puke-bag’s lungs out if she’d only said the word,” AJ said angrily. “She left willingly.”

“I agree,” Lisa said. “But just because she walked, doesn’t mean she wanted to. Breanto has something on her. As for the job, Cer was insistent that we take it. That means there’s more here than a simple hunker down and wait for raiders to show up, job.”

“Bringing two entire platoons of headbangers with enough fire power to level a small city should have been our first clue it wasn’t a small job,” AJ said gruffly. “BB, get Lefty on the line.”

“Go for Lefty,” a voice answered over comms. Lefty, or Bernard Johnson, was about as close to a mentor as AJ had, even though the man currently reported to him. One of a dozen others with symbiotes riding along, Lefty was a soldier’s soldier and had the respect of all who’d served with or caught wind of his legend.

“We’re SNAFU already,” AJ said, not mincing words. “Iron Syndicate has troops in Hab-6. We could redirect to Hab-8, but I think we should breach Six and get this party started.”

“Gotta love day-old intel,” Lefty said sarcastically. “My boys and girls are loaded out just fine for a breach. Where do you want us?”

“We’ll enter through the maintenance bays. We have limited video and we’re trying to get a read before I assign entry points. Hang tight. You’ll have an assignment before we orbit.”

“Good copy. I’ve loaded Hab-6 schematics and taken a shine to the western maintenance bay. Let me know if that works out. Do you have video over that way?”

“Plan on western, I’ll let you know if that changes,” AJ answered, closing comms with Lefty. “Lisa, any video near south or west maintenance bays?”

“Not much that’s actionable,” Lisa said. “The stream Seamus pulled is the exterior passages. Most of the action is interior if the sounds of gunfire are any indication.”

“If you see anything that looks like west isn’t good for Lefty or south is looking tough for my platoon, say something,” AJ said, pulling his six-and-a-half-foot tall frame up.

“Babe, you need to understand, I’m not staying behind on this one,” Lisa said. After her last mission where Tok had modified her genetics and transformed her almost entirely to the Stora species, she’d grown physically stronger and was significantly more aggressive.

“Just find us a place to land, Lisa,” AJ said. “Then come on back. I’m giving you a small squad and I have a special mission for you.”

“Dangerous?” Lisa and Darnell asked almost in unison. Worry laced Darnell’s voice. Lisa was excited.

“I need you to scout the interior and plant cameras. We need to know what the hell is going on inside this dome,” AJ said.

“I don’t need a squad. Let me go by myself. Others will slow me down,” she said.

AJ nodded which was something Darnell couldn’t see but answered slightly differently. “We’ll see what we run into.”

“If we fly over top of the dome, there’s an exhaust vent. I could insert there. I only need to time it with deceleration,” she said.

“There’s atmosphere. You’ll be pulled off. You can’t be outside the hull on approach,” Darnell argued.

“Bah, I’ll have a cable,” Lisa said. “And I wasn’t asking. I was telling. Don’t mess this up or you’ll be married to a fine pink mist.”

“Do something about this?” Darnell asked, turning toward AJ.

“It’s a good plan, Big D,” AJ said. “I’d do it if I didn’t need to lead a platoon at the same time.”

“Damn you both,” Darnell said. “You’re not thinking about the stress you’re putting on your bodies. You’re not invincible.”

“Right,” AJ said irritated at the extended conversation. He understood Darnell feeling protective, but Lisa was one of his strongest assets and he wasn’t about to lose her because Darnell was worried.

“Go,” Lisa said. “I’ve got this.”

AJ exited the bridge and stalked into the open fuselage that comprised the majority of the transport. “Queenie!” He called loudly, slamming the bridge hatch behind him angrily. “Front and center.”

“Shiny!” The lanky, blonde-haired Australian who was only slightly shorter than AJ jumped up from one of the seats hanging in the wide-open passenger compartment of the troop carrier. “Ready on the bubble, mon capitaine.”

“I need these doors down in ten seconds or less,” AJ said, flicking a picture of the tall garage-style doors that allowed machinery to enter and exit the mining colonies habitation dome. “Don’t give a rat’s ass if it’s permanent, just don’t break the interior walls. Just like we did in the walk through. Do you read me?”

“Aye, aye, sir!” Queenie said. “Those charges will lose their fair dinkum fire in two meters or I’ll be personally setting up wall patch.”

“Let’s get it right, Queenie,” AJ snapped.

AJ’s irritation took Queenie off guard, and he responded less enthusiastically. “Did I mess up? I got this boss. Cross my heart.”

“Shit,” AJ spat. “That’s not aimed at you. Just do your job, Queenie. That’s all I need.”

“No worries, mate,” Queenie answered.

“AJ, your cortisol production is spiking,” Beverly said, appearing as if hanging from a climber’s rope between him and Queenie, wearing jungle fatigues. “I can’t control your metabolism in your Stora form like I could when you were human. Don’t give in to getting spun up.”

AJ waved off her comments. She chose to interpret literally and tumbled across the open space of the passenger compartment until she hit the exterior bulkhead, splatted noisily, and slowly slid down the wall. In that she was just a projection onto his optic nerve and into his aural canal, Beverly was unharmed. Her antics, however, were comically delivered which caused him to chuckle, despite his darkening mood.

“AJ, we’ve entered orbit over Krevnor,” Darnell said. “We’re on approach. Lisa is about to go EVA. You have four minutes.”

AJ toggled acknowledgement and directed his conversation to the gathering platoon. “Okay, boys and girls, your mission is just like we talked through. We need to take this dome back to establish a base of operations. We’re going in hard. There are enemy combatants on the ground. Do not shoot the locals. Our tactical computers have bio sigs for every civilian. Make sure you get a bio ident before firing. There was a small police force, but we believe they were taken out in the first few hours, so it’s unlikely civilians will be armed. We don’t know that for certain. Are there any questions about your assignments?”

He stared out over the forty pair of eyes looking back at him. His tenure of combat had started as a boy in his late teens, joining the Army only to find himself in the jungles of Vietnam ten weeks later hunkered down in the mud, fighting people he largely hadn’t known existed until they were shooting at him. Things hadn’t changed that much. Fighting in space was cleaner, but the foes were just as alien, their objectives requiring force to complete, his job to stop with a measure of force beyond that of his new enemy.

“No questions. Line up on that back hatch,” AJ said. “Blue One, Blue Two, we’ll go through the door right after Blue Sappers do their thing. Be careful about interior walls as there is potential for atmospheric breach.”

Most of his words were unnecessary as with Beverly’s help, he’d already delivered orders to each of the squad commanders. He had twin countdowns on his HUD, the first showing when Lisa would jump from the personnel carrier onto the dome, the second when Darnell would spin down and allow his troops to deploy.

Suddenly, the carrier was rocked to the side as a deafening explosion tore open the top aft. Atmosphere rushed through the carrier and soldiers lunged for handholds, many falling over the person in front or behind them.

AJ’s reflexes were sublime, and he steadied himself, his clawed hand bending metal as it found purchase. “Darnell, what in the hell!?”

“Anti-aircraft defensive battery picked us up. It’s not ours,” he said unnecessarily. “I’m taking evasive. Lisa, I can’t give you your drop. Hold tight.”

“Sorry, I’m not sticking around for another one of those,” Lisa said. “I’m free-falling and will be on the ground, two hundred meters from the north end.”

“Are you hurt?” Darnell asked.

“Clear the channel,” AJ growled. “Medics get aft, we have wounded. Darnell, get this bitch on the ground, now!”

“We’re not in position,” Darnell said.

“I don’t care how you do it, we can’t survive another one of those hits. Crash land if you have to,” AJ ordered as he hand-over-hand pulled himself to the back of the hold where he helped unwind the chaos of wounded and disoriented. “Beverly, give me an exterior. I need to know how close we are to the ground.”

A second strike hit the same side of the personnel carrier, this time low and roughly amidship. It was the worst location that could have been hit. Three Marines lost their lives and another five were tossed so violently they were knocked unconscious. AJ turned back to help and simultaneously checked their position. Only a hundred meters from ground contact, they were falling fast. It was going to hurt.

“Brace for impact!” he called.

Having been hit by a pair of anti-aircraft rounds, Marines who had any capacity to defend themselves instantly braced. The personnel carrier hit the ground hard and bounced, throwing most into the air. After the bounce, it rolled twice, coming to rest against the side of the habitation dome.

“Queenie, we’re twenty meters from the eastern maintenance bay. That’s your new target,” AJ called. “Are you up?”

“Hatch is stuck. We’re trying to get out the top, but it’s bent. We’re cutting our way out,” Queenie said.

“Frak,” AJ said, jumping over a group of Marines struggling to find equilibrium. Racing through the tangle of Marines, he found Queenie behind the bright red/white glow of a cutting torch.

“Give me that!” AJ growled, pulling a second torch from a Marine who was looking on, unable to find a good way to help Queenie. Muscling a crate of supplies out of the way, AJ joined Queenie in cutting through the hull. Sixty long seconds later, AJ and Queenie kicked out a sizeable section, giving access to the light atmosphere of Krevnor.

“I’ll have us open in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” Queenie said.

“Platoon, all able-bodied Marines get outside and form up. They know we’re here and we need defenses up,” AJ ordered, following Queenie’s squad onto the moon’s dusty surface. Grabbing a fist-sized drone from his chest, he tossed it into the light atmosphere. Immediately, Beverly took control of the device and caused it to burst into ten smaller drones, which all took off in different directions with the objective of providing surveillance. “Beverly, reorganize squads and fill them out.”

“As you wish,” Beverly answered.

“We’re taking fire!” Queenie called about the same time that AJ’s video drones provided an overhead view of a quintet of enemy soldiers taking up defensive positions in an exterior hatch just short of the maintenance bay. Queenie’s squadron had thrown themselves to the ground in an attempt to find cover.

He saw the disaster for what it was and leapt into action. Sixty meters from where the personnel carrier had crash landed, he chewed up the distance between himself and the enemy fighters firing on Queenie’s squad. As Stora, AJ had no trouble holding his rifle steady while running at top speed. With triple shot bursts, he picked his targets, not concerning himself with kills as much as ensuring he disrupted any sense of aim his quarry would have. The ploy worked as three of the five enemy soldiers struggled to take cover instead of firing at Queenie’s team. When AJ arrived, he did so with a long-bladed knife and a serious attitude. Spinning into the first combatant, AJ buried his knife under the armor of its helmet and released his blade. Fluidly, he grasped the enemy’s gun and turned it, still held by that enemy, and fired point blank into another enemy’s midsection. The remaining three struggled to orient on their new assailant, but couldn’t get away fast enough, unless they simply ran, which they did. As final insult, AJ slapped a sticky grenade to one of the fleeing and dove for cover as the soldier raced after his compatriots only to blow them up.

“Go, Queenie!” AJ called, pushing himself back to his feet and dusting off.

With a pistol larger than most humans could effectively use, AJ stepped toward the hatch where the soldiers had come from and crouched, extracting his knife and flicking off the blood and viscera before pushing it back into its sheath on his thigh. Instead of inspecting further, he set a pair of grenades on sentry mode and uploaded their position into the tactical data for his squad so none would wander across them and blow themselves up.

“There’s another squad on the other side of this door,” Queenie called. “We’ll probably get them good and shaken, but it could be trouble.”

“Blue One, Blue Two, form up on the eastern maintenance,” AJ called over tactical comms. “BB, how many squads does Blue have?”

“Six, with Blue Five and Blue Six running short a man each,” Beverly answered.

“Shit,” AJ said. They’d started with a full eight squads of five and were down twelve soldiers before they’d even started. He wanted to ask about injured versus dead, but the next few minutes would make or break the mission and time couldn’t be wasted.

“I’ve inserted and have very little resistance,” Lisa said. “Oh, wait. Let me get back to you on that.”

AJ shook his head. While he was worried that a lucky bullet or an overwhelming force would stop Lisa, he knew he didn’t have the luxury of worrying. She was nearly as powerful as he was and could evade as easily as she could kill if the situation called for it.

“Big D, is there anything left of the bird?” AJ called.

“Negative, Blue Leader,” Darnell answered. “I’m strapping on armor and joining Blue Six.”

“Good copy,” AJ answered. “All squads form up on eastern maintenance. We’re going to push through. Queenie, where’s my bang-bang?”

“Ten seconds on my mark,” Queenie said. “Blue One and Two just showed up, we’re ready to make our first push. Savvy?”

“Take them in, Queenie!” AJ said. “I’m Oscar Mike.”

AJ turned and started running for the maintenance bay where his new plan was to breach and set up a command post. He was twenty meters from the hatch when a line of explosives puffed around the exterior door like a line of dominos. When the last explosives were complete, the hatch hung in the air for what seemed like minutes, where in actuality it was maybe a few seconds. The door then fell outward followed by a hail of bullets.

2

ANGEL OF DEATH

Attacking a defended position from open ground is generally an infantryman’s worst nightmare. Fortunately, the Iron Syndicate troops hadn’t had time to set up in the habitation dome with heavy equipment and AJ’s team had come prepared for heavy resistance.

“Deploy shields!” AJ ordered.

No more had he barked the order than the forward squads, Blue One and Blue Two, snapped open large, rectangular shields, slammed them into the soft ground of the moon and hunkered in behind them.

“Blue Two, take offensive positions!” he ordered.

Like the well-rehearsed dance it was, squads Blue Three and Blue Four stepped in behind the shield bearers under the cover of dust raised by the fallen hatch. Time seemed to stand still. Fire from within halted as the Iron Syndicate forces assessed their new predicament.

“Fire!” AJ ordered.

Had their intent had been to simply destroy the Iron Syndicate forces without regard for the structure, AJ’s orders would have used fragmentation grenades. His team had already peeled off the first layer of protection by breaching the maintenance bay. Further damage would likely cause atmospheric failure, endangering whatever civilians still lived.

The momentary peace ended as energized weapons’ fire whizzed back and forth. For all the energy released in those first moments, only a few soldiers on both sides were wounded. AJ was unwilling to meddle with his squad leaders’ responsibilities while they were under fire. He’d picked each of them for their experience in combat and would give them the freedom to operate.

Of course, trusting his sergeants freed him to make his own brand of trouble. His weapon’s loadout, while similar to standard, had a few marked differences. Due to his unusual biological makeup, AJ’s senses were superior to ordinary humans and the vast majority of aliens. One such sense was his visual acuity, allowing his naked eye to see with much finer detail. Add to that preternatural agility and extraordinary strength, he was able to wield weapons that would ordinarily be mounted on a stand.

Shouldering a long-barreled, alien-designed weapon with heavy, fat orbs packed with throbbing green energy, AJ sighted in a crew in the process of setting up a turret of their own. Instead of picking a single target, he captured the positions of three moving soldiers and tapped off twelve shots faster than the Iron Syndicate soldiers could react to.

A cry of surprise was the first break in the action as Iron Syndicate soldiers recognized the shift caused by a sniper, able to reach through the chaos and surgically strike. A grim smile pulled at AJ’s lips as his own soldiers recognized the opportunity and advanced, stepping onto the fallen hatch.

Errant fire zipped all around AJ as several Iron Syndicate sought to take him out. He loped across the tail end of the battlefield and as he did, targeted a forward trio, dug in behind a heavy earth mover. The Iron Syndicate soldiers were in a pickle. They could hunker down behind the machinery or expose themselves to fire. Most chose to play the gopher’s game of popping up, firing off a poorly aimed salvo and ducking back. The problem, more often than not, was that these soldiers became predictable and that was the forward gunners’ failure.

Tap, tap, tap.

AJ’s weapon was louder, but that noise was all that permeated his intense focus. Each tap was a shot against a target who exposed themselves. In turn, each of the three slumped behind the big earth mover. Once again, Blue platoon advanced, this time overrunning the forward Iron Syndicate positions.

Sighting along his barrel’s length, AJ fired one last time, seeing that one of his own had overrun the protections afforded by his squad. The soldier looked back in AJ’s direction, understanding dawning slowly on his face. He kept moving but held back as his platoon worked diligently to lock down the mechanic’s bay.

AJ caught up with his platoon, the battle having ended as quickly as it had begun. “Blue One, set up a blockade on the southern hallway,” he ordered, wading into the transition from combat to post-combat operation. “Blue Two, you have the north side. Let’s get a machine gun turret set up on both.”

“Colonel, what’s the order? Are we taking prisoners?” Sergeant Cassidy asked, approaching with a grim look on his face. “We have three Runkin who’ve surrendered.”

AJ raised his eyebrows. He’d thought they were fighting humans. The well-armored Iron Syndicate were all humanoid and generally the right height. Runkin were a species he’d had little contact with. Their reputation was that of shrewd businesspeople and were willing to fall back to force if negotiations failed. They were one of a few black-sheep species in the Galactic Empire.

“Lock them down, Sergeant,” AJ said. “We’ll set up a temporary brig once we get our crap together.”

“I’ll have my boys weld up one of those containers assuming we’ll have atmo in here in the next couple of hours,” Cassidy said.

“Good plan, run with it,” AJ said and turned away. “Queenie, talk to me about getting this bay sealed back.”

“See, I told you we didn’t want to blow this thing to unusable,” Queenie said, addressing a member of his team. “A nice clean cut makes putting it back together all giggles and chew.”

“Just tell me when you’re done,” AJ said.

“Aye, aye,” Queenie said before firing off orders to his squad of sappers and engineers.

“Cassidy,” AJ called over comms. “I’m stepping out for a few minutes. You’ve got command.”

“Aye, aye!” Cassidy answered. AJ heard the pride in the man who’d come from Earth, one of a new generation of human soldiers recruited by the highly advanced Tok Supremacy for their past accomplishments. Like Cassidy, most of the recruits were former special operators with a track record of success but aging bodies. The Tok gave treatments that helped peel back the years of abuse, but stopped short of coupling with a Beltigersk or other type of symbiote.

“BB, give me eyes on the personnel transport,” AJ said, bounding across the moon’s dusty surface.

“Darnell has a temporary hospital set up,” Beverly said, appearing next to him, wearing a white blouse and skirt, a nurse’s hat and a cape that flowed out behind her as they moved. “He’s stabilized all but the initial casualties.”

“He has,” Darnell added, joining the conversation. “But this isn’t a good place to be. We’re too open and this tub doesn’t have any way to defend itself. I’ve had a few lookie loos, but no contact.”

“BB, how many can be moved?” AJ was temporarily distracted by Beverly moving among the wounded, still in her World War II nurse’s garb.

“Open crate 509. We passed it when we came in,” Beverly answered. “Jens needs the hypo in slot twelve, it’s in the second layer on the right.”

“As you can see, I’m working to keep up,” Darnell said. “How in the hell did they know we were coming? I can’t believe they had anti-aircraft ready. That’d have been a good damn piece of information to share.”

“Wasn’t your fault, Big D,” AJ said. “It was mine. I know better than to trust intel, regardless of who’s providing it.”

“Tok are as bad as CIA were in ‘Nam. They only tell us what they think we need. You know there’s a pile of crap at the bottom of this one, just like every time before. The anti-aircraft emplacements are a bad sign. We could have brought those mech suits. But, no, we’re going in old school.”

“Stop bitching, already,” Lisa said, swinging through one of the holes torn in the troop carrier’s side. She landed gracefully amongst the debris strewn about the ship. “We’re here to stop Iron Syndicate. Let’s do that.”

“Are you done already?” AJ asked.

“It was getting dicey,” she said, flipping open a small case with an embedded screen. “I bet they have a hundred troops in the building. I got most of the big, common areas. I had to take out several sentries. Fortunately, you all were causing enough of a distraction that they weren’t too worried about what they couldn’t see.”

“You mean you,” Darnell said. “How many sentries?”

“Hold on,” AJ said. “BB, work with Seamus to get me an accurate count. Lisa, help us move wounded to the eastern maintenance bay. Cassidy, give me a sitrep.”

AJ leaned over and picked up an unconscious, wounded man. According to the bio computer pinned to his shirt, he had significant organ damage which explained the bloody blotches on his abdomen. With combat meds, he’d been stabilized. It remained to be seen the level of permanent damage.

“We just repelled a sortie,” Cassidy answered. “They tried to roll up some bigger hardware. Glad we bolted down those machine guns. We barely pushed them off.”

“Can you spare a squad? We need to move wounded and grab supplies,” AJ said.

“You need to be careful,” Cassidy said. “They’re testing. I think there’s a group south of us, which would be coming your way.”

Just then explosions out the side of the habitation dome where AJ had set the proximity triggered grenades. “Lisa, on me,” AJ said. “Cassidy, send Blue Six down to help move material at the personnel transport. Jackson and I are moving to intercept enemy contact south of your position. Do not move in for assistance unless I request it. This could be a ruse to pull us out of a fortified position.”

“Blue Six will be Oscar Mike in thirty beats,” Cassidy answered. “I’ll keep an open channel in case you need backup.”

“Lisa, let’s move,” AJ said, jumping through what now served as the roof of the downed personnel transport. He landed easily and started racing toward the moment’s old explosion. “BB, get a drone overhead. I want to see what we’re up against.”

“There are four, AJ,” Beverly answered, showing a group of Iron Syndicate soldiers cautiously pulling on the bodies of a pair of fallen.

“Lisa, they’re in the open and aren’t afraid of long shooters,” AJ said.

“I’d prefer hand-to-hand,” Lisa groused, her voice almost a hiss.

AJ pulled his rifle back to his shoulder and focused on the opening. “Change of plan,” he said reviewing the overhead view from his drone. The four had turned into six. “If we snipe, some might get away.”

“I love the way you think,” she said as the two tore across the moon at breakneck speed.

Impossibly far away, Lisa leapt into the air just as one of the Iron Syndicate soldiers picked up on their approach and started firing. AJ bunched his muscles and strained to achieve the same results as Lisa so easily mustered. Slapping his long rifle back into place, he pulled the long knife from its sheath on his leg.

With six on two, the fight was awkward and dangerous. AJ howled in pain as two bullets ripped along his ribs. He’d just managed to see the danger and was twisting out of the way when the soldier fired. The damage would have disabled a normal person, but AJ was far from normal, at least by human standards. Grabbing the enemy’s smoking hot barrel with his left hand, he slashed with his right, cutting through neck armor and sending the soldier to whatever afterlife received the goblinesque Runkin.

“Down, AJ,” Lisa growled, her arm already flinging her own heavy knife right at him.

“Holy crap, woman,” AJ grumbled as the blade buried itself in a solder right next to him. “I had that clown.” AJ snapped his head forward and crushed a helmet’s visor into the wide bridge of a Runkin nose. He pushed forward and rode the soldier to the ground, ripping the rifle from its hands, using it as a club instead of its intended purpose.

Lisa half crouched, spinning in place, looking for another enemy to engage. Her uniform was covered in blood splatter.

“You look like a freaking serial killer,” she said to AJ as he stood, turning to inspect the carnage.

“Dirty business, war,” he agreed, dislodging her knife from a nearby corpse. “I never did get a decent head count on the Iron Syndicate.”

“AJ, there are now one hundred twelve that have been identified,” Beverly said. “Of those, eighty are soldiers, the remainder are support staff, although it appears they all have military bearing and will likely pick up weapons if so forced.”

“How about civilians?” AJ asked.

“I was going to tell you about that,” Lisa interrupted. “Whatever they’re doing with them, they’re not on this level. Not in any quantity, at least.”

“Lefty, talk to me, man. You’ve been quiet. What’s your sitrep?”

“It’s quiet down here. Rebel’s been keeping us up to date on your trouble,” Lefty answered. “I figured I’d give you a minute to work things out. We’ve set up a post like what you’ve done, but so far, no visitors.”

“Did you get hit by the anti-aircraft batteries on the way in?”

“No. Saw them light you up, though. Damn good flying getting that bird on the ground. Don’t tell Darnell I said that. He still thinks I’m a knuckle dragger and I like it that way,” Lefty said.

AJ chuckled. “There are a hundred-plus Iron Syndicate in the base. They’ve a reputation for cutting short losses. I’d sure hate to see them burn those civilians. I’d like you to push up from the west side. We’ll start working our way to the north and then push inward. It’s going to be a whole lot of house-to-house kind of work once we get inside.”

“Copy that. Nobody wants to practice urban warfare until something like this comes up. Glad our teams are current with their training,” he answered. “We’ll start moving north on the western loop. Rebel will transmit our location and how much contact we’ve had.”

“That sounds like the right answer,” AJ said. “We’ll see you inside.”

“Mind if I get back to scouting?” Lisa asked. “If you boys are going to be squeezing the hairy little goblins, I imagine playing angel of death shouldn’t be all that hard for me.”

“You’re a little scary, did you know that?”

“Darnell said that the other day,” she said. “He might not be wrong, but I didn’t need him sayin’ it.”

“Didn’t mean to offend.”

“Nah, from you, I take it as a compliment,” she said. “Only thing scarier than me out here is you. You were like a damn python working through that squad. I swear I saw you get shot, but you haven’t even grabbed a med kit yet.”

“That’s a good reminder,” AJ said. “The bullets just scraped, though. I’ll heal up just fine. Go ahead and get back to scouting. Only take high value targets if you can do it without being seen. We don’t need them panicking until we’re ready to finish the job.”

“See you in your nightmares,” Lisa said, slinking through the wreckage of the entry, careful to avoid stepping on the downed Iron Syndicate soldiers.

“See, that’s taking it too far,” AJ said, chuckling as he turned and jogged back to the eastern maintenance bay where wounded were being carried through a makeshift airlock. Sergeant Cassidy met him as he entered and stood quietly, giving AJ his attention. “Sit rep?” AJ asked.

“One more load of medical supplies. Colonel Jackson is tending to the most grievously wounded. We’ve had just a single probe at our northern check point,” Cassidy said.

“How many do we need to leave to hold this position?”

“Two squads should do it easily,” he said.

AJ nodded. They were down to twenty-eight in Blue Platoon. Shaving off ten for defense would give him three strong squads of six each. “I need you to take command of this check point with two squads. Don’t be a hero, if you are getting overrun, you need to say something. If we do this right, we’ll have plenty of capacity to get back here in a hurry. Any questions?”

“Negative, sir,” Cassidy said. AJ was about to correct him that he was not an officer and did not appreciate being called sir. Problematically, he’d been given the rank of full colonel, and was appropriately addressed.

“BB, rearrange the squads so I’m only dealing with Blue Three through Five. Try not to shift personnel if you can avoid it,” AJ said. “Platoon, check your assignments, there’s been shuffling. Blue Three, Four and Five, we’re headed out on a sortie. Form up with your squads north of the checkpoint. We’re behind enemy lines, so don’t be sloppy.”

With the level of experience most of the team members had, the reminder was almost insulting. No soldier worth his or her salt, however, complains about reminders in a combat zone. AJ joined the large knot of soldiers.

“Blue Three, you’re the tip of the spear. We’re headed north and around the bend. Blue Five, you’ve got the tail. If anyone sees something, mark it on your tactical and we’ll analyze. Blue Three, move out!” AJ said impatiently.

Hab-6 was a three-kilometer-long semi-circle, only two kilometers wide at the smallest dimension. The exterior hallway was wide enough to comfortably hold six soldiers across, but there was enough debris it wasn’t practical so they moved in three rows of two, spread out enough that a lucky spray from an undiscovered automatic weapon wouldn’t get an entire squad.

They were almost to the northernmost point before running into their first resistance. Iron Syndicate was expecting company and had what looked like hastily assembled fortifications. At first, the battle seemed horribly one sided as Blue One scattered to the edges, snapping open energy shields where cover wasn’t available. The intensity of the fight increased as troops from both parties settled in and started exchanging fire. As before, though, the disciplined soldiers from long settled wars on Earth dug in and started wearing down the Iron Syndicate’s defenses like low grit sandpaper on soft wood. At first it didn’t seem to be doing much but after a time, the impacts became obvious.

Settling in toward the back, AJ sighted down his long-barreled energy weapon and waited patiently for quarry to enter his field of view. At first, none did, but as the battle progressed and his enemy became tired, opportunities presented themselves. A sniper’s job is rarely to add significantly to the attrition of an enemy. It is the silent, unexpected nature of the kill that breaks an enemy’s resolve. After his third kill, Blue One saw his opportunity and rushed the fortified position, overrunning and finishing the job that had once seemed nearly impossible.

“Bubba, don’t shoot, we’re two hundred meters from your position and advancing,” Lefty called ten minutes later. “We ran into heavy resistance but were able to dispatch with malice.”

“BB, let’s make sure we have friendly idents on Red Platoon,” AJ said.

“Identification is validated,” Beverly said just as the first men in Lefty’s Platoon rounded the corner.

“Well done, old …” AJ’s words were cut off when the inside wall next to Red’s forward squad bulged and turned red then white in fractions of a second. A solid beam of energy punched through the wall and vaporized four soldiers before punching through the dome’s side. And it was at this moment that things went entirely sideways.

3

LOYALTY TEST

Warning klaxons sounded, then diminished in volume with a doppler effect as atmosphere was sucked from the newly exposed to near-vacuum spaces. Dust and debris were sucked toward the opening even as soldiers were knocked from their feet. Rapid decompression brought about extraordinary chaos, not just for the Galactic Empire forces but also for the Iron Syndicate soldiers, who seemed equally caught off-guard.

Hab-6 emergency systems kicked on in microseconds and bulkheads started slamming down hallways and behind walls. Without his own extraordinary reflexes, he’d have been knocked from his feet, but moving with the gale’s flow, he grasped a protrusion in the wall and held steady through the confusion.

It only took a few seconds for Hab-6 to close off enough of the rooms for the loss of atmosphere to cease. Unfortunately, this closing off had the immediate impact of separating teams where soldiers were caught on both sides of bulkheads.

“What in the hell was that?” Lefty called over leadership comms.

“No idea,” AJ answered, targeting Iron Syndicate soldiers who hadn’t yet found their equilibrium in the rapidly shifting scene. “Blue Five, form up on me!” AJ’s orders caused his computative assistant to highlight the positions of the forward fighting Blue Five squad. At least two of the team had been pulled outside the habitation. “BB, figure out who’s on this side of the bulkheads.”

AJ rushed toward the newly created interior opening and slammed his shoulder into the wall, sweeping his rifle barrel inside, using the wall as partial cover. Bullets peppered the wall around him even as two bullets struck him in his side. He managed to spin back before the disorganized fire focused in on him.

“Suppressing fire!” Lefty had already moved into position on the opposite side of the opening. He and three of his squad opened fire into the opening, shooting at whoever had been targeting AJ.

“I’m going low,” AJ called, throwing himself to the ground, sliding across and pointing up into the space. The three soldiers who’d taken cover behind the wall reacted quickly and aimed at his sliding body. With deliberate calm, AJ aimed, fired twice, aimed again, fired again, and was moving to the third, who was tracking AJ’s slide perfectly. He hadn’t expected three nor had he expected any of them to be ready to track a sliding enemy. He shrugged mentally. Sometimes, that’s how things went. He rolled toward the Iron Syndicate soldier, moving just enough that the bullets creased his side, missing critical areas.

“Tunnel vision is a bitch.” He heard Lisa’s soft voice say to herself as she leapt from a piece of nearby machinery onto the soldier who’d pinned AJ to the deck with his gunfire. Knees landing on his back, with one hand she grabbed the soldier’s collar and with her other she used a fat-barreled pistol to permanently stop him.

AJ rolled back over his shoulders and kicked to a crouched position, ready to take on whatever remained. The airless hallway that led inward into the habitation dome was empty.

“Red Two, set up a defensive position behind that machinery,” Lefty ordered. “Red Three, shield wall on the left side.”

“Thanks,” AJ said, holding out his hand to help Lisa from the deck. “That was getting dicey.”

“I saved you a few more stingers, that’s about it,” Lisa said. AJ considered her words, she wasn’t exactly wrong. With his ability to track the soldier’s movements and his extraordinary speed, he’d have been on the soldier while taking minimal damage in less than five seconds. It remained true that a lucky shot could have caused significant and difficult to recover from damage.

“Blue Three, Four, secure the outer hallway. Queenie, bring your engineers, we have a large hole venting to the moonscape and preventing us from engaging,” AJ ordered.

“We’re secure, Colonel,” Lefty said.

“How many, Lefty?” AJ asked on a private channel.

“Seven men were lost. Four of them flat out vaporized,” he said. “What in the hell kind of weapon was that?”

“Had to be a mounted laser or something,” AJ said. “I’m surprised they were able to roll it up in such a short time.”

“I saw the weapon fire. Rebel has a two-second video,” Lefty said, pinching at the virtual video in front of him and flicking it to AJ, who played the video after flicking it to Lisa.

AJ leaned against the bulkhead, pulling himself out of the way of the bustling activity as his troops set up a temporary defensive position. The man firing the weapon wore an Iron Syndicate uniform with a large backpack slung over his shoulders. A fat cable led from the backpack to a handheld gun that took both hands to aim. A bright light flashed from the weapon and the video repeated.

“This weapon is highly illegal,” Beverly said. “We must lodge a complaint with the Galactic Empire’s oversight committee. Iron Syndicate is operating outside of the conventions laid out in the Bagus Accords.”

“Is that the same that outlawed the use of impervious mechanized infantry suits?” AJ asked with irony in his voice.

“Yes,” Beverly answered. Sitting on a piece of toppled equipment, she wore desert khaki shorts and matching shirt, leaving the top two buttons open.

“Who enforces these conventions?” AJ asked. “You know, never mind. We’ve lost damn near a third of our soldiers. Good men. Earthers. Galactic Empire is quite happy to spend our lives. That weapon is why we’re here, isn’t it?”

“I have no first-hand information, AJ, you know that. I’d tell you if I did,” Beverly said. “Like you, I surmise that since Cer put her top skunkworks operatives in the field to deal with what seemed a rather pedestrian issue of a hostile takeover of a mining colony, the appearance of escalating combat technology is an answer to the imbalance in the equation.”

“I love you a lot, BB, but you’re back to using way too many words,” AJ said. “You just agreed that Cer put us in the line of fire against a new weapon to see what kind of threat it is.”

“I am inferring that’s what’s happening,” Beverly said.

Conflict boiled within AJ as he considered the callous nature of the Tok species. While not outwardly saying it, they acted as if there was a hierarchy of species, where lives of the lowest caste were more disposable than those of the higher caste. His friend, Cer, had been an exception to this behavior so far, but with so many unknowns caused by poor communication and a hurried schedule, it was hard not to feel bitterness at the loss of life his team had taken.

“You’re grinding on something. I think you’re feeling like we’ve been set up to be guinea pigs. You’re right, but Cer was also right to send us. I’ve seen things, AJ. Iron Syndicate is out of control. This was a civilian population,” Lisa said softly next to him.

“Say more about that,” AJ said.

“I’ve captured video. Iron Syndicate came in hard. They slaughtered dozens on entry. Hab-6 security tried to push back. That was a mistake. They didn’t stand a chance. Iron Syndicate needs to be stopped here,” she said.

“Why?”

“I don’t think you want to know what I think.”

“Tell me.”

“Iron Syndicate was looking for a fight to test out their new weapons,” Lisa said. “They took a low-level mining colony so they wouldn’t get a massive response from the Galactic Empire. I don’t think they were expecting what Cer sent.”

“They’re kicking our ass,” AJ said. “We’ve lost over twenty-five good men.”

“Iron Syndicate has killed hundreds of civilians. There’s twice that many barricaded down in the mine,” she said.

“How do you know this?”

“I overheard a conversation,” she said.

Commotion on his HUD showed that Queenie had arrived with a pair of soldiers and had started inspecting the damaged dome from the outside. “Colonel, do you want this fixed fast or strong?” Queenie called, looking at AJ from outside of the dome.

“Fast will do,” AJ said. “We’re going to try to move from this location, but we can’t open doors with the atmospheric pressure difference.”

“Good copy. We’ll drop on some Saran wrap in two shakes,” Queenie said.

“Lefty, we need to push into the hab. We’ve got them running,” AJ said.

“And we need to look out for that weapon. I get the impression it’d have taken as many of us as were in a straight line,” he said.

“Lisa and I are going to be out in front,” AJ said. “Our primary mission will be to render that weapon unusable and if possible, we’ll capture it.”

He consulted the habitat’s schematics. The hallway they’d taken control of was one of two main hallways that ran the length of the dome. Those two hallways intersected at the middle of the facility where a large, circular room was a sort of green space. Some of the colonists’ food was grown there and people could relax in a park-like setting. As with most things in unfriendly atmospheric conditions, the park was cut off by large, reinforced doors for just-in-case breach situations.

Forming into four squads, AJ led the two blue squads down the hallway, watching for any sign of ambush or traps. The only obvious thing was that the park doors had been broken. Limbs, leaves, and dirt were spread across the floor as they approached.

“We’re sealed in,” Queenie announced as AJ approached the first set of doors. It had been toppled inward by soldiers moving too quickly to be slowed by doors.

“Looks like they used breaching charges to open up this side of things,” AJ said. “Lisa, be careful, they could have traps. This would be a good location for an ambush.”

“Good copy,” Lisa answered, slinking along the side of the hallway and through a narrow, broken side window. The sound of laser fire transmitted across the replenishing atmosphere and AJ raced through the middle doors, his large rifle swinging in his arms as he searched for targets. “Two down,” she said. “They were wounded, armed, and waiting for us. Looks like Iron Syndicate’s health plan has a few gotchas in it.”

At the center of Hab-6, AJ turned right, or west, in the direction of the mine’s entrance. Fully half of the dome made up the workings of the topside of the mining colony’s dome. “Do we know what they mine here?”

“Precious minerals,” Beverly answered, appearing in dusty coveralls and a yellow helmet complete with a mining light attached. “This moon has minerals rare enough they aren’t found on Earth.”

“Any of those minerals used in the fabrication of weapons?” AJ asked, yanking open one of several doors that all led west.

“Not exclusively,” Beverly said. “There are papers about the …”

“I don’t care about which ones,” AJ said. “Yes or no. Is that why Iron Syndicate is here? Did they need something that’s mined here?”

“You take the fun out of everything,” Beverly pouted.

“We don’t have time for this, BB,” AJ said.

“It is possible is all I can say for certain,” Beverly said. “If they’ve a stock of this fozelium material, it would be best to take care. Its weak molecular bonds can be unstable. If a reaction is caused, a few grams is enough to destroy a habitat.”

“So Galactic Empire knows of this material and hasn’t put boundaries around it?” AJ asked.

“It’s no different than dynamite was in Earth’s formative years,” she said. “Only, it’s significantly more energy dense than something like dynamite.”

“So, there is a difference.”

“AJ, we can’t protect everyone from doing dumb things,” Beverly said. “Fozelium is a managed substance. It takes approvals, inspections, and forms galore to be allowed to handle it. Even so, the Galactic Empire is spread across countless systems and expanding all the time. It is impossible to actively manage every dangerous substance.”

“That’s reasonable,” AJ said, pointing at the door for a soldier to pull open. Wordlessly, he gestured, giving directions for his soldier to move into the space where he believed the Iron Syndicate soldiers had retreated to. “Set up a temporary defensive position, Blue Four,” AJ ordered.

“Aye, aye,” came the quick reply.

AJ clambered onto scaffolding and took a high position to look over the stacks of materials that had been bagged, ready for transport. Whatever the primary export of the mine was, little if anything was done to refine the material. Palettes stacked with heavy twenty-five-kilogram bags were neatly stored in long rows.

“Lefty, they’ve holed up in the mine’s entrance,” AJ said, locating soldiers who’d stacked material in front of the mine so there were limited ways a person could enter. At present, he had eyes on three, and could tell there were even more inside. “I question how many people are left.”

“AJ, you need to hear this,” Darnell called.

“What’s going on, Big D? We’re preparing for a breach here. It’s pretty busy,” AJ said.

“I hooked into Hab-6 sensors. A ship is dropping out of orbit,” he said. “Looks good-sized. I’d say they’re going to try to evac.”

“How good-sized?” AJ asked.

“Shoot, I don’t know, a hundred meters or so? Maybe fifty-thousand tons? Big.”

“You’re describing a naval aircraft carrier,” AJ said.

“That sounds about right.”

“I have fifty infantry troops. We can’t stand up against a damn aircraft carrier,” AJ said. “All troops fall back to Defensive Position A on the double. We have heavy equipment inbound.”

AJ felt her before he saw Lisa climb into the overlooking scaffolding with him.

“Hey, you need to see this,” she said quietly. She pinched something from her video feed and handed it to him.

AJ opened the electronic payload. The short video showed an argument between a pair of civilians and a high-ranking Iron Syndicate officer. Most startling was that AJ recognized the civilians. Lamia, the singer he’d developed feelings for, and the other was the vicious thug who’d been her boss and had chased her halfway across the galaxy, threatening to kill her, Breanto.

“I’m just saying, they look a little cozy with Iron Syndicate,” she said. The video showed them talking and while the three obviously weren’t friends, they weren’t enemies, either.

“Do you know when this was recorded?” AJ asked.

“Timestamp shows about two hours before we arrived,” Beverly answered quickly. “AJ, I know this looks bad. There are more than a couple of explanations.”

“Like what? My girlfriend is … what? Selling weapons to the Iron Syndicate? A gun smuggler with Breanto? His girlfriend? Something more? She wanted nothing more than to get away from Breanto. How could she go with him?” he asked, fresh wounds of their separation opening.

“Bub, you’re spiraling,” Lisa said. “I’m all about how bad this looks for Lamia. We know she has a shitty past. You looked past it and now it’s come back. You need to focus. We have a freight train full of angry headed our way and fifty of your closest friends relying on you for their survival.”

“We rush the mine,” AJ said. “I count three at the entrance. If we get low enough into the mine, it won’t matter how big a ship they brought along.”

“Give the order,” Lisa said, laying her rifle onto the crossbar of the scaffolding. “Like shooting ducks in a barrel.”

“Take them out,” he growled. “Sergeant Cassidy, bring all personnel to my location on the double. If you can’t pick it up and carry it, it gets left behind.”

“Aye, aye, sir!”

“Lefty, take charge of Red and Blue, you need to storm that mine at all costs,” AJ said. “We’ve got big bad coming in and we need to get to a hundred meters down or we could be in a real pickle. Do you read me?”

“What kind of big bad?”

“Darnell described it as the size of the John F Kennedy,” AJ said.

“Oh, hells,” Lefty said. “I assume you’re off doing whatever it is you do?”

“That’s affirmative. Lisa and I have a different style of mission. After the dust settles, we’re going to need to put this place on lock down.”

“You don’t think Iron Syndicate are sticking around.”

“I do not. I don’t think they were expecting as strong of a response as they got and they’re pulling out,” AJ said.

“Not to mention they tested out their fancy new ray gun on my people,” Lefty said. “I’m not done with this, AJ. I want to make that clear.”

“I’m glad. This is likely to get worse before it gets better.”

“You do love your cliches,” Lefty said.

“Gets the point across.”

Pop, pop, pop.

Lisa fired in rapid succession, dropping the three soldiers visible from their elevated position. Lefty’s assault team of five squads of soldiers swept through the yard until they reached the entrance to the mine. Queenie’s group jumped forward, racing across open territory and didn’t pause as they dropped small explosives along the entry. Disorganized gunfire followed their progress. Moments later the entire habitation dome shook as Queenie’s sappers destroyed yet another barrier.

“Why are we sitting up here?” Lisa asked, impatiently.

“Look,” AJ said pointing toward the back of the mining yard where a pair of doors opened and a group of soldiers looked out.

“Dirty dogs,” Lisa said.

“We need to move,” AJ said. “Come with me.”

The pair quickly moved down from the scaffolding and back into the center of the building. “What are you doing? We could have taken them out!”

AJ grinned. “You’re not going to like this part.” He leaned over a fallen Iron Syndicate soldier and began undressing him.

“This is ghoulish, AJ,” Lisa complained.

“Pick a smaller one,” AJ said. “We need to fit in.”

“You don’t think they’ll notice we’re not Runkin?”

“They weren’t all Runkin,” AJ said.

“I thought I’d find you guys here,” Darnell said, already in an Iron Syndicate uniform.

“Why are you dressed like that? How’d you know?” Lisa asked.

“I might not be the super soldier you two are, but I can read the tea leaves,” he said. “The most important thing we can do is follow that weapon and see what they’re doing with it. Lefty can hold this place down, especially once he gets control of the anti-aircraft weapons.”

“Can Seamus break into Iron Syndicate personnel records? We need to pass an ident check,” AJ said.

“He’s working on it,” Lisa said. “I don’t think it’s as much about hacking as paying enough to the right people.”

“How ever it gets done,” AJ said, pulling on the too short uniform top. “Damn, this thing is tight.”

“It’s not that bad,” Lisa said, even as her own uniform snugged over her tall, lithe body.

“We’ve got to move.” AJ dropped his favorite rifle and exchanged it for one of the smaller weapons used by Iron Syndicate.

“Where are we going?” Darnell asked.

“There’s a landing strip further out west,” Beverly said. “That’s the only place they can set down something as big as Darnell saw.”

The trio ran hard, which given their current, mutated shapes, was faster than anything a human could achieve. They easily caught up to the tail of a group of twenty Iron Syndicate who’d slunk out the back of the mine as Lefty and team infiltrated.

“Hurry up, you dumb jeckles!” A mid-ranked officer growled, “Or be left on this demon plagued, barren rock.”

4

SKULKING ABOUT

AJ kept a distance from the knot of officers and VIPs running away from Hab-6 toward the barren moonscape where the massive Iron Syndicate vessel was setting down. A female in street clothing glanced over her shoulder as she ran. Recognition struck AJ like a hammer blow. The woman was Lamia and while he’d recognized her, the distance was enough it was unlikely she’d recognized him.

“Are you seeing that?” AJ asked over comms between the three friends.

Lisa hissed in anger. “Lamia and Breanto, thick as thieves.”

“That’s messed up,” Darnell added quietly. “Focus, Bub, we need a plan that doesn’t involve a lover’s quarrel.”

“Harsh,” Lisa chuckled darkly.

Instead of answering directly, AJ increased his pace and angled slightly aft on the settling ship. As the group of VIPs entered the entry hatch that had opened for them, he put on an even strong burst of speed and leapt hard. Between his extraordinary strength and the light gravity of the moon, he struck the side of the vessel thirty meters up. Turning, he watched as both Lisa and Darnell executed similar maneuvers with Lisa landing close by and Darnell missing by a few meters.

“Let’s go, old man,” AJ said, scrabbling hand-over-hand on a diagonal to an exterior hatch. Without waiting for either of his companions, he attempted to open the hatch which flashed a red security warning and didn’t allow entry. “Dammit.”

“What’s the issue?” Lisa asked, grasping a handhold and swinging in next to him.

“Locked.”

“What would you expect?” she asked, pulling a narrow, flat piece of metal from her belt. She slid the metal strip into a port. As the strip contacted the surfaces of the port it adjusted, only inserting where there was no resistance.

The ship vibrated and shook as heavy engines strained against the moon’s gravity. “AJ, they’re not waiting for the rest of the soldiers. We need to bail. We’re going to get peeled off,” Darnell called over comms.

“Run a strap and lash on if you’re concerned,” AJ said. “This ship isn’t moving fast enough and the atmosphere isn’t heavy enough to tear us off.”

“And we’ll be stuck on the hull with no way in,” Darnell said. “Just because we can survive for a few minutes in vacuum, doesn’t mean we should test the limits.”

“Calm, buddy,” AJ said, looking at the moon’s surface as the ship lifted away. Even though the atmosphere was light, the ship was accelerating fast enough that it felt like a fast-running river pressing down on his shoulders.

Lisa pulled the metal bar from the locking mechanism and looped her arms through a grab bar next to the hatch. “I need a minute,” she said. “I can’t both hold on and help Seamus crack that thing.”

The trio clung to the side of the ship like tenacious barnacles to an old-time sailing vessel. As the ship escaped the moon’s light gravity the pressure of the atmosphere rushing by lessened.

“Guys, this is crazy!” Darnell insisted.

“Settle,” Lisa said, swinging out in front of the hatch again. Reinserting the metal bar, she waited as her Beltigersk symbiote, Seamus, interfaced with the Iron Syndicate’s external lock. Ninety long seconds later, she twisted the lock. “AJ, move down. There’s atmo behind this door. I’m going to have trouble spinning this lock and once it’s free, we’re going to rapidly decompress a section.”

“That’s not going to raise any alarms, will it?” Darnell asked snidely.

“The ship will quarantine the small section that’s exposed,” AJ said. “We’ll deal with it.”

“I don’t see how,” Darnell said. “We’re drawing attention to ourselves.”

“We’ll see,” AJ said, scooting out of the way. Thirty seconds later, Lisa was flung to the side as the door popped open and a plume of atmosphere vented into space. “Are you good, Lisa?”

“I’m fine,” she said.

“Any chance Seamus can block the local camera feed?” he asked. In Stora form, cameras had difficulty identifying them but anyone watching the feed would know someone was there.

“Might take another minute,” Lisa said.

“Do it.”

“They’re not going to let this be,” Darnell said. “Why are you blocking cameras? As Stora, we don’t show up.”

“They’d see people moving, even if they can’t make out our faces,” AJ said.

“Give me a minute, already,” Lisa said with irritation. “I’ve got it. We’re clear.”

AJ swung around and landed on the deck in a crouch and was followed by Lisa. Darnell was a slow third and started to reach for the opened hatch.

“Leave it,” AJ said. He turned to a door in the hallway and found it locked. “Can you open this?”

“Piece of cake.” Lisa once again inserted the metal bar. This time, the door opened almost immediately. Pulling his two companions along, AJ shut them in. Video from the hallway appeared on his HUD, courtesy of Seamus’s mastery of the local video feeds.

“They’re going to find us in here. Surely, there’s a warning that this door was opened,” Darnell said.

“Because they like to manage supply closets?” AJ asked, taking little care to leave the scorn from his voice.

“You just make this crap up on the fly,” Darnell complained. “You have no idea.”

“True, but I also know we have more than enough options if things turn ugly,” AJ said.

“You have blood all over you, did you know that?” Darnell asked. “It looks like you were in a knife fight.”

“Most of that blood isn’t mine,” AJ said. “The side wound, that’s real.”

“Shh, shh, shh,” Lisa prompted as armed and suited Iron Syndicate soldiers appeared in the hallway.

“Be ready,” AJ mouthed breathlessly, pulling his knife to hand as four soldiers worked their way down the hallway, testing doors, opening them, sweeping and closing them. The three were crouched behind a shelving unit.

Light spilled into the room as their door opened. AJ tensed, ready to take war to the Iron Syndicate soldiers, knowing it might cause their presence to be discovered. A flashlight beam played across the back wall.

“Just like last time. Someone leaves these stupid doors unlocked and then they blow open once we’re back in vacuum. It’s like they don’t check the all-clear,” a man complained. AJ realized that someone must have closed the hatch, and some atmosphere had returned for them to hear the man’s words.

“Are we giving the all-clear?”

“Unless you think there’s a mouse in one of these closets,” the same man who’d complained said.

“Squeak,” Lisa said in a scant whisper, earning her a dark look from Darnell.

The soldiers retreated and after a couple of minutes, they extracted themselves from behind the shelving.

“You were saying?” AJ asked, giving Darnell a funny look.

“You get lucky, and then you want credit,” Darnell said angrily.

“These guys knew the hatch was thirty meters off the ground and the likelihood of a breach was low, especially given their security systems around the vessel,” AJ said.

“That kind of misplaced confidence is what we trained against in the Army,” Darnell argued.

“And these guys are corporate warriors and mercenaries,” AJ said.

“You take too many risks.”

“This is unproductive,” Lisa cut in. “What’s the plan?”

“We need to figure out where these guys are going and what the deal is with this new weapon,” AJ said. “You and Darnell need to get patched into a communications array somehow and contact Cer. Let her know what we’ve run into and what we suspect is happening. Lefty is going to need support if he’s going to keep Hab-6 locked down, especially if Iron Syndicate can roll this size of a vessel in for a retrieval mission.”

“Iron Syndicate is new for me,” Lisa said. “I’ll see what Cer will share. Seamus has information, but it is a few years old. He was also surprised by the size of this vessel. The cost alone for such a vessel is significantly larger than the corporation’s current market capitalization. There’s something hinky going on with that.”

“I’m not sure I follow what you’re saying, but run with scissors,” AJ said. “Touch base every two hours. If any of us miss a check-in for longer than thirty minutes, the rest of us will tear the place apart.”

“In a ship full of soldiers?” Darnell asked.

“Bubba, at some point, you’re going to realize you’re the big bad boogie man. They need to be terrified that we’re aboard, not the other way around,” AJ said. “The only reason we’re not going loud right now is because we need to figure out where they’re taking this weapon. Can you imagine a platoon of Togath carrying weapons capable of the kind of damage we just saw?”

“You think this is related to Quarr invasion plans?” Darnell asked.

“I can’t imagine Cer putting us on this if it wasn’t somehow tied up,” AJ said.

“Togath with those weapons is a lot to consider,” Darnell agreed.

“We’ll figure out a way to contact Cer. Don’t miss your check-ins,” Lisa said. “And try to keep the body count down. It’ll draw attention.”

“Back at you,” AJ said, grinning. “I’m going to hunker down until roughly 2400. There should be less crew moving about.”

“That’s true. We’ll do the same,” Lisa agreed.

At the first junction, AJ headed forward and the Jacksons headed aft. On his first two encounters with normal crew, AJ passed the crew with no issues. His third, however, was the equivalent of a Second Lieutenant.

“Hold on there, soldier,” Second Lieutenant Mers said. “You’re Iron Syndicate and we have standards. What have you done to your uniform? Is that blood?”

AJ didn’t miss a beat. “I was back in engineering. There was a small accident. I’m going to my quarters to get changed.”

“Your quarters aren’t this way,” the Second Lieutenant said, giving him a skeptical look. “Hold still. Let me scan your ident ring.”

“I’m going,” AJ said. “I’ll get it fixed.”

“No, I’m putting you in for a reprimand. I think you’re up to something.”

“Well, hell,” AJ said, his fist lashing out, contacting the low-ranking officer’s chin with such force that he was spun around and knocked out cold.

He stepped in and held the man from falling to the ground, then put the man into an adjacent room, using the ident ring to open the door. Within the room a pair of crewmen were sitting in shorts across a small table from each other. Dice of sorts were rolled onto the table with stacks of credit chits in front of each.

“What are you doing here?” the faster of the two asked angrily.

“This just keeps getting better,” AJ said, dropping the lieutenant and pulling the door closed behind him.

“You can’t come in here,” the second said, as angrily as the first.

AJ didn’t hesitate, but spun one-hundred-eighty degrees, his foot catching one of the two on the side of his head, lifting and tossing him into an unmade bunk.

“Security!” the second cried out, processing the fast-occurring violence. AJ cursed inwardly, pulling his pistol from its chest holster and firing in a single, fluid movement. The man had started a sentence but never reached the end.

“What is your emergency, Tonfir Diel?” AJ heard a small voice playing over an earbud that had flopped onto the man’s neck

“BB, where’s the microphone?”

“Lapel,” Beverly answered, highlighting the microphone with an optical enhancement.

“No, shoot, I didn’t mean to say that! I take it back,” AJ said, hoping the translator worked reasonably.

“We’re sending a warden to your location.”

“No man. You don’t need to. I was just taking a nap and woke up weird,” AJ said, improvising. “Please don’t report me. I don’t need another demerit.”

“That’s a big ask.”

AJ smiled, recognizing the unsaid expectation of a payoff.

“I’d owe you big,” AJ said, his eyes darting around the room to find context for what a bribe might look like. His eyes fell on bottles of booze the sailors were consuming while playing their game. “Like two bottles of my good stuff, big. I’m serious, I didn’t mean to make the call.”

“Make it three. I’ll stop by after shift ends.”

“I’m still waking up. When’s that?”

“Four hours. And stop drinking so much or I’ll report you no matter what.”

“I’ll have your bottles sitting in the hallway. I’ll be headed to my own shift by then,” AJ said hurriedly.

“Put them out now. I’ll take my break in twenty minutes,” the man said.

“Okay,” AJ agreed.

AJ set the three men on the top bunk and then searched the room for bottles. It wasn’t a big room and while he had to guess which alcohol was the best, the bottles gave some context based on design. Setting the bottles outside the door, he returned to the men, two of whom were starting to stir, the other not doing as well due to the gunshot wound. With improvised bindings, he tied the two men after removing their communication devices and the lieutenant’s uniform.

“Will you let the gunshot man die?” Beverly asked, sitting on the table where the game accoutrements had been left, undisturbed. She wore shimmering silks as a skirt, a beaded bikini top and held a fan to cover her face.

“Mata Hari?” AJ asked. “I didn’t find any medical kits. I’m not sure what I could do for him. I’m not that interested in exposing myself by going on some sort of search.”

“Ask one of your prisoners where you can find simple medical supplies.”

“Fine,” AJ agreed, lightly slapping awake the second of the pair of game players.

“What do you want?” the man asked, his voice raising in concern as he watched AJ switch uniforms out so that he now wore the rank of a low-level officer.

“Your buddy got shot. Where can I find medical supplies without being challenged?” AJ asked.

“He needs to go to medical,” the man accurately observed.

“You’re not wrong, but that’s not in the cards. A simple medical kit would help. Tell me where I can find a kit and don’t get cute. Give your buddy a fighting chance.”

“There are supplies a level down in the closet. The door is locked but he has a key,” the man said nodding at the second lieutenant.

“How do I recognize this closet?”

“The number should end in a 07 or a 09,” the man said. “I’d know better if I looked at it. It’s just off the stairs in the center column.”

“I’m going to tie you up. Your buddy’s best chance at staying alive is you not making trouble,” AJ said, grabbing a key from the second lieutenant’s belt pouch, which he was already wearing. “This the key?”

“Yes. He only has one.”

AJ disappeared and while the man’s description of the closet’s number was incorrect, the location was close enough and there weren’t many crew running around that he felt exposed. Fifteen minutes later, he returned to find the second lieutenant on the deck, apparently trying to free himself by cutting off his bindings with a sharp edge beneath the bunk.

“Knock it off,” AJ growled. He tossed the second lieutenant off the ground into an upper bunk with a single move which ended up banking the man’s legs into the ceiling and against the back wall. With that taken care of, he set to the wounded soldier, first using a spray that numbed the wound and then a spray that created a rubbery layer over the skin.

“What do you want?” the man asked. “Why are you here? You’re not Iron Syndicate.”

“I need to know where VIPs are located,” AJ said.

“You’re Stora. I’ve heard of you. They say you can track a man through space by his scent,” the man said, his eyes wide.

“Answer the question,” AJ said in a low, menacing voice.

“Deck Three, probably,” he said. “I don’t know anything. I’m just crew. I don’t want to die.”

AJ sifted through the supplies and when Beverly highlighted a hypo bottle, he grabbed it and shoved it into the base of the injection system. “Best if you sleep,” he said, jamming the hypodermic into the man’s leg. He repeated the process with the second lieutenant. “BB, how long will that last?”

“At least six hours,” Beverly said. “Maybe eight. You did the right thing helping the wounded man. Just because you have the body of a Stora doesn’t mean you’ve lost your humanity.”

“Sometimes, I’m not sure,” AJ said, quietly opening the door to the hallway and stepping out.

Having found the steep pitched stairs that led between decks, AJ climbed until he reached Deck 3. He’d correctly surmised that crew would utilize the elevators to move between decks and hadn’t run into a single person. Upon stepping onto the deck, he immediately caught the scent of whom he’d been looking for.

Laughter from the hallway caused him to duck back into the stairwell. To make himself less visible, he climbed halfway to the next level and crouched so he had some view down the hall. A woman’s laugh was recognizable above the others. Anger and betrayal clawed at his throat as he caught a small glimpse of a group moving in the hall. A door closed and the sounds were muffled and then extinguished.

It’d been her. She’d left him for Breanto back on Dralli Station in the Xandarj system. Her eyes had been apologetic, and she’d had to have known Breanto was no match for AJ, yet she’d gone with the mobster anyway. Why was she here? She was still traveling with him. What where they doing? How did it relate to the new weapon? AJ didn’t believe in coincidence; Breanto and Lamia were mixed up in the whole sordid affair. It was time for answers.

He grabbed a handhold from within the stairwell and swung to the deck. His heart pumped with extra energy, steadying him for a fight that would come. No doubt, Breanto and Lamia were talking with high-ranking Iron Syndicate.

“I have no trust for Lamia,” Beverly said, standing on the inside of what looked like an old mansion’s foyer. She wore a black evening gown, with elbow length white silk gloves. Between two fingers, she held an extended cigarette. “But I don’t believe it is safe to assume she has broken faith with you. Don’t let jealousy cloud your judgment.”

“What more do I need to see? She’s with Breanto,” AJ said confidently.

“Is she? What do you really know about this woman aside from her ability to sing? Your Stora self has little room for nuance. Lamia is as complex as you.”

