ã€ŠNite Errantã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Lucas cursed softly to himself as he came across another body lying in the street. He pointed his wristcomp at it and captured a quick image before continuing on through the war-torn streets of New Pittsburgh.

    In the distance, sharp pops of gunfire interspersed with the occasional boom of explosives could be heard; rising and falling in cadence like a madman¡¯s symphony.

    Even though New Pittsburgh was a warzone, Lucas¡¯ sidearm remained holstered and he was protected only by a battered chest plate.

    He continued his trip through the city, eyes constantly roving, ears pricked, and nostrils occasionally flaring. Eventually he made his way to a nondescript middle-class district. Though the fighting was more distant now, the sounds indicated it was picking up in ferocity.

    Now that he was in a seemingly deserted neighborhood, Lucas abandoned his casual walk and slunk into an alleyway. Pulling out a slightly bloody earbud from his pocket, he connected it to his wristcomp and stared at the display.

    After a few moments, orders started coming through the earbud and his wristcomp quietly struggled to break the encryption and trace the signal.

    There was a very soft scuff of a shoe deeper in the alley, and Lucas whirled, pistol instantly snatched from its holster.

    His target turned out to be a waif of a girl. Her hair was matted and filthy, her clothes full of holes and covered in dirt, and she seemed to have been malnourished for quite a while. She froze and slowly raised her hands in the air as he kept the pistol pointed at her.

    Then, his wristcomp gave a soft vibration as it finished cracking the encryption on the earbud¡¯s signals.

    Without lowering his pistol, Lucas twisted his wrist and checked the display.

    He lowered his gun, pulled out one of his few remaining ration bars, and tossed it to the girl.

    ¡°Get out of here, it isn¡¯t safe here anymore.¡± Without another word he stalked past her, following the directions from his wristcomp.

    After a few blocks hebegan toregret his decision; if the girl had been a lookout or informer, he could have warned his target. Still, she looked like she was only a few days from death, hopefully she would be grateful enough for the food to keep quiet.

    His wristcomp and the ¡®liberated¡¯ earbud led him to a hotel. He made sure to capture a quick image of it before he smoothly and quickly slunk around to its backside. There he found the expected loading docks and dumpsters, all seemingly abandoned.

    He gave a quick sniff, but could detect nothing except the foul odor of something leaking from the grease trap.

    Sure that there were no guards, and not spotting any cameras, he moved to the doors and pulled out a small wand. He held it over the rear doors and after a moment, they unlocked with a soft chunk.

    Pistol once more in hand, he slowly edged his way into the back rooms of the hotel. Encountering nothing but an empty storeroom, he quickly made his way to the employee stairs. After one more glance at his wristcomp, he shut it and the earbud down, relying only on his senses as he crept up the stairs.

    He encountered no signs of the hotel being inhabited, just like the rest of the district, but he was sure he had the right location. At the 6<sup>th</sup> floor, his nose finally caught the scent of something other than stale air and dust; cigar smoke.

    After checking to make sure the smell wasn¡¯t coming from the 7<sup>th</sup> floor, he returned and pressed his ear to the door. There were no sounds or vibrations to indicate life, so he smoothly and quickly opened the door to find an empty hallway.

    The scent of smoke grew stronger, and after seeing no traps or sensors in the hallway, Lucas made his way forward, looking at anything and everything for the slightest clue.

    His noticed that the aroma was particularly strong about halfway down the hallway, but quickly faded afterwards. He returned and noticed he could see where his footprints had disturbed the dust on the floor, and he carefully searched the ground for more scuffs.

    Finding what he believed to be the correct door, he carefully put his ear to the wall and heard quiet murmurs from inside.

    Taking a step back, he considered the door and the lack of traps or sensors he had seen so far. It seemed his target was relying on stealth to secure his location, and defenses would have given him away. But to have nothing at all was pure foolishness.

    Shaking his head, Lucas decided to assume his quarry was more dangerous than it appeared, it was a good strategy for staying alive. Quietly, he crept to the next room and tested the handle on the door. He found it locked, which was strange. The target shouldn¡¯t have been able to override security doors like Lucas could. Getting inside the building without going through any of the locked doors wouldn¡¯t be too hard, but cracking the building¡¯s server to unlock a specific hotel room was quite unlikely. Most black-market hacks would have employed a ¡®scorched earth¡¯ attack to unlock every hotel room in the building.

    Frowning, he filed the information away for later as he withdrew his wand again. After a few moments he found himself in the room right next to the target. After confirming the sound of a voice quietly talking, he pressed gently on wall between the two rooms.

    Finding a spot where the wall buckled slightly between two boards in the internal frame, he withdrew some more liberated supplies, this time in the form of plastic explosive. He quickly formed it into a very thin two meter tall ¡®t¡¯ on the wall and inserted the detonator. A shaped charge would have been better, but this was what he had.

    Withdrawing to the bathroom he crouched down on the floor, took several deep breaths and hit the button on the detonator.

    BOOM!!!

    Before the shockwave or dust had even dissipated, Lucas threw himself back into the hotel room and through the newly formed hole in the wall.

    Inside, he found a man with straw blonde hair and an unkempt beard screaming into a headset with fear in his eyes.

    Lucas didn¡¯t hesitate; he raised his pistol and put three rapid shots into the man¡¯s chest. His screams abruptly choked off as he fell to the ground, but Lucas noticed a lack of blood, so he quickly crossed the room and after grabbing the man by his hair, broke his neck before removing the headset.

    After he flipped the man onto his back, he quickly took a photo of him and several of the room. There were empty ration boxes scattered everywhere, a claymore rigged to the door, and a powerful computer on the desk. He quickly connected his wristcomp to the device and began cloning its memory. Once that was running, he methodically searched through the dead man¡¯s pockets and removed his wristcomp.

    His own wristcomp announced the completion of its task with another small vibration and Lucas disconnected from the larger computer before setting up a small charge with the rest of his liberated explosives.

    Setting the new charge inside of the computer case, he inserted the detonator and prepared to leave. He contemplated disarming the door charge and leaving that way, but he decided to leave it for any of the dead man¡¯s subordinates that were now likely rushing to check on him.

    After crossing through his mouse hole, he quickly began his exfiltration. As he neared the employee area though, he heard sounds coming from the previously empty kitchen.

    Lifting his pistol he carefully came around the corner to find¡­ the waif from before, busily stuffing dry cereal into her mouth. She smiled as she noticed him and gave him a wave.

    ¡°Thanks for leaving the door unlocked!¡± She said.

    Lucas lowered his pistol, although he still kept it ready by his side.

    ¡°Kid, you really need to get out of here. Lot of bad folks are going to show up in a few minutes. Take the box with you if you like, but don¡¯t be here when they show up.¡±

    So saying, he followed his own advice and made his way to the back entrance. He heard the sounds of the girl crunching a final mouthful of cereal behind him and sighed before turning around.

    ¡°Why are you following me?¡±

    She tried to give him an innocent smile. ¡°I¡¯m going with you!¡±

    ¡°Like hell you are, it¡¯s going to be hard enough just getting myself out of this city.¡± He retorted.

    ¡°I can keep up! I¡¯m fast and quiet!¡± She said earnestly.

    Lucas sighed and rubbed his forehead. ¡°Why do you even want to come with me, we¡¯re strangers. Look, I¡¯ll give you my last ration bar, I can make it back to my ship without food, but you really need to go hide somewhere now.¡±

    Truthfully he was a little impressed. She was stealthy enough to have followed him here without his notice; she might survive until the revolt died down in a month or two.

    ¡°Ship, you have a ship? Please! I¡¯m from the Wastes and I got sold here. My owner died and I¡¯ve been living on my own, I don¡¯t have anyone, anything; please, you can dump me back in the Wastes if you want, just take me somewhere!¡± As she pleaded her face fell. ¡°My owner¡­ used me. I¡¯ll let you use me too if you take me, I¡¯ll let you do anything you want. Please, I¡¯ll die here.¡± She finished quietly and desperately.

    Lucas let out a heavy sigh, he really shouldn¡¯t have mentioned the ship. ¡°Fine. If you can keep up, I¡¯ll take you. I won¡¯t use you though.¡±

    Her desperate expression disappeared and he saw a small flicker of hope blossom in her eyes.

    Seeing a pallet of water bottles, Lucas quickly grabbed one and tossed it to the girl before grabbing one himself. Then he tossed her his last ration bar. ¡°Eat this, you¡¯ll need your strength. Keep up and keep quiet.¡±

    Lifting his pistol once more, he quickly moved out into the deserted district.

    Keeping to the shadows, he left the hotel and its dead inhabitant behind. After a few blocks, he slowed down and slipped once more into the alleyways, aware that the dead man¡¯s subordinates would likely be closing in.

    For the next few hours, Lucas and the silent girl slipped their way through the city until they were standing in a park at the bank of the river.

    ¡°Can you swim?¡± This was the first time they had spoken since they left the hotel.

    She nodded hesitantly.

    ¡°We¡¯re going thirty kilometers downstream, it should only take a few hours. It¡¯s going to be cold and tiring, but just focus on floating, I¡¯ll pull you out when its time. Clench your muscles from time to time to stay warm.¡±

    She gave him a soft smile. ¡°I can make it, I have to.¡±

    Without further ado, he stepped into the cool water and quickly made his way to the middle of the river and let the current carry him away. Looking back, he saw the girl following behind.

    At first the water was pleasantly cool, relieving the heat of the summer day, but as time went on and the sun set, it quickly leached the heat from his body. Lucas focused on floating on his back and started clenching his various muscle groups in a slow rotation to make sure he didn¡¯t lock up.

    With nothing to occupy him, he thought about the girl. He hadn¡¯t asked her name yet, because it would just make it that much harder if she wasn¡¯t strong enough to make it. He wondered about where to drop her off after he left New Pittsburgh. There were several war orphanages set up across the Stellar Alliance that he could probably leave her at. Either way, he wasn¡¯t making a trip anywhere specific to drop her off, especially not to the Wastes.

    After a few hours, Lucas spotted a row of homes near the water, homes with docks. There was a small boat tied up at one of them. He turned to check on the girl and found her bobbing along behind him. She was clearly at the end of her strength and every few seconds her face would slip slightly under the water.

    His original exfiltration plan called for him to stay in the river for at least another hour, but she wouldn¡¯t make it at this rate. So he swam up to her and carefully began pulling the both of them to the shore.

    They landed pretty close to the docks and he left her there shivering miserably on the ground while the made his way to the dark houses, pistol in hand.

    After using his wand to unlock one of the houses, he found some food, blankets, and some clothes that vaguely looked like they would fit her.

    Returning to the girl, he noticed that she had passed out and was dangerously cold, so he quickly stripped her wet clothes, dried her off, and stuffed her into the dry ones. Then he picked her up and placed her into the small boat he had seen before untying it and pushing off into the middle of the river.

    Another quick application of the wand and he started the motor and began driving them downstream. This was a risk, if there were checkpoints or patrols they could easily spot or even hear a boat, but the sun had set and the small electric motor was fairly quiet.

    Crossing to girl, he made sure she was dry before wrapping her in a blanket. After a few minutes she seemed to be warming up, so he took a sugary sports drink he found and slowly began forcing her to drink it. Right now her body desperately needed energy, and sugar was one of the fastest ways to get it. She soon came around and seemed grateful, but Lucas tried to ignore her and busied himself by checking their position with his wristcomp. He didn¡¯t risk connecting to the satellite network, but by matching the features of the river with a map he had predownloaded for this purpose, he could plot their course.

    The girl lay on the bench, resting and busying herself with eating and drinking, but from time to time he could see her sending curious glances his way.

    As they were passing under a bridge, a bright light flared to life and a loud voice called out from the bank. ¡°Halt! Bring the boat in to shore or we¡¯ll shoot!¡±

    Lucas smoothly and quickly unlatched his holster from his belt and left his gun on the bench next to the girl before slowly raising his hands and making his way to the boat¡¯s wheel. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot! I surrender.¡± He called out.

    As Lucas brought the boat in to the shore he narrowed his eyes and stretched his senses, looking for their opponents. However he could only find one additional person standing next to the one shining the light.

    When the prow of the boat grounded itself with a small crunch, the voice called out again. ¡°Alright, step out of the boat slowly. No funny business!¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Lucas hoped that they hadn¡¯t seen the girl lying down on the bench or assumed she was a bundle of clothes of some sort. He slowly stepped out of the boat, careful to keep his hands visible.

    ¡°Alright, now walk right towards the light.¡±

    Following the directions, he carefully walked towards the light, but made sure to angle off to the side to draw attention away from the boat.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s far enough. Now, explain yourself! Why were you on the river after curfew?¡±

    Lucas still hadn¡¯t located more than two opponents, and they hadn¡¯t asked him for identification, so he assumed they were more than likely bandits.

    ¡°It¡¯s my daughter, she¡¯s sick! I need to get her to a hospital.¡± As he spoke, he pointed at the boat.

    As expected, the unknown man swung the flashlight towards the boat.

    ¡°What dau¡­¡±

    His question was interrupted by Lucas¡¯ muscular frame slamming into him and knocking him ¨C and more importantly his light ¨C to the ground.

    Lucas quickly grabbed the one who hadn¡¯t revealed themselves yet, and grasping them about the waist, he spun and threw them in the dark towards a tree he had made out. From the balance and short stature of the unknown person, he quickly guessed they were either female or fairly young. He had sparred more than enough while in the Marines to have an instinctive feel for such things.

    He dove on the cursing man, who was fumbling with his light. He could have gone for a choke hold, but in the dark and unable to see the man¡¯s hands, he decided going for limb control was a better option.

    Lucas quickly twisted his arms around his opponent¡¯s, forcing his arms to the small of his back, then he twisted further and grabbed the man¡¯s shoulders, neatly locking his arms up and forcing him to bend over at the waist.

    Knowing he might not have much time before the second assailant recovered, Lucas slammed the first man¡¯s head into the ground several times before lunging for the light. As soon as it was in his hands, he directed it towards the tree where he had thrown the second person, only to see them lying on the ground, with a large wound in their skull.

    He picked up a convenient rock and slowly moved towards the body on the ground. As he got closer, he could see it was an older woman, clearly past her prime, and wearing a much-patched dress. She had tripped on a root when he threw her and bashed her skull open when she fell. Lucas had seen a lot of wounds over the course of his career; he knew she didn¡¯t have long.

    With a sigh he strode back over to the man who was groaning and holding his head. He picked him up by the scruff of the neck and saw that he too was older and past his prime.

    He dragged him over to the dying woman and dropped him nearly on top of her. ¡°Say your goodbyes, she won¡¯t last the hour in this state.¡± His voice was cold.

    He saw the man looking at the woman in shock.

    ¡°You¡­ you monster! How could you do this?¡±

    Lucas squeezed the man¡¯s shoulder. ¡°This is your doing.¡±

    ¡°We have to save her!¡±

    ¡°We? There is no we here. You accosted me. You threatened me. And this is the result.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t actually going to kill you! I was going to let you go after we had your stuff.¡±

    ¡°Then you are a fool, and your foolishness killed her.¡±

    ¡°We can still save her, there¡¯s a patrol base half an hour from here. They¡¯ll have medical supplies on hand...¡± His begging trailed off as Lucas¡¯ grip tightened on his shoulder.

    ¡°Sorry, but I need to get off planet. I can¡¯t have you alerting any patrols.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯ll slaughter us both then? You¡¯re despicable!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the ones who decided to try your hands at highway robbery. You failed. But no, I won¡¯t kill you. I¡¯m just going to break one of your legs and take your shoes. Her though¡­ She¡¯s going to suffer; I¡¯ve seen wounds like this before.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ You animal! You¡¯re going to kill her?!¡± The man¡¯s voice rose hysterically.

    ¡°I told you, she¡¯s dead already. Unless you can get her into a neurological trauma suite in the next few minutes, she¡¯s just going to suffer. Now, say goodbye.¡±

    The man started sobbing and draped his body over the woman, as if to defend her. Lucas firmly pulled him aside before stoving her head in with the rock. She didn¡¯t even twitch as she departed.

    Then Lucas proceeded to pull of the elderly man¡¯s shoes and socks and throw them far into the river, before suddenly stomping on his calf.

    It broke with a snap like a dry branch and the man began wailing.

    ¡°Why? Why? What did we ever do to you?¡±

    ¡°You tried to rob me in the dark. I¡¯m sorry the lady cracked her head, but what I did was a mercy. And this broken leg is a mercy too.¡±

    ¡°How is this mercy?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I need to get off this planet, and if you alert a patrol, people will try to stop me. If people try to stop me, more people end up dead. Mercy, see?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have told anyone, trust me!¡±

    ¡°Ah, but I can¡¯t trust you; you¡¯re a highwayman, remember?¡±

    Tears and snot were flowing down the man¡¯s face, but Lucas felt no pity. The old man may have fallen on hard times, but he had made his choices, and he would have to live with the consequences. He left the man and strode back to the boat, giving it a good shove to get it moving back into the water. He clicked off the flashlight which he had decided to liberate and steered the boat back towards the middle of the river. By his reckoning they still had a few more kilometers before landfall.

    As the riverbank flowed by and the man¡¯s faded into the background, Lucas held his hand out to the girl. ¡°You know, you would¡¯ve only had one shot with the gun holstered like that.¡±

    ¡°The holster is noisy, it might have given me away.¡± The girl said as she placed the gun in his outstretched hand.

    ¡°Good job either way. Rest up, we have a ten klick walk ahead of us.¡± He really meant it, she had not only instinctively hid, but had smartly backed his play. He wasn¡¯t too worried about her shooting him, yet. He was her ride out of this hellhole after all.

    Lucas was starting to tire; he hadn¡¯t slept since he had landed his ship nearly seventy hours ago because it was just too dangerous to sleep alone in potentially hostile territory. His original plan had been to recover for a day or two after returning to the ship, to make his departure less connected with the removal of his target, but the incident with the bandits meant he would have to depart as soon as possible for fear of word of his departure leaking out.

    Soon, he grounded the boat once more and after they disembarked, he pushed it out into the water to continue its journey downstream, hopefully obfuscating their trail from any potential trackers. Before they set off, the girl pressed a bottle of sugary drink into his hands.

    ¡°Drink, you need energy. You look tired.¡± She said.

    Lucas just nodded his head in thanks and chugged the bottle down before setting off with long ground-eating strides.

    New Pittsburgh¡¯s large gray-green moon was finally setting by the time they made it to his ship, Night Errand, a small, seventy-five meter light freighter. Lucas and the girl quickly busied themselves with taking down the camouflaged radar absorbent sheet that had helped disguise her for the last three days.

    Entering the ship Lucas pointed out a spare cabin. ¡°This is yours, keep it tidy, and eat whatever you want out of the galley.¡± He said before continuing on to the cockpit.

    Lucas stepped through the hatch coaming into the cockpit and dropped into the pilot¡¯s seat. He began rapidly flipping various toggles and switches to wake the ship¡¯s systems from their slumber. After a few moments, a rising infrasonic rumble from the reactor could be felt in his chest, chased by a higher pitched whine as the engines warmed up.

    While the ship warmed and preheated its various systems, Lucas recorded a quick message into the com system. ¡°Lucas Nite, New Pittsburgh. Turov eliminated, medium-low chance of exfil compromise. Complete After Action Report to follow after exfiltration.¡± He encrypted the message, before storing it in the primary buffer, primed to fire off at his command.

    Once the reactors and engine reached their safe operating temperatures, he powered up the radar arrays. There were several atmospheric-only patrol craft visible in the vicinity of the capital, but as long as he had a decent lead, they wouldn¡¯t be a problem. His light freighter could flee to space after all.

    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl standing hesitantly near the bridge hatch. He wordlessly gestured to the copilot¡¯s seat to his right and a smile lit up her face as she scurried forwards to claim it.

    He expanded the range on the sensor screen and saw something that definitely did not bode well for his prospects of a successful exfiltration; two corvettes and a destroyer were orbiting nearly directly above New Pittsburgh¡¯s capital, more or less on top of the Night Errand. He would be spotted almost from the moment he lifted out of the sheltered valley the ship was hidden.

    Frowning, he thought over his options. Even though the Night Errand had been modified to suit his particular vocation, the amount of firepower arrayed in orbit would easily overwhelm her. He might be able to successfully engage two corvettes and flee, but his light freighter had been modified with evading trouble and keeping a low-profile in mind, not direct combat with a warship, however small the particular warship happened to be.

    ¡°Strap in. This could get¡­ bumpy.¡±

    He immediately fired up the inertial compensator, it would consume hardly any energy while stationary, but the faster they accelerated the more power it would demand to keep the ship, and their delicate meat bodies, in one piece.

    Twisting the flight controls in his hands, he quickly raised Night Errand from the forest floor and began briskly climbing for orbit. The compensator translated the ship¡¯s savage climb to the sky into something akin to a gentle push. Within a minute the sky started to darken as the atmosphere thinned and they were hailed by one of the corvettes.

    ¡°Freighter Night Errand, New Pittsburgh airspace is currently designated a no-fly zone, all traffic is to remain grounded. Cease your lift and state your intentions immediately.¡±

    Taking a few quick breaths to prepare himself, Lucas toggled a com channel to reply. ¡°This is Night Errand. We were delivering humanitarian relief when something happened in the capital! Everyone went crazy; it¡¯s not safe down here!¡± He blurted out in a panicked voice.

    ¡°Night Errand cease your lift! New Pittsburgh airspace is closed!¡±

    ¡°Oh it was horrible. They shot Captain Richards! The last I saw the crowd was beating his body and screaming for blood! They were crazy; we have to get out of here! We didn¡¯t finish offloading, but no contract is worth this!¡±

    The line went dead as the corvette¡¯s communications officer no doubt consulted with his superior. Lucas flashed the girl a quick smile, this might work after all.

    ¡°Night Errand what is your current cargo status?¡±

    ¡°Uh, I think maybe ten tons of medicines and fifteen of field rations. It might be a little more, we hadn¡¯t finished unloading for the day. But we had to get out of there even if we broke our Association contract!¡±

    Lucas was offering up very tempting bait. Night Errand had already broken New Pittsburgh law and could be easily impounded. And if the supposed merchant crew onboard tried to make a big stink about it, their contract violations would come to light and the Merchant Association would probably see them stripped of their affiliate status and bankrupt.

    ¡°Night Errand, we, uh, could take over delivery of the remaining supplies. Seeing as it¡¯s a humanitarian effort, we would be remiss if we didn¡¯t pitch in to help our citizens.¡±

    ¡°You could? Oh thank you! We just want to get away from this godsforsaken hellhole and back home to the Core.¡±

    This entire time, Lucas had not ceased lifting, though he had slowed the rate some, and the light freighter was already at the same orbital altitude as the corvette.

    The voice on the other end of the com line was silent for a few moments before replying in a slightly icy tone. ¡°Right. Dock with the destroyer Hoover, and we¡¯ll get your cargo cross-decked. Beauford out.¡±

    Seeing that they had now cleared the atmosphere, Lucas raised the shields, such as they were on a light freighter. It was important to raise the shields in vacuum, otherwise various atmospheric gasses could get trapped between them and the hull, and the charged particle screens that constituted her shields could cause all sorts of corrosive damage to the hull if they had reactive mass, like oxygen, as a catalyst. As a rule of thumb, most spacers tried to avoid having any mass, besides the ship, inside the shields.

