《Blue Star Enterprises》


 Chapter 1

    LOCATION: PETROV STATIONSYSTEM: GLIESE 667


    ESTABLISHED: 2289 A.D.


    The aging recycler smiled and stood from his chair to greet his newest customer. "Viktor! It''s been far too long. I don''t see Svetlana around. Has she finally wised up and found a real man?"


    The captain of the Amophor rolled his eyes and clasped the man on the back. "She hasn''t come to her senses yet, ya old coot."


    They both laughed at that before the man motioned for them to sit.


    "Have you brought me something interesting? I see your engineer, Mateo, hiding out in the corridor like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar."


    Viktor rubbed the back of his neck, earning a raised bushy eyebrow from the old man. "It might be more trouble than it''s worth," Viktor finally relented under the man''s stare.


    Yuri leaned back in his chair, the spring squeaking audibly as he did so. He needed time to digest what the captain had told him. Trouble could mean many things. He tried to steer clear of illicit goods, but there was only so much you could do to stay on the straight and narrow on the fringe. Most people didn''t come to Petrov Station because they wanted to and not everything that came through his shop had been acquired legally.


    Then again, Viktor had never brought him anything other than salvaged scrap before. He decided to roll the dice on this one. "Let me be the judge of that."


    Viktor nodded and whistled for his engineer to come in.


    The thing following behind the engineer made Yuri''s eyes go wide. "By the stars, what is that thing!"


    The seven-foot-tall robot had to duck to fit through the bulkhead that separated his salvage yard from the corridor that ran along the outside of the station.


    Mateo stopped a few feet from the desk and without any signal, the robot stopped behind him. Yuri grunted as he stood from his seat and walked around the desk to look at the strange machine. He circled it, picking up the strangely flexible arms and letting them fall back into place. Then he ran his hands along the molten scar that bisected the front of the torso from the upper right shoulder past the left hip. He had seen enough scrap in his life to identify damage caused by a weapon. If he had to guess, either a Gauss turret or a railgun. Judging by the damage, not some dinky little handheld but a true blue ship weapon. But that wasn''t what surprised him.


    What surprised him was the fact that the robot hadn''t been obliterated by a glancing blow from either weapon. Normally only ship armor was capable of withstanding something like a direct hit from a ship cannon. Before heading back to his seat, Yuri flicked the crudely attached holo projector on the robot.


    "What''s with the holo?"


    Mateo smiled and punched in a code on the device glued into the damaged portion of the robot. Soon a cartoon face sputtered into being a few inches over the robot''s torso. "I figured since it didn''t have a head, we could at least give it a face to make it less¡­ imposing."


    Yuri only quirked an eyebrow at that. "I can''t say it helps much. Where did you even find something like this?"


    The two hesitated and Yuri waved them off. "Never mind, I don''t want to know. Just tell me, is it stolen?"


    Viktor bristled at the implication, telling Yuri all he needed to know. "So that''s a no. I''m just trying to see what kind of trouble this thing will bring me if I buy it off ya."


    "So you want it?" Viktor asked expectantly.


    "Maybe," he responded, thinking out loud. "It looks military. Although I''ve never seen a military robot like it in all my years. Even during my time with the Coalition. Could belong to an STO member, but they didn''t really go in for automation." He would know. The Coalition fought for many years against the Sol Treaty Organization.


    A rogue faction maybe? Hard to say. "What is it capable of?"


    "It can fix pretty much anything."


    "Really?" Yuri asked skeptically, "Show me." Yuri reached into a desk drawer and rifled around until he found what he was looking for. The box he pulled out was rather banged up on the outside, but he opened it and quickly inspected the contents within. He had never quite been able to get the delicate device to work correctly. He turned it around and showed it to Viktor.


    The man looked at the box, then back at Yuri with surprise. "A music box?" Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Yuri only smiled. "I ain''t trusting that hunk of metal on anything serious if it can''t fix something like this."


    Viktor shrugged. "Robot, fix this device."


    The robot bent forward, its agile arms slipping past the men as it picked up the box. That had also been a test by Yuri, he wanted to see how delicate the thing could be. And it appeared quite delicate.


    After pulling the box close to itself, it kind of just stood there for a moment, turning the box at different angles.


    "How''s it see?" Yuri asked, realizing the robot had no sensors that he could locate.


    The men shrugged before Mateo spoke up. "I think it uses some form of echolocation or something. My tests were inconclusive."


    After about a minute, the thing stopped and beeped. Meteo walked over and read the screen on the device. "It states insufficient materials available to make repairs. Can it use your printer?"


    "Eh, sure. Why not."


    As the robot walked over to the printer, the old salvager couldn''t help but chuckle.


    "What''s so funny?" Viktor asked.


    "Oh, nothing. I just find it amusing that a robot is able to program an unknown part into my printer. How did you get it working anyway? I can''t imagine that damage made it easy."


    "That would all be Mateo''s doing. I''ll let him explain."


    "It actually made it quite easy," the Engineer responded as he walked back over. "It exposed the robot''s main control pathways."


    "So you programmed all of these functions into it?" he asked dubiously, starting to get a sinking suspicion.


    The two shared a look and Yuri cursed. "Don''t tell me you just reactivated it."


    When the two remained quiet, he swore again. "Is it even safe to have around?"


    "It should be fine. We''ve been using it for weeks," Mateo stated. "All of the commands have to go through the holo, which also functions as the control box."


    Yuri rubbed his temples. An unknown robot with unknown programming.


    At least it didn''t look like a combat robot. He would have shown the pair the door with a swift boot to the ass if they had brought something like that onto the station, let alone his salvage yard. There wasn''t much that got you on the STO''s radar faster than black market arms. And having a weapon aboard the station was a good way to get spaced.


    He was pulled from his thoughts as a box plunked down on the desk in front of him. He stared at it for a moment before watching the robot return to its location behind Mateo.


    Yuri turned the box toward himself and opened the cover. A sweet tune started to play as soon as the cover was opened all the way. He smiled sadly as the tune reminded him of his wife who had passed away years ago. The box had been hers since she was a young child. And even though he hated the blasted thing, he couldn''t bring himself to get rid of it.


    With his decision made, he tenderly closed the box and stuffed it back in the desk drawer. Then he turned toward Captain Viktor. "I''ll give you a thousand credits for it."


    "You''re joking, right? It''s worth at least a hundred times that."


    "To whom?" the wily old man asked. "There''s a reason you brought it to me, instead of taking it further toward the core systems."


    "Come on, at least give me ten thousand for it?" Viktor pleaded, not acknowledging the previous point.


    "No way. I''m taking all the risk of having this thing around. What if some black ops team comes around looking for it?"


    "I very much doubt that''s gonna happen?"


    "Oh? Are you going to tell me where and how you found it then? You know for my peace of mind?" Yuri knew the salvager captain would never give up his locations or contacts. It''s how he made his living after all.


    "I thought we were friends, Yuri. Fine. How''s five thousand? I won''t go any lower than that. Anything less and I might as well take my chances at a more populated station."


    Yuri smiled. "Alright, five thousand." The pair shook hands and Mateo handed him a control wand along with a handwritten manual.


    After the pair got their money and left his scrapyard, he tossed the book into the trash. As if he would trust some unknown programming. Even though he wasn''t nearly as skilled a programmer as Mateo, he knew enough to reprogram the module himself. This would ensure there wasn''t any latent code in it. He hadn''t survived this long by being foolish.


    After flashing the module and erasing the code, he began to program his own. It was simplistic, but he only needed the robot to move heavy things around, it wasn''t like he needed it to perform brain surgery or anything like that.


    The work was off and on over the course of a year but old Yuri wasn''t in any hurry. He also didn''t want to put too much time into something if the STO suddenly came asking about it. When nobody showed up and there wasn''t a peep about it on the back channels, he finally put his full effort into finishing the programming.


    "Move that over there," he stated, pointing at a large manifold.


    The robot stood for the first time in a year and tottered over to the large hunk of steel. Its movements were quite jerky but it did manage to pick up the manifold and move it where it needed to go.


    "Good enough," he grunted. The robotics code he used had some self-learning built into it so the movements should smooth out over time.


    He gave the thing a series of commands to organize his inventory and left it to work. After supervising it for five minutes he nodded in approval. He hated cleaning and sorting the yard. With this robot, he wouldn''t have to worry about that ever again. Now he could simply focus on what he actually enjoyed, fixing things.


    ***


    Alexander didn''t know when it happened or what it was, but one moment he was simply staring at a veil of shifting and shimmering lights. He got the impression that it was important somehow, that it meant something but his mind was having a hard time piecing it together.


    He quickly realized that he didn''t know where he was or how he had gotten here. He racked his mind for an answer but came up blank. As he tried to search his memories, he found odd blank spots. He knew who he was, and that he was born on Earth, but little else. There were other memories that floated fuzzily at the edges of his mind. Like he could almost reach out and touch them. When he tried to reach for them, they seemed to fall apart like gossamer.


    Fearing the possibility of losing more memories, he stopped trying to pull at the threads that sat tantalizingly just out of his reach. Instead, he stared at the veil of light. There wasn''t much else he could do, he couldn''t feel his body. He couldn''t even turn away from the lights. He thought he should feel more fear about his situation, but his mind was calm, numb almost. He didn''t explore that thought though as one of the lights drew his attention.


    He thought he saw an image for a moment.

 Chapter 2

    LOCATION: PETROV STATIONSYSTEM: GLIESE 667


    DATE: UNKNOWN


    Alexander focused on the lights and soon another image flashed by. He noted it and mentally started counting the seconds. He wasn''t sure if his sense of time was accurate in this place, but he got to the count of ten when the next image flashed by.


    It was the same count as the previous one and the one before that. There it was again. It seemed there was a repeating pattern every ten seconds where an image flashed by. He couldn''t quite make the images out as they were there and gone almost in the same instant. But he could tell it was an image. If you blinked, you would miss it. Thankfully it didn''t seem he needed to blink, or maybe he didn''t have eyelids? That thought made him a bit uncomfortable until he remembered he wasn''t feeling any pain. He wasn''t feeling anything, to be honest. Perhaps this was all some weird dream.


    Although, if this was some strange dream, he didn''t feel like he was in control of it at all.


    There was just him and the stream of light. He knew it was a stream now because the images always flashed in from above and vanished below. The one time he tried to look away from the stream, he found it surrounded him. All except for a dark section that felt like his mind had been shoved into an old CRT television that was displaying only static. It made his mind feel weird so he avoided looking at that section.


    Time was also weird in this place and he sometimes found himself blanking out for an undetermined amount of time before coming back. The only reason he knew this was happening was because of the lights. They weren''t uniform. When he blanked out and came back, they tended to jerk suddenly like someone had hit the skip ahead button on a video.


    One time he came back and the entire field of light was replaced by an angry red. The red was swept away before he could even contemplate what that meant.


    Red was usually bad though. It only happened that one time and it never repeated itself so he figured it wasn''t something he needed to worry about. Instead, he enjoyed the rather pastel color field made up of blues, pinks, yellows, greens, and purples that streamed through the darkness.


    It might have even been pretty if he wasn''t stuck staring at it since he had awoken. The appeal of the pretty colors had quickly faded. Now that he thought about it, had he awoken? He thought that was what clued him into the colors, but his mind was so full of holes and hazy areas, that he couldn''t even say if he was awake or still dreaming at this point.


    After a bit of thinking, he decided that what he was experiencing was real. Mostly because it was too boring to be a dream. Even a lucid one. And why the hell did he remember what a lucid dream was when he couldn''t even say for certain this was a dream?


    Alexander could only hope the holes would repair themselves given time. He could already feel the feathery bits at the edge of his awareness firming up. If those could fix themselves, certainly the rest would follow.


    ***


    "I''m a robot!"


    The realization came as quite a shock to Alexander when he finally figured out how to turn the slow slideshow of images into something more coherent.


    With the lack of external stimuli, it was impossible to tell for sure if what he was seeing was himself moving about or some remote camera view.


    He was pretty sure the curtain of light was some strange data stream. But that epiphany only brought on more questions.


    He remembered growing up, at least bits and pieces of it. Most of those had come back from the feathery edges of his mind. The only problem was the holes remained and he could now tell at least a month had gone by since he awoke in this strange place. With no further improvement to his condition, he couldn''t rely on his missing memories to help him out.


    What he could do was stare at the video as his ''body'' moved heavy machinery about. He saw other humans occasionally, but the video quality wasn''t the greatest. Although it was improving slightly as the weeks wore on. Maybe it was less him figuring out the image issue as it was the body fixing itself?


    That was just another question to add to the pile of questions he already had. Like where the hell was he? As far as he could see, everything was metal. Maybe some strange warehouse or lab. It might explain why his mind was trapped in this body.


    But why him? Nothing in his memory led him to believe he was anyone of importance or intellect. Had he had some tragic accident? Maybe someone sold his comatose body for science?


    He did vaguely recall people doing that and their loved ones ending up as testing dummies for the military.


    That didn''t feel quite right though. If Alexander had been stuffed in some sort of military robot project, why was he stuck moving hunks of scrap metal around?


    He sighed, there was no point letting his thoughts tumble down an endless well of questions. Especially when he had no answers and no way to get them. He needed to focus on what mattered right now, regaining, or getting control of his body. Once he did that, then he could figure out what was going on.


    ***


    Time seemed to whip by as Alexander paid attention to every detail. Slowly his vision of the world expanded as the curtain of light became a wrap-around view of the world. All except the dark void that cut across what he thought of as his front.


    It was strange though. Alexander could see everything at once. Not like having to turn around or focus on a certain point. It was like his mind was perfectly capable of taking in the entirety of his visual space without issue.


    When he thought about it, his mind seemed to go fuzzy though, so he tried not to focus on why he could see everything at the same time.


    He also found out what he looked like thanks to a mirrored piece of junk he was hauling about. Or at least what the body he was in looked like. It was an ugly robot. Something straight out of some alien horror film. There was no head, because why have a head on a robot? The arms were long and articulated, looking like some sort of segmented bug carapace. They moved more like a snake than any robotic arm he had any memory of. The legs were much the same way, ending in wide conical feet. The body looked a bit like a misformed egg, it tapered at the hips where the legs attached to the sides but then ballooned out toward the top where the arms attached along where the shoulders would be.


    The only thing that stood out from the dark grey exterior of the machine was a long gash that ran from the upper left to the bottom right of the torso. It looked like something very violent had melted its way through his body. The damage also coincided with the blacked-out area in his vision. Although he didn''t see any cameras or other protruding sensors on the robot, so he had no idea how he was able to see at all.


    Oh, there was one last thing. A box. It looked to have been jammed into the jagged rent in the body and haphazardly glued into place. It was different from the robot, but it was something he could almost understand. It had blinking lights on it, beat-up old paint, and some unknown words that could have been Cyrillic but were too distorted in the reflection to read. That was good.


    When he first saw the reflection, he had nearly freaked out. As freaked out as his apathetic mind could get anyway. The reason for his concern was simple. He thought maybe he had been abducted by aliens and stuffed into this body to work as a mindless slave.


    Knowing that humans were involved really didn''t make his situation any better, but at least he understood the motivations of humans.


    The next thing he learned was that he was in space. Or more accurately, on a space station.


    It was an eye-opening experience to watch the massive bay doors open while being left in an airless chamber while a massive ship came in to dock. The ship wasn''t like anything he had ever seen back on Earth. So either humanity had been hiding this technology, or a whole lot of time had passed since he was a self-ambulatory human.


    But not so much that he couldn''t recognize certain design elements of the ship. It used some form of projected thrust engine that produced a bright blue flame. There were also stabilizing jets around the ship that burped out little cones of fire or compressed gas. They were too small and too far away for him to get a clear view.


    There was also artificial gravity, which blew his mind when he first realized that. But not shields. Or he hadn''t seen any indication of shields. To be fair, he hadn''t spent a whole lot of time studying the ship. As soon as it landed, the belly clamps released two cargo containers and his job was to empty the things. Or at least that''s what his body did. Alexander still didn''t have any audio so he couldn''t tell what the old man who owned him had ordered him to do.


    It was pretty clear that nobody treated him like a person, so he assumed they thought he was just a robot. Alexander had to hope that was the case, because if they knew he was a human trapped in this body and still treated him like this¡­ well, that would suck.


    ***


    More time went by. At least he could hear things now. Although the sounds were garbled most of the time.


    It was just nice not to be stuck in this soundless void watching the world go by. He finally learned the name of the old man that owned him. It was Yuri, Yuri Sokolov. Although that last part should have been self-evident by the big sign above the door to his salvage yard that read ''Sokolov Repair and Salvage''. To be fair, Alexander had a lot on his mind and it was an easy thing to overlook.


    It also didn''t help that Yuri had activated the holo emitter that was glued onto his body as some weird control unit. The stupid thing projected a cartoonish face a few inches in front of him that covered most of his torso. He could still see through it but it did make viewing things a lot harder.


    The old man hadn''t actually wanted to turn the thing on, but Alexander''s form was frightening people and the station council told him to do so.


    He didn''t think it made him look any less intimidating. If anything it reminded Alexander of an evil clown or demonic toy. Or like a mask that a robber might wear. But the council seemed fine with the change so who was he to argue? Not that he could argue or anything. He may have regained hearing to some degree but he still had no control over his movements or any ability to speak. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ***


    Dear diary¡­ Just kidding. What would be the point? He noticed he didn''t really forget things so that was one upside to his situation. Plus who would read a mental diary?


    However, something interesting happened today. Something interesting enough that if he had a diary he may have been tempted to put this in it. He was moving scrap around like he did every day. Except this time, some idiot manning a small mobile crane smashed into him.


    Not a good way to start your day, especially when you lost. The crane, being about three times his size and weight sent him careening across the bay they were working in. It''s not a fun experience. But something in his mind or from the impact seemed to slot into place and he reached out and managed to stop himself.


    Flabergasted at having control, Alexander forgot anything else. Unfortunately, the control vanished shortly after as his view of the world went dark.


    When it returned again, it was to a cursing and grumbling Yuri. The man was fumbling about in the dead area in his vision.


    Alexander had long wondered about that box. It seemed to perform multiple functions. One was obviously a control interface for the old man, it also acted as a projector. Alexander figured that was its original purpose. But now¡­ Now he noted it was his interface to the outside world. Which was a problem.


    If that box acted as both an interface and control point, could he even get control of his body back while it was still attached? There was no way he was removing it, not if disconnecting it meant being plunged into the dark silence again.


    Alexander waited for Yuri to fix him and leave before he tested something out. With a significant effort, he willed one of his fingers to move. It felt like pressing through a thick wall of mud and his mind was growing fuzzy but he saw one of the digits twitch.


    He released the pressure and relaxed his mind as he gave himself a mental high five. He could do this, he could regain control of his body, it was only a matter of time and willpower.


    ***


    A little clock in the upper corner of Alexander''s vision dinged at him. ''Has it been a year already?''


    The clock was one of the many little tricks he had picked up since gaining his mobility back. He still pretended to be the dutiful robot and he couldn''t speak anyway. So explaining he was a man trapped in this body would have to wait. Not that he wanted to go about doing that.


    Alexander had realized a few things over this last year. First off, he was unique. And not just unique as in a human trapped in a robot body. That was a given. No, the body itself was unique. He had seen enough human tech from this era to determine that. There hadn''t been a single thing that even remotely resembled what he was or what he was made out of.


    Either old man Sokolov didn''t realize this or didn''t care. And Alexander wasn''t about to wave a huge flag in his face stating ''I''m unique cut me up and study me!''


    Nope, he wanted answers, but he was going to have to find them himself. Thankfully the old scrapper left him to his own devices most of the time. It had taken a bit of effort, study, and planning, but he had learned how the terminals worked around the yard.


    There was an internet, but it wasn''t exactly like the internet from back in his day. Most of the information seemed to be locked behind paywalls, but he had learned some stuff. The first thing he looked up was the actual date. It was 2395. He knew a significant amount of time had passed from his memories of Earth to now, but he wasn''t quite ready for just how much.


    His last memory was from the mid-2050s. Nearly four hundred years gone, just like that.


    If he had any strong feelings one way or another perhaps he would have been upset that everyone he cared for and loved was long dead. But he couldn''t even remember anyone from his past, let alone feel anything for their loss. When he thought about his situation, he realized if his mind hadn''t been trapped inside this body, he would have died long ago as well. So that was a minor comfort.


    The second thing he learned was where he was. Alexander had originally figured he was in some station orbiting Earth or the Moon. Maybe even Mars. But nope again. He was in Petrov station, located somewhere in Gliese 667, wherever the hell that was. Maybe that was something he knew at one time but was now lost to the voids in his memory. He would likely never know the truth of that.


    It seemed like each new answer just generated more questions. He had to put those aside as he had more pressing concerns.


    Scanning his surroundings, he found himself alone. Alexander made his way over to a terminal and began typing. One thing good about being a robot, he was quick and precise. The pages flashed by as he siphoned out a tiny amount of money from Yuri''s account and into his own under a fake name.


    This was Alexander''s great plan to finally get out from under Yuri. The man was fine, it wasn''t like he abused him or anything. It was just Alexander didn''t want to be a functional slave forever. So he needed to work for himself. Even if this new him was a fake persona he had purchased. Turns out you could buy just about anything if you knew who to talk to. Of course, Alexander didn''t know anyone. Anyone except Yuri. But after a year of doing Yuri''s work, he had learned the man wasn''t as upstanding as he presented himself to be. And some of the people he worked with were fine working around the law.


    Alexander did derive a little joy from using Yuri''s own money to purchase this fake identity. He didn''t feel bad about doing so, he just thought of it as his long overdue paycheck. But setting up the identity and siphoning off small amounts of money was only the first step, as well as the easiest.

 Chapter 3

    LOCATION: PETROV STATIONSYSTEM: GLIESE 667


    DATE: 2397


    Years passed for Alexander in the blink of an eye. Most of it was repetitive and dull, especially pretending to still be a dutiful robot. Not that he told anyone of his ability to act independently, especially not Yuri. With his situation uncertain, he decided to take a cautious approach to his freedom so he didn''t draw undue attention to his circumstances. It wasn''t like he was in a hurry.


    This slow approach had worked in his favor so far. It gave him time to see what type of man Yuri truly was. Turns out he was the type that would sell his mother if the price was right. So not great. But he wasn''t the worst person he had run into on this station. Alexander had carried more than one unmarked box to a set of sketchy individuals over the last two years. Given the choice, he would not have associated with those people at all.


    He needed to free himself from Yuri''s control before the man decided selling him was worth more than keeping him around. Not that the man ever seemed to part with any of his junk. Alexander swore the man''s collection grew every time he sold some part or component.


    The first idea Alexander had about freeing himself was to blackmail the man into selling the robot to his fake persona. After weeks of thinking about the plan, he decided to scrap the idea. The man he purchased his fake ID from was one of Yuri''s connections. And the man wasn''t stupid, he would ask around and soon find out the ID was fake. Alexander also didn''t want to start on the slippery slope of committing more crimes to get his way.


    True he had stolen money from the salvage yard owner, but that was repayment for his work and to set up a new life.


    With his first plan in the dumpster, he went with a simpler one. Yuri understood money, so Alexander would simply purchase himself. Of course, that was easier said than done. He had no idea what amount of money it would require to purchase himself from the cantankerous old man but he doubted it would be an insignificant amount.


    That wasn''t the only thing he needed to consider either. Alexander needed a place to stay once he was legally owned by himself. Since he didn''t need to sleep or eat, a small out-of-the-way space would be fine. A small shop would be ideal as that would allow him to continue to earn money the only way he knew how, and that was by repairing things.


    When Yuri closed up for the night, Alexander made his way over to the station terminal and logged in with the old man''s stolen credentials. He couldn''t use his yet in case the station logged who used a terminal or not. Which he assumed they would.


    Few things were free in this world Alexander had found himself in. But thankfully business listings were among those. Probably because they only showed current station assets and not those outside its confines. He would take the small win though.


    Petrov station was designed as a typical ring station from Alexander''s memories. Which surprised him. The whole point of designing a ring station was to spin it around a central axis to create gravity. But the station had normal gravity and not spin-generated gravity as was clear by them standing on the floor of the ring instead of the outer walls. The only way he could explain this discrepancy was if the station was built or was in the process of being built when humanity discovered a way to generate artificial gravity without the need for spinning stuff. He didn''t actually know what that process was, but it did intrigue him.


    At least he finally understood why all the doors looked to have been slapped in as an afterthought. If they were meant to be accessed from the outer wall and had to be cut out and reoriented, it would certainly explain the patchwork. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Yuri''s shop was on the third ring. Which was designated as an industrial ring along with the fourth and fifth rings of the station. The sixth through eighth rings were commerce and housing with the ninth and tenth being upper class housing and control.


    After a quick look through available spaces, Alexander realized he couldn''t afford even the smallest space on the third ring with the money he had squirreled away over the past years. He winced internally at this.


    Setting his sights a little lower, literally, in this case, he looked into the second ring. It seemed even in space, you couldn''t get away from the destitute. And the second ring was where those as well as orphaned children were housed. Although you wouldn''t know that by looking at the station map. On the map, the second ring was simply labeled overflow and storage. Nobody lived on the first ring. That was reserved for reclamation systems, power generation, oxygen generation, and water storage.


    There wasn''t even a lift to that ring except the one through the core and Alexander knew only station personnel had access to the core. Not that he wanted to live in the noisy power generation area anyway.


    That left the second ring as the only viable option for him. It wasn''t ideal. Being down there would certainly limit his ability to earn money. Then again, less prying eyes and less demand for the spaces down there would mean he wouldn''t need to earn as much anyway.


    After swiping through the properties for rent in that ring, he settled on a small storage room with a door to a secondary closet within it. He assumed someone had added a wall in there at one time to partition the space for whatever reason. What that reason was, he couldn''t say. It served his purposes fine. But best of all, it was within his small budget.


    The unit wasn''t very big, maybe twenty feet by thirty. And the closet was probably big enough for him to stick some shelves along the walls and just barely stand inside. But it would work. He would make it work because there wasn''t any other choice.


    Alexander recorded the information. During the day when he was out for a delivery, he would access a terminal outside of the salvage yard and purchase the lease on the property using his fake identity.


    With that out of the way, he switched the terminal to Yuri''s personal library. It was where all the old man''s digital purchases went. And a man as old as Yuri had quite a few. But less than a quarter of them were for actual service manuals. The less said about those other purchases, the better.


    Alexander picked the next service manual in the list and began scanning it. He did one manual a night to ensure he understood all of the content within. So many things had changed since the twenty-first century that he was lost the first time he stumbled upon this trove of gold. Thankfully, it wasn''t so alien that he couldn''t grasp the basics. It was good he could comprehend the technology because it was going to be his only way to earn a living. And the more he read, the better he seemed to be able to piece together the next. Like his mind was helping him.


    Maybe it was. Those dark spots in his memory had never recovered, but maybe he was once an engineer or mechanic. When he finished one of the manuals, he seemed to just understand the concept or device the manual was created for. It was almost instinctual to the point he sometimes thought of ways of improving the designs. Or he would come across some component from another manual and realize it could be used to improve a different device.


    It was something he really wanted to test, but he couldn''t until he was free of Yuri.


    The night passed by quickly and Alexander turned off the terminal and went back to where he usually stood. Yuri arrived no more than half an hour later, grumbling something under his breath.


    "He''s late," Alexander heard the man say.


    The man complained about a lot of things, so this was no surprise. Alexander just stood in his normal spot as he watched and listened.


    Soon the communicator Yuri carried beeped. "You''re late," Yuri cursed the person on the other end.


    There was muted shouting from the other side that Alexander couldn''t pick up, but he saw Yuri pull the device away from his ear. "Don''t get pissy with me!" Yuri shouted back. "I agreed to be the go-between for this deal because I owed you one. I don''t care if you ran into trouble getting here."


    More garbled speech came through from the other end, but the person must have stopped shouting as Yuri kept the device up to his head this time. "Yeah, yeah," the older man responded. "Just have the crate ready, my bot will be there shortly." Then he clicked off the device before stuffing it back in a pocket. "Ingrate."


    "Robot, go to hangar 415 and retrieve the crate. Then bring it to hangar 512. And be quick about it."


    Alexander started moving as he whistled internally. He had been sent to the fourth ring on a number of occasions for deliveries or retrievals. It was the most heavily trafficked ring as it catered to mid-sized and smaller ships. The fifth ring, however, catered to the large ships and luxury craft. As such it only had like a dozen hangars. The big ships simply docked at massive unloading ports that stuck out like towers from the station.


    That meant this crate, whatever was in it was going to someone important. And going by the clandestine way Yuri was handling it, probably highly illegal as well. Alexander just gave a mental sigh.


    ***


    Hangar 415 was easy enough to locate. He had been there on a number of occasions. He even recognized the ship and the nervously pacing man near a very futuristic-looking box. Everything about this situation screamed ''turn around'' to Alexander. But if he did that, he would give himself away.


    He forced those thoughts down as his feet clanked against the deck. The Captain of the ship finally noticed his approach, not that he had been stealthy or quiet by any means. Although he found he could be both if he chose to be.


    "Finally! Hurry up already. My client is waiting for this crate, and he doesn''t appreciate tardiness."


    Alexander didn''t hurry, he kept the same sedate pace that he always did. The annoyed look on the Captain''s face helped smooth over his annoyance at having to be the errand boy for whatever illegal nonsense this was.


    The crate wasn''t very large, about the size of a party cooler from Earth. But it was heavy if his whining servos were to be believed. Not that they made any actual noise, it was all digital. He had learned to sort of read the digital feedback that scrolled past his vision. He still didn''t understand most of it even after two full years but he got the gist of it. It was clear his body possessed a vast array of sensors and functionality that he simply couldn''t tap into. Or that was damaged by whatever had caused the large melted scar across his body.


    "Be very careful with that," The Captain stated, putting his arm on Alexander''s causing him to pause. "The stuff in there is very delicate."


    Alexander remained stationary, waiting for the man to remove his arm. Not because he wanted to but because the damn interface Yuri had built into his body prevented him from moving when he was in contact with a person. While he had regained control of his body for the most part, likely due to Yuri improperly reinstalling the control unit, there were still constraints in place to prevent him from accidentally or purposefully hurting anyone. Not that he ever would.


    "Gah, why am I even bothering? You''re just a stupid robot, you wouldn''t understand anyway. Just hurry along," he removed his hand and waved in dismissal.


    Alexander turned and walked out of the hangar, carrying his load.


    Finding the other hangar took a bit of time. It was clear across the other end of the station on the fifth ring. The people he passed up here stepped aside and stared at him. They weren''t used to seeing him like the crews on the third and fourth rings were. Alexander ignored their stares and whispers as he trudged along the ring to his destination.


    Unlike the hangars on the lower floors, hangar 512 was richly appointed. Or at least the entryway was.


    Alexander was forced to pause in the entry as a woman behind a desk contacted someone else. Shortly a brick of a man stepped through an inner door. The individual was kitted in full body armor and was equipped with a shock baton. Alexander was pretty sure the man would have preferred to carry something more lethal, but weapons were highly regulated according to the station laws he had read.


    The man waved a device over the crate and it gave a happy little beep. "Alright, bring it in."


    Technically, Alexander could have left the box there, he had fulfilled his orders, but he was curious to see what type of ship the wealthy flew.


    He followed the man into the more spartan hangar. The ship resembled luxury yachts from back on Earth, only converted into a space-going version. All elegant lines and sharp edges to make them look sleek and imposing. He supposed he shouldn''t be surprised by that. Those designs had been popular with the rich for a reason.


    The squat armored man walked up the ship''s ramp, but Alexander stopped short of it. For the first time, he thanked the restrictions built into the control box.


    "Don''t just stand there, bring it aboard," the man urged.


    Alexander set the box down at the edge of the ramp and stood. Then his little box chimed in reply. "This unit is forbidden from stepping foot aboard another vessel. The contract has been fulfilled. Thank you and have a nice day."


    After the overly cheerful voice finished, Alexander turned around and left. It wasn''t the first time he had been asked to board another ship. It seemed to happen almost any time he did these sketchy deliveries for Yuri. If the old coot wasn''t so paranoid, Alexander probably would have been carted away and sold before he had ever regained full use of his body. He kept up the charade of complying because it told him who was trustworthy and who wasn''t.

 Chapter 4

    After his eventful delivery on the fifth ring, a few weeks went by in blissful peace. Alexander''s only concern during that time was reading more technical documents and moving about scrap along with other deliveries. Not that he minded. The work was dull, sure, but every day brought him closer to his goal of freedom.That bliss was shattered as a hurried set of steps neared the entry. It was a good thing his body had excellent hearing. Even so, Alexander had to rush to log out of the terminal and return to his spot before Yuri practically ran into the salvage yard bay. It would not have been good if the man caught him away from his assigned spot.


    The man had a panicky look on his face as he practically sprinted across the entry area and into the room he used as his office. Which was impressive given the man was probably in his eighties. Alexander had never seen the old man move so quickly or seem so flustered.


    He could hear muffled cursing as items crashed to the ground from inside the room. After only ten minutes, Yuri rushed out carrying a duffel bag. "I knew I shouldn''t have taken that damn job!" The man spat as he hurried over toward Alexander.


    Fearing he had been caught, Alexander stiffened. What could he do if he had been discovered, kill the guy? That... That wasn''t going to happen. Alexander wasn''t a killer. During his moment of indecision, the man had made it to him and set down his duffel bag. Then he reached into a dirty pocket on his overalls and fished out a data disk.


    When the man didn''t call him out, some of the tension left him. Alexander had seen the digital storage devices before but hadn''t ever used any of them. They looked like quarters, only with completely blank faces. The man shoved the tiny disk into the control module glued to his chest.


    "Greetings" the same mechanical yet somehow cheerful voice that accompanied all of the communications from the box responded.


    "I have given you a list of responsibilities ordered by priority. You are to continue to carry these out until I return."


    "I understand," the voice repeated.


    An actual calendar appeared inside Alexander''s mental space with a list of duties for each day. As he read through the ridiculous list of tasks, he also watched Yuri.


    The man inserted a credit stick into the terminal Alexander had only just logged off from. From his vantage point, he could clearly see the man emptying his bank account into the digital wallet. He only left enough for what seemed like a month''s worth of operating expenses for the yard.


    Either Yuri wasn''t coming back, or he expected to be back within a month. Neither option was great for him. There was a moment where he thought it would be beneficial to let the older man in on his secret, but rationality quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Even if he didn''t mind Yuri, he certainly didn''t trust the man. And there was no way Alexander wanted to get caught up in whatever nonsense had him so flustered that he was packing for a one-month trip in the middle of the night.


    Yuri Sokolov, the old man and owner of Sokolov Repair and Salvage stopped at the exit, taking one more longing look at his life before vanishing down the corridor.


    The man hadn''t even shut the door in his haste to leave. Waiting a few minutes to make sure the man was truly gone, Alexander went over to close the door, but the program Yuri had installed beeped at him.


    "Deviation from assigned tasks. Please remain in place until your next assignment is scheduled."


    The robotic voice repeated this message with every step. Alexander sighed mentally, this was going to get old fast. He closed the door and returned to his spot near the wall. He had tried just standing still but every thirty seconds the voice would repeat itself if he wasn''t where this dumb program wanted him to be.


    It obviously wasn''t an AI, but some sort of tracker or assistant that Yuri had modified. He wondered briefly why the man hadn''t bothered installing it until now. Then again, maybe Yuri knew how annoying it was and didn''t want to listen to the things constant yammering either.


    Alexander attempted to remove the disk from the control box, but paranoid Yuri had added preventative measures to block him from attempting it. To be fair, the man was right. Of course, Alexander already knew of these hard-coded rules. He had explored most of the features and rules that prevented him from doing certain things over the years. Part of getting his freedom was knowing what he could and couldn''t do.


    Not that he couldn''t bypass most of them by now. But some were stubbornly ingrained in the device. Alexander couldn''t afford to damage the control module either. It was literally the only thing keeping him conscious.


    That being said, he already had a way past this specific restriction. He made his way over to Yuri''s office, the stupid program badgering him the entire time to return to his storage space. He ignored it, although he wished he could turn off whatever allowed him to hear. Unfortunately, willing it to happen didn''t do anything. He sighed and kept going.


    Much like the main entry door, Yuri had left the office door wide open. When Alexander peeked inside, he saw the contents of the office were scattered everywhere. He shook his head and dipped below the door frame to step inside.


    Scattered items lay on the floor and Alex pushed them aside with his feet so he didn''t crush anything. The office would need to get cleaned up, if anyone saw the state of it, there would be no doubt that Yuri had fled. And if he wanted a new life, he needed more time to save money.


    Inside one of the still-open desk drawers was exactly what he had been hoping to find. He reached in and plucked out the soft-tipped stylus. It was a good thing that capacitive touchscreen tablets were still a thing.


    Alexander easily maneuvered the stylus to the eject button on the control interface. He didn''t actually need the capacitive properties of the stylus, he just needed something soft yet sturdy enough to activate the simple pressure switch on the control box. There was a click and the silver disk ejected halfway from the device.


    Using his other hand, and taking care not to touch the box, Alexander removed the data disk. As soon as it came free, the annoying voice ordering him to return ceased.


    He held the disk up to get a good look at it. How something so small could cause him such annoyance was beyond him. He gave a mental shake of his mind and crushed the disk. Then he set about tidying up the office.


    ***


    When it came time to open for the day, Alexander followed the calendar he had been given. There were certain free time slots inside the calendar that he wasn''t quite sure what to do with.


    He didn''t have to ponder long though. During the first free slot, a group of men came in looking for Yuri. They appeared to be maintenance workers. When they couldn''t find him, they sent him a digital message. Essentially an email.


    When they left, Alexander went over to the terminal and logged into Yuri''s account to read the correspondence. They were looking for some replacement components for an EVAP system. Alexander had no clue what that was, but they were helpful enough to leave part numbers. And he knew exactly where those parts were.


    As he was retrieving the parts, a realization struck him. Surely that cagey old bastard had factored in random people coming by. He must have built responses into the new program to account for them. Alexander was suddenly wishing he hadn''t just destroyed his only way to communicate.


    In the meantime, he wrote a note and taped it to the office door.


    Tell the robot what you need! I''ll be back later.


    It wasn''t the greatest solution but it would work until he learned how to code a new interface and install it. After placing the note, he took the parts to the destination in the email.


    ***


    It was sort of funny that nobody questioned the note. They would come in, read it, and come over to where he was and tell him what they wanted. Then he would retrieve it and they would send payment to the company account. Thankfully the walk-ins only happened during the select few hours marked as free. The rest of the time was scheduled for other deliveries and sorting incoming inventory that Yuri must have scheduled weeks or months in advance.


    This would have been great had it lasted. But less than three weeks later, a group of three entered the salvage yard. These were not the normal blue-collar type that normally frequented the yard. The woman in the group had a tight hair bun and a severe face. She was also wearing something that looked like a cross between coveralls and a full-body scuba suit. It was not a very flattering look. He assumed this was one of those elusive vac-suits. He had heard about the vac-suits but none of the station regulars bothered wearing them. They were difficult to move around in, making any work slow and tedious. This was the first time he ever saw someone on the station wearing one of the things.


    Thankfully Alexander had managed to cobble together a basic assistant program that could ask people what they wanted.


    "Greetings. How may I assist you today?"


    The woman glanced over at him but didn''t say anything before returning her attention to the other men with her. "Make sure you get a full inventory, everything must go. We have a party interested in purchasing this space and I don''t want any of this junk here when they move in."


    Move in? What was she talking about?


    "You sure?" One of the men asked. "The old man could come back." S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She barked out a laugh. "Unless that old bastard figured out how to breathe in a vacuum, he isn''t coming back. I received confirmation that the freighter Livera was destroyed by pirates with all crew and passengers aboard. And that included Old Man Yuri. That means this space reverts back to the station to do with as it pleases."


    "What about the bot?" the other man nodded toward Alexander.


    She glanced back over, looking at him more closely before frowning. "What about it?"


    "Well, it looks unique," the one man stated.


    "Unique? Do you know what runs through my mind when I hear that word?" The man paused for a moment before he shook his head. "I hear expensive, hard to maintain, prone to failure. I mean look at it," she waved her arm in Alexander''s direction. "Yuri didn''t even bother fixing the damn thing. He stuck a cobbled-together patch on it and called it good. The stupid thing doesn''t even have proper greeting protocols built into it."


    Rude!


    "Just scrap it," she stated before turning and leaving.


    After the woman left, the two men began to tap on tablets as they quickly inventoried the room.


    Alexander had a choice to make. After Yuri''s late-night escape, he had made a plan B so to speak, assuming the man would never return. Although he never expected the man would die. He just figured Yuri would start a junk pile in some other station. He wondered if the trouble he had been trying to run from had caught up with him or if the attack was simply random bad luck.


    He pushed those thoughts aside as there were more pressing concerns. As soon as the two men passed into the aisles of stored junk in the back of the yard, he made his way over to the terminal and entered Yuri''s credentials. He really hoped nobody looked too closely at the log or his plan would quickly fall apart. Being as fast as possible, Alexander scrolled through the dozens of purchase and sales logs until he found the one he had set up.


    The sale of himself was dated on the same day that Yuri left the station. It didn''t have a delivery date but Alexander quickly filled that in and stamped it paid in full using Yuri''s identity. He would have transferred the remaining funds inside Yuri''s business account to his own, but he was certain that would be noticed. He would just have to hope the meager amount of money he managed to earn was enough to keep him afloat. Closing the terminal, he returned to his spot next to the wall and waited.


    It took just over an hour for the two men to catalog every item in the warehouse before one headed toward the office. The other walked over to him and waved a scanner over the code embedded into the control box. His tablet gave an angry beep and he frowned down at it.


    "Kirill!"


    "What?" Kirill shouted from inside the office.


    "This robot says it''s been sold."


    "So?"


    "So! So, Miss Kuznetsova said everything needs to go."


    "Well, when''s it supposed to be picked up?" Kirill asked, stepping outside the office.


    The man standing next to Alexander looked down at his tablet and scratched his head. "Says it''s supposed to be delivered sometime today."


    "Then I fail to see the problem, Grigory."


    Before Grigory could respond, Alexander moved, startling the man. Kirill laughed at his companion as Alexander simply walked out of the salvage yard for the last time. If he had a heart, he was sure it would have been beating a mile a minute.


    The last thing he heard was a muted chuckle from Kirill. "See, Grigory! If you wait long enough, some problems solve themselves."

 Chapter 5

    It was a strange feeling knowing he was free. Sure it had taken over two years, but it had come far faster than Alexander had predicted or even planned for. The fact that he hadn''t foreseen this possibility was a good reminder that he was still out of his depth in this new reality he found himself in.He barely even understood daily life on the station, let alone the complexities of their laws or bureaucracy. While he had read some of the laws because they were free to peruse, Alexander hadn''t spent much time digging into them, other than the ones that pertained to his planned freedom.


    That was something he would need to rectify as soon as possible. Being ignorant of the local laws usually didn''t get you off the hook if you broke them.


    His general knowledge was lacking as well, but there was very little he could do about that at the moment. He simply didn''t have the free credits to purchase learning modules, even the elementary ones meant for children were outside his current budget.


    As he made his way through the ring to the freight elevators, he garnered a few looks. But most simply went back to their business, already familiar with him from his years aboard the station. The few whose gazes lingered were already on Alexander''s ''naughty'' list. It was made up of the scummy people that Yuri dealt with.


    Thankfully, nobody approached him or caused problems and he arrived at the freight elevator unmolested. He honestly wasn''t sure what he would have done or even could have done had someone stopped him. The limitations imposed on him by the control box were very much still in place.


    This wasn''t his first trip down to the second ring, but he had only visited the place a few times to clear out some of the old scrapper''s storage rooms. It was a wonder Yuri had made any money at all with all the junk he had lying about in the yard and other locations on the station. Yuri''s collection was a veritable treasure trove of old obsolete parts if you knew what to look for.


    All of which would now belong to the station if what Miss. Kuznetsova said was true. That was a shame. Alexander had been hoping to borrow some smaller parts and bits without Yuri figuring out what he was up to.


    The man didn''t keep a good inventory of all his junk. From what Alexander had seen, the man kept most of it straight in his head. Which would be an impressive feat, except Alexander knew Yuri forgot where he placed things from time to time. On more than one occasion, he had been stuck waiting for Yuri when the item the old man had told him to retrieve simply wasn''t where it should have been.


    Alexander always got a little chuckle out of seeing an angry huffing Yuri come collect him when he failed to return.


    The elevator didn''t groan when he stepped onto the platform. While Alexander''s body may weigh in excess of fifteen hundred pounds, the large cargo lift had been built to transport things many times his size.


    He tucked himself into a corner and simply waited. Unlike the normal lifts, which he was too heavy to use, the cargo lifts only activated at certain times throughout the day. As he waited, more and more automated loaders trundled into the lift. They would stack neat rows of crates near the back before zipping off to retrieve more.


    When he had first seen the devices, he had wondered why Yuri didn''t use the automated cargo handlers. That changed when he saw one of the dumb robots nearly run someone over once. On another occasion, one crashed into a ship that Alexander had been sent to retrieve some parts from.


    He had gotten a front-row seat to a heated exchange between the owner of that cargo handler and the ship captain. It ended with the cargo handler''s owner losing his contract and having to pay for the damages to the ship.


    There was also the fact that most of Yuri''s items didn''t fit neatly into crates or pallets. But Alexander suspected the real reason Yuri didn''t use the things was purely because he was a cheap bastard. He was pretty sure the man never spent a dime unless it was to buy more junk or places to store more junk.


    An hour passed and the warning lights outside the freight elevator began to flash amber, indicating that all cargo deliveries had to cease. One final material handler managed to squeak through before simply stopping in the middle of the floor.


    Alexander did a mental shake of his head. The things were so dumb. He expected futuristic machines to be much more capable or at least AI-driven. He had a vague recollection of self-driving cars from back in his time. Certainly, the technology should have improved. There was likely a reason behind why it hadn''t, it was just another piece of history he would need to figure out.


    A groan and loud clank signaled the closing of the door. Much like every other door on the station, this one was thick and sealed tight in case of accidental decompression. Not that he had experienced anything like it since he had woken up. And if it had happened, everyone would have known because there were decompression alarms along every corridor. He would know, he passed the signs and alarm stations more times than he could count. Now that he thought about it, the infrequency of venting issues was probably why nobody bothered with the vac-suits.


    As the elevator slid to a halt and the doors opened to the same flashing amber lights, Alexander waited. Sure enough, as soon as the lights stopped, the dumb loader zipped back off the elevator almost clipping someone walking past the door.


    The man cursed out the machine before going about his business.


    Seeing no more loaders lurking about and waiting to run him over, Alexander exited the elevator.


    Much like the other rings, the second ring had multiple floors to it. If it was the same as the other rings, it would go to plus three minus three in the elevators. At least that was what everyone called the floors above and below where the freight elevator stopped. He didn''t know who decided to design the rings that way, but they had.


    In an ideal world, he would have purchased his cheap shop somewhere close to the elevator and the main avenue of traffic on this floor. But this certainly wasn''t a perfect world. At least he had managed to find a place on the main floor. He walked along the huge circle of the ring until he was nearly three-quarters of the way to the far side.


    Even here among the main traffic lane, he would have been happy. Instead, he turned down a smaller side passage. Three more turns brought him to a stop outside a grimy door with an equally grimy sign hanging above it. The sign had long since stopped being legible, but the plate bolted next to the door confirmed he had the right location.


    He sighed internally and pressed in the code on the faded touchpad. There was a moment of hesitation from the control where he thought he may have entered the wrong code, but eventually, he heard the clack of security bolts retracting. Instead of opening inward slightly, the door didn''t budge. Alexander was forced to push the door open. Which given his strength, wasn''t all that hard. The door squealed in protest on rusty hinges as he pushed into the room, leaving a trail on the filth-covered floor. With the door fully opened, he ducked to avoid hitting the top of his body on the bulkhead as he stepped inside.


    While the doorways were small, he was glad the ceiling was high enough for him to stand upright. It would have been a constant pain to have to duck all the time while in his own shop.


    Other than the thick layer of dust on the floor, the room was empty. He stood there for a moment, taking it all in. It still hadn''t quite clicked for him that he was now free to do what he wanted.


    Of course, that was just the beginning. He needed to find out how he ended up in this body, or even on this station. Now he had time and he could do it at his own pace without worrying about Yuri catching him. And while his plan to masquerade as an invalid with an auto-immune disorder that could only communicate through this robot form wasn''t a great one, it was the only one he had managed to come up with in the previous years. Or at least the only plan that wouldn''t get people to ask uncomfortable questions about him or his situation.


    Maybe getting stuck in the ass end of the station was a good thing. He was certainly out of sight. This would give him the time he needed to make his claim more believable.


    But first things first, this place needed to get cleaned.


    After walking down the hall to the closest terminal ¨C yeah, no personal terminals down here ¨C he was able to purchase some cleaning supplies and rust remover.


    It took a day or so to get them, but that was fine.


    He spent the next few days scrubbing every inch of the space, including the ceiling. His ability to reach without a ladder was handy for that. The door got lubed and even the outside crud was removed. His corridor was now the cleanest corridor in this section of the second ring. It would make it stand out, but he simply couldn''t work with the disgusting mess that had been here when he arrived. Alexander was itching to clean more connecting hallways, but he reined in that instinct.


    He spent a bit more money to have a sign printed to replace the faded one over the door. It simply read, ''Alexander''s Repair Shop''. Nothing fancy, but it got the point across. He didn''t have many applicable skills but thanks to Yuri''s library of manuals, he had a good handle on how to fix most basic items. And he still had some money set aside to purchase more manuals if he needed to.


    After the place was cleaned and the sign was up, He simply waited for his first customer.


    He probably should have advertised.


    Days flew past, and while his small out-of-the-way corridor wasn''t super busy, people walked past at least once an hour. A few even stopped to look at the sign, then they would look inside the door, see him, and slowly back out without a word. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was a rather disheartening turn of events if he was honest. But he didn''t let it get him down. While he waited, he purchased a small programming deck and spent the time perfecting the data disk he used to respond to people. He just finished his latest iteration when a greasy-looking man strolled in carrying some piece of equipment.


    "Greetings, Sir. How may I assist you?"


    With a grunt the man set the heavy-looking component on the metal counter, smearing dirt and oil across it to Alexander''s annoyance.


    The man looked around, "Where''s the owner, I need this fixed up."


    It was time to test out the new features of his program. With a tiny movement of his hand, the holoprojector that doubled as his control module let out a sigh. "I am the owner, Sir."


    The man blinked at him. "No, you''re a robot."


    "I apologize for the confusion, Sir. I suffer from a disease and must interact with people through this machine. But I assure you my work speaks for itself."


    The man seemed skeptical. "Fine. Whatever. But I don''t have many credits and I need this done today."


    While Alexander would prefer to haggle for a better deal, he really didn''t have the leeway to refuse any work. "Well, let''s see what we have."


    He moved over and inspected the grime-coated device. After wiping away probably decades of residue, he finally found a serial number telling him what it was. It appeared to be a gearbox for some sort of industrial application.


    While Alexander didn''t have a whole warehouse of spare parts like Yuri had, he had purchased himself a small 3D printer. It had been expensive, eating into his limited funds, but it had been necessary if he wanted to fix anything of note without having to purchase from the manufacturers.


    "I should be able to repair the damage, please return in two hours with payment."


    "Fine, but if you run off with it, I''m calling station security on you."


    After the man left, Alexander used the printer to create the tools he needed to take the gearbox apart. That had been another reason the printer was his first purchase instead of a good set of tools. He didn''t need power tools since he had more strength than any of those.


    As the tools printed, he finished removing the grime. The case on the unit had cracked which is likely what led to it breaking down. That was annoying because he didn''t have a welder or the schematic to print a new case. It meant he would have to purchase the printable design and that would eat into his profit.


    With a sigh, he made his way to the local terminal and looked up the manufacturer. One nice thing about the future is all manufacturers had to provide printer schematics for all components. They didn''t do it freely of course, but Alexander paid the cost and headed back with the data disk for his printer.


    An hour later, with a new case and two replaced gears, the customer left satisfied. The pay barely covered the cost of purchasing the schematics along with the printer material and power to print them, but it was a start.

 Chapter 6

    The next few weeks were much the same for Alexander. His only customer was the single guy from before. At first, he didn''t mind. Work was work and he was still making money, even if it wasn''t much.But after the man came in for the sixth time with a completely different component, Alexander started to get suspicious. So he paid to look up the component numbers. Every single item the man had brought him came from machinery used in various tasks.


    That in itself wasn''t all that strange. Except he had worked with Yuri long enough to get the feeling when people weren''t being completely honest. So after he finished fixing up this latest component, he followed the man.


    It wasn''t hard, the man grunted and cursed the entire way as he struggled to carry the heavy item back to wherever he was going. Which turned out to be another repair shop.


    From within a side passage, Alexander watched as a man in orange coveralls entered the shop an hour later and left with the very same part he had just repaired on a cart. The guy had been subcontracting out his repair work to Alexander and pocketing all the profit. The nerve!


    He wanted to go over there and have a word with the man, but that wouldn''t get him anywhere. Instead, he turned around and headed back to his tiny repair shop. As good as it would feel to tell the guy off, he had a better idea. One that might drum up some actual work.


    Two days later, the guy returned with another item to repair. Alexander happily repaired it, but he did it in such a way that it would break almost immediately after the first use. It was scummy, but it was also his only real option. He doubted the sleazy shop owner would continue using him if he raised his prices, and he still needed the money. But if the man was ruined by his own shoddy work, well, that was on him.


    Had the man bothered to disclose that this work was for a third party, that would have been fine with him. Alexander would have negotiated a better rate at that point. But the shop owner hadn''t. It was clear the man who ran the competing repair shop didn''t want to pay his fair share or do the work himself. So he found a sucker to do it for him. Alexander didn''t like being taken advantage of one bit.


    It took time, weeks in fact for the faultily repaired items to come back to haunt the repair man. But haunt him they did and Alexander was there to witness the whole event. A group of angry people stomped into the man''s shop and started screaming at the owner.


    Just as the discussion was really getting heated, Alexander strode past, making sure the owner spotted him. Just as he hoped, the man pointed at him. "I wasn''t the one who fixed your items, it was him!"


    The group turned to glare at Alexander, and he paused. One of the men in the group stomped up to him. "Are you the one working for Maxim that did such shoddy work?"


    He pointed to himself. "Me?"


    "Well¡­ whoever is controlling you," the bearded man spluttered.


    "No. I don''t work for¨C Did you say, Maxim? No, I own my own repair shop just down the corridor." He gave the group the location number. "If you are having issues with his work, perhaps I can interest you in my own. I offer excellent rates and a money-back guarantee."


    As he was talking to the bearded gentleman, Maxim was turning red and throwing out all sorts of accusations to try and discredit him. But it was clear that the crowd''s interest in the owner had turned. After three years aboard this station, Alexander could say one thing with certainty, the people that lived here were a pragmatic bunch.


    "Can''t be any worse than this shyster," the bearded man jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. "If you do good work, I may have even more for you in the future."


    Alexander flicked a finger, causing his holographic face to nod. "Would you like me to follow you or will you be dropping off the item?"


    Surprisingly, that simple question got more interest than the fact he offered good rates and a money-back guarantee. But the other people weren''t quite sold just yet. They were shrewd people.


    One woman crossed her arms. "Pick up and delivery included?" she asked with a stern gaze.


    "For a small additional fee."


    That seemed to be the crack that broke the dam. These people were all busy men and women. If they didn''t need to lug heavy parts around the station, they could get much more done. They all exchanged contact information with him and set up a time for him to come get the broken components before hurrying back to their respective jobs.


    After the last of the group left, Alexander turned to an apoplectic Maxim. "If you hadn''t tried to screw me over, this wouldn''t have happened."


    The man didn''t apologize, he simply turned redder. "One of these days, that robot of yours is gonna need fixing. And when that day comes, I''ll make sure there isn''t a single shop on this station that will even consider helping you!" After his hate-filled tirade, the man slammed the door to his shop and locked it.


    Alexander laughed internally. In the time he had been on this station, he hadn''t seen a single piece of tech even remotely resembling him. So he doubted anyone on this station would be capable of fixing him. Not that he trusted anyone here to fiddle with the thing keeping him alive for the last nearly four hundred years.


    One of the reasons he spent most of his extra money on schematics was he hoped one day to stumble upon one that might hint at his origins.


    With a smile on his avatar''s face, he turned and headed to pick up his first real repair.


    ***


    After the blowup at Maxim''s, Alexander acquired a decent bit of extra work. It wasn''t enough to keep him busy all the time, but it allowed him some breathing room and time to work on some projects of his own. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was during one of these tinkering sessions that he noticed the head of a little girl peeking from around the entry to his shop. He didn''t turn his head or acknowledge the child as he continued to work.


    There were a surprising number of kids left to just roam the second ring without supervision. But given what he knew of the second ring, he shouldn''t be all that shocked. Nobody lived on this ring willingly. They either fell on hard times or they couldn''t make it on the higher rings. Not that he could judge these people, he was in the same situation after all.


    Alexander had seen other kids peeking through his door from time to time over the last weeks. He got it, he was a robot, something of interest. Most of those kids were in and out in a flash as soon as he even slightly turned in their direction. Almost like someone had dared them to do it and they were terrified of the consequences if he caught them. He wondered what they would think if they knew he saw everything.


    This little girl seemed to be different. She just stood there silently for a bit, staring at him with a look of wide-eyed curiosity only a child could show.


    He sighed audibly, making the girl jump slightly. "Can I help you, Miss?"


    He thought the kid might bolt, but instead, she threw her arm inside and grabbed the doorframe and sort of hung there in the doorway, arms outstretched and feet against the wall. "Is it true you snatch up naughty kids and devour them?"


    The question was so absurd that it caused Alexander to miss the circuit he had been soldering, ruining the entire board. "What! Who told you that?" He finally turned to face the girl as she swung back and forth in and out of the doorway while holding the frame.


    "Markus said so. He''s one of the older kids in the orphanage. Said you eat naughty children."


    Orphans? Well, that explained why nobody cared what the kids got up to.


    "And what if I said it was true?" He didn''t have anything against children, he just thought there were better places for them to be playing than around his shop.


    The girl paused in her swinging and put a finger to her mouth as she scrunched up her face in thought. Then she shook her head, her dark hair swirling around. "Nuh uh, I wouldn''t believe you," she stated with conviction.


    "So you think I''m lying or that Markus is?"


    She scrunched her face up again but didn''t seem to have an answer for that. Then he saw her grin before giggling. "You can''t eat children!" she screamed in triumph. "No mouth!" Then she laughed and bolted down the corridor.


    Alexander sighed. He should have just remained quiet, now he was certain this girl or her friends would be bugging him even more.


    ***


    He needed to add prophetic to his resume. Each day after, the girl returned. Most of the time she would just hang around in the doorway, literally. Other times she would creep inside his shop and lean against the wall, just watching him until she got antsy and left.


    Sometimes she was quiet, but most of the time she jabbered on and on about everything as kids seemed to do. It didn''t seem to matter to her one bit that Alexander simply ignored her presence until she finally left.


    One nice thing was that no other kids seemed to come to try their luck. Whether he had her to thank for that or not was unclear.


    He had been tempted to shoo the girl away, but he learned a surprising amount about the station or at least the second ring from this child. And he didn''t even know her name.


    After three weeks of her constant chatter, he finally decided to interrupt her and ask. "What''s your name?"


    The young girl didn''t even miss a beat. "Yulia. I''ll be this many this year!" He looked over to see the girl holding up eight fingers.


    Alexander didn''t have a good grasp on child biology, it seemed to be among his missing memories, but she seemed small for her age.


    "Tell me, Yulia, why do you hang around here? Certainly, there must be more interesting places to be?"


    She giggled. "You talk funny." She somehow managed to shake her head as she said that. "The other kids are afraid of you. They say I''m a scaredy cat cause I get nightmares. But they don''t call me that no more ''cause I stay here."


    Ah, the flawless logic of children.


    "Fine. You may continue to visit."


    The girl squealed in delight and Alexander had to hold his hand out to settle her. "But if you''re going to be here, you need to help me."


    If the girl nodded her head any faster, Alexander was sure the thing would have flown off her shoulders. But then she paused, seeming to realize she had no idea what sort of help she could offer.


    Alexander smiled, and he let it show on his holographic face. "You attend some sort of study or schooling?"


    She nodded again. "Mrs. Weber is teaching us the alphabet and I can add and subtract numbers." Then she looked around conspiratorially before whispering. "I can even mullyply. Only the older kids are supposed to be learning that."


    "That''s very impressive. Do you know any history?"


    She nodded.


    He walked around from behind his counter, carrying a stool he had printed for her a few days prior. He hadn''t put it out until now because he didn''t want to encourage her to hang around. But if she could be helpful, that was a different story.


    Alexander set the stool next to the side of his counter. "Have a seat and tell me what history you know."


    Giving a young kid like this carte blanche to talk was like opening the floodgates on a dam.

 Chapter 7

    As you can probably imagine, the breadth of knowledge an eight-year-old has about history isn''t great. Despite that, and the fact that Yulia liked to go on random tangents, Alexander did actually learn some things.He learned about a war that took place. Yulia only knew of this war because her father had served aboard a ship but the war had ended before she was born. He was curious as to the timeline of this war. Maybe it would explain how he ended up out here. Alexander would have liked to ask the girl some more pointed questions about her father, but he thought it wouldn''t be very appropriate considering she was an orphan. However, the girl didn''t get upset when she talked about her father... Perhaps some other time.


    The girl knew quite a bit about the station, especially when it was first founded. He chuckled internally as she unenthusiastically recited a limerick, probably meant to help younger students remember the date better.


    "In Gliese six-six-seven, so fine,


    Stands a station that truly does shine.


    Built in twenty-two eighty-nine,


    In the cosmos, it firmly aligns,


    A beacon of space, so divine!


    The limerick was awful, but it did give him two pieces of information he didn''t have before. The system he was in and the year it was constructed. Was it worth it? The jury was still out on that as he continued listening to the girl''s newest tangent on a game of tag that seemed to have no end and no beginning that she could recall. The game even had its own set of rules apart from other games of tag. The tagged person couldn''t retag the person who tagged them, and they also couldn''t tag anyone on that day. The tag had to be a surprise. Which made the person that was it, have a much harder time.


    Despite that, Yulia said all the children loved it. He decided not to point out the fact that the game seemed purposefully designed to teach kids critical thinking skills and troubleshooting. What better way to teach that than to have the kids do it themselves and not realize it? If he ever found the person who thought up that idea, he would have to shake their hand and congratulate them.


    Eventually, the girl started to go quiet and fidget. "Is something the matter?" He asked in genuine concern.


    She paused and then shook her head slowly. "Just hungry."


    "Oh. Well, if you need to go and eat, don''t let me stop you."


    She shook her head again, her stomach rumbling slightly. "It''s not time for the evening meal."


    Alexander checked on the clock he kept in his mental space. It was after one, and the girl had been here for a few hours already. "Did you miss your lunch?" he asked, hoping he hadn''t kept the girl here only for her to have missed food. She was small enough that he doubted she could really afford to do that often.


    "What''s lunch?" she asked in confusion.


    "¡­Uh¡­ It''s the meal between breakfast and dinner."


    She giggled at that. "Those are silly names. We get morning meals and evening meals. You must be super rich if you eat three times a day. Are you super rich?" she asked, her eyes going wide like she had seen a unicorn.


    He made his holographic face, arch an eyebrow as he waved one of his arms around the room. "As you can see, I''m fabulously wealthy."


    She giggled again at that, only for her stomach to rumble once more.


    Yulia did a good job of ignoring the rumbling but it was too much for Alexander. "Wait here a moment, I''ll be back." Before he stepped out, he turned to the girl who was already standing on the stool and eying up what he had been working on. "And don''t touch anything."


    The girl, looking like she had gotten caught with her hand in a cookie jar, smiled but sat back down. "I won''t."


    "Uh-huh."


    A few minutes later, Alexander returned with a simple berry-flavored protein bar from one of the vending machines on the main passage.


    The girl''s eyes lit up when she saw the colorful red wrapper. He handed it to her. Alexander was afraid her eyes would pop out of their sockets as she held the wrapped snack.


    "Don''t get used to it," he muttered and moved behind the desk. "Your rumbling stomach was just disturbing my train of thought."


    If the girl heard him, she didn''t respond. She was too busy fighting the foil wrapper to get at the contents within.


    He sighed again, plucking the treat away from the girl, and carefully peeled open one side before handing it back to her.


    "Thank you!" she mumbled around a mouthful as she tried to bite into the hard bar. Which was probably made more difficult by the fact she was missing a few of her baby teeth.


    He shook his head and returned his focus to his project, tuning out the girl''s noisy eating. At least her stomach had finally stopped grumbling. It was unfortunate that the orphans only got two meals a day but he didn''t have the resources to do anything about that. Nor did he think it was his place to butt in. Honestly, most of the kids he had seen looked healthy enough, if a bit small and skinny. It wasn''t the skinniness of malnutrition though. So it was likely that whoever took care of them, did their best.


    After finishing her meal, Yulia jabbered on for another half hour before getting fidgety again and wandering off.


    It was probably for the best. Alexander didn''t dislike the girl. But he couldn''t sit here and entertain her all day either. Hopefully, she would soon lose interest in him and move on to other activities.


    Not long after the girl left, Alexander finished the thing he had been working on. It was an upgrade to his printer. The thing about the 3D printers of the twenty-fourth century was that they were nothing like the ones from his time. Why should they be? There had been nearly four hundred years of improvements and tweaks to the process.


    The only thing that remained from the early twenty-first century printers to the one he used now was their reliance on building in layers. But that was all. The new printers were faster, sleeker, and could print multiple materials all at the same time. They still left thin layer lines as they printed but it was nearly impossible to tell. The lines looked more like a slight texturing than anything else. You really had to look with a magnifying glass to see the truth. When he realized this, he looked at some other items and found pretty much everything with complex geometry was printed. Although you could tell better processes had been used for the original parts.


    Alexander had been exposed to real manufactured goods from both his previous life and through his time working for Yuri. Not everything was printed, certain items likely still needed to be machined, or required specific secondary processes that printers just couldn''t perform.


    One of those processes was called zero-g printing. The technique had been covered in an article in one of Yuri''s old manufacturing publications. It certainly wasn''t something he could replicate inside the station, assuming he could even figure out the method without purchasing a likely very expensive manual on the subject, but he thought he might be able to fake something similar if the name of the process was accurate.


    The only reason he thought this was possible was thanks in part to all the manuals Yuri owned. Humanity, it seems, had only recently discovered artificial gravity. And by recently, maybe in the last hundred years.


    Alexander had parsed this out due to the publications available for sale. The articles he found on the subject only dated back about seventy years. And the things were horrifically expensive. Like in the billions of credits for one document; that may or may not have what you were looking for. It was clear whoever had discovered the key to artificial gravity, didn''t want anyone else playing with it.


    That was fine, Alexander wasn''t interested in artificial gravity. Well, that wasn''t true. He was, just not right now. He had learned a bit about the subject based on ship subsystems. Mostly from older models of ships that called for a capacitor buffer.


    He had thought it strange to require a capacitor buffer at the time but the more knowledge he unlocked, the more he began to piece things together. It was odd. He wasn''t sure if this mental acuity was something that came from his time as a flesh and blood human or something strictly from the body he was housed in.


    While he had muted emotions, it was still hard sometimes not to let the existential dread flood through his mind. Was he still himself? Or was he some amalgamation of man and machine? Did it matter? Was he truly any less Alexander?


    He let those thoughts flit through his mind as he installed the small interrupter he had built. If his theory on how the gravity plating functioned was correct, this ring of copper and circuits should shield the area around it from the effects of gravity. Or at least the artificial kind. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander clicked the last component in place and plugged in the wire to the control module. Then he stepped back and flicked the switch on. There was a blur followed by a loud metallic *WHOOMP*.


    One of his articulated hands rose up and made a fist before thumping lightly on the top of his desk. The device had worked¡­ sort of. He turned to where his broken printer lay crumpled in a heap against the wall, a wall that now sported a nice-sized dent.


    It seems he only partially understood the concept of artificial gravity. And while he already had an idea of how to alleviate this issue, this mistake was going to be expensive. With an annoyed huff, he walked down the hall and purchased a new printer. His replacement was a much cheaper model than his previous one, but it was all he had the spare credits for. Selling his old printer for scrap to the station smelter netted him a small return. Just enough to keep him running for an additional month.


    He decided not to do any more testing on his actual printer. Instead, he bought a simple lamp and used that to test with.


    It was a good thing he had because it took three more tries to get the frequency correct so it would stop ripping the bolts out and throwing the lamp across the room.


    By then another job had come in, netting him enough money to test his changes on the printer without worrying too much.


    The test went well. The printer didn''t break the anchor bolts that held it to the floor, and he was able to print something without anything going wrong with his device. However, that''s when the second issue reared its head. The printer software was designed to compensate for a certain amount of gravity. It took Alexander two grueling days to adjust the settings to get the printer to function the way it did before his little update, which wasn''t great. No matter what he did, he realized this much cheaper printer did not have the ability to compensate for his improvement.


    With a defeated sigh, he removed his upgrade and reverted the printer settings. His vision of improving the printer would have to wait until he could purchase a better model.

 Chapter 8

    Yulia returned a few days later. He didn''t ask why she hadn''t shown up the prior day, and she didn''t offer. She just sat back on her stool and started talking like nothing had happened.Initially, when the girl first showed up, Alexander didn''t want her around because he assumed she would disrupt his work or injure herself. There was still that chance, but the more she talked, the more he was glad for her company.


    It didn''t take him long to realize why. He hadn''t had a proper conversation with anyone since waking up. The only people he conversed with were his customers. And none of them were much interested in sitting and chatting with a robot.


    He wasn''t sure if that was because they didn''t buy his story of being sick and having to use the robot as a surrogate, or something else. And he certainly wasn''t going to alienate the few customers he had by asking about it.


    In the lulls between Yulia''s ramblings, Alexander asked her questions while he worked. She always beamed in pride when she was able to answer them, but when she didn''t know, she would just scrunch her face up before eventually shrugging. "Dunoh," was her go-to answer for those.


    On her next visit, she brought in a beat-up-looking tablet with a worried look on her face.


    "Good morning, Yulia."


    "Umm¡­ morning, Alex¡­" The girl fidgeted as she set the tablet on the desk without taking a seat. Which was impressive because the desk was rather tall since he had built it to suit his much taller frame.


    He had noticed the girl tended to get antsy and fidget when something was bothering her. Usually, it was when she was hungry or bored.


    "I- I dropped my tablet¡­ Can you fix it¡­ please?" That last word came out with so much pleading that if Alexander was in his old human body, he probably would have bent down and consoled the poor child. As it sat, he just sighed and put down the customer request he had been working on. He reached over and slid the plate of resin, that passed for tablets, in front of himself.


    There was a faded label attached to the side that read ''Property of Petrov Station Orphanage''. He turned to the little girl who quickly looked away. "Your tablet?"


    "It- It''s the one the orphanage makes me use for study time."


    "And how exactly did it get broken?" he asked as he inspected the device. Alexander had seen similar devices around. They were not like the fragile tablets from back in his day. On one occasion, he had seen one of the automated loaders run a similar device over after someone dropped it. The guy simply picked it back up, brushed it off, and gave a rude gesture to the loader before going back about his work.


    "Dunoh," she responded without looking at him.


    He sighed again before returning his focus to the electronic device. Surprisingly, he hadn''t dealt with much in the way of futuristic electronics. Oh sure, there were electronics built into most items he worked with. But they weren''t much more advanced than back in his day.


    It seemed old methods worked well enough for most things that nobody seemed all that interested in making things even more complicated just for the sake of it.


    Alexander picked up a thin plastic tool he had printed for popping the plates off of control boards. He ran the thin tool around the edge of the tablet until it hooked against something. One nice thing about the technology of this time, it was built to be fixed. With a slight push, he slid the locking stud up and out of the groove, allowing the two halves of the tablet to separate.


    Seeing as there were no physical signs of damage on the exterior, other than the wear of age, he figured something inside the device had been knocked loose. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was a small spark as the back half came free, making Yulia jump. "What was that?" she asked, more out of curiosity than fear.


    Alexander smiled internally. "Dunoh."


    The girl stared at him for a bit before she realized what he was doing. Then she pouted. "No fair."


    He allowed his avatar face to laugh at her expression. "Two can play that game," he responded, and the girl relented.


    Truthfully, he had no idea what that was. He set the screen part down and picked up the back to inspect it. He found a small set of metallic contacts. There was also a bunch of technical information printed on the inside.


    He read it. "It''s the battery." It was rather ingenious. The entire back of the tablet was a solid-state battery. No need for a cover or anything. Now that he thought about it, he had never seen anyone plug any devices in for charging. A battery of this size could probably power something this small for weeks on end. When he looked over the device, he didn''t see any external connection either. It had to be using some form of ambient or passive charging to keep it charged. Not really anything all that groundbreaking. They had induction charging technology back in his time.


    A few fine filaments broke free from one of his fingers to touch against the metal connections of the battery. As much as he was loath to admit it, Yuri was the one who had discovered this little trick built into this body. And while Alexander couldn''t get the exact reading off the battery, thanks to the damage in his mind-space, he did watch for the flicker that registered the input. It wasn''t hard to see since it flashed a color that none of his other data streams ever showed.


    He nodded and placed the battery down on the desk. It was still good. Then he looked at the mess that made up the processor and screen side of the device and frowned. He could tell where the power came in, and that it had a screen, but everything else was alien to him. He would need a microscope just to see¡­ or did he?


    Alexander bent his focus onto a small section of the device. The image in his mind-space seemed to bend and warp for a moment before he was soon viewing a small section in much higher detail. Like he was looking through a magnifying glass.


    After all these years, he barely understood a fraction of what this body was capable of. He wanted to laugh at the discovery but he restrained himself. Mostly so he didn''t scare Yulia.


    With so much time spent inside this form, he still didn''t understand how it took in light to produce an image, let alone how it even powered itself. Maybe with this new ability to zoom in, he could purchase a mirror and inspect himself more thoroughly. A thought for a later time.


    The little bubble of magnified area zoomed across the device wherever he focused. It was amazing because it didn''t take away from his vision of anything else, it just enhanced that portion. He found he could focus even smaller, but after a certain point, he started to feel weird and had to pull back. No electron microscope vision for him it seemed.


    But he had learned what he needed to learn. He sent instructions to the printer for a very specific set of tools. He really hoped the cheaper device was capable of printing them.


    After less than thirty seconds, the printer beeped, letting him know it was complete. He walked over and retrieved the tiny tool, with an even smaller rod at the end of it. He used that hair-thin rod and gently poked it through a hole in the electronics. The titanium flexed slightly under the pressure before there was a soft click.


    He did this three more times, allowing the separator plate to come free from the electronics underneath. It was no wonder he hadn''t recognized anything. The plate was some weird piece of tech that seemed to act as a thermal barrier as well as something else. Although he wasn''t sure what that something was.


    It took another half an hour of removing components and testing before he found the issue. The connection for the screen had simply come loose. Once he pushed it back into place and put everything back, the tablet came to life.


    He handed the working tablet back to the girl. She beamed up at him before hopping off her stool and running around the counter to hug him, smashing the recently repaired tablet into his hard form. Instead of admonishing her to be more careful next time, he lightly patted her on the back and sent her on her way.


    She happily obliged, humming some unknown tune as she skipped out of his shop swinging the tablet back and forth without care.


    With her gone, he turned his focus back on the paid work he needed to get done.


    ***


    Yulia hummed a tune from her favorite cartoon as she made her way back to the orphanage. Some of the younger children were required to stay at the orphanage but now that she was eight, she was allowed outside for certain hours of the day. And like most of the older kids, she jumped at the opportunity to leave the stuffy and boring space of the orphanage to explore the station.


    Most of the adults either ignored them or shooed them away. Some even yelled at them or in one instance slapped one of the older kids. She heard from Markus that the man who did that got what was coming to him after that incident. Whatever that meant. That''s why Alex was so cool. Well, other than the fact he was a robot. He didn''t seem to mind her hanging around and bugging him. She knew she talked a lot, Markus and the other kids all told her that.


    Speaking of Markus, she rounded a corner of the corridor and nearly ran into the eleven-year-old boy.


    "Watch where you''re going, pipsqueak."


    "I told you to stop calling me that!" she huffed.


    The older boy snorted. "I''ll stop calling you that when you grow a few inches. What''s that in your hand?"


    "Nothing," She quickly responded, trying to hide the tablet behind her back. But Markus was too quick.


    He snatched the tablet out of Yulia''s hand before she could hide it.


    Markus put his hands on his hips and tried to look like the headmaster of the orphanage. "Why do you have one of the orphanage tablets out here?" he asked, waving the tablet in front of her.


    "It''s my tablet," she responded indignantly.


    "No, it''s the orphanage''s. You know if the headmaster finds out you took this out without permission, you''re gonna get cleaning duty for a week."


    She stiffened at that. Yulia didn''t like having to clean the orphanage, nobody did. But what would be worse is that she wouldn''t be able to visit Alex if she got in trouble. "You won''t tell him, will you?"


    The older boy sighed, dropping his hands. "Look, I''ll help you sneak it back in, but if I get caught, I''m not taking the blame. Are we clear?"


    She nodded enthusiastically.


    "Why did you take it out anyway?"


    She looked at the ground before mumbling a reply. "I sorta broke it."


    "You broke a tablet?" He looked at the device, it seemed to be working just fine. "But it''s working."


    "Alex fixed it for me."


    "I told you that you should stay away from that robot, you have no idea what it could do."


    "Alex has been nothing but nice to me," she stated with child-like conviction. "He even fixed the tablet for free."


    "Fine, don''t come crying to me if something happens then. Come on, we''re going to be late for the evening meal. I''ll also need you to distract the headmaster so I can sneak the tablet back into the drawer."


    She gave him a sloppy salute like she had seen in movies. "Aye aye, Captain." Before laughing and sprinting away.


    "Why you!" Markus chased the giggling girl as they hurried down the corridor and toward the orphanage.

 Chapter 9

    The Zephyr limped into Petrov station, trailing a thin line of smoke from its port engine. The smoke came from the ruptured electronics systems along the side of the ship and not the fuel system, thankfully.An undocumented asteroid, that was too small for their scanner to pick up, punched through their deflector shield. The shield slowed it down significantly, but the foot-long rock still tore a large gash down the rear of the ship. The Zephyr was an old ship, so it had its fair share of patches, and this wouldn''t be anything new, except the rock had broken apart on impact, and peppered the port engine cone, damaging the engine in the process.


    They shut that engine down to prevent further damage, which also forced them to shut the starboard engine off to keep the ship from constantly drifting to one side. This left them with only the central thruster for propulsion. So their trip had taken two weeks longer than originally scheduled.


    "Ease it in, Wilkes."


    "I''ll treat it like my very own child, Captain Daniel," the pilot responded.


    "Didn''t you skip out on your wife and kids?" Sierra asked.


    "They weren''t mine," grumbled the pilot.


    "Let him concentrate, Sierra."


    "Sorry, Captain," the sensor operator responded. "You sure this station can even fix the Zephyr?"


    "I doubt it," Daniel sighed. "But we might be able to get a replacement engine. I know a guy who runs a salvage yard here. As soon as we''re secure, I''ll go have a chat with him."


    Jasper Daniel didn''t usually travel this far out to the edge of human space. There were a few reasons for that. The biggest being there wasn''t a guarantee they would return safely. Pirates were only one of the concerns out here, the Zephyr ran into the other kind. Undocumented rocks were a real hazard. Had that asteroid struck the bridge zone instead, they might not be here to have this conversation.


    He should have known better than to take this contract. Yet even with them being so late, the payout would still have been profitable. Except now he would have to spend all that profit and likely more to fix up the Zephyr.


    Jasper watched the main screen as the ship slowly passed through the large hangar opening. The view was skewed, making it seem like the ship was coming in tilted. It was a good thing they didn''t rely on the cameras for docking. He made a mental note to have someone go out and adjust the camera on the top of the ship. It had probably been knocked loose by the impact.


    White cones of vapor shot into view as the retro thrusters fired to slow the ship even further. Soon the main engine cut out and a soft puff could be heard as the vertical thrusters fired to bring the ship to the deck. There was a dull thud that resounded through the ship as the landing gear touched down and the faint hum of the station transferred over the physical connection.


    Ever since he was a young child, flying aboard his father''s old mining ship, he had enjoyed this moment.


    Jasper flipped on the ship comm. "Alright, secure your consoles. For those not on cargo duty, I''ll need you to help with maintenance tasks. We''re going to go over every component before taking off again." There was a chorus of groans following that statement, but nobody complained too vocally.


    The ship was their only protection against the harsh vacuum of space. Leaving a possible issue from the impact undiscovered simply wasn''t an option. Jasper had known captains who skipped these steps. And well¡­ a lot of them weren''t around anymore.


    As soon as he got the signal that the hangar was pressurized again, he exited the ship from the open cargo ramp. He nodded to the crew who were busy unloading the cargo. They all nodded back.


    His port liaison was already busy chatting with the customer, and he skirted aside to avoid any entanglements. Some of their customers wanted to speak with him directly, but Jasper hadn''t hired Naomi just for people to bypass her and come to him. He liked being the Captain and running the ship, but that didn''t mean he liked having to deal with the minutia of customer interactions. That was Naomi''s specialty, and she was worth every credit.


    They had docked at the fourth ring, so he headed for the elevators and made his way to the third.


    When he arrived outside of where the Sokolov Repair and Salvage had been located, he found it wasn''t there anymore. In its place was a business called Anton''s Spaceworks. He knew that the irascible Yuri wouldn''t have sold off his yard to the station. That meant only one thing. The old man was dead.


    Jasper let that sink in for a bit. He had known Yuri Sokolov since he was able to recall faces. His dad had frequented the station back when he was mining this system. This was before his father met Anya, his stepmother. She eventually convinced his father to give up mining and go into a safer profession. Although being a space hauler wasn''t much safer.


    With a sigh, Jasper entered the establishment. He didn''t have high hopes though.


    The first thing he noticed was that the racks upon racks of junk that Yuri had refused to part with were gone. In its place was a clean white space that looked freshly painted. At least a dozen workers were moving about and working on multiple projects. Jasper imagined what Yuri would say if he saw this many people in his yard at the same time. The old man probably would have blown a gasket.


    A well-dressed man approached, which was the second warning sign for Jasper. "How can I assist you today?"


    "On our way here, my ship took an asteroid strike. I was looking to get a quote for engine repairs."


    "I''m sorry to hear that. I hope your crew is all okay?"


    "They are, thank you."


    "I can certainly assist you with that. What model of engine is it?"


    "It''s an Omni 456." At the mention of the manufacturer, the man''s fake smile dipped for a moment, but Jasper still caught it.


    "I see. Well, we don''t carry any Omni parts I''m afraid. So we can only offer you a direct replacement. We have a Sinorus vosem''sot."


    He wasn''t surprised that this outfitter didn''t handle the Omni models. Not after Omni betrayed the Coalition for an exclusive STO contract during the war. It wasn''t common knowledge as Omni did their best to suppress any mention of the betrayal, but any captain worth their wings knew of the open secret.


    Most of these outer systems were made up of expatriates of the Coalition. He didn''t blame them for their dislike of the STO''s main engine manufacturer. He didn''t much like Omni either, but they sold the fastest and most efficient engines out there. If you wanted to stay competitive in the core systems you had to buy from them.


    "How much is a replacement gonna run me?" Jasper asked, knowing it was probably going to be outside his budget, even with the arguably inferior Sinorus engine.


    The slick-dressed man gave Jasper a quote that made his eyes bulge. "What! That''s three times the cost of a brand-new Omni engine."


    At that, the salesman lost all pretense of friendliness. "I''m afraid that is the price. If you don''t like it, feel free to shop around." With that, the man turned and left, leaving Jasper fuming.


    He did just what the man suggested, but every place he stopped at, either refused to work on it or quoted him even more than the salesman at Anton''s did. It was infuriating.


    Jasper returned to the ship and gathered up the crew to tell them what was going on.


    "Buncha slimy bastards!" one of the cargo handlers yelled. He didn''t catch exactly who said that, but he agreed.


    "There has to be someone on this station that is willing to take on this job," Naomi spoke.


    "I agree," Jasper said. "And I want you all to comb the station for any leads. There has to be someone willing and able to do this for a reasonable price. I know these people don''t like Omni, but if they think they''re going to force us into buying substandard junk, they can float out an airlock." That got a round of chuckles from the crew.


    ***


    Wilkes was chewing on the last of what passed for a protein bar on this shit hole of a station as he made his way down to the bottom ring. He had been born on a station, so he knew who to talk to to get information.


    It didn''t take him long to find a young boy hanging out near a vending machine. Much like Wilkes had been before joining the Zephyr''s crew, this boy was a ward of the station. You could always tell the difference between orphans and those kids with parents. It was in the eyes. He didn''t walk up to the kid though, that would just spook the adolescent. Instead, he made for the vending machine. The kid eyed him warily but didn''t leave. So he was cautious, but not afraid. That was good.


    You could tell a lot about how stations treated orphans by their attitude toward grownups. He spent a few minutes pretending to ponder the options in the machine before purchasing two bars.


    "Aw shucks, I didn''t want this one." He turned to the kid. "Hey, you!"


    As expected, the kid focused on him. "Me?" The kid asked, pointing to himself.


    "Yeah. I accidentally purchased two bars and I was only planning on getting one, you want the other?"


    The kid narrowed his eyes. "What''s the catch?"


    "No catch, but I could use some information if you''d rather trade."


    The kid shrugged and stepped away from the wall. "Bar first."


    Wilkes smiled and tossed to chalky protein bar to the kid, who opened it and quickly ate. "Whaddya wanna know?" the youth spoke around a mouthful of the snack.


    "Know anyone that can do engine repairs?"


    "Yeah, plenty," the kid replied after swallowing. "You''re on the wrong floor for that."


    Wilkes chuckled. "Yeah, we already spoke to those on the other rings. They want too much." He decided not to mention why they wanted too much.


    The kid rubbed his chin in thought. That was a good sign. It meant the kid wasn''t just gonna spew some baloney at him to get him to leave.


    "Well, there''s Maxim. But I heard he got into some trouble over shoddy work. ¡­Um¡­"


    "I''ll take anyone kid," Wilkes pressed when the kid hesitated.


    "There is Alexander, but¡­"


    "Is he also known for shoddy work?"


    The boy shook his head. "No, he does good work. It''s just, well¡­ he''s a robot."


    Wilkes blinked at that. "A robot?"


    "Well, supposedly, he''s just sick and uses the robot to interact with people."


    "You don''t buy that?" Wilkes guessed.


    "Never heard any rumors of a sick person moving in," the kid shrugged.


    "Can you provide both Maxim''s and Alexander''s locations?"


    The kid rattled off some numbers before walking off. As thanks, Wilkes handed him the second bar. He was still trying to get the taste of the one he ate out of his mouth.


    ***


    Jasper and Wilkes left Maxim''s shop, less than impressed. If he thought the man at Anton''s had that used ship salesman vibe, Maxim practically radiated scum. The man promised everything under the sun. Yet the rundown state of his shop and the seeming lack of work spoke volumes.


    "Last stop, Captain," Wilkes reminded him as they made their way to the final option his people had been able to discover. If this person didn''t work out, he would be forced to take out a loan and have Antons replace the engine.


    As they rounded the last bend toward their destination, the grime-filled corridor vanished, leaving a clean, if somewhat worn-down hallway ahead. Jasper quirked an eyebrow as he heard Wilkes whistle. "Now that musta taken some elbow grease."


    "Yeah," Jasper responded softly. It also showed someone who actually cared about where they worked.


    They arrived outside ''Alexander''s Repair Shop''. It was a small space, but it was open and inviting. The pair stepped in and stopped.


    There was indeed a robot running the establishment. They hadn''t quite expected the little girl, who seemed to be fiddling with something on the counter though.


    "Greetings" the robot spoke. "I will be with you in just a moment."


    Jasper simply nodded and waited.


    The young girl looked over at them, before quickly losing interest and going back to what she was doing.


    After about a minute, the girl squealed happily. "Alex, I did it!"


    "That''s excellent, Yulia. How about you run along now?"


    "Ok," The girl hopped off her stool and raced for the door, forcing the pair to quickly move aside.


    "Sorry about the wait. What can I help you gentlemen with?"


    Jasper stepped forward and held out his hand. The robot extended its own and shook the offered appendage. The grip was firm, but not painful.


    "If you don''t mind, I have to ask."


    "Why the robot body?" the projected face smiled knowingly. "You must be new to the station?"


    Jasper nodded.


    "I suffer from an incurable auto-immune disease. It means I''m essentially trapped inside a life pod. So I use a remote connection to this robot to experience the world, so to speak."


    Jasper didn''t ask the man if he had tried nanite regen therapy. That was expensive. And going by the cobbled-together look of this robot, and where he was working out of, it was clear the man lived on limited funds.


    "My ship took some damage and we were wondering if you could repair the engine?"


    "What model?" the robot asked.


    Jasper kept himself from grimacing at the question. It would have come up eventually, no matter what. "Omni 456."


    "Hmm¡­ I am not familiar with that model. Most ships that come through here use the Sinorus engines."


    Jasper was ready for the man to deny him like all of the others, but he said something else. "I would need to add the price of a repair schematic to any work I would do. Is that acceptable?"


    Jasper nodded. "Uh, yes. Absolutely. So you can do it?"


    "I''m not sure. I would need to see it in person first. The freight elevator leaves in about fifteen minutes. Where is the ship located?"


    Elated by the fact Alexander wasn''t making any promises before seeing the ship, Jasper provided the hangar coordinates for the Zephyr.


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 Chapter 10

    Alexander peered into the engine cone of the Zephyr. It had been perforated in a dozen places and a large chunk was missing off of one side.He was pretty sure he could fix it if he had a big enough printer. But he didn''t and that wasn''t the only problem. Other components of the engine were also damaged. It was a miracle the thing hadn''t exploded.


    Alexander lowered himself using the industrial lift. It was time to break the bad news to Captain Daniel. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He found the man speaking to another member of his crew. The Captain noticed him approaching and patted his crew member on the shoulder before sending them off and greeting him.


    "So, Alexander. Can you fix it?"


    "I believe I can. But I do not have a printer big enough to make a new thrust cone."


    The Captain rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before responding. "How much for a printer?"


    Alexander motioned for the Captain to follow him over to a terminal. After doing a quick search, he brought up a model that he was certain would be barely large enough to handle the largest component, which was the engine cone. It wasn''t cheap by any means but it was what he needed to complete the job.


    The Captain took one look at the price before he stuck his credit chip into the machine and pressed purchase on it. "Alright."


    For a moment, Alexander just stood there. He thought for sure the man would balk at the cost. This was probably a stupid move, but Captain Daniel seemed like a standup man so he had to ask.


    "Why didn''t you haggle or even bat an eye at the cost of the printer?"


    The Captain laughed. "You haven''t been in business long have you?"


    Alexander made his holographic face shake back and forth.


    "I kind of figured. Even with the other costs you quoted me, including this printer, you are still only charging me a tenth of what the other quotes came in at. The reason I didn''t balk at the cost of the printer is that you are also the only person on the station who was willing to repair it instead of replacing it."


    "Is it too late to charge you more?" Alexander lamented, making the Captain laugh.


    The captain clapped Alexander on the side since he couldn''t reach his shoulder. "We will both come out of this ahead, my friend. So long as your work is good, I will let you keep this printer."


    Now that wasn''t something Alexander had expected. The printer that Captain Daniel had just purchased cost more than an entire year''s worth of rent for his small space. He needed to do more ship repairs, it seemed that was where the money was at.


    Alexander smiled. "You are generous Captain. I will use this as a learning opportunity, and I will try not to disappoint you with my work."


    "Bah," the man waved away his concern. "I''m sure it will be fine. And none of this Captain nonsense. My friends call me Jasper."


    "Thank you for this opportunity, Jasper."


    Alexander got to work dismantling the engine cowling while he waited for the printer to be delivered.


    He wasn''t sure where he was going to store the massive machine after the Zephyr and their crew left, but that was a problem he would be happy to figure out later.


    It took a full day for the printer to arrive. Considering the size and very specific use of a printer this large, it was likely stored in some dusty room on the second ring. Having it take so long to show up was fine with Alexander. He simply worked through the night, disassembling the engine and removing the damaged parts.


    In some way, it just felt natural to him to be disassembling and fixing a ship. He had no memories of being mechanically inclined though so he wasn''t sure where that feeling came from. From what he could piece together of his old life, he was pretty sure he had been some sort of lab researcher. The specifics of that time were garbled though.


    By the time morning arrived Alexander had the entire engine and cowling disassembled and laid neatly on the hangar deck in the order it needed to go back on. He had stopped by his shop at one point to print out a few of the smaller components that needed replacing. Other parts could have fit on his printer, but he didn''t trust the cheap printer to do a proper job for the more important components.


    At about mid-morning the printer finally showed up. It took about an hour to assemble and test on the far side of the hangar. Although Alexander wasn''t happy with just a simple test. If he was going to do this job, he was going to do it to the best of his ability. He set about building the interrupter. Only this was much larger than his previous design. It needed to be to fit the much bigger printer and also produce a large enough interruption field.


    It had been months since his early tests of the device that had broken his first printer. Alexander tweaked the design considerably since then. Assuming he did his calculations correctly, the new design should be much more efficient at canceling out the artificial gravity field. Although he hadn''t been able to test if that was true or not.


    It may seem like a dangerous gamble to use an untested piece of technology on this very very expensive printer. But the overall function of the interrupter device hadn''t changed. And he knew that at least worked.


    As he added the adjustments, he was aware of a steady stream of Zephyr crew coming and going. It was much the same as the day before. Some would stick around to watch for a bit before heading off to the station or into the ship. If this had been shortly after he first opened his shop, he may have found the attention unsettling. He didn''t mind it so much anymore. The shift of attitude seemed to happen around the time when Yulia started visiting him. Without the girl, he may have ended up as a cranky old hermit, like Yuri.


    With the final piece of his modification in place, he checked the bolts to ensure the device was securely fastened to the floor. He would have preferred to weld it to the deck, but this wasn''t his hangar so he couldn''t modify anything. He could only use the existing mounting locations which were thankfully standard.


    He made his way over to the control panel for the printer and got it powered up. It beeped for a bit as it readied its material storage tanks. Once that was done the screen turned green and it flashed into the programming menu.


    Alexander fed it a small component to start with. As it began to print, he ran into the same issue he had with the cheap printer. But he had already expected that to occur. He quickly adjusted the settings and started again. This time the printer hummed along happily as the component rapidly printed itself.


    Once the print finished, a scanner quickly gave him a 3D view of the part''s internals. He wished his smaller printer had this sort of quality control feature. It made ensuring the part was functional much easier than sticking it on a separate scanner.


    As the parts were completed, he set them off to the side and input the next one to get printed. He worked through the rest of the parts before moving the newly printed components over to a testing station. He was glad the hangars came standard with the devices.


    As he was running the diagnostic tests an inconsistency popped up. There was a small variance in the efficiency output of his new components compared to the design specifications. Only 2% or so, but there shouldn''t be any.


    He approached Jasper sometime around dinner to relay the issue. The Captain and crew were lounging in a break area on the far side of the hangar. "Excuse me for interrupting. Can I have a moment of your time, Jasper?"


    "What''s up, Alexander?" the Captain asked after they walked a distance from the crew.


    "Would it be possible for me to remove and examine some components from the other engines?"


    "Why?"


    "I found a slight variance and I just want to ensure it isn''t an error in the calibration tool."


    "I don''t see an issue with that. We aren''t exactly in a hurry to leave. Our next delivery contract was retracted when we failed to show up on time anyway."


    "I''m sorry to hear that."


    Jasper waved away his concern. "Hardly your fault. This happened even before we docked at Petrov station. Besides, the downtime is appreciated by the crew. Even if most of it is spent making sure the ship is in tip-top shape."


    After the two separated, Alexander spent the night pulling apart the other two engines and testing the components. The testing device was correct. There was an even larger discrepancy with the old components, likely due to age or wear and tear. According to the device, his newly printed parts were better than the originals. That shouldn''t be possible.


    It had to be due to the low-gravity printing process because he hadn''t changed anything else in the design. It was easy enough to test if he was right though. He disabled his modification and ran another set of prints. These new parts matched the manufacturer''s specifications exactly.


    He had to scratch his metaphorical head at this. Certainly, a company the size of Omni had access to zero-g printing. So how could they have missed such a simple way to improve their product line?


    It was a question he had no answer for and it wasn''t relevant to his work. He did have a solution to the efficiency differences, in his design, compared to the original he had accidentally stumbled upon though. He simply printed out three full sets of the replacement components using his method. Alexander could have simply installed the original manufacturer-designed components, but why would he do that when he could upgrade the engines for the very same time, money, or effort?


    By the time the next morning rolled around, Alexander had the two undamaged engines mostly back in working order. The Captain must have noticed all the parts lying around and came over to speak with him.


    "Did we take more damage than I thought?" Jasper asked in concern.


    "No. Remember that variance I told you about?"


    The man nodded.


    "Well, some of the components I pulled for testing were worn out slightly, I decided to replace them to bring all the engines in line with the new parts specs."


    "I appreciate the thought, Alexander, but that wasn''t in our original deal. We could have adjusted the thrust output aboard the ship to compensate. How much of a variance did you find?"


    "The cost was negligible, it just took a bit more material and time. As for the variance, it was a small amount. Around two percent."


    The Captain''s eyes went wide. "Two percent? In thrust?!"


    Alexander shook his head. "Efficiency."


    The man turned toward the modified printer. "And you did it with that?" he motioned.


    Alexander nodded.


    "I know you told me you never worked on ship engines before, but if I was skeptical about that before, even with your quick and efficient work, I''m not anymore. Alexander, a two percent increase in efficiency is huge."


    "It is?" Alexander asked in confusion. He knew it would make trying to balance the engines out annoying but other than that he didn''t see the big deal.


    "Absolutely! If a new engine model comes out with a .25% increase in efficiency, the big shipping companies gobble them up. Do you know why?"


    It wasn''t hard to guess now that Jasper had pointed it out. "Fuel."


    "Exactly. Using only a fraction less fuel per trip might not seem like much. But when you''re burning thousands or even tens of thousands of credits in fuel for each shipment, those savings quickly add up. My God man, you need to register this improvement so you can sell it. And so someone else doesn''t steal it from you."


    Alexander didn''t think he had done anything all that special but the Captain seemed to think he had. "I will do as you suggest. Thank you, Jasper."


    The man smiled broadly. "No, no. Thank you. With these improvements to the Zephyr, I believe I''m going to be outbidding a fair portion of my competition for the foreseeable future, and it''s all thanks to you. I want you to have my personal comm ID. If you need anything. And I mean anything, you contact me. Got it?"


    Alexander nodded.


    Jasper went to walk away but paused. "Oh also, call me if you have any more improvements like this. I will happily test them out."

 Chapter 11

    Wilkes walked up to stand next to the Captain. It had been about a week since they arrived but it was finally time to leave. The robot had just finished the last of the repairs and packed up his printer. He didn''t have anything against the robot, or the person supposedly controlling it. He just didn''t like things he couldn''t understand."You sure about this Captain or should I start calling you Jasper now?" the pilot asked in jest.


    The Captain glanced over at him before turning back toward the retreating form of Alexander. "Last I checked, you''re still on the payroll. So unless you want me to change that?"


    "Got it, Captain," Wilkes smiled.


    "I know you are suspicious by nature, but you didn''t speak to him as much as I did." He nodded toward Alexander. "That man, that man is a genius. I had an inkling he was someone special when we visited his shop, but I had no idea. Did you see the printer modification he did?"


    "Yeah. Any idea what that was?"


    The Captain shook his head and smiled. "Not a clue. Never seen anything quite like it. And that''s why I gave him my comm ID. That man is going to do great things one day. And I want to be there when he does. I just hope he can weather what''s to come."


    "You mean from the mega-corporations?"


    The Captain nodded darkly. "If he is lucky they won''t realize he improved upon their designs. Although we can''t rely on luck. He needs to register his work, it''s the only thing that will keep him safe. Sooner or later some corporate spy would hear of it and steal the design or worse. At least this way he has a chance of getting some money and still come out alive."


    "Shouldn''t you have warned him then?" Wilkes asked, a slight tone of annoyance slipping into his words.


    The Captain snorted. "You know as well as I that the corporations monitor the net with AI. Even though it''s illegal to do so. I don''t know where Alexander came from, but wherever it was, he was woefully ignorant of the galactic players. Despite that, he has an insatiable need to learn. A curious man like that would have tried to research the corporations if I told him what to expect. That would have triggered their detection systems and brought increased scrutiny down upon our new friend before he could secure his safety. The only way for him to grow is if he can avoid their gaze until he makes his improvements public. And to do that, he must remain ignorant for the time being."


    "Alexander''s invention may be groundbreaking to us, but to Omni, I doubt it will even register as a blip. Once it''s registered as a patent, they won''t risk breaking the law over it. They will simply sick their legal department on it and drown the man in legal trouble until he agrees to sell the discovery to them. It may not be a clean victory for our robotic friend, but it will be a victory."


    "I don''t like it," Wilkes stated.


    "Neither do I, but some things can only be learned the hard way. I have faith that Alexander will see his way through this trouble and be better for it," the Captain responded. "Now, let''s get aboard, we have shipments that need to be made."


    ***


    Fixing the engines on the Zephyr had been the highlight of Alexander''s month. Unfortunately, work was rather slow after that. He wasn''t sure why, but he didn''t mind. It allowed him time to tinker and let his mind wander.


    The one thing he did after the Zephyr left was take Captain Daniel''s advice and register his design improvements. The man was right, he did deserve to make money on his inventions. And some money started coming in not long after. It wasn''t much but every little bit helped. Logically he knew humanity had built a faster-than-light communication method, but he had no idea how it worked. Everyone just called them comms, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. And to them it probably was.


    It was during one of Alexander''s tinkering sessions that Yulia came around again. She had likely been missing him as he had been gone for over a week. A lifetime to a child.


    "Whatcha building?" she asked as she hopped onto the stool.


    At her interruption, he brought his mind back to the present and looked down at the desk. What had he been building? Lately, if he started tinkering on a project and then let his mind wander, he usually came back to something unexpected. It wasn''t something he had ever experienced while working for Yuri, probably because he didn''t have access to a printer or time to let his mind wander. Probably a good thing, getting caught modifying Yuri''s junk would have had all sorts of complications. Now he was free ¨C well, almost free ¨C to work on or tinker with whatever he liked.


    "Um¡­ nothing, just playing around," he stated as he removed the power supply and capacitor he had attached to the device during his stupor. He knew exactly what he had created, but not why or how. In his attempts to further his knowledge of the last three hundred years, he had purchased articles and historical documentaries on human history. Go figure, a lot of small wars had occurred during that time. Not much seemed to have changed in retrospect.


    The item on the table resembled a 22nd-century laser rifle. One of the very early designs fielded during an actual conflict that wasn''t attached to a ship or vehicle. He had only ever seen the thing in a few war documentaries. While crude and bulky, it was more than capable of putting a hole in the station if held stable for a few seconds. That was a problem. If he was caught with the weapon, they would toss him out of an airlock without a second question. Station law took owning contraband weapons very seriously.


    Why was it always weapons that his unconscious body drifted to? First a railgun and now this laser rifle. He didn''t even like weapons. He never even looked at weapon schematics on the net, preferring to stay away from them altogether. Looking up items like that sounded like a good way to get put on a list. The railgun, he somehow reproduced, was another handheld rifle he had seen in a video documentary.


    After removing the firing components of the laser, he stored it inside his crowded storage closet. The printer, Captain Daniel, aka Jasper, had gifted him for his work, was too large to be assembled in his shop. As he had suspected it might be. So it was currently taking up most of the space in his storage. Alexander reached past the large collection of printer parts and set the rifle frame next to a few other similar devices.


    He needed to melt these down as soon as possible but he didn''t have a recycler. He would have to use the public one to destroy the weapons. And he was sure bringing guns down there would have people asking all sorts of questions. He hadn''t crushed them yet because he was trying to understand why he kept making them so he could stop doing it.


    So far he couldn''t find any rhyme or reason for the dozen or so various weapons he had assembled. That meant, for now, the safest place for them was out of sight until he could dispose of them.


    The only thing that he could figure out was that it had something to do with how he ended up in this body.


    He realized he had forgotten about Yulia in his haste to store the weapon. When he exited the closet, he found he had two other visitors. The men looked rough and wore patched and worn armored space suits.


    "Apologies," he spoke as he closed the closet door. "I did not hear you enter. What can I assist you with?" He looked around but it seemed like Yulia had left when the men entered. He didn''t blame her, these men gave off a similar vibe to the type of people Yuri had trafficked with, and that Alexander preferred to avoid.


    "Do you repair weapons and armor?" The bearded man asked.


    Alexander''s gaze focused on the stunners the men carried. These were likely mercenaries. Although for all he knew they could be pirates masquerading as mercenaries. "I''m afraid I don''t have any experience working with weapons, nor the certification. I can patch up, repair, and maybe even upgrade armor though." While Alexander had some money saved up thanks to the work with Captain Daniel, he didn''t have enough to turn away work.


    The man grunted and unclipped the detachable armor. The other man followed suit. "We''ll be back in a few days to pick them up." They turned to leave, but Alexander stopped them.


    "I do require partial payment up front." Which was complete bullshit. But he didn''t like these guys.


    The clean-faced guy reached into his suit pocket and tossed a credit chip on the desk. "That''s half. Do what you can, but we aren''t paying extra for anything fancy."


    After they left, Alexander checked the chip''s value. It was honestly more than he thought it would be. But probably less than anyone else would ask for. He shrugged and took a look at the armor. It wasn''t anything special. The plates were marked ''generic universal'' on the backside of each. Which made Alexander''s job easier.


    He had run into a few items with markings similar to this. They were things that had belonged to defunct companies or had been given over to the public domain because there were so many copies that it was no longer profitable to manufacture them or they were so outdated as to not be worth selling. That didn''t mean the schematics were free though. Instead of the money going to a greedy corporation, it went to the STO. He walked to the nearest console and purchased the schematics.


    The armor design was well over a hundred years old. And thanks to his experience and research, he knew of at least three materials that were both lighter and more durable than what currently made up the plates of these suits. He mulled over using the newer alloys versus the original for a few minutes. In the end, it wasn''t his dislike of the pair that swayed his decision, it was simply the cost. The newer alloys were far cheaper to produce and print. Of course, he picked the absolute cheapest of the three. No point splurging on these men.


    He set about stripping and cleaning up the substrate as the printer worked on producing new plates. The hardened material took far longer to print than normal metal.


    While he was working, Yulia poked her head back in. "Are they gone?"


    "Yes. Why, didn''t like them?" he asked without stopping.


    She shook her head, sending her messy hair flying. "Markus says you need to look at people''s eyes. You can tell if they are good or bad by the eyes. Those men looked bad." S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He couldn''t fault her logic there, those were definitely bad men.


    Her fear quickly faded away as she began to tell him about her day. He smiled internally as he listened to her while he continued his work.

 Chapter 12

    Alexander tossed the six bent and twisted pieces of junk that had been weapons into the smelter. After almost having two customers accidentally stumble upon him making one of the restricted weapons, he determined that anything he could learn from keeping them around did not outweigh the risks of getting caught with them.A few people did glance his way, but it was only passing interest at him, rather than what he was melting down. After about twenty minutes, the machine spat out six different containers. Each would be its own 99.999% elementally pure material in nano-particle form. He really wished he knew how the smelter did it. All he could point to at this moment was future magic and hope one day he would have the funds necessary to buy the schematic and dive into the fundamental concept of the device.


    But that day was not today. He retrieved his credit chip from the smelter and grabbed the containers. Two were far heavier than the others, but it was no surprise considering basic steel had gone into the majority of the makeup of the disassembled weapons. At least the material hadn''t gone to waste, now he could reuse this material in his printers. The smelter process wasn''t lossless though. It did have to melt the material in order to separate it. Anything that didn''t melt was simply burned away, turned into carbon, or came out as slag.


    Overall it was still a very efficient process. However, he was sure it used an absurd amount of energy to do it.


    ***


    At the edge of Gliese 667, three ships flashed into existence. A common occurrence as ships exited FTL. But unlike any other ship seen in this distant piece of human-controlled space, the first ship was all smooth lines without any hint of sensor or array peaking past the gleaming white exterior. Painted in bold red letters on both sides of the ship was the word ''O.M.N.I.'' the acronym for Orbital Motion Navigational Innovations. The premier engine manufacturer for all of human space.


    The sleek white ship was not alone either. The two other ships accompanying it were anything but sleek. They were composed of hard lines, protruding sensors, and arrays. Not an iota of thought had gone into making them look soft and approachable. These were warships. Each of these imposing vessels sported four Gauss turrets that protruded from the top and bottom of the deadly-looking craft. Despite the menace exuded by the gunships, they were just escort vessels for the white ship, but nothing short of an STO cruiser could stand up to the firepower of the corporate-owned Wraith Mk3 gunships.


    After receiving the all-clear, the three ships fired up their main engines and hurtled toward their destination. A small insignificant station in the ass end of nowhere, Petrov Station.


    As the trio of ships burned hard through the system, they made no effort to hide their presence. They didn''t need to. They were the big fish around here. And every other ship that picked them up on sensors quickly got the hell out of their way.


    Eventually, someone at the station picked them up and hailed them. The Captain of the white ship sent the canned response. The person on the other end grumbled but quickly gave them priority docking instructions.


    ***


    Ivan Wang paced nervously outside the VIP hangar. It was in times like this he cursed his mixed heritage. It seemed he got the worst attributes of both his parents and none of the upsides.


    In all his years aboard Petrov station, he had never greeted a single soul from the VIP hangar. It was reserved for visiting heads of state per STO rules on station management so it had sat empty and unused since he could remember. He wanted to spit on the floor at the Sol Treaty Organization''s asinine rules but he couldn''t afford to dirty his suit or the corridor. As if anyone like that would ever visit this dump.


    And while the ship docking wasn''t technically in this category, it wasn''t someone they could say no to. The two gunboats that accompanied the corporate yacht were more than enough to send everyone aboard the station to an early grave. He doubted anyone from the STO would even bat an eye if they did that.


    So like a good little Commissar, he waited for his guests to arrive. Unlike most docks, the VIP dock had dual-layered armored doors. So there was no peeking inside to see the ship. Although he had gotten an external camera feed of it. Not that the outdated cameras did the sleek craft justice. If he had to guess, that single ship was worth more than the entire station and everything aboard it. And the two gunboats combined probably weren''t far behind in value.


    He felt the slight vibration in the deck when the craft finally touched down.


    Ivan did his best to slow his breathing as he pulled out a rag and wiped the sweat from his hands and brow. This would likely be the most important moment of his life, and he couldn''t afford to screw it up.


    As soon as he heard the first clunks of the locking bolts from the first door, he stuffed the rag in his pocket and stood straight, forcing a smile on his face.


    A voice boomed out of a nearby speaker, almost making him leap off the deck. "Stand back and place your hands in the air! You will be searched before we proceed."


    He did as requested and soon the outer door opened. Two men immediately flicked weapons up towards him and if Ivan had been still before, he was a statue now. Not just out of fear for the weapons, but what they could do if they missed him. These were not the simple riot control pulse rifles, these were slug throwers.


    Ivan didn''t know much about weapons, for all he knew, these could be handheld Gauss rifles. A third armed and armored man approached and patted him down before roughly spinning him around and doing the same for his backside. He was none too gentle about it either.


    He swallowed his pride as the man yelled, "Clear!"


    As the guards lowered their guns, Ivan slowly lowered his hands. He finally got a good look at the armored forms. He had first mistaken what they were wearing for skin suits, but these were not the thin fabric underlayer worn under a decompression suit. They were form-fit with integrated plates of some unknown material around the chest, hips, and thighs.


    "I apologize for my men''s rough handling. They can be a bit overzealous when it comes to protecting OMNI assets such as myself." The voice came from a young, well-dressed man.


    If Ivan thought the suits of the guards were impressive, this man''s practically looked like normal clothes. And if it wasn''t for the full helmet, he wouldn''t have given it a second glance.


    "It''s fine," Ivan responded, managing not to stammer. "No harm no foul," he added, extending his hand. "I am Ivan Wang, Commisar of Relations aboard Petrov Station. And I will be your attendant while you are here.


    "Charmed, Ivan," the man responded in a silky tone as he grabbed Ivan''s hand with only a thumb and pointer and shook it gently for only a moment. "You can refer to me as Mr. Pembrooke or Theodore," he said with a wink and a smile.


    Ivan smiled back, trying his best to hide the awkwardness of the greeting. "Your request to dock did not inform us of the reason for your visit. May I know your agenda so I can help assist you?"


    "That you may, Ivan. As you may have already guessed, I work for OMNI. Specifically, I work for the Legal Council of OMNI."


    It was hard to keep the smile on his face as it felt like a rock dropped into his stomach. "The Omni''s legal council. Um¡­ What brings you all the way out here?" It couldn''t be anything good, that was for sure.


    That smile, that oh-so-fake smile never left Theodore''s perfectly sculpted face. "I''m glad you asked. You see, we got a report that someone on this station may be stealing our intellectual property rights." He leaned in conspiratorially and spoke softly. "And OMNI takes those rights very seriously." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "¡­Um¡­" Ivan was at a loss as to what to do next. Mr. Pembrooke seemed to know this and saved him.


    "I just need to speak with the station manager and get this all straightened up. Then we will be out of your hair."


    "¡­Oh. Um, we don''t have a station manager." For a brief moment, Ivan thought he saw the man''s smile shift slightly. But it could have just been his imagination.


    "Really? Then who manages the station?"


    "That would be the Captain''s Council."


    "¡­I see. This station is pre-STO then?"


    Ivan nodded.


    "Very well, take me to see them."


    "That¡­ that may take a few days to arrange. The Captains are rarely aboard the station at the same time."


    While the well-dressed man''s demeanor didn''t change, Ivan suddenly felt like he was a bug being stared at by a higher lifeform. He swallowed thickly.


    "Very well, I have time, Ivan. I will remain aboard my ship until they arrive. Please come see one of my guards when the Captains are ready to meet. Do let them know that this is an important matter. And if they could hurry, that would mitigate any extenuating issues that might arise if this issue isn''t settled expediently."


    Before Ivan could ask what the man meant by that, he turned and strode back into his hangar. The guard that searched him took up a position outside the first door, while the others remained by the second.


    Ivan tried to smile at the guard at the door, but the man just returned a blank stony gaze as his eyes watched him like a predator.


    Without waiting to be told, Ivan hurried out of there to report to the other Commissars and gather the Captains. He really hoped the Captains arrived promptly. If not, he wasn''t sure Mr. Pembrooke''s thin veil of civility would hold.


    The elevator whisked him over to the control center in the central shaft. It was always a bit of a jarring experience for Ivan as it exited the artificial gravity of the rings, only to reenter the core''s artificial gravity shortly after. The issue was that the fields of gravity were not aligned the same. Since the core was built long before artificial gravity had been discovered, they couldn''t simply retrofit it like it had been in the rings. Too many systems in place to work around. So they simply placed the grav plates on the exterior walls and called it good.


    It worked, sort of, as long as you didn''t mind feeling like getting tugged at constantly. As the gravity dropped away, he reoriented himself ninety degrees so his head was facing the far side door.


    Moments later the gravity tugged at him, but before he could float upwards very far, the elevator had passed inside the field. He grunted as he dropped to the door facing the rings. This is why he hated coming to the core. He had never quite gotten the hang of or timing of moving about in zero-g. How his ancestors ever got anything done in space before the advent of artificial gravity was beyond him.


    When the elevator came to a stop, the door, which was now the ceiling clicked open. He sighed. This was the other part he hated. Ivan walked over to the rungs that were situated along both walls and ceiling and climbed out of the elevator.


    More than a few technicians, manning the terminals that controlled all aspects of station life, glanced at him as he climbed out but none so much as offered to help.


    "Bastards," he muttered under his breath. He was going to submit another proposal to modify that blasted elevator so he wasn''t forced to climb out every time he needed to come here.


    After wiping the visible sweat from his brow, he slowly made his way over to the communication center. Running through the weird gravity in the core was a good way to trip, or more embarrassingly, lose your lunch.


    A bright-eyed younger woman looked up from her station and smiled politely at him. "Commissar Wang, how may I help you today?"


    "Our VIP guest is here on a corporate witch hunt. He has requested to speak with the Captains." Ivan wasn''t stupid. He knew the only reason a monolithic company like Omni would send one of their lackeys out here was to make a point. He felt sorry for whoever it was that got on their bad side, but he wasn''t about to step in shit for someone else.


    The communication woman frowned slightly. "They aren''t going to like having their runs cut short."


    "Tell them to complain to the Omni representative then." Unlike Mr. Pembrooke, who came from the core worlds, Ivan wasn''t afraid of the Captains who were the descendants of the original families who first built Petrov station.


    They got to galavant around the system earning money and doing whatever they pleased while the Commissars kept the station running. The least they could do was their damn job once in a while.

 Chapter 13

    Mingyu stomped down the ramp of his ship, steam still billowing off the cooling thrusters. He was annoyed. More than annoyed, he was angry.His ship the Moonlit Destiny had planned for a six-month deployment in Gliese 667''s outer belt to look for and extract precious metals. Less than three weeks into the trip, he received a communication to return. And for nothing other than some pompous core worlder here to throw his weight around. The Destiny''s sensor officer had picked up the ships when they burned for the station. They hadn''t been subtle about their approach. But he wasn''t on duty, and pirates wouldn''t have been so brazen, so he ignored them.


    Mingyu wasn''t blind. He had seen the two gunships sitting menacingly off the station as his ship docked, their turrets on full display. It didn''t impress him. He had been a second lieutenant in the Coalition Navy and had served aboard the flagship Ivanov. And while it hurt him to admit, not comparable to the STO''s flagships, the Ivanov would have been more than a match for these peashooters the Omni rep had brought as a warning. Not that Petrov Station couldn''t defend itself. The Omni ships could learn a thing or two from Petrov about keeping their weapons hidden until needed.


    Now if they could just teach the Commissars to wipe their own asses without a Captain around, maybe he wouldn''t have been required to sit in on a full Council meeting. Did the Commissars think that the station just ran on goodwill and wishes? It took dedication, effort, and a whole lot of credit from the founding families to keep the station independent.


    He took the elevator to the core, easily adjusting to the change in gravity. Honestly, he wasn''t sure how people could stand living in the fake gravity. He much preferred being out in space or simply aboard his ship with the gravity disabled. There was something comforting about just floating.


    As the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, he smirked a bit as he clambered up the rungs easily. He had lost track of how many proposals to redesign the elevator he had blocked over the years. The people at the station were too soft. They might as well live in a gravity well for all they understood about actual space. Which is why he made sure to keep this one small reminder for the people who operated the station.


    That little memory brought a smirk to his face and lifted his spirits slightly, but it didn''t fully banish his foul mood as he crossed the command center and made his way toward the meeting room. Technically he was an hour late, but Mingyu would be damned if he was wasting extra fuel just to push his arrival up. He was already losing enough money just having to return ahead of schedule.


    The door swished open at his approach, and he was hit with a wall of discussion from his fellow Captains.


    ***


    "Na! Bout time you show up. You think we just have time to wait around for you all day?"


    "Isn''t that your normal tendency Xu!" Mingyu said with a smile before clasping the other man''s hand. Mingyu and Xu Yuchen had been friends since they could walk.


    "Glad you arrived safely," Ingrid Liu stated with a slight nod.


    Mingyu nodded back, even though he despised the shrewd woman. He wasn''t about to air his grievances here where it paid to be civil.


    "I think we can all agree this is a colossal waste of our time," Sergei Zhang added as he lounged against one wall with his feet up on the table.


    Anastasia slapped his feet off the piece of furniture and glared at the large man. "If you truly thought it was a waste of time, you wouldn''t have returned so early. So quit trying to sound tough." The man had the decency to look chastised by Mrs. Weiss'' words.


    Unlike the five boisterous younger Captains on the council, the two older ones remained quiet. Denis Kovalenko was in his sixties but had only started a family a decade ago. And his daughter was only nine.


    Oleg Hoffman was a bit younger, having just turned fifty. But he had also started a family later in his life, and his son and daughter were twelve and thirteen respectively. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The nine families were all that remained of the original founding twenty. Some like the Liu''s had combined to strengthen their families. But that didn''t grant them additional seats on the Council. Most did it to preserve their diminishing lineages and keep the station running. Some did it to consolidate power. Which was laughable out here in the ass end of human-occupied space. But Mingyu couldn''t throw stones, his ancestors had done the same, merging the Xinwei line with the Na.


    "If pleasantries are over with, we do have important matters to discuss," Denis cut through the chatter.


    The room quieted as everyone turned to the Captain. As the oldest member of the council, his words did carry a bit more weight. The man was also semi-retired and spent most of his time aboard the station. Which meant he was usually the first to find out about issues such as this.


    "You are all aware of our unfortunate guest?" Mutters and words of acknowledgment passed through the others in the room.


    "Good. Unfortunately, I was not made aware of their arrival in the system until after they had met with the Commissar."


    Sergei shot to his feet, pounding his hands on the table. "What blithering idiot failed to follow the standard procedure to notify the Captain on duty first and foremost?"


    "While I appreciate your concern for procedures, Sergei, please sit down and control yourself. You are a Captain, you must act like one at all times."


    The younger man flushed slightly before dropping back into his seat. Mingyu wanted to roll his eyes at the man''s antics and the older man''s reprimand, but he knew better than to annoy his fellow captains.


    "The Commissar responsible for this breach will receive a reprimand in his official log. But it will include the caveat that we have never had to host a VIP, so he was likely not aware of official policy on how to act."


    There were a few grumbles at that, but Mingyu approved.


    "Then again," Captain Kovalenko continued, "Should we treat this group as a VIP? By STO''s own laws, they do not qualify for this."


    "Are you calling for a vote on this?" Oleg asked.


    Denis paused to think for a moment before responding. "Yes. Does anyone second this vote?"


    "I do!" Sergei responded.


    "Very well. All in favor of stripping the Omni representative of VIP status, raise your hands."


    Only three hands went up. One was Sergei''s, no real surprise there. But Mingyu was surprised to see his friend Xu''s hand up as well as Ingrid''s. But perhaps even more of a surprise was not seeing Denis'' hand raised for a vote he called for.


    "If you weren''t even going to vote for it why even bring it up?" Sergei crossed his arms after the vote failed.


    "Just because I believe they don''t deserve VIP treatment, doesn''t mean I believe it should be taken away. We have a delicate situation on our hands, despite some of our members reaching out to personal contacts in the STO." The eldest captain looked straight at Mingyu as he said that last part.


    Mingyu just shrugged. He wouldn''t apologize for calling in a favor.


    "So that''s it then?" Xu spat in annoyance. "We treat them with kid gloves and find out exactly what they are after."


    "I''m afraid so," Denis responded before checking his watch. "I have notified the Commissar to bring our guests by around noon. Because of Captain Na''s late arrival, I''m afraid we don''t have much time to discuss other matters. I would just like to remind you all to remain professional during the discussion. We cannot give these core worlders an inch-,"


    "-or they will take a mile," the rest of the room finished in unison. It was a tired saying that meant less and less each year. The core world mega corporations took what they wanted when they wanted. And very little could stop them. The best they could hope to do was mitigate the damage.


    ***


    A few minutes later the door opened and a man wearing a vacsuit, which probably cost more than most made in a year, entered.


    "Greetings esteemed Captains. I am Theodore Pembrooke, head legal counsel for Orbital Motion Navigational Innovations. I-,"


    "We know who you are," Sergei cut the man off, earning a reproachful glare from Denis and Oleg, "get to the point."


    The suited man''s smile never wavered. "Very well, I can appreciate cutting to the chase. O.M.N.I. is here investigating an instance of intellectual theft. We would appreciate it if you turned this culprit over to us along with any assets he has stolen or modified against our standard use policy. The person we are investigating is one Alexander Kane."


    Mingyu and the other captains confered quietly amongst themselves, forcing the man to wait standing at the lectern across the room. This wasn''t strictly necessary as they had already been informed about why this individual was here. The hushed conversation instead consisted of remarks about the questionable parentage of this man as well as his fear of being aboard station without his suit. Mingyu had a hard time not smiling or laughing during the quiet talks.


    After making the man wait what seemed an appropriate amount of time, the Council turned back toward him. Denis, as the speaker, was the one to respond. "No."


    They all watched as the face behind the clear face shield blinked in confusion. "I''m sorry. I don''t understand."


    "Has education in the core systems degraded to the point that you do not understand the meaning of a very basic word?" Anastasia Weiss replied dryly.


    The man''s face tightened before he responded. "I understand what no means, Mrs. Weiss. What I don''t understand is why that is your response to our simple request."


    It was Mingyu''s turn to speak. "It''s good to know the core systems are keeping up with their education. As to why we declined your request. That''s simple. It is against our laws. I would have thought someone in your role would have known that before coming here."


    At the rebuke, Mr. Pembrooke''s face tightened even more. "Now you listen here. I have come here in good faith."


    Sergei cut the man off with a barking laugh. "Good faith he spouts. What a load. Are those gunships out there your good faith?"


    "Those are merely my escort," the man bristled.


    Mingyu stifled a smile. This had all been done on purpose to rile the man up and get him to state on record that these ships were simply for self-defense. Now if he tried to use the gunboats as leverage to get his way, it could be deemed as piracy.


    "I believe we have gotten off track," Oleg said, playing his role as the voice of reason.


    "Thank you, Captain. Now if we could discuss my original question."


    "That answer hasn''t changed," Oleg stated firmly. "What you are asking for is against Petrov Station law."


    "Are you refusing our request?"


    Denis leaned forward. "Watch your tone, Mr. Pembrooke. You may have VIP rights, but those can and will be revoked if necessary." The man shut his mouth and Captain Kovalenko continued. "And when did we stipulate we were refusing your request? You simply need to go through the proper legal proceedings."


    "And what would those be?" the irate man managed to speak between clenched teeth.


    "Arbitration," Ingrid Liu responded casually.


    "That''s ridiculous," Pembrooke spluttered. "You can''t be serious."


    "The accusation you are accusing someone aboard this station of is a serious offense," Oleg reminded the Omni representative.


    "That could take months. I''m not even familiar with your station''s laws."


    "Clearly," Xu added dismissively.


    Before the man could complain further, Denis cut him off. "I suggest you either hire some station counsel or start brushing up on our laws. All in favor of dismissing this meeting."


    All seven hands went up. Denis nodded and turned back to the Omni representative. "You have four months to prepare your case, Mr. Pembrooke."


    The door opened behind the man and he stormed out.


    Once it shut, the room fell into silence for a bit.


    It was Anastasia who first broke the quiet. "Anyone familiar with this Alexander Kane?"


    There was a collective round of shrugs or shaken heads.


    "The name sounds English," Mingyu remarked. "Don''t get many of those out here."


    "Would you like to take on the task of finding out who this is?" Denis asked.


    "I''ll look into it," Mingyu nodded. Not that he wanted to do it, although, he was curious as to what sort of person drew the interest of Omni.

 Chapter 14

    Theodore Pembrooke smiled when the ramp to his ship finally closed. There were two reasons for his happy mood. The first was he could finally remove the ridiculous helmet and vac-suit. Despite the tailored fit, it was still annoying to move around in and it had served its purpose anyway. Now the Captains would think of him as some scared planetsider. A bit of simple misdirection to throw them off and get them to underestimate him. Theo was born and raised aboard a starship. He didn''t even step foot on a planetary body until he was seventeen.The second reason he was smiling, a real smile and not the fake one he used to sell his persona, was this assignment would likely be over in as little as four months. He had planned to be out here for a year. And even with the travel time back and forth, he was going to be back home in less than six months.


    It was always nice when things went according to plan. A little bit of acting, throw in some faux annoyance, and voil¨¤. They agreed to arbitration instead of demanding he leave. People outside of OMNI might think the name granted him weight, but more often than not it simply annoyed those in charge. That didn''t mean it was all for show. Had they demanded he leave, well, it would have gotten ugly. Just probably not the way the captains might expect.


    The gunships were simply another set piece. They didn''t even have working turrets because they had been requisitioned before completion, not that you could tell by looking at them. Theo wasn''t a fool. He had grifted in the outer fringes with his family for years. Places like Petrov Station weren''t nearly as benign as they let on. The scans may have not picked up on the hidden weapons mounted to the massive structure, but he knew they were there, hiding and waiting in case of an attack.


    But he didn''t need to go down that route.


    Some might feel like acting this way was beneath them. Theo just scoffed at that. This was hardly the lowest he had stooped to ensure a successful mission. He was many things for OMNI, but he much preferred the legitimate side of his personas. And it was always better to secure new discoveries than it was to destroy them. Not that he wouldn''t if he had to. It just got much more messy in those cases.


    If he could, he would actually thank Alexander Kane for his foresight to register his work. Doing that took most of his boss'' preferred methods of acquiring improvements to their designs off the table.


    Theo had looked this man up. A literal ghost with just this one invention to his name and a weak trail that anyone with half a brain could see was fake. That only intrigued him more though. There were very few geniuses running around in hiding. Because they knew they could simply join one of the corporations and make money hand over fist.


    And despite everything else going on with this arbitration, Theo knew this Alexander Kane was a genius. While the engine he had submitted the design improvement on wasn''t their flagship model, it was one of the workhorse designs that they sold a ton of. A two percent increase in efficiency on an engine that was designed and built by Omni''s top engineers, along with input from AI, was nothing to sneeze at.


    When he had been handed this assignment, Theo floated the topic of offering the man a position within the company.


    The board shot down that request, citing Kane''s unknown qualifications and sketchy history. That almost made Theo laugh. Having a sketchy history was fine for someone like him, but not for regular employees.


    As he was rinsing off, there was a quiet knock on his cabin door. "Come in," he said, donning his persona again.


    "Mr. Pembrooke," the crewman stated as he stood in the doorway. "We have received a hail."


    Theo quirked an eyebrow. "From who?"


    "The STO Destroyer, Terra Bound, Sir."


    Theo let a frown show on his face. He had expected something, but not this soon. This just proved he had chosen the correct approach here. Someone on this station had powerful connections. Perhaps multiple people.


    "Did they hail us directly?"


    "Um¡­ No, Sir. They hailed both O.M.N.I. Huginn and O.M.N.I. Muninn. The Captains of those ships passed on the message."


    He really wanted to sigh. Couldn''t the young man just spit it out without him having to ask? "And what was that message?"


    "That they will be doing a fleet exercise in the system for the next four months, and that both ships should lockdown and keep their weapons systems offline. Any actions otherwise could be seen as hostile intent."


    This time he did let out a sigh. "Very well," he answered adding a tinge of annoyance to his words. "Tell them to follow the Navy''s orders. Better yet, have them dock. It seems we will be here for some time."


    The crewman nodded before turning and leaving.


    Theo corrected his assessment, very powerful connections. It wasn''t just anyone that could get a task group of STO ships reassigned for ''training maneuvers''.


    Once the door was shut, Theo lay on his bed and pulled up the station laws. He knew most of them already, but it never hurt to brush up. It wasn''t like anyone aboard the station was likely to work with an OMNI representative.


    He hummed contentedly as he scrolled through the legal red tape. Meanwhile, another man was looking into Alexander.


    ***


    Mingyu perused the displayed information as he sat in a comfortable chair in his cabin aboard Destiny. They were making their way back to the belt to mine as much as they could before he was forced to return for the arbitration. There was no way he was wasting the next four months staying docked in the station.


    As he perused the data dump of this Alexander Kane, he began to see inconsistencies. They weren''t things most people would notice, but Mingyu had been no stranger to dealing with less-than-savory individuals over the years. That tended to happen when you were the last stop for humanity.


    There was an unspoken agreement between the criminals and Petrov station. They kept their illicit activities outside Gliese 667, and when they came to the station, they were allowed to buy and sell instead of getting tossed out of an airlock. It was a very one-sided agreement, but it worked.


    He would have preferred not to deal with their kind at all, but Petrov Station didn''t have the luxury to turn any business away.


    Kane''s documents were forged. He would bet an asteroid stake on it. While there was nothing that screamed fake to a passing observer, Mingyu could see it. There was a clinical quality about the man''s record. Not so much as a ticket or infraction on any database. Until this issue with Omni, there wasn''t even a single complaint filed against the man.


    No... that wasn''t quite true. A few months ago there was a complaint filed by a man by the name of Maxim on the second ring. The complaint never mentioned a last name, but it did state that Alexander''s Repair Shop had defrauded him and stolen his customers. A quick look into the complaint and resolution told Mingyu all he needed to know. Maxim was a shady piece of shit that had a laundry list of complaints, foreclosures, and other charges leveled against him.


    Mingyu made a note to have station security arrest the man. Not for anything he did on the station, although that did leave a bad taste in his mouth. No, the man was wanted for murder in another system. Turning him over to face charges would likely net Mingyu a favor. The man''s crimes would have probably gone unnoticed if he hadn''t dug deep into all of Alexander''s known connections.


    And that was another red flag. Kane had no known connections until a little over six months ago. That started with the sale of a robot from the late Yuri Sokolov. All of the Captains knew of that ornery old goat. He had been here since before they were all born. You needed a part, he was the man you went to.


    The official statement was the Livera was lost with all hands on deck. But Pirates didn''t destroy ships unless they had a damn good reason to. Bad for business, and it caused their next targets to either fight back or flee instead of surrendering. The fact that Yuri was aboard that ship couldn''t have been a coincidence. He made another note to look into that case deeper. If a pirate that frequented Petrov had done the deed, they were going to experience a cold walk. The pirate families were getting entirely too bold lately, they needed a reminder not to screw with Petrov''s interests.


    He flicked his finger, turning to the next page of the report. It claimed Kane was in some sort of medical pod for an incurable auto-immune disorder. Although it failed to list where that pod was stored. That was the biggest load of bio-waste Mingyu had ever read. The man might be in some medical pod, but there were plenty of treatments for all sorts of auto-immune disorders. Not cheap, certainly but they were there. No, if he had to guess, it was a cover to keep out of sight.


    That meant his face was recognizable. Maybe an escaped engineer from the Haven? The pirates didn''t like their slaves getting free. And losing one as valuable as Alexander would be a huge blow. That could also explain Yuri''s death. It was pretty clear the man had some connection to Alexander. Maybe he even facilitated the fake identity and the use of the robot as a way for the man to keep out of sight.


    He leaned back in his chair and crossed his leg over his other. "Just who are you, Alexander Kane? And more importantly, are you an asset or a detriment to the station?"


    Mingyu needed to know more. He needed someone he trusted to take a measure of this man.


    After thinking it over, he pulled up his comm and scrolled through his contacts before stopping on one. It didn''t take long to connect.


    "Mingyu, Dear, how are you?" Eva Wu''s voice was transmitted through the device. "I haven''t heard from you in some time. How''s the Destiny treating you?" He chuckled lightly at the older woman''s questions. She had been his father''s first mate until the man retired and turned over the ship to him. She retired not long after.


    "It''s good, Eva. Are you busy?"


    She laughed. "Hun, I''m retired. I have nothing but time. You need something from this old woman, just ask instead of beating around the engine bay."


    "Fair enough," he smiled. "I was wondering if you could talk to someone for me?"


    "Oh? A new crewmember for the Destiny?" sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Not exactly." He told Eva some of what was going on.


    "Hmm¡­ So you just want to see if he''s a good man. You know I''ve never been one for subterfuge."


    "I know, Eva. And I don''t expect you to be. Just take something broken down for him to fix and have a friendly chat with him. Then tell me what you think."


    "Alright, Dear. I will do this for you, but I expect you and your lovely wife to come visit me when you return."


    "How did you know I was off station?"


    "I may be old, Dear, but I can still hear just fine. And I hear the hum of the Destiny in your comm. Although you may want to get that rattle in the air system fixed."


    He looked up at the vent. There had been an intermittent rattle in it recently. How she had heard that over the comm was anyone''s guess. "I''m putting it on the repair request as we speak. Thanks, Eva."

 Chapter 15

    After finishing a recent repair job, Alexander decided to take a break and head down to the terminal to order some supplies as a few of his printer materials were running low. And maybe check his merchant account to see how much money his patent had earned him.When he checked his account, he was surprised to see a message waiting for him.


    Hello Mr. Kane,


    You don''t know me but a mutual Captain friend told me of your improvements. I was skeptical until I checked out your work myself and I must say, impressive.


    Before I gush too much, let me introduce myself. My name is Dr. Nova Lund. I run a research institute out past the rim. We study all sorts of theoretical science, but our focus is primarily on improving the speed of travel between stars.


    I know there are the hypergates, and humanity has the Alcubierre drive, although you may just know it as the warp or bubble drive. The first is hardly understood and the second is centuries old. Each has its limitations.


    We want to break those limitations! This is why we would like to offer you a position within our group. I know this may seem sudden, and it is, but your talents would fit our organization perfectly. We have a lot of theories, but we need someone capable of turning those theories into reality. I think you''re just the person to make that happen.


    Even if this offer doesn''t interest you, here is my personal comm number. If you ever wish to chat about science or other matters, please reach out to me. Those of us who still wish to push the boundaries of science grow fewer every year. We must stick together!


    Thank you for your time, Dr. Nova Lund.


    Alexander would have done a slow blink if he had eyes. Lund certainly was right, this offer was kind of out of nowhere. And while interesting, he didn''t know who this person was, let alone if he could trust them. From the letter, he had a pretty good guess as to who this mutual friend was. The only people that knew of his work were Captain Daniel and his crew. And the few people who had purchased his design improvements. Also¡­ what the hell was a hypergate?


    As he perused the net for information about these gates, he thought more about the Doctor''s letter. Of course, Alexander knew of faster-than-light capabilities. You didn''t build an interstellar empire without the ability to travel faster than light. And he had worked on or near enough ships to see they weren''t doing that with their thrusters. He just hadn''t known the specifics of how they accomplished this feat. Like the grav-plating, technical manuals for advanced tech like that were way out of his price range.


    Although now that he knew, maybe he shouldn''t be surprised. He had memories of this Alcubierre drive, and that it was theoretically possible from back when he was human, just not any specifics on the research about it. Usually, the only thing keeping something from going from theoretical to practical was a technological breakthrough of some sort. It was good to know humanity had figured that out. His fragmented memories of Earth didn''t paint a very bright picture of humanity''s chances of survival from back then.


    The hypergate information was likely locked behind a similarly expensive paywall. Except he hadn''t even known to look for information on the technology. Most of the information he had purchased focused on human history, recent history specifically. Which is why he had missed this important footnote.


    Hypergates were not available in human history archives because humanity hadn''t built them. Aliens being real was another revelation. But he didn''t have the credits to go diving into that subject at the moment.


    As he perused the available documents on hypergates, he realized humanity had stumbled across the structures only forty years after first leaving the Sol system. There were multitudes of research papers written about the objects. But there were no technical documents for purchase. At first, he thought they might be top secret or something, but then why leave the research papers for anyone to purchase?


    He purchased a few of these papers and studied them. Funnily enough, one paper was from Dr. Lund. Unfortunately, even the doctor could only speculate on who made them and how they worked. Some seemed to think the shican, a race of feline-like aliens, had built them. However, the other papers rejected this notion because the technology didn''t match anything the shicans possessed.


    So not only were aliens real, but humanity had encountered at least one species. Alexander really wished he had unlimited credits and time so he could scratch that itch to know more. But he didn''t so he quickly moved on.


    The leading theory on the hypergates seemed to be they somehow either folded space or created a wormhole between two points. Nobody was quite sure, and the governments that had taken residence in those systems with hypergates, which acted like major hubs for humanity, had strictly forbidden anyone from doing anything that might damage or disable the unknown technology.


    It made sense to Alexander. If he controlled a major trade hub, he would want to protect that at all costs. And the fact that nobody knew how to make or fix these hypergates, meant they would lose everything if they stopped working.


    Thankfully, he didn''t control an entire system, so his opinion was quite different. Alexander certainly wouldn''t trust some unknown technology, at least until he knew how to repair it if it broke. Probably not even then until he could recreate it from scratch. Another fact that seemed to get glossed over by most of these papers, but not Lund''s, was the fact that the three gates just so happened to be placed in human habitable systems. And they were all within fifteen light years from Earth, yet Sol didn''t have a gate.


    According to Lund, that clearly showed a preference from whoever built them to avoid humanity even though they were likely very similar to us. The aliens that built the gates probably wouldn''t be too thrilled if they found out humanity had coopted them for their own use. Assuming they were still around. There was no evidence to suggest they were.


    But that was something way above Alexander''s pay grade. He was more interested in the technology behind these hypergates, but nobody had ever risked taking a gate apart for study so there wasn''t anything to learn. He sighed. Considering the comments in the research paper, this was probably why Lund was so hell-bent on finding alternatives.


    Although even if humanity lost access to these gates, they wouldn''t lose much. Travel would certainly be slower to key systems, but it was on the order of months instead of days. It wasn''t like it would cause the STO to come crumbling apart. Some systems may struggle if they aren''t self-sufficient, but any system with a habitable planet that couldn''t sustain itself was probably doomed eventually anyway.


    A shift like that may even see humanity enter the next technological revolution. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that.


    While it was interesting to postulate the possibilities, Alexander needed to get back to work. He quickly placed his order and headed back to his shop, but not before sending a quick response to Dr. Nova Lund.


    Thank you for the kind offer, Dr. Lund, but my current situation necessitates that I remain where I am. However, I would like to take you up on your offer to discuss further scientific theory if you are amenable.


    Alexander.


    When Alexander returned to his shop, he found a rather bashful Yulia talking with an older lady holding what looked like a toaster. Well, he didn''t specify what he would fix.


    "Greetings, I hope I didn''t make you wait too long."


    The woman turned to him and gave him a motherly smile. "Nonsense, Dear. I was just having a nice chat with this lovely young lady here."


    Alexander held out his hand, and the woman took it without hesitation. "I''m Alexander. And if she forgot to introduce herself, that is Yulia."


    "Yulia? What a lovely name," she winked at the girl, making Yulia smile and blush while turning away. "You can call me Eva. I was told you fix things?"


    "That I do," he said opening his door and gesturing for them to come inside.


    "OH!" Eva said in surprise as Yulia raced past her to get to her stool.


    Alexander chuckled, making his avatar do the same. "Don''t mind her. She likes to watch me work as well as study."


    "And her parents don''t mind?" the older woman whispered. Not that Yulia would have heard her. She was already fixated on the mechanical puzzle Alexander had built for her today.


    "She''s a ward of the station," Alexander replied sadly.


    "Aw, poor child. If I was a decade younger, I might consider adopting, but I''m lucky if I have a few years left in these old bones," she stated simply.


    Alexander wasn''t going to challenge her assessment, but she hadn''t felt weak when they shook. Her grip was firm and calloused. It reminded him more of the workers who brought him items to fix rather than an old granny.


    "So, what have you brought me today?"


    The woman turned to him and held out the item with a smile that seemed to drive away any melancholy. He had to check his memories for a moment to make sure magic wasn''t a thing. Nope, sure wasn''t.


    "Toaster elements up and died on me."


    His first guess was accurate, it was a toaster. He wouldn''t make any money on it, but he would fix it all the same.


    As he worked to disassemble the device, the woman chatted with him. He didn''t mind. He had grown fond of chatting with Yulia so more people to talk to was infinitely better. That being said, the woman sounded a bit lonely.


    She kept trying to get him to come over to dinner. He politely refused, not wanting to bring up his cover story.


    She switched to talking about her time as a first mate aboard a ship. Then she asked him about himself.


    Although Alexander didn''t mind, it got a bit uncomfortable since he didn''t have much to talk about. So he gave her vague answers until finally telling her that he was essentially trapped in a box that kept him alive. Technically true.


    The woman didn''t even bat an eye at that, although she did give him a pat on the arm in sympathy.


    Alexander told her how he met Yulia. The woman laughed lightly at that. "Children can get up to all sorts of things. Why, I practically raised the Captain''s son. I swear if there were something that boy could break, he would find it." sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s cause boys are doo-doo heads," Yulia chimed in happily. She had just finished her puzzle and the little mechanical frog was hopping about the desk.


    Eva laughed. "I won''t argue with you on that, child."


    A few minutes later, Alexander finished reassembling the toaster. "All done," he said, pushing the device across the counter.


    "Thank you, Dear. How much do I owe ya?"


    "It''s on the house, Eva. Call it thanks for the wonderful stories."


    She shook her head. "That wouldn''t be right. Work deserves pay." She pulled out a credit chip and set it on the table.


    Alexander went to hand it back to her, but she gave him a disapproving frown that made him feel like some misbehaving child. "I won''t take no for an answer."


    "¡­Um¡­ Thank you, Eva."


    Her frown turned back into a smile. "You are welcome, Alexander. And it was wonderful meeting you. You as well Yulia."


    The girl turned bashful again.


    The woman gave one last wave before walking out with her repaired toaster.


    After Eva left, he turned to Yulia. "How come you were acting so withdrawn?"


    She shrugged. "Dunno."


    He sighed internally but left it at that.

 Chapter 16

    "So, what did you think of him?" Mingyu asked as they walked through the garden district that ran along the shopping center of the eighth ring. This was one of his rare visits to the station, and he intended to enjoy it. It had been about three weeks since he had asked Eva to check up on Mr. Kane."He seems like a genuinely nice fellow." She responded, but Mingyu had known her long enough to know that she had more to say.


    "But¡­"


    "But he''s obviously hiding something or hiding from someone. You already guessed as much though didn''t you?"


    He nodded. "His story has holes and reeks of being fabricated."


    "What do you intend to do about it?" she asked, concern evident in her tone.


    This made him pause.


    "You like him don''t you?" It was shocking. Eva was a generous woman, but she had a very discerning eye when it came to people. Being able to pick out the best crew was a talent people would kill for, and she had a knack for it. It was what had made her one of the best first mates around.


    "I do. He is talented, easygoing, hard-working, upstanding, and¡­ he gets along well with children. Or at least one little girl that seems to have taken a shine to him." She relayed all this with her signature smile that put most people at ease. But Mingyu wasn''t fooled. He had seen her smile like that while berating someone for shoddy work. It was worse than if she had just yelled at them because deep down they knew they had disappointed her.


    "An orphan girl? What of the other orphans?" There had been issues in the past with people trying to take advantage of the children. If there was one thing Petrov Station took more seriously than weapons, it was the safety of children. Anyone who thought it was a good idea to mess with them quickly vanished.


    That being said, Mingyu knew the system wasn''t perfect. There was never enough money or resources to go around. They did their best to make sure the kids who lost their parents had a warm bed and enough food to keep them healthy though. They also provided basic training. This way if they didn''t get adopted ¨C which happened far too often out here ¨C they could at least find work once they came of age.


    "You don''t need to worry about little Yulia. She''s taken quite the fancy to Alexander. And I think he is warming up to her as well. It seemed he was even giving her tutelage¡­ of a sort. As for the other kids I spoke with, most seemed afraid of the ''scary robot'' as they dubbed Alexander. Truthfully, that body is quite imposing. Especially with the damage. But I somehow get the impression he didn''t pick it by choice."


    "Your observations are as impeccable as always. Thank you for doing this, Eva." Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You never did answer my earlier question. What do you plan to do?"


    He sighed. There was no slipping that past her. "For now¡­ nothing."


    "Does this have to do with the ship in the VIP dock?"


    This damnable woman really didn''t miss anything. "Yes." He told her who it was and what they wanted. There was no point hiding it from her. She would find out one way or another if she wanted to.


    "Have you tested these improvements of Alexander''s?" She asked.


    There was a distinct hint of surprise in her tone at the efficiency increase. Mingyu had the same feeling when he first studied the plans. Unfortunately, he couldn''t afford a full set of Omni Class 5 engines to test out this supposed discovery with his own ship. And he didn''t own any vessel with the smaller Class 4 engines.


    "Unfortunately, no. But I have Chen testing to see if he can somehow apply these new improvements to Destiny''s Sinorus engines. It''s why I''m free to chat in person."


    "You could just ask Alexander," Eva stated as she sat on a nearby bench.


    "I wish it were that easy," he sighed as he sat next to her. "This trial is important. More important than anything to happen to Petrov in my lifetime. We can''t be seen as showing favoritism toward either side."


    She shook her head. "I don''t understand why Omni didn''t just file their case back in the core systems. Why send someone all the way out here?"


    "That''s easy to answer," he stated. "Someone at Omni realized the same thing we did."


    The older woman sighed. "That Alexander is special."


    "Precisely. Despite the billions of credits they spend on research and development every year, some nobody from the fringe was able to improve upon their design. The fact that Alexander showed them up must gall them."


    Eva chuckled.


    "What''s so funny?"


    "Oh, I just wish I could see their representative''s face when he finds out Alexander beat their best engineers and billions of credits all the while working out of a dingy little shop and using some wildly outdated printers."


    Mingyu paused to picture the scene and burst out laughing as well. If they didn''t manage to save Alexander''s work from these corporate thugs, at least they would get a good laugh out of it.


    ***


    Alexander sighed internally. The last three weeks had been rather boring. For some reason, his business had dried up. At first, he attributed it to another repair shop moving in. But after wandering around the second ring for a full day, he didn''t find any new competitors and even Maxim had closed his doors. Good riddance. He did hear rumors of some corporate big wig from Omni visiting the station. Hard not to when it was all everyone seemed to be talking about. Maybe that was why work was slow.


    Since he put no stake in gossip, he had dismissed the information. After the second week of no work, he looked into the rumors further, which was easier said than done.


    Not very many people were keen to chat with him. And Yulia, while a decent enough conversation partner, was still a child. She didn''t know and didn''t care about some random visitor. He had asked her if Markus knew anything, but the boy only told her to keep her nose out of adult business.


    That was probably for the best.


    Alexander wished he had gotten Eva''s contact information. She might know what was going on. Then again, she was a retiree, so maybe not.


    He didn''t know why he was so invested in knowing in the first place, it was just some thoughts percolating in the back of his mind that told him his lack of work was somehow linked with this stranger''s visit.


    If there was one thing Alexander was good at, it was putting information together. They were like little puzzle pieces to him. He just saw something, and instantly thought, ''Hey, what if I did that instead?'' This intuition is what allowed him to improve the Zephyr''s engines.


    While he would like to consider himself smart, the idea to improve the flow rate wasn''t an original idea of his. It came from one of his other repair jobs. A simple housing designed for the laminar flow of some thick lubricant sparked the idea. He simply adjusted the printer to provide a smoother internal surface for the fuel and combustion systems on the Zephyr. A smoother flow meant better combustion. At the time the improvement just seemed obvious to him.


    It was the same with the interrupter he made for his printers. Alexander simply applied principles from other things in new and unique ways. Given enough time someone else would have realized the same thing he had and implemented the same idea. He just happened to be the first.


    He did feel like a bit of a fake when all he did was steal other people''s designs. But then again, he also needed to make a living. And right now, those designs were the only thing keeping him from losing his lease.


    The rhythmic tapping he was doing with his fingers stopped. Maybe that was why he was so invested in knowing what was going on. His design was built to improve an Omni-designed engine. And while it was mostly rumor, the rumor was that this visitor was from Omni.


    Had he rocked the boat?


    There was one way to find out. He headed toward the kiosk and brought up his sales menu. Thankfully nobody could purchase something anonymously. Alexander scrolled through the list of purchases. It had increased since he had last looked, but it wasn''t nearly as large as he wished it would be. Two purchases stood out to him.


    One was from a Captain Mingyu Na. The name didn''t ring a bell, but the purchase location was Petrov Station. From what he knew, nobody here ran Omni engines. It made the purchase stand out. He would have to look into this person, but first, he flicked to the next name on the list. Hobart Holdings and Trust LLC.


    Geez, even to Alexander''s untrained eyes, that looked like a fake name. He flicked to the personal lookup and paid the cost to see who Mingyu Na was first. Or at least his history.


    And what a history it was. It went back to the founding of Petrov station. With each word Alexander read, his sinking feeling grew.


    Next, he searched for the LLC. There wasn''t much to find, other than it was located in the same core system as Omni''s headquarters. Even the name of the CEO sounded fake, Theodore Pembrooke. Really?


    It was pretty clear this holding company was involved with Omni and the fact that Omni showed up less than a month after that company purchased his design. This was no coincidence. They were here because of him.


    Somehow, someway, his tiny little improvement had garnered the attention of this massive organization. All he had wanted to do was make a bit of extra money and stay under the radar. But he couldn''t even do that properly.


    He headed back to his shop. If he could feel something, he would likely be very anxious right now. Without knowing why Omni was here, all he could do was wait and hope someone told him.


    A few days later someone did show up.


    A simply dressed man of mixed Asian heritage entered his shop and glanced around. Alexander had never seen this man before, but he carried himself with purpose. If he had to guess, this was a Captain. They all seemed to act similarly, even if they dressed wildly differently.


    "Hello, may I help you?"


    "Alexander Kane, I presume?"


    "I am. And you are?..."


    "Captain Mingyu Na of the station Council. Do you have a moment?" Of course, Alexander recognized the name. It had been one of two on his mind constantly since he put the pieces together.


    He sighed mentally and motioned toward Yulia''s stool since he didn''t have any other place for people to sit. The girl was absent, so she would have to forgive him for letting someone else take her seat.


    "I assume you are here in regards to the Omni ship and my patent?"


    If the man was surprised by Alexander''s deduction, he didn''t show it.


    "I am. In fact, I am here representing the station in this arbitration matter."


    "Arbitration? You mean like court?"


    "Not exactly. Litigation would imply some law or another was breached. We concluded that no such thing occurred. We are simply here to ensure both parties reach an agreement."


    "I don''t understand. If no law was breached, why would I need arbitration? I don''t want anything from Omni, and what could they possibly want from me?"


    "Therein lies the problem, Mr. Kane. They want your design and the method you used to craft it. They claim that you breached their intellectual property rights."


    "That''s ludicrous. I simply purchased the designs like I do everything else. If they didn''t want people using their designs to fix or modify their engines, they shouldn''t have made them available."


    "I agree, Mr. Kane. But that doesn''t change the fact that they are here. And they will fight to take what they think is theirs. ¡­I suggest that you let them."


    "What!" Alexander wasn''t angry, he was just shocked by Na''s statement.


    "Hear me out, please."


    Alexander took a mental pause and thought about it. Then he made his holographic face nod. "Fine, I will listen to what you have to say." It didn''t mean he would agree though. Something about this situation was ringing alarm bells in his head.


    "Thank you. Are you familiar with Omni at all?"


    Alexander nodded again. "Only that they manufacture engines."


    "While that is true, that is a very limited view of the company. They are one of, if not the largest company in human space."


    "I knew they were large, but I didn''t know to what extent." What could a company like that want with him? Accusing him of IP theft seemed like a thin excuse. Is this why Jasper had warned him to file the patent? Alexander thought that was to keep small companies from stealing it, not the parent company.


    "Now you see what we are up against. You have a few options but only one good one. I suggest you let them buy out your patent. Allowing them to have it will save you years, or even decades of legal issues that they would throw your way."


    "What? Why would I allow that? That just sounds like letting the bullies win," Alexander replied flatly.


    "You would be right," the Captain responded evenly. "But sometimes it''s better to give them your hard work than to let them beat it out of you. The Council will do its best to ensure a fair deal for you."


    "Why?"


    "Pardon?"


    "Why, Captain Na, does the station care about me? Why even come here if you aren''t giving me a choice? I can''t imagine the Council involves themselves in every arbitration that comes around."


    The man hesitated for a moment and that told Alexander everything he needed to know.


    "You get some of the settlement don''t you?"


    "As your arbitration representative, the station does take a cut."


    A cut? Probably more than a small portion if they were so eager to represent him.


    "Well, then I wish to represent myself. Or better yet I wish to speak to this representative in person." If he was gonna get bent over, it might as well be on his terms. Having the station decide his fate just made him feel like he was back in Yuri''s scrapyard.


    "I''m afraid we can''t allow that."


    "What do you mean you can''t allow that? There has to be some law that states I am allowed to request this. I never asked the station to get involved on my behalf, and I don''t want it."


    "This is exactly why we don''t let civilians represent themselves. If you were aware of the laws, you would know that there isn''t any such stipulation aboard this station. And the Council has already voted. But like I said earlier. We will get you the best deal possible. I know this isn''t ideal for you, Mr. Kane, but this is your best chance of getting Omni to pay. Trust that we will do right by you. You are a talented individual, Alexander, and the station would very much like to work more closely with you."


    "Trust you? How can I trust people who waited weeks to inform me of what was going on, only to blindside me by telling me that they were going to decide my fate for me?! I may not know the law, Mr. Na, but I''m a quick learner." Alexander had to pause for a moment, realizing he was getting angry. The feeling faded away too quickly for him to explore the cause. "I think we are done here, Mr. Na. Unless you change your mind about allowing me to arbitrate for myself, I don''t wish to speak with you any further on this topic. Good day."


    The man stood and nodded. "We are not your enemy, Mr. Kane. Please think about what I said. Eva thought you had potential. I would hate to see you waste it away down here."

 Chapter 17

    After Captain Na left, Alexander got it into his head that he could just repeat his success from the Omni engines on the Sinorus engines instead.After doing some research on the Omni competitor before diving head first this time, Alexander scrapped that plan. Turns out Sinorus wasn''t any better than Omni. He found dozens of articles condemning the Coalition-backed manufacturer''s shady business practices. When he tried to find similar articles on Omni, he found nothing. Considering who won the war, it wasn''t hard to figure out why.


    He now understood why everyone on Petrov Station refused to work on Omni engines. The few articles he did find were obvious propaganda released by the STO. The Sol Treaty Organization couldn''t have made their relationship with the engine manufacturer clearer unless they came door to door and shouted it in your face. It was obvious the STO didn''t want their primary propulsion manufacturer to look bad because it would affect them as well.


    Alexander wasn''t a fool though. Even with his missing memories, he knew no company was squeaky clean. Especially one as large as Omni.


    Knowing both engine suppliers were shady as shit didn''t help him in any way though. Other than to realize he wanted nothing to do with either of them. If he repeated his improvements on the Sinorus design, they were just as likely to come to take his hard work as Omni. So he simply wouldn''t do that.


    That did leave him in a bit of a pickle though. With this Omni cloud hanging over his head, and his income from the sales of his modifications likely to dry up soon, he needed an alternative way to earn money.


    Omni and Sinorus weren''t the only manufacturers around. They were just the biggest. Not wanting to give up, he looked into all the options. He quickly dismissed those other companies. Some hadn''t come out with a new engine in decades, others were only making one very specific design that the larger companies didn''t want a part of. The rest were either in the middle of bankruptcy or being bought out by the two giants. It reeked of monopolization.


    Alexander did look up laws on monopolies. They existed, but it seems like all the teeth had been pulled out of those laws long ago, allowing these companies to essentially do what they pleased and run roughshod over the market.


    He sighed internally as he switched off the terminal. There wasn''t any easy solution to his problem. The future was supposed to be an amazing place filled with human ingenuity and drive. Not this corporate-owned nightmare that he found himself in.


    There was only one way forward that he could think of without running afoul of the corporations. He needed to design and build an engine from the ground up. And he needed to do it all while keeping his company privately owned. Considering he was working out of a converted storage room and he was barely paying his bills, that was easier said than done. After the conversation with Mingyu Na, he didn''t trust the station. They might just as easily confiscate any future designs he came up with.


    That didn''t mean he was going to give up on this idea. He would learn what he could now, and when he was finally free of the restrictions keeping him bound to this station, he would be ready to strike out on his own. Free of Petrov management, free of Omni, and free of the STO.


    When he returned to his shop, he stuck the data disk he had purchased into the small holoprojector on his desk.


    A voice started speaking. "Greetings, and thank you for purchasing this tutorial. Today we are going to discuss the basic elements of conventional propulsion design and engineering."


    Alexander had purchased the full course on the disk, and it had cost him a pretty penny. But if he was going to build his own company to compete with the big two, he needed to understand the basics. Something he currently only had a working knowledge of.


    "What''cha watchin?" Yulia inquired and she climbed on top of her stool.


    "A class on basic propulsion engineering," he responded while continuing the repair he was working on as well as listening to the holo. He was glad he could pay attention to more than one thing at a time.


    "Sounds boring."


    She wasn''t wrong, it was indeed boring. The man teaching the course simply droned on in a monotone voice with absolutely no enthusiasm for the subject whatsoever. But it was the only approved course Alexander could afford.


    "Yours are much more interesting," she stated kicking her feet against the counter.


    "What''s the rule about kicking?"


    "Sorry."


    He nodded and pulled out her daily puzzle. "Here you go."


    While he appreciated her enthusiasm, Alexander wouldn''t really call what he was doing a class. Since Yulia liked to hang around, she might as well get something out of it, so he decided to start building little puzzles for her to solve. They had started out pretty basic, just a simple flat puzzle that she put together. After a few of those, he upgraded her to 3D puzzles.


    She struggled more with those, but after a few helpful hints and words of encouragement, she got the hang of them. When she finished those and grew bored of them, he started incorporating moving parts like gears and levers into the simple 3D shapes. She loved those because once they were complete, she could interact with them. They held her attention for far longer than the other two puzzles, but like any child, she grew bored of those soon enough.


    Recently, he had moved her to more advanced puzzles. Like a frog that could hop around after winding it up, or a little car that used a rubber band to produce motion.


    They were the first things she made that she asked to keep. He didn''t see any problem with that so he had let her take them.


    Today''s puzzle was slightly different.


    "Ooh¡­ What is it?" She asked while looking at the box of parts.


    He shook his head. The girl was always trying to get to the end before she even started. "You''ll figure that out when you finish it."


    "Awww," she whined before taking out the instruction book and looking at the illustrated pictures. Alexander was on to her shenanigans by now though, and he had only created the first third of the instructions. If she managed to get through those today, he would be surprised.


    Seeing as she wasn''t going to learn what the puzzle was meant to be when completed, she huffed and dug into the box until she found the first part.


    He smiled and the pair worked in silence. Well, they were silent, but the annoying instructor still blathered on in the background.


    *** Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Theo checked his appearance one last time in the mirror. He looked immaculate, the same as he had ten minutes ago, and ten minutes before that. Today was an important day though, and he was representing OMNI, so he couldn''t afford to look disheveled.


    The four months had gone by rather quickly. Mainly because he had spent the majority of that time brushing up on the local law codes. And while he hadn''t been able to sneak off the ship and see this Alexander Kane for himself, he had paid someone on the station to report what they learned of the man. Even in a station that hated OMNI to a fault, there were always people who would do anything for money.


    The man had little to say considering the exorbitant amount of money he was offered, but he had stated the ''dude was a robot.'' Yup, those were his exact words. Not exactly a wordsmith, that one.


    That was fine, his description wasn''t surprising to Theo, it matched everything the other people he had paid told him. However, one did provide a bit more in-depth breakdown of the man. Apparently, Mr. Kane was sick or something and used the robot as a means of interacting with people.


    While he hadn''t heard that particular fact before, it wasn''t all that groundbreaking. His background check of the man had revealed similar information. However, he didn''t believe it for one minute. According to Kane''s background, he suffered from some autoimmune disease. It didn''t specify which one it was though, which was the first red flag. The second was the fact nanite regen therapy was available, even out in this dump. Sure it was pricy, but even minimal treatments should allow the man to walk around without too much issue. No, this man wasn''t sick. Theo was leaning toward Kane being an escaped criminal or someone on the run from criminals.


    If true, he could use this information in the future. Unfortunately, this knowledge had little impact on today''s hearing. He certainly couldn''t bring it up. If the Council hadn''t done their homework, he wasn''t about to point this fact out to them. Blackmail was certainly a road he could go down if he needed to.


    Theo checked himself one final time before sliding the ridiculous helmet on to complete his Head of OMNI''s Legal Council persona.


    With a smile, he exited his cabin and made his way to the ship ramp. The OMNI guards didn''t even nod to him before they followed him from the ramp.


    He waited for the hangar doors to open, and once they did, he saw Commissar Ivan Wang waiting for him. The man looked slightly less frazzled than the last time they met, but Theo could see he was still way out of his comfort zone here. Theo didn''t bother improving the man''s mood.


    "Lead the way, Commissar."


    The man nodded, his eyes flicking to the two guards. The weasely-looking man opened his mouth as if to say something before thinking better of it and simply nodding.


    Theo followed him to the elevator, his guards in tow behind. He didn''t need the two burly men, he could defend himself far better than they likely could. But it was a statement. One designed to show he felt irritated by the wait. Not that he did, but it made good set dressing for the upcoming play.


    He pretended to fumble around in the changing gravity, much like he did the last time. But considering how badly the Commissar handled the switch, maybe he hadn''t played it up quite enough. Theo made a mental note to practice looking more inept in gravity changes as the elevator came to a halt.


    The room was much busier than it had been the previous time he was there. As he and his guards climbed out of the elevator, four armed station guards approached.


    "Your security detail will need to remain here."


    One of his guards growled and took a step forward, but all four men pointed pulse rifles at him. This little interaction was playing out almost better than he had hoped. The two guards had been hand-picked by him because they were the two most prone to confrontation. He wanted to gauge the station''s response to any threats by him or his team if alternative measures were needed.


    The less-than-lethal sonic weapons were a mild surprise. He would have expected shock batons at most. You were less likely to seriously injure someone with a shock baton. The pulse rifles could still kill you if they were hit enough times or in the wrong spot. He had been on the receiving end of the weapons enough times to know. It felt like getting kicked in the chest. Not something he was eager to repeat.


    It seemed like the station wasn''t taking any risks here. He reprioritized plans in his head, throwing some out and moving others up. He had alternatives in place if this meeting didn''t go the way he suspected. "Stand down," he stated calmly.


    The guard took a step back, his face returning to a mask of calm. Quick for confrontation, but smart enough to know when to back down.


    "I apologize for his rudeness, but you have kept us sequestered in our hangar for four months. It is only fair that my men would be slightly agitated."


    His plea fell on deaf ears as the station guard only grunted. "This way, and be quick, the Captains are waiting."


    The smile never left his face as he followed two of the station security. The other two stayed back to keep an eye on his guards. Not that his two guards were of any importance, but he would let the station personnel have their tiny victory. The only thing Theo carried with him was a tablet with his case notes.


    The guards led him over to the same meeting room he had visited the previous time. One of them pressed a comm button on the wall, and then they waited.


    Theo did a mental sigh, ''so it was gonna be like this.''


    He patiently waited along with the guards, his smile never faltering for a moment. After twenty minutes, the comm on the wall finally buzzed.


    "They are ready for you."


    He wanted to laugh at the silly power play, but he kept his feelings to himself.


    With a slightly annoyed huff, he strode into the room with all the confidence of a senior lawyer who knew they were about to win their case. The seven councilors were arrayed on the far side of a table in comfy-looking chairs, while a small metal desk and hard seat greeted him.


    Oh, the pettiness¡­ he loved it. For Theo, this little act spoke volumes. The captains knew they were going to lose, and this was their consolation to soothe their pride. He wondered what other gifts they had in store for him. He couldn''t wait to find out.


    He sat at the seat without complaint. "Council Captains¡­ Shall we begin?"

 Chapter 18

    Mingyu sighed as he exited the conference room. It had been four long hours of back-and-forth discussions. While he despised Omni and everything they stood for, he would give the Omni representative his due, the man had done his homework.It was annoyingly frustrating. The only real opportunity they had to keep Mr. Kane''s discoveries out of the hands of the greedy giant was to hope the man screwed up the case. With everything they had thrown at Mr. Pembrooke today, the chance of that happening was quickly vanishing. The man was competent and savvy. Every argument the council brought forth, the man had a counter-argument, or a case law to reference.


    Having discussed their options after Pembrooke left, most of the Captains recognized they were going to lose this case. That didn''t mean they would make it easy on the Omni legal representative. Most of what they could do now was just sheer pettiness. Such as extending the arbitration a few more days so the Omni ships would incur more docking fees. Mingyu thought it was a pointless waste of time. He did not agree with the majority of the Captains on this course of action. And he had been vocal about where he stood. But he was outvoted, so he would go along with the majority.


    It irked him that the biggest sticking point in the arbitration was going to be the actual compensation amount they were going to try and squeeze out of Omni. The fact that the station would take a significant cut meant the captains were going to push for every last credit they could. It was disgusting. Since when had the families fallen so low as to try and make money this way?


    From the brief exchange Mingyu had with Alexander, he knew the man was livid about not being able to represent himself in this arbitration case. Even though station law didn''t even allow for personal arbitration, it did allow for the defendant to attend to state their case. Unfortunately, the Council ruled against allowing that to happen. Another vote he had been on the losing side of.


    They had deemed this case too important to risk having an outside entity affect it. They claimed they voted on this to ensure the station''s safety. If the man said the wrong thing to the Omni rep, who knew what could happen? Those gunships were still at the station, even though they were currently docked. Mingyu doubted the Omni rep would go that far after agreeing to sit around for four months.


    The captains had also agreed not to let the Omni representative or any of the Omni personnel off the ring. Part of that was because they wanted to prevent the mega-corporation from trying to poach the unarguably talented individual. The other reason was to prevent Alexander or Mr. Pembrooke from coming to an outside agreement or for Omni to threaten Mr. Kane in some way, shape, or form. All of these votes against him made him feel like an outsider in the council, but he would not have voted any other way.


    Mingyu wished he could have given Kane what he wanted. It would have made their future dealings much more amicable. But he simply couldn''t. Until Kane had brought it up, he honestly had never heard of any station allowing for a random individual to represent themselves. Most people barely knew enough about the law to not get in trouble, which is why stations usually had some sort of legal representation for people.


    Alexander''s insistence on representing himself was probably some planetside tradition or law that he thought was universal. It was another sign pointing to the fact Kane was not born a spacer.


    That did throw off Mingyu''s previous assumption that the man was an escapee from some criminal organization. He supposed Kane may have been abducted from some planet beyond STO''s control and then escaped. There were always rumors of humans that had gone far beyond the rim to live in peace away from the STO and their laws. But those were always just rumors. That also seemed unlikely for Mr. Kane considering the ailment he insisted he had. At least for the escaping part. He could certainly see some unsavory group snatching up a man who couldn''t defend himself.


    He just hoped their choices didn''t strain their relationship with Kane. The man was an asset that the station could ill afford to lose. He just wished his fellow Captains could see beyond the looming Omni payday.


    ***


    Alexander was not in the mood to work on anything today. Considering he didn''t suffer from mood swings, that was surprising. He chalked it up to the fact the arbitration hearing had started. And he was stuck here, waiting to hear how others would decide his life. How was anyone supposed to find that comforting?


    Having Council Captain Na deny his request to speak for himself during this case was a punch to the gut. He felt like he was back in Yuri''s salvage yard, stripped of all his own agency and independence.


    The Captain''s assurance that they would get him adequate compensation for his work was not the balm they seemed to think it was. He only cared about having enough money to survive. Everything past that was simply superfluous until he figured out how to get rid of the control box. Something deep inside him also detested the thought of his hard work being usurped all because of some arbitrary law that was being twisted to benefit some greedy mega-corporation. He couldn''t figure out why he felt this way. He tried to explore this feeling, but it was elusive as smoke and vanished like his memories when he poked around it too long.


    Did this feeling stem from something he had experienced in the past? If it did, there weren''t any lingering memories to point the way. Alexander would have loved to explore this newfound emotion, but there was nothing to explore. He had yet to uncover anything about his circumstances since freeing himself. But if he was being honest, he hadn''t tried all that hard.


    A part of this might have been fear, he couldn''t tell. He felt emotions, the fact that he could detest something told him that was true. But even that one flickered like a tiny flame before guttering out. He wondered if whatever had caused him to be injured and dropped off at this station had damaged him mentally. It certainly wasn''t the strangest explanation.


    What if he was better off without his emotions? He had gotten along fine so far without them. His mind went into a spiral of what-ifs as he lost track of time.


    "Alex?"


    He jerked out of his stupor and turned toward the voice. "When did you arrive, Yulia?"


    "Um¡­ a little bit ago. You looked like you were concentrating so I didn''t want to bother you." The little girl looked worried.


    He made his avatar smile. "Oh. It''s fine, I was just lost in thought." He glanced at his internal clock in shock. FOR THREE HOURS! He had completely spaced out for three whole hours without realizing it. Alexander made a mental note not to explore his emotions while he was working if something like this could happen again.


    Yulia seemed to relax and Alexander handed her her daily puzzle before going back to his work. At least he hadn''t accidentally crafted another gun while he was out this time. That would have not gone well.


    ***


    "You can''t be serious," Theodore stated. "Alexander Kane''s improvements are minor at best. They certainly don''t constitute the ridiculous sum you are asking for. A fairer offer would be five thousand credits. And that''s being generous."


    The room exploded into outrage at his counteroffer, which is what he had been aiming for. This trial had dragged on for a full week. Even he was growing tired of the nonsense they kept bringing up to try and extend the proceedings.


    It had been clear on day one that OMNI was going to win this case. He just wasn''t prepared for just how stubborn these people were. Now he was getting his own petty revenge. OMNI would likely have to pay quite the sum to this Mr. Kane, but he was going to make these people work for every credit. That would teach them to waste his time.


    Eventually, the outrage subsided and Captain Kovalenko spoke up. "As you may have guessed, Mr. Pembrooke, your offer is unacceptable."


    "As is yours. Where do you ever get off on requesting ten-billion credits? I have looked at Mr. Kane''s sales numbers. To date, he has a grand total of ten sales. Even if we projected that out to the life of the patent, that wouldn''t even reach ten million credits."


    "A patent that legally belongs to Mr. Kane," Sergei Zhang commented.


    "We have already established that his patent does not cover any existing O.M.N.I. components. Because those components are all covered under the S.T.O.''s charter for possible military application." The charter was a bullshit piece of legislation that OMNI had pushed through thanks to huge donations to very specific parties. It was a legal loophole that essentially allowed them to commandeer any improvements to their designs even if they were patented by others. It did not allow them to simply steal them though. Even that was a little too far for their benefactors. But that was fine, OMNI had more than enough capital to pay off people, or make them vanish.


    Captain Hoffman held his hand up to forestall Sergei''s follow-up outburst. That was a shame, Theodore quite liked the short-tempered man. At least he made this boring meeting a bit more lively.


    "We are well aware of this law," Hoffman said the last word with such derision, that Theo almost laughed. "But you are not just asking for those patents. You are also asking for the process he used to create them."


    He mentally applauded the man''s effort to turn OMNI''s demand into an ask. "Yes, we are. And that''s why I think my offer is more than generous."


    Before the room could explode into angry muttering again, Kovalenko spoke up. "Mr. Pembrooke, would O.M.N.I. be happy if someone claimed one of their patents and the processes to manufacture it, and then told them that it was only worth five thousand credits?"


    "I don''t see how that''s relevant to this case," he responded, laughing internally.


    "Imagine the scenario for me, if you''d please."


    "I''m afraid I lack the imagination for something that could never happen, Captain."


    Captain Kovalenko''s mouth turned into a thin line. "Let me paint a picture for you then. If Mr. Kane and O.M.N.I''s positions were reversed, I can assure you, that they would not settle for a measly five thousand credits. The fact that you expect us to is insulting."


    "Us?" Theodore asked, his grin widening ever so slightly. "Last I checked, Mr. Kane was not affiliated with any other entity nor the station."


    His statement made the captains squirm uncomfortably. It wasn''t a surprise. He knew months ago that whatever price OMNI paid, the station would get a cut. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You know what I mean, Mr. Pembrooke," the man quickly tried to correct himself. But the damage was done. He high-fived himself mentally at the victory. The captains would now have to settle for a lesser amount to not seem greedy. Honestly, he could have just agreed to the original amount, it was less than OMNI had given him to work with. But he would be damned if he spent the majority of their mission budget on this.


    He had done his math and he would happily bet that the Captains had as well. This patent of Mr. Kane''s was worth a fortune. Even if these improvements could only be applied to the smaller Class 4 engine design, just selling the upgrade alone would net OMNI half a billion a year. If their legion of engineers and AIs could expand the design improvement to the rest of their line, and he had no reason to doubt they could, this single patent could be worth a trillion credits in ten years. That was still a small drop in OMNI''s massive bucket of capital, but it would set them up as the premier engine and thruster manufacturer for quite some time.


    Although, OMNI wouldn''t do that. They would delist the patent. Why delist something that could make them so much money? Simple. They could make ten times the amount by simply incorporating these improvements into a new generation of engines. Why improve old tech, when they can simply force people to swap to the new stuff? With that approach, they could also work with their partners who design the power plants and fuel delivery systems so the newer engines would only work if ship captains upgraded everything.


    Of course, how OMNI would handle this was all just speculation on his part. He wasn''t exactly privy to that information.


    Discussions went back and forth for a few more hours. Each side gave a little until finally a happy median was reached.


    "Three hundred million credits, you agree to this amount?" Kovalenko asked in annoyance.


    Theodore pretended to hem and haw about the exorbitant amount. And it was a ridiculous amount of money for any normal person. You could purchase a few used medium-sized ships for that amount of credit or live out the rest of your life in opulent luxury on some rim world. For him and OMNI, it was the deal of the century or should he say steal. "While I don''t agree that it is worth that amount, O.M.N.I. finds it acceptable."


    There was a collective sigh of relief from the Captains at his statement. Maybe he should have pushed for a lower amount. Oh well. "Now that we have come to an agreement, where can I send my crew to retrieve O.M.N.I''s property?"


    "You won''t," Captain Denis Kovalenko stated flatly. "Your people are to return to your ship and wait. We will send a porter down to retrieve your property along with armed station escorts to ensure nothing untoward happens to it. I think that brings an end to our proceedings. You are dismissed, Mr. Pembrooke."


    Theodore made a show of looking annoyed at the ruling, although, he had expected them to deny his request. It was a long shot to try and get to meet this elusive Alexander in person finally. That was fine though. OMNI would be watching, and eventually, an opportunity would present itself to make the man an offer. Very few people ever said no when OMNI wanted them to work for them. The few that did usually got a personal visit from him. They didn''t care for competition.

 Chapter 19

    Alexander was just finishing up a work order when Mingyu Na came through the door followed by five security officers.He put down the tool he was holding and looked at the Captain. "So this is it then?"


    "I told you when we spoke earlier that this was the most likely outcome."


    "You did. That doesn''t mean I have to like it." He hated it, and he couldn''t do anything about the fact. Not because he didn''t want to though. He physically couldn''t stop them because of the damn restrictions in the control box.


    "Don''t be like this, Mr. Kane. I didn''t want this outcome any more than you did. But we have to be practical. Petrov Station only has a population of just over a hundred thousand people. If I had to guess, Omni employs more than that just at one of their construction yards. We pushed the mega-giant as much as we were willing to for your sake."


    Alexander laughed. "My sake? How much is the station pocketing from this deal?"


    Na''s smile thinned but he didn''t reply.


    "Just take the stuff and get out of my shop."


    The Captain motioned with his head and the security officers waved in some workers who set about putting the printer on a dolly. While they worked, the Captain walked over and stood next to Alexander while he watched his work being stolen.


    "We did try," Na spoke quietly.


    "I believe you. But that''s not the point, Captain. You only tried because there was something in it for you and the station."


    "Everyone wants something, Mr. Kane, you are no exception. One day you will realize this and see we did what was best. Try not to let this color our relationship. There is much we can do to help each other."


    Alexander focused his attention on the man without adjusting his avatar. Did the Captain seriously believe he would work with them after they sold off his hard work to help line their own pockets? The gall.


    If it wasn''t for the fact he was stuck on this station, he would have told the man off. But until he figured out how to bypass Yuri''s hardcoded restrictions, he was left at the mercy of those who ran Petrov Station.


    He chose not to respond to the Captain''s last statement. He simply waited for the workers to finish and everyone to leave. Captain Na was the last one out, the man paused in the doorway.


    "Think about what I said, Mr. Kane. Your talents are wasted down here. Your account should have your settlement already deposited." With that statement, the Council Captain left his shop.


    A flicker of anger ran through Alexander''s mind, vanishing before he could even process it. He didn''t bother checking to see how much Omni had paid to steal his invention, he simply turned around and went back to work.


    ***


    Mingyu kept his face placid, but inside he was fuming, not because of what Alexander Kane had said to him. The man was understandably upset. Were he in the man''s shoes, he would be raising hell. It seemed Kane was a much more level-headed individual than him.


    He had tried to convey the importance of working with Mr. Kane to the other Captains but they couldn''t see what he could. Most seemed to only care about the short-term gains of fleecing money from the mega-corporation. Over a measly one hundred million credits. That was barely the operating budget for Petrov for a full year. Had they instead stood behind Kane and helped him grow, the man could have earned the station billions. Their idiotic and short-sighted approach caused him to reevaluate his opinion of some of the Captains.


    It was foolish to alienate such a talented individual. Just the fact that Omni had sent someone to take his work should have pointed that out. Someone like Alexander Kane came around once in a lifetime.


    Instead of standing behind the man, they squandered any opportunity to get in his good graces. Something that could have propelled Petrov Station to greater heights. Even a token effort to have the man at the trial probably would have been enough to stay on his good side. But no, they threw it all away to carve out the most money they could.


    He knew some of the Captains were struggling but he didn''t think they were so bad off that they would completely dismiss his suggestions. It made him angry but also made him wonder.


    After being outvoted, he looked into the station finances, and what he found was troubling. The last time Mingyu had station duty was five years ago. Back then the station finances were doing okay. They weren''t great, but then again they never really had been. With Petrov being so far from the rest of human-occupied space, it didn''t see a huge influx of traffic or trade. But even then, they made ends meet.


    Now the station was running a deficit and it seemed to be growing with each year. It wasn''t clear how or why that had happened. The books were in disorder. What he could see was that Kovalenko and Hoffman had been taking out large loans against the station''s finances.


    Since the trial was ongoing, Mingyu hadn''t confronted the men about the issue. Accusing one of the family heads, let alone two of financial misconduct was unheard of. Mingyu couldn''t deny the evidence though. Both men had recently done major upgrades to their ships.


    While not in itself damning evidence, it was suspicious. The Na family wasn''t the richest family on Petrov Station, that title fell to the Weiss family. But even a family as wealthy as the Weiss didn''t do more than one ship system upgrade at a time. It was impractical and expensive.


    Without access to Kovalenko''s and Hoffman''s personal financial records, he couldn''t say for certain, but he could almost guarantee both of their families were less financially stable than his own. While that didn''t mean they were poor, it did mean they couldn''t afford these ship upgrades. Dock records also showed that neither of these men had done any active mining or cargo hauling in nearly a year.


    Money didn''t just appear from thin air. If neither of these Captains were active, and yet their crew were still employed and getting paid, the money had to be coming from some other source. There were only two options that he could think of, and neither was good.


    Mingyu had found precedence in the archive of one family being stripped of their power after consorting with pirates early in the station''s life. While there was no evidence of collusion in this case, this situation was equally as bad. He hoped he was wrong and that these men were just both really bad at managing finances.


    No matter what was found, it was likely both men would be stripped of their positions and exiled. The station was the lifeblood of all the families and over a hundred thousand people. To not even tell the Council of this financial issue was gross incompetence at the very least.


    The issue with the Captains and Alexander weighed heavily on his mind. He sighed quietly and followed the cargo and security officers to the VIP hangar. It was time to get this transfer over with and get the pompous Omni rep off their station once and for all.


    ***


    Theodore Pembrooke watched as a group of workers carted in a large crate atop a dolly. He couldn''t help thinking, ''This is what three hundred million buys you.''


    The cart was followed by station security, which immediately made his own security people tense up.


    Last came one of the Council, Captain Na. The man''s face was tight with annoyance as he watched the handoff of the cargo to Theo''s people.


    Once the cargo was secure aboard his ship, the Captain spoke. "Your docking privileges expire in twenty minutes. I suggest you hurry unless you wish to be charged for an additional day." Theo only smiled at that.


    No more words were exchanged, and soon the station personnel evacuated the bay. Once aboard and sealed up, his ship started powering up. They didn''t hurry though, that would show the Council that Omni was worried about their little threat. Twenty-five minutes later, his ship floated out of the dock, soon met by their escorts.


    It was quite something that the STO fleet had left only the day before. Almost like it had been planned, he chuckled internally. He was sure his insight into that little affair would stir up some discussion back home, but for now, he was curious to see what OMNI''s investment had garnered them.


    He walked over to a comm panel and clicked on engineering. "Yeah, what is it?" a gruff voice responded.


    "Chief, it''s Mr. Pembrooke. When you have a moment, could you meet me in the hangar?"


    The man grumbled, obviously wanting him to hear since sound couldn''t be transmitted without the button being pressed. "Give me twenty minutes. I need to make sure the powerplant is operating properly after being offline for so long."


