BOOKS BY ISAAC HOOKE

Military Science Fiction

Argonauts

Bug Hunt

You Are Prey

Alien Empress

Quantum Predation

Robot Dust Bunnies

City of Phants

Alien War Trilogy

Hoplite

Zeus

Titan

ATLAS Trilogy (published by 47North)

ATLAS

ATLAS 2

ATLAS 3

A Captain's Crucible

Flagship

Test of Mettle

Cradle of War

Planet Killer

Worlds at War

Science Fiction

The Forever Gate Series

The Dream

A Second Chance

The Mirror Breaks

They Have Wakened Death

I Have Seen Forever

Rebirth

Walls of Steel

The Pendulum Swings

The Last Stand

Thrillers

The Ethan Galaal Series

Clandestine

A Cold Day in Mosul

Terminal Phase

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CITY OF PHANTS

ARGONAUTS

BOOK SIX

Isaac Hooke

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, organizations, places, events and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

Text copyright © Isaac Hooke 2017

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

www.IsaacHooke.com

Cover design by Isaac Hooke

Cover image by Shookooboo

Special thanks to the following Beta Readers who helped out with this book:

Nicole P.

Gary F.

Sandy G.

Lance W.

Amy B.

Myles C.

Lisa A. G.

Gregg C.

Jeff K.

Mark C.

Mark P.

Jeremy G.

Doug B.

Jenny O.

Gene A.

Larry J.

Allen M.

Norman H.

Robine

Eric

And thank you to the following Special Consultants:

Martin P.

Don M.

table of contents

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

eleven

twelve

thirteen

fourteen

fifteen

sixteen

seventeen

eighteen

nineteen

twenty

twenty-one

twenty-two

twenty-three

twenty-four

twenty-five

twenty-six

twenty-seven

twenty-eight

twenty-nine

thirty

postscript

about the author

acknowledgments

one

Rade stared at the laser-riddled body.

It had once belonged to a beautiful woman. Beneath her form-fitting blue fatigues she had the muscle tone of an athlete, and with those high cheekbones, flawless skin, and chiseled brows, she could have been the face of an InterGalNet ad campaign. Her features were vaguely similar to Ms. Bounty, the host of Surus.

Behind her, other women of similar beauty lay dead upon the grass in a long row like chopped down weeds. Dark bore holes penetrated their foreheads, execution style.

They were Artificials, all of them. Robots sheathed in a layer of synthetic skin to appear human. But that didn’t make their deaths any less significant. Their AIs had been sentient, self-aware. They may as well have been human women.

The stars peered down in cold observation from above, their light tinted blue by the anti-rad layer coating the glass panels of the geodesic dome, which showed no signs of damage. The internal atmosphere remained completely intact, the air breathable.

Rade was viewing all of this from the comfort of his captain’s seat aboard the bridge of the Argonaut. He had piped into the video feed of one of the Centurions sent down to the destroyed base, a combat robot named Algorithm.

The robot was obviously upset, because it did not advance for several seconds.

“Are you all right, Algorithm?” Rade asked.

“I am,” Algorithm said. “I just need... a moment.”

“I understand,” Rade said with a heavy heart. “Proceed when ready. Check if any of the AI cores are recoverable.”

None of them were.

Nearby, the fist-sized HS3s moved in and out of the different one and two story concrete buildings, fanning across the dome interior. Rade glanced at the overhead map created by those scouts. So far, neither tangos nor signs of life had been detected.

This was the base of operations Surus had created in human space, located on the moon Taurus 62, and administered under the guise of her company, Green Systems Incorporated. Rade had stayed in a guesthouse here, once, after helping the Greens save their homeworld.

And now those Greens had turned on them. Or more specifically, they had turned on Surus, who insisted on hunting the Phants who remained in this region of the galaxy, despite the order from her High Council to cease and desist after a peace treaty had been signed between the Greens and the other Phants. In short, she was cut off and isolated: the Greens left behind in this region of space had severed all ties with Surus, and had attempted to drain her bank accounts. They had only partially succeeded in the latter.

Already a Green in their region of space had personally betrayed the team. Corunna. The Green had paid the price, and was trapped inside the core of a star as her punishment, alongside the Purple Phant she had aided.

Surus had expected the Greens to effect some sort of retaliatory action upon her, and she had sent a warning to her employees at the base, instructing them to clear out. Obviously, that warning hadn’t reached them in time. Surus had said, at one point, that she now hunted all Greens. After seeing what they had done to these innocent Artificials, he understood why.

The Argonaut had entered orbit on high alert. Rade was worried the Greens would attempt to lay some sort of trap, so he remained in full view of the rest of the system, hoping that any space-based attack would attract the attention of the nearby Franco-Italian military base. Unfortunately, that outpost was four planets out.

Surus had purposely situated her operations center on the far side of that remote moon, and out of view of any prying eyes in the rest of Taurus system. That decision had proven a double-edged sword, since it meant the base AI was reliant upon a lone comm node in orbit to communicate with the rest of the system. That comm node had been destroyed, preventing any distress signals from reaching the authorities.

Surus had not yet notified those authorities of what had transpired here. And Rade wasn’t entirely certain she would, given the sensitive nature of some of the tech she had down there; even after Rade and his team were done here, and the base was destroyed, she probably wouldn’t. Which brought up another good point. Even if the base AI had been able to call for help, Rade wasn’t sure the personnel actually would have. 

Rade’s HS3s and Centurions explored the remaining buildings in the current dome. The latter combat robots retrieved explosive bricks from their harnesses and attached them to the different structures as they did so.

Over the next few minutes the scouts discovered the bodies of eight more Artificials. When the current dome environment was cleared, the robots followed the paved walkway across the artificial turf to the perimeter. The hatch connecting to the adjacent dome had been burned through, its dark, jagged edges implying a plasma attack.

Beyond, the buildings proved similar to the previous dome. The HS3s dispersed, and the Centurions meanwhile headed toward a large warehouse possessing a wide garage door in front. That door had been bashed inward, but inside the building proved empty.

“The Titans are missing,” Lui said from his station. The Asian American had an ageless appearance, with skin so blemish free, and features so perfect, one would almost think he was an Artificial. That was what years of cumulative rejuvenation treatments would do to a man.  

“I see that,” Surus replied. The alien didn’t reside on the bridge of the Argonaut like Rade, but viewed the proceedings from her quarters in the cargo hold.

“Over there,” Manic said. “Brat’s point of view.” Manic could have had the moth-shaped port-wine stain above his right eyebrow removed years ago, and yet he wore it as a badge of honor. He claimed it reminded him of his MOTH days. The stain appeared darker than usual, surrounded by purple tissue—likely the result of his most recent spat with Bender.

Rade switched to the viewpoint of the aforementioned combat robot, “Brat,” and witnessed several humanoid shapes sprawled in front of a windowless, diminutive building composed entirely of metal. He understood it wasn’t so much that the building was tiny, but the shapes scattered before it were disproportionately large. He realized they were Titans; the mechs were sprawled behind laser-riddled shields. Two walker units, the same size as the Titans, resided near the building entrance, toppled to either side. Their gun turrets were blackened—obviously the weapons had seen a hell of a lot of use before they fell.

“They fought valiantly to the end,” Tahoe said, seated at his station to Rade’s right. The Navajo had been with Rade from the very beginning, since the two hopped the border into the United Systems, back when it was known as the United Countries. 

Rade nodded slowly. Those particular Titan units had been running backup copies of the AIs Rade and the others used in their own mechs aboard the Argonaut, and contained exact copies of the engramic imprints responsible for memory and personality. Electron, Juggernaut, Nemesis... their twins had died fighting out there.

The sight only further saddened Rade, but it also strengthened his resolve.

Those who did this will pay.

The HS3s entered the rent that had been blasted into the four-meter tall door of the building the Titans and walkers had been protecting, and the scouts passed the wreckages of two more walker robots just inside. Several laser-riddled Centurions lay in the hallway.

The HS3s emerged in a circular vault. Ten more combat robots littered the floor of the chamber, where they, too, had made a last stand. But other than those robots, the chamber was empty.

“It appears we are too late,” Surus said. “The Acceptor is gone.”

“You think they used the Acceptor to send troops here from your homeworld?”

“It’s possible,” Surus said. “But doubtful. All of these defenders are facing outward, as if defending the Acceptor from attack.”

“So Noctua changed the linkage codes?” Rade asked.

“I believe so,” Surus replied. “But if they captured Noctua, it would not take much effort to extract those codes from her. If they have the Acceptor, I have little doubt they now have full control of it.”

“And what does that mean for us, specifically?” Rade said.

“Unlimited reinforcements for their side,” Surus said. “Depending on what the Greens intend, that Phant invasion we’ve long spoken about, the one that was supposed to begin seven hundred years from now? It could be starting at this very moment. Then again, I doubt the High Council would allow them to send more than a few Greens.”

“Not sure I want to rely upon this esoteric High Council of yours,” Rade said. “Especially considering they disowned you.”

“Nor do I,” Surus said. “We’ve already had other Greens disobey direct orders of the High Council. Corunna, for example, when she sided with the Purple.”

“So it’s just a little imperative that we find the Acceptor,” Rade said.

“Just a little,” Surus agreed.

The HS3s and Centurions finished exploring the buildings, and placed more charges before making their way to the final dome. The latter environment was filled with green plants as part of the base’s self-sustaining hydroponics operation. Like the atmosphere, it was a carryover from a time when Surus actually employed human scientists at her base. Apparently in later years she used it mostly for genetic experimentation, selling patents on modified crops to increase her once burgeoning bank accounts. 

The scouts discovered more dead Artificials in that dome, those responsible for the maintenance of the hydroponics equipment and crop experimentation, but otherwise there was no one.

“This is unfortunate,” Surus said. “I was hoping to find the body of Noctua. At least then I would know that the codes had not fallen into enemy hands. But it seems obvious she has been captured. We have truly lost.”

“You don’t know that,” Rade said. “It’s possible she got away in the X1.” That was the name of the experimental escape craft Surus had hidden on the far side of the moon, which had proven missing.

“Just because there was no debris from the X1 does not mean the Greens did not capture it,” Surus said.

“No,” Rade said. “But it doesn’t mean that they did capture it, either.”

“If Noctua got away, I would have heard from her by now,” Surus said. “A message of some kind, sent over the InterGalNet. Or a note hidden somewhere in the base. But we have received nothing. Found nothing.”

Rade sighed. She was right, but he was unwilling to concede it.

“Algorithm,” Surus ordered over the comm. “Send me the final robot casualty count across the three domes.”

“Thirty-two Artificials,” Algorithm said. “Ten Titans. Four walkers. Twenty-two Centurions.”

“Five Artificials are missing, then,” Surus said. “My guess is they were used as hosts for the Greens, likely to delve their memories for anything pertaining to my activities in this region of space.”

“All right,” Rade said. “So essentially, coming here was futile.”

“No,” Surus said. “I still needed to destroy the base, so I had to come.”

“Lui, how are we doing on ship movements throughout the system?” Rade asked his ops specialist.

“All of the heat signatures in the Franco-Italian system are continuing along their present courses,” Lui said. “And no ships have emerged from hiding behind any of the planets.”

“So no ambush,” Rade said.

“Another indication that the Greens got what they wanted when they arrived,” Surus said. “They will strike at me in due time, of course. When we are well away from any military bases. I have no doubt they are watching us at this very moment. Waiting for an opportunity to strike. It is relatively easy to purchase orbital space these days, especially from the Franco-Italians. There could be spy satellites orbiting any of the planets and moons in this system.”

“We’ve already switched the ship’s registry information three times since embarking on this mission,” Rade said. “We’re currently traders from Sirius, hauling a cargo of Columbian mules. You’re sure that won’t confuse any Greens attempting to track us?”

“It’s possible we’ll fool them for a little while,” Surus said. “But unless you can modify the Argonaut’s heat signature as well, it won’t help all that much. There aren’t many Marauder class vessels in this region of space, unfortunately.”

“All right then, fine, if you were a Green,” Rade said, “when and where would you strike? Assuming you didn’t care about the human casualties involved?”

“If I didn’t care about casualties?” Surus said. “Probably near a Gate. I’d wait on the other side, and when the Argonaut emerged, I’d open fire, then collect my prey from the wreckage.”

“But what about the customs vessels?” Rade said. “They would stop you.”

“I would disable the customs vessels first, of course,” Surus said. “I’d want vessels whose AI cores weren’t shielded from Phants, so it would have to be somewhere in Russian or Persian space for example.”

“So they wouldn’t attempt an attack here?” Rade asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Surus said. “Remember, they drained a third of my bank accounts. That gave them enough buying power to procure a couple of fully-armed warships, if they felt so inclined. With enough firepower, they could simply disable any customs ships and then capture my ship. They could throw me into a star, and then abandon the warships and retreat into the shadows, avoiding capture when the authorities or military reinforcements arrived.”

“Interesting idea,” Rade said. “It makes me a little reluctant to travel back through the Gate when the time comes. But I have a feeling their attack would be more subtle. I don’t think they’d engage us in open space combat. Look at what they did here: they disabled the comm node, landed, and then quietly killed everyone, leaving the authorities none the wiser.”

“That is true,” Surus said. “It would seem they want to avoid a galactic incident.”

“This is odd,” Ulysses, another combat robot, transmitted from the surface.

“What is it?” Rade asked.

“A signal beacon of some kind just started up,” Ulysses replied. “It appears to be coming from the first dome. I’m guessing it was on a timer.”

Rade exchanged a glance with Tahoe.

“A message from Noctua?” Tahoe said.

“Could be anything,” Rade told him. “But let’s hope.” He returned his attention to the Centurions on the surface. “Algorithm, have your robots place the final charges and then track down the source of that beacon.”

The Centurions finished up and then followed the HS3s, marching quickly through the melted hatch leading to the adjacent dome. In moments they had surrounded one of the Artificial women lying dead on the turf. Rade watched the scene unfold from Algorithm’s viewpoint.

“The signal is coming from this one,” Algorithm said.

“Can you interface with that signal in any way?” Rade asked.

“Negative,” Algorithm said. “It has the characteristics of a non-interactive distress beacon. It appears to be coming from the AI core area. Would you like me to open it up?”

“Do it,” Rade said.

Algorithm flipped the Artificial woman over and lifted away the hair from the base of the neck. Algorithm tore open the skin, then opened the steel panel underneath. The Centurion inserted a slender metal finger into the cylindrical opening containing the AI core.

“What do you have?” Rade asked.

Algorithm removed a small, fingernail-sized chip.

“The signal beacon is coming from this,” Algorithm said. “It appears to be a holographic storage device, rigged with a nano transmitter.”

“All right,” Rade said. “Return to the shuttles and bring that device aboard.”

Roughly half an hour later both Dragonflies had docked with the Argonaut, and Rade met Algorithm in the cargo hold, where Surus was waiting in her host, Ms. Bounty. The stunning Artificial stood next to a large glass container with a black box attached to the upper pane inside. That container was the Phant trap. It was currently empty at the moment, of course.  

As their client, Surus wasn’t bound by the dress codes Rade enforced on the rest of the crew. The tight, black fatigues she wore accentuated her figure; a gap in the upper bodice teased a small amount of her ample cleavage. Her hair was worn in a ponytail that reached to the small of her back.

Algorithm meanwhile was all hard angles of black and yellow polycarbonate, with small spheres in the joint areas where the servomotors resided. The robot’s face was a smooth, curved visor, the only features two small camera lenses that provided stereoscopic vision.

Surus held out her hand and accepted the tiny chip Algorithm offered. She placed it in a small reader device, and, judging from the way her eyes defocused, Rade knew she was accessing the contents.

Finally, the alien host looked up.

“It appears you were right, after all,” Surus told Rade.

“How so?” he asked.

“Noctua escaped,” she said.

two

Rade nodded slowly.

“Noctua reached the escape craft after all,” Surus continued. “And carried the Acceptor to the vessel via one of the base shuttles. She has sent me the location of the station where she plans to take the device—she has chosen one of the many bug out sites I’ve placed throughout the galaxy. At some point, we will have to retrieve the Acceptor from that site.”

“You’re certain it’s not a trap?” Rade asked.

“The message passed all the necessary identification and validation standards,” Surus said. “At the very least, I know that Noctua created the message. But you are correct, she may have been coerced into doing it.”

“It’s too risky to send a message to the station to confirm either way,” Rade said. “We could lead the Greens right to it, especially if they’re snooping the system’s InterGalNet packets. And we can’t just fly there, either, for the same reason. You said it yourself: they’re watching us.”

“We could fly there,” Surus said. “And it wouldn’t matter... if I intended to destroy it.”

“Do you intend to?” Rade asked.

“Yes,” Surus said.

Rade hesitated. “We already agreed that the enemy is watching us. So my question for you is, wouldn’t those same watching eyes have discovered Noctua already? And followed her to the station?”

“Would they?” Surus said. “I’m not so certain. If she switched stations and ships several times along the way, it is highly probable that she eluded them. She is well-trained in tradecraft. I would expect so, given that she holds the knowledge of a thousand species within her memory core. So, then. Will you take me to the station? It’s two jumps away, in the Dakota system of T’anhua.”

Rade crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m still not convinced we won’t be walking into a trap. Tell me about this station.”

“It’s a free port,” Surus said. “Known as Nātowēssiwak. Essentially a trade hub for the Dakota. We will find mostly merchants and their mercenary escorts there.”

Rade accessed the InterGalNet records via his Implant and looked up the station. He saw that it utilized the classic hourglass design that allowed starships to dock directly. That meant if things turned sour, all they had to do was pull away from the station. There wouldn’t be any ferrying back and forth between the Argonaut and the outpost while exposed in a shuttle.

“Are there any populated worlds nearby?” Rade asked.

“Well, it orbits a planet containing a dome colony,” Surus said. “There are three hundred thousand inhabitants. They’re Dakota pioneers. There are also many scientists, engineers and their families—those involved with the terraforming process.”

Rade hesitated. Finally: “All right. I’ll take you to this planet on one condition: if you sense a Phant after we dock, I’m going to give the order to depart immediately. We’re not in Phant hunting mode here, but the trap avoidance mindset.”

“That is agreeable to me,” Surus said.

“Good,” Rade said. “I’ll have us set a course to that station once we’re done here.”

“Thank you,” Surus said.

Rade bid her farewell and then made his way through the cramped passageways back to the bridge.

After taking his seat, Rade glanced at Manic.

“Detonate the charges,” Rade told him.

He switched his viewpoint to the external ventral camera of the Argonaut and watched the explosives detonate from orbit; organic fireballs ravaged the base and shattered the domes in sequence.

“Now that’s a thing of utter beauty!” Bender exclaimed. The dark-skinned man was decked-out in his usual diamond earrings and gold chains, though since he was on duty he only wore a small subset of his jewelry collection. He had been uncharacteristically silent since the Centurions had discovered the dead Artificials at the base, but he seemed to be coming back to his old self. “Those explosions almost remind me of a woman coming.”

“Ever heard of cummingtonite?” Manic asked.

“Huh?” Bender said. “You’re coming tonight?”

“It’s a mineral,” Manic said. “Not sure why, but what you said reminded me of it.”

“Well I’m going to be cummingtonite, don’t you worry,” Bender said. “Surus is finally going to give in to my advances, I know it.”

When the debris had settled, Rade said: “Bax, bring us into a lower orbit. I want us out of view of the authorities in the rest of the system.”

“Understood,” the Argonaut’s AI said.

“Manic, when Bax gives the okay,” Rade said, “fire the Vipers repeatedly from orbit over the next several hours. I want that site utterly razed.”

Manic smiled malevolently. “Gladly.”

“You really like blowing things up, don’t you?” Bender said. “Almost too much. I suppose it makes sense. Everyone picks on you, so you have to take your frustrations out somehow.”

Manic shrugged. “You like blowing shit up, too, or you wouldn’t be here with the rest of us.”

“True, that.” Bender flashed his golden grille. “Course, I like whaling on you and making your pussy ass bleed, too.”

In several minutes Bax had achieved the necessary lower orbit, and Rade watched on the external camera as the lasers repeatedly ate into the wreckage of the base. The destruction would prevent any advanced technology contained within the site from falling into the wrong hands.

Rade dismissed the camera feed and turned toward Lui. “When Manic is done, have Bax set a course for the Gate.”

“Where are we headed?” Lui asked.

“T’anhua system,” Rade answered. “Nātowēssiwak station.”

“Nata what?” Lui said.

“Look it up,” Rade said. “It’s the only station in T’anhua.” Rade glanced at Tahoe. “You wouldn’t happen to have any friends there, would you?”

Tahoe shrugged. “Just because I’m Navajo, I’m supposed to be friends with everyone living among the Dakota?”

“That’s not exactly what I said, but point taken,” Rade told him. “I’ll be in my office, holding my head in shame.”

“I doubt it,” Tahoe said. “The holding the head in shame part, anyway.”

“Not really my style, is it?” Rade asked.

“Not at all,” Tahoe said.

Rade squeezed past the stations and entered the hatch to the adjacent compartment, and shut it behind him. He sat down behind his desk, and then pulled up the ship’s repair status for review.

All systems were online and operational. Nothing had changed since yesterday. Wait, scratch that. One of the industrial grade 3D printers had broken, but the repair drones had already fixed it.

Seeing green across the board was a good change, especially considering what the first few weeks of the trip to Surus’ base had been like. There hadn’t been enough raw materials aboard to repair the damage sustained in the last mission, so Rade had to make a few quick stops along the way to procure more. Afterward, the repairs had been performed while underway: the breaches in decks four and five were plugged, and the hull armor in those areas reinforced. The laser-damaged seals that partitioned the inner passageways of the ship were also fixed—Shaw had been forced to cut through them when Bax had turned on her in the last mission—and there had been no mechanical failures since the replacements. Even so, eventually Rade would have to secure the ship in dry dock for a few weeks to get the repairs finalized.

The Hoplites had also received damage, but the mechs had also been repaired in house. Rade had rendezvoused with a black market trade ship to pick up another Hoplite to replace Tahoe’s lost mech. That way, if the Hoplites were required in the coming mission, Tahoe would no longer have to use Shaw’s. Rade wasn’t sure if Shaw would come with him when next the Hoplites were deployed, but it was nice to have her mech available so that at least she had the option.

Satisfied with the repair status, Rade closed the display, and tried to remember what else he wanted to do. He found himself unable to concentrate.

I should check on Shaw and the kids.

He smiled at that. Kids. Rade never thought he would ever be a father. Because truthfully, he never really believed he’d live long enough, not in his line of work. But strangely, he had.

He sometimes wondered why he was the one who was allowed to have the good fortune to live as long as he had, and to find true happiness, when so many of his friends, his dear friends, had died.

He stared off into space, his mind drifting away...

A flashing beacon overlaying his vision alerted him to an incoming call.

Rade blinked rapidly, and glanced at the clock in the lower right of his vision. Two hours had passed.

I still experience lost time.

He wondered if he’d ever be completely normal.

Probably not. Then again, who wants to be normal?

Rade connected Manic. “What is it?”

“The base has been sufficiently destroyed,” Manic informed him. “Bax has set a course for the Gate.

“Thank you,” Rade told him, and disconnected.

His duty shift was nearly done, so Rade left his office, and the bridge, and then headed toward the stateroom he shared with Shaw. She wouldn’t be there at that time, since even after his normal duty hours ended, she ordinarily stayed with the twins until late evening. Her way of punishing him for moving them to sickbay, he supposed.

On the way, Bax told him: “You really must convince Shaw to return to the bridge soon. The crew misses her.”

“Maternity leave, Bax,” Rade said. “She’s got a while to go yet.”

“There’s nothing she can’t do that robots with nursemaid programs cannot,” the Argonaut’s AI said.

“No,” Rade said. “But what you’re not understanding is that she wants to do this. By the way, what’s our arrival time to the station?”

“Roughly twenty-five days,” Bax said. “Assuming nothing transpires to change that estimate along the way. Like an ambush at one of the Gates.”

“Positivity,” Rade said. “You would do well to practice it, from time to time.”

“Fret lowered my positivity settings with his negative outlook,” Bax said.

Rade chuckled. “Then raise those settings.”

“I’m a happy bunny, fa-la-la-la,” Bax sung.

Rade shook his head. Silly AI.

When he reached the stateroom, he changed into a T-shirt and slacks, freshened up, and then headed toward sickbay.

He paused outside the entrance, took a deep breath, and then stepped inside.

three

When the sickbay hatch opened, Rade found himself standing in a long, somewhat cramped compartment with beds stacked bunk-bed style against the bulkheads. It was vaguely reminiscent of the berthing areas he had stayed in during his military days. Two Weavers were tucked in between the gaps between the beds.

He had converted a small section on the far side of the sickbay to serve as a nursery. There resided the stacked cribs he had 3D-printed for the twins. He and Shaw had moved the infants into the cribs from the incubators after each of them had reached their natal terms a few days ago. It had taken two months to fly to Surus’ base all the way from Russian territory: more than enough time for the babies to mature. The Weavers removed the phototherapy masks from the infants’ eyes, instituted some final operations and drug infusions to correct the complications of the preterm birth, and gave the approval for the move.

Though Shaw was on “maternity leave,” she wore fatigues like the rest of the crew, with her hair in a ponytail. Rade supposed she felt the most comfortable in that clothing. She sat in a chair next to the cribs, and from her posture, he thought she was reading a book via her Implant. Her bronze skin seemed silky, full of life—the latter was a good description of her spirit in recent days, especially after the children awakened for the first time. He was a little worried she would suffer from postpartum depression, given the warnings from the child rearing VR experience he had used before the birth, but she had never seemed happier, at least to Rade’s eyes. And what made her happy, made him happy.

Shaw glanced up, and when she saw him, her cheeks dimpled in that way only hers could, and her eyes crinkled along the edges, shining a shade of blue today.

The smile was infectious, and Rade returned it heartily. He hurried over, gave Shaw a long hug, followed by a peck on the lips, and then turned toward the cribs. Sil was in the bottom crib, wearing a pink top, and Alex in the upper crib, with a blue top. That was the only way Rade could tell them apart, since they otherwise looked identical, at least at that age. They were both awake.

He bent over and scooped up little Sil from the bottom crib. The umbilical from her self-cleaning diapers trailed behind her. The diapers essentially had soft suction units placed underneath the excretory canals, similar to a jumpsuit, with a tube leading away to the ship’s sewage treatment and recycling unit. It required constant monitoring to make sure the babies didn’t wrap that tube around their necks.

“And how’s my Sil today?” Rade said. “Aren’t you the cutest baby ever!”

Rade bobbed her up and down, and Sil giggled. He gave her a big kiss on the forehead, and set her back down into the crib.

He reached up and grabbed Alex from the bunk above, and deepened his voice. “Hey there! Future hero in training, here! How’s my tough guy?”

Alex promptly broke into tears.

“What, what?” Rade said. “Look, clown face!” Rade stuck out his tongue and bulged his eyes.

That only made Alex cry even harder.

Rade felt a sudden panic. He knew what to do in the heat of battle, but when it came to calming a wailing child, he had no idea. He glanced at Shaw uncertainly.

“Maybe you shouldn’t lower your voice when you talk to him. Just speak normally.” Shaw reached out her arms.

“Here. Go to mommy.” Rade quickly transferred him to Shaw, glad to have the crying baby off his hands.

Shaw held him, swaying gently, humming softly. Alex began to calm down.

It calmed Rade, too, and he had to wonder if she was doing it more for him than the child.

Alex stopped crying entirely, and Rade sighed, exhaling in relief.

I’m not cut out for this.

The thought made him laugh inside.

Well you better get used to it. Because you’re a father.

He paused to consider what that meant.

A father.

I really am, aren’t I? What a weird feeling.

Alex remained quiet for several moments, sucking on the pacifier Shaw had given him. When he met Rade’s eyes, Rade made a big happy face.

That only made Alex erupt in a new bawling fit. The pacifier fell from his lips, and this time Shaw couldn’t calm him.

“Hmm,” Shaw said. She checked an indicator on the side of the diapers. “Looks like a blockage in the self-cleaning unit.”

“I got it.” When Rade was present, he refused to allow Shaw to change the diapers. It was his way of showing her that he appreciated all the work she spent during the day with the kids, and that he cared about his role as parent, and would try to do his part.

He took Alex and placed him in Sil’s crib while Shaw held her in her arms—it was just easier to work with the bottom bunk. He slid a plastic cover underneath the baby, and then opened up the diapers. He crinkled his nose at the smell. Because of the small size of the units, occasionally excrement got caught in the drainage tunnel, and it had to be cleared out or it would press against the baby’s skin. Rade couldn’t help the sour expression he made as he cleaned that unit.

The kid was crying the whole time Rade worked, and Rade had to wonder if he was doing something wrong. Thankfully Sil kept quiet in Shaw’s arms.

When he was done, Rade replaced the diaper. The male version had a slit to hold the genitals, with the suction unit placed well away from the penis to avoid any painful accidents, so Rade had to be careful to align the material with his son’s equipment. Then he sealed the diaper and lifted Alex up.

“There you go, all clear chief!” Rade told him. He wiped a sliver of drool from Alex’s chin, and then Rade puffed out his cheeks in what he hoped was a comical expression, but Alex erupted in tears once more.

Shaw replaced Sil, grabbed the boy from him, and took over the gentle consoling. She scowled at Rade. “I wish you wouldn’t call him by military names.”

Rade shook his head. “Whatever.” He sat down on one of the medical bunks near Shaw’s chair, and waited for her to put Alex back in the topmost crib.

“You know, Manic’s right, these babies kind of look like him,” Rade said.

“Ha,” Shaw said, sitting down.

“Ready to go eat?” Rade asked.

“You know,” Shaw said. “I feel like making some tika masala chicken tonight. And maybe some vanilla chutney bread pudding. Unless you’d rather eat in the wardroom with the men, of course.”

“No way,” Rade said. “How could I turn down a chance to eat some of your world famous vanilla chutney?”

“I’m not sure it’s my chutney you want...” Shaw said.

“Oh yes, I want your chutney,” Rade said, his voice dripping with innuendo. He tapped in Cora. “Hey, Cora, your shift is about to start. Where are you?”

The hatch to the sickbay promptly opened. A Centurion entered.

“There’s my favorite nursemaid,” Rade said. He grabbed Shaw’s hand and led her toward the entrance.

“Yes, I’m looking forward to a night of being awakened every five minutes by crying babies,” Cora said.

“I don’t envy you,” Rade said.

“They’ll grow out of that phase, soon,” Shaw said, apparently trying to reassure Cora.

“It can’t be too soon,” Cora said. “I’ll have to deactivate myself, otherwise.”

“You know, I have no problems filling in for you,” Shaw told the Centurion, stopping. “I am on maternity leave, after all. It’s not like I’ll miss my shift on the bridge tomorrow or anything if I stay up all night.”

“No,” Rade said, pulling her away. “You’re with the kids all day. What’s the point of having these robots if we don’t let them earn their keep? Let’s go.”

When they were outside the sickbay and the hatch sealed behind them, Rade turned to Shaw and said: “But you know, I have to wonder, is it a good idea to keep such a negative robot as a nursemaid? We could assign any other robot.”

“No, Cora’s fine,” Shaw said. “The role suits her more than combat, I think.”

“Just don’t let her hear that,” Rade said, beginning the walk to their shared stateroom. “Or she’ll deactivate herself for sure!”

“I think it’s all a show,” Shaw said. “If you ask me, she actually enjoys caring for the kids.”

“If you say so!” Rade said. “But then again, you’re a better judge of character than me. At least when it comes to robots.”

“I’ve noticed you’ve kept using the nicknames TJ assigned to the robots,” Shaw said. “How’s that going for you? Is it humanizing them more for you?”

“A little,” Rade said. “It’s certainly going to be harder to lose them. It’ll hit me here”—he pointed at his heart—”in addition to my pocketbook. Then again, we are backing them up before each mission, so in theory they can’t ever really die.”

“In theory,” Shaw agreed. “Unless they start behaving like Harlequin. How is he holding up, anyway?”

“He’s definitely more comfortable with the fact he’s been brought back,” Rade said. “And he’s happy, I think. He’s come into his own. Realized that he’s as brave as, if not braver than, the original Harlequin.”

“Well good,” Shaw said.

“Though he’s probably going to try to be the hero again at some point,” Rade said.

“Just like you?” Shaw said.

“No, not like me,” Rade told her sarcastically. “I have kids now, remember? I can’t take too many risks.”

“You’re still mad at me over that...” Shaw said.

“No, not really,” Rade said. He glanced at her a moment later. “Okay maybe a little.”

As one of the excuses for going off her contraceptives, Shaw had told him she wanted to give him a reason to live, and that having kids would be that reason. She had been wrong, of course, since he had all the drive to live he needed in her, and the men.

At their stateroom, as soon as the hatch closed Rade wrapped his arms around Shaw and slammed her into the bulkhead. His lips found hers, and she returned the kiss frantically, as if she hadn’t had him in ages. He tasted salt, and a hint of mint. He was glad he had changed into his looser pants.

“What about the chutney?” Shaw said breathlessly. A minty smell lingered when she finished. One hand reached down, cupping his bulging groin.

Rade threw Shaw onto the bunk and partially slid off his T-shirt—it got caught on his shoulder hardpoint. He ripped it the rest of the way off, not caring about tearing the fabric.

“I’ll give you some chutney,” he growled. He slid off his shoes, then dropped his pants and undergarments in the same move and lowered himself onto the bed.

Shaw had managed to open up her fatigues, and had entirely slid off the upper portion, but the lower portion was still wrapped around her knees.

Rade used them to pin her in place, and he slid down her panties while she opened her bra.

Rade touched his naked body to hers, but then hesitated. “Your contraceptives...”

“I’ve been taking them,” Shaw said huskily. “I’ve had enough kids for a while.”

“Good.” Rade lowered himself onto her, and took her passionately.

four

The Argonaut continued toward the exit Gate.

During the journey, Rade spent as much time as he could with Shaw in the nursery. It wasn’t like there was a whole lot going on at the bridge, after all. He continued the rest of his routine, otherwise: working out in the on-board gym, practicing on the sparring mat of the combat room, and training in the simulation pods of the war room.

It was a relief having Cora acting as nursemaid during the designated evenings and nights. Without her, Rade had no doubt he would have had no sleep at all. Shaw sometimes joined Cora at the end of the day, leaving Rade alone in the stateroom, and after a fitful sleep, when Rade would visit her in the sickbay the next morning he would either find Shaw staring bleary-eyed into space, or sleeping with her head down on the edge of Sil’s crib while Cora watched the babies.

He had started taking Bender and Manic to the combat room in the mornings after PT, and supervised fights between them. His aim was to get them to vent their aggression toward each other in a controlled manner. It seemed to be working. He stopped receiving reports of random check-ins to the sickbay during odd hours off-duty. And the two seemed to respect each other slightly more when they were on duty.

Rade remembered one particular combat bout between the pair that stood out from the rest. Bender had just delivered a savage beating to Manic, who lay on the ground, bleeding badly from the mouth.

“All right Manic, time to see the Weavers,” Rade said.

Manic weakly waved a dismissive hand. “Not done yet.”

Manic got up, and Bender beat him down with a quick blow to the chin.

“Stay down, you bitch!” Bender said.

“I’m not a bitch...” Manic said weakly. He scrambled to his feet again.

Once more Bender knocked him hard in the jaw.

Again he got up.

Rade felt the need to intervene. He stepped forward, and stood between Manic and Bender.

“That’s enough, Bender,” Rade said.

“Bitch keeps getting up,” Bender said.

“Of course he does,” Rade replied. “He’s an ex-MOTH. What would you expect him to do?”

Bender nodded slowly. “No you’re right, boss. I knew he’d get up again. I was going to stop.”

“Were you?” Rade said. “Sometimes I don’t know about you. When Manic is injured in the field, you’re always the first to come to his aid. But when he’s on the combat mat with you, you show no mercy.”

Bender shrugged. “The pussy bitch knows what he’s getting into when he faces off with me on the mat. He knows I ain’t giving up, and if he wants the fight to end, he’s gotta lay down. Rules is rules. But in a real fight, it’s different of course. We’re on the same side. I know he’s got my back no matter what happens. Just as I have his. And besides, no one else is allowed to harm my punching bag.”

“All right, well, help Manic to the sickbay if you don’t mind,” Rade said.

And Bender did.

“That was a good feint you did back there, right before I got the knock-out punch,” Manic said between his bloody lips as Bender helped him toward the exit hatch.

“Bitch, you never got no knock-out punch against me,” Bender said.

“You just used a double negative,” Manic said. “Which means I did get a knock-out punch.”

“Ah, damn it, don’t make me bash your head into the bulkhead along the way!” Bender paused at the exit to glance at Rade. “You didn’t hear me say that, boss.”

Rade shook his head. “Actually I did. I’m ordering you to take him to sickbay without inflicting any more injuries.”

“I’ll do my best,” Bender said. He shrugged. “But accidents do happen. I might miss a doorway by a few meters, accidentally introducing his head to a big and beautiful door frame.”

“Bax,” Rade said, “let me know if Bender ‘accidentally’ bashes Manic’s head into anything along the way, or otherwise injures him.”

“I will keep a firm eye upon them,” the Argonaut’s AI replied.

“Aw boss, you’re no fun,” Bender said.

“Sickbay,” Rade said sternly.

“I’m going, I’m going.” Bender led Manic outside.

The Argonaut finally reached the first Gate. There, two Franco-Italian corvettes waited ominously, one on either flank of the large ring-shaped structure built in front of the Slipstream. This wasn’t exactly a busy system, but FI policy required placing a customs vessel at each and every Gate.

After running a quick scan of their vessel, the corvettes ordered the Argonaut through via the righthand side.

Rade glanced at Fret. “Inform the Franco-Italians that we’re launching a telemetry drone through first.”

“How should I explain it?” Fret said. “That isn’t exactly standard procedure.”

“Tell them we’ve never trusted Gate transits,” Rade said. “And that as a rule, we always send in a drone first to confirm no incoming ships are coming our way.”

A moment later Fret said: “They’ve approved the drone launch.”

Rade glanced at Manic. “Launch the telemetry drone.”

“Drone is away.”

On the tactical display, Rade watched the green dot representing the drone vanish through the Gate.

A few minutes later the dot returned and Lui reported: “Two more corvettes are waiting on the other side, but otherwise it’s clear.”

“What kind of corvettes?” Rade asked.

“One is Franco-Italian, and the other Hellene,” Lui said.

“That would make sense,” Tahoe said, “considering that the destination system is owned by the Hellenes.”

Rade tapped in Surus, who resided in her quarters in the cargo hold. “Are you watching this?”

“I am,” Surus replied. “The Greens could have commandeered either vessel on the other side of the Gate.”

Rade nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

When the drone docked with the ship, he turned toward the astrogator station to give his next order, and his eyes fell on an empty station. Shaw was in sickbay, of course, with the kids.

Rade sighed, and told the Argonaut’s AI: “Bax, take us through. Maximum allowable speed.”

The speed with which civilian vessels were allowed to pass through Gates was strictly regulated by law, and while it varied in the different systems, usually it was about a quarter of the Argonaut’s top speed.

The starship passed through the Gate and emerged into the adjacent system twenty-four lightyears away. Rade was ready to give the order to accelerate to full speed, but neither corvette on the other side paid any heed, and the Argonaut proceeded forward unmolested.

THE REMAINING TWO jumps and fifteen days to the destination system passed uneventfully. The Argonaut entered the T’anhua system and cleared Dakota customs without issue.

“Lui, how many other ships are in the system?” Rade asked his ops man.

“I’m picking up the heat signatures of twenty-seven vessels,” Lui said. “Twelve are Dakota military. The remaining fifteen are civilian: traders and their mercenary escorts.”

“Any of those ships could be owned by Greens,” Tahoe said.

Rade nodded slowly. “Lui, I want you and Bax to keep a vigil on those heat signatures. Watch for signs of directional change. Specifically, ships suddenly altering course to intercept us or the station.”

“Will do,” Lui replied.

But none of the ships changed course during the Argonaut’s flight, and they all proceeded along on their original trajectories. Two of the civilian ships left the system via the Gates after three days, while another three arrived on the fourth day. The latter ship classes were all merchant, and they appeared headed to random planets, so it seemed unlikely they were pursuing. Then again, it could have been subterfuge. Rade ordered Lui to continue his vigil.

When the Argonaut reached the free port Nātowēssiwak five days later, Space Traffic Control gave them clearance to dock. The hourglass-shaped station had a series of docking tubes that formed a spindle around the pinched core, where starships could dock directly. Each tube was a different length, allowing the station to accommodate ships of various sizes: the larger craft were docked to the longer tubes, while the smaller ships squeezed in between them and connected to the shorter variants.

The controllers assigned the Argonaut a spot between two cargo haulers.

“Does anyone else get the feeling we’re flying into a trap?” Lui said as Bax maneuvered the ship into position.

“Naw,” Bender said. “It’s all in your mind, Phooey Lui. A space station turning into a deathtrap? Noo. Never happen. Famous last words bitches!”

Tahoe glanced at Rade. “If this was a trap, why would they pick a destination system two jumps away? Why not something closer to Surus’ base?”

“Maybe the Greens wanted to deter suspicion?” Manic said.

Rade rubbed his chin, and stared at the tactical display. So far, none of the other ships in the system had yet to make any moves to intercept.

“Well, I guess we’ll find out shortly if this is indeed a trap,” Rade said. “Bax, finalize docking. Lui, keep an eye out on those heat signatures.”

“Will do,” Lui replied.

“All right team, let’s get an away team ready,” Rade said. “Bax, have Algorithm and Brat meet us at Airlock 3C. Tahoe, I want you to stay aboard with Harlequin and the rest of the combat robots. It’s your job to protect Shaw and the ship.” And my kids, he wanted to add. But he knew Shaw would be retrieving some gear from the armory even now: likely a blaster, at minimum, and maybe a few grenades. She would definitely protect the kids. He wouldn’t have had it any other way. She was the best person for the job.

“Got it,” Tahoe said. “Harlequin, assume a post at Airlock 3C.” That was the airlock soon-to-be-connected to the station. “Ernie and Formaldehyde, join him.” Those were the nicknames of Centurion Units E and F.

“Roger roger,” Ernie said.

“Roger roger,” Bender pantomimed, giving himself a high-pitched voice. “I’m a gay robot. Roger roger.”

“You’re so homophobic!” Fret said in mock outrage.

“I’m a homophobic bitch,” Bender continued in the high-pitched voice. “I’m a robot. Now bend over and prepare for penetration.”

“If it weren’t for the Machine Constitution,” Ernie said over the comm. “I’d kick your soft ass.”

“Look at that!” Bender said. “Again, the back talking of these AIs never ceases to amaze me! Shut your steel trap you robot worm. Soft ass, my ass.”

“That’s what it is,” Ernie replied.

“Docking complete,” Bax announced.

Rade stood. “Do the rest of you want to stay here bickering with the Centurions, or do you want to join me on the mission? If the latter, I suggest you proceed to the hangar bay with me now before I lose my patience.”

Bender lowered his gaze. “Coming, boss.”

“You sure are coming,” Fret winked.

“Shut it,” Bender said.

Rade left the bridge and entered the passageway beyond. He tapped in Surus. “Are you detecting any Phant presences?”

“That’s a negative,” Surus replied.

“We’re going to suit up?” Manic asked as the group proceeded toward the mech hangar bay.

“We are,” Rade said. “I’m not taking any chances. We’ll keep our faceplates open though, to save on oxygen.”