    Looking over to the girl ¨C he still didn¡¯t know her name ¨C he said, ¡°When this all breaks down, it¡¯ll be fast. I¡¯m going to be busy piloting, so I need you to activate the defenses. When I tell you, and not a moment before mind you, you flip these two switches.¡± He pointed out the switches for the point defense array and concealed chaff launchers. The array would be more efficient with a trained operator overseeing them, but he couldn¡¯t trust her with that, so they would rely on the system¡¯s automatic programming.

    She didn¡¯t seem fazed by her responsibilities and nodded her agreement.

    They were approaching the destroyer, Hoover, now, so he commed them. ¡°Hoover this is Night Errand, approaching for cargo cross-decking. Where do you want us?¡±

    ¡°Night Errand match our orbit and lock with the starboard airlock.¡±

    ¡°Airlock? That¡¯ll take forever! Don¡¯t you guys have a cargo bay?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a negative Night Errand, this is a destroyer, not a battleship.¡±

    Lucas let out a snort before flipping a toggle near the throttles and after a moment the low-frequency rumbling from the reactor began rising in intensity.

    ¡°Roger that Hoover, starboard airlock, eta seven-five seconds.¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t speeding up?¡± A quiet voice asked.

    He looked over and the girl who had a puzzled look on her face.

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re going to blow right by them in about thirty seconds.¡±

    ¡°Why did that switch change the noise?¡± she continued.

    ¡°I¡¯m prepping a going away present for New Pittsburgh. No more talking, it¡¯s almost time.¡±

    Lucas focused his attention on the plot. He wasn¡¯t exactly a hotshot, but he was fairly certain surprise and the Night Errand¡¯s few hidden tricks would see them through.

    Seven seconds after he should have started a decel burn to match orbits with the destroyer he slammed both throttles to their forward stops. Then he flipped the toggle near the throttles again and hit the switch to send out his prerecorded message.

    Without looking over, he called out, ¡°Defenses, now!¡±

    The bridge crew of the destroyer was obviously caught off guard. What had been a panicked light freighter they probably planned to rip off, instantly transformed into what they had to assume was a smuggler. Their shields weren¡¯t even powering up as Night Errand drew even with them and raked their hull with the point defense cannons that had sprung from concealed hatches on her surface.

    Even though Night Errand had quite a dense point defense array ¨C it was more or less on par with the destroyer¡¯s ¨C the damage was fairly moderate. Point defense arrays were primarily defensive after all. And the entirety of the hidden array fired projectiles instead of lasers; he would have liked an all energy beam array, but powering it would have required a larger reactor, which would have in turn given away the ship¡¯s disguise.

    The engines though, he had liberated from a decommissioned destroyer in a breaker yard. When empty, the Night Errand was actually capable of out-accelerating most ships, even full she was no slouch.

    Unfortunately she was about half full right now, so given enough time, the Hoover would catch them. Luckily the two corvettes were even further behind Hoover and likely no faster than their bigger consort.

    Hoover¡¯s shield flickered to life with a shakiness that indicated either they¡¯d overrode the generator¡¯s warm-up sequence or one of Night Errand¡¯s PDC¡¯s had scored a lucky hit and damaged one of its emitters. Even damaged though, there was no way he would be able to break through it.

    Maneuvering thrusters flared as Hoover turned to pursue. It looked like the surprise had bought them a twenty second lead. They were definitely out of weapons range now, but it would take almost four minutes to reach the hyperspace limit, and Lucas figured the destroyer could pull back into weapons range in little over two minutes.

    The reason Night Errand had to flee so long was because of the planet¡¯s gravity well. He wasn¡¯t conversant in cutting edge hyperspace theory, but he understood that the gravity well of something the size of a planet or sun warped normal spacetime and affected the alternator¡¯s effort to translate the ship into hyperspace. Translating with too much gravitational interference could literally shear the ship in half and spread the resultant mix of particles across both n-space and h-space.

    His musings were interrupted by Hoover¡¯s shields failing with a brilliant flash.

    The problem shields represented was the energy needed to overcome them. The weapons on Night Errand ¨C if they could be called that ¨C didn¡¯t output enough energy to take down a shielded warship before said warship ripped through her comparatively light shields. But a conversation with some drunken old smugglers had led Lucas to fitting a large, ejectable capacitor to his ship. He could charge it up and drop it from the ship, and it would continue on a ballistic course. If it ran into something or he hit the remote detonator, all the energy bound up in the capacitor would be instantly released. In essence it worked like a crude mine and afforded him one large but clumsy punch.

    If the sensor operator on Hoover had been paying closer attention they would have seen him drop the capacitor, which was why he had distracted them by going to full thrust before dropping it. And why he had raked her hull with his PDA; he hadn¡¯t been hoping to actually take her out, but there were plenty of things on the hull of a ship that didn¡¯t take kindly to a fist-sized chunk of metal impacting them at a few hundred meters per second.

    Hoover¡¯s shields, recently formed and yet to stabilize into their strongest state, collapsed and a sizable amount of the capacitor¡¯s energy slammed into the rear quarter of the ship, ripping one of her engines free and scouring her entire port flank.

    Lucas let out a laugh as Night Errand zoomed away from the stricken destroyer. ¡°Seems like we¡¯ll make it after all.¡± He looked at the information displayed on the plot. ¡°One of the corvettes might catch us right before we jump, but they don¡¯t have the firepower to stop us.¡±

    A few minutes later the gravitational disruption from New Pittsburgh and its large moon had lessened to the point where it was safe to jump, and so, with a bright streak the light freighter translated to hyperspace.

    Lucas laid in a course to the Tau Bo?tis system and set the autopilot. Then he turned to the girl, who was staring raptly at the warped lights of h-space. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve made our escape, I think it¡¯s time you told me your name,¡± he said.

 Chapter 2

    The poor girl looked terrible. Her hair was beyond matted and snarled, and despite the swim in the river, she was absolutely filthy. Lucas hadn¡¯t been looking too hard, but he had noticed her thin ribs jutting sharply out of her torso when he put her in the dry clothes. She had been doing worse than simply living on those war torn streets; she had been hiding, probably from anyone and everyone.

    She fidgeted nervously before replying, ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t have a name. My sister always said I looked like an Elena though. That¡¯s what she called me when we were alone.¡±

    ¡°Then Elena it is, I¡¯m Lucas Nite. What¡¯s this about a sister?¡± He asked.

    ¡°There were a lot of us together in the Wastes before I got sold. But no matter who came or left, Railyn was always there with me. And then it was my turn.¡± She paused for a moment, clearly sorting through her memories. ¡°Before I left, she told me that what was coming was going to be hard, but that if I stayed strong and kept my eyes open, that there would be a chance to escape.¡±

    ¡°She said that, huh? Seems like she told you exactly what you needed to hear.¡± Lucas said. It sounded like one of those things that people just said to one another to keep their spirits alive, but he didn¡¯t want to stomp on the girl¡¯s ¨C Elena¡¯s ¨C he corrected himself, memories of her sister.

    ¡°Oh Railyn is almost always right, she¡¯s an Augur,¡± Elena stated with sincere belief.

    Lucas just held his tongue. The further from the core, the looser the Empire¡¯s grip grew. Out towards the fringes or in the Wastes, people liked or sometimes needed to experiment with the human genome, and for the last fifty years or so rumors had been circulating of a new breed of human called Auguries, named for their supposed psychic visions of the future.

    ¡°So,¡± he said, awkwardly avoiding the conversational landmine, ¡°let me show you your cabin.¡±

    He led her to cabin originally meant for the ship¡¯s executive officer. It was decently sized, if spartanly furnished, and had its own private head and shower.

    ¡°Like I said earlier, this will be yours while you stay on the ship. Feel free to eat from the galley; there¡¯s not much in the way of variety, but there¡¯s plenty of it at least.¡±

    Turning, he saw that she had yet to enter and hovered nervously at the hatch.

    ¡°Is this really for me?¡± She asked with trepidation. ¡°It¡¯s too much.¡±

    ¡°Sure is, I don¡¯t have much in the way of clothes that would fit you, but I¡¯m sure I can scare up something for now.¡± He reached into the locker next to the door and pulled out a towel. ¡°Now, I¡¯m guessing you really want to get yourself cleaned up. I¡¯m gonna go send a report and then get started on cooking us some food, so you just take your time.¡±

    Lucas didn¡¯t phrase it as an order, but Elena appeared intelligent enough to realize that he wanted her out of the way for a bit.

    She took the proffered towel with gratitude and he gave her a quick, awkward smile before striding out of the cabin and back to the bridge, already mentally compiling his report.

    ***

    Elena luxuriated under the warm rain of the shower. The sense of relief was nearly indescribable and seemed to lift some sort of weight from her soul. Scrubbing her body clean with soap, washing her hair with shampoo, she hadn¡¯t realized how much she had missed those simple things in her months on the streets. Even her last master, she thought the word with a snarl, had wanted her to keep herself clean. It was almost as if, by washing away the dirt, she washed away the memories of that time. That wasn¡¯t how it worked of course, but the shower did help her put them out of her mind for now.

    After a measure of time that seemed too short, she pulled herself out of the shower. Though she wanted to, she was too hungry to stay, and Lucas had said he would be cooking food. Cooked food, not moldy half-eaten scraps, not even a dry ration bar, but real cooked food. That was one of the other things she had forgotten.

    After drying herself off she pulled on the clothes that Lucas had picked up when they borrowed the boat. They hung loosely from her frame, likely from a boy or young man, but at least they were fairly clean.

    Looking at herself in the mirror, hollow cheeks, emaciated limbs, and brittle, cracked nails, she reminded herself that she was finally away from New Pittsburgh. Finally away from her former owner, free from living on the war-torn streets, hiding herself away from everyone in the fear that they would somehow force her to go back to him.

    This Lucas Nite was a hard man, but he seemed fundamentally good. And even if he didn¡¯t seem likely to mistreat her, she would keep her guard up. She could feel it, feel that somehow meeting him had opened a new chapter in her life. And she was profoundly grateful to him for taking her out of that place.

    Turning, she made for the hatch, eager to get some real food in her belly. As she headed towards the galley, she heard Lucas¡¯ voice coming from the cockpit. Curious, she made her way to see who he was talking to.

    ¡°¡­increasing number of open contracts throughout the Belt suggests that control in the middle counties is slipping. And while the Empirial military¡¯s presence remains strong in the marches ¨C for obvious reasons ¨C and helps the border counties remain stable and secure, there¡¯s much going on in the places that they aren¡¯t.¡±

    It seemed that this the tail end of the report he had talked about. Probably tied to the one he had made shortly before they took off from New Pittsburgh.

    ¡°While our order may be eminently suited to playing fireman, it would be negligent, no unconscionable, to not pass a warning up the chain. The Order is stretched to its limits, and the lack of response from the Core is deeply concerning. I realize that I don¡¯t have the full picture, but if nothing changes soon, then the Belt will start pulling away. Maybe just a few here and there at first, but something big is coming.¡±

    Elena found it odd that his way of speaking had changed so dramatically. And¡­

    Uh oh, she watched as he fiddled with something on the comset before turning a stern gaze on her. It must have looked like she was trying to eavesdrop on him.

    As he got out of his chair and started her way, she realized that if she upset him, things could go badly for her. She needed to keep him happy, or at least, not mad at her.

    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t really mean to eavesdrop. I just came to find you after I finished washing up. And, uh, the things you were saying, they were really interesting!¡± She tried to end on a bright note to mask her unease, but the nervous shifting of her feet probably gave her away.

    Lucas continued to frown at her for another beat or two, but soon softened.

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem,¡± he said gruffly, ¡°if I didn¡¯t want you listening in, then I would have been sure to shut the hatch. Come on, let¡¯s go get some food in you.¡±

    Elena followed as he made his way to the galley and began pulling various ingredients from the refrigeration lockers. A slab of raw meat made a wonderful hissing sound as he placed it on the skillet.

    ¡°So, why don¡¯t you tell me about yourself Elena?¡± Lucas tried to make conversation as he prepared the food.

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°How old are you? Have you had much schooling?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know how old I am. And the only things they taught me were basic reading and math.¡± Schooling wasn¡¯t a high priority in the Wastes, and life in the compound had intensified that problem.

    Lucas frowned. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not too uncommon,¡± he said after a few moments of contemplation, ¡°there are medical scans that should be able to check your approximate age and schooling can always be made up.¡±

    Soon the meat was finished, and she watched him place it into a warmer before he began cracking eggs right into the grease it had left behind. ¡°Do you have any idea what you want to do with yourself?¡± he asked.

    What did she want? The galaxy had opened up before her; there were any number of paths that she could choose. She knew that there were probably even more paths that she wasn¡¯t even aware of. But she had no idea where any of the paths led. For a brief moment, her elation at being rescued turned to panic as she realized she had no idea how to move forward with what lay ahead.

    But then she remembered Railyn and the others. Caged in all but name, trapped between the dread of being sold and hating their existences. She remembered being the hopelessness, and how Railyn had tried so hard to brighten their days, to shoulder both their burdens, and she knew she couldn¡¯t leave her to suffer.

    Elena answered firmly, ¡°I want to be free, and I want to rescue Railyn and the others still left in the Wastes.¡±

    Lucas gave her a firm nod. ¡°Those are good long-term goals,¡± he said as he plated the bacon and eggs, ¡°But you should start with putting some meat back on your bones.¡±

    ***

    The Night Errand was three days out from New Pittsburgh, approximately a third of the way through their hyperspace journey to Tau Bo?tis. In the intervening days Lucas had sacrificed a few of his coveralls and a form-fitting bodysuit designed to be worn underneath combat armor in his efforts to cloth Elena. He had also taken care of several near ritualistic maintenance tasks. Maintaining his equipment had been important in the Marines, and even more so once he started operating alone.

    He was currently scanning the last news download he had received and trying to figure out what to do with his cargo. Even though he received a generous stipend from the order, on top of the payments from successful contracts, he tried to stay self-sufficient with his trading. It helped his cover to have legitimate, successful transactions logged through the Merchant Association.

    However, he had picked up his cargo further out towards the Wastes and was bringing it in towards the Core. Medical supplies were much scarcer out there than at his destination, so after seeing there were no plagues, skirmishes, or terraforming accidents in the news, he decided to hold off on selling in hopes of finding a better price somewhere else. That was the real advantage of a light freighter, the flexibility they offered; if he was piloting anything larger, not only would he need a crew, but each run would carry more monetary risk.

    His thoughts were interrupted by Elena entering the bridge.

    ¡°What are you working on?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Just trying to find the best place to sell the cargo.¡± he replied.

    ¡°Can I ask you something?¡±

    He turned to give her his full attention. The sleeves and legs of her borrowed coveralls had been rolled up, but even with a wide web belt holding it tight around her waist, she looked like a child dressed in their old sibling¡¯s clothing. Thankfully, a few days of regular food and showers had done wonders for her; she no longer looked to be on the verge of starvation and clean, tangle-free, wavy chestnut hair hung to her shoulders.

    ¡°What is it?¡± He figured she was probably bored, there weren¡¯t exactly a lot of diversions for a young woman on his ship.

    ¡°You¡¯re planning on getting rid of me.¡± Elena stated with conviction.

    She was sharp, he had to give her that. Lucas ran his hands through his hair before replying. ¡°Look Elena, I like you. You¡¯re tough, steady under pressure, and a survivor. But what you see here?¡± He spread his arms to encompass the ship. ¡°This is my life. And it¡¯s no life for a young woman. So yes, I was planning on asking some friends to find a good orphanage or apprenticeship program for you.¡±

    Hearing those words, she didn¡¯t cry, she didn¡¯t pout, she simply battened down the hatches on her emotions and pressed on.

    ¡°I would like to stay with you, on the Night Errand.¡± she said before holding up a hand to cut off his instinctive rejection. ¡°I¡¯m too old for an orphanage or school. But an apprenticeship would work, an apprenticeship under you.¡± She finished, meeting his eyes with a challenging stare.

    Lucas stared right back, and didn¡¯t find a single bit of hesitation or uncertainty in her eyes. ¡°Elena, you don¡¯t even know what I do or if I can afford to take on an apprentice.¡±

    She held up her hand and began to counting items off of her fingers. ¡°You can bounty hunt, you can gunfight, fly and maintain a ship, and understand trade. I could make my own way once I learned any of those from you.¡±

    He leaned back in his chair. ¡°Those are good points, but you didn¡¯t address the cost to me.¡±

    Elena just snorted. ¡°I saw all those weapons in your armory, you can afford it. And once you give me some training, I¡¯ll be an extra hand to work on the ship or watch your back.¡±

    Lucas crossed his arms across his chest. ¡°You make good arguments. But there¡¯s one final problem. Why should I take you on instead of dropping you off somewhere? I not exactly looking for an apprentice.¡±

    Instead of backing down at his rejection of her well-reasoned thoughts, she doubled down. ¡°Because you¡¯re lonely.¡± He grew more impressed with her after almost every conversation.

    He blinked at that, but she continued before he could try to refute it.

    ¡°This,¡± she spread her arms to encompass the ship, ¡°this is your life. You sit in this little box all alone, nothing ever changes. You follow your contracts or missions wherever they lead you, you do a little trading along the way, but you might as well be a robot. I don¡¯t know why or what you¡¯re hiding from, but it¡¯s time for you to live again. And taking me as an apprentice is a great way to start.¡± She finished her fiery speech flushed and out of breath.

    Lucas leaned back in his seat as he mentally revised his estimate of Elena¡¯s age upward. He still didn¡¯t want to take on an apprentice, but he grudgingly agreed with her. His life had felt¡­ static lately, and he had been quietly entertaining the idea of retiring from the order to live out his years on some quiet backwater.

    ¡°Fine, you¡¯ve convinced me,¡± he said in a tone that came out surlier than he meant it to.

    Elena¡¯s reaction softened any grumpiness he might have been feeling though. He watched as pure relief flooded across her face, and her small spark of hope was stoked a little higher.

    Further conversation was cut off by a series of strident tones sounding from navigation display. Three short bleeps, then three long ones, followed by a short final three.

    Lucas hurriedly spun his chair around to face the navigation console as Elena, picking up on his panic, rushed to stand at his side.

    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked.

    ¡°The ship just picked up an SOS beacon. Someone¡¯s in a whole mess of trouble.¡±

    Lucas hunched over the screen on the navigation console, quickly assessing the information from the SOS beacon. Although sailors on ancient Earth had been mostly limited to sending simple signals, modern beacons were well past that, even if they retained the same three short, three long, three short tones for tradition¡¯s sake.

    Elena clearly wanted to interrupt as he read, but she had the good sense to let him finish.

    ¡°It¡¯s from the MAS Makres Labama, a freighter in the hundred kilotonne range. Beacon is reporting a life support failure and she¡¯s definitely in our reach. Crew complement on something that size would be ten to twenty, so we could easily take them onboard and get them to Tau Bo?tis.¡±

    She studied the look on his face before replying, ¡°But that¡¯s not all is it?¡±

    Lucas knew Elena had potential; she had far better instincts than he had started with and it wouldn¡¯t take much to sharpen hers at all. He remembered responding his first distress beacon, decades ago, naively trusting what he was seeing. He was lucky that he had had more experienced men and women riding herd on him.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not all. The beacon was launched about half an hour ago, and space is a mighty big place for us to have stumbled onto it so quickly. That¡¯s awfully convenient for whoever¡¯s on that freighter.¡±

    Elena nodded in understanding. ¡°So you think it¡¯s a trap?¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be the first time I¡¯ve heard of one like this. Besides, it¡¯s always better to be prepared for a trap and be pleasantly surprised to be wrong,¡± he said.

    ¡°So, if it is a trap, how do we get ready for it?¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Well, first we ready the ship, and then we see to ourselves.¡± He turned to the flight controls and executed the defense grid¡¯s function test before beginning to siphon some of the reactor¡¯s power to the shield generator. That was all there really was to do, the capacitor mine was gone ¨C he would have to replace it ¨C the ship possessed no other weapons systems worthy of the name.

    After setting course for the location indicated by the beacon, he stood and waved for Elena to follow him to the armory. Located on the same top deck as the two officer¡¯s cabins and galley, it was the only perpetually locked door on his ship.

    After punching in the code to unlock it, he strode inside and began to survey his accumulated tools of the trade. The armory was about the size of a small cabin and had racks full of various ammunitions, useful tidbits, spare parts and cleaning supplies, an armor locker, and a weapon locker.

    He picked out a pair of gray Navy shipsuits with blue accents from the locker. Built much like an emergency vacuum suit, but armored, they were designed to be worn by all Navy personal during combat, and were a step above what was usually available or provided to merchantmen. He briefly contemplated his old Marine armor, but if this was an actual distress call, they might think him a pirate coming to prey on them.

    ¡°Here, slip this on over your clothes, but leave the hood down for now. It¡¯s a lightly armored shipsuit, decent protection from accidental scrapes, cuts, and shrapnel, plus it¡¯s vacuum rated for ninety minutes. There¡¯s an internal com relay in the hood, but you don¡¯t need to worry about that for now.

    He watched as she began to quickly fumble into the suit, gamely trying to stuff her ill-fitting clothes underneath. Then he quickly wormed his way into his own suit, long years of practice showing their hand, before clipping his battered chest plate into place on the outside.

    Once they were both suited up, he checked over the seals on Elena¡¯s suit, knowing that she wouldn¡¯t be proficient in using one yet. Just another thing on a laundry list that she needed to learn to get up to speed, but at least she was motivated and seemed eager.

    ¡°Okay, your suit¡¯s good. Next up, weapons. What do you know how to use?¡±

    She grimaced in embarrassment. ¡°I don¡¯t really know how to use any guns. I can point a pistol in the right direction though.¡±

    Lucas thought back to the escape attempt and realized he was lucky she hadn¡¯t had to try to use his pistol that night. He resolved to add small arms training at the first opportunity.

    He crossed to a small drawer next to the weapons locker and pulled out a baton and knife.

    Pressing them into her hands, he said, ¡°This is a shock baton; hit the switch and then hit someone with it until they go down, pretty self-explanatory. The knife is a standard Navy affair, good for cutting, prying, or general use, meant more to be handy than as a combat weapon.¡±

    After showing her how to clip the knife and baton to the attachment points on her suit, he grabbed a pair of pistols. One used old fashioned and ultra-reliable chemical-propelled solid shot, the other was a laser. There were pros and cons to both types of weapons, and armor generally only offered good protection against one or the other, so he preferred to carry both types when he had the option. After adding one of the standard knives, as well as his wand to his belt, he felt prepared. But, at the prompting of a small niggle in the back of his mind, he picked up a breaching charge on his way out.

    Elena needed no prompting to return to the bridge, in fact, she led the way and seemed eager to be about it.

    After checking their position on the navcomp, he began preparing the ship, and Elena, for what came next.