    There was a soft click, indicating the other side had disconnected. Theo smiled at that. The Chief engineer was a hoot. The man really was the Chief Engineer. Not just of this ship, but of OMNI as a whole. The Chief Engineer occasionally took trips like this as a form of vacation or when he was needed for his expertise. The man also didn''t care who he was speaking with. He spoke his mind and that was that.


    The Chief got away with it because he was a genius, and OMNI wouldn''t be where it is today without him and his inventions. Particularly his advances in AI modeling.


    Twenty minutes passed rather quickly and soon enough a stocky older man tromped into the hangar. "What is it you wanna waste my time on now ya glorified errand boy?"


    Theo chuckled. "Oh, how I have missed your acerbic wit, Chief Benning."


    "Quit trying to butter me up with your fancy words. I''m not one of your pillow girls. Just tell me what you want."


    "I was hoping you could give me some insight into our most recent acquisition?"


    "Waste of my damn time," the man grumbled under his breath. The engineer walked over to a locker and pulled out a drill before stomping over to the crate and removing the bolts that secured the top and sides.


    With a grunt, he pushed the items off and looked inside. "This is the shit you bought?"


    Theo frowned. "Did they switch it on us?" He didn''t think the station Captains had the balls to do something like that but you never could be certain with some people.


    "What are you yammering about?"


    While he did enjoy the man''s cutting commentary, he was starting to get annoyed. "Is it or is it not what we were supposed to get?"


    "How the hell would I know?"


    A vein pulsed in Theo''s forehead and he pulled out his tablet and scrolled to the page that showed what they were supposed to receive. Then he handed it over to the Chief. The man glanced at it momentarily before handing it back. "Yeah, that''s what we have."


    "Good, for a moment you had me worried."


    "You should be. This is shit."


    He took a deep breath before responding. "Can you elaborate?"


    "Shit, it comes out your rear end. But if you are referring to the specific shit in front of us, just look at it." The man waved to the device like he should understand.


    "Please continue."


    The man shook his head. "This is why I keep telling those idiots in corporate not to purchase shit without consulting with me. This ''printer'', if you can even call it that, is forty years out of date. My grandchild has a more advanced printer and he''s five."


    "What about the modifications, surely those are important."


    The Chief scoffed. "I wasn''t sure what they were at first glance, but after taking in the whole thing I''m pretty sure I know what they do."


    "And what''s that?"


    "Nothing any newer industrial printer can''t. If my guess is correct, and they usually are, it''s a ring designed to emit an electromagnetic field."


    Theo was confused. He didn''t know a whole lot about technology, but he wasn''t completely unfamiliar with certain things. "Why would someone want to create an electric field inside the print area?"


    "An electromagnetic field, not an electric field, ya nitwit. Normally there would be no point. The field this little thing can create would be too weak to do anything, especially on a planet. And the OMNI orbital printers already have similar technology built into them." Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Understanding came to Theo. "That device cancels the effect of gravity?" If that were true, this purchase was even bigger than he realized.


    The engineer burst into laughter. "What are you smoking? Of course, it doesn''t. All it likely does is counteract the field produced by gravity plating. Hell, it probably doesn''t even do that. It probably just weakens it. While I will give the man credit for coming up with a unique way of going about it, it is functionally useless. Any printer created in the last decade can compensate for the effects of gravity while it prints. And newer ships can just switch off sections of gravity to produce better effects."


    No, that didn''t make sense. He had been sent out here personally to oversee this acquisition. He was starting to hyperventilate. "What about the designs I sent you?"


    "What about them?"


    "There has to be something worthwhile there?" Theo''s panic began to rise, causing his voice to break slightly.


    The old engineer quirked an eyebrow at that. "Just how much did this cost OMNI?"


    Theodore told him. He had to wait ten minutes before the man stopped laughing long enough to speak. "You wasted three hundred million. I could have saved us four months and a trip out here if someone had just spoken to me first. Sure, OMNI will probably make their money back¡­ eventually."


    "Eventually? But we could implement this into new designs."


    "No, you can''t because our new engine designs have already eliminated those inefficiencies. Hell, the next-gen engines are more efficient yet. The only thing these designs are good for is improving existing installs of older models, and you know how OMNI feels about that."


    He did know. OMNI''s current sales philosophy revolved around new engine installs, not upgrading older engines. So why had corporate sent him out here to buy it¡­ unless. His face went pale.


    "Oh ho! Looks like someone finally caught on," Benning chuckled.


    "But- I''ve been a model employee. Why would they want to set me up for failure."


    "You are but a small cog in a large machine, Pembrooke. Someone high up the chain saw this opportunity and gambled on it. Or maybe they thought you were getting too big for your britches. Either way," he shrugged. "Do you think they are going to take the fall when it turns out the investment of three ships and over five months was wasted? But don''t worry your tiny little brain, they probably won''t fire you and if they sent you out here, you''re obviously not being liquidated." Chief Benning chuckled again.


    A cold creeping sensation went down Theo''s back. He was usually the one who liquidated people, so he knew what that meant.


    "They will simply demote and reassign you. Good luck with that by the way." The man clapped him on the shoulder before walking out of the hold laughing.


    This wasn''t funny, why was he laughing?

 Chapter 20

    Alexander found it hard to care about anything for the next few days. He simply went through the motions like he had back when he worked for Yuri. By shutting himself off from the outside world and letting his body run automatically, he wasn''t constantly going over what had transpired. This was essentially his version of sulking. Not that he could truly sulk, it was more like just letting his mind go blank.This wasn''t the same state he entered when he accidentally created weapons. He had been able to pin that issue down to times when he was idle, but his mind was whirling with ideas. Now it was reversed. His mind was idle, but his body continued to work.


    It was Yulia''s worried expression that finally snapped him out of this fugue state.


    "Alex, are you alright?"


    He gave the mental equivalent of a blink and turned the projection of his face to the girl. "I was just thinking. I''m fine now though."


    "Oh¡­ It''s just¡­ you looked really scary just now."


    The statement shocked him for a couple of reasons. The first was that there was no physical change that should have shown his condition. And the second was that this little girl had somehow still picked up on it.


    "How is your puzzle coming along?" he asked instead, trying to draw her attention away from his lapse.


    "¡­OK, I guess."


    "Oh, have you run into an issue?"


    She nodded slowly. "The math you gave me is really hard. I followed the instructions to enter it into the controller, but I can''t get it to work right."


    He made his face nod in understanding. "Why don''t you show me and we can go over it together."


    "Don''t you have work to complete?" she asked, looking at the parts strewn about his counter.


    "A little break won''t hurt. Now, let''s see what you have." The little robotic humanoid was his latest puzzle for her. It contained a bunch of small parts and even gears along with a motor and controller.


    Alexander had designed and built the toy completely from scratch. He even created a simple robotic program for it to run on. The only thing Yulia had to do was solve certain math problems to get the robot to perform an action. The problems started off simple enough, and then steadily got harder. He had even added some algebra problems towards the end. He was curious to see how far she had gotten.


    The girl pushed the button on the controller and the figure started to move around, and even walk. It contained some simple sensors, so when it got to the edge of the counter, it knew to turn around instead of falling off.


    Soon it started to do more complex tasks, like bending over and sticking its arm up in the air to approximate a wave. Yulia laughed and waved back. There was a pause, and the robot started to do the ''robot''.


    "See! It gets there and starts doing weird stuff."


    Alexander chuckled. "No, it''s dancing. It''s a dance called the robot."


    The young girl scrunched up her face, "That''s a dumb name for a dance. I''ve never seen a robot dance before."


    "Never?" he asked, quirking his holographic eyebrow, then he threw down some killer moves. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The girl burst out in laughter as he made his much more limber body mimic the stiff and jerky movements of the little robot until they were in sync. Eventually, she tried to join in. The two laughed and danced and it was exactly what he needed to get his thoughts past what Omni and the station had done.


    Yulia was quickly becoming one of his favorite people, he was glad he hadn''t chased her off so many months ago.


    ***


    The Devil''s Bargain jumped back into Gliese 667. After the STO strike group had entered the system, they had quickly made themselves scarce. Captain Harn had no love for the government. Similarly, the STO had no love for the many mercenary companies that plied their trade. A necessary evil he had overheard one STO officer comment back when he was still in the fleet.


    "System''s clear, Captain," the sensor officer spoke. "Looks like the STO finally packed up and left."


    "Bout damn time," he muttered. Harn turned to the two crew who were waiting off to the side of the bridge. It was because of them he was back in this system so soon. "Tell me again what you saw." The pair had approached him with an opportunity after they completed their last job.


    "Gino and I spotted this man on the second ring. I swear on my mother''s grave that it was the spitting image of Harlow himself." The notorious pirate had gone missing years ago. But there was still a bounty out on him.


    "Uh, huh¡­ And you say you saw this man in a small repair shop on the second ring?" he let his skepticism sink into every word.


    "Well¡­ Not exactly him, Captain. I can show ya. I got an implant." The man sent the file to his screen.


    A slightly grainy video showed the man walking into a repair shop, where a girl sat on a stool, and a large robot was moving around inside a storage closet. The view quickly zoomed into the holographic face represented on the robot. It did look a lot like the infamous pirate.


    "The robot is Harlow? And why is the video so grainy?"


    "I asked my contact in security about that. Apparently, all the cameras in that area are experiencing issues. And no. According to some people we talked with, that''s just what he uses to interact with people. His real body is in a med pod. Probably how he''s avoided getting caught for so long."


    Harn grunted. It wasn''t the most outlandish thing he had heard. Assaulting a station resident wasn''t exactly legal. But if they were right, the risk would be worth it. And if they were wrong, he would simply pay the fine.


    "What about the girl?"


    Svadi shrugged. "Station ward. I figure we hit the place late in the evening, and she shouldn''t be around." They better hope she isn''t there. "And the med pod?"


    "Got the location from a guard we paid off."


    It seems they had done their homework. Harlow masquerading as some rich bastard who suffered from a disease that kept him locked away in a medical chamber certainly fit. His men had even paid off one of the guards to get the location of that chamber and found it was just another storage room with no communication terminal anywhere nearby.


    The plan was simple. Shoot the robot to disable it, which going by how cobbled together it looked, probably wouldn''t be hard, then grab the med pod and hightail it back to the ship before station security caught on to the capture.


    Normally he wouldn''t consider an operation like this, but he was close to retirement, bringing in Harlow would earn him enough to live a comfortable life somewhere in the core systems and far away from this backwater filled with Coalition filth. "What about the weapon discharge sensors?"


    "My man in security says he can scrub them from the sensors for a minute. That should be more than enough time."


    It wouldn''t be the first time his people had to perform a job on a station. The last time they were here, his people had stumbled upon another bounty. It had only taken a stunner to subdue that target, and they had gotten him aboard the ship without anyone being the wiser. Harn knew that there were other bounties on the station, but with the sensors, the two gunships, and the STO showing up, it had been too hot to risk taking anymore.


    He would like to claim a few more of these bounties along with Harlow. But if it was him, he was worth far more than some low-level criminal. It wasn''t worth putting one op at risk by running multiple other ops.


    "Fine. I''m giving this op the green light. Get suited up, and make sure to cover your faces." He didn''t mention that if things went sideways he was cutting these two free. They may be good mercenaries, but it wasn''t worth taking a trip out an airlock for them.


    The ship floated into the dock and touched down. Unfortunately, asking for a specific dock close to their target would be giving too much away, so they were forced to go with whatever the station assigned them. That didn''t mean he couldn''t swing certain factors in his favor.


    After telling the station attendant that he may need to do repairs, the woman on the other end assigned the Devil''s Bargain a dock on the third ring. It was more than he had hoped for. Harn was a man who believed in luck, and it seemed lady luck was on their side for this mission.


    He had his crew disembark for some R&R while his mechanic took some panels off to make it look like they were investigating some issues. It was early morning at the station, so the two would need to wait until later on when activity slowed to hit their target. By then, the ship would be topped off on reaction mass, the ''repairs'' would be complete, and the crew would be back aboard. All he had to do was sit back and wait to collect his prize.


    ***


    "You think the Captain bought it?" Gino asked as they prepped their gear.


    "Quiet, you idiot," Svadi hissed. "Of course the Captain bought it. It took me forever to doctor those images to make that holographic face look sort of like Harlow."


    "But he''s bound to find out when we bring the pod in."


    "We''re not bringing the pod in, stupid. We take out the robot, then snatch the guns and hide them. We rush back to the ship and tell him the op went sideways. Then we can come back at our leisure after the old man retires and collect our prize. Simple as that."


    Gino smiled. "Simple as that!" The two slammed their armored forearms together.

 Chapter 21

    "And here you can see where we process the station''s wastewater," an adult droned on.Despite the adult''s less-than-enthusiastic tone and the noise, Yulia was enjoying the field trip that the headmaster had put together for the orphanage. She couldn''t say the same for the rest of the kids, who looked extremely bored, but she was fascinated by how things worked. She may have felt differently before Alex got her started on her puzzles though.


    Now instead of boring machines that did dull tasks, she wondered how they actually worked.


    "Ooh! Ooh!" she jumped up and down and raised her hand so the worker could see her.


    The man tilted his head back slightly and closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Yes, what would you like to know this time?"


    The rest of the kids groaned, but she didn''t care. "How does the machine process the water?"


    After moving on from that part of the trip, Markus leaned down and whispered to her. "You gotta stop asking questions. We are already two hours past the evening meal, and I can see Headmaster Wong getting frustrated. Not to mention the younger kids are beginning to complain."


    After Markus said that to her, Yulia too realized she was starving. She had just been so caught up in all the new things that she had overlooked her own hunger.


    The rest of the trip sped by, and Yulia did her best to keep any more questions to herself, even though she was burning to know. She could ask Alex, he was smart; surely he would know how an oxygen recycler worked.


    "That brings us to the end of the trip. I hope you have enjoyed yourselves and learned something. Perhaps one day, you too could be a system maintenance tech, like me."


    The kids all clapped half-heartedly. Most were tired and hungry. But even Yulia didn''t think she wanted to be a whatever tech like this man. She wanted to be like Alex. He was cool.


    With the help of some of the older kids, the headmaster managed to wrangle the group into the elevator. Once the door closed, blissful silence hit all their ears. The tube shot to the second ring while the younger kids complained about their ears ringing. The headmaster did his best to calm their concerns, but they were being quite fussy.


    Yulia just hummed to cover the droning buzz. The older kids just bore it quietly. They were so cool.


    After returning to the orphanage, the headmaster spoke up. "I know it''s late, and I will get the meal ready as soon as possible. In the meantime, I want you all to get ready for bed." Quiet cries of complaint met that statement.


    "Enough of that now. After we eat, you''ll all brush and head straight to bed. Now chop chop. And don''t interrupt me or dinner will be even later."


    The kids shuffled off, dragging their feet, while the headmaster hurried into the kitchen. All except Yulia.


    She waited for the older kids, specifically for Markus to head into the bathrooms before she snuck out. There was too much on her mind for it to wait until morning. She needed to ask Alex about the stuff they learned today, or she wouldn''t get a lick of sleep tonight.


    Yulia had never been out this late, and the station was eerily quiet at this time of night. But she didn''t let that stop her as she kept humming as she skipped toward Alex''s shop. It wasn''t until she was most of the way there that she realized he may be closed or asleep. Did robots sleep?


    Thankfully she saw that the light was on, and she could hear voices. With renewed vigor, she sprinted the rest of the way. As soon as she got to the door, she shouted. "Alex, guess what I learned today!"


    Two men in full suits turned toward her.


    ***


    Alexander was working late on yet another repair, thankful that his work had picked up again after the Omni ships left the system. He didn''t need to sleep and the money he earned from the case was more than enough to comfortably live by, but to him, it might as well be blood money. The money would be used eventually, but he preferred to rely on his skills for the time being.


    As he was replacing a solenoid, two men in full vac-armor walked into the shop. He couldn''t tell who they were as their face shields were set to reflective. But he didn''t need to see their faces to know who they were. The armor gave it away. It was the armor he had repaired months ago. Then he saw the guns. Pulse rifles weren''t illegal but they were severely frowned upon by station security. Although, that wasn''t the terminology used in the actual law.


    He paused in what he was doing and stepped back from the desk before raising his arms in the air. Nobody walked around weapon in hand unless they planned to use it. "Gentlemen."


    "Open your storage room," the closest man said in a modulated voice through a speaker on his suit. Now both of the men had the rifles pointed squarely at him.


    "Slowly!" he added as Alexander began to move.


    He made his face nod in understanding as he slowly entered the code on the door behind him. It clicked open and he stepped aside. Both men''s guns moved to follow him. Once the door was clear, the first man walked around the counter and shoved the door the rest of the way open.


    "Where are the guns?" he growled. "We saw you put them in here."


    As soon as he realized who these two were, he was pretty certain he knew what they were after. That statement only cleared up any lingering doubt. Had they seen him working on the weapon, and only came in after that to verify what they saw? Or did they see them sitting on the shelf when he exited the storage room? Not that it mattered, because they had obviously seen them. "I don''t have or sell weapons," he responded knowing neither of these men would believe him.


    If he had only been able to modify his damn control box, then maybe he could fight back or something. As it sat, he couldn''t even touch these men thanks to the restrictions hardcoded into the device.


    "I know what I saw, so don''t fucking lie to¨C,"


    "Alex, guess what I learned today!" an excited girl''s voice stated triumphantly from the doorway.


    Horror flooded Alexander''s mind as he watched the second man whirl and fire on the little girl.


    The first man fired as well, but the pulse blast was aimed at Alexander. It hit him, but it simply dissipated on his body. With no path to get to Yulia without going through the man behind the counter, he simply grabbed the heavy metal counter that was obstructing him and pulled.


    The whole thing ripped off the ground, shearing the anchor bolts with a scream of metal. He threw it across the room, trying to get it out of his way so he could protect the girl.


    But even as he was heaving the heavy metal of the counter around like a toy, the second man had already pulled his trigger.


    He screamed internally, diving to try and intercept the nearly invisible discharge from the weapon, but he was too late. He could only watch in horror as the girl''s eyes went wide a moment before the blast struck her in the chest, slamming her against the door frame where she crumpled without so much as a muffled scream.


    Rage like nothing he could ever recall filled Alexander and he was momentarily blinded by the emotion as he whirled on the two men. Both men had seen what he did to the counter, and blast after blast slammed into him until one finally shattered the control box, plunging Alexander into a pit of darkness and despair.


    ***


    After the robot finally collapsed to the ground, the first man rushed over and cuffed the second upside the helmet. "You dumb shit, you shot a kid!"


    "How the fuck was I supposed to know? She just ran in here, startling me. What do we do now?"


    "Now? Now we get the hell out of here before station security finds these two. The Captain is going to be pissed that the op went sideways."


    "Fuck that, I ain''t going without something." The second man scrounged around until he came up with a few credit chips.


    Then they rushed out of the business and down the hall. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Markus remained frozen around the corner as the two men ran past him without even noticing. After he had realized Yulia had snuck out, he knew exactly where she had gone. So he went to retrieve her before she got herself into trouble. He rounded the corridor just as the fighting erupted.


    Swallowing the lump in his throat, he cautiously approached the open door to Alexander''s Repair shop. The first thing he saw was Yulia''s small form crumpled against the entrance. There was blood. He started to panic as it brought back memories of finding his dad after the accident that took his life. Markus did the breathing exercises that the doctors told him should help, but it felt like they weren''t doing much. "Whaddo I do, whaddo I do?!"


    He recalled the first aid training that the older kids were forced to sit through to assist if one of the younger kids got hurt. With a shaking hand, he lightly touched Yulia''s neck and felt for a pulse.


    It took him longer than it did in the video, but he eventually felt one. That was good, she was alive. After checking on Yulia, he looked into the room. His eyes went wide at the damage, but they settled on the motionless form of the robot. There wasn''t anything he could do about that. He turned and rushed down the corridor until he found the closest terminal. Then he slammed the emergency button and entered the location.


    The few working emergency lights in the area started flashing, and a voice spoke over the terminal. "Emergency services are on their way, please state the nature of the emergency."


    Markus told the woman everything he had seen and even provided descriptions of the two men. Soon a team of rescue workers arrived and loaded Yulia onto a stretcher before rushing her to the nearest medical center.

 Chapter 22

    Captain Harn was aboard the Devil''s Bargain when the station alert went off."ALL STATION LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT. ALL DOCKED CRAFT ARE TO REMAIN DOCKED. ANY SHIP ATTEMPTING TO LEAVE AT THIS TIME WILL BE TREATED AS A PIRATE AND DEALT WITH IN THAT MANNER."


    He slammed his fist against his desk. Those fucking idiots had done something to bring the ire of the station down on them, he just knew it. He hurried out of his cabin and to the ops center without even putting on a shirt.


    "Rico!"


    "Yes, Captain?" The man jumped as if he had been asleep.


    "Change the docking code and the ship code, now."


    "Are you sure, Captain? We still have Gino and Svadi off the ship."


    "Did I stutter?!"


    "N- No, Sir." The man quickly turned back to his console and began typing. "Oh, they just entered the hangar, Sir."


    Harn squeezed the back of the ops chair until it creaked. "Please tell me the ship codes are changed?"


    Rico nodded.


    Harn turned his head to the ship''s security feed. After their codes failed, the two men began banging on the exterior door. One even clicked the comm button. "Let us in, Rico, ya lazy shit!"


    The other camera caught the ten-armed station security that stormed into the hangar only a minute later.


    "Captain?" Rico asked. "What''s going on?"


    "Those two just fucked us, that''s what."


    There was a short firefight between the two groups. It was rather one-sided. The station security had brought riot shields and the pulse rifles deflected harmlessly off the tough acrylic. Gino and Svadi''s armor absorbed quite a few return shots from similar pulse rifles, but eventually, the men lay in a heap on the ground.


    The two were stripped of their armor and weapons before being dragged away in shackles. More station security showed up.


    "Tell the crew to gear up."


    This time, Rico didn''t bother questioning him. He simply relayed the all-hands message. Whatever those two idiots had done, it had screwed them royally. And with it, any ship they belonged to, which is why he had tried locking down the dock before they returned. At least then he had plausible deniability. But since they had the codes to get in, they had doomed his entire crew. Station security would not have barged into his hangar unless they had declared those two idiots pirates. Seeing as they had nothing to lose now, the Devil''s Bargain would not go down without a fight.


    ***


    [CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE DETECTED]


    [INITIATING SELF-REPAIR FUNCTION]


    Alexander''s mind snapped awake again. He was disoriented for a moment as two huge red walls of text scrolled past his vision. Soon the red started to change to yellow, and then to green. He was finding it hard to focus on the information though as he remembered what had happened before he blacked out.


    "Yulia!"


    He pushed himself upright, scanning the room. The only thing that greeted him was destruction and a bit of blood. There was no sign of the attackers or Yulia. He panicked for a moment, thinking they had taken her when they left, but his gaze landed on the door. There was yellow warning tape across the entrance, something you might see after an accident. If people had discovered the attack, they must have taken the little girl to the hospital. He pulled the tape away and moved into the corridor, finding it equally as empty. He needed to find someone and learn what happened to Yulia.


    Someone must have heard him stomping about.


    "Who goes there?" a station security guard demanded as a pair of them rounded the nearby corner.


    When they saw Alexander, they paused. "Holy shit! We thought your robot was toast. The Commandant of Security has been trying to locate your pod for questioning. He''s gonna wanna speak to you."


    "Is Yulia ok?" Alexander asked, ignoring the men.


    "Who?"


    "The little girl, is she ok?" he raised his voice, not in the mood to play twenty questions.


    The pair looked at each other, a little nervous. "She was taken to the medical facility."


    Alexander tried to make his holographic face nod, but he realized it wasn''t there. Then he realized the entire control box was missing, and the dead space in his vision was gone as well. That was something to think about for later, as well as the fact that he could talk now. He had more important things to worry about at the moment.


    He bobbed his main body slightly. "I''m going to the medical facility to check on the girl. Your Commandant can speak to me there."


    "Wait, you can''t ¨C," but his partner stopped him with a hand on the shoulder and a shake of his head.


    Alexander watched the exchange as he strode down the corridor. There was a medical facility on each ring, but he didn''t know how effective the one on the second would be.


    "Excuse me," he said as he entered the building.


    The receptionist looked at him in shock before looking around for something. "Um, who''s speaking?"


    "I am," he reiterated, and this time the woman looked at him. He answered her unasked question. "I remote control this robot because I have an auto-immune disease that keeps me locked away in a pod."


    "Oh¡­ I''m sorry to hear about that. What can I help you with?"


    "I''m here to check on the status of a little girl that was brought in. She was at my shop when we were attacked."


    "Are you her parent or guardian?"


    He went to shake his holographic avatar again, but he remembered it was gone this time. He pushed down his annoyance and spoke. "No."


    "I can''t just give you that information then."


    "Could I at least speak with the doctor?"


    "I can ask him to talk with you when he is free. You will need to wait though."


    He took a seat on the floor in the waiting room with the rest of the patients. During that time, Alexander watched over a dozen people come and go. Finally, someone called his name. "Alexander Kane."


    He stood, and most of the eyes in the room followed him. The Doctor simply looked at him. "Hello, I''m Doctor Nord. Please follow me to my office so we can have a private discussion."


    Alexander followed the man. The man''s office was clean and tidy, but not overly large. He barely fit inside. The doctor looked at the chair before moving it off to the side. "I would have you sit, but I don''t think the chair would hold."


    "It''s fine."


    The doctor took a seat behind his desk and looked at him. "Normally I wouldn''t even consider talking to you about another patient, but it seems you have powerful friends, Mr. Kane. One of the Council Captains Mr. Na asked me to speak with you."


    "Is Yulia ok?"


    "She is currently stable. She suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung from the incident. We set her ribs but she will probably never regain use of that lung."


    "I don''t wish to be ungrateful, Doctor Nord, but will she receive the best care on the second ring?"


    The man didn''t seem offended by the question. "It may seem strange, Mr. Kane. But I am Petrov Station''s best trauma surgeon. The residential rings may have better specialist providers, but they don''t deal with accidents as often as we do down here. As for her care, she is getting the best free care available."


    "Does that mean there are other options?" Alexander asked. If there was, why weren''t they providing it?


    "There are advanced meds that will shorten her stay from six months to a week and likely repair the damage to her lung."


    "Ok¡­ Why aren''t you using them then? Is it money? If so, I will gladly cover the costs."


    Nord shook his head. "While there is a cost associated with those advanced methods, she doesn''t qualify for them."


    "What do you mean she doesn''t qualify?" A bit of anger seeped into his words.


    "She is a ward, Mr. Kane. And while we provide free healthcare to all, that has limits. The quick heal medications are expensive, but they are also limited in quantity. And we are only given so many a year by the STO. We must reserve them for key station personnel." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander did not like what he was hearing. He knew the Doctor was only doing his job, but this seemed unnecessarily cruel. Yulia was just a child. If anyone deserved to get healed faster, it was them.


    "Is there anything that can get her on that list?" He finally asked.


    The man seemed reluctant to speak. With a slight sigh, he continued. "¡­There is. And I am only bringing this up because Mr. Na asked me to. Children of key station personnel are also eligible for this treatment."


    "¡­ I don''t follow."


    "Has Captain Na not spoken with you yet?"


    "No. Why?"


    "I see. Well, then let me be the first to congratulate you, Mr. Kane. Thanks to your efforts, a pirate threat was removed from the station. As a reward, you will be gifted the status of a key member of station personnel for a month. I suggest you take full advantage of that while it lasts. There are quite a few perks that go along with it."


    He was about to say he still didn''t understand what the doctor was getting at when it all clicked into place. "They want me to adopt Yulia?"


    The man shrugged. "I can''t say what they want. But if you are adamant that she get that treatment, this would be the only way to ensure that outcome."


    The doctor''s words left him a lot to think about, but he didn''t get much time. As he exited into the waiting room, station security was waiting for him again. This time there were three, and the man in the center bore a commandant''s badge.


    It annoyed him that they were here now. Couldn''t they see he was dealing with some serious issues right now?


    "Mr. Kane. Follow us to the station, we need to get your statement." Alexander noticed they weren''t asking. With no excuse to deny their request, he followed the men.


    What happened next was a three-hour interrogation session. It was clear by their questions that the two attackers had told station security what they were after. "How many times do I have to tell you? I don''t have any weapons. I do not make, or repair weapons. And, I have never stocked or sold any. You can check my purchase history." He was lying, of course, but there was no evidence to prove otherwise. He was thankful he was stuck in this body now as well, because their typical tactics of trying to sweat him or playing good cop bad cop, were having zero effect. He simply sat in the groaning metal chair and played along. He kinda wished the chair would give out as a little bit of petty revenge.


    He was glad he had studied station laws after the bullshit with the arbitration hearing. He knew without evidence or a verbal charge, they couldn''t hold him for more than twelve hours. They tried to get him with technicalities and switched up their questions to confuse him, but he wasn''t fooled by any of it.


    After twelve hours, they reluctantly released him but only when he asked about it.


    The interrogation had given him time though. Time to think and to come to terms with what the doctor and Captain Na were trying to get him to agree to. While he hadn''t ever pictured himself as a parent, he couldn''t deny that he had grown fond of Yulia. When he thought back on the times she visited, he realized he looked forward to those hours. Was that enough for him to go forward with adopting her though? He didn''t want to deny her the chance of being adopted by normal people.


    Money was also an issue to consider, but now that he had the Omni payout, that wasn''t a concern. He could provide for her. He could also teach her. That was something he had been doing already without being her adopted parent. The question was, could he love her like she deserved? Alexander couldn''t answer that. He had hoped that with the repairs to his body, his ability to feel strong emotions again would return. They hadn''t.


    He recalled his reaction when he knew Yulia was going to be hurt and after she was injured. His first instinct was to protect the girl followed by blinding anger at the attackers. That fact alone was what made the decision easy for him. If he could feel anger, he must be able to feel love. That was something he would need to work at figuring out, but he wasted no more time and headed straight for the orphanage to speak with the Headmaster.

 Chapter 23

    As he neared the orphanage, he came across more children. These seemed to be about Yulia''s age or older. They looked sad and scared. They must have heard about Yulia''s condition.The children averted their eyes when they saw him. It was a reaction he hadn''t seen in some time. The damage to his body seemed to be completely gone, although, he probably looked much more imposing without his holographic cartoon face to make him appear friendly.


    Alexander lightly knocked on the bulkhead door that led into the orphanage.


    "Yes?" a voice came over an intercom next to the door.


    He had missed the intercom in his rush to meet with the headmaster. Alexander pressed the button to respond. "Hello. I''m Alexander Kane. I wish to speak with you about adopting Yulia."


    "Alexander Kane? Yes. I''ve heard of you. Please hold on a moment and I will let you in and we can speak."


    About a minute later, the door to the orphanage popped open, and an older man with greying hair around his temples peeked his head out. The man''s eyes went wide at seeing him.


    "Oh my! I''ve heard the kids speak about you, but I didn''t really believe half of what they said."


    "Sorry about my appearance. My holo emitter was damaged in the attack."


    The man nodded solemnly. "Yes, I''ve been told what happened. I''m Headmaster Wong, please come inside so we can talk."


    Alexander followed the man inside. "Someone told you what happened?"


    "Oh, were you not aware of who reported the attack?"


    He would have shaken his head if he could. He sighed internally, this body was not designed with non-verbal communication in mind. He would need to replace the holo-emitter as soon as he could. "No. The signal to this robot was damaged and it only came back online after the police had arrived."


    "I see. Well, I can fill you in. We came back late from a field trip. While I was preparing the evening meal, Yulia snuck out." He looked around to make sure none of the younger children were in earshot. They were all across the room watching some program. Nodding to himself, he spoke quietly. "Don''t tell the children, but I know when they come and go. I usually don''t discipline them unless I catch them returning. They have it rough enough without me trying to take the place of their parents. Some would even balk at me trying and act out more. Besides, the older kids are good at policing the younger ones. That''s what happened last night."


    "One of the other kids came across the attack?" That was horrible.


    The man nodded slowly. "It was Markus. The boy has always looked out for the younger kids. But I think he has a soft spot for Yulia. He''s always getting her out of trouble."


    "Is he ok?"


    "He should be fine with some help. He''s speaking with a mental health specialist at the moment. A lot of our kids suffer from trauma. So we do our best to help them get over it. Here we are."


    The man motioned for Alexander to follow him into an office. Honestly, it looked a lot like Doctor Nord''s office only a lot less tidy.


    "Normally we would have the child present for this discussion. And then conduct a separate interview but that''s not possible." The man sat behind his desk and pulled out a folder from one of the drawers. "Yulia''s been here for over three years. A few couples have tried to adopt her in the past. But she didn''t want anything to do with them."


    "What? Why wouldn''t she want to be adopted?" He did recall how shy she got around Eva. Maybe she was introverted. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "¡­I normally wouldn''t bring this up. But seeing as she is getting to the age where further adoption is unlikely, I think it''s ok. It''s not against the rules for me to tell you, it''s just a sensitive subject."


    "Is this about her parents?"


    "Yes. There is no easy way to say this. Yulia''s parents were pirates."


    "What? She told me her father fought in the war."


    "That may actually be true. I never met the man. But I can confirm he was a pirate. They both were. Her parent''s ship was captured trying to extort a freighter in a nearby system. An STO destroyer just so happened to be flying through the system and intercepted them. After disabling their engines, the STO boarded the ship and dispatched the pirates after a short gunfight. When they were clearing the ship, they found the girl hiding in a closet. Instead of declaring her a pirate along with the rest, they put her in the system as a rescued slave."


    Alexander winced at that. If the Captain of the destroyer tagged her as a pirate, she would have had the same fate as the rest. It seemed like condemning a five-year-old for their parents'' poor choices was just a bit too much. He was glad the Captain had seen sense.


    "Since they couldn''t bring the girl back to the core, not without uncomfortable questions being asked, they dumped her on Petrov Station."


    "That''s horrific. Do you think she remembers the incident and that is why she refuses adoption?"


    "If she does, she hasn''t spoken of it. Now that you know her story, does that change your mind at all?"


    "No¡­ why would it?"


    The man shrugged. "I have to ask. There are people on this station, and that I know personally that have suffered pirate attacks. I couldn''t in good conscience adopt the child out to someone with a history like that. That brings me to my next question. What makes you think you''re qualified to be her parent?"


    "¡­I- I don''t know. When she was attacked at my shop. All I could feel was pure anger at the men who hurt her. And a desire to protect her at all costs."


    The man nodded along. "And how do you feel now?"


    He had to think about it for a moment. "Anxious? Worried. Upset. She should be given the best medical treatments possible, but because she is a ward, they are denying it to her. It''s not fair."


    "I happen to agree, Mr. Kane. But life is not fair. Especially out in space. You are on the second ring with the rest of us, so you must understand. That being said, I am aware of your new financial situation."


    "You are?"


    "Yes," the man replied testily. "A certain Captain Na, who should be keeping to his duties and not sticking his nose in where it isn''t wanted or needed, filled me in. Congratulations by the way. Any time you can stick it to one of the big core mega-corporations, the better. So that covers the financial question. What about a home, Mr. Kane?"


    "A home?"


    "Yes, a home. You can''t expect Yulia to live inside your workshop, can you? What about where your body is stored?"


    He wasn''t surprised the man knew about his ''condition''. He had been advertising it as much as he could to try and get the word out. "My body is just in a rented storage locker. But I can certainly find a home."


    "You would need to do that before I can finalize the adoption. Last question, Mr. Kane. What are your plans?"


    Originally, he had planned to just keep repairing stuff and trying to uncover his past. But since the attack, he now had more options. He was no longer tethered to the station, he could board a ship and leave at any time. He had mulled over accepting Dr. Nova Lund''s offer to work for them. He had been conversing with Lund and a few of the members of his team over the last few months. And while he enjoyed those discussions and learned quite a bit, he was done working for others or being beholden to others. He wanted to strike out on his own, and now he had the chance to do that.


    "I believe I plan on leaving Petrov station in the near future."


    The headmaster nodded, not seeming surprised by the answer. "That might be the best for Yulia''s sake. A daily reminder of where she got attacked will not be very conducive to healing."


    "Does that mean you will approve the adoption?" He felt a momentary flicker of hope spark inside him. If he had any lingering doubts before that he was doing the right thing, he didn''t anymore.


    "Just hold on," the man gestured. "You need to fix your living arrangement first. A simple apartment would be plenty since you don''t plan on staying. But I will mark the adoption as in progress. This will register you as her guardian, and qualify her to receive the medication she needs to make a full recovery. Just read over these forms, sign them, and transfer the adoption fee. The last step will be determining if Yulia wishes for you to be her new father. But that will have to wait until she recovers."


    He assumed there would be a fee. Everything had fees in the future. But that was fine. He quickly read through the document and signed it. The fee wasn''t even that bad. He used the terminal in the headmaster''s office and quickly transferred the sum over.


    "Congratulations, Mr. Kane. You are now Yulia''s guardian. Considering what you tried to do for her, I am sure you will make a wonderful parent. I wish her the best in her recovery. But if you could, before departing the station, bring her by the orphanage so she can say goodbye. She has a lot of friends here."


    "Thank you, Headmaster Wong. I will do my best. And I will certainly bring her by once she has recovered. One last thing. Would it be possible to send Markus to my shop so I can thank him personally?"


    The man rubbed his chin. "I can ask him when he returns. But I won''t promise he will listen."


    "That''s all I ask for. Thank you again." Alexander bowed his massive frame before turning and leaving. He needed to get back to the hospital so they could update their records and treat Yulia properly.

 Chapter 24

    Mingyu sat silently among the other six council Captains as the prosecutors read the charges.Unlike the arbitration between Omni and the station, this was an open trial. Instead of being hidden away in some conference room, it took place on the tenth ring in the Court of Affairs.


    The space was a large one, meant only for the most important functions of Petrov station. Like the passing of a Captain, or a new Council Captain stepping up to fill their parent''s role. Thankfully those rarely happened in conjunction with each other.


    Despite the fact that the room could hold over a thousand attendees it was packed to the brim today. There were even people standing in the back. Word had quickly spread of the attack, and the battle in the hangar. Some of the people were here simply to hear the sentencing, others to sneer at the shackled individuals. That second group probably knew what was in store for these men and women.


    There was only one sentence for those accused of piracy. Two of the captured individuals were already missing from the fifteen taken aboard the ship. All of them had been questioned in private. The two that were missing, had been the ''brains'' behind the attack. That was obvious. But the things they accused Mr. Kane of had to be quietly checked out.


    Any accusation of weapons aboard the station was equally as important as an attack such as this. The Captains and Station Security had gone over the video of the scene. They had even brought up old footage from the few working hallway cameras. The only thing they ever saw was Kane visiting the terminal, or going to the smelter to recycle scrap components. A second sweep of the shop after the attack didn''t produce any evidence that Kane had or was manufacturing weapons.


    They even audited his printer logs. There were a few items that had been printed that were questionable, but nothing that pointed directly to the man using those components to build weapons. He didn''t think these men were lying though and that put him in a difficult spot.


    He wanted to have a working relationship with Kane, but an accusation such as this strained the man''s relationship with the station. It didn''t matter that there was no proof of his crimes, or that the station wasn''t going to pursue the matter any further. He had already overheard some of the other Councilors discussing revoking the man''s elevated status that he earned from exposing the pirate threat.


    Mingyu wanted to counsel against that decision, but that was a slippery slope. It was simply too dangerous to appear to be supporting Kane without having him appear to be supporting arms manufacturing. Mingyu would be curious to see what the other Captains said when he brought the topic up. With him being the face of the arbitration between Kane and Omni, he had been on station during the attack. So he headed up the investigation and apprehension of the Devil''s Bargain crew.


    The trial went on and Mingyu paid just enough attention not to seem bored. The mercenaries for their part were tight-lipped and stone-faced. They had nothing to gain by talking and nothing to lose by remaining quiet. Mingyu had met Captain Harn years ago. The man was brash and reckless, but he wasn''t stupid. He wondered how the man had lost control over his crew to the point it came to this.


    "Do the defendants have anything to say for their actions?" Kovalenko asked imperiously.


    Mingyu''s eyes flicked over to the Captain. That was another issue that had to be dealt with. The attack had forestalled the case he had been building against Kovalenko and Hoffman. But they would see justice soon as well.


    The shackled mercenaries all hocked gobs of spit upon the ground, before Harn glared up at them. "I hope your station rusts out from under you!"


    There was a round of collective gasps from the crowd at the vile insult. It took Kovalenko a full minute to regain order.


    "Order in the court! ORDER IN THE COURT!" Kovalenko yelled as he smashed the gavel into the very expensive wooden top of the bench, his face beet red from outrage.


    Mingyu winced internally at the dents the man must be putting in the ancient surface that had been in place since shortly after the station was founded.


    While this was happening, Captain Harn was laughing and riling up the crowd even more. It took two Security guards with stun sticks to finally silence the Harn.


    He wanted to shake his head at the foul display. There were just certain things you didn''t say to spacers. That insult was one. There were others, but even thinking about them was considered a bad omen by some. He let the man''s words slide into the back of his mind as he focused back on the trial.


    "As the accused have nothing to add in their defense; except vile insults, we will move on to sentencing." There was a collective roar of approval from the crowd this time around at Kovalenko''s words.


    After a few more pounds of the gavel, the room went quiet again. "What say you, Captain Liu?"


    "Guilty," the woman stated.


    "What say you, Captain Yuchen?"


    "Guilty," his friend responded.


    "What say you, Captain Na?"


    "Guilty," Mingyu replied.


    The questions repeated, moving up in seniority. Starting with Zhang, next up was Weiss, then Hoffman, and ending with Kovalenko himself.


    "Guilty," Kovalenko spoke before slamming the gavel down one final time to the roar of approval from everyone in the room. It was a unanimous vote, which was no surprise.


    "The sentence for piracy is death. Since there will be no appeal, your sentence will be carried out immediately. Guards, please take the prisoners to the nearest airlock. Make sure Captain Harn is awake before carrying out the sentence."


    Mingyu couldn''t help but wince at that. The man was gonna die, at least let him do it while unconscious. Since when had Kovalenko become so bloodthirsty? Usually, that sort of vitriol was reserved for the survivors of pirate attacks. As far as he knew, the Kovalenko family never had an encounter with pirates.


    The guilty were dragged out a side door, and the holographic display popped to life in the center of the courtroom. It displayed an exterior camera view next to an airlock. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After ten minutes, the lights outside the airlock began to flash, then they stopped as fifteen small forms tumbled out and into the black of space.


    Some in the crowd clapped, others looked sick. It was one thing to know someone was going to die, it was another to have to watch it. Mingyu had seen a dozen such trials over his lifetime, so the sight didn''t get to him anymore. Neither did he celebrate it, even if the people being punished had deserved the punishment.


    "The sentence has been carried out. As per STO rules, the names of the convicted will be stricken from galactic records, and all assets sold off to pay restitution to their victims." Mingyu noted that the man carefully left out the part where the station would take its cut as well.


    The sooner he got the trial going for his fellow captains, the better.


    ***


    "Well, that was distasteful," Xu stated.


    Sergei snorted and pushed the smaller man out of his way. "What''s distasteful about eliminating pirates? You going soft on us Yuchen? Or maybe they were your friends."


    Before the two could get into an argument, Anastasia entered the room. "You know as well as the rest of us that Harn''s crew weren''t pirates, Sergei. So knock it off."


    The larger man sneered at Mingyu''s friend before stepping away and throwing himself into one of the soft couches along the wall. "A technicality. One that we had no issue exploiting."


    "We weren''t exploiting the law," Ingrid chimed in as the last to enter. "We were simply being diligent. Any captain seen harboring pirates could be a pirate themselves. And the same goes for a station. We all know how unfavorably the STO looks at those that harbor pirates."


    "Call it whatever you want," Zhang waved dismissively. "Why are we here?"


    "And where are Captains Kovalenko and Hoffman?" The gazes of the group fell on him at Ingrid''s words.


    "They aren''t here, because this has to do with them." He made a flicking motion with his tablet, and all of their tablets lit up with the incoming information packet.


    Mingyu gave them time to go over the information. He shouldn''t have been surprised when Zhang groaned and threw his tablet on the table. "Just spell it out for us, Na. I don''t have time for this shit."


    "If you would bother reading more than a sentence or two, you would understand," Yuchen replied tersely. "This isn''t some joke is it?" his friend turned to him and asked.


    He shook his head. "I wish it was. But I''ve gone over the information. There is no mistake."


    "You''re telling us that Kovalenko, and Hoffman, two pillars of Petrov station have been trying to what? Bankrupt the station?"


    "What!" Sergei roared and shot to his feet. The man snatched his tablet from the table and began actually reading the document Mingyu had sent. As the big man read, his frown grew. "This doesn''t make any sense. Why would they do this?"


    "I don''t know. I was hoping one of you might have an idea?"


    "When did you discover this? And why were you looking into their records in the first place?" Ingrid asked with suspicion.


    Mingyu knew this would come up. "I discovered it during the arbitration hearing. As to why I looked into it, I felt like some of my fellow captains¡­ were a bit too focused on money."


    Liu put her tablet down. "So it comes back to Kane again. I didn''t vote against your suggestion because of the money if that''s what you think. I voted against it because I believed the man to be a troublemaker. And it seems I may have been correct. In less than a year, we have had to arbitrate against one of the largest corporations in human space, a girl was critically injured while in his shop, and we had to sentence fifteen people to death for piracy."


    "Those are hardly his fault," Na bristled.


    "That may be true. But he was the catalyst for all of them. And let''s not forget the accusations leveled against him. Even if it can''t be proven he was manufacturing weapons. Why take the chance?" The woman glanced around the room. "We have a majority here. I say we take a vote."


    "A vote on what?" Sergei asked in irritation. Mingyu knew he was still reading the document because his lips were moving as he read. The man had done that since Mingyu could remember, but nobody brought it up.


    "Simple. A vote to exile Mr. Kane from Petrov Station."


    "You can''t be serious," Mingyu replied. "The man has done nothing to warrant such a vote. If anything, we should be voting to work more closely with him. I''ve told you before, that he is an asset, and all we are doing is constantly pushing him away."


    Liu ignored him. "All in favor of exiling Mr. Kane?"


    Ingrid''s hand went up, followed by Anastasia, then Sergei, and then Xu''s. Mingyu could only stare dumbly at his friend''s raised hand.


    "I''m sorry," Xu stated. "I believe you, my friend. Kane might be an asset, but he also brings trouble. The station has enough issues and we can ill afford more at the moment. Especially now that you are bringing this financial trouble to our plate."


    "The matter is decided," Ingrid stated coldly. "We will give Kane two months to collect his property and find a ship off station."


    Mingyu did his best not to let his anger show. "I will notify him of this."


    "No. You''ve grown too close to this man. We will choose a Captain at random to notify him."


    "That is not your decision to make. You are not the Senior Captain."


    The group turned toward Anastasia, who had been quiet most of the time. If both Kovalenko and Hoffman were suspect, she would now be the senior Captain, followed by Zhang. And thank the stars for that. The woman sighed. "She is right, Mingyu. Just look at how you are behaving. You are too close to this issue."


    He bowed to her. "Very well, if this is what the Senior Captain wishes. I will oblige."

 Chapter 25

    After speaking with Doctor Nord, and the man assuring him that Yulia was now eligible for the advanced healing treatments, he returned to his shop. He needed to secure housing for his newly adopted daughter. As well as other things a child of her age might need.It was crazy to think a child relied on him now.


    As he entered his shop, he found it even more destroyed than it was when he left. "What the hell!"


    Nothing had been taken, and there were little evidence tags on everything. There was also a notice stuck to the door. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Evidence was collected in the processing of case 98-3-21-2398


    He went to the terminal down the hall to look up the case number. From his research on station law, he knew all case records were made public. It didn''t take him long to find the case log and figure out why they had trashed his shop, instead of just taking images of the damage that was already present.


    Victim: Alexander Kane


    Accused by two defendants Gino and Svadi Coal of harboring restricted items. A search warrant was issued for the premises. No restricted items were found. The scene was recorded, and no further action was taken.


    Alexander had been so caught up in his worry over Yulia that he hadn''t even known the station security had raided his shop.


    Again with those damn weapons. They weren''t even functional! But somehow those two mercenaries had spotted them the first time they had entered his shop. Had he known a single glance at the damn things would have caused Yulia to get hurt, he would have destroyed them the moment he created the stupid things.


    He checked on the rest of the case. It had been a day or two since the attack, but he didn''t expect much movement. He was proven wrong on that account.


    All crew of the Devil''s Bargain were tried and convicted for piracy by the Council. They have all received a sentence of death.


    It was quite surreal for Alexander. He hadn''t met any of these other mercenaries, and yet he now learned they were all convicted of the attack and sentenced within a day. And why did the report not list their names like the previous report did?


    This was just another reminder that life was not worth what it was back in his day. The laws here were swift and brutal for certain offenses. That didn''t mean he felt any remorse for these people. If not outright part of the attack, they still assisted the two men who did. If they hadn''t, those men wouldn''t have been on the station.


    The only thing that gave him pause was consideration for Yulia''s past. Hopefully, the memories of that time were long forgotten. He certainly wasn''t going to bring it up.


    Alexander flicked off the case screen and started searching for appropriate housing. That along with Yulia''s agreement to allow him to become her parent was all that was holding up the process.


    Finding a house wasn''t a challenge. Even on the second ring, there were ''houses''. He would have preferred to place her somewhere nicer, but with not being able to use the normal lifts, he was pretty restricted on where and when he could travel across rings. As for Yulia agreeing to the adoption. He was about 80% sure she would.


    The young girl seemed quite enamored with him in a way she wasn''t with anyone else. The few times he had seen her interact with other adults, she turned shy or withdrawn. She had a similar reaction to Eva, even though that woman seemed to be able to get anyone to talk. He didn''t hold it against the retiree for working for Captain Na. He didn''t even hate the Captain. He just didn''t trust his or the station''s motives after everything that had happened so far.


    After flipping through listings, Alexander found a small space that could double as a house. It was even in the same section that his shop occupied. There would be a lot more cleaning in his immediate future, he was sure of that. After purchasing the space for half a year, he closed that window.


    He had to sit there and think for a bit. The next decision was far more important and long-reaching than a simple house. Ever since he had realized he was no longer under the restrictions Yuri placed into the holo emitter, he knew he was going to move on from Petrov. He had even stated as much when he met with Headmaster Wong. Even if none of the past few months happened, he knew staying here wouldn''t get him any closer to figuring out how he got trapped in this body. The attack and the station selling him out only reinforced the need to leave.


    Alexander hadn''t put any serious thought into where he was going to go though. Maybe a part of him hadn''t ever believed he would be able to free himself from the control box. At least not without destroying the only thing that had kept him awake. That moment before the pulse blast tore the old holo emitter apart, Alexander felt genuine fear. It was masked by the rage he felt at the time, but looking back on it now, he knew what the emotion was.


    Alexander rubbed his hand across the surface of his body. His sensitive fingers couldn''t find the seams of the repair. His body was now completely unblemished. But he had stared at the damage for over three years, so he could trace the contours of where the damage had once been.


    The fact that the damage had been fixed by a process he didn''t understand sent a chill down his metaphorical spine. Whatever had accomplished the feat was clearly beyond human technology. It rekindled his need to know where he had come from and how he arrived in this state. That need to know had slipped into the background as he was forced to spend his time trying to just survive.


    If what he believed was true, he needed to step out on his own. He couldn''t have the STO, or these corporations breathing down his neck as he searched for evidence of his past. If his body was of alien origin, there was no telling what people would do to get their hands on it.


    And honestly¡­ He wasn''t willing to work for anyone other than himself. Alexander decided to write Dr. Lund first.


    Dr. Lund,


    First of all, I just wanted to thank you for assisting me with the few questions I had. Our discussions were eye-opening. I''m messaging you to let you know, I will be turning down the offer to join your research group. Some things have changed for me recently, and it simply wouldn''t work.


    I understand what you are doing is important. But I feel working for myself is simply the better option. If you ever feel like getting out of the theoretical game, send me a message. I may have a job for you instead. Please keep in touch.


    Alexander Kane.


    He hit send on the message. Depending on whether their ship was near a station with a Qcomm or not, it could take hours or weeks to get a response.


    Before he sent his next message, he did some research. Unlike the station''s listing for properties, there wasn''t one central place to find properties for sale across human space.


    Instead of wasting his time trying to locate one that would fit the goal he had in mind, he contacted a real estate agency located in a core world called Ganos.


    "Fidelity Properties, My name is Violet. How can I be of assistance today?"


    He was surprised to see a video window pop up instead of the standard text interface. The video came through grainy, but he could hear her just fine.


    "Oh, it appears our connection is rather rough. I do not see any image, are you hearing me ok?"


    "¡­I am. Sorry, Violet. I''m on a public terminal, and I don''t think it even has a camera."


    "Oh, that''s fine. How can I help you today¡­"


    "Alexander Kane. I''m looking for a property."


    "That is wonderful news, Mr. Kane. What type of requirements are you looking for in this property?"


    He listed off the items he would need. Even through the grainy video, he could see the woman frown slightly.


    "Those are some very specific requirements, Mr. Kane. May I ask what sort of budget you are working with?"


    When he told her the amount, she immediately perked up.


    "Well, that will certainly make things easier. It may take some time to find something that meets your needs, but I believe it is doable. Do you have a timeframe?"


    He wanted to say no, but he honestly wanted to get off this station as soon as he could. "Is a couple of months doable?"


    She tapped in some items on a screen off to the side. "It will limit your options to already vacant properties. But we should be able to make something work. Do you have a personal comm number I can contact you at?"


    "Not currently. I have a merchant account though, so just send any correspondence there." He sent the merchant account information to the woman.


    "Alright, I have the information and what you are looking for. We will be in touch soon, Mr. Kane."


    He thanked the woman and closed the connection. Alexander knew requiring the property to be outside of STO-controlled space was a big ask, but it was mandatory if he wanted to work in peace.


    The next message was a bit more difficult for him to send. First off, he didn''t want to rely on anyone else if he could avoid it. That obviously hadn''t helped him so far. But he didn''t have the resources necessary to buy a ship, learn to fly it, and operate it all himself. He could purchase a ship and pay a crew, but that money would be better spent purchasing his new home.


    He was also forced to consider where this home would be. It certainly wouldn''t be on a world that humanity wanted. But it did need to have a breathable atmosphere. Wherever he ended up needed to be safe enough for Yulia, yet outside of the STO''s reach as well as any local government. There was no point shucking off the reins of the STO, only to be saddled with some local force that was equally as shitty, if not more so.


    In his research, he knew humanity had explored quite a bit farther than they currently claimed for territory. The thing is, nominally habitable worlds, were not all that rare. Earth-like planets were, but there were still five of those that composed the core worlds of the STO''s territory. And they had another dozen worlds that were being terraformed as they were populated. If you didn''t like that, there were orbital installations like Petrov, satellite colonies, bubble habitats on worlds like Mars, and even certain asteroid installations.


    There was no lack of space to live. Humanity had picked the closest and easiest-to-reach targets to occupy and the rest was just waiting for them to expand outward at a later date. He figured their reluctance to spread themselves out too far probably had a lot to do with their run-in with the Shican, the first alien species humanity had encountered.


    He added that to his list of things to research. It wouldn''t do him any good to establish a home in some distant world, only for those aliens to show up.


    Another major consideration was supplies. Wherever his base of operations ended up, it would likely need constant replenishment from shipping. It might be a decade or more before he managed to establish a self-sufficient economy, if ever. It really depended on what resources the world had to offer.


    Then there was hiring workers and getting families over and¡­ He paused, his mind spinning from all the details. Details he didn''t need to worry about at the moment. It was at times like this he wished he could take a calming breath. Instead, he centered himself as best he could in his mind. Then he composed his next message.


    Jasper,


    Is your offer still good? I may need some assistance. Contact me as soon as you get this message.


    Alexander.


    Now he would wait and see.


    He closed the terminal and headed back to his shop to clean. Then he would head to the new apartment.

 Chapter 26

    Alexander waited in the patient discharge area. People were giving him odd looks, but he was used to that by now. In his hand was a stuffed bear he had printed for Yulia. Despite the advanced meds, they still kept the girl for two days. This was to ensure no complications from her injuries or the medications.Soon enough, the door swung open and a nurse wheeled a very disoriented-looking little girl out on a wheelchair.


    "Alex?" the girl asked in confusion. "Where is Headmaster Wong?"


    The girl tried to stand but the nurse gently pressed her back into the seat. "There will be time for walking around later. For now, just rest sweetie. Can you do that for me?" The girl gave a tired nod and the nurse smiled, setting the chair off to the side so Yulia could watch a holo screen with some cartoon of a talking cat playing on it.


    "Mr. Kane?"


    "Yes." Although he didn''t know who else she expected him to be considering he was an eight-foot-tall robot.


    "There are a few final things we have to complete before we can discharge her to your care."


    "Like what?" he had the new holo emitter he wore project a questioning look.


    "First off, Yulia hasn''t agreed for you to become her guardian yet. So we need to wait for Headmaster Wong to arrive to speak with the girl and complete that portion. He should have been here already."


    He had expected this part, but he assumed he would be the one to bring her by the orphanage to complete that. "And the other part?"


    "That would be the payment for the treatment." Without even asking how much it was, Alexander handed her a credit chip.


    The nurse looked slightly surprised by this, but she nodded and took the chip, heading over to a terminal to complete the payment. While she was busy doing that, Mr. Wong arrived.


    "Apologies for being late. I had a situation at the orphanage to deal with. Where is Yulia?"


    Alexander pointed to the wheelchair near the far side of the room.


    "Is she lucid enough?" This question was directed to the nurse.


    "By any legal definition, yes. However, she may have some memory loss. I would also recommend keeping your questions to the minimum or she may start growing confused."


    "Hmm. Not ideal, but as long as we cover our bases it should be fine."


    "Is something going on? Can''t we just wait until she''s completely recovered?" Alexander asked, unsure as to why they felt this needed to be done right now.


    Wong and the nurse shared a look. "Have the Captains not sent a representative to speak with you yet?"


    "I spoke to Captain Na if that''s what you mean."


    Wong shook his head. "Captain Na reached out to me through Eva Wu. Are you familiar with the woman?" sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander made his avatar nod.


    "Good. Anyway, the Captains have voted and you are being expelled from the station."


    After being accused of manufacturing weapons, Alexander wasn''t surprised by this. Seeing no reaction to this statement, Wong continued.


    "If we don''t complete this adoption before they speak with you to pass on this ruling, it will block this adoption."


    He didn''t know how to feel about that. He had already gotten her the treatment she needed, so there was no worry there. And was he really the best person to be a father to a little girl? While he had done a lot of thinking on the subject and in general thought he could do a decent job, he would never be the warm loving father figure she might need.


    "She is healed, so she would go back into the orphanage then, wouldn''t she?"


    The headmaster shook his head vehemently. "That''s the problem. Because I started the adoption process, she would fall under the ruling the Captains have issued for you. But because you are not legally her parent yet, she would not be able to board a ship with you. She would instead be held in confinement until such time as an STO ship comes by."


    "What?! Why? What are you trying to say?" He had an idea, but he wanted the man to spell it out for him because to Alexander it sounded far too cruel and barbaric a punishment for an innocent child.


    The slightly overweight headmaster swallowed thickly. "The STO would see her record. It may have been fudged slightly by the previous captain, but we can''t assume this new captain would have the same feelings as the last. They may even report this infraction and get that original captain in trouble."


    If that were true, they would declare the little girl a pirate and eject Yulia out of an airlock for something she had no part in. These people and their laws were insane. He knew piracy was bad and needed to be snuffed out, but who could ever be cold or cruel enough to condemn a child for their parent''s actions?


    "What are you waiting for then?" Alexander practically dragged the man over to the seated girl.


    The girl looked over at their arrival, her eyes still slightly glassy from the medications she had been given. "Headmaster?"


    The man straightened up his ruffled clothing from Alexander''s rough handling and knelt down to the girl. "Hello, Yulia. How are you feeling?"


    "Tired," the girl admitted.


    The man nodded sympathetically. "We won''t keep you long. I just have a few questions if you''re up for it."


    He gestured toward Alexander. "You know Mr. Kane, correct?"


    She looked confused by the question so Alexander spoke up. "That''s my last name, Yulia."


    "Ohh¡­" She nodded.


    "Good, good," Wong continued. "Do you like Mr. Kane?"


    She nodded again.


    "If you could say yes or no please," the man urged.


    "Yes," she spoke, a yawn escaping her lips.


    "That''s wonderful. One last question, Yulia dear. How would you like it if Alexander Kane adopted you?"


    "Huh?" Alexander could see she understood the question, she was just overtaken by emotion as her eyes started to water. Then slowly she started to nod.


    "You need to say the word, Yulia," Wong gently prodded.


    The reply came tentatively, almost like the girl didn''t believe this was happening. "¡­Yes."


    The headmaster blew out a sigh. And pressed his thumb to a tablet he had been holding the entire time. The screen blinked green once and he spoke into it. "I have included the recorded agreement from Ward Yulia. She has agreed to the adoption. As of this date in the year 2398, Ward Yulia is now Yulia Kane." The man clicked off the tablet and stuffed it back into a satchel he was carrying. "Congratulations to you two, and I wish you the best of luck."


    "Thank you, Mr. Wong. I''m sorry for the rough handling."


    He waved away the concern. "It was for the best. It shows me you do truly care what happens to her. Now I must return to the orphanage before the kids find a way to burn it down. Please do remember to come by."


    "I will before we leave."


    He shook the man''s hand and the headmaster made a quick exit. When the door to the corridor opened, Alexander stiffened. Two station security and a larger man waited outside. The bigger man''s eyes flicked toward him and remained there until the doors closed once more.


    "Ahem," the nurse cleared her throat to get his attention. She held out his credit chip to him. "You are all paid up, Mr. Kane. ¡­There was an unusual delay in the payment processing."


    "Does this unusual delay have anything to do with the three men waiting outside?"


    "Hmm. I''m sure I wouldn''t know. But just be aware, only patients and their loved ones or guardians are allowed inside this area."


    "Thank you for that," he expressed genuine gratitude toward the nurse.


    The woman smiled. "I''ve done nothing but my job, Mr. Kane. Now you and your lovely daughter have a wonderful life. And hopefully a quieter one from here on out."


    He nodded. Although, he wasn''t sure how quiet his life was going to be considering he was about to be evicted from the station. Then again, he already had plans in place to leave. He just thought he had more time. If Captain Daniels didn''t respond soon, he might need to find alternative transportation.


    "Is it okay if I leave her here for a moment while I have a chat with my guests outside?"


    "Take all the time you need Mr. Kane. I''ll be here to keep an eye on her." She looked over at the girl. "Although, I don''t see that being a problem."


    Alexander focused his attention on Yulia, even as he turned his holographic face to make it appear he was looking at her. The girl was fast asleep.


    "Again, Thank you." With that, he turned and strode out the automatic doors, ducking so he didn''t smash the top of his frame against the ceiling as he passed.


    The larger of the three men looked him over, while the two guards looked on nervously, their hands on stun sticks.


    "Gentlemen¡­ I assume you are here to speak with me?"


    "You''re bigger than I imagined," the larger of the three stated instead of answering his question.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t get your name," Alexander responded testily. If these men were going to be rude, he would be rude right back.


    The man snorted at Alexander''s tone. "I heard you were a feisty one. Name''s Captain Sergei Zhang. You can call me Captain Sergei Zhang. And you are Alexander Kane. Or at least the robotic puppet of his. I need to speak with you in person."


    "You are," Alexander replied, being purposefully obtuse.


    The man forced a smile on his face, but it never reached his eyes. "You know what I mean, Kane, so stop playing these games."


    "If you know who I am, you know that isn''t possible. My body is in a stasis pod, and my mind is controlling this form. If I turned off the stasis, I would die." He had come up with this excuse back when he planned this ''pretending to be sick'' disguise to hide what he truly was. It was meant to prevent anyone from digging too deeply. It seemed his foresight was paying off.


    Zhang clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Difficult to the very end. Fine. Have it your way, Kane." He turned to the guards. "Have you two recorded, Mr. Kane''s words?"


    "Yes, Captain," one of the security guards responded.


    "Good enough." He cleared his throat and turned back to him. "Alexander Kane. I, Sergei Zhang, as acting Captain of the Council of Captains, hereby pronounce your exile from Petrov station for the remainder of your life, as well as two further generations of your lineage. You have sixty standard days to book passage off of the station. Failure to do so will result in your incarceration until such time as the STO gets off their collective asses to come to collect you. When they do, you will be charged with trespassing and illegal squatting."


    "Is that all?" Alexander asked in annoyance. While he had expected some form of punishment for the weapons accusations, he thought Mingyu might have been able to mitigate that considering what he wanted from him. It appears Captain Na''s opinion didn''t have nearly as much weight as the man thought it did. It was a good thing Alexander was already making arrangements to leave.


    The Captain''s smile returned and he took a step forward. "I hope you don''t find a way off the station. You see, I know what you''re all about, Kane. You think you can flaunt the rules and get away with it. Well, perhaps some forced labor will see that high and mighty attitude wiped away. Although, with your condition, I don''t think you''d survive. I somehow doubt they will let you use your fancy robot in lockup. You have a good day now."


    The trio turned and walked away, leaving Alexander upset and confused. When had he flaunted station laws? True, he had made weapons, but it wasn''t like he wanted to do that, and he had destroyed them. Captain Zhang seemed to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder.


    Alexander shook those thoughts away and quickly forgot the captain as he went in to retrieve Yulia. It was time to take her to her new ¨C albeit temporary ¨C home.

 Chapter 27

    Yulia was still sleeping when Alexander rolled her wheelchair into the apartment. It wasn''t much. There was a main room with a small kitchen, a single bedroom, and a small bathroom. But it was more than enough for the little girl''s needs. And it was clean since Alexander had spent the last day scrubbing the place from top to bottom. It hadn''t been nearly as filthy as his shop when he first moved in, but he still wanted to ensure a clean safe environment for the girl.Alexander gently scooped Yulia up and carried her into the bedroom before laying the covers over her. Since he didn''t know anything about raising a child, he had purchased a few books on the subject. After reading the books he was surprised that children needed so much consideration. Somehow he pictured taking care of them like taking care of a pet. He imagined if he told another parent that thought, they would laugh themselves silly.


    Being a robot, he couldn''t apply everything he had learned in the books, but he did try his best. Most of that effort went into the bedroom, which is why the small space was decked out in a pink floral pattern, including the sheets, blanket, and even a nightlight.


    He also left the door slightly open as he moved back into the main room. The main room consisted of a couch and a holo-projector on one side with the kitchen having only a small fridge and single-element cooktop on the other. Since Alexander didn''t need to eat, this was all they needed.


    He didn''t want to leave Yulia alone while she was sleeping, so he sat on the floor in front of the holo and continued his lessons in rocket propulsion, keeping the sound to the barest whisper.


    After a few hours, he heard a chime. Confused for a moment, he looked around until he spotted the other item he had purchased recently. The comm sat on the counter in the kitchen because the strap didn''t fit around Alexander''s wrist and he hadn''t gotten around to making one that would yet.


    He stood up and walked over to the piece of tech that connected to the Q-Comm relay built into the station. It was a message from Captain Daniel.


    Alexander, I got your message. It was vague, so I hope you are alright. I meant what I said to you back then, so if you need something let me know. The Zephyr will remain in range of our local Q-Comm until I get your reply.


    He began typing out a response, not sure when it would reach the Captain. His conversation with Violet had seemed instantaneous if a bit low quality. Then again, he had never seen anyone else using a comm watch to have a real-time face-to-face conversation. Everyone always seemed to use the text mode. He didn''t know if that was because their planet had a better Q-Comm or if there was something else that limited the communication devices.


    I''m fine, Jasper, thanks for asking. The Council on Petrov has decided I am no longer welcome here. They have given me sixty days to vacate. Fifty-Nine as I write this. I am currently in the process of acquiring a new residence off-station. Do you happen to know anyone willing to transport me¡­ and my daughter?


    It took less than an hour to get a response. Alexander was pretty sure the Captain didn''t wait an hour to respond, so there was certainly some delay there. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ¡­A daughter¡­ I think that is something better discussed in person instead of over the comms, I''m sure it''s a long story. As for transport, I don''t know anyone in that area.


    Alexander deflated at that before he continued to read.


    But that''s not a problem. The Zephyr can be there within thirty days to transport you and anything you need to take with you. And before you respond and tell me that that''s too much, and not necessary, because that does seem like something you would say, this is a friend doing another friend a favor. So as long as you still see me as your friend, you will accept my offer.


    It was indeed what he had been thinking. Alexander smiled internally. At least not everyone in this messed-up future was a jerk. Captain Daniels really did seem like one of the good ones. If it wasn''t for him, he was sure Omni would have come in and simply stolen his advancements without offering a cent in return. He supposed he could put Captain Na in that column as well, even though he was partly to blame for the way the station handled his issues. If Mingyu hadn''t spoken with the Headmaster, and given the hospital a heads-up, Yulia might be sitting in some cell somewhere, waiting for the STO to decide her fate.


    Thank you, Jasper, I owe you one. And yes, it''s a long story. I can tell you when you and the Zephyr arrive.


    A weight lifted off Alexander''s shoulders knowing he had independent transport off the station. Considering how hostile Zhang had come off, he wouldn''t put it past the man to try something to prevent him from leaving. He could reach out to Na to see if he could prevent that, but he didn''t want to rely on the other Council Captain. There was also the fact that Na had been the only Council member to speak with him so far, to suddenly change it to Zhang spoke of internal changes in the Council. And Alexander had stirred up that hornet''s nest enough. He just wanted to be off this station and away from people deciding his fate for him.


    Yulia woke up a few hours later. He only knew because she poked her head through the crack in the door. It was almost like the little girl was afraid to believe what she experienced the night before. Tentatively, she pushed the door open and stepped out into the living room.


    "Morning, Yulia," Alexander spoke as he rose from near the couch. "Are you hungry?"


    The girl nodded quietly and walked over to the counter before climbing up on her stool. Alexander had fixed it after it was destroyed in the attack and moved it from his shop. It was a little shorter now to match the counter height in the apartment though.


    The girl never took her eyes off him as he cooked up a breakfast. When he set the plate of food in front of her, she looked down at it and tears started to form in her eyes.


    Before Alexander could ask what was wrong, the girl hopped off her stool and ran around the counter to hug him. "It wasn''t a dream?"


    "No, sweetie, it wasn''t a dream. I''m your dad now."


    He hugged her back as best he could and she stood there and cried like that for a bit before wiping the snot and tears from her face with her sleeve and walking back around to eat her food.


    After she ate, she cleaned up and got dressed in a new outfit. It was essentially a duplicate of her old outfit, but the girl didn''t seem to mind.


    "Where are we going?" Yulia asked as she held Alexander''s hand while they walked.


    "To my shop. I need to start cleaning it out so we can leave."


    "Leave?" the little girl asked in confusion.


    "We have to leave Petrov Station."


    The girl stopped and let go of Alexander''s hand. "But what about my friends?"


    He knew this conversation was going to come up, he just wished it could have waited. He kneeled down in front of the girl. "You''ll get to see them before we leave. And I''ll get you a comm so you can keep in touch."


    The girl''s eyes turned red, but she swallowed back her tears and nodded. He stood and they continued their slow walk to his shop. After purchasing a personal comm for himself, he now understood why very few people bothered with the things. They were horrifically expensive for what they did, and each message cost money to send through the Q-Comm.


    That was a small price to pay to see the girl happy though. Besides, even after he purchased a property, he would still be a multi-millionaire. He had received his portion of the damages from the attack. It galled him that Yulia wasn''t eligible for compensation because of her status as a ward during the incident though.


    They really did the bare minimum to see orphans as anything other than a burden.


    Yulia started to hesitate as they approached his shop. He stopped. "Is there something wrong?"


    "I- I''m scared."


    He was being an idiot, he should have thought about this. Of course, a little kid would be afraid of going back to the place where they got hurt.


    "Do you want to go back to the apartment?"


    The girl thought for a minute before shaking her head. "You''ll protect me?"


    "I''ll never let anyone hurt you ever again." And he meant it.


    That seemed to mollify the girl. She was still a little hesitant, but they took it slow. Eventually, they arrived outside his shop. There were no signs an attack had ever taken place there. Along with cleaning the apartment, Alexander had repaired everything that was damaged or destroyed in the tiny space he worked out of. The old printer was a loss, but he bought a newer better model.


    Seeing no signs of bad men, Yulia ran over and took her customary spot on a new seat. This one was much nicer and had actual padding to it. From there they fell into their old comfortable rhythm as he worked on completing the jobs he had lined up. He didn''t plan on taking on any more work, but he wasn''t about to abandon the work he already had.

 Chapter 28

    A few days later Alexander got a comm message from Fidelity Properties. They had found a suitable location that met his criteria. They just wanted to discuss it over video at his earliest convenience. He supposed that made sense. They couldn''t know what time it was where he was located and they were available at all hours. He was honestly surprised they had gotten back to him so soon.Alexander waited until Yulia was asleep before he walked to the nearest terminal to contact Fidelity. He hadn''t splurged for a comm that allowed holo video as he didn''t see the point.


    His daughter ¨C he was still having a hard time conceptualizing that ¨C had bounced back rather quickly from her ordeal. She still asked about her friends, and Alexander really wanted to let her just go play with them during the day, but he was finding it hard to let her out of his sight after his promise. He knew the girl would likely be fine and that he would have to get over the idea that as soon as she left his sight, she was going to get hurt again. That wasn''t a healthy mindset for anyone. It seemed they both had things to work through.


    This little excursion while she was safely in bed was a test for himself. So far he only wanted to go back and check on her five times since exiting the apartment. He was going to call that an improvement. Soon he arrived at the terminal that was visible from the apartment door. It was a small compromise.


    When he activated the terminal, a familiar face greeted him on the other end. "Mr. Kane, how nice to hear from you again. We weren''t expecting your call so soon, but this will certainly speed things up."


    "You as well, Violet. I wasn''t expecting you to find something so soon. What do you have for me?"


    "To be fair, we weren''t coming up with many prospects. Then we got lucky. An estate sale popped up over on Earth and one of the items up for sale is an abandoned research facility that was established in 2201. It''s probably bigger than you wanted, but the price will probably be quite a bit cheaper considering how far from Earth it is."


    That made this piece of property almost ninety years older than Petrov station. It was probably going to need a lot of repairs and updates, but those he could manage. It was the other issue he was uncertain about.


    "It''s not too far is it?" He didn''t want to impose on Jasper for multiple months just to fly him out to some dead research outpost.


    "Well, you did ask for something outside of STO-controlled space. This place definitely falls into that category. But it''s not as far out as you might think. There are four systems between the closest STO station and the facility. So a few weeks of travel depending on the ship."


    That wasn''t ideal, but it wasn''t the worst either. Close enough to purchase supplies, far enough out that they shouldn''t be bothered. "It''s been almost a hundred years, why hasn''t the STO expanded towards the facility?"


    "Hmm, I can''t say for certain," Violet stated, "but if I remember my history correctly, that was the direction that humanity encountered the Shican in. I believe the STO decided not to expand in that direction to ensure no further hostilities broke out."


    "¡­ A home inside a possible warzone doesn''t sound like a good proposition."


    The woman on the other side of the video laughed. "No, it certainly would not be. But I don''t think you''ll need to worry about that."


    "Why?"


    "No Shican vessel has been spotted in my lifetime as far as I''m aware. There are still some human ships that fly through that sector of space. Someone would have reported if the Shican had returned."


    That still didn''t sound ideal but he had limited options and limited time. With the additional money he might save, he could install defenses. Considering what he planned to do there, he would probably have to install them at some point anyway.


    "Ok, consider me interested. How much do you think it will cost?"


    "Excellent, Mr. Kane. And we don''t need to speculate. Your timing is impeccable, there is a live auction going on now. If you would like I can add you to the call and as your representative, I will try to get you the best deal possible."


    "Ok, let''s do it."


    The terminal he was using flashed and a hologram formed above it, showing all the items on sale in the auction. He watched as prices flickered up on certain items, but others barely moved. Violet did something on her end and the property in question spun towards the front of the image. The current bid on it was only twenty-five million.


    He heard the girl chuckle over the comm. "Well, this is even better than we hoped."


    She placed a bid, upping the price to thirty million.


    It stayed that way for minutes before it rose again in another five million credit increment.


    Alexander soon grew bored of watching that single auction and scrolled through the other items listed for sale. Whoever this person had been, they had been filthy rich. There were at least a dozen ships being bid on, starting from single-pilot intersystem ships, all the way up to a Class 4 hauler similar to Jasper''s ship. He must have been missing something though because the prices were going insane on these ships.


    "Why are the ships going for so much?"


    "Mr. Woodrow, the gentleman who passed away, was an avid collector of rare items. Some like the ships are extremely sought after as collector''s items. Others like the research facility, not so much."


    "Who collects research facilities?"


    Violet chuckled. "Anything that was rare or unique. It didn''t matter to Mr. Woodrow if it was valuable."


    "What makes a research facility unique?" It didn''t make sense to Alexander.


    "Oh, that''s all in the attached documentation," Violet said as she opened up the document so Alexander could read it. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Last standing remnant of the great expansion?"


    "Not a fan of history, I take it?" Violet asked.


    "Yes and no. I must have missed that one." The fact that she seemed to accept this excuse just showed how much information had been segregated over the decades.


    "The Great Expansion happened shortly after humanity cracked the secret to FTL. I think that started around 2130 and ended in 2212."


    "I assume it had to do with humanity populating other planets?"


    "It did. Humanity kept spreading out until they realized there were more habitable planets than they knew what to do with. Then they ran into the Shican. I don''t know much about the war, most of it is still classified even to this day. But soon after encountering them, humanity stopped expanding. While we were evenly matched with the Shican as far as technology, I think the people in charge back then must have been afraid of running into a more technologically advanced race. Considering the hypergates, I can''t really blame them."


    While they chatted, the auction continued. Occasionally some other buyer would bump up the price of the research facility, but he noticed it had slowed significantly.


    "I''ve heard of these hypergates. Never used one myself," Alexander stated.


    "Me either," Violet sighed. "I''ve never left Ganos. I''ve heard they are massive though."


    "Not interested in space travel?" he asked.


    The woman let out a wistful sigh. "I would love to travel the stars but I get motion sick. I can barely even stomach the fliers that stay sub-orbital. The one time I tried taking a holiday to Haja, our local satellite, I ended up spending my entire time in the bathroom. Even with the artificial gravity, my body just couldn''t cope."


    "I''m sorry to hear that."


    "That''s kind of you to say. I''ve learned to be happy where I''m at."


    There was a ding and Alexander looked at the holo-screen.


    "Congratulations, Mr. Kane. You are now the proud owner of your very own research facility. And you got it for quite the steal."


    He didn''t quite consider spending seventy million a steal, but considering he was willing to spend nearly two hundred million, he should probably be happy.


    "Now, there are a few things to go over before we finalize our end of the deal."


    "Such as," Alexander asked, happy that he now had a place to go and a ride to take him there.


    "First off, we recommend hiring a mercenary company to clear the place."


    "Huh?" He thought he had misheard her.


    "Oh, that is just standard fare for buildings left alone on unintegrated worlds. Sometimes pirates like to use them as bases. But most often, we just find squatters there. The mercenaries will also verify the habitable integrity of the location. You wouldn''t want to buy a property on a world with poor air quality just to learn it leaks atmosphere from every entrance and seal."


    He certainly didn''t want to arrive at his new home to find either pirates or faulty life-support. But he also didn''t want to just evict people who were trying to survive.


    "Can the squatters remain?"


    Violet paused. "¡­ It''s not normal for people to want to keep illegal squatters in their properties, Mr. Kane, but it''s yours to do with as you please. I would still recommend having the mercenaries at least scan anyone there for warrants."


    "That''s fine, let''s do that. How much is this going to cost me? Also, I haven''t had the best luck with mercenaries, can you vouch for the ones you''re hiring?"


    "I''ll make a note of your preferences in the action report. The cost will be an additional five million. Normally this is covered by our fee, but since this location is so far out, and so large, it''s going to require a much larger investment. And yes, we can vouch for The Hawks of Ganos. They are one of the premier mercenary companies on Ganos and have a stellar reputation dating back to its founding. They are more like a private army, instead of the rag-tag outlaw type of mercenary teams you might find in the outer systems."


    He was still iffy about this, but he hardly had any other choice. "Fine. As long as you vouch for them, let''s do that."


    "Excellent. I will get the action report completed and someone from the Hawks will be in touch to coordinate. I just need your confirmation, and then you will be given the deed to your new property, Mr. Kane."


    Alexander sent over the digital certificate that was used in place of signatures in this century. After a few minutes, he got confirmation of the payment and the deed to his new property.


    "And that completes the transaction, is there anything else we can assist you with?"


    "There might be."

 Chapter 29

    Before Alexander even made it back to the apartment, his comm beeped.Hello Mr. Kane.


    My name is Anthony Baru, Operations Lead for The Hawks of Ganos. We received your action report from Fidelity Properties. The Hawks currently have an ongoing operation, but that will be completed in the next few weeks. If that timeline works for you, please let us know and we can start preparations. If not, we do have a subsidiary group that is available immediately and is more than capable of taking on this assignment.


    Alexander was glad he had some wiggle room with the schedule, he really didn''t want to deal with some unknown subsidiary group when Violet had already vouched for the Hawks.


    He went over the schedule in his head. Captain Daniel wouldn''t be there for a month and he could postpone almost another month if needed. Then there was the travel time to this planet ¨C which he hadn''t learned the name of yet¨C however long that would take. Figuring that information might be rather important, he popped up the info packet as he entered the apartment. Now that he had a band that held the comm in place, it was much more convenient to use.


    Turns out the planet didn''t even have a name, just some six-digit alphanumeric designation. That was fine. If people were living there, he was sure they had given it a name, he would just go by whatever they called it. Assuming it wasn''t something horrifically awful or obscene.


    As for where this planet was located? It turned out that was on the opposite side of STO space. Not the complete opposite end though. If you flattened the star map and drew an angle to it, the star system was about at the 120-degree mark from Petrov Station using Earth as the center. It was also north of the galactic disk instead of south where Petrov lay. According to the packet, the planet orbited a blue dwarf star.


    From what he remembered of astronomy, which wasn''t much, blue dwarf stars were only supposed to be theoretical. Seems his knowledge of astronomy was a bit out of date if that wasn''t the case. It''s probably why they built the research facility in the first place.


    Before he got further pulled into the history of his new purchase, he responded to Mr. Baru and said that would be fine. He also supplied his travel itinerary and an estimated arrival timeline. He couldn''t give him an exact time because he didn''t know how long it would take.


    It didn''t take long for Baru to reply.


    That will be fine. It is within our operational window. We will coordinate with your ship before leaving STO space. Once we arrive at the planet, we will maintain facility safety until the end of our contract. If you decide to retain our services beyond that six-month window, there will be additional expenses though, just so you are aware.


    That wasn''t a surprise. He couldn''t expect hired soldiers to just sit around waiting for him without getting paid. He sent an affirmative response and went back to the info about the planet.


    It was habitable, barely. There was an atmosphere, but the sulfur content was so high, it smelled of rotten eggs all the time. That wasn''t him guessing, it was written right into the document. Not great, but air scrubbers should be able to take care of that.


    Nothing but a few desert plants could survive on the harsh surface. It wasn''t hot, in fact, the planet ran rather cool, never getting above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It was just super dry and the radiation from the blue star was higher than Earth.


    The packet also contained a survey of the local area around the facility. The ground was chock-full of metals and rare-earth elements. Mining them did not seem to be a priority when they set up the facility though. Considering how easy it was to extract the same minerals from asteroids, he wasn''t surprised nobody had bothered going to this planet simply to mine it for resources.


    As for the facility itself, he had to pause when he saw the square footage. Violet had warned him it was bigger than he might want, but this went way beyond what he expected. The facility was over four hundred million square feet of space. That wasn''t a facility, that was an entire city. Almost fifteen square miles to be exact. A small city to be sure, but a city nonetheless. And looking at the design documents, that only included the livable space. It didn''t even account for the sub-structure or maintenance areas.


    If there weren''t people living there, he was going to have a really tough time maintaining the place even if Yulia helped him. Maybe he should have looked at the size of the property before agreeing to this purchase. Oh well, it was too late now. Not that he could afford to be choosy. With everything going on, he was more than happy to have a new home locked in so early. It made planning so much easier.


    ***


    Alexander spent the next few weeks going over the specifics with Mr. Baru. The man was all business, which suited Alexander just fine.


    The Operations Lead brought up a few concerns that Alexander hadn''t even thought about.


    The first major concern he had was if there was a breathable atmosphere inside the facility.


    While it was true the planet had a breathable atmosphere, it was extremely thin. With the thinner atmosphere, it made it feel like there was half as much oxygen as you normally needed according to the previous research done on the planet. It was low enough to cause breathing issues. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The rest of the planetary research was rather slim. The original inhabitants of planet Y6X-3H2-4 were more interested in the star, and only cursory studies were done on the surface and around the facility.


    This meant they would need supplemental oxygen, or some way to increase the oxygen density in the facility, unless he wanted Yulia to suffer from hypoxia. That wasn''t an option. The facility probably had systems in place to do all of this already, but Baru said he should plan for any such systems to be offline or at best malfunctioning. Considering the age of the facility, the man was probably correct.


    He took Mr. Baru''s suggestion and went over the blueprints until he located these systems. Then he purchased the requisite manuals to make repairs and print any parts he might need to fix or even completely replace the units. He lucked out here. Because the facility was so old, and the systems so antiquated, getting the manuals was rather cheap. Alexander thought of buying plans for newer environmental systems but he couldn''t justify the cost. The old systems had functioned for over a hundred years so repairing them should be fine. The last check-in at the station some eighty years ago said the environmental systems were still functioning within the lower range of tolerance. Eighty-plus years of neglect probably hadn''t done them any good though.


    The second issue Baru brought up was facility integrity. Being nearly two hundred years old, there was bound to be leaks and rust. The planet did get rain, even if it was few and far between. And because of the high concentration of sulfur in the atmosphere, it was heavily acidic. So there were bound to be issues to resolve there.


    The facility had an answer for this already though. A large, fully robotic manufacturing dome was listed on the plans. It was probably used to create all the components or replacements the research facility needed.


    Once he finished manufacturing any repair items he might need, Alexander would probably end up turning the space into his personal lab and research center.


    With that in mind, he wanted to ensure he had the best start. He purchased three more printers like the one he had used to manufacture the Zephyr''s parts. Then he rented a storage room until the ship arrived. He knew how much cargo room the Zephyr had thanks to his communications with Jasper.


    Alexander hadn''t intended on taking much more than food and water with him originally, but knowing any empty space aboard the ship would be wasted space, he decided to fill it up with everything he could think of. And he had a lot of money to work with.


    Next on his list was a smelter. The one he purchased wasn''t the same as the behemoth Petrov station used. The smaller unit was capable of processing ten tons of material a day. And even then it took up a considerable amount of space.


    He didn''t care. As far as he was concerned, it was a requirement for what he planned to do since the facility didn''t show any form of advanced processing on the schematics. From what he could tell, it mainly just used a relatively cheap steel alloy in its construction with the exterior covered by a thick cement-like paste mixed from the local dirt and rocks to mitigate the damage the rains caused. This was likely built using the refinery that was listed on the plans.


    It certainly made logical sense to use what was locally available instead of shipping in all the materials. Set a few automated mining machines down, or even drone-operated ones from orbit, and the work could go on all day every day until it was completed.


    Alexander didn''t have the kind of money needed to buy automated manufacturing drones. He would have to do things the hard way. Which was fine, he liked building and fixing things anyway.


    He couldn''t forget medical supplies. First for Yulia, and second to help keep his cover. Of course, he also had to account for the fake medical pod he was using. Losing that space was annoying but necessary.


    Alexander wanted to buy more of those quick heal meds the doctors used on Yulia, but the man hadn''t been lying when he said they got a limited quantity. The bare minimum to purchase one treatment was ten million credits. And that would have to be shipped from the manufacturer''s planet of origin. According to the sales page, he might get them in six months to a year depending on the wait list.


    Alexander was forced to abandon that hope. The price was staggeringly ridiculous. Despite that, he would have been willing to pay it. But he wasn''t willing to wait a possible year for them to arrive. And he doubted the company would ship them outside STO space anyway. Something that was so sought after would certainly be a target for criminals.


    Instead of wasting his money on a single item, he purchased every available medication and diagnostic piece of machinery that was available for sale aboard Petrov station. All of that only amounted to two million credits. He may not know how to operate any of the devices, but he would learn.


    That brought him to something he almost overlooked on his list of purchases, knowledge. He bought up any guide, walkthrough, technical manual, and blueprint that he could for every bit of technology he could find in the facility blueprints. He wanted to understand every moving part of that structure and how to fix it. After that, he spent another large chunk of money to get the printer documents for both Omni and Sinorus engines Class 1 through Class 4. This way he could study their designs.


    He had plenty of funds left over and could have purchased the Class 5 and 6 schematics, but he decided against that. Both of those required orbital facilities to manufacture them. Purchasing the Class 7 and 8 ones was simply out of the question since they required him to be a military contractor.


    Alexander had no desire to further the STO''s military capabilities or their bureaucratic nightmare of government.


    That left Class 9 engines, but those were experimental and weren''t required to have available schematics. However, he had seen a few available for sale from the smaller companies.


    That wasn''t the last of his purchases though. Considering he wanted to be completely free from the other manufacturer''s influence, he needed to take it a step further. He purchased whole ship schematics as well as items he knew he couldn''t print like advanced computer processors.


    This was pricy, but so worth it. One ship schematic covered every bit of technology aboard that ship. Considering he was planning on arriving aboard the Zephyr, he simply purchased that ship''s design.


    This purchase finally gave him his first look at the power plant as well as the FTL systems. A ship schematic didn''t go into as much detail on how stuff worked as a separate document might, but it did give you printable files to make replacement parts. He could figure it out from there.


    And finally, Alexander purchased dozens of learning modules. They started from early elementary school and went all the way to advanced engineering. He purchased as many diverse modules as he could purchase. He wanted to ensure he had a wide source of knowledge. Although not the original reason for doing so, he realized if Omni was monitoring his purchases, it would make it harder for them to figure out what he was up to.


    With all of his purchases complete, he looked at his much-diminished bank account. Even with all the spending, he still had more money than most would make in their lifetime. After receiving his cut from the attack, he still had over a hundred million credits. It was a good thing the facility had been so cheap. If he had spent the two hundred million he planned on the new property, he would be in debt after this round of purchases.

 Chapter 30

    With only a week left before the Zephyr arrived, Alexander was finalizing a few things."Are you ready to see your friends?" he asked quietly.


    As he had promised, he brought Yulia back to see her friends at the orphanage and say goodbye. She nodded, although she looked like she wanted to cry. He had purchased a comm band for her so she could keep in touch with them even after they left. But what he hadn''t noticed until he dug into the research facility plans was that the building didn''t have a Qcomm.


    Alexander didn''t want to break her heart by telling her that she wouldn''t be able to remain in touch with her friends, so he looked into getting one of these systems installed. He wished he hadn''t.


    If you thought a ship was expensive, you were completely wrong. The simplest and cheapest Qcomm available was a text-only variant that cost half a billion credits. And you still had to pay for each transmission.


    It was far outside his budget at the moment, but in time he hoped to have the money to purchase one. In the meantime, a courier drone was a much more manageable option. The Class 1 ships only cost a few million and would only need to hop to the nearest system with a Qcomm array to transmit and receive any correspondence. Then it would simply hop back and repeat this process until it exhausted its internal fuel supply.


    Considering how far they were from STO space, that might be sooner than he liked. Alexander considered purchasing the design specifications for the ships but decided against it. He already had one ship design, and he was quickly going through the basic engineering tutorials and study work. Eventually, he would be able to design and build one of the ships himself. He would still need to purchase the Qcomm secure buffer to go along with it, but that was a much more reasonable price.


    Yulia nodded at his question and tentatively pushed open the door to the orphanage. He had already scheduled this meeting with the Headmaster, so all of the children were here to greet Yulia when she arrived.


    The young girl looked startled when they all cheered and rushed to hug her. He could see the moment she forgot her sadness and started laughing and playing with the other kids.


    The Headmaster walked up to stand next to him, smiling. "It''s good to see she hasn''t lost her enthusiasm."


    "She is a resilient child," Alexander remarked.


    "That she is. I heard about what Captain Zhang said to you. There was no need for him to be so crass."


    "You know? How?" Alexander was actually surprised to hear others knew of his conversation with Zhang.


    "The second ring is a pretty small community. Rumors spread like wildfire down here. I would be surprised if anyone on the ring didn''t know by now. News of your talk has probably spread to the upper rings as well. Any time a Council Captain gets personally involved, it''s big news. It''s also rare to have someone exiled."


    "That explains the lack of work I''ve had since my little chat," he murmured.


    "Don''t hold it against the people too harshly," Wong said as he watched the children play. "The people down here are barely accepted as is. They can''t afford to get caught up in drama that could see them in a situation much like yours."


    "Fair enough," he stated as he watched an older boy separate from the group before heading his way.


    "Markus," the headmaster spoke quietly. "I''ll leave you two to chat while I make the evening meal. You''ll be sticking around for that."


    That didn''t sound like a question, but Alexander made his avatar nod anyway.


    The older boy stopped a good ten feet from Alexander and looked his body over before finally settling his determined gaze on his avatar''s face.


    "You better take good care of her." With that statement, he turned around and went back to the group.


    So much for a conversation.


    Before the boy got too far, Alexander called out just loud enough for him to hear. "Thank you for saving her." He hadn''t had a chance to speak with the boy since the accident, and Markus had never come by his shop.


    The boy didn''t stop, in fact, he went from a walk to a jog, but Alexander had seen the boy''s ears turn red from the praise. There was one last thing he would do before leaving the station. He didn''t do it now because he didn''t want credit for it. He had set up a sort of college fund for all the current, and hopefully future children of the orphanage. He hoped the ten-million-credit investment was sufficient to ensure none of these children remained stuck on this level for the rest of their lives.


    It was too bad he wouldn''t be here to see the Headmaster''s face when he got the legal paperwork. Alexander chuckled internally imagining the scene.


    The meals and goodbye went on well past the children''s bedtime, but neither Alexander nor the Headmaster were willing to break it up. It was the children who eventually brought the festivities to an end when they started falling asleep.


    Alexander picked up the sleeping Yulia. The girl opened her eyes briefly before snuggling up closer in his arms. Now that his body was fully repaired, he had learned a few new tricks. One of them allowed him to regulate his external temperature. He raised it to be comfortably warm for the girl so she wouldn''t need to snuggle against a cold hard exterior.


    He gave one last nod to the Headmaster. The man nodded back as he prodded the older children to help him get the younger ones into their beds.


    ***


    The day had finally come. The Zephyr would be here soon. Over the last few days, just to sate his curiosity, Alexander had asked around to see if other captains were available to transport him off the station.


    Some wouldn''t even speak with him. The few that did either turned him down outright or said they weren''t taking on passengers. One Captain even said they weren''t traveling in that direction, even though Alexander hadn''t mentioned where he was going.


    It was pretty much a confirmation that Captain Sergei Zhang or someone else on the Council had spoken to the docked captains.


    Alexander was once again thankful for making friends with Jasper. Had he not, he would likely have ended up in some STO penal colony until they realized the body inside the medical pod was an animal and not human. Then who knew what they would do to him? Nothing good, that was for sure.


    He had reached out to Captain Na to alert him of this situation. Na had responded and said he would look into it, but was off-station so there wasn''t much he could do at the moment. He just told Alexander to check every dock to find someone to take him.


    That wasn''t a very comforting response. He was glad he hadn''t bothered telling anyone of his plans to leave with the Zephyr. Considering what he was running into now, it was likely the Council would have blocked his friend from even docking. They might have figured it out if they got into his comm traffic, but those messages were secure and encrypted. Or at least that was their big selling point. He could only assume it was true since he couldn''t afford to have it be otherwise.


    ***


    Jasper was understandably concerned for his friend Alexander. The man hadn''t gone into detail on why he was being exiled from Petrov Station. He hoped it wasn''t because of some backlash from his patents.


    He supposed he would find out soon enough.


    The Zephyr slid into the large hangar and soon touched down on the deck.


    "Excellent flying as always, Wilkes."


    "Thanks, Captain," the man stated.


    Everyone was a lot more subdued on this trip. He had explained to them that they were back out here to help their friend Alexander. Most of the crew had met the man and liked him. So they were all business during this run. The few new crew members he brought on were quickly brought up to speed and understood the issue. Most spacers were very protective of their friends and family. They had to be because nobody else would do it for them.


    Once the dock atmosphere normalized, the ramp lowered. "Alright everyone," Jasper called at the top of the ramp. His entire crew had assembled. "We have a few weeks before we need to leave again, but I want the entire ship gone over. We have guests coming with us, and I want to leave a good impression."


    "Aye aye, Captain!" came a unanimous response.


    He nodded. "Dismissed."


    As the rest of the crew left for their assigned tasks, Naomi approached him.


    "You have a guest waiting outside the hangar, Captain."


    "Already? Who is it?" She turned a tablet to show him the security camera feed. It was a large man with Captain''s insignia but Jasper didn''t recognize him. Naomi must have seen his confusion.


    "It is Council Captain Sergei Zhang."


    "A Council Captain? Alexander, what have you gotten yourself mixed up in?"


    "What would you like me to tell him?" Naomi asked.


    If he asked her to tell the man to piss off, she would. She would be more diplomatic about it though. But he knew that would only lead to further issues. "Let him know I will greet him in a few minutes once our systems are topped off." That should give him time to come up with a response for whatever the man was likely to ask of him. Which undoubtedly involved his friend.


    A few minutes later the interior hangar door opened to show a large man looking bored and annoyed in the corridor.


    "Bout damn time," the man grumbled. "You need to learn to delegate tasks, Captain. One of your people could have topped off your ship so you could meet me instead of forcing me to waste my precious time."


    Jasper did his best to smile. "I like to ensure necessities are done properly."


    The man snorted and pushed himself off the wall. "Then get a more competent crew."


    Jasper''s smile slipped. "What do you want Council Captain?" He was not going to play nice with someone who disrespected his crew.


    "We have a reprobate on the station who is trying to charter a ship off. We simply wish to warn you should an Alexander Kane attempt to book passage aboard your vessel."


    "Do you have evidence of this man''s crimes?" Jasper asked although he knew this man didn''t.


    "We are currently building a case, but we do not want the man to escape before we can bring him to justice for his crimes."


    A few choice responses came to Jasper''s mind. His first inclination was to tell the man to shove off, and if someone wanted off this cesspool of a station, he would gladly allow them aboard his ship. But that would likely get the Zephyr stuck in a quarantine hold. He had seen it happen to captains before who pissed off a station manager.


    His next response was to tell the man he knew Alexander and the man was nothing but upstanding. But it was obvious this man had some sort of personal grudge against his friend.


    What he actually said was, "I will keep that in mind if this man comes to speak with me."


    The Captain nodded and walked off without so much as a thank you.


    "Right prick, that one," Wilkes spoke quietly as he stopped next to Jasper. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Took the words right out of my mouth. I think it''s time I contacted our friend. I want to be off this station before they realize we''re taking him with us."

 Chapter 31

    "Jasper, it''s good to see you!" Alexander extended his hand and the Captain shook it."You as well, my friend. I see you repaired your robot."


    Alexander made his avatar look chagrined. "An unfortunate necessity that also had something to do with my exile. Please come in and I''ll fill you in on what happened."


    Captain Daniel nodded and entered the apartment. The man paused as his eyes landed on Yulia. The girl, still shy among adults, quickly shut the door to the bedroom.


    "And a father, you did mention that didn''t you?"


    Alexander nodded. "It''s all tied together. Can I offer you something to drink?"


    "Water or tea if you have it," the man said as he sat at the counter.


    "Tea it is. You probably need something stronger for this story, but I don''t drink, and obviously, Yulia is too young."


    "That''s fine. I somehow feel like this is one of those situations where alcohol is best left out of the equation."


    "You''re probably right," Alexander said.


    As he prepared the tea, he launched into his story. First starting with what happened with Omni.


    "I''m sorry to hear you had to go through that," the man stated sadly as he blew on his tea.


    "It certainly was annoying. Thanks to your input, I didn''t walk away empty-handed though."


    "That''s good to know. But you still haven''t explained why they exiled you. I can''t exactly imagine them doing that because of the Omni case."


    "No. This came about after a series of events that happened a week later." He told him the story of the attack. How Yulia had been injured and nearly died. Then he went into the reasons for why he adopted her.


    After finishing that story, he explained that the attackers had accused him of having or manufacturing restricted weapons. Alexander left out the part where he actually did that part. It wasn''t like he meant to manufacture those things.


    The last thing he covered was the hasty completion of the adoption before Captain Sergei Zhang could pronounce judgment on him. He omitted the reasoning behind the hasty adoption stuff. He didn''t want Yulia to overhear what Headmaster Wong had told him that night and the walls weren''t exactly thick.


    "I had the pleasure of running into the Captain when I arrived," Jasper''s voice was thick with disgust. "Did you personally offend the man?"


    Alexander shook his head. "Never met the man before that evening at the hospital. At first, I thought he had a chip on his shoulder against me¡­"


    "¡­but that doesn''t explain why he''s going through all this trouble to keep you from leaving?" Jasper finished


    "No, no it doesn''t. The funny thing is, I had already planned to leave before they exiled me."


    "You did? Did you finally take my friend, Dr. Nova Lund up on her offer?"


    "Her?" Alexander had assumed the doctor was a he. Then again he had never actually asked.


    Jasper chuckled at the look of confusion on Alexander''s avatar. "Leave it to Nova to be so caught up with her science to not introduce herself properly. So is that where you''re heading next?"


    "No. While our discussions were certainly enlightening, and the woman is indeed a genius. I simply decided I didn''t want to work for someone else anymore."


    Captain Daniel nodded. "You don''t have to explain that to me. I saved up every credit I earned as a first mate until I could finally purchase my own ship and crew."


    "That''s how you bought the Zephyr?"


    The man laughed. "I wish first mates got paid that type of money! No. I bought a small Class 2 vessel that I used for VIP transport in the core systems. While lucrative, having to deal with those pretentious assholes leaves a lot to be desired. It did earn me a valuable education in how to maneuver through the bureaucratic nightmare that is the law though, so it wasn''t all bad. After five years of that, I upgraded to the Zephyr and never looked back. And I''m much happier for it. So if we aren''t going to Lund''s little brain trust, where are we going?"


    "I used my windfall from the Omni case to purchase an abandoned property in a system called Y6X-3H2."


    Jasper winced at that. "Not even a named system, eh? I''m going to guess this system is out of STO''s normal jurisdiction."


    "That''s not going to be a problem is it?"


    "If there are pirates out there, it could be."


    "Oh, that won''t be an issue. One of the things the real estate place recommended was hiring a mercenary company to clear the place out. They will be waiting at the edge of STO space to escort us."


    "That was nice of them to recommend someone. Who did you hire?"


    "The Hawks of Ganos."


    Jasper''s eyebrows rose. "I guess you''re not taking any half-measures here. I''ve heard of them. If their reputation is as good as I''ve heard, there shouldn''t be any problems."


    "The lady at Fidelity said much the same, but it''s good to hear it verified from an outside source."


    "So, Alexander. A trip to the other side of STO space. It''s going to take probably two months just to get there. Do you have everything you need?"


    "I believe so. But I may have bought more than I needed."


    "Oh, how much cargo room are we talking about here?"


    Alexander told him the estimated cargo space he required. The man nearly choked on his tea. "I can pay you for moving all my stuff."


    The man waved away his concern. "No, that''s fine. I was just surprised. The last time we spoke, everything you owned fit in that little shop of yours. And while I had planned to fill the rest of my cargo with stuff purchased on Petrov, if I''m honest, it''s not worth it. My last load barely broke even. This will also save me time trying to fill empty space. I want to be here and gone before the Council figures out you''re leaving anyway."


    "You think they will do something to stop you?"


    Jasper snorted. "Considering the lengths they have gone to so far, they will probably try something. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve as well, so don''t you worry. Just send the storage list to me and I will get my crew to move the items aboard as soon as possible. Once everything is loaded up, I will contact you. Then you," he winked, "and your lovely daughter can come aboard."


    Alexander had seen Yulia sneaking a peek from her room, but the girl quickly shut the door again when the Captain winked at her.


    "She''s a bit shy," he said quietly.


    "Must take after her old man," Jasper chuckled.


    It took a moment for Alexander to realize Jasper was referring to him. When he did, he rolled his eyes, making the man laugh.


    ***


    Yulia wanted to run out of the room and tell Alex she wasn''t shy. She just didn''t trust adults. None of her memories of them, except for Headmaster Wong, were good. Even her memories of her parents were now tinged with fear.


    It wasn''t until she saw the bad men at Alex''s that the rest of her memories of her parents came flooding back to her. And now that she was old enough, she knew what her parents were. And by association, what she was. It terrified her that an adult might come along and snatch her away from Alex just to do whatever they did to pirates. She had asked Markus about what they did to pirates one time, but the boy had been surprisingly tight-lipped. To this day, anytime she brought up the subject, he would go quiet. Eventually, she just stopped bringing it up.


    Her thoughts turned to her friend and a tear escaped her eye. She was never going to see him again. Nobody told her that, but she knew that was the case. She wanted to ask Alex to adopt him, but she didn''t want to upset him or make him second-guess his decision. Some of the older kids at the orphanage told stories of children getting dumped back into the orphanage who annoyed their new families too much.


    She didn''t want Alex to hate her, so she sucked up her emotions and wiped away her tears. She would still be able to send messages to her friends. And Alex promised her she would make new friends.


    ***


    Jasper was aboard the Zephyr enjoying a cup of coffee as he filled out some reports when a knock interrupted him. "Come in," he said without taking his eyes off the report. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The door opened and in walked Naomi. "He''s back, Captain."


    Jasper set down the tablet with a sigh. "I was hoping it would take him longer to notice. How is the loading coming along?"


    "We are about sixty percent of the way there."


    He did some quick math in his head. "So another three days or so?"


    "Four to be safe."


    He grunted and stood. "See if you can speed that up any. If you have to store everything in the hangar to get it done faster do it."


    Naomi nodded and walked out, Jasper followed behind her and down the ramp.


    He stopped halfway down, spotting Captain Zhang inside his hangar. "What is he doing here?" he ground his teeth.


    Another Captain entering his hangar without consent was a serious breach of etiquette. And the man was blatantly snooping at the unloaded cargo with two station security along with him.


    "What is the meaning of this!" he yelled as he stormed down the rest of the ramp.


    Zhang had the gall to smile at him. "We are performing a cargo inspection."


    Jasper walked right up to the taller man, making the two security people reach for their stunners. "Unless you have a search warrant, I suggest you leave. And even if you did¡­ You are not an authorized security agent aboard this station."


    Zhang looked like he was about to say something when Naomi cleared her throat. "Captain. I have already submitted a complaint for this breach."


    She was talking to him, but Zhang clamped his mouth shut. Then he snapped his fingers and the two station security stepped forward while Zhang exited the hangar. One of the men handed him a tablet showing him the signed warrant to search his cargo. It was signed by Zhang himself.


    He slapped the tablet back in the man''s hand and stared him in the face. "Unless you want me to level an accusation of load tampering and possible piracy¡­" both men stiffened at that, "¡­I suggest you take this bullshit warrant and leave."


    The men glanced at each other before the one who handed him the tablet spoke. "It seems there was an error in the warrant. We''re sorry for any misunderstanding. Have a nice day, Captain."


    He watched as the two scurried out of his hangar. He was glad STO law was very clear on hangar space. Once rented, it and everything inside it were lawfully owned by the renter until such time as the renter vacated the space. The law had been put in place centuries ago to stop scummy station managers from evicting crews and stealing all of their cargo and in some instances the ships themselves. Now it required a warrant to search the property, but they couldn''t arrest or revoke that tenancy unless the Captain was charged with a felony.


    The only other way a station could lay claim to what was in a hangar was if they convicted the crew of piracy. And that was unlikely. Every instance of a piracy trial was required to go to the STO for review. If the STO found the station management had falsified information to hold such a trial, those people got subjected to a piracy charge themselves. That stopped anyone from arbitrarily trying people as pirates to transfer wealth to themselves.


    If Jasper had gone through with his threat, the STO would have looked into it eventually, although he doubted anything would have come from his claim other than a fine, but it was the threat that mattered. If Zhang wanted to be an ass for some unknown reason, Jasper would play his game. He could guarantee he had far more experience playing with the law than this outer sector Captain.

 Chapter 32

    Alexander''s comm beeped. He looked at it and saw it was the boarding message from Jasper. It was finally time to leave Petrov Station. It was a relief to finally see the message he had been waiting for. He had been receiving daily messages from the Captain, so he knew there was some trouble with station management, specifically Zhang. But Jasper had assured him that was all taken care of and now all of the supplies he had purchased were loaded. The final item to be loaded was his medical capsule because it required special care.That made him cringe. For the first time since he woke, he wished he could just dispense with the lie. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust Jasper, he absolutely did. The man had dropped everything to come to his aid when he didn''t have to. Alexander wasn''t sure if he would have done the same if the situation was reversed. That realization made him feel like a shitty friend.


    No matter what Jasper said, Alexander would eventually repay him for this kindness.


    He turned to Yulia who was sitting on the couch watching some holo show. "Are you ready?"


    The girl turned to him and for a moment it looked like she was going to cry. She sniffed once before nodding. Alexander offered his hand to her and the pair walked toward the service elevator.


    They arrived at the lift just as the lights began to blink. Alexander picked up Yulia and covered the rest of the distance, joining the other bulk items being transported around the station. He needed to thank Jasper, or more likely Naomi for timing the completion of their cargo loading so perfectly.


    Soon enough they stepped out on the fourth ring where the Zephyr was docked. Considering the lengths Zhang had gone through to keep him here, Alexander was surprised there wasn''t armed security waiting for him. It seemed that might have been a step too far for the Council Captain. He would deeply like to know what the man had against him, but not enough to stick around another day to figure it out.


    Alexander walked through the station, carrying Yulia on one arm with ease. The girl kept giggling in delight and asking him to go higher. Eventually, she was standing on top of his rounded shoulders in the place of his head. The girl seemed to have forgotten her sadness as she laughed while holding his hands.


    He looked ridiculous walking down the corridor with his hands up in the air holding Yulia from falling, but he didn''t care. He preferred the girl''s last memory of the station to be a fond one rather than one marked by loss. Some of the people gawking at his little show probably thought he was an idiot, but so what? None of their opinions mattered one bit to him.


    As they neared the dock, he could see Jasper waiting for him. Alexander could also feel Yulia''s apprehension growing. He lifted the girl off his head, earning a squeal of delight as he tucked her in his arm. She quickly used this new position to hide her face from the Captain. With his free arm, he waved.


    The man waved back, a smile on his face. "Alexander! Your timing is impeccable."


    The way he said it made Alexander think there was an issue. "Is something wrong?"


    "Not yet. Let''s get inside the hangar before we chat." The man deliberately scanned the hallway for something after he said this.


    Alexander hadn''t seen anyone following him. He would have if there was. The ability to monitor his surroundings at all times was handy if a bit draining on his mind. That issue had lessened quite a bit since his miraculous repair though. So the ability to see his entire surroundings seemed like something purpose-built into this body.


    He followed the Captain inside the hangar, glad he didn''t need to duck due to his height. He wished all the bulkhead doors were as tall as the hangar doors. He wondered how he would fare in the research facility. As soon as they were through the hangar door, Jasper walked over to the control panel and locked it closed with a command code that meant they were intending to disembark.


    "Yulia, would you like to explore the Zephyr with Naomi while I talk with your father?"


    The girl tried to scrunch in even tighter against Alexander''s frame at the Captain''s words. Understanding that the Captain needed to speak privately with him, he set Yulia down. "Don''t worry, I''ll be right behind you," he lightly nudged the girl toward the smiling woman.


    After a bit, the girl reluctantly nodded, shuffling over to Naomi, who offered her hand. The girl took it but looked back toward him for confirmation.


    The young woman kneeled down next to his daughter and spoke in a soothing voice. "Don''t worry, Yulia. While the Captain and your dad are chatting, I''ll show you the best places to play hide and seek aboard the ship. That way you can play with your dad during the journey and win," she winked, earning an aborted giggle from the girl.


    After they left, Alexander spoke up. "Naomi is exceedingly good at her job."


    Jasper laughed lightly. "Of course she is, I hired her. Now on to business," the man''s tone became serious.


    "Is this about Zhang causing issues?"


    "Not this time, my friend." The pair walked over to a large crate that sat alone on the hangar floor.


    Alexander immediately recognized it as his supposed ''cryo pod''.


    "We''re friends right?" Jasper asked as he stopped next to the crate and turned toward him.


    "Of course."


    The Captain nodded. "Then do me the favor of explaining why this crate is housing a frozen animal, and not you."


    Alexander visibly slumped. "You checked the contents?"


    "I had to. After Zhang pulled his bullshit search warrant, I wanted to ensure there was nothing that could get us detained or worse. So if you''re not in there," he tapped on the top of the crate, "where are you?"


    Alexander tapped his chest.


    "Why lie about that?" Jasper asked, sounding genuinely hurt.


    "Fear. I essentially woke up on this station without most of my memories. I had no idea how I got here, or how I ended up in this body."


    "What?"


    Alexander sighed. "It will be easier if I just start from the beginning."


    He told Jasper about everything. His time being a mindless robot under Yuri, the scrambling he had to do to escape after the scrapyard was purchased out. His inability to do much of anything with that damn control box attached to him, everything. It all just sort of poured out of him as he began to recount the last few years.


    After he was done, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest.


    "So that''s what happened to old man Yuri. I''m sorry he used you like that. I doubt he would have had he known."


    "I''m not sure I believe that. The man seemed perfectly fine dealing with shady people."


    "Hmm, maybe you''re right. It has been quite some time since I last saw the old man, he could have changed. So¡­ you''re what? A brain inside a robot body?" The man seemed to be trying to wrap his head around that.


    Alexander chuckled. "Your guess is as good as mine. But probably not the brain thing. I tried some industrial scanners to see if I could figure it out. The images either came back grainy or couldn''t penetrate deep enough into my exoskeleton. I assume it has something to do with the damage I had before or some sort of shielding."


    "I was going to ask about the damage next, but shielding?"


    "I haven''t needed to recharge since I woke up. Something has to be powering this body. And something that powerful has to be shielded I would think."


    The man took a step back. "Is it safe?"


    "It hasn''t caused any harm as far as I can tell. And there isn''t any radiation leaking from my body. That would have been picked up right away. As for the damage, I honestly don''t know. I lost consciousness after the attack. When I woke back up, the damage was just gone. Not repaired, but like it had never even been there in the first place."


    "I have to ask this, Alexander, because your story makes little sense. Are you sure you''re even human?"


    Alexander shrugged his large shoulders. "As far as I know. I have memories of a life back on Earth."


    "Earth? It''s rare to meet people from the homeworld. Do you think someone back there might know what happened to you?" S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hmm, probably not."


    "How can you be so certain?"


    "Hoo boy. This is another issue I encountered when I woke up. My memories seem to be from around the mid-2050s, as best as I can guess."


    "¡­What?"


    "I know it''s hard to believe. Imagine the last thing you remember is some time from almost four hundred years ago. I was quite lost when I realized I was on a space station floating out in a system I had no memory of. I can see you want to ask the question. I have no clue who did this to me or why. And yes, it could have been aliens. I haven''t seen any human technology even remotely close to what this body is made out of. Have you ever heard the saying, sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic?"


    The man nodded woodenly.


    "Well, I don''t see that with this body. I see joints and servos. Slightly more advanced than human tech, but not much beyond that. That''s also why I don''t think I''m a disembodied brain. Unless there is some ridiculously advanced stasis technology at play, I just don''t see how a brain could survive that long. And I can''t imagine humanity even coming up with such technology in the next hundred years. My best guess is I''m some sort of digital transference. The why and how of that escapes me though. But you see my dilemma?"


    Jasper took a seat on the crate that held the cryo pod. "I can see why you would have wanted to keep this quiet. I''ll be honest, that was not the story I expected to hear when I confronted you."


    Alexander made his avatar quirk an eyebrow. "Really? What did you expect? And does this mean you believe me?"


    "Of course, I believe you. The story is too insane to be fake. It also explains why you seemed so na?ve, even though you lived out on the fringes."


    "I wasn''t that na?ve," he grumbled.


    Jasper chuckled. "Trust me, you were. As for what I expected? Honestly, I don''t know. Someone in hiding I guess. Although, that is technically true. Maybe an escaped runaway from some criminal organization. There are enough of those around."


    "You thought about me like this the entire time? And still worked with me?"


    "Not the entire time. Your story didn''t make a whole lot of sense so I did some digging. I only dug into your background after your work. By then I already knew you were a stand-up guy. So unless I found you to be some pirate hiding from the law, I figured you were fine to keep your secret."


    "I put a lot of thought and work into that cover," Alexander muttered quietly.


    The Captain smiled. "You simply lacked the right information. We''ll have plenty of time during the flight. I''ll work with you to correct that lapse of knowledge. Now let''s get aboard before your daughter gets upset."


    "So, you still want to take me now that you know my secret? What about my cover?" Alexander asked.


    "Alexander, I judge people by their actions, not by their circumstances. And everything you''ve shown me leads me to believe you are an upstanding person. As for your other concern. This little discovery will stay between you and me. It isn''t my place to reveal people''s secrets. It will be up to you if you want to tell the rest of my crew."


    Alexander nodded. "I would prefer to keep this between us for now."


    Jasper nodded and motioned toward the end of the crate as he readied to lift one end. "This thing isn''t going to carry itself. You going to help?"


    Alexander chuckled and lifted the entire thing by himself. "After you, Captain."

 Chapter 33

    "Alright, crew! Everything is loaded, it''s time to go. Sierra!""Yes, Captain?" his sensor operator turned.


    "Notify the station we wish to depart."


    The woman nodded and turned back toward her terminal. He waited for far longer than was normal before clearing his throat. "Is something the matter, Sierra?"


    "The station operator is saying there is a hold on our departure. But he couldn''t see a reason for this hold. He is looking into the issue." Of course, there was.


    "Patch me into the station, please."


    Soon his screen lit up, showing him a video of a slightly flustered-looking station technician.


    "C- Captain, I should have your issue figured out in a few days." Jasper snorted, he wasn''t waiting a few days for that bastard Zhang to come up with another way to hold him up. That would turn into even more excuses and eventually Alexander''s time to vacate the station would expire.


    "Get your Commissar."


    "Sir?"


    "You heard me."


    Ten minutes later, a man wearing the station Commissar uniform appeared on the screen. "Captain Daniel, you asked to speak with me?"


    "I did. I was hoping you could speed up the resolution of this issue your dock technician is running into."


    "I see¡­ I have been apprised of the issue. Unfortunately, it will take time to determine why this hold was placed on your ship. Now if you''ll excuse me, I have other issues that demand my attention."


    The man seemed very eager to end this conversation, but Jasper wasn''t having it. "Commissar, are you familiar with STO law on ship holds?"


    "Of course," the man bristled.


    Jasper smiled. "Wonderful! Then you know that section 13f states that a Captain must be notified of the reason for the hold upon request. If you can''t provide a reason, then you must release the ship and look into the issue in your own time. Otherwise, you would be interfering with the lawful movement of that vessel. And I think we both know what that means. Oh, and you can consider this my request."


    "Give me a moment to refresh my memory," the man stated as he stepped away from the screen.


    It was another stalling tactic. The Commissar could have just as easily looked up the regulation on the terminal in front of him. Jasper let this one slide. If the man wasn''t brain dead, he would understand the implied threat he had just laid out. And if not, he had friends that could hurry this along.


    It only took a few minutes for the Commissar to return. "Apologies for the delay, Captain Daniel. I have released the hold on your ship."


    "Thank you, Commissar. You may want to look into that issue. Some captains would immediately file a report with the STO if this happened to them. I would hate to see Petrov Station''s reputation ruined by such a thing."


    The man on the other end forced a smile onto his face. "I will take that under advisement. And thank you for visiting." With that, the line went dead and Jasper chuckled.


    "Alright, Wilkes, get us the hell out of here."


    "Roger that," the man gave a two-finger salute without turning around.


    The quiet hum of the reactor soon spread through the ship, making the Zephyr feel alive.


    "Hangar atmosphere is vented," Sierra called out.


    There was a rumble and muted clank as the liftoff thrusters engaged and the landing gear retracted. It was always a balancing act on stations that didn''t have independent gravity zones, but Wilkes was more than up to the challenge.


    Soon the ship floated backward out the large open hangar door. The inky blackness of space greeted them like an old friend.


    ***


    Sergei brooded aboard his ship Steel Tempest. He had inherited the ugly mining vessel from his father after he passed away but had quickly changed its name from the Lucky Strike. Lucky his ass. The ship was a barely floating hunk of steel when he received it. It wasn''t until someone approached him with a loan offer that he was able to finally bring it back to safe operational condition.


    The one good thing his degenerate gambler of a father had done before completely bankrupting the family was to conveniently die in a mining accident. If only the man would have done that a few years sooner, Sergei wouldn''t have been forced to take that loan.


    It was one last laugh from beyond the grave by his father because that loan offer had been too good to be true. On some level, he knew that when it had been offered, but he couldn''t let his family''s legacy die with his bastard of a father. And because of that damn loan, here he was in the outer belt heading for a specific set of coordinates.


    The man he had taken the money from had asked a favor from him and he failed. It wasn''t the first favor he had asked for, and Sergei doubted it would be the last. It should have been so simple. For a reduction in the money he owed, all he had to do was prevent Kane from exiting the station before his deadline for leaving expired.


    Then someone would approach him at the last moment to offer salvation. He doubted his contact''s people would have waited until the last day. They just needed Kane to be desperate. Just like he had been back when he took their offer. How the hell was he supposed to know Kane had outside contacts? Nothing in the man''s records indicated such. He knew he should have dug deeper, but he didn''t care to learn the man''s entire history, especially with what would likely happen to him.


    Sergei had used every bit of coercion he could, even pushing the law farther than he was comfortable with. The illegal search could have gotten him locked up and the station hold was even more risky as that could have put a black mark on Petrov, making any sane person avoid the station.


    He had used the hold tactic a few times in the past. Mainly when his informants brought him scoops on possible rich asteroids that independents had marked but didn''t claim. It gave him a few days headstart on them. Sergei had never worried about the independent miners filing a report though. The few who probably knew the law likely hated the STO just as much as the rest of the people on Petrov Station did. There was no way those types of people would go crying to the STO to solve their problems. They simply sucked it up and moved on. He liked that.


    But not Captain Daniel. That man seemed to know every trick and how to get out of it.


    So now Sergei was here.


    "We''re here, Captain," his pilot called out. "Do you want me to notify the crew?"


    "No," he stood from his chair. "I''m gonna go check this one out myself."


    The man nodded and went back to studying his terminal. This was hardly the first time Sergei had wanted to scope out an asteroid by himself. He maintained the illusion of doing it quite often to hide his clandestine communications.


    Soon he was suited up in the hard suit. Then he made his way over to the maneuver pack. The semi-autonomous drone attached itself over his suit like some sort of tumor. If it wasn''t for the lack of gravity on the ship at the moment, he would have tipped over from the weight.


    The floor of the ore hold opened and he guided the maneuver pack down to the asteroid''s surface. Once he was down, he detached himself and began walking across the soft dusty surface while the pack maintained a position where it released him.


    He didn''t want the onboard cameras to record what he was up to. His hard suit had a data recorder as well, but thanks to his contact, Sergei had disabled it years ago. It would not be good if someone went through his records to see what he was doing.


    Soon he was out of sight of the ship and the drone. His external lights came on and he walked another five minutes before he located the relay. It was cleverly buried in the asteroid, with nothing to show it was even there. If he didn''t have the exact location, he would have easily walked past it. He brushed off the surface dust, pulled a hard line data cable from his suit, and plugged it in.


    It didn''t take long for his contact to speak.


    A raspy voice carried over his suit''s comm. "My people tell me our mutual friend has left the station. I believe I was pretty clear about not letting that happen."


    Sergei gritted his teeth before responding. "I did everything in my power to keep Kane there. Perhaps your people should have acted sooner, Harlow."


    The infamous pirate chuckled. "Feisty today are we? May I remind you, Sergei, that if it wasn''t for my generous loan, you would have lost your ship by now. As well as your standing aboard Petrov. I don''t ask much from you, but when I do ask you to do something, I expect it to get done."


    Sergei would have liked nothing better than to triangulate this signal and claim the bounty for this pirate. But the man hadn''t remained free all these years by being sloppy. He was obviously using a repurposed Qcomm array, making locating the signal impossible. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Initially, Sergei thought the criminal was running dark in the system. But the STO war games a few months back would have quickly flushed anyone out of hiding. Now he suspected the man was hiding in plain sight aboard any of the hundreds of ships that called this area of space their home. Unless a ship was seized or boarded, the man could remain aboard without anyone outside the crew being none the wiser.


    "Do you know where my prize is heading?"


    "No. They didn''t bother registering their entire flight plan, only their next destination," he ground out.


    "Hmm. It seems Kane has found himself some competent friends. I wish I could say as much about your fellow Captains. I warned those idiots Kovalenko and Hoffman that their actions would draw unwanted attention, but they thought they knew better. Oh well. With them out of the picture, that makes it easier for me."


    Sergei had known for quite some time that Harlow''s goal was to take over Petrov Station. But he hadn''t known Kovalenko and Hoffman had dealings with the pirate warlord. The fact that Harlow was telling him this now was as much a warning as it was a heads-up. The man didn''t do anything without a reason.


    "As for Kane, I''m sure he will show up eventually. A man like that doesn''t stay under the radar for long. Now run along, Sergei, I have better things to do."


    "What about our deal?"


    "What about it?" the man asked in a bored tone. "You failed to carry out my request. But I''m a generous man. Instead of reducing your loan by our agreed-upon amount, I will give you half of what I promised but only as a secondary loan. My typical rates apply, Zhang, I suggest you get out there and start finding rocks to cover your next payment. It''s coming due soon."


    The line went dead and Sergei smashed his fist into the rock wall next to where the relay was buried. He wanted to smash the relay and Harlow''s smug face, but the bastard would just tack on the cost of replacing the device to his growing debt. Debt he knew he would never be able to escape from.


    He swatted away the loose rocks he had knocked clear in his fit and tromped his way back to the drone. Harlow hadn''t stated it outright, but Sergei understood the implication. If Kovalenko and Hoffman faced trial, they could bring up the pirate''s name. If he wanted to earn some goodwill, he needed to deal with the two captains before the rest of the council started this trial.

 Chapter 34

    LOCATION: GANOSSYSTEM: ROSS 128


    DATE: 2398


    Travers made his way down to the briefing room. He knew they had a new contract already but not what it entailed. It wasn''t rare for the Hawks to have contracts close together, but it was pretty rare for them to get back-to-back ones. That meant someone wanted the best and had a ton of money to throw at the problem. Not that he minded, it meant a bigger paycheck.


    He was not the first to arrive. Anthony Baru was already in his normal seat speaking with Captain Matthews.


    "Gentlemen," Travers nodded as he walked in. He poured himself a cup of coffee and grabbed a snack from the service tray before taking his seat.


    Both men nodded to him. Travers was glad the Hawks treated everyone equally in the company. He knew some other companies that tried to run them like dictatorships. It worked until your leadership was taken out, then they usually crumbled under a lack of direction.


    That didn''t mean the Hawks of Ganos didn''t have a formal structure, they did. But any one of a dozen people could step into a higher role if necessary.


    Soon the rest of the Field Team Leaders arrived. The full conference room filled up quite fast, leaving all twelve chairs occupied. It was rare to have the entire company assembled for one mission, now Travers knew this upcoming op was a big one.


    "Thank you all for attending," Baru spoke. "We have a bit of an interesting one this time around." The man clicked a remote and the table came alive with a hologram of a massive building.


    "This is an abandoned research facility from the tail end of the Great Expansion. This facility is located in the Y6X-3H2 system on the fourth planet in the system, colorfully named Y6X-3H2-4."


    That earned a chuckle from the gathered people.


    Travers had no idea where this system was located. He had never even encountered a system or planet so remote that nobody had bothered changing the scientific designation to something more palatable. He supposed he would find out where this place was soon enough.


    Baru waited for the laughter to subside before continuing. "Now for the bad news. This facility is fifteen square miles of tunnels, living areas, expansive atriums, and this doesn''t even include the maintenance and support areas."


    A few people groaned at that. Travers wasn''t one of them. He knew based on the brief projection that the place was huge. He didn''t think it was quite that large, but he already knew it was going to be a pain in the ass to secure.


    "Please hold your grumbling until I get to the actual bad news," Baru stated in his normally unflappable tone.


    That got Travers and everyone else''s attention. Clearing out a facility of this size would be a pain on any normal op. If that wasn''t the bad news, he wasn''t looking forward to what the man said next.


    "Our theater of operations is outside of STO-controlled space."


    Travers watched Captain Matthews'' expression but the man didn''t even flinch at this news. Considering he was responsible for space superiority, he must have been notified ahead of time.


    One of the team leaders raised their hands. Travers didn''t recognize the man but his nametag read ''Jallen''. "Does that mean we should expect pirates?"


    "Unknown," Baru replied. "The station has been dark since 2310. That brings us to the next issue. If the station is empty, it''s likely degraded to the point of being uninhabitable. In that case, we will transition to field repair instead of clearing."


    "And if it isn''t?" Travers asked.


    "The client¡­ has asked us to clear out any criminal elements, but not to evict anyone else who might have taken refuge there."


    The room erupted into annoyed shouts and grumbling. Baru simply waited for the field leaders to vent their frustrations before continuing.


    This was going to be the most difficult op Travers had ever been a part of. Clearing out and securing or even repairing a facility of this size was a big job, but now they had to act as a police force as well.


    Someone else asked the question on Travers'' mind. "How long is this op?"


    "It will be a minimum of six months with an open-ended extension if the client has the money."


    He really hoped this client realized the logistical nightmare of keeping squatters around and changed his mind. Extra money was nice, but not if it meant they were stuck playing nice for the next few years.


    "Will there be some downtime before the op kicks off? Most of us just came off rotation," another leader asked.


    "There will be three weeks of downtime before we are wheels up. I suggest everyone take it and relax. We are on a bit of a time crunch at that point, so if anyone gets arrested we will not be bailing them out. That''s about all the information I have. Any other questions?"


    There were some follow-up questions, mostly aimed at equipment. Seeing as the op was taking place outside of STO space, some of the leaders were asking about the use of restricted weapons. Travers wanted to shake his head at that. Who needed a railgun or laser rifle for urban clearing and control? At least they would have their combat rifles since it wasn''t a space station and the air wasn''t immediately deadly.


    The rest of the meeting went into logistics and supply.


    ***


    The Talon exited FTL at the edge of the system. Matthews watched his displays as his crew went about their work quickly and efficiently. If there was something he needed to know, they would tell him.


    "All clear, Sir," the sensor operator responded a few minutes later.


    He thanked the man and looked over the system holo. Varlen was the end of the road for STO systems in this direction. As such, it had little to no infrastructure. There were no inhabitable planets in the red dwarf system. Any planet that could be terraformed was too close to the star''s radiation and was tidally locked. That didn''t stop humans from trying to live out here though.


    There was a rocky satellite that orbited one of the further-out gas giants. On this dead satellite was a sprawling complex. But even that wouldn''t have been there if not for the STO''s Naval Yard in the system.


    Soon Matthews received the challenge request he had been expecting. He responded to the message with his ship name, reason for being there, and their destination. They would have most of that through his transponder ID, but he liked being thorough. A few minutes later he got a response back.


    Good luck!


    He didn''t need the STO to tell him that. Matthews knew that every stop beyond this system and their eventual destination could be infested with pirates, or maybe even the Shican. It''s why they had pulled two of their gunships out of storage to act as backup. The Talon had enough firepower to defend itself, but their client would be meeting them here.


    For the next three days, the Talon flew across the system to the next safe jump point. There they waited.


    "Sir, we have received the confirmation code from a ship named the Zephyr, flown by Captain Daniel."


    Matthews nodded. "Send it to my terminal."


    Not knowing the transponder ID of the ship their client would be arriving by, they had given Mr. Kane a security code. This prevented misunderstandings.


    As he waited for the message to arrive, he looked up the ship''s information. Class 4 hauler, nothing fancy. Eventually, the message finished buffering.


    Greetings Talon,


    Thank you for agreeing to wait for us here. While we could have probably crossed the intervening space without issue, this is a much safer option. Before we leave the system, our mutual client wishes to speak with you over video once we are within proper communication range. As the Captain of the Zephyr, I will be attending as well so we can go over any operational information you might need us to follow. Once we are under your umbrella, we will comply with whatever orders you issue that do not place my ship or crew in harm''s way.


    Captain Daniel


    Well, at least Matthews knew this Captain was competent. He lost count of how many arrogant captains he had been forced to work with over the years. Working for the rich, they sometimes thought they could get away with the same level of nonsense. He was always quick to put them in their place.


    I will set up a meeting time once you are closer.


    Captain Matthews


    He sent the response, preferring to be short and concise. There was no telling who was picking up the open radio traffic.


    ***


    A day later the Zephyr had finally moved into video range. Matthews was glad the smaller vessel was faster. If it came down to a fight, they could run while the Talon took the hits. The old STO transport may be slow to accelerate, but she was heavily armed and armored. The old warhorse had been designed to tank shots as drop ships disgorged their troops in the middle of a battlefield. The Talon had cost the Hawks a considerable amount of capital and a few favors, but it put them far above anyone in terms of battlefield superiority.


    With a tonnage nearly the same as an STO battleship and the ability to launch dozens of shuttles filled with ground troops, there wasn''t much that liked to tangle with you. They may be outgunned by most STO navy ships past frigates but he would bet on the Talon against any pirate ship out there.


    Captain Matthews was the last to arrive in the much more cramped conference room aboard the Talon. All of the Field Leaders were here, the only person missing was Baru, but he remained on Ganos. That left operational oversight of the mission to him.


    Unlike the fancy holo table at their headquarters, a large monitor came to life on the far side of the room, only moments after he sat down.


    What he saw shocked him, but Matthews was principled enough not to let it show. A large robot sat crouched next to a man probably in his early thirties.


    "I assume you are Captain Daniel?" Matthews asked. Going by the wings on his skin suit, he was unlikely to be anyone else. "I thought we were going to meet with Mr. Kane as well."


    The robot moved, touching its arm to its chest. "Apologies, Captain. I am Mr. Kane. Or more aptly, this is the body I need to use to communicate. I suffer from an incurable illness that requires my real body to remain in a medical capsule." S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Matthews rolled with the unexpected situation. "I see. I apologize if I caused any offense."


    "That is not necessary, Captain. This is one of the reasons I wanted to speak via video before we continued. I didn''t want to throw this surprise on top of all the other things that might greet us out here."


    "So you are aware of how dangerous this trip could be?"


    Kane made the holographic face projected in front of his body nod.


    "Are there any changes you wish to make to our action plan?"


    "No, you are the experts, I trust that you know what you are doing."


    Matthews nodded. The meeting went over what to expect and how to act if they were attacked en route. Daniel seemed competent and asked questions for clarification if he didn''t understand something. All in all, the meeting went well. Kane didn''t come across as some rich snob who wanted everything done his way, no matter how impossible it was. Maybe this op wouldn''t be so bad after all.

 Chapter 35

    LOCATION: Y6X-3H2-4SYSTEM: Y6X-3H2


    DATE: 2398


    Martinez sipped his cup of caff, or what passed for caff on Eden''s End. He longed for the real stuff, but no self-respecting Captain came this far outside STO space. And he was glad for that. It''s why he packed up his family and came out here in the first place. He was sick of all the bullshit and rules the Solarians and the other core worlders forced on them. All to benefit the rich.


    They still had rules out here past the fringe, but it wasn''t the same. People here knew what mattered and what didn''t. But man, he still wished for a real cup of caff. As he was pondering the few things he missed from civilized space, his screen beeped.


    Martinez set his mug down and sat up. The old research facility''s sensors were as decrepit as everything else in the facility, so sometimes they gave false positives. Sometimes they didn''t. Those times are why someone had to man the sensor room at all times.


    The job wasn''t terrible, mostly just a lot of boring sitting around. They did occasionally get pirates that came through though. Most just kept going, the facility looked like a very unappealing target with its dilapidated exterior. The few pirates that were dumb enough to land and try their luck quickly found themselves cut off and outnumbered.


    He punched in the codes to run a follow-up scan. The passive sensors wouldn''t give them a very clear picture of what was out there, but it would alert them if something was indeed out there. Martinez waited and soon a ping came back.


    He cursed under his breath and rolled the old computer chair over to the alarm station. He entered another code and the entirety of the interior was bathed in yellow flashing lights. This would be repeating itself across the enormous structure, wherever lights still functioned. Thankfully someone had figured out how to disable the audio portion of the alarm long ago. He swore he still had ringing in his ears from the times that damn thing went off.


    After a dozen minutes or so, a group clomped up the stairs to the security office.


    "What do we have, Martinez?" Damien asked.


    The shorter man was nominally in charge of Eden''s End. Not because he was large or intimidating, but because he didn''t take shit from anyone. He was also the primary reason the station wasn''t a haven for criminals. Anyone who fucked around quickly found out at the end of Damien''s fist. The man had been a championship martial artist back in the core before he gave it all up for some peace and quiet out here.


    "Hard to say. It hasn''t moved since the original scan. But the system keeps flagging it, so it''s definitely real."


    The next scan showed three more ships had joined the first. Damien didn''t say anything, But Martinez felt the man''s grip tighten on the back of the chair.


    "You think someone wised up?" another man asked.


    Martinez didn''t know this man. Probably one of the people who helped man the security room like him.


    "If it was pirates, they would''ve been coming in full tilt. They wouldn''t have waited for their allies. Sharing isn''t in their nature."


    "So who then?" Gabriella asked.


    Martinez made sure to keep his eyes from straying to the former fitness instructor. Even if she wasn''t Damien''s girlfriend, if his wife found out he looked at another woman, he would never hear the end of it.


    "We won''t know until they get within visual range," Damien stated. "Are the asteroid cameras up and working?"


    Martinez shrugged. "Haven''t had a chance to check em."


    "I''ll do it," the unnamed man said enthusiastically.


    Martinez just rolled his eyes at the man''s eagerness.


    "Three, four, five, and seven are working. The rest are offline."


    "It''ll have to do. Send a laser comm to the units and get them oriented in our visitor''s direction. I want to know who''s knocking on our door."


    It took hours to get a visual picture of the ships. They were taking their sweet time moving deeper into the system and toward Eden''s End. Or as the old records cataloged the planet, Y6X-3H2-4. Martinez didn''t know who coined the new name, but he was glad he didn''t have to call it by that old designation constantly.


    "Those don''t look like pirate ships," Gabriella said.


    The lead ship was a massive hulk that easily outweighed the other three ships by at least twice over. Martinez may not have served in the military, but he had seen something similar before. "I think that''s a troop carrier."


    He felt all the eyes in the room turn on him, and he swallowed thickly.


    "You''re sure?" Damien asked.


    "I- I''m not positive. But it looks similar to one I saw once as a kid."


    "Fuck!" the wiry man cursed.


    "So it is pirates?" a few of Damien''s hangers-on asked from the background.


    "Worse," the man spat. "It''s mercenaries."


    "Mercenaries? What would Mercenaries want all the way out here?" Martinez''s question was answered a moment later as every terminal in the room secured itself at the same time. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Shit!" the excitable man who had checked the cameras squealed as he ran over to another terminal and began furiously typing. "They have the master override code!"


    "I thought you said you disabled that?" Damien demanded as he strode up behind the man.


    "No, I told you I bypassed it. Maybe you''ll listen to me next time when I tell you we need to replace the core, Brother."


    Brother? Well, that was news to Martinez.


    "As if we had the parts to do that. Just work your magic."


    Damien''s brother gave an exasperated laugh. "There is no magic. The entire system is locked down. They have full control over everything from their ship."


    To prove his point, the overhead speakers crackled to life.


    "Squatters of the Y6X-3H2-4 research outpost. This is Captain Matthews of the Hawks of Ganos. The facility you are residing in has been legally purchased. You will submit yourselves for inspection. Failure to comply with this order will result in your arrest on suspicion of criminal activity. This will be the only warning you are given. Captain Matthews out."


    The room went quiet after the statement. The sweet silence didn''t last long as it was broken by some babbling idiot in the back.


    "W- we have to fight!" the man declared.


    Damien casually walked over to the man who was enthusiastically bobbing his head up and down because he thought Damien was agreeing with him. The former martial artist cuffed the idiot upside the head. "Shut the hell up."


    When the room went quiet again, Damien spoke. "They specifically called it an inspection, not a relocation. I''ve heard of these Hawks of Ganos. If it''s the same company I''m thinking of, they should treat us properly."


    "You can''t be fucking serious!" another man stepped up, his voice laced with anger. "You want us just to let them into the facility? They''re just going to evict us, leaving us without a home. Are we just supposed to beg for a ride back to STO space or try to eke out a living on the surface?"


    Damien just looked at the man. "What did you expect would happen? That you would just live out your life in luxury in a place that didn''t belong to you? We all moved into here knowing none of us owned this place. It was only a matter of time until something changed. Either someone would have purchased it, the STO would have expanded its borders, or the place would have decayed to the point it became uninhabitable. So I suggest if you want that ride back to civilization, you don''t do anything stupid. Hell, maybe we can even negotiate to stay here."


    To Martinez, it didn''t sound like Damien believed that last bit but it sounded like a better option than the alternative. Fighting off a small crew of pirates was one thing, but fighting off a troop transport filled with well-trained mercenaries was another. He sure as hell didn''t want to go down fighting. If he had to die, he would prefer to have it happen in his bedroom doing something far more engaging with his missus.


    ***


    "Sir, is there a reason you didn''t notify the people in the facility below that we would be leaving them on the planet and only arresting those with warrants?"


    It was a good question from his first officer. "Never let a possible enemy know your next move. Sure, we could have told them. And they may have lined up all nicely, only to wait until we were in the middle of the search to ambush us. This way, they are unsure of our motives and it will likely bring the rotten elements to the surface. While it may not be the most respectable way to handle this situation, it is the safest."


    "Won''t that endanger the drop troops?"


    "No. They know better than to trust unknown civilians in a hostile environment. I suspect after my little speech, at least a few people down there will try something. Others will probably hide and hope we overlook them. Now that we have full access to the station''s sensors, the few that work anyway, hiding won''t do them much good. We already have the crew down in the computer core crunching the information. They will be able to give us an accurate count of how many people are down there and their activities for the last twenty hours."


    "I see," his first mate nodded.


    She was young, but she was starting to get the hang of tactics. He would make sure to pass along all of his knowledge to her. Eventually, she would replace him as Captain of the Talon when he retired. And he would be damned if he left without ensuring a suitable replacement for his position.


    Matthews sat back in his chair as the ship came alive with the sounds of soldiers hurrying to their drop ships. He never got tired of hearing it.

 Chapter 36

    Alexander stood in the conference room aboard the Zephyr, watching a live recording of the Talon disgorging drop shuttle after drop shuttle to the surface of Y6X-3H2-4. The Zephyr didn''t have any convenient windows to look out of to see this going on in person. Not that he was likely to see anything even if there were windows on the ship, the space between them was too far apart. Could he enhance his vision to see that far? A test for another time.The operation was taking place during nighttime hours aboard Zephyr. He had asked Captain Matthews to do this so Yulia would be sound asleep while the operation was going on.


    The crew of the Zephyr had grown fond of the girl over the last month or so. They would likely keep her busy if he asked them to, but he didn''t want to burden them at a time when they may be needed at their stations.


    That meant he was alone in the room. Jasper and the rest of his command crew were keeping an eye on things from the bridge. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Watching the ships descend into the thin atmosphere of the planet left Alexander with mixed feelings. Matthews had communicated to him that over three thousand people were living in the research facility on the surface. The number had surprised him.


    So much for his ''abandoned property''. Alexander had figured a few dozen people at most might have taken up residence in the deteriorating structure. Certainly not over three thousand. He sighed. He could only hope the people down there weren''t pirates or weren''t harboring pirates. They may be outside of STO-controlled space, but Matthews and the Hawks of Ganos'' leadership had clearly underlined what would happen if pirates were discovered. They still needed to operate under STO law because of their charter.


    Alexander didn''t know the people below, but he hoped for their sake they weren''t dumb enough to harbor pirates.


    Soon the last drop-ship passed into the atmosphere, leaving a lone remaining trail of fire to show its passage. There was nothing left to see and he wasn''t privileged enough to get a feed to the soldiers'' activities. It was up to the mercenaries now. He really hoped he had made the right choice by hiring them.


    ***


    Travers was jarred awake as his drop-ship lit off its braking thrusters. It was always such a drag waiting once you strapped yourself in. He adjusted his neck, getting the stiffness out of it as best he could inside his armor. At least they didn''t need vac-suits for this op. He activated his mic. "Sound off!"


    A chorus of "Yes Sir!" followed his order and he watched his HUD populate little green squares along the bottom of his helmet''s visor to indicate everyone was synced into the command network and ready. He sent a silent prayer to his ancestors to watch over his team and keep those little icons from going yellow or black.


    "Heavies, Check in!" Two larger icons blinked green. The two soldiers in the augment gear were the ''Oh shit!'' response. They were fully vac-sealed. But the suits they wore were about as different from a normal armored vac-suit as a normal armored vac-suit was from civilian dress. Nothing short of anti-armor was getting through those tin cans. And if the people living here had that kind of firepower, the heavies would hold the rear while the rest of the Hawks withdrew.


    Then they would simply pummel the facility from orbit with the Talon. It would mean the op was a failure and they would refund all of Kane''s money. But leveling the facility was better than letting a pirate stronghold grow in power like Haven had.


    "Ten seconds!" the pilot shouted.


    Everyone readied their pulse rifles without having to be told. Travers readied his CQB rifle. All the team had the flechette rifles, but until shit hit the fan, only the Field Leaders were authorized to deploy them.


    The ship slammed down, shaking everyone inside as the shocks absorbed the majority of the fast descent.


    "Sorry for the rough ride, air''s thinner than the ship is rated to handle."


    Travers ignored the pilot''s excuse as he stood. They always tried to rattle the ground crews. He would be the first off so he readied his rifle as the flashing red light indicated the ramp would drop any second.


    With a resounding boom, the ramp dropped and Travers double-timed it off the ship, scanning the sides for hostile activity. There was none. The landing pad outside the facility was quiet and looked like it hadn''t been used in ages if the dust kicked up by their descent was anything to go by.


    His men rushed past to create a cordon while they moved as one toward the door to the facility.


    Similar groups were moving to other entrances on the same landing pad as well as every other around the facility.


    As they reached the door, he slid the card reader into the electronic lock and let the master code open the door. There was a click and the red light above the pad turned green.


    One of his men spun the lock and pulled the door open. He slipped inside as soon as there was enough room.


    A few locals waited beyond the door with weapons. But as soon as they saw him leading the way with an actual weapon, they tossed away their pipes and improvised weapons and threw their hands in the air.


    Travers motioned for his team to secure the individuals with mag restraints. They didn''t have very many of these high-tech restraints but they had enough for this group. Once they had an area secured, they could start processing these people and shipping them back to space if needed.


    It took around an hour to clear his section and meet up with the other teams in one of the atriums designated on the building plans. Three teams were assigned to this zone, and between them, they had captured over a hundred individuals who had taken up arms against them. Most had surrendered, but a few had tried to fight.


    Those either received pulse blasts or in one case, a flechette when the person pulled out a pistol to fire on another team. After scanning that individual, they soon realized he had ten warrants for his arrest on three worlds and a handful of stations. Bounty was for dead or alive, so the body was bagged up and hauled off to one of the drop-ships.


    "Captain Matthews, Area D is secure." His radio would be routed back to the drop-ship and their more powerful antenna would transmit it to the Talon.


    "Very good, Travers. We are waiting for Area C to be secured. Once it is, I will send the second announcement."


    A few minutes later, the overhead comm system crackled to life. The Captain spoke through it, telling the citizens of the research station to head to their closest designated atrium for processing. Emergency terminals would display the maps for where they needed to go.


    This was much simpler than having to scour the station and try to keep track of everyone as they did. One team from each atrium would still clear every room in their section, but only after the majority of the squatters gathered.


    Travers saw the other Field Leaders motioning him over and he jogged to meet up with them.


    "Rock, paper, scissors, winner gets patrol." Travers groaned but slung his rifle on his back as he readied his fist in his other hand.


    "Ha!" he exclaimed, slapping the other man''s scissors away with his rock. It had taken seven rounds but he won. "You two gentlemen have fun processing these folks."


    "Bite me!" one of the leaders said, waving him off.


    The other just laughed. "It was your idea to play."


    Travers hustled back to his men and gave them the good news.


    ***


    Damien was making his way to the atrium as the man over the comm called it. Everyone down here just called it the garden. Although it wasn''t much of one. There were more weeds than actual plants. And even those took on a sickly yellow hue due to the lack of water and proper lighting.


    Hard to justify wasting resources on green space when they needed those resources for the farms. The line of defeated people shifted to the side of the hallway as a group of armed and armored men strode past like they owned the place.


    He couldn''t help gnashing his teeth and clenching his fists when he saw this. One of the men must have noticed because the group stopped and pointed him out. "You, step out of the line."


    Dammit! He had let his anger get to him again. This is the exact reason he left the core worlds.


    His hesitation had the men aim their weapons his way. "We won''t ask again."


    Damien gently removed Gabriella''s hand from his arm, patting her reassuringly before stepping out of the line. His self-control had reasserted itself at her touch.


    "What can I do for you?" he asked in his most neutral tone.


    A man with a silver bar on his armor plate stepped up and looked him over. Damien could feel his anger flare up again. People had looked down on him his entire life for his short stature. But he usually got the last laugh when he beat them into submission, or in the ring.


    "I''ve seen you somewhere before," the man stated.


    Damien tensed. His identity was bound to come out eventually. You didn''t appear on national news, and intergalactic stations and expect people not to recognize you.


    "Yeah¡­ Holy Shit! You''re Damien Laront, the mixed martial arts master who won the Intergalactic Fighting Championship four years in a row." The man did a few shadowboxing moves as he took a step back. "I tried to mirror my fighting style off of yours. I gotta say, I''m a big fan."


    Damien didn''t even bother trying to plaster a fake smile on his face. He gave up that pretend life and all the bullshit that went with it when he moved out here. "Your form is shit," he said instead.


    The man stared at him for a moment, and his men tensed behind him before the guy let out a deep laugh. "I gotta say, didn''t see that coming today. Although, getting told you''re shit by a master doesn''t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. Why the hell is someone like you out in this dump anyway?" the man waved around him.


    "I have my reasons," Damien replied tersely.


    The mercenary didn''t seem at all concerned by his tone, he simply nodded. "Well, we''ll speak again. For your sake, I hope you don''t have any warrants or anything." The guy gave him a little salute before waving his guys to follow him.


    Damien stepped out of the way and his brother Lucas and his girlfriend Gabriella stepped up beside him. They must have been waiting to support him if shit got bad. Gabriella might be able to do something, but he never got why his nerdy brother ever bothered. The man had zero talent for fighting. All his talent went to computers and electronics.


    "What was that all about?" Gabriella asked.


    "Fans," he grumbled.


    His younger brother laughed, earning a glare from Damien that made him laugh even more.


    Damien rejoined the line, not waiting for his ass of a brother to stop before storming off.


    ***


    Gabriella waited for Damien to move off down the hallway before slapping Lucas upside the head. "You should be nicer to your brother. If it wasn''t for him, you''d be locked up in some STO penal colony or sold off to one of the big corporations as a slave."


    The taller man rubbed the back of his head as he stared at the floor in shame. "Sorry."


    She nodded her head and pointed down the hall. "Don''t apologize to me."


    The man sighed but jogged down the hall to catch up with his brother.


    Once he was gone, Gabriella turned to watch the distant figures of the mercenaries for a moment before she too rejoined the line of people. This wouldn''t be her first time being evicted like this. Her parents and a good majority of the people living in Eden''s End were commonly referred to as drifters in most civilized places. Most of the time people used it as a derogatory term but drifters didn''t care. They just didn''t want to live under the oppressive rule of the galactic governments or have half their incomes stolen as taxes that did nothing to help them.


    This was probably the oddest eviction she had been a part of though. Normally mercenaries simply subdued everyone they came across with stunners or pulse rifles. It''s why she had extra padding under her shirt. Those damn things hurt. Never had she seen mercenaries simply walk past a line of people they knew were illegally occupying some place. She didn''t want to hope that this time might be different but something told her it was.

 Chapter 37

    "This the room?" Travers asked over the radio."Yes," the field operator aboard the ship replied.


    Travers grunted and gave a hand motion to his team. They split up and flanked the door. "Any idea how many we are dealing with?"


    "Three to five individuals. The cameras in that area aren''t very clear so that''s the best guess we''re getting from Sam."


    He grunted in annoyance as he poked a hole in a rusting beam nearby with his finger. The Strategic Analysis Module or S.A.M. for short was a wonderful piece of tech. But it could only generate tactical analysis if it had data to do so. Travers removed his gloved finger from the rusty hole. "No pulse rifles. This area''s too unstable. One missed shot could bring the entire thing down on top of us."


    That meant no CQB rifle either. Travers slapped the weapon to the mag restraint on the back of his armor and pulled out his stunner.


    Once everyone was ready, he nodded and his man turned the crank on the door as fast as possible and threw it open. There was a chorus of surprised shouts as Travers rushed into the room. The first thing he noticed was that there were more people than Sam had predicted. Over half a dozen men were waiting in the dilapidated room. The next thing he noticed was the weapons they were quickly trying to pull from crates.


    He kicked the barrel of the antique firearm the closest individual was trying to aim toward him. The gun flew out of the man''s surprised hand but not before he shot off a series of bullets. The only thing the idiot managed to hit was his friends though.


    Travers shoved the stunner into the man''s diaphragm harder than was strictly necessary. The man went down and the others quickly followed.


    He stood over the unconscious forms of the seven men and thanked his luck that they seemed unaccustomed to the old weapons.


    "Weapon secured!" one of his team alerted him. The man turned the weapon and read off the designation stamped into the side. "AK-74? Where do you think they even got these antiques?"


    "Who knows," Travers shook his head. He grabbed the weapon from his team member and sat it back in the rotten wooden crate. "We''ll need to get the engineers out here to disarm them. Who volunteers for babysitting duty?"


    Two of his team weren''t quick enough to call ''not it''. Travers laughed and pointed to them. "Looks like you two get the honors."


    The two grumbled under their breath before stepping out of the room to guard the door. "Let''s get these seven men cuffed and dragged back to the atrium."


    "Six, FL. Looks like this one bled out."


    Travers looked to where his man was pointing and sighed. It was one of the people who took hits from the idiot with the gun. "Bag him up."


    They quickly and efficiently bagged up the dead man and secured the others. Every single one had a warrant on the same planet. Likely a small-time gang that had been forced out. Travers tagged them for pickup and led his team back to the atrium. There were more places to search.


    ***


    It had taken two full weeks for the Hawks to clear and secure the station. They had arrested over eighty people who had current warrants out for their arrest. No pirates, though, which was a pleasant surprise.


    That did leave a significant number of worried people down below.


    Alexander focused on the man sitting across the drop ship from him. "You''re sure it''s safe?" he asked for the tenth time. Yulia was in a seat beside him, headphones on and her face shoved into a holo movie.


    "Yes, Mr. Kane," Jallen, one of the Field Team leaders responded in a slightly annoyed tone.


    Alexander had his avatar nod. He was just worried. Not for himself. He was pretty sure his body could withstand anything the people in the station could throw at him, considering the damage he had previously, but Yulia was just a little kid.


    "And you said you found the leader?"


    The man waggled his hand back and forth. "Drifters don''t tend to have much in the way of leadership, so to speak. But the man who presented himself to us is nominally in charge. We confirmed that by speaking to a bunch of other drifters."


    Alexander didn''t like the way the man used the word drifter. It sounded rather derogatory. He had asked Jallen what a drifter was when the word first came up. Apparently, they were just people who drifted from place to place. Most places didn''t welcome them because they refused to follow rules put in place by the STO. Jallen didn''t actually say that last bit, he just said they were troublemakers who refused to fit into polite society.


    Considering Alexander was trying to upset the establishment, he might get along with these drifters quite well. Time will tell.


    The drop shuttle shook and the pilot spoke up. "We are entering the atmosphere. It''ll get a bit bumpy from here."


    The seats aboard the shuttle were far too small and weak to hold Alexander''s bulk. That wasn''t much of an issue for him though. He figured out he could magnetize his feet and hands to hold himself in place. He wasn''t sure how this was possible considering his entire body was non-metallic, but he wasn''t going to question it.


    He was also glad the Hawks had shuttles. Alexander had overlooked a very significant issue when he packed everything aboard the Zephyr. Mainly that the ship was too large to land on the surface of a planet. Jasper had pointed this issue out early in their trip. After some conversations with the Talon''s Captain, they figured out a method to get his cargo down to the surface.


    It required an additional investment of one million credits and took the Talon''s engineering crew a week of spacewalks to transfer the cargo to drop ships that floated near the Zephyr''s open cargo ramp, but they managed it. Now all of his belongings sat off to one side of the nearest landing pad to the manufacturing hub. That didn''t mean he would be saying goodbye to Jasper or his crew just yet though. The Zephyr had a small shuttle that followed them down to the surface. The only thing aboard that shuttle was ''his'' medical pod.


    Now that he was outside of STO space, Alexander probably wasn''t going to continue perpetuating that lie. It was just such a pain to be tethered to the item, even if it was only a fake tether.


    The ship shook again and he focused on Yulia. The girl seemed unaffected by the turbulence, she was more interested in trying to sneak a peek outside the window. Her eyes were wide in delight as she watched the plasma stream off the underside of the ship from the superheated atmosphere.


    Considering who her parents were, this very well might be her first time setting foot on the surface of a planet. He was glad artificial gravity existed. Otherwise, she would have had all sorts of problems dealing with the gravity.


    Y6X-3H2-4 only averaged about eighty percent of Earth''s gravity so it was slightly less than Petrov Station which kept theirs at ninety percent of Earth''s. It probably wouldn''t take the girl very long to adjust to the change. She would likely have more issues adjusting to the day-night cycle and the stink. Yulia had already complained about the smell when they first boarded the shuttle through the docking ring and that was only the lingering aroma, it would be much worse on the ground. This was one time he was thankful his body didn''t include olfactory senses.


    As for the day-night cycle. It was a doozy. On average, each day was nearly forty hours long if you included dawn and dusk, and each night was over twenty. The planet wasn''t tidally locked, which was a blessing, but it did have a mean orbital angle. This angle shifted the day-night cycle almost completely at two points in the year. It was going to take some getting used to.


    He would likely pick up whatever system the inhabitants used, he was sure the people below had adapted to it by now. Most of the facility was buried below the surface or sported thick concrete covering so natural light wasn''t really a concern anyway. The only part of the complex that wasn''t buried or covered, the observation dome, was a wreck of broken glass and rusted metal due to exposure.


    That was on his priority list to get fixed. Not because he wanted to stare at the blue star or take measurements of the thing, but because the damage exposed other parts of the structure. He had already been told by Captain Matthews that the damage had spread quite far from that location. If it wasn''t taken care of the entire facility could become jeopardized.


    That was priority number two after speaking with this representative. Priority one was finding a safe place for Yulia to stay while he worked on bringing the place up to livable conditions. He did wonder why the locals hadn''t done it themselves. When he thought about it though, he realized they likely didn''t have access to repair schematics. It''s a good thing he did.


    "Touchdown in five," the pilot yelled over the roar of the thrusters.


    "Alex, it hurts!" Yulia cried.


    "It''ll be over shortly," he tried to calm the girl. There was no getting past the extra G''s they had to pull to not slam into the surface. The planet didn''t have a thick enough atmosphere to slow the drop-ship''s descent enough.


    "Pretend someone''s hugging you real tight and push back against it," Jallen spoke calmly.


    The girl nodded and Alexander watched her tense up. Yulia had slowly come out of her shell aboard the Zephyr. She was still a bit shy though and almost always refused to talk to anyone she didn''t know. He printed the words ''Thank You!'' under his avatar''s face. The man nodded. "I have two small nieces."


    Soon the extra weight lifted and the ship touched down gently. He had heard some of the first drops were rather rough since they did combat drops. He was glad they hadn''t needed to do that today. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Alright, Yulia, time to put your breather mask on."


    She pouted a bit before slipping the gray mask on. Alexander unmagnetized his body and double-checked the seal was tight on her mask. He nodded to Jallen who hit a button near the back. The door slowly lowered, allowing the harsh glare of the blue sun into the cabin.


    It was nearly blinding after being stuck in the natural yellow light aboard stations and ships, he wished he had gotten Yulia some sunglasses.


    "Sorry bout the light," Jallen said in annoyance. "We landed near the peak of the day cycle. Just use your tablet to cover your eyes and follow me. The door isn''t far."


    Alexander would have picked Yulia up, but the girl insisted on walking. She held the holo tablet over her eyes like a visor with one hand and held onto Alexander''s hand with her other. However, her eyes kept roaming to the scenery around them. To be fair, Alexander was taking it all in as well. This was his first time on an alien planet after all or at least the first time he could remember.

 Chapter 38

    The three of them walked through the first door. Once it was shut behind them, a strong flow of air sucked any dust they might have accumulated into the filter below the grated floor."This is the only environmental lock that still functions!" Jallen shouted over the loud rush of air.


    Soon the air settled and the light on the inner door turned green. Jallen pushed it open and stepped inside where he waited for Alexander and Yulia.


    They didn''t take this entrance because it had a working environmental seal. From what he was told, that was kind of a moot point at the moment. No, he had to take it because this was one of the few cargo entrance doors. And those were the only doors his bulky body could currently fit through.


    He didn''t know who had designed the original entrances to this structure, but they had only made the exterior doors six feet tall. Alexander could crouch to get through shorter doors, but they were also only thirty inches wide instead of the standard square six-foot by six-foot doors required by ships and stations. He had not found any way to slim his body to fit through such a tight space and doubted he ever would.


    Thankfully this issue only applied to the exterior doors and some of the living spaces.


    The interior corridor was wide enough for two vehicles to drive side by side. There were no signs of any vehicles as far as he could see though, but there were old signs the wide road had been heavily traveled at one time.


    The three of them followed the old tire tracks up the gently sloping ramp. The ramp emptied into a large parking garage that was completely empty and extremely dark thanks to all the burned-out or missing lights. Alexander had no trouble seeing in the dark, but Jallen flicked on a light so he and Yulia could see.


    "We''re not sure if there were vehicles left behind when the place was abandoned, but if there were, they aren''t here anymore."


    "The manifest didn''t mention any."


    "Ah," the mercenary replied. "Probably sold off before they shut the place down then. This way," he gestured with his light to another tunnel.


    This one was half the width of the tunnel they entered, but there were still black marks along the curving surface to mark it had been heavily traveled. It wasn''t long until they exited the tunnel into a large expansive dome.


    What impressed Alexander most about the nearly mile-wide dome was the complete lack of support except for a singular enormous beam right in the center that arched out overhead like a huge umbrella.


    "Welcome to Atrium D, or you might hear the Hawks call it Area D."


    "It''s huge!" Yulia whispered in awe.


    "Yeah, this is a pretty impressive structure," Jallen admitted. "I don''t think I''ve seen anything quite like it in all my years."


    "Does that mean there are three more of these?" Alexander had looked at the structural plans, but he had been more focused on the technological aspect of repairing the place rather than the architecture.


    "There are actually four, but the observation dome in the center is the one that collapsed. It was also three times the size of this space. It''s a shame. I would have loved to see what it looked like before." Alexander could agree, a dome that was three miles wide would have been an impressive sight. And that dome had a transparent roof, unlike the others.


    Despite the impressive size of the atrium, the room looked to be in total disrepair. There were only a dozen or so massive overhead lights still functioning, and half of those flickered on and off fitfully. The gloom from the massive chamber was held at bay by a bright area off to the far side.


    "Come on, the person you want to speak to is at the base camp." They headed straight for the lighted area.


    Alexander focused his perception over there and took in the small camp bustling with people being scanned and handed ID chips. It was only after the Hawks finished scouring the facility that they started handing out ID''s. Nobody without an ID could pass the checkpoints they set up.


    It was a measure to ensure people didn''t start causing trouble. Surprisingly, the people weren''t too upset by the development. They weren''t all that happy with it either, but they complied so they could return to their homes and their families.


    "Yulia," Alexander kneeled down. "Why don''t you go introduce yourself?" He pointed to some kids playing in the dirt nearby. They looked younger than his adopted daughter, but that should be fine.


    She looked unsure for a moment before nodding and wandering over to the group. She was close enough that Alexander could keep an eye on her if he needed to, but far enough away not to intrude on any discussions. He didn''t want her too close if things got heated with the people formerly in charge.


    Soon a group of three led by another Team Leader approached him. Alexander took the group in, he saw their hesitation when they first saw him, but that didn''t seem to stop them from approaching. The man leading the group stuck out his hand and Alexander shook it. "Travers. And the people behind me are Damien Laront, Gabriella, and Lucas Laront."


    Damien stepped forward but crossed his arms as he glared at Alexander, "Just Damien. My bastard of a father''s last name was Laront, and I don''t much care being reminded of him."


    Alexander watched the two people with Damien roll their eyes. It was kinda funny.


    "So," Damien continued. "We your slaves now?"


    "¡­Huh?" Alexander was caught off guard by the question.


    "Rich man who runs around greeting people through a robot buys out someplace beyond the rim. Only a few reasons to do that. Either he wants to be left alone or he wants to do shit so heinous the STO would shut him down. Since these bastards aren''t stunning the lot of us and dragging us into orbit, I figured it was the latter."


    "I¡­ What?"


    The other man stepped forward and sighed. "Ignore my older brother. He tends to get testy when his authority is challenged."


    "That''s bullshit and you know it, Lucas!"


    Everyone just looked at the man. This Damien character was blunter than a dead-blow hammer.


    "Um, look," Alexander spoke, "I think you have the wrong idea here. I''m not rich¡­ well, I mean technically I am. But only due to some fluke circumstances. I don''t know you people, so I''m not going to be going into my whole history. Suffice it to say, I''m not here entirely by choice. As for why I picked this place. I imagine I picked it for the same reason you all did."


    "So you''re a drifter, like us?" Gabriella spoke up for the first time. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Damien snorted at that. "Never seen a drifter hire a core group of mercs and bring down enough supplies for a family to live off of for the rest of their lives."


    "Yes, I bought the station. Yes, that will come with some restrictions. But I don''t want to have to police the people here, I expect you to do that yourselves. Form a council, elect a president, I don''t care. Just realize that whatever you decide, I will have a majority vote. I think that is more than fair for allowing you to stay here. I don''t wish to be involved in your politics, I only want a safe place to raise my daughter and to be left alone by those like Omni and the STO. If you don''t like that, you and anyone else are free to leave. The Hawks will drop you off at the nearest station and you can go wherever you want from there."


    "Why should we leave? We were here first," the man bristled at Alexander''s tone.


    He would rather be teaching Yulia or working on some project than standing here arguing semantics with this man. "And that''s why I asked the Hawks to just sort out the criminals. Look, my goal here is to turn Y6X-3H2-4 into something someday. And that starts with fixing up this outpost. But I can''t do that alone. I want to work with the people who live here. The only part of the facility I need for myself is the manufacturing yard. And one empty apartment for me and my daughter."


    Damien narrowed his eyes, but Alexander saw a bit of tension leave him as he slowly uncrossed his arms. "First off, we aren''t using that stupid name."


    Progress? He had wielded the stick, now it was time to offer the carrot. "Then what do you call the planet?"


    "Eden''s End."


    "Hmm. Seems a bit dour, but if that''s what everyone calls it, I''ll update the registry. See, compromise. We can work together to improve all of our lives. I don''t want to rule over you or any such nonsense like that. As you said before, I just want to be left alone. Just not so alone that I might lose my mind. There is a lot of work to accomplish if we are going to fix this place. That means plenty of work for anyone who wants to get paid."


    "What, in STO credits? I think you''ll find most people here have little to no use for that shit."


    Alexander made his hologram form a hand to rub its chin. He hadn''t put much thought into the fact that his millions of STO credits would suddenly be useless out here. But he had brought way more things than he could ever use himself. It was time to put those items to use. "I have other things to trade."


    "Such as?"


    Alexander turned to Jallen and Travers. "Do either of you have a tablet that can link to Captain Daniel?" He would have used his comm bracelet, but he had quickly learned of the shortcomings of the little devices. They were useless without a Qcomm relay or the secure storage nodes that the courier ships possessed. And he didn''t have a radio.


    Travers unhooked a smaller device from his belt and handed it to him. Alexander quickly connected to the Captain and got the manifest of all his cargo sent over. He scrolled through it and removed items he wasn''t willing to trade before handing it to the dark-haired and tan-skinned Damien.


    The man and his companions spent the better part of ten minutes just scrolling through the list of items Alexander had brought with him.


    Lucas Laront was the first to speak up. "You would share these training modules and schematics with us?"


    "Sure, why not?"


    "¡­Uh, no reason," the man went back to looking at the items for offer.


    That was curious, but what was more curious was how interested both Jallen and Travers seemed to become when the man spoke about the modules.


    Damien handed the tablet back to Travers. "I want a copy of this list sent to all the terminals so anyone here can access it and decide what they want to work for."


    "Does that mean we have a deal?" Alexander asked hopefully.


    The man grunted and walked off. His brother and Gabriella translated that grunt for him at the same time. "That means yes."


    He thanked the pair before they hurried to catch up with the prickly Damien.


    "What a wonderful man," Jallen responded flatly.


    "Oh, I don''t know. The man seems to care a lot about the people here. In my eyes, that''s a good feature. If he''s a bit prickly, so be it." Honestly, Alexander found dealing with the straightforward Damien quite refreshing. It was certainly better than dealing with the people he had back on Petrov Station.


    The Field Leaders shrugged.


    "You said you wanted to secure the manufacturing hub for your own?" Travers asked.


    Alexander nodded.


    "If you want, we can head over there right now."


    He went over to retrieve Yulia, It seemed she was having a difficult time retrieving her tablet from the group of kids. The kids stopped fighting over the device as soon as they saw Alexander approach. A few started crying, but the entire lot of them dropped the tablet and ran off. He sighed.


    "Are you ok?" he asked.


    Yulia looked more angry than upset. "I can''t understand them."


    "They''re still young, they don''t know how to share quite yet." His parenting help books were coming in handy once again!


    "I know that," she huffed as she picked up her tablet. "I played with the younger kids at the orphanage. I can''t understand what they are saying."


    "¡­Oh¡­" Oh shit. Everyone on Petrov spoke a derivative form of the Slavic language which was the primary language of the Coalition before its downfall, which was already a mish-mash of a few Eastern European languages. Alexander just realized the language he was hearing spoken here was mainly derived from English. Even the Hawks spoke this new English most of the time. They only switched the Slavic when in his company.


    "I think I have a tutorial that will teach you how to understand them." Or so he hoped. If not, he would have to teach her himself or find someone here who could speak both languages. It seemed most people spoke at least a few different languages in this century, so there was a good chance he could find someone to assist.

 Chapter 39

    Alexander arrived outside the doors to the manufacturing hub along with Travers and his team. Jallen had to return to his duty.He liked Jallen, the man was good with children and seemed to know just what to say to calm Yulia. He wasn''t quite sure about Travers yet. The man had been quiet the entire way and their interaction in the atrium had been brief. He also didn''t know how he was with children as Yulia had promptly fallen asleep after asking Alexander to pick her up and carry her.


    He couldn''t blame the girl, they had quite an exciting morning so far.


    "This is it," Travers declared as he walked over to a busted entry pad off to the side of the large set of dual doors. "Another team was on this side of the facility, so I don''t know if this lock was broken before or after they got here. Considering how corroded it looks behind the box, I''m gonna say it was broken a long time ago."


    "You don''t have to worry about who broke what," Alexander assured the man. "I knew going in that there was going to be a large amount of repairs ahead of me."


    The man grunted in acknowledgment. "Still, it looks bad on the Hawks if they are running around smashing things just to get in." After some fiddling with the wires, the door controller beeped and the doors squealed open a few inches.


    "Those lazy shits from B. There''s no way they entered this room to clear it properly. I''ll go to the nearest atrium and get a hydraulic jack to force the doors open."


    "That won''t be necessary, I can handle it. If you don''t mind." He held a sleeping Yulia out to Travers, who looked a bit surprised before he put his weapon away and took the girl. "This won''t take long, please step aside." The group of mercenaries moved out of the way as Alexander stepped up to the opening. He slipped both arms into the space and pulled.


    The door groaned and for a moment, didn''t appear it was going to open. Then with a loud metallic screech, the door slid open a few more inches. Alexander adjusted his hands and pulled again. The door moved much easier now, but still only opened enough to allow him to pass through.


    "After you," he waved.


    Travers nodded and handed the sleeping girl back before he pulled out his rifle. "Go in assuming the room is hostile. On me." With that he moved into the room, sweeping his flashlight one way while the next guy swept his beam the other. Alexander waited while the rest of the team filtered into the room and cleared it. He was more than a little impressed by their professionalism.


    Considering he hadn''t been able to watch them in action during the initial operation to clear this facility, this gave him a good glimpse of how the Hawks worked. He could now see why they were the premier mercenary company on Ganos, and why Violet from Fidelity Properties had recommended them.


    "Clear," came a series of calls.


    "It''s safe to enter, Mr. Kane."


    "Thank you," Alexander replied as he slipped through the barely wide enough gap. "And please just call me Alexander."


    Travers nodded.


    Alexander walked over to where he recalled the light switch to be from the blueprints. With no surprise, he found it was missing. And so were the wires that led to it. "Any way we can light the room up?" he asked.


    One of the men plucked a ball from a pouch on his belt. He shook it vigorously and the ball started to glow softly. Then the man hurled it into the dark room. After a few seconds, the softly glowing ball exploded into bright white light as it slowly hovered in the air on counter-rotating blades that had popped out from the center.


    "Flare drone," Travers answered the unasked question.


    "Neat!"


    The group chuckled quietly at Alexander''s comment.


    "Yeah, they come in handy," Travers smiled.


    Alexander surveyed the room and frowned. "Where are all the robotic assembly machines?"


    He had gotten an inventory of what items to expect when he arrived. And a list of items that might be here. The vehicles had been listed under the ''might be'' column so that''s why he wasn''t surprised to see them missing. But the robots had been listed as ''present'' with a notation that they were in storage mode. All Alexander could see through the flickering shadows cast by the drone was a large empty room, where things had once been.


    It was clear where the robots had once been by the platforms left behind and the too-clean spots in the concrete floor.


    Travers had been speaking into his radio while Alexander scanned the room. He spoke up. "Nobody located any robotics moved to other areas of the facility. Someone likely stripped this room and sold them off. Probably quite some time ago going by how rusted and unused the door was. Do you want us to question the people to see if anyone knows what happened to them?"


    Alexander shook his avatar''s head. He would have likely had to recycle the robots or rebuild them completely anyway. There was also no point accusing the people here of the theft without proof. If he wanted to fix this place up in any reasonable sort of timeframe, he was going to need their help.


    That being said, he would have to make it very clear going forward that cannibalizing the facility would get the person responsible and their family immediately expelled. He wasn''t going to spend all his time fixing this place up just to have people stealing stuff constantly. "No. I will have a talk with Damien. I was hoping they weren''t in too bad of a shape so I could just fix them. Having them missing completely is going to set my plans back by quite a bit though."


    He sighed internally. "I think I''m going to start by fixing this door. Can you gentlemen notify the engineers to bring my cargo to this space? I can sort through it after that."


    Travers nodded before talking into his radio again.


    Somehow, Yulia was still fast asleep in his arms, despite the bright light hovering only fifty feet away and the screeching of the rusted door. He was beginning to suspect she had stayed up all night in her excitement.


    Working while carrying her wasn''t ideal, but there was no soft surface to set his daughter down on. So he did his best. Considering he was a robot, his best was pretty damn good.


    It didn''t take him long to remove the panels along the bottom of the door. A pool of stagnant yellow water greeted him when he moved the heavy pieces off to the side. And if he could breathe, he was sure the smell of rotten eggs would be permeating the room right about now.


    That explained the rust. This part of the facility was pretty far away from the collapsed section, so water and rust infiltration shouldn''t have reached this far.


    He reached his free hand into the brackish water and felt around for the drain hole. It took a bit to find it and pull the rag out that had been stuffed inside. It reminded Alexander of the feeling you got when trying to remove food stuck in the sink drain. He shivered mentally at that thought. Why couldn''t he have forgotten something like that instead of all the other important stuff? Bleh!


    As soon as the rag was removed, the couple of inches of disgusting water drained away, revealing the mess hidden for who knows how long.


    The once chrome-coated track was a pitted rusty mess. And one of the rollers had fallen into a section that had completely rusted away. It was no wonder the door wouldn''t open any further. It would need to be completely replaced. To do that though, he needed one of his printers set up, and they would never fit through the doors.


    "Excuse me, Mr. Travers?"


    "Yes, Mr.¨C Alexander?"


    "Can you show me to my residence? I need to put her down before I can work properly."


    Travers picked two men to watch the open door before leading him to the small room down the hall that would be his apartment. It had been lived in by someone, but that someone was now waiting aboard the Talon for a trip back to STO space to face their punishment. It''s one of the reasons he picked the room.


    "This is the closest living space to the workshop. It''s also far away from any others. That is probably why the individual we arrested was living here. You may want to scrub this place with industrial cleaners as soon as possible," the man wrinkled his nose. "Smells like body odor and illicit substances."


    "Do you think Yulia will be fine for the night?" If the room was that bad, he might just find the cleanest bedding he could and move it back into the manufacturing center. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "If she keeps her mask on, it should be fine. I will leave a few people here to keep an eye on her and alert you if she wakes up."


    "I know this isn''t part of your duty, so thank you."


    "Use us as needed, that''s why we''re here."


    ***


    It took Alexander four hours to remove one of the heavy steel doors from the tracks. And that was only thanks in part to Travers and his men assisting with the hydraulic ram after he finally relented and let them grab it.


    From there he was able to move the printer into the space piece by piece. Printing out a new door guide was not ideal. It was rougher than the original and had to be printed in parts because the only printer he could fit through the opening wasn''t large enough to do it as a single piece.


    He really needed a lathe or precision grinder, but a door that could open was better than a door that couldn''t.


    They reattached the door and pushed it into the pocket of the wall. It shook as they moved it, but it wasn''t as bad as he had feared. The second door followed, and he reinstalled that as well. Now that he had full access to the room, the engineers began bringing in his cargo using portable jacks.


    The manual devices looked almost exactly like Alexander remembered from four hundred years ago. He supposed there wasn''t much to improve on the simple cargo-moving devices. He did see the wheels had been replaced with omni rollers though.


    While he worked on unpacking and printing things, the Hawk''s engineers started examining the wiring in the room. They didn''t have anything else to do, so they just kinda stuck around.


    He was glad for the help. They fished out the old corroded wiring and Alexander handed them a brand new roll from his inventory. He didn''t have enough of the electrical wire to rewire the entire station but he had enough to redo this room and a few others. He had expected to have a wire machine here to make more, but that was gone along with everything else. Replacing it was not high on his priority list at the moment.


    After a few hours of work, the lights in the cavernous room flickered fitfully to life. The few that still worked at least. He added ''printing new LED lights'' to his growing list of to-do items. At least the main power to the room was still functional. That did mean people had to steer clear of the hacked-off copper cables that hung limply from where the robot stations used to reside though.


    With the lighting working, the engineers moved to the task of assembling the printers. If it wasn''t for them assisting, he would still be mucking about in the dark or with the stupid door. It was proof that not even he could do everything. He would have to thank them for their assistance.


    Alexander made a note to speak with Damien to see if they had any engineers who wanted to help. Once the manufacturing lab was up and running, he would quickly find himself too swamped with tasks to actually finish them all. And it was better to find out now, while the Hawks were still here, rather than find out in six months that there were no qualified individuals among the locals.


    He doubted that was the case though. The drifters had managed to keep this place operational for who knows how many years. Even if they weren''t conventionally trained, there had to be people who lived here who knew how certain things worked. If they didn''t, he had the learning modules to train anyone who wanted to learn. It wouldn''t come free though.

 Chapter 40

    LOCATION: PETROV STATIONSYSTEM: GLIESE 667


    DATE: 2398


    Mingyu moved with purpose down the corridor, not quite jogging, but close to it. The trial for Kovalenko and Hoffman was scheduled to start the previous week. Then both men suddenly took their own lives on the same night. It was too suspiciously convenient.


    Someone had killed the two senior Captains and had the power to make it look like suicide. Knowing that was bad enough. The fact that the only people who knew of the trial were Zhang, Weiss, Liu, Yuchen, and him meant it had to be one of his fellow Captains. He had grown up alongside these people, and while he didn''t necessarily like all of them, he thought they were trustworthy. Now he couldn''t even say for sure if his best friend Xu could be trusted anymore. The thought made him sick to his stomach.


    The issues didn''t stop with the former captain''s deaths.


    Something was happening aboard Petrov Station, it was a subtle shift at first but became more noticeable by the day. He couldn''t quite put his finger on what the change was, but he could feel something was wrong. Almost like when he could tell something aboard the Destiny wasn''t working correctly. He chalked it up to having lived here his entire life.


    Mingyu wasn''t taking any chances after the murder of the two captains. He had been quietly getting his family to take some vacation out of the system over the last couple of days. It had cost him a significant sum to charter the cruise, but his growing unease made him feel like it was justified.


    This morning when he attempted to comm Eva Wu and ask her if she noticed anything out of the ordinary. There was no response. Even if the woman had been busy, there should have been a comm acknowledgment from the system. The only possible reason there wasn''t one was if her comm had been broken, or the system was down.


    He couldn''t even conceive of a reason for the retired first mate to have damaged her comm. That meant the Qcomm was offline. As there was no report sent to his comm alerting him of this outage, he had to assume someone had disabled the Qcomm relay station aboard Petrov. The only reason someone would have to cut off external communication at the station was to keep it isolated. And that didn''t bode well for anyone aboard.


    His destination was just ahead so he picked up the pace slightly and knocked on the door.


    He could hear someone moving about inside while he scanned the corridor for trouble. He didn''t see any. Everyone seemed completely oblivious to what was happening. Mingyu wanted to warn them, but of what? At the moment, he only had assumptions and conjecture. Besides, any warning he gave would only cause panic.


    The door opened and the friendly face of Eva Wu greeted him with a smile. "Mingyu, dear. How nice of ¨C," her words cut off as she looked into his eyes. "What''s wrong?"


    Despite the tense situation, he couldn''t help smiling. The woman never missed anything. "Trouble."


    "What sort?" she asked.


    "The kind that necessitates us leaving the station, immediately."


    Her trust in him was such that she simply nodded her head and shut the door to her apartment. "I needed a walk anyway."


    Eva rested her hand on his arm while the pair walked toward his hangar as fast as the older woman could move.


    "Smile, boy, you''re bringing unwanted attention." Mingyu stiffened at the rebuke. Eva hadn''t called him a boy since long before his father retired. He relaxed the frown on his face and his furtive glances. They would either make it to his ship on time or they wouldn''t.


    Eva being Eva smiled and waved to people she knew as they passed. There was no hint of urgency in her actions. He only knew she was tense by the near vicelike grip she held on his arm.


    "I heard your family went on vacation?" she asked casually.


    "Yes. They all left a few days ago."


    "That''s good. It can get quite stifling staying in one spot for too long."


    He nodded, the worry beginning to grow in his gut again. It had been two hours since the comms went offline. And there hadn''t been a single station alert or announcement. That meant someone in ops had to be involved in whatever was going on. A coup perhaps? He couldn''t even begin to guess who would be behind something like that.


    The elevator rapidly ascended to the Na''s personal hangar. It wasn''t any fancier than other hangars, but it was large.


    "Now that we''re in your hangar, what''s going on?"


    "I honestly don''t know. First Kovalenko and Hoffman died."


    "They''re dead?!"


    He nodded. "Both on the same night, both supposedly committed suicide."


    "Seems like you don''t believe that to be the case?" she asked as they walked across the spacious hangar to Destiny''s ramp.


    "They were both about to be tried for financial crimes against the station. The only people who knew this were the rest of the Council."


    Eva sucked in a breath. "You think someone on the Council killed them?"


    He nodded. "And that''s not all. I don''t know if you''ve noticed anything weird in the last few days or tried to comm anyone today, but mine isn''t working."


    She frowned and released his arm to tap at her comm. After a few tries she let the arm fall away. "I''ve been sticking close to home this week because my hip has been bothering me, so I haven''t noticed anything. My comm isn''t working either."


