Chapter 6

Reeves stood at the center of the sweeping flight deck on the Decimator—a war vessel built for the singular purpose of combat superiority. The elongated Anaconda-class ship slipped through space, hunting after two spots of light dancing in the distance.

She stared at the light that traced across the hull’s curved edges. The battle was over, but the mission wasn’t. Not yet, at least. She wasn’t looking forward to the conversation that was coming. She hoped it could wait until they caught up with the two targets they were tracking. At least then she’d have something more positive to report.

“Sir,” a nervous crewman said from a terminal off of her right shoulder.

She turned to face him, with a stern expression. She wasn’t as upset as she projected to the room, but she had to maintain appearances. They expected it from her.

“Sir, it’s Consular Duryss on comms. He’s asking for a status update.”

Of course, he was—no point in delaying the inevitable. “Put him on, Mr. Huxley,” she snapped.

“Colonel,” Alden snapped, skipping the formal greeting as usual, “Do you have him?”

“No, Consular. He was not on the station when we boarded,” she stuck to the facts. “We’ve taken Executive Stephenson into custody. Our forces took the station, but it sustained heavy damage. All landing bays are offline. We estimate about half the station population evacuated in escape pods, but scans showed the target was not among them. We left a wing to round the pods up. I left orders to interrogate anyone from recovered escape pods for ties to the Resistance. There were at least a half-dozen ships that left the CZ. We’re currently in pursuit of a pair of ships that engaged in combat against our forces during the battle. We suspect Resistance sympathizers are helping the target.”

“Very well.” Although not audible, she felt a disappointed sigh in the brief pause. “I’ll dispatch a new admin from our staff to take control of Foden Dock. At the very least, we now have direct control of another installation in the region. All is not lost. We’re that much closer to rooting out this resistance group.” He continued his monologue as if he was speaking to the entire crew. “The sooner we can deal with this Resistance, the faster we can refocus on more important matters—upgrading station defenses in the Hyades. Continue your pursuit, Colonel.”

His voice dropped low and serious, ”You know what’s at stake. Keep me informed.” The commlink terminated.

The crew around the bridge turned to look at her while listening to the exchange. The silence left an uneasy energy lingering as they waited for her orders.

Appearances, she told herself. “Well?” her husky voice growled, “You all heard him, back to work! Ms. Asher, continue full ahead.”

“Aye, sir,” she reported, spinning back to face the bow.

“What are the sensors telling us about our targets?” Reeves directed her question to the co-pilot to her right.

“It looks like an Asp Explorer called the Nightcrawler, and a Fer-de-Lance—the Para Bellum. The Asp looks fitted for mining and transport, but the FDL is heavily armed.”

“And, ETA to interdiction range?”

“We’re trailing a couple of minutes behind. If they continue on their present heading, they’ll drop into the rings of the sixth planet ahead. It’s going to be close. They may have enough time to drop into the rings. If they make it there, they’ll disappear.”

Reeves was resolute, “We’ll stay with them Mr. Sloane. A lot can happen out here. We can still get lucky.”

Sloane shook his head, “Those rings are enormous. That’s a lot of places to hide. We’d need significant fleet support to fully sweep them.”

“If it comes to it,” Reeves countered.

“What’s so important with this guy anyways?”

“He designed a device that the Consular believes will give us an advantage against the Thargoids. He’s also the only one that knows how to find the prototype,” Reeves responded, walking to stand between the forward flight chairs. She crossed her arms and gazed at the growing giant rings in front of them. The targets, glowing specks that they were, engaged in a graceful dance around each other.

“I thought that’s why we’ve been upgrading stations—to give them a fighting chance against the bugs?” Sloane asked.

“The upgraded station defenses are only part of the strategy. The ‘goids are a superior and relentless enemy. We’re going to need every advantage at our disposal.”

“Sir, do you know what the device does?” Asher looked up at Reeves.

“No, but I have my suspicions,” she turned to walk back to the center of the bridge.

“It’s gotta be a weapon, right?” Huxley offered.

“Not necessarily,” Reeves answered the comms officer.

“Yeah but a weapon makes the most sense! That’s gotta be why the Resistance is helping him,” he implored.

“I don’t understand why the Resistance isn’t helping us. If the Thargoids attack, they’ll attack everyone. They don’t care about human allegiances,“ Asher, ordinarily quiet, piped up.