“What do you want from me?” AJ quietly breathed the words as he worked around to the door he’d watched Lamia enter. He could just make out muffled voices. Lamia’s lyrical voice was evident in the conversation. “You want me to ask her what she’s doing with a thug and a horde of murderers?”

AJ placed his hand on the doorknob to enter. He started to push his way in when Beverly answered. “Don’t blow this op because of her.”

That stopped him in his tracks. Beverly was right. He was acting like a scorned teenager. Voices came closer to the door and AJ scooted around the corner. He once again caught Lamia’s scent. He followed it to a door that he was certain led to where she’d spent significant time.

Testing the door, he found it was locked. He used the key he’d found on the second lieutenant and was surprised to find it unlocked the door. Entering a bunk room of sorts, he saw suitcases and a crate of alcohol bottles, which was missing two bottles. The room smelled strongly of both Breanto and Lamia.

AJ doused the lights and sat in a comfortable, if not small chair, and waited.

5

A COARSE TOOL

Three hours later, voices outside the door alerted AJ, who’d maintained a semi-alert state, resting but not asleep. He’d moved the chair, so it was out of direct sight from the hallway.

“It’s late, Breanto,” Lamia said, leaning against the door frame.

“Is this about your new boyfriend?” Breanto asked, his voice thick as if he’d been drinking. “Don’t forget how this works.”

“I’m just tired,” Lamia said.

“Maybe that’s not a good answer, anymore,” he said. “You keep pushing me off and I’m about done with that. I’ve been trying to play nice, but you just can’t get it through that pretty little head of yours, can you?”

“Please, I just need some sleep,” Lamia pled. “I think I picked up something on Dralli. I’ve taken a broad-med.”

While he couldn’t see what happened next, AJ heard scuffling and a surprised whimper by the sound of kissing. “Hell with this,” he growled, bolting upright from his chair. The sight that greeted him was Breanto pushing Lamia against her bed. She had her hands up, fending him off, but he easily overpowered her, his hands roving roughly over her body.

A terrified look entered her face as she saw AJ’s visage looming. “No!” she cried out and with everything she could muster, she slid to the side and pushed Breanto in the hallway while at the same moment, closing the door behind him. Breanto spun and banged on the door.

AJ raised an eyebrow at the door as Breanto gave it a final, loud punch. “You’re on a spaceship. You’re not going anywhere, Lamia,” he said angrily and then the hallway became quiet.

“You can’t be here,” Lamia hissed, turning away from the door. “Did you follow me?”

“Boyfriend trouble?” AJ asked quietly, trying to keep the sneer from his face.

“What? No!” Lamia said. “This is an Iron Syndicate ship. If you’re discovered …” she said, her voice trailing off as she took in AJ’s uniform. “Where did you get that uniform?”

“My question is unanswered,” AJ said.

Lamia crossed the room and pounded her balled fists against his chest. “How are you even here?” AJ raised his eyebrows and grabbed her arms so she’d stop hitting him.

“Breanto?” he pushed.

“Are you seriously asking me if Breanto is my boyfriend?” she asked. “I’m frakking just trying to stay alive here. I’m so screwed but if I leave, it’s very bad.”

“You should have let him in.”

“Breanto dead would be worse.”

“I see.”

“What do you see? That Breanto was about to push his way into my room, and I wouldn’t have been able to stop him? That I’m out here on my own, just trying to survive? That my jealous boyfriend shows up out of nowhere and now this mission is completely screwed?”

“Don’t worry about the boyfriend piece,” AJ growled. As soon as the words were out, he wished he could take them back because tears immediately sprung onto Lamia’s cheeks.

“I can’t do this right now. You can’t be here. You need to leave,” she said. “People will die.”

“My men already have,” he growled. “Choose your next words carefully. What do you have to do with this?”

Lamia’s eyebrows raised as she was caught off guard. “Your people?”

“The moon Krevnor, those soldiers who were vaporized were my men,” he said. “Tell me now what your role in this is.”

“You’re hurting me,” she said, her voice edging on panic.

“What?” he asked, confused by her statement.

“My arms. You’re hurting me,” she said.

AJ looked down and realized he was still holding her arms and was unintentionally squeezing. He let go but did not apologize. “No more double-talk, Lamia,” he said menacingly.

“What do you want to know first?” she asked carefully. AJ didn’t love that she was trying to manage his anger.

“What weapon was used on my men?” he asked.

“A prototype, developed by a scientist, Morlak Kofeen. He sold a contract to Iron Syndicate to build it,” she said.

“Three years ago, Morlak Kofeen came to the Iron Syndicate with plans to refine the mineral fozelium. This mineral is stable when frozen but has a low melting point of around three hundred five degrees,” she said.

“She’s referring to the Kelvin scale, AJ,” Beverly said. “Fozelium melts in a range similar to chocolate.”

AJ nodded, not wanting to disrupt Lamia’s information.

“When in liquid form, it is unstable and quiet dangerous, but not nearly as it is in gaseous form. Ket Farmarl figured out how to focus this energy release by shifting from liquid to gas and combining with some sort of laser technology that causes a reaction. I don’t understand all of the details, but Iron Syndicate has a sixty-million credit investment in the weapon’s development. I’m here because we believe they’ve lined up a potential buyer,” Lamia said.

“Who is the buyer?”

“That’s what we’re trying to discover. Once word gets out about the test results on Krevnor, there will be no end of buyers lining up,” she said.

AJ saw deflection on her face. “This isn’t a good time to lie to me.”

“I’m not lying,” she said, and he could hear panic once again in her voice. He didn’t love that she was afraid of him, but if she’d had anything to do with his men being killed, no amount of chemistry between them would save her.

“You just did,” he said menacingly.

A slight shift in her lips was the only indication that she understood what he was saying. She sighed. “If you screw this up, hundreds of thousands or possibly millions could die,” she said quietly. “You are a coarse tool where subtlety is needed. I need you to go away, AJ. This isn’t where you should be.”

“If you think insults and innuendo of a higher purpose will convince me to leave, you are mistaken,” AJ said.

“I mean it as no insult, AJ. You are not subtle where diplomacy and intelligence craft is involved,” she said. “You will not discover Iron Syndicate’s plan by beating it out of them. They have insulated the decision makers from those who are in the field.”

“And you are? Where was your diplomacy when you wanted to escape from Marska? And now I find you with the man from whom you wanted to escape? Perhaps you are too subtle to me. You got scared and ran back home to your lover.”

AJ saw the open-hand slap coming but did nothing to stop it. “How dare you,” she said. “I die a little each time that repulsive monster is even in the same room as me. He will hurt me on this trip, but I have come anyway.”

Of all the things she could have said in that moment, AJ had no words nor defense against this. “You make me the jealous fool,” AJ said after a few moments. “But I would be here with or without you. These people killed my men. I will drive this vessel into the sun if that’s what it takes to put an end to this weapon. Imagine my surprise, though, when I find you in the middle of it, cozying up to the very man who you’re afraid of most. Explain to me how that is?”

“AJ, in addition to other things, I was once an intelligence asset for Galactic Empire Security Agency. Breanto was once my handler, but by the time I was with him, he was steeped in corruption. The problem is, he is so deeply embedded that he made a deal. He would continue to supply good intel and they would look the other way on his business dealings, as long as he didn’t take it too far.”

“You were a spy,” AJ said, flatly.

“I was very good and like Breanto, I played both sides of the line. I took money I shouldn’t have and found myself caught up in a world of self-indulgence. Then I came to my senses,” she said. “Don’t underestimate me. I was taught trade craft by the most despised and talented agent in GSA history. There is no insult in my saying that you do not belong. Mine is a despicable craft that destroys the lives of everyone it touches.”

“You said you were involved in organized crime. Now you’re saying you’re a spy. Which is it, Lamia?”

“The innocence of believing those are separate ideas reminds me of why you’ve so pulled at my heart,” she said.

“Don’t move the conversation,” AJ said. “What’s your involvement with this Iron Syndicate weapon?”

“Breanto is a weapon’s broker. I’m his partner. We were invited to Krevnor to witness its testing,” she said. AJ flushed angrily and he growled, stepping forward, losing control. “AJ, if you want to hear the truth, you must control yourself. I had no idea they were planning a live demonstration. But, you should know, had I known this, I would have still attended. The stakes aren’t the lives of soldiers. This trajectory for this weapon is the creation of something much larger and more devastating. Tens of thousands, hundreds, maybe millions could be in the crosshairs. I’m sorry your men were killed, and I’m grieved that you were endangered. I do not, for one moment, regret my part in this. If I will have a slim chance to reign in this weapon of terror, there is no price that I will balk at.”

“Even to allow Breanto back in your life?”

“You’re worried about what he would do to me? You should not. I have lived a hard life, AJ. There is nothing he hasn’t already done to me that I cannot survive again,” she said. “I will not take my eyes off the objective. Not even for the sake of my future self. My life is no more important than any of your friends’. There are many ways to die. I accept my fate.”

“I do not,” AJ said softly, stepping closer, this time however, his face had softened even as he saw in Lamia the need for his understanding and acceptance. She closed her eyes and tilted back her head, accepting his gentle kiss.

“You were so angry,” she whispered. “I thought you might kill me. I would have deserved it.”

“I can’t stand by knowing you will be hurt,” AJ said.

“Let me have this moment,” she pled, her hands moving along his back and around the waistband of his uniform. “Be with me.”

AJ’s anger melted away as they both disrobed. “Your beauty has been a curse for you,” he said, admiring the perfect curves of her body.

“Tonight, I will feel safe in your arms, Love,” she said, pinching something on the back of her torso which allowed the remaining small clothes to fall to the deck. “Be gentle and kind as you have always been with me. Give me a memory to hold onto of this one, good thing I’ve had in my life.”

She pressed into his body, and he held her firmly to himself as he lifted her into the small bunk in her quarters. He had to remind himself to go slowly with her so much did she excite him. They held onto each other and caressed, one thing leading to another until they were joined as only lovers can.

“AJ, you’ll miss a check-in with Lisa and Darnell if you don’t act,” Beverly said. AJ hadn’t been fully asleep, although he dozed in the twilight glow of their shared passion.

Opening his eyes, he found Beverly sitting in a Adirondak chair on the rise of Lamia’s hip. She wore a silky black bathrobe covering what he could only imagine was some sort of negligee, given the amount of skin showing from where the robe opened over her crossed legs. In one hand, she held a fat cigar.

“Hugh Hefner would be proud,” he said, subvocally. “Have we heard from Lisa or Darnell?”

“Yes, Lisa is awake and waiting for your check-in.”

“Lees, what’s your sitrep?” AJ asked, trying to keep his voice down so as not to wake Lamia.

“We’ve located engineering and are stuffed up in the pipe chases next to an electronics relay,” she answered. “Where are you?”

“I’ve located Lamia. There’s a lot going on,” AJ said. “Iron Syndicate isn’t the final stop for this weapon. Breanto is acting as a broker. We don’t know with whom.”

“Breanto and Lamia looked pretty chummy,” Lisa said. “Are you sure you’re getting the straight scoop? You didn’t answer where you are.”

“I’m in Lamia’s quarters,” AJ said. “I think I’m reading her right. It’s complex. She’s on the right side in this.”

“Let me guess. She has it under control and doesn’t want us upsetting the apple cart.”

“That’s not a bad read,” AJ said. “She doesn’t know if this is related to Quarr, but there’s talk of this weapon being a small-scale prototype.”

“That’s not good,” Lisa said.

“Have you figured out where we’re going?”

“We’ll have a better idea in two hours,” Lisa said. “We’re headed to a jump point with three possible drops.”

“You’ve updated Cer? I assume she didn’t respond,” AJ said.

“Right on both,” Lisa said. “Just so I’m clear. You’re in Lamia’s quarters, you probably just had sex and Darnell and I are stuck, hiding in a pipe chase waiting for a jump point to figure out what we’re doing next. Is that about right?”

“There was talk of breakfast,” AJ said. “However, I need to go back to clean up a mess I caused. Is there any way to figure out where I could stash some bodies for a while?”

“Alive or otherwise?”

“You think so little of me,” AJ said. “They’re alive. I’ll probably use meds to keep them inactive.”

“Seamus is fairly plugged into the ship’s systems. We’ll find you a spot. Where are you now?”

“Deck 3, I think starboard 322,” AJ said.

“Even numbers are portside,” Lisa corrected. “You’re staying there?”

“I’ll be moving around before second shift gets going,” AJ said. “I have an officer’s uniform.”

“Convince me she’s not dragging you around by your man parts,” Lisa said.

“That’s insulting.”

“Sure. Answer the question.”

“You could ask Cer to validate her GSA credentials,” AJ said.

“Now you’re talking sense. Talk to you in two hours.”

AJ lay quietly next to Lamia, accepting of her movement which caused their limbs to intertwine. He suspected she’d heard some of the conversation but didn’t much care that she knew he was checking. Glancing at the clock, he realized he needed to get moving before the ship was fully awake.

Extracting himself from the bed, he quickly reclothed himself in the smaller, second lieutenant’s clothing. On close inspection, it would be obvious that he didn’t well fit the clothing, but it would take someone at close personal range to make the assessment as Stora were difficult to track with video surveillance.

“Are you coming back?” Lamia asked

“Perhaps.”

“I’ll order extra breakfast.”

AJ leaned over the bed and they kissed. “Do not change your routine,” AJ said. “I do not need food.”

“Be careful.”

AJ slipped from the room into the hallway, half expecting Breanto to be waiting for him. It was just wishful thinking, and he quickly moved to the stairwell and down to where he’d left the three Iron Syndicate sailors.

“In an hour, when I don’t show up, they’ll come looking for me,” said the low-level officer.

“Are you suggesting I should set up a scene where these two sailors killed the asshole second lieutenant over a game of chance? Perhaps there was drinking and sex involved,” AJ said.

“No one would believe that.”

“Maybe quiet is your best move in this moment,” AJ said, checking the wounds of the man he’d shot. “What’s your call on him, BB?”

“A visit to the medical bay is called for, but he will not die,” she said.

“I do not understand,” the second lieutenant said. “What is a BB?”

“Damn it,” AJ swore quietly. He checked his supply of anesthetic and found he did not have enough to knock out either of the two who were conscious for much more than a couple of hours. It seemed reasonable to him that eventually, a shift supervisor would come looking for the AWOL personnel, especially as their locations were likely known by some sort of electronic tracking.

“You haven’t thought this out,” the second lieutenant said. “You will be captured, questioned and probably killed for this.”

“Think it through, Bub,” AJ said. “I have three witnesses who can identify me. If you’re all dead, that’s not so much of a thing. My quandary is that you’re alive. Anything smart you’d like to add to that? Instead, maybe you’d suggest an alternative.”

“I didn’t mean anything. You do not need to kill us.”

“You’re Stora, right?” the uninjured sailor asked. “I don’t know what your beef is with Iron Syndicate, but I just signed up so I could get enough money to get a girlfriend. I’m not all rah, rah, Iron and all that.”

“Shut up, you simpleton,” the second officer said, glowering at the sailor.

“Look man, I just want to live. I didn’t sign up for this. I’m just a maintenance tech.”

“Well hold on, there, maintenance man,” AJ said. “You probably have access to some places that don’t get visited too often. A place where a few folks could be segregated without being found too quickly.”

“Sure. Tons of ’em. The entire atmospheric ballast is just a series of baffles and locks. You could stash a dozen bodies in there for a month and nobody would know.”

“Do you hear yourself? You’re giving a Stora a place to stash our bodies,” the second lieutenant said. “Cooperating with the enemy is treason.”

“Treason for a corporate military unit?” AJ asked. “Pretty sure you need to be a government. Although, I have to agree with the pencil pusher here. Suggesting you have a great place to stash bodies maybe isn’t your best move. How hard is it to get down there unseen?”

“Right now? Shouldn’t be hard. I’ll carry Jorsk like he’s drunk. You take care of the lieutenant. There’s even some packing material not too far from the closest hatch. It’d give us something to lay on. I don’t mind getting stuffed away. Let me bring a couple of bottles. We’ll just get nice and toasted.”

“I’ll have you hanged,” the lieutenant said. “This is exactly what we’ve trained for. You’re giving aid to the enemy.”

“Maybe you’re not seeing it like I am,” the sailor said. “I’m a hostage and I’ve come up with a way to escape. I think that’s exactly what we’re supposed to do. Like the two of us are going to grapple an armed Stora with our hands bound and win.”

“I feel like he has you there,” AJ said, pulling out the hypo from the medical kit he’d brought. “Sailor, you go ahead and pack a pillowcase with whatever you want to bring.”

“That’s easy, three bottles, cards, dice and a pillow. Mind if I get dressed, though? I’ll stand out more if I don’t.”

AJ reached over and snipped the restraints from the sailor’s wrists. He wondered if the sailor had been under playing and he’d attack the moment he was loose. His answer came quickly as the sailor started packing a pillowcase with items that very much looked like he was planning an extended stay.

“If anyone asks, I’ll say you were completely against the idea,” AJ said sarcastically.

6

CHESS PIECES

AJ shut off the welding rig and stashed it out of sight. Banging twice on the bulkhead to signal the sailor that he was done, he moved away from the three he’d stuffed away in the baffling system. It had taken ninety minutes to complete the task and most of the ship’s several hundred third shift crew were exchanging places with the first shift. AJ decided to hunker down instead of risking exposure with twice as many people moving about.

“What’s the good word, Lisa?” AJ asked.

“Are you still in bed with Lamia snuggled in all warm like?”

“Not exactly.”

“I just received word from Cer. She confirmed that Breanto and Lamia were agents for GSA. Things are fuzzy, but that’s because of their deep cover status. She suspected Breanto was involved and believes he’ll make an offer to Galactic Empire to buy off the weapons and plans. She wants you to hand a tracker to Lamia to be put into Breanto’s food and then we’re to get off the ship.”

“Lamia’s gonna love that,” AJ said. “Where am I supposed to get a tracker?”

“Your pistol has the parts you need,” Lisa said. “Seamus is sending instructions to Beverly.”

“And I have an hour to complete this and get it to Lamia,” AJ said.

“You’d better get going.”

“Hells,” AJ grumbled. “BB, where are we going?”

“There’s a machine shop,” she said, showing up in blue coveralls and a red scarf with white polka-dots on her head. She gave a quick flex and pointed toward the hatch leading out.

With limited time, AJ made no attempt at stealth but walked quickly and with purpose in the direction Beverly set. His size and species differentiation drew looks but he wasn’t challenged until he entered a small room with shelves on one side filled with parts and a long workbench on the other. Two men wearing soiled leather aprons stood in front of the bench, arranging parts they pulled from the bins behind them and from a tray connected to a small manufactory.

“You’re in the wrong place,” one of the grizzly Runkin asked, not bothering to look up from his work. He wore a band around his head which held several small instruments and could be swiveled in and away from his vision.

“I seriously doubt that,” AJ said, lashing out with his fist and cracking the Runkin in the back of the head, where BB had shown the Runkin to be most vulnerable. The Runkin’s body slammed into the bench and flopped back as the machinist fell to the floor, unconscious.

“Hold on, we don’t need no trouble in here,” the second said, reaching for a comm unit on the counter. AJ glowered at the Runkin and shook his head, daring the machinist to reach for the device. Wisely, the machinist pulled his hand back and turned away from his work. “What do you want, mister? I don’t need no trouble.”

“So you already said,” AJ said. An idea formed and he pulled the pistol from its holster, sliding it to the Runkin.

“I ain’t dumb enough to grab that, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Do you know anything about Stora?” AJ asked.

“They’re mostly myths,” the machinist answered. “Vile, murdering ghosts that’d eat your heart out as much as look at you.”

AJ shook his head. “That’s dark. So all that’s true, but mostly, I was thinking about that fact that once a Stora gets your scent, they always know how to find you. Do you believe that?”

The Runkin chuffed a laugh. “If you can smell me, I’m surprised you’re still walking.”

AJ almost smiled. In the face of what this machinist probably expected to be his death, he was cracking wise. “I’m going to make you a deal. You get to choose if I kill you and your buddy here. You even get to choose the time of your death.”

“You said if,” the machinist said.

AJ grabbed the schematics that Beverly presented and flipped them toward the machinist. “Follow those instructions. If you keep your mouth shut and it works, you’ll never see me again. You can guess where we go if you don’t meet those basic requirements.”

“Frak, all you had to do was ask,” the machinist said. “I’m just trying to earn out a pension.”

“Burning daylight,” AJ said, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter.

“AJ, you could have done this yourself,” Beverly said. “You were an engineer.”

“And this Runkin knows his tools. It’s not like we didn’t need to have the or-else conversation, either way.”

“No way I’ll rat you out,” the Runkin said as he got to work. “I can fix the gun back up if you need. These parts are used to keep track of it.” The Runkin froze as he realized he’d let on that he understood the purpose of the tiny device he was assembling for AJ. He backed away, holding up his hands. “Might as well get it over with. No way you’re letting me live, is there?”

“What’s the difference to you?” AJ asked. “Finish a quality job and maybe this works out. The alternative isn’t so good for you.”

“Fan ghoul.” The words made no sense but they were said in a way that AJ could understand the man’s understanding of his predicament. Fortunately for them both, the machinist got back to work.

“He’s completed assembly and is testing circuits,” Beverly said, fifteen minutes later. “He did a good job. You should tip him.”

AJ stifled a chuckle. “Are we clear on how this is gonna work?” AJ asked. “I was never here.”

“I’ll convince Raeil. We have no quarrel.”

AJ pulled two one hundred credit chits from his pocket that he’d taken from the second lieutenant and dropped them on the workbench. “You do good work. Let’s make this the last time we talk, eh?”

The machinist looked at the chits and back to AJ. He made no move to pick them up, but rather carefully handed AJ’s pistol back. “It’s my best work. I promise.”

The flow of crew moving through the ship’s hallways had slowed as the third shift settled into their bunks and the first set to their jobs. Different than the third shift, there were significantly more crew.

“AJ, you need to get moving,” Lisa said. “We’ll reach the jump point in fifteen minutes. We’ve secured a shuttle in a starboard bay amidships. You’re running out of time.”

“Plan-B it is,” AJ said, picking up speed, just when a witless mid-level officer turned suddenly, cutting him off. AJ overran the Runkin, catching him and holding him so he wouldn’t fall.

“What in the frak, Lieutenant,” the major asked angrily. As his eyes fell on AJ, he saw what AJ had been trying to avoid. “Is that your uniform? What are you?”

AJ quickly glanced around. There were too many crew around to keep the conversation quiet and he was already fighting the clock. The major pushed against him, annoyed that AJ was holding him up. Instead of letting go, AJ steadied the major and head butted him.

“He just attacked that officer,” a crewman said

“Ah, shit,” AJ said, dropping the officer and taking off at a sprint. Faster than any person should be able to move, he quickly made it to the stairs that led up. He made it to Deck 3 before any sort of alarms started, but before he’d reached Lamia’s room, a slow red throbbing light illuminated along the floor and a soft alarm started to chime.

“General quarters, we have an intruder between Deck 5 and Deck 9. All hands return to your stations,” the announcement came. Next, armed patrols would work their way through the hallways. The specificity of the decks involved was a small boon but would only help for a moment.

Instead of going to Lamia’s quarters, he sussed out where Breanto slept, using his extraordinary sense of smell. He knocked on the door. “Security. We just need a quick visual search,” AJ said, doing his best to sound bored.

“Hold yourself a minute, I’m not dressed,” Breanto’s thick voice came back.

AJ stood at the door and tried not to look conspicuous. Long seconds later, he heard Breanto brush against the door from the other side. AJ realized he was looking through a virtual peephole to see who was on the other side.

“Stand where I can see you,” Breanto growled.

“Always the tough guy,” AJ said to himself. He pulled the key from his belt and twisted it in the lock. With surprisingly more effort than expected, he forced open the door, causing Breanto to fall back. Breanto’s arm swung around and he fired off a pair of shots, neither hitting AJ, but certainly making noise. AJ lunged at Breanto and kicked the door closed in the same moment. The two grappled on the floor, but AJ soon had the upper hand on the man.

“You’re dead,” Breanto breathed, surreptitiously moving a hand where he thought AJ couldn’t see. AJ heard the scrape of fingers against cloth and intercepted Breanto’s arm at the end of which was a knife. The blade glistened with some sort of oil on it and AJ’s nose caught the scent of something foul.

“I hope that’s not poison,” AJ said. With a violent twist, he forced the knife around, plunging it into Breanto’s chest.

“You’ve killed me,” Breanto said, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Well, hell. That’s going to be hard to explain,” AJ said. “I don’t suppose you have an antidote on you?”

Oily black bubbles foamed up from Breanto’s open mouth. AJ listened for breath, but there was none, and he pushed up to standing.

“What have you done, AJ?” Beverly asked, appearing next to Breanto’s corpse.

“In my mind, I was going to deliver the tracker and get going,” AJ said. “Things got away from me a bit. I’m not going to lie.”

“You need to move. This ship is still moving toward the jump point,” Beverly said. “Lamia will have to continue Breanto’s mission. You might leave her some sort of message.”

“I think I’ve taken care of that,” AJ said, pushing to his feet. “Lisa, how are things looking?”

“Tight on time, did you drop off the tracker with Lamia yet?”

“Best not to talk about that just now,” AJ said. “Beverly, is there anything on Breanto that identifies him as a diplomatic passenger. Anything that’d get me past a patrol?”

“It’s a card, but your clothing won’t match a passenger,” Beverly said.

AJ quickly stripped and looked around the room for more. The large man’s clothing stretched to fit AJ’s height and adjusted to his trim waist. AJ searched Breanto and found the card Beverly had been referring to. Having lost precious time, AJ exited the room and moved as quickly as he could to stairs Beverly had located.

“Stop there,” a patrol of Iron Syndicate security said.

AJ pulled the card from his belt. “I don’t have time for this, right now,” he said angrily. “I’m late for a meeting. I do not care about your stupid intruder.”

One of the soldiers stepped forward menacingly, but the squad leader held his hand up to stop him. “You should not be this far back,” the man said. “You’re outside of the civilian space.”

“And yet I have a meeting. Do we need to call this in?” AJ asked impatiently. “I’ll love explaining how you jack-booted thugs single-handedly killed this deal.”

“You check out,” the sergeant said. “Be careful. There’s a fugitive on the loose.”

“And a description would be helpful? Not like I can make out one Runkin from another,” AJ said.

The sergeant frowned but didn’t rise to the bait. “Described as a monstrous being. That’s all I have.”

“And you stopped me,” AJ said. “Well done. You saw that a diplomat on your ship was in a hurry and decided I should be stopped. Do you want to talk about what you eat with your tea now?”

“No, no. Very sorry. You are released,” the sergeant said.

“Fine,” AJ snapped and then walked away. When he was beyond the squad’s visual range he took off at a sprint, fairly flying through the halls until he almost overran the airlock leading to the flight bay’s entrance.

With Beverly’s constant visual guidance, he pushed through the airlock and then sprinted for the hatch.

“AJ, there’s no time, grab on,” Lisa urged.

“Oh, hells!” he exclaimed, grappling the airlock handle outside the sleek long-range shuttle. As soon as he contacted the shuttle, Darnell lifted the vessel from the deck and scooted out of the large warship and accelerated slowly.

“We may get caught up in the mass bubble,” Darnell said. “Hold on!”

AJ grimaced. The circumstance of him not holding on he couldn’t come up with, but Darnell’s urging buoyed his grip as the small ship tried to tear out from beneath his grasp, as the massive warship rumbled past them.

And then they were alone. Darnell cut acceleration, immediately lessening the strain on AJ’s body.

“Permission to come aboard?” AJ said, releasing his handhold one hand at a time as he shook them out, trying to return feeling to his hands.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Darnell said. “And get yourself on board.”

“I’ve put on coffee,” Lisa said. “Good stock of food. I feel like making meatloaf. Anyone up for that?”

AJ worked through the airlock and took in the richly appointed shuttle. “If you’re going to steal a ship, might as well make it a nice one,” he said, approvingly.

“Want to talk about what happened back there?” Lisa asked.

“Not particularly,” AJ answered, accepting the cup of coffee she held out.

“There were alarms on that battleship,” she said. “People were running around like idiots. Something about a monstrous intruder. That’s not ringing any bells for you?”

“It’s a bit familiar,” AJ said. “I might have run into a certain major who figured out my second lieutenant’s uniform was so ill fitting that I might not belong. We agreed to disagree.”

“How’d that end up?”

“I used my go-to move in close combat.”

“You headbutted him.”

“It’s effective and doesn’t require you to bring anything along. Knocked him out cold.”

“And?”

“There were witnesses that felt I overstepped.”

“Talk to me about the tracker. I feel like you owe me a bit more of that conversation,” Lisa said.

“That one I cocked up good and proper.”

“This I have to hear,” Lisa said. “You don’t often come right out of the box with an admission like that.”

“With time being short as it was, I needed to skip giving the transmitter to Lamia and deliver it myself. Things were going well, too. Breanto was in his room,” AJ said.

“How does showing yourself to Breanto help anyone?”

“What’s he going to do about it? He’s misrepresented himself to Iron Syndicate at a minimum. Is he going to tell everyone he got a visit from the angry ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend? How would he explain my presence?”

“How would you plant the tracker? I understand the other side of the argument. It’s a bit perverse, but I get where you’re coming from.”

“I figured we’d tussle. I’d put it in his throat and leave,” AJ said. “After I knocked him unconscious, of course.”

“And this went off the rails somehow. I just can’t imagine how that might happen,” Lisa said sarcastically.

“Actually, I bet you can’t guess. I didn’t see it coming.”

“I’m not looking to play a guessing game. What happened?”

“I had him pinned, mouth open, things were going well,” AJ said. “Then he pulled a knife. At first I thought, no big deal, that’s part of pinning a guy. Maybe he gets a little nick on me. It makes him feel like a man. That works for me.”

“But,” Lisa said, prompting as AJ paused.

“The knife had poison on it,” AJ said. “Nasty stuff. I turned it back on him. Got it in his chest. He was dead twenty seconds later.”

“You killed Breanto. How is this anything but you taking out a romantic rival?”

“She isn’t interested in Breanto.”

“You’re about to find that out. That’s for certain,” Lisa said. “Now what? We can’t take out spies who are working for us, AJ. Isn’t that a rule?”

“He wasn’t GSA anymore. You said it yourself. He’s freelancing this job for a big payday. Lamia was his partner. Let’s hope she has enough information to seal the deal.”

“You’ve put her in danger, AJ,” Lisa said. “Iron Syndicate isn’t going to appreciate having their guy taken out in the middle of such an important deal.”

“Breanto has plenty of enemies. That caught up with him. It’s not only plausible, it’s true,” AJ said. “I’ve put Lamia in the driver’s seat. She’s not going to like it. Especially the part where I left her out of the decision, but he did try to kill me. Did we lose track of that?”

“You shouldn’t have been in his room,” Lisa said.

“Lamia was afraid of him. He was hurting her,” AJ said, shrugging. “Look, I’ll admit things didn’t go to plan. I hope I didn’t put Lamia in a worse position, but I’m not going to feel bad about dealing with Breanto.”

“As long as your priorities come in front of the mission,” Lisa said hotly.

“Don’t you try to lay that on me,” AJ said. “Without my instincts and making things up, we’d never have been on that ship, and we wouldn’t know about Lamia and Breanto. It’s not like they’re active agents working with GSA handlers. Even Cer admits it’s likely that Breanto was cowboying this whole thing, while looking for a big payday.”

“Now she won’t get a chance to bid on it.”

“Think that through, Lisa,” AJ said. “Either Lamia is a self-serving traitor, looking to line her pockets with one last big deal or she’s trying to turn her life around and she’ll get GSA involved. No matter how you slice it, she’s in over her head, especially if it has anything to do with Quarr working on weapons superiority in advance of an invasion.”

“What’s your take on this, Darnell? AJ might have just royally screwed this entire thing up,” Lisa said.

“I don’t see it that way,” Darnell said. “Best case before he did what he did was we had a tracker on Breanto, and Lamia was along for the ride. That’s no position of power. Best I can tell, we were just hoping that Breanto would reach out to Tok Supremacy or GSA to see if he could get a better deal than what he’s got cooking with whoever he’s been brokering for, which I think we all believe is Quarr. There’s no guarantee he’d have ever done that. We have no idea what Quarr were willing to pay. Maybe he only delivers that weapon. There are too many unknowns, but in my opinion, AJ just took a major piece off the chessboard and that piece wasn’t working for us.”

“Well, hell,” Lisa said, shrugging. “When you put it that way, it almost makes sense. And damn convenient that you got to take a major chess piece off the whole romantic entanglement angle, too.”

“Some days, a guy gets lucky,” AJ said, grinning. “When’s that meatloaf gonna be ready? I’m starving.” He saw Lisa’s fist but allowed the punch to land on his shoulder. “Are we okay?” he asked.

“Yes. Always, though you really piss me off some days.”

“Somedays I don’t. You gotta think positive, Lees.”

7

PUNISHMENT

“Now, what?” Darnell asked, settling back in his chair.

“I’ve transmitted all our intelligence to Cer,” Lisa said. “Give her a minute to figure it out.”

No sooner had the words escaped Lisa’s mouth when AJ felt the familiar presence of Tok teleportation technology. He wasn’t a bit surprised when he found himself sitting at a long white table next to Darnell and Lisa with Cer on the opposite side.

“You are entirely too impulsive and have jeopardized a critical operation,” Cer said, opening the conversation.

“My men died because you didn’t feel like sharing what we were up against. Where I come from, your actions are illegal and you’d be locked in jail for your callous disregard for their lives,” AJ said, ire flushing his face. The urge to jump across the table and strangle the arrogant little alien might have taken precedence if unseen restraints didn’t hold him to his chair. “Let me go.” He struggled against the invisible bindings to no avail.

“I had hoped the Stora physiology would magnify the value you bring to the Galactic Empire. It has simply made you more reckless. Killing Breanto was a mistake. We have lost any ability to inject ourselves into this trade of arms,” Cer said.

“You were working with Breanto?” Lisa asked.

“Lisa Jackson, do you seek validation for Albert Jenkins’ actions?” Cer asked. “Even now, the Iron Syndicate is adjusting their security protocols and will eliminate the bidding process for this weapon. They sense our presence and will now go underground. This willful mistake, made with little consideration for the wellbeing of billions, is considerable and cannot go unpunished.”

“Of all the nerve,” Darnell said. “You put us in impossible situations with a fraction of the information we need to be successful and then you want to punish AJ for going off script. And just so I was clear, there was no script!”

“Albert Jenkins, do you have anything further to add?” Cer asked imperiously.

“Screw you,” AJ said venomously.

Cer turned toward a featureless wall as a doorway appeared. A Fimil man, with light blue-gray skin, a longer than usual elephant nose which hung to his chin entered, wearing a white lab coat. His eyes were downcast as he entered, unwilling to make eye contact with any of the room’s occupants.

“Administer the serum,” Cer ordered.

“What are you doing, Cer?” AJ demanded. “You can’t just do this, whatever it is.”

“For the safety of the Galactic Empire, Tok Supremacy has ruled that the Stora genetics gifted to you by committee are to be removed. You will transition back to human form, as much as is possible with our current understanding of the human genome,” Cer said.

“You said that was impossible and extraordinarily dangerous,” Lisa said. “You could kill him.”

Cer turned to Lisa dispassionately. “As Albert Jenkins was in command at the time of his indiscretions, both you, Lisa Jackson, and your partner, Darnell Jackson will receive the same course of treatment. Let this serve as a warning to all that noncompliance with Tok Supremacy orders will not be tolerated.”

“You’re a sonofabitch, I considered you a friend. Do you see how you’re treating us? You are evil, Cer,” Lisa spat. It wasn’t lost on any of them that Lisa’s words seemed to have the intended impact on Cer, who for just a moment, looked forlorn at her statements.

Darkness pushed at the edges of AJ’s eyes, and he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

“God, I hate that smell,” AJ said to the familiar stink of antiseptic and the beeping of medical monitors.

“AJ, please say very little,” Beverly warned. “I’ve been monitoring your body. You’ve lost significant muscle and bone mass. We’re on some sort of spaceship, but I have not yet been able to discern what or where. Can you open your eyes?”

“I feel like I’ve been run over by a garbage truck,” AJ said as quietly as he could manage.

“Well, there you are, Lieutenant Commander Jenkins,” a chipper, female voice intoned. “I have to say, your recovery is nothing short of miraculous.”

“Lieutenant Commander?” AJ asked, struggling to open his eyes. When he did, a bolt of adrenaline flooded his system, immediately souring his stomach. The woman standing next to his bed, reviewing a glass data pad with a concerned look was of the Runkin race and wore an Iron Syndicate uniform. As a people, Runkin were humanoid, but all had facial features resembling that of a beaver, with a smashed nose, large front teeth, and thin whiskers.

“Confusion after an explosion is common,” she said. “You are very lucky to be alive and I must say, your recovery is incredible.”

Beverly appeared on the medical technician’s shoulder, wearing an identical uniform. “Look in a mirror, AJ. Also, ask for a protein drink. I’ll see if I can capture her credentials and get you what we really need.”

“Could I have a mirror?”

“Oh, Commander Jenkins, you’re quite a handsome man. The contusions and bruising will heal over time. This is not a moment you should be concerned for this,” she said.

“Say this, AJ—A true Iron Syndicate soldier will always look and act with utmost professionalism,” Beverly said. AJ almost choked on the words but repeated them.

“Too true,” the technician said, grabbing a hand mirror from its magnetic cradle on the wall. The face that looked back at AJ was both recognizable and unrecognizable. Like the woman, his nose was much thicker than previous and was a darker color than the rest of his skin. Pokey whiskers extruded from his face.

“What has happened?” AJ whispered.

“You have been healing at an incredible rate. All the technicians have been tittering about just how cute you’ll be once fully healed. I hope that isn’t too forward of us,” she said.

AJ blinked, struggling with a response. The medical technician was blatantly flirting with him. “AJ, Iron Syndicate openly encourages fraternization with officers. It is considered a perk of gaining rank and the behavior is rewarded,” Beverly said.

“Am I on an Iron Syndicate ship?” AJ asked, not quite mastering the sub-vocal communication with Beverly he’d once done so easily.

“You are still suffering from the explosion and prolonged exposure. You are such a strong, brave man to have survived so long before being discovered,” the technician said. “And yes, you’re on Rigor Justic. I don’t know what our mission is, but I’m sure your memory will come back soon. I’ve informed your commanding officer, Commander Pavil, that you have regained consciousness.

“Attenshun!”

The technician speaking with AJ stiffened, pulling her shoulders back as she came to attention, her eyes straight forward.

“As you were,” a man’s clear baritone announced.

“Ah, Lieutenant Commander, we thought we’d lost you. What a considerable act of courage you exhibited sealing off those blast doors. I’ve always known you had it in you since I recruited you to my command all those years back. You’re awake sooner than expected. Although a man like you can’t be kept down now, can he?”

Despite the pain caused by doing so, AJ’s eyebrows shot up into his brow line. He looked at Pavil’s face, searching for any trace of familiarity. There was none. “Sir?” he managed to say, feeling entirely lost.

“Has he been giving you any trouble, Nurse Blethy?” Pavil asked.

“Oh, no, sir. He’s been a perfect gentleman.”

“Well then, I guess we know for sure he’s still recovering,” Pavil said grandly. “Nurse Blethy, clear the room. I need to have a restricted conversation.”

“Yes, sir!” Blethy said, snapping off a quick salute. As she exited the room, she flipped a switch on the wall which caused the room to hum.

“AJ, that’s a noise shield,” Beverly said. “He’s looking for privacy.”

“Look, whoever you really are,” Pavil said. “Your appearance here is causing me a whole lot of risk. I’m vouching for you, but you’re going to have to do the heavy lifting on this. I’m not getting paid enough for murders and explosions.”

“You’ll do what’s required,” AJ growled, not even remotely sure what they were talking about, but he also knew he couldn’t afford to allow the man a leg up on the conversation.

“Don’t push me. You won’t like it,” Pavil answered.

“Same,” AJ agreed. “I need access to something that will tell me about my responsibilities so I can fit in.” He wasn’t about to admit that he had no idea why he was on Rigor Justic.

“When you’re back on your feet, you’ll accompany me into meetings,” Pavil said. “Otherwise, you have no personnel reporting to you. I need you to finish whatever it is you’re doing and get off this ship. After the contractors were killed by the explosions, security has tightened even more. I hope your cover holds.”

“I’ll be on my feet later today,” AJ said. “You will invite me to the next meeting.”

“You are in no shape.”

“It wasn’t a request.”

Pavil nodded, anger evident on his face. He wasn’t a man used to taking orders from anyone. “You’ll get it.” With that, he stalked from the room.

“Nurse Blethy?” AJ called, searching the bed for a control that would allow him to sit up straight.

“One moment, please, Commander Jenkins,” Blethy replied. “The commissary has delivered an inappropriate refreshment. I am in the process of returning it.”

“Do not return it,” Beverly said.

AJ repeated the words and added, “I asked the colonel to order that for me. I’m starting to get my legs under me.”

“There is too much calcium and protein in this drink. It’s dangerously high in a few other items as well. I strongly recommend you do not ingest this,” Blethy said, sliding up next to his bed tentatively hold a liter-sized bottle out to him.

“Ah, I appreciate the concern you have for me,” AJ said. “Help me sit up.”

“Are you certain? It will be quite painful. You have damaged your abdomen. You will start bleeding again,” she said.

He smiled, holding eye contact with the woman. She recognized he wasn’t about to change his mind and handed a wireless controller to him. The buttons were labeled and AJ made himself comfortable in a sitting position. Once there, he set the control in his lap and took the bottle from the technician. His throat burned as the chalky liquid slid down and he only managed to drink a third of it before his stomach threatened to push it all back up.

“Go slowly. You haven’t eaten solids for a few days,” Blethy said.

“You’re very kind to take such good care of me,” AJ said, giving her his best smile.

“Oh, you’re a charmer,” she said. “How can I best support you?”

“At this point, I need an e-pad. I imagine mine was lost in the explosion,” AJ said.

“You’re not on active service,” Blethy said. “I don’t know if they will allow you access.”

“Perhaps you’ll let me worry about that,” AJ said as kindly as he could muster.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve just been so worried for you. When you came in, I thought you would die. Even your face was sunken. I’m glad to see your nose is recovering. It is very attractive.”

“E-pad?” AJ said, trying to keep her on track.

“Oh, yes, I’ll need your signature on the requisition,” she said.

“Add a uniform, too, in that case,” AJ said.

“Of course,” she said, holding her electronic pad out to him. AJ scanned the device and with Beverly’s help, he quickly located the thumbprint request. The pad blinked red, showing that his print was unrecognized. “That’s strange.”

“Hold on, AJ,” Beverly said. “I’m using Blethy’s credentials to figure out what’s wrong with your authorization. She doesn’t have much access.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Pavil asked, reappearing in the room, which caused Blethy to stiffen again. “Talk to me, nurse. Why is this man signing for anything right now?”

“He asked for an electronic pad and a uniform. I don’t have the authorization.”

“I should have anticipated this,” he said. “Hand the device to me.” Pavil worked on the device for a moment and handed it back to Blethy. “Get someone up from technical. Clearly, Lieutenant Commander Jenkins’ bio signature was altered in the explosion. He needs to be re-registered.”

“Yes, sir!” Blethy answered.

Pavil turned on his heel and was once again gone. “Was he just sitting outside?” AJ asked Blethy as quietly as he could manage.

“He was in the other room,” she said. “I think he was listening to our conversation.”

“That’s odd,” AJ said.

“I wouldn’t know of such things,” she said neutrally.

Beverly appeared on Blethy’s shoulder. “The Iron Syndicate does not treat women as equals,” Beverly said. “I find it frustrating to witness such things.”

AJ shrugged. He had no desire to make life harder for Blethy. Instead, he tipped back the concoction of vitamins and minerals, taking down another quarter or so before his stomach found it unpalatable. “Help me try to stand, would you?” he asked.

“Are you certain? You are doing better, but we should be careful. You could pull out the sutures and detach the glue,” she said.

With great effort, AJ slung his legs to the side of the bed and steadied himself. “What in the world happened to me? I’m beat to death,” he said, mostly to himself.

“You were caught in an explosion and heroically blockaded a section of the ship even while grievously wounded. You are a hero, Commander Jenkins,” she said. “You do not need to push yourself; you have certainly secured your position within the Iron Syndicate.”

“If you don’t want to see this hero face first on the deck, you might want to help steady me. I’m going to stand up, regardless of my condition,” AJ said.

“Oh, my,” Bethy said, rushing to AJ’s side as he slid from the bed and planted his feet.

“I feel shorter,” AJ said, flexing his knees as he tested his own strength.

“Go easy, AJ. You’re stronger than she thinks, but your body is still recovering from whatever Cer did to restore your human physiology,” Beverly said. “I’m not sure what Cer said, but there is no case where her actions were legal. I feel it is my obligation to report the Tok use of illegal genetic manipulation.”

Bethy laughed at AJ’s shorter comment. “You are tall for a Runkin. I am certain you have many women who seek your attention.” AJ winced at her obvious attempt to satisfy his male ego. He wanted to let her know that wasn’t on his mind but also knew it would damage his credibility.

“I don’t think much of these things,” AJ said striving for a haughty tone. “My career and the advancement of Iron Syndicate is central to my thinking.”

“Yes, of course, she answered, keeping her hands on either side of him, one on his stomach the other on his back. “You are doing very well, Commander. You have an iron will.”

Just then a courier arrived, carrying a parcel. “Lieutenant Commander Jenkins?” The courier held out an electronic pad. “Sign here.”

AJ thumbed the pad and was surprised when it glowed green with acceptance. “Put the package on the bed.”

“Of course, Commander,” the man answered, with a quick salute.

“Is there a shower near?” AJ asked, testing out his legs. Every part of his body was sore, but it seemed he was plenty mobile.

“Officer’s accommodations are on Deck 2, as you know,” Bethy said. “There is no shower beyond the communal on this deck. I could provide a sponge bath, as is common for patients.”

“Certainly not for patients who can walk,” AJ said, pulling the uniform from the parcel. “I’ll be back for my tablet. Thank you for your considerate care, Nurse Blethy. I will write a personal commendation for your thoughtfulness.”

“You will?” she asked. “Oh, Commander, you are so wonderful! Thank you!”

The Runkin looked like she might hug him, and he had no interest in the potential pain. “I’ll return in a moment,” he said pushing off from the bed and exiting the small room into a waiting room. Beverly, anticipating his next move, projected a blue arrow showing AJ where to find the nearest communal showers.

At mid-shift, the showers were lightly visited. Stripping hospital clothes and dropping them into a hamper, he hung his uniform in a locker and proceeded into the small shower area. There was only one other occupant and he didn’t see fit to start up a conversation. It wasn’t until he was almost done with the shower when a pair of women entered the outer chamber and started removing their clothing that he realized the shower was coed. He received a couple of curious looks, likely from the bruising all over his body, but he kept his head down and quickly dressed.

“Feel better?” Beverly asked.

“I’m going to need to understand what’s going on,” AJ said. “I woke up on Rigor Justic. I look like a damn beaver, and I feel like I’ve been run over by a garbage truck and then back over. Can you reach Lisa or Darnell?”

“No,” Beverly said. “I’m avoiding the risk of using Rigor Justic’s communications. I’m reasonably sure neither Seamus nor Petey are aboard this ship, though. I think you have a communique from Cer, but there’s a biological lock on it.”

“What kind of lock?” AJ asked.

“Certain conditions have to be met before we can access the message. There’s nothing that says it’s from Cer, but it has that feel,” Beverly said.

“Look at you being all intuitive and stuff,” AJ said.

“You must be feeling better,” Beverly said. “Where are we going?”

“I want some alone time with my electronic pad. I need to understand the hierarchy of Iron Syndicate better. Also, I’d like to figure out if this is the same ship I was on before. It sure feels like it, but everything is skewed. I can’t quite put my finger on what’s weird to me,” AJ said.

“Hold on, let me try something,” Beverly said.

“Sure.”

AJ’s field of view blinked in and out for a moment. “That’s it, like you turned a focusing knob. What’d you do?”

The same blinking happened again, and AJ’s view was back to what he’d been experimenting with.

“AJ, you’re human-sized again. You’re used to seeing things from several inches higher than you are now. It’s just enough to throw you off.”

“Weird,” AJ said, arriving back at the medical bay. Bethy greeted him at the front, having brought what remained of his drink and the electronic pad he’d ordered. “Thank you, Nurse Bethy.” He held the electronic pad in an informal wave and exited back into the hallway.

“Deck 4,” Beverly said. “Take the elevator. Your legs aren’t up to that many stairs yet.”

AJ found it odd to wander through the large ship completely at home in his new identity. At the rank of Lieutenant Commander, he didn’t run into anyone of higher rank even when he arrived at Deck 4 where the officers resided.

“Man, if this is how a lieutenant commander lives, I’d hate to be a junior grade lieutenant,” AJ said to no one in particular, looking around his small quarters. Setting the electronic pad on the room’s only table, he sat on the single bunk and started paging. “Now, let’s learn about what Iron Syndicate is all about.”

8

EVERY PROBLEM A NAIL

AJ’s initial interest in Iron Syndicate was to understand the chain of command. Beverly had mapped the syndicate’s rank system to meet AJ’s understanding of the navy. At Lieutenant Commander, he could command several hundred crew, although he discovered that his assignment was in the intelligence division, reporting directly to Commander Eric Pavil who headed the ship’s operations department.

“How much do you know about how I got on this ship, BB?” AJ asked. “I assume it was Cer’s doing, given our last conversation.”

“There is a red bag in your storage locker below the bed,” she said, coming into view by projecting a chair on the table in front of him. She wore a white evening gown and tall, spiked heels, her hair styled as if she were headed to an event.

“Looking pretty sharp, there, BB,” AJ said, smiling. The very act of smiling caught him off guard. He drew in a breath and slowly exhaled. Relaxation spread through his body, again a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Lifting the bed, he exposed a compartment containing clothing he didn’t recognize and other personal effects, none of which were his. A small cloth red bag sat atop a stack of letters, presumably from a loved one. He plucked out the bag and drew back the string allowing the neck to open. Within sat a small device about the size of his thumb from the last knuckle up. Testing, he pressed his thumb against the soft end and a haptic response indicated he’d triggered something.

“There you go,” Beverly said. “You can talk to me without fear of being overheard. There are active listening devices throughout Rigor Justic, likely in your room.”

“Do I get the full goods now? Like why I’m here?”

“There are conditions that must be met,” she answered. “Relax, I believe we’ll get there shortly but drink your slurry. I need the material to help rebuild your body. It was savaged by the Tok Supremacy’s assault.”

“Assault?”

“Against your will or even knowledge, you were injected with an illegal solution that had genetic instructions to alter your body so it reverted to human,” she said. “To my knowledge, this is an experimental process that has not been perfected by even the Tok.”

“My punishment is to lose the Stora form?” AJ asked. “They’d rather I’m slower, weaker and unable to take the damage? How does that benefit anyone?”

“That’s a tricky conversation,” Beverly said. “The physical changes are all true. But also, there are psychological changes. Stora are extremely focused and quick acting. Yours and Lisa’s behaviors were only slightly tempered by your humanity.”

“You’re saying that I saw every problem as a nail, because I held a hammer,” AJ said.

“An apt analogy. You had physical superiority, so you solved problems that way. There’s more. I believe Cer reverted you more out of a sense of helping than punishment. She presented it as punishment as theater for those watching.”

He sat hard on the bed. The constant tension he’d felt for weeks was subsiding, even though he was aboard an enemy vessel pretending to be amongst its officer corp. “Cer has never treated us as any sort of equal. She does what she does and it’s to us to associate good intent. Nah, that’s BS. I don’t like being her puppet.”

“You are nobody’s puppet,” Beverly said. “You are a deep cover intelligence operative on a mission critical to the largest, free civilian population in sentient history. That Cer has reinjected you into this environment is exactly the proof you need to recognize her understanding of your value. She is not just on your side, AJ. She’s betting everything on you.”

“Now, see, that’s a helluva pep talk, BB,” he said with a coy grin.

A knock at the door drew AJ’s attention. He grabbed the service knife from the locker and warily approached the door. Without warning, he opened the hatch and quickly assessed, fully expecting to be knocked back into the room.

He wasn’t knocked back. Instead, a crew member stood in the middle of the hallway and drew to attention at his presence. “A delivery, sir!”

AJ dismissed the crewman with a salute and accepted the bag. Shutting the door without warning, he returned to his table where he turned out the contents of the bag. Inside was another shake, browner this time than last and a service pistol, akin to those he’d seen only on guards so far. Knowing that Beverly would push, he opened the shake and consumed at least half.

“Good,” Beverly said. “We’re making good progress in healing your skeletal structure. I’m surprised at how much damage Cer’s serum caused.”

“Big surprise,” AJ said through flattened lips.

Suddenly, a six-inch version of Cer appeared on the table in front of him. “Albert Jenkins, that you’re listening to this message is an excellent sign. You’ve survived the genetic manipulation which reverted you to human form. I had faith this would be the outcome, although, there was significant risk. You have questions. I’ll attempt to answer them. First, removal of your Stora form was not my doing and I apologize for not being strong enough to resist those who required it. That said, I prefer you as a human so your thinking is not clouded by the constant aggression of Stora. I made one adjustment and am concerned about how this might have affected you. I tell you this so you will not wonder if I am purposefully withholding information. I left in place the features of a Stora that electronic recording devices find difficult to focus on. Otherwise, the remainder is human with similar characteristics of the man you once were.

“Are you buying this, BB?” AJ asked, interrupting the recording. Cer’s image paused as he spoke.

“It sounds truthful to me, AJ,” she said.

“But I’m not human at all. I’m Runkin. You’ve seen my face.”

“My apologies. Those are simple adjustments I’m able to make without touching your genetics. Consider them like prosthetics. In a few hours, I can easily reabsorb them into your body,” Beverly answered.

AJ stroked his jaw, the familiar shape of it reassuring in a way he hadn’t expected. “So I’m back then, eh?”

“You are.”

“And Cer did this for me.”

“No, she changed you because she saw an advantage for her mission,” Beverly said. “That she has a fondness for you is inexplicable.”

“You don’t trust her.”

“No, and neither should you. She wields extraordinary power and is willing to break Galactic Empire laws, which indicates she believes she’s above them. She has shown that she does not mind placing all of us at great risk as a means to her own ends. I am not saying she isn’t benevolent. I am simply saying she isn’t looking out for you in the way you might think.”

“But you’ve got my back,” AJ said, not meaning it to sound quite as accusatory as it came out. Beverly grimaced at the statement.

“I do, AJ,” she said. “I disagree with your approach but have dedicated myself to work with you for the betterment of our species and the Galactic Empire.”

“Sorry, BB. I didn’t mean to snipe there. I’m irritated by being at the end of the yo-yo string,” AJ said.

Beverly’s laugh was melodic and brought a smile even to his face. “That’s an apt analogy. I have no idea how you come up with these things.”

“It’s a gift. Let’s see what else Cer has to say,” AJ said. “All right, Cer, enough kiss and make up. Tell me what you want from me now.”

Cer’s image smiled patiently and nodded. “I anticipated your impatience and have skipped over the prior discussion. You are an adjunct officer in the intelligence service of Iron Syndicate. Due to the change of personnel in the negotiating team, that is to say, Breanto’s death, Iron Syndicate’s Intelligence Service requires a representative’s involvement in all negotiations related to the development of advanced weaponry. That is your cover. Your mission is to identify the scientist, capture, and deliver him to GSA. Further, you are to destroy all prototypes aboard Rigor Justic.”

“Do you know the scientist’s name?”

Cer’s image froze and then restarted. “No. We have not identified the scientist. Also, as you skipped a portion of the instructions, I will reiterate what you have missed. We want those plans and the scientist responsible for creating them. We want to know with whom the Iron Syndicate is trading and the details of the trade. I can’t express enough how detrimental it would be for Quarr to come into possession of this technology.”

“And do we know where they’re going?”

“Indications lead us to believe Rigor Justic is on course for Fimil Prime, which is an optimal location for a clandestine exchange. They have a minimal Galactic Empire presence and it is adjacent to the frontier separating Galactic Empire space and Quarr. At a minimum, Rigor Justic will stop at Fimil Prime for refueling before venturing into the frontier.”

“Why wouldn’t you just destroy Rigor Justic? You hardly need me for that,” AJ said.

“I anticipated this question. We do not know where the scientist is located. Rigor Justic is little more than a courier vessel for the prototype. Or, possibly, it is much more. There is much we do not know.”

“That pretty well sums things up, doesn’t it,” AJ said. Cer’s projection didn’t budge at AJ’s statement. “Can you access the information she shared?”

“AJ, Cer’s message was encapsulated within your body. The message dissolved as it was projected,” Beverly said. “I can recall everything we experienced. There is nothing more.”

“Whoa,” AJ said. “You have to admit, that’s some next level tech right there.”

“I agree. What are your first steps, AJ?”

“Do I have any meetings on the agenda?” AJ asked. “Also, using my credentials, scan the ship to figure out what areas I don’t have access to. As a member of the intelligence service, I’d expect access to cameras. Do I have that?”

“Yes. You have access to five hundred thirty of the six hundred twenty cameras addressable by Rigor Justic.”

AJ clapped his hands and rubbed them together, grinning. “Well, now, isn’t that interesting. I’d say I’m interested in what we’re not seeing with those ninety cameras. Do we know where in the ship those cameras are, physically?”

“Yes. And before you ask, I’m plotting their locations into a visualization of Rigor Justic so you can see their relative locations.”

“Oh, for certain, let’s see that,” AJ said.

“My pleasure.” Beverly grinned as a model of the ship appeared. She leapt up and landed atop the ship, sitting side-saddle amidships.

“You’re enjoying this,” AJ said.

“I’ll be honest, it’s kind of nice to have my AJ back,” she said.

“Was I that much of an ass as Stora?” AJ asked.

“Not so much that,” she said. “But I had little access to your biological systems. And really, I wasn’t needed for that. That limited my ability to share information and be involved in whatever was happening.”

“You felt underutilized. And I was kind of pushy, wasn’t I?” AJ said.

“Your personality was necessarily changed by your physicality. But yes, I felt pushed to the side. I was mostly a communications hub. It’s not that I didn’t want to help, it’s just we’d done so much more together before the change. I like taking care of you, AJ. I feel validation of my purpose when I am engaged in more than being your secretary,” she said. “As Stora, your primary facility for change was to pound on the problem with your fists until the problem was solved. As a man, you will revert to using your clever mind before resorting to violence. I very much prefer that approach.”

“I love you, too, Beverly,” AJ said sincerely. “You’re my partner and we’re in this together. I’m glad I’m back, too. Although, it was fun to be superman for a minute. Wow, I’m really starting to feel better. Whatever you’re doing with my muscles is working. I don’t feel like a piece of sirloin that’s been pounded on by a tenderizer. Who knew genetic manipulation was so violent?”

“It isn’t, always, but the Tok approach preferred speed over comfort,” she said.

While they were talking, AJ had grabbed hold of Rigor Justic’s hull and was slowly turning it as he inspected the locations where cameras existed but weren’t accessible to him.

“Funny,” he said.

“Speed over comfort is funny?”

“No, ironic is what I really meant. By restricting my access, they’ve drawn a map of exactly where I need to start my investigation,” AJ said. “If I’d had access to everything, I might never have known where to start.”

“Now?” Beverly asked as he stood and chugged what remained of the bottle of slurry.

“Time’s a-wastin’,” he said, tossing both bottles into the recycling tube.

“Are you certain you want to carry that pistol? It isn’t common for officers given my current observation,” she said.

“I like the edginess,” AJ said. “We’ll see how it goes. I think we can eliminate the blocked cameras near the command center. That’s operational security—that makes sense to me. Let’s check the concentration of video back by engineering. That has an interesting sort of flavor to it.”

“Your logic is perfectly sound,” Beverly said. While they talked, she’d switched to a uniform that matched what Nurse Bethy had worn.

“That’s an interesting look,” AJ said, walking confidently down the hallway, trying to keep at bay the nervous energy he felt. “Can you cool off my adrenal? I’m apparently stressing.”

“I wondered about that,” Beverly said. “How’s this? I’ve slowed the adrenaline you’re pumping out. Let me know if you’re feeling too relaxed.”

“I’m good. Are you checking cameras along the way? I’d like to avoid high-ranking officers. I don’t want to have a conversation about my cover if I can avoid it.”

“Done and done,” she said.

“Would you shoot off a message to Commander Pavil? I’d like to know our agenda for the afternoon. He’s going to try to keep me hidden. He’s worried I’ll force him to show his hand.”