    "I figured as much," he said as he started to ascend the ramp.


    One of his people rushed out to meet him.


    "Is the ship ready to go?" he asked.


    "It is, Captain, but there''s a slight issue." sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What issue?" Had someone noticed him trying to leave already?


    "Well, you scheduled that field trip for the orphans today. And they showed up about an hour ago."


    With everything going on, he had forgotten. Ever since Kane had left, he had taken a minor yet more active role in the development of the orphans aboard the station. It was partly to atone for not doing enough to support Kane while he was here.


    His first instinct was to hurry the orphans off of the Moonlit Destiny so the ship could leave. But he didn''t know what was happening aboard the station. Asking them to go back into an unknown situation would be a truly cowardly thing for him to do. But he was at the mercy of STO law here. Taking them off the station without their consent would be as good as signing his death warrant because he would branded a kidnapper.


    "Ask them if they would like to go for a quick trip." Asking them if they wanted to go meant the decision was now in the Headmaster''s hands. Passing off this decision to a man who didn''t have all the information was a shitty thing to do, he knew that, but it was the only option that didn''t end up with him dead.


    The man radioed up to the bridge where the question was forwarded to whatever crew was showing the children and Headmaster Wong around. Soon a response came back.


    "The Headmaster has agreed."


    Mingyu didn''t know whether he was relieved or disappointed by Wong''s choice. He didn''t let any emotion show on his face as he nodded to the crewman. "Close it up and get us out of here."


    Eva stopped him before he could get too far. "I think I''ll go have a chat with the Headmaster and fill him in."


    He patted the woman on the hand. "Thank you." Mingyu couldn''t afford the time to speak with the man at the moment.


    The two parted and he hurried to the bridge as the ship started to come to life.


    "Report!" he shouted as he entered the bridge.


    "Ship systems are all green Captain. But I can''t get ahold of anyone in the control room."


    Dammit, things were moving faster than he thought if the control room wasn''t responding. He hurried over to his seat and strapped himself in. His bridge crew saw that and hurried to strap themselves in as well. He didn''t expect any violent maneuvering, but it was better to be safe. He would send out an all-hands alert as soon as the ship was free of the dock.


    Mingyu furiously typed in a series of commands on his console, overriding the control room. Soon the lights in the hangar began to flash amber as the air was pumped out of the massive space. The codes he used were given to each family in case of catastrophic station failure. It let them take manual control of any station system from a nearby terminal, but it didn''t give them access to the entire station.


    His screen flashed red as someone from control attempted to lock down the hangar. But the code overrode that. If he hadn''t been certain the station was under siege, he was now.


    Deciding not to wait any longer, he input the command to open the doors. The remaining air and dust in the hangar was sucked out through the opening doors. Then he heard the landing clamps release as the landing rockets fired up to push the ship off the deck.


    The entire time his console kept flashing red as attempts were made to keep him from exiting the station.


    As the ship backed out of the hangar, he pressed the intercom button. "All hands, this is Captain Na. Strap in for possible high-G maneuvers! I repeat, strap in for possible high-G maneuvers!"


    He hoped Eva had gotten to the Headmaster to explain the situation to him. He was sure the children were terrified of what was happening at the moment, so he was going to have to rely on Eva and the Headmaster to keep them calm.


    Mingyu watched the holo of the ship systems as areas turned green, alerting him that people were secured and ready. One even popped up in the mess hall. That was good. That meant Eva had gotten their visitors to the only room with enough secure seats for them.


    "As soon as we''re clear of the station, burn hard for the transit point. I don''t care about saving fuel, just get us out of here as fast as possible."


    The pilot acknowledged the order and soon enough Mingyu was pushed back in his seat as the ship lurched forward. The Moonlit Destiny wasn''t the fastest ship around, but it was a solid workhorse and could take the strain of a full burn for as long as it needed to.


    They were less than ten minutes from the station when his sensor operator spoke up. "Captain, our sensors are picking up multiple jump signatures at the transit point. None of the new arrivals appear to be running transponders."


    That worry in his gut turned into a dark pit. It was worse than even he had thought. The only ships that didn''t run transponders were pirates.


    "Can we slip past them?"


    After a minute, the woman shook her head. "They jettisoned something at the transit location. My sensors are reading it as a large mass. But it can''t be much bigger than a cargo container."


    Mingyu didn''t know what the hell the pirates had launched into space, but he knew what it was for. There was a reason people needed to clear a system before jumping to FTL. A significant enough gravity well would disrupt the warp sphere causing it to dump you back into normal space. Even a station as small as Petrov was enough to have an effect. It could be brute forced with enough power, but he would have to turn off every auxiliary system aboard the Destiny and somehow route that power to the FTL drive.


    That wasn''t going to happen without spending weeks to rewire the entire ship.


    He sent a new vector to his pilot, and the man turned to look at him. "You''re sure, Captain?"


    "Get us there."


    The ship angled up and away from the ecliptic plane of Gliese 667 and away from the standard jump point. People used the standard jump points because the math required to calculate your own jump point was tricky and an error could get you killed.


    There was no navigation data for a jump from where they were heading, but he was already doing the math as the ship rocketed forward.


    "Sir!" the sensor operator practically screamed. "The pirates have targeted us and started firing kinetics!"


    He had hoped they would have more time before the pirates calculated his flight path. It seems not. "Do your best to track them and relay the paths to the pilot. Avoid them at all costs, but keep us on this heading!" He didn''t have time to start his calculations over again.


    The two crew acknowledged him as they set about the arduous work of keeping them alive while Mingyu broke out in a sweat as he raced through the complicated mathematics of jumping from inside a gravity well.


    The transit point had only been an hour away at their current speed, so the kinetic rounds didn''t have far to go to get to them. And the weapons were traveling much faster than the Destiny.


    "Brace!" the sensor operator yelled and the ship jerked hard to the right. He heard a tink sound followed by a whistle of air being drawn out of the bridge. The emergency lights went red and bulkheads across the ship slammed closed to keep the decompression to a minimum. Mingyu cursed himself for the oversight in his panic to leave. He had been out of the military far too long. Flying into a possible combat situation with safety doors unsecured was something rookies did.


    "Where were we hit?" he asked without stopping his work.


    "Aft ore storage," the sensor operator stated.


    "They are firing another volley, Captain," she said with only a slight waiver of fear in her voice this time.


    "We should be at the destination before they arrive," he responded robotically as he finished the flight calculations and forwarded it to the pilot.


    The man didn''t even bother looking them over as he started firing up the warp drive. It was now a race for time. The ship leveled off and faced toward their destination as the deadly projectiles hurled toward their position.


    If he had miscalculated this, the warp bubble wouldn''t form and they were all dead.


    The warp bubble flickered fitfully around the ship, the gravity nearby almost enough to overwhelm it before it finally stabilized and the Destiny shot into FTL only moments before a volley of projectiles flew through the space they had been occupying.

 Chapter 41

    LOCATION: EDEN''S ENDSYSTEM: Y6X-3H2 Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    DATE: 2399


    "Are you sure you can''t stay?" Yulia asked Alex nervously.


    He kneeled beside her and spoke quietly. "If I stayed, I would just be a distraction for you and the other children."


    She knew he was right, she had seen how the kids back on the station avoided Alex and even the ones here cried and ran off the first time they saw him. But she still fidgeted nervously.


    "What if nobody likes me?" she spoke in barely a whisper.


    "I don''t see how that could possibly happen. Just be yourself, and you''ll make friends eventually. Now I need to go, so head on in."


    She gave Alex''s arm a hug before reluctantly walking into the room where they taught kids. She wasn''t sure why they needed a separate room for something like that until she entered the space. There had to be close ¨C well, she didn''t actually know, but there were a lot of kids. More than she had ever seen in one place before.


    The older ones sat at a table off to one side, watching something on a holo with bored looks. The holo intrigued her, but she doubted they would let her join them. Teenagers could be prickly like that. She glanced over to the opposite end of the room where the younger kids were making a racket as they played with whatever toys were available. Someone had strung up blankets between that section to muffle the noise, but it wasn''t doing much from where she stood.


    The center of the room hosted the largest group of kids. Most of them were a few years younger than her to a few years older. She wasn''t sure how old the oldest kids were in that group, but they looked to be around Markus'' height, so maybe around twelve. That put her right in the middle at nine years old.


    She glanced back toward the hallway, wondering how mad Alex would get if she ran out of there and back to his new workshop instead of staying. The choice was decided for her as an adult approached.


    "Yulia?" the smiling woman said in a strangely accented voice. It wasn''t at all how Alex talked. His way of talking when she first met him was so strange and almost hard to understand. He did get better with time though. Feeling defeated, Yulia gave a slight nod.


    "Good, welcome. We teach you to understand, yes?"


    She nodded again and accepted the outstretched hand that the woman offered. She seemed nice enough, even if she seemed to barely speak properly. Yulia hoped she didn''t end up speaking like that when she learned this English, Alex had told her about.


    Her first day of learning was mostly just being introduced to a group of kids around her age. She had no hope of remembering all the names though. The next day started with the alphabet. She felt stupid when she was grouped with the younger portion of the children in her group and they were better at saying the letters than her.


    She persevered though, getting through all twenty-six letters before the day was up.


    The next day was basic math. Yulia knew the teachers were testing for aptitude. Alex had explained that back when he introduced his puzzles. The math was easy, she completed all of the questions, even surpassing the ones the older kids in her group were given.


    The teacher smiled at her and gave her a strange gesture with a thumb pointing up. Seeing how happy the woman was, Yulia returned the gesture.


    After that day, Yulia was paired with two slightly older girls who introduced themselves as Sarah and Claire. They were really nice and liked to laugh a lot. Like a whole lot. Yulia didn''t quite get it, but she found herself laughing along with them, despite not understanding a word they spoke.


    The two girls were showing her pictures on a tablet with the word for it listed underneath the object. Then they would say the word out loud.


    When Yulia didn''t reply the first time, that''s when the girls started giggling. It was Claire who tapped her on the arm. "I say, you say," she said in Yulia''s language. Her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and she nodded.


    The girls were really nice and patient with her. She thought their laughing and giggling might have been directed at her, but it wasn''t. They just found teaching an outsider to be extremely entertaining.


    They didn''t tell this to her with words, Yulia had tried talking in her language, but the girls just shook their heads. Claire only understood a handful of words to communicate with her. It was more how they acted and encouraged her that got the point across.


    Yulia really liked the two girls and when she got to the word for friend, she said it and pointed to them. There was another round of giggling that Yulia couldn''t help going along with before the girls both said the same word and pointed to each other, and then to her.


    A bit of her anxiety faded away with that declaration and the next days flew by while she learned more and more. Alex even brought another lady to teach her when she got home. She would have preferred to spend more time with Alex, she missed working on the puzzles or just wandering around like she used to do back home. But she knew he was extremely busy. Anytime she went to his workshop, he was speaking with someone or working on something.


    He would hang out with her if she asked, but she could see how important the work he was doing was and didn''t want to distract him.


    After the tutoring sessions, Alex would come home, they would eat together, and she would tell him about her day before falling asleep. It was the weekends she looked most forward to during those weeks.


    She didn''t mind the school, but the only thing she was learning was the local language, which was not called English, they called it Solarian. Alex was surprised to hear that when she told him. He had muttered something about hundreds of years of drift that she didn''t quite understand before letting her explore with her new friends.


    The station, no that wasn''t right, stations were in space and they were on a planet. That meant this was a building. She still found that hard to understand. How could you build something that wasn''t in space? She shook her head at the thought, people did silly things.


    The building was huge. They weren''t allowed to go everywhere, but the places that Sarah and Claire showed her were way more than she had ever got to see on the second ring.


    In their wandering, and the two girls'' incessant talking, they did find one spot that none of the scary mercenaries were guarding. Yes, she knew how strange it was to accuse someone else of talking incessantly, and she now knew how the kids at the orphanage felt.


    Seeing an opportunity to explore this new area, she tried to get Claire and Sarah to show her what was beyond that point, but they were hesitant. They were trying to tell her something but she couldn''t understand what they were saying.


    Some gestures and Solarian words of encouragement she had learned over the last few weeks finally convinced the pair to follow her down this new path.


    They didn''t get very far before a lady mercenary popped out from behind a corner and glared at the trio. "You three wouldn''t be up to trouble, would you?"


    Yulia stiffened when she realized the woman spoke in her native language and not the other two''s.


    "No," she responded meekly, not meeting the woman''s piercing gaze.


    She said something to the other two girls and they shook their heads.


    "Run along then, and stay out of the restricted areas." She repeated more words in Solarian, likely giving the other two girls the same warning.


    A few more weeks went by and the trio explored more of the areas available to them. When they came across another area clearly marked as ''Restricted Entry'' ¨C she had learned those words after her last encounter with the scary lady ¨C she hesitated a moment, along with her friends. There was no corner for the woman to hide around, she looked. Seeing the coast was clear, she gave a conspiratorial nod to her friends who looked at each other before sighing and following her through the tunnel.


    They didn''t make it far before a harsh shout from behind them stopped them in their tracks. The three girls turned around to see the same woman striding purposely down the hallway toward them, looking annoyed. The woman, who Yulia had learned was called Zorina, seemed to have a sixth sense when someone was about to do something they shouldn''t be doing. Yulia had no other explanation for how the woman kept popping up at the most inopportune times.


    She tried to explain to Zorina that she didn''t mean to ignore the rules, she was just curious. She wanted to see what made this place work, like how she had enjoyed the tour back on Petrov Station. That didn''t sway the woman one bit. She reminded her a bit of Headmaster Wong in that respect.


    She looked up as Zorina escorted her and the other two girls back to their camp. "I said I was sorry," she pleaded with the woman.


    "Sorry is for the first time, not repeated times," the woman stated. "Now you get to see the consequences of your actions."


    She hung her head, while the other two girls looked terrified of what might happen.


    The three were led to the Hawks'' camp and stuck in a room to wait. A short time later, a man and woman arrived, looking peeved. Sarah started crying and ran over to her parents, who quickly escorted the girl out of the camp.


    Not too long after, Claire''s mom stopped by, giving Yulia a disapproving look. Yulia looked away but waved back to Claire as she left with her mom.


    Shortly after that, Alex stepped into the room.


    "This is not something I expected to be doing today," he stated in his normal voice. She found it hard to tell if he was angry, upset, or annoyed. His avatar face was not showing what he was feeling.


    Yulia was worried he was so upset that he had forgotten to use his face to show how he felt and tears threatened her eyes. She forced herself to keep from crying. If she had just listened, this wouldn''t be happening.


    She heard Alexander let out a soft sigh, and he sat on the floor next to the chair she was in. "I apologized to your friends'' parents and assured them this would not happen again¡­"


    "It won''t," she managed to choke out, utterly failing at her attempts to keep herself from crying or sobbing. She felt his warm arm wrap her into a hug and she knew he wasn''t angry with her.

 Chapter 42

    Alexander monitored the printer terminal. It was only one of half a dozen that were constantly in use. It had taken two months, but the manufacturing center was finally back to operating at full capacity. The auction company had apologized for the missing equipment, but only refunded him a million credits. He supposed he was lucky to see any after his previous experiences with STO corporations.The room was filled with the mechanical hum of robotic arms zipping through a ballet of welding and assembly work as they built replacement components for the facility. Everything was starting to move in the right direction. He only wished he had known the old robots had been stolen, he would have purchased newer robotics diagrams before coming out here. Assuming he could have afforded it with his severely diminished bank account. The current ones were fine for fixing up the facility, but they were not accurate enough for the type of work he wanted to accomplish.


    He would just have to design and build his own, assuming he found time. Negotiating and working with the locals, attending weekly briefs with the Hawks, chatting with Jasper and his crew, and being a father for Yulia were all taking significant portions of his time. Not that he would give any of them up. Well, maybe the weekly briefs were a bit much.


    The locals had adapted quickly to the change and there were very few issues, despite Damien''s less than friendly reception. It seemed he was an exception to the rule. Not that the man''s attitude bothered him one bit. He may come off as an ass, but he took things very seriously once Alexander laid out his plans to fix the complex completely.


    Alexander would like to say there were no issues, but you didn''t suddenly tell a group of people who hated authority that you were now the authority without some pushback. He had to lay down the law a few times when people tried to use his printers and robots for their personal use. This was his space. If they wanted something from it, they had to trade just like he did for their work or produce.


    Speaking of locals, one just entered his shop. At least this was one he liked dealing with.


    "How can I help you today, Lucas?" Damien''s younger brother was a bit of a sticking point between him and the Hawks. The man didn''t have a warrant, but there was a bounty to bring him in alive.


    It took a bit of effort from Alexander to convince the Hawks'' Leadership not to turn Lucas over. Alexander''s reasonings were mainly selfish for requesting this. The man was an expert with computers. He also didn''t want to start a conflict with Damien over the issue but the main reason was he didn''t give a shit about some corporate bounty. They had no jurisdiction out here. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To be fair, it didn''t take too much convincing. Once he showed Captain Matthews the data on his previous Omni work, the man had agreed not to take the man in if Alexander agreed to update the Talon''s engines when he had a space dock.


    "I wanted your opinion on some code I wrote."


    Alexander sighed. "I told you before, I''m not an expert with code. But I will take a look if you insist." As far as he could tell, Lucas Laront''s code was brilliant. It was no surprise considering he had a corporate bounty placed on him.


    He examined the code. Alexander couldn''t tell what half of it did. He wasn''t lying when he said he wasn''t an expert with code. He only learned the bare minimum to create his holo-avatar and have it respond. He was more focused on the manufacturing aspect of things than the coding side but he was learning a little bit here and there. It seemed to him that Lucas was looking more for validation than anything else.


    "Can you explain to me what it is supposed to do?"


    The skinny man smiled and launched into an explanation. "You remember those camera asteroids I told you about?"


    "The ones you use to watch for incoming pirates?" How could he forget? Finding out pirates still occasionally attacked this place was a sobering realization. It was so disconcerting that he rearranged his priorities after hearing that. He knew pirates flew through the area, but he figured they wouldn''t come this far out since there wasn''t anything of value out here. Apparently, he had been wrong.


    "Yes, those. Well, I improved their telemetry and tracking. I believe with this code, I can even improve their camera range. Well, it''s not really changing the range so much as it is improving the quality of the images. Removing noise and implementing certain learning algorithms to clear up those images."


    "I thought learning algorithms were frowned upon?" Alexander knew they were. It''s why those automated bots on Petrov Station seemed so stupid. They couldn''t learn from their mistakes, so they had to have contingencies programmed into them. But you can''t program for all contingencies. He also knew that Yuri had used learning algorithms in his initial control box construction. Alexander was glad the old man had only added self-learning to his movement commands. If he had added it to his restrictions, Alexander probably wouldn''t have broken free. He would have been sold off or melted down for scrap when Yuri died.


    The skinny genius snorted. "Maybe in the STO but we aren''t there, are we? Besides, the STO likes to preach about not using self-learning code, yet fails to even follow their own guidance. Don''t even get me started on the corporations, do you think they prevent those corporate bastards from using learning algorithms? No, I bet you those turds use full AI. Hell, ask the Hawks. I can almost guarantee you that they have something aboard their ship that assists them."


    "Fine, but what about the code going out of control?"


    The man laughed at the question. "You need to stop watching those ancient videos about artificial intelligence taking over. I''ve seen a few of them myself for a laugh but that''s about all they were good for. I don''t know what those people back then were so afraid of, it''s honestly ridiculous."


    It wasn''t that ridiculous, he wanted to say.


    "Self-learning and ''AI'' have been around for hundreds of years. I have never heard of a single instance of rogue code in that entire time. Not that rogue code would get very far. Most computer systems and terminals have hard-coded restrictions in place to prevent people from hacking them. Unless you have a master code, but even that only gets you certain access."


    Lucas didn''t have to tell Alexander about hard-coded restrictions, he knew all about those. "The master code I got for Eden''s End locked everything down."


    "¡­Well, yeah. This place is ancient. Half the code used in the systems here hasn''t been in use since before I was born. Most of the systems here also predated hard coding. I think that practice only became widespread when the STO started running into the Shican. I guess they were afraid of the aliens taking over our systems. You can sorta see early attempts at that in the consoles here."


    Alexander decided to change the subject because this conversation was straying too close to what he could be. Yes, he had thought about the possibility that he was some AI. It didn''t make a whole lot of sense though, considering some of the memories he had. Then again, who knew what the weirdos who put him in this body had in mind?


    "How did you get those satellites into orbit anyway?"


    "Oh that, eh we mostly just paid the few traders that make their way out here to carry them back into space and release them for us."


    "Traders actually come out this way¡­ Wait, paid them? Paid them with what?"


    The man glanced around the room.


    "Ah¡­"


    Lucas shrugged. "Most of the stuff missing in this room happened a long time ago. I only heard about it from one of the old timers that left."


    "I''m not judging you. I understand the need to survive. But from now on, let''s do things a bit differently, ok?"


    "I''m all for change. Although you might want to think about how deliveries are going to arrive. I see you brought a cargo ship that was too big to land. Fixing the Low Orbit Launcher might be a good idea if you plan on shipping goods from here. Assuming you didn''t do all this just to fix up this old relic of a base," he gestured around the room.


    Alexander made his avatar blink. "Low Orbit Launcher?"


    "Oh, yeah, it launches small payloads into space for pickup. They don''t really use them anymore, quicker and easier just to use orbital elevators to get large cargo into space. Or a shuttle if the cargo isn''t too large."


    "The schematics of the research base didn''t show any such device. I would know, I looked them over very carefully." He looked it over more carefully after arriving. Being surprised by the size of the atriums told him he needed to pay more attention to the details of the place he purchased.


    Lucas scratched his chin in confusion. "It''s definitely got one. I wonder if it wasn''t included in the plans because it was built separately from the structure. If you aren''t too busy, I can take you there."


    Alexander followed the chatty man as he led them through a twisting series of hallways. "Sorry about the roundabout route. The main route to that section collapsed a few years ago."


    "It''s fine. How did you come across this launcher anyway?"


    "I was scavenging for components about a year ago. The door that led there was rusted shut, but with a few weeks of work, I managed to get it open. That led to the control room. Ah, here we are."


    The man gestured to a twisted metal frame and a standard security door lying broken off to the side. "As you can see, it put up a bit of a fight." Alexander sighed at the damage, looking pointedly at the man who just shrugged. "Gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes."


    The man stepped through the doorway and Alexander ducked in after him. He got his first look at the control center for this launcher as he straightened.


    "Sorry about the mess. We couldn''t be picky with spare parts."


    "I see," he stated flatly. The consoles had been torn apart and loose wires hung everywhere. What wasn''t there was circuit boards or any electronics. "You were able to repurpose all of this?" He wasn''t angry but he was annoyed that the people living here had cannibalized a good majority of the systems in this facility. He understood why they did it, but it still meant more work for him. The only balm to his annoyance was that this section of the facility was not in the design plan. Thus he technically hadn''t spent any money on it and everything still here was a bonus. It sort of made up for the missing manufacturing robots.


    Alexander had plans to update all of the systems inside Eden''s End eventually, this just moved that up his priority list.


    "Eh, most of ''em. The telemetry modules went into the asteroid control systems. The rest of the unused components went into storage for later use."


    Alexander sighed. "I''m going to need to see these storage rooms to see if there is anything worth fixing." He walked over to a small blast window that overlooked a large chamber on the other side. He couldn''t see much through the grime-coated glass. "Is there a way into the transfer chamber?"


    "Probably," Lucas shrugged. "I think I know the door that leads out there but good luck getting it opened. I haven''t had any luck."


    "Could you show me?"


    The man nodded and the two exited the control room and moved down a few flights of stairs that led into a wide hallway with a pair of rails running along them.


    "This is the transport tunnel?" Alexander had seen it on the facility plans but he hadn''t had time to investigate it.


    "Yup. As far as I can tell, it has three lines. One cuts directly across the facility while the two outer lines curve along the outside."


    "As far as you can tell?"


    "All three lines have caved-in sections. So nobody bothers using them. The door that should lead to the launcher is over this way," the man gestured.


    They stopped outside a pair of imposing doors a moment later. "I see why you can''t get in."


    The heavy steel blast doors in front of him made the ones that sealed off his manufacturing center look rather pathetic in comparison. He could see deep scratches in the hardened exterior that showed just how much effort Lucas had put into trying to get inside.


    "Yeah. These things are a real beast. Complete overkill as well. Have fun, I''m going to go back to working on my programming."


    "Wait, you''re just leaving?"


    "¡­Um, yes. It''s not like there is anything I can do here."


    Alexander supposed that was true. "I see. I''ll need to bring some things from my shop to even attempt opening this door anyway."


    "Ooh, let me know when you make the attempt. I really wanna get my hands on what''s inside." Lucas rubbed his hands together.


    Alexander just made his avatar stare at him.


    "What?"


    "No more ripping apart my facility. I can make spares for most things by now."


    "Oh? What about computer processors?"


    "¡­Not yet. But I do have some spare ones I brought along. I might even be willing to trade a few for the right work."


    The man rubbed his chin. "Really now? Well, you let me know what kind of work you want done, and I might just agree to take a few of those processors off your hands."


    Alexander watched the computer expert leave. He had tried tempting the man to work for him since he arrived, seeing the man''s skill with coding. The man seemed uninterested in any of the other offers he had made. He hadn''t wanted to give up any of the processors he brought along, but seeing as the man was receptive to one of his offers for the first time, it might be worth it.


    He wished he could just print up new processors like everything else, but just like processors from back in his day, these futuristic ones required multiple specialized machines and processes to manufacture. He was years away from even getting to that point, let alone purchasing plans for the machines needed. Until then he would have to rely on purchasing them and having them shipped out here by Jasper and his crew.


    Speaking of Jasper, he needed to have a conversation with the man before they left soon. He turned away from the blast doors. That was a project for a later date.

 Chapter 43

    Alexander found Jasper in the atrium. The large space was much quieter now that most of the people had gone back to their homes or whatever work they did around the facility. From what he could tell, that was mostly farming. He was getting some interest in the work he was offering but it was slow."Alexander!" Jasper called as soon as the man spotted him.


    Alexander waved back and walked over to join his friend. He was sitting at one of the many benches scattered around the large open space. They were one of the few things still intact after so long. And they weren''t worth stealing.


    "I''m surprised you''re all alone today, Jasper. Where''s the rest of your crew?"


    The man shrugged. "Even I get sick of my crew sometimes. ¡­I''m just kidding. Wilkes took Naomi back up to the Zephyr. There wasn''t much for her to do down here, and since we are planning on returning to STO space soon her time was better spent trying to look for our next cargo run."


    "How would she do that without a Qcomm?"


    "Oh, the info will be out of date, but she can narrow down some parameters. Once we are back in STO space, she can double-check those shipments to see if they are still available. It''s not the first time we''ve been out of comm range."


    "I actually wanted to speak to you about shipping."


    His friend nodded. "I thought you might. I would love to deliver supplies out to you Alexander¡­"


    "I hear a but coming."


    The man grimaced slightly. "You know how dangerous it is to come out here? I''m willing to risk it while the Hawks are here. But after that, I can''t ask my crew to put themselves in harm''s way like that. They are like family to me, I''m sure you understand now that you have Yulia."


    Alexander sighed and nodded. "I do understand. The Hawks have agreed to extend their service for an additional three months. If I had something to keep you safe after they left, would you continue deliveries?"


    "I don''t see why not. But let''s not dwell on what-ifs for now. Tell me, what did you need me to deliver?"


    Alexander handed his friend the tablet he had been forced to purchase from the Hawks. Having an easy means of communicating data to others hadn''t been on his original purchase manifest.


    The man scrolled down the list, his eyebrow quirking at some of the items. "These are some expensive items," Jasper finally said as he lowered the tablet.


    "I know. But those are all items I need and cannot print."


    "They should be easy enough to acquire. Travel back and forth will likely take two months."


    "I understand." He handed Jasper a credit chip. "This chip contains the sum total of all my credits." Minus a few million he kept in reserve just in case.


    The man paused before accepting the item. "Why are you giving me all your money?" S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It is currently useless out here. Use what you need to purchase the items I requested, and then I would like you to place the rest in some sort of account that garners interest. I am unfamiliar with what would be available, so please use your best judgment. Then you can draw from that account any time you need funds for my purchases. Eventually, it will turn into a corporate fund that I can use to pay others."


    The man gave a faux shocked expression. "Already looking to replace me?"


    Alexander chuckled. "Hardly. But at some point, one ship will not be enough to keep up."


    Jasper smiled. "I like that you are thinking big my friend. Have you thought of a name for your new enterprise yet?"


    "I have." He told his friend the name he had come up with.


    "Fitting, I like it," he chuckled as he stood from the bench. "You keep being you, Alexander. Just try to stay safe out here ok?"


    He nodded. "I will. I have a meeting with the Hawks today to discuss that very issue. You stay safe as well."


    "Oh that shouldn''t be much of an issue with the Hawks support ships patrolling the systems between here and Varlen. Oh, that reminds me, you may want to think about building an orbital dock as soon as possible. And a refueling station. You''re going to need both to tempt any other captains to even bother with this system."


    Alexander sighed. "I''m working on it. The items I''m asking you to bring on this first trip should make it easier."


    There was a series of beeps from Jasper''s vac suit. "Looks like Wilkes is back." The man held out his hand and Alexander shook it. "I''ll see you in two months, my friend. I can''t wait to see what has changed in that time."


    "It was a pleasure flying with you. Tell your crew that I will miss them. As will Yulia."


    The man smiled and gave Alexander a wave before hurrying off. He really would miss the Captain. Jasper had filled him in on so many of the things he didn''t understand over the long journey. He had even given him a crash course in how to fly a spaceship. And that would have been a crash course had there actually been anything to hit along their path. Flying a ship did not seem to come naturally to Alexander. However, he had improved slightly during the later part of the journey.


    With Jasper heading back to the Zephyr, he turned and headed toward the Hawks'' little encampment. It wasn''t far away.


    "Mr. Kane, what can we assist you with today?" one of the mercenaries asked as Alexander approached the barricade of their camp.


    "I would like to have a meeting with Captain Matthews and any Field Leaders that might be available."


    The man nodded. "I will radio the Talon to see if the Captain is free."


    After a short wait, the man dropped his hand away from an earpiece. "The Captain said he would be free in ten minutes. Travers and Jallen are the only two field leaders available in this section. If you would like to wait in the command tent, they should be here shortly."


    He thanked the man and headed into the very familiar tent. It had a set of folding furniture and a video uplink to the Talon.


    It didn''t take long for the two Field Leaders to show up. "Mr. Travers, Mr. Jallen. Good to see you again."


    "You as well, Alexander," Travers replied. "We don''t have anything new to report since our meeting a few days ago, so I assume this meeting is about something else?"


    Alexander nodded. "I''ll get into it as soon as the Captain has connected."


    Less than a minute later, the screen came on. "Looks like everyone is here," Matthews spoke. "What can we help you with Mr. Kane?" Try as he might, Alexander couldn''t get the Talon''s Captain to call him by his first name.


    "I''ve been recently made aware that pirates still occasionally come through this system."


    All three men nodded.


    "We have heard similar from the locals," Travers confirmed.


    "I expected as much but it''s good to hear confirmation," Matthews stated. "This system isn''t that far off the normal space lanes. It''s not a surprise that pirates would use it to travel. But I assume your main concern isn''t them passing through, is it?"


    "It is not. While this facility didn''t make a tempting target before, I''m afraid fixing it up is going to draw unwanted attention. I need advice on how to best protect the planet once the Hawks leave. Unless you have reconsidered my offer?"


    Matthews leaned back in his chair and rubbed his bearded chin. "I''m afraid not, Mr. Kane. While your offer is more than generous, there are extenuating circumstances you may not be aware of."


    "Such as?" Alexander asked, making his avatar frown slightly.


    Matthews sighed. "We were going to discuss this at next week''s briefing, but I don''t see any reason to wait. You are aware that the gunships that came with us are patroling from Eden''s End to Varlen?"


    "Yes, you did mention that a few weeks ago."


    "At their last stop, they received a Qcomm from our headquarters. Pirates have assaulted multiple systems along the Eastern end of STO territory. We don''t have many details at the moment, but the leaders of Ganos have called in all available mercenary companies to ensure the local space lanes remain safe for travel."


    If Alexander had a heart, he was sure it would have skipped a beat at this news. Petrov Station was on the eastern fringe of STO space. Alexander hoped Petrov Station, or more specifically, the orphans were ok. If they weren''t Yulia would be devastated. "Does this mean you will be leaving early?"


    "No, Mr. Kane. Our deal came into effect before we were alerted to this change. But I can no longer extend our stay past the additional three months. As for the deal to upgrade the Talon''s Engines, that will need to wait until we can return."


    Alexander nodded. "Understandable, Captain. Return whenever you can and I will make you right. With this upswing in piracy, I''m even more concerned about safety."


    "As you should be. This attack will embolden the rest of those scum, that''s for sure. As for defenses. The easiest and cheapest will be to reinforce the concrete above your facility. That will likely deter small pirate crews. The Talon has Gauss cannons as its main armament, but we also have missiles. I don''t recommend either of them for you."


    "You don''t? Why not?"


    "I can answer this one, Captain," Jallen spoke up. Matthews nodded to the man. "Other than being expensive, both require complicated processes for building and assembly. They also need multiple computer systems, which you have told some of the Hawks'' engineers you have a limited supply of."


    "That is true, and most of the ones I currently have in stock are earmarked for projects already. What are my other options? What about railguns?"


    "For planetary use, that should be fine," Matthews said. "But the railgun rails need to be replaced regularly. This makes them less than ideal for space-based weapons as you can imagine. That''s why you don''t see them in use in the STO Navy. A Gauss cannon will do pretty much the same thing as a railgun and require a tenth as much maintenance."


    Alexander didn''t even have a reliable way to get goods into orbit yet, so having to repair orbital weapons systems constantly would not be very productive.


    "Laser-based weapons would be ideal, but again, you are going to need at least a CPU per weapon. More if you plan on aiming them. I''m afraid you don''t have many good options for space-based weapons. And even building the ground-based ones is going to be an issue unless you have the design plans for them. ¡­You don''t happen to have design plans for any of these weapons, do you?"


    Alexander wasn''t sure what to say here. Technically, he didn''t have any STO-purchased designs for weapons but he still recalled the designs he had built back in his shop.


    "Yes, and no. I don''t have any STO designs, but I believe I can build a railgun and maybe even some lasers based on my technical knowledge."


    "I suppose that''s not too surprising. Railguns aren''t all that complicated. I am a little curious as to how you know how to build lasers though."


    "Lots of machines use lasers, Captain. It''s just an application of concentrating the light and adding more power." He really hoped the man didn''t dig further. Not that Alexander was doing anything illegal, not out here anyway.


    "I suppose that is an accurate enough description. You should focus your efforts on the ground-based railguns then. They will be the cheapest and easiest to manufacture and keep running. The sulfur air of Eden''s End would wreak havoc on ground-based laser optics unless you stored them in air-tight silos. And that will just increase the cost and complexity of those systems."


    The other two men nodded in agreement at the Captain''s assessment.


    "Defense turrets at the entrances would also be advised," Travers added. "You can remotely operate them, removing the need for complicated control systems. Just print up and put together some simple circuit boards and pop a couple of flechette rifles into them and they would be a very effective deterrent for anyone. Heck, you could even repurpose those ancient Earth weapons if you really wanted to. You would need to go through them to make sure they were functional first though."


    Why hadn''t Alexander considered printing basic circuit boards? He had been so focused on future tech that he hadn''t even thought of building his own simple processors. They didn''t need to be super complex or powerful. Not for some of the things he wanted to do.


    "Thank you all for the suggestions. I have a lot to think about."


    "That''s what we are here for, Mr. Kane. Is there anything else we can assist you with today?" Matthews asked.


    "There is. I was recently informed that this base has a Low Orbit Launcher. Are you familiar with the devices?"


    "I''ve heard of them. Can''t say I''ve ever seen one though. If my memory is correct, aren''t they just low-power railguns?"


    "I believe you are correct, Captain. The launcher is behind a sealed blast door. Do you think your engineers can help me cut into it to get inside?"


    Matthews shook his head at that. "If there are blast doors, it means they are there for a reason. I would recommend against cutting through them. I can have the engineers take a look and see if they can restore power and functionality to the doors though."


    Alexander left the meeting with a lot to think about. He was already thinking about a design for a railgun in his head that would be powerful enough to reach into orbit. The gun was turning out to be the easy part. The limiting factor was the availability of power.


    The research facility relied on antiquated solar and geothermal power. It did not have the more common fusion power plant that was in use in this day and age. He supposed it made sense to use easy-to-manufacture and replace items instead of something complicated and costly like a reactor. Solar and geothermal systems were both time-tested and rugged technologies as well. The fact they were still working to this date proved the people who had built this place chose wisely.


    Alexander knew how to construct a fusion reactor thanks to the plans he purchased for the Zephyr''s design. The plans included all the information and design specs he would need to build one for himself. The problem was that he was nowhere near the manufacturing capability required to build something like that. With fusion power a distant dream, he turned his focus to supercapacitors and batteries. They were much simpler to build.

 Chapter 44

    It took the Hawks'' engineers less time than he would have imagined to reroute power from a working area to the blast door that led to the Low Orbit Launcher.Once power was restored, the facility codes worked to bypass the security lockout that had been triggered by some fault in the launcher system.


    The thick heavy blast doors gave an audible click and a strobing light along with a siren alerted anyone within the area that they were opening. Alexander watched silently as the door ponderously slid aside. At least it didn''t appear that rust had any effect on the mechanism. If they had been rusted, he would have been in trouble. He had nothing big enough to remove blast doors this heavy.


    Once the door was fully open, the lights and siren shut off. Alexander waited for the mercenaries to clear the room before he entered along with the other engineers.


    The first thing Alexander noticed was the dome above the launcher. It seems part of it had collapsed onto the device. Not enough to expose it to the outside elements, but enough to trigger a safety lockout.


    The launcher wasn''t much to look at if he was honest. It was a wide rectangle that seemed to be attached to a curved dish underneath it that allowed it to angle upward. There didn''t appear to be any way to traverse the launcher from side to side either. Going by the retractable portion of the overhead dome, it could probably only fire from a certain position as well.


    He had expected something to this extent after talking with the Captain and Lucas about the device, so it wasn''t much of a surprise.


    The thing was huge, big enough that his entire body could fit inside the launch rails. He expected it to be big considering the size of the launch capsules but it was still surprising to see up close.


    The launch capsules looked like those clamshell storage racks that people stuck on the top of their cars for road trips. Only these were about twice the size and with a metal strip running along the entire circumference. He lifted one of the lids and found the inside empty. He was a bit bummed about that. Not that he expected to find anything inside it but it would have been neat if there was. With the launch capsule open, he got a good idea of how much space he had to work with; if and when he got the thing operational.


    The answer was, not a lot. About half of the area inside was taken up by foam padding. Probably to protect the contents as much as possible when they were launched into orbit. Depending on what he launched, he could probably remove the padding. He would have to print new launch capsules anyway since the ones in this room had seen better days. They were as likely to disintegrate on launch as they were to make it into orbit.


    The capsules seemed to be mostly some sort of plastic, so that was good. He had limited materials left after replacing the robotics for his lab and the few simple mining drones he had going were not very capable.


    He was hoping to alleviate some of the pressure on the locals to farm, so they would be more inclined to mine for him, but so far only three people had taken him up on the offer. That was still three more than zero though. Despite the rather crude mining equipment Alexander was able to provide them, they were much more adept at gathering useful material for his smelter than the drones he had.


    "Alex, it stinks in here!" Yulia complained.


    "Put your mask on then." Yulia had asked to accompany him today since it was her day off from school. She was slowly picking up English but she kept defaulting to her old language when speaking to him. He was tempted to not answer her unless she used English, but that seemed extremely petty. She was also trying to fit in by not wearing her mask, but she liked to complain about the smell. He would always need to remind her to put the mask back on. To which she would complain that she didn''t like wearing it as she was doing right now.


    "We talked about this. I am working on fixing the air purifiers, but you will need to get used to the smell or wear the mask."


    "I don''t like wearing the mask, everyone makes fun of me when I do."


    Alexander made his avatar nod. "I''m sorry to hear that. But those are the only two options at the moment."


    The little girl grumbled for a bit before finally putting on the mask. The smell really must be awful in this room, usually she just tried to put up with it. That probably meant air was leaking into this room from outside. Once he got the facility sealed back up, positive pressure would fix that issue.


    While his schedule was quite busy, Alexander made sure to spend as much time as he could with her so she didn''t feel lonely. Yulia had struggled the first few weeks to make friends, kids being kids. Some were nice, some were mean, and some didn''t want to play with the outsider. Yulia was an outgoing girl though. Even without speaking the language, she managed to make a few friends.


    Alexander got a kick out of watching them communicate through laughter and hand gestures. But Yulia and her two new friends, Sarah and Claire got along fantastically. Minus a little road bump with the whole ''trying to go places'' she wasn''t supposed to. But the parents of the two girls got over it and let them play together again. Alexander got the distinct impression that the girls'' parents blamed him for the whole thing. That was fine with him, so long as they didn''t shun Yulia for doing something stupid that she genuinely felt bad about afterward.


    Some other kids hung around occasionally, but he hadn''t gotten their names yet. Either because Yulia didn''t know them, or she just forgot to mention what they were. He was glad she had made the transition without much trouble. It took her mind off the lack of response from her old friends.


    With the pirate threat on the same side of STO space as Petrov station, he wasn''t sure if the messages that were being transferred by the Hawks'' ships would arrive. There hadn''t been any reply to them yet which wasn''t a good sign.


    As much as Alexander would like to sit and hang out with his daughter all day, he had to refocus on the current task. He walked over to one of the engineers who was inspecting the railgun.


    "How bad is it?"


    "Not good," the man replied as he pulled his head out of the barrel. "Both rails need to be replaced. Seems like they were due for replacement even before they shut it down though. We would also like to go through the entire electrical system. You don''t want an electrical short in a railgun. That much energy dumped into the body could damage the metal casing, and then you are looking at replacing the entire thing instead of just the rails. You already saw the launch capsules. Might as well just recycle them, there''s no point fixing them up."


    Alexander nodded. "I planned to."


    "Good. Other than that, you will need to rebuild the control room. Probably for the best anyway. I saw those ancient terminals, one holo terminal could replace that whole setup. Assuming you have the means to build one."


    "I''ll see what I can do."


    The man continued. "Then there is the ceiling. Your best bet is to just tear it all down and build fresh. Who knows what structural defects are present? It obviously wasn''t built very well if part of it collapsed like this," he gestured to the broken concrete lying around the room.


    Alexander sighed. "Please tell me that''s all?"


    "For now. Until we can get power to the loading system, we won''t know if that works or if the gears that raise and lower the launcher will need replacing. We will also need to inspect the barrel for deflection since part of the roof collapsed on top of it."


    "And if it is damaged?"


    "Then we will need to pull the entire barrel instead of just the rails. Luckily the outer casing and barrel are two separate parts on this unit. That isn''t always the case with launchers."


    "You have experience with Low Orbit Launchers?" Alexander asked in surprise. From his conversation with Matthews, he figured they weren''t very popular.


    The man shook his head. "No, but some missile systems use a similar launch platform to eject missiles far from ships before they light off their drives. Doing it that way means they need less propellant to home in on their target which means you can pack more explosives into a smaller form factor."


    "Ah," was all Alexander could say to that. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He gathered up the information he needed along with some rough measurements of the rails and headed back to his workshop. On the way there, Yulia spotted her friends.


    "Alex, can I play with Sarah and Claire?"


    He figured she would ask as soon as he saw the slightly older girls. He nodded. Before she could rush off, he added. "I''ll be in the workshop. Make sure to return before the evening meal."


    She nodded and waved at him as she sped off. He watched the three girls giggle conspiratorially to each other before running down a side hallway. A female mercenary stepped up next to him.


    "I''ll keep an eye on her like always."


    "Thank you for doing this for me, Zorina. It means a lot that I don''t have to worry about her constantly."


    The woman snorted. "You''ll have to learn to let her be by herself soon. I don''t plan on sticking around when our deployment ends."


    He sighed and nodded. "I know."


    The woman smiled and fast-walked to catch up to the screaming children as they raced down the hallway.


    He knew he was being overly protective. He couldn''t help it. The sad fact is he was better than he was before leaving Petrov. He had an actual reason for his overprotectiveness back on Petrov Station, but he couldn''t lean on that excuse here. Other than a few kids picking on Yulia, nobody had bothered her much since their arrival. He had purposefully told Zorina to keep a low profile and only intervene if she was in real danger or doing something she shouldn''t be doing. Kids being jerks didn''t count, even though Alexander had the urge to go talk to those children''s parents to set them straight.


    Alexander entered the manufacturing bay. The place was still in full motion cranking out new beams for the collapsed sections. He didn''t interrupt that process. Instead, he went over to the printer terminal and began building a model of the parts for the launcher.


    It didn''t take long, they were essentially a U-shaped piece of metal. He didn''t waste any of his precious metal though. Instead, he created an extrusion tip and extruded the forty-foot-long rails out of a cheap and recyclable plastic material. He wanted to make sure the dimensions were correct and they fit before he bothered wasting good material.


    While that was going on, he took what he knew of the launcher and the railgun he had built back on Petrov and came up with a few designs for orbital defense guns. Of course, he had two arms and could split his attention, so with the other hand, he designed battery and capacitor banks.


    Alexander had worked with over a dozen types of battery systems and probably close to a hundred types of capacitors during his time at Petrov. Now all that knowledge was going into designing the most energy-dense system he could come up with given what he knew. He was sure there were better designs out there, the stuff he had worked on was usually decades old by the time he saw it. But it was a significant step up to what existed on Eden''s End, so he wouldn''t complain.


    Once the designs were complete, he sent them to the printers. The first railgun would take six hours to print and it was only at the scale of a slightly large handheld rifle. Alexander wanted to test the device before he went and printed a full-scale model that would be nearly as long as the launcher.


    He looked at the finished model. As far as designs went, it was not very inspired. The gun was a rectangular block with a hole in the center of the square end about the width of a thick pencil. It sat on a simple weighted and recoil-absorbing tripod. He had thought about adding the dish and loading mechanism like the launcher had, but decided against it for the test. Those systems were easy to replicate and he knew they would work. He wanted to ensure his weapon design functioned correctly. Manual aiming and reloading would have to be done for now. As for the design, he did that for ease of manufacture.


    He would likely carry over the blocky design for any defense turrets made using the flechette rifles that Travers had mentioned as well. He didn''t have the luxury of multiple processes for building weapons. He could print whatever, but he only had a few printers. And he couldn''t tie them all up with printing weapons that may or may not get used. Once one of the manufacturing lines became free, he would set that to building the weapons.


    After he inspected the gun to ensure it was functional, he printed out a dozen tungsten sabots. Using his limited supply of tungsten like this hurt, but it was the hardest material he had available. It would get replaced eventually by the workers mining the surface. The planet was rich in metals, along with other rare earth materials. Trace amounts of tungsten and those harder-to-come-by minerals were already coming in with each load.


    Alexander loaded everything up on a little robotic cart that looked like a topless golf cart. He had built the small vehicle to haul heavy loads around the station. It was mostly used to carry the replacement beams to the work sites where some of the engineers and locals were clearing up rubble and removing rusted beams to replace them with new ones.


    As he was doing this, his door opened and Travers walked in. The man whistled as he saw what Alexander was loading on the cart. "Now ain''t that the ugliest little duckling you ever did see. I always preferred function over form though. You going out to test it?"


    Alexander nodded.


    "Mind if me and my team tag along? It isn''t every day we get to see a railgun getting fired."


    "I don''t see why not."

 Chapter 45

    Alexander finished setting up the last plate of armored steel against the backdrop of a rocky outcropping. They were about half a mile from the facility, and nowhere near where any people or mining was taking place.He quickly crossed the distance separating him from where the gun was situated. Alexander joined the twenty-odd people who had come out to see the test. Some of them were Travers people, but it seemed like Damien, Lucas, and Gabriella had heard about the test and wanted to watch as well. Not that Alexander minded the audience. The rest were just random mercenaries who were on their downtime and looking for any entertainment.


    "So, you''re making weapons now?" Damien asked as he approached.


    "I''m testing weapons so I can come up with a design to build defenses," Alexander replied calmly to the man''s question.


    The man only grunted in reply, wandering away with his perpetual scowl on his face. At least Damien was predictable. Alexander might have been concerned if the man was suddenly excited that he was making weapons. The fact that the martial artist didn''t seem to care one way or another spoke volumes to his character, even if the man wasn''t the most likable person. He had gotten a briefing on Damien''s history from Matthews and the Field Leaders; A decorated martial expert and defacto leader slash security officer for Eden''s End. A rather impressive resume for a guy who seemed to dislike everyone and everything.


    That briefing also included what the Hawks found on their initial sweep of the facility. From what he learned, the only guns the Hawks found were the ones they confiscated from a group of men and the one man who tried to shoot them when they first entered the facility. There were also a few pulse rifles that the Hawks had returned after Alexander and the locals had come to an agreement.


    The fact Damien and his people had been able to repel or kill off pirates with only improvised weapons and a few pulse rifles was a testament to the man''s ability to plan effectively with very little. He could appreciate that fact, even if he didn''t like the man all that much.


    Alexander had thought of producing more of the sonic weapons for the locals. He probably would eventually. When the Hawks left, there needed to be a capable group of security people to defend the facility. He only hesitated at the moment because he didn''t know these people enough. He left figuring out who could be trusted for the Hawks as they trained some of the locals per his extended agreement.


    Once they were trained up, Alexander should be able to print out pulse rifles for them. The devices were surprisingly sophisticated. He would not be able to get away with cobbling together a 20th-century computer chip to replace the electronics in the rifles. Making the flechette or CQB rifles, as the Hawks called them, orders of magnitude easier. But he didn''t trust these people that far. He knew the pulse rifles were useless against him, but he couldn''t say the same about the flechettes. In time, if the people here proved trustworthy, maybe he would produce better arms for them.


    To be fair, Alexander would prefer to be building pretty much anything other than weapons. He wasn''t na?ve enough to believe pirates or other unsavory sorts would simply leave them be once he started actively building in space though. That was why he had gone straight into building the defensive railguns instead of focusing on designing and building the engines he wanted. Putting off defending the facility was simply not an option. It was best just to get it done as soon as possible and while the Hawks were still here to cover for the lack of defensive options.


    The defenses were to protect Yulia, his operations, and the people on Eden''s End, in that order. He didn''t tell them that though.


    Alexander arrived at the tripod. A slew of thick cables ran from the back of it to a box. The large bulky box was a series of batteries and supercapacitors with a wide umbrella of solar panels over it that produced the only shade for miles around. Everyone who didn''t have vac-suits was understandably crowded under the umbrella. So only Damien, Lucas, and Gabriella were standing in the shade. All the other mercenaries had their suits sealed and their visors set to reflective. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They didn''t need it to breathe the thin atmosphere out here, but it did provide thermal regulation and protection from the UV radiation of the blue star, which the thin atmosphere did little to filter out.


    Alexander''s interface barely registered any heat, but the radiation would give you a sunburn in ten to fifteen minutes. The locals managed by covering any exposed skin and wearing darkened goggles. He wondered where they got them.


    He checked over the weapon one last time. Everything looked in order. The batteries were at full charge and everything looked good on the power pack. He entered a security code into the simple keypad and a slow whine began to build as the batteries dumped their energy into the capacitors. He used both because batteries could store power for much longer without it bleeding off, but they couldn''t dump power as fast as a capacitor could.


    As the whine built, he picked up one of the pencil-sized sabots and slid it into the open breach. Once it was inserted, he closed and locked the breach. Then he aimed the weapon at the first target two hundred yards down range. It was a ludicrously short range for a railgun, but he wasn''t testing range at the moment.


    The single layer of dense armor plate should be equivalent to what the Hawk''s augment suits might have. Or so he assumed after studying the things walking around the facility. He really wished he had an old-world equivalent to compare the augment suit''s armor to, but he didn''t. Alexander dialed the energy output to twenty percent.


    With little fanfare, he yelled, "Firing!"


    There was a click followed by a sensation of static as the capacitors dumped their energy into the railgun. The weapon kicked back along the shock absorber as a flash of light left the barrel, followed by a deafening boom.


    He could see the two halves of the sabot separate and drop away but even Alexander''s enhanced eyesight wasn''t quick enough to track the projectile. But he wasn''t trying to, he just needed to watch the destination. Almost instantly there was a flash of light and a spray of molten metal from behind the target sheet. The round hardly slowed down as he noted a puff of dust on the distant hillside.


    "A bit overkill," Travers stated. "Then again, that''s kinda what railguns are known for."


    Alexander readjusted the gun to the next set of targets. The first plate, while armored was only about a quarter inch thick. The next target was two of the plates sandwiched together.


    The tungsten penetrator at the core of the sabot easily tore through the two sheets at the same power output. But he noted there wasn''t any impact on the hill behind the target.


    The third target was the same two plates, air-gapped to simulate front and rear armor. The round easily tore through the first plate, but when it reached the second, there was a bright flash of light. He wouldn''t know the results until he inspected it after they were done, but he suspected the pencil lead-sized penetrator had either come apart or tumbled after going through the first plate.


    There was no comment from Travers or anyone else.


    He adjusted the gun again, this time moving to the targets at six hundred yards. It was the same set of tests so he expected similar results. It was similar, at least on the first target. The small dart must have lost too much speed to penetrate the dual layer of armor. There was a bright burst of sparks between the sandwiched sheets before the welds holding them together came apart, sending both halves crashing to the ground from the force.


    "That''s one way to do it," one of the mercenaries called out, earning chuckles from a few others.


    The third test gave no real surprises. The dart tore through the first armor and exploded against the second. It should have gone straight through, but Alexander was beginning to think the penetrator was simply too small to hold together from the force of impact.


    The third test was at twelve hundred yards. Before he ran that, he checked the batteries and capacitors. They were holding up fine, although they were getting slightly hot from the energy discharge. He made a mental note to add some sort of thermal management to them.


    The third set of tests went about the same as the second. The only change was that the second target didn''t explode apart and the flash from the third target wasn''t nearly as energetic. The round seemed to be losing more speed than it should at that range. A flaw in the aerodynamics of his design? It wasn''t as if he had a step-by-step tutorial for designing railgun rounds. He just put something together based on what little knowledge he had.


    For the final tests, he cranked the power output to the full one hundred percent. This was to test for any failure on the gun or batteries at full load.


    The last target was a series of six plates with about six inches between them. They were set at the same twelve-hundred-yard range as the third test.


    The three people huddled under the shade of the solar panels moved away as the whine built.


    "Why''s it making so much noise?" Gabriella asked in concern.


    "I''m using the full power output. You may want to move farther away from the energy pack in case it fails."


    The three moved away from the device. To be fair, the mercenaries moved farther away as well.


    Alexander loaded the round. The air was practically buzzing with energy as the capacitors whined to release their stored power. He obliged them as he fired the gun.


    The kickback was so forceful that if Alexander hadn''t caught the weapon, it would have been launched back into the energy pack. Down at the targets, there was an increasingly bright flash as the round tore through the armored plates. The last target produced the brightest flash of light, but also a series of bright orange sparks. This was likely the tungsten carbide shattering against the last armored plate.


    "Alexander, behind you!" He didn''t need to turn around to see that the energy pack was throwing sparks as the heat melted the components inside. He did turn his avatar though, to assure everyone that he was aware of the issue. As he turned, he yanked the power cables out of the gun to prevent the internal components from being damaged by a surge of electricity.


    He stepped back to join the others as they watched the pack reduce itself to a half-molten pile of slag. It could have been worse he supposed. At least these weren''t like the old lithium batteries that burst into nearly unstoppable flames. The energy just discharged into the surrounding material, heating it up and breaching more cells until everything was too hot to remain solid.


    "Well, it looks like I have some things to work on. Shall we go see the results of these tests?"


    "I''m going back inside before I get burned." Alexander watched Damien and his group walk off. He just shook his head.


    Once they were gone, he went to join the other mercenaries who were already inspecting the closest targets.


    He went straight for the third target in the closest row. The entry hole was a tiny thing but the material it blew out the opposite side was impressive. The cone of molten material was about the size of a tennis ball. Considering the penetrator was the size of a piece of pencil lead, that was a whole lot of damage. The back plate had a nice spray pattern where the molten metal impacted and hardened, along with a series of deeper craters in the center, likely caused by the remnants of the dart.


    The projectile had indeed broken apart. When he inspected the second test in the closest row, he found just a small hole bored through until the back of the target blew out. The first test matched the same pattern. He would need to check on where the round impacted on the hillside after he looked at the other tests.


    The second row of tests showed a similar damage pattern. The sandwiched plates showed that the first plate blew out, which is likely what caused the plates to burst apart. There were signs that the dart had gone into the second plate, but it seemed to have exploded before making it all the way through, leaving a large crater and caving in the hardened material.


    The third test was much the same, only with less damage. The tungsten dart didn''t even manage to get through the two plates that were welded together. There was also less blowout, showing the speed of the rounds had become significantly reduced over the short flight time.


    The full power test was interesting. It looked like someone had taken a plasma cutter to the plates. After the first plate, each showed multiple holes melted through from the material of the previous one. It was only on the final few plates that the material had cooled enough to weld itself to the plate instead of melting through. The last plate had a small dent from where the round finally shattered.


    Considering how much energy he had dumped into the gun for that test, he had expected more damage. If he had used a larger penetrator, he probably would have seen better results. The small size of the one he used just wasn''t meant to transfer that much energy. He would look over his video later and determine the speed the projectiles were flying. It would also help him determine why they were slowing down so much.


    Before leaving the range, he walked over to the spot on the hill where the first round had gone. It would have been hard to spot for anyone else, but Alexander quickly located the tiny hole drilled into the tan surface of the rock. He couldn''t see how far into the rock the penetrator had gone, but it had clearly gone quite far. What he did notice was the hole didn''t have any indication that the fins impacted the surface. Had they been ripped off by the first impact? He filed that fact away for later. If the fins were being broken or torn off, it might explain why the rounds weren''t working as expected.


    With the tests over and his curiosity sated, he packed up the surviving components and headed back to the facility alone. All the other mercenaries had left some time ago, their interest waning shortly after the fireworks were complete.


    As he made the walk back, Alexander realized this was the first time he had been alone in a long time. The last time he was truly alone was after Yuri up and left, and the first few weeks after he opened his shop on Petrov Station.


    While he wouldn''t give up his current life, no matter how hectic it had become, he was glad for the moment of peace and quiet.

 Chapter 46

    "Colonel Jun, why haven''t we been allowed to depart yet, I don''t understand?" Mingyu asked his STO contact and former Coalition shipmate.After reporting the pirate takeover, they had been sequestered in this damn military outpost for months. His crew''s morale was at an all-time low thanks to being cooped up aboard the Destiny. It wasn''t a luxury ship, most of the time when they were on a long deployment, people were working and keeping busy. They didn''t even have that now. The only spot on the station open to civilians was the lounge. And there weren''t any more amenities there than aboard his ship. He didn''t even want to go into how the children and Headmaster Wong were faring.


    Mingyu was pretty sure if he didn''t do something soon, the man was going to go to the nearest STO officer and tell them he was kidnapped just to get off the ship and away from the kids who were even more cranky than his crew.


    "Look, Mingyu, I''m doing my best. After you requested my aid with those guests of yours half a year back, I don''t have nearly the same pull around here as I used to. Someone reported the training exercise to my superiors back on Earth."


    He winced at that. "I''m sorry. If I had known, I wouldn''t have called in the favor."


    The Colonel shrugged. "I was glad to finally pay it off, even if it cost me the chance of moving up in my career. Something that was unlikely to happen anyway considering my previous time with the Coalition. The problem here is the STO is trying to hide just how bad this pirate infiltration was."


    "It wasn''t just Petrov then?" Mingyu asked in surprise. Pirate attacks on border systems weren''t exactly rare. It''s why Petrov station had hidden weapons systems. But a concentrated attack on multiple places at once was new.


    "I shouldn''t even be telling you this but I feel I still owe you at least this much. Eight stations and three outer systems fell to the pirates on the same day. It was a well-thought-out, well-coordinated attack. From what I gathered, the STO upper brass are deciding if they even want to commit resources to retake these systems."


    "That''s ridiculous! They can''t just let the pirates do as they wish, it will only make them push for more."


    The man nodded. "I know that and you know that, but the STO brass can''t see beyond a spreadsheet. And right now that spreadsheet says the cost outweighs the benefit."


    Mingyu cursed, something he hadn''t done in years. "What does that have to do with my ship and the people aboard?"


    Jun sighed. "They were debating what to do with you as well. They are afraid you''ll spread the word of what happened to other systems, requiring them to act for a change. I''m afraid they just issued a no-contact alert for you as of today."


    "¡­ I don''t understand. Is this something new in the STO?"


    "It means no public station or planet within the STO is allowed to offer you docking or landing rights. The rule was designed to stop the spread of possible contagions. As you can see, they found other creative uses for it as well. They have also ordered the engineers here to disable your communication systems, except for a tight beam laser link for emergency use. I assume they have also flagged all your comm bands so they no longer connect to Qcomms or relay stations either."


    "How can they do this? We haven''t done anything wrong!" Mingyu had been a standup individual his entire life, doing his utmost to live within the law. Even when he found some of them to be nonsensical as well as a complete waste of time. And now he and his entire ship were being punished for it. How was that fair?


    "I know, old friend. Unfortunately, I had no say in this order. When I tried to argue against it, they threatened to lock me up for insubordination."


    "Thank you for trying. What am I supposed to do now? We can''t stay here. This ruling is essentially a death sentence, without the bother of taking us to trial."


    "Now you''re just being overly dramatic. It''ll be tough, that''s true. But you can still do emergency docking and refueling at any Navy yard. There are also legitimate places outside the STO''s borders that you can go. You asked me about a ship a few months ago?"


    As if those places would be safe. Most were probably pirate hideouts masquerading as independents. "Yes, the Zephyr."


    Jun nodded. "You''re in luck. A fleet station in Varlen pinged them, along with a Mercenary ship heading for Y6X-3H2. If those are friends of yours, I suggest you start there. It''s well outside STO jurisdiction so they would have no reason to uphold this order. And it''s likely safer than anywhere else you might randomly stumble across."


    Things had become so hectic that he had forgotten about asking Jun to give him a heads-up on the ship if he could. He had been curious about where Alexander might have gone after learning he left on the ship. And now he knew. He didn''t begrudge the man for leaving after how the Council had treated him. He would have done the same in his shoes. Mingyu wanted to apologize to the man and try to forge an actual working relationship with him if he could. That was before he was chased out of Gliese 667. Now¡­ now, it sounded like this system Alexander had gone to might be his only safe harbor.


    Jun was correct, it would be difficult. Mingyu didn''t even know where either of these systems were or what awaited him there. He gave it a fifty-fifty shot on whether or not Alexander would be happy to see him if he arrived. Or if he would even be welcomed into the system. You didn''t move outside colonized space because you wanted uninvited visitors.


    If he had any other option, he would have picked it. But this STO ruling effectively cut him off from any allies he had that weren''t stationed in military posts like Jun. And he had few of those as it was.


    The Destiny would eventually need service and repairs as well. The Navy yards would provide consumables because they were bound by law to aid any ship in distress, but even those would be at a premium. He winced at the thought of how expensive any repairs might be.


    With a quiet sigh, he nodded to Colonel Jun and headed back to the Destiny to inform the crew they were leaving. If his crew didn''t mutiny against him on this journey, he would consider himself lucky.


    ***


    Alexander lifted one of the heavy beams in place as an engineer welded it to the one below. It had taken a few iterations, but he had finally come up with an acceptable design for a railgun emplacement.


    It reminded him of old satellite dishes. The half-moon portion sat below the ground and acted as the weapons inclination adjustment and reloading system. Along the perimeter was a rotational actuator that controlled the rotation, obviously.


    The reloading system was at the bottom center of the dish. It meant the weapon would have to point straight up for reloading, which wasn''t ideal for aiming purposes but was the best method he could come up with at the moment. Placing it anywhere else in the pit meant the gun would have to lower itself and rotate back to the loading mechanism, and then back to the target before it could fire again.


    An autoloader attached to the back of the gun would eliminate that issue, but that added unneeded complexity and weight to the part of the gun that moved. Having the autoloader as a stationary component at the bottom center of the pit eliminated those issues and allowed the loader to store way more darts than it could if it was attached to the gun.


    With his design, it only had to get back to the correct elevation. Doing it this way also allowed the gun to rotate the full 180 degrees vertically in the cradle because there weren''t bulky autoloader components in the way.


    Technically the weapon could even point down. But he had put limiters in to prevent that sort of situation from happening. He didn''t want some accidental discharge going into the very delicate internals of the emplacement if the elevation system failed for whatever reason or the cables to be ripped out if the gun got confused on orientation.


    There were also some hard-coded limitations built into the program that Lucas had coded for him. It prevented the gun from firing at the facility, or while it was below the protective hatch that would protect it from the environment. Whenever they got it put into place, that is.


    The limitations on the weapon did leave a blind spot in the defensive envelope around the facility though. After talking it over with the Hawks, Alexander implemented a second railgun design that would be placed above ground that would be covered with a dome. These smaller railgun emplacements were not much bigger than Alexander''s first design test. The kinetic darts they delivered were about the size of a marker instead of the much smaller ones he used in his initial test.


    As with the guns themselves, his ammunition went through a redesign. Instead of having fins that stuck out past the core, the rear tapered to a point and the fins maintained the original diameter all the way back. It looked like a pointed teardrop with fins. He didn''t have any research to say which was better, but his tests of the new ammunition showed they didn''t lose velocity as quickly, and they were still stable in flight. That was all that mattered to him.


    The larger emplacement that he was working on fired kinetic darts around the size of a can of spray paint. That was a whole lot of mass and a whole lot of energy. With as much power as he was pumping through the railguns, they should be capable of hitting anything in orbit, but not much beyond that. While not ideal, their main use was for shooting at ships in low orbit or anything trying to land that wasn''t authorized. And if he ever got around to it, he might even be able to find a suitable explosive to pack inside the darts. He wasn''t sure if the darts would do more damage as is or with an explosive inside them. That would take more testing to figure out at a later date.


    Alexander would have preferred to use a smaller projectile, but the static shielding ships used to deflect space debris were strong enough to redirect smaller projectiles. It apparently added a considerable amount of counteracting force as well, which reduced much of a projectile''s punch. The round had to be large enough to overcome both if it had any hope of punching through a ship''s hull. He didn''t have exact numbers, so he erred on the side of caution and went as big as he could. Captain Matthews said the size should be fine, so Alexander went with it.


    He wished he had time to study the static shielding system to figure out how it worked. According to Travers, static shielding was mostly useless planetside. Something to do with power draw as it almost constantly had to push atmospheric particles out of the way. He still made a mental note to look into in the future.


    The man welding the beam in place finished up and Alexander released his hold. The first railgun cradle was almost complete. A few more supports, and then the gun and power systems could go in. They were already built and waiting, it would just take some assembly. Alexander made that process as simple as possible so it didn''t even require engineers. Just move them into position and stick them together.


    He wanted the design to be as simple and straightforward as possible because they needed to build six of the large railguns to cover all the blind spots around the massive complex. There would also be twelve of the smaller railgun turrets. Two for each landing pad. Then each entry would be fitted with an automated turret inside that would drop down from the ceiling with two of the flechette rifles inside it.


    Was it overkill? Probably. Did Alexander care? No. Well, he only cared that it delayed his actual engine-building work. But safety had to come first. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The security room was also getting an overhaul. Alexander pushed a few projects farther down his list and used his limited supply of advanced computer chips for the new defensive center.


    All of the computer coding came from a very excited Lucas. When Alexander told him what he planned to do, the man could barely contain his excitement. Even the taciturn Damien seemed less unhappy about this project than most everything else.


    He was holding the final piece of the railgun mount when his radio buzzed. Alexander excused himself and put down the support as he grabbed the radio.


    "This is Alexander." He hadn''t figured out a way to communicate via radio with his body yet, so relying on the small handheld units provided by the Hawks was the best he could do.


    "Alexander, it''s Martinez in the security center. Our sensors just picked up a ship jumping into the system. Figured I would give you a heads up."


    "¡­Um. Ok." He didn''t really know how to respond to that. The Hawks were still in orbit, they would deal with any hostile vessel that came through. And if it wasn''t hostile, they would tell him. "Thanks," he finally said. Maybe giving a radio to the person watching the asteroid cameras wasn''t the best idea. Then again it was infinitely better than having Yulia woken up every time a ship jumped in and the facility alarms were triggered.


    A few minutes later, he got another radio message. This time from the Talon. "Mr. Kane, It''s Captain Matthews. We have received a tight beam comm message from the new ship. The Captain claims to know you and is asking if they can approach the planet."


    Someone who knew him was here? He had no clue who that could be, Jasper wasn''t due back for a few more weeks. "Who is the Captain?"


    "He says his name is Captain Mingyu Na. Ring any bells?"


    Alexander paused. What the hell was one of the Council Captains doing way out here?


    "Yes, I know him. I''m not sure what he wants from me, though. Is his ship capable of landing?"


    "No," Matthews stated flatly. "It looks like a large mining ship if I had to guess."


    "Tell him it is okay to approach. I will speak with him in a few days."


    Matthews acknowledged the order and closed the radio connection. While he didn''t think Na was here for nefarious purposes. There was the possibility his ship got hijacked in Gliese 667, or that he was being coerced somehow. Deciding not to risk it, Alexander urged the engineers to complete the first gun emplacement before the ship arrived. At least then they had some protection if things turned south. Not that he thought the Talon couldn''t handle a single mining ship, he would just feel better not relying on them completely.

 Chapter 47

    By the time Captain Matthews reported to him that Na was in orbit around Eden''s End, Alexander and the engineers had completed the first railgun installation. This was thanks to the additional help from some locals and the simplicity of assembling the unit. He probably could have been halfway complete with the second if he hadn''t stopped to ensure everything was working properly on the first. It was one thing to model something, but he had learned that until you built it, you really couldn''t know for sure if there would be unforeseen problems.It was a good thing he didn''t continue. There were issues to work though. The first had to do with how fast the railgun rotated and elevated. The first test stripped out the precision gearing because he had forgotten to account for the masses in motion when writing the code that operated those portions. He would have asked Lucas to do that code, but he was busy with a much more important project.


    Thankfully he had five sets of spare parts. After cannibalizing one of the unassembled railguns to replace the parts he broke, he reprogrammed the controller to reduce the speed by half. It wasn''t an ideal solution to the problem, but redesigning the entire system wasn''t possible for this installation. He also didn''t want to have six different iterations as he was sure to find some way to improve with each assembled gun. For now, they just needed to work. Later on, he could create upgrades.


    The second test went much better. The motors didn''t tear themselves apart, and the gun was capable of moving in all the axes that Alexander had wanted. The issue that cropped up in the second test was how much the weapon wavered after it reached its intended angle. With land-based targets, that little bit of wobble probably wouldn''t be too much of an issue, but at orbital distances, it could mean the difference between hitting the target and missing by hundreds or maybe even thousands of feet.


    Another bit of code fixed that issue. He simply slowed down the last few degrees of motion to ten percent speed. That almost eliminated the wobble. He was starting to realize designing an effective weapons system was far harder than he thought. Already he had ideas on how to improve upon the design, and he hadn''t even fired the weapon yet.


    Speaking of firing, he radioed the security station. "We are ready for the first test fire," he stated.


    "On it!" an excited Lucas replied.


    A few moments later, the massive gun rotated straight up. There was a *thunk* as the autoloader rammed one of the sabots into the barrel and the breach shut. Then the gun rotated to point low over the horizon.


    Their first test was simply to fire and see what happened. He didn''t want to fire one into orbit just yet though.


    The whine of the capacitors had already been going since he first activated the gun. The sound dimmed slightly as the weapon recoiled. There was a boom followed by the hypersonic crack as the projectile disappeared into the distance.


    Unlike his original test with the small railgun, this one left a visible trail of dust kicked up in its wake as well as a line of superheated vapor to mark its passage through the atmosphere. The shockwave was actually pretty tame, all things considered. He chalked that up to the tapered redesign of the darts.


    Alexander clicked his radio on. "The first test is a success, reload and prepare for the second shot."


    "Roger that," Lucas replied happily.


    The barrel lifted again and the railgun was loaded with a second round. This time it was aimed higher. And he watched as the barrel slowly traversed to follow the target in orbit. That meant target tracking was working. It was one of the things Lucas had been tasked to code.


    "Captain Matthews, we are ready for test two."


    "All ships are clear, you are good to go for your test."


    Alexander was using this opportunity to show Na that he had ways to defend himself if there was any tomfoolery about to go down. Their next target was one of the defunct spy satellites that the people of Eden''s End had launched around the planet.


    It would let him know the gun''s accuracy as well as its damage potential.


    He had to give the people here credit, disguising their satellites as asteroids was rather ingenious. Even Matthews had been impressed because he hadn''t registered them as anything other than rocks until they took control of the facility''s computers.


    Alexander gave the signal to fire. The gun sent its round tearing into orbit and Alexander was nearly knocked off his feet by the shockwave that pressed down on him this time. He probably should be in the observation bunker like the rest, but he wanted to get a good look at the gun''s workings himself. It wasn''t like he was in any danger from the blast. No squishy bits and all that.


    "Target miss," Matthews stated. "Looks like it passed a few feet behind the satellite."


    Alexander sighed. Their orbital math must be off somewhere. He radioed Lucas to check on it.


    "Oh, yup. Seems I missed one decimal place in the tracking code. Want me to prepare a follow-up shot?"


    The man knew far more about coding than he ever would, but Alexander had learned Lucas could be a bit sloppy sometimes. Hmm, no. Sloppy wasn''t really the right description. Rushed maybe? No, that didn''t really describe the man either. Slapdash was probably the best description Alexander could apply to the man. Lucas liked to code, but he preferred to move on to another project as soon as he finished the first. The code would be functional but tended to cut corners where the man was less concerned.


    That was fine for simple things, but when accuracy mattered, it wasn''t. To be fair, Alexander had gone over the math in the code with the man and had missed this issue as well. So he couldn''t be too harsh on Lucas. He was young still, so there was plenty of time to get better and Alexander was already starting to see more focus on the details from the man.


    "Switch to target three," he responded. The second target was getting too close to where the Talon and Na were parked.


    The gun swept down after loading the third round and started tracking the next target. Alexander waited until it was within their firing window before he issued the order.


    The gun sent the round hurtling into orbit and this time Alexander watched the trail it left in its wake as it tore through the atmosphere.


    "Target destroyed," Matthews radioed him a minute later.


    He heard the engineers in the bunker cheering at the successful test. Alexander smiled. "Lucas, round was on target. Congratulations! You can put the gun in standby mode."


    He heard some more cheering over Lucas'' radio. It must have gone on for a few minutes because that was how long it took the gun to rotate into standby and the hatch to slide closed on top of it.


    Now he was ready to talk with Na.


    ***


    Had Mingyu been the worrying type, he would have been pacing across his small bridge. As it was, he was sweating slightly. He wasn''t a fool, his sensor operator had picked up the weapon discharges from the planet. And the subsequent destruction of one of the many asteroids that hung in orbit. It was a declaration to tread carefully.


    It was also rather pointless. Especially with the massive armed and armored troop transport shadowing them from behind. Like most civilian ships, the Moonlit Destiny wasn''t armed. If it came down to it, they could repel boarders with their pulse rifles but that was about it. The Destiny relied on the fact that mining ships weren''t very profitable targets for pirates to remain safe.


    Even if he wanted to arm Destiny, the STO was very selective of who they allowed to have weapons. Mercenary ships were one of those exceptions. However, not all mercenaries were equal, Harn''s ship, the Devil''s Bargain was weaponless for example. Although calling Harn a mercenary wasn''t doing the name justice. Harn had been more of a bounty hunter pretending to be a mercenary than anything else.


    Soon after the tests ended, he got the radio call he had been expecting.


    "I''ll be in my cabin," he spoke quietly as he left his chair on the bridge.


    Nobody responded to him as he left. He wasn''t surprised. Tensions had only continued to rise throughout the ship as they made their way through STO space and to this system. It had gotten so bad that he had been forced to confine a few people to their quarters after fights broke out. Now there was just an undercurrent of simmering anger and exhaustion among the crew. He was ready to beg or promise just about anything if this place would allow his people to disembark.


    He pushed his cabin door open, the thing squeaked noisily, something it had never done before. The addition of the extra people on board and their extended trip had strained the environmental systems and moisture had started to build up and rust anything metal. There were already a few systems that were on the verge of complete failure.


    The door shut and he walked tiredly over to the terminal and activated it. The holograph came to life and then split into two separate screens. One showed the captain of the mercenary ship. Matthews if his tired brain was correct. The other screen showed Alexander''s avatar face.


    "¡­You look like shit," Alexander stated bluntly.


    Mingyu couldn''t help but chuckle tiredly. "I feel even worse. I know you probably never wanted to see me again. But I was given few options after pirates took Petrov station."


    Alexander frowned. "So they did take Petrov¡­ What of the orphans?"


    Mingyu wanted to smile, but he didn''t have the energy in him to do so. "They were aboard my ship for a field trip when the station was attacked or more accurately, when it was taken over. We barely escaped the system."


    He told them what happened next and who he suspected had been in cahoots with the pirates.


    "So you''re saying your fellow Captains were involved?" Na nodded at Alexander''s question.


    "You know how this looks, don''t you?" Captain Matthews asked.


    "That I may also be in league with them," he stated with a resigned sigh.


    The video froze for a bit and Mingyu assumed Alexander and Matthews were discussing stuff they didn''t want him to overhear.


    When it unfroze, Alexander spoke first. "This does explain some of the actions Sergei Zhang took against me. I could never quite figure out what his issue was. How did you find me anyway? I certainly didn''t leave a forwarding address."


    "I may be ostracized from STO space, but I still have some contacts. One reported to me that the Zephyr and Captain Matthews'' ship had headed out here."


    He could see Matthews frown at that. "That information should have been private. Who is this individual?"


    Mingyu shook his head. "I will not be giving that information away. I''m sorry."


    Matthews'' frown grew even more pronounced and his eyes narrowed. "We''ll see about that. The Hawks have contacts too."


    "Gentlemen¡­ let''s get back on track," Alexander interrupted.


    Both men focused on Alexander.


    "What is it you want exactly, Na? And none of this politicking nonsense that went on back at Petrov. I have no more patience for that."


    "I would like you to speak with the leaders of Eden''s End to request they allow my people time to rest. Or at least take the orphans and Headmaster Wong if that isn''t acceptable. I''m willing to negotiate compensation."


    The screens froze again for much longer this time. When they came back, Alexander spoke again. "You''re in luck. I own this facility. Before we discuss allowing your people to disembark. What are you offering?"


    With that question, Alexander had put all the pressure back on him. If he didn''t offer an enticing enough deal the first time, there might not be a second opportunity. This was the worst possible outcome for him. He had been prepared for the worst though.


    "I see you don''t have any orbital infrastructure. I''m willing to offer my ship''s services for free for a year. As long as you let my people live at your facility. After that, we can negotiate a new deal." This was risky. It meant Mingyu was shouldering a lot of expenses.


    "Do you have a shuttle?" Alexander asked.


    Mingyu shook his head.


    "Then how do you propose I refine the material you collect? As you have already stated, There isn''t any orbital infrastructure."


    "Do you have a refinery?"


    "I have a smelter, why?" S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Even better. If you can get material into orbit, along with a smelter, I will provide you with plans for a simple transfer station. It won''t be much more than refueling and topping off consumables, but you should be able to modify or extend it to include the smelter and an ore delivery hangar. As you grow, you could add a shuttle hangar. That''s probably the extent the design I have is capable of though."


    Alexander paused again, but this time Mingyu could see movement on the screen still. So the man was just thinking.


    "Why are you offering this to us? We didn''t leave on the best terms."


    "I care about my crew and the people aboard my ship. Do I need any other reason?"


    "And what of your ship while your crew is planetside?"


    "I will remain on board to make repairs."


    Alexander shook his head at that, which surprised him. "No. Matthews, I think you can answer this one."


    The Captain of the massive troop transport smiled. "The Hawks will ferry you all down and then we will search your ship to ensure there isn''t anything we need to worry about. If that search comes back clear, our engineers will effect repairs as needed. Mr. Kane has graciously decided to provide the components. So long as you provide him with all your design schematics."


    If he wasn''t so exhausted, he would have applauded Alexander''s maneuvering here. In one stroke the man had managed to secure plans for a refueling station from him as well as the schematics for his entire ship. The man may not like politics, but he knew how to use it when it suited him. Mingyu agreed to the deal without hesitation.

 Chapter 48

    Yulia kept shifting her feet nervously as she stood next to Alex. He said her friends from Petrov were coming to visit. She was so happy she didn''t even wonder why they all traveled so far just to see her.She was startled as a boom shook the air. When she looked up, she could see a glowing trail. Alex had told her what caused them, but she couldn''t recall the reason at the moment. She let go of Alex''s hand and plugged her ears as the booms started to get louder.


    "You could have waited inside," Alex reminded her.


    She just shook her head. She wanted to be the first to greet her friends. If that meant standing out in the awful-smelling air and the bright light, she would do it. Alex had made her a wide-brimmed hat and some neat goggles that made it so she didn''t have to squint but she could still smell the air even from inside her mask.


    Once the other kids saw her goggles, hat, and mask, she was sure the kids from the orphanage would want some for themselves. If she asked Alex nicely, he would make them some as well, probably.


    The shuttle flared its engines ¨C she gave herself a little mental pat for remembering that term ¨C and set down on the landing pad a distance away. Even with the goggles, she turned away as the hot wind from the shuttle landing blew sand across the area. A shadow fell over her and she realized Alex had stepped in front of her to block the remaining dust.


    She smiled up at him. "Thank you, Alex."


    He made his cartoon face nod.


    Once the wind died down, she stepped out to the side to see the shuttle. The ship belonged to the Hawks. Apparently, that was a sort of bird. She wished this planet had birds, she wanted to see a hawk, or any animal other than a rat for that matter. Alex had shown her pictures of Earth animals from the learning modules, but it wasn''t the same. Her only experience with animals was with the occasional rat or bug on both Petrov and Eden''s End.


    The ramp to the shuttle lowered and she was about to run over and greet her friends when she felt Alex''s hand on her shoulder. "Let them get used to the environment for a bit before you bombard them with questions. Ok?"


    She nodded and held herself back, barely.


    The first to step off the shuttle was Headmaster Wong. She was about to wave to the man but stopped herself. He looked tired. More tired than she had ever seen him look. And she remembered the time when he was up for almost three weeks straight monitoring two sick toddlers after their parents abandoned them.


    Someone adopted the toddlers shortly after that though and the man went back to looking normal again.


    The rest of the kids shuffled out of the shuttle, looking much like they had the night she got hurt. Her instinct was to try and comfort the smaller children. But the older kids were already doing that even though they didn''t look much better.


    Finally, she waved.


    When nobody waved back, tears started to well up in her eyes and she sniffled. Had they forgotten her already?


    Alex kneeled down next to her as the group trudged across the landing pad. "They have had a much rougher journey than we did to get here. Give them time, your friends still care about you. I have an idea. Once we''re inside, why don''t you take them to the cafeteria? Get them some good food and then show them to their new home. Do you remember where it is?"


    She nodded as she pulled up her goggles to wipe her tears away.


    Alex smiled at her and gave her a warm hug. She liked his warm hugs.


    The group was quiet as they moved into the facility. Headmaster Wong and Alex only shared a single nod. She wished she knew what it meant. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Yulia kept glancing back at the kids, feeling a bit awkward for some reason. She wished Sarah and Claire had been allowed to wait with her. But their parents had forbidden them from going outside.


    "Headmaster Wong, I''ve asked Yulia to show the children to the cafeteria, if that''s alright with you. You don''t have to worry about their safety. The people here are nice, and the facility is patrolled by the Hawks. The children won''t be able to get anywhere they aren''t supposed to."


    "Thank you, Alexander, and hello again Yulia. I think that would be fine. Children, please go with Yulia."


    Yulia smiled brightly as she turned to the kids, but most just gave her tired looks in return. "¡­Um¡­ follow me."


    When everyone just gave her a weird look, she realized she said that in English. She repeated herself so they could understand.


    At first, she felt a bit self-conscious leading all of the kids, especially the older ones around, but soon she started chattering away so she wouldn''t have to think about it.


    She heard someone in the back chuckle softly and say, "She hasn''t changed at all." Yulia smiled when she heard that.


    The cafeteria was in the Hawks'' camp. She didn''t get to come here often because Alex told her not to bother them unless it was an emergency, but she had been here a few times. One of those times she wished she could forget. She stopped and saluted the guard, doing her best to mimic the expression a few of the Hawks had shown her.


    The guard was one she knew, Zorina. The woman eyed her up slowly before looking over the trail of kids following her. When Yulia glanced back, she could see most of the kids were looking away from Zorina''s scary expression. Yulia knew the woman was nice though. She turned back to glare at Zorina for scaring her friends, but the woman had a slight smile on her face and she returned Yulia''s salute.


    "Miss Kane, what brings you by today?"


    "Cafeteria!" she declared proudly.


    Zorina nodded and waved them through. "Cook has stew on today''s menu. Eat up."


    With head held high, she marched into the camp with her arms swinging back and forth.


    Now, Yulia had been hungry before, so she knew how awful it felt, but the kids from the orphanage practically inhaled the food and went back for seconds. Nobody said they couldn''t and the cook seemed perfectly happy to serve them as much as they wanted, so she didn''t complain.


    After their second bowl, the younger kids looked about ready to pass out.


    "Is there a place to sleep nearby?" one of the older kids asked.


    "¡­Um¡­" They had a place to stay, but that was quite a walk still. She didn''t think the younger kids would make it that far. And some of the older kids looked equally as tired.


    The cook cleared his throat. "Ahem. Feel free to use the bunk tent. Everyone is on duty at the moment, so you won''t disturb anyone for at least the next six hours."


    "Thank you!" she said, hopping up from the table. "Follow me!"


    Once all of the younger children were set in the cots, someone walked up beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked over and saw it was Markus.


    "Hey, shrimp. Been awhile. I see you''re doing ok?"


    She scowled at the nickname but nodded her head when Markus smirked at her indignation.


    "You can show us around after we get some sleep. We didn''t get very good sleep on the ship."


    "Sorry," she said.


    "Why? Not your fault. Not anybody''s fault."


    "Can I ask why you left Petrov Station?" She had been curious, but Alex wouldn''t tell her.


    "¡­It doesn''t matter."


    She knew what that meant. The only time Markus didn''t like talking about something was when she asked him about pirates. Her gut churned at the realization and she felt somehow responsible because her parents had been pirates.


    "You''re it."


    "Huh?" she asked, startled out of her thoughts by the words.


    "I just tagged you, you''re it." Markus smiled broadly at that before walking off.


    She blinked in confusion for a moment before it hit her. "Hey! That''s not fair!"


    The older boy turned around and shushed her, making her clamp her mouth shut before she yelled again. No tagging others during sleep, naps, or dinner, those were the rules. She kicked her foot against the floor and stomped out of the tent with a huff. She would find a way to be not it after everyone woke back up.


    ***


    Alexander waited for the children to disappear out of sight before he spoke quietly to Headmaster Wong. "Do you need to eat and rest as well?"


    "I''ll be fine until the children are settled. Thanks for asking though," the man grunted as he sat at a nearby bench. "Stars above, I never thought I would be planetside."


    "You lived your entire life in space?" Alexander asked in surprise.


    "My entire life aboard Petrov Station. Figured I would die there as well. I never had any need to leave. Yet here I am. I may not even be alive today to be thankful for this if it wasn''t for Captain Na. Don''t be too harsh with him, okay? The man''s had it just as rough as the rest of us for the last four months."


    "What happened exactly?"


    The man shrugged tiredly. "Na might be able to answer that question better than me. I was just on his ship with the kids doing a field trip when I got asked if they would like to take a quick trip. I wanted to say no, but the kids overheard and, well, you know how kids can be. I''m glad they changed my mind. Next thing I know, Mrs. Wu is filling me in on what''s happening and we are getting ushered into the mess aboard Na''s ship and strapped in for violent maneuvering. I have never been more terrified in my life. More for the kids than myself though."


    "That''s awful."


    Wong nodded. "We survived, that''s all that matters. What happened next was even worse. We got stuck aboard his ship for over two months at some STO outpost station. They wouldn''t let the kids aboard the station at all, so they were cooped up on the ship that entire time. Then we finally left there and came here. That took another month and a half. It was like I was raising fifteen cranky toddlers all at the same time! There was nothing to keep them occupied other than me and a few videos that were age-appropriate on the holo aboard the ship."


    The man paused and breathed in deeply before coughing.


    "Sorry about that, I''m working on restoring the air systems."


    Wong waved away Alexander''s concern. "I''ll take this foul-smelling air over the recycled smell of body odor aboard Na''s ship any day. I suppose I should see what the kids are getting up to, you have another guest."


    Alexander had seen Captain Na and the rest of his crew arrive, so he didn''t need Wong''s head nod to point them out. Standing beside Wong was Eva Wu. He was glad the older woman had made it off the station.


    He nodded his avatar and pointed Wong in the direction of the camp. He was sure the kids were still there. Then he turned and headed for Na.


    Unlike the children, Na and his crew were escorted by Travers and his team. He waited patiently for the mercenaries to complete their search. He knew they had been searched before entering the shuttles, but the Hawks liked to be thorough. Alexander could respect that.


    Once they were done, Alexander approached. "Travers, can your people show them to the cafeteria? I wish to speak with Captain Na."


    "Sure thing, Alexander. Come on, follow along."


    Alexander started walking away, forcing Na to hurry over and keep pace. Once they were alone, he spoke up. "It doesn''t feel nice, does it? To have your agency stripped away from you as someone else decides what''s best for you?"


    The man sighed. "No, no it does not. I''m sorry for what we put you through."


    Alexander stopped at the man''s words and turned to Na. "Apology accepted. Now, tell me what happened to Petrov station. Should I be worried?"


    The man explained everything he had learned about his fellow Captains and what occurred during the coup. He went into much more detail than he had during their brief video conference.


    After telling his story, he slumped onto a bench and placed his face in his hands. "I don''t even know what became of the rest of my family. Those bastards at the STO blocked every attempt we made to try and communicate. It shouldn''t be possible with Qcomms, but obviously it is. They even destroyed my ship''s communication gear before we left. The only way we could communicate was by tight band laser link which only the Navy still uses. If Captain Matthews hadn''t been in a former Navy ship, I doubt he would have ever picked up our message."


    "Why do you think the STO is refusing to attack the pirates?"


    "Who knows? Politics probably. Some asshole is likely up for election or reelection. Then this whole pirate uprising comes up, making them look weak. They are either trying to squash it or use it to their advantage to seem like they are cleaning up the mess out here."


    Alexander frowned at that. "That''s deplorable."


    Na snorted. "That''s the STO for you, as for your question earlier. Yeah, you probably should be. If the STO isn''t going to come down hard on the pirates, it will simply embolden the rest of them. I don''t know how many are on this side of STO space, but it probably isn''t pirate-free. I assume that was what the weapon demonstration was for?" he asked, finally removing his face from his hands and sweeping back his unruly mop of greasy hair.


    Alexander realized for the first time just how unkept and tired-looking the formerly pristine-looking man was. "Something like that."


    The man simply nodded. "Thank you again for allowing us to land. T- Things were getting bad aboard the Destiny."


    "The Destiny is the name of your ship?"


    "The Moonlit Destiny," Na smiled sadly. "My father named it in honor of my mother."


    "How much time do you think your people will need to recover from this ordeal?"


    "A month, at least. More if possible. But we aren''t going to be allowed back aboard my ship until your friends give it a good once over anyway."


    That was true. "I''m afraid Eden''s End doesn''t have much in the way of amenities. But what it does have is space. If any of your people need to be alone, there are plenty of places to do that. The Hawks will turn them around if they wander where they shouldn''t. So long as they don''t get into confrontations with anyone else or break any rules, they are free to do as they please while here. Just tell them to go by Petrov station rules. Those should be close enough until they learn what''s acceptable or not. ¡­I''ll see about getting messages out to their families."


    "You would do that for us?" Na asked hopefully.


    "People deserve to know you and your people are still alive. Just be aware, both, Matthews and I will be reviewing any messages that go out. I don''t need the STO knocking at my door because someone on your crew decided to spill the beans about the invasion."


    "That''s more than fair. Thank you again, Alexander. I knew you were a good man after I sent Eva to speak with you. I just wish my fellow Captains had seen it. Then again, if they were involved with pirates, it explains a lot of their rash actions."

 Chapter 49

    LOCATION: PETROV STATIONSYSTEM: GLIESE 667


    DATE: 2399


    Harlow luxuriated in the plush chair as he bit into the ripe apple, savoring the sweet juice as it ran down his throat. The members of the Council sure did know how to live comfortably. He let a little sigh of pleasure escape his lips. "It''s been far too long since I''ve had an apple. Have you ever tasted one, Zhang? And I''m not speaking about the vat-grown shit you spacers call food, but a real planet-side grown apple?"


    Zhang didn''t answer, he only stewed. Harlow glanced over the wooden desk at the man chained to a small platform below. They were in the once prestigious Court of Affairs building on Petrov Station. It seemed fitting, but his little puppet wasn''t in a very talkative mood, that was a shame.


    Harlow chucked the apple at the big man, hitting him in the leg. "I asked you a question. I expect an answer."


    "No," the man growled in reply. "I did what you asked of me, why am I in chains?"


    "Did you, now?" Harlow asked as he sat up. "When did I ask you to kill Kovalenko and Hoffman?"


    "They would have reported your involvement in their trials."


    Harlow laughed and leaned back again, kicking his feet up on the expensive wooden desk. "Unlikely. Those two idiots didn''t know I was the one backing them."


    "I thought you said¡ª,"


    Harlow waggled a finger at Zhang. "You thought¡­ see, that''s where you went wrong, Zhang. I don''t pay you to think. I pay you to carry out my orders."


    The door at the end of the hall creaked open and Ingrid Liu walked in followed by a few more of Harlow''s personnel who had infiltrated station security. Could it even be considered infiltration if the Council were the ones who hired them under his orders? He shrugged and looked at Ingrid. She stared back at him hungrily.


    The woman was always a bit of a handful, but he knew what she wanted. Ingrid Liu wanted to be the sole family in charge of Petrov Station. When she had first approached him with her plan, he had been surprised. Surprised she had figured out what ship he was hiding on and that she was audacious enough to come straight to him to suggest it. At the time she wasn''t aware that he was already undermining the station through Zhang, Kovalenko, and Hoffman.


    "Ingrid, it''s been far too long," Harlow stated as he got up and walked over to the woman, pulling her into a passionate kiss before pushing her back. Ingrid hissed angrily, but not about the rough treatment. He would love to continue their reunion, but he had important matters to complete.


    Harlow turned back to a very surprised Zhang.


    "See, the thing you don''t understand, Zhang is that I don''t put all my eggs in one basket. ¡­Do you spacers even understand that saying? Probably not. Doesn''t matter." S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Harlow paused in thought, not because he forgot what point he was trying to make but because he liked to build tension. It was so fun watching his victims squirm. "¡­Where was I? Ah right. You failed me once, but I''m a reasonable man. I understand mistakes are inevitable. So I give people an opportunity to make amends, to correct their mistakes."


    He sighed dramatically. "Then you killed Kovalenko and Hoffman, forcing me to move up my plans before I was ready, which allowed Na to escape. His loss isn''t much of a concern in the grand scheme, the station is mine after all. But it irks me that your careless actions caused me distress. Do you know how long I have planned this takeover? A long time. And your little stunt put all that in jeopardy because you weren''t afraid for me but for yourself. It''s a good thing I had people in place already, if not, things might have turned out wildly different. That''s failure number two. A foolish man might think that was just a coincidence. I didn''t get to be a pirate lord by being foolish though." Harlow snapped his fingers and the four guards standing around Zhang began to beat him. Not with stun sticks, but with good old-fashioned clubs.


    The big man collapsed to his knees and Harlow raised his hand to forestall more punishment.


    "I''m sorry, I swear I won''t fail you again!" the man wailed in pain.


    "I believe you," Harlow nodded. "In fact, I''ll even let you go spend some time with Captain Yuchen and Captain Weiss. Neither seemed all that cooperative. Perhaps you can talk some sense into them. If you do, I''ll forgive this transgression."


    Another nod to the guards, and they began to drag Zhang from the room.


    "Ingrid, Dear. Please go make sure Zhang doesn''t screw this up."


    She smiled, "I would be glad to."


    After the woman turned, Harlow made a cutting motion across his throat with his thumb. The guard smiled and nodded.


    Once the room was empty, Harlow dropped back into the chair behind the desk and waited for the large holo-screen to flicker to life. A scene much like this one had played out a few months ago. The lights outside the hatch started flashing and four flailing forms were launched out into space. The last of the families who controlled Petrov Station were now out of his hair.


    He would have loved to keep Captain Liu around but the woman was far too ambitious for her own good. She would have become trouble at some point, better to just get rid of her now and avoid it altogether.


    All of the first steps in his plan were falling into place. His comm chirped as he was watching the last of the life leave the foolish Council members. "What!" he demanded, annoyed at the interruption.


    "I would think you''d be in a better mood now that your plans are in motion, Brother."


    "What do you want, Arkonis? I have more pressing matters to tend to than listening to you."


    "Oh, nothing much. I found some information you might be interested in trading a favor for. That''s all."


    Harlow snorted. "What nonsense are you talking about? It would have to be worth more than my flagship for me to even consider offering you a favor for it instead of cred."


    "Who knows," his brother replied cryptically. "Last I checked, you were very eager to learn the whereabouts of that engineer that slipped through your grasp. I just happen to know where he is."


    Harlow sat up. "How? Where?" he demanded. He had learned about Kane back when everyone else had learned about the man. But unlike the imbeciles running Petrov Station, Harlow had seen his potential right away. The first giveaway was that Omni didn''t get personally involved with useless people. They also didn''t pay out hundreds of millions of credits for nothing. He also had access to information that none of the other parties involved did. Mainly the footage from the one Coal brother''s implant that his man in Petrov''s security wiped before handing the original footage over to him. So he knew without a doubt that Kane had been building weapons.


    Seeing his face in the doctored footage was a bit surprising. He would have beaten the mercenary to death for the insult if the idiot hadn''t already met his fate in the cold embrace of space. Luckily, implants stored the original footage if you had access to the hardware. His people had extracted the fake eye before the man tumbled out of an airlock.


    If a man like Kane could create weapons and improve on Omni''s designs, what else could he do? Harlow wanted him. And he was willing to go to great lengths to acquire his prize.


    "Not until you agree," his brother said.


    "Fine. Where is Kane?"


    "He''s in a system on the other side of STO space. The locals call it Eden''s End. Some of Katalynn''s people have raided the planet over the years. Small timers. Not much worth taking, and a large group of drifters have taken up residence in the facility where Kane resides. The contact who reached out to me said Kane let them stay. The man has a bleeding heart. Should be easy enough to force his hand."


    Bah! Drifters were worse than rats. They scurried everywhere and stole everything that wasn''t bolted down. Even that didn''t stop them all the time. He hated them for the same reason he hated the other pirate lords, they took things that should rightfully be his. As for Katalynn, Harlow didn''t have much to say about his female warlord counterpart. The woman had the personality of a brick and a face to match.


    "Do we have anyone in the area?"


    "I might have some, for the right price."


    "You can take whatever you want from the facility. The only thing I want is Kane. Bring him to me alive and in working order, and you''ll have your favor. Fail¡­ and I might just find myself with one less brother."


    Arkonis chuckled at that. "I don''t fail. I already have a plan to get to Kane. It may take a bit though. He has some mercs running protection. Once they''re gone, I''ll move in."


    Harlow could wait, he was a patient man. After all, he had waited many years to get to this point. He wondered what his younger self would say if he could see him now. Harlow somehow doubted the snot-nosed raider, drunk on his own invincibility and enough alcohol to drown a horse would have even considered anything. His younger self wasn''t much of a planner or thinker. It had taken being stranded on a nearly dead planetoid for four months, after a failed attack against an STO battle group, for him to seriously reconsider his priorities.


    ***


    LOCATION: FLEET HEADQUARTERS


    SYSTEM: SOL


    Admiral Clemont strode down the corridor, scattering Navy personnel as he moved with purpose. He didn''t even bother returning the salutes as he made his way into the conference room.


    There was a loud clamor as he opened the door. He let his gaze slide over everyone present as well as the holographic representations filling the other seats.


    "Admiral on deck!" the guard at the door shouted.


    The room went quiet as everyone who was here in person stood and saluted him. This time Clemont returned the salute. Then he nodded to the STO leadership who was attending remotely.


    "You''re late!" the Chairman stated at the announcement.


    The door closed and the marines standing guard exited the room.


    "Apologies for my tardiness, representatives. I was receiving a last-minute update on the situation with the pirates."


    "I doubt anything has changed in the last hour," the Chairman huffed in annoyance. "Please just get on with this meeting, I have an important dinner party to attend in two hours."


    Clemont despised the current Chairman from Borrus, then again, he didn''t much like any politicians. Too stuck up their own backsides for their own good. "No further attacks," he stated as he sat down. "That doesn''t mean the situation isn''t fluid."


    "You act like this is a war, Admiral. This is just the pirates acting out. They do this from time to time. Soon, they will devolve into infighting amongst their families like they always do. Then the fleet can push them back to their borders," the representative for both Malis and Malik, the twin planets in the Tau Ceti system responded.


    Considering Tau Ceti was the home system of Omni, he would have thought the representative of that system would be pushing for an all-out war. War meant more profits for Omni after all.


    After a bit of thinking, he recalled a report stating Omni was receiving increased criticism for some of its actions. It might be something to look into. While he didn''t care much for the monolithic manufacturer, his predecessors had burned the bridges for any other companies to even offer a competing product, even if that product might be slightly worse.


    "The previous pirate incursions lasted days at most, this incursion is going on two months already. It is also important to note that none of their previous attacks were ever as coordinated as this one. I believe we should treat it as a declaration of war and respond accordingly."


    His reply received a few polite chuckles from the group of representatives. None of the Navy people present laughed though.


    "The pirates are not the Coalition, Admiral Clemont. Those days are behind us. They reside on one rocky planet beyond the rim. To treat them as anything other than an annoyance would be to acknowledge they have actual power. We will not be doing that unless your purpose is to make us look incompetent. Or do you think a handful of ships are capable of standing against the combined navies of the STO?"


    "They hold three former STO systems and eight stations, Chairman."


    Clemont could see the man roll his eyes. "They took three border worlds whose navies were made up of Coalition expatriates and a handful of undefended stations. Those systems were likely filled with traitors already. I say let them suffer the hubris of their actions, then they might learn from this. Or is this thirst for revenge a result of the bloody nose they gave one of the smaller task groups?"


    The Admiral froze at that.


    "Yes, I''ve read the reports as well, Admiral. Yet you want us to declare war on them. The cost to activate our fleets and move them out there would outweigh the value of those systems. We should have let the Coalition keep them. All they do is drain our resources without providing any tangible benefit."


    Clemont wanted to yell at the man and ask him whose fault that was. The STO leadership during the war had stripped almost all industries from the former Coalition worlds, forcing them to rebuild from scratch. It was done in the name of fostering a lasting peace, but he knew it had been done to ensure those planets never became a threat ever again. Given the choice, he might have made the same decision back then, and he hated that thought.


    "So we just abandon them?" Clemont asked, doing his best to hide his irritation, apparently, it wasn''t good enough.


    "Watch your tone, Admiral. You can be replaced. Do you know the last time I spoke with the representatives of Zarinsk, Pravda, and Volnaya, Admiral?"


    He couldn''t imagine the planetary governors of those captured systems communicated with the STO very often. "No, Chairman."


    "It was at our last summit. Do you know which governors contacted me after news of this attack made its way through the Qcomm network?"


    He was forced to reply in the negative again, which seemed to be what the Chairman had been aiming for with his questions.


    "Every other governor reached out to me except those three. Now what is more likely, Admiral? That the multiple Qcomm arrays on each of those planets were taken offline simultaneously, or that those two governors and the people in charge on those worlds are allied with the pirates?"


    Clemont tightened his jaw but answered the leading question. "That they have allied with pirates."


    None of the other planetary representatives seemed all that shocked by this revelation.


    "Exactly. So now they get to live with the consequences of their actions for a time. But I never said we were abandoning those systems. I just don''t see the point of expending resources to retake them at the moment. Like I said before, the pirates will likely collapse on their own in short order like they always do. Once that happens, the fleets will be in place to take advantage of their disorganization to recapture those worlds and arrest the traitors who turned them over to pirates in the first place. That doesn''t mean we won''t do anything right now. The representatives have agreed that we should increase the fleet presence in the systems on those borders by twenty percent. This will reinforce the border without leaving the rest of the systems undefended. Don''t you agree?"


    Twenty percent? That was two ships per strike group. He swallowed his pride and replied. "Yes, Chairman. I will start issuing orders to increase guards along that border. Is that all?"


    "No. Another concern is these rumors that the pirate ships are displaying certain design elements of Shican origin. Can you confirm if this is true? I thought the last time a Shican vessel was spotted anywhere was in 2350."


    "2358," Admiral Clemont corrected, earning a warning glare from the Chairman.


    As for what the Chairman asked, he didn''t believe it to be a rumor. One of the STO battle groups had encountered a pirate fleet of a similar size. The same one the Chairman so blithely stated as having received a bloody nose. While the ships that were engaged were models from back during the war and not the newer ships that patrolled the core systems, what should have been a one-sided battle in the STO''s favor had turned into a slugging match. This was unheard of in any previous engagement with the technologically inferior pirates. After losing two ships, the STO pulled back and retreated from the system, causing that system to fall to the pirates.


    "Those rumors are unconfirmed at the moment," he stated.


    That was technically true.


    While the analysts were still pouring over the footage they received when the battered fleet made it back to the Navy yard, Clemont had already seen the footage of the battle. He was old enough that he had been in the last fleet engagement with the Shican in Varlen before the furry bastards retreated into the dark. The distinct sensor profile of Shican weapons fire was burned into his memory. He really hoped the analysis of the combat footage came back false, but he somehow doubted that to be the case. If his aging mind wasn''t playing tricks on him, he would very much like to know how the pirates had gotten their hands on Shican railguns and missiles.


    Every attempt to communicate with the aliens before they withdrew from this area of space had been met with hostilities. Had they come back? Or had the pirates recovered a derelict ship for study? It wasn''t out of the question, studying a recovered Shican wreck was how the STO had discovered artificial gravity.


    If the pirates had access to Shican tech, their threat would rise precipitously and they would be able to match the STO''s current generation of ships. If he had free rein, he would take the first and second fleets and wipe the pirates out at their homeworld, leaving no survivors. Unfortunately, he was bound by his oath to follow the STO leadership''s orders, no matter how much he disagreed.


    He had hoped his tenure as Admiral would end in an era of general peace. But it seems that would not be the case.

 Chapter 50

    LOCATION: EDEN''S ENDSYSTEM: Y6X-3H2


    DATE: 2399


    "Test forty-three," Alexander called out. Everyone in the launcher control room let out a collective groan at that.


    Getting the Low Orbit Launcher to even function had taken far longer than it took to install the rest of the orbital railguns around the facility. Had Alexander realized this before they attempted repairs, he would have stripped the entire thing out and started from scratch. That would have been far less work. It was too late to go back and do that now though.


    The previous test, test forty-two, had resulted in the payload being shot out of the railgun like confetti. If he were trying to design a rail shotgun, he would have succeeded wonderfully. But he was trying to launch materials into orbit, so keeping it intact was sort of important.


    He didn''t even want to talk about the tests before that. Most of those involved tracking down system faults. Eventually, he got so sick of trying to hunt them down that he disconnected the launcher from the station power to eliminate the broken power flow problems entirely. This required him to print a new power cell for the launcher, but that was probably a good thing. His battery slash capacitor bank was far more stable and allowed for a much more repeatable power draw compared to the ancient systems in place before anyway.


    That eliminated the power issue.


    He wished he could say that was the only problem. It wasn''t. The rails he had manufactured to replace the old worn-out ones, turned out to produce a far stronger electromagnetic current for the same amount of power draw. Normally that would be a good thing. It meant less power was needed to launch the payload. If they had realized that issue ahead of time, they might have been able to stop what happened. The first live test blew the entire top half of the launcher apart. There had been an undiscovered structural weakness in the frame.


    Thank god for the command room being situated behind a thick reinforced concrete wall. That little accident set their testing back an entire week. And he was running short of time. Jasper was due to return any day now, assuming he wasn''t delayed in STO space. But more importantly, they needed to have materials in orbit for the Hawks to start assembling a working refueling and refining station before their contract ran out in five months.


    That seemed like a lot of time, but it really wasn''t. He had underestimated the difficulty of building a station in zero gravity. The Hawks'' engineers were the ones who slapped some perspective into him. They estimated the station would take a full year to build, assuming materials were available and onsite. Alexander couldn''t even guarantee he would have any materials in orbit at the moment.


    The Hawks had given an all-clear for Na and his crew to return to their ship. But they were still relaxing after their ordeal. It would take them months to gather materials anyway. That meant the initial materials to build the station needed to come from the planet. That was fine though because without the smelter inside the station, any ore they brought would be useless.


    Alexander had tried talking Matthews into using his shuttles to lift materials into orbit, but the man declined. Not because they couldn''t do it, but because the wear and tear on the drop shuttles to carry stuff into orbit would require them to be down for maintenance once a week. That was far too often to make them an acceptable alternative.


    He supposed he could understand that. He was lucky he got the man to agree to bring the smelter into orbit when it was time.


    Losing the smelter was going to be a pretty big blow to his manufacturing capability planetside, but he had the designs to build a refinery. While not as good as a smelter, the material produced by the refinery would be plenty strong enough for rebuilding the facility. And to be honest, he wasn''t utilizing even a tenth of the smelter''s capacity with the mining being done planetside.


    But he was getting ahead of himself. The smelter was still in place and turning out the material that would eventually turn into scaffolding that would go into orbit. The initial station plans were just a loose collection of exposed scaffolds along with some ion thrusters that would keep it from falling back into the atmosphere. The hollow rectangle design reminded Alexander of the types of stations built back when he was still human. All bare bones and utilitarian. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before he got there, he needed to fix this stupid issue with the transport capsules. Having them come apart as they exited the launcher was not conducive to orbital manufacturing. The plastics that made up the majority of the capsules should have been more than enough to withstand the G-forces applied during launch. They were even stronger than what should have been available back when the original capsules were built. But something about his design was obviously not right.


    Alexander walked out of the room and over to a nearby storage area where they had placed the old capsules until they could be recycled. He found the one that looked to be in the best condition and awkwardly carried it down the stairs and into the launch chamber.


    The few local engineers that the Hawks had deemed passable were inspecting the launcher for damage from the previous test. The Hawks'' engineers were busy repairing Na''s ship and he needed the people living here to get familiar with the work anyway. If the rails were warped or damaged, they would need to replace them before continuing. That would set them back at least four hours.


    He shoved the newly manufactured capsule off the loading platform and set the old-style one in its place. A few of the people looked at him as he did this, but nobody commented on the change. They were probably as sick of these tests as he was.


    "Launcher is in working order, Alexander," one of the engineers called.


    Alexander nodded to the man. He waited at the door to ensure everyone was clear before closing the blast door. Now that he had seen what happens when the launcher has a critical failure, he was glad the blast doors were there.


    Everyone returned to the launch center. He nodded to Lucas ¨C who had taken an active role as head of testing ¨C and the man started the activation sequence for the launcher. A large holograph showing the inside of the chamber appeared on the blank concrete wall, almost making it look like it was see-through.


    Everyone watched as the loader arm pushed the payload into the barrel along a set of rollers. Unlike his railguns, the launcher only had a set of locking lugs that prevented the payload from falling out the back as it raised its elevation.


    Once it was loaded, it slowly started to rise. The gear-driven elevation system on the launcher was slow but it was accurate. Eventually, it stopped and the dome door slid open on the newly replaced concrete roof. Turns out the acid rain had severely weakened the concrete, which had caused it to break apart. The new concrete should be much more resistant to that, but it did make Alexander wonder about the structural integrity of the rest of the concrete encasing the facility.


    With the door open, an alert blared through the room. Lucas pressed the launch button, and a five-second countdown began. He didn''t know why the countdown was necessary, but it was apparently part of the original system coding. Probably a failsafe in case they needed to abort the launch.


    After five seconds, the launcher fired the capsule out of the barrel. The fact that it didn''t explode into tiny bits right away, both irked Alexander and made him extremely happy. The display immediately shifted to an external camera that watched the payload rapidly disappear into the distance. The zoom on the camera tried to keep up, but it wasn''t quite fast enough. After ten seconds of flight, the capsule collapsed upon itself and the drag of the air pulled it down.


    "Follow the descent," Alexander stated. Whoever was controlling the camera, did their best until the thing vanished below the curvature of the planet.


    "What was different about that capsule versus the new ones?" he asked, not expecting an answer.


    "Did you see how it crumpled?" one man asked.


    Alexander played back the video in his mind space. The man was right, it crumpled very strangely. "Does anyone have a saw or cutting tool handy?"


    "Should be one down by the blast doors, why?" another engineer asked.


    Instead of answering the man, Alexander strode out of the room and down the stairs to retrieve the power saw. Then he walked into the room where they were currently storing the old capsules. He took the saw and cut the capsule in half, then into quarters.


    The group from the launch room, who had followed him, watched in silence.


    Once Alexander had it cut apart, he separated the thick plastic parts, exposing a reinforcing mesh of metal hidden inside the thick plastic.


    "Well," he said, spinning the piece around so everyone could see. "That explains why our capsules are falling apart. I''ll print up a new one. Take a break, we will come back for test forty-four in the morning."


    He walked out of the storage room, annoyed with himself. He should have considered the possibility that the capsules were reinforced. His oversight had cost them a full day.


    Alexander knew he shouldn''t be so harsh on himself, it wasn''t like he had ever built a launcher or these capsules before, but he couldn''t help it. A large portion of the success or failure of this project relied on him. One good thing to come out of this discovery was the fact he wanted to redesign the capsules anyway.


    Their original design was meant to be picked up by a ship heading in the same orbital path as the capsule was on. That was fine for a ship leaving orbit. It was not fine for a station that was being built in orbit.


    The ideal orbit for a station was significantly higher than the orbital launch capabilities of the launcher. That meant either a shuttle would need to be in place to rendezvous with the capsule, or for the capsule to maneuver to the correct location. Considering he couldn''t rely on the Hawks to be here to move the capsules after five months, he had decided to design ones with small maneuvering thrusters built into them.


    This requirement reduced the usable space within the capsule by an additional ten percent, but it also allowed the capsules to be much more useful. So it was a fair trade-off in his mind.


    After entering his workshop, Alexander pulled up the schematic of the capsule he had been working on. The entire exterior surface was covered by a flexible weave designed to collect solar energy. Over that weave was a thin ablative layer designed to flake away in the vacuum of space. It was added to protect the sensitive nature of the solar weave from the harsh passage through the atmosphere.


    Alexander hadn''t designed the weave or ablative components. He had simply pulled them from other items he had worked on in the past. The ablative coating was a sort of hardened gel used in places that saw high temperatures for prolonged periods of time. The material canisters used by most printers utilized this gel to keep the canisters from melting as it turned the material inside malleable for printing. He just happened to remember the warning that this gel would break down if exposed to a vacuum and used that to his advantage.


    The solar weave came from the few armor designs he had experience with. It was also used quite extensively in most vac-suits to ensure at least a trickle charge during spacewalks or emergencies. He exploded the view of the capsule on his program and added a metal mesh. Then he wrapped the plastic back around it. He did have to redesign a few components and move stuff around a bit to get everything to fit again but it all came together. When he was done, the design looked mostly the same on the outside. Eight tiny ion thrusters were molded into the top and bottom half of the design allowing the capsule to maneuver. As far as thrust went, the back of the capsule had two ion thrusters. One on the top half, one on the bottom half.


    It wouldn''t be fast, but it would be enough to get the capsule where it needed to be eventually.


    His changes did require additional space. But instead of further reducing the interior size by adding more padding, Alexander reduced the padding. It would mean he would have to reduce the size of any sensitive components he planned to launch. While not ideal, he couldn''t add more padding because his scaffolding was already designed to take up the entire space available to maximize each launch.


    He sent it to the printer and groaned internally at the projected time it would take. Six hours per capsule wasn''t that bad, but the previous ones had only taken an hour each. He activated the rest of the printers that were large enough to print them and walked out of the room. There was nothing else he needed to do in the workshop as all the other machines were busy cranking out components for the facility, the station, or the automated defenses that were all still being worked on.


    Alexander looked at his clock and realized it was almost time for the evening meal. He headed toward their apartment to make some food for Yulia. He hadn''t seen much of his daughter since her friends had arrived from Petrov. But what he did see warmed him. She was laughing and smiling much more now. And she seemed to really enjoy showing her friends around Eden''s End from what Zorina told him.


    That was excellent news.


    He had also heard a few families had expressed interest in adopting some of the children. Alexander left that to Headmaster Wong and Damien to figure out though.


    There was a lot of work to complete before he could start building engines or ships, but things were starting to come together.

 Chapter 51

    The Zephyr jumped into Y6X-3H2 alongside one of the Hawks'' gunships. He wondered if Alexander or the locals would ever bother renaming the system as they did the planet. It just felt so impersonal to call it by the scientific designation.Jasper was a few weeks behind schedule but that couldn''t be helped. Some of that was due to him being delayed leaving the core systems because of the additional security thanks to the pirate attacks. And the rest was from him loitering in Varlen until the patrol ship arrived to escort him. With the increased pirate activity, he had decided not to risk the crossing without some protection.


    He was glad he had waited. Two jumps past Varlen, they encountered an unknown ship running without a transponder. The ship fled at the sight of the gunship, but that was enough to tell Jasper that the outer systems were going to be far too dangerous to fly without protection soon enough.


    As the two ships made their way to Eden''s End, he got to see what his friend had been up to in the last few months. While he had expected to see the Hawks'' massive troop transport orbiting the planet, he did not expect to see the large mining vessel sitting alongside it. Unless his friend had suddenly been able to produce ships from thin air, he doubted this ship had been built in the system. That begged the question, who had come all the way out here to mine?


    The transponder ping tagged the ship as The Moonlit Destiny, belonging to Captain Mingyu Na. It didn''t take long for Jasper to recall that name. It seemed he wasn''t the only one curious.


    "What is a Council Captain from Petrov Station doing way out here?" Wilkes asked.


    "I''m sure Alexander will fill us in, but I suspect the rumors we heard are true." While nobody in the core seemed to know the extent of the pirate attacks, everyone was talking about them. There hadn''t been any concern when the topic was discussed though, which surprised Jasper.


    "Captain, it looks like a station is already being built," Sierra commented.


    Jasper returned his focus back to the sensor readout. What appeared to be the start of a small station was coming around the far side of the planet. "Well¡­ if that isn''t a surprise." He hadn''t expected to see Alexander focus on building a station for some time to come. It seemed they had missed quite a bit since they left.


    "Ping the Talon and let them know we''re going to come along their opposite side from the Destiny."


    A few minutes later, they got a reply confirming their orbit. A day and a half later, they coasted in alongside the Talon. They could have been there faster, but he wanted to conserve fuel as much as possible.


    During their journey in-system, the crew got a bit of entertainment as they watched a live feed of capsules being launched from the surface only for them to accelerate into a higher orbit and drop their payload near the under-construction station. Then the capsules would fall back into the planet and burn up. This happened every half hour on the dot. During their passage, the station had nearly tripled in size. Considering it was barely anything when they arrived, that wasn''t all that much but it was still impressive to watch.


    "Is the shuttle loaded?"


    "Yes, Captain. However, we are going to need the help of the Hawks to bring the larger items down."


    He nodded and sent a message to Captain Matthews to see if he had any ships available. From what he could tell, most of the drop ships were floating around or attached to the station under construction.


    The man replied quickly. "We have one drop ship on standby. I can let you use it for three trips."


    There was only one large crate this time, so that wasn''t an issue. The rest of the cargo could be carried down by his shuttle on multiple trips. He responded to the man while Wilkes put the ship on autopilot. Everyone aboard was certified to maneuver the ship in case of an emergency, so he wasn''t concerned about having his only pilot fly the shuttle. He could have flown it himself, but he wasn''t nearly as skilled as Wilkes. When you dealt with planetary landings, it was smart to use the best pilot for the job.


    The ride down was just as rough as he remembered, but Wilkes put them on the pad with a gentle touch. They both glanced out the cockpit window. Wilkes whistled at the new constructions going up just outside the facility.


    "Those look like some nasty weapons. I would hate to be some idiot trying to land here uninvited."


    Jasper only nodded in reply. He knew Alexander had planned to build defenses, but he didn''t know the extent of them. "I think those are only the baby ones, look over to the left, that circle in the ground. That wasn''t there when we left. How much you wanna bet that''s a weapon emplacement as well?"


    The circle in question was over half the length of his shuttle.


    "That''s not a bet that I''m willing to take," Wilkes chuckled as he began the shutdown procedure on the shuttle.


    The entry opened and Jasper saw Alexander wave as he exited the facility to greet them. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jasper waved back, but he doubted the man saw it through the auto-darkened glass.


    He made his way to the back, which necessitated shimmying through the tight walkway between the stacks of crates. His people really had packed the shuttle as full as they could.


    Once free of the cargo, he lowered the back hatch. His friend was there to greet him.


    "Welcome back, Jasper! How was your trip?"


    "Exhausting," he stated as he walked down the ramp to greet his friend. "Sorry about our delay, I hope it didn''t cause any issues?"


    The face Alexander used to communicate shook. "No. I moved some things around and came up with some alternative solutions for other problems."


    "I can see that. I assume the space station and mining ship are quite the story?"


    "You could say that. Na provided the plans in exchange for safe harbor for his crew."


    "So Petrov was attacked?"


    Alexander nodded. "From what Na tells me, it was more an inside job than an attack. Although he was attacked as he tried to flee the system. Then the STO quarantined their ship, making it impossible to dock at any public station in STO space. Someone told him I was out here, so he came out to see if we would allow them to disembark."


    Jasper frowned at that. "Are you sure everything he says is true? I don''t want to second guess your judgment, Alexander, I just want to make sure you''re safe."


    "I appreciate your concern. And yes. As far as we can tell, everything he said is true. His ship even has the scars to prove it was shot at. Not something I would expect someone to attempt just to try and fool us. With our new defenses, I''m not overly concerned by a pirate attack anymore. I''m not saying it won''t happen, but we are far more prepared than anyone is likely to expect."


    "I can see that," Jasper stated, glancing over at one of the turrets that was being constructed in the distance.


    Alexander chuckled. "Come, let''s get this stuff moved inside and I can show you all the changes. I think you''ll be surprised."


    ***


    It took over an hour to unload the shuttle, even with Alexander, Jasper, and Wilkes all working in tandem. They would pile the crates onto the transporter and when it was full, it would roll off to his secure storage room near his workshop.


    Since he wanted to limit who had access to that room, he had installed robotic cranes that ran along the ceiling. They quickly and efficiently unloaded the automated cart so it could return for the next load. The cranes were much smarter than the stupid loaders aboard Petrov, thanks to the self-learning algorithm he built into them. He had learned more programming thanks to hanging around Lucas, but he still wasn''t at the level where he could program anything too complex. The robotic arms reused the code from the robotic assemblers, with the addition of the self-learning functions.


    He could have had Lucas just program them, but he needed to improve his own programming. Doing it himself also ensured the code was safe and free of anything funky while also testing the new design he had implemented to build the cranes. So far the man hadn''t done anything to make him think he would do something fishy, but Alexander was just being cautious by not relying on the younger Laront to do everything.


    His new robots were similar to the old robotic manufacturing line, with their inflexible appendages that required rotational servos at the base, the elbow, and the wrist. But instead of the old geared joints, Alexander had replaced them with rotary actuators, much like he had with his railgun design. The cost in time and materials was quite a bit more, but he deemed it acceptable.


    The accuracy of the actuator was far superior to gear drives because there was little to no backlash to compensate for. And when you had to build parts with tight tolerances, you didn''t want to worry about compensation errors.


    It was complete overkill for the simple cranes. But after seeing how well the crane functioned, he was already incorporating the improvements into a new generation of robots meant to replace the engineers working on the space station. The new robots would be needed sooner rather than later to complete the station.


    "Now that we have the ship unloaded, let me show you what I''ve been up to."


    As the pair walked into the facility, the shuttle took off again. It would be a few hours before it landed with another load. Plenty of time to tell Jasper what went on while he was gone, and show him everything.


    "Welcome to where the magic happens!" he stated as they walked into the manufacturing center.


    "Other than all the machines seeming to be constantly churning out items, I don''t see that much has changed in here since I left," Jasper chuckled.


    "True. But it''s a good place to start. I''m currently producing parts for the defenses, parts for the facility repairs, and parts for the station. Oh, and I''m also printing out capsules to launch into orbit pretty much non-stop."


    "We saw them on the way in. Are they only single-use?"


    "Unfortunately. We are recovering some of the material when they crash down, but I can''t afford to add a parachute or landing system without wasting even more space inside the small enclosures. It''s annoyingly frustrating, but it''s what we have at the moment."


    "It seems to be working for you though," Jasper commented as he watched part of the clamshell take shape in the printer. "How are you launching them into space anyway? Did you get the launcher operational?"


    "We did. And let me tell you, that was a pain." Alexander told Jasper about the struggles with the launcher as they walked through the facility and toward the launch control. They were in luck. They arrived just as the system was readying for another launch. "We could launch faster if the facility transit system was intact. It takes my transporter fifteen minutes to drive across the facility to deliver a newly loaded capsule. Then another ten for the old crane inside the launch room to move it to the loader. Add another four minutes for the blast doors to close, and we just decided to launch every thirty minutes. It works out though, since the engineers in orbit can only work so fast."


    "I don''t think you know just how impressive this is, Alexander."


    Alexander shrugged. "Sure, it''s impressive. But it feels so slow. There are so many things I want to work on that I can''t even start until this is done, the facility is repaired, or the defenses are in place. It''s frustrating."


    "Everything you accomplished in a little over two months is impressive, don''t get me wrong. That being said, I think you should take a step back and reevaluate your timeframe."


    Alexander sighed. "I would love to slow down. But it feels like so much is happening beyond our system, I''m afraid if I do, something horrible will happen."


    Jasper patted him on the arm. "Delegation is your friend. I can see you''re doing some of that already but don''t try to spread yourself too thin. Focus on what is most important to you and have others worry about the rest. Speaking of what matters, have you been spending time with your daughter?"


    Another sigh escaped Alexander. "Not as much as I would like. It turns out all the orphans from Petrov came with Captain Na. So she''s been spending quite a bit of time with them and the few friends she has made here. I didn''t want to take her away from that."


    "I''m sure she is happy her friends are here, but you are still her father. Take the time to make memories with her. I may not be a father myself, but I still recall the times my father spent with me. And she will too."


    After they exited the launch control room and got to a quiet spot, Alexander thanked Jasper. "Thanks for telling me that. I sometimes feel like the people here are afraid to tell me something or speak out like I might banish them or something. And the Hawks, while good at their jobs and nice enough, tend to act like employees rather than friends. Some are better than others though, but I doubt they even considered what you just told me."


    Jasper laughed lightly. "That''s what friends are for. You''ll make more in time."

 Chapter 52

    After completing the last of the tour with his friend, he did just as Jasper suggested. "I need some people willing to unload some supplies from shuttles," he stated as bluntly as possible to Damien.Over the last few months, Alexander realized the man preferred this approach to him trying to butter him up or small talk in general.


    "Why don''t you just add it to the job board like the rest?" the man asked.


    "Because it needs to be done as soon as the shuttle lands. If you know anyone willing, tell them I will double the trade allotment for this job. I need at least four people." Now that the additional supplies were here, Alexander had a bit more wiggle room with what he was willing to offer in trade. At least until that ran out. For now, he still had plenty of credits to buy stuff from STO space but that wouldn''t last indefinitely if he didn''t start making some money.


    The majority of Alexander''s trade supplies came in the form of medical treatments. Before, he had to limit medical services to only those willing to do the hardest tasks. Soon he would open that up to more people willing to work for him. For now, doubling up the trade allotment would allow anyone who accepted this offer to at least afford basic treatments.


    He hated to have to ration life-saving medicine like this, but he had no way to produce more. Everything pharmaceutical had come from off-world and it would for the foreseeable future unless some of the locals decided to go into the field. Alexander certainly had no interest in producing medications or drugs, but if someone else wanted to start a new enterprise, he wasn''t opposed to that. That was likely not going to happen amongst the current locals though. Most seemed uninterested in doing anything other than just living day to day.


    To be fair, Alexander hadn''t really gotten to know them all that much. There was still this barrier between him and the drifter population. They tolerated his presence, but they weren''t all that accepting of him. And he kept to himself unless he needed to interact with the people helping to repair the facility or taking up his jobs.


    That probably accounted for the way he felt about the system he set up. Alexander may hate rationing his medical supplies like some greedy jerk but that didn''t transfer to the rest of his supplies. He didn''t owe these people anything. If they wanted something, they needed to earn it or trade for it.


    The barter system he set up worked quite well. People would work to earn allotment credits which they could use to trade for whatever they offered. People could take advantage of it or simply ignore it completely if they wanted to and it wouldn''t change anything.


    The people of Eden''s End could live their entire lives without having to interact with him at all if they chose to. He didn''t charge them rent, taxes, or for stuff like water and power. So they had no costs associated with living here. The same as it had been before he purchased the facility. That was beyond fair in his eyes.


    He thought about charging for those things but decided against it. It would be much easier to entice people to come to this out-of-the-way system or stay here if living here was essentially free. It wasn''t like he had any other amenities to entice people to stay at the moment. And there was a whole lot of free space available for people to live. With just over three thousand current residents, Alexander could go an entire day without seeing another person if he was in one of the unoccupied sections. At its peak, the research facility could have housed eighty thousand people comfortably.


    With everything so damaged and decayed from non-use, it could probably only house ten thousand at the moment without people having to cram in on top of each other. That would change as areas of the facility were repaired but that was a long-term project that could take years to complete. He hoped the population would increase as well, once word got around.


    Damien grunted and walked over to a comm panel and pressed the button. "If anyone wants to earn double allotment, meet Alexander over in Atrium D. Only four temporary positions available." He turned back to Alexander. "There, now if you''ll excuse me, I''m a bit busy." The man turned and walked away without another word.


    Alexander picked four of the ten people who showed up in the Atrium to help unload Jasper''s shuttle. It was too bad his friend wasn''t able to stick around this time. His reaction mass was being topped off by the Talon and once the Zephyr was unloaded, he would be heading back to the core worlds until the danger settled down out here or Alexander could ensure safe passage.


    The pair had discussed an ongoing delivery back before he left the first time but things have changed since then. The space outside STO''s territory was too volatile to risk traveling through alone. Alexander would not want his friend to risk himself or his crew for his sake either so there were no hurt feelings on his side.


    The fact that the Zephyr encountered a ship without a transponder on their way back was disheartening to hear as well. Sure the gunship had scared it off. But it was probably just an opportunistic pirate boarding ship.


    From the intelligence briefings he received from Matthews, Alexander had learned more about pirates than he wanted to know.


    For example, not all of their ships were armed. Some of the smaller ones were unarmed and built for speed. Those sorts of ships were used to chase down other ships and forcefully board those vessels. It turned out to be a pretty common tactic for the newer and younger pirates who were trying to get a start.


    Unfortunately, just because some of their ships were unarmed, didn''t mean they all were. Even the smaller pirate ships were armed more often than not according to Matthews.


    Typical pirate armaments consisted of missiles or auto-turrets.


    The missiles were by far the more dangerous of the two, especially with static shields to deflect space debris. Most ships could deflect smaller and slower projectiles, but they could not outrun a missile even at full acceleration, and the static field did little to mitigate the damage if one got close before detonating.


    Just the threat of using one of those weapons usually got most captains to stop running and allow the pirates to board them in hopes of surviving.


    If the ships being boarded didn''t have security, the crew locked themselves in the bridge, or engine rooms and let the pirates take what they wanted from the rest of the compartments until they were satisfied. That didn''t mean this tactic was always successful. Matthews had told him of plenty of instances where the pirates took the ship or crew hostage. If the hostages were worth anything, they ransomed them back, if they weren''t or their contact refused to pay, the hostage disappeared as a slave inside the pirate strongholds.


    That was still better than what some pirates did to the crew when they wanted only the ship. S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While missiles were used by some of the more successful pirates, the most common weapons in the pirate arsenal were autocannons or chainguns. While not as deadly as missiles, that didn''t mean bullets fired from the auto-turrets weren''t dangerous, they were. Especially at close range. Fill the static field with enough incoming ordinance, and you could overload it or drain the systems used to keep it powered. Once you got through the field, it didn''t take much to punch through most ships or disable their lightly protected engines.


    If an armed ship had encountered the Hawks gunship and the Zephyr, it may have concluded the risk was worth a fight. And he hated to admit, the pirates might be right. The Hawks'' gunship used a rapid-fire flechette turret as its main weapon as opposed to an autocannon, but they packed around the same punch. It was just easier to fit more flechette rounds into a smaller space than it was for the old-style cased ammunition, which is why the Navy had switched to flechettes long ago according to Matthews.


    He hated to think what would happen if his friend came across a pirate ship that had railguns, Gauss turrets, or lasers. Matthews said he had never encountered a pirate with advanced weapons of that nature, and said it was unlikely to happen, but Alexander didn''t see any reason the outlaws couldn''t possess more advanced weapons. Look how easy it was for him to make railguns.


    All of these dark thoughts were beginning to sour his mood, so he turned his mind to something much happier. Now that he had delegated the unloading responsibility, he had some free time. He decided to fulfill the other promise he made to Jasper.


    It took a few hours to print out the surprise he had in store, but he managed to complete it and get it assembled before the evening meal came about. Yulia strode into the apartment, whistling a tune and smiling wide.


    "You look like you had a good day?"


    She nodded before climbing up on the stool. Alexander handed her a plate of food while she busily recounted her day. This reminded him of their time back on Petrov Station. If he had some greasy parts partially disassembled on the counter, the image would be complete.


    The girl practically inhaled her food between talking with her mouthful. He admonished her about manners and she apologized, only talking when her food was mostly chewed. A small win was still a win.


    Once her plate was cleared, she got ready to hop off the stool and run back out with her friends. Alexander stopped her.


    "I actually have a surprise for you. Follow me," he motioned.


    "But I was going to play with my friends," the girl began to pout but stopped herself.


    He could understand she wanted to play with her friends. But Jasper was right, he needed to spend more time with his daughter. "Don''t you want to spend time with me?"


    "I''m sorry," she replied apologetically, lowering her head. "I didn''t mean it like that, Alex."


    "Why don''t you ever call me dad, or father?"


    She shrugged, "Dunoh."


    That meant she didn''t want to talk about it. That was fine, he wouldn''t push her to call him dad if she didn''t want to.


    She held his hand as they walked to the nearby atrium. Very few locals used the atriums other than the one located where most people lived. He could understand why, considering how bleak and lifeless the large spaces were. Unless you wanted to play in the dirt or sit on benches, there really wasn''t much to draw people to them. He had plans to fix them up but they were low on the priority queue for repairs.


    He led Yulia to an area off to the side that still had some working overhead lights and a large stretch of level ground. The place had probably once been a park or garden. As they rounded a concrete divider, Yulia''s eyes lit up.


    "What''s that?!" she asked eagerly as she released his hand and raced over to the colorful playground that Alexander had assembled.


    He joined her shortly. "This is a playground. And that thing is a swing."


    "What''s a swing?" the little girl asked.


    He picked her up and sat her in the plastic seat, before stepping around behind her and gently pushing her.


    She immediately started laughing. "Higher!"


    He obliged, giving her a gentle push. "Lean back while holding the sides and kick your feet out when you get to the top, it''ll increase your height. Now tuck them in when you get close to the bottom. Good, you''re getting it."


    It didn''t take long for Yulia to figure out exactly where to do this for maximum effect. He stepped back and watched her as she laughed non-stop. He should have expected what came next. On the next upswing, the girl cried out, "Catch me!" as she leaped from the swing.


    Alexander was close enough to do that, but he did have a momentary bit of panic as she released the ropes. She landed in his arms and he absorbed her momentum before she could crash into him. "Please be more careful, if I wasn''t here, you may have hurt yourself."


    She promised him she would be, but somehow Alexander didn''t quite believe her. She was a bit of a daredevil.


    He showed her how to use the other playground items. The seesaw, the merry-go-round, the slide. He couldn''t exactly use any of the equipment himself, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t demonstrate how they worked. She seemed to like the merry-go-round and the swing the best. Probably because they went the fastest.


    It was a bit sad that Yulia had no idea what any of these things were before he told her. He wondered if the other kids who lived here were the same way.


    After playing with her for a good hour, she finally needed to rest. "Can I show my friends this place?" she asked hopefully.


    "Of course you can. I built it for all the children. Anyone who wants to come here can." She rushed over and hugged his leg.


    Alexander stroked her hair. "Unfortunately, I have to get back to work. You have a little over two hours before bed. I suggest you use that time wisely," he winked at her, earning a giggle in return before she hurried off to gather her friends. "Thank you, Alex!"


    Before he returned to his work, he looked over the playground one more time. The rubber padding underneath should be sufficient to prevent any serious injuries. And the Hawks camp wasn''t too far away. They should hear if anyone gets hurt. Other than standing here and monitoring the children, he couldn''t think of anything else to make it safer. And sitting here and monitoring them would likely scare the kids away, and make Yulia upset with him. He didn''t want that.


    As he was walking off, he wondered what the Hawks had thought of all Yulia''s screaming and laughing. Considering nobody came to investigate the noise, probably not much other than just a kid having fun.

 Chapter 53

    Alexander sat down at the table a few minutes before the meeting was set to start. With the delivery from Jasper, the defense project wrapping up, and the repairs on the facility well underway, he finally had time to start the project he had come out here to start in the first place. It was time to discuss building his first engines, he just had some questions to ask Matthews and his engineers first.It was too bad his friend Jasper and the Zephyr had left the system a few hours ago. He would have liked to get his opinion on some of his ideas. With his friend gone, it would be quite some time before he saw the man again. While the parting was bittersweet for Alexander, he knew it was the right decision. There was no rational reason for Jasper to risk himself and his crew if he didn''t need to.


    The screen turned on, and Alexander saw two people. One was Matthews, and he assumed the smaller woman sitting off to his side was likely his chief engineer.


    "Good afternoon, Mr. Kane. As you requested, I have invited my chief engineer, Aria Sullivan to this meeting. What did you want to discuss with us today?"


    "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. As you know, my original goal for coming out here was to start a company that produces spacecraft engines. A company I finally founded with the help of Captain Daniels. Blue Star Enterprises'' big debut might have been delayed due to a few unforeseen factors; the missing equipment, the state of the facility, and the need to build defenses. But now I''m finally ready to begin designing my first engine."


    Matthews nodded. "I am aware of most of your troubles. But how does this concern the Hawks? We can''t provide you with any design specifications for the Talon if that''s what you''re asking. Even when it comes time for you to build our upgraded propulsion system, you would need to purchase the design from STO space."


    Alexander waved away the man''s concern. "No, nothing like that. I was more curious about why larger ships, like Captain Na''s use compressed plasma ejection instead of the more common fusion pulse drives?" It had been a bit of a surprise when he saw this on the Destiny''s design schematic.


    "Size constraints mostly," the chief engineer of the Talon responded.


    Alexander quirked an eyebrow at that. "I would think storing fuel would take up much more space than simply using up the reaction mass. Am I wrong?" He wasn''t quite that far in his engineering studies.


    The woman shook her head. "At first glance, perhaps. But when you factor in the containment systems required to move the plasma from the fusion chamber and to the engines, you lose quite a bit of space. There are other things to consider as well. The biggest consideration is the ability to enter an atmosphere. No ship equipped with a compressed plasma ejection system would be allowed to enter a planet''s atmosphere. The temperatures are such that the exhaust plays merry hell with any combustibles near it. That includes the twenty-one percent oxygen mix of a standard atmosphere. It wouldn''t ignite the entire atmosphere or anything silly like that, but it would create a huge fireball, potentially large enough to destroy the ship. And while pulsed fusion still uses a fusion reaction, the individual pulses are far cooler than ejected plasma."


    "¡­Oh¡­ Yeah, that wouldn''t be good. Thank you for answering that question. My next question has to do with reaction mass. Doesn''t plasma ejection reduce the overall reaction mass?"


    "Of course it does," the engineer replied. "But most ships have what''s called a fifty-year core. During reactor idle, the reaction mass would last for fifty years. This is standard across any ship capable of FTL. It can also easily be topped off since the fuel used to run the fusion plants is relatively safe. In ¨C," the woman paused to speak with Matthews while the line was muted.


    The man rubbed his chin in thought at whatever she had said to him before finally nodding.


    The audio came back on and she apologized. "Sorry about that. Had to make sure what I was about to tell you wasn''t part of our operational security. As I was about to say. In normal combat operations, that reaction mass would last the Talon a year. That is a year of constant maneuvering and fighting. Sitting about like we are now, we could go ten years or more depending on maneuvering needs. It''s a trade-off for sure. Refilling reaction mass is more expensive than topping off the T2O and D2O burned by the more common pulse drive, but compressed plasma ejection also offers more thrust. A ship like the Talon can''t keep up with something like the Zephyr even with our more powerful engines, but it can still accelerate at a pretty decent speed. Since we don''t need the speed as much as a smaller cargo ship might, it''s not really an issue."


    "Thank you for the information. It seems I have a lot to learn still."


    The woman nodded.


    "Any more questions for us, Mr. Kane?" Captain Matthews asked.


    He shook his head. "Not at the moment. I think what you''ve told me so far has helped to point me to where I need to begin my efforts. Thank you."


    "Good Luck, Mr. Kane. Maybe you''ll even have something ready for us to see before we leave?"


    Alexander chuckled at the Captain''s statement. "No pressure then," he made his avatar smile.


    The pair smiled back before the video cut off.


    While it was true, that this meeting helped narrow his design efforts, Alexander had already been leaning toward the more common pulsed fusion drives because they were¡­ more common. It seemed like a prudent choice if he wanted to carve out a market share from the other giants. In time, he was sure he would branch out into the compressed plasma ejection engines, but that was still quite a ways off.


    He chuckled internally as he thought of something. If the people from back in his time saw what these thrusters and the propellants they were using were capable of, he was certain they would have passed out in shock.


    It was a good thing the elements needed to produce this fuel were easy and abundant in most systems with gas giants. Y6X-3H2 had two such planets, making gathering the elemental hydrogen and oxygen rather easy. Yup, the fuel used to propel ships at a fraction of the speed of light was water or a manufactured version of it. Good old heavy water and super-heavy water.


    Using an initiated fusion reaction to propel a ship was brilliant. It reminded him of a much more sophisticated version of the nuclear pulse propulsion concept he recalled from back in his day. He wondered if that theory was what eventually led to this design.


    Pulsed plasma was similar to the compressed plasma ejection since it used the results of a fusion process as the thrust. It was why he was confused when he first saw the form of propulsion that Na''s ship used. According to Matthews'' chief engineer, Aria Sullivan, a ship with pulsed plasma could land on a planet because there was little concern of it igniting the surrounding air.


    That meant the Zephyr could land on a planet if it wasn''t so large. That meant the Destiny was definitely too large to land so the issue of igniting an atmosphere was sort of self-regulating. It was probably a deliberate design choice now that he thought about it. Anyone dumb enough to try and take a large ship down onto a planet would blow themselves up.


    He switched gears and focused on the fuel he would need. It was a good thing that the station, Na had offered him, came with the design specs for a fuel converter. Otherwise, he would have wasted quite a bit of time trying to figure that problem out.


    Alexander left the communication tent and headed to his workshop. On his way, he could hear the excited laughter as the kids put the playground to great use. He couldn''t help smiling at that.


    Once in the workshop, he projected an exploded view of the Omni engines on the Zephyr, along with the Sinorus engines on the Destiny. Then he walked into the massive hologram and closely examined every part as he manipulated the images.


    He could simply rip their entire design off and call it good. Alexander had no qualms about doing that anymore. But that was lazy, and he wasn''t the sort to do things half-assed. Over the next six hours, he poked at parts, tossed others away, and redesigned every single component to ensure there would be no mistaking that this engine was an original design.


    What he found was a bit surprising. Some of the Sinorus components seemed to be superior to the Omni ones. At first, he thought this was simply due to the different forms of propulsion involved. But when he looked closer at what the parts did, he realized they did the exact same job.


    When he was done, he stepped back and looked at the diagram. He moved his hands back together and the parts moved until the hologram was a single unit. From the back, not much had changed. The thrust cones were shaped slightly differently, but you would hardly notice unless you were someone like Alexander. The main difference came in the other components. The exposed bits looked slightly melted or more organic in nature. It would certainly require more printer time, but if it worked it would be worth it.


    He saved the file as version one and loaded the simulation software he had purchased back on Petrov.


    The simulation ran a whole three seconds before the hologram displayed a red fault message.


    He had to dig around to find what the fault was. It was claiming the combustion chamber temperatures had exceeded specifications.


    "No first-try home run this time," he lamented as he tweaked the engine design and saved it as version two.


    When the tenth test failed to produce a working design, he grew frustrated. He had nearly rolled back all of his changes and was almost back to the original Omni design. Gone was any Sinorus influence his design had carried before. But still, the damn program was telling him the design wouldn''t work.


    He was wondering if he was doing something fundamentally wrong until he had the idea to run the original Sinorus engine schematic through the simulation program. It gave the engine a passing grade but highlighted possible failure points. If Alexander hadn''t noted those parts as superior to Omni''s during his deep dive, he wouldn''t have even second-guessed the program.


    Suspecting something was up, he loaded the software onto a data chip and went to find Lucas.


    It took some asking around, but he eventually found the man in the computer room as everyone called it. The room held the facility''s servers. Much like the computer chips of this century, Alexander had no clue how these servers even operated. That was fine, he had Lucas for that until he got around to learning himself.


    Speaking of Lucas, the man was sitting cross-legged on the floor with one of the servers in his lap. There were parts spread out all over the place and the man was listening to music while he soldered some components inside the case.


    Alexander waited until the man was finished to get his attention. "Lucas, do you have a moment?"


    The man looked over and smiled. "Oh, hey, Alex, what''s up?"


    The man had heard Yulia call him by that nickname and decided it was easier than using his full name. Alexander wasn''t really bothered by it, he just preferred his full name. It sounded more¡­ regal.


    He held out the chip. "I''m having an issue with this software I purchased. I was hoping you might take a look?"


    The man paused in his reaching, instead of taking the chip like normal, he took it like it was radioactive. "You bought this from STO space?" he grimaced, barely holding the data chip between his fingers.


    "Where else would I have purchased it from?"


    The man shook his head and set aside the stuff he was working on. He got up and walked over to his tablet that was blasting the music. The music suddenly shut off as the man pushed the metal disk into the device. "I wish you would have come to me before running this software. You know there is a bounty out for me, right?"


    "Yes. But what does this have to do with that?"


    "Probably nothing. When I lived with my brother back on Helios, I freelanced as a coder."


    "You mean you were a hacker?"


    The man chuckled. "No. Well, not exactly. Companies paid me to make programs for them. Programs designed to prevent their competition from surpassing them. They were often designed to transmit any improvements these new companies ran through the testing software that I built for the original company. Under a separate third company''s name, mind you."


    Alexander sighed. "You did corporate espionage?"


    "More or less," the man replied casually as he typed away at the pad. "I played both sides though. I would always reach out to the companies that bought the software and offer to do a penetration test after their newest secrets were somehow leaked to their competitors. I would miraculously find their leak that nobody on their internal teams could, and they would pay me handsomely. This went on for five years until one of the companies merged with the original company I designed the software for. They realized what I had been doing and placed a bounty on me. The rest is history," he said as he pressed one last button before showing Alexander the screen.


    "You know I''m not that advanced with code yet, just tell me what I''m looking at."


    The man rolled his eyes and pointed to a line in the code. "This transmits everything run through this software to a Qcomm. It''s a good thing we don''t have one otherwise your design would have gone straight to the owner of this code."


    That statement made Alexander extremely upset. Even out here, it seemed he couldn''t get away from the grubby little mitts of the corporations. "You''re certain that nothing got sent out?"


    "About as certain as I can be. Whoever wrote this shit code never thought the people using it would be outside the range of a Qcomm, so they didn''t implement any contingencies."


    "So you didn''t create this one?"


    Lucas shook his head. "Nope. There are plenty of other people like me in the core. Maybe not quite as talented," he puffed out his chest, "but they can still code something like this."


    "Can you remove that code to make the program safe again?"


    "Sure, but that''s not gonna make it function." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What do you mean?" Alexander asked in confusion.


    "The code isn''t only designed to trade all your secrets away. It''s also designed to prevent you from making something better than the people who paid for this code to be written in the first place."


    "Omni," Alexander muttered, causing Lucas to pause and turn to him.


    "You''re joking right?"


    When Alexander didn''t say anything, the man sighed. "Of course it''s Omni. You don''t do anything small do you, Alex? As for your next question, because I can already tell what you want to ask me, maybe. I might be able to make the program function correctly for its intended purpose. It''s going to take me a few weeks to go through the code. I have to make sure I''m not screwing up any of the calculations. Rocket science is not my forte, so if I get something wrong, it could make this entire simulation software useless."


    "Please, do what you can," he glanced over at the disassembled server. "I''ll trade you two supercomputer chips for the work."


    "How can I say no to that," Lucas chuckled. "I''ll do my best and get back to you as soon as possible¡­ If you have any more software, bring it to me and I''ll look it over as well. No need for additional payment."


    Alexander thanked the man and walked out of the room, annoyed that he was once again delayed in producing a new engine design.

 Chapter 54

    With his progress delayed until Lucas finished checking over the code, Alexander shifted his attention to other projects.The main attention of his focus while he waited for Lucas, was assisting with the facility repair efforts and preparing for when the Hawks would leave.


    That date was coming quicker than he would like and there was still quite a bit of work to do. Making sure the refueling station stayed on track after they left was at the top of his priority list. Some of the components to ensure that happened were already in the queue for launch. Mainly the parts for the large robotic arms that he designed for capturing the pods. The rest he was getting ready to manufacture now.


    The robot arms weren''t anything special, simply mimicking the robot assemblers he had in his manufacturing center. They were just much longer.


    Alexander was still putting the finishing touches on the robots that would replace the Hawks'' engineers when they left. He didn''t want to just create single-purpose robots. That would be an extreme waste of resources. But he also couldn''t pack every conceivable tool known to man into one either, or that would make the things massive and impossible to build. He also had limited space to work with. If the robots were too big, it would make them impossible to launch into orbit with their current capabilities.


    The design he decided to go with implemented swappable tooling. Each robot had onboard storage for up to four tools and could switch them out depending on the work it was performing. Three articulated arms, similar to the ones he built for his storage room robot, gave them the flexibility Alexander needed them to have. With the upgraded robotic appendages, he didn''t need to worry about construction issues as much.


    With the station being just a large hollow rectangle built from triangular scaffolding sections consisting of round pipes, it made it easy to clamp things to the interior. Probably why they designed the structure that way in the first place if he had to guess. No matter the reason, Alexander used the scaffolding design to great effect by implementing a series of rollers for his robot workers. He thought about making other designs that would work elsewhere but decided against it for now. It would increase the complexity of the robots and mobility wasn''t needed at the moment. He just needed them to run along a set path like a train.


    That didn''t mean he wasn''t thinking ahead. He designed the roller portion to be swapped out, just like all the other components on the robots.


    The rollers securely fastened the robot to the two outer rails of the triangular struts, allowing it to move back and forth along that axis. This meant they couldn''t move away from the side they were attached to but that was fine. It did mean he had to build four of the robots, one for each side of the structure. The machines came with locking clamps, both physical and magnetic to ensure they wouldn''t wobble around once they were positioned to start work. With two arms to hold the material in place, and a third arm to do the work, they should be able to complete the station ahead of the Talon''s Chief Engineer''s predictions or so he hoped. Assuming no supply issues cropped up.


    He sent the file to the printer and went to retrieve four of the advanced computer chips. His generic breadboard chips weren''t going to cut it for the robots. Alexander had plans to build a computer chip manufacturing machine. Nothing that was capable of building the types of chips made today, mind you, but he thought he might be able to mimic the types of computer chips made in the 1980s or ''90s with his current manufacturing capabilities. But he hadn''t gotten time to work on that project yet. It was high on his list though, because of the limited amount of advanced and super-computer chips he had on hand.


    He input the code into the door''s lock. The room had previously been secured with a biometrics lock, but obviously, that didn''t do him any good. So a simple alphanumeric touchpad had been added. It wasn''t a perfect system by any means. Especially with his automated carts having to broadcast the code every time they entered, but it kept the casual passerby out.


    The door opened and he moved through the room until he found one of the padded cases with the chips inside. He picked up the case and carried it back to his workshop.


    By the time he returned, the initial frame for the first robot had been printed and moved off the printer bed for the next to begin. He really did love automation.


    Due to the constraints of the capsules, the engineers would have to assemble the robots once they were in orbit. Alexander had provided them with a detailed list of assembly instructions. They did ask about purchasing the plans for their own use, but he had to deny that request at the moment.


    Mostly because he didn''t have the design registered in STO space, so there was nothing stopping someone from stealing it. Not that he thought the Hawks would do that, but it was better to be safe. He also didn''t want the attention quite yet. Especially considering what he learned from Lucas today.


    He opened up the insulated storage compartment where the chip would reside. Calling these things computer chips was a bit of a misnomer. They were essentially the entire computer, shrunken down to the size of a two-inch cube. Having all the complicated bits built into one component meant printers didn''t need to specialize in building motherboards or memory or any of those sorts of things. It just had to build the connecting components.


    It was a rather ingenious method. The computers could be ordered in all sorts of configurations as well. If you needed a wafer-thin computer for say, a tablet, you could have that manufactured. He had chosen the cheapest method, which was the cube.


    Alexander had looked into a printer capable of printing the cubes along with everything else. As it turns out, there were printers capable of doing that, but they were massive things that cost more money than Alexander had gotten from the Omni payout. At that point, they were more like assembly lines than a single printer. The smallest one he looked at, out of curiosity, was larger than the refueling station he was building. It also had to be built in a vacuum for it to function correctly at the picometer scale these advanced chips operated on. He didn''t even want to see what the requirements of the super-computer chips were. Those chips were expensive, and he only had ten of them.


    The iridescent cube clicked easily into the housing of the robot and Alexander sealed the compartment. He heard the thing beep quietly before it went through its self-test cycle. He didn''t have to worry about this code as it had been written by Lucas. The machine made hardly any noise as the actuators rotated. Then it beeped again and the console it was currently linked to showed an error.


    It was an error Alexander expected to see though. The message was simply letting him know there was nothing attached to the actuator assembly. Seeing no other faults, he put the robot in standby mode. Then he wheeled over one of the specifically outfitted capsules and lifted the robot into the foam padding inside.


    It took the rest of the day to finish up the four robots as well as the other components that went along with them. He was glad the plasma welder only required a lack of oxygen to weld properly. It would have been an extra step to bottle inert gasses and then a real pain to have to constantly ship them into orbit to keep the construction on schedule.


    A total of ten capsules were earmarked for delivering the four robots and their additional components. It would set back construction in the short term, but once the robots took over, that delay should turn around quickly.


    With the robots complete, he set the printers back to making more capsules. The capsules still took far too long, but he had optimized the prints from six hours down to four by removing the foam printing and delegating that to a separate machine. It did mean he had to manually shape the foam to fit, but it still took less time overall.


    If he planned on keeping the capsule launch method, he would probably get around to making a shaped mold at some point so he could free up the printer.


    He piled two of the capsules on the cart and sent the wheeled vehicle off to the launcher. One more thing to check off his list.


    ***


    "You''re sure everything was removed?" Alexander asked. He was looking at the simulation software showing his first iteration still showing a failure.


    "As far as I could see," Lucas replied. "Could it be your design doesn''t function?"


    Instead of getting upset by the question, Alexander paused. It was indeed possible. He loaded in the Sinorus design and ran it. This time, it came back as fully functional, and it didn''t show the warning errors on the parts that were more efficient than the Omni components.


    He sighed internally. "It does indeed appear to be working. Thank you." Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hey, don''t mention it. I gotta say though, that first design looked wild. Like on the order of magnitude of being a pain in the ass to work on wild. You may want to consider that. I know if I took a look at that, I would be like, nope."


    Alexander loaded up the third iteration. "What about this one?"


    The man waggled his hand back and forth. "That looks slightly easier to work on but I''m not an engineer. You may want to ask them."


    After Lucas left, Alexander tested his later iterations. Everything other than the first, second, and third came back as functional. There was the possibility that the simulation software wasn''t robust enough to recognize the extreme changes he made, but he decided to play it safe. Instead of going straight to the printers, he took Lucas'' advice and loaded up the working designs into a holographic presentation. He needed a second opinion.


    "Thank you for meeting with me again so soon," he said as soon as Matthews and Chief Engineer Sullivan came on screen. "I''m looking for an opinion on some engine designs if you would be willing."


    The Captain kept a composed fa?ade, but he could see the small woman''s eyes slightly widen at his words. "It''s not every day I get to take a peek at experimental engine designs," she stated in interest. "I''m free for as long as the Captain allows it." She looked at the man pointedly, and Alexander could swear he saw Matthews flinch.


    "Yes¡­ We would be happy to give you as much time as needed," Matthews said diplomatically.


    He nodded his avatar''s face and sent the presentation to them.


    It took hours for the woman to painstakingly go over every detail of the engines. She didn''t have the design specifications, but Alexander assumed she had been around enough engines to know what she was looking at. And it seemed he was right.


    "This first one would be far too hard to maintain." She pointed at four components nestled into the interior. "It would require taking apart the entire combustion assembly just to get at these parts. Then you have to deal with radiation. If I was given a berth on a ship with an engine like this, I would quit. I''m sorry if that sounds harsh."


    "No, not at all. I want your brutally honest opinion. What I make is going to eventually need to be serviced by engineers just like yourself. If it''s too difficult to work on, nobody is going to want to buy them, no matter how much better they are."


    "Do you have any numbers yet?" Matthews asked. While he didn''t appear all that interested originally, he had come around.


    "Not yet. I built these designs after the last time I spoke with you."


    Matthews and Sullivan paused and Alexander thought they had paused the connection. But they were just staring at him.


    "You designed all of these in five days?" Sullivan asked.


    "Oh, no," Alexander chuckled. "It only took me a day to design them. I had to wait four days for Lucas Laront to fix my simulation software."


    Chief Engineer Sullivan opened and closed her mouth a few times before she finally spoke. "¡­I''m at a loss for words. You designed not one, but six working prototype designs in a single day?"


    He decided not to correct the woman by telling her it had actually been ten designs, but only six working ones. "Um, yes? But they are just simplified iterations from the first one."


    She shook her head. "That explains why the designs look so similar. Still, if you can correct the component placement, and get some hard numbers, you may be looking at some serious contenders. This is a Class 3 engine, is it not? I don''t think I''ve ever seen a Class 3 engine so compact."


    "¡­Um¡­ It''s actually a Class 4. Or more accurately, it''s based on the Class 4 engines from the Zephyr."


    "Alright," the shorter woman said, getting up from the desk. "I''ve had enough surprises for one day. Considering what you''ve told me, you should have no issues moving the parts to be more accessible. Hell, I suggest you expand everything out so it matches a standard Class 4''s scale. Speed and efficiency aren''t everything. If you make an engine that is significantly easier to work on while being as fast and efficient as current designs, that''s a market as well." With those words, the woman walked out of the video.


    He heard the door shut before Matthews turned back to him. "Chief Sullivan is correct. Saving time on repairs is sometimes much more important for certain people. Let us know if you need anything else, Mr. Kane." The man nodded one final time before the video cut out.


    It looked like he had more design work ahead of him.

 Chapter 55

    The next week went by rather quickly for Alexander. The station was starting to take shape with his new construction robots being run through their initial tests.He did have to make some design iterations and launch those replacement parts into orbit, but overall they were working out well. Then engineers would continue to monitor their work for the remaining time they were in the system, but they said they didn''t expect any major issues.


    Alexander hoped that was true. While the robots had some ability to repair each other, they wouldn''t be able to do much if the central processors died on them or if the track wheels broke off and the machines floated away. The clamping system should prevent that second scenario from happening, but it was still a possibility.


    With the station well in hand and the final railgun turrets going up outside the facility, Alexander was able to finally free up production time for his engine. Technically, he was manufacturing three different engines, all scaled down to one-tenth the size. That was still quite a large engine to build. The engine cones alone measured two feet across.


    It was a testament to the ridiculous amount of power these engines produced that a mere three of them could push something the size of the Zephyr along at nearly 3.6g with the ship''s average cruising speed being 1g.


    One g of acceleration didn''t seem like much, but when it was constant, it added up fast. The design specifications of the Zephyr listed an upper limit of .4c. As far as Alexander could tell, that had a lot to do with material limitations used in the ship''s construction. The static field, which ships used to deflect debris, might also be a limiting factor on how fast ships could safely travel but he wasn''t entirely sure that was the case. While he could build and replace the field generators, he didn''t have much knowledge of how the field functioned. Unfortunately, he didn''t have the money to purchase a learning module to explain that specific technology before he left the STO sphere of influence.


    The engineering course he was learning from stated pulsed fusion wasn''t able to accelerate past .4c, which made no sense to Alexander based on what he understood of physics. He knew that weird limitation wasn''t based on material considerations because the next part of the course discussed plasma ejection and how early models managed to get to .6c before fusion instability and inefficiency caused the drives to go offline. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At least that issue he could understand.


    From speaking with the Hawks'', specifically, Chief Engineer Aria Sullivan, he learned that plasma ejection technology was still in its infancy. Alexander thought it had been around for some time, but apparently, it was only invented after the Coalition war ended. So the issues they were having were understandable. Fusion reactors were delicate things at the best of times. The fact that someone figured out a way to pull out plasma from the reactor without destabilizing the reaction was a monumental achievement in and of itself. Each new generation of engines would slowly reduce these issues and improve efficiency. With enough time and effort, reaching near light speed shouldn''t be a problem for the technology.


    With that being said, he needed to know why pulsed fusion was restricted. It wasn''t until much later in the module that he learned why pulsed fusion had this bottleneck. The fusion process for pulsed fusion took place in a combustion chamber, but this chamber was open to space through the exhaust nozzle. When these types of engines neared .4c, a resonant hum started to form inside the combustion chamber. It wasn''t enough to damage the chamber, but it was enough to disrupt the fusion process.


    That didn''t mean people had given up on the older technology. He knew people were looking into the issue thanks to his exchanges with Dr. Lund.


    Still, .4c was nothing to scoff at. It meant those three engines could push the Zephyr across a system the size of Sol in a little over three days. And that was at a standard cruising speed of 1g. If they had to push it to the ship''s maximum acceleration of 3.6g, they could do the crossing in 1.2 days. However, that sort of acceleration for that long would have some serious drawbacks on anyone aboard the ship, assuming they survived.


    As far as he knew, humanity hadn''t discovered inertial dampeners or anything that could reduce the effects of gravity on a person. Then again, Alexander had assumed artificial gravity plating wasn''t real until he saw it. So maybe some of the fancier ships had it or it was a military secret and he just wasn''t aware of it.


    He realized he was getting off track again. The engines were powerful, so powerful that he couldn''t test a full-sized version on the planet without a specialized test facility. The scaled-down engines he printed consisted of an Omni, a Sinorus, and his new design. All of the designs he chose were from Class 4 engines to ensure the numbers were comparable.


    Alexander had planned these tests weeks in advance. There was a pit, much like the railgun pits, outside the facility specifically designed and built for these tests. In a perfect world, these engines would be tested in a vacuum, but Alexander didn''t have the time or patience to build a vacuum chamber long enough to keep the exhaust gasses from melting the lining. He thought about coating a chamber in that heat-absorbing gel, but it was only rated for 3500 degrees Celsius. That was nowhere near enough to keep the plasma from melting everything around it. The pulsed fusion drive burned at nearly twice that temperature.


    He suspected his pit would probably be rather worse off after these tests but that was fine. He had plans to incorporate liquid cooling into the walls as well as electromagnetic containment to keep the plasma from getting too close to the walls on future tests. He figured if it was good enough to keep ship thrust cones from melting from the obscene temperatures involved, it should be good enough to keep his pit intact.


    Right now the pit consisted of a simple steel liner with fire-protective matting stuck to the inside of it. The test rig had a mounting platform that allowed the engine to face straight up and a sensor plate that measured thrust. This design ensured the engine wouldn''t go flying off if there was some catastrophic failure with the mounting.


    It was also the most simple and straightforward design he could come up with. Alexander didn''t want to waste a whole lot of time and resources on these first tests especially since he didn''t need exact numbers. With the engines being scaled down, he wouldn''t be getting those anyway. The only thing he cared about for this initial test was a side-by-side comparison of the three engines.


    Before he could do that, he was running the parts that he could through the testing station he had built. It was a scaled-down version of the one he used on Petrov Station. While he couldn''t afford to take a testing station with him when he left, due to cargo space concerns, he did purchase the plans to build one. He just hadn''t needed it until now.


    As the parts were running through the diagnostic tests, he moved over to the printer and pulled off another set of finished power banks. Ideally, Alexander would build a fusion power plant to supply the needed power to operate these engines. But he still didn''t have the capabilities needed to do that. So he resorted to printing out dozens of power banks.


    The tests wouldn''t run very long, so he didn''t need to sustain the fusion reaction that turned the fuel into thrust. It would probably still take the power supply''s complete charge to run each test though. So long as it worked, he was fine with that. The power banks were rather quick and cheap to manufacture.


    That left the last issue he needed to overcome, fuel.


    Matthews had stated he would provide fuel if Alexander needed it, but he wanted to do this on his own. Finding water was easy. The facility had twenty-four wells that went down to a buried aquifer.


    Converting this water into rocket fuel was a bit more challenging. He already had the designs for a processing plant thanks to Na though.


    Turns out it took a lot of energy to convert good old H2O into D2O and T2O.


    That meant more power banks. And a secure storage tank for the rocket fuel after it was ready. As a bonus, the fuel would come in handy when he finally built a fusion power plant for the facility. It wouldn''t be as good as what ships used for their reactors, but it would get the job done.


    Building the insulated and lead-lined tanks was taking longer than printing and testing the individual parts for his scaled-down rockets. Building the tank wasn''t something Alexander was willing to rush though. He didn''t want to worry about the radioactive liquid causing issues around the facility or making people sick.


    He looked over at the robotic arm that was welding two of the tank sections together. It was nearly complete and he would have to take the crane and remove it from the work area soon. The storage tank diameter was so large that it barely fit through the closest opening to the outside. He would have to roll it out himself since there were no delivery vehicles low enough to hold it without hitting the top of the door.


    It did highlight another problem he was going to have to resolve at some point. Mainly, how was he going to build full-scale engines without them getting stuck in his workshop?


    He knew the far wall of his workshop faced away from the facility. The easiest option would be to cut out that wall and put in a large door with an overhead crane. It went on his to-do list.


    It seemed like every time he marked something off that list, two or three more things got added.


    The machine beeped to let him know it was complete and Alexander rolled the dual-layer ring section out of his workshop and down the hall to the transport path. It made quite the racket as he went, but there were few people in his section, most having decided to move to the quieter areas after he restarted production. He couldn''t blame them. If he needed sleep, a noisy assembly line that ran all day every day a few hundred feet away would be extremely annoying.


    The walls and doors were sound dampened, but with so much production going on, the large entry was left open most of the time as the transport carts retrieved items and zipped down to where the parts were needed.


    Once outside, Alexander filtered out most of the glare from the star. He was glad he figured that nifty feature out after arriving here, otherwise it was often too bright to work outside during the peak hours of the day.


    It took him ten minutes to roll the ring next to the secondary pit near the engine test site. A simple overhead crane with a hand-operated chain ran on rails that passed alongside both pits. He didn''t want to expend a lot of resources for what was likely to be a temporary site.


    After hooking the crane to the lifting points on the ring, Alexander pushed the unit into place over the pit. This was the last ring section going on the storage tank. The next part to come off of the assembly line would be the top. He lowered it almost in place before he headed down the spiral stairs that ran along the outside of the pit. Each level had a landing and he looked down at the one below where one of his automated robots was welding the outside layer together. He was already glad he had designed the robots for multiple applications.


    Before putting in the guide pins, he examined the inner weld. There were no issues as far as he could see, but he did note that the robot was almost empty of inert gas for the welder. That was one major downside of welding in an atmosphere.


    He pulled out his tablet and sent an order to his storage. Soon one of his carts would be along with a fresh supply of gas. He was starting to run low on the supply Jasper brought him on the last trip. Alexander hadn''t expected to go through it so fast, he would likely have to build a machine to harvest the gas from the atmosphere sooner rather than later.


    Another item got added to his list.


    Alexander didn''t have any plans for a machine like that, but he could probably figure it out. It wasn''t like they could be too complex, people were filtering atmospheric gasses back when he was human.


    As he was adding the alignment pins, he saw the orange flashing light overhead that indicated his delivery had arrived. He finished putting the last pin in before heading back up. On the back of the cart were two seventy-five-pound cylinders full of argon. Since he didn''t want to have to come back out here until the top was completed, he grabbed both tanks and lifted them as he walked back down the stairs. He didn''t even need to stop the robot, he simply set one canister down, removed the empty one from the cart attached to the back of the robot, put a full one in its place, and then did the same for the nearly empty one.


    There was no pause in the welding and no sign that it had lost shielding. Alexander went back up with the empty bottles and put them back in the cart. It drove away and he finished lowering the new section into place.


    ***


    It was finally time to test his model engines. Three days had passed since he finished the fuel storage and checked it for leaks. The processing plant had been pumping out fuel ever since, so he had more than enough to do his initial tests.


    The first engine, the Omni design, was already in place and ready to go. Unlike the time Alexander stood outside the railgun pit to watch the tests, he was well secure in a bunker a few hundred yards away for these.


    Today he was observing everyone else work and taking Jasper''s words to heart by delegating tasks. The group of people who had signed up and trained for this were going through the last-minute checks. Alexander could have done this all himself, but if he ever wanted to compete with companies like Omni or Sinorus, he needed skilled and capable people behind him.


    Of course, Lucas, and Gabriella had shown up for this important milestone. Damien was busy with the Hawks, ensuring the last-minute training was completed with his new security teams. It would be up to that rather dour man to continue the training once the mercenaries were gone. Alexander had no issue with the man taking on that role, while Damien wasn''t very likable he was focused.


    Alexander knew why Lucas was here, the man was curious about anything technological, even to the point of staring at him sometimes. However, he never did ask about the robot body. But why was Gabriella here? He didn''t have a good read on the woman as he had only met her a handful of times. But she didn''t come off as all that interested in technology or him in general.


    It''s possible she was just here to report back to Damien. He didn''t mind, it wasn''t like these tests could be hidden.


    "Green across the board," someone said.


    Lucas looked to him for the next steps, but Alexander simply smiled back. He had given the man an itinerary. If Lucas wanted to be the head of testing ¨C which it sure seemed like he did ¨C the man would need to figure some things out himself.


    Seeing that Alexander wasn''t going to give him a hint, the younger man sighed and dug around in his pockets until he produced a crumpled sheet. Alexander wanted to frown at the abuse Lucas put that poor sheet of paper through. Did the man not realize how hard it is to find suitable material in an alien world to make paper?


    ¡­Now that he thought about it, probably not. It wasn''t like anyone used paper in this day and age. Alexander just liked the nostalgia factor of it. Plus it was way easier to make paper than it was to make a new tablet.


    After smoothing out the paper and glancing at what was written, the man tucked it away again. "Shunt fuel to the engine storage tank."


    One of the operators pressed a few spots on a tablet and a red bar appeared on the holo display against the wall. Once the bar was full, the man disconnected and purged the line. It retracted behind an armored plate. Alexander had designed it this way to prevent any sort of explosion from back-feeding into the storage tank and bursting it apart.


    Any explosion would be bad, but the small amount of fuel in the engine would only spread the radioactive liquid in a small area. If the storage tank bursts, the entire area could become slightly more radioactive. At least the fuel wasn''t explosive or flammable in its unfused state. That would be a nightmare.


    "Test fire in five!" Lucas called.


    After the countdown, Lucas pressed the ignition button. He could see people look around as a tingling sensation crawled along their skin. Even he could feel it.


    "It''s just the energy discharging into the fusion igniter," he stated calmly. True to his word, a few moments later, a ghostly blue flame shot from the open pit where the engine was resting. Less than a second after that, the sound of the engine firing rolled over their bunker, causing a bit of dust to rain down.


    He made a note to have the control center moved a lot farther away when he got around to testing full-size models.


    The blue flame lasted fifteen seconds before it burned through the tiny amount of fuel it had been provided.


    Alexander recorded the results, and the next two tests were prepped and run over the next eight hours.


    The results were not what he expected, and he returned to his shop a bit annoyed. The Omni engine outproduced the Sinorus engine, there was no surprise there. But he thought his design changes would have had him way above either of the engine manufacturers or at least close. Turns out he wasn''t nearly as proficient as he thought he was.


    His engine performed so poorly that it failed halfway through the test. And the time it did run for, it produced only a third of the thrust of the Sinorus engine.


    Alexander had skipped over his first three designs and tested the fourth iteration, and the first that the simulation software said would work. It did work if you could call that poor showing ''work''. After arriving back in his shop, he marked that design as non-functional and began printing the other five. If none of them worked, he would need to step back and reassess what he was doing wrong.

 Chapter 56

    "Is it that day already?" Alexander asked Matthews over the video conference."We have a few days yet. But we are going to begin pulling our people back to the ship. I just thought you could use the heads up."


    "Thanks for the notice. I wish you could stay longer, but I understand why you can''t."


    "You may see some of our people sooner than you think. I believe Travers and Jallen have expressed interest in coming back here once their contracts are complete."


    Alexander put a surprised expression on his avatar''s face. "Really? Why?"


    Matthews chuckled, a rare thing for the no-nonsense man. "It''s not for the scenic beauty, I can tell you that. I think it might have something to do with the free access to learning modules you have provided to the people who live at Eden''s End. I''ve heard a few of our engineers expressing interest as well. Heck, even I''m interested and my retirement is coming up soon."


    "¡­I honestly don''t know what to say. I didn''t think it was such a big deal."


    "That''s what I like about you, Mr. Kane. You are a generous sort of guy, a bit too generous I might add. If someone tried to do what you were doing in STO space, the company that made those learning modules would slap you with a lawsuit faster than you could blink. There isn''t anything the monopolies hate more than losing their profits. And sharing a learning module that is supposed to be for a single person with thousands would certainly cost them money. Getting their attention is not something you want."


    "I''m aware," he muttered.


    The Captain nodded. "I figured you might be aware of that particular problem. Most people who come out here do it to get away from STO or the corporations for one reason or another. Just be careful who you allow in your little community. There are those who would gladly take advantage of you for this opportunity. Or try to take it from you by force. I can''t even say for certain if the corporations wouldn''t try something more unsavory. There is more than one corporation with its own private military forces. And while I find the STO to be useless most of the time, being under their jurisdiction does have its benefits. Benefits that you have waived. You have some decent defenses, but never assume they are infallible. That''s about the only advice I can offer."


    "Thank you, Captain Matthews. And thank your people for their stellar job here. Without them, I doubt half as much would have been accomplished this soon."


    "Speaking of accomplishments, congratulations on your successful engine test."


    Alexander grimaced at that. "It''s not quite successful yet." He had tested the rest of his engine iterations and found them all to perform far poorer than the Sinorus model, except the last one, which was almost a carbon copy of the Omni design with only a few changes to make it his own. But even that one didn''t outperform the Omni engine.


    "Yes, but the numbers are promising. You went from never having designed or built an engine, to having one that beats out one of the major manufacturers. You just need to take a step back and realize this. Do you think either of those companies got off the ground in only a few months?"


    "¡­No," he sighed. "I know what you''re saying is true, it''s just hard for me to accept."


    The man laughed. "Considering all the crazy stuff you have been doing in the last nine months, I''m not surprised that failure is a hard concept to accept. Someone once told me that you learn far more from failures than you would ever learn from success. So fail and learn, Kane. If you keep at it, I expect when we return, you will have some of the most powerful and efficient engines around."


    They discussed a few other topics, mostly the station, which was now partially operational. It was just the smelter and a storage area to contain the raw ore for now. He was still working on getting fuel storage and processing up there but the challenges of getting those components into space were significantly harder using only the launcher. It took redesigning the fuel storage multiple times before he managed a design that could fit into the capsules and be formed by his robots once it was in place. He hadn''t gotten around to manufacturing those components yet.


    He needed to make that happen soon though, especially with the Hawks leaving.


    Na and his crew had gone back to their ship about a month ago and were deep in the outer belt of the system, scanning asteroids for mining. They would need to come in for fuel eventually. If he couldn''t get fuel up there, they would be stuck drifting or relying on their maneuvering thrusters to get around. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander hadn''t spoken to Na much during the last few months. The few times he had, the man had expressed his concern over what had become of his home. Na was haunted by the fact he ran away and left Petrov station to pirates. Not that his being there would have changed that outcome. Explaining that fact to him didn''t help though. Alexander hoped that going back to mining would help take his mind off of things in Gliese 667. From the little news coming out of this ''Pirate Incursion'' as the news outlets were calling it, little had changed since the initial attack.


    There had been a few more signs of pirates lingering around the systems that the Hawks patroled, but that had tapered off a few months back.


    The going theory from S.A.M. was that the Hawks'' continued presence in the area had made the pirates move on to look for easier prey. Captain Matthews agreed with the machine''s analysis based on his personal experience with pirates.


    With the meeting concluded Alexander left the meeting room. He had a lot of things to complete in the next couple of days before the Hawks left.


    ***


    Yulia hid behind a crate, doing her best to remain still and silent even though her heart was beating super fast. She had managed to avoid them for the last few days, but they had finally cornered her in the atrium.


    There were no more places to run. The playground was on the far side of the camp and it was open ground all the way to it. They would spot her as soon as she left cover.


    She heard footsteps nearby and froze, a dark shadow loomed over her but the figure didn''t turn to face her. Instead, the woman cleared her throat. "Your friends were redirected to a different area, I suggest you hurry before they figure out you aren''t there."


    "Thank you, Zorina," she spoke quietly before darting out from her hiding spot and towards the safety of the playground.


    "There she is!" one of the kids yelled and the chase was on.


    Yulia pushed her short legs as fast as she could as the screaming laughing group of kids chased her in the game of tag. She learned early on after arriving at Eden''s End that while she was shorter, she was slightly stronger and faster than some of the kids born here. Not by much, but it was all she needed to barely avoid the lunging hand as she dove onto the playground mat with a triumphant shout. "Safe!"


    "That''s not fair," one of the kids grumbled.


    "Yeah, you cheated!" one of the mean boys proclaimed.


    "Cheated how?" she asked indignantly, putting her fists against her waist.


    The boy was not intimidated by her actions. "You got that soldier lady to give us false directions."


    "No rule against outside help," Markus replied in his broken English.


    The two boys were about the same age and neither one seemed to like the other very much. She wasn''t quite sure why, but she was glad Markus was on her side.


    She stuck her tongue out at the other boy who she hadn''t even bothered to learn the name of. "See! Besides, I didn''t ask for help. People just like me more than you."


    The boy snorted and turned away from Markus. "Keep thinking that way, Princess. Let''s, go. I''m bored with this game anyway."


    A few of the kids left with the older boy, but some still stuck around. They didn''t seem to want to play tag anymore, and the few left decided to run over to the playground equipment instead.


    "Why did he call me princess?" Yulia asked the only person left.


    Markus sighed. "You know what a princess is, right?"


    She shook her head. Yulia had never heard the term before.


    "A princess is a girl that comes from wealth and power. Since you are the robot''s daughter, and he owns this entire place, you are the princess."


    She started to smile at that until Markus burst her happy little bubble.


    "It''s not meant as a compliment. They are being mean because they don''t have the same advantages you have."


    "That''s not true," she began to argue.


    "It''s not? Why was the playground built? Sure, everyone else uses it, but the robot built it for you."


    "Stop calling him that," she huffed. "His name is Alex!"


    Markus just rolled his eyes, "Fine. Alex built it for you. He also hired the mercenaries for you and him. I even heard that he told someone that the only reason he is defending this place is to protect you and him. He doesn''t care about the rest of the people here, never has."


    "That''s not true! You take that back!" Yulia got so angry, she tried to kick Markus in the shin. He stepped back and she missed.


    "I''m just telling you what I heard. You know how rumors spread. Remember on the station? I taught you to keep your ears and eyes open. How have you not heard people talking about these things?"


    She had been listening to people. Sort of. "Most adults don''t talk a whole lot when I''m around."


    "Because they are afraid of what Alex will do to them. They are afraid of you."


    "No," she began to cry.


    "I''m not telling you this to hurt your feelings, but you should know how people, the kids, and adults all see you. Even¨C,"


    "Even what?" she demanded through her tear-streaked eyes.


    Markus sighed again. "Even your friends, Sarah and Claire are probably only pretending to be your friends because they think they can get something out of it, or their parents do."


    "You''re lying!" she wiped away the tears. "Why are you being so mean? Is it because I got adopted and you didn''t?"


    For the first time that she could remember, she saw Markus get angry. "Fine, don''t believe me. See if I care." Then the boy walked off, leaving her to stew in confusion.


    There were only two people she could turn to for answers. And she didn''t want to ask Alex about this, he would think it silly. And he was busy fixing things.


    Yulia found Zorina removing some tent poles that had been driven into the dry dirt of the atrium. She paused at that. "Are you leaving?" tears began to well up in her eyes again.


    The woman looked up from her work, giving Yulia a piercing stare that made her wish she wasn''t being such a baby at the moment. After setting down the poles, the woman walked over. "We are. You knew we would eventually, why are you crying?"


    "I thought it wouldn''t be for a while longer," Yulia muttered as she looked away and wiped off the tears.


    "Is that the only reason?" the woman asked pointedly.


    Yulia shook her head. She found she couldn''t ever lie to the woman when she confronted her for doing something she shouldn''t have been doing.


    "Tell me what bothers you?"


    She told Zorina about what Markus and the other boy said.


    The woman nodded. "Your friend tells the truth. At least about what people say. I do not know your friends well, so I cannot say if that is true also."


    "Why didn''t you tell me?" Yulia demanded.


    The woman only quirked an eyebrow at the outburst.


    "Please," she lowered her head at her shameful tone.


    "Since you asked nicely, I will tell you. It was not important to our mission. People always talk down about people above them. It is the way things go. Telling you wouldn''t have changed this fact, it would have only hurt your feelings. Your friend Markus could learn a lesson in tact, he shouldn''t have told you this either."


    "Isn''t it better that I know?"


    "Is it?" Zorina asked in reply. "From what I can see, all it has done is make you angry, and upset, and shoved a wedge in your friendship with Markus and the other children. Are you happy that happened?"


    Yulia shook her head slowly.


    "Of course, you aren''t. Let me ask you another question. Do the kids treat you differently?"


    "¡­No?"


    "You don''t sound very sure of that."


    "No. Well, some of the older kids do. But they never much liked me to begin with."


    "Then their opinions don''t matter. If you are happy with how the other kids treat you, then that''s all that matters. But¡­ If you think this is important, I will relay this issue to my Field Leader, and they can bring it up with your father."


    Yulia paused at that. She didn''t want to make a big deal out of this, that was why she had come to Zorina instead of going to Alex. After thinking about it for a bit, she shook her head. "No¡­ I can deal with the other kids."


    Zorina smirked. "Good. Let this be a valuable lesson, Yulia. Sometimes, you have to solve your own issues. That doesn''t mean you can''t seek help or guidance from someone older and wiser though." With a wink, Zorina turned Yulia around and gave her a gentle shove. "Now, I have work to do."

 Chapter 57

    The small two-man ship floated silently in the system, its passive sensors watching for any change. The boredom wasn''t even the worst part, it was the smell. Their little vessel stank after having to sit out here and scout for two weeks. It probably didn''t help that the individuals inside weren''t the most hygienic at the best of times. Their circumstances probably wouldn''t improve anytime soon either as they had another week of monitoring before another ship came to relieve them.They couldn''t even get drunk anymore because their booze had run out after two days in this pointless system. The two pirates slept most of the time, played cards, or fought until one was knocked unconscious, which would have been the better outcome if the loser hadn''t been forced to take the winner''s shift watching the sensors.