Sloane grunted, “The Resistance hates any rule of law. They’ll do anything to thwart authority. This schlub is just another convenient excuse. They’re terrorists!”

“It’s more than that though,” Asher replied. “They’re not stupid. It’s clear they’re working a strategy of some sort. Precision attacks on infrastructure, minimal casualties, well organized cells that somehow efficiently coordinate. They evacuated that industrial plant before it exploded. They’re not just terrorists.”

“Gimmie a break, it’s just another faction trying to undermine the legitimate government. Attacking infrastructure still hurts the populace, even if they’re not killing people outright,” Sloane groused.

“There’s no telling what they’ll do if they get the prototype,” Huxley chimed in.

“All the more reason the Consular wants him. Whatever it is, if we don’t get control of it, the entire region will be in jeopardy, either from the terrorists or the ‘goids.” They dare not fail. Losing her post meant losing the opportunity to lead an assault against the Thargoids. This was just another in a long line of stepping stones to make sure that happened. To make sure she got her revenge. Her thoughts drifted back to her family. Their screams reached out from her memory.

“Sir, they’re slowing down for approach,” Sloane reported, interrupting her thoughts.

She snapped herself back into the task at hand. “Steady helm, stay at full until the last possible moment.”

“Aye,” Asher responded.

“Mr. Huxley, tell the wing to hold formation, nav-lock to our signal, and ready weapons.”

The rings now filled the view. The HUD on the canopy showed the range to both targets decreasing rapidly.

“Thirty seconds until interdiction range,” Sloane announced.

“Mr. Sloane, target the Asp.”

“Aye, sir. Targeted.”

“Huxley, coordinate with the wing to focus their attack on the Fer-de-Lance. Target drives, only. We don’t want them running away again. Disable the Asp.”

Huxley nodded and dispatched the commands to the other ships.

“Fifteen seconds…”

“Alright, look alive people,” Reeves encouraged.

“Ten seconds…”

“The Consular, myself, and everyone that cares about a peaceful life in the Hyades is counting on you.”

Sloan began a countdown. “Five…Four…Three…Two…One… In range! Initializing interdiction.”

Lee focused on the HUD readout of their ETA to the rings. It was going to be very close.

Seven…

The rings above them separated into distinct bands.

Six…

Lee adjusted course to a wide band between two narrow ones.

Five…

The rings swept over them as they approached from below.

Four…

The bands stretched out, lost their curve, and formed a kind of racetrack to infinity.

Three…

Individual rocks resolved into view, trapped in the gravity of the gas giant lurking beyond.

Two…

Lee felt a distinct tug against the controls, and a visible tunnel enveloped the ship, shimmering ahead. An unmistakable clunking sound came from the frame shift drive, and a warning appeared on the HUD: Interdiction Detected.

“What’s that?” Lee’s passenger shouted from below.

One…

Lee disengaged the FSD, and the ship dropped into real space. The tunnel around them vanished, replaced with the sweeping expanse of millions of miniature boulder moons nestled in a haze.

“They we’re trying to pull us out of system cruise, but we dropped out in time. They probably shot right past us. It’ll take them a bit to loop back. We better not stay around too long.”

“Okay,” Xohn said, his voice quavered.

He dumped power to the engines and the ship leaped forward, throwing Lee back into his chair. Their best chance was to get out of sensor range for their wake signals to disappear off the scopes. Lee repetitively fired the thruster boost to get as much distance from their drop point as possible.

Rays of light and shadow cast by the boulders moved with Lee’s maneuvers in the Nightcrawler. The patterns of light brought back memories of Vic. He was his mentor, a surrogate father—his closest friend. Focus, Lee, he told himself.

Lee glanced at the scopes and noted their wingmate made it as well. In short order, the Para Bellum caught up and overtook the lead being a much faster vessel. Lee opened the comms, “Hey pal, we’re gonna need to go silent as soon as they drop in.”

“Got it. Don’t worry about me, I’ve done it before.”

“Right, just making sure. I don’t want to keep playing cat and mouse with an Anaconda.”

“My sister loves cats,“ Jackson said, deadpan.

Caught off guard and confused by the randomness, Lee replied, “Okay, good to know. Let’s hope this one doesn’t catch us.”