“I’ll craft a message that delivers your message without being too obvious. We don’t know who might be reviewing comms,” Beverly said.

“I trust you,” AJ said.

With the blood pressure spike abated, AJ caught himself starting to whistle, which he imagined might not be all that common for Runkin intelligence agents. His route took him to Deck 7 and about two-thirds aft. At five hundred meters, Rigor Justic was the largest spaceship AJ had explored, and he marveled at how far he had to travel just to get amidship.

Before he arrived at the first location, Beverly interrupted his movement. “Stop, AJ, there is security ahead, I’ve just picked it up on one of the cameras.”

“Picked it up?” AJ asked, inquisitively.

“I got an angle and was able to process the snippets of what I was viewing,” she said. “If you get me close enough to the camera, I think it’s possible I can take control of it. Seamus taught me a few things. You need a story to get past the guards ahead. I wanted to give you a moment to consider it.”

“Appreciated,” AJ said, picking up his pace again. He turned to port and then aft again as he jogged over one. “Let’s see if any of those cameras are accessible along the perimeter.”

“I don’t know how well that will work,” Beverly said. “I need to be close, or I’ll burn your skin as I turn up the power usage.”

“Burn? Burn what?” AJ asked, walking down a passageway that was adjacent but still ten meters over from the cameras he was trying to get close to.

“Whatever is closest,” she said. “If you run your fingers high along the wall, that would get me closer.”

“If you burn me, can you repair it?” AJ asked.

“Oh, bubba, no matter what I would do, you’d feel this,” Beverly said. “It’s repairable damage. I’m not sure you’d ever forgive me, though.”

“Look, I’ve been shot and tortured more than once,” AJ said. “Burn my finger if that’s what it takes.” He opened his arms and ran a finger along the wall as high as he could reach. A couple of lower ranking crew turned a corner, AJ glared at them, virtually daring them to say anything. They chose discretion over curiosity and simply turned away.

“Hold there, AJ,” Beverly said. “This is going to hurt.”

“Go,” AJ said. “Oh, gawd,” he muttered through gritted teeth as pain shot up his arm and an arc of electricity jumped from his fingertip to the wall and danced around.

“Keep your finger on that wall. You’re hurting yourself more than is necessary,” Beverly warned.

AJ did as instructed but found little relief. Instead, it felt like he was trying to weld his finger to a car’s battery terminal, and he wanted nothing more than to pull away.

“One more minute,” Beverly said. “Hold in there. I know it hurts.”

He managed a whimper but held fast. Finally, the electricity stopped flowing and AJ slumped against the wall, sweat dripping from his forehead. “You weren’t kidding.”

“I was not,” Beverly said. “And the bad news is, I was unable to pair with that camera.”

“That sucks.”

“We should try a different location. Or maybe we need to try some social engineering. You’re a Lieutenant Commander in Intelligence Services. You could try bluffing your way past.”

“It’s a last resort,” AJ said. “Even if I got past them, they’d write up a report. I don’t know if Pavil can cover that kind of heat.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know if my method will work or not,” Beverly said.

“Let’s give it another try.”

“Are you well, sir?” a crewman asked, approaching.

“Just catching my breath,” AJ said.

“Oh, you’re Lieutenant Commander Jenkins. You’re the one who was blown up.”

“I am,” AJ said.

“Are you sure I can’t help you?” the crewman asked.

“A salute is required when approaching a superior officer,” AJ growled.

“What are you doing, AJ. We need more friends than enemies,” Beverly said.

“Yes, sir!” the crewman said, standing at attention.

“That’s better,” AJ said, returning the salute. “Be about your day.”

“Sir, yes sir!” The crewman scurried off.

“AJ? What was that about?” Beverly asked.

“Reputation. Word will spread that I’m an asshole. People will leave me alone,” AJ said.

“Up and to your left,” Beverly said. She was irritated with him, but highlighted the spot where she wanted his finger, and he accommodated.

The jolt at the beginning was significantly more than he remembered from the last time and it took everything he had not to howl. After a few moments, the pain reduced and he managed to keep from complaining by breathing slowly in and out. Finally, the pain subsided entirely.

“Did you get it?” AJ asked.

“Well yes I did,” she said poutily.

“Do you feel better?” AJ asked with ragged breath.

“I quite do not know of what you speak,” she answered.

9

SECRETS

“This isn’t fun,” AJ complained after failing to link the final cameras that were potentially accessible. He’d chosen the area because it had the highest concentration of unaddressable cameras on the ship. Reasonably, he’d been able to intuit why many had enhanced security. Amidships on Deck 5, in an area marked as multi-purpose had drawn his attention. In all, they’d succeeded in linking to three of the twelve candidates.

“We might have a shot at these four if you moved to Deck 4 and moved some of the deck plating,” Beverly offered, her demeaner having changed from slightly piqued at his imperious treatment of crew to sympathetic due to the burns she’d caused on his hands, trying to make connections.

“Have you picked up much from any of those three we managed to address?” he asked.

“Two are in rooms that have equipment which emit enough light to identify that there is equipment, but little else,” she said. “The third is a side hallway and we have only seen glimpses of crew passing in the adjacent hallway.”

“That’s interesting,” AJ said. “Identifying features, like face shots?”

“A few,” she said. “I don’t have great access to personnel data.”

“Are you using my credentials?” AJ asked. “I should have full personnel access.”

“Let me change my access,” Beverly said. “Oh, here we go. Yes. Easily matching the three partial facials that we picked up inside the secured area. What do you want to know?”

“Do any of them have interpersonal issues?” AJ asked. “Maybe argues with authority or punches out his buddies when he’s drunk?”

“Not exactly, but sure, Corporal Gifa Ledi, armory and weapons technology certifications,” Beverly said. “Top scores in classes and is not a team player. Corporal Ledi has been written up by prior supervisors and recently received a verbal warning for behavior contrary to Iron Syndicate core values.”

AJ stifled a chuckle, testing a door that led to a conference room. Ducking his head in, he found a three-meter square room, with a table and chairs for eight. He sat at the table, allowing the door to close behind him. “Can you access room reservations?”

“What are you doing, AJ?” Beverly asked and then answered his prior question. “You’re reserved for the next two hours. Any longer might draw attention.”

“Two hours should work perfectly,” AJ said. “Send a note to Mr. Ledi, requiring his presence in this room for a review of his employment agreement.”

“That sounds threatening. I assume that’s your intent,” she said.

AJ checked the clock on his HUD. “Schedule for 1430.”

“That’s almost an hour from now,” Beverly said. “I suspect he’d be available earlier.”

“I agree, especially given my rank,” AJ said. “I want him to stew on it a bit. Is there any sort of pending employee action that I could add to his file. So, it’s hanging out there, not quite official, yet?”

“AJ, that’s horrible,” Beverly said. “Gifa Ledi will be very upset by the time he arrives if you do this.”

“He works for a company and was on a mission that resulted in the deaths of my people,” AJ said. “He’s a weapon’s tech who has potential working knowledge of the weapon used. The Stora version of me wouldn’t let him walk out of this room. When he comes in, I need you to pay special attention to his facial features.”

“Your requests are quite unusual, AJ,” Beverly said. “Are you certain you are feeling well?”

“Also, send off a request to Commander Pavil to provide his agenda for the day,” AJ said. “It appears he thinks that his role in all this is limited. We’ll need to disabuse him of that.”

“If you out him, he won’t be an effective double agent,” Beverly said.

“Providing his agenda to a subordinate is perfectly logical behavior,” AJ answered. “We own Pavil, whether or not he currently understands that. He could blow the whistle on all of this and clear his conscience, but he took money to betray his own organization. He only cares about survival at this point. Unfortunately for him, I have a special dislike for traitors, regardless if they’re part of my team or not. Are we ready to try a few more cameras? My fingers only slightly feel like they’ve been dipped in a French fry vat.”

“I am sorry about the pain, AJ,” Beverly said. “At least I now have the capacity to speed your body’s rate of healing. I did not like your Stora body.”

“So you’ve said,” AJ said. “I imagine you felt a whole lot more like a passenger than a partner. I’m sorry that’s how that worked out. Being a Stora gave me options in combat that I’m going to miss.”

“Thank you,” Beverly said. “On Deck 4, there’s a closet that is promising for a main hallway camera.”

“Now we’re talking,” AJ said. As he exited the conference room, he switched the manual sign on the door to indicate the room was occupied. While Deck 4 was busier than Deck 5, no one challenged AJ as he strode confidently about his business, stopping at a closet door and entering, closing the door behind him. “That’s not sketchy. If security is watching me, they’re going to flag me entering this room.”

“They won’t know it’s you,” Beverly said. “Cer told you that you retained that quality that keeps your identity fuzzed on security. That Tok could split hairs like that in genetic manipulation is concerning at an entirely different level.”

“I’m not following,” AJ said, moving cleaning supplies so he could pull a small, square access plate from the closet’s decking.

“Cer had suggested in prior conversations that genetic manipulation was not something they were overly confident with,” Beverly said. “To splice out a particular facet of Tok genome and leave it behind while resetting you to human is extraordinary and suggests a mastery of the science not communicated with Galactic Empire.”

“This looks interesting,” AJ said. He’d expected to find a web of pipes or wires beneath the floor but found a meter tall cavity he could step into. As he did, Beverly projected her best estimate on where to place his hand. This time, the energy used was significantly less than previous attempts and the camera came online almost immediately.

“I have it,” Beverly said. “You’re sitting above an alcove in front of a moderately sized room. If someone is below you, they might hear your movement.”

“Good copy,” AJ said. “Can you show the camera’s view?”

A virtual screen popped up with the view a short hallway off the main thoroughfare of the secreted area of Deck 5. Beverly spun the camera, and he found that the camera was located right next to a set of double doors with a heavy lockset.

“Well, isn’t that handy,” AJ said, jumping back into the closet and carefully returning the floor panel to its original position. “Check the hallway to see if I can exit cleanly.”

“You’re good,” Beverly said. With time to spare, AJ returned to the conference room. “AJ, Commander Pavil’s agenda for the week is available.”

“Perfect. Show me,” AJ said, browsing today’s highlights for his boss. It turned out that the majority of Pavil’s scheduled meetings had to do with checking on his subordinates, whether reading status reports or dropping by to get an in-person view of progress. However, two hours after AJ’s meeting with Corporal Ledi, Pavil had a blocked off meeting that read Damage Control.

“Do you see that, BB?” AJ asked as someone knocked on the door to the conference room.

“Come in,” he said, straightening in his chair.

“We’ll get back to that damage control meeting,” Beverly said.

“Uh, you, uh, asked to meet?” Gifa Ledi asked, leaning in but not committing to the room, physically.

“Corporal Ledi. Please, come in,” AJ said. When Ledi was just about to the table he added, “Close the door.”

Ledi winced as he turned back to the door and closed it, before taking a seat. “What’s this all about?”

“It seems we’ve lost the notion of military discipline,” AJ said, glaring at Ledi with his best recreation of a particularly irritating lieutenant from his first tour in Vietnam.

“Uh, sir, yes sir!” Ledi said, jumping up to stand at attention.

“At ease, soldier,” AJ said. Ledi started to sit, but AJ wasn’t having it. “I. Did. Not. Tell. You. To. Sit!”

“Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?” Beverly asked, having changed into desert tan khaki shorts and a sweat-stained khaki shirt. She’d put a ratty old lawn chair on the table and sat, looking at the two men lazily.

“You’re ridiculous,” AJ said under his breath.

Ledi struggled back to his feet and found an uncomfortable position standing with his hands behind his back. “I’m sorry, sir. What was that?”

“I said, it is ridiculous that you are still employed by Iron Syndicate,” AJ said officiously. “I have been reviewing your jacket. The sheer number of times you’ve been written up both verbally and otherwise for insubordination, unprofessional behavior, and just damn sloppiness is astounding. Why would you join such a venerable institution if you only intend to mock its very existence with your slovenliness? When was the last time you washed that uniform or performed your own personal hygiene? Why, I can smell you from here. If I were to inspect your quarters, would I find that it meets any professional standard?”

Ledi was about to talk, but AJ cut him off. “How about contraband? What would I find? What have I already found?”

“It’s not mine,” Ledi said defensively.

AJ shook his head and gave a glance Beverly’s way. She was drinking what looked like a glass of lemonade and shaking her head to communicate what she thought of AJ’s grilling. “Bub, this isn’t an audition for a C-grade movie,” she said. “Just cut to the chase already.”

“You are confined to your quarters for the rest of this day. When we meet tomorrow, which I assure you we will, you will appear in my conference room fully groomed, cleaned and polished. Do I make myself clear? You are not to leave your quarters for any reason, even if general quarters are called. Do you hear the words coming out of my mouth?”

“Oh, now you’re Jack Nicholson?” Beverly asked.

“You are dismissed! Do not go back to your work. Do not communicate with anyone. I’m monitoring your communications. Move, spaceman, move!” AJ was yelling by the time he was complete.

“Do you feel better getting that off your chest?” Beverly asked as Ledi scooted from the conference room.

AJ smiled at his tiny companion. “You know, I really do,” he said. “Did I ever tell you about Lieutenant Arp? Talk about a real ass clown.”

“I’m afraid to ask what an ass clown is.”

“If you have to ask, you probably wouldn’t like the answer,” AJ said. “I’m thinking that you can modify that prosthetic you gave me to have me look Runkin in a way that I look like Corporal Ledi.”

“I can …” Beverly said. “But what about your uniform? It’s not like you can walk in there as a Lieutenant Commander.”

“Have to wonder if you might have an idea where laundry could be snagged,” AJ said. “I’m guessing it’s going to take you a minute to shift my face.”

“That’s already done,” she said. “Laundry facilities are on Deck 6, further aft. I’ll map a path.”

“So that’s handy,” AJ said. “The whole face implant thing. Is that new? You didn’t used to have that, did you?”

“It’s easier now, because I had to build up tissue for looking like Runkin,” Beverly said. “Minor changes get you really close to looking like Corporal Ledi. By Runkin standards, he wasn’t bad looking and might I add, neither were you, prior to this Ledi face lift.”

“Is that why Nurse Blethy was hitting on me?”

“That and you’re one of the ten most senior officers on the ship. Iron Syndicate isn’t exactly known for equality for all mottos,” Beverly said.

“Aww, she liked me because I’m in charge? That’s icky,” AJ said, grinning as a couple of crew happened to pick up the last part of his running conversation with Beverly.

“You really don’t care who hears you, do you?” Beverly asked.

“What are they going to do? Turn me in? I’m between people right now as it is. Even better, I can’t be picked up on cameras,” AJ said.

“Don’t get cocky, AJ,” Beverly said. “You’re not nearly so indestructible as the last time you were on this ship.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got you to patch me up and keep me company,” AJ said. “That’s a minimum of break-even in my world.”

“You’re in a funny mood, AJ,” Beverly said.

At the laundry, AJ made his way over to a tall row of shelves where uniforms were neatly cleaned and stacked. He grabbed a jumpsuit suited for a corporal performing maintenance tasks. To really pull off the set, he needed identity cards for the pocket, but he’d cross that bridge when it came up. For the time being, he carried the coveralls out, not bothering to concern himself with the laundry staff watching him on the way out.

“How long before our next shift change?” AJ asked, checking his HUD and nodding. “Should be enough time to check out the secret room and to make Pavil’s damage control, meeting.”

“How will you get around security within the secured area?” Beverly asked.

“Have you seen any security inside, or was it just a checkpoint?”

“There is at least one guard on patrol. I don’t have control of many cameras within that space, AJ,” she said.

“Don’t blame me, I did the best I could,” AJ said. “Linking those cameras was your gig.”

“We’re playing blame games, now?” Beverly asked, floating next to him in the hallway.

“No, but we’ll have to see about staying out of the guard’s way. Especially if he’s checking IDs and all.”

“What are you going to do about Ledi tomorrow?”

“As of right now, nothing,” AJ said. “I’ll let him sweat it out and he’ll be glad that I don’t come looking for him again. Lesson learned.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Beverly said.

While they’d been talking, AJ had made his way back to the Deck 4 and the closet with only minimal interaction with the crew. Switching uniforms, he opened the deck panel from above and loosened the ceiling panel, careful to leave enough connected that the panel could be slid back into place. After scanning as far as the cameras would reach, he took a risk and dropped to the floor, stumbling slightly and falling against the small corridor’s wall.

“Someone is coming,” Beverly warned. AJ considered trying to enter the room behind him, but figured he’d be caught. A soldier, sergeant by rank, rounded the corner. “Nose flaring, eyes widening, Sergeant Tusk recognizes Ledi and is at a minimum, annoyed.”

“Sergeant Tusk,” AJ said. “I was just heading back.”

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you. You left a mess in the lab. You were supposed to be servicing those energy modules. What in the blegosphere could be taking you so long? I don’t want any more of this crap about your wrists or sensitive skin. Just get the job done. Do you understand me?”

“Uh, frak, yes, sergeant,” AJ answered, intentionally slowing his speech like he’d observed Ledi doing. “I had to get a uniform from laundry. I ripped mine. There’s something on that power unit that’s sharp.”

“For the love of lost souls, you have more excuses than a chof fish,” Tusk said. “Show me this sharp corner so I can know why my first shift weapon’s tech can’t be bothered to do his job. A job, I’d like to add, that is critical for the entire damn mission.”

“Sure, uh. I mean, go ahead, I’ll follow and show you,” AJ said.

Tusk shook his head in disgust and turned on his heel, leading AJ down a hallway lined on both sides with transparent glass. Almost fifteen seamen, all dressed similarly to AJ, stood in front of long, deep workbenches, working diligently on what AJ recognized to be copies of the gun that had wiped out tens of his brethren and most of one side of Hab-6.

“Are you seeing this?” AJ asked, using subvocal communication.

“I’ve tapped three cameras already. Move to starboard a little,” Beverly said. “Yes, I’m gathering a lot of data.”

“What are you doing?” Tusk growled as AJ moved away from where Tusk was preparing to enter the laboratory. “And you left your ID down in laundry. I’m writing you up, Corporal. Get your work done or I swear I’ll have you locked in irons in the brig for the rest of this trip.”

AJ followed the angry sergeant into the laboratory setting and to what he imagined was his workstation. On the table in front of him was a large, disassembled backpack but with no controls nor the barrel which completed the job.

“We’re in luck,” Beverly said. “That screen in front of you shows the process for the service Tusk is looking for. You understand that they’re not servicing. This is an assembly line. They’re building more of those weapons while we’re inflight.”

“I see that,” AJ said.

“Don’t get smart with me, you lazy dog-faced slacker,” Sergeant Tusk growled. AJ almost smiled. There was something about the sarcastic line of Ledi’s lips that inspired hostility from superior officers. “Where’s this sharp object that cut your uniform?”

Beverly quickly scanned the work area and highlighted a piece of steel that was in fact sharp, albeit not directly in a reasonable position for Ledi to brush against.

“Hmm, get back to work,” Tusk said, crossing his arms and settling in behind AJ.

“Help?” AJ asked using a subvocal request.

“Give me thirty seconds,” Beverly said, interfacing with the maintenance device on the table next to the energy pack.

AJ shuffled and touched the frame of the unassembled backpack on the table, buying time. Behind him Tusk shifted in irritation, waiting for AJ to begin working. Just about the time Tusk was ready to start back in, Beverly had read through the entirety of the maintenance system and highlighted a tool and a location on the device where AJ was to begin his work. Tusk observed his progress for almost twenty minutes, but with Beverly’s help, AJ was able to continue Ledi’s work.

“I guess we know what’s going on in here,” AJ said, still subvocally.

“Man, I thought you were a goner. What happened with that meeting you had? Are we busted for the frozel? Did you rat me out?” AJ’s co-worker asked in a whisper.

“Frozel is an illegal stimulant,” Beverly filled in.

“No, it was kind of weird. They were into my employment records and did a search,” AJ lied, making up a story on the fly.

“Did my name come up?” the man next to him asked.

“They’re searching my bunk right now,” AJ lied again. “Let’s hope you didn’t leave any biological evidence behind. I’m sure you’ll be okay.”

“Man, that’s not okay!”

10

HIGH STAKES

AJ closed the closet door behind him after re-securing both the ceiling below and the decking. He’d completed Corporal Ledi’s shift and in the process had captured the full schematics of the power packs, which were the heart of the newly designed weapon. They were capable of generating laser pulses in the several hundred tera-joule range. According to loose talk in the lab, bragging points included the ability not to slag the weapon’s operators with the blowback from such energy-intensive operations.

“That’s a helluva weapon, BB,” AJ whispered as he worked forward on the ship. “Send Pavil a message. Tell him he’s to invite me to his damage control meeting.” A moment later, AJ’s comms buzzed. “Oh, man, even his ring tone sounds angry,” AJ quipped before answering the comm. “Lieutenant Commander Jenkins, go ahead.”

“I can’t invite you to that meeting, it’s not my meeting,” Pavil hissed angrily. If AJ had to guess, he’d have imagined Pavil standing at the back of a room not wanting to be overheard.

“Make up something,” AJ said. “I’m coming.”

“You can’t!” Pavil hissed.

AJ was thirty meters away when he caught sight of her standing in a doorway. She wore a long silver and white dress more appropriate for a ballroom than a strategy meeting aboard a military vessel. She was talking with a high-ranking officer and had an easy smile on her face, not at all what you might expect from someone mourning the loss of a colleague. Her gaze drifted into the hallway and brushed across AJ’s face. She batted her eyelashes a single time.

“She flinched. Was that a tell?” Beverly asked. “She couldn’t possibly recognize you. You’re four inches shorter and have the face of a Runkin.”

“Hardly a flinch,” AJ answered. “I’d say she did recognize me, but I’m not sure how.”

Lamia ducked into the room, smiling at her conversation partner. Just as she was about out of eyesight, she dared a quick look in AJ’s direction. A moment later, Pavil appeared in the hallway.

“Ah, Lieutenant Commander, I’m so glad you could join us. I’d thought you were tied up this afternoon,” Pavil said, putting on his best, fake smile.

“Thank you for including me, Commander,” I said, nodding respectfully, following him into a large conference room which was packed with high ranking Iron Syndicate officials. “BB, start identifying,” I directed subvocally.

AJ sat next to Pavil, who was on the opposite side of where Lamia sat. As the fourth highest ranking officer, Pavil sat only one seat away from the captain.

“If it isn’t the elusive Lieutenant Commander Jenkins,” Captain Bartol said. Bartol was a rugged looking Runkin with a barrel chest and weathered, sunbeaten skin.

“Captain, my apologies, professional liability, staying out of the limelight and all,” AJ said.

“I’ve read of your extensive intelligence service background,” Bartol said. He’d captured the attention of the entire room. “You used to work Galactic Empire Intelligence Service, if I recall correctly. We don’t always have access to someone of your pedigree. Welcome.”

“Thank you, sir,” AJ said. “If we’re being honest, as former GEIS, I can say that state of the art is defined by Iron Syndicate much more than the bureaucratic sludge of my former employment. It’s nice to finally be given some leash to operate with.”

“Spoken like a true Iron Syndicate man!” Bartol said, giving AJ a wary grin. “I’ll be keeping my eye on you. You look like a man unafraid of a bit of hard work.”

“I hope I live up to your expectations.”

“So be it,” Bartol said, finally taking a seat.

“Way to keep a low profile,” Beverly said. “Did you notice that aside from Lamia, there isn’t a single other woman at the table.”

AJ scanned the table. “Scientist?” AJ asked, subvocally.

“Three to Lamia’s left,” Beverly said.

AJ dared a glance in Lamia’s direction. She felt his eyes on her and glanced back, her face momentarily questioning. AJ counted to three and located the scientist, Morlak Kofeen.

“Let’s get started,” Bartol said. “Commander Pavil, it’s been almost a week since we discovered the body. I understand you have completed your report and have distributed it to everyone within this room.”

“After this meeting I will,” Pavil said.

“What are your conclusions, aside from the heroic efforts of Lieutenant Commander Jenkins, who was personally caught up in the blast that ended up killing our esteemed trading partner, Ilio Breanto,” Bartol said. “Is Ms. Tragonar in danger aboard the Iron Syndicate’s most advanced battle cruiser? We would all like to know where security broke down. Who do we need to court martial, Commander Pavil?”

“It gives me no pleasure to report that Ilio Breanto was engaged in illicit activity while a guest aboard Rigor Justic,” Pavil started. His statement was met with drawn breath from several of the officers around the table. “We found significant evidence of a trio of spies that were aboard and in contact with Mr. Breanto. I have evidence that shows a Galactic Empire conspiracy to leverage Mr. Breanto so that our upcoming auction was rigged in their favor. If you would like, I can play a short recording we were able to gather from a conversation with Mr. Breanto and a Galactic Empire agent, while aboard Rigor Justic.”

“A recording, you say.”

“Yes. The agent was Stora, so the video is distorted,” Breanto said.

On a wall panel, AJ recognized a video of Breanto’s quarters on the night he’d confronted Breanto. What showed next, however, was a clever mix of fiction and actual video. The fight started as an argument about locking down the auction and devolved from there. After that, the fuzzed figure, presumably Stora, set explosives that detonated sometime later. Pavil continued his presentation for fifteen more minutes and then concluded the conversation.

“Ms. Tragonar, I have already apologized for the breach in our security,” Bartol said. “But please accept my sincerest apologies once again. Iron Syndicate prides itself on flawless execution. We have not lived up to our standards. Commander Pavil, what failures led to this breach in security?”

“Unfortunately, there are those who, through gross negligence, strongly contributed to this failure,” Pavil said. “One stands out. Second Lieutenant Mer was found locked away in the lower atmospheric baffles, welded in by our perpetrator and in the company of hapless spacemen who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I propose that Second Lieutenant Mers face a court martial with as much prejudice as is allowable by Iron Syndicate.”

“We have both villain and hero in this story,” Bartol said. “How about the lovely Ms. Tragonar? Did your findings implicate her in the misdeeds of her partner?”

“No,” Pavil said flatly. “We replayed the conversations between Ms. Tragonar and Mr. Breanto from the moment they came aboard Rigor Justic. There are private conversations where Mr. Breanto suggested potentially taking advantage of the auction for personal gain. Ms. Tragonar pushed to keep Mr. Breanto to our current contract.”

“You had no right,” Lamia said. Her voice carried little emotion, but when Bartol’s eyes met hers, she did not demure.

“We have every right,” Bartol said. “When you enter a contract with Iron Syndicate, there is no assumption of privacy.”

“You’ve left me to wonder how this will play out, Captain,” Lamia said. “Will you arrest me and attempt to locate another broker?”

“I do not see how I can trust you, even though Commander Pavil finds no fault with you,” Bartol said.

AJ cleared his throat, which earned him a dirty look from Pavil but also grabbed the attention of the room.

“Our hero, who escaped the medical bay early, against advice of the medical staff. Is there something you would add?”

“Reassign me to watch Ms. Tragonar,” AJ said. “Let me dig into her communications. Let me ask questions, follow up leads, do the work you brought me aboard to do, the work I was born to do.”

“No,” Lamia said, her voice now shaking.

“No,” Pavil agreed. “You have other responsibilities.”

“Well, good, that’s decided then,” Bartol said. “We’ll jump in eight days. I’ll expect a recommendation as to if Ms. Tragonar can be trusted sufficiently to bring us to auction. As of right now, I am leaning to a simple brokered transaction for the price originally agreed upon by our friends beyond the neutral territories.”

“Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!” Beverly said, jumping up from the tiny office chair where she’d been seated in front of AJ. She jumped around waving her arms. “We have full admission by Iron Syndicate is selling arms to Quarr.”

AJ raised an eyebrow at her antics and then looked at Lamia directly. “It will be my pleasure to resolve this mystery, Captain Bartol.”

“Doctor Kofeen, how many units will you have constructed by the time we arrive in Gnorz?” Bartol asked.

“I did not understand we were to head directly to Gnorz,” Kofeen said. “I was told that it was a smaller chance we would sell outside of the Galactic Empire.”

“Everything you say is true. You do not understand. We are headed to Gnorz-2, regardless of how many customers are allowed to bid on your beautiful machines,” Bartol said. “One of the primary reasons Iron Syndicate committed Rigor Justic to this mission is due to the dangers found outside of the Galactic Empire, especially beyond the Gnorz system. Answer the question.”

“We have material enough for twenty-three power units,” Kofeen said. “The power units require special handling for proper assembly. This takes time. We cannot build thirty units without more help.”

“Lengthen the shifts,” Bartol said. “We have no more engineers or weapons techs available. If you add four hours to each shift, you should have more than sufficient time. Why do we have to waste valuable executive time with small problems like this?”

“I am sorry, Captain. I will make adjustments.”

“Good,” Bartol said. “Are there other issues to discuss? As of this moment, I’m satisfied to report to command that we continue to maintain control of the situation and Mr. Breanto’s early demise was of his own doing and unrelated to this venture. Further, I’ll add my provisional acceptance of Ms. Lamia Tragonar as his replacement. Is there anything anyone would like to get off their chest? Any problems you see now that could be addressed prior to me sending in this report?” The room grew quiet as he looked around, making eye contact with every person sitting at the table. “You are dismissed.”

AJ stood with everyone else and turned to Pavil, who looked ready to ring his neck. Pavil didn’t have time for that, though.

“Lieutenant Commander, let me introduce you to your new charge, Lamia Tragonar,” Captain Bartol said, pushing Pavil out of his way as he gabbed AJ’s arm and pulled him over to where Lamia stood with a look of confusion on her face. “Have you two been introduced? Lieutenant Commander Albert Jenkins, one of Iron Syndicate’s best and brightest, this is Lamia Tragonar, a small arms broker working with various interests. Ms. Tragonar, it is in your best interest to give Commander Jenkins your full cooperation, I hope I’ve made myself clear in this. Mr. Jenkins, do not be fooled by her womanly form, Ms. Tragonar is a lethal agent and should not be underestimated.”

“Yes, Captain, I understand and will abide by what you think is best,” Lamia answered evenly.

“Very well. I’ll let the two of you sort this out,” Bartol said. “Commander Pavil, I need a few minutes of your time.”

AJ wondered if Bartol was intentionally giving him a distraction to get away from Pavil, or if he indeed had something critical to discuss with the angry commander. Either way, AJ wasn’t overly concerned. Pavil didn’t have real leverage on him.

“Perhaps we could grab a drink in the officer’s lounge so we might get to know each other better,” Lamia said, her eyes flitting around AJ’s face, landing on his unusual features.

“Yes. I am sorry about your travelling companion. Were the two of you close?” AJ asked.

“It is you, isn’t it?” Lamia hissed quietly.

“I’m not sure what you’re saying, dear woman,” AJ said. “Of course it is me. What else would you expect. Who else could I be?”

Lamia continued to look at him with suspicion but didn’t question him further as they walked toward the aft officer’s lounge which was more commonly used by lower-level officers. “I don’t understand how you could survive all of that and then show up in this shape.”

“What are you drinking?” AJ asked, opening the hatch to the officer’s lounge and ushering Lamia in.

“No brown alcohol and something without much sugar,” she said. “I don’t like games, Mr. Jenkins. You need to be honest with me.”

“A strange request from someone in your line of work,” AJ said. “Are you always honest? How about with the people you care for?”

“So I’m not crazy,” she said. “It really is you.”

“I would say that this is not the right venue for digging into my past,” AJ said, picking up a pair of what amounted to vodka tonics. “What I am interested in is how you’ve come to this junction in your life’s story. As I’ve dug into your past, I’d come to believe you’d put this lifestyle behind you. Apparently once you’re in the game, you’re in it for life. Is that the story here?”

“Doctor Kofeen has been working on this project for over fifteen years,” Lamia said. “He was actually my asset, and I brought him to Breanto. Breanto found funding through Iron Syndicate, and here we are.”

AJ took a long drink. Lamia had told him some of the story when he’d seen her prior to the Breanto’s death. That Kofeen was her asset was new. It raised questions about how involved she really was and what her motives might be.

“There are powerful forces involved in all of this,” AJ said. “Breanto won’t be the last.”

“I can’t tell if you’re threatening me,” she said. “I’m very confused and I’m tired. I’d like to go back to my quarters and lie down. Are you accompanying me?”

“That is my job,” AJ said, standing with her. Unlike when he was Stora, the alcohol too quickly consumed had rushed to his head. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant as his feelings for Lamia were all over the place. Together, they walked in silence.

“I am not sorry that Breanto is dead,” she said. “He was not a kindly man. This deal will be much more difficult to complete without his contacts, though.”

“Will you be able to rebuild those contacts?”

“I have already started,” she said. “There is trust that must be rebuilt and there is little time.”

Lamia stopped at the door to her quarters. “Who are you?” she asked quietly. “Are you for me? Against me?”

“You are asking about loyalties,” AJ said. “An unexpected question from you.”

He saw the hurt in her face as tears filled her eyes and she turned to open the hatch to her quarters. AJ followed her in and watched as she pulled a small device from her waistband and set it on the small table. A familiar pressure in his ears told him that she was masking their conversation.

“Stop toying with me. How can you be you? You are smaller and look like Runkin, but I would recognize your face anywhere,” she said, tears angrily rolling down her cheeks. “I thought you were dead or captured or worse. But here you are acting like you are in charge. How is that possible?”

“It doesn’t matter,” AJ said. “You and I have unfinished business. I don’t know if I can trust you and I’m not certain anything you could say would change my mind.”

“You killed Breanto because you were jealous,” she said. “You may have messed this up beyond repair and for what? A personal agenda? This is much bigger than you and me, Albert Jenkins. This weapon is a massive escalation in a war amongst titans. Billions will die if there is war between Quarr and Galactic Empire. This weapon ensures that Quarr will be emboldened to do so.”

“And yet you’re part of the team bringing it straight to Quarr,” AJ said.

“I’ve been in contact with GESA,” she said. “It was my idea to open the bidding to auction. After Breanto’s death, Iron Syndicate panicked. They don’t want to let Galactic Empire have any part of it. They’re afraid.”

“But they made it sound like an auction was still possible.”

“I’m working that out. I still have a chance.”

“Tell me Iron Syndicate won’t sell this technology to Quarr even if Galactic Empire wins this auction,” AJ said.

“Everyone knows both sides will eventually have this technology,” she said. “It is matter of how soon.”

“Ask how she’s contacting GESA,” Beverly said, appearing on the table, her legs hanging off the edge as she leaned casually back.

“How are you getting messages out?”

“That’s not hard, my messages are forwarded through Pavil’s office,” she said. “I have to be careful about certain things, like information about location. It’s then bounced around and finds its way.”

“BB, do you have any way you could embed a message?” AJ asked. “We need to let Cer know what we’ve found.”

“You shouldn’t do that, AJ,” Lamia said. “GESA is in competition with Tok Supremacy. They’ll make trouble if they figure out they’re muling messages for Tok.”

“This is war,” AJ said. “Would they really let inter-agency competition get in the way of something as critical as this?”

“You’re naive if you think otherwise,” Lamia said.

“We don’t have a lot of other choices. I have no way to communicate with Cer. This whole show needs to be brought to an end.”

“Use more words,” Lamia said.

“We need to stop Rigor Justic from making it to Quarr-2. We need to make sure the plans for this weapon don’t go to either side. We need to make sure Doctor Morlak Kofeen and his research is buried in a volcano.”

“You can’t just keep killing people, AJ,” Lamia said. “Killing Breanto was a terrible misstep.”

“Are you sure? I’m not asking about sending this message. It’s getting sent,” AJ said. “I’ll report my findings to Cer. After that, we’ll see what she comes up with.”

“I don’t like it, but I understand why you feel this is the only way,” Lamia said. “AJ, I was not disloyal to you. Perhaps hurtfully I did not consider your feelings, but I believe you are big enough to understand how urgent this is. I could not walk away, even if it meant Breanto would hurt me again.”

“Did he?” AJ asked. “You said he didn’t.”

“I did not tell you because I was afraid you would kill him,” she said and then softened her voice. “AJ, what you did put me in worse danger. The Iron Syndicate could have killed me. Do you understand? You cannot let go of reasoning again. The stakes are too high.”

11

TEAM AJ

“BB, let’s squeeze Pavil and get a message out,” AJ said, pushing up from the bunk where he sat next to Lamia.

“Are we done talking?” Lamia asked, her face a mixture of fear and anger.

“Have a good life, Lamia,” AJ said. “I have work to do.”

Lamia stood and intercepted him before he made it to the door. “Wait,” she said imploringly and then softened her voice, “wait.”

“Don’t even try, Lamia,” AJ said. “I’m not some horny fifteen-year-old boy you can manipulate by batting your eyes. My men were killed by these assholes. There is no rock I won’t turn over, no fire I won’t walk through to end the bastards who’ve been part of this. You can tell me you have a better plan. The problem is you’ve built no trust with me. Disappearing with Breanto without a word was completely your option. But, if you want to try to rationalize all that and tell me you’ve got this, that’s where I’m getting off the crazy train. I’ll deal with it myself. Don’t get in my way.”

Tears ran down Lamia’s face and she struggled for words. AJ had no interest in waiting for her to organize her thoughts and moved around her enough to exit the room. The last thing he felt was her hand on his back, weakly trying to keep him from leaving. He wasn’t having it.

“What’s going on in the lab?” AJ asked.

“Business as usual, AJ,” Beverly said. “You were hard on Lamia. Do you not think she’s doing the best she can?”

“She needs to figure out which side of the fence she wants to land on. Right now, it seems like she’s squarely on Team Lamia,” AJ said. “Do you have a summary to send to Cer?”

“Lamia has been traumatized by so many. She might not know how to do what you’re asking of her,” Beverly said.

“And if we were talking about learning how to make coffee, I’d have patience for days,” AJ said. “We’re talking about learning to trust a woman who walked away from me with the man she identified as her former lover and abuser. Come to find out, she was a clandestine operator with questionable morals. I don’t know her well enough to overcome all that. So, once again, she can get on board or get left behind. We just don’t have time.”

“You’re a harder man than before,” Beverly said.

“Before what?”

“Gene splicing.”

“I’ve never been easy, BB.”

“True,” Beverly said. “I’ve constructed a message that conveys most everything we’ve observed. Is there anything you’d like to add?”

“My recommendations are that we blow up that lab and everyone in it,” AJ said. “We need to disable this ship and capture the scientist. I’m assuming Cer can take care of the alien probes.”

“You want to finish what you started with Breanto,” Beverly said.

“I want this weapon destroyed and I want the people responsible for killing my men punished to a degree that they question the validity of crossing my commandos. I want to send a message to every two-bit asshole that thinks they can screw with humankind that we’re not to be trifled with.”

“And you think sabotage and a kidnapping does all that?” Beverly asked.

He smiled. “No, but it’s a good start. Tell me you disagree.”

“There you are,” Beverly said. “You get so dark when you’re angry. I thought it was the genetic manipulation with Stora characteristics, but there is more.”

“Ah, Lamia is tapping on some shit I’m still working through.”

“This is about Amanda abandoning you?”

“You make it sound like I’m trying to process childhood trauma,” AJ said. “I assure you; you don’t want to try to head shrink me, there’s just a big, damn pile of angry sitting beneath this cool exterior. Amanda bailing on me was a wakeup call.”

They’d arrived at their destination, and Beverly held her response as he knocked.

“Come in,” Pavil’s voice carried through the heavy, armored door.

“Paranoid much?” AJ asked, under his breath as he tapped the panel, triggering the door to slide open.

“What do you want, Lieutenant Commander?” Pavil asked acidly. AJ’s boss sat behind a narrow desk with multiple video displays. As AJ came into view, the displays were blanked, one-by-one. It wasn’t lost on AJ that one of Pavil’s hands rested beneath his desk and he suspected the Runkin held a weapon. The question in AJ’s mind was if that weapon was for self-defense or if he had more aggressive ideas in mind.

AJ raised his eyebrows and attempted to look bored. “Hands on top of the desk. “I’m not having a conversation while wondering if you’re going to try to shoot me.”

“Isn’t this how you do it?” Pavil asked. “You kill those who get in your way? Am I now a liability?”

“Do you have a privacy screen?” AJ asked. “I won’t tell you a second time to take your hand out from beneath that desk. If I have to force the issue, you’re not going to like it. Besides, if I wanted to kill you, we’d have gotten to that long before. No, we’re on the same side of history right now. I have no reason to cause you harm. Let’s keep the faith on that, how about?”

“You talk very strangely,” Pavil said, releasing something. “I wasn’t holding a weapon. I was programming a switch that would lock you in here permanently if I don’t unlock the door.”

“If I kill you, I’m trapped? That sort of thing?” AJ asked.

“Yes, and a confession of my wrongdoings will be sent to Iron Syndicate Command. You might find it interesting to know that Iron Syndicate has a standing policy that confessions, even those of disloyalty, made as one expires are of great benefit to survivors. Iron Syndicate knows poor decisions are sometimes made. They give us a way out that allows us to save face.”

“Human culture has something similar, except the disgraced end up killing themselves in an extraordinarily painful way. There’s no benefit to their survivors but it’s seen as a last act of an honorable man. I can see why a bunch of jack-wagons like you would try to make a last confession sound honorable. It’s not. What you guys do is a transaction. Now I don’t intend to kill you. What I do need, is for you to send a message.”

“To whom?”

“I really don’t care,” AJ said. “As long as that message has to go through a few links in the jump space repeater network.”

“You plan to piggyback a message and hope your team is able to intercept it,” Pavil said. “Who are these people that they could do that?”

“I imagine the same people you made a deal with,” AJ said, and for the first time, he realized Pavil didn’t know who his handlers were.

“If Iron Syndicate inspects the message and finds yours within, we’ll both be hung after the shortest court martial in the history of such things,” Pavil said.

“Who is Mieravella?” AJ asked.

“Are you threatening me?” Pavil asked, his arm drifting back below his desk.

“Not in the least,” AJ said. “I thought you should know that you sent a brief message wishing her a much belated anniversary greeting.”

“Anniversary.”

“Of the big event?”

“Her wedding? That was a year ago. Mieravella is my sister.”

“You had a reminder on your calendar,” AJ said. “We just needed access to your terminal. I suppose, given your comments, we should hope Iron Syndicate hasn’t intercepted and broken our encryption.”

“That’s impossible. There is no technology that would get you past a locked terminal. If so, you could simply use your own,” he said.

“Go ahead and check,” AJ said, leaning against the wall. “And seriously, if you’re going to shoot me, just do it already.”

“Don’t move,” Pavil said, tapping on a virtual keyboard and focusing on one of the several video displays he had available.

“AJ, I haven’t sent that message yet,” Beverly said.

“His terminal is open now, right?” AJ asked with subvocal communications.

“That is devious.”

“I don’t see anything,” Pavil said.

“Are you sure? What’s the last you communicated with Mieravella?” AJ asked.

“It’s right here, almost ten months ago. Are you some sort of shyster?”

“His confidence at their internal security measures is staggering,” Beverly said. “The message is sent.”

“Well, maybe I was wrong, then,” AJ said. “And with that completed, I’ll be moving on.”

“You sonofabitch,” Pavil said. “There’s a message, now. How did you do that? Some sort of virus on my machine?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” AJ said.

“Try me.”

“I have a microscopic crazy person in my head,” AJ said. “She does things I can’t do. I keep her entertained. It’s a symbiotic relationship.”

“I do not think that is funny,” Pavil said.

“Same,” AJ said and turned to leave. In the mirror polished metallic handle of the door, Beverly caught an image of Pavil raising a pistol. AJ opened the door. “Put down the gun, Pavil. We’re not quite to that part of things yet.”

Without waiting for a reply or another word, AJ slipped into the hallway and turned sharply so that if Pavil made a late decision, it wouldn’t be quite as easy.

“Why did you push him so hard?” Beverly asked. “He doesn’t need to know everything we’re doing.”

“He doesn’t,” AJ said.

“You want him to feel complicit so he remains quiet.”

“That, and he doesn’t hurt himself,” AJ said. “We need to find a way to give him hope that he’s getting out of this unscathed.”

“Technically, he could,” Beverly said. “There’s no reason to expose him.”

“I agree,” AJ said. “Hell, maybe we get Cer to give him a few bucks for a job well done.”

“Where are you going now?” Beverly asked. “Lamia is trying to contact you.”

“She needs to be careful. There’s no reason to have contact with me,” AJ said. “We don’t need to cause suspicion.”

“She’s asking you to come back to her quarters,” Beverly said. “She wants to talk things through. Explain herself better.”

“I bet,” AJ said.

“AJ, you didn’t give her much of a chance to talk. She was angry that you acted without consulting her and you stepped right into what she was working on,” Beverly said.

“Do I need to explain what I was doing in Hab-6?” AJ asked. “You were there. This stopped being about Lamia the moment that weapon was fired.”

“You make it sound as if you care more about your men than making sure this weapon is kept from the Quarr,” Beverly said.

“That’s a bad read,” AJ said. “If Quarr get it, who in the eff do you think Cer’s going to put in the line of fire. And if it’s not my boys, it’ll be others and they’ll probably be humans, too. Tell Lamia to unlock her door. We’ll be back in a bit. I’m planning to get some rest while we wait for Cer to respond.”

“I will,” Beverly said.

“We also want video of her meetings with Breanto, including the private meetings,” AJ said. “I want to review what she agreed to with him.”

“AJ,” Beverly said with quiet scandal in her voice. “She admitted Breanto hurt her. Do you really intend to violate her a second time?”

“I’m not going to do it. You are,” AJ said. “We need to know what we’re working with.”

“You mean we need to know if she can be trusted. She’ll appear to be siding with Breanto. He would not accept her any other way,” Beverly said.

“I can watch the videos myself if you don’t want to be part of this,” AJ said. “Sometimes intelligence work is dirty and there’s no way through other than to feel dirty when you’re doing it.”

“When did you spend time as an intelligence officer?” Beverly asked.

“Vietnam,” AJ said. “CIA co-opted soldiers to do their dirty work. I did things I struggle with to this day and heard stories of even worse. I can’t fault the people who asked that of me because sometimes getting dirty is part of the job. Not everyone believes that and more power to them. But that hasn’t been the reality I’ve lived in.”

“I’m asking,” Beverly said.

“Good. Thanks.”

“She’s sending the video,” Beverly said.

“Did you explain that I wanted everything?”

“She knows. AJ you may be damaging any hope you might have had at a relationship with her by pushing her on this,” Beverly said.

“Look, BB, I don’t even know if what I had with her was anything more than her needing a steady hand while she was in a bad spot,” AJ said. “I was rebounding from Amanda. It doesn’t have to be anything more than what it was.”

“Your view is jaded,” Beverly said. “I am sorry you are holding this burden.”

“How’s that video review going?” AJ asked, stopping in a passageway with a good view to the ship’s starboard. It had been a while since he’d slowed, and he took the momentary lull in the action to lean against the bulkhead and stare out at the stars.

“Good word, jaded,” AJ said contemplatively. “There’s an old saying on Earth. Hurt people hurt people. I don’t know how I can trust Lamia. Her actions are sketchy. I get it, she has a troubled past. But that’s exactly why I don’t know how far I can trust her.”

“I’m reviewing the videos, AJ,” Beverly said. “It’s both not as bad as you might expect and worse. Breanto was a violent bully which he tried to balance with sweet words. I do not condone killing, but even I have to admit the universe will not miss such a person.”

“Do you have any sense as to if Lamia was in league with him?”

“I’d have expected a different noun,” Beverly said, appearing in a golden sequined full-length gown and tall black heels. She stood on a ledge next to the window that overlooked the stars that were sliding by the massive Iron Syndicate cruiser.

“For in league?” AJ asked. “In bed is where you think my head is?”

“I can’t help but imagine there is some of that wrapped into this problem,” Beverly said. “You had once considered her something of a life-partner.”

“Well, life-partners haven’t been overly trustworthy for me recently,” AJ said. “I miss Pam. She stuck with me through the bad years after I got back from ‘Nam.”

“It would be hard for a woman to live up to that standard,” Beverly said.

“You think that’s what this is about?” AJ asked, both offended and genuinely curious.

“Going to Breanto’s apartment was very much about staking your claim, in my opinion,” Beverly said. “Cer saw it too. I believe the Stora genes amplified your baser instincts to such a degree that you couldn’t possibly have avoided a conflict with Breanto once you saw the two of them interacting.”

“I might have to take your word for it,” AJ said. “It felt like the right play at that moment. I had no idea he’d go anywhere quite so nuts. Honestly, I felt that he’d deal with me since he was already dealing with GSAE. I didn’t see his jumping off a cliff like that.”

“Perhaps you did, perhaps you didn’t. It is behind us now. I cannot imagine the whiplash you must feel with the hormonal shifts brought on by genetic manipulation. Your brain is trying to make sense of it all where there really isn’t a consistent story.”

“You’re saying that if I’m feeling nuts, that’s probably okay?” AJ asked.

“You laugh,” Beverly said, standing flatfooted on the ledge in her golden ball gown, staring directly at him.

“Geez, not anymore,” AJ said. “I’m going to need you to keep those videos to yourself and give me your analysis. And just so we’re clear, this analysis could have long-lasting impact to our wellbeing and my psyche.”

“I do not see the danger,” Beverly said.

“That’s because I haven’t asked the favor yet,” AJ said.

“Oh?” Beverly asked. “Let’s hear it, then.”

“Is Lamia playing both sides? Is she on Team AJ, Team Galactic Empire, Team Lamia or Team Iron Syndicate?” AJ asked.

“I believe her position is fluid,” Beverly said. “It waffles between Team Lamia and Team AJ. I do not believe she came along for egalitarian reasons. She was chasing credits, which were offered at such a level that she was willing to put up with Breanto. I also believe that when she discovered the magnitude of the weapon, she changed her mind. She and Breanto fought about that very issue. It was the trigger that invited his violence.”

“Was it bad?” AJ asked quietly.

“As bad as you could imagine,” Beverly said. “She was hospitalized and taken care of by the same nurse who helped you. You may not have picked it out, but she wears concealer to hide bruising that is finally healing.”

“Tell me you’re not manipulating me right now,” AJ said.

“Because you’re feeling protective regarding Lamia?” Beverly asked. “No. I am not manipulating you. I have my own concerns regarding Lamia, but they have nothing to do with her loyalties.”

“Like what?”

“She will likely never heal from the emotional trauma she’s been exposed to,” Beverly said. “As a result, you will likely always struggle to have an even relationship if you decide to stay with her.”

“So, like how Pam had to deal with me after ‘Nam?”

“Everyone’s trauma is different, but there are comparisons to be made,” Beverly said.

“Okay,” AJ said, pushing off from where he leaned against a bulkhead.

“Okay?”

“I’m to going to talk to her,” AJ said. “There’s only the two of us aboard now. Another set of hands and eyes could make a huge difference.”

“And you’re tired. I’ve noticed you like to rest with her.”

“Sure,” AJ said, shaking his head. “That’s it. I’m on a galactic critical mission and you’re worried about who I’m sleeping next to.”

“Don’t be difficult,” Beverly said. “Before you go back, pick up another shake I ordered from the officer’s mess.”

AJ took the long way around, the exercise feeling good to his healing body. Stairs had become more difficult as ligaments and muscles stretched, but he didn’t mind. He felt more in control of his emotions than he had in a long while and the ability to reason through problems with Beverly was something he’d missed. The trip to the officer’s mess was a welcome distraction as he sorted through the difficult evening.

Instead of entering, he knocked on her door. “Ms. Tragonar, it’s Lieutenant Commander Jenkins, I’d like a word if you’re amenable.”

It took a couple of moments before Lamia appeared at the door, giving him a quizzical look. He smiled, not waiting for her question. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I had some things I wanted to talk to you about. Do you have a few moments?”

Lamia’s face lit up as she smiled at AJ, who leaned against the doorframe. “Is this a social call or business?” she asked, managing to sound a little sultry.

“If we’re real lucky, it’s both,” AJ said and was pulled into the room.

12

WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER

“Can I speak first?” Lamia asked, after shutting the door to her quarters.

“Sure,” AJ agreed.

“I want to be with you, AJ,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever said that to you, and I just acted when Breanto showed up. In the back of my mind, I knew better, but part of me is self-sabotaging. I didn’t trust in what you and I have, or had, so I slipped back into old patterns, destructive patterns.”

“You wanted to break off with me because … I guess I’m not following your line of thought,” AJ said.

“It was too good. When you showed up at the club on Dralli Station, I was floored. I had wanted you so much to come for me, AJ. Before you came, though, Breanto had showed up with this new weapon’s deal. I knew it was a big deal and I’d been part of getting it off the ground. I wanted to push it toward Galactic Empire Security Agency, but truthfully, I hadn’t a lot of success because Breanto was running things. I’m sorry my words are jumbled and I’m rambling. I want to be completely honest with you. I can’t stand the thought of losing you because of it, but even as I say that I know I was on the wrong side of this, even though I tried to get on the right side. Can you ever forgive me?”

Lamia looked at AJ with deep concern, tears still flowing down her face. “Your story has changed since we talked last,” he said. “Lamia, I have to know I can trust you, but how can I do that when you’re gaslighting me. Which version is the truth?”

“I’m always disappointing you. I’m so sorry, AJ. I’m telling you everything, nothing is hidden. I’ll understand if you can’t trust me, but I care enough for you that I had to tell you those things. I had to make things as right with you as I could,” she said.

“That’s a lot to think about,” AJ said. “Let’s be clear, though. My actions relating to Breanto weren’t entirely faultless. Sure, once I came into contact with him, he forced the issue and didn’t give me a choice about killing him, or not. Making the decision to confront him, however, was made at least in part because of my relationship with you.”

“You were protecting me,” she said quietly.

“Yes. He was also a bad actor. I wasn’t about to let him loose in the biggest arms deal of this decade. I decided, by myself, to change that script,” AJ said. “I feel no regret in killing him and can’t guarantee I won’t go off script again, especially if I don’t understand the motivations of the people around me.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“I wish I had a different answer, but no, I don’t,” AJ said. The admission unburdened him in a way he hadn’t expected. It was as if he’d set down a heavy load he hadn’t even known he’d been carrying.

“You will leave me, then,” Lamia said.

“I don’t know how to restore a broken trust,” AJ said. “I like you a lot, Lamia. Prior to all this, I thought you and I would spend a great deal more time together.”

“And now?”

“And now I have questions. Like whose side are you on: Lamia’s, AJ’s, GESA’s, Iron Syndicate’s, Tok Supremacy’s?”

“Can I ask a question?” Lamia asked.

“I’ve said what I needed to say.”

“What do you want, AJ?”

“I want this weapon destroyed and the people who would sell out the Galactic Empire punished.”

“That wasn’t really my question,” Lamia said. “With me. What do you want to do with me? Is there any chance the two of us could be something again? We hadn’t really defined anything. I was okay with that, we were in the middle of a mission, but I just want to know.”

AJ’s face softened and he stepped in, placing a hand on her waist. “Lamia, I have no room in my heart for someone who’s not all-in. You’ve experienced trauma, and haven’t been able to trust your partners, but I’m not that person and I won’t live like that. To answer your question, yes, there’s a future where the two of us can be together. The biggest question in my mind is if you can accept what it takes to be with me.

“I want that, AJ,” Lamia said. “You are a good person and I like who I am when I’m with you. I can’t get rid of my past, though.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Ugly things will come up,” she said.

“If your past stays in the past, we’re good, Lamia.”

“I’d like to try,” Lamia said. “It’s going to be hard for me. I’ve never been with someone like you before.”

“That’s the same for me,” AJ said. “You are a new experience for me, entirely.”

“What do you need to do next?” Lamia asked.

“Where are negotiations? Are you busy or have things slowed?”

Lamia stared at him for a long few moments and then seemed to make up her mind. “Okay, yes, that’s a valid ask.”

“Trusting me is hard for you,” AJ said.

“This could blow up in my face. These negotiations are extremely sensitive. We’re dealing with some of the most powerful organizations in existence,” Lamia said. “I know you trust Tok Supremacy, but you need to understand, they don’t always do what’s best for Galactic Empire, and certainly not for individuals involved.”

“‘You can save the good guys aren’t good speech,” AJ said. “I was part of a bloody war that our country should not have been a part of. The politicians didn’t have our backs and when those of us who survived finally did come home, we were made out to be villains.”

“Iron Syndicate has threatened that if negotiations fail, they’ll hold me personally responsible.”

“What does failure look like?”

“Parties pull out of the negotiation,” she said. “We tried to pull back the auction and sell directly to agents on Quarr, but GESA made it clear that there would be severe repercussions to Iron Syndicate if that happened.”

“Wouldn’t the Galactic Empire impose those same repercussions if they lose?” AJ asked. “I don’t see why they’re letting it happen at all.”

“The cost of waging a war against Iron Syndicate is more than the impact of losing this auction. At least that’s the rationale that makes sense to me,” Lamia said. “And it’s not like we’re having sit-down conversations.”

“Rigor Justic is big,” AJ said. “Tok could bring enough ships to stop it pretty easily, though.”

“What is your next move?” Lamia asked.

“I’m not sure. I sent a message. I’m waiting for a response.”

“Are you hungry?”

“No. Mostly, I’m tired.”

“Lie with me like we used to?” Lamia asked. “No commitments. We’ll just keep it simple. Honest.”

“I’d like that,” AJ said.

She dimmed the lights and set about removing her clothing, preferring to sleep mostly nude.

“You’re a sucker for nude women,” Beverly taunted, sitting on the edge of Lamia’s table, her feet dangling over the side.

“Sue me,” AJ said, barely audibly.

“What was that?” Lamia asked, slipping between the sheets and lying back on the pillow. AJ shook his head with a pointed look at Beverly. She wasn’t entirely wrong. He very much enjoyed being with Lamia.

“Oh, nothing,” AJ said, lying next to her as she snuggled into his side, the warmth of her body sinking into him. The two of them drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

Five hours later he became aware of a presence on his chest. Slowly he opened his eyes, not sure what he would see. It was Beverly, sitting on her knees, with a grin on her face.

“Wakee wakee, hands off snakey,” she said with a lilt in her voice.

“Funny,” AJ said subvocally. “What’s up?”

“Word back from Cer,” she said. “She wants you to delay Rigor Justic any way you can. Under no circumstances are those weapons to reach Quarr-2. She also wants Lamia to report on all of the players involved in the auction.”

“How did she know I was back with Lamia?” AJ asked.

“I don’t know.”

AJ sighed and moved Lamia’s limp arm from his chest.

“What’s going on, AJ? Is someone here?” she asked groggily.

“Time to work,” AJ said.

“You got a message?”

“I did,” AJ said. “It’s time for you to write out a report for Cer with Tok Supremacy. They need to know everything you know about the players involved in this deal. How you’re making contact, names, addresses, all of it.”

“Is that what you really want?” she asked. “We’re taking a side?”

“Taking a side is scary, isn’t it,” AJ said with sudden understanding.

“How do you know what side to take?” she asked quietly.

“I understand why we’re struggling now,” AJ said. “I’ve taken sides with Cer because even though she’s done shitty things to me, she’s also acted honorably. She and the Tok Supremacy have acted in the best interests of the Galactic Empire and its citizens. My people, humans, are part of that. By standing with Cer, I am protecting them. I’ve come to know other citizens of the Galactic Empire and Cer’s actions are in line with keeping them safe, too. Put all that together and you can understand why I come down where I do.”

“What about me?”

“Everyone should be afforded the same rights and privileges. That includes you and even the Runkin on this ship.”

Lamia nodded her head thoughtfully as the two of them sat up on the bed together. “You asked me whose team I was on. I am on your team, AJ. I side with Cer and the Tok Supremacy. I will do whatever it is that I see to be in our best interests, and I will talk with you about my actions so that we are a stronger force together.”

“Will you write that report and allow me to send it to Cer?”

“I will need an hour to compose it,” she said.

“And, I have a task to complete.”

“What is that?”

“I’ve been asked to disable this ship.”

“That’s impossible for one man. They have systems and security in place to prevent exactly that,” Lamia said.

“I have ideas,” AJ said “BB, show me the ship in three dimensions again. Highlight the laboratory.”

“What are you doing, AJ? Are you speaking to the small woman who lives in your head?”

“Beverly, yes,” AJ said. “She can take over my visual field. Right now, I’m looking at a holographic projection of Rigor Justic. BB, what happens if we have a massive explosion in the laboratory? Would that impact the drive systems?”

“How big of an explosion?” Beverly asked, floating next to the translucent Rigor Justic with a clipboard in her hand.

“I don’t have good calculations for that. I’m thinking about overloading one or several of Kofeen’s power packs. That would cause quite a stir,” AJ said.

“They’ll never give you access to the laboratory. How will you cause a powerpack to overload even if you get in there?” Lamia asked.

“I was once an engineer,” AJ said. “First, access isn’t that hard. I set that in motion yesterday, although I’ll probably need something from Pavil.”

“Pavil is on our team?” Lamia asked.

