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  “Sometimes people are just stupid,” she commented and pulled out her pad. “Pip, are you ready to do some hacking?”

  “Of course,” remarked Pip.

  “Aren’t you going to lecture me about how we lost the target?” asked Eddie.

  “It’s not your fault that he was a fool,” she said simply, walking to the nearest terminal. She plugged her pad directly into the system, using a universal connector. “Sometimes you just can’t fight stupidity.”

  “Initiating file transfer,” confirmed Pip. “Thirty seconds remaining.”

  Eddie checked the Ox King’s body and found a small pad, similar to Julianna’s but less sophisticated. He tucked it away in his own pocket.

  The King also had a stack of delios, the Kezzin currency. Based on what Eddie knew about the exchange rate, it was no small amount—still, he left it where he found it. His job wasn’t to loot, but to gather intel and complete the mission.

  “Got anything?” asked Julianna.

  “Found a pad. It might have some data.”

  “Nice work,” she said approvingly.

  “Transfer complete,” announced Pip.

  Julianna removed the device from the terminal. “Looks like we’re done here. Ready to fight our way back to the ship?”

  “Should be easier without this asshole to weigh us down, so at least there’s that.”

  Julianna smiled, cocking her rifle.

  ***

  The doors to the facility flung open, and Eddie and Julianna came running out, guns at the ready.

  A group of Kezzin was in the open field at the other end of the courtyard, unaware of the cloaked ship sitting less than ten meters from their position. They appeared to be strategizing—perhaps trying to figure out what their next move would be.

  Maybe they’d split up and head in through opposite ends of the building, sweeping from the outside toward the center. Maybe they’d stay together and file their way in through the front, to come up behind the invading soldiers—whoever they were.

  Maybe they’d just stand there and get shot, like the bunch of assholes they were.

  At least, that was Eddie’s plan for them.

  He leapt down the central steps onto the stone platform, dropped to one knee, and took aim at the unsuspecting soldiers.

  As he started firing, Julianna came up beside him and took out a small frag grenade. She spotted her target, removed the pin, and tossed it. The grenade flew in a long, high arc, finally landing in the bushes near the troops, who quickly realized their misfortune.

  Two were sniped by Eddie’s gunfire before they could clear the grenade’s blast radius. The others panicked, unaware of what was happening, caught off guard by the sudden chaos. Just as one soldier began to take out his weapon, the grenade exploded, sending the bushes and each of the Kezzin pirates flying into the air.

  Julianna and Eddie didn’t bother waiting to see if any survived. Instead, they deactivated the cloak and opened the hatch, piling into the Q-Ship.

  As Eddie was strapping himself in, he saw a horde of soldiers appear from beyond the nearby house. There were dozens of them, mostly armed, running as fast as they could toward them.

  “Uh oh.” He worked faster to buckle his seatbelt.

  “You handle the guns and I’ll start the engines,” ordered Julianna.

  “No problem there,” Eddie remarked, gripping the controls.

  One of the thugs at the front of the mob raised his weapon and started firing. As he did, many others followed suit, bombarding the ship with a wave of firepower.

  It sounded like rain, falling on the roof of an old house.

  Eddie leaned forward and squeezed his triggers.

  The two machine guns on each side of the Q-Ship unleashed a spread of bullets into the small army, mowing them down like stalks of wheat in a field.

  Before a quarter of the Kezzin had fallen, the rest ran for their lives, painfully aware of their own mortality against such a monumental threat.

  The Q-Ship was the most advanced fighter aircraft ever conceived. It would not be taken down by handheld weapons, no matter how many Kezzin were using them.

  “All done!” said Julianna, taking the controls. “Let’s get out of here!”

  The Q-Ship lifted off the ground, its cloak activating almost instantly, and began moving over the now-dispersed mob. There’s no use hunting each of them down, Eddie knew. They would soon disappear, go to some unknown corner of the galaxy. For their own sakes, Eddie hoped they’d stay there.