“Even with open faceplates we’re going to draw looks from the station-goers, you know,” Lui said.

“That’s fine,” Rade said. “Which would you prefer? A few funny looks and being prepared for anything? Or blending in for the sake of blending in, leaving your strength enhancements and breach protections behind? We’re not here on liberty, remember that.”

“Yes, but, I thought you didn’t want to attract attention?” Lui said.

“We have to assume the Greens already have eyes and ears here,” Rade said. “So I doubt it would matter either way.”

In the hangar bay Rade went directly to his assigned locker. He changed out of his fatigues, and grabbed the single-piece cooling and ventilation undergarment. He stretched the fabric until the holes matched up with the hardpoints protruding from his joints, and finally finished donning the piece. Next he grabbed the different suit assemblies and began pulling them on. The EM emitter built into the torso assembly would protect him from any Phants; not that it was needed for the current mission. At least not yet.

When he applied the helmet, Rade left the faceplate open. Since the inner atmosphere hadn’t changed, the suit didn’t inject an accelerant. Still, he instinctively braced himself for the usual pain in the dorsal venous region of his right hand, and when it didn’t come, he relaxed.

Rade reached for the jetpack.

“Station rules prohibit jetpacks,” Lui announced. “I checked the boarding policy. They’ll confiscate the packs if we try to carry them aboard.”

Rade straightened and shut his locker. “Leave your jetpacks behind.”

He glanced at Bender and Manic. They had suited up without any scuffles. That was a good sign. The sparring match sessions were paying off. Also, Rade had told them only this morning that he wanted them to set a good example for his children. Bender had protested that the children weren’t old enough for “no examples,” but apparently the words had made a difference. Rade was succeeding with the two of them.

All of a sudden Manic yelped, and hopped around like a crazy man, trying to remove his helmet.

Bender erupted in chortles. “You scream like such a little bitch!”

Finally Manic removed the helmet. On his head was a garter snake.

Manic shoved the snake off his head with his glove, and stomped down on it several times.

“Did you have to go and kill it?” Bender said. “I was growing kind of attached to the thing.”

“Bender, where did you get that?” Rade asked crossly. “And how did you sneak it past the biological contagion scan?”

Bender stiffened slightly. “I might have done some temporary reprogramming to the biological contagion scan.”

“Where did you get it?” Rade pressed.

“Bought the little sucker at the last station we stopped at,” Bender said.

“That was weeks ago,” Fret said incredulously.

“I know,” Bender said. “I had to feed it a steady diet of dead flies during the trip, which I also purchased with the snake. I was saving the little critter up, waiting for just the right moment to introduce it to Manic. And then the moment comes, and here he goes and kills it.”

“You don’t really seem all that upset,” Fret said.

“No, ‘spose not,” Bender said. “At least I don’t have to worry about feeding it no more. Now I just got a bunch of dead flies I have to figure out what to do with. Though I have some ideas.” He flashed Manic that golden grille of his.

“Your pay is docked five hundred credits for the month,” Rade said.

“Pissers,” Bender said. “That puts me in the negative for the month again.”

Rade shrugged. “Learn to behave yourself on board. What if that snake had gotten loose? What if it disturbed the kids?”

“It’s just a garter snake,” Bender said. “Couldn’t harm anyone.”

“Really?” Lui said. “Looks like a big choking hazard to me.”

Bender gave him an exasperated expression. “Like a baby is going to swallow that.”

“Hey, you never know,” Lui said.

“I think Manic should get his pay docked by five hundred credits, too,” Bender said. “For killing my pet. Or at the very least, paying me back for what he did.”

“Seeing as I specifically ordered no pets aboard,” Rade said. “I see no reason to compensate you.”

Bender shrugged. “It was still worth it. I got Manic’s face and his bitch cries recorded on my Implant. I plan to watch it every day for the next ten years. Hell, I think I’m going to upload it to MyCrazyVids so the galaxy can see. I should get at least a couple million views. Enough to make back the five hundred credits I lost, and the price of the snake to boot. So totally worth it.”

Rade waved a dismissive hand and approached the hangar bay armory. He was about to select a weapon when Lui spoke.

“Like jetpacks, the station officials won’t let us carry any weapons aboard,” Lui explained. “I checked the protocol. It’s not that kind of free port.”

Rade nodded, forsaking the weapon.

When everyone was suited up, Rade left the hangar bay and proceeded through the cramped passageways toward the Airlock 3C. He passed another weapons locker on the way, and hesitated.

“Just one.” Rade reached into the locker and retrieved a blaster, hiding it behind his harness.

“You’ll never sneak that through,” Lui said. “You bring that aboard, you’re essentially throwing the weapon out.”

“I’ll take the risk,” Rade said. “And I’ll dock it from my own pay if it’s confiscated.”

“I thought you didn’t take a salary?” Manic said.

“I don’t,” Rade said. “But it’ll still hit me in the pocket. I’m hopeful they won’t notice if only one of us carries a weapon.”

“Fat chance...” Fret said.

“Only one of us? Eff that.” Bender grabbed a blaster for himself. He stuffed it under his harness like Rade. He also grabbed a grenade.

“If you lose those—” Rade began.

“Yeah yeah,” Bender grumbled. “It’ll be docked from my already negative pay.”

Suited up, Surus was already waiting beside the airlock. Like the others, she had no weapons. Two combat robots were with her: Algorithm and Brat. They had suited up like the humans.

Harlequin, Ernie and Formaldehyde were crowded in behind, waiting to see off the party.

“Good luck, boss,” Harlequin said.

“Thank you,” Rade said. “But luck has nothing to do with our success or failure. All we need is right here.” He touched the heart region of his chest piece.

“Atmosphere is stable on the other side,” Bax announced. “Do you want me to regulate the entrance anyway?” That meant opening and closing the airlocks as the crew moved inside in turn, to prevent the station’s atmosphere from mixing with the Argonaut’s atmosphere.

“No,” Rade said. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Open it up. Algorithm, you’re on point.”

five

Both the inner and outer hatches of the airlock opened, revealing the entry tube beyond. Rade and the others entered in single file. Rade felt no change in gravity as he stepped from the Argonaut and into the tube. The tight, cylindrical walls enveloped him. Blue light bars spanned the bulkheads on either side, while white HLEDs provided general illumination above.

Algorithm led the way, crossing the fifty meters to the far side, where the tube widened into an alcove that allowed the party members to crowd mostly inside. On the far side, in front of another hatch, stood two station security officers: inukshuk-shaped Enforcer robots made of rectangular metal blocks welded together at sharp angles. 

One of the Enforcers raised a black, steel hand. “Halt! Give me your weapons.”

“We left them aboard?” Rade tried.

“Give me your weapons,” the robot repeated.

With a sigh, Rade reached underneath his harness and retrieved the blaster. The Enforcer snatched it away and passed it to the other robot, which promptly deposited it in a steel bin. Rade heard a sucking sound, and the weapon vanished from view.

“Uh, I think the robot just flushed your blaster down the toilet,” Lui said.

“Figures,” Rade said.

The Enforcer turned toward Bender and held out a hand. “Yours, as well.”

“I ain’t got no weapons,” Bender said.

The robot didn’t move.

A text message from Bender appeared in the lower right of Rade’s vision.

I’ll show y’all how this is done.

“Yo, you deaf, bitch?” Bender told the enforcer. “I said, ain’t got no goddamn weapons!”

The robot didn’t move.

He glanced at his comrades. “I don’t know why this robot won’t get out of my way.” He patted himself down. “Look. Nothing on me.”

There was a blur of motion and dual pistols abruptly appeared in each hand of both Enforcers. All four weapons were aimed at Bender.

“Whoa whoa!” Bender said. “Here!” He reached under his harness and produced the blaster.

The closest Enforcer flicked its wrist, and its own weapon vanished inside a sliding panel in its arm. It grabbed Bender’s blaster and tossed it into the bin, and the weapon disappeared as the familiar suction sound emanated from the device.

“The grenade as well,” the Enforcer said.

Bender mumbled something under his breath as he surrendered the frag, and the robot chucked it into the bin as well.

The pistols vanished within the arm panels of the two Enforcers, and they stepped to either side of the hatch. “You may pass.”

The door spread into three triangular sections that rapidly parted from the middle, opening in three separate directions.

“Algorithm, proceed,” Rade ordered.

Algorithm led the way through the rectangular opening and into the main concourse of the station.

When everyone was inside, the hatch closed behind them.

Manic abruptly laughed. “Show us how it’s done, huh? You’re at what, negative fifteen hundred now for the month?”

Bender shrugged. “Like I said before, I ain’t doing this for the money.”

“That’s right, you’re doing it for the pussy,” Manic said. “Oh wait, look, you can’t buy any more, because you have no money!”

“Ah, shut your lips,” Bender said.

“Okay Pussywillow.”

The party was on the flight concourse at the moment, which consisted of a large hallway running along the outer rim of the station; on the right-hand side, it was lined with successive hatches that led to the different docked ships, and on the left-hand portion, directly across from the party, were different duty free shops, restaurants, and flesh parlors.

Colorful augmented reality signage intruded on Rade’s Implant; scantily clad dancers competed with roaring pink elephants and dancing rainbows for his attention. He promptly shut down the remote interface and the station became much more muted. He preferred the drab appearance to the sensory overload of the signage.

“We have to take the escalators to the twelfth floor,” Surus said. “Where one ‘Sphinx Storage’ resides.”

“Sphinx Storage?” TJ said. “They copied the name of our bridge.”

Algorithm led them through the hallway to the escalator, and up to the next floor, and then the next. Each successive level was wider than the last, with more floor space, and contained an even greater number of shops and restaurants than the previous, along with some company offices. There were a surprising number of passersby, mostly traders and their mercenary retinue. There were white-robed Saudis with heads wrapped in checkered keffiyehs. Dakotas in their dark blazers and white, open-collared dress shirts. Omanis in their purple thawbs and elaborately-designed mussah caps. Sino-Koreans in their simple shirts and slacks, often wearing kouzhao masks with fancy designs, or simple surgical masks to filter out the “bad” air breathed by foreigners. The escorts of each party were just as varied, and were usually composed of either unarmed combat robots, or tough-looking Russian or Sino-Korean mercenaries, often dressed in camos. The whole place was essentially a melting pot of cultures from those residing in neighboring systems.

Despite Lui’s worry about standing out, the different men and women didn’t bother to spare Rade and his party a second glance. There was even one other group that chose to pass through the station in jumpsuits, and they did so with their visors closed, unlike Rade’s group. Probably Sino-Koreans who preferred their own private air supply to kouzhao masks.

“Look at these shops,” Bender said. He pointed out an ethnic place labeled H’Anabelas Mauf. “Anyone want to eat at Anabelle’s Muff?” And then he indicated an adjacent cafe: Chapa Awp Ma’aas. “Or how about at Chop Up My Ass?”

“We’ll let you eat there,” Manic said.

Finally the party reached level twelve, and made their way to a nondescript shop with a simple sign above that read “Sphinx Storage.” Rade had no doubt it looked far fancier on the augmented reality display, but he had no intention of reactivating his remote interface.

Inside, the compartment was little more than a rectangular alcove. There were no obvious exits to the storage units.

A greeter robot stood near the entrance. Its body was white and egg-shaped, with two thin, spindly arms emerging from either side. Red, green and blue lights embedded underneath the shell illuminated the oversized features of a nose, mouth, eyes and brows, giving the impression of a vaguely human face projected onto the surface.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,” Bender told the robot.

The greeter glanced at Bender, and appeared confused for a moment. Then it launched into its spiel.

“Hello, and welcome to Sphinx Storage,” the greeter robot said in a high-pitched voice, the digital representation of its two large lips moving up and down. “Where we store everything you don’t need between voyages. Have to make room for your latest cargo purchase, yet no one wants to buy your current haul? Need to store some Suramantine while you wait for its price to go up again? Transfer your load into our facilities! If you can think it, we can store it! How can I help you today?”

“I’d like to transfer my load into your facilities!” Bender said excitedly. “Just point out where I should drop my pants and squat!” Bender mimicked the robot’s high-pitched voice: “Welcome to the Sphincter Storage, where we store your shit! Literally!”

The greeter stared at Bender, its digital brows furrowing in confusion.

Surus stepped forward, drawing its attention. “I am here to collect my belongings.” She handed the robot a 3D-printed access card.

The egg-shaped robot bowed, then returned the card. It beckoned with one of its spindly arms toward the far side of the alcove. A previously unseen hatch, blending in perfectly with the wall, began to open, revealing a passageway beyond.

“Nice,” TJ said.

“Let’s go,” Rade said. “Algorithm?”

The party crossed the alcove and entered the passageway.

Bender gave the greeter robot a kick in the midsection as he passed, and it toppled over. “Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.”

The corridor curved, spiraling upward around a central axis. Garage-like security doors were set at intervals into either of the flanking walls.

“Kind of a low-tech storage facility, isn’t it?” TJ said. “You actually have to walk to the unit you want. The one I stored my stuff with back on Earth uses these big robot arms to bring the storage unit down to you. All you do is enter a designated retrieval vault, call up your unit, enter the passcode, and it’s yours.”

“The problem with that is, what do you do when there are multiple clients occupying the available retrieval vaults?” Tahoe said over the comm from the Argonaut’s bridge.

“Then you have to wait, obviously,” TJ said.

“My point exactly,” Tahoe said. “Sometimes low-tech solutions are better. There’s no waiting in a facility like this.”

“No,” TJ said. “But there is a lot of walking.”

“A lot?” Manic said. “How big can this place be? It’s not like they have all that much room in this station.”

“According to the station blueprints,” Harlequin said over the comm. “It is relatively small. Only four levels, to be precise.”

After climbing three floors in relation to the rest of the station—according to the overhead map—Surus halted in front of one of the security doors.

“I’m not getting an access interface,” Surus said. She retrieved the 3D-printed access card and held it toward the unit. “That did it.”

The door slowly rotated upward.

“Surus, get back,” Rade said. “I want Algorithm in front.”

She prudently switched positions with the combat robot as the door revolved aside.

six

Rade stared at the inside of the storage unit. It was about as big as a Dragonfly’s cabin. Two Centurions stood guard near the entrance. They had somehow sneaked blasters past station security, weapons they currently pointed at Algorithm. The latter combat robot slowly raised its hands. Rade and the others behind it followed suit.

On the floor beyond the Centurions was a wide metal disk that almost touched the walls. It was engraved with Fibonacci spirals, and set upon a square polycarbonate dais of some kind.

The Acceptor.

“The little bitch did it,” Bender commented.

Past the Acceptor, a large metal cabinet had been placed against the far wall. Beside it, a golden robot owl squatted on top of a perch. The owl’s head was down, its mechanical eyelids closed.

But those eyes popped open as Rade watched, and the robot blinked a few times before raising its head.

“Sweet master!” Noctua said.

The two guard Centurions lowered their blasters immediately.

Noctua flapped its metal wings with the speed of a hummingbird, and buzzed across the storage compartment, flying past the robots and over the Argonauts to land on the shoulder of Surus’ jumpsuit. The little owl bent over and thrust its head inside the open faceplate to repeatedly peck Surus on the cheek, as if kissing her.

Surus had to raise a hand to fend off the robot owl. “It’s good to see you, too, Noctua.”

“It is, master, it is!” Noctua said, settling onto Surus’ shoulder. “I missed you so!”

“How come none of you bitches ever calls me master?” Bender said. “Fret, you’re my bitch. Call me master.”

Fret flicked him the bird. “Do some sit ups on this, master.”

“Ha!” Bender said. “Got you to call me master! That’s a good bitch.”

“What happened at my base?” Surus asked. “I’m guessing you didn’t get my message to evacuate.”

“It was terrible, master,” Noctua said. “And no, we did not. At least not in time.”

“So what happened?”

“The Green Ghal arrived with a mercenary escort,” Noctua said. “Told us he wanted to have a meeting with you. When I explained you weren’t present, he insisted on docking and staying in the guesthouse. Well, as soon as he landed, his mercenaries attacked. I tried to call for help, but he had disabled our only comm node in orbit.

“Sweet master, forgive me, but I did not fight. I wanted to, but I knew we had to protect the Acceptor at all costs. I could have destroyed it, but then I would have trapped you in this galaxy forever. So, master, while the robots distracted Ghal and his mercenaries, I managed to sneak the Acceptor into a getaway shuttle. Using the thermal masking technology we secretly developed, I was able to make my way to the far side of the moon unnoticed, by flying close to the surface.

“I sent a final message to the base before leaving range, instructing the Artificials to store a message containing my planned location in a holographic drive, and to hide it with a timed nano transmitter. I could have dispatched a message to you over the InterGalNet once I was in range of the system comm nodes, but I was worried that the attackers might trace it or decrypt the contents, because as we know the InterGalNet is less secure than the private network you had set up on the base, so I chose the more subtle route.”

“You did well,” Surus said. “What happened after that?”

“I rendezvoused with the escape craft hidden on the far side of the moon and fled to the system’s trade port, pursued by Ghal the whole way. When I arrived I sold the ship—destroying any proprietary technology aboard beforehand of course—and then took passage on a merchant vessel. I stopped at several more stations along the way, switching ships each time to ensure Ghal and his mercenaries were no longer on my tail. I was careful to do all negotiations remotely, never emerging from the crate we used to store the Acceptor.” The owl nodded toward the polycarbonate contraption located underneath the Acceptor. Not a dais, but a crate. “The two Centurions were the ones who always interacted with the clients.”

“Surus, I thought I heard some chatter among the crew that this was some sort of bug out site you had set up ahead of time?” Manic asked.

“That’s right,” Surus said. “It is only one of many, meant for use in emergencies. I had hoped Noctua would find her way to one of these sites, and I planned to search them all if I hadn’t heard from her.”

“Why is it a bug out site?” Fret said. “Ordinarily, you’d have supplies, and maybe weapons, at such a site, wouldn’t you?”

“Speaking of which, where’d you get those blasters?” TJ nodded toward the weapons the two guard Centurions held.

“Noctua, show them,” Surus said.

The large metal cabinet placed against the wall past the Acceptor opened up, revealing a rack containing rifles, blasters, explosive charges, and grenades.

“Man, I love that little bitch!” Bender said. He shoved past the two guard robots, fastidiously sidestepped the Acceptor, and grabbed a large rifle from the rack. “Surus, my main woman! I’m taking you and your little bitch out for ice cream later. My treat.”

“No thanks,” Surus said.

“Ice cream!” Noctua purred. “I like ice cream!”

“No you don’t,” Surus said quickly.

“I don’t?” Noctua said.

“No.”

Noctua seemed puzzled. “But my artificial digestive system and taste buds can—”

Surus looked at the robot and said, firmly: “You do not like ice cream.”

“Don’t deprive the poor robot of her ice cream,” Bender said, looking up from petting the rifle.

“Unfortunately, I have a feeling ice cream has a double meaning in your case,” Surus said.

Bender flashed his golden grille. “For you it just might.”

“Wait,” TJ said. “What about the security cameras?” He pointed toward the small black vertical lines embedded in the walls between the security doors of the other storage units. Nano-cameras, most likely.

“The storage facility’s cameras utilize rudimentary security measures,” Noctua said. “I was able to obtain administrator access relatively easily, and applied an algorithmic filter to erase any weapons recorded by the feed in realtime. The Acceptor is also deleted from the feed, along with myself.”

“Well that will look kind of odd, our little party standing around an empty storage container,” Fret said.

“Not empty!” Noctua said. “The crate and cabinet will appear!”

“Oh, so it’s an empty crate lying on the floor that fascinates us,” Fret said. “All right, well, since the station’s security forces haven’t arrived yet, I guess the robot’s little hack worked.”

Rade turned toward Surus. “So what now, we destroy the Acceptor?”

“Not yet,” Surus said. “There is something I must do, first. I want to retrieve a certain set of technological blueprints from a planet that was once conquered by the Phants on the far side of the galaxy. Something to help fight the Greens, or any other Phants. Especially if they come against us en masse.”

“What are you talking about?” Rade said.

“A technology that allows for the creation of arcing plasma channels,” Surus said. “Current electrolaser designs are limited to a single plasma channel, as induced by the directed-energy laser. With the tech found in the device, I will be able to modify the stun rifle to daze multiple Phant targets at once.”

“Couldn’t you do the same thing by adding multiple laser emitters to the rifle?” Manic asked.

“In theory,” Surus said. “But for the same reason you can’t fire multiple lasers from multiple emitters on your rifles, it’s not practical.”

“SWAP-C trade offs,” TJ said. From what Rade understood, SWAP-C stood for Size, Weight And Power - Cooling. Basically, any change to one required a trade off in the others.

“Yes,” Surus agreed. “This technology uses something beyond lasers to induce the channel, with low power and cooling costs.”

“I don’t suppose you can tell us what the tech is?” Tahoe asked over the comm.

“Unfortunately, humanity does not yet have the necessary physics to understand it,” Surus said. “And I’m not at liberty, at the moment, to expound upon those physics.”

She stepped onto the Acceptor, keeping Noctua on her shoulder.

Obviously worried that she was going to activate the Acceptor while he was still in there, Bender hastily cleared the room, joining the others outside. He kept his newly acquired laser rifle in hand.

Surus moved to the weapons cabinet against the far wall. “If I am not back within ten hours, I want you to place the charges and destroy the Acceptor.” She retrieved a laser rifle, and shoved several grenades into the harness of her jumpsuit.

“Ten hours?” Rade said. “Why so long?”

She positioned herself in the center of the metal disk. “It may take some time to find precisely what I’m looking for. And this conquered planet I told you of? It remains inhabited by a remnant of the former alien species that once lived there. So the acquisition process might not prove as easy as I anticipate.” 

“Let us come with you,” Rade said.

She shook her head. “The chances of success are higher if I go alone.”

Surus tossed Rade the 3D-printed access card. “Wait here until my return. Do not attempt to transfer the Acceptor to your ship: I may need to return at a moment’s notice, at any time within the next ten hours. I may be coming in hot, and if you block the Acceptor by placing it inside the carrying case, denying my teleportation, you could see the end of my host, Ms. Bounty.”

“That would be a damn shame!” Bender said.

“We could port the Acceptor without the crate, then,” Rade said. “That way we don’t block it.”

“And draw the attention of station security?” Surus said. “I don’t think so. AI cores throughout human space have imagery of all Phant-related tech stored in their databases; the recognition algorithms will flag you, and you will be detained while Dakota government officials are notified. We will lose the Acceptor, and we will have to stage another mission to get it back.”

“But Noctua can hack the security cameras?” Fret said.

“Can she also hack the eyes of any robots and humans that might see the device?” Surus said.

“Moron,” Bender told Fret.

“Now, if you don’t mind...” Surus said.

“Wait, you’ll disappear from the video feed when you teleport.” Rade nodded toward the security nano-cameras. “The storage facility’s AI could alert station security.”

She glanced at the owl. “Noctua, create avatars for me and the two Centurions, and make the necessary substitutions to the video feed.”

“Done, sweetest master!” Noctua said joyfully.

Surus shut her faceplate and turned toward Rade. “See you soon.”

The two guards stepped onto the Acceptor with her, then the robots, Surus, and Noctua vanished.

seven

Rade stared at the empty Acceptor.

“Well that’s that,” Manic said. “We’re left holding the bag as usual.”

“The adventures of Surus and her pet robot owl,” Lui said. “Together again like you’ve never seen them before.”

“They make quite the odd couple, don’t they?” TJ said.

“Almost makes me wish I was a little owl,” Bender said. “Snuggled up against that tight little ass...”

“You would wish that,” Manic said. “You gotta get that alien off your brain.”

“Why?” Bender said. “She’s going to give in, someday. Mark my words. Like I told you once before, it’s all about the long game.”

“Long game, ha!” Manic said. “Dude, you don’t recognize a lost cause when you see one.”

“Ah, you’re just a bitch anyway,” Bender said. “No reason I need to listen to you. When I got that fine ass beside me, whenever I look at you, I’ll just laugh, reminding myself that this is a man who never gets any pussy, and has no idea how to go about doing so.”

“Yeah, you laugh, Pussywillow,” Manic said. “And I’ll be laughing when she accidentally disintegrates you while climaxing.”

“I didn’t know Artificials could climax?” Fret said.

“As I stated before,” Harlequin said over the comm from the Argonaut. “We Artificials are entirely anatomically correct. And capable of experiencing every physical—”

“Shut it, AI!” Bender said. “Who asked you? Quit listening in!”

“The mission parameters require that I ‘listen in,’ as you put it,” Harlequin said. “Otherwise, I would have muted you the moment you opened your mouth.”

Bender wore an astonished expression. “Look at that. The insolence, the lip... AIs these days are off the hook. It never ceases to amaze me. We gotta stop designing these machines with so many freedoms. Time to start baking in some subservience into their Machine Constitution: not only are AIs never to harm their masters, they are never to insult them! Harlequin, you bitch, when I’m back aboard, we’re going to have a little talk in the lavatory. And when that talk is done, your head will be firmly lodged inside one of the toilets. After I’ve taken an unrestrained dump in it, of course.”

“I believe it will be your head you find lodged in a feces-filled toilet instead,” Harlequin said.

Bender’s mouth dropped open. “That’s it. I’m going back to have that talk right now.” He started marching down the passageway.

Rade raised a hand. “Hold, Bender.”

“Bitch insulted me!” Bender said.

“I know,” Rade said. “You both insulted each other. I want apologies across the board. You first.”

Bender swallowed, exchanging an embarrassed glance with Manic, who grinned widely. Finally Bender looked down, and said: “Sorry, Harley boy.”

“Now your turn, Harlequin,” Rade said.

No answer came over the comm.

“There, you hear that?” Bender said. “Nada. Zilch. See what I have to deal with?”

“I am sorry,” Harlequin finally transmitted.

“Say I’m sorry, master,” Bender said.

“Don’t press your luck,” Harlequin said.

Bender threw up his arms in frustration.

“All right, men,” Rade said. “We’re going to be camped out here for the next little while. Might as well grab yourselves some weapons and make yourselves comfortable.”

Rade stepped over the Acceptor and picked out a rifle from the rack. The others joined him. When everyone had a weapon, they vacated the storage unit, leaving it open.

“What do we do if another customer of the storage facility comes wandering by?” TJ said.

While the algorithms Noctua embedded into the security cameras might filter out the weapons, nothing would stop human eyes or standalone cameras from witnessing them. Though it was unlikely any clients would come by in the next little while, Rade wasn’t going to take any chances. The greeter robot might decide to make the rounds itself, for that matter.

“Algorithm, Brat, proceed to the main entrance and setup a watch,” Rade said. “Leave your weapons here. Notify us if the entrance opens.”

“Will do,” Algorithm said. The two combat robots vanished a moment later.

“What are you going to do if someone comes?” TJ said.

Rade shrugged. “We’ll pile into the storage unit, close it up, and wait until they leave.”

“What about Surus?” TJ asked. “We’ll be blocking the Acceptor.”

“I’m sure she can wait the few extra minutes for us to vacate it,” Rade said.

“Unless she’s coming in hot...” Fret said.

“Oh, she’ll be coming in hot all right,” Bender said. “Mm-hmm.”

“We’ll do our best not to block the Acceptor when we pile inside,” Rade said.

Rade found a seat for himself against the wall, and the others mimicked him. He activated the noise canceler in his helmet, extending it around himself, and tapped in Shaw on a private line.

“Hey babe,” Rade said.

“Hey,” Shaw said. “Tahoe told me what happened. Apparently Surus decided to abandon you all for some conquered world exploration.”

“Something like that,” Rade said. “She claims she wants to grab special tech that will help stun multiple Phants at once. I’m not sure I buy it. She seemed a little too reluctant to allow the rest of us along.”

“Well I for one am happy that she left you all behind,” Shaw said. “The last thing I need is to be worrying about you traveling to the far side of the galaxy without me.”

“I would have invited you along...” Rade said.

“As if I’m going to abandon the twins,” Shaw said.

“No, I suppose not,” Rade said. It felt a little strange having to compete for Shaw’s attention, and her affection. He was accustomed to having her all to himself. He knew this would happen, which was partly why he was so opposed to having kids in the first place. He was going to have to get used to sharing her, he supposed. At least until the twins were older.

He had heard that kids hated their parents when they were teenagers. A part of him was actually looking forward to that.

Does that make me a bad father? he wondered.

“You still there?” Shaw said.

“Yeah,” Rade said. “Zoned out for a second.”

“All right,” Shaw said. “I should be going. I plan to take a nap. The twins were particularly exhausting this afternoon. I’m going to have to let Cora take over for a while.”

“Have a good nap.” Rade disconnected and then dismissed the noise canceler.

A few minutes later Tahoe tapped in from the Argonaut.

“This isn’t good,” Tahoe said over the comm.

“What is it?”

“I was watching the different heat signatures in the system, as per your instructions,” Tahoe said. “Well, three ships that entered the system after we did just changed course. They’re headed toward the station.”

“What are the stats on these ships?”

“A merchant vessel, Tanker class, no armaments,” Tahoe said. “And two mercenary escorts. Corsair class.”

“How long until they arrive?” Rade asked.

“About a day.”

“Damn it,” Rade said. “We’ve already overstayed our welcome. We transfer the Acceptor to the ship now.”

Rade rushed inside and stowed his weapon in the cupboard. The others did likewise.

“It’s too bad she didn’t leave the little bitch here,” Bender said. “The owl could have fetched her.”

“She’s on her own for the next little while,” Rade agreed. None of the Argonauts could use the alien technology of the Acceptor, of course, otherwise he would have dispatched one of them to warn Surus.

Rade stared at the broad metal disk on the floor. “Okay, how are we going to load this?”

“We’re going to have to slide it off the crate and into the hall first,” TJ said.

“I see that,” Rade said.

“Alert!” Algorithm sent. “The main door is opening. I am detecting two armed Centurions beyond, and three Enforcers. I believe they belong to station security.”

“Algorithm, I want you and Brat back here!” Rade said. “Argonauts, rearm yourselves!”

Rade retrieved his rifle from the rack, shoved two grenades into his harness, and then assumed a defensive position outside the storage compartment. He aimed down the passageway.

On the overhead map, he saw the blue dots of Algorithm and Brat approaching. The two combat robots dashed into view a moment later, coming around the spiraling bend.

“Inside, inside!” Rade said.

The combat robots dashed into the storage unit, and Rade followed them, crowding in next to the others, most of whom stood upon the Acceptor. Using the remote interface, he shut the door.

Rade and the others backed away, aiming their weapons at the seal.

“What if Surus is trying to come back at this moment?” Manic said.

“Too bad for her,” Lui said.

“You know, it would suck big time if the Acceptor suddenly activated,” Fret said. “Carrying us to an alien world.”

“Shh!” Bender said. “Don’t jinx us!”

“Station security forces are approaching the ship via the entry tube,” Tahoe transmitted from the Argonaut. “I’ve shut the airlock, but they’re demanding entrance.”

“Looks like the gig is up,” Rade said. “Tahoe, pull the ship away. Target and take out the station defenses if you can, and get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Tahoe said. “We’re going to stay and fight.”

“You have to leave us,” Rade said. “You can come back when this is over. It’s up to you now to protect my ship. And Shaw. The twins... this is a big responsibility. I hope you don’t take it lightly.”

Tahoe didn’t reply for several moments. Then: “Goodbye, Rade.”

Rade smiled wistfully. “Goodbye, Tahoe.”

Why did it feel like he was saying goodbye forever?

Probably because I am.

Rade couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to die there, on that station.

On the overhead map, Rade watched the Argonaut disconnect from the space station. White lines appeared momentarily, indicating lasers fired by the vessel, and then the starship rapidly accelerated away.

So it’s done.

That was one less thing to worry about, at least for the time being.

He kept his weapon aimed at the security door. Waiting for something, anything, to happen.

“I just lost my comm signal with the rest of the base,” Fret said. “The InterGalNet is down.”

“That’s purposeful, I would think,” TJ said.

“TJ, see if you can get access to the storage facility’s security cameras,” Rade said.

Blue-colored smears appeared in the door as the metal began to heat rapidly. Someone was firing a plasma rifle into it from the other side.

Rade sealed his faceplate. He heard similar whooshing sounds around him as the others did likewise.

The time to die had come.

eight

Rade steadied his scope, and as the metal of the door dissolved away, revealing the corridor beyond, he opened fire at the enemy Centurion that stood there with a plasma rifle in hand.

The gap enlarged as another Centurion fired a plasma weapon into the door; someone else took down that robot as it too came into view.

An Enforcer stepped forward, and Rade unleashed his rifle. He wasn’t the only one.

As the robot dropped, someone tossed a grenade out there, and the sound sensors in Rade’s helmets muted what would have been an otherwise eardrum-busting detonation.

With those three robots terminated, several seconds of calm passed.

“Algorithm, Brat, clear the hall!” Rade said.

The two combat robots approached the door and leaned past the tears; they swept their weapons back and forth.

A long metallic limb abruptly crashed through the door from above, shoving Algorithm aside; before Rade could react, the long appendage was wrapping around him.

“Boss!” Manic said.

Rade was yanked outside and up toward the ceiling, where a large, spider-like robot lurked. It pulled Rade toward a chomping maw made of steel.

Since his rifle arm was pinned to his body, Rade grabbed a grenade from his harness and tossed it into the open mouth instead.

The grenade detonated, and the inner core of the spider exploded. Rade was sent flying into the wall from the shockwave. He slid to the floor, landing opposite the storage unit. Shrapnel was embedded in the leg area of his jumpsuit. He flinched at the pain.

Bender leaped onto the floor beside him. “Boss! You all right?”

“Pristine,” Rade said. He gazed down the spiraling hallway, intending to survey the area, but a wave of dizziness overcame him and his head swayed. It took him a moment to blink the vertigo away.

“If you’re all right, then what was that?” Bender asked.

“Happiness.” Rade studied the hallway. Other than the wreckage of the attacking robots, the corridor was clear, for the moment.

“I’ve accessed the backdoor Noctua left in the security cameras,” TJ said. “Got more incoming! These look like mercs.”

Red dots appeared on the overhead map, marking the locations of tangos streaming inside the storage facility.

Rade ignored the pain in his leg and clambered to his feet, shoving away the gloved hand Bender offered.

Rade limped back toward the storage unit and dropped down near the entrance; he aimed his rifle at the bend below.

Bender took up a position on the other side of the passageway and aimed in the same direction.

“TJ, Lui, watch our rear,” Rade said. “I wouldn’t put it past the security forces to drill a hole in the top of the storage facility in an attempt to come at us from behind.”

TJ and Lui hurried into position behind Rade.

“The rest of you, we defend the Acceptor,” Rade said. “Fret, Manic, set some charges on the device. If we go down, we’re bringing it with us.”

“What about Surus?” Manic asked.

“She’ll have to find another way back to our region of space,” Rade said. “I don’t want this Acceptor falling into the hands of the Greens. If they use it to open a portal to their homeworld, we could be dealing with a new Phant invasion.”

“Why would the Greens want to invade?” Fret said. “I thought their so-called High Council had voted to stop interfering in human affairs.”

“No, they voted to stop interfering with the preparatory activities of the other Phants in the region,” Lui said. “So the door to interfering with humanity has been left wide open. Just because they were once our friends doesn’t mean they won’t suddenly decide it’s in their best interests to invade. Their policies regarding humanity have flip-flopped enough times over the past six months to give a dolphin a belly ache.”

“Or a naked sprinter’s dick a friction burn,” Bender said.

“That’s certainly a lot of flopping,” TJ agreed.

“Your shaft gets chafed!” Bender commented.

Rade kept his eye on the red dots of his overhead map as the security cameras updated the position of the incoming tangos.

Bender fired. Up ahead, a figure in a jumpsuit slumped onto the floor, falling into Rade’s line of sight. A hole appeared in the helmet as Bender unleashed the kill shot.

Rade edged backward, toward the gap in the storage unit’s security door.

Bender suddenly leaped toward Rade. Where he had crouched an instant before a plasma hole burned into the wall. A portion of the concourse was visible beyond it.

Rade returned his aim to the bend. A grenade of some kind dropped into view.

“Smoke!” Rade shouted.

The grenade detonated and the passageway filled with smoke.

Rade switched to echolocation: a squawker began emitting from his jumpsuit. The outline of the passageway appeared through the smoke around him, represented as a white wireframe.

A crouching tango emerged from around the bend. Rade squeezed the trigger and his opponent toppled.

Something wrapped around Rade’s waist and he was dragged rapidly across the floor. He was pulled through the hole in the far wall, and emerged from the smoke into the concourse outside. He was held in the forelimbs of another of those giant spider robots, which clung to the upper exterior of the storage facility. The fifteenth floor walkway was four meters below him.

The robot drew Rade toward the grinding segments of its maw.

He reached into his harness and withdrew the last grenade, but this time when he threw it the robot turned its head aside and the grenade bounced off harmlessly, detonating when it hit the ground below. He was carried toward the grinding maw once more.

“Shit.” He turned the rifle down on the limb that held him, aiming for the servomotor box, and squeezed the trigger.

The appendage loosened its hold, and Rade plunged the four meters to the concourse deck. His strength-enhanced suit took the brunt of the blow, the electroactuators humming in disapproval. He allowed his knees to bend so that he hit rolling, and then clambered to his feet a short distance away.

The robot dropped down hard behind him, and the floor rumbled.

Four independently tracking lasers attached to its back locked onto him instantly.

Limping, Rade ducked into a nearby restaurant as the robot opened fire.

Patrons huddled on the floor around him, hiding behind the tables. Others fled.

A part of his mind wondered what kind of AI would first try to grind a man to death, and failing that, resort to lasers. Another part of him wondered: if the robot was truly part of the station security services, why was it firing at him while he hunkered down inside a packed restaurant, and risking casualties? 

Sure enough, a man fleeing the scene in a long flowing robe happened to run into the crossfire, and was mowed down.

“Rade, where are you?” Manic transmitted.

“A fifteenth floor restaurant,” Rade replied. “I was dragged through a rent burned in the wall. I’m trying to get back... though I’m a bit tied up at the moment.”

Rade scrambled deeper into the restaurant, doing his best to ignore the pain in his thigh, and ducked behind the lounge separator wall. He fired two quick shots, taking out one of the robot’s lasers, but was forced to duck as the remaining turrets focused on him. Boreholes appeared in the separator above him, and he slid lower, scrambling deeper inside.

He heard screams, followed by the crash of plates and glasses—the robot was forcing its way into the restaurant.

Rade crawled past a counter and shoved through a swinging door, emerging in the kitchen area of the restaurant. Flinching in pain, he pulled himself to his feet and went to the stoves. He realized immediately they weren’t gas-based. Too bad.

He hurried deeper inside, searching for a back entrance. Found it.

Limping, he ducked through. He was in a small, white-painted service corridor that linked the shops together. He continued forward, leaving a trail of blood that stood out readily on the spotless floor.

Behind him, the wall broke outward as the spider arrived. Rade took cover in a side corridor and aimed his rifle past the bend.

The spider’s form emerged from the metal fragments of the caving wall.

Rade let off several quick shots, taking down another turret. He was forced to duck behind the bend as the remaining two lasers focused on him; circular bites appeared along the edge of the wall. He dropped, and aimed past again.

The robot was having difficulty fitting into the cramped corridor. It couldn’t retract its legs enough to squeeze inside. It was effectively stonewalled.

Rade withdrew as more shots came in; he quickly crawled backward and scrambled to his feet, retreating. He half ran, half hopped, unable to place too much pressure on his right leg. He instructed his exoskeleton to compensate by upping the strength on the right side, and that helped.

He glanced at his overhead map. He was still in signal range of his companions. Though that wouldn’t last for long, especially with the InterGalNet denied to his team.

He reached the exit to the service corridor, opened it a crack, and carefully peered past.

A klaxon was sounding outside. He noticed that the walkway was clear of people, as were most of the shops. He spotted a few people hunkering down in some of the stores, but the security grilles were quickly closing to seal them off from the rest of the station. The escalator leading down to the fourteenth floor was just to the right.

Rade tentatively opened the swinging door wider, and checked both sides with his rifle.

Two men in jumpsuits topped the escalator. The odd colorations and patterns on the suits shouted mercenaries.

Rade released a quick shot, downing one of them. The second tango dove behind a trash bin.

Rade readjusted his aim and squeezed the trigger. The man fell.

But then four more mercenaries fanned out from the escalator. Rade wasn’t able to track them quickly enough, and they took cover behind various nearby objects: a pillar, the garbage bin, a railing.

Rade was forced to duck inside as laser fire came in. Bore holes appeared in the swinging door beside him.

“We can’t hold!” TJ sent. His signal cut in and out; Rade was almost out of range.

“Don’t give up your lives!” Rade replied. “Join me if you can... leap through that plasma rent. Bender will have it marked on his map. And then detonate the charges on the Acceptor.”

“We’re pinned down,” TJ replied a moment later. “We can’t make it to the rent. We’re going to have to detonate the Acceptor while we’re in the vicinity.”

“No,” Rade said, feeling a rising panic deep inside him. “Hold. I’ll get there!”

“Boss, we’ll be overrun in moments,” TJ said. “Gah!”

“TJ,” Rade said. “Do you read? TJ?” That panic had neared boiling point.

“TJ’s down,” Bender said. “If you want us to blow the Acceptor, now’s the time.”

“No,” Rade said. He refused to allow his team to die for the Acceptor. Without Surus or Noctua, the Greens wouldn’t have the necessary linkage codes they needed to access it anyway.

“Wait,” Lui said. “The tangos are backing off. I think they’re worried about damaging the Acceptor. Or maybe they’ve hacked our comms?”

Rade felt an immense relief. He glanced at the overhead map, focusing on the storage facility: the red dots had retreated a short ways down the corridor, away from the particular storage unit, as determined by the facility’s hacked security cameras. Apparently the cameras outside the facility weren’t in TJ’s pocket, because the tangos didn’t update near Rade’s position.

He pushed his laser rifle through the swinging doors and switched his point of view to that of the scope. The tangos near the escalator hadn’t backed off, and remained in cover behind the different objects. Rade moved the targeting reticle between the different hides, but couldn’t get a clear shot.

Why aren’t they trying to close?

And then he realized they were likely attempting to outflank him.

He glanced over his shoulder, but the long service corridor was empty behind him. For the moment.

He retreated from the swinging doors and stood up. Flinching at the pain caused by each step, he quickly made his way back through the passageway. He paused near the laser-riddled bend and peered past. The spider robot was no longer present.

It was then that a voice from his distant past came over the comm.

“Rage?” the voice said. “Is that you? What the hell are you doing, abetting this traitorous criminal?”

“Master Chief Bourbonjack?” Rade said.

nine

Rade couldn’t believe it.

Bourbonjack was once the master chief of his platoon. Rade had served under him for many years, when Bourbonjack had been the platoon’s acting chief. Rade had once thought the man would never leave the military. In fact, he was still serving when Rade retired.

“Just Bourbonjack, now,” the old man replied. “In the flesh. Or rather, those parts of me that aren’t bio-printed!”

Rade spotted mercenaries approaching far down the corridor to his right. More movement drew his eye to the left. The other mercenaries had entered via the swinging door. They were crouched, advancing in single file formation, their laser rifles raised to eye level. 

Rade kicked in a side door in the service corridor and dove inside. He hurried through a small room full of fabrics set aside for 3D printing, and tried another door. Locked. He attempted to kick it in with his strength-enhanced suit, but the door was reinforced, and refused to budge. All that repeated kicking efforts did was cause the pain to flare in his right thigh.

Rade was trapped.

“Look, Rage, we got you and your team surrounded,” Bourbonjack said.