    Merkel gently touched his eye where Zarrick, that bastard crewmate of his, had given him a shiner the night before by sucker-punching him. While Zarrick got to sleep, he was stuck on double duty. The only thing worse than sleeping in this tin can was being awake in it. Merkel hated watch duty and even though he was supposed to stay alert, he nodded off a few times. Those naps didn''t last long despite the fact he could barely keep his eyes open. The pain in his face kept jerking him awake. When he got back, he would find out who he pissed off to get this shitty assignment and stick a knife in them. Nobody deserved this bullshit.


    As he was nodding off again, the console began flashing, jerking him back awake. It took him a moment to focus on the display. That didn''t help. He was forced to use his shirt to rub the grime off the screen to even see what the alert was for. If it was one of those damn patrol ships again, he was going to scream.


    What he saw was three distinct jump signatures. Hard not to see them, they were blasting the entire system with their scanners as they flew through. No pirate would do that.


    Their ship was drifting dark with only emergency power on, and they were placed near an asteroid in the inner belt. The chances of the three ships spotting them were virtually nonexistent unless those ships got way closer. And he knew they wouldn''t. They had picked this spot specifically because it was outside the travel lane of the scout ships. Well, technically their boss, Arkonis had chosen this spot.


    Merkel doubted he would have thought about positioning himself so far away. When he ran down ships, he wanted to be as close as possible to a shipping lane so he could get the jump on his quarry.


    He didn''t bother waking Zarrick. Once these ships transitioned through the system, he would get them moving. If Zarrick questioned it, he would just say they got relieved early so he could claim the bonus their boss was handing out for being the crew to spot the mercs leaving. Assuming he could hide the ships from his crewmate, which probably wouldn''t be hard. Zarrick was a moron. The last time Merkel had relieved him to take watch, the man had turned the console off because he said the buzzing sound was annoying him. How the idiot expected to detect anything with the console and passive sensors offline was beyond him. But his crewmate didn''t seem concerned.


    Merkel watched as all three ships were burning hard toward STO space. That was good. He figured roughly a day and a half, they would be out of the system, and he could report to the boss. Then maybe he could finally get in on some real action.


    ***


    "Boss!" the communications man yelled. "Scout ships back."


    Arkonis shoved the woman off his lap and sat up in the bridge chair. "They best be reporting good news. If they left their post early, shoot them."


    Nobody batted an eye at that.


    "They say the mercenaries pulled out three days ago."


    "Bout damn time!" Arkonis clapped his hands and laughed. "Call in everyone, it''s time for a big score!"


    He got up from his seat and grabbed the affronted woman he had shoved aside.


    The woman took a swipe at him, and he chuckled as he dodged the fist. She was certainly no delicate flower like his brother preferred. No, she was a real woman, a pirate, just like him. "Call me when we are underway!" he yelled back into the bridge as he led the angry woman back to his cabin.


    ***


    "If our informant screwed up these orbital paths, I''ll string the bastard up myself when we land. Make sure you double-check the math." The contact had sold them information on how many people were down there, the types of defenses in place, and even a general location of where they were. It was a bounty of information he would kill for on any raid. Not that Arkonis was about to trust someone who was willing to sell out their own people for a measly hundred thousand credits.


    "I will boss! Although our friend here knows what''ll happen to him if he tries to fudge the numbers, don''t ya?" The pirate enforcer smiled a gap-toothed smile at the man chained to the pilot''s station. The man nodded frantically and the rest of the crew laughed.


    Their pilot had been an acquisition last year along with another ship. Arkonis had trained pilots, but it was hard to beat a former STO Navy pilot. He had been on some vacation in an outer territory when the Headhunter descended upon the hapless vessel. The man took a bit to break before he fell in line, but those days of defiance were over. It was also much quieter now that the man didn''t have his tongue to flap around.


    "Jump in ten," his enforcer called out. "Alert the rest of the fleet to wait ten minutes and to stagger their jumps. I don''t want any hot-headed bastards giving our positions away. We need to deal with their weapons before they become a problem."


    "Orders sent."


    Arkonis smiled as the stars twisted around them and they vanished from the system. When they reappeared two hours later, they were facing a large gas giant, far enough away that their field hadn''t been destabilized too much.


    "Report!" he ordered.


    "We are exactly where we expected to be, boss, right behind the largest planet in the system. If the orbital chart was correct, our target planet should be on the opposite side of the system. There''s no way they could pick up our inbound jump with the gas giant masking it."


    "Good, set a trajectory and go dark. We will coast in nice and slow. Once we see nothing has changed, we''ll launch our present."


    The ship moved and was soon on an intercept course for Eden''s End. Soon other ships joined them as they jumped into the same area. As they closed the distance, their passive sensors began to get a better visual of what awaited them.


    "Looks mostly the same. But the station is much larger than our informant claimed. I don''t see any armaments on it, but we are still too far out to tell for sure."


    Arkonis frowned at this, he didn''t like surprises. "Show me the station."


    A grainy image appeared on the holo display. Arkonis almost laughed when he saw the thing. "It''s a refueling and dumping station. I doubt it''ll have weapons. But that does help us out. Anything else to note?"


    "Nothing we can see. The same asteroids where they hid their cameras are floating in orbit. No ships around the planet. Our man did say an ore hauler had entered the system, but I''m not picking it up on our passives. Maybe it left with the mercenaries? Can''t imagine why it would stick around."


    "Once we engage turn on active scanners. I want to know everything in this system." He really needed to invest in better passive sensors, a more updated system could pick up active transponders in passive mode. But the cost irked him.


    The slow passage across the system was nearly unbearable, but they needed to get closer to deliver their gift.


    After a day, he finally heard what he had been waiting for. "We''re in range to fire."


    "Well, let''s not keep them waiting," Arkonis smiled widely.


    The ship shuddered multiple times as missile tubes opened up and the rails launched their payload at the slowest possible speed. A total of twelve missiles left the ship, two for each orbital railgun installation. Thirty seconds later, one last missile left the ship. The ship was on an intercept course for the planet, and the missiles would coast ahead of them, slowly gaining distance to arrive ahead of them. When it was time, they would light their engines and streak toward their targets.


    The people of Eden''s End would see the weapons at that point, but by then it would be too late. Assuming their inside man had done his job correctly, there wouldn''t be a single orbital railgun left standing. Arkonis hedged his bets though. That was what the last missile was for. If it wasn''t needed, it could be retrieved and set into safe mode again.


    It was a shame he had to destroy the powerful surface weapons, he could have easily repurposed them for his flagship. Then maybe he could carve out a chunk in his brother''s new empire. Or get rid of him and take it all for himself. Arkonis smiled. It was good to have goals.


    ***


    Alexander was working on his engine design when the facility shook slightly. Then it shook again and again. He quickly realized it was the railguns firing. An even louder boom shook the facility a moment later, followed by two more before the facility alarms finally went off. Then he heard the smaller railguns burst to life, their muted booms shaking dust off the walls as they sent hypersonic darts at something.


    The overhead speaker crackled to life but fell silent almost immediately as all of the power cut out.


    As soon as the power died, a red warning flashed across Alexander''s internal display.


    [WARNING EMP DETECTED!]


    All of this happened in the span of twenty seconds. His mind quickly parsed what was going on and he decided he needed to make sure his daughter was safe. He rushed out of the room to find Yulia. The entire facility was eerily quiet until emergency lights and power started to flicker back to life. He tried the small radio he carried, but it was dead. He wondered how he was still alive. An EMP should have shut him down. Especially one powerful enough to disable power in the facility. And the fact that the guns had fallen silent was not a good sign.


    "Pirate attack! Get to the shelters!" someone screamed over the comm system as it crackled back to life.


    Red flashing lights and alarms began to blare across the complex as people rushed to safety.


    "Alexander, report to security," Damien said over the comm, obviously replacing the hysterical man from before.


    Dammit! He didn''t have time to rush to security, he needed to find Yulia. But he quickly realized she could be anywhere. Without knowing where to start, trying to find her could be a waste of very precious time. Quickly debating the pros and cons of trying to track down his daughter, he turned down the next path and raced for the security station. Yulia was smart, she would go to her shelter area and Damien would not have called on him if it wasn''t important.


    He arrived at the security room a few minutes later. "What''s going on?"


    "Pirates hit three of the orbital railguns. We took out the rest of the missiles but the bastards set off a nuke in orbit," the man stated grimly. "The resultant EMP forced a system reset."


    "The external defenses!" Alexander said in realization. With the facility''s ancient computer core in the process of being rebuilt by Lucas, Alexander hadn''t seen the point of connecting the new guns to the facility''s power grid. That and the cost of running that much high-voltage cable to the gun pits had made it a low priority. It had been much easier and more efficient to just hook up his batteries to an array of solar panels. The batteries for the guns stored enough power to empty the magazines, so recharging them quickly really wasn''t all that important for him. He was regretting that decision now.


    "All down. Your fancy new internal defenses as well."


    "What do we have for weapons?" Alexander asked instead of freaking out. If he could get out there, he could reset one of the guns.


    "The pulse rifles should still work. However, they won''t do much against pirates with nukes."


    "If they were willing to nuke the facility, they wouldn''t have detonated it in orbit. They want something, and my guess is that something has to do with me."


    Damien grunted in agreement. "If I thought the pirates would simply leave us be if they got to you, I might be inclined to step aside and let them."


    "How very shrewd," Alexander responded coldly.


    The man shrugged. "If they wanted me and it would save the rest of the people here, wouldn''t you do the same?"


    "¡­"


    "I thought so," Damien smirked slightly. "At least that makes you human."


    "You need more weapons."


    "Preferably. But I doubt you have time to print more, even if the printers came back online."


    "They didn''t," he replied. Or at least he hadn''t bothered to check on them before he left to search for Yulia before being called here. "But we have CQB rifles at all the entrance turrets. Get your people down to the entrances and have them pry the turrets open. The rifles should be easy enough to remove, but they aren''t exactly set up for standard use. Still, it''ll be better than trying to stun the pirates."


    The man nodded and sent out another communication over the station comm. "We can only hope people are in those areas. It''s not like they can communicate back with us unless they get to a nearby terminal."


    Alexander nodded, but the man just looked at him. He realized his holo-projector was burned out in the attack. Not this again, he groaned internally. "Do the best you can. Do you know where Yulia might be or how long we have?"


    "She would have headed to her designated bunker. I don''t have enough people to send them on a wild goose chase looking for her if you think she didn''t¡­ I''m sorry. As for when the pirates arrive, no clue. We don''t exactly have an uplink to our satellites anymore. My guess is they would have waited well back of that detonation though. So ten to fifteen minutes before ships start descending from orbit would be my guess."


    The man''s rebuke over his daughter stung, but he was right. It didn''t make Alexander want to punch him in the face any less though. Before he could do something rash, he stomped out of the security room. This was no time to start a fight.


    "Where are you going?" Damien asked.


    "To try and reset one of the railguns. Unless you think the pirates will simply sit back and let us kill them while they have a ship in orbit overhead?"


    The man had no response to that and Alexander picked up speed as he raced down the hallway as fast as his servos would carry him. He had never gone full out with this body, it was time to put it to the test.


    As the walls blurred past him, he focused on the problem at hand. There was no tunnel leading to the railguns, which meant he needed to head outside. He had separated the gun pits from the rest of the complex to protect it in case the weapons failed catastrophically. He never figured the failure would have been caused by pirates. If they survived this attack, he would need to address that oversight as soon as possible. Having to go onto the surface to fix a weapon platform while under attack seemed like a monumentally stupid idea. One he was about to embark on very shortly. Alexander hoped he could reset the connection to the turret or this little stunt would be a complete waste of time.


    The exit door came up fast and Alexander was forced to slow as he encountered his first obstacle. The door control was burned out. He ripped a panel off the wall with a screech of tearing metal and reached for the manual release. The rachet-style mechanism was slow as hell, but he was glad it was there. After thirty seconds, he finally got the doors open wide enough so he could pass through.


    The sun was beginning to set and Alexander could see the remnants of the electromagnetic disturbance over the facility from the detonation. The shockwaves resembled an aurora, it would almost be pretty if he didn''t know what caused it. He didn''t stand around to admire them though as he raced across the landing pad and toward one of the railguns.


    As he quickly covered the distance, he could see two black clouds on the far side of the facility. And one on this side. He zoomed in on the closest cloud. There were broken solar panels and the twisted wreckage of the gun sticking out of the destroyed weapon installation. They had indeed managed to target the guns. But not all of them thankfully. The thin lines of smoke rising in the distance must have been the remaining missiles.


    He quickly added them up, including the three impacts he heard. There was a total of twelve. Someone had used enough weapons to ensure two per gun. If the smaller guns hadn''t come online, all of the weapons would have been turned into twisted scrap. There was no way the bigger guns could fire and reload fast enough to stop two missiles simultaneously. That meant someone knew about the defenses. Had someone betrayed them?


    With that chilling thought, he pushed his body even harder, getting angry orange lights popping up in his vision. He ignored them. Alexander thought about trying to get the landing pad guns back online, but he only had time to reactivate one gun. While the landing pad guns would deter any landing for a short time, the turrets wouldn''t be able to do anything about the ships in orbit. Sooner or later the pirates would destroy the smaller gun and come down.


    As he neared the pit, he thanked whoever was on duty in the security room for being diligent. Any delay and the guns may not have even activated and he would either be sprinting toward a burning pit or a sealed weapon hatch.


    Alexander jumped down the service ladder at the side of the gun, falling forty feet and landing with a loud boom as he hit the grating at the bottom of the pit. The metal caved in below his weight but he simply yanked his legs out of the hole and ran to the main breaker.


    He flicked the breaker back on, but all he heard was a loud buzzing sound coming from the power supply. There was no sign of movement from the weapon overhead. He quickly thought over the problem. The buzzing meant the power was working. The capacitors would need time to recharge from the batteries, they were designed to dump their energy into a grounded connection if the breaker tripped so they didn''t damage the wiring. But there should still be enough power to move the gun. The fact it wasn''t moving, meant the fuses in the gun itself had popped. Since all of the power for the gun and the rotary mechanism went through those fuses, he needed to replace them to get it working again. Alexander designed them to be sensitive to power spikes to prevent any damage to the weapons. It seemed he would need to redesign them to take into account EMPs now.


    He flipped the breaker back off before he ran over to a nearby cabinet and tore it open since he didn''t have time to enter the code. He grabbed two of the massive replacement fuses and hurried over to the gun. Normally the weapon would be in standby mode for changing these out. The fact it wasn''t in that mode would have been a real issue for anyone who wasn''t an eight-foot-tall robot. That was another design flaw he would have to correct in the next iteration.


    Alexander yanked the service panel off the weapon and pulled the blown fuses out, replacing them with the two new ones. Then he ran back over and flipped the breaker back on. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The gun jerked into motion and he nearly sighed in relief before it settled back into storage mode. "What! No, move dammit!"


    When he looked at the maintenance terminal, he saw the gun was resetting due to numerous faults being detected.


    He cursed himself for having built these failsafes into the gun as he climbed the ladder back out of the pit. The gun would take time to ensure all the systems were working properly before it would activate again. But they didn''t have time.


    As he exited the pit, he could already see the telltale streaks of shuttles descending from orbit. Without enhancing his vision, he could even see a ship slowing as it fired its landing and takeoff thrusters to maintain a stationary orbit over the facility. The ship had to be quite low for him to see it without zooming in. There was no more time to get any other guns working. Alexander rushed back to the facility door and shut it behind him just as he heard the flare of engines.

 Chapter 58

    "Alex!" Yulia shouted as she ran into his workshop in a panic.He wasn''t there though. The place was as quiet as everywhere else. She had been heading home from classes when the lights went out. Then the voice on the speaker said there was a pirate attack. She knew she should have headed straight for the shelter, but she was afraid to do so alone.


    Shortly after she called out, the voice of the scary security guy, called Alex to the security room. Now that she knew where to look, she did her best to hurry over there. It was a long way to the security station from Alex''s shop though and before she got there, the building shook around her, sending her falling to the ground.


    She screamed and tucked her head in her hands, fearing the worst, when she heard footsteps.


    "There you are!" a familiar voice called.


    Yulia peeked through her arms and saw Markus running towards her.


    "You were supposed to go to the shelter, why didn''t you?"


    "I- I was looking for Alex. Why didn''t you go?" S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The boy sighed and picked her up off the floor. "I had a feeling you weren''t going to follow instructions. When I heard them called to the security room, I came this way to stop you. Do you think he would be happy to know you weren''t heading for safety?"


    She shook her head, not meeting the older boy''s gaze.


    "Let''s go."


    Markus pulled her but she resisted. "What about Alex? I need to find him."


    "No," Markus said in annoyance. "He''s busy, and we''re kids. We''ll just get in his way. Now come on, or I''ll drag you."


    Yulia didn''t want to be dragged so she hurried behind Markus as fast as she could. Loud booms started to echo through the halls and Markus stopped at an intersection, cursing under his breath as he looked for where to go.


    "I don''t know this section, which way to the closest shelter?"


    "I only know where my designated shelter is," Yulia admitted in embarrassment. "And that''s near atrium B."


    The boy cursed again, and Yulia wanted to tell him to stop or Headmaster Wong would give him a talking-to, but this did feel like a time that cursing might be allowed. "We need to find someplace safe. Someplace the¨C," Markus'' words trailed off as loud shouting came from down one hallway. The shouting was followed by a series of loud pops that echoed through the halls and a buzzing crack that made her tense up. She remembered that sound from the attack at Alex''s.


    "This way, quickly," he whispered as they ran in the other direction.


    ***


    Zade chuckled darkly as one of the shuttles impacted the landing pad faster than it should have and exploded. "More for us!" he yelled to the cheers of his crew.


    He would have preferred that shuttle to have been Arkonis'' that way he could have taken over the crew but it wasn''t. That was unfortunate, but there was still a chance the man would get himself killed down here. The old bastard was going on forty-five. He was a relic and should have done everyone a favor and gone down in a raid a long time ago. Arkonis was also a coward who liked to run raids from the rear instead of getting his hands dirty. The pampered little prince might as well move into STO space and live there if he wanted safety. This place was too big for him to hide behind his other teams this time though. Other than skeleton crews left to monitor the ships in orbit, everyone was down here. Maybe he could accidentally fire a grenade in his boss'' direction. It was certainly an option.


    The ship flared its thrusters hard and Zade grunted under the pressure. He didn''t black out though. If he did, someone on his team probably would have shot him in the back at the first opportunity and took his place as the leader of his crew. As it should be. The weak should be culled and the strong should rule.


    Even with the extreme deceleration, their landing was a hard one. This planet''s atmosphere was so thin that he was pushing his luck with a ship this large. But he had the biggest crew besides the boss'', and he would be damned if he wasn''t taking everything he could from this miserable rock.


    It better be worth it too, because the cost of that nuke had come out of everyone''s share.


    He checked his armor. Unlike the grunts, his was the best money could buy off the black market. It had military-grade armor plating and even had minor augmentation making it nearly as good as the mech suits the STO used. He smiled and lifted the heavy grenade launcher. Since he liked to lead from the front, he got to breach the doors, and what better way than with a big boom!


    The ramp lowered and his crew hollered in glee as they followed him off the ship. He almost paused when he saw the turrets, but if they had been active, they would have shot by now. "Maybe that nuke was worth it after all," he smiled wickedly as he let a series of grenades fly toward the entry at the far end of the landing pad.


    A satisfying series of explosions rattled the thin air before the tone changed. "Door''s open boys!"


    His crew streamed past him, hoping to be the first to claim a kill or something good. Zade just stuck the launcher on his back where it magnetically attached before he drew his minigun. He spun it up, smiling widely at the sound before he joined his people who were already forcing their way inside and firing on whoever was dumb enough to resist.


    The only thing he heard was the buzzing crack of pulse rifles. He shoved the broken door aside and his people hit the deck as the defenders all turned to look his way. The bullets from his minigun tore through them before they even had a chance to fire more than a few blasts his way.


    One man held a strange weapon and fired it at him, but the flechette ricocheted harmlessly off his armor. In annoyance more than anger, Zade hosed the man down and kept the trigger pulled as he stomped forward, turning the man into a red paste on the ground before he finally ran out of ammo.


    He tsked in annoyance and unlatched the weapon and the ammo cannister, dropping it by the door. He picked up one of the rifles from his dead men, replaced the magazine and his team stalked forward looking for more targets.


    ***


    Alexander felt more than heard the next explosion as something came down just outside the door he was at. At first, he thought maybe the turrets came back on, but when no further explosions happened, he realized that wasn''t the case.


    Then he heard muted gunfire and booms. This was followed by a long series of shots from some fully automatic weapon. The people in Eden''s End had nothing comparable to that and he knew that things were going to get much worse if he couldn''t come up with a solution.


    He made for his workshop as fast as he could go. There were parts in there, maybe he could put together something to help.


    Alexander crossed an intersection when someone shouted from down the hall and a hail of bullets came his way. But he was moving so quickly that they missed or slammed into the walls behind him.


    [WARNING HOSTILE FIRE DETECTED!]


    Alexander wanted to roll his eyes at the stupid message. Of course, he knew ''hostile fire'' was detected. He tried to will away the message, but it stayed front and center for a bit before it seemed to go away on its own. ''What? No defensive mode, or ultimate badass mode?'' The mind space didn''t reply, it never did. And he saw no changes to the other readouts, most of which he still didn''t understand.


    He took the next turn, ensuring the people who were now chasing him couldn''t get a clear shot. He still wasn''t convinced this body was bulletproof. And from the sounds of it, the pirates had much heavier weapons. He had spotted one of them was wearing an augment suit with something large strapped to its back. That single pirate could take on this entire facility without issue.


    His workshop came into sight and he ducked inside and shut the door before locking it by placing a piece of scrap barstock in the track to jam it closed.


    Alexander quickly looked around for something he could use to fight back with. The workshop had accumulated quite a series of failed tests and components ever since the smelter had been moved into orbit. But one thing caught his eye.


    It was the railgun from his very first tests. He dragged it out from the pile of scraps. The cables were still connected to it, but it had no power source. Since it was offline during the EMP, it should be functional. But how was he going to power it?


    Alexander scanned the room for any batteries or power banks, but there were none. Then he looked at the flashing warning light for the station alarm. "Power is power," he muttered as he dragged the weapon over to the wall just as someone started pounding on his door.


    He worked as fast as he could to modify the internal capacitor of the gun so it would only discharge when he was ready. It wouldn''t be a very high-power shot, but with any luck, it would work. Alexander just needed time.


    ***


    "Doors wedged shut," one of his people stated.


    Zade didn''t have time for this shit. And a closed door meant there was likely something valuable behind it. "Move!" he yelled as he backed away from the door and pulled the launcher off his back again.


    Each explosive cost a hundred credits, which is why he mainly used it for breaching but he had a good feeling about this door. The first blast rocked the hallway, sending dust and debris flying, but the door was stronger than it looked. The explosion had dented it quite heavily though, so one or two more would get them in.


    The third time was the charm as he heard the metal shriek in protest before it blew inward. He hoped it didn''t kill anyone inside, he wanted to do that personally for making him waste his time and money.


    Zade stepped through the blasted opening and saw a treasure trove of high-end electronics and manufacturing equipment. But his eyes focused on the robot at the far side of the room. The one they had been chasing. Arkonis had told them to be on the lookout for it as it had something to do with the person they were here to capture. That didn''t mean he couldn''t disable it though. He smiled as the thing wasn''t even facing him. He flicked the selector to burst fire and fired off three grenades.


    They screamed across the room¡­ and stopped.


    ***


    Alexander would have blinked if he had eyes. He heard the attempts to get into his shop, he knew it was only a matter of time until they would. Once the door blew open, he watched them with a part of his focus as he put the finishing touches on the railgun he was hiding from view.


    He hadn''t expected the man to fire three grenades his way as soon as he entered, or the message that popped up when they flew his way.


    [WARNING THREAT DETECTED!]


    [COUNTERMEASURES DEPLOYED]


    [DEFENSE FIELD ACTIVATED]


    The messages popped up so fast, that he couldn''t even react. A static hum built around him in the time it took the grenades to cross the room. The three grenades slammed into the field and simply stopped about a foot in front of him. Alexander was shocked by this, he expected them to maybe be deflected by this strange defense field. This was not the simple static field that ships used to deflect space debris, this was bordering on a fricking forcefield. A stray thought entered his mind. If his body had something like this, how the hell had it been damaged in the first place?


    It seemed everyone was just as shocked to see this as he was because the pirates stopped and stared. It was a good thing Alexander''s mind worked much faster to process this new situation. He plucked the three explosives out of the air and chucked them back toward the pirates.


    Unfortunately, there must have been some sort of timer or proximity awareness fuse on the weapons because they detonated far short of his target, tearing up the room. The explosion had the additional effect of knocking the pirates out of their shock. As they recovered, they quickly opened fire at him.


    The strange field stopped every bullet, but he saw the man with the augment suit was getting ready to fire again after having adjusted something on his weapon.


    Not willing to risk a second round of explosives, Alexander stepped aside, exposing the railgun.


    It was already loaded with a spare round he found in the same pile he dug it out from. The man with the grenade launcher had just enough time to realize what was facing him before Alexander touched the exposed wire to the firing mechanism.


    The crack of the hypersonic round was deafening inside the workshop and the blast of its passing kicked up dust and sent loose parts scattering around the room. But it found its mark and passed effortlessly into the man''s armored front.


    Alexander was worried about the round going through the facility walls. Turned out he needn''t have worried, much like his early tests, the round failed to penetrate the back side of the armor. Unlike those early tests, there was a squishy human between those plates. The energy had to go somewhere. The man exploded like a water balloon as shards of tungsten flew out the sides hitting three more pirates who were standing next to him.


    The sonic boom and resultant human explosion had done a significant amount of damage to the pirates as well, leaving the few survivors groaning on the ground.


    Disconnecting the gun, Alexander hurried over to make sure they didn''t get back up. He took no comfort in picking up one of their rifles and dispatching them, but it had to be done.


    He grabbed a small rolling cart that had been knocked over during the fight and loaded the pirates'' weapons onto them. Even the grenade launcher was loaded onto the cart. Once everything was piled on top, he pushed it out through the opening and toward the next entry point.


    He didn''t know if this new defense field would stay active forever, so he needed to make it count while it was.

 Chapter 59

    Arkonis ground his teeth in annoyance from inside his powered armor suit. He had seen one of the shuttles go down as his shuttle was landing on the far side of the facility. The crash was likely due to pilot incompetence. He was certain all the people aboard were dead. And if the pilot had somehow survived, he would have shot the man anyway. Their deaths were inconsequential, there were always new raiders on Haven willing and able to join a crew. Hell, he could even pick up more raiders on the other pirate outposts scattered around the outside of STO space. But a shuttle¡­ A shuttle cost him money. And no matter what his crews might like to think, everything they used belonged to him.He made a mental note to replace the leader of that crew. His third in command preferred to play captain instead of raiding and never got his hands dirty unless he had to or was ordered to. Arkonis preferred to let his people do as they pleased, it kept them happier most of the time, but it seemed he had been too lenient. Perhaps he needed to take a more hands-on approach like his brother. His life would be so much easier if all of his crews were led by thick-headed idiots like his second-in-command, Zade. Zade might be a loose cannon and a threat to his role as leader, but that''s what made him such an effective pirate. And idiots were much easier to control.


    The shuttle touched down and his people raced toward the door to force it open. Unlike Zade, who he could already hear firing into the facility, Arkonis preferred an approach that damaged as little as possible. He could make money from even unexpected things like door controllers, so why damage them if he didn''t need to?


    By the time he strode into the building, his people had already dealt with the few guards at this entrance. He had picked this side specifically because it showed the fewest signs of activity. They would have quite the trek to get to where the action and likely the best loot was, but he didn''t care. He got a cut of everything anyway and he only had one other goal here.


    "Send out the seekers, I want to know where our quarry is."


    The man he addressed nodded and dumped out a sack of orb drones. Then he began tossing them into the air after activating the little devices. Someone dragged over a crate the defenders had been using to hide behind and Arkonis took a seat on it while his people monitored the drone feeds. He wasn''t about to go searching this place on foot, it would be like looking for credits in an asteroid belt.


    The building shook and everyone turned as dusty air blew past them. It wasn''t a strong breeze, but this place shouldn''t have any breezes. Arkonis knew a shockwave when he saw it.


    "What the hell was that?" he demanded to know.


    "I don''t know, boss."


    Arkonis turned to the man and he flinched. "Find out!"


    These local idiots shouldn''t have any active weapons systems after his EMP. But if they got one of the external railguns working, their liftoff could be in danger.


    "We managed to triangulate the point of origin," the tech said.


    Arkonis focused on the projection that moved to the front of the holo display. It showed a scene of carnage. An entire team of pirates; dead inside a room filled with expensive-looking manufacturing machines. And if he wasn''t mistaken, the charred armor lying on the ground ¨C covered in gore ¨C belonged to his second in command, Zade.


    The drone zipped to the back of the workshop where a cobbled-together railgun sat near a set of exposed wires from the local power grid.


    "Pack it up, we''re leaving," he stated as he began to stand.


    Before anyone could reply, there was a loud crack followed by a much stronger shockwave. This time it originated from outside the facility


    He rushed out the door and looked up in the sky, just in time to see one of the ships hovering in orbit burst apart as something slammed into it. It was one of the smaller pirate ships, but still.


    Arkonis pressed the radio button on his suit. "Move the fucking ships out of orbit! They have a railgun online!"


    There was no response to his command, but the ships started getting smaller quickly. The idiots should have been paying attention this entire time, then they would have seen the gun activating. The ships weren''t fast enough. The massive ground-based weapon fired again, sending the hypersonic round tearing through yet another vessel.


    Arkonis screamed in inarticulate rage and stormed back into the facility. He couldn''t order the ships in orbit to fire down on the surface, those idiots were just as likely to kill him as they were to hit their target.


    "Find me the gods damned control room. NOW!"


    ***


    When Alexander finally heard the orbital railgun fire, he let out a quiet sigh of relief. The attack wasn''t over by any means, but the one working gun would limit the pirates'' options.


    He was approaching another gunfight. It was clear by the growing sounds of weapons firing back and forth.


    When he rounded a corner, he spotted a group of twenty locals behind a makeshift barricade. They had somehow gotten their hands on some of the pirates'' guns and were using them to keep another group of pirates pinned down at the far side of the hallway at an intersection. What he wasn''t expecting to see was Eva Wu leading the defense.


    The woman must have heard him coming because she ducked away from the battle and leveled the gun she was holding on him. "Alexander!" she exclaimed. "Why are you out here? You should be with your daughter."


    "I could ask you the same thing."


    "I''m just doing my part," she stated casually.


    "I can see that," he glanced down at the gun she was holding.


    She smirked. "This isn''t my first tussle with pirates." She glanced over at his cart, "And maybe not yours either."


    "They attacked my workshop, I got lucky. Do any of your people need guns or ammo?"


    She whistled, the sound cut through the noise of battle and three people dashed toward them in a crouch as the return fire subsided for a bit.


    "What''s up, Eva?" one of the men asked.


    "Distribute the weapons to anyone who needs one. And top off with any ammo that''s compatible."


    One of the guys attempted to lift the launcher, but it was way too heavy. Alexander walked over and easily picked it up, earning some whistles of approval from the gathered people.


    "How many rounds you got for that thing?" Eva asked.


    "I''m honestly not sure. I kinda just stuffed everything on the cart and hurried over to the closest fight."


    They quickly counted out ten rounds.


    "If you don''t mind, could you clear out the far end of this hallway with them? I fear some of the pirates are trying to flank us, but if we leave this spot, they will simply rush the barricade."


    "Gladly," Alexander said, walking over to the barricade without a worry.


    Eva tried to stop him, but he watched her pause as the pirates started firing on him. Their bullets seemed to stop in mid-air until he passed, and then they fell to the ground, all their momentum lost. He aimed the large grenade launcher down the hall and fired three times.


    The pirates either didn''t realize what was going on or were too stupid to seek cover. But the hallway went eerily silent after Alexander''s exchange.


    "What was that?" Eva finally said, running up to him.


    He shrugged. "Just a feature I learned about recently."


    The woman looked like she wanted to know more, but she simply nodded. "Uh-huh. Thanks for the help. Now we can start pushing the pirates back. Maybe we can even link up with more security teams."


    "I''ll leave you to it, like you said, I should be looking for my daughter."


    "Good luck, and stay safe, Alexander."


    "You too, Eva."


    ***


    "Sir, we found something!" one of the techs exclaimed.


    "If it''s not the weapons control room, it better be damn good!"


    "¡­It''s the little girl. The one you said we could use as leverage."


    Finally, some good news. That damn railgun had been firing every twenty seconds and he was unsure of the status of his fleet because these damn walls were disrupting radio communications. "Where?"


    The man presented a map with a glowing path. "Two of you guard this door. The rest, with me."


    If he couldn''t find that control room, a hostage would be an acceptable alternative.


    His people raced through the winding halls of this massive complex, avoiding or ambushing defenders when they could. But the resistance was starting to increase as they made their way deeper inside. Instead of running into teams of defenders with only pulse rifles, they started running into scattered groups of locals with scavenged pirate weapons. He knew they were pirate weapons because the vast majority of them had kill tally marks on them.


    Arkonis was so angry that this raid was going sideways that he crushed one of the weapons in his augmented grip.


    "We''re almost there. Pick up the pace!"


    The girl in question and a slightly older boy with her were running for all they were worth since spotting the drone trailing them. But they were children. They couldn''t outrun adults forever.


    His raiders came around a corner and he spotted his quarry just turning down the next hallway. He smiled wickedly and raced after them, not bothering to wait for his people who were far slower than he was in his augmented armor.


    He rounded the corner and slowed to a stop. The kids were running toward another target he had been looking for. The robot.


    Cursing, he rushed forward. A useless cargo robot was no match for his state-of-the-art armor. He doubted even the STO military had armor as advanced as his. Hell, he knew they didn''t. When the STO turned down the outrageously expensive contract for this armor, the company that made it, turned to the private sector for sales. Plenty of corporate bigwigs wanted the best of the best, so they actually made more money that way. It was easy to get them to sell a pair of the suits to him. More specifically, his shell company. It was pretty clear the company he had purchased the armor from had not done their due diligence and looked into his company''s records. His company''s records wouldn''t have passed even minor scrutiny. Or maybe they did and simply didn''t care, most STO companies only cared about money. They didn''t care where it came from.


    He almost laughed when the robot told the children to keep running. The thing raised the grenade launcher it had taken off of his second in command at him and pulled the trigger. When the weapon failed to fire, Arkonis laughed. "Best armor and EW suite money can buy. Don''t worry though. I''ll make sure your adopted daughter remains alive and mostly unharmed. You just need to turn yourself over to me."


    Arkonis didn''t know or care if his words had gotten through to the man behind the machine. His EW module had probably fried the dumb thing''s electronics already, but he would know that his daughter had been captured. That would be enough.


    He went to skirt around the inert robot when a hand shot out, wrapping around his bicep. Arkonis was jerked to a halt so fast it felt like his arm had almost been ripped out of its socket.


    "Wha- What?" he asked as the robot lifted him into the air with little effort.


    "What did you say about my daughter?"


    Arkonis didn''t have time to respond as the robot smashed him against the floor like a child throwing a temper tantrum with a stuffed animal. He groaned as the armor started spitting out damage notifications in the hud.


    "Nobody will lay a finger on my daughter¡­ ever!"


    Arkonis pulled his pistol out and fired it point-blank into the robot''s torso. He wasn''t sure why it was still active but the armor-piercing rounds should be enough to damage the robot so he could free himself. Then he could finish it off. The bullets ricocheted off whatever material the exterior of the robot was made of, only leaving small chips on the surface.


    Before he could fire again, The robot crushed his hand around the gun and swung him into the wall with a reverberating boom. The impact gel absorbed some of the damage, but he coughed, and blood speckled the inside of his armored faceplate. If he didn''t free himself or disable this damn robot, he wasn''t going to last long.


    Then the sweet sound of gunfire erupted. He smiled despite the pain. His people had arrived.


    ***


    Alexander held the armored man, his rage over the man''s threat not yet quelled. But he wasn''t blinded by it like he had been when Yulia was injured aboard Petrov Station. He kept one eye on the fleeing pair of children. When he saw the pirates rounding the corner and raising their weapons, he stepped into the hallway to block any possible bullets from hitting the kids.


    The pirate hung loosely in his hand, but even he was saved from the bullets as Alexander''s defense field stopped them. It was good to know that it wasn''t unbeatable. The three small dark spots in his vision proved that.


    When the kids finally turned another corner, Alexander focused on what was to come next. He wound his arm as fast as he could and threw the armored form at the pirates before he rushed forward. What happened next was not a fight.


    He stood there, surrounded by dead bodies. The pirates hadn''t even lasted a full minute after he crashed into them. The armored one had taken the most effort to kill, but he had been knocked senseless after Alexander hurled him like a baseball into the pirates. Even then, it took effort to ensure the man inside the armor was dead, but the crushed helmet was enough proof for him.


    Alexander was still angry despite the threat being eliminated. He was angry they had dared to try and harm Yulia, angry that they had forced him to kill. They needed to die, he knew that. That didn''t bother him. The fact that the universe seemed to be conspiring to change him into something he didn''t want to be was what pissed him off.


    All he ever wanted to do was find out how he ended up in this body and have a pleasant life. Then the corporations got involved, stealing his invention and forcing him to reevaluate his goals. Alexander hadn''t even had much time to do that when mercenaries attacked him and injured Yulia all to get their greedy little hands on a few weapons. So he had to reevaluate again. But the universe wasn''t done with him yet. The Petrov Station Council decided to stick its nose into his business.


    He should be more angry about all of that, but each setback only pushed him to greater heights. If it was only him on the receiving end of this bad karma, he probably wouldn''t be nearly as upset. But they had intended to harm his daughter. That was unacceptable.


    It was clear by the man''s words that they were here specifically for him. This put to rest any doubts he had that there was a traitor on Eden''s End.


    Alexander could still hear the orbital railgun firing, which meant the attack wasn''t over yet. He decided to catch up to Yulia and Markus and find a safe spot for them while the rest of the facility was cleared.


    Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 60

    The Talon was pushing as fast as possible back to Eden''s End. They had been halfway to Varlen when Matthews was woken up by a high-priority ship comm. He would have preferred a hostile attack to the actual issue they had woken him up for.One of the techs responsible for reviewing Qcomm messages going out from Eden''s End had failed to enter the comm data into S.A.M. for analysis since he didn''t see anything out of the ordinary in the messages. It wasn''t until an after-action review was performed by the head of analysis that S.A.M. pointed out the suspicious nature of the messages. It didn''t take the program long to decode the conversations.


    They had come from one of the drifters living on Eden''s End. When Matthews read the decoded messages, he had ordered the Talon to reverse course. The tech who failed to do their job was going to be scrubbing floors and toilets until the Talon returned to Ganos, where the Hawks'' leadership would decide if he got sent back to remedial training or released from the company for this gross oversight.


    That man''s eventual fate would depend a lot on whether they were too late or not. In his updates with HQ, they simply told him to ''Go above and beyond for Mr. Kane.'' It wasn''t hard to figure out why after he started sending in his monthly field reports, and he was more than glad to oblige. He liked Kane, and most of the crew liked the man as well. It was rare to come across someone so talented and honest, yet humble as well. The Hawks'' leadership knew a good investment when they saw one. If it wasn''t for the pirate incursion, they would have stuck around and maybe even rotated out with their sister company to ensure constant security for the system.


    "How much longer until we emerge into normal space?" he asked, doing his best to hide the worry in his tone.


    "Less than a minute, Captain," the crewman replied.


    He pressed the all-hands button and an orange light began to strobe throughout the ship followed by a short klaxon. "We are about to emerge from FTL, strap yourselves in for combat maneuvering. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."


    The warning was unnecessary, his people had been ready and in position for the last hour, but it paid to make sure. "Lockdown the bulkheads and finish venting procedures."


    Every door across the massive troop transport was sealed shut and he could hear the quiet hiss as oxygen was pumped from the rooms and into the storage tanks. Matthews reached up and clicked the button that would seal his helmet.


    "Five seconds," the same crewman from before said.


    "All weapons are green," the Chief Weapons officer stated over his suit radio.


    The ship emerged into normal space, the entry far rougher than usual because they had pushed the warp exit much deeper into the system''s gravity well than was normally advised. But he knew from experience that the ship and the drive could take it. Even if the bubble destabilized, the ship probably would have been fine. The people on board, maybe not so much. Matthews had never been on a ship that experienced a warp field collapse, but it was a topic of discussion in flight school. The premature collapse of a warp bubble would have made the turbulence they felt just now seem minor by comparison.


    The ship was racing towards Eden''s End but even so, it took a few minutes for their sensors to collect the data of what was happening at the planet. "There are fifteen contacts in low orbit above the planet. No transponders Captain."


    Dammit, they were too late to stop the pirates from landing. "Any signs of debris in orbit?" the planetary railguns should have done a number on the pirate ships.


    "The sensors are picking up some debris, but it''s not enough to indicate a ship. The sensors are also picking up multiple signs of smoke from the surface. There is also residual radiation from high in the planet''s atmosphere. S.A.M. indicates a nuke was detonated?" That last one came out as a question from the stumped Ensign. Matthews wasn''t surprised, nuclear weapons weren''t in common use since before the Shican war.


    It sounded like the pirates attempted to destroy the surface weapons, and when that failed, they set off a nuke outside the atmosphere as an EMP to clear the way. Even as a student of military history, he hadn''t heard of anyone using a nuke as an EMP in well over a hundred years. There was no point when more sophisticated methods existed to temporarily disrupt electronics.


    That didn''t even answer the question of how the pirates got their hands on a nuclear weapon in the first place. The STO sure didn''t use them, and even the Coalition had never bothered with the weapons during the war. Matthews gritted his teeth. While the existence of the weapon was concerning, how the pirates got their hands on a nuke wasn''t important right now. "Tell the PDC crews that I don''t want a single missile getting anywhere near us. And tell the main battery crews to open up as soon as they have a firing solution." If they had one nuke, they might have more. Better to be safe than sorry.


    "The pirates have spotted our jump signature, they are beginning to accelerate for a higher orbit."


    "Weapons fire from planetside detected!" another of the bridge crew cheered.


    "Calm down," Matthews chided the person. However, he smiled as he watched the smaller pirate vessel burst apart from the single impact.


    He had never mentioned this fact to Alexander, but his railguns were complete overkill for most things. A ship like the Talon might be able to shrug off a dozen of those massive rounds, but smaller ships like gunboats and Corvettes simply weren''t built to take that sort of kinetic impact and survive. Matthews was of the mind that it was always better to go for overkill than underkill though. In this case, it seemed it paid off.


    The ship shuddered as the main guns fired.


    The Talon''s weapons may not be as large as Alexander''s but he had twenty-four of them. "Tell the missile crews to target the largest ship. I guarantee that was the bastard that launched the nuke."


    Moments later, four streaks zipped past the Talon before tiny points of light flared to life as the missiles closed in on their target.


    Two more ships burst into expanding clouds of debris from the planetside guns before the Talon''s weapons arrived on the scene. There were no explosions as his weapons tore into the weaker shielding on the rear of the pirate ships. The pirates tried to escape the planet''s gravity or curve around to the far side to avoid the oncoming fire, but they had been stationary when the Talon jumped in and were at a distinct disadvantage. Two more ships died as their drives gave out and he watched in satisfaction as they began to plunge into the atmosphere.


    The Talon rocked hard as return fire impacted its thickly armored front.


    "Minimal damage to report, Captain. They are using autocannons."


    A burst of fire exploded between him and the fleeing pirates. "One of our missiles was intercepted. The other three have engaged electronic warfare countermeasures and evasive maneuvers."


    "Splash two," the officer said a few moments later.


    He witnessed the third explode as it hit a piece of wreckage. The fourth made it through and exploded near the large pirate ship.


    "Heavy damage to the pirate ship, but they are still maneuvering. Six inbound missiles detected."


    A hail of PDC ammo flew to intercept the missiles while the Gauss cannons continued to spit death at the fleeing pirate ships.


    The Talon was moving so fast that he needed to maximize the damage they inflicted before overflying the pirates. If they didn''t kill or chase off the pirates before that happened they would be vulnerable to an attack from the rear. There was a reason why high-speed intercepts like this were not advisable.


    "Enemy missiles destroyed. The main ship is attempting to accelerate to a safe jump distance."


    He pressed the comm button and spoke calmly into his radio. "If that ship escapes this system, I will be severely disappointed in all of you."


    Every gun capable locked onto that larger ship and began to fire. Three more missiles flew out as well. Missiles were expensive, so they normally only used the bare minimum in a combat situation. But when the Captain says he is going to be disappointed, you pulled out all the stops.


    The enemy ship did a valiant job trying to stop the missiles, but another one struck the engines and the kinetic rounds easily punched through the ship''s static field and armor. He knew they were dead in the water when he saw the ship start to drift sideways.


    "The rest of the ships are jumping away, Captain."


    The fact that the pirates had risked a jump so close to the planet surprised him. They wouldn''t have gotten far with the unstable warp bubble, but by the time the Talon picked them back up on sensors, the ships would have plenty of time to jump properly. "How many escaped?"


    "Only three of the fifteen, Sir."


    Matthews grunted in annoyance. "Slow us down and get the drop ships ready to disembark. I want to ensure there aren''t any surviving pirates. What about conditions on the surface?"


    "Scans show one debris field on a landing pad and four other ships down there. It also looks like three craters where gun emplacements used to be."


    At least they hadn''t been caught completely unaware. "Any communications from Eden''s End?"


    "Negative, Captain."


    It was likely their comm gear was down due to the EMP strike. "Tell the drop ship teams to split into two groups. I want one aboard the ships, the other to scour Eden''s End of these filthy bastards and find anyone who survived." With fifteen ships full of pirates, he had little faith that anyone was left alive down there. Getting revenge was the best the Hawks could do and he would take this failure to his grave.


    ***


    It took hours to slow the Talon enough to swing back around toward the planet. By then the planetary gun had gone silent. Nobody aboard Travers'' drop ship knew if that meant it was out of ammo or that the pirates had finished off the defenders. Either way, they were going in with full kit and the heavies were leading the charge. There were no half-measures this time.


    The dropship shook as its bow-mounted flechette turret tore into the pirate ship on the landing pad. The ship had tried to take off when they saw them coming. It was a little too late to run though, not that they would make it far without a jump drive. And even if they somehow made it past the drop ships, the Talon would have shot them out of orbit.


    The ship was likely still on the landing pad because they were afraid of the orbital railgun picking them off. That was the only smart choice these pirates had made today.


    The enemy ship lost power and crashed off to the side of the landing pad, cracking the frame and leaving a large furrow in the dirt until it came to a rest. That was a bit annoying. It meant his team would have to clear the ship before they could go for the facility. Unless¡­ "Pilot, when we land, rotate so you''re facing the pirate ship."


    "You read my mind, Sir."


    The shuttle touched down and his people stormed off the ship, the heavies swept their much more powerful flechette cannons back and forth looking for hostiles. No pirates poked their heads out though. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the landing zone clear, they all rushed through the doors that had been blown open. As he rushed inside, he had to skid to a stop before he ran into the back of the augment suits. "What''s the hold-up?!" he demanded.


    The heavy gestured down the hallway. Travers poked his head from around the large armored suit to see a barricade of metal crates and a whole lot of dead bodies on this side of it. An older woman he recognized but had forgotten the name of poked her head from around the corner.


    "You''re a little late for the fireworks, boys."


    That got a chuckle out of the rest of the people behind the barricade pointing weapons their way.


    Travers had removed his helmet after they learned the people had repelled or killed off the rest of the pirates. He wasn''t sure who was more surprised that the people down here had driven off the pirates, him or Captain Matthews when he radioed it in.


    People thanked him for showing up and for the training the Hawks gave them as he walked past. He was currently following Eva Wu, that was the older woman''s name, down a hallway.


    "You''re certain they''re all dead?" Considering what he saw at their entrance, he didn''t doubt the woman''s words. But it was possible they missed a few. Pirates liked to run and hide.


    The woman snorted. "Trust me, Alexander was in quite a foul mood after the attack, he personally scoured the entire facility. If there are any pirates left, it''s only on the shuttles. Alexander and Damien both agreed that it wasn''t safe to try and board the shuttles since there was no cover."


    "What were you planning to do then?"


    "Nothing. If they tried to leave, the one working railgun would have shot them down. If they tried forcing their way back inside a second time, we were ready for them. The decision was to let them starve in their ships and in a few weeks check to see what remained."


    It was a very clinical tactic, but considering there was no place to survive on the surface, it was probably the safest course of action.


    "How many survivors?"


    The woman looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Hun, don''t try to sugarcoat your question. Ask what you want to ask."


    Travers cleared his throat. "How many died?"


    "We suffered eighty-six casualties. Most of those came from the two augmented pirates. One bastard had a grenade launcher and a minigun. Alexander took care of both of them though."


    Travers paused. "Alexander did? How?"


    "I''ll let him explain that to you if he decides to. Now come on, we''re almost there."


    They entered Kane''s workshop or what was left of it. The place looked like a bomb had gone off and most of the robots and machines were damaged to one extent or another. Alexander was over by one of the printers, removing components from it and putting them into another one. The repaired printer hummed to life as they approached.


    Alexander turned toward them, but he was without his usual holographic face. The robot body he used was far more unsettling without the face. Travers'' first instinct was to run when he saw it. He squashed those feelings ruthlessly as he held out a hand. "I''m glad you survived."


    He could almost sense Kane''s easy smile as he reached out and shook the offered hand.

 Chapter 61

    Alexander was notified of the arrival of the new ship. Due to their uplink to the satellites being offline, it wasn''t clear who they were until they started firing on the pirates in orbit. If it wasn''t for the facility''s sensors, which were designed to monitor the local star, they may not have even known another ship arrived. Even then, the consensus was split on it being someone here to help, or another faction of pirates.He was glad to see it was a friendly face. "While I''m glad to have the Hawks'' assistance once again, why are you back?"


    "You''ll need to speak with Captain Matthews about that. All I know is I was ordered to clear the facility of hostiles and the ships sitting on the landing pads. If you''re saying the facility is clear, I think it''s time to clear some ships."


    It took less than two hours for the Hawks'' ground teams to clear the vessels. There were not many surviving pirates, and the ones who had survived were certainly not equal to the Hawks.


    Alexander stood next to Travers as they watched a single drop ship touch down. Out stepped a man he had only seen and spoken to over video comms.


    "Mr. Kane," Captain Matthews offered his hand and Alexander shook it. "I make it a rule not to step off of the Talon during operations but with your communications being out and the sensitive nature of this discussion, I decided to come speak with you myself."


    "¡­That wasn''t really necessary Captain."


    "I felt that it was. Is there a place we can speak quietly, Mr. Kane?"


    "Yes, follow me."


    Normally he would have simply headed to his shop or his apartment. The shop was a mess thanks to the firefight. It wasn''t exactly private at the moment either. He had hired a group of locals to clean the place up and watch over the one working printer as replacement components were built. His apartment was currently occupied by a little girl who was grounded for not following the evacuation plan.


    At the time of the attack, Alexander was just relieved to see Yulia and Markus were safe. That didn''t excuse his daughter''s reckless actions. He knew that being a parent meant punishing a child in certain circumstances but that didn''t make him feel any better about having to do it. Yulia needed to learn that certain actions have consequences though.


    To be honest, the girl looked relieved to be home. And it wasn''t like Alexander had simply abandoned her at home alone while he worked to fix all the damage from the attack. One of the tutors who helped with her language lessons agreed to watch her. It was the woman''s way of thanking him for driving off the pirates and saving her husband. Alexander didn''t know the woman''s husband, but he thanked her for her assistance anyway.


    The tutor wasn''t the only person who tried to thank him. He didn''t think he did all that much, but it was clear the battle had shifted sentiment towards him quite drastically. When he put out the request for people to help clean up his shop, he got more people than he bargained for. Not wanting to send anyone away, he assigned twenty to his shop and split the eighty others into four separate groups to help remove the bodies and clean up elsewhere. The dead citizens of Eden''s End would get proper burials, whereas the pirates were going to be tossed into a waste furnace. It was a fitting end for the vile bastards.


    "We can talk in here," Alexander typed in the code to his storage room.


    Matthews stepped inside but Travers simply took up a position outside the door. Alexander would have shaken his head if his holo-projector was working. Instead, he simply stepped into the room filled with crates and closed the door.


    "I''m afraid we don''t have any conference rooms. At least none that are in any condition to be used for such."


    "This is fine. I''m not the type of man to beat around the bush, so I''m going to be blunt. The Hawks fucked up."


    "¡­Um¡­."


    Matthews lifted his hand. "Please, let me finish." When Alexander didn''t say anything else, the man continued. "It was our job to ensure the safety of this facility. As we were returning to STO space, our Sam discovered someone was sending coded messages through our scouting ships to pirates. When I learned of this, we turned around immediately to warn you. Unfortunately, we were too late." Alexander had suspected there was a spy, but he had no evidence to even start to figure out who had sold them out. That all changed now.


    "You have a name?" was all Alexander could ask while his anger simmered restlessly.


    The name the man gave was not one Alexander knew. It was a minor relief that it wasn''t anyone with any real security here, but that fact barely kept him from storming out of the room to personally punish this individual.


    As his rational mind reasserted itself, he spoke up. "Please have your people work with Damien Laront. We need this man alive to answer questions."


    Matthews nodded. "I was hoping you would say that." The Captain pressed a little comm badge on his flight suit''s arm. "Travers, work with Eden''s End''s security to apprehend a man by the name of Draven Holstein. And keep it quiet."


    "Copy that, Captain."


    "So, that''s it then?" Alexander asked. He knew the Hawks couldn''t stay, they had commitments back in their home system.


    "Normally, yes. You know we can''t stick around for more than a few days, right?"


    "I figured as much. You coming back at all probably saved a lot of lives. Thank you for that."


    "Like I said, we screwed up, so we needed to correct that issue. And from what I saw, you did a pretty good job of taking on the pirates all by yourself."


    "Not good enough," Alexander stated bitterly. He would have frowned if he could. "The defenses I set up were completely overwhelmed by one attack. If I hadn''t managed to get that one gun back online, we would have been at the pirates'' mercy."


    "There is no such thing as a perfect defense," Matthews sighed. "I would have recommended spreading your defenses out into orbit, but you simply didn''t have the capability to build anything in the timeframe you had available. Your railguns should have been more than sufficient to deal with a normal attack. ¡­That''s another thing. Fifteen pirate ships don''t just attack one location without reason. Do you have any idea why they were here?"


    "For me. They tried to take my daughter hostage."


    "Is she ok?"


    "She is uninjured, but I''m not sure if she will sleep well after what happened."


    Matthews nodded. "Considering what I''ve seen you do in such a short time, it makes sense the pirates are interested in you. The Talon will be leaving once we capture and question the spy. But I''ve been authorized to leave one of the gunships for you to use for another three months. It''s the best I could do."


    "Thank you, that''s more than generous. But can I ask why?"


    "I would think that is obvious, Alexander." He was taken aback by the man using his first name. "The Hawks'' leadership sees a relationship with you and Blue Star Enterprises as an important asset. A mutually beneficial one."


    "I don''t know what to say."


    The reserved Captain chuckled. "Don''t say anything yet, neither one of us has seen any benefit from this relationship. Once that happens though, I suspect both of us will be happy to have each other."


    Alexander extended his hand. "I guess that makes The Hawks of Ganos, Blue Star Enterprises'' first official customer."


    The man accepted the gesture with a grin. "I guess it does."


    Matthews comm beeped and Travers spoke. "Captain, we have him."


    "That didn''t take very long. Well, now that we are done here, let''s go have a discussion with this bottom feeder and find out why he sold out everyone here to pirates."


    "But they were only after me," Alexander reminded the man as they exited the room.


    Matthews shook his head. "You don''t commit that many forces for one person. Every man woman and child here would have ended up dead or as a prisoner."


    Alexander didn''t want to think about that so he changed the subject. "Do you know if Captain Na survived?"


    "The Destiny is fine. They were in the outer belt on the far side of the system when the battle kicked off. Once they realized it was pirates, they did the only thing they could and made for a jump point. They didn''t jump though, they waited to see what the pirates were doing. Once they saw us attacking the pirates, they started to head back in. His ship should arrive in another day with a load of ore. The station was unharmed in the fighting, and it must have been far enough away that the EMP didn''t knock its systems out. That reminds me." The man reached into a pocket on his vac suit and pulled out three crystal cards. He handed them to Alexander.


    "What are these?" S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Those are the fusion activation crystals for your new ships."


    "My new what?"


    "There were three surviving pirate ships. They''re yours now. They are a bit banged up, but they should be serviceable. You also have the surviving shuttles on the ground and two large piles of debris that roughly resemble shuttles. You can do with them as you see fit. I suggest refitting at least one as soon as you can to run shipments to and from the surface."


    "But you disabled them, shouldn''t the Hawks be claiming them or something?"


    "That''s not how it works. Since we are still technically contracted to you until we return to STO space, everything we do is for your benefit. Even if we had returned to STO space and came back, we wouldn''t claim these ships. Their transponders have been disabled or removed, meaning we could only use them for scrap. You, however, could use them as picket ships inside the system. I wouldn''t use them to patrol between here and STO space until you get a legal transponder code for them though. The STO would shoot on sight."


    As they neared the confinement cells, Alexander heard yelling. "Answer the damn question! Who did you sell us out to you useless sack of shit!" The yelling was followed by a wet thudding sound and they both picked up their pace.


    The scene that greeted them was about what Alexander expected to see. Damien was purple with rage and practically vibrating with barely constrained violence. Considering the condition of the prisoner, it wasn''t as constrained as maybe he wanted it to be. The man strapped to the chair had one eye swollen shut and a pretty badly cut-up lip. Blood dripped from Damien''s fist which was clenched so tight it had turned white.


    "Damien!" Alexander yelled.


    The man whirled on him and looked like he was ready to throw punches at Alexander. To his credit, he didn''t. "This piece of garbage nearly got everyone here killed. Are you going to stop me?"


    "How do you expect to get answers from him if you knock him senseless?" Alexander asked instead of answering the angry man''s question.


    "We should just put a bullet through his head and toss him with the rest of the trash."


    "What would that accomplish?" Matthews asked as he stepped around Alexander, earning Damien''s glare as well.


    "It would be one less piece of shit, wasting air."


    "And we would be clueless if more pirates were on their way, wouldn''t we?" Alexander asked pointedly.


    The man ground his teeth together. "This bastard isn''t going to talk, but if you wanna waste your time, be my guest."


    Alexander had been hoping to convince Mr. Holstein that they would let him go after he answered their questions. It was a long shot, and he knew it, but Damien''s words made that tactic impossible. He sighed internally and mentally prepared for what came next.


    He walked over and crouched down less than an inch from the bruised man''s face. Despite his predicament, the man still flinched back at his approach. Alexander didn''t enjoy using his appearance like this, but he would use it to his advantage if he had to.


    Alexander used the little trick he learned to warm up his exterior to keep Yulia comfortable while in his arms. Only this time he sucked all the heat out of his hand, making it uncomfortably cold to the touch. Then he ran it along the man''s leg and up his side like he was inspecting a piece of beef at a market. The man yelped at the freezing cold touch and tried to move away, but Alexander didn''t let him. Touching the individual responsible for so many deaths made him feel disgusted. There was an urge to just smash the man''s face in and be done with it. He suppressed the urge, barely.


    He could understand how Damien felt. If they hadn''t threatened Yulia, he probably wouldn''t do something like this, but his anger hadn''t fully subsided after the attack. He was struggling to get a grasp on the first fully realized emotion he had felt since waking up. He didn''t count the blind rage he fell into back when Yulia was injured mostly because he lost complete control back then.


    In the calmest, most emotionless voice Alexander could come up with, he spoke to the man. "You have two choices, Draven. Neither of them is good. But one will end your suffering far faster than the other. Who did you sell us out to and why did you do it?"

 Chapter 62

    In the end, the implied threat was enough to make the man talk, which was a relief. Alexander had already done enough things in the past few days that he would rather forget. If he could trade these new memories for some of his lost ones, he would have done so in the blink of an eye.The man''s reason for doing what he did was as disgusting as the man himself. He was a degenerate gambler who had fled STO space after racking up a debt he couldn''t afford to pay back. When he realized there was a chance to pay off that debt and return to STO space, he jumped at the opportunity and reached out to an old contact of his who acted as a go-between for him and the pirates. All it took to get the man to turn on everyone here was a promise of a ride home and what amounted to fewer credits than it would have cost Alexander to rent his small shop space on Petrov station for a year.


    Alexander found it hard to believe that someone could be so cold and callous to do such a thing. Or how he thought it was a good idea to trust pirates to actually keep their promises. Not that Draven came across as very smart. He came across as a sad pathetic man, whose only goal in life was to get back to gambling.


    Alexander didn''t stick around to watch the remaining interrogation but he knew what the end result would be. The man willingly worked with pirates, what did he think would happen? Alexander didn''t feel so much as an ounce of remorse for what awaited Draven, which surprised him. Not that he thought he should care about that useless waste of oxygen, but his feelings had been jumping back and forth pretty hard since his run-in with the pirate who threatened Yulia. It had gotten so bad he almost wished he hadn''t awakened them. ¡­That wasn''t true. While these emotions were inconvenient, he felt more human now than he ever had before.


    He still couldn''t tell if he had a full range of emotions, but some were certainly better than none.


    Having these emotions brought about an intense feeling of disgust for the actions he took to break Draven. Alexander knew logically that those feelings were misplaced, but he never wished to have to do something so vile again. Acting like that, even for a short time made him feel dirty, like he had somehow stooped to the level of the pirates. He should have left the questioning to Damien and Matthews, but he had a personal stake in this matter. With Yulia''s safety on the line, he wasn''t willing to be a bystander.


    Matthews stepped out of the room a few minutes later. "Are you ok?"


    "I¨C" He was going to feed the man some empty platitude but decided against it. "I will be, eventually."


    The Captain of the Talon gave a single slight nod. "You did what needed to be done. Nobody will fault you for that."


    "I know. I just wish it hadn''t been necessary in the first place. All I ever wanted to do was find someplace safe for my daughter and get away from the corporations. And now pirates are after me."


    "I would like to tell you everything will be fine, but I don''t like to fill people with false promises. Your defeat of this group will certainly leave this area of space rather quiet for a time but the name Draven gave us is a well-known pirate. Arkonis Anazi was pirate royalty and the brother of Harlow Anazi, an infamous pirate warlord. I doubt the two were close or anything like that so it isn''t likely he will take the death of his younger brother personally but you never know with pirates. I was more surprised to hear someone from the Anazi family was even out in this sector. The Char family are the ones who are usually found in this area of space, specifically, Katalynn Char. The Anazi family controls Haven, which is on the opposite side of STO space. If I had to guess, they are probably the ones who attacked Petrov Station."


    "This Arkonis Anazi was here? Which one was he?"


    Matthews pulled up his tablet and flicked to a picture. "Here''s a picture of him. The DNA scanner said this was his armor." The man flicked to the bloody armor worn by the man who threatened Yulia.


    The man got what he deserved then. "What now?" he asked. Alexander''s only real plan was to rebuild the defenses, improve them, and try to get back on track with his other projects. He could certainly use the opinion of someone with experience. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man put away his tablet. "Now¡­ now you get to claim the bounties. There were quite a few that the STO will be more than happy to know are gone."


    "Can you claim them?"


    Matthews quirked an eyebrow. "Why would you want the Hawks to claim them?"


    Alexander gestured around. "I don''t want to draw any more attention here than I already have. Arkonis may have come here for me, but I don''t think he did it on his own initiative."


    "Are you certain?"


    "No. But I find it highly suspicious that all of this seems to lead back to Petrov Station. Someone there must know what I can do. For all I know, the entire Anazi family could be after me."


    "That seems like a bit of a stretch, Alexander. But then again, I have seen you do some remarkable things in nine months, so maybe it isn''t as implausible as I think. I''ll make you a deal. I will only agree to turn in these bounties if you provide your corporate account to send the money to."


    "Can''t you just use the money to pay what I still owe you for your services?" That seemed like the best option to him. It also didn''t leave a trail straight to Blue Star Enterprises.


    The man chuckled. "I think you''re underestimating the bounties on these pirates. These are people who have been stalking the space lanes for decades. Arkonis alone was worth a hundred million credits. You also took down his second, third, and fourth in command. Those all total up to another hundred million. Add in the small fry that got tagged by ship cameras during their past raids and you might be looking at yet another hundred million, it''s hard to say. That''s three hundred million just in bounties. If you sell that armor that Arkonis was wearing, that would probably net you another three hundred million."


    Alexander would have started coughing if he had a mouth, instead, he just stared at the Captain, which wasn''t very effective since he didn''t have his hologram. "Why is the armor worth so much?"


    "I don''t know who made that armor but I can tell you that it is state-of-the-art electronic warfare gear. That alone is surprising to see, but that''s not why you could get three hundred million for it. At most, armor like that would cost fifty million to purchase outright, which is a ridiculous sum for something like that, but there are people who pay for that type of stuff. The reason you can get three hundred million is because the company that built it will pay you that much. They will do this just to keep it from becoming public knowledge that their armor was sold to a known pirate. The STO tends to frown on black-market arms to the point of arresting entire companies until they can sort out who sold the armor. Even if they were somehow innocent, which I doubt, that would put a black mark on their company and nobody would buy from them ever again."


    "Isn''t that blackmail?"


    Matthews shrugged. "It depends on how you word the request. The world isn''t black and white, Alexander. It is many shades of grey. You just need to learn to live within them. If you don''t want to deal with the logistics of it, let the Hawks handle the problem."


    "That seems like a risky venture. Won''t that get you in trouble if the company finds out?"


    The man smirked. "No. We have our own black ops team. We''ll pass it off to them to do the dirty work."


    "I somehow feel like you shouldn''t have told me that," he muttered, earning a chuckle from the grey-haired captain.


    "Everything I told you has already been cleared by our leadership. Like I said, they want a close relationship with you. Just don''t go spreading that information around."


    "I wasn''t planning on it. You said that armor is state-of-the-art. Shouldn''t I keep it and try to reverse-engineer it or something? Seems like a waste to just give it back."


    "I would recommend against that. The material might be worth studying, but you only need to take a small sample of that. As for the rest of it, don''t bother. Some systems will alert their manufacturers when they get tampered with. For a suit like that, I can almost guarantee it has other protections built in as well. Get rid of it, earn a large chunk of credits, and be free of the hassle. Besides, knowing you, you could probably build your own suit in a few years given what I''ve seen you do. And it would probably be better anyway."


    "I''m familiar with the practice of companies hiding shit inside their products," he said in disgust. "Alright. Have your people take the suit and sell it back to the manufacturer. I already got a good look at it anyway, and I gotta say, I wasn''t impressed. Can you do something with that money for me instead of just depositing it in my account?"


    "Sure. As far as I''m concerned, it''s your money, we''re just holding it for you."


    He told the Captain what he wanted. The man didn''t seem all that surprised by the request.


    "Could take awhile. But that should be doable. We can set up the delivery for when we return. With the pirates acting out, I don''t know how long that will be but let''s assume a year at the earliest. That will also be close to the time the Talon needs to go in for its regular maintenance anyway. Since you have a station now, we can just do that here. And if you happen to have some fancy new engines ready to go by then¡­"


    This time Alexander chuckled. "I''ll see what I can get done by then. Thank you again for everything, Captain Matthews. I look forward to seeing you in a year." Alexander held his hand out and the man shook it.


    "You can call me Archie, it''s short for Archibald. Stay safe, Alexander, and good luck with your company."


    He walked the man to the exit and watched as all the Hawks'' dropships lifted off as one and roared into orbit in formation. Alexander was immensely grateful for having employed the mercenary company. He doubted another company of mercenaries would have come back after learning of their mistake. Things would have turned out much differently in that case. The pirate ships would have realized sooner or later that only one railgun was online and simply blown it up. Or destroyed the entire facility and called it a day.


    Alexander glanced over at the crumpled wreckage of a ship about two-thirds the size of the Zephyr. It was going to take months to clean up the wreckage. At least the stupid thing was off the landing pad. He turned to the other distant pads that he could see from his spot. There were four shuttles on the two pads within his view. If that stayed true for the other six landing pads around the facility, that meant he now had sixteen shuttles.


    Then he looked into orbit and focused until his vision telescoped to show him the ships up there. He wasn''t sure zooming in like that would work, but he figured if he could magnify an area in his vision, he could probably do this. His view was mostly blocked by the hazy yellow atmosphere but he could see the sun glinting off the ships. Even so, they were tiny specs in his vision.


    Captain Matthews'' people had moved them to a Lagrange point between the planet and the largest of the four satellites that orbited Eden''s End. He wasn''t sure what to do about the ships. They would probably come in handy at some point, but certainly not in their current configuration. And not without serious repairs. It might be best to strip most of them for useful parts and feed the rest to the smelter. He would need to go up there personally and inspect the ships to figure out what would be best.


    He tried scanning the sky for the Destiny, but it was either on the far side of the planet or too far away to see. He could clearly see the Talon hanging in space even without his enhanced vision. The ship was just that massive.


    Alexander watched the tiny twinkle of lights from the drop ships as they entered the troop transport. He continued to watch it as it started accelerating away.


    With his new friends gone, it was time to get back to work. Alexander turned and walked back into the facility, his mind full of ideas.

 Chapter 63: Book 1 Epilogue

    A third pirate ship jumped into the system. Much like the previous two who had arrived a few hours earlier, it was venting atmosphere, but to a lesser degree.The Epsilon''s Dawn watched all this through its passive scanners, the same as it had when the fifteen-strong pirate fleet had been here a week ago. None of the ships had ever detected its presence in the system. It wouldn''t have been a very good experimental covert ops ship if it had been detected.


    "Sir, the three ships are finally moving to cross the system."


    Vitor quirked an eyebrow at that. "Only the three? I wonder what our friends ran into? Wait for them to get deeper into the system''s gravity and then set an intercept course. I want to find out first hand." If there was a new threat out here, he needed to report it to the Navy command.


    The chase was rather anticlimactic from the Dawn''s perspective. Three shots from the ship laser disabled the fleeing pirate vessels before they even realized they were being followed. It could have been pure luck, but Vitor guessed the ships were short-staffed.


    ***


    "Come in," Admiral Clemont spoke as a knock came at his door.


    Vice Admiral Fletcher, the head of Navy Intelligence poked his head in. "Do you have time for a report, Admiral?"


    Clemont cleared the work from his terminal and waved the man in. "I assume it''s important if you came personally?"


    "It could be. Our AI analysis hasn''t determined if it requires action yet or not. Do you remember Project Cobalt?" S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Clemont had to think for a minute. The Navy had thousands of projects going on at any given time and he couldn''t remember all the code names. But this one did ring a bell. "The stealth ship made from recovered alien tech? I thought they mothballed that project over a decade ago because of the difficulty and cost of producing the elemental carbon that made up the exterior?"


    "Officially, it was," the man stated.


    Clemont grunted. "Let me guess, it went into the black ops budget?"


    "I can neither confirm nor deny that," Fletcher shrugged.


    "Fine, it''s your ass on the line if they do a budget review. What of your non-existent ship?"


    "We deployed a ship for testing about a month ago from Varlen. The initial deployment was supposed to be just a shakedown test, but they jumped into a system that had a buildup of pirates. The Captain of the Epsilon''s Dawn decided to shadow the group of fifteen ships inside the system to see what they were up to. We believe the lead ship belonged to Arkonis Anazi."


    "As if his bastard brother wasn''t a big enough headache with him capturing stations and systems. Is this a prelude to another incursion?" Clemont asked.


    "I don''t believe so, Sir. The report I got this morning says the pirates jumped out of the system heading farther from STO space. It''s not unheard of for pirates to do that to skirt our border patrols, but they were already three systems out. And you don''t normally see fifteen pirate ships together unless they are raiding something big."


    "Raiding something? What''s even out there?"


    "Nothing but a few leftovers from the Expansion. We thought maybe they ran into the Shican, but the pirates my people captured claimed they assaulted a planet and were driven off by a large ship and planetary defenses."


    "Someone''s building an outpost beyond the rim?" That seemed like a foolish venture, but every few decades, someone got it into their mind to strike out on their own. Most either came crawling back or never returned.


    "I believe so. Varlen reported that a mercenary company by the name of the Hawks of Ganos was contracted a little over nine months ago. They were seen escorting a small freighter by the name of the Zephyr. That freighter and the Hawks'' scout ships have been seen multiple times since then in Varlen. It''s pretty obvious that the gunships were keeping the route from Varlen to this Y6X-3H2 system clear for transport. An Alexander Kane purchased the old research facility on Eden''s End, formerly known as Y6X-3H2-4 so they must have deep pockets."


    Clemont frowned and pulled up the system, flicking it over to the holo display so he could get a better idea of its location. He zoomed in on the display until it showed the system along with the edge of where STO space ended. "That system is almost two weeks travel outside of our border. Is it possible this person is funding one of the other pirate families? Maybe the Anazi clan decided to cut them off before they could get started?"


    "It''s possible, but unlikely," Fletcher noted. "The Hawks would have followed STO mandate for pirates. They are the premier mercenary company for Ganos so I doubt they would risk their reputation by doing anything illegal."


    "If they are so important to Ganos, why are they still out there? Surely they got recalled when the planetary governor started crying about the pirates at his border. As if there weren''t ten systems between him and the systems the pirates attacked." Clemont shook his head.


    "They were, according to the Qcomm messages we intercepted. It seems like their original six-month deployment was extended before the recall order. They should have passed through Varlen a few days ago but they didn''t. The pirate attack could certainly explain their delay."


    "What do we know of¡­ what did you say his name was?"


    "Alexander Kane."


    "Yes, what do we know of him?"


    "Nothing. His background is a complete fabrication. I didn''t even need the AI to tell me that. There was some issue between him and Omni, but Omni ordered all records to that deal sealed. The only other information we have is that he adopted a little girl from Petrov Station around eleven months ago and then left the station shortly after."


    "I don''t like it," Clemont stated as he sat back in his seat. "Kane may not be a pirate, but Petrov station fell to Harlow around the same time. And now this man is attacked by Harlow''s younger brother even though he relocated to the opposite end of STO space? That is no coincidence. They want this man, why?"


    "We''re not sure. The AI doesn''t have enough information to produce an answer."


    "Get it," Clemont ordred. "Put the Epsilon''s Dawn to use and find out why the largest pirate family wants Kane."


    ***


    Harlow was in a foul mood for a variety of reasons. The first was that his push into STO space had been stalled for the last few months. There had been a few skirmishes between his fleets and the STO, but the battles had been rather even since the STO Navy had reinforced their fleets with newer ships.


    That wouldn''t last long, soon his first real warships would be coming off the secret shipyard he had built. Those ships wouldn''t be deployed to the front right away though. He needed to consolidate his power among the family and finally take control of all the pirates from Haven. Once that was done, he could triple his fleet size and start hammering the STO fleets back.


    That just left his other problem. His bastard brother Arkonis had yet to contact him. He should have been back by now. Harlow reached out to his spies on the other pirate worlds and outposts, but they reported no sign of his brother. "If that scum-sucking shit ran off with my prize, I''ll scour the fucking galaxy until I find him, then I''ll flay him alive and string him up as a warning to others not to fuck with me!" he cursed. Arkonis running to one of his hideouts was a definite possibility if his brother had learned about how useful Kane could be.


    His guards didn''t comment on his outburst. They knew better. It had only taken a few removed tongues until the rest learned to keep their mouths shut, but they learned.


    While Harlow would love nothing better than to chase his brother down personally, he had more pressing matters to deal with. He flicked through his comm and brought up a contact.


    "What do you want?" the haggard voice on the other end responded.


    "Get your ass up, I have a job for you."


    There was a grunt from the other end. "Ten million, non-negotiable. And I want my payment upfront, Harlow."


    "Fine, but if you fuck this up or think of running, I''ll come find you myself, Dalton."


    "Whatever. What''s the job?"


    "Find my brother Arkonis. If he''s still alive, find out what he did with a man named Alexander Kane. If my brother is dead, find Kane and bring him to me alive."


    "Is that all?" the man asked in annoyance.


    "The information on his last known whereabouts will be in the info packet along with your payment. I want this done as fast as possible."


    The line went dead and Harlow ground his teeth. Dalton was a prick, even by pirate standards but he went at a problem until it was resolved.


    In an even worse mood, Harlow stomped out of the residence he was using as his base aboard Petrov. The place was almost nice enough to make him forget he was in this shithole of a station, almost.


    He made his way to the Qcomm room to see if the engineers he captured aboard Petrov had any luck with their little project. The station Qcomm was still offline, but he had access to the one his people stole and modified years ago. Otherwise, he would be just as cut off as everyone else in this station.


    "Give me some good news, or I''m sending one of you out an airlock!" he yelled as he entered the room.


    He smirked when everyone shot to their feet and stiffened at his declaration. Harlow picked one poor bastard at random and pointed to him.


    The man swallowed. "W- We managed to pull a few schematics from the system before they shut the network off."


    Harlow snapped his fingers and two of his guards grabbed the man and dragged him out of the room. It wasn''t that he was upset, he was happy they managed to get anything, but he needed to break the will of these new slave engineers. He preferred his slaves to be too afraid of disappointing him to think of rebelling. Getting rid of one to bring the others in line was a cheap expense. "How many, exactly?" he asked another man.


    This wasn''t the first time he had tried pulling schematics from the net. His first test had been in a tiny mining outpost. Once the slaves out there bricked that network and failed to gain any useful knowledge, he spaced that entire station along with the crew he sent over. Mostly to cover up what he had been up to. Not his wisest decision, but he had been rather irate at the time.


    "A- A dozen or so. We even managed to get a Class 4 engine design from Sinorus," the man added hastily as Harlow turned his way.


    Everyone knew the Sinorus designs were junk but an engine schematic was an engine schematic.


    "Congratulations, the rest of you get to live another day. Transfer the schematics to my ship. I have business elsewhere." It was finally time to trade in his cobbled-together ship for a new one his people were building based on the ship the Shican had gifted him twenty years ago.


    Who would have thought a drunken one-on-one fight in an interceptor vs whatever the Shican equivalent was would have earned him the respect of the elusive aliens? Turns out they respected personal strength and not the useless platitudes and peace gestures of the STO. As far as he could tell, the Shican didn''t even have a word for peace in their vocabulary. Not that they communicated with him much.


    It was no wonder the STO had never made any progress with the feline aliens. And they likely never would. He chuckled at that thought. His fortuitous encounter with the Shican twenty years ago was a secret he would take to his grave but only after he used that knowledge to carve out an empire in his name.

 Chapter 2-1

    LOCATION: EDEN''S ENDSYSTEM: Y6X-3H2


    DATE: 2399


    "Alex, what color is the sky supposed to be?"


    "Hmm?" Alexander paused his work to look over at Yulia who was sitting at a little table he made for her in his shop. "Why do you ask?"


    "When I told Sarah and Claire they were coloring the sky wrong, they looked at me funny and said the sky is supposed to be blue, not yellow."


    He made a holographic hand appear on his avatar''s face to make it look like he was pondering the thought. Yes, he had replaced the emitter yet again. This time he had hardened it against electronic interference as well as damage by covering the entire thing in armor. Was it overkill? Considering he had lost two of them in the span of a year, probably not.


    "It depends on the planet you are on. On Eden''s End, the sky is a hazy yellow from the sulfur in the air. On most terraformed planets, I suspect it would be blue like Earth. But that''s only a guess on my part. I''ve only ever been here and on Earth."


    She dug around in the box of crayons and pulled out a light blue. "Like this?"


    "It certainly could be. The sky changes colors depending on the time of day. I''ve even seen a pink sky."


    "Ew," she stated matter-of-factly as she went back to coloring her picture. Alexander watched her concentrate on her drawing, her tongue stuck to the side of her mouth. He chuckled internally. As it turns out, Yulia wasn''t much of a fan of pink. That would have been good to know before he bought all of her bedding and decor in a pink flower motif, but the girl hadn''t complained to him at the time.


    She had no reason to complain back then, she was simply happy to be adopted. It seemed kind of obvious now that he thought about it.


    He glanced over at the picture she was coloring in. It was an image of a house on a hill. A dirty brown hill. Apparently, she didn''t know about grass either. The coloring books and crayons had been a donation of his to the pseudo-school that the residents were running. He called it a pseudo-school not out of disrespect. They actually did a fine job teaching what they knew. And that was the issue.


    Until Alexander arrived with his learning modules, the people taught the kids what they knew. Considering how expensive the modules he purchased were, that wasn''t much. Instead of relying on the modules, the residents of Eden''s End passed down knowledge learned from generation to generation. He was impressed when he learned that most of the people on Eden''s End were literate. It sort of made sense, all of the information they had was on tablets or the aging consoles littered throughout the facility. If you couldn''t read the screens, you weren''t going to get very far.


    Introducing paper to them had been a fun challenge. The people teaching didn''t know what it was supposed to be used for until Alexander showed them. At the moment, it was just being used by the younger kids to draw pictures with the crayons he made from some synthetic wax. Eventually, he hoped the teachers would embrace the idea of tests that he had floated to them.


    He wouldn''t push them though. He just wanted to ensure the people here were getting the best education they could. Part of that was to help them. The other part was to help him. Yes, his reasons weren''t completely altruistic, but he didn''t care.


    The attack a month ago had been a rather rude wake-up call to everyone on Eden''s End. Since then, more and more people have been accepting jobs from the job board. Most of those jobs catered toward improving the living conditions planetside. That still worked in his favor. The issue was what happened after that? He needed skilled workers to grow, which is why he was investing so much in the younger generation.


    The adults could still earn access to the learning modules, but most of them were already set in their ways. The ones that weren''t had already been trained up as much as possible by the Hawks. There was still a lot of work to be done to the facility before it was restored to its previous glory so that issue was a long way off.


    He was just glad the bulk of that work was off his shoulders now. The less time Alexander needed to spend personally fixing the facility, the better. Speaking of not wasting time, his watch beeped to remind him he had an appointment. The spring wound timepiece was a completely unnecessary accessory since he had an inbuilt clock, but he liked it. The wristwatch reminded him he was still human inside this monstrous body of unknown origins.


    "I have to go meet with some people. Do you want to come along or go play?"


    It was not really a question for the little girl. "I''mma go play!" Yulia yelled in delight as she grabbed her picture and raced off to find her friends.


    After Yulia''s speedy departure, Alexander made his way to atrium A. It was the main atrium used by the people of Eden''s End. As he walked, people actually waved and greeted him. He either waved or nodded in return. While not everyone had warmed to his presence, there had been a significant shift in attitude toward him after word started to spread of what he did during the attack.


    Nobody was calling him a hero, thankfully. The heroes were those who gave their lives to stop the pirates. He made sure to bring that point up anytime someone mentioned the attack. But it didn''t stop the rumors about him. He sighed internally and entered the noisy clamor of the atrium.


    Being the largest space in the most occupied section of the facility, this atrium saw a lot of use. Today it was being used as a sort of farmers market. He wasn''t here for that, but he certainly could use some fresh vegetables. Maybe he would barter for some on his way back.


    Alexander weaved his way through the crowds. Mostly people just stepped aside when they saw him coming. The few who didn''t notice his passage were usually too busy with something and he skirted around them.


    Soon enough he came to an empty plot of land, much like the one where he built the playground. Only this one was filled with tilled dirt.


    A group of people on the other side of the marked-off area were arguing with each other and pointing at the dirt.


    "-not going to grow alongside the squash. How many times do I have to tell you?" an older woman stated.


    "And you''re the expert now, Sheila? Last I checked, my plot produced the most yield. What did yours do? Oh, wait, never mind, you didn''t plant anything last year." The man crossed his arms with a smug look of triumph.


    Alexander thought the two would come to blows until a third man whistled sharply to get their attention before nodding in his direction.


    The three of them turned to him.


    "We''ll see what Alex has to say, Harper, then we''ll see who''s smug," the woman replied.


    "I''m afraid I don''t know why you three requested this meeting," Alexander said.


    "You have all those fancy learning things, don''tcha? I''m sure you even picked up some farming or hydroponics ones. Tell this idiot over here that you can''t plant potatoes next to squash. Just because one grows above ground and the other underground doesn''t mean they are compatible."


    "¡­Um. I don''t know anything about farming. But if you three want access to the farming modules, I can trade you time with them."


    "Told you he wouldn''t know," the second man muttered quietly. But he sounded rather smug about it.


    It would have been too quiet for a normal person to hear from where he was standing, but he still heard it. The woman must have heard it as well because she glared at the man. "I bet you half my harvest next year that I''m right."


    "What!" the man uncrossed his arms and stepped back.


    "What, what? Are you afraid of losing a bet?"


    Harper''s anger at the woman''s statement gave him the courage he needed. "Hardly. Fine. Half my harvest. Not like what I''ll make off you losing will be much anyway but if it knocks you off your high horse, then it''ll be worth it." The two shook hands and turned to him.


    "What did you want in trade?" Sheila asked.


    "Ten percent of your crops and a guarantee that you will work at increasing your crop efficiency and yields."


    "Ten percent!" Harper sputtered before Shiela cuffed him in the shoulder.


    "Don''t be a daft idiot. If Alex here has learning modules for increasing harvest, then you should be able to double or triple your output with little effort. These aren''t little anecdotes passed down from family to family on how to plant and tend crops. It''s knowledge gained by massive corporations over centuries."


    Harper spit on the ground. "Who needs that shit. If you wanna waste your time and effort, be my guest. But I already have proof that my family''s ways are the best. Otherwise, I wouldn''t be the top performer each and every year. And don''t think I''ll take any bullshit excuses when these fancy new ideas cause you to fail. We shook on it, if you renege I''m going to Damien." Harper stomped off after that.


    Sheila just gave the younger man a dismissive wave. "Churlish idiot. That''s what happens when you''re a third-generation drifter. You lose touch with reality and the corporations become the boogeyman. So," she said, turning back to Alexander. "Ten percent?"


    "And a guarantee you will try to increase your yield."


    She laughed at that. "That''s kinda what I''m already after, big man. You got yourself a deal," she stuck out her hand and Alexander shook it.


    "What about you?" he asked the silent man.


    The man glanced at Shiela and she gave him a small nod. The man sighed and offered his hand. "Name''s, Frank."


    That''s all the man said. Alexander assumed that was a yes and shook the man''s hand.


    "Excellent. Do you both know where they teach the children?"


    Frank nodded.


    "No clue, but if that''s where we gotta go, I''ll just follow Franky," Sheila nudged the man, earning an eye roll.


    "Just tell the teachers you''re there to use the learning modules. They will set you up on a terminal." He handed the two some metal cards he kept in a pouch on his utility belt. Yes, he called it a utility belt. "These will allow you to access the modules. Give me a day or so to set the correct ones up for you, then feel free to use them as much as you need."


    They thanked him and went off to till more of the hard ground. The fact they did it all with hand tools or crude implements meant he was probably going to get requests to make more efficient farming tools at some point.


    That was a problem since Alexander didn''t know anything about farming. He sighed and added it to his growing list.


    That damn list was like a hydra, cut off one head, and two grew in its place. He was starting to get it under control though.


    With his meeting over, he headed back to his workshop. It had taken a month to clean up and fix the internal damage caused by the pirates. Most of that damage was caused by the three grenades going off but not all of it.


    With the workshop back up and running, that left the destroyed railguns as the only remaining damage from the pirate attacks.


    Workers were still excavating the pits before he could even think to rebuild them. It was a good thing they still had three working orbital railguns and all the turrets surrounding the landing pads after they were reset. The EMP attack hadn''t actually caused that much permanent damage. The only things permanently damaged by the attack seemed to be his crude computer chips. That was a cheap and easy fix. Once those damaged computers were swapped out with new ones, the interior turrets and the other devices that used them were back in working order. They would still be subject to the same flaw, but he wasn''t about to waste the scant supply of contemporary computer chips he had purchased from STO space on those.


    When he got more time, he would come up with a solution to help protect them better than the thin film of copper foil he encased them in now. It would probably work, but it was so delicate it tended to tear. The film also caused heat to get trapped inside which would likely cause the chips to fail quicker. He realized he was only swapping one issue for another but it was a temporary fix.


    That wasn''t the only problem he was facing after the attack. A week ago, they finally started up launch operations again. The launch went fine and the capsule made it into orbit only to explode when a piece of errant debris struck it. With no way to track the cloud of broken pieces left behind by the destroyed pirate ships, each launch was like rolling the dice. That was unacceptable because it halted all construction of the space station.


    He was also running into a raw material shortage issue on the ground as well. The miners simply couldn''t keep up. Captain Na and the Destiny had dropped off a quarter load of unrefined ore and the smelter had worked through it, leaving a huge supply of high-grade material waiting at the station. But if he couldn''t get it planetside, it didn''t do him much good.


    That meant the main priority on his list was getting those shuttles up and running or at least one of them working. They were operational, according to the report Captain Matthews had left him, if you weren''t too worried about sudden decompression or engine loss. Apparently, the pirates hadn''t been overly concerned by these issues.


    The things were hunks of junk. And that was being generous. He was going to have to go through them with a fine-toothed comb and once they were functional enough for a sane person to fly them, find a pilot willing to do the work. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite all the setbacks and issues he was facing, Alexander was excited about what the future held.

 Chapter 2-2

    Alexander exited the facility and headed toward one of the shuttles. All of the intact ones had been moved to one landing pad, the closest one to his workshop. As he walked across the pad, he could hear the sounds of work going on in the distance. A large crew of workers were cutting up the scrap from the nearby damaged railgun.He could see they hadn''t even finished cleaning up the surface yet. It would be three or four more weeks of work before all of the scrap was removed. Then the engineers, that Alexander and the Hawks had trained, would need to inspect the pit for damage before any new construction could begin.


    There was likely to be quite a bit of damage, the missiles the pirates used were powerful enough to damage everything around the pit as well as the guns themselves. So he had little hope that the pits were in pristine condition.


    It was too bad he didn''t have any schematics for missiles. Despite that issue, he had it on his list to check the other missile crash sites to see what could be recovered. The railguns probably hadn''t left much behind, but there might be something he could use to help him design his own at some point. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was a later project though. Today he focused on the shuttles in front of him. He wanted to know which one was in the best condition so he could focus his efforts there.


    As he stepped aboard the first ship, he was instantly glad he didn''t have a sense of smell. The walls were coated in dirt and grease. He was also pretty sure some of the black spots were mold. He typed out some commands on his tablet and sent a list of cleaning supplies that he needed. Those supplies were mostly for him at the moment, he didn''t want whatever was inside this ship to follow him back into the facility so he was giving himself a thorough scrub-down after he was done.


    Alexander ignored the filth and got to work pulling off service panels and inspecting the components behind them. He could only give them a visual inspection, but what he found wasn''t very inspiring. He found microcracks, hoses fixed with cloth, and some unknown sealant, as well as other issues. And that was only the surface items.


    As he entered the cockpit, he found the place littered with garbage and dried blood. The chairs were worn out and had been taped and patched what looked like a dozen times. He would have likely replaced them anyway, just to remove the smell he assumed they emanated but it was still annoying to see the disrepair.


    The window was the biggest issue. Multiple small holes peppered the material from the short but intense firefight that must have occurred between the surviving pirates and the Hawks. Replacing the heavily reinforced window was going to be a nightmare. That probably meant this shuttle wasn''t going to be the one he repaired unless the others were much worse.


    His last stop was the reactor. He had to access that from outside the shuttle. It took time to remove the panels keeping the engines and powerplant safe from reentry. He could have just ripped them off, it would have been faster. But he couldn''t afford to damage anything since he didn''t have design specifications for the shuttles. Everything he needed to fix or replace, he would have to reverse engineer from scratch.


    With the covers removed, he got a good look at the hidden engine components as well. The engine looked corroded as hell. He could see the pirates had replaced a few components because their corrosion wasn''t nearly as bad as everything else, but the overall shape of the engine left a lot to be desired.


    As for the power plant, he quickly pulled the emergency shutdown when he saw it. The casing was cracked in several spots. And not microcracks, but cracks you could see with the naked eye. He was surprised that the containment field hadn''t ruptured yet.


    Fusion power plants didn''t explode, but they contained a lot of heat and energy. All of that was contained by an electromagnetic field. The fusion reactor inside this shuttle was about the size of a sedan. If that field failed, all of that heat and energy would be dumped into the material of the reactor casing, immediately vaporizing the interior lining of the chamber and heating the material around it enough to deform or even completely melt some of the metal. And that was while it was on standby.


    If the shuttle had been powered up to full operational output and the containment field had then let go, it would likely have been enough energy to reduce the entire shuttle to a puddle of molten material.


    After learning of the issue with this shuttle, Alexander quickly went to the other shuttles and shut down their reactors as well. It would take time for their power plants to expend the heat and power still in the fusion chamber, but he wasn''t going to stick around and wait for that.


    While his body seemed sturdy, something told him, he would not survive an uncontained fusion reaction.


    After cleaning himself off, Alexander returned to his workshop. He wasn''t sure how long it would take for the reactors to grow cold, but he had other things to do in the meantime.


    He moved over to the mass spectrometer he had printed out. On the scanner bed were three tiny black flakes of material. Inside his mind space, he glanced at the three tiny dead spots in his vision. They were the result of damage taken in his fight with Arkonis, the pirate prince who threatened Yulia. Over the last few weeks, he did notice those dead spots were shrinking slightly. Measurements also confirmed that the damage was repairing itself, albeit slowly. He had swabbed and tested the area with anything he could think of, but the tests were inconclusive.


    He wasn''t sure what to make of that. He thought maybe it was nanites repairing the damage, at least that''s what his memories of sci-fi back in his day always claimed as the miracle catchall. But nanites should have shown up on the swab tests. It was a mystery he would need to keep working away at.


    In the meantime, it was good to know he was mostly bulletproof, even without that weird static field that popped up during the fight and had since deactivated. Alexander had tried multiple times since then to try and get the field to activate manually, but he either couldn''t or simply didn''t have the required knowledge to do so. He could only figure the knowledge belonged to one of his lost memories.


    As long as it still worked when he needed it most, he could live with that. It did beg the question, why did he have something like that built-in? The obvious answer was that he was a military robot. But he didn''t have any inbuilt weapons. Alexander would have noticed that by now since he had experimented with his hands and arms more than any other part of his body. They were built for fine, dextrous work, not for holding a weapon.


    Then again, that didn''t stop him from carrying around and using that massive grenade launcher. So maybe whoever built him figured he could multitask?


    He looked at the flakes on the scanner again, then rubbed the tiny indents on his body. Whatever had fixed him up so rapidly back on Petrov station didn''t seem all that inclined to do it again with these small spots. That was annoying. But it did give him his first opportunity to figure out what he was made out of so he couldn''t complain too much.


    The scanner finally beeped, letting him know it was done. He was a bit surprised by the results. The tiny flakes were composed of pure carbon and that was it. Normally you would get tiny amounts of trace materials in the sample. But the report showed nothing but carbon.


    How was that even possible?


    Even the smelter wasn''t able to separate every atom perfectly. However, it was so close as to not matter. But these little flakes were 100% molecularly pure carbon according to the instrument.


    That didn''t explain why he was so durable though. Carbon was durable in certain lattice configurations, even diamond wasn''t the most robust material out there. It was tough, sure, but it was extremely brittle. There had to be some weirdness going on at the molecular level to make his body so strong. Unfortunately, all he could do at the moment was guess since he wasn''t aware of any structure in carbon that could provide this type of strength without being super brittle. Alexander didn''t have a microscope powerful enough to see individual atoms. He would need to build an electron microscope for that, and he simply didn''t have the manufacturing capability to build something that specialized. Not yet anyway.


    Alexander set the three small flakes into a container, sealed it, and stored it in his warehouse for future study. Then he went back to the workshop and began building the shuttle from memory inside his engineering program.


    This would only be a rough layout meant to assist him when he needed to make replacement parts. He was certain adjustments would have to be made but it was a good place to start and kept him busy while he waited for the shuttles to discharge their reactors.


    He even modeled replacement hoses, components, chairs, and other items. Before he knew it, six hours flew by.


    "Alex!" Lucas pulled him from his work. "Sorry for disturbing you, but we got a bit of a problem."


    Alexander followed the man to the security room. It was now manned by two people at all times.


    "Take a look at these readings."


    Alexander looked at the holo display. There was a tiny, almost imperceptible blip on one of the readouts. He hadn''t been all that knowledgable on the jump wave scanner, but he knew enough. "Is it a residual wave?" He recalled Jasper telling him that sometimes old jump signatures could bounce around a system for months. Most systems were tuned to discard those low-power gravitational echos.


    "That''s what I thought at first when one of the techs brought it to my attention. I was bored at the time so I did some calculations to trace it back and see who it came from. I say I did the calculations, but the computer did most of them. The computer triangulates where the echo originated from and rolls back through the orbital mechanics of the system to pinpoint its source. I thought maybe it was an echo of the pirates. But it wasn''t."


    The man scrolled to another set of readings. "These are from the pirates jumping in, you can see all fifteen blips clearly. We were able to determine they used the large gas giant to mask their initial entry into the system. We need to do something to prevent that from happening again."


    "It''s on the list," Alexander sighed.


    Lucas nodded. "As I was saying, this signature came from a lone ship. And there is no echo. This was the jump signature." The man scrolled again. "This is what a normal jump signature looks like. This one came from the Moonlit Destiny when she jumped in by herself." The man overlayed the two.


    The new echo, or he guessed primary jump signature was a tiny fraction of what the Destiny''s was. It was so small that it would have been ignored by any newer system as an echo. "Is it from a small ship?"


    "I couldn''t say, I''m not a sensor expert. I compared it to a normal jump and a jump echo. This is the jump signature of the gunships the Hawks brought along. As you can see, they aren''t much weaker than a bigger ship. And this second one is a jump echo from the same ship a few hours later. The strength is about the same as our mystery signal. But if you overlay them, you can see the mystery signal is actually more coherent than the jump echo. I don''t know how to explain this."


    Alexander sighed. "Shouldn''t you have brought this to your brother instead of me?"


    "My brother only cares about the things he can have an impact on. A sensor echo that may or may not be a ship hiding in the system is not that."


    Alexander wasn''t sure he agreed about this not being a sensor echo, but after the attack, he wasn''t going to discount the man''s concern. They needed someone more knowledgeable about jump mechanics or gravitational sensors to weigh in. "Have the prisoners that the Hawks rescued from the pirate ships recovered yet?"


    "As far as I know their injuries were healed. I can''t say they''ve recovered from their ordeal though."


    "Fair enough. Could you or Gabriella speak with the survivors, and see if anyone knows anything about jump signatures?"


    "You don''t want to talk with them yourself?" Lucas asked with surprise.


    Alexander gestured to himself.


    "¡­Oh, right. I sometimes forget you can be rather intimidating. I''ll see if Gabriella will speak with them. She''s better with people than my brother or I."


    "Thank you. And let her know I will issue her contribution for doing this."


    He sighed internally as Lucas left the room. Alexander didn''t need another mystery at the moment, he had enough stuff to deal with. Speaking of problems, he decided that enough time had passed for the shuttles to discharge, so he headed back outside to finish his inspection.

 Chapter 2-3

    The Episilon''s Dawn jumped into the system known as Y6X-3H2, coasting at a relatively sedate pace of .1c. They were here to surveil the system, so there was no hurry. The trajectory they were on would take them just outside the orbit of the most distant satellite orbiting their target planet. The planet formerly known as Y6X-3H2-4 had been recently renamed Eden''s End on the STO''s space charts.They could maneuver without giving away their position if they needed to using their cold gas thrusters or even their concealed ion thrusters, but that shouldn''t be necessary unless their orbital charts were way off. The other option was to wait until they were out of the line of sight of the planet to light off their main drive.


    "What do we have, Ensign?" Captain Krieger asked while sipping on some fresh coffee. They had been in the system for a full day, so their passive sensors should have picked up something even though they were still quite far from the planet they were here to take a peek at.


    "Not much yet, Captain. Optics has marked three ships sitting in a parking orbit quite a distance from the planet. The charts confirmed that as a possible Lagrange point. There was also a gunship in the system, but they have since left. The active transponder from that ship registers it as belonging to the Hawks of Ganos."


    The fact that a mercenary gunship was still hanging around was a good sign. His orders were to see what was going on out here. But if it turned out to be a pirate stronghold in the making, he had orders to remove it with extreme prejudice. "No surprise there, we knew they were working with the mercenaries. What else?"


    "There is a small station in orbit around the planet. The computer says it matches a standard refueling design."


    "When did our report say the Hawks came out here?" He could have sworn the report said it had been less than a year.


    "A little over ten months, Sir."


    "Well, aren''t these people rather industrious? Is that all?"


    "No, Sir. There is also a transponder for a mining ship called The Moonlit Destiny. The STO database has the ship tagged as quarantined and not allowed at public ports."


    "That''s the official story on the ship? What''s the unofficial?" A quarantined ship carrying an actual disease would have spread through the news outlets like wildfire. The fact that it hadn''t meant this was some bullshit from STO leadership.


    "Unofficially¡­" the officer paused. "The ship was registered at Petrov station right before the pirate attack."


    There it was. The ship had either escaped right before the attack or during it. If they were upstanding individuals, they would have gone to the closest STO outpost to report the incident. And someone in the STO leadership decided to bury the problem instead of dealing with it. Typical. Vitor just shook his head at the incompetence of that decision. Politicking at its finest. It''s why he turned down any offers to rise above the rank of Captain. He still had to deal with internal Navy politics, but he didn''t have to deal with the governmental bullshit.


    "What about the planet itself?" he asked after taking another sip of the soothingly hot beverage. The warmth flowed through him, temporarily banishing the slight chill that seemed to always accompany military ships.


    "Nothing yet. The atmosphere is too hazy to pick anything up. But the computer is compiling an image of the surface. We should have it by the time we do our closest flyby."


    "Excellent. While the computer is doing that, get me more information on those three parked vessels."


    ***


    "We have positive IDs on those three ships, Captain."


    It had taken far longer than he would have liked to get that information, but it wasn''t like they had anything else pressing. That didn''t mean he wasn''t going to find out why the information was delayed so long. "Ensign, care to explain why it took so long to get positive IDs?"


    The young man blanched slightly. "The ships have been heavily damaged, sir. When I ran them through the database, it didn''t return any results. I tried the search a few more times, I even had the computer do partial reconstructions. ¡­It wasn''t until I remembered the fifteen pirate ships we were trailing a month and a half ago that I finally got a hit."


    Vitor nodded. He knew the ships were likely the remains of the pirate fleet, but sometimes you needed to let your crew make their own mistakes and learn from them so they could grow. When they weren''t under threat of attack, it was a perfect time to push those lessons. "Keep that in mind for next time, Ensign. What ships are out there?"


    The man nodded. "I will, Captain. The first ship is Arkonis Anazi''s vessel, the Headhunter. The second ship belonged to his third in command. No name on record for that ship. The third is a small corvette or large gunboat class ship by the name of the Absolution. The Captain we have on file for that ship was declared dead six months back, so we aren''t sure who is the current Captain."


    "Considering they are sitting there with their reactors offline, my guess would be nobody, Ensign." The man''s face turned red. "So," Vitor continued, purposely ignoring the man''s embarrassment so as to not cause him anymore. "We have three former pirate ships, with no crew. Three returned to their rendezvous point. That''s six. Where did the other nine go?"


    "Um¡­ they were all shot down, Sir. There is significant orbital debris around the planet. Our surface map has also marked six debris fields large enough to have been a ship. One looked to have landed but wasn''t able to take off again."


    "A single outdated troop transport did this?" If that was the case, it was beyond impressive. These weren''t the most well-equipped pirate ships he had ever seen, but fifteen of them should have put up quite the fight. Something still wasn''t adding up here.


    "No, Sir. At least the computer doesn''t believe so."


    "What do you believe, Ensign?" This new generation trusted far too much in computers to do everything for them. The only upside to that was that if they didn''t, Epsilon''s Dawn wouldn''t be able to take advantage of that oversight to hide its jump signature.


    "¡­Um¡­ No?" Vitor gestured for the man to continue. "The picture of the complex on the surface shows three craters. They appear to have been weapon installations. Three more objects on the surface could be more of these weapon installations. The computer couldn''t give a definitive answer on these last three locations because they are below blast doors. I believe they are more weapons due to their placement."


    Vitor nodded. "Excellent work, Ensign." While the man was talking, Vitor was reviewing the footage he was referring to. "I agree with your assessment. I''m going to assume the facility plans we have don''t show any previous military-grade weapons on the surface." The Ensign shook his head slightly, but it was a rhetorical question. Vitor knew this place wouldn''t have had ground-based anti-ship weaponry. That sort of technology was highly restricted in STO space. So where had the people below learned how to manufacture them? "Sounds like the pirates bit off more than they could chew. I can''t say I''m too shaken up about that. This does prove to be a bit of an issue though¡­"


    "Captain?" his first mate asked.


    Vitor waved off the man''s concern. "Just thinking out loud. The STO doesn''t have any jurisdiction out here, so it isn''t like these people are doing anything illegal. That being said, we need to keep an eye on things here. If the pirates returned and somehow managed to capture the complex, this place would already be primed to become a pirate haven. I''m going to suggest to Navy Command that we do quarterly inspections to ensure pirates haven''t moved in. If there''s nothing else, I think we''ve learned everything we could from the system. Adjust our course outside the gravity well and jump us back toward Varlen."


    ***


    Gabriella entered the security room with a middle-aged man who looked worse for wear. The fellow in question had sunken eyes and waxy-looking skin. He also seemed to flinch at every quick movement. It was clear he wasn''t well treated when he was a captive. "Alex, meet First Lieutenant Branston. He said he might be able to help."


    "Fome," the man managed to say.


    "Sorry," Gabriella said to the man, giving him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Former First Lieutenant Branston," she corrected as she led him over to a console before walking over to Alexander. "The pirates were not kind to Branston. They cut out his tongue to keep him from talking. He communicated to me via a tablet that he wanted to help. To thank you for allowing the use of the medical center to help regrow his tongue."


    "How is his treatment going?" Alexander asked. This was his first time meeting any of the prisoners rescued from the pirate ships.


    There weren''t many from what he recalled. The Talon didn''t have the medical facilities to treat the wounds these people suffered from so he had agreed to treat all of them. Technically, Gabriella and a few of the other residents of Eden''s End were treating them. Alexander had simply given them full access to all of the medical machines and supplies. He quickly realized after arriving here that he would not have time to learn how to operate any of those medical devices.


    "The bioprinter created a replacement tongue for him, and his body didn''t reject it. It will take time for him to get used to the replacement though. Unfortunately, I am not a doctor, I was only a fitness instructor back before we left the STO, so I can''t say how his mental state is. He seems to be recovering well enough though and he looks much better than he did when they brought him in."


    Alexander winced internally at that. If Branston looked this bad now, he couldn''t imagine how bad he looked when he first arrived. "And the others?"


    He could see rage boil up in the woman before she suppressed it. "Their physical injuries have been treated although they will take time to heal. We keep them occupied with other women at all times to keep their minds occupied and to keep them from dwelling on what happened aboard those ships. I''m not sure those four women will ever truly get over what was done to them though."


    "Do what you can. And thank you for taking on that responsibility."


    "You don''t need to thank me for doing what''s right."


    He nodded and the pair walked over to where First Lieute¨C former First Lieutenant Branston was manipulating the system information.


    "Did Gabriella or Lucas tell you what was going on?" Alexander asked the man.


    The man nodded. "Sange siga."


    "If talking is too much, we can always just use a tablet," Alexander offered.


    Branston shook his head. "Eed o ear o alk aga."


    He was pretty sure the man just said he needed to learn to talk again. Fair enough. "Yes. There was a strange echo or what we thought was a jump echo. I can show you." He reached for the console but the man waved him away.


    With a few swipes and gestures, the man brought up the signal. "His siga?"


    "Yes, that''s it. Lucas thinks a ship jumped in and that it isn''t an echo at all."


    "He igh," the man said. "Have'' seen befoe."


    If he understood what the man was saying, he seemed to agree with Lucas'' assessment, but he hadn''t ever seen a signal like this before.


    The man looked frustrated before he picked up a tablet and began typing. It seemed whatever he needed to communicate was too much to speak. Branston handed him the tablet and Alexander read what the man had typed.


    "You think this might be a black ops ship?"


    The man nodded.


    "Why?"


    "S O, wok on pojec when I in avy. Canceled, maybe."


    "If that''s true, why would an STO spy ship come here?"


    The man gestured around.


    "¡­Ah, right. Do you think we could track this ship somehow? I don''t like the fact that the STO is keeping tabs on us. We are not in their space and we haven''t done anything against their laws. The only thing we''ve done is defend ourselves."


    "On'' have sell me," Branston stated angrily. "No escue me afe capue. I no go back."


    The man manipulated the display again and brought up the original time and location where the jump signature was picked up. Then he used the tablet again. "I picked up some tricks while being forced to work for the pirates. Do you have high-quality optical sensors?"


    "We have a few that survived," Lucas added to the conversation.


    Most of the disguised cameras had simply died over time due to component failure. Seven were still operational according to Lucas. They had only been able to reconnect to three of the units after the uplink came back up. The younger Laront was still trying to get the uplink working for the others. He said they were probably knocked out of their orbit and the chronometer needed to be adjusted to allow them to communicate again.


    As Lucas brought up the three cameras, Branston flew through screens and did some complicated mathematics that he fed the computer. The cameras reoriented on a small section of space. He pointed at the visual display. There didn''t appear to be anything there¡­at first.


    Soon something crossed in front of a distant star, occluding it temporarily from view.


    "Well," Alexander stated in annoyance. "It looks like you were right, Lucas. I owe you an apology. It seems we do have an unwanted guest. How far away is the ship?"


    Lucas looked at the coordinates in the camera feed. "Looks like it''s out past the smallest satellite. Too far out for us to hit with the railguns if that''s what you had in mind."


    Alexander looked at the man like he was crazy. "Why would I want to start hostilities with an STO ship? While it''s true I''m annoyed that they are here, looking into our business, that''s no reason to start a war we would easily lose. No, let''s just keep track of them for now. Branston, can you flag that jump signature so if this ship ever returns, we''ll be alerted?"


    The former navy man nodded.


    While the ship must have been in the system for days, it only hung around for a few more hours after they spotted it. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Looks like they are finally leaving," Lucas commented.


    "They probably already have all the information they came for," Branston typed on the tablet.


    Alexander frowned at that. "I don''t appreciate them thinking they can come here and do as they please. We need to expand our defenses and surveillance systems to prevent this from happening in the future. The ship today might not have had orders to attack, but who''s to say if that will change in the future?"


    "How do we do that?" Lucas asked. "The launcher is useless with all the debris floating around up there. It''s going to take another few months before most of that burns up in the atmosphere. That just leaves the shuttles."


    "You have shuttles?" Branston asked on the tablet.


    "We do. Sort of. They are the ones the pirates left behind. I started looking them over before some issues popped up, and then Lucas called me in here to look into this."


    "Do you have pio?" the former pirate prisoner asked excitedly. It was the first time the man actually looked alive since he had entered the control room.


    "¡­Um, I hadn''t gotten that far. Why? Are you interested?"


    "Yes," the man nodded enthusiastically. "I heal, you let pio?"


    "You want to be a pilot¡­ for me? I mean, I don''t see why not."


    The man got up from the chair and hurried over as fast as his frail form would allow. He grabbed one of Alexander''s hands and shook it vigorously. "We have dea!"

 Chapter 2-4

    By the time the whole unwanted visitor issue resolved itself, Alexander realized it was getting late. Not wanting to disappoint his daughter, he headed home to spend time with Yulia."Alex!" the girl greeted him excitedly, "Look what I made in class today!"


    "Ooh! What is it?"


    "It''s you, silly. See the arms and legs and face."


    "I think your picture is upside down, sweetie."


    She paused and turned the picture around to stare at it before turning it so it faced the correct way. "See!"


    He chuckled at her exuberance. "I do see. Should we hang it up next to your other pictures?"


    She nodded emphatically and they moved over to a large wall with numerous other pieces of her art stuck to it with magnets.


    "How about here?" he asked, pointing to the top center of the wall.


    Yulia acted like she was pondering the spot but Alexander had never seen her choose a different location after he picked. She grabbed one of the magnets and tried reaching, but she was too short.


    "Do you want me to put it up?" he asked as she struggled.


    She shook her head and continued to try until he sighed dramatically and lifted the giggling girl up so she could place it high on the wall.


    "I finished your puzzle last night," she puffed out after Alexander placed her back on the floor.


    "You did? Well, let''s see it then." Yulia raced to her bedroom and a few minutes later returned with a robot that was a perfect scale model of the ones assembling the space station. The only difference was it was made from plastic, had six multi-jointed legs, and the middle arm used for tool attachments had been replaced by a happy-looking cartoon dog''s face.


    She grunted as she put the robot ¨C which was almost as large as her ¨C on the floor. Yulia had been working to assemble the thing for two months, ever since Alexander had built it for her. He didn''t want the other kids to feel left out of all the cool toys so he made all his designs available for trade. The kids could even earn points to get them themselves if they so desired. They just needed to pick up rubbish or help clean up. Nothing too onerous.


    He figured allowing the kids to do small jobs would instill a sense of accomplishment and ownership to Eden''s End that the majority of the older drifters seemed to lack. He also let them do these jobs because he knew most of the parents were rather practical, and he doubted many would spend their hard-earned contribution on toys when they could purchase things like medical services or other hard-to-come-by items like the training modules. Alexander didn''t charge for kids to use the learning modules he had earmarked for children. Any child that attended classes got to learn at their own pace and study topics that interested them. He didn''t want to force them to do stuff they would find tedious or boring, that would only sour them on the whole classroom environment he was trying to foster. Down the line, he hoped to turn the loose classroom learning into something greater but that was a long-term goal.


    After placing the lightweight six-legged-robot-dog-monstrosity down, she activated it with the remote.


    The little holo projectors that served as the eyes lit up and they looked around before it let out a little mechanical *whorf*


    Yulia giggled at that and ran over and hugged the neck. "It''s a dog right?"


    "Um¡­ yeah, something like that. Do you have a name for your new friend?" He wasn''t worried about the young girl being so close to the robot, it was mostly plastic, so the chances of it hurting her by accident were slim. They were even lower with her model since he used one of the advanced chips to implement a self-learning algorithm into the toy. The chip core was coated in dense non-metallic armor plating and hidden inside the body to protect it as well. If Yulia thought it odd, she hadn''t bothered asking about it. Was it a ridiculous waste of a very finite resource? Nope, not at all.


    "¡­Dog?" she asked.


    He chuckled, "If that''s what you want to call it, that''s fine with me."


    "Your new name is Dog!" she squealed happily. Dog barked once in response.


    Now, Alexander might have included the kits for other kids to build their very own dog or if that didn''t interest them they could get the toy preassembled but he hadn''t included the self-learning component. That was a gift for Yulia only.


    "Shall we take Dog for a walk?"


    She nodded, "Come on Dog, I''ll show you around." The robot barked once at the command and clumsily plodded along after the skipping girl. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander chuckled internally and followed the pair out of the home. He had improved his programming by creating the interface for Dog. There was no need for a clunky remote control. As long as Yulia held the activator, it would follow her. Eventually, Dog would become smart enough that it didn''t even need that to keep track of its owner.


    The trio made a circuit around their area. By the time they arrived back outside the door, the robot was moving much more naturally. Self-learning really did make things so much easier. He also realized it made him a lazy coder. After Yulia went to bed, he would pull the updated code from Dog and see what it improved so he could also improve his future coding.


    Another thing had changed since the attack. He added code into Dog''s programming to alert him if Yulia was injured or in danger. It would also send a ping of her location in the facility to his tablet. It was a step back toward his overprotective instincts and he knew it, but he couldn''t help himself. With the Hawks gone, there was nobody else to keep an eye on her, besides her friend Markus. And he was only a few years older than she was.


    The girl was a bit of a trouble magnet, some of that was because she didn''t like to follow prescribed rules until she actually got in trouble. Like the whole trying to explore incident, that got her and her friends in hot water with the Hawks.


    The teen boy always having to bail her out of trouble was a different issue though. Alexander didn''t know how he felt about that. If they were both a bit older, he might suspect the boy had a crush on Yulia. It could just be a case of puppy love or maybe he loved her like a little sister. Either way, they were young enough that he didn''t feel the need to worry about it. The boy hadn''t been around much lately anyway because his new mother was keeping him rather busy. Eva Wu had adopted Markus after Alexander told her what he did for Yulia during the attack.


    The nice older lady that Alexander had met aboard Petrov had changed since the attack. She went from a nice old lady to a firm taskmaster, who brooked no argument and was perfectly fine dishing out orders. Alexander suspected she had always been that sort of woman, but had mellowed out with age. Not that he minded. A lot more people would have died had she not rallied the security people and held off that large group of pirates until he arrived. She seemed to be raising Markus in the same manner, with a focused intensity.


    The boy didn''t seem fazed at all by the change. The last time Alexander had run into Eva and Markus, the boy seemed happy.


    "Will Yulia be coming to Markus'' fourteenth birthday party?" she had asked.


    As if Alexander would ever deny Yulia from going to the boy''s party after he saved her, not once, but twice.


    That did remind him that Yulia was going to be ten soon. The orphanage didn''t have her exact date of birth, so it had just been registered as the date she was found. A bit cold if you asked him, but it was still a day to celebrate. He found it hard to believe how much she had grown in the last year. When he first met her, she was a skinny waif of a little girl. Now she was a normal, happy little girl who no longer looked underfed or short for her age.


    It was amazing what a year of care could do. Her last birthday occurred shortly after they arrived at Eden''s End. It had just been a small party between the pair of them. He felt bad for keeping her away from people during those days, but he didn''t know who could be trusted during those first few weeks after arrival. He was determined to make it up to her for her tenth birthday though. Alexander wasn''t going to start planning anything or notifying people until after Markus'' party. He didn''t want to steal the spotlight from Markus'' birthday.


    Speaking of Markus, Alexander had to come up with a gift for the boy. Technically, he already had one in mind, but that was more of a reward than a gift. Eva had given him an idea of what to offer the young man since Alexander didn''t know him very well. He was still mulling over that decision though. And how Eva would react when she found out. Eh, it would probably be fine.


    ***


    The day of the teenager''s party came rather quickly but Alexander was ready with the gift for him. Whether or not he liked it, would be another story.


    Eva had managed to put together an amazing party, and there were hundreds of people attending in Atrium D, where the playground was. It made sense to host the party there for the kids.


    As they approached the large gathering, Eva smiled and came to greet them.


    "Yulia, Markus will be happy to see you. He''s over in the playground with the rest of the kids if you would like to join him."


    Yulia glanced at Alexander for approval. He nodded and she hurried off. They left Dog at home for the same reason he hadn''t announced Yulia''s party yet. This was Markus'' day.


    "Alexander, it''s good to see you outside your workshop. I''ve been meaning to have a chat with you."


    "Oh? Is this about what happened during the attack?" he asked casually.


    She smiled.


    He smiled back. She wasn''t the only one who could be crafty.


    "I feel like I''m becoming too predictable in my old age."


    Alexander chuckled. "It wasn''t hard to guess what you might want to talk about. Although there isn''t much I can say."


    "You can''t or that you won''t?" she asked quietly as they made their way through the other guests.


    "A bit of both, I suppose. Don''t get me wrong, I like you Eva, but I don''t know if I can trust you with this."


    The woman nodded. "I assumed that might be the case after I spied on you for Mingyu. After I met you at Petrov station, I knew I would regret that action one day. Sometimes we do things for family we would never do for ourselves," she sighed.


    "I didn''t know you and Captain Na were related?"


    "We aren''t, not by blood anyway. But I practically raised the boy since his mother never left the station and his father was busy being Captain."


    "Ah¡­ I assume you have a guess as to what happened?" While he wasn''t willing to spill all his secrets, it might be good to know what she thought.


    The woman nodded slightly. "Some sort of static field. But it wasn''t like anything I''ve ever seen before."


    "I''ll tell you this much, Eva. I don''t know anything more than you do about that field. This body," he waved at himself, "Wasn''t exactly a choice on my part."


    "And that made-up story about the medical pod?"


    Alexander chuckled, "You''re the second person to call me out on that. But that''s part of what I won''t be sharing. I''m sorry."


    The woman nodded, her soft smile never leaving her face. "One day I hope you''ll trust me enough to tell me the whole tale. For now, I have other guests arriving. Please enjoy the party."


    He watched the older woman wander off. She had taken the rejection far better than he could have hoped. With that out of the way, he went in search of Markus Wu.


    The boy was playing a spirited game of tag with the older kids. Alexander waited off to the side until the boy finally noticed him. Markus excused himself and walked over warily.


    "What do you want?" he asked in suspicion.


    Ignoring the terse response, Alexander pulled out a metallic card and handed it to the boy. Markus examined the blank card with a frown before looking back at Alexander.


    "I seem to be doing this far too often, but I wanted to thank you for saving Yulia, again."


    Much like the first time, the boy''s ears went red in embarrassment. He really needed to learn how to accept praise or stop being so damn chivalrous before he ended up as a tomato for the rest of his life. Before the boy could walk away or say something stupid like ''he was just doing what anyone would do'', Alexander continued. "That card is locked to your DNA profile and gives you full access to every learning module. Not just the ones I authorized for the kids. Every single one¡­ forever. If there is something you want to learn, that isn''t in there, let me know and I will do my best to get it."


    The boy opened and closed his mouth like a fish. It was good that he seemed to understand the implications of this gift. Considering what Eva had been spending her hard-earned contribution on, this would ease her burden as well.


    The boy eventually stuffed the small card into his pocket. "Um¡­ Thanks for the gift."


    The boy was about to go back to playing when Alexander stopped him. "That wasn''t your gift. That was a reward for doing what was right. This is your gift." Alexander handed over one of the crystal cards he had been given by Captain Matthews.


    Again the boy looked lost. He doubted many people would know what the item he just handed the boy was.


    "Alexander!" Eva admonished as she strode up to them "Are you out of your mind?" She snatched the item from the boy''s hand and went to pass it back to him. "You can''t just be handing these out to people all willy-nilly."


    He wasn''t surprised that the woman recognized the item, she had been a first mate for decades. Alexander didn''t take the fusion activation crystal from her. "You said the boy''s dream was to become a Captain, now he has a ship. I''ll fix it up and when he''s ready to take on that responsibility, it''ll be ready and waiting for him."


    She glared at him, but there was no anger in the expression, only annoyance. He watched that, while also watching the teenager''s eyes bulge wide at the realization. Eva turned to the boy and her expression softened. "We''ll discuss this later tonight. Please thank Mr. Kane for his generous gift."


    He wondered what Eva would say when she found out about the other thing he gave him. Access to all those learning modules was worth way more than a ratty old pirate ship, even after it was fixed up.


    The boy thanked him, profusely. The wariness and subtle hostility, that had always been in the teenager''s tone when he talked to Alexander, vanished from his voice for the first time. Alexander simply smiled and nodded at the boy before returning to the party.


    Eva saw something special in the boy; that''s why she adopted him, even though she told him back on the station she was too old to adopt. Alexander didn''t need her to tell him the boy was special, but her willingness to raise him did reinforce his thoughts on the matter. Since Alexander''s goal was to beat out the likes of Omni, he needed people like Markus who rose above their peers to make it happen. This was simply an investment towards that future.

 Chapter 2-5

    "Fight checks, ok," Branston said over the radio.It had been a few weeks since Alexander had met the man, and his speech had improved quite a bit since then. His ''fight checks'' were the startup flight checks for the first converted shuttle.


    Everything had been stripped out of the ship, repaired, or replaced. This wasn''t the first ship he had inspected. The reactor on that ship was far too badly damaged to repair. But two out of the sixteen shuttles had reactors that were in repairable condition. That wasn''t great, but two were still better than none. Right now, he focused all his efforts on a single shuttle since he only had a single pilot.


    A few of the other shuttles might see repairs when Alexander''s ability to manufacture more sophisticated parts improved, but he wasn''t holding his breath. They were so bad it might just be better to start from scratch. He learned his lesson about trying to fix stuff that was far too gone from his attempts at trying to fix the low-orbit launcher.


    While the small craft''s reactor had been repaired, almost everything else was replaced. The only items left from the original shuttle were the frame and the flight system. Some of the flight system components were pulled from another shuttle because Alexander didn''t have the resources to manufacture the electronics from scratch. He could have cobbled together enough working components from the other shuttles to make a second shuttle operational ¨C that seems to have been what the pirates had done ¨C but that simply wasn''t acceptable. The only reason he agreed to transfer the flight system components this time was to speed the process along and the fact Branston said the replacement system was working properly.


    While most of the components were replaced with reverse-engineered duplicates, the thrusters were an original design based on his other thruster work. It was a bit of a risk using a set of experimental thrusters, based on a third-generation design of the ones he tested a few months back, but he had high hopes for these. They still didn''t match up to the Omni thruster as far as output, in his tests, but Alexander''s new engine design was nearly ten percent more efficient than the Omni one he was comparing it to.


    It seemed he was slowly but surely figuring out what design tweaks worked and what didn''t. His fourth-gen design was already in the works. With any luck, he would finally figure out the piece he was missing to surpass the Omni design. It would be a month or so before he got to test it though.


    "Launch at your discretion, pilot," Alexander responded.


    Despite Alexander''s reservations about using the thruster, Branston had been thrilled about getting to test an experimental engine. He said the only thing better than flying, was flying experimental ships. He may get his wish one day, but designing and building an entire ship was a ways off for Alexander and Blue Star Enterprises. A new shuttle design might be something he could complete in a more reasonable time frame though, so that went on Alexander''s list.


    "Copy that, control."


    Alexander focused on the holovid showing the landing pad. The shuttle''s thrusters sputtered to life for the first time, going through a quick cycle test before the takeoff thrusters all came to life simultaneously, pushing the craft slowly off the landing pad.


    The ship hovered in place for a moment before rotating away from the facility. The landing thrusters tipped backward, sending the ship angling up. Once the shuttle was far enough from the facility, Branston fired up the main drive and streaked toward outer space.


    "How''s it going?" Alexander asked.


    "Faster than expected," he heard the man grunt over the radio through the sustained acceleration. "Reducing speed."


    "I did warn you," Alexander admonished. "We removed nearly half the weight of the ship to make room for more cargo."


    "I needed to know what it was capable of," Branston replied back.


    "Once it''s full though, you''ll likely experience the exact opposite. It''s going to feel really sluggish. Try not to break it or run into any debris." Most of the debris left over from the battle had fallen into the planet''s gravity and burned up, but they knew some pieces were still out there thanks to Lucas''s satellite cameras. The shuttle''s static field should protect it once it is outside the atmosphere but that transition zone was where most of the danger lay. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Speaking of satellite cameras, the view on the holo switched from the facility camera to one of those as the shuttle got close to exiting the atmosphere.


    They also had a view from the Hawks'' gunship as it fed them a second angle. The ship was on standby in case of a critical failure.


    It wasn''t needed though. The ship that Alexander had simply renamed Shuttle 1 exited the atmosphere without issue and continued to its rendezvous with the refueling station.


    "Docking successful," Branston stated happily.


    "Alright, time to move on to the second part of the test. Let''s see if the robots can load the processed ore." Because the initial flight was the most dangerous, Alexander hadn''t wanted to have any cargo aboard on the way up. Seeing that the ship made it into orbit without any issues, it was safe to try bringing material back down.


    "Alex, we have a new contact in the system," Lucas stated.


    "Wing One confirms contact. We are moving to intercept." Wing One was the name of the Hawks'' gunship. It wasn''t the most original name, but they did sort of have a theme going. And it wasn''t like Alexander''s naming sense was any better.


    Before Wing One had even left the orbit of Eden''s End, it confirmed the target had an active transponder. The facility received the signal shortly after that.


    "Ground command, the ship Captain claims they are transporting passengers. A scientist by the name of Nova Lund. I cannot engage a civilian vessel unless they make a hostile move, how do you wish to proceed?"


    Dr. Nova Lund was aboard this ship? What the heck was she doing way out here, and without any protection? The single gunship provided by the Hawks had been kept in the system ever since they returned from their last patrol. Which had them away while that unknown ship was prowling around. Alexander didn''t want a repeat of that feeling of helplessness. The gunship may not scare away a ship like that, but it may give them pause. It was too bad they didn''t have their assistance for much longer. In a little over a month, the ship would need to return to Ganos.


    "Rendevous with the ship and escort them to the station. Let them know they may have to wait in orbit for a few days until we prepare a shuttle capable of bringing people down. Unless their ship is capable of landing on its own. Actually, scratch that last point. I don''t want them landing down here, even if they are capable."


    "Acknowledged, ground command," the Hawks'' pilot stated.


    "Do you want me to cut my trip short?" Branston asked. The line was open, so he had heard everything discussed in the conversation.


    "No. We need those materials. It''ll be a few days before the ship arrives anyway."


    ***


    Alexander waited on the landing pad as he watched the shuttle descend. He felt like he was waiting for people out here far too often. It was getting quite annoying actually. What he needed was someone who could do it for him. Eva was a possibility, but she was quite busy with Markus.


    While he would keep track of people coming and going, he decided he was going to pass this duty off to Damien and his people.


    Unless there was specifically someone here to see him, Alexander really didn''t see the need to be involved per his agreement with Damien and this council they formed. With this place being a sort of drifter haven, he expected more would show up eventually. He suspected the only reason he hadn''t seen any so far was the fact the pirates were so active right now.


    He had gotten a description of Dr. Lund from Jasper the last time they spoke of the enigmatic scientist. So when a slightly overweight man stepped off the shuttle, followed by a wife and kid, Alexander was a bit confused. A few more groups of men and women stepped off the shuttle, all looked rather tired. They looked more like refugees than drifters.


    It was perfect. While Damien had kept the place relatively free of criminals before his arrival, Alexander hadn''t seen how he dealt with them firsthand. This would be a good test to see how the man dealt with outsiders. If he couldn''t handle a few new arrivals, it would be good to know sooner rather than later. He radioed the security room and told them they better send someone out here to sort these people out. While he believed they were refugees looking for a new place to live, he couldn''t discount the possibility that they were spies.


    If they were spies, they may not even be here for him. They might be here following Dr. Lund. She was a very prominent theoretical scientist even if she had shunned the STO to create her own foundation of scientists.


    The fact that she was here, and not aboard her research vessel probably meant something had changed. Alexander simply watched the new arrivals. They shielded their eyes from the glare of the star as they came down the ramp, panting in the thin air.


    Whoever they were, they had not come prepared for the thin atmosphere. They could survive for around half an hour before the reduced oxygen started to affect them, so Alexander left them to wait for Damien''s people.


    The group of people shied away from him but were unsure of what to do until one of Damien''s security people came jogging out of the facility a bit out of breath. "S- sorry I''m late," he huffed as he caught his breath, which wasn''t easy even with the breathing mask. "If you folks could follow me, you need to go through a security scan before we release you."


    Alexander took in everything as the people went past. A subtle smirk here, a slight glare there. Yeah, there were definitely people in this group who were here to cause trouble. Thankfully no Qcomm messages could go out. Not without his say-so. And the gunship only made the trip once a month, with the next trip being the last. Once it was gone, their connection to the greater galaxy would be cut off for the next nine months. That was plenty of time to sort out any troublemakers amongst this group.


    After the unknown people streamed past him, a short elderly lady of African heritage tromped down the ramp. Alexander immediately recognized her from Jasper''s description. Despite her advanced age, she had a different bearing than the other shuttle passengers. Behind her came a skinny teenager who looked less than happy to be here. Both had breathing masks, unlike the other arrivals. That was interesting. That meant she knew what to expect, and the other folks hadn''t.


    "Dr. Lund?" Alexander asked as the woman strode right up to him.


    She took in his form with a steely gaze that defied her advanced years. "Yes. But call me Nova. And you must be Alexander. I must say, I''m fascinated by this robot body. I don''t think I''ve seen anything quite like it. I would ask to study it, but robotics is far from my specialty."


    "Ugh," the teenager behind her groaned in a way that conveyed his utter disdain for this conversation and your existence in general. Alexander remembered this as something only teenagers were capable of. "Can we move this along, Gran, this place sucks."


    "Thomas¡­ I told you to be on your best behavior."


    "Ugh, fine. I''m going inside. This place better have something interesting to do." With that declaration, the teenager dragged his feet across the landing pad.


    Lund cleared her throat. "I apologize for my grandson''s behavior. His deadbeat of a father, my son, did not do a good job of raising him."


    "So you took him in?" Alexander asked as they slowly walked toward the entrance.


    "Not by choice, I''m afraid. His mother wasn''t much better at raising the kid than my son, but at least she was present in his life until she died in an accident. When my son brought him to ''visit'' he simply left without the boy. I haven''t seen him since."


    "That''s awful."


    She nodded.


    "So¡­ what brings you here, Nova? I thought everything was going well for you the last time we spoke."


    She frowned in disgust. "It was. Until we had to stop in STO space to refuel and do maintenance. Some Navy man was waiting for us. They claimed that since there was a war going on, they were drafting scientists to help with the war effort. Anyone who refused was being blacklisted from the scientific community. My so-called colleagues, who had claimed to despise the STO''s rules and technological stagnation as much as I, flipped at the drop of a credit chip."


    "I take it that wasn''t the case for you? Also, wasn''t the STO downplaying the whole pirate thing as just an attack and not a war? When did that change?"


    "No. Those bastards tried all sorts of tricks to get me to bend to their whims. I simply hired a ship, told the Captain where I wanted to go, and here we are. As for the war part, publicly they deny it is a war, while privately they use the word like a bludgeon to coerce people like myself into working for them. Typical STO behavior."


    "I see¡­ While I would prefer not to have our location publicized, I''m glad you are here. What about those other people?"


    She snorted at his comment. "I would normally agree that maintaining privacy is important. I think that ship''s sailed for you, Alexander. I heard about Eden''s End from a few different stops along our route. They may not have known the name or the location, but you could tell they were talking about the same place. Face it, Alexander, your secret''s already out there. As for those other people, they were looking for some new place to settle after losing their homes to the pirates or being prevented from returning home because that home was under the control of the pirates. They joined up at multiple different stops along our route, it seems most places in the STO aren''t keen on taking refugees in."


    "Word is already spreading? That''s not ideal. What did you hear?"


    "Not much. Some people were calling it a safe harbor. Most people simply discount the rumors since it''s so far outside of STO space. But if the conflict between the STO and pirates grows any more, you may start to see more people looking for a safe place. Especially since the STO doesn''t seem too concerned about actually doing anything about the problem anytime soon." He wanted Eden''s End to grow, but he didn''t want it to become a refugee haven. He needed the right kind of people.


    "Thanks for the warning. I might end up turning people away though."


    Lund shrugged. "That''s up to you. I assume it''s ok if my grandson and I stay so I can continue my work?"


    "I don''t know. What could I possibly gain by having one of humanity''s most renowned scientists staying at my facility to further her advanced research?"


    She chuckled. "Don''t think I forgot what I asked you. I may need your skills to turn my work into reality."


    He nodded and waved her to enter the facility door ahead of him. When he was finally inside, he was greeted by a whole lot of shouting.

 Chapter 2-6

    "Uh, Boss, I''m gonna need some help with these new arrivals," the security man he sent down radioed in."I''ll be there shortly," Damien grunted in reply. Before he left the security room, he grabbed one of the stun sticks. He thought about grabbing a pulse rifle from the rack but decided against it. If he needed a pulse rifle to deal with this problem, he wasn''t cut out for this role.


    It didn''t take him long to reach the hallway where the new arrivals were. One man was arguing with his security person while a few others were egging him on in the background. He glanced over and spotted Alexander entering with an older woman. That was probably the scientist friend of his. That meant twelve people had come down on the shuttle.


    As he got closer, he could finally make out what the man was shouting about. "-demand you get your superior, I will not be subjecting myself to this nonsense."


    That comment alone marked them as non-drifters. Drifters didn''t usually have people in charge, only people who did what had to be done. The other fact that Damien didn''t believe they were drifters was the size of the group. While it was rare, a group of drifters this size would have been an entire family group. With how they broke into groups and held themselves apart as if they didn''t know each other well, he doubted that was the case.


    "Oh, thank god," his security guy said as he spotted him.


    The irate shouting man looked up. "Finally! Are you in charge here?"


    "I''m the head of security, what''s the problem?" The residents of Eden''s End had chosen a council made up of the Head of Security, him; the Head of Agriculture, he wasn''t sure who that was yet as they were still trying to decide who should take that role; the Head of Learning, which was an older woman by the name of Nancy; and last but not least, the Head of Medical Services which sort of fell into Gabriella''s lap. Considering Gabriella and Nancy didn''t want anything to do with most of the day-to-day nonsense of running this place, that left most of it on his plate. It annoyed him but he wasn''t about to sit back and let all his hard work of keeping this place safe go to waste.


    "As I was telling this, idiot," the overweight gentleman waved dismissively at his officer, "I will not be grubbing around in the dirt or working for my food. I have more than enough credits to pay for any services offered."


    "Officer," Damien stated flatly when the man paused for a breath.


    "What?" the man asked in confusion, his tirade disrupted by Damien''s single-word response.


    "That man is an Officer. You will address him as such."


    The man scoffed. "I don''t think so. Do you know who I am? I could snap my fingers back home and get trash like you fired within the hour."


    Damien stepped into the man''s personal space, making the taller man take a step back. "Ugh, what are you doing?" Damien had met plenty of people like this man in his old life. Mostly rich kids who thought the world revolved around them. It was time to school this man in the realities of life.


    "Do it," Damien stated. "Snap your fingers, see what happens."


    The man looked around for any support, but his previous cheerleaders had suddenly gone very quiet.


    "I''m waiting," he prodded the man, who sniffed disdainfully at him.


    "I don''t know who you think you are, but I will be filing a complaint about this abuse to your leadership."


    Damien flicked his eyes toward Alexander before the man vanished around a corner with his guest. It seemed he had no intention of stepping in to deal with this mess. Good. Damien wasn''t sure if the man was going to keep his word after stating he wouldn''t get involved with how they ran Eden''s End unless it concerned or impacted him. And this loudmouth looking for a new home surely didn''t fall into that category.


    That meant it was time to do something Damien loved, correcting idiots.


    "Let me set something straight for you, you lazy entitled asshole. We have zero need for your credits. I couldn''t care less who you are, or what family you came from. It obviously wasn''t a very influential one because you''re out here." He raised his voice so the rest of the people could hear. "You either work and contribute, or you can get the fuck out," he gestured to the door with his stun stick. "I suggest you make your choice quickly and without causing a fuss before the ship leaves."


    That shut everyone up. But Damien made a mental note of the three people who had been the instigators of this whole ordeal. He would be keeping his eye on them. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Damien remained there while the Security Officer processed the remaining eight individuals. Two of the instigators grumbled and left. That was fine with him. That left the loudmouth and one other instigator to keep track of.


    He was going to have to have a word with Kane about not allowing anyone in without a security check after this as well. That included his guests. Eden''s End had enough issues here without inviting more. The system they were using to check people for outstanding warrants was only updated once a month but it was better than what they were doing before, which was nothing. Before it was just Damien''s gut instinct that kept the major troublemakers out. He was glad the Hawks had agreed to give them a copy of the database and a scanner because his gut wasn''t always right.


    Once the security checks came back clean, Damien and the other officer walked the people to the housing area. The loudmouth had a wife and two kids. Despite his annoyance with the man, Damien assigned them a three-bedroom home. The next two people were single, so they got smaller accomodations.


    The first one immediately complained about it. Damien had a reply ready for that. "You don''t like it, find your own damn room." That was most of the idiots taken care of. The next was a couple. He assigned them a slightly larger single bedroom. They were the first people to actually thank him. He just grunted and continued until he got to the last room and the final person, the teenage boy.


    "You''re with Alex''s friend?"


    The teenager shrugged.


    "Yes, or no kid, I don''t have time for your angsty bullshit."


    "Geez, is everyone here an asshole. Yeah, that''s my Gran. Are you happy?"


    He didn''t answer, instead, he led the kid to a two-bedroom place. "You will share this with her. You are not allowed your own place until you come of age."


    The teen boy tsked. "I was considered an adult back on my homeworld."


    "I don''t give two shits about your homeworld. You live here, you follow our rules. If you don''t like it, you know where to go. Work for minors is posted on the job boards. You will be expected to contribute."


    "What? Why? My gran is obviously special."


    "Just because your gran knows Kane, doesn''t make you or her special. We won''t be handing out anything to either of you. So unless she makes some deal with Kane, you''re going to be shit out of luck, kid. I also suggest you curb that attitude of yours. I''ve known more than my fair share of kids just like you."


    "Pff, whatever. Just get out."


    The boy closed the door in Damien''s face.


    "He''s gonna be a problem, isn''t he?" the other officer asked.


    "We''ll see." The kid reminded him of himself at that age; angry and with no father figure. Damien had his martial arts to fall back on when he was younger though, where this kid didn''t have anything. If the kid didn''t find something to give his life meaning, he was going to end up on the wrong side of the law at some point.


    Damien thought briefly about training the kid but dismissed that thought just as quickly. He didn''t have the same patience with people as his mentor had. He barely had the patience to train his officers and they were adults. He was unfortunately like his father in that regard. It''s why he decided never to have kids of his own.


    After getting everyone situated, he grabbed the scanner and went in search of Alexander. He found the man in his workshop going over some technical diagrams with his guest.


    "Can I help you, Damien?" the man asked curiously.


    "Everyone gets scanned. No exceptions." He waited to see if Alexander would balk at the request.


    "My apologies, Damien. It slipped my mind, thanks for reminding me. Nova, would you mind?" Alexander gestured over to him.


    He scanned her and did the standard check. When he saw a misdemeanor warrant on her record, he quirked an eyebrow. "Care to explain this?"


    She chuckled when she saw that. "They still haven''t dismissed that. Those bastards on Borrus really do hold a grudge. I guess that''s a core world for you. If you must know, I was a bit of an activist in my youth. I was arrested a few times. Eventually, my family left the core world and moved to a new one. That warrant is probably older than you but if you feel you need to arrest me and ship me back there, here I am." She held her arms out.


    Damien narrowed his eyes at her. He hated flippant people, they reminded him of his brother. One annoying person in his life was enough. "I see where your grandson gets his attitude. I assigned you a joint room. Keep out of trouble and keep him out of trouble or else."


    "I''ll do my best, Officer."


    Damien returned the security scanner and stunner to the security room and made his daily rounds. He nodded curtly at any security people he came across. There were far fewer than there had been before the pirate attack. Every time he was reminded of that fact, it left a bad taste in his mouth. He should have been on the front line, helping instead of being stuck in the security room directing people. He wasn''t made to sit back and watch. But he didn''t trust anyone else to do it properly.


    Even Kane didn''t know what the hell he was doing, just look at how his impenetrable defenses crumbled. Damien paused and took a deep breath. He had to stop doing that. To stop blaming people for every problem that arose. Shit happened, you couldn''t predict every situation. If it wasn''t for the defenses, the pirates would have overrun the facility. Even with them, it would have been a close thing if Kane hadn''t personally stepped in. He didn''t have to like the guy to understand that simple fact.


    He saw the aftermath in the workshop and in the hallway where Kane fought the head pirate. They had both been heavily armored. There would have been nothing anyone could have done against them. Damien was an expert at hand-to-hand combat, but he wasn''t stupid. No amount of skill would have tipped the scales against an augment suit and their weapons weren''t strong enough to punch through that armor. That earned Kane a grudging respect in his eyes. If the man stopped keeping so many secrets, maybe Damien might even grow to trust him.


    He took a side passage and turned down a flight of stairs marked ''authorized personnel only''. The guard stationed at the top of the stairwell nodded to him as he passed. At the bottom of the stairs, Damien unlocked a door that led to the maintenance tunnels. Eventually, he arrived at a small workshop that had miraculously survived being stripped but had also recently received a host of new equipment. There was plenty of noise and activity coming from the room when he entered.


    "How''s the project coming along?" he asked one of the engineers. When not working on one of Kane''s projects, the engineers trained by the Hawks and the learning plans were working here.


    Alexander knew of this room, he had been the one to suggest it in the first place. It was just being hidden from everyone else in case there was another traitor. The man removed his goggles and wiped the sweat off his brow. "Slow."


    "So no progress at all?"


    "I didn''t say that. I said it was going slow. That railgun dart did a number on the augment servos inside the armor. Not that they were all that good, to begin with. The armor itself is obviously junk. We were planning on recycling it and seeing if Kane could provide us with plans for something similar or even better."


    Damien grunted. "What about the big guns?"


    The man rolled his chair over to another station. "Those we''ve had some better luck with. The minigun is perfectly fine. Just needs ammo. We''re trying to figure out a safe formula for a gunpowder alternative, or convert it over to flechette rounds."


    "You can do that?" Damien asked.


    The engineer shrugged. "With Kane''s help, maybe. We might be better off melting it down and building it from scratch at that point though. And before you ask, the grenade launcher is fine. The grenades are useless though. Whatever that pirate''s ECM suite did to them, it ruined them completely. We managed to extract the explosives from the few remaining rounds, but all the sensors and smart controls built into them were fried. Kane said he doesn''t have anything that could replicate them at the moment. He did say the explosive compound inside the grenades could be produced locally though."


    "You mean he can replicate it," Damien stated in annoyance.


    "Yes, we''re not exactly running a state-of-the-art fabrication and manufacturing setup down here. I know the whole point was to ensure a backup manufacturing area and to allow the guards to come up with an answer for dealing with armored intruders, but until we get more sophisticated machinery, I don''t see that happening anytime soon. Maybe you should stop seeing Kane as an outsider. He did practically save this place."


    "I don''t recall asking for your sage advice."


    "Suit yourself," the engineer shrugged. He pulled out a metal tube that looked remarkably close to the smart grenades from the launcher.


    "What''s that?"


    "Kane gave me the plan for it. It''s a replacement grenade. They have a simple safety and a contact fuse. Nothing fancy. They can even be produced down here."


    "How many have you made?"


    "Six. I also made six rounds that Kane called, ouchie rounds? It fires a dense rubber ball instead of an explosive. It would certainly hurt if you got hit with it. I think a pulse rifle would be more effective but I manufactured six of those as well. Not that it does us any good. The only person capable of lifting that launcher by themselves and using it without a stand is Kane. At least until we repair the augment suit or make our own."


    The augment suits and heavy firepower were an answer to a problem. If they ever had a repeat of the pirate attack, they needed something capable of putting the pirates down quickly and efficiently. And while Alex would likely be able to deal with any armored intruders, he couldn''t be everywhere. Damien was not willing to spend another eighty-six lives on a cobbled-together defense in the future, he wanted an answer to anything pirates could throw at them on the ground. That left the orbital defenses. He was out of his depth there but he would do his best.


    "Keep at it, I''ll check in periodically."


    "Yeah, yeah," the man said, waving him off as he went back to work.

 Chapter 2-7

    After Damien left, Dr. Lund turned back toward Alexander. "That man doesn''t have much of a sense of humor, does he?""I don''t believe so, no. So you were an activist at one time?" he asked, curious about the respected scientist''s history.


    She sighed. "More like I was a stupid girl following an even stupider man around. I hate to admit how na?ve I was in my youth, but it took me a long time to realize the man I loved was just a liar. By then I was already pregnant with our son. Even then I still thought I could change him. At one of the rallies he was so proud of, he got into a fight with law enforcement. During that altercation, he injured an officer. The minor scratch was all the reason they needed. They arrested the father of my son and that''s the last I heard of him. A month later my parents decided to move off world. The little hope I had left that he would change or return was gone. I saw no reason to stay, so I left with them."


    "¡­Sorry you had to go through that," Alexander replied. He really wasn''t sure what to say after a story like that.


    Lund shrugged. "That was nearly seventy years ago. It''s ancient history. Now, what have you been up to since we last spoke? I vaguely recall you telling me about some sort of gravity interrupter you had built?"


    Alexander didn''t mind the change of subject. "I doubt I would call it a gravity interrupter. All it really did was interrupt the field produced by artificial gravity by introducing an electromagnetic field in a confined area. It took some time to figure out a frequency that worked and didn''t have unintended side effects since I didn''t and still don''t know how the gravity plates function."


    "Fascinating. Did you do the math behind the interaction, I would love to go over it."


    Alexander shook his avatar''s head. "I sort of just threw stuff together to see what worked and what didn''t. I''m not sure if Jasper told you, but I lost most of my memories."


    "He might have mentioned your predicament but if he did, I don''t recall any specifics. You have amnesia?"


    "Something like that. Advanced forms of math seemed to be among the things I lost. I''m working on building that knowledge up again, but most of what I do is still guesswork based on what little I know."


    "And how''s that working out for you?" she asked knowingly.


    "Not great," he admitted. "I''ve moved onto propulsion engineering. My practical knowledge has taken me to the point where I have a design that is more efficient than an Omni engine of the same class, but not as powerful. I''m obviously missing something or my manufacturing setup isn''t up to the task. Probably a bit of both if I''m honest."


    "Hmm," Nova said, "Most of my current work is on the theoretical side of propulsion. I might be able to help you with some of the trickier mathematics but trying to compete with companies like Omni doesn''t seem like a practical goal."


    "Why not?" Alexander asked in genuine curiosity.


    "Those bastards don''t play fair. Unless you have state-of-the-art orbital manufacturing and powerful AI supercomputers, you''re not likely to surpass them anytime soon. If you think you have a design more efficient than theirs, it''s only because they already figured that out and decided not to release it publically yet."


    "How would you know?"


    "Because I worked for Omni early in my career. This was back when they were just getting started. I worked there for a few years until a man by the name of Benning stole my ideas and claimed them for himself. I would like to say it was because the man was a talentless hack, but he was and still is one of the most talented AI researchers around."


    "Why would he need to steal your ideas then?" If the man was as skilled as Lund was saying, it made little sense to him.


    "Because he was also a selfish, self-centered, egotistical, asshole. He saw me as a threat to his rise within the then-young company. Benning conspired to make me look like a fool in front of our peers. I don''t know if you''ve noticed, Alexander, but I''m not exactly loved by the academic community, despite my accomplishments. And honestly, I couldn''t care less. I care more about my work than I do about public appearance. With no way to prove what the man had done, I was fired from Omni. I bounced around from propulsion manufacturer to propulsion manufacturer for some time. But every time I started making any headway in those companies, Omni would swoop in and buy them up. I knew it was that petty little bastard Benning pulling the strings. So I left the public sector and went into teaching for some time until the Coalition war broke out. By then Omni had cornered forty percent of the market. The war led to some legislative changes that allowed Omni to balloon into the monopolistic monster that it is today. A fat little parasite living off of its past successes."


    He winced internally at the woman''s scathing words. He didn''t like Omni either, but she seemed to hold a personal grudge against the company. "I get that Omni doesn''t play fair, but someone must have come along with a better design at some point."


    "You remember when I said Benning stole my ideas?"


    Alexander nodded.


    "Omni are still deploying them to this day. They could have easily implemented all of them decades ago during the war, but they chose not to. The moment a competitor comes along that they can''t buy out or eliminate, they simply release an engine that out-competes them. That new company goes out of business and Omni gets what they want, no competition."


    "Surely the STO must know they are doing this, why don''t they put a stop to it?"


    She laughed bitterly. "And who would they turn to? The STO can''t ask Sinorus. Even if the former Coalition manufacturer forgave them for what happened during the war, they don''t have nearly the same track record for quality as Omni. Other than Omni and Sinorus, there are no other companies with the manufacturing capabilities needed to fulfill an STO contract. The STO are stuck in a situation of their own making. Which is delightfully ironic when you think about it. That is what you are trying to upset, Alexander. Are you prepared for that?"


    "Obviously not," he replied. "That doesn''t mean I''m not going to try though."


    "I appreciate the fact that you don''t back down from a challenge, Alexander. It''s why I wanted you to work for me. You may not be able to dislodge them from the top by competing against them, but you will annoy them. So that''s something. If you really want to knock them from their pedestal, help me with my theoretical work. The only way you''ll ever take Omni down is by doing something they can''t even dream of."


    "While coming out with a new form of propulsion would be amazing, how close are you to coming up with something?" He likely knew the answer already but he needed to hear it from her.


    The smaller woman shrugged. "If I knew that, I would have already had a partial solution by now. I don''t, and most of my research has hit dead ends. That doesn''t mean my work was pointless. I was only one part of a larger team working on dozens of possible ways to improve space travel. And now the STO has most of that knowledge locked away. A complete and utter waste of scientific potential, all because they are afraid." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Afraid?"


    She looked around before shrugging again. "If I were in STO space, just saying this would likely get me locked up and tossed in a very dark hole somewhere. The reason the STO stopped expanding was because they ran into an unknown ship."


    "The Shican, right?"


    She shook her head. "No. The battle site they found was between this unknown ship and the remains of a Shican fleet numbering twelve vessels. I don''t know how much you know about the Shican, one of their quirks as a species is that they don''t disturb old battle sites. The going theory is that sites of battle are sacred to the alien kitties somehow. That didn''t stop the STO from pilfering the site and taking the remains of this unknown ship for themselves though. That single vessel may have lost in the end, but just the thought that a single ship was powerful enough to take on an entire Shican fleet scared the STO. Back then, the Shican and STO ships were pretty evenly matched so they knew a run-in with another ship like this unknown one would be devastating. That''s when they froze the border expansion."


    "¡­Um, this seems like classified information. How do you know all this stuff?"


    "I would love to say I was a master spy and broke into a highly secured facility to uncover this information. The truth is far simpler and far more embarrassing. I was attending a soiree where a high-level Navy person was trying to woo me into joining the STO as a researcher on some sort of project. The man was rather drunk and let slip a lot more than he probably intended."


    "What sort of project?"


    "They were vague on the specifics. From what I gathered, they wanted to try to reverse-engineer something. That''s when I got him to spill the beans on the ship. I think he was trying to impress me for more than just the research role."


    Alexander stared at the older woman.


    "What?" she demanded, "I was a very lovely woman in my youth."


    "You still are," Alexander stated.


    Dr. Lund smiled. "Good answer. Now you know my history. But I didn''t come out here to bore you with the past. Show me to someplace I can do my research, and I''ll be out of your hair unless you need something from me."


    "I can certainly do that, but there are a few issues. The first is, how are you going to get food? Most of the people who live here help out with the farms or small gardens, or in other ways to trade for food and other supplies."


    "Will you not provide that for my assistance?"


    As much as Alexander would like to simply say yes, he shook his head. "No. Not without a firm commitment on your part. I want a week of your time every month, with the option to have two weeks back-to-back on adjoining months if needed." He knew Dr. Lund was only out here to get away from the STO. That didn''t mean he couldn''t benefit from that arrangement as well.


    "Jasper warned me you might ask for more of my time if I came out here." She sighed. "Fine. While I would have preferred to be left alone to do my work, I don''t have any issue with that deal. I assume this covers my housing for me and my grandson as well?"


    "While this deal will cover the both of you, if he''s not attending classes, he''s going to need to pitch in. Eden''s End has zero tolerance for deadbeats."


    "If you have a place of learning it''s probably best to send him there. I''ll have a talk with him and let him know what is expected."


    "Then we have a deal," Alexander held out his hand and the woman shook it without reservation.


    "I know you are still hell-bent on competing with Omni but don''t expect miracles with my help. At best, I can put you on an even playing field until they finally exhaust the improvements they made through my discoveries."


    "An even playing field is all I ask for, I can handle the rest."


    She smirked, "We''ll see about that. The first thing you need to do is upgrade your manufacturing capabilities. This stuff," she gestured around the workshop, "isn''t going to cut it. Give me a few days and I''ll give you the tolerance specifications you''ll need to shoot for and how to make it happen."

 Chapter 2-8

    "As you can see from the model, this shows the optimal output for any specific configuration," Lund pointed to the twisting hologram.True to her word, the woman had returned a few days later with enough math to make Alexander''s head spin. It wasn''t until she converted it into the quad-helix model in front of him that he understood what she was getting at.


    "Where do the Omni and Sinorus engines sit on that model?"


    "How should I know? Do I look like I have the output specs of a specific model of engine handy?"


    He sighed. "If I have them, could you model them for me?"


    "Really? How did you get your hands on the output specs? It''s not like those are included in the standard repair and maintenance packages."


    It was true. While the repair manuals gave you enough information to print or rebuild an entire engine, they didn''t provide detailed specifications other than the general efficiency and output curve that the testing equipment was designed to look for. Alexander had figured this issue out halfway through his engine testing.


    After his initial tests failed to produce the desired results, he knew he had been missing some critical piece of the puzzle. Once he figured out the issue and built additional testing equipment to provide more accurate data, he finally managed the engine design that was now on Shuttle 1. It just so happened to work out that the scaled-down engine was almost the perfect size for a shuttle. Some remodeling had to be done to get it to fit the airframe but it was minor.


    "I''ve built some scale models and run tests on them."


    "That''s good. The numbers won''t match their full-sized counterparts perfectly, but we can model those engines and compare them on the optimization model I developed."


    Alexander let her take control of the holo since she had designed the model and knew far more about how to operate it than he likely ever would. When she mapped the first engine to the model, Alexander began to see how the math was designed to work. It was a bit like a 3D radar chart.


    "Alright, now we can see all three engines on the model. No surprise that the Omni one is farther up the chain. But I am surprised that yours is below the Sinorus design considering what you told me."


    "How can that be?" Alexander asked in confusion. "My design is way more efficient than either of those engines and it has a better output than the Sinorus design."


    "It''s too efficient for its output," she stated simply. "You can see that the data point for your design is way outside the desired specification of the model. My model measures the ideal configuration for any given size of pulsed fusion engine. If you push beyond those boundaries, you give up something else. In this case power output. You may have a better overall output compared to the Sinorus thruster, but the math of my model shows that the Sinorus is more optimized. Trust me, the math is proven, otherwise you would see engines that were wildly more efficient or accelerated much faster. Nothing is stopping you from doing so other than that it is extremely inefficient. I''m going to take an educated guess that the shuttle tends to shake?"


    "It does."


    Nova nodded. "That''s because you''ve burned off the energy from the previous pulse before the next pulse can begin. This starting and stopping, while efficient, will lead to much more wear and tear. My model shows the optimal point where efficiency and wear and tear are optimized."


    "I guess that makes sense. Why isn''t the Omni one optimized then?" He could see its peak power output was touching the line, but the efficiency was short.


    "You have to remember, these numbers are based on your tests, not their actual performance data. If the data you collected is accurate to the full-sized design, either some bottleneck in manufacturing is causing them not to hit the peak efficiency at that scale, or they have deliberately decided to cap their efficiency. My guess is on the latter. The reason I believe that to be the case is due to the Sinorus design. As you can see, their model is not as powerful or efficient as Omni. Whoever is doing their modeling probably hasn''t discovered the real truth of the optimization formula that I developed."


    "And that is?" Alexander asked as he stared at the model.


    The woman smiled. "That the model isn''t just a flat plane. It can be tweaked slightly if you know what you''re doing." She manipulated the model so it curved into a circle, sort of like a twisted four-sided torus. When the specs for the three engines reset to match the new model''s configuration, he could see a clear difference between the Omni model, the Sinorus one, and his.


    "You see it now?" Lund asked in delight.


    "I do, but I don''t understand what exactly I''m looking at."


    "It''s a parametric curve. Do you see how Omni''s is a smooth curve and yours looks all jagged? Even the Sinorus one is sorta there but not quite. This is how Omni has kept ahead of its competition for decades. If they need to meet some performance goal, they can adjust a parameter up or down, so long as the power curve is kept within my data model''s parameters, they will outperform anything Sinorus could ever come up with. It also shows the upper limit for pulsed fusion."


    "Is that what that fourth data point is?" He had been wondering about that since all of the engines touched that point, but none went past it.


    "Yes," she said in annoyance, "And the bane of my theoretical existence. The upper limit of acceleration is caused by a cascade oscillation inside the reaction chamber. This oscillation caused the fuser to become unaligned, halting the fusion process. Ever since Pulsed Fusion has been around, people have tried every combination of materials and processes to try and mitigate this issue to no avail. The most they''ve managed to accomplish is to push that oscillation a few thousand kilometers down the line. That''s not even a .01c improvement in over two hundred years. It''s infuriating."


    "Why not just switch to compressed plasma ejection then if the technology has hit its limit?"


    She gave him a pointed look. "Have you not been paying attention to my model? There are still ways to improve the technology. And if anyone ever figures out how to bypass the oscillation issue, that would make pulsed fusion viable for a long time to come. As for why people don''t switch? I''m sure you''re aware of the issues when those types of thrusters enter an atmosphere?" Alexander nodded.


    "That''s only one issue. The other is the expense. Plasma ejection requires not just the thrusters to be swapped out, you would have to remove the entire fuel system as well as the reactor and add one that is compatible, which isn''t always possible on smaller ships due to space. Compressed plasma ejection is also much more expensive to operate because it draws power from the reactor mass instead of a simple D2O and T2O reaction. Most companies don''t want to shoulder that additional expense when pulsed fusion is good enough."


    He sort of knew some of that from speaking with Matthews and Chief Engineer Sullivan. "Ok. Let''s get back on track. How do I use this to compete with Omni?"


    She smirked, "That''s the easy part." Lund shifted Alexander''s data so it overlapped the Omni data. Then she stretched out the data points so they touched all four lines in the model. Instead of showing a rather jagged appearance, his set of data took on a smooth curve, much like Omni''s "You simply cheat."


    "So maximize your model to my benefit, forcing them to do the same?"


    "Exactly. They will be forced to match you or move their model up to the next peak." She adjusted the Omni model so it was now ahead of Alexander''s on the model, in a section that sort of ballooned out.


    "Wouldn''t that just mean they have faster acceleration and less efficiency if I''m reading this curve right?"


    She chuckled. "Exactly. But if you keep pushing them along this path," she rotated the model until the area started to shrink again, "you hit the theoretical limit of the technology."


    "Why don''t I just go for broke and hit the highest point I can?" He would prefer that over playing hopscotch with Omni for the next decade.


    "First off, you don''t even have the infrastructure to compete with Omni right now. If you did," she reset his original specs and pushed his design so the efficiency curve was now touching the line. It was much further ahead on the model than Omni or even Sinorus. "you would be here. But your bottleneck is manufacturing. Omni will eventually run into the same bottleneck, resulting in them having to come up with new manufacturing methods to continue improving. But I doubt that will happen to them for some time."


    Alexander was beginning to understand the challenge ahead of him. If Omni wanted to, they could simply bury his flagship design with a model so far past it that it would take him years if not decades to catch up. He somehow doubted they would do that though, because they knew the end of that technology was on the horizon. The longer they could milk it, the better.


    "What about compressed plasma ejection drives?" He hadn''t bothered looking into them yet because of the technological constraints to even getting started. Depending on her answer, he may need to reconsider his approach.


    "Other than what we just spoke of, my model doesn''t include that technology because it came around after the Coalition war. As far as I know, the upper limit on those types of drives is .99c. Although the power requirements to do that would be absurd and beyond anything human technology is capable of. .6c is the fastest I''ve ever heard of anyone pushing them. And that was in a military application. At that point, you are hitting the bounds of what a static field is capable of deflecting. Without major improvements in that field of science, I doubt anyone will push past that limit in my lifetime."


    "Isn''t that what you''re trying to do?"


    She shook her head. "I''m trying to find alternatives around the lightspeed issue. Something like the warp drive that''s capable of operating safely in gravity wells and doesn''t require increasingly higher amounts of energy to do so. But that''s enough questions for today. Unless you plan on building a zero-g manufacturing center in the next few months, you should focus on what you have now. I''ve included the tolerance specifications you need to reach in order to manufacture the engine components capable of hitting all four peaks on the model. It''s up to you to design and build the equipment necessary to do it. It will also be a good test to see if you can handle some of the things I might ask you to build in the future for my theoretical work."


    After Dr. Lund left, Alexander looked over the information she gave him. He groaned when he read it. His printers would need to see a tenfold increase in accuracy to meet the criteria she laid out. Printing at the one hundred nanometer scale would certainly be an improvement over his current capabilities but he suspected he wouldn''t be getting there in one leap. The large industrial printers capable of that were far outside his budget so he wouldn''t be buying them from STO space to save time especially since he earmarked all the credits from taking down the pirates for another project.


    He looked around the workshop. All of the machines were busily pumping out components for repairs to the facility complex, as well as components meant for the space station. That second part had slowed considerably since they had a backlog of items that needed to get to space after the attack and only one shuttle to do it.


    Since this space would be needed for his new machines, he was pondering what to do with the others. He had already traded a few to Damien and his security people so they could manufacture their own gear. After finding out about how resistant his body was and the defense field, he wasn''t nearly as worried about arming the locals anymore.


    That didn''t mean he was stupidly giving them free access to more powerful weapons. The flechette guns that he had provided designs for were as far as he went small arms-wise. And the explosives he provided were very limited.


    He had only agreed to provide the new explosives for the grenade launchers because he knew he couldn''t be everywhere at once. If another attack of that magnitude happened again, he wanted someone else with the ability to go toe to toe with an augmented attacker. What he hadn''t bothered to tell Damien, is that the trigger mechanism for the grenades had a sort of deadman switch inside them. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    So far the angry little man and the people here ¨C barring one asshole ¨C had been accepting. But he preferred to take no chances.


    Since Damien''s brother, Lucas was so much better at programming than Alexander, he couldn''t add any sort of electronic override to the grenade launcher and hope it would remain undetected. So he made a micro switch inside the proximity trigger. If that little switch got energized by a certain frequency, it would render the grenades inert.


    They could still be fired, and it would hurt like hell to get hit by one, but they wouldn''t explode. It was unfortunately the best he could do without exposing the deliberate vulnerability.


    When he had originally arrived at Eden''s End, his goal was to just work on his own stuff and let the locals do whatever. He now realized that was a rather na?ve outlook. Even if his goals hadn''t been as grand, he would have still needed to work closely with the locals, like he was doing already. At some point, Blue Star Enterprises would expand to encompass this entire complex simply for the sake of continued growth. And everyone here, or the vast majority of them would work for him in some way, shape, or form. That meant taking a more proactive approach to running Eden''s End while not stripping away their autonomy overnight.


    Some would always shun his presence, and that was fine. He wasn''t here to make friends with everyone.


    He suspected there would be some unhappy people when they realized he was slowly but surely absorbing everyone into Blue Star Enterprises but that was expected. Alexander knew that would cause friction, so he was hedging his bets early. If it turned out to be pointless preparations, then there was no harm. If it wasn''t then he would be prepared.

 Chapter 2-9

    "You sure you''re up for this?" Alexander asked the older woman.Eva gave him a dirty look. "Just because I''m old, doesn''t mean I''m senile. I''ve probably forgotten more about ship systems than you even know."


    Alexander held his hands up in a placating gesture. "It wasn''t a comment on your age. Just the time you''ll be away from Markus."


    She didn''t look like she quite believed him. "My boy will be fine. I should ask you the same. We''re both going to be up there for at least a month. You sure Yulia will be ok without you for that long?"


    Alexander glanced back toward the facility and sighed. "It pains me to have to leave her here by herself, but I trust her friend''s parents to take care of her while we are gone." As it turned out, one of the people on the barricade with Eva during the pirate attack had been Sarah''s father. The man had held a bit of a grudge after Yulia got Sarah in trouble with the Hawks. He didn''t blame the man, he would have probably felt the same way if their positions were reversed. But any animosity the man and his wife had held before the attack had melted away after Alexander had saved him and everyone else at that barricade.


    Yulia also had Dog with her.


    The robot couldn''t protect her, but if he got an alert that she was injured, you best believe he was contacting Damien and demanding he find out what was happening immediately. And his next call would be for Branston to pick him up and bring him back.


    He spotted Shuttle 1 coming in for a landing. It had been picking up some other passengers at the refueling station.


    When the ramp opened, the crew of the Destiny stepped off, looking rather worn out from their extended mining trip. They had just spent two and a half months mining. Normally, six weeks was a full tour before a crew got some downtime. Alexander hadn''t asked them to do this, they had done it to repay him for letting them stay here.


    Three people approached him, while the rest of Na''s crew headed for the facility entrance.


    "Alexander, Eva, it''s good to see you are both still well," Na smiled tiredly as he offered his hand.


    Alexander shook it, but Eva only snorted and pulled the man in for a hug. "It doesn''t look like you''ve been taking very good care of yourself, boy. What will I tell your father when he arrives?"


    The man rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "He and the rest of the family haven''t yet agreed to come out here. Father in particular is still mad that I lied to him to get him off Petrov station." S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Bah," Eva waved dismissively. "You tell your old man that if a washed-up old first mate like me can find a place out here, he shouldn''t have any issue. That should kick him into gear finally."


    Mingyu chuckled. "It might be better if that came from you."


    "Oh, don''t you worry, I''ll be sending him a strongly worded letter of my own."


    "Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but we should get introductions out of the way, and then get aboard the shuttle. There is going to be a lot of work ahead of us."


    "Sorry," Na stated. "Alexander, this is my Chief Engineer, Mikhail Yun, and his Primary Systems Technician, Li Ming. They have agreed to assist us with the repairs. Although I''m not sure how much you expect of us, we''ve seen the scans of the ship. It''s pretty torn up."


    "That''s what these are for," Alexander patted one of the five large crates next to him. "The four robots will be able to cut away the damaged sections, and the shuttle will fly everything to the station for processing while bringing new components to us to fix the damage."


    "And the fifth crate?" Na asked.


    "That''s the printer. I plan on installing it on the station."


    "Why don''t we just move the ship and dock it to the station?" Li Ming asked.


    "It can''t move under its own power, and we don''t have any ships capable of towing it. The Hawks towed it to the Lagrange point with four drop ships. So until we can fix the ship''s structure and safely bring the reactor back online, it''ll have to stay right where it is. So the faster we get loaded up, the faster we can get this done," Alexander said with a smile.


    The Engineer and his assistant walked over to the first crate and tried to lift it. "Just how big are these repair robots," the Engineer grunted.


    "Twice the size of the ones putting the station together. The crates have wheels, so they should be easier to push."


    The men put the heavy crate down. One pushed while the other pulled a handle. It made a racket as it rolled across the pitted landing pad, but it was easier than trying to lift it.


    Mingyu and Eva moved to the next one. Alexander thought about telling the older woman that wasn''t necessary, but thought better of it when she glanced at him from the corner of her eye.


    He gave himself a mental shake and moved to the massive crate that held one of his precious printers. Production down here would slow for a bit, but he already had the Engineers printing up his next generation of printers to replace the one he was taking. He really hoped the printers didn''t give him the same issues as his engine designs had.


    Alexander extended his arms to either side of the crate and lifted it with only a modicum of effort. The printer wasn''t as heavy as the construction robots, it was just big and unwieldy, even in its unassembled state. The five of them quickly got the cargo loaded on the shuttle and secured. Once they strapped in, or in Alexander''s case, magnetized, they left the surface.


    This was his first time off Eden''s End since arriving a little under a year ago. He hadn''t figured he would be back in orbit so soon and certainly not to fix a captured pirate ship.


    After the shuttle arrived at the station, it took a bit of maneuvering to get the rear of the shuttle in place. Everyone sealed their suits and the air was evacuated from the cargo slash passenger compartment.


    From there, Alexander deftly maneuvered the crate off the ship and unpacked it. After ensuring everything was working correctly, he stepped back aboard the shuttle and they headed toward the pirate ships.


    "That body really is quite unfair," Eva muttered so quietly only Alexander could have heard her, and he was right next to the woman.


    As they grew closer to the ship, Alexander got his first good look at the damage. He made his avatar wince.


    "Yeah¡­ It''s worse than even the sensors picked out," Mikhail Yun commented. "You sure you wouldn''t rather cut it apart and run it through the smelter?"


    Alexander sighed, "If we had any other option, I would do that. But we need a picket ship for the system, one big enough to scare off anyone looking to trouble us. Otherwise, I would have gone for the two other pirate gunboats. If pirates come knocking again, they may just roll the dice against a gunboat. They probably aren''t going to do that if we have a fully armed frigate though."


    Nobody argued that point. Especially since everyone knew the Hawks gunship would be leaving in the next few weeks. Alexander had wanted to get up here sooner, but he simply couldn''t get everything lined up before today.


    The shuttle docked to the undamaged side of the disabled pirate vessel and Na and his people went through the airlock and into the ship.


    "Looks like we still have an atmosphere in a few compartments," Eva stated as she checked a wall console that was still running on emergency backup power. "But I would not recommend removing your vac suit until you''re back aboard the shuttle." The woman turned toward Alexander, her arms floating, but her boots holding her to the deck. "I assume you''re going to be working outside the ship?"


    Alexander nodded. "I will be." He handed out four modified radios from his utility belt. "Since I won''t be able to hear you, I added a feature to the radios that will ping mine with a color code. Red means to get back to the shuttle immediately, yellow is caution and I will return as soon as I complete something I''m working on. And blue is if you have a question or need my assistance inside the ship."


    They each played with the buttons and Alexander could see his little light bar go off, indicating which person was calling him.


    "That should work," Na approved. "I guess our first order of business will be to ensure the power and fuel delivery systems are intact unless anyone has another suggestion."


    "Actually," Alexander spoke up, "I would suggest you find the weapon storage and make sure there are no live warheads."


    He could see the four people''s faces pale with realization.


    "That- That''s probably a good idea," Na replied.


    Left unspoken was what would happen if there was another nuclear warhead onboard. In that case, Alexander suspected he would be getting a red page rather insistently.


    He shut the airlock to the shuttle and secured himself. "Ok, Branston, take me close to the damaged section."


    "Roger that, Alex," the man stated before the ship gave a metallic clank and detached itself from the ship.


    The pirate frigate was actually larger than his refueling station, so it took a bit of time to maneuver to the other side. The air had been sucked out of his compartment on the way over, so there was no waiting. Once they arrived, the ramp opened and Alexander began assembling the first robot.


    Thanks to Dog being a test bed to improve the motions of the six legs, the movements of the robots were smooth and precise. He placed the six-foot-long robot on the exterior surface of the ship, where its feet magnetized to the outer hull. It sat there for a moment, scanning its surroundings before moving off to a damaged section of plating a few dozen feet away.


    It didn''t take Alexander long to get all four robots assembled and working. He would have loved to make more of the robots, but materials, specifically the chips, were in short supply. He could have pulled some from the space station, but he didn''t want to disrupt the continued construction efforts over there. In another month, there would be an actual hangar for the shuttle if things kept going at the pace they were. It wouldn''t be pressurized at first, but it beat floating across open space or having to try and transfer through an airlock.


    Four robots would have to do for now. It would take quite some time for them to fix a ship as large as a frigate, but he only needed the main structure to be intact in order to move it. The rest could be finished when it was docked to the station.


    The other issue was of course finding a crew to operate a frigate-sized ship. Alexander had asked Branston if he wanted to be a Captain. The man had quickly turned him down. He said he liked being a pilot, and if he was a Captain, he couldn''t do that anymore.


    Since the ship wouldn''t be ready for quite some time, it was an issue he could tackle later. For the time being, the ship would just be used as an orbital deterrent. Thanks to Matthews, they knew how to slave its weapon systems to ground control, allowing Damien''s security people to at least use the turrets aboard the ship.


    When the last robot was released on the ship, Alexander pressed a button on his radio to let Branston know it was ok to return to the airlock.


    It was weird watching the shuttle slowly float away, leaving him stranded aboard the vessel. It was hard not to feel like he was being abandoned. But he knew he wasn''t. They couldn''t actually leave without him. Not that anyone other than Lucas knew about the recall command buried in the shuttle''s code and linked to a remote sitting in his utility belt. Paranoid, probably. A sensible precaution? Definitely.


    Even without that backup, all Alexander would need to do is get into a part of the pirate ship with air, and communicate with ground control or the refueling station. Denying the shuttle docking rights would force it to land on Eden''s End, and the only place to go there was the research facility. He trusted Damien enough to arrest anyone involved with trying to strand him out here. The guy might be a dick, but he was a stickler for rules.


    Not that he thought that whole scenario was likely. Branston seemed genuinely happy with his role as a pilot and was unlikely to jeopardize that in any way. But not everyone he hired in the future might feel the same way, this simply prevented any shenanigans.


    He clanged across the surface of the ship, taking in the serene beauty and quiet of space. As he looked out at the stars arrayed before him, he got the feeling this wasn''t the first time he had done this sort of work. That made him pause. This was the first time he felt any connection to his lost past. He wondered if any more missing memories would pop up out here.


    With a smile, he moved over to a broken section and maneuvered the welding pack he was carrying to cut away the broken section. He whistled a merry tune inside his head as he worked, keeping one part of his mind on the light bar to ensure he didn''t miss anything.

 Chapter 2-10

    When Alex had told her she would be staying with Sarah for a month, Yulia was more apprehensive than happy. It wasn''t that she didn''t love her friends, she did. She was just worried about being away from Alex for so long.Yulia had tried to convince him to let her come along, but he wouldn''t budge. And that made her more worried. It meant whatever he was doing in space would be dangerous.


    She tried not to let those feelings show as she attended her first sleepover. Even Claire was here, although, she wouldn''t be staying the entire month like Yulia would be. Her two friends were talking about boys. Yuck!


    "Have you met the new kids?" Claire asked.


    "They''re all entitled core worlders," Sarah rolled her eyes. "Except Thomas," she added.


    "Oooh!" Claire stated in excitement, "Someone''s got a crush!"


    "Do not!" Sarah responded immediately before the pair broke into a fit of giggles.


    "Boys are gross," Yulia stated firmly, earning another round of giggles from the girls before they pulled her into a hug.


    "You''ll feel differently when you''re our age," Claire said sagely as Yulia tried to extract herself from the older girl''s embrace.


    "You''re only a few years older than me," she said with a huff.


    "We''re both thirteen," Sarah pointed out, "you''re only nine."


    Yulia crossed her arms with a huff, "I''ll be ten in two months."


    "Ooh, speaking of your birthday. Has your dad planned anything yet?" Claire asked.


    Yulia shrugged.


    "You don''t know? How could you not know?"


    "Alex didn''t say anything about it. Then he had to go on this trip."


    "Worf!" Dog barked.


    Yulia rolled her eyes and patted Dog on the head. "Yes, Dog, I know his trip is important."


    The girls laughed at the interaction. They had instantly fallen in love with Dog when she first showed him to them.


    "What do you think you''re going to get?" the girls asked in unison.


    "Get?"


    "Yeah, like a present? You''ve had birthdays before, right?"


    This time, Yulia rolled her eyes, "Obviously. But I was in the orphanage for my eighth birthday, and we just arrived when my ninth came around. It wasn''t like we gave out gifts in the orphanage and Alex was busy last year, so¡­"


    The girls both stared at her, mouths agape.


    "Your dad didn''t give you a gift for your birthday?" Claire asked.


    "He was busy," she responded defensively. "Besides, he made the playground for me and gave me Dog. Do your parents always give you gifts on your birthdays?"


    "Um¡­ yes. It may not be anything huge, especially when we were moving from place to place, but I can''t remember any time that I didn''t get something."


    "Yeah, same for me," Sarah added. "But I''m sure your gift will be amazing. Did you hear what he gave Markus?"


    Yulia paused, Alexander had given Markus a birthday gift? How had she not heard about this until now? "Wh- What did Alex give him?"


    "It was something called a fizzion crystal or something," Sarah said.


    Claire giggled, "No, silly, it was a fusion crystal. I saw it, looks a bit like those cards we''re given at school to access the learning modules. Only it was thicker and made of some transparent blue material. It was really pretty."


    "A fusion activation crystal?" Yulia asked with surprise. She remembered those crystals, mostly because what Claire said was true, they were really pretty. However, she would deny that if anyone ever asked her about it. Alex had shown them to her after he got them. He said a whole bunch of stuff about them that she couldn''t quite remember, what she did remember was that they were used to turn a spaceship reactor back on.


    "Yeah, that''s what it was called," Claire hugged her.


    She endured the hug, both girls were very prone to hugging, and she had quickly gotten used to their affection, even though it annoyed her most times they did it. She needed to talk to Markus and find out if this was true.


    The next day after class, Yulia pulled Sarah off to the side. "I want to wait for Markus, I need to ask him something."


    Sarah smiled like she knew something and Yulia gave her a strange look. "What''s that smirk for?"


    "Oh, nothing," the girl stated innocently. "Did you want to speak to Markus, alone?"


    She didn''t know why Sarah was being so weird all of a sudden, but she nodded.


    "I''ll hang out at the next corridor, don''t take too long or my parents will be upset that we are late for chores."


    Chores was one thing she didn''t miss after being adopted. She had to clean her room and help with dishes, but Alexander did pretty much everything else. Not that she would complain openly about having to help out.


    Her friend finally exited the classroom, his face buried in a tablet like it was most days now. "Psst!"


    Markus looked around before spotting her. He smiled and walked over. "What''s up, Yulia?"


    Was it weird that she missed the times when he used to call her a pipsqueak? She shook her head at the memory and decided just to ask him if what her friend said was true. "Did Alex really give you a fusion activation crystal for your birthday?"


    "Wh- who told you that?" Markus looked around, a bit of his defensiveness from back on the station rearing its head for a moment. He pulled her farther away from the classroom where the older kids were exiting.


    "My friend did. Stop pulling me around," she huffed, pulling her arm out of the boy''s loose grip. "What is with everyone acting so weird lately?"


    "I don''t want to go around advertising I have it, you never know who might try and take it from me."


    Yulia scoffed. "It''s just a piece of crystal used to turn on a ship, who would want it?"


    "Who would want it?" he spluttered. "And it doesn''t just turn on a ship. If you have the crystal, it means you''re the owner of the ship."


    "¡­Wait¡­ Alex gave you a ship!" Markus muffled her shout, pulling her even farther from the classroom where the mean boy and his friends were now glaring at them.


    "What don''t you understand about me wanting to keep this quiet?" he hissed in annoyance when he finally let her go. "And yes. Sort of."


    "But why?" she asked, her mind a complete jumble of confusion. The playground and Dog were amazing but they certainly weren''t a spaceship. Did that mean Alex liked Markus more than her?


    Her friend shook her out of her thoughts. "I know what you''re thinking, and knock it off."


    "I wasn''t thinking anything," she spoke quickly.


    "Uh-huh," Markus replied skeptically. "Look, I don''t know why Alex gave me a ship any more than you do. Maybe Eva told him I wanted to be a Captain when I grew up. And it''s not like I just get it. I have to work for it. I need to earn a flight license, and then a captaincy before I can even fly it. Why do you think I''ve been studying so hard lately? You think I like reading and doing math all day, bleh. No thanks."


    Yulia chuckled at that, remembering how Markus hated math back on Petrov.


    The boy smiled after seeing her smile. "Was that all you wanted to ask me?"


    "Yes."


    "Ok," the boy said, looking relieved that the conversation was over. This was why boys were weird. She shook herself mentally and began to leave before she stopped herself. "Good luck with your studies." With that, she hurried down the hallway.


    ***


    He hadn''t spoken to Yulia in a while due to how busy he was with Eva''s new schedule, it was good to see her. Despite how nice it was to see her, Markus was glad the conversation was over. A few times during their chat, his voice almost cracked as he spoke. Yulia probably didn''t notice, but it sure made him feel self-conscious. Then there was her friend staring at them from down the hall, making the whole thing feel weird and awkward. He wasn''t sure what her friend''s deal was.


    He would like to say this was the first time he felt this awkward recently, but it wasn''t. It seemed to happen anytime he had to speak with girls in his age group in class. He never felt like this back on Petrov Station.


    At first, he thought it was the newness of being on Eden''s End and being around so many new kids his age, especially girls. It wasn''t like he had much experience talking to girls and there weren''t many of those in the orphanage. Cho and Yulia were the only two he could recall, and they had spent so much time together that they were more like siblings.


    The reason for the disparity in adoptions was simple, girls tended to get adopted more often and much later into their childhood than boys did. Yulia would have been adopted a few times before Alex had appeared if she had agreed to it. And this was despite her background. Cho was almost a teenager when she first entered the orphanage, so she had a much harder time initially fitting in. And teenagers rarely got adopted back on Petrov Station. Cho was almost an adult now so getting adopted seemed unlikely for her, but Markus never thought anyone would adopt him, so there was always a chance.


    His awkwardness could be from what Eva told him. She said now that he was fourteen, his body would start to change and he would feel things he hadn''t felt before. Whatever that meant.


    The growth spurt he had was bad enough, he had grown like an inch and a half since he arrived here. His dad was rather tall, so it was likely he would be as well. It was the other things that he could do without. The acne, the random sweating, his voice cracking at inopportune times. As well as other things he was too embarrassed to talk to Eva about. Maybe he could ask Cho. It would certainly be less awkward than bringing it up with Eva.