  As they lifted through the moon’s atmosphere, an alert sounded on the dash. It beeped repeatedly, loud enough to give someone a headache.

  “What the fuck is that?” asked Eddie, pointing at the red light.

  “We’re being targeted,” reported Julianna. “The cannon near the base.”

  “Should we turn around and bomb it?” he asked.

  “No need,” she replied, giving him a slight grin. “Already taken care of.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I believe I can explain,” offered Pip, chiming in from Julianne's pad.

  A holographic display sprouted up in front of Eddie. He saw the cannon in question turning and adjusting, taking aim.

  “While I was inside the local network, I sabotaged the system to create an energy surge, should they decide to use the defense grid. If they fire it—”

  The cannon suddenly exploded on the holo, the metal tearing itself in half. A fireball erupted from the massive gun, evaporating into the clouds above.

  “Ah, there we are. The cannon will almost certainly explode,” concluded Pip.

  “Holy shit!” exclaimed Eddie. “Pip, you sly bastard.”

  “Thank you, sir. I aim to please.”

  The Q-Ship broke through the upper atmosphere, leaving orbit and heading back toward The Atticus Finch.

  Eddie secured his rifle next to the bulkhead of the ship. He stared out the window into open space as they passed the large planet whose moon they had just invaded.

  He took a long, steady breath. Damn, it feels good to be back.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Cargo Hold 02, QBS Atticus Finch, en route to Onyx Station.

  “I hope you two brought me something nice,” General Reynolds greeted them, arriving on the hangar deck a few moments after the Q-Ship had docked.

  As soon as Eddie and Julianna pulled in, the QBS Atticus Finch formed a gate, getting right the hell out of there. It seemed what Lance had said about the Federation not wanting to be seen or recognized doing this sort of work was true.

  Eddie took his helmet off. “Glad to see you too, sir.”

  “We brought some valuable intel,” offered Julianna. “Unfortunately, Ox is dead. He refused to go quietly.”

  “I tried,” Eddie said. “I really did.”

  “I’m sure you did,” said Lance, raising one eyebrow as he smiled.

  “I had Pip secure his logs. We should have plenty of information to keep us busy,” said Julianna.

  “That’s good news,” the General nodded. “Have your E.I. upload the contents to my system. Nothing on the main network. We want this staying where it is.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said.

  Eddie reached for the pad in his pocket. “Oh, sir, I also found this.”

  “What is it?” asked Lance.

  “He had it on him when we took him down. Some kind of pad. I haven’t looked at it yet.” Eddie handed it to General Reynolds. “Hope it helps.”

  “I’m sure it will, Captain.” He looked at each of them. “You’ve both done well today.”

  Julianna shook her head. “We did the job. Nothing more.”

  “She’s so modest,” Eddie chuckled. “But I’m not. That shit was hard!”

  Lance chuckled. “Seems you’ve gotten your wings back, Captain. And your trigger finger.”

  “It’s all coming back,” agreed Eddie.

  Lance nodded. “Get some rest. I need you two fresh tomorrow. This was just
the first step. We’ve still got a lot to do, and not a ton of time in which to do it.”

  “What happens tomorrow?” asked Eddie.

  “Recruitment, Captain. You need to fill out this team I’ve given you. Hell, you haven’t even named it yet.”

  “Was I supposed to be doing that?” asked Eddie, a clueless look on his face.

  “Someone has to, and as you can see,” he held up the pad Eddie had given him, “I’ve got shit to do.”

  Guest Quarters, Deck 05, Onyx Station.

  Eddie sat in his temporary quarters, watching a vid doc on Earth history. It showed images of a large bomb being rolled out onto a flight strip. The episode focused on a declassified United States government program from the 1960s called ‘Project Pluto’.

  According to the show, it was to be a giant nuclear-powered cruise missile, which would fly into the middle of the ocean and stay there for several years, waiting, in anticipation of World War III. Once activated, the missile would receive its orders and begin its supersonic flight, dropping thermonuclear bombs on the various targets. Upon completion, the missile would crash itself into a final site where it would then proceed to leak fallout from its fuel tanks, contaminating the surrounding area.