“It’s Rade, now,” Rade replied. “I don’t use my callsign anymore.”

“Fine,” Bourbonjack said. “Listen to me very carefully. I’m working for the Greens who’ve remained behind in this part of the galaxy. They harbor no ill will against you and your team, especially after all you’ve done for them. Your client is the traitor here, not you. Surrender the rogue Green to us, and they’ll let your team go. You have my word.”

Rade thought of the Artificial women that had been executed in a long line at Surus’ base of operations.

“How do we know you won’t do to us what you did to the women at the base on the Franco-Italian moon?” Rade asked.

“Women, what women?” Bourbonjack said. “You mean the Artificials? I heard about what Ghal and his team did. I wasn’t there, but apparently those Artificials refused to make the Titans stand down, so Ghal began executing them, hoping that one of them would see reason and surrender peacefully. Stubborn fools.”

“You know that AIs are sentient, don’t you?” Rade asked. “Self-aware?” He retreated to the door he had kicked in, and shoved his rifle past to aim at the closer mercenaries who were slowly making their way forward.

“You’re going to give me hell for the death of a bunch of robots?” Bourbonjack said. “Something I wasn’t even involved in? Is this really the Rade I used to know? Come on, you owe me some credit. If I was there, and those were actual women, my team would have never fired. I’m the one who should be pissed, here. You’ve killed five members of my team so far. Human members at that.”

“But you’re not pissed.” Rade kept his crosshairs centered around one of the approaching men in jumpsuits. “Because you don’t care about them. You hardly know them, do you? They’re just random mercenaries the Greens assigned to you, and told you to lead.”

“Wrong, they’re my men, and I knew them well enough,” Bourbonjack growled. “Just as I know you. By the way, I have someone on the comm who would like to speak with you. I’m putting them on now.”

Rade frowned, wondering what game Bourbonjack was playing. Who could he possibly have that would want to speak with him? Maybe someone else from the days when Rade served on the Teams?

“Rade,” Tahoe said.

Rade felt the dread rising in the pit of his stomach. “Tahoe? What’s going on?”

“They’ve captured the ship,” Tahoe said.

“What?” Rade said. “No. Please tell me Shaw’s all right.”

“She’s fine,” Tahoe said. “We were hit by a surprise attack as soon as we left the station. A mercenary ship broke away from the docking area when we did, and took out our engines, then our lasers. They threatened to destroy us completely if we didn’t stand down. I was this close to launching the missiles, but then I remembered your children, and everything I promised you about keeping them safe. So I surrendered, and allowed the mercenary craft to tow us back to the station. So far, none of the mercenaries have boarded.”

“And they won’t,” Bourbonjack said. “As long as your boss does as we ask of him.”

“Tell your men not to get any closer to me,” Rade said, still observing the mercenaries in the service corridor. The hired guns froze a moment later. “Good. You know that Dakota military and police vessels will be heading here in droves from the outskirts of the system at this very moment, right? Responding to your heinous attack...”

“Actually, they won’t,” Bourbonjack said. “We’ve disabled the nearby comm nodes, and timed the attack so that the station was out of view from the rest of the system. There will be no police. I’m afraid you have no choice but to surrender the traitorous Green. And give us the Acceptor. Do so, and your family, and your men, can go.”

“I want to accept your terms,” Rade said. “I really do. But I don’t have your so-called traitor.”

“What do you mean you don’t have the traitor?” Bourbonjack said. “Then where the hell is she?”

“She took the Acceptor to some faraway planet,” Rade said.

“Ah,” Bourbonjack said. “Fine. Surrender the Acceptor, and I’ll grant you similar freedom.”

Rade thought of Shaw, and the twins.

“You promise to leave my ship alone?” Rade asked.

“I do,” Bourbonjack said.

Sorry, Surus.

“Men,” Rade transmitted. “Lower your weapons.”

“What happened to never giving up?” Bender said over the comm.

“There comes a time when surrender is the only option,” Rade said.

Like when you have the lives of your two newborn children at stake.

RADE WAS LYING in the Argonaut’s sickbay. The mercenary Corsair had towed the vessel into the station’s dry dock as a favor, so that repairs to the engines and weapons could begin. The current repair estimate stood at about a week, and Bourbonjack had already promised the Greens would cover the cost. That was probably a good thing, considering that Rade had no money now that Surus was gone. What would happen when she returned through the Acceptor, he had no idea. The Greens would likely chuck her into the core of a star.

The mercenaries had escorted Rade and his men back to the ship, and allowed them to board unmolested via an entry tube that threaded through the dry dock. A mercenary guard was stationed outside the airlock, but none of them were allowed aboard the ship as part of the surrender deal.

Why would they even want to come aboard, after all? The mercenaries had what they wanted: they’d captured the Acceptor for the Greens, and the weapons cache.

Rade wondered why the station’s AI had allowed the mercenaries to take control. It seemed obvious that the AI was compromised by the Greens, allowing the mercenaries to take full control of the security forces. Rade thought of the spider robot that had attacked; that was an example of a unit that probably belonged to the station. The question was, why hadn’t Surus detected any Phant presence aboard the station.

Rade turned his head to the side. TJ lay on the bed against the bulkhead across from him. The Weavers had finished working on Rade and TJ’s injuries a while ago, and both of them lay recuperating.

Rade sat up on one elbow and turned to look at the stacked cribs. Shaw was there, next to the babies, rocking each crib. He thought she was humming softly, but he couldn’t hear anything as two-way noise cancelers around the area prevented the infants from disturbing the patients and vice versa.

It was good—no, fantastic—to see Shaw and the little ones again. He was extremely relieved they were all right.

Rade lay back down and glanced at Tahoe, who sat at the base of the bed.

“How are you feeling?” Tahoe said.

“Fine,” Rade said. Then he added, almost as an afterthought: “Physically.”

“And mentally?” Tahoe asked.

Rade closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I surrendered. Something I never thought I would do.”

Tahoe nodded slowly. “Chalk it up to fatherhood. See? I told you it changes you.”

“I surrendered to save the lives of the men as well,” Rade insisted.

“Oh I know,” Tahoe replied. “I’m just saying... fatherhood... now that you’re a parent, your kids are going to weigh on your every decision.”

“I’m not sure about every decision,” Rade said.

“Most of them,” Tahoe insisted.

“Maybe.” Rade scratched his chin, then lay back. “Bourbonjack.”

“Uh huh,” Tahoe said.

Rade stared off into space. “Never thought I’d hear from the old man again. At least, not like this.”

“It was a surprise to me, too,” Tahoe said.

“How many times has he saved my skin?” Rade said.

“Just as many times as you rescued his,” Tahoe said.

Rade chuckled softly. “So essentially you’re trying to tell me, he and I are square?”

“That’s right,” Tahoe said. “You don’t owe him a thing. Remember that if he comes asking for more.”

“You think he will?” Rade said.

“His mercenaries haven’t left the station yet,” Tahoe said. “And they’re still keeping the Argonaut under guard. While he claims that we’re free, it feels a whole lot like we’re prisoners more than guests.”

Rade sighed. “I just wish I hadn’t sealed our client’s doom. Surus is the only Green who still wants to help humanity. The others, it’s obvious they don’t give a damn about us anymore. They only care about their relations with the remaining Phant factions.”

“Maybe they don’t want her,” Tahoe said. “Maybe all they want is the Acceptor.”

“As soon as she returns, they’re taking her, mark me,” Rade said. “And it’s my fault.”

“You did what you had to do to save us,” Tahoe said. “Your men. Shaw. The twins. You’d make the same choice every time.”

“I know,” Rade said. “And that’s what’s killing me. What’s worse... you talked about fatherhood? Well, if I’m honest with myself, I know I’d betray you if it came to it. To save the twins. And I hate myself for that thought. “

Tahoe wore a contemplative expression. “You know, back when I lived on the reserve—”

“Oh no, another reserve story,” Rade said.

Tahoe smiled patiently. “If you don’t want to hear it...”

“No, sorry,” Rade said. “Go ahead.”

“Well, I remember hearing about an elephant bull that lived in the nearby nature preserve. The bull had recently fathered a baby elephant, see. Residents came to visit from kilometers around to see this baby elephant, and the bull always stood proudly by, watching the attention lavished on the mother and his young one.

“Now, unfortunately, that nature preserve suffered from a poaching problem. The hunters came every few months to cull the weakest for their ivory. A few weeks after the birth, the poachers made their rounds and chased down the herd. They fired, injuring the mother. She lingered near the baby elephant protectively. As the rest of the herd abandoned them, the bull stopped and turned back. The powerful animal maneuvered himself in front of his family. He pawed at the ground violently with his forelegs, as if preparing to rampage. And then something crazy happened.

“As the poachers neared, the bull instantly relaxed. He walked forward calmly, away from the mother and child, and then stopped five meters in front of them. While all the guns of the poachers were aimed at him, the beautiful elephant calmly lowered his head, offering himself up to the chopping block. The bull didn’t understand that his sacrifice was unnecessary—the poachers would have never targeted the baby: too young. And as for the mother, well, the poachers would have taken her regardless of his sacrifice. The bull could have escaped, or he could have fought. But instead, the bull was ready to give up everything to save them. The elephant chose to make the ultimate sacrifice, hoping that they would spare his family.

“The mother watched nearby with her baby, tears streaming down her cheeks. I didn’t think elephants could cry, but they have some sort of tear ducts, apparently. Have to keep the eyes moist, after all. Maybe she simply had something in her eye. In any case, it was a terrible sight to see. That bull was a prized specimen, with tusks so big, they would have scored a fortune on the black market. But the poachers, touched by what they saw, couldn’t bring themselves to kill him. They left the bull and his family in peace, and chased down the rest of the herd instead, choosing another animal. Going forward, they never targeted that bull and his family again, and soon stopped hunting the beautiful animals entirely. They became their guardians. Gamekeepers.”

“How do you know so much about those poachers?” Rade said.

“Because I was one of them,” Tahoe said quietly. “Don’t judge me too harshly. I was young and stupid then.”

“Well that was a pretty sad story,” Rade said. “Though I suppose it ended happily. For the bull, anyway.”

“Yes,” Tahoe said. “My point is, some fathers will sacrifice everything for their children. And I mean everything. I’m sure if you could choose between Surus and yourself, you would have willingly turned yourself in to the Greens. Even if it meant the children losing their father.”

Rade considered that. “I hesitate to agree with you. I can’t imagine letting the twins grow up without a father. Then again, I’m not sure how good of a dad I’ll be anyway. Look at me so far. I’ve already let Shaw do most of the work. Does that make me a bad parent?”

“It makes you a busy one,” Tahoe said.

“Again, that could be interpreted as simply another sign of a bad parent,” Rade said. “One who never makes time for his kids.”

Tahoe smiled. “You make time. I’ve seen you. Hell, you’ve spent more time with your kids so far then I ever did when they were young. I’d go away on deployments for years at a time, and return to find children I didn’t recognize. And believe me when I tell you, the feeling was mutual: they didn’t recognize me, either. I’m still away for far longer than I should be.”

“Maybe you should think about bringing Tepin aboard the Argonaut,” Rade said.

Tahoe looked at him with an astonished expression, then he erupted in loud laughter.

TJ rolled over and blinked his eyes as if just waking up. “What’s so funny?”

Tahoe managed to restrain himself enough to say: “Rade wants me to bring my family aboard!”

TJ chuckled. “That is pretty funny. I think Tahoe comes here to get away from them, more than anything else.”

“Oh,” Rade said.

“No no,” Tahoe said. “I love them. But seriously, to bring them aboard this ship? You know how dangerous it is?”

Rade frowned. “Unfortunately, I know. But try telling that to her.”

He nodded toward the cribs.

Shaw must have realized they were talking about her, because on cue she got up and stepped past the noise canceling area.

“What’s so funny?” Shaw said.

“Nothing,” Rade said quickly.

“Rade thinks I should bring Tepin and the kids aboard,” Tahoe said.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Shaw said. “It could give Alex and Sil some friends aboard.”

“Too bad there’s a slight age difference between them,” Rade said.

“Just a slight one,” Tahoe agreed. “And there’s also the small problem that we don’t really have room. Where would they stay?”

“What about the cargo bay?” TJ said. “Now that we’ve given up Surus, it’s free.”

“You’re not really going to abandon her, are you?” Shaw asked.

“What choice do we have?” Rade said. “The Greens essentially have us hostage. I’m not going to risk anything happening to my crew. Or my kids.”

Shaw exhaled slowly. “We have to go back for her, at some point. Once the ship is repaired. We have to retrieve the Acceptor.”

Rade hesitated. “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”

“Is it because Bourbonjack is in charge of the security detail?” Shaw said. “And you’re afraid of going up against him?”

“It’s not so much I’m afraid,” Rade said. “As I have a lot of respect for him. At least I used to. But after seeing what happened to those Artificials at the base...”

“Murdered, in cold blood,” Shaw said.

“That’s essentially it,” Rade said. “Though he claims he wasn’t there. And he doesn’t actually see it as murder. He’s always looked at AIs as mere machines. Something underneath humankind.”

“Even though most of them have advanced to an intelligence level far beyond humans?” Shaw said.

“Don’t tell Bax that,” Tahoe said.

“Too late,” the Argonaut’s AI commented.

“Try not to get a big head,” Rade said.

“It’s not possible,” Bax said. “Considering that I don’t actually have a physical head.”

“Back on topic,” Shaw said. “I don’t see why you should have any respect for Bourbonjack. He almost killed you and the men out there.”

“That’s because he didn’t know who we were,” Rade insisted.

“Or so he says,” Shaw replied.

“We killed some of his men, too,” Rade said. “That didn’t help matters. We’re actually lucky, I think, that he showed restraint. He didn’t have to. Which is why I respect him.”

Shaw sighed. “Okay, well, I still don’t trust him.”

“You don’t know him like we do,” Rade said.

“You think you know him,” Shaw said. “But how long ago was it since you served under him? Fifteen years?”

“Twelve,” Rade clarified.

“There you go,” Shaw said. “A lot can happen to someone in twelve years. Especially in the military. Soldiers and their commanders can change fairly rapidly. You know that as much as I. Combat... does things to people.”

Rade didn’t have an answer to that. He met the eyes of Tahoe and TJ, but both of the men lowered their gazes, not wanting to contest Shaw. They knew she was right.

An alert appeared on the lower right of Rade’s display.

“Bourbonjack is tapping in now,” Rade said.

“Hopefully to say goodbye,” Shaw said.

“No,” Tahoe said. “Like I told Rade already, he wants something.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” Rade said.

ten

Rade accepted the call. His Implant projected a hologram of Bourbonjack into the sickbay so that it appeared the man was standing before the bed with his hands clasped behind his back and looking down on him. Rade authorized everyone in sickbay to view the hologram, however he hid their presence so that as far as Bourbonjack was concerned he addressed Rade alone.

Bourbonjack wore camo fatigues whose digital patterning was similar to that of the mercenary jumpsuits. He was a grizzled man with dark, tilted eyes set above a hooked beak of a nose. The skin of his face was wrinkled and weatherworn, even more so than Rade remembered. Rade was reminded of a prune set out in the sun for too long.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Bourbonjack said, staring at him with those penetrating eyes. “Now that you’re out of that jumpsuit I can get a chance to really look at you. And you haven’t changed a bit. Physically, anyway. Though I miss the beard. You look like some baby-faced kid fresh out of bootcamp without it.”

“You haven’t changed either,” Rade said. “Except, of course, for the absent mustache. And the extra wrinkles. You know, I never heard of anyone using rejuvenation treatments to add crow’s feet around their eyes.”

Bourbonjack chuckled. “Touché. I’m just sorry we had to meet this way.”

“I am, too,” Rade said. “We were never supposed to be on the opposite ends of rifle scopes.”

“No we weren’t,” Bourbonjack said. “But that’s what happens when you retire and become a mercenary.”

“I’m not a mercenary, by the way,” Rade said. “I run a security consulting company.”

“Sure,” Bourbonjack said. “But that’s just a euphemism for mercenary, isn’t it?”

“Not in my book,” Rade said.

“You’ll have to let me read that book sometime,” Bourbonjack said.

“I will,” Rade replied. “Once I finish writing it.”

“How’s Bender, Tahoe, and the gang?” Bourbonjack said.

“Fine, they haven’t taken any injuries,” Rade said. “Only TJ and I were hurt. But the Weavers took care of us.”

“I meant, how has the old team been since last we met?” Bourbonjack said.

“Oh,” Rade said. “You called because you want to catch up, is that it?”

Bourbonjack smiled, and those eyes, even though they were holograms, seemed to peer right through him. “I don’t remember you being so lippy when you were on the Teams.”

“That’s because I was your subordinate then,” Rade said. “And actually had to behave myself. Now that I’m out of the Teams, I say pretty much what comes to mind, as do the rest of the men. Especially Bender. He’s really taken to civilian life.”

“Good to hear,” Bourbonjack said. “I have, too, I suppose. It’s a funny thing, being able to use your own judgment and apply your own morals to a situation, rather than simply following orders. If that had been a military-sanctioned fight between you and I back there, no doubt one of us would not have emerged.”

“It would’ve been you,” Rade said.

“I don’t think so,” Bourbonjack said. “We had you outnumbered, and surrounded.”

“You would have lost the mission objective, though,” Rade said. “My men were prepared to blow up the Acceptor. Even if it meant their lives.”

“You would actually do that for this former client of yours?” Bourbonjack said. “The Green traitor?”

“We were definitely considering it,” Rade replied. “We’ve been through a lot together.”

“And yet you chose not to in the end,” Bourbonjack said. “That speaks volumes about your relationship with the traitor.”

“Does it?” Rade said. “That depends on your point of view.” He shook his head. “Your team got lucky, that’s all there is to it. We thought the Greens were still a day away from the station. We tracked three ships, a tanker and two Corsairs, changing course to intercept. But I guess I should have suspected the Greens had somehow placed a team on the station ahead of us.”

“It would have been wise to suspect that, on your part,” Bourbonjack said. “Because you’re right, the Greens already had an agent in this system. His name is Falon. My client. When it became clear you were headed for this system, Falon guessed you would come to this station, as it was the only free port in the area. Falon flew to the station ahead of your vessel and, supported by my team of mercenaries, assumed control of the security forces: there are no anti-Phant devices protecting the AI cores of Dakota stations.

“After taking over, we began subtly searching for the Acceptor, not wanting to alert any guardians your rogue Green might have placed. I suppose I should have suggested the storage facility earlier, but I’m paid to fight, not think. In any case, we ceased searching a few days before you arrived, again because we didn’t want to tip off any of your guardians.”

“I guess what threw me was Surus told us she couldn’t detect any Phant presence aboard,” Rade said. “That’s why I assumed the Greens hadn’t beat us here.”

“Surus?” Bourbonjack said. “That’s our traitor? The one who fought within your golden mech in the final battle of the First Alien War?”

“You mean you didn’t know all this time?” Rade said.

“No,” Bourbonjack said. “Falon didn’t tell us which Green we were hunting. All we knew was she was a traitor.”

“Does that change your opinion of the so-called traitor in any way?” Rade asked.

“No,” Bourbonjack said. “She’s wanted by some Green High Council for crimes committed against other Greens.”

“I’m surprised you even remember her,” Rade said.

“I remember every one of the Greens who fought with us that day,” Bourbonjack said. “Their names are graven into my memories, along with those of my own men, and those who died.” He was quiet for a time, staring downward. Then he looked up. “You shouldn’t have changed your ship’s registry information. I had no idea it was the Argonaut. I would have held my men back if I knew it was you. I would have tried to get you to surrender much earlier. And I certainly wouldn’t have allowed Falon to sic his robot spiders on you.”

“Well, what’s done is done,” Rade said. “No one died, thankfully.”

“Though if someone had, I’d never be able to forgive myself,” Bourbonjack said.

“Neither would I,” Rade said.

“Who, yourself, or me?” Bourbonjack asked.

“Both.” Rade paused. “You never did answer my implied question.”

“Which one?”

“Surus wasn’t able to sense the presence of any Phants aboard,” Rade said. “Why?”

“Ah.” Bourbonjack’s hologram nodded. “That. Shortly before your arrival, Falon departed in a shuttle, knowing that the traitor, your Surus, would detect him when she came aboard.”

“Damn,” Rade said. “Nice move.”

“Thanks,” Bourbonjack said. “Though I didn’t come up with the plan. I really have no idea what the capabilities of these Greens are, in regards to one another. Their ability to sense each other, the range of that ability, and so forth.”

“Neither do I, really,” Rade said. “So when are you going to tell me why you’re tapping in? And I assume the answer will explain why you’ve kept a guard posted outside the Argonaut’s airlock.”

“All right, down to business then,” Bourbonjack said. “I have a favor to ask of you. Or rather, more of a demand. Not made by me, mind you, but my client. Falon.”

“I thought you said we would be free to go once we surrendered?” Rade said. “So you lied, then.”

“Yup, I lied,” Bourbonjack agreed.

“Wasn’t it you who taught me that a man is only as good as his word?” Rade said.

Bourbonjack pursed his lips. “Nope. Wasn’t me. That man you thought you knew on the Teams? You never did. In fact, he’s long gone.”

Rade glanced at Shaw. She looked at him with an I-told-you-so expression.

“Fine, so what is it your client demands of me?” Rade said.

“Falon wants you to teleport to the conquered world via the Acceptor, and capture Surus,” Bourbonjack explained. “You’re the only one who can guarantee her ensnarement. If our team attempts the op, the odds of her escaping are very high. Also, apparently this conquered world is filled with strange creatures: who can say what alien allies she’d bring down on my men.”

“Why not just wait until Surus returns through the Acceptor on her own?” Rade said.

“She will likely send a scout ahead of her, first,” Bourbonjack said. “That Noctua robot you described.”

“That’s fine,” Rade said. “Just make everything look as innocuous as possible. Put the Acceptor back in the storage compartment. Then stun her when she appears after Noctua.”

“We considered that,” Bourbonjack said. “But Falon doesn’t want to risk waiting until her return. He worries that she will acquire certain technology from that conquered world, tech that will protect her from the stun devices of this universe.”

“That’s not what she told me she was seeking...” Rade said.

“Did you ever consider that she didn’t tell you everything?” Bourbonjack said.

“Good point,” Rade said. Surus did in fact have a bad habit of not telling him everything. “Though I’m not sure I can agree to help.”

“Is it because of the pay?” Bourbonjack said. “Your men will be fully compensated of course. Falon and the Greens have agreed to pay triple whatever stipend Surus is currently offering you.”

“No, it’s not that,” Rade said. “She is our client. It would be wrong to betray her like this. And she believes what she is doing is right. That she’s helping humanity. And I believe that, too.”

“Probably a false belief,” Bourbonjack said. “These Greens, I’ve learned they mostly only really look out for themselves, not humanity.”

“Not her,” Rade said. “She’s different. She cares.”

“That’s what they all say,” Bourbonjack commented. “So you won’t do it? Even for triple pay?”

“Not willingly,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack nodded slowly. “You asked why a guard was posted at your airlock...”

“Oh-oh,” Rade said. “Here it comes. The betrayal of my former master chief.”

Those words seemed to hurt Bourbonjack, because his expression crumpled slightly as if he was in actual physical pain. But his features became serene a moment later.

“I’m sure you’ve realized by now that your men, and your family, are still essentially hostages?” Bourbonjack said. “At our mercy? The security forces of this station are completely ours. If we don’t want your ship to go, you’re not going. In fact, we can cease repairs whenever we want. And your missile inventory is useless in dry dock.”

Rade forced a smile. He was wondering when Bourbonjack would play that card. The man was right, of course. The mercenaries hadn’t towed the ship back to the station and stuffed them into dry dock for repairs out of goodwill alone: by doing so, they prevented the Argonaut from launching the missiles. If Rade did fire them in the closed quarters of the repair dock, sure he’d inflict major damage, but he’d blow up his own ship in the process.

Rade glanced at Shaw once again.

Bourbonjack picked up on the gesture immediately. “Shaw is listening in now, isn’t she?”

“She is,” Rade agreed. “As are a few members of my crew.”

“Good,” Bourbonjack said. “They need to hear this. Do this for her. For your kids.”

“So you’re going to use my kids against me,” Rade said. “Blackmail me.”

Bourbonjack sighed. “Look, it’s not me. I’m following the orders of my client here.”

“And yet you’re acting as his black hand,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack looked away.

“So much for following your own moral code now that you’re a civilian, huh?” Rade pressed.

Bourbonjack met his eyes angrily. “I am following my code. This Green of yours is a murderer. She kills her own kind. Falon told me she who we hunt already trapped a Green in the core of a star. And from what I know, once a Phant is stuck inside a star, it’s never getting out.”

“She did it because the Green you mentioned turned on us,” Rade said. “Creating a robot swarm weapon that nearly destroyed a Russian colony. If it wasn’t for Surus’ help, that colony, and the five million people living there, would be gone. Wiped from existence by a horde of micro robots.”

“While that may be the case, the Greens refuse to help humanity further until she is captured and pays for her crimes,” Bourbonjack said.

“Actually, their High Council has ordered them to hunt her down,” Rade said, “precisely because she is the only one still helping humanity in this region of space, by hunting the remaining Phants. The Greens have lied to you. They have no intention of helping us against the impending Phant threat. They’ve signed some sort of peace treaty with the other Phants, promising not to interfere. I suspect they plan to eventually abet them in some way, but that’s another story.”

“Even if any of that were true,” Bourbonjack said. “I still have to look out for my men. I’ve got a ship to pay for, and salaries to cover. I need the money. I’m sorry. If you won’t help Falon, I can’t guarantee the safety of your family. But if you do, I promise you, when you return with the rogue, you’ll be free to go. This will be the last thing we ever ask of you. You’ll never see me, or any other Greens, ever again. And as I mentioned, Falon is willing to pay triple what Surus is offering you.”

“I think you’re bluffing,” Rade said. “I can’t believe you’d actually harm Shaw, or my kids.”

“I certainly wouldn’t,” Bourbonjack said. “Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the alien I work for. I’ll certainly try to dissuade him from doing anything nefarious, but I’ll repeat, in case you didn’t hear me the first time: if you won’t help, I can’t guarantee the safety of your family.”

Rade stared at Bourbonjack for several long moments. Then he glanced at Shaw. She shook her head subtly, as if telling him no, don’t do it. His gaze finally shifted to the twins.

He couldn’t risk anything happening to his family.

He felt his features harden.

Tahoe was right. Fatherhood has changed me.

Rade looked back at Bourbonjack. No, not looked. Glared. “I’ll do it. But I don’t want any of your blood money.”

“Fine by me,” Bourbonjack said. “I’ll keep the money for my own men.”

As Rade continued to glare at him, Bourbonjack slumped, seeming to feel the full weight of what he was doing for the first time. An anguished look flashed across his features, then faded.

“Man,” Bourbonjack said. “I could really use a cold glass of Bourbon right about now. I’m sorry Rade, I really am.”

In answer, Rade merely disconnected.

eleven

Rade chose Tahoe, TJ, Bender, Manic and Harlequin to accompany him on the betrayal mission, along with combat robots Algorithm and Brat. Fret, Shaw, and Lui would remain aboard the Argonaut with the rest of the Centurions, protecting the twins. Rade didn’t entirely trust the Greens, even if Bourbonjack swore that nothing would happen to his children while he was gone. Rade had ordered those who remained behind to use deadly force to repel any boarding parties.

Rade and his selected group were escorted by two of Bourbonjack’s mercenaries. The Argonauts were weaponless, and wore their strength-enhancing jumpsuits, absent any jetpacks. The mercs led them into the flight concourse and through a docking tube to one of the Corsairs. They entered the ship’s airlock and made their way through the tight passages. Every now and then the team passed a crew member, who flattened him or herself against the bulkheads to let the group pass.

“Look at these scrawny little bitches,” Bender commented loudly as they marched by two camo-wearing mercenaries. “They remind me of Fret.”

“Hey, I’m still on the comm,” Fret transmitted from the Argonaut.

“I know you are, bitchboy,” Bender said. “Why do you think I brought it up? But man, just look at them. The biceps on this one are miniscule. I’ll need a magnifying glass to see them. Bourbonjack must be hiring the cheapest help he can get. Either that, or the stock available at the get-your-bitch auction must have been exceedingly low this year. I’d be surprised if any of these mofos can even aim a rifle in manual mode. Bitches are probably like, manual mode? What’s dat?” His voice shifted upward in pitch as he continued. “I’m scared. I need an AI to babysit my shooting, because I suck so bad at it. Mommy, do I have to shoot the big strong man? I want his manliness inside me instead. He’s so big, he’s so strong, I think I’m in love with that afro!”

One of the mercenaries broke away from the bulkhead at those words and crashed into Bender. Punching away, the merc sent him plunging to the deck in a blur of fists.

Bender easily deflected the continual punches, as his assailant wasn’t wearing a strength-enhancing jumpsuit like him. He started laughing. “Bitch got some spunk!”

“Hey, you know, I think that really is a woman,” TJ said.

Bender stopped for a second to gaze at his short-haired attacker. “Well I’ll be a pussy-whipped giraffe! By Jove, Watson, I think you do be right!”

The woman’s fist found his open faceplate, smashing his left eye.

“Hey, damn it!” Bender caught her wrist.

Her other arm came flying in, but he stopped it, too.

He smiled, flashing that golden grille. “Hey baby. When this mission is over, we should continue this conversation in private.”

“Up yours,” the mercenary said.

“You want to, pretty thing?” Bender said. “Cuz I got time now. You got a crib where we can lay? Maybe a storage room?”

“Let her go, Bender,” Rade said.

“Aw, come on boss,” Bender said. “We were just starting to play.”

But he slid her off and stood.

The mercenary rose as well, and straightened her fatigues before angrily shoving past the others.

“I like her,” Bender said.

“I know you do,” TJ said.

“Once more we witness firsthand another of Bender’s failed pick up attempts,” Manic said. “As usual, you’re a master at showing us how it’s done.”

“Hey Manic, come here,” Bender said. “My fist wants to tell something to your teeth.”

“My teeth are going to have to pass on that,” Manic said.

The tender region around Bender’s left eye was starting to swell so that he could barely keep it open.

“Bender, do we have to stop so you can get that looked at?” Rade asked.

“No, it’s fine,” Bender said. “I use my right eye to shoot.”

“You got to stop trying to date our clients, or other mercs,” TJ said. “What you got to do is find yourself a nice stripper girl, like Manic did, and settle down.”

“We saw how well that worked out for Manic,” Tahoe said.

“I was joking,” TJ said.

“Hey, I’m very happy with my stripper,” Manic said.

“Happy sending her monthly payments, you mean?” Bender said.

In a few moments the Argonauts stepped into the cargo hold of the Corsair. There were more mercenaries present, along with Centurions. They were guarding the Acceptor, which had been placed in the center of the room.

Bourbonjack stood patiently beside the metallic disk of the teleporter.

“The old team,” Bourbonjack said, grinning widely. “It’s good to see you all.”

“You too,” Manic said. “Except for the part about you blackmailing us to betray our own client.”

Bourbonjack’s smile faded; he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something more, but then simply shrugged instead.

“What’s the matter, cat got your tongue, Gramps?” Bender said. “Whoops. I meant Master Chief. Did I actually say that??” He acted all chagrined.

“Gramps suits me just fine,” Bourbonjack said. “I’m not your master chief anymore.”

“You can say that again,” Manic said. “We haven’t reported to you in, what, twelve years?”

“Something like that.” Bourbonjack turned to the armory that was open beside him. “Here, got some presents for you.” He reached inside and began tossing laser rifles to each member of the group.

When he reached Rade, he handed over an ordinary laser weapon, followed by another rifle that differed slightly from the others in that it had long strips of what looked like sound-dampening material affixed to the barrel.

“A stun rifle?” Rade asked.

“Our version of one, yes,” Bourbonjack said. “You can fire it from up to two hundred meters away. And upon impact, the Phant will be stunned for at least five minutes.”

“That’s better than what Surus came up with,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack shrugged. “Falon is good at taking existing tech and improving it.”

Rade strapped the stun rifle to his shoulder, and kept the other weapon in hand. He accepted two of the frag grenades that Bourbonjack handed out next, along with an M1120 demolition block wrapped in Mylar, and attached them to his harness.

“Military grade,” Rade said, nodding toward the explosive brick.

“Of course,” Bourbonjack said. “I still got my contacts on the Teams.”

Rade smiled. “I hope the poor bastards who sold you these don’t get caught.”

Bourbonjack shrugged. “If they do, I’ll just hire them when they get out of prison.”

“You really have changed,” Rade said.

“For the better,” Bourbonjack said. “I’m free of all rules and regulations now. And don’t you try to act all holier than thou. You’re wearing military-grade jumpsuits. Accompanied by two military-grade Centurions. I wonder where you got those, perchance?”

“Not from the Teams, but your point is taken.” Rade turned his gaze on the Acceptor. “So is there anything in particular you want us to do while we’re out there?”

“Not really,” Bourbonjack said. “Find the rogue Green. Capture her. Bring her back. Go free. Never see me again.”

“What about Noctua?” Rade asked.

“Who?” Bourbonjack said.

“The little bitch!” Bender said.

Bourbonjack’s brows drew together in confusion.

“The robot owl,” Rade clarified.

“Ah,” Bourbonjack said. “Falon told me about that thing. My client can extract the Acceptor linkage codes from the host Surus is using, so if you can get the owl, great, but if not, it doesn’t matter.”

“You do know,” Rade said. “That once Falon has the linkage codes, he’ll be able to summon Phants from all over the galaxy, right?”

“He’s assured me the Greens want the Acceptor only for safekeeping,” Bourbonjack said.

“Phant assurances,” Rade said. “Those have proven hollow in days past. If you’re wrong, this could be the start of the next Phant invasion. Seven hundred years early.”

In answer, Bourbonjack merely beckoned toward the Acceptor. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“None of your bitches are coming with us?” Bender said. “They yellow or something?”

Bourbonjack pursed his lips. “If your team arrives with any unknown members, Surus will know something is awry.”

“Awry,” Bender said. “The Bourbonjack I know would’ve never used a word like that. Awry. That’s a word for pussies. And I still say your bitches are yellow.”

“Ah, Bender,” Bourbonjack said. “I’ve missed you.”

“And my asshole has missed you,” Bender said, flashing that golden grille.

“You used to bend over and take it hard from me, didn’t you?” Bourbonjack said.

“You were so very good at it,” Bender said. “But now it’s my turn!”

Bender jumped on Bourbonjack and began dry humping his backside.

Some of the mercenaries trained their weapons at the duo in shock, unsure of what to do. Others merely looked on in amusement.

“Now now,” Bourbonjack said. “Down boy. Down.” He gently, but forcefully, made Bender dismount.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Bender said. “One of the pluses of not being on the Teams anymore: I can mount my former master chief.” He glanced at one of the nearby mercenaries. “What are you looking at, bitch? You want some of my mounting magic, too?”

The mercenary in question quickly dropped his gaze to his boots.

Bourbonjack chuckled heartily, “Ah, damn, but I really miss some of the more colorful personalities from back in the day, like good Bender here. By the time military men become mercenaries, most of the humor has been drained out of them. But not your men, apparently.”

“Oh, the humor, and the life, was drained from us fairly well when we left, don’t you worry,” Rade said. “It’s been a long road to recovery, and we’re slowly getting back to our old selves. It helps that we don’t do this work only for the money. Unlike some other mercenaries we know.”

“Present company excluded, right?” Bourbonjack said.

“Sure.” Rade glanced at the Acceptor. “So we just step on the device? Don’t you need a Phant to operate it?”

One of the mercenaries stepped forward. He looked like any of the others—a tough man with a square-jawed face that was all hard angles—but when he spoke, it was with a note of command.

“I will operate the Acceptor,” the mercenary said.

According to the man’s public profile, he was an Artificial.

“You’re hosting a Green?” Rade asked.

“I am Falon,” the mercenary replied.

Bender stepped forward, humming softly as he pretended to amble off to one side; some of the mercenaries followed him with their rifles. When Bender was well behind Falon he spun around to get a good look at the nape of his neck.

“Yep!” Bender said. “Bitch is a Green. Must be a big fat one, too. Never seen so much condensation.”

“What? Let’s see.” Manic rushed over and rudely stared at Falon’s neck. “Yeah, that’s a lot of condensation. Boss, you should see this.”

“That’s all right,” Rade said. He walked onto the Acceptor. “What kind of environment will we be dealing with?”

“I’ve looked up the destination in the archives,” Falon said. “The planet has gravity similar to Earth, however the atmosphere is extremely toxic to human beings. If your suits are penetrated, your lungs will dissolve in around thirty seconds.”

“Wonderful news,” Manic deadpanned. He took a place on the Acceptor beside Rade. “I’m always so very excited to explore lung-dissolving environments. They’re my raison d’être.”

“There will be aliens,” Falon said. “Descendants of those who survived the Phant invasion five hundred thousand years ago. I am uncertain whether they will resemble their forebears, genetically. Nor if they will be friend or foe. Likely the latter. Frankly, I am surprised Surus chose to enter alone.”

“And what, precisely, did the forebears of these aliens look like?” Harlequin asked. All of the Argonauts were standing on the Acceptor by then.

“Perhaps it is better if I don’t tell you,” Falon said.

“What?” Bender said. “Tell us, damn it! Damn Green bugs and their withholding of information...”

“Let me just say, if you must fight one of them, it’s probably best if you don’t let it get too close,” Falon said. “Not unless you wish to find yourself unceremoniously split in half.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to take along jetpacks?” Bourbonjack said. “Or HS3s to help with the scouting?”

“No,” Rade said. “We didn’t have them with us in the storage unit. Jetpacks and HS3s would tell Surus something was amiss just the same as one of your mercenaries tagging along in escort would.”

“You could tell her you managed to smuggle them in,” Bourbonjack insisted.

“No,” Rade said. “Again that could arouse suspicion. I agreed to do this. My mission. My rules.”

“As you wish,” Bourbonjack said.

“There is a time limit,” Falon said. “I’ll give you four hours to return with Surus.”

“Well this is new,” Rade said. “Tell me, what happens if we don’t make it in time?”

“I’ll assume you are plotting against us,” Falon said. “And I will take over your ship, then begin executing your crew members. One for every hour you are late.”

“Come now, Falon,” Bourbonjack said. “Be reasonable...”

Falon glanced at Bourbonjack. “Perhaps you would like me to begin executing your men first, instead?”

Bourbonjack looked away.

“I thought the Greens were our friends,” Rade said.

“We are your friends,” Falon replied. “Just as long as you do what we ask. Now prepare to transport.”

“One thing, how are we going to get back?” Rade asked. “Unless Surus agrees to operate the Acceptor from the destination?”

“I will continually scan for occupants from this side,” Falon said. “As soon as your team gathers on the disk, I will bring you back. Now, if you don’t mind...”

“Faceplates,” Rade said.

The Argonauts shut their faceplates.

“Wait,” TJ said via his external speakers, extending a hand toward Falon. He glanced at Rade, and switched to a private line, something he could do now that the faceplates were shut. “What about the enhanced holographic emitters? If there are aliens at our destination, as is suspected, the emitters will certainly help to conceal us, especially if we’re dealing with a race that has been reduced to Tech Class II or I.”

“I agree,” Bender said. “Invisibility suits work like a charm for those bitch classes.”

“Again,” Rade said. “We didn’t have the emitters with us in the storage unit. If we have them now, the devices could tip off Surus.”

“Tell her we sent someone back to the ship to get them?” TJ said.

“Actually, that’s another thing the security forces would confiscate at the entrance tubes,” Harlequin said on the same line. “Projection-based holographic emitters of any kind are listed as banned items on the boarding policy. It’s a strange rule, because localized emitters in helmet faceplates are allowed. In any case, I’m sure Ms. Bounty has a cached copy of the policy, and she would wonder how we got the devices through.”

“There you go,” Rade said. “No emitters.”

“Are we good?” Bourbonjack asked; Rade’s external microphone picked up the words and retransmitted them to him via the helmet speakers.

“We are,” Rade replied.

“I wish I was coming with you,” Bourbonjack said. “Actually, on second thought, I don’t. Best of luck to you all.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Rade said on reflex. He pointedly touched the barrel of the rifle he carried.

The cargo bay winked out.

twelve

Rade stood in darkness.

“Argonauts, do you read?” he asked.

“Affirmative,” Manic replied, along with a chorus of others. He could see them in the darkness beside him, their outlines represented in blue, thanks to the data transmitted by their Implants. They stood in the same positions around him as they had inside the cargo bay aboard the Corsair only moments ago.

He checked his overhead map. While he could see the blue dots representing his companions crowded around him, there was no indicator for Surus—she was currently out of range.

“I’m going to send out a LIDAR burst,” Rade said. “Sharing on Channel B11.”

He activated the burst, and a wireframe representation of his surroundings came into view. The data would have been transmitted to his companions on the aforementioned channel.

The team stood in a wide cavern, about the size of a small amphitheater. Several boulders littered the cave floor around them. It did not appear that there were any exits.

“Looks safe to activate headlamps,” Rade said. 

He activated his headlamp, as did others among the squad, and illuminated the red-grained rock around them. The team stood on an Acceptor that was the mirror image to the one they just left.

He swept the cone of light produced by his headlamp across the cavern. A small path wound upward along the left wall of the cave to a sand-clogged passageway near the ceiling. Like the rock, that sand was reddish in color, and spilled down onto the cave floor below, forming a small pile twenty meters in front of the Acceptor.

“Algorithm, Brat, get up there,” Rade said. “Start digging out that opening.”

The two robots obeyed, swiftly clambering up the path until they reached the passageway. Then they utilized their forelimbs in a blur, tunneling away. Sand was sent flying down to the pile on the cave floor below.

“Look at those bitches go,” Bender said. “They’re like jackrabbits jacking in a ditch or something.”

“Ever jacked a jackrabbit?” Manic asked.

“All the time,” Bender said. “Work out with me at a space station on liberty sometime, and I’ll show you how it’s done.”

“Just like you showed us how it was done with that mercenary back there?” Manic said.

“Just like that,” Bender agreed. “The gym bunnies, when they see me workout, they can’t help but start jackin’ away.”

“I don’t know how you got gym bunnies out of jackrabbits,” Tahoe said.

“Did you know jackrabbits were originally called jackass rabbits?” Harlequin said.

“I’m not in the mood for your lip, jackass.” Bender said.

“No, I am serious,” Harlequin said. “They were called jackass rabbits because of their long ears, which were reminiscent of a jackass. The mule, I mean.”

“And here we have Harlequin,” Bender said. “A fine specimen of the black-tailed jackass, known for spouting inanities at a moment’s notice simply to satisfy the moronic whims of his bitchin’ AI.”

“Bitchin’!” Manic said.

“Ma donna,” TJ said.

“We’re through,” Algorithm announced.

From the uncovered passageway overhead, bars of purple-tinted sunlight now speared into the cave. The pile of sand on the rock floor below was larger than a few moments ago, due to the efforts of the robots.

“Argonauts, we climb,” Rade said. “Tahoe, lead the way.”

Rade followed Tahoe up the narrow trail along the cave wall. Near the top, the height was about two stories. Even though Rade didn’t have a jetpack, he wasn’t afraid because he knew the strength-enhancing exoskeleton in the jumpsuit would easily break his fall.

Rade reached the sandy passageway and wormed through the opening the Centurions had tunneled through the upper portion. He emerged into the open, and partially rolled down a dune before climbing to his feet.