    ¡°Okay, so the Makres Labama dropped out of hyper before launching her beacon. But that¡¯s not indicative of a problem on its own. Oftentimes ships will only report their most critical or threatening problem through the beacon, could be that she had some kind of reactor trouble and dropped out before running into a life support problem.¡±

    Elena nodded in understanding and asked a question. ¡°If they are in n-space and we are in h-space, how can we see their beacon?¡±

    Lucas gave her a grin. ¡°Good question, the short answer is that SOS beacons are two-part systems, one part stays with the ship and the other jumps or drops to the space the ship isn¡¯t in.¡±

    ¡°Anyways, the plan is we drop to n-space close to the beacon, assess the situation, and be prepared to run, give an ass-kicking, or render assistance.¡±

    She smiled in agreement, her green eyes flashing. ¡°What do you need me to do?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°You don¡¯t really have any training, so I¡¯ll try to explain what I¡¯m doing as it happens, but all you really need to do is pay attention and be prepared to follow instructions. Do you remember where those switches you hit where?¡±

    He nodded encouragingly when she went straight back to them.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, those two. If you hear me yell or it¡¯s an ambush, you just need to flip them. It just unshackles the PDA and chaff launchers and lets the computer decide when to fire them. I¡¯ll get you trained on how to use them properly soon,¡± he almost winced as he realized the list was growing by the minute, ¡°but that¡¯s your main responsiblity for now.¡±

    Lucas starting working the navcomp. He wanted to exit near the beacon, but not right on top of it. The problem was that h-space was some sort of compressed higher dimension of n-space, and if he was a few kilometers from the beacon here, he might actually be only within a light-second or so of the ship when he dropped down. And a light-second was the best part of three hundred thousand kilometers.

    That was actually a point against it being some sort of trickery; it would be hard to predict where a responder would drop down.

    After specifying the distance he wanted the ship to station keep from the beacon, he checked over all his instruments once more. The defensive suite was in the green, though the PDA had expended approximately fifteen percent of its ammo in the last engagement. There were no transponders, contacts, or even possible contacts on the radar. And the shield capacitor was fully charged; you couldn¡¯t transition with your shields up, it could cause many of the same problems as nearby gravity wells, albeit on a smaller scale.

    Looking up from his preparations, he nodded to Elena. ¡°Everything looks good so far, we¡¯re going in.¡± She met his eyes and though he could see a slight nervousness in them, he could see she was ready. You¡¯ll never be completely ready he remembered one of his first platoon sergeants had said, you go when you¡¯re ready enough. She had been right, and Elena and the Night Errand were ready enough.

    This time when the light freighter transitioned there was no bright streak, instead there was a strobe-like flash as excess energy bled away from her in the form of exotic radiation.

    They were greeted by the darkness of interstellar space, the nearest stars were light-years away and indistinguishable to the naked eye from other stars. Even though interstellar space could be visually identical to some of the outer regions of star systems, sailors swore up and down that they could tell the difference. Maybe it was just knowing you were so far from anyone and anything that made it feel so desolate and forlorn.

    The Makres Labama hung in the distance, and after obsessively scanning his radar and finding nothing, he started his ship towards the hulking shape. Keying on the com, he broadcast to the crippled freighter.

    ¡°MAS Makres Labama this is the independent light freighter Night Errand responding to your emergency beacon. Please respond.¡± Setting the message to repeat with a slight delay, he turned his attention back to piloting.

    As they approached the larger freighter, he studied it with both a careful eye and his scanners. The Makres was much larger than his own humble ship. Light freighters customarily had no provisions for carrying external cargo pods, everything was stored in internal holds. This limited their size as a practical matter, because the amount of material required to make the freighter increased cubically as they grew larger.

    Medium, heavy, and ultra-heavy freighters, in contrast, made few provisions for carrying internal cargo and instead devoted themselves to external cargo pods. They were more like skeletal frameworks with engines that could carry anywhere from tens to thousands of pods, depending on their weight classification.

    As he eyed the Makres he could see that she was definitely a medium-class freighter. She had a pair of bulbous internal cargo bays on her centerline that likely rivaled those on his ship, but was covered in slots and trusses for hauling fifty external pods, maybe a third of which were filled.

    He spotted some damage near her stern, where the reactors, engines, and life support were traditionally located. Some of the hull panels there were visibly scorched and buckled, and he turned to his scanners to get more detailed information.

    ¡°Is everything okay?¡±

    The question startled Lucas. He was so used to operating alone that he had momentarily forgotten that Elena was on the bridge with him. He turned to see her, fingers hovering nervously over the switches he had assigned her, trying to put up a front of confidence.

    Resolving to get better at including her in his thinking process, he gave her a reassuring smile. ¡°Everything is fine so far.¡± He gestured to the scanner display to his left. ¡°The scanners show that she still has heat and her reactor is still making power. I can¡¯t see from here if they still have breathable air, but they obviously have some atmosphere otherwise they wouldn¡¯t retain much heat.¡±

    ¡°Then why haven¡¯t they answered?¡±

    ¡°Could be a lot of reasons. They could be asleep or dead, maybe stepped away for a minute to use the head,¡± he paused as the com chirped, indicating an incoming message, ¡°I expect this¡¯ll answer some of our questions.¡±

    The message was a video file, so he queued it up and motioned for Elena to stand next to him and watch it.

    ***

    As Elena moved to stand next to Lucas, the screen came to life with the image of a disheveled and sweating woman. ¡°Oh thank the Maker!¡± She exclaimed. ¡°Night Errand this is the Makres Labama, and we are very glad to see you.¡± Then the message abruptly ended.

    Frowning to himself, Lucas studied the image of the woman, and Elena tried to do the same. The woman was young looking, with shorter blonde hair that was cut to frame her face, but Elena didn¡¯t see anything useful.

    ¡°Elena, could you to move a couple feet to the side, I want you out of the camera¡¯s field.¡± Lucas suddenly said.

    She obliged and shuffled to the side, making sure to stay on the side with her switches.

    ¡°Makres Labama this is Lucas Nite, captain of the Night Errand. What is the status of your emergency? What assistance do you need? Please respond on the video channel of your choice.¡±

    After he sent the video, he turned to her and asked, ¡°Well, what do you think?¡±

    Elena idly pulled at her suit, trying to get it to lie comfortably on top of her oversized clothing underneath, and then it hit her. ¡°Suits! She¡¯s not wearing a suit.¡±

    He gave her a feral grin. ¡°Excellent observation. If they really are having life support problems, she should at least have an emergency suit on, even if it isn¡¯t buttoned up right now.¡±

    ¡°So, is it a trap?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s another thing weighing the scales against them.¡±

    The com chimed again, and Lucas frowned as he opened another video message.

    ¡°Sorry Night Errand but our com relay buffer is shot, it¡¯s all we can do to compress these vids and send them to you; real-time communications just won¡¯t work.¡± This time Elena caught a glimpse of an exceedingly scruffy man in the background behind the woman, the type of man she knew to instinctively to avoid if she saw them on the streets.

    By now, the Night Errand had closed to the point where they could easily see the Makres Labama and they both stared at it, trying to find answers to their questions about the ship¡¯s true nature.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t like the look of that man in the background.¡±

    ¡°What about him\?¡± He asked, clearly testing her.

    She bit her lip, trying to find a way to articulate her feelings. ¡°It¡¯s just,¡± she paused as she sorted the feelings out, ¡°he felt like a wild animal, dangerous.¡±

    Lucas nodded and replayed the video, pausing at the moment when the woman shifted and allowed a view of the man in the background. A face crossed with scars half-hidden underneath an unkempt beard, dead eyes, and a mop of unruly hair to tie it all together. Elena looked past that and noticed what appeared to be the butt of some type of weapon sticking out over his shoulder.

    ¡°I agree, and the weapon is a pretty good giveaway too. That looks like the grip from Carnivex auto-shotgun, you can tell from the distinctive recoil buffer here.¡± He said as he pointed out a strange mechanism.

    ¡°Um, is an auto-shotgun bad?¡± He certainly gave it an implied aura of caution.

    He idly scratched at the stubble on his chin while answering. ¡°Well, no, an auto-shotgun isn¡¯t inherently more dangerous than a rifle. But the Carnivex was initially designed for use with mechsuits, and when it didn¡¯t sell well they adapted it to the shoulder-fired role. The problem is, they didn¡¯t bother to downgrade the rate of fire or power, so even with that buffer it¡¯s practically uncontrollable for even someone like a commando. These days they¡¯re more of a collector¡¯s range toy or,¡± he pointed at the man on the screen, ¡°used by idiots looking for the most intimidating gun they can carry.¡±

    It solidified in her mind that this was a trap. She had been able to put up a front of confidence before, chalking it up to just being careful. Now that it seemed they were about to clash with some sort of pirates, in a ship bigger than theirs no less, and she felt oddly frantic at the thought.

    Suddenly Lucas placed a comforting arm on her shoulder, and she started at the touch.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s going to be just fine Elena,¡± he said in a confident tone, ¡°this isn¡¯t the first time I¡¯ve done something like this.¡± After gripping her shoulder reassuringly for a few moments, he added, ¡°I know you¡¯re scrappy, but you probably chose to avoid fights if you could. But this is a fight I can¡¯t avoid, and being my apprentice means being a part of that.¡±

    She felt her heart calming at his words; how, how could he read her so easily? She was usually the one who did the reading, not the other way around.

    Elena met his eyes as he patted her shoulder in a parting gesture. ¡°This is going to be easy; we know it¡¯s a trap, so we know what they want and how they¡¯re probably going to go about it.¡±

    Lucas seemed to feel that Elena¡¯s morale was sufficiently bolstered and he turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

    ¡°They probably aren¡¯t actually going to give us any concrete information. They just want to sucker us in close so they can do something to try and take us over,¡± he said as he though out loud.

    ¡°How do you think they¡¯ll try?¡±

    ¡°Standard practice would be to get us to dock with them and then swarm our ship with armed boarders. That might be their primary plane, but they¡¯ll almost certainly have a backup if we get close but don¡¯t take the bait.¡±

    She could see what he was doing. By looking at the problem from his enemy¡¯s point of view, he could guess what actions they were likely to take. She studied the image of the stricken freight again, if she were over there, what would she try? ¡°Could they have something in those cargo pods? Maybe weapons or people in suits?¡± It seemed like a good option to her, cargo pods were supposed to be full of cargo, not danger, and would be easily dismissed by most.

    He smiled proudly at her. ¡°That¡¯s a good guess, there¡¯s nothing else on the scanners, and a fair few of those pods have environmental support modules.¡±

    ¡°So now that we know what they probably want, how do we stop them? Do we go for help?¡± She didn¡¯t know anything about space combat, but she had the impression the Night Errand  wasn¡¯t built for fighting, and there were only the two of them aboard.

    Lucas shook his head sadly. ¡°If we go for help, they have a chance to slip away and try this again somewhere else. They might learn from their mistakes here and be that much more disagreeable next time.¡±

    She watched as he mulled over the problem in his head. After a minute he let out a short laugh as a predatory smile came over his face.

    ¡°Elena, if you were a pirate pretending to be a merchantman, how would you react to a rival pirate falling into your trap?¡±

    ***

    They had taken enough time thinking over their next move that the pirates ¨C probable pirates Lucas reminded himself ¨C were likely sweating bullets.

    After double checking to see that the Makres¡¯ shield was down, he decided not to waste any more time. He tossed Elena a quick smile. ¡°Well let¡¯s get this party started, shall we? Why don¡¯t you go ahead and flip those switches.¡±

    Drawing a pistol and striking a cocky pose, he activated the camera and broadcast on all frequencies. ¡°Attention you sorry sacks of money on the Makres Labama, this is the captain of the Darlin¡¯ Mite, a member of the Brotherhood of Bloody Skulls. This here¡¯s a hijacking, and if you¡¯re very calm and follow every order my crew gives you, you won¡¯t end up sucking vacuum through an extra hole in your skull.¡±

    Once his video had been sent, doubtless inciting chaos on the other ship, he moved to the station Elena had been manning. She had thrown the switches on his word, but he was after something more than simply having the ship defend itself. Keying through the menus, he quickly targeted a single chaff missile and programmed in a sweeping burst from all the guns that could bear on his target.

    ¡°Elena, watch this,¡± he said as he pressed the activation stud. There was a distinctive whoosh as the chaff missile fired from the tube mounted directly above the bridge and streaked towards the other ship. Watching through the wide viewports in the cockpit, Lucas watched several of his forward facing point defense cannons twitch and make small adjustments before firing a short burst at the shieldless medium freighter.

    ¡°Should we really be firing at them?¡±

    Lucas just shook his head and replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll make us seem that much more legitimate, and that burst was carefully calculated to miss the ship itself and only damage a few cargo pods.¡± His words were punctuated by the chaff missile exploding a few hundred meters short of the Makres.

    Normally chaff missiles weren¡¯t very dangerous, spewing all sorts of heat, light, and radioactive noise in an effort to confuse and blind enemy sensors or missile seekers. But chaff missiles usually detonated at ranges of tens of kilometers from anything that they could cause harm to. And as he watched Lucas saw some of the long-burning chaff drift onto the ship; quickly melting small divots in the metal of the hull, or burning entirely through the thin walls of the external cargo pods. The damage done to the ship was superficial ¨C it would definitely look uglier ¨C but not serious, even the possible damage to the cargo was light.

    Elena was quick on the uptake. ¡°Oh, if there was anything dangerous in the pods it¡¯ll be less of a problem now.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Oh look, they sure are trying contact us through a video channel now, how odd.¡±

    Lucas motioned Elena to the side again, and plastered an arrogant grin on his face before answering.

    The screen came to life, showing not the blonde woman from before, but with the scruffy man they had seen with the shotgun. His eyes were bulging as he practically screamed at them. ¡°Who the hell do you think you are, you dried up piece of shit? Is this your first hijacking, why are you trying to intimidate someone with a pistol through a vidscreen?¡±

    Lucas gave a quiet chuckle before replying, ¡°The man strapped to the underside of a Carnivex is trying to throw stones?¡± He shook his head and continued, ¡°We both know what¡¯s going to happen next. I have shields and the faster ship; you are completely at my mercy. So let¡¯s fast forward to the part where your crew piles into the life boat and we take your ship and leave. We¡¯ll even leave that beacon of yours alone. It¡¯s good for our reputation if you all come out of this alive.¡±

    ¡°Like hell we¡¯re going to surrender to some jumped up twit who with delusions of grandeur. Brotherhood of Bloody Skulls, eh? I¡¯ve never heard of a less intimidating name for a pirate gang.¡±

    Lucas gave the man an amused smile before saying, ¡°Have it your way then. Target their life support.¡± And then he abruptly cut the channel and crossed to the gunnery controls and input the parameters himself.

    ¡°Elena,¡± he called out, ¡°I find myself needing some more firepower, could you grab a rifle and a half dozen magazines from the armory while I take care of this?¡±

    ¡°Sure, what¡¯s the code to the door though?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s 87539319, you got it?¡±

    Lucas couldn¡¯t help but smile as she rattled the code back to him. She would make a great apprentice, if he ever found the time to actually teach her all she needed to know.

    The cannons twitched once more and spat out several short bursts of fire. Lucas wasn¡¯t really trying to knock out their life support; that would be counterproductive and make any boarding action or prisoner taking that much harder. Instead, he simply had to make the attempt to let them think he was serious.

    Sure enough, right as Elena was stepping back into the bridge with a rifle slung over her shoulder ¨C he noticed she somehow had picked out his favorite¨C the com panel lit up again with another urgent call.

    He answered and immediately seized the conversational reigns. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you! Calling to surrender already? I was sure we needed to put a few more holes in your ship, you just lost me five lyra on a bet.¡±

    The face on the other side of the screen was practically purple with rage. ¡°All right already, we surrender!¡±

    ¡°Excellent. Please exit your ship in an orderly manner, and mind all pertinent hazard signs.¡± Lucas made sure to give the man the same feral smile he had seen dozens of other pirates wear.

    The rage suddenly fled the man¡¯s face and he spoke in an acid tone. ¡°Oh don¡¯t you worry, we¡¯ll clear out momentarily. Enjoy your prize scum.¡±

    ¡°And don¡¯t forget that your life pod will still be in range of my ship. If there¡¯s any funny business, we¡¯ll be sure to pay you a visit.¡±

    As he closed the channel once more, Elena spoke up. ¡°He is obviously planning on some sort of treachery.¡±

    Lucas smirked, ¡°Of course he is, we just needed to be sure to guide his treachery in a direction of our choosing. There need to be life signs in that pod, so either they eject a few of their gunhands or some of the slaves they like to keep, either way benefits us.¡±

    ¡°And if they are honest merchants in distress?¡± Elena asked with a wry smile on her lips.

    ¡°Then we sincerely apologize and tell them that next time they shouldn¡¯t act so suspicious.¡± He said, matching her wry smile.

    A flare of light drew their attention to the forward viewport and they both turned to watch the lifepod¡¯s engines pulsing as it hauled the lifepod from its resting place. After checking the scanners to ensure that the pod did indeed have approximately a dozen life signs aboard, Lucas began maneuvering the so-called Darlin¡¯ Mite into docking position.

    ¡°Fighting in a ship is always a risky business, and if you don¡¯t know how to use a gun you¡¯re going to be at a disadvantage. Knowing that, do you want to stay here or come over with me?¡± Both options were risky. If she stayed, it was possible the pirates could counter-board the Errand and if she came with, she could be killed in the fighting. In space battles, and especially boarding operations, there was rarely room for innocents or civilians.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you, it¡¯s better to be together. If you die, then I¡¯m screwed. Better to give you what help I can,¡± she said, her tone solemn. It was a shame a woman as young as her understood those realities.

    There was a soft tremble in the deck as the Night Errand docked with the Makres Labama. After tapping in a few contingency orders into the navcomp he took the rifle from Elena and attached the spare magazines to his suit. With Elena following on his heels, he strode out of the bridge and locked the hatch behind him.

 Chapter 3

    Lucas sealed the hood over his suit, going slowly to be sure that Elena got a good look. It wasn¡¯t particularly complicated ¨C it would have been asinine if it was ¨C but it could be a little finicky. He smiled to himself as he watched her fingers quickly find the seams and close the hood. The clearplast visor kept most of their faces visible, but weren¡¯t exactly the height of fashion and Elena clearly agreed, as he saw her lips twitching as she fought off a smirk.

    The boarding hatch was located amidships in the cargo hold, and its warning lights were currently emitting a steady green glow. Standing at the hatch, Lucas drew his ¡®old-fashioned¡¯ pistol and motioned Elena towards the right side of the hatch. It was time to go to work, so he let out a breath and cleared his mind.

    Grabbing the airlock controls ¨C he had rigged this side with a physical controller on a 5 meter cord ¨C he stepped to the side opposite Elena. He lifted the hand with the controller and used his fingers to geve her an exaggerated three-count before depressing the opening stud.

    Both hatches opened at the same time and a flurry of gunfire snarled into the hold of his ship. Boarding operations were almost always a battle over chokepoints, and this one would be no different.

    Instead of returning fire, Lucas studied the tracers impacting the far wall of the cargo hold. From the divergence of impact points, he counted two firing positions with two shooters each, likely on opposite sides of junction in a corridor. There was one laser shotgun on the right, dialed for a wide spread, the rest wielded either carbines or rifles, and their fire wasn¡¯t particularly accurate on top of that. In fact, any moment now¡­

    The expected drop in fire came. None of the pirates had staggered their fire to create space for reloads or cooldowns. Sloppy. And Lucas wasn¡¯t above taking advantage of the opening they freely gave him.

    He spun on his heel and leaned out into the open, pistol pre-aimed and eyes already seeking a target before he cleared the corner. He found two.

    The first, the owner of the laser shotgun, had the poor discipline to be crouched only halfway behind the cover of the corner, his weapon held at the low ready position as it vented excess heat. A five-millimeter slug punched through one of his surprised eyes, causing him to drop the shotgun to the ground.

    Lucas scarcely noticed, already putting his customary three rounds into the man standing over the crouched shotgunner. The standing man had fumbled his magazine change in his haste, three rounds to the upper torso ¨C one of which tore through his neck ¨C ensured he wouldn¡¯t finish reloading.

    The fire started up again as he ducked back into cover, this time with a noticeable drop in its intensity. In a matter of moments and with only four shots, he had halved the current opposition. Lucas waited for the next lull, sure to come very soon.

    ¡°What the fuck!¡±

    There was the moment; the two shooters on the left had just noticed their comrades¡¯ deaths, and in their surprise, stopped firing. Lucas stepped fully into the corridor this time, and with six quick shots eliminated the remaining opposition.

    ¡°Wait here until I call you forward,¡± Lucas said as he hustled past the airlocks and into the Makres Labama. If he was in combat armor, he would have sprinted and trusted it to protect him from any surprises, but he needed to keep his gun up and covering the hopefully empty junction in front of him.

    As he reached the dead bodies, he gave them a quick once over to make sure he wasn¡¯t going to get any surprises. One from the pair on the left was female, he noted with detached interest, and the way her body lay exposed a very particular tattoo on the side of her skull, hidden by both her hair and ear; a blood-red coin about the size of his thumb. The Claret Coins then, interesting because this wasn¡¯t their usual style.

    Both corridors were clear when he arrived, so he quickly waved to Elena to get her started his way. Once she crossed the airlock he input the lockdown command into his wristcomp and the heavy door slammed itself shut behind her and there was a shudder as the Errand undocked herself.

    Then he switched his first pistol to his left hand and drew the laser, a Drang model, in his right while he made a plan of attack. Currently he was in a corridor that ran fore and aft on the port side of the freighter. He could head towards the bow, which contained the flight deck and the angry man with a Carnivex, or he could head towards the engineering room and seize direct control of the reactor, engines, and life-support.

    Remembering his earlier goal of including Elena more, he asked, without turning his head, ¡°Shall we head to the bridge or the reactor?¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t that really angry guy at the bridge earlier?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Then we should probably make him come to us,¡± she said seriously.

    ¡°Reactor room it is.¡± And from the corner of his eye he noticed that one of the pirates had a fragmentation grenade dangling temptingly from their belt, so he quickly ¡®rescued¡¯ it.

    He began a quick but cautious walk towards the rear of the ship, spinning every so often to check their rear. After the first few times, he noticed that Elena was periodically turning too.

    ¡°Good job, you pick things up quick. Don¡¯t be too frightened, this won¡¯t be too hard. They might have fought in a ship a few times, but this was my bread and butter for twenty-five years.¡±

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t they in suits like we are?¡±

    ¡°Because they¡¯re not very smart and they haven¡¯t had much practice at this. The types of hand weapons we¡¯re using aren¡¯t usually powerful enough to put a hole in a ship, so they don¡¯t bother with vacuum suits. Plus, armored models like ours aren¡¯t exactly available for sale to pirates.¡±

    ¡°What about armor like your chest plate?¡± He could practically feel her envious eyes on it, and he didn¡¯t blame her in the slightest.

    ¡°These aren¡¯t too hard to get a hold of, or to make. Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re getting one too, I just didn¡¯t have one in your size.¡±

    Further conversation was cut off by one of the hatches on the side of the corridor swinging open to admit someone who looked like a giant at first glance. Standing just over two meters tall, bald, tattooed, and possessing ponderous breasts as large as Lucas¡¯ head, the Amazonian took one look at their vacsuits in the colors of the Empirial Navy and let out a contralto cry of, ¡°Navy scum!¡± before beginning a charge while reaching for the battlesaw strapped to her thigh.

    While a part of himself marveled at her size, muscles, and speed ¨C she was obviously enhanced ¨C another part of his brain calmly and smoothly took aim before firing a pair of blasts from the Drang into her face.

    She went down with a thud that he felt in his boots, and a chorus of surprised shouts errupted from the open hatch behind her.

    Lucas pulled out his rescued grenade and looked at it for a moment.