“I mean, when we’d play with the cat, you’d dangle something just in front of it–”

Annoyed at first, Lee almost dismissed it. Then an idea jolted him, “Oh, right! I think I get what you’re saying.” He switched on the pulse wave analyzer and started sending out scans. The HUD painted highlights across the asteroids.

“What are you doing?” Xohn asked from below.

“Trying to find–” He fired another pulse. “Trying to find the right rock.”

The right rock.

The familiar rings of this particular planet stirred a memory, even as he hunted, boosted, scanned, and searched. He could hear Vic’s old gravel voice in his ears, “You gonna tickle those rocks all day boy?”

“I’m scanning—looking for a good one. Are you gonna help me or not?”

“Boy, you gotta look for the right rock, not a good one.”

“I can’t tell them apart.”

“Look closer. The right rock has a different look—a different shape. Most of the nearby rocks are made of the same stuff. But the right rocks are different. They got a unique density. It gives them a more uniform shape.”

“What different shape? They all look random. I don’t see how that helps.”

“Use your eyes, boy! You send out a wave and find the glowing signals. Look for the brightest one and pay attention to the shape. Watch it carefully. If it’s got the goods it’ll be shaped more like a ball and less like a potato. That’s how you know it’s the right rock.”

Returning his attention to reality, he scanned the field around them. The skills he learned from Vic returned to him. In short order he found the right mark with exactly what he hoped for: surface deposits. Vic trained him well.

The sensor display flashed with new signals. They danced about on the edge of sensor range. Lee could only hope they had enough of a head start.

“Good thing I didn’t have time to replace the old mining equipment yet,” Lee said out loud forgetting he had another person onboard. He deployed the hardpoints and brought the old Abrasion Blaster online.

Using practiced inputs, he moved the ship to aim ahead of the spin and fired. The energy ring sailed to the rock but missed the target. Recalibrating for a new angle, Lee fired again. The shot was perfect, breaking off a chunk of the asteroid that floated away from the surface.

“Yes! One more ought to do it,” he remarked again.

“What are we doing?” Xohn asked.

“Finding some mice.”

“Some mice?”

Lee ignored the distraction, sliding around the rock ahead of the next deposit. This one was near the axis of rotation and didn’t take near as much alignment. He pulled the trigger with a perfect hit, and a second chunk drifted off the asteroid.

“Alright Jackson, go dark. I’ve got the mice in place. We need to change course and burn like there’s no tomorrow. Follow my lead, I’m heading in towards the planet,” he said into the comms.

Lee changed course, choosing an indirect angle. Then he re-routed power back to the engines, hit the thruster boost, and set the ship for silent running. The Nightcrawler and Para Bellum made fast, stealthy progress away from the decoys they left behind.

“Are we being okay?” The heavily accented voice rose from the lower deck.

“Yeah,” Lee projected his voice to ensure it carried down. “I think so.” He took a big breath and slowed his breathing to a more regular rhythm.

“So what is now the plan?”

“We lay low for a bit. Maybe we can link up with Jackson and think through our options.”

Heat built up quickly, forcing Lee to reopen the heat vanes. He wasn’t concerned. They’d already crossed twenty-four klicks, far outside the sensor range of anything but the largest ships rigged for reconnaissance. Still, they pressed on to ensure they were safely beyond any search patterns. The sensor scopes were silent, aside from the Para Bellum. Convinced they were safe, Lee pulled back on the throttle and swung the Nightcrawler around to face their unexpected ally.

“I think we’re good here,” Lee said both over the comms and to his passenger below. “Hey partner, how about we link up and run low to stay off scope.”

“Sounds good.” The Para Bellum slowly approached them, and a docking signal light went off. Lee navigated the interface to accept the docking request. The ships linked communications to coordinate the docking procedure. After minute adjustments to sync the ships’ movements, a walk-bridge extended from the Para Bellum’s airlock door.

Lee heard the familiar clinking of the docking bridge as it attached to his ship. A signal beeped, notifying him the hard-link was in place and filled with atmosphere. He turned off all but the essential systems, then locked the interface to leave the flight deck. “Alright, let’s go figure things out,” Lee called below.