“Not directly,” AJ said. “A reluctant participant is probably the best description. Hang on a minute, I’ll do this over comms.”

“Now?”

AJ nodded and connected to Pavil. “Commander Pavil, Jenkins here,” AJ said, even though Pavil’s system should have indicated who was calling.

“What do you want, Jenkins?” Pavil growled. “I’m tired of doing your dirty work. I’m not getting paid enough.”

“I agree, so we’re adding fifty thousand,” AJ said, not using a unit of measure since he had no idea how Pavil was being paid.

“Make it seventy and we’re square,” Pavil said. “What do you want?”

“Sergeant Tusk in Engineering, I need him tied up for a couple of hours this morning,” AJ said.

“Tied up?”

“Not literally, it’s a figure of speech. Have someone interview him about recent security issues in the lab. Make something up. I need him off balance and swinging.”

“You need to stay away from that lab,” Pavil said. “That’s where I draw the line. That technology is a big deal for the Iron Syndicate.”

“Make it an even one hundred thousand extra,” AJ said.

“One fifty,” Pavil bargained again.

“Don’t get greedy,” AJ said. “I can sell one hundred. If you need more, take it up with them yourself.”

“Tusk will be invited in for questioning. Don’t make me regret this. I’ll blow the whistle on you if I get a bad feeling about it,” Pavil said.

“No later than 1000 this morning.”

“I’ll do my job. Get me that money. People are easily swayed with the smallest amounts of cash,” Lamia said. “Does he not know the money he’s asked for is payment for his own death contract? Iron Syndicate does not court martial traitors of his level. They will find out. They always do.”

“Greed is universal.”

“Why are you removing Tusk?”

“I have a sneaky way into the laboratory. I’ve also got one of the engineers by the short and curlies. Did I mention that in a previous life I was an aerospace engineer? Getting power packs to short-circuit shouldn’t be that tough with BB’s help.”

Lamia nodded. “Let me get to work on your report. Will you come back tonight?”

“It depends on how things go. I’ll try to make contact with you. I don’t know what will happen over the next few hours.”

“How do I send this report?”

“Accept the program Beverly is sending to you. That will allow you to hide a message within a message. Just write another message to someone that isn’t in this system. Once the messages pass through the jump gates, Cer will receive them.”

“Thank you, AJ.”

“For?”

“Giving me a chance to prove myself.”

AJ hugged the beautiful alien woman and kissed her on the head. “Good luck.”

“Good luck to you, AJ.”

Checking the time, AJ found he had plenty of time to make arrangements for the morning tasks. He started by stopping by the officer’s mess and grabbing a new nutritional supplement ordered by Beverly. To that, he added coffee and a meal-on-the-go which turned out to be some sort of egg sandwich. He had little taste for food, but swallowed it out of necessity.

His next action was to reserve the same conference room he’d used to interview Ledi. It was 0945 when he arrived at the conference room and found it full with a maintenance team finishing a discussion. He gave them until 0955 before he walked in again and asked them to clear the room. His request earned him dirty looks but none were willing to challenge his rank.

“Corporal Ledi, please report to the conference room to complete your interview with operations,” AJ called.

“Yes sir, I’m on my way,” Ledi answered. “May I tell Sergeant Tusk what the meeting is with regards to?”

AJ smiled at the man’s changed attitude. Gone was the haughty attitude and in its place a reborn man. “No.”

A knock on the door came a few minutes after 1000.

“Come in,” AJ said.

“Sir? Thank you,” Ledi said.

“You can sit,” AJ said.

“Yes, sir.”

“As you know. Contraband was found in your room,” AJ said. “I imagine you also know the punishment for this discovery is dependent on the investigating body.”

“Yes, sir!” Ledi answered.

“You lead a slovenly life, Corporal Ledi,” AJ said. “How you live when you are on your own time reflects only upon you. How you live aboard Rigor Justic reflects on every crewman and officer aboard. That said, I believe in redemption. As you are not the primary focus of our investigation and are mostly collateral damage, I will give you a pass on what I see as willful disregard for corporate policy.”

“Thank you, sir!”

“Don’t thank me yet,” AJ said. “You will once again spend your shift in your quarters. You will clean those quarters, including any mess created by your bunkmates until those racks shine! Do you understand me? If there is clothing to be cleaned, you will deliver it by hand to the laundry. If there is food to be returned to the commissary, you will return such. If there is bedding to be made, you will complete every task to the level you have been trained. Do I make myself clear? You will not be paid for these days or any of the days for the remainder of this week. But, if you redeem yourself with hard work, we will no longer speak of this matter. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Leave your credentials with me. I will return them when your shift has ended,” AJ said.

“But I’m not supposed to….”

“I don’t need you traveling through this vessel. I’ll keep your credentials and return them to you at the end of the shift,” AJ said.

“How will I return laundry?”

“I guess you’ll just need to be clever,” AJ said. “Tell them that you are under special orders from Lieutenant Commander Jenkins and if they have questions, they are more than welcome to ask for my attention.”

“Oh,” Ledi said.

“That’s right. Generally, asking for my attention is not advised. I imagine they understand this. If they don’t, well, let’s just cross that bridge when we get there.”

“Yes, sir,” Ledi said, setting his credentials on the table.

“You are dismissed, Corporal Ledi.”

Ledi escaped through the conference room door, never once looking back.

“I’ve been thinking about how to overload those packs,” Beverly said. “And I’m worried about the casualties. Iron Syndicate is a civilian ship. Technically, the crew aboard aren’t doing anything wrong.”

“You didn’t tell me if you thought the explosion would knock out the drive systems for Rigor Justic,” AJ said.

“I don’t think it will,” Beverly said, projecting the ship again. “Two packs placed in the hallway on Deck 5 in just the right place would take down steering controls and two of the three engines.”

“That’s a winner,” AJ said.

13

FADE TO BLACK

“A batch of shunts that will overload a power pack are available in engineering,” Beverly said. “Down one deck and a hundred meters aft. They’re expecting you.”

AJ strode quickly toward the aft stairs and descended. The physical effort was recognizably more difficult than it had been as Stora, all the same, AJ was in top physical shape and made good time.

“Lieutenant Commander, I have your rush order ready,” the supply clerk said, clicking his heels together in a modified show of respect if not an actual salute. “I just need your signature on the pad.”

AJ wasn’t thrilled to leave behind the trace evidence of the parts and was about to make a reason as to why he wouldn’t sign when Beverly appeared on the counter, sitting next to the terminal where he would sign. “Sign it,” she said. “The parts will disintegrate in three hours and won’t survive an explosion, so either way you’re covered. I used Commander Pavil’s identity to create the order.”

“Neat,” AJ said, placing a finger on the signature pad.

The corporal must have imagined AJ’s comment was for him because he answered. “The boss demands everything be in its place and spotless. Fits with Syndicate’s ethos, I figure.”

“I’ll need a grav board for a project I’m working,” AJ said. “I won’t be checking it as it should not be on the books. You will say nothing of this. Am I clear?”

“Uh, yes, sir,” the corporal answered. “That’s against protocol.”

“And Iron Syndicate’s interests aren’t always served by full disclosure. Tell me if you cannot comply with this demand,” AJ said. “Lives may well depend on your answer.”

“My shift ends in four hours. I can cover if you have it back before the end of shift, otherwise it will be caught in the end of shift inventory.”

“You’re a good soldier, Mr. Forkup,” AJ said, pulling a meter-long board from its cradle.

“Yes, sir!”

AJ slung the board beneath his right arm and plucked the bag of parts from the counter. He returned to the deck over top of the laboratory and leaned the board against the wall. Searching for the engineer’s clothing he’d left behind, he pulled them out and set about changing. With better control of the cameras, he watched the hallway below as he loosened the ceiling panel from above.

“AJ, someone is coming,” Beverly said as AJ dropped through the hole. The noise of his shoe’s tread wasn’t loud, but it was enough to draw the attention of an engineer passing by.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Just taking a break,” AJ said, adjusting the credentials he wore on his pocket.

The engineer eyed the small bag of parts in AJ’s hand and then his eye drifted up to the opening in the ceiling. “What in the hell!? Security!”

“Shit,” AJ cursed, lashing out with his curled hand and struck the engineer in the neck. A look of surprise filled the engineer’s face as his call was cut off as well as was his breath.

“AJ, there’s a security response. Two armed guards have entered forward. They have weapons drawn.”

The engineer started to struggle, his eyes wide with fear, his hands suddenly slapping against the small alcove’s wall. AJ struck the man in the side of the head as hard as he could manage in close quarters. Fortunately for both, the engineer slumped to the deck. AJ fumbled with the door and was grateful that Ledi’s ID was sufficient to unlock it. He pulled the unconscious engineer into the room and moved back into the alcove, climbing into position so he could replace the ceiling tile.

“What are you doing there?” a well-muscled Marine asked, rounding the corner and leveling his weapon at AJ.

“What’s it to you?” AJ asked angrily. “My job is to build, your job is to keep us from being interrupted. Do your job already.”

“You’re out of position,” the marine fired back. “You’ll need to come with me.”

Just then a muffled sound from the room where AJ had dumped the engineer sounded. AJ knew he’d have exactly one chance and that came when the Marine’s focus shifted. AJ crossed the small space between them and drove his fist just beneath the brow line ridge of the Marine’s helmet. It was a good punch, and the Marine started to fall. He managed to fire off ten rounds of energy bolts which slammed loudly into the wall. AJ grabbed the marine’s uniform and punched him twice more in the face and then yanked the now unconscious solder back into the room where the stunned engineer was starting to move.

“Close the door,” Beverly ordered. “The second Marine is trying to call for reinforcements. I’ve intercepted and answered. He’s still coming this way.”

“Damn, I wasn’t looking to make a mess of this so quickly,” AJ said, panting at the exertion as he stripped the Marine’s uniform. “Tell me when that other guy is close.”

“I’ve locked the laboratory down. Command knows something is going on. There’s a reactionary force deploying. You have less than ninety seconds to make your play.”

“Damn, that’s quick,” AJ said, donning the soldier’s vest and helmet, knowing he wouldn’t have time to switch out leggings. “Show me the other Marine.”

AJ moved into the alcove which joined with the main hallway. The second Marine guard was poking open closed doors and quickly clearing. AJ took advantage of the man’s movement and jumped into the hallway. The Marine’s personal sensors gave AJ away and the guard turned, his weapon already firing. AJ had the first Marine’s weapon already raised and fired a burst of six shots, ending the skirmish.

Running forward, AJ stopped at Ledi’s workstation, drawing the attention of the other engineers who were naturally jumpy at the change to their otherwise quiet existence.

“Ledi, what are you doing!?” one of them called.

AJ opened the bag of parts and slapped the shunt into place.

“You have two minutes,” Beverly said.

The powerpack started to whine.

“Boys, if you have any thoughts of survival, you’d best run forward,” AJ said, watching as the shunt welded itself in place.

AJ moved down the line and slapped two more shunts into place before grabbing a single power pack and racing aft.

“It’s going to blow!” one of the engineers announced. That was all that was required for pandemonium to break out as the engineers rushed forward, trying to escape.

“BB, I’m going to need a burst of energy,” AJ said, hoisting the heavy pack and trying to climb through the ceiling. He tasted metal and the familiar twang of adrenaline hit his stomach as Beverly juiced his nervous system. Suddenly, what had seemed impossible was no problem at all. Throwing with his new-found strength, AJ tossed the powerpack through the loose ceiling tile. He leapt, found purchase, and pulled himself into the closet.

“They’re looking at the packs,” Beverly said as shouts from below confirmed her words. “The packs are already red-hot. You’ve less than forty-five seconds to get as far away from here as you can.”

“Fair enough,” he said, grabbing the grav board and racing out of the closet. Alarms started sounding on the ship, both ordering crew to their stations and announcing an intruder. AJ doffed the marine’s gear, knowing a partial uniform would be among the first things to give him away. Racing aft, he skidded to a halt at the second set of stairs leading downward.

“Hey, you, with the backpack, stop!” an authoritative voice from behind ordered.

AJ jumped into the steep stairwell, barely holding onto the glide bar that kept him from losing his footing.

“Twenty seconds, AJ,” Beverly said. “Five more meters and you can drop it.”

“Is there a closet?” AJ asked, his eyes wide, searching for anything.

“No time! Wait, there’s a head to starboard!”

AJ ducked into the head as blaster rounds traced down the hallway behind him. “Well, that’s going to make things interesting.” He pushed the shunt into place as a deep rumble vibrated along the hull and a massive concussion rocked the entire ship.

“Feels like this isn’t a great place to be, either,” AJ said as a cloud of dust and ash blew down the hallway.

“You need to get a suit, AJ,” Beverly demanded. “But you need to get far aft, first. There’s too much damage forward.”

He ducked into the hallway, looking for the soldier who’d fired at him. He saw nothing but a massive cloud of smoke and fine debris. He raced aft as bulkheads slammed shut, sealing off the damaged portion of the ship.

“AJ, it is critical that you travel a minimum of one hundred meters aft,” Beverly said. “You have only ninety seconds remaining to traverse that distance.”

He took off at a jog, moving around other sailors who were moving quickly about their business.

“Corporal, stop right there!”

“Don’t stop, AJ,” Beverly said. “You’re still in the damage path.”

AJ stopped regardless and turned toward the voice that had called after him. He found an angry second lieutenant on approach. “What are you doing back here? You’re supposed to be forward.”

“I got trapped, sir,” AJ said. “I’m going to run around the back loop and see if I can get through on the other side.”

“What do you mean trapped?”

“Emergency bulkheads dropped,” AJ said. “There was vacuum loss. Couldn’t you feel it? Sir, please, I need to get back to my team.”

“Go, Corporal Ledi. Don’t think I won’t file a report.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant! Be safe,” AJ said and took off. In front of him Beverly projected a countdown clock alongside a remaining distance to safe harbor. He took a hard turn to port when he reached a large hallway.

“Take cover, AJ,” Beverly said when the timer reached five seconds. “This will be more violent than the prior explosions. There, on the right!”

AJ ducked into a narrow hall, almost falling as the deck pitched beneath his feet. Throwing his arms out wide, he held onto the walls but lost contact as he was thrown into the ceiling and then slammed into the forwardmost wall.

“Emergency. Emergency. All hands deploy emergency vacuum suits, Rigor Justic is critically damaged, atmosphere is unsustainable.”

Suddenly, artificial gravity ceased, and AJ floated free from the wall he’d been pinned to for a few moments.

“Good Lord, that sucked,” AJ complained, rubbing his head. “Did I break anything?”

“No bones were broken,” Beverly said. “You have bleeding in your cranium. I’m struggling to prevent damage to the affected area. It is critical you do not receive further damage to your head.”

“Great,” AJ complained. “Can you show me where I can find a vac-suit? I feel like that’s kind of important in this moment.”

“Have you paid attention to none of the Iron Syndicate briefings? Emergency suits are behind the camel-shaped icons on certain wall sections. The closest are ten meters starboard.”

AJ kicked off the wall and glided in zero-g until he ran into another wall. He continued until he reached the panels with stored suits. It took a short time to slide the suit on. He took the moment to switch identities, sliding his Lieutenant Colonel credentials into place just before he pulled the helmet into place.

“Do you have access to damage reports?” AJ asked. “With my credentials, we should be able to see the impact of our sabotage.”

“You must have forgotten that I continue to have Commander Pavil’s access. Yes, your overloaded powerpacks were effective. Rigor Justic is dead in the water and engineering has not gained access to the damaged systems. They have stated it will be several hours before they’ll have an estimate on potential repairs or if the ship will be declared derelict. Rescue operations are taking priority over repairs. Are you okay, AJ?”

“I feel okay, enough,” AJ said. “Things hurt like you’d expect.”

“Don’t be dull. Our actions caused significant numbers of grievous injuries and casualties. Perhaps you haven’t started processing it yet, but we can’t hide from the emotional trauma this sort of action can cause,” she said.

“If these weapons were to be manufactured by Quarr, the death toll would be significantly higher,” AJ said. “You forget that we both saw those weapons used on our own people.”

“This is not a transactional conversation. You are not the sort of person who can make that sort of emotional trade,” Beverly said. “You will feel this, whether you think that’s true or not.”

“Let’s call a truce,” AJ said. “I’m behind enemy lines and don’t have the luxury of wallowing in my humanity.”

“Okay, AJ,” Beverly said. “I’m sorry to push you. I’m worried.”

Just then a brilliant flash bounced off the white walls of the hallway ahead and suddenly the atmosphere around AJ started evacuating.

“Oh, shit!” he said, kicking off, trying to find something he could grab. Out of control, his body careened against bulkheads and debris as he was sucked toward a corner. Trying to right himself, AJ flailed helplessly and attempted to deposit himself out of the rushing torrent of atmosphere racing to escape. Holding his arms over his head, he collided with something unforgiving, and he heard a bone break in his forearm. Not designed for the violence, AJ’s suit developed small tears, which started leaking. He saw a steel I-beam that poked out from the wreckage. Through tear-blurred eyes, he attempted to block, once again, but his foot was caught by a thick steel cable and he was flipped around, his head hitting solidly. Blackness found him once again.

* * *

Beeping in his ear and the smell of antiseptic were AJ’s first warnings that something had indeed gone very badly. He’d awakened too many times in hospital settings not to recognize his current situation. He tried to lift his arm and feel his head, but his arms were chained to the side of the bed.

“BB?” he asked.

“He’s trying to contact the symbiote within.” It was Lamia’s voice.

“That isn’t possible,” a man’s voice added. “He’s so doped up on koresel, there’s no possibility of any kind of symbiote communicating with him.”

“You’re sure he’s responsible?” It was Commander Pavil’s voice. “He’s been an exemplary employee.”

“What’s going on?” AJ asked.

“There you are.” Captain Bartol spoke this time. “It appears you’ve been discovered, Mr. Jenkins, or whoever you are.”

“I was blown out of the back of the ship. My suit was ripped. I was losing atmosphere and then I blacked out.”

“When this process is over, you’ll wish we’d never fished you out,” Bartol said. “No, we’re going to get you nice and healed up and then dive into interrogations. I am grateful that Iron Syndicate will give me this one, final honor, now that you have ruined mine and so many other’s careers. Even worse, you’ve set back a program that has taken decades to develop. I hope your sacrifice was worth the pain you will be made to feel.”

“You have the wrong man,” AJ said, looking to buy time.

“It’s too late for that, AJ.” Lamia’s face came into view. AJ searched it, looking for whatever her plan might be. One look told him everything he needed. She’d flipped on him. “I’m sorry, lover, but this deal means too much. Extraordinarily powerful people from all sides of the equation are plugged in. There’s no disrupting a deal like this. The only way forward is to finish.”

“The Quarr will kill billions of people,” AJ argued. “A war could last centuries. Don’t do this, Lamia.”

“You seem to forget. I don’t have any people. Everyone I’ve ever loved has hurt me,” she said. “Money is the only thing I seek. They know about your ability to shift your face. You’re done, AJ.”

“Lisa was always right about you,” AJ said. “She told me you were trouble.”

“Girls hate me because I’m beautiful. Men are the opposite. I’m a polarizing figure,” she said. “It works for me.”

“Was I successful?” AJ asked. “I mean, if you’re going to kill me, at least let me know how I did.”

“You killed eight hundred sailors and blew up twelve billion credits of technology. Hang your hat on that when I start pulling the skin from your fingers,” Pavil said. “Your actions sent the entire officer core of Rigor Justic to disciplinary hearings. Gross negligence is a hanging offense in the Iron Syndicate. I owe you nothing.”

“Well, heck, that’s no good,” AJ said and then howled as the pain receptors on his right fingers lit up like he’d touched a high-power line. “What in the hell?”

“Level one,” Pavil said. “You were getting too comfortable.”

“Well then, bravo. That was one hundred ways of ‘I didn’t like it a bit,’” AJ said, struggling to get his words to come out straight. “Did I get your scientist? I wasn’t sure.”

AJ howled again as a similar pain ignited in his left hand.

“I don’t want to watch this,” Lamia said with disgust in her voice. “There is no reason to be cruel. Ask questions if you’re going to torture. Don’t just be a sadist.”

“We all may face a firing squad because of this man’s actions.”

“And had you believed me, you might have stopped it.”

“You are only alive because I think you may prove useful,” Pavil growled.

“I am alive because those men who hold your leash believe I’m useful. Don’t you forget that for even a moment, you worthless bug,” Lamia spat.

“Good Lord, you can take the girl out of the brothel, but you certainly cannot take the brothel out of the girl,” AJ said. “I had no idea you had such a mouth on you.”

“Oh, that’s right Albert Jenkins. When the Tok Supremacy inserted you into this, you thought you were so important, and they were so powerful. How is that turning out for you, now?” she asked, icily.

“Well, I’m going to say better than it has for any of you. I’m a soldier. I understand that I might die on a mission. I make sure to only get involved in things I really believe in. This last little bit is going to have me questioning those things. But nothing you do to me will turn back the hands of time,” AJ said. “Eventually, you’ll piss off the right people, Lamia. This won’t end well for you.”

Something heavy smashed into the side of the room where AJ had been tied down.

“Find out what that was,” Pavil ordered. When the door to the room opened. AJ realized he was no longer aboard Rigor Justic, but on a smaller vessel. Through blurry eyes, he watched Lamia and two others exit, holding weapons in front of themselves.

Gunfire followed and blaster bolts caromed around AJ’s hospital bed. One singed his leg, causing a tremendous burning pain, although not to be compared with the torture device used by Pavil.

“Knock knock.” AJ would recognize that voice anywhere. Surprised by her appearance, he discovered that Lisa still possessed her Stora form and moved like lightening through the room. Disabling both Pavil and Rigor Justic’s captain, Bartol, who so far hadn’t said much.

“Lisa? Is that really you?”

14

POISONED

“Your inability to choose girlfriends is becoming legendary, AJ,” Lisa said. Having shrunk back to his normal, human size, AJ was infinitely aware of Lisa’s stature as a Stora. Lithe, with wiry muscles and slightly taller than AJ himself, she seemed an avenging angel. “Are you drugged?” she asked, her smile mischievous, or dangerous, he couldn’t decide.

“Darnell?” he asked, his voice sounding thick in his own ears.

“Am I not enough for you?”

AJ tried to lift a hand to grasp her arm, but chains restricted his movement. “I feel funny,” he managed.

“You look funny,” she said, setting a medical scanner on his neck “Oh, that’s fun. You’re doped up like a frat-boy on spring break. Bet your kidneys aren’t happy.”

“Kessy something,” AJ’s ability to talk devolved as time ticked on.

“Someone dropped a plunger when I broke in,” she said, her hands moving in a blur as she pulled items from surrounding cabinets, rejections dropped to the deck. “Keep talking to me, AJ.”

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, concerned by the irritation in her voice. The world closed in and he struggled to keep his focus on the force of nature. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

“No, you haven’t,” Lisa said, the mischievous sparkle in her eye reigniting. “Please, go on.”

“Oh, man, you’re something else, for reals,” he said, his speech slurring. “I mean, Lamia was crazy good looking, but … crazy, that’s funny. I don’t think she’s on our side, Lisa. But shh, don’t tell her I think that. I mean, it’s like there’s this war inside her. She wants to be good, but really has a thing about money, or maybe it’s power. She’s for sure nuttier than a rabid bat. A super good looking one, sure, but, well, what were we talking about?”

“What you think of how I look is where this started,” Lisa said, her face suddenly close. In her hands she held a long hypodermic. “I wish I could delay this, I’d love to hear what you have to say, but Seamus says it’s important.”

“Seamus is a good dude,” AJ said. “So is Darnell. He’s lucky, did you know that? Stuff always seems to work for him. I mean he got you, right? You can be a little grumpy sometimes, but he loves you so much. I like that for him.”

“Grumpy, huh?” Lisa said, sticking the needle directly into AJ’s thigh.

“It’s a good grumpy. Oh, man, that stuff is cold,” he said, shivering. The dark edges of pending unconsciousness started to fade from AJ’s vision.

“Feeling better?” Lisa asked, tipping her head to the side with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not sure that’s the right measure,” AJ said, pulling at the chains holding his arms down. “I need out of these, quick!”

“Hang on, I’m coming,” Lisa said, searching for a key that would free him.

“I’m gonna be sick,” he muttered through a gaseous belch.

“Dammit.” Lisa scooped a bin from the counter and dumped its contents on the floor. She nearly made it in time, but there was unfortunate splash damage.

“And here I thought the days of holding your head out of the toilet after a good drunk were over.”

“You did that for me,” AJ said. “I remember. I never said I was sorry, either. I was sorry, though. It was just too much to deal with.”

“I’ll have to remember whatever this drug was,” Lisa said. “Maybe smaller doses next time for you, though.”

“I’m not a fan.”

“Do you think you’re done for a minute?” she asked.

He burped and looked at her, shrugging his shoulders. “Fifty-fifty proposition, at best.”

She took a moment to wipe his face. “You had a little on your cheek.”

“We might need to update our relationship status after this.”

“You wish,” Lisa said. Losing patience at finding a key, she grabbed the end of the chain and turned it against the clasp holding it to the bed. Metal groaned and pinged as the welded clasp was torn from the thinner metal tubing. “Hold still,” she demanded as AJ started to move. She repeated the process for the other side and then again on his feet. “We have tools back on the ship. Let’s get you back there.”

“What happened to Lamia, Pavil, and all those guys?” AJ asked.

“Pavil didn’t make it,” she said. “Lamia and Captain Bartol are restrained. Darnell mated up with the docking collar. I’ll deal with them once I get you back onto Fast Trader.”

“How in the world did you get Fast Trader back?” AJ asked. Fast Trader lived up to its name as it was both agile in maneuvers and had been optimized for maximum acceleration. They’d spent considerable time living aboard it on their last mission.

“There’s a lot going on that you’re unaware of. We’ll compare notes. Things escalated after Tok Supremacy reinserted you onto Rigor Justic.”

“What’s left of her,” AJ said, grinning maniacally.

“You’re not wrong on that, AJ,” Lisa said. “Whatever you and Beverly did completely ruined that ship. There are no repairs that could bring that heap back. We had to pass through the debris field. I have to say, when you two decide to put a hurt on something, you go first class.”

“Did we recover the scientist?”

“I don’t know.”

She helped AJ from the bed and out into the small vessel’s main area. There were luxurious couches with highly glossed, wood grained tables separating them. Designed to carry dignitaries, the interior of the ship was opulent. Pushed into one of the seats, Lamia sat with her arms bound behind her. She gave AJ a baleful look which pulled at the part of him she’d once connected to. In that moment, he wanted to believe she’d had nothing to do with his pain.

“Lordy, you’re going to need to kick that, AJ,” Lisa said, helping him past and into the airlock. “Not every addiction is a good one. I think that’s why they use the word.”

“I know she’s bad for me,” AJ said.

“That’s a start, I suppose,” Lisa said, sighing as they entered the two-meter-diameter flexible tube connecting the Iron Syndicate executive shuttle to Fast Trader.

Looking up as he struggled to walk, AJ found Darnell at the end of the tunnel. The feeling of home pervaded the moment. Darnell smiled. “Glad to see you alive, buddy. Although, I don’t imagine too many things can put an old geezer like you down.”

Darnell extended a hand and helped AJ into the ship. “Do you have him? I need to clean things up on the shuttle,” Lisa said.

Sudden movement beneath their feet was preceded by a warning chime that filled the passageway. “In the airlock, now!” Darnell ordered, his gentle movements turning violent as he pulled AJ into Fast Trader’s airlock and Lisa piled in from behind. It was more than AJ’s stomach could handle, and he gagged as a sphere of bile exited his mouth in the zero-g space. Darnell slid out from beneath his friend and slapped the emergency button which closed the airlock’s hatch and engaged artificial gravity.

“What in the hell, Darnell?” Lisa asked angrily. “I needed to go back and deal with things.”

“Babe, they’re gone,” Darnell said. “That shuttle just ripped off our extendable concourse and bolted out of here.”

“I guess that saves me the effort.”

“What is happening?” AJ asked, struggling to get onto his knees from where he’d fallen in a heap.

“I’ve got you, buddy,” Darnell said, leaning over to help his friend to his feet.

“You smell good. Have I ever told you that?” AJ said.

Darnell looked at AJ with a funny grin. “Still got some of those drugs pumping through you, don’t you.”

“He’s not wrong,” Lisa said. “It’s that cedar smelling aftershave you use. It’s pretty great.”

“Isn’t that interesting,” Darnell said, helping AJ into a seat. “Let’s get another scan on him. I think he’s struggling.”

“Sure, and then you’re changing that vac-suit,” Lisa said. “You have stuff on your neck and back.”

“Sorry,” AJ said sheepishly. “My stomach is feeling off.”

“Just glad we got there in time,” Darnell said.

“Aren’t we going to chase them?” AJ asked. “They’re getting away.”

“Nope,” Lisa said. “That’s definitely not the plan. And to answer your question. Doctor Morlak Kofeen got away in the chaos of Rigor Justic blowing up. We’re still on mission, although it’s changed substantially.”

“Maybe give me a minute before we get into details,” AJ said.

“Lie back and rest,” Lisa said. “Let the medicine do its job.”

“Talk to me about Beverly,” AJ said with sudden concern. “They said something about shutting her down with some sort of medicine. I can’t feel her. Please, can we do a scan?”

For a moment, Lisa remained still as she conferred with Seamus. When she returned, her face was grave. “Seamus agrees and this is going to hurt. We need to run a filter on your blood. The chemistry in your body might be toxic to her.”

“Shit, help her now!” AJ said, alarm rising in his voice.

For several minutes, Lisa worked over AJ. She had no expertise at pushing in large gauge needles and had to explore a few times as she attempted to pierce veins. “I’m so sorry, AJ, I know that’s not ideal.”

“Just get it going,” AJ said.

“Almost there,” Lisa said, pulling a small machine next to AJ, which connected to the pair of intravenous tubes which she’d attached. “This is a blood filter. I just hope we’re not too late.”

“BB is made of stern stuff,” AJ said. “And she’s smart as a whip. She’ll know help is coming and she’ll hold on in any way she can.”

“Keep that thought,” Lisa said. “This will take a while, but you should start to feel better as it’ll be faster about removing the toxins than the drugs we initially gave you. Can you lie back? I don’t think stress is helpful.”

He lay back and struggled to calm himself. Most of the drug addled phase had passed and while he was tired and achy, his head felt clear. Worry for Beverly, however, pervaded his thoughts as he sat as patiently as he could manage.

“Kids, we’re going to need to get out of here. Two more Iron Syndicate ships just popped into the neighborhood. We’re running stealth, but those are warships and if they get too close, they’ll see us. Lisa, do you have a destination?”

“Zyphor Nebula,” Lisa said. “Cer wants us to track down a scientist by the name of Marsi Thalor.”

“For what?” AJ asked.

“She said you had plans for the weapon. She wants him to take a look.”

“The weapon technology isn’t safe for anyone,” AJ said. “I don’t feel good about giving it to any side. Who’s to say they won’t build it? Point in case are the illegal mechanized infantry suits Cer lets us use when it suits her. Tok Supremacy doesn’t seem to bat an eye at genetic manipulation if it suits them. How in the world are we going to keep them from building this weapon?”

“I talked to her about that,” Lisa said. “Cer agrees that Tok Supremacy is easily tempted. She’s running this mission off books, and is trying to find a way to defeat the weapon if it gets built. That’s why she wants us to talk to this Marsi Thalor.”

“I need time to think,” AJ said. “We can still go meet him, though.”

“Zyphor Nebula is a long way from here. It’s going to take a minute,” Darnell said. “We’re lucky Fast Trader lives up to its name.”

“Okay, time for brutal truth here,” AJ said. “Was I drug addled when I heard Lamia gloating over me? She made me sound like a simp. Am I really that easy a target?”

“Which question do you want answered?” Lisa asked.

“Your question is my answer. You think I’m easily taken in by good looking women,” AJ said.

“When Amanda Jayne left you because she couldn’t bear to see you get hurt again, she left a hole in you that you were determined to fill,” Lisa said. “That’s my read, at least. Lamia’s skillset is recognizing that kind of pain and presenting herself as a solution. You were vulnerable and she took advantage of you. Let’s be clear, AJ, she took us all in. I suspected something was off, but not enough to do anything about it. You can’t beat yourself up for this and you can’t cloister yourself from your feelings. We’re just going to need to be careful.”

“We?”

“Like it or not, your love life and actions have a direct impact on Darnell and me. I’m not saying you have to get our permission, but we’ll definitely be taking an interest in things.”

“So it wasn’t just the drugs,” AJ said.

Lisa laughed. “No, AJ, Seamus had access to executive shuttle’s video and audio feeds even before we breached. Lamia is as bad as you think and her opinion of you is even worse.”

“And we let her go because we want to follow her?”

“Do you remember that fun little device we had that helped us track down Cer’s location? I might have injected Lamia with a tracing solution. We’re not going to have any trouble figuring out where she’s been if it becomes interesting. I just need to know that you understand she’s all sorts of trouble, right?”

“I’m not likely to forget this experience,” AJ said. “Since when did I suck at girlfriends?”

“You don’t sound too upset,” Lisa said. “That’s probably a clue.”

“We never really got that close,” AJ said. “There were some parts that were good, but I never really felt like we were on the same page. She always had something more important going.”

“She’d had that part of herself burned away well before you showed up, AJ,” Lisa said. “Maybe you could look at yourself and figure out why you keep picking a certain type of woman.”

“You think that Amanda and Lamia were similar? I mean, seriously, they couldn’t have been more different.”

“Is that how you see it?” Lisa asked. “Both were already married to a lifestyle and weren’t particularly emotionally available.”

AJ leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head. The waves of pain and wooziness had started to subside. “Tell me more, Doctor Jackson.”

“Don’t be a jerk,” she said, swatting at but missing his arm. “You’re caterwauling about lost love and I’m telling you, you set yourself up for it.”

A translucent version of Beverly appeared on the small table next to AJ’s chair. Wearing blue jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, her hair was tousled as if she hadn’t showered for a few days. Further, her image looked like it was being projected from an old TV where the signal was being poorly received.

“Hey there, good looking,” AJ said. “I was hoping you’d make an appearance.”

“I am not a big fan of koresel,” Beverly said. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a horde of tiny eighteen-wheelers.”

“How can I help?” AJ asked. “The blood filter is doing wonders for me. I hope it’s helping you. Although it could be the sparkling company I keep.”

“She is not wrong, AJ,” Beverly said. “You seem to have questionable selection criteria. I won’t belabor the point, as it seems I am one of the women in your life and I, despite my location, am also similarly unavailable.”

AJ considered her words. He’d never thought of Beverly as a romantic target, given the significant differences in their sizes. “Well, thanks for not making it weird, BB.”

Beverly’s projection resolved so that she was solid and the old TV style interference was no longer a thing. With a brush in hand, she started grooming her hair. “I’m here for you,” she said. “I need you to ingest one hundred twenty grams of activated charcoal. Other than that, Seamus’s quick thinking with blood filtration has reduced damage that must be repaired.”

“How about for you?”

“I am able to care for myself now,” she said. “Thank you to Lisa and Seamus.”

“Good,” AJ said. “I need a shower and fresh clothes. Also, check out my arm. I recall breaking it, but it isn’t feeling that badly.”

“It was set by Iron Syndicate and I knit the bones together while you were unconscious.”

“So I need calcium again.”

“Some,” Beverly agreed. “But not nearly so much as you have in the past. Let’s supplement dinner.”

“Shower, toothbrush, mouthwash, toothbrush, in that order,” AJ said, accepting Lisa’s help to get back on his feet. “Darnell, how are we doing at keeping out of Iron Syndicate’s way?”

“They know we were here and are looking for us,” he said. “They’ll never find us, but I do so appreciate getting to watch their approach. They are quite organized.”

“Is it weird that the two of us lost our Stora form, but they left Lisa that way?” AJ asked. “Do you mind if I call dibs on the shower?”

“Bub, you have a brown stain the size of a pizza on your shirt,” Darnell said. “Burn the suit, take a shower, use lots of soap, then do all the things you said before. I used a handy-wipe, I think I mostly took care of my problems. If you’re asking me if I have complaints that my already beautiful wife was given the form of a true Amazonian that has not lessened her in any way, the answer is no. I love her in all of her various forms. That this form has a penchant for physical intimacy is a nice bonus.”

“So you’re a big fan,” AJ summarized.

“Big fan,” Darnell agreed.

“Lisa? Are you pissed they didn’t put you back?”

“Not at all, it was my choice,” she said.

“Seriously,” AJ said. “Cer gave you a choice?”

“Apparently, she felt that I wasn’t struggling to keep it together.”

“Make that two more women I’ll likely never understand,” AJ said as he walked back to the head, peeling off the various layers of clothing, which he dumped into the ship’s cleaning station prior to stepping into the shower.

“When they applied the koresel, I thought it unlikely we would survive, AJ,” Beverly said, floating in the shower with AJ. She wore a pink one-piece swimsuit and held a light green bathing cap in one hand. She’d changed the color of her hair to blonde and had it styled short.

“Doris Day,” AJ said. “Try harder to confuse me. She was one of my first crushes.”

“That’s good information,” Beverly said, pulling the bathing cap on and producing a bar of soap.

“I don’t think a shower will do you any good if you leave that suit on,” AJ said.

“Funny. You do know that you are seeing a projection, right? I am not really getting wet in the shower with you. Nor am I likely to produce a projection where I appear nude for your benefit,” she said. “Flirty is the best you’ll get.” She turned sideways and lifted one heel up behind her and looked back with a thousand-watt smile.

“Flirty is a good place to live,” AJ said. “It’s probably the safest way for me to be anywhere near a woman at this point.”

“I believe Lisa was right in her analysis of the failures of your prior relationships. However, in my opinion, she missed a very important feature of both Amanda and Lamia.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“They were both extraordinarily intelligent and as a result, you found them interesting. Don’t worry, I’m certain Lisa will be more vocal about your next romantic interest.”

“Fantastic,” AJ said ruefully.

15

CLAUSTROPHOBIC

“How’s it look out there?” AJ asked, crouching next to Darnell. He looked out at the Rigor Justic’s debris field which was starting to fill with Iron Syndicate vessels, both commercial and military.

“They’re looking for us. See that guy, right there?” Darnell poked a big finger onto the tactical display and jabbed at a long sleek vessel.

“This guy? The one that looks like it’s the tip of a spear?” AJ asked, gesturing to the ship’s position through the cockpit glass.

“Petey says that’s a spy-hunter,” Darnell said. “It’s the reason we’re not accelerating right not. Small thrusters are fine, but main engines have a signature that’s detectable with the right equipment.”

“Feels like a smuggler’s ship shouldn’t have engines that work like that,” AJ said.

“Detection equipment is expensive and very sensitive,” Darnell said. “We can only engage main engines when our line of sight is occluded. It’s a cat and mouse game.”

“Wouldn’t it just be easier for them to wait for us near the jump point?” AJ asked. “It’s not like there’s a lot happening around here, aside from the yard sale that used to be Rigor Justic.”

“They know we’re close,” Darnell said. “Maybe they have a sensor ship at the jump point. Who knows? I’ve managed to swing us onto the right side of the debris field. Every chance I get, I give us a bump from the main engines. At current speed it’ll take us two weeks to reach the jump point. Every hit from the engines shortens that, though. The biggest trouble could be if they have a sensor ship near the jump point. We won’t be able to decelerate once we get there if they do.”

“That sounds like trouble we can work through tomorrow,” AJ said.

“Agreed.”

“Did you tell him about the other thing?” Lisa asked, joining the pair. She handed a hot coffee to Darnell and one to AJ.

“This was yours, wasn’t it?” AJ asked, accepting the cup.

“Yes, and it’s not hard to make another one,” she said. “You need to take some rest while you can.”

Reluctantly, AJ sat. “What’s the other thing?”

“Seamus picked up a bulletin off what amounts to a dark web website,” Lisa said. “It’s effectively a bulletin board for shady deals. Here.” She flicked an electronic message his way, which caused Beverly to appear, wearing an old, skirted softball uniform, red ball cap and glove. The message arrived as a big yellow softball, which she caught.

“First, the balls weren’t yellow back then. Second, I know the movie, Gina Davis was in it, but not the title,” AJ said as he started reading the message. “Is this an open-ended contract for a hit on me?”

“A League of Their Own. You only get partial points because we watched the movie together over a year ago,” Beverly said. “The contract isn’t full of details, but Iron Syndicate has placed a dead-or-alive price on your heads. Four million credits for you, AJ, five hundred thousand for your accomplices. There’s a requirement of proof, which I think might be an interesting hurdle for most bounty hunters.”

AJ caught a slight grin cross Beverly’s face, and she started to shift. “Boba Fett,” he said, stopping her. “Don’t even bother making the costume change.”

“That’s cold, Albert Jenkins,” Beverly said. “Am I really that predictable?”

“Was I right?”

“Yes,” she said dejectedly.

“How are Beverly’s wardrobe changes more interesting than the fact that we now have a universal hit contract on our lives?” Darnell asked, his voice sounding pinched with concern.

“Read the description,” AJ said. “They might have well as described a lump of coal. There’s no description aside from being a Runkin that blends in well with other species and may be difficult to surveil. Hell, even Lamia doesn’t know what species we are, given how many different ways she’s seen us. The descriptive of ‘known to travel in the company of Stora’ seems like something that would push people off more than add attention.”

“A contract on your head isn’t something we can ignore. We’ll need to take more precautions. You’re not as tough as you once were. Cer has seen to that,” Lisa said.

“Hold on, kids,” Darnell said. Without further warning he poked the main engines, setting them all back in their chairs for twenty seconds. Just as abruptly as he’d started the acceleration, he cut it off.

“I’m not sure you got what you were looking for there, champ,” Lisa said. “Check out that destroyer class ship. I think it’s lining up on us.”

“Petey, plot that ship’s course next to ours,” Darnell said. “Guys, get prepared. We might need to drop into full stealth mode. I need you both in vac-suits.”

On the tactical display, Fast Trader’s vector showed as a long blue line. A second, bright yellow line, appeared on the display showing the destroyer class ship’s acceleration vector.

“Damn, that’s tight,” Darnell said. “She’ll pass us at fifty kilometers in eight minutes.”

“Time to shutter it up. Let’s go full silent running,” AJ said. They all dreaded running silent aboard Fast Trader as it meant shuttering the expansive windows that provided a three-hundred-sixty-degree view around the circular living space. Further, every bit of technology external to the vessel was shrouded by soft industrial fabrics. Even more, they knew they would need to limit talking to whispers and keep movement to a minimum.

“Let’s suit up and hunker down,” Lisa said.

The three friends donned spacesuits designed to provide heat and atmosphere for extended periods of time as Fast Trader’s atmospheric production and heating units would also be shut down until the emergency was over. Ultimately, anything aboard the vessel that used energy and wasn’t critical to survival was turned off.

“Talk about claustrophobia,” Darnell complained as he settled back into his pilot’s chair. “Destroyer is at forty thousand kilometers.”

“You never think about how a smuggler’s life kind of sucks,” Lisa said, earning her a dark look from Darnell. “Okay, I’m quiet now.”

Cold and dark settled around the trio as they awaited the close pass of the Iron Syndicate destroyer. As the temperature in the cabin dropped, suit heaters kicked on, making small ticking sounds as they kept their inhabitants warm.

Appearing as a shadowy apparition, Beverly sat on the forward bulkhead where the controls were dark. “The next two minutes are critical,” she said, projecting a two-minute countdown timer. “The Iron Syndicate destroyer is at its closest point right now if they haven’t adjusted acceleration or heading.”

AJ was only able to nod his head.

The sound of electrical buzzing echoed through the cabin. A panel in the galley threw a shower of sparks onto the table where an innocent rag lay. The shower of sparks was enough that the rag caught fire.

“Nobody panic,” Lisa said quietly. “It’ll burn out.”

“What was that?” AJ asked subvocally.

“Massive energy pulse from the destroyer. Think of it like depth charges,” Beverly said. “They’re trying to break systems in a way that’s detectable. That panel must have been added after the ship was built. It doesn’t have sufficient shielding.”

Another buzzing sounded through the cabin. This time its intensity increased by an order of magnitude. The panel sparked again, popped, and then shot smoke into the cabin as it melted down.

“That one was a lot closer,” Darnell said as quietly as he could manage. “They know where we’re at. We need to break cover and make a run for it.”

AJ considered his buddy’s panicked words. Darnell wasn’t given to panic. As a Vietnam helicopter pilot, he’d survived and even thrived through harrowing combat experiences dozens if not hundreds of times. Blinded as he was, however, was almost too much.

“Bubba, take one breath,” AJ said, leaving his chair, and gingerly moving to where the fire suppression blankets were stored. Pulling out a blanket, he moved over to the burning equipment and held the blanket in place. “If they knew where we are, we’d be hearing from those fifty-millimeter cannons they’re so proud of.”

“Quiet, guys,” Lisa said.

A third electrical charge filled the cabin. This time, with AJ standing next to the panel, holding the blanket in place, no new fires started.

“Was that less intense than number two?” AJ asked as quietly as he could manage.

“Seventy percent,” Beverly said.

The trio held in place for what felt like hours, but was closer to twenty minutes. There were no further electrical pulse attacks.

“Darnell, uncover forward and aft lower res cameras,” AJ said. The cameras were the smallest aboard and would expose the least reflective surface, roughly that of the end of the ink tube of a ballpoint pen.

“Copy,” Darnell whispered.

“That’s one ugly ship,” AJ said. “What’s the distance and heading?”

“They’re arcing starboard and are at eight hundred kilometers,” Beverly said. “By the time they come around to our original line, we’ll be out of weapon’s range.”

“I needed my brown pants for that one,” Darnell said. “I was so close to making a run for it.”

“Good job putting out that fire, AJ,” Lisa said. “What is that thing?”

“It’s an atmospheric scrubber,” AJ said. “It’s redundant. We can unplug it for the time being. When we get power back, we’ll need to run a full set of diagnostics. There are plenty of systems that aren’t in direct line of sight that might have had similar experiences.”

“Hold on. Brown pants?” Lisa asked.

“It’s an old pirate joke,” AJ said.

“Is that right?”

“Good catch,” Darnell answered.

“I don’t understand the joke,” Lisa said.

“It’s not overly complex. Big bad pirate always puts on his red pants before entering a fight. His cabin boy eventually asks him why. He says because if he gets stabbed, nobody sees the blood, because he’s wearing red pants,” AJ said. “I feel like it tells itself from that point forward.”

“Brown pants?” Lisa asked and then slapped her head with the palm of her hand. “Oh, that’s just so dumb. You guys are dumb. It’s not even funny.”

“When should we power back up?” AJ asked.

“If nothing changes, give it ten minutes,” Darnell said.

They waited and eventually powered back up only to resume their cat and mouse game with the spy-hunter vessel, which lasted another twenty hours.

“You don’t think they can see us anymore?” AJ asked.

“We certainly can’t tell where they’re at,” Darnell said. “Not with passive sensors, at least. If they decided to come back to the jump point, we might be in for a rude awakening. I propose we bump down the stealth a notch and get sensors and engines back. We’re going to have to take a chance at some point. There isn’t anything nearby. it’s probably the right time to take a chance.”

“Objections, Lisa?” AJ asked.

“I’m game,” she said. “Sure you don’t want your brown pants first?”

“Funny,” Darnell said flatly. “Okay, here we go.”

Lights on the ship came on dimly at first, in deference to the extended time the crew had spent without any lights whatsoever. Air handlers, heaters and other systems slowly started coming back online in a predetermined sequence designed to keep power spikes to a minimum.

“AJ, we have a fire aft in the starboard engine room,” Darnell said. “I have a camera on it. Doesn’t look crazy. At least yet.”

“I’m on it,” AJ said, heading aft.

“Is anyone hungry?” Lisa asked.

“I’m starving,” Darnell said.

“How much time do I have?” Lisa asked.

“Sensors are still collecting,” Darnell said. “So far, we’re in the clear. We’ll circumvolve in four hours, which will put us at the jump point in sixteen.”

“Homemade pizza, lasagna or meatloaf?”

“Good meatloaf or Darnell might have high cholesterol meatloaf?” Darnell asked.

“Darnell’s cholesterol was very high,” Lisa said. “However, Petey just informed me that you’ve been a model citizen with your intake, so I’ll make good meatloaf if that’s your call.”

“What do you say, AJ?” Darnell called over comms as AJ worked aft.

The question caught AJ as he’d entered the first of two aft sleeping compartments. The familiar smell of Lamia had caught his attention and for a moment, he’d found himself stuck, unable to move.

The scrape of a foot on the deck behind him caught his attention and he turned, only to find Lisa at the door. “Baby, you know it doesn’t matter if she was bad for you, it still hurts when they betray you,” Lisa said quietly as she approached.

“Man, I’m tired of this,” AJ said dejectedly, allowing himself to be held.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Lisa said. “This is Pam’s fault.”

The mention of his deceased wife caught his attention and he stepped back. That it was Lisa, who’d been one of Pam’s best friends, kept him from angering at the comment, but she would need to explain herself. “How’s that?” he asked.

“Honestly, I figured it would go the other way,” Lisa said. “Pam set the bar so high, I just assumed no woman would ever reach it and we wouldn’t have to worry about you. The problem is, you look at women through your Pam lens. Like they could do no wrong.”

“Guys, I hate to break up a good therapy session and all, but there’s a fire we’re supposed to be dealing with,” Darnell called over comms. “I’m just saying.”

“Oh, crap. You know, Lisa, you might not be wrong,” he called over his back as he hurried aft.

The ship’s design was such that each engine had its own, small room dedicated to its various components. If not for Beverly projecting a directional arrow, AJ would have turned into the wrong compartment as his attention was elsewhere. Upon opening the door, black smoke billowed out.

“Let me guess, the fire is in the fire suppression system,” AJ said with irritation.

“Not a horrible guess,” Beverly agreed. “Put your helmet on and close the door. We don’t want to scrub the entire volume of the ship.”

“Can we vent this compartment?” AJ asked, pulling the door closed behind him after sealing his helmet in place.

“There’s a manual port,” she said, highlighting it on the wall. Like most well-designed spaceships, each compartment on Fast Trader was sealed away from every other compartment allowing for hull breaches to both be contained and easily located. Opening the port required the twist of a handle, much like a water faucet, and allowed AJ to dictate how quickly atmosphere vacated the compartment. Having recently been violently sucked into space, AJ was particularly sensitive.

“We’re streaming gas. Is that you, AJ?” Darnell called over comms.

“I’m venting atmo from Engine One,” AJ answered. “Is it too much?”

“Nah man, just making sure we hadn’t sprung a leak,” Darnell answered. “You have it under control?”

“Yes, mostly. It’s the fire control system,” AJ said. “Ideally, we won’t get into a dogfight anytime soon.”

“Is there a backup?”

“Maybe,” AJ said. “It’s thick in here right now, I’m waiting until I can see better. Worst case, we can slave the mitigation systems to Engine Two’s fire control system. We might need to trigger it manually, but at least we’ll have control that doesn’t look like me waving a towel.”

“Lisa’s making meatloaf,” Darnell said. “The good stuff. You have at least an hour or so.”

“Shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes,” AJ said. “I’ll get started on diagnostics back here. There are a lot of systems I’d like to confirm are still working.”

“Like main engines?” Darnell asked. “I’m about to fire them.”

“Give me ten?” AJ asked.

“On second thought, let’s do that,” Darnell agreed.

It took AJ an hour and a half to work his way through both engine rooms and slave over the fire control from Engine One. But once he started, he didn’t want to pause, even when the call from Lisa came that dinner was cooling on the counter.

“I’m officially starving now,” he said.

“You do realize you’ve been working with a concussion, right?” Lisa asked. “I talked to Beverly. She’s been working her ass off to keep the inflammation down. Maybe you could sit a minute and give the poor girl a break.”

“Shoot, is that right, BB? You should have said something,” AJ said.

“The priority of having working engines after being attacked by highly sophisticated electronic weapons reasonably outweighs any effort I had to expend,” she said in her best German accent. She had showed up with a white lab coat, fuzzed out white hair and thick black rimmed glasses.

Lisa set a thick slab of meatloaf on a plate for AJ and slid it to him, laughing at Beverly’s antics. “I’ve got your protein shake, too,” she said, setting a tall cup with a suspiciously green cast to the liquid.

“Looks like more than protein,” AJ grumbled but picked it up anyway. His head was starting to hurt again as was most of his body. Beverly had been masking the pain, allowing him to finish critical work.

At twelve hours out, Fast Trader flipped end for end and decelerated to bring the ship to an appropriate approach speed by the time they made it to the jump point.

“Folks, we’re going to need to strap in. Sensors picked up lurkers near the jump point,” Darnell called over comms. “We’re going to first level stealth. I don’t think they’ve seen us.”

AJ had been seated in the communal seating area reviewing diagnostic scan data, which he set down so he could see what they were getting into.

“How big are they?” he asked, placing a hand on his buddy’s shoulder as he took a seat next to him.

“A corvette and a pair of scout class,” Darnell said. “They’re broadcasting Iron Syndicate flags.”

“I guess we get to see if they’re interested in making trouble or not,” AJ said. “They have no military standing here.”

“You mean, aside from the railguns and torpedoes,” Darnell said.

“It’s a reasonable point,” AJ agreed. “What’s your plan?”

“They haven’t seen us, or at least they’re not acting like they have,” Darnell said. “If we come in up here,” he pointed to a location on the displayed solar system map, “we should be able to clip the top region of the jump point. It’ll make transition a little jiggly, but unless they’re looking right at us, they’ll never know we were there.”

“This little ship really is the shiz, isn’t it?”

Darnell smiled and patted the bulkhead in front of them. “See girl, you’ve got nothing but love.”

16

PERKS OF THE JOB

“Is this place starting to pick up a funk?” AJ pulled the cover from the passenger compartment’s main air scrubber. “BB, do you see anything in there? I just cleaned this yesterday. I swear something smells like butt.”

“I do not see anything, but a visual inspection is not the most reliable,” Beverly said, appearing in coveralls with rolled up legs and sleeves. AJ couldn’t identify the movie reference and wasn’t in the mood to play. “Perhaps we should run a long air sample. It only takes a few minutes. I assume you’re smelling methane, which I cannot detect. Your human sense of smell is quite discerning, so we should not rule it out.”

“Once you get that running, come read this,” Darnell called from where he sat with his feet over top of the tactical computer, which had become his default position after they’d successfully evaded Iron Syndicate and had since made eight system jumps over two weeks.

“What do you have?” AJ asked.

“When you get back,” Darnell said.

“Check my comms, BB,” AJ said, working back to the environmental cabinet, which was nestled behind a bunk in the sleeping compartment. Pushing the bunk into the ceiling so he had room to work, AJ rotated the panel into view and started checking statuses. “There you are.”

“There is what?” Lisa asked. AJ hadn’t heard her follow him into the bunkroom.

AJ lifted his head in surprise and banged it on the edge of the environmental panel he’d swiveled out. “Ow. Crap, Lisa. Do you need to sneak up on a fella?”

“I was right behind you. How did you not know?”

“Never mind,” AJ said, shaking his head.

“AJ, you have a communication from Lefty Johnson. It was sent two days ago,” Beverly said.

“You want me to look at Lefty’s thing, Darnell?” AJ called forward.

“That’s it but read it up here. I got a copy too,” Darnell answered.

“Give me ten more minutes, one of the algae cartridges is fouled. I need to flush it and get new media in there,” AJ answered, turning and pulling the decking on the opposite side of the room.

“If you’re opening that up, I’m going forward,” Lisa said, holding out a pair of long gloves. “Put these on. You remember what happened last time, right?”

“I cleaned it up,” AJ said.

“It was poop, AJ. There was poop on my bed,” Lisa said. “You left it there.”

“Maybe this would be a good time to stow the bunk,” AJ said. “It wasn’t poop. The algae do such a great job of metabolizing the waste by this point in the system, it’s practically edible.”

“Take that back,” Lisa said. “It smells like the toilet in a frat house after a party.”

“Okay, okay,” AJ said, laughing as he pulled out a disassembled plastic bin. With a few bends of the malleable material and a couple of clicks of fasteners, he’d constructed a temporary tub that would hold water and other substances that were best not left on the floor.

Opening the system, he looked down at a row of transparent boxes which held biological matter that processed wastewater. In the space of six meters, waste was transformed from a dark green sludge on one end to clear water on the other. It was only the first stage of the water reclamation, as mechanical filters were applied later, but for AJ it was the most interesting from a cool science perspective.

“So what’s the problem?” Lisa asked.

AJ pointed at a transparent box roughly center in the line of boxes. For some reason, the material within was much darker than the boxes adjacent on either side of it. “See how this isn’t the same as its neighbors? It’s got a busted seal. Oxygen is getting in and making a mess of things.”

“Why does it smell so bad?”

“That’s the poop smell. We’re generating methane, which is not the goal of this particular system.” AJ grunted as he pulled the box out of the system. The seals on the adjacent boxes made slurping sounds as they released their grip. “Help me find where it’s broken. There should be stains.”

“It smells awful,” Lisa said and pointed. “Right there.”

AJ set the waste-processing component into the plastic tub he’d constructed and then started removing clasps, which ended up releasing the greenish brown slurry into the plastic bin.

“Find it?” AJ asked, holding the now empty box up so it was clear of the gunk.

“I think so,” Lisa said, pointing again at a corner.

AJ carefully set the box on the deck so no new mess was made. He then leaned over the opening in the deck, dropping his head down into the crawlspace. “Well, lookie here.”

“What?”

AJ grabbed a small controller component and unseated it from its socket. “See if we have another one of these,” he said, handing it to her. “It got busted when that Iron Syndicate ship buzzed us with the electrical pulses.”

“Hang on,” Lisa said, leaning into the same space only further aft. “The spares are right here. Seamus, add this controller thingy to the parts we need to buy once we get to civilization.”

She unplugged one of the spare parts and handed it to AJ, who slid it into place with a satisfying thunk. “Now we just need to fix the seal and we’re good.”

“What are you doing with all this brown gunk. Pour it back in?”

“No. It’s hard on the system to have this stuff in the middle. It’s resilient, but it just has to work harder if we do that,” AJ said, lifting the container and carrying it forward. “I’ll dump it in the head and start it over.”

“I’ll grab the filter material for this panel,” Lisa said. “Seamus is showing me how much to add and how to seal things up. Unless you want to do it.”

“I appreciate the help,” AJ said. “I’ll be right back.”

By the time he had dumped the semi-processed waste into the head, washed his container out and returned, Lisa had put the system back together. “Want to double check me?”

“I imagine Seamus already has,” AJ said. “Let’s get it closed up and go see what Lefty had to say. Hope he isn’t too pissed we took off without him.”

“No, he knew what we were doing,” Lisa said. “You’re not going to take a shower?” Reluctantly, AJ nodded. He didn’t believe he’d suffered splash damage but Lisa wouldn’t easily survive him not cleaning up before a meeting.

Thirty minutes later, the trio gathered in the crew compartment which Lisa had just rearranged as she often did, just to add variety to their day. She’d reconfigured the main gathering area, which could hold as many as eight, so that there were only three single person seats equally spaced in a circle with a small table separating them.

“Very knights of the round table,” Darnell said, plopping into one of the chairs. “Also, good nose on that. Now that the smell’s gone, I recognize there’d been something. I just thought it was me.”

“If it’s any consolation, I thought it was me,” AJ said. “I just kept scrubbing things a little more vigorously every day.”

“That’s a visual,” Lisa chuckled.

“How about a trip update before we get to Lefty,” Darnell said.

“Sure,” AJ nodded amiably.

“Zyphor Nebula is two jumps off, about four days,” Darnell said.

“Is it really a nebula? I was thinking a solar system,” AJ said.

“I had the same question for Petey,” Darnell said. “They’re not necessarily exclusive. In Zyphor’s case, it is one and the same. Generally, a nebula is the stuff, gases, etc. that are the building blocks of a star. Zyphor star came out of Zyphor nebula, and now they’re referred to interchangeably, which is confusing if you’re into astronomy, but if you’re sailing a starship, it’s just the name of where we’re going. Also, it’s really cool. Unlike Sol and just about everywhere else we’ve been, Zyphor has a bunch of leftover gases so it will be extremely colorful with bands of light green and yellow. It should be a real trip.”

As Darnell talked, Beverly projected a view of Zyphor Nebula so that it hung over the small table separating the three.

“Nice, BB,” AJ said quietly.

“Okay, good,” Darnell said, adjusting, clearly having more he wanted to share. “Fifteen planets and planetoids, Zyphor system is huge, the star sixty percent larger than Earth’s. We’re headed to the most interesting area, which is Nexaron Drift, originally the planet Nexaron, it’s believed Nexaron’s moon struck the planet during system formation which left a stable if off-balanced collection of planetoids and masses in its place. Nexaron Sunward is here, obviously positioned toward the star. Nexaron Steps is twenty major land masses that support surface colonies or there’s been some drilling in one of them. And, finally Nexaron Main, which as you can see is a fully rounded planetoid and supportive of life.”