    ***

    Elena looked down in shock at the dead woman. She knew that ¡®enhancing¡¯ humans was taboo in the Empire, but she had never seen the results of those who had been enhanced here. The Amazonian, the catch-all term used for women enhanced for strength and combat, was crude and inefficient compared to what she had seen before.

    At first she had been worried, someone so obviously enhanced should have been much faster and tougher, possibly with internal armor plating. But she had gone down so quickly that Elena had barely even noticed Lucas¡¯ hand twitch as he targeted and fired.

    She followed as he stepped up to the hatch were all the shouting was coming from and poked his head around the corner for a bare instant. Then he smoothly hooked the grenade through the hatchway and all hell broke loose inside. One man managed to stumble out just before the explosion, and Lucas almost casually put a red laserbolt through the back of his skull.

    She followed him as he stepped inside, wondering about the strange way he first almost circled the open hatch, and found a charnel house. The room had obviously been a mess hall, but now shattered furniture, broken bodies, and pureed food littered the floor. Lucas put a quick shot into someone stirring in a corner, with the laser pistol again, before gesturing her back out the hatchway.

    ¡°Why are you using the laser more?¡± she asked.

    He checked behind them as he answered. ¡°Laser weapons are mostly heat limited, if I fire too often or too quickly it¡¯ll force itself into cooling mode, making it useless for a minute or two. For situations like these using the laser lets me keep all the bullets in the other gun ready and waiting.¡±

    ¡°Then what about your rifle?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s for when things start to go bad.¡±

    Things felt like they were already pretty bad to her. They were alone on a ship that seemed full of pirates who wanted to capture or kill them, somewhere in deep space, and she didn¡¯t even really know how to use a gun.

    But she had to admit, Lucas was absolutely deadly with his pistols, and she had the feeling that this was not the first time he had taken on a ship full of people trying to kill him. There was an air of calm confidence about him, it wasn¡¯t that he was brash or arrogant; it just seemed that, while he might not know every step to get there, he knew that in the end he would inevitably win.

    Somehow, as they advanced through the pirate ship together, she drew solace from his confidence. Then she caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and she shouted out, ¡°Behind!¡± as she dove to the side of the passageway.

    As she hit the wall, there was a short exchange of fire. Then Lucas fired his laser pistol nearly a dozen times in rapid succession while bringing the pistol in his left hand up in a rock steady grip. He paused, and it was like he knew exactly what was coming, because a moment later the pistol in his left hand barked four times.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    He motioned for her to follow as he continued down the passageway. The Makres Labama was slightly ovoid, and the gentle curve as the corridor followed the hull made it impossible to see more than a few dozen meters in either direction.

    Then they were at the end of the passage. The large and heavy hatch to the engineering spaces was cracked open and Lucas risked a quick peek before giving her instructions.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go in quick and quiet. Once you hear shooting start, count to three and follow. If you see anyone comes up behind us before that, just try to quietly slip inside.¡±

    She nodded her head in understanding, it seemed simple enough. She just had to follow directions and watch Lucas¡¯ back, and they would get through this.

    ***

    After making sure that Elena knew the plan ¨C he mentally added hand signals to the list ¨C Lucas let down the hood on his suit and ghosted through the cracked hatch. It was awfully sloppy of them to leave it open, and these particular pirates wouldn¡¯t be living long enough to learn from their mistakes. In point of fact, that was one of the primary goals of the Empirial Navy or Marines.

    Most of the lights in the engineering spaces were turned down low for some sure-to-be-stupid reason. And then his ears picked up the reason. There was a fast, rhythmic sound of flesh slapping flesh, punctuated by the occasional pained whimper coming from one of the darker corners of the engineering deck.

    His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared in contempt, but he painstakingly made sure that there was no one else in the engineering space. This wasn¡¯t his first time coming across a scene like this, and once he had lost several good soldiers because the rapee and rapist had had a pervert secretly watching them.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, just like that, you¡¯ll make a great little whore. And remember, either I blow my load or I blow your brains out.¡± The rapist said from his position on top of what Lucas was fairly certain was a woman lying prone. He could also vaguely see a handgun pressed into the back of the woman¡¯s head.

    As much as his blood boiled and demanded action, he took one more long slow glance at his surroundings. Once he was sure there was no one else in the room, he transferred the Stinger, his propellant-based pistol, to his right hand and carefully lined up a shot. He would have to hit his target precisely in the hollow where the base of the skull met the neck; if his shot destroyed the brainstem, it was instant lights out, no random muscle twitches or anything else.

    But just before he pulled the trigger, some sixth sense warned him of a presence at his side, and he nearly shot Elena out of reflex.

    ¡°The man with the big shotgun is coming this way.¡± She whispered quietly into his ear.

    Well that put a damper on his plans. He quickly mentally played through a couple versions upcoming confrontation.

    ¡°Find a good bit of heavy machinery to hide behind and don¡¯t come out until it¡¯s safe.¡± He whispered back before once more aiming his pistol. The continued smacks of flesh and quiet sobs were starting to seriously damage his calm. As he started gently taking up the slack in the trigger he heard the sound of heavily booted feet outside the hatch off to his side.

    The trigger broke under his finger and instantly improved the human gene pool. The shot warned whoever was at the door of course, so while Lucas holstered the pistol in his right hand, the laser in his left came up and let loose a pair of shots towards the hatchway. Then, as he shifted position towards a good piece of cover, he pulled his rifle singlehandedly to his shoulder and let off a burst from the much more intimidating weapon.

    Smacking into cover behind what appeared to be an O<sub>2-</sub> scrubber, he considered his options. It was a shame he had only managed to rescue a single grenade, another would certainly come in handy here. He really didn¡¯t want a Carnivex letting loose in the engineering compartment. While most of the equipment in here were designed to be robust and proof against accidental damage, a mechsuit-sized shotgun could hardly be called an accident.

    Wishing that he had a better option, or that he had some Marines with him, he launched himself from cover and ran towards the hatch, firing to suppress as he went. The old-fashioned brass casings spat out of the rifle and tinkled on the deck as he went. The magazine ran dry just as he made it to the hatch, so he let it drop and dangle from the sling.

    He fired a few more quick shots from the laser pistol, before slamming it into its holster and unclipping the breeching charge from his belt. Fingers blurring, he attached the charge to the hatch before quickly jamming his wand in to arm it.

    Retreating, he kept up an unpredictable stream of fire from both pistols and made his way back to cover. The bulkheads and hatch coaming were looking decidedly scorched and pockmarked by the time he found a solid piece of cover with a sightline to the hatch. This time it was actually part of the reactor housing.

    ¡°You still alive out there?¡± Lucas called out as he searched the room for Elena¡¯s hiding place. It seemed she was behind one of the engine feed nozzles, a chunk of metal nearly as dense and durable as the reactor casing he himself was hiding behind.

    ¡°You little pissant! You have no idea what you and your so-called Brotherhood have stepped in!¡± came the angry bellow from outside the hatch as he methodically reloaded both the Stinger, and the Storm, his rifle.

    ¡°Well why don¡¯t you enlighten me?¡± He called back. Then he motioned for Elena to drag the poor woman into cover as she was still lying underneath the dead body and weeping openly now.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll bother. It won¡¯t matter because we¡¯re about to kill you all!¡± The final words were yelled as a battle cry, and there was a hail of fire from the pirates¡¯ position.

    Elena hadn¡¯t quite managed to drag the woman into cover, and she fell with a yelp. Seeing that, Lucas immediately detonated the breeching charge, and the rain of incoming fire petered out.

    Although he wanted to go check on Elena and drag both her and the woman behind cover, he knew had to end the threat from the pirates first, or they would all three remain trapped. He shouldered the Storm and once more charged toward the hatch.

    He didn¡¯t fire as he ran, not wanting to give the pirates any warning. The breeching charge had hopefully cut through the heavy hatch and disabled the pirates on the other side. Unfortunately, it was a heavy hatch and he would have preferred a double charge to be sure of getting through.

    The pirates had pulled the swinging door open a little more for firing and the explosion had pushed it further still, so there was enough room for Lucas to burst through at a dead sprint. As he exited the engineering room he saw half a dozen or so men and women down, but there were four others still on their feet, and with weapons rising to point at him, further along the passageway.

    Lucas had surrendered control of his body to his instincts, adrenalin, and reflexes. He fell onto his backside without conscious thought, the rifle somehow finding and servicing all four targets as he slid across the deck. Once he came to a stop next to one of the downed pirates, his hands released the rifle and snatched Drang and Stinger from their holsters. Several of the pirates were trying to struggle to their feet, and his hands felt as if they were aiming and firing at their targets independently.

    And then it was over. The sudden silence was accompanied by a high-pitched ringing in his ears; a sure sign he had hearing damage again. From the time he came through the hatch to the end, it felt like everything had happened in one long moment, but as Lucas noticed empty magazines from both Storm and Stinger, he realized it had taken at least ten seconds.

    ¡°Elena? You okay in there?¡± He shouted as he nearly stumbled simply walking back through the hatch. His ribs felt strangely warm, and as he ran a hand over his chestplate it came away streaked with soot.

    He slapped the releases and dropped the scorching hot piece of armor. Luckily it had held up one last time against the laser that had hit him ¨C he hadn¡¯t even noticed any of his targets firing back ¨C but now the faithful plate had taken one hit too many.

    Elena was still gamely trying to drag the woman into cover, but she had taken a hit in the calf and was reduced to scrunching along the deck.

    She looked up at him with tears running from her emerald-colored eyes, and he could see she thought that she had failed somehow.

    Gently cutting her off, he reached down to examine leg. The light armor on her shin had help up and deflected a kinetic round of some sort, but there was likely one hell of a bone bruise underneath because she gasped in pain as his fingers gently probed her calf.

    He turned his examination towards the other woman and was surprised that he recognized her, it was the woman with short blond hair from the first message they had received from the Makres Labama.

    She was now sporting a black eye and bruises on her neck, and it looked like she had shut down; she was sitting with the same thousand yard stare he had seen fellow Marines wearing after nasty action. Her pants and had been cut off without any particular care by a blade, and there were various cuts and small nicks all over her legs.

    Lucas looked around the engineering room, but didn¡¯t see anything that could really be used to cover her up, so he started stripping out of his own suit. She was tall, maybe 185 centimeters, so she should be able to wear his suit without too much trouble.

    ¡°Elena, could you help me get her into these?¡± He asked softly and quietly, knowing that the victim might snap out of shock and into hysterics at any time.

    She nodded in understanding before saying, ¡°Her name is Kharlie.¡±

    He laid the suit out at the woman¡¯s feet, and Elena began slowly working it up to cover her legs. Lucas left her to it for the moment and politely turned away to reload his weapons. He was down to his last two magazines for the Stinger, but there were still three more for the Storm on his chest rig.

    Once they had the suit on the near-catatonic woman, Lucas helped the both of them to their feet. He supported Elena with her arm over his shoulders, and the Kharlie followed them, clearly in a daze.

    They made their way, cautiously, to the bridge, but they encountered no other resistance along the way. Once there, it seemed a spark of life came to life in the woman, as she parked herself at the communications station as if by instinct.

    Lucas locked the hatch behind them and gently deposited Elena in the engineer¡¯s chair, then took the helm. Most human helm stations were designed to be reconfigurable, so that in an emergency, a single person could theoretically pilot a ship without having to run to all the various stations around the bridge. So he pulled up the sensor displays from the nav station on one screen and the engineering control on another.

    The Night Errand was still nearby and didn¡¯t look to be damaged, although there was a fair amount of debris floating around her. But she wasn¡¯t the only ship the scanners picked up. There was a frigate in the distance, and it was approaching at what appeared to be full burn.

    ¡°In¡­ Incoming message,¡± poor Kharlie said in a small voice from the com station.

    ¡°On my screen.¡± Lucas commanded. She was clearly reverting to training in order to try to function. That was fine by him, he had done it more than once himself.

    One of his screens changed to display the message from the frigate. The image of a haughty young man with a face so smooth and symmetrical that it was clearly sculpted cleared his throat before speaking. ¡°Ahem. Chazley, you¡¯d better have taken that tramp freighter by now. You¡¯re over an hour overdue for a status update.¡± Lucas took an immediate dislike to him, something about the overdone aristocratic accent and the man¡¯s fake looks immediately pushed his ¡®suspicion¡¯ instinct into overdrive.

    Time worked strangely; Lucas was sure that it hadn¡¯t been more than thirty minutes since he and Elena had dropped down to check on the rescue beacon. He swiped the message from the screen and brought the navigation display back up. It was as he feared, the frigate was only about five minutes out, not enough time to cross-deck back to the Errand and still flee before the warship arrived.

    That meant that they had to flee on the Labama, as he had no desire to take on a serious warship in an unarmed and unfamiliar freighter. With that goal in mind, his mind began to race.

    Elena tapped him on the shoulder, even with her leg injury she had somehow snuck up on him as he was lost in thought. ¡°Sheep in wolf¡¯s clothing,¡± she said, and then looked at him as if he was magically supposed to get her meaning.

    And then, all at once, he did. He ripped the wand from his belt and jabbed it into the wristcomp before he dropped it to the ground and began furiously inputting commands.

    After a few moments, there was a flare of light through the viewports as the Night Errand powered up her engines and began to flee. Then the engines abruptly cut out and a moment later, there was a bright streak as the crewless light freighter powered up her alternator and jumped into h-space.

    ¡°Kharlie, send a reply to that frigate, tell them that we are going in pursuit.¡± Lucas commanded as he used the maneuvering thrusters to spin the ungainly freighter in the direction his freighter had just jumped. He didn¡¯t bother with trying to power up the shields or even the engine, he just dumped all the juice he could funnel into the alternator.

    Technically ships could translate while moving, but for some reason yet to be explained reason, it was very rough when they did, so unless it was an absolute emergency, ships would cut their engines just before making the translation to h-space.

    The alternator would take another thirty seconds or so to warm up, so Lucas watched Kharlie send the message to the frigate before Elena walked over to try and comfort her.

    ¡°Another message¡­ sir.¡±

    ¡°Save it for now, we¡¯re outta here.¡± And then the alternator pulsed and the Makres Labama jumped to h-space to ¡®chase¡¯ the Night Errand.

    But Lucas¡¯ sense of relief was immediately cut off by Kharlie erupting into an ear-splitting wail.

 Chapter 4

    Empirial Guardsman Tyler Sink¡¯s day had started well enough. His charge, Prince Gregory, had begun the day safely ensconced in the armored hull of the battlecruiser Bhadra as she prowled the along the border of the Wastes. Bhadra was conducting a routine anti-piracy patrol through Radeon March, but had seen little success for her weeks long effort. Until today that was, when she had detected and responded to an SOS beacon.

    At first everything had gone well ¨C at least from his point of view guarding the bridge entrance while the Prince stood his watch at the tactical station ¨C but they had been sucker-punched when they approached the ship in distress. Crude missiles were launched from external cargo pods, and boarders were on the ship and cutting their way in almost before the crew realized they were under attack.

    The battlecruiser had been completely blindsided and taken significant damage in the first moments of the battle; but then her mighty weapons returned fire and blotted the ambushing freighter from space. And just as they assumed the fight was over and started on damage-control and counter-boarding operations, an unidentified frigate and a light cruiser had dropped down together to give her another savaging.

    Bhadra had barely escaped with severe damage and atmosphere bleeding from a dozen wounds. The powerful battlecruiser, one of the deadliest ships in space, had been soundly defeated by two light combatants and a Q-ship. Life support, inertial compensation, and the engines were barely holding together, to say nothing of the weapons or shields.

    In Tyler¡¯s mind, the only highlight of the entire ordeal was that none of the boarders had made it to the bridge to threaten the prince. The captain had made a risky decision and dropped down from h-space shortly after they fled into it. With her vital systems in such poor shape, it was doubtful they could survive another translation, let alone another fight if there were more scum out there.

    Tyler wasn¡¯t afraid of death. He knew that it was a strong possibility from the day he began his training, the Empirial family did not live quiet existences after all. What he feared was failing in his duty. And while he was nearly as well trained as a Commando, there was very little he could actually do to safeguard Gregory in this situation.

    ¡°Listen up!¡± The captain called out from his chair in the center of the bridge. ¡°Engineering has managed some repairs to the deep-link; so we¡¯ll send for help and repair what we can while staying quiet and silent. And then we watch the rest of the fleet hunt down some renegades with extreme prejudice. We keep calm and we keep our heads people. Lieutenant Gregory, I want you running the numbers on life support and an inventory of our offensive and defensive capabilities, I need to know exactly how long we can hold on. Lieutenant Gordes, you¡­¡±

    Tyler tuned the captain out. There might be a light in the distance, but they still had at least several weeks before it could reach them. He slowly began considering a plan to keep Prince Gregory ¨C Lieutenant Gregory while on ship ¨C alive until relief arrived in the event there wasn¡¯t enough life support capacity left on the ship.

    It would be career suicide, but that was a situation all Guardsmen had been prepared for, and he would do whatever it took to preserve the life of his charge, every, single, time.

    ***

    Kharlie¡¯s screams where akin to those of a heartbroken animal. Lucas was beginning to seriously consider sedating her with some painkillers he had found in a medkit, but Elena was somehow able to calm her down. Then the poor woman fell straight into a deep sleep, where she twitched and jerked through whatever nightmares stalked her mind.

    Lucas finished wrapping Elena¡¯s calf with medtape and helped her back into her suit. Then he helped her over to the helm station and spent a few minutes showing her which readouts to keep an eye on and how to contact him over either the intercom or their shipsuit radios.

    Then it was time to go back to work. He stepped out of the bridge, locking it behind him, and began to clear the rest of the ship. As he searched for pirates he might have missed the first time, he took photos of the fallen and their Claret Coins tattoos if he could easily find them.

    The owner of the Carnivex was lying dead just outside the engineering room hatch, with a grievous wound to his belly. Lucas tentatively identified him as the leader because his blood-red coin was larger, slightly more ornate, and placed in a location that made it harder to hide. The breeching charge on the hatch had ripped open his torso and he bled out before he could even bring that ridiculous weapon into play.

    The Labama was a well-maintained and tidy ship; at least it had been before all the explosives and gunplay Lucas had introduced to it. He began to suspect that the ship actually was a captured MAS freighter, as they were some of the Claret Coins¡¯ favorite targets. One of the benefits of joining the Merchant Association was their piracy insurance; the Association offered its members insurance for both cargo stolen and crew ransomed by pirates, it was one of the reasons many freighter captains were willing to let them have so much of the gross profit.

    But for the Coins to turn right around and risk a sure payday was out of character. As their name suggested, they were focused on profit, and were generally the most ¡®polite¡¯ and ¡®predictable¡¯ of the pirate clans, if such terms could be applied to pirates as a whole.

    Thinking of the cargo jogged a memory in Lucas¡¯ mind, so he made another circuit of the ship this time sealing all the external hatches with his wand in case there were actually boarders in the cargo pods who wanted to risk assaulting the ship while it was in h-space.

    The final task before returning to the bridge was to stop by the mess hall. First he pushed all the bodies and debris to one side before cleaning himself off and grabbing enough food and drink for three. Then he placed it all on a little trolley he had found tucked into a closet and pushed it back to the bridge.

    ***

    For the first half hour, Elena found it hard to tear her eyes away from the displays that Lucas had told her to watch. But eventually she realized that nothing was changing and boredom set in. Kharlie was still sleeping and the Night Errand had pulled ahead and out of scanner range around the time Lucas had left.

    She was anxious for him, even though she knew that she couldn¡¯t offer any support with his current task. And the anxiety and boredom made her feel restless, impatient; so she decided to start learning right away.

    A quick search of the lockers at the back wall of the bridge revealed a handcomp, so she set about studying. She decided to start with guns, since that seemed to be a large part of Lucas¡¯ skillset.

    She read about the difference between chemical and energy weapons, how to hold a handgun or longgun, and how to aim. Then the constant warnings to treat every weapon as if it was loaded and to be paranoid about the muzzle began to wear at her, so she took a break to check over the displays once more.

    Nothing had changed and she was tempted to call Lucas, but she worried that she would be distracting him from something important. Instead she rose to her feet and crossed to where Kharlie lay curled up underneath her communications station.

    Her mind was still unbalanced, so Elena sat on the floor next to her and offered her what comfort she could while gently stroking her hair. After a few minutes, Kharlie began to stir and come around.

    At first she stiffened in fear, but Elena kept mentally pushing feelings of comfort towards the frightened woman. ¡°Shhh, it¡¯s going to be okay. You¡¯re safe on the Makres Labama and Lucas is busy making sure there aren¡¯t any more pirates hiding onboard.¡±

    ¡°But my crewmates, we left them behind! The Coins loaded them all into the lifepod and launched them. And aren¡¯t you a bunch of pirates too? Something stupid-sounding like Brotherhood of Blood?¡± Her voice, initially filled with worry, quickly transitioned to a shrill panic.

    Elena just kept petting her hair and sending calm comfort. ¡°Lucas and I aren¡¯t pirates, but we suspected the beacon was fake and we pretended to be pirates to create confusion.¡±

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t pirates, then what are you?¡± Kharlie had calmed down some, but she still sounded suspicious. And with good reason, just because they weren¡¯t pirates didn¡¯t mean they weren¡¯t slavers or something equally heinous.

    ¡°We,¡± Lucas said as he wheeled a cart with covered platters on it onto the bridge, ¡°hold a letter of marque.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Elena asked.

    ¡°A letter of marque is a royal license that permits the holder, as long as they are the captain of a ship, to be significantly armed and act in the Empire¡¯s best interests.¡± He said as he passed out the plates. Elena lifted the cover on hers and found a hearty sandwich, which she promptly dug into.

    ¡°They¡¯re supposed to be really really rare. I don¡¯t think the current Emperor has ever given one out.¡± Kharlie actually sounded excited, but Elena watched her enthusiasm dim somewhat when she regarded the food.

    There was a look of pity in Lucas¡¯ eyes and Elena felt a sense of disappointment from him as he answered, ¡°No, I don¡¯t think he has had the pleasure.¡±

    ¡°How do you ¡®act in the Empire¡¯s best interests¡¯?¡± Elena was curious, it seemed awfully vague. She had always heard the Empire was full of bureaucracy, protocols, and rules.

    ¡°Well, the interpretation varies and it doesn¡¯t help that every letter of marque is worded slightly differently. In my case, I can respond to events both domestic and foreign, but not instigate them.¡±

    ¡°So if you come across a group of Adustan raiders you can fight them? But you can¡¯t go into their space and retaliate?¡± Kharlie was getting really excited, and Elena didn¡¯t really understand why.

    Lucas gave an embarrassed shrug before replying, ¡°That¡¯s right, I hold the trust of the monarch and am free to act as I see fit in some situations. Of course, if I do something embarrassing to the crown¡­¡±

    ¡°But you just fly around fighting pirates all the time, why would the Emperor find that embarrassing?¡±

    He shook his head as he finished the last mouthful of his sandwich, which Elena noted wasn¡¯t any bigger than hers. ¡°No, most of the time I¡¯m a trader. Sometimes I hear rumors of pirate activity that I pass on to the proper authorities, and only very rarely do I have occasion to meet them in space. Shipboard fights are extremely risky affairs.¡±

    He was playing it very modestly, but from what Elena had seen she was sure he did more of the fighting and just traded on the side. However, she was his apprentice and even though she didn¡¯t sense anything dangerous from Kharlie, she decided keep quiet.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve been formally introduced,¡± Lucas said as he extended his hand, ¡°I¡¯m Lucas Nite, captain of the unaffiliated freighter Night Errand.¡±

    Kharlie then graciously proffered her hand to him, ¡°Kharlin Angel,¡± she said as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

    ¡°So Kharlin, tell me, how did they capture the Makres Labama?¡±

    Her excited and bubbly attitude fled. Elena was fascinated by the chaotic and quick-changing nature of her emotions and she began to send her encouragement and reassurance.