    Markus sighed and pulled up the information packet he had been studying. Eva had given it to him and it covered everything he needed to do to become a cadet after he turned fifteen. Since there was no naval academy out here, he would need to find a ship that would allow him to serve aboard. That left very few options, but he wasn''t discouraged in the slightest.


    As he rounded a corridor, he nearly ran into someone or a group of someones.


    "Watch where you''re going, spacer trash," Charlie stated.


    Markus'' Solarian was still rather rough, but he could understand the boy''s tone well enough even if some of the words weren''t clear. The twelve-year-old had never been anything other than mean to him and Yulia as far as he could tell and he couldn''t figure out why. He could have asked the boy but he didn''t like him enough to actually interact with him.


    "Don''t stand in the corridor and people won''t run into you," Markus replied in broken Solarian.


    Charlie narrowed his eyes at him. The boy may be younger, but he was big for his age. And he had his three little friends with him.


    "What did you talk with Yulia about?" he demanded, earning a look of surprise from Markus.


    "None of your business. Now move. I have stuff to do." Markus tried to push his way through the four boys, but Charlie knocked the tablet out of his hand. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Markus knew a bully when he saw one and the tablet was the last straw, he punched the boy. His attack did little more than anger the boy as Charlie tried to grab him. The pair of them went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Markus did his best to fight back or at least keep the larger boy from punching him. The other boys tried to help Charlie until someone shouted. Then they took off running.


    Someone yanked Charlie off of him and then yanked Markus up as well. They both immediately froze when they realized who had broken up the fight. Markus may not have been at Eden''s End very long, but he knew all about Damien Laront.


    "You two have enough energy to throw fists at one another, then you have enough energy to do some work."


    "But my dad expects me home to work the farm," Charlie whined.


    Damien smiled coldly. "Don''t you worry about that, I''ll be having a word with your dad." Then the man turned to Markus, making him shiver. "And don''t think just because your mother is off the planet that I won''t be contacting her either. Now move. There''s a lot to get done, and I''m not releasing either of you miscreants until I feel you''ve learned a lesson."


    Markus scooped up his dropped tablet and hurried down the hall next to Charlie to keep ahead of Chief Damien.


    He swallowed the nerves he felt. Eva was going to be extremely upset when she found out he got into a fight, even if he wasn''t the one who started it. The work that she would give him when she returned would make whatever the Chief of Security had in mind look like a walk in the park, he just knew it. There was no chance she would forget this little altercation either. He had better odds of convincing the Chief of Security not to contact her. When he glanced back at the angry man, he somehow doubted that was going to happen.

 Chapter 2-11

    A yellow light flashed on Alexander''s belt and he started wrapping up the work he was doing outside the ship. He knew things were going too well. Three days had gone by without so much as an alert from the other four. At least it wasn''t a red light.He thought it might have been a fluke, or that his light bar had stopped working for some reason. When he returned to the shuttle on the first day, he found the other four relaxing. Turns out there hadn''t been anything to worry about. The ship''s supply of missiles had been expended during its fight with the Talon and there wasn''t a second nuke aboard, which had lifted quite a bit of stress off of everyone''s heads.


    Alexander wondered what could have been important enough to call him in today. His first guess was an issue with the reactor but the light had come from Eva''s radio. As far as he knew, she wasn''t working on the reactor. He bent down and grabbed the lip of the armor surrounding the exposed opening into the hull. Then he pulled himself forward, floating effortlessly through the opening and toward a sealed hatch. He twisted in mid-air and landed feet first, using the extendability of his legs like shock absorbers to arrest his momentum.


    Zero-g work was difficult, but it seemed like Alexander''s robot body had been perfectly designed with that sort of environment in mind. It was just another aspect of his body that reinforced his idea that the body he inhabited was made to maintain a ship or something in space. Another was his ability to magnetize himself to surfaces. There would be little point in having a feature like that on a planet.


    He opened the hatch and closed it behind him as he waited for the pressure to equalize. The other four had managed to get life support working again but it was running off of battery backup until the reactor was checked out. If the batteries got low, they could run a power cable from the shuttle to an emergency power shunt inside the ship. But it hadn''t come to that yet. Four people didn''t use much oxygen and they were only pumping atmosphere to the areas they were currently in.


    When he could start to hear again, Alexander picked up his radio. "Eva, I''m in the airlock, I''ll be there in a few minutes."


    "Acknowledged," the woman replied, sounding rather perturbed. He wondered what happened.


    Once the door showed a green light, he opened the airlock and headed into the ship. Each step clanked against the metal grating as he slowly made his way to the shuttle. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What''s up?" he asked when he passed through the open airlock.


    "It appears my son got into a bit of trouble back on Eden''s End," she said tersely.


    "Trouble?" Markus certainly didn''t seem like the sort to go actively looking for trouble. Yulia on the other hand, that he could see.


    "He got into a fight with a boy. I let him know how disappointed I was that he needed to resort to violence without trying to find an alternative solution. But that''s not why I called you."


    "It''s not?"


    She shook her head. "I''ve enough experience that I''ll manage just fine with Markus. What I wanted to show you is this way, follow me."


    Alexander followed the woman down the corridor.


    "When I was testing for air leaks, I found one in the Captain''s cabin. It took me a bit to figure out where it was coming from." They arrived outside a door and she pushed it open.


    The inside of the room was a disgusting mess and he shuddered to think what had gone on inside the room.


    "Now you see why it took time to find the leak."


    "Yeah. Almost makes you wish you could just set everything inside on fire."


    "Don''t even joke about that!" she looked over at him to make sure he understood how serious she was.


    He held his hands up in a placating manner. "Sorry."


    She nodded and headed over to a corner where some items had been moved around. Alexander could see spalling on the wall where a small hole had been patched.


    "This is where the leak was coming from, but it''s what I saw behind the wall that I called you about."


    "Behind the wall?"


    She tapped one of the walls, then the adjacent one. You could tell one was hollow. "I could see the wall of a compartment through the hole, but I couldn''t find any way to open it up. You think you might be able to find something?"


    Alexander shrugged. "Maybe. If not, I can always just cut a hole and pull it open."


    "How about we not resort to that just yet? If there is something behind the wall, I don''t want to damage it. Let''s spend some time looking before we bust out the plasma torch."


    "Fine with me." He needed a break from the oppressive silence outside the ship anyway.


    He started moving everything away from that wall, it seemed like the room may not have been as messy as he first figured, a good majority of the items must have been knocked loose when the ship was hit.


    Instead of just tossing stuff around the room to become floating hazards, each item needed to be secured in netting. The only issue there was the fact most of the netting in the room was broken or torn. He ended up just using the broken netting to tie up some big items and not worrying too much about the small stuff like clothing.


    Once the area was clear, you could see a large metal panel that ran from the floor to the ceiling. It looked like every other panel in the room. The only thing that gave away its purpose was the discoloration along one edge, likely from being opened multiple times.


    Alexander could also see a thin slot was also present in the gap between panels.


    "Seems like some sort of carded lock," Alexander stated.


    Eva frowned. "Probably a biometric lock with a secondary keycard then. There''s no way we''re getting in without that card. I guess we go with your plan."


    "Hold on," Alexander held up his hand. "Let me try something first." Before Eva could reply, the tips of his fingers on his other hand separated into smaller parts. They were still attached to the main fingers by wirelike filaments.


    Eva''s eyes bulged but she didn''t say anything. She must not have seen him working on delicate electronics before, he used to do this all the time back on Petrov and had even done it a number of times on Eden''s End when he needed to reach into tight spaces to push a connector in place or work with small delicate items.


    The finger attachments weren''t all the same. The top one was much thinner. He snaked that inside the card reader slot and felt around. Technically, he looked around, since he could see through the finger if he focused enough, he just rarely did that because it was weird to see through your own fingers.


    Three more of the thin attachments snaked into the slot, attaching themselves to the terminals for the card. As soon as that happened, his internal interface popped up a window displaying actual code.


    "Huh, that''s neat!"


    "What''s neat? What are you doing?"


    "I connected to the card reader and am currently reading the code. It''s a pretty sophisticated security mechanism. The card it''s looking for must not just be a card, but an actual program chip."


    Eva hissed at that. "Are there any countermeasures if it fails to receive the proper response?"


    "A few," Alexander stated. He decided not to tell the woman that this lock was keyed to the entire ship. If someone tried to brute force the door or hack the lock with a dummy card, it was set to trigger a core meltdown.


    It couldn''t do that at the moment because the core was offline and cold, so there was no real worry. The program was also too stupid to recognize Alexander''s attempt as a hack. So he spent the next ten minutes examining the code. Once he was done, he chuckled.


    "What?" Eva asked impatiently.


    He would probably be impatient too if he had been left standing around for ten minutes without a single word.


    "I figured out the code. Step back a bit, I''m going to unlock it."


    "You''re sure it''s safe?" she asked while she moved across the room.


    "Yup," the safe door gave a slight click and popped open.


    Alexander grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it the rest of the way, exposing a space that was a little over a foot deep, three feet wide, and almost six feet tall.


    There were a few shelves inside the space and they were all stuffed full of items.


    Eva walked back over and whistled. "There''s gotta be a fortune in gems alone in there."


    That was probably true, but it wasn''t the gems that caught his attention. The items that caught his attention were the stacks of little silver credit chips and the five fusion activation crystals.


    It didn''t take long for Eva to notice those as well. "Why would he have activation crystals inside a safe?"


    "Backup ships maybe?" Alexander proposed.


    "Maybe." She reached in and pulled out one of the crystals to examine it. "No manufactuer marking on it. Could be in microprint." She offered it to him.


    He zoomed in on the crystal and examined its surface as closely as he possibly could. "I don''t see any marking, micro or otherwise."


    "Could be a homebrew pirate ship then. I heard rumors some pirates had their own hidden fleet yards. Guess this just confirms it."


    "You think five ships are just sitting out there?"


    "Don''t get any ideas, Alexander. You have one heavily damaged ship you can''t even crew as it is. What would you do with five more?"


    "Bring them back here and find crew for them, obviously," he stated as he plucked a tablet from below the stack of crystals.


    It wasn''t a normal tablet, it was the kind used for storing pictures, and it only had a single one on it. The picture was of some smirking woman standing next to a large window overlooking a field of stars in the background. It was the other item in the background that got his attention. The frame of a ship could be seen being assembled in space. And it looked to be a rather large one. Certainly larger than this frigate.


    He took the crystals and the picture and tucked them into his pack.


    "You''re not seriously going to go looking for this place are you?" Eva asked.


    "I don''t see any harm in trying. Although it probably won''t be anytime soon. Not that waiting is an issue, it''s not like those ships are going anywhere."


    Eva just shook her head. "Suit yourself. Don''t say I didn''t warn you though. What do you wanna do with the rest of this?" she gestured to the safe.


    "Do you have a credit chip reader?" he asked.


    She shook her head. "Didn''t think I would need one. Mingyu might have one though." Eva radioed him.


    "Yeah, I have one with me. Why do you need it?"


    She told Na to meet him in the Captain''s quarters. It didn''t take the man long to get there, he was apparently just inside the bridge, cataloging the repairs that would be needed for the consoles.


    The Captain of the Destiny quirked an eyebrow when he spotted the open safe. "Guess he didn''t trust his money to be far from him. I assume you want to check the credit chips?"


    "If you don''t mind," Alexander replied.


    After going through the stack of chips, Mingyu shook his head and handed the pad to Alexander.


    "That can''t be right¡­ Can it?" Alexander asked in surprise.


    "Unless my reader is suddenly faulty, you just pocketed yourself over five hundred million credits. Congratulations, Alexander, you''re rich, again."


    Alexander had the sudden urge to run his hand through his hair. It would have looked pretty silly for him to actually do it though.


    Mingyu was also wrong, he was already rich thanks to his windfall from the pirate bounties. He hadn''t mentioned those to anyone though. This money felt dirty though. It likely came from all of Arkonis'' previous victims that he and his crews had preyed on over the decades. It didn''t feel right to keep it.


    "No, I think I''m going to split this up between the people who lost loved ones in the attack. If they don''t want it or would prefer to trade contributions for it, I''ll keep it and split it between the people who helped defend Eden''s End. I''ll give them the same option."


    "Are you sure that''s wise?" Mingyu asked. "It''s your money and you can do whatever you want with it, but money has a tendency to change people."

 Chapter 2-12

    Alexander stood at the back of the bridge as Mingyu limped the still-crippled ship back to the refueling station. The reactor had come out of the attack miraculously unscathed. Power cables had to be rerouted through the corridors to return power to the rest of the ship, but that had been easy. The hardest part turned out to be Alexander''s job.He had to repair the underlying structure of the ship to keep it from tearing itself apart as they made their way back. A trip that would normally take a few minutes had taken over three days. All in all, the entire project had taken a week longer than he first estimated. Any longer and he would have had to call it off and come back at a later time. Yulia''s birthday was quickly approaching and he wasn''t going to miss that to fix this hunk of junk.


    It was bad enough that he still didn''t know what to get the girl.


    She didn''t seem to want to be a captain of a ship like Markus, as far as he could tell. At least she had never expressed any interest in something like that. She was mainly interested in building stuff, kind of like him. Giving her another puzzle kit to put together seemed rather thoughtless, especially since he provided those to her as a learning aide.


    He would need to put some serious thought into what to get his daughter when they landed back on the planet. Right now he needed to focus as the ship slowly approached the new docking arm that had been built along the refueling station. Na deftly maneuvered the ship into place and there was a soft clank as the airlocks locked together. Two robotic arms extended from the refueling depot and locked against the top of the hull, providing three points of connection.


    "And we''re secure. Great work, everyone," Mingyu stated happily. "Now, if you don''t mind, I think me and my crew have earned a little vacation."


    "It''s well deserved, Captain. Thank you for helping me with this."


    "I didn''t do it just for you, Alexander. The faster we get a working warship in this system, the better. I hope your robots are up to the challenge."


    Alexander hoped so as well. The repairs he made were just a series of steel beams that spanned the damaged areas of the ship. The automated robots would need to finish cutting away the damaged section, and then remove all the temporary supports before they could start making actual repairs to the ship. Without a very good model of the ship, it was more than likely he was going to have to redo sections a few times if his replacement components were out of spec. Despite that issue, it would still be quicker than building a ship from the ground up.


    "What are you going to name it?" Na asked as he got up from the pilot''s seat.


    "Name it?" Alexander inquired. He hadn''t actually thought about giving the ship a name.


    "Yeah, you can''t just leave it unnamed, and I don''t think you wanna use the name the pirates had for it."


    He wasn''t sure he wanted to know, but he asked anyway. "What did they call it?"


    "The Headhunter."


    "Definitely not. Any ideas? I''m not the greatest at naming stuff, I named the first shuttle I fixed up Shuttle 1."


    "I''m aware," the man winced. Na paused to think for a bit, then smiled. "How about Eden''s Fury? Give the pirates a reminder of why they shouldn''t come here."


    Alexander chuckled. "It works for me."


    The man went over to the Captain''s terminal and typed in a set of commands. "¡­And done. Welcome aboard Eden''s Fury, Alexander."


    The four went down to the surface on the shuttle while Alexander finished a few things up on the ship. While it was docked to the space station, it would not just be dead weight. The ship would act as a slaved weapons platform. It was too bad it only had autocannons and PDCs in the form of chainguns. Still, it was better than nothing. He finished routing the cable that would provide the energy to the comm tower that pointed toward the surface then he radioed the command room. "Lucas, I''m ready for an uplink test."


    He waited a few seconds for a response. The radio crackled, but he could hear the response clear enough. "Roger that. Beginning uplink."


    Having to rely on light-speed communications sucked, but it wasn''t like they had an alternative. At least not yet. In a little over eight months, when the Hawks returned, that issue should finally be remedied.


    The uplink antenna started rapidly blinking red before finally settling into a green on the display.


    "Can you hear me better, Alex?"


    "Coming in crystal clear, Lucas. Your uplink is working perfectly."


    He heard the man snort. "Of course it is. It''s the same uplink I used for all the asteroid cameras. Speaking of, have you given any thought to my proposal?"


    The man was talking about his plan to reactivate the derelict cameras with the help of the shuttle. "I''m fine with you trying, but you''re going to need to provide the components, or trade me for them. If the camera''s chips are shot, you''re out of luck though. I''m not wasting my very limited supply of computer chips on your cameras."


    "That''s fine," the man replied. "I was actually looking at the chips you were making. Who would believe something so ancient might actually have a use," Lucas chuckled. "They would probably work for what I want, but I''ll need to make some design changes to any of the asteroids that might need the replacement. I would also need to protect the chips, those silicon things don''t seem all that well shielded against radiation."


    "We can test them out and see what needs changing when it comes time to use them. Let''s finish our current tests for now. I would like to be ready to leave when Branston returns in the morning."


    "Fair enough," the man stated.


    It took a few hours to get all of the turrets slaved to the surface. Considering they were never designed to do that, it was a miracle it worked at all. It required Lucas to relay what code needed to be changed to Alexander before they finally got the weapons to respond to commands planetside. There was a delay, but there wasn''t much they could do about that. It would just have to be accounted for if the weapons were ever needed.


    The other issue was the ammunition stores. They weren''t great. The large caliber autocannons each had thirty rounds in their magazines. The magazines held a total of one hundred rounds, but the pirates had either wasted a whole lot during their fight or they hadn''t been full in the first place. Going by how empty the rest of the ship was, he was going with the latter. It certainly seemed like Arkonis was a miserly piece of shit before his death. Except when it came to spending on himself.


    The PDCs had a bit more ammo in them. Each could hold two thousand rounds of proximity fragmentation ammunition with about a hundred and fifty of these rounds left in their current canister. There were spare canisters in the armory aboard the ship. The problem was, that the autocannons on this vessel could not be reloaded until they were empty because the entire ammunition canister needed to be removed for rearming. And you couldn''t do that because there was some mechanical safety inside the loading mechanism that prevented the canister''s removal until it was empty.


    Whoever had decided that that was a good design choice was clearly a moron.


    That left leaving the mostly empty ammo canister in place or firing the remaining ammo into space and reloading it with a fresh one. Considering he didn''t have a way to manufacture replacement ammunition for the guns, he decided to just leave the ammo that was there and hope it was enough.


    Neither option was a very good choice but Alexander had plans to get rid of all that ancient garbage and replace them with something else. He needed the rest of the ship in working order before he did that though.


    Alexander had a lot of plans for this ship. Once it didn''t look like someone had taken a bite out of the side of it, he would be using it as a testbed for his first Class 4 engine. Since it couldn''t leave this system until it had a verified transponder it could easily be limped back to the station if it ran into problems. He did add creating cargo tugs to his list through.


    Once Eden''s Fury was up and running, he would look at the other two ships. The small gunships weren''t worth spending another month trying to get up and running and back to the station to use as more slaved weapons platforms. At least not yet. And without crews, there wasn''t any way to use them as patrol ships, so they were a low priority.


    With everything aboard the ship completed, he headed to the airlock to wait for the shuttle.


    ***


    Dalton chugged down the pint of swill that this station, in the Char family territory, called alcohol. It was as foul as the pirates that made this shithole their home. He thought some of the backwater stations back in the Anazi territory were bad, but this place was worse. The pirates here were either washed-up old fools or young bucks looking to make a name for themselves.


    The only reason he was in this dump was because this was where the trail for Arkonis had led him. And where it ended. The few people he paid for information only knew the man had come to recruit two ships and then he left. Nobody had seen any sign of those crews or those ships since. That wasn''t all that odd. Pirates died and ships were lost all the time. Arkonis had probably come out here to hire the crews as cannon fodder for that very reason. But some word should have gotten back here if their score had been successful or gone bad.


    The fact that no news had circulated by now, meant the raid probably went to shit and there were no survivors. One less Anazi was good news to him, but that meant this mission to track down Arkonis had just gotten a whole lot harder. Dalton thought about demanding more credits for this job after coming to that conclusion, but he knew that bastard Harlow would simply put the money up as a bounty on his head if he did. It was better to just finish what he started.


    Since he knew Arkonis and his people were likely dead, and wherever they had gone was dangerous, he decided to contract out the work of finding this system. Only he wasn''t going to pay for it.


    He smiled and took another deep gulp of the foul liquid as he watched a crew out of the corner of his eye. They were arguing loudly amongst themselves and getting all hyped up. All Dalton had done was start a rumor that one of the Anazi brothers had found a huge score out beyond STO space in Char territory. One so big it would take multiple trips to plunder it all.


    Letting pirates know that there was loot for the taking was like lighting off a plasma drive on a planet''s surface. The rumor had spread like wildfire and three crews had already left the bar, likely to find a ship that would take them for this information.


    By the end of the day, every pirate in the sector would know about Arkonis'' score, and not long after that, he would be able to pinpoint the system he needed to head to. He wasn''t worried about any of these low-level idiots actually killing his target. If Arkonis had indeed met his end where his target was located, none of these pirates had a shot. Katalynn Char might if she got wind of this ruse, but then again she would probably be too suspicious of some random rumor to bother looking into it.


    Dalton sucked down the last of the beer and made his way to his ship. When he arrived at the airlock door, he paused and frowned. Dalton leaned down and picked up the string he had tucked in the seal. Someone had opened his airlock. They were likely waiting for him somewhere inside so they could get the fusion activation crystal off of him.


    Instead of heading through the airlock, Dalton turned around and walked further along the docking ring. He had specifically picked this docking location so there were no ships on either adjacent dock. When he reached the next one over, he stepped inside the airlock and sealed his vac-suit. He pressed a button to flush the air in the airlock.


    This wasn''t some fancy STO-certified airlock, so there were no safety measures in place. If he had wanted to, he could have flushed the entire station, at least until the emergency doors activated. But that was a good way to turn everyone here against him. And the people who operated the station. The station guns would cut through his ship with little trouble so while it was tempting to do so, he resisted the itch.


    Once the air was vented, he opened the exterior airlock and stepped out into space, using his suit thrusters to push him toward his ship. Dalton landed on the far side of his ship with a gentle landing. The environmental systems would probably mask the sound of his boots touching the hull but he wanted to ensure nobody heard him. He entered the code to the hidden airlock and an armored panel slid aside. Once he squeezed himself into the small space, he shut and sealed the exterior door. Once the outer door was sealed, he plugged into his ship''s cameras.


    Four men were waiting for him near the cargo bay airlock. He tsked in annoyance and flipped through the cameras until he found two more people tearing his ship apart, looking for the crystal.


    He didn''t find any more people aboard his ship and none of the pirates were in sealed vac-suits. That was foolish of them.


    Dalton activated the cargo bay ramp and the four men inside were sucked out into space, along with some of his supplies. The loss of the supplies was annoying, but not the end of the world.


    The other two paused at the sound of air rushing out of the ship and quickly tried to seal their suits. One even managed it. The other passed out before he could get his suit sealed.


    The lone survivor ran toward the cargo bay, but Dalton wasn''t in the mood to let him walk away. He activated the ship''s lockdown and sealed the ramp door. The man was now trapped inside the cargo area. He was screaming something, but Dalton hadn''t bothered pumping oxygen back into that space. Once life support was back up in the rest of the ship, Dalton stepped out of the hidden airlock and into his cabin.


    He whistled a jaunty tune to the banging of the cargo door as he made his way to the reactor room to restart it. The man trapped inside the cargo area would run out of suit oxygen eventually, but he would have plenty of time to reflect on his poor choices in life.


    ***


    After Alexander returned to the surface, he contacted Gabriella, figuring she would be the best to speak to about what he wanted to accomplish. He found the woman in the area that was converted into a hospital. "Gabriella, would you happen to know the families of those who lost people during the attack?"


    She nodded quizzically. "Of course I do. I know pretty much everyone down here. Why?"


    "When we were aboard the ship, we came across a safe full of credits. I want to split it between the families that lost loved ones."


    "That''s a lovely sentiment, Alex ¨C,"


    "¨C but the people here have no use for credits," he finished for her. "I''m aware. And I''ve been doing a lot of thinking about that. Instead of credits, I was going to offer them contribution points for trade, but I quickly realized my entire stock isn''t worth nearly as many credits as we found."


    "¡­Out of curiosity, how much did you find?"


    When he told her, the woman''s eyes grew wide.


    "By the stars, Alex! That''s probably more money than the entire lot of them have seen in their entire lives. I''m sure they would appreciate the gesture, but it would be mostly meaningless to them."


    "I actually thought about that. What if I offered them the platinum card for the library instead? I know people here value knowledge so thought that might be more appreciated." The platinum card was the same biometric card Alexander had given to Markus. It wasn''t actually made of platinum, that was just the classification he used for it.


    "T- that might not be a bad idea actually. Knowledge is much more useful than some digital money that is only good in STO space. And while your offer to trade would include the learning modules, I assume you restrict some of those?"


    "I do, and even the platinum has some restrictions, but not many, and even those can be waived by me if the people are trusted and show aptitude in a certain area. Does this mean you''ll speak to these people for me?"


    She chuckled. "I''ll round them up for you, but this is something you need to present to them, not me."


    He nodded. "Fair enough. Have them meet me in Atrium D."


    It took a few hours for everyone to gather, Alexander waited until Gabriella popped in. The woman looked around and nodded to him before leaving again.


    With everyone present, Alexander cleared his throat. Silence quickly fell over the people present. "Thank you all for coming. I don''t want to take up too much of your time so I will make this brief. As some of you have likely realized by now, everyone here lost someone during the attack. I know they all fought to defend this place as their home, but as the owner, I still feel responsible for their deaths. While this won''t fill the holes left by their losses, I would like to offer each and every one of you full access to my educational library." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Muttering broke out amongst the crowd until someone spoke up to ask a question. "How long is this offer good for?"


    "There''s no time limit. The cards will be good for the rest of your lives." The way the crowd fell speechless at that, he probably should have led with that. "If you are interested, please step forward."


    The crowd of people practically mobbed him. While surprised, Alexander took it in stride as he handed out the cards. The people thanked him profusely, making him feel like a sleaze. He was pocketing all the credits while they were just getting access to knowledge that he already owned.


    He knew these people valued knowledge more than money, but it still didn''t feel right. If he wasn''t aware of how important learning modules were in the STO before today, this cemented it for him. It also disgusted him. Knowledge should be spread.


    The only reason he wasn''t giving full access to everyone was because it was a bargaining chip and one of the few he had other than medical treatments. And while he still felt iffy about the whole situation, he vowed to turn the majority of those credits into more learning modules.

 Chapter 2-13

    LOCATION: ASGARDSYSTEM: YGGDRASIL''S EYE


    DATE: 2399


    Katalynn set down the very expensive crystal goblet that she was holding. The glass was a memento from her father, and she didn''t want to break it in anger. Her father had kept it as a reminder of the excess and waste they fought against. It had been aboard the ship of some rich corporate asshat from the STO who thought they could exploit resources inside Asgardian territory, although outsiders simply called it Char territory due to ignorance.


    She looked at the man dressed in black who had brought her this upsetting news. He was Loki or one of the Lokis. The Asgardian spymasters slash historians all took on the same name as a symbolic gesture to the god of mischief, chaos, and transformation. Most Asgardians found Lokis unsettling, an image the Lokis were happy to reinforce.


    "Who is spreading rumors that the Anazi family is moving into my territory?" she asked calmly.


    "We believe an Anazi man by the name of Dalton was responsible, Lagertha. While most of what the man spouted were likely lies and rumors designed to stir up the unaffiliated pirates in the border zone between our territory and the Anazis, we believe there may be some truth to his words."


    Katalynn narrowed her eyes and stood from her dining table. Having taken after her father and not her mother in stature, she towered nearly a foot over this Loki. She idly wondered what line of the family he was from. If he wasn''t a Loki, she may have inquired further just to sate her interest, but she didn''t want to be pulled down a rabbit hole of history by asking one of them.


    "What truth?" she demanded, annoyed that she had to even ask. Loki''s were excellent at gathering information, but they sometimes enjoyed parceling it out by forcing you to ask follow-up questions a bit too much. It made her want to punch the man''s smug face in.


    Unlike the pirates, Asgardians had laws though. She wouldn''t beat or harm her people just for bringing in some bad news or annoying her. Her people followed her because they respected her strength, not because they feared what would happen if they displeased her. That didn''t mean she had a kind heart. When it came to her enemies, she was ruthless. Pirates didn''t respect her, so she made sure they feared her. If these rumors held any truth, it seemed that fear was fading. They would need a reminder of why she held this territory.


    "We questioned a few of the unaffiliated pirate groups and learned that Arkonis Anazi was recruiting on some of the smaller outposts. Likely trying to avoid being discovered by our people while he was lurking in the area. We believe the part of the rumor about there being a big score was true. If he was forced to recruit local crews, that might mean his fleet wasn''t large enough to handle the job on its own. It''s also possible he was hiring them as cannon fodder. One of the people we questioned spotted Dalton, the Anazi''s pet hound at that station, which is why we believe he was the one responsible for these rumors. Seems he''s looking for Arkonis as well."


    She cursed loudly. The Anazi family was getting far too bold. They may have had some minor success against the STO, but she wouldn''t stand by and let them violate Asgardian territory without retribution.


    Then there was Dalton to consider. If one of the Anazi''s main fixers was on the young prince''s trail, maybe there was a falling out within the Anazi family. She had no love for those mindless brutes so normally anything that weakened them was good in her book. The problem was, they were doing so in her space.


    If she acted swiftly, she might just be able to take advantage of the situation.


    "Call in all the Jarls. I want to teach the Anazi family a lesson about sticking to their own space. Nobody messes with our territory and gets away with it. I''ll be mobilizing my fleet to hunt down this prince as well. Is the Valkyrie done yet?"


    Before taking on the title of Lagertha, or the Shield Maiden for the family, she had seen hints that power was shifting through human space, especially amongst the pirates. Once a loose collection of smaller families, the power was being consolidated amongst fewer and larger groups. She didn''t know what the result of such a unification would be, but she knew it wouldn''t bode well for any of their neighbors. And she was right. Harlow unified pirates to attack the STO.


    She had brought her concerns to her old man back when she first realized this was happening, but he was stubborn and refused to believe the pirates could ever truly consolidate into a cohesive nation. She tried to convince him by bringing up the fact that Asgardians had done a similar thing, even if they weren''t pirates, but the argument had gone ignored.


    With no other recourse and a fear that Asgardian space could be the target, she had challenged his leadership over the Asgardian people. Her father''s only option was to accept the challenge by combat or step down as ruler. Her father was irate at the challenge, but he had not stepped aside, even knowing it meant one of them had to die. She would never forget the proud look on his face when she dealt the final blow. His final words to her were, "Keep our people strong!" She would.


    Over the years she gathered scientists and engineers, mostly through captured vessels, the crews of which were forced to work off their sentences for violating Asgardian space. Others were enticed to work for her, but those she trusted even less because they came through black-market contracts for people who had burned all of their other options within STO space. She still put them to work but ensured that they were watched.


    She set these people to work uplifting Asgard''s technological base which had lagged behind their counterpart, the STO for generations. With how compartmentalized STO society had become thanks to the mega-corporations, that was easier said than done. A chief engineer aboard a ship barely knew how to fix the items aboard that specific vessel, let alone another model.


    If someone in the STO lost their job and wasn''t lucky enough to land on another ship with the same exact specification, they might be forced to start from scratch or spend years of savings buying learning modules in hopes of getting a berth on a new ship.


    While she didn''t mistreat her prisoners, part of their reparations for violating Asgardian laws was to share their collective knowledge by teaching it to others.


    Her efforts to modernize her people''s science and technology had eventually borne fruit, but it had been a long road.


    The Valkyrie was the crowning achievement of those efforts. A ship capable of going toe to toe with any two STO ships. It would have been labeled a heavy cruiser by STO standards if she cared to use them, which she didn''t.


    The ship boasted twelve missile launchers, six Gauss cannons, one main laser, and eight rapid-fire defense turrets. It had taken over a decade of blood sweat and tears to get to this point. Every spare credit she earned was spent sourcing parts from shady STO corporations, the black market, or simply trying to reverse engineer them when neither of those first two was an option. She did not regret the expense. If the ship performed as well as she expected, the cost would have been worth it many times over.


    "The ship is complete, but they are still having power issues with the laser. All the other weapons systems are operating correctly though."


    She hissed in annoyance. "Did the engineers say why there were issues?" It was never a good idea to trust prisoners and slaves with work like this, but she had little option. Most of her people were still behind technologically and it was a slow process to get them up to speed. The few Asgardians who were up to speed on the newest technologies headed the research and construction projects.


    "The power converter in the reactor is having issues providing a clean stream of power directly to the weapon. They believe they can remedy the situation with a capacitor bank, but that will take time to implement." It was always something with the Valkyrie. She had expected some setbacks when she had embarked on this journey of building an entire ship from scratch but there seemed to be more problems than there should be.


    The issues were enough to make her suspicious. After she dealt with the Anazi issue, she would look into the problem personally. If some of the indentured scientists and engineers were trying to sabotage her, they would need to be moved to other positions to work off their sentences.


    "That can wait until we return. Tell them to get the ship ready and alert my crew, it''s time to hunt for the little Anazi princeling and find out exactly what he was after."


    The man stuck one arm across his chest and bowed, "It will be done at once, Lagertha."


    Once the man left her room, she turned to look out her highrise window. The city of Asgard glittered below, the remaining rain from the recent storm sending light flickering across buildings and covered walkways.


    Asgard was the culmination of work from generations of effort. It had been established early on in the Great Expansion by a group of people who wanted to escape the bureaucracy of Earth. Her ancestors had gone far outside of explored space until they ended up here. She didn''t know why they chose such an uninhabitable world to live on, but they had seen something worthwhile about the planet.


    For years they were left alone, doing what settlers do and trying to build a life, but then the STO came and declared the system was under their jurisdiction. Her ancestors weren''t given a choice in the matter, nor did they have any means of stopping the massive governmental entity back then.


    The STO claimed it was to ensure peace throughout human space, but that was a load of shit. It was for control. They didn''t want anyone to grow large enough to compete with them.


    Then the STO ran into the Shican and learned they weren''t the largest fish out here. The war with the Shican made the STO abandon this area of space, effectively cutting off Asgard and its sister worlds for over a hundred years.


    That didn''t mean her people sat around waiting to be rescued. They suffered for a time but her people adapted and grew, leaning on the ways of their ancient Earth ancestors to see them through the hard times. She always chuckled at that part of the story when her father told her the history of her people. The fact that Earth was what they were trying to escape, yet the old homeworld was also their salvation had always amused her. Even as a kid, the irony wasn''t lost on her.


    By the time her people finally made contact with the STO again, they had been reborn in the crucible of survival to come out the other side as proud warriors instead of the flaccid bureaucratic pile of shit that the STO had devolved into. The decades of having to defend what was theirs from pirates, scavengers, and even the Shican during those early times had shaved away any softness they had once had. They no longer saw fit to bend under the foolish rule of idiots. The STO didn''t like being challenged like this and labeled them pirates, either out of spite or misguided fear, she didn''t know which was true nor did she care.


    Her thoughts returned to the present as she looked beyond the city and into the vast jungle beyond. The world outside the sealed homes and walkways of the city might be deadly, but that didn''t matter. Her people were hearty, they didn''t need to terraform a world to call it their own.


    She was sure the soft core-worlders would balk at how they lived, but she didn''t care. If she cared what people within the STO thought of them, she would have tried to improve relations with the puppet bureaucracy to try and remove the stigma that had been placed on her people. Instead, she used their label as a convenient shield to keep interlopers out of Asgardian territory. They would never forget what the STO had done to them and they would not allow it to happen again.


    The harsh life they led on Asgard meant her people didn''t have the largest population base, but that was fine. They didn''t need endless numbers when her people were the best. She would never let her people devolve into the masses of pathetic wretches who came from the Anazi and Xin worlds, whose ships were more often than not run by slaves or fools. Sometimes both.


    Once she dealt with the little brother, she was going to push through Anazi territory and bombard Haven from orbit to teach those pirates a lesson that wouldn''t soon be forgotten. With Harlow''s fleets occupied with the STO, this would be the best opportunity to strike at the heart of their power. This action wouldn''t kill them off, but it would set their plans back for many years to come and make space a safer place for at least a generation.


    If her people had been more bloodthirsty, she would have already done this the moment she heard Harlow and the pirates were engaged with the STO, but they didn''t seek war for the sake of battle. It was only the Anazi''s breach into their territory that prompted a response beyond their borders.


    Something caught her eye and she glanced down toward the covered streets below. The usual meandering crowds were gone as people hurried to their destinations. She smiled at that. Word was already getting out that a fight was ahead of them. A battle loomed and Odin''s eye was turned toward them. None of her people would flinch at that because they knew even if they died, Valhalla awaited them. Katalynn turned from the window and began her own preparations.


    ***


    LOCATION: EDEN''S END


    SYSTEM: Y6X-3H2


    DATE: 2399


    After completing his meeting with the survivors, Alexander focused on planning for Yulia''s party. He would be the first to admit that planning a party was not something he was good at. But he knew someone who was good at planning parties.


    "Eva, could I ask you for a favor?" He found the woman speaking with a group of security people, so he waited for her to be done.


    The woman had taken on a sort of Deputy role to Damien, and even that hard-headed idiot wasn''t stupid enough to push her away.


    "What can I help you with, Alexander?"


    "I need help planning Yulia''s birthday party."


    "Ah," the woman smiled. "I would love to help, but I''ve been quite busy since we got back. I can give you some words of advice though. Invite everyone you can, especially all of the children. And just find a way to make it as fun for them as possible. It''s really that simple."


    "Hmm. I had hoped for a bit more, but thank you for the advice. I guess I''ll figure something out."


    She chuckled. "I''m sure whatever you do, Yulia will love it." S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander walked away from that conversation less sure than he started. He picked his fragmented memories for children''s parties. There weren''t many intact memories of fun or childhood, but he did find a few that had promise. No clowns though, he shivered mentally. Why anyone thought those things were fun was beyond him.


    He put together some games, a few came from his memories, and some he just made up that he thought the kids might enjoy.


    He even built a bouncy castle. Which was a lot harder than he thought it would be. He had known about the bouncy castle back when he built the playground, but it seemed like a bad investment of materials at the time. Kids tended to be rough on things and he didn''t want to be patching it up every week when it tore. But for a single day, that he could handle.


    Invites were sent to all of the kids and their parents as Eva had suggested. He also sent invites to all the people he knew or worked with as well. Alexander even invited Dr. Lund, although, he wasn''t sure she would attend. He hadn''t seen the woman since he returned but she had left him with some more math equations that he didn''t fully understand. He would need to spend some more time brushing up on his mathematics.


    With the party planned, and the people invited, that only left the present. He had spent days mulling over what to give the girl. His first thought was to give her the other pirate ship, and then he thought better about that. He feared it might remind her of her past and he didn''t want to do that. She also didn''t seem like the sort that would enjoy ordering people around as a Captain. Yulia was more of a daredevil, which Alexander wished wasn''t the case.


    When he thought about that word, things like stuntmen, racecar drivers, and fighter pilots came to mind. Not that he thought it would be a good idea to give his daughter a racecar or a ship like that.


    That left his options rather limited. He wanted to give her something she could use for a long time to come, that would mean a lot to her. Alexander looked over at one of his printers.


    Yulia was doing well with his little engineering puzzles. Maybe it was time to push her to make her own items. He would need to restrict the printer to non-metallic items until she got a bit older but it might work. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea.


    While it might be funny to hand the girl one of his industrial printers, he decided against that. A normal printer, like what he originally used back at Petrov Station would be perfect for the girl. It was also compact enough that it could be placed inside their home, so she could use it any time she wished.


    With a plan in mind, Alexander began scaling down the design for his new printers to something a bit more manageable. If he was going to give her a printer, it might as well be the best damn printer he could produce. She would be the second person on Eden''s End with one of these improved printers.


    While one of the newer printers was in his shop, he had still been tweaking the design and getting ready for the third printer iteration to finally start printing the parts to meet Lund''s requirements. He wanted to try and squeeze out a bit more efficiency before he started manufacturing replacements for the rest of his industrial machines so he wouldn''t have to replace everything two or three times over.


    Instead of wasting more time trying to find every tiny little improvement, he sent the parts list to the upgraded printer the engineers had built while he was in space. It would take about a day to print that and another to assemble. Yulia''s printer would be the first thing built with that new printer, and then a few days after that would be her party. He couldn''t wait to see her reaction.

 Chapter 2-14

    Yulia woke up to the smell of something wonderful. She quickly got out of bed and hurried to the kitchen."Good morning!" she stated happily as she hopped onto her stool. "What''s for breakfast? It smells really good."


    Alex turned to her and smiled. "These are called pancakes. But you aren''t getting any until you wash up. Do it quickly or they will get cold."


    Yulia groaned and slid from her stool. She would have dragged her feet, but her stomach growled, reminding her that she was really hungry. So she quickly cleaned her face and hands. Yulia didn''t know why Alex made her do this before eating every morning. She had to shower right before classes anyway.


    When she returned to the table, there was a plate with two big tan circles on it and a bottle of some red stuff off to the side along with a yellow stick of something. "What''re those?"


    "Pancakes, artificial butter, and fruit syrup."


    She grimaced at the artificial butter. That didn''t sound like a food she wanted to eat. "Can I just have the syrup?"


    "It''s your breakfast," he stated.


    She took the small bottle and poured a generous portion over the pancakes. They didn''t look like any cake she had ever eaten before, then again, the only cake she ever had was at Markus'' last birthday party. Sarah and Claire said it had been a really good cake, so that was the measuring stick she used to judge these pancakes.


    The pancake was warm and fluffy and the fruit syrup was sweet and delicious. It wasn''t as sweet as the cake at Markus'' party, but she decided it was good in a different way. She was about to tell Alex so before she remembered not to talk with her mouth full. Yulia quickly chewed and swallowed the bite she had taken. "It''s really good, Alex!"


    "I''m glad it turned out ok. I wasn''t sure if it would with me having to swap some ingredients out." Yulia nodded along as he spoke. Alex got like this sometimes. He would go on about some subject that she didn''t understand but she didn''t mind. She would listen and nod attentively so he didn''t feel bad.


    It was the least she could do since Alex always listened when she talked, and she knew she talked a lot. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Anything interesting going on in class today?" Alex asked as he cleaned up the dishes.


    "Umm¡­ Oh, we''re doing arts and crafts today. ¡­What are arts and crafts?"


    Alex chuckled. "Those are like the pictures you drew with the crayons. Or they could be paintings or other things."


    Yulia smiled at that. She liked drawing. "Did you ask them to do arts and crafts, Alex?"


    "I may have suggested something like it a few months ago. I''m glad to see they are implementing some of my suggestions." Alex looked at his watch. "You better hurry and finish up your breakfast so you can wash and get dressed or you could be late."


    She quickly finished the food and gave Alex a sticky hug. He groaned at that, which caused her to giggle as she ran into the bathroom.


    ***


    "Sarah, Claire," Yulia waved as she hurried down the hall.


    Her friends stopped to wave back at her. "Cutting it close today, what kept you?"


    "Alex made me a really tasty breakfast. Something called pancakes. It was really good."


    Both girls nodded at that.


    "Pancakes are really good," Claire declared.


    The three of them walked into class together.


    Arts and crafts were fun. She liked the watercolors the most, but it was hard to paint with them. She didn''t feel so bad when she saw all the other kids in her age group having similar issues with the paints. At least she hadn''t gotten them all over her like some of the younger kids had. She hoped Alex didn''t have a bunch of angry parents yelling at him for introducing such a messy activity to the children.


    "What are you two doing after class?" Yulia asked.


    "My parents have chores for me. Why? Do you wanna help out?" Sarah smiled sweetly.


    Yulia just snorted. "No way. What about you Claire?"


    "Same. I''ll be free tomorrow though."


    "Alright, I''ll see you two tomorrow." She waved to her friends as she rushed home.


    "Alex!" She was surprised to see him home, usually, he didn''t come home until it was time for the evening meal. In those cases, she would either hang out with her friends, explore, or visit him at his workshop.


    "Not with your friends today?"


    She shook her head. "They were busy."


    "If you''re free, I have something you could help me with."


    She nodded. "Ok. Can I bring Dog?"


    "The more the merrier," he replied happily.


    Yulia followed Alex as he took her to the atrium where most of the people lived. It was pretty much on the opposite side of the facility from Alex''s workshop. While she liked to explore the hallways, she didn''t often come down this way because there were too many people for her liking. It was fine if Alex was with her though.


    He stopped at a few places and spoke with a few people, sometimes he reached into his belt and handed out those little metal cards in exchange for something like food or other items that would be dropped off at their home or his shop at a later time.


    It was rather boring, but she did her best not to look bored.


    Alex chuckled softly. "Not finding this all that interesting, I take it?"


    It seemed she wasn''t doing a very good job. She shrugged, "It''s fine, I guess."


    "Uh-huh. Well, we''re almost done. How about we go past the playground on the way back?"


    She would prefer to go there with her friends, but going with Alex was nice too. She nodded happily.


    It didn''t take Alex long to finish up what he was doing and they took the long way back to the playground. If she had to walk the whole way, she would have been exhausted. But Alex carried her most of the way there. Every time they walked through a doorway, she tried jumping up to touch the top of the frame. She didn''t worry about falling, Alex caught her every time she came down. And he didn''t even scold her about how dangerous it was after the first few times.


    As they entered the playground atrium, she found the place rather quiet. It was always quieter now that the Hawks were gone, but you could usually hear a few kids playing. There was nothing today.


    She tried to get a better look as she stood atop Alex, but he picked her up and placed her back on the ground. She was about to pout when she heard some noises.


    "I wonder what that could be?" Alex said.


    The pair of them approached the park from the opposite side. As they rounded a bend, she was greeted by tons of people.


    "SURPRISE!" they all yelled as one, making her jump slightly. "Happy birthday, Yulia!"


    Alex chuckled next to her. "What, did you forget it was your birthday?"


    She actually had forgotten. Well, she knew it was coming up soon, but she didn''t know the exact date.


    Yulia could see her friends Claire, Sarah, and Markus as well as the other kids from the orphanage and the classroom. Even that mean older boy Charlie was here, but he didn''t look very happy to be here. Yulia could feel herself start to cry. They were happy tears, but she didn''t want to cry in front of her friends, so she quickly blinked them away.


    Alex gave her a gentle push. "Go play and have fun." He pointed off to the side where some weirdly colorful thing sat. "That''s a bouncy castle. Just make sure to take your shoes off before going inside and have fun. Happy birthday, Yulia."


    Yulia turned to Alex and gave him the fiercest hug she could manage before hurrying to join her laughing and giggling friends. Dog gave a happy bark as he chased after her.


    The bouncy castle was interesting. But she quickly grew bored of just bouncing off the floor, so she started trying to see what would happen if she bounced off the walls or fell to the floor. She found she could bounce back to her feet if she did it right. That made it more fun, and soon everyone was trying to copy her.


    Some were better at it than others. The little kids seemed to enjoy it far more than the older ones. Probably because they could bounce much higher when someone else fell down next to them.


    After the bouncy castle, the kids moved on to a very serious game of tag. The tag rules from Petrov Station had taken off on Eden''s End but this game was slightly different. As the birthday girl, she got to start as the tagged. Once she tagged someone, she couldn''t be tagged again until everyone playing had been tagged once. So instead of just tagging the first person you saw, or trying to tag the same person back, you had to plan ahead and try to corner your target. You could work together with the person that was it, or against them.


    She had to admit, the kids from Petrov had the advantage when it came to this version of tag. They had been playing a similar version of it their entire lives, so they were much more experienced. Yulia was a master at the game, preventing the last person from tagging her until they were called over for food. Even if she wasn''t the fastest or tallest kid in the group. Using the stuff she learned from working on Alex''s puzzles to her advantage, she was able to plan out her route in advance, keeping the other kids from cornering her.


    The food was awesome. Alex had made something called a chicken nugget. Yulia was pretty sure a chicken was a bird of some sort, but there weren''t any birds here as far as she knew. It tasted a bit like the soy patties, but she didn''t mind. In fact, she was having more fun than she could ever remember. Markus'' party had been fun, but Alex had pulled out all the stops for hers.


    After the food came the cake. It was something called angel food cake and it was topped by fresh strawberries and something called whipped cream. Everyone oohed and was awed at that. It was rare to get fresh fruit. Most of it was freeze-dried or powdered so it would last longer. She learned that in class. The cake and fruit were delicious.


    After that came the presents. Yulia hadn''t seen so many presents in her entire life. She thanked and hugged every person who gave her one, even Charlie. The mean boy turned beet red when she hugged him, which was weird but he was a boy. Did that make it normal since boys were weird? She shook her head, that was a question with no answer.


    When everyone had given their gifts, Alex leaned down. "Did you have a good time?"


    She nodded enthusiastically.


    He laughed softly and ruffled her hair. "I''m glad you enjoyed it. You may be wondering where my gift for you is. It was a little too big to bring along, so I had some people set it up at home."


    "Is that why you made us take the long way?" she asked. Alex only smiled and winked.


    The party was amazing, but by the time it was over, her feet were dragging. Alex had called up all of his remote carts to shuttle people and the other kids home so they wouldn''t have to walk. She was a bit jealous of that. She wanted to ride on the carts too. But Alex simply carried her since their home was much closer.


    When they arrived, she pushed open the door to see what Alex got for her. She wasn''t expecting the printer, so she was a bit confused.


    "Now you can make anything you want¡­ within reason. Tomorrow is the weekend, so I can help you set it up and show you how to work the design program. It''s a simplified version of the one I use."


    Yulia wasn''t sure what she would make first, she had so many ideas. She gave Alex another big hug before running over to look at the printer. Her enthusiasm didn''t last long, mostly because she fell asleep a few minutes later.

 Chapter 2-15

    Odin''s Revenge jumped deep into the outskirts of the system. Haldor had never been out this far from the STO border before, but all the other systems closer to the STO border were being picked over by the larger pirate crews. He couldn''t compete with only four in his warband. But they were four brothers and sisters he would trust his life with."Anything?" he asked Freya, itching to find something to justify the fuel expense of heading so far out.


    "Don''t get your panties in a bunch, Haldor. Odin''s sensors take time. Unless you upgraded em without telling the rest of us." The rest of the crew chuckled at Freya''s jab.


    "Maybe I will with your cut if we find anything," Haldor shot back, earning a feral grin from the woman and another round of chuckles from the rest of the crew.


    He really hoped they found what everyone was looking for, he needed a big take if he wanted to move into Asgard and become part of the central family.


    The corvette he had inherited from his father, and his father had inherited from their father was old, but it was well-maintained. And even though it had less firepower than a gunboat, he preferred the extra armor and maneuverability that the ship provided. The extra space was nice too, it meant he could have more than two people aboard.


    "Active transponder ping," Freya said excitedly. "Coming through as a mining vessel. If nothing else, we can at least chase that down."


    "Guarantee a ship of that size would have at least one engineer as well," Ivar added. "I heard Lagertha is still paying good credits for techies."


    Haldor grimaced at that. Not the credits, those were always welcome. But trying to board and capture people was always a mess. "That''ll be the last resort unless we come up with nothing else."


    It took a few more minutes before Freya gave him some good news. "Looks like there could be a ship in orbit around the fourth planet. There also seems to be a station. Can''t really get a good view from this far out. Whad''ya wanna do, boss?"


    Haldor rubbed his chin as he thought. They were already coasting into the system, but sooner or later their jump would be detected. If he wanted to surprise the people here, he needed to speed things up. "Lock in and get us to that fourth planet as fast as possible. I want hourly updates on the passives. If it looks like we got spotted, turn on the active scanners."


    His crew cheered and they quickly buckled themselves in as Ivar powered up the drive.


    ***


    "Looks like someone spotted us, Boss. The mining ship is running for cover at the planet."


    "So much for surprise. You know what to do Freya." The woman smiled and engaged the ship''s active scanning. It would give them a much better idea of what was out there over the outdated camera system aboard Odin''s Revenge.


    "Holy hell!" Freya exclaimed. "They have three ships in orbit. A frigate is docked at what looks like a refueling depot and the other two ships are just floating a distance from the planet. The ships are all damaged though, and other than the reactor on the docked ship, the rest are cold. And even that reactor isn''t outputting much heat. It''s probably in standby mode."


    He pulled up the sensor readings to his console. Capturing a ship, especially a frigate would be a huge win, even if it was damaged. With the other two ships being cold, it was likely their reactors were offline and their activation keys removed, making them worthless. With luck, they might be able to swap out their corvette''s activation crystal on one of the gunboats. But that would leave them vulnerable for hours if not days depending on the level of security aboard the ship and be a poor trade since he would have to abandon his own ship to do so. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The more he looked at these sensor readings, the more he was leaning toward hitting the gunships. He wouldn''t be able to take them, but they might have something worth taking aboard. The frigate had a huge chunk missing and one of the engines was completely gone. If it flew at all it would be a miracle. The other ships looked to be in slightly better condition but they were just floating out there. That fact was what eventually decided it for him. If those ships were left to drift, they were likely scrap. He also needed to take the gamble or he would never measure up in the eyes of the Lagertha.


    "Get us to that station. Is there any chance we can beat the mining ship to the planet?"


    "Unlikely. They were much closer to the planet than we are now."


    Haldor couldn''t discount the mining ship having weapons. No sane captain would come out here unarmed. Then again, he had run into a lot of fools who did, so who knew? "Any sign of what punched holes in those ships?"


    "The damage to the frigate looks to be done by multiple missiles. The other damage looks to be from projectiles. Sensors aren''t picking up any weapons systems in orbit except the ones on the frigate."


    "Are they active?"


    "Hmm, hard to say from this distance. I can give you a better answer as we get closer. Don''t need to worry about its missile tubes though, it''s facing away from us."


    He wasn''t sure he agreed with that assessment, but it would make the missiles easier to shoot down if they had to turn around before accelerating toward them. "What about planetside."


    "Just looks like some old structure. It is rather large though. How much you wanna bet this is what that Anazi bastard was after?"


    Haldor smiled. "That sounds like a bad bet on my part. The fact that the frigate is active and isn''t broadcasting a transponder tells me everything I need to know. Those three ships probably belonged to Anazi. Looks like he bit off more than he could chew out here," Haldor laughed. "Adjust our heading and keep the station and ship between us and the planet. If they do have ground-based defenses, that should give us time to bug out."


    "Got a shuttle leaving the station. Looks like they are abandoning the frigate," Freya stated triumphantly. "You may have been right about the ground-based defenses, boss. Looks like we got movement around the large structure on the surface. The sensors are having trouble penetrating the sulfur-rich atmosphere though."


    He grunted. "Keep an eye out for launches. We can hide from anything else behind the ship."


    ***


    "What are they doing?" Alexander asked.


    He had been called up to the security room when the ship was first spotted by Captain Na. It was obviously a pirate ship but their initial headlong rush into the system had turned into a very cautious approach.


    "It looks like they are trying to use the station as cover as they get closer," Lucas responded.


    The geostationary orbit of the space station made it easy to program the capsules to fly to it, but it seemed like that choice was coming back to bite him in the ass now. "Are the weapons aboard Eden''s Fury ready to go?"


    "Yup," Lucas replied. "Just drawing them in closer before we activate them as Captain Matthews suggested."


    Alexander nodded. He had spoken to Matthews a bit about how to utilize the ships in this manner. The Captain was the one to suggest turning them into unmanned weapons platforms until they were in flight-worthy condition. Matthews was clear that the ships wouldn''t be much good at range, but if they could draw an enemy close to them, they might be able to surprise an enemy.


    "The guns are already oriented toward them?" Alexander asked in concern.


    "Yes, Alex, quit worrying. We did that as soon as we realized what course they were coming in on. I''m surprised they didn''t pick up on the weapons reorienting, but I won''t complain."


    "I''m sorry. I''m just nervous. How''s your brother doing?"


    "Eh," Lucas shrugged. "He''s getting the remaining guards in position to cover the entrances in case this group decides to land. Although that would be a very stupid idea on their part. Unless they have a bunch of missiles and a nuke to match the previous pirates. And I somehow doubt that little ship could carry twelve missiles."


    ***


    As they got closer, Haldor started to feel like something was off. He asked Freya multiple times to rescan for further weapons, but she kept coming back with no other weapons in orbit, and his constant requests were getting on her nerves. The mining ship was staying on the far side of the planet from them so it wasn''t likely to be a threat. Odin''s Revenge could out-accelerate that mining ship to capture it or flee if it came to that, but not before it made it to the cover of those surface weapons. So what was off with this picture?


    He couldn''t shake the feeling that someone was watching him. "Freya, give me a video feed of the frigate. I wanna see it for myself."


    She glared at him but sent the feed to his terminal. He wished he had one of those fancy holo displays to make the image larger, but he would have to make do with the screen size he had. He moved the image around and frowned. He could see where the turrets stuck out from the hull, but not the barrels. Haldor zoomed in on the image. It got grainy the closer he tried to zoom but he finally saw what had his hackles up. The guns were pointed directly at them.


    He was about to shout, but Freya cut him off. "Incoming!"


    The ship jerked hard as Ivar pulled it to one side to try and avoid the incoming fire. It wasn''t fast enough. A series of metallic clinks shook the ship before he heard the atmosphere venting. "Ivar, get us the fuck out of here! The rest of you, suit up."


    Haldor grabbed his helmet and was just about to put it on when something flashed through his vision. White hot pain gripped his abdomen and he dropped his helmet on the floor and reached down. His hand came away wet with blood. He stared at it in mute bewilderment before another round tore through the bridge and removed any further thought.


    ***


    "The guns are out of ammo, Alex. But the ships definitely drifting. Wanna send Branston out to make sure?"


    "No. I don''t want to risk our only pilot in case anyone is still alive aboard that ship. Record its trajectory, if it hasn''t fallen into a moon or planet in the next few weeks, we can ask Na if he''ll recycle it for us."


    "You don''t want to tow it back?"


    Alexander looked at Lucas. "How many rounds did you fire at it?"


    "¡­Uh, probably more than strictly necessary."


    "It''s not worth fixing if you hit it with even half of those," he stated.


    Turns out, it didn''t matter what plans Alexander had. The issue of the ship resolved itself a half hour later when its reactor containment failed. Without gravity to keep the damage contained as it would on a planet, it did resemble an explosion. The ship turned white hot, before bulging outward into a relatively slow spray of molten material. It was quite something to watch, but it was also a strong reminder of what would happen if a fusion reactor failed. They would need to clean that mess up or at least track the path of the debris to ensure nobody ran into it on accident.

 Chapter 2-16

    Alexander finished swapping out the last ammo canister aboard Eden''s Fury. He needed to speak with Lucas or whoever was operating the security room to go easy on the remaining ammunition. This was the last of their supply and they didn''t have an easy way to produce more yet.He could make gunpowder, which was easy enough, but it couldn''t be manufactured with the printer due to its volatile nature. Specialized machines needed to be manufactured to create the grains, and that meant designing and building a machine. He had built a few machines for manufacturing the high explosives used in the grenades, but it was actually safer and easier to produce the explosives than it was to produce gunpowder.


    The explosive compound started as a wet mix that resembled something like soft clay and got extruded into the casing. The compound was safe under extreme pressure and heat. It took a very high-voltage spark to set it off.


    Alexander would have preferred not to bother with explosives or gunpowders at all, but the compressed gas used in the flechette rifles didn''t have quite the same oomph as their big cousins which used magnetic propulsion. It was probably why the grenade launcher used electromagnetic coils to both fire and program the smart rounds. And also why the weapon was so heavy.


    Alexander wasn''t sure why that design was used in particular over just a conventional gunpowder charge, except that maybe it was designed specifically to work in a vacuum or place where they worried about the gunpowder igniting properly.


    That was all conjecture on his part. Using the coils did have the advantage of making the grenades smaller, without reducing their explosive potential, so there was one upside.


    All that being said, Alexander didn''t want to waste time and materials building a fully functional gunpowder manufacturing line, just to scrap it when he moved away from these archaic autocannons.


    He already had the initial stages of a laser design in his program. But those plans were put on hold as other projects became a priority. With the pirates returning, he quickly shifted to the laser project as his main focus.


    As he was inspecting the ship, to see what the robots had managed in the last week or so, he thought about the design of the weapon. Like he had told the Hawks, building a laser was easy. It was just the ability to focus and amplify light properly. Alexander could easily create the lenses and focus medium to do this.


    The issue he was running into was power.


    Specifically, how much power to provide a laser, as well as how to provide this power. If he thought the orbital railguns were power-hungry, he got quite the wake-up call with the laser.


    Dr. Lund came in very helpful in this respect. He provided her with the armor specifications of the Eden''s Fury, specifically the most heavily armored portion. And she provided him with a calculation on the amount of energy it would take to melt through it.


    He took the figure she provided him and quadrupled it. A straight-on hit, even with a laser, was never really guaranteed. So he wanted to ensure the weapon would do as much damage as possible even with an angled blow.


    The problem was, even if he built ten of his capacitor arrays, they would barely be able to provide the power needed for one shot at Lund''s provided power output, let alone his.


    Not ideal, but it was doable. If he scaled that up to his power requirement, there wouldn''t be enough free space on the Fury to power all of the ship''s main weapons if he converted them all into lasers.


    There were obvious ways around this. He could simply extend the duration of the beam, allowing for a weaker laser to burn through for longer. That was less than ideal considering the speeds, distance, and tempo of space battles he had witnessed thus far. The other idea he had was to simply shunt power directly from the reactor into the laser.


    It was technically possible, considering compressed plasma ejection did something similar. But those reactors were designed with that in mind. He would need to test a lot of things to see if his idea would work. The main concerns would be if the reactor could handle the draw and if the laser could hold up to that much power being shunted into it.


    As he stepped into the hangar, he decided to approach both paths. If his testing didn''t go well on the direct power shunt idea, he could at least replace one of Fury''s main weapons with a laser, giving it much more range and versatility.


    The trip back to the surface was a quiet one. Branston, like everyone else on Eden''s End, was tense. They had all heard the alarm, and seen Damien''s people moving to secure the entrances. It didn''t take a genius to figure out what was going on.


    He couldn''t blame the residents, he was on edge as well. The last pirate attack was still pretty fresh in everyone''s mind.


    "Thanks for the ride," Alexander said as they touched down. "I hate to ask this of you, but could you remain in the shuttle for a few weeks?"


    "¡­Um, you''re the boss. But can I ask why?"


    Alexander nodded to Branston. "If we get another unwanted visitor before I can upgrade the Fury, I want to be able to extract the crew of the Destiny instead of leaving them to the mercy of possible pirates." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man grimaced at his choice of words. "Nobody should have to suffer such a fate. I''ll stay in the shuttle for as long as needed. If someone can bring me some food and water, I''ll survive. While not the most comfortable place I''ve slept, I''ve experienced worse."


    Alexander squeezed the man''s shoulder lightly. "Thank you for this. I''ll make it up to you somehow."


    Branston snorted. "Promise me I get to be the first to fly any experimental ships you build, and we can call it even."


    Despite the tense mood, Alexander chuckled. "It''s a deal. I''ll have provisions brought out for you."


    ***


    "That''s the third one this week," Lucas told his brother.


    Damien grunted. "At least they came for Eden''s Fury this time and not those two derelicts like the last ship. Who knows what the pirates took from those ships before leaving again? And I can guarantee you they told others about us."


    Lucas nodded at that. Unfortunately, they didn''t have any weapon capable of reaching the Lagrange point, where those two ships were parked, to take out the last pirate that showed up. "Do you wanna notify Alex, or should I?" With the destruction of the first pirate ship, and the last ship jumping back out of the system, they all knew it would only be a matter of time before more pirates appeared.


    "Will notifying him change anything?" his brother asked. "The man is already busy trying to get those two ships towed to the station so they can be covered by Eden''s guns. He should have just scuttled them instead of wasting his time. How''s his progress by the way?"


    Instead of making fun of his brother''s worried tone, Lucas flipped the camera feed to the frigate. Six small points of light could seen in the video feed. Alex had apparently built two more of his construction robots and then built ion propulsion packs and a long tow cable to replace where their legs resided. Three were assigned to each vessel, slowly towing them toward the space station, where they would be attached to the Fury so they were protected by the guns.


    "Slow," Lucas stated after a minute.


    His brother grunted and pressed the comm button for Shuttle 1. "Branston, you read?"


    "This is Shuttle One. I read, what''s up?"


    "We have another unknown ship in the system. Sending you the coordinates now."


    After a bit, the man responded. "Ok¡­ What do you want me to do about it?"


    "You''re armed aren''t you?" Damien replied tersely.


    Branston chuckled over the radio. "The shuttle has a small cannon on it, but I wouldn''t call this tin can armed. At most, I can shoot down a missile or two with the ammo still on board. So if you expect me to throw myself at an unknown ship, you can forget about it."


    Before his brother could blow up over the radio at Branston, Lucas cut him off. "Let''s wait and see what this ship does. For now, they''re not doing anything aggressive. Maybe they will just leave?"


    His brother fumed but eventually nodded his head slightly.


    It was a good thing they decided to wait and see. A few hours later, they picked up a transmission from the ship.


    "Eden''s End, this is Shall. Ya''ll ok down there?" There was a collective sigh of relief at hearing who the ship belonged to.


    Shall was one of the freighter Captains who delivered goods to them occasionally. The man certainly wasn''t their friend, he made far more in trade than the items he traded were worth.


    "We''re fine," Lucas sent, after first sending the code phrase they had agreed upon the last time the old Captain was around. "Where''ve you been, anyway? It''s been over a year."


    Lucas verified the return code phrase and smiled.


    "Yeah, well, this part of space has been rather too busy for my liking. Thought I would let things calm down a bit. Then I enter the system only to find whatever this is." Lucas could practically see the man gesturing to all the new icons on his scanner.


    "Yeah, things have changed a bit. You can turn your transponder back on, the system''s safe." If anyone inside STO space learned Shall had an illegal mod to turn on and off his transponder, the best he could hope for was being arrested. With the pirates becoming more active, he was more likely to get destroyed by one side or the other though.


    "Don''t look very safe," he heard the man mutter. But soon his transponder code was picked up by the sensors. Lucas never much understood why Shall had named his ship Fool''s Gold. Then again, their uncle was an odd one, preferring to work alone.


    The Fool''s Gold touched down on one of the empty landing pads a few days later, beating the ships Alex was pulling to the station.


    A gruff older man with a scraggly beard tromped down the ship''s ramp. Damien and Lucas had both come to greet the merchant.


    "You trying to give this old man a heart attack by tracking him with those big bastard''s guns?"


    "Protocol," Damien responded coldly.


    The merchant grunted and took a breath from the mask hanging around his neck. "I forgot how shit this atmo is. Still can''t believe you idiots chose this place to live. Although, you may not be here much longer if Char gets wind of it."


    "Have you heard something?" Damien asked.


    The man chuckled. "I would have to be deaf not to. The whole black market is buzzing about some huge pirate score that''s about to go down." The man deliberately looked at the new weapon emplacements when he said that. "Didn''t think it would be here though," he sighed. "What have you idiots gotten yourselves into?"


    "We could ask you the same, Uncle," Lucas smiled.


    The man rolled his eyes. "I told you not to call me that. Don''t matter that I''m your mother''s brother. The word makes me feel old."


    "You are old," Damien stated flatly.


    "Well, no shit! Doesn''t mean I need to be reminded of it. Now stop stalling and spit it out, what''s up with all this?" he gestured around.


    "Someone bought the research facility," Damien replied.


    Shall''s eyebrows rose. "Well, that certainly is news. Going by all the new toys, I''m guessing this person is filthy rich?"


    "Don''t even think about it, Uncle," Lucas warned, which felt really weird coming from his mouth. That weirdness must have registered with Damien and his uncle, because they both just stared at him.


    "Have the stars gone out, or is my hearing going? To think, my little nephew could have had his attitude changed so abruptly. This sounds like a story I need to hear."


    Lucas gave his uncle the middle finger and the two chuckled.


    "Well, maybe not entirely. As for you," he looked over Damien. "Where''s that pretty girl of yours?"


    Damien narrowed his eyes. "Just because you''re old, doesn''t mean I won''t knock your ass out."


    Shall laughed. "I see you haven''t changed." The man walked past them and headed toward the building. "You two coming, or you gonna stand out here all day staring into space?"


    Lucas could hear his brother grinding his teeth in annoyance. "One of these days," he heard Damien mutter under his breath. Lucas just shook his head and hurried to catch up with their uncle.

 Chapter 2-17

    Not being alerted to the unknown ship when it arrived, irked Alexander. The fact that it was Branston who had alerted him and not Lucas or Damien pissed him off. Especially when Branston informed him of what Damien had asked him to do. Thankfully the former STO pilot was smart enough to realize that Damien had no authority over him and declined the order.Branson worked for him, and the shuttle belonged to him. It wasn''t at Damien''s beck and call to do with it as he pleased, especially when the man wanted to sacrifice it to buy time. Alexander understood the man was worried about another possibly hostile ship, but they were going to have a serious discussion when he returned to the surface.


    If Damien wanted access to Blue Star Enterprise assets, it was time to integrate the security force into his company. If the man refused, he would remove access to the security center for him and his people. Alexander might separate those departments anyway, considering Damien was never involved in the space side of things. The man was competent at running facility security, but he lacked the tactical knowledge to deploy assets in space.


    Alexander couldn''t fault him for that, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses and it seemed he found Damien''s.


    As for Lucas, Alexander knew why he hadn''t reached out. If Damien was in the room, Lucas tended to defer to his older brother on most matters. Neither man was really cut out for being in charge of system-wide defensive operations but it wasn''t like he had many options. Alexander couldn''t claim to be any better though.


    Together they made it work, but that was the problem. Alexander wasn''t there to help make it work. He was stuck in one of the derelict and now ransacked pirate ships, doing his best to keep them and the robots on track, which wasn''t easy. The programming Lucas and he threw together to allow the robots to act as tugs wasn''t the greatest. It had slowly gotten better as he adjusted it on the fly and the robots learned but that took time.


    They had plenty of time to learn though. It was still another twelve hours until he arrived at the space station. Of course, that was just the end of the easy part of this trip. He suspected it would take an additional few hours to maneuver the ships to dock them properly.


    With the station only having one set of docking clamps, the other two ships needed to be secured via airlocks to Eden''s Fury. And he had to do it in such a way as to not block the firing line of the frigate.


    With plenty of time and nothing to do, he had done the math, and both ships should fit.


    Hours later, Alexander stood on the hull of one of the ships. The station and Fury were growing larger in his vision, meaning they were only a few minutes out. The tugs were already slowing their approach, not that they had been moving all that fast to begin with.


    By the time they stopped relative to the station, he felt like he could jump across the intervening space with ease. Obviously, he didn''t do that, that sounded like a good way to miss the landing and float off into space or to get pulled down by the planet''s gravity. Seeing if his body was capable of surviving orbital reentry was not on his bucket list.


    He tapped on the tablet and watched as the three tugs from the other ship moved to the ship he was standing on. Since they were in a bit of a rush, there hadn''t been time to program the tugs to do a maneuver such as this. That meant Alexander had to manually guide them in. Something, he wasn''t even sure he could do. Nobody else would be able to perform the maneuver though since the ship had no internal power and there was not even emergency power to run the external cameras. That meant he had spent the entire trip attached to the hull outside the ship. It felt more like riding a wild animal than it did towing a spaceship. The experience was¡­ different.


    Alexander used the tablet interface to guide the robots into place. Their magnetic grapplers latched onto the ship''s hull. Once he figured he had them spread out properly, he tested out the maneuvering.


    The ship wobbled and he had to adjust some settings to compensate. Once he had the ship''s motion smoothed out, he started moving closer to the frigate.


    Feeling like he was falling toward the planet was something he wasn''t sure he would ever get used to. It just felt wrong. Alexander pushed that feeling to the back of his mind as he concentrated on his approach. He was moving much slower than was necessary, but he couldn''t afford to damage the airlock on either ship. If he did, he would have to weld the ship to the Fury to keep it from drifting off.


    It took hours of concentration, but he finally felt the airlock locking clamps engage. The ship was rotated slightly more than he wanted it to be but it would have to do. He detached the drones and sent them to the other gunship.


    They repeated the process on their own, their self-learning taking up the slack now that they had done it once. He moved to the rear of the ship he was standing on and winced internally as the engine cone was torn in half by the other ship. He was planning on replacing them anyway but he had hoped to get away without causing any additional damage.


    In a much shorter time than it took him, the second ship was locked to the Fury.


    He crossed back into the ship and avoided the mess and floating debris that the pirates had left after ransacking the vessel. They had deliberately damaged every single system aboard the ship, including the reactor casing. If the hull wasn''t still mostly intact, he would have fed it to the smelter. But he didn''t have time to design a ship from scratch and it would still take less time to repair this ship than build a new one.


    Alexander entered the Fury''s airlock and once clear, made his way across the ship to the airlock for the hangar to the station. It was a real roundabout way to get there, but the station was never designed to park ships for an extended period. Eventually, multiple airlocks would need to be added to the exterior of the structure. He was already printing out more docking arms and temporary airlock mounts that would at least let him dock multiple ships to the station, even if the extra mounts didn''t lead anywhere.


    "Any issues with the cargo?" Alexander asked as he stepped aboard the shuttle.


    Branston stepped out of the cockpit after the atmosphere normalized. "Not that I could tell. The engineers packed everything up and it was waiting for me as you said. What''s in them by the way?"


    "Components to replace the Fury''s main autocannon with a laser."


    The pilot whistled in approval. "I never served aboard any of the STO''s newer ships. So I never got to see any of their fancy laser weaponry in action."


    "Not much to see. The beams are invisible to all but sensors," Alexander stated as he went to each crate and examined the contents.


    He watched as the man rolled his eyes. "I know that. I''m referring to the damage they inflict."


    "Let''s hope this laser doesn''t disappoint. Mind helping me get it moved onto the Fury?"


    Branston nodded and helped float the crates over to the frigate and secure them to the deck. He could have used the robots, but they were busy dismantling the main cannon.


    One bonus of removing one of the cannons is that the ammo canister would be able to be reused on the other main cannon. It had to be cut away, and the locking portion that prevented it from being swapped out removed, but the bots could handle that.


    While they were working, Alexander moved the power systems into place. He had prepared for both possibilities but he really hoped he didn''t have to shunt energy directly from the reactor. He would find out soon enough as that''s what he was up here to test.


    He could have done all this testing on the ground, minus the main power tap, but he decided to change up his plans after having to come up here anyway.


    If he was going to be in space, it made more sense to test in place, instead of test and implement. With two visits by pirates in as many days, there was no telling when more would appear. He could have designed a railgun to replace the autocannon, but his ground-based ones weren''t exactly designed to be mounted to a ship. It would have taken just as much research and time to design and modify his existing railguns to work with the Fury as it did to create the laser.


    Neither system was ideal. The railgun would have required complex mechanicals for autoloading, which would have necessitated maintenance and ammo storage. The rails were also subject to deterioration with each use. If he had a crew and the ship was in perfect working order, he might have been fine with that, but he couldn''t afford to dedicate his time or the construction robots'' time to constantly swapping out damaged rails. With the laser, cooling, and power consumption were the main issues. The power issue was already resolved and the cooling was handled by a heat pump. There would be some maintenance concerns with the rotation assembly, but probably not many since it used the same design his robots had been relying on for months now.


    The room was silent as he worked but he could feel the thumps as the bots cut away the turret behind him. Eventually, the work light he had brought along was washed out by the harsh white glare of plasma cutters.


    Alexander ignored the distraction as he configured the supercapacitors along the entire interior wall of the turret room. Before he finished, the entire weapon assembly and ammo canister were pulled from the ship.


    He paused in his work and retrieved the rest of the crates, opening them so the robots could extract the components for the laser.


    The bots scanned the parts before one scurried off to print a plate to seal the hole. The laser didn''t look like much. The majority of the weapon was housed in a sealed cylinder that poked down into the room where the ammo canister had been. The final part that rotated looked like a large, yet stubby hobby telescope. Most of that was the optical sensor and aiming system, both of which operated on his home-made computer chips. The rest of it was cooling.


    Now that he had his new generation of printers, the chips he was capable of producing were in the low one-hundred-nanometer range. It didn''t hold a candle to the current tech, but his homemade chips were now more than capable of handling complex tasks like target acquisition, and tracking.


    The part of the weapon where the beam exited would normally be considered a secondary mirror on a telescope, but in this case, it was the laser. And everything around it was auxiliary systems and cooling.


    Soon a new armored plate arrived to patch the hole and the robots quickly welded it in place and welded the laser''s mounting platform to it.


    It was janky as hell, but it should work. When he had more time, he would redo it properly.


    Alexander worked through the night to get the laser operational when he heard his radio buzz. That was a good sign, it meant the welds were holding air.


    "Alex, we have another contact in the system. It seems our STO spy ship is back," Lucas stated.


    Just what they needed right now, the STO poking around. "Keep an eye on them."


    It wasn''t more than four hours later that he got another much more panicked radio call from Lucas. "Alex! We have big trouble. Twenty-two ships just jumped into the system. And they are all running without transponders. Some are already moving toward Captain Na. I alerted Destiny, but Na said he was aware and they were moving to a jump point."


    "How long until the pirates arrive? Doesn''t he have time to make it to the planet?" Alexander asked as he never stopped working.


    "Roughly a day. They entered the system going full burn. Captain Na says he could make it but it would be too close and there wouldn''t be time to disembark before the pirates arrived."


    "Alright, tell him to do what he feels is best to keep his people safe."


    "I''ll relay that to him. Are you planning to head down right away?"


    "I''m going to finish this laser and fly down with Branston," he stated far more calmly than he felt. This was it, what they had been dreading this entire time.


    "¡­" There was silence for a moment before Lucas responded. "Are you sure that''s a good idea? There''s no way one laser is going to do anything against that many ships." He could hear the concern in the man''s voice but he needed to see this through. There was no way the six railguns would be able to deal with the pirates if they were smarter than the previous ones and didn''t enter orbit. That left the laser as the only long-range deterrent.


    "It''s our best bet. You and Damien make sure everything is ready on the ground."


    "¡­We''ll be ready down here, Alex¡­ good luck."


    With that, the radio went silent and Alexander continued his work. He would like to say he found a bit of extra speed, but he was already working as fast as he safely could. Any faster and he ran the chance of screwing something up. With the amount of energy he was working with, making a mistake would be disastrous. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And now they couldn''t even run the weapon test without alerting the pirates. The only testing he had done was with the aiming system, so at least he knew that worked. Without being able to test fire the weapon, he needed to manually double-check each system and hope the weapon worked as designed.


    It took Alexander six hours to finish his work. He could have been done in three, but he decided to run the power cable from the reactor to the capacitors and hope for the best. Running the power directly would likely overload the laser when it was engaged, but it was better than sitting and waiting for the capacitors to recharge from the ship''s power converter if they needed to fire a second time in quick succession.


    He made his way to the shuttle, where a panicked Branston had been radioing him every hour for an update. Making the former pirate slave wait on him while pirates flooded toward Eden''s End was cruel on his part and Alexander knew that. He would need to make it up to the man as soon as possible.


    Getting the confirmation of his boarding, Branston wasted no time as he backed them out of the hangar and made his way quickly to the surface.


    All of the facility defenses were online, the three guns previously destroyed by the pirates having been repaired in the last few months. All of Alexander''s improvements had been added to them as well as the existing guns. It didn''t make them shoot any harder or farther, but it made them easier to fix and harder to take offline.


    It would take a direct hit from another missile to do that now, and with the secondary railguns scanning the skies, they would have to oversaturate their defenses before any missiles could get through.


    Now all he could do is wait and see what the pirates would do.

 Chapter 2-18

    Captain Krieger of the Epsilon''s Dawn yawned as he entered the bridge. It was early, even for him, but this was when the jump was scheduled to exit into normal space again."Captain on deck!" the new watch officer shouted, making Vitor wince and give the man the stink eye.


    "That''s not necessary on my ship, Marine," he stated flatly.


    "I''m afraid I must protest, Sir, STO rules state¨C," he cut the man off before he could go into the arbitrary rules that had been drilled into him back during training.


    He wanted to rub his temples at the man''s single-mindedness. The STO brass had agreed to the three-month checkup he had suggested, but they had also saddled him with a company of Marines. Technically it was more like half a company since the Dawn didn''t have enough room to host a full company of Marines, but that didn''t change how much it annoyed him.


    He was black ops, the Marines were the exact opposite of that. And while most people considered Marines to be mindless drones hell-bent on fighting, Vitor knew they weren''t mindless. The soldiers likely knew they wouldn''t see any action during this deployment, and their boredom showed in how they acted around his ship. It wasn''t anything overt that he could call them out on or reprimand them for. Their boredom manifested in them doing stupid stuff like calling out ''Captain on deck,'' or even doing security watch in the first place.


    Vitor had never had or needed a security watch aboard his ships. The people who were allowed aboard such a ship had long since been vetted.


    "¨CI''m aware of STO guidelines, Private. Just do me a favor and do not yell so loud next time, especially so early in the morning."


    The man saluted, "Sir, yes, Sir!"


    The Private''s volume hadn''t decreased at all, making Vitor''s eye twitch in annoyance. Instead of engaging further with the young man, Vitor went over and got himself a cup of caff and a bagel from the tray set off to the side. At least someone had brought that up during the night.


    The caff was only lukewarm, but it was better than nothing. As the caffeine worked its way through his system to wake him up, he sat in the command seat. "Report," he said once he was situated.


    "Most of the system is the same as when we were last here, Captain. The mining ship is still in the system, but the mercenary gunship isn''t. It looks like they have also expanded their refueling station, and moved the three pirate ships over to it."


    "Hmm, that is interesting. I would have thought they would have scrapped them but if they moved them, they are likely going to try and repair them. Are the sensors picking up any changes on the surface yet?" Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Not yet, Sir."


    "Alert me when you get a clear picture."


    The alert came much sooner than he predicted, and not for what he had hoped. "Captain! We have multiple jump signatures detected."


    He straightened in his chair. "How many?"


    "Twenty-two, Sir," the Ensign responded in shock.


    He knew a pirate attack was bound to happen here at some point, but there was no reason for one this large. Where had they even come from? "Sound the general alert and get me eyes on those ships. I wanna see what we are dealing with."


    He left the bridge as the alert went out. The Marine looked unsure of what to do until Vitor stopped next to him. "The alert means to get suited up, Marine. Now go!"


    The young man saluted before he hurried off and Vitor couldn''t help but smile. At least he would have some quiet when he returned to the bridge. By the time he had his vac-suit on and was back on the bridge, the night crew had been replaced by the day crew. All of the day crew were in their vac-suits. He didn''t anticipate combat, but his orders were clear, he was not allowed to let this facility fall to pirate hands. The vagueness of those orders gave him a lot of leeway with which to act, but could also bite him in the ass later.


    This time when he sat in his command chair, he strapped himself in. "Weapons, I want a full system check."


    "Aye, aye, Captain."


    "Engineering, status on ship systems."


    "Everything is green across the board, Captain."


    Vitor nodded at that. He hadn''t expected any issues with the ship being fresh out of servicing. Any problems that arose the last time they were out had been addressed when they last returned to the shipyard.


    "Crew status!" he barked.


    "Seventy-five percent reporting a ready status, Captain," the Lieutenant said sheepishly.


    Vitor stared daggers at the young Lieutenant. Apparently, he had been too lax in his combat preparedness. That would change after today. "Not good enough, Lieutenant. I want a report on those who haven''t declared ready status. After we leave the general alert, I expect them to drill until they can keep up with the rest, is that understood?"


    "Yes, Sir."


    "Sensors, any more information on the ships?"


    ***


    Once Katalynn had gotten word of Arkonis Anazi''s ship being spotted in the system, she had jumped her entire fleet. It was an impressive display of firepower, led by her heavy cruiser, Valkyrie. None of the other ships could compare to her in tonnage or weapons, but almost every other ship in her fleet was either a frigate or light destroyer. Three of the ships consisted of speedy little corvettes with the final two being gunships.


    The corvettes could chase down any fleeing ships, and the gunships would protect their flanks from a similar attack.


    Speaking of, she watched the tactical map as the three corvettes changed direction and raced after a large mining ship that was running to a jump point. She doubted they would catch it, but she didn''t need the three ships at the moment, so she let them do as they pleased.


    "Has anything changed since our scout was last in the system?" she asked.


    "It looks like they moved the two gunships and attached them to the Headhunter, Lagertha."


    "Hmm. They are either using them as added shielding for the ship, or they want to bring them under cover of the ship guns. Do we have any information on the surface? Has that bastard managed to capture the facility below?" Considering Arkonis'' ship was still in the system, there was a good chance he was as well.


    "Unsure, Lagertha," the man added.


    The fleet slowed and slightly trailed the fourth planet''s closest satellite while their sensors scanned the surface and everything around the planet in the distance. They were far enough away to avoid any sort of kinetic attack. And even a laser at this range would be much reduced in power. Even if they did come under attack, all they needed to do was speed up slightly and the rocky barren satellite would shield them.


    "We are picking up six large weapon installations on the ground as well as twelve smaller ones. There is also a cluster of shuttles sitting on one landing pad, with a single large shuttle or small freighter sitting on a different pad."


    "What about in orbit?" she asked. You didn''t try to defend something if you didn''t have a way to defend it.


    "The Headhunter''s power is online, although we can''t tell if the weapons are active."


    She thought about that. The only ground-based defenses were around the facility, which was near the equator. That left the geostationary station completely undefended. It was probably bait. Any raider entering the system would assume the frigate was crippled by the damage to its hull. It was a prize anyone would salivate over.


    "Radio the surface," she ordered.


    "Lagertha?" her communication person looked confused by the command.


    "Do it."


    The man nodded and turned back to his console. "You have an open line."


    "People of Eden''s End, I am Katalynn Char of clan Char. I see you have spit all over the agreement your people signed with my grandfather. Was it not enough that we let you settle in our territory? Was it not enough that three generations of my family kept our raiders from your doorsteps?" her words were filled with passionate anger over the betrayal.


    She hadn''t known the exact history of Eden''s End, only that her father had told raiders that it was off-limits. After hearing that this was the most likely place Arkonis was holed up, she did some digging into the records. She found out her grandfather had made an agreement to allow the drifters to settle here and had guaranteed them autonomy with a few stipulations.


    It was the breaking of those stipulations that had her in a foul mood as she continued her speech. "It seems not, since I see planetary defenses and space infrastructure going up around your planet. Both of which were prohibited by the agreement the original drifters signed. You think you can do as you please in our space without repercussions. Now you see that your hubris has consequences as it has drawn my sworn enemies to you, assuming any of you are still alive down there. It matters not. Arkonis Anazi, if you are still alive, I give you this opportunity to turn yourself in and prove to the galaxy you are not the coward that everyone claims you are. If any of you drifters survived his attack and somehow managed to capture or kill him, turn his body over to my people and I will spare your lives. You have two minutes to reply. Lagertha out."


    It took a moment before a reply crackled through the radio. "This is Alexander Kane, owner of this facility. I don''t know what agreements the previous drifters signed with you, but I purchased this facility legally. As for Arkonis Anazi, he and his people are all dead. Their bodies have been incinerated so there is nothing to turn over. I''m sorry you came all the way out here for nothing."


    "Legally! From who, the STO? The STO has no jurisdiction out here or right to sell what belongs to others, but I''ll put that issue aside for the moment. If you can''t hand over Arkonis''s corpse, my people will need to scour the entire facility to ensure he is truly dead. Once I confirm that, we can speak about your so-called purchase." The STO was once again sticking its nose in where it didn''t belong. She couldn''t let that happen or she would lose all respect from her people.


    "I- I can''t allow that," Kane replied.


    "Then we have nothing left to discuss. I hope you greet your death with more dignity than Arkonis likely did." She made a cutting motion and the line went dead.


    "Have one of the frigates send a volley of three missiles at the station. I wanna see how they respond."


    The three missiles launched from one of the ships before turning and quickly lighting off their drives to reorient themselves. The people below would see the missiles coming but that was kind of the point. If she wanted to hide them, she would have told the ship to turn before firing them off, that way they could cold coast in.


    She watched the grainy video as the three tiny specs of light, that announced the weapons going active, appeared. The weapons had countermeasures and avoidance systems in them, but they weren''t up to the standards of what STO missiles might use. Even with their archaic systems, one of the missiles nearly made it to the ship before the autocannons and defense turrets took it out.


    "Is that forward autocannon damaged?" She hadn''t seen it move at all during the test.


    "It''s impossible to tell from this distance, Lagertha," the sensor operator spoke.


    She grunted at the man''s response. She had been staring at the distant image so she knew how bad it was. Despite the state-of-the-art nature of her ship, long-range optical sensors were extremely hard to manufacture properly. If they relied on them specifically, her ship would have been a complete joke.


    "Take us around the moon and line us up toward the station. I want that ship destroyed before we deal with the facility guns."


    ***


    "Sir! The pirates are making their move."


    Vitor cursed internally. He had hoped they would just leave after trying to poke at the planet''s defenses, but he knew that was a long shot. At least they had given him time to reorient the Dawn into a much more advantageous position.


    "Sound the red alert, and prepare for battle stations," he said grimly.


    The comm officer blanched at the order but sent the alert.


    It was sometimes easy to forget that the majority of his crew were still green. The only live combat they saw was when the Dawn chased down those three damaged gunships. "This better be worth it," he muttered under his breath.


    Vitor saw two possibilities with this battle. He could wait for the pirates to destroy the weapons on the surface, or he could attack them while they were occupied with those defenses. Neither was a very good option, but at least the latter had some hope of succeeding.


    "Helm, get us on a chase course. Weapons, I want every single missile tube to launch with an intercept time to match when the enemy is in range to fire on that station."


    The crew went to work while Vitor sat back and waited. They had the most advantageous position, but he wasn''t confident the Dawn could take down even half the ships arrayed against them, let alone all of them. At least he knew who he was going against now.


    Katalynn Char''s flagship was in the fleet, but he wasn''t sure who that big bastard belonged to. She may have upgraded or someone much more powerful took over the Char family. Either way, that ship boasted more weapons than half the ships in that fleet. Taking it down was not going to be easy.


    ***


    "They''re coming," Lucas confirmed, his voice shaking slightly.


    Alexander put a reassuring hand on the man''s shoulder. He understood the trepidation. This fleet of pirates was much larger both in numbers and ship size. He had hoped that some understanding could be reached when Katalynn Char contacted the surface, but as soon as the woman demanded that her people be allowed to scour the facility, he knew it was pointless to reason with her. He would not allow a group of pirates unfettered access to the facility or the people living in it. The pirate fleet might be formidable, but Eden''s End was ready as well.


    The bunkers now sported blast doors like on the launch room. Not even the grenades from that large grenade launcher were getting in there. The exterior doors were similarly reinforced after the previous attack. But being exposed to the outside environment made them easy targets for ship-mounted guns or missiles so he couldn''t see those surviving for long if the pirates made it down here.


    The main dome was actually the weakest point of the facility since repairs on the massive structure were taking time and it was still exposed to the outside atmosphere.


    He would need to trust Damien and Eva to keep the entry points safe. They certainly were better equipped this time around. While the engineers hadn''t figured out how to make augment armor, they had taken the detachable legs Alexander had designed for his robots and repurposed them as a walking mount for heavy weapons. A simple remote control and servos replaced the fancy chip. Alexander applauded their ingenuity in the face of limited time and resources.


    "We''re far more prepared than we were last time, Lucas. Don''t worry."

 Chapter 2-19

    "Missiles away, Captain.""Is everything locked down and everyone suited up?"


    "Yes, Captain, the crew are all green except the bridge."


    He nodded to the man. "Helmets on people."


    Once he sealed his helmet and the crew gave him a thumbs up, he vented the bridge and the rest of the compartments that hadn''t been vented already. He hated being stuck in a vac-suit but it was better than dying from asphyxiation.


    The ship went eerily quiet as all the air was pumped out. His only sense that things were working was the slight vibration he felt through his chair. Vitor still wasn''t sure this was the best decision, but it was better than letting the pirates take out the orbital defenses and assault the facility. Even with the Marines on board, there was no way he was risking a ground assault with only two shuttles and no armored drop ships aboard the Dawn. And he only had so many missiles, not nearly enough to take out that entire structure on the ground. That left a space battle as his only option. Hopefully, the STO''s stealth tech would give them the advantage they needed.


    "Missiles have fired off their drives, contact in three, two, one."


    "Three targets crippled. The rest of the missiles were shot down, second volley away."


    "Weapons, target lasers on the crippled ships, I want them out of the fight."


    "Lasers firing, third volley away. Only two missiles made it through this time, Captain. They are turning to engage, but they don''t have an accurate lock on us yet."


    "At least the stealth armor was good for something," he muttered without transmitting. He would take any advantage he could get, maybe they would get lucky and come out of this engagement without any damage. "Evasive maneuvers, let''s keep our advantage as long as we can. Has the station started firing at them?"


    "It has, Sir. Although the autocannons are having little effect on the bigger ships'' armor¡­ Scratch that, Sir. Someone outfitted that wreck with a very powerful laser, it just cut into one of the light destroyers. That ship has lost power."


    Vitor laughed. Whoever was in charge down there still had some tricks up their sleeves. Maybe they would survive after all.


    Then he watched as the big ship fired all of her guns at the station. The two smaller ships that were strapped to the frigate took the brunt of the impacts, but a gunship was not designed to survive a full volley from a capital ship. The large kinetic rounds tore through the ships and into the frigate, but not before the ship fired again. The invisible beam tore through space and left a massive glowing rent on the heavy cruiser''s side.


    The plucky little frigate didn''t get a third shot as another volley of darts tore through the ship. With nothing to blunt their impact, the damage must have knocked out the weapons.


    While the big ship was occupied, Epsilon''s Dawn continued to whittle away at the fleet of pirates. But they hadn''t done so without taking return fire. The pirates, unable to get a direct lock on them had simply saturated the area of space his ship was in and hoped to get lucky.


    The ship shook under him as the armor shrugged off impact after impact from the enemy''s autocannons and the Gauss cannons from the big ship. He hadn''t really believed the engineers when they told him the Dawn''s armor would be much more durable than normal armor, but here was proof of that.


    "Sir, We can''t take much more, the armor is starting to fracture under the repeated impacts." And there was the disadvantage of this type of armor. It was tough but brittle by design. He wasn''t sure why aliens had preferred it over tempered steel or composite ceramic, but they did. He supposed he couldn''t complain. Normal armor wouldn''t have held up this long.


    "See if you can shake them off. If we do enough damage, they might leave on their own."


    ***


    "Alex, the STO ship is firing on the pirates!"


    Stunned by the change of circumstances, he quickly reevaluated his plan of attack. "Fire the ship guns, and power up the laser. Aim for the biggest ship you can."


    "On it!" Lucas replied as he hastily sent commands to the frigate''s weapons. "The guns aren''t doing much, and the targeting computer is off on the laser. I did hit one of the other ships, but I need to quickly recalculate the drift."


    Alexander prayed Lucas made the change in time. Now that the enemy knew they had a laser, they weren''t going to just leave it out there to tear them apart.


    "I hit it!" Lucas cheered. A moment later, his tune changed. "The laser lost power, Alex!"


    "Is the reactor still online?" If it was, there was still a chance the gun could get off one more shot.


    "Yeah, reactor and uplink are still good, why?"


    He thanked the stars. As long as the enemy missed the power shunt, they had a chance. "Switch to the bypass. And don''t wait for it to charge, just shoot the thing as fast as you can."


    ***


    Katelynn had expected some form of trap, but she hadn''t expected the ship that was tearing her fleet apart from the rear. Of course, that was when the trap sprung and one of her frigates was taken offline by a single laser shot. Who the hell puts a laser that powerful on a frigate? They must be using the entire reactor just to power it.


    Then her ship was hit as that deadly beam carved a large gash into her armor. Her crew had silenced it after that, and now they were turning to take on this ghost ship.


    "We have them on scanner now, Lagertha!" the sensor operator crowed.


    "Pull it up on the screen, I wanna see it!"


    The video showed a black hole in space, highlighted by the occasional flash as a round struck their armor and sent sparks flickering into the vacuum.


    "What am I looking at?"


    "It looks to be about the size of a cruiser, Lagertha," the sensor technician replied quickly.


    How the hell had a ship that large gotten so close without being spotted? She could find out after disabling it.


    "I want every ship to fire missiles at that bastard. Take it down!" As she gave the order, the Valkyrie shook violently. "What the hell was that!?"


    "The laser on that frigate is firing again, Lagertha. It must have hit the missile storage on one of the light destroyers, it exploded and the debris hit us."


    She wanted to scream in rage, but she swallowed that emotion. "Full speed ahead, take down that ship and get us to a jump point."


    As her fleet and the unknown ship closed on each other, it started flashing out lasers, but they were not quite as powerful as the laser mounted on the frigate defending the small station. Katelynn knew when a battle was lost and she would not throw the lives of her people away for nothing.


    Damage began to mount up on both sides. She even tried firing the Valkyrie''s laser. The weapon actually worked, but other than causing a section of the mystery ship to glow white hot, the beam did no noticeable damage to the ghost ship''s armor. It did make the ship a much easier target though, which allowed her people to focus fire more accurately on the large ship. Her kinetics were doing damage, but every missile that was fired its way was cut down. That ship had the best point-defense systems she had ever seen. There was one final violent exchange as the ships crossed paths. The ghost ship fell silent after that. She would have smiled in triumph if that damn laser on that frigate wasn''t still hitting her ships, even at this distance.


    Soon they reached a safe enough jump point and she ordered a microjump to clear the combat zone. When they exited, only sixteen of her twenty-two ships remained. She didn''t know who was responsible for her people''s deaths, but she knew it wasn''t Arkonis Anazi. She had fought that man a few times, and he was a coward by nature. Whoever was running this operation knew what they were doing.


    "I''ll be in my quarters, I expect a damage report within the hour. Then I want us out of this system, I don''t care if you have to burn out the FTL to do it, just get it done." She got out of her chair and exited the bridge, her fury barely restrained.


    ***


    Vitor awoke with a start. He wasn''t sure how long he had been unconscious, but the ship was lit by flashing emergency lighting and it seemed like the power to the gravity plating was offline. He wasn''t even sure if they had been successful. The pirates might still be out there, waiting to return and finish him off or capture the Epsilon''s Dawn for themselves. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He looked around the bridge, but everyone was still strapped in their chairs and unmoving. They were all either dead or unconscious. It was probably for the best. He unbuckled himself and floated over to a panel on the wall. Holding himself in place, he reached into his vac-suit pocket and pulled out his ID badge. When he slid it along the panel, it popped open, revealing a keyhole outlined in red with the words ''Self-Destruct'' on it.


    The nuke would ensure the ship''s technology didn''t fall into the wrong hands. He placed the key into the lock and turned it. But nothing happened. He tried it again. The weapon should have detonated instantly. Nothing. He punched the panel in defeat, slowly floating away from the force.


    If he could make it to the room where the weapon was stored, he could manually detonate it. Then he looked at the crew, still strapped in their chairs. With a sigh, he pushed off the ceiling and floated over to the closest bridge crew. The man was dead. Something sharp had carved through his suit, venting the remainder of his oxygen. The next was dead as well, but the third crewman was alive. When he checked her oxygen, he found it nearly out. Shocked by that revelation, he quickly checked his own oxygen. It was even lower than hers.


    The suits had five hours of stored oxygen, if he was this low, he must have been unconscious for at least four hours. He was about to move on to the next crewman when he felt the ship shake slightly. Vitor paused and held his hand to the deck. There was another slight shudder. It could be someone trying to fix the power systems, but it could also be boarders.


    Vitor drew his sidearm and quickly checked the remaining crew. There were three more alive, but he didn''t know what he could do about it. He could already feel himself getting lightheaded as his low oxygen started to blink yellow in his HUD.


    Something flashed in the corner of his eye and he shot toward the bridge door. Now he knew he was hallucinating because there was an eight-foot-tall robot standing in the door covered in armor that looked remarkably like the ships. He couldn''t help laughing at the absurdity of his situation before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell unconscious again.


    ***


    Alexander was really thankful for the defense field. It stopped both bullets the man fired. They had taken the shuttle out here as fast as possible once the surviving pirates left, but the ship was quite a ways from the planet.


    He hurried over to the man and clipped a device called a R.A.S.P. to the man''s auxiliary oxygen tube. The rescue and stasis pod could generate two hours of oxygen, but it also pumped in anesthetics to keep the person sedated. Which could extend the oxygen supply to four hours if needed. Alexander engaged the anesthetic feature because he didn''t want a whole bunch of jumpy STO people on the shuttle.


    He quickly checked the rest of the crew on the bridge and provided the survivors with the same device. He tethered them all together and moved toward the airlock where the shuttle was docked.


    Alexander wasn''t the only one scouring the ship. Eva and Gabriella had come along, and even Branston had left the shuttle to help out. When he arrived at the airlock, he found Eva there, she pointed down the hall and held up four fingers. Alexander nodded and made his way down the corridor after handing off the people he rescued from the bridge.


    It took a little over half an hour to round up the survivors. Fifteen minutes of that was trying to subdue a Marine in augment gear without hurting him. In the end, Alexander had to crush the arm and leg servos to get the man to stop fighting back. He was sure the man was screaming obscenities his way until the R.A.S.P. was attached to his suit''s emergency O2 supply, but that was fine, at least he would be alive.


    With the survivors secured and the angry Marine strapped down to the deck so his armor wouldn''t slide around or hurt anyone, they left the ship.


    Once oxygen was restored to the shuttle, Alexander spoke quietly to Branston. "Once we drop them off at the med center, I need you to take me to the station to check the damage."


    That wasn''t the only reason he wanted to go there. He needed the six bots to haul that stealth ship back. There was no way he was going to let a chance to inspect an STO covert ops ship go to waste.

 Chapter 2-20

    The shuttle landed in the mostly intact hangar aboard the refueling station and he waited for the air to be sucked out of the storage bay on the shuttle. Some of the loose debris floating through the space pinged off the shuttle''s hull lightly, sounding like hail.Before the air was completely removed, Alexander radioed the pilot. "Branston, you may want to just float nearby with your static field up. There is a whole lot of junk floating around, and I don''t want to risk you or the shuttle if some of it comes tearing through this space."


    "You won''t hear me argue," the man stated. "You gonna be ok by yourself?"


    "I should be. I just want to check on the construction bots and see just how much damage Eden''s Fury took."


    "You''re the boss. Ping me over the radio when you''re ready for a pickup." That last response came out extremely muted in the thinning atmosphere of the cargo bay but he caught it anyway.


    Alexander gave the man a thumbs-up before stepping off the shuttle. The thin walls of the hangar had more holes in it than Alexander could count. He sighed internally at the damage, even though the hangar was never designed with an attack in mind. Even if he had armored the walls, he doubted they would have held up.


    The door to the airlock that led to Eden''s Fury had a few holes through it and was nonfunctional. He suspected as much after seeing the rest of the damage but it still annoyed him. Alexander moved over to a large rent in the wall where something had struck the station and ripped a large gash in the hangar wall.


    With a bit of effort, he managed to expand the hole and squeeze through. The only problem was that he was now outside the airlock and the station. Alexander pushed himself across the space between the station and the ship. As he floated through space, he took in the damage he could see.


    The station looked mostly fine other than the hangar. Most of the fire had been focused on the Fury and not the station itself. He would need to go into the ore storage to see if the smelter survived the attack. If it didn''t he was going to need to purchase a new one from STO space. The construction bots were also in there, hiding behind the unprocessed ore. He hoped that had been enough to protect them.


    With a flip, he landed feet-first on the hull of the ship and didn''t even pause as he started walking to the missing section of Fury''s hull. It was easy to get inside the ship from there since Alexander had left the door open to prevent anyone from pressurizing the ship and trying to seize it.


    Considering the melted metal trails marring that bulkhead as well, it was probably good that he had.


    Upon entering the ship, the first thing he noticed was that it wasn''t nearly as dark as it should be. All the holes let in the light of Y6X-3H2''s star, casting ominous blue-white beams of light through the interior. It would have given the interior of the ship a rather calming feel if not for its source.


    Fury''s reactor was dead, or Alexander would not have risked coming aboard. How it had survived the fight, and not melted down was beyond him, but Lucas had used it to great effect to cripple or outright destroy more ships than should have been possible. It proved his theory that he could pump energy straight from the reactor into a laser, but Alexander wasn''t sure how he felt about that. It shouldn''t have worked for more than a shot or two. And it was extremely dangerous.


    Class 4 fusion reactors were not meant to have that much energy drawn from them like that. It tended to disrupt the flow of plasma unless the reactor was specifically designed to handle the extra load. Normally, the power conversion unit was designed to handle converting the heat of a reactor into usable power. What Alexander did was bypass the safety interlocks that ensured the unit didn''t pull too much energy from the reaction to cause it to fail.


    Causing it to fail is essentially what Lucas did. He drew too much power from the core and the reaction couldn''t be maintained any longer and it simply fizzled out. It was safer than a core breach, but reactivating a reactor that was safely shut down, versus one that went offline unexpectedly were two very different processes.


    The first only required you to reinsert the fusion activation crystal and run the startup sequence. The second required you to purge the entire core, and the fuel lines, open up the core to check for damage, and then do a partial restart and proper shutdown sequence before even getting to the startup sequence. It was weeks of work.


    Alexander wasn''t here to do that today. Purging a core and fuel lines on an undamaged ship took two weeks. And there was no point starting the process on the Fury until it was repaired. He still planned on repairing the ship, even though it was even worse off than it was the first time.


    He was going to go about it a bit differently this time around though.


    The only reason Alexander was on the ship today was to see if the core was intact and check the laser.


    When he entered the engineering section, he found the reactor room to be nearly untouched. It wasn''t for a lack of trying on the enemy''s part though. There were numerous dents in the walls where rounds had nearly come through. When he examined the walls, he found that they had been triple-armored by the previous owner. The armor had been cleverly hidden behind normal bulkheads. It would certainly add bulk to the ship, but he could see the appeal of protecting the reactor like that. He wondered if he could do something similar but with newer, lighter materials.


    It seemed even now this ship still had some surprises hidden away. He wasn''t too concerned about that though, he would find them all when he stripped it down to the frame to start from scratch.


    As for the laser, he wasn''t sure how Lucas had hit anything with it toward the end of the fight. Most of the outer casing had melted into a large blob at the bottom of the turret, along with the blown or shot-out super-capacitors. The artificial gravity must have remained active for most of the fight.


    Alexander couldn''t see the condition of the part that sat outside the ship, but going by how distorted the piece of metal closing off the old opening was, it probably wasn''t great. Pumping power directly from the reactor was a no-go unless he found much better materials to handle the heat. He didn''t want to risk the lasers melting like this during a battle with people aboard.


    After exiting the ship, he floated back over to the station and used the scaffolding to climb his way to the ore hangar.


    The large hangar door only had two holes punched through it, but they ran almost the entire length of the door. Unlike the airlock, the ore door clam-shelled open, so the damage didn''t have much of an effect on them. They were also thicker and designed to take the abuse of rocks bouncing around, so they were very much still working.


    When he got inside, the first thing he could see was the smelter sparking violently. He hurried over and disconnected the power to the unit. It had taken three direct hits but was somehow still operational. He would need to pull the service panels apart when he got time and see if he could repair the damaged parts without replacing them.


    One of the robots had been crushed by a large chunk of rock. It seemed like one of the pirate''s rounds must have struck the rock, dislodging it in the zero-gravity environment, which sent it careening into the robot.


    While annoying, one dead robot wasn''t all that bad. The other five were still undamaged. He replaced their chips and reactivated them. Then he pinged Branston to come and pick him up. They had some ships to recover.


    *** S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Vitor Krieger slowly opened his eyes, his head was pounding something fierce, which let him know he was alive at least. The room he found himself in was painted white. A hospital maybe? It wasn''t the med bay aboard the Dawn, that he knew for sure. The STO Navy didn''t paint the interior of their ships, except for directional lines on walls and floors. Most corridors were bare metal, coated to prevent oxidation but that was it. The outside of their ships was much the same since the paint didn''t last long with all the UV radiation in space. He knew there were coatings to prevent that sort of thing, but someone in command either thought it was a waste of money or a waste of time to splurge for something like that for warships.


    Some of the noisier areas, like the mess, sported sound-deadening panels on the walls, but that was the only consolation Navy ships got as far as aesthetics and comfort were concerned.


    When he turned his head, he saw a man snoozing in a chair across the room. The man wasn''t wearing Navy-issue clothing. That meant either he was captured by pirates, which seemed unlikely considering the pristine state of the room, or by whoever lived on Eden''s End. Neither was a good prospect for a man in his line of work.


    When he checked for the inevitable handcuff keeping him restrained to the bed, he found his hands weren''t restrained. When he moved his feet, he didn''t feel anything there either.


    His surprised gasp woke the man in the chair.


    The man jerked to a standing position and saluted him. "Sorry, Captain. Had I known you would wake up so soon, I would have had someone replace my watch."


    Vitor narrowed his eyes at the man. Going by the proper salute and the man''s jump to attention, it wasn''t a great leap to realize the man once served in the Navy. He was too young to have retired though. "What is your rank, soldier?"


    The man swallowed. "None, Captain. But my former rank was First Lieutenant. You can just call me Branston."


    Why did that name ring a bell for him? He tried to shake the fog out of his head. His mind was usually sharp, even before his morning coffee, but this was different. "You drugged me?"


    "You and the rest of your crew were sedated for the trip back. It was for your safety," Branston stated.


    Vitor snorted at that. "I''m sure it was. ¡­How many of my crew survived?" he asked, dreading the answer, but he needed to know.


    "Um¡­ thirty-six," the man spoke quietly.


    Vitor let his head fall back on the pillow and squeezed his eyes shut. That was less than a quarter of his crew when the Marines were included. That loss alone might see him stripped of his Captaincy. The loss of a top-secret ship certainly would. Assuming he ever got back home. "Are we prisoners, slaves?"


    "Huh? What? ¡­Uh, I don''t think you''re prisoners. And you''re definitely not slaves."


    "Are you in charge here then?"


    "No¡­ Oh, Alex did ask me to radio him when you woke up."


    "Alex? Alexander Kane?" Krieger asked.


    The man nodded and held up a finger to ask for some time. Vitor blinked in surprise at the gesture. The man may have been navy at one point, but he hadn''t been for some time if he used mannerisms like that in front of a superior officer. Not that Vitor was his superior.


    Vitor got treated to a one-sided conversation as the man radioed someone. "Hey, Alex, yeah, he''s awake. Ok, I''ll put you on speaker."


    The speaker on the little handheld radio crackled to life, but it sounded slightly muted to him. "Captain Krieger, I''m glad you made it. You had us worried for a bit there."


    "You know who I am?" he asked.


    The man on the other side of the radio chuckled. "It was written on the tag of your suit."


    "Ah¡­ And I assume you are Alexander Kane. Were you the one who rescued me?"


    "I was one of the people that came to your rescue. You''ll have to excuse my absence, there is a lot of work to be done after the attack."


    Vitor decided to take an educated leap with his next question. "Find anything of interest while you''re roaming my ship?"


    Alexander laughed. "I was hoping you wouldn''t figure out where I was. But I guess they don''t give command of a ship like this to idiots. I must say, it''s quite the vessel, Captain. I don''t believe I''ve seen anything quite like it. You wouldn''t happen to know how they made this armor do you?"


    Vitor wanted to shake his head at the man''s gall. "Fraid not. Even if it wasn''t top secret, which it is," he pointedly reminded Kane, "I wasn''t one of the engineers who came up with it."


    "Hmm, that''s a shame," was all Kane replied back.


    "So what now?" Vitor asked. "You plan on keeping us prisoner while keeping the Epsilon''s Dawn to yourself?"


    "Stars above, no!" the man stated over the radio. "I think we both know the STO would not look too kindly on me for doing either of those things. And I have no desire to be labeled a pirate."


    "Does that mean me and my people are free to go or contact STO command?"


    "Well, sure. There''s just a minor problem there. We don''t have a Qcomm array in the system. So contacting them isn''t really an option. I can give you your ship back, but I don''t have the facilities to repair something like this. And we don''t have any FTL-capable ships. Well¡­ One of the damaged pirate ships might still be FTL-capable, but I don''t need to be the one to tell you why flying a ship without a transponder into STO space is a bad idea. That means unless the Navy comes here looking for you, you might be stuck with us for a bit."


    "A bit?" Vitor asked. "How long is a bit?"


    "Hmm. Lemme think real quick¡­ Probably around eight months, give or take a month."


    "What! That''s ridiculous. You''re telling me there is no other ship that can take us home or get word to the Navy?"


    ***


    Alexander felt bad about lying to the man, but he had already had Damien ask Captain Shall if he would be willing to assist. The man had categorically refused to help anyone who had any connection to the STO. It didn''t seem like the eccentric Captain was willing to leave at the moment anyway. Especially with how hot local space was, and how angry the pirates were likely to be after this defeat.


    It was probably for the best, Alexander didn''t trust Shall anyway. He already had him on video inspecting his workshop and the lock on his storage area. He didn''t care if the man was the uncle to Damien and Lucas, if he stole anything, he was getting locked up.


    Captain Na wasn''t an option either, as Destiny wasn''t back yet, and he somehow doubted Mingyu would be willing to transport STO people after what they did to him and his crew.


    Putting the radio away, Alexander picked up the piece of broken armor he had recovered from outside the ship. He held it up to his chest and he couldn''t tell the difference at a glance. There was no doubt in his mind, that the armor was made from pure carbon but he wasn''t convinced it was the same as his body. He would need further testing to verify that.


    Either the STO had stumbled upon this design by accident recently, or they had finally managed to reverse-engineer it based on that alien ship Dr. Lund had spoken about. If everything checked out, this was clear evidence that his body was of alien origin. While Alexander didn''t like jumping to conclusions it seemed obvious that it was the same. The real question was, who were these mysterious aliens? And if they were so much more advanced than both humans and Shican, why were they hiding?


    Although¡­ Now that he thought about it, maybe they weren''t hiding. If the STO was able to reduce their jump signature based on some alien design, and practically go unnoticed in space, who''s to say the aliens weren''t doing the same thing, only better?

 Chapter 2-21

    One thing was abundantly clear to Alexander after the last attack, he needed to increase production speed.While everyone kept telling him that what he was doing was a miracle and it would take normal people years if not more to get to this point, that simply wouldn''t cut it. There were threats out there that would return. He couldn''t imagine the pirates that fled would be happy about their loss. At some point, they would try again and he wanted them to see a veritable fortress and turn around. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Then there was the STO. Who''s to say they wouldn''t attack Eden''s End simply to erase any knowledge of Epsion''s Dawn from leaking out? Considering the shifty practices he was aware of them doing, he wouldn''t put it past them.


    Alexander needed a strong enough deterrent to make anyone second guess attacking this system. There were a few issues with what he wanted and what he could accomplish though.


    With the smelter being damaged, that was going to slow down production slightly. While he believed he could get it functioning again, it probably wasn''t going to work nearly as well as it had before. Not that it mattered if Captain Na and the Destiny didn''t return soon.


    It had been three days since the Destiny had jumped out of the system to escape the pirate fleet. Not that Alexander blamed Na for the choice. He would have done the same thing in his position.


    Until Na decided to return or Alexander figured out a way to mine effectively to make up for his absence, his material options were limited. Once he repaired the smelter, he needed to focus on hauling the defunct pirate ships and large debris to the station for recycling. With only five working robots, it was going to be a slow process.


    The robots and available materials had always been his main bottlenecks, especially in space. He had three more robots without chips in storage, but he was loath to use the few remaining advanced chips to operate them. Alexander had attempted to link multiple robots to one chip, but it hadn''t worked. Well, it had, but all the robots could only perform the same task at the same time. The advanced chips were powerful, but the self-learning algorithm took up a significant portion of their processing power and without that algorithm, they were dumb.


    Alexander did have a few of the super-computer chips that he purchased for the specific use of upgrading the facility systems and operating as the computer core for starships. Would it be worth risking one of those very expensive and irreplaceable chips to operate a bunch of automated construction robots though?


    The chips were certainly powerful enough to do the job. One chip could operate an entire starship''s systems. It was too bad none of the surviving ships from Arkonis Anazi utilized them. The gunboats were too small to need that much processing power, and the frigate was too old. Neither utilized the advanced chips either. Their systems were weirdly hardwired into the ship and used antiquated systems that Alexander hadn''t seen before.


    He hadn''t had a chance to inspect the derelict pirate ships from this most recent battle, but his hopes weren''t high that they used the newer chips either, except maybe that big ship that got away. The Epsilon''s Dawn, however¡­ had two super-computers inside its hull.


    Alexander was staring at them right now. He was also looking at a nuclear bomb that was linked to the two interfaces.


    Staring at the weapon while having a polite conversation with Captain Krieger had been a bit awkward, but Alexander couldn''t quite figure out how to broach the topic of the weapon.


    Considering what he found on the bridge, the man must have tried setting off the device to scuttle the ship. That obviously hadn''t worked. But it meant either the interface to the device was damaged, or the weapon itself was damaged.


    Neither was a good sign. For all he knew, the moment he started mucking about on the ship, the triggering sequence might go off. Even standing here now was a risk he would prefer not to take. He examined his memories for anything related to these weapons. No surprise, he came up blank, other than the fact he knew they were deadly, and that most global powers during his time on Earth used to have stockpiles of them.


    If this were any other ship, Alexander would have sent it crashing into the planet just to avoid the hassle. But this ship was a treasure trove of possibilities, even if he couldn''t dissect it. It was also a bargaining chip as well as a means to keep Krieger and his surviving crew in line.


    With a sigh, Alexander approached the device and inspected it closely. He didn''t touch it until he was sure there were no pressure triggers or anything like that on its surface. He did find a bio-scanner and he almost chuckled.


    Before moving to open the panel on the front, Alexander moved out of the room and into the hall. When he had questioned the traitor, he had sucked out all heat from his extremity. And he already knew he could make his exterior comfortably warm for when he held Yulia. He pushed on that ability until his exterior started to go from black to a dull orange.


    A yellow message scrolled through his menu, unreadable as always, but Alexander ignored it and pushed even harder until he started to glow red hot. The color of the distorted messages changed from yellow to orange and he held the temperature there. The direction lines painted on the walls and floor of the ship curled up from the radiant heat transferred through the floor. The lines flaked off the nearby walls in a circle around him.


    When he figured he had burned off any possible biological contaminant that might trigger the sensor on the weapon case, he slowly reduced the temperature of his body until he was matching the ambient temperature of the room with the nuke, which was the same temperature as space, since all of the compartments either had holes in them or were open to others that were.


    Once he matched the background temperature, he moved back into the computer room and over to the weapon.


    With the same care he used for delicate electronics, Alexander removed the cover and examined the internals of the weapon. He stood there in surprise for a long time until he laughed good and loud. The weapon wasn''t real, although it had been designed to appear real. Its entire interior was empty except for a note written in marker on the inside.


    Sorry, we weren''t able to get our hands on an actual nuke before the ship was launched. They are surprisingly hard to come by without arousing suspicion. Hopefully, you will never see this note. If you are seeing this note, it means you attempted to scuttle the ship and realized it wouldn''t work so you came down here to find out why. For that, we are sorry. All we can suggest is that you manually smash as many things as you can, and if your reactor is still working, set it to full output and disable the containment field. Good luck!


    -STO BO Engineering Team


    He assumed the BO stood for Black Ops. Alexander just shook his head at the absurdity of it all. The STO with all their rules and regulations couldn''t even manage to acquire something as outdated as a nuke, a technology that would ultimately protect their investment. Yet somehow a pirate had gotten their hands on one of the weapons without issue.


    He put the panel back in place and continued searching the ship. The empty weapon might have been just a decoy, so he would make sure there wasn''t a single compartment left aboard large enough to house a second or real weapon before he did anything else.


    His radio blinked at him on the third day of scouring the ship. He read the message and sighed in relief. Captain Na had finally returned to the system. He typed a response back since he was in a vacuum at the moment, letting Lucas and ground control know to have the man dock at the station.


    It would be crowded with five ships, but they would make do.


    He was almost done cataloging anything of interest on the Dawn. Honestly, he was a bit let down. Other than the armor and whatever system allowed the ship to mask its jump signature, there wasn''t much that set the ship apart.


    Sure it had lasers instead of Gauss cannons, but when Alexander measured the energy output of the weapons, he was surprised to see they weren''t as powerful as the one he built for the Fury. And that was even before he factored in the direct energy shunt from the reactor, which increased the laser''s output significantly.


    What he did learn from the weapons, was ways to improve his own. That little nugget of knowledge came from one of the weapons that had been struck by an enemy projectile and torn open.


    It wasn''t easy walking along the outer hull of the stealth ship, but the plates that made up the carbon armor didn''t cover the entire exterior of the ship. Each armor plate was contained by a metal frame that was coated in some light-absorbing paint. When he traced the actual damage to the ship, he found most of it came through those butted-together metal seams and not the strange armor. He doubted the Aliens who had come up with the armor would have designed their ship with such a vulnerability. It seemed like this was probably some consolation by the STO or a technological limitation on their part when trying to reproduce the material.


    Considering what he saw of the plates themselves, he wondered how strong a ship wrapped entirely in the material would be. While he hadn''t run his sample through the mass spectrometer yet, he was almost certain it would be a match for his body. If it was, that would make the armor extremely strong. He wondered if the alien ship the STO recovered had self-repair like he did. If the aliens could repair their armor as he did back on Petrov station, it put their ships leagues ahead of humanity.


    Once he was done on the outer hull, Alexander scavenged a few batteries and super-capacitors from damaged areas where they wouldn''t be missed. Krieger and his crew would likely realize he stole stuff from the ship but they wouldn''t be able to prove it. If they confronted him, he could simply deny the allegations. He somehow suspected they wouldn''t though, at least until a rescue came along to take them back to STO territory.


    Unfortunately, Alexander couldn''t figure out how the Dawn''s system worked to mask the gravitational signature of a jump. When he examined the FTL drive, it looked exactly like every other FTL drive he had ever seen, just with slightly newer hardware. That meant there was some software in the design that allowed it to do what it did.


    Using a few tricks he picked up during his early repair days, Alexander supplied power to a terminal in the maintenance room for the FTL drive. Then he used the trick he used on the Fury when he unlocked the hidden safe to access the terminal''s core programming. Much like it had with the safe, the programming window popped up inside his mental space. Unlike the safe, this programming was encrypted and also had significant safeguards in place to prevent its theft.


    Alexander was so used to watching code that he didn''t understand that he could pinpoint the moment the defensive programs triggered.


    The program first tried to send a message to a line Alexander had traced to the computer core. If he had to guess, it was meant to trigger the self-destruct. Even if the bomb was real, the power Alexander was providing the terminal, was only enough for the terminal. It quickly faded away in any exterior connection.


    When the program realized it had failed, it tried attacking him directly. Other than a slight tingling sensation coming from his fingers, he didn''t sense anything. He realized the program was using the power in the terminal to try and electrocute him. That was cute.


    He would need to warn Lucas about that nasty little bit of code.


    The last thing the program attempted to do was to erase itself. It did manage to do that inside the terminal, but not before Alexander had secured a copy of the program inside his mind space. When he got back to the surface, he would transfer it into a chip and let the younger Laront have a field day with it.

 Chapter 2-22

    Now that Alexander had everything pulled from the ship that he could, without actually taking it apart, he waited for Branston to arrive so he could return to the surface and begin his next project.It didn''t take long for the pilot to land in the hangar and return him to the facility. "Oh, before I forget, please give this package to Captain Krieger if you would."


    "What is it?" the former Navy officer asked in confusion.


    "They are the ID tags from the bodies we recovered. I sealed them all in one of the rooms aboard the ship, so they could perform whatever burial rites they wished when they returned home."


    The man''s face turned solemn as he accepted the package. What Alexander hadn''t added, was that the box also contained the fusion activation crystal for Epsilon''s Dawn. While the ship was a bargaining chip, he felt like a little bit of goodwill would go a long way here. He never intended to keep the ship, so holding it hostage wouldn''t feel right.


    Alexander would have delivered it in person, but after seeing the ship''s armor, he didn''t think it would be much of a leap for the STO Captain to figure out he might come from the same source as the base material. That secret would likely be exposed eventually, but he decided now was not that time.


    He entered his workshop and set the items he had procured down on one of the workbenches. Before Alexander started testing how many robots he could link to one supercomputer interface, he needed to answer another burning question he had. He walked over to the mass spectrometer and put the armor sample inside. When the results came back, he wasn''t surprised by what they showed. It was made from pure carbon. It wasn''t a clear answer, but it was another data point that led him to the conclusion he had suspected for some time. There was one final test he needed to run before he would be certain, or at least as certain as he could be that his hunch was correct. Alexander stored the sample in another container and placed it in his storage room next to the pieces that had flaked off of his own body.


    While he was in there, he retrieved one of the supercomputers and the three robots that he had in storage. He returned to the workshop and queued up the design for his robots. He set the manufacturing array to produce ten more.


    As that was going, he set the supercomputer into the holo scanner. It accurately marked the locations of the computer''s contacts and Alexander built off of that. He figured he could go about linking robots to a central processor in two ways, with a tether, or wirelessly. A tether would be faster and make it impossible to block the signal, but the downsides of the limited range and hassle of dealing with a physical limitation were a deal breaker for Alexander. That meant a wireless connection was the only viable path.


    He started designing the core controller that would be powered by the supercomputer with wireless transmission in mind. Alexander borrowed the uplink designed by Lucas and added that to the model he was building. He still couldn''t believe the man had designed such an efficient and powerful radio transceiver from cobbled-together spare parts. Wanting to ensure the controller had backup options, he included a tight beam laser link, as well as infrared and microwave transceivers.


    Alexander would have loved to use FTL comms like the Qcomm''s used, to facilitate communication between the robots, but he didn''t have a sample of the technology to try and reproduce it yet.


    Since the controller was going to need to be in space as well as be able to communicate in multiple directions at once, Alexander added plenty of power systems, ion drives for maneuvering, and even one of his Class 2 engines similar to the one Shuttle 1 had. Only it was his fourth-gen version, which dialed back the efficiency to more closely match Dr. Lund''s optimization model. It was also the first generation he designed specifically for each class of engine, instead of just using the Class 4 as a base and moving stuff around to fit. Doing that was fine when testing, but nobody was going to buy an engine that had to be modified for each craft. Not when they had standard designs already available.


    By the time Alexander''s design was complete, the controller was half the size of a shuttle and looked a bit like a porcupine with all its sensors and antennas. He saved the design and started a new one. The new design was much simpler. There were no engines, no fuel storage, and no power systems. It was just a block to hold the supercomputer and two dozen cables running off of it with transceivers on the ends shaped like cubes. The cubes had electrical contactors around the exterior that perfectly matched where the advanced chips had theirs.


    He sent that design to the old printer and it wasn''t long until the very simple device took shape.


    Once it was done, Alexander took one of the cubes and opened up the computer core on the robot. He placed the cube into the open space for an advanced chip until he heard a soft click, notifying him it was locked into place. He repeated this process for the other two as well. He did need to bypass the safety lockout that prevented the robot from operating if the core was open, but that was easily accomplished with a jumper wire.


    He would have removed the safety lockout, but he didn''t want to damage the robots. He needed that core to lock in place when he built the wireless cores that would eventually go into them.


    Once that was done, he moved over to the controller and was getting ready to work on that when there was a knock on his door.


    "Come in," he called while he continued working.


    Captain Na entered the room, looking concerned. That couldn''t be good. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Mingyu, I''m glad you and your people are safe. I assume this visit is to discuss why you were gone so long?"


    "Yes, and no," the man said with a sigh. "Alexander, me and my entire crew owe you a debt, and I plan on repaying it, but it''s getting far too dangerous in this system. Unless you can assure me that you have an immediate solution to that problem, it might just be safer for me to take my chances in STO space as an outcast. I hope you can understand."


    Alexander did understand. The fact that Na was considering going back to STO space told him how important this was for the man. He put down the tools he was using and gave the Captain his full attention.


    "I see. I can''t say I blame you. If I were in your situation, I might make a similar choice. Actually, I probably wouldn''t have even come back to let you know. I would have simply headed to STO space-" Alexander''s words trailed off as he realized that was exactly what Na had done. Something obviously changed his mind though or he wouldn''t have come back.


    "¡­We were on our way before I stopped and turned back around. That''s why we were gone for so long. I''m sorry if that feels like a betrayal, but my crew and my ship come first."


    His suspicions about the man''s extended absence were confirmed. "I won''t say that your actions don''t hurt me. They do, but I''m not going to hold them against you. While it''s true we have a deal, I don''t believe either of us expected two entire fleets of pirates to show up unannounced when we agreed upon that deal. You asked if I had an immediate solution to this pirate threat. I don''t. I can assure you I''m working on one. Before you say goodbye¡ª" Alexander stopped the man, noticing his expression fall with disappointment. "Listen to my proposal. You wouldn''t have come back if you didn''t think I could make the system safer."


    Alexander waited for Mingyu to mull over his words.


    It took the man a few minutes before he finally replied. "Very well, I owe you at least that much."


    He nodded to the man and motioned him over to the holo display where he modeled all of his projects. "After the attack, I knew we needed more defensive options in space. We can''t simply rely on spy ships from the STO coming along to save us next time."


    That got a slight chuckle out of the severe man. "Is that what that strange ship docked at the station is? Even parked right next to it, the Moonlit Destiny''s sensors were having a hard time picking it up."


    Alexander nodded. "We also have the STO survivors in our med bay waiting for a trip back home. That''s not really your concern unless you''re willing to take them back to STO space."


    "The STO can do their own cleanup," Mingyu responded coldly. It was a far nicer response than Alexander expected after they made the man and his crew pariahs.


    "Fair enough," he continued. He pulled up a design he had come up with in the wake of the attack.


    The captain of the Destiny scratched his head. "Your defensive option is the clamshells you used to deliver components to the space station?"


    "In a manner of speaking, yes." Alexander played the animation. While the exterior of the clamshell looked mostly the same as those he had used before, as soon as the front levered open, it exposed a laser. "They won''t be as powerful as a ship laser, but we can crank out dozens of these things a week. They are limited to a single shot before they have to recharge, but if Lucas can target them all in the same spot to fire simultaneously, they will melt through any ship''s armor with little effort. That''s not all though."


    The next image Alexander brought up was The Moonlit Destiny. Twelve points along the hull were highlighted before small domes appeared in those spots.


    "You plan to arm the Destiny?" Mingyu asked in surprise.


    Alexander shrugged. "Why not? You said it yourself, it''s not safe out here. And we don''t operate under the STO''s rules. The smaller railguns are the same size as the ones protecting the landing pads so they aren''t going to turn you into a warship. But you shouldn''t need to worry about running from gunships or small corvettes anymore."


    "¡­Arming us would make it impossible to return to STO space," the Captain commented quietly.


    "It would. It''s why I never brought up the option before."


    "Changes like this would require the Destiny to remain docked for months. Are you sure that''s wise?"


    The fact that the man hadn''t outright rejected the proposal put a smile on Alexander''s face. "Normally, it would. But the turret pods are self-contained. It took me some time to figure out how to make that happen, but I was able to make it all work. All you need to do is route power to them and weld them to the outer hull. The rest is just software and training."


    The man was quiet for a bit again. "Can we change out some of the railguns for point defense cannons? While shooting back sounds nice, I would prefer some way to defend against incoming missiles."


    Alexander smirked and zoomed in on the ship. "I figured you might ask that." The much closer view of the ship showed the four railgun turrets, two on the top, and two on the bottom of the ship. There were four PDCs, one for each corner. "The point defense cannons use the common flechettes. You''ll probably need to turn off your artificial gravity to run all the weapons systems until a dedicated power system can be put in place, but this should give you some much-needed peace of mind. What do you think?"


    "I think you knew this conversation was coming a long time before I did," Na relented.


    Alexander laughed lightly at that. "Rumors spread like wildfire down here, Captain. Once I heard your people were worried about more pirate attacks, I started coming up with a solution for you."


    The man sighed, then turned away from the holo display to look directly at him. "If you can make these changes happen before the next pirate attack, my crew and I will stick around. If you can''t, we''ll jump out, and you won''t see us again. That''s the best I can offer." The man stuck out his hand and Alexander shook it without reservation.


    "You just keep the ore coming, and I''ll ensure anyone who tries to mess with this system the next time won''t even live to regret that choice."


    Alexander watched the man leave. Losing Mingyu at this stage would be disastrous to his plans, which is why he offered to arm The Moonlit Destiny. He was glad the man accepted the agreement.


    He turned back to his creation and placed the supercomputer into the cradle. Once it had power, from a simple wall outlet, he tested the programming.


    The computer effortlessly managed the three robots. Over the next six hours, Alexander kept adding more and more robots as they came out of the printer until the strain was too much even for the supercomputer and they started to glitch out. It seemed like the number of independent robots the computer was capable of handling was twelve. He decided to reduce the number of robots assigned to a controller to ten to ensure there was some wiggle room for more complex commands.


    With that done, he checked on the printer in the station. It had already produced two of the turret pods for the Destiny. By tomorrow, the remaining pods would be complete, along with enough ammo for three reloads. His pod design wasn''t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Normally reloading them would require a spacewalk, but Alexander decided to include one of the construction bots for reloading to ease the burden on Destiny''s crew.


    Now that the arming of Destiny was underway, and his testing of the new supercomputer interface was complete, Alexander began printing out the components to build his first ship. If you could call the bundle of sensors and engines a ship. While he was printing those parts on the surface, to be shipped into space via the shuttle, the frame of the control ship was already under construction in orbit. It was a simple enough task for the unlinked robots to complete.

 Chapter 2-23

    "Captain!" a chorus of surprised shouts greeted Vitor as he walked into the room."At ease," he said tiredly. He may not have been injured in the attack, but receiving the box of tags taken off the dead had weighed heavily on him. There was also the activation crystal to think about, but that was a whole other matter. "How is everyone?"


    "We''re ready on your command, Captain!" one of the surviving Marines declared.


    Vitor pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. "While I appreciate the sentiment, there will be none of that." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "But they are holding us prisoner, Sir," the Marine stated.


    "Are they? Did you try leaving?"


    "¡­Well, no, not yet. We were waiting for everyone to recover first."


    "Do me a favor, Marine. See if they stop you from leaving. And don''t hurt anyone while trying."


    The man looked confused by the request but nodded anyway and left the room. Vitor checked in individually with everyone who was up and mobile, after a half hour, the Marine wandered back in.


    "I apologize for my assumptions, Sir. We are not prisoners, but they still control the ship."


    Vitor shook his head and pulled out the fusion activation crystal. "I received this along with the tags from the fallen. Our hosts have also treated the injured and rescued us. I have spoken with the owner, Mr. Alexander Kane. He has assured me we are free to leave whenever we can find suitable accommodations."


    "Why doesn''t he just provide a ship for us?" someone asked angrily.


    "He doesn''t have a functioning FTL-capable ship, crewman. And there is no Qcomm here."


    "Sir," his sensor operator came forward. "I don''t want to disparage the people who rescued us, but I don''t think that''s true."


    "Are you thinking of the mining ship?"


    The Ensign nodded hesitantly, "That is one option, Captain, but there was also a small freighter on the landing pad."


    Vitor didn''t know about the freighter, probably because it was unimportant during the fight. He decided to address the mining ship first though. "That mining ship belongs to a captain by the name of Mingyu Na. Assuming he returned after the battle, I doubt he would be receptive to taking us back to STO space. Nor would any of you be able to leave once you stepped aboard said ship. The STO quarantined the vessel. Nobody who goes aboard is allowed off in STO space. It could be a way to get news back to headquarters, but let''s hold off on that for now. Ensign, what can you recall about that freighter?"


    "It was small enough for a surface landing and there was no transponder beacon coming from it. At the time I just figured it was another derelict like the shuttles, but I''ve been thinking about the scans. The shuttles were all cold, but the freighter wasn''t. It was probably in standby mode. If that was the case, the transponder beacon should have been active."


    "It''s probably a smuggler freighter then. It will be a last resort. In the meantime I want you to work in groups of two and get a picture of this facility. Don''t do anything stupid though. We might be here for a while, and I don''t want to risk alienating the locals against us. Since they turned this room into a bunk for us, we''ll meet back here at night and discuss anything we''ve found. If an opportunity arises, we may try to take advantage of it, but not before we have a clear plan. Is that understood?"


    "Yes, Captain," came a unanimous response.


    He gave a sharp nod of approval. "I''m going to check in on the people who are still recovering, you have your orders." As long as they thought they were searching for a way off this barren world, it would keep their minds off of the tragedy. Most of them were probably still in shock, but that wouldn''t last indefinitely.


    The room emptied as everyone did as they were told. When he was alone, he allowed his exhaustion to show. Pretending that everything was fine when he looked at the handful of survivors from the few hundred that served aboard Epsilon''s Dawn had been one of the hardest things he could recall doing. Based on the tags, he knew the true count, but knowing it and seeing it in person were two very different things.


    After collecting himself, he made his way to the infirmary. There were only five people in medical beds and one in an actual medical pod. While the room didn''t look much like a hospital, it was decked out in a considerable amount of equipment. He had seen newer stuff back on Earth but even Varlen''s military hospital didn''t have access to half of these diagnostic machines.


    A nurse glanced up and watched him for a bit before she went back to a holo she was watching silently.


    Most of the injured had broken bones. Without access to quick heal meds, they would be in for a long road to recovery, but they would recover. Vitor made his way to the one person in the medipod. He was surprised to find it was his Chief Engineer. Parson was in a coma and it looked like half his body was burned.


    "Nurse, do you know what happened to him?" he asked, gesturing to the pod.


    The woman paused her holo and looked up at him. "First off, I''m not a nurse. My name is Gabriella, and I am the Head of Medical Services on Eden''s End, not that the title means much. It''s not like I got a medical license or anything. I''m simply doing my best."


    Vitor blinked at the woman''s statement.


    "As for what happened to your crewman?" she shrugged. "Burned through his suit. Probably some electrical discharge if I had to guess. The medipod is keeping him sedated until we can bio-print replacement skin. It will be a long process, but he should survive. If it looks like he''ll take a turn for the worse, we have a stasis pod on standby."


    The offer of a stasis pod surprised him. Those were expensive. Then again, Kane seemed like he had no issues with money if he managed to put this all together.


    "Thank you for healing my people."


    The woman snorted. "Don''t thank me, I''m only doing what Alex asked. If he wasn''t here, nobody would have bothered rescuing your lot. We came out here to be rid of the STO, not to invite them into our home."


    Vitor forced a smile on his face. He had to remember this place housed a large colony of drifters. The STO and drifter populations didn''t have a good working relationship at the best of times. "Where can I find Mr. Kane to thank him personally?"


    "Oh, I''m sure you''ll figure it out eventually," she said, going back to her holo.


    Vitor knew a dismissal when he saw one, he nodded politely to the woman and strode out of the room.


    ***


    Gabriella watched the man leave from the corner of her eye. She didn''t know why Alex didn''t want the man to know where his workshop was and she didn''t particularly care.


    Kane was a bit of an enigma. Like everyone else on Eden''s End, she had heard the rumors from the Hawks that he was remotely controlling the robot from a stasis pod. The only problem with that rumor was that the only stasis pod that existed on Eden''s End sat in the medical storage. And it was empty. She knew this because, like most drifters, she kept track of anything that might be of use. It was a habit of survival when moving to new places. So she knew without a doubt that Kane only had a single stasis pod.


    Considering what Alex had done for the residents, she hadn''t brought up the strange inconsistency. Not that it mattered. People were starting to notice other inconsistencies in his story.


    She recalled a dinner she had with Damien and Lucas a while back. Lucas kept wondering about how Alex got past the time lag to operate his body at the Lagrange point. The inquisitive young man wanted to understand why the signal couldn''t be detected by their transceivers. Other than a Qcomm link, that shouldn''t be possible, he claimed. It never even occurred to the younger man that there might not be any signal. Since it was clear both her boyfriend and his younger brother suspected something was off, she mentioned the pod.


    That only produced more questions from the young man, which annoyed Damien until he finally put a stop to it. "I don''t give a shit if he''s a popsicle, a brain in a jar, or whatever the fuck a memory endgram is. I don''t want you digging any further into the man''s secrets."


    That was that.


    Damien might come off as a cynical asshole most of the time, but he cared in his own way. And while he and Alex didn''t always see eye to eye, Damien respected him for what he did back during the attack. He just had a hard time showing it. Keeping his brother from pestering the man about these questions was a monumental show of respect.


    ***


    Damien cursed Alex in his mind. Couldn''t the man understand that letting the surviving STO Navy personnel wander the facility was a recipe for disaster or did he simply not care? It was bad enough he had to keep his uncle in check.


    He had already caught the man snooping around places he shouldn''t. He warned him away, but he knew the man wouldn''t listen. If Shall thought family ties would keep Damien from arresting him when the man finally did something to cross a line, he had another thing coming.


    Soon the person he was waiting for exited the medical facility. Damien could have gone in and spoken to him, but he knew better than to get on Gabriella''s bad side. And bothering her patients would be a surefire way to do just that.


    He straightened the suit that marked him as facility security, glad that security had a uniform now. Damien cut the man off before he could head down one of the side hallways. "Captain Krieger, I assume. A moment of your time."


    The man stopped short before running into Damien. Annoyance flitted across the man''s face for a moment before the STO captain suppressed it. "I am. I assume you are in charge of security around here?"


    Damien didn''t answer the man''s question. "You are guests of Alexander''s. This does not give you any special privileges other than food, water, and lodging. If your people cause trouble, don''t expect them to escape punishment. Keep them in line, or I will."


    The man narrowed his eyes at Damien. "Is that a threat?"


    "No, Captain, that is a promise. I know you sent your people out to collect information for you. Feel free to spy all you want but if they are found someplace restricted, they will be locked up until someone comes to pick your sorry asses up. I suggest you convey this warning to them as soon as possible. That''s all I have to say, have a good day, Captain." Damien walked past the stunned man without waiting for a response.


    He would have preferred to set a watch on every one of the survivors, but he didn''t have the manpower to do that while also guarding the restricted areas of the facility, and patrolling. The warning would have to suffice.

 Chapter 2-24

    Yulia cautiously opened the door to their home and looked around. When she didn''t find Alex waiting inside, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Dog, hurry up," she gestured behind her.Dog came limping in on five good legs. The last leg was dragging behind him by the cable to the motor. They had been playing in the park when she thought it would be a good idea to have him climb on the merry-go-round. Then she tried to see how fast she could make it spin with him on it.


    They were having a blast, and Dog was happily barking as he held onto one of the metal bars. Unfortunately, his grip wasn''t very strong because he didn''t have hands.


    Before she could stop, Dog lost his grip on the bar and tumbled back. He smacked into the bar behind him hard enough to break the plastic joint on his leg.


    She knew Alex could fix it, but she didn''t want him to know that she had been so irresponsible with Dog. With him out of the house, she hurried over to the printer Alex gave her for her birthday and swiped through the list of items she could make. While she could make her own, she didn''t think she would be able to recreate Dog''s leg by herself. It was a good thing Alex had preloaded it with a bunch of prints she could play with any time she wanted. She just hoped parts for Dog were in there as well.


    It took time to find the file but she did eventually locate it. She smiled and sent it to the printer and waited. It didn''t take long to complete, but she frowned when she looked at it. The new limb didn''t have any of the motor components inside. She was going to have to swap them over from the broken limb.


    "Come on Dog, I need to get you fixed up." The robot woofed happily and followed her into her room.


    ***


    Alexander was pulled out of his work finishing up the design for the laser pods when an alert went off on his terminal. He walked over to see what it was and chuckled.


    "I knew it was only a matter of time until she broke something on Dog. It''s good to see she took the initiative to fix the problem herself though. I wonder if she will mention it to me or try to hide it?" Either way, he wouldn''t bring it up. She was allowed to have her little secrets if she wanted them, so long as they didn''t harm anyone else.


    He cleared the alert notification from the print log and went back to his design. It had been a few weeks since his Epsilon''s Dawn visit. During that time, Alexander did a thorough breakdown of the components he brought back with him. With that knowledge, he knew he could improve his power storage and distribution systems, as well as the laser that would eventually go into the pods.


    He would have done this work much sooner, but he needed to complete the assembly of the two control ships. Without them, his ability to grow their orbital defenses would be severely hampered.


    After the first vessel was completed, the second one took hardly any time at all since Alexander had already printed all the major parts for it ahead of time. And the space station had printed the frame.


    Now he had twenty mostly autonomous robots to handle construction, repairs, and salvage. That completely removed his bottleneck on manufacturing and back to materials. To try to remedy the material shortfall, he had half the robots collecting the derelict pirate ships that were still floating around in the system. The other half was carving apart the remains of the two gunboats that had been attached to the Fury. After looking at them, he quickly realized those ships were simply too far gone to justify fixing.


    The only parts being saved from those vessels were the fusion reactors. One because he had promised it to Markus, and the other so he could study the design to hopefully produce his own. Neither reactor was any good anymore, but he could still pull the activation codes from them and reuse them in a new reactor instead of creating his own activation crystals. Or he could just eschew that practice entirely, but that was probably a bad idea.


    It was one of the things he thought the STO got right. The idea was so simple, yet it prevented someone from just breaking into a ship and taking it. When he got around to making his own, he would be improving on that concept though.


    Alexander focused back on the task at hand.


    With the improvements he picked up from the STO ship, he figured he could push the small laser''s output close to half of what the Epsilon''s Dawn''s weapons were capable of. That wasn''t all that powerful, but he was working with limited space.


    Alexander planned to offset the issue of weak weapons by building dozens of these inexpensive devices. One shot would be all the weapons would get before having to recharge for a few hours using the solar skin, but if Lucas could get his targeting software to link multiple devices and have them aim at a single point, that would surprise anyone.


    Speaking of Lucas, Alexander glanced over at the printer that was pumping out more of the man''s cameras. After outfitting the Destiny with weapons, Na had agreed to find suitable asteroids to house the cameras and transceivers for these new spy satellites. He would also be able to place them in the correct orbits throughout the system. That was appreciated since he was the only Captain with a working ship around here who Alexander trusted.


    He would have tasked Branston with this job, but Shuttle 1 only had enough fuel to make it to the nearest moon and back. It could coast, but if there was trouble, he had no way of making it back. The shuttle was not very fast either. Most of that was Alexander''s fault. He thought about replacing the shuttle''s thruster with his newest generation model but decided against it. The added efficiency of the shuttle worked to their benefit right now, even if it reduced the lifespan of the thrusters.


    Originally, Lucas just wanted cameras around the big gas giant that was closest to them, but Alexander talked him into increasing their sensor coverage to the entire system. The laser link relays would be easier to detect on the false asteroids farther from the planet, but it was cheap insurance to ensure nobody was hiding out there.


    ***


    Dalton had intercepted a communication from Char''s people and smiled. He now knew where his quarry was located. Unlike them, he jumped in well outside the Oort cloud around Y6X-3H2. He wasn''t in any hurry so he lazily approached the system while he watched the battle that had taken place over a day ago.


    He never regretted spending the money to upgrade his optical sensors to the state-of-the-art ones his ship now sported. The large array was something you would normally only see in a scientific vessel. It did mean his ship had fewer weapons, but in his line of work, intel was almost more important than having a big gun. And once again, he was glad he had a crystal clear picture of what was going on in the system. What he saw, made him want to turn around and leave. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even with his sensors, it was almost impossible to spot the stealth ship that tore Char''s fleet apart. He didn''t overlook Arkonis'' beat-up ship at the small station either. Whoever had taken the young prince out had already retrofitted a laser to the Headhunter and was using it to devastating effect against Char''s people.


    He chuckled at each of her losses. That humor was wiped away when he saw her disable the stealth ship before making an emergency jump. It was the one time during this fight that he wished he had jumped in closer. If he had been nearby, he could have easily boarded the vessel. But he was too far away and soon a shuttle arrived from the planet and docked to the mystery ship. It left again, only to return with some weird drones or automated tugs that pulled the damaged stealth ship to the station.


    Dalton tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair as he thought over his options. He could try to trade Katalynn Char''s loss to Harlow instead of the actual job, but he knew the man would demand he finish what he started. That bastard would probably claim anything he learned while on this mission belonged to him anyway, so that option was out.


    He would still sell the recording of Katalynn Char running away, minus the stuff he didn''t want them to know about, to the Xin clan. Maybe if he got lucky they would start fighting each other.


    That only left how to get down to the planet to locate his target. His original idea had been to use the cover of the battle to sneak down over the horizon and approach the ground. That plan was made with the assumption that only a few ships from the Char clan would be here though. Their distraction would have been just enough to allow him to sneak in under the cover of battle.


    He had not taken into account Katalynn Char coming in person or bringing an entire fleet with her, along with a new ship. Further, he hadn''t expected the fleet to be turned away before it even got to the planet.


    With his original plan up in smoke, he would need to come up with an alternative way to get down there. Dalton had no intention of throwing himself at the planet''s defenses like Arkonis or Katalynn had, he wasn''t stupid. He continued tapping his fingers as he surveyed the facility, a quick zoom of the holo brought it into closer focus and he examined his options.


    There were no farms outside, which meant everything was grown inside the facility. He saw a small transport ship on one of the pads. With there being no ships to act as chaperones and no transponder signal, he took an educated guess that the freighter belonged to a smuggler. Nobody would be foolish enough to fly through pirate-infested space without an escort unless they could hide by turning off their transponder.


    That was his way in. Maybe not that ship specifically, but one that carried other drifters or refugees. A ship like that was bound to come out here eventually, especially with Harlow stirring up space.


    He would need to report back to Harlow and convince the man to wait though. Dalton made a sour face just thinking about the conversation. Harlow was not a man of patience despite what he claimed.


    With his mind made up, he stowed the optical array and adjusted his course until he was heading back out of the Oort cloud. It was going to take a few days to get to an undetectable jump distance without lighting off his main drive, but that was fine. It gave him time to refine his new plan.


    ***


    Alexander supervised the first launch of his new laser pods. The first few test fires were performed with dummy loads that mimicked the weight of the real one, so the adjustments to the launcher output had already been figured into the device. He could just crank the rails up to full power, and that would certainly get the weapons into orbit, but it would also damage half the components inside.


    "Why not just have the shuttle carry them up?" Lucas asked in confusion. "It should be able to fit at least six of them inside the cargo area."


    "There is actually enough room for eight of them on the shuttle," Alexander responded. "The reason I don''t want to use the shuttle is because I don''t want to tie it up placing these weapons. There is also the wear and tear to consider. The poor shuttle has been going practically nonstop since I rebuilt it. It''s overdue for a full service. That makes the low-orbit launcher the only real alternative."


    "Makes sense, I guess," the man shrugged.


    For once, a test went off without a problem. The laser pod was fired into low orbit without a single issue. Once it was past the atmosphere, a quick test fire was initiated to ensure nothing was damaged during launch, and even that went off without a hitch.


    Alexander patted a smiling Lucas on the shoulder. "Congratulations on the first successful launch. Only two hundred and fifty-five more to go." The man''s smile faded and Alexander chuckled. "I''m joking. We''ll certainly take some up on the shuttle."


    The man''s mood improved slightly at hearing that. "Are you going to stick around and watch?"


    Alexander shook his avatar. "No. The shuttle should be dropping off the unlinked recovery robots at one of the pirate crash sites on the planet. I''ll need to monitor them while they start working to make sure no programming adjustments need to be made. We can''t afford to lose them or the preprocessed materials. Once that''s complete, I''ll start work on the second shuttle. That way we will finally have a backup to allow the first some downtime."


    Unfortunately, Alexander didn''t have enough materials to build a third control ship or even a control node. He didn''t want to use up his last supercomputer either. Instead, he repurposed the advanced chips from the robots in orbit, and added four more robots, bringing the total of ground-based robots running on the advanced chips to ten. Ten of the robots would be able to carve up the remains of a ship in a few weeks without too much oversight.


    Lucas groaned. "Sounds exhausting, don''t you ever rest?"


    "I''ll rest when we have a defensive bubble around the planet that will prevent anyone from trying anything dumb again." That was a lie, Alexander had no intention of slowing down. He did plan on shifting his priorities to ensure he spent more time with Yulia, but that shouldn''t be an issue once the laser network was in place.

 Chapter 2-25

    LOCATION: ASGARDSYSTEM: YGGDRASIL''S EYE


    DATE: 2399


    "How bad is it?" she asked as she walked next to her main engineer.


    "It could have been worse," the man stated flatly. "Odin was with us. We had hull breaches in four areas and lost a dozen brave warriors. Their rites were performed and we sent them to Valhalla to feast by Odin''s side."


    "Praise the All-Father," she responded automatically.


    "The armor is slagged across a significant portion of the Valkyrie''s port side. We can run with it, but I would like to replace it as soon as we can. The only major concern I have is the port thruster. A missile from that stealth ship got a little too close. The entire thruster will need to be replaced."


    She ground her teeth, not at the damage, but at the damn ship that had appeared from out of nowhere to strike her fleet without warning. "What do we know about this mystery ship?"


    The man scratched his beard. "Some of the men think it belonged to the people who took control of the planet¡­"


    "What do you think?" she asked as they turned down a corridor, dodging a group working to repair some power cabling.


    "I looked over the sensor logs. While it was true they both used lasers, they were not the same wavelength. The STO standard missiles from our stealthy friend are also a pretty clear indicator of who that ship belonged to. I''ve seen enough sensor logs over the years to tell you that much."


    "Figures it was those honorless bastards who attacked us from the shadows. So either the STO has a vested interest in this outpost, or the people on the planet are actively working with the STO. Do we know anything about who took over the planet?"


    "Not that I''ve heard," the man grunted. "That''s something for a Loki to figure out," the man spit on the deck in obvious disgust when he suggested that.


    Not many liked the spymasters of Asgard, but they were an unfortunate necessity. If it wasn''t for them, she never would have heard about this rumor or where it had originated. Without that critical piece of information, she simply would have dismissed it. Considering how devastating the battle had been, she was glad she hadn''t. Katalynn would rather know about a problem like this early.


    And while both sides took losses, hers had come out on top. She would have gone back to ensure total victory, but she couldn''t be certain of that with how many losses her fleet had taken. From twenty-two ships, only sixteen had made it back and every single one sported some sort of damage. The decision to retreat might make her look weak, but she wouldn''t throw her people into a meat grinder for the sake of a bit of honor. A glorious battle was one thing, but that fight had quickly turned against her. It was better to retreat and reassess.


    Her loss would quickly become clear to the other pirate families. They would perceive it as a weakness that they could exploit if she wasn''t careful. She needed to shore up her borders and make any strikes against her and her assets far too risky before the other families caught wind of her loss.


    That meant she also had to recall the Jarls who were preparing for a massive strike against the Anazi family.


    Calling off the attack was going to ensure at least one of the Jarls challenged her for leadership. She would welcome a challenge from someone inside the clan over an attack from outside though. Katalynn needed to prove she was strong enough to lead, and after this disaster, she couldn''t say she was. If there was someone stronger, may they send her to the feasting hall at Odin''s side.


    ***


    LOCATION: STO NAVAL HEADQUARTERS


    SYSTEM: SOL


    One of the senior analysts walked up to Fletcher and cleared his throat to get his attention. "Vice Admiral, a moment of your time."


    Fletcher nodded to acknowledge the man before turning back to the hologram he was speaking with. "Governor, if you''ll excuse me?"


    "For now, Vice Admiral," the man spoke in annoyance, "but we aren''t done discussing this."


    The hologram flickered out and Fletcher wanted to roll his eyes at the man''s declaration. The Planetary Governor from Ganos was the newest leader of the STO appropriations committee. A pompous windbag of a man who liked hearing himself speak more than he actually got anything done.


    And like every previous appropriations committee leader before him, the man thought he could earn some political standing by reducing overspending in the Navy. They always targeted the black ops department first since there was little the department could show for their spending, being top secret and all. And despite their rank as a Planetary Governor, they did not have the security clearance to know what that part of the Navy Intelligence Department did. It was that lack of oversight that irked them, but Vice Admiral Fletcher had dealt with his kind for over two decades so this was nothing new.


    He turned to the senior analyst and wished he could thank the man for his timely interruption. "What do you have for me?" he asked.


    The man cleared his throat before responding. "Captain Krieger missed his last check-in."


    Fletcher''s slight smile was strained at hearing that. Krieger was a bit of a loose cannon, but the man wouldn''t miss a check-in unless he had a good reason. "How long are they overdue?"


    "A little over a week, Sir."


    He already knew the ship''s current mission so there was no point asking about that. The man might have run into trouble but unless it involved the surveillance of Eden''s End, he doubted Vitor Krieger would have gotten tangled up in anything that could harm the Epsilon''s Dawn.


    If he was following a lead or one of his other standing orders, that could explain his absence. The ship''s original purpose was to seek out the Shican and see what they were up to. Fletcher hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. "Are any of the other Erebus class ships near where Captain Krieger was operating?" The most important thing Fletcher had learned in his long career in the STO Navy was to always have a backup plan. Those plans extended to ships under his command. Instead of building one of the very expensive ships, they built five of the Erebus class stealth ships.


    "Alpha''s Sunrise and Beta''s Twilight are monitoring the movements of Harlow''s fleets. Gamma''s Dusk is still out on its patrol."


    The ship names were stupid, but they were designed that way in order to obfuscate their importance. As for the patrol, the analyst was referring to, that was the search for the Shican. Dusk was also tasked to find out where the unknown ship, which they used to reverse engineer the tech used in the Erebus class ships, might have originated from. That was a risk, considering the STO''s policy to avoid Aliens, especially ones that might be technologically superior to humanity. The politicians could pretend the problem didn''t exist, but Fletcher couldn''t afford to stick his head in the sand and hope aliens left humanity alone. He preferred to at least know where threats were located so they couldn''t surprise them.


    That only left one Erebus class ship. "Where is the Delta''s Eclipse?"


    "They are monitoring the black market trade coming from Epsilon Indi."


    Fletcher grunted at that. The trinary system had always been a thorn in his side. With no viable planets for habitation, all life within the system existed on the dozens of scattered space stations, and rocky asteroids that floated through the system. It made keeping track of the illicit trade in that system a nightmare. The Eclipse''s job was to tag the transponder IDs of ships coming and going from the system. With enough data, the AIs could provide a more comprehensive list of ships to search.


    While that work was important, it was less important than finding out what happened to its sister ship. "Send orders to Captain Greaves that she is to report to the nearest STO shipyard system. She is not to report in or break cover. Once she is there, she will rendezvous with the Goliath."


    Using one of the mega-freighters to transport the ship wasn''t exactly subtle, but it ensured nobody took notice of the vessel as it made its way through STO space. A ship burning at top speed through a system would be quickly noticed by almost everyone even with the stealth capabilities it had. With a time crunch on their hands, they couldn''t afford to let Greaves coast the entire way or bypass the hypergates.


    He knew the existence of the stealth ships would become known in time, but he preferred to keep that information secret as long as possible.


    Even with the Goliath transporting the ship, it was still going to take months to arrive at Varlen. Captain Valeria Greaves was going to be annoyed that her mission was put on hold but she was going to have to get over that. Once she arrived in Varlen, Fletcher would deliver her new orders in person.


    He sighed internally, this matter would be so much easier if he could just send a fleet of STO warships out to look for their overdue ship, but with the ongoing hostilities with the pirates, even Fletcher didn''t have the power to pull that off without ending up in a military prison. So the best he could do was hope the Eclipse could find the Dawn.


    ***


    LOCATION: HAVEN


    SYSTEM: HAVEN


    Harlow''s fleet dropped out of warp as close to Haven as they could get. Even with all the upgrades based on Shican tech, it didn''t get them any closer to the planet.


    It didn''t take long for people to notice his arrival. Most pirates simply fled, not wanting to get tangled up with whatever was going to happen. Some hung around, hoping to score some easy loot. Then there were the few that formed up to meet him.


    He smiled as he recognized two of the ships. "Hail my parents."


    Soon his holo display popped up a side-by-side view. One side held the angry countenance of his father, the other the disgusted look of his mother.


    "Harlow," his mother said flatly. "Finally gathered the courage to stake your claim? Or are you here to finally bow like a good son?"


    His father scoffed. "Considering how poorly his little war is going, he''s probably here to beg for our help. Go on boy, beg! I might even let you live after violating the one rule we had. Don''t kill the golden goose. Your pathetic little attempt at carving out a kingdom has stopped all trade in our area of space and cost us billions."


    Harlow ground his teeth at the man''s words. "Your rule is as pathetic as you are, old man. You sit on your little golden throne and rule over a shit heap, while I aspire to be greater. Surrender, and I might spare your lives."


    Both his parents laughed at that, making Harlow boil with rage.


    "Greater?" his mom asked. "You were a mistake. A bad omen. I should have ended you the moment you were born."


    "Quit your posturing, boy," his father cut in. "We both know why you''re here. May the winner take it all." With that declaration, his parents cut their connection.


    "They are maneuvering into position," one of his people stated.


    Harlow sat back in his chair and did his best to calm himself. He had given them the option. Now it was time to show them the power of his new dreadnaught.


    His family''s fleet outnumbered him by three to one, but all of Harlow''s ships were updated with at least Shican railguns. And a few other surprises.


    As he watched his family approach, he couldn''t help but laugh at their disjointed organization. They had never been forced to work together, so they fought for position as much as anything. Meanwhile, Harlow''s fleet had drilled with Coalition and STO fleet tactics in mind.


    Soon they entered missile range, and both sides fired dozens of missiles. It would take time for the other side to get within autocannon range, but Harlow was within railgun range and had been for some time.


    "Open fire with the main guns," he ordered.


    The massive ship shuddered as all forty-six guns fired. While his family outnumbered him, his new dreadnaught, Harlow''s Might had four times as much firepower as his father''s cruiser.


    He could see the moment of realization dawn on some of the ships arrayed against him as they detected the weapon''s fire. Some broke off, others tried to hide behind other ships, but it was too late.


    Most of the weapons slammed into their intended targets, damaging or outright destroying the smaller ships. He wanted to reduce their overall point defense coverage before the missiles arrived, and it seemed it had worked.


    The opposing missiles flashed past each other and soon lit off their respective drives. Unlike the conventional missiles fired by his family, there were a few special missiles in Harlow''s arsenal.


    As the regular missiles accelerated toward the fleets, the other missiles continued to coast in. As soon as the other missiles were engaged, his new weapons activated.


    These new missiles were the result of a decade of forced research from his most prized engineer slaves. They were much larger than a normal missile, which required their own dedicated launch tube. Harlow''s Might had four of these tubes along with twelve regular missile tubes. The weapons activated their scaled-down fusion reactor and zipped to their target before the ships could react to their presence. As soon as the weapons reached a certain distance, the reactor onboard each was flooded with all of the remaining fuel and the containment field was disabled.


    Harlow watched in satisfaction as the missiles were turned into a fast-moving stream of superheated plasma that melted through armor and bulkheads like a hot knife through butter. Four ships, including his parents, exploded as the molten material reached their weapon stores. The effectiveness of the weapons was more than he could have hoped for. With this new plasma missile, he would quickly shift the battle against the STO.


    The new plasma missiles were outrageously expensive to manufacture, but he needed to make a statement here. And it seemed it had worked.


    The remaining ships were signaling their surrender.


    His fleet hadn''t taken a single hit, all of the incoming missiles had been shot down well before getting close, and his family hadn''t even had the chance to fire their autocannons.


    He smiled at the one-sided victory. Now that his family was out of the way, it was time to consolidate his rule over Haven once and for all.


    ***


    LOCATION: BORRUS


    SYSTEM: KAPTEYN''S STAR


    Jasper did his best to look engaged during the contract meeting he was attending, even though he didn''t feel like smiling and was having a hard time keeping his thoughts focused. He needed to keep up appearances even though he worried about his friend. He had received two Qcomm messages from Alexander since the Zephyr departed Eden''s End. One of the letters let him know that he had made the right choice to leave as pirate activity increased significantly in and around Y6X-3H2. Alexander even let slip that the people of Eden''s End had fought off an attack.


    It was just like Alexander to leave out the severity of the attack though. But he and Yulia were alive and well, so it couldn''t have been too bad. That thought changed when Captain Matthews sent him Alexander''s follow-up message and one of his own.


    Alexander''s message said repairs were ongoing and he was making good progress. Matthews'' message was a bit different.


    Captain Daniel,


    I am sending you this message because I saw how close you were to Mr. Kane. I feel our mutual friend might need some additional help. He likely hasn''t told you the whole story about the attack Eden''s End suffered. It was significant, with more than a few deaths. I will leave it at that.


    Despite the setback, Mr. Kane has profited from this. He has tasked the Hawks of Ganos to purchase a Qcomm on his behalf and we plan on returning to the system within a year''s time for a mutually beneficial arrangement. Mr. Kane has also given me access to a significant source of funding, which will be deposited into his Blue Star Enterprises account after the Qcomm purchase. See the attached list of components he wishes you to purchase with the remaining funds.


    If you need any help sourcing these items, please let me know. The Hawks have some contacts that might make purchasing them easier. To prevent multiple trips, the Talon will be available for storage on the return journey. I have included our storage location on Ganos where you can ship items.


    That being said, I think the biggest thing our friend needs is capable and trustworthy crewmen as he finds himself with some new ships but nobody capable of operating them for him. The Hawks have some people we know and will be calling in, if you have anyone you trust, please do the same. Once again, the Talon will provide passage to the system.


    Please reach out to me or Anthony Baru, our Operations Lead if you have any questions.


    Captain Matthews.


    Just what the hell had Alexander gotten himself mixed up in?


    While it was good to know Alexander was making more allies, he was concerned. Not about Captain Matthews or the Hawks. They had been professional and friendly the entire time he worked with them. He was concerned his friend was moving too fast, gaining too much notice. The last time that happened, Omni got involved.


    When Jasper had looked at the attached list, he had nearly choked. It was a doozy this time around. The problem was that Alexander''s appetite was bigger than his pocketbook. When he checked the assets in the Blue Star account, Jasper found only one hundred and seventy million credits. Seventy of which were left over from Alexander''s previous balance.


    It wasn''t a small sum by any stretch of the imagination, but it wouldn''t last indefinitely either. He really hoped his friend knew what he was doing.


    Filling the list would take time, thankfully Naomi was up to the task. Jasper''s task was to reach out to his contacts to see if anyone was interested in relocating. He didn''t know many retired STO people, but he knew a few. The problem was what could he say to convince them to give up their easy life and move out to unregulated space? It''s not like he could tell them that they would get access to learning modules by moving. Giving unrestricted access to learning modules was illegal in STO space and he wouldn''t advertise it even if it wasn''t. Too many people would jump at the opportunity and simply leave after getting what they wanted. Jasper sighed internally, it seemed he had his work cut out for him.


    The meeting finished and Jasper shook the hand of the grinning man who had signed the transport contract. The man probably assumed he got a killer deal. In normal circumstances, it would have been, but the Zephyr required less fuel thanks to Alexander''s minor improvement so Jasper was making more in profit for this trip than he normally did.


    While not all that welcome, the timing of Matthews'' message was ideal. The Zephyr would finish this run and start collecting the items Alex wanted him to purchase. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 2-26

    Alexander walked down the hallway, Yulia leading the way as she held his hand."Urgh, hurry up, Alex, we''re going to be late!" she complained.


    He just chuckled. "We''re fine. The play doesn''t start for another half an hour. And you''re already in your costume. I think you just want to arrive early to show it off to all your friends."


    "Nu-uh," she replied unconvincingly.


    He chuckled once more but he didn''t increase his pace. The play had been Nancy''s idea. She was the Head of Learning for the Eden''s End Council. The woman had approached Alexander about the idea a week after the last attack as a way to get the children''s minds off the close call. He wholeheartedly approved of the endeavor and had even offered to make the costumes. Yulia didn''t know that though, so she thought she was going to be extra special in her costume.


    As they arrived in the atrium, Yulia looked surprised to see all the kids dressed in fancy outfits. Instead of seeming upset by it, she beamed in joy, hugged Alex''s waist, and hurried over to chat with her friends.


    When Alexander looked around the large open space, he frowned internally. From what Nancy told him, she had invited quite a few people but the chairs that were set up seemed to be rather empty. It looked like only the parents of students here, and even then it couldn''t be all the parents.


    He knew the drifters were a pragmatic lot, but he thought for sure they would have taken the time to watch their kids perform. While some had, it seemed he still had a long way to go to change their minds.


    Alexander stood in the back and watched the kids perform. He had no clue what the play was about as he wanted to be surprised, but the content didn''t much matter. This was more of a chance for the kids to express themselves and have some fun, while also helping them forget the dangers out there.


    The older kids seemed less enthusiastic about the play than the younger kids, but Alexander clapped when their part of the play was over. The large backdrop made of flexible plastic that the kids had drawn scenes on rotated to the next one. It appeared to be the inside of a ship with stars outside large windows.


    Yulia strode onto the stage, doing her best to look regal in her "captain" outfit. That image was ruined slightly when she waved at Alexander, but she still looked adorable. He waved back, earning some quiet chuckles from the other parents. He wasn''t the first parent to have a kid wave at them.


    "A new frontier!" she stated loudly and pointed while the rest of her age group chorussed the line.


    As the dialog continued, he realized they were doing a play about the start of the Great Expansion. She only had a few speaking lines and soon the scene changed to a planet. Her group hurried off the stage to the applause of the parents as the next group of kids took their place. One boy planted a flag and declared the new world to be Borrus.


    Alexander knew Borrus was one of the core worlds, but he doubted it was the first world humanity colonized or even visited considering there were closer options.


    The play went on for another hour as the kids rotated through their roles. It was entertaining and the kids seemed to love it so that was all that mattered as far as he was concerned.


    "Alex! Alex! Can we do that again?" Yulia asked, hopping up and down in excitement.


    He smiled and tussled her hair. "In a few months, maybe. How about you run along with your friends and get out of those outfits, then you can go play."


    "Ok!" she exclaimed as she ran over to Sarah and Claire.


    "What did you think?" Nancy asked as she approached him tentatively. Like most of the people on Eden''s End, she was still uncertain about him. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was fine, at least people weren''t overtly hostile or completely dismissive anymore.


    "I enjoyed it. I''m pretty sure the kids enjoyed it more though. It was a wonderful idea." The slightly older woman beamed at the praise.


    "You said you wanted to discuss something after the play?" she asked after reigning in her delight.


    "I did. I want to establish a school on Eden''s End."


    She looked at him funny. "But we already have a school."


    Alexander shook his avatar head. "Not like the school for kids. I wanted to establish an academy of sorts. It would be to offer advanced training in engineering, sciences, and starship operation." He had planned on waiting a few years to implement his academy idea, but he was running into a shortage of skilled workers and people capable of operating spaceships.


    The woman looked pensive at that. "I don''t know, Alex. While your learning modules help, most of the people¡­ the drifters, won''t want anything to do with those types of things. You might find it hard to get anyone to accept the offer."


    He was aware of the drifter''s general dislike of open conflict after getting to know them a bit more. It''s why some chose to leave STO space. Not all of them mind you, but a good chunk just wanted someplace away from all the politics and violence. It wasn''t that they were cowards, if they were, they would have simply rolled over for the pirates. They were willing to defend what was theirs, they simply didn''t want to get dragged into a fight that wasn''t.


    Alexander could respect that, even if he thought it was rather shortsighted. If they ever wanted to set down roots, they needed to show people they couldn''t be pushed around. Alexander was hoping to change that attitude, but he knew it would take time.


    "I''m aware of the issues, but I still wish to do it. This academy would be available for kids sixteen and older and any adult who wishes to attend. There will be minimum requirements that they need to meet, but I don''t see any issues for most of the people here."


    Nancy sighed. "It''s your facility, Alex, and you can do with it what you want, but I think it''s a mistake. First off, I don''t know anything about engineering, science, or starship operation so my expertise would be minimal. And your learning modules, while vast, do not cover some of those subjects, specifically starship operations. At best, we could train engineers. I''m assuming that won''t cut it if your plan is to have a crew for those ships in space."


    "That is one of my goals, yes, but I don''t expect to see any results on that front for quite some time."


    "Then what do you need me for?"


    "Since you are one of the few people on Eden''s End with teaching experience, I hoped you would be willing to design a basic curriculum plan. Nothing concrete, but something we can use as a starting point."


    While she still seemed skeptical, she stopped to think about his proposition. "I suppose that''s something I can do. It''s going to be a rather vague outline though since I''m not an expert. You have that scientist friend of yours, right? Maybe she would be willing to help me? You''re also going to have to find someone else to run this academy of yours. I don''t want to be responsible for training people who might see combat. If that''s fine with you, then I''ll see what I can do."


    "Understandable," Alexander replied. "I''m good with those terms. As for Dr. Lund, you''re free to ask." He hadn''t been planning on asking the impromptu teacher to run the academy. This just made it so he didn''t have to hurt the woman''s feelings.


    He was hoping that Captain Matthews would agree to take on the role. That assumed the man retired as he had mentioned. Alexander wasn''t willing to actively poach the man from the Hawks, not after they went above and beyond to save Eden''s End from pirates.


    Alexander thanked Nancy for accepting the offer and left the atrium. His jovial mood didn''t last long as he spotted one of the STO survivors. The man was staring at him with a scowl. It was the Marine, the one he had been forced to subdue during their rescue.


    The Marine had already told Captain Krieger about what happened aboard the ship, which wasn''t a surprise. The fact that Krieger hadn''t seemed surprised by the revelation was though. It seemed Krieger had already figured that part out. Knowing things like this ahead of time was important and Alexander was glad he was recording their conversations. While he hoped they would behave themselves, he had been burned one too many times by things coming out of the STO. It was safer to keep them under surveillance.


    He ignored the scowling Marine as he strode by. Alexander had done a pretty good job of completely avoiding any of the other STO people as they "got their bearings" as Krieger put it. He knew the man and his people were scouting the facility and looking for a way off Eden''s End. Alexander couldn''t blame them. He wanted them gone too. It had been two months since their rescue and their presence was starting to get on his nerves.


    While their actions were annoying, they hadn''t stepped out of line or attempted anything, which is why Alexander allowed them to continue their activities. It kept them occupied and out of trouble. It did slow down his work on the surface a bit since he didn''t want them stumbling upon his engine work but that was fine. He just focused his efforts on his space infrastructure and the salvage operations, both of which were humming along nicely.


    All of the pirate ships had been brought back to the station, and the poor refueling depot looked like a cobbled-together mess of ships stuck onto each other. Three of the six ships were in salvageable condition. All of which just so happened to be more frigates. They were renamed Eden''s Resolve, Eden''s Might, and Eden''s Revenge. He probably wouldn''t stick with that naming convention going forward, but it seemed fitting when it came to the defeated pirate ships.


    The other six ships were dismantled and fed into the still malfunctioning smelter, which he had to fly up and repair about once a week. Even with the additional maintenance requirements, the smelter was still faster and more efficient than the refinery. He also fed the gunboats to the smelter. The one he earmarked for Markus wasn''t in any shape to get repaired.


    He managed to save the fusion activation sequence, but that was about all that he was able to recover off that ship. Alexander was already working on designing a new gunship for the boy. Considering it would be at least four years before Markus was qualified to captain a vessel, Alexander had time.


    The laser array had also finished the first two layers around the planet with another two layers, in a much higher orbit, planned. That meant there were two hundred and fifty-six weapon systems up and running. Individually they were weak, but they were also extremely cheap and quick to make. Any pirate fleets dumb enough to attack Eden''s End now would be in for a world of hurt especially since Lucas had completed his multilink program.


    Speaking of his resident computer programmer, they also had his eyes across the system now, thanks to Captain Na agreeing to deploy their asteroid cameras. Now there was no worry that someone would be able to sneak in anymore.


    Alexander wasn''t done with their defenses though. He already had plans to put just as many laser satellites around the nearest moon. That would need to wait until he could build a new control ship though. The nearest moon was far enough away that radio lag would make trying to target anything frustrating at best. He hoped the control ship would resolve that issue. Alexander was not taking any chances for a repeat of the last two attacks. This time he was making sure he had enough redundant defences so his other work wasn''t interrupted.


    With these measures, he finally felt like he had some breathing room to get his other projects back on track.

 Chapter 2-27

    "Report," Vitor said, trying to keep the exhaustion out of his voice. While the air inside the facility was breathable, unlike outside, he still wasn''t used to how thin it was compared to back home. It wasn''t enough to harm him or his people, but it did make working extra tiring.Then there was the pervasive smell of rotten eggs. The smell made it hard to sleep, compounding the issue of living in this place.


    Of course, none of the locals were outwardly hostile towards them. In fact, the drifters of Eden''s End were more than happy to point out the exits to his people, laughing while they did. One of them even offered a breathing mask to one of his crew and said, "Good luck!"


    It wasn''t a very funny joke, despite the man''s uproarious laughter. He had briefed his people about not leaving the facility. While they could survive with the mask for a good few hours, it would only take one disgruntled local locking the door behind them to seal anyone''s fate that stepped outside. Vitor didn''t think that was likely to happen, but he preferred not to take that chance.


    "¡­We finally encountered the smuggler with the FTL ship," his officer stated.


    Vitor sighed. "I''m assuming by your hesitation, that the encounter was not a pleasant one?"


    "It was not, Captain. The man spat at the Marine accompanying us, almost causing a brawl. If it wasn''t for the local guards trailing us, there likely would have been a fight."


    It had taken weeks to track down the visitor. Kane certainly hadn''t mentioned the man, but considering the smuggler''s reaction to a simple question, maybe there was a reason Kane hadn''t spoken of him. He mentally marked that route of egress as a last resort.


    His people could storm the smuggler''s ship and take it, he was certain of that. He was also certain that Kane would shoot them down if they did. If something didn''t change within eight months as Kane had initially predicted, he was going to look for a more direct approach to getting out of there.


    "What about Kane?" Over the weeks, his people had caught glimpses of the man, or more specifically the robot. He had debriefed each of his crew after the attack. What he learned was rather shocking.


    He only had vague memories of shooting at something entering the Dawn''s bridge, but those fleeting memories matched the robot''s description. He was black, headless, and eight feet tall with long segmented arms and legs. There was also a report from one of the surviving Marines that the robot was strong enough to overcome the augment gear of a full combat suit.


    The robot thing wasn''t too surprising, Vitor had seen the man''s dossier. Supposedly some sort of disease kept him in a stasis pod, although the analysis notes in the record all agreed that it was likely a cover story for something. They just didn''t know what. With Kane''s skills, and money, it was a good chance he was some sort of engineering genius and wanted to remain off the corporations'' radar. Considering his run-in with Omni, and his subsequent flight from STO space, it seemed like he wasn''t entirely unjustified.


    By now, Vitor knew Kane was avoiding him, but he couldn''t understand why. The robot suit and the story about him being sick and in a medical stasis pod weren''t exactly well known on Eden''s End, but they weren''t secrets either.


    Most of the locals just assumed the man was some rich eccentric who transferred his brain into the body of the robot to extend his life. That was certainly more plausible than the sickness excuse. Vitor knew there were some experiments to extend the human consciousness past death by transplanting the brain. As far as he was aware, those experiments were only successful for a few months before the brains shut down.


    Not that it mattered, Vitor needed a face-to-face with the man, and he knew how to make that happen. He hadn''t done it yet, because he knew it was going to cause friction.


    ***


    Alexander was making his way to the launch control room when he spotted one of Captain Krieger''s people. Without missing a step, he turned down a side passage. It was annoying and would mean it took extra time to reach his destination, but he felt it best if he avoided them while they were here. It had been almost three months, but not a single STO vessel had shown up looking for them. Not even a scout ship.


    The entire system had been quiet since the battle, which was a relief. It had given them time to complete the defensive envelope around the planet and move on to other projects.


    That was one of the reasons why Alexander was heading toward the launch room. He wanted to notify the engineers that there would be no more launches after today. It was time to redirect their efforts to the second shuttle, which had been stripped weeks ago in preparation for the new parts. And he couldn''t wait to see how well they performed.


    Alexander was ready to test this fifth-generation engine design on an actual ship instead of just the test site. The numbers were promising. He finally had a design that outperformed the Omni engine, thanks to Dr. Lund''s help. He might have gotten to this point on his own, but it would have taken years of trial and error to figure out what he was missing without Lund''s optimization formula.


    As he neared another intersection, another group of Krieger''s people entered the end of the hall. Hiding his annoyance, he turned and walked down yet another path.


    While he followed the new route, he focused on the other project he was happy to start. Eden''s Fury had finally been stripped down to the frame. All the holes and cracks were patched in the old bones of the ship and it was time to rebuild the vessel from the ground up.


    He didn''t simply want to rebuild it, he wanted to make it the best ship he possibly could. That meant lasers as the main weapon. These new lasers were based on a modified design that took inspiration from his initial design as well as the STO weapons he studied. He was still working on missiles, but the ship would have missile tubes that incorporated his railgun improvements into them. It wouldn''t change them much, but he thought he might be able to launch them slightly faster than the STO''s design.


    Of course, weapons weren''t the only improvement. An even bigger one was the computer. As much as he would like to dedicate the same computing power that Epsilon''s Dawn has to his ship, he wasn''t in the position to waste two supercomputers to make that happen. That meant Fury was only getting one supercomputer, which was more processing power than all four of the pirate frigates had originally if you added them together. This leap in processing power meant the ship would need far fewer crew to operate its systems. Which would be a welcome thing since he didn''t have any crew at the moment.


    The rest of the ship''s systems would be state-of-the-art, or as stately as Alexander could make them. They probably wouldn''t come close to some of the fancy corporate ships, but that was fine. He was going for ease of use and simplicity, not opulence.


    He couldn''t forget the armor. After completing his newest generation of printers, Alexander was finally able to produce an electron microscope. After studying the tiny flakes that came off of his body against the armor from the STO ship, he realized they weren''t the same. They were close though.


    The STO had definitely tried to mimic a material very similar to what Alexander was made from, which was enough confirmation for him to declare that his body was alien in origin. Not that he had expected anything different by this point but it was nice to finally have proof.


    The armor and Alexander''s body were made from pure carbon, but the material structure differed. The STO armor was composed of thin layered sheets of compressed carbon in a strange lattice structure that almost looked like crystal. It looked almost like Lonsdaleite, but not quite.


    Alexander paused. How did he know what Lonsdaleite was or what its crystal structure looked like? He hadn''t encountered any material like that since awakening as far as he could recall. It seemed to be just another random memory that came to him.


    After testing the material, he realized why it was designed this way. The material spread heat and pressure across its surface, dissipating the energy before shattering and flaking away, leaving an undamaged layer underneath. It looked to be a form of ablative armor. It also seemed to have an inherent ability to absorb all sorts of sensor pulses and radiation which is what made it nearly undetectable by modern scanners. It was a very interesting material and he would love to do more testing on it.


    That crystal structure was mirrored in his own armor, but his version was so much more than that. The first thing of note was that the layers that composed his outer skin were not separate. It was in fact a solid lattice as far as he could tell from the much smaller samples. The next oddity was the evenly spaced intervals which had a different structure that when he turned it just right, allowed him to see through the piece.


    He finally understood why he could see from his entire body. The thin tubes of clear carbon, probably diamond or something even more bizarre, interspersed throughout his armor acted like fiberoptic filaments to pass light through to whatever processor was inside. If it was fiberoptic in nature and those channels were damaged, it also explained why that area went dark.


    As for why it repaired itself, he wasn''t exactly sure, but he had an idea. If it was all designed to have a crystal structure, there was nothing that would prevent it from growing back. He had no idea how that was possible and whatever system performed that magic must have been hidden deep within him. The STO''s armor didn''t have anything that pointed to self-repair. If it did, he would have seen some change, even if small, to the overall damage to the Dawn.


    Their armor was impressive, but it was ultimately a cheap imitation of the real thing. Despite that, it was better than anything he had available. The problem was that he had no idea how to even begin creating the stuff. The crystal structure of the armor outside of the diamond pathways wasn''t normally found in carbon. So printing it wasn''t an option. Considering the armor''s lack of use on other STO ships, the process was probably extremely difficult and required very specialized processes.


    He added finding out how to reproduce it to his list as he rounded another corner and saw another group of Krieger''s people. Running into them once wasn''t a surprise, twice was a fluke, but three times was a pattern. Alexander sighed internally. He could simply walk past them and ignore this attempt, but he knew they were bound to try it again sooner or later. He was hoping the STO was off the base before it came to this. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Instead of simply walking past the unassuming group, he turned down the only path left to him to meet the man he knew would be waiting for him when he arrived.


    "You have my attention, congratulations," Alexander stated in annoyance as he came to the end of the tunnel where a collapsed section still blocked it off.


    The man looked momentarily stunned by his appearance before replying. "You were a hard man to get ahold of, Kane, but now that I see you in person, I can see why¡­ Where did you get that robot from?"


    Alexander crossed his arms. "I didn''t come here to answer questions about myself, what do you want Captain Krieger?" This little detour was taking time out of his day and had soured his mood.


    "I wanted to thank you in person for saving my crew. And to ask if anything has changed to get us back to STO space?"


    "I would have notified you if it had."


    "Like you notified us of the cargo ship?"


    Alexander chuckled at the accusation. "Your people met Captain Shall, how''d that go? I can''t say I much like the guy either, but by all means, try to take his ship. Pretty sure that would go quite badly for you though."