“We do like mixing it up,” AJ said. “Where’s this scientist we’re looking for?”

“That’s part of the problem,” Darnell said. “We don’t precisely know, but I think our goal was to see about Lefty’s letter.”

“Oh, right, go ahead and read it out loud. We can talk about the scientist later,” AJ said.

Darnell, Delightful Lisa and AJ. It is Twelve, August. As you no doubt anticipated, the mission on Krevnor shifted once the Iron Syndicate vessel Rigor Justic lifted off. Left behind and without any supply chain, what remained of Iron Syndicate were forced to surrender. Even with the professionalism of this elite group of soldiers, there were calls for summary judgment. I take no pleasure in reporting that I have required the construction of a brig where these hapless twenty-three are to be kept. As you might imagine, our Galactic Empire contact has no interest in keeping prisoners but is not asking for either release or execution. Bureaucrats are the same everywhere. They will be cared for as only one who has been a prisoner will do.

I request an update on your mission’s status. While the men have found purpose on Krevnor helping to reestablish the mining colony, we also grow weary of a mission without end or clear purpose. If you have information you are capable of passing along, it would be quite well received.

Finally, I salute the bravery demonstrated by each of you three as you climbed aboard an enemy vessel with no way to anticipate what your immediate future might bring. I write this letter with hope as Rebel informs me that she is confident in the survival of her brethren and your symbiotes.

With greatest admiration, Bernard Johnson.

“Greatest admiration?” Darnell asked. “That guy has always given me the cold shoulder. I think he thinks I’m just barely a step above worm spit. Did he blow an aneurism?”

“Tell us what you think,” Lisa said laughing.

“Lefty is a curmudgeon. The sooner you accept that, the quicker you realize he’s an alright dude,” AJ said. “I am a little concerned about how formal his speech is. I imagine that has to do with his expectation that there will be a lot of eyes reading that letter prior to us getting it.”

“What should we tell him?” Darnell asked. “Petey can send an encrypted message. It’ll take a few days, but it’ll get there.”

“There’s nothing I’d hide from Lefty,” AJ said. “I think the most important message is that we’re worried the war is coming back to Krevnor sooner or later. He’s going to need a way to defend against an air assault and probably make a way to get colonists into those mines and away from easy bombing targets. I’ll fire off a request to Cer to get access to the mechanized infantry suits. I just don’t see how that’s not coming to play.”

“Defend that,” Darnell said. “I understand the airstrikes problem, but mechanized infantry?”

“Do you think for a minute Iron Syndicate didn’t keep a handful of those new weapons for their own use? We haven’t established if the armor can stand up to a blast from that weapon, but it will be a thing if we expect to have any chance against Iron Syndicate,” AJ said.

“Got it,” Darnell agreed, sliding sentences around in a virtual letter projected next to the Zyphor Nebula system. “I assume we want to help him draw the conclusion that they’re coming back for the minerals. Maybe he can figure out a way to secure it.”

“Good call,” AJ said.

“What should I tell him about our mission? Aside from Lamia being a two-timing cheat,” Darnell said. “Oh, shoot, that’s too soon, isn’t it?”

“No,” AJ sighed. “It cool. If I had any idea what we’re trying to accomplish out here, I’d tell him, but between you me and the fence post, I don’t know why we want to talk to Marsi Thalor other than Cer says so.”

“Reasonable,” Darnell agreed. “You can see the changes I’ve made to the letter. Does anyone have anything they’d like to add? Petey has a summary of your adventures on Rigor Justic.”

“BB, did you look it over?” AJ asked.

The group continued working on a response for another thirty minutes or so but finally, they felt good about their efforts to bring Lefty up to date and the message was sent.

“What now?” Darnell asked.

“What’s the biggest city on Nexaron? Is it on Nexaron Main?” AJ asked, standing up, poking both hands into the Zyphor Nebula and stretching them out, causing the projection to grow. He did this several times until the collection of planetoids and other masses referred to as Nexaron Drift occupied most of their visual field. “BB, what kind of population are we looking at here?”

“Nexaron Main is home to Chalinus, with a population of two million. It is the largest city by an order of magnitude in all of Nexaron Drift,” Beverly said, causing the white-blue spheric planetoid identified as Nexaron Main to rotate until a city on the icy coast of a massive, frozen sea became visible. “The location is the most hospitable in Nexaron Drift due to relatively hospitable weather and abundant access to minerals, some of which are quite rare.”

“Do they make their money from these exotic minerals?” AJ asked.

“Not the entire population, but it was the original basis of the settlement,” Beverly said. “Like all colonies, the original purpose of a city is often lost once the population reaches a certain point. There is varied commerce, with significant illicit trade due to limited law enforcement.”

“Lots of private security,” AJ said.

“There’s a saying that goes something like, if you can’t find it on Chalinus, you’re not looking hard enough,” Beverly said.

“Sounds like the wild west,” Darnell said.

“Is it fancy holster time?” AJ asked, grinning widely.

“How about you just bring along a bodyguard?” Lisa asked. “You know, a six-foot-two, gorgeous suburban housewife?”

“Is that how you see yourself?” AJ asked.

“Tell me we got something more than a city of two million as a location for this Thalor,” Darnell said. “How are we supposed to find anyone in a city that big?”

“He’s a scientist,” AJ said. “Do they have anything like a college? If he’s as good as Cer thinks, that might be a good place to start.”

“There are, in fact, two universities,” Lisa said. “One of them has a program related to high energy systems. Apparently, it’s fairly prestigious.”

“And by that, Lisa means you’ll need to procure appropriate clothing for your visit. Jumpsuits are fine for bumping around the ship, but if you show up to Chalinus University like you’re dressed today, they’ll think you’re all a bunch of escaped prison inmates,” Beverly said.

“We’ve been on this ship so long, I’m not sure they’d be wrong,” AJ said. “So how about Lisa and I check out the university while Darnell, you see about getting replacement parts bought or manufactured.”

“Heck, yes,” Darnell said. “I’d go to a parts store all day instead of putting my skinny butt in anything that looks like dress clothes on an alien, fricking ice planet.”

“I didn’t know you had such strong feelings about it,” AJ said. “BB, is there anything resembling a spaceport we could reserve for Fast Trader?”

“There are several,” Beverly answered. “Mox Daily Rates is one such establishment. They ask four hundred fifty credits per twenty-four hours. Their charges for nitrogen, oxygen and water are all reasonable. Perhaps the primary downside is they do not have a strong contract with a chandler’s service.”

“How far away would one that does put us?” AJ asked.

“Mox Daily Rates is four kilometers from the university you are interested in. Chalinus Space Flats is twelve kilometers and on the edge of the city near the frozen sea. It would be impossible to walk from Chalinus Space Flats. Their rates are better at three-twenty per twenty-four hours. Water is free and roughly the same cost for the gases. There is more industry related to space flight near Chalinus Space Flats, so Darnell’s job would be simplified if we landed there.”

“They have to have some sort of ride into town,” AJ said. “Everyone who lands there will have the same problem.”

“Your application of logic is sound,” Beverly said.

“We’ll make changes if it doesn’t work out,” AJ said. “Let’s reserve seventy-two hours to start with, we can extend if we end up needing more.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Beverly said.

“Here’s something interesting,” Darnell said.

“What’s that?” AJ asked.

“I assume everyone knows we’re about to take our second to last jump leading to Zyphor Nebula, right?” Darnell asked, everyone nodded, so he kept on going. “This jump will put us in the Vornex Expanse, which is a region of Galactic Empire space. Even though we won’t be in the Zyphor Nebula system, we’ll actually be able to see the nebula from where we come out. It’s that large.”

“That’s crazy,” Lisa said.

“Jumping in thirty seconds,” Darnell said. “I’ll take the transition in the pilot’s chair, just in case we need to do any last-minute maneuvering, but the nebula should be visible through the top section of the viewing glass, just over my right shoulder.

Lisa and AJ positioned themselves to have the best view possible and waited as Darnell counted down for transition.

“And we’re jumping,” Darnell said.

“Oh, my Lord,” Lisa said. “That’s beyond beautiful. I’ve never seen a nebula up this close. The colors are brilliant.”

“Green in space isn’t something I was expecting to see,” AJ said. “Those clouds are huge to be visible from here.”

“Light years huge,” Darnell said. “Hard not to be an astronomer when you have front row seats, isn’t it?”

“Can you imagine how much gas we’re looking at? The volume is incredible,” Lisa said.

“Enough to fuel a hundred stars for a million years,” AJ said wistfully. “This job really does have some perks.”

17

BLAZE OF GLORY

“Am I the only one who feels like a tourist?” Lisa asked after Fast Trader jumped into the Zyphor Nebula system. They’d arrived in the midst of swirling and banded clouds of brightly shaded green gases that were the hallmark of the nebula. The star, larger by ten times than Earth’s sun, brilliantly illuminated the system as its rays reflected off the gas particles.

“I’ve never been to a rave,” AJ said, “but, if I had, this is what I think it’d look like. I’m just waiting for music to play.”

Darnell reached over to hold Lisa’s hand. “And you say I never take you anywhere,” She reciprocated, and the trio enjoyed a few minutes of simply existing in the exotic landscape.

“We’re getting a proximity alarm from our mid-range sensors,” AJ said. “There’s a ship at forty-two thousand kilometers along the flight path into Nexaron Drift. Scratch that, I’m picking up four ships, spaced at ten kilometers between them. I’m not detecting much weaponry, but we’re not exactly showing our colors with that either.” Fast Trader had a single turret but given many ports of call had prohibitions about gunships, the turret was mounted behind a retractable panel.

“It could be a caravan,” Darnell said. “There are reports of pirate activity in the system.”

“Ah, they see us and are reaching out for our AIS,” AJ said.

“AIS?” Lisa asked.

“Automatic Identification System, is what we call it back home anyway. We’re showing up flagged to Fimil-2. Looks like we have two family junks and a couple of straight-up freighters showing Nexaron Drift as home base. The junks are Vred and Argon.”

“Junks like Chinese Junks?” Lisa asked.

“Yes,” Beverly said, appearing with a bright red flowing robe with wide open sleeves. Elaborate gold ornamental stitching adorned the robe.

“Kimonos are Japanese,” Lisa pointed out.

“It is a Hanfu, similar to and said to have influenced the kimono,” Beverly answered. “However, the Vred ship’s designation is a large family with wide shipping and trading concerns. They are often identified by their elaborate garments, which interestingly resemble humanity’s Asian motifs.”

“Traders, huh? They’re hailing us. It’s probably not nice to ignore them,” AJ said. “Wandering Haven, this is Fast Trader, go ahead.”

“Fast Trader, it is I, Lun’Dao who speaks. To whom do I have the pleasure and honor of speaking?” A woman with pale green reptilian skin showed on the screen wearing a bright blue, elegant robe. The crew’s experience with Vred was significant enough that AJ recognized the woman’s Vred heritage immediately. Vred were typically matriarchal and Lun’Dao was likely calling the shots.

“The pleasure is mine, Lun’Dao,” AJ answered. “This is Albert Jenkins. Is there something for which I can be of service?”

“Ordinarily, I would not be so bold to ask, but there is conflict about,” she said. “Are you an armed vessel? If so, do you intend conflict with our caravan? We are not fully without defenses, but we prefer peace. Your appearance so near our caravan has us questioning your intent.”

“That’s bold, laying your cards on the table like that,” AJ said. “Today, it is a simple matter of coincidence that we arrived in Zyphor Nebula so close to your own arrival. Let us be at peace with each other.”

“What are you doing, AJ? What’s with the Yoda talk already?” Lisa asked when AJ hit transmit and muted his microphone.

“You probably don’t remember this, but I’ve spent plenty of time with Vred,” AJ said. “They take forever to say just about everything and are generally polite to a fault. If Lun’Dao is asking for help, something’s got her rattled.”

“She didn’t ask for help.”

“She’s about to,” AJ said.

“In our records, I find record of an Albert Jenkins, alien from Earth, friend of Beltigersk, and honored among the Grand family of Tardish Cove. Do you claim this history, Albert Jenkins of Fast Trader? Or are you a different Albert Jenkins who is unknown to the Vred people?”

“I count Sharg of Tardish Cove as one of my closest friends and allies,” AJ answered. “Do you claim peace with Tardish Cove?”

“You know of our ways, and I accept your claim of friend of Tardish Cove,” Lun’Dao answered. “Albert Jenkins, would you be open to a trade of goods, services and credits?”

“You mentioned a matter of conflict,” AJ said. “Perhaps we should first speak to that.”

“It is noted humans wish for immediacy in conversation and that no offense is intended,” Lun’Dao said. “In this circumstance, this proclivity is to the advantage of our caravan if you are willing to provide aid.”

“You hate being right,” Lisa said sarcastically in response to the smug look on AJ’s face.

“Aid of what sort, honored Lun’Dao?” AJ asked.

“An aggressive craft approaches from Nexaron Steps,” Lun’Dao answered. “We have prior experience and believe they intend to demand monies and precious metals as a form of tribute to their fledgling organization.”

“A gang is extorting security payment for unhindered passage,” AJ said. “And you’d like not to make this payment. Have you considered the repercussions of an aggressive response? I’d hate to make things worse for your caravan in the future.”

“I was foolish when I planned this trip. I believed that traveling with a local freighting service would exempt our free-trading vessels from this shakedown. I was wrong. In the future, I will hire security for the passage to and from Zyphor Nebula’s jump point and Nexaron’s orbit. Are you interested in either trade or payment to accompany our caravan to Nexaron Drift?”

“It is difficult to admit mistakes to strangers. I compliment you on your dedication to the safety of your family,” AJ said. “Fast Trader is not without needs for this and future voyages. Do you have the capacity to manufacture small parts? It would be of great service. We had expected to procure these parts on Nexaron Main, but I’m not married to that idea.”

“Wandering Haven is known for the exquisite manufacture of the ordinary and complex,” Lun’Dao said, her expression softening into what went for a smile on a Vred. “May I take your words as tacit interest in an agreement for protective services?”

“I hate to be indelicate, but as we don’t know the capabilities of the vessels approaching, it is difficult to know if we would be adequate in this role,” AJ said. “We’re not heavily armored and combat repairs are expensive.”

“I am sending the scans we have of the ships that approach. Wandering Haven will pay for damages incurred in the execution of a protection contract, in addition to any agreement we reach.”

Data packets presented themselves on the communication channel and AJ accepted them after Seamus blessed that they weren’t harmful. “What are we looking at BB?” he asked.

Hovering over top of the tactical display was a pair of small vessels that looked more like local space runabouts than long range scouts, capable of shaking down an entire caravan. Poorly armored, one of the vessels carried a single missile which was externally mounted and was probably manually released via straps.

“Does that even hold atmosphere?” Darnell asked. “It doesn’t look sealed.”

“Neither of them do. The turret on the second ship could cause trouble if it got close enough and locked on to any of the caravan ships. There isn’t a shred of armor in the entire line of them. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt much if it got to cargo, though,” AJ said.

“That sounds like losing profits,” Lisa said. “It might make it worthwhile to pay the scum. Now, if I could get them in a room alone for just a few minutes, I imagine I could teach an important lesson.”

“If the missile hits any of us, it’s trouble,” AJ said. “That’s the main problem. The turret ship can be dealt with over time. I wonder how much ammo they’re actually carrying.”

“It feels like a job we can handle,” Lisa said. “There’s always something that gets in the way, but these guys don’t look like professionals.”

“Darnell, what’s your take?” AJ asked.

“Not to be an ass, but why would we get involved? Wandering Haven’s trouble isn’t our trouble. It sounds like they went cheap on security and are making it our problem,” Darnell said. “Do we really need another group of people shooting at us? What if the gang, or whatever they are, are bigger down in Chalinus and it follows us there?”

“We have an opportunity to stop pirates from committing a crime,” Lisa said firmly. “The universe ends up being a microscopic bit better for our efforts and we make new friends. When did you stop believing in doing what’s right, just because it’s the right thing to do?”

“When every time I do something like this I get shot at,” Darnell said. “It’s never as simple as it looks. You said so yourself.”

“It’s still the right thing to do.”

“Whatever,” Darnell said, holding up his hands in defeat. “I can wait for I told you so, later.”

“You are so jaded,” Lisa said.

“Darnell, if you’re fully against this, I’ll let Lun’Dao know we have other commitments,” AJ said. “This doesn’t have to be our gig. I want everyone on the same page.”

“No, AJ, I don’t love this idea. Yes, I think we can do it with relatively little pain,” Darnell said. “I’d hate myself tomorrow if we walked away.”

“Not exactly a glowing endorsement, but I’ll take it.” AJ took a moment to consider his friend and after a moment he turned looked out into space, double checking his own motives. Once settled, he continued, “Wandering Haven, this is Albert Jenkins. We’re interested. Let’s negotiate.”

“Ten thousand credits in trade or currency for defense of the caravan through to Nexaron Drift local space. Each attacking vessel destroyed is an additional ten thousand credits, but damage to the caravan is first deducted from this number,” Lun’Dao said.

“Forty thousand credits lump sum,” AJ said. “You can deduct whatever damage occurs, but the damage must be verifiable from combat data streams or recent video.”

“That is acceptable,” Lun’Dao answered.

“Do these guys have a gang name?” AJ asked.

“Schwang is their affiliation. It is not a large entity,” Lun’Dao answered.

“Sure,” AJ said. “We’ll run ahead and do a meet and greet. I’d like to see if we can end this peacefully.”

“You have a desire to leave these scoundrels alive and to convince them to turn from their wicked ways,’” Lun’Dao said. “I applaud your moralistic approach. It will fail.”

“Fast Trader out,” AJ said, closing comms. “Lisa, let’s drop that turret and get her warmed up.”

“Copy that, AJ,” Lisa said, her fingers flying over a console which would soon be converted to the ship’s main fire control station. “I’m going to toss a buoy, hold off on the acceleration for a minute.”

AJ watched as the external monitor picked up the marker buoy Lisa launched into space. “I’m having trouble rotating counterclockwise. I can get about five degrees, but a full rotation clockwise isn’t trouble. I wonder if we have some damage from that electronic pulse on the Iron Syndicate spy hunter vessel.”

“I can go look at it,” AJ said, standing.

“Worst case, I’ll deal with it,” Lisa said. “It’ll be a little awkward dialing things in, though.”

AJ raced to the center of the crew area and pulled back a thick carpet from the deck. With the carpet removed, he pulled open a hatch which led to a ’tween deck. Accessing the turret required going outside, so he pulled a temporary airlock over the external hatch and opened it.

“What are you seeing, AJ?” Lisa asked.

“Rotate counter.” He could feel vibration in the hull where something was being dragged. “There’s something in the track. Darnell, do I have time to get out there and work on it?”

“If we want to keep them away from the caravan, you have maybe ten minutes,” Darnell said.

“Warn me at eight,” AJ answered, slapping a hook onto a secure point. The hook was connected to his suit via a safety line and would keep him from floating away from the ship. Moving hand-over-hand, he pulled himself out to the extended turret base and illuminated it with the fat beam of his portable flashlight that was built into his suit. “BB, are you seeing the problem?”

“Not yet,” Beverly said. “Lisa, would you move the turret slightly?”

The turret started to spin and AJ had to move quickly to avoid being pushed off. With their proximity, the grating of metal on metal was more evident due to stronger vibrations.

“A component has been unseated,” Beverly said. “It is not redundant, you will need to see if it can be moved out of the way. The panel I’m highlighting must be removed.”

“Dammit, we don’t have time,” AJ grumbled even as he started spinning screws from the panel to release it.

“Four minutes remaining, AJ,” Darnell warned, before AJ had the panel fully removed.

“Calm yourself, AJ,” Beverly said. “You are becoming excited. I am deploying a slight sedative.”

“Careful, Beverly, I need clarity,” AJ said. Calm spread through his body and while he didn’t admit it out loud, it was easier to finish the work as he slowed down and became intentional about each movement. “There you are.”

“Sixty seconds, AJ.”

AJ pushed on the component that had been dragged along when the turret rotated. He managed to get it seated back in place, but it was clear that enough damage had been done it wouldn’t stay in place forever, especially if the turret came under heavy use. Removing a strip of duct tape, he slapped the universal tool into place and secured the component.

“I think I’ve got it,” AJ said, grabbing the access panel and sticking it to his chest. “I’ll have to put the panel back on when we get back.

“You’re out of time, AJ,” Darnell pushed.

AJ yanked on the safety cable and pulled himself back to the access panel. Unseating the big clip that held him safely, he snugged into the temporary airlock and pulled the hatch closed behind him. “Go, I’m in.”

He disassembled the temporary airlock and set it aside to be fully stowed later. Standing straight, he grabbed the deck from below and hoisted himself to a sitting position on the main deck and then swung his legs free. Pushing the hatch closed, he spun a manual locking mechanism and then put the rug back into place before going forward to join Lisa and Darnell.

“Good work, AJ. It rotates freely now,” Lisa said. “What was the problem?”

“I think more damage from that electronic pulse,” AJ said. “There’s another part, this one we don’t have a duplicate for, but it’s not a hundred percent broken, just enough that it doesn’t stay in place very well. I duct-taped it.”

“That’s my man!” Darnell said enthusiastically, offering his hand for a high-five, which AJ reciprocated.

“What is it about men that feel the need to use tape for everything.”

“Not just tape,” Darnell said. “That stuff will fix a leaky vac-suit, a radiator hose, and now it’s useful for holding spaceship blasters in place. Show me any single invention that is so versatile. Why, it’s like bringing your own little mechanic along with you in your pocket.”

“As long as I know what’s in your pocket, now,” Lisa said.

“Where are our friends?” AJ asked, still seeing the caravan in their forward view.

“We’ll pass the caravan in four minutes and then we’ll have to toss right around when we’re four thousand kilometers from the Schwang fighters,” Darnell said. “We’ll basically skid right into ’em four minutes after that.”

“Got it,” AJ said. “Beverly, open a comm channel. Let’s see if we can talk our way through this.”

“The comms are open, AJ,” Beverly said.

“Schwang fighters, you’re being instructed to turn around or face aggressive action,” AJ said. “Wandering Haven caravan is under our protection, and we will not allow your approach. Please acknowledge.”

“Smoke you, turd fire.” A space suited figure appeared on the comms. Behind the mask, was a pockmarked man’s face smoking some sort of green stick.

“Just to be clear, you plan on attacking even though you’re in crappy, home built spaceships?” AJ asked.

“We have a missile and plenty of ammunition to take you out and collect a big payday with the scrap of that piece of robbet dung,” the suited figure said.

“Blaze, we maybe need to take a beat on this one,” a second suited figure said. “I think they got armor. You gonna need to use the missile. It might not work enough.”

“Get off the channel, you’re giving away good info,” the first said. “See you in the fiery plain, turd fire!” The comm channel was severed.

“There are a lot of very confusing words from both of those,” AJ said. “I’m going with they don’t want to take a beat to think about mixing it up. I’ll try one more time.”

“Schwang fighters, this is Fast Trader, we are prepared to fully defend the Wandering Haven caravan with a lethal response. You are advised to turn away or you will be fired upon with prejudice,” AJ said as sternly as he could manage.

Unable to resist, the young Schwang fighter responded, but unfortunately, the response was so full of curses, vulgarities and lacked any content that AJ simply re-closed the communication channel.

“Is that it for diplomacy?” Lisa asked.

“Yes. I wasn’t overly hopeful, but it would have been nice to avoid an unnecessary death,” AJ said. “Darnell, slide behind the missile carrier so Lisa has a reasonable chance to poke a hole in that missile. I’m of a mind that the second fighter will turn tail and run if we get rid of his buddy. Lisa, can you make that shot?”

“If he doesn’t launch it first.”

“You’ll get your chance,” Darnell said. “That twit can’t possibly outmaneuver me, regardless of how small he is. He’s got one engine and some thrust redirectors. He’s basically riding a go-kart. This isn’t a fair fight at all.”

“Schwang-2 is firing,” Lisa said. “We’re still out of range, but he’s keeping it steady.”

“Taking evasive,” Darnell said and as he did, he swung Fast Trader around in a large arc, which perplexed Schwang-2, who tried to follow Darnell’s maneuvering but ended up pulling himself out of the direct line of travel.

“Nicely done,” AJ said. “You just bought us thirty seconds alone with Mr. Turd Fire himself.”

“We need to be careful,” Darnell said. “We’re inside the scope of that missile he’s carrying. If he gets a lock and launches it, we’re going to have new problems to deal with.”

“Go stealth, Darnell,” AJ said. “See if you can foil his target painter.”

“Good call,” Darnell said, swinging Fast Trader around again so he presented a complicated target.

“I have a targeting solution,” Lisa said. “I just need twenty more seconds on this course.”

“You might not have it,” AJ said. “We’re getting electronic feedback on that missile. He’s going to launch it.”

“Dammit, I don’t have a lock yet,” Lisa said. “I can’t guarantee I’ll hit anything if I fire now.”

“Hold steady,” AJ said. “Wait for the lock. He doesn’t have one either.”

“So you say,” Lisa said.

“The missile is away,” Darnell said, swinging Fast Trader around as automatic fire from the belly turret started burping out a constant stream of fire, fully missing the missile.

“The missile isn’t on us,” AJ said. “It’s tracking away. Chase it, Big D.”

“I’m on it,” Darnell said.

The missile leveled out its flight and as it did, Lisa gained a full lock with her turret and blew it up.

“Okay, Fire Turd One and Fire Turd Two, it’s time to surrender or we’re going to put you both into space, do you copy?” AJ asked. “Compliance is not optional. You’ve used your only playing card.”

18

OPEN TO THE UNIVERSE

“What in the hell were you thinking, coming at an armed deep space scout class vessel with street rods?” AJ asked, angrily pulling the smaller, equally angry Hafnie, referred to as Blaze.

“We had a missile,” Blaze answered, struggling against the zip ties.

“So you did,” AJ said. “That missile has a street value of a minimum fifty thousand credits. Why couldn’t you use that to start a legitimate business?”

“What’s it to you?” Blaze asked.

“It’s a waste,” AJ said.

“Coming up on Fire Turd Two,” Darnell called. “I’m not sure he’s going to be able to dock with Fire Turd One still lashed in place.”

“He can raft on,” Blaze said, surprisingly helpful. “We do it all the time.”

“Tell him to raft on,” AJ called back to Darnell. “He’ll know what it means.”

“What are you going to do with us?” Blaze asked, the anger drained when the cuffs were locked in place.

“I think you mean to say, ‘thank you Mr. Jenkins for not turning my spaceship into confetti and leaving me to die in the cruel but beautiful nebula’,” AJ said, watching the struggles of the second small vessel as it tried to dock next to the Blaze’s rickety craft. “Hang on, he’s going to need help.”

Strapping Blaze to a structural member, AJ pulled on his vac suit helmet and jumped into the airlock.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Lisa called over the public address in the cargo hold.

Outside the spacecraft, AJ climbed over Blaze’s junker craft and waved at the second craft to approach. The problem was not for flying skill on their part, but that there was nothing actively working to mate the two vessels together, so the second vessel just bounced away. AJ solved this problem with a sturdy cable and magnetic clamp. After ten minutes, the second craft was in place and AJ and the second pirate had returned to the hold.

“Are you going to sell us?” Blaze asked.

“Sell you? To whom?”

“There are plenty of ships taking on crews right now,” the second offered.

“And your name is?” AJ asked.

“Gozni.”

“Gozni, are you saying they’re adding slaves as crew?” AJ asked.

“You work off the debts, but until then, yeah, you don’t have a choice if that’s what you mean.”

“Shut up, Goz,” Blaze said.

“You’re not exactly my problem,” AJ said. “We’re working for Wandering Haven. The caravan master will decide what happens to you.”

“Maybe you’ll put in a good word?” Gozni asked.

AJ blinked in surprise at the ask. “How about this. You boys could use a shower. We’ll spot you clean clothes and you can use the personal groomers. Maybe go for something that doesn’t make you look like an untended dog. When I turn you over, ask Lun’Dao for a job so you can repay the damages you’ve caused.”

“Why would we do that?”

“Because it’d be honest work. Lun’Dao expected we’d destroy your ships and that’d be the end of it. You need to be assets, not liabilities. Right now, you’re prisoners and that’s real inconvenient.”

Blaze started to object, but Gozni stopped him. “Mr. Jenkins, I’d take that offer if you don’t mind. I’ll have a shower and clean clothing if you mean that. I’ll pay you back when I can, too. So will Blaze.”

Blaze looked at Gozni in confusion but didn’t further object. “Fine.”

“Okay, so here’s how this is going to go,” AJ said. “I’ll set out clothing. You keep your hands out of our stuff. I’ll have an agent watching every move. You so much as take a fork from the galley and I’ll space the both of you. Are we in agreement?” They both nodded but AJ wasn’t having it. “Use words.”

“I agree. We will not steal nothing,” Gozni said.

“I agree,” Blaze added.

“Beverly, please alert me to any suspicious activity.” AJ pulled out a long knife and cut off the zip ties. “The two of you will clean up and present yourselves in the crew compartment. Follow me, I’ll get you that clothing.”

AJ felt the stares of the two young men as he exited the hold, exposing his back to them as he left. What they didn’t know was that Beverly was showing him a rear view as he walked. To their credit, they simply followed.

“What are you doing, AJ?” Lisa asked when he finally arrived in the crew compartment after showing the men to the head.

“Trying to keep us out of Nexaron politics,” AJ said. “If we show up with a couple of prisoners and hand them over to local authorities, we have no idea how that pans out. Lun’Dao, on the other hand, has some idea how to deal with them.”

“And here I thought you were being a good guy, trying to redeem a couple of lost souls,” Lisa said.

“Why can’t it be both? BB, raise Lun’Dao for me, would you?” AJ asked.

“Fast Trader, Albert Jenkins, it appears that congratulations are in order. You have successfully defeated the menace that could have been very costly to our caravan. How would you accept your credits?” Lun’Dao asked.

“We’re not quite done,” AJ said. “There’s the matter of a pair of Hafnie prisoners.”

“We have no interest in prisoners. This is not a trade with which we partake,” Lun’Dao said.

“It’s part of employment,” AJ said. “They were taken while under your employment. You’ll need to take them off our hands and deal with them as you see fit. We also have a parts list of items requiring repair aboard Fast Trader that we need to negotiate on.”

“We watched the encounter with great interest. It did not appear that Fast Trader was damaged,” Lun’Dao said with professional detachment.

“It was not damaged, but you’re a businesswoman. I assume you’d prefer to trade services for goods instead of simply paying credits.”

“Oh, I see. Send what it is that you are seeking. We will give you a favorable rate for those items we have aboard. Our manufactory can be a little expensive to run, but the output is of first quality. Would you like to have bids from us for those items we have not in inventory?”

“Yes,” AJ said. “Also, with respect to the prisoners, it is possible they are looking for work. Perhaps an arrangement could be reached where they repay past offenses,” AJ said. “I haven’t looked at Nexaron Law regarding vessels seized during attempted pirate activity, but most systems show those as forfeit.”

“You are not claiming the pirate craft?” Lun’Dao asked.

“Captured while under your employment,” AJ said. “As far as I’m concerned, those are yours to deal with for the same reasons as Gozni and Blaze.”

“You are a curious man, Albert Jenkins,” Lun’Dao said. “We will accept the transfer of both Gozni and Blaze, along with their craft. To the matter of the list of items you require, we will have a response by the time our vessels meet up for the transfer. Is this acceptable?”

“Yes,” AJ said. “Give us three hours.”

“What are you cooking in that skull of yours,” Lisa asked once AJ terminated comms. “I feel like you’re trying to hatch something. I just can’t quite figure out what it might be.”

“Nothing overly complex,” AJ said. “Lun’Dao is bound to have good contacts on Nexaron. We’re trying to locate someone without attracting a lot of attention. She might have some ideas.”

“And you get to do a good deed in the process.”

“What, with the boys? They’re just young and dumb,” AJ said. “They still have a chance to turn around and be productive. I can’t live their lives for them, but one chance is one more chance than they’ve likely had. Who knows, maybe they can run security for Lun’Dao and earn a living.”

“You’re such a romantic,” Darnell said.

Time passed relatively quickly as meeting back with the caravan was an activity filled with tasks, including offloading the dilapidated runabouts the Hafnie pair used as attack craft. Finally, it came time for a face-to-face with Lun’Dao, who’d invited the crew aboard for a meal.

“I feel like we’re going out on a date,” Lisa said, having switched from jumpsuit to nicer clothing.

“Family ships are a big part of Vred culture,” AJ said. “Remember, matriarchal and age matters. If in doubt, defer to the oldest woman in the room, and that’s likely Lun’Dao.”

Cycling through airlocks, AJ was first through, with Lisa close behind, controlling the two prisoners.

“Welcome aboard, Captain Jenkins.” Even though he was ready, AJ was taken aback by Lun’Dao’s imposing size. For most of their long lives, Vred females did not stop growing, although they slowed considerably at about two meters. Lun’Dao was every bit two meters and then a little more and wore long flowing bright blue robes with golden stitching.

“It is our honor to be admitted to your home, Lun’Dao,” AJ said. “Please allow me to introduce Lisa Jackson and her husband Darnell.”

A pair of younger female Vred stood behind her, both wearing more practical ship wear complete with belts where long pistols were held. “The prisoners, Blaze and Gozni. They are not restrained. This is unexpected.”

“The boys understand that their lives depend on their continued good behavior and making a good impression on you,” AJ said.

“You have an agenda with these men,” Lun’Dao said. “What is it?”

“I want you to reform them,” AJ said. “Take them in, give them crappy jobs, let them prove their value and become productive members of society. Alternatively, they can make bad choices and live with or not, the consequences. An opportunity to be squandered.”

“You ask a lot of me,” Lun’Dao said. “And without the expected gall of cloaking your intention. I have not met one such as you before. Are you always this plain about your plans?”

“Sharg of Tardish Cove impressed upon me the value given to honesty by Vred of the Path of Staros. I do not pretend to know if this is your path or not, but I felt I recognized something in you that I knew of my friend, Sharg.”

“You are a delightful speaker with your compliments,” Lun’Dao said, approaching AJ and sweeping a long arm around his waist. “Tell me, was this Sharg someone with whom you enjoyed spending time?”

“Sharg is a very good friend and has broken with tradition after taking one of my other friends as her first husband,” AJ said. “I haven’t spoken with either of them for a year or so, but I assume they are doing well.”

“Oh, he must have been quite interesting. Because of my introduction to you, I have read of this Queenie from your land called Australia. Sharg caused a stir with her choice, but I find it was brave of her to do so,” Lun’Dao said and then abruptly changed gears. “The Hafnies will speak on their own behalf now.”

“Ma’am, we’re really sorry for the trouble we have caused you,” Blaze said. “If you would release us, we will leave the Schwang gang and find jobs.”

“And how will you repay the damage you have caused?” Lun’Dao asked. “I’m to believe you would find a meaningful job and repay your debts?”

“We would try very hard,” Blaze said, doing his level best to look abashed.

“Albert Jenkins, is this what you wish for?” Lun’Dao asked.

“I think Blaze and Gozni probably think this is what they’d do, but we all know that old habits are easy to fall back to,” AJ said. “Ideally, you would hire them as crew and let them prove themselves as hard workers. If they can’t achieve this, then bring them in front of a Vred counsel once you’ve returned to your home world. I understand Vred law is not favorable to pirate activity.”

“You are correct,” Lun’Dao said. “Bel, Estei, escort the Hafnies to a holding room and make sure they are provided with the evening meal. I have agreed to take responsibility.”

The two younger female Vred stepped forward. Blaze decided to make his move, reaching for the weapon on Bel’s side. Lisa started to move but Lun’Dao was quick enough to hold a hand up, staying Lisa’s intervention.

“You know what must be done,” Lun’Dao said once Bel had Blaze in control, which she did easily. “Gozni, do you wish to accompany your compatriot?”

“No, ma’am,” Gozni said. “I did not know he was going to do that. I am sorry.”

“Please come with me, Albert Jenkins and friends of Albert Jenkins,” Lun’Dao said, pulling AJ along as she left her guard behind with Blaze and Gozni.

“You can’t leave me like this,” Blaze shouted after them. When no one answered, he reverted to cursing and vulgarities much like he had while flying his ship.

“Not all are redeemable,” Lun’Dao said quietly as she ushered the crew into a room where a dozen Vred were lounging on furniture especially made to accommodate their thick tails and larger sizes. “I hope the meal has not been ruined by the unpleasant moments.”

“I appreciate you keeping an open mind. I’m sorry Blaze didn’t see it that way,” AJ said, accepting Lun’Dao’s invitation to sit with her.

“Tell me, Albert Jenkins, what business is it that brings you to Nexaron Drift? Is this system not quite far from the paths of humans?” she asked.

“We’re looking for someone who has become hard to find,” AJ said.

“Is it a debt you are owed?” she asked.

“No, nothing like that,” AJ said. “Unfortunately, we can’t share the details of what we’re doing other than to say it’s important and not a commercial venture.”

“How delightfully intriguing,” Lun’Dao said. “There are rumors that float around in some circles. I may have to admit that I’ve perhaps had more knowledge of you than I originally admitted.”

“Rumors?” AJ asked, exchanging a glance with Lisa. “I am sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Modest or coy,” Lun’Dao said. “You are an interesting man, and it is not difficult to see what interest Sharg found in her first husband, Queenie. The human form is quiet pleasing to the eyes of Vred.”

“Um, well,” AJ stammered and then attempted to move the attention away. “Queenie was the one who pursued Sharg, but after a time, she found that they were very compatible.”

“Is that so. Physical compatibility is delightful. I notice you do not travel with a mate,” Lun’Dao said. “Are you interested in comfort this evening?”

Lisa had taken a drink at the worst possible time and choked as she drew a breath, surprised by the turn of the conversation.

“Would you believe that I have recently had the worst luck with women?” AJ asked.

“That does sound surprising to me. You are quite desirable. I imagine you have much opportunity to share your life experiences,” Lun’Dao said. “I am not asking for a permanent arrangement, just one of convenient timing.”

“I’m two weeks off a bad ending,” AJ said. “I might be interested in the future, but this evening, I am simply grateful to dine with new friends and explore possible opportunities for the future.”

“Ah, that is unfortunate, but timing is often poor,” Lun’Dao said. “I believe you said you were looking for someone. How is it you do not have information of this person’s whereabouts? Perhaps if I knew more, I might be of assistance. It is a small favor for someone who has saved my interests considerable expense.”

“We’re looking for a scientist who might have answers about a problem we’ve run into,” AJ said. “I can’t say much beyond that the problem poses a danger to a great number of people if left unchecked.”

“Again, so mysterious,” Lun’Dao said. “Vred scientists are among the best. Perhaps I could make an introduction to one of my sisters at home. What sort of study are you looking for information regarding?”

“Energy systems,” AJ said. “But it’s a very specific type of energy that is related to a field of study that is limited to a single, exotic element.”

“Which is?” Lun’Dao asked.

“I’m afraid I can’t share that,” AJ said. “Word on the street is that this scientist is somewhere in Nexaron Drift. We were going to start with Chalinus University.”

“Do you know the name of this scientist? Have you checked city roles for occupancy?” Lun’Dao asked.

“He doesn’t show up in any of the listings we have access to. We’ve searched,” AJ said.

“And could you share the name of this mysterious person? I promise nothing will escape from Wandering Haven of either your presence or the search you are on. I believe we owe you that much for the kindness you have shown us.”

“What do you think, Lisa?” AJ asked.

“We’re going to have to ask someone,” she said. “Whether that is someone at the university or the gas station. I don’t see a reason not to discuss the name. We’re looking for an energy physicist by the name of Marsi Thalor.”

“And this Marsi Thalor will solve this problem you have?”

“That’s the hope,” Lisa said.

“If you agree, I can ask some of my more discreet contacts,” Lun’Dao said. “If Marsi Thalor exists in Nexaron Drift, word will return.”

“Can we pay you for this information?” Lisa asked.

“That is not necessary. You have approached my family with respect and could have easily turned down our request for assistance,” Lun’Dao said. “I am intrigued by adventurers who remain so open to the whims of the universe that such a meeting is possible. I might not believe you did not have a secondary motive if not for the fact that it was I who contacted you.”

“We appreciate your attempt to help, even if it doesn’t pan out,” AJ said. “I have missed Vred cuisine. Most humans struggle with the texture, but after a time, it is something that is missed. Isn’t that right, Darnell?”

Darnell, who’d been quietly contemplating the plate of uncooked seafood, cold sauces and pureed plants, looked guiltily back to AJ and then Lun’Dao. “Uh, well, right,” he said, taking the smallest bite he could manage from the plate and then struggled against his gag reflex. “I’m sorry. This is unusual for me.”

“Beati, bring our friend something that is has some structure to it,” Lun’Dao said. “My dear Darnell Jackson, there is no reason to suffer in silence as you have.”

“How’d we do on the parts list we provided?” AJ asked, trying to pull attention from his embarrassed friend. “Some of it was very specific to our vessel.”

“Jeil, do you have an update on the parts exchange?” Lun’Dao asked, redirecting attention to a young male sitting at the periphery.

“Unfortunately, we only had one of the parts you specified, the others are more sophisticated than our manufactory is capable of producing,” he answered. “I have a contact on Nexaron Main who has the appropriate equipment to produce your parts. It will not be inexpensive, though.”

“Any idea what we’re looking at?” AJ asked.

“Thirty-two thousand credits without priority queuing,” Jeil answered. “Add ten percent to have them ready by the time we arrive in Nexaron. We can ask them to meet you in orbit for a small fee. I could help install them. I am curious to look at your beautiful craft. It is elegant and has special purpose, does it not?”

“Jeil, we should not pry. We are friends,” Lun’Dao said.

“If you’ve the time, I’d love the help installing parts, Jeil,” AJ said. “And yes, Fast Trader is quite an impressive craft for a number of reasons.”

19

UNEXPECTED ALLIES

“That was an interesting meeting,” Lisa said, after returning to Fast Trader with Darnell and AJ.

“Lun’Dao is intriguing,” AJ said. “Vred age well.”

“Are you seriously going down the Queenie path?” Darnell asked. “I mean, I get the allure. Shapely, wizened, exotic alien and all, but she’s seven feet tall and part snake.”

AJ laughed freely. “The last thing I need is a trip down the relationship obstacle course again. Even if I was attracted, which I’m not saying I am, Lun’Dao has a whole family she’s looking after. That’s a brand-new level of crazy I don’t need any part of.”

“So, you did find her attractive,” Lisa said, grinning.

“You’d have to be dead not to,” AJ said. “Although, I’ve often wondered if Vred females put off pheromones, because they’re a whole lot more attractive in person.”

“You should get some rest, AJ,” Darnell said. “We’ll meet up with that supply ship in what makes for an orbit around Nexaron Drift. We’ll offload the parts you’ve manufactured. I assume you want to work on the ship before we set down in Chalinus, otherwise you’d just had them delivered to the spaceport we’re using.”

“I can’t be working on the turret when we’re in the spaceport,” AJ said. “Also, Jeil has offered to help with repairs. You do know that Vred engineers are the best in the Galactic Empire, right?”

“And Jeil is one of these engineers?” Darnell asked.

“Yes. Beverly gave me a rundown on the whole family,” AJ said. “Jeil only travels part time with Lun’Dao. The rest of the time, he has an equity stake in a Vred ship building company that does custom designs for high-end customers.”

“That explains his interest in Fast Trader,” Darnell said. “Do we need to worry about him figuring out where Fast Trader came from? Won’t that give up some of our anonymity?”

“Lun’Dao has already made us out as humans and knows about my relationship to Sharg,” AJ said. “There’s no way they don’t know our part in blowing apart the entire Korgul invasion and the creation of the vaccination protocol. Tell me, at a glance can you tell the difference from a Bell helicopter and a Sikorsky?”

“Duh,” Darnell said. “That’s like the difference between an orange and a watermelon. Nobody would get them mixed up.”

“Okay, now, tell me how Jeil, who owns part of a custom manufacturing plant for spaceships hasn’t already identified Fast Trader’s make, if not provenance,” AJ said.

“I’ll give you that,” Darnell said with a sigh. “I just feel like Lun’Dao and crew are getting a free pass due to our experience with Sharg.”

“Then help me lock down sensitive systems,” AJ said. “With Petey and Seamus’s help, we should be able to keep him locked out.”

“We’ll do that,” Darnell said. “Now, go get some rest. You won’t have this good of an opportunity once we reach Nexaron.”

Lisa turned to look out the glass surrounding the ceiling of the round crew area. “It’s hard to think about sleeping with all this around us. I just want to remember how beautiful it all is.”

“We’ll be here for a few days,” Darnell said.

It had been drilled into AJ as a young soldier to grab sleep when it was available. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to, but sure enough, as soon as he settled into the top bunk in the sleeping compartment, his eyes closed and he slept.

“AJ, the time has come to awaken.” Beverly’s whisper caught AJ while he was sleeping lightly. With eight hours of sleep, he felt fully rested and allowed his system to transition to wakefulness.

“How far from Nexaron orbit are we?” AJ asked quietly.

“Ninety minutes,” Beverly said. “I thought you would appreciate time to work out and then grab a light meal before you started working on the ship.”

“That’s thoughtful,” AJ agreed, sliding from the bunk and walking forward with a change of clothing in hand.

“Welcome to the land of the living,” Lisa called back from the pilot’s chair.

“Thanks, where’s Darnell?” AJ asked.

“Taking a nap,” Lisa said. “I’m going to wake him if we have issues mating up with the delivery. The caravan is going to separate in forty-five minutes. We’ll pick up Jeil just before they do.”

“They don’t need protection?” AJ asked.

“We’re close enough that Nexaron Main has a patrol to respond to mayday calls,” Lisa said.

“Cool,” AJ said, slipping into the head where he turned the shower onto full hot. One of the luxuries of flying in space was that time, more often than not, was in great supply. It was a familiar pattern of hurry up and wait that AJ had experienced for much of his earlier life as a soldier. “Did we finalize parts?”

“Yes, I’ve been negotiating small details while you slept,” Beverly said. “You and Jeil can repair the engine damage, and they have a part that will clean up the traveler track beneath at the turret base. We’re still a bit short of filter media and the manufactory wanted too much money to transport it to space. We can pick up what we need from the chandlery on Chalinus.”

“Good,” AJ said, pulling on the ruggedized space suit designed for working outside the hull while in vacuum.

“Are you ready to receive Jeil, AJ?” Lisa asked, catching him in the galley as he warmed up a breakfast ration.

“Is the caravan ready to break up?” AJ asked, walking forward to where Lisa sat on watch. When she looked back at the meal he’d prepared, he offered it to her but she turned it down.

“Yeah, and the parts are ahead of schedule,” Lisa said. “They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

“No reason to slow this train down,” AJ said flopping into a chair next to her.

“I don’t see how you eat those rations,” Lisa said. “You know I’d make you something, right?”

“You’re sailing the ship. I don’t mind just grabbing some calories,” AJ said. “Not every meal needs to be a feast.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Wandering Haven this is Fast Trader, over.”

“Go ahead Fast Trader,” came the disembodied response.

“We’re ready to receive Mr. Jeil, if you’ll provide a docking solution,” Lisa said.

“Docking solution is transmitting,” came a quick answer.

“I’ll head back and welcome him aboard,” AJ said. “Does Darnell want to be up for this or is he good?”

“We’re docking with the forward airlock so you won’t have to worry about Darnell,” Lisa said. “He’ll feel the collar attach, so he’ll want to make sure I’ve done it right.”

AJ smiled. His two friends often bickered about the right way to do just about anything, but in the end, they released what would irritate most other couples. It took Lisa fifteen minutes to maneuver Fast Trader into position and when the docking collar connected, metal on metal thunked as the two ships positively connected. A moment later, atmosphere filled the small cavity between the two ships. To meet Jeil, AJ had to open a panel that exposed stairs to the forward airlock. He watched Jeil adroitly navigate through the umbilical and touch down on the door. When the smaller Vred gave a hand gesture, the equivalent to a Vred thumbs up, AJ unlocked the outer airlock door and cycled him through.

“I appreciate your offer to help, this afternoon. Welcome aboard,” AJ said, shaking Jeil’s hand.

“It’s not every day I have the opportunity to see a Zyrran space frame,” Jeil said, not even trying to hide his excitement. “Were you aware that fewer than a hundred of this particular model were manufactured?”

“The frame or the ship?” AJ asked.

“Zyrran Space is a company much like the one I work for,” Jeil said. “They are custom builds with limited runs. It might sound like a hundred frames is a lot, it really is not. Also, this little beauty appears to have some technology used by intelligence services and or very wealthy smugglers.”

“I’m sure I don’t know anything about that,” AJ said. “Is it really that obvious?”

“The camouflage?” Jeil asked. “Oh, no. I just happen to recognize some of the components as I was working on something similar for a customer, which I can’t really say too much about.”

“Is it usual to work on vessels with limited sensor signatures?” AJ asked.

“Certainly not,” Jeil said. “There has been an extraordinary increase in demand for vessels capable of more than simple transit. This is my last journey with my family for some time to come. My company needs me to return as soon as I am done; there is much work to do.”

“What’s the increase about?” AJ asked.

Jeil’s facial expression shifted and had AJ not been so familiar with Vred, he might not have understood the change. “The ebbs and flows of business.” Jeil’s answer was neither the truth nor a lie, although he was certainly holding back information. “Would you be willing to show Fast Trader’s low sensor signature mode? Purely for the sake of sating my curiosity.”

“How about we work on repairs first. If we have time, we can explore that” AJ said.

“I apologize. I did not mean to pry. Please know that I will hold in confidence anything I learn while visiting,” Jeil said. “What preparation work needs to be done to fix your turret enclosure?” The grin on his face showed that he understood that AJ would be surprised by his understanding of what was to be fixed.

“You’re a bit of a troublemaker, aren’t you?” AJ asked.

“Not as much as it would appear,” Jeil said. “Fast Trader is beautifully constructed. I have spent many hours researching Zyrran’s public information related to her official, original configuration. It is not difficult to locate the changes that have been made if you know what you’re looking for. Trust me, it is purely an academic love for space frames that has garnered my interest. It is like presenting an extraordinary gem to a jeweler.”

“Your eye for these details is impressive,” AJ said. “We’ll have to EVA through the ’tween deck to get to the turret enclosure. We might as well set up while we’re waiting for the parts to arrive.”

“Couldn’t we just work on it with the enclosure sealed?” Jeil asked. “That way we won’t need to work in vac-suits and we can use the ship’s artificial gravity. It’d be more comfortable.”

“I didn’t think that’d be possible,” AJ said. “How will we get access?”

“It should be possible,” Jeil said. “If my drawings are correct, there will be a pair of energy transducers that can be removed. This should free up access to the backplane of the turret. I think the part you had me specify is integrated in the moving part of the turret. I’m guessing it is loose and the turret had difficulty rotating.”

AJ chuckled. “Okay Mr. Smartypants, let’s see if the transducers are there. I had to access it from the exterior while we were way too close to Blaze and Gozni. I ended up using a universal fix-it product from Earth. I suspect you won’t be over impressed. We’ll need to take some solvent with us.”

“Solvent? You used some sort of glue to hold this part in place?” Jeil asked, his face showing a level of disgust.

“We were in a tight position,” AJ said, opening the floor hatch after pulling back the carpet. “Well, I’ll be a dumb-ass. We never thought about moving those transducers.” He grabbed a handle and with moderate pressure, unseated the first.

“I’ll stack the parts on the deck above,” Jeil said, attaching a portable winch to an open ring in the ceiling that looked to be made specifically for the task. Unspooling cable, he handed a claw hook to AJ.

“That’s handy,” AJ said as the heavy part lifted through the opening in the deck where Jeil expertly pushed it to the side.

“I’ll secure this part with a mag-clamp. It would not feel good if this part fell on either of us if the ship were to shift quickly. Are you able to move the other without assistance? It is quite heavy,” Jeil called.

“I think I have it,” AJ said, tugging on the transducer until it was close enough to be lifted out. “I suppose it’d be helpful if I dropped the artificial gravity to fifty percent or so.”

“When we replace these transducers, I would recommend doing just that,” Jeil said. “They are more massive than I recall in the specifications.”

“Who knows?” AJ said as Jeil climbed into the ’tween deck that suddenly was significantly more spacious.

“I am not sure which panel,” Jeil said, holding an electronic pad in front.

“Here,” AJ said, settling next to a panel Beverly had highlighted and removed fasteners.

“Why yes, you are right,” Jeil said. “You know this vessel better than I expected.”

“I get lucky,” AJ said, standing. “How about you keep working on this and I’ll get the solvent.”

Jeil sighed at the mention of the solvent which caused AJ’s grin to widen.

“What do you have going on down there?” Darnell asked as AJ swung up onto the deck.

“Jeil and I are working on the turret traveler, getting it ready for the parts,” AJ said. “What are you doing up?”

“Time to get to work,” Darnell said. “I’ll bring the parts when they get here.”

“Sure,” AJ said. “I just need to remove the duct tape. I’ll give you one guess as to what stresses out a Vred engineer.”

“Duct tape?” Darnell asked, chuckling.

“That’s right. We’ll be here for a while. I left things a mess when I EVA’d,” AJ said.

“Of course,” Darnell said. “Shouldn’t be too long.”

AJ grabbed his tool bag and returned to where Jeil had just removed the panel. “Did you do this while outside the vessel and approaching fighter pilots?” Jeil asked.

“I made a mess, but sometimes in the heat of combat, we do what is necessary, even if it’s not ideal,” AJ said. “In retrospect, I’m not sure Blaze and Gozni can really be classified as fighter pilots. Sure, against an unarmed ship, they could make trouble, but it’s more like a mugging than combat.”

“You do know that Blaze was killed for his behavior, right?”

“I suspected that was the case,” AJ said. “Lun’Dao had a tough choice to make. I believe I would have done the same thing.”

“Also, I would like some of this … whatever it is. The characteristics of it are unexpected,” Jeil said. “I am not pleased at the residual that must be cleansed, but the effectiveness cannot be overlooked.”

“I have an extra roll, if you’d like some,” AJ said, holding a silver-gray roll of tape out for the young Vred.

“I would, very much. Do you have the means to manufacture this?”

AJ laughed. “I can put you in contact with the firm that produces it back on Earth. I’m sure they’d love to expand their marketing reach by a couple of million light years.”

“Yes, I would like that very much,” Jeil said. “Let us use a brush to make sure this is perfectly clean.”

The two soon had the broken piece removed and the surface cleaned to Jeil’s exacting standard. With some precision welding, the likes AJ had never seen, Jeil repaired the gouges in the traveler track and then ground that same track down to an exacting specification. By the time they’d cleaned up the mess, Darnell had joined them with a box full of parts.

“I have so enjoyed working with you on this project, Albert Jenkins,” Jeil said. “Fast Trader is a remarkable vessel, truly a gem amongst its peers. Mother has asked that I share with you a name; Narpel Rocha. It is a bar. You are to be there tomorrow evening.”

“And that’s just that?” AJ asked.

“That is all I know on the matter,” Jeil said. “Now should we install these other parts? I do not believe they will be anywhere near as difficult and perhaps you could tell me how the damage we’re seeing occurred. There is nothing I am familiar with that would break these components in the way I have seen.”

AJ pulled the transducer over to where it belonged as Jeil played out the line. With a small line and pully in place, the work was considerably easier than AJ expected.

“I’m not sure that sharing this information would be any less damming than most of what you’ve seen,” AJ said. “I ask for your confidence in these matters, though.”

“Certainly.”

“A ship looking for us utilized electronic pulses, presumably to cause damage to ship’s systems and expose what might otherwise be hidden. Most of the damage was caused by that,” AJ said.

“I should have put that together,” Jeil said. “I was trying to figure out what kind of surge was possible with these systems. It just did not make sense, although an external source certainly does. It is impressive that you escaped the weapon you describe. It can be quite devastating to small vessels that are not well shielded. Would you be willing to share the data of the attack? I am quite curious about the energy, how it was received and disbursed.”

“There were a few fires,” AJ said. “I’ll talk to Darnell and Lisa. I imagine we can get you some of the data. We have to be careful about what we’re sharing. I’m sure you understand.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Jeil said. “Let us finish up here. I cannot wait to visit Chalinus. I have been aboard Wandering Haven for several months. Just visiting Fast Trader was quite a treat. I cannot imagine eating a meal from something other than ship’s stores. And do not let Lun’Dao know I said such a thing.”

“Okay, okay,” AJ said laughing.

The two moved throughout the ship, testing systems and repairing components that had burned, where they had parts. With Jeil’s expertise, they located several more systems that had been affected by the electronic pulse attack, which only added to the parts that needed repair.

“You boys should come forward,” Darnell called over the public address. “We’re approaching Nexaron Drift, it’s visible through the glass now.”

“Huh, we’ve landed on a dozen planets,” AJ said. “He never calls me forward.”

“Nexaron Drift is a view you will not soon forget, Albert Jenkins,” Jeil said. “The main planetoid was separated from the steps and the smaller planetoid while the solar system was forming. That it stays together in its current form has challenged many physicists’ views on gravity and attraction. Regardless, it is quite beautiful.”

As they’d been talking, the two moved to the crew area where the glass overhead gave a three-hundred-sixty-degree view.

“That’s breathtaking,” AJ said when he looked out at the collection of masses that made up Nexaron Drift. “Is there a shared atmosphere? How is there greenery on some of those steps? They’re too small to support an atmosphere.”

“Those steps are domed,” Jeil answered. “The design of the domes is such that they do not reflect light as, for example, glass might. Light passes through in both directions, like with glass, but more efficiently.”

“This truly is a once in a lifetime experience,” Lisa said. “And just for the curious at heart, do we know where we’re going once we land?”

“Sort of,” AJ said. “We have a clue: Narpel Rocha.”

“That’s not particularly hard,” Jeil said. “It is a bar.”

20

TROUBLE FINDS ITS OWN

“Jeil, it was my pleasure to work with you,” AJ said tapping a transfer of a thousand credits onto Jeil’s wrist computer. They stood outside Fast Trader, which had landed on a pad within one of a few spaceports in Chalinus.

“You should not have done that,” Jeil said. “My participation in your repairs was a work of joy, there was no expectation for further payment.”

“And you’re a young man in an exotic alien city,” AJ said. “A little traveling cash is just what the doctor ordered, wouldn’t you think? You’ll meet up with your shipmates later?”

“Ah, yes, Wandering Haven has set down in Vaelthar, four hundred kilometers from Chalinus. I will explore as I await instructions. Do you need assistance finding Narpel Rocha?”

Without saying it out loud, Jeil showed interest in the bar and AJ had no doubt he was intensely curious about AJ’s meeting. AJ had other ideas. “We’ve all morning to see about the other parts we need,” AJ said. “If you want to stick around until this afternoon, you’re welcome. It’s not safe to include you at Narpel Rocha. There is trouble about and you don’t need to become part of it.”

“I understand,” Jeil said, disappointment showing on his reptilian face. But then he brightened. “I bet we can get the compensators for the mounting beneath Engine One manufactured this morning. It’s a larger piece, but not very complex. We could get any repair yard to do the work. I could make some calls if you are amenable, but only on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“No more paying me,” he said. “I cannot be compensated for something I wish to offer.”

“Fair enough,” AJ said. Just then Darnell and Lisa exited the ship. Lisa held a thin grav palette beneath her arm. “Where are you guys off to?”

“Chandlery,” Darnell said. “I’m adding three weeks of food. They had a good selection of fresh with a good shelf life. I hope you’re ready for some odd citrus.”

“An open mind for food is a requirement for travel like this, I’d say,” AJ said, enjoying the heat from the star over Chalinus. “After we’re done with all this, I’m taking a beach vacation. Are you guys in for that?”

“Keep dreaming, big fella,” Lisa said. “We’re never done.” And with that, she and Darnell walked off, presumably toward the chandlery.

“I found a shop that will make your compensator for forty-five hundred credits,” Jeil said. “They can have it ready in ninety minutes.”

“That’s a reasonable price and fits our timetable,” AJ said. “Let’s do it.”

And so the mundane work of preparing Fast Trader for the next leg of its journey continued until late afternoon, where the crew, once again bade farewell to Jeil.

“Did he seem hesitant to go, like maybe he’d been given instructions to tag along?” Lisa asked.

“That possible,” AJ said. “Lun’Dao has her hand in a lot of deals. I bet she’s trying to figure out if what we’re doing is something she wants to get involved in.”