  The engines were made and proved operational, according to the historical documentary, but the device was never fully completed, and was ultimately scrapped.

  “Crazy,” muttered Eddie, flipping to a cartoon of a duck fighting a mouse.

  Someone pounded on his door. He turned in his bed. “Who is it?”

  “Julianna. Open up.”

  He eased himself off the bed and went to the door, then hit the switch.

  The door slid open, revealing Julianna. She was carrying a pad in her hand.

  “Rise and shine,” she said, handing the pad to him.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  When he turned it on, he was met with a ‘Classified’ message and a request for his thumbprint. He touched the scan, and the screen faded to show an alien’s face. Beneath it was a biography page with several redacted sections:

  Name: A’Din “Hatch” Hatcherik

  Species: Londil

  Occupation: Mechanic, Engineer, Physicist, Pilot

  Place of birth: Laden City, Planet Ronin, Behemoth System

  Date of birth: AQ 35

  Alias: Brody Chambers (Web Handle)

  A’Din Hatcherik is well versed in mechanics, aerospace, and electrical engineering with specialties in astrodynamics, electrotechnology, avionics, robotics, statistical machine learning, and several other fields.

  Hatcherik worked on the for over two decades, accelerating its expected timeline of completion quite significantly, far exceeding expectations. Additionally, his work on has assisted countless researchers with further developing other , which have also led to the creation of more advanced .

  After an unexpected resignation from the Federation’s foremost research and development center, Dr. Hatcherik was last seen in the Behemoth System. His current address is attached.

  Eddie stared at the dossier, examining the picture of the one called A’Din Hatcherik. He was an alien, part of the Londil species. The Londil were large, tentacled creatures, almost like a deformed octopus. What possible reason could Julianna have for tossing this at him? “What am I looking at?”

  “General Reynolds asked us to start recruiting,” explained Julianna. “This is our first guy.”

  “Our guy?” asked Eddie, looking back down at the pad. “He’s an alien. Not a guy.”

  “The Londil are part of the Federation, last I checked, and that’s who we work for.”

  “I guess I just assumed we’d all be human. Not that I have anything against non-humans, or anything.”

  “Uh huh,” said Julianna, giving him a skeptical look.

  “What? I don’t have anything against aliens. It’s just that humans have been the targets of these raids, haven’t they? Not just Federation worlds, but human ones.”

  “Nonetheless, you want to assemble the best possible team to handle these threats, right? This is where we start.”

  “Who exactly is this person?” asked Eddie.

  “Can’t you read?” Julianna grabbed the pad from his hand and pointed at the screen. “He’s an expert engineer and a pilot. His research has led the way in multiple fields.”

  “Is that why half of his biography is redacted?”

  “Exactly. This alien was the best kept secret in the Federation’s R&D. Most of his inventions were shelved and he left in frustration after a historically short tenor. He wasn’t given credit and asked to have his name and history with the department erased. He left shortly after the transition from the Empire to the Federation.”

  Eddie raised his eyes. “If he’s so smart, why isn’t he still with us? This file has him on Ronin, living in Laden City.”

  “He’s retired, obviously.”

  “Then why bring him back in?”

  “We brought you back in because finding the right talent is crucial.”

  “I do believe you just gave me a compliment.” A roguish smile spread across Eddie’s face.

  Julianna ignored his comment, stuffed the pad inside her jacket, and leaned against the door. “You know that Q-Ship of yours?”

  “Sure,” said Eddie.

  “He designed it,” said Julianna.

  “He worked on the team who made our ships?”

  “No,” corrected Julianna. “There was never a team. And he didn’t make all of them. Just the one you’re flying. The one you said looked like shit. It was the original, and also the best. Hatch made it himself, with his own tentacles, on his own time.”

  “No way,” said Eddie. “That alien built my ship?” He paused for a second. “Did you just call him ‘Hatch’?”