    Kharlie visibly relaxed and began to recount her tale.

    The MAS Makres Labama had been on the outward leg of her regular loop, she normally went on a months long run with a dozen stops along the way. Unlike light freighters that were always scrambling to snatch what amounted to crumbs, medium and heavy freighters could load up with a broad selection of crucial commodities like medicines, heavy machinery, or finished electronics and make their way out into the lesser developed counties. Then they would trade their cargoes for rare ores or minerals, especially erbium and rhenium, for transport back to more built up areas.

    Almost a week out of Tau Bo?tis, the captain of the Labama had stopped to investigate a distress beacon, as the law required, and found a pirate frigate waiting for them. He attempted to run, but they were run down in short order.

    The frigate dropped off a few dozen pirates and left, leaving the crew of the Labama to anxiously await whatever came next. Normally pirates would move captured ships to their bases as quickly as possible, both to avoid possible recapture and to expedite the profit cycle; it wasn¡¯t the capture of a ship that made them money after all.

    After a few days ¨C during which two of the freighter crew had suffered nervous breakdowns ¨C they had been surprised to see their own SOS beacon on the scanners. Well, Kharlie had been confused to see it. One of the pirates had taken a liking to her and convinced the one in charge to keep her on the bridge because she was pretty and hopefully disarming.

    And then Lucas and Elena had come along and smashed the pirates trap before stealing their score right out from under them.

    Lucas had moved to the pilot¡¯s seat during Kharlie¡¯s story and sat with his chin resting in one hand as he listened intently.

    ¡°So, uh, that¡¯s what happened. After you moved to dock, h-he dragged me to¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard enough now,¡± he said as he leaned back and brought his hand down to his lap. ¡°Just know that I removed that¡­¡± he paused for a moment to choose the right word, ¡°vermin from the gene pool personally. He won¡¯t bother anyone ever again.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°But, we have ourselves a problem here ladies.¡± And Elena felt his mind go blank, just like it had before he had single-handedly slaughtered an entire ship full of armed pirates.

    She turned to see that both pistols had magically appeared in his hands. And they were pointed at her and Kharlie.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but I intend to get to the bottom of it.¡±

    ***

    Something had been niggling in the back of Lucas¡¯ mind ever since Kharlin had introduced herself. Picking up Elena had been out of character for him; she had somehow just pushed all the right buttons. Since coming on his ship he had noticed that she had consistently been able to read him as if she had known him for years, even to the point of picking out his favorite rifle. That was something he could put down to her being gifted with an excess of women¡¯s intuition, if not for the extraordinarily slim chances of running across the trap with the Labama.

    No freighter captain in his right mind would choose to head towards a burgrave in turmoil like New Pittsburgh; and that turmoil had showed no signs of ending, which is why the Order had sent Lucas to deal with it. The odds of the Night Errand running across their beacon when they had been flying a different route were hideously low.

    Lucas would have chosen to engage the pirates singlehanded ¨C he preferred to be frank about his own capabilities ¨C but there would have been some risk. Taking Elena along had complicated things, and she would have had the perfect moment to stab him in the back, literally using the knife he gave her, while he was dealing with the pirates that had bottled them up in Engineering.

    While the Order was well-known in certain circles, the full extent of its reach and ability was an extremely closely held secret. There were only a handful operators of his caliber in the Order, losing even a single one could derail their plans for decades.

    Even though he believed the Order had no real enemies, and had never been given any briefings with even a whisper of that sort of threat, he could never be too careful in his line of work.

    And that was why he had wondered how Elena had learned Kharlin¡¯s name, and the inconsistency between the two young ladies answers had triggered his paranoia. Kharlin was also a bad actress ¨C her emotions swung too quickly ¨C especially the way she had immediately calmed herself before beginning her story.

    Both Elena and Kharlin had had the good sense to remain very still when he had produced his pistols, and he intended to make the most of their current docility.

    ¡°Both of you sit down on the deck. Legs crossed, hands resting on your heads.¡±

    He relaxed the pistols once they did, but they stayed in his hands, ready to spring up at a moment¡¯s notice. The hurt in Elena¡¯s eyes almost made him look away for a moment, almost.

    ¡°Now, Kharlin, let¡¯s start with your real name.¡±

    Her bright blue eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, but she shook her head defiantly. ¡°I told you, my name is Kharlin Angel! I¡¯m the communications officer for the Makres Labama,¡± she insisted.

    ¡°Then why did Elena tell me your name is Kharlie? And how are the two of you so comfortable together?¡±

    That surprised her, he watched her eyes widen slightly in reaction to his words. But she decided to double down on the lie.

    ¡°Well it isn¡¯t true, I¡¯m Kharlin, not Kharlie, and I¡¯ve never seen Elena before in my life.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see what the ship¡¯s registry has to say, shall we?¡± he said, before swapping one of the pistols for his wand.

    He navigated his way through various menus until he came to the registry; which was password protected, behind a firewall, and thoroughly encrypted. The Coins hadn¡¯t bothered trying to crack it; there was no benefit in it for them.

    ¡°You can¡¯t read the registry without either the captain or the executive officer¡¯s key. There¡¯s no way your¡­¡± Her voice trailed off as the wand unlocked and stripped away all the encryption in less than twenty seconds.

    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Kharlin asked in an incredulous voice. Lucas ignored her as he was busy rifling through the ship¡¯s files. After a few moments, he found what he was looking for.

    ¡°Kharlin Angel, joined the crew of the Makres Labama eight weeks ago, captain¡¯s log states that you were working as communications officer to pay your way out to ¡®anywhere outside of Centauri county.¡± He stopped and gave her an intimidating look before continuing. ¡°She specifically states that you looked like you were running from trouble, and that if the normal communications officer hadn¡¯t been arrested on a smuggling charge, they never would have taken you.¡±

    Kharlin was the most likely to break, Elena was too mentally tough for the same pressure to work on her, so Lucas was focusing his efforts on her for the moment.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s not too suspicious by itself, people run away from their problems all the time. But, something about this entire situation makes the back of my neck itch. A hijacking like this, that¡¯s out of character for the Claret Coins. Then a girl traveling under an assumed name and another who coincidentally happens to know her real name.¡±

    He paused to threateningly tap a pistol against his knee before continuing. ¡°Now, Kharlin Kharlie, whatever your name really is. You are going to give me answers.¡±

    That was too much for the recently traumatized Kharlin and she promptly burst into panicked tears. Lucas didn¡¯t feel especially good applying mental pressure to someone who had recently been traumatized ¨C if had even been real ¨C but he didn¡¯t feel especially bad either. If there actually was some sort of plot aimed at him or the Order, he would do whatever it took to derail it.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Elena stood up and placed a hand protectively on Kharlin¡¯s shoulder. That was a slight wrinkle, Lucas hadn¡¯t counted on Elena stepping forward to deflect his pressure, but he had forgotten to take the information about her sister into account.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything, and then, you will apologize to both of us.¡± She stated it so firmly that Lucas felt a flicker of doubt at his reading of the situation.

    She let out a deep breath and sat back down.

    ¡°I told you I grew up in the Wastes. What I left out is that I¡¯m not exactly human. There was a Chet¡¯ir scientist, Inq¡¯ul. He had a bunch of us in a compound and was running experiments on us, on humans. He created Augurs some time ago, and he also created¡­ me.¡±

    ¡°And what exactly are you?¡± Lucas wasn¡¯t pleased to be drawn into her conversational rhythm, but she had assumed the lead in this dance. For now.

    ¡°He¡­ he named me a Succubus.¡± Her voice was hesitant, as if giving up a great secret.

    ¡°And? What is a Succubus supposed to be?¡± Kharlin had been keeping quiet, but now she chimed in.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m an empath combined with a shapeshifter. The perfect seductress he said.¡± She replied, with more than a little abashment.

    ¡°Let¡¯s say you actually are. How, exactly, can you change shape or whatever it is empaths do.¡± Lucas said in an effort to regain some control.

    ¡°I don¡¯t consciously control the shapechanging; it¡¯s gradual, takes a few months, and I don¡¯t have any spare mass right now anyways. An empath reads moods, feelings, vibes, that sort of thing. I can¡¯t read minds, but I know how people feel in the moment. And I can sort of project feelings to other people if I¡¯m touching them, which is how I was able to help Kharlie fall asleep earlier.¡±

    That seemed absurd. Lucas wasn¡¯t kept in the loop for all of the Order¡¯s scientific endeavors, but he knew they had been exploring transhumanism for a quite some time with very little success. The idea that some alien scientist ¨C even if the Chet¡¯ir were regarded as the best in the known galaxy ¨C had been able to enhance humans to such a preposterous degree went against the grain.

    ¡°Even if all of that is true, how does it explain anything?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s how I knew Kharlie¡¯s real name,¡± Elena said with an apologetic smile towards the young blonde. ¡°When I was putting clothes on her I just sort of picked it up from her mind.¡±

    ¡°But you just said you couldn¡¯t read minds!¡± Kharlin exclaimed. And Lucas noticed that she didn¡¯t bother protesting about her name.

    ¡°My abilities aren¡¯t clearly defined or well understood; Inq¡¯ul decided that I was a failure, so he sold me as a pleasure slave. I really can¡¯t read thoughts, but picking up something as simple as a person¡¯s name when I¡¯m touching them is easy enough.¡±

    Lucas had heard enough. He was fairly certain she was telling the truth ¨C or at least the truth as she understood it ¨C but she wasn¡¯t actually answering any of his real concerns.

    He decided to take the conversational reigns back and noticed Elena glance at him; it seemed there might be something to her abilities after all. Or she had just noticed that he took a breath to start speaking.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice and all that you can do that, but that wasn¡¯t the sort of answer I¡¯m looking for. I still think you and Kharlin, sorry, Kharlie over there are somehow working together to pull something over on me. That this entire thing is some sort of elaborate setup.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we have Kharlie over there tell her story next and we¡¯ll see how everything lines up.¡± He gave a slight gesture with the pistol once more, nothing overtly threatening, just reminding her who held the power at the moment. It was little touches like that which separated amateurs from professionals.

    Kharlie looked like she was suffering from stage fright. But after nearly a minute of his patient stare, she slowly began.

    ¡°My real name is Kharlie Engels,¡± she said as if that was somehow an explanation in and of itself.

    After waiting for a few moments, she seemed to realize she would need to elaborate.

    ¡°You may have heard of my father, Landgraf Alexander Engels zu Centauri.¡±

    Lucas nodded in confirmation. But Elena had no understanding of Empirial nobility.

    ¡°Landgraf is some sort of royal right?¡± she said.

    Lucas nodded his head and answered for Kharlie, after all he wanted to keep control of the conversation. ¡°H, M, L, B, F, or Hug My Little Best Friend. That¡¯s the mnemonic for the nobility. Herzog, Markgraf, Landgraf, Burggraf, Freiherr. A landgraf or landgr?fin would be a noble of middle rank, controlling a county of a few different stars.¡± He turned his attention back to Kharlie and said, ¡°And why is the daughter of a powerful landgraf running away from home? Did you fail to inherit? It looks like you¡¯re about the right age.¡±

    Kharlie snorted before answering. ¡°Please, I could pass the qualification tests drunk.¡± She paused for a moment to idly twirl a strand of her blond hair around a finger. ¡°My heart just wasn¡¯t in it. I was tired of pretending to be some upstanding example, of trying to live up to the ideal that my father expected.

    ¡°Engels is one of the oldest noble lines, you know. We may not be the most powerful, but our family has ruled Centauri since the founding of the Empire. Our family creed is Grundgestein, bedrock, and my father is oh so proud of it,¡± she smiled bitterly, ¡°but it just wasn¡¯t the life for me.¡± She had a faraway look in her eyes, imagining¡­something.

    ¡°So you ran away.¡± Lucas prompted.

    ¡°I ran away. I wanted to find a life of adventure out among the stars, instead I found¡­¡± She stopped as her hand clenched and tears welled up in her blue eyes.

    Elena immediately placed a comforting hand on her arm and began gently stroking it. Lucas noted how she seemed to be able to vary her approach; the way she could apparently feel people gave her a huge advantage when it came to social interactions and conversations.

    And he wasn¡¯t immune to the Kharlie¡¯s story either, because it was a familiar one. Although it was almost unheard of for royal heirs to fail to meet the requirements for inheritance, it was much more common among the nobility. There were plenty of noble children throughout the Empire¡¯s history who had chosen to lead lives out of the public eye or distanced from their families entirely.

    He must be growing softer as he grew older, or maybe operating alone for these past years had changed him somehow, because he was feeling sympathy towards both of the young women. Taking an effort to drive those feelings from his mind, he turned his mind back towards a potential threat to the Order.

    Elena wasn¡¯t bothering to hide her ability in the slightest now, and he saw that she was wearing the same challenging stare from when she had convinced him to take her on as his apprentice. She had obviously felt his mood shift and knew that he had come to a decision.

    ¡°Okay, to sum up, Elena is some sort of alien-enhanced transhuman and Kharlie is the runaway daughter of one of the most successful noble families. And there¡¯s just the three of us sitting in a ship full of dead pirates. I¡¯m not entirely convinced by either of your stories, so I¡¯ll turn you over to some friends of mine when we reach Tau Bo?tis and they¡¯ll figure everything out.¡±

    He paused as he saw the looks of consternation on both girls¡¯ faces. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they aren¡¯t going to torture you or anything like that, they just have access to a lot more intelligence than I do. And they¡¯ll be waiting for us when we drop down from hyperspace.¡±

    ¡°How exactly are they going to be waiting for us?¡± Damn, Kharlie¡¯s natural ebullience combined with Elena¡¯s ministrations were making her emotions jump all over the place, were making it frustrating to predict how she would respond.

    ¡°When I sent the Night Errand on ahead, she sent a very specific emergency signal to my associates there. They¡¯ll have received it and be waiting for us with a Navy ship or two by the time we make it.¡±

    ¡°Wait wait wait, that freighter has a deep-link? What kind of freighter can afford to buy one of those, let alone keep it running?¡±

    Lucas gave her a wry smile. ¡°Letter of marque remember? My ship is more than meets the eye; oftentimes I find myself needing to send information either off the networks or with as little delay as possible.¡±

    ¡°These friends of yours, are they part of that Order you mentioned?¡± Elena asked, and he could see from the glitter in her eyes that she knew he had been trying to skate around that particular topic.

    He saw Kharlie perk up at that, probably brimming with curiosity, so he decided to share a little bit. He had found that giving out a little bit of information was usually better than trying to hide everything.

    ¡°Kharlie, you¡¯ve probably heard of the Order of Knights?¡±

    ¡°Sure, those weird patriots with their not-so-secret club dedicated to somehow doing what they think is best for the Empire, right?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, I¡¯m one of them. And we really are patriots. Some of the more dedicated contribute money or materials to help the few operatives like me; others might do something as simple as invest in risky new technology or not dump stocks of a good company that stumbled into trouble.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me the Order of Knights ¨C the group of conspiracy-spouting weirdo¡¯s that everyone makes fun of ¨C is actually organized and well-funded enough to bankroll more than one operative with a deep-linked ship that can take on dozens of pirates at once?¡±

    ¡°I am. The Order¡¯s founders realized at the start that they couldn¡¯t attempt to hide what they were doing, but they were able to build a mutually beneficial relationship with Empirial Intelligence. We let the crazies claiming to belong and spouting off about secret handshakes or cloak and dagger deals talk all they want as it provides us with a useful cover. Legitimate members of the Order are known to those who need to know, and everyone else just dismisses us from their thoughts.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t the whole truth, not by a long shot, but it contained enough of it to satisfy curiosity, and that was his intention anyways. Even if Kharlie tried to go to her father or the newsies with some secret revelation about the Order, either no one would believe her, or the Order would use its influence to change the narrative.

    ¡°Now, seeing as I don¡¯t exactly trust either of you, Elena if you would be so kind as to return that knife?¡± He gave her a gracious nod when she gently tossed it as his feet. ¡°Thank you, now, I¡¯m going to lockout all the bridge functions except the internal coms, just to be on the safe side.¡± And then he made an obvious show of producing his wand and tapping it to each bridge station before changing a few parameters. As he¡¯d expected, Kharlie was distracted from thinking about the order by the frankly astounding hacking power of his wand, but he could see by the look in Elena¡¯s eyes that she knew what he was doing.

    If he was going to keep Elena around as an apprentice ¨C a very large unknown at the moment ¨C then he would have to rethink almost everything he knew about teaching, leading, and even conversation. On one hand, she could be an enormous asset to the Order, or just to his operations personally, but on the other hand she, and the existence of people like her, would require a great deal of thought on the level of risk letting her into their ranks entailed.

    ***

    The days went by and Lucas began missing his ship. The Makres Labama was a fine ship, for a medium freighter. She was comfortable, fairly flexible, and quite low-maintenance; all great qualities for a well-heeled merchant. But she definitely lacked in speed, had ridiculously underpowered shields, and only a pair of point defense cannons, one mounted dorsally and the other ventral.

    He, Elena, and Kharlie still ate meals together, usually on the bridge, because despite dumping a few buckets of cleaning chemicals on the bodies scattered around the ship, it was starting to stink. However no one wanted to put forth the effort to attempt to clean or document then clean the bodies on a ship that they were almost all certainly leaving in the next day.

    Lucas passed the time sitting on the bridge and idly building out a medium freighter to the same sorts of specifications as the Night Errand. If he purchased one of the smaller ones, he could outfit it to be nearly as fast as his ship, with the addition of slightly stronger shields, a reinforced hull, and maybe even a few actual weapons.

    The wall he kept running into was crewing it. A larger ship meant larger engines, powerplants, environmental systems and so on, which would mean he would need at least one crew member dedicated to maintenance. In the end it wasn¡¯t a good proposition for him at the moment.

    Everyone was on the bridge when ship dropped down from h-space. Lucas had input the same destination into both the Errand¡¯s and Labama¡¯s navcomps and was unsurprised to see his ship waiting a short distance away. What he was surprised to see was a pair of cruisers sporting a large bone-white death¡¯s head on their prows and motifs of feathers running down the flanks waiting right alongside her.

    ¡°Are those¡­?¡± Kharlie asked from her position at the communication station.

    ¡°Yeah. Those are definitely the Winged Hussars.¡± Lucas said as the communication console lit up with an incoming message.

 Chapter 5

    The bad news was that the Bhadra had only two and a half weeks of air left until the situation became critical. The worse news was that a stray hit had holed a reactor fuel tank and they only had enough to keep the generator running for eleven or twelve days. After that, the ship would be without power, heat, life-support. The good news was that a rescue ship might be able to reach them in ten or eleven days, assuming they left pretty much the moment they received the deep-link SOS.

    Oh, and there had been no further contact from the pirates.

    Needless to say, moral on the ship was low. Repairs to the hull breaches and areas in vacuum had been halted in order to conserve suit air. That meant that the crew was unable to affect repairs to the weapons, although they were able to restore the battlecruiser¡¯s shields.

    That accomplishment wasn¡¯t as impressive as it sounded. Unlike battleships ¨C slow, heavily armed and armored, and pretty much the strongest single ships in space ¨C battlecruisers traded much of that mass-intensive protection away for pure speed while keeping a battleship¡¯s heavy weapons complement. The design ideal was that a battlecruiser should be able to run away from anything it couldn¡¯t outfight. So while having shields was definitely better than not, in practice they weren¡¯t much stronger than those on a cruiser, and cruisers were generally smaller targets.

    Empirial Guardsman Sink intellectually understood all of that, it had been part of his training, but it didn¡¯t stop him from hating serving in space. The inheritance requirements were much stricter for the royal family than they were for the nobility. In addition to the tests, there was a service requirement, and their bodyguards had to follow them into service. It wouldn¡¯t do to have royal heirs assassinated after all, even in an enlightened monarchy.

    So, he slipped into the medical ward late in the ship¡¯s night. There had been many wounded, and more than a few deaths during the battle, and the ward had been frantic in the aftermath of the action. It was entirely possible that some of the medical staff had taken or used some very specific painkillers and forgotten to properly log it. It also helped that Empirial Guardsmen who were assigned to be the personal bodyguards of the royal family were given a very special backdoor code into most Empirial locks.

    ***

    ¡°Wow,¡± Kharlie breathed, ¡°I¡¯ve never actually seen any Winged Hussars before.¡±

    ¡°They sure are striking, aren¡¯t they?¡± Lucas answered.

    Elena frowned in annoyance. The list of things she needed to learn seemed to grow by the day. And despite studying up further on guns and the different types of ships on the way to Tau Bo?tis, she felt as though she was falling even further behind.

    ¡°Would anyone care to fill me in?¡±

    She felt a flash of embarrassment from Lucas as he turned to her and said, ¡°You know what Emperial Commandos are right?¡± He continued after she nodded in the affirmative. ¡°Well, the Winged Hussars are the Navy¡¯s version of that. Elite ships with elite crews.¡±

    He broke off and turned to Kharlie, who was manning her normal station; she seemed to find some comfort in sitting there. ¡°Kharlie, pass me that message please.¡±

    Ever since he had questioned them at gunpoint, Lucas had made it a point of not turning his back to them, going so far as to lock them in cabins when he was sleeping. But now that they had made it to their destination, it felt as though a weight had lifted from his mind.

    She stood at his elbow and watched the screen come to life and display a man who could have stepped straight out of a recruiting poster.

    ¡°MAS Makres Labama this is the Emperial Cruiser Pitschen, respond on channel V-1 or you will be fired upon.¡±

    The message was short, to the point, and left no room for misinterpretation. There was a tinge of fear that quickly shaded Kharlie¡¯s initial awe.

    Lucas made a gesture at Kharlie and she scrambled to activate the proper video channel, once it was open she gave him a raised thumb in return.

    Lucas spoke quickly and clearly into the video pickup. ¡°This is MAS Makres Labama, operational status Echo Echo November Seven.¡±

    Unlike before, the channel was live and in near real-time. ¡°Roger that Labama, wait one while we verify.¡± The man, who had obviously been expecting a reply along those lines, said.

    ¡°How much pull does your order have to get a pair of Winged Hussars waiting here for you?¡± Kharlie asked Lucas.

    ¡°Not nearly as much as you assume, I was as surprised as you to see them here. I¡¯m guessing they were just transiting through Tau Bo?tis and jumped at the chance to relieve some boredom.¡±

    The man on the screen looked away for a moment before his gaze returned and he asked ¡°Makres Labama we confirm your status as Echo Echo November Seven, can you provide a verification code?¡±

    ¡°Roger that Pitschen, verification code is 8-7-5-3-9-3-1-9.¡±

    Elena was curious about that number; it was the same code that had unlocked the armory and she guessed that it held a special significance.

    The serious look on the other side of the screen faded somewhat and the man said, ¡°Welcome to Tau Bo?tis Operative Nite, we have someone here who has been waiting for you.¡± The man somehow knew Lucas¡¯ name without him providing it first, it must have been attached to his special code.