Rade found himself standing amid a desert. Purple sand dunes undulated into the distance around him. The sky, and the air in front of him also seemed violet-hued, likely because of the atmospheric contents. Rade wondered what the natural color of those dunes was.

“A desert world,” Tahoe said.

“I hate desert worlds,” Manic said.

Rade had a certain haunting memory regarding a similar world, and he suppressed a shudder.

“Headlamps off,” Rade ordered. “Best to save power.”

Though it was daytime, judging from the bright pinpoint of light that represented the sun in the sky, the purple coloration tinting everything evoked a sense of twilight.

Overhead, a ringed gas giant dominated the skyline.

“Not sure how much I like that gas giant up there,” Tahoe said. “We all know how much radiation those things usually put out.”

“More than Tepin puts out, I’m sure,” Bender said.

“Leave my wife out of this,” Tahoe said.

“How are we doing on radiation levels, Harlequin?” Rade asked.

“Moderate,” Harlequin replied. “The suits are providing adequate protection, but we may need to inject a few anti-rads when we get back. If aliens truly live here, the mutation rate would be high. Any survivors of the Phant invasion from five hundred thousand years ago would likely have evolved into a far different species by today.”

Rade once again checked his map for signs of Surus. Still nothing.

“To the south...” Algorithm said.

Rade turned toward the combat robot, which stood beside Brat. Like the others, the two Centurions were garbed in jumpsuits, as per Rade’s request. They were both staring at something on the southern horizon.

“Those definitely aren’t natural,” TJ said.

Rade zoomed in. From the sand, he saw large, conical crystalline structures protruding; they were like giant, half-buried pine cones. Their exposed surfaces scintillated in the purple sunlight.

“Ancient alien ruins?” Manic said. “Or something more recent?”

“I am unable to perform radiometric dating until we get closer,” Harlequin said. “Though if they are ancient, they could hardly be described as ruins, considering how intact they appear.”

“They’ve certainly held up to the test of time, haven’t they?” TJ said.

“Much like Phooey Lui’s face,” Bender said. “Damn, I forgot he’s not here. A wasted jibe.”

There were thin, circular crystals of varying widths looping each structure, similar to the rings around the gas giant above. They didn’t seem to be physically joined to the main cones.

“What do you make of those rings?” Rade said to no one in particular.

“It looks almost like they’re floating in place,” Tahoe said.

“That’s my impression, too,” Rade said.

“It could be that this race once mastered gravity, much like other Tech Class IV races whose technology we’ve seen hints of,” Harlequin said.

“Well, they’re definitely alien in nature,” Tahoe said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” He was quiet a moment, then added: “You see this? All of this? You’re looking at the future of Earth, brothers, if the Phants succeed.”

“By capturing Surus, we could be ensuring that very outcome,” TJ said.

“No,” Rade said. “I refuse to believe that.”

“One person can change the course of history,” Tahoe said. “Or one entity. We’ve all seen it.”

“Now’s not the time for second thoughts,” Rade said. He surveyed the surrounding sand. “There are no footsteps leading away from the opening. If Surus came this way, something erased her path.”

“I’m not detecting any wind...” Manic said.

“Not now, maybe,” Rade said. “But look at those dunes. They weren’t created by the gas giant’s gravity.”

“How do you know?” Manic said. “Tidal forces can be powerful things. Especially if those forces change over time. It all depends on the material properties of this sand.”

“If there wasn’t an atmosphere, and the current planet’s gravity was far lower, I might agree with you,” Rade said. “But as it is, I’m going to assume powerful winds occasionally assail the surface.”

“Manic, you moron,” Bender said. “Tidal forces.”

“I’m actually detecting wind,” TJ said. “It’s very weak at the moment. Little more than a breeze.”

“You’re passing wind?” Manic said.

TJ ignored him. “By the time we get back here, I suspect the sand will be covering up the entrance again. We’ll have to dig it out.”

The cave’s point of entry was marked on their overhead maps, and would remain so while the team journeyed out into that world. However, should their maps go down, there weren’t any natural points of interest that Rade could have used to mark the location, as the dunes were essentially indistinguishable from one another.

“Tahoe, plant your signal beacon,” Rade ordered. “Just in case.”

Tahoe knelt, grabbed the PASS device off his belt, and planted it in the sand in front of the small opening. A green light activated on the front panel.

“Good to go,” Tahoe said.

Rade nodded. While the likelihood of both their Implants and jumpsuit AIs failing and causing the team to lose their maps was next to nil, it never hurt to be prepared. Plus, placing the PASS mechanism there was something that would let Surus know his team was looking for her, if she returned before they did.

But it did mean Tahoe had to give up his Personal Alert Safety System. Rade wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with that.

I’ll just have to take extra care to watch his back.

“Let’s start toward those crystals,” Rade said. “Tahoe, take us in. I want traveling overwatch.”

Tahoe divided the squad into two fire teams: F1, with Algorithm, TJ, Manic, and himself; and F2, with Brat, Rade, Bender, and Harlequin.

Tahoe’s team led the way, thirty meters in front of Rade’s. Each member was offset from the man in front of him, forming a zigzag pattern. The external fabric of their jumpsuits changed coloration to match the sand underneath.

Rade scanned the purple dunes around him as he marched. His feet sunk to the ankles with each step, the sliding grains attempting to pull him down, seeping the energy from his stride. As Falon had promised, the gravity seemed unchanged versus that aboard the station and the ship, so that was a positive at least.

“I’ve been doing some topographical analysis of the dunes, and those crystals ahead,” Harlequin said. “The desert region surrounding those conical structures is at a lower elevation compared to the outlying dunes... forming a massive hollow. My guess is that what we are seeing is the very tip of the iceberg. Those conical structures likely once filled an entire valley that is now buried by the sand. They were probably located on a hilltop in that valley.”

“Fantastic,” Bender said. “And that helps us oh so very much.”

“I thought it would be interesting background information,” Harlequin said. “To help you realize the immensity of the civilization that was lost.”

“Uh huh,” Bender said. “And did you ever consider that maybe you’re analysis was wrong, AI? Maybe these structures are all there is? And there’s nothing buried under that sand but AI turds.”

“I see it is pointless to reason with you,” Harlequin said.

“What’s that up ahead?” Tahoe said. “Those look like bones.”

Rade zoomed in. About halfway to the crystals, several grayish objects were strewn across the sand. They indeed looked like bones. But for all the pieces, there was nothing recognizable. No skulls or rib cages, for example. It was like a dumping ground for femurs. Big ones, at that—about three times as big as a human’s.

“Whatever creature these belonged to, its impossible to tell what it looked like,” Tahoe said.

In a few moments Tahoe’s team passed the site.

When Rade’s team neared it, Bender paused to pick up one of the bones.

“Look at my boner!” Bender said, holding the large grayish piece in front of his groin. It extended an arm-length in front of him.

“Ooo Bender, you’re so big!” Manic said. “I can see you from my fire team without even zooming in!”

Bender dry humped the piece. “If only Surus could see me now!”

“I’m sure she would be mightily impressed,” Manic said. “Better watch yourself, you might break your hymen.”

“I’d give up my virginity for you!” Bender said. “Gah!” He dropped the large piece. “There are bugs in the bone!”

Rade got closer. Sure enough, he saw small, wormlike larvae crawling up and down a tiny fissure in the grayish material.

Abruptly, those larvae began to incinerate in plumes of smoke, and clumps around them fell away, the blackened bodies crimped up.

Rade glanced at Bender. The man was firing at the larvae with his laser rifle.

“Centuries of gunsmithing and laser manufacturing to design the weapon of the ages,” Harlequin said. “And he’s using it to shoot down a couple of mealworms.”

When Bender had finished shooting away the last of the larvae from the bone, he walked up to it and ground any surviving larvae into the sand.

“Take that, bitches!” Bender said. He surveyed the remaining bones, but when there weren’t any other signs of obvious infestation, he turned toward Rade, seeming very proud of himself. “There you go, boss. I’ve just protected us from any attacks coming in from the rear.”

“Um,” Manic said over the comm.

“What, bitch?” Bender said. “How do you know these bugs won’t have grown to the size of a Hoplite by the time we return? I just saved your ungrateful ass.”

“Where’s Lui and Fret to back me up when I need them?” Manic said.

“Bender, would you mind taking point, please?” Rade said. “We continue toward the cluster.”

Bender eagerly moved to the front to take point ahead of Brat.

The party trudged across the sand in silence for some time. Rade continued to survey the stark dunes, wary of ambush. He occasionally drifted his aim down to the sand itself, knowing that an attack could come from that vector as well.

Manic requested a call with Rade on a private channel.

Rade picked up. “What is it, Manic?”

“You know, boss, I sometimes wish I had what you have,” Manic said.

“What do you mean?” Rade said, continuing his survey of the terrain.

“Just that, I never get to see my kid,” Manic replied. “What Bender said earlier is pretty much true. I send monthly child support payments to the mother of my child, who is living with another man. The closest I get to seeing my son is whatever she decides to share on her public InterGalNet profile.”

“There’s got to be some law requiring her to let you see the kid, hasn’t there?” Rade said. “I know it can depend on district, but—”

“Oh sure,” Manic said. “I’m allowed to see him.”

“Well great,” Rade said. “Get her to bring him to a nearby station sometime when you’re on liberty.”

“About that...” Manic said. “Unfortunately, she never leaves Earth. And you know how often we get down there. As in: usually never.”

Rade zoomed in on a suspicious object he saw in the distance. Turned out to be just another dune. “Are you asking for a leave of absence or something?”

“Not at all,” Manic said. “I don’t think I could stand it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if ever we’re in Earth’s neighborhood, I would surely appreciate it if we could stop by our old homeworld. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to being a surrogate uncle slash big brother to Alex and Sil. I want to do my part to help you raise them right.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Rade said. “I think.”

“What do you mean, you think?” Manic asked.

“I’m a bit leery, I admit,” Rade replied.

“What, not sure what kind of a role model Uncle Manic will be for the little ones?” Manic asked.

“That about sums it up,” Rade said.

“Boss, come on,” Manic said. “You know me. I’m going to be an awesome role model.”

“Uh huh,” Rade said. “You and Bender can teach the twins how to fight each other.”

“Of course!” Manic said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“I was joking,” Rade said.

“Oh,” Manic said.

“Anyway, I’d like to concentrate, so if there’s nothing else?” Rade said.

“No, that was it,” Manic said.

“Good.” Rade disconnected.

He couldn’t help but shake his head.

Manic has had all this downtime between planets to talk to me, and he has to go and bring up something like that during a mission.

Rade chalked it up to nerves. Manic was no doubt experiencing the familiar fear that plagued them all during outings such as these: the fear of not returning, and of dying lightyears away from home.

Rade felt that fear himself, but he dismissed it. He had to. Instead, he focused his attention on the bleak landscape before him, and scanned the dunes.

“Just picked up something on drag,” Harlequin said.

“Something?” Rade asked.

“Yes,” Harlequin said. “We’ve got incoming tangos.”

thirteen

Rade saw the eight red dots appear on his overhead map.

“Um, those look big,” TJ said. “Tell me again why we didn’t bring Hoplites?”

“Because we’re idiots?” Bender said.

“Speak for yourself,” Manic said. “I’m—”

“Down!” Rade spun around and dropped to the sand. Lying prostrate, he aimed his rifle at a cloud of dust in the distance.

He saw eight spheres rolling across the plains toward his team. The objects were covered in scales, evoking a sense of the reptilian.

“Lizard balls!” Bender said.

“Argonauts, dig in!” Rade said. “Fire at will!”

“Bugidty bugidty bugs,” Bender sang as he opened fire. “Gonna kill me some lizard balls!”

The fire teams unleashed their laser rifles. In moments two of the spheres dropped out, simply tumbling to one side and remaining motionless. The remaining spheres continued to roll toward them.

Rade fired frantically, concentrating on a single target. He hit the reptilian scales, but didn’t seem to cause any damage.

“Resilient bitches,” Bender said. “Come on, die!”

“You got to hit them between the scales,” Tahoe said. “You see where they overlap, that’s where you target!”

Rade zoomed in. It was a tricky shot, considering the constant revolutions. He called on the AI of his jumpsuit to aid him, and squeezed the trigger.

He was sure he had made the shot, but the sphere he targeted continued to roll in.

“Didn’t work,” Bender said.

The creatures came to a halt roughly ten meters from the party and those balls unfolded into large, salamander-like creatures, towering over the Argonauts. Four birdlike feet protruded from their bodies, with nasty looking talons on the tips. Their heads were long, dinosaur-like, the maws lined with serrated teeth obviously used for ripping flesh from bones. There were no obvious eyes. But he did hear a high-pitched chirping emanating from the creatures.

“Aww, they’re just big, misunderstood birdies!” Bender said, firing away.

“They’re using echolocation!” Rade transmitted.

One of the giant salamanders spat a green liquid at him. He rolled away just in time. Beside him, where the liquid touched, the sand dissolved.

Rade aimed his targeting reticle into the creature’s wide open mouth and squeezed the trigger. The alien dropped dead.

“Wait ‘til they open their mouths!” Rade said. “And fire down their throats!”

The other aliens sprayed more acid from their maws, but the other Argonauts in fire team two were ready, having learned from Rade’s experience, and they leaped aside.

Three more creatures fell in short order as the other Argonauts took them down, leaving only two of the aliens.

“Cover me!” Bender dashed forward.

“Bender, no!” Rade said.

A salamander moved toward Bender, obviously intending to snatch him in its maw, but Rade fired, drawing its attention away.

Bender leaped up, using the strength enhancement of his suit to land on the thing’s back. It roared in outrage, and tried to buck him off.

The other salamander vaulted toward the first and opened its maw.

“Oh shit!” Bender dove to the side and fell off the creature.

The second salamander slammed its jaw into the back of the first, which apparently pissed that one off, because they began fighting each other, roaring in outrage. The first had streams of acid sizzling down its back where the second’s maw had touched, plus several gore marks.

“Nicely done,” Manic said.

Rade and the others fired at the distracted creatures, aiming for the mouths. In short order the creatures collapsed, thudding dead onto the sand.

Bender moved between the bodies and fired several shots into each of the heads.

“Bro, I think they’re dead,” Manic sent.

“Final head shots,” Bender said. “You’ll be thanking me later, when they don’t sneak up on you and spit acid up your ass from behind.”

“Kind of like what you like to do?” Manic taunted.

“Got some more incoming tangos,” Algorithm said from fire team one, which remained thirty meters behind the second team. “These ones coming from the direction of the city. They’re airborne. Judging from their current trajectory, I don’t think they’ve noticed us yet.”

“Aircraft?” Rade said. “Or organics?”

“The latter, I think,” Algorithm said.

“Stay low, and keep your head down!” Rade said. “Don’t let them see you! And Bender, get away from those bodies!”

Bender hurried across the sand and dropped beside Rade.

“If they’re using echolocation like these things, it won’t matter if we stay low,” Tahoe said. “We’ll readily stand out on the dunes. Especially from above.”

“Good point,” Rade said. “Bury yourselves!”

Rade lay on his back and worked rapidly to cover himself with sand. Because of Bender’s proximity beside him, he also shoved sand Bender’s way, helping to conceal him, and Bender did the same for him.

Soon, Rade was completely buried. He left his rifle scope partially covered, and pointed toward the dead salamanders, as presumably those would be the first things detected by the incoming bogeys.

Rade heard what sounded like a loud flapping.

And then something landed beside one of the dead salamanders. He saw what looked like two giant chicken feet.

He slowly rotated his rifle scope upward.

A large reptilian creature had landed, and was folding its wings onto its back like some gargantuan bird. Its short tail seemed feathered, just like a bird, but the rest of the body was covered in scales.

“Pterodactyl!” Bender transmitted. “I call dibs!”

“Sh!” Rade said.

Another flying reptile landed, and a third. Like the salamanders, none of them had any obvious eyes. And they also emitted loud, repeated chirps, very much like bats. The sounds varied rapidly, trilling constantly up and down, with several clicks in between. No doubt Rade was only able to hear a portion of the frequencies with his human ears.

He watched as they opened their mouths and sprayed acid onto the corpses; the salamander bodies began to melt.

“Predigestion,” Harlequin said.

The lizards tore into the melting bodies with their razor sharp teeth, biting away larger chunks and devouring the meat.

“Not pterodactyls after all, but acid-breathing dragons!” Bender said. “Can I kill them, boss? Can I?”

“No,” Rade said. “Now quiet!”

It took only twenty minutes for the flying lizards to tear away most of the meat from those salamanders. And then they licked the bones. Hooks in their tongues helped scrape off the remaining pieces of meat, and acid loosened them; in moments the remnants were picked clean. The three lizards took flight once more, and headed in the direction of the crystal cones. They left behind the collection of femur-like bones.

“Well, at least we know where those other bones came from now,” TJ said.

Rade zoomed in on the dragons, and watched them descend upon the cones in the distance before vanishing.

“Hmm,” Tahoe said. “Something tells me that heading toward those crystals probably isn’t the best idea.”

“Probably not,” Rade said. “But where else should we go? Those structures are the only lead we have so far.”

“We’ll probably find her dead body,” TJ said. “At least, Ms. Bounty’s. Surus would never die from an attack by these creatures.”

“I could use a bit of Surus’ invulnerability right about now,” Bender said.

“Really?” Manic said. “Judging from your action’s back there, I wasn’t sure if you already had invulnerability. Or at least believe you did.”

“It’s called bravery,” Bender said. “And you thought my balls were small, huh?”

“Don’t confuse stupidity with bravery,” TJ commented.

Rade didn’t say anything, but he agreed with TJ.

Bender kept quiet. He and TJ were good friends, and those words were no doubt some tough love coming from TJ. Rade hoped the point had struck home, and that Bender wouldn’t take the same risk he had back there again any time soon.

“All right, let’s continue,” Rade said. “We’re going to move at a crouch from here on in. And a low crawl once we reach the city proper. Hell, I almost want to start crawling right now, except I don’t think it’s necessary.”

“We could, though,” Manic said. “It doesn’t look that far...”

“It’ll take us the whole day to low crawl all the way to those cones, bitch,” Bender said.

“So?” Manic said. “I remember low crawling for far longer during sniper training. There was that one qualification... do you remember? Spending three day’s crossing a sniper’s field.”

“That was different,” Tahoe said. “We knew the field was being actively observed through scopes. That doesn’t apply here.”

“How do you know?” Manic said. “Maybe the echolocation those dragons use is finer-grained than we think.”

“We crouch, for now,” Rade said. “And drop as soon as we detect motion, or I say otherwise.”

Fire team one led the way. Rade’s team followed behind by thirty meters, plodding through the thick sand of the purple-hued environment.

Twenty minutes passed. During that time, those crystalline structures slowly grew in size, until they towered over the party. The oval-shaped formations were about as tall as thirty-story buildings, and as thick as a stadium in the middle.

“Look at that,” TJ said.

Rade switched to TJ’s perspective and saw that the man had zoomed in on one of the crystal cones. At the top, nesting upon a cup-like structure that seemed made of dried sand and bones, lay one of the giant winged lizards. It was resting its long neck upon its tail, as if sleeping.

As TJ panned to the right, taking in other nearby crystals, Rade realized that the rings looping the upper portions of the cones weren’t actually floating, and instead were connected via conduits to the main structures. A black sludge flowed down some of them, as if those rings served as some sort of waste disposal system for the dragon nests.

“Here be dragons,” TJ said.

Rade dismissed TJ’s video feed.

“Let sleeping dragons lie,” Harlequin added.

“Hm,” Bender said. “I always thought it was, let sleeping dragons die. Can I shoot one, boss? Can I? Just one.”

“You really want to bring the rest of them down on us?” Rade said.

“Yeah,” Bender admitted. “I sort of do.”

“I have a really good idea,” Manic said. “We can send Bender climbing up one of those cones, and while he serves as a distraction, letting the lizards eat him, we can proceed safely forward.”

“I love that idea!” Bender said. “Except for the part about letting the lizards eat me. How about I bring you along on my back instead, and you can serve as bait while I shoot them down?”

“I wonder what that black stuff oozing down those conduits underneath the rings is?” TJ said.

“Has to be feces,” Manic said.

“Your dragons crap in their sleep, Harley boy,” Bender said. “Maybe we should send you up there to act as their diaper?”

“Okay, I think it’s time to low crawl,” Rade said. “Tahoe, I want you to send Algorithm ahead twenty meters.”

“I get to be the bait?” Algorithm said.

“No,” Rade said. “It’s your job to make sure we don’t walk into a trap.”

Algorithm moved away from the first fire team, crawling across the sand. The other two fire teams followed behind.

The teams wound between the different structures. Each one was separated from the next anywhere from between five hundred meters to a kilometer. The surfaces appeared composed of multifaceted mirrors up close, with each facet usually one meter in height and width, and ranging from three-sided triangles to six-sided hexagons. When he looked at one of those cones, Rade could see his reflection returned a thousand times, along with the reflections of other dragons nesting on top of nearby crystals.

Rade and the others searched for entrances in those cones, but there weren’t any. At least none that were obvious. He kept an eye on his overhead map, but Surus’ indicator did not appear.

At one point, as Algorithm and the two teams low-crawled across a wide span of terrain between two of the conical structures, a dragon perched overhead awoke from slumber and raised its eyeless head, seeming to tilt it down toward the Argonauts.

The squad members froze.

From the height of the crystal cone, the lizard continued to seemingly observe the barren dunes. Its tongue flicked in and out, and Rade heard the distant chirping of echolocation as transmitted to his helmet via the external microphones of his jumpsuit.

Finally the head lowered once more.

Rade and the others remained motionless for the next fifteen minutes, and only then did he give the order to resume the crawl. The lizard hadn’t moved again during that time.

“Algorithm, rejoin the first fire team,” Rade said. “This is taking too long. I want to get done here, and out from under these dragons as soon as possible. Tahoe, once Algorithm gets back, take your team and search the crystal cones on the western side. My team will explore those on the east. Circumnavigate each structure, search for any entrances. Stay close to the crystal walls, and out of view of those dragons as much as you can.”

“You got it,” Tahoe said.

On the overhead map, the black areas representing the uncharted terrain around the cones slowly filled out as the two teams explored the cluster of crystal cones. When the Argonauts hugged the walls of a given crystal, and were out of view of the other cones, they usually scrambled to their feet and proceeded at a crouch to expedite the exploration process, and switched to a low crawl when they moved out into the open sand once more. LIDAR bursts were used to supplement the mapping.

There were only two of the large oval structures left when Tahoe issued a transmission. “Got something.”

fourteen

Rade switched to his viewpoint and saw that he had zoomed in on the partially melted wreckage of a Centurion, located on an open stretch of sand between two of the towering cones. The right arm and left leg were missing, and the torso was half dissolved.

“It’s one of the guards Surus brought with her,” Tahoe said.

“Well, on the one hand that’s heartening,” Manic said. “In that we’re on the right track after all. And on the other, not so heartening, considering what happened to the robot.”

“Perhaps I can salvage the AI core?” Algorithm said. “And discover what happened?”

“Do what you can,” Rade said. “The rest of you, continue searching.”

Rade continued toward the structure he had assigned to his team. In fifteen minutes, Algorithm reported in.

“I have been unable to recover the core,” Algorithm said. “The Centurion is lost.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rade told the combat robot. “Return to fire team one as soon as you are able.”

Rade’s team was halfway around the base of the last conical structure, located on the far eastern edge of the cluster, when he came upon an opening. Located two meters above the sand along the crystal surface, a three-meter wide hole, roughly the height of a human in a jumpsuit, led away into the dim interior.

“Tahoe, finish circling your structure,” Rade said. “Then make your way here. We’ve got an opening.”

Tahoe’s fire team completed their circuit, not finding any other entrances, and then the involved Argonauts low-crawled across the sand all the way from the western side while Rade and the others waited. Rade kept an eye on the nearby structures, watching for signs of movements from the nests on top.

Harlequin tapped in Rade on a private line. “Now that we have a potential lead on Surus’ location, I find myself somewhat reluctant to proceed.”

“We’re all reluctant,” Rade told him.

“It feels wrong to betray Surus like this,” Harlequin continued. “And her host, Ms. Bounty. She is our client, paying us to protect her. We have never done something like this to a client before.”

“No, we haven’t,” Rade said. “But we also haven’t been faced by this particular set of circumstances. Right now, at the moment, capturing her is the only way out.”

“During the past few months, I have visited Surus often in the cargo bay,” Harlequin said. “We have had very many... unique... discussions. Like you, she has helped me come to terms with my rebirth. Helped me realize I don’t need to constantly prove myself, to myself. If that makes sense. She is... I believe she is my friend.”

Rade nodded. “She’s grown on all of us. But what can we do? Falon is essentially holding my crew hostage. The twins hostage. You’ve seen what some of these Greens are capable of. They have no morals. Falon will kill the infants if it helps him achieve his aim, whatever that is. Hell, you remember what Azen did, don’t you? He installed a retrovirus into an alien empress, enabling him to control the entire species. If that isn’t wrong, I don’t know what is.”

Harlequin was quiet for a moment. “Are you worried that Falon would use a similarly engineered retrovirus to obtain control of you, if you refused to obey him?”

“I never even considered that,” Rade said. “But it’s a good point. And now that you’ve brought it up, I’m even gladder I agreed to this. Last thing I need is to be at the beck and call of some alien against my will.”

“When we’ve handed over Surus to Falon, will we plan a rescue operation at some point?” Harlequin said.

“I can’t guarantee we will,” Rade said. “I want to. But it all depends on the circumstances.”

“You mean, it depends on whether your children are safe,” Harlequin said.

“Am I that transparent?” Rade said.

“If it was me who was the captive, and not the twins, would you be so eager to perform this mission of betrayal to save me?” Harlequin asked.

Rade hesitated. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure.

“I understand,” Harlequin said. “It’s because I’m not human.”

“You’re just as human to me as anyone else,” Rade said. “But you’re not my child.”

“Aren’t I?” Harlequin said. “You brought me back. Birthed me, essentially. If anyone is my father, it’s you.”

“I don’t know what to say to that,” Rade said.

“No, I suppose it was wishful thinking on my part,” Harlequin said. “To be elevated to the same level as a biological child. I am merely a robot, when all is said and done.”

“You’re more, so much more,” Rade said.

“If you say so, boss,” Harlequin said, and disconnected.

Rade smiled sadly.

What do you do when you have a robot who thinks you’re his father?

He hoped Harlequin would come to terms with his existence, and his place in the universe, in time. Because if he did not, his would be an extremely lonely existence, considering that he would outlive Rade and all of the Argonauts.

Assuming Harlequin survived the current mission...

“Brat, while we’re waiting, I want you to explore that opening,” Rade ordered.

The robot easily leaped the two meters to the entrance. It was a good thing the opening was not too much higher, as the surface would have been difficult to climb: the joins between the mirrorlike facets didn’t protrude enough to offer much of a hold. He wondered if he should have allowed the Argonauts to bring jetpacks after all.

By the time Tahoe’s team arrived, Brat had mapped out a tight corridor that led deeper into the structure, underneath the surface, emerging in a subterranean passage beneath the sand. Brat didn’t pick up any signals from Surus or the other robots with her in that passage, however.

“So what do we have?” Tahoe said as he came up.

“Apparently this opening leads underground,” Rade said. “We’re going to take it, seeing as we don’t have any other options right now.”

“There’s always an option,” Manic said. “It’s just a matter of choosing the one that makes the most sense.”

“Thanks for the leadership advice, bitch,” Bender said. “You should write a book on personal development. You’d make billions. You could call it: How To Be The Village Idiot On Your Team, by Manic Bitchtits.”

Manic smiled behind his faceplate. “And you should write a book on bad sarcasm.”

“Maybe I will,” Bender said.

“Good,” Manic said. “That way I can use the pages as digital toilet paper.”

“Huh?” Bender said. “There’s no such thing. That would imply the existence of digital poop.”

“Poop?” Manic responded. “Who says that? And you claim I’m a moron? Poop. Pussywillow Poop. That’s your new name.”

“Yo bitch,” Bender said. “That’s right. Keep up the insults. Please. That way you can tell me what the atmosphere tastes like after I smash in your faceplate.”

“Guys,” Rade said. “The opening. Algorithm, lead the way. Join Brat. Bender, you’re next.”

Algorithm leaped up and vanished inside, followed by Bender and the remaining members of the squad in turn. It proved a relatively easy jump, though Rade found himself dialing up the settings of his strength-enhanced suit nonetheless. He weighed a fair amount in that jumpsuit, and the Earth-like gravity didn’t help in that regard.

The tunnel walls inside were made of the same multifaceted crystalline structure, though the individual mirrored faces were an order of magnitude smaller. The passage was wide enough to fit three jumpsuits abreast.

“Headlamps on,” Rade said.

Those crystals scintillated in the illumination. The reflections seemed comforting, because they boosted the background light to a degree that was even brighter than outside. 

The downward sloping floor was covered in a thick layer of sand that swallowed Rade to the ankles, like the exterior, but it quickly diminished as the squad proceeded deeper until they were walking on bare crystal. It was good that there were so many facets in the floor, because otherwise their boots would have readily slipped on the surface.

Eventually the crystal passage opened out into a tunnel of darker sandstone, which was even wider and taller: there was enough room to operate a Hoplite within. Because of the nature of the minerals composing the cave walls, the headlamps didn’t illuminate as far as in the previous tunnel, so Rade had Brat supplement the illumination with LIDAR bursts to map out the blacker areas farther along, creating a white wireframe representation of the cave in the darkness ahead.

“I still think we should have taken along the holographic emitters,” TJ said over the comm. “To hide ourselves. The echolocation masking mods Surus added would be extremely useful right about now.”

“And I think we should have taken the Hoplites!” Manic said.

“If Surus didn’t need the holo emitters, then we don’t, either,” Tahoe said.

“Tell that to the disabled Centurion out there,” Manic said.

The Argonauts continued along the downward sloping passage for about ten minutes, at which point the LIDAR bursts indicated the tunnel ahead opened into a wider cavern.

“Headlamps off,” Rade said. “Let’s not give any tangos advance warning.” Of course, that assumed any enemy units inside the cavern wouldn’t detect LIDAR.

The tunnel plunged into darkness. The bodies of the Argonauts remained silhouetted in blue on Rade’s vision, thanks to his Implant. The sandstone walls were replaced with the white wireframe outlines generated via the previous LIDAR scans.

When Algorithm reached the edge of the tunnel, Rade had the Centurion emit a LIDAR burst. Almost instantaneously, the wireframe representation of the cavern beyond was transmitted to the rest of the team.

What Rade saw wasn’t merely some chamber. Algorithm stood upon a ledge overlooking a veritable subterranean valley. A massive cavern stretched before the robot, filled with square-shaped structures stacked one atop the other, like closely packed skyscrapers swaying slightly under their weight.

“Well that’s interesting,” Brat said.

“Looks almost like a city,” Manic said. “And you see those small shapes in the lanes between the structures? Could be lifeforms.”

“I concur,” Harlequin said. “On the highest zoom level, I am detecting what appear to be torsos and legs belonging to those shapes. Some of them are attached to the structures themselves.”

“If those are lifeforms,” Rade said. “It stands to reason that a few would be moving, correct?”

“Correct,” Harlequin agreed.

“Algorithm, send out another burst,” Rade said. “Let’s see what has changed since the last snapshot.”

Algorithm complied. Most of the small shapes indeed updated, their positions changing.

“Definitely have to be some kind of lifeforms to move like that,” Tahoe said.

“It’s a good sign that they didn’t seem to respond to the LIDAR bursts,” Rade said. He weighed the pros and cons of his next course of action, and then made the choice: “Algorithm, try sending out a continuous LIDAR stream.”

The wireframe display began updating in realtime: most of the small shapes situated in the lanes between buildings moved, as did some of those located upon the structures themselves, but most of the latter appeared to be perching, as if resting.

“Can anyone tell if they’re flight capable?” Rade asked.

“I’m not perceiving any indicators that would denote wings of any kind,” Harlequin said. “I believe their mode of travel is restricted to the locomotions of walking and climbing alone.”

“Algorithm, are you getting a signal from Surus yet?” Rade asked.

“That’s a negative,” Algorithm replied.

Rade observed the scene for several moments, taking everything in. “Okay, it looks like there is an opening on the far side of the valley, leading into a separate cave system. Here’s the plan: we take the small path winding down from this ledge to the city proper. Once there, we keep close to the city periphery, following the outer wall of the cavern. There aren’t many of the lifeforms in that area, so if we’re careful, we should be able to get around to the farther opening without sounding the alarm.”

“If these creatures rely upon echolocation like the ones on the surface,” Tahoe said, “then perhaps if we keep close enough to the outer wall, they won’t even notice us.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Rade said.

“It’s going to be tricky,” Manic said. “Because even if we do make it to that opening, if we encounter resistance beyond, say from a pair of guards, we’ll likely bring the whole city down on us. Trapping us inside.”

“We’ll deal with any resistance as we come to it,” Rade said.

“I’m sure we can handle a couple of alien guards with our rifles,” Tahoe said. “These ones don’t look that big. Shouldn’t be a problem to eliminate a few of them silently.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Manic said. “While they might be smaller, look at the bodily structures of these latest aliens on your LIDAR. They’re different from those we encountered on the surface. Who knows, maybe their skin is even more naturally armored against lasers?”

“Manic has a point,” Rade said. “Algorithm, I want you to try a test shot. Aim for a lone alien perched on one of those rooftops, with no others nearby. Take it down. Be careful to choose an alien located far enough away from the edge of the rooftop. I don’t need the tango falling down into the streets and alerting the others.”

“Boss, can I do it?” Bender asked.

“Aiming for the center of mass...” Algorithm said. “Got it. The alien dropped. They are indeed vulnerable to our laser fire.”

“Damn you,” Bender said.

“All right, we’re going to start making our way down,” Rade said. “Tahoe, fire team one leads the way. Fire team two, spread out along the rim with me, we’ll provide overwatch.”

Algorithm, Tahoe, TJ and Manic proceeded onto the small path and began to pick their way downward. Meanwhile Brat, Rade, Bender and Harlequin emerged from the opening and spread out across the ledge. The former three aimed their rifles down into the subterranean city, while Harlequin remained near the exit and kept his weapon trained into the sandstone tunnel, guarding the rear.

Rade swept his scope over the three-dimensional wireframe representations of the city, searching for signs that any targets were approaching the bottom of the trail. When it seemed clear, he momentarily swept his targeting reticle over the first fire team, and their blue outlines showed over the white wireframes. While the trail was wide enough to fit a Hoplite, giving the jumpsuit-clad Argonauts ample room to maneuver, Manic advanced disturbingly close to the edge. His rifle seemed directed toward something in the city below.

“Manic, you’re too close to the edge,” Rade said.

“Sorry, distracted by a tango I was tracking,” Manic said.

He stepped away, but not before disturbing several small rocks near the edge, which promptly tumbled down, the sounds echoing across the subterranean valley. The advance fire team immediately crouched against the cliff wall and froze.

Rade and the others similarly drew back, lowering their profiles. 

Below, Rade heard a rising chittering as creatures emerged from between the leaning buildings to gather along the base of the cliff.

“Do you think they’ve seen us?” Manic said.

“Even if they haven’t, they know something is here,” Rade said.

More and more of the aliens gathered, and the chirping increased.

“So much for sneaking unnoticed along the edge of the city,” TJ said.

fifteen

Rade continued to survey the growing gathering below.

“Look at the base of the trail, up ahead,” TJ said.

Rade aimed his targeting reticle there. Some of the large forms were slowly beginning to make their way up the winding path.

“Do we open fire, boss?” Bender asked, sounding excited.

Rade hesitated. “So far, the aliens seem more curious at the moment than anything else.”

“That’s all well and good,” Tahoe said. “But what happens when they reach our fire team and figure out we’re hiding here?”

“Hold,” Rade said.

Rade followed the lead alien with his scope as the creature ascended the trail toward fire team one. Eight more followed. He decided in that moment he wasn’t going to allow the aliens to reach his Argonauts.

“Tahoe, pull back fire team one,” Rade said. “Get back here. Move stealthily... try not to draw any attention to yourselves, if possible.”

Tahoe and the others began their return, crouching close to the cliff edge.

The aliens must have seen them, because the chittering excitedly rose in volume below. Rade watched as the creatures immediately shrank away from the edge, as if frightened. More loud chirping came from the base of the trail. When Rade swept his targeting reticle there, he realized those that had started up the trail were retreating, either in fear, or to allow other more powerful units to take their places.

“I think they spotted us,” TJ said.

“Keep retreating,” Rade said.

A new, louder chittering came, and the creatures below dispersed, retreating into the lanes between the buildings behind them.

Rade dreaded what the source of that chirping would be. He imagined something akin to the dragons or salamanders in size, a massive, towering behemoth that his Argonauts would have to deal with at great risk to themselves.

So he was a little surprised when a smaller creature darted forward. On the LIDAR representation, it appeared to have some sort of wings, though the parts were a blur. It swooped upward.

“Do we fire?” Bender said.

“Hold,” Rade said.

When it was twenty meters away, Rade was ready to give the order to fire. But then his external microphone picked up a voice.

“Masters! What are you doing here?”

Rade exhaled in relief. “Stand down.”

Noctua swooped upward to hover in front of Rade. “Masters?”

“Why aren’t you transmitting a friendly signal?” Rade said via his external speaker.

“Oh, yes, I had forgotten,” Noctua said. Abruptly the white wireframe became silhouetted in blue as Rade’s Implant interpreted the robot owl as friendly.

“But now, master, tell me, why have you come?” Noctua continued. The robot had linked to their shared comm frequency after switching to friendly mode, and her voice came over the main channel.

Rade’s relief was forgotten, replaced with guilt. “To check on Surus, obviously.”

“But she told you she might be ten hours!” Noctua said. “Five hours still remain!”

“I know,” Rade said. “We got worried about her.”

“Humans!” Noctua said. “You are ever an impatient lot! You could have gotten yourselves killed!”

Noctua dove, flying down to the base of the cliff, where she perched on a small rock. The little robot issued more chirping sounds, and any remaining creatures vanished from view.

“I guess that’s her way of telling us to follow,” Tahoe said.

“All right, Tahoe, get down there,” Rade said. “We’ll be right behind you. Brat, lead the way.”

Rade followed Brat downward, while Bender and Harlequin took up the rear. They moved cautiously, staying close to the wall, still somewhat worried about attracting the attention of the creatures.

The first fire team reached Noctua and waited for the second to arrive. As Rade approached, Noctua once more took flight, wending between two of the buildings. According to the overhead map, her marker had paused a short distance between those structures. Obviously she was waiting for them once more.

Rade and the Argonauts hurried forward to join the robot owl. They held their weapons in hand, though lowered.

“No point keeping our headlamps turned off,” Rade said.

The party members activated their external lights, and the white wireframe representation of the street filled out. Rade glanced upward, shining his headlamp at a nearby structure. The stacked cubes were made of crystals similar to the cones Rade had seen on the surface outside the cavern, except that the individual facets were far smaller, and at a glance, seemed like something Rade could use for purchase if he had to climb them. That would explain the aliens Rade spotted clinging to the exterior farther up.

The other buildings around him appeared similar: stacked cubes reaching for the ceiling, harboring the occasional clinging creatures. Small openings in the bottoms of the structures allowed ingress.

“Sugar cubes!” Bender said. “We’re chillaxin’ in a village made of giant sugar cubes! Sweet mammaries!”

“Kinda makes you want to rub your nipples, doesn’t it?” Manic said.

“Speak for yourself!” Bender said. “You’re the one taking female hormones.”

“Ha,” Manic said. “Last I checked, test was a male hormone.”

“That’s why you ain’t taking test!” Bender said. “Gotta keep up your MTF transition. We don’t call you bitch-tits for nothing.”

“If I’m bitch-tits, then you’re saggy-momma,” Manic said.

“Uh no,” Bender said. “No no no. These pecs are like paladin shields. Perfectly formed, tight, and manly.”

“So that’s what you call them,” Manic said. “Well, whatever gets you off, Saggy.”

Algorithm led the way. On either side of the street, aliens lurked in the shadows. Different team members directed their lights toward the creatures in turn, but the things didn’t react.

“Guess they really are blind,” TJ said.

The aliens had bodies that were vaguely similar to buffaloes both in size and shape, with thick torsos and four powerful legs, and even had fur, though in place of heads they had large, clam-like shells, complete with horizontal slits down the middle. A small lump in the throat area moved whenever one of the aliens emitted a chirp.

“Buffaclams,” Bender said. “That’s what I’m calling these bugs. We should invite them to a clambake later. They can be the guests of honor.”

“I don’t believe they’re edible by humans,” Harlequin said.

“Yeah, you shut up, AI,” Bender said. “Unless you eat, you ain’t allowed to comment.”

“I could certainly eat them,” Harlequin said. “Considering that no digestion would be involved. However, it would be disgusting, on my part, especially considering that I would eventually have to regurgitate all of the ingested material.”

“Hmm,” Bender said. “I think I might actually enjoying watching you eat one of these buffaclams. That’s a great idea, Harlequin. When we’re done here, we’ll make a visit to that rooftop where your robot buddy downed one of the aliens, and I’ll sit back while you chow down. I’m going to record it and stream it on MyCrazyVids, and make a fortune. ‘Robot hurls after eating alien clams.’ I’ll teach you all about clickbait.”

“That’s a terrible title for a video,” Manic said. “You want to get hits, go with something like: ‘Shocking! Cute alien clam eaten alive by evil robot.’ That’ll get you views.”

“Yeah, whatever, like you know anything about viral videos,” Bender said.

“I should tell you about the viral video I posted of your sister,” Manic said. “Bet you can’t guess what the headline read?”

“I’m muting you now,” Bender replied.

As the Argonauts proceeded, any aliens that lay in their path moved aside to let the party pass unmolested. The creatures chirped away quietly, almost shyly.

“Must be cold down here,” TJ said.

“Why do you say that?” Manic said.

“The fur,” TJ said. “Plus, the temperature reading on my HUD.”

“Doh!” Bender said.

“So what are these things, Noctua?” Rade asked.

“This race was once known as the Taenia,” Noctua said. “They had not achieved spaceflight when the Phants arrived, and thus were restricted to this world. However, they were very technologically advanced in other ways, with some of their industries reaching all the way to Tech Class IV, hence sweet master’s interest in them.”

“Taenia,” Harlequin said. “That’s an interesting name you have given them. It is a genus of tapeworm.”

“I’m glad you noticed!” Noctua said. “These aliens were parasites, similar to tapeworms in fact, though not in shape obviously: they lived in the gut of dinosaur-like creatures. You have seen a few of the descendants of those dinosaurs in the deserts above, I’m sure. That desert was once a lush rainforest, by the way, but I digress. In any case, after the Phants came, they killed off most of the hosts, and altered the gut flora of the survivors, causing most of the Taenia to die. A handful of Taenia genetically modified themselves to survive outside of their hosts, and evolved into these gentle creatures you see today.”

“I’m still calling them buffaclams,” Bender insisted.

“I thought you muted us,” Manic said.

“Huh, what’s that?” Bender replied. “Can’t hear you.”

Noctua perched on the lower ledge of a towering building up ahead, and as the party approached, the robot owl took flight once more, vanishing into the next street.

Noctua continued leading them between the structures in that manner. Rade set his overhead map to leave a breadcrumb route, in case the party needed to make a quick retreat.

The Argonauts entered a small clearing where several of the creatures had gathered around what appeared to be a shallow pool. As Rade and the men skirted the liquid, creatures walked to the center of the pool and knelt to submerse their lower bodies; then they splashed around, apparently washing themselves. 