    "Is that a threat?" Krieger asked, not showing any emotion.


    Alexander shook his avatar''s head. "No. I''m pretty sure Shall has his ship rigged to blow if anyone tries taking it from him. He seems like the kind of guy that would do something like that."


    "¡­I see. And the mining ship?"


    "Don''t pretend that you don''t know who that ship belongs to and what the captain and his crew went through. Do you really think Captain Na would agree to any request after being treated like that by the STO?"


    "You could ask him," Krieger insisted.


    Alexander nodded at that. "I could. I''m not going to though. Let''s get something straight, Captain. You and your people are guests here. Ones that are straining my patience by digging into my business. I rescued you, healed your people, fed, and sheltered them. I don''t owe you anything else. The sooner I can get you out of my proverbial hair, the better. Are you satisfied now?"


    The man looked suitably chastised by Alexander''s words. "I am, Mr. Kane. I will tell my people to stop poking around and annoying you. If there is anything we can do to assist, please let us know."


    "The farmers are always looking for people to help with the fields. If you need something to keep your Marines busy, I suggest you start there. You have a nice day now, Captain." With that, Alexander turned around and headed toward his destination.


    This was exactly why he wanted to avoid this face-to-face with Krieger. The man was sharp and instantly recognized that his body had something in common with the STO ship''s armor. Despite that, he was finally glad it was over with. Now he wouldn''t need to constantly avoid their people and he might get more stuff done.


    Eden''s Fury should be complete soon. If the STO didn''t show up by then to claim their people and ship, he planned to take them home himself. He wasn''t willing to wait another five months. Normally, taking a pirate ship to STO space would be a bad idea, but he learned how to reproduce a transponder thanks to the one aboard the Dawn. He would have asked Shall if he could look at his, but he didn''t want to owe that shifty man anything.


    It turns out that the transponders weren''t all that special. They were hard-coded transmitters that provided make, manufacturer, build date, name of ship, and captain, along with some other info. Since Alexander had a licensed company in STO space, he could add his manufacturer code to the transponder. It would also have a military tag since he was an independent faction. He learned about that tag from Dawn as well.


    The STO was going to be surprised when they saw that but he didn''t particularly care. The military tag classified their ship as an independent military vessel but it also gave them the legal right to switch the transponder on and off, unlike non-military vessels. There were certain restrictions to non-STO military ships in STO space, but not as many as you might think. If there were, the corporations wouldn''t be able to field their own military vessels.


    He still hoped the STO would get off their collective asses and come look for their people, but as the months passed, he realized that probably wasn''t going to happen.

 Chapter 2-28

    Captain Valeria Greaves exited the Goliath transport ship and entered the STO Navy Fleetyard in Varlen. Her ship was still hidden inside the massive transport and would remain so until they left with their new orders.It galled her to have to relocate. All the work she and her crew did in Epsilon Indi was now wasted, and she didn''t even have a clue as to what was so important that she needed to be retasked. Command had refused to transmit new orders over Qcomm, which meant whatever she was doing was top secret, but that didn''t make the loss of her previous mission any more palatable.


    She reached her destination and checked her dress blues to ensure everything was in order before knocking on the hatch.


    The door slid open and a face she recognized greeted her. She slapped a crisp salute. "Vice Admiral Fletcher, I wasn''t expecting you personally, Sir." Normally her missions came from the intelligence department. The fact that the head of Navy Intel was here delivering it in person, meant whatever mission she was being assigned was beyond secret.


    "At ease, Captain Greaves, step inside and secure the door behind you. We have important matters to discuss."


    She exited the room two hours later. Now that she knew why Delta was retasked, she felt a bit better about the whole ordeal. Still, her former Captain, Vitor Krieger had been out of communication for nearly four months by now. The ship was likely lost, according to Vice Admiral Fletcher, but she believed differently.


    Valeria had been Krieger''s First Mate before she got promoted to Captain. She knew the man, probably better than most. If there was any way to survive, that crafty bastard had probably figured it out.


    Still, it was concerning that one of the Erebus class ships had gone silent. They were meant for stealth and reconnaissance, but they were also heavily armed and armored. There was nothing a single pirate ship could throw at them that would be able to get past their defenses.


    So whatever had caused them to miss their communication windows likely was dangerous. She would need to be cautious in her approach.


    Valeria supposed she would find out what waylaid the Dawn when she arrived at the ship''s last known stop in two or three weeks. She boarded the Goliath and quickly made her way back to her ship to go over the data chip that the Vice Admiral had handed her. It detailed their last scan of the Y6X-3H2 system.


    A few hours later, the massive transport ship disgorged its cargo far from prying eyes and the Delta''s Eclipse made its way to the nearest jump point.


    ***


    Considering the possibility that hostiles capable of taking down an Ererbus class ship might be in the destination system, Valeria had her pilot jump them in well outside the Oort cloud. Their trajectory would keep them at a safe jump distance the entire way. She wanted to get a clear picture of what was going on before she committed to entering the system''s gravity well.


    The ship would likely still be able to jump from most places inside the system, but she couldn''t be certain. She knew some pirates were now using cargo containers fitted with gravity plating to produce artificial gravity wells.


    Those traps didn''t cover a big area, but it was usually enough to throw off the precise calculations of a jump or destabilize a warp bubble enough to trigger the safety overrides built into most commercial vessels. Eclipse had similar safeties, but it also had two supercomputers capable of crunching the math to produce a new jump calculation in less than a second.


    "Anything to report?" she asked the sensor operator.


    "There is one active transponder in the system, Ma''am. It belongs to the mining ship in the info packet, The Moonlit Destiny. There is also a distress signal. ¡­It''s odd though."


    "Odd how?"


    "Well, it''s got the correct Navy signature, but the message isn''t STO standard, Ma''am."


    "Hmm, send it to my console."


    Valeria looked over the repeating message. It stated that the ship was damaged, and the crew was rescued. Then it listed Captain Krieger as a survivor along with other members of the crew. Finally, it called for any STO ship receiving the message to retrieve the crew and the damaged ship from the fourth planet, known as Eden''s End.


    "Is there anything that looks suspicious?"


    "It''s unclear, Captain. We''re too far out for our sensors to get a good read."


    "Fly us between the orbit of the fourth and fifth planet. I want to know what''s out there."


    It took time to adjust their course, but after another day, they were in position.


    "There are hundreds of satellites in orbit around the fourth planet," the sensor operator stated. "We can also see a space station, along with a collection of ships. The emergency beacon is transmitting from a bit of dead space there."


    Well, that had to be the Dawn. She had hoped to find them drifting, maybe with their drive or FTL out. That would have made rescue easy. The ship being docked at an unregulated space station was a problem. She couldn''t simply approach the planet. It could be a trap. And even if it wasn''t, she couldn''t exactly communicate with them, given the nature of her ship.


    She had a few options, but none of them were good.


    The first was to simply retrieve the captured STO people by force. That was the most dangerous since she didn''t know what brought down Delta''s sister ship. For all she knew, she could end up just like them, or worse.


    The second option was to capture the mining vessel and interrogate the crew. That put the people on the ground at risk, assuming they were down there.


    The last of the bad options was to record everything she could and return to Varlen to see what Vice Admiral Fletcher wanted to do. She was loath to leave Navy personnel down there but she needed to report this. The scans she had of this system from six months ago showed none of this orbital infrastructure other than the station. Whatever was going on here was outside her pay grade, and she wasn''t nearly as gung-ho about action as her former Captain and mentor.


    "Pilot, plot a course out of the system and get us back to Varlen so we can report this."


    ***


    "Shouldn''t we radio them?" Lucas asked as he watched the stealth STO ship turn to leave.


    Alexander shook his head. It wasn''t clear when the ship arrived in the system, but they must have done it far outside the system boundary to completely mask their jump. It was another thing they would need to watch for. The only reason they knew the ship was here and could track it, was because one of the new camera satellites accidentally picked it up passing between the camera and one of the planets. "As much as I want Krieger and his people gone, I don''t want the STO to know we can detect their ships."


    "Gotcha," the young man said with a smirk.


    They watched for a few more hours until the ship jumped out of the system. Now that Alexander knew the secret of how they masked their jump signatures, it wasn''t all that impressive. It was certainly clever though, so he would give the STO that.


    "I don''t want anyone gossiping about our latest visitor, am I clear?" He made sure everyone in the command room heard him.


    There was a chorus of affirmative replies. Alexander wasn''t sure that would be enough to keep Captain Kreiger and his people from hearing about it though. He sighed internally, hoping he wouldn''t have to explain to the man that he hadn''t bothered communicating with the first and only STO ship to pass through here in four and a half months.


    "So what now, Alex?" Lucas asked.


    "Now we wait until the STO Navy arrives. I don''t imagine it will be long."


    The Fury was only half finished. That in and of itself was a monumental achievement considering building a ship from the ground up could take years. Having a prebuilt frame and Alexander''s robots really sped up the process though. Production was going so fast that they would have run out of material if it wasn''t for the ships they recycled.


    "Lucas, can you bring up the shipyard cams?"


    "Sure thing," he responded enthusiastically.


    The room''s holo emitter switched to a full view of the station and the ship under construction. The other ships had been moved to their own docking clamps and a ring now ran around the outside of the hangar where four ships could moor at the same time. Even that was pushing the small station''s capacity. Alexander had to build eight more robots with ion thrusters to keep the station stable and adjust its altitude when necessary.


    It was a bandaid approach, but he didn''t have the time to design a new station or redesign the current one.


    Eden''s Fury had been rebuilt from the inside out, which made it much easier for the robots to access. All of the internal spaces where the crew would reside during combat had been armored with the latest armor specifications Alexander had at his disposal. He would like to say it was leagues better than the old external armor, but it really wasn''t. It was slightly better, but it only weighed about half as much as the old armor, so that was something.


    The rest of the interior spaces were lined with titanium to reduce weight as much as possible while ensuring it was just as strong as the steel alloy that was used in the old ship. Thankfully the Y6X-3H2 system was rife with the minerals that contained titanium, and he got quite a bit from recycling the other ships.


    Some of the internal systems hadn''t been put in yet, but they were being manufactured now. That was the main holdup. Once those were done, the interior could be closed off and the first layer of outer armor could be added.


    "Switch over to printer five, please."


    The view switched to a massive circular construction with ion thrusters along the outer edge. Inside that was a rapid halo of bright white light as the printer assembled components for one of the three new engines Alexander would be adding to the Fury. An attached assembly platform held the partially assembled thruster in line with the printer.


    Alexander had originally planned to print the thrusters planetside and ship them into orbit. After thinking about it for some time, and dealing with Krieger and his crew poking around, he decided that wasn''t going to work.


    The preparation time to ensure his workshop could handle that sort of scale would have taken too long. And that was only one issue to overcome, there were multiple others. Instead, he simply decided to build a massive printer in orbit. With his newest generation of self-learning robots, it took less time to assemble the printer than it did for him to design it.


    The design was nothing like any printer he had ever seen before, even the other orbital ones. He did away with the print container, and most of the clunky stuff that went with ensuring a sterile environment inside a contained area for optimal print quality. Instead, he leaned on another technology to bridge that gap and added a static field generator to the printer ring that he pulled from one of the scrapped ships.


    It took a bit of testing to get the static field to not interact negatively with the robotic print heads, but he did manage it on his small-scale test. It was actually easier to accomplish on the full-scale print ring.


    Now he had a twenty-five foot diameter print head with no length restrictions. They weren''t quite as accurate as the printers Dr. Lund said he needed, but they were close enough for now. He was already tweaking the design to remove this slight deficiency.


    Alexander even had an idea of how he might incorporate the interaction of the static field to help improve the printer, but he needed to purchase the info packet on how the fields operated before he could go down that route.


    If everything went to plan, Eden''s Fury would be complete in a little over a month. If the STO reacted immediately, they might arrive before that happened, but he somehow doubted that would be the case. From what he saw so far, the STO was slow to respond to anything. And he knew there was only a small fleet at Varlen the last time he went through. The increased pirate attacks may have prompted more ships in the area, but if they could have sent them off to look for Dawn, they already would have.


    With that in mind, Alexander''s goal was to finish Fury, have Na and his crew pilot it, and take Captain Krieger and his people back to STO space. That left the Epsilon''s Dawn to deal with. He wasn''t keeping the ship, he didn''t need the STO breathing down his neck about that, especially since he had already learned all he wanted to from the vessel. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Fixing the ship wasn''t an option, but he could retrofit a power supply to the outside to power the jump drive. It just required tapping into the reactor power of one of the two shuttles they now had. Dr. Lund had done the math for him, and while it would take every ounce of power the shuttle was capable of producing, she assured him that it could form a jump bubble.


    The rest of the shuttle, including life support, would need to be offline to make it happen though. That meant he needed to fly the shuttle and remain on the Dawn since nobody else could survive during the passage between systems otherwise.


    It would also take planning and coordination to tow the ship outside the gravity of the system and jump it, not once but multiple times. That would be a challenge, but he was certain they could make it happen.

 Chapter 2-29

    Yulia sat at the lunch table practically vibrating in excitement."What''s got you so jittery?" Claire laughed.


    "I learned something really neat in history today," she beamed. "Wanna guess what it was?"


    "Pass," both her friends laughed at the same time.


    "You said history was boring just last week, what changed?" Sarah asked.


    "Most history is," Yulia said defensively. "But I learned about something called a racecar. I wanna make one."


    "What''s a racecar?" Claire asked.


    "It''s like those carts Alex built, only designed to go fast."


    "Sounds dangerous," Sarah added. "I somehow doubt your dad is going to build you something like that."


    "He won''t have to, I''m going to build it myself."


    "I thought your printer could only make plastic stuff?"


    "Well¡­ yeah, but I''m going to ask him to make me a little electric motor. I learned all about gear ratios from the stuff I built before, so I know I can increase the output speed."


    Both of her friends looked at each other rather skeptically before giving a collective sigh.


    "Since it doesn''t sound like we can change your mind, we might as well make sure you don''t hurt yourself," Claire responded.


    Sarah just nodded along at Claire''s words.


    Yulia smiled. "You''ll see, it''ll be fun and awesome and you''ll both wanna drive it. Plus, I''ll show it to Alex after I know it works. I wanna surprise him."


    That explanation seemed to ease some of the worry from her friends.


    After school, the three of them headed back to her house. It would be the first time she ever brought them to her house. Normally she played at their homes or the park.


    Dog barked happily upon seeing her and she rubbed his soft plastic head. "Who''s a good boy?"


    He tilted his head sideways and Yulia laughed. "You are silly!"


    Dog barked in confirmation of this and the other girls giggled.


    "I always pictured your place as being bigger," Sarah said.


    "Really?" Yulia asked in confusion. "Why?"


    Sarah shrugged. "Your dad does kinda own everything. I figured he would have made a huge unit by connecting a few adjoining ones. I heard that''s what rich people do."


    Claire nodded at that. "Your home is smaller than mine."


    Yulia looked around the space. Now that Claire mentioned it, it was smaller. It didn''t feel smaller though. She wondered why that was.


    "Eh, who knows," she shrugged. "You two gonna just stand there and stare or are you gonna help me?"


    Her friends rolled their eyes and made their way over to her printer.


    Yulia pulled up the picture of a racecar on her tablet and showed the two girls. "This is what I wanna make!"


    "Um¡­ That seems really complicated," Claire stated.


    "Alex told me, start small and work your way up. So let''s start with four wheels and see what the three of us can come up with."


    What followed was a session of giggling and laughing as the two older girls helped her design a racecar. The holographic interface Alex had built for her printer made it easy to model anything you could imagine. It didn''t make it easy to build something that would work though.


    "Ohh! It needs to have a flower motif," Claire declared.


    "Pink and white!" Sarah mimicked her enthusiasm.


    "No pink!" Yulia put her foot down, and Dog barked in solidarity causing the girls to all start laughing.


    "Fine, no pink," Sarah stuck her tongue out.


    The trio worked on the design for another hour before they had to leave for supper. Yulia looked at the result and sighed. It didn''t look anything like the racecar in the picture except for the fact it had four wheels.


    "Dog, can you help me make this workable?"


    Dog barked and trotted over to the machine where a cable flicked out from inside his mouth and plugged into the port. Alex had told her about Dog''s ability to learn, so she hoped he could help with the design.


    She watched in awe as Dog flicked through all the designs Alex had entered into the printer before he returned to the design she and her friends had built.


    Yulia wasn''t sure it would work, but soon enough Dog was modifying the design. He didn''t seem to change the outer appearance at all, but the body widened, then lowered. A hoop was added behind the seat and a framework of triangles was built to support the motor and battery.


    It still didn''t look like the racecar, but it looked fun nonetheless. She checked the dimensions and smiled. It would all fit on her printer.


    ***


    Alexander would have blinked in confusion if he had eyes. He was looking at Yulia''s latest invention. It looked like a gocart. A crazy-looking one at that. There was a note attached to it from Dog, letting him know she needed certain parts to complete it.


    Considering Dog had a hand in building it, he wasn''t as concerned as he might be. Alexander had included basic engineering in the adaptive learning program for Yulia''s friend. However, he didn''t expect it to be used in quite this manner. He printed out a small half-horsepower motor along with some metal gears and a belt. It wouldn''t be very fast, but it would be fast enough for a reckless ten-year-old.


    He left the items in a box marked ''Spare Parts'' that he kept handy for Yulia to rummage through. She occasionally came by to dig through it for a screw or something to use in her projects. Hopefully, the motor and parts wouldn''t make her too suspicious. He wanted her to explore her creative side as much as possible without worrying about what he might think. That being said, Alexander just wished Yulia''s engineering exploits had taken on a more risk-free path.


    Given how his daughter seemed to gravitate toward activities that brought the most excitement, he probably should have expected something like this eventually.


    ***


    Yulia poked her head in Alex''s workshop, but he must have been out. The printers and robots were whirring away like they always were. She found the sound rather comforting. Yulia was allowed to be in here, but Alex had been very specific that she never crossed any of the yellow and black lines painted around the robotic arms.


    As curious as she was to see what they were making, when she saw how fast those arms were moving, she didn''t even think about getting near them. Thankfully, she didn''t need to get close to those areas to get to Alex''s workstation.


    Dog followed her inside, a small plastic basket strapped to his back. She hurried over to the box of goodies Alex let her dig through. She wasn''t allowed to take anything that wasn''t in the box though. Alex told her some of the items in the workshop were dangerous or hazardous but everything in the box was safe to use.


    There were random plates of metal, some screws, some gears. Oh! She found a motor. She wasn''t sure she would. Yulia grunted as she lifted the motor out of the metal box. "How is this small thing so heavy? Dog, can you help me lift this?"


    Her companion barked and his front two legs grabbed the motor. She heard some distressing whirring sounds coming from his arms so she had to help her friend lift it into the small basket.


    She dug out a few more parts and a belt and set them all into the basket. The only thing she didn''t find was a battery or a controller. She looked at Dog. He had a battery and a controller. She wasn''t going to take it out of him, but maybe he could connect to the motor like he did with the printer. If not, she would need to ask Alex or one of the other engineers to see if they could print the components for her.


    When she arrived home, she found Alex making dinner. "Hey, Alex!"


    "Hello, Yulia, how was your day?"


    "It was¡­" she tried to think of the word. "Informative."


    Alex smiled at that. "I see you have a new project printing. Anything special?"


    "It''s a surprise."


    "Very well. Just make sure you follow the rules and stay safe. Your project will have to wait for now. Go put your stuff away and get washed up. Dinner will be ready shortly."


    She did that, sliding the box of parts off Dog as he crouched on the ground. Before she washed up, she had Dog try connecting with the motor. It worked. She pumped her fist in the air before patting Dog on the head. "Good boy. I''ll be back in a bit, I gotta clean up."


    Dog barked and Yulia hurried to wash the dirt and oil off her hands. This is one of the times she didn''t mind cleaning up. Digging through a box of metal scraps was dirty business.


    Yulia tried to eat her meal as quickly as possible so she could get back to her project, but the roasted vegetables that Alex made were really good, so she couldn''t help stopping to savor each bite. She had been on Eden''s End long enough to know fresh food wasn''t always a guarantee. And while the freeze-dried and reheated food was fine, it wasn''t the same.


    "Ish really good!" she stated while swallowing another mouthful.


    Alex admonished her for speaking with her mouth full. "We talked about this, Yulia. Please swallow before you speak, and take your time. Your project will still be there later."


    "I want to be like you though, and you hurry to get back to work." Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alex sighed. "That''s different."


    "Why?" she asked.


    "Because my work is for the safety and security of everyone on Eden''s End. Once I can ensure that is handled, I won''t need to work as hard."


    "Does that mean you will slow down?"


    Alex smiled. "I would like to say yes, but I think you already know the answer to that. I won''t be as pressured though, which means I will be able to spend more time with you. I''m sorry I haven''t been around very much lately."


    "You''re busy, I understand," Yulia said. She was getting old enough that she understood people had other priorities. She was used to being alone, even though she knew she could go seek out Alex any time she wanted. That helped.


    "Still," Alex said. "I think I need to do more. We could do a game night, or simply walk through the facility and chat? What do you think?"


    "Tonight?" she asked as she glanced back toward her room and her project.


    Alex laughed lightly. "Not tonight, but once or twice a week. Maybe even explore outside the facility if you''re up for it."


    That got her attention. None of the kids were allowed outside without adult supervision, and even then it was a rare occurrence. She nodded enthusiastically at the suggestion.


    Alex smiled. "Alright. I''ll make time for that this week. Now hurry up and finish your food, I can see you practically vibrating to go work on your project."


    She did just that.


    Alex hung around for a bit but let her know he needed to head back to his workshop to finish up some work. That was perfect.


    Once he was gone, Yulia dragged all of the items into the living room and began constructing the car. There weren''t many pieces to it. She popped the front wheels onto the plastic spindles and with the help of Dog she got the motor in place along with the gears and belt. Then she popped the rear wheels on and stepped back to look at her new racecar.


    It didn''t look anything like the original picture, but as long as it worked, that was all that mattered.


    She saw a problem though. "Dog, how are you going to fit on it to power the motor?"


    Her friend barked before climbing onto the plastic cage so his head was facing down and back toward the motor. Yulia saw the wire snake out of his mouth and connect to the motor and she smiled. "Good thinking, Dog! Now let''s test it out."


    She climbed into the plastic seat and sat behind the steering wheel. She gave it a tentative twist and watched the wheels move. Then she realized an issue. "How do I make it go."


    Dog barked and the wheels squealed across the concrete floor as they headed for the wall. "Dog, stop!"


    Dog barked in confirmation, but not before the car bumped hard into the wall with a plastic cracking sound. She hopped out and looked, but other than the front being a bit dented from the impact, it seemed to be fine.


    "I think I need a way to control the speed and a way to make it stop," she said. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to do that. "Any ideas?" she turned to her companion.


    Dog barked and climbed off the car before moving over to the printer. He selected an item that had two rectangular bits and two plastic rods attached to it. She looked at it before realizing they would attach to the nubs on the floor of the car. She wanted to ask why Dog hadn''t added them to the original print, but she remembered Alex telling her that Dog could learn, but that he didn''t always make the best choices until he had experience.


    "That''ll work, but where do the plastic rods attach to?"


    Dog lifted his front legs and Yulia spotted where the rods could attach. She chuckled. "Ok, if you think you can control the car that way, we can test it out."


    It didn''t take long to print the components and install them. Then she tested them out. Dog was much quicker to adjust the speed or slow her down with the change. It still wasn''t perfect but it was good enough.


    "We need a bigger space to try this out." Luckily the door was wide enough to fit the car through without having to take it apart again. Before she could do that Dog barked and pointed at the printer where the other item sat.


    "Do I have to," she sulked.


    Dog barked again and she sighed. "Fine."


    She trudged over and picked up the helmet. The pink helmet.


    Yulia couldn''t help laughing as the car raced down the hallway. It took her a bit to get the hang of steering and using the pedals, the plastic exterior had the scrapes to prove that, but she had eventually managed.


    It wasn''t as fast as she would have hoped, but considering how badly she had damaged it already, it was probably a good thing. It was still faster than she could run though, so she screamed in delight as she raced through the hallway and into the atrium with the playground.


    The car felt much slower in the large open space, but she could tell it wasn''t by how quickly she was crossing the area. The kids stopped to gawk at her as she raced past. She waved at them and they tried to chase her, but quickly gave up.


    She did a full lap around the central post before the car started to shake and she could smell something foul. Before she could stop, one of the front wheels popped off and went bouncing away.


    Yulia screamed in panic and tried to steer, but the car turned sideways and tipped over. She fell out but wasn''t hurt, thanks to the helmet. She could also see the point of the bar behind the seat. If she had been strapped into the seat, she would have been protected.


    The kids from the playground rushed over to see if she was alright and to ask about her car.


    As Yulia answered their questions she thought about how to improve the design. When she inspected the damage, she could see that the piece holding the front wheel had melted off.


    "Is this available in the exchange?" one kid asked.


    She looked at the boy, his eyes were wide in delight. "It''s a prototype," she puffed with pride, remembering the word Alex had used to describe some of his unfinished projects.


    The kids all oohed at that, although she doubted most knew what the word meant. She only knew because of Alex.

 Chapter 2-30

    Alexander left the apartment a bit conflicted. While it was true he wanted to spend more time with his daughter, he wasn''t completely honest with her as to the reason.If his plans came together and the Fury was completed on schedule, he knew he was going to be gone for an extended period of time. A month at least, maybe more. He would discuss his absence with her in the coming weeks, but considering how she reacted the last time he left, he wasn''t sure she would be all that happy he was going to do so again.


    He wasn''t sure how the STO would react when he brought their people and ship back either. If they reacted negatively, Alexander was sure the new and improved Fury could hold its own, but it was still only one ship.


    Alexander thought about simply dumping the crew in lifepods and turning around, but that really wasn''t an option considering he needed to have a safe route to and from STO space. So he needed to take a more diplomatic approach, and hope the people in Varlen were not trigger-happy.


    As always when he entered his workshop, it was a riot of noise and motion. Alexander had no plans to start any new big projects in the coming weeks, but he did need to check on the progress of his current projects before Fury was finished.


    The first thing he pulled up was the facility map to check on the progress of repairs. As areas were completed, the workers marked them off and the section turned green on his map. There was still less than forty percent of the facility marked green. Another third was yellow, denoting sections being worked on. And the rest was black.


    He didn''t have the same capacity for repairs on the surface as he did in space so the repairs to the facility were lagging quite far behind. It was also much more difficult for his robots to reach certain areas. The main dome especially was an ongoing headache due to its enormous size.


    The entire thing had to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch, which wasn''t easy. Alexander had been forced to build three construction cranes to facilitate the process, further slowing down work planetside. The dome also required a bunch of support while it was being constructed. Once it was complete, the single large central support would carry the load, but there was nothing to hold up the walls until then.


    Alexander really wished he knew how the original builders got around that issue. Unfortunately, he didn''t have any information on the construction processes used when they built the facility.


    The dome would have been finished by now if Alexander had prioritized the work. He didn''t do that for a few reasons. The first reason is that the workers needed experience before they tackled something so complicated. They were getting this by working on the smaller atriums and other areas of the facility that needed maintenance and repairs. The second reason is that he didn''t have enough manufacturing capacity for the main dome.


    Unlike the other atriums, the main atrium was all glass. Well, technically that wasn''t true. It was a transparent ceramic material made from a combination of aluminum and magnesium that was pressed and heated, forming a transparent substance.


    The resulting material was much stronger than glass but it was also impossible to print because of the pressing and heating requirements. That meant a specialized manufacturing line had to be built. There was no worry about sourcing the materials for the ceramic composite. They existed in high quantities on the surface. That just left producing the substance as the bottleneck.


    With the help of the engineers, Alexander had gotten the manufacturing line set up a few weeks ago. It was in a different area from his workshop though, since the process produced a lot of heat and chemical vapors.


    The workers running this manufacturing line were familiarizing themselves with the process and running test batches now. If the ceramic had the correct properties, they could begin producing massive sheets of transparent material in another few weeks. The upside to all this infrastructure is that the material could be used to replace any windows on shuttles or other spacecraft that may still use them, which were also made from the same substance.


    It would allow them to repurpose a few more of the derelict shuttles but other than that, he wasn''t sure how much he would need this process going forward. If Alexander designed and built his own shuttle in the future, there would be no windows. It would simply have external cameras like larger spaceships.


    Seeing as that process was going as quickly as it could, he turned to the next project.


    The tunnels meant to connect his ground-based orbital defenses to the facility were slow going. Without a dedicated boring machine, they had to be dug by hand-operated mining equipment, with each section being reinforced by concrete before moving to the next section. With the grid of laser defense satellites complete, the tunnel project had been put on the back burner. That was unacceptable.


    Alexander didn''t want to leave without these maintenance tunnels being completed. He put out a project request for more workers to hopefully speed it along. He also started designing a robot to assist with the process. He would have created an attachment for his other robots, but the work was so specialized it simply wouldn''t be possible. If the ground hadn''t consisted of a hard rock layer only a few inches below the surface of loose sand and dirt, he would have simply excavated the hole and dropped prefabricated concrete sections in place before covering it up again.


    The mining machines that were currently being used could dig through the hard material, but they weren''t designed for what he had in mind.


    The robot quickly took shape in his program. It would consist of four sections that connected together to form a ten-foot-wide circle. Cutting heads on the inside would reduce the rock to gravel and the workers would haul it off. Alexander was essentially recreating a boring machine without all the fancy automation. He didn''t know why he had memories of boring machines, but he did. At least the rock that was mined out could be processed for useful materials.


    The machine would take a few hours to print, then he would bring it to the first hole. Once he showed the workers how to operate it, they could easily move it to the next and lower it into place with the overhead cranes so it could be reassembled.


    That should solve his tunnel dilemma.


    Next up was the station. And he wasn''t talking about the refueling station. They needed an actual station, one capable of docking ships and acting as a shipping hub.


    It might seem a bit strange to think about building a shipping hub when he had no customers and nothing to ship, but an actual station would take far longer to construct than the little refueling depot. So he wanted it well underway before he needed to worry about it becoming an issue.


    The first thing that would go into the design of a new station was a shipyard. As that was likely to be Alexander''s first need. As much as he would have liked to build a fully enclosed hangar large enough to host something like the Talon, that simply wasn''t going to happen, not anytime soon anyway. His initial design would be an exposed manufacturing yard, which wasn''t all that uncommon from what he knew.


    It just needed a docking bay, a disembarkation area, and a hangar for a shuttle and material storage. Eventually, it would have a small hangar for ships to offload, rooms to stay in, and other amenities. Alexander was a decent engineer, but he wasn''t a structural engineer. Every time he tried to design such an orbital facility, the testing showed it would not hold up to the stresses involved. The closest he got to a working model was when he used the original design for the fuel depot and scaled it up. That wasn''t going to work for what he needed it to do.


    After wasting a few hours and getting nowhere, he sighed and set that project aside. In time he was sure he could figure it out, but his time was in short supply. Instead of wasting his own time, he had the funds, he might be able to purchase a workable design when he went to STO space. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Last on his list was his ship project. Eden''s Fury was nearly complete. In a few more weeks the final layer of armor would be in place and system testing could begin. He was looking forward to that. After that came the shakedown test inside the system to look for any issues that might crop up. On the outside, the ship would look almost identical to what it was before, at least structurally. The only visible difference would be the weapons.


    Inside it was a whole new beast. Everything other than the fusion reactor was replaced. With the new supercomputer core supplementing the other computerized systems, the ship could run on a crew of as few as five people. Alexander didn''t implement any of the stealth technology from the Dawn into the Fury. He didn''t want to ruffle the STO''s feathers just yet. Besides, he had no clue how to recreate the armor. The only technology he could have implemented was the jump dampening, which wasn''t all that useful without the stealth armor.


    That didn''t mean he didn''t take anything from the stealth ship. Incorporating the improvements into the lasers made them slightly more powerful than the ones he had before. The weapons were far more accurate and less prone to overheating thanks to the improved design as well. Alexander did drop his power shunt idea, at least for now. It was simply too much of a risk. He would look into the idea later to see if the process could be improved and made more viable. It was clear from the fight that it did increase the energy output of the laser by quite a bit. Having something like that in your back pocket in case of an emergency might be a good idea. He would work on that when he had time.


    While it wasn''t a major project, Alexander did need to check on the missiles. He was able to collect some of the explosive compounds from the pirate missiles that were shot down. What he found was that the substance was exactly the same as what was in the grenades, which made it easy since he was already producing that explosive compound.


    With him being short on advanced computer chips, he couldn''t recreate the active avoidance and electronic countermeasure systems that the pirate and STO missiles had, but that was fine. His missiles might be dumb, but they were still capable of finding a target based on the optical tracking system that Lucas built. In some ways, that was even better since the missiles didn''t emit any active sensors, which is what the STO''s tracking software looked for first and foremost. They would show up as a heat signature once they fired their boosters, but that could be masked by adding simple decoy flares. So that''s what Alexander did. Would it work? Maybe. It wasn''t like he was eager to start shooting at STO ships to find out. If everything went to plan, the missiles would remain untested unless some pirate tried to waylay them on the way.


    Finding nothing else on his project list to worry about, Alexander set about creating a supply list for Fury. Half of Na''s crew would be along for the maiden voyage and shakedown run. They would also be the crew piloting the ship back to STO space. Trying to convince Captain Na to accept had been a difficult conversation to have. In the end, Na only agreed because he would finally get to talk to his family in near real-time. Alexander assumed the other members of his crew agreed for similar reasons.


    That meant he needed provisions for them. He also needed to include provisions for all of Captain Krieger''s people. Thankfully, the Dawn had plenty of supplies for that, so it was just a matter of moving it all over from the derelict vessel.


    Alexander liked to give people the benefit of the doubt, but considering Krieger''s people would outnumber Na''s on the voyage back, he was going to take some precautions. Biolocked pulse rifles for all of Na''s crew, as well as biolocked bridge, engineering, and weapon spaces. The STO crew would also be monitored and kept in a certain section of the ship during the trip. That was overkill as far as security went, but it wasn''t enough for Alexander. He would also be monitoring the ship from Epsilon''s Dawn since he had to remain aboard the damaged vessel for the jumps.


    That was about as safe as he could make the trip.


    If Krieger was as smart as Alexander thought he was, he would ensure his people played nice. If not, the crew was prepared to handle any issues.

 Chapter 2-31

    "Hurry up, Alex!" Yulia said as she pulled him along."I''m hurrying, I''m hurrying," he laughed, letting his daughter tug him along. This was one of the nights he had set aside time to spend with her. His time to leave with Fury was coming quickly so there wouldn''t be many more of those days left. Depending on how things went in Varlen, he would be gone for a minimum of a month, maybe two.


    She led him to the old parking garage and let go of his hand.


    "Tada!" she said as she ran over to a blanket-covered item and removed it. "It''s a racecar and I built it all by myself!" she beamed with pride.


    He chose not to bring up the fact that he provided the mechanical components as he whistled in approval. "Impressive. What do you plan on doing with it?" He already knew she had been racing it around since he reviewed Dog''s recordings once a week.


    "Hmm¡­ I wanna get other kids to join me so we can race against each other. Do you think they would?"


    "That depends," he said. "Do you plan on selling them your design, or making more for them to use?"


    "Can''t I just give it to them for free?" she asked.


    "You could, but what happens when you run out of material for your printer?" he asked in return. This was a good learning opportunity for her.


    "Couldn''t I just ask you for more?"


    "You could, but I would run out as well, then what happens?" He probably had enough material to build these go-carts for every single person on Eden''s End, but that really wasn''t the point of what he was trying to teach her.


    "Uhh¡­ I dunno."


    He smiled. "Let me tell you about supply and demand."


    It took a bit of effort for him to simplify the idea so she understood what he was getting at.


    Yulia scrunched up her face. "So if everyone wants one, I should charge more? But nobody here uses credits. What do I charge?"


    "That''s a good question. I trade my resources for work or fresh food. Eventually, Eden''s End will probably have to adopt the Credit system, but you don''t need to worry about that for now. Instead of making these go-karts for every child, how about you do this? Make five or six of them and rent them to the kids for an hour. You''ll need to think of what you want in return for these rentals though."


    "Oh! Can I ask people to do my homework in exchange?"


    Alexander shook his head. "No. You can''t ask them to do your homework or any work you are assigned. Maybe trade toys or puzzles, art supplies, stories, snacks or sweets, maybe even clothes. Just don''t get greedy and don''t take anything of personal significance."


    "Hmmm. This sounds like it''ll be really hard. I just wanted to have fun with my friends," she huffed.


    Alexander chuckled. "It will be, but it will also be worth it. Simply offering your hard work to others for free will mean nobody will place any value on the service you offer. If you do this enough they will expect whatever you do to be offered freely in the future."


    "Won''t the kids get angry with me?"


    "Some might, but you can simply ignore them. Those who want to use the go-carts will be willing to trade with you."


    She sighed and kicked her feet. "I really wanna race against some of the other kids. Will you help me?" she pleaded.


    "You know those puppy-dog eyes don''t work on me," he laughed. "I''ll get you started. I''ll even build controllers and batteries for all of the carts. Since I doubt Dog can be in multiple places at the same time." Yulia made an oh face when she realized the issue Alexander had pointed out.


    "That being said, I need to let you know I''ll be leaving for a month or two in a few weeks."


    "What! Why?" She sounded less anxious than the last time Alexander was gone, but he could see she still wasn''t thrilled by the idea of him leaving again.


    He kneeled down next to her. "You know about our guests right?"


    She nodded her head. "The STO people you rescued."


    His avatar nodded. "Well, it''s time to take them back home. Normally I wouldn''t need to go with them, but I''m the only person who can remain aboard their ship during the journey. You remember how long it took to get here?"


    Yulia nodded sullenly.


    "It won''t take that long for me to get back, but we have to travel for a few weeks, and then I have some people to contact and deals to work out before we return."


    She rushed over and hugged his arm tight before she started to cry. "But I don''t want you to go!"


    He gently brushed her hair with his other arm. "I know, dear. I don''t want to go either, and I would take you with me if I could, but I can''t for the same reason that I have to be the one aboard the broken ship. You understand, right?"


    She nodded as she wiped the snot from her nose on her sleeve.


    "Besides, you''ll get to stay with your friend''s family again. You had fun the last time, remember?"


    "Yes," she said quietly.


    Alex pulled her in for another hug. He knew that breaking this news to her was going to be hard, but seeing her cry like this was difficult. Despite the pain, he wasn''t going to risk bringing her along into a possibly dangerous situation. A warship was no place for a child.


    "How about we put this sadness behind us and you show me what your invention can do?"


    Yulia wiped her eyes before getting ahold of her emotions. She nodded and put her helmet on before climbing into the vehicle. He was glad the girl was so resilient. If she wasn''t, he wasn''t sure he could stomach the thought of leaving her behind, despite his convictions to keep her out of harm''s way.


    He watched as his daughter raced around the concrete poles of the parking lot, sometimes getting recklessly close to them. Alexander winced internally every time she took one of these corners. It didn''t help that her cart tended to lift up as she cornered. With Dog hanging onto the rollbar, it was simply too top-heavy.


    Eventually, the go-cart clipped the concrete post just a bit. It was enough to flip it over and Alexander would have had a heart attack if he had a heart. He hurried over to see Yulia crawling from under the cart. The girl dusted herself off and stood. "I''m ok," she said as Alexander checked her over.


    "That was reckless, Yulia. Why were you driving so close to the poles?"


    She hung her head. "I was mad."


    He sighed and lifted her up. "I see my upcoming absence has affected you more than I thought. For that, I''m sorry, but you can''t take out your anger on others or yourself, Yulia. Anger is an important emotion, but you can''t let it cloud your judgment. We''re going to head to the clinic to make sure you''re ok, then we''re going to make this place a bit safer for you and your friends before you build any more of these go-karts. How does that sound?"


    Yulia didn''t reply, she simply turned away from him and rested her head on his shoulder. He sighed internally and made his way to the clinic.


    ***


    In the following weeks, Yulia had a rather subdued attitude toward Alexander. Even helping her create the other go-carts, and adding a few improvements to them that would make them more robust wasn''t enough to get her to say more than a few words to him at a time.


    Unfortunately, he didn''t have any more time to try and make it up to his little girl. Na and his crew had completed the Fury''s trial and shakedown run. The ship had a few minor issues to correct, but it was otherwise ready to go.


    As she came in for breakfast, Alexander told her the news. "I''ll be leaving tomorrow. I''ve already spoken to your friend''s parents and they were more than happy to let you stay with them until I get back."


    "Ok," she replied robotically as she absently stirred her oatmeal.


    "I''ll be back before you even know it," he said, repeating the same thing he had mentioned to her multiple times in the last few weeks.


    Yulia didn''t respond though. She simply spooned her food into her mouth and kept her eyes fixed on the table, unwilling to look at him.


    He knew she was doing this to try and get him to change his mind, but that didn''t make it any easier. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander walked Yulia to her class, not that she spoke to him or acknowledged his existence, but that was fine. He wanted to spend as much time with her as he could before leaving.


    Once she was in her class, he turned and went in search of Branston to see to the last-minute supply shipment.


    He found the man on Shuttle 2, doing a flight check.


    "Oh, hey, Alex, what''s up?"


    "Just checking on the final supplies going to Fury. How many more trips do you think it''ll be?"


    The man scratched his head as he looked out onto the landing pad. "Two, maybe three," he spoke through the oxygen mask. "Then one more for our guests. You sure you don''t want me to tag along? I know you passed your shuttle flight test, but an unexpected problem could crop up."


    "As much as I would like you to come along, it''s not possible. Besides, I need you here to keep running materials into orbit and down to the surface."


    "Fair enough. I wasn''t all that keen to head back to STO space anyway, but I thought I would offer."


    Alexander gently clapped the man on the shoulder. "Thank you for offering. I''ll leave you to your work, I need to go speak with Captain Krieger and let him know he and his people are heading home."


    While Alexander hadn''t gone out of his way to avoid the STO Captain after their encounter, he hadn''t exactly made himself available either. So it was a bit of a surprise when he found him having a heated discussion with Dr. Nova Lund.


    "You military people are all the same," the woman spat.


    "You owe it to the STO to help keep it safe. Instead, you abandoned your duty and came out here to hide."


    "Ha!" the older woman barked. "I don''t owe the STO shit. They haven''t done anything for me. All they know how to do is take new ideas and lock them away. Or they simply hand anything of note over to the people who are really in charge over there, the corporations. So keep your sanctimonious bullshit to yourself, Captain, I''ve heard it all before." Lund made to walk away and it looked like Krieger was about to grab her and turn her around when Alexander cleared his throat.


    "Ahem! Is there a problem here?"


    Nova turned and saw the man''s hand frozen as it reached out to her. She snorted. "I appreciate your assistance, Alexander, but I can assure you, if Captain Krieger didn''t keep his hands to himself, he wouldn''t like what happened."


    Krieger retracted his arm. "I apologize for my actions. When I heard the foremost scientist on theoretical propulsion was here, I let my emotions get the better of me. It won''t happen again."


    "You''re right, it won''t," Alexander stated simply, making the man stiffen at the statement. "Because you and your crew are leaving tomorrow. We finally have a ship that will take you back to Varlen, along with your ship. So instead of harassing my guests, your time would be better spent gathering your people and getting them ready to leave."


    The man nodded stiffly. "Thank you for finding someone to take us home." Krieger turned to Nova. "Once again, I''m sorry for my actions."


    The woman only nodded once in reply as they watched the man walk out of the room.


    "The nerve of some people," she stated after he was gone.


    "What was that all about?" he asked.


    "Same as always, the STO wants to monopolize my skills and talent and they don''t like hearing no."


    "So you''ve never met Captain Krieger before?"


    She shook her head. "No, but they must tell every damn member of their fleet about me. It''s exhausting dealing with their nonsense. Enough about that though. You finally got a ship up and running? I was wondering why you''ve been absent from our agreed-upon meetings. Not that I minded the extra time to work on my own stuff."


    "Yeah, sorry about that. Been busy with other projects. Your help was instrumental in getting my engines past Omni standard though. They are working as well as expected."


    "Of course they are," she stated matter of factly. "What''s your next step?"


    "I''m working on another generational improvement to the printers, but that''s going to be some time off. First I need to return Krieger and his people to STO space. When I return, now that my orbital infrastructure is taking shape, I''m going to try my hand at designing a compressed plasma ejection system."


    "Good luck with that. As I told you before, my knowledge of those systems is limited at best. I''ll help you with any of the math but that''s about all I can offer. Maybe by the time you return, I''ll have made a breakthrough in my own research. I''m close to something, I can feel it."


    He wished Dr. Lund well and hurried off to finish preparations for his departure.

 Chapter 2-32

    "Ladies and Gentlemen, We''re going home!" Vitor addressed his remaining crew.The people broke out in relieved cheers and shouts of joy. Vitor was glad to see this as he had heard grumbling from some people about never being allowed to leave this place.


    Even Chief Engineer Parson was out of his medically induced coma, almost completely healed, and joining in on the celebration.


    Despite the joy of their imminent departure, Vitor couldn''t help but wince at just how few of his people had survived. That brought about some ugly feelings that had spilled over toward Kane, and more recently, Dr. Nova Lund. That anger was misdirected and he knew it, but he hadn''t realized that until his encounter with Dr. Lund where he had stepped over the line. And he wasn''t the only one. Friction had been building up within his crew and the locals recently. Nothing had spilled over into violence, but it had been on edge for weeks.


    Kane just made an easy scapegoat as his anger grew with each passing week that the STO failed to rescue them or even look into their disappearance.


    Part of that, he knew, was due to the nature of their clandestine work. That didn''t make a lack of a rescue attempt any more palatable for him. When he returned, he was going to demand an answer. Considering his position within the STO was likely over with when he returned, he had nothing to lose.


    Vitor waited a few minutes for the celebrations to settle down before clearing his throat to get everyone''s attention. "I expect everyone to be on their best behavior on whatever ship our hosts have managed to line up for us. Do I make myself clear?"


    "Yes, Captain!" came the drilled chorus of replies.


    "Pack up anything you want to take with you, we leave in the morning."


    ***


    Alexander hurried to get Yulia off to class while trying not to appear to be hurrying. That task was made more difficult as Yulia dragged her feet, literally in some cases. He didn''t chastise the girl though, he knew she was upset and angry and he didn''t want to add more fuel to that fire.


    Before leaving the classroom, he motioned for Nancy.


    "What can I do for you, Alex?"


    "Can you make sure to keep Yulia occupied? She''s still mad that I have to leave. I''m worried she''ll get worse the longer I''m gone."


    "That shouldn''t be a problem, but I wouldn''t worry too much about that. Most kids tend to overreact when presented with situations they have no control over. My youngest, Miguel, had a full-blown meltdown when he was told we were moving away from our old home. He adjusted quickly to his new environment and now he''s married with his own child and doing quite well the last time I spoke with him."


    "He''s not here?"


    She shook her head. "No, he moved back to the STO when he came of age. While he adjusted to the change, he never much liked it. I tried to talk him into coming here for more opportunities after you arrived, but he''s adamant that he is happy in his role." She shrugged. "Sometimes all you can do is your best."


    Alexander smiled at the woman, although, her words really weren''t as comforting as she thought they might be. If Alexander''s best amounted to a child who hated their situation so much that they took the first opportunity to leave and live as some entry-level grunt, he would have felt like a complete failure of a parent. He didn''t mention that to Nancy though.


    Leaving the classroom behind, Alexander hurried down the hall as he radioed Branston. "Are the flight checks complete?"


    "They are, but you really should be doing these yourself, Alex," the man responded rather tersely over the radio.


    Alexander sighed internally. He liked Branston, the man was an amazing pilot and an all-around likable person. When it came to anything flight-related, he tended to be a real stickler for all the rules, which was not necessarily a bad thing in his line of work. It was just that he could come off as a bit testy if things weren''t done exactly by the STO book.


    "I would if I had time, you know that. I''ll be out there in half an hour with our guests. Thanks again for doing this for me."


    "Yeah, yeah," the man replied before the radio cut out.


    Alexander''s next stop was the area where Krieger and his people were staying. When he arrived, he found them all lined up in two rows behind the Captain. As soon as Alexander entered, Krieger saluted, followed by the rest. Although he saw a few who seemed reluctant to do so.


    "My crew and I wish to express our thanks for saving our lives and caring for our wounded." His salute dropped, followed by the rest of his crew. "We are ready to depart."


    Not sure what to think of the spectacle, Alexander simply nodded and motioned for them to follow him. He didn''t miss Damien or the guards that the man had situated along their route. He doubted anyone would have overlooked them, Damien wasn''t exactly subtle with their placement.


    The Head of Security was waiting for them at the exit. "We need to check their luggage."


    Alexander was annoyed by the man''s blatant disrespect for the STO survivors, but he didn''t step in and stop the search. He had given Damien overall control of the facility security and while petty, the Head of Security was not overstepping any laws that they had agreed upon. He also didn''t want to undermine the man''s authority because that could cause issues down the line.


    That being said, Alexander was going to hold the man to the same standards for everyone, whether he liked them or not. If he started seeing favoritism being shown to certain people, Damien was going to be out of a job very quickly. With that in mind, Alexander motioned for the man to join him off to the side where he could have a private word with him.


    "What?" the man asked in annoyance, probably thinking Alexander was going to berate him for his actions here.


    "If you''re going to go to this length for visitors, I expect it to be applied to all visitors¡­"


    The man narrowed his eyes. "I assume you are referring to Captain Shall?"


    Alexander didn''t answer the question, instead, he turned back to the gathered STO people and waited. If Damien wanted to be an ass, so could he. While the STO had been nosy, they hadn''t done anything that broke the rules or tried to go where they didn''t belong. At least he had a reason to suspect Shall of being up to no good. The man had been spotted three times outside his storage room. If there was any time to make a move it would be while he was away.


    Honestly, Alexander didn''t know if the man hadn''t realized he was under surveillance or if he thought he was being circumspect about what he was up to. Either way, it didn''t matter. Alexander hadn''t bothered upgrading the security on the storage room because if the man was just going to break in, the less he damaged the better.


    It wasn''t like there was anything worth stealing in there anyway. All of the expensive components like his computer chips were in use and the medical supplies and equipment had been moved to the new medical area. That left raw materials, foodstuffs, and the other odds and ends that Alexander had purchased before coming out here. So if the man did break into there and somehow managed to take everything, Alexander would probably be out a few million credits at most.


    The search was completed with only a few annoyed glares and grumbles, but nothing was found. It was as Alexander had expected. The STO people had been annoying, but they hadn''t done anything wrong. Getting this result was a huge win for Alexander. It humbled Damien, while also clearing the STO survivors, a win-win in his book.


    The group exited the facility with the air masks Alexander had provided for them. They had a serious but cautiously optimistic mood as they made their way across the tarmac.


    The wind was blowing today, so visibility was about half of what it normally was as the sand blew through the air, causing the survivors to squint or cover their eyes as they hurried to the shuttle.


    "That''s our ride to orbit?" Krieger asked in concern. "Is that thing even flight-worthy?"


    "I know it doesn''t look like much, Captain, but it was completely rebuilt a few months ago. It is perfectly safe."


    The man said something under his breath that Alexander didn''t catch, but he motioned for his people to pick up the pace.


    Soon Alexander was inside the cargo hold of the shuttle. Additional chairs had been attached where the cargo racks lined the floor so everyone could strap in for the flight.


    "Do you mind if I join the pilot in the cockpit?" Krieger asked.


    "I don''t mind if you join me, Captain. It''ll be a bit of a tight fit though."


    "You''re going to fly us?"


    "Yup." Alexander moved through the bulkhead and airlock that separated the cargo area from the cockpit, ignoring the Captain''s flabbergasted look. Considering his size, they had been forced to modify the cockpit to accommodate him. It wasn''t so bad, the chair had simply been removed and Alexander was forced to sit on the floor.


    The controls weren''t exactly at an ideal placement at that height, but his arms were more than long enough to make up for it.


    The Captain paused in the doorway and shook his head before sliding into the co-pilot''s seat.


    While the ship was in takeoff mode, Alexander still went through the pre-flight checks, quickly moving through the screens as Krieger watched in surprise.


    "I''ll let you check on the passengers," Alexander said as he finished his flight check.


    The man nodded and pressed the intercom button. "Is everyone secure?"


    "Everyone''s secure, Captain," came the reply over the intercom.


    Alexander nodded and pressed the button that would close the rear ramp. He also turned on the purge system to ensure there was no dust or sand in the seals.


    Once the light turned green and the pressure inside the cargo area normalized, he got them off the ground.


    The takeoff was a bit bumpy due to the wind, but the ship quickly leveled out as it streaked toward orbit.


    Thanks to his omnidirectional vision, Alexander got to see Krieger''s white-knuckled grip on the arms of his chair. He didn''t think he was flying that badly, but the man''s next comment made him reevaluate his skills as a pilot.


    "This your first time flying?"


    "Yes, why?" he asked, genuinely curious as to what gave it away.


    The man forced a smile on his face. "Normally with passengers, it''s common to take a less aggressive ascent and descent."


    "Ah. Sorry about that." Alexander slowed the ship down and the Captain relaxed a little. "Thanks for the tip."


    "Don''t mention it," he muttered as he rubbed his cheeks and worked his jaw. "I don''t think I''ve experienced g forces like that since basic."


    "You don''t experience g forces on the Dawn?"


    Krieger chuckled. "If I pushed the dawn past half a g acceleration, it meant things had gotten out of my control. And even then, one point five g''s was more than enough."


    While he had done a thorough inspection of the vessel himself, it was always good to get a second confirmation. It appeared he was right, STO ships did not have inertial dampening. If they hadn''t put that sort of technology on an experimental ship like Dawn, it didn''t exist. That didn''t mean it wasn''t possible though, and Alexander let a part of his mind wonder at the problem while he piloted the shuttle.


    It wasn''t long until they approached the station and Krieger got his first look at how badly damaged Epsilon''s Dawn really was. The view was only possible thanks to the floodlights bathing the light-absorbing hull. Even then it looked like a black hole in space except for where missing chunks of armor exposed the interior spaces of the ship.


    The man shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "I forgot just how disconcerting it is looking at the ship from the outside. I''m surprised anyone survived given the state of the ship. It''ll be interesting to hear what the STO wants to do about towing it back to Varlen."


    "Oh, they won''t have to do anything, Captain. I plan on towing it back."


    "You? Wait, does that mean the ship we''re returning on is yours?"


    Instead of answering the man''s question, Alexander pointed to a ship docked to the far side of the station as it came into view. "You''ll be aboard Eden''s Fury, our new frigate."


    The ship used as the base for the Fury was an ugly ship. Then again, it was never designed to be pretty, it was designed for war. He wasn''t sure exactly how old the original hull of the Fury was, but he did find a date stamp of 2205 on one of the structural rails.


    If that date was correct, it was kind of fitting considering Eden''s End was built in 2201. He seemed to have a knack for finding the oldest things humanity still had kicking around around the galaxy and restoring them.


    "I recognize that ship! That was the one you had defending the shipyard. It was just a hunk of scrap, how did you repair it in five months?"


    "A lot of hard work and dedicated people," Alexander responded, not giving away the fact that he hadn''t simply fixed the ship, but that he had rebuilt it from the ground up and with automation, not a massive number of workers.


    Unlike the ugly, worn, pitted, and rusted exterior that the ship had before, it now sported a blue and white color scheme with B.S.E. EDEN''S FURY in bold lettering down each side. The transponder was on as well, coming through the shuttle''s computer.


    "A rather bold statement," Captain Krieger said as he sat back in his seat.


    Alexander simply grinned at that as he maneuvered the shuttle into the frigate''s hangar. The landing was a bit rougher than he would have liked but nothing was damaged. "Welcome to your new home for the next few weeks, Captain. I probably don''t have to tell you this, but I will anyway. If you try to steal my ship or assault the crew, it won''t end well."


    "I''m not a fool, Mr. Kane. Nor am I so boorish that I would spit in the eye of my savior. We may have had our disagreements on the ground, but you have my word that my people will be on their best behavior."


    He would have to accept that. Not that Alexander hadn''t already taken precautions to slow or stop any mutiny. Krieger didn''t need to know that though.


    It didn''t take long to get the STO people settled. Once they were, Alexander went to speak to Captain Na. He found the man on the bridge, going through some quick simulations to ensure they understood the ship''s controls fully before leaving.


    The man turned to him. "It''s not too late to call this off."


    "We''ve been over this," Alexander sighed. "While I agree this isn''t the best choice, it''s better than keeping the STO people here and waiting for the powder-keg to erupt."


    "Very well, I understand your reasoning for doing this, even if I don''t quite agree. As we''ve already spoken on this issue, so I will not bring it up again."


    Alexander thanked the man. While Mingyu had been the most vocal detractor of bringing the STO people and their ship back to Varlen, he hadn''t been the only one to tell Alexander that he was being stupid.


    Dr. Lund said he should just let the STO clean up their own mess. And while Damien wanted the STO survivors gone, he didn''t believe it was their responsibility to carry that burden.


    Alexander agreed with all of them. The problem was, that he needed to bring them back along with the ship to make an impression on the STO.


    If his goal had been to get the STO survivors off of Eden''s End as fast as possible, he would have contacted the second stealth ship when it had flown through the system. He hadn''t because the tactical significance of being able to detect their ships was worth far more than a bit of friction.


    The reason he was bringing them back now was twofold. He didn''t want the STO poking around Eden''s End. If he could prevent that, all the better, and he was hoping to make connections. Bringing back a very expensive stealth ship and the surviving crew would certainly buy him some goodwill or so he hoped.


    With his check-in done, he took the shuttle over to the Dawn and docked it to the airlock. He powered the shuttle down and got to work running the power cable from the Dawn to the shuttle''s reactor.


    It was a multi-hour-long process for Alexander to connect the power to the Epsilon''s Dawn''s flight control systems, main computer, and jump drive. All of which would be needed to make a successful jump. The rest of the systems had already been disconnected to prevent another possible incident like when he took the jump computer''s code. Speaking of, he had to restore the code and put in place a block that prevented the code from activating its defensive systems.


    They weren''t going to use the jump mitigation during the trip, but Alexander didn''t want the STO to know he knew about it or had taken it. The additional code that prevented the defensive code from activating would erase itself when Alexander removed the power from the ship after they arrived.


    The whole process of running power would have been much easier if the Dawn had a shuttle hangar. Even though Dawn was larger than the Fury, the ship had no hangar and no shuttle. All of that space was dedicated to weapons and an impressive array of sensors for a ship its size.


    He powered up the system and checked to ensure the dual supercomputers didn''t launch any defensive codes before he radioed Na.


    Alexander read the confirmation response from Na on his tablet and watched through the attached cameras on the exterior of the ship as the Fury moved into position. Large robotic arms extended out from the towing attachment Alexander had designed for this mission.


    The eight arms secured themselves around the Dawn and held it tightly. With that, Alexander released the docking clamp and the Epsilon''s Dawn slid free of the station as the Fury pulsed its outer thrusters.


    It was time to take their uninvited guests home.


    S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 2-33

    The ship shook around Alexander as Eden''s Fury towed it away from the station. He really hoped the entire trip wasn''t this rough.After about ten minutes, the turbulence settled down and his radio flashed, alerting him that he had a message. He was glad he finally had time to combine the radio with one of the tablets to allow for text messages. Alexander could have kept the simple light panel, but it wasn''t quite good enough to relay complicated messages.


    He pulled up the tablet that the radio was attached to and read the message. Na was simply confirming that they were away from the station and heading away from the planet.


    As much as Alexander would have liked to simply jump to the next system once they were clear to jump, that wasn''t a good idea. He wanted to make sure the jump drive was working properly in the system first so he could address any issues that might crop up before leaving. It would also allow the docking and undocking procedure to be fully tested.


    If something broke once they left the system, they wouldn''t be stranded thanks to the repair robots and the printer aboard the Fury, but it would delay them while repairs needed to be made.


    It was too bad the jump fields of ships were not designed to extend very far past their hulls. The bulge of the warp bubble on Dawn only extended a few feet past the shuttle''s hull, making it a very tight fit. Modifying the devices to cover more space meant replacing the entire jump field emitter and providing additional power, something he did not have the expertise to do. If those emitters had been damaged in the pirate attacks, he would have fed the ships to the smelter, like he had the others.


    It took six more hours before Alexander got the next text, letting him know they were far enough from the planet to do a jump. He could have done it a few hours ago with the power available in the shuttle, but he didn''t want to push the shuttle''s reactor to its limit.


    He typed a response back to Captain Na and waited for the clear signal.


    ***


    After leaving the Coalition Navy, Na had sworn he would never step foot aboard another military vessel again. And yet here he was, Captain of a frigate, if only temporarily. He had only agreed because he owed Alexander a debt that would take years to repay. Even then he might not have agreed except this trip also allowed him to speak to his family again.


    It wasn''t that he feared a fight, he had been in numerous small and medium-sized skirmishes during the tail end of the Coalition''s conflict with the STO. The reason he didn''t want to be a captain aboard a military vessel is because he had never been a very good officer during his tour of duty. Even though those days were long past him, and he had grown and matured, he didn''t want his actions to be responsible for getting people killed. It''s why he left the service when the war ended instead of joining the STO like his former crewmate, Colonel Jun had done. There was also his responsibility to Petrov Station that he needed to think about.


    His decision to walk away from military life certainly wasn''t out of some misplaced pride for the Coalition. Their leadership had been rotten to the core and that had brought about their downfall just as much as the STO had. Not that the STO was much better, considering what they had done to him and his crew.


    The first time Alexander brought up the question of captaining this mission, Mingyu had flat-out refused. Even stating the fact that the STO likely wouldn''t praise him for his actions was not enough to dissuade Alexander from this rash voyage. Then he tried to point out they were all quarantined, hoping the man would drop the request.


    That hadn''t worked. In fact, Alexander had slapped him with some facts that he had overlooked. While the STO had quarantined his ship, they hadn''t bothered to list the crew aboard the ship in the quarantine notice. Alex even showed him the records he somehow pulled from the stealth ship that showed he was telling the truth.


    Even then, Mingyu was skeptical. It wasn''t until he had a face-to-face conversation with Captain Krieger that he finally believed what Alex had shown him. During that discussion, Krieger hadn''t asked if Mingyu would take him and his people back to STO space, likely because he thought there would be little point in doing so. Mingyu didn''t bother correcting him either.


    With this loophole, he and his people would be able to access a Qcomm. It had been over six months since any of them had spoken to their loved ones back in STO space. For his part, he was looking forward to speaking with his father and the rest of his family. Hopefully, he could finally convince his old man and the rest of them to join him. It was too bad they didn''t possess a Qcomm relay, they could have transported more communications from the rest of the people on Eden''s End.


    When Alexander finally convinced him to take on this role, Mingyu had another hurdle, convincing his crew to assist. He wasn''t sure how they would react when he told them they would be returning the rescued STO people back to STO space. Some were fine with it, others less so. He managed to get enough people to crew Fury, which was only possible thanks to Alexander''s improvements to the ancient ship.


    "We''re clear of the ship''s warp field, Captain," his pilot stated happily as he inspected the very fancy control panel.


    Alexander certainly hadn''t skimped on the ship. The bridge was a tiered setup that ran in a half-moon with a massive holo display that filled the entire circular depression in the center. That holo display acted as a window to display what was in front of the ship, but it was so much more. With the touch of a button, it could flip to a tactical view, showing a complete three-hundred-and-sixty view of the ship out to a full light second.


    It was a ridiculous amount of information to have at hand. Everything inside that sphere got a little line and tag next to it, and all he had to do was reach out and it would zoom into that icon. This little feat of technology was all thanks to the supercomputer Alexander had added. If the damn things weren''t so expensive, and it wouldn''t have required an entire overhaul of Destiny, he might have considered adding something like it to his own ship.


    The computer wasn''t the only thing that made the display possible, the ship''s optics were also far superior to anything he had ever worked with, allowing him to see The Moonlit Destiny clearly, even though they were well past Eden''s End''s gravitational pull. Normally he would be forced to rely on other, less accurate sensors, for those ranges.


    And the weapons. They had tested the weapons, and they were terrifyingly effective for such a small ship. Simply click an icon or multiple icons on his console and the weapons would auto-target, which was good since he didn''t have a dedicated weapons officer or anyone even trained to operate targeting systems. His sensor operator back on Destiny usually took on that role, but she had stayed behind.


    Not everyone on his crew was happy that Mingyu had accepted the task of taking the STO people home. He couldn''t blame them. Some had lost loved ones back on Petrov Station because of the STO''s actions, or inaction.


    Mingyu calmed his thoughts and sent Alex a response to let him know he could do the test jump.


    The first issue that cropped up as the Fury watched the damaged STO ship, was that the jump field was taking much longer to form. He would need to ask Alexander about this when they joined them at the rendezvous point since the field disrupted radio transmissions.


    After taking three times as long to charge as the Fury, the ship finally vanished. He waited to make sure there wasn''t a debris field or that the ship simply popped back into normal space before giving his next order. "Alright, spool up our drive."


    When they arrived near the destination point, Alex and the Epsilon''s Dawn weren''t there. It appeared on their scanners a moment later, but it was way off target and almost at the edge of Fury''s light second scanner bubble. The only reason they could locate it at all was thanks to the emergency beacon Alexander had welded to the outside of the ship. If that beacon stopped working, they would need to do a sector-by-sector scan to find the shuttle, since the STO ship didn''t appear on normal sensors.


    As they approached the ship, he wondered if Alexander had figured out a solution to the jump problems. If not, their journey was going to take much longer.


    ***


    Alexander wasn''t even aware that he was off target until Captain Na radioed him. He had to scratch his proverbial head at that because he had no clue what went wrong. The ship jumped, although it had taken longer to charge than he had planned for. He would need to look at the logs to determine what was going on.


    The physical damage to the ship wouldn''t affect the jump, it was all inside the field, and that was what determined what jumped and what didn''t. If the fields for either ship had been large enough, they could have simply jumped together. That wasn''t likely to happen though. Jump fields took a lot of energy, and ships weren''t designed to adjust those field dimensions.


    While Mingyu secured the Fury to the Dawn again, Alexander went through the jump log, and the programming to see if he could figure out what went wrong. He found that one of the power lines running to the drive was pulsing intermittently. That could certainly account for the jump discrepancy.


    The problem was, that the only way to fix that issue would be to replace that entire cable. And it would take days to produce a new one. Instead of waiting, he told Mingyu to proceed to the jump point they had selected. He sent instructions to Mikhail Yun, Mingyu''s Chief Engineer, to produce a new cable. With any luck, it should be complete by the time they reach the next system.


    When they neared the jump point north of the system, the Fury reoriented and released the Dawn once more. So far the towing method Alexander had come up with was working, but they still had two more weeks and another dozen or so systems to jump through. It was going to be thoroughly tested during that time. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Fury cleared his warp sphere and retracted the clamps while it prepped its own jump drive. This would be a tandem jump. Hopefully, they would arrive at the same relative distance from each other this time.


    Mingyu took into account Alexander''s slower jump charge and both ships jumped within seconds of each other. It would be two days in hyperspace before they exited at the next system.


    Ever since his first jump aboard the Zephyr, Alexander had been curious about warp drives. He wondered why they didn''t simply bypass systems and go straight to their destination. While the drives did heat up the longer they maintained the field, it wasn''t what prevented that from happening. The reason ships jumped to the next closest star was a limit of processing power as well as stored energy. At least it had been that way when they were first developed. With the advent of supercomputer chips, that first limitation wasn''t really an issue anymore, but most ships still traveled from system to system.


    Back when he first learned about this, it hadn''t made much sense to him, but now that he knew most ships didn''t even use advanced chips, let alone the supercomputer ones, it was clear why they still did it the old way.


    As for power, ships could only store so much energy. That didn''t prevent anyone from taking the shortest route to their destination, it just might take multiple stops between the systems to get you there. And maybe that was the problem.


    The more jumps you make, the more chances of something going wrong when you come out. If your jump drive failed inside a system, you could most likely expect rescue at some point if you were in STO space. If you broke down in the void between stars, the chances of anyone ever finding you, let alone coming to your rescue, were slim to none. Only the truly desperate would risk that.


    Since there was nothing to do but wait for the next few days, Alexander decided to head back to the shuttle and see what a jump looked like without the filter of a computer.


    As he sat in the cockpit of the shuttle, he couldn''t help but be amazed by the sight. Everything in front of the ship was a painfully bright blue, while all the stars aft of the shuttle were a red so dim, it was almost black. He had to think about it for a bit to understand what was going on. They were essentially crashing into the light in front of them, causing everything to look blue, while the light from the trailing stars was traveling slower than they were, causing it to shift into the red spectrum.


    It was one thing to understand the physics behind it, but a whole nother to see it in action. And it was beautiful.


    Alexander found the view to be rather peaceful and sat there watching it for most of the trip. He should have realized that peace wouldn''t last.


    ***


    "You sure that bastard Shall came this way?" Temy asked for the fourteenth time.


    "How many times do I have to tell you? I''m sure he came this way because I pulled the flight log from his ship."


    "If you''re wrong, the boss isn''t going to be happy," the Cartel thug stated.


    "As if I give a shit about your pathetic outer world cartel," Simon muttered under his breath.


    Temy didn''t hear him, the man was too busy trying to keep his lunch down. Simon rolled his eyes at the grounder.


    He wouldn''t have bothered with this job but he was one payment away from losing his ship and with it his ability to make a living as a mercenary. The person he owed money to was much scarier than Temy''s boss.


    He checked his scanners again to ensure nobody had entered the system. He wasn''t worried about his quarry, they would come back this way eventually and get caught in his gravity trap long enough for Simon to disable their ship. Purchasing the item from the black market had cost him a hefty sum, but it had already proven to be worth it as he had captured three targets by using the device.


    While he wasn''t worried about his target, Simon was worried that one of the Char family or another pirate would stumble upon him out here. Pirates didn''t take kindly to outsiders poaching their areas of space.


    As he was checking the sensors again, they pinged as something dropped out of warp nearly on top of the gravity trap. His sensors were having a hard time telling him what it was, what he could see clearly was an emergency beacon pinging. That meant whatever the ship was, it was damaged.


    He knew this ship couldn''t be Shall''s, but that didn''t matter. He wasn''t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he fired up his drive and headed straight for whatever unlucky bastard got themselves stuck. Maybe he could earn enough from this score that he could space Temy and head back home to pay off his debts.

 Chapter 2-34

    Simon was halfway to the target when his sensors screamed at him as another ship dropped out of warp at the far end of the trap.He could only gape as the sensors told him this new arrival was a frigate. At first, he thought the pirates had laid a trap for him, but he soon picked up a transponder code, labeling the ship B.S.E. Eden''s Fury.


    Simon went pale when he saw that. He didn''t know who the hell B.S.E. was, but he knew a warship designation when he saw it. Panicking, he tried jumping, only to realize he was caught in his own gravity trap. Unable to jump, he quickly changed direction as he spooled up his weapons. These ships were obviously traveling together, maybe he could do enough damage to the first ship to keep the warship from pursuing.


    ***


    "Captain, there is a corvette class ship approaching Dawn, and it isn''t running a transponder."


    Mingyu swallowed hard. He knew encountering a pirate was a possibility when he accepted the job, but he hadn''t expected to run into them after only their second jump.


    He pressed the button on his console to activate the ship''s lasers. As they were powering up, he made a gesture and the holographic display quickly zoomed in on the ship. With another small motion, he targeted the vessel. It was fleeing, but the Fury''s computer alerted him that the smaller ship was activating its weapons. Mingyu may have let the ship go if it was just running, but it was clearly hostile.


    Hesitating only a moment, he pressed the firing button.


    Six beams flashed out and covered the distance between the Fury and this unknown ship in less than a second. Mingyu knew the lasers on the Fury were powerful, but this was his first time seeing them used on anything other than an asteroid.


    The armor and hull of the corvette did little to blunt the deadly beams as they burned straight through the enemy vessel, leaving six glowing trails that nearly bisected the ship. Other than a few errant sparks, the ship went dead and continued on its course, drifting off into the void of space.


    With the threat eliminated, he approached the Dawn and the item causing a localized gravitational field. It didn''t look the same as the one he nearly ran into when fleeing Gliese 667 but it seemed to perform a similar function, which was to destabilize a warp field by creating an artificial gravity well.


    Captain Matthews had warned them about pirates using such devices more often, but knowing something and seeing it in person were two very different things. Mingyu found himself disgusted at such a perversion of artificial gravity technology, but that was pirates for you.


    He radioed Alexander, letting him know what had just happened before he connected to Epsilon''s Dawn and pulled the ship through the system. He made sure to slag the device left behind by the now-deceased pirates. There was no point leaving it for some other pirate to find and they didn''t have the time or space to take it aboard.


    ***


    Alexander was surprised that the pirates had set up some sort of trap for them. While it was true they were using the standard jump points, this area of space wasn''t heavily traveled. How had they known he was coming this way? S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He would ask Captain Na if he could shed any light on the subject since he needed to fly the shuttle over there to pick up the replacement cable. He had hoped it would have been ready as soon as they entered the next system over from Y6X-3H2, but it had taken far longer to complete than initially planned.


    He detached the power cables from the shuttle and spent some time ensuring there was no damage to the ship or the reactor before powering it back up and making his way to the Fury''s hangar.


    Alexander hoped there wouldn''t be many cases of needing to replace parts on this trip. The whole process of removing the power cabling and reattaching it was rather long and involved.


    With more practiced movements, Alexander set the shuttle down in the hangar without slamming it so hard against the deck this time. If he only needed to pick up the cable and leave, he could have done that without them pressurizing the bay, but since he intended to speak with Na, he simply waited after radioing the bridge that he was coming aboard.


    Once the room had normalized, Alexander quickly loaded the huge wheel of high-voltage cable into the shuttle. It was heavy enough that even he couldn''t carry it with the gravity plating online.


    When that was complete, he made his way to the bridge. This wasn''t his first time aboard the Fury, he had inspected every room after it was initially completed. Much like the exterior of the ship, the interior panels were painted as well. He went with a mostly white interior with blue accents for the baseboards and the areas covering the light strips that ran down the middle of each corridor and the ceiling.


    Alexander had decided to go with concealed light strips because the white reflected enough light to make it easy to see and it didn''t leave any protruding surfaces to smack your head on in the case of an emergency. The blue trim also gave people an easy way to locate the grab rails that were integrated into the accent pieces in case power to the artificial gravity systems was knocked offline. The color scheme also made the ship feel larger on the inside, almost like you were standing under an open sky.


    It was a stark difference from the utilitarian bare metal that Epsilon''s Dawn sported. The only nod to the STO''s design that Alexander incorporated, was the lines painted on the floor that pointed to certain areas.


    He followed one of the lines marked in red and headed toward the bridge. On the way, he passed by the area where Krieger and his crew were sequestered. Before he left, he would stop in and speak to the STO Captain as well, just to see how his people were faring.


    Alexander soon arrived at the blast doors for the bridge. It was biometrically sealed but he had added a workaround for himself. One that didn''t involve an easily bypassible security code. He placed his hand on the scanner and adjusted his external temperature to an exact degree. The panel then scanned for the outline of his hand before beeping once. After the beep, Alexander repositioned his hand and adjusted his temperature to the next in the sequence.


    After completing the proper handshake, the heavy door slid open, allowing him to enter the bridge.


    "How''s the ship treating you?" he asked as Na looked over at the opening door and smiled.


    "About as well as can be expected considering the prototype nature of everything."


    "Oh? Anything I should look at before heading back?" If there was an issue, he wanted to know.


    "Nothing critical. The biggest issue is with the heating systems. It''s either too cold or too hot. But that last one might be attributed to our weapons fire. Six lasers produce a lot of heat in a very short amount of time and even the heat exchangers aren''t perfectly efficient at removing the heat before some of it soaks into the ship. Mikhail is looking at the environmental systems to see if he can adjust the regulation a bit better. Other than that, it''s just some small things that can wait until we get back. What did you want to discuss?"


    "You said the pirates laid a trap for us? How did they know where to place it or that we were even coming?"


    "Yes," Na said with a frown. "You remember those gravity traps that Captain Matthews spoke about?"


    Alexander nodded.


    "It was something like that. Only in a much smaller package. It seems the pirates are quickly improving upon their design. As for how they knew we were coming. I don''t think the ship did. I think the pirate was looking for an easy score and saw a wounded ship. If the pirates had known we were coming, they would have bailed. A single corvette is no match for a frigate even on a bad day. This was clear when it tried to run as soon as we jumped in. Not sure why we were so far behind either. We jumped within seconds of you from the last system, we should have come out at nearly the same time."


    "Hmm. Dr. Lund might be able to give a more definitive answer on that, but if I had to guess, it has to do with my fluctuating power. The replacement cable should fix that issue. Did you record the direction and speed of that ship? I don''t think it''s worth stopping on our way back, but on the next trip out, it might be worth searching the vessel for answers."


    "Let''s hope so," Na sighed. "If there are more pirates, we need to be as close together as our jumps will allow. Arriving minutes apart, or over a light second away could be disastrous. And yes, I saved the ship''s heading since I figured you might ask."


    Alexander thanked Mingyu for his swift actions against the pirates before he left the bridge and made his way to Captain Krieger.


    He found the man typing up a report on his tablet in an office. It was located in what was commonly referred to as Marine Country if his memories of Earth Naval slang were accurate. Not that Alexander or BSE had Marines, but the ship was large enough to host around a hundred fighters if the need arose. Maybe he should rename it Hawk Country since he planned on working with the mercenaries much more in the future.


    "I didn''t expect to find you writing reports," Alexander said as he walked through the open door.


    Captain Krieger looked up, not seeming surprised at all that Alexander was here. "An unavoidable part of my job I''m afraid. I''m writing notes to the families of those we lost."


    "Ah¡­" Well, now Alexander just felt awkward with his attempt at humor. "How are your people settling in?"


    The man shrugged as he set down his tablet. "They are bored and restless, but that''s to be expected. I imagine it will be worse since the ship was just in combat. They aren''t used to standing around during situations like that."


    "You know about that?" Alexander asked in surprise. It wasn''t like there were alarm klaxons or anything. With so few crew aboard; it was simpler just to radio them all.


    "When you''ve been on ships for as long as I have, you can tell when their weapons fire. It''s a little harder with lasers, but even those can be felt by the discharge of energy." Alexander didn''t miss the fact that the man emphasized the word laser. It seemed he had figured out the Fury''s main armament.


    That was fine, it wasn''t like he was trying to hide it or anything.


    "Yes, we came out of FTL and landed in a gravity trap. It was only a corvette though, and they tried to run as soon as they spotted Fury."


    "Would it be possible to get a scan of the device the pirates used? The STO would be grateful to get their hands on any information about these devices. We know about them, but the pirates using them are quick to remove any evidence before any STO vessels can arrive on the scene."


    "As long as your people don''t attack us on sight as soon as we enter Varlen, I don''t see why we can''t share that information. Anything that hurts pirates, works in our favor."


    "Thank you, Mr. Kane. And I don''t think you''ll need to worry about the fleet at Varlen attacking you. You have an active transponder. Even if it is marked as a military ID, there are protocols for dealing with unknown military ships."


    That was good to know.


    He said his goodbyes to the man and let Krieger get back to his somber duty before heading back to the shuttle hangar.


    The STO captain wasn''t the only one with a lot of work to do. Alexander had about a thousand feet of cable to replace before they could jump to the next system. It was going to be a busy few days.

 Chapter 2-35

    LOCATION: STO NAVALYARDSYSTEM: VARLEN


    DATE: 2400


    After returning to Varlen to make her report, Valeria and the Eclipse were ordered to dock at the naval yard for maintenance. The yard in Varlen was the only facility on this side of STO space with the clearance to handle the top-secret ships. Even then, there were some steps she had to take before that could happen.


    It wasn''t like Valeria could simply approach the massive hangars or radio ahead that she was on her way. All of her communications had to go through a tight beam laser link to a stealth satellite that only the Erebus class ships knew the location of. From there it communicated to the station and she had to wait for the encoded ping sequence that indicated she was allowed to approach.


    Valeria loved to be in charge of an Erebus class ship, but she despised all the hoops she had to jump through sometimes. She did understand why they were necessary though.


    The other thing she despised was how glacially things moved in the STO. She had been back for over two months, yet there hadn''t been a response to her report. She knew Vice Admiral Fletcher was still on the station because he had met her shortly after she returned, but she hadn''t heard from him since then. That all changed an hour ago.


    Captain Greaves, report to meeting room six as soon as possible.


    -Vice Admiral Fletcher


    She quickly donned her dress uniform and made her way to the meeting room. Most of the people she passed in the corridors were engineers and scientists, but occasionally she saw other members of the Navy. The last time she had been in Varlen, there had been quite a bit more Navy personnel and ships. It wasn''t a good sign that most were now gone. The only reason she could think of for the lack of Navy personnel was that they had been shipped out. If she was right, the conflict with the pirates on the far border must be heating up.


    Valeria arrived outside the door and knocked. She was quickly ushered in by Fletcher''s voice.


    "Sit Captain," the man gestured to one of the chairs around the large conference table. "I imagine you are wondering why no rescue attempt has been made for Captain Krieger and his crew yet?"


    "Does it have anything to do with how empty the naval base is, Admiral?"


    The man nodded. "That''s part of the reason. The other is that the STO leadership is denying us ships to go and rescue them." Fletcher held up his hand to stop Valeria''s next question.


    She closed her mouth and waited for the man to finish.


    "The reason for that is the STO Leadership doesn''t understand the nature of the rescue. They think it''s just another ship. One that was where it wasn''t supposed to be. They are not aware of its covert and top-secret nature."


    "What? Why wouldn''t they be aware of that?" she asked in confusion.


    "Because I didn''t tell them. Project Erebus is a black books project. The less they know, the better, but it does put us in a bit of a bind."


    What Fletcher just admitted made her realize she was flying a ship that would be written off at any time. That was not a comfortable realization.


    "If you had reported that pirates captured the ship, then we could have sent out a fleet. The people in charge would like nothing more than to deny the pirates access to STO technology. Even then, their goal would have been to neutralize the technology instead of trying to recover it. Because the ship and its crew were rescued, the STO leadership deemed it a low priority with the ongoing hostilities on the old Coalition border. They feel that the ship, or at least the crew will be returned in time."


    "They couldn''t know that," she stated.


    "You''re right, they can''t know that for sure, which is why I''ve called in some favors and managed to get three frigates and three corvettes together along with a salvage ship to go retrieve our property. I want you to take the Eclipse and act as a scout for the fleet. The ships trailing you aren''t cleared to know about the project, so I want you to jump ahead and make sure the way is clear. The ships should be here within another two days, so get your crew ready, you get underway in six hours."


    After being dismissed, she hurried back to her ship while sending an all-hands recall through her comm. The ship was already topped up on supplies and fuel, so she would be ready to go as soon as her people returned.


    She was just about to enter the hangar where Delta''s Eclipse was being held when an all-station alert went out and the interior lights started flashing red.


    UNKNOWN MILITARY VESSEL IN SYSTEM, ALL CREW TO ACTION STATIONS!


    Did a pirate stumble into the system? She hurried to the bridge of her ship, all the while sending orders to her crew to get the Eclipse''s systems online.


    She was nearly ready to launch when the red alert was changed to yellow. Before she could wonder why, she received a comm from Fletcher.


    It seems we have a visitor, and they brought our ship and our crew back. I want you out there keeping an eye on things while the rest of the fleet stationed in Varlen moves to intercept. Use caution, Captain. Your report didn''t mention them having a working frigate, yet they seem to have one now.


    -Vice Admiral Fletcher


    What? There is no way they could have built a frigate in three months. So where had they gotten one?


    ***


    The jump into Varlen was a nerve-wracking one for Alexander. The ship was working fine, but he couldn''t predict what the STO Navy might do. Predictably, their arrival stirred up the fleet. Alexander worked quickly to remove the cables from the Epsilon''s Dawn and any sign that he had been there.


    While he didn''t think they would begrudge him having to run power cabling to get the ship here, he wasn''t going to risk it. Alexander wanted to get back to the Fury as quickly as possible to avoid any unnecessary complications.


    Considering the information that Na was texting him, he should probably hurry. According to the text, the STO fleet was already heading in their direction. The optical sensors even spotted another stealth ship leaving the facility. He was glad Lucas programmed an algorithm into the computer to pick out anomalies caused by the stealth ships. Without it, it would be nearly impossible to locate those ships without the jump wakes to calculate off of or randomly spotting stars being occluded.


    Alexander had an ulterior motive for having the man program something like that. He wanted to see if they could locate the alien ships the same way they spotted the STOs. So far nothing had popped up. Mingyu would have said something if the computer had alerted them. He didn''t know if that was a good sign or a bad one. The aliens who put him in this body likely had better technology than humanity. The code Lucas wrote might be completely useless at detecting their ships.


    That was an issue for later though. For now, he had to deal with the STO.


    A few hours later, Alexander was back aboard the Fury and on the bridge with Captain Na. They were far enough outside the system that the STO ships were still on approach. He figured jumping in farther out was safer than jumping in at the normal jump point. This gave them time to scope out the situation, and for Alexander to have cleared off the other ship.


    The STO ships hadn''t contacted the Fury yet, nor had they responded to the hails sent their way or the emergency beacon going off on the Dawn. Na had already released the ship and moved far enough away to jump if the situation turned sour. Alexander was hoping that wouldn''t happen and that they would reach out once they got close. If everything went to plan, he wouldn''t need to announce his presence. The STO seemed jumpy enough without an eight-foot-tall robot appearing on their screens.


    "The STO ships are now within missile range," Na said as he gripped the arm of his chair tighter. "They appear to be holding there. The stealth ship is moving above us. Maybe to cut us off, it''s hard to tell. Even with the program tracking it, that ship keeps vanishing off the scanner."


    "Do your best to keep track of it. I expect they will contact us shortly." He would need to give the data to Lucas when they got back to see if he could improve the tracking software a bit more.


    Alexander was proven right a few minutes later when the lead ship, a cruiser, if he had to guess, sent a tight beam laser comm their way.


    "B.S.E. Eden''s Fury, state your business in this system!" a rather imperious voice ordered.


    "Not the friendliest response, but at least they aren''t shooting at us. Go ahead and reply, Captain Na."


    The captain sent the canned response, letting the STO fleet know that they had rescued the crew of the ship and were there to return both.


    "That is not an STO vessel," the man said before his connection quickly cut off. Communication returned ten minutes later, but the speaker was someone different. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This is Vice Admiral Fletcher, who am I speaking to?"


    Mingyu looked at Alexander, his eyebrow going up. "Do you want me to talk to him?"


    Alexander thought about it for a bit before shaking his head. So far the STO had only communicated via radio. So it didn''t make much sense to hide in the background.


    "Hello, Vice Admiral. My name is Alexander Kane, owner and operator of Blue Star Enterprises, or BSE as our ship is designated."


    The line went quiet for a bit again, likely due to radio speed lag. When the voice returned, the man sounded relieved. "Thank you for returning our people and property, Mr. Kane. Would it be possible to send a ship to dock with yours to retrieve our crew?"


    As if, he almost laughed out loud. "We would prefer to transfer them to one of your ships via our shuttle, Vice Admiral." There was no way he was letting the STO board Fury.


    "Very well, please have your pilot dock at the STO Blueridge." The line went quiet after that.


    "Which one is the Blueridge?" Alexander asked as he turned to Na.


    "It''s the cruiser. If you don''t mind Alex, I would like to fly the shuttle there myself."


    "Are you sure? What if they take you prisoner or something?" He wouldn''t put it past the STO.


    "That''s exactly why I can''t ask any of my crew to pilot the shuttle over there. Plus, I''m familiar with military law. I can handle myself if they get grabby."


    "If you''re sure, be my guest."


    The man nodded and left the bridge. Alexander followed him shortly after to gather up Krieger and his people.


    ***


    "Ma''am, this ship has a full suite of laser weapons."


    She frowned at that. She had received orders from the Admiral to flank the ship and gather as much data as possible. It was an ugly vessel, with a mostly flat bow, and blocky outline. It reminded her of some of the ships she had seen in museums as a small child. They had painted the ship to make it look better, but she doubted anything would make this ship look good. It did look familiar though.


    "Ensign, pull up the image of the space station we took when we visited Y6X-3H2. Now overlay the scan of this ship over the ships attached to the station."


    "It''s a match for the empty frame, Ma''am¡­ How is that possible?" the confused sensor operator asked.


    How indeed? That system didn''t have nearly enough infrastructure to refit a ship in three months. Yet it was clear they had done just that. They must have some form of advanced automation. Even the STO''s Navalyard took nearly a year to put together a new ship and that was considered fast. Three months was beyond impressive and she had to wonder if this was what was possible without all the bullshit and politics?

 Chapter 2-36

    Tense was how Mingyu would describe the trip on the shuttle to the STO ship. It didn''t help that the STO ships had their weapons actively tracking Fury. They had done that since the moment their ships got within range. The Fury''s weapons were doing the same, so he couldn''t really blame the opposition Captains for all the tension.As he got close enough to see the Blueridge, he noticed it was an older model. Thanks to his time in the Coalition fleet, he was familiar with most of the STO''s ship classes during that time. He didn''t recognize the Blueridge''s hull configuration. It certainly wasn''t a new ship. He could tell that much by the dents and dings in the armor as he flew alongside it to reach the hangar. Had they pulled the ship out of mothballs?


    If that was the case, he wondered where the picket ships had gone that were normally in the system. If the pirates were truly pushing the STO enough for them to redirect forces, that wasn''t a good sign.


    When he returned to Fury, he would bring it up with Alexander. Now that they were back in STO space, they might be able to visit the Qcomm. Then he could reach out to his contacts to get a better picture of what was happening.


    Their access to the Qcomm depended entirely on how seamlessly this transaction went.


    The shuttle passed through the open hangar door and gently set down on the deck. This was his first time flying Alexander''s shuttle. While the flight controls were ancient, they worked well enough. Even with those old controls, the ship was snappy and responsive. It obviously had something to do with the improvements Alex had made. He hoped the man got around to making the newer style of thrusters soon. Mostly because The Moonlit Destiny could use a full overhaul in the next year or so.


    While he was shutting down the shuttle, he started to hear the sound of popping metal as the ship cooled. It was a clear sign that the hangar was nearly pressurized. He finished his shutdown procedure and waited. Mingyu could have just left the shuttle powered on, but that was rude, and he suspected they were going to have questions for him. So instead of causing problems, he prepared for the inevitable.


    Soon the hangar light turned green, letting him know it was equalized. It didn''t take long after that for Marines to enter the bay.


    He moved to the cargo area and the waiting STO people who were all still seated. "Looks like you have a welcoming committee," he stated as he pressed the button to lower the ramp.


    Mingyu stepped to the back wall and held his hands up as the Marines aggressively boarded the ship. He didn''t bother to resist as they checked him for weapons and handcuffed him. All the while the remaining Marines checked the other passengers and quickly escorted them off the ship.


    "Why did you shut the shuttle down?" the Marine holding him demanded.


    "Courtesy," he replied.


    "Reactivate it!" the man demanded. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    And that was the other reason Mingyu had shut the ship down. It prevented the STO from using it to sneak back aboard Fury. Not that they would have a good time if they tried that. "I can''t. The activation code must come from Eden''s Fury. And I will not contact them until I''m free to leave."


    The man glared at him, but Mingyu was unmoved. He had faced off against some of the most demanding officers during his time in the Coalition. An angry Marine hardly even registered.


    After a while, the man jerked his head to the side and the other two Marines led him off the ship. "Our Captain wants a word with you."


    They weren''t dragging him or marching him by gunpoint so that was a good sign. He didn''t hold their other actions against them. Marines were Marines. They were not diplomats, they were a blunt instrument of war.


    He was led to a conference room where a hologram sat at the end of the table, with the Captain off to the right, looking annoyed.


    The hologram sighed. "Remove his cuffs, he isn''t under arrest. And then wait outside."


    The Marine who questioned him looked like he wanted to argue the point but saluted instead. "¡­ Yes, Vice Admiral."


    That explained the Captain''s annoyed expression and their relative positions at the table. Mingyu hadn''t been able to see the man''s rank clearly because the holo tech, much like this ship was old and the man''s form was quite blurry.


    Once his cuffs were removed, the Vice Admiral gestured to the seat across from him. "Please, sit, Captain Na."


    "You know who I am?" he asked in surprise as he sat down.


    "I do. I make it my duty to know outliers and those working with them. I would ask you how you ended up working for Alexander Kane, but I assume it has something to do with what happened to your other ship?"


    "I don''t work for Alex, I work with him," Mingyu replied.


    He saw the face move on the hologram, the man might have been smirking, but it was hard to tell.


    "I apologize for my assumptions." The man glossed over the fact that Mingyu didn''t answer his other questions. "I''m curious though. How is it that Kane managed to get Arkonis Anazi''s frigate rebuilt so quickly?"


    "You''ve been spying on Eden''s End for who knows how long, you tell me?"


    "Fair enough," the man chuckled. "I suppose I should get to the real reason why I brought you here. I need to debrief you. While I would have preferred to debrief Mr. Kane, maybe this is for the best since he was never in the military. Can you tell me what happened that caused one of our ships to become so damaged?"


    Mingyu relayed what happened in the battle that took down the Dawn. While he hadn''t been present for most of the encounter, he had watched the recording of the event afterward. He also talked to Alex and Lucas Laront about the event.


    When he was finished, the Captain of the Blueridge looked shocked, while the Admiral leaned back and looked thoughtful.


    "Vice Admiral, why wasn''t I informed of these covert ships? I am the Senior Captain in command of the fleet in Varlen."


    "You were not made aware, Senior Captain, because you do not have the security clearance. And I shouldn''t have to explain why you don''t have that type of clearance anymore," the holographic man stated pointedly, immediately silencing the Captain.


    Mingyu remained quiet at the exchange. There seemed to be some friction between the Vice Admiral and Senior Captain.


    "Everything that happened today is to remain top-secret," the Admiral continued. "I expect every single person in your fleet to sign the document acknowledging this. If I find word of the Dawn, or this battle leaking out, I will assume it came directly from you, Captain Willard. And you will be subject to whatever punishment the STO deems necessary for leaking classified information. Am I clear?"


    Captain Willard visibly stiffened at the rebuke. "Yes, Vice Admiral."


    "Good. Your connections may have gotten you out of a court-martial the last time, but I can assure you, it will not happen a second time."


    Mingyu couldn''t help but glance at the disgraced Captain. The man looked equal parts embarrassed and angry with the fact that the Admiral was airing his dirty laundry to an outsider. Mingyu couldn''t quite believe it either.


    When he first learned of the power dynamic in this room, he felt sympathy for the Captain. Nobody wants their command usurped on their own ship. Now all he felt was disgust for the man who was obviously out in this picket system as a form of punishment. He kept his face from showing how he felt though. It was clear the Vice Admiral was doing this for a reason. Likely to show who had actual control in this system.


    "Now for the pertinent questions," Fletcher continued as if nothing had happened. "Did you board the Dawn?"


    "No," Mingyu answered honestly.


    "Did anyone aboard your ship, the Eden''s Fury, board Epsilon''s Dawn?"


    Alexander had told him not to lie about anything that didn''t revolve around Eden''s End but he still hesitated to answer this question. In the end, he told the man what he wanted to know because they were likely to learn of it once they questioned their own people.


    "Alexander Kane is the only person aboard the Fury to have stepped foot on the Dawn."


    The hologram was quiet for a bit before responding. "¡­I see."


    That was not the response Mingyu had expected. This exchange was odd and it seemed like the Admiral had some agenda that Mingyu couldn''t quite figure out.


    Captain Willard looked like he wanted to say something, but the man managed to remain quiet.


    If Mingyu had to guess, the way Fletcher was acting had something to do with the classified nature of the ship and whatever mission it had.


    "Captain Na, If I extended an invitation for the Fury to dock at the Naval yard, do you believe Mr. Kane would accept?"


    It seemed like this was too much for Willard. "What!? You can''t seriously be considering letting some unknown military ship dock."


    "You would do well to remember who you are speaking to, Captain. Or I will remove you from command."


    The aggrieved Captain snapped his mouth closed so fast Mingyu heard his teeth crack from across the room. There was definitely some weird political nonsense going on in this system. If Mingyu had spoken to a superior like this during his time in the Coalition, he wouldn''t have received a warning, he would have been demoted and stuck in some menial position until he was up for promotion again, assuming that day ever came.


    Mingyu cleared his throat to get their attention. "I don''t know if he will agree to docking, but he might be convinced to head that way. I will need to speak with him personally to find out." If anything, it would allow them to use the Qcomm array without the huge delay from being so far out.


    "Please do, Captain Na. And express my apologies to Mr. Kane for the rude welcome. As you can imagine, the pirates have been rather active, so some of us are a bit on edge."


    After that, Na was led back to the shuttle and released. He would mention the Vice Admiral''s words to Alex, but he doubted his friend would take Fletcher up on his offer, especially with his unique circumstances that he seemed to be trying to hide.


    ***


    Fletcher kept his face passive as he watched Na exit the room, then watched on video as he flew back to the dead pirate prince''s old ship. He was able to have a real-time conversation thanks to the secret Qcomm satellite that just so happened to be in the vicinity. It did take a bit of maneuvering to get it close enough, but he made it happen when he recognized the opportunity and issues at hand.


    He focused on the BSE ship. Calling the thing he saw through the video feed ''old'' was not accurate at all. The ship was ugly, that was true, but he noted the vessel didn''t have the traditional autocannons, railguns, or Gauss cannons. Those weapons were rather distinctive due to their requirements. Instead, six laser turrets dotted the pristine and painted hull.


    Fletcher had read the first report of Eden''s End. Coupled with the second report that Captain Greaves brought back, the computers were able to use that information to give him an estimate of Eden''s End''s production speed. So seeing the rebuilt ship wasn''t all that surprising to him. It was within the estimated window. What did surprise him was the lasers.


    Even if Kane had access to the Dawn since it had gone missing in action, they shouldn''t have been able to reverse engineer and design an entire system for a wholly new ship in that timeframe. That meant they already knew how to produce military-grade lasers prior to that. Combined with what Krieger reported, it troubled him.


    It wasn''t the weapons in and of itself. The pirates had proven they could and would reverse engineer or design their own homegrown tech. It was the fact that Kane and his company were complete unknowns, and Fletcher didn''t like unknowns.


    While it was in position, Fletcher had also used the satellite to visually scan Kane''s ship. Along with the scan data from Eclipse, the AI reported yet another disturbing fact. It was telling him the engines didn''t match any known design. The only two corporations that built Class 4 engines were Omni and Sinorus, so this was unheard of. Even the pirates hadn''t bothered designing and building their own engines due to how superior the existing designs were.


    If the pirates knew Kane was capable of this level of engineering, it was no wonder they had attacked Eden''s End.


    All of those points convinced him to intervene and prevent that idiot Willard from turning a bad situation into an unrecoverable one. If he could convince Kane to work with them, he could reduce the Navy''s reliance on Omni. Fletcher would need to handle the negotiations with a light touch though. He also expected that the black ops budget was going to have a significant chunk taken out of it.

 Chapter 2-37

    "That''s the gist of it," Mingyu said after relaying what happened to him aboard the STO ship.Alexander was a bit irked by the treatment Na went through. It also seemed like the STO wasn''t nearly as cohesive as he had once believed. This division certainly explained their lack of response to Dawn vanishing and some other inconsistencies he had noticed. He wasn''t sure their lack of unity was a good thing though.


    An undivided entity would do much better against a threat like the pirates. Unfortunately, people had short memories, and the last time they needed to be unified was during the Coalition war. Hopefully, once the Qcomm got installed at Eden''s End, he could keep track of the war more closely.


    It wasn''t his place to get involved in a war between the STO and the pirates, but he would be doing a disservice to himself if he didn''t at least stay up to date on the conflict. Especially since the pirate family responsible had already sent one person out to capture him. It would be the height of foolishness to think they didn''t already have plans to try again.


    "I won''t be docking at the STO station to visit this Vice Admiral in person. The risk isn''t worth anything they could offer us."


    "I would have to agree. What if they simply ban you from STO space like they did with my ship?" Na offered.


    Alexander shrugged. "It would certainly slow down the projects I have going on, but I''m confident it won''t come to that." At most, it would cripple his ability to purchase advanced technologies and medical supplies. Then again, he wasn''t alone anymore, he had Jasper and the Hawks to lean on if the STO blacklisted him.


    "I assume you have a reason for this confidence?" Na asked.


    "I do," he said with a smile. "Oh, while you were gone, we detected another stealth vessel. This one was much smaller, which is why we missed it initially." Alexander pulled up the computer''s best guess of the ship layout on the ship''s conference room holo. "It''s impossible to tell exactly what it is due to the stealth armor, but I don''t think it''s a ship."


    "Hmm," Na said, zooming in on the image. "I believe you are right. At least it doesn''t resemble any ship I''ve ever seen. It''s also smaller than our shuttle. It could be a single-seat craft, but I don''t see why the STO would bother."


    "I think it might be a Qcomm satellite," Alexander said.


    Na jerked in surprise at his statement. "That would certainly warrant the stealth measures. But why do you think it''s a Qcomm satellite?"


    "When the Admiral first reached out, there was a delay in communication. That delay got progressively shorter. You spoke with him on the Blueridge. Did you experience any delay?"


    Na shook his head. "No. I thought maybe he was aboard one of the other ships or the other stealth ship. But now that you mention it, that ship wouldn''t have been close enough to communicate in real-time."


    "And there would be no point asking for us to dock and speak in person if Fletcher was already out here."


    "There is that as well," Na frowned. "That doesn''t explain why the STO won''t try to ban you or try to impound the Fury."


    Alexander chuckled slightly at that. "First of all, I don''t think they have the firepower to impound us unless they get that other stealth ship involved. That would be messy for everyone here, and I don''t think they want to risk a second stealth ship when they don''t know what we are capable of. As for your other point, The satellite likely scanned our ship. If the STO had any AI in the system, they would have realized we weren''t running standard engines. I specifically made my design distinct enough to differentiate it from our competitors."


    "You think he wants to make a deal? Seems like a bit of a stretch, Alex."


    Alexander shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But like I said, we won''t be docking. In fact, we''re going to sit far enough away from their station to intercept any possible ordnance they could send our way while being close enough to send Qcomm messages with as little delay as possible. I would take advantage of that conveniently placed satellite, but I don''t want to tip our hand that we know about it or the other stealth ship."


    Na agreed and they returned to the bridge where he sent their response. If the Vice Admiral was disappointed, he didn''t show it.


    "Your approach has been approved, Mr. Kane, Captain Na. Please follow the fleet to the station."


    Following the fleet was essentially the Fury being hemmed in by two frigates with the cruiser in the lead and the stealth ship following far behind. Alexander wasn''t too worried. He knew his lasers were far more powerful than the ones on the stealth ship, and the other ships only sported Gauss cannons, which judging by the age of the ships, had probably been retrofitted at some point in the past.


    The trip in was a bit tense but otherwise uneventful. Before they arrived, the stealth ship broke off its pursuit. Fury still tracked it on optical sensors until it passed behind the moon where the Naval station orbited.


    The facility was massive, dwarfing Petrov Station, the only other station Alexander had seen up close. He couldn''t help imagining what he could build with a station as large as this one. While it was fun to daydream, he shook those thoughts away. He had a lot of stuff he wanted to get done before they left and he didn''t want to stick around too long if he could help it. Alexander assumed the Vice Admiral would reach out to him at some point during their visit, so that would likely cut into his time.


    The first thing he did was send a message to Jasper, letting his friend know things were going well. He was intentionally vague because he didn''t necessarily trust the Qcomm network. The next message went to the Hawks, and they actually responded almost immediately via video.


    "Mr. Kane. It''s good to hear from you. We hadn''t expected anything so soon. I assume your situation has stabilized?" Anthony Baru, the Hawks Operation''s lead asked.


    "Something like that," Alexander responded. "How are things on your end? Any changes that will delay your next visit?" With Fury fully operational, and the defense grid around Eden''s End up and running, he wasn''t as concerned if they got delayed, but it would be good to know ahead of time if that was the case.


    "No, things have been relatively quiet out here, and we''re spending most of our time patrolling. Your funds have been transferred into your account as per the agreement you made with Captain Matthews. We are still in the process of fulfilling your last request, but we don''t predict any issues there. Is there anything else you need from us while you are in STO space?"


    He hadn''t specified that he was in STO space, but the man wasn''t stupid and it wasn''t a huge leap of logic to figure out he was near a Qcomm. "I do actually. I have a few more bounties to claim, can I send them your way?"


    "Unfortunately, no," the man sighed. "We would need the original device that scanned the bodies as it creates a unique identifier. A digital transfer won''t do."


    Alexander was afraid of that. "I will have to just claim them myself then."


    "If you think that''s wise. Or you could just hold on to them. There is no set timeframe to turn bounties in."


    "I would if I could, but I have a feeling I will need the funds sooner rather than later." Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Baru nodded. "If you need any assistance with the process let me know."


    The last thing they discussed was the acquisition of personnel to fill out his engineering roles. Alexander was surprised to find that the Hawks had gone above and beyond to also find skilled crewmen for him. That news was nearly enough to tempt Alexander to fetch these new recruits in person. He held off on that because getting to Ganos was a month-long venture. Alexander wasn''t ready to leave Yulia alone for that long.


    When he was done with Baru, he contacted Fidelity Properties again. A man in a well-tailored suit greeted him. "How may I assist you?"


    "Oh¡­ I was expecting Violet."


    "She is off right now, but if you wish to work with her, I can let her know?"


    Alexander shook his avatar''s head. He couldn''t expect her to be there all the time. "That won''t be necessary. I''m looking for storage space near Ganos, preferably something that any size of ship can easily dock at."


    "That shouldn''t be too hard to source. However, most people simply rent. I assume you wish to purchase the space outright?"


    "Yes," he gave the man the size requirements he was looking for and waited.


    It took less than half an hour to find a suitable storage facility. Alexander transferred the money to purchase it, nearly balking at the twenty million credit price tag. If it wasn''t for the half a billion credits he pulled off of this very ship, he would be close to broke. He checked his balance, finding less than thirty million remained of that original amount. When he looked at the transaction history, he wasn''t surprised. Jasper had purchased everything Alexander had asked for. It also seemed like some of those things had gone up in price, the computer chips specifically had taken a huge bite out of his wallet.


    He pulled out his bag of credit chits and pressed them into the terminal. It took twenty minutes to transfer all of them to his account, but it was now back up over half a billion credits. He didn''t stop there. He used the terminal to connect to the pirate bounty board. It took a bit of figuring out how to transfer the DNA scans from the device to the terminal, but he eventually did manage.


    It was a good thing that they were able to replicate an STO terminal from aboard the Dawn. He wasn''t sure the ancient hardware at Eden''s End would have been compatible with standard STO systems. The bounties added another seventy million. It seemed like the Char pirates weren''t quite as active as the Anazi ones were. Still, he would take what he could get.


    Not wanting to hog the only console available, Alexander quickly finished up his work and left. Purchasing the additional learning modules, dropped his balance back down to two hundred million, but those would pay off eventually. He would have liked to purchase the plans for artificial gravity and some other items, but they were well outside his price range still. With any luck, money would start coming in soon.


    ***


    "Captain, I''m glad you survived. What the hell happened?" Fletcher asked Krieger.


    "We arrived in the system and were going about our normal checkup. A day later, Char jumped into the system with twenty-two ships." Fletcher winced at that news. "Considering your standing orders, we maneuvered into a position to attack if the pirates engaged Eden''s End. As you can imagine, they did. We took out a few of their ships, but they turned on us instead of continuing to attack the space station orbiting the planet. We had a close flyby, where we slugged it out, and I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I tried to scuttle the ship, but the nuke failed to go off. Then I checked on the surviving crew and heard someone boarding Dawn. I attempted to fight back, but my oxygen was nearly depleted. Luckily it was Kane and his people and not pirates that boarded the ship. Oh, and Kane''s a robot, or according to rumors, a sick man puppeteering a robot. I don''t believe that for one minute. Mostly because the robot is made from the same material as Dawn''s armor."


    That got Fletcher''s attention. "You''re sure about this?"


    "As sure as I can be. You need to see it for yourself to tell for sure."


    So Kane might be from the same alien species that the ship came from? Hell, for all he knew, Kane might be from that very same ship. It had been heavily damaged when they found it.


    "Thanks for the unofficial report, Captain Krieger. Do you know what you''re going to put in your official report?"


    The man sighed and nodded. "That I went awol, took a ship, got attacked by pirates, and was rescued. I assume you have enough pull to keep me from seeing a firing squad at least?"


    Fletcher nodded. "I will have to pull some strings, but you''ll be dishonorably discharged. I''m sorry it has to go down like this, you were a good captain."


    Krieger snorted. "I suppose you did warn me this was a possibility before I agreed to join your team." The man held out his hand and Fletcher accepted the gesture. "I guess this is goodbye, Scott."


    This time Fletcher snorted. "I''m still your commanding officer."


    "Not for long. If I''m going out, I have no reason to follow protocol anymore."


    Despite the dour mood, Fletcher smiled. "Don''t give up hope, Vitor, you might find someone who will take you on."


    The two shook hands and Fletcher watched Captain Krieger walk out of the room, only to be handcuffed by two Marines and led to the brig. It was a situation he very much wished he had the power to change, but he was nearing his limits on what strings he could pull at the moment.


    Instead of dwelling on what he couldn''t change, he turned to the tablet he was holding.


    Fletcher scrolled through the Qcomm log from Mr. Kane. He was hoping for some leverage to make it easier to convince the man to work with him, but it was just routine correspondence. Unfortunately, he couldn''t dig into Kane''s other transactions. Those were all highly encrypted. The AI could break through the encryption given time, but Fletcher would need a warrant to do that type of work and that would tip people off that he would rather keep in the dark about this encounter. It also wasn''t pertinent to what he needed from Kane.


    He tapped his fingers on his desk as he tried to find a solution to have a face-to-face with Kane. He needed it to be face-to-face because he couldn''t afford for his conversation to be recorded or sent via open radio. He also wanted to confirm what Krieger had just told him.


    There were also too many Omni spies in the system. Willard was a prime example.


    The bastard was caught giving classified reports to Omni.


    Willard only got away with it because he was the son of one of the royal families that controlled a continent on Malis, or Malik. Fletcher forgot which of the twins the man actually came from, not that it mattered. The entire Tau Ceti system might as well have belonged to Omni, considering they kept all the royals rolling in credits. Omni was one of the only privately held companies in that system, as the royals had bought up almost every other industry. It was a testament to the company''s power and reach that they managed to stay independent. Not that they didn''t actively work with the royal families to enrich both sides.


    Even without Omni, having two habitable planets in the same system gave Tau Ceti a lot of power. While Tau Ceti didn''t hold the STO Chairman role at the moment, most of the policy changes in the last fifty years came out of that system.


    To top it off, they also controlled one of the hypergates.


    There was too much power in one place. Anything Fletcher could do to wrest that power away from those people, he would. He needed to be very careful as to how he approached it though. His position within the Navy would not stop an Omni assassin from getting rid of him if they thought he was messing with their income stream.

 Chapter 2-38

    Alexander had only planned on spending a day in Varlen initially. Just enough time to let people converse with their families and get responses back. That changed when Captain Na approached him in the engineering section."Alex, do you have a moment to discuss something?"


    He paused the simulation he had been working on to give Mingyu his full attention. "Certainly, what is on your mind?"


    "You recall that I was trying to get my family to come to Eden''s End, right?"


    "I do. Your father wasn''t quite sold on the idea if I recall correctly."


    Mingyu laughed lightly. "You could say that. Anyway, I''ve convinced him and the rest of my family to finally make the trip. But he will only do it if he can do so with me as the Captain. Technically, he said ''my ship'' but I didn''t tell him I wasn''t on the Destiny."


    "We certainly have the room. Are you sure he won''t be upset when he learns you aren''t Captaining the Destiny?"


    "I''m sure he will be, but I can deal with that when he arrives. That''s the other thing. The ship he chartered won''t be here for another week."


    Alexander paused to think it over. He assumed, incorrectly, that Na''s family would arrive in Varlen and wait for the Fury to return. Considering there were only military facilities in Varlen, that was a pretty stupid assumption on his part.


    An extra week of hanging out in the system wasn''t the worst thing, but it was stretching the time he had allotted to be here. Then again, Na had been instrumental in helping to secure Eden''s End. And from what little he knew of Mingyu''s father, the man would likely be another valuable asset.


    Even then he might have declined to stick around. It wasn''t that he didn''t want Mingyu''s Father and the rest of his family. It was simple practicality. He wanted to return to Yulia as quickly as possible.


    The only reason that he was considering sticking around a bit longer was he still believed Vice Admiral Fletcher would reach out. From what Mingyu told him, there seemed to be some politics at play here that Alexander wasn''t privy to, which might be keeping the man from acting.


    "Very well. We can remain for a week, but no longer than that. If their ship is late, they will have to wait in a nearby system until you can return to pick them up on the next trip here."


    Mingyu bowed slightly. "Thank you, Alex. I can assure you that you will not regret this decision. My father may seem a bit cold when you first meet him but don''t let his demeanor fool you. Get him talking about a subject that interests him, and he comes alive."


    "I suppose I''ll need to know what those subjects are then," Alexander quipped.


    Mingyu chuckled lightly. "Those are easy enough. He likes talking about minerals, mining, and all things ship-related. I think you two will get along just fine."


    It did sound like they had some things in common. "What of the rest of your family?"


    Mingyu sighed. "It will just be my parents, my siblings, and their families. Most of my extended family have gone their own way. Not that I can blame them. It has been over a year since they lost their homes and everything they cared about. I think some blame me as well since I was part of the Council that was supposed to protect them. They know where to find me if they change their mind though."


    "As long as they''re willing to work, they will always be welcome."


    ***


    Alexander had all but given up on Vice Admiral Fletcher reaching out after days of waiting, but he did eventually receive a short message, asking if an official shuttle could dock with Fury. The message didn''t specify that Fletcher would be on this shuttle, but Alexander couldn''t think of anyone else who might want to visit.


    Captain Krieger had likely been debriefed by now, so if this was Vice Admiral Fletcher there was no point hiding. He accepted the visit and waited.


    Eden''s Fury only had a hangar large enough for one shuttle, so the STO shuttle had to dock at one of the airlocks. All of Na''s crew were in their assigned areas, with the blast doors locked down behind them. If this was some weird attempt to take the ship, The STO was going to find out they made a big mistake.


    When he saw a man with greying temples step out of the airlock, flanked by a pair of Marine escorts, and only a pair, the tension he had been feeling faded away. While he was willing to defend what was his, starting a fight with the STO was not on his agenda.


    The two Marines locked eyes on him as soon as they stepped out of the airlock. The pair stiffened slightly but otherwise remained quiet and alert as he approached.


    "Vice Admiral Fletcher, Welcome aboard Eden''s Fury." The man didn''t even flinch at Alexander''s appearance as he accepted his outstretched hand with an easy smile.


    "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. After hearing Krieger''s report, I wasn''t sure you would be willing. I apologize if any STO personnel overstepped their bounds while in your care."


    Alexander was surprised by the apology but happy to hear it as Fletcher sounded entirely genuine.


    "Apology accepted, Vice Admiral. I''m sure they were just anxious to go home," he said awkwardly, feeling a bit bad about how he treated the rescued crew of the Dawn now. Instead of dwelling on it, he gestured down a corridor. "If you would follow me, I''ve prepared a meeting room."


    The man gave a curt nod and followed along. "I must say, this ship is quite nice. Did you design it yourself?"


    "Thank you. And no, not exactly. I simply restored it to its original condition."


    Fletcher laughed. "There''s no reason to be modest, Mr. Kane. I doubt this old ship was ever this nice when it came off the production line, inside or out."


    Alexander cleared his non-existent throat. "Yes, well, I did add my own flair to things. Here we are," he said gesturing to the door. "Your men can come inside or wait out here, whichever you wish."


    Without even a nod from the Admiral, the two Marines took up positions on either side of the door with their flechette rifles held low, but ready as they scanned the corridor for danger.


    Alexander followed the Vice Admiral into the room, which was large enough for ten people if the original table were still inside. It had been removed and replaced by a smaller table, surrounded by three curved and cushioned benches. The fourth was left out and a short box was in its place so Alexander could sit without looming.


    The admiral pointed his thumb to a pot off to the side. "Is that real coffee?"


    "I''m afraid not. It''s just caff."


    The man poured himself a cup anyway and inhaled deeply before grabbing one of the pastries from the small selection. He sat on the padded bench opposite him and took a sip of the hot beverage before sighing. "That may only be caff, but that''s better than the stuff we have out here. And the pastry as well," he added after taking a bite. "I can tell the fruit was made from freeze-dried product, but we don''t even have the luxury of that most times in Varlen. I might have to see if we can trade you for some," he said with a smile.


    "I''m sure you didn''t fly all the way out here just to trade food and drink with Eden''s End."


    The man dabbed his mouth with a napkin before responding. "You would be correct. There''s no point hiding this considering you dragged Dawn back here for us. Thank you for that again. I''m sure you''ve managed to figure out we''ve been keeping tabs on your system. And you specifically."


    "It crossed my mind," Alexander replied. "May I ask why?"


    "I think you can guess why, but I''ll tell you anyway. We were monitoring Arkonis Anazi. When his fleet disappeared and returned with only three survivors, the upper brass was understandably concerned. We sent the Dawn out to figure out what happened. They found you and when we realized you had come from Petrov Station, some of the pieces started to come together."


    Alexander frowned. "So it was this Harlow character that sent his brother after me?"


    "We don''t know that for certain," Fletcher stated. "But it''s the most likely explanation. We just couldn''t figure out why Harlow would do something like that. At least until a few days ago." After he said, that, he looked around at the painted walls of the ship with a knowing smile.


    "Yes, he likely wanted me for my engineering skills. I assume you want me for the same thing?"


    The man chuckled. "If I thought I could offer you enough money to convince you to work for the STO, I would. But my budget isn''t that large and I doubt you would agree anyway. I do have to ask, did you work for Omni or Sinorus at any point?"


    That seemed like a strange question considering Alexander''s previous run-in with Omni. "No, why?"


    "No reason, I just had to ask. The engines on this ship. Are they your design?" He was right, the man had scanned his ship with that satellite.


    "Yes. And before you ask, they are better than what Omni currently offers for this class of engine."


    It seemed like that wasn''t what the Vice Admiral was going to ask, since his eyes went wide and he choked slightly on the caff. Alexander waited for him to recover. The man coughed a few times as he spoke. "Do you have data to back that claim up?"


    Alexander reached over to the holo embedded in the table and activated it. Then he quickly pulled up the file comparing his engine to both the full-sized Omni one and Sinorus one.


    The man quickly studied the document before collapsing back into the cushioned seat. "That explains why you wanted out of STO space," he muttered. "You do know this will put a target on your back?"


    "I appreciate your concern Admiral, but I''ll be fine. Perhaps we can get back on track?"


    "Yes, sorry. I wanted to offer you a contract to help build a Nyx class ship."


    "Nyx class? I assume that is the designation of your stealth ship?"


    "Not the same as the Dawn. These would be light frigate class ships instead of the heavy destroyer designation that the Dawn falls into."


    "I honestly don''t know what to say."


    "You could start with, yes," the Admiral smiled, earning a deadpan look from Alexander. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He knew what the man was trying to do. He was trying to speed the conversation along so Alexander didn''t have time to think about it. On the surface, it sounded like a good deal, but he didn''t have any details yet. For all he knew, this deal could be a poisoned apple that brought Omni and the STO down on Eden''s End. While he believed the new defenses were strong enough to repel pirates, he doubted it would be enough to survive a concerted effort by either the STO or Omni.


    "Why are you asking me to take on this contract? You hardly know me and it isn''t like Eden''s End is equipped to handle production for a ship like that. Not to mention the obvious classified nature of such a project. I''m not even sure you should be telling me about this."


    "You would be correct. The Nyx project is classified. As was the Erebus project that the Dawn came from. But you''ve already been aboard the ship and have had months to study it at your leisure. I''m sure you''ve learned a few things from it. Not that I can blame you. We would have done the same if we found Eden''s Fury. That being said, it does put you in a unique situation."


    "Oh? How so?"


    "You are privy to classified information without being registered in the STO database as having such clearance and you are outside our jurisdiction. To put it bluntly, you''re a ghost, Mr. Kane. To someone like me who runs covert ops and black ops, I will always have a place for ghosts. Now, before you turn me down. I''m not asking you to build the entire ship. We have shipyards for that. What I would like from you is engines. If you weren''t blowing smoke up my ass with those numbers. I would like fifteen engines delivered to Varlen within the year and for each engine delivered, you will earn thirty million credits. What do you say, is that something you could do?"


    There were times Alexander was glad he was a robot, this was one of those times. The thirty million price tag was ludicrous. That was easily three times the price of a comparable engine from Omni on the open market. If each frigate took three engines, that made the engines on one ship worth more than the entire sum he spent for Eden''s End.


    He didn''t want to ask, but he had to. "Why is the price so inflated?"


    "That''s just the way everything works in the military, Mr. Kane. It''s the price for having the best, and keeping it from others."


    "So if I took this deal, I wouldn''t be able to sell to anyone else?" That sounded like a really shitty deal to him.


    "Not for that model for at least a year after your last delivery. It will all be in the contract."


    Alexander almost wanted to laugh at that. As soon as Omni got wind of a better engine, they were going to one-up him, making this sale to the STO look like a bad deal on their part. And he was perfectly ok with that. If the contract was worded like he hoped, then all he needed to do was release a new model as well.


    "I need to see the contract before I can agree."


    The man smiled and pulled out a data chip which he placed into the holo. If Alexander hadn''t had Lucas harden the Fury''s systems with his own brand of programming wizardry, he might have been worried about Fletcher sticking an unknown chip into the ship''s system. Still, that wasn''t guaranteed to be one hundred percent effective. When he got back, he was going to separate the meeting spaces like this one with a hard-coded connection that would prevent any data from passing back through it.

 Chapter 2-39

    The contract was a rather simple affair, all things considered. There were no gotcha clauses in it that he could find. Alexander was glad he had spent time over the last year and a half getting to know all the ins and outs of STO law. He even covered some of the planetary laws on the core worlds thanks to Jasper''s urging.If it wasn''t for his friend''s suggestion, he might not have made it a priority. Jasper had been adamant about learning the laws inside and out during their trip through STO space. "Alexander, with what you plan to do, you can''t be ignorant of the rules and how corporations twist them to their benefit. You need to figure out how to do the same."


    Alexander had taken that to heart and studied a bit when the time presented itself. And while he couldn''t recall his past, he didn''t seem to have any issue remembering anything since he woke up on Petrov Station. That being said, understanding and knowing something are two very different things.


    To say he understood all of the little legal loopholes would be an overstatement. He knew all of the law, and he understood a great deal of it but he wasn''t a legal expert by any means. Luckily, what he was looking for in the contract was a simple enough oversight that even he could take advantage of it. The Admiral had left a field open for Alexander to fill in the engine model number. From experience, he knew Omni and Sinorus both maintained a model catalog, which they tended to carry over to any new generations. Fletcher probably assumed he did as well, which wasn''t the case.


    He didn''t know what agreements Omni had with the STO, but he doubted it specified a model. It was probably specific to a class and year or a certain timeframe. From what he could see of the agreement, it was likely the Admiral thought he could lock Alexander into signing over that model for its entire lifetime, and he was more than happy to oblige.


    Alexander didn''t use any model specifications on his engines. Despite the engines being completed and working better than Omni''s models, he was still in the initial design phase. The engines on Eden''s Fury were only the fifth generation and the first to get field tested beyond the shuttle ones he built. Fury was also the only ship in his fleet with those engines. So losing out on being able to sell them to anyone else was a small price to pay.


    Having that generation locked to the STO''s contract wouldn''t even slow him down. Alexander had a sixth generation of the engine already in the later design phase. The sixth generation didn''t have any thrust or efficiency improvements, it was more to fix design issues and improve certain maintenance problems that were cropping up.


    He quickly amended the contract with a made-up model number that he would update in his documentation on the fifth-generation design on his end. Did he feel bad about tricking the STO? No, not really.


    They would get their engines as agreed upon in the document, as well as an STO-level spec and repair catalog to service them as required by STO law, and he got a whole lot of money. Only a third of it was upfront, but that was fine.


    Fletcher would likely be annoyed when he figured out the oversight, but the man shouldn''t have ever tried to get one over on him in the first place. Alexander signed the document and waited for the Admiral to go over it and sign it as well.


    "Excellent, Mr. Kane. You won''t regret working with the STO, I can assure you of that. When do you think you could have the first engines shipped to Varlen?"


    That was another stipulation of the agreement. Alexander had to provide transport. That was fine since he didn''t want the STO poking around Eden''s End anyway. He had to do some calculations to see how many of the massive thrusters would fit inside the Fury''s shuttle hangar. The answer was only one. And that was if it was placed at an angle. Class four thrusters were not small things. And Fury''s hangar was barely large enough for the shuttle. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The first could be here in a month, maybe."


    "Maybe?" Fletcher asked in concern. "You don''t sound entirely sure."


    "I''m not. Captain Na is the only qualified starship captain available to me, and he did this trip as a favor for me. I''m not going to ask him to do it again." Alexander felt comfortable saying this because the contract only specified a date when it had to be fulfilled, not when the first product had to be delivered.


    The man leaned back in his seat and threw his arm over the back of the cushioned side. Fletcher tapped his fingers as he mulled over the problem. "That''s not ideal. I was hoping to have the first Nyx frigate up and operational in three months. Are you sure you can''t convince Na to stay on as the captain of Fury? Most captains would jump at the chance to pilot a warship as grand as this."


    "I think I have about as much chance of convincing Captain Na to agree to that as you do of convincing the people in charge of the STO to remove the quarantine status on The Moonlit Destiny," Alexander responded, earning a sour look from the man that told him all he needed to know.


    "That is a decision beyond my paygrade I''m afraid. I can tell you that the people in charge don''t like their decisions being second-guessed, so I am unlikely to change their mind."


    Alexander shrugged. "I will do what I can, but I can''t guarantee anything within a month. In three months, I could get you at least three though."


    "Three, really?"


    Alexander made his avatar face nod.


    "Are they standard install? If not, that could be an issue."


    "They have all the standard mounting points of any class four engine so you don''t need to worry about that."


    "I suppose having a full ship complement at the same time might be better. If we get all three at once, it shouldn''t take more than a week to install them on a fresh ship."


    Not that the man had many options, he already signed the contract. If Alexander wanted to be a jerk, he could simply deliver them all at the end of the year. He wouldn''t do that though. He did need a friendly contact in the STO. "Before you leave, I meant to ask you about Captain Krieger. I heard some of his people say he might receive a court-martial?"


    "Another issue that is out of my hands, I''m afraid. A captain without a ship is not worth much and makes an easy scapegoat. I believe the STO leadership plans to use him to make a point."


    "And you can''t stop that? He lost his ship and most of his crew by defending Eden''s End." While Alexander didn''t care for Krieger''s planetside antics, he admired the man''s actions when it came to defending the planet.


    "I can''t stop it, but I''ve called in some favors to hopefully reduce his punishment to a dishonorable discharge. That''s the best I can do, I''m afraid." Alexander had nothing to add to that.


    You would think that with a war going on, they would simply demote him, or send him to the front in a new ship, instead of pulling this whole circus act.


    With talks concluded, they both shook and Alexander led the Vice Admiral back to the airlock where he watched the ship depart. Alexander made one more trip back to the console room and told the Hawks to keep their eye out for a recently disgraced Captain looking for work. If the STO didn''t want Krieger, he would take the man off their hands.


    The man would probably be a spy for Fletcher, but Alexander could handle that. Honestly, he would prefer if the man did turn out to be a spy for Fletcher, that way he could have a back channel to the man.


    That being said, when they got back to Eden''s End, he would need to speak with Lucas about purging the entire computer system and adding additional security above and beyond the version of Dawn''s security that Fury already possessed.


    Lucas had been ecstatic when Alexander had presented that program to him. After two months, the man had managed to break apart that code and reverse engineer it into something of his very own.


    While he might like Krieger and Fletcher, they hadn''t yet earned his trust. Alexander would do everything in his power to ensure none of BSE''s ships could ever be used against Eden''s End or stolen from them.


    Time would tell if this was a good idea or a bad one, but Alexander needed to make inroads with the movers and shakers of STO space. While he could produce the best engines humanity had to offer, it wouldn''t do a lick of good if one of Omni''s or another corporate fleet came down on them like a hammer. With friends in high places, Alexander hoped to curtail the corporations'' more bloodthirsty impulses.


    The next few days went by rather uneventfully. It gave Alexander plenty of time to spend the new funding he had just gotten. Since he had already managed to purchase the learning module on the static field on the first day he arrived, there was really only one more module he wanted. Unfortunately, even this influx of cash wasn''t enough to tip the scales into being able to purchase the module pertaining to artificial gravity.


    It was a shame, he just knew he could do some interesting things if he could just understand how the technology worked. He had taken apart some of the plates back in Eden''s End, but they made no logical sense to him. Considering their alien origin, he probably shouldn''t be surprised, but he still thought he would be able to glean some insight from them. That wasn''t the case.


    He couldn''t even recreate them in the printer. Fury had been refitted with scavenged ones from three separate ships, including a few from Dawn, they were just touched up to look like new.


    Seeing no other learning modules within his budget that would assist his people, he scrolled through the local listings for items for sale. It seemed like even the STO Navy sold stuff. He stumbled upon some used smelters. They were smaller than the smelter he had back in Eden''s End, but together they could handle more volume. They were in the list he sent Jasper, but Alexander could still use more. So he purchased the two units and sent the shuttle to pick them up.


    It was too bad he hadn''t been able to find an affordable station plan to purchase. Anything that handled people, trade, and docking cost a ton of money. Probably because they were modular and could be expanded with ease. And none of the non-modular designs were anywhere near his budget. The STO''s naval base gave him some ideas though, so he was going to work on the design of his own station on the way home. With the prices, it simply wasn''t worth waiting until he could afford something.


    Eventually, Mingyu''s family arrived in the system. Alexander was glad to see they were on time because he was getting homesick. Making deals and positioning himself in an advantageous position was exhausting. He would rather be back home, building new and exciting things.


    He now knew how Jasper felt and why the man had hired Naomi to be his port liaison and customer support representative. Maybe Alexander needed someone like that too?


    When the Captain of the transport ship realized they would be docking with an unknown warship, they were understandably reluctant. A quick call from Fletcher cleared up any misgivings though. Alexander couldn''t help but smile at that, his connections were already working.


    The transport was about half the length of Fury, but it looked a lot more futuristic thanks to its smooth design that consisted of a flattened oval body with a tapered nose and a flat aft where the engines poked out. The only things that stuck out from the smooth hull were the engines and the sensor antennas. It also had actual windows like some old-school airplane from back in his time.


    Alexander hadn''t seen windows on anything other than shuttles so it was a surprising enough feature to comment on.


    He watched the reunion from his suite, not wanting to startle their new arrivals. Mingyu''s father was an older, much more serious version of Destiny''s Captain. There was no hugging, Mingyu bowed politely and the man returned the gesture with a light nod.


    His mother was a tiny woman, and couldn''t have been taller than four foot three, but she had a regal bearing about her. She hugged her son, but it was a tentative thing. The rest of his family came soon after, but Alexander didn''t know the names of the rest of them and he quickly turned off the video feed to give them their privacy.


    Half an hour later, he felt the transport undock and depart. He sighed in relief, it was finally time to head home.

 Chapter 2-40

    During the trip back to Eden''s End, Alexander slowly introduced himself to Mingyu''s family. This was after Mingyu had told them about him, and he had spoken to them through video calls. He didn''t want to startle them with his appearance, but it seemed like he was overthinking things. Much like the people on Eden''s End, during his initial meeting, the Na family had very little reaction to his appearance. At least the older members of the family didn''t. The younger ones'' eyes went wide at seeing him, but he could tell they held back any other sort of emotion.Considering how prim and proper the family acted, he wasn''t too surprised by this. Mingyu''s father, Huang personified the word regal, or maybe stoic was a better word. Alexander found it a bit strange since he knew Mingyu didn''t act this way. As he took in the Captain''s extended family, he realized Mingyu was the most normal of the bunch.


    The family all bowed in respect as he and Mingyu approached, with Huang giving only a cursory nod that Mingyu returned. "Father. I know you have spoken to him already, but may I introduce you to our gracious benefactor, Alexander Kane."


    At a loss as to what to do, and with no head, Alexander simply bobbed his holographic avatar in the approximation of a nod.


    The patriarch of the Na family seemed pleased by this as he nodded in return. "As one father to another, I wish to thank you for taking in my son and his crew."


    "I was only doing what was right." And benefiting from the arrangement. "Do you have any plans once we arrive?"


    "Let me dismiss the children and we can speak of work." The man sent the younger children, who were likely his grandchildren, off with his wife, leaving only him and Mingyu''s siblings in the room.


    As soon as the children left, the remaining group seemed to relax slightly like they had been acting that way only for the children''s sake. "I apologize for that, but I could tell the children were at their limit and would have soon started pestering you with questions. I would also like to apologize if we seemed a bit pretentious. I know how our stoic behavior can come across to others. That was simply how I was raised and how I chose to raise my children. I found it helps to instill a calm and thoughtful approach to life. Although it is not suited to every situation, such is what we find ourselves in right now."


    "So you were acting?" Alexander asked in surprise.


    "Yes and no. Children tend to emulate their parents, and someone far back in the Na line realized this could be used to help raise children to think before acting. There are probably better ways to do this, but it works for me and my family. But enough of that, let us sit and discuss your question. I assume you ask what I plan to do once we arrive because you have an opportunity you wish to offer?"


    Alexander had to chuckle at that. He almost forgot who he was dealing with, but Huang Na was a Council leader for most of his life, and the Captain of The Moonlit Destiny until he turned that over to his eldest son, Mingyu.


    "You got all that from one question?" he asked as the group of five sat. Only Mingyu sat on Alexander''s end of the conference table, marking a clear separation from his family that didn''t go unnoticed by the father.


    "It wasn''t hard to figure out. Those in control only discuss plans with people they wish to work with directly. Otherwise, you would have ignored us during the trip and put us down on the planet and that would be that."


    When the man explained it that way, it became pretty obvious. "You are correct. I do have an opportunity I would like to offer you. I may have opportunities for the rest of you as well, depending on your skillsets but we can get to that later. Mr. Na, how would you like to teach?"


    That man had no outward reaction to the question. That alone gave Alexander a glimpse into how effective he must have been during his time as a Councilor for Petrov Station. The man sat there quietly, and Alexander eventually realized he was waiting for more information. Alexander smiled at the man, he could sit here and play the same game, but it wasn''t necessary. It was time to lay some of his cards out on the table so to speak. "I''m in the process of starting an academy. One where people can learn anything from mathematics, advanced engineering, starship operation, and even military training."


    "You either have a death wish, Mr. Kane, or a bottomless pocketbook. Which is it?"


    "Neither, I can assure you. As to the deathwish comment, I assume you are referring to the corporations'' stranglehold over learning?"


    The man gave a terse nod.


    "Can I be blunt, Mr. Na?"


    "You might as well call me Huang, or it''ll start getting confusing. And yes. I would prefer if you just speak your mind."


    "Huang, I couldn''t care less about the corporations and their arbitrary rules. I left STO space so I didn''t have to deal with that bullshit. By the time they realize what I''m doing, I will have turned Y6X-3H2 into one of, if not the most fortified systems that humanity controls. Then it will not matter what they think."


    "That is a risky game, Mr. Kane. The corporations are not stupid. They have other ways to stop people who try to upset their bottom line, including cutting your system off entirely. Are you prepared for that?"


    "If we''re going to be on a first-name basis, call me Alexander or Alex. As for your question, no, I''m not equipped to deal with that. At least not yet. Which is why I''m starting slow. The academy I envision won''t be a reality for years. By then I hope to earn some allies in key positions and establish myself within the STO." Time was both his greatest asset and his greatest enemy at the moment. Alexander needed to walk a tight line to keep himself off these mega-corporation''s radars while still growing.


    Huang leaned back in his chair, the first real change in his demeanor since the conversation began. "If we were having this conversation back on Petrov Station, I would have told you no, and gotten you expelled from the station to protect the people there from any backlash that this nonsense would have garnered."


    "But we aren''t on Petrov Station are we."


    "We are not. And that is not the only reason I am entertaining your dangerous idea. If it wasn''t for the STO''s actions, or lack thereof in the case of Petrov Station as a whole, I may still have told you no and asked to be returned to STO space. As it sits, I find myself not a fan of the STO''s decisions lately. They have grown indulgent and lazy because there is nothing left to keep them in check since the Shican left and the Coalition was disbanded. I fear their hubris is going to get a lot more innocent people killed before they finally take action. What does this position entail?"


    Alexander spoke at length of what he had in mind. He used the information Mingyu had told him about his father to entice the man into accepting. It was too bad the man wasn''t interested in being a captain again, he could have used a few more.


    As for Mingyu''s siblings, none of them were qualified to be captains since the Na family only had one ship and Mingyu was nearly a decade older than his nearest sibling and the only one even close to being qualified when Huang was nearing retirement. Even without being a captain, they were still all engineers and business owners. It wouldn''t be hard finding them work, but he decided to discuss the points with each of them to make sure that was what they wanted to do.


    Before he got too far into his explanation, Mingyu''s oldest sister, Ju interrupted. "I apologize for being rude, but what if I don''t wish to work for you? What if I wish to establish my own company?"


    "Out of curiosity, what sort of company?" Alexander asked.


    If it was something he could use, all the better.


    "I mainly worked as an importer on Petrov. I enjoyed the work and would like to do so again."


    "That could be a problem. There isn''t much in the way of imports and exports coming to Eden''s End."


    "But you do have a station, do you not? If that''s the case, you will eventually have both."


    "¡­I do¡­ but I will not be turning over importing and exporting rights for any of my stations to anyone outside of BSE. Too easy for people to take advantage of that as I''m sure you can understand."


    "I see. Then what about hiring me to run your import and export operations? While I would have preferred to be my own boss, I would like a position similar to my previous one back on Petrov."


    "Hmm, we can do a trial run, if you do well, we can discuss details. I will get you a list of our transport assets before we arrive so you can look them over. Did anyone else wish to start their own business?"


    He should have figured they would all say yes. Wei Na was the next oldest sister and thus the next to speak up. "You spoke of this academy? Do you have chemical engineering learning modules?"


    "We do. Did you wish to do something related to chemical engineering?" He could see a host of uses for someone like that.


    "Not particularly. I studied bio-engineering and crop improvement techniques for my work as an agronomist. I always felt I could do more if I had a better understanding of chemical engineering. I assume you have farms?"


    "They are more like small family farms, but yes, we have farms. I can put you in touch with two of the farmers who would probably love to pick your brain. If you''re looking to create a plot of your own, I''m sure we can find some room." The woman thanked him and the discussion moved to the next Na family member.


    Yi Na was Mingyu''s brother and their age had to differ by at least fifteen years if Alexander had to guess.


    "To avoid stepping on Blue Star Enterprises'' toes, what do you produce?"


    "At the moment, everything. But the main focus of my company will be engines, robotics, and anything to do with space."


    "That is quite a list," the man replied. "What areas are you wishing to divest interest from?"


    It wasn''t hard for Alexander to choose. "Construction. While I''m capable of doing it, I am not a structural engineer."


    "If what Mingyu told us is accurate, I assume that there is a lot of this construction?"


    "More than I can keep up with," Alexander said without hesitation.


    The man nodded. "I wish to offer my services for the sake of running any construction efforts on the surface, with the understanding that once those initial efforts are complete and I start my own company, I can have first refusal of any contracts for the next ten years."


    It was an interesting offer, and he had to think about it. The Na family would have quite a bit of power. Alexander didn''t want to be accused of nepotism or have monopolies forming. The only sticking point was the first refusal of any project. Alexander assumed the entire Na family was aware that there would be no access to credits until they established a Qcomm link, which would only be a few more months from now.


    As he mulled over his decision, he asked a question of his own. "Do you have any qualifications to be a structural engineer?"


    "No, but I ran one of Petrov Station''s largest maintenance companies on the ninth ring. So while I am not qualified, doing that sort of work means I needed to understand how the infrastructure went together."


    It wasn''t much, but his qualifications were leagues better than anyone else on Eden''s End. And if Alexander was honest, he was sick of having to split his focus on trying to keep the repair crews working efficiently. "I''ll agree, but only for first refusal for five years. Trust me, there will be plenty of work."


    The man thought about it for a bit before agreeing. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That left the youngest brother of the Na line, Jin Na.


    "I don''t wish for anything as grand as my siblings. I''m a pure engineer, so anything in that vein will suit me just fine."


    "We have a few homegrown engineers that are working for Eden''s End''s civilian leadership. I can put you in touch with them, I''m sure they would be thrilled to get another member to ease their workload."


    After the discussions, Mingyu''s family went back to their cabins.


    "Thank you for working with them," Mingyu said tiredly, "I know my family can be rather overbearing at times. Especially my father. Even after he retired, I think he forgot he wasn''t in charge sometimes."


    "It''s fine. I would have preferred they all work for me, but we don''t always get everything we want. Your family wanting to do their own thing is probably better in the long run anyway. Forcing them to do what I want would have only bred resentment." That being said, Alexander was going to keep an eye on them.


    Mingyu''s family was used to being top dogs, he didn''t want them bringing that attitude with them and causing trouble or strong-arming any possible competition that might come along. Competition would come along eventually, it was only a matter of time. Heck, he already knew a lot of new faces would arrive when the Hawks returned.

 Chapter 2-41

    LOCATION: OUTSIDE OORT CLOUDSYSTEM: WOLF 1061


    DATE: 2400


    Harlow waited nearly a full light day outside of the system with his fleet. It hadn''t taken long to consolidate his power back on Haven. Everyone had seen what he did to his own parents, and they respected power.


    He didn''t let his new subjects idle about though. Any ship with FTL was ordered to reinforce his other fleets. Today was the day he would take the next step to increase the size of his empire.


    "Is everyone ready?" he demanded from his new throne aboard Harlow''s Might.


    "Yes, Emperor," the man bowed.


    Harlow grinned widely at the new title and the respect it garnered. He would no longer have to fight over scraps from his family, everything was now his to claim. As soon as the STO took the bait, it would be time.


    He went over the plan in his head one last time. A group of his weaker ships had already jumped into the system to harass the space lanes. It was a large enough group to provoke a response from the STO fleet stationed there but not large enough to scare them off. The STO fleet would give chase like they had been doing for the last few months. When his people pulled the STO into an open jump corridor, his people would jump out without engaging.


    The only reason this plan would work is because he had been conditioning the STO to respond this way every few days. The spies he had in the system had relayed their response both before and after his people left. It was always the same. Once his people jumped out, the STO would flip around and start decelerating back to their patrol route.


    "Jump contacts, Sir!" the sensor operator shouted in glee.


    Harlow grinned. "Start the countdown and tell the ships that just jumped in to swing around but not to decelerate."


    His people went about their tasks with rabid fervor. And who could blame them? The system they were going to hit might not be a core world, but it was a rich one. If everything went well today, it would be ripe for the picking.


    "Jumping!" the pilot yelled.


    The jump from a light day out took hardly any time at all and when they came out, they were practically on top of the STO fleet as far as stellar distances went. He didn''t need to give any orders, his people had already been told what to do. As soon as their sensors got a firing solution, missiles and railgun darts fired from every single ship in his fleet.


    The STO ships were caught at a near-dead stop as he had timed his jump to coincide with their velocity having been nearly canceled out as they attempted to return to their patrol route.


    Even though he caught them flat-footed, the STO ships fired their maneuvering thrusters to try and angle their vulnerable engine sections away from the incoming fire. It wasn''t fast enough to save them all though.


    Railgun darts punched through the engines of half the ships in the STO line, sending the vessels jerking wildly as their other engines sent them off course. Then the missiles arrived, detonating nearby as the enemy fleet failed to orient their point defense cannons in time. Three of the STO ships blew apart as they were struck by multiple missiles but the rest were turning to engage.


    That was when Harlow ordered the plasma missiles fired. The weapons were launched from the ship and lit off their drives almost immediately as they locked onto their targets. Since the STO ships were moving so slowly, they had no chance to maneuver out of the way as the projectiles turned into miniature suns that flashed through vessels one after the other.


    Eight more STO ships drifted aimlessly after that attack, leaving only two ships remaining. They tried to flee but there was no chance as the rest of his fleet pounded them with a hail of railgun darts. One of the ships lost containment and Harlow watched in glee as the back half of the vessel bubbled away into space in an orb of expanding molten metal.


    "Report!" he demanded as he pulled his gaze away from the holo display that showed the fight.


    "One of the older frigates lost power, and the crew is likely dead, Your Majesty."


    "And Harlow''s Might?" he demanded, not caring about the dregs of his fleet.


    "Minor armor damage from return fire."


    It had been an overwhelming victory and his dreadnaught had once again shown it was the undisputed powerhouse on the battlefield.


    "Tell the rest of the fleet to put some more holes in those disabled ships, then tell them to go wild. It''s time to celebrate!"


    The crew roared in approval and Harlow ordered his flagship deeper into the system so they could finally claim the planet. The other ships jumped back in to join the festivities not long after the initial fight had ended.


    Those ships joined him as they approached the planet. Already he could see people trying to flee the system as ships desperately exited the atmosphere while others were pushing their drives as fast as they would go to make it to the jump point. The corvettes that had accompanied him zipped on ahead to disable or destroy those ships before they could clear the gravity well. They wouldn''t get them all, but that was fine.


    They soon caught and disabled the majority of the vessels as they all streamed for the designated jump point. It was like shooting fish in a barrel and he was glad that most people were too ignorant to program alternate jump points on their own. He had to thank the STO for forcing standardized jump points, it made hunting down ships so much easier.


    The planet had some orbital defenses, but Harlow''s people picked them off one after the other. The STO relied too heavily on missile defenses around their planets, and the few Gauss cannons they had in place were quickly destroyed before they could do any significant damage. As for the missiles, they couldn''t get past the jamming, electronic countermeasures, and PDC fire to do anything.


    The orbital defenses were never meant to function without a fleet as backup, and he had neutered that possibility.


    "Open a channel to the planet, all bands."


    The sensor operator nodded and pointed to him when it was ready.


    "People of Poltaryov, you are now free from the oppression of the STO. I am Emperor Harlow Anazi the First and I graciously extend you this offer to join my burgeoning empire."


    "Emperor, we are receiving a response from the planetary governor."


    He nodded for the man to put it on the holo.


    An older man with gray hair at his temples popped up on the display. "We reject your offer, and you can go to hell, you pirate scum!" The man ended the call after that, leaving the bridge deathly quiet as Harlow did his best not to laugh.


    "Did you pinpoint the location of the transmission?"


    "Yes, Emperor," the communications person replied.


    "Let''s send the man a gift, perhaps that will make the rest of them more amenable?"


    Most of the people on the bridge didn''t seem to get the joke, but his second-in-command did. The man chuckled darkly, "It will be done."


    Less than a minute later, a single missile fired out from the front of Harlow''s Might and streaked toward the surface of Poltaryov. There was a flash that banished the night on that side of the planet before a mushroom cloud boiled itself into the cloud layer.


    The STO may not see a need to use nuclear weapons, but Harlow had no compunctions about glassing entire cities to get the population under control. And thanks to securing his parent''s enrichment facilities, he now had more of the weapons than he could ever need. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It wasn''t long before some low-level adjunct contacted him from the surface and surrendered the planet. It seemed anyone higher up was too busy hiding or being dead to respond. A pity really, Harlow would have liked to have taught them a lesson in person but he was a busy man and an Emperor now, there were others to get their hands dirty.


    Similar attacks took place at four other systems where the STO had fleet presences. Not all of them were as devastating for the STO as Harlow''s ambush, but the STO suffered heavy losses with each encounter, so they were forced to pull back and abandon each of those systems, expanding Harlow''s empire yet again.


    ***


    LOCATION: FLEET HEADQUARTERS


    SYSTEM: SOL


    "Explain to me how a mob of unruly pirates managed to take four more systems and destroy over twenty-five ships, Admiral Clement. And it better be good."


    Clement clenched his jaw to prevent himself from saying what he wanted to say to the STO Chairman. The man was obviously looking to pin the blame on this colossal screw-up on anyone other than himself. Clement knew he was already on thin ice, rocking the boat would likely get him a military tribunal instead of just a dishonorable discharge. So he decided to respond as diplomatically as possible.


    "There was no indication that Harlow had these sorts of resources available to him." This was true, and also a major miss by the intelligence people.


    "No indication?" the Chairman''s hologram replied casually as it tapped its fingers on the surface of some invisible desk. "Am I meant to believe that our intelligence services are so utterly incompetent that they could not find a single thread of evidence that led to this monstrosity!" the man''s words peaked in volume toward the end as he gestured to the enormous ship captured in the still frame that floated between them.


    Unfortunately, Clement had no response to that accusation, so he remained silent, which seemed to anger the Chairman even more.


    "You are officially relieved of duty, Clement. You will remain where you are until the judiciary committee can determine if your actions were simply gross incompetence or treason. You best hope they don''t have reason to believe treason. We are at war, Clement, and there is only one punishment for traitors during wartime. Now, get out of my sight, you disgust me."


    Now that the Chairman had found someone he could pin the blame on, it was conveniently a war. He really despised politicians and everything they stood for.


    Without another word, Clement nodded and left the room. The outcome was much as he expected when he first got the news of the attack. He didn''t know which Admiral would replace him and he didn''t particularly care. The STO had turned into a cesspool, so it would likely be some bootlicker of the Chairman or the mega-corporations.


    He was glad he warned Fletcher before this meeting since they were likely monitoring all his communications now. Vice Admiral Fletcher was likely the next on the chopping block since it was his department that had missed this critical information. Then again, the man was much better at the whole political wrangling than Clement had ever been so he might somehow survive.


    Clement didn''t blame Fletcher and his people for the miss, space was impossibly huge, and the STO''s budget wasn''t endless, so they did what they could with what they had.


    Even though this devastating attack was awful and tragic, maybe it was what the STO needed to finally take the pirate threat seriously, like he had been campaigning from the start. If not, he suspected Harlow was going to continue annexing systems until he started to do some real damage and the corporations had to get involved.

 Chapter 2-42

    LOCATION: EDEN''S ENDSYSTEM: Y6X-3H2


    DATE: 2400


    The final jump into Y6X-3H2 was a relief for Alexander. Not that the trip back had been problematic or anything. It had been without issue, which was exactly how Alexander liked it. He was just glad to be home.


    As far as he could tell, everything looked the same as when they left, but they were still a few days out. He sent Yulia a message letting her know they were back. She was probably asleep since it was nighttime on Eden''s End. That was fine, it gave him time to ping the facility and get an update on how things were going.


    It didn''t take long to get a reply, which was far faster than it should have been. "Hey, Alex," a sleepy Lucas responded as he sat in the chair that faced the holo camera. "I assumed you were going to inquire about how everything was going when you returned, so instead of waiting for you to ask, I''ve been compiling a status update to send you. Oh, this is a recording by the way, in case you haven''t already realized that. I simply sent daily updates to the nearest cameras where you were likely to appear, and as soon as they picked up Fury''s transponder, it triggered this response."


    Alexander chuckled as the video cut out and was replaced with the attached file. He was getting predictable, but he was glad Lucas understood him well enough to have this information prepared well in advance. The man continued to surprise him with his efforts to grow and improve.


    Lucas had even itemized the report to show the status of projects in order of completion time. The tunnel project was the first up, and it showed as completed. The report detailed some issues the workers ran into during the process, but the other engineers were able to fix those without delaying the project for more than a few days.


    Moving the lower-priority manufacturing to a new space was also marked as complete. That was a surprise, but a good one. The new manufacturing space had been cleared only a week prior to their departure so he had no clue how long it would take to move the older printers over there and set them up.


    Alexander had needed to do this to make room in his workshop for the newer printers, as well as the next generation of the manufacturing cells that were being made with these more accurate printers. The drawback there was the lack of advanced computer chips to run these new robots. Once Jasper and the Hawks return, his issues with processors should be handled for the immediate future.


    A large chunk of the items Alexander had asked the man to purchase were computer chips, securing an additional fifty advanced chips and five more supercomputer chips. It was a difficult decision to make since one supercomputer chip cost as much as twenty of the advanced chips. He wanted enough to outfit the remaining three frigates, as well as two more to make additional control ships to increase construction and mining efforts in the system. He would need more eventually, but that was a good start.


    Spending that much money might seem like a poor choice since the control ships were limited to ten robots per ship, but those ten robots worked better for complex tasks. He ran into this issue when removing the damage from Fury and then towing it back. The robots had to be reprogrammed and then had to be manually synced as they learned individually. The single robots were more useful for simple repetitive processes, whereas the supercomputer-linked ones didn''t need any oversight. You simply gave them a set of instructions and they carried it out while learning at the same time. So while there would still be a place for singular bots, the linked ones were far more useful for Alexander''s plans going forward.


    The next item on the list was Eden''s Resolve. Lucas had been nice enough to include a video of the ship''s construction. Alexander played the recording.


    The time-lapse showed the ship being towed into position and stripped. It reminded Alexander of a memory he had when he watched a time-lapse video of marine life stripping a dead whale to bare bones. It was more eerie when the carcass of the ship started to get put back together. The video stopped with only a small portion of the interior work complete, but it was going faster than he thought possible.


    Fury had taken about five months to disassemble, repair, and reassemble. It looked like the machine learning had reduced the first two parts to just a month. To be fair, the pirate ship from the second attack had less overall damage to the substructure than Fury had. Based on the progress though, he suspected the ship would be complete far sooner than he had originally estimated, once again proving his use of the linked bots was the right choice. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The last item on the list was the facility progress. It was still slow, but they reported that the main dome windows were finally starting to go up. They also repurposed the boring machines, that were used to create the tunnels to the weapon emplacements, to use in clearing the blockages from the transport tunnels. Getting those tunnels cleared and an actual train up and running would likely speed up efforts to repair the rest of the facility. He would have prioritized that work, but there were large sections that had collapsed and he had other things on his mind.


    Alexander was about to close out the report when another video popped up. This one showed Yulia.


    "This is a welcome home message," someone said to her off-screen. He was pretty sure it was Nancy, the Head of Learning.


    Yulia crossed her arms. "I don''t wanna talk to him."


    The woman sighed out of frame, "Yulia, we spoke about this. He didn''t leave you because he wanted to, he had to go because nobody else could do it. There is no reason to be upset at your dad for this." When that didn''t seem to get through to the intractable girl, the woman tried something else. "How about you welcome him home? It''ll make him happy. I''m sure you like it when he welcomes you back from school?"


    Yulia turned toward the camera, clearly still angry. "Welcome home," then she got up from the chair and ran off. Alexander didn''t miss the tears that were starting to form in the girl''s eyes before she vanished from the video frame.


    It broke his heart that she was still mad at him for leaving.


    A moment later, Nancy appeared on screen. "Sorry about that, Alex. We''ll wait a few days for her to calm down and try to record a better video. I really hope you don''t see this one." The woman reached out and the video flicked off.


    He didn''t know when that video was recorded, but it seemed like Yulia hadn''t been willing to record a second or that the others were even worse. He could understand why. Each attempt was probably like ripping open the wound and giving her a fresh reminder that he had left her behind, further adding to her anger over the entire situation.


    Alexander would need to have a long discussion with the girl. While he would love to be here all the time, there were times when his work was simply going to take him out of the system. And while there might be times he could bring her along, most likely he wouldn''t be able to. She needed to understand that. He wasn''t upset with her about her anger toward him. That was to be expected. Yulia could be mad at him all she liked, but taking it out on others wasn''t right.


    A few days later, they docked at the station. Yulia hadn''t bothered to respond to the message that he sent her. He had been forced to check in with her friend''s parents to make sure everything was okay.


    They said Yulia had been a bit sullen during his absence but had otherwise not done anything out of the ordinary. Sarah''s parents did say Yulia was spending most of her free time in the carts.


    Alexander shouldn''t have been surprised by that. He thanked them once again for watching her and transferred them some contributions for their efforts, even though they tried to turn it down.


    "Bossman!" Branston threw his arms out wide as he stepped out of the airlock. "How was your trip?"


    "Productive," he replied, shaking the man''s now extended hand. "How are things going for you while I was gone?"


    "Rather a bit more boring than usual, Alex. There just isn''t as much need for me to shuttle stuff into orbit when you''re gone."


    Alexander laughed at that. "I''m glad to hear you say that. Things are going to get busy again very soon."


    "Oh," the man quirked an eyebrow. "Do tell."


    Alexander filled his only pilot in on what was going on.


    The man didn''t look all that happy that Alexander had agreed to work with the STO. "I kinda thought you would shun the STO, given what I''ve heard, but I get where you are coming from. Credits are credits and you can''t run a business without them. So I have some passengers to ferry down?"


    "Yes. They are Captain Na''s family. There are some young kids, so no showboating."


    The man rolled his eyes. "I can be professional when the need arises. I''ll be so gentle that they won''t even realize we''ve touched down."


    "As for the other stuff, it''ll probably be a week or two before I get those on track. I also need a third shuttle," Alexander muttered as he thought about possible bottlenecks and issues.


    "A third?" Branston asked in confusion. "Did something happen to shuttle two?"


    "Huh? Oh, no. After I unload the two smelters, I plan on leaving the second shuttle for Fury''s use. With Resolve being ahead of schedule, maybe I should work on getting two more shuttles up and running so Resolve can have one as well. I want to make sure Eden''s End always has at least one backup shuttle, maybe two. I don''t think the remaining pirate shuttles can be repaired anytime soon though. At best, I can have four working shuttles, unless I start designing my own or divert the production line for the dome for replacement shuttle windows."


    "My vote''s for the experimental shuttle," Branston smiled.


    Alexander chuckled. "I''ll think about it. Oh, it looks like your passengers have arrived."


    After Branston left with Mingyu, his crew, and the entire Na family, Alexander put the Fury in standby mode and engaged the slave functions that would allow the ship''s weapons to be remotely operated from the ground.


    Once that was done, he quickly dropped off and installed the two new smelters, nearly doubling his refining capacity in space. His ability to keep up with the material coming in hadn''t really been a bottleneck since he mostly fixed the first smelter. Once Jasper arrived with the main replacement smelter, Alexander was planning to retire the damaged one to the surface again. Maybe he could spend some time to figure out why it wasn''t working properly anymore.


    With that complete, he checked on the limited printers that were cranking out small parts and panels. There was a huge stack of them off to the side, held in place by a few gravity plates that were scavenged off some of the ships. If it wasn''t for those plates, the stack of manufactured items would have been floating all over the bay.


    He watched as another panel finished and a robotic arm whipped over to retrieve it and deposit it on the pile. It was a waste of space to print all this stuff ahead of time, but there wasn''t nearly enough room in the bay for more than two printers and the smelter. Adding the other two smelters had crowded the small ore storage area even further. After Eden''s Resolve was complete, Alexander would probably remove the printers from the area.


    It''s not that they weren''t helpful, but his future plans called for something a bit different, which would make the first-generation printers rather redundant.


    He docked the shuttle back in the Fury''s hangar and waited for Branston to pick him up. While he waited, he contemplated what to do about the other report he had received from Damien.


    Less than a week after his departure, Shall had broken into his storage room. The man had carried out the robbery when Damien was asleep and almost managed to get away. Security was paying attention though and received the alert about the unauthorized exit from the facility. A few railgun darts through the man''s ship from the landing pad turrets made it so taking off was not an option.


    They managed to take Shall into custody after that, but the report was light on details of how that all went down. He doubted the shifty smuggler had gone quietly, but there wasn''t a smoking crater on the tarmac, so he was sure it was quite the story.


    Alexander wasn''t sure what the man''s plan was or what he had even taken. Even if he managed to get off the ground, there was no way he was getting past the larger railguns or the net of defensive lasers. Then again, the man may not even know about those. Shall wasn''t exactly privy to what was going on in space.


    He sighed. All he wanted to do was come home, spend time with Yulia, and work on his projects, but once again he was having to deal with other people''s nonsense.

 Chapter 2-43

    The first time Edgar Shall laid eyes on the towering black robot, he knew there was something alien about it. Maybe it was the rumors from people even more traveled and paranoid than him, but he hadn''t survived pirates, criminals, the STO, and other smugglers to get to his ripe old age without trusting his gut.The problem was trying to prove it to his boneheaded nephews. One of his sister''s kids was playing cop while the other got sucked in by the lure of fancy tech. Edgar couldn''t blame him, he''d seen some of the printers and robotic assemblers as he kept an eye on the robot. A cargo load of those would easily fetch a hundred million to the right buyer.


    Edgar had long ago learned that money wasn''t everything though, and oftentimes it got you killed. When he did runs like this, he preferred smaller items that were easier to sell than big-ticket items.


    His plan to expose this pretender had been simple. He acted like he was scared of flying back to STO space with how busy the area was with pirates, and then he would wait. Nobody even questioned him about it. With that done, he needed to gather information.


    So he watched, listened to rumors, and learned. Edgar heard about the man''s so-called disease. It wasn''t hard to get that information. He knew most of the people here, and drifters were quick to gossip with people they knew. Edgar chalked it up to their isolation and wanting to hear stories from other worlds. He obliged them.


    The run-in with the Marine had been a bit of a surprise. That nearly got him tossed into a cell when he lost his head and lashed out at the man. Edgar thought he had put that past behind him, but it seemed he''d been wrong.


    If Damien''s security people hadn''t been there, it would have gotten ugly.


    He laid low for a few weeks after that, simply spending time with Lucas, Damien, and his girlfriend Gabriella. How a sourpuss like his nephew had ever managed to land a woman like that, he would never know.


    Eventually, an opportunity presented itself when the robot left for STO space with those Navy goons that they rescued. Edgar wasn''t stupid, he knew he was being recorded and watched. Damien had also warned him to stay out of trouble. With such an upfront attitude, his nephew would never make it as a detective.


    Even though he knew he was under surveillance, that didn''t stop him. Edgar used a code cracker to bypass the storage lock, a week after the robot was gone. Then he spent hours searching through the stacks of supplies for something to prove to his nephews that it wasn''t just a crazy theory. When he came up empty, he was left frustrated.


    The closest thing he could find as evidence were two containers. One had a few small black flecks in it, while the other had a much larger chunk of a similar-looking material. Seeing as the robot didn''t have a large chunk missing from it, he assumed the piece had come from the STO stealth ship that was all the buzz around the facility.


    They looked identical but it wasn''t enough, and now he had blown his only chance to figure out what this alien robot or ''man within the machine'' was up to. He knew he couldn''t stick around after that, so he made a hasty exit.


    Edgar must have tripped some alarm on his way out. Before he made it halfway across the landing pad, he heard something whirr to life behind him. He froze, thinking his life had finally come to an end, only for the turrets to spit out hypersonic projectiles at his poor ship.


    He screamed in outrage and rushed toward his vessel, hoping they would stop if he was onboard. They did, but that was little consolation as he was effectively grounded because of the damage. From past experience, he knew what came next.


    Security people rushed out of the facility, looking unsure of what to do. That was until Damien stormed out, red-faced and upset.


    The boy was angry, but he wasn''t dumb. His nephew had a six-legged robot cut through the hydraulic struts holding Edgar''s ramp closed. Up until that point, he thought he might have time to quickly patch some holes and take off. Once they started slicing through the ramp cylinders, he didn''t fight the inevitable. Edgar pulled out an old folding chair and sat inside the cargo hold to wait. Just because he wasn''t going to fight it, didn''t mean he wasn''t going to be stubborn about getting caught.


    Edgar was curious what his nephew would say when he realized he hadn''t taken anything.


    The cargo ramp fell to the ground with a loud boom, sending up a cloud of dust that obscured the outside. Damien stormed up the ramp, waving his pulse rifle about like someone fresh out of the academy. His nephew''s eyes eventually settled on him in the gloom of the hangar and the pulse rifle barrel was only a moment behind.


    The man glared at him. "You going to come quietly?"


    Edgar chewed on the question for a moment. He may not have Damien''s skill in hand-to-hand combat, but he knew how to fight dirty. The fact that he didn''t want to fight his own nephew was what tipped it for him. He held out his hands and waited while the rest of Damien''s people tromped aboard his ship. Edgar had already deactivated the explosives, so there was no concern about them accidentally tripping something and sending them all to the great beyond.


    Two of the men roughly grabbed him and pulled his hands behind his back as they slapped mag restraints on him. They searched him, then dragged him off the ship while the rest searched the ship for what he might have taken.


    He spent the next month or so in a small cell until a shadow darkened the doorway. He peeked out from under his arm and saw the robot standing there, next to Damien.


    Edgar had wondered when his time would come, it seemed that day was today.


    ***


    "He didn''t take anything?" Alexander asked in confusion as he inspected the contents of his storage room.


    "I didn''t say that," Damien grunted in annoyance. "I said we didn''t find anything on his ship. We couldn''t exactly tell what was in your storage room so we had to wait for you to return to verify if anything was missing."


    "And your uncle?" Alexander asked. Their familial connection wasn''t much of a secret, Lucas had told him about it the day the man arrived.


    Damien grimaced at the question. "Shall is in lockup awaiting evidence of his crimes. Right now all we have to charge him with is breaking and entering, vandalism, and fleeing the scene."


    As far as Alexander could tell, nothing was missing. Some materials were moved around, but that could have been done by his robots or the automated carts that came and went pretty much all day.


    Even the samples from the STO ship and himself were still there. Those were probably the easiest to steal and if the smuggler knew their worth, probably the ideal choice to take. But he hadn''t taken them. If he hadn''t taken anything, what was he after then?


    The learning modules seemed like the next likely target, but Alexander had stored all of them on a terminal inside the facility computer room. The one that Lucas had rebuilt. You had to go through three guard checkpoints and two bio-locks just to get to the room that led to the mainframe. And you couldn''t even open the final blast door unless the computer had your identity on file. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander kept a few of the library cards on hand and in his workshop, but they were blank and required a trip to the computer room to load the proper bio-markers on them to make them functional, so stealing those was pointless.


    He sighed and turned to face Damien. "As far as I can tell, nothing is missing. What is the punishment for the crimes you listed off so far?"


    The former mixed martial artist looked like he bit into a lemon at Alexander''s announcement. From his expression, Alexander gathered the man didn''t much like his uncle.


    "A month in lockup for the first offense," he ground out in annoyance.


    "It seems he''s served his time, and then some. I would like to speak to the man before we release him." As much as Alexander would like to keep the uncle locked up, if he started making up his own rules people wouldn''t have much reason to follow the laws.


    After resecuring the storage room, the pair made their way to the holding cells. The cells had been in place when the facility was first constructed, so it seemed even the people who originally built Eden''s End knew they might need a place to hold troublemakers. They passed the security room and entered a long hall that contained twelve identical rooms. Alexander and Damien stopped outside the last door on the right.


    Shall lounged in the bed, his face covered by his arm. They could both tell the man wasn''t sleeping, but he also didn''t acknowledge them other than to glance their way.


    Alexander was the first to break the silence. "Mr. Shall, can I ask what you hoped to accomplish by breaking into my storage area, and then trying to flee the planet?"


    "I got nothing to say to you," the man replied lazily.


    "You just contradicted yourself by responding. That leads me to believe you want to tell someone what you were up to."


    "It won''t matter. They won''t believe me anyway."


    Breaking into Alexander''s storage area, followed by the refusal to speak to him along with the admission that they wouldn''t believe him finally made something click for him. "You don''t trust me," Alexander blurted out.


    The man finally turned toward the door. "Hard to trust something alien."


    You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed until Alexander started laughing. "Well, you''re not wrong." There was no point denying the truth. He knew it was only a matter of time until someone figured it out, again. However, he didn''t expect the crusty old spacer to be the one to put it together.


    Both Damien and Shall looked at him in surprise but Damien didn''t move away or shift into a more aggressive stance, meaning he already had an inkling of the truth. Alexander was curious to know what the man had figured out. He wouldn''t have been the first to put the pieces together.


    The first person to confront Alexander was Jasper, although he didn''t accuse him of being an alien. Eva knew something was off about his story, but not what. She would probably figure it out at some point as well. Then came Captain Krieger. That man had only needed a glance to put two and two together, but the man did have an unfair advantage. With him came Vice Admiral Fletcher, who absolutely knew what Alexander''s body represented and wanted to use that to his advantage. And now he had two- make that four more people to add. Lucas and Gabriella obviously knew if Damien did.


    "What? It''s not like I can hide this," Alexander said, gesturing to his body. "I''ve spent years trying to figure out where this damn body came from. Going by the lack of surprise from you, Damien, I can assume you''ve realized something was off about my story for some time?"


    The man grunted noncommittally, which made Alexander chuckle.


    "So, yes, this body is almost certainly alien in origin, but I''m still human where it counts," he said, tapping on his torso.


    Shall stood from his bed. "Yeah, and how can we be sure of that?"


    The man''s tone suggested he was trying to convince Damien to side with him. If that was the case, Shall didn''t know his nephew as well as he thought he did. Alexander didn''t know Damien all that well either, but he knew him enough to know that once the guy made a choice, good luck trying to get him to change his mind about it.


    Alexander shrugged. "Your feelings aren''t my concern so believe what you want. I don''t care. Just stop breaking into places until you can fix your ship and leave."


    "You''re going to let me leave, just like that? What if I tell people about you?"


    Alexander rolled his eyes in his mind space. This dude really was trying to provoke him into lashing out. Alexander could respect that, even if the man was barking up the wrong tree. If the man knew him at all, he would know provoking him to violence was not something easily accomplished. Now if he threatened Yulia, they were going to have a problem. It seemed like the man only had an issue with him though, which was fine.


    He decided to take a page out of his memories concerning alien abduction movies from his time on Earth.


    "So what if you do? Who''s going to believe you? It''s your word against mine, and you''re a smuggler and an outlaw. As for keeping you here? I don''t like you nearly enough to allow that, which leaves the other option of simply getting rid of you. We aren''t pirates, and you''re simply not important enough for me to care. So do me a favor, run along, tell everyone you can, and muddy the waters for when the truth does come out about me."


    Alexander turned to the silent man next to him. "Damien, I''ll let you handle your uncle''s release. Once you''re done, come find me in my workshop and we can discuss the questions I can see you itching to ask. You might as well bring Lucas and Gabriella too because I''m only going to do this Q and A session one time."

 Chapter 2-44

    Alexander departed the holding area feeling relieved that Shall wasn''t some spy or traitor, he was just some paranoid old man.Having to deal with this situation was annoying, but it was only a matter of time until his alien origins came out. With Krieger and Fletcher both likely having deduced where he came from, there was no way he was keeping this quiet for much longer. He was honestly surprised Fletcher hadn''t tried capturing him for experimentation.


    Then again, Alexander''s origins may have played a role in the deal that Fletcher made with him. Getting on friendly terms with an unknown alien race did seem like something that might be important to a Vice Admiral. Then again, maybe finding a new engine manufacturer was more important to the man than turning him into a science project, or it could be a combination of the two, he really wasn''t sure.


    While it was a relief to have this secret semi-out in the open now, Alexander knew it would change things. He didn''t know how, but he knew it would. When he spoke to Damien and the others, he would ask them to keep it to themselves for now, but that probably wouldn''t last. Secrets spread faster than diseases on Eden''s End.


    While he had said he was only going to go over the story once, there were a few people he would tell in person. Nova Lund and Eva Wu were a few, but he would probably tell Mingyu as well. There were a few others like Branston and Captain Matthews, but he would likely fill them in at a later time.


    There was one person he wanted to tell personally before she heard it from someone else though. She was in class right now, but he headed over there anyway.


    Once he arrived, it didn''t take long to get Nancy''s attention, and Yulia''s. His daughter studiously ignored him though.


    "What''s up, Alex?" Nancy asked as she wiped some paint off of her hands with a dirty towel.


    It seemed it was art day in class. "I need to take Yulia out of class."


    "Oh¡­ um," she turned to look at the girl who seemed to be the only one in her class not occasionally glancing over at him. "She hasn''t really forgiven you for leaving like I thought she might. Taking her away from art class isn''t going to win you any affections."


    "I''m aware," he said with a sigh. "I wouldn''t be here if it wasn''t important."


    She nodded. "Alright, I''ll go have a word with her."


    It took ten minutes of coaxing by Nancy to get Yulia up from the table and even then the girl just stared at the ground as she shuffled out of the room.


    This went on for a few minutes before Alexander got annoyed. Normally he would just let her vent her frustrations until she got over it, but he needed to speak to her before Damien and the others came to have a chat.


    He scooped Yulia up, earning a surprised squawk from the girl. He tucked her under his arm like a package as he hurried back to their home. His actions finally got her to speak with him, although, it was mostly just angry screaming and demands to be put down. Alexander ignored them. She quickly grew bored of throwing a temper tantrum and resorted to pouting as she crossed her arms and kicked her feet and him during the rest of the trip.


    "That''s enough!" he said, finally growing annoyed with her attitude. "You can''t act like a toddler simply because you didn''t get your way."


    While her mood didn''t seem to improve, she did at least stop kicking him. He wasn''t worried about being damaged, but he was worried about her hurting herself by continuing. Honestly, he wasn''t sure what had gotten into her. She had never acted like this before, not even back on Petrov.


    Alexander had read about kids acting similarly to this when a new baby came into the picture, but it wasn''t like he was adopting another kid. He supposed Yulia''s goal could be to get more attention but he somehow doubted that. She was a rather independent child. Which was a good thing since he was a rather poor parent at most times. He was trying to do better though.


    With him carrying the petulant girl, it didn''t take long to arrive home. Once inside, he set her down on the sofa and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of her.


    She ignored him and still had her arms crossed. Dog came to the rescue though as he bounded out of the bedroom and started barking happily as he ran around Alexander.


    Yulia might be mad at him, but she couldn''t be mad at Dog. Eventually, she reached out and pulled the robotic companion into a hug.


    "Are you ready to listen now?" Alexander asked. "I have something important to tell you, and it doesn''t involve me leaving again," he added, realizing what his last sentence might have sounded like.


    The girl sat there for a minute but slowly she nodded her head.


    "You know how I''m different, right?"


    Yulia nodded again.


    "Do you remember what I told you on the station?"


    She seemed reluctant to speak to him, but she did eventually reply. "That you were sick."


    "I lied, sort of. I''m not sick and I''m not someone trapped in a stasis pod, piloting this body. I am this body or inside it."


    "I know," she said quietly.


    "You know?"


    "Markus said I shouldn''t believe everything I hear and that I should learn to tell truths from lies. I don''t know how to do that. I just knew you were you the first time I saw you."


    "Why didn''t you say anything?" Alexander asked, flabbergasted by the girl''s admission.


    She shrugged. "I trusted you, I don''t trust other adults."


    Alexander wanted to hug her and kick himself. This explained why she was so deadset against him leaving. He was her safety blanket, and every time he left, she was forced to confront those emotions that he thought she had gotten over, but she hadn''t.


    "I- I''m so sorry, I didn''t know."


    Yulia broke down in tears and set aside Dog before she ran over to hug him. "I''m sorry for acting the way I did."


    He held her until she stopped crying a few minutes later. "It''s ok, I understand. I still need to tell you something though."


    Alexander set her back on the couch and she wiped her eyes. Then she clenched her chin and gave one firm nod for him to continue.


    He wanted to laugh at how serious she was acting now, but that would undermine her efforts, so he kept the feeling to himself.


    "So, I''m in this robot body. What you probably don''t know is where it came from. This body is alien."


    Yulia looked at him in confusion. "Alien? Like the Shican?"


    "Yes and no. I don''t think the Shican designed or built it, but some other species did."


    "Ok, but you''re still Alex?"


    "I am."


    "Then it doesn''t matter," she declared as if that was that.


    Alexander wished it was that simple. "It doesn''t matter to you," he corrected. "You''re probably going to start hearing rumors about me around Eden''s End. Some people simply won''t care, others, will."


    "They can get f-," Alexander quickly cut her off.


    "Whoa! Language, missy. Who taught you that word anyway?"


    Yulia''s eyes went wide when she realized what she had just said. "I''m sorry! Please don''t make me do extra chores, or tell Headmaster Wong. He would be very unhappy to learn I said a naughty word."


    "I promise I won''t tell him as long as you promise not to curse like that again."


    She nodded and he continued. "People are allowed to have other opinions, Yulia, even if they are wrong. I just want you to be aware that you might hear unflattering things about me so you aren''t caught off-guard."


    "Ok, Alex."


    Alexander smiled. "So, tell me what you did while I was gone, I''m sure you had some fun adventures?"


    ***


    Yulia told him everything she and her friends had been up to during his absence. And even though he knew he was probably making Damien, Lucas, and Gabriella wait, he didn''t really care. He let the girl go on until she ran out of steam.


    Then they shared another hug, and he told her he had to have this conversation with some other people. She seemed to understand and headed off with Dog.


    Alexander made his way to the workshop door and found the trio waiting for him outside. Damien looked annoyed, but Gabriella just bumped the grumpy man with her shoulder.


    "I told him that you probably needed to spend some time with your daughter before you met with us," the woman stated.


    "Thank you, I did. Let''s head inside?" he gestured them toward the door and considering Lucas looked about ready to burst with questions, Alexander assumed Damien had at least told them something. "You might as well tell me what Damien already told you so I don''t waste time rehashing the same information." sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Gabriella actually cut off the excitable Lucas. "That you''re an alien. I mean I guess I can see it."


    Alexander rolled his eyes at that. "I am not an alien. My body is alien, but I''m human. At least I have memories of being human. Might as well find a seat, I think Lucas is about to pass out if he doesn''t get to ask a question."


    "Where did you come from?" Lucas asked before his butt even hit the chair.


    "Earth."


    "¡­What?"


    Alexander chuckled. The one-word reply had short-circuited the poor man. He explained how he had memories from around the year 2050, how he woke up on Petrov Station inside a damaged robot, and how he''s been trying to figure out how he got stuck in this mess since he first woke up.


    "Wait? Is that why you built those super old computer chips? I thought you were just some huge retro nerd," Lucas stated.


    "Yes, I built what I knew, which wasn''t very much I might add. Most of my memories are spotty and fragmented from that time."


    "That''s awful," Gabriella said. "Have you tried, I don''t know cutting yourself out of that body?"


    "I¡­ don''t think that''s possible. I doubt that I''m a physical presence in this form."


    "Ooh! You could be a memory implant," Lucas offered. "Or an AI simulacrum."


    "Weren''t you the one who told me not to watch those old ''AI takes over the world'' shows?" Alexander sighed.


    "¡­That- that''s fair. But if your body is alien, who knows? Maybe they figured out true AI?"


    "I somehow doubt that, but let''s move on. Damien, you''ve been awfully quiet. Is there something you would like to ask?"


    "No. I judge people, or robots by their actions. Not how they look. You keep protecting the people here, and that''s all I care about."


    That was very magnanimous of him.


    "If you stop or turn on us, I will do everything in my power to put you down though."


    And there was the Damien Alexander expected. Honestly, he was fine with that. "Duly noted."


    Lucas bombarded him with more questions after that, most of which Alexander had no answer for, or didn''t feel comfortable discussing. Eventually, even those came to an end and Alexander asked Damien about Shall.


    "Will your uncle be a problem while he fixes his ship?"


    "No," Damien replied with certainty. "After you left the cells, he tried to convince me that you were trouble waiting to happen. I explained to him that actions speak louder than words and that shut him up. We knew the old man was getting paranoid as he got older, but none of us expected it to have gone this far."


    "He kind of lost it after his sister, our mom was killed in an accident. He was convinced the STO was behind it and they somehow covered it up. There was no evidence to support that but he''s never been the same since," Lucas offered, earning a glare from the older brother. "What? Alex would have figured it out eventually anyway. It''s not like our uncle''s past wasn''t something he couldn''t have learned by doing a quick net search."


    "Still," Damien grumbled. "It''s not our place to be airing the man''s dirty laundry."


    Alexander waved his hands to prevent any further argument. "Look, as long as you don''t think he''ll be an issue until after he leaves, I don''t care about his history. Just keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble. Even better, if he''ll accept, offer to help him patch his ship up faster to get him out of here sooner."

 Chapter 2-45

    After dealing with the whole Shall incident and ensuring there were no immediate problems that needed his attention, Alexander spent the next week with Yulia during her time off of school.He would have loved to spend more time with her, but by the end of the week, he could see she was growing frustrated with him constantly being around. She was a child, she wanted to hang out with her friends again. Not wanting to undo all of the effort he had gone into to improve her mood, Alexander obliged her. He knew that children didn''t view time the same way adults did and they tended to change their minds on a whim. Yulia wasn''t quite as flighty as some of the children he had met ¨C her ability to stay mad at him the entire time he was gone was a good example of that ¨C but she was still a kid.


    With Yulia''s mood improved, Alexander went in search of Dr. Lund. It had been far too long since they last spoke. The room he had offered to her for her research wasn''t huge, but she didn''t need a large space. The two items that took up the most space in her room were her desk and the holo-projector she had asked Alexander for.


    The projector was mounted to the ceiling and covered the entire room with an array of virtual boards from which she could work. Lucas had designed the program that allowed Nova to harness every inch of space and more for her notes. As far as Alexander was aware, she had provided the young programmer with the design specifics based on a similar room on her science vessel.


    The older woman glanced at him as he entered, but she didn''t stop writing a complex equation with the light pen. "I''ll be with you in a moment, Alexander, I''m almost done with this."


    A moment turned out to be an hour as she put the finishing touches on a complicated mathematical formula. Alexander had watched her write it, but he only understood the bare basics of what it was trying to prove. The woman set down the writing device and flicked the virtual board. It floated away until it landed against the wall, pushing other boards out of the way. Some even vanished entirely, saved out of sight. It was an interesting way to work, but a bit too cluttered and messy for his tastes.


    "So," Nova began as she slowly stood from her desk and stretched. "I heard you returned the lost lambs and their ship. I''m honestly surprised the STO let you leave. I assume it was because they wanted something from you?"


    "The Vice Admiral wanted me to produce a small number of engines for some of their other stealth ships. The offer was a bit too generous to turn down."


    She snorted and walked out from behind her desk, the boards filled with notes and other equations turning to follow her, but kept out of the way. "I imagine it was. That''s how they get their hooks in you. They like to throw money at problems they know they can''t solve any other way. In your case, that''s good, it means this Vice Admiral wasn''t underestimating you. Be wary, Alexander, don''t let them pull you in with honeyed words."


    "I''ll keep that in mind. Do you think I did the right thing by accepting the offer?"


    She shrugged. "What I believe, doesn''t matter. Do you believe you did the right thing?"


    He had plenty of time to think about this on the way home. "I do. I might have changed some things or asked for more money, but I think overall, I''m fine with the outcome. The only thing I''m concerned with is Omni finding out about our deal."


    "It is bound to happen sooner or later, there''s no point worrying about it until it happens. Now enough about Omni and the STO. I assume you didn''t come here to waste my time with that nonsense."


    He smiled at the woman''s brusque attitude. "No. I actually wanted to ask you if you knew anything about static field generators. I purchased a learning module on them but thought you might be able to provide some insight."


    "I know what they do," she said, making a gesture to pull up a clear board. After it floated in front of her, she took out her light pen again. With the device, she drew a crude ship with a crescent dome in front of it. "An energized field is projected ahead of a ship. This field is designed to interact with matter heading toward the ship, providing a charge to that matter which interacts with the second field. The second field helps redirect items away from the ship''s path. The faster a ship goes, the more power the fields require. They either adjust further out to increase the projected distance of this field or the strength of the field itself. It''s a rather simple solution but not a perfect one. However, it works well enough. I could probably figure out the math involved if that''s what you''re asking."


    "Oh, no. I was wondering if it was something you could use in your research?"


    She shook her head. "There were a couple of members of my scientific team looking into improving static fields to help push compressed plasma ejection closer to the theoretical limit, but it''s a dead-end technology as far as I''m concerned. Those scientists were too limited in their goals. Light speed is still light speed. While you would see quicker travel through systems with that as your goal, you are barely even scratching the surface. The hypergates show us that near-instantaneous travel across vast distances is possible. Maybe not that technology specifically, but if it can be accomplished one way, who''s to say it can''t be done another?"


    "So¡­ a hypergate generator?"


    She chuckled at that. "Something like that, yes. I''ve done all the math, and it''s theoretically possible. If you could somehow fit a neutron star inside a spaceship, you might even be able to power a device that could make it happen."


    Alexander''s avatar winced at that. "If the power requirements are so ridiculous, how are the hypergates powered?"


    She smirked and waggled her finger at him. "That''s a good question, isn''t it? The gates can''t be drawing power from their local stars. It would be detectable. The only other possibility is some sort of power transfer system located elsewhere. Maybe orbiting a black hole or neutron star. Heck, maybe the aliens who built the gates figured out how to tap into higher dimensions to power the devices. Either way, the technology is way beyond us. And until someone gets brave enough to take one of them apart, we will never know."