  “Come on,” she prompted, ignoring the question and tapping the button to open the door. “Let’s go.”

  “No, wait a second. Answer the question.”

  “We don’t have time to delve into that right now, Captain. Now, are you coming or not? The trip to Ronin will take a few hours. The faster we leave, the faster we’ll get there.” She walked through the door and started down the hall.

  “Fine, but don’t think I’m forgetting this,” Eddie chased after her. “I never forget, just like a goldfish.”

  “There’s something seriously wrong with your brain.”

  ***

  Eddie boarded the transport ship in docking bay 06, along with Julianna. He had an overnight pack containing two sets of clothes slung over his shoulder, a baseball cap on his head, and a pistol holstered at his side.

  Not that Eddie didn’t enjoy a good pat down, of course. He just didn’t have the time. According to Julianna, Hatcherik, or “Hatch,” as she’d called him, was currently working out of an old garage on Ronin, but wasn’t always there.

  Apparently, he liked to travel back and forth between his village home outside the city and his new apartment on the east side. Thanks to a recent report attached to the dossier, however, they knew to start with the garage.

  “Did you bring anything to do?” asked Julianna as the two of them took their seats, one in each of the two aisles.

  As it happened, the entire ship was empty of passengers except for the two of them. Working for the most powerful man in the galaxy definitely had its benefits.

  “It’s a ten-hour flight, you know,” she added.

  “I thought I’d read a book,” said Eddie.

  Julianna paused, a stunned look on her face. “Come again?”

  “A book,” he repeated. “What, you don’t think I can read?”

  “I just didn’t expect that answer,” she admitted, her mouth slightly agape.

  “Aren’t you gonna ask what book it is?”

  “I wasn’t planning on it.” She faced forward, folding her arms across her chest.

  He reached into his pack and retrieved a pad. With a quick flick of his wrist and a
few swipes, he pulled up Beetle Bailey Volume 1, a comic strip.

  “Good old Bailey,” grinned Eddie, showing the first few panels to Julianna. “It doesn’t get better than this.”

  Her expression sank. “I should’ve known.”

  The ship detached from Onyx Station and, igniting thrusters, moved a safe distance away. After about ten minutes, once it was far from any orbiting objects or other ships, the pilot initiated a jump, propelling the vessel through a gate.

  Once they were in flight, an attendant appeared in the aisle, carrying a pad of her own. “Can I get you anything, sir?”

  “What?” asked Eddie, confused by the strange woman.

  “Would you like a drink? Perhaps some distilled water or a refreshing juice from our catalogue? We also have desserts and pastries.”

  Eddie leaned forward, looking at Julianna. “Are you hearing this?”

  “Just order something so she can get back to work.” Julianna sighed as she shook her head.

  Eddie paused, looking back at the woman. “What else do you have to drink?”

  She tapped the pad and turned it around, revealing the full menu. “We have a wide selection for you to choose from, sir.”

  Eddie’s eyes widened at the sight before him. “Yeah you do.”

  The lady smiled. “I’m glad you approve.”

  “I’ll take two Blue Ales.”

  The flight attendant nodded.

  “And two Tarsin vodkas,” added Eddie with an eager grin.

  Julianna looked at him before asking in a hushed voice, “You know we’re on a mission, right?”

  “So? We don’t have anything to do until tomorrow. Plenty of time to sleep off a hangover. Come on, Jules, don’t be a downer. Have some fun!” He turned the menu around. “Look, they even have whiskey.”

  “Whiskey?” she asked, raising her brow. “Uh, what kind?”

  “Looks like Jameson Gold,” Eddie replied, examining the list.

  Julianna’s eyes widened slightly. “They have Jameson?”

  “Looks like it. Is it good?”

  “It’s one of the few high-end Earth blends to make it to the Federation. I thought it was all gone.” She looked at the woman, who was patiently waiting for their orders. “Everything is comped by the Federation, is that correct?”