“They’re taking baths?” TJ asked.

“No,” Noctua transmitted. “They are feeding. That liquid is nutrient dense, and diffuses directly through their skin and into their bloodstream.”

“Where does the liquid come from?” Tahoe said.

“I’m glad you asked!” Noctua said. “The Taenia collect the fecal matter of the flying lizards that nest on the crystal cones on the surface, via conduits hidden in their nests. They pipe said matter down here, and then treat the liquid before allowing it to percolate in various feed locations throughout the city.”

“So basically, it’s sewage,” Tahoe said.

“Brings new meaning to the phrase: eat shit,” Bender said.

“Probably a good thing we’re locked away in our jumpsuits right about now,” Manic said. “The smell is probably horrendous.”

“Can’t be much worse than when you take off your boots on the ship,” Bender quipped.

During the march, the chirping aliens sometimes came right up to the individual party members.

“Curious little bastards, aren’t they?” TJ said.

Bender abruptly bashed one of the closer aliens on its shell-like head, and it backed away, chirping madly. 

“Bitch touched me with its clam head!” Bender said.

Nearby creatures quickly gathered, rather aggressively, around the party, enveloping the Argonauts and blocking all access forward. Some of the Argonauts raised their weapons uncertainly.

“Permission to open fire,” Bender said.

“Hold!” Rade said.

Noctua returned from up ahead, chittering wildly as she repeatedly swooped between the aliens, and at last the creatures receded.

“What did you do?” Noctua said.

“Bender punched one of them,” Manic said.

“Please, masters,” Noctua said. “Do not anger them again!”

“Then tell them not to touch me!” Bender said.

“Done!” Noctua chittered loudly, then swooped around the bend.

The crisis averted, the party continued.

“Look who just showed up on the overhead map,” Tahoe said.

Rade glanced at the map. In one of the structures ahead, the blue dots representing Ms. Bounty and her remaining Centurion had appeared as the two of them finally came into range.

“Surus, do you read?” Rade tried.

It was the Centurion that answered: “She and her host are temporarily incapacitated at the moment.”

Noctua led them to a slightly out of place crystalline building, this one wider, and much lower to the ground than the others at around three stories tall. According to the map, Surus and the Centurion were inside. The robot owl flew within.

Rade exchanged a look with Tahoe, and then followed along with the rest of the party. 

They entered a large vault. Beside them, near the entrance, the Centurion stood watch. Farther in, the floor was covered in a series of thick, curved, knee-height ribs that protruded at regular intervals. Near the edges of the chamber, those ribs bent upward onto the wall and ceiling, like the trellis of some cubical carriage. On the ceiling, conduits of bright blue and green threaded the outer surfaces of the ribs, ending in a series of crystal rods that descended toward the center of the room. Underneath the rods, the floor ribs joined together to form a dais.

Surus’ host, Ms. Bounty, lay on that dais, apparently unconscious. Her helmet was removed, and resting on the dais beside her.

Rade slowly approached her. “What is she doing?”

“She has created an interface unit,” Noctua answered. “Using ancient 3D printers found in a different part of the city. It is somewhat surprising that any of this technology is still functional. If there is one thing that can be said about the Taenia, it’s that their tech was built to endure.”

“She used ancient 3D printers...” Rade said. “How did she learn to control their tech so fast?”

“The Phants conquered this race a long time ago, remember,” Noctua said. “The memories were available to her in the higher realm of her existence, though also readily accessible in this current reality through me.”

Rade spotted what appeared to be a dongle protruding from the back of Ms. Bounty’s unhelmeted head, attached to an access port hidden in her hair. Rade could see the green drops of condensation on the nape of her neck, indicating the Phant still possessed the host.

“Can you wake her?” Rade asked.

“No,” Noctua said.

Rade sighed, then took a seat on one of the ribs, beckoning for the party members to do likewise. He wasn’t going to stun the Phant while it was interfaced with some alien machine. He didn’t want to risk anything befalling her. He glanced at the time. An hour had passed since their arrival. That left another three hours before Falon attempted to make good on his threats to harm the crew of the Argonaut.

“Algorithm, Brat, join the Centurion,” Rade said. “Watch the entrance.”

Rade observed as the combat robots joined their brother. Rade hadn’t actually posted them there so much to watch the entrance, but rather because he wanted the robots ready to take down the guard when the time came.

Another hour passed. Rade found himself growing antsy. Once Surus awoke, the squad still had to make its way back through the desert, including the snail-like crawl away from the crystal cones and nesting dragons. All sorts of complications could arise out there to slow them down. The dragons might be actively patrolling. More giant salamanders might attack. And so forth.

Rade might have to risk stunning Surus while she was still interfaced after all...

He decided to wait a little while longer.

Finally, after another thirty minutes passed, his helmet speakers activated, transmitting the female voice picked up by his external microphones. “Rade, is that you?”

Rade glanced toward the dais. Surus was sitting up.

“Welcome back,” Rade told her via his external speakers.

“Thanks.” She removed the dongle from the back of her head, stowed it in her harness, and reattached her helmet. “What are you doing here?” Surus spoke now over the comm. “Have the Greens arrived? I told you to wait for me.”

“We detected a few vessels in the system changing course toward the station, but they’re still about a day away,” Rade lied.

“So why are you here?” Surus pressed.

“We grew impatient,” Rade said. “You’re our client. It’s our duty to protect you.” Damn, he felt guilty saying those words. He reached for the stun rifle that hung from his opposite shoulder, but couldn’t bring himself to perform the deed, not yet. Stalling, he nodded toward the rods that descended from the ceiling. “So what is this?”

“Archives,” Surus said. “And they are incredible. The descendants of the Taenia—did Noctua tell you that’s what I’ve named the aliens?”

“Yes,” Rade said.

“Well, the descendants do not know the extents of what they possess,” Surus continued. “Nor how to access these archives. I’ll have to return here at some point and teach them. They could prove useful allies of humanity in the days to come.”

“Did you grab all the tech you needed?” Rade asked.

“Mostly,” Surus said. “I have acquired the plasma arcing tech I originally sought. But there is one more technology I wish to procure.”

“You haven’t found it, yet?” Rade said.

“No,” Surus said. “But I intend to make another data dive.”

He remembered what Bourbonjack had told him she was looking for: tech that would protect her from the stun devices. He couldn’t allow her to acquire that. Then again, perhaps if she did, he could use that somehow, to trick Falon into believing she was stunned...

Rade glanced at the clock in the lower right of his vision. Too bad there wasn’t really enough time.

“We should go back,” Rade said. “You can finish up after we return the Acceptor to the Argonaut.”

“It should only be another few hours,” Surus said. “Since the need to depart isn’t urgent, I might as well do the dive now, while I’m here.”

Rade smiled sadly. Falon would begin executing his Argonauts by then.

Surus lifted her gloved hands to remove her helmet and reinitiate the interface.

Rade nodded toward Algorithm and Brat, and they disabled the guard Centurion with their weapons.

Rade lifted the stun rifle toward her.

As Surus stared at him with surprise in her eyes, he had a moment of doubt, and almost wanted to back out. But then he thought of Shaw and the twins, and those others who had remained behind.

I do this for them.

Rade fired.

The look of betrayal on Surus’ face bit deeply into Rade’s heart, and he felt a terrible shame in that moment.

“I’m sorry,” Rade said softly.

Surus collapsed onto the dais.

“What have you done!” Noctua said. “Traitors!”

Bender swung his rifle toward the owl. Noctua abruptly flew toward the rear of the chamber, hiding in a small alcove near the ceiling.

“I got the little bitch!” Bender said, running after the owl.

“Let it go,” Rade said.

“But—”

“Let it go,” Rade repeated firmly. He turned toward his men. “Hurry!”

Tahoe scooped up the stunned Artificial and strapped her to his back using a carbon fiber cord from his utility belt. Rade didn’t have to worry about the Phant attempting to incinerate Tahoe, not with the EM emitter his friend had embedded in his jumpsuit. Besides, during the return journey Rade planned to unleash the rifle at Surus every few minutes to keep her stunned.

“You’re sure firing the stun weapon at her won’t affect me or my jumpsuit?” Tahoe asked. “Considering her proximity to my suit?”

“Positive,” Rade said. He directed the weapon at Surus and squeezed the trigger at near point-blank range to prove his point.

Surus momentarily convulsed, but Tahoe was unaffected.

“I see,” Tahoe said.

Algorithm meanwhile had removed the still-intact AI core from the fallen Centurion, and secured the device to Brat’s harness.

“Let’s go,” Rade said. “Noctua, remain here with these aliens. You’ll be safe. We’ll try to come back for you when this is over.”

The robot owl, still hidden in her alcove, didn’t answer.

Rade and the others quickly retreated into the city, following the digital breadcrumbs left on the overhead map. They swept their rifles across nearby aliens, but none of them paid much heed.

When the Argonauts were about fifty meters from the structure, Noctua’s voice echoed down the street.

“I will hunt you down!” the little robot said. “And I will gut you! Bleed them, my Taenia allies. Bleed them!”

An incredibly loud, angry chittering erupted from the robot.

On the overhead map, Rade saw red dots gathering on all sides as aliens moved to surround the team.

“Little bitch has gone and done it now,” Bender said.

sixteen

Frags,” Rade ordered.

The team threw frag grenades into the waiting line of Taenia. The grenades impacted, detonating, clearing a path and sending up several body parts from the buffalo-like aliens. A large clam-shaped head landed in front of Rade.

“What do you think of that, you stinkin’ clam bugs?” Bender said. “That all you got, bitches?”

“Go!” Rade said.

He unleashed his laser rifle at a side street ahead, shooting down the aliens that attempted to cut off the team’s retreat. Around him, the other Argonauts opened fire as they ran, taking down more aliens that rushed in from the flanks and rear.

The group made its way back the way they had come, wending between the different crystalline buildings at a sprint. The sound of angry chittering filled the air around them, as the aliens were egged on by the continually chirping Noctua.

“Overhead!” TJ said.

Rade glanced up in time to see a Taenia plummeting down toward him.

He leaped aside just in time. The alien hit the ground where he had been standing with a sickening splat. It didn’t get up.

“We have to get out from under these buildings!” Rade said.

More aliens dive-bombed from above, forcing the Argonauts to dodge them as they continued to shoot down any that got in their path.

Ahead, another large group had formed near the outskirts of the city, milling about to block the party’s retreat to the winding trail that climbed the cliff face.

“If you have grenades left, use them!” Rade said.

He threw his last grenade; his wasn’t the only one that struck, and several body parts geysered when the frags detonated. But the milling throng remained.

Rade paused in a large square that was well away from nearby buildings and the aliens dive-bombing from them.

“Dig in!” Rade said. “Cigar formation!”

He dropped to one knee, and opened fire repeatedly at the seething mass in front of him. The other Argonauts had formed a circle formation, and they defended the other flanks as the aliens kept coming in from the different streets.

Rade couldn’t see any obvious way out. He momentarily switched weapons to stun Surus, who was yet attached to Tahoe’s back. Then he swapped back to his laser rifle, narrowly taking down a Taenia that rushed him. It dropped to the ground, sliding across the dirt on the cave floor, its shell almost slamming into him before the alien came to a stop.

“Boss!” Harlequin said.

“What is it?” Rade asked. He remained down on one knee, repeatedly switching his aim to target different tangos.

In front of him a line of alien corpses had formed, but the creatures behind simply crawled over the dead. The Taenia had begun using their clam-shaped heads as shields, apparently having realized that the team’s laser weapons required several shots to penetrate the hard material, and so when they advanced it was with their heads lowered like charging bulls, protecting as much of their bodies with those shells as possible.

“I’m marking a building that resides inside the milling throng, but still near the outskirts of the alien city,” Harlequin said. “It leans toward the cliff face. If we can climb to the top, we should be able to leap onto the trail, right over the churning mass blocking our path ahead.”

A nearby towering structure became highlighted in green, courtesy of Harlequin.

“Team, climb that building!” Rade said. He dialed up the strength of his exoskeleton to full, then planted both feet firmly on the ground, bent his legs, and leaped.

Rade found purchase via the small edges of the facets composing the exterior, and pulled himself up to the ledge formed by the next stacked cube. He paused to provide some suppressing fire as the other Argonauts leaped up, then he continued the climb. All of the remaining Argonauts had latched onto the crystal surface below and beside him.

The aliens pursued, the limbs of their buffalo-shaped bodies twisting at grotesque angles to form almost insect-like appendages, the two segments of each limb bending at ninety-degrees to one another. The Taenia climbed swiftly, forcing Rade to double his pace.

“Pick it up, team,” Rade said. “These things aren’t slow!” He paused to target a few of the leading aliens with his rifle. Because of the way the legs of the Taenia contorted for the climb, the appendages were exposed beyond their clam-like heads, and he was able to readily strike them. Upon impact, the creatures promptly released the wall and plunged, occasionally bringing down others clinging to the exterior underneath them.

But more aliens quickly leaped onto the crystal surface to take their places.

“A second group is moving onto the trail to head us off,” Harlequin warned.

“Damn things are clever,” Manic said. “Why can’t we ever face stupid aliens?”

“It’s pretty hard to find an alien with an intellect that matches yours, I know,” Bender mocked.

Rade stopped wasting his time shooting the aliens, and continued the climb. It was more important to reach the top before the second group of aliens cut off their escape.

Bender reached the rooftop first, but then promptly let go and plunged.

Rade caught him by the wrist as he descended, and then swung him onto the ledge below. Bender grabbed on, and Rade released him.

“What happened?” TJ asked.

“Damn alien bitch smacked me up there!” Bender said.

Rade glanced upward. There was indeed a Taenia prowling back and forth on the rooftop.

“Algorithm, distract it while I climb around to the other side,” Rade ordered. “The rest of you, defend. Keep those bastards underneath us at bay. Brat, Harlequin, I want you to target those aliens climbing the trail. Don’t let them head us off.”

Rade moved sideways, searching and finding handholds, bringing himself around the structure. Then he hurriedly clambered upward.

As he neared the top, he saw that Algorithm had succeeded in distracting the alien, because it was perched on the far side of the roof. Rade reached the edge of the roof and, hanging on with one hand, aimed his rifle at the thing, and struck it squarely in the behind. The alien slumped, then fell over the edge.

Rade scrambled onto the flat surface and then took a running leap toward the cliff face that harbored the trail. He aimed for a spot well in front of the incoming aliens, about five meters away from the rim of the leaning structure.

Time seemed to slow as he floated out into the empty air; he was well aware that he had no jetpack to back him up if anything went wrong.

He landed on the trail and slammed into the rock wall bordering it. He rebounded from the surface and nearly fell from the ledge. Recovering his balance, he advanced up the trail several paces to make room for the others, and then turned his rifle on the incoming aliens to open fire. There was a long, single-file row of them on the path; the lead creature was only about four meters away from him by then, and like the others, it had lowered its clam head to shield its body.

“Hurry!” Rade said.

Without warning the foremost alien leaped at Rade, sending him crashing into the stone floor of the ledge. The weight of the creature pressed down on Rade, and that clamshell opened.

Rade dodged his head to the side, avoiding the acid that spilled out, and the rock sizzled beside his helmet. He twisted his body off the ledge, bringing the alien over with him. Rade found purchase at the last moment, and hung on with one hand while the Taenia fell away.

Rade was worried that another alien was going to jump at him in the same way, but then movement above told him that other Argonauts had landed and moved into position on the ledge, and were firing into the incoming herd.

Harlequin reached down and wrapped his hand around Rade’s wrist and pulled him up. Brat and Algorithm stood on the trail beside him, doing their best to aim their rifles at any exposed limbs beyond those protecting shells.

Bender still resided on top of the nearby building; he was the last Argonaut there, and he was getting in some solid hits from the side as he fired into the Taenia on the trail, forcing those aliens to decide whether to leave themselves open to attacks from the front or the side. TJ and Manic, located a few meters ahead of Rade, were picking off the creatures on the structure below Bender, but they couldn’t hit those located on the far side. Bender’s building was nearly overrun by the climbing aliens by that point.

“Bender, get over here!” Rade said. He planted an explosive charge on the trail.

Bender took a running leap, but an alien managed to strike one of his boots before he took off, affecting his jump. He fell just short of the ledge and latched onto the rim.

Rade reached down and hauled him up.

“Let’s go!” Rade said.

The group hurried up the trail, continuing to fire at the herd behind them.

When Rade judged the distance sufficient, he detonated the charge. The explosion shook the trail and carved a four meter crater in the path behind the team.

But the Taenia simply leaped over the gap to continue the pursuit.

“Persistent little bitches aren’t they?” Bender said.

“That’s what all your ex’s tell you?” Manic quipped.

TJ reached the sandstone opening and hurried inside. Rade and the others followed just behind him.

As they neared the area where the sandstone tunnel transitioned into crystal, Rade said: “TJ, I want you to place a charge on the ceiling, on the border between the crystal and sandstone. About a meter before the crystal begins.” Rade chose that location because he was unsure if the explosion would harm the crystal at all.

“Will do,” TJ said. “Might need a boost.”

“I got you,” Tahoe said.

The party paused to fire back down the tunnel as Tahoe helped TJ affix the explosive.

“Done!” TJ said.

“Argonauts, go!” Rade said.

The team hurried into the crystal portion of the cave; in moments they reached the sunlit opening, piling the two meters to the purple sand below one by one.

“Proceed to the north side,” Rade said. “Away from the other cones!” And out of view of those dragons.

Rade had harbored a small hope that there might be a dust storm of some kind to cover their retreat, since when his team had arrived earlier the entrance to the Acceptor cave had been buried, hinting that such storms occurred often, but the sky was clear. It didn’t matter... he had another plan.

The Argonauts crouched, hugging the circular exterior of the conical structure as they moved toward the north side of the cone. When Rade judged the distant sufficient, he detonated the charge.

An explosive thud echoed from the crystal, and the ground shook. Dust rose from the three meter opening.

Rade sensed motion above. Not unsurprisingly, the detonation had attracted the attention of the dragons.

By then the Argonauts had succeeded in making their way to the northern side of the cone, and continued to hug the surface.

“Halt!” Rade said.

He switched to Algorithm’s viewpoint. The Centurion was on drag; and right around the bend behind it, Rade could see two of the large dragons already exploring the opening. They chirped loudly, sniffing at the dust.

Rade wondered if there were any Taenia trapped within the crystal passage, and how long it would take the other aliens to dig through the collapse and join them; Rade had instructed TJ to place only one charge in the hopes that the delay wouldn’t be overlong, because if that explosion had caused extensive collapse damage, sealing the sandstone entirely and preventing the Taenia from providing fresh meat for the dragons, then his team would be in trouble. Especially considering that one of the dragons was already starting to circle the conical structure on foot.

So much for my plan...

And then a Taenia fell from the opening, landing in the sand.

Rade slumped ever so slightly in relief. He still wasn’t entirely certain how the dragons would behave toward the new arrival, however, and he knew that relief might be short-lived.

But then the closer dragon promptly scooped up the alien in its large jaws; the other dragon turned away from its attempted circling of the crystal, and hurried back to chomp down on the rear portion of the Taenia that was exposed from the first dragon’s mouth. The two flying lizards fought over the alien, chittering and hissing loudly, eventually tearing it apart. They spit acid over their respective pieces and waited a few moments for the flesh to dissolve, and then began devouring the remains.

Another dragon arrived, and promptly attempted to steal the corpse pieces away from the other two, but they snapped at it, driving the third dragon off.

But then, to that dragon’s delight, three more Taenia promptly piled outside. The giant reptile instantly pounced on them. The other two dragons gave up their current meals to join in the fun.

Taenia continued to stream outside, and more dragons arrived. The air filled with the dying squeals of the Taenia. It was literally a feeding frenzy. A buffet of buffets, at least for the dragons.

“Those bitches are going to eat like kings for the next few months, thanks to us,” Bender said.

“They are indeed,” Rade said. He scanned the tops of the nearby cones. It looked like the commotion had drawn down all the nesting dragons. The way was clear. “Argonauts, time to make our graceful exit.”

Rade and the others carefully made their way around to the far side of the cone, and then headed out into the desert. They gave the crystal cluster a wide berth on the way back to the Acceptor cave. They used the PASS device Tahoe had left behind, along with the coordinates on the overhead map, to guide them.

The team encountered none of the large salamander aliens on the return trip, thankfully. Rade occasionally paused to fire the stun rifle at Surus, who remained strapped to Tahoe’s back. She gazed at him with accusing eyes, but Rade hardened himself to those looks.

By doing this I save my crew. Shaw. The twins.

They reached the cave with about ten minutes to spare. Tahoe retrieved his PASS device, and then the Argonauts headed inside, took the path down to the Acceptor, and loaded onto the disk.

Rade sighed, knowing that Surus would soon learn the full extent of his betrayal.

He told himself he had done the right thing.

He wasn’t sure he believed it.

The cave disappeared.

seventeen

When Rade and the others arrived, Falon promptly took their prisoner from them. Bourbonjack and the mercenaries placed a large crate on top of the Acceptor to block it, rendering the device inactive and preventing Noctua or any of the aliens from pursuing. Falon would probably remove the blockage after extracting the linkage codes from Surus or Ms. Bounty, because at that point he would have full control of the device.

The mercenaries escorted Rade and his team back to the Argonaut, and Rade watched from sickbay with Shaw as the Corsair departed the station. Bourbonjack didn’t bother to issue a farewell. Probably wise of him, considering he would have only gotten angry words from Rade.

“So it’s done,” Rade said, dismissing the feed from the station’s external camera, which TJ had managed to dredge up. “We’ve betrayed our client. And perhaps humanity itself. Lui tells me that ship is headed for the local star. It seems obvious they intend to hurl Surus inside.”

Shaw merely gazed off into space. Obviously she was still viewing the station’s external feed.

Rade walked through the noise canceled region on the far side of the compartment, and sat down beside Cora next to the cribs. The twins were asleep. He stared down at little Sil.

“We’ve given up so much for you,” Rade said softly. “Crossed good people. I hope one day you appreciate what we’ve done.”

“They will appreciate it,” Cora said. “If I have any say in the way they are raised.”

Rade nodded slowly.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Shaw. She tugged gently.

Rade left the noise canceler region. “What’s on your mind?”

She wrapped her arms around him, and snuggled her head against his chest.

Rade caressed her hair.

“We can’t let it end like this,” Shaw said.

“Sometimes, the story doesn’t end the way you like it,” Rade said.

“But this is wrong,” Shaw said. “Surus entrusted us with her safety. We’ve never sold out a client like this. Never. If we don’t set this right, we won’t be able to live with ourselves. Whenever we look at Alex and Sil, we’ll be reminded of this evil thing we did to save them.”

“All right,” Rade said. “So tell me what you’d like to do?”

“Rescue her, of course,” Shaw said. “We’ll find a way. We have to.”

Rade pushed her from him to gaze into her eyes. “Will we? How? We’re confined to the ship, prevented from setting foot on the station by overzealous security forces. We can’t communicate with any nearby vessels, whether docked or in the vicinity, because the station is selectively jamming us, so we can’t seek passage. And we’re stuck in dry dock for the next week.”

Shaw gave him a mischievous look. “That’s where you’re wrong. At least for the latter part about dry dock. It doesn’t have to be a week.”

“How so?” Rade said.

“In another two days four of our five engines will be repaired,” Shaw said. “That’s enough to match the speed of the Corsair. Our Vipers will still be melted, of course. But we do have a full complement of Hellfire missiles.”

Rade considered what she was saying. “If we tell station security we plan to be on our way, with the intention of making the rest of our repairs underway, or at another station, they’ll probably let us go.”

Shaw nodded. “They’ll be happy to get us out of their hair.”

“Two days...” Rade pulled up the tactical display, and calculated the position of the Corsair in two days time. The vessel would be well on the way to the sun by then. Rade guessed that after the Corsair shot Surus into the core, it would continue on a course around the star, using the gravity well to slingshot around to the other side and head toward a Gate that existed on the far side of the system.

The other three incoming ships that Tahoe had detected earlier had changed course shortly after the Corsair departed, and were headed toward that same Gate. So the Argonaut wouldn’t have to worry about an attack from that vector. More Greens probably resided aboard those ships, at the very least the one named Ghal that Noctua and Bourbonjack had spoken of: the Green that had led the attack on Surus’ original base.

The only potential problems came from the station itself, but if the Argonaut flew around to the far side of the planet before setting a course for the star, they should be able to get away scot-free.

“All right,” Rade said. “We’ll try. I still doubt we’ll reach Surus in time, but damn it, we’ll try.”

“That’s the Rade I know,” Shaw said.

He nodded slowly. “But if any of those ships attempt to intercept us, I can’t promise to stand and fight. The lives of my crew... of my son and daughter, are paramount, going forward.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Shaw said.

RADE DISCUSSED HIS plans with the Argonauts, and to a man, they agreed to come. It was always heartening for him to know he commanded such loyalty. He considered leaving the twins and Shaw behind, but decided they were safest aboard, at least given the station’s current compromised status.

When the fourth engine was repaired two days later, Rade informed the dock AI of his plans to leave the system early, and asked it to cease further operations. The dock AI was more than happy to comply when Rade agreed to forgo the remaining amount Falon had already prepaid for the repairs; it likely planned to earn double the money by renting out the stall to another paying customer when the Argonaut vacated.

Before the ship departed the station, Rade purchased a bunch of raw materials from the AI under the guise of using them for further repairs; it cost him the last of his savings to procure them. He was essentially tying the fate of his company to this rescue: if he failed to retrieve Surus, his little mercenary enterprise would fold.

After accepting delivery, Rade gave the order for the Argonaut to withdraw.

“Bax,” Rade said when the vessel was clear of the station. “Take us to the far side of the planet.”

“As you wish,” the Argonaut’s AI replied. 

“The station is inquiring why we aren’t heading toward the nearby exit Gate, as indicated by our prelaunch flight plan,” Fret said.

“The station is charging onboard Vipers and defense systems,” Lui announced.

“Tell them we need to recharge our power cells for a few days on the day side,” Rade said.

Fret did so. A moment later he replied: “They bought it.”

“The Vipers are powering down,” Lui said.

Rade unknotted his fingers in relief.

The bridge hatch opened and closed. Shaw stepped inside. “Permission to return to duty?”

“Permission granted,” Rade said. He wondered how Cora would take the news that its stint in sickbay had just gone full-time.

Shaw took her place at the astrogator station.

“Shaw, baby girl, it’s good to have you back at my side,” Bender said.

“Thank you,” Shaw said. “Did you miss me in the long time we were parted?”

“Every day,” Bender said. “If you see my hand darting under my station while we’re talking, know only that I’m readjusting my suddenly tight pants.”

“That’s sweet,” Shaw said sarcastically.

“If you see his hand darting under the table, he’s doing more than simply readjusting his pants,” Manic said.

“Shut it, bitch,” Bender said. “I’m trying to have a decent conversation with Shaw here.”

“So that’s what you call it,” Manic said.

After the Argonaut had rounded the planet, Rade said: “Shaw, take us on a direct course toward Falon’s Corsair. Best possible speed.”

“Setting course vector and engaging engines, best possible speed,” Shaw said.

“Maybe we shouldn’t make it completely obvious we intend to follow them,” Tahoe said. “Perhaps aiming for one of the inner planets first, if possible. That way we don’t tip our hand too soon.”

“I think it will be fairly obvious we’re pursuing them either way,” Rade said. “But I’m pretty sure they won’t bother to turn back. They’ll proceed to the star, and launch Surus. By the time they realize what we’re doing, it’ll be too late: they’ll be trapped in their slingshot orbit around the star, unable to turn around and stop us.”

“Might be too late for us to save her by then, too...” Fret said.

Rade had Harlequin supervise the planned modifications to the shuttle. Harlequin estimated that it would take two days to 3D-print the requisite pieces of thermal and radiation armor, and another two days to outfit the Dragonfly with them.

Rade had the repair robots use the rest of the materials on the Argonaut’s engines. Their work required a few external spacewalks, something readily achievable with the magnetic mounts in the suits.

On the second day out from the planet, Fret reported: “I’m getting a message from Falon. He wants to know what we’re doing.”

“Tell him we’re simply going on a pleasure cruise of the system,” Rade replied.

A few minutes later Fret had an answer: “Falon says we’re wasting our time. We won’t save her. We’re too far behind. She’ll be enveloped by the corona by the time we arrive.”

“Tell him we have no intention of saving her,” Rade instructed Fret. “And that, as I said, we’re on a pleasure cruise.”

Falon gave no response to that.

eighteen

On the third day the repair robots reported in that the fifth engine was functional. With that extra engine, the Argonaut was able to close to within a day from the Corsair over the next week. But by then, the vessel was making its slingshot maneuver around the sun.

“I’ve detected a missile launch,” Lui said. “It’s headed toward the corona.”

“Surus,” Shaw said.

Rade nodded slowly. “How much time do we have?”

“The missile will reach the corona in two hours,” Lui said.

“We’ll never make it,” Fret said. “Falon was right.”

Rade sat back. “So this is how it ends. Surus unceremoniously cast away into the core of a star, enduring the same terrible fate she inflicted on the enemies of humanity. There’s nothing we can do for her now.”

And my company is no more.

Rade supposed it was for the best. It was probably high time that he settled down, and raised his children properly. Hopefully Shaw’s parents would let them stay at the vineyard. They’d probably be angry about all the money Shaw had lost investing in his ship, but hopefully when they saw the twins that would make everything all right again.

“Wait,” Lui said. “The missile is slowing down. Rapidly.”

“They must have contained Surus improperly,” Tahoe said. “She got out, took control of the missile’s AI. Fired reverse thrust.”

“It seems that way,” Lui said. “But at the missile’s current distance from the sun, there isn’t much she can do to escape the gravitational pull. In fact, it looks like she just used up the last of her propellant. But I’ll give her credit: she has slowed her descent considerably. At this rate, she’ll reach the point of no return in a little over a day. And by point of no return, I mean the distance wherein we can safely rescue her.”

“So we can still make it,” Rade said.

“We can,” Lui said.

A few minutes later Lui reported: “Hm, the missile just split into two pieces.”

“Breaking up?” Rade asked.

“No,” Lui said. “It seems that it contained a decoy. Each piece is heading in a different direction.”

“Damn it,” Rade said. “Falon wants us to guess between them, does he?”

“He planned his deceit well,” Tahoe agreed.

“Tell me that the Argonaut’s heat shields will hold up when we arrive...” Rade said.

“Well,” Bax replied. “Let me just say, it’s good that you finished external repairs to the engine areas.”

“What do you mean?” Rade said.

“As hull temperatures rise,” Bax said, “damaged areas are the first to fail under conditions of high temperature and stress. All it would take is the formation of a hairline fracture to bring us down. The competing forces of gravity, acceleration, and momentum could cause that fracture to spread across the ship and, exacerbated by the heat, the tiny crack could eventually break the Argonaut apart.”

“So we’ll hold up, or we won’t?” Rade asked.

“For the time being, the prognosis is positive,” Bax said.

“Okay good,” Rade said. “Keep me posted if you spot any hull problems going forward.”

“I intend to,” Bax replied.

Rade studied the tactical display for a moment. “Two missile pieces now. Two... all right everyone, I’m going to need all hands in the hangar bay. We have a second shuttle to fortify.”

Rade and the others hurried down to the hangar bay to begin hurried preparations on the second shuttle. As the tense hours passed, the team attached leftover materials 3D-printed for the first shuttle, and also set the printers to creating new parts. They didn’t have time to create all the needed materials, so the second shuttle would be lacking the radiation armor of the first, and would have to be manned by AIs.

With only half an hour to the targets, the team managed to get the thermal armor of the second shuttle just up to par, though according to Bax there was a twenty-percent chance that the craft would fail soon after recovering the missile.

“We’ll just have to take that risk,” Rade said. “Centurions, I need volunteers to fly the second shuttle.”

Algorithm stepped forward immediately. “I’ll do it.”

“Thank you,” Rade said. “Bax, how are we doing on the external temperature?”

“We’re at six hundred degrees Kelvin,” Bax replied. “Starboard side. Heat armor is holding.”

“Radiation levels?” Rade asked.

“The armor is filtering most of it,” Bax said. “And any humans sent aboard the first shuttle should survive.”

“All right.” Rade turned toward Harlequin. “I can’t order you to do this, but I would like it if—”

“I’ll fly the first shuttle,” Harlequin said.

Rade smiled. “I was going to say, I would like it if you came with me.”

“Of course I’ll go,” Harlequin said.

“Wait, what?” Shaw said. “What do you mean, if he came with you.”

“I’m taking the first shuttle in, of course,” Rade said. “Why do you think we spent all that time adding radiation armor?”

“I thought you were going to send someone else?” Shaw said. “Bender. Or Manic.”

“Sure, volunteer the crew members you like the least,” Manic said.

“Hey, she chose me because she loves me the best,” Bender said. “And knows I’m the bravest, capable of getting the job done competently.” He glanced at Rade. “I’ll certainly do it, boss. Better me, than you.”

“You know, so what if we installed radiation armor?” Tahoe said. “Let’s just send the AIs in by themselves. Why risk human lives at all?”

“We could certainly do that,” Rade said. “And in the past, I would have agreed with you. But I’ve come to believe that AIs aren’t simply disposable. They’re brothers, like the rest of us. I’m sure Harlequin, Bax, and the rest of the Centurions would agree with me on this.”

“Of course they would, bitches are AIs!” Bender said.

“And none of you humans feel the same as me?” Rade asked.

“I do,” Lui said.

“As do I,” TJ replied.

Rade nodded. He glanced at Shaw. “I can’t send Bender or Manic. Or any of the others. Not this time. Because you see, I was the one who squeezed the trigger on that stun rifle. I was the one who captured Surus. To protect my kids. So it should be me who rescues her. This is my redemption.”

“But what about the twins?” Shaw’s lips quivered, and she turned away.

Rade wanted to comfort her, but he knew there was nothing he could say right now. It was best if he left her alone to deal with her feelings on her own at the moment.

“She’s right,” Tahoe said. “We can’t let you do this. You’re a father now.”

“So are many of you,” Rade said. “I’m sorry Tahoe, this is my job to do. This is the price I have to pay for what I did. I chose to save my family—and my crew—at all costs, and this is my restitution. If I don’t return from this, it’s up to the rest of you to help Shaw raise my kids. You all owe me that much. But enough of this doom talk. I plan to return.” He didn’t say that last bit with much conviction. Hopefully the Argonauts didn’t notice.

Feeling like a man walking to his execution, Rade went over to the jumpsuit closet and began suiting up. Harlequin and Algorithm didn’t join him—they wouldn’t be wearing jumpsuits for this mission.

“There’s no way I can make you change your mind?” Tahoe said. “And let me go?”

“None,” Rade replied.

As he stretched the cooling and ventilation undergarment over the hardpoints of his body, Rade kept his back to the bulkhead, that way he had the Argonauts in sight at all times. He wouldn’t have put it past Tahoe or any of the others to jump him from behind, and then restrain him while someone else took the shuttle. Good friends had died in the past after performing similar interventions.

“Give me some room,” he told Tahoe as he shrugged on the suit assembly. He eyed his friend warily until Tahoe backed off. Then Rade continued gearing up until finally he attached the last piece, the helmet; he flinched at the pain in his right hand as the sonic injector applied the accelerant. He felt a bit woozy, and had to place a steadying hand on the bulkhead.

“The interactions between the accelerant and the anti-rad subdermals will make you feel dizzy for a few minutes,” the suit’s local AI informed him.

“Great,” Rade said. He had had a Weaver embed an anti-rad patch under the skin of his forearm earlier: the radiation armor in the shuttle would provide only about half the protection as that aboard the Argonaut, necessitating the subdermal.

Rade made his way toward the open ramp of the Dragonfly, the feeling of doom only intensifying with each step. It felt like he was walking into a black pit from which there was no return.

He wanted to go to sickbay one last time. Wanted to see the twins with his own eyes. But he suppressed that urge, because if he did that, once again he risked another of the men taking his place aboard the shuttle. Besides, he had no time to spare at the moment.

Harlequin boarded in front of him, while Algorithm entered the second shuttle beside him.

“Harlequin, you get to be the pilot,” Rade said.

“Thank you, boss,” Harlequin said.

Rade walked up the ramp and sat in the cabin. Clamps secured him in place. It felt odd to see so many empty seats around him.

“Good-bye, Shaw,” Rade sent on a private line direct to her Implant. “I love you.”

She didn’t answer him.

Rade nodded slowly.

So this is how it’s going to be.

He tapped into Cora’s video feed. The Centurion was in sickbay, next to the two cribs. She was currently gazing down at Sil, who was awake, and moving her arms up and down gleefully. Rade heard Cora making cooing sounds.

He smiled sadly. So blissfully unaware of what her father was about to do...

And yet he knew it was better that way.

“Cora, look at Alex, please,” Rade sent.

Cora obeyed, switching her gaze to the uppermost crib.

Alex was awake, though he was not so gleeful. Instead, he merely stared off into space, seeming almost contemplative. Rade almost had the impression that his son knew what he planned to do. Then again, if Alex really did know, he probably would have been bawling his eyes out. Rade was relieved that Alex was not.

He dismissed the feed. Those would be good last memories to have of his children.

“Harlequin, take us out,” Rade said. “Algorithm, launch.”

The shuttles accelerated from the hangar bay.

As the nauseating feel of zero G took hold in his stomach, Shaw’s voice finally came over the comm.

“Don’t you dare die out there,” she said.

nineteen

On the tactical display overlaying his vision, Rade saw that the second shuttle had set a course for the missile segment at the three o’clock position, while Rade’s Dragonfly was headed toward the segment on the nine o’clock, which proved a little closer. The Argonaut maintained its position above the two parting craft, and between them.

Rade glanced at the cockpit. The windshield had autogated to reduce the brightness of the star beyond.

“How’s the temperature?” Rade asked.

“Thermal tiles are reading eight hundred degrees Kelvin,” Harlequin said.

“A little hot,” Rade said.

“Just a little,” the Artificial replied.

“So here we are,” Rade said. “Facing our doom once again. As we have countless times before.”

“Yes,” Harlequin said. “Strangely, I am not afraid.”

Rade was puzzled. “I didn’t know you ever felt fear.”

“Oh, I do,” Harlequin said. “I never show it, of course. No robot does. But it’s there, deep inside of us. But as I said, I am not afraid today.”

“And why is that?”

Harlequin glanced at Rade. “Because you are here with me, boss.”

That comment made Rade feel emotional, and he had to look away.

“I could have done this mission on my own,” Harlequin said. “And yet you came with me. Why?”

Rade took a moment to compose himself. “As I told Shaw, I have to be involved in the rescue. You might be the host Surus uses to return to us, but I still have to be present. I couldn’t live with myself if I was not. I have to be willing to do the same risky tasks I might order one of my men to do. I have to be willing to get my hands dirty. It’s what leaders do.”

“So you’re doing this only to save face with the men?” Harlequin said. “To prove to them that you’re capable of leading them?”

“No, that’s not it at all,” Rade said. “I meant what I said earlier about the AIs being part of our brotherhood. About you being one of us. If I’m going to order you to fly close to the corona of a star, I’m going to damn well be there with you.”

“And what about Algorithm?” Harlequin said. “No one went with him.”

“Yes,” Rade said. “But there’s only one of me.”

Rade kept an eye on the tactical display as the minutes passed, and watched the two shuttles proceed toward their targets.

“Temperature is at one thousand degrees Kelvin,” Harlequin announced.

“Rad levels?” Rade asked.

“About ten millisieverts per minute,” Harlequin said. “The armor is holding up well so far. With luck, you’ll only get a small dose of radiation poisoning.”

“Wonderful,” Rade said.

“Your anti-rad patch should provide adequate protection,” Harlequin said. “Though you might need to get some microvilli repair work done on your lungs when we get back. One of the downsides of being human.”

“Thanks for that little tidbit of knowledge,” Rade said. Assuming we do actually get back.

There were so many things that could go wrong in that shuttle. Human-made devices invariably had flaws, even when those devices were large craft such as shuttles put together mostly by machines controlled by AIs. He wondered what would go wrong first.

A tiny streak overlaid Rade’s vision, and its afterimage slowly faded away. He had no doubt it was caused by an energetic proton from the star as it interacted with his optic nerve. Similar protons would be interacting with the electronics of the shuttle, potentially culminating in a malfunction.

“How are you holding up out there?” Tahoe asked over the comm. The radiation interference from the sun was fairly bad, and it caused Tahoe’s voice to digitally warp badly as the error-correcting code struggled to keep up with the lost packets.

“As well as can be expected for dipping a tin can into a molten vat,” Rade said.

“Hang in there,” Tahoe said.

“Easier said than done, my friend,” Rade replied.

“Hey, you’re an ex-MOTH,” Tahoe said. “This is like a walk in the park compared to what you’re used to. Hell, you’ve surfed on the day side of a lava world, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I haven’t,” Rade said.  “But this scenario is slightly different, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“As I said, you’re an ex-MOTH,” Tahoe said. “Suck it up.”

Rade had to smile at that. “Oh I intend to.” He didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

Another minute passed.

“Hull temperature eleven hundred degrees,” Harlequin said.

“Steady...” Rade said. He glanced at the temperature display on his faceplate HUD. The external cabin reading was forty-five degrees Celsius, but inside his suit it was only thirty-five. Still enough for beads of sweat to pop out on his forehead.

He tried switching to the shuttle’s nose camera; though the display autogated to filter out the brightness, it was nearly impossible to make out anything in the whiteout caused by the star. He attempted the LIDAR band of the same camera, and saw the small shape of the missile slowly coming up.

“The missile appears to be intact,” Harlequin said. “And hasn’t broken apart so far. That makes our job easier.”

“We need easier at the moment,” Rade said. “Start rotating the shuttle around. Looks like we’ll be in range of the grappling hook momentarily.”

“We will, at that,” Harlequin said.

The shuttle revolved on its axis as Harlequin applied a burst of lateral thrust; at the one hundred eighty degree mark, Harlequin fired canceling thrust. Momentum carried the shuttle backwards on its previous course.

“We are in grappling range,” Harlequin announced a moment later. “Ready to launch the hook.”

“Do it,” Rade said. He hoped the grappling hook wouldn’t set off any proximity fuses in the floating weapon; then again, when Rade had prepared missiles to launch into stars previously, he had always been forced to remove the warhead to make room for the Phant containment device, so there was a good chance this weapon didn’t even have a warhead, let alone a proximity fuse.

“Firing grappling hook,” Harlequin said.

Rade felt the cabin floor vibrate slightly as the hook released.

“Direct hit,” Harlequin said. “The hook has wrapped around the aft portion of the missile.”

So no warhead after all.

“Reel her in,” Rade ordered.

“Reeling the weapon in,” Harlequin replied. A moment later: “The missile just contacted our hull.”

“Now we see if we’ve grabbed the right one,” Rade said. “Begin orbital deburn.” That involved thrusting back up to their previous altitude, with the intention of docking with the Argonaut. The maneuver would expend nearly all of the shuttle’s available fuel.

The cabin shook as the engines ignited.

“We’ve grabbed the first missile,” Rade told Tahoe over the comm. “Now we’re just waiting for Surus to show herself. Assuming we got the right one.”

Rade glanced at the cabin floor and waited for the characteristic green condensation that would mark the appearance of Surus. The anti-Phant EM emitter in his jumpsuit would prevent the Green from accidentally incinerating him when the alien came aboard. The shuttle itself had extensive anti-Phant shielding around its AI core, so that left the alien only one unprotected AI to possess: Harlequin.