Lisa chuffed a laugh. “Oh heck no she doesn’t. If she thinks a couple of kids running hotrods are pirates, she’d have a whole other opinion of what Iron Syndicate would bring her way.”

“I doubt any but the oldest of Vred families could give Iron Syndicate a run for their money,” AJ said. “And even then, it goes against their pacifistic ways.”

“So just opportunistic, then,” Darnell said.

“Don’t say that like it’s a bad thing,” AJ said. “Working with Wandering Haven benefitted us.”

“How do you want to work this tonight?” Lisa asked. “Everyone goes to Narpel Rocha? We can rent grav scooters if we want to be self-reliant or they have the Nexaron’s version of Uber we could use.”

“Talk to me about the scooters,” AJ said.

“Let me look,” Lisa said.

“If you don’t mind,” Beverly said, appearing between them wearing a dark green poncho and head gear that looked a bit like headphones. She sat atop a long craft that hovered in the air.

“Princess Leia on a land speeder. Try harder,” AJ said.

“It is apropos, so don’t rain on my parade,” Beverly said. “The grav scooters aren’t exactly this shape, but when you put in an order, the scooters autonomously show up when and where you specify. There is always a chance of rain in Chalinus due to the ice sea so close to the geothermal pocket that heats Chalinus. It is a consideration for the scooters which have little weather protection. Tonight should be clear, though.”

“I’ll get them ordered,” Lisa said. “How are you dressing, AJ?”

“Civilian clothes,” AJ said. “Probably jeans, clean shirt, that sort of thing.”

“How late are we staying at Narpel Rocha and how are we planning to find this guy?” Darnell asked.

“Word has been passed that we’re interested in talking with him,” AJ said. “If he wants to talk, I imagine we’ll stick out enough that he’ll find us.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Darnel asked.

“We’ll get louder about our inquiries,” AJ said. “If he’s not using his real name, then he probably doesn’t want people throwing it around as they look for him. So if he plays games, we’ll just start asking around about him.”

“We’re exposed,” Darnell said. “Are we bringing weapons?”

“Yes,” AJ said. “I’m carrying my 1911 from home. Chalinus doesn’t have any ordinances against open carry.”

“That’ll get some looks,” Darnell said. “I’ve seen energy weapons being carried, but nothing as old-school as gunpowder.”

“Won’t they be surprised if I have to use it?” AJ said.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Darnell asked.

“Sure, Lisa, schedule us to take off in forty minutes? We’ll get drinks and a late dinner. I hope they have entertainment,” AJ said. “I wouldn’t mind kicking back a bit.”

Forty minutes later, three boxy grav scooters sat down in a neat row outside Free Trader. Not nearly as romantically shaped as the land speeders from Star Wars, the scooters had comfortable chairs that adjusted to a variety of shapes and sizes and upon command, a rain fly could be pulled over top of the rider.

“Last one there’s a rotten egg!” AJ hooted after jumping onto the scooter and juicing the throttle. If not for the craft’s excellent crash avoidance technology, he would have run straight into a slow-moving cargo hauler, but as it was, he veered around, earning angrily shouted words, which he couldn’t hear as he zipped on.

The ride to Narpel Rocha took twenty minutes as the scooters had limited routes they would accept and also a limited maximum speed, if not acceleration, allowed by the passengers. It was just after 1900 local time when they arrived at a dark stone building. The only signs of life were colored lights in two small windows facing the street.

“They look closed,” Darnell said removing his helmet and storing it on the scooter. “And that was about as much fun as I’ve had in a while. Why don’t we have those on Fast Trader, it’d save a lot of time running around town.”

“Only one way to find out.” AJ walked boldly to the double doors which gave no hints as to the activity within.

“There are a number of local vehicles in the parking area,” Lisa said, pointing at a lot adjacent to the one-story stone building.

“Funny how some things are the same as home,” AJ said, opening the door.

Loud music and a vapor cloud poured into the street. The smell of old alcohol and tobacco followed. “Is that pot?” Lisa asked. “It smells funky.”

A thickset Hafnie greeted them as they entered the building, and stopped, allowing their eyes to adjust to the dim lighting that was occluded by smoke. “Big for Hafnies and we don’t need any trouble here, Stora,” he said. “What’s your business.”

“Just looking for food, drinks, and a place to sit for a minute,” AJ said. “And not Hafnie, I’m human, so is he. We’re not looking for trouble.”

“Well, trouble finds its own, now, doesn’t it?”

AJ pulled forty credits to his virtual fingers and flicked it at the Hafnie greeter. “Like I said, we’re just looking for dinner, drinks and a little entertainment.”

“We have a full security staff, we will not put up with trouble,” the Hafnie said.

AJ flicked the Hafnie another forty credits. “Are we good to go inside?”

“Go ahead.”

“This music is crazy,” Lisa said, raising long arms over head and swinging with the beat. As they walked, she spun around the two men with a big smile on her face.

“There’s a table,” AJ said, pointing to a table that sat against the wall.

Where Nexaron was populated mostly by Hafnie species, which looked like squat humans, due from high gravity home worlds, the bar had a varied mix of aliens. The trio drew attention as they worked their way through the light crowd. Lisa, standing head and shoulders taller than anyone in the club, couldn’t have been more oblivious, with pure delight on her face.

“We’re saving this table,” a Hafnie said, having made his way across the room to inform AJ.

“That is very generous of you. We didn’t even call ahead,” AJ said, slipping into one of the four chairs at the table.

“Get out of here, half-breed,” the Hafnie said. “We don’t take your kind here.”

Lisa, who’d been trailing behind, caught up to the group, a smile still covering her face. She dropped her long arms onto the Hafnie and danced with him, or at least next to him. “What’s your name, handsome?”

Apparently, the Hafnie hadn’t seen that AJ and Darnell were traveling with a Stora. The Hafnie’s ordinarily ruddy complexion turned a shade of gray as he stepped back. “Um, Meshik. I am Meshik.”

“You don’t sound too sure of yourself,” Lisa said. “Now what’s this about our kind? You’re not giving my boys any trouble, are you? We just want to have a nice time. Do you dance, Meshik? Come on now, don’t be shy.” She pulled on the Hafnie’s shoulders, moving him out into the room where there was open space for dancing. It was clear Meshik wasn’t a dancer, but like a cat with its favorite mouse, every time he tried to escape her, Lisa circled around and drew him back to the dance floor.

“It’s hard to watch,” Darnell said. “She’s unmerciful.”

“BB, grab the menu,would you? You know what we like, maybe you could order for us,” AJ said.

Beverly appeared on the table wearing a short dress that just barely covered her backside and a plunging neckline that was perfect for clubbing but just about nothing else. “This is a fun place,” Beverly said. “Why don’t you take us to more places like this?”

“With your projections, you could make our crew space look like this,” AJ said. “What’s the difference?”

“The energy is different here,” she said. “You’re having a Lunara Drought which is made from the locally grown Ormariis Bloom plant. It’s very popular amongst visitors for its potency. We’ll have to manage that a bit. Are you feeling like snacks or real food? They have something like nachos, not really corn chips, but it’s finger food. Or they have an award-winning plant-based steak. They have good social proof for the food here. Not only Hafnies like it.”

“I trust you, Beverly,” AJ said. “Get three of those Lunara Droughts. Lisa will run out of energy for her little game with Meshik after a while.”

“Especially if there are drinks involved,” Darnell said. “Now that alcohol barely touches her, she loves drinking.”

“I’ll get a spread of food. We’re looking at a couple of hundred credits. A big order should settle down the management, who are still watching Lisa, by the way,” Beverly said.

“Sure,” AJ said, kicking back in the comfortable bar chair. Resting his head against the wall, he allowed his eyes to close. They’d been running hard and fast since they’d received the first contact with Wandering Haven. He hadn’t had a moment of down time.

Ten minutes later, AJ heard Lisa’s happy whoop. “Drinks for all of us? I love you AJ,” she said, enthusiastically grabbing a glowing narrow cone shaped glass containing ten centimeters of light blue liquid.

“Lunara Drought,” AJ said, opening his eyes and sitting forward. “BB thought we’d enjoy it.”

“Cheers then,” Lisa said, holding one of the drinks into the center of the table. Darnell and AJ followed suit.

“Cheers,” AJ agreed. “You let Meshik off the hook unscathed, then?”

Lisa giggled as she took a long draw of the drink. “I told him he was a wonderful dancer and that I’d be looking for him later.”

“Oh Lord, that must have terrified him,” Darnell said.

“He did seem rather relieved when I sent him scurrying off. If he’d been smart, he’d have bought me a drink. These are delicious,” she said, finishing her drink and setting it on the table.

“Your food,” a young man said, setting plates on the table until there was little room left.

The trio watched the people of the bar as they ate and drank until they were full. Lisa talked Darnell into joining her on the dance floor, although he soon ran out of interest or energy for it and returned to the table to rest.

“Any contact yet?” Darnell asked, finishing his drink. “I’m going to need another one of those.”

“The night is still young,” AJ said. “You should pace yourself. We have no idea what we’re getting into.”

“It’s a bar, it’s not a huge mystery,” Darnell said. “You know, some of those Hafnie women could make for human under the right circumstances.”

“You’ve been looking, have you?” Lisa asked.

“It’s not like that,” Darnell said. “It was just an observation. How long are we waiting around before we start asking questions?”

“We’re not asking anything tonight,” AJ said. “If we need to come back tomorrow, we can get curious then.”

“The drinks aren’t that good,” Darnell said. “This music is too loud.”

“Is it time for an old man nap?” Lisa taunted. “Come on, Darnell, dance with me. You used to have some moves. Dust ‘em off.”

“Are you serious? I can’t even find the beat to most of this music.”

“Come on, already,” Lisa said, pulling on his arm.

“One dance,” Darnell said and followed Lisa out onto the dance floor where the crowd was already starting to winnow due to the late hour.

AJ smiled, sipping on a second drink. The alcohol content wasn’t as much as he’d had, but after two drinks, he knew he’d lose perspective if he kept going.

“Visiting from off planet?” an older Hafnie woman asked from the next table over. “Not a lot of people who aren’t from around here know to visit.”

“Well, if the greeting at the front door is universal, I have another theory as to why you don’t get a lot of visitors,” AJ said.

“Yes, I suppose. Nexaron can be a little tribal. People around here don’t want trouble,” she said. “Where do you hail from?”

“It’s a long way away,” AJ said. “I doubt you’ve heard of it.”

“Oh really. I like to think of myself as well read, try me,” she said.

“Earth,” AJ said. “My buddy and I are human.”

“That is rather interesting,” she said. “As you said, you’ve traveled a fair distance. What brings you out here?”

“Truth or a lie?” AJ asked.

The woman laughed. “Is it a good lie?”

“Not overly imaginative.”

“Let’s hear it first?”

“Traders,” AJ said. “We buy high end, luxury goods from exotic locales. There’s word of a special type of crystal made in Chalinus. We’re on a speculation run.”

“Oh, that is intriguing,” she answered. “What kind of crystal, if you don’t mind me delving into your rich fantasy life?”

“You’re a local then?” AJ asked, turning toward the woman. If he used human aging as a way to evaluate, she looked to be in her mid-fifties. She had thick salt and pepper hair that was braided into a ponytail that reached to her shoulder blades. AJ imagined she was Hafnie, although she was considerably more slender than most Hafnies.

“I suppose I am,” she said. “You didn’t mention the type of crystal you were looking for. Perhaps I know something of it and can help.”

“You’d help a total stranger?”

“Maybe I’d be helping the purveyor of the exotic crystal. It could be worth something to me. I might be that sort of person,” she said.

“This Lunara Draught is interesting,” AJ said chuckling. “I almost think we should take a few Ormariis Bloom plants back with us. But then, it’s a lot of work to get fauna through customs in most places.”

“Oh yes, the Ormariis Bloom is used in teas and baking as well,” she said. “It is during the fermentation process where it gains a slight luminescence. Of course, the glasses are lit from beneath to really make something of it.”

“I don’t have it on any authority, but I think the crystal was called Marsi,” AJ said, studying the woman’s face. “Marsi Th…”

“Oh, don’t do that,” the Hafnie woman said, her face growing grim. She reached over to interrupt AJ. “Please do not finish that sentence. That is a name that has not been spoken in decades and it is critical this does not change. I agreed to meet you here only because I need to stop whatever rumor has been started. I am no longer in the business of physics. I am a simple shop owner.”

“I don’t want to scare you,” AJ said. “We’re not trying to cause you trouble, but trouble exists, and there is a very powerful Tok who believes you could be of help.”

“So they’ve found me. You’ve been sent to bring me back,” she said. “I was so careful. I cannot believe it has come to this. I would rather die than continue that work.”

“Look, Mars,” AJ said, shortening her name. “I think you don’t have enough of the story. Whatever you think that work was, is already complete.”

“I dearly hope you do not know what you are saying. And we must talk somewhere else,” she said. “There are too many ears. Follow my lead?”

“Well, sure,” AJ said.

The woman AJ had called Mars stood and sauntered over, leaning in against him, her hand cradling the side of his head.

“What are you doing?” AJ asked, his face only centimeters from hers.

“This bar is known for temporary partners to find each other,” she said quietly. “I have come here a few times seeking companionship. It has not been good for my soul, but I also do not judge others. Please I mean no disrespect, but this is the best way.”

“Um, well, sure,” AJ said.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than did Mars lean in again. They exchanged a passionate kiss that AJ found confusing.

“That’s very nice,” she said, pulling back. “Tell me your name. It can be a fantasy name if you wish.”

“Albert Jenkins,” AJ said. “You deserve at least that bit of truth.”

“I will lead you from this bar and we will go to a quiet place where you will explain why my name is within your mouth,” she said. “I will not leave with you, though. I will not participate in the madness of the path so many seek. I am a peaceful woman.”

21

OUT SPIED

“What in the heck was that?” Lisa asked when she and Darnell returned from dancing. “Or maybe, who was that?”

“It was our contact, she gave me an address,” AJ said.

“Let’s get going then,” Lisa said.

“I’m going alone,” AJ answered. “She made it clear that she wouldn’t talk otherwise.”

“That’s ridiculous. How do you know it’s not some sort of setup?” Lisa asked.

“I agree,” Darnell said.

“I’ll have Beverly stream my location and the conversation,” AJ said. “If anything goes wrong, you can swoop in on your land speeders.”

“Depends on where you’re going. The rental bikes have a predefined area of operation. I’m going to guess, your new buddy doesn’t live on the grid.”

“All I have is an address and I’m not about to punch that into a municipal system,” AJ said.

“How will you get there, then?”

“I’ll manage,” AJ said.

“I don’t like it,” Lisa said. “We’re dealing with political entities that can crush whole cities. I think Cer sees us as expendable in this process. I don’t.”

“Nor do I,” AJ said. “I’ll be careful. I’m in a good headspace,” he hastily added.

“When will you go?” Lisa asked, watching as AJ drained the remainder of his drink.

“I’ll give her half an hour,” AJ said. “I don’t need anyone associating the two of us any more than they already have.”

“As crazy as this place is getting, I can’t imagine anyone remembering their first name, much less your connection,” Lisa said. “Dance with me?”

“Who, me?” AJ asked. “It looked like Darnell was holding his own just fine. You don’t need me.”

“Oh, no you don’t, bub. I did my time and now it’s yours.”

“I don’t have any moves, Lisa,” AJ said.

“You’ll be fine,” she said, pulling AJ from his chair out to the dance floor where the strange music was even louder than at the table where they’d been sitting.

“Was that a messenger or our actual contact? I thought it was a he, not a middle-aged woman,” she said.

“That’s how she identified herself,” AJ said, keeping his center of balance close and moving conservatively with the difficult to follow beat.

“See, you’re doing great,” Lisa said. “Think of yourself as the anchor and your date as a kite. Let your partner grab the attention of onlookers.”

“You’re saying you want me to be the vase not the flower,” AJ said. “You know, that’s feels sexist.”

“I’ll be your vase, AJ,” Lisa said. “Just let me know when you want to unleash the kraken.”

“I think I’m fine being the vase.”

“How about Darnell and I get out of here before you?” Lisa asked. “You go to the restroom and we’ll draw attention as we leave. We’re being watched. What I can’t tell is if it’s those guys we tussled with at the beginning or something else.”

“Make room?” Darnell asked, joining Lisa and AJ.

“Sure, hon,” Lisa said, shifting so Darnell was part of the group.

“What’s up?”

“There might be trouble,” Darnell said.

“We were just discussing that,” AJ said. “We have some persistent eyes on us. Lisa had an exit strategy.”

“No, it’s more,” Darnell said, pulling out a phone-sized translucent electronic tablet. “Take a look through this.”

“Is this what I think it is?” AJ asked, holding the electronic tablet in a way that looked like he was reading something. In fact, he was looking through the glass of the tablet to the bar where he saw pixelated purple dots swirling around the club patrons. The pixelated dots were concentrated toward the back of the club.

“Yes,” Darnell said. “It’s attuned to Lamia. I don’t know how she knows about this location. I don’t think she could have followed us, but she’s here, nonetheless.”

“In the bar?” Lisa asked. “We’ll grab that no good goober and lock her in the brig.”

“Hold,” Darnell corrected.

“Whatever.”

“My read on this is that she’s not here now. It’s possible she followed your contact, AJ,” Darnell said.

“Dammit!” AJ said. “I’m keeping this and I’m leaving.”

“Things have changed, AJ,” Lisa said, grabbing his arm before he could leave. “This isn’t the time to split up.”

“Nothing has changed,” AJ said. “Beverly will monitor. If Iron Syndicate is on us, they might have brought vessels that can cause us trouble. We need to get Free Trader ready to go, tonight.”

“We need to resupply,” Darnell said.

“Then go,” AJ urged, looking at Lisa’s hand around his arm. “I’ve got this, Lisa. Go make sure we have a way to get out of here. I have a feeling we’re going to be moving fast.”

“Let us go first, like we planned,” Lisa said. “We’ll draw off as many as we can.”

“AJ, I have a rental speeder coming,” Beverly said. “It’ll arrive in one-hundred-eighty seconds.”

“Okay, go,” AJ said. “I need to use the restroom anyway.”

AJ broke off and headed toward the back of the club where a sign indicating bathrooms was lightly illuminated. On a virtual screen provided by Beverly, he watched a group of Hafnies track his progress while watching Lisa and Darnell. After a quick conversation, they made a decision. A pair stayed behind, the other four hurried in pursuit of his friends.

“I’m sending this surveillance to Seamus, AJ. Would you hold the particle detector so it scans that side of the bar? I would like to see how much interaction they had with Lamia,” Beverly said.

AJ held a phone-sized device at his side, pointing it toward the group that had shown interest. Particles interacted in that general area, but he couldn’t pay enough attention to know for sure what he was seeing. “Is it working?” he asked. For Beverly to see something, she had to connect with his visual cortex. Her ability to process his peripheral visual data was better than his own, if not a little confusing without it being processed by her first.

“Pan both directions a little more and tilt up. It’s good as you have it, but I’d like to see a little more,” Beverly said.

AJ slowed as he got closer to the entrance to the restrooms. There were no doors and with the evening progressing, there weren’t many entering or exiting. “Do you have what you need?” AJ asked.

“Yes, you’re good to keep going,” Beverly said. “It looks like they might be coming to intercept you.”

“That’s not very nice,” AJ said.

Entering the bathroom, AJ smiled. Like the front of the club, there weren’t many windows in the bathroom. The two there were high on the wall and open, providing fresh air for the club.

“Give me a boost?” he asked quietly. A sour taste in his mouth occurred as Beverly tweaked his adrenal glands. With a burst of energy, he ran toward the back wall and leapt at the open window, three meters above the floor. He easily reached the window and pulled himself up and through, twisting his torso so that he still held the window frame, even though he was outside.

“What’s the landing look like?” he asked.

“Swing to your right two meters,” Beverly said.

AJ did as she suggested and managed to only bang up the side of his hip as he landed with a crunch on a crushed gravel bed.

“What is that?” he asked, rubbing his hip.

“Club mechanicals,” Beverly answered as he looked back to what he’d missed, a rat’s nest of pipes and valves.

A shout carried through the window and AJ heard a whump as someone attempted to exit in the same way he had. He had no desire to stick around so he ran from around the back of the club just as a rental speeder confidently landed next to him.

“That’s convenient,” he said, taking the handlebar and accepting the prompt asking for payment. Throwing a leg over the seat, he leaned to the side and banked into the street, turning away from the club. “How are Lisa and Big D faring?”

“Seamus reports they have followers. He believes Lisa is leading them to a location where she intends to confront them,” Beverly said.

“Put us on intercept to that location,” AJ said. “I can provide backup. Ask Seamus how many he’s expecting.”

“Four on three vehicles.”

“AJ, knock it off, we have this under control. That old gal you were talking to probably can’t say the same,” Lisa said. “Go be a hero, already.”

“Gah, be safe,” AJ said, turning back toward the address given to him by Marsi. The location he was to travel to was only ten kilometers away, which on the speeder shouldn’t have taken too long. Unfortunately, as they anticipated, the speeder gave up while still five kilometers away.

“We’re on foot then?” Beverly asked.

“Looks like it,” AJ said, tapping a return button on the speeder to send it back. It had been some time since he’d run in human form, but he remained in excellent shape due to Beverly’s constant attention. At first, his legs protested, but his muscles and ligaments warmed up and he found the cool night air to be refreshing as much as the exercise was invigorating. “Tell me, BB, how did they get a tracker on Lamia? How’d they even know she’d be on that Iron Syndicate executive shuttle if you were knocked out?”

“Cer was involved as is evidenced by the appearance of Fast Trader,” Beverly said as if it explained everything. And to some degree it did. Tok were highly advanced aliens who could teleport live matter, including people, without difficulty. Knowing who might be aboard a vessel wasn’t a stretch for Tok.

“Can you posit why Lamia would be on Nexaron Main?”

“We somehow have led her here is my analysis,” Beverly said. “Somehow she or Iron Syndicate figured out where we were going.”

“Is it possible that Fast Trader was leaking enough emissions that they tracked us that way. That instead of destroying, they followed us?” AJ asked. “We burned out a lot of components. I have to wonder if we lit up like a Christmas tree for that spy hunter vessel.”

“That is plausible,” Beverly said. “What we know for certain is that Lamia is a force to be reckoned with. I predict she will attempt to make a play for you. You will need to be very careful if you have contact with her.”

“Oh, babe,” AJ said. “You seem to think I’m not the jilted lover, here. I am. Lamia should avoid any kind of contact with me. She was in the room while they tortured me. I’ll never forget the words that came from her mouth. I already have trust issues. You don’t need to worry.”

“Her kind emit pheromones, AJ,” Beverly said. “It makes them perfect for spy craft.”

“Good thing I travel with someone who can combat something as simple as pheromones,” AJ said.

“That is just the thing, AJ, I am not certain I can,” Beverly said. “Pheromones cause a physical reaction that is difficult to counteract. You need to be ready to face this battle on your own. You might not listen to me if you have been compromised.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I’m betting on my anger to get us past whatever voodoo woo woo she might try,” AJ said.

“We are here, AJ,” Beverly said, highlighting a building two hundred meters up the hill. The roads in this part of Chalinus had turned from a solid surface similar to asphalt to frozen gravel pathways.

“Let’s come in slow,” AJ said, slowing to a walk. He pulled the sub-atomic particle detector from his pocket and scanned. The hillside showed concentrations of the particles in front of the inexpensive, blocky building. “Are you finding any security we need to be careful of?”

“Most of the homes have some sort of video surveillance. They will pick up on movement, and it is possible they will recognize you as humanoid,” she said. “If you stay to the common pathways, even behind the houses, it might not be reported right away.”

“It’s worth a risk,” AJ said, turning off the main path onto what amounted to a deer trail leading across the hilly yards that separated rows of housing. Surefooted, he concentrated on moving quickly and avoiding obstacles that would either stop him or make noise. At one point, a light popped on, freezing him in place. When two minutes later that light extinguished and no one came to investigate, he moved again until he was finally behind the address professor Marsi Thalor had provided.

“I think it is likely Lamia is present,” Beverly said as AJ scanned the back of the building. Through glass windows, lavender particles bounced down stairwells from above. Their movement alone suggested her presence.

“Are you picking up any other people?” AJ asked.

The words had no more left his mouth but two figures, illuminated by Beverly’s virtual projection, appeared inside the darkened, lower level of the building. AJ sunk low and pulled a pistol from his belt.

“What are you doing, AJ?”

“Those guys are wearing standard issue Iron Syndicate uniforms,” AJ said. “This isn’t going to be one of those peaceful resolutions that you talk about. Wait until one of those guys is turned to the side and the other is looking away. Give him a quick flash of light, but just enough to pique his curiosity.”

“You want them outside?”

“If we could trade places without anyone being the wiser, I’d be all about that,” AJ said. “I doubt they’ll be amenable.”

“Allow me a chance?” Beverly asked.

“If you have any bright ideas, I’m all in,” AJ said.

“Stay crouched and open your mouth, I’ll do the rest,” she said.

“This should be interesting,” AJ said, following her instructions.

A moment later, a flash from his belt illuminated the area around him. Not unexpectedly, the darkened figures turned their attention to the back yard.

“Don’t move, AJ,” Beverly said quietly.

“I understand the drill,” AJ answered subvocally.

“Keep your mouth open,” she said as he naturally closed his mouth.

“Sorry,” AJ answered and opened his mouth again.

A strange vocalization sounded from AJ’s throat. It was a mix of a cry for help and angry words. The thing was, it sounded like it was coming from the opposite side of the yard. The noise was loud enough that light soon pierced the night as two powerful beams showed on the backyard from within the house. AJ stayed in his location and lowered himself into the brush even more so than he already had. Soon a door opened from the lower level and the pair advanced into the yard.

“Open again,” Beverly said, reminding him. AJ complied and a similar noise sounded.

“Over there,” the man in the lead said with excitement. “I think I see something.”

“It could be the one we’re looking for,” the second answered.

“We need to stay close,” the first said.

“You know what it would do for us if we got the saboteur, right?”

Apparently, the words were all that were needed to overcome any fear of the night either might have had.

“I see what you did there,” AJ said, quietly sneaking to the open door on the lower level. “You do know that if they come back, we’d probably have been better to deal with them instead of letting them run free.”

AJ closed and locked the door behind him as he slipped inside. He could hear a discussion on the level above him and thought he recognized Lamia’s voice.

“I believe there are four people above. It is possible someone is not moving, and they would remain hidden to my limited ability,” Beverly said.

AJ held his pistol up and crept around to the stairs. He could not see the second level and kept his back to the wall as he worked his way up. The voices were louder and easier to distinguish as he ascended the stairs.

“The Iron Syndicate has legal capacity for conscription,” Lamia said plainly. “If you were to come cooperatively, you would be free to leave once we’ve accomplished our mission. Otherwise, you will have a contract that requires fulfilling. It appears these two are also of sufficient age for conscription. Is that what you really want?”

AJ turned into a room at the top of the stairs, and saw the backs of a pair of adolescent Hafnies standing with their arms crossed and clearly stressed.

“Iron Syndicate has no right for conscription on Nexaron Drift,” Marsi said, spitting her words out angrily.

“You have me there,” Lamia said smoothly. “But then, you’re in hiding. You won’t exactly be able to prove you’ve come from Nexaron Drift, even if you were able to find counsel who would bring suit against Iron Syndicate.”

“I have to know,” AJ said, stepping confidently into the room with his gun back in its holster. “Was the whole torture thing just to pass time while you waited for my rescue? What’s your play here? I figured you’d be headed back to Krevnor instead of running all the way out here, chasing me.”

“Who are you, Albert Jenkins?” Lamia asked, not skipping a beat. “You change faces like others change clothes.”

“You’re looking at the real me,” AJ said. “As real as I get. Now how about you shove off and leave the nice lady and her kids alone?”

“I can’t do that,” Lamia said. “You want to know why I’m here? It’s because when you blew up Rigor Justic you damn near killed Kofeen. He’s been in a coma, so we need another scientist. Apparently, so do you. What do you want to just turn around and leave? I’m sure I could get Iron Syndicate to pay.”

“Iron Syndicate probably holds a grudge. I doubt they’re going to make any deals with me that I get to live to enjoy.”

“Please, leave my girls out of this,” Marsi said. “I’ll go with you, but there is no reason for you to involve my family.”

“Don’t be naïve, Professor Thalor,” AJ said. “You know as well as anyone that your girls are leverage that Iron Syndicate will never give up. I assume Lamia has explained that Morlak Kofeen, I presume an old colleague of yours, invented a weapon using the fozelium. She might not have explained that Iron Syndicate intends to sell that to the Quarr, who are looking to start a war with Galactic Empire.”

“Is this true, Ms. Lamia? You have a weapon?” Marsi asked.

“A weapon worth as much as this entire, forsaken planet,” Lamia growled. “Come with me, get manufacturing back online, and I’ll make sure you have enough money to buy your own private moon where you won’t have to hide from anyone because Iron Syndicate will post an entire damn patrol to keep you safe.”

22

SCRAPES

“This isn’t a negotiation, and you won’t be taking anyone anywhere, Lamia,” AJ said. “Professor Thalor, Galactic Empire needs to talk to you about Kofeen’s weapon. Iron Syndicate is looking to sell this technology to Quarr. The threat to Galactic Empire is real and imminent.”

“Oh, AJ, it is cute that you believe you have anything to say in this conversation,” Lamia said. “I allowed you to be heard because I was curious about your sales pitch. I have the backing of Iron Syndicate, so you’re right, this isn’t a negotiation, but you have over-estimated the balance of power.”

“Are you talking about your men in the back yard?” AJ asked, smiling as he heard Lisa talking in his ear. “Or how about the three out front? Did you have another vessel on the ground? Your pilot didn’t put up much of a fight.”

“You’re bluffing,” Lamia said angrily tapping a communication bud in her ear. “Ground leader, come in.”

“Trust me, Lamia, they’re not going to answer,” AJ said, shaking his head slowly. “We really could have done the right thing for the people of the Galactic Empire. It’s still not too late.”

“It baffles me how you cannot see the immense potential,” Lamia said. “Quarr are a means to an end. There is always the next bigger technology in war. This weapon is just a blip and will not cause as much damage as you believe. If we do things as you suggest, we lose control of the outcomes as well as a revenue stream larger than anything any of us could imagine. You are a small thinker.”

“Lamia, my team is onsite and will be coming in,” AJ said. “You have exactly three minutes to vacate or we’re taking you into custody to be turned over to Galactic Empire. If you continue to interfere, you’ll be treated as a hostile combatant. I don’t know how to make this clearer, but you need to walk away. Your opportunities have evaporated.”

Lamia held the communication bud in her ear and spoke quietly. Consternation grew on her face as she received no response. “You’re making a mistake, AJ. Iron Syndicate isn’t done with this.” She turned and gracefully made her way to exit the house.

“Lisa, Lamia is coming out,” AJ said. “Let her leave.”

“Good copy, AJ,” Lisa answered. “Tell me you’re glad we followed you here. You were being bossy about it earlier but I knew better. Now, you need to admit it.”

“I admit it,” AJ said laughing. “You are all-knowing, Lisa.”

“That wasn’t nearly as satisfying as it needs to be,” Lisa said. “We’ll have to work on your delivery.”

AJ turned to Marsi Thalor and her two adolescent daughters. “The right thing for me to do now is to tell you how sorry I am that you had to be part of all of that. The truth is, it’s best for everyone that you get an introduction to what’s going on.”

“You and she have history,” Marsi said.

“That is a certainty. She is the proverbial wolf in lamb’s clothing, if you’re familiar with that idiom,” AJ said.

“I am not, but the idea translates easily enough. I don’t know that I trust you any more than I trust her,” Marsi said.

“That’s fair,” AJ said. “I’d hoped to sit down with you and talk, but we’re going to run out of time.”

“I don’t understand. How? Can we not talk now?”

“Lamia was here to abduct you,” AJ said. “She’d have taken your daughters as leverage to get you to do what she wants. We’ve only delayed the inevitable. She will be gathering resources and make another run at you. We need to leave, Professor Thalor, and we need to do it as quickly and quietly as possible.”

“I should never have agreed to meet with you,” Marsi said. You can’t possibly want to uproot our lives like this. Until you showed up, we were safe.”

“You are right, but you’re also wrong,” AJ said. “What I don’t understand is what your involvement is. Did you work with Kofeen? Help me understand why you’re so intimately tied to it.”

“The weapon comes from my research,” Marsi said with resignation. “Only, my research was about high energy potential for the purpose of powering cities and spaceships, not creating weapons.”

“Lisa, I’m going to need a minute,” AJ said.

“We have things locked down here,” Lisa said. “Don’t take too long. Lamia took off like a bat out of hell. She’ll bring reinforcements, and we’re not exactly armed to rebuff a full-scale assault.”

“Copy that,” AJ said and gave Thalor his attention again. “Professor, you should get your girls to pack. You are all three in grave danger of being abducted.”

“Is that not what you intend to do also?” she asked.

“My hope is to convince you that coming with us is the right thing to do, that the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions depend on your actions,” AJ said.

“It’s only theoretical,” she said. “The same thing that makes processed fozelium attractive for high energy production also makes it extraordinarily dangerous for most things beyond weapons. Processed, the resultant compound is extremely unstable. I tried to cut off the research when I discovered these properties. Fozelium compound has a limited shelf life. It cannot be stored for more than sixty or possibly ninety days before it self-ignites.”

“You left because you imagined the best purpose for the compound was making a weapon,” AJ summarized.

“Yes, and you are confirming my worst fears.”

“Which were?”

“Fozelium compound would allow for the creation of a weapon so formidable it would be equivalent to the introduction of gunpowder to a society limited to bows and arrows,” she said. “I did not think Kofeen had enough knowledge to finish the research. It appears I was wrong.”

“Then come with us and try to help us stuff this genie back in the bottle,” AJ said. “We need to develop a way to defeat this weapon and you’re the only person in the universe even remotely qualified to help.”

“You keep talking about going somewhere,” she said. “Where is it we would go? I have my old notes, I could likely start my research here.”

“Maybe you’re not getting it,” AJ said. “A weapon was developed and deployed. Good men, friends of mine, were killed because Iron Syndicate wanted a real test. We barely managed to stop delivery of this weapon to Quarr, but Iron Syndicate is just going to go back to the well and produce more of these weapons. We either stop them directly or find a way to stop them permanently.”

“I see. You want to go back to the Drayths system, since that’s where the only reliable deposits of fozelium are in all of Galactic Empire,” she said. “Will the Galactic Empire defend us on Krevnor? What happens when Iron Syndicate shows up with five of their massive war vessels? Are you ready for that? Troops on the ground with this magical weapon you speak of? What then? Are my girls safe with me there?”

“Those are good questions,” AJ said. “I think answers depend largely on you. Are you willing to stand by and let this play out without your input? Look where that’s left us. The stakes are growing by the minute.”

“There has to be another way,” Marsi said.

“There is,” AJ said. “We can leave you here to be picked up by Iron Syndicate. You’ll get to see firsthand how profit motives interfere with basic human rights and you’ll have a front-row seat watching your research kill hundreds of thousands and tip the balance of power in our corner of the universe.”

“Now you’re just exaggerating. Fozelium compound isn’t that powerful,” she said angrily.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” AJ said, throwing a short video that Beverly had produced of the destruction of Rigor Justic. “We don’t have time, but you need to watch that. I destroyed a battle cruiser with half a dozen of Kofeen’s energy packs. Those same packs are what powered the weapons which are portable enough to be carried by a single soldier.”

“There must be something else,” she said with a voice full of awe. “Six devices couldn’t possibly cause that much damage.”

“You keep telling yourself that, sister,” AJ said. “I’m the one who planted those packs so that ship wouldn’t deliver those weapons to our enemy. I’m also the one who was blown up and delivered to Iron Syndicate who then proceeded to torture me for information. But go ahead and hop in bed with them. I’m sure they’ll be nice to you and your kids when you don’t produce.”

“Just stop, it’s too much,” Marsi said.

“Here’s me stopping,” AJ said. “I’m walking out that door. You can follow me or stay behind, you choose. I give it no more than thirty minutes before Iron Syndicate returns.”

“You wouldn’t leave us,” she said.

“I don’t have a choice, lady,” AJ said exasperated. “I can’t stop Iron Syndicate the next time. They’ll have too many people, and I can’t afford to be captured. Good luck, Professor, the three of you are going to need it.”

AJ opened the front door and found Lisa and Darnell sitting on the edge of a slab of something resembling cement. “Convincing as always?” Lisa asked.

“I get it,” AJ said. “She’s scared and doesn’t know who to trust. I just can’t get through to her.”

“You might have read that wrong,” Lisa said raising her eyebrows and looking back at the house. AJ followed her stare and found Thalor standing in the front door.

“What do we need to bring?” Marsi asked dejectedly.

“Change of clothing and anything you can’t stand to lose. Iron Syndicate will likely trash your house looking for anything that might be helpful. If you can’t carry it, it’s not coming. Sorry,” AJ said.

“I figured as much. How much time do we have?”

“Fifteen minutes?” AJ said, exchanging looks with Lisa. “What’s the travel plan look like?”

“Do you have a vehicle, Marsi?” Lisa asked.

“It’s not very nice, but it works,” Marsi answered.

“We’ll take that,” Lisa said. “Go, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“What’s your plan, Lisa?” AJ asked once Marsi had turned back into the house.

“You and I will drive north out of town,” she said. “There’s an ice shelf about forty kilometers up. If Iron Syndicate is searching, that’s the least likely option for where they’ll concentrate.”

“Or we’ll be in the open and easy pickings.”

“Or that,” Lisa agreed.

AJ chuckled mirthlessly. “Why is it always so hard?”

“I’m newer to this than you,” Lisa said. “But the repeating theme has been greed for money, power, or both. You’re getting burned out.”

“Lamia was another in a long line of gut-punches. Seeing her here as my adversary with all pretense gone was hard. She’s some sort of psychopath to pull everything off like that,” AJ said. “She’s right. I am a simpleton in these matters.”

“You’re reading it wrong, AJ,” Lisa said. “Just because you opened your heart to someone who’s that broken and it blew up in your face doesn’t mean it’s not the right approach. If you stop being vulnerable, you’ll turn into an angry old prune. I strongly believe there’s another woman out there just waiting for you to show up in her life. Be a little patient, let the universe sort some things out.”

“I never figured you for the woo woo stuff, Lisa,” AJ said. “What if it’s all random? What are the odds of me finding someone who’s not as broken as me?”

“We can deal with broken. It’s the psychopathic desire to win at all costs that we’d like to avoid,” Lisa said. “In case you’re wondering, that’s Lamia.”

“You think this is about winning and losing for her?”

“I do,” Lisa said. “You’re collateral damage. Not for nothing, though, I really do think she liked you. I just don’t think she was able to balance that against her extraordinary greed.”

AJ heard an argument inside between Marsi and one or both of her girls. Leaving in the middle of the night would be a trauma they’d never forget and he hated his part in it. The alternative was a fate much worse so he steeled himself for a hard conversation.

“We need to get into your vehicle, now,” AJ said, opening the door.

“Mom, just let me stay with Kiena,” one of her daughters argued. “If you talk to her mom, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

The daughter held a heavy bag over her shoulder which told AJ that while she might want to go with her friend, she’d taken seriously the demand to get ready.

“Professor, now. Staying behind isn’t a real answer. Iron Syndicate will no doubt be questioning people. Your friends are safer if you come with us,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Arguing continued but to Marsi’s credit, once she was convinced of a particular action to take she didn’t back down and joined AJ in herding her kids out to her rundown land vehicle.

“Where’s Darnell?” AJ asked, realizing he hadn’t seen his friend for a while.

“He’ll meet us,” Lisa said, taking bags and stuffing them into a clever hold atop the vehicle. “He’s at the space port and says there’s quite a bit of activity around a couple of larger Iron Syndicate ships.”

“Are they looking at him?” AJ asked, suddenly worried that the leak that had exposed them to the spy hunter vessel had exposed Darnell to them.

“They had technicians walking around the spaceport with detectors, but they walked right past Fast Trader, according to Darnell,” Lisa said.

“Good thing we got to repairs as quickly as we did,” AJ said. “I feel dumb that they tracked us so easily.”

“Next time we’ll have to be more circumspect about doubling back to see if we’re being followed,” Lisa said and then called out to the occupants who’d stuffed themselves into the small vehicle. “Last chance to grab something you’ve forgotten.”

“Just go, we can buy whatever we need,” AJ said.

The land vehicle lurched uncomfortably from where it sat next to the house. Lisa accelerated as quickly as the vehicle would go, which even given the vehicle’s poor condition was significantly faster than Marsi or her girls were comfortable with.

“No sense getting caught now,” Lisa said, careening around a corner. She bounced off an icy metallic fence, scraping paint from the door and leaving a gouge.

“There’ll be nothing left when we get there,” one of the girls complained.

“How much information do you have on Kofeen’s design,” Marsi asked, even as she was pushed into the side of the vehicle by Lisa’s erratic driving.

“Do you have any sort of way to receive a file?” AJ asked, turning in the front seat to look back at her.

“How can you be so calm?” one of the girls asked.

“I’m AJ, short for Albert Jenkins, what’s your name?”

The girl looked at her mother who in turn nodded approval as she held out a small electronic pad to AJ.

“I’m Casra, that’s Lirren,” Casra said. “We’re twins, but I’m the athletic one. She’s more like Mom with reading and stuff.”

“Nice to meet you Casra and Lirren,” AJ said, tapping over his file of the energy backpack’s design. Redirecting his attention to Marsi, he continued. “That schematic shows how the devices are constructed. It’s not the research data you’re looking for, but it’s something. We included the estimated yield from a power overload and what it turned out to be. We were off by quite a bit.”

“These backpacks destroyed a big ship?”

“Bada boom,” AJ said. Beverly appeared on the seat between AJ and the Thalor family. She wore a thin white half t-shirt with orange suspenders holding up short shorts of the same orange material. “Try harder. Fifth element.”

“I don’t understand. There are many elements related to this design,” Marsi said.

“Sorry, inside joke.”

Lisa spoke up. “In ten minutes I’m pulling over to the side. We’ll all jump out. Don’t worry about your bags, AJ and I will grab them. Your job is to get up the stairs and into the ship. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but Darnell has a tail. He’s lost ‘em for now, but we all know better than to assume that’s going to work out in our favor.”

“He should go another direction,” Marsi said. “Not draw them to us.”

“Not today, sister,” Lisa said. “They have us on the run and there are more of them then there are of us. Once we’re on Fast Trader, we can start playing our game. As long as we’re separated, we’re sitting ducks.”

“You are quite alien,” Marsi observed. “You appear Stora but your euphemisms are anything but.”

“From her lips to God’s ears,” Lisa said. “Do you understand what we’re doing, Lirren and Casra? Repeat it to me.”

It took a few tries but both girls eventually repeated their understanding of running from one vessel to the other and not stopping to grab bags as they did.

“He’s going to land five hundred meters forward,” Lisa said.

AJ’s view lit up with an overlay from Beverly, showing Darnell’s intended landing zone.

“I have a tail thirty seconds out and closing,” Darnell called. “I’m certain they’ve seen you. I’ll try to provide cover when I land. Start with evasive maneuvers, Lisa.”

“Good copy,” Lisa answered, veering left to right as she continued to speed along the unpredictable road.

“Big D, can you drop the holding ramp? This ground car will fit right in if Lisa can keep it lined up,” AJ said.

“It’ll open us up to blaster fire, but I should be able to keep it clear,” Darnell said. “It’s a good idea.”

“Do you have this, Lisa?” AJ asked.

“Piece of cake,” Lisa answered. “Just get that bird on the ground.”

“It’s not a bird.” Darnell appeared overhead and dropped Fast Trader to the ground in front of them at full speed.

“You’re moving fast, Lisa,” AJ said. “You won’t make that corner.”

“I’ve got it,” she argued back, putting the ground vehicle into a hard sideways slide.

All three women in the back cried out in terror as the vehicle seemed to be headed directly for a collision with the side of Fast Trader. Even AJ grasped the vehicle’s only handhold as he sucked in air trying to calculate their chance of success.

“Oh, frak, maybe I don’t. We’re going to scrape …” The car impacted Fast Trader’s aft but moved fast enough that the nose slipped past the threshold and was pushed inside the sleek spaceship’s hold. It scraped along the starboard hold wall until impacting the forward bulkhead, collapsing the vehicle’s front end, “hard,” she finished.

“Go, Darnell! We’re in!”

23

GOLD STARS

AJ kicked open the ground vessel’s side door and stumbled as Darnell turned hard and accelerated. “Welcome aboard.”

“Stay there.” Lisa’s hand pressed AJ to the deck, stabilizing him as Darnell’s maneuver threatened to spill him out the back. With the preternatural grace of a Stora, she leapt nimbly through the aft hold, finding precarious finger and toeholds to keep her from being dumped. As the ground vehicle scraped against the bulkhead, sliding backwards, she said, “Darnell, I need three seconds of level flight.”

“You have five, go!” Darnell answered.

AJ breathed a sigh of relief as gravity’s great hand lessened its attempt to dislodge him from the spaceship. In response to the momentary reprieve, Lisa bounded back and slapped the emergency button closing the hold’s aft loading ramp. The ramp responded immediately, although it would take precious seconds to fully comply.

“Go Darnell,” Lisa said three seconds later. “We’ve got this.”

With the loading ramp ten percent closed, Lisa wedged her feet into the crevice caused by the moving panel and at the same time extended her body to push against the ground vehicle which was trying to exit. With great exertion, she held strong even as the ramp continued to close. At fifty percent closed, gravity and inertial systems snapped on arresting both AJ and the vehicle’s slides.

As if nothing particularly spectacular had just happened, Lisa brought one leg forward and placed it on the deck. She then gracefully stood and brushed off her party dress, completely unperturbed.

“That was exciting. Well done, Lisa,” AJ said, getting his legs beneath him and standing. “Are you all okay in there, girls?”

AJ placed a hand on the frame of the vehicle and leaned inside the vehicle. Marsi and Casra were tending to the youngest, Lirren, whose face was covered in blood. “I need medical supplies,” Marsi snapped as she looked out at AJ.

“How bad?” AJ asked as he pushed from the vehicle and jogged forward to a cabinet within the hold that held an emergency kit.

“She hit her face against the hardest part of the chair,” Casra said. “Her skin is split and her nose is probably broken.”

“What about you?” AJ asked, scanning the girl who was also covered in blood.

“I don’t know,” Casra said. “The back of my head hurts, I think.”

AJ pulled a pair of clotting packs and handed them through the vehicle to Marsi. “Stem the bleeding so I can look at the damage.”

Marsi’s look conveyed a strong disinterest, but she gritted her teeth and accepted the packs even as she complained under her breath. “We wouldn’t be in this trouble if not for you. Lirren wouldn’t be hurt.”

“Sure. Iron Syndicate wasn’t coming for you either way,” AJ said sarcastically as he turned to Casra. “Let me look at the back of your head.”

The girl looked confused but turned all the same. AJ placed another of the blood staunching packs against a ten-centimeter gash leading down the back. “What?” she asked sheepishly.

“We’ll get you fixed right up,” AJ said.

“I have Casra,” Lisa said. “Marsi, I’m taking your daughter forward where I can get her neck cleaned up. She has a small injury.”

“Casra?” Marsi asked, looking at the two girls. The overload of both girls needing her help at the same moment weighed heavily.

“The best medical attention is forward,” AJ said. “Lisa is experienced with this sort of thing. Let her do her job.”

Marsi nodded acceptance and seemed to wilt as she moved aside so AJ could crawl in the vehicle and get a better look at Lirren. “Lirren, can you hear me?” he asked and didn’t receive a response. “Lirren, you’re probably in shock so just listen to me and don’t worry. We’ve got you. We were running from bad people and our escape was rocky. You hit your head and I’m going to fix you up. I promise, you’ll be just as pretty as you’ve ever been. We carry the very best in medical supplies. BB, what are you seeing?”

Beverly appeared in a white lab coat, wearing hospital scrubs and holding a clipboard. “Utilize the medical scanner. She is possibly concussed.”

“I don’t understand,” Marsi said. “Who is BB?”

“Hand me the small medical scanner in the flap of that bag,” AJ said, ignoring the question. He could see the device he wanted but Marsi was crowding him. It took a few moments to direct her to the device, but she finally produced it. He placed the scanner on the side of Lirren’s head and gently removed one of the clotting packs. “Lirren, you have a headwound that needs tending by our auto-doc, otherwise you’ll end up with a scar. I’m going to look at your nose.”

“AJ, we need the concussion stabilizers,” Beverly said. “There is inflammation.”

With Beverly’s help and Marsi’s not so helpful interference, AJ stabilized Lirren enough that the girl was becoming lucid as he led her forward, stopping at the first bunk.

“What are you doing?” Marsi asked.

“Making her comfortable,” AJ said, accepting the auto doctor tool from Lisa, who’d quietly joined them. “This device will stitch her skin back together. There could be a small white line scar or there might be nothing. Just let it do its job as she lies here.”

“What about her nose?” Marsi asked.

“That won’t be so fun. We need to reset it and with her concussion, we’re not knocking her out,” AJ said. “Lirren, I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to feel good.” Without further warning, he reset Lirren’s nose, which elicited a cry of agony followed by light sobbing.

“You are a monster.”

“You’ll get no argument from me,” AJ said. “But in this case, we’ve kept young Lirren’s nose from turning into something a whole lot more uncomfortable. I’ve done what I can. She needs rest and time with the auto-doc. I’m going to let you tend to her. I need to see what’s happening up front. We’re probably not out of this yet.”

“We’re stable back here,” Lisa said. “Go.”

AJ moved forward and through the crew area up to where Darnell was strapped into the pilot’s chair.

“What’s shakin’?” AJ asked, settling in next to Darnell.

“That was a rough landing, and damn near sent us spinning. Do we have hold damage?” Darnell said.

“I swear I have no idea how Lisa managed to get us in that hold,” AJ said. “I was certain we were going to end up looking like a mosquito’s final destination after playing tag with a semi-truck on Interstate 80.”

“We have a pair of small, scout-class vessels tailing us,” Darnell said. I’ve tried ducking them a couple of times with no success. I’m starting to believe we have some sort of transmitter giving up our position.”

“Are we fueled?”

“Completely. Rule number one of running with you, always make sure to top off when you get a chance. Are you still planning to head to Drayths?” Darnell asked.

“Cer didn’t give us a lot of instructions, but it seems obvious that we need to get Doctor Thalor up to speed on this weapon,” AJ said. “The best place to do that is where it’s been manufactured.

“Because Iron Syndicate probably hasn’t had that same thought,” Darnell said sarcastically.

“Well, they’re down one big old ship,” Darnell said. “Maybe they’re not looking to double down.”

“I like your optimism,” Darnell said.

“There are a lot of weird planetary structures around here. Let’s see if you can lose them in the steps,” AJ said.

“You might be careful with that,” Marsi said, having approached quietly from behind.

“Why is that?” AJ asked.

“Gangs,” she answered. “Some have large armaments. They’ll fire before asking questions. It can be very lawless in the steps.”

“That’s good to know,” AJ said, raising his eyebrows. “Darnell, you know the strategy.”

“Aye, aye, mon capitaine,” Darnell said arcing hard to starboard which aimed Fast Trader right at the planet fragments that were collectively referred to as Nexaron Steps.

“What are you doing? I just told you to avoid the steps,” Marsi said.

“You told me that we’d get shot at if we went there,” Darnell said with a grin. “I hope you’re right. I don’t suppose you know where the worst part of the steps would be, would you?”

“Are you nuts? They have ground-to-space cannons specifically designed to bring down this size of spacecraft,” Marsi said.

“Perfect,” Darnell said. “Trust me?”

“My girls are aboard,” Marsi said. “Why would I intentionally place them in danger?”

“That’s not how it will work,” Darnell said. “Free Trader isn’t just a small freighter. She’s purpose-built for getting into and out of trouble. If we find somebody willing to shoot at small ships, we’ll peel off those scouts chasing us.”

“It sounds like a terrible idea, but I believe you’ll ignore what I have to say either way,” Marsi said.

“Not if you tell me where the biggest guns are.”

“Give me control of your tactical display for a moment,” Marsi said and when Darnell did just that, she tapped on a small region of the Nexaron Steps. “Well-known to locals to avoid this area. More than one vessel has been scuttled after pirate activity in that area.”

“How are Casra and Lirren doing?” AJ asked. He strained to see activity that might be a clue that there were pirates about.

“You have extraordinary medical supplies for a freighter. If I didn’t already know better, I’d have found that damning,” Marsi said.

“And now it’s kind of handy, right?” AJ asked.

“Yes. Lirren’s wound received thirty-five micro-stiches and surgical heat bonding. According to the AI’s report, she won’t even have a scar in six months’ time. She isn’t likely to forgive you anytime soon for setting her nose like you did. The swelling that was causing the concussion is significantly reduced so she should be fully in the clear within six hours. I gave her a sedative.”

“And Casra?” AJ asked.

Marsi took a few extra beats as she held AJ’s attention. “It’s like you really care,” she finally said.

“We’re the good guys, doctor,” AJ said. “The only reason you’re involved is because we need a strategy to defeat this thing your colleague, Kofeen, created.”

“But you just said it right there. Moriak Kofeen is responsible, not me,” she said. “And certainly not my girls.”

“You already know the argument,” AJ said. “We’re trying to defeat the weapon, not litigate who’s responsible.”

“How should I know how to defeat anything?”

“You have access to everything we know about this weapon, including video data showing its inaugural use. And, just so you know, we were on the ground when that happened. The people who died were our friends and we don’t want this happening to anyone else if we can prevent it.”

“That’s motivation but doesn’t answer my question. I’ve been out of this research for twenty years,” she said.

“I guess you better get cracking, then.”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Yes, and I would recommend taking advantage of the incredible resources we have aboard.”

“You have manufactured sentience available?”

“Not exactly, but like that,” AJ said. “You’ll find that these sentients are beyond any you’ve worked with in the past. Just ask for help either out loud or through your terminal.”

“That’s intriguing. I haven’t had much access to manufactured sentience since I have been in hiding,” she said.

“All hands, we’ll be entering stealth mode in forty seconds. Please go to where you will not need to move around,” Darnell announced.

“Stealth?” Marsi asked.

“We’ll call it operation flea flicker,” Darnell said. Through the forward screen Nexaron Steps grew larger as Fast Trader continued to accelerate toward the identified area where pirates were identified.

“Flea flicker is a football play,” AJ said. “This is more like flea collar or the like.”

“Sure, it sounded good,” Darnell said.

“Are they still behind us?” AJ asked, swiping at the tactical display until the two trailing scout ships showed up. “Looks like they’re closing the gap as we’re getting closer to the steps. They think we’re looking to land.”

“Probably,” Darnell said.

“Are we stealthed now?” Marsi asked.

“No,” Darnell said. “I’ll do that once we draw some attention. We might have to dance a bit once they discover us.”

“I’ll redirect all of our sensors to look for active locks coming from the planetoids,” AJ said.

“Aren’t you nervous?” Marsi asked.

“We have armor,” Darnell said.

“Hold on, we’re getting interest from that domed planetoid,” AJ said. “I’m highlighting on tactical.”

“That’s perfect,” Darnell said, arcing toward instead of away from the potential danger. “See if you can figure out what kind of ordnance.”

“Copy that,” AJ answered. “I doubt they’ll send missiles our way, given the expense.”

“Do you see the energy generators?” Beverly asked, jumping into the conversation. “It looks as if they have constructed a gravitic weapon. Do not continue this path or we will be ensnared!”

“Who is that?” Marsi asked.

“Beverly, show that on the tactical display,” AJ said. “Project the net generated by the terminals you’ve located.”

“Yes. Done,” Beverly said.

The tactical display lit up with a grid of powerlines that was exactly in line with Fast Trader’s vector.

“Shoot, hold on boys and girls!” Darnell squeaked as he veered away.

“Don’t get too off-track,” AJ said. “We need our guests to potentially get snagged.”

“Oh, I’ve got this!” Darnell said, redirecting Fast Trader so it dove back toward the hidden energy grid so that they would dive in front of the pirates’ weapon.

“A battery is powering up at twenty-degrees to port, forty degrees declination,” AJ said.

“Good copy!” Darnell said, straightening out his flight path.

“It’s gonna be close with those scouts!” AJ said, loving the idea of capturing a pursuer with no more effort than clever sailing.

“Kids, we’re going stealth!” Darnell said. “Please fasten your seatbelts and bring your tray tables and seatbacks to their original, upright positions.”

As the stealth armor engaged, Darnell turned Fast Trader as sharply as he could manage and slowed the ship’s acceleration by fifty percent. Just as he executed these maneuvers, the ground battery that AJ had identified and a second battery fired, leading Fast Trader by the acceleration she’d previously sailed under.

“That could be a lucky miss,” Darnell said.

“Pirates have snagged one of the scouts. The second scout is sticking around to help. They’re attacking the grid generators,” AJ said. “Are they in range of those batteries? They almost have to be, don’t they, otherwise the gravitic grid doesn’t make nearly as much sense.”

Just as he finished the sentence the frozen scout ship was fired upon by fixed emplacements.

“Oh man, they can’t take too much of that,” Lisa said, joining the crew in the forward cockpit.

“One more …” AJ started just as the second battery locked on the now damaged scout. The weapon reached the disabled scout and its armor was breached, sending a small gout of gas and flame into space only to be quenched by relentless vacuum.

“That wasn’t bad shooting,” Darnell said. “They could have survivors.”

“Second scout ship is turning off,” AJ said. “But it looks like there might be a lock.”

“We’re getting a transmission from Iron Syndicate,” Lisa said. “Do you want it?”

“Just play it, don’t open the channel.”

“Albert Jenkins, if you leave, we will not survive this encounter. Come help us, please, we will make this work to your advantage. We can be friends, can we not?”

“That was Lamia, for sure,” AJ said. “Which ship, the fly in the web or the other one?”

“Fly in the web,” Lisa said. “Does it matter, though?”

Just then the ground battery caught up with the second scout and scored a critical hit along the dorsal spine, tearing the ship open. “Oh frak, they just opened half that ship to space. There’s no way it’s surviving that.”

The passive sensors lost track of the ship that’d just been attacked as all energy readings and visible light were extinguished.

“What are you doing for Lamia?” Lisa asked, looking expectantly at AJ.

“Sorry to say that’s neither my monkey nor my circus,” AJ said. “But mark my words, by the end of the week, she’ll be in charge of that pirate operation or at least she’ll have Iron Syndicate paying some sort of ransom to free her. At least we’ll have slowed her down.”

“And that answered some good, basic questions,” Darnell said.

“Like what?” Marsi asked in a weak voice, her face still pale from the excitement of the lopsided battle.

“Somehow Iron Syndicate is able to follow Fast Trader even though we’re not supposed to be traceable. They might have planted a tracking device on us,” Darnell said. “We’ve looked for it and can’t find anything. At least those pirates weren’t picking up on it.”

“I’m not sure I wanted that information. I believe you just told me there was a very good chance the pirates could have shot us down,” Marsi said.

“I’d agree with there being an elevated chance. Very good is stretching it.”

“My children are aboard. Elevated chances are not chances I’m willing to take,” Marsi said angrily.

“Doctor, you’re going to need to put that anger you’re feeling away. If we hadn’t shown up when we did, there’s no doubt in my mind that Iron Syndicate would have grabbed you within a few weeks. Your kids were in incredible danger. Stop acting like we brought this trouble to your door,” AJ said. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re the best alternative you have and I’m tired of your constant griping.”

Marsi sat back in her chair so quickly it was as if AJ had slapped her face. “I don’t think … how can you …?” Unable to form full sentences Marsi stood. “I’m going to check on my girls.”

“I’ll come with you,” Lisa said. Once she was with the irritated woman she continued, “Look, AJ can be a little harsh. It comes with the territory.”

AJ struggled not to listen to the two women as they continued aft.

“Don’t let her bother you, man,” Darnell said.

“She’s not bothering me,” AJ said. “She’s just so darned naïve. She must know that with Kofeen out of the action, her name would come up.”

“I’m sure she did,” Darnell said. “That doesn’t make it any easier. Also, how sweet was that maneuver? I jumped around that gravitic snare and pulled off a stealth switch all without us taking any fire. At least tell me you’re impressed.”

“Are you looking for a gold star?”

Darnell shook his head for a moment. “You’re really a piece of work, you know that? I see why Lisa has to calm down the talent. You just don’t have that in you, do you?”

AJ laughed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you really need to hear it?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a first-class pain in the ass exceptionally talented starship pilot who has a pathological need for reinforcement,” AJ said.

“Do you really think I’m exceptional?” Darnell asked.

“Yes, yes I do.”