    He shifted out of view and was replaced by a woman with straight pale-blue hair and a severe expression on her face. There was a curious upwelling of emotion from Lucas at the sight of the woman; they clearly had history together.

    ¡°Lucas,¡± she said curtly as she bobbed her head in greeting.

    ¡°Amber, it¡¯s been a while. How are things?¡±

    ¡°Satisfying. What is your situation? The emergency code and datalogs from your ship were unclear.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you in a moment, but could you please inform those helpful Navy gentlemen that we might have a few pirates in the external pods? Some Marine assistance would be appreciated.¡±

    ¡°Affirmative.¡± And then she cocked her head quizzically at Elena, who was standing in the edge of the pickup field. ¡°Who¡¯s she?¡±

    Strangely there was a flush of embarrassment from him before he answered. She knew that he wasn¡¯t comfortable with her ability to read deeper into a conversation, but she didn¡¯t exactly know how to turn it off. ¡°This is Elena, I took her on at New Pittsburgh as my apprentice.¡±

    A pair of shuttles launched from each cruiser as Amber replied, apparently the ship commanders were listening in. ¡°Oh. Your¡­ apprentice. I see.¡± Even though Elena wasn¡¯t close enough to read her emotions, she could see the hurt in the other woman¡¯s eyes and found herself even more curious about their relationship with each other.

    He roughly cleared his throat before replying; apparently even he knew that he had hurt her feelings. ¡°It¡¯s not like that Amber. There are¡­ extenuating circumstances we shouldn¡¯t talk about over an open channel.

    ¡°The interior of this ship is clear. And once those Marines finish checking those pods, we¡¯ll dock with the Errand and crossdeck there. Would the captain of the Pitschen be willing to drop you off there and possibly put a prize crew on this freighter? She was in pirate hands when I took her, so she should be turned over to the Navy before she can make her way back to her rightful owners.¡±

    Amber glanced off-screen, presumably towards the handsome man who had spoken first, before replying, ¡°Yes, we¡¯ll do that. See you there.¡± And then the screen went blank as the signal was cut.

    Lucas let out a sigh before running his hands through his hair.

    ¡°Was that your ex-girlfriend? She seemed¡­ professional.¡± Kharlie said.

    ¡°No, Amber and I never had that kind of relationship.¡±

    Elena smirked at what he left unsaid. ¡°But that means you had some sort of relationship,¡± she teased.

    He gave her a half-hearted glare. ¡°Since you two are enjoying teaming up on me, I only feel it¡¯s fair to tell you that I¡¯m going to be turning you both over to Amber.¡±

    It could be worse, it seemed that Amber was an easy read at least.

    ¡°And I¡¯ll be sure to tell her all about your extra abilities.¡± Well, that would definitely put a damper on things.

    ***

    Lucas felt the barest shudder through his boots as the cruiser Pitschen docked with the comparatively tiny and light Night Errand. Lucas had to hand it to the Winged Hussars, they really only accepted the best.

    A few moments later, the hatch chimed and Lucas opened it to see Amber waiting patiently, and alone, on the other side.

    ¡°Lucas,¡± she said as her eyes swept the cargo bay. ¡°I see you had another firefight in here.¡±

    He felt his lips quirk into a reflexive smile as he shrugged his shoulders. ¡°You know I always prefer to have the home field advantage.¡± He couldn¡¯t help teasing her, she was always too serious.

    ¡°Hopefully one of these days you¡¯ll actually bother upgrading your home field.¡± She said with a dismissive little sniff, telling him exactly what she thought of his ship.

    Knights of the Order, like himself, were given almost complete latitude to pursue their missions. For instance, one of the other operatives disguised himself as a rich playboy and sailed around in a luxurious yacht, he was actually slightly famous. And there was also the husband-wife duo of advancing years who pretended to be a retired couple seeing the sights.

    ¡°You know that this is what works best for me.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re the only Knight who works alone. I¡­We worry about you.¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m working alone anymore.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, drawing out the single syllable. ¡°Elena was it? Do you trust her?¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°No, but I trust you.¡± He turned on his wristcomp and it showed a view of both Elena and Kharlie waiting on the bridge. Kharlie was watching the Hussars¡¯ cruisers as they maneuvered and Elena was studying a guide on the Empiral Navy and Marine Core.

    Amber paused and studied the screen. ¡°Tell me about her. You wouldn¡¯t just pick anyone as an apprentice.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not much to tell. I found her on the streets of New Pittsburgh, half-starved, and she followed me as I exfilled. She grew up in some sort of weird Chet¡¯ir genetics lab in the Wastes ¨C we need to put that on the ¡®to investigate¡¯ list by the way ¨C and she¡¯s a Succubus.¡±

    Lucas enjoyed a small moment of triumph as his revelations managed to break the detached fa?ade Amber usually wore. She blinked a few times and her mouth formed a small ¡®o¡¯ before replying.

    ¡°Lucas, what exactly do you mean by Succubus?¡±

    ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re familiar with the term. You aren¡¯t worried about the whole ¡®raised in a Chet¡¯ir genetics lab¡¯ part either then?¡± he said jokingly.

    ¡°Lucas Nite, tell me exactly what you meant when you said Succubus!¡±

    He smiled as he held his hands up placatingly, teasing Amber was fun but he knew better than to push too far. ¡°The Chet¡¯ir scientist that tinkered with her genes somehow gave her both the ability to shapeshift and some sort of empathic ESP. He¡¯s the one that decided to call her a Succubus. Oh and she claims that he¡¯s the one who also created Auguries.¡±

    She put a hand on his forearm. ¡°Lucas, you cannot be serious about taking her on. If even half of that is true, she belongs under observation in either an intelligence or science facility.¡±

    He looked down at her hand. Her touch brought back many memories, but he forced them down and into a buried corner of his psyche. Gently, he pulled her hand away. ¡°Amber, I think she could end up working out. She¡¯s tough, already had her eyes opened, and her abilities would complement my skills fairly well. But, I trust you. Give her a chance, interview her, test her, whatever you need; if you decide she won¡¯t work or isn¡¯t up to snuff, then I won¡¯t work with her.¡±

    Lucas had only ever seen Amber so emotional once before. Most people thought that she was dead inside, but he knew better. She just preferred to pretend that she didn¡¯t have any feelings. Someone or something had hurt her so badly that she found it easier to go through life pretending to be an automaton. It was unclear what had happened, but he had entertained several idle fantasies about precisely how violent he would be if he ever found himself in a position to even the scales.

    ¡°Okay.¡± And he watched as she visibly gathered and closed herself inside her shell once more. ¡°Oh, and Lucas?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a second young woman on your bridge.¡±

    ¡°Who, Kharlie? I guess there is¡­¡±

    And then he proceeded to fill her in as they walked to the bridge, Kharlie¡¯s noble family, the fight with the Claret Coins on the Makres Labama, and his mission on New Pittsburgh. He had long since typed up a formal after action report and he sent it to her from his wristcomp as they walked.

    ¡°Also, there¡¯s one more thing about Kharlie, a recent development,¡± Lucas said as he examined his wristcomp. ¡°It looks like she¡¯s trying to hack into my files from a bridge station.¡± He watched with a wry smile as she tried to penetrate what was probably one of the stronger information repositories in human space, it would be a very bad thing for a Knight¡¯s files to be breached while they were out on the field after all. It could compromise the entire Order if that happened, so the Order had accordingly put a very substantial effort into ensuring that it didn¡¯t, and Lucas himself made sure to scrub sensitive files from the system at regular intervals.

    ¡°Has she gotten very far?¡± Amber asked, sounding as curious as one would be about choosing something off of a lunch menu.

    ¡°She¡¯s made it past the first honeypot, but it looks like the second one has her stuck pretty good.¡±

    All defenses could be breached, given enough time and effort. So the hacking gurus the Order employed had gone for a multi-tiered system. Lucas didn¡¯t understand all the technical jargon they often spouted, but he got the gist of it.

    There was a stout firewall, but nothing that would draw too much attention, protecting the whole system, and behind it was the first honeypot. It was filled with tons of information, all of it fairly useless and innocuous. Things like how much fuel or food was onboard, time since last thruster realignment, and other various junk data. Most decent hackers would realize it was a honeypot fairly quickly and look for a way out.

    After the first honeypot, there was a much more sophisticated firewall and the second honeypot, which contained slightly more useful information. The gurus had purposefully designed the second honeypot to hold information that could be interesting, or indicate that there was useful information nearby, in order to deliberately draw attention to it. After defeating the first honeypot, most people wouldn¡¯t guess that the same trick was repeated twice.

    And the entire honeypot was seeded with a highly sophisticated suite of search and destroy programs that Lucas could prioritize with a variety of responses or even issue instructions to. The final firewall, guarding the exit from the second honeypot, was nearly undetectable ¨C or so he was told ¨C and that in turn guarded a literal airgap between the most private, secretive server and the rest of the ship¡¯s information systems. Unless the ship was literally taken apart component by component, it would be almost impossible to find the airgap in the physical world and it was designed to need a special handshake from the invisible firewall for access, both ingoing and out, anyways.

    In short, not only was Kharlie wasting her time, but Lucas was watching nearly every move she made. The only thing that was unexpected was that she was searching for personal information on him instead of the Order.

    ¡°Getting to the second honeypot shows that she might have some talent or good gear, but there¡¯s nothing special about her if she can¡¯t go any further. You recommended that we keep her and train her in house, so maybe she could specialize in data systems.¡±

    But, as Amber was talking, it seemed Kharlie had had some inspiration. It seemed that she realized it was a trap and was hunting for a way out. Lucas still wasn¡¯t very concerned, he and Amber were literally just outside to the bridge and could stop her at any time.

    Elena had noticed their presence, and she was alternately glancing between Kharlie and the hatch. Lucas would have to go back through the security cam recordings to check just how close he had gotten before she had sensed him.

    A few minutes later Kharlie found a trace of the third firewall, and quickly followed the threads to the final obstacle. Breeching this firewall wouldn¡¯t be enough, she would have to actually compromise it and turn it to her purposes. Only with it intact and cooperating could she get to the data she actually wanted.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Of course the search and destroy programs had been instructed to ignore her, or else she would have been forcefully ejected from the system moments after entering the second sandtrap, but even finding the final firewall was an achievement in its own right.

    ¡°Third firewall,¡± Amber said, ¡°she might be worth investing in after all.¡±

    Lucas didn¡¯t reply and simply opened the hatch and strode onto the bridge. ¡°I¡¯d say that¡¯s enough hacking for today.¡±

    Kharlie leapt back from what he idly noted was the communications terminal, and raised her hands in surrender.

    ¡°Relax, I was expecting you to try something like this. That¡¯s why I left you two alone on the bridge.¡±

    Then he turned and gestured to Amber. ¡°This is Amber, she¡¯s more or less the regional manager for the Order here, and she¡¯s going to be interviewing the two of you personally. Elena, I know you want to be my apprentice and while I¡¯m okay with that, Amber holds the final approval. And Kharlie, I¡¯m not sure where you¡¯re going to fit into our organization, but I¡¯m sure Amber will be able to find something that fits.¡±

    Elena simply nodded and began to study Amber, probably using her empathic abilities to get a reading. But Kharlie, who had dropped her hands, raised them again, this time angrily, and said, ¡°Hold on, who said I want to join up with your Order?¡±

    ¡°You did, when you decided to try your hand at hacking into my ship. It was a decent effort to be sure, but you weren¡¯t ever really going to get anywhere.¡±

    ¡°What, do you think you and your Order can just shanghai me?¡±

    Lucas gave her the serious look. The one he used to show he wasn¡¯t fucking around. ¡°It¡¯s either that, or you disappear.¡± Kharlie visibly paled at that, which made her bright blue eyes contrast even more starkly with her skin.

    He really was serious. The Order was as old as the Empire itself, created in secret by Empress Charlotte on the very day she declared the end to the Consolidation War. In the long years since, there had been more than a few members of the Order or those investigating it who had tried to expose or undermine it. And every single one of those people had been¡­ dealt with, in one way or another.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need to be hasty. I will conduct the interview process and then give you the sales pitch. You might be surprised by the benefits the Order offers its employees. And Lucas seems to be in the process of putting together a team, so you may already have your foot in the door there.¡± Amber¡¯s flat and lackluster description of the Order¡¯s benefits package aside, her good cop to his bad cop seemed to be working on Kharlie just as it had on others for thousands of years.

    Lucas moved to the helm, the central station on the Errand¡¯s bridge, and after a quick signoff with the Pitschen, began maneuvering for Tau Bo?tis Ac, or Fribourg as it was known. Tau Bo?tis was technically a binary star system, but Tau Bo?tis B was a dim red dwarf over thirty-three light-hours away from the main sequence Tau Bo?tis A.

    The first planet orbiting Tau Bo?tis, Ab, or Perturbo as the locals had named it, was a large gas giant orbiting A at a scorching twenty-four light-seconds. Even if Perturbo had any moons, they would be unsuitable for human colonization. For comparison, Mercury, the innermost planet of the Sol system, orbited at an average of one hundred and ninety-three light seconds, and Tau Bo?tis A was both larger and hotter than Sol.

    Despite its close proximity to Earth, Fribourg wasn¡¯t discovered until the second wave of human colonization, as it had required pulling together observations from multiple colonies to find the planet orbiting the habitable zone through Pertubo¡¯s interference.

    Even though Fribourg had been a late starter by colonial standards, the planet itself had required minimal terraforming and grown explosively. First as a trade port ¨C Earth itself was only fifty-one light-years away ¨C then later as a center for banking, and even shipbuilding. The colony had arguably came out ahead from being part of the second wave, as faster ships and better terraforming techniques had allowed them to skip over the hard-scrabble generation most of the first colonies went though.

    The Order¡¯s regional headquarters were located on the planet itself, and once Lucas obtained landing permission from the ATC¡¯s, he began to gently deorbit. Amber was sitting in the back of the bridge and talking quietly with Elena and Kharlie. He was sure that she had the two of them well in hand.

    As the Errand dropped into the atmosphere, the blackness of space gradually gave way to a cyan-colored sky. Fribourg was surrounded by orbital installations, satellites, and traffic, so he stuck close to his assigned path. Eventually the city of Landfall appeared on the horizon; it was a tradition amongst almost every colony that the site of touchdown and the first settlement was called some variation of that name.

    Unlike most cities on Earth, Landfall was designed from the ground up to support a modern infrastructure. There skylanes were spacious and well-designed for aircars traveling at multiple heights, and there were levels reserved for pedestrians and parking regularly interspersed. The gleaming modern towers were had plenty of room between them, and the city had a pleasant repeating pattern of smaller industrial, business, and farming zones interspersed with residential towers. There were still roads and rails on the ground for heavy freight, but much of the floor of the city was given over to a lush carpet of parks and nature preserves.

    Outside of the city there were still suburbs for those who wished for more personal space, and the ever present agricultural fields, it wasn¡¯t possible to grow all the food in the vertical farms inside the city after all.

    The original city planners had done an absolutely remarkable job in allocating space for orderly future growth. So well in fact, that the city was just now starting to reach its designed size and capacity, several hundred years after landfall.

    The Order¡¯s headquarters were currently located along the river that cut dramatically through the city center. There was space for three or four smaller ships to land at the facility, but otherwise, not much about it stood out.

    As the ship touched down outside the grey-blue building, a couple robotic tenders emerged from a maintenance garage. They carried over a few different umbilicals to transfer waste, fuel, and water into the ship. Such tenders were commonplace throughout human space and it was easy to ignore them, but Lucas knew that these particular ones been built for a little bit more than just plugging in maintenance hoses.

    ¡°That outfit you are wearing,¡± Lucas heard Amber saying from the back of the bridge, ¡°it¡¯s made from Lucas¡¯ clothes isn¡¯t it?¡± It was subtle, but he heard an accusatory edge to the question.

    That got his attention. He had noticed that the few times they had been together, Amber had almost always used his shirts as sleepwear. His interest in the conversation was definitely piqued.

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re his. My rags didn¡¯t survive half the escape from New Pittsburgh, so Lucas stole some clothes from a house and dressed me in them. They didn¡¯t fit very well, so he let me look through his wardrobe to find something that I liked.¡±

    That was impressive and worrying at the same time. The speed with which Elena found strings to pull on was amazing, but she tried to look for advantage too often.

    ¡°He¡­ let you go through his clothes?¡± She grappled with her word choice for a moment. This was a side of Amber that Lucas had rarely seen, she was usually so confident, so self-possessed and forthright. ¡°Well, they look good on you, but I think we should do some shopping for you.¡±

    ¡°This shapechanging, you said it¡¯s slow right?¡± Kharlie chimed in, it seemed she was more comfortable on the fringes of a conversation. ¡°Do you have any idea about how you¡¯ll look like when it¡¯s finished? We need to know to choose the right clothes.¡±

    No one on the bridge could miss the sly look that Elena shot at him, and he knew that he need to have a serious conversation with her soon. He realized that he had damaged her trust when he decided to ¡®question¡¯ her and Kharlie, but if they were going to be working together, then he couldn¡¯t be worrying that she was seeking the upper hand or some sort of ulterior motive with every interaction.

    ¡°I do have some idea of the height and weight, but the little details like hair and face are pretty up in the air right now.¡± She said as she tucked a strand of her wavy hair over an ear while giving Amber a shy look.

    Now that he thought about it, she had started to fill out quite quickly. Gone was the malnourished and half-starved girl he had found in the streets. Granted, a lot of that could be put down to clean clothes and hot showers, but it looked like she was already a few centimeters taller and she had definitely put on a kilo or three. He could probably access the security cam and use the footage to get an original height estimate.

    ¡°If we all go shopping together, I¡¯m betting we can do some serious damage. There¡¯s just one small problem.¡± Kharlie said as she turned to face him directly. ¡°We don¡¯t have any money!¡±

    Lucas had assumed that the Order would be picking up the small tab for temporarily housing the two young women. He would obviously pay for Elena if she became his apprentice; in fact he had been making plans to do a little shopping of his own in order to get a head start on outfitting her. But, he had to admit that he had forgotten to think about things beyond what he deemed the bare necessities.

    Amber¡¯s eyes flicked towards him, and he swore was malice in them for an instant.

    ¡°Lucas, while the Order will provide food and housing for these two during the testing period, we cannot be responsible for clothing them as well,¡± she said.

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me you want access to my account right?¡±

    ¡°Affirmative.¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± Kharlie said with a puppy-dog look on her face. His eyes were drawn to her bobbed hair swaying slightly as she pleaded with him. He knew exactly what she was doing, and yet he still wanted to give in. This sudden weakness to attractive women was concerning; he was far from inexperienced and he hadn¡¯t reacted this way in over a decade.

    He let out a heavy sigh and said, ¡°And how much do you think you¡¯re going to need?¡±

    ¡°How much are you offering?¡± Kharlie said at the same time that Amber said, ¡°Fifty-thousand lyra at a minimum.¡±

    ¡°Fifty¡­ Thousand? I could buy a set of combat armor for that much. I was thinking something more along the lines of one thousand.¡±

    ¡°Unacceptable. Sixty thousand.¡±

    ¡°Amber, are you sure you know how negotiation works? I¡¯m willing to go as high as three thousand.¡±

    ¡°Seventy thousand,¡± she immediately replied.

    ¡°Fine, you¡¯re right. Three thousand probably isn¡¯t enough, but five sounds fair.¡±

    ¡°Seventy-five thousand or I tell them the story involving that Companion in Baccarin.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Seventy-five thousand and you don¡¯t say a word or I¡¯ll com your mother.¡±

    ¡°Very well, we have an accord.¡±

    Elena and Kharlie were watching with looks of rapt attention on their faces.

    ¡°Well, are we going or are we just going to sit on the ship all day?¡± Lucas asked, suddenly eager to move.

    He strode from the bridge and after a quick stop at the armory went down to the cargo bay, where he exited via the hatch there. His first lungful of Fribourg air was fresh and invigorating. No matter how well the particulate filters and recyclers aboard a ship were working, the air onboard always seemed to have a mechanical or oily undertone to it. One of his favorite things about travelling for the Order was tasting the air on all the different colonies.

    After a quick perusal of the to-do list on his wristcomp, he made a list of the places he would have to stop at. But, first, he needed Elena¡¯s measurements.

    ¡°Elena, would you mind giving me your measurements. Or, whatever size you think you¡¯ll be once you¡¯ve finished transforming?¡±

    ¡°Uh, sure. I think I¡¯ll be somewhere around 175 centimeters tall, just over 60 kilos, with a fairly large bust, thin waist, and curvy hips.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯re changing into!? Who wouldn¡¯t think you were hot?¡± Kharlie protested.

    ¡°The body helps, but it¡¯s the little details like the nose, eye shape, and chin that really determine someone¡¯s interest.¡±

    Now that he thought about it, he couldn¡¯t deny her words. While the shape she described certainly sounded pleasing, he had more than once seen people with noses or eyes that he found indescribably odd. Focusing, he shook his head and committed the measurements to memory, he would need them to get her a properly fitted set of armor.

    ¡°Oh,¡± he said as he remembered on last thing, ¡°how long will this process take? I know you said it was slow, but is it a few weeks slow or maybe a year-long ordeal?¡±

    ¡°My body will take almost as much as I can feed it. I think that the fastest would be two or three weeks.¡±

    ¡°Understood. Lucas, if you wish for her to be fed extra, the cost will need to be deducted from your account.¡± Amber chose that moment to reinsert herself into the conversation.

    ¡°Fine. Feed her as much as she wants and go ahead and charge my account.¡±

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Elena said as she touched his elbow.

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough of that now,¡± he said gruffly. ¡°Now, you two be on your best behavior with Amber, she¡¯s actually more dangerous than I am. I¡¯ll see you in a few days.¡± And so saying, he lifted the case he had grabbed from the armory and strode off into the city.

    He and Amber had discussed it beforehand; with him gone, they should feel more uncertain about things, and his casual threat of Amber being dangerous should add to that. Putting them under stress like that should help the profilers figure them out that much more easily.

    The case was awkwardly heavy on his shoulder and he was getting more than a few strange looks from the other pedestrians, but he liked to feel the pulse of a city when he visited. Watching if people seemed hurried or stressed, the amount of litter, even if there were teens or children out and about told someone who knew how to pay attention a lot about the state of a city. While he wasn¡¯t a natural at that sort of thing, the Order had trained him to pay attention.

    After nearly an hour of taking gravlifts and the occasional slidewalk, his destination came into view. Well, his destination could be seen from miles away, but he was finally close enough to reach it.

    The Hyperion was one of the regularly-spaced breaks in the city¡¯s repeating makeup; like the gravball stadium or the spaceport. Hyperion was a giant four-sided ¡®H¡¯ towering over five-hundred meters. Taking up four whole city blocks, one for each leg of the H, traffic actually flowed and flew through it. The entire building was one shopping mall, and the associated storage, parking, and other ancillary services.

    The most exclusive stores were located on both the top and bottom floors. Nearly everything one could need to buy could be found within, everything from aircars, furniture, food, clothes, entertainment, even industrial tooling. And while Lucas had spent his fair share of time browsing on the top and bottom floors, today he was after something specific.

    He hauled the case into the warren that made up the subterranean levels. Twenty minutes and one pickpocket attempt later he found himself outside of store whose sign had at one time proclaimed it to be G?del¡¯s, but the ¡®s¡¯ had somehow been lost or stolen, rendering the sign incomplete.