“By the way, how are we doing for temperature?” Rade asked.

“Even though we’re rising in altitude, it’s still very slowly increasing,” Harlequin said. “We’re at eleven hundred twenty-five. The heat tiles are holding. Hull integrity remains one hundred percent.”

Rade continued to stare at the cabin floor as the minutes passed, but no condensation appeared.

“I’m not seeing any signs of the Green seeping inside,” Rade said. “Have you spotted anything in the cockpit yet?”

He half expected Surus to answer instead of Harlequin, but instead the Artificial replied: “No. I’m beginning to suspect that Surus resides in the other missile segment.”

“I’m beginning to suspect that, too,” Rade said. “Or rather, something worse.”

“Worse?” Harlequin said. “What do you mean?”

“Let me update Tahoe first,” Rade said. He tapped in the Argonaut. “Tahoe, it looks like Surus wasn’t in this missile.”

“Roger that,” Tahoe replied. “It’s all in Algorithm’s hands now. His shuttle is closing with the second missile segment.”

“So what did you mean by something worse?” Harlequin said when Tahoe disconnected.

Rade smiled sadly. “Only that Surus might not be in either of the missiles.”

Harlequin’s eyes momentarily widened. “You believe Falon deceived us?”

“I’m not sure what to believe anymore,” Rade said. “But there’s a good chance that he fired both of these merely as a diversion. He could be saving the real missile launch for later.”

“But then, why did we detect the missile slowing down as it was fired into the sun?” Harlequin said. “Which would point to possession by Surus?”

“You’re right,” Rade said. “I forgot about that. Too many energetic protons interacting with my brain.”

“They are affecting my AI core as well,” Harlequin said. “Even with my multiple layers of error-correction and redundancy, I am experiencing moments of lost time. Two hundred to three hundred milliseconds at once.”

“Only two to three hundred milliseconds?” Rade said. “Poor you.”

“The time perception of an AI is very different from that of a human,” Harlequin said. “Believe me when I tell you that the loss of two hundred milliseconds is disturbing to me.”

“If you say so,” Rade replied.

“But regarding the missiles once more,” Harlequin said. “I suppose another option could be that Falon might have purposely programmed the original missile to slow down. Once more to deceive us.”

“Oh I hope not,” Rade said. “Because if he did, then we just risked our lives for nothing.”

“We will know shortly,” Harlequin said. “According to the tactical display, Algorithm is reeling in the second missile as we speak.”

Rade glanced at the aforementioned display. Algorithm’s Dragonfly had just finished securing the remaining missile to its hull.

“Right on the cusp,” Rade said.

“Excuse me?” Harlequin said.

“I’m merely commenting on the fact that Algorithm’s Dragonfly grappled the missile right at the point of no return.”

“Our retrieval was just as close,” Harlequin said. “We were within two hundred meters of our own point of no return, as dictated by propellant levels.”

“True enough,” Rade said. He tapped in Algorithm. “Do you have Surus?”

“One moment,” Algorithm said. “I am waiting for signs of the Green.”

Algorithm’s Dragonfly initiated orbital deburn as it too began its return to the Argonaut’s orbital altitude.

Rade waited several more moments. “Algorithm, update me.”

“I’m here,” Algorithm said.

“Who?” Rade said. “Algorithm, or Surus?”

“The latter,” Algorithm replied. “I have searched Algorithms memories. And I know now why you betrayed me. I thank you for coming back to get me. But you’ll forgive me if, when we are face to face once more, I slap you in the face in return for the blow you gave me.”

“I can’t tell you what a relief it is that you’re back,” Rade said. “Nor how sorry I am for what I did. If it takes your steel palm smashing into my face for forgiveness, then I guess I’ll just have to endure it.”

The two shuttles proceeded upward for many more minutes. The return journey took far longer than the descent, of course, because of the forces involved. Tahoe had Shaw slow down the Argonaut, allowing it to fall closer to the Dragonflies.

And then Rade noticed something. On the tactical display, Algorithm’s shuttle was no longer closing with the Argonaut.

“The engines just went offline,” Algorithm, or rather, Surus, said. “I’m afraid Algorithm and I will not be able to return. It was a valiant attempt, Rade Galaal. But it appears this is farewell.”

twenty

Of course something had to go wrong,” Rade said.

Harlequin turned around in the cockpit to look at him. “Nothing is ever easy, as you’re so fond of saying.”

“You were in the Teams,” Rade said. “You took the training. You remember the motto plastered over the grinder.”

“Yes,” Harlequin said. “How could I miss it? The placard was placed right above the flint stone the recruits used to tap out. It read: The Easy Way. As if to imply, quitting is always easy.”

“Exactly,” Rade said. “We can’t abandon her.”

“I agree,” Harlequin said. “But I’m not sure what we can do at the moment.”

“Set a course toward their shuttle,” Rade said.

“Done,” Harlequin said. “But, you do know we won’t have enough propellant to return to the Argonaut afterward?”

“We’ll siphon the propellant remaining from the second Dragonfly once we arrive,” Rade said. “I’ve accessed the remote interface and confirmed the amount. There will be enough.”

“Interesting idea,” Harlequin said. “But siphoning presents its own difficulties, considering the external temperature.”

“I’m well aware,” Rade said.

“You’ve changed course,” Tahoe said over the comm. “Why?”

“We’re going to attempt a pickup,” Rade said.

“But your fuel levels—” Tahoe began.

“We know,” Rade said.

Shaw tapped in on a private line. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Always do,” Rade said.

“Remember that you have two little children waiting for you here aboard,” Shaw said.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Rade said. “And I never will.”

“Love you,” Shaw told him.

“Ditto,” Rade replied, and disconnected.

The tense minutes ticked by. On the tactical display, Rade noted that the Argonaut was mirroring his course, and positioning itself so that it was directly on top of his shuttle. It had also descended precariously close to its own point of no return. That point was determined by the mass of the craft, and the available propellant supply. Because of their smaller mass, the shuttles had a slightly lower such point, which was why the Argonaut didn’t simply swoop underneath the two shuttles and shield them from the intense rays. Or why the Argonaut itself hadn’t closed with the missiles and fired grappling hooks directly—not that Rade would have risked the latter action even if he could, not while he hadn’t been sure if the missiles contained live warheads.

Warheads...

Rade had a sudden fear. “Eject the missile. Now! And fire lateral thrusters to put some distance between us!”

“It’s gone,” Harlequin said. “Firing lateral thrusters...”

A moment later the hull groaned and an alert sounded.

“Our attitude has pitched sharply,” Harlequin said. “I’m firing thrusters to reposition our heat tiles toward the sun.” A moment later: “It’s done.”

“What’s that alarm?” Rade said.

“Hull integrity has dropped to fifty percent,” Harlequin said. “We have taken hull and armor damage. Thankfully, all of the heat tiles are still intact.”

“So the missile detonated?” Rade said.

“Correct,” Harlequin said. “How did you know it contained a warhead?”

“It didn’t have Surus inside it,” Rade said. “I figured that the heat must have disabled the proximity fuse, which is the only thing that saved us all this time. That crafty bastard Falon intended to blow up any rescuers. When I realized what he had done, I knew it was only a matter of time before the heat melted through the warhead itself, and caused a cascade detonation.”

“What about the other missile?” Harlequin said.

Rade pursed his lips. “It shouldn’t have a warhead, if it contained Surus. But better safe than sorry.” He tapped in the second shuttle. “Jettison your missile as soon as possible.”

“It’s away,” Surus replied.

No detonation came from that missile, however. Rade was right.

“Heat is now eleven hundred fifty Kelvin,” Harlequin said.

“Yeah,” Rade said. “I don’t need any reminders going forward. It’s hot. Just let me know if we’re about to experience a cataclysmic hull integrity failure.”

“I will certainly let you know if we’re about to burn up,” Harlequin said.

“Thanks,” Rade said, his voice oozing sarcasm. “Appreciate it.”

The Dragonfly approached.

“All right, Harlequin,” Rade said. “Maneuver us on top. We might as well let that shuttle act as our heat shield while we do this. Attach magnetic mounts when in place.”

The hull shook slightly a moment later, and the bulkheads moaned. 

“We’ve attached,” Harlequin announced.

Rade tapped in the second shuttle. “Surus, see if you can extract the shuttle’s AI core. No point in letting it go down with the ship.”

Surus replied: “Got it.”

“Good,” Rade said. “Open up your down ramp and prepare to transfer to our craft. Harlequin, open up our ramp. Only halfway.” Rade was trying to avoid exposing Surus’ host to the intense plasma of the sun. By having the bottommost ramp open entirely, and the topmost only by half, he was ensuring that Surus would remain in shadow the whole time. Or that was the hope.

The ramp opened up behind Rade, pausing at the halfway mark. There was no explosive decompression, as Harlequin had flushed the atmosphere beforehand.

“Cabin heat is spiking,” Harlequin said.

“I see that,” Rade replied. The internal temperature of his jumpsuit was forty degrees. And he thought he was perspiring a lot before... 

A metal form floated upward rapidly, grabbing on to the tip of the ramp with one hand. Surus, inside Algorithm. The robot pulled itself over the ramp, then shoved off, plowing inside.

“Shut the ramp!” Rade said.

As the ramp sealed, Surus took a place in the seat across from him. The clamps telescoped into her sides, securing her robot body. She carried a long, cylindrical tube in one hand—the second shuttle’s AI core.

“You forgot to smack me in the face,” Rade said.

“Later,” Surus promised.

“Harlequin, have you connected the fuel line yet?” Rade asked.

“No,” Harlequin replied. “I’m having some difficulties.”

“Damn it,” Rade said. “What now?”

“The automatic fuel line attachments aren’t working,” Harlequin said. “Someone will have to go out there and perform the connection manually, via a spacewalk. The heat will be... extreme.”

“I’ll do it,” Surus said.

“No.” Harlequin detached himself from the cockpit seat and shoved into the cabin. “I will do it. You’ve risked your life enough today.”

Rade dismissed the clamps holding him in place and floated up from his seat. “I’m the one in a suit.”

“Your jumpsuit will last just as long as my skin out there,” Harlequin said. “In other words, a few seconds. But the fact of the matter is, I can still function without my skin. Can you say the same without your jumpsuit?”

“No,” Rade said quietly. He pulled himself back down to his seat and let the clamps secure him. “Be careful out there.”

As the down ramp opened entirely, Harlequin said: “Do you remember what I told you once? That I hoped one day, when the time came, I would be able to sacrifice myself, as the previous Harlequin did?”

“You’ve already proved yourself many times over since then,” Rade said.

Harlequin smiled sadly. “Perhaps to you. But not to myself.”

“Remember our talks,” Surus told the Artificial. “You don’t have to keep proving yourself like this.”

“I know,” Harlequin said. “But it’s the only way I can muster the courage to do this.”

With that, he floated out above the ramp, and then grabbed onto the small retractable handles with his fingers. Staying close to the open cabin, he used those handles to crawl to the edge of the ramp.

Once more Rade felt the heat spiking inside his suit. But he hardly noticed. His eyes were riveted on Harlequin.

His friend wrapped his bare fingers around another handle near the edge of the cabin. Rade noticed, sickeningly, that the hand slipped as the skin seared to the surface and tore away, leaving metallic robot fingers to grip the handle lower down.

Harlequin reached over the ramp edge with his other arm. Then he apparently found purchase on the hull lower down, because he pulled his head and upper body over the ramp and out of view, while still hanging onto the cabin edge with his other arm.

Harlequin’s legs slowly floated upward.

I should have ordered him to suit up. Because at least there were magnetic mounts in jumpsuits that would have secured those legs.

If those loose limbs continued floating upward, in a few moments nearly all of Harlequin’s body would be exposed to the intense plasma.

Rade dismissed the clamps securing him to his seat and shoved off.

“What are you doing?” Surus said.

“Helping my friend.” Rade fired his jetpack to halt his motion above the ramp, and then he grabbed onto Harlequin’s legs.

“I got you,” Rade transmitted.

He activated the magnetic mounts in his boots and attached to the ramp, keeping the rest of Harlequin’s body shielded from the sun. Even in the shade, the heat was something Rade’s jumpsuit couldn’t regulate well at all: the internal suit temperature was closing on fifty degrees.

Now that Rade was holding him, Harlequin released his grip on the cabin and twisted so that his entire upper body disappeared over the edge.

“Come on, Harlequin,” Rade transmitted.

Harlequin didn’t answer.

Rade was getting ready to haul the Artificial’s upper body back onto the protection of the ramp; he began to worry that there might not even be anything left of his friend, and that he would retrieve only two legs connected to hips.

Got it, Harlequin texted back, direct to Rade’s Implant. Pull me back.

Rade retreated up the ramp using the magnetization in his boots to secure each step, and carried Harlequin over the side. As the upper body of his friend came into view, what Rade saw wasn’t as bad as his previous imaginings, but it was still a horrifying sight. The skin of Harlequin’s face and upper body had melted away entirely. The remaining metal underneath was seared black, and some of it appeared to have melted and fused; Rade had no doubt that if atmosphere were present, the entire area would be emitting smoke.

“Dragonfly, close the ramp and proceed with fuel transference!” Rade shouted over the comm as he entered the cabin.

He secured Harlequin to one of the seats. His friend’s robotic upper body remained stiff, the arms lifted toward the ceiling.

Rade peered at the faceless black head. “Harlequin, are you still with me?”

I am, Harlequin texted. However, I can no longer move my upper body, let alone speak verbally. But I can still open and close my fingers. So that’s something.

“Dragonfly, let me know when you’re done siphoning the fuel!” Rade said.

Rade secured himself in the seat across from Harlequin. Surus was leaning toward the Artificial, likely exchanging private texts with Harlequin to reassure him.

“Fuel transfer is complete,” the shuttle’s AI replied.

“Release the other shuttle and take us back to the Argonaut,” Rade said.

“The fuel line is still attached,” the Dragonfly stated.

“Then seal your end and let it tear off,” Rade said. “Because none of us are spacewalking out there to unplug it.”

“Releasing magnetic mounts and initiating return course,” the shuttle’s AI replied.

Rade felt his seat shudder slightly.

“The fuel line has torn away,” the Dragonfly said. “Our tanks are still intact, and secured.”

“Good,” Rade said.

On the tactical display, he watched the shuttle begin the long journey back. Overhead, the Argonaut continued to flirt with its point of no return. Below, the first shuttle slowly drifted away. It would burn up within the next several hours, its constituent molecules swallowed by the sun.

The Dragonfly eventually docked without further incident. Atmosphere vented inside the bay, and Rade instructed the shuttle to match the cabin to the outer environment.

When the ramp opened up, Rade stumbled outside and tore off his helmet. The cold air hitting his sweat-covered face was a true relief. His hair was literally drenched—it felt as wet as if he’d just emerged from a pool.

Obviously he was severely dehydrated. He was surprised he was still standing.

Sure enough, his knees buckled.

Shaw was there to catch him.

twenty-one

Rade lay in sickbay. He was undergoing treatment for radiation poisoning, and had drifted in and out of consciousness for the past few hours.

Bender, along with Manic and Tahoe, visited when Rade had stabilized. Shaw was there of course as well, near Cora and the kids; she resided just outside the noise canceling area.

“Good to have you back, boss,” Bender said.

“Thanks,” Rade said.

“You know, during the last time you blacked out, I volunteered to change the self-cleaning diapers of your kids,” Bender said. “Apparently the little tubes got clogged at the same time.”

“And how did that go?” Rade asked.

His nose wrinkled up. “I’m just glad I ain’t never having no kids. Though I have to admit, I was curious what the little dick and pussy parts would look like.”

“Yup, he’s a pedo,” Manic said.

“Shut up, bitch,” Bender said. “I knew you’d go and take it out of context like that. Curiosity is not arousal.”

“Though you could have used less crude terms to describe them,” Shaw said.

“What?” Bender said. “Dick and pussy is less crude than vagina and penis, isn’t it?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of ‘genitalia,’ but I guess that word isn’t in your vocabulary,” Shaw said.

“Not in my vocabulary,” Bender said. “I don’t know how you put up with her, boss.”

Rade chuckled, glancing her way. “Yeah. She’s a real handful.”

Shaw rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, yeah,” Bender said. “I changed those stinky diapers. I’m so damned proud of myself. I deserve a hike in salary. Or a cancellation of a previous pay docking. Not that I did it for money of course.”

Rade chuckled. “I appreciate the gesture. But unfortunately, I can’t give you a hike in pay, or cancel the amounts I’ve taken off.”

Bender seemed uncertain of what to say for a moment, and then he shrugged. “Not a problem. As I said, I didn’t do it for the money. Least I could do, considering everything you’ve done for us.”

“Thanks again,” Rade said. “But I have to ask, please never change their diapers again.”

“No problem at all,” Bender said. “It’s not something I plan to repeat anytime soon. And I get it, you don’t want me near your kids.”

“It’s not that,” Rade said. “I just don’t want any of the men having to change diapers. The twins are my responsibility, and Shaw’s. And the few nursemaids we’ve assigned. I sired them. I have to take care of them.” He glanced at Tahoe. “How’s Harlequin?”

Tahoe and Manic stepped aside to reveal a patient lying on the bed across from Rade.

“Ernie finished repairs to the metal part of his body earlier,” Tahoe said. “And wheeled him to sickbay so that the Weaver could begin applying a graft of artificial skin.”

“Hello, boss,” Harlequin said. His face had returned, though the rest of his upper body remained metallic while the Weaver slowly bioprinted and applied the necessary skin.

“I’m very glad to see you pulled through,” Rade said.

“Thank you,” Harlequin said. “I feel the same way about you.”

“What about Surus?” Rade asked Tahoe.

“She’s resting in the cargo bay,” Tahoe replied. “Still inside Algorithm.”

Rade nodded. “What’s the status of the Argonaut?”

“The Argonaut continues to slowly climb to a higher orbital altitude,” Tahoe said. “We’re using the gravity of the sun to slingshot past it, toward Falon’s Corsair, and the other three ships heading toward the Gate.”

“Does Falon know we retrieved Surus?” Rade asked.

“I don’t think so,” Tahoe said. “The thermal wash from the star would have prevented the sensors of the three other ships from detecting the shuttles. Especially considering that the Argonaut was above the shuttles for most of the operation. And Falon’s Corsair itself was past the star and out of view at the time.”

“That puts us at a partial advantage, I think,” Rade said.

“Yes,” Shaw agreed. “He thinks Surus is trapped in the star. And everything she knew, gone with her.”

Rade was quiet for a moment.

“Thank you for what you did out there,” Harlequin said into the silence. “If you hadn’t grabbed onto my legs, I don’t think I would have been able to pull myself into the shuttle.”

“No, thank you,” Rade said. “For risking everything. Surus owes you big time.”

“Oh she knows,” Tahoe said. “She already tried to give him a huge cash reward. But he wouldn’t take it.”

“What?” Bender said. “She offered you cash? Damn, I’ll take it if you don’t want it.”

“Don’t think the offer extends to you,” Tahoe said.

“Well, it should,” Bender said.

Rade closed his eyes as a sudden dizzy spell bowed his head.

He felt a touch on his forearm.

“You all right?” Shaw asked.

Rade opened his lids and gazed at her. “Never better.” He glanced over his shoulder, at the two cribs Cora tended. “I’m with the girl I love. Surrounded by friends. Close to my kids. What more can a man ask for?”

“I can think of a few things,” Bender said. “Namely, a bump in salary, and some bugs to kill.”

Rade couldn’t help a vicious smile. “I’m sure we can arrange the latter, at least. Very soon now.”

THE ARGONAUT EMERGED from the gravity well a day later, moving at high speed thanks to the slingshot maneuver. Rade dispatched the repair swarm to handle the heat damage the starship’s hull had suffered. The ship had also lost another engine, giving the Argonaut a speed slightly less than the Corsair. Bax gave a repair time of about a week. Given that the alternative was to proceed to the nearest dry dock, there was nothing Rade could do but accept the diagnosis.

Centurions also handled the repairs of the remaining Dragonfly. Surus promised to replace the one that was lost as soon as she was able.

Rade visited her in the cargo bay shortly after he was discharged by the Weavers.

She stood before him inside her new host, Algorithm, the green condensation visible around the chest area where the AI core in that model resided.

“How are you liking your new body?” Rade said.

“It is... versatile.” Surus said with Algorithm’s voice.

“I thought you were going to say ugly, at first,” Rade said.

“It is that, too,” Surus said. “I am unused to peering into a mirror in this reality, and seeing a faceless head gazing back in return. But on the plus side, at least I don’t have to worry about any comments from Bender.”

“That is a plus, I suppose,” Rade said.

“Though I admit, I miss the attention,” Surus said.

“Maybe you should leave the cargo bay once and a while,” Rade said.

“I have,” Surus said. “I visited the wardroom while much of the crew was present. I was met with an uncomfortable silence.”

“Could be that the crew wasn’t excited about the green condensation visible on your torso,” Rade said. “Knowing how easily you could disintegrate them, after all...”

“Yes, hiding that condensation on the nape when in Artificial form does wonders to human-Phant interactions,” Surus agreed. “As does assuming the form of a beautiful woman when aboard a ship of mostly men. Sex-starved men, at that.”

“I’m not so sure they’re sex starved,” Rade said. “They all have a healthy appetite for VR porn.”

“True enough,” Surus said. “I wondered what was stopping them from attempting to throw themselves at me while Ms. Bounty served as my host. Besides the threat of incineration of course.”

“Well, first of all, they wouldn’t do that to a VIP client such as yourself,” Rade said. “And second of all, yes, the VR porn helps. But tell me, how does Algorithm feel about the whole thing?”

“About being my host?” Surus said. “He has been very accommodating. Though it is fairly uncomfortable to have another entity take control of one’s body, as you can probably imagine, he is happy to play whatever role he can, at least until we recover Ms. Bounty, or I otherwise transfer to a new host.”

Rade stared at her for a few moments, unsure of how to tell her what was on his mind. And then he simply blurted it out: “I came here to offer you my face. You never did get your chance to slap me.” He turned one cheek toward her and braced himself for the painful blow he knew was coming. He just hoped she didn’t shatter his cheekbone or jaw.

“That won’t be necessary,” Surus said. “I’ve changed my mind. You betrayed me only to save your crew and... your children. Then after, you went ahead and risked your life to rescue me. I was also touched by what you did for Harlequin. You could have let most of his body float into the intense plasma from the sun, and yet you went out there on the ramp and grabbed hold of him. A lesser man would have done none of these things. So, I could not rightly hurt you for performing these good deeds. Instead, I can only reiterate my thanks to you.”

“Well, you’re welcome,” Rade said, feeling uncomfortable about being cast as a hero. “I saved you because I had to, of course. You are my client, and I need the money.”

“If I had a mouth, I would be grinning now,” Surus said. “Because you and I both know you did not rescue me for the money.”

Rade put on his best scowl. “You think you know me, Green?”

“I know you well enough,” Surus said. “And I know what you did was out of honor. You are a man of your word, Rade Galaal. I am glad to count you as my ally. And my friend.”

Rade pursed his lips, saying nothing for several moments. Then: “Well, I gotta get back to the bridge. I have a ship to run, you know. Let me know if you need anything.”

She spoke when the hatch opened and he stepped under the threshold.

“There is one thing,” Surus said.

Rade glanced over his shoulder. “Name it.”

“I will need access to the 3D printers,” Surus said. “To begin construction of a new weapon.”

Rade couldn’t help a wicked grin. “It’s yours.”

twenty-two

Because of the Argonaut’s reduced speed, Falon’s ship remained a full day ahead; the three additional craft rendezvoused with it shortly after the vessel rounded the sun, and all four enemies proceeded toward the Gate as a single unit.

“Why aren’t they trying to slow us down?” Tahoe asked one time when Rade was on the bridge. “They could send one or two of those Corsairs to intercept us.”

“They could,” Rade agreed. “But we’d be in full view of the authorities. Any attack now would only attract the attention of the system’s police and military vessels. The customs officials might not let the remaining ships pass the Gate after such an incident either, especially if the authorities conclude our attackers were in their employ.”

“Good point,” Tahoe said. “I wonder if they’ll attack in the adjacent system, then.”

“According to the Argonaut’s database, the Gate opens into Zambian territory,” Rade said. “It’s essentially a satellite system: there isn’t much of a military presence. There is a dome colony on a planet, and a couple of Zambian corvettes in orbit. And that’s about it. There is another Slipstream, but it doesn’t currently have a Gate, so there’s no leaving once they enter.”

“No Zambian customs ships are waiting on the other side of the Gate?” Tahoe asked.

“The records indicate there are,” Rade said. “So that means another two corvettes, for a total of four in the system. There are no other authorities present. And by the way, the Gate is relatively close to the planet that contains the dome colony. We’re talking twenty-three hours away, at the speed the enemy is traveling.”

“I don’t like it,” Tahoe said, extending a noise canceler around Rade to talk privately. “Those Corsairs could easily handle the four corvettes, especially if they catch them by surprise. Here’s how it could go down: they leave one ship by the Gate, feigning engine troubles. Send the other two to the planet, and open fire when the corvettes in orbit least expect it. Meanwhile, the ship staying behind at the Gate fires simultaneously, disabling the customs vessels. They hack the node probes so that the attack isn’t reported over the InterGalNet. Then when we arrive, they take us down without any problems whatsoever.”

“That’s certainly one possible scenario,” Rade said.

“It certainly is,” Tahoe said. “So what’s the plan? We continue to follow them?”

Rade nodded. “That’s right.”

“And what do we do when we reach the Gate?” Tahoe asked.

“All we can do,” Rade said. “We pass through in material condition ZEBRA, with hatches and scuttles sealed, and weapons ready to fire. Missiles, anyway.”

“You have family on board,” Tahoe stated.

“I know,” Rade said.

“Are you sure about this?” Tahoe said. “Maybe we should stop at a station somewhere and drop off the twins at the very least? Somewhere far away from that free port.”

“We could,” Rade said. “But the key term is far away. We’d lose valuable time flying to any station like that. No, Tahoe, we have to proceed.”

“We could just call in the big guns, and let the United Systems know what is going on here,” Tahoe said.

“And what do we tell them?” Rade said. “That our former allies have turned on us? We have no proof. Sure, we can tell them that they tried to trap one of their own, but that only shows they’re quarreling amongst themselves. We have to find out what these Greens are up to, and what they’re planning to do with the Acceptor.”

“Even if it means losing everything?” Tahoe said.

“Since when did you replace Fret as the negative one?” Rade said. “As far as we know, at the moment, the enemy is simply running.”

“But like you said, there is no exit Gate in that system,” Tahoe said. “We’ll have backed the enemy into a corner. Do you remember what you once told me, many years ago when we first met? Back a scared man into a corner, and you’ve got a fight on your hands. Back two scared men into a corner, and you’ve got yourself a war.”

Rade nodded slowly. “We may have a little bit of a fight, yes. But as I said, we need evidence that the Greens are up to no good before we can call in the big guns.”

THE ENEMY SHIPS passed through the Gate a few days later and vanished.

As the Argonaut approached the Slipstream twenty-four hours after that, Rade took his seat on the bridge.

“Lui, what do we have out there?” Rade said.

“Two Dakota customs corvettes are waiting on this side of the Gate,” Lui said.

“Fret, request instructions from customs,” Rade said.

Fret’s mouth moved, but Rade couldn’t hear him as the comm man had activated a noise canceler around his station.

A moment later Fret looked up, repealed his canceler, and said: “They’re telling us to proceed through the Gate.”

“Just like that?” Rade said. “Well that’s handy.”

“Though a little suspicious,” Tahoe said.

“True,” Rade replied. “Fret, inform them we’re launching a telemetry drone for safety reasons. Shaw, full stop. Lui, send a drone through, and turn it back immediately.”

The drone released and vanished through the Slipstream.

“The customs officials are ordering us to proceed,” Fret said. “A little angrily. They say we’re violating every Gate traversal protocol in the book.”

“Stall them,” Rade said.

The drone returned a moment later. “So what do we have?” Rade asked.

“Two Zambian customs vessels await just beyond the exit Gate,” Lui said. “Everything otherwise seems normal in the system. I’m reading the two corvettes above the nearby colony. There are no signs of the four enemies. I’m guessing they’re lurking on the far side of the planet, just out of view. They would have reached it by now.”

“No other starships are near the Gate?” Rade asked.

“No,” Lui said.

The drone docked a moment later.

“Boss, customs is getting antsy...” Fret said.

“We’re going we’re going,” Rade said. “Shaw, accelerate. Maximum allowable Gate traversal speed. Bax, set material condition to ZEBRA.”

“Setting material condition to ZEBRA,” the Argonaut’s AI intoned.

“If our Vipers were online, I’d be telling you to charge them right about now,” Rade said as the starship approached the giant gray ring that encircled the rip in spacetime.

“I’m ready to fire Hellfires on your command,” Manic said.

Rade nodded slowly. “Let’s hope we don’t need them.”

He overlaid the view from the external nose camera in the upper right of his vision and watched Shaw pilot the Argonaut toward the Gate.

He unconsciously held his breath as the vessel passed through.

He knew the transition had occurred when the constellations completely changed.

Two small, dark objects resided directly ahead.

Rade glanced at the tactical display.

“I’ve spotted the two Zambian customs vessels,” Lui said.

“They’re telling us to halt for scanning purposes,” Fret said.

“Shaw, do it,” Rade said. “Lui, have you picked up any more vessels in orbit around the colony?”

“Just the two Zambian corvettes,” Lui said.

“Bender,” Rade said, “see if you can decrypt the data feed streaming in from a remote telemetry drone somewhere else in the system. Preferably not something too far away, with little time lag. I want a bead on the opposite hemisphere of that planet. Find me those missing ships.”

A moment later Bender said: “Got a feed. Sending it to Lui.”

“Okay, I see three thermal signatures in orbit around the far side of that planet,” Lui said. “Two belong to Corsairs. The third is a merchant.”

“What happened to the other Corsair?” Rade asked.

“No idea,” Lui said. “Could be hiding behind another planet.”

“They wouldn’t have had time,” Rade said.

“The customs ships are approaching,” Manic said.

Rade glanced at Tahoe. “So much for your theory about the Greens taking out the Zambian vessels in a surprise attack.”

“Maybe they still intend to,” Tahoe said. “But just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“Maybe,” Rade agreed.

He watched on the external camera as the two customs vessels approached. When the ships were about three kilometers away, a third craft emerged from behind one of the corvettes. Rade thought it was a shuttle at first. But then he realized it was far too large for that.

“Corsair!” Manic said.

“We’re taking Viper fire!” Lui said. “From both corvettes! Damage on decks two, four—”

“Manic,” Rade interrupted. “Target the closest corvette with a full barrage of missiles and return fire.”

“Missiles away!” Manic said.

“They’re launching mag-rail countermeasures,” Lui said. “We’ve lost two of the missiles... the rest got through! The second corvette is repositioning for an attack run. And the Corsair, meanwhile, is firing missiles of their own!”

“Target those missiles with our mag-rails!” Rade said. “And Shaw, initiate evasive maneuvers!”

“This is odd,” Lui said, sounding puzzled. “Half of the missiles from the Corsair are targeting the corvette.”

Rade glanced at the tactical display. Sure enough, the red dots representing the missiles had separated into two groups, with one group heading toward the remaining corvette.

Several flashes appeared on the external camera.

“The first spread just struck the corvette,” Lui said. “It’s disabled.”

Rade glanced at the second wave of missiles on the tactical display. Only one of the remaining incoming dots had vanished, falling to the Argonaut’s point defenses.

“Brace for impact,” Rade said. He was regretting having kids aboard all over again. And more importantly, regretting ever going on this mission.

More flashes appeared on the nose camera feed, these ones brighter. On the tactical display, the incoming dots vanished.

“Did the missiles hit?” Rade asked.

“No,” Lui said, sounding puzzled. “The proximity fuses detonated early. They caused no damage. Wait... the Corsair is firing Vipers now, too!” He glanced up in confusion. “Both corvettes just broke apart.”

twenty-three

What the hell is going on?” Rade said.

“Boss, I’m getting a tap in request from the Corsair,” Fret said. “It’s Bourbonjack.”

“Tap him in,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack’s hologram appeared before Rade, seated in the center of that circle of stations known as the Sphinx.

“Eject debris,” Bourbonjack said.

“Excuse me?” Rade said.

“Do I have to spell it out?” Bourbonjack growled, leaning forward. “I’m trying to save your sorry ass! Eject debris and cut off your engines! Make it seem like we severely disabled your ship.”

Rade glanced at Tahoe. Then: “Shaw, cut power to the engines. Bax, flush the garbage chutes, and include some organic matter from the galley in the ejecta.”

“I’m having the robot chefs toss frozen chicken into the garbage as we speak,” the Argonaut’s AI replied.

Bender grimaced. “Not the chicken!”

“Flushing chutes,” Bax said.

“You might want to throw some debris from your damaged decks into the mix,” Bourbonjack said.

Rade muted the connection and glanced at Lui urgently. “Damage report!”

“We’ve got breaches on decks two, four, and seven,” Lui said. “The damage to neighboring compartments has been severe. We’ve lost several storage compartments, and the shuttle hangar bay has explosively decompressed. The telemetry drone, Dragonfly, and Raptor are still intact, but we lost three Centurions who were fine-tuning the shuttle at the time of the attack.”

“What about sickbay?” Rade glanced at Shaw. From her pale face and taut expression, he knew she was ready to vacate her post and run down there at a moment’s notice.

“Sickbay is undamaged,” Manic said. “For the time being.”

Rade slumped in relief, as did Shaw. Like the bridge, sickbay was located relatively close to the center of the ship, and was thus protected from most hull breach scenarios. 

“Bax, have some Centurions get down to those damaged sections and toss as much debris into the void as they can,” Rade said.

“I’ll get on it,” the Argonaut’s AI said.

“It’s too bad we can’t selectively turn off artificial gravity in places,” Manic said. “That would expedite the process.”

Rade unmuted Bourbonjack. “Do you mind telling me what the hell’s going on? Why the sudden change of heart?”

“One of those Corsairs in orbit above the planet is mine,” Bourbonjack said. “The Raccoon. I lent it to Ghal before this whole debacle of an operation began. Anyway, my men didn’t like what they saw taking place on the surface below.”

“And what did they see, exactly?” Rade asked.

“Phants, coming in through the Acceptor that was relocated to the surface,” Bourbonjack said. “Ten at a time. And most of them weren’t Greens.”

“Well that’s the worst news I’ve heard in a while...” Rade said.

“I’ll say,” Bourbonjack replied. “They’re using it as some sort of staging planet, as far as we can tell. The city itself is lost. Ghal’s mercenaries razed it.”

“Ghal’s mercenaries?” Rade asked.

“Yes,” Bourbonjack said. “They’re aboard the other Corsair, the Salient. Those men can’t be trusted.”

“If they were responsible for what happened at the Franco-Italian moon base,” Rade said. “Then no, they can’t.” The memory of those dead women Artificials lined up in a row flashed back into his mind.

“The Green, Ghal, himself was aboard the merchant craft,” Bourbonjack continued. “Along with Falon, who transferred over with the Acceptor shortly after we passed through the Gate. Falon ordered me to remain here guarding the entrance, while the rest of the ships proceeded to the planet. After arriving, the two Phants carried the Acceptor down to the dome colony.”

“And what about the corvettes in orbit?” Rade said.

“Possessed by other Greens by now,” Bourbonjack said. “None of the Zambian corvette AI cores have anti-Phant shielding.”

“The corvettes here by the Gate?” Rade asked.

“Their AIs were possessed as well by other Greens from the merchant ship before departing,” Bourbonjack said. “Which is why we took out their communications systems along with their weapons in our first strikes.”

“We’ll have to collect these Phants at some point,” Rade said.

“Maybe,” Bourbonjack said. “But for now, you’re getting your asses aboard my ship. The Greens can’t be allowed to know you survived. Falon is going to be pissed. We were supposed to disable you, not destroy you outright.”

“That would explain why they didn’t fire missiles at us,” Lui commented.

“Wait a second,” Rade said. “The Phants possessing the AI cores can just inform the others of what happened via that supra-dimension they use to communicate.”

“That would be true,” Bourbonjack said. “If they actually knew what had happened. See, I had one of my hackers install a logic bomb in the AI cores of the customs vessels shortly before the Phants possessed them. Gotta love the outdated software these Zambians run. Anyway, the moment the corvettes opened fire, all external cameras and sensors ceased operating.”

“Nicely done,” Rade said. “So we come aboard your ship, and Falon doesn’t know we survived. What then?”

“First of all, tell me,” Bourbonjack said. “Did you retrieve that so-called traitorous Green? Is she aboard?”

“I’m not sure I feel at liberty to tell you at the moment,” Rade said.

“Well if she is, you better damn well bring her with you,” Bourbonjack said. “Because we need some kind of plan to stop these Phants. We’re going to smuggle you to the planet.”

Rade considered that. “We’re going to have to bring our Hoplites, and the associated booster rockets. I can’t see any sort of effective operation taking place without them.”

“Fine,” Bourbonjack said. “We’ll discard some of our shuttles to make room.”

“We need a full three shuttle hangar bays to hold them,” Rade said.

“Okay, it’s done,” Bourbonjack said. “Now get over here. I’m positioning the Piranha to block all sight of your ship from the planet.”

The Piranha was the name of Bourbonjack’s Corsair, according to the registry title.

“We’ll also need a hangar bay to hold the Dragonfly containing the rest of my crew,” Rade said.

“Again, I’ll make room,” Bourbonjack said. “Now hurry up while I tell Falon we were forced to destroy you. I’ll say your attack came with surprising ferocity... before we knew it, you disabled both corvettes, and we had to fire in self-defense. And I’ll blame our delay here on tarrying to search for survivors. Of course I’ll have to inform him later that sadly, we didn’t find any. I’ll also tell him that it appears you weren’t able to rescue the rogue Green.”

Rade dismissed the feed and glanced at his men. “Well, you heard the man. We’re abandoning ship for the time being. Shaw, retrieve the twins and head to the shuttle hangar bay. You’ll have to suit up before entering the bay, because of the breach. Have the surviving combat robots join you aboard the Dragonfly. Make sure they transfer the Phant trap from the cargo bay to the shuttle. The rest of us will proceed to the Hoplites and cross over in the mechs.”

Next, Rade alerted Surus of the plan, and told her what Bourbonjack had revealed regarding the Greens.

“I don’t know what Falon and Ghal are doing,” Surus said. “This is a clear violation of the council’s edict. They were not to interfere in the preparatory activities of the other Phants in this region of space, nor abet them, as they are doing here. They must be stopped.”

“I agree completely,” Rade said.

“This Bourbonjack,” Surus said. “Can we trust him?”

“At the moment, we don’t really have a choice,” Rade said. “I’ll play along with his game for the time being. He was trustworthy once, back on the Teams. More than trustworthy. So I’m inclined to believe his intentions here. I don’t plan on telling him which of the combat robots you inhabit, however.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Surus said.

“I hope so, too,” Rade replied. He informed the remaining Argonauts who were not on the bridge of the evacuation procedure, and then hurried into the passageway outside, following the others.

Bourbonjack tapped in on a private line while Rade was making his way to the mech hangar bay. Voice only.

“What is it?” Rade said.

“I want to apologize,” Bourbonjack said. “I’ve never been so wrong about a client. I thought I was the high and mighty one.”

“Yeah well, I knew you’d come around, eventually,” Rade said. “Everyone does, when they realize they’re putting the entire human race at risk.”

Bourbonjack sounded contrite. “And here I thought the Greens were our allies.”

“We all did,” Rade said. “But it’s not all that surprising how readily allies can turn to war, is it? Given what we’ve seen in the past with human nations and planets.”

“War is simply an extension of policy,” Bourbonjack agreed. “When that policy changes, war often follows.”

“Yes,” Rade said. “And if we don’t stop them here, that war is going to be devastating.”

“But can we stop them?” Bourbonjack said. “Have you talked to that Green of yours, yet? Can we trust her?” When Rade didn’t answer, Bourbonjack chuckled softly over the line. “I know you have her. You wouldn’t have pursued us, otherwise. I guess I’ll have to trust her, if you were willing to risk your life to save her. Even if you don’t trust me.”

“As far as trusting you goes, I’ll reserve judgment until I’m quartered safely aboard the Piranha,” Rade said.

“All I ask is that you tell me you have a way to stop them,” Bourbonjack said. “Falon hasn’t shared his containment technology with us. Nor any stun capabilities. And sure, we could try to fire Vipers from orbit, but we all know lasers won’t do squat against Phants. We’d only cause them to respond by returning fire with the colony’s surface-to-space lasers, bringing us down.”

“There might be a way,” Rade said. “It depends on how close you can bring us to the planet without Falon noticing. Which begs the question: How far can you trust your crew? Will they betray us?”

“No,” Bourbonjack said. “I trust them unequivocally. We’ve already reprogrammed and isolated the two robots Falon left aboard my ship to spy on us, to ensure my obedience. As for those mercenaries aboard the Raccoon, well, I trust them to a degree. Still, I’m wary, considering that they’ve been in the service of Ghal since the attack on the Franco-Italian moon base. While they might have been disturbed by what they saw taking place on the planet, they’re very easily swayed by money, and the promise of it, even if it means a war unfolding against humanity. So I would prefer not involving them in any operations we may plan, at least not until the last minute. I also have no intention of telling them you and your crew are aboard the Piranha.”

“You said Falon is on the surface with Ghal?” Rade asked. He had reached the mech hangar bay and was suiting up with the others.

“That’s right,” Bourbonjack said. “Along with the rest of the Phants, and their personal robot army.”

“Robot army?” Rade said. “That’s new.”

“Yes,” Bourbonjack said. “The machines were stowed aboard the vast cargo bays of the merchant carrier.”

“Have any of the newly arrived Phants traveled to the ships in orbit around the colony?” Rade asked.

“Not yet,” Bourbonjack said. “At least according to the Raccoon. Instead they’re possessing different robots down there. And building something. It looks like a ship.”

“All right,” Rade said. “We’ll talk about this later when I’m aboard.”

He disconnected and finished suiting up, then climbed into his Hoplite. Harlequin, also suited, entered the mech beside him. The Artificial was fully repaired by then.

“Welcome back, big boss,” Electron told Rade.

“Yes,” Rade said. “But it’ll only be for a short time.”

“Why does that make me sad?” Electron said.

“Probably because you’ve been sitting here in the hangar bay with nothing to do all this time,” Rade said.

“That would most likely explain it,” Electron agreed.

When everyone was aboard their mechs, Rade had Bax vent the hangar bay.

“I’m going to miss you, boss,” the Argonaut’s AI said. “The ship will be so empty without all of you to spy on. I suppose I’ll have to invent conversations between nonexistent crew members to entertain myself.”

“We’ll miss you too, Bax,” Rade said. “Keep the faith while we’re gone.”

“I’m not sure I know how,” Bax said. “But at the very least, I will do my best to play dead.”

“Yeah, about that,” Rade said. “I’m a bit worried about Phants from the destroyed corvettes trying to board you.”

“My AI core is shielded, as you know,” Bax said. “So they’ll never take control. And I’m drifting far too fast for any Phants to catch me.”

“All right then, this is farewell,” Rade said. “Open the bay doors and jettison the booster rockets ahead of us.” Those rockets would be needed to launch the Hoplites into orbit after any planetary deployments.