24

GEARING UP

“What are you doing?” Marsi asked when AJ set down the welding rig he’d been using in the hold for the better part of the morning.

“Probably what it looks like,” AJ said. “I’m repairing the damage caused when Lisa crash-landed your ground vehicle into Fast Trader’s hold. It’s not an overly complex job. It just requires a steady hand while welding and patience enough to grind down the weld bead to fare things out. Do you want to give it a try? You won’t get it on the first try, but it’s easy enough to clean up any mess you make.”

“Yes, please?”

“Wear these glasses and now hold this wand. It gets hot on that point where the wire spools out. Try making small circles with the tip as you draw down the line.”

“How big of a circle?”

“Tiny, let Beverly project a pattern for you through your glasses,” AJ said. “She’ll filter out the bright arcing and teach you the perfect weld pattern all at the same time.”

“Your artificial sentients are extraordinary. The Beverly personality is so expressive, to the point of unexpected humor. If I were government, I might question the legality, but alas, I am not and I find her intriguing,” Marsi said.

“Thank you. I’m sure Beverly would like to know you find her more impressive than the other artificials you’ve interfaced with,” AJ said, keeping a straight face even when he felt a twinge in his side, a pinch as it were.

“Are you one of those anti artificial people? I see your smile. You must think I am odd for my praise of something so robotic,” Marsi said as she started welding. AJ watched as she struggled with the welder and then, with Beverly’s instructions, started making small changes which immediately improved her output.

“Oh, no, I’m all about adaptive intelligence,” AJ said. “Easier for me to just imagine Beverly to be a tiny little woman living behind my eyeballs somewhere.”

“Perhaps that is why Beverly’s interface feels so fluid. It has created comfortable speaking patterns for you,” Marsi said. “What do you think of my work?”

AJ handed the middle-aged woman a grinder with a coarse head installed. “Looks good, especially toward the bottom. Let’s grind out this splatter at the top and try it again.”

“Thank you for allowing me to do this. I can only take so much keyboard work before I need to do something more physically engaging,” Marsi said.

“Tell me what you’ve learned about Kofeen’s work,” AJ said.

“Honestly, I need his research notes,” Marsi said. “I can see what he’s developed and the data from the explosions aboard Rigor Justic were valuable for understanding the energy yield, but to recreate the weapon from raw resources would take years of trial and error to accomplish.”

“I’m not sold on that being our objective,” AJ said. “Have you come across anything that could be used to defeat such a technology?”

“After it’s been manufactured?” she asked.

“Yes, like in the battlefield,” AJ said. “If we run into these weapons, what do we do? They punch right through any defenses. It’s like a finger of God.”

“The simplest approach would be to mine out the fozelium on Krevnor,” Marsi said.

“Wouldn’t they just go somewhere else to get the mineral?”

“Maybe,” Marsi said. “But where? When I was part of the team, fozelium was found in a few places, but never in any quantity. Just one of these weapons requires a ton of fozelium ore which is then refined repeatedly until we reach the state necessary for the weapon.”

“Can it be rendered inert? Is there a way to ruin it?”

“It’s a mineral, so it has crystalline bonds,” she said. “It would require a process I’m unfamiliar with to ruin the mineral in a way it could not be reused without exploiting these bonds, which is what causes such an interesting release of energy.”

“So to break it, we need to blow it up,” AJ said. “We’re talking about a big darn explosion.”

“The amount of energy released would be difficult to contain in a safe manner,” Marsi said.

“Drive it into a star?” AJ asked.

“Possibly, or expose it into a black hole’s event horizon.”

“We need to spend more time welding together,” AJ said, holding up a cut piece of steel he’d been shaping. With Beverly projecting a line on the metal sheet, it wasn’t difficult to draw a plasma cutting torch head along and create perfectly fit pieces. “Tack this in place, I’ll hold it.”

“This is rewarding in a way I never knew I cared.” Marsi placed small welds around the piece, holding it in place.

“It is essential to have welding skills if you lead the sort of active life we do,” AJ said, smiling.

“I can see that,” Marsi said.

“How are the girls faring?” AJ asked. “I’ve tried to talk to Lirren but she’s hesitant. Casra is more comfortable.”

“That aligns with their personalities,” Marsi said. “Lirren has enjoyed getting to know Lisa. Do you mind a question? How do you see this working out when we reach Krevnor?”

“I’m not sure,” AJ said. “I don’t know what we’ll run into. I have a team at Hab-6 which is where the mining operations have had success with finding fozelium. What I don’t know is when Iron Syndicate will show up again. I assume they’re coming, although without Kofeen, they could have issues we’re unaware of.”

“You’re expecting an armed conflict,” Marsi said. “Please, I don’t want to take my daughters into a warzone. There must be a better alternative.”

“Are you willing to separate from them?” AJ asked. “I can’t see us avoiding Krevnor, but your daughters aren’t part of that mission-critical component. That said, I also believe that if your girls are discovered by Iron Syndicate, we’d end up with a hostage issue.”

“You strike me as a moralistic man, Albert Jenkins,” Marsi said. “There must be a better solution. Help me come up with it for the sake of my family, or have I misjudged you?”

AJ smiled sardonically. “That’s a bit manipulative. You butter me up by talking about my morals and then speak of your disappointment if I don’t follow through with what you see as the right choice. I’ve had entire relationships based on that.”

“Perhaps it was manipulative,” Marsi agreed, “but I’m fighting for my family. Surely you can see that.”

“I can,” AJ said. “And we’re not dating, so that’s super helpful.”

Marsi grinned. “I’m an old woman, Albert Jenkins. My dating years are behind me.”

“Never say never. I’m older than you think and I’m still doing a bang-up job of screwing up relationships.”

Marsi smiled. “I suppose where two are involved, there is always room for struggle.”

“We’ll come up with a way to keep your girls safe,” AJ said. “Lisa mentioned it to me, so we’re already working on it.”

“For what I thought I knew of Stora, she is much different. More soul,” Marsi said. “Stories have long portrayed the Stora as pragmatic and detached, driven more by profit than emotion in their daily lives. She does not fit that mold.”

“Lisa is a lot of things, but detached isn’t one of them,” AJ said. “Let’s knock off and grab some lunch.”

“Sounds delightful.”

* * *

The familiar, if not welcome, feeling of teleportation without warning stirred AJ from sleep. Struggling for consciousness, he blinked away sleep while at the same time reached for Beverly, who was, of course no longer available. Knowing better than to speak before he understood his position, AJ waited for the effects of teleportation to wear off. Seated at a highly polished white table across from the often-friendly Cer was likely the best version of being summoned by Tok.

“Albert Jenkins, I often find it surprising that you have survived the trials you face,” Cer started off.

“No thanks to you.”

“I do not believe that to be accurate,” Cer said. “It is often only with our help that you are able to survive.”

“I’ll give you that,” AJ said. “But I wouldn’t be in whatever bull crap situation I end up in if not for you. Without you, I’d be on the porch in my very own junkyard enjoying a brew with my best friend, our only concern being a full ice chest.”

“Do you not find service to Galactic Empire a reward within itself? Your actions, with our considerable support, have saved and enriched the lives of thousands. How is that not a reward beyond compare?”

“This is going to be a big ask, isn’t it?” AJ said. There was never a case when any Tok, much less, Cer, complimented lower life forms if they weren’t about to ask for something impossible or dangerous.

“Opportunity,” Cer said. “You are already sailing to the Drayths system. I assume you intend to land at Krevnor.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t tell us to go there,” AJ said.

“I certainly did,” Cer said. “You are often unpredictable and operate on limited or unreliable information.”

“You’re here to clear things up, then,” AJ said flatly.

“Iron Syndicate is sending a large force to Krevnor. Galactic Empire has quarantined the system of Drayths, something Iron Syndicate has taken great offense to and is challenging Tok Empire’s claims of imminent danger,” Cer said.

“It’s not like we don’t have recordings of what Iron Syndicate did when they uncorked that weapon,” AJ said. “Isn’t that good enough? I lost twelve men in a single moment.”

“And that’s why I want you on this mission,” Cer said. “You understand the stakes we’re looking at and have a reason see Iron Syndicate fail.”

“Do they really have a lot of support?” AJ asked. “They’re the definition of corporate thinkers. Everything is about the bottom line. How do they have any good will anywhere?”

“Effective advertising,” Cer said plainly. “They are very good at spending money where it will provide them with positive benefits. Much of everything they say publicly is easily countered, but their fact checkers are not in abundance, especially when Iron Syndicate has paid public spokespersons to defend them.”

“You can’t stop them from coming to Krevnor,” AJ said.

“We cannot,” Cer said. “Iron Syndicate will pay a bond to retrieve Lamia Tragonar from the pirates you encountered. She escaped uninjured and with little consequence.”

“Somehow Iron Syndicate is tracking Fast Trader,” AJ said. “I don’t suppose you know what that’s about.”

“We have removed that tracker from your vessel. It was externally mounted and quite small. We believe that Iron Syndicate knows exactly where you are heading and no longer needs to track your progress,” Cer said.

“Would they have found Marsi if I hadn’t led them there?”

“We were not certain she was to be found in Nexaron Drift. It was our best understanding,” Cer said. “You are to be complimented on finding her so easily.”

“And nearly getting her killed,” AJ said. “Now, we have three civilians aboard Fast Trader and according to you we’re headed into a warzone. Something, by the way, I’d figured out myself.”

“We need Marsi Thalor to find a solution for this weapon, AJ. I am certain you understand that,” Cer said.

“If we don’t survive Iron Syndicate, there will be no solution. What are you doing about that?”

“That is the point of this rather long-winded conversation,” Cer said. “I am doing something I find distasteful. I am giving you options on how best to meet Iron Syndicate.”

“That’s easy,” AJ said. “Put up a fleet of warships five times whatever Iron Syndicate is bringing. When they show up, pound them into sand.”

“We cannot do that. We are prevented from direct action as you seek,” Cer said.

“And I’m not, because I’m human and Earth is in a probationary status,” AJ said. “Tell me I’m not screwing our chances to become part of the Galactic Empire.”

“Earth is already a part of the Galactic Empire. But yes, humanity has probationary status which gives us options that would not otherwise be available,” Cer said.

“What are my options, Cer?” he asked with irritation.

“You are quite an effective soldier in Stora form. I would consider transforming as many as twelve of your human compatriots into Stora for the battle to come. This would be a formidable force for any to encounter,” Cer said. “Alternatively, you have many remaining skilled operators of the mechanized infantry suits. It is within our potential to deliver the Wasp vessel which still holds the two drop vehicles Seahag and Bernard along with the sixteen infantry suits.”

“What of the safety of Marsi’s girls, Lirren and Corsa?” AJ asked. “They are innocent and have no reason to be put into a warzone.”

“Why did you not leave them on Nexaron Main?” Cer asked.

“Without their mother?” AJ asked. “Who would take care of them when Iron Syndicate decided they’d be good as leverage to make Doctor Thalor more efficient?”

“Bring them to Hab-6 and keep them away from combat,” Cer said. “I will guarantee their safety, even if it requires removing them to my vessel. If Marsi Thalor passes in what will become known as the Battle for Krevnor, her daughters will have a chance at long, productive lives.”

“I choose the Vred power suits,” AJ said. “I don’t suppose you have any idea how they’ll fare against a Kofeen weapon.”

“The operator of the power suit would survive a direct hit,” Cer said without hesitation.

“What intel can you supply about what Iron Syndicate are bringing?” AJ asked. “Number of ships? Number of troops? Are we looking at intelligent, autonomous weapons?”

“I will forward the information we have to your tactical battlespace,” Cer said.

“That works,” AJ said. “I guess we’ll see you on the other side, then.”

“You have no desire to speak of remuneration?” Cer asked. “Ordinarily, you seem quite intent on negotiating something of value for these operations.”

“My men need to be given pay and a ride back home after we’re done,” AJ said. “Any person who dies while in service should have twice the pay given to their survivors. Let’s go with a million dollars each. Marsi Thalor, Lisa, Darnell, and Lefty should receive one-hundred fifty percent of the soldiers. I want the Aerie Pocile junkyard back in Xandarj. Is that mercenary enough for you?”

“It is wise to state these things at the beginning of a campaign,” Cer said. “Our experience together allows me to trust that you have interest beyond pay for your involvement. I also need to understand that I have been a good partner in these endeavors. I find your proposal acceptable.”

AJ blinked and found himself seated in a chair aboard Fast Trader next to Darnell. “What in the hell?” Darnell asked, jumping out of his skin.

The warning chime of a proximity alert for a nearby vessel sounded. “Pulling it up on tactical,” AJ said as calmly as he could manage. “You’ve freaking got to be kidding me.”

“Is that…?” Darnell started.

“Wasp,” AJ said.

“Let me guess, you didn’t just come up from the bunkroom, huh?” Darnell asked. “You’ve been off talking to Cer.”

“Wasp, this is Fast Trader, come in please,” AJ called over comms.

“Go ahead, Fast Trader. This is Captain Harvy Flank. Please identify yourselves, over.”

“Colonel Albert Jenkins,” AJ answered. “What are your orders, Captain? Over.”

“Our orders are a bit unusual. We’re to allow you to assume command of Wasp and place ourselves in your chain of command,” Flank answered.

“I feel like a confab might be in order,” AJ said. “What’s your headcount?”

“Skeleton crew, four pilots, three maintenance technicians, and an engineer,” Flank answered.

“We’ll dock in fifteen,” AJ said. “Be prepared to receive us if you will.”

“Aye, aye, Colonel,” Flank answered.

“You good with that?” AJ asked Darnell.

“I wouldn’t mind getting caught up with whatever just happened. If Wasp has her normal loadout, we’re expecting to go heavy once we get to Krevnor,” Darnell said. “After that, there’s not much left to discuss.”

“Make a choice, big fella. Command of Wasp or Seahag,” AJ said. “I’m not sure how badly we’re going to need Wasp once we reach Krevnor.”

“Easy call, I’ll take Seahag,” Darnell said. “That old bird is tough as nails, and she doesn’t mind getting into a scrap.”

“And it doesn’t hurt that Lisa is sitting next to you in the gunner’s chair instead of running around like a crazy person,” AJ said.

“Who says I’m not going to run around like a crazy person?” Lisa asked, arriving at the tail end of the conversation. “What’s this about?”

AJ pointed out the forward glass at Wasp as Darnell slowed acceleration to line up with Wasp’s already extended docking terminal.

“That’s weird, running into Wasp all the way out here,” Lisa said.

“Not that weird,” AJ said. “Cer grabbed me, and we had a whole conversation. I chose Vred power armor over going back to Stora form.”

“That’s a heck of a choice,” Lisa said. “I might have chosen the other. I do love the up close and personal approach.”

“You sound so bloodthirsty when you say things like that,” Darnell said.

“It’s not about blood,” Lisa said. “It’s about putting things right with my bare hands. The challenge of not being seen and taking out an unsuspecting enemy…”

“You heard it that time, didn’t you?” Darnell asked.

“I’m going to need to think on that a minute,” Lisa said.

“Darnell don’t make her have second thoughts,” AJ said. “Hesitation in battle will get her killed.”

“She is my wife. I need to be looking out for her well-being,” Darnell said.

“Fine,” AJ said. “And yes, I chose mechanical infantry over Stora. If Iron Syndicate show up with a thousand troops, ten Stora isn’t the right answer, even though I think they’d end up winning in the end.”

“We’re short pilots. What about infantry?” Lisa asked.

AJ brought the two of them up to speed while Darnell slid Fast Trader around and mated up with Wasp’s docking ring. First through the airlock, AJ was greeted by a grizzled, middle-aged man who wore a US Navy uniform and stiffened to attention as AJ stepped free from the umbilicus.

“Permission to come aboard?” AJ asked.

“Permission granted and command is officially transferred. Commander Harvy Flank at your service,” Flank said.

“I have one more in the tube and I’d like to sit down with you for a quick level set,” AJ said.

“Absolutely. If I’m correct, you’re already quite familiar with this vessel so I’ll be happy to follow you to the ready room,” Flank said.

AJ wasn’t sure if it was a test of his validity or it was Flank’s way of making him feel welcome. Either way, he waited for Lisa to emerge from the airlock and then did exactly as Flank had suggested.

“Do you mind a quick question before we get started?” Flank asked. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to focus well, otherwise.”

“Let me guess. You got orders and about that same time your ship just magically appeared somewhere you weren’t expecting,” AJ said.

“Yes sir, it’s an awful lot like that,” Flank answered.

25

RUNNING WITH BULLS

“First things first,” AJ said as he poured coffee from the carafe on the sideboard in the conference room. “You’ll need to assign your most junior or least likely to survive combat pilot to sail Fast Trader back to Xandarj. He’ll receive permission to dock at Dralli Station. Once they’ve done that, they need to catch a ride to wherever works for you, but the ship is to be left on Dralli under the care of Blue Tork and Mads Bazer.”

“That’s not in my packet of orders,” Flank answered.

“It is now,” AJ said. “I believe I’m your superior.”

“Well, that’s tricky,” Flank said. “I’m to aid you by whatever means you deem necessary for the defense of the moon Krevnor, its citizens and assets. My orders had nothing about delivering a ship.”

“Aid or report to?” AJ asked. “I find it unlikely the chain of command is unclear. Are you saying it is?”

“The orders are clear about chain of command. You’re just outside of the mission scope, which is causing me heartburn,” Flank said.

“Do you believe my order is somehow illegal?” AJ asked.

“You stepped in it now,” Lisa said shaking her head.

Flank gave Lisa a nervous glance and then looked back to AJ. “You know what, it’s your party. We’ll play it your way.”

“Good. Did you get any data regarding what we expect Iron Syndicate to send our way?” AJ asked.

“If you mean to the Drathys system, yes,” Flank answered. “They have credible intelligence that a battle cruiser will accompany a trio of troop carriers. They’ll drop troops outside of the reach of the ground-to-space batteries and march them in with the intent of disabling those same batteries so their battle cruiser can move into place and establish space superiority.”

“How many troops are we looking at?” AJ asked. The troop carriers would be about the same size as the two they’d landed weeks earlier, delivering eighty troops.

“The carriers are big. They’re looking to land upwards of two hundred fifty infantry,” Flank said.

“Are they bringing any special hardware?” AJ asked, pushing aside the troop count.

“Our intelligence didn’t have anything like that,” Flank said. “They’ll have to land at least a hundred kilometers from Hab-6 to avoid the ground-to-space batteries. There’s no way they’re going to march two hundred fifty infantry across a hundred kilometers and expect them to be fresh for a fight.”

“What do we know about Iron Syndicate capabilities for ground war?” AJ asked. “Moving two hundred fifty soldiers is no simple task.”

“With light gravity of a moon, the Tok think it’s likely they’ll deploy a troop carrier designed for minimal resistance and speed,” Flank said. “They literally have dozens of other options, so it’s an educated guess. Think of a big old hay wagon with low sides, holds thirty troops and equipment. Practically, they’re stackable for transit which makes them cost-efficient.”

“The troop carriers are stackable,” Lisa repeated. “This is a consideration.”

“In a hold, they can put four in a stack. With two hundred fifty bodies to move, two stacks of ground transports does most of the job. Nothing a military mind likes better than orderly numbers.”

“We have to have access to prior Iron Syndicate engagements,” AJ said. “What’s the most likely hardware they’ll bring?”

“Speculatively, given your prior assault on Hab-6 with light infantry only, the Tok believe they’ll bring a small complement of armored vehicles. In part, they’ll be used to transport command, in part to provide cover for the advancing infantry.”

“They’ll have to make up their minds,” AJ said. “Not like a Fobbit to provide cover for grunts.”

“Fobbit?” Lisa asked.

“Forward operating base hobbit,” Flank said with a sarcastic grin. “Officers generally avoid live fire.”

“Tough to build on a promising career as a ring knocker, otherwise,” AJ said.

“Good thing there’re no officers around here,” Lisa said sarcastically. “And yes, I looked up ring knocker.”

“They’ll have some way to shell the ground batteries,” AJ said.

“Smart mortars,” Flank said. “Think of a mix of drones and C4 but ridiculously fast and accurate.”

“I assume we have some way to defend against that,” AJ said.

“The batteries are newly installed and have counter measures. It’s a real cold-war escalation kind of thing. The drones get faster, the counter measures get upgraded and so on.”

“Does anyone else think we invent these conflicts just so we can test new toys?” Lisa asked. “I mean, can’t we all just get along for a few minutes and figure out how to make a lemon tart instead of faster ways to kill each other?”

“Says the woman who loves slipping behind enemy lines,” AJ said.

“Look, I wasn’t born this way.”

“But given the choice you’d…?” AJ said with raised eyebrow.

“It’s different,” Lisa defended. “What I do is an art form. If they left us alone, it’s not like I’d go all serial killer. I’d go back to perfecting my lemon tart.”

“Or meatloaf,” AJ said.

“No, that I’ve perfected,” Lisa said.

“Unless you think someone has a cholesterol problem,” AJ said.

“That’s a choice, not a question of technique.”

“I’m not following, but I don’t believe that was a requirement,” Flank said.

“Inside joke, although if you have supplies, she does make a mean meatloaf,” AJ said. “Talk to me about timing of arrival. Are we going to be behind or will we beat Iron Syndicate to Krevnor?”

“According to our intel, we’ll arrive three days in advance of Iron Syndicate’s fleet,” Flank said. “Let’s hope that holds true. According to the Tok, we only have sixty infantry stationed at Hab-6. I’m not sure how the hardware aboard evens the field against a battle cruiser and being outnumbered, but that’s not typically a conversation I get pulled into. When I asked, I was told that to send troops would draw more attention than we can afford.”

“Political expediency?” AJ asked. “I’ve played that game a few times, but I feel like we have a better than average chance of pulling this thing out.”

“You’re a little young to have served in Iraq,” Flank said. “I was part of Bush senior’s WMD program. We were this close to invading Baghdad.”

“I missed that one,” AJ said. “And just between us, we’re older than we look.”

“How old?”

“Vietnam old,” AJ said and seeing the disbelief on Flank’s face he quickly added. “Hanging around with aliens takes some getting used to. Trust me.”

“Oh man, regular Army?”

“Rangers,” AJ said.

“Dang son, jungle warfare is no joke. You’re looking good,” Flank said with newfound appreciation.

“Any place they’re throwing slugs at you is no joke,” AJ said. “We’ll get our crew and supplies moved over from Fast Trader in the next half hour and then we’ll get underway.”

“Aye, aye, Colonel,” Flank responded, saluting.

Returning to Fast Trader, AJ found Marsi, first thing.

“What’s going on, AJ?” Marsi asked. “Has something changed?”

“Yes and no,” AJ said. “I have tactical updates related to Iron Syndicate’s plans and I have an opportunity I’d like to discuss with you. About the only thing written in stone is that we’re moving from Fast Trader to Wasp.”

“Why are we moving?”

“Wasp has hardware that will be useful against Iron Syndicate. Fast Trader isn’t made for a shooting war, which is what this is about to devolve into.”

“You can’t take my girls into an active warzone,” Marsi said. “That’s unconscionable.”

“That’s the opportunity,” AJ said. “We’re sending Fast Trader to Xandarj where I have friends.”

“How good of friends?”

“Friends who know how to keep things quiet,” AJ said. “Friends who would find a safe, quiet place for a couple of young Hafnies. I can’t promise that Iron Syndicate wouldn’t eventually figure it out, but I am confident that Dralli Station will be a hell of a lot safer than Hab-6 over the next few weeks.”

“What happens after that?” Marsi asked.

“That’s up to us,” AJ said. “The success of three objectives is critical to an easy future and those are: keeping Iron Syndicate out of Hab-6, figuring out how to defeat this new weapon, and staying alive. Stashing the girls somewhere obscure and with friendlies is a step in the right direction for that third objective.”

“They’re not going to like being separated from me,” Marsi said.

“I don’t suppose. Sometimes, hard choices are all we’re left with.”

“Sure,” Marsi said with a defeated tone.

“We have thirty minutes to clear out of Fast Trader. I’ll let you work things out with your girls,” AJ said. “Let me know if I can help with anything.”

“Man, that’s a tough choice,” Lisa said, meeting AJ in the crew quarters where the two of them worked to collect their scant personal items.

“What role are you interested in once we’re on Krevnor?” AJ asked. “Are you a gunner’s mate or are you running with the bulls?”

“Is that how you see yourself? A bull?”

“Figure of speech,” AJ said grinning. “But you have to admit, those infantry suits are harbingers of doom.”

“I’m tired of sitting behind a console and playing space invaders,” Lisa said. “As long as you can program your tin cans to avoid hitting me, I’d like to get turned loose for re-education purposes.”

“Now we’re educating Iron Syndicate? That’s what we’re telling ourselves?”

“That’s right,” Lisa said. “Did you know most Iron Syndicate troops are out of the business within six years?”

“Because they get killed?” AJ asked.

“No, Iron Syndicate boasts a ninety-two percent success rating with casualty rates below five percent,” she said. “Now, if you ask me, ninety-five percent is a one in twenty chance of dying and you’d never catch me doing that. But the pay is exceptional as are the survivor benefits.”

“How do you know all this? Are you thinking about a career change?”

“No, but it doesn’t hurt to know who you’re up against,” she said. “The idea of a corporation running a war is hard for me to work through. Their incentives aren’t lined up with the risks.”

“For you,” AJ said. “I’m not sure that’s how everyone sees it. Remember, I doubt these guys see a lot of return fire.”

“They’re in for a bit of a lesson then,” Lisa said. “It almost makes me want to leave a few of them around so they can tell scary ghost stories to their friends.”

“Let’s not count our chickens, Lisa,” AJ said, grunting as he picked up his own duffle and headed for the airlock behind her.

“Mmm, what I wouldn’t do for some honest-to-God real fried chicken, gravy and mashed potatoes right about now,” she said. “One of the worst things about space travel is how much room fresh ingredients take up.”

AJ chuckled and followed her through the umbilicus to Wasp.

“You’ll have to check the larder,” he said. “I don’t think these guys have been away from port for all that long.”

“Coming in behind you,” Darnell said, carrying two much smaller bags of personal items. “Same quarters as last time?”

“Probably not,” AJ said. “Flank and his pilots had first choice, and I don’t feel like kicking anyone out.”

“That makes sense,” Darnell said. “Smaller beds are better, anyway.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” AJ said. “That subject’s been nothing but trouble for me.”

Built to accommodate a crew of twenty, they mostly had their pick of accommodations aboard Wasp and settled in quickly, such had been their lives for the last few years. Twenty minutes after arriving aboard, AJ made his way forward to the cockpit, where he found Flank and another pilot chatting quietly in a space designed for four.

“Jodis Barrymore, meet our mission commander, Albert Jenkins. AJ this is Lieutenant Barrymore, my first mate unless you intend to shift assignments,” Flank said.

“Nice to meet you, Lieutenant,” AJ said, shaking the pilot’s hand. “There’s a third pilot, right?”

“That’s me,” a woman’s voice announced from behind AJ. AJ turned to the side to allow the woman onto the bridge as that appeared to be her destination. Instead, she stopped in front of AJ and stiffened to attention. “Lieutenant Ashley Yonet, reporting for service!”

“At ease, Lieutenant,” AJ said. “It’s nice to meet you both. I don’t know if either of you have flown dropships. We’re down a pilot, so I’m open to volunteers. We’re still working out the major strategic details, but I can tell you that Wasp, Seahag and Bernard will all play vital roles against the extraordinary force that Iron Syndicate is sending our way. I assume you’re all three up on the details of our mission.”

“It was my understanding that we already had a war plan in place,” Ashley said.

“I haven’t seen it,” AJ said. “Let’s be clear. I don’t give a rat’s ass what plans the pencil pushers have. If I don’t think they’ll work, we’ll do something else.”

Ashley’s eyes cut to Flank, clearly expecting her prior commanding officer to jump in and let AJ know how the operation would proceed. AJ raised his eyebrows and gave Flank a moment to step in, but he didn’t.

“I’m glad we got that out of the way. Captain Flank, once Marsi Thalor is aboard, I’ll ask you to get Wasp underway for the Krevnor moon in the Drayths system,” AJ said. He gave a polite nod to Ashley. “I’ll get out of your hair now.”

AJ headed back to the conference room, feeling the stares of all three pilots on his back.

“Did Marsi come aboard yet?” AJ asked when he ran into Lisa on his way back.

“She’s talking to her daughters. They’re understandably upset,” Lisa said.

“Would you deal with her?” AJ asked. “I’m not in the right headspace to deal with a bunch of emotion.”

“Yeah, I’ve established a relationship with her and her girls,” Lisa said. “I’ll get us moving forward.”

“Where do you want me, boss man?” Darnell asked. “I’m thinking we have all the pilots we need on this bus.”

“Flank and his crew can get us to Krevnor,” AJ said. “I’m going to need you on Seahag.”

“I figured that,” Darnell said. “I was just wondering about Krevnor. I’ll talk to Captain Flank. If he wants me to pull a few shifts, I won’t mind doing it however he wants.”

“I’m sure he’d appreciate the offer,” AJ said, turning into the conference room. “BB, can you retrieve the Tok war plans. I’d like to see what they think will do the job.”

Beverly appeared on the conference room table wearing desert fatigues, holding a cane in one hand. In front of her were several white boards set atop aluminum tripods. “Why, yes I can, mon capitaine. The primary thrust of the Tok defensive plan is to meet the Iron Syndicate troop transports on the ground with enough of an element of surprise to inflict heavy casualties. This will require strong anticipation of those troop carriers’ destination. It is noted as a potential point of failure by the Tok analysts.”

“Good of them to take notice,” AJ said. “Let’s keep going.”

A knock at the door came an hour later. AJ had already decided to throw out the Tok plans but was struggling with exactly how he wanted to approach the myriad problems brought by a larger, highly motivated force. When he turned to the door, he found Lieutenant Yonet standing with a pair of mugs in hand.

“What’s up?”

“Can I make a peace offering? I didn’t mean to get off on the wrong foot. I tend to be pretty blunt,” she said.

“Come on in,” AJ said, accepting a steaming cup of coffee from the young human officer. “Are you Air Force?”

“Navy, actually,” she said. “Got recruited into Defense Operations a few months ago.”

“What is Defense Operations?” AJ asked.

“Figured you knew about that,” she said. “United Nation Defense Operations operates under the United Nations and coordinates responses to alien threats, mostly domestic. You can sort of think of it as continuing the work you, Doctor Jayne, and Darnell Jackson first started back so many years. You look great, by the way.”

“That,” AJ said.

“That?” Ashley asked.

“I’m a sucker for flattery and chocolate,” AJ said smiling. “And you have nothing to apologize for. You spoke your mind and asked a completely valid question. Fact of the matter is, I run my own show most of the time, so Tok had to know I wouldn’t take their plan. At least that’s the excuse I’m giving them for the pile they left us with. Did you read it through?”

“A bit above my paygrade,” she answered.

“Sit,” AJ said, tapping the chair next to him. “And it’s not at all above your paygrade. Let me guess, you’re a Naval Academy grad. Top five in your class?”

“Valedictorian, special focus on advanced weapon systems,” she answered.

“Figures.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked, setting back, her pale cheeks flushing red. “You don’t think I’m qualified to be here?”

“Sounds like you’ve a story in your head that you might want to work on,” AJ said. “What I was saying was that it figures that one of the people sent on this unbelievably critical mission as a backup pilot is one of the best and brightest Earth has to offer. If you really want to know what I think, it’s that Jackie Baird was behind sending you along because you remind her of herself. How’s that for a guess?”

“You couldn’t possibly have guessed that,” Ashley answered. “She’s a two-star general.”

AJ grinned. In fact, as they’d been speaking, Beverly had pulled up semi-classified information about Lieutenant Ashley Yonet’s appointment to UN Defense Operations where it was clear the young woman had been sponsored by now-General Jacqueline Baird.

“Your symbiote figured that part out,” Ashley said, smiling for the first time in the conversation.

“Truth,” AJ said. “So, let’s take that big brain of yours and have you run through these plans that the smartest aliens in all of Galactic Empire put together.”

“You’re sure?”

“What can it hurt?”

AJ leaned back in his chair and took a drink of the offered coffee. One of the joys of a ship coming from Earth was the availability of freshly roasted coffee beans.

“I see what you mean,” she said. “There is a lot of dependance on perfect timing. Is that what you’re seeing too?”

“Yes.”

“How would you fix it?” she asked.

“Sorry, Cadet,” AJ said. “That’s your job. Work out a plan and we’ll compare notes.”

“That’s not exactly fair. I don’t have intimate knowledge of your assets,” she said.

“You do more than you think. Wasp is necessarily the heart of the operation. Or at least Seahag and Bernard should be critical. Similarly, the Vred power suits are the only way we’re going to stand up against such a large force, once they’re on the ground.”

“Okay. Can I ask questions as I work on it?” she asked.

“Of course. I want the best possible plan,” AJ said. “Do your best and we’ll see where we’re at.”

“You’re nothing like Jackie … er, General Baird, said.”

26

YOUNG LOVE

“Krevnor, ho!” Flank called over public address. The trip to the Drayths system had been unremarkable and AJ took the lack of Iron Syndicate fleets as a good sign. Moving forward to the already crowded bridge, AJ gazed at the fast-approaching planet of Drayths and its smaller moon.

“Jodis, could I relieve you of your station for a time?” AJ asked. While he could have made it a command, Wasp’s crew had done a good job of welcoming their new passengers and he wanted to honor their efforts.

“Absolutely, Colonel,” the first mate answered, standing.

AJ slid into the seat adjacent to where Flank worked the navigation controls. “Hab-6, defense, this is GES Wasp, Colonel Jenkins, come in, please.” Expecting a wait as personnel were located, AJ was pleased when a response was nearly immediately received.

“Wasp, we have you on mid-range and might I say on behalf of Hab-6, we’re darn glad to see you,” came a gravelly voice.

“Hab-6, please identify,” AJ responded.

“Right on, Colonel, you’ve got Bricks Morales on the horn. Need me to fetch Lefty for you?” Jackson Morales answered.

“That’s not necessary. What is necessary is that you get those ground batteries to recognize our girl Wasp here as friendly. We’d hate to test just how angry your orbital defense systems are,” AJ answered.

“Bricks. Do we know him?” Darnell asked quietly.

AJ muted the transceiver, turned and smiled at his old friend. “Just a kid toward the end of ‘Nam. Shrapnel in his throat. Nickname comes from it sounding like he swallowed bricks. Tough as they come, though.”

“Mexican kid, right?”

“Yup, got his citizenship after the war. I went to his swearing in,” AJ said. “Family was darn proud of him.”

“Good call, Colonel,” Bricks answered. “We’re transferring your ship’s identification to the friends-n-family database. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of beats.”

“We’ll hang out,” AJ said.

“Looks like we’re processed on this side,” Bricks said. “Wasp you’re cleared to approach Hab-6.”

“See you groundside, Bricks,” AJ answered.

“Heck yeah. Hab-6 over and out.”

“I’d be a little careful on approach, captain,” AJ said. “I don’t know that we want to completely rely on a new system install.”

“I read you,” Flank said.

Fortunately, the systems worked as designed and forty minutes later, Wasp entered the moon’s light atmosphere and dropped toward Hab-6 where a landing pad had been cleared of moon dust and carved into the stony ground.

“What do you need us to do, Colonel?” Flank asked as the dust settled around Wasp.

“For the moment, I’d say you’re on shore leave,” AJ said. “Consider yourself on twenty-minute call, though.”

“Is Hab-6 even open for business?” Flank asked.

“No idea,” AJ said. “I’d say go armed and travel in pairs. Generally, use your best judgment and wear your uniform. Topping off fuel and travel supplies is first priority.”

“Copy that,” Flank said. “We’ll take leave in shifts so we’re always hot and ready to scoot.”

“I appreciate that,” AJ said, standing from where he’d watched their approach to Krevnor.

“They did a decent job patching that dome,” Lisa said, catching AJ as he walked purposefully toward the airlock and stairway extended to the pad. “I hadn’t realized the extent of the damage done in our first entry here. Looks like Iron Syndicate had some fight left in them after we were gone.”

“I can’t imagine why they fought after Rigor Justic departed,” AJ said. “They had to know they were beat.”

Darnell caught up with the pair, his vac-suit helmet already inflated. “Iron Syndicate pays bonuses based on kills and damage to enemy buildings. Surrender has disincentives to include suspension without pay.”

“You’ve been reading their website,” AJ said. “Find anything else interesting?”

“Not really. Marketing for a corporation that is also a military force is the worst of two worlds. You have the rah-rah team unity crap sitting next to the pompous, we’ll kick everyone’s ass, rhetoric. It doesn’t make for good reading. Petey picked out the stuff about suspensions and all that.”

AJ donned his own vac-suit helmet and worked his way through the airlock. By the time he was on the stairs, a pair of figures were approaching in an open-air ground vehicle that very much resembled old Jeep Willys. Seated next to a driver was none other than Lefty Johnson.

“I wondered when you’d be coming back,” Lefty said after jumping out of the jeep. “I can’t say I was expecting you to arrive with Wasp, although, I can’t say I’m disappointed.”

“Good to see you upright, Lefty,” AJ said, accepting the man’s proffered handshake and pulling him in for a one-armed hug.

“Damn, son, are you back to human?” Lefty asked, stepping back so he could validate the question.

“Yes,” AJ said. “Apparently, the powers that be thought I was out of control so they knocked me down a peg.”

Lefty chuffed out a laugh. “Oh, good they figured out the problem. I’m sure that’s fixed now,” he said sarcastically. “Maybe they slowed you down a skosh, but I doubt it.”

“What’s the word around here?” AJ asked.

“We watched you jump that ship. That was some crazy crap, right there, son,” Lefty said. “And who’s that coming down the stairs? I don’t recognize her.”

“Doctor Marsi Thalor, meet Major Lefty Johnson,” AJ said. “Marsi, Lefty is the guy who secured Hab-6. He’ll be the guy keeping you alive. Lefty, Marsi worked with Kofeen back in the day when they were just figuring out the potential of fozelium. She’s here to figure out a way to overcome those weapons.”

“If it’s possible,” Marsi quickly added.

“Look, Doc, that weapon is about the worst thing I’ve seen on a battlefield short of deploying nukes,” Lefty said, turning toward her. “If you have any chance of stuffing that genie back in the bottle, it’s worth whatever efforts you have. Heck, or come up with some sort of shield, deflector, grounding mechanism, I don’t care what. Put ten of those on the other side and our infantry will get chewed up like toy soldiers.”

“Have you secured the fozelium that’s already been mined?” Marsi asked.

“We moved what Iron Syndicate left behind and put it down in a secure location deep in the mine,” Lefty said. “Explosive charges are set every hundred yards and if there’s any possibility we’re going to lose control of this station, I’m prepared to bury the whole damn thing.”

“That’s a reasonable precaution,” Marsi said.

“It just buys us a bit of time,” Lefty said. “They dug their way to it once. If they get control of this site, they’ll just do it again.”

“Were any weapons recovered?”

“How about I give you guys the nickel tour? It’ll answer a bunch of questions,” Lefty said.

As they’d been talking, several other vehicles had arrived and were offloading supplies AJ hadn’t even known were stashed in Wasp’s holds.

“Do we have an update on the Iron Syndicate fleet’s progress?” AJ asked.

“Seventy-four hours,” Lefty answered.

“The task you’ve asked me to accomplish is not something you should expect completed in three days,” Marsi said. “Kofeen had decades to research and refine his process.”

“Right, but he didn’t have access to some of the brightest minds in Galactic Empire,” Lisa said.

“No offense, Lisa, but our present company does not seem to meet that standard.”

“Keep an open mind,” Lisa said.

“Let’s hit it, Lefty,” AJ said, climbing into the back of one of the open-air vehicles.

“You heard the man,” Lefty said when no one else moved. “Let’s make tracks. We’ll take both of these vehicles. Darnell, I assume you won’t mind driving?”

“I’ll do my best to keep up,” Darnell said shaking his head.

Lefty took a long route around the southern side of Hab-6, passing the recently installed orbital batteries slowly so the team could get a good look. “I don’t care what you sail in on, you don’t want these bad boys to have free line of sight,” Lefty said. “We have three of them, roughly equally spaced. They’re about as powerful as anything they could put on an Iron Syndicate battle cruiser and due to their stabilization through the moon’s crust, they’re a darn sight more accurate if you’re taking multiple shots since you’re not rocking the whole ship when they fire.”

“How long have you had those installed?”

“Actually, we’re just now getting ready to stabilize number three up north. I was hoping you’d be here to see it go in. Impressive if you ask me.”

The two vehicles churned along a rocky trail adjacent to the transparent dome. Several centimeters of dust covered the trail and was picked up by their passing, leaving a rooster tail in their wake.

“I’d like to see it,” AJ said.

As they approached the northwest corner of the habitation dome, they caught sight of a trio of large structures. Using imagination and projections from Beverly, AJ could see how the tipped-over structures would fit together to become one of the orbital batteries they’d seen on the southern end of the structure.

“We’re in position,” Lefty called, slowing his vehicle’s approach. “Go ahead.”

“What’s that coming out of the top?” Lisa asked. “It looks like legs.”

“You’re not far off,” Lefty said. “The orbital battery is self-installing and self-leveling. It’s designed to be dropped next to something of value and provide protection without needing an engineering team. That’s been handy out here as we’re short on engineers and long on work. Those darn Vred really can make one helluva thing.”

Slender legs rotated until perpendicular to the uneven ground, extended, leveling the structure.

“It’d be a good time to zoom in on those feet,” Lefty prompted. AJ complied just in time to see large puffs of gas and a billowing cloud of dust expand out from near ground level. “That explosion just drove piers into the ground roughly twenty meters. That’s only the beginning, though, the next part is clever.”

With piers driven into the rocky ground the center third of the tipped over structure shook, causing a new cloud of dust to billow up and out. The structure was lifted on the tall pylons that were now anchored. The movement was slow, but given the thousands of tons of material being moved, it was impossible to look away. Finally, the center section of the battery was oriented at a perpendicular angle to the ground. Even before it had settled, the two outer sections activated and started their own ballet of sinking piers and rotating. Forty minutes after they’d arrived on the scene, the orbital battery stilled.

“That’s badass, right?” Lefty asked.

“Is it ready to fire?”

“It could be,” Lefty said. “We’ll do a bit more work so we have access through jetways from the dome. We’ll also stretch some control and power cables out there. The batteries have a decent amount of autonomous operation right out of the box, but sitting next to a power source significantly extends its value.”

“I don’t think it’s an overstep to say that Iron Syndicate is going to target these orbital batteries first,” AJ said.

“We lose these batteries, the fight is over,” Lefty said. “One battle cruiser in orbit could turn this place to rubble in fifteen minutes if they’re of a mind to.”

“I’m not sure two-hundred fifty infantry is a much better choice,” AJ said.

“Sure, but you have a plan, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Lefty said.

“I do,” AJ said. “It’s a work in progress with a very talented Naval Academy grad. Give us until lunchtime tomorrow and I’ll show you what we’re thinking about.”

“Are you seriously on this path again?” Lefty asked. “You and women are like oil and water.”

“What are you going on about?” AJ asked.

“Cute little thing from the Naval Academy bats her eyes at you and all of a sudden you’re locked up in a room working on battle plans. It’s the weirdest flirting I’ve ever seen,” Lefty said.

“Bubba, she’s barely in her thirties,” AJ said.

“Funny what you can learn in a conversation,” Lefty said. “Because that wasn’t a denial.”

Lisa’s head swiveled to AJ in the blink of an eye. “Oh, my Lord, you’re doing it again, aren’t you? How could I miss it?”

“Give it a rest,” AJ said. “Right now, the only thing we’re focusing on is surviving the next seventy-two hours. There’s nothing going on between Lieutenant Yotel and me. And seriously, you need to think about why, just because a woman is attractive doesn’t mean she can’t also be a fantastic strategist, which she certainly is.”

“You sound defensive,” Beverly said, appearing only to AJ. She wore a skin-tight wetsuit along with flippers and a swim mask sitting on her forehead. In one hand she held a long speargun. “You might as well have chummed the waters over a shiver of sharks. They smell blood in the water and you’re just feeding them.”

“Frak,” AJ said, shaking his head. “You’re right.”

“We’ll come back to that,” Lefty said, grinning widely as he started driving, passing the freshly assembled orbital battery. “This northern entry had extensive damage from our first push to lock down Hab-6. Not as bad as the energy weapon’s damage to the eastern entrance, but bad enough. Fortunately, they had a good supply of replacement parts for these domes.”

“How many civilians are left here?” AJ asked.

“Somewhere north of six hundred fifty. We tried to talk them into leaving but the problem is the way these guys make money is all about the value derived from selling the mine’s ore. Iron Syndicate has a sizeable contract with Hab-6 and until they take final delivery or there’s some sort of injunctive relief, they’re not going anywhere.”

“Is there a lawsuit pending?” AJ asked.

“There is,” Lefty said. “There are penalties if Iron Syndicate ends up damaging the habitation dome or anything within.”

“Seems like that already happened,” AJ said.

“It’s getting worked out,” Lefty said. “I have good contact with the civilian leadership. They know that Iron Syndicate is about to show up with horns out. Hab-14 has offered shelter and I think most will take them up on that.”

“That’s a relief,” AJ said. “I was worried about collateral damage.”

“Says the guy with a dozen and a half illegal mechanized infantry suits,” Lefty said.

“We’ll try to keep the fight out of town, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

“I know.”

Moving to the northern entrance, Lefty only had to slow to enter Hab-6. Automated doors were warned of the vehicle’s approach and swung open just enough for the two smaller vehicles to enter. Slowing further, Lefty waited for the doors to seal behind and the airlock doors ahead to open. AJ’s ears popped at the small differences in pressure as they passed into a hallway that intersected the wide corridor that encircled the entire dome, providing a large arterial connecting the four major entryways at each of the compass points, north, east, south and west. The ride took AJ past familiar sights and they soon ended up at the mine’s wide entry.

“There’s a laboratory up, over top,” Lefty said, gesturing to a level above the mine’s entrance. “There are things that you might find interesting, Doctor Thalor.”

“Could we get a look at the mine first?” Marsi asked. “I’d like to see the material you’ve stored and how deep it goes. Are you still finding new ore?”

“They’re still finding ore,” Lefty said. “There’s a considerable process to separate the ore from what’s surrounding it. I’ve asked them to stop refining until we get past the conflict headed our way. There’s been some resistance to the idea, and I understand. This is their livelihood. At the same time, manufacture of that weapon was responsible for the deaths of my men and women.”

“I suppose they did build the weapon here. Did you find where they’ve done that?” AJ asked.

“The same lab space overhead,” Lefty said. “As much as I’d like to have destroyed it, we left the lab area alone.”

“That was smart,” Marsi said.

Lefty drove straight into the mine. With a few friendly beeps of his horn, he notified people he was moving through. At the top, the mine was wide enough that travel was easy. After a couple hundred meters, the shaft narrowed enough that continuing to drive was difficult given the machinery that ended up blocking their way.

“We’ll walk from here. It’s not much deeper where we’ve stashed the refined materials. There are also a few power packs that don’t have barrels. They look operational to me, but again, neither Rebel nor I are experts in these matters,” Lefty explained.

“Those are definitely power packs for the weapons,” AJ said when they entered a room that had been burrowed out by mining equipment from the side of the main hallway. Three power packs without the requisite barrels which made them useful weapons sat on the floor in front of shoulder high stacks of crates.

“Can I open these crates?” Marsi asked.

“Everything here has been searched,” Lefty said. “I’ve learned that the first refining step results in a low-grade ore that requires further refining to get it stable enough to even be put in crates like this. Feel free to look through it all. I imagine you’ll run into terminology in your research. This stuff in crates is green ore. You’re looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of three thousand cubic meters of unrefined ore to create what’s in the ten crates on the floor, here.”

“You’ve become quite the expert,” AJ said.

“Honestly, once Rigor Justic took off, most of the excitement here died down,” Lefty said. “We got word that we were still at ground zero and needed to do our best to secure the area and whatever assets were left behind. If you look at the ceiling, you’ll see the explosive charges we’ve set.”

“What’s your troop strength?”

“Good news on that front. We had a transport run by about two weeks ago. They dropped off twenty fresh recruits from home,” Lefty said. “We’re running seventy-two if we don’t add your numbers.”

“I imagine you know, given Wasp’s appearance that we’re going to want to pull the guys who have experience running Vred power suits, right?” AJ asked.

“It occurred to me,” Lefty said as they watched Marsi inspect the contents of one of the ore crates.

“Anything interesting, Marsi?” AJ asked.

“It is as Mr. Johnson suggests. This is highly refined fozelium ore,” Marsi said. “I’d really like to get a look at Kofeen’s lab. I imagine his work is encrypted to a degree that it is unavailable. I might have an idea of his passwords, though.”

“We’ve tried to access them,” Lefty said. “But it’s locked down tight. Okay everyone, back in the jeep, we’ll take a run topside and show the doc to her lab.”

They piled back in after managing to turn the vehicles around and after a time emerged from the mine.

“Not a lot of folks working the mine today,” AJ said.

“They’re only running a single shift. After tomorrow, we’ll shutter the place, maybe permanently, who knows?” Lefty said. “Best way to the lab is to take that elevator on the right.”

Following Lefty, the five of them piled into the elevator and exited on the next level up. There was a single door opposite the open elevator and with a hand swipe, Lefty provided access.

“Do we need to get Marsi added to the access list?” AJ asked.

“I’ll add all of you. Mostly because it’ll likely save me a door in the long run,” Lefty said.

“I don’t follow,” Marsi said.

“He thinks we’ll bust the door down if we want to get in badly enough,” Lisa said.

“Would you?”

“Yes.”

Marsi barely heard Lisa’s answer as she crossed over to the primary computer terminal in front of which sat an old but comfortable looking chair. Sitting, she slid forward and started typing on the keyboard. “Ah, hah!”

“You have his password?” Lefty asked. “So soon?”

“Wasn’t that hard,” Marsi said. “I just put in a combination of the girl’s names.”

“Oh?” Lisa asked.

“We were young.”

27

BOILING FROGS

“That’s a good run, kids,” AJ called over his mechanical infantry’s tactical comms. Of the sixteen soldiers who comprised his small company, ten were relative rookies in the operation of the nearly invulnerable battle suits. Even more, the lighter gravity of the moon’s surface was a new theatre for even the veterans, so AJ had pressed both squads into twelve-hour, live fire sessions where he’d pitted squads against each other. The bullets fired were crowd disbursing kinetic rounds and civilian stun rounds which triggered a variety of artificial maladies when opposing team members were struck.

“Was that the last trip?” Darnell called from the relative comfort of Seahag, the nimble dropship designed to carry eight mechanical troopers beneath its belly for insertion into a warzone. Like the Vred power suits, Seahag was heavily armored and boasted fore and aft turrets with similar weaponry as the mechanical infantry suits.

“Mech Company, cease hostilities,” AJ called over companywide communications. “We’re going to knock off this afternoon and get some rest. Intelligence shows Iron Syndicate fleet arriving at 0500 tomorrow. Get your suits cleaned and if there are any mechanical issues have them seen to. Mission departure will be at 0100, so grab a nap. Tomorrow could turn into a long day. Big D, Bash, I need you all to report to the spaceport with Seahag and Bernard after dropping Mech Company back at Hab-6.”

AJ watched as his virtual screen filled with green check marks of acceptance next to squad member names as they acknowledged orders. He switched comms to private with Captain Flank. “Harry, I need you to report to the spaceport. We’re going to work on combat loading Wasp with Darnell and Ashley.”

“Copy that, AJ,” Flank answered. “Give me twenty minutes?”

“Take forty-five, we’ll refuel and make sure our drop rails are in good maintenance,” AJ said.

Leading the blue team, AJ turned his power suit to the vector Darnell identified for pickup. While the power suit did most of the work, the jogging still required a certain amount of physicality, and his muscles complained about the repeated abuse of long training over the last thirty hours. For AJ, however, settling into the mechanical wonder felt like coming home and he was glad to have time to reacquaint himself with all the myriad intricacies available to advanced operators like himself.

“Okay Blue Squad, let’s show them how this is done,” AJ said as his HUD showed his squad in solid synchronicity with Seahag. A metal hook slotted into the back of his suit, guided by strong magnets and seated in place. Accelerating with gusto after snagging all eight of the squad, Seahag scooted across the moonscape, sending up a rooster tail of dust. “Nicely done, Big D,” AJ praised.

“Blue squad, prepare for a twenty-meters-per-second insertion.” Darnell’s voice was all business as he approached Hab-6’s spaceport. “Check your HUDs for landing targets and countdown. We’re six seconds out on my mark. Mark!”

AJ grinned at Darnell’s professionalism. Like most of the veteran soldiers on Krevnor, when it was go-time, they exhibited a laser-like focus. Small errors were often magnified in moments of stress. A feeling of weightlessness followed AJ’s counter reaching zero, instinctively, he bent his legs and used the suit’s attitude jets to lean him forward against the light atmosphere. At sixty kilometers per hour, the landing would be relatively soft. Only one of his squad ended up rolling.

“Ah, frak!” Cricket complained as his suit curled for an optimum roll. The rookie operator took two turns around and extended his legs slightly late, which forced a third roll, which he managed to snap out of, with the help of the power suit’s programming.

“Solid recovery, Cricket,” AJ called, squelching the good-natured jeers from the rest of the squad. And while it might have been an experience problem that caused the roll, AJ knew it was just as likely that uneven terrain had created an unrecoverable situation. In truth, AJ wished more of his squad had similar experiences as it was something likely to happen to them all at some point.

Running off the inertia of the drop, the squad reformed and jogged to the recently constructed mechanic’s bay on the western portal of Hab-6. Soldiers and civilians co-opted into mechanics greeted the squad and worked to settle the heavy equipment into adapted cradles that would top off power and fuel while also running diagnostics. With high-powered blasts of air, the suits were first cleaned while the operators were within and then again once the suits were empty.

“Cricket, I need a minute,” AJ called across the mechanic’s bay.

“Coming, Colonel,” Cricket answered, setting down an ordnance pack he was about to replenish his suit’s armory with. Cricket, an angular man who’d been born in Mexico but immigrated to the US as a young soldier, earning citizenship for his hard work. “Hey, I’m sorry about biffing that last landing.”

AJ shook his head. “No man, that’s going to happen. Did you catch a toe or something?”

“I’m still reviewing the data. I was rolling before I knew something had gone wrong,” he said. “Is that why you called me over?”

“No, I got a medical warning. I think your neck is bleeding,” AJ said. “Some of this ordnance is a bit toxic, I don’t want you getting an infection. Let’s roll over to a med station. We’ll get you fixed up.”

“Ah, that makes so much sense. My head snapped at a weird angle when I landed,” Cricket said. “I think my neck scraped.”

“Let’s get you fixed up,” AJ said. “How about you take off that shirt. You’re going to need a new one, you’re pretty well bled through.”

“So I am,” Cricket said after removing his shirt.

“Got yourself good,” AJ said. “You need to have a diagnostic run to see what snagged your neck. This could have been serious. Also, this is going to sting.” AJ swabbed an antiseptic wipe over the wound and before Cricket could object, he held the wound closed, gluing it closed.

“Son of a biscuit! Frak, that hurts,” Cricket complained, grabbing the back of his neck.

“You’re done bleeding, though,” AJ said unhelpfully.

“You know, you’re different than your reputation,” Cricket said.

“Oh? What’s my reputation?”

“Grumpy old codger. You know. You have to have heard it.”

“Fixing you up is ruining my reputation? Damn, make sure you emphasize that I glued you without cleaning the wound first. I don’t need anyone thinking I’m soft,” AJ said.

“Okay,” Cricket laughed.

“Finish loading your ordnance, get some grub and grab some rest,” AJ said. “I’m not going to lie, tomorrow is going to be intense.”

“Can we really deal with a fleet of troops and a battle cruiser? Don’t take that wrong, I’m all in. It just seems like we’re undermanned,” Cricket said.

“I don’t see the choice,” AJ said. ”If Iron Syndicate gets control of the fozelium a whole lot of good people are going to pay a steep price.”

“Why is it this stuff always gets out of control? How’d we let this go so long without dealing with it?” Cricket asked.

“I’ll be asking those same questions after tomorrow,” AJ said.

“That’s fair.”

* * *

AJ struggled to sleep and settled for dozing in and out. At 2300, he gave up and made his way to the spaceport where Seahag and Bernard, already burdened with mechanized infantry suits, were being slowly loaded back-to-front into Wasp’s long hold. Bernard first, followed by Seahag, which would put AJ’s squad first out the door when they launched.

“You should be sleeping,” Lefty said, walking over to join him.

“Same to you,” AJ said. “What are you doing here? I’d have thought you have a million other things occupying your mind.”

“So much of our survival here depends on the success of sixteen men and two pilots,” he said. “Even if you are successful, there’s no guarantee we won’t be overrun. Intelligence is notoriously poor about troop strength estimates. I can’t figure out why Galactic Empire hasn’t dedicated more forces.”

“So, you’re down here trying to make sense of things,” AJ said and held up his hands when Lefty looked at him with evident frustration. “I’m not judging. I have the same questions. Do you wish you were loading up in a suit instead of commanding the ground troops?” AJ asked.

“Yes and no,” Lefty said. “There are so many moving pieces to this operation. The good news is Doctor Thalor is making progress on Kofeen’s notes.”

“It’s not going to help us right now. I’m not sure why we went through all that effort to fetch her.”

“She did say one thing that is interesting. Fozelium ore is sensitive to heat and pressure, and we’re not talking about a lot of either to ruin it for weapons production. It’s real sensitive. I’m not exactly sure what to do with that, but it’s something,” Lefty said. “But back to the topic at hand. We both know preventing the sale of the weapons isn’t the only objective at play here.”

“Galactic Empire wants Thalor to continue Kofeen’s work now that they know it’s viable,” AJ said. “How’d I miss that?”

“Like boiling a frog, AJ. Small things kept changing until we got to this point,” Lefty said.

“Shoot, I suppose,” AJ said. “How are we doing with mandatory evacuations?”

“There are twenty-five holdouts, but there’s one more transport headed over to Hab-9 this evening. I can’t fix stupid,” Lefty said.

Time passed both slowly and relentlessly until AJ’s company started dribbling back in, with everyone showing up by 0030.

“Folks, we’re all here,” AJ announced over company comms. “Let’s go ahead and get loaded up, there’s no value in hanging out in the hangar.”

“When are you going to share mission assignments?” Jackson ‘Bricks’ Morales asked.

“And shouldn’t the Iron Syndicate fleet be in system by now? Do we have a good sensor picture of them yet?” Tessa ‘Patchwork’ Malone asked.

“Good questions that I’ll answer once we’re all aboard and space bound,” AJ said.

“Well hell then, let’s get this show on the road, son,” Elijah ‘Dumpster Fire’ Danig said in his high-pitched Texan accent.

Dumpster Fire’s exclamation got the slow wheels of an already tired group moving more quickly as the anticipation of the battle to come started actualizing.

“So, I just want to know one thing,” Darryn ‘Havoc’ Wynn asked.

“What’s that, Havoc?” AJ asked.

“Are we renaming Cricket to Dillo after his last landing? I mean, he sure looked a whole lot more like an armadillo then he did a cricket on that drop before break,” Havoc said. The man’s words broke the group’s tension as everyone, including Cricket had a good laugh at the suggestion.

“Laugh it up you jerks,” Cricket said. “My foot landed in a hole. I’m lucky it didn’t tear my entire foot off.” This defense was like kerosene on a bonfire and suddenly the entire company was talking loudly about their experiences in training. AJ let it go on for a while, understanding that his people needed time to work off the tensions.

The trek for loading required the mechanized infantry personnel to march their suits up into the aft of Wasp, squeeze past Seahag and if you were unlucky, Bernard as well. While there was some room where a mech suit operator could move out of the way of another, it was a level of coordination that didn’t make much sense, so they loaded by pre-assigned position and strapped their suits into their dropships, either Seahag or Bernard, as neither dropship had much extended range once they’d lifted off from a planet or moon.

“Okay kids, listen up,” AJ said. “Mei Lin, you’ve got the baton today and will be squad leader for red team. Guys give it up for Scratch. She’s proven herself a worthy squad leader. Congratulations, Scratch.”

“Colonel, we’re closing the doors,” Captain Flank called over private comms. “Just give us the word and we’ll take off.”

“Any time you’re ready, Captain Flank,” AJ answered.

“Give five minutes for a quick diagnostic on engine one and we’ll be underway. I’ll give a public timer start if that’d be helpful.”

“I’m sure the boys and girls would appreciate it,” AJ said.

The trip into space for Mech Company would be taken entirely while riding inside their Vred power suits, which were fully plumbed and tempered for extended missions. AJ spent his final minutes gathering last minute details and fine tuning the plans he, Ashley, Flank, Darnell and Lefty had labored over. Finally, Wasp lifted from Krevnor’s surface. Her large, interstellar engines engaged, pushing her smoothly toward their destination.