    "What about antimatter?" Alexander asked.


    Nova threw her arms up in the air. "Antimatter this, antimatter that. Why is it every time a new technology comes along that requires an absurd amount of energy, everyone points to that as the magic fix-all?" sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It would work though, wouldn''t it?"


    She sighed in exasperation. "With enough of it sure, anything''s possible. But we''re talking about the antimatter mass equivalent of the entirety of Eden''s End; the building, not the planet. And that''s only for one trip. There''s a reason I abandoned that line of research. While the math proves it is possible, the energy requirements make it wildly improbable. Most of my research has been focused on improving warp drives because we have already overcome the technological constraints that made faster-than-light possible. Why reinvent the wheel when we already have a technology that works? All I need to do is make it faster and more reliable in a gravity well, not an easy task, mind you. Knowing how the gravity plating works might help point me in the right direction, but I haven''t been able to figure that out yet. I don''t suppose you have those learning modules, though, do you?"


    "I''m afraid not. The company that owns the patent on the technology has set such a ridiculous price on it that it''s not practical to purchase at the moment."


    "I''m aware," Nova grumbled. "I''ve been trying to buy it from them since it was first introduced. I''m not even sure who''s producing the plates. The company has managed to remain anonymous, even though that should be impossible with the laws in place that govern patents within the STO. My only guess is that it belongs directly to the STO Navy."


    "I tried to reverse engineer the plates," he admitted. "They don''t make any logical sense and shouldn''t even work."


    She laughed at that. "Join the club. I imagine every single company and government in the STO has attempted what you did. None of them have managed to figure it out either. And I can guarantee some of those institutions have purchased the learning modules that explain how the technology functions. What does that tell you?"


    "That my money would be better spent elsewhere."


    She nodded and patted him on the arm. "Maybe one day you''ll figure it out. In the meantime, I have something I need you to build for me and I have the calculations you asked for. I would tell you to focus on one technology at a time, but I also didn''t think you''d already have an Omni equivalent engine ready. You''re progressing faster than I thought. I will warn you. You are going to need zero-g manufacturing to pull off the compressed plasma ejection. The math shows that the tolerances are much more critical."


    "That''s not a problem," Alexander declared proudly. "I already have a sort of orbital factory. I''m sure I''ll need to make some adjustments, but I can probably figure it out."


    She didn''t look at all surprised by his declaration, which took a bit of the wind out of his sails.


    "If you''re using the designs I gave you for the omni clones, that''s not going to cut it, at least not for some parts of the delivery system. You''re going to need to tighten those tolerances down to ten nanometers. Tighter would be better."


    Alexander couldn''t quite believe what he was hearing. "You''re joking, right? Why do they need to be so precise? I would have thought the magnetic fields would be enough to contain the plasma."


    "They are, but if the pump housing deviates even a little in thickness, that weakens the field that is generated through it, causing turbulence in the plasma stream, which can quickly become an issue. The last thing you want to happen is for the plasma stream to fluctuate enough to touch the inner lining. If that happens, the entire system could become compromised."


    "Point taken. I''ll work on trying to improve my printers, yet again."


    "And don''t forget my project," she added happily, holding out a data chip. "No hurry, but it will require the same accuracy as the compressed plasma systems, so the timing is rather perfect, wouldn''t you agree?"


    Alexander just stared at the woman. She had no shame and had obviously planned for her project to coincide with these improvements, which meant she knew he would have to make them at some point anyway. She could have told him this months ago, and he would have simply continued trying to improve his printers and manufacturing instead of pausing at his current level.


    He plucked the chip out of her hand. "Yes, I would say it is."


    She gave him another pat on the arm. "Excellent. Run along now, I want to get back to my work."


    Alexander sighed internally. It was easy to forget this old woman used to lead her own research group. She was probably used to getting her way any time she wished.


    He was annoyed with how she waited to tell him the requirements of her project until after getting him all worked up on the requirements of his own, but he couldn''t be mad at her. He had agreed to help her when it came to making some of her theoretical work a reality. She probably wouldn''t have anything functional for years to come, but any step towards turning that theoretical work into something real was a good sign in his book.


    Another reason why he wasn''t mad with the elderly scientist was that he would benefit from her work as well. She couldn''t exactly take her designs to the STO, Omni, or Sinorus and have them build them for her.


    That made Alexander her only real ally when it came to making her dream a reality. He would just have to put up with her eccentricities in the meantime. He supposed it could be worse, he could be some mindless drone working for Omni.

 Chapter 2-46

    LOCATION: O.M.N.I. HEADQUARTERSSYSTEM: TAU CETI


    DATE: 2400


    Theodore Pembrooke was not having a good time. Ever since returning from that disastrous arbitration on Petrov Station, that he had been in charge of, his rank had been stripped away, and he had been relegated to a position as a mindless drone. Now he was just another faceless fixer in Omni''s reconciliation team. The bottom of the bottom and where he had gotten his start nearly a decade earlier.


    All for some unknown slight against someone above him.


    The fact that he was older than everyone else on the team made him stand out, and not in a good way. All anyone had to do was look at him to know he had screwed up majorly to get sent back here. So trying to make new connections was an effort in futility. Nobody wanted to hook themselves to a sinking ship.


    Theo had almost thrown in the towel when he realized it would be nearly impossible to get back to his previous position, let alone rise above it. His innate desire to prove them all wrong kept him going though. His perseverance had finally paid off with a report from an unlikely source.


    Theo didn''t know how many informants and spies Omni had, but he knew their reach extended well beyond STO space and even to some of the pirate havens. This wasn''t from a contact outside of STO space, thankfully. Those would have been routed to far more important agents than him, even if he was in his previous position within the organization. This report came from some low-level noble out of Malis. The man was so low on the totem pole that he had been forced to join the STO Navy to keep his affiliation as nobility.


    He pulled up Captain Willard''s file. It was nothing special.


    The man was your typical spoiled rich kid who only managed his position through connections. And even those must have been poor because he didn''t earn a captaincy until he was sixty, despite having the qualifications for over twenty years. The Omni report included his family connections, an incident involving espionage, for Omni, that got him nearly court-martialed, and his current posting in Varlen.


    Theo was familiar with the Navy''s shipyards in Varlen. It was his duty to know stuff like that. That wasn''t what interested him about Willard''s report. His mention of one, Alexander Kane, in an offhand comment, is what caught Theo''s attention.


    There was no way he could have forgotten the name of the individual who had caused the end of his career.


    Theo wasn''t stupid, nor was he seeking revenge. He knew Kane wasn''t ultimately responsible for his situation. To blame him would be silly. If Theo could recruit the man or report all his secrets back to HQ¡­ Well, maybe he could earn his position back. It was a long shot, but it was better than wasting away on this floor for the rest of his life.


    It was going to take some maneuvering to make this happen though. First, he needed to send a message to Willard to tell him to go dark. He couldn''t have the man sending in more reports while he was out looking for Kane. He also marked the original report as trivial. He would love to erase it, but that would bring more attention to the document by the AIs that monitored those sorts of things. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The next issue was getting transportation to Varlen to speak with Willard face-to-face. That was easy enough, Theo had dozens of non-Omni contacts he could reach out to to get him there. The biggest issue would be changing this report in the archive. To do that he needed a higher level of access.


    Theo grabbed his coffee mug and got up from his cubical. He didn''t furtively glance around or make a big production of leaving, he simply did.


    Omni was such a large corporation that the break rooms were always busy, all day every day. They were massive areas that usually spanned multiple floors of the monolithic building that covered an area of roughly sixteen square kilometers on the ground and rose over a thousand meters into the air.


    Theo had made it up to the one-hundredth floor in his previous position. A far cry from the lofty heights of the top floor, number two hundred, but a fair sight better than his current position on the twentieth floor.


    As he made his way into the busy cafeteria, he scanned the crowd for his target. It didn''t take him long to find one of the lower-level, overworked engineers. He slightly adjusted his path so it would have him brushing past the tired-looking young man.


    They soon came into contact and Theo bumped into him, making him drop his tablet. "I''m terribly sorry. I wasn''t paying attention. Here, let me grab that for you. Could you hold this for a second?" without waiting, Theo thrust his half-empty coffee mug into the man''s surprised hand and reached down to pick up the tablet and also lift the man''s badge from his lanyard.


    He made a token effort to brush the tablet off before handing it back to the man and taking his coffee mug back, careful to only grab it by the handle. "Have a good day," he said with a smile as he turned around and made his way to the beverage area.


    Theo set the output temperature on the machine to a little above human normal. It would cool slightly by the time he made it to the archive room. Once the mug was full, he made his way to the elevator and took it to sub-basement seven.


    Worker traffic quickly dwindled the father down he got, but it wasn''t empty. Nobody down here bothered glancing up though as they hurried about their work. These were the people on their last gasp at the company or those who simply liked being in records. Theo couldn''t understand that, but he wasn''t here to learn about why the archivists were the way they were.


    He simply walked to the archive room with the slightly warm cup of water in his hand and the engineer''s badge in his pocket. When he got to the room, he pulled out the badge, careful to hide his now gloved hand as he pressed it against the bio reader along with the outside of his warm cup.


    This was a trick Theo had learned in his youth and kept in his back pocket for situations such as this. The reality was that most bio-readers were easy to fool. They checked for a biomarker, the one conveniently left behind by the engineer when he held his cup, and a certain temperature range. Hence the warm liquid inside.


    The door gave a satisfied beep and he pushed the handle down and walked inside. The archive server room was freezing cold, but also loud as hell. He hated coming down here. A few technicians were wandering through the aisles of servers, but nobody batted an eye about him being there. Who in their right mind would break into the Omni archives, in the most heavily defended facility on the planet, on the most heavily defended planet in the entire STO? Theo, that''s who. He would do anything to get his position back, even if that meant burning this entire facility to the ground.


    He repeated his trick with the badge at the closest unused terminal and accessed the archives for Captain Willard''s file. He didn''t erase the report, that would be too suspicious. He simply modified one letter in Kane''s last name. Now it read Alexander Pane, a nice little inside joke. The AI might flag it as an error in a few years, but by then it wouldn''t matter. He would have either recruited Kane or gotten rid of him. Despite what happened at Petrov, Theo still believed Kane was important and the report Willard filed seemed to corroborate that assumption.


    The man''s report was light on details since Willard had to be circumspect about what he sent out, but Theo had been doing this sort of thing most of his life and he knew how to read between the lines. Just the fact that Willard thought the encounter was important enough to report it was enough for him, but the fact that a Vice Admiral had met with the man personally meant something important was going on.


    After securing the terminal, Theo left the archive and made his way back upstairs. He ditched the purloined badge in an out-of-the-way spot, making sure it was on the same path the Engineer had taken as he came into the cafeteria. With the evidence disposed of, he went back to his cubicle and finished his day.


    ***


    LOCATION: ASGARD


    SYSTEM: YGGDRASIL''S EYE


    Katalynn Char heaved in a deep gulp of air, leaning heavily on her bloody sword. She had come out victorious in the latest claim against her worthiness to rule, but it hadn''t been without injury. Jarl Bergson lived up to his name. The man had towered over even her, pushing her to her limit and leaving a large bleeding gash on her arm before she finally managed to drive her sword into him and end the contest.


    She wished it had been the first challenge or even the last, but she knew the other Jarls were waiting to challenge her as well. They had united in their anger over her calling off the attack on Haven.


    The injury would make them wait, as none wanted to be seen as winning against the infirm. That would only invite others to challenge them after they won. She had hoped beating Bergson would have ended it, but that would only have happened if she did so without injury. Her injury was like blood in the water, it would only bolster her detractors who thought her too weak to rule.


    She rose to her feet and flicked the blood off her sword, sending it splattering across the hard sand and the corpse of Jarl Bergson. "Such a waste," she muttered under her breath.


    An attendant ran out and she handed the sword to them to be cleaned. Other attendants ran out to prepare the body for the funerary rights. While Katalynn thought the man''s death was a waste, she would never begrudge them for fighting for what they believed in and dying honorably for it.


    She would attend as custom dictated.


    Another attendant rushed out with a medical kit and began wrapping the still-bleeding wound she had. If the man''s strike had been half an inch to the left, it would have been a fatal blow. Once it healed, the scar would be a good reminder not to underestimate the speed of larger opponents.


    She stood there while the young woman wrapped her arm. "This will slow the bleeding, Lagertha, but you will need to see the healer to have it properly closed."


    "I''m aware," she gestured for the woman to leave after she tied off the bandage.


    Katalynn glanced over at a man who was trying to remain inconspicuous. She nodded to him and headed down the hall toward the medical facility. He met up with her not long after she entered the hallway. "You better have a good reason for appearing right after a challenge. I don''t need people gossiping that I invoked a Loki to win through underhanded means."


    The man took the rebuke in stride. "I apologize for appearing when I did, Lagertha, but the Lokis thought it was important enough that we speak with you right away."


    She grunted at that. "Then speak."


    "We have news of Harlow Anazi. He has captured more STO systems, and even broken some of the STO fleets. Reports are still scarce, but it seems he has a new ship as well as a new weapon."


    She clenched her jaw and fists at that, nearly gasping in pain as she forgot about her injured arm. Katelynn glanced at the spymaster, but the man had pretended not to notice her grimace.


    "While that news is upsetting, it isn''t immediately relevant. The man is on the other side of STO space. So what other news do you have for me?"


    "You mentioned a man by the name of Alexander Kane spoke with you at Eden''s End. The Lokis have dug up what little information we could on this individual. He seems to own a company called Blue Star Enterprises that doesn''t appear to sell anything and had a run-in with Omni a few years ago."


    "Is that name supposed to be useful to me?" she growled, growing annoyed at the man. "Quit dancing around the real reason you are here."


    "Someone recorded your loss at Y6X-3H2. They sold that recording to the Xin."


    "Dammit! Who?" she demanded.


    "We are not entirely certain. The video was recorded from outside the system."


    "Find out. Is that all?"


    "I''m afraid not, Lagertha. The Xin have already taken a few of your stations near their border. We believe they are probing for a response. If we don''t react, they will continue pushing."


    She hated the damn Xin. They were the worst of the pirate clans. Unlike hers or even the detested Anazi, the Xin was made up of Coalition defectors. Grand Admiral Xin had seen the writing on the wall well before the Coalition war turned. The man had gathered his loyalist forces and abandoned his post. Then he flew far outside STO space to set up his own little fiefdom.


    Katalynn despised the man on principle alone but there were far more reasons to hate the man.


    After leaving STO space, Grand Admiral Xin turned into the greatest despot in human history. The vulgar and depraved acts his people did in his name made the Anazi clan look civilized in comparison. It was like his thin veneer of civility had vanished once he had power. Then again, maybe the man had never had any civility to begin with. Katalynn had watched recordings of his battles against the STO during the war. Xin had been notorious for throwing Coalition ships to their deaths or using them as living battering rams if it meant winning.


    Other than his track record for victories over the STO during the war, she believed the only other reason the STO didn''t bother going after that psychopath was because he kept Anazi, and her from expanding. And now he could smell weakness.

 Chapter 2-47

    LOCATION: EDEN''S END S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.SYSTEM: Y6X-3H2


    DATE: 2400


    Alexander couldn''t believe everything was going right for a change. There hadn''t been any pirate activity since Fury left, which was something of a minor miracle. To add to that, Shall had finally finished patching up his ship and had left the system only a day prior.


    It had taken the smuggler a month to patch the holes caused by the defensive railguns, which was rather impressive considering the man had refused any and all help. The old man''s cantankerous attitude hadn''t stopped Damien from forcing his way aboard and helping anyway, so Alexander decided to thank the quick turnaround to the Chief of Security.


    The annoying man''s absence was just in time to celebrate Eden''s Resolve being completed as well. Resolve was a slightly smaller ship than Fury, necessitating a change in design. Lasers worked on Fury because the unneeded crew space had been converted to power storage and capacitor banks.


    He could have gone the same route with Resolve, but it would have meant removing more bunk areas or the hangar to make it happen. He didn''t want to do that for a few reasons.


    Alexander needed the ability to transport people without building a ship specifically for that purpose. That might change in the future but for now, all he had was warships so he needed to have them fill multiple roles until that happened. It wasn''t the most ideal situation, but it would have to work.


    Having a shuttle hangar aboard each ship also seemed like a good idea since it allowed people to disembark without waiting for another shuttle to dock. That meant he couldn''t get rid of either of those spaces to make room for the batteries and capacitors.


    With that in mind, Alexander engineered railguns for the ship. He would have preferred Gauss cannons for their maintenance simplicity, but he didn''t have plans for those so he would have to make do.


    Thanks to everything he learned while designing the surface weapons and installing the ones on Destiny, Alexander had been able to improve upon his original design quite a bit.


    He ran his hand along the two vertically stacked rails as he stood on the ship''s hull. It was one of three sets of double-stacked barrels on this turret. With the ship sporting two main gun mounts, Alexander had effectively tripled the ship''s firepower without increasing the weapon footprint. Each set of barrels could independently adjust its angle but they were all locked on the same rotation.


    The weapons were loaded by a central tube that could feed and fire each barrel once every two seconds. The ammo storage for each turret only held a thousand tungsten penetrators, so whoever captained this ship would need to keep that in mind. A thousand rounds might seem like a lot until you realize each barrel stack could fire off sixty shots a minute.


    Alexander did keep PDC lasers, although, he should call them PDLs. The defensive lasers didn''t need to be nearly as powerful as the main guns to shoot down incoming missiles, and lasers were much faster, had a longer range, and were quicker to aim than standard kinetics.


    He entered the ship through the airlock and walked the freshly painted corridors. The color scheme matched the Fury inside and out, but Resolve had a few more amenities thanks to the added space not being taken up by energy storage systems.


    He stepped into the cavernous hangar. It was about the same width as the one on Fury, but it was longer. Just long enough to house two of the engines he promised Fletcher if he cared to load them inside.


    The Resolve''s hangar wouldn''t be relegated to hauling engines though, Alexander had another idea in mind for that. He walked to the bridge, waving to some of the engineers testing the Resolve''s systems.


    Not all of the Engineers on Eden''s End had taken him up on his offer but some had, and it made this part of producing his own ship go much quicker.


    Alexander entered his command codes into the bridge terminal and brought up the holo display. It was the same tactical display that Fury had. He poked at one of the icons and it zoomed in, showing a large frame being assembled. The frame was nearly complete, having been designed with only one purpose in mind, and that was to hold three of the engines Alexander had promised Fletcher. There wasn''t any sort of covering, engines, or power systems, it was simply a metal skeleton with attachment points.


    That metal frame was designed to attach to the Resolve. He had specifically engineered it to fit within the warp bubble that the ship would create, ensuring easy transport. It was a quick and dirty answer to his shipping issue.


    There were only a few things holding up his delivery. The first was a crew. Na and his people had taken some time off, but they were already back in the outer belt, making good use of some of his bots that had been converted for mining. Besides, Alexander hadn''t been lying to Fletcher, he wasn''t going to ask Na to fly back and forth between systems for him. The man was much better suited to running the mining operation here.


    The other issue was the lack of a supercomputer for the Resolve. All of the ship''s systems could function independently without that, but he couldn''t fly the ship properly without a full crew instead of the five it would take to operate with the supercomputer core in place.


    That was fine. In a little over a month, the Hawks and Jasper would be back. Then both of those issues would be resolved.


    Alexander took a quick look at his orbital printers and the six engines attached to the refueling station; ready to be delivered. Completing fifteen of them was going to be easy.


    He thanked the Engineers for their work and headed back to the surface with Branston. The Engineers would stay up there for the next week while they ran tests, but Alexander needed to finish work on his current projects. He also wanted to be home for Yulia.


    He was working on two projects concurrently with another handful started. The two major ones he was focusing his time on were the space station design and the Class 8 thrusters for the Talon. Class 8 was just the military version of Class 5 but there were some key differences.


    Those differences made the job a bit more challenging. As if building a compressed plasma ejection thruster wasn''t already hard enough.


    Once he was back in his workshop, Alexander pulled up the schematics. He didn''t have the Talon''s layout, but he did have the space requirements and mounting locations thanks to Chief Engineer Sullivan. Alexander also didn''t have design specifications for a Class 8, since he wasn''t authorized to purchase military designs.


    He had spoken to Aria Sullivan at length about the engines, even though she hadn''t been able to provide him with the repair documentation. The biggest thing she kept bringing up was redundancy.


    So that''s what he tried to do with his first design, build redundant parts for the entire system. He was sure if he had built his first iteration, it would have been the most robust Class 8 engine around. The problem was it would never fit in the designated space and it would have been a nightmare to maintain.


    The first item he scrapped on the design was the redundant reactor. Fitting two reactors inside the engineering space, with his current level of understanding, simply wasn''t going to happen. Instead, he added multiple shunts for each of the four engines. That required additional electromagnetic shielding which conflicted with the other shunts.


    Rearranging the power delivery system into a circular pattern on the rear of the reactor took care of that issue, bringing him to iteration three of his design. Now he had to figure out how to bring those tubes back together so they wouldn''t conflict but could also go into the same thrust chamber.


    He had to do this while avoiding all the containment systems and cooling pipes that needed to run through the engine to keep it from melting into slag. His current design looked like a madman had built it, and he was certain Sullivan would have chewed him out if she saw it. Thankfully, this was only a proof of concept and it would never see the light of day.


    Alexander looked at how the Destiny''s engine was laid out. It was a Sinorus design, but it was better than nothing. The Destiny''s propulsion system was a much simpler design because it lacked the same types of redundancy Alexander was adding. When he got to the point where the main plasma shunt went directly into the center of the combustion chamber, he realized he had been overthinking his design.


    He removed all the superfluous piping and containment systems in his design. Then he ran each set of pipes into a smaller containment vessel, equally spaced around the circumference of the chamber at a forty-five-degree angle. Getting the electromagnetic containment to play nice in the collector was a bit of a challenge, but he figured it out after a few tries. From there, it was a single flow to the thrust chamber.


    After those changes, Alexander was left with a much cleaner-looking design. He let it run on his simulation software while he switched his focus to the station.


    He had modeled the latest design of the station a bit like Petrov if it had a single ring. This was a major departure from his initial design which looked like an enlarged version of the fueling station.


    Alexander chose a ring design because he didn''t have the money to purchase the necessary gravity plating the station would require. The ring wasn''t very big, perhaps three times the size of the fuel depot. And it was shaped a bit like a top. Having to spin the station presented a few new challenges for Alexander, mostly how to dock ships to it.


    He managed this by adding a second ring that was attached to the station, and making the main ring spin instead of the entire station. A large circular construction hangar also sat at the end of the station opposite the thrusters.


    It wasn''t large enough to fit something like the Talon, but he could fit a heavy destroyer like Dawn inside the space if it came down to it.


    The biggest issue with something so large was figuring out weight distribution and power requirements. It would have to be built in orbit, so he wouldn''t need to do all the logistics of how to launch parts from the surface. He did need to provide the station with enough thrust to keep it in orbit or adjust its orbit as needed. That was going to be a challenge.


    Before he could begin to design those systems, he needed Dr. Lund''s help. He sighed and pulled up the schematic she gave him.


    She hadn''t specified when she would need the device, but he figured if he was going to ask for help, he had best come with a gift.


    Alexander had only a vague idea of what the esoteric piece of science equipment did. It was some sort of measurement or testing device, that much he could tell. He went over the entire design, finding it rather inefficient at whatever it was designed to measure. Using his engineering knowledge, Alexander cleaned up the design. The only thing he didn''t change was the small circular chamber in the center. Just to be safe, he printed his design and her original one.


    The required tolerances meant his latest generation of printers would take an entire day to print both designs. That was the problem with making things more accurate, they took far more time.


    Shortly after sending them to the printers, he got a beep from the simulation software, letting him know it was done. He looked at the issues it found but wasn''t deterred. It was an interesting challenge, and he loved that. He quickly set about addressing the issues and designing the next iteration of the Class 8 drive.

 Chapter 2-48

    "Everything is loaded and secured, Captain," Matthew''s XO stated.Alexander had purchased quite a bit of supplies, both food and medical. Then there were the technological items like a smelter. That was just the stuff stored aboard the Talon. He wasn''t even including the items Captain Daniel was transporting aboard the Zephyr or the Arklight Industries ship that was carrying the Qcomm relay and technicians that would be installing it.


    Matthews nodded. "After we reach our destination, you''ll be the Captain. Perhaps I should start calling you Captain now? Captain Sable has a good ring to it."


    His first mate shifted uncomfortably at being addressed by her first name, but she took the teasing in stride.


    "I believe Captain Bloomright sounds better," she responded. "¡­It will be strange not having you aboard the Talon, Sir."


    Archie smiled, he couldn''t help but be proud. Sable wasn''t his daughter, but she might as well be since they had been together since she graduated from the flight academy on Ganos. The Hawks were quick to offer her a position, seeing her potential. "You''ll do fine without me. I should know, I trained you myself."


    The raven-haired woman smiled slightly at his words. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Shall we make sure the passengers are ready to depart?" he asked, as they exited the hold.


    "I have a few of our people preparing them, but I agree, we should check on them. It''s odd having so many people on the Talon who aren''t part of the Hawks or aren''t prisoners."


    Archie nodded in agreement. Finding displaced people wasn''t hard, not with the war ramping up in scale.


    It was getting so bad that the planetary governor had even tried preventing them from leaving, citing this law or that to try and keep them around Ganos. The Hawks'' legal team tore those arguments apart. They had done their civil duty for an entire year. Even if the governor was finally willing to pay for their services now, the Hawks had prior commitments. And the Talon needed to go in for maintenance.


    As for the people, filtering out the types who would help Alexander and Eden''s End wasn''t too hard. They couldn''t simply take those people and call it a day though. Some had families, so they had to come along as well. Unfortunately, their recruiting efforts had made waves and more refugees started to show up at their recruitment drives, slowing down the entire process.


    The Hawks turned them away, but some of them must have had money or means, because three ships floated nearby, waiting to follow the Talon when she finally departed the system. He couldn''t even stop them from tagging along. With the STO laws requiring people to use designated jump points in member systems unless there was an emergency, following their course would be easy.


    With those additional ships, their fleet had grown from the original eight ships to eleven now. It included the Talon, Zephyr, the two Hawks gunships, the Arklight transport, an Arklight frigate, two Arklight corvettes, and now the civilian ships.


    It was ridiculous.


    Archie had tried getting the captains of the civilian vessels to leave by explaining they were headed outside of STO space and that none of his ships were obligated to defend them in the case of an attack, but they either refused to listen or simply ignored his comms. It wasn''t like he could fire on them either, not unless they attacked first.


    It seemed these ships were tagging along whether he liked it or not. Whether or not Alexander would welcome all these unknown refugees was another matter. He would need to apologize to Kane about this situation when they arrived.


    The pair made their rounds, making sure everyone was ready to go before they headed to the bridge.


    "Executive Officer Bloomright, I''ll let you do the honors," he gestured the woman over to the Captain''s seat, while he took her normal spot.


    She gave him a single nod of thanks before addressing the crew. "Notify the ships in the fleet, we are heading out."


    ***


    The Talon was the first to enter Varlen, followed shortly after by the Hawks'' gunships. A few minutes later, the Arklight vessels appeared all together. Being one of the few companies with clearance to install Qcomms paid well it seemed.


    Archie wished the Hawks could afford a jump synchronizer. It would have required a supercomputer on the lead ship to manage such a complex sequence but the tactical benefits of ensuring your entire fleet arrived at the exact same moment were obvious. Even if you jumped at the same second as other ships, your chances of arriving together were slim to none. There was always a bit of warp drifting no matter how well you timed your jumps.


    The Zephyr appeared next and Archie sent his response to the STO''s challenge. The reply they got this time was wildly different than the last time they were here.


    Stay clear of the station, and keep your weapons offline, our fleet will be shadowing you while you are in the system.


    He chalked it up to growing tensions with the pirates. Soon his ships were moving through the system toward the far jump point. An hour later, his sensor operator reported the additional jump signatures of their hangers-on, which had ballooned out to unreasonable numbers during their trip out here.


    Another fifteen vessels had tagged along after they left Ganos, bringing their follower count up to eighteen ships. The odd mix of ships consisted of smaller mining vessels, some haulers which were probably family ships, judging by their smaller size, and then the larger ships which could house dozens or even hundreds of people for all he knew.


    The STO was demanding an answer for the additional ships, but the Talon didn''t reply. It wasn''t their responsibility to answer for these vessels. Either the Captains of those ships convinced the STO to leave them be, or the few ships his scanners were seeing in the system deemed it not worth their trouble and simply left the civilian vessels alone.


    Archie sighed. That was really their last chance to get rid of those ships. Short of them encountering a fleet of pirates en route, he doubted anything else would scare them off at this point. Well, that wasn''t entirely true. Once he left STO space, he could calculate his own jump points to throw them off and force them to return home. Doing something like that felt wrong and went against everything the Hawks stood for though.


    He would take them out to Eden''s End, if Alexander denied them safe harbor, he would dispatch his two gunships to return them to STO space. Either way, once they arrived, every single person going down was getting subjected to a detailed screening. He had provided a simple warrant scanner the last time they were here, but it wasn''t enough to look for criminals who may have avoided actual criminal warrants. The last thing he wanted to do was dump a bunch of trouble in Kane''s lap.


    ***


    Alexander was in the middle of rebuilding Dr. Lund''s testing equipment for the fifth time after she notified him it still wasn''t sensitive or accurate enough for her needs when his radio beeped.


    Glad to have a break from the woman''s project, he stepped away from the design interface and picked up the radio. "This is Alexander, what''s up?"


    "Hey, Alex, it''s Lucas. The Hawks and your friend have returned. I figured you might want to know."


    Alexander was overjoyed to hear this news. He had been expecting them for a few days now so it was good to know they arrived safely. "Welcome them back for me, and let me know when they get within a half-hour communication delay range." An hour between reply and response was still quite a bit, but it was manageable.


    An hour and a half later, he got the first response from Captain Matthews. The man must have sent it as soon as he entered the system.


    "Uh, Alex," Lucas said over the radio. "You might wanna come to the command center to see what Matthews sent."


    Frowning, Alexander made his way to the command center. It couldn''t be an emergency, Lucas would have said something about that. He arrived just as Damien was leaving. The man looked slightly more annoyed than he normally did.


    "Seems we got a few more people than we anticipated," he stated as he walked past.


    Alexander turned to watch him leave. He was about to ask Damien what he meant by that statement but decided it was better just to find out directly from Matthews.


    The lively conversation that had been going on before his arrival, died down as he entered the room. "What''s going on, Lucas? I just passed your brother and he looked annoyed."


    Instead of replying, Lucas made a flicking motion from his terminal that pushed a video to the holo display. "See for yourself."


    "Mr. Kane, as your sensors have probably alerted you by now, we are finally back along with Captain Daniel and all the items you asked us to purchase. Some of those are on the ships that are pinging the Arklight identification. Unfortunately, we picked up quite a few strays along our path. About an hour behind us are eighteen civilian vessels ranging from small freighters, to transports. As far as we know, they are all refugees from worlds Harlow has captured. I wanted to give you a heads-up as soon as possible as I suspect they are going to request asylum. We obviously don''t know any of these individuals, so when the Talon arrives, I will be sending down the troops to help facilitate their background checks¡­ assuming you allow them safe harbor. We''ll be in touch shortly, Captain Matthews, out."


    Alexander''s first thought was, how bad is the war going that this many people decided Eden''s End was a better alternative than staying in STO space? Then he wondered how to house them all until he realized he had no obligation to house any of them.


    He could simply turn all these people away and call it a day¡­ He could. Would he though? He wasn''t sure. Alexander had come to realize the drifters who were working for him were likely the only ones who ever would. A few of the younger generation might come around when they came of age, but that wasn''t all that many more that he could count on. In fact, it was less than a third of the current population of Eden''s End. The rest were simply not interested or indirectly opposed to helping him. Those people still contributed to the overall upkeep of the community, so it wasn''t like they weren''t doing anything. They just didn''t want anything to do with him or the changes he was introducing.


    That didn''t change the fact that Alexander needed people. He would have preferred to hand-pick everyone he allowed out here or have people he trusted to do it for him, but at some point, that simply wasn''t feasible. It seemed that point was now.


    Before, he might have been forced to turn them away, simply because he didn''t have the resources to expand his barter system to include too many more people. Now that the Qcomm is here, people will have access to their STO accounts and credits.


    The holdout drifters probably wouldn''t use either, but that was fine, he could keep providing them contributions in the form of barter. The issue was going to be integrating these new people. He wasn''t going to charge the people, who Jasper and Archie picked, rent or taxes as that had been part of the agreement to get them to come here in the first place. He didn''t have that same dilemma with these uninvited guests and would be charging them appropriately. It would force them to be productive as well as provide a source of income. There were plenty of jobs for people of all skill levels, so there was no excuse for not working.


    If they didn''t want to help out, they could build outside of the facility and live anywhere else on the planet if they had the means to do so, but Alexander planned on submitting a claim over the entire system as soon as the Qcomm was online. STO law required a few things before claims could be made, which is why he hadn''t done it before. While he wasn''t joining the STO, they had a long-unused clause in their governing laws that allowed independent nations to claim their own territories outside of STO space.


    The rules were extremely strict and required the sovereign nation to have its own fleet, which was three or more ships; an elected administration, the wording for which was vague; and they didn''t engage in any pirate activities or other items banned by their charter, such as slavery.


    There was one other requirement, but it wasn''t really part of any law. The nation requesting sovereignty had to do so through a process that required three STO clerks to attend via holo and the meeting had to be real-time and on the planet requesting this independence. You might be able to get past that requirement if you could convince three bureaucrats to come out to your system, but good luck doing that.


    It was wild to think the STO had so much power and reach that they could tell already established nations that they weren''t recognized as such under the STO''s laws. Unfortunately, it was true. The STO held all the cards when it came to human space. Alexander planned to change that before they realized he was breaking other STO laws that weren''t covered under their sovereign rules. It was an oversight on their part, probably because nobody in the entirety of the STO''s existence had ever been in a position to use these laws to their advantage, something he had no problem abusing.


    Once this was done, everything on the planet and in the system would belong to Blue Star Enterprises. He would need to discuss this change with the Eden''s End council though.


    The rules only stated there needed to be elected leaders. It didn''t specify the scope of their powers. He wasn''t going to suddenly give Damien or the other councilors power over the entire planet or system. They wouldn''t want it or even know what to do with that much power even if he did. Hell, he didn''t know what to do with that much power either, but he needed to ensure someone else didn''t swoop in and claim this system. That would be disastrous for Alexander''s future plans.


    Speaking of plans, this changed a lot of Alexander''s. He mentally reorganized them, pushing his school slash academy up in importance. With that done, he needed to speak with the council and find out how the reconstruction of Eden''s End was going. That meant finding and speaking with Yi Na. The man must be doing a decent job because Alexander hadn''t heard a peep or complaint since Mingyu''s younger brother took over those responsibilities.

 Chapter 2-49

    Yi Na was harder to find than Alexander thought. The first place he checked was the man''s office. It was just a small room with a desk and a little holo terminal. Next, Alexander checked a few of the ongoing construction projects, or at least ones he thought were still ongoing.The project to clean up the transportation tunnels was complete. At least so far as cleanup went. There was a notice on the wall that construction would begin in a week''s time.


    The next project Alexander went to was for the repairs to abandoned sections of the facility. He got to the hallway and found a temporary door had been welded in place with another notice saying ''Closed, No Access''. Scratching his metaphorical head at that, Alexander went to the last major construction project, the central dome.


    Unlike the other two areas, the central dome was full of workers and noise. He found Yi over by one of the cranes that was being used to lift the transparent sections into place.


    "Yi, do you have a moment?"


    The man looked over before nodding and dismissing the men he had been speaking with. "What can I help you with Mr. K¨C Alexander," he quickly corrected himself.


    "What''s with the other projects? When I was looking for you I saw that they were shut down or paused?"


    The man nodded once, "Yes. It''s too inefficient to run multiple projects at the same time with so few skilled workers. I understand you were doing the smaller projects to give the workers experience, and that''s fine but also a waste of time. They can get far more experience by tackling a larger project such as this. They will also be far more diligent since they know completing this dome properly will finally seal off the facility enough to pressurize it. Nobody likes the smell of sulfur day in and day out, even the people who have been here the longest."


    Alexander wasn''t sure he agreed, but he had given the man control over the construction. So long as nobody got hurt and everything was built properly, he would leave Yi Na to run it how the man saw fit.


    "Have you heard that we may get visitors soon?" he asked instead.


    "I have heard rumors, yes. Mercenaries if I remember correctly?"


    "They are mercenaries, but they are also a customer. That''s not what I''m here to talk about though. They had a bunch of extra refugees tag along. How are we on housing?"


    The man pulled out a tablet and flicked through a few screens. "All of the open units around atrium A are habitable. Roughly two-thirds of those are currently being used by families. So in that section alone, we could house another thousand families or individuals. Atrium B is blocked off as that is the most heavily damaged section. I expect we will have to tear a lot of it down and start from scratch. Atrium C has fifty habitable units and another twenty that are being used as storage but could be made habitable in a few days."


    "And atrium D?" Alexander asked, surprised the man hadn''t brought up the atrium he was staying in.


    The man cleared his throat. "There is an unspoken understanding that atrium D is yours to do with as you see fit. I have done a survey, and if you wish to open it up to habitation, we could fit another eight hundred groups in that area. I would personally recommend against that option though."


    "Really, why?"


    "As the owner of Eden''s End, it is important to show you are one with the people, but it is equally as important to show people that you are in control. If you suddenly start parceling out what people see as your space, you lose that control."


    "That seems like a rather draconian point of view don''t you think?" Alexander asked.


    Yi shrugged. "It is not what I think that matters, it is what everyone else will think. Before you decide, how many people do you think are coming?"


    "I have no clue. We have eighteen ships of differing types heading our way as well as the Hawks and all the people I asked them to bring along."


    "Hmm, eighteen ships. If each has a hundred people aboard, that is only eighteen hundred individuals not counting the people you invited. Without a proper count, I would need to make assumptions. Let''s assume in a worst-case scenario that the maximum number of people I mentioned before are aboard each ship. It''s not likely unless the ships are all transports but it will give us a good idea of what we are looking at. Now in a worst-case scenario, those eighteen hundred people are all single men or women. It wouldn''t be ideal, but we could house them if we used every available space I just told you about."


    "That''s good then."


    Yi nodded. "We could do that, but it would be a horrible waste of space. Each room can house three or four people. Some could fit even more. Force them to share housing and you reduce the needed units to just what is available in atrium A. It gets more complicated if there are families involved, but I think you get the picture. I don''t believe you will need to give up any of your space. And if you do, assign it to the people you invited personally. This will ensure the rest of the population sees that Atrium D is off limits to anyone who isn''t employed directly through BSE."


    "¡­You keep saying that. Is there something I''m not aware of that I should be?"


    The man seemed conflicted about mentioning something. "I normally wouldn''t even bring this up because of how outlandish the rumor is, but I keep hearing people whisper about it. They say you''re an alien."


    Alexander had his avatar blink at the man. "That''s it?" he laughed. "Here I was worried for nothing."


    Yi laughed as well. "I knew it wasn''t true, but some people like to talk."


    "Oh, no, it''s true. Not that I''m an alien, but this body is alien in origin."


    Yi stopped laughing and looked at him in shock. "Truly?"


    Alexander shrugged. "It''s a bit of a story and I don''t have time to go into it right now. Since people are already gossiping about it there''s no point keeping it quiet. If you''re curious, ask Lucas Laront. He''s the head of my testing department."


    Rumors could quickly grow out of hand, so it was best if the people he worked with simply knew the truth.


    "I- I''ll do that. Thank you, Alexander."


    "No, Thank you. I know this isn''t part of your job, but could you work with the Council to make sure the rooms in Atrium A have basic amenities? Do the same for fifty of the units in atrium D as well." The man agreed to reach out to Damien and the other Councilors to get that done.


    With that issue handled Alexander went in search of the Head of Security. He wanted to ensure the man had everything he needed to handle an influx of more than a thousand people at once. The Hawks were going to assist, but Damien needed to be in charge. Much like how Yi said Alexander needed to be seen as in charge, the Head of Security couldn''t be seen as taking a back seat to outsiders. Even if those outsiders were the Hawks.


    Alexander doubted this sort of nonsense would have been needed before his arrival but it was clear his being on Eden''s End had split the opinions of the residents. Further alienating the locals by usurping their chosen leaders would not go over well.


    He found Damien in the Security wing, which had been moved from near the control center to a few floors down. The new location was both more secure and was one of the choke points that led to the control room as well as the computer core. There were other entrances to the control center, but they could be locked down and the control center itself had blast doors in the case of emergency. Each entrance was also guarded and had cameras on them at all times.


    If anyone passed the ''Authorized Personnel Only'' signs to sneak about near those doors, they got arrested and sent to the detention area for questioning. Damien had implemented those rules after people kept wandering into the control center to chat with their friends who were on duty.


    Damien was counting racks of pulse rifles when he entered the room. There were far more of the weapons than the man had officers, but he knew it was good to have spares. Alexander waited for the man to complete his count before bothering him.


    "You here to ask if I''m qualified to handle the people coming in?"


    "Are you?" Alexander asked in return.


    The man paused to think about it for a moment. "With the Hawks'' help, yes."


    It was good to see the man wasn''t overestimating his abilities.


    "Work with Captain Matthews and his people, but you are in charge on the ground."


    Damien looked pleased to hear this, but the emotion quickly vanished with a grunt of acknowledgment. "I need to get ready to address the second shift, is there anything else?"


    "Not really. I did speak with Yi Na. He should be reaching out to you and the rest of the council to get housing ready for these arrivals. They will all be put in A, except the ones I hired. Those will go in atrium D. Stick them as far away from the noisy workshop as possible. And before you bring it up, I haven''t forgotten our last conversation about arrivals. They will be subject to the same security check as everyone else. I''ll let you get back to your duties." With that, Alexander left the security office and headed back to his workshop to finish some things up.


    He still needed to speak with Nancy about bringing on more teachers and expanding the classrooms to accommodate new students but it was still before noon. Classes would be going for a few more hours.


    Things were moving faster than he wished for, but he would be ready for the challenge.


    ***


    It had taken Dalton a few months to find the best way to get to Eden''s End, but he had discovered the recruitment drive that the Hawks had set up. He didn''t know they were doing so for Eden''s End, but a hunch and a bit more digging got him what he needed. Alcohol and loose lips have always been Dalton''s favorite combination to extract priceless information.


    Using a similar tactic to the one back in that pirate shithole, Dalton started spreading the rumor among other refugees that there was a place they could go and not be looked down upon when they arrived.


    He didn''t get as many takers as he would have liked but it would have to do. Dalton needed to muddy the waters until he found his target and escaped. The longer he spent on Eden''s End, the more likely his gene edits would degrade and expose his true identity.


    With the additional ships, Dalton couldn''t believe how easy it was to join the caravan following in the merc''s wake. He didn''t even need to switch ships since his ship looked like a small beat-up hauler from the outside and all his weapons were hidden in the shielded compartments. He wasn''t sure exactly how the static field generators blocked scanning or who had figured out this neat little trick, all he knew was that the modifications had cost him quite a bit of credit.


    The transponder he was spoofing at the moment was from a ship named Toby''s Pride. It was a ridiculous name, but one that fit this current persona.


    He adjusted his neck, still feeling a bit weird by the gene-edit treatment he had gone through. The underworld bio-sculptor cost an arm and a leg, but Dalton couldn''t afford to waltz in looking like himself or even risk having the same genetic profile. He wasn''t unknown to the STO and a quick bio-check would flag over a hundred active warrants for his arrest. He was proud of that number, but it did make infiltration missions quite difficult.


    To further sell the image of being refugees, Dalton had taken on over a dozen individuals fleeing from the former Coalition space. He even happily conversed with them and showed their children how to fly the ship. The only thing that kept him from spacing the lot of them was the thought that this mission was almost over.


    They finally arrived in the backwater shithole of Eden''s End. Without being able to deploy his optical array, Dalton was limited to normal sensors. Even with normal sensors, he didn''t fail to pick up the hundreds of items in space around the planet and its nearest moon.


    "Oh! What are those?" one of the snot-nosed little brats aboard his ship pointed to the screen with his sticky finger.


    Dalton''s eyebrow twitched faintly as an urge to cut off the offending digit entered his mind. He quashed that emotion as the kid pulled back his finger and wiped his runny nose on his sleeve. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He cleared his throat to give himself time to banish any anger in his tone before responding. "I''m not sure. We''re too far out to get a clear look, but I''ll let you know as soon as I do," he said with a wide smile, mussing the kid''s hair while suppressing an urge to squeeze the kid''s head.


    "Ok, Uncle Toby," the boy smiled before running off to his parents.


    "Only a few more days," he said under his breath, "Only a few more days."

 Chapter 2-50

    Alexander watched the Talon slide into orbit around the planet, followed shortly after by the vessels from Arklight. The Zephyr was the only ship capable of docking with the refueling depot as the other docking arms were already in use.As for the Arklight transport, it was waiting for clearance to land on the planet. The heavy lift transport was rather large for a planetary landing craft, but it had additional thrusters to assist in takeoff and landing operations.


    He just needed to make sure they used the correct landing location. A new concrete pad had been poured specifically to house the Qcomm. Once the very expensive piece of equipment was in place, the prefabricated halves of the dome could be slid in place, and the requisite concrete poured over the structure to seal it against the corrosive atmosphere.


    This was the only construction project Alexander had personally overseen since appointing Yi Na as the construction foreman. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust the man, it was just that he was keeping the location of the Qcomm a secret. And since nobody ever went outside unless they had to, nobody even knew it had been built in the first place. Automation was wonderful for projects like that.


    Alexander had learned his lesson from designing the weapon emplacements as well, so a tunnel had already been mostly constructed that led back to the facility. In this case, it exited in his workshop, which allowed him to control all access to the actual Qcomm array. Those with compatible devices would be able to access the network from anywhere on the planet and even in orbit. He would need to speak with the Qcomm engineers to see if that feature could be turned on or off. As for everyone else, they would be setting up some terminals across the facility that linked to the Qcomm.


    It would be a nightmare to control the information that was going out from Eden''s End if he couldn''t disable remote access. Thankfully, very few people on Eden''s End owned Qcomm-linked devices.


    He had a momentary thought about removing those devices and confiscating them from any new arrivals, but restricting communications was a slippery slope he didn''t wish to go down. That being said, he wasn''t comfortable letting unfiltered communications go out. He had an idea of how to go about this, but he needed access to the Qcomm to see if it would work or not. That would need to wait until the technicians left though.


    With the landing site nearest the construction zone cleared Alexander sent the Arklight ship the coordinates and the authorization to land. It would take a few trips around the planet before they deorbited. Unlike most ships, the Arklight transport needed to take a very shallow descent path. A pair of Arklight shuttles came down ahead of the transport ship and landed near the landing pad. They disgorged ten heavily armed and armored security people each. Those people surrounded the pad, ensuring nobody tried to approach or harm the workers.


    It felt a bit like overkill to Alexander, but then again, a Qcomm array was worth half a billion credits, so maybe not.


    A few of the other security people were commenting on the Arklight personnel and wondering who would win in a clash. As much as Alexander admired the improvements Damien''s people had implemented thus far, in a clash of equal forces, he would probably put his money on the Arklight troopers. All of the Arklight augment gear looked top-of-the-line. Maybe not as high quality as the suit that pirate leader was wearing, but closer than any of the gear Damien and his people had at hand, which could generously be considered light augment gear.


    Alexander had been hands-off on most of the local defensive tech that Damien and the other engineers had produced. He mainly gave ideas, and in a few cases, helped implement their designs when asked for input. This was because Damien seemed to get upset anytime he stuck his nose in on their work.


    He could understand the man''s desire to separate themselves from him, but that didn''t mean Alexander wasn''t ready to step in and improve their gear at a moment''s notice. He had an entire folder filled with design schematics that might rival, if not exceed Arklight''s gear. When Damien finally relented and asked for Alexander''s help, he would gladly give it to the man. Until then, the designs sat unused, only being updated as Alexander added minor improvements when he learned better ways to implement designs.


    Focusing back on the task at hand, Alexander made a flicking motion to change the main holo display feed to the camera inside the station''s hangar. He could see Jasper and his crew already unloading crates from the Zephyr and transferring them to the shuttle. He even saw the Captain having a lively conversation with Branston while they waited off to the side and out of the way of the crew as they worked.


    Alexander had already spoken to Jasper a few hours ago so he wouldn''t be bothering him while they were transferring cargo. It would take some time to ferry everything to the surface, but Ju Na was handling that. He looked over to the woman who was sitting at one of the consoles in the command center. She was communicating with Naomi from Jasper''s crew and seemed to be getting along just fine. He couldn''t be happier that he didn''t have to deal with the logistics of that process anymore.


    Seeing that Mingyu''s sister had everything well in hand, he switched the camera feed to focus on the Talon. It didn''t take long for the massive ship to start disgorging its drop ships. It was a much different experience watching this happen from a groundside perspective. It would have been horrifying to see if he didn''t know they were friendly.


    The ships soon entered the atmosphere, leaving trails in their wake. He watched for only a few more seconds before changing to one of the farther-out cameras. The new view showed just a small glimmering dot in the center of the image, showing just how far out the ships of the convoy still were. For some reason, they had slowed their approach after jumping into the system a little over an hour behind Captain Matthews.


    All of their transponders were active, so Alexander knew who each ship belonged to. Not a single captain had reached out yet. That didn''t mean the facility''s sensors hadn''t picked up communication between the ships. Everyone of Lucas'' camera probes could pick up stray radio communications and there was plenty of open radio traffic going back and forth between the vessels. It seemed the captains were trying to decide on the best course of action to reach out and request asylum.


    They had to know their communications were being intercepted, right?


    If they did or not it didn''t really change anything. Alexander had decided to wait to address them until he had the other people settled.


    He hoped everyone who came out here adapted as quickly as those first troublemakers did. He hadn''t heard any peep about them from Damien, so they must be fitting in or they were sitting in lockup. He hadn''t seen anyone else in lockup when he went to speak with Shall, so he assumed it was the former.


    Things were going to change again once the Qcomm was available, and that reminded Alexander that his meeting with the Council was in a few minutes. He thanked the control center people for allowing him to take over for a bit before handing access back to them and heading off to the Council Chamber. The very officiously named space was a slightly larger room with no embellishments and a half-moon table made from metal where the council sat.


    The Council now consisted of Damien as the Head of Security, Nancy as the Head of Learning, Gabriella as the Head of Medical Services, and the newest member, Sheila, the farmer he had spoken to quite some time ago. Her willingness to embrace the changes Alexander was implementing had propelled her far past the other farmers, especially the one she had made the bet with. Now she was the Head of Agriculture for Eden''s End.


    The group quieted as he entered. "Sorry for being late, I was just making sure everything was going smoothly with our new arrivals."


    "As should we all," Damien grunted. "I assume you have something important to say and that you didn''t take us all away from our other duties for no reason?"


    Alexander rolled his avatar''s eyes at the man''s grumbling. "I did. There are two reasons I called this meeting. The first is to discuss the Qcomm that is arriving and will be installed soon."


    The group all looked surprised by the admission.


    "You purchased a Qcomm array?" Gabriella was the first to ask.


    "I did. It will be installed in the next few days and open to anyone with a linked device until I can get some consoles set up with access to it."


    "You''re going to just let anyone use it?" Damien asked in suspicion.


    "Why wouldn''t I?" he replied with a bit of annoyance in return.


    "I could cite a few reasons," Damien responded, ignoring Alexander''s tone. "The first and most major concern is what if we have another traitor? With so many new people, how can we stop them from giving out our location and secrets away to pirates or other groups who might be interested? This seems like a huge security risk."


    Alexander''s tone softened. He thought the man was questioning his motives, not the actual security issues involved with having open communications to STO space. "You are correct, there is some risk and I have considered those issues. I believe I have a way to limit them but there is some additional research I must do before I can say for sure. Until then, the only people who will have access to the array are those with linked comms. I assume you know how many locals have those?"


    Damien snorted. "None of the drifters have Qcomm-linked devices. It would be rather wasteful since the whole point of coming out here was to get away from the STO. I can''t say if any of those people who arrived along with your scientist friend have them. However, I would hazard to guess that at least one of them does. Your friend and her grandson probably do. I can ask them if you wish?"


    Alexander shook his avatar''s head. "I''m sure Dr. Lund has one, but she doesn''t really communicate with anyone in the STO and most of her former co-workers were co-opted by the Navy so I doubt she will want to speak with them either. She will probably have a few people she talks with, but not many. You can ask her grandson, I admit I''m not really familiar with the boy. As for the rest, that''s really up to you."


    The man grunted. "Fair enough. You said you had other news?"


    "Hold on now," Nancy cut in. "Before we switch topics, how is this going to affect the schooling?"


    "What do you mean?" Alexander asked.


    "All of those learning modules will communicate back to the companies who created them. If they do, they''ll know we''ve been using them in an unauthorized fashion. I''ve seen what happens to people who tried that in the past, it''s not pretty when a squad of corporate security goons comes by and arrests everyone involved as well as confiscates all of their assets."


    "The network with the learning modules will remain unconnected from the consoles that allow access to the Qcomm and the STO network."


    "Until someone slips and tells a family across the network. The Qcomm might be secure, but the end user terminals certainly aren''t," she countered.


    What she said was true, and Nancy''s words were close to something Alexander suspected about the Qcomm network. If he was right, it would allow him to monitor all incoming and outgoing messages. "That issue should be handled if my research bears fruit. If not, it''s an issue we will address if and when the corporations respond. In the meantime, I plan on transcribing all of the information from the learning modules into a central library. If they do demand restitution or take away our access to those modules, we will already be prepared. I have Lucas working on a program to allow this transfer. Your concerns are a good transition to my next topic though, and another one that should give us additional protection against the corporations."


    "Alex, we know, you''re good at building things, but do you really think anything will stop the corporations from taking what they want when they want?" Sheila asked.


    "I do. I plan on claiming Y6X-3H2 as a sovereign nation."


    They all just stared at him in dumbfounded shock.


    It was Gabriella once again who was the first to speak up. "What!?"


    "Hear me out. The STO has never made a claim on this system. Why would they? There is nothing here but a barely habitable world and a few gas giants. The same is true for the original owners of this facility. They simply built it to study the star, and once they satisfied that goal, they left. It was sold a few more times until the STO pulled its borders back due to the Shican War. A few groups tried to make this facility profitable until it was abandoned and drifters took over. Then I purchased it when the last owner passed away."


    Sheila held her hands up to stop him. "Yes, we get that much. I think what Gabriella is wondering is how is it even possible that the STO would allow this?" Gabriella nodded at that.


    He told them about the requirements and laws built directly into the STO''s charter. Damien was the first to understand and the man actually burst out laughing. "The corporations didn''t bother plugging the loophole because they didn''t think anyone could ever use it."


    "Precisely," Alexander smiled. "And we now have a fleet of three ships."


    "I thought you only had two working ships?" Damien asked in confusion.


    "Their only stipulation of what constitutes a ship is that it must belong to or work directly for the ruling party and be capable of both defending the system and having FTL capabilities. Captain Na''s ship now qualifies under the STO''s own rules."


    "Have you mentioned this to him?" Damien asked skeptically. "It seems like his current work for you is more of a contractual basis than what you are referring to."


    "I plan on speaking with him right after our meeting. I think he will agree to change the parameters of our contract. If he does, I can designate the Destiny as an Envoy vessel allowing his ship and his crew to receive diplomatic immunity. This would nullify the idiotic ruling the STO had placed upon it." Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The group all chuckled at that.


    "Well," Damien stated, looking far more enthusiastic than Alexander had ever seen him. "Far be it for us to stop you. Since you are going to go ahead with this crazy plan, how will this change our roles?"


    Alexander had put a lot of thought into this plan, so this was an easy question to answer. "In the short term, nothing will change. Eventually, as more people arrive and the facility is expanded, more roles will get added to the Council."


    "And your role?" Gabriella asked.


    This was a bit of a tougher question, but once again, he had spent a long time deciding on this course of action. "I think Overseer would be the best description and title for what I plan on doing. Essentially the same as I am doing now. So once again, nothing will change in the short term."


    They all seemed to accept this change and he notified them that they would need to attend the formation ceremony. He wasn''t surprised by their acceptance. Ever since Alexander had arrived on Eden''s End, their lives had improved by leaps and bounds. The only person he thought might grumble was Damien, but the man seemed just as enthusiastic about this change as everyone else. Probably because it meant sticking it to the STO. If that was the case, Alexander would take what he could get.

 Chapter 2-51

    Damien had the intake area for arrivals set up in Atrium D. It wasn''t the best place to set something like this up, it was just the easiest place to put it since A was heavily populated, B was blocked off, and C wasn''t near any of the landing zones.He glanced around at his officers. Two of his people wore the light-augment gear the engineers had managed to fabricate. They also carried the modified flechette mini-guns. It was hard to call the rapid-fire flechette guns, mini-guns anymore since they only had a single barrel with a rotating drum that fed it.


    Whatever the engineers decided on calling the thing, it was light enough now to be carried by a single person in the light-augment gear. He knew it was overkill for this operation, but he wasn''t taking any chances. Plus his people needed to get practice walking around with the new suits outside of a training area. The rest of his people were equipped with body armor that you would be hard-pressed to identify as such, and the ubiquitous pulse rifles and stun sticks.


    The individually tailored armor was much lighter and much easier to move around in than the standardized plate carriers they used to have. It did mean each person had to be fitted, and the armor built to their size, which took longer and meant nobody else could wear it, but it was worth it in his eyes. They still kept some standard plate carriers around just in case though.


    Damien glanced up from one of the booths he was manning and looked down the newly extended hallway. Alex''s robots had placed temporary walls to help funnel the new entrants into the intake area and prevent anyone from trying to skip the line altogether. He looked over at the next booth, inside the small box was Jorvin Morrow, the man who had made a big stink when he first arrived months ago.


    Jorvin had come to apologize to him shortly after he settled in. The man had been afraid of being turned away if he didn''t make it seem like he was someone important. The man apparently learned this at his job as an immigration officer back on his homeworld of Zarinsk where the rich and powerful liked to pull that stunt. Most of the time, someone higher up in his chain of command came down and let those people bypass the normal routines. Jorvin said he hated the thought of pretending to throw his weight around but wasn''t willing to let his family suffer if it might be used in their favor.


    Unfortunately, he ran into Damien, who didn''t give two shits about who he was. That interaction spurred the man to find some pride again. Once he did, he offered to help Damien with anything he needed assistance with.


    Not trusting the man at first, Damien had given him the shittiest jobs he could come up with. Jorvin did them all without complaint or the normal feet dragging he might have expected to see. Over the months, Damien gave the man more work and eventually a position within the security force as a sort of secretary and manager.


    The man had proven adept at keeping tasks on schedule and patrols planned out and orderly. Prior to his position, Damien had just been telling his teams to patrol wherever. The only thing he had scheduled was the guard rotations. And he hated doing those.


    Now the man was heading up the intake process. He had even created identification cards, similar to the ones Alexander handed out. A special terminal had to be built to encode the DNA profiles into the cards without needing to bring them to the computer room, but Alex handled that.


    The other two loudmouths had been a little bit more of a nuisance. Both had been locked up at least once. They quickly learned that Eden''s End didn''t play around. Once that got through to them, one found a job as a farmer''s assistant and the other joined the work crews repairing the facility. The other arrivals hadn''t made much of a splash, even that scientist''s bratty grandson. If that held true for the next batch, he would be happy.


    As for why Damien was in a booth, he was here to check for criminal records. Normally he would relegate this sort of check to one of his officers, but with so many people arriving, he wanted to see to it in person.


    Dust started to fall from the ceiling and Damian yelled loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room. "Look alive! Our first set of guests are arriving!"


    Sure enough, a few minutes later, people started appearing from the hallway. The first person Damien recognized was Team Leader Travers. Behind him was a younger woman and a few kids. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Signs and arrows pointed everyone to where they needed to go, so people started lining up in front of Jorvin''s booth. The man quickly processed their entries and handed the adults their ID cards.


    It had been decided not to require ID cards for children under the age of twelve.


    The group headed over to his booth and Travers gave a lopsided smirk. "Funny meeting you here. You finally take that stick out of your ass?"


    Damien just rolled his eyes. "You wanna get in or not?"


    Travers chuckled but handed his ID over and stood there as he scanned him.


    "Is this your family?" Damien asked as the scan was processing.


    "My sister and her kids. No father," the mercenary responded.


    "You look a little underdressed," Damien commented as he scanned the man''s sister next.


    "My contract was up. Figured I would try something new. Don''t suppose you''re looking for some new blood?"


    Damien was looking for some new security people. They never managed to replace the ones lost in the pirate attack. "Depends, do you like training people?"


    Travers laughed. "I''ll do it if that''s what you need but I would prefer a more active role."


    Damien grunted and nodded toward Jorvin. "Speak to Jorvin after we finish processing everyone. Tell him I sent you and what your qualifications are. I have him handling most of the administration work."


    Travers smiled and tapped the side of his head. "Now that''s smart. I knew I liked you for a reason."


    Damien just shook his head. "Get out of my face before I change my mind. One of the officers in the back will show you to your housing unit or units if you choose to live separately."


    Travers gave a salute before following his glaring sister toward the group of officers behind the booths.


    The next up was Captain Matthews. He had only met the man briefly after the pirate attack and during the questioning of the traitor.


    The man gave a single nod and handed over his ID. "I imagine Alexander is quite busy with everything going on. Would it be possible for me to speak with him anytime soon?"


    Damien let out a sigh. Alex had asked him to send a few specific people his way when they arrived. Matthews was one of those people. "You know the way to his workshop. You can either head there when I''m done, or you can wait to be assigned a housing unit. I assume that''s why you''re out of uniform as well and not here with the rest of the company."


    "My retirement was finalized upon my arrival in Eden''s End. I am a normal citizen now."


    "I bet," Damien grunted. "You''re clear to pass through."


    There were a few more mercenaries that he recognized but didn''t know by name. They all passed through without issue and then he got to Alex''s new employees. It was hard to keep the sneer off of his face as he kept seeing the STO record pop up on his tablet as he scanned these new people. He knew Alex needed to hire crews for his ships, and there was only one real option as far as skilled military people went, but it still chafed at him.


    As expected, none of the people from the initial group had any warrants. Damien hadn''t expected to find any, the Hawks would have thoroughly vetted anyone before bringing them here for Alex. Once the last of the new arrivals was through, the mercenaries started to arrive.


    The process for them was a bit more nebulous. They were handed ID tags as those would allow them to access facility resources but Damien didn''t bother with the scans. Instead, he walked out of the booth and greeted team leader Jallen. "I figured you''d have jumped ship like your friend Travers."


    Jallen shrugged at that. "I still have another year on my contract. I might decide to hang up my hat at that point, who knows?"


    "We''ll I''m glad to have you and your people back. The next group is going to be a cluster," Damien spat in annoyance.


    "So Alex decided to take them in after all, eh? I guess I''m not too surprised. Anyway, we came prepared and brought four full DNA scanners instead of the simple warrant scanner you were using. The devices will tell you if their DNA was ever at a crime scene. They won''t update until the¨C" he paused and looked around before lowering his voice. "¨CQcomm is installed though."


    "Yeah, Alex told me about that only a few hours ago. So keep it quiet."


    "Shouldn''t be an issue. Only the TLs and above know about it. Everyone else thinks the Arklight ships are here to install the base for an orbital elevator."


    "I guess that''s fine. As for your people, I think they would be better off stationed outside for the most part to keep people in line as ships and shuttles land. The rest can be deployed inside to keep the peace while my people find the new arrivals accommodations."


    Jallen saluted. "We are at your disposal."


    ***


    Alexander greeted Matthews when he entered his workshop. "I was planning on meeting with you and the rest of the new hires in a separate room, but I''m glad you arrived early, I wanted to discuss something with you."


    "Why, is something the matter?" Matthews asked after releasing Alexander''s hand.


    "Oh, nothing''s wrong. At least not yet. I suspect we''ll have plenty of problems when those refugees arrive, but I have people handling that so don''t worry. How would you like to head an academy?"


    Matthews paused for a moment. "An academy? What sort of academy?"


    Alexander hadn''t wanted to spring this question on the man so soon, but the situation had changed and he decided to push up his plans to build the academy. "One that teaches science, engineering, tactics, and all things related to spaceship operations and combat."


    The recently retired captain quirked an eyebrow slightly. "That''s a big ask, Alexander. What if I wanted to buy a ship off of you and go be a captain on my own again?"


    Alexander smiled. "If you wanted that, you wouldn''t have retired from the Hawks in the first place."


    Archibald Matthews''s stony fa?ade cracked at that. "Fair enough," he said with a grin. "I''m going to assume you had this whole thing planned long in advance?"


    "Not as long as you might think," Alexander responded as he motioned for the man to join him. He pulled up a holo display showing an aerial view of Eden''s End. A sixth dome joined the other five, being slightly smaller than the other four atriums.


    The top peeled away in the display, showing multiple levels of classrooms and other amenities. What caught Matthew''s eye was the open space in the center. "What''s that for?"


    "I''m glad you asked. It''s a holographic simulation center that is half a mile in diameter and the largest in existence, as far as I can tell. You could do pretty much any simulation you imagined in such a space."


    The man rubbed his bearded chin. "Simulations are all well and good, Alexander, but nothing beats practical experience."


    "I understand that, but people have to start somewhere. This is the safest place to train people for emergencies, vacuum leaks, combat, etc. I want you to work with Nancy, the Head of Learning for the Council. She has a basic class itinerary, but this would be your academy. As long as people are getting a quality education and training, that''s all I care about. As a member of the faculty, you also get full access to my learning modules for yourself and a paid scholarship for any immediate family. So what do you say?"


    The man sighed. "I can hardly say no to that. Fine. I''ll agree to head this academy of yours but only until it''s off the ground. I do want to retire at some point and enjoy my twilight years with my children and grandchildren when they decide to finally join me out here. With this scholarship opportunity, I don''t think it''ll be nearly as hard to convince them to take the plunge and move out here."


    With that issue resolved, Alexander clapped the man on the back lightly and led them to the room where he would be meeting with the new captains and crew for BSE.

 Chapter 2-52

    Alexander and Matthews entered a room filled with conversation. He paused in the doorway and looked around. He frowned as he didn''t see the man he expected to see. "Were you not able to get Captain Krieger?"Matthews shook his head. "The STO hadn''t court-martialed him by the time we left. It seems they are dragging him across STO space and parading him as an example of what a poor officer is. It''s rather distasteful if you ask me, but there''s nothing either of us can do about it."


    It took a few moments for people to notice their arrival, but once they did, a hush ran through the room.


    "That''s more terrifying than the video makes it appear," one man muttered quietly but not quietly enough in the now silent room.


    A few people turned to look at the man.


    "What?" he demanded. "You all were thinking the same damn thing, I was just the only one with the stones to say something."


    Before an argument could break out, Matthews cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen. I know you were all shown the primer video, but let me introduce you to your new employer, Alexander Kane."


    "Greetings," Alexander spoke as he walked up to the lectern. He didn''t bother commenting on the man''s reaction to him, he expected some sort of reaction about his appearance by now. "Please, have a seat," he gestured to the folding chairs. It seemed some things stood the test of time, and folding chairs were one of those things.


    "As Captain Matthews stated, I am Alexander Kane. I know my appearance is shocking, that is why I created the welcome video for you all. It was also a test, and not everyone passed. Those of you who did are here. I want to thank you for the opportunity."


    "Archie wasn''t very clear on the specifics of this job or the benefits," the red-headed man who had spoken about his appearance, called out.


    His comment got a round of muttered agreements in return.


    Alexander bobbed his avatar up and down in a nod. "What is your name, Sir?"


    "Fergus McCarthy," the man puffed up with pride.


    Alexander nodded again. "Mr. McCarthy, what is your occupation?"


    "Chief Engineer, why?"


    "You''ll see in a second. You," Alexander pointed to a middle-aged woman, "What''s your occupation?"


    She responded and Alexander repeated this a few times until people started to catch on.


    "You need crew for ships," Fergus grunted. "You couldn''t tell us this back in STO space?" the man asked Matthews.


    "Operational security, you know how it is, Fergus."


    "Bah," the man said, waving off Matthews'' response. "So, this some private corporate military contract or something?"


    "Not exactly. I won''t be going into details quite yet since nobody has signed a contract or non-disclosure forms. I will be providing the pay scale for each position along with the base benefits. You have all been assigned an ID card. If you are interested, please use the two terminals outside this room to look at what I''m offering. If that isn''t enough to appeal to you, you are free to head back to your accommodations. You will still receive a small stipend and your rooms and meals will be paid for while you are here. Once the Talon returns to STO space, they will take anyone who doesn''t wish to sign on." Alexander gestured to the door. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Over the next half an hour, people slowly filtered back into the room. He did notice a few people were absent but not as many as he had feared.


    Once the last person came back in and shut the door, Alexander gestured over to a stack of tablets that had been brought in from an adjacent room. "On these tablets, you will find the Blue Star Enterprises employee agreement and non-disclosure forms. Please read and sign them if you wish to continue. If not, the same offer applies as before."


    Alexander only had twenty of the tablets, but it wasn''t like the room was overflowing with people. There were only thirty remaining candidates.


    It didn''t take long before one of those candidates threw the tablet back on the table in disgust. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" the man demanded. "Life imprisonment if we disclose anything about the technology or what goes on at Eden''s End? No way. I don''t care how much you''re paying, I''m out."


    The man stormed out of the room, followed by one woman. A few minutes later, two more followed after looking at the contract.


    Alexander had made the contract as harsh as possible to weed people out who might think to make a quick buck on the side by trying to sell out his secrets. He made note of those people because they were more likely to cause trouble than the ones who had left after seeing the inflated payment he was offering.


    One final man left, leaving twenty-five people. Once Matthews shut the door and nodded to him, Alexander spoke up. "Now that the remaining people here have signed the non-disclosure agreements, I can go into more detail. Those weren''t the real contracts. They were just designed to weed out anyone who wasn''t serious about sticking around. I will provide the real contracts shortly, but I want you to all be fully informed before you sign. You all saw the benefits package in the hallway terminals?"


    "Yeah," the middle-aged woman from earlier replied before Fergus could. "Full medical, two meals a day, and lodging while not on duty?"


    Fergus grumbled at being cut off, which made the rest chuckle.


    "That is the public benefit. The NDA benefits involve access to my learning library and the academy."


    "Learning library?" another man asked in confusion.


    "I purchased dozens of learning modules from STO space. Unlike the STO, I don''t plan to hoard that behind huge paywalls. Service guarantees you access to any single learning module of your choice. Every three months of service after that earns you access to an additional module."


    The room went quiet as everyone gaped in open-mouthed surprise.


    "Ha!" Mathews barked in laughter. "I told you all it would be worth it, didn''t I?"


    "Are you mad?" one person asked. "Th- The STO will find out. The corporations will arrest you for this or worse."


    "Only if you tell them," Alexander replied in a calm tone. "At that point, you''re only hurting yourselves and not because of the contract that you signed, which is still in place until you sign the new one. I haven''t even gotten to the best part. After six months of service, your family will be eligible to enter the academy. Assuming they are over the age of sixteen. They will receive one free learning module. Any others they wish to learn can be purchased with credits or contributions to Eden''s End or if you wish to transfer your learning plan that you earn to a single child, you may do so. The credit fee will be affordable, unlike the ridiculous fee charged by the corporations." Alexander had put quite a bit of thought into how to keep people from simply taking the first learning plan and leaving.


    Doing it this way incentivized people to stick around longer and earn way more benefits. It was even more attractive if they had families, and he knew at least a few of them did.


    There wasn''t much discussion after that.


    "Where''s the real contract," Fergus practically demanded.


    Alexander smiled. "The new contract is on the tablets. There is a provision in it that nullifies the old contract."


    While it wasn''t quite a stampede to get to the tablets, he was surprised by how quickly some of the older-looking people moved. In no time at all, the new contracts were signed and everyone was seated again.


    "The academy isn''t quite ready yet, but let me introduce you to the person who''ll be running it." He gestured to Matthews. That seemed to mollify the tension brought on by his statement.


    It seemed everyone in the room knew Matthews. Alexander had hoped that some of the people Jasper talked into coming might have remained, but it didn''t seem like that was the case. He hoped his friend didn''t take that too badly.


    Once everyone signed the real contract, Alexander got names and occupations from them. There were only three former Captains in the group. The rest were either technicians, engineers, or bridge officers of some sort.


    Before sorting them into crews, he needed to find out if people wanted to change their occupations. "Raise your hands if you wish to switch careers."


    A full third of the hands went up, including one of the former Captains. The woman looked embarrassed but she spoke up. "I assume you went looking for former Navy people because you have warships. I was the captain of a courier ship. When it was time to reenlist, they offered me command of a warship. I turned them down because I didn''t think I had it in me to fire on someone. If you have messenger ships or something in a non-combat role, I''ll gladly fly that."


    "We can discuss that later," Alexander nodded to the woman.


    The other people wanted higher positions. A few of the bridge crew people wanted to take the captaincy tests. They had aged out in the STO and were no longer eligible for those roles. Alexander didn''t see any problem with that. He had all of the materials to provide for the testing.


    "The rest of you are more than welcome to pick the study materials that will allow you to move up in Blue Star Enterprise. For now, I''m going to split you into two groups of twelve. And Penny, it was Penny right?"


    The captain who didn''t want to command a warship nodded. "Penny Farthing, and yes, I''m aware of the old Earth connotations. My father was a history buff and thought it was funny. I was ten when my mom found out, she didn''t think it was nearly as humorous."


    Alexander suppressed a chuckle. "¡­Fair enough. Are you ok piloting a shuttle for now?"


    "It''s been over a decade, so I''ll need a refresher, but it should be fine."


    "Excellent. That brings me to my next point. I have some holo-trainers set up to help each group familiarize themselves with these." As he said the word, the holoprojector on the ceiling displayed the Fury and the Resolve.


    The ships got mixed reactions.


    "Going by the secrecy, I thought we were gonna be operating something state of the art?" one of the other captains stated. "No offense, but those two ship designs went out of service before I was born. A new coat of paint isn''t enough to make them a match for current ships."


    Alexander smiled. "They look ugly, but I can assure you, both of these ships were rebuilt from the ground up. They will hold their own against any current STO ship in their class."


    "Let''s assume I believe you," the same captain stated. "Why not just build a new ship if you could rebuild one of these?"


    "Time and resources," Alexander responded immediately. He had been expecting the question. "Pirates were kind enough to donate these, so I didn''t see any reason not to use such a valuable gift. I will design and build my own ships eventually, but as you might imagine, that''s a very involved process with a lot of testing and changes before a frame can even be started. Reusing these ancient ships only requires them to be scanned, ripped apart, and rebuilt with minor changes."


    The curious captain nodded once. "Thank you for answering my questions. I assume pirates are the main threat we''ll be dealing with out here. Using their own ships against them does seem like poetic justice, I must admit."


    "Instead of touting the virtues of these ships, how about I show you?" That got agreements all around and Alexander led them to the two rooms that had been converted to the holotrainers.


    He made the two captains pick a number and the one closest to the number Alexander was thinking of got the first room. The other got the second.


    "Captain Farthing, you can join us in the trainer''s room to watch if you wish. It''s that door over there." The woman thanked him and headed into the room. Lucas should be in there, so he could operate the remote view for her.


    Alexander got the two groups set and allowed them to familiarize themselves with some of the holographic interiors of the ships. The trainers only had one deck at the moment, which consisted of the bridge section and not much else.


    They whistled when he activated the tactical holo.


    "You have a full tac-display on your ships?" Archie stated in surprise.


    "Huh? Do you mean the holo? Yeah, it seemed like a good idea to have a clear view of the battlespace, why?"


    "Most of the time tac-displays are restricted to command ships due to the processing power they require. Don''t tell me you have a supercomputer link on the ship?"


    "Ok, I won''t," Alexander responded with a grin.


    Archie just shook his head. "Keep tempting me with tech like this, I may go back to being a captain."


    The two laughed as they headed to the trainer''s room, leaving behind the two groups to get acquainted with the ship systems. He was going to have Lucas run them through a quick training exercise to show them what the ships were capable of, then swap them to the other training room. After that was done, he would assign them all the learning modules that he had created for operating the ship. With any luck, they would be proficient in no time.

 Chapter 2-53

    Dalton''s ship wasn''t the first in the convoy line of ships, that would have been too conspicuous. Arriving near the middle of the refugee group meant he had to wait in line, but it should bring less scrutiny as people grew complacent. It seemed that whoever was running this place was forcing the ships to land one at a time, slowing down the entire process. It was an easy way to control the speed of people being processed, but it worked to his advantage as well by increasing the fatigue of anyone on duty.The only problem with that approach was that not every ship that came along could land on a planet. The first ship just so happened to be one of those, and it was forced to dock at what could generously be called a station. He got to watch as people were shuttled down in small groups over hours. There were at least two ships behind him that were equally as large and would need to go through the same process.


    While the waiting was annoying, it did give him time to study the space around the planet without active sensors.


    He didn''t like what he saw. Hundreds of new items were orbiting the planet since the last time he had been here. They had to be some sort of weapon system or there would have been no point placing them around the planet. It wasn''t like they needed global satellite coverage for one facility.


    To top it off, two fully armed frigates were docked at the station. He recognized the general shape of Arkonis'' ship, only it had changed. Somehow these people had rebuilt it, and another ship that probably belonged to one of Char''s people. And they did it in a little over eight months.


    Based on the other derelicts docked at the station, it looked like they planned to do the same thing with two more ships.


    The speed of buildup here was truly insane. The people running this place must have deep pockets and access to plenty of technology. If Kane was somehow involved with this effort, he was starting to get an idea of why Harlow wanted the man so badly.


    Hours passed by until he finally got the response he had been waiting for. "Toby''s Pride, you are cleared to land."


    Dalton suppressed his anticipation as he responded. "Copy that, ground control."


    He followed the instructions sent to him and came in for a slow descent. He heard his passengers complaining about the rough ride, the ungrateful shits. He would be glad to be rid of them. Then his real mission could begin. He had a month at most until his gene-shift treatment wore off. Pushing it to the last moment wasn''t a good idea though, so he gave himself two weeks to complete this mission. If he couldn''t do it by then, he would need to get out of there and figure out another plan.


    As he descended through the atmosphere, he finally got his first look at Eden''s End. It looked like a deteriorating shit hole, but he could see areas that had been repaired or newly built. He even spotted a ship off to one side and a group of armed individuals blocking off an area where a large black square was being moved into place. Most people wouldn''t have recognized the monolithic black cubes, but Dalton had seen the devices before so he recognized the Qcomm array almost instantly. If these people could afford a Qcomm, it just reinforced the fact that they had deep pockets. It was too bad they weren''t pirates or criminals, he was always looking for new clientele.


    Despite the lack of new work he was likely to find here, Dalton could sell the information about the Qcomm on the black market. The planet might have decent defenses, and he suspected those items orbiting the planet were some sort of weapon, but some people would risk it to get their hands on the elusive FTL comm arrays.


    Soon he touched down and cheering erupted from the back of his ship. Their jubilant attitude made him want to vomit, he was glad to finally be rid of them.


    Knowing it would be suspicious if he left his ship online, he started putting it into cold standby mode. It provided just enough power from the reactor to power the lights and minor electrical items on the ship as well as the static field generators that shielded his weapon''s compartments from scanners.


    Once the ship was on standby, he put on a fake smile and headed to the cargo bay.


    The parents of the families he had coerced to cover his entry clapped him on the back and he shook their hands in celebration before moving over to the cargo bay ramp. "Don''t forget your masks," he called in fake concern.


    Those who hadn''t donned the oxygen masks did so now. Dalton followed suit and opened the ramp door. The first thing he noticed was the dozens of armed mercenaries waiting to guide the new arrivals into the facility.


    That would have put a wrinkle in his plan if he hadn''t already planned for it. In fact, they were integral to his mission. He needed the mercenaries to finish bringing in the new arrivals before he acted. It would give him time to find his target but also split the focus of all the security people here. The timing would be tight though. If he waited too long, the chaos caused by taking in this many people would die down and the security forces would be able to look into any inconsistencies. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hands where we can see them," one of the mercs stated as he approached the ramp with his weapon pointed down but ready to snap up in a moment. "We''ll be scanning you all for weapons."


    Dalton joined the rest of his passengers, looking surprised by the statement before he headed down the ramp with his arms up.


    The man ran a simple metal detector over him before pausing as it beeped.


    "Titanium implants from an old injury," he stated, pulling up his sleeve to show the man two long faded scars along both arms.


    The man nodded and motioned for him to join the other waiting mercenaries. Once everyone got checked, Dalton turned to one of the men. "Can I close up my ship?"


    "No," the man stated. "Once all of the refugees are settled, all ships will be checked for contraband. Once that is complete, you can come back out here and remove your fusion activation crystal."


    "Any idea how long that will take? I have some food in my fridge I''d rather not let go to waste." He didn''t have anything worth saving in his fridge, but he needed some excuse to ask about the time frame that wouldn''t make the man suspicious. He could also make a big stink about how this would be illegal in STO space. He might even win that argument considering what he was able to dig up on the straight-laced Hawks of Ganos, but that would bring him unnecessary attention.


    "A week or two," the soldier responded non-commitally.


    Going by what he witnessed, he was going to put that estimate closer to the longer end. It wasn''t ideal, but Dalton now had a firm timeline. If they did a thorough search of his ship, they were bound to find any number of hidden compartments he would rather they didn''t. And if they shut down the reactor, the weapons would quickly be located.


    He had worked with tighter timelines in the past so he should be good.


    As he followed the mercs to the facility, Dalton mentally reviewed what he knew of the target. Kane was a sickly man who was confined to a stasis pod and who used a robot to interact with the outside world.


    Easy enough to find the robot, but without knowing the capabilities of such a machine, he wouldn''t risk going after it directly. He would focus on the child Kane adopted instead. The attachment to an adopted child might not be as strong as a biological one, but it''s the best option he had to work with. The only other option was locating the stasis pod and making off with it. Considering what was inside it, the medical device was likely secured beyond what he would be able to get past in the short time frame.


    The only issue with his plan was that he didn''t have a positive ID for the girl, just her age.


    As they were led into the building, Dalton refined his plan to figure out where Kane and the girl were.


    When they entered a sort of holding area, he noticed there wasn''t an X-ray scanner setup. Had he known that he wouldn''t have bothered with the sub-skeletal implants. An X-ray could still see through bone, but the titanium rods he had grafted to them to make it look like substandard medical repairs would help mask what was inside the bones. Retrieving those items would be painful, but he couldn''t change that part of the plan now.


    He was led to a table where his bag was searched, then moved to a booth where he was given a bio-locked ID after his record came back clean. Then he was moved to a waiting area.


    Once the families were through, he moved over to them. "You''ve all had a long day. How about I find out where the kids go for learning, that way you all can rest?"


    It didn''t take any more convincing than that to get them to agree.


    Once one of the guards came by to grab people, Dalton told them to take the families first. This selflessness further ingratiated him with the families and allowed Dalton to see how the facility guards operated.


    They looked very professional with their matching outfits, but Dalton could tell they were inexperienced. Normally that would be a good thing, but inexperienced people tend to make more mistakes and act without thinking. He would need to ensure none were around when he made his move or they might accidentally kill the girl, making this whole operation pointless.


    Once it came his time to be led off, he spoke to the officer. "Would it be possible for me to meet the person in charge so I can thank them personally?"


    The man glanced at him without turning his head. "You want to see Alex? I guess I could ask. It might not be right away though."


    Interesting, he wondered if Alex and Alexander Kane were the same person. "That''ll be fine," Dalton replied with a smile.


    They eventually arrived at his assigned room.


    "This will be your room, if you wish to switch or move, you must request a change using the terminals. Atrium A is that way," the guard pointed down the hallway. "Just follow the signs. That is where you can purchase food and supplies as well as look for work. There is also a job board on the terminals. You are allowed to go into any public spaces. If you break the rules, you will be locked up and punished accordingly. Any questions?"


    "Just one. I came with some families and promised them I would look into schooling for their young children, could you point me in that direction?"


    The guard looked at him with a bit of suspicion before replying. "The other guards probably notified them of the room where kids are taught. I recommend letting them figure it out."


    "Fair enough," he chuckled, doing his best to mollify the man''s suspicions. It seemed he pushed too far by asking that question. He would have to learn where this place was another way.


    ***


    Alexander sighed. It had been a long week, or more specifically, a long four days. That was how long it took to process the nearly twelve hundred people on the ships. It would have gone much faster, but half the ships couldn''t land, and the shuttles had been running non-stop ferrying people down to the surface.


    As far as he knew, the Hawks were just now starting to check the ships on the ground. It was a very inefficient process and probably bent a few STO laws going by how some of the captains of those vessels grumbled.


    He didn''t care. Alexander didn''t invite these people, if they wanted to stay, they followed Eden''s End''s rules.


    Honestly, he wanted this whole intake process over with so he could focus on more important issues. One of the things he was waiting for was the confirmation that the Qcomm was ready and working. Based on the reports he got, it should be completed sometime today. In the meantime, he was greeting a few people who wanted to thank him for allowing them to live here.


    Most were families displaced by the first attacks. They had been bounced from world to world since nobody wanted to take them in permanently. The families or groups all flinched when they saw him, which wasn''t much of a surprise. The remaining people were refugees of the second attack, which was news to Alexander.


    It seemed like the war against the pirates was not going in the STO''s favor. The change must have happened recently because there was no news of it the last time he left STO space. He was certain he would have heard about it if there had been.


    The second grouping of people had much the same reaction to meeting Alexander. All except one man, who looked entirely too chipper to meet him. The man shook his arm and told him his name, but the only thing Alexander could remember of the guy was how he looked like someone who had too much plastic surgery. He had that overly stretched face look which made his mannerisms look entirely fake or completely missing.


    Alexander didn''t bring attention to that fact, but he was glad he couldn''t be caught staring. Maybe he could talk to Gabriella about it. There had to be better methods to tighten and firm skin than whatever that poor man had paid for.


    A little over an hour later, Alexander finally received the news he had been waiting for. The Qcomm was online and the technicians were ready to speak to him about its operation. It was a monumental step for Eden''s End.

 Chapter 2-54

    It didn''t take Alexander long to meet up with the Arklight technicians outside the facility. Even though they had been briefed about how he would appear, the guards tightened their hands on their weapons as he approached.He ignored them as he moved through their cordon around the concrete pad. Only one technician was near the device. It seemed the others had retreated to the comfort and safety of their ship. Alexander couldn''t blame them. Spending too much time on the surface wasn''t good for anyone.


    "Greetings," he said as he neared the man.


    The technician looked up, seeming more startled that someone had addressed him than he did at Alexander''s appearance. The man''s eyes looked over the robotic body with some interest before landing on his avatar''s face. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I assume you are Alexander Kane? Normally we would confirm this with a bioprint, but I can''t exactly do that now can I."


    "I can provide you with my corporate ID to prove it was my purchase. Will that suffice?"


    That man seemed to mull the option over before squinting at the harsh light from the star. He grunted in acknowledgment. "It''ll have to do."


    Alexander presented the man with the information. After verifying it on his end, the man seemed content that it matched.


    "Very well, Mr. Kane. My name is Senior Technician Randolf."


    Alexander wanted to ask if that was the man''s first name or last name, but considering Randolf''s curt tone, he probably wouldn''t appreciate the question.


    "I am here to discuss the operational parameters of the Qcomm array with you. First off, Qcomm arrays are all wholly owned by the manufacturer, Qcomm. You are simply renting this unit from them. As such, this array is armored and has a multitude of sensors to prevent tampering. If you trip one of these sensors, the array will notify the head office, and go offline. Then a crew will be sent out to retrieve the unit."


    He had suspected Qcomms were handled slightly differently within STO law but he hadn''t known the specifics until now. They must have been grandfathered in under an old law, or an exception was made for them because of how important their technology was to interstellar communications.


    "I assume I would not be compensated for the rental fee in that case?" Calling half a billion credits a rental fee seemed ridiculous to him, especially since every message still cost money to send.


    "No," the man said plainly before continuing. "We have configured the device for a hardwired-only connection as you requested. You will only be able to attach four terminals to the terminal on the array though, so I suggest switching it to global receive mode as soon as possible. To do that, you just need to go to this menu." The man blitzed through the menus and anyone who wasn''t enhanced probably would have gotten lost. Alexander simply recorded the whole thing to play back later.


    "If you mess up some of the settings, you will need to contact Qcomm to send out a tech. Our rates start at fifty million, with ten million for each day of travel and work."


    Alexander frowned. "That seems excessive."


    Randalf just shrugged. "I don''t make the rules, I just notify you of them. Normally Qcomms are placed on worlds with a large enough populace that Qcomm would create a satellite office for any repair needs. Even if Eden''s End had a much larger population, you wouldn''t qualify for that."


    "Because we are outside STO space," Alexander guessed.


    "Precisely," the man continued without an ounce of compassion. "There is always the option of hiring Arklight on in a permanent capacity to maintain and monitor your Qcomm."


    He knew he was going to regret asking but he did anyway. "How much would that cost?"


    "One team of five techs would cost you fifty million per standard year. That doesn''t include the cost of anchoring one of our frigates as well as providing it with fuel and necessities. We would also need separate housing built for our techs that meet our specifications."


    Alexander laughed. "You''re joking right?"


    The man looked puzzled. "No, why would I joke about that? I can assure you that our rates are comparable to our competitors. They might even be lower since we are one of the smaller installers for Qcomm. We were also the only installer that accepted this installation request, so you are likely to work with us in the future anyway."


    Either get shafted upfront or get shafted over time, Alexander wasn''t a fan of either option. "I''ll pass," he said. He had no plans to keep the nosy Arklight employees around. They would probably throw a fit if they knew what he planned to do with the Qcomm.


    Randolf shrugged again and went over some more settings and options. There weren''t that many, certainly not enough to justify the convoluted menus you needed to work through to change them. Alexander suspected it was done deliberately to make it impossible for anyone outside Qcomm''s support bubble from being able to properly calibrate or fix the devices.


    Once the man''s spiel was complete, he added one last set of parting words. "Welcome to the galactic community."


    That seemed rather presumptuous to Alexander considering the device only connected them to the STO but he kept that thought to himself.


    Once the annoying tech was gone, he contacted the robots to start moving the shell into place. Once complete it would look just like one of the smaller domes that dotted the massive structure of Eden''s End.


    The bots made quick work of it, even though they weren''t linked. The process was a rather basic one so it wasn''t any trouble. Concrete was pumped into a tube that would fill in the gaps at the bottom as well as connect the two halves into a whole.


    That was enough to seal the room so it could be pressurized, but there were additional steps Alexander had planned to ensure this room was well protected. Those would take time to set up, but he had what he desired at the moment, privacy.


    He walked over to the terminal and inspected the interface. He thought the Qcomm company might come up with their own terminal design, just to be difficult, but it was a bog standard STO terminal. Alexander supposed that made sense if you wanted to ensure compatibility across the largest area. The coding was probably proprietary, but that was to be expected.


    With a bit of experience disassembling these terminals, Alexander was quickly able to remove the front panel. He was careful to check for sensors or other traps hidden on the devices as he worked, but there wasn''t anything like that.


    Even though there was no visible deterrent to disassembling the terminal, he was careful not to unplug any of the connectors. Soon he found exactly what he was looking for. A bundle of wires led into a large connector that sat flush with the armored exterior of the Qcomm. The bulkhead connection took a bit of finagling to get loosened up, but Alexander managed it with a bit of patience. Once it was loose, he finally had access to the wiring passage.


    He ran his smallest finger filaments into the tightly packed tunnel to get a look inside the device.


    The inside held a computer interface, powered by what looked like an advanced computronic module in a thin plate-like configuration.


    Slipping past the interior console was easy enough since wires snaked out from dozens of openings. Alexander wasn''t sure how far he could push his little tendrils, but they seemed to be doing just fine so far, so he kept going.


    The wires all ran into a sphere about a foot wide that was held aloft by tensioned cables. The rest of the space seemed to be consumed by power systems and active sensors that ran to the outer walls of the armored cube. He gave a mental shake at the complete waste of space just to protect their product.


    Alexander was certain that touching the sphere would trigger something, so he pulled back inside the internal terminal. He found the contacts that would allow him to interface with the device, and connected to it.


    The windows that popped up in his internal space were mostly diagnostic windows. He found the security features as well but didn''t dig into them for now. He didn''t have any plans on mucking about with any of the programs or features at the moment, he just needed to know how the system pulled in messages so he could intercept them before they went back out again.


    When he found the message buffer, he was a bit shocked. It was completely unencrypted, meaning that the only thing that kept Qcomm messages safe, was their inability to be intercepted between destinations. There was an encryption sequence to accept messages from secure nodes like what the Hawks had used to transfer messages when they were here previously, but that was it.


    This lack of encryption made what Alexander wanted to do easy, but it pissed him off. It meant that anyone who could gain access to the interior of a Qcomm could easily intercept and read messages.


    With disgust, Alexander pulled out of the system and started putting the terminal back together. As he did this, he mentally designed an interface that would intercept all communications from this device and run them through their supercomputer core for analysis before allowing them to be sent out.


    With Lucas and him both having a hand in designing the analysis program, Alexander had faith that it would catch most of the bad actors that ended up on Eden''s End.


    As he finished putting everything together, he messaged the Council. Then he used the Qcomm for the first time to declare his sovereignty.


    ***


    It took time for the Council to arrive, but they eventually met him in the newly dedicated communication room. The three private chambers weren''t completed yet, but they would be soon enough. While he trusted the Council, he didn''t trust them enough to give them access to the Qcomm. One errant scratch could cause the entire system to simply shut down and he would be out half a billion credits and be blacklisted from Qcomm''s network. It was bad enough he was risking it himself, he didn''t need anyone else adding to that.


    This room also had the holo-array.


    "I assume you are ready to declare this system yours?" Gabriella asked.


    "Yes. I''ve already sent in the specified documentation. The STO clerks seemed rather confused at first and had to look up the relevant laws, but once they verified everything was correct, they asked me to set a time for the meeting. I figured an hour was enough time to gather everyone together." Honestly, Alexander thought he was going to be forced to scramble as the STO tried to pull a fast one. The fact that they allowed him to pick the time was a welcome surprise.


    Not long after the last Councilor arrived, the holo began to glow. Three people quickly took form, looking around the room at the gathered party.


    "Is everyone in attendance?" the older woman of the group asked.


    "Yes," Alexander stated.


    "And which of you is Alexander Kane?"


    Alexander raised his hand to get the woman''s attention. She glanced over at him, looking him up and down, but otherwise not commenting on his appearance.


    "The rest of you are part of this Council then? Please state your names for the record."


    The four current members of the council spoke in turn, listing both their names and roles. The woman continued by asking other questions to ensure the rules of the STO were followed. Once she was done questioning them, she made a quick declaration. "Our records show no instances of piracy or illegal activities from Blue Star Enterprises. You are clear on that front. We only see two registered warships though. You need three to meet the criteria."


    Alexander interrupted her. "You will notice that our third ship is also marked as the diplomatic vessel. There was no law preventing this."


    The three communed amongst themselves for a bit before returning. "You are correct. We have amended our records to show the third ship as both a diplomatic vessel as well as a warship. With the last of the criteria met, we only need the name designation for the system as well as how you wish to be labeled in any form of diplomatic communications."


    Alexander smiled and gave the woman the information. He swore he heard Damien groan, but it might have been a trick of his audio sensors.


    "Your new nation has been registered with the STO. We look forward to working with you in the future." With that, the three clerks simply vanished, leaving the room quiet.


    "Is that it?" Nancy asked, sounding a bit surprised. "I somehow thought it would be more involved."

 Chapter 2-55

    Jasper looked at the tablet Alexander had handed him and read through it before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. "I knew you had a terrible naming sense, Alex, but did you truly have to name the system One Kane? I can at least understand why you named your political entity BSE but why something so generic for the system?""It''s pronounced oo-no-kan-eh," Alexander replied proudly.


    "Fine, you named the system Unokane. I don''t think that''s much better, but what''s done is done. How did the STO react?"


    "Honestly¡­ the process went much easier than I imagined. The three clerks barely even seemed to care." Alexander had spent hours preparing to counter any argument they might have used against the formation. The fact that he only had to step in and correct one mistake made the whole effort feel like a bit of a waste.


    "Well, congratulations, my friend. You did well by keeping this a secret. I would love to help you navigate these waters, but you''ve stepped into uncharted territory here. You probably know more about what''s expected of you now than I do."


    "I wish that were the case," Alexander sighed. "I mostly did it to claim the system before someone else could. I suppose my new position does give me, and anyone I designate as part of my government, diplomatic immunity. What that entails, I''m not quite sure. The laws covering diplomatic immunity are so old, I have to travel to Earth to pull them from the Library of Congress. It seems like nobody thought they were important enough to upload to the net."


    "I doubt something like that was overlooked, Alex. They probably did it on purpose to pull any new political figures to the homeworld so they could make connections. If you plan to go, I suggest you do so very carefully."


    "I understand your concern, Jasper but you need not worry at the moment. While visiting the Core is something I''ll have to do eventually, it''s not something I will be committing to until I''m good and ready. For now, I got everything I needed out of this deal, which was to prevent someone else from coming in and pulling the rug out from under me."


    "Fair enough," Jasper relented. "Let us talk about something other than politics. How is your manufacturing going? I see the area around the planet looking rather busy these days."


    Alexander smiled at the question. "Everything is going well. We just completed the Resolve, which is the second frigate to be restored from the pirate derelicts. The third one should be getting moved into position to be worked on shortly. Only I''ll be short on crew to run it. Which is a common issue it seems." He shrugged before continuing. "The station is still being modeled, but I should have a workable design soon. Other than that, everything is on schedule."


    "You''re balancing your time like I suggested?"


    "I am," Alexander laughed lightly. "There was an issue when I had to leave Yulia to go to Varlen, but I worked it out with her when I returned. We''ve never been closer."


    "I''m glad to hear that, my friend. Your life is going to get much more hectic going forward, you must not forget what''s important."


    "What about you?" Alexander asked as they walked through the atrium.


    "Me? Everything is going well. We closed a few lucrative deals before taking on yours. Not that your deal isn''t lucrative. It''s just more of a long-term investment than a way to make quick cash. Speaking of deals, have you made any headway with Dr. Lund?"


    "It''s a long-term investment," Alexander said with a sigh, earning a chuckle from Jasper.


    "Lund''s a force of nature, but a valuable one if you can get her to work with you. Just don''t let her stomp all over you though, or you''ll regret it."


    "We have a working understanding," Alexander responded.


    The two continued to chat about other subjects as they walked.


    ***


    Yulia hurried home, she wanted to get some laps in for the race she scheduled for this weekend. It was the first one since Alexander had helped her build the other go-karts. The other kids were skeptical at first, but she eventually figured out that trading meal bars was the best option for most.


    She didn''t much care for the bars herself, so she had been saving them and planned to award them to the top three winners of the race.


    "Excuse me," she said as she skirted around some man she didn''t recognize. He was probably one of the new arrivals.


    Yulia put him out of her mind, she wasn''t interested in getting to know the new adults, but dozens of new kids arrived with the refugees and there were opportunities to make plenty of new friends there. Since Yulia was one of the few kids who spoke the Coalition language, she assisted with their learning.


    The classroom had grown so full, that they had to open up a second nearby room to fit all the new kids. Being separated from her friends sucked but she knew how hard it was for her to adjust when she first moved here, so she was happy to help out.


    Not all of the kids were happy to be here, and some even thought they were better than everyone else. Not just the other refugees, but the locals and her too. They refused to acknowledge her when she tried teaching them Solarian.


    She learned from some of the other kids that the group of ten kids were the children of well-off families and resented being passed around like garbage. Yulia didn''t know why being well-off made a difference but it seemed to since the other kids didn''t feel the same way.


    It wasn''t until Markus entered the room that the group finally paid attention. It wasn''t because they wanted to, Markus simply made it impossible for them to ignore him. Her friend came into the room acting like he owned the place. For anyone who knew the boy, it looked forced. The kids didn''t know him though, and Markus stepped right into their personal space, ensuring they were on the back foot right away.


    Alexander had explained a little about how this worked and showed her some examples. The main example in these instances came from Eva Wu, Markus'' new mother. It was no wonder Markus was copying the woman.


    Her friend didn''t need to raise his voice, he simply spoke to the group in a quiet, firm, but respectful tone. She could tell he didn''t get through to the whole group. A few of the kids scoffed and got up and left. The rest, however, stuck it out.


    She was curious as to what punishment those kids got. Leaving class without a parent or guardian was a big no-no on Eden''s End, and it wasn''t like you could bypass the guards.


    Those kids would learn quickly that they couldn''t shirk classes, but she put them out of her mind as she passed the keycard over the door to her home.


    Just as the door beeped and she reached to open it, a shadow fell across her. She hadn''t seen anyone in this hallway and nobody had been behind her except that one lone man. Getting a bad feeling, she tried to quickly open the door and close it behind her.


    Before she could close it, the man she had seen a few minutes ago shoved the door open, knocking her to the ground. As soon as she saw his face, she knew this was not a good person. She screamed and tried running for the bedroom.


    "Oh no you don''t," the man stated as he grabbed her by the collar as soon as she got her bedroom door open.


    She kicked, screamed, scratched, and bit at the man as he wrestled to place something around her neck. She didn''t know what it was but she knew it couldn''t be anything good.


    Dog came bounding out of the room, barking and ramming into the man''s leg. The man kicked him away hard enough to shatter his plastic legs against the wall. Something clicked into place a moment before the front door burst inward, silhouetting Alex.


    ***


    It had taken far longer than Dalton had anticipated to learn the routines of the guards, the girl, and the damn robot. He was running out of time to make a choice. Leaving without grabbing at least the girl was an option, but he didn''t like his odds of survival in those circumstances.


    If he went that route, he would have to launch the electronic warfare module that he stuck on a data chip and shoved into one of the many terminals across the facility. Assuming it even worked, it would only give him ten minutes at best. He based that estimate on his ship computer when he tested it, but he couldn''t be sure with the computers in this place. He had planned on dealing with outdated hardware or software, but the damn consoles were brand new and more responsive than his own ship''s computer.


    He recalled the walk to the facility and through processing and estimated that was ten minutes. If he had no obstructions and ran the entire way, he could do it in two. It would take five minutes to bring his ship online.


    Dalton shook his head, it was too close. It was now or never.


    He continued his slow walk down the hallway. She should be here soon. The girl in question nearly ran into him as she hurried down the hall, giving him a passing apology. Dalton stopped at the next intersection, saw it was clear, and hurried back after the girl.


    His timing was spot on and he reached her just as she was opening the door to their apartment. It was the best outcome to this rushed kidnapping, but if he could get her under control and get her to his ship, he would have much more leverage.


    He pushed through the door and raced after the girl as she tried to go for another door in the living space. Without knowing if that door had a lock, he needed to stop her. He managed to grab her just as she pushed it open. Some toy robot came out and started barking at him, but he punted the stupid thing across the room.


    Dalton struggled to get the little girl under control and get the explosive collar around her neck. She bit and scratched at him but he ignored the pain even as she left scrapes across his face. He was tempted to knock the damn girl out, but he was just as likely to kill her as render her unconscious.


    The one moment of concern was when she clawed at the wound in his elbow where he had been forced to open up his arm to extract the collar and detonator from his sub-skeletal storage. The pain made his arm go numb for just a moment and the girl nearly slipped out of his grip. He managed to wrap his other arm around her neck and there was finally a satisfying click as the collar locked in place.


    He didn''t even have a second to celebrate as the slightly open front door burst inward hard enough to crack against the wall. Reacting with long years of experience, Dalton pulled the girl in front of himself and held out his other hand with the deadman''s switch in it. "Take another step, and we all die." The robot froze and glanced over at the device in his hand.


    Dalton wasn''t lying he would detonate the collar in a heartbeat if he thought this situation was unsalvagable. At least then he would get the last laugh.


    ***


    Alexander was doing some corrections on the space station design when his tablet alert went off. That alert was specifically keyed to Yulia being in trouble, so he rushed over to see where she was.


    Dog alerted him that a man was attacking her in the apartment.


    Not wasting any time, Alexander rushed out of the room and down the hall. He nearly tore the front door off of the apartment as he rushed inside, but froze at the man''s words and what he spotted in the man''s hands.


    "Who are you? What do you want?" he asked, trying to gain some time to figure out options.


    Time slowed slightly as Alexander increased his processing speed. It was a trick he learned about during the attack from the former pirates but didn''t often employ because it left his mind feeling ragged and his body saturated in heat. He only used the ability to increase his perception of time slightly and allow him to process events and think of some solution.


    He quickly calculated and dismissed his odds of crossing the apartment and snatching the detonator out of the man''s hand. Alexander was fast, but he wasn''t that fast. If he knew how the device operated or what type of signal it generated, there might be some way to block it or mimic it, but he would need the device or a scanner to figure out what that was.


    Alexander didn''t exactly carry stuff like that on him, nor did he believe the man would sit there and just allow him to scan him. He really wished he had the ability to pick up signals with his body and recreate them. For all he knew, he did, but his body wasn''t keen on deploying them automatically. He didn''t notice any changes in his mind-space readouts either, even the ones he still couldn''t understand.


    Time slowly sped back up as the man spoke.


    "My name isn''t important," the man said. "As for what I want, I want you, Mr. Kane. Or more specifically my employer does. I''m going to give you half an hour to retrieve your body, then we''re going to board my ship. If anyone tries to stop us, I die, or you try to drag this out, your daughter dies. Do we understand each other?"


    Alexander had been more concerned with Yulia and the detonator but now he took a closer look at the man, searching his memory for the scratched-up face. Good job Yulia.


    He did recognize him. It was the man''s bland, almost generic-looking face that finally clued him into where he had seen him before. This man''s face was almost the complete opposite of the poor man who had the botched plastic surgery. "You were with one of the families when they came to thank me."


    The man shrugged. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander flexed his fingers, imagining them being wrapped around the man''s neck. "Let her go, you don''t need to do this. If it''s money you''re after, I''ll pay ten times what your current employer is paying you."


    The man snorted. "This isn''t about money, Kane, and even if it was, I somehow doubt you would have my best interests in mind if I released your daughter and turned on my current employer. Chop, chop, Kane, times ticking away."


    He turned to Yulia. "You''ll be ok, I''ll be right back."


    The girl put on a brave face and nodded.


    Alexander turned and rushed out of the room. It took him ten minutes to get to the medical bay. He shoved the door open and ignored the indignant response from one of the women helping out.


    Gabriella must have heard the commotion, because she came running out of a small side room. "Alex, what''s going on?"


    "Someone has Yulia hostage."


    The woman gasped. "Should I alert Damien?"


    "Yes, but I want you to tell him to clear the halls of his men. The man has an explosive attached to her neck and a switch that will set it off if he releases it."


    "Are you sure?"


    He nodded his avatar. "I don''t want anyone spooking this guy."


    "You''re not considering agreeing to this man''s demands are you?"


    Instead of answering her, Alexander went to the storage room and came back dragging the stasis-pod.


    Gabriella took one look at it and understood. "He wants you?"


    He nodded again and pulled the pod out of the medical area and back to his apartment. He arrived with only a few minutes to spare.


    The man smiled. "Good. Now open it up."


    "If I open it, I die," Alexander stated.


    The man thought about this for a minute. "Fine, but if you''re trying to pull one over on me, you and your daughter are dead." He gestured with a nod. "You first, head toward the intake area."


    "Let her go, use my stasis pod as a hostage."


    The man laughed at that suggestion. "Why would I give up two perfectly good hostages, for only one? Now quit stalling and move, or my thumb might get tired."


    Alexander turned down the hallway and began lugging the heavy medical device along behind him. At least the thing had wheels.


    He watched behind him as the man roughly handled Yulia but never let her out of his grasp. Alexander had to suppress his boiling rage, it would not help the situation if he exploded in anger right now.


    As they moved through the hallways, he spotted guards at far intersections. They vanished as soon as Alexander spotted them. It seemed word was already getting around.


    The atrium was empty when they arrived and he made his way to the exit, keeping his eyes on Yulia''s kidnapper.


    The man was ever-vigilant, which spoke of someone with training or experience doing stuff like this before.


    The doors were clear, but when they stepped outside, Alexander could see the trails of two shuttles. As far as he knew, no shuttles were scheduled for takeoff. The man spotted them as well, but he just snorted.


    "Pick up the pace, I didn''t bring a mask for your brat."


    "Which ship?" Alexander asked.


    "The small hauler off to the left."


    They quickly crossed the landing area, and Alexander spotted Hawks keeping an eye on them more than once. The mercenaries looked like they wanted to step in but they probably had a better idea of what the man had attached around Yulia''s neck than Alexander did.


    He crossed up the ramp and into the ship.


    "Place the pod in the center of the room and sit on it. Don''t try anything stupid, I''ll be watching."


    "The pod needs to be plugged in, it only has a short-term battery."


    The ramp quickly closed. "You''re in luck, there''s a standard outlet under a cap in the center." After that, he dragged Yulia through another set of doors and locked them behind him.


    Alexander plugged the device in and sat down as ordered. Soon he could feel the ship coming alive and leaving the surface. Anger warred with fear and embarrassment in Alexander. Once again, he failed to keep his promise to protect Yulia.


    He couldn''t blame the Hawks or Damien for this situation. He had seen the reports from intake, the few people who were found with warrants had been arrested and taken aboard the Talon. Yet this man had figured a way past those checks and had managed to smuggle in an explosive as well.


    No, this was Alexander''s failure. He thought the security he had implemented was enough and he let down his guard. That was stupid, he knew people were after him, and he should have been better prepared. Alexander wouldn''t be making a mistake like this again.


    Instead of dwelling on his own humiliation, he needed to focus and figure out how to save Yulia before they jumped because he couldn''t guarantee what might be waiting for them when they came out of FTL.

 Chapter 2-56

    Dalton dragged the struggling girl out of the cargo area and sealed the door behind him. Ideally, he would keep the girl with him in the cockpit, but she seemed like the sort that would do something stupid the moment he took his eyes off her. He needed to concentrate on flying and keeping his eyes on Kane. So he dragged her to one of the rooms and threw her inside before locking the door behind him. The lights flickered as he slammed the door. He frowned at that, he would need to get that looked at when he got back, small problems could quickly grow into big ones. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.With her locked up, he moved to the cockpit and checked the camera to make sure Kane was playing nice. The robot was seated on the stasis pod and looked to be in the same spot he had been when Dalton left him.


    Seeing as his captive was behaving himself, he slid the locking pin out of his pocket and placed it into the detonator. He tucked the device into a nearby holder for easy reach and started bringing the ship online.


    The shuttle trails likely meant Kane''s people were prepping the two frigates to follow him. Not that they could do anything unless they wanted to kill their meal ticket. And he already had a few random jumps plotted in case they tried following him out of the system.


    As the ship was coming online, Dalton pulled up his identifier program. When he had first laid eyes on the girl, he thought she looked familiar. She could be related to someone within the Anazi clan, she certainly had a similar look and he knew she was an orphan. He didn''t care if she was someone''s lost kid or anything, but you never knew if there might be a reward for returning someone.


    The scanner came up with a match before he even left the ground. Dalton laughed when he saw who the girl was related to. The girl had an eighty percent match to a pirate crew he dealt with five or so years ago. They were skimming off the top and not paying their dues to Papa Anazi. The man didn''t like getting cheated and put out a hit on them.


    Dalton took the job, but the small reward wasn''t worth his normal effort. Since the wording of that contract only required proof of death, he simply provided their location to the STO. Then he sat back and recorded their demise.


    The big man wasn''t happy with the liberties Dalton had taken with the job but he still paid out. "To think the STO got cold feet at killing the kid," he smiled wryly.


    Well, the girl wasn''t worth anything, a pity. He would deliver Kane, and then sell her off to the slave market. At least then he could recoup a few credits.


    The ship shook as it exited the atmosphere. His sensors immediately picked up the two frigates. They were coming around from the North and heading his way. Going by the flashing warning in his display, both vessels had him locked.


    Dalton ignored the warning and cut south of the ecliptic. He wouldn''t be able to outrun the ships, but if they were going to shoot at him, they would have done so by now. It was clear they weren''t sure what to do in this situation. Too bad for them, Dalton knew exactly what to do.


    ***


    Alexander did his best to push down the rage and anger he felt. It wasn''t going to help him save Yulia or figure out how to get out of this mess.


    Not long after the door closed, he came up with an idea. It wasn''t a very good idea, but it was the only one he could think of at the moment.


    It was easy to see the cameras in the cargo hold. Alexander did his best to hide his hands out of sight before he went to work. The tips of his fingers slid down the back of the stasis pod and trailed the cord. Power systems of the future were heavily integrated with management systems so they could always provide clean and efficient power for the very expensive systems that still needed to be plugged in. The one he plugged the pod into was no exception.


    His fingers trailed into the connection and soon an interface window appeared inside Alexander''s mindspace. He let out a small mental sigh of relief.


    He was banking on the fact that the ship''s systems were all integrated for his plan to work. If they were disconnected, he was going to need to find another way to free Yulia. He quickly ran into a firewall with active defenses. That wasn''t something you would normally find on an integrated power circuit. It did give him hope that he was on the right track though.


    Normally you want to deal with defensive systems as gently as possible to prevent them from going off. At least in his limited experience, and from what Lucas had told him, that seemed to be the case. Alexander wasn''t here to play nice though. He shoved through the defenses and strangled them before they could report their failure. The brute force method worked, but the power flickered ever so slightly. He froze, fearing he would hear a bang.


    He waited a full minute, but nothing happened, and nobody came to investigate. That didn''t mean he was out of the woods yet, though.


    Beyond the power system firewall were the ship''s systems. He breathed an internal sigh of relief. His plan would work, but it would take time.


    He needed to split his focus as well. Alexander started pulling in the camera feeds from throughout the ship. There were dozens of the damn things. It seemed like every inch of the ship was covered in cameras. He quickly found the ones for the bridge and the room Yulia had been locked inside.


    Yulia looked shaken up, but otherwise unhurt. She was screaming and throwing stuff around the room while trying to find anything that would help her get free but otherwise fine. While he appreciated her tenacity, he would have preferred her not to provoke the man with the detonator.


    The bastard that had taken her was watching a view of the hold, and running some sort of facial recognition search on Yulia. When a woman popped up looking like an older version of Yulia, the man laughed.


    For the second time today, Alexander pushed his mental processing speed up and the world slowed to a crawl. He used this time to scan the ship for any traps as well as scan all of Dalton''s archives. There were certainly some suspicious things in the ship''s systems but he couldn''t tell what they were, only that they were connected to the ship''s computer through some sort of outside link inside the ship that was separated from the computer network.


    Not wanting to risk whatever was at the end of those unknown connections, Alexander used a portion of his mind to block any signals to those connections, effectively cutting them off. He used the rest of his enhanced processing time to scan through that entire archive that Dalton seemed so amused about. What he saw disgusted him. It also confirmed what he had feared when he saw the woman''s image through the camera feed. That was indeed Yulia''s mother, and Dalton had some hand in her death.


    He let his mind return to normal, his body putting off enough heat to waver the air around him just from the short time he used the ability. While this man''s crimes were many, he couldn''t focus on that at the moment though, he needed to save Yulia first, then deal with their captor.


    With another effort of will, Alexander modified the video output on the bridge camera, just to see if it was possible. It wasn''t easy but he was able to change what was displayed on the screen.


    Smiling internally at that, Alexander made Yulia''s camera just show her sitting on the bed, glowering at the door. Her antics were making it much more difficult to doctor the video, but he managed it. It was just in time too. Their kidnapper switched the camera feed to her room.


    The man chuckled at the girl''s mood before switching the camera back to the cargo bay.


    That was when Alexander cut in the loop for his video. He quickly looped the rest of the cameras before retracting his fingers and standing up. He somehow still had a connection to view the feeds, but he couldn''t modify them anymore. He didn''t know how long his changes would last so he needed to hurry.


    He slid the mental windows off to the side and quietly made his way to the sealed hatch. The electronic lock had already been released before Alexander pulled out of the ship''s systems. He simply slid the door open and quietly made his way down the corridor.


    The man had closed the cockpit door but Alexander could hear Yulia screaming from inside the room. He really hoped that opening the door didn''t give them away.


    He waited a moment for her to quiet slightly before sliding open the door. She immediately turned toward the door and threw something at him. Alexander caught the item and she squeaked in surprise but Alexander put his finger up in front of his avatar''s mouth before she managed to call his name.


    She tried to run over and hug him but Alexander caught her. "We don''t have much time. Hold still while I see how to remove this device."


    Yulia nodded and stood still.


    Alexander inspected the thin collar. It looked like a simple device, but he could quickly tell that it had fail-safes to prevent its removal. Because of the simplicity of its design, he knew he could remove it.


    He slipped his fingers into the magnetic connection. Once connected, he found the device required a constant radio signal or it would detonate. Alexander was glad nobody in the facility had tried disrupting the signal, it would have immediately set off the explosive. The signal wasn''t anything complicated, he could probably mimic it while touching the device. Despite the fact that Alexander''s body seemed to be able to connect to electronics remotely, as proven by the video feeds still active in his mind-space, Alexander didn''t want to mimic the signal, he wanted to remove the device and get Yulia to safety.


    He couldn''t simply pull the connection apart either. The collar would detonate if the magnetic connection was separated. It seemed more and more like the collar was never designed to be taken off once it was put on someone. It was a barbaric piece of technology and spoke volumes for the type of people this kidnapper worked for.


    "Close your eyes," he said quietly to Yulia.


    The girl nodded and closed her eyes. Not wasting a moment, Alexander magnetized his fingers as he pushed them in between the connection. The connection separated and he pulled the band off her neck before sliding the parts back together.


    He threw the collar across the room and hugged Yulia, who had opened her eyes halfway through him removing the collar. She seemed to understand the danger of the collar and her eyes were wide and filling with tears as she hugged him back and shook quietly.


    "Follow me, but stay quiet. I''m taking you to the cargo bay for safety."


    Yulia nodded and Alexander led her to the cargo bay. He opened up the stasis pod and set her inside. "I''m going to seal you in here. It will keep you safe. Whatever you do, don''t try to leave. I''ll be back before you know it."


    She looked skeptically down at the box but gave a meek nod before lying down inside it. He sealed the stasis pod and turned it on. There would be no attempt to get out of the box. For Yulia, it would seem like a quick dreamless sleep. Assuming the bastard who kidnapped them didn''t have the ship rigged to blow.


    He double-checked the straps that held the pod in place, then stood. His friendly holographic face flickered off and Alexander stormed toward the cockpit, letting the simmering rage he had been containing bubble over.


    ***


    Dalton was nearing his jump point when he realized the ship had gone quiet. He quickly checked the two cameras but found both of his visitors hadn''t moved. Something was off. The robot he could understand, but there was no chance the little girl had remained fuming in the same position for so long.


    He immediately reached for the detonator and jumped out of the seat just as the cockpit door flicked open as if it had never been locked. Without hesitation, he pressed his thumb back on the device and yanked the pin out of the detonator. "If you take another step, I''ll blow her little head off, don''t think I won''t."


    Dalton had maneuvered to the far side of the cockpit, keeping the chair and console between him and the door.


    "I''ve already removed the device from around her neck. Your threat is meaningless," the robot took another step into the room.


    "We''ll see if that''s true then I guess." He released the detonator and there was a muffled whomp from somewhere in the ship. A depressurization alarm went off shortly after that, but Dalton wasn''t finished. "Let''s see how long she survives without air." He flicked a small button hidden behind the console and the entire ship started to depressurize.


    Dalton''s hope was the robot would run to save his daughter instead of trying to kill him and he could either lock them both in whatever room they were in or somehow recover this situation.


    The robot standing in the doorway didn''t even flinch at the venting atmosphere. It simply stormed into the small space and Dalton was forced to draw his laser pistol. The highly illegal weapon had cost him nearly as much as the optical array on his ship, but it was worth every credit because the beam was strong enough to punch through any armor short of a military ship. The shot would slag the weapon but his life was worth the one-off expense.


    The red beam glittered as it crossed the short space between him and the robot. It impacted the black material, causing it to glow white hot. The point started to distort and melt before the concentrated heat caused by the beam seemed to dissipate harmlessly across the surface of the robot''s torso. As the battery pack began to spark ominously, Dalton knew he was a dead man. The beam had barely left a small melted pit in the robot.


    In one last desperate move, he threw the sparking and melting weapon at the robot and tried dashing past its form. He had two more of the lasers hidden in the ship, if he could just get to one, he might have a fighting chance.


    The robot snatched the pistol out of the air and used it as a club to backhand him across the face.


    Dalton screamed as the hot metal hit his skin but he didn''t stop. He used the momentum to bounce off the wall and continue his run down the corridor. If he couldn''t kill the robot, he could kill Kane.


    He only made it two more steps before a long metal arm yanked him to a stop.


    Dalton gagged as his suit collar dug into his throat. He could already feel himself getting lightheaded as the oxygen escaped the ship, but he simply hadn''t had the opportunity to seal his helmet.


    Before he could wonder what was going on, the visor slid closed on his helmet and his internal oxygen system kicked in.


    He sucked in air as he was lifted off the ground with contemptuous ease. Kane turned him around. "Do you know why I didn''t run to save my daughter when you vented the ship? It''s because I already ensured she was safe and sound inside the stasis pod." the blank-faced robot said coldly.


    Dalton gave the robot a blank look, not understanding at first. Then he realized what had happened. "You tricked me, you''re in a different stasis pod."


    "No," the robot said as it began carrying him down the corridor. "I''m very much on this ship."


    "How?" Dalton demanded, trying to understand how he had been duped. "A stasis pod can only handle a single person at a time." He knew that from past experiences of trying to shove more than one person in the devices to maximize space on trade runs. It never worked.


    The robot didn''t answer, and Dalton got a sinking suspicion in his gut. "You''re in the robot!"


    The robot or he supposed, Kane, didn''t answer, but it did turn to him. "Tell me who hired you."


    Dalton laughed. "It doesn''t matter. You''re a dead man even if I fail. The sooner you realize that, the better. Let me go, and come quietly or I can promise you the next attempt won''t be nearly as nice."


    Kane used his free hand to grab into his arm and Dalton screamed as his bone shattered under the powerful grip.


    "WHO HIRED YOU!"


    Dalton knew he was dead, and he didn''t much care about his employer. He already had a contingency in place to go to Harlow in case of his death. Let the two bastards slug it out, maybe they would kill each other. "Harlow Anazi. Now kill me and be done with it," he spat inside his helmet.


    "You think you deserve a quick death after what you put my daughter through? I don''t think so." The horrible robot broke Dalton''s other arm, before yanking him around and disabling his gas jets.


    Dalton screamed as he was dragged to the cargo bay. The robot opened the ramp and carried him to the edge. Through their physical connection, Dalton could hear the robot''s words. "I had time to review some of your footage. This seems like a fitting end for someone like you. What was it you liked saying? Oh yeah. You''ll have plenty of time to reflect on your actions." With a toss, Dalton was thrown free of the ship.


    He switched between mad laughter and cursing Kane with every breath as he tumbled farther and farther from his ship. With any luck, he would use up his oxygen faster this way.


    It wouldn''t matter, he would still get the last laugh when his ship exploded after it could no longer detect his life signs. This was another little contingency he had in place to screw anyone who tried to screw him over.


    He waited, and waited, the ship getting further and further away. When it was no more than a tiny spec as he rotated around, he realized his retribution had been denied to him. For the first time since he could remember, Dalton felt an actual emotion.

 chapter 2-57

    Alexander didn''t bother watching the man drift into space to die a slow and hopefully agonizing death. Not killing the man outright was probably not the most logical choice, but he didn''t regret the decision one bit and he would do it again without question if they tried to harm the people he cared about. Did that make him a monster? Maybe, but he would gladly become the monster if it meant Yulia was safe.He closed the cargo ramp and hurried over to the stasis pod to ensure it was still functioning. It was. His sigh of relief was lost in the vacuum of the ship. He didn''t even want to comprehend what might have happened if the pod hadn''t been on board. To think that their attacker had a manual system to vent the air on his own ship, just what kind of monster was he?


    The thought of coming so close to losing her like that was such a bleak one that he simply stood there to process it. When he finally worked through those emotions, he moved to the room he rescued her from to see if the damage could be repaired.


    The far wall was charred black from the explosive, but his concern was with the ragged hole blasted in the side of the ship. Armor should have prevented a breach like this from such a tiny explosive, but the hull in this room looked like it wasn''t even armored. He did his best to bend the panel back in place, but he wasn''t able to seal the hole and there didn''t appear to be an emergency seal kit in the room either.


    Instead of wasting time searching the ship for some quick seal kits, he made his way to the cockpit. It was a good thing the man had fired the laser pistol at him and not the hull or he would be dealing with multiple hull breaches. The first thing Alexander did was cut the engines. Then he located the radio and sent a text message about the situation.


    A quick reply came from both Fury and Resolve, letting Alexander know the ships had trailed them. He was only able to send and hear the response because he was directly connected to the ship once more.


    The mental block, which was essentially an intrusion prevention program Alexander had assembled on the fly, was still in place, preventing anything from going to those unknown nodes. That was a good thing since the computer was attempting to send encrypted traffic to them. It must have been some failsafe tied to Dalton. Even after the computer stopped trying to send the unknown commands, Alexander left the block in place.


    Alexander was happy to see that his new crews were quick to react to the situation, although, he wasn''t sure what they planned on doing. Any attempt to disable or board the ship probably would have resulted in Yulia and his deaths or damage to those other ships when Dalton returned fire with his hidden weapons. He would very much like to know how the man had hidden those systems from scans. Now that he thought about it, the breached wall might lead to one of those weapon sections. It would explain the lack of armor and the space not being pressurized.


    While he waited for the ships to arrive, he sealed off the vents that were still letting the air out of the ship as he pondered what he could have done to prevent this attack. Alexander thought Eden''s End couldn''t be any safer.


    They had multiple layers of orbital defenses that were continuously being improved when production capacity was available. He now had two fully operational warships in the system. It wasn''t much but it was enough to deter the random pirate that came by. Then there were also the Talon and the Hawks gunships. With all of those, approaching Eden''s End with bad intentions was a bad idea at best.


    Then there was the ground security. Damien''s guards patrolled the entire facility and no hallway went unchecked for more than an hour. Any important location was either guarded at all times or checked more frequently, like his hallway, which was patrolled once every fifteen minutes, which was increased from how often it was checked before because of Shall''s break-in.


    Damien only had so many people though, and the Hawks weren''t on commission at the moment. They still helped out with Damien''s shortage of security people, but they spent the majority of their time either in space or outside the facility, going through the ships, which had taken far longer than anyone anticipated. It was likely that exact reason was what had allowed the hidden compartments and other items in this ship to go unnoticed.


    All of that security should have been enough, but it wasn''t.


    This man had snuck in right under everyone''s noses, bypassing every single security measure they had in place. And if the archive Alexander had perused was any indication, the man had done this sort of thing many times before. Having their entire security breached by a professional didn''t make Alexander any more happy that it happened though.


    This breach opened Alexander''s eyes, so to speak. He knew he could never make Eden''s End completely safe from every threat out there, but he needed to do better. Improved security measures would need to be taken, and not just to protect his daughter, but to protect everyone. This man could just as easily have been after anyone else on Eden''s End and the result would have been much worse.


    His first act once he got back was to try and figure out how to bypass whatever shielding was being used to hide Dalton''s weapons. Not being able to detect ships with hidden weapons was unacceptable.


    That would take care of one issue, but he couldn''t plan how to resolve the other issues he didn''t even understand. The biggest one was how the man had gotten the explosive inside Eden''s End in the first place. The security scans were designed to pick up stuff like that.


    He would need to speak with Archie and the Hawks to try and figure out how those snuck through. He knew it wasn''t corruption or incompetence that had allowed it. He trusted the Hawks and Damien to run a tight ship when it came to safety.


    Alexander looked at the small blood stain on the wall from where he cracked the man across the face with the handheld laser. For a moment, he regretted tossing the man out the airlock only because it made identifying him harder. Hopefully, there would be enough DNA to get a positive ID on the individual. There was no way their kidnapper wasn''t in some criminal database somewhere.


    That was another thing he was going to have to ask the Hawks about. Somehow the man had fooled the DNA scanners as well.


    In the end, Alexander could have the best defenses money could buy, but that would only take him so far. He didn''t need the kidnapper''s confirmation that this wasn''t over. He knew as long as that bastard Harlow was out there, the man would continue coming for them until either he got what he wanted or he was stopped.


    That was unacceptable.


    Alexander would not live his life in fear of some scumbag pirate on the opposite end of human space, nor would he subject his daughter to a lifetime of that. Running and hiding to keep ahead of the man and his goons wasn''t an option either. Alexander had built up a life here, and he wouldn''t be chased away like he had been at Petrov Station.


    That left one choice. He needed to strike back and get rid of Harlow once and for all. That was the only way to ensure these attacks stopped.


    Alexander wasn''t stupid though. He knew Harlow Anazi was not some simple pirate who could be taken out with a few ships and some luck. The man was single-handedly responsible for pushing back the STO. Going up against him with two warships and a retrofitted mining ship was a suicidal proposition, even with his improvements.


    He needed more ships, and he needed allies, ones who would be more than happy to see Harlow gone. The STO was the first group that came to mind, but they were obviously already engaged in a war against the man and his fleets. If they could do more, they already would have. At least he hoped that was the case. He didn''t have a high opinion of the STO in general, barring a few people.


    Alexander thought about seeing if Vice Admiral Fletcher might be able to use his Erebus class ships to somehow attack Harlow, but he dismissed that idea just as quickly. From the lack of response to the loss of his other ship and his issues with that captain in Varlen, Alexander got the impression that Fletcher''s position and power were not quite as unshakable as the man made it appear.


    He could try hiring more mercenaries, but BSE''s finances weren''t bottomless, and Alexander didn''t want to offer other mercenary companies the same compensation as he did the Hawks. From his experiences and speaking with Jasper, he knew most mercenary companies were more like Captain Harn and his crew from Petrov Station, essentially just bounty hunters. Very few had the same morals and ideals the Hawks personified. Even fewer had actual warships.


    That left his pool of possible allies rather limited.


    There was one he had considered but was on the fence about. The second group of pirates, who had attacked, and been driven off by Krieger and the Dawn. Ever since that encounter, Alexander had mulled over the idea of reaching out to them to try and smooth over any misunderstanding. While their short back-and-forth communications hadn''t ended well, they had at least communicated, which was more than he could say for any other pirates so far.


    He certainly wouldn''t apologize for defending Eden''s End, but he was living in an area that had been claimed by them, so they would likely interact more in the future. He would prefer those interactions to be cordial instead of hostile. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He hadn''t pursued that idea very far because he knew being seen colluding with pirates would have prevented him from forming his own nation. Now that he was recognized as his own nation, he no longer had that restriction. With the way the STO''s laws were written, they couldn''t retract the fact that they acknowledged them as a sovereign entity, even if they engaged in piracy or other actions. It was a rather glaring loophole in their law, but it wasn''t like Alexander planned on turning to piracy himself.


    He would need to think about this idea more and speak with people who knew the political landscape a bit better. All he knew was that something had to change.


    An hour later, the ship shook as one of the BSE vessels docked with it. Alexander would have turned this ship around, but he was unsure how the damage to the outer hull would react to a deceleration burn.


    Two men with pulse rifles entered the central corridor and Alexander waved to them with a relieved smile. He had turned his avatar back on after disposing of the trash so as not to scare people. The men looked relieved upon seeing him. After a bit of pantomiming, he got them to follow him to the cargo hold where he checked on Yulia and unplugged the stasis pod. The men helped him carry the medical device through the airlock and into the Resolve.


    Once they were back in a pressurized environment, Alexander started bringing Yulia out of stasis.


    "What happened?" the captain asked. "We were told you were kidnapped, and to report to the ship so we could track you. I assume they wanted us to look for an opportunity to capture the fleeing transport, but with such limited information, we were unsure of how to proceed."


    Alexander really needed to learn his new employee''s names. "You performed admirably based on what you knew, Captain. There wasn''t anything you could have done. My daughter was kidnapped to get to me. I managed to free her and put her in the stasis pod before I engaged with the kidnapper. He detonated some device, which blew a hole in the side of the ship, but I was able to deal with him."


    "I''m glad you''re ok, sir." The man scratched his head in confusion. "If your daughter is in the pod, where are you?"


    He had planned on sharing this information with his employees eventually, but it seemed now was as good a time as any. "Since you all work for me now, I''ll let you in on an open secret. I''m inside this robot. I always have been. The rumors of me being sick and stuck in this pod are just that, rumors. I would appreciate it if you didn''t spread this information though. It seems that rumor saved both our lives today."


    "We work for you, Mr. Kane. If you wish to hide your situation, it''s none of our business," the man said pointedly as he glanced at the other crewmen who had gathered. They all nodded.


    "I appreciate that¡­"


    "Captain Horatio Ramirez, sir."


    "Thank you for your assistance, Captain Ramirez. Now if you''ll excuse me, I need to borrow the Resolve''s repair robot to fix up the hole in the other ship. I would have turned it around and flown back to Eden''s End if it was just me on board, but I didn''t want to risk it with my daughter."


    "It is your ship, sir, we are at your disposal."


    The stasis pod would take twenty minutes or so to wake Yulia, he wanted to be there when she came to, so he quickly went to a terminal and activated the repair drone. The instructions to weld a plate over the damaged section of the other ship were simple enough that he didn''t need to monitor the bot.


    He was glad he included one of his spider bots and a small print bay with each ship. It was mainly for initial testing, but he hadn''t gotten around to removing the one from Fury yet. Maybe he would leave them in place. They did come in handy.


    "Sir¡­ where is the corpse of the attacker?"


    Alexander turned to Captain Ramirez. "I tossed him out into space. Why?"


    "While I can certainly understand your desire to dispose of criminals in an as efficient manner as possible. He may be able to answer more questions. Assuming you left him alive and in his suit."


    Alexander didn''t want to admit it, but the Captain was right. He provided the man with a likely search area based on the ship''s scanners and speed at the time.


    Yulia woke up before Fury was able to locate the pirate and Alexander led her to one of the private bunks on the Resolve.


    "Why do people keep attacking us?" she asked as soon as the door shut.


    He knelt down next to his daughter. "They think they can get to me through you. Unfortunately, they are right. Don''t worry, this will never happen again."


    "Ok," she replied, taking his words at face value.


    Alexander wished he had as much faith in his ability to keep her safe as she did in him.


    Shortly after, a knock came at the door.


    "Mr. Kane. We were able to recover the object."


    He opened the door and thanked the man for being tactful. "Yulia, wait here, I''ll be back in a few minutes. If you need anything, this fine man will assist you." Her eyes grew wide in fear, and Alexander thought she might refuse to remain behind.


    She looked at the man, who nodded. "I''ll wait right outside the door if you need anything." That seemed to mollify the terrified girl.


    Once again he thanked the man before he made his way to the bridge.


    He arrived just in time to hear a conversation between Ramirez and the other Captain.


    "You''re sure there is no way to revive him, Captain Hall?"


    "Revive who?" Alexander asked as he entered the room.


    Both captains turned to him and nodded, but it was Captain Hall who spoke up. "The man bit his own tongue off and he was dead before we were able to recover him. I''m afraid we won''t be collecting any more information from him. At least with the full corpse, we can identify the man and you can claim any bounties he might have."


    Alexander was unmoved by the man''s death.


    "What about pulling information from his mind?" There might still be some electrical activity left. If he could somehow map or record it, maybe they could figure something out.


    Alexander''s question made both men squirm uncomfortably.


    Hall cleared his throat before speaking up. "Mind-altering and mind-reading technology has been banned by the STO for over a hundred years, sir. It was deemed too easy to misuse."


    Ramirez added his own point. "We only know about those technologies because it was one of the things we were taught to be on the watch for when we served in the STO Navy."


    He wondered what brought that sort of ruling about, but he didn''t really have the time or patience to ask about it at the moment. "Forget I brought it up then. As soon as the freighter is patched up, send a pilot over to fly it back. We have a lot to discuss, and I want to ensure both of your crews are trained and ready for anything. We will not have a repeat of this incident ever again."


    "Yes, sir!" came a chorus of replies.


    ***


    After everyone was back on Eden''s End, Alexander tore apart the attacker''s ship with a vengeance until he learned the secret of how it hid its weapons. It turned out, the weapons were easily hidden by a modified static field generator. He couldn''t quite figure out how to bypass the field since it was internal and essentially all it did was mask open spaces. A strong enough pulse from a sensor might be able to affect the field slightly, but he would need to test that.


    As for who the bastard that attacked Yulia was, the results were inconclusive at first. It took a full-body autopsy to figure out why they couldn''t get a proper DNA match. The autopsy also revealed how the man had snuck in the explosives. He had hollowed out one of his bones and pushed the items out through his muscles and skin to assemble the explosives and detonators.


    The fact that someone would do that to themselves made Alexander sick.


    Captain Matthews was the one who brought news of who the unknown man truly was, shocking everyone. "Alex, we finally got a positive ID on your attacker. His name is Dalton, he is a high-level assassin, hitman, fixer, you name it. If it was illegal, the man probably did it. He was employed by all sorts of nasty people, but the majority of his work was done for the Anazi family."


    "So, he probably told the truth about Harlow being the one who hired him. And his bounty?"


    "Well, that''s a bit more difficult. As soon as we ran his DNA profile over the Qcomm, we have been getting non-stop requests for confirmation from dozens of private entities within STO space. It seems Dalton had a criminal record going back twenty years. The man was single-handedly responsible for the deaths and kidnappings of some very important individuals. They are all demanding a third-party verification before agreeing to pay out the separate bounties. It seems people have claimed to have taken the man out before and even provided a small sample of DNA evidence to prove this, but none of them had ever been able to produce the corpse. The STO bounty was paid to BSE though. I doubt they would have if you hadn''t already proven that you have taken down other pirates. The STO bounty alone was four hundred million credits."


    Alexander didn''t react to the information. While the bounty money was a welcome addition, it wasn''t as important as getting rid of one more piece of shit in the universe. "Tell those other private entities that they are welcome to send their own representative to verify Dalton''s corpse. We will keep him in the morgue for six months. If they can''t get someone out here by then, that''s their problem."


    Alexander simply had more important things to concern himself with than assuaging the hopes and fears of people he didn''t know.


    He needed to speak with Archie and the Hawks'' new captain to come up with a plan. If he wanted to be rid of Harlow and the man''s infatuation with him, he needed to have a plan. While it was a possibility that he could convince Char to work with him, that was a long shot, he should make plans for both eventualities. He would also need to figure out how to sell the idea of working with pirates to the Hawks. They weren''t going to like it. Alexander didn''t much like the idea either, but he would do whatever it took to keep this from happening again.

 Chapter 2-58: Book 2 Epilogue

    LOCATION: SECRETSYSTEM: UNDISCLOSED


    DATE: 2400


    Benning walked down the plain and austere hallway next to one of Omni''s leadership team. He hadn''t bothered to ask the man his name and he didn''t much care. The top executives always liked to think they were in charge, but they weren''t. He just let them keep thinking they were. They were simply puppets he had put into place because dealing with the politics was beneath him. He could run the entire company with just his AIs but humans made a good distraction and an easy way to shift blame.


    He was certain some of the executive team realized they weren''t in control, but if they did, they were smart enough to keep it to themselves and continue to collect their fat salaries.


    Soon the pair came to a thick set of steel doors with a group of four guards. "Please empty your pockets and prepare for a thorough scan. No electronics of any kind will be allowed in the meeting chamber."


    The man with him scoffed. "Obviously, who do you think came up with these rules in the first place?"


    Benning held his tongue. He doubted his associate had ever done anything other than schmooze with other hoity-toity-rich folks. The man certainly hadn''t implemented stringent security features. Those all came from his department, much like anything of substance from within Omni.


    The pair was passed through a series of scanners before being ushered through the heavy doors. Even if someone managed to get some electronics past the scanners, the disruption field that settled over them as they passed the doors would have rendered the devices useless. It did make you feel a bit strange since the field could disrupt the occasional synaptic activity, but it was a small price to pay to ensure complete electronic security.


    They entered into a large open room with a massive circular table that could fit a hundred people. That table sat under a similarly circular light fixture that was designed to light the table, but leave everything else in shadow. It was just another measure to ensure all the guests had some privacy.


    Benning sat next to his boss in a pair of empty seats. With no head of the table and no assigned seating, it ensured equality among the members of this gathering.


    Over the next few minutes, the rest of the attendees filtered into the gloomy room through the multitude of other entrances.


    A red strip on the inside of the table lit up to alert everyone that the meeting was set to begin. One of the sections turned blue and the shadowed face began to speak.


    Benning knew the speaker even if he couldn''t see the woman''s face. She was the CEO of Dynamic Energy Systems or DES. They were Omni''s business partner and provided the fusion power plants for their compressed plasma ejection drives for that side of the business.


    "I would like to formally announce the start of this meeting. Does anyone have an agenda to start us out?"


    "I do," a reedy-voiced man spoke up. "When this assembly was first established twenty years ago, we were promised that it would lead to ever-increasing profit margins with each passing year. Yet this war has cut into my company''s bottom line."


    The man''s words were enough to jog Benning''s memories. This was a man who ran massive agricultural production operations on multiple worlds. If he remembered correctly, the man did not diversify his holding and most of his operations were on former Coalition planets because the labor was much cheaper out there. He suspected the man had been notified well in advance of the war and chose not to heed their advice because he wanted to eke out a few extra credits before the worlds were set to fall.


    The man who came with Benning spoke up in reply, confirming what Benning remembered. "You were notified over a decade ago that our plans included those worlds. You can hardly come complaining to us now because you failed to heed our advice."


    "Your advice would have cost me tens of trillions of credits," the man shot back.


    "A small price that would have seen your profits grow tenfold," Benning''s associate responded.


    "At our last meeting, you assured me that I had another six months to pull out of those worlds. Now your little puppet has captured all of my agricultural assets and stripped them for his war efforts."


    A round of grumbling ran around the room at that accusation. Harlow had indeed proven far more capable than their initial estimates.


    "Quiet," the CEO of Dynamic Energy Systems spoke matter of factly. "If you wish to speak, you must signal with the light."


    Another man clicked on his light to talk and spoke up. "I think I can speak for most here. Why has this war moved quicker than projections?"


    Seeing as those projections had come from his AI, Benning answered the question. "The current STO Chairman is even more inept than we first accounted for. His mishandling of the war has given Harlow a much easier time pushing through systems."


    "Are you sure the man is even still under control?" another person asked.


    "As you are all well aware from our previous meetings, the memory alteration technology is finicky at best. It will only work on weak-minded people. That is why it took us so long to find the proper candidate for this project. We needed one gullible enough to believe the implanted memories of the encounter with the Shican, while also possessing some tactical acumen otherwise the STO never would have taken the threat seriously. We burned out the minds of over two hundred individuals before we found one who finally accepted the memory implant and that was only after the scenario was changed multiple times until his mind decided it was plausible." Benning wanted to mention that the scenario that stuck with the man was so absurd that nobody else would have believed it, but it didn''t matter what anyone else believed, it only mattered what their patsy believed. "Harlow wasn''t the best option, he was the only option. That being said, he is following the plan we set forth for him, he is just moving faster than our predictions indicated. That is once again due in part to the STO Chairman''s ineptitude and lack of response to the first attacks."


    Another issue with their chosen scenario was the issue with providing the alien tech to their agent. Getting ahold of one of the captured Shican vessels and secreting it away from the STO had cost a significant amount of money, time, and favors, but they succeeded. It only required years of effort, graft, and mishandled documentation, to liberate the ship from the STO. To this day, the STO probably still thought the ship was misplaced in some storage yard somewhere. Not that it mattered, the STO had other Shican ships to reverse engineer.


    This move was also why the Chairman position was no longer in the hands of Tau Ceti''s planetary governor. It was one of the favors they had to spend to make the exchange happen. The temporary loss of power was a small price to pay for the future they were working toward though. It also conveniently redirected all the blame on Borrus'' governor as the war dragged on.


    The Shican vessels weren''t all that special, but they were perfect to give to pirates to boost their technology to something a bit more modern. For their plan to pay off, the pirates needed to be seen as a true threat to the STO''s worlds, but not an existential one. It wasn''t the assembly''s goal to unite humanity against a greater threat, only to spark increased profits for the participants while increasing the level of technology throughout the STO.


    "What of this new weapon?" another member asked.


    The CEO of DES was the one to respond. "It is less a weapon and more a bastardization of fusion technology," she replied with scorn. "We could easily reproduce the same effect, but the cost would be absurd. As for the miniaturization, we can already do that, it is just not publically available because the market doesn''t justify its release." S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He could hear soft murmurs of approval at that. If it''s one thing this group understood, it was the bottom line.


    "Fine, let''s say we believe that," another member spoke up. "When this plan was first brought to us, a five-year war was the selling point. That was enough to allow plenty of time for the STO to fire up a full war footing and sign lucrative new contracts with all of our companies for the foreseeable future. At the rate Harlow is taking planets, the STO will be forced to act or crumble in a year or two. Neither of which will lead to new long-term profits for our companies. How do you plan on resolving that issue?"


    Benning''s companion spoke up again. "We are working on getting the STO to react more forcefully, but as I said before, the Borrus representative is a useless dilettante. Since he is yet to act, we have already started on a plan for redirecting Harlow''s focus for a few months so the STO can regroup and hit back or slow down the attacks."


    "How do you propose to do that?" the previous speaker questioned.


    "Our spies in his inner circle say he is after someone that is hiding out in Char space. We already know Harlow is single-minded. We could simply redirect his focus out there."


    "What about his access to nuclear weapons?" the man who lost his agricultural assets asked.


    Benning''s boss ground his teeth at that. "We were unaware that his parents had an enrichment facility. We have retasked out spies on Haven to foment rebellion on the pirate home world in order to destroy that facility and deny any more nuclear weapons to Harlow and his people. The rebellion will also help slow down his assault, thus dragging on the conflict and enriching the rest of our wallets."


    "All in favor of this course of action?" the CEO of DES asked.


    Two-thirds of the lights turned green, indicating acceptance.


    "Any other agendas to discuss?" she asked after the vote.


    "I''ve been hearing rumors that a new engine manufacturer is setting up shop," a new voice spoke up as soon as their light went green.


    Benning didn''t recognize this person, but he bristled at the accusation in the man''s tone. "We have not received any reports to indicate those rumors are true. If they are, we will deal with them like we have dealt with the rest."


    "Oh?" the same man questioned. "And if this new entity is outside of the STO, and has diplomatic immunity? How will you deal with them then?"


    The room erupted into conversation. It seemed that this was news to everyone, not just Omni.


    "Explain," the DES CEO demanded after getting the room to settle down.


    "I have a close family member who works in the STO''s clerk''s office. They are all abuzz that three of them were called to officiate the creation of a new nation, one legally recognized by the STO."


    "How is that possible?" someone else asked.


    "Some legal loophole allowed it. I managed to get the information from my cousin. The system being claimed is called Unokane. The entity that is claiming it is a small company by the name of Blue Star Enterprises, owned and operated by a man named Alexander Kane. I do find it convenient that this Kane had a run-in with Omni though. Our esteemed colleagues at Omni wouldn''t be trying to double-cross us here, would they?"


    "How dare you!" Benning''s associate shot to his feet, taking the man''s bait like an idiot. "I can assure you, that we are dedicated to the vision that we helped set in motion. This upstart, BSE will be dealt with. I don''t care if they are an empire as large as the STO, we will crush them."


    Benning would have groaned if they were in private. Instead, he kept his mouth shut. With that outburst, his boss essentially made it so Omni would have to ensure the eradication of this upstart or lose face and standing within the assembly. He would need to look into the issue and find out where this nation was set up.


    He also made a mental note to replace this Omni executive with someone more competent. A tragic accident would be a good send-off.


    The meeting moved to the next subject.


    "What of the Shican?" a new person asked.


    Benning was happy to answer this question. "As far as our scouts can determine, the Shican border is over a hundred lightyears away from the nearest occupied STO world. We haven''t been able to infiltrate their space but the AI models predict the aliens likely pulled back because they are at war with some other species. We do need to keep an eye on them, though. The few reports we did receive from our scouts show a distinct difference between the Shican that the STO warred with, and the Shican guarding their border."


    "What does that mean?" a woman asked.


    "It means that the Shican that fought the STO was not part of their military. They were either outcasts or undesirables, it''s not quite clear."


    "And this other race they are fighting?"


    "We have no information on them yet. For now, we have pickets set up a few systems away from the Shican border to keep tabs on the aliens and hopefully catch a glimpse of this other unknown alien species. I would also like to remind everyone that this is one of the reasons why war with the pirates was the best choice. War always leads to technological advancement, and if our neighbor is actively engaged in a war for more than forty years, we need to ensure our technology remains at or above their level," Benning stated.


    He had seen the reports from the scouts. If anything, the STO lagged quite a bit behind the Shican''s military. He wasn''t about to air that concern here though. He also had a pretty good idea of who the Shican were at war with. There really were only two options. It was either the race that built the hypergates or the ones that the mystery ship the STO had locked away belonged to.


    Benning had heard about that ship years ago, but even with his vast connections, he hadn''t been able to get it out from under the STO or even get access to the reports generated from it. He knew the STO was reverse engineering it, but he didn''t know how far along they were.


    His lack of access was all thanks to that damnable Vice Admiral. The man was a slippery bastard and as tight-lipped as they came, but he knew the man was on a short leash after the massive intelligence mishap with Harlow. Maybe with Vice Admiral Fletcher out of the picture, he could finally learn what they were building. This might be the perfect time to call in a few favors to finally get rid of Fletcher once and for all.

 Chapter 3-1

    LOCATION: EDEN''S ENDSYSTEM: UNOKANE


    DATE: 2400


    Alexander strode into the meeting room where everyone he needed to speak to had gathered.


    It had been a couple of weeks since the kidnapping incident where a man by the name of Dalton, a career assassin and fixer for pirates and criminals, had managed to take Yulia captive with an explosive device. He then used his daughter as leverage to take him hostage and deliver him to Harlow.


    With a bit of luck, Alexander managed to free Yulia and safely store her in the stasis pod before he confronted Dalton. The man had quickly learned why it was a bad idea to threaten his daughter.


    Alexander got what little information he wanted out of Dalton before tossing him into space. It wasn''t until one of his new captains suggested that the man might know more that Alexander realized his actions had been a bit rash.


    After a lengthy search, they found the man''s corpse. Dalton had bitten off his own tongue instead of suffering a slow death from lack of oxygen. Despite the possible loss of information, Alexander couldn''t find it in himself to care that the man had chosen to end his own life.


    He looked over the room, which was packed with mercenary leaders from the Hawks, the three new captains he had recently hired on, Captain Matthews, Damien Laront, and a few of his Guard Captains.


    All chatter ceased as Alexander made his way to the front of the room.


    "Sorry, I''m late, and thank you for your time. I''ve gathered you all here to get an update on our efforts to recheck all of the new arrivals. Who wishes to go first?"


    Damien stood and walked up to the front of the room, Alexander stepped off to the side to allow the man to speak.


    "We have found a few infractions amongst the locals. Nothing serious, but we have issued warnings to those individuals. Other than that, we have not found any weapons or other items of concern."


    Alexander nodded his avatar and the next person to step up was Matthews. While the former Hawks Captain wasn''t in a leadership position anymore, the man''s experience was still valuable.


    He cleared his throat before beginning. "As some of you have likely heard, the attacker had their DNA modified. We''re not quite sure how this was accomplished, but it''s something we will need to keep an eye out for. To ensure we have no more sleeper agents amongst the new arrivals, I worked with Eden''s End''s Head of Medical Services to perform DNA sampling on all of the new arrivals instead of just the usual skin surface sample. This is not something I would suggest you do going forward though as it is both extremely intrusive, as well as time-consuming and expensive. The fact is, we burned through most of Eden''s End''s medical kits designed for this sort of exam to perform this process. And we found no changes in any of the other people."


    "Do you have another suggestion to prevent people from sneaking past the DNA scan?" Alexander asked, knowing the man did indeed have an alternative.


    "Scan them upon arrival, like we are currently doing. Set them in a quarantine zone for thirty days, then scan them again. The quarantine will ensure there is no sickness amongst any new arrivals as well as ensure the DNA we have on file hasn''t changed in that time. We know from examining Dalton that whatever changes were done to his body were quickly reverting. By holding the people for that long any abnormality would quickly stand out and we could hold that person until the changes completely revert. To do this, you would need to create an arrival center though. The current setup doesn''t really allow for long-term habitation in a sealed environment."


    Alexander thanked Archie and the next person stepped up. It was one of the Hawks'' new team leaders.


    "We finished our preliminary searches on all the parked ships. Other than the one that belonged to the criminal known as Dalton, we found no evidence of hidden weapons. That''s not to say that we didn''t find anything of concern. Two of the transport ships had hidden compartments filled with drugs. The captains and crew of those ships have been taken into custody and questioned. The one crew was tight-lipped and refused to speak. The other crew was a bit more chatty. A few of the lower-level crew members sold the captain out. It appears that some criminal enterprises from within the STO thought to use this as an opportunity to expand their reach into a new market. The compartments were shielded similarly to Dalton''s weapons. The Hawks have not run into this method of hiding smuggling compartments and we currently have no way of uncovering them without doing manual searches of ships. Doing so on a mass scale simply isn''t feasible."


    Alexander thanked the team leader and stepped back into the center of the stage. "As you can see, we have some issues to resolve. I don''t believe any of these problems are insurmountable, but we will need to be diligent. If you have questions or ideas on how to improve facility security, please work with our Head of Security, Damien. Until we have a solution to the shielded compartment issue, all ships will be checked by the Hawks. I don''t care if they land on the surface or dock at the station. Once they enter Unokane, they are subject to a search. In the case they are found to be smuggling illegal goods, their ships will be seized and anyone on the crew arrested."


    That statement got a round of concerned mutters from the group.


    "Is that an issue?" Alexander asked the assembled group of people.


    Captain Ramirez, one of his new employees stood up. "The unlawful search and seizure of a ship is against STO law. I know this isn''t STO space, but we still need rules. It''s one thing if you provide a warrant and probable cause, but isn''t this going a bit too far?"


    "No," Alexander stated bluntly. He understood the man''s concern, but Alexander''s concern was the safety and security of Eden''s End first and foremost. As far as he was concerned, everything else took a backseat to that goal. "We are not part of the STO, thus we do not need to follow their rules. That doesn''t mean there won''t be rules in place eventually to manage this issue. Until then, we will do what we must to ensure the safety of everyone here. If the ships arriving have a problem with that, they can leave. That being said, I don''t want to have to manually check every ship that comes along either. I expect to have at least a partial solution to the shielded compartment issue soon. Once we know that is working, I plan on pushing for a law that would grant automatic warrants for any vessel found to be having these compartments. This way we are not trampling the rights of ship owners, while also not being willfully ignorant of the dangers these criminal ships represent. Is that sufficient to soothe your concerns?"


    Ramirez nodded. "As long as we have laws in place, I''m more than happy to carry them out."


    He thought the man''s idealism was a bit misplaced, but he had to remember that all of humanity had been under STO rule for years, and most of the planets for much much longer than that. There were bound to be people who saw Alexander''s way of doing things as a bit heavy-handed.


    "Speaking of ships. Captain Ramirez, you and your crew have had a week to familiarize yourself with the Resolve. How are things going?"


    "About as well as can be expected. Some of the systems are still unfamiliar, but most are rather basic and my people picked them up quickly. It helped that you had training modules for each, and the supercomputer does do a lot of the heavy lifting. I am concerned that any losses amongst the crew or of the computer core could limit our effectiveness in a fight though."


    "Do you feel the same way, Captain Hall?" Alexander turned to the captain of the Fury.


    "I do. Right now we have enough crew for a day and night shift. If someone is injured or sick, we can make do, but it will significantly reduce our effectiveness. While I would prefer a full complement of seventy-five crew, I think another five crew per ship would significantly reduce this issue." S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Unfortunately, I do not have any additional trained military personnel to offer you. That being said, there are twelve hundred new arrivals. I will put up a job posting for additional crew. The ships are yours, and I expect each of you to interview these people and decide for yourselves if they fit within your crew. Don''t worry too much about training. Any people you pick will be given academy training to make sure they are up to the task."


    "Thank you, Alexander," Hall replied. "I believe that will solve a whole lot of issues."


    "So other than crew concerns, you are happy with the progress your people are making at understanding the ships?"


    Both men confirmed that they were.


    "Good. Captain Ramirez, in the next week or so, you will be taking the Resolve, along with a transport attachment to Varlen. Your contact there will be Vice Admiral Fletcher. While Resolve is gone, Fury will patrol Unokane. Once you return here, Hall will take the next transport and Resolve will patrol. Any concerns or issues, please contact me immediately."


    "We are expected to do these patrols solo?" Ramirez asked in concern.


    Ramirez didn''t seem like the most confident Captain out there, but Alexander didn''t have many options. He would have preferred to have Captain Krieger, but Krieger was being dragged through the mud in STO space as an example of what not to do. Until the STO decided to finally finish his court-martial, there wasn''t much Alexander could do to get him.


    "For now. BSE doesn''t have enough ships to form a squadron. I don''t expect you to actively engage pirates outside of Unokane though. That being said, each of your ships is more than capable of going toe to toe with another pirate frigate. In the meantime, I will work on alleviating your concerns."


    Alexander wasn''t sure how he was going to do that, considering he had enough trouble finding crew for two ships, but he would figure something out. He would have to if his idea to approach the Char pirates had any hope of succeeding. Doing so from a position of weakness was probably a bad idea. That reminded him, that he still needed to discuss this plan with a few people before he settled on it for certain.


    The rest of the meeting was given over to discussion and questions. Alexander fielded most of them. The biggest concern was how to implement the quarantine area. That was easy enough. Alexander had already duplicated one of the domes from Eden''s End in his design for the academy. A quarantine dome would only be about half the size of the smaller domes, but it would be built specifically for long-term habitation, and that was it. With that in mind, the new building would be able to house two thousand people at a time.


    He would bring the construction plans to Yi Na in a few days so he could look them over. It would be the first major new construction but the man had been doing well so far, so Alexander had no real concerns that he could handle it.


    Surprisingly, the other major issue that was brought up was access to the Qcomm. It seemed word had gotten out about the installation faster than he expected. Alexander wasn''t quite ready to open up access to it yet, but he assured everyone that it would be publically available within the week.


    He needed to ensure the hardware he planned to install was capable of capturing outgoing and incoming messages first. Then he needed to work with Lucas to ensure the computer core could process and flag suspicious messages. At first, they would probably just flag everything so he could go through it manually, but the system would eventually have to handle most of the load. It was a good thing he made liberal use of self-learning algorithms in his project.


    Alexander certainly didn''t want to be bogged down with reading everyone''s correspondence, but it was better than the alternative of letting the messages go without oversight. That''s how they ended up with Arkonis showing up at their front door.


    With so many new arrivals, he knew at least a few had to be spies as well. He also needed to ensure that nobody was communicating back to the STO with information on what they were doing with the learning modules. That would probably be a bigger issue than anything else he could imagine getting out.


    Alexander and Lucas were working as fast as they could to get those modules stripped and transferred to the central library, but there were so many protections built into each module that it took a significant amount of time to bypass them. It turned out to be faster to set the module to play and have another source record it. That still took time as it had to play at normal speed, but at least it was something. They still wanted to get the original off the modules though.


    If that wasn''t enough problems to deal with, Alexander needed to increase security on Eden''s End as well as come up with a plan for handling Harlow.


    His idea to reach out to Char was part of that plan, but they were pirates, and he wasn''t about to trust them with his entire fate, which meant he needed more ships.


    There was a lot to do and little time to do it.


    He sometimes wished he had taken things much slower when he first came out. Maybe then he could have avoided so much attention. It likely wouldn''t have mattered. The traitor had sold them out the first chance they got. Arkonis Anazi would have still attacked when he did. They might not have prevailed if Alexander had been any slower at prepping the facility''s defenses. The same thing would have happened when Char attacked with her fleet. Although he had to chalk most of the success of that encounter up to the STO intervening.


    All of this trouble seemed to be coming at him from all angles. Alexander was sick and tired of feeling like everything was on the verge of collapsing if he slowed down for a second. He wanted to be two or three steps ahead of anyone who wished him harm, which meant he needed to stop building defensively and start thinking about how to deal with problems before they arrived. Shifting to a more offensive approach to security seemed like a simple idea, but it was a monumental shift in how he was operating so far. He needed to lean on his friends and allies who knew much more about the topic to ensure he didn''t make a major mistake. One wrong move could prove disastrous for the future of Eden''s End.

 Chapter 3-2

    Even after a few weeks, Yulia still received well-wishes from people asking if she was ok, and how awful her predicament must have been. She would have preferred if people just stopped bringing it up, but she couldn''t say that because it would be rude. Instead, she simply nodded in reply and thanked them for their concern since that was what people seemed to expect her to say.The truth was, the first time she got a good look at her attacker she didn''t feel fear. She felt an overwhelming hate towards the man. That was what had prompted her to lash out instead of being terrified.


    She didn''t understand why she had such a strange reaction to his presence. Logically, she knew she should have been scared and she should have tried to run instead of fighting the man. She doubted she would have made it very far if she ran, but it would have been the smart decision to make.


    Yulia realized she needed to talk to an adult about this to try and figure out why she acted the way she did. She thought about going to Alex, but he was so focused on preventing her from being abducted again that she didn''t want to give him yet another thing to worry about.


    She wished Zorina were here, the woman always gave her good advice but Yulia had not seen the mercenary woman since the Hawks had returned. She assumed the woman was simply busy in another capacity or still on their huge ship. It wasn''t like the Hawks were setting up camp like they did last time so she had a convenient place to look.


    That left very few adults she was willing to talk to. With a sigh, she turned to Dog. "Come on, I need to go speak with someone."


    The upgraded dog was now made from metal instead of plastic, although he wasn''t any larger than before. Alex had upgraded him to help keep her safe or help her get away if she got attacked again. She wasn''t sure what Dog could do to protect her even now, but if Alex said he could, she believed him.


    The pair made their way through the confusing warren of hallways inside Eden''s End. She had long since learned all the twisting routes, so it didn''t bother her, but she did occasionally run into lost-looking individuals. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    These people kept their distance from her though. It had been made abundantly clear, that doing anything to her would get people kicked out or arrested. Yulia didn''t appreciate being singled out like that. It made it even harder for her to make new friends than it already was when people learned who she was. And while she had a decent amount of friends, who wouldn''t want more?


    After an hour of walking, she arrived outside a door. She pressed the intercom button and waited.


    "Yes? Who''s there?" a woman''s voice crackled through the ancient speaker.


    Yulia mused that it must not have been fixed yet, before responding. "Mrs. Nancy, It''s Yulia. Do you have a moment to talk?" She didn''t actually know the teacher''s last name, but everyone always called her Mrs. Nancy in class so she figured that was fine.


    The door clicked and opened, showing a surprised-looking teacher. "Yulia, what are you doing out so late? You should be getting ready for bed."


    "I needed to talk to someone about what happened to me, but I don''t know many adults."


    "I take it this isn''t something you want to discuss with your father?"


    Yulia shook her head.


    The woman let out a soft sigh. "Very well, come in and I can listen. However, I don''t know what advice I can offer. I''m a teacher, not a counselor."


    Yulia stepped into the room. It reminded her of Headmaster Wong''s office only less cluttered.


    "Have a seat, dear. Would you like a cup of tea? I''m afraid I don''t have anything else."


    "No, thanks," Yulia managed to get out, feeling rather embarrassed to even be here now that she was.


    "None of that now," the woman chided as she poured two cups. "I''ll pour you a cup, if you want it, feel free to take it. Now," the woman said as she sat behind her desk. "What troubles you?"


    Now that it was time to talk, she fidgeted nervously. She should have gone racing instead of wasting an hour walking all the way over here. No, she knew this was important and that she needed some advice. That didn''t mean she knew what to say though.


    "I don''t know," she said, throwing her arms up in exasperation. Before the startled woman could respond and Yulia could second guess herself, she told Mrs. Nancy about her troubles.


    Nancy listened and didn''t speak until Yulia was done telling her story. "In those circumstances, it''s understandable that you choose to fight instead of fleeing. It''s not what I would have chosen, but I can see why you might be confused. From what you said, you don''t know why you reacted so angrily toward the man. This doesn''t have to do with any lingering anger over your father leaving does it?"


    Yulia shook her head. After Alex came back and spoke to her, she realized she had been acting irrationally when he left. They had made up when he returned and she only ever felt embarrassed when she recalled those memories. Yulia had made a silent promise to herself to never act so selfish again.


    "Hmm," Mrs. Nancy said. "You didn''t happen to know him by any chance did you?"


    "¡­Know who?" Yulia asked. She hadn''t been listening as she was lost in her own thoughts for a bit.


    "The attacker, dear."


    Yulia scrunched her face in confusion. "No. Why would I know someone like that?"


    "Well, it''s just¡­ I heard a statistic that said most people are kidnapped by people they know. Maybe you came from the same world or he looked like someone you knew and that triggered a memory."


    "I see similar people here all the time."


    "Well, yes," the woman responded awkwardly. "Maybe you recognized them from the planet you and Alex came from?"


    "I came from Petrov Station-" she began to say before she trailed off. That wasn''t true, her parents were pirates. As soon as she thought of her parents, she pictured her father. It was the first time she could recall him so vividly in years. Her memory of him still wasn''t great, she couldn''t recall his face clearly, but his features were remarkably similar to the man who attacked her. Could they be related somehow?


    "I think the man reminded me of my father."


    "Of Alex?" the woman asked in confusion.


    Yulia shook her head. "No, of my real father. I need to go. Thank you for listening to me."


    "¡­Oh, Uh anytime, dear," Mrs. Nancy said as she stood to show Yulia out.


    Yulia didn''t wait for the woman, she sprinted to the door and threw it open. Dog quickly scuttled after her, barking for her to wait up, but Yulia was running flat out, trying to keep the tears that were filling her eyes from spilling out.


    She shouldn''t be shedding tears over her parents, they were pirates and pirates were evil people. Yet here she was, tears streaming down her face as she ran. At least she wasn''t blubbering like a toddler.


    Eventually, she found a quiet and out-of-the-way place to just let her emotions out. She didn''t want Alex to see her like this or ask her why she was crying. Her parents had nearly gotten her killed, and Alex had saved her. To care about them now felt like she was betraying Alex. She refused to do that. The man had given her a life and saved her on more than one occasion.


    She sat in that out-of-the-way room for over an hour, letting her tears fall. Dog found her eventually like he always did and curled up next to her for company. At least he wouldn''t judge her for her terrible thoughts and emotions.


    Once the last of her tears stopped, she wiped her face dry with her sleeve and started walking home.


    The apartment was quiet when she arrived, but she did find some food waiting in the fridge for her, along with a note.


    Sorry, I missed you tonight. I promise we will spend tomorrow together. Please make sure you are home for dinner.


    Alexander


    Despite the fact that she hadn''t seen Alex in a few days, she felt relieved that he wasn''t here tonight. She was sure her eyes and face were red and puffy from crying for so long. If he had seen her like that, he would have instantly wanted to know if she was ok and why she was crying.


    Yulia didn''t want to lie to him, but she also didn''t want to tell him why she had been crying.


    She quickly ate the food, which wasn''t nearly as good cold as it probably had been when it was cooked. Once she was done, she cleaned up and got ready for bed.


    As much as she would have liked to immediately fall asleep so she could put this day behind her, she was left thinking about her mother and father. A deep resentment boiled up in her when she thought of them.


    How could anyone''s parents be so thoughtless and neglectful to bring their five-year-old with them while they attacked other ships? Those thoughts twisted in her mind until she wondered if she was just as reckless and stupid as her parents had been. Was she bound to become a pirate at some point?


    The thought made her sick to her stomach, and she tossed and turned on the bed.


    Yulia didn''t want to be a pirate, she wanted to be like Alex. She wanted to help people, not hurt them.


    She eventually fell asleep, but nightmares plagued her sleep. If she had woken up from those horrible dreams, she might have noticed a worried Alex checking in on her during the night.

 Chapter 3-3

    When he first came home and heard Yulia mumbling in her sleep, he went in to check on her. It was obvious from how much she was tossing and turning that she was having a nightmare. Alexander thought about waking her but decided against it. She needed her sleep, and she couldn''t have been asleep for very long since he had been here not too long ago and she had yet to return home. He had worried, but he knew Dog was with her and hadn''t alerted him to any danger so he hadn''t gone looking for her.He did review Dog''s footage while Yulia was asleep.


    He wasn''t sure why she went to Nancy until she started asking her questions. Then the girl mentioned her father and her whole demeanor changed. He was afraid this might happen.


    Alexander purposefully did not mention Yulia''s biological parents because of who they were and what they were. He didn''t want her to think he was trying to replace them or bring up any bad memories she might have had. It''s also why he only brought up the question of why she referred to him as Alex instead of Dad that one time. He hoped in time those memories would fade from her mind and she would feel comfortable enough to refer to him as something other than Alex.


    It seemed those memories had been brought back to the forefront of the girl''s mind by the attack. He knew from the man''s own records that he was somehow involved in her parents'' deaths because of the record with Yulia''s Mother''s picture on it. Keeping the claimed bounty records seemed to be like some sick little trophy for Dalton.


    Not wanting to leave her alone in case she did wake up, Alexander walked over to the small holo terminal in the apartment instead of going back to his workshop. He would keep an eye on her and wake her if the nightmares persisted.


    This did give him time to get his thoughts in order. He needed to figure out how he wanted to approach Matthews about working with the Char family.


    On a fundamental note, Alexander knew working with pirates in any capacity was a bad idea. He knew this because he had bad ideas all the time, most he never carried through with though. Unfortunately, some he did. Like his plan to knock Omni down. Going against Omni was a pretty bad idea, but he had a general idea of the stakes involved. The same could be said with him taking Captain Krieger, his crew, and the Dawn back to STO space. Sure it worked out in the end, but he couldn''t have known that at the start.


    That fact was made abundantly clear to him by a few people, Captain Na specifically. The only reason Alexander ignored their sage advice against taking the STO people back was because he needed to make connections. One surefire way to do that was to return their lost crew and ship, earning him some much-needed goodwill. Even then, Alexander only considered it a viable strategy because he had a general idea of how the STO would react.


    He wasn''t entirely correct in his estimation, mostly because he wasn''t aware of the politics involved.


    That miscalculation had almost resulted in a battle against a captain who had been sent out to Varlen as a punishment. The chip on Captain Willard''s shoulder had almost ruined Alexander''s entire mission. He was sure it would have if Vice Admiral Fletcher hadn''t stepped in to put the overly aggressive man in his place.


    Knowing what he did now, he couldn''t afford to make rash decisions. He needed to speak with people who knew the players involved and get their opinions on his plan before he pushed forward.


    Alexander did have an emergency plan in case nobody thought his idea to reach out to the Char family was a good one. It was another bad idea that involved taking the Fury and Resolve and vanishing beyond the reach of Harlow.


    Giving up everything he built on Eden''s End would be a difficult decision, but he would do it in a heartbeat if it meant keeping Yulia safe. Hopefully, he came up with another plan B so it wouldn''t come to such drastic measures.


    Morning broke, and Yulia stumbled out of her room, looking like a zombie.


    He let the poor girl wake up, eat, and get dressed in solitude. She seemed to need it. Then he walked her to class and went in search of Archie to have a long overdue chat.


    Unlike Alexander, Captain Matthews was rather social. He found the man chatting it up with some of the former Hawks outside an establishment that had become Eden''s End''s first restaurant slash bar.


    "Alexander!" the man stated happily as he rose to greet him. "What brings you by the Meteorite?"


    Alexander chuckled internally at the name. Someone had explained why the bar was named that way when he first asked about it. It was an inside joke that meant you hit rock bottom. An unfortunate if apt description of the planet.


    Just because he lived on Eden''s End, didn''t mean he actually liked the thin atmosphere and heavy sulfur content. He could imagine most would choose a much more habitable location if given the chance. Even with most of the facility under positive pressure these days, he still heard people complaining about the smell.


    "Do you have some time today? I would like to discuss some things with you."


    The man chuckled. "I''m currently retired, Alexander. Until you get your academy up and running, all I have is free time. Come, my residence isn''t too far away, we can talk there."


    "You chose to live in Atrium A?" Alexander asked in surprise.


    "I did. While I understand the reasons for you keeping your employees separate, I wanted to get to know the people who lived here. I also wanted to be close to my family when they decided to make the trip."


    "When, not if?" Alexander asked as they walked through the quickly crowding streets of Atrium A. "The last time you spoke of your son and daughter, you weren''t sure if they would agree to come out here. Did something change?"


    The man sighed. "No, not really. Being able to badger them daily through the Qcomm does help though. I''ve only told a few people this, but I''ve been estranged from my kids for twenty years. My life as a captain took precedence over being a father. That was something I eventually came to regret but I don''t regret my choices, only what they cost me. My time with the Hawks was important. That being said, we all make choices that we must live with. I''m hoping that I can rekindle some of the familial attachments now that I''m retired. I doubt I will ever convince my ex-wife to come out here. She remarried and she hates my guts. And she has every right to feel that way. It''s her loss, but if I can talk even one of my children into coming here, I will consider that a win."


    They soon arrived at a third-floor apartment. The apartments ran around the entire exterior of the atrium before the dome rose over the area. The third floor wasn''t the highest, but it was up there. He would have thought the older man would have preferred a ground-floor apartment. It wasn''t like there were elevators inside the atriums, just long winding ramps.


    As they entered the apartment, Alexander thought he would find it rather Spartan given Matthews'' very rigid persona during his time as Talon''s Captain. He couldn''t have been more wrong.


    The main room had a warm feel with earth-toned furniture, and the walls displayed an array of knick nacks and keepsakes, likely from his long career. There were even pictures. One showed a fresh-faced Captain Matthews. He couldn''t have been more than twenty-five in the photo. Next to him was a stunning woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and a toddler in her arms.


    The man must have seen him staring and chuckled. "Yes, that''s my ex-wife and our firstborn." He pointed to another family photo. In it, he was out of uniform. "That was the last photo we took as a family."


    Alexander saw three kids in the photo, but the man had only mentioned two. He was sure there was a story behind that, but he decided not to pry.


    "So, what did you wish to discuss? Is this about the academy?" Matthews asked as he sat on a nearby couch.


    Alexander gave himself a mental shake and focused on the task at hand. "No. What can you tell me of the Char pirates?"


    The man tilted his head. "That''s an odd question. I don''t know much. They are pirates, if that wasn''t obvious. As far as I''m aware, they are the least offensive of the pirate families. I can''t say I''ve had dealings with them, but word does get around. They are also said to be one of the more proficient groups when provoked. Why do you want to know?"


    "You know who Dalton worked for, yes?"


    Archie frowned. "Yes, hard not to know who Harlow Anazi is."


    "What do you know of him?" Alexander had done his own research on Harlow but the publically available stuff was less than useless. It mostly painted the man as some sort of folk hero, something Alexander knew to be categorically untrue. Whoever was pushing that narrative was either a spy, traitor, or fool. Maybe even all three.


    "Again, not much. He was famous for strikes into STO territory before he disappeared about a decade ago. Everyone thought he was dead until he returned with his attack on Petrov Station and the former Coalition worlds. Now, he''s taken even more worlds, which means he''s not just some idiot. He is a man of means, conviction, and at least some talent with tactics."


    "Do you think he would simply give up on something he wanted?" Alexander asked.


    "I assume you''re asking because he wants you?"


    Alexander nodded his avatar.


    "I can''t really say. I would like to think that being on the opposite end of STO space would give you a buffer against the man, but it''s obvious he is willing to hire killers to get what he wants. If he''s willing to do that, who''s to say what the man will do? That doesn''t mean you should turn to pirates for help though."


    Alexander chuckled lightly. He should have realized Matthews would have put two and two together. "And why not? The enemy of my enemy is my friend as the saying goes."


    "A stupid saying," the man grunted. "Why not just go to the STO for help?"


    "And owe them? No thanks. Besides, I think they are busy enough with their war against Harlow as it is. As for working with Char, I don''t want to ally with pirates, but a mutual defense pact might be doable. The Char family would need to make a few changes before I would agree to that though. I don''t want BSE to be seen helping pirates, but I need allies, we need allies. It''s only a matter of time before Harlow sends someone else. I can make this system the most unapproachable system in human space, that isn''t going to matter one bit if we close ourselves off to the rest of the galaxy. BSE only exists to sell thrusters and eventually ships. If I can''t safely bring those items to market in the STO, we are dead in the water, and Unokane won''t be far behind." Alexander put his arms down, realizing he had been gesticulating wildly during his little speech.


    Archie rubbed his beard in thought, not seeming at all affected by Alexander''s outburst. It was a testament to the man''s trust in him. Anyone else would have been flinching back as Alexander''s arms whipped around wildly.


    "You put a lot of thought into this, haven''t you?"


    "I''ve had this on my mind from the moment I realized who sent Dalton."


    "I still say this is a bad decision, but if you feel there is no other option, I suppose there could be worse alternatives like allying yourself with the corporations or the Xin. If you ever considered either of those options, I would pack up and go back to STO space. That being said, you need to come up with alternatives to this plan, because I can see two options you haven''t clearly considered."


    "Only two?" Alexander asked sarcastically.


    Archie just gave him a deadpan look before continuing. "The first is, what if she simply turns you down? You would be completely out of options at that point. The second option that you haven''t considered is that she simply attacks you, either before you''re ready to meet with or or when you arrive in her home system. Can you say for certain you could win against a seasoned commander?"


    "¡­I- You''re right. I hadn''t considered either of those options. This is why I needed to speak with you, to tell me what I missed." Alexander had considered a fight might break out, but not the part where Char came back to Eden''s End before he was ready. Also fighting a skilled commander hadn''t been a consideration of his until now. His plan was to simply match them in ship numbers and hope he could deliver his message. Now he wasn''t so certain that would be enough. He also hadn''t considered she might simply tell him no.


    While he was pondering Archie''s last words, the man continued. "I won''t even recommend you hire other mercenary groups to pad your numbers. First of all, I wouldn''t trust them, and secondly, most mercenary companies don''t have access to warships. So they wouldn''t be much help. You should bring this up with Captain Bloomright. I''m sure the Hawks would jump at the chance to offer more assistance."


    "I know, and I will. I wanted to get your opinion on the matter first before I brought in my captains and the Hawks. Even with their help, that''s only three additional ships."


    "They might be able to bring some more frigates. It would depend on whether the Hawks sister company finished their mission or not. I know it''s not much, but two more ships are better than none. If you do plan on approaching Katelynn Char, you need to do so from a position of strength. The Char do not respect outsiders or weaklings from what I recall. If you''re deadset on doing this, I''ll support you in any way I can."


    "I appreciate that, but I''m not sure four frigates, an assault ship, and two gunships will be enough to get their respect." He suspected he would need some larger ships to even the odds, considering how many ships she fielded against them when she attacked.


    "Unfortunately, getting you more ships is not something I can do," Matthews said with a sigh.


    "I may have a way to get five more ships. I''m going to need more crew though."


    "You have five more ships lying around? I mean, I know you are working on two more pirate frigates, but I don''t recall seeing three more ships sitting around."


    He reached into his pouch and produced the five fusion activation crystals that he had retrieved from Arkonis Anazi. Ever since Shall had broken into his storage room, Alexander had kept the crystals on himself or kept them locked away in the computer core if he was on a dangerous mission. "I found these among Arkonis Anazi''s belongings when we stripped his ship."


    Archie whistled. "That is quite the haul, assuming you know where the ships they belong to are¡­ I assume that you do since you are showing them to me."


    "There was a picture inside the hidden compartment. The picture was taken with the backdrop of a destroyer under construction, and a starfield behind it. I was able to triangulate the system to three possibilities. And they are not that far away."


    His friend didn''t look convinced. "When you say not that far away, what do you mean?"


    "A few month''s travel, at most," Alexander admitted.


    "Ok, let''s think about this logically. Let''s assume those ships are there, and they are completed and waiting for the crystals. Now, let''s also assume that the station is armed because it''s a pirate station, and if it were unarmed, that would be rather foolish considering what it''s being used for." Archie paused to make sure that Alexander was listening.


    "Ok, I''m still with you, continue."


    "Assuming you can take the station, without damaging the ships, you need to provide, not one, but five full crews. You''re looking at three or four hundred people at a minimum."


    Alexander had been figuring on thirty to forty people. He had completely forgotten that the pirate ships would not have supercomputers to help automate most of the ships'' processes. This is why he needed people who knew about this sort of stuff. He could plan, but he tended to miss small details like this. That wasn''t an issue when he was designing because he could just fix the design and continue.


    "What if we just take one ship at a time?" Alexander asked, trying to find a workaround to the personnel shortage issue.


    "Doable," Archie added, "But you''re going to extend the time it takes to retrieve these ships by half a year or more. And that still doesn''t resolve the issue of not having enough crew to man them. Inviting Katalynn Char to Unokane to have a discussion where you can use the ships without crew might work, but that isn''t really a show of strength. She would more than likely take that sort of invitation as a challenge. If you want her to take you seriously, you need to meet her on her home ground. That means going to their homeworld of Asgard."


    Matthews was right. Alexander also couldn''t go galavanting across space to retrieve these ships either. He had to rely on his people to do it for him. "Ok, so crew is the biggest issue. I don''t suppose you have more people that may be willing to lend a hand?"


    Archie shook his head. "I''m afraid not. Although, Captain Krieger may soon be available. It seems like the STO is starting to tire of parading him around. If you can convince him to join up, the Hawks can probably field the rest of the crew. They aren''t exactly trained, but if you''re willing to offer learning modules and the Hawks agree, I''m sure I can get them familiar enough with starship operations to bring those ships back with at least skeleton crews." S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander thanked the man for his wisdom and headed out. He had a lot to think about.

 Chapter 3-4

    After speaking with Matthews, Alexander had some things to consider. It would take a bit to come together before he was ready to present it to the rest of his team, but he was hopeful that a plan would come together. Hopefully, trying to work with Katalynn Char wouldn''t come back to bite him, but if he wanted to take the fight away from Unokane and to Harlow, he needed allies to work with.Alexander had already seen the news reports of Harlow nuking that one planet, there was no way he was allowing that psychotic bastard anywhere near this system.


    He had purchased access to the galactic news to keep track of when Krieger was finally released from the Navy, but he was glad he kept it because it allowed him to learn just what Harlow was capable of if he didn''t get his way. It made his idea of working with Char look not so bad in comparison.


    That being said, he had just taken his first steps down that long road to make anything a reality, and one pothole along the way could derail that trip entirely. Finding allies was important, but it wasn''t immediately critical. He would need to keep working at that long-term goal as time permitted.


    In the meantime, he needed to focus on finishing the compressed plasma ejection engine design so he could outfit the Talon while it was here for maintenance. Work on the project had been put on hold while he assisted Damien and the Hawks in their efforts to root out any more possible troublemakers.


    Speaking of troublemakers, Alexander had sequestered the crew who refused to sign up with BSE. Originally he was going to let the people live normally like the rest of the people on Eden''s End until it was time to take them back, but due to recent events, he changed his mind.


    Considering one of the men, who refused to accept the contract, was caught trying to send coded messages back to STO space through the Qcomm, Alexander felt vindicated with his decision. A few of those people grumbled vociferously, but Alexander put his foot down. They were moved to a temporary area in Atrium D where they could move around in a walled-off area. Food and entertainment were provided, but they were not allowed to mingle with the populace.


    His treatment didn''t win him any favors with those individuals, but he didn''t care. They still had access to send messages to the Qcomm, if they wanted to call for a ride, they were more than welcome to do so. Otherwise, the plan was to send them back to a civilian station within STO space as soon as a ship was available. By agreement, the Hawks would eventually send someone to take them home, but by then, they would no longer be Alexander''s concern.


    Dalton''s ship might be an option, but it wasn''t designed to carry more than a handful of people at a time. And it was rather unsafe with the modifications the man had done to it.


    As much as he would like those people out of his hair, he needed to focus on the important issues plaguing him at the moment. Alexander knew he was facing an unknown deadline until Harlow decided to throw something new his way. He needed to be ready for that.


    Knowing that he was on a tight timeline, he was tempted to throw all of the supercomputers, Jasper had brought in the last shipment, into more control ships and construction drones.


    The threefold increase in construction capability would be a game changer. At some point, he would do it because he had to, but not today. He simply didn''t have the need to refurbish a frigate in a single month. If he had the available crew, it would be a different story.