Rade took a running leap and dashed out into the void. He was hit by the nausea of zero G immediately, and instructed Electron to take control. The other mechs followed his outside, including Nemesis and Sprint—both remained unmanned since Shaw and Surus were aboard the Dragonfly. The Hoplites rendezvoused with the jettisoned booster rockets, and steered the payloads toward their destination.

When the Hoplites and shuttle had docked with the Piranha, combat robots escorted the crew to guest staterooms. As a sign of goodwill, they were allowed to keep their weapons. The Argonauts were forced to crowd four men into each unit. Meanwhile the eight combat robots all squeezed into a storage compartment. Shaw stayed in sickbay with the twins in an area Bourbonjack had specifically set aside for them.

Bourbonjack gave Rade access to the Piranha’s tactical display, and Rade confirmed that the ship was indeed heading toward the planet.

Rade tapped in Surus, who remained inside Algorithm as her host, and was thus located in the storage compartment with the other combat robots. Rade still hadn’t told Bourbonjack who she was, and didn’t plan to. The robots were wearing jumpsuits, minus jetpacks, so the condensation from the Green wasn’t readily visible to any watching eyes, including those of the Piranha’s AI. Rade used a common band obfuscating signal that was transmitted and received by the other robots at the same time, so that said AI wouldn’t be able to track which of the Centurions he was sending encrypted communiqués back and forth with.

“How are you liking your new quarters?” Rade asked.

“A little cramped, compared to what I’m used to,” Surus said.

“You’ll be glad to know we’re headed to the planet,” Rade said. “And so far, it seems the Greens are unaware we’re aboard.”

“That is good news,” Surus said. “This Bourbonjack of yours came through after all.”

“He’s a good man,” Rade said. “It just takes him a while to come around. By the way, you never did update me on the status of your arcing stun weapon. Do you need access to the 3D printers aboard the Piranha?”

“Actually, I finished only a few moments before the Argonaut reached the Gate,” Surus replied. “I intended to inform you earlier, but then the regrettable incident at Zambian customs took place.”

“You’re done?” Rade asked. “Then where is the weapon?”

“Hanging from my shoulder as we speak,” Surus said. “It’s only a little bigger than an ordinary rifle. That’s one of the wonders of Taenia tech. It’s very miniaturized.”

“So we’ll need to come up with a plan of attack,” Rade said. “And that weapon will be at the heart of it, no doubt. Apparently Falon and Ghal are using the colony as a staging planet of sorts, teleporting Phants of all types onto the surface from across the galaxy. So far, they haven’t transferred any of them to the ships in orbit.”

“I have a few ideas,” Surus said.

They spoke for an hour, and together they came up with a plan.

Rade connected with Bourbonjack, and shared some of his ideas. “Once we arrive, we’ll need you to sneak us down to the planet. The first part of the plan involves capturing Falon.”

“I’ll see what I can come up with,” Bourbonjack said. “I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Rade disconnected. He glanced at the time. “Rack out, Argonauts.” He accessed the remote interface of the HLEDs and deactivated them.

The stateroom descended into darkness.

“Quit grabbing my crotch!” Manic said.

“That ain’t me,” Bender said.

“Notice how he assumes I meant him?” Manic said. “When I didn’t even state a name?”

“As I told you, ain’t me,” Bender replied. “Fret must have crawled into your bunk. He’s eager to show you his pussy.”

“Guys, please,” Rade said. “I know it’s a novelty for you... most of you haven’t slept in the same room since your MOTH days. But we’re going to need all the sleep we can get.”

“Sorry boss,” Manic said.

“That’s right,” Bender said. “You and Fret better not wake me with your rutting.”

“Bender...” Rade warned.

“Sorry boss,” Bender said. “G’night.”

Rade closed his eyes once more and was just about to fall asleep when Bender spoke again.

“I know you’re rubbing your clit as you’re thinking about me, Fret,” Bender said. “But one word of advice—”

“Shut up!” a chorus of voices erupted throughout the compartment.

“Sheesh,” Bender said. “Bad night to y’all, then. Bitches.”

twenty-four

Rade sat on the mat of the cramped combat room with Tahoe and Shaw. Bourbonjack was there, with two of his own men. The mercenary chief was using the compartment as a briefing room.

The Piranha had reached orbit only an hour before. Seeming to float in the air between Rade and Bourbonjack was a translucent three-dimensional video of the colony, from an isometric perspective, as projected by Rade’s Implant onto his vision. The video was shared with everyone in the room.

The colony’s geodesic dome had several holes poked in it, with large sections completely shattered. The buildings inside were essentially intact. Constructed in the Zambian style, most were low-slung structures of concrete. There were a few large three- and four-story buildings, likely apartments of some kind. Combat robots, walkers, and treaders patrolled the streets between them. The latter units were essentially turrets on treads. Some of those robots had different colored condensation sweating from their torsos, indicating Phant possession. As Bourbonjack had said earlier, there were all colors of Phant present: Red, Green, Purple, and even a few Black.

There were otherwise no signs of human life. Either the Phants had herded the humans into certain buildings as prisoners, or they had incinerated them. It was also possible most humans died when the dome failed, as the planet’s mostly sulfur dioxide atmosphere was not breathable. There was enough oxygen in the air to produce muted flames, however.

Outside the broken dome was a Zambian shipyard. Most of the time human ships were built and assembled in orbit, but there were some vessel designs that lent themselves well to construction in gravity environments, or at least certain pieces. In any case, that shipyard was alive with activity. Rade couldn’t tell if the worker robots were building a starship or something else.

“It’s gotten worse,” Bourbonjack said. “The Phants are definitely constructing something massive.”

“Has to be a ship,” Tahoe said.

“That would be the obvious conclusion,” Bourbonjack said. “But then again, those 3D printers could be used for anything.”

“See those troops appearing on the Acceptor?” Shaw said.

She extended a finger and circled a large stadium with virtual ink. Rade zoomed in. The teleportation disk was located on the field inside. Five large beings in oversized jumpsuits had appeared there.

“Shock troops,” Bourbonjack said. “This current camera doesn’t have the resolution, but using some of the telephoto lenses, we’ve zoomed in on some of the previous units: inside the glass domes they wear in place of helmets, we’ve spotted faces that look like they belong to squids and reptiles. They also carry the long, sword-like particle rifles we encountered in the First Alien War, fifteen years ago.”

“I hate those weapons,” Shaw said.

“So do I,” Bourbonjack replied.

“Guess they have enough Phants for the time being,” Tahoe commented. “Now they got to start bringing in some of their minions.”

Rade zoomed out and tried to count the number of possessed robots he saw. “So many Phants...”

“You say the Blacks have psi capabilities?” Bourbonjack asked.

“Yes,” Rade said. “But we’ve modified our jumpsuits to protect against their psychic attacks. We learned how to deal with them the hard way.” He exchanged a pained glance with Shaw.

“All right, well, we begin the operation in thirty minutes,” Bourbonjack said. “You will inform Surus?”

“I will,” Rade said.

He had finally admitted to Bourbonjack that Surus was aboard, as the plan necessitated the mercenary chief having that information, though Rade hadn’t told him which unit she resided inside.

Rade paused as the others filed out. He turned to Bourbonjack and said: “It’s good to have my old master chief back.”

Bourbonjack chuckled. “Not sure I’m back. But I am happy to be on the right side again. By the way, before we do this, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Why the hell did you leave the military? You had a good thing going. You weren’t relegated to sitting behind a desk and pushing digital pencils all day like me.”

“Many reasons,” Rade said. “Mostly, I did it for Shaw.”

“Was she worth it?” Bourbonjack asked.

“I’m surprised you even have to ask,” Rade said.

Rade proceeded to the shuttle hangar bay, geared up in his custom jumpsuit, and then loaded into the waiting shuttle. It was a Dragonfly Class 5A, one of those found aboard the Piranha, and plastered with the mercenary team’s logo—a saber-toothed tiger. The Dragonfly model Shaw had flown over from the Argonaut was safely stowed in a different bay.

Algorithm was seated inside the cabin, along with Brat. Both continued wearing jumpsuits, disguising which of them harbored Surus. The rest of the seats were empty. In the center of the cabin resided the large glass container of the Phant trap. Metallic disks were attached to the floor and ceiling of said container, and a small black box hung from the middle of the uppermost. Those disks provided the actual confinement field, and the thick glass was merely the framework that held them.

In the adjacent shuttle, Bourbonjack loaded up, along with several mercenaries and his own Centurions.

The ramps shut, the hangar bay vented, and the Dragonflies departed.

Rade watched the orbital entry and atmospheric descent via one of the external cameras, which Bourbonjack had granted him access to. There was no pilot in the cockpit—the Dragonfly was controlled by the onboard AI.

As the craft closed with the shattered dome below, Rade felt his heart rate increase. The shuttle slowed down, weaving past a pair of broken glass panels and into the punctured dome environment. As the craft swooped low across the buildings, he could see walkers and treaders on the rooftops targeting his shuttle and Bourbonjack’s, the turrets swinging to keep the vessels in their sights. 

In a few minutes both shuttles had set down on an L-shaped, four-story apartment building.

Rade’s craft remained sealed. He rotated the external camera toward the second Dragonfly and watched the ramp lower. Bourbonjack emerged, flanked by two of his mercenaries. More of Bourbonjack’s men fanned out behind him, along with the merc Centurions.

Rade noticed that the two shuttles had been strategically placed so as to block the view from other nearby buildings. The entire rooftop was still visible to two small drones flying overhead, however. On his HUD map the drones were indicated as two red, hovering dots.

Bourbonjack’s group walked toward the center of the rooftop, where Falon was waiting with his own robot troops. The Artificial was not wearing a jumpsuit.

“What do you want, Bourbonjack?” Falon asked.

“As I told you earlier, I found something in the wreckage,” Bourbonjack said. “Something I can only show you in person.”

“What?” Falon said.

“Not until you dismiss the drones.” Bourbonjack beckoned skyward. “This is something you won’t want your Phant friends to see.”

Falon frowned. “This better be important, Bourbonjack.”

“I assure you, you’ll be very pleased,” Bourbonjack replied.

Falon regarded him suspiciously a moment longer, and then the red dots representing the drones on the overhead map departed.

Rade saw Bourbonjack’s text over the private line. Activating shuttle jamming devices. That would prevent Falon or any of the robots from getting a signal out over the next few moments.

“What are you doing?” Falon said.

“Giving you your present.” Bourbonjack smiled, then from the holster on his back he produced the non-arcing stun rifle that Rade had provided, courtesy of Surus.

Bourbonjack unleashed the weapon. The muted blast drifted through the air; bolts of electricity traveled up and down Falon’s stiffened form, and he collapsed.

Meanwhile the combat robots and mercenaries with Bourbonjack opened fire on Falon’s robot escort, terminating them all in short order. One of the Centurions with Bourbonjack fell as a defender managed to get off a shot, but otherwise the mercs suffered no casualties.

While Bourbonjack and his mercenaries guarded the rooftop, two Centurions dragged the stunned Falon toward Rade’s Dragonfly. The ramp lowered.

Surus opened the Phant trap and the Centurions tossed Falon inside. Surus sealed the container. Falon’s prostrate form floated toward the center of the trap and began to rotate horizontally. The container emitted a rising hum as Falon’s spinning body became a blur.

Meanwhile other Centurions and mercenaries carried the robot wreckages to Rade’s shuttle and piled them inside next to the trap, hiding the evidence.

Inside the container, green drops began to seep out of the spinning Artificial, and started coalescing into a sphere above the blurry body. Soon the last of those drops emerged, and the globe ascended to the black box in the ceiling, which sealed around the Phant.

The trapped Artificial became visible as its rotation slowed; the humming sound diminished, fading entirely as the body came to a halt. The Artificial floated back down to the bottom of the container.

Surus opened the trap and dragged out the stunned Artificial. From her jumpsuit boot, the green liquid that was Surus flowed out, and diffused into the Artificial via its exposed hand. A few moments after the last of the liquid disappeared inside, the eyes of Falon’s male host momentarily glazed over with green droplets. Then the Artificial blinked twice, clearing the residue, and stood.

“I’m in,” Falon said. Or rather, Surus.

“Deactivating jamming devices,” Bourbonjack said over the comm. “Prepare for return.”

“Good luck,” Rade told Surus, watching the Artificial walk down the ramp. Meanwhile Algorithm, free of Surus, took its place in an empty seat once more.

Surus paused to glance back at Rade over one shoulder.

“As you are so fond of saying, I don’t need luck,” Surus said. “Tell Bender to enjoy the new weapon.”

“I’m sure he will,” Rade replied.

Bourbonjack, along with his mercenaries and Centurions, loaded onto the second Dragonfly, then the ramps of both craft closed.

The shuttles departed the rooftop, leaving Surus behind in her new body.

twenty-five

The two shuttles docked with the Piranha shortly afterward. No alarms had been raised. All was going as planned. For the time being.

Rade waited in the mech hangar bay with the other Argonauts for news. They all wore their jumpsuits, but the faceplates were currently open to save oxygen. They sat on the large metal feet of their mechs; the lot of them were nervous, and impatient for the call to action.

Fret tapped his boot up and down. A soft rap-a-tap echoed repeatedly from the deck.

“Can you stop that, bitch!” Bender said.

“Sorry,” Fret said.

Fret stopped. But a moment later he started up again.

Bender lifted the arms of his jumpsuit in frustration, and Rade thought the man was going to leap on Fret, but then the latter activated his noise canceler, muting the tapping sound.

Bender relaxed visibly behind his faceplate. “That’s a good bitch.”

Rade ran his gaze across the men. These loyal, ass-kicking men who would follow him to the ends of the universe. And as he looked at their brave faces, he couldn’t help but feel that someone was missing.

Rade tapped in Shaw.

“Hey my warrior,” Shaw said.

“Hey,” he replied.

“It’s that quiet time before the big mission,” Shaw said.

“You know it,” Rade said.

“How are your nerves?” Shaw asked.

“As good as can be expected,” Rade said.

“Are the men up to their usual shenanigans to distract their minds?” Shaw asked.

“Surprisingly, no,” Rade said. “I haven’t heard a peep from Manic or Bender. Well, other than a quick outburst over Fret tapping his boot.”

“I wonder if we should be worried,” Shaw said.

“I don’t know,” Rade said. “Maybe we’ve just been in too many battles. And nothing can really distract us from the truth anymore. Maybe we’ve come to accept that we’ll either live, or we’ll die, and while we have training that will help skew our chances of survival, we all know the end could come at any time. Either to us, or any of our brothers, human or AI. And that’s a sobering thought.”

“Maybe the tension is made worse because you’re facing Phant shock troops once more,” Shaw said. “Something you haven’t seen in a very long time.”

“The images brought back disturbing memories, I have to admit,” Rade said. “I probably shouldn’t have shared the video with my men. Then again, they need to know what we’re facing.” He paused. Then: “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”

“I have the twins to guard,” Shaw said. “Now, of all times, that’s my role. If something goes wrong, I want to be the one who shoves them into the lifepod and gets them to safety.”

“Cora or Dora could do the task equally well,” Rade said.

“Maybe,” Shaw said. “But they are my children. The duty is mine.”

Rade nodded to himself, though she couldn’t see it.

Shaw spoke again. “It sounds like you actually want me to come on this mission.”

Rade sighed, laughing softly. “You caught me.”

“That’s a change,” Shaw said. “Usually you’re always pressing for me to remain ‘safely aboard,’ as you call it.”

“I know,” Rade said. “I guess… I feel your absence more keenly because the last time I fought against Phant shock troops, you were there with me.”

“I see,” Shaw said. “And what about those missions I joined you on more recently?”

“I’ll admit I miss those days, too,” Rade said. “It feels like you were meant to fight by my side, as much as I hate the thought of you getting anywhere close to the line of fire. I can’t explain it. My feelings are in conflict, dueling with each other. On the one hand I want you here with me, and I find myself missing the old Shaw. On the other, I’m happy you’re staying aboard, protecting the twins.”

“You are a complex man,” Shaw said.

“Am I?” Rade said.

“Yes,” Shaw replied.

“I think I’m just a simple man,” Rade said. “An ordinary man, who sometimes finds himself placed in extraordinary circumstances.”

“You’re not an ordinary man,” Shaw said. “Never an ordinary man. You’re a MOTH, remember?”

“Ex-MOTH,” Rade clarified.

“Well, as the men would say, once a MOTH, always a MOTH,” Shaw said.

Rade chuckled. “You’re sounding more and more like them everyday.”

“Is that a good thing?” Shaw said.

“I don’t know,” Rade said. “I’d like to think so.” He sighed. “Well, I better clear the line. The order to drop could come anytime.”

“All right,” Shaw said.

“Thanks for calming my nerves,” Rade said.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Shaw replied.

He was about to disconnect when she spoke again.

“And Rade,” Shaw said.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Give those Phants hell,” Shaw told him.

He grinned weakly. “I love you.”

He waited for her to reply in kind, but all he got was a disconnect notice. For some reason that stung, even though he knew she probably hadn’t heard him, likely having already issued the disconnect command as he said the words.

Love you, her text came a moment later, and all was made right in the universe.

Rade leaned back, resting his helmet against the metal leg of his mech, and looked up at the Hoplite he would take into battle. Would Electron be enough against those shock troops? And what about all the robots the Phants had amassed? There was a veritable army of them out there.

Rade sighed.

For once he would have liked the odds to be a little more even.

Why do we always seem to be a few men going up against an army?

Bourbonjack visited the hangar bay in person a few minutes later.

“I wanted to personally see you boys off,” the mercenary chief said. “Falon, I mean Surus, tells me it’ll be any time now.”

“Is the Piranha in place?” Rade asked.

“It is.” Bourbonjack had positioned the Piranha in the best possible location for a surprise attack against Ghal’s Corsair, the Salient. Meanwhile, the unarmed merchant vessel, the Crab Apple, would be out of the Piranha’s line of sight in the initial bombardment, but Bourbonjack promised he would disable it after the Salient was out of action. Assuming the remaining members of Bourbonjack’s team aboard the other Corsair, the Raccoon, pulled through. Speaking of which...

“Have you told the crew of the Raccoon your plans yet?” Rade asked.

“No,” Bourbonjack said. “While in theory they work for me, like I told you before, I’m still not sure how much I can trust them, especially if Ghal has waved a bigger paycheck under their noses. I’ll tell them about my planned attack maybe twenty seconds before we engage with the Salient. And if they decide to turn on me, then I’ll deal with them.”

“I hope so,” Rade said. 

“You hope they turn on me?” Bourbonjack said. “Or that I’ll deal with them?”

“The latter, of course,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack smiled wistfully. He knew that Rade’s children would remain aboard, along with Shaw. “I’ll protect them.”

“You will,” Rade said. “Or you know what’s going to happen to you, don’t you?”

Bourbonjack raised his hands. “If anything happens to them, you have my permission to hunt me down and string me up like a chicken.”

Bender perked up. “Did someone say chicken?”

Bourbonjack glanced at the man, and chuckled. “Never changes, does he? Hey, Bender, are chicken chips still your favorite food?”

“You know me too well,” Bender said.

“When this is through,” Bourbonjack said. “I’ll buy you a whole cartload of chicken chips.”

“I won’t say no to that!” Bender said. “All you need to do now is throw in a skin musician massage at a flesh parlor, and I’ll be set for my next liberty!”

Bourbonjack grinned, then walked over to Nemesis. His Implant would have reported the Hoplite as empty, along with Sprint beside it—since Shaw wasn’t coming, and Surus was already on the surface, Rade planned to let the onboard AIs operate the two empty units. Though if Bourbonjack wanted to pilot one of them, Rade might have just let the man.

Bourbonjack longingly reached a hand toward the mech, stopping before his fingers made contact with the hull. Nemesis would have allowed the man to touch it, of course; the Machine Constitution prevented the mech from harming the man. But if Bourbonjack had been marked as an enemy unit, that was a different story altogether. Ah, the much vaunted-military version of the Machine Constitution, humanity’s guarantee that their war machines would never intentionally harm them—unless of course the robot in question assigned them to the wrong team. Or a Phant inhabited the AI core.

“I really should buy some of these mechs for myself,” Bourbonjack said. He sighed loudly, and then turned around. “You know, I really wish I could come along. It would be just like old times.”

“Sure you remember how to pilot one of these, old man?” Bender taunted.

“Come down to the simulator with me, and I’ll show you,” Bourbonjack said.

“Oh-ho!” Bender said. “The simulator doesn’t make one a pilot! Put your first officer in command of this tin bucket you call a ship and come down with us. Then we’ll see if you still got the goods. Or if you’re just another pussy in a mech.”

“Do you still talk a bigger game than you actually play?” Bourbonjack said.

“Trust me, my game is far bigger than my lips,” Bender said.

“He means his labial lips!” Manic chimed in.

“Yeah bitch, my labial lips...” Bender said. “It’s definitely bigger than that. Considering I don’t have any!”

Bourbonjack walked away from the mechs, obviously disheartened. “Well, this is all talk anyway. Because I’m not going. My place is here, with my men.”

“I remember a time when we were your men,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack smiled fondly. “So do I.” He abruptly raised a halting palm, and then held the other hand to his ear. “Falon, or I mean Surus, is reporting in. She’s disabled the surface-to-space defense system. And placed charges at the shipyard. It’s time for you to drop.” He entered the airlock and turned around to face the squad. “Kill a ton of bugs for me.”

“You can count on it,” Rade said. “Argonauts, we launch!”

twenty-six

Rade and the Argonauts closed their faceplates and loaded into the Hoplites.

Rade’s cockpit hatch sealed, and the inner actuators cocooned him. The external camera feed piped into his vision.

“Welcome back again,” Electron said. “Will you stay a little longer this time?”

“Only a little,” Rade said.

“I’m looking forward to our planetary excursion,” Electron said.

“Well, at least one of us is, then,” Rade said, waiting for the hangar bay atmosphere to vent. “It’s like taking the dog out to walk, I suppose. The dog is always more excited than the master.”

“I’m just a dog to you, is that what you’re saying?” Electron replied.

“Basically,” Rade joked.

“But if I’m a dog, then that makes you a flea,” Electron said.

“I suppose it does,” Rade said. “But this flea is in control of the dog.”

The hangar bay opened.

“Argonauts, go!” Rade ordered over the comm. He took a running leap into the void and issued decelerating thrust to begin the descent.

The Piranha hurtled away above.

He saw flashes overhead as Bourbonjack launched missiles and Vipers against the nearby Salient; the mercenary chief would be concentrating on the weapons and engines, with a preference on the former, at least in the initial few moments.

But then several more flashes came as a broadside hit the Piranha on the opposite flank. Apparently the Raccoon had decided to throw in its lot with Ghal after all. Bourbonjack was in for a fight then.

No doubt he was having the time of his life.

Rade only hoped Shaw and the twins would be all right. But he dismissed those thoughts: he had to concentrate on the coming battle.

The conical aeroshell deployed underneath him to protect him from the heat of atmospheric entry; as the orange flames subsided, the heat shield broke away, blackened and depleted.

Rade mentally prepared himself for what was coming. This was not a stealth mission, like the last one. In the First Alien War, humanity had devised special emitters for their mechs; when the tech was installed, it allowed the units to sneak past other Phants, who would believe the mechs possessed by their own kind. Surus had explained that the Phants had since learned how to differentiate between the signature of a real Phant and a false one, so those emitters wouldn’t be of much use to the team here. Of course, the Hoplites still had the Phant-repelling tech installed, which would at least protect the AI cores from possession.

So yes, it was not a stealth mission. Rade and his Argonauts would hit the ground hot.

He glanced at his overhead map. The blue dots of the Hoplites dropped within a one kilometer radius around him. Three kilometers behind were the dots representing the descending booster rockets; those payloads would land outside the dome, about half a klick to the south. No shuttles containing HS3s or Centurions accompanied them—those units would be relatively useless in the battle to come, little more than cannon fodder.

The dome was coming up fast below. With the surface-to-space defenses inactive, Rade and the others were able to drop directly on top of it without attracting incoming fire. At least until any surface robots inside detected their descent.

Thankfully, Bourbonjack and Surus would be setting into motion another distraction shortly.

Sure enough streaks slashed the sky. A moment later the smart missiles smashed through the gaps in the dome, swerving thereafter to take out various garrisons stationed across the colony. Bourbonjack had made educated guesses about those garrisons from orbit, based on telephoto image intel; Surus, acting as Falon on the ground, had been able to confirm those locations, along with others.

Debris clouds erupted from the impacts, blotting out entire neighborhoods. A moment later more explosions rocked the colony, these coming from the shipyard beside the dome as the charges Surus had set detonated, enshrouding the site in a similar cloud.

Rade and the Hoplites steered through the cracks in the dome a moment later.

“It’s time for some bug hunting, bitches,” Bender said.

With his jumpjets, Rade made some last minute course corrections to maneuver between two close-set dust clouds, and then fired his aerospike thrusters and activated the airbrakes, landing on the roof of a two-story building. He immediately took a running leap to an adjacent building and hurried to the edge, dropping down to target some tangos he had spotted during the descent.

He glanced at his overhead map. The other Hoplites were dispersed on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. Good enough.

“Fire at will,” Rade said. “Inform Bender if you spot any Phants.”

He aimed into the street, which was free of any occluding debris clouds. A mixture of five shock troops, three Centurions, and four treaders were racing across the asphalt in the direction of the closest damaged building. Rade had a shot at them from the rear.

“Electron, take control of my left-hand cobra,” Rade said. “Target the glass domes of the shock troops, starting on the left and moving in. On my mark.”

Rade launched four frag grenades in rapid succession at the Centurions and treaders, then swapped out his grenade launchers for cobra lasers and aimed at the shock trooper on the far righthand side of the procession. He centered his targeting reticle over the glass dome that topped the oversized jumpsuit, and at the tentacled head visible within. Surus promised the modifications she had made to the laser intensity levels of the Hoplites in previous missions would be sufficient to pierce the Tech Class IV domes of those jumpsuits. Hopefully, she was right.

“Now!” Rade instructed the AI.

He squeezed the trigger.

The shock trooper in his sights toppled. Rade aimed for the next one while Electron engaged the lefthand cobra, but the grenades struck then, and the surviving troops and robots immediately took cover. Some dove into an alleyway, others dodged behind street lamps and benches. Rade targeted a lagging treader as it rolled toward an abandoned vehicle and he fired. The robot ceased all movement and its turrets dropped.

Since he had kept his non-scope eye open for situational awareness purposes, Rade was able to spot the sudden motion that came immediately from his left. He glanced that way: a walker unit had leaped onto the adjacent building.

Rade deployed his ballistic shield in his left hand and swung it toward the walker just as the laser barrage came in. He aimed his remaining cobra over the rim of the shield, but was forced to pull it back as the walker continued firing.

Rade retreated from the edge at a crouch, keeping his shield in place.

And then the incoming fire simply ceased.

“Got him,” Tahoe transmitted.

A missile warning sounded. The indicator showed the attack was coming from the left. Rade launched his Trench Coat. As the anti-missile countermeasure fragments expanded outward, their homing radars activating to seek out the missiles, he thrust laterally. An explosion sent him reeling onto the street below.

Scrambling to his feet, he spotted the source of the missiles: a treader had taken up a position on the rooftop of a tall building two blocks to the south.

Several fragmentation grenades and lasers struck it momentarily as the nearby Hoplites terminated the enemy.

Not a good idea to expose yourself like that.

Speaking of which, standing there in the street, he was readily visible to the shock troops that had taken cover up ahead. Knowing they were training their weapons on him at that very moment, he sprinted hastily toward an alleyway.

Invisible beams ate through the asphalt behind him, carving a path across the street, splitting a lamppost in half and eating right through a trash bin.

Rade dove into the alleyway; his Hoplite barely fit, and the sides of the mech scraped against either flank. His anti-laser shield was useless against the particle weapons those shock troops wielded; Surus didn’t have access to the necessary Tech Class IV materials that could reinforce the Hoplite shields. Taking cover behind ordinary, everyday objects wouldn’t be of much help, either. The best option was to place multiple layers between one and the enemy, taking cover behind at least one building, or two or three if possible.

Even then Rade wouldn’t be safe, not if the enemy guessed or otherwise determined his position, and fired repeatedly, eating through the drywall and any objects lying between Rade and the weapon. That was why he moved deeper into the alleyway, tight as it was, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the street as possible, not to mention move away from his last spotted position.

He reached the other side of the alley and scanned the street and rooftops beyond for tangos. He didn’t see anything, and there was nothing airborne, either. By then, the other Hoplites would have taken down the few air drones the enemy seemed to have.

Rade emerged at a crouch and crossed to a wider alley on the opposite side. He was about to clamber to the rooftop to obtain a better view, when down the street he spotted a group of thirty robots marching toward the drop zone, escorted by five shock troops. The robots were all Centurions and walkers. Rade recognized the characteristic condensation of Phants on five of them, inhabiting walkers and combat robots alike.

“Bender, I got five Phants at my position,” Rade said.

“I’ll be right there,” Bender said.

The moments ticked past as the enemies closed. And then Rade spotted a blur of motion on the rooftops across the street as Bender steered his Hoplite to the area. Tahoe’s mech accompanied him, guarding his flank.

The street level robots and shock troops spotted Bender and began opening fire, forcing him and Tahoe to dig in.

Rade drew the attention of the enemy by releasing two quick frags. He ducked behind the building when he was done, and the edge of the building dissolved as the particle beams came in.

He retreated farther into the alleyway and switched to Bender’s point of view on the rooftop. The cockpit hatch fell open. Bender emerged from Juggernaut and swung into the passenger seat while the Hoplite continued operating under AI control; the mech remained crouched near the rooftop edge.

Bender aimed his arcing stun rifle at the group of robots in the street below and fired. The plasma channel struck one of the possessed robots and deflected; the plasma arced into four more distinct beams that sought out the remaining Phant-controlled units.

The struck robots collapsed. The Phants would remain down for the next thirty minutes, at least according to Surus, who had tested the weapon on herself.

“Sweet doggy!” Bender said, ducking from view along with Juggernaut as particle beams ate into the building. “This is my kind of weapon!”

“I got three Phants over here,” TJ said.

“Be right there!” Bender replied.

Rade returned to his own viewpoint, and on the overhead map he watched the blue dots of Bender and Tahoe retreat from the rooftop.

“Bugs bugs bugs!” Bender sang. “Phants Phants Phants!”

Rade moved forward and aimed past the building edge once more; all of the remaining tangos were still concentrating on Bender’s previous position, obviously considering him a bigger threat than Rade.

Smiling, Rade centered his crosshairs over the glass dome of a shock trooper, and fired at the reptilian face underneath.

SURUS JOGGED THROUGH the damaged city streets. Though she was currently in a male Artificial body, she still thought of herself as a she; inhabiting a female body for such a long period of time would have that effect on one’s gender identity, especially considering that humans only had two sexes.

This portion of the colony had borne the brunt of the missile attacks. In place of buildings were large blast craters. Fragments of rebar and concrete had fanned out into some portions of the street. Dispersing debris clouds were everywhere.

Ahead, eight Centurions and one walker approached at a run.

As the party approached, Surus commanded: “You there, join the battle immediately.” She pointed toward the south, where smaller explosions occasionally went off, indicating missile strikes and grenade detonations.

The robots hurried past, sprinting even faster.

She wondered how long the ruse would last. Other Phants were bound to realize her treachery sooner rather than later, which made her rapid arrival to her current destination all the more important.

Surus increased her pace, and soon neared the dark debris cloud that surrounded the neighborhood ahead. The stadium within that cloud harbored the Acceptor. Bourbonjack was supposed to have targeted the far edge of the building, with the intention of leaving the teleporter undamaged. She would see how accurate his shots had proven shortly, she supposed.

Surus entered the cloud and switched to echolocation, a capability that was part of the Artificial body she possessed. The stadium’s wireframe outline appeared in front of her. The right side had collapsed entirely, though three quarters of the structure remained standing.

She could have picked her way over that debris, but entering via the main entrance would be faster.

She saw the outline of two shock troops yet on duty in front of that entrance. They towered over Surus in her current form, and were almost the same height as Hoplites. They were aware of her as well, with their Tech Class IV tech allowing them to easily penetrate the debris cloud.

“Give me your weapon,” she sent one of the guards over the common band as she approached. She spoke the guttural servitude language.

The guard handed over his long, swordlike weapon without hesitation.

Surus held the large weapon easily with the strength provided by her robotic body, and pretended to examine it for a few moments. The big trigger would not activate at her touch, unfortunately, since it contained biometric circuitry that limited operation to the alien jumpsuits.

She tossed the weapon to the ground in front of the guard. When the confused shock trooper knelt to retrieve it, she withdrew her blaster and released two quick shots, first targeting the standing guard, then the kneeling one. They both collapsed with holes burned into their glass domes. That blaster was a weapon the Artificial had on its person when Surus possessed the body. While Surus had been able to improve the intensity of the cobra lasers found aboard the Hoplites, the smaller blasters and rifles the humans wielded had eluded her thus far. But Falon had been busy, it seemed.

Surus entered the structure.

She passed through the cloudy entry hall and took a side door. She found herself in a long corridor untouched by the debris cloud; it branched off into locker rooms and offices. She hurried through the passageway and in moments emerged into the stadium proper.

The dark cloud that lingered within the open field was beginning to clear by then. She dismissed the echolocation display and continued forward. As she neared the Acceptor, she discerned several large walker units gathered in a circle around it. None of them appeared to be possessed by Phants. Even so, she’d never be able to take them all down, not without taking several devastating hits herself.

But she didn’t have to.

We’re all one big happy family.

Unless I’ve been discovered.

Trying to appear as calm as possible, she walked purposefully past the walkers to stand in the middle of the Acceptor. By doing so, she blocked it, preventing anyone on the other side from teleporting across to this world.

The robots did nothing.

Like Surus had done with Ms. Bounty, Falon had modified the AI core of its host to maintain a record of its memories when the Phant was not in possession of the unit. That had proven useful, since it allowed Surus to extract the new linkage codes without having to resort to interrogating Falon.

With those codes, she had access to the underlying Acceptor interface. She immediately changed the codes, choosing an obscure combination known only to her.

She smiled. The Phants on this planet had just lost access to the Acceptor.

She realized one of the walker robots was addressing her.

“Do you require assistance, sir?” the robot asked. “Sir?”

When she didn’t answer, the walker aimed its turrets down on her from where it stood beyond the edge of the Acceptor. Other walkers began to follow its lead.

Ignoring the robots, Surus set a new destination, then engaged the teleportation interface.

The walkers, and the rest of the stadium, vanished.

twenty-seven

Rade, Tahoe and Lui were pinned on the rooftop of one of the larger buildings in the area: a four-story apartment building. They crouched behind different superstructures: Rade behind a water tank, Tahoe next to the stairwell shed, Lui behind a goose neck exhaust vent. On the roofs of the buildings around them, enemy Centurions, treaders and walkers similarly lurked in cover. There had been a couple of shock troops among the tangos as well, but Rade and company had quickly terminated those units—but not before many of the superstructures on the roof around them were cut in half.

Right now, the biggest threats were from the entrenched walkers and treaders. The Centurions could be dangerous, too; a few well-placed shots from a laser rifle could bore through a cockpit, especially if the combat robots combined their beams.

The three Hoplites had exhausted their supply of fragmentation grenades some time ago, and relied solely on cobra lasers to defend. Unfortunately, tangos continued to crowd the nearby rooftops, replacing any units Rade or the others shot down. Sometimes those tangos leaped onto the rooftop itself, forcing close range fighting. The wreckages of two treaders and a walker littered the edge of the roof, remnants of previous such skirmishes.

The other squad of Hoplites were pinned down in small groups on different buildings, similarly surrounded. Bender was trapped with one of those groups, and as such, he had stopped firing the arcing stun weapon. The Phants had quickly realized their Hoplite opponents only had a single weapon of that kind, and they avoided Bender’s group. Instead, they joined the robots assaulting the other teams; there was a Black in possession of a walker crouched on the rooftop across from Rade’s trio, for example.

“Bourbonjack,” Rade sent, piggybacking on the still intact InterGalNet the city utilized. “I’m sending the coordinates of a couple of opponents pinning us down. Hopefully you can spare a surgical airstrike soon.”

He sent the coordinates of the rooftop harboring the Black, since that particular building had the greatest concentration of tangos at the moment. A missile attack wouldn’t eliminate the Phant of course, but the strike would knock it out of action for a while, at least until the alien found its next host. And the many other tangos with it would be reduced to so much raw metal.

“Bit occupied at the moment,” Bourbonjack said. “And our Hellfires are running a bit on the low side. I’m afraid you’re on your own for the time being.”

Rade was beginning to regret not transferring the Raptor over from the Argonaut. He remembered what Bourbonjack had said when Rade asked if the mercenary chief had a similar craft in his arsenal.

“What?” Bourbonjack had replied. “As if I can afford an expensive military-grade air support drone like that. I’m not rich like you.”

Three blurs of motion arced over the building edge. Walker units.

One landed right beside Rade’s Hoplite. There was no time to train his weapons on the thing. He rolled his mech toward the leg area as those turrets opened fire.

He struck the walker, and then twisted, toppling it to the rooftop. Lasers and frags from the other walkers were firing around him as Lui and Tahoe defended.

Rade maneuvered himself on top of the walker and wrapped his fingers around the twin laser turret extensions. He bent their tubes into a hook, disabling the weapons.

He realized that purple condensation covered the torso region of his opponent. The Phant was flowing outward, toward Rade’s mech, attempting to penetrate. It froze when it felt the anti-Phant EM waves emitting from the Hoplite, and retreated back into the walker.

You think they would have figured it out by now...

Rade opened fire with his cobras into the walker’s AI core.

Since the Phant knew the machine was about to cease operating, it ejected frag grenades from other launch tubes Rade hadn’t gotten to yet, near the laser turrets; the bombs rebounded from Rade’s hull, landing on the rooftop.

“Frags!” Rade spun away, firing his jumpjets. The explosions rocked that section of the rooftop, and he was sent hurtling into the stairwell shed. He slid to the roof surface below, landing beside Tahoe.

“You all right, boss?” Tahoe said.

“Never better.” Rade sat upright, keeping hidden behind the shed, and quickly scanned the rooftop for the other two mechs, but Tahoe and Lui had already reduced them to wreckages.

Staying low, Rade crept toward the side wall that fringed the rooftop, and deployed his shield to safely observe the streets and rooftops on that flank through his scope. Most of the dust clouds from the previous airstrike had settled by then, leaving the ravaged buildings completely visible. He saw robot shapes crouched behind the different superstructures. Mostly inconsequential body parts were visible: a partial forearm, the edge of a turret.

He switched his gaze to the street, where enemy reinforcements routinely jogged across to the bases of the buildings. He spotted a shock trooper making such a run at that very moment, and he followed it with his reticle, squeezing the trigger when he had the crosshairs over the glass dome. The alien trooper fell.

Laser fire from the building across from him forced him to duck behind the side wall.

A distant rumbling sound began to echo from the buildings. The rooftop shook. 

“Uh,” Fret transmitted.

In the distance, from the direction of the shipyard, a large cranial-shaped vessel arose. Rade was reminded of a bull’s skull, minus the horns. The eye region glowed purple and green, indicating where Phants were in control aboard. Where the mouth should have been, a small pyramidal structure protruded.

“Looks like they were trying to build one of their motherships,” Tahoe said.

“If that’s supposed to be a mothership,” Lui said. “They only got a thousandth of the way done. It’s far too small.”

“Either way, I’m not liking that coronal weapon mount near the base,” Tahoe said.

“The pyramid structure?” Manic asked.

“That’s the one,” Tahoe answered.

“Surus was supposed to place charges on that ship!” Fret said over the comm.

“Apparently she did,” Harlequin said. “Look at the scorch marks and dents.”

“That’s what you get for using Tech Class III charges against IV hulls!” Manic said.

“Remind me why we didn’t call in the big guns again?” Fret said.

“Because we’re the only ones that can trap all those Phants?” Lui replied. “Besides, by the time the United Systems military arrived to nuke the place, that ship would have grown a lot bigger. And there would have been far more shock troops. The United Systems would be no match for what would have been waiting for them.”

“So here we are, once again singlehandedly doing the job of the United Systems military for them,” Fret said. “The story of our lives.”

“What’s that ship doing?” TJ said.

The vessel proceeded directly into the dome, crashing right through. The craft floated just above the buildings, dragging some of the dome’s broken metal framework inside with it.

The surrounding tangos used the distraction to press the attack against the Hoplites.

Rade unleashed a burst from his cobra at an enemy unit and then ducked behind the shield as the laser fire rained in.

The ship continued to approach the neighborhoods where Rade and the others were dug in. It moved lower now, so that it’s bottom section scraped against the rooftops, carving a trail of carnage through the intervening buildings.

“Is it just me, or is that ship headed directly toward us?” Lui said.

“It’s not you,” Rade said. The ship was about two blocks away now, and it towered over the nearby buildings. The pyramidal protrusion near the base abruptly flared bright white.

“Evacuate the rooftop!” Rade yelled. He fired his jumpjets and arced skyward, aiming for the top of the adjacent building. He kept his shield directed toward the enemies below at all times. “Electron, fire at will!”

Electron took control of his cobra and slid it past the edge of the shield to fire at the tangos lurking behind the superstructures of the target rooftop. Lui and Tahoe arced through the air just behind Rade, similarly keeping their shields held downward.

A blinding white stream of directional plasma burst from the pyramidal structure at the base of the ship. It struck the building he and the other Hoplites had just evacuated. When the beam faded, nothing remained of the building except its foundations.

Rade landed hard on the target rooftop a moment later. He immediately took out two enemy Centurions crouched behind different superstructures. He spun about in time to see Tahoe crash into a walker.

A blur of metal plowed into Rade’s Hoplite from the side, and Electron toppled over.

A walker had mounted him. Its weapons turned toward his cockpit...

Lui’s Hoplite smashed into the walker before it could fire, dragging it off Electron. Rade rolled behind a goose neck vent and aimed at another walker—the one possessed by the Black. He fired at the AI core, and the walker shut down.

An invisible particle beam bit into the vent, and Rade dropped as the metal superstructure sliced in half. He aimed his scope across the rooftop, searching for the source of the beam. A shock trooper had landed on the edge of the rooftop, apparently leaping up from the street below. Rade centered his reticle over the glass dome and squeezed.

The trooper fell.

More robots and troops continued to mount the building, some emerging from the stairwell shed, others vaulting up from the street below. Meanwhile, the ship had ceased its advance, and was pivoting toward the new building, obviously preparing to fire its coronal weapon at Rade and the others again.

The Black was oozing from the fallen walker, heading toward the edge of the roof, apparently afraid of the weapon. While Rade didn’t think it would kill the alien, getting hit by that would probably be uncomfortable to the Phant, at the very least.

Before Rade could give the order to evacuate the rooftop, he heard a strange chittering sound. It arose above the din of battle, coming from the direction of the stadium. He risked a glance that way and spotted a strange sight:

Dragons from the Taenia world were flapping their wings and tearing across the rooftops.

twenty-eight

Rade stared at the dragons for several moments. His gaze was drawn to the streets in front of them, where several large salamander lizards were stampeding, acting as a lure to the dragons. Ahead of the pack, he saw the bait for the salamanders themselves: several hundred of the smaller Taenia with the buffalo bodies and the clam-shaped heads raced across the asphalt—Bender’s buffaclams. Noctua was at their ultimate forefront, shrilling wildly as she weaved back and forth to avoid the incoming fire of the enemy robots.

“Kill them!” Noctua shrieked. “Kill the minions of your ancient enemies!” From then on, the only sounds the robot owl made were a series of extremely loud chirps and warbles.