    The lighting was spotty in the subterranean levels and many of the storefronts deliberately chose not to advertise their wares to passersby. It was almost inevitable that there would be some sort of black or grey market, and on Fribourg it was tolerated to a certain degree. They had provided a place for goods of questionable legality to be sold and law enforcement generally left it alone as well. Provided, of course, the criminals didn¡¯t step over certain precisely defined lines.

    As a result, the nobles in charge of the colony had almost invited organized crime into their homes, but in their minds it was preferable to unoganized crime. Organized criminals could be reasoned with, would police themselves, and to a certain extent, be predicted. If there had to be criminal activity at all, this was by far the preferable method.

    That wasn¡¯t to say that every shop in the subterranean levels was run by the Family, as they unoriginally called themselves. There were plenty of poor startups or merchants who had fallen on hard times to be found. And then there were the hidden gems like Lazlo¡¯s store.

    Lucas stepped through the door and was greeted with an ear-deafening shout and a slap on the back that nearly sent him to the ground.

    ¡°Lucas! You should have commed ahead and told me you were coming!¡± The man-sized bear shouted.

    He dropped the crate and steadied himself on his feet before turning to return the backslap. Lazlo was one of those old men who simply refused to age; his body might be covered in what amounted to silver fur, his skin increasingly wrinkly, but he moved with an energy that would flabbergast someone a quarter his age.

    ¡°Lazlo, how you been old man?¡±

    ¡°Ha, I may be old, but I still work twice as hard as you do, and for half the money no less!¡± He said as he leaned back into a deep belly laugh.

    Lazlo was larger than life people and seemed to get along with everyone. Even the Family left him alone, but that also could have something to do with his possession of enough firepower to level most of the subterranean shopping district.

    G?del¡¯s was an arms and armor shop. While most people were satisfied with what was on the shelves, and the rich or mercenary companies with what could be bought at the high end boutiques, those that required the best understood one simple axiom. The best was built, not bought.

    Lazlo was one of only a handful grandmaster armorers scattered throughout the Empire. And as befit all true masters of their trade, he only dealt with those he wanted to deal with.

    Lucas smiled at the old man before he said, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about working twice as hard, I think I¡¯m about to take on an apprentice.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± he roared as he placed his mechanical hands on his cheeks in mock shock, ¡°You, take on an apprentice?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, what can I say? I just found someone that seemed like the right fit and I couldn¡¯t say no when they asked.¡±

    ¡°Well, I take it you¡¯re here for an outfitting then? Do you have measurements? What sort of weapons does he prefer?¡±

    Lucas cut him off there. ¡°She, my apprentice is a she. I have measurements, and I¡¯m going to have to pass on buying her any of your weapons just yet.¡±

    ¡°She, huh? And why the hell aren¡¯t you buying any guns here? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to that smiling bastard Ricciardo!¡±

    He cut him off again; that was the thing with Lazlo, if you let him keep going, he would eventually build up a head of steam. ¡°Relax old timer, I¡¯m just going to give her some standard issue crap to begin with.¡±

    ¡°Lucas, I like you, you know that. But I am this close,¡± he up his thumb and forefinger pressed together, ¡°to kicking you out of my damn shop! Standard issue! The god damned nerve!¡±

    He smiled as Lazlo began working himself into a rage again. ¡°Easy old man, take the time to hear me out before you fly off the handle like that. Elena hasn¡¯t ever handled any guns before. She¡¯s almost a blank slate, and she definitely doesn¡¯t deserve to get her hands on anything you¡¯ve built.

    ¡°Hmph, you should have said that at the beginning. What are you doing picking up someone like that? You might not tell me exactly what it is you do, but I make your gear dammit. I know what you get up to with it, and taking a rookie along is just going to get one or both of you killed.¡±

    ¡°You worry too much old man. Sure things are starting to heat up, but I figure I have a couple years to train her up. Don¡¯t worry, she won¡¯t be using that off the rack crap for long. I¡¯ll have you know I know how to assemble a pretty decent gun myself.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Just don¡¯t go getting a big head because you pick good parts out of a bin. We both know there¡¯s much more to it than that.¡±

    ¡°I know Lazlo, she¡¯ll be shopping in here with me as soon as I think she¡¯s ready.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Well, to business then. What do you need this time?¡±

    Lucas popped the catches on the crate he brought and first pulled out the ruined chest plate.

    ¡°¡­Lucas. What have you done to this?¡±

    ¡°Technically it was someone else who did the doing. But if I recall correctly it got hit by an assortment of kinetic and laser rounds over the course of a couple years. Really saved my life.¡±

    ¡°Lucas, my armor stands up to more than ¡®an assortment of rounds¡¯. What. Did. You. Do?¡± The one edge of the compromised crate crumpled to dust under the impressive strength of those slender and delicate seeming mechanical hands.

    ¡°Well, there was this one small incident involving a mechsuit laser last year. It never looked the same after that.¡±

    Lazlo held up his hand. ¡°Stop, I don¡¯t want to hear anymore. Same measurements as last time? And for the girl?¡±

    Lucas didn¡¯t bother trying to correct him ¨C Elena really was a girl compared to him ¨C so he just gave her the height, weight, and that she was busty.

    ¡°Fine, two chest plates. I take it you need ammo too?¡±

    ¡°Lots. Caseless and cased, rifle and pistol. Oh and I need a new laser diode for my Drang, it¡¯s starting to overheat more quickly. And I need everything within the week if you can.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how hard it is to layup that carbon-kevlar ceramic matrix I use in your damn armor? I have to do it all by hand, one tiny mistake and poof, you might as well be wearing glass. And all that ammo! I make it one round at a time,¡± Lazlo lamented.

    ¡°Come on old man, I know you can do it. I¡¯ll stick around for a while and give you a hand if you want.¡±

    ¡°Hmph, as if you¡¯re even fit to hand me my tools. Go, I¡¯ll call you in a few days.¡±

    Lucas gave him a big smile and said, ¡°You¡¯re the best Lazlo.¡±

    ¡°I know I¡¯m the best, and your bank account will definitely know it soon.¡±

    Lucas waved as he retreated out the door. ¡°Yeah, yeah. You¡¯re worth every penny though old timer.¡±

    Lazlo really was the best. Sure his stuff might cost an order of magnitude over what was available even at the boutiques, but it was just that little bit better. And in his work, it was that last tiny bit that really made the difference. Both his pistols were fit and balanced for his hands, forearm musculature, and his preferred instinctive shooting style. The rifle, Storm, fired precisely 1361 rounds per minute because Lazlo had done some fancy math and determined it to be the optimal fire rate based on the current barrel¡¯s harmonics. The fire rate would be tweaked slightly to match the next barrel, whenever the current one wore out.

    That was arms and armor taken care of. Next he needed to get replacement ammo and another capacitor cum mine for the Night Errand.

    The only things left on his list after taking care of his ship were to get his ears repaired and spend some time exercising. It was dawning on him that his life was really stuck in a rut. Sure, the work he did was important and he believed wholeheartedly in it, but now, all of a sudden that wasn¡¯t enough for him anymore. Now he wanted something more.

 Chapter 6

    Five days after Lucas placed his order with Lazlo he returned and picked it up. He also stopped by The Firing Line in the midlevels of Hyperion in order to pick up a couple different guns for Elena to try out.

    Contrary to popular belief, tiny pocket pistols were usually underpowered, hard to aim, and physically hurt one¡¯s hand when firing, definitely not suited to a novice. And the problem with extremely large pistols wasn¡¯t that they were so powerful as to be uncontrollable, but that their weight made them unwieldy. Even though guns had been in an almost constant state of evolution since their invention, humans unfortunately had not.

    After the advent of gene-repair techniques, humanity had plateaued or peaked depending on which experts you listened to. Humans today were no stronger, faster, or smarter than ones from a few hundred years ago, and not much improved over the gene pool of Earth at the start of the colonization period.

    Because humanity hadn¡¯t really changed, there was a limit on how powerful a firearm could be, that held especially true when it came to handguns. They had to be under a certain weight in order to be capable of one-handed operation ¨C two kilograms was generally the heaviest pistol one could find ¨C and that small amount of weight had to be enough to tamp down on recoil or provide enough mass for heatsinks in the case of a laser.

    Sure you could design a pistol that fired a full power rifle round, caseless or cased, but the recoil would likely make follow up shots a futile effort, if the gun wasn¡¯t sent flying from your hand. And the same applied to a laser, except the diode would probably fuse after the first shot or two due to there simply not being enough mass to make a large enough heat sink.

    With those thoughts in mind, Lucas purchased a very pedestrian medium-sized GundS pistol and a common American Combine AR111 rifle for Elena. GundS had been two separate companies from pre-spaceflight Austria who had eventually banded together after several hundred years of competition, while American Combine was a conglomeration of a bunch of gun manufacturers from historic North America.

    Both guns were rugged, had room for improvements or upgrades, and would do a great job of teaching her the fundamentals. It wasn¡¯t that he only had Lazlo¡¯s guns in his armory ¨C they fired proprietary ammunition after all, so he carried a good amount of normal fair too ¨C but even all of his ¡®normal¡¯ guns had been customized by him for his own use.

    His thoughts were interrupted by the blare of an emergency call coming from his wristcomp. He had barely stepped out of the flow of foot traffic and inserted his earbud when Amber came on the line.

    ¡°Lucas, what is your current location.¡±

    ¡°Just left Hyperion and headed back to the compound. What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    ¡°We received a deep-link SOS from the Bhadra, the ship Prince Gregory is serving on. The Navy is already scrambling, but Empiral Intelligence just commed me and asked me if we had any assets to spare.¡±

    ¡°I can be back at headquarters in a little under half an hour; if you preflight Errand for me I can probably translate in just over an hours¡¯ time.¡±

    ¡°Not soon enough. I am preflighting your ship now. Get to a landing pad, I¡¯ll pick you up there.¡± And then Amber cut the call. She probably had a lot of other things to take care of, and she was the only other person on the planet who was authorized to fly his ship.

    Ten minutes later Lucas made it to the nearest and emptiest rooftop landing pad he could find. Chest heaving, he dropped the two crates that he had picked up from Hyperion, thankful as always for Lazlo¡¯s unceasing work ethic.

    He didn¡¯t even have time to catch his breath before he spotted his ship, clearly breaking several traffic violations, coming in for a hot landing with the rear cargo ramp deployed. Amber flipped the ship end for end and applied the main engines for braking thrust, a highly illegal act in populated airspace, before all but slamming the ship onto the pad on its landing jacks.

    Wincing internally at the possible damage, he muscled both crates up the ramp and into the cargo bay, ignoring the gawkers who had also been waiting at the edges of the pad for their rides.

    Before the ramp was even shut and the cargo bay sealed, he felt the deck of the ship tilting underneath his feet as Amber applied main engine thrust again and shot the plucky little freighter into the sky.

    ¡°Situation update,¡± he called out as he finally stepped onto the bridge and stumbled to a halt as his train of thought was immediately derailed.

    Amber was wearing her usual pencil skirt and blouse combination, although she seemed to have added a touch of subtle makeup, and her silver hair was braided and running down her back. Kharlie was wrapped in a white summer dress with a blue floral pattern that touched off her eyes. And Elena. He only guessed it was her by process of elimination. She still had her wavy chestnut hair and emerald eyes, but he couldn¡¯t even see a shadow of the girl from the Wastes anymore.

    She was a few centimeters taller and definitely curvier, but it was her face and skin that had undergone the most dramatic transformation. Before, he would have said that she had the features of a teenager, and an average one at that. But now, she had a slender nose and finely arched eyebrows, he couldn¡¯t tell if they had been enhanced with makeup. Her eyes remained the same fiery emerald green, and they contrasted wonderfully with her now full red lips. And her skin was now several shades darker, with an exotic red undertone that somehow managed to naturally highlight her chestnut hair.

    He came out of his daze and noticed everyone was staring expectantly at him. ¡°Um, where was that update?¡±

    Amber gave him a cool, dissecting look before replying, ¡°I haven¡¯t given it to you yet.¡±

    ¡°Right. Well. Where are we going? What¡¯s the situation?¡±

    ¡°The battlecruiser Bhadra was attacked responding to an SOS beacon. She took heavy damage but was able to escape. However, due to battle damage they were forced to translate down and go into hiding in an uninhabited system in Radeon March. It will take us a little over six days to get there. What do you think of my new outfit?¡±

    ¡°That sounds like the sort of thing we ran into. Do we have a status on the prince?¡± And then he paused and replayed her statement to make sure he hadn¡¯t imagined her question. ¡°And, your new outfit looks nice, the colors really suit you.¡± Now that he was paying attention, he noticed that the colors were designed to play off of her hair color. That was new; she usually stuck with for a cream-colored blouse and black pencil skirt.

    ¡°No status on the prince. Thank you for purchasing it.¡±

    ¡°Wait, I didn¡¯t give you that money to spend on yourself.¡±

    ¡°You should have thought of that. I was forced to spend valuable personal time escorting these two as they went shopping, so I compensated myself with several new outfits at your expense.¡±

    Lucas almost snorted as he thought about her so-called personal time, it was a concept he knew was foreign to her.

    ¡°And what about my outfit?¡± Kharlie asked excitedly.

    ¡°The blue matches your eyes nicely. But more importantly, why are you on my ship?¡± He said brusquely.

    He understood Amber and Elena being there, but he didn¡¯t understand why Amber had decided to let Kharlie tag along instead of cooling her heels while they responded to this emergency.

    His straightforward question seemed to confuse her for a moment, and he took note of that for future use. Her noble upbringing had probably included lessons on circumlocution, and while she was stepping out of that habit with her own words, she still seemed thrown when it happened to her.

    ¡°Amber said that there was an emergency and I asked to come along and help.¡±

    ¡°Very well. Amber, did you finish your interview?¡±

    ¡°Affirmative. Both Kharlie and Elena would make valuable recruits for the Order. However, there are some security concerns when it comes to Elena, and she would need someone senior to vouch for her.¡±

    ¡°I see. Elena, what do you think, still up for being my apprentice?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I want to know what you think of my outfit first.¡±

    Her outfit¡­ He looked and she was wearing some sort of sky-blue wrap that revealed tantalizing flashes of her belly and thigh. He didn¡¯t know how he could have failed to notice it, and he didn¡¯t miss the fact that all three were wearing blue.

    ¡°Honestly, I didn¡¯t even notice it,¡± Lucas said to her.

    Kharlie looked incensed, but there was a soft smile playing upon Elena¡¯s lips as she grasped the meaning behind his statement.

    Amber turned back to the helm, and a few moments later there was a bright flare of light through the large bridge canopy as the Night Errand translated to h-space.

    ¡°Amber, just how many traffic violations did you rack up? It felt like we just translated too close to the planet.¡±

    ¡°There was no significant danger posed by Fribourg¡¯s gravity well.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t what I asked.¡±

    ¡°There was a message indicating that the pilot of the Night Errand would be detained upon our next visit.¡±

    He just shook his head and, after giving Elena a head nod indicating she should follow, strode to the cargo bay.

    Once there he hefted the heavier of the two crates he had brought aboard earlier and Elena picked up the lighter with no instruction from him. They carried the crates in companionable silence to the armory.

    As he pulled his weapons from the crate, he gave them all a quick function check. He took great care with his gear, but Lazlo always insisted on checking over his creations. The slide on Stinger now felt like butter and the Storm¡¯s action cycled like it was brand new.

    ¡°Elena, would you please put on your shipsuit?¡±

    Once she was suited up, he pulled the brand new yellow and grey chestplate from the crate. Lazlo didn¡¯t make female chest plates with the ridiculous individual breast cups that were in fashion these days, but the generous upswell on the upper chest, as well as the narrower proportions made it easy to identify the wearer as female.

    ¡°This is your chestplate, it looks like it might still be a touch big, but it should fit well enough for now,¡± Lucas said. ¡°This will be your toughest piece of armor, there are trauma plates we can attach to your arms and legs. Lazlo also makes helmets, but you¡¯ll need to go in for a custom fitting.¡± And then he clipped the plate to her shipsuit and began to check the fit.

    The plate was a little too long, and would affect Elena¡¯s ability to bend over until she grew another few centimeters.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± He asked as he clipped on his own plate to check the fit.

    ¡° Why don¡¯t I just wear something like that?¡± She asked as she gestured to the Marine combat armor standing in its rack in the corner.

    ¡°Well, combat armor is more complicated and takes more time to get in and out of. It also has to be custom-fitted and then you need training on the different systems built into it. This will do for now.¡±

    The loose-fitting shipsuit and chest plate muted her attractive figure, and the upper arm and thigh plates he clipped on next only more so. Her head was still exposed, and distracting, but her visual appeal was muted for the moment.

    ¡°Elena. I think it¡¯s time we had a serious talk.¡±

    There was a momentary flash of hesitation on her face at his statement before she said, ¡°And what, exactly, do we need to talk about?¡±

    He shifted uncomfortably for a moment before deciding to take the plunge. ¡°I need to apologize to you. I was¡­ wrong¡­ when I threatened you and Kharlie. There were better ways to go about that, and I chose the fastest and easiest one, even though it damaged the trust between us.¡± He paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I hurt you.¡±

    He knew that she could sense that he had more to say, so he wasn¡¯t surprised when she simply said, ¡°Go on.¡±

    He took her hand, and even through the both sets of shipsuit gloves he felt it tense. ¡°I like you, I think you have what it takes to be my apprentice and eventually, my partner. I don¡¯t want this bump in the road to derail wherever the future leads. So from here on out, no secrets between the two of us.¡±

    There were tears in her eyes, but she refused to shed them. ¡°I forgive you,¡± Elena all but whispered. ¡°But I¡¯m still hurt.¡±

    Lucas felt an odd urge to lean in and kiss her in an attempt to make it better and he quickly stomped it flat. Putting aside the fact that she might be barely half his age, or possibly manipulative, that wasn¡¯t the type of relationship he wanted.

    ¡°I understand that, I¡¯m not young enough to think that apologizing is going to magically make things better. I just needed to clear the air so to speak.¡±

    Again, she knew that he wasn¡¯t finished yet. ¡°Developing a working relationship isn¡¯t going to be easy for us; I¡¯m slow to trust and you¡¯re afraid of trusting at all. I¡¯ve seen the way you subtly steer conversations and it worries me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve put some thought into it, and I understand that these abilities are just a part of you, but they make it hard to believe that you aren¡¯t manipulating me when I see it happening to someone else. I¡¯m not going to do something stupid like ask you to stop or not act on the things you feel, but I think that I have a way to for us to start trusting each other.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°What can you tell me about the compound you were held in?¡±

    She rolled with the non sequitur, probably sensing that he had something specific in mind.

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with where it is, how big it is, and who¡¯s inside of it.¡±

    ¡°It was in a desert, I think it was fairly big, and there were nine others when I left.¡±

    ¡°A desert on what planet, how many guards were there, what were they armed with? Those are the things we need to know.¡±

    She seemed frustrated that she didn¡¯t have the information he required, so he explained. ¡°I know you want to rescue them, but that information is critical to even making the attempt. So this is what we¡¯re going to do. You¡¯re going to sit down with Amber and tell her everything you can remember about the compound and where it was, what color the sun was, how long the flight was to New Pittsburgh, everything.

    ¡°Then she¡¯s going to take that information and find the compound for us. Once it¡¯s located we can start trying to figure out how to break in or assault it. All of this is going to take time, time you and I will spend getting you combat ready.¡±

    She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and said, ¡°I take it your idea of getting me combat ready is going on missions for the Order with you?¡±

    ¡°No, not really. Bringing you along would endanger us both. Training means just that, and maybe some low priority stuff at the end as a test. But the key to all of this is that you will be working towards a goal out of self-interest. At every step of Amber¡¯s investigation, I¡¯ll give you updates, I¡¯ll even let you read the reports yourself if you want.¡±

    ¡°Why would you let me do that?¡±

    ¡°Because we want to find this compound almost as badly as you do. Think about it from our perspective; a Chet¡¯ir scientist is dabbling in transhumanism, and is not only successful, but seems to have added clairvoyant and empathic abilities to someone. We need to know what he knows, for either nefarious or benevolent purposes depending on your point of view.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s in both our interests to train me and rescue the others from the compound.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. It isn¡¯t perfect, but I think if we keep that in mind, then it¡¯s a good place to start building a partnership.¡±

    ¡°I agree.¡± Elena said before turning and asking, ¡°So what¡¯s in this other box?¡±

    ***

    Elena practiced moving in the cargo bay. Lucas had set up a few faux corridors with the crates in the cargo bay, and tasked her with navigating through them in her armored shipsuit. He had also given her a rifle loaded with paint pellets and occasionally ambushed her with his own paint rounds.

    So far she had yet to tag him. And every ambush as she crossed through a ¡®hatch¡¯ or a junction, or just from behind had left her covered in paint splatters and small bruises. But she was getting closer, faster.

    Her return fire was no longer a wild and inaccurate spray, she had learned how to properly navigate around corners and through hatchways, and she was already moving in the shipsuit like it was a second skin.

    She approached the final ¡®room¡¯ in the mockup, certain that Lucas was hiding inside. Carefully, she ¡®sliced the pie¡¯ as Lucas had called it, and seeing no sign of him, assumed he was in one of the room¡¯s two blind corners. She wanted to guess that he was on the right, because he seemed to prefer firing his rifle right-handed, but he was devious enough to have picked the poorer position just to trick her in the name of ¡®teaching her a lesson¡¯.

    Take a deep breath, she threw herself into the room, already facing the left blind corner and firing before she even had identified a target.

    There was a burst of three rounds in reply followed by the immediate sting of the marker rounds impacting her belly, just below the protection of her chest plate.

    Lowering her rifle, she searched the room for Lucas, only to seen him lying on his back in the left corner, right where she had predicted he would be. And judging by the unbroken string of paint marks on the crate above his head, he had once more avoided any of her return fire.

    ¡°Excellent!¡± He called out. ¡°You¡¯re learning this so much quicker than I ever did.¡±

    ¡°For some reason I think they don¡¯t try to teach Marines all of this in one afternoon,¡± Elena replied caustically.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± he replied in an annoyingly chipper tone, ¡°and that¡¯s their loss. In one afternoon you¡¯ve learned to fire your rifle and clear a ship just as well as most Marines leaving boot camp.¡±

    She could feel waves of pride rolling off of him, and it warmed her like a bonfire. She enjoyed the sensation for a few moments before realizing that she actually felt good about her situation, about her apprenticeship. She was going to sit down with Amber later in the evening and tell her everything she knew, which would be the start of the road to freeing Railyn and the others. And shooting at Lucas had been a great way to relieve her stress towards him.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Although¡­ she hadn¡¯t actually hit him. And he shot her dozens upon dozens of times in return. She checked and saw that he was walking back towards the mock setup with a pallet mover, clearly about to start dismantling it.

    Almost on its own, her rifle floated up and let out a quick three-round burst at Lucas. Before the third had hit him, his body was already moving sideways to the nearest piece of cover as his rifle snapped into his hands.

    Lucas¡¯ rifle fired a quick burst at her just before his body disappeared behind a large crate, and incredibly, only half of them hit her.

    ¡°Got you!¡± Elena called out in a sing-song lilt before she burst into laughter and dropped her rifle to hang from its sling at her side. She didn¡¯t even care that she had been hit once more.

    ¡°What the hell was that for?¡± He shouted, still behind his crate.