“Okay kids, so we have some updates on the Iron Syndicate fleet from our last update. At the last minute, the fleet we’d been tracking was joined by a pair of destroyer class vessels. This additional firepower is going to make it extraordinarily dangerous for Wasp to spend much time in the battle space as she can’t possibly stand toe to toe with a destroyer.

“From a battle plan, however, things won’t change a whole lot. We have two primary concerns. The first is controlling the number of troops that make planetfall on Krevnor’s surface. Even with our superior firepower, Mech Company can’t be everywhere at once. Once the orbital batteries are taken out by the enemy, their battle cruiser will have no trouble targeting and shelling Hab-6 into powder. We don’t want this to happen.

“To that end, our primary focus will be on the three troop transports, each estimated to be carrying seventy highly trained, heavily armored soldiers all with a profit motive to destroy our planetary defenses. It’s going to be a bit tricky, but Flank is going to make a run at the transports, dropping out Seahag near Transport Alpha. Seahag will take us the final fifty kilometers in and drop Blue Squad on Transport Alpha’s hull. Blue Squad will then proceed to board this transport and disable it.

“We have time to disable two of the three transports, if our sensor packages are reading correctly. It is paramount that prior to any enemy transport making landfall we have the Alpha and Beta transports disabled and we’re back aboard Seahag and Bernard for delivery below. Your squad leader will have individual assignments but are there any general questions I can answer off the top?” AJ asked.

“Why aren’t we just slagging Hab-6 and being done with this whole mess?” Bricks asked. “I don’t imagine there’ll be a lot left once today’s out, either way.”

“Above my paygrade,” AJ said, although he knew the answer. With or without Kofeen, Galactic Empire wanted access to the fozelium, most likely to develop their own ridiculously overpowered weapons. Would the politicians admit that was the objective? Of course not, but it didn’t change that Bricks was right. It would be significantly easier to slag Hab-6 than defend it with such a small force.

“What’s our timeline, Colonel?” Havoc asked. “I’m all jacked up and ready to bust open a sardine can.”

“Timeline is dependent on the fleet, but right now we’re estimating they’ll hit orbit over Krevnor in ninety-five minutes,” AJ said. “We’ll be shutting down all non-critical systems throughout Wasp, Seahag and Bernard. We don’t need them to know we’re waiting for them.”

“The hunt is on,” Nash “Ghost” Parker said with quiet, intense anticipation. “Let us dispense with the chatter and prepare.”

“Dude, you are seriously scary,” Brick said.

“Shh,” Ghost answered and the channel quieted.

AJ appreciated the extra time to plan. Knocking down a couple of troop carriers wouldn’t win the day, but softening the enemy was critical if they wanted any chance at meeting their objectives. Jayne’s words came back to him. Her concern that AJ would chase any worthy objective and be willing to pay with his life whatever the bill might be. That they were protecting a mineral instead of lives, sat heavily on him. When it had been a matter of protecting lives by keeping an extraordinarily powerful weapon out of the hands of Quarr, he’d had no issues with the mission. Somewhere along the line, priorities had shifted and worse yet, he hadn’t understood the shift. Was he interested in giving his life so Galactic Empire scientists could develop a new, more powerful weapon, one that might give them the chance to combat and defeat the Quarr? How many would die for this privilege?

“Flank, get me a tight beam, private to Lefty Johnson,” AJ said after a few minutes of stewing.

“That’s not in the game plan, AJ,” Flank answered almost too quickly.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” AJ said.

“Oh, touchy, okay boss, setting it up now,” Flank said.

“BB, encrypt this conversation. I don’t want anyone listening in,” AJ said. Beverly appeared in front of him, standing on his forearm, wearing a simple white robe with twisted hair buns on either side of her head. “And Princess Leia from the first Star Wars.”

“Technically, the fourth,” Beverly needled.

AJ rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever.”

“Your conversation is private,” Beverly said. “I’m passing through Rebel.”

“What’s going on, Bubba?” Lefty asked. “Rebel says you’re double encrypted.”

“This doesn’t feel right, Lefty,” AJ said. “What are we defending here?”

“Can’t let Iron Syndicate get their hands on this fozelium,” Lefty said.

“So why not blow it up?” AJ asked. “You blow it up, Iron Syndicate turns around. Nobody dies today.

“That’s fair,” Lefty said. “Not sure why that didn’t occur to me. I guess that’s your call. You better be ready to take a whole lot of flak from Galactic Empire if you do that, though.”

“What would you do?”

“I’ve run the numbers. We’re going to lose people, AJ,” Lefty said. “Best case is we lose a couple of squads. Worst case is a full wipe. Fade to black. Maybe you tin cans will survive until Galactic Empire sends support, but we don’t even know if they’ll come for us if Iron Syndicate comes out on top.”

“That’s good analysis, but not exactly an answer.”

“I can’t make your decisions, AJ,” Lefty said. “And we still have the problem of an Iron Syndicate fleet bearing down on our position. I doubt they’re going to turn around and go home if we blow Hab-6.”

“How long will it take for you to fully evacuate Hab-6?” AJ asked.

Lefty sighed. “Geez, maybe thirty minutes. Fifteen if we make preparations.”

“I have a plan. I need Iron Syndicate to think this is going down the way we originally planned, which if I were them, I’d be fully expecting,” AJ said. “Make preparations for an evac but try to keep it on the downlow. We might have trouble in the chain of command.”

“You think someone will try to upset your applecart?” Lefty asked.

“I do,” AJ said. “The good news is, I brought my own contingency plan.”

“You’ve been planning this all along?”

“No, I’m just lucky that way,” AJ said. “Let me get back to you.”

“What are you going to do, AJ?”

“Hang on, let me see how far I can get,” AJ said, popping the seal on his infantry suit, to the surprise of his squad.

Seven pairs of eyes watched AJ’s every move as he climbed out from his suit. He held a finger to his lips and quietly walked forward, slipping through the forward hatch of the hold which gave him access to Seahag’s smaller crew area.

“What brings you this way?” Lisa asked, looking up from her gunner’s position in the cockpit.

“Bubba, we’re sixty minutes from ramming a troop carrier,” Darnell said. “You sure you want to be up here?”

“Privacy is kind of a thing right now,” AJ said. “Lisa, I have a job for you.”

Lisa turned with a sly look on her face. “Oh, really. Do tell.”

28

BREACH

“Okay, just why is it you think Flank is gonna turn on you now? He didn’t seem to mind when you changed the mission the first time,” Darnell said.

“That’s just it, I didn’t change the desired mission outcome,” AJ said. “I just changed the execution. And you couldn’t have missed how Ashley inserted herself into that process. I knew there was something off about her. She’s older than she says. Baird played me, sending a fresh-faced young-looking officer to stroke my ego. Ashley was my minder.”

“You seem pretty sure,” Darnell said. “Just how do you want to change things?”

“As we speak, Lefty is evacuating Hab-6,” AJ said.

“Not sure how that helps,” Darnell said. “We know it’s unlikely that we’ll stop all the troops from reaching Hab-6. Iron Syndicate is going to make a grab for the fozelium, and we probably won’t be able to stop them without troops there.”

“Or, Plan B,” AJ said.

“Stop drawing it out,” Darnell said. “Just tell me already.”

“You’re going to drop Blue Squad on that battle cruiser that’s coming this way.”

“Blowing up another cruiser is expensive, but you’ll still have Iron Syndicate troops on the ground. They’ll collect and take off in the destroyers.”

“You’re leaving something out,” Lisa said.

“I am,” AJ said. “Pressure and heat ruin fozelium for weapon’s production. It’s apparently very sensitive. Marsi just figured that out and passed it along.”

“Blow up the mine, it’ll ruin the ore. They already have charges set,” Lisa said.

“The kind of charges they have wouldn’t get it all,” AJ said. “There’s still fozelium in the ground.”

“You need a bigger explosion,” Darnell said knowingly. “You’re going to drop a battle cruiser on Hab-6. I should have seen this coming.”

“And Flank is going to try to stop me,” AJ said. “Or if he’s taking orders from Galactic Empire, he will.”

“And that’s where I come in. My job is to persuade Mr. Flank to do the right thing,” Lisa said. “If he won’t then I take control of Wasp. He has no idea that I’ve got so much flight training. He’ll never see it coming.”

“How will you tell him?” Darnell asked.

“I’m headed up there now,” AJ said. “Lisa, ideally, stay back a bit. No reason to make this anymore confrontational than it needs to be.”

“Copy that.”

AJ steeled himself for the conversation and exited Seahag, moving through Wasp’s hold, grateful that he still possessed whatever camera masking technology he’d derived from being Stora. Through the aft airlock, he continued through the mid-sized vessel.

The sound of a woman’s voice drew his attention as he moved through the ship. He paused before the conference room door and realized Ashley was providing status to someone. He chuckled as he moved past the door and continued to the bridge.

“AJ?” she called a few moments later. “Aren’t you supposed to be on Seahag?”

“Quick conference with Flank,” AJ said. “Change of plans.”

“No, no, no,” she said. “We’re not changing plans this late in the game. People’s lives are at stake.”

“I feel like we need to work on your communication with superior officer’s skills,” AJ said.

“You don’t understand, AJ,” Ashley said, her voice taking an edge. “What’s your thought? Are you gonna blow the mine and wait for Iron Syndicate to come back and dig it all out? I know you have explosives set.”

He turned and discovered she held a pistol on him. He smiled. “Fangs out a little quick, don’t you think? I’m your best hope for knocking down those troop carriers. I’m commander for Mech Company, I think they’ll notice if I don’t make it back.”

“Fifteen strong, independent minded, highly trained soldiers can get along without one old Vietnam vet who’s gotten a little big for his britches,” she said icily.

“Who are you working for?” AJ asked. “This fozelium doesn’t do anyone any good. This kind of escalation is like nuclear bomb development. It works in the beginning and then everyone realizes how insane it is.”

“You’re missing an important point. The only known source of fozelium sits beneath Hab-6,” she said. “This isn’t a nuclear bomb, it’s an ‘I win’ button.”

“Pretty sure that’s not what me and the boys signed up for,” AJ said.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“Flank in on all this too or just you?”

“Harry Flank is a misogynist pig who can barely tie his own shoes,” she said.

“Don’t suppose you’ll tell me who you’re working for.”

“Who do you think I’m working for?” she asked, scornfully. “The same people you’re working for. Earth, humanity, Galactic Empire, what’s the difference?”

“I was trying to figure out if you were an overzealous patriot or a sellout. I’ll be honest, I was pulling for sellout,” AJ said. “Won’t change what happens next, though.”

“You mean where I shoot you and we proceed as planned?”

AJ dove to the side as Ashley fired her pistol. The beam of energy grazed AJ’s thigh and he yelped from the pain. Not interested in a second shot, he rolled to the side and came onto all fours, rearing up and racing forward, intent on taking the woman out. He was too late, however, because the next thing he saw was Lisa standing behind Ashley, pushing her hands into zip tie cuffs.

“I was hoping you were close.”

“I’ve been hanging back waiting for you guys to get done chatting,” Lisa said. “Figured if you were gaining intelligence, I didn’t want to blow that.”

“She shot me,” AJ said incredulously. “I was buying time, waiting for you.”

“We need a safe word,” Lisa said.

“That is wrong on so many levels,” AJ said, shaking his head.

“What do you want me to do with her?”

“Broom closet?”

“Seamus says we can convert one of the berths in a brig with your command codes,” Lisa said.

“BB, what do I need to do?”

A small line appeared on the wall over a hand-plate used for identification. Hanging from this line, Beverly appeared, wearing a rappelling harness, her legs in a perfect L shape, holding her fast against the plate.

“Press here,” she said, smacking her own backside playfully.

“Now, that’s officially confusing,” AJ said, placing his hand on the security reader.

“And fun,” Beverly said. “Humans invest so much time at flirting, I figured why not.”

“I think she’s entered her adolescent rebellion stage,” Lisa said. “We have the clearance we need. We’ve also locked Flank and his first mate out of most systems. They can fly the ship and not much more.”

“You’re making a big mistake,” Ashley warned as Lisa pushed her into an open berth and locked her in.

“I liked her,” AJ said. “And not in a creepy, I’m forty years older way.”

“Oh, I’m a lot older than you,” Beverly said, turning around on her line so she just hung in midair. “Is flirty with you creepy?”

“Doesn’t apply. You’re experimenting,” Lisa said. “Don’t sweat it.”

“Oh, good.”

“Lisa, the navigation plan for the Iron Syndicate fleet should be set. There’s no reason for them to adjust anything as we have not mounted a space-based defense,” AJ said. “At least not that they’re aware. Pretty basic plan. When they get close, we run up next to them and drop off Mech Company.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Lisa said.

“I just need you to make sure we get dropped on Justice’s Boon,” AJ said. “After that, skedaddle, you don’t want anything to do with those destroyers.”

“Copy that,” Lisa said.

AJ worked his way back to Seahag where he stopped in and updated Darnell on the plan. His best friend didn’t love that Lisa would be left behind, especially with the destroyers nearby, but AJ reminded him that a fully unloaded Wasp would outrun and out maneuver any destroyer as long as Wasp’s only objective was to stay alive.

Finally, AJ made his way back to Seahag’s hold and loaded into his mechanized infantry suit. Looking at the countdown timer, which tracked the incoming fleet, he found with some dismay that he only had twenty minutes remaining.

“Cutting it pretty close, Colonel,” Bricks called over squad communications.

“You’re not wrong,” AJ answered and upgraded communications to all company. “Mech Company, we’ve got a change in orders.”

There were groans of irritation which AJ had expected. Having orders changed at the last minute was every soldier’s nightmare, but it was also about as common as something could be.

“Okay folks, take it easy,” AJ said. “Our primary target has changed. We’ll be dropping both Blue and Red squads on Justice’s Boon, which if you didn’t know, is the Iron Syndicate battle cruiser we’ve been tracking.”

“What happened?” Havoc asked, interrupting AJ. “Did they lose their sardine cans?” The term sardine can had been loosely used to describe the Iron Syndicate troop carriers. Lightly armored and full of bodies, the description wasn’t that far off.

“Havoc, maintain discipline,” AJ admonished. “We’re on a short fuse here and details are going to matter.” AJ wasn’t at all surprised when Havoc didn’t respond. The channel hushed.

“I’m uploading the standard Iron Syndicate’s battle cruiser layout. No doubt, we’ll run into resistance inside the ship. Blue Squad will drop first, looking to gain entry along the dorsal towards the aft of the ship. These Iron Syndicate battle cruisers are no joke and we will struggle to penetrate their armor. That being said, I believe we are prepared. Every operator will equip a pry bar, and you need to watch the video I just uploaded on techniques for removing Iron Syndicate battle armor. It’s a maintenance video condensed for your edification.

“Remember! In zero-g, if you hit something with your fist, you are likely to be thrown in the opposite direction,” AJ said. “Make sure you are tied down while you are on the outside of the vessel. Please acknowledge your understanding of this.

“Once we are inside, the goal of both squads is the same. We are to gain entry to the two bridges. Expect that the command staff will start on the primary bridge and move to the combat bridge once our infiltration becomes public knowledge. And trust me, they’ll know. We’re not going in quiet.

“Our goal is to get ship’s crew to abandon ship. There is no need to put down everyone you see. Aboard this ship, it is highly unlikely you will run into ordnance that can do anything more than back you off for a moment. The most likely contradiction to this is if they have any of those fozelium weapons left. We have no idea if that energy blast will penetrate one of these suits. I’d ask that we don’t find out. If you see anything like that, use all possible force to neutralize it. I do not care about capturing those weapons. Your safety is my highest priority.

“Finally, Red Team will be dropped on starboard side, near the main cargo hold,” AJ said. “Same entry plan. Pry up armor, tear off a door, do whatever comes naturally, but do it in a way that keeps our people safe. Are there any questions?”

“What about hull pressure?” Bricks asked.

“Good question. These battle cruisers have excellent segregation protocols. If you start punching holes in the hull, we’ll likely be slowed down by automatic bulkheads,” AJ said. “That said, we thrive in chaos, so do your best. It’ll at a minimum be an evolving situation. More questions?”

“How will we know where the bridges are?” Cricket asked.

“We know where the primary is,” AJ said. “The secondary will require access to internal systems. We’re bringing a code breaker. I believe that won’t be difficult once we’re on premises.”

“What are we doing with the battle cruiser?” Bricks asked.

“That’s the fun part. We’re crashing it,” AJ said.

“With us on it?” Cricket asked.

“That’s part of the evolving plan,” AJ said. “Your Vred power suit is capable of atmospheric entry on planetoids up to point oh eight gravities. It’s not pleasant, but it’s doable. If we get to that point, your orders are to use your attitude jets to get as far away from Hab-6 as possible. It is unlikely even a Vred power suit would survive the kind of hurt we’re going to put on that place.”

“Wait, we’re attacking Hab-6 with the battle cruiser?” Bricks asked. “Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be protecting?”

“Like I said, new intelligence,” AJ said. “If we make the fozelium go away, nobody gets the big bad weapon. As an added bonus, fewer of my favorite people have to die today. So, in summary, punch holes in the battle cruiser. Find command staff in one of the two bridges. Crash into Hab-6. Stay alive. Any critical questions? We have five minutes, and I’d like a shot at taking a bio break before we drop.”

“Nah, we’re good. Pretty much standard configuration. Pilots put us somewhere. We make trouble,” Havok said.

“Try not to break navigational and propulsion systems,” AJ said.

A few minutes later, Wasp rocked violently back and forth, the sounds of explosions carrying through the interior of the ship.

“Talk to me, Big D,” AJ said, keeping his voice level.

“Blue Squad, this is Seahag,” Darnell’s voice called over squad comms. “Hold onto your privates because we’re five seconds from dropping into the sauce. Iron Syndicate is aware of our presence, and we are taking heavy fire.”

AJ clamped his jaw closed. Why he had expected anything different was anyone’s guess. Flames rippled outside of Seahag’s narrow window strips as Wasp was punctured by ordnance from either one of the destroyers or even the battle cruiser. AJ chinned the HUD display to get a composite view of local space. Wasp was two hundred kilometers from the battle cruiser and making a mad, dodging run straight at the beast.

“Update on landing parameters,” Darnell called back. “I’m going to put you down on the first piece of metal I can find. Those destroyers are picking Wasp apart. It’s a full-on shit show out there. Buckle up!”

AJ wondered how much of Darnell’s intensity was related to Lisa piloting or at least co-piloting Wasp’s trek through the battle space.

“All hands, hold on, we have missiles incoming!” Harry Flank called over company comms. His words were cut off at the end by a massive explosion which sent Seahag tumbling wildly into space.

“Hold on, kids, it’s gonna suck for a minute here,” Darnell called as he frantically shot small streams of propulsion in all different directions as he tried to arrest the tumbling vessel.

“I’m gonna hurl!” Havok called over squad comms.

“That’s gonna smell for a minute. I don’t even know how you get that out of a suit,” Scratch said in her quiet, wry voice.

“Keep it down, boys and girls,” AJ said, trying to sound calmer than his heartrate would suggest he was feeling.

“Wasp is toast,” Havok said. “Shit.”

AJ looked at the battle space from his HUD. Wasp exploded brilliantly on his screen, stabbing him in the heart with loss, knowing Lisa was still aboard the ship and couldn’t possibly survive such an explosion.

Seahag suddenly righted and rolled as a pair of missiles slipped past, not finding their mark. Crossing streams of laser fire split the space around Seahag as a destroyer targeted the tiny ship as did Justice’s Boon. Each time rounds struck the heavily armored drop ship, it vibrated, shook and transmitted explosive sounds. That its armor stayed intact was a testament to the Vred’s access to illegal technology as much as it was Darnell’s superb sailing expertise.

“Thirty seconds to contact,” Darnell called. “We’ll drop at eight meters per second. Floors are open!”

Beneath the hanging mechanized infantry squad, open space rushed by. A timer counted down and when it hit fifteen seconds the outline of Justice’s Boon appeared and drop bars were lowered through the floor so that the infantrymen hung beneath Seahag like so much laundry to dry.

“Five seconds, engage those magnetic couplings. This drop is going to be rough!” Darnell called. “Troopers away!”

Two at a time, starting with AJ and Bricks at the front, the drop bars released the soldiers and puffs of gas were the telltales of micro explosions that fired the soldiers away from Seahag.

AJ watched with concern as Justice’s Boon’s hull raced toward him at unexpected speed. To make matters worse, the hull was uneven directly below and when he hit, he was thrown first to his side and then he cartwheeled along. Suddenly, he was stopped short, his restraints straining under pressure.

“I’ve got you Colonel,” Bricks said slamming AJ’s boots onto the hull. “I imagine we’ll have a laugh on that later.”

“Maybe. Hells!” AJ said, flipping through his multitool, he flung his arm upward and fired a thin cable which wrapped around Havoc’s armored leg, helped by the magnetic clamps. He pulled and reeled the man back to the hull. One more power suited soldier tumbled toward them and Bricks leapt, fired jets and snagged Scratch as if it was the most natural thing to do. “What in the heck, Bricks. Were you some sort of ball player?”

“Made semi-pros playing baseball,” Bricks answered. “Didn’t have much of a bat, though, so I never got the call.”

“Blue Squad, check in,” AJ called, mentally counting heads. He couldn’t imagine, given their landing, that all eight of them were accounted for, but they were.

“That was a cluster,” Havok said.

“Time to move kids,” AJ said. “Those destroyers are laying down fire.”

From his back, AJ pulled his thick pry bar. At first, he tried to get under the thick panel by pressing it in at a seam as had been shown in the video. It didn’t work and he was barely able to get it to stick in the tiny seam.

“Hold it still,” Dumpster Fire called. “Straight up and down.”

When someone had an idea it was quicker to oblige than to argue. He held his bar straight up and down. No sooner did he get it raised and in that position than Dumpster Fire brought a heavy overhead swing down on the bar. Dumpster Fire’s bar ricocheted off to the side, narrowly missing AJ’s arm.

“Straighten it up, you’ve got this!” AJ said.

“Take cover, forward!” Havok called.

The squad acted instantly and eight mechanized infantry raced forward, skidding around the multitude of protrusions in the armor that had tripped them up so badly. AJ caught Scratch’s outstretched, armored hand and pulled her down behind as an explosion washed across the ship’s hull. As a group, they hunkered down, using everything in their power to keep from being thrown off.

“Dumpster Fire, again,” AJ called slamming his tall pry bar down, this time pointy end into the armor instead of the flat-head screw end. Like a circus hand securing a large tent stake, Dumpster Fire put everything he had into the swing and as soon as his bar cleared, Brick followed suit and then Havok. Suddenly, the bar raced forward, disappearing into the ship only to be replaced by a stream of atmospheric gases escaping the vessel.

“We’re onto something now,” AJ said. “Scratch, give me your stick.”

Setting the bar near the venting hole, they repeated the process, only this time, AJ was careful to keep a solid grasp of the tool, so it wasn’t swallowed by the ship.

“Cover, aft!” Havoc called.

The explosion against the hull nearly washed away two of his soldiers but with quick thinking and the utility of fine, ultra strong cable, they were saved. “Colonel, let me get this,” Ghost, the quietest team member, spoke up, stepping forward.

“It’s yours, brother,” AJ said, stepping back.

The smile on Ghost’s face was sinister as he pulled up a lump of explosives and packed it into the narrow hole that had been created by jamming pry bars into the seam of the armor.

“That’s not gonna do nothing,” Havok said derisively.

“Step back and take cover,” Ghost said, kneeling and away from the explosives. “Small spaces and explosives are designed for each other.”

A flash of light and a small cloud of gas marked Ghost’s actions. A black hexagonal shaped tile fluttered away into space, leaving a bulging mass of torn insulation with streams of atmosphere escaping. Havok stood and started to lean over when Ghost pulled him back. The action likely kept Havok from following a torrent of gas and debris into space as Justice’s Bane disgorged most of a supply room.

“Blue Team is in,” AJ called over company comms.

29

OPEN TO THE UNIVERSE

“Havok, Bricks, go!” AJ ordered. He and Ghost had locked into the hull on opposite sides of the newly formed hole. By reaching forward into space, they provided rock solid handholds for the team to lock onto as they swung inward.

“Big gun!” Havoc cried out a moment after he’d grabbed AJ’s arm and flung himself through the hole.

Bricks, tight on his compatriot’s tail, echoed the sentiment but with more words. “Take cover on the hull!”

An extraordinarily bright light formed a four-meter cylinder of raw energy that punched through, widening the hole Blue Team had formed. Tumbling into space, the two Mech Company soldiers who’d entered the ship were silent after taking a direct hit.

“Havoc, Bricks, report in, now!” AJ called over Blue Team comms. “Beverly, show me bios!”

“There is no response from either Havoc or Brick’s power suits,” Beverly said. “Their communication systems were likely interrupted by the weapon.”

“Were you able to track their vectors on exit?” AJ asked.

“Yes,” Beverly said. “With sufficient accuracy for recovery.”

“Boss, we have a destroyer incoming!” Clicker announced. “Eighteen seconds!”

AJ leapt across, grabbing Ghost’s still extended hand and swung, so he entered feet first. Even with help from Ghost flinging him inward, his massive suit was caught by the battle cruiser’s gravity generators. If he hadn’t experienced the phenomena he’d have been laid out on his back. He rotated one leg back far enough to catch his fall and using the suit’s powerful motors he brought himself upright.

Dropping to a kneeling position, he struggled to make out the sight picture in front of him where a trio of suited Iron Syndicate Marines stood. “Sheeeit!” AJ cried out, pulling the targeting reticle onto the enemy marine who held the special weapon. Blaster rounds harmlessly ricocheted off his suit doing nothing more than to distract his aim. It wasn’t the first time in his long career that he’d faced withering fire in a power suit. Knowing that a burst of fire from the barrels mounted to his right forearm would pull their accuracy off slightly, he waited for what seemed like minutes but was in reality less than a couple of seconds for his aim to come true.

“Duck!” Beverly called, spiking his adrenaline as she did. AJ dove into a hole created by the prior blast as a fresh cylinder of destruction plowed down the hallway. Heat singed his left arm, and the impact of the weapon’s energy spun him crashing into a bulkhead some twenty meters away.

“The Colonel, Clicker and Soup Can are down!” Ghost called. “We have a destroyer right on us. Boys, we’ve got to take this hallway at all costs.”

“Who you calling boys!?” Clara “Knuckles” O’Brien asked angrily.

“Frakking misogynistic asshat!” Mei “Scratch” Lin added.

“Guys, they’re set up at the back of the hallway,” AJ called.

“You’re not transmitting, AJ,” Beverly said. “I’m struggling to keep your bios straight. You’ve taken a big hit to your left side. I need you to cover it with some kind of foam.”

AJ inspected his left side and saw that the armor had been peeled away, leaving a bloody swath of destruction behind. He couldn’t quite see his arm and when he attempted to lift it, he got nothing. “Oh frak.”

“I’ve got you Albert Jenkins. Don’t you go passing out on me, now!” Beverly urged. “Over there, look at the visual indicators. Follow the big blue arrows!”

AJ blinked against the wave of nausea. Another bright flash, this time from the outside, lit up the compartment where he was struggling for survival.

“If anyone is listening, Blue Team is out. I repeat we are all disabled and adrift in the deep dark except for the colonel. He made it inside but we’ve lost comms and he’s presumed deceased as he took a direct hit from the fozelium weapon,” Scratch called on company comms. “I’m going dark, but I’ll turn on an emergency beacon in twenty minutes as long as those ass clowns have cleared the area.”

“Dammit,” AJ cursed, stumbling toward the cabinet Beverly highlighted.

“That’s right, big boy, get mad. They’ve taken out your entire team. This one is on you,” Beverly said unkindly.

With a sour taste in his mouth AJ punched a fist into the bulkhead next to the cabinet, which caused the door to bend enough that it opened, a totally unintended but beneficial result.

“What now?” AJ asked. There was a bottle of hull sealant that was a quick hardening foam used to seal small to moderate sized cracks or holes in the ship. The bottle was connected to a tube which no doubt led outward to some system designed for the purpose.

“Not sure, I need you to drench your left side with it, though,” Beverly said.

“Got it,” AJ said, yanked the bottle free. He’d originally thought the bottle would just start squirting foam, but it didn’t. He thwacked the stem at the top of the bottle against the lip of the cabinet and broke it off. Immediately foam started spraying from the bottle.

“This might hurt,” Beverly interjected as AJ turned the spray onto his left side.

Pain like nothing AJ could remember, lit up the entire left side of his body. Without Beverly’s help, he’d have passed out, as a blood curdling scream burbled up from his lungs and through his lips. His vision darkened and he stumbled back against the bulkhead, falling onto his ass.

“Fraaak,” he hissed.

“Oh no you don’t!” Beverly snapped. “What kind of sissy bedwetter are you? You finally get aboard the ship you’ve been eye-banging for the last twenty days and now you want to take a nap. Get ahold of yourself, Jenkins! You brought your team to party and you’re the last one standing. Now stand up. Act like the soldier you’re always telling everyone you are!”

The dissonance of Beverly’s approach caused AJ to wonder if it was even actually her talking. Whoever it was, was hitting hard, as guilt and fear sat heavily in his gut. The pain of applying the foam had diminished significantly and AJ slammed his right hand to the floor, helping himself to a standing position.

“That’s more like it,” Beverly said, poking AJ with a solid dose of dopamine.

“What has gotten into you?” AJ asked as the momentary, heady rush washed over him.

“You’re standing, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Are you going to stand around, then, or are we getting after this?”

“Get me into a hallway,” AJ said.

“There’s pressure on the other side of that door,” Beverly said.

“How’s my left leg armor?”

“Not good from the flank, but it’s structurally sound.”

“Good,” AJ said, lifting it up and kicking the lockset. The force of atmosphere tried to resist, but AJ wasn’t trying to kick the door down as much as he wanted to punch out the lockset, the only thing keeping the door closed. Once his foot was through, he spun, putting his back to the wall as atmosphere rushed into the room and then up and around, taking the path that had placed AJ into the same room.

He swung into the hallway that was still dumping atmosphere out of the ship. The hallway was narrow and short for a Vred power suit, but AJ adjusted the overall height if not the width with a setting.

“Tell me what works on this thing and what doesn’t.”

“Outgoing comms are out. Your left side is open to most types of ordnance, including small arms fire. I recommend you turn it away when you engage in combat,” Beverly said. “If you take another hit from that weapon, you’re as good as dead. Even a glancing blow will likely end us.”

“Good to know,” AJ said. “I assume my continued consciousness and lack of much feeling on my left side is your doing.”

“That’s right,” she answered.

“Well, they didn’t blow my ordnance pack. Let’s make ’em regret that,” AJ said, leaping into the ceiling and sweeping his right hand along until it hit a crossmember which he grasped. Swinging on one arm, he kicked upward. On the first swing he didn’t manage to make much impact, but on the second he felt weakness in the floor above. He repeated the process twice more and punched a watermelon sized hole in the decking from above, bringing a fresh flood of air.

“What the heck, AJ?” Beverly asked.

“Chaos is the name of the game. Somehow, they figured to put that team on our entrance, so someone was tracking us from the outside,” AJ said. “We’ll cause enough trouble that we shouldn’t have as many eyes on us.”

“Contact forward,” Beverly said.

AJ dropped to the deck and aimed his weapon. With quick, controlled automatic bursts, he dropped four soldiers who’d set up with small weapons and had even started firing. The battle was short-lived and AJ raced forward in the direction the soldiers had come from.

“Get me a route to the main bridge,” AJ ordered.

“We don’t even know if they’re in the main,” Beverly said.

“True,” AJ agreed, falling to a knee as another group appeared. He unleashed a spray of automatic fire. “And all the same, we’re going to make trouble. Are we getting anything from Red Team?”

“While you were trying to breach, we got a call. They had similar issues and we lost communication,” Beverly said.

“Dammit, how many of those weapons did they keep back?” AJ asked angrily.

“AJ, cover!” Beverly called.

He slammed his right shoulder into a hall adjacent door and fell into the empty quarters of a low-level officer. A bright beam of light traversed the hallway causing unimaginable damage as it passed.

“They’re going to ruin their own ship,” AJ said.

“Feels like someone knows the trouble you’re capable of. They’re not taking any chances.”

“Feels like frakking Lamia,” AJ growled, using the anger to fuel his next move. Getting to his feet, he jumped sideways into the hall and fired an automatic stream, trying for maximal coverage. Pain lanced through his left side as he landed on unprotected, damaged flesh. “Oh, crap, we’re going to need to stop doing that,” he complained.

Fighting back tears from the pain, he focused fire on the soldier in the middle as Beverly’s zoom showed the telltale energy pack on the man’s back. AJ squeezed the trigger, this time beating the massive weapon holder to the punch and dropping him on the spot. The enemy marine’s cohort turned to run, but AJ cut them down where they stood.

He pushed up from the deck, his shoulder covering cracked from abuse, with blood running freely. He knew better than to focus on the problem as Beverly would let him know if he needed to get involved. He raced forward only to be met by a closed bulkhead.

“No atmosphere on the other side,” Beverly said. “Plant breaching charges.”

AJ did exactly that and took cover in a nearby supply room. He continued his forward race, only to run into another closed bulkhead. That there was atmosphere on the other side was obvious due to the bright red light.

“This is getting old, BB,” AJ said, slapping yet another breaching charge into place and finding cover. As before, atmosphere emptied into the hallway, carrying random debris with it.

“There’s an airlock in the hold two sections over. Follow!”

AJ followed Beverly’s visual cues and found an open doorway that led into a small, unoccupied hold. As promised, there was an airlock that showed atmosphere on the other side. AJ processed through and resumed his mad march forward, only running into a group of three soldiers, who upon seeing AJ, tossed their weapons to the ground and raced away.

“What in the heck?” AJ asked. “It’s like they’re expecting us.”

“Bridge is thirty meters,” Beverly said.

He shook his head, knowing it wouldn’t go easily, not that having two squads of mechanized infantry disabled or killed on a single breaching mission was easy, but the resistance within the ship was too light. “It’s like they’re leading us here.”

“Careful, AJ,” Beverly said as group of five Iron Syndicate Marines turned toward him, one leveling a mounted gatling gun bolted to the deck outside the bridge entrance.

“Sure,” AJ said, targeting the turret’s operator with a controlled burst of fire while turning sideways to protect his unprotected left side. He carefully walked forward into their extortionary fire, picking them off one by one until he was at the bridge.

“That door has armor, you’ll need three packs to get through. I’ll show you placement,” Beverly said. For good measure, AJ doubled each of the three packs, leaving him very low on explosives. “Are you sure you want to run that low?” she asked.

“Ammo left in your belt after a fight doesn’t do anyone any good,” AJ said, ducking around a corner as the explosives did their job.

Jogging forward, AJ stepped through a blazing fire, using Beverly’s guidance to navigate. Inside the bridge, a trio of officers, young in the face, but wearing senior officer uniforms faced him, holding their hands up.

“This is a setup!” AJ said, spinning around only to find that a team had set up behind him holding a fozelium weapon aimed directly at him. The glint in the soldier who held the weapon’s eye told him that he had precious moments before he was dead. He nodded, accepting the moment for what it was. He’d been sucked into a trap.

“Die,” the Iron Syndicate soldier mouthed shifting the weapon’s aim, which was entirely unnecessary.

The man’s head tilted toward AJ, like he was also acknowledging the moment. AJ started to take advantage of the moment and raised his arm to fire. Blood exploded from the heads of the two men flanking the elite weapon holder

“Sorry I’m so late!” A familiar voice called as Lisa gracefully jogged into view. Before the man holding the fozelium weapon managed to hit the ground, she grabbed at his back and pulled a short-bladed knife free.

“Lisa?” AJ asked, the juxtaposition of preparing to die and then being rescued by his good friend, who he’d thought already dead. Fresh tears fell onto his cheeks only this time from relief of a sadness he hadn’t had time to process.

“No. Santa Claus,” she said. “Oh, you didn’t think a silly little explosion was going to keep me from the party, did you?”

“How?” AJ asked.

“Let’s just say it involved a whole lot of holding onto fast moving drop ships in very uncomfortable positions,” she said. “But it worked out. I came in with Red Team, although I separated once we got on the hull. I found my own way in. They were making a bunch of noise.”

“Did you see what happened to them?” AJ asked.

“Negative. Did you know you’re not transmitting?”

“I suppose that’s right. Can Seamus use this bridge?”

“Negative. We’re going to need to go deal with the command crew,” she said.

“Any idea where that combat bridge is?” AJ asked.

The sounds of commotion in the hallway caused the pair to become alert.

“Red Team, reporting as ordered,” Tessa ‘Patchwork’ Malone said snappily as she stepped onto the bridge. Like AJ, her suit had obvious damage, but she was still moving, as was her companion, Dumpster Fire.

“Radio troubles?” AJ asked.

“Yeah, let’s say that was it,” Patchwork said grinning. “We ran into some trouble, but it can wait for the after action. How about you point out some bad guys you need shooting.”

“Lisa, you know where we’re headed?” AJ asked. While they’d been talking, Beverly had produced a top-down room layout showing where the combat bridge was likely positioned.

He punched the exit button on his suit and unceremoniously fell onto the deck.

“AJ, what in the heck are you doing?” Lisa asked.

AJ turned to the trio of Iron Syndicate false officers, who’d to their credit remained very quiet through the transition of power. “Uniform, now!” AJ growled. “Take them off.”

AJ positioned himself in front of the alien wearing a captain’s uniform. As the Runkin disrobed, AJ took the clothing and painfully put it on. There was some advantage in the thicker Runkin’s size as it fit over the parts of AJ’s skin covered in cracked, rigid foam. The process was painful even though Beverly blocked the majority of the sensation.

“You boys know how to set off the emergency evacuation protocols?” AJ asked.

“We can’t, we don’t control anything,” one answered.

“You’re on the bridge,” AJ said. “It’s not secured. This ship isn’t going to make it, so you’d be better off in an escape capsule assuming Iron Syndicate paid for enough of them.”

The Runkin ran over and smacked a large red button followed by an announcement about evacuation and life pods. “Now that’s music I can dance to,” Lisa said. “Tell me why you’re half naked now?”

AJ pulled on the helmet that would transform to a sealed vac-suit, giving him several minutes of air if atmosphere were removed. With the helmet in place, he pulled the fozelium weapon’s backpack from the fallen soldier onto his back and held the short barrel that had caused so much pain.

“Now, we go,” AJ said. “Patchwork, follow Lisa. Make pew pew noises if you see Iron Syndicate doing anything but loading onto escape pods.”

“Copy that, Colonel!” Patchwork said.

“Dumpster Fire, gang my rig onto yours so it follows us down,” AJ said. “I’d hate to leave it behind, even in its current condition.”

“Hell yeah,” Dumpster Fire answered.

As they moved through the ship, they ran into sporadic pockets of resistance. Between Lisa, Patchwork and Dumpster Fire, it amounted to children throwing rocks at cars from ditches. It was annoying but hardly fatal as long as AJ stayed out of the line of fire.

“Are you going to use that thing?” Lisa asked as they approached the combat bridge’s location. “Or are we taking souvenirs?”

Like the main bridge, there were troops set up to defend the entrance. More heavily armored and centrally located than the primary bridge, the ensuing firefight was intense.

“BB, give me a good layout of the interior of that combat bridge. Show the hallway too,” AJ said. “Patchwork, do what you can, but make sure you’re not in the line of fire of one of these weapons.”

“Copy that, I think they have one, but our constant fire is holding him back. Give me a sec, I’ll get him marked on combat overhead.”

Surging forward, Patchwork and Dumpster Fire laid down thick covering fire as they moved around a bend in the hallway that had provided a natural barrier. A blinking indicator showed the location of the soldier who presumably held one of the fozelium weapons.

“Dumb ass corporate warriors,” AJ growled, painfully crawling forward and using Patchwork’s armor to cover most of his body. “Ahh, shit!” he cried out as an energy bolt slammed into his right leg, ensuring he’d struggle to walk going forward.

“AJ, are you up!?” Lisa asked, jumping through fire and landing next to him.

“Roll me back onto my stomach!” he demanded. Lisa did as he asked. A targeting reticle appeared ahead of AJ and he smiled, recognizing that Beverly had intuitively understood how he wanted to fire the weapon. “Fire in the hole!” he cried out and unleashed the ridiculous weapon’s energy.

For a moment, quiet pervaded the hall as the material directly in the path of the weapon vaporized and disappeared for a hundred meters, piercing the side of the ship. A heavy hand grasped AJ as atmosphere tore through the ship, racing to equalize with the vacuum of space. AJ’s helmet snapped into place, pumping stale Runkin air into the small space.

“Hey, you’ve got comms now,” Lisa said. “What’s the call, here.”

“Go take down that bridge,” AJ said. “I clipped the corner. You should be able to get in.”

“Oh, they’re not going to like that. I hope they’re holding guns,” she said with a malicious glint in her eyes.

“Hey, Patchwork, go back her up,” AJ said. “Dumpster Fire, can you help me? I’m struggling to walk here.”

“Got you, Colonel.”

Holding Dumpster Fire’s big, armored hand, AJ managed to stand and limp over to the bridge. Inside, he found Lisa and two others.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” AJ said. “Bartol?” He then groaned audibly as his eyes fell on Bartol’s companion, none other than Lamia Tragonar.

“This does not have to go this way, AJ,” Lamia said, her voice pleading. “Let us go free. We will take that weapon you hold, and you will be rich beyond your imagination.”

“Transfer the command codes to this battle cruiser,” AJ said, ignoring Lamia’s offer.

“I will not,” Captain Bartol said angrily. “I might as well shoot myself for what Iron Syndicate would do if I did that.”

“Lamia? We need those codes,” AJ said. “Fix this and maybe you get out of it better than you expect.”

“The weapon for the codes,” she said.

Lamia’s altogether familiar and heady scent wafted through the room and for a moment, AJ remembered the good moments the two had had together. Within that scent was the promise of more and temptation pressed against his mind persistently. Seeing the advantage swaying in her direction she continued. “AJ, let’s you and me get out of here. We’ll put all this behind us, set down our swords and live in peace with the universe. I just want to be safe. You are my safety, Albert Jenkins. You are all that I need.”

“Don’t listen to her, AJ,” Lisa said.

A projection above Lamia’s head crackled to life, it was an image of AJ lying on a hospital bed with several indistinct figures next to him, but one was in sharp contrast—Lamia. A snarl on her lips and angry, indistinct words were spoken as she turned away from him and strode from the room dismissively.

“Where did you go just then, AJ?” she asked timidly. “Is the alien in your brain speaking untruth about me? Please, AJ, I just want to be with you. I don’t care about anything.”

“Except selling the weapon,” AJ added.

“We will need money so we can run. They will come for us, but with the money, my connections, we can slip away,” she said. “Without the weapon, there is no safety.”

“Nice try,” AJ said. “And that thing you do is damn impressive. You definitely swayed me. Between old friends, it’s hard to forget some things. You would have seen me killed on that table, Lamia. I could never trust you. I’ll say it one more time. The codes for your life. That’s the only way you’re getting off this bridge. Otherwise, I’m turning you over to Lisa and I guarantee that little pheromone thing you’re doing won’t have the same effect. We’re all on to you.”

“AJ, no. She is too much trouble,” Lisa said. “I’m not real big on capital punishment, but Lamia is a plague. She is responsible for thousands of dead. We should end her and find another way to finish this.”

“But AJ, you are a man of your honor, are you not?” Lamia asked. “Your word means something, no?”

Bartol turned and before anyone could respond, fired the small weapon he still held to his side. The look on Lamia’s face was one of utter surprise as she fell back. Lisa leapt across the space and wrested the weapon from Bartol’s hand.

“I’ll never turn this ship over to you,” Bartol said. “You are vile, treacherous scum and of low character. I should have seen it from the very beginning.”

AJ ran to Lamia’s side and held her as she slumped to the deck. Even with everything she’d done to him, he still felt the pull of her personality and the woman he thought she could be. “Hold on, Lamia, we’ll get you some help.”

“I do love you, Albert Jenkins,” she said, struggling to speak. “I wish things could have been different.”

“AJ, she’s dying,” Beverly said quietly.

AJ nodded in response and shut out the conversation happening around him and Lamia. “I do too, Lamia,” he said, stroking her hair while holding her in his lap.

“Take this, AJ,” she said, struggling to pull a chit from a breast pocket. AJ accepted the chit and slipped it into his own pocket, focusing on her face. She breathed a final breath and sagged in his arms. He cried as he embraced her.

“AJ?” Lisa asked after a time. “She’s gone, my friend. We need to get going. We have what we came for.”

“Okay,” he said.

“You do not. I didn’t hand over anything,” Captain Bartol said.

“True, but we only needed more of your voice print. Thanks for that,” she said.

“Impossible,” Bartol said.

Lisa walked over to a console and pulled up the gunner’s controls. “I don’t much need to prove anything to you. But you’ve a first-class seat for the show,” she said petulantly. On the main screen a display of missiles streaming from the battle cruiser’s ports launched, heading for the pair of Iron Syndicate destroyers that continued to flank the big vessel. As the missiles streamed, the battle cruiser’s large turrets turned and started broadsiding the much smaller ships.

“You can’t!” Bartol exclaimed and jumped at Lisa who easily wrapped him up.

“I’m not sure he’s going to go quietly,” Lisa said.

“We don’t have a solid exit plan,” AJ said. “He may end up going down with the ship with the rest of us.”

“I have a small cruiser that only I can access,” Bartol said, his voice pleading.

“Wouldn’t your crew have taken it?” AJ asked.

“They wouldn’t know how.”

“See, you just have to be open to the universe and it will provide,” Lisa said smugly.

EPILOGUE

Struggling to stay awake, AJ looked out the forward glass of the light scout vessel Bartol had offered in exchange for his own survival. Unable to bring the Vred power suits along, they’d set them adrift, location recorded.

“Iron Syndicate scout class vessel, come in,” came the call from Seahag.

“Heya, Babe, are you ready for the fireworks?” Lisa answered sassily.

“Sort of,” Darnell answered. “I’m short on fuel and we lost Wasp to the destroyers.”

“Any word on Bernard?” AJ cut in.

“Good news there,” Darnell said. “Cutter is retrieving the rest of Mech Company from local space. So far, only two casualties with seven recovered.”

AJ winced. Losing friends was always hard. “Who, Darnell?”

“Bricks and Clicker,” Darnell answered.

“Damn fine men,” AJ said.

Lisa had guided the small vessel into the atmosphere, following Justice’s Boon’s fateful last entry as it sped, out of control directly for Hab-6. Upon impact, a huge ripple spread out as a massive ball of fire, smoke and dust mushroomed up from the planet.

“Justice’s Boon was a direct hit on Hab-6,” Beverly said. “It’ll take time to determine the actual damage caused, but to all observances, it was catastrophic and has sent shock waves around the entire Krevnor moon.”

“Did we send warnings to the other habs?” AJ asked.

“We did,” Beverly said.

“How soon before Cer hears about it?”

“I think we should assume she already knows,” Lisa answered, grinning wryly.

A familiar tingle of a Tok transporter was the only warning AJ received as he was pulled from the small vessel and moved to the familiar setting of a Tok cruiser. He struggled for consciousness and unlike prior visits, lapsed into semi consciousness. When he finally started to awaken, he was not at all surprised to find himself seated at a long, glossy white table, opposite three Tok sentients. As his brain fog cleared, he recognized them, although the gold earring helped him cement the pair that were not Cer, who he’d spoken with a multitude of times prior.

“These humans must be imprisoned and censured for extreme insubordination and extraordinary disloyalty,” Chif, the Tok who wore the earring said. “What do you have to say for yourselves, you disgusting, semi-sentient, Albert Jenkins?”

AJ allowed a grin to tug at his lips. “Insubordination requires two things, does it not?” he asked.

“I can think of a multitude of things that describe an insubordinate act,” Chif answered quickly. “I understand that smaller minds necessarily simplify concepts in order to procure a minimal grasp of the same.”

“In my experience, constantly demanding that you’re more intelligent than the people you talk to shows insecurity,” AJ said. “Would you like my answer or should we just get straight to the insults part of the evening.”

Cer sat forward, cutting off Chif’s response. “If we could avoid invective in our conversation, it would facilitate clarity. Please, tell us what insubordination requires for humanity.”

“Why do you care of their simplistic definition?” Kor asked with a snarl on his racoonish face.

“Oh, brother, as I am certain you know, humans are semi-sentient and as such we are not allowed to apply our expanded morality to their actions,” Cer said, steepling her fingers. AJ struggled to keep the smile on his face from spreading. Cer was indeed brilliant and had both answered Kor’s question and given AJ important clues on how to proceed. “Please continue, Albert Jenkins.”

“Insubordination requires both an established chain of command and the precise communication of actions to be taken, also described as orders,” AJ said. “In the case of our actions related to Iron Syndicate, no chain of command was established, nor were any direct orders delivered.”

“You imbecile, Tok Supremacy is at the top of every conceivable chain of command you might ever experience,” Chif demanded.

“As documented by what?” AJ asked. “We have no employment agreement. We are not part of any military organization. As far as I know, we’re not even allowed full citizenship within Galactic Empire. I doubt you could conscript us into your militaries if you wanted. Is this not why we’re given access to illegal technologies like the Vred power suits?”

“You dare speak of such things in a formal inquiry?” Kor growled.

“Look, we all think the mechanized infantry suits are a good idea,” AJ said. “Without them, those fozelium weapons would have pretty much run the table. Iron Syndicate would be, right now, manufacturing more of them.”

“Not if you’d stopped the Iron Syndicate fleet as we originally designed,” Chif argued. “The plan to stop the ground troops would have given us control of Hab-6. Iron Syndicate would not have access to the only known fozelium deposits in Galactic Empire.”

“Simply put, for a semi-sentient, Tok Supremacy wanted to keep alive the research started by Doctor Kofeen and continued by Doctor Thalor. Now you’re mad because we stuffed the genie back in the bottle,” AJ said.

“There was no such plan,” Kor said angrily. “Fozelium weapons were too dangerous for any army to utilize.”

“Good, we agree then,” AJ said. “And by extension, destroying the material stopped the behavior. What I’d like to know is why I’m sitting here instead of whoever is running the Iron Syndicate? Are humans just easy to pick on because we’re semi-sentient and good in a fight? You know that paints you both as being bullies and cowards.”

“That’s enough!” Kor shouted and AJ froze in place, unable to move or even talk. “I cannot understand why you defend these despicable beasts and why you have given them such prominence by allowing them to run amok with our most sensitive operations. We are done here. You will cease your interaction with these … these … apish creatures who speak with such little respect for the intelligence that surrounds them.”

Kor and Chif stood and exited the room. Once they were out of sight, movement returned to AJ. “Well, that was exciting,” AJ said, looking across the table to Cer.

“We had agreement on how to proceed with Hab-6 and Iron Syndicate,” Cer said. “You broke my trust.”

“And you broke our trust by changing the rules,” AJ said. “The mission shifted from stopping Iron Syndicate from selling weapons to Quarr to opening up research for Tok Supremacy. We never agreed to that. More of my people would have died if we’d continued down that path, but it appears that Tok Supremacy does not care if a few apish humans die, as long as you get what you want. That doesn’t make you good partners. Our lives have value and you forgot that, or worse, you’ve only been pretending.”

“Your concerns are valid,” Cer said nodding. “Unfortunately, I will not be able to circumvent Kor and Chif’s anger. From this point forward, we will have no more conversation. I will remove humanity from the Drayths system. Only those families who suffered loss will receive remuneration for this operation. Your Galactic Empire record will show that you are an unreliable partner and that you have been censured by Tok Supremacy.”

“Hold on,” AJ spat. “We did the right thing.”

“Yes,” Cer said. “And you knew there would be consequences. I have just informed you of those consequences. Were your actions not worth what you are forced to pay?”

“My men died to protect the Galactic Empire,” AJ said. “We all took extreme risks for this mission. Punish me, not my men, at least. They were, in fact, following orders. Cut their payments in half if you must, but don’t leave them hanging because of my decisions.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you know what I did was the right thing for everyone,” AJ said. “Fozelium is an escalation nobody needs right now.”

Cer sat back, steepling her fingers and then a few moments later sat forward. “I will do as you have requested. Darnell Jackson, Lisa Jackson and Albert Jenkins will receive the punishments as previously described. The remainder of the humans involved in this operation will be spared from censure and will receive half of the agreed upon payment,” Cer said. “Do you have a location where you wish to be delivered, Albert Jenkins?”

“Can I say one thing, first?” AJ asked.

“Yes.”

“Continue to fight the good fight, Cer. If Kor and Chif are representative of Tok Supremacy, your leadership is rotting. You’ve lost your sense of right and wrong and replaced it with entitlement. The country I come from had similar struggles and if not for selfless men and women who understand that we need to do what’s right, even when it’s easy to do the other because no one can argue, we’d be lost. All people are worthy of being treated with respect and dignity. You’ve forgotten this. Do better.”

“I see,” Cer said.

“Dralli Station,” AJ said, recognizing that Cer wouldn’t give him further feedback.

“Good luck, Albert Jenkins,” Cer said.

Once again, the familiar sensation of teleportation settled over AJ and like before, it lasted longer than he’d come to expect. Pain lanced through his body as he fell to the cold, hard deck of a passageway, the coloring of which was clearly Dralli Station.

“BB, are you there?” he asked, weakly. “What’s going on?”

“Cer disconnected me from your body, I was supporting you through your injuries. You’re bleeding profusely, the wounds on your left side have worsened,” she said.

“AJ?” a familiar voice said. “AJ! AJ, what’s happened to you?”

Turning toward the voice, AJ saw his once fiancé and some would argue, wife, race toward him through the hallway. “Amanda?” he managed, slumping painfully.

“I have a medical emergency on Level 8,” Amanda Jayne called into her cuff, kneeling next to AJ. “Hey there, Bub, I was just thinking about you, wondering how you’re doing. I guess I got my answer. I’m going to spray your wounds, it’ll sting but should feel better momentarily.”

AJ howled with the pain that coursed through his body when Jayne sprayed the medical spray along the side of his body. “Not wrong,” he muttered.

“Oh, we’re going to put a pin in that conversation,” Jayne said as AJ faded in and out of consciousness. “Beverly, feel free to knock him out completely. I’m taking him to our Level 1 trauma ward.”

“Greetings, Doctor Jayne,” Beverly said. “And Rosita, I am grateful for your presence,” she added, addressing the Beltigersk symbiote that cohabitated in Jayne’s body.

“Sister, Princess, greetings,” Rosita answered. “I know that I speak for Amanda and myself when I say that we are very glad for your presence. How is that you have come to join us in this unusual manner?”

“It is a long story,” Beverly said. “I defer to Albert Jenkins, my host, the honor of first communication. I do, however, have a list of needs that will aid Albert Jenkins’ recovery. Would you honor me by making the attached list available in the trauma ward?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Say good night, Gracie,” Beverly said to AJ as his wits dulled and sleep pressed at his mind.

“George Burns,” AJ murmured. “Good night.”

“Close enough,” Beverly said.

For thirty long hours, AJ lay unconscious in the university’s trauma ward of Dralli Station and then in a nearby recovery suite. It was the sound of medical equipment and the smell of antiseptic that first greeted his senses.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” AJ said, squeezing the long thin fingers of the woman he knew so well.

“When you crash, you really go all out,” Lisa said, startling AJ from his daydream that the hand was attached to Amanda Jayne. Lisa chuckled at the response and didn’t release his hand. “Were you perhaps expecting someone else?”

“Amanda?” AJ asked.

“She’s been in and out ever since you arrived,” she said. “I guess you made quite a first impression.”

“So, not a dream.”

“You’re taking it pretty well,” Lisa said. “That had to be kind of odd for you.”

“I’ve tried so hard to put her out of my mind,” AJ said.

“And when you were asked where you wanted to go, you said Dralli,” Lisa said. “Kind of makes a girl wonder what you were thinking.”

“I imagine he was thinking he stood the best chance of surviving if a certain surgeon he knew looked after him,” Jayne said briskly as she entered the room. “Between Beverly and the resources and efforts of this extraordinary institution, AJ has done much more than survive.”

“Why does everything hurt. I was doing just fine until Cer grabbed me,” AJ said.

“You were not doing fine, AJ,” Beverly said. “I kept you from feeling pain. The damage to your left side was beyond anything I could help with. We ended up replacing your knee and elbow and several hundred square centimeters of skin with parts grown from your DNA.”

“Sounds hard,” AJ said, struggling to sit up. With Lisa and Jayne’s help, he came upright. He gave Jayne a boyish grin, mostly just happy to see her. She returned his smile, but he saw reticence.

“I’m glad you came here,” Jayne said. “I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else patching you up.”

“You know, you weren’t wrong about things,” AJ said.

“I’m just going to excuse myself here,” Lisa said.

Lisa and Jayne exchanged hugs and Lisa slipped out of the door to the room so they could have private time.

“I wasn’t wrong about you getting yourself killed?” Jayne asked.

“That I couldn’t say no,” AJ said.

“I’m not happy about being right about that,” Jayne said.

“I figured you’d like to know that I see it,” AJ said. “I’m done with Cer and her crazy suicide runs. I mean, technically, she’s done with us, but I’d have pulled the plug if she hadn’t.”

“Why the change of heart?”

“I wish I could say it was about you, but that wouldn’t be truthful,” AJ said. “Losing you was one of the worst moments of my life, but it didn’t change where my heart was.”

“I know,” Jayne said. “I have similar feelings. What changed your mind?”

“A lesson I should have learned in Vietnam,” AJ said.

“Old lessons are good lessons,” Jayne said. “Ideally, it’s best not to relearn them, though.”

“Well, I didn’t have much of a say in Vietnam,” AJ said. “But people in power don’t really change. They were spending the lives of me and my boys. I’m not okay with that. Galactic Empire has more than enough resources to deal with the trouble we’ve seen. I just made things easier, more expedient.”

“It’s gratifying to hear this, AJ,” Jayne said. “I hated how Cer kept dragging us into political messes and lining us up in the crosshairs. That you always seemed to pull a rabbit out of the hat felt secondary to the callous disregard she seemed to have for our lives.”

“I’m sorry I made you part of it,” AJ said. “I was too close.”

“I guess that begs what’s next for you?”

“Well, we didn’t get paid for this last trip,” AJ said.

“That seems uncharacteristic of Cer. What happened?”

“I decided to do things my way and it caused one hell of a ruckus amongst her buddies. They wanted to lock us up and throw away the key. Cer negotiated that down to something along the lines of a dishonorable discharge,” AJ said.

“I imagine that feels pretty bad,” Jayne said.

“Would you believe, freeing?”

“How so?”

“Cer has made it impossible for the problems of the universe to be mine. She can’t ask because I’m tainted goods. I should be able to get back to running my junkyard, now,” AJ said. “So enough about me, tell me how things are going for you.”

“Well, this isn’t maybe the best time, but I guess there won’t likely be a better time to say something,” Jayne said. “I found someone. We’re dating.”

The words felt like a dagger to AJ’s heart. He struggled to keep the emotion from his face but suspected he’d failed.

“Yeah, I did that too,” AJ said. “Maybe not quite as successfully.”

Jayne grinned at the chagrin on his face. “It sounds like there’s a story behind that.”

AJ suppressed a laugh. “You could say that. Lounge singer who was Galactic Empire Intelligence Service spy turned mobster. There were pheromones involved. It was a whole thing.”

“Let me guess, she played wounded duckling,” Jayne said, grinning at AJ’s simplification.

“Oh, for the love of God, tell me that wasn’t an easy guess.”

“You have a heart the size of Montana, AJ,” Jayne said. “It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

“Geez, this feels good.”

“What’s that?”

“Just you and me talking, again,” AJ said. “I missed you.”

“Same, Buddy,” Jayne said.

“This guy, he’s good for you?” AJ asked.

“It’s still new. But yeah, I like him,” she said. “You know, there’s a rumor floating around.”

“What’s that?”

“Someone bought Poecile Aerie junkyard about a week ago. Do you know anything about that?” Jayne asked.

“Really. Now, I’m curious,” AJ said. “BB, can you check into that?

Beverly appeared a moment later, standing atop AJ’s covers, wearing a businesswoman’s suit. In one hand she held a yard sign, which she jammed into the ground. “It’s Sold!”

AJ and Jayne exchanged grins. “That was dramatic,” AJ said. “I think the question was, who owns it?”

“Well, you do, you big goof,” Beverly said.

But of course, that’s another story entirely!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jamie McFarlane is the father of three and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. An avid runner, scuba diver and hiker, Jamie enjoys the active life writing fulltime affords him.

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