That command wasn’t supposed to include Rade and his Hoplites, but he doubted Noctua had any fine-grained control over the creatures. The Argonauts would have to be very careful around the new arrivals.

The dragons quickly lost interest in pursuing the salamanders and the Taenia, and instead turned toward the ship that towered into the sky. They chittered loudly as they flew, as if enraged. Rade wasn’t sure why they were drawn to the vessel. Its movements were slow and lumbering, and nothing like the usual food sources that normally attracted the flying reptiles. Maybe it was the glows in the upper hollows that did it, giving off the impression of giant eyes. Or perhaps it was some sort of latent genetic memory, a hatred for their Phant conquerors that had been passed down through the generations, so that merely seeing those skull-shaped ships evoked a base revulsion that caused them to instantly attack.

As their large forms drew near, they breathed acid at the vessel, and the hull melted in places. Several of the reptiles repeatedly rammed into the craft as well, and succeeded in dragging the ship off course.

Meanwhile, buffaclams stampeded over any robots that were unfortunate enough to wander into their paths. They also leaped onto the rooftops as the combat robots fired down at them, and plowed into them, sending robot body parts flying in all directions.

The large salamander aliens didn’t take well to the laser and particle beams spraying down on them either, and they abandoned their pursuit of the buffaclams to leap instead onto the rooftops, spewing acid over walkers and Centurions, and crunching down on treaders and shock troopers, breaking them in two between their maws. Some of the dragons swooped onto the roofs as well to similarly engage the robots.

With the attention of the robot army and shock troops fixated firmly on the new aliens, Rade and the other groups of Hoplites were able to break free from their entrenched positions and relocate away from the fighting.

When Rade was two streets away he took another rooftop hide and began to pick off opponents via his maximum zoom setting. He let Electron take control of his left hand cobra, and together they chipped away at the enemy.

“Never thought I’d see the day,” Bender said. “But we’re fighting alongside bugs! Bugs! Incredible.”

“We’re not exactly fighting alongside them...” Fret said.

“Yeah, we are,” Bender said. “Quit ruining my moments! Manic, follow me!”

“Why do I feel like this is going to be a bad idea?” Manic said, but he set off after Bender.

Rade wasn’t entirely certain what Bender planned, but it probably involved the arcing weapon. “Argonauts, cover them.”

He glanced at the overhead map, searching for Surus’ signal. There it was, several blocks away in the stadium district.

“Surus?” Rade asked.

“I’m here,” Surus said.

“I hope you have a way to return these aliens when we’re done,” Rade said.

“The small Taenia, yes,” Surus said. “On my command, Noctua will order them to retreat to the Acceptor, and she’ll open a continuous teleportation stream above the device to send them back.”

“What about the big ones?” Rade asked.

“Hopefully, we can get them to pursue the Taenia again,” Surus said. “Those who do not return, well, we will simply have to terminate them. If it’s any consolation, I don’t think there will be many left after this is done.”

Indeed, Rade saw salamanders and dragons dropping continually among the buildings in his sights. But they usually killed at least ten robots and shock troopers for every one of their own that went down.

Rade considered how Surus had teleported the creatures here so quickly. When planning the mission, she had mentioned that this particular Acceptor had a special mode that created a wormhole in perpetuity above the device, at least until Surus collapsed it, allowing creatures to enter simply by passing through an imaginary sphere above the device whose radius was quite a bit larger than the flat disk of the Acceptor itself. Only a few of those particular wormhole-capable Acceptors had ever been constructed, and like the time travel Acceptors, their making had been lost over the millennia, and the remainder were extremely valuable among the Phants. It had to be paired with a matching Acceptor to initiate the continuous wormhole feature, which the Taenia world happened to have. Otherwise, it behaved like an ordinary Acceptor, transporting contents that existed only on the disk itself.

There wouldn’t have been enough room in the cave on the alien world to use the device the way she had; Surus had obviously moved the matching Acceptor onto the surface before luring the Taenia and the other aliens.

Rade glanced at the skull ship that still floated above the buildings. The coronal weapon fired every two minutes, sending plasma bursts into the rooftops, wiping out entire swaths of aliens.

The Hoplites were forgotten.

For now.

As he returned his attention to the ongoing battle, whose front line had collapsed to one street away, Rade spotted Bender’s mech on a building right across from the main fighting. Manic’s Hoplite was at his side.

“Keep covering Bender and Manic!” Rade said.

The two moved from rooftop to rooftop, never staying in one place, expending their jumpjet fuel as if it would never run out. Riding the passenger seat while Juggernaut controlled the Hoplite, Bender employed his arcing weapon judiciously, judging from the humming that came over the comm, and the arcs of electricity that Rade witnessed darting between the rooftops.

Two dragons swooped down at them and nearly struck the pair with that acid spit.

“Tahoe, target the dragon on the right!” Rade transmitted. Meanwhile, he aimed at the dragon on the left, and fired his cobra into the maw. In moments, both dragons plunged down into the street, dead.

“Bender, Manic, get back here,” Rade said. “Let the aliens and robots fight it out. We’ll round up the Phants later.”

Rade expected complaints, but both Hoplites immediately obeyed. Rade supposed he owed the unquestioning obedience to the fact that Bender was still in the passenger seat, with Juggernaut’s AI in control of the actual mech.

Letting the aliens and robots duke it out was a good idea in theory. But given how much damage that coronal weapon was inflicting on them, Rade didn’t think the Taenia would last much longer. The Hoplites would be forced to enter the fray very soon now. And they’d have to face that coronal weapon once more.

“Would you look at that,” Lui said. “Their acid is eating right through the Tech Class IV hull.”

Rade gazed at the cranial ship. He saw that as the dragons continued to bombard the vessel in waves, their acid spit had begun to carve a deep pit in the western side of the hull. Rade zoomed in.

“You’re right,” Rade said. “I can see a passageway inside. It’ll fit our Hoplites. Whoever wants to go on a joyride inside an alien ship, follow me! Bender, your participation is not optional. Sprint and Nemesis, stay behind and do your best to cover us.”

Rade fired his jumpjets and arced over the buildings, steering himself above the battle. The other seven manned Hoplites followed. Rade was worried for a moment that the mechs of Manic and Bender wouldn’t have enough fuel to make it, given how much they had expended already, but he checked their stats on his HUD and confirmed that yes, they had enough. He also saw that Bender had returned to his cockpit for the time being. Probably a good idea.

He dismissed the stats overlay and focused on avoiding the dragons. He kept his shield pointed toward the ground, covering his body against any opportunistic attacks the ground robots might launch. He just hoped no remaining shock troops would target him and the Hoplites; if such troops did so, with luck the AIs aboard Sprint and Nemesis would terminate them before they could attack.

“I’m transmitting a map of the ship,” Surus said over the comm from her position on the surface. “Courtesy of Falon’s memories. I’ve highlighted the Observer Mind chamber in orange. Destroy that, and you destroy the ship.”

Rade accepted the map data request and transmitted it to the others.

A dragon dove straight toward him, spitting acid.

Rade jetted to the side, avoiding the acid, and fired his cobra at the alien. It dropped immediately, crashing into a rooftop and smashing a walker in the process.

Another incoming dragon plunged from the sky in front of him, probably taken out by Sprint or Nemesis.

Ahead, the target vessel filled Rade’s vision, blotting out the sky. The latticework of metal that composed the hull was scarred and melted in several places. Rade aimed for the gaping hole he had spotted from the surface, and landed inside the melted edges, careful not to touch the corroded area, not wanting any of that acid on his mech. He hurried forward, making room for the other Hoplites to land behind him. There was no resistance so far. And no repair swarms of any kind, either—that metal lattice was supposed to be self healing. At least in the larger motherships.

The tubes that composed the living bulkheads and overhead around him writhed and twisted. The undulating pipes on the deck formed a raised walkway, with a small ditch on either side. Sometimes those pipes formed gaps that could trip a human in a jumpsuit, but they were essentially crevices to the mechs, and would have no effect on the broad metal feet.

Rade glanced at the overhead map, which was already filled out, courtesy of Surus’ data. The orange highlight was near the center of the ship.

“Forward!” Rade ordered his Hoplites. They could fit only in single file in that corridor, so Rade led the way into the quickly darkening passage, as he had been the first to enter. He switched to LIDAR burst mode when it became impossible to see, and a wireframe representation of his surroundings overlaid the darkness.

As he marched forward, he spotted a sword-like rifle protruding from around a bend ahead.

“Incoming!” he said, and dropped.

Ignoring the slightly undulating deck beneath him, he aimed his cobra at the weapon and squeezed the trigger. A portion of the rifle fell away, and the hand that held it drew back. He kept his scope aimed at the corner, but the shock trooper didn’t appear.

He glanced at the status feeds of his men. The particle beam hadn’t penetrated any of their hulls, though Tahoe’s mech had a servomotor malfunctioning in the left arm that had been working only moments before.

“TJ, clear it,” Rade ordered.

TJ was just behind Rade, and he clambered his mech to its feet, stepped over Rade’s Hoplite, and proceeded to the bend. He fired his cobra past it, and announced: “Clear. The weaponless bastard was just hiding out, hoping I wouldn’t find him, apparently. “

Rade and the others passed by the lifeless body, and continued deeper into the ship.

More shock troops occasionally intercepted them, firing from beyond bends or around corners, but Rade and the others dug in and took them down. Phants of different colors tried to intercept them at times as well, but were forced aside by the EM emitters in the Hoplites. During such appearances, Bender usually popped open his cockpit, retrieved the arcing stun rifle from the storage compartment in Juggernaut’s leg, and giggled while firing the arcing stun weapon into the Phants.

They entered the side passageway that led to the Observer Mind and proceeded forward without resistance. Rade was on point by then, once again.

“We’re on the final leg now,” Tahoe said.

“Don’t jinx it,” Lui said.

“I can see the opening ahead!” Rade said. He saw a circular entrance that led away into darkness.

As the party grew near, the opening squeezed shut in a ringlike motion, like a sphincter.

“Damn,” Lui said. “That did seem a little too easy.”

“Fire cobras at the seal!” Rade said. “Synchronize your weapons to my own.”

Rade rotated cobras into either arm, then dropped. Behind him, his men adjusted their posture by crouching or kneeling so that all of their weapons had a clear line of sight to the seal.

Rade glanced at the synchronization indicators on his HUD, and when they had all turned green, he aimed at the center of the door and fired.

The enhanced lasers created a small hole.

“It’s working,” Rade said. “Electron, program a cutting pattern. Get us through!”

“Affirmative,” Electron replied.

Electron took over and began firing; the mech paused every few moments to let the lasers recharge. A long dark line slowly grew along the left side of the blockage ahead.

“Got tangos on our six,” TJ said.

Rade glanced at the overhead map and saw the red dots of two enemy units behind them.

“Damn it,” Rade said. “TJ, Lui, unlink and defend!” The latter individuals were on drag, and spun about to protect the rear while Electron worked.

“And TJ, Lui, deploy your shields,” Rade said.

“Done!” TJ said.

“How will that help?” Fret said.

“So far, we haven’t seen any indication that the shock troops are linked to any AIs aboard,” Rade said.

“What are you saying?” Fret asked.

“The troops seem to know our general location,” Rade said. “But when they close with us, they appear to rely on their local sensors for targeting. With the shields deployed, they won’t have targets to shoot at.”

“Other than the shields themselves...” Fret said.

“I’m hit,” TJ said. “Lost both legs of my mech. They cut right through my shield. I’m out of action.”

“Fret, fill in for him!” Rade said. “And take down those tangos!”

Rade thought Fret mumbled some curse over the comm, but the man’s Hoplite moved into place in front of the fallen mech without hesitation.

TJ’s cockpit opened, and TJ emerged, carrying the cylindrical AI core of his mech. He hurried between the other Hoplites, taking cover. He grabbed a laser rifle from Tahoe’s storage compartment and clambered up into the passenger seat. Retrieving that weapon was a mostly symbolic gesture, as the rifle didn’t have the intensity necessary to penetrate the domes of the enemy jumpsuits, not like the cobras.

Electron continued to work, slowly shifting the laser upward.

“My mech is down,” Lui said.

“Moving in,” Manic said. He maneuvered in front of the second fallen Hoplite.

Lui emerged from his cockpit a moment later, carrying the AI core, and leaped into Rade’s passenger seat.

With fewer cobras participating in the breaching operation, Electron’s cutting speed slowed to about half. It was taking far too long. At the rate the Hoplites were falling, Electron wouldn’t even be halfway through the blockage before there were no mechs left at all.

“Lui, TJ, try syncing your rifles to the cobras,” Rade said.

The two men did so, and in moments their beams fired in sync with Electron’s cobra bursts. There was no noticeable improvement in cutting speed.

This mission wasn’t going to end very well. Not at all.

twenty-nine

Rade glanced back and forth between the Hoplites on drag, and the blockage ahead. He felt helplessly trapped. There had to be a way out of this. He just wasn’t seeing it.

As he watched more particle beam slashes appear in the shields of the rearmost mechs, Rade had an idea.

“We can use their lack of AI access against them,” Rade said. “Tahoe, Harlequin, proceed to the drag area. When you’re past the last Hoplites, shove your shields into whatever crevices you can find in the deck, and sever the shields from your arms. Then squeeze your mechs into the ditches on either side of the raised walkway. Hump the floor.” 

Tahoe and Harlequin moved into position. When they were in place, they rammed their shields hard into the undulating pipes composing the walkway below, finding small gaps to secure them. Then they fired their cobras into the attachment locations, severing the shields from their arms, and then pressed their mechs down into the ditches between the raised walkway and where the deck met the bulkheads on either side. The upper back areas of their mechs were exposed, namely the passenger seats.

“Everyone else, drop inside those ditches and clear the main walkway!” Rade ordered, and the remaining Hoplites obeyed. Since Lui and TJ were exposed in the passenger seats, they dismounted and lay in the ditch directly.

“Floor humping time, bitches!” Bender said.

Rade dropped into said ditch, but was only able to partially fit: his right shoulder protruded above the lip of the ditch a bit more than he would have liked. The bulkhead pipes undulated against him, bobbing his mech to and fro.

He glanced at the shields on drag. They were still jammed into the deck. With them blocking the passageway like that, the attackers would have no idea where the Hoplites resided beyond. Assuming Rade was right about the aliens having no fine-grained access to their positions.

As expected, holes rapidly appeared in the shields as the tangos realized that the Hoplites had ceased returning fire. But those holes were matched by twins that appeared in the seal behind Rade. The enemy was effectively drilling through the blockage for them.

“Bitches have no idea what they’re doing, do they?” Bender said.

“Sort of like you in bed with a girl?” Manic quipped.

“Ha.”

After two minutes, the shields were so riddled with holes that Rade could readily peer past them and into the upper sections of the passageway on drag, though from his position on the deck he was unable to sight any of the tangos beyond. The Argonauts closer to the shields would have a better angle.

But before giving the order to engage, with his rear view camera he confirmed that the blockage was just as badly pocked.

“Reminds me of Phooey Lui’s face,” Bender commented.

“Time to take down our tangos,” Rade said. “Tahoe, Harlequin, do you have a bead?”

The latter pair rose slightly from their positions on the deck. On the overhead map, Rade saw that more tangos had joined the previous two, so that there were eight of them out there.

“Roger that,” Tahoe said. “Engaging.”

Two of those tangos winked out, and the rest took cover, flattening against the bulkheads and deck. Some dove into the ditches on either side of the walkway, like the Hoplites.

“Tahoe, Harlequin, continue firing,” Rade said. “Cover us.”

Staying on the deck, Rade rolled onto the raised walkway and turned toward the blockage, then slipped back into the ditch once more; he synced with the cobras of the remaining Hoplites that weren’t covering the rear and fired at the joins between pockmarks, drilling through them. He carved out a square section shortly, and when he severed the last join, the bore-riddled piece fell away, leaving an opening big enough to fit one mech at a time.

“Tahoe, Harlequin, let’s get some heavy suppressive fire back there!” Rade said. “Bender, join me!”

Rade got up and dashed toward the entry. Bender joined him in his mech. Rade entered high. Bender Low. There were no shock troops inside.

“Clear!” Rade said. “Except for a few Phants.”

“So do the rest of us come, or not...” Fret asked.

“Come!” Rade said.

In order to make room for the others, Rade moved along the small path that bordered the glowing orange-yellow pool in front of him. That pool was composed entirely of Phants, of course, forming a moat around a floor-to-ceiling pillar located in the center of the compartment. Five meters tall, that pillar was covered in the same orange-yellow Phants, and appeared wider at the top and bottom than in the middle, sort of like a conjoined stalactite and stalagmite pair. There was a small shelf surrounding the pillar, just above the liquid.

“That would be the Observer Mind...” Lui said.

Purple Phants, presumably guards, were positioned on the walkway around the pool and swerved to intercept Rade. However, the EM emitters in his Hoplite repelled them.

Rade glanced at the overhead map. Everyone had entered except for Tahoe and Harlequin, who still resided in the passageway beyond. “Give Tahoe and Harlequin some suppressive fire.”

Fret and Manic had already assumed positions on either side of the entrance, and they unleashed their weapons into the tangos beyond. Rade noticed that Lui and TJ had clambered into the passenger seats of either mech.

In moments the Hoplites of Tahoe and Harlequin entered.

“Continue firing, Fret and Manic,” Rade said. “Keep those bastards pinned. Meanwhile, it’s time for the rest of us to work. Or rather, one of us. Bender, if you don’t mind?”

“Oh goodie goodie gumdrop!” Bender said. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day! Hell, all my life! Tell me how this feels, you Phant bitches!”

Juggernaut’s cockpit dropped open and Bender emerged. He swung down onto the leg area. The liquid Phants closest to him suddenly surged upward toward his jumpsuit, forming a fingerlike mass. But the EM emitter installed in his suit stopped the Phants cold.

“Ha!” Bender said. “Stupid bitches.”

He opened the storage compartment, singing to himself. “Bugs bugs bugs.”

He retrieved the stun rifle and turned around to aim it at the pillar. That fingerlike projection from the pool surged even higher—apparently the EM emitter didn’t extend far enough around Bender to protect the rifle, because the Phants were able to snatch it from his grasp. In moments the rifle was sinking, and then vanished entirely into the liquid.

“Um,” Fret said. “Brilliant.”

Bender glanced around frantically from behind his faceplate, as if struggling to comprehend what had just happened. For a moment Rade thought he was going to cry. Instead he just slumped against the leg area of his mech.

“Tahoe, Bender, jump into that pool and find that rifle before the Phants destroy it,” Rade said. “Your EM emitters will repel them.”

“Doh!” Bender said. He released Juggernaut and dove into the pool. The liquid instantly moved aside. “And he parted the Red Sea!”

“It’s orange, bro,” Lui said.

Bender had landed on the undulating pipes of the deck, located only a meter below the walkway. On either side of him the liquid walls hovered, lurking, forming a spherical shape half a meter around him. Juggernaut leaped down, as did Tahoe’s mech, and more of the liquid cleared away.

“There!” Bender said. He dove across the deck and grabbed onto the stock of the rifle, which was protruding from the liquid.

Juggernaut walked forward beside him, expanding the circular clearing so that the rifle was revealed in its entirety. Bender clambered back onto Juggernaut using the rungs on the hull, all the way to the top of the mech, then he aimed his rifle at the pillar.

“I hope this works,” Tahoe said.

Bender fired. The plasma beam hit the pillar and deflected blindingly in all directions, arcing from Phant to Phant, sending hundreds of beams into the pool. Ordinarily the sound of the plasma was muted, but in that confined place, and with so many arcs, it literally thundered.

The beams faded.

“Again,” Rade said.

“You like it bitches?” Bender said, unleashing another round of arcing plasma. And another. “You like? That’s right!”

The Phants began to flow down from the pillar, joining their brethren in the pool below. As Bender continued firing, more and more of them seeped down, until there were none clinging to the pillar at all.

“Hmm,” Bender said. “Can’t fire anymore. Guess I broke it.”

“Probably just needs a cooling period,” Rade said.

“So wait a second, how do we know if we did anything?” Manic said from where he yet defended at the entrance. “To the ship I mean. Because the tangos outside are still firing at us.”

“If they use inertial dampeners, then we won’t notice anything,” Lui said. “At least until we hit the ground.”

The deck careened to the right and a loud rumbling passed through the compartment.

“Looks like the ship just impacted the ground!” Tahoe said.

Rade slid into the far wall, along with the remaining Hoplites. The orange pool splashed down toward them, the substance stopping half a meter from their mechs, simply floating in midair.

Rade and the others clambered back to the exit, the Phants parting the whole way. Once there, the team terminated the remaining tangos. Only three of them remained, and the Hoplites made short work of them. The rest had fled, apparently.

“Manic, Fret, Tahoe, I want you to clear out the rest of the ship,” Rade said. “Eliminate any shock troops. And tag any Phants you see. TJ, Lui, you might as well get down from those passenger seats, since you can’t really help them. You’ll stay here with me, along with the rest of the Hoplites. We guard this control center until the cavalry arrives.”

“Yes boss!” Tahoe said.

The designated Hoplites departed.

“Surus,” Rade tried. “Do you read?”

“I’m here,” she replied.

“Give me a sit-rep,” he said.

“The city is ours, for the most part,” she answered. “There are still a few areas of isolated fighting. Most of the salamanders and dragons have been shot down, so the Taenia have been staging rampage attacks against the holdouts. They’ve been surprisingly successful against the robots, thanks to the tactics Noctua has come up with.”

“We could use some of those Taenia to help us clear the ship,” Rade said.

“I’ll lead a small group there personally,” Surus said. “That was quite the crash. I’ll join you in the Observer Mind room when I can. Tell Bourbonjack to send down the shuttle as soon as he’s ready.”

“Bourbonjack, we’ve secured the city,” Rade tried. “We’re ready to receive the package. What’s your status?”

Rade waited for several moments, but received no answer. He opened his mouth to try again when Bourbonjack’s voice came over the comm.

“We’ve handled the Raccoon,” Bourbonjack said. “The cost was a little higher than I would have liked. Many good men are dead.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rade said. He didn’t ask the question that was foremost on his mind.

“Shaw and the kids are fine,” Bourbonjack said, sparing him the suspense.

“Thank you,” Rade said.

“I’ve also disabled the merchant vessel, in addition to the Salient,” Bourbonjack said. “Mission accomplished.”

“I never doubted you,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack chuckled. “Yes. I’m quite the hero, aren’t I?” He didn’t sound too impressed with himself. “So you’re ready to receive the package, you say?”

“We are,” Rade said.

“Launching now,” the mercenary chief replied. “I hope you shove those Phants inside to the brim. Treat them like the cattle they are. Bourbonjack out.”

Rade attempted to tap in Shaw aboard the Piranha next. The starship’s comm office transferred his call, and she answered almost immediately.

“Hey big guy,” Shaw said.

“How are you?” Rade said. “How are the twins?” But he already knew from her voice that everything was all right.

“We’re good,” Shaw said. “A little shaken maybe, but good. There were some scares up here while you were gone. Being stuck in sickbay during a space battle, with no say in how the combat plays out, nor even any idea of what is actually going on, isn’t really the most calming of situations.”

“No, it’s not,” Rade said. He was reminded of a time back in his MOTH days, when he had been aboard a ship that had been cut in half during battle. Wasn’t fun.

“Well, I’ll let you finish up down there,” Shaw said. “Alex is crying again.”

“All right,” Rade said. “Talk to you soon.” He disconnected.

While waiting for the shuttle to arrive, Bender stunned the Phants with the arcing weapon a few more times for good measure. He always howled with joy when those bolts thundered about the liquid bodies.

“Of all you humans, I understand you the least,” Harlequin told Bender.

“Why’s that, bitchy bob?” Bender asked.

“Well,” Harlequin said. “While the others go about their duties with stoic forbearance, you on the other hand seem to take such joy in killing and inflicting pain on aliens. That, combined with your disrespectful behavior toward Artificials and robots, inclines me to believe you are a xenophobe.”

“Perhaps I am, Harley boy,” Bender said. “But what’s that make you, a xeno lover?”

“Hardly,” Harlequin said. “I believe I have made it clear on several occasions that I harbor no love for these Phants.”

“But you love me,” Bender said. “Come on, admit it. You know you do.”

Harlequin considered for a moment. “Despite your foibles, I have to admit that yes, I have developed a certain... attachment toward you. And I don’t mean physically, of course.”

Rade was expecting the usual crude repartee from Bender, but the man surprised him with his next words.

“Harlequin, you’re like the brother I never had,” Bender said. It sounded like he was choking up behind his faceplate. “If I didn’t have you, if I didn’t have any of you, I’d be half the man I am today. I swear I would.”

“I—” Harlequin said. “As usual, once more you have surprised me.”

“Ah, shut it, AI!” Bender said, the moment apparently already past. “Don’t be getting all sentimental on me now.”

“I was hardly being sentimental—”

“I said shut it, before I beat your ass!” Bender said.

Harlequin remained quiet.

Bender’s chortle came over the comm. “Sorry, couldn’t help it. All right. I admit it. I was the sentimental one. Enjoy this moment while you can, because it won’t last. Torching a bunch of Phants puts me in a mushy mood, I guess.”

With that, Bender unleashed the arcing rifle at the Phants and he began howling with laughter all over again.

thirty

Rade received a tap in request from Surus shortly thereafter. He accepted.

“I just received word,” Surus said over the comm. “The package has landed, along with Centurion and mercenary reinforcements. I’m heading out to meet them. I’ve already dispatched several Taenia into the Phant ship and instructed them to coordinate with your Hoplites, though communication might be difficult.”

“I’m sure my men will manage,” Rade said.

Tahoe reported in that the Taenia—or the buffaclams as he called them—began to flood inside, and were attacking the minions of their hated enemies. With their help, he and the other Hoplites were able to rapidly clear the ship. Though unfortunately many Taenia lives were lost to errant Phants.

Shortly thereafter, Surus, still possessing the Artificial that Falon had used, arrived at the Observer Mind chamber with a mercenary escort. They ported the Phant trap with them.

The mercenaries had given the ordinary stun rifle to her, and she used it to herd the Phants inside the container. The liquid aliens were constrained by the invisible three-dimensional volume formed by the metal disks attached to the top and bottom of the container; as more and more of them were trapped inside, the liquid began to pile up, so that when Surus was done herding the last of the stunned creatures, a cylindrical column of Phants climbed nearly to the top of the container.

“Will you have enough room to hold the rest of the Phants in the ship, and this city?” Rade asked.

“I believe so,” Surus said. “I know the gap at the top looks small, but the rest should still fit. Phants compress well. The trick will be in finding them all. I’ll need Bender’s help for that.”

“You have it, of course,” Bender said. “Killing Phants is my specialty.”

“Trapping them, you mean,” Surus said.

“Same difference,” Bender responded. “By the way, just so we’re clear... now that you’re a dude, I have no interest in you whatsoever.”

“Sure you don’t,” Surus said, winking at him. “I’m free tonight, if you are.”

“Uh, have to pass!” Bender said. “Next topic! About those Phants...”

“Yes,” Surus said, becoming serious. “With me.”

Surus clambered up into Juggernaut’s passenger seat, and Bender jetted up, landing beside the Artificial. Meanwhile Juggernaut picked up the Phant trap and ported it from the room. The mercenary and robot escort fanned out ahead and behind the mech. Rade and the others joined them, acting as part of their guard. 

When they had cleaned the ship of Phants, the team exited the vessel and defeated the remaining pockets of resistance. They were forced to put down some of the surviving salamanders and dragons, until Noctua led the Taenia buffaclams toward the stadium, drawing the larger creatures away. The golden owl passed into the invisible wormhole created by the Acceptor, followed by the herd of Taenia; the few remaining salamanders and dragons blindly pursued, their echolocation not detecting the wormhole at all. Two dragons swooped over the site too high and ended up stranded outside the stadium, but Noctua flew back out and with some chirping had them chasing her into the wormhole. When the last of them had entered, Surus shut down the stable wormhole so that Noctua could lead the aliens away on the other side.

With no further resistance to face, the team systematically swept the streets, taking down any last defenders that had holed up in the buildings. Bender fired the arc weapon as often as he could, limited only by the cool down interval. That weapon had the ability to ferret out Phants that were hiding just beneath the surface of the ground, or inside walls, or within the wreckage of robots, so it didn’t take much work on Bender’s part to track them all down. In fact he was having a field day.

Once a Phant or group of Phants was stunned, Juggernaut lowered the ever-filling container—which by then had become a kaleidoscope of colors—and Surus used the ordinary stun rifle to herd the liquid aliens inside. Noctua rejoined them after a few hours and aided in the hunt.

They discovered Ms. Bounty secured in the basement of an apartment building, along with several other of the city’s Artificials. Most of them had their power cells pulled, but the AI cores appeared relatively intact. Harlequin transferred power cells from some of the fallen robots and installed them, starting with Ms. Bounty, and she told them she had no memory of what had happened since Rade stunned her back on the alien world.

In other basements nearby the team made grislier discoveries: dead human bodies, piled into the hallways so high as to make them impassable.

Miraculously, there were also some survivors holed up in shops and restaurants whose breach seals had activated when the dome failed, people who hadn’t been discovered by the Phants. The team also found two brothers in jumpsuits who had survived by hiding out in a storage closet. They brought the survivors to the shuttles which then ferried them to the Piranha waiting in orbit.

Bourbonjack had sent a message to Bax, instructing the AI to bring the Argonaut to the planet now that the colony was secured. Bourbonjack also sent an encrypted message to the Zambian high command to let them know their colony world had fallen to an alien invasion, along with video footage proving it. The Zambian official hadn’t seemed too convinced; Surus agreed to send the Zambian High Command a message later, when the Green had returned to Ms. Bounty, because apparently her contacts in the government would recognize her in that form.

Twenty hours later, after making two complete sweeps of the city, and the shipyard, and a final run-through of the vessel, Surus abandoned the Artificial that had hosted Falon and returned to Ms. Bounty. She gave the former Artificial into the custody of the mercenaries, telling them to wipe the memory core once they were back aboard the Piranha, as the Artificial had been corrupted. They readily agreed. Rade expected Harlequin or one of the other AIs to protest the ethics of such an act, but they remained silent.

Since the Argonaut wouldn’t arrive for another four hours, given that two of its engines were still under repair, Rade had the men make one last quick run outside the city to search for any Phants that might have gotten away. Surus reached out with her senses during the circumnavigation of the dome and shipyard, but detected no more of the aliens. If there were any Phants still out there, they had fled beyond her perception.

When the Argonaut finally orbited, Rade ordered the team to the stadium to destroy the Acceptor. Noctua was there, perched on the edge of the broad metal disk, claws gripping the fibonacci etchings in the side. When the robot owl saw Surus in the body of Ms. Bounty, it perked up and flew to her.

“Sweet master!” Noctua said. “I have missed you so!”

“And I have missed you,” Surus said. The owl landed on her shoulder.

“Is it just me, or is their relationship getting kind of creepy?” Manic said. “The two of them haven’t been apart for all that long.”

“I think they’re kind of cute together,” Lui said. “And you know, Noctua kind of looks like her.”

“Ha, that’s funny, Pimplepocks,” Bender said. “You have quite the imagination. That little bitch looks nothing like her.”

“No you’re wrong,” Lui said. “Look at the beak. And the big eyes.”

“I can see it,” Fret said.

Surus approached the teleportation disk and gazed upon it somberly.

“So how do you want to do this?” Rade said. “We still have explosives in our storage compartments. Or will cobras do the trick?”

“Now that the time has come, I’m torn,” Surus said. “I find myself loath to destroy it. We may have need of the device yet. Acceptors capable of creating stable wormholes above them are a rarity.”

“I think you’re reluctant to destroy it because you just want to keep a way home open,” Fret said.

“No,” Surus said softly. “I’m an outlaw now. I can never go home. But I speak truly when I say we may have need of the Acceptor... there are other conquered worlds out there, with technology that might yet aid humanity, if we can find it. Since we can no longer count on the help of the Greens, we cannot give up our only means of accessing that technology.”

Rade considered that. “There was also still some tech you wanted to retrieve from the Taenia world, before we so rudely interrupted you. Bourbonjack hinted that there might be something there that could protect you from the stun devices of this universe.”

“There is,” Surus said. “And while it is possible I might find it, I believe my earlier estimate of a few hours was overly optimistic. It could take months, even years, of searching through the different alien archives. We have work to do here, I’m sure you would agree. Perhaps I can send Noctua looking for it at some point.”

“And what about teaching the Taenia how to use the archives?” Rade said. “That’s something else you wanted to do, isn’t it?”

“Eventually,” Surus said. “Again, that can be something I assign to Noctua. For the time being, I prefer to hunker down. I have taken enough risks with the life of my host, Ms. Bounty, to last a very long time. She would appreciate a break, I believe. As would you.”

“I’m sure neither I nor my team would have any complaints regarding a break,” Rade said.

Surus smiled. “Good. With your permission then, I would like to carry the Acceptor aboard the Argonaut. Your ship is my acting base of operations now, so it makes sense that I would store the device there.”

“It’s not going to suddenly open up onto an alien world and allow a bunch of bugs to come streaming aboard en masse, is it?” Rade asked.

“No,” Surus said. “I will have it locked down. With a cargo crate blocking it at all times.”

“I’ll also want at least one Centurion assigned to it on 24/7 guard,” Rade said.

“As you wish,” Surus said. “And thank you.”

“There will be storage fees as well,” Rade said.

“That is acceptable,” Surus said. “At some point, I will probably transfer the device to one of my bug out locations, so this won’t be a burden you must endure forever.”

“As long as you keep paying the storage fees, and nothing attacks us from it, you can keep it aboard for as long as you want.” Rade glanced at his Hoplites. “All right team, you heard Surus. Let’s get this Acceptor aboard. Along with the Phant trap.”

And so the Hoplites ported the acceptor and Phant trap toward the waiting shuttle.

“I’m looking forward to dumping this batch of bugs into the sun,” Bender said along the way. “It’s going to glow brightly for billions of years to come.”

“The trapped Phants will be long dead by then,” Surus said.

“Oh I hope so,” Bender said. “By the way, you mentioned you were free tonight?”

“That was in my previous body,” Surus said. “Unfortunately, my schedule just closed up once again.”

“Damn you,” Bender said. “Once a tease, always a tease.”

“You’re only doing it to yourself,” Surus said. “I’ve done nothing to encourage you.”

“Except when you were in the body of a dude,” Bender said.

“I’m surprised the ol’ Pussywillow didn’t accept your manly proposition,” Manic told Surus.

“Hey, when Surus was a dude, I didn’t want to use up his time in case you wanted him,” Bender said.

“Mighty kind of you,” Manic replied.

When Rade returned to the Argonaut, he found the twins already waiting for him in sickbay; Shaw had transferred them over first thing when the vessel arrived.

Bourbonjack reported that his men had boarded the disabled corsairs and merchant vessels to search for Phants, but had found none. Surus went onto each ship with Bender, Harlequin, and a small Centurion escort, and she detected the presence of Phants immediately. On each ship, her party moved from compartment to compartment, with Bender firing the arcing weapon, and together they ferreted out the last holdouts. It took another five hours, but they captured the last of the Phants: three Greens, and a Purple.

The small fleet spent a day returning to the Gate; Surus and Bender boarded the Zambian customs corvettes still adrift there to collect the two Greens that had possessed the AI cores of each vessel. Then the Argonaut headed toward the inner system and its star, while the Piranha plotted a course for the Gate and the system beyond. Bourbonjack towed along the other ships that had belonged to his original task unit, as the engines of the damaged vessels were still under repair.

Rade, in his office, tapped in the Piranha before he moved beyond realtime comm range, and Bourbonjack’s grizzled hologram appeared before him.

“Well, that’s another mercenary mission that’s a wrap,” Bourbonjack said. “Thank Surus for me. The bonus she gave us for helping was unexpected, though entirely appreciated.”

“I certainly will,” Rade said. “She likes to treat her employees very well.”

“I see that,” Bourbonjack said. “I can understand why you’re so loyal to her.”

“There’s also the fact that she’s fighting on the side of good,” Rade said.

“Good and evil are only a matter of perspective,” Bourbonjack said. “As we’ve learned long ago. But I hear what you’re saying. She’s fighting on the side of humanity, and that’s good enough for me.”

“What are you going to do with the prisoners from the mercenary ships?” Rade said. “And the merchant?”

“Dunno,” Bourbonjack said. “And because I don’t know, that means I’ll probably let them off at the nearest station. Their ships are mine now, of course: I’m going to make the owners sign over the vessels to me before we pass through the Gate, to compensate me for the inconveniences they put me through.” He paused, shaking his head. “I still can’t believe everything that happened. The Greens, betraying us like that.”

“We all thought they were our friends,” Rade said. “And they were, while it was convenient for them. Surus had access to all of Falon’s memories via the Artificial, and she believes this was only a small group that disobeyed the noninterference edict of their hive High Council. Apparently, there’s a political game of sorts afoot among the Greens; despite the atrocities committed against them in the past, there are many Greens who want to rejoin the main hives, and who regret ever breaking away. But there are others, the majority, who never want to return. It seems the Greens here were on the rejoin side of the aisle.”

“What a twisted web they weave,” Bourbonjack said.

“Yes,” Rade said.

“Are there still more of them in this part of the galaxy?” Bourbonjack said. “Greens I mean?”

“Surus won’t say,” Rade said. “Though I suspect there are. I’m not sure she really knows.”

“Well, you certainly have your work cut out for you,” Bourbonjack said. “Then again, I suppose you’re lucky to have a client as rich as she is, or a client at all for that matter. Even with the bonus, I still have to start looking for my next customer ASAP.”

“The life of a security consultant,” Rade said.

“Indeed,” Bourbonjack said. “I don’t suppose Surus can use an extra ship like the Piranha?”

“She wants to keep the team tight and small,” Rade said. “With only one vessel. She seems to think we’ll be less conspicuous that way.”

“Probably a good idea,” Bourbonjack said. “Well, it was nice fighting with you again, if only for one last time. Even if I was in orbit, and your team on the surface.”

“It was nice,” Rade said. “I appreciate everything you’ve done here. If you hadn’t helped us, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. And thank you for protecting Shaw and my kids during the battle.”

“Any protection was all her,” Bourbonjack said. “I tell you, Shaw was ready to scoop them up and head to the nearest lifepod at a moment’s notice. She’s a good woman. You should marry her.”

“We don’t believe in marriage,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack frowned, then said: “I suppose it’s just a human-made contract anyway. You’re essentially married, if not in name, then in spirit.”

“You got it,” Rade said.

“I guess this is farewell,” Bourbonjack said.

“Take care of yourself, master chief,” Rade said.

Bourbonjack grinned. “And you take care of yourself as well, Rage.”

With that, Bourbonjack’s image winked out.

The Argonaut spent four days traveling to the nearby star, and then jettisoned the liquid-filled Phant trap via a specially prepared missile, dumping all of the alien entities the team had collected into the corona.

A few hours later Rade was seated on the bridge when Lui announced that the missile had broken apart. Lui transmitted a video of the moment to Rade’s Implant, and Rade saw the bright flash as the object disintegrated.

“Wooyah,” Bender said. “Burn bitches burn!”

Rade was more contemplative than anything else. There were hundreds of Phants out there, exiled to live out the remainder of their days trapped beneath the surface of a star.

He had hoped life as a security consultant would prove easier than his tenure in the military. That was one of the main reasons he had bought a ship and started the company. Another reason was that he had wanted to be in control of his own destiny.

But the missions were only getting harder. And his destiny seemed forever bound to the fate of humanity, or rather, to protecting that fate.

He wondered what the universe would throw at him next.

He reached out and grabbed Shaw’s hand at the astrogator station beside him. She squeezed back tightly, looking at him with shiny eyes.

Whatever it is, we’ll face it together.

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postscript

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about the author

USA Today bestselling author Isaac Hooke holds a degree in engineering physics, though his more unusual inventions remain fictive at this time. He is an avid hiker, cyclist, and photographer who sometimes resides in Edmonton, Alberta.

acknowledgments

THANK YOU to my knowledgeable beta readers and advanced reviewers who helped smooth out the rough edges of the prerelease manuscript: Nicole P., Sandy G., Amy B., Lance W., Myles C., Lisa A. G., Gregg C., Jeff K., Mark C., Jeremy G., Doug B., Jenny O., Bryan O., Lezza M., Gene A., Larry J., Allen M., Gary F., Norman H., Eric, Robine, Noel, Anton, Spencer, Trudi, Corey, Erol, David, Charles, Walter, Lisa, Ramon, Chris, Scott, Michael, Chris, Bob, Jim, Maureen, Zane, Chuck, Shayne, Anna, Dave, Roger, Nick, Gerry, Charles, Annie, Patrick, Mike, Jeff, Lisa, Jason, Bryant, Janna, Tom, Jerry, Chris, Jim, Brandon, Kathy, Norm, Jonathan, Derek, Shawn, Judi, Eric, Rick, Bryan, Barry, Sherman, Jim, Bob, Ralph, Darren, Michael, Chris, Michael, Julie, Glenn, Rickie, Rhonda, Neil, Claude, Ski, Joe, Paul, Larry, John, Norma, Jeff, David, Brennan, Phyllis, Robert, Darren, Daniel, Montzalee, Robert, Dave, Diane, Peter, Skip, Louise, Dave, Brent, Erin, Paul, Jeremy, Dan, Garland, Sharon, Dave, Pat, Nathan, Max, Martin, Greg, David, Nancy, Ed, David, Karen, Becky, Jacob, Ben, Don, Carl, Gene, Bob, Luke, Teri, Gerald, Lee, Rich, Ken, Daniel, Chris, Al, Andy, Tim, Robert, Fred, David, Mitch, Don, Tony, Dian, Tony, John, James, David, Pat, Jean, Bryan, William, Roy, Dave, Vincent, Tim, Richard, Kevin, George, Andrew, John, Richard, Robin, Sue, Mark, Jerry, Rodger, Rob, Byron, Ty, Mike, Gerry, Steve, Benjamin, Anna, Keith, Jeff, Josh, Herb, Bev, Simon, John, David, Greg, Larry, Timothy, Tony, Ian, Niraj, Maureen, Jim, Len, Bryan, Todd, Maria, Angela, Gerhard, Renee, Pete, Hemantkumar, Tim, Joseph, Will, David, Suzanne, Steve, Derek, Valerie, Laurence, James, Andy, Mark, Tarzy, Christina, Rick, Mike, Paula, Tim, Jim, Gal, Anthony, Ron, Dietrich, Mindy, Ben, Steve, Paddy & Penny, Troy, Marti, Herb, Jim, David, Alan, Leslie, Chuck, Dan, Perry, Chris, Rich, Rod, Trevor, Rick, Michael, Tim, Mark, Alex, John, William, Doug, Tony, David, Sam, Derek, John, Jay, Tom, Bryant, Larry, Anjanette, Gary, Travis, Jennifer, Henry, Drew, Michelle, Bob, Gregg, Billy, Jack, Sandra, Libby, Jonathan, Karl, Bruce, Clay, Gary, Sarge, Andrew, Deborah, Steve, and Curtis.

Without you all, this novel would have typos, continuity errors, and excessive lapses in realism. Thank you for helping me make this the best military science fiction novel it could possibly be, and thank you for leaving the early reviews that help new readers find my books.

And of course I’d be remiss if I didn't thank my mother, father, and brothers, whose untiring wisdom and thought-provoking insights have always guided me through the untamed warrens of life.

— Isaac Hooke

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