    ¡°I realized it would make me feel better.¡± She managed between gusts of laughter.

    There was a moment of silence and she could feel his anger, but then he let it go and a sense of chagrinned annoyance replaced it. ¡°It had better have been worth it.¡± He called out in a mock threatening tone.

    She pitched in to help him take put away the crates and took the opportunity to ask him some questions.

    ¡°So how long were you in the Marines?¡±

    ¡°I joined up when I turned twenty and stayed there for the next twenty years.¡±

    She blinked. He was much older than she had initially guessed.

    ¡°How old are you now?¡± She asked as she steered the pallet mover.

    ¡°If you must know, I turned fifty a few months ago.¡±

    Fifty, she mused. His life was already a third over then.

    ¡°And how did you end up with the Order? They don¡¯t seem like the type to have a recruiting center.¡±

    ¡°I tried out for the Commandos,¡± his voice was even, nonchalant, but there was a world of pain behind that statement. ¡°I didn¡¯t make the cut. Amber approached me afterwards while I was recovering in hospital and I jumped at the chance.¡±

    Elena didn¡¯t know how to react. On one hand he was uncomfortable with her abilities, but on the other she felt the need to give him some comfort, even though he had clearly buried the pain.

    She settled for putting a hand on his shoulder and asking, ¡°What, are you telling me that the Empirial Commandos are somehow even better than you?¡± He didn¡¯t seem ready for sending just yet, and she hadn¡¯t exactly been forthcoming with that aspect of her abilities.

    The flare of burning hot rage that roiled off of him caused her to instinctively drop her hand and step away. But he only said, ¡°They¡¯re supposed to be,¡± with a weary voice.

    Then he noticed her movement and sighed. ¡°I guess there¡¯s no point trying to hide it from you. Did you read about the selection process when you were studying up on the Marines last week?¡±

    The only thing the article had said was that the Commandos were the best of the best, equipped with the best gear, and given the best training, nothing about the selection process. It had had the ring of propaganda about it. So she shook her head in a negative.

    ¡°Right, then let me enlighten you. There are prerequisites to taking the selection test of course, but the test itself is quite possibly the most demanding thing humanity has ever devised. No one has passed it. Ever.¡±

    ¡°Ever? Why would they make a test too hard for anyone to pass?¡±

    ¡°Because the test is designed to break you. First physically, then mentally, and finally spiritually. They only consider the best ¡®failures¡¯. The trick is, the test isn¡¯t over once you¡¯ve broken; they wait and see who can pull themselves back together and then they take the best failures that managed to pull themselves back together.¡±

    ¡°Then how did you fail? I don¡¯t think a test could break you that badly.¡± Her statement elicited a heady mix of grim humor and bittersweet yearning with undertones of the rage from a few minutes before.

    ¡°The Marines have grown large enough in the last century that there are always a few dozen qualified applicants, so they all take the test together.¡± He sighed before continuing. ¡°The instructors and the drones are supposed to keep an eye on everyone and everything, so that they can better evaluate those that make it to the final selection. Somewhere during the fourth or fifth day I dropped my guard and one of the other applicants managed to take me out while making it look like an accident.

    ¡°I woke up in the hospital, minus most of one leg,¡± he said as his hand unconsciously rubbed his left thigh.

    She had been meaning to hold back, to wait, she really had. But the depths of pain dredged up by Lucas¡¯ story overwhelmed Elena and without thinking she wrapped her arms around him and began sending him comfort.

    He noticed of course, there was no way he could miss it. He stiffened, and for a few moments she feared he would be upset, but he simply relaxed in her embrace and she felt a tiny kernel of gratitude amidst the storm of emotions pouring off of him.

    After a time, he said, ¡°I was wondering if you could do something like that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t tell you. But to be fair, I didn¡¯t not tell you, I mentioned it when you were questioning Kharlie and I.¡±

    ¡°I know, but it still feels a little dishonest. No more secrets.¡±

    ¡°I understand. No more secrets,¡± she said as she rested her head against his back.

    ***

    Elena leaned her rifle against the table¡¯s edge and readjusted the pistol holster on her hip before sitting down. Lucas firmly believed that one of the best ways to train was to force her to all but live in her shipsuit, constantly carrying her weapons. He claimed that the extra time spent now would help her move more comfortably and naturally later, but it was annoying to say the least.

    He also refused to let her use the safety on either weapon, although they were only loaded with simulation rounds. Every time she asked about it, he would crook an index finger at her and say ¡®this is your safety¡¯. She had managed to accidentally fire the rifle twice now, once when putting it down and once when picking it up. And the pistol was even worse; her finger seemed to naturally find the trigger every time she pulled it from the holster and her leg was liberally coated in paint.

    Amber looked up from her wristcomp and watched with detached interest as the rifle slowly slid sideways and clattered to the deck before loosing a single round. The report from the simulation rounds was notably quieter than live ammunition, but still enough to cause her ears to ring for a few moments.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be interesting to see if your shapeshifting abilities extend to repairing damaged hearing. Lucas needs to have his eardrums repaired at least once a year,¡± she said as Elena picked up the rifle and chose to lean it on her leg instead.

    ¡°Why is he trying to train me so fast?¡±

    ¡°I would guess he thinks he¡¯ll need your assistance once we reach Bhadra.¡±

    She thought on that for a few moments. Although the idea of helping Lucas was attractive, she couldn¡¯t do much beyond blasting every target in sight, which admittedly was an improvement from her previous abilities.

    ¡° Do you really think I¡¯ll be ready?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Lucas¡¯ greatest ability isn¡¯t actually fighting, it¡¯s training. The Marines were very sorry to see him go and I had to fight them quite hard to release him. Everywhere he went the soldiers around him would perform better.¡±

    ¡°How does he do that?¡±

    ¡°A combination of many factors, and those in charge of the marines know to watch for soldiers with his abilities. He used to be so social and approachable, those he gave advice to never thought he was talking down to them. And the way that he constantly worked on improving his own skills inspired others to follow his example. But then there was the accident.¡±

    ¡°Lucas doesn¡¯t think it was an accident,¡± Elena said.

    Amber smiled sadly. ¡°There really was no way to tell. But what¡¯s important is what he believes. And Lucas believes Long pushed him onto that mine. The drone footage was inconclusive of course, it could have been either malice or an accident, and Lucas chose to believe it was the former.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t that say a lot about his view of people in general?¡±

    ¡°It does. After the accident he withdrew, he was still brilliant and learned everything we had to teach him, but he was¡­ colder and no matter what I did, I couldn¡¯t draw him back out.¡±

    She straightened and briefly shook her head. ¡°But we aren¡¯t here to gossip about Lucas. What can you tell me about the compound where you grew up?¡±

    ¡°What should I start with?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with the Chet¡¯ir. You mentioned one named Inq¡¯ul, where there any others with him?¡±

    ¡°No, he was the only one of his kind.¡±

    ¡°He had to have assistants of some kind right? Were they human? You were there for years, did any of them ever come or go?¡±

    She paused and thought about it for a few seconds. Memories of half a dozen of Inq¡¯ul¡¯s helpers came to mind, but she couldn¡¯t remember there ever being any new faces. ¡°He had six human assistants, but there were never any new ones. Although, one of them was getting pretty old.¡±

    Amber jotted down a quick note on her wristcomp before her next question. ¡°The compound was in a desert, was it above ground or below? Could you see any stars, the sun, or moons?¡±

    ¡°The compound was above ground with a wall on the outskirts. The only time we ever saw the outdoors was when we were moved between our living quarters and the one where they tested us. The sky was a darker blue than New Pittsburgh or Fribourg, and the sun looked extremely white.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± Amber said as she continued taking notes. ¡°How was the compound supplied?¡±

    ¡°Supplied?¡±

    ¡°Where there ships or shuttles that flew supplies in? Perhaps trucks? Or was everything grown or made at the compound itself?¡±

    ¡°Oh. There was a shuttle that came once every two weeks. It would land for a few hours and then leave again.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to know.¡± She said briskly before moving on. ¡°You mentioned guards? How many were there and how were they armed? Did they ever have to defend the compound or were they there to guard you?¡±

    ¡°I think there were ten guards. Occasionally there would be some shooting from the walls around sunrise or sunset. And there were always two guards escorting us as we moved between the two buildings. They had caseless rifles, sidearms, and full-face helmets with two small eye lenses instead of the clear face shield like Navy helmets.¡± She continued, anticipating Amber¡¯s next question, ¡°And they did change every once in a while. It was hard to tell because we rarely heard them talk and they always wore their helmets, but sometimes we noticed a new one.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, their helmets, did they look anything like this?¡± Amber said as she tapped a few keys on her wristcomp before tilting it to display an image towards her.

    The helmet was a different color and its wearer was clearly dead, but the shape was the same, down to the strange reflective gold lenses over the eyeholes. ¡°Yes, theirs were dark brown instead of green, but it¡¯s the same.¡±

    ¡°The Nauvoo Legion,¡± Amber said with pursed lips.

    ¡°The who?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too complicated to get into right now, let¡¯s just say they¡¯re a group of religious fanatics and leave it there for now.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Is there anything else you need to know?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s more than enough to get me started. And now I need to go check on how Kharlie is doing with her assignment.¡±

    ***

    Lucas flipped the sizzling pork chop on the skillet. One of the underrated things about working for the Order was the food. He almost always had fresh meat and vegetables in the ship¡¯s refrigeration lockers, and he only had to eat field expedient mealpacks when circumstances forced him to.

    Next to the skillet, a golden rice pilaf simmered in a saucepan. The smells of cooking food circulated and mixed in the air in a tantalizing manner. Truthfully, he wasn¡¯t much of a chef, but he could follow instructions easily enough, so it wasn¡¯t too hard to throw together something tasty. And a good meal on the first night of their mission would do wonders for setting up camaraderie and teamwork.

    Kharlie was the first to arrive. She had been practicing her hacking ¨C or information systems skills as a more polite term ¨C and it seemed that it had been going rather well. Kharlie¡¯s implants were top of the line and she had apparently spent an inordinate amount of her free time learning hacker tips and tricks.

    Lucas was broken from his thoughts by the sight of Kharlie¡¯s short blond hair swaying as she sauntered into the galley. He wondered how she managed to keep it at the perfect length to move like that. As always, her too-blue eyes seemed to draw him in, but he shook those thoughts from his head. He had enough problems on his plate in that regard; the direction Elena¡¯s shapeshifting was taking, Amber¡¯s presence on his ship, and even the sleeping arrangements. There were only two cabins after all, and four people to sleep.

    ¡°Mm, that smells great!¡± Kharlie seemed to be her bubbly self, but Lucas didn¡¯t trust it. Sure Elena might have been able to offer her some sort of ¡®comfort¡¯ to ease her problems, but problems they remained. He reminded himself to keep an eye on her state of mind; he had seen people who went through less break.

    ¡°Why are you staring at me?¡± She said as a faint blush tinged her cheeks.

    ¡°Sorry, I was just lost in thought.¡± He deflected as he turned to check the food. He flipped the chops once more as he turned up the heat to give them a final sear.

    ¡°You were thinking about me weren¡¯t you?¡± She said as her mood visibly fell. ¡°About how you¡­ found me.¡±

    Lucas couldn¡¯t stand seeing her like that, so he decided to lance the boil rather than wait for it to possibly fester. ¡°Yes, I was,¡± he said.

    Tears formed in her eyes as she said, ¡°That¡¯s all you¡¯re ever going to see when you look at me, isn¡¯t it. It doesn¡¯t matter if I ever put it behind me; whenever anyone looks at me, that¡¯s the only thing they¡¯ll see.¡±

    The smell of caramelizing pork chops tickled his nose, so he flipped off the burners without breaking eye contact before taking a step closer to her. ¡°That¡¯s not what I see when I look at you though.¡±

    ¡°Yes it is! How could you see anything else?¡± Kharlie cried as she clenched her hands. ¡°He took everything from me! Everything! I¡¯m the daughter of Landgraf Engels zu Centauri and all anyone will ever care about is that I¡¯m a damned rape victim!¡± she shouted as she shook her fist threateningly

    He paused for a moment to be sure her outburst was finished before saying, ¡°But you¡¯re so much more than a rape victim.¡±

    ¡°Exactly! And I don¡¯t need anyone, especially you, looking at me with pity in their eyes. I¡¯m Kharlie Engels and I¡¯m not just a victim dammit!¡± She punctuated her statement by slamming a fist into his chest as she erupted into tears.

    He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she continued sobbing and ineffectually pounding her fists against him. ¡°You¡¯re not just a victim, and you are so much more than what happened to you.¡± He started counting with the fingers of his free hand. ¡°You¡¯re a beautiful young woman, a talented hacker, daughter of one of the most noble of nobles, and a member of the Empire¡¯s preeminent secret society.¡±

    Kharlie¡¯s tears slowed after a minute and he watched as she lifted her tear and snot stained face from his chest to meet his eyes once again.

    She asked, ¡°Do you really think I¡¯m beautiful?¡±

    Her red rimmed eyes and tear-streaked face to the contrary, he still thought she was beautiful. ¡°Yes, you are,¡± he said with a laugh. ¡°Did hear anything else I said?¡±

    ¡°I sort of stopped listening after you called me beautiful.¡± He thought she was blushing again, but it was hard to tell at the moment.

    ¡°Lucas, Kharlie, am I interrupting? I can return later if you require time to consummate your relationship.¡± Amber¡¯s said from where she had been silently observing from the hatch.

    As Kharlie stiffened and buried her face in his chest once more, he gave Amber a mock glare.

    ¡°That was a joke.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t very funny Amber.¡±

    ¡°I never said it was a good one. How am I supposed to improve if you never let me practice?¡±

    Their banter seemed to be exactly what Kharlie needed to snap her out of her mood because she started giggling as he held her. Soon, her giggles turned into full-fledged laughter complete with a fresh round of tears.

    Elena chose that moment to join them in the galley and he thought she would have been confused by what she saw. But her empathic abilities came into the fore once more and she seemed to read the mood and instantly understand what was going on.

    Once Kharlie finally calmed down and started wiping her face with a towel, he plated the meal and served everyone. Elena busied herself getting everyone drinks, and Amber just tapped absentmindedly at her wristcomp.

    Soon everyone was seated at the round table that dominated the room and tucking into the food.

    ¡°Lucas, why do you never cook like this for me?¡± Amber asked from her position directly across the table.

    She was definitely going out of her way to tease him now. Their past¡­ liaisons were always brief and almost awkward affairs; afterwards they would both pretend it hadn¡¯t happened. Now though, she almost seemed to be staking a claim on him. He would need to nip that in the bud; he wasn¡¯t interested in Kharlie that way, and while he wasn¡¯t sure what he felt about Elena he definitely didn¡¯t want to feel that way about her.

    Almost every time he looked at her he felt a surge of what was assuredly lust. And that definitely not okay. He almost sighed as he realized he would have to carve out some time to have another conversation with her about her shapeshifting. Maybe there was a way she could be less distracting.

    ¡°You were the one that said my hands were only good for two things,¡± Lucas shot right back. ¡°What were they again? War and¡­ love wasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Amber¡¯s face reddened at his blatant reference to their love life, such as it was.  While Kharlie seemed fascinated with the growing tension and Elena amused by it.

    Then it hit him. Amber wasn¡¯t just staking a claim on him. She was showing and expressing emotions. As far back as their first meeting in the hospital, she had always been cold, aloof, and business-like. Even in the bedroom ¨C before, during, and after ¨C she never let her guard down.

    He glanced at Kharlie and Elena, seated to his left and right respectively. ¡°In the interest of full disclosure, teambuilding, building trust, and all that good stuff, Amber and I have something a little bit more than just a professional relationship. I trust her completely and I follow her orders, but this is my mission. You three are teammates and I¡¯ll listen to any advice or opinions you have, but I¡¯m the one who knows what the Errand can and can¡¯t do, as well as the most combat experience.¡±

    Amber took a sip of water before saying, ¡°I agree. Lucas has never failed at a task I¡¯ve set for him, but out here he is in charge. Also, any talk about our relations outside of a professional environment is inappropriate,¡± she added as she sent him a frosty glare.

    ¡°But you were the one that brought that up in the first place. All Lucas did was confirm it to defuse some of the tension,¡± Elena said matter-of-factly. He noticed she had already cleaned her plate and was eying the rest of the food still sitting in the pans on the warmer.

    ¡°My intention was not to bring the topic to the forefront of our conversation.¡± Amber protested. He found it interesting how she reverted to speaking in a more educated manner the more flustered she grew.

    ¡°No, your intention was to subtly warn the two of us that he¡¯s taken, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Kharlie chimed in as she shot him a glance that seemed almost predatory.

    ¡°That is patently absurd! I¡¯ll have you know¡­¡±

    Lucas broke in before the argument could devolve any further. ¡°That¡¯s enough. Now you see why I brought this up. Let me clarify. Amber and I occasionally find comfort in one another¡¯s bodies, but our relationship, pardon relations,¡± he corrected as Amber inhaled to speak, ¡°never proceed past that point.

    ¡°She has no claim on me, and I have no claim on her. And no, that does not mean that I am open to anything with either of you.¡±

    Amber seemed mollified, Elena amused, and Kharlie looked crestfallen.

    ¡°If you two aren¡¯t together, then why was she trying to give us that warning?¡± Kharlie all but whined.

    ¡°Because she thinks one of us could threaten the arrangement she has with him.¡± Elena answered her. Amber was looking increasingly upset at being cut out of the conversation at this point.

    ¡°Exactly. And that¡¯s why nobody is going to be sleeping with anybody on my ship. There will be no relations, no late night rendezvous, no walking in on anyone in the head, nothing of the sort. I¡¯m going to take my field bag and sleep on the bridge, we really should have a watch up there anyways, and the three of you can divide the two cabins however you see fit.¡±

    All three women were giving him looks that were equal parts frustration and something else. And then, almost as one, they opened their mouths to speak.

    Only to be cut off by the urgent beeps of the Errand¡¯s proximity alarm. Except, those tones only came from the navigation console, which was on the bridge, and he had clearly heard them issuing from Amber¡¯s wristcomp.

    He glared at her as she twisted her wrist and a repeat of the navigation console flashed into existence from the holographic projector built into it. He continued to glare even as Elena¡¯s rifle slowly slid sideways from its position leaning against the table. He didn¡¯t even flinch when the rifle fell to the floor with a clatter and the report of a round being loosed.

    Finally, Amber sensed something amiss and turned to meet his gaze. ¡°It seems we are about to overtake the Pitschen and her sister. We¡¯re making good time.¡±

    ¡°Amber,¡± he started in a tone that he thought sounded patient, ¡°why are you receiving nav updates from your wristcomp?¡±

    ¡°Because I reprogrammed it to do so.¡±

    He stared at her, expectantly.

    ¡°Lucas, this mission is vital to the Empire. I determined the consequences of failure to be too high, so I inserted myself into the control loop.¡±

    His shoulders tensed at her admission. He knew what could happen if he or any of the others responding to the distress call failed. But he didn¡¯t intend to fail.

    ¡°How many missions have I undertaken?¡±

    ¡°Over two hundred and fifty.¡±

    ¡°And how many times have I failed to secure a satisfactory outcome?¡± He wasn¡¯t completely successful every time. His assignments were often vague and had wide-reaching objectives. And then there were times when a situation fell apart or changed in the time between when his orders were given and he arrived, such things were outside of his control though, and thankfully the leadership of the Order agreed.

    ¡°Only seventeen times,¡± Amber replied succinctly.

    Their exchange had slowly been building to a conflict, Lucas could read the flow of a conversation well enough to predict that much, but he wasn¡¯t sure what exactly he wanted out of it. Amber¡¯s nigh hijacking of his ship¡¯s systems pissed him off. He was used to being in control on his own ship. Sure he had his missions, but it was always his choice how to go about completing them; Amber¡¯s interference was both unprecedented and completely unexpected.

    Just as he opened his mouth to give reply though, the building argument was cut off at its knees.

    What happens if we don¡¯t rescue the Prince?¡± Elena asked innocently.

    Kharlie and Amber turned to stare at her with surprise. They had assumed that everyone knew the stakes, but forgot that Elena was something of a blank slate.

    Kharlie was the first to find her tongue again. ¡°Emperor Gustav only has one legal heir right now. His second-born, Prince Gregory, hasn¡¯t met the legal requirements for inheritance yet. If something happens to the Emperor, the crown automatically falls to Princess Shareen.

    Lucas could see that the explanation gave more questions than answers so he added, ¡°While the succession of the crown is assured at the moment, and there¡¯s nothing inherently wrong with Princess Shareen, only having one legal heir puts the Empire in a more unstable position. If Prince Gregory dies, then it will be several years before the third child, Prince Nico, meets the requirements for his inheritance. And if the Princess ascends to the throne in that window, her opponents will accuse her of assassinating her brother to weaken her starting position.¡±

    He never thought he would be grateful of an interruption to talk about politics.

    ¡°Monarchies tend to be extraordinarily stable and capable of long-term planning, however the inherent weakness comes with the transfer of power,¡± Amber said. ¡°Empress Stella sought to mitigate this problem with the laws on inheritance and the encouragement of having multiple possible heirs.¡±

    He gave Elena a smile to show her gratitude. He knew what her question had been designed to do, and doubtless so did Amber, but either way it gave him an opportunity to rethink and have this discussion under more private circumstances.

    Amber¡¯s wristcomp beeped, and both Lucas and Kharlie turned their attention to the sound of an incoming message.

    Thankfully she tilted her projector to show everyone at the table the message. It still rankled him that she had basically written his out of the system, he wouldn¡¯t be nearly so mad if she had simply added herself alongside him in the notification schema.

    The massage displayed the same captain from before, this time however his uniform seemed even more sharply pressed. The delay in their message and the time of detection had probably been used by the watch officer to wake the captain.

    ¡°Night Errand, that¡¯s one speedy ship you have there. We see you responding to the distress call, but would welcome a conference call to coordinate plans.¡± The message was professional, but Lucas could see the tension in the Pitschen¡¯s captain. Technically he couldn¡¯t compel the Errand to cooperate, but a random ship from Empirial Intelligence ¨C as he believed the Errand to be ¨C going off half-cocked could make the situation worse.

    At least Amber looked to him before she made a decision.

    He had seen the distress call himself now. Bhadra had sustained heavy damage in the ambush, and there was no doubt that the forces arrayed against her had been much heavier than the medium freighter and single frigate he and Elena had taken on.

    Taking out a ship the size of a battlecruiser would leave a serious hole in the Empire¡¯s patrols, and the PR coup from killing the ship that everyone knew the prince was serving on could go either for or against the pirate¡¯s interests.

    In the end, he could rush ahead alone, or slow down and arrive in force. The question was what the pirates would be likely to do. If these were the Claret Coins again, it didn¡¯t fit their pattern, which made it especially hard to read the situation.

    Everyone looked on as he pondered, and he soon came to a decision.

    Lifting his wrist, he keyed the recorder and spoke clearly. ¡°This is Lucas Nite, captain of the Night Errand. I agree, it would be better to consolidate our forces rather than rushing off piece-meal. Whoever hit the Bhadra is likely going to be hunting to finish her off.¡± Then with a flick of his fingers, he sent the message Amber, so that she in turn could send it to the Pitschen.

    She nodded in assent to his decision before she sent it off. Teambuilding and hashing out their command issues could wait till later.