Vin Xohn climbed the ladder to join Lee, and they both walked aft to meet up with Jackson. They crossed the pressurized docking bridge that ballooned outwards. Lee was always caught off guard by how thin the flexible metallic membrane was that held the atmosphere. Vin Xohn followed behind him across the bridge, and they entered the airlock of Jackson’s ship. Even in the airlock, the ship’s interior sported a much newer design. The elegant sweeping lines and minimal control surfaces gave the ship a modern feel. It was a stark contrast to the utilitarian design of a thirty-year-old rig like the Nightcrawler. Jackson stood on the other side of the airlock door. The outer door behind them closed, and Jackson opened the inner door.

“Welcome aboard the Para Bellum. Nice right?”

Lee was impressed, but he kept an even tone in reply, “Pretty fancy.”

Jackson turned to escort them through the ship, “I mean, yeah, she’s more than just a fancy flying console, she’s full of teeth. A full complement of pulse lasers, frag cannons; but the best part is the huge multi-cannon that can shell out three-and-a-half rounds a second. Did you see how easily I smoked that wing?” Jackson’s exuberance and parade of armaments grated on Lee’s nerves. He fought to keep it reigned in.

It wouldn’t serve to point out the wing focused on the Nightcrawler when he attacked, allowing him to cripple the ships before they could retaliate. Another of Vic’s pearls of wisdom rang true, “The real test of a combat pilot is an opponent that fights back,” he’d say. Lee chose not to argue, and humored Jackson, “She’s got it where it counts.”

“And then some!” Jackson gave a self-indulgent laugh.

They entered the much larger flight deck of the Para Bellum. Zorgon Peterson, the manufacturer of Fer-de-Lance models, had a flair for interior design. The well thought out overhead lighting, task consoles, even the sizable entry corridor were luxurious compared to the Nightcrawler. Above them, the eerie sight of asteroids tumbling and spinning end over end filled the sizable overhead window.

Jackson stopped just inside the entry and leaned back against the wall.

“Hey, uh, thanks again for the assist, you really saved our hides,” Lee focused on the most positive thing he could stomach saying.

“Honestly, I saw you out there and knew it was the perfect chance to show you how much you need me in your wing.”

“Sure, but I don’t plan to be in a situation like this again. Now, let’s figure out how to get out of it. Oh and this,” Lee gestured to his companion, “is Vin Xohn.” The bald man beside him gave a modest nod. “He’s something of an inventor I picked up on my way outta there.” Lee opted not to mention spacing him; or picking him up with a limpet for that matter.

Vin Xohn spoke up with his thick accent, “Thank you for your helping, Mister…?”

“Jackson. Commander Jackson Dekker. Just doing my civic duty. So what’s your story? What’re you doing out all this way?”

“There is someone and something I’m looking for. Someone I lost.” Xohn said in a wistful voice.

“Hell of a time for you to show up,” Jackson quipped.

Lee cleared his throat. “We think he’s the reason all this happened. They’re after him.”

“Poggers! They attacked a station! For him?”

Xohn stepped further forward, “Before the attack, the station administrator tried to help me escape. His ship was where I was supposed to get on, but the attack kept me from reaching it. Commander Sollinger here was– was finally willing to take me. Luckily. Thankfully.”

“So let me get this straight– You came all this way, out to nowhere, to find someone you lost. And some serious people, willing to mount a full out assault on a station, are the ones looking for you? What could possibly be worth it for them to go through that much trouble?” Jackson said in disbelief.

“A long story that is,” Xohn shook his head. His tattooed baldness reflected the nearby overhead lighting.

Lee looked around the flight deck of the ship. “We appear to have plenty of time.”

“My research project at the Palin Institute is where it begins. As a grad student Professor Palin apprenticed me. My research on waste heat focused on energy conversion. Beyond expectations, the project was being more than successful. There was a research paper I published to attract investors for funding a working prototype. If successful, then there would be startup funds for production to begin.”

Lee relaxed into a corner to listen. His mild curiosity driven by the hope of hearing something to help him find a way to dump his newfound baggage and get the target off his back.

“Silence. Months of my paper published with no responses. Academics wouldn’t touch it. Patience, Professor Palin encouraged me. He told me, ‘Once the right influencer finds it, you won’t be able to stop the flood.’ On that he was right. Eight months or so after it published, from all over the Bubble there were invitations to meet investors. It was impossible to keep up with. But then…” his voice dropped lower like someone else was listening to the conversation.

Lee found it a little theatrical, considering they were rigged for low-power.

“There were things I started noticing. Datapads with my research went missing. My assistant—my Azera… There were strange log entries in my research, she noticed. Spying-ware. Some sort of corporate espionage to try to steal my work, we both suspected.” He swallowed hard. “Is there something to drink?”

Lee watched Xohn’s lips purse in an attempt to hold his emotions in check.

“Oh, of course,” Jackson hopped up from his relaxed pose against the wall and went to a compartment underneath their legs to pull some water pouches. He pulled a straw out of one and tossed it over to Vin Xohn. He tossed the other to Lee and drew the straw on the remaining for himself.

After some sips Xohn continued. “We had precautions to take. New security protocols were installed. But everywhere there were people following us! Still, my work was all I focused on. The final tests of the prototype finished and my Azera… she confronted… In the lab, there was someone she fought off.”

“Did she win?” Jackson asked, drawn into the story.

“Whoever it was got hurt enough to run off. That was when we made decision to disappear. A new place to finish my work, that’s what we needed to find. The plan was Shinrarta Dehzra, a safe, very public place for her to be taking the prototype. I booked a tour to make it look like I took a vacation. Very nice that trip—much better than the trip out here.”

Lee tilted his head with a quizzical look.

“On the last trip, the cabin I shared was with a big fat…” Xohn spread his arms into a wide round shape, but stopped when he saw their reactions.

“Anyways, when she made it she was supposed to send me a message. With a special encoding she rigged it to make sure it would be secure. Then when the message was received, I was going to take a long route to meet her. But the message never came. For a long time now, I just stayed low.” Vin Xohn took a breath. His facial expression betrayed the sadness he felt.

“And you never heard from her?” Lee asked.

“About one and half years ago, I risked going back for getting my datapad. But with the fear of a tracking backdoor, I didn’t dare use it. Then the, how you say it? The curiosity is be killing me. I risked it and there was a message from her. A couple of days after she left, she sent it, but I was never receiving it. That’s when I went looking for her.”

“And that brought you out here.” Lee said, completing his own idea of what happened. “What did it say? The message?”

“Here, I can play it for you.” He pulled a datapad out.

“That’s not your bugged datapad is it?” Jackson threw his hands in the air and gave a wide-eyed look.

“No, no… this is new. It’s only message data I transferred, no software.” Xohn tapped away at the datapad to recall the message. It began playing with static, then pops and clicks…

“…afraid I’m n…n…not…make it babe…so…sorry…quadraaa…cap… ship called Vilant tracked mm…me…off course…to hide, but they found me…ring of…th…th…planet of…list…don’t see…can’t…see you…th…th…the other side…it’s been f…f…fun…love you, Vin…”

The message ended, and the three were silent for a few moments. Lee tried to pick it apart to understand it.

“It sounds like signal jamming.” Jackson stated the obvious, then started fidgeting, clicking a magboot on and off the deck plating.

Xohn nodded.

Lee noted Jackson shifted his body against the wall like he was struggling to find a comfortable position. Looking back to Xohn, Lee asked, “So what makes you think it’s from this system?”

“I don’t. The cruise ship to Shinrarta Dehzra I booked was how I was following her. Over the last year and a half I traced her message origin. Somewhere in the Hyades Open Cluster, I am thinking. From there handful of possible systems were narrowed down. At HIP 22607, I am hiring a very much odd pilot to take me to those systems. But, before that he had a delivery to make at that outpost and there he left me. Something about ‘secret special meat’ that he was selling.”

“Unholy biowaste, You met Meat Man?” Lee laughed.

Jackson’s eyes stopped darting around, and his face turned to confusion. “Meat man?”

Lee was still laughing. “Yeah! The guy’s on a crusade to get people to eat synthetic meat. He tries to smuggle it as real animal meat.” Lee said through his laugh. Xohn even broke out of his sadness and was smiling. Jackson joined in with mild chuckling like he knew what Lee was talking about.

“He’s the worst smuggler!” Lee continued laughing. “Everyone in the region knows about Meat Man, especially in Glist!” A connection snapped into focus in his mind… “Glist! It’s Glist!” Lee broke out of his laughter. “The message! It said ‘planet of…’ then broke up. You can make out ‘list’, but if you listen close you can hear it’s a clipped word, cut off at the beginning. It’s not ‘list’, it’s Glist! It happened in this system!”