    He thought about making a sort of automated carrier but dismissed the idea for the same reason he wasn''t making his own ships from scratch yet. His control ships were the only ships Alexander had built so far, and they were a mess on the inside. He had not bothered taking into account many things when he built those ships, so the internals were a rat''s nest of cables and other control systems.


    It wasn''t really a concern when the ship had no internal walls separating the space, but that wouldn''t work with an actual warship though.


    Another reason he hadn''t gone the carrier route was the issue with what it would carry. He really only had two options. Either build a bunch of bots or use his laser platforms. Neither of which was fast or maneuverable with their little ion engines. If he was setting up some static defensive point in a system, then the carrier would shine, but from what Alexander had seen so far, space battles happened very quickly and the area of space people could warp into was massive. Still, it was something to consider for the future.


    While the bots wouldn''t do a lick of good in a battle, he could put them to work mining. Yeah, that seemed like the best option in the short term.


    Alexander made some rapid flicking motions that sent print jobs to all of his printers, including the three orbital ones he was now running. Within three days, those print jobs would be assembled into three new control ships along with thirty new drones. The drones would carry the mining modifications to help bolster his lagging resource collections. He sent Mingyu a message, notifying him he would have company out in the belt soon. He figured a heads-up would be wise since the man had one of the only ore haulers in the system and he would be working alongside the new bots.


    He thought about it for a bit before sending the Hawks a message as well.


    Unlike Mingyu, who was likely deep in the mining belt, the Hawks replied rather quickly.


    His query had been a simple one. He wanted to know if they had cleared the two small mining ships that arrived with the rest of the refugees. They did, and both ships were clear of any contraband.


    That was good. If they had found any contraband, he would have commandeered those ships and had the crew arrested, but then he would have been short on people to crew them. An ongoing issue it seemed.


    He looked up the crew manifest and sent their captains job offers. Alexander had a lot of credits, it was time to put them to work.


    It didn''t take long to get replies from the two ship owners. They both agreed to act as hauling barges for his mining operation. They agreed so fast that Alexander was sure he had overpaid. It was what it was. He needed their ships until he could build a hauler of his own and paying them a lot of money was the quickest way to make that happen. The two ships would likely not be able to keep up with his automated miners once they really got going, but it was better than nothing.


    Realizing he was overlooking a resource, he messaged one last person.


    "Captain Farthing, are you busy at the moment?"


    "Not at all, what can I assist you with, Mr. Kane?"


    Alexander rolled his eyes at the woman''s overly formal tone through the radio. "First of all, call me Alex or Alexander, everyone does. As for what I messaged you about. How would you like to upgrade from a shuttle?"


    "Very well, Alex. You might as well call me Penny then, so long as the conversation is between just the two of us. As for upgrading, I would be a rather poor captain if I declined outright. I don''t want to be rude as you are my boss, but I assume you recall my stipulations."


    How could he forget? You didn''t come across a Navy captain who didn''t want to pilot a warship every day. "I remember, Penny. The ship does have weapons, but you will be using it to haul ore."


    "¡­That''s a first. May I ask why you have an ore hauler with weapons on it?"


    "It''s technically not an ore hauler. I''m referring to the ship we confiscated from the man who attempted to kidnap me and my daughter." He chose not to mention the fact that he did indeed put weapons on another mining ship.


    "Ah, that makes sense. Does that mean you are done searching the ship?"


    It was a good question. The answer was, yes and no. Shutting down the ship''s reactor had given them full access to scan the interior of the vessel. What they found was surprising. The ship had four small Gauss cannons, and two PDCs hidden behind fake hull plates. Not much of a surprise other than the fact there were so many weapons on such a small ship.


    The bigger surprise was the massive optical array hidden in the front of the ship. He knew the ship had one based on his electronic escapades through its computers during his brief stint aboard, but he hadn''t been prepared for just how impressive the array was. Alexander itched to pull it apart and examine it, but he needed the ship intact for now. The only thing of concern was the explosives hidden throughout the ship. It took a dedicated team of explosives experts from the Hawks to clear out those to ensure the ship was safe. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was actually a stroke of luck that the ship hadn''t blown up the moment Dalton died. The explosives were linked to his bio signs, but thanks to some fluke with their range of detection, and Alexander having never released his grip on the ship''s computer, it wasn''t able to process the command. And once the command failed, the computer wasn''t smart enough to realize anything had gone wrong. That was just another example of how close he had come to losing it all. He would not, could not let that happen again.


    "The ship is ready to fly, are you interested?" he asked instead.


    "It beats sitting around here," she eventually responded. "Will I get some crew?"


    "The ship is designed to fly with a single person but pick four people from the other two crews." This would short the other crews of the additional people he had promised them, but it couldn''t be helped.


    With the start of the academy ramping up, Alexander was hopeful at least a few of the locals and refugees would take advantage of the naval courses.


    If he had another year and change, he could assign Markus to one of the ships as a Cadet, but that was well into the future.


    "Very well," Penny stated. "Does this ship have a name?"


    Alexander wasn''t going to use the name that Dalton was using, but he did have one in mind. "It''s called Fafo."


    "Fafo?" the woman asked. "That''s an odd name. Does it mean anything?"


    He smiled internally. "Nope, nothing significant." Alexander wasn''t sure if the term meant anything in this day and age, but he liked it as a bit of an inside joke. And if anyone did understand the meaning, well, they might learn what happens when they decide to mess with him.


    He gave her the expected timeline of when to ship out and said the vessel would be fully stocked and ready for her crew when they arrived.


    Now that Penny was onboard, he felt better about the three ships keeping up with his mining drones. That should clear up any resource shortfalls and give Mingyu and his crew some much-needed downtime.


    That did push his bottleneck down the line, but Alexander had already anticipated that issue over a year ago. With the two smelters he purchased in Varlen, the two that he had Jasper buy for him, and even the malfunctioning one that he had managed to finally repair, he had more capacity to refine material than he knew what to do with.


    It wasn''t a bad problem to have. He just wished he could increase his employee count as easily, but that was a bottleneck he didn''t have much control over at the moment.


    Alexander went over his orbital infrastructure one last time to make sure he didn''t miss anything. There were things he wanted to implement, but they could wait.


    Seeing as he was using all of his assets to the best of his ability, he finally turned to the hologram he had been working on the entire time he had been sending out texts and conversing with people. His little trip aboard the kidnappers'' ship did have one advantage. It forced him to push his abilities and expand his mind, allowing him to multitask way more effectively than before. That was a small silver lining to that rather unwelcome encounter.


    His once messy and convoluted compressed plasma ejection design was now much sleeker and way more simplified. Even with all the redundant systems, the military Class 7 design was only half again as complicated as a Class 5, making it far superior to the Talon''s current Omni thrusters as far as simplicity went.


    The real question was, did they outperform the Omni thrusters? The answer to that was, no. Alexander only had two sets of compressed plasma ejection thrusters to compare his design to, one from Omni, and the other from Sinorus. Based on those findings, it seemed there was a very slim design margin to get the thrusters to work properly.


    He tried all sorts of thrust cone and expansion chamber configurations to try and optimize the output, but they all boiled down to the same shape. Alexander shouldn''t be surprised by that, compressed plasma ejection worked on a wildly different principle to pulsed fusion.


    Once he came to that conclusion, he simply designed his thrust cone to split the difference between Omni and Sinorus'' designs. The insignificant thrust difference between the two was so negligible as to not matter. Instead, he focused on improving the plasma flow, and reactor output, which was the real bottleneck in his design.


    A smoother flow meant a more stable thrust. Using an idea he had kicked around for a while, which was once again brought to the forefront of his attention by the unique use of the static fields on Dalton''s ship, Alexander wrapped the plasma flow in a static field instead of the electromagnetic field that it was normally contained by.


    The emitters looked a little weird with their placement, but he just wanted to see what it would do when he ran it through the simulation software.


    It didn''t work, but it didn''t exactly fail as he expected it to. He added back the electromagnetic field generators but left the static field emitters and tested them again. Alexander wasn''t sure if the two would have strange reactions or not, but this is what testing was all about.


    There seemed to be some reaction to having both fields active in the containment tube, but it was a small change. Not enough to justify adding both to an already complex propulsion system. If he could find a way to combine both fields in the future, then maybe he could revisit the design.


    He moved on to the reactor. Alexander''s knowledge of reactors was probably his weakest subject as far as the propulsion components on ships went. He had a few memories of reactor designs from back in his day, but the reactors of the twenty-fourth century had little in common with those antiquated designs. And why should they, those designs had never even seen commercial use, while these reactors were used every day.


    It didn''t help that he had seen dozens of different reactor designs over the years. The one he was looking at now was called a ball reactor. It was a simple spherical reactor that made a miniature star at its center. It was large, complicated, and not very efficient, but it was one of the simplest reactor designs that Alexander had access to. This was the type of reactor the Moonlit Destiny had.


    For all its flaws, the reactor was nearly maintenance-free, which is why it was still in use on quite a few ships.


    The Talon''s reactor was a whole different beast. Alexander didn''t have schematics for it, but he was allowed to study the design and watch the reactor in action. It was a type of reactor called a disk reactor and it looked like a squashed ball or inflated pancake. Inside the reactor was a series of rings. Depending on the reactor output, there could be up to seven of these rings. The Talon''s reactor only had three. The main ring, and two auxiliary rings.


    Instead of encasing the entire reactor in an electromagnetic field, the rings sort of contained the plasma in a loop of magnetism that kept the energy far enough away from the delicate rings, while also keeping it from contacting the outside of the containment vessel.


    The reason for the separate rings was that it allowed you to pull plasma from the auxiliary rings to use as the ship''s thrust, while not disturbing the main power ring. And if you somehow disrupted the flow of one or both of the auxiliary rings, the main ring was designed to restart them without interruption.


    It was a beautiful design, but Alexander had no idea how to recreate it. He had a few prototypes in the works but none were functional at the moment.


    The final design was what the shuttles used. It was a simple reactor that used the magnetic field to hold the fuel in place while a grid of lasers heated it to ignition, similar to how the pulsed fusion drive operated. It was the smallest of the reactor designs that Alexander had access to, but it also had the lowest output. These smaller reactors weren''t designed to handle the higher energy fuel contained in the fifty-year cores that starships used either. The shuttle reactors could only convert heavy water and super heavy water into fusible material.


    He was pretty sure he could increase the efficiency of the reactor and shrink the entire design by quite a bit, but that didn''t really solve his problem of coming up with a reactor design for his compressed plasma ejection thrusters.


    In the end, Alexander decided to just retrofit his engines to the reactors that were already available on the Talon and the Destiny. It would take a bit more work on his part, but why bother reinventing the wheel when it was already there?


    The Talon might not see much improvement, but it would have brand-new engines. The Destiny, however, should see a slight improvement over their outdated Sinorus engines.


    With that decision, he made a quick change to the design to allow for the connection change and queued up the engines to the orbital printers. Once his new control ships were done printing, it would be time to retrofit the Talon.


    It was good timing since Eden''s Resolve would be leaving shortly with the first delivery for Vice Admiral Fletcher. That gave Alexander a little over two months to finish the retrofit for Talon.


    Alexander checked his watch and saw it was nearly time for Yulia to get out of class. He quickly saved his work and locked down his workshop before heading out to pick her up.


    He knew he had been a rather negligent father lately, but he was doing his best to spend time with her whenever he could. It would have been much easier if there had been a second parent for her, but Alexander had no intentions of finding a significant other. Even if he considered it, what would be the point? It wasn''t like he could make them happy, and he was starting to realize he probably wouldn''t have the same feelings for them as he did Yulia.


    Alexander''s feelings had come back when Yulia was first attacked back on Petrov Station, but Alexander barely felt anything towards most people even now. The few exceptions were his close friends and the people he hated with a burning passion, like the pirates who attacked the facility, Dalton, and Harlow. Everyone else just fell into a grey area of complete emotional disinterest for him.


    Maybe one day he would figure out a solution to that problem, but for now, he had enough people he cared about.

 Chapter 3-5

    Alexander stood off to the side and watched as the kids raced around the track he had set up in the old parking garage.He noted Yulia''s razor focus as she pulled up behind the other kids, ready to lap them. Alexander wasn''t surprised by this. The other kids hadn''t had much time in the go-karts, which was easy to tell by how they weaved back and forth and bumped into each other.


    They were all laughing and having a good time though, so winning probably didn''t matter to them as much as it did Yulia.


    A good deal of the drifter children were present along with some of the new arrivals to take their turns racing. Alexander noted more of the local children''s parents attended this event than they had the play. He could understand that racing might be more interesting than watching a play, but you should support your kids no matter what.


    Another thing that came to his attention over the last few days was a slow increase in hostile looks from some of the locals as they glanced his way. He wasn''t sure why the new hostility was appearing now, and only seemed to be coming from the drifters and not the new arrivals. He would need to ask the Council to look into it to see if there was some underlying issue that he could fix.


    Alexander suspected a few possible causes for this sudden change in mood. He was rapidly changing Eden''s End and had dumped twelve hundred refugees on the population which was likely causing friction between the two groups. He also knew there was friction amongst the drifter population. Some wanted things to remain the same as they had always been, while others welcomed the quality of life improvements that Alexander had brought. Most of the latter group were part of the population who actively worked with Alexander to implement those improvements.


    As much as he would like to set aside an area for the traditionalists just to make them happy, that simply wasn''t possible. They either needed to learn to fit in as things changed, ignore the changes, or leave. He wasn''t going to waste resources building them their own area where they could toil away using inefficient methods when quicker more efficient ones were easily available to them. That was just idiotic.


    In a way, their reticence to improve their own lives was the sticking point for Alexander. He could appreciate people wanting to hold onto their traditions, but not when they actively caused hardship. That stubbornness to change and adapt is probably why he simply didn''t care what they did. And now that he had a whole new group of people who were more than willing to accept his changes and work with him, he cared even less about the traditionalists.


    He knew this was a bad mindset to have, he should care equally about everyone on Eden''s End, but he just couldn''t do that.


    With the multiple attacks, and Yulia''s kidnapping, he saw these freeloaders in a new light.


    Alexander paused and did the mental equivalent of a deep breath. Calling the traditionalist drifters freeloaders was unfair. They weren''t freeloaders. They worked, harder than they probably needed to. And that work did provide extra food and other services to the rest of the population. He just had a hard time thinking of them as anything else ever since Yulia''s attack. His declaration to get rid of Harlow and the threat he posed to Yulia, him, and Eden''s End seemed far more important.


    They had a new reminder just a few days ago that Harlow hadn''t given up. With the constant trickle of refugees that seemed to keep coming in ever since that first group, there was bound to be another attempt to capture him. One man was caught with a weapon in intake. Instead of surrendering, he attempted to shoot his way out, injuring the other civilians who had arrived with him, but the guards were quick to take him out.


    Crazies are crazies and normally Alexander wouldn''t have thought anything of it, but times had changed. Until proven otherwise, he assumed all threats had come directly from Harlow. It didn''t take long to be proven right at least this time. Damien''s people found a data chip on the man with another bounty offer from Harlow. A day after that a ship tried sneaking into the system, maybe they were related to the first man or were a separate party entirely, it wasn''t clear. As soon as one of the modified robots approached the ship to scan it with the ultrasound device that Alexander had come up with to at least locate hidden weapon compartments, the ship tried to run for it. It even activated its weapons and Fury was forced to destroy the vessel.


    With all that on his mind, the traditionalists would have to forgive him if he had little compassion for their complaints.


    Maybe the Council had some ideas for how that group could be mollified. He wasn''t going to do anything drastic like evict them for complaining, that would be super hypocritical of him considering he had agreed to let them stay and live how they wanted when he first arrived.


    Alexander was pulled out of his thoughts as people started clapping. He quickly joined in. It seemed the race had finished. A simple holographic display showed the race order.


    Yulia had finished two laps up on everyone else, which wasn''t a surprise. He assumed once the kids got more comfortable with the go-carts, that her lead would evaporate, and she would be forced to improve if she wanted to stay on top.


    It would be a good lesson for his daughter to learn.


    He stuck around for another race but had to leave after that one, work demanded his attention. He said goodbye to Yulia and left her in the care of Dog.


    The much-improved robot had an inbuilt pulse rifle module now, making the robot far more useful as an actual guard dog. After the attack, Alexander had considered building Yulia a fully armored augment suit to help keep her safe. Yulia probably would have found it exciting, at least at first. Thankfully, he came to his senses before printing the thing. He wished he would have done so before wasting the time designing it though.


    He supposed it wasn''t truly wasted time. If she ever did need an augment suit, he had the design schematics ready to go. Considering she was growing every day, he would need to adjust the design weekly, but he was more than up for the challenge.


    It didn''t take him long to arrive at his workshop. The old parking garage was nearby, making it ideal for both him and Yulia. And while it was a bit annoying for the other kids to get to, they also came over to this area for the playground. That would likely change soon as the other domes were fixed, but for now, it was convenient for his daughter.


    The first thing he checked on when he arrived at his workstation was his orbital printers. They were still chugging along on the parts for the control ships. The log showed a few part faults that had to be removed and sent back to the smelter, but that was expected.


    When Alexander first encountered these random fault issues, he wasn''t sure what was causing them. It hadn''t taken him long to trace the root cause though. The print errors were a byproduct of the fact he wasn''t using a clean environment to print in. Using the static field as a replacement for the clean room of the printer worked quite well and kept material costs low. It wasn''t perfect though.


    Occasionally, the field would push a dust particle into the print area, instead of redirecting it away. This issue happened to ships on occasion as well, which is why ships had thicker plating at the front. With the static field slowing the dust, the plating could absorb the impact of any small particles.


    Normally, Alexander didn''t care. The part being printed would be removed for recycling and the print would begin again. Eventually, he would be printing much larger items, or entire assemblies at a time. He couldn''t afford to have dust and debris entering the print area in those cases. It would be a time-consuming process to disassemble the part to remove the damaged component if that happened, which would render any advantage his printers gave him null and void.


    Alexander pulled up his latest orbital printer schematic and looked to see if he could make any further improvements to it.


    The current orbital printers were the twelfth iteration of his design and the same schematic he was looking at now. With everything going on, he hadn''t had time to come up with a solution to the intermittent print quality issues.


    He broke the design down and started from scratch. Since he stayed at home during the night to watch over Yulia ever since the attack, that had given him plenty of time to catch up on some learning modules. The one he had been looking forward to the most was the static field engineering module he had purchased during his trip to Varlen.


    Based on his experience with the devices, he knew there wasn''t all that much to them, but the actual engineering behind them was rather complex.


    It seemed that generating a static field capable of interacting with matter was a rather involved process.


    Alexander wondered how his own defensive field compared in complexity. Maybe one day he would figure that out.


    Now that he understood the engineering behind the device, he realized the static fields were wildly inefficient. He didn''t know if this was because they worked well enough that nobody cared enough to make them better or if he was able to see these issues because of his ability to put information together from sources he had personal experience with. Either way, he saw an issue and a possible solution to it.


    Going on a hunch, Alexander designed and built a new generation of static field generators.


    The devices had already been tested over the last few weeks, proving they worked at least as well as the old design. His new design still projected the field that charged particles so the second field could interact with them, but instead of having that second field on at all times, it only activated in the presence of those actively charged particles.


    His theory as to why the occasional particle slipped through, was that it was caused by the two fields interacting and weakening the initial charge.


    With the second field only coming online after charged particles were detected, it both used less power, could be activated as far out as the initial field, and had less risk of stripping the charge from any dust or debris.


    It would take far more testing to see if that was the case, but considering his early tests proved the new design worked, and used less power, he wanted to implement it into his printer. It would be much safer than slapping it onto a ship and hoping for the best.


    He had further ideas on how to use the static field with his printers, but that would have to wait until he did some testing and understood the technology a bit better.


    The new printer took shape and Alexander was pleased by the result. Normally a bit less power draw would be inconsequential, but that wasn''t the case with the printer he was planning on making.


    He was utilizing all his ship resources to the best of his ability, but it was time to take that next step. This printer would make that a reality.


    Alexander added the new printer to the queue and pulled up one of the ugliest ship designs he had ever seen, and he just so happened to be the architect behind it. The wholly original design consisted of a square crew section, followed by three exposed scaffold sections that led to an engine section.


    The open scaffolds formed an inverted triangular shape with all of them having crawl spaces inside them so the crew could get to the engines to make repairs in an emergency. It wouldn''t be too arduous a trip through those areas because there would be no artificial gravity in those sections, even when he found enough gravity plating to outfit the rest of the ship.


    These design decisions left the ship looking a bit like a filleted fish. That was until you added the modular sections.


    Much like with his robots, Alexander didn''t want to design individual ships to perform specific roles. He didn''t have the resources to go down that route any time soon, so everything he built needed to be as multipurpose as possible. This ship would be capable of taking on multiple utility roles. The main two he had in mind at the moment were ore hauling and cargo transportation.


    Without the learning module on how to build FTL arrays, the ship would be stuck working inside the system. That was fine for now since he mainly needed it for the ore hauling at the moment. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The overall dimensions of the ship were slightly larger than Eden''s Fury, but the entire structure would fit within his new printer ring once it was complete. With a little nod to how ugly the ship was, Alexander dubbed the design, the fishbone.


    He only wished others appreciated it as much as him. He still recalled what Jasper had said to him when he first laid eyes on it.


    "Alexander, I say this not to be mean," his friend stated. "This is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. I know you prefer function over form, but you should really think about making your designs look a bit nicer if you ever wish to sell them."


    The critique was a bit harsh but understandable. The ship was an ugly square thing, with zero attention to aesthetics put into it. Alexander''s goal with the ships was to build them as quickly and efficiently as possible so he could expand his ability to procure resources. He didn''t need the ships to look pretty to do that.


    That''s where the attachments came in. They did not lend any improvement to the fishbone''s overall look. If anything, they made it look even uglier. The ship looked like a fat fish when the two large ore containers were attached to the exposed scaffolding.


    The transportation containers weren''t much better. They stuck down from the overall body, making the fish look like it had udders. There were other transportation configurations, but the four-down one allowed the ship to carry the most cargo. With the ship configured like that, it could carry up to eight of the thrusters he had sold to Vice Admiral Fletcher.


    It was an impressive cargo capacity for such a small ship, and that was all that Alexander cared about at the moment.


    Assuming his new printer performed correctly, the new fishbone ship would take a little over two months to complete.


    He quickly finished up his work and headed home. Yulia would be arriving soon, and she would be very hungry.

 Chapter 3-6

    "Settle down!" Sorin demanded to the room full of individuals.They didn''t quiet down immediately, but he could hear himself think after only a short wait.


    "You all know why I asked you here."


    "And who put you in charge?" someone from the back of the room demanded.


    "Yeah!" another voice shouted. "We have a Council, shouldn''t they be here?"


    "Stars above!" Sorin threw up his hands. "Are you stupid? We''re here to discuss the Council and all the things they are changing against our will, why would we want them here?"


    His statement finally got people to stop and listen. A few grumbled, but he could hear muttered agreements from most of the people in the room. Sorin took this as a good sign and continued.


    "Ever since that damned robot arrived, Damien and his cronies have had their lips firmly planted on its feet in supplication. I experienced this firsthand when Sheila made a bet with me that she knew she would win because of his meddling. I have no issue losing a bet, but when it''s rigged, that''s different. It cost me and my family most of our spare food stocks and I was forced to go begging to others to survive after harvest. And that put me even further behind."


    His statement about being a poor loser wasn''t true. He despised losing. He had only agreed to that bet, knowing it was a sure thing. Then that damn robot stepped in and ruined everything.


    "How many of you have had your lives changed because of Kane?" he demanded. "Don''t be shy, raise your hands."


    Out of the fifty or so people he had managed to gather, most raised their hands. He wasn''t surprised by this. After his losing bet, Sorin kept an eye out for people who were affected by the changes going on there. While not all of them were likely to be suffering the same as him, the rest didn''t like the way things were changing any more than he did.


    "We''re all drifters, we are no strangers to struggling for survival!" he shouted above the murmur of the crowd. "Yet we don''t see our fellow drifters struggling, do we? They grow fat and lazy off the teat of our robot overlord!"


    His words stirred the assembled people''s hearts and he received shouts of agreement and words decrying Kane.


    "Oh, sure, we can share in this bounty, if we bend the knee in supplication to Kane. I say, NO! We are drifters! We are a community! We came out here to be free of government intervention and oversight because every time governments get involved, it is the normal man who suffers. As drifters, we should be sharing resources when times are tough, not sitting back and watching our friends and neighbors struggle when we have a way to ease their pain!"


    The words had whipped the room into a fervor and Sorin was about to continue his sermon when the doors to the room burst open and a dozen armed security guards along with Damien entered the room.


    "Speaking of government overreach!" Sorin spat, changing his speech on the fly. "The head bootlicker and his cronies have just arrived."


    The room turned to glare at the new intruders.


    Damien didn''t look at all moved by Sorin''s words. The man coldly looked around the room, making a few men close to him flinch back. Almost everyone who had been on Eden''s End prior to Kane''s arrival knew what Damien was capable of in a fight.


    "You can disperse, or you can spend the night in lockup, your choice," the man stated dispassionately.


    Before tempers could get out of control, Sorin spoke once more. "Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment, fellow drifters. Go back to your families and think about my words. We will speak again."


    The men filtered out of the room, giving the guards dirty looks as they did so. It was not unexpected considering the tension Sorin had purposefully fed into the crowd tonight. He knew Damien and his people were going to come and break up his gathering, and he wanted people to see them as the bad guys. He also noted some of the guards looked unsure, and he smiled internally at that. Perhaps not everyone who had tasted Kane''s forbidden fruit was lost.


    Sorin was the last to leave the room, but a stun baton blocking his exit brought him up short.


    "Not you," Damien said. "You''re going to spend a few nights in lockup."


    "Oh?" he demanded. "And what law did I break?"


    The shorter man narrowed his eyes at Sorin. There was a moment of tense silence before he lowered the stun stick. "I''ll be keeping an eye on you."


    Sorin snorted and walked past the man, making sure not to brush against him. That would just be an excuse for Damien to toss him in jail. Becoming a martyr for his movement might be a good choice, but not now, not when he was just getting started. He needed time to get people on his side. Until then, he would remain well within the asinine little rules this Council made up.


    ***


    Damien watched the infuriating man walk down the hallway, his grip tightening on the handle of his stun stick until his knuckles went white.


    This was the third time this week that he had been forced to break up these meetings since Kane had pointed out the growing discontent to the Council. He felt stupid for not seeing it sooner, but he saw it clearly now. Some of the people who attended them were the same individuals, but he was seeing more and more new faces among the assembled dissidents. And that''s exactly what they were, dissidents and troublemakers.


    If it was up to him, he would lock every single one of them up until they came to their senses. Even though he was the head of Security, he couldn''t do that. They did not have any laws in place stopping people from gathering like this or having differing viewpoints against the Council.


    Had this sort of thing happened prior to Kane''s arrival, Damien would have simply beat some sense into Sorin and called it a day. Now he would have to call a Council meeting to try and figure out what to do or to try and pass a law so he could stop these fools from spreading.


    ***


    It took a few days to get the Council gathered. Everyone had their own jobs on top of being a council member. It wasn''t the most ideal, but it worked well enough.


    "No, absolutely not!" Nancy stated after Damien had made his proposal to update the laws so he could arrest Sorin and his malcontents. "You''re advocating to prevent people from gathering and speaking out."


    "As much as I despise Sorin, I''m going to have to agree with Nancy," Sheila added.


    Damien grunted and turned to his girlfriend. If Gabriella agreed with him, at least they could push this issue to Alex for the deciding vote. The man wouldn''t overlook a problem of this scale. The look in her eyes told him that wasn''t going to be the case though.


    "While I am all for upholding security and unity, I don''t think locking people up is the right choice. Do we even know why they are upset? Perhaps we should ask them first. If we can''t come to some agreement, and things further spiral out of control, then I will change my vote. Are we in agreement?"


    The three women nodded and Damien grunted. "Fine. We will hold another meeting and invite the figureheads of this traditionalist movement to present their issues to the Council."


    He thought they were making a mistake here, but he had been outvoted.


    Gathering Sorin and his people wasn''t hard. It seemed they had been expecting something to happen and had been waiting. Eight people entered the council chamber and stood in front of the four councilors.


    Not being in the mood to lead this meeting, Damien let Gabriella speak. With her position as head of Medical Services, she probably had a better standing with the general populace anyway.


    "We have brought your group here to air your concerns and to try and find a solution. Please," she gestured to the group.


    No surprise, Sorin stepped forward. "We want equal rights and access to amenities," the man declared.


    Undeterred by the man''s forceful tone, Gabriella replied. "You have access to housing, food, security, and medical services. What rights and amenities do you feel you are being denied?" Gabriella and Damien both knew what the man was getting at, but she was forcing him to state it for the record. If he had been leading this meeting, he would have simply accused the man of being a lazy leech and demanding compensation that he wasn''t owed. That would have surely sent the little rats scurrying into their holes, ruining the entire purpose of this meeting. It was just another reason he was glad they had decided on Gabriella to lead this meeting.


    Damien cracked a small smirk as he saw Sorin bristle. That alone was worth remaining quiet.


    "We want access to the advanced medical services, and all of the other luxury items we are being denied by Kane," the pompous and self-entitled man demanded.


    Gabriella gestured to a console on the far wall. "The job board is available for anyone on any console in the facility. None of those items are being withheld." Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man turned back to her, red in the face. "That''s a form of control, and you know it. We have jobs, we can''t afford to be away from them to help Kane destroy our lives further."


    "If you don''t like the job board, speak with Kane. There is nothing this Council can do about what jobs and contributions are offered. Those are resources owned by Kane that he provided at a rate far fairer than you would ever see in the STO. If you would like to discuss other options that don''t involve the contribution system, we can do that."


    Sorin seemed to recover quickly from his outburst. Damien frowned slightly at that. The man''s actions reminded him of martial artists who tried to deceive you into thinking they were injured when in fact they were just trying to lure you in. One of Sorin''s people grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered into his ear. The man pulled away from the hand after a bit but nodded.


    "Fine. Since we are being restricted from these services unless we become indentured workers, we have a second proposal."


    Damien would have rolled his eyes if he wasn''t so on edge. They had relented far too easily for something they claimed to have wanted badly enough to have secret meetings.


    "Go ahead and state your proposal," Gabriella responded.


    "We want an equal say in how things are run. For too long, the Council has unanimously decided the course of Eden''s End. They have not once taken any input from the residents on these decisions. That needs to change."


    "You want a council position?" Gabriella asked.


    Sorin shook his head, making Damien relax a bit. Having him on the council would be a monumental disaster.


    "We want four seats. Equal rights, require equal power."


    "Abso-fucking-lutley not!" Damien shot to his feet. "This is what you''ve been after since the beginning, isn''t it?" he accused the man.


    "I''ve only ever been after fairness. And if your declaration is anything to go by, it seems like we never would have gotten it if we remained quiet."


    Damien was a moment from jumping over the table and throttling the man when Gabriella placed a hand on his arm.


    With great restraint, he sat back down.


    Once the room settled, Gabriella spoke up. "You want four council seats." Her words were a statement, not a question. "And what aspect of life on Eden''s End will you be in charge of? We already have a head of agriculture."


    Sorin glanced over at Sheila but otherwise didn''t react to his girlfriend''s words. "We are for the people, so our titles should reflect that."


    If he wasn''t so angry, Damien would have snorted at the man''s words. If Sorin wasn''t doing this for some self-serving reason, he would eat his shoes.


    "You represent a portion of the populace," Gabriella reminded the man.


    "A larger portion than you do," he shot back.


    "By those words, we might as well have four council members from the new refugees."


    "Maybe you should," the man responded in kind.


    The back and forth was getting out of hand. Luckily Sheila whistled loudly, cutting through the room and silencing everyone. "We know what they want, before we go any further, I say we take a vote."


    The vote was a simple one. Do they approve the four new council seats or deny them?


    He hoped the vote would go his way, but he wasn''t sure it would. When Nancy voted in approval, he wasn''t surprised. The woman had been initially happy about being on the council but as it started pulling her away from teaching, she grew to dislike her role more and more. With more councilors, that would happen less often.


    Sheila looked on the fence, but eventually voted to approve the motion as well. He knew her farming work was keeping her busy, so maybe that had played a role in her decision as well.


    Seeing a disturbing trend, he turned toward Gabriella. Unlike Nance, his girlfriend hadn''t ever wanted the position, it just sort of fell on her shoulders because there was nobody as qualified as her to hold the position. He sometimes felt she resented being on the council.


    Damien resented dealing with nonsense like this as well, but he did it because someone had to.


    "Having representation for everyone on Eden''s End is probably for the best. I vote to approve the four new seats." And with that, Damien''s vote no longer mattered. He still voted no, just to ensure his vote was recorded.


    "With that being said, I propose a vote for four more seats to go to the refugees," she added before Sorin''s people even had a chance to celebrate their win.


    The votes from the old council were the same, Damien being the only one to vote against more council seats. What nobody expected was for Sorin and the three new council members to vote against something they had suggested.


    It was clear that Sorin had created his own voting bloc, and now they could easily force votes their way or force a tie. Alex would not be happy when he learned of this change, but he had given the council free rein to manage the residential population of Eden''s End as they saw fit.


    The only time he actively got involved was when laws were passed, and a tiebreaker was needed.


    That wasn''t even the worst part of this meeting. The four new councilors gave themselves the most pompous and self-aggrandizing titles they could think of. Sorin picked Head of Cultural Identity as his title, but the others were just as bad if not worse. Head of Civic Purity, Head of Judiciary Order, and the Head of Collective Consensus.


    If the ridiculous titles weren''t enough to show Sorin and his group of sycophants were up to no good, the grin on the man''s face was.


    As much as Damien wanted to shut this down here and now, his hands were now tied. Sorin and his people may think they won something, but once they started messing with Kane, they were quickly going to learn they had no actual power whatsoever. Alex may come off as rather passive and mild-mannered most of the time, but he was not afraid to step in and correct problems personally. Damien appreciated that about the man.


    And maybe that would be for the best. The Council, while sounding like an ideal method of government, didn''t really work when most of the people on it didn''t wish to deal with the big issues. To be fair, Damien realized he was unfit to be in this sort of role as well.


    When this form of government had been proposed by the people, he had only agreed to the position to ensure the safety and security of Eden''s End. That he could do. It was the rest of the responsibilities of being the Head of Security that kept him up at night and made him hate his life.


    Damien would task some of his guards to keep an eye on the new councilors but he hoped his fears were ungrounded. One thing he would have to do immediately after this meeting is notify Alex of the change.

 Chapter 3-7

    Alexander looked over the three people standing in front of him. Damien had just finished filling him in on the new Council changes."When I first asked you to look into the growing discontent issue I thought you would try and find a solution to the problem. That''s kind of the whole point of the Council, you focus on the people''s issues so I can focus on my work. Instead, you went ahead and invited someone who you know is antagonistic toward me and my goals onto the Council along with three of his lackeys. You can''t have possibly thought that was a good idea or that I would simply allow it to happen. Kick them out of the Council."


    "We can''t do that," Damien ground his teeth.


    "If you can''t then I will," Alexander stated.


    "They were legally accepted based on the rules you established for us, Alex. If you decide to change that because you don''t like it, you will show the drifters that you are no different than any other government and will lose any support you might have earned from the drifer populace. There is nothing else that unifies us more than someone in power overreaching," Gabriella responded before the conversation could go any further.


    Alexander gave the woman a scathing look. "So what, just leave him be and hope for the best? You three wouldn''t have come to speak with me unless Sorin''s inclusion to the Council was a problem. A problem that you knowingly let have equal control."


    He turned to face his Head of Security. "How much of a concern is he?"


    The entire Council, minus Nancy ¨C or who he had assumed to be the entire Council as of only a few minutes ago ¨C had barged into his workshop to drop a steaming pile of shit right at his feet. To say he was upset would be an understatement and that was impressive considering his issues feeling emotions.


    "I don''t know," the man admitted. "Most of his followers are people who haven''t taken you up on your work offers. My concern is that their new positions will legitimize them and others will flock toward their cause."


    "And you all voted for this? Why? Help me understand the reasoning behind that. I can''t fathom why you would do something so stupid; I know you three aren''t stupid."


    Damien bristled at the accusation. "I was opposed from the beginning."


    "We didn''t tell Damien what we were planning to do," Gabriella cut in.


    Damien turned to his girlfriend, looking surprised and hurt that the woman had kept anything from him. The woman patted her boyfriend''s arm in consolation. "Honey, you''re an awful actor. If you had known what we had decided on, it would have been a dead giveaway to Sorin and we would be back to playing on his terms."


    The words didn''t seem to calm the man as he silently stewed.


    "Why all the subterfuge?" Alexander asked his Head of Medical Services.


    "When you first came to us with your concerns, I spoke with a few people to find out who or what was behind this wave of discontent. Everything pointed to a few people, with Sorin being the main culprit. I didn''t know the man well, so I went to someone who did. Luckily Sheila was one of those people," Gabriella stated.


    "The man is a snake," Sheila added. "He and his family have been known to use underhanded methods to ensure they always remain at the top of the drifter''s loose hierarchy. The problem is, nobody has ever cared much to look into what his family has been up to, but I''ve known Sorin for years. If you call him out on something, he simply buries it harder next time or turns to even more underhanded methods. Acting dumb by allowing him to get his way was the only real way to ensure he didn''t do something truly awful."


    "Everyone else I spoke to said the same thing, not to trust the man," Gabriella continued. "I knew if we left him to his own devices, he would continue to stir resentment behind the scenes or worse until he got what he wanted."


    "This man sounds like someone who should be tossed outside without a breathing mask," Alexander stated, making the group shift uncomfortably. "Oh don''t pretend you three haven''t thought the same thing. Your decisions have really boxed me into a corner here. If I take the easy path out and remove him and his idiot compatriots, I risk losing the support of ninety percent of my current workforce planetside. Obviously, I could replace them eventually, but losing them now would severely hamper efforts to prepare against Harlow or whatever he sends our way next. If I wait until he does something dumb, I am forced to clean up the mess. How is this acceptable?"


    "If we had left him to his own devices, the problems would have just continued to grow even worse. This way we can keep an eye on him," Gabriella said defensively, reiterating what she had said before.


    Alexander wasn''t sold on the woman''s flawed logic there.


    He sighed. "So, what? This whole plan was to pull him into the spotlight and give him enough rope to hang himself with. Can you even say what he wants? I assume it''s nothing good if he went to this much trouble to try and get council seats."


    The silence from the trio was confirmation enough.


    He shook his avatar in disgust. "Fine. I''ll go along with this idiotic plan for now, not because I want to but because you have left me little choice. I am extremely disappointed in all of you. This should have been brought to my attention the moment it became a concern, not after the fact. I am holding the three of you responsible if anyone gets hurt. Even if nobody gets hurt in Sorin''s attempt at taking over, which is obviously what he''s after, even a blind man can see that, I will be disbanding the Council once this is done. And depending on who gets involved, either sending people packing or making arrests."


    The group didn''t look all that surprised by his statement, meaning they already knew he was going to be angry when they told him what they had been up to, which meant they considered his anger before deciding that their actions were the best possible approach to the problem instead of coming to him first. He gave himself a mental shake of disgust before focusing on them again. "And where is Nancy? Is she not in on this nonsense?"


    "I think we all know Nancy''s disposition," Gabriella spoke up. "She would vote for whatever option ensured a peaceful transition."


    "It seems like she is the only sensible one on the Council at the moment then," he shot back. If Gabriella wanted to be angry or upset at someone, she should be upset at herself, not at him for calling them out on this lunacy. "Alright, I''ve heard enough from you three, get out of my sight. For your sake, I hope nobody gets hurt by your choices."


    Gabriella stepped toward him and jabbed an angry finger into his avatar. "No, you don''t just get to dismiss us, Alex. You can be angry and upset, that''s understandable, but don''t you dare be dismissive. Perhaps we could have thought this plan through more or brought you in, but we aren''t politicians. I''m not even a licensed medical provider, I''m just a physical trainer doing her best to help everyone out. None of us ever wanted these positions, we took them because we thought it was best for the community and the decisions we made were always with that goal in mind. And before you take the high road here, you have made it pretty clear you wanted to be left out of our politics as much as possible, so don''t go blaming us when something happens that doesn''t align with whatever goals you have. Because you aren''t exactly ever open with anyone on what those are."


    With those words, the angry woman joined the rest of the group and stormed out.


    After the group left, he didn''t immediately go back to work. He was a bit too angry to concentrate. It didn''t help that he thought their plan had some merit. Not much, mind you, but some. And if he thought about it, Gabriella''s parting words were mostly spot on. It left him with a lot to think about.


    If Sorin had been as shady and self-serving as they said, then he could have really done some damage if he had been left to his own devices. If the man gained enough supporters, he could have disrupted food supply, repairs, or any number of other services that the entire population of Eden''s End relied on.


    Alexander would have stepped in and dealt with the issue personally if that happened, but that would not garner him any favors. At worst, the people would see him as some heavy-handed dictator and simply leave at the earliest possible opportunity. Maybe that was Sorin''s goal if the man hadn''t gotten his way onto the Council.


    Eden''s End would survive even if every drifter left, but it would put a serious wrench in his current plans.


    Letting Sorin prove to the rest of the population that he was just a jackass who thought he deserved to be in charge made it much easier to get rid of the man and his sympathizers, but letting it play out irked him.


    Alexander was not the type of person to beat around the bush and while he could play politics if he needed to, he preferred to avoid them. And maybe that was the problem. When he first arrived, he had given the Council a lot of power and he simply acted as a check on that power. It had worked so far so Alexander had focused on his work instead. It seems that decision had finally come to bite him in the ass and these were the repercussions of it.


    And who the hell was this Sorin person? He didn''t sound like he understood politics any more than the other Councilors or Alexander, he was just more devious. This situation sounded like the start of a comedic movie villain''s attempt at politics more than actual politics. Like a man with a working understanding of something but no experience with it. It made Alexander wonder where the man could have gotten this information from. It''s not like political subterfuge was something you could purchase a learning module for.


    Arresting Sorin after he did whatever nonsense he set out to do would still shake the drifter population, but the blame would fall squarely on Sorin in that case.


    That was the only reason Alexander was allowing this stupid stunt to play out. Even then, he was only giving them two weeks to act. If Sorin and his goons hadn''t done something drastic in that time, it was likely that Damien, Gabriella, and Sheila had misread the man. He didn''t think that was the case, but he couldn''t simply go around removing people who were following the rules. Even if nothing happened, Alexander was going to remove any sort of political power the council currently held after this was all said and done.


    It was obvious from Sorin''s maneuvering that the man had a better understanding of politics and the laws and rules of Eden''s End than the four original councilors. That wasn''t too much of a surprise since none of the four seemed all that enthusiastic about their positions, which is why Alexander had agreed to appoint them in the first place. The last thing he wanted was someone with delusions of leadership taking over during those early days. He should be glad that Sorin hadn''t been nominated back then.


    The man''s timing was suspicious as well. Alexander had seen the growing resentment shortly after he had claimed the system. He found it hard to believe that was a coincidence.


    There hadn''t been any announcement about his claim, but someone must have spilled the beans and it got back to Sorin. Did the man really think this power play would somehow put him in charge? Did he think he could appeal to the STO to make that happen? If so, the man was delusional.


    The STO''s charter only specified what sort of civilian representatives he needed to have when they recognized his claim. The STO''s rules didn''t say he had to keep that government in place after that. Alexander wasn''t sure what he would replace the Council with, but he knew he needed to take a more active role in whatever came after, even if it cut into his work time.


    Two weeks. If nothing happened, he was going to remove the Council''s authority anyway. They would still represent the people, but they would have no actual power. They would need to approach him or the representative he chose in their place. There would be no more of this jockeying for power on his watch.


    Alexander had been considering this option for some time. He knew it would have to happen eventually when BSE grew larger, but he figured the problem was years off. Not right now when he was dealing with a much more critical issue. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally calming down enough to focus, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind so he could finish checking on the projects he had been working on when the three barged in.


    The Talon''s new engines were ready, and his bots were already starting to remove the old ones from the massive ship. In a few days, Alexander would need to go up and personally attach the new thrusters. He could have relegated this work to the linked bots, but he didn''t have the time or patience to write the one-off program, especially now.


    Jasper''s ship was also in the dock, getting a brand new set of Alexander''s Class 4 engines. These were the iterations after the ones he sold to the STO and were one step up on the model that Dr. Nova Lund had explained to him.


    Alexander would have provided his friend the best of the best, but he wasn''t capable of producing anything beyond that iteration yet, and it would have been a bad decision to make his friend''s ship stand out too much. The engines he was getting would put him well above any competition for quite some time. It was the least he could do to thank Jasper and the crew of the Zephyr for all the work he had done for him.


    The new printer was also coming together, looking like some weird unfinished gate ring in orbit.


    He couldn''t wait for that to be completed so the fishbone ship could begin being constructed. Having the dedicated ship would make his work so much more efficient.


    The new control ships were already in the belt along with the Destiny. Mingyu was keeping tabs on the ships, and adjusting their work as needed. The other three ships were also out there, taking on ore as the mining bots quickly tore into the asteroids.


    The one complaint Mingyu had was that the mining bots weren''t durable enough. He was already seeing broken components on them. Alexander had provided a printer to replace these items as needed, but he was already designing more robust parts for the future.


    Everything was on track with those projects and even Eden''s Might was scheduled to be completed in a month. It would have been three weeks, but Alexander pulled the construction bots off the ship to help retrofit the Talon and Zephyr.


    He hadn''t received any response from Captain Krieger yet, even though he had read the news headline that clearly listed the man''s discharge from the Navy. That was a week ago. Either the man had no interest in responding to Alexander or something else was going on with him.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t sit by and wait for Krieger to respond, so his plans had to be changed to account for the former captain not being involved.


    Alexander had a self-imposed deadline of three months to get the Hawks trained up and as many ships as possible ready to hit the pirate station to recover the five vessels. He hoped three frigates, an assault ship, and two gunships would be enough to take the station.


    He knew all of the crews involved were already running drills and simulations. It wouldn''t be the most accurate simulation since they had no information on this hidden station but it was the best he could do.


    There was a way Alexander could improve their odds, but it required him to slave one of the frigate''s supercomputers. If he decided to go down this route, whatever ship he chose would be very limited in its ability to run its more advanced systems while it was controlling the pod lasers. That meant it would need a larger crew if it was to be effective in combat.


    It would provide the ship access to nearly sixty of the cheap laser weapons, giving it a hell of a lot more punch, but the trade-off was it would be much more vulnerable during a fight.


    It was something he would need to think about and test before he decided if it was workable or not.


    After finishing his checks, he tried to go into his design software and do some work, but it just wasn''t happening.


    With a sigh, he secured his terminal and went for a walk. There were too many things on his mind for him to focus on improvements right now. Sometimes he felt like he was standing on top of a house of cards, and if any of them fell over, the entire thing would collapse.


    While he knew that wasn''t true, he couldn''t help feeling that way sometimes. There were just so many moving parts right now, and he needed all of them to work smoothly or he wasn''t certain what the future would hold.


    He couldn''t even predict what Harlow, or Katalynn Char might be up to or how it would affect him going forward. If either one of those people dropped by again, all of his carefully laid plans would go up in smoke.


    That was why he was pushing so damn hard. The one thing Alexander had going for himself was his ability to scale and build much faster than others. He had been told this enough times by so many different people that he had to believe it was true even though he felt like he was still well behind the curve. It really boiled down to avoiding assembly as much as possible by wholly printing things like entire engines and ships. Connections had to be checked and tightened after the fact, but that was infinitely faster than building each component separately and assembling it.


    The problem was, that he was starting from so far behind the STO and other interested parties that he couldn''t ease up. He needed to maximize all of his resources as much as possible or it felt like he was wasting his efforts. He also couldn''t spend every waking moment designing and building new things. As a father and the owner of BSE, he had other responsibilities. Ones that he hadn''t always done a good job of.


    The Council''s little talk today was a reminder of another responsibility he had neglected. He was sure whatever Sorin chose to do, was going to disrupt his work. It would not harm Yulia though. He had already sent Dog an updated report and combat program to help keep her safe and he was preparing additional measures already.


    If anyone on Eden''s End so much as laid a finger on Yulia, he wasn''t sure what he would do, but he could be certain that the responsible party would not enjoy the consequences of their actions.

 Chapter 3-8

    As much as Alexander liked to give people the benefit of the doubt, his predictions about Sorin turned out to be spot on. He didn''t even have to wait a full week to see the first change.When he had first agreed to the Council as the political entity, Alexander had enforced a few rules. The first was that any laws they passed, needed to be made public to everyone and on every terminal inside Eden''s End for transparency''s sake.


    Most of the people didn''t care, but it did allow Alexander to monitor what laws were being passed without his input. Most of the time, it was something innocuous or something the Council had discussed with him beforehand. Not that they needed to. He had agreed to let them govern themselves so long as the laws and rules were fair. Only twice had he been required to vote on a tie to help pass or decline a law and until now hadn''t seen any law he thought needed overturning.


    Fair had nothing to do with the new law he saw in the registry. Sorin must have gotten a majority vote. Alexander knew Damien, Gabriella, and Sheila wouldn''t have agreed to something so silly a second time without running it by him, so he assumed Sorin had somehow convinced Nancy to go along with the new measure.


    Alexander couldn''t blame the woman. She was a teacher first and foremost and having worked with her quite a bit, he knew she had very few skills beyond that. Even in the few council meetings he had attended, she had simply gone along with the group. It wasn''t that Nancy was dumb, she was far from that. She was just easily swayed so long as the end result didn''t result in violence or helped prevent possible violence. Anyone who knew her was likely aware of her stance on that issue. And the law that had just been entered looked like it was purposefully named just to trick her.


    At first glance, the new law looked like a simple thing meant to help expedite Council rulings in case of an emergency. It even had the officious-sounding title of ''Emergency Orders Act'' which is probably what helped sell it to the Head of Learning.


    Alexander had studied enough STO laws to see past the thin veneer of the law''s wording to what the law was actually meant to be used for.


    In simple terms, it allowed the assembled Councilors to hold a vote, even when not all of the Council was present. Not a bad thing, in and of itself, until you get to the second part. The Councilors who were not present automatically counted as abstaining from the vote. In an emergency situation, sure, it made sense. The problem was, that there was no wording around what constituted an emergency situation that would allow the use of the Emergency Orders Act.


    That still wouldn''t be that bad, except abstained votes had a specific definition under Eden''s End''s laws. Abstaining meant that any Councilor who did so was removed from the Council roster for that vote, shifting the number of councilors needed to have a successful vote. Adding the restrictions to abstained votes was put in place to prevent members of the Council from stalling votes by refusing to pick a side.


    At the time Alexander had thought it a good idea and even supported its implementation. Of course, this was back in the beginning when he didn''t want to get bogged down in the local politics. Now that he had a vested interest in Eden''s End and a better understanding of galactic law and laws in general, he saw how rife that definition was for misuse.


    It seemed Sorin had figured it out as well because this new law was designed specifically to take advantage of that definition.


    Now that this law had been passed, Sorin and his cronies could hold emergency council meetings as they saw fit, denying the other members time to weigh in. The other councilors could do the same, but Alexander was sure he would soon see another law that limited that freedom.


    He just gave a big mental shake and wished he could wash his hands of all this nonsense. It was taking him away from more important matters and quickly going to turn into a shit show, but he had agreed to let the man hang himself with as much rope as possible. That being said, he looked over at Yulia. She was studying a diagram Alexander had provided her. Her job was to find the errors and correct them.


    They weren''t at home though. He had taken Yulia out of classes for some ''personal tutoring'' until this problem resolved itself. There was not going to be a repeat of the last incident, or the one before that, or even the one on Petrov Station, he would make sure of that.


    Knowing that Yulia was as safe as he could make her, Alexander turned his attention back to Sorin. The man seemed way too crafty to just be some random drifter, but he knew the man was at least a third-generation drifter thanks to information gathered from other residents. With a devious mind like his, Alexander was surprised the man hadn''t tried his hand at the political arena in STO space. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Normally, he didn''t stick his nose in people''s pasts. Everyone had skeletons, hell, even he did, but this man was making too many waves to simply stay ignorant. He pinged Lucas and asked him to retrieve a specific DNA scan from the core. Alexander would have gotten it himself, but he didn''t want to leave Yulia alone while Sorin was plotting.


    It was his overprotectiveness kicking in again, but he couldn''t help it. He would have preferred to allow Yulia to live a normal life, but he couldn''t provide any further security for her without alienating her from her friends and classmates. It was bad enough Dog followed her around everywhere now, even in class.


    A little while later, Lucas strolled into the workshop. The man''s usual chipper attitude was gone, although he did give Yulia a friendly wave that she returned before he stopped next to Alexander.


    "I hope you know what you''re doing with this. It''s a slippery slope digging into people''s backgrounds."


    Alexander wasn''t at all surprised that the computer expert had figured out what he wanted the DNA signature for.


    "Let''s hope this is a one-time need," he replied as he accepted the data chip from the man. "How''s everything going for you? We haven''t spoken much lately."


    Since the man was here, he might as well chat with him to get his mind off of the Sorin issue for a little bit.


    Lucas snorted. "Oh, you know. My boss is a real slave driver. He barely lets us get up to eat, drink, and relieve ourselves."


    Alexander made his avatar roll its eyes but chuckled. "What are you even working on at the moment?"


    "Nothing," Lucas admitted. "I''m bored out of my mind. When are you going to have some cool new tech for me to play with and test?"


    "It''s funny you should mention that. I assume you''ve been drooling over the new printer that''s going up in orbit?"


    "I drooled one time," the man complained weakly. "And yes. That''s a rather large unit. I assume you got something equally as large coming from it? You finally decide to design and build your own warship from scratch instead of playing around with those old pirate derelicts? Or, ooh! Is the printer so you can start building the massive assembly components for your space station that you''ve been going on about for over a year?"


    "Not the station," Alexander admitted. "At least not yet. However, the printer will probably be instrumental when it comes time to build it. And not a warship either," Alexander quickly added, as the man looked ready to burst with glee.


    He felt bad about deflating the man''s excitement, but designing and building a warship would be a long way off, but this should at least give him some experience toward that goal.


    "It will be easier if I just show you," he said, reigniting a small spark of excitement in the young man. "Behold, the fishbone class utility ship!"


    The man stared at the rotating image in silence for a bit. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes before squinting them.


    Alexander was about to say something but Lucas held his hand up. "Give me a bit, I''m trying to decide if I''m seeing things or not."


    "It''s not that bad," Alexander huffed.


    "Not that bad? Alex, this has got to be the single ugliest ship I have ever laid my eyes on. And I''ve seen all of those pirate ships that got fed to the smelter. Why would you build something so¡­" The man gesticulated toward the hologram, seemingly at a loss for words.


    "It was the most efficient design."


    "From one friend to another, just no. Efficiency is one thing, but this ship is the most soulless construction I have ever seen." Lucas turned to look at Yulia, who was completely focused on her project, before turning back to him and lowering his voice. "People are already whispering about what you told us. Seeing something like this will only inflame those rumors."


    Alexander had not forgotten that the cat was out of the bag on what he was, but he had pushed those worries off to the side to deal with the more pressing problems currently plaguing him. It seemed not everyone was willing to let those rumors go. Maybe that was another reason for Sorin''s quick rise. Alexander had wondered why the man had garnered so much support so quickly.


    "Fine, how would you suggest I improve the ship? I don''t want to go overboard, because this is a work ship and we are limited on resources."


    "Hey, I understand completely, I do. And while I''m not a designer or artist, a few more curves and smooth lines will probably do wonders for the ship''s aesthetics. Hell, lean into the whole fishbone thing and make the crew section look like a fish''s head. At least people would get a kick out of that."


    He made the man wait while he modified the design. He didn''t go quite so far as to make the front look like a fish''s head, but he did round things out so the front didn''t look like an ''ugly box glued to some scaffolding'' according to Lucas.


    At a certain angle, the front did sort of look fish-shaped now and he had to admit, it looked better.


    If only it was as simple as adjusting the hull shape and sending it to the printer hoping everything inside still worked as he had intended. That was not the case.


    After getting the thumbs up from Lucas after the changes, he waited for the man to leave before he focused on fixing all the internal systems that no longer fit properly.


    He noticed Yulia stand up and he paused his work. "Have you finished?"


    She nodded. "What are you working on?" she asked.


    She really must have been engrossed in her work if she hadn''t overheard anything Lucas and him had been talking about. "It''s a new ship I''m designing. It will be used for hauling ore and other transportation tasks. Would you like to take a look while I go over your assignment?"


    Yulia nodded enthusiastically. Alexander smiled and locked the edit function before letting her explore the ship.


    It didn''t take Alexander long to verify her assignment was correct, but he let her play with the main holo display while he quickly whipped up another assignment for her.


    While he felt bad about keeping her from her friends and all the new children who had just arrived, he had to admit that he missed the days they just hung out together like back at Petrov Station. Life was so much simpler back when she worked on her little puzzles and kept him company while he fixed broken junk.


    This definitely felt like like a throwback to that time.


    Alexander knew this time together wouldn''t last, he couldn''t seclude her from classes and the other kids forever. Part of growing up was learning how to interact with your peers. And she would not get that experience by sitting with him every day or by being coddled like a pampered rich kid. He needed to find a balance where she could grow up normally without having to worry about another kidnapping incident.


    He also couldn''t go back to that simple existence because thousands of people''s lives now relied on him.

 Chapter 3-9

    Sorin had a huge grin on his face as he strutted through the Atrium. And why shouldn''t he? Blackmailing Gabriella and the accident with Sheila''s seeds had forced them to vote his way. His plan was working far better than even he had hoped. He had thought the council would at least balk at the four seats, forcing him to use one of those trump cards, but they had folded like wet tissue paper.Damien opposed him but the man was such a blunt moron that Sorin wasn''t worried about what he might do.


    The fact was, there was nothing the Head of Security could do unless he chose to break his own laws to do it. Soon even that wouldn''t matter. He had already convinced Nancy to vote for the Emergency Orders Act. She had been reluctant at first but eventually agreed when he promised to procure votes from the other three. Not that it mattered, with her on his side he had the majority.


    Of course, when it came time to vote, Damien, Sheila, and Gabriella had voted against the law, but with Nancy''s vote, he got it passed.


    Having them so quickly turn their backs on him was annoying, but using blackmail or accidents to get them in line again wasn''t going to work a second time unless he was willing to follow through with his first threat. As tempting as that was, he had already gotten his way so he could reserve those for a later time. With this new Council mandate in place, he wouldn''t need to worry about the previous councilors much longer.


    Thanks to a previous ruling that was in place before he joined the Council, they could only vote on one mandate per session and any additional mandates required an emergency session which had to be agreed upon by the majority of the Council. Sorin and his people declined the emergency session, stating a lack of an actual emergency.


    The look on Damien''s face when he was told no was priceless and Sorin wished he had a recorder so he could play the stupified expression back on repeat.


    Getting the Emergency Orders Act passed was only the first step in his plan to take control of Eden''s End. Considering how apathetic Kane seemed, he was sure he could convince the man that sticking around after the change in leadership was the right thing to do. He didn''t need the man to complete his ambitions, but he would be dumb to discount the benefits that Kane''s work had brought so far.


    With the first step in his plan done, Sorin used some of his contacts to tie Damien up with some security issues so he could force through the next Council mandate with a majority. He once again convinced Nancy that there was an important matter that needed to be voted on, but the woman was getting upset with so much additional time spent on Council business that he suspected she would turn him down if he kept it up for too long.


    Thankfully, he wouldn''t need the woman''s support much longer. Over the next few days, he ensured one of the other councilors was absent as the votes went through. Each mandate further shifted power from the individual to a consensus, then to an elected leader. He hadn''t even bothered with the pretense of needing Nancy for the final vote that solidified his power as the Council Chairman position which now held sole voting power by virtue of majority decision at the time of voting. And he had managed this all completely legally and by the laws that the Council had established.


    Now that Sorin was confident in his people''s control over the Council, he moved on to phase two. He needed to consolidate power, not just within the council but over the entire facility. It was also the most dangerous step of his plans.


    Being the new Council Chairman gave him the legitimacy he needed. He used that power to speak to people and spread fear through the rumor he had heard about Kane in the guise of concern. Whether that rumor was true or not didn''t matter. The only thing that mattered was if people believed it to be true. He needed the people on his side and what better way to do that than to give them a target to fear and hate?


    The other people in his movement were also spreading the word, starting with the families. It was time to let them know about the monster in their midst.


    There was a possibility this tactic would alienate Kane, but Sorin deemed it the most expedient method to drive the majority of drifters to his point of view and that was what currently mattered. If he managed to retain Kane''s services after that fact, that was just a bonus.


    He let the poisoned words settle in for a few days before he made his way to the security room. He knew Damien was off dealing with some issue, so this was the perfect time to pay a visit.


    "Councilor Sorin, I- I don''t think you''re allowed to be here," one of the guards spoke uncertainly. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Sorin smiled brightly, remembering the lessons taught by his grandfather about how to manipulate the masses. He wished the old man was still around, his grandfather had been a rather important figure in the political arena back in the STO before something happened that caused him to abandon his identity and flee into the anonymity of the drifter community.


    Gramps had never spoken of what happened, and Sorin honestly didn''t care. If it wasn''t for the old man, their family wouldn''t have crawled their way back up to a prominent position.


    He remembered the man''s words well. "Farming might not seem like much," his grandfather would say, "but look around. Food is a resource that everyone needs. If you can control that, you can control people. This won''t always be the case, though. If you ever get a chance to become something greater, don''t waste it. Find the one thing you can use to control the masses, and never let go."


    They were words he lived by to this day.


    Unfortunately, there hadn''t been many opportunities over the years to use this to his advantage. His grandfather had firmly established their family as one of the top farming families, but only by a small margin instead of shooting them head and shoulders above everyone else with his knowledge. The old man had done this on purpose, stating that standing out too much brought envy.


    While Sorin had admired his grandfather, he had never really understood those words until he was forced to watch as that damnable woman Sheila nearly doubled her harvest, easily outperforming his farm by a wide margin.


    That was when he understood his grandfather''s wisdom, and also when he started planning.


    "Actually, it''s Council Chairman now. I''m just here to make sure everyone is being treated fairly and that the rumors aren''t causing any issues," he replied to the guard.


    The pair of men looked uncomfortable. That was exactly what Sorin wanted.


    "Is it true?" the other guard asked. "Is Kane an alien?"


    Sorin had been waiting for the question and managed to school his face into a mask of concern. "I don''t know, lad. If the rumors are true, there''s no telling what the thing might do if we act rashly. We are drifters, that might not mean much to outsiders, but it means we stick together. If you know any other drifters among the guard who are concerned by these rumors, have them come speak with me or my people. Unlike your boss, we still hold community sacred."


    The guards nodded and Sorin returned the gesture before leaving. The rumors and fear would spread, and soon it would be time to move on to phase three, securing the facility.


    ***


    Alexander was in the middle of something when his tablet beeped an alert. He knew it couldn''t be an alert for Yulia, because she was sitting ten feet away. He picked up the device and groaned internally. Someone had tripped the sensors on the weapon storage racks where the light-augment suits and heavy weapons were stored.


    "Yulia, it''s time for a bit of a break. Would you like to see something neat?"


    The girl paused her work and nodded.


    Alexander led her through the secret tunnel to the Qcomm relay room.


    "Whoa!" the girl said as her eyes landed on the large black square in the center of the room.


    There were other items in the room now as well, although, they looked out of place next to the ominous armored cube.


    Ever since Alexander had been alerted to the Council issues, he had taken steps to outfit the room like one of the bunkers.


    There was a mattress on the floor, food enough for a month, water, a small bathroom, and a terminal that Yulia could continue her work on.


    "Pretty cool, right?" he asked.


    Yulia nodded and looked like she wanted to go over and inspect the device, but Alexander stopped her.


    "No touching, ok?" she reluctantly nodded and he made his avatar smile. "I need to go run an errand real quick, you and Dog hang out here until I get back. If you get bored, I loaded your study work on that terminal over there." He pointed to the terminal off to the side.


    The girl wasn''t stupid though. She looked at the food and water piled up along the wall. "How long will you be gone?" she asked with concern.


    "A few hours at most," he said with assurance.


    "Is there another kidnapper here?"


    She didn''t sound worried, she sounded angry.


    Alexander kneeled down next to her. "No, nothing like that, dear. I just want to ensure you''re safe. It''s just a few drifters who think they know better than they do. I''m going to go speak to them and sort this out."


    "Is it anyone I know?" she asked worriedly.


    He chuckled lightly. The girl wasn''t worried about herself, but she was worried about others. "No, dear. All of your friends and their families will be fine." He hoped those words were true, he would hate to be proven a liar if they got hurt.


    Three more alerts pinged on his tablet, letting him know he needed to go and head off this situation before it got out of hand. "I need to leave now. Dog, keep her safe."


    The robot barked in confirmation and Alexander shared a quick hug with the girl before sealing her into the room and hurrying toward the security area.


    He knew Damien must have lost control of at least part of the security force, otherwise he would have alerted Alexander to a situation that required heavy armament. Alexander may have felt a bit paranoid when he added the overrides to the weapons, but now he was thankful that he had. He quickly accessed the facility''s speaker system and sent out the subsonic frequency that would disable the explosives.


    He hadn''t built in similar overrides to the converted miniguns and light-augment gear though and he really wished he had.


    As he neared the security area, he didn''t hear any sounds of gunfire or fighting, but he did hear a whole lot of yelling back and forth.


    Alexander arrived at a blockade. He didn''t see Damien anywhere though.


    One person he did recognize was Travers, the man who had once been a Team Leader for the Hawks. He had heard the man had taken a position in the guard but he was surprised to see him here.


    Pulse rifles were pointed Alexander''s way as he rounded the corner. People quickly lowered them when they realized it was him though.


    "What''s going on, and where is Damien?"Alexander asked.


    "Some of the guards have taken control of the security room and barricaded it off. As for Damien, we can''t contact him," Travers stated.


    Alexander really wished he had a nose so he could pinch it in exasperation in this situation. "How many guards are inside and do they have any demands?"


    "Unclear on the numbers, but they keep yelling that they are not working for an alien. Any idea what that''s about?"


    "Seriously," Alexander groaned. "I can fill you in later. Take a team and find Damien, I''ll deal with the guard situation."


    "You sure that''s a good idea?" Travers asked. "They have grenade launchers and heavy weapons."


    It would be pretty stupid if the treasonous guards started firing grenades in the security room, but even if they did, Alexander would be fine.


    "Go, I can handle this," Without waiting for a reply, Alexander pushed the barricade aside and strode down the hallway to the security office.


    He was all for letting Sorin implicate himself, but this had gone too far and it was now time to end this farce.


    The group of four guards saw him coming and even raised their heavy weapons at him.


    "S- Stop, alien!" one of the men managed to get out.


    Alexander ignored the stuttering fool and continued toward the security room at a steady pace.


    The same guard must have panicked because he pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher.


    Alexander was more surprised that his defensive field didn''t kick in than he was by one of them trying to shoot him. Did his body have some sort of sensor to know that the grenades were inert or did it not activate because Alexander knew the weapon wasn''t a threat?


    The latter seemed more likely. The three grenades smashed against his torso with enough force to shift him ever so slightly. Everyone froze.


    Alexander looked down at the deformed grenades, then up at the surprised guards. "I guess we can add attempted murder to the charges. You can either put down the weapons and hope for leniency, or you can face my wrath." He was hoping his reputation would be enough to make them see reason. If not, well, he wasn''t a stranger to violence anymore.


    All of the guards set their weapons down and threw their hands in the air before backing off to the side.


    "Smart decision," Alexander said as he walked over and crushed the weapons into inoperability. Then he disabled the light-augment gear that the four men were wearing before shoving them to the ground none too gently. "If you''re not sitting right here when I get back, I know each of your faces, I will find you. And any chance that you might live to regret this idiocy will have been squandered. Are we clear?"


    The four men nodded frantically.


    Alexander nodded once in return before turning to the security room door and kicking it open. The shriek of tearing metal drowned out the shouts of surprise from the people inside.

 Chapter 3-10

    As the door shot open, Alexander sped up his processing speed to take in the startled people inside the armory. There were only a few actual guards, the rest looked to be civilians based on the fact they weren''t wearing the tailored armor of the light augmentation suits, but instead simple plate carrier vests.Three people in particular caught his attention not because they were guards, but because they were three of the four new Councilors. The only one absent seemed to be Sorin.


    Alexander quickly scanned the rest of the people, seeing only one guard holding the newly modified flechette miniguns. The rest were still in the process of suiting up.


    Seeing no real danger, he dropped his processing speed back to normal. "Councilor Anita, Rowan, and Dax or Dex, I always forget which it is. Funny running into you three here. I suggest you all put your weapons and armor down and come with me."


    Councilor Anita scoffed. "And who are you to tell us what we can and can''t do, Mr. Kane? You are not part of the Council. If anything, we should demand you explain to us why you have broken into the armory."


    Alexander ignored the woman and turned to the other two councilors. "Is this really how you want this to go?"


    The two men looked at each other before throwing their hands in the air.


    "Good choice," Alexander stated before turning back to the woman who was now huffing in indignation.


    She pointed toward him and screeched. "Arrest this man!"


    A few of the guards took tentative steps forward but immediately stopped when Alexander spoke up. "Touch me and I will break all of your limbs and leave you like that until the trial is over."


    His threat of bodily harm finally got through their thick skulls and an uneasy standoff continued until a group of fully armed Hawks stormed into the room twenty minutes later. Alexander could have subdued the group himself, but that would have meant chasing them. It had been much easier to block the only exit to the room and wait. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Team Leader Jallen, thanks for responding to my message so quickly. Have you taken the men outside into custody?"


    "We have. They did not put up a fight."


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "Relieve these people of their weapons and armor and find someplace safe to hold them."


    Jallen nodded. "You hear him, team, round these morons up."


    The female council member screamed about this treatment being against the law and how could they do this to her until Alexander prompted the mercenaries to stun her for everyone''s sanity. From there, it was a quick cleanup of the attempted coup.


    Travers appeared an hour later with less-than-ideal news. "We found Damien. It appears like some of the guards lured him to a deserted section of the facility claiming there was a problem. Then those three along with some others jumped him."


    "Is he okay?" Alexander asked, not expecting that development.


    Travers shook his head. "Damien is alive but in the medical wing. They beat him pretty badly, but he did not go down without a fight. He killed three of the people sent after him and wounded two others. Those bastards got dragged to the medical wing as well so we can question them when they wake up."


    "When they wake up? If they were unconscious, then who told you there were eight attackers?"


    "Like I said, Damien didn''t go down without a fight. He was still partially conscious when we arrived. He said the remaining men ran off, but they were all wearing masks so he couldn''t tell us who they were."


    In a rare bout of anger, Alexander slammed his fist into the steel doorframe, putting a fist-sized dent into the thick metal and making Travers take a half step back.


    Realizing what he had done, he apologized. "I''m sorry, I''m not mad at you, I''m just angry over this entire situation. I don''t know who Damien''s second-in-command is. Could you find them for me?"


    "That might be an issue," the man scratched the back of his head. "He was one of the people Damien put down."


    Alexander sighed. "Ok, for now, I''m putting you in charge. Work with Jorvin from intake. I know Damien was using him as an admin. Have him help you get an accurate count of who was involved. Also, work with the Hawks to find those three missing attackers. It''s possible they were part of this coup attempt but we can''t be certain. I will work with Damien''s brother to see if we can pull security footage. One last thing Travers, find Councilman Sorin. If there was even a whiff of him being involved, arrest him. I don''t care if people throw a big stink about it, I want every single person involved with this insurrection brought to justice."


    The man nodded and hurried off to carry out his orders.


    ***


    A few days passed since the guard debacle and Alexander stood at the center of the remaining Council as the captured insurrectionists were led into the atrium. They had to use the intake area because there were too many people to fit anywhere else.


    A few notable people were missing from the people standing beside him. Nancy and Sheila were present, but Damien and Gabriella were both absent. The man was being treated for his injuries and Gabriella refused to leave his side while he was in the medical wing. Alexander could hardly blame her for that.


    Sorin''s three cronies were here, being led into the room in shackles like the rest of the accused.


    Somehow the self-proclaimed Council Chairman had managed to keep his nose squeaky clean during the minor uprising. Travers had found the man asleep in his home. Of course, Alexander didn''t buy the man''s innocence for a single moment. He knew Sorin was behind this whole plan. It had taken a bit of programming magic by Lucas to prove it which is why this sentencing had taken a few days, but now Alexander had everything he needed to get rid of the man.


    Alexander couldn''t prove the blackmail or incident with the seeds was Sorin''s doing. The man who had blackmailed Gabriella was another one of the attackers that Damien had killed. It seemed more than a little coincidental that the second in command of the guard as well as a direct link to Sorin''s misdeeds had died. It was almost as if Sorin was trying to cover his tracks and remove competition.


    Alexander kept a part of his attention focused on Sorin as the last of the insurrectionists were forced to kneel in front of him and the Council. The Council Chairman took a step forward and was about to speak as if he was going to lead this sentencing, but Alexander cut him off. He would have put Sorin right with the rest of these people, but he wanted the man to taste victory, only for it to turn to ash in his mouth.


    "Councilor Sorin, I will be handling matters from here."


    The man spluttered. "Wh- What? But this is Council business."


    "You heard me," Alexander lowered his voice dangerously, making the man stumble back a step until he was back in line with the other two.


    Alexander had played around with this charade long enough, it was time to end this nonsense so he could focus on real issues and not someone''s megalomania. He slowly walked through the groups of kneeling people as he spoke.


    "I understand why you did what you did. Based on some of the rumors I''ve been hearing, you probably thought I was some alien sent to subjugate you. If I were in your place, I would have been afraid as well. The only difference is that I would have taken the time to think about the person these rumors were about. Was that person violent, distrustful, evil? Had they committed acts of violence or depravity that might warrant such fear? Can any of you honestly say I have done anything to you other than to try and improve your lives here?" He continued his slow pace, making sure to walk past each and every person present. Nobody spoke up or said anything as the silence dragged on so he continued. "I won''t deny those rumors that I''m an alien."


    That statement garnered shocked gasps, the first response his words had elicited thus far, but nobody here raised their voice to shout out or interrupt him.


    "That''s right. I can''t deny my alien nature. Are you truly surprised, look at me," he gestured to his body. "Have you ever seen a robot or any piece of human tech that has ever looked anything like this?"


    More murmurs spread through the accused as Alexander started back through the kneeling people. "Despite my body being alien," he tapped his torso loud enough for the sound to get everyone''s attention. "What''s in here is human. I am not here to subjugate you. You are all so quick to forget that I offered everyone here the option to leave when I arrived. Most chose to stay. That was your choice. Never once did I force anyone to work for me, in fact, I offered generous compensation for those who choose to accept work. Some of you accepted that offer and yet I see you here before me. Had any of you bothered to ask me if these rumors were true, I would have told you the truth. I wasn''t trying to hide it, there are plenty of people in Eden''s End who already knew about my situation." He didn''t name names, because that would just make Damien and Gabriella look even more guilty of being his puppets.


    Alexander continued speaking as he slowly walked through the prisoners. "Someone convinced you that I was here to enslave you or do something equally as bad. I know you''ve forgotten the options I gave you when I first arrived, but are your memories so short that you do not remember my contributions during the pirate attack? How I put myself in harm''s way to save people. Once again, I see some of those people I saved kneeling on the ground here as well."


    Alexander had to pause as a wave of anger passed through him.


    "It disgusts me to believe that after all I have done for everyone on Eden''s End, you would turn on me, and the other residents at the drop of a hat. If we were in the STO, I would have shipped you off to a prison colony and washed my hands of every single one of you. Except for you," he stated grimly, stopping in front of the man who had fired the grenade launcher.


    Not being able to ship their troublemakers off the planet, Alexander had to figure out a way to deal with them personally. As much as he would like to, he couldn''t simply kill them all and be done with it. While their crimes were many, most did not warrant a death sentence.


    This was one man who did. He was the man who fired the grenades at Alexander, and if it hadn''t been for his disabling of the explosives beforehand, it may have caused harm to others. Even if it hadn''t the man''s actions were clear, he had meant to kill Alexander. "You have a choice. Firing squad, or you can be banished to the surface."


    The shock he heard from Nancy and a few of the accused did not sway Alexander''s decision.


    It took the shaking man over a minute to respond. "I- I- wish to be banished."


    "So be it," Alexander said, walking away from the man.


    Two of the Hawks grabbed the man and lifted him to his feet. They would take him via a shuttle to a remote section of the planet, and leave him there where he would be monitored from orbit until his eventual demise from suffocation. Alexander would have taken the quick way out if the choice had been given to him.


    Once the room settled down, Alexander stepped up next to the Councilors and turned to address the remaining people. "As for the rest of you, you will be remanded to forced labor for your crimes. Anyone refusing to work will join the gentleman who was led outside by the Hawks. Once your sentence is complete, you will be banished from Eden''s End and Unokane. Any questions?"


    "What about our families?" one person cried out.


    "What about our livelihood?" another desperately pleaded.


    "Those are things you should have thought about before taking on these reckless and downright idiotic actions. I know you were fooled, but you are still accountable for your own actions. Don''t worry though, the people responsible will be joining you." Alexander gestured and his holo emitter went from showing his avatar''s face to a recording of Councilor Sorin discussing his coup plans with his other cronies. The four laughed as they discussed the deaths of certain people, completely secure in the knowledge that nobody would ever know what they had spoken about in that room. Too bad for them that Lucas had a bit of a bone to pick with the people who had harmed his brother.


    There had been no cameras in that room, but sound still traveled and the facility recorded all sorts of interesting things like seismic data. The video was a composite of that data, constructed through a program that Lucas had helped him build. Was it perfectly accurate, no, but their tests proved that it was over ninety-five percent correct and that was enough for Alexander.


    Of course, Sorin saw this and tried to make a run for it, but Alexander had positioned himself next to the man after he returned to the front of the room. The Council Chairman, and chief architect of this coup made it less than a step before Alexander wrapped his long fingers around the man''s neck.


    The man gagged as Alexander exerted just a bit of his strength.


    "Council Chairman Sorin, being the architect of this attack, will be subject to all of the same charges as everyone below him."


    Based on how the man started to struggle to free himself even though it only increased his choking, he understood the implications of those words. Good.


    "I will give you the same option I gave the guard. Firing squad, or banishment to the surface?" He let up just enough to let the man catch his breath.


    Like a typical politician, Sorin wasted that air as soon as it entered his body. "I don''t know what this nonsense is that you-," Alexander squeezed down again, cutting the man off.


    "The people here have heard enough of your lies, Chairman," Alexander said in disgust. "If you don''t wish to choose, I will allow the people you tricked to choose for you." He jerked the man forward so he was facing the rest of the accused. "Raise your hand if you think this man deserves a firing squad."


    No hands went up. Only accusatory glares met the short-lived Council leader.


    "Raise your hand if you think he should be banished to the surface."


    The only hands that stayed down this time were his three cohorts. Alexander was tempted to pile on the same charges to those three, but the evidence clearly showed that Sorin was in charge, and the man had used them just as much as the rest of the people.


    "Looks like the choice has been made." Two more Hawks came over and grabbed Sorin. "Gag him as well, I don''t want to hear another word out of his mouth."


    As soon as Alexander let go, the man tried demanding his innocence before a wad of some unidentified cloth was shoved none too gently into his mouth. Then Sorin was dragged away, kicking and screaming through the rag as he was led to the shuttle.


    He sentenced every other person to a year of hard labor for their role in the attack. The three former councilors got three years. As for the men who attacked Damien, they were still looking through the video records to find who the responsible parties were, at least the ones that Damien hadn''t killed or knocked unconscious during the scuffle. Once they did, those people would receive attempted murder charges as well and be given the same option as Sorin.


    As for the attackers that survived Damien, Alexander would deal with them once they woke up.


    Even surprised and outnumbered, the Head of Security had managed to outright kill three of those individuals before they managed to subdue him. And he did this with his bare hands and a stun baton.


    Alexander knew the man was a martial arts expert, but this really put it into perspective for him.


    He turned to Nancy and Sheila. Nancy was sobbing, but Sheila was stoic through the whole ordeal. "You are dismissed. Nancy, I''m sorry you had to sit here and watch this. I promise you won''t have to do that ever again." He didn''t mention it was because he was removing the council''s power.


    The woman nodded but didn''t respond to him before she hurried off.


    With this ugliness out of the way, Alexander headed toward the medical wing to check on Damien and Gabriella.


    He didn''t need to worry about the prisoners. The Hawks had that handled. They were already setting up a prison camp at the far end of Atrium D with the help of Yi Na. The walls going up would keep any curious people away.


    Even with the insurrectionists imprisoned, things were going to change around Eden''s End. Despite wanting to dissolve the council completely, he couldn''t do that. The people still needed a voice or he was just going to run into this issue again and again. He also didn''t take any other drastic actions like evicting the entire drifter population. Most of them had nothing to do with Sorin''s coup attempt.


    Another concern he had was time, Alexander simply did not have time to manage the day-to-day issues of over four thousand people. The Council could still do that, they just wouldn''t be able to make any laws or have any actual power. Anything of note would need to come through him until he could find someone competent enough to handle that part of system ownership for him.


    That person wouldn''t have a leadership title, he learned his lesson there. They would be a BSE employee, ensuring Alexander remained in charge of this facility. If people wanted to make their own cities on Eden''s End, or in the system, they were more than welcome to do so. Alexander didn''t need to or want to become an iron-handed dictator, but he also couldn''t let people do whatever the hell they wanted. He would establish a set of laws for any groups who wished to make their own place within Unokane. As long as they maintained those laws and paid taxes, they would be left alone.


    He had a few candidates in mind for that position, but he would need to speak to them first to see if they were interested. For now, he needed to get to the medical wing.


    When Alexander arrived, he found Gabriella sitting next to Damien''s hospital bed, reading something on a tablet. She looked up as he entered.


    "How is he?" Alexander asked. He had only been able to check in once since the conflict had been resolved.


    "Lucid, when he''s awake," she admitted as she set the tablet down. "Is it over then?"


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "Sorin was given exile to the surface."


    "Good," the woman spat. "I hope he suffers a good long time before he expires."


    Alexander chose to change the subject. "And the other man?"


    "He''s unlikely to recover. Which is a shame, I would like to watch him marched out of the facility without a mask as well."


    Ok, perhaps it wasn''t the best change of topic, but he couldn''t think of anything else to discuss with the woman. He felt extremely out of place here.


    "You shouldn''t say stuff like that," Damien''s raspy voice saved him.


    "And you should be sleeping," the woman said softly, her vitriol fading away to worry.


    "Hard to sleep when I have two people yapping next to my bed."


    "I''m sorry," Alexander stated. "I probably should have waited until you were recovered some more."


    "I''ve had worse," the man said, trying to push himself up, while Gabriella tried to get him to remain still. The woman eventually won, settling the bandaged man back into the bed.


    There was a long drawn-out silence before Damien spoke again. "I failed in my duties. For that, I''m sorry."


    Those were certainly not words he ever expected to hear from the cantankerous man.


    "That''s not nes-," Alexander started to say when Gabriella cut him off.


    "We failed. If you want us to leave, we will leave."


    Alexander was a bit shocked by the woman''s statement. "You both made poor choices, that''s true, but I believe you are both still the best fit for your respective positions."


    Gabriella gave a tiny nod as she squeezed Damien''s hand. "Even so, I don''t believe we should be the voice for the people anymore. Our choices are suspect at best."


    "The council will change, but it will be the people who decide who their voice is. If you don''t want that responsibility, simply tell them. We can discuss the specifics when you''ve recovered. Until then, I will let you get some rest."


    Alexander wished them well and left the medical wing, glad to finally put this ordeal behind him.

 Chapter 3-11

    LOCATION: AURION PRIMESYSTEM: AURION


    DATE: 2400


    Vitor kept his head down and did his best to blend into the crowd as he moved through the busy transport terminal. Ever since the Navy cut him loose, his life had gotten much more complicated.


    It started off innocently enough. A few inquiries as to what his plans were after the military, but Vitor wasn''t dumb enough to take those at face value, not with his past. The entities sending those were probing him for information. They wanted to know if he was willingly going to turn over all the classified information he had been privy to or if they needed to do it by force.


    He had seen it a thousand times during his stint in Special Operations before signing on with Fletcher''s black ops program. The only real difference between those two teams was that special operations got medals and recognition when they succeeded while Black Ops got assigned more work and maybe a pat on the back from Fletcher for a job well done.


    Not that he was complaining. Vitor had accomplished more in the five years he had been on Fletcher''s team than the decade he had served in Spec Ops. The ability to ignore red tape and deny they were involved sped up the process of eliminating threats to a significant degree.


    The problem was, someone on the disciplinary committee had remarked about his role in Black Ops. The seemingly offhand comment would have gone ignored by most, but the people with true power had quickly picked up on it. And now Vitor was trying to get off the planet before those special interests caught up with him.


    That meant leaving behind anything that could be used to track him, including his Navy issue Qcomm transceiver. He also couldn''t stop to access his messages, although, he had seen Kane''s before he finished hurriedly packing. Seeing the man''s name coming across his terminal had been quite a surprise but not nearly as much as the contents of the message had been. Kane''s message had been brief but Vitor couldn''t risk replying to it in case people were monitoring his connection.


    He knew the Qcomm network wasn''t as secure as the company that owned it made it out to be. The transceivers also sent regular radio pulses to maintain their status. Anyone with half a brain could track those.


    That wasn''t all he left behind though, even his clothes had changed. He now looked like just another low-level nobody, blending in with the crowd.


    He hoped it would be enough to get him to a few remaining allies and the ship that was waiting for him in this terminal.


    Vitor was three-quarters of the way through the terminal when he caught a reflection in a large glass display. He had been keeping tabs on people following him, but this was the first time he had seen at least two of the same people since he last checked.


    It might be nothing, they could just be heading his way, but from the way they walked and kept glancing his way, he didn''t think that was the case.


    He coughed to cover his hand movement as he slid it into the large pocket at the front of his hoodie. Vitor would have loved to have the hood up to cover his face a bit more, but that would have made him stand out even more.


    His hand gripped the small flechette pistol inside the pocket. He would rather spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering these two men than be carried off to some corporate black site where they would extract every last iota of information from him before making him disappear.


    He hoped it wouldn''t come to that though.


    Vitor rounded the final corner that led to the launch pad where the ship was parked and almost stopped.


    In front of the pair of doors was a group of people arguing with his former Chief Engineer, the Marine who Kane had subdued in the power armor, and six more of his former crew.


    Relief flooded his mind as he picked up his pace and hurried over to the two groups. He needed to smooth things over before his former crew and the only allies he thought he had left decided to fight it out here and now.


    One of the ship crew spotted him, and everyone turned. Vitor simply nodded and jogged up to the group. "I''m being trailed," he stated.


    The words ratcheted up the tension in the group, but they were all trained individuals. A side glance back showed that the two people following him simply kept going, not turning down this hallway. They must have realized they had been made.


    Vitor breathed a sigh of relief and turned to his former crew. "While I am pleased to see the lot of you, why are you here? And how did you even find out I was going to be here?"


    Chief Engineer Parson cleared his throat. The man still had minor scarring from the extensive injuries he took aboard Dawn, but the Medical staff at Eden''s End had done their best to remove any lingering damage. He was certain the Navy wouldn''t have done even half of that before discharging the man for honorable service. "Scott told us where to find you."


    Vitor chuffed at that. He should have known Vice Admiral Fletcher was keeping an eye on him. "You left out the part of why you''re here, CE." Normally he didn''t call people out by their rank, he tended to run a pretty lax ship when he was still a Captain, but sometimes you had to in order to get people''s attention.


    "Well, Cap- Vitor, We all received honorable discharges either for injuries suffered or for other reasons," the man glanced over at the Marine, who simply grunted.


    "I told my commander he could shove it where the sun don''t shine after he refused to allow me to testify on your behalf, Captain," the Marine stated, not shying away from his former title like the CE had.


    "Anyway," Parson continued. "Scott reached out to each of us. Said you might need some backup. He also said to keep an eye out, he might ask a favor from you."


    Vitor just shook his head. "Figures. I guess I should introduce you to my other friends."


    "Is that what we are now, Vitor?" a tall dark, and dangerous-looking woman asked.


    She was pretty as well, but Vitor would never be dumb enough to call her that to her face. The woman, a former paramour of his, considered being called pretty, beautiful, or any such nonsense like that a grave insult to her talent. And she was talented. An ace pilot, a deadly bounty hunter, and a force to be reckoned with.


    The woman was honestly too much for him to handle, which is why she was a former paramour, instead of a current one. "We really don''t have time to get into that," he said in annoyance, earning a grin from the woman. "Crew, this is Kaela Voss. She''s the Captain of the ship we''ll be taking."


    "I hope you all have something of value," the woman purred. "I don''t hump passengers for free."


    Vitor groaned at the woman''s purposeful choice of words, which only made her laugh and encouraged her even more. Before she could go on, or the Marine got any ideas, he spoke up. "I''ll cover them, Kaela, we need to leave. I doubt those were the only two corporate headhunters here."


    The woman tsked but relented. "Fine. Everyone grab your shit and get aboard, the Kyuubi No Kitsune waits for no one."


    Vitor had looked up the meaning of her ship name the first time she told it to him right after she bought it. It apparently meant a nine-tailed fox in an old dialect of Japanese. That only made him spend more credits to look up what Japanese was, and what significance a nine-tailed fox had in that culture. He wasn''t surprised by what he found, the description fits the woman to a T. He was also pretty sure she picked it just because she knew people would be forced to spend credits to actually look it up. She liked to do stuff like that.


    The Fox, because he refused to call it by the ridiculous name she had given it, would technically be considered a large corvette, except it wasn''t armed. The STO barely handed out licenses to large mercenary companies to go around in armed ships, they certainly wouldn''t do that for a bounty hunter with a crew of six.


    "Since I didn''t expect additional passengers, we all get to hot bunk, isn''t that wonderful!" Kaela said enthusiastically. "You can hot bunk with me if you like Vitor," she turned to him and winked.


    Hot bunking was the term used for when two people would share a cot, one got day shift, the other night. It wasn''t the worst conditions he had experienced aboard a ship though. He once had to triple bunk, where three people shared and each got eight hours. If you weren''t up at that exact minute so the next person could sleep, you were getting unceremoniously dumped out of that bed.


    "Pass," he said as he trudged up the narrow ramp of the ship. Vitor had no interest in rekindling his relationship with the woman and she knew it. She was just putting on this show to make him uncomfortable.


    "Spoilsport," she said with a pout.


    "I''ll bunk with you," Parson said to Vitor. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Vitor nodded, even though Parson still seemed uncertain of how to address him now that he wasn''t a Captain anymore. Hopefully, the man would get over that.


    The crew piled into the available rooms, which had two beds each and were quite cramped even before anyone entered them. It certainly wasn''t luxury accommodations, but it beat ending up in corporate hands.


    He quickly stowed the few items he brought along, mostly clothing, and made his way to the bridge. Although it was small enough that it could be called a cockpit and nobody would call you out on the terminology.


    "So, loverboy, where we heading, hmm? You were awfully tight-lipped in your correspondence. I suppose that''s to be expected considering the two goons who followed you. Is that problem going to chase us the entire way?" That last question was a rather pointed one.


    "Maybe," he said with a shrug. "It depends on how badly the corporations want me and possibly the rest of the crew with me." While most of them probably didn''t know shit about the classified systems on Dawn, that wasn''t true for Parson. Vitor suspected Fletcher knew Parson would be a target and ensured he made it out of the corporation''s grasp without issue. He doubted Parson would have made it to the gate otherwise. He didn''t have Vitor''s training and experience, and even that almost wasn''t enough.


    "Not ideal," Kaela frowned. "We can deal with that if it happens. Your destination?" she asked again.


    He gave her the name of the system and she plotted it into her computer before her frown deepened. "You sure you want to go there?"


    Vitor nodded. "Get me there, and you''ll get paid. I''ll even throw in a bonus if you don''t harass my people."


    She chuckled. "That''s no fun, but fine. I can play nice for a few months. I hope you know what you''re doing though."


    "Me too," he said as he patted her lightly on the shoulder before exiting the bridge. As much as he would like to head straight to Eden''s End, he didn''t want to get Kaela mixed up in his problems any more than she already was, nor did he want anyone outside of his crew to know exactly where he was heading, which is why they were going to Epsilon Indi first.

 Chapter 3-12

    SYSTEM: EPSILON INDI S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.DATE: 2400


    The Fox popped out of FTL and glided into Epsilon Indi. When Vitor thought of a place where he could shake the corporate bloodhounds, he knew of only one system in STO space that fit the bill.


    There would still be corporate spies here, there was no doubt of that, but their power here was far less than any other system.


    Unlike most systems that had habitable planets, which usually spawned a systemwide level of government to go with them, Epsilon Indi was ruled by a loose collection of criminal elements from small-time local syndicates to major criminal elements from other worlds who ensured they had a presence in the one system where anything went.


    He wasn''t being facetious when he made that claim. If you had enough credits, you could buy anything in Epsilon Indi. It was the black market hub for the entirety of human space. The STO knew this and tried multiple times to rid the system of criminal influence, but it always returned. The most they could do was try to restrict what left the system, a losing battle in Vitor''s mind.


    "Well, we''re here," Kaela said in disgust. "What shithole station do you want to visit?"


    "I have a contact on Pardat Station."


    She sighed. "Please don''t tell me it''s Paresh. You know he''ll just fleece you on anything you buy and probably sell you out as well."


    "Ok, I won''t," he said, earning a disappointed head shake from the woman.


    Paresh was an old acquaintance to both him and Kaela. Back then, the man had simply been an information broker, and a chance run-in at the man''s business was how Kaela and he first met. Compared to some of the people who made their livelihoods out here, Paresh was a saint. That didn''t mean he could be trusted though.


    Vitor didn''t need trust at the moment, he needed a ship, preferably one modified for smuggling, armaments would be appreciated as well, but he doubted he would be able to afford anything like that. He much preferred to be invisible, and that meant the ability to disable the ship''s transponder at will. He knew Paresh always had a ship ready to go for someone desperate enough to pay the exorbitant fee.


    Originally, he planned to find a smuggler to take him to Eden''s End. Preferably one he didn''t know personally. Kaela would take him the entire way if he asked her, but he didn''t want to paint a target on her back. The corporations would already know she took him here, but he was hoping to make enough noise in the system to at least alert a few of the headhunters in the system that he was leaving via alternative means so they didn''t bother trying to question the woman.


    There were plenty of drifter smugglers and he was sure at least a few were in the system at the moment. For a single person, that would have been easy enough to make happen. His plans changed when his previous crew turned up.


    A smuggler might agree to take one or two people, but not all of them, especially since it was clear that they were former Navy. And Vitor wouldn''t trust any smuggler who said they would take the entire crew. No, it was better to find his own ship. The cost would be astronomical, likely bankrupting his entire savings, but if it paid off, he would be clear of the corporations.


    Money wouldn''t do him any good if he was dead anyway.


    As the ship neared the station, he made his way back to his bunk to grab a few things.


    "Need company, Captain?" Parson asked.


    The man had finally gotten over his hangup and just decided to call him Captain again.


    "No, I don''t want to spook my contact. You can do something else for me though, get everyone ready to move quickly. Once this deal is done, I want to be out of here as soon as possible. I don''t want to give anyone out here the time to come after me if there is already a corporate bounty on my head."


    The man rose from the cot, "I''ll make sure we''re ready to go, Captain. Um, what about Captain Voss?"


    "Kaela and her people will be fine. I already told them what I planned on doing. She did more than I could have asked for by taking us all the way here. It was more than what I originally asked for." When he had originally reached out to Kaela, he told her he only needed to go a few systems over. Of course, that was a lie. He just didn''t want to alert anyone who was reading his messages to know where he planned to go.


    Kaela wasn''t stupid though, she knew something was up from the moment he contacted her.


    Vitor stuffed the small handheld flechette pistol in his waistband. He felt woefully unprepared to be in space in just civilian clothes, but he didn''t have a vac suit or armor.


    If he had any money left over after speaking with Paresh, he would see about outfitting his people just for some peace of mind. He was sure whatever bucket of bolts his acquaintance managed to scrounge up and sell to him would not be very space-worthy. Having suits would at least make him feel slightly more optimistic that they might reach their destination alive.


    Despite the criminal nature of Epsilon Indi, as Vitor stepped off the ship, he found the station to be well-lit. That didn''t have anything to do with actual lighting though.


    The place was bright and garish, with flashing advertisements filling up every available space along the walls. The advertisements promised anything from drugs to first-rate plastic surgery as well as other darker pleasures.


    He ignored them as he walked through the docking ring with his hood up and his eyes scanning everyone he saw.


    Vitor didn''t hunch over and try to keep out of sight. That worked in civilized worlds, but here it would just make him look like an easy mark. He stood tall, and his walk was more of a strut, telling people he knew what he was about.


    This wouldn''t deter everyone, but it would give them pause. His baggy clothes could also be hiding any number of weapons, adding additional unknowns for anyone who thought to test him.


    Luckily he was left unmolested as he made his way to Paresh''s shop. The garish holo display above the entry flashed in every conceivable bright color to grab your attention to the sign above the door. The words ''Paresh''s Fine Goods'' were written in bold letters of gold that sparkled as the colors reflected off of them.


    If Vitor was sure of one thing, it was that the sign contained no gold. If it had, it would have been stolen long ago. Gold might not have the same value as it did in ages past, but the precious metal was still used for electronics and jewelry.


    He stepped inside the store and did his best not to cough as the haze of narcotic smoke wafted through the air. The ambiance of the establishment wasn''t helped by the music either. Vitor didn''t know what type of song it was, but it was certainly an acquired taste.


    A few of the patrons glanced over at him, but quickly lost interest as they continued to browse through the items on display. While the sign might say ''fine goods'', Paresh''s shop was a pawn shop. Everything on display was second-hand at best.


    He waited for the dumpy-looking man behind the counter to finish the transaction before he walked over.


    "Can I help you?" Paresh asked as he took a deep inhale from a pipe and blew the smoke into the air.


    Vitor pushed back his hood. "Been a while, Paresh."


    The man looked at him for a second before chuckling. "Oh, that it has. What brings someone of your illustrious career out here, hmm? Or should I say previous illustrious career? I hear you''ve had some recent setbacks in that regard. Looking for work perhaps?"


    It was no surprise that Paresh had heard about his situation. The man had always been well-informed.


    "I''m looking for a ship," Vitor stated, not answering the man''s other questions. "One that won''t draw attention outside of the normal routes."


    "Ha!" Paresh exclaimed as he pounded his meaty hand on the table. "Had someone bet me that you would take up smuggling, I would have laughed in their face and lost a bet."


    Vitor winced at the man''s volume but didn''t glance around. The mirrored walls behind the counter let him see everyone''s reaction behind him. Most seemed uninterested, but a few kept glancing over.


    A fresh captain going to claim a new ship would make a good target to rob.


    Paresh continued as if nothing had happened. "I have a ship that fits your request¡­ I can even offer security services to get you there in one piece. The question is, how much is it worth to you? I hear the corporate goons are looking for you, old friend."


    He should have figured Paresh''s outburst was staged. The man didn''t stay in business in one of the most dangerous systems around without knowing how to play the game.


    "How big a ship are we talking about?"


    "Big enough for everyone aboard the Kitsune. How is Kaela, by the way? Bit rude that she didn''t come to say hi."


    Fuck! Just how much information about their arrival was already out there?


    "She''s not planning to stick around long." He needed to move this conversation along. The longer he sat here dithering with Paresh, the more likely it was that someone would locate him. "How much for the ship?"


    "How much you got?" the man asked with a greasy smile.


    He didn''t have time for this, and he couldn''t call the man out on his bullshit because it would only make him stall even longer. One of the interested parties had already left the shop. That person was probably going straight to another information broker or their own people.


    Gritting his teeth, Vitor threw out a number just to get the conversation moving. The sum was more than he wanted to spend but less than he had.


    As expected, Paresh tsked. "Vitor, you wound me with this lowball offer. I thought we were friends?"


    Vitor wanted to laugh at that. If they were friends, the man would have given him a counteroffer. Instead, he left Vitor hanging to force him to make a better offer. He raised the sum by five hundred thousand.


    The man tilted his head back and forth in thought and Vitor watched the second person who had shown interest in him walk out.


    He swore to himself he would come back here one day and show Paresh the error of his ways as he stated his final price. It was a full million and a half more than the last offer, and it left him with very few credits remaining.


    "Wonderful!" Paresh exclaimed as he clapped his hands together. "You''re in luck as well, my friend. The ship just came in, so I haven''t even had time to sell off anything aboard. You might even find a vac suit or two if you''re lucky. Now, before I hand this over," The man performed some sleight of hand and a fusion activation crystal appeared in his meaty palm. "We just need to do the paperwork."


    Even though the STO let this system continue to exist, they drew their line on ships being sold here. More than once, Vitor had been part of teams that raided stations that were providing undocumented ships. After shutting down station after station, the criminals finally changed how they did things and started following the law as it applied to ships. Not that Vitor thought they came about these ships legally.


    Most had probably been sold to them by pirates, with forged documentation, but Vitor couldn''t be choosy at the moment.


    He pulled out the data chips loaded with his credits and handed them over. Paresh quickly fed them to the chip reader and smiled before handing over the activation crystal. "An extra half a mil will get you three of my best men," Paresh offered after the deal was concluded.


    Vitor snatched the item out of the man''s hand before replying. "I''ll pass," he stated flatly.


    Paresh shrugged. "Suit yourself, Vitor. I wish you luck staying ahead of the corporate goons. As a friend and valued customer, I hope to see you back here again someday." The man had the gall to say all of this with a big grin.


    Vitor turned and hurried out of the shop. He needed to get back to the Fox quickly, and then figure out how to get his crew across the station to the ship, which was nearly on the opposite side of the docking ring.

 Chapter 3-13

    After completing the deal with Paresh, Vitor knew going to the new ship alone would be a bad idea. If they had space suits, he could have just undocked the Fox and floated over there, but that wasn''t an option, and most smaller ships only had one airlock, which meant entering through a cargo ramp. That was assuming someone inside the station didn''t try to use the station guns to take a shot at them because they thought they were trying to steal the ship. Despite the dangers, it would still be safer to go to the airlock and release the security lockout on the docking clamps than to try boarding the ship any other way.He quickly returned to the Fox and filled Kaela and his crew in on what was going on.


    "I told you it was a dumb idea to trust him," Kaela commented.


    "I''m aware," Vitor sighed, "but I didn''t have any other choice. Not unless you knew some other sleazy merchant in this system that I could trust."


    The woman laughed. "You can''t even cover the fee for me bringing you here, can you?"


    Vitor shook his head. "Not at the moment," he confirmed.


    "You better hope this secretive employer you are spending so much time and effort to get to is worth it."


    Vitor hoped so too. He had seen some of what Kane was up to and picked up even more rumors while they were on Eden''s End. If even half of them were true, the potential was high for Blue Star Enterprises to become a major player in the next decade.


    That day was a long way off though, and there were plenty of hurdles in Kane''s way, but Vitor saw something on Eden''s End that he hadn''t witnessed in a long time, progress unimpeded by corporate or political bullshit.


    "It''ll be worth it," he replied before looking at the rest of his crew. "Did any of you bring weapons?"


    Half the crew shook their heads while the other half pulled out differing items. The Marine had a modified pulse rifle. It seemed the man had hidden the weapon in his luggage. Vitor would have preferred something a bit more lethal, but he would take what he could get.


    Three more of his people produced stun sticks.


    Vitor nodded at them and raised his shirt to show he had a weapon as well. "Not the most ideal, but we can make it work," he said. Other than his flechette pistol, all the other weapons were legal. Not that a station owned by criminals was big on enforcing STO laws about weapons.


    He turned to Kaela. "I guess this is goodbye."


    The woman snorted. "You''re an even bigger idiot than I thought if you think I''m sitting this fight out." She reached over to a cabinet and pulled out a CQB rifle. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Vitor''s eyes went wide at that.


    "What?" she laughed. "You think I''m setting foot on this cesspool of a station with a little popgun like yours or a pulse rifle? Hell no. I''m sure there are more than a few people on this station who are associated with people I''ve rounded up or killed over the years. I''m taking the biggest weapon that''s safe to use without worrying about punching holes into space and wearing armor. Speaking of, you lot are a bit underdressed. Grab a set of armor from the locker over there. I''ll just add it to your Captain''s tab."


    The plate carriers didn''t offer much protection, but it was infinitely better than none.


    "Thank you," Vitor said as his people pulled out the vests stuffed with armor plates. Parson handed him a set as well. His words felt a bit inadequate considering everything Kaela had done for him and his crew, but he had nothing else to give her at the moment.


    "You can thank me by paying me. To do that, you need to survive. So, let''s hurry up and get this show on the road."


    Their group made good time as they swiftly moved through the ring. They could have saved a lot of time by going through the station, but there were far more eyes there, and far more places for people to set up ambushes.


    A few people watched their group as they passed, but most scurried into hiding when they saw the weapons on full display.


    Vitor highly doubted anyone on this station walked around unarmed, but most hid their weapons. A naked weapon meant something was about to go down, and the smart people went for cover.


    They soon neared the end of the docking ring where his new ship was parked. The area had grown quiet and devoid of people as they got closer.


    "Heads on a swivel," Vitor spoke quietly.


    Most of the crew who decided to come with him were not combat-trained. Vitor and the lone Marine were the exception. With Kaela tagging along, they had three trained combatants. That didn''t mean the rest of his crew were helpless. They had trained to repel boarding operations.


    The group stopped well short of an intersection that opened into the station. Whoever was lying in wait wasn''t simply gathered there to confront them, but the lack of pedestrian traffic spoke volumes.


    "Contact!" the Marine, Sergeant Galloway, yelled. He was the first to raise his weapon and fire as a man stuck his head out from the corridor. The man must have heard their group approaching.


    The pulse rifle blast took the man square in the face, jerking his head to the side. He fell into the ring, clearly unconscious from the pulse blast to the face.


    All hell broke out as weapons were fired down the ring toward their group. The hail of tiny metal darts and blasts of sound turned the corridor into a no-go zone and his people scrambled to take cover along the inner wall. Their attackers hadn''t bothered to expose themselves but they also wasted ammo as they didn''t even check to see if they were hitting their targets.


    The only person who seemed to be enjoying themselves was Kaela. The woman had donned a fully armored vac suit and hadn''t left her position as she ripped off long strings of darts from her automatic weapon while laughing.


    The incoming fire was so inaccurate that she had only been hit a few times by flechettes that were fired wildly toward them, and her armor was more than up to the challenge of shrugging the few projectiles off.


    It didn''t seem like the people hiding in the intersection were as lucky. Screams echoed out as her rounds found targets. It was likely only from ricochets, but it was enough to cause the volume of fire coming their way to lessen quite a bit.


    Vitor gave Galloway a forward chopping motion and the man nodded. With Kaela, Galloway, and him leading the charge, they were able to slowly push toward the intersection and push the criminals out.


    Kaela ducked her head around the corner but quickly pulled it back as a series of pulse blasts nearly hit her in the head. "Missed me fuckers!" she yelled happily.


    A few slurs and nasty comments were thrown back her way by the attackers, but they only made the woman laugh harder.


    "Captain, we need to get past this intersection, we can''t stay here," Galloway said as he checked back the way they had come.


    Vitor agreed, it wouldn''t take long for this group to come up behind them and pin them in.


    He turned to the laughing bounty hunter. "Kaela, did you pack a stun grenade by any chance?"


    Without taking her eyes or gun off of the corridor, she reached behind her back and pulled something out of a pouch. She tossed it to him. "I''ll add¨C"


    "¨CIt to my tab, yeah, yeah," he finished for her, earning a smile of approval.


    Vitor inched up and handed the grenade to the Marine. Galloway would be far more proficient with the weapon than he would.


    "Wait five after it goes off," he said quietly. Then he pulled the pin, waited a few seconds, and hurled it down the hallway intersection.


    A bright flash followed by a loud bang drowned out sight and noise, even beyond the edge of the intersection. It only took a second for his sight to return to normal, but his ears were still ringing. Galloway was waving his hand to get their attention as his fingers counted down.


    Vitor hadn''t done much urban or station combat when he was in Black Ops, most of their targets never saw his team coming, so he was glad he had Galloway to rely on. It was clear why the man had given the warning to wait. The criminals who were attempting to stop them had hosed the intersection with fire, even though they couldn''t see or hear. The man was already at four but the enemy still hadn''t stopped firing into the hallway. He was about to ask them to wait a few more seconds when the fire suddenly ceased.


    As a group they rushed across the intersection, firing down the corridor as they passed. A few wild shots came their way, but other than one of his people taking a glancing blow by a pulse blast and a few ricochets hitting their armor, they managed to make it across the deadly opening. The ship''s airlock was only a hundred feet farther down and Vitor rushed toward the hatch and pressed his finger to the scanner. It beeped green and the door flicked open.


    He let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, Vitor worried that Paresh might have screwed him by not registering his identity in the station''s airlock for the ship.


    The group quickly hurried aboard and he locked the airlock behind him. It was only then that he noticed Kaela had tagged along.


    "You''re not heading back to your ship?"


    "Did you think I was just going to run back through that mess by myself?"


    Honestly, he thought that was exactly what she would do. It wouldn''t have been the first time he had seen her do something that crazy. Luckily she didn''t wait for a response.


    "The Kyuubi No Kitsune undocked shortly after we left. It''s waiting at a preappointed destination for you to drop me off, assuming this rust heap can even fly."


    The ship wasn''t great. It was packed with boxes topped with garbage and looked like it had been home to a hoarder or multiple ones. It was no wonder Paresh hadn''t gotten it cleaned out. The man probably didn''t want to deal with the headache or expense.


    Beyond the smell, which was truly eye-watering, they had to push through thin aisles with stacks upon stacks of boxes and other unidentifiable items. When they reached the main cabin, it was clear what happened to the sole member of the crew. The smell and disgusting brown stain in the shape of a body on the old moldy mattress told an entire story all its own.


    People passing away aboard their ships was not an uncommon phenomenon. The ship likely failed to respond to a hail and was boarded by the STO or some other security force. They would have removed the body and auctioned off the ship if no next of kin was located.


    Vitor sealed the room. They would need to purge the ventilation system at least three times before the air in there was safe to breathe again.


    Without further ado, the group moved to the bridge. Unlike the Fox, this ship had an actual bridge. He still couldn''t tell what type of ship it was though. It was either a very strange small hauler, or it had been converted from something else.


    The only signs that someone had been on the ship recently, had been the ones going to the transponder. It was clear that Paresh''s people had modified it, which was good.


    As the rest of his crew trickled into the bridge, they walked over to the terminal, both covered in dust and stacks of more items.


    "Did this Captain ever flush the environmental systems," he heard someone complain.


    It didn''t take too long to clear the boxes from the terminals, but they had to be stacked up near the wall because there wasn''t room anywhere else in the ship for them.


    Surprisingly, the uncovered terminals still had their plastic covers on them from when they were brand new. The seats were equally in pristine condition and covered.


    Vitor wished he could say the same about the captain''s seat. It seemed like the former owner had transferred all the controls to the one console. There was a layer of dirt around the screen that made him shudder, and he refused to sit in the chair.


    "Parson, you''re with me. The rest of you, try to get the controls transferred back, I''m going to go get the reactor going."


    They nodded and quickly got to work.


    "It''s not the cleanest," Parson said, "but the reaction chamber is in decent enough shape. I would say it has a few years left on it at most though."


    "Good enough," Vitor replied before he pushed the activation crystal into the slot.


    It would take time for the reactor to power up, but he wasn''t in as much of a hurry now. Nobody would be dumb enough to attack their ship inside the system. The STO had spy satellites all over the place, and the criminals knew it.


    After an hour, the Blue Bell, which turned out to be the ship''s name, left the station. Not long after that, they met up with Kaela Voss''s ship. The woman wished them luck before leaving.


    As Vitor looked around at the mess he was saddled with, he decided he needed more than a bit of luck.


    ***


    Three months later, the Blue Bell exited FTL at its final destination. The trip to Eden''s End had not been a smooth one. The ship had been forced to stop on more than one occasion to make repairs, and just for the sake of fresh air. Even after spacing the bedding from the main cabin, the smell seemed to linger.


    He wanted to space the boxes and boxes of stuff piled up inside the ship as well, but after a more in-depth examination of what lay under the actual junk, he changed his mind.


    Vitor wasn''t sure who the former owner of the ship had been, or where they had gotten the many boxes of electronics, but that didn''t matter. Even if these didn''t look like the ones he was used to, Vitor was certain he could sell them. There were other items he wasn''t sure about, but maybe Kane could figure out what they did.


    If Kane didn''t want them, he was certain he could find some buyer and maybe recoup some of the money he spent on this ship.


    "Blue Bell, this is Eden''s End Traffic Control. State your business in this system."


    "Eden''s End, my name is Vitor Krieger, I believe Alexander Kane had a job offer for me."


    The line was quiet for a bit before the person responded. "Welcome to Eden''s End, Captain Krieger. Blue Bell is cleared to land. A ship will scan you as you approach, maintain speed, and do not deviate from your path or you will be boarded. EETC out."


    It seemed quite a bit had changed since Vitor had last been here. He was glad to see that as it was confirmation that he had made the right choice.

 Chapter 3-14

    Alexander was surprised when he got the call from traffic control. It wasn''t that a new ship had arrived that surprised him, new ships had been arriving every few days over the last month or so. It was the fact that Captain Krieger was the new arrival that had him surprised.Since he hadn''t heard from the man for three months he had kind of written him off. It wasn''t that he didn''t still want Krieger to work for him, it was just that he had too much going on to wait around for one man.


    After he had executed Sorin, the guard who had attacked him, and Dex, the other councilor ¨C who they eventually discovered was the one behind Damien''s attack ¨C and arrested the others involved as well as stripping the Council of its legal power, he focused almost entirely on prepping the fleet to head off and secure those five pirate ships. To say there was a lot on his plate would be an understatement.


    Captain Krieger''s arrival on this day was rather convenient. Either Krieger had the best timing in the world or it was just pure luck that he arrived when he did. Fury had just returned from its trip to Varlen to drop off the second set of thrusters to Vice Admiral Fletcher. With Fury''s return, he was planning on doing one last mission brief in the few days or so before sending the BSE ships out on their first mission along with the Talon.


    Either way, Alexander needed to get Krieger down to the planet and get him up to speed as fast as possible, assuming the man was here to accept the job offer and not for some other purpose. Alexander really hoped Krieger was here for the job. He was short on capable captains and could use someone with more experience.


    The Hawks had a few people working toward the goal of becoming a captain, but it wasn''t an easy test. Two had already failed it once and would have to spend another few months restudying before they could take it again. That was a stipulation that Matthews had put in place to ensure people didn''t just take it over and over again to test their luck.


    Considering the STO would ban you from retaking the test for two years if you failed, Alexander was more than fine with only the two-month block.


    While a new crop of captains wasn''t in the cards quite yet, his current captains weren''t the greatest either. Ramirez and Hall were fine captains, they knew their jobs well and ran a tight ship. They had just never seen combat, which made them a bit¡­ hesitant when it came to the training exercises in the holo-trainer.


    Wanting to keep your people out of harm''s way was an admirable quality, and Alexander respected that, but he needed someone more decisive to lead the attack. Currently, Captain Bloomright was in charge of the operation, and while Archie had faith in his apprentice, she also hadn''t been in command during any combat situations. Alexander would also have preferred that an employee of BSE led the charge to help galvanize the other captains.


    He wanted to keep the Talon out of any combat so their people could focus on taking the station.


    Alexander closed the project he was working on and brought up the build log for his manufacturing resources in space. Eden''s Might had been ready to go for a few weeks now, and Resolve''s crew had run the new ship through its paces, ensuring everything was working correctly. Much like the other two frigates, Might differed from its sister ships.


    It was slightly longer than Resolve, which gave Alexander enough space to add one laser without cutting into the limited crew space that remained after his modifications. The other four weapon mounts were the same double-stacked, triple-barrel railguns that Resolve sported.


    He was hoping he could condense the laser''s power systems eventually so he could add at least one to Resolve as well, giving all the ships the ability to punch out at a much longer range than their adversaries. Their railguns did give them an advantage over autocannons but it wasn''t nearly enough to keep the ships out of range of accurate return fire.


    Alexander''s people would need to rely on the armor much more to defend against those weapons. Missiles shouldn''t be an issue though. With the supercomputer onboard each ship, they should be more than capable of jamming most missile guidance systems with the ECM capabilities that Lucas and he had programmed into it, while the PDLs would do the rest.


    He flicked the screen to a new window showing a video of the progress on Eden''s Revenge. The fourth and final frigate was still in the process of being stripped down. There was no way Alexander could include it in the attack. The vessel would have been farther along, but with no captain or crew for it, Alexander had made an executive decision to retask his construction bots to assist with the two fishbone class ships. One of which was being piloted by Captain Farthing, and the other by one of the captains of the civilian vessels that Alexander had contracted out to. The Fafo and the civilian ships were both still in the belt helping as well, but being piloted by the pilots of the other crews and not an actual captain.


    That would have been illegal in STO space but Alexander let it slide here because he needed the extra help more than he needed to enforce arbitrary rules from an outside political entity.


    Alexander needed every ship he had just to keep up with the mining bots. At first, the robots had started out rather awkward and got in each other''s way more often than not in the mining process, but as they learned, they quickly started outpacing what the transport ships were capable of bringing back for processing.


    He was pretty sure he had enough stockpiled material to get a good start on the space station already. There would not be a shortage of materials anytime soon.


    Alexander sighed and closed the video feed and logs. He had been obsessing over this for weeks, trying to eke out just a bit more production, a bit more advantage for his people. The constant tweaks were probably slowing things down more than they were helping at this point.


    At least he wasn''t micromanaging anymore, not since Archie told him to stop and have faith in his people to do their jobs. Getting told that he was being overbearing, even though the man hadn''t used that word specifically, was an eye-opener for Alexander. And Matthews was right. The minute he stepped back and gave his people the ability to do their work, things ran much more smoothly.


    Now if he could only find someone to handle operations the same way. Technically he had someone in mind, but that person didn''t know it yet. The man in question had arrived a few weeks ago with a few other families. On the surface, their arrival was nothing special. No warrants, no DNA modifications, no weird implants, and no contraband.


    It wasn''t until the man started sending messages through the Qcomm that Alexander was alerted to his presence. All of his messages were sent in a code, but the facility computers were quick to break it down and flag it as suspicious.


    It turned out that Theodore Pembrooke worked for Omni. The name was so unique that Alexander quickly recalled where he had heard it before. He was pretty sure this was the same man who had visited Petrov Station on behalf of the giant manufacturer.


    He sent the man''s name and a picture to Mingyu, and the captain was quick to confirm that Alexander was indeed correct so he kept a much closer eye on the man and his correspondence.


    The first few messages that Pembrooke sent out were rather benign in nature. It seemed he was attempting to connect to his contacts back in STO space. Considering no messages came or went from Eden''s End without going through Alexander''s new buffer, it was rather easy for him to capture both replies and responses.


    Whoever Mr. Pembrooke''s contact was, they were not happy that the man was on Eden''s End and not back at OMNI headquarters. They stated they had other individuals on the planet and that Pembrooke''s arrival threatened that work.


    That was upsetting news for Alexander since he hadn''t seen any other Qcomm messages going out to hint at Omni spies lurking around. It''s possible the agents were dormant but that didn''t mean they weren''t dangerous. He really hoped Omni didn''t have a stealth Qcomm satellite in Unokane like the Navy did in Varlen. To play it safe, he had Lucas running through the logs of his satellites to make sure that wasn''t the case. So far, the man hadn''t spotted any irregularities, but space was big and a satellite, unlike a ship, was a small target to look for.


    To kill two birds with one stone and see how capable this Pembrooke fellow truly was, Alexander modified the messages that came in for the spy. Since the person responding to Pembrooke wanted the man not to interfere with the other agents, he figured modifying the message to say something like, ''Pembrooke, we have some rogue agents at your location. You need to identify them and disrupt their work,'' would be sufficient to give him a good idea of how capable the man was at sniffing out threats.


    It would probably take some time before he saw any results of this counter-espionage though. Alexander would need to keep an eye on the man and see how the situation developed.


    In the meantime, he had a captain to meet. And if his timing was accurate, the man should be nearly through the intake process.


    He made his way down to the temporary intake area, nodding at the guards. They nodded back tentatively.


    After the sentencing, word had quickly spread that Alexander was part alien. He was sure he would have had a fresh round of issues to deal with as this news spread, but that never happened. He figured it might have something to do with people having access to the videos of Sorin and his people planning how to run the place after they got rid of Alexander as well as all the other nasty shit the group got up to like the destruction of the seed stores and all the other nasty stuff they had planned in case they didn''t get their way. He omitted Gabriella''s blackmail because her past really wasn''t anyone else''s business.


    Surprisingly, the people were more outraged about what happened with the seeds than anything else Sorin and his cohorts had been up to. He supposed it made sense, food was survival after all, and when you started screwing around with people''s ability to survive, you would quickly find out what people were truly capable of when they got desperate.


    Alexander pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he stepped into the holding area and glanced around. He expected to only see Captain Krieger, but the man was accompanied by seven other individuals that he recognized from the man''s crew. Even the Marine, who he had bested, was here. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Krieger instantly spotted him and gave him a single nod. It seemed the man was letting the others through first, but the Marine was holding up the process.


    "It''s my personal pulse rifle," the man stated. "And it''s completely legal."


    "Yes, by STO law," Jorvin Morrow, Damien''s head of immigration responded blandly. "This is not the STO. All weapons are restricted unless you are issued a permit by the Security Office or BSE directly."


    The man growled. "And how do I get a permit?"


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    "Fill out the form and wait to see if it''s approved. In the interim, your weapon will be confiscated and held in storage."


    The Marine glanced his way, but Alexander wasn''t getting involved. If the Marine proved himself, he might consider hiring him onto the BSE fleet along with Krieger. Then he would be issued a weapon permit. If he didn''t work out, the man was probably out of luck. He doubted Damien would be issuing one for a civilian.


    "Fine," the Marine finally responded before handing over the weapon.


    Jorvin nodded and stuck the weapon in a secure cabinet behind him. "Once you are issued a permit, please head down to security and present your ID. They will not release the weapon without it."


    After that, the process went much quicker. While pulse rifles were banned, people were allowed to carry stun sticks if they wanted to. Using them against someone would open an investigation though, so people were warned not to use them unless they were in trouble.


    Finally, it was Krieger''s turn. The man handed over a small flechette pistol. In any civilized world, Alexander was sure the presence of a weapon like that would freak people out. Out here, it seemed to be the norm. They had an entire storage room full of confiscated weapons now.


    And it wasn''t like they were worried about an attack. There were always four guards in the intake area when people were arriving. These guards were armed with light augment gear and pulse rifles. Alexander wasn''t quite ready to roll the security forces into BSE and upgrade them, so for now, Damien was still in charge of them.


    "Captain," Alexander held out his hand. "After you ignored my message, I figured you weren''t interested. I hope your arrival here means that''s changed?"


    The man shook the offered hand. "I am interested. I''m sorry for not responding, but corporate headhunters were after me as soon as the Navy cut me loose. I didn''t want them to know where I might be heading so I cut all contact."


    Alexander had heard the term headhunter before. Back in his time, it just meant people who went around looking for talent to hire for corporations. Thanks to his conversations with Jasper, Archie, and others, he knew it had an added meaning these days. These were the type of people who did not take no for an answer.


    "I see. I''m glad you arrived safe then. Was the trip okay?"


    "Let''s dispense with the pleasantries," Krieger stated. "My agreement to work with you is contingent on you hiring the rest of my crew. Every single one."


    The man''s voice carried and the guards glanced over, their grips firming on their weapons in case trouble broke out.


    Alexander just chuckled. "Very well, Captain Krieger. I''ll cut the bullshit. I''m mostly fine with your people. My only concern is the Marine. He seems to be harboring a bit of a grudge against me still."


    "What!" the Marine looked startled by that admission. "No, I''m not."


    "Then why is it every time we met back when you were here, you always gave me the stink eye? Even now you look annoyed with my presence."


    Everyone turned to the man, who looked incredibly uncomfortable by the attention. "I''m not harboring a grudge against you. I''m upset with myself. Marines are supposed to be the best of the best, with the best combat gear available. Yet you handled me like some petulant child."


    "So you''re upset that you got beat?" Alexander asked in confusion.


    The man shook his head. "No. I know you can''t win every encounter. I''m upset that we were led to believe a lie. If some random civilian robot is capable of overpowering military-grade equipment, what''s the point?"


    Alexander couldn''t help bursting out into laughter. The only one to join him was Krieger, and that was only after the man stopped to think of what the Marine had said.


    "I''ll soothe your ego, Marine." He tapped on his body. "This is not some simple civilian robot. How about you lot follow me and I can explain a few things and see whether or not you wish to join BSE."


    "All of them have to join," Krieger reminded him.


    "I''ll leave that up to them. If they don''t want to join, I''m not going to force them. Now come along, there is a lot to go over, and very little time." Krieger paused for a second to digest Alexander''s words, before nodding and gesturing for the others to follow.


    While Alexander appreciated the man standing behind his crew, it really wasn''t up to the former STO captain whether or not his people wanted to work for BSE.

 Chapter 3-15

    Having done this once already, Alexander quickly moved through the contract process and non-disclosure documents with Krieger and his people. He skipped the fake contract this time around. With no surprise, all of Krieger''s people signed the forms."Welcome to Blue Star Enterprises," Alexander stated happily. "Now that you''re all employees I can tell you something that I''m sure your captain has already figured out. I''m partially alien."


    The group looked at him in confusion and a bit of surprise.


    It was the engineer, Alexander recalled the man''s name was Parson, who realized what he was getting at first. "When you say partial, you mean the robot body right? ¡­It looks like the Dawn''s armor."


    "That''s another thing. I am this robot or inside it." To head off any questions Alexander raised his hand. "I''m sure you all heard the rumors that I was sick and required to remain in a stasis pod while you were here last time. I started those a long time ago so people wouldn''t start asking questions about me or deciding I would make a good science project to study. I don''t know how I¨Cmore specifically, my mind ended up in this form. And before you ask, I am not in communication with any aliens as far as I can tell, despite what Vice Admiral Fletcher might think."


    "But you don''t know for sure," Krieger stated.


    "I don''t, but I might as well tell you my full story. Most of the people inside BSE are already familiar with it."


    After Alexander spilled the beans of his partial alien nature to the insurrectionists, he held a conference to fill in all the people who worked directly for him as well as the Hawks. It wasn''t something he had planned on doing, but the rumors were widespread and causing too many issues to be discounted, especially when the truth was going to come out eventually anyway. A few people were rightfully shocked by the revelation, but not as many as he thought there would be. The average citizen still didn''t know the full story, but that wouldn''t last forever. He assumed someone would talk and from there, everyone would know in time.


    "I woke up a little over six years ago. I can''t say for certain exactly how long ago because those early days were hazy for me." He went into a brief summary of his time at Petrov Station before moving out here. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "My original goal for coming out here was kind of to be left alone, and to find a safe place for my daughter. As you already know, that hasn''t quite gone to plan. I also harbored intentions to unseat Omni as the best engine manufacturer," he chuckled. "I didn''t quite understand their reach and power at the time."


    "So your plans have changed?" Krieger asked while the rest of his people listened quietly.


    "Oh, no. I still plan on taking Omni down a peg or two, it''s just not my main priority at the moment. After you and the rest of your people were returned to STO space, we received a large influx of refugees. Amongst these refugees was a man by the name of Dalton." Going by the reactions, more than one person among Krieger''s people was familiar with the assassin.


    "He managed to kidnap my daughter to try and force my compliance. This was all at the behest of Harlow. I managed to free my daughter and myself and rid the universe of this man."


    "Bout damn time someone got rid of that cockroach," the Marine spat.


    Krieger nodded at that.


    Alexander continued. "Despite getting rid of Dalton, I know Harlow won''t stop until he gets his hands on me. If that ever happened, I would make him thoroughly regret it, but I don''t plan on sitting here and just waiting for him to try again."


    "You plan on attacking Harlow?" Krieger asked in surprise.


    Alexander shook his avatar. "No. I plan on killing him. Because that is the only way that me, my daughter, and everything I have built out here remains safe."


    There was no laughter or amusement at Alexander''s statement.


    "You think you''re capable of doing what the entire STO Navy can''t?" Krieger asked. "I know you aren''t suicidal, so that means you have a plan."


    "It''s more like a loose idea of a plan. There are a few major steps that need to come together before it will be viable though. And that''s why I''m glad you''re here." He pulled up a holo of the set of systems they had determined the pirate space station was likely in. "Soon, the entire BSE fleet, along with the Hawks will set out to locate a pirate shipyard. There should be at least five homegrown pirate ships at this station that we need to secure for my plan to move forward. Captain Krieger, I want you to be in charge of this operation."


    "Me?" the man asked in surprise.


    "Yes. Out of all my captains, you have the most combat experience. And I already know how you act when it matters. Captain Hall and Captain Ramirez are fine men, but neither of them has any combat experience. You can also lean on the Hawks captain if you need assistance, she has combat experience but she is new to command. Are you up for it?"


    The man sighed. "I''m always up for getting rid of pirates, but I can see a few issues already. First off, do I have a ship?"


    Alexander nodded. "Eden''s Might. It''s a frigate and was completed a few weeks ago. I had initially planned on having a contingent of the Hawks operate the ship, but now that you''re here that won''t be an issue."


    "Ok. That brings me to the second issue. Training and crew. How many people will I need to operate this ship?"


    Alexander smiled. "Oh, I don''t think either of those will be a problem. I designed the ship''s interfaces based on some of the stuff I learned on the Dawn. As for the crew, all of the BSE ships are augmented with supercomputers. You could run it with just the people in this room, but I will leave enough mercenaries aboard for you to rotate the crew as needed. They can also assist with training on any systems you aren''t quite familiar with."


    "Just how much of the Dawn''s systems did you copy?" Krieger asked pointedly.


    "These are not stealth ships, captain."


    "That wasn''t really an answer, but we can discuss that issue later. Let''s say I agree, you aren''t giving us much time to get ready."


    "I know. You will have time in transit, the three systems I marked are a little over two months away. These ships are important, Captain Krieger, but don''t throw yourself into a meatgrinder to secure them. If you can''t make it work, destroy the station and everything around it. That''s all I have. Take the rest of the day to find your rooms and relax."


    As the people stood up and started to filter out, Alexander called out, "Captain Krieger, a moment if you could."


    The man nodded and walked toward the front of the room.


    After everyone else filtered out of the room, Alexander turned to the man. "Do you have a way to contact Fletcher?"


    "Probably, why?"


    "I should probably rephrase that. Are you in active contact with him?"


    The man snorted. "You think I''m a spy?"


    "Wouldn''t you?" Alexander asked in return.


    "Fair enough," Krieger admitted. "I haven''t had contact with him since being unceremoniously booted from the Navy. That being said, he did arrange for the rest of my crew to join me on this trip. So he''s definitely keeping an eye on me and will probably reach out at some point for information."


    "I thought as much. Feel free to share anything with the man that doesn''t revolve around the technical innovations out here."


    "You want me to feed him information?"


    "I do," Alexander admitted. "And feel free to tell him that I told you to do so."


    "Why?" Krieger asked in confusion.


    "I''m sure you have an idea, but I''ll lay it out. I met with Fletcher back in Varlen. The man was already keeping tabs on Eden''s End even before he knew of my origins. He isn''t going to simply stop with the loss of one ship. I suspect once these new Nyx frigates are ready, one will show up here eventually. I would prefer Fletcher not waste his time or get angry at us because we can track their supposed stealth ships."


    "What! Since when?" Krieger asked.


    "Since pretty much the beginning. It was a bit of a fluke discovery. One of our people picked up your muted jump signal, and after tracing it back, we were able to track your ship the entire time it was here." This was a secret Alexander was more than happy to share since it wouldn''t stay secret long. Once Krieger got trained on Eden''s Might, he would quickly learn about the tracking feature. Telling him about it now wasn''t ideal, but it was better than him discovering it later and getting upset about not being told.


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    The man grew angry for a moment. "That means you knew the other stealth ship had come looking for us and didn''t say anything."


    "Yes," Alexander admitted.


    "Why?" he demanded.


    "You know why, Captain."


    The man growled, but his anger quickly dissipated. "You didn''t want to alert the STO to your advantage. I assume this is one of the things you want me to keep from Fletcher?"


    Alexander shook his head. "No. The sooner he is aware of this shortfall, the better. It will also let him know that he can''t just sneak ships in here to spy on us."


    "Fine," the man ground out. "If you''re going to dump a load of bio-waste on me, I''ll return the favor. The ship we arrived on is probably junk, but there are some items on it I''m willing to sell to you."


    "Oh, such as?" Alexander asked. Nothing was truly junk in his eyes. Most of his improvements had come from combining technologies that had been around for decades, if not centuries, if he could learn something new from what was aboard Krieger''s vessel, then it would still be worthwhile, even if the items themselves weren''t useful.


    "Most of the stuff I am unfamiliar with. We bought the ship secondhand with everything aboard. Some things might be computers but I''m not too certain since they don''t resemble current computronics."


    "Hmm, how much?"


    "Look, I just want to sell the whole ship and everything on it." The man gave him a figure and Alexander nodded.


    He pulled his tablet up and sent the funds to the man''s account. "Anything else, Captain? If not, I suggest you get some rest. There will be a final briefing in the morning to go over the mission changes."


    After handing over the activation crystal for the ship, the man gave him a nod and walked out of the room. Alexander was still worried about this operation, but he felt much better now that someone experienced would be leading the charge.


    He tucked the crystal into a pouch at his waist. He was intensely curious to see what was on this ship, but he had a few more things to do before he could take a look.

 Chapter 3-16

    After leaving his meeting with Krieger, he had a delightful dinner with Yulia. He stuck around to help her with her schoolwork ¨C Nancy had agreed to start her on more advanced lessons ¨C and once that was complete he tucked her into bed, and set Dog on guard mode.Once he was certain the girl was fast asleep, he slipped out of their unit and headed outside. He would have relaxed his security measures around her, but there were quite a few families that were upset that their loved ones were being forced to do hard labor.


    Alexander had ignored their pleas for additional lenience. Those people knew full well what they were doing and now they were paying the price. They should be happy he didn''t give them the same sentence that he had given Sorin and the Guard who attacked him.


    Both of those men had families as well. The two men''s wives had screamed at him on more than one occasion. The guard''s wife had even thrown a tomato at him. Alexander caught the tomato and told the woman if she did it again, she would be sitting in lockup, which would be unfortunate since the children would be without a parent if that happened. The woman who threw the tomato had a young daughter who was only three, while Sorin had a son a little older than Yulia.


    If he wasn''t mistaken, the boy''s name was Charlie and he had attended her birthday party. It didn''t seem like Yulia and the boy were close, but he still felt bad for the kid. While the little girl was likely too young to remember what happened, the boy wasn''t.


    To assuage a bit of his guilt over taking away the boy''s father, Alexander asked a few people to keep an eye on him. He wanted to help encourage the boy along a different path than the one his father, and Sorin''s grandfather had tread.


    Learning that bit of history had been eye-opening.


    Before the trial, Alexander had used Sorin''s DNA profile to dig into the man''s past. Sorin was a black hole, having lived his entire life as a drifter, but his grandfather was a different story.


    During the Coalition war, Sorin''s grandfather had sold intel to the Coalition that ended up getting thousands of STO Navy personnel killed and almost shifted the entire balance of the war. The man did this all because he wanted to be the planetary governor where he resided when the fighting was over. At the time Sorin''s grandfather had been only a low-level advisor for the then-current governor.


    The man''s actions were quickly discovered after the attack, but not before he fled with his entire family. It seemed he instilled those same ideals to his children and grandchildren.


    That information was not the deciding factor to give Sorin the harshest sentence, but it certainly didn''t help him any. Giving Sorin any other sentence would have meant the man could have gone on to do this somewhere else, and that was unacceptable in his eyes.


    Alexander shook those thoughts away as he reached the exit. Two of the Hawks were on duty that night. They greeted him and opened the door.


    When he stepped outside, he was surprised to see one of the very rare rainstorms that moved across the planet. The weather didn''t impede him as he made his way to the Blue Bell. Even with his enhanced vision, he had a hard time seeing the ship''s full outline on the overcast night.


    Finding the manual release lever for the ramp took time, but he eventually located it. The seals hissed as they blew out pressurized air from inside the ship until the interior matched the planet''s surface.


    Alexander stepped aboard the vessel but was almost immediately stopped. "What the hell!"


    The small cargo area was filled nearly floor to ceiling with boxes and random items. There wasn''t even enough room for Alexander to move into the ship without pushing over the stacks.


    With an annoyed huff, he opened up the first box and looked inside. They were parts for something, but he couldn''t say for sure what they went to.


    Not wanting to leave the items sitting out in the rain, he called up one of his automated carts. He had about a dozen of the things around the facility, and some had been retrofitted to work outside, meaning their little cargo beds were covered.


    The cart rolled up under the ship a few minutes later along with two of the spider bots as he had heard some people calling them, which wasn''t accurate at all because his bots only had six legs. "Load these on the cart and stay behind to help."


    The bots beeped in acceptance and started piling the boxes Alexander had already gone through onto the cart. Before they were done filling the first, the second cart rolled up.


    Alexander realized that if he wanted to finish sorting through all this stuff before morning, he was going to need more helpers. He called up two more carts and four more bots.


    So far all of the items Alexander had looked at were parts and components. They weren''t haphazardly packed into the boxes though, whoever had put them in there had wanted them to remain safe and secure. It took looking through over a hundred boxes before Alexander started to get an idea of what all the parts were for.


    He didn''t want to get ahead of himself, but if it was what he suspected it to be, he severely underpaid Krieger.


    It wasn''t until half the cargo hold was emptied that Alexander finally came across the first of the processors that Krieger had mentioned.


    It was certainly an odd design, however, it looked more like the processors he was used to seeing than the computronics that existed now. The processor had a manufacturing logo in microprint on the outside that read ''BlueBell Logic Systems''


    That wasn''t a name he recognized, the computronics he was forced to purchase at the moment all came with the same company logo, QuantumLogic. As far as Alexander knew, there were no other chip manufacturers out there. Much like Omni, it seemed like QuantumLogic had pushed out any possible competition. Alexander had seen other companies selling QuantumLogic computronics though.


    If he had to guess, QuantumLogic controlled some part of the production. This would ensure other people could produce the computronics modules, but they would always be built with QuantumLogic chips, no matter who manufactured them. Sort of like how graphics card retailers did it back in his day.


    If that was true, and what he was seeing inside this ship was also true, had the previous owner run into an issue with QuantumLogic that forced him out of the market? Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire


    He could almost picture the course of events. The person spent their life coming up with a competitive product and just when they were ready to release it to the public, the corporation started threatening them. If Alexander had been in the same situation, he would have disassembled everything and gone somewhere else to set up shop. Hell, he had done exactly that.


    Unlike Alexander, it seemed that this person never found that safe harbor to start over. Either that or fear had kept them from even attempting it.


    If he was right, the similarities made Alexander angry. He knew the corporate autocracy was bad within the STO, but every time he encountered something new with one of these large corporations, he was reminded that they were worse than he realized.


    He spent the next four hours cataloging and moving the rest of the contents within the ship. At least the stuff that was in the boxes. At some point, the owner of this ship had turned into a hermit and hoarder, and the items they kept were nothing but broken parts and actual garbage.


    The garbage got sent to the incinerator and the broken parts got recycled. It remained to be seen if any of the other items were useful, but he had high hopes considering the care that went into storing them away.


    Once the ship was emptied out, Alexander was able to get a good look at the inside. The ship was nothing special and most of the systems had been neglected. It wasn''t quite as bad as what he saw on the pirate shuttles, but it wasn''t good.


    He called up Branston.


    "Sorry to wake you up so early. Could you meet me at the station with the shuttle?"


    The man let out a long yawn before responding. "Yeah, sure. I can be off the ground in thirty, is that ok?"


    "That''ll be fine, thank you Branston."


    Alexander sent the bots back to their assigned areas and dismissed the carts as he walked to the bridge to prep the ship for takeoff.


    He wasn''t going to keep the ship, it simply wasn''t worth repairing. He was however going to have his bots remove anything useful before smelting the rest of the material. It would give him another supply of gravity plates, a fusion reactor, and an FTL drive. He wasn''t sure the reactor would see any use, but he would still hold onto it for now. The other components would go into one of the fishbone ships, allowing him to finally have a dedicated transport vessel that could fly between systems as well as have gravity.


    The lack of gravity aboard her ship was the main complaint by Captain Farthing.


    Dropping off the ship and getting picked up took a little over an hour. By the time they landed, Alexander had just enough time to hurry home and get Yulia''s breakfast made.


    He walked her to class before heading off to start the final briefing.


    The room was packed with his three crews, the Talon''s command, Archie, and the mercenaries who had been trained to operate Eden''s Might. He could see the people were introducing themselves to Krieger and his crew when he arrived.


    "I''m sorry for being late. Everyone please take a seat, we have a lot to go over and a few major changes."


    It didn''t take long for the room to settle.


    "First off, I''ll be changing the commander for this mission from Captain Bloomright to Captain Krieger. I have full faith in your abilities, Captain Bloomright, I just want to ensure we have the most seasoned captain possible in command, and that happens to be Captain Krieger. Krieger, please stand and tell the room why I chose you."


    The man stood, somehow looking sharp despite the fact he was wearing loose clothing. Alexander made a mental note to print the BSE uniforms before everyone headed out in a few hours. He had more than enough printer capacity to get it done.


    "As you may have guessed, my name is Captain Krieger or just Vitor while I''m dirtside. I worked in military special operations for a decade before joining the STO''s Black Ops program as a Captain of an experimental ship." That got some mutters of approval from the crowd as Krieger continued. "More recently, I was involved in the defense of Eden''s End. That is how I met Mr. Kane."


    Alexander breathed an internal sigh of relief. Krieger had sounded a bit bitter with that last sentence, and he thought the man might go into way more details than needed to be shared at this time. Thankfully, Krieger stopped himself.


    "As you can see, Krieger has plenty of experience dealing with pirates and leading. As for the next change. Before I simply wished to have the pirate station destroyed if it couldn''t be taken. I''ve changed my mind, and here''s why," he gestured for Branston to step forward. The man wouldn''t be going on this mission but he was here to prove a point. "Branston here was a slave aboard Arkonis Anazi''s ship along with others. If that holds true for this pirate station, which I believe it will, we can''t simply destroy it. We need to save those people. I know this will make things much harder, but I have faith that the Hawks are up to the challenge. To make sure they are, I will be providing additional equipment." Alexander turned on the holo and an augment suit rotated in the display. "Meet the first generation of BSE''s new augment gear division. The holo is interactive, so please step up and take a look."


    Five more holograms popped up around the room, giving people time to step into the suits and sort of wear them.


    "I won''t say no to new gear, Mr. Kane," Captain Bloomright spoke over the noise. "But I don''t think even you have time to produce enough gear to outfit my people before we leave."


    "Normally, you would be right, except I had these completed weeks ago. I wasn''t planning on issuing them for this mission because they were mostly untested, but I don''t want to leave any possible advantage sitting around. I will be including the design specs, so your engineers can fix any issues they encounter as your people get used to the armor. He turned to face Krieger''s lone Marine. "I didn''t forget you either. Your suit should finish printing shortly."


    He saw the Marine grin from ear to ear at this statement.


    "You will also be issued the flechette minigun that Damien''s people designed. I didn''t have any time to design anything else, and the weapon is more than enough to deal with most problems you might encounter on a station. If you run into a similarly armored pirate during your boarding action, the suits are networked, allowing them to produce a much stronger electronic countermeasure program than would otherwise be possible." Alexander would have loved to stuff the suits with an advanced computronic module but that wasn''t really feasible.


    He would need to rely on his homegrown twentieth-century chips to bridge the gap while in the networking configuration. The wireless connection could be disrupted, but he was hoping the pirates would be too busy dealing with the gunfire from the people wearing the suits to think of that.


    The meeting soon concluded and people hurried to their shuttles to catch a ride to orbit. Alexander pulled his people off to the side and led them to his workshop where he handed them each three sets of newly printed uniforms. They were dark blue with white trim to match the ships. "If we''re going to show the universe we''re a force to be reckoned with, I figure we might as well look the part. Galloway, your augment suit is coming off the printer over there in three minutes."


    The Marine rubbed his hands together in glee as he headed over to the printer to wait.


    Alexander just shook his head and walked over to Krieger. He lowered his voice so only the Captain could hear. "What do you think the odds are of a successful mission?"


    The man didn''t respond right away as he thought over the question. "Until we get eyes on the station, fifty-fifty. That''s the best estimate I can give you."


    Alexander nodded. "Let''s hope that luck swings our way."


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 Chapter 3-17

    As Alexander watched the last shuttle leave the planet and head for Eden''s Might, he couldn''t help thinking there was more he could have done.It was an irrational thought because he had been working nearly nonstop to make this mission happen as soon as possible. Delaying it was really the only way he could improve their chances and he had already delayed it once to allow Eden''s Might to be completed. That turned out to be rather fortuitous since Captain Krieger showed up in time because of that delay, but he didn''t want to chance more delays until he had a better idea of what Harlow was up to.


    Alexander felt better about having the much more experienced captain leading the mission, but time would tell if he made the correct choice or not.


    Soon the shuttle docked and he watched through the video feed as the three frigates formed a wedge formation with the Talon trailing behind, flanked by the Hawks'' two gunships. The mercenary company had not been able to free up their additional frigates for this operation, but they would arrive in Unokane before the fleet returned.


    "Eden''s End Traffic Control, this is Eden''s Might, we are ready to depart."


    Alexander pressed the button to respond. "Captain Krieger, you are clear to depart. Good luck, and safe travels, EETC out."


    The ships accelerated away from the planet and towards the galactic north, where they would jump as soon as they could safely do so. The three systems Alexander narrowed the search to, all existed in the galactic north. A journey of maybe twenty light-years from their current location. That wasn''t much in the grand scheme of the universe, but when you considered STO space only spanned about forty light-years, and human-occupied space only expanded that by another fifteen light-years give or take, that was a significant journey.


    "Lucas, alert me when they jump."


    "Can do, Alex, but where are you off to in such a hurry?"


    "I have a puzzle to solve."


    The young man just grinned sardonically and shook his head.


    As Alexander made his way to Atrium D, he reached out to his robots and carts mentally, or so he tried. Ever since his experience on Dalton''s ship, he had been trying to figure out what he did to forge that remote connection.


    His body wasn''t being forthcoming with answers though. With a sigh, he tried recreating the events that led up to that experience. Trying to will himself to connect to the tablet didn''t work either. It seemed he might need a direct digital connection before he could continue.


    The tablet wouldn''t work, because he would need to take the entire thing apart just to get at the processor, and then it still wouldn''t work because it wouldn''t have any power. Alexander could provide the power, but that seemed like a less-than-ideal solution to his problem.


    He entered the atrium and looked around. With the prison, and holding area for the people who decided not to take his job offer, the open space had shrunk by over half. He saw a few of the latter watching him from the upper living balconies but he ignored them. They would be going home soon enough.


    Unfortunately, Alexander didn''t have any other area large enough to lay out all the parts he pulled off of Krieger''s ship. He was far enough away that they wouldn''t be able to tell what he was doing though. There was also no need to worry about children wandering in anymore. The playground had been moved to Atrium C a few weeks back after work had been completed there.


    The central atrium was also nearly complete, but it appeared that Yi Na did not need his entire work crew to complete the last sections which is why the man had reassigned them to finish C.


    There were talks about putting a playground in each atrium, but Alexander wasn''t sure that would work for A, at least until the population spread out. Since adding playgrounds wasn''t something that needed governmental review, he left that decision up to the new council. With no small surprise, Damien, Gabriella, Sheila, and Nancy all stepped down from their positions.


    Whoever was on the new council, just got a simple councilman or woman title and they would have to send their requests to him once a month to approve, deny, or follow up for more information. Alexander limited them to ten requests a month, which meant they needed to pick and choose to decide which ones were the most important.


    As for the previous four councilors, they reported directly to Alexander now, but in more of a director role instead of the political one they held before. It was a change Alexander would have made eventually as he further expanded Blue Star Enterprises on Eden''s End, but he wished it hadn''t come about in the way it did.


    He planned on adding a few more director roles in the near future but¡­ He realized he was getting off track. Any reminder of that incident seemed to do that to him lately.


    Alexander focused and walked over to a nearby terminal. Using credits or contributions, anyone could call up one of the automated carts. Not many people took advantage of that option, but it was there if they wanted to. Hopefully, when the train was up and running, it would be more popular since it would be free.


    With deft motions, Alexander removed the cover on the terminal and directly connected to it. He could have connected through the data chip slot, but he wasn''t sure that would give him the access he needed. If this idea worked, he could test that later.


    The terminal interface flashed to life in his mind space. Instead of navigating the menus, Alexander pushed his mind through the connection. Almost immediately he ran into Lucas'' intrusion defenses and was almost immediately tossed right back out, his mind swimming.


    Alexander assumed the defenses would be about as strong as what he experienced aboard Dawn, but this was a whole lot stronger.


    A moment later, his radio buzzed to life.


    "Alex, are you doing something weird on the network?" Lucas asked, sounding slightly annoyed, but also slightly curious.


    "Sorry about that," he responded after his mind settled. "I was testing something. I should have warned you beforehand."


    There was a long pause before the young man replied. "Did your test work?"


    Alexander chuckled slightly. "No, in fact, your network security tossed me out on my butt. Why is it so much more effective than the one I encountered on Dawn?"


    He could almost hear the smirk in the man''s voice as he responded. "I improved it, but it''s mostly just the program''s access to so much processing power. I imagine if you tried what you did when Dawn was in full working order, your experience would have been much different."


    Alexander grunted at that. "Any hints at how to bypass it?"


    The man laughed over the radio. "No, it wouldn''t be a very good intrusion defense if I gave you hints on how to get around it. You''ll just need to figure it out on your own. Oh, before I go, I was just about to call you and let you know the fleet just jumped. No signs of any issues so far."


    Alexander was grateful to hear there were no issues with the jump. He did his best to test every ship, but this was Eden''s Might''s first jump outside the system. All of the in-system test jumps went well, but there was always the possibility of something going wrong. That issue was lessened since he was simply reusing the same jump drive the ship had previously but he still preferred to err on the side of caution.


    "Thanks for the heads-up. Let me know if anything changes."


    "Will do," Lucas responded before the radio went silent.


    Lucas was right about the intrusion defense. Despite that, Alexander was still annoyed that he couldn''t test his idea at the moment. Replacing the panel on the terminal, he returned to his tablet and manually entered the commands to get the carts and bots to the atrium to lay out the parts.


    It took nearly six hours to lay out every single part.


    When he had initially removed the boxes from the ship, he hadn''t done much more than glance inside them to make sure they weren''t full of garbage. He was glad he decided to take the time to go through each box now. In one of the boxes, he found some data chips. When he fed them to the tablet, he found the build plans as well as a full breakdown of each and every part.


    Alexander had recognized a few components from the boxes, but most of the items were new to him. He was sure he could reverse engineer the parts in time and even assemble the device without the plans, but this saved so much time and effort.


    He also realized that some parts were missing. Specifically, the nanoform lattices used in forming the processors. He didn''t know if that was the technical term for the item, but it seemed fitting going by what he saw in the design documents. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That meant instead of a fully functional nanochip fabricator, he essentially had a useless collection of parts.


    "I guess I couldn''t be that lucky," he sighed.


    Despite this setback, Alexander was still going to go forward with the assembly process. If the processors in the other boxes had come from this machine, he was sure he could create the nanoform lattice to make more of them eventually.


    Considering the design of the machine was intended for production in normal gravity, Alexander wasn''t expecting a whole lot out of the processors. They would be significantly better than the homegrown chips from the early twenty-first century that he had been making, but he would need additional hardware to make them compatible with current systems. The boxed-up processors did not come bundled together with all the hardware like the computronics did.


    He wondered why this fabricator relied on ground-based fabrication instead of zero-G. He knew zero-G manufacturing was a relatively new concept for humanity but he didn''t know exactly how new. Now that he had access to a Qcomm and the STO network he could find out. A quick search and some credits later, Alexander had his information. Having access to the net again sure made things much easier.


    It turned out zero-G manufacturing was only patented fifty-seven years ago. Unified computronics, which is what they called the process of combining all the parts of a computer into one component, was established as the norm for high-end computing a few years after that.


    If that was the case, the processor that this machine was designed to create was probably over fifty-seven years old. Looking at some of the parts he recognized, it might be even older than that. Age really wasn''t much of a concern, only processing speed. Once he did a side-by-side comparison test with the current generation, he would get a better idea of what he was dealing with.


    He didn''t start the assembly right away, instead, he went home and spent some time with Yulia after she got back from school. His daughter didn''t stick around long since she wanted to go play with her friends, but that was perfectly ok with him.


    Once she left, he went to his workshop where a space had been cleared for the nanochip fabricator. A steady stream of robots trundled in with parts as Alexander personally assembled the machine.


    Occasionally he would stop and retrieve a part that had to be printed due to damage. A few hours later, he stood back and admired his handiwork.


    The self-contained cleanroom environment within the device would need to be flushed a few dozen times to ensure nothing got inside, but everything minus the processor''s nanoform lattice was ready to go.


    He walked over to his holographic analyzer and looked at the rendering that it had made of the processor. The device wasn''t really designed to recreate such detailed parts, but it got Alexander about eighty percent there. The rest he quickly cleaned up based on best guesses from the other parts of the processor that he could see.


    For anyone else, this process would have taken weeks if not months. With his ability to multitask and trace each run, Alexander managed to clean up the model within a few hours.


    He wouldn''t be able to print it, though, as his printers were nowhere near accurate enough. Alexander had an idea of how to get around that issue, but it would take the use of another machine that he had yet to design.


    Putting that on hold, Alexander took the processor out of the analyzer and popped it into a cradle that was very similar to the one he used when he originally tested the supercomputer''s ability to control robots.


    There were no robots currently, Alexander just needed to know what sort of programming was on the processor. He could recreate it like he had the twenty-first-century chips, but that would be less than ideal. Most of that programming was kludged together by him with a bit of help from Lucas to fit standards and processes that never existed back then and had always caused issues in the silicon processors. It had improved with time, but if he didn''t have to start from scratch, all the better.


    He could have probably done this step by connecting to the processor directly, but he didn''t want to risk damaging the chip or the programming inside it.


    Once the unit was powered up, a simple two-dimensional interface popped up on the holographic display. Blue Bell Logic Systems popped up in white letters before quickly vanishing as the processor ran a self-diagnostic.


    So far everything was pretty standard. Then the checks started to come back as failed.


    Once the self-diagnostic was completed, Alexander looked at the entire log. It seemed time had not been very kind to the outdated processor. Over eighty percent of the self-checks had come back as failed.


    He pulled the processor and repeated the tests with the next one. After discarding twenty-three of the processors, he finally got one that was only forty percent degraded. After a further round of testing, he found one that was twenty percent degraded.


    After going through the entire supply of stored processors, Alexander only had five that survived with less than ten percent degradation. That wasn''t a good sign for the longevity of these processors if he did get production up and running for them. He might need to try and tweak them a bit to see if he could find out what was causing this issue.


    Alexander had hoped to finish the testing, but it had taken far longer than he anticipated and he had run out of time. He sent a few items to the printers in his workshop before hurrying off to make supper for Yulia and see her off to bed. He would return to the problem after that.

 Chapter 3-18

    After an eventful evening involving a brain-teaser board game between Yulia and himself, Alexander put his daughter to bed and returned to his workshop down the hallway.He didn''t run off the moment she fell asleep though. He made sure she wasn''t having any nightmares or other issues. Even though he itched to unravel the secrets of these processors, losing three or four hours was not going to make much difference in the long run compared to making sure his daughter was ok.


    Once he was sure she was settled and sleeping well, he left Dog to keep her safe. With his upgrades, he was more than enough to deter most people and slow down anyone else long enough for Alexander to cover the few hundred feet from his workshop to their door. Not that it was likely anyone would make it to the door with all the extra sensors he had embedded into the hallway where his workshop and home were situated. Even authorized IDs that moved down the hallway would still ping him. He didn''t want to chance someone getting ahold of one of the ID cards and somehow tricking the sensors.


    Feeling that Yulia was as safe as he could make her, Alexander entered his workshop. Nothing much had changed since he had left other than a few robots sitting near his test station. It was quiet too. Gone were the days when the manufacturing line was operating all day long. The peace and quiet was nice, but this lull wouldn''t last forever. He suspected he would be even more busy when the fleet returned. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That being said, he turned to the cradle where the processor sat. Figuring out how to provide the other systems that a computer required to operate without manually creating them all himself had been a bit of a challenge.


    He eventually just turned to the advanced computronic since everything was already built into them. He would have used a supercomputer computronic for this, but they were all in use at the moment. If this test worked, he would need to pull one out from a control ship to run a fair comparison.


    Alexander removed the programming on the advanced computronic module and created his own based on what used to be there. He added the ability to throttle the advanced computronics processor down to nothing, while also accepting processing from an outside source.


    That did make him wonder if he could link multiple advanced computronics together. While it might not be worth the effort, it was still something to think about.


    Once the new code was in place, he powered up the cradle and reviewed the output. It seemed like everything was working.


    "Time to see what you can do," he said as he connected the first cable to one of the robots.


    The robot operated without issue, no real surprise. He connected two robots. The units took a bit longer to sync up, but they were soon running through the tasks Alexander had designed them to test.


    The third connection worked, but the robots slowed noticeably in their operations. When he connected the fourth robot, there was a puff of white smoke from the cradle, and the robots all froze.


    After removing the burned-out processor, he checked to make sure there was no damage to the cradle, before inputting a new one.


    This time, he didn''t shock the processor by adding a new robot while the device was operating. Instead, he started with the four units moving in unison.


    Once he was sure the processor could handle that, he slowly increased the self-learning. It was that feature that made the control ships so useful.


    The processor lasted until the self-learning hit just over the fifty-percent mark before it too let out the magic smoke. That was not ideal, and Alexander was pretty sure it had nothing to do with him using the advanced computronic as an interface.


    This wasn''t a thermal overload issue because he was monitoring temperatures and had heat pumps in place to pull heat away from the processor.


    No, this was most likely some design or manufacturing defect within the processor itself. It was also possible the processors were just so old that they couldn''t handle the load.


    With the next processor, he backed the robot count down to three and ran the test again. The third chip made it to eighty percent load before popping, the fourth only got to forty percent, and the fifth and final processor died at sixty percent load with the self-learning.


    Alexander didn''t know what to make of it because the data was so all over the place. It seemed like he was going to have to produce his own new processors if he wanted to get any accurate data. That was annoying.


    He decided not to dwell on the issue, instead, he redirected his focus to the machine that would hopefully allow him to create a new nanoform lattice. Alexander had been wanting to test this theory for a few months, but he didn''t want to convert one of his current printers for the test.


    With it being slow, this would be a perfect time to test his idea without worrying that something could go catastrophically wrong.


    The first thing he had to do was design a vacuum chamber large enough to hold everything. It would be required for both the sterile environment as well as to allow the static field to operate properly. They did not work well in an atmosphere.


    Once that was complete, he designed the field emitters. These were not the bulky devices designed to project a massive field ahead of a vessel. They were thin, almost delicate armatures designed to move with precision. He included twelve of these armatures in the design.


    Thankfully, Alexander didn''t need to design his own material delivery system. He simply copied the ones from his printers and ran the flow tubes through the armatures. The only difference is that he removed the heating element that allowed the stored material to go from its powdered state to a liquid inside the tubes. He wanted the material in that nanoscale-powdered state until he was ready to melt it into place. Next, he added the emitter that would impart a charge to the contents of the tank.


    Last he added a grid of lasers that were accurate enough to impart the heat to fuse the material together.


    When all was said and done, the end result looked a bit like a madman had designed a fish tank.


    Liking the results, Alexander sent all the parts to the correct printers. The only component he needed to send out was the clear shell. That would be made from the same material that the dome was formed from, but it would take time to get that final piece since a proper mold would be needed to compress it into shape and heat it until it turned transparent.


    In the meantime, he printed out a thick transparent plastic and reinforced it with a metal lattice. It wouldn''t last forever, but it should be good enough to run his tests.


    After assembling the very delicate piece of machinery, Alexander stepped back to look it over. It was probably the strangest machine he had seen, but it was also the first truly unique device he had built since he first played around with the artificial gravity interrupter.


    Some might argue that point since he had his ring printers, and other items he designed and built, but they would be wrong. Those were just modifications to existing technology. This ''nano-assembler'' as Alexander was dubbing it was a completely new take on printing as far as he was able to discover. If it worked, who knew what possibilities it could open up?


    Alexander loaded the program he had created for the device. There was a bit of extra setup he had to do before actually turning the machine on though. He connected the nano-assembler to the facility''s computer. He would check the logs later to verify this, but he was pretty certain a single advanced chip would not be enough to operate the device. Not unless he slowed it way down. And he didn''t want to do that.


    It was a good thing he was testing this at night when the network was running at minimum load.


    Without further ado, he flicked the design over to the machine.


    The pumps whirred to life and flushed the production area until the filters no longer detected any dust. A moment after that, all twelve arms flexed and retracted quickly as they went through their startup test.


    Alexander felt a slight static buzz as the machine started energizing the particles in the material tanks. He would need to adjust the programming later so all of these things happened at the same time, but for now, this was fine.


    Material shot up the print tubes and the arms all whirled to life. They were a blur of motion that made them almost look like they were shooting out a steady stream of material, which was being lit by the lasers, producing a bright glow that would make the device hard to look at for a normal person. Alexander simply marveled at the sight as he watched the entire process from beginning to end. He would need to add some auto-darkening to the machine to protect people from the harsh glare, but the result was impressive.


    Unlike a normal printer, nothing ever physically came into contact with the material after it left the feed tube. Alexander used a property of the static field to hold the individual particles in place while the lasers set them. It was sort of like laser sintering, except way more accurate, since he could control the exact form of the molten material as it set. This is why it took so much processing power to operate effectively.


    The regular printers performed a similar function, but he had yet to overcome certain design limitations to bring their accuracy and tolerances up much past Dr. Nova Lund''s design requirements for her project.


    With this, he may have just skipped right to single nanometer accuracy, and that was just the start. Alexander''s goal was to increase the accuracy of his prints to the point where he could manipulate single atoms at a time.


    That may seem like a pipedream to some, but Alexander was almost certain the aliens who built his body had overcome that issue a long time ago. The uniformity of the material he was composed of simply couldn''t have come about any other way.


    It would also explain why the STO had so many issues recreating the armor. If he was successful in this endeavor, it opened up so many possibilities, the least of which was recreating the armor that he was shrouded in.


    He was getting ahead of himself though. The first test of the device hadn''t even been completed yet. He suspected he would need to make tweaks to both the machine and the programming before he was happy with the end result.


    In what seemed like no time at all, the arms all retracted and the machine shut down. The machine wasn''t as quick as his current generation of printers, but it wasn''t meant to be.


    In the center of the build tray was a brand-new set of nanoform lattices, which would act as the substrate to grow the pico-scale components of the processor. He wouldn''t know if it actually worked until he made a new processor with the lattice, but he was hopeful. The one issue he did see was gravity limiting the types of items he could produce with the device. To truly test it out, he needed to create one to operate in zero-G.


    It was a good thing he had plenty of time to work all of that out before the fleet returned.

 Chapter 3-19

    LOCATION: OPEN SPACESYSTEM: ZK4-J92


    DATE: 2400


    Eden''s Might was the first ship to arrive in the unnamed system, but they were quickly followed by the others, with the Talon coming in a minute behind the rest of the fleet. It was better than their first jump where nearly fifteen minutes separated all of the ships, but it was the best they had managed so far.


    They still had a few more jumps to the first system where the pirate station might be, so there was time to see if they could tighten up the jump timing.


    "All ships are connected via tight beam laser link, Captain."


    "Put them on the screen," Krieger stated.


    The large holo display came to life with the faces of the captains and commanders¨Cin the case of the gunships¨Cof each ship.


    "One minute of separation," he said, not dragging out the curiosity they were likely feeling.


    There was a collective round of groans before Captain Bloomright spoke up. "I would like to apologize once again for my ship lagging behind. Our computer just isn''t as capable as the ones Alex put into yours."


    "It''s fine," Vitor waved her off. "We knew it was going to be an issue before we launched. I think we can delay our jump a few more seconds to try and help line them up, but I wouldn''t want to push it any closer than that. We don''t need the Talon arriving ahead of the rest of the fleet. Your job is mostly to support our ships and launch the landing parties anyway."


    Vitor paused and turned to his pilot. "How long until we reach the jump point?"


    "A little over two hours, Captain."


    Vitor nodded and turned back to the waiting captains. "We haven''t run into any pirates or scouts so far, but once we reach the next system, we will be running in combat conditions, so passive scanning only."


    "Is that wise?" Captain Ramirez asked. "We are still three systems out from our first target."


    Vitor would be the first to admit that Ramirez got on his nerves. It wasn''t that the man was a bad captain or that he was constantly second-guessing him¨Calthough, in this case, he certainly was¨Cit was that he was a consummate worrier. Vitor was hoping that would go away after the man saw some actual combat.


    "Our goal isn''t to flush out every pirate from hiding. We need to get into these systems quietly, scan them as best we can as we move to the next jump point, and hope our arrival goes unnoticed. If we are detected, we will need to engage the ship or ships before they can run for it and alert the station." He was worried about scouts waiting just outside the target systems that might alert them they were coming. Any ship without a transponder this far out was not friendly. There would be no warnings given.


    He was glad that the Hawks had agreed to let Alexander update their transponders so their ships could turn them off as need be. Hopefully, any pirates they ran into would just assume they were pirates as well, giving them the element of surprise.


    "Any other questions or concerns? Now is the time to bring them up." He waited for a bit but nobody spoke up. With a nod, he pulled out an old coin that he kept as a good luck charm. "Who''s turn is it to call?"


    "Heads and we go north," one of the commanders of the gunships stated.


    Vitor flicked the coin into the air and it landed on tails. "Looks like we go south of the ecliptic," he replied.


    They were not using the standard jump protocol when exiting systems, that would be foolish. They either jumped from the north or south of the system''s direction of rotation. The coin was just to add a bit more randomization into the jumps in case someone was keeping tabs on them.


    He knew that wasn''t likely, but he also knew how unlikely it was to run into an entire fleet of pirate ships and work for an alien robot, and he had done both of those.


    ***


    They arrived in the next system two days later and he was glad to see their timing was down to forty-five seconds of separation between all the ships, but only four seconds between the BSE ships. That was about as good as they could hope for.


    Unlike the last system, there was no immediate comm link. All of the ships scanned the surrounding space with their passive sensors.


    He wasn''t too worried about their jumps being detected. Most ships had poor gravimetric sensors, so unless there was a dedicated structure in the system with a dedicated gravimetric sensor array, it was unlikely they would be picked up. That limitation wasn''t out of negligence or poor design, it was just that gravimetric sensors took up a huge amount of space to operate effectively.


    If someone knew where to look, they would be able to see their ships or at least their exhaust cones, but that was another reason to pick a nonstandard jump point.


    He was hoping the pirates were lazy and just used STO jump points that were created during The Great Expansion like everyone else.


    "Captain, we have something," the communications and scanner officer reported at the same time an orange dot popped up on the tactical display.


    Vitor was still getting used to people having multiple roles. "Send the coded laser pulse to let the other ships know that we have a bogey."


    They got confirmation from the other ships, but also that Fury was reporting two contacts at that location instead of only one.


    The Fury was larger which allowed it to have slightly better scanners so he believed their scan was probably accurate. The question was what to do about the two unknown contacts.


    Krieger manipulated the tactical view. Unfortunately, the two contacts were well outside the light second bubble of Might''s tactical overlay. That meant figuring out what he wanted to know the hard way.


    After doing some calculations, and confirming it with more coded bursts back to the other ships, they were able to determine the two scouts were sitting near the normal jump point from the previous system.


    It made sense. The last system they came from was the closest system to this one, making it the most likely for people to jump in from. Arkonis Anazi had picked a rather isolated system to hide his shipyard. It was sort of a dead spot in space with no stars within ten light-years except this one and the one after it.


    The sort of dual system bridge ensured anyone who came out here would need to come through those systems unless they wanted to risk a dead jump into the vast gulf between stars.


    Vitor would have preferred to just leave these two ships behind since they were completely oblivious to their presence, but he didn''t want to leave a possible enemy in their rear or risk them discovering them before they made the next jump, which would be easy once they powered up their drives and started flying for the opposite jump point.


    There was also the opportunity to see how the other captains handled a combat situation.


    "Tell the Talon and the two gunships to hang back, then send Fury and Resolve this battle plan." He made a flicking motion from his screen and the comm officer acknowledged the transfer. Vitor could have sent it himself, but he was still stuck in the mindset of an STO officer and that meant delegating duties.


    The three ships formed a triangular formation with Resolve leading the way due to its shorter weapon range. He honestly thought Ramirez would balk at being stuck in the forward position, but the man hadn''t hesitated to take the lead. Vitor only hoped that the man''s newfound certainty held up.


    Given the choice, Vitor wouldn''t normally split his fleet like this, but the Talon was much too big a target and would be spotted long before they got close to these ships, even if the people on board were sleeping at the controls.


    He also had faith in Alex''s improvements after going over the schematics during the trip. Every single critical space was triple-armored on each of the Eden vessels. The armor itself wasn''t anything to write home about, and probably wouldn''t stop Gauss rounds for long, but he was certain it could shrug off autocannon rounds without issue.


    The only other real concern with most pirates was missiles. Those wouldn''t likely be much of an issue with all of the ECM and countermeasures the Eden ships had available with a full three supercomputers to back them up.


    He wouldn''t discount these ships having lasers or railguns after running into Char''s fleet but he still felt that was unlikely. If Arkonis had access to those types of weapons, he would have used them on his flagship like Katalynn Char had. Still, his plan hopefully reduced their risk as much as possible.


    The tactical plot updated when the enemy ships came into range, but there were now three icons on the screen.


    Frowning, he zoomed in with the optical sensors to get a better look. The two ships were only corvettes and they hadn''t reacted to their presence yet. The third item was a large box, but it wasn''t producing gravitational distortions like the gravity traps did.


    It had to be a trap of some sort, but Vitor wasn''t sure what type. He wasn''t willing to risk getting close enough to find out though. He sent a laser comm to both ships to go active and engage, but stay away from that crate.


    Through the tactical display, he could see exactly when the pirate ship''s sensors spotted them. It was evident in the panicky jerky motions of the ships as their crews tried to fire up their engines. Sitting dead in space like this, Vitor''s people could have just sent a hail of railgun darts from beyond normal range and probably taken them both out, but he was hoping to only disable the ships and take some pirates captive for questioning.


    The first to fire was actually Fury, followed close behind by Resolve. The Fury''s lasers flashed by the smaller pirate corvette but failed to score a hit. Considering they were still nearly a light second away, that was still a close shave.


    The Resolve had better luck, Captain Ramirez filled the space with dozens of hyper-velocity rounds. It helped that he was much much closer to the targets.


    Through the zoomed-in image of the pirate ships, Vitor got to watch tiny flashes of light bloom into being across one of the corvettes, only for a stream of debris to be blasted out the other side.


    Resolve didn''t stop firing though. He was going to have to remind the captain to conserve his ammunition. They did not have an unlimited supply of railgun darts and the Talon only had around four thousand aboard their ship to resupply them if needed.


    If they blew through all of those, they would have to dig out the mobile mining setup Alex had included for them. It only included the small smelter and a single drone, but they could augment the mining by adding the three Eden''s ship''s drones as well, once they printed the mining attachments for them.


    Fury fired again, this time staggering their fire so it was more of a continuous barrage as opposed to an alpha strike.


    Vitor held his single laser in reserve for anything suspicious, but it wasn''t required. The second corvette broke apart and started tumbling through space. The ships weren''t going to be salvageable, but they might be able to pull some useful items off of them.


    He had the comm officer send a message for the Talon to join them, and then he contacted the two BSE ships.


    "Good job you two. Hall, I''m glad you changed tactics to stagger your fire, but I think your initial instinct to try and hit them with everything was still correct." The man nodded. "Ramirez, you did well getting in close without being detected, although you need to work on your ammo conservation. If we run out, we''re going to delay the mission by multiple days to replace what we used."


    "Thank you, Captain. I''ll work with my team to do better. Despite training extensively on this ship, I think some of my people are still used to the fire rates on STO vessels and those are much slower. You may want to look into that problem as well since your ship has the same railguns."


    Vitor put on a strained smile and nodded at the man. "I''ll keep that in mind."


    He pushed aside his annoyance at the man''s unwarranted suggestion and focused on the task at hand. "Ramirez, I want you to send your bot over to that crate to examine it. It could be a weapon or trap of some sort so don''t get close with your ship. Hall, I want you as overwatch. Don''t let anything sneak up on us while the Talon and their people are scouring one of the two wrecks."


    "What will you be doing, Captain Krieger?" Hall asked.


    "We''re going to check the other wreck." He wouldn''t be, but he knew a certain Marine that would be happy to stretch his legs. Once a dropship from the Talon came to pick him up that is.


    ***


    Galloway jumped up and down, twisted and bent over, getting a feel for the augment suit as well as warming it up. It was slightly more maneuverable than the Navy model but lacked the additional armor of the heavy combat gear. He was happy with everything else. Especially the augmented interface, scanners, and ECM gear that Kane had somehow shoehorned into the thing.


    The vibration and motion sensors quickly alerted him that the drop shuttle had just docked. Only seconds later, his HUD lit up and let him know that there were four friendlies aboard. He smiled at that, and it was only the tip of the iceberg, the rest of the armor would get its chance to shine soon.


    It didn''t take long to cross the distance from Eden''s Might to the disabled pirate ship. They docked and waited for their HUDs to update them with an internal map of the vessel thanks to the sensors.


    "Motion in the engine room," one of the mercenaries stated.


    "Got another in the bridge," Galloway added.


    No more targets presented themselves on the map so he turned it off and went into tactical mode. It would track any hostiles but only flash an alert if any hostiles were getting close or could possibly have a firing angle on the suit''s user.


    "Two and two then, Zorina, you''re with Galloway."


    "Affirmative, TL. Try to keep up Mr. STO," the woman said with a bit of mirth.


    Galloway snorted and followed the woman through the airlock. Despite the sensors showing it was clear, both of them snapped their weapons up and scanned the corridor. "Clear," they both spoke through the suit radios.


    The other two stepped out and went in the opposite direction. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As much as Galloway would like to say, they got into a pitched firefight, and they easily won the day, that simply didn''t happen.


    The motion on the bridge turned out to be a dead crew member bouncing back and forth in the seat he was strapped to. The other mercenaries got more lucky. They managed to take a surviving pirate captive, but the man was so injured and out of it, who knew if they could get any actual information from him.


    Once they cleared the rest of the vessel, they sent the robot in to start tearing out useful tech like the jump drives, gravity plating, and maybe even the reactor, he wasn''t sure. His part in this operation was done, and although he hadn''t gotten to see what the augment suits were really capable of, he was still happy to have done something other than sit around.

 Chapter 3-20

    The single surviving pirate hadn''t been able to provide much in the way of information, but they were able to tell Vitor more about the strange crate.Turns out it wasn''t some trap. They were simply meant to guard it until a transport came along to take it into STO space. The captured pirate wasn''t clear on why the ship that brought it out to this system hadn''t just taken it to its destination. He had been told to watch it until it was picked up, and that is what he did.


    Vitor assumed the two ships were simply sacrificial idiots in case something went wrong in the transfer.


    Whatever was inside the container must be important because it was protected by the same scanner-blocking fields that he had learned about on his trip out here. He was glad Kane had uncovered that little secret but annoyed that the STO was completely in the dark about the pirate''s newest trick. Had he known about this before leaving, he would have urged his new employer to forward this information to Fletcher. Alex may have already done this, but he wouldn''t know until they returned in around three months.


    With the container having a static field generator on board, it did tell him a few things. There was at least a fusion generator inside, nothing else would have been able to sustain a field that large for more than a few hours. The ships had been there for at least six hours before the BSE ships engaged them, and it had been nearly eight since the cleanup.


    The container was also heavily armored. It had taken a few glancing rounds from Resolve''s railguns, and at least two direct hits, yet none had penetrated the thick material. The robot that they sent over was not able to make entry either as the door was welded shut, likely to keep these same pirates from getting nosy.


    Vitor had conferred with the other captains about possibly cutting the container open, but Captain Bloomright brought up a good point. "What if the environment inside is pressurized and breaching that destroys the contents?"


    The static fields didn''t work well in a normal atmosphere, but you could pressurize with other types of gasses. That would have been a good question to ask Alex since nobody in the fleet knew the ins and outs of how the static field generator functioned, they only knew how to fix it when it didn''t.


    That produced a whole lot of back and forth about how to get inside without damaging the contents. One of the engineers suggested building a temporary airlock, but that could take days to set up. The pirate had confirmed that the ship expected to claim this container was running late already and could show up at any moment. Vitor didn''t want to have to deal with more pirate ships while engineers were out there dithering with a flimsy airlock, but he didn''t want to leave something pirates had spent so much effort to protect.


    He also couldn''t just let pirates jump in while the BSE fleet was making its way to the next jump point because they would be blind not to see the debris field from the fight and no transport would be without defensive ships out here. If they were somehow working for the pirates at the secret station, that could spell trouble.


    It was decided that the Talon would tow the large container aboard their ship and get inside it while the rest of the fleet waited for the pirate ships to arrive. There was some inherent danger with taking the unknown container aboard their ship, but it was decided that it was minimal especially since another cargo ship was meant to pick it up and no signals were coming from the container to act as a handshake for the proper recipient to claim it. The Hawks also had trained and qualified people who knew how to safely handle dangerous items if they were wrong.


    Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet waited around the jump point for their guests.


    They only had to wait another four hours when three vessels appeared less than a quarter of a light-second away.


    The new arrivals consisted of two gunships and a transport, but these were not pirate ships. He didn''t even need to see their hulls to know that. They had all arrived at the exact same time, which meant they were jump-linked.


    There was a tense moment of hesitation as both sides realized something was off before the two corporate gunships zipped into motion and began firing their Gauss cannons.


    Reslove and Might, being the closest two targets started to take fire, but the ships were concentrating on the smaller of the two vessels, which was Resolve. The gunships might be quicker than the BSE frigates, but they did not have the same firepower or armor. Fury opened up from long range, scoring a single hit on one of the gunships, but it wasn''t alone. Might and Resolve were moments behind and their fire filled the space between them and the gunships with a curtain of deadly projectiles.


    Vitor prioritized the gunships with his railguns but targeted the transport, that was already turning to flee, with his laser. The invisible beam flashed out, carving a long glowing scar along the transport''s rear. He wanted them alive, so he was trying to aim for their engines.


    An explosion drew his attention back to the gunships. One had exploded somehow. He quickly played back the footage as the remaining ship did its best to try and savage Resolve with its guns. As he kept an eye on the last remaining ship, he got to the point in the recording of the other vessel as it turned to face Resolve. A trail of fire leaped from beneath the small ship.


    Vitor realized they were equipped with missiles, but the weapon was hit before it could clear the gunship, which caused the explosion.


    Whoever the pilots were on these ships, they were extremely skilled. The last one juked and dodged all of the fire that three ships were managing to send its way. It was only a matter of time until the second ship fired its missile. Vitor had faith in Alex''s ships and ECM against pirate ships and missiles but not against corporate tech. He had been around long enough to know the corporations kept the best stuff for themselves.


    He made a split-second decision, prioritizing the survival of his ships over the capture of the unknown transport. Might''s laser flashed out, slicing into the small gunship.


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    As a testament to the superiority of corporate technology, the laser didn''t immediately punch through the vessel. Whatever material this company had used for its armor held up admirably for all of a quarter second before Alexander''s overpowered lasers burst through the composite material and into the much more vulnerable internals.


    The ship stopped firing almost immediately and began an uncontrolled tumble through space on its last heading.


    With the last attacker dealt with, he quickly refocused on the transport, but it was too late. The ship finished its turn and fired up its FTL drive.


    The bubble formed almost instantly as the ship seemed to vanish, only to reappear a moment later as a scattered field of debris. Their jump field had failed, and done so catastrophically.


    Vitor winced at the sight. It seemed the damage he had caused to their ship had been enough to do something. He was glad they hadn''t escaped, but he would have preferred questioning the people aboard to find out why a corporation was out here picking up a mysterious crate from pirates.


    With the first gunship no more than a field of expanding debris as well, that left the one Vitor had disabled as the only possible source of information.


    The only problem with that was if there were survivors aboard. He wasn''t about to send his people or the Hawks to board a corporate ship. Not without disabling that missile first.


    Soon, two of the fleet''s bots floated toward the unknown ship. They quickly attached themselves to the hull and scrambled down the smooth lines of the ship''s exterior to the underside, where a well-concealed launch hatch resided.


    The cutting tools of the robots were able to cut through panel seams to remove the hull and armor around the missile tube. They did report feeling vibrations aboard the ship, so there was at least one survivor.


    Vitor was betting that these missile tubes were externally loaded though. A ship this size, sporting this many weapons simply didn''t have the internal space for loading a full-sized anti-ship missile like it carried.


    He was right. The bots managed to cut the missile free. One of the bots grabbed the weapon and jetted off into space with its ion thruster. Once it was clear, it started trying to disarm the weapon. A bright flash a few seconds later told him that hadn''t panned out. The ship was still intact and the second bot was already at the opening Might''s laser had torn into its side.


    If it wasn''t for Eden''s Might offering up a bit of its processing power, the bot would have been much slower. Watching Alex''s creation backed up by a supercomputer was a bit scary. The robot quickly enlarged the damaged hole and pushed its way into the ship, slicing away metal and tossing it out behind itself as it moved. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It reminded Vitor of burrowing insects he had seen on Earth. An alert popped up when the bot encountered resistance from the survivors. Damage indicators quickly piled up on the machine, but it still forged ahead until it finally reached the reactor. Its arrival was just in the nick of time. It seemed the people aboard had tried to force a reactor overload. The bot managed to sever the fuel lines before it was fully disabled, causing the reactor to slowly shut down.


    He would need to thank Alex for making his bots so damn resilient. If it wasn''t for that, any chance of finding out who these bastards were, would have been lost.


    Two of the Talon''s drop ships flew in and towed the ship back to the assault ship. The Hawks had yet to open the cargo container, their people taking their time to examine every inch of it before proceeding. That was perfect, now they had more people to get answers from.


    ***


    Jallen and his team along with two more teams were suited up and ready as the drop ships brought the damaged gunship into the hangar. The gunship was a large vessel but was smaller and much sleeker than the hulking dropships, which were on average smaller than a typical shuttle that averaged around sixty feet in length.


    He wasn''t fooled by the smaller ship''s appearance though, Jallen knew gunships could pack a nasty punch. It''s why the Talon was always escorted by two of the vessels. However, he doubted the two Hawks gunships held a candle to this sleek beauty.


    The light turned green and the three mercenary teams stormed into the hangar. They quickly met resistance as two armored forms started firing from inside the broken ship. Whoever these people were, they weren''t pulling any punches as beams of deadly light flickered from the rent in the ship''s hull, the otherwise invisible beams of energy highlighted by the HUDs in their suits. Flechettes filled the space between the two groups as the Hawks returned fire and quickly adjusted away from the opening in the vessel, preventing the two people inside from getting a clean shot on them.


    As they neared the ship, his HUD started fuzzing before it quickly fixed itself as the augment gear automatically linked with the ones nearby to improve their ECCM protection. The two inside the ship must have assumed their ECM was successful as they stepped out of the ship and opened fire, only to be met with swift and brutal counterfire from the three combat teams.


    Despite that, it took a full ten seconds of withering flechette fire, before the two combatants finally went down. He looked around to see if anyone was hit. Two of his people were on the ground, unmoving and with holes burned through their armor.


    In total, five people had gone down trying to take out the two from the ship. It was a heavy price to pay, and he hoped it had been worth it. The ship alone probably was, but he didn''t like comparing his people''s lives to a bit of tech.


    Jallen walked up to the bodies of the two pilots, male and female. The woman was still twitching, and trying to reach for the small laser rifle that they had been using. There was a growing puddle of blood beneath her, so she wasn''t long for the world. He kicked the woman''s hand away from the weapon and picked it up, inspecting it for any markings. It was blank.


    Medics rushed into the hangar and took away the injured and dead. When he was told two of the people he thought dead were still alive, he breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, the medics and doctors could patch them up.


    He shifted his focus back to the ship, and what answers they might find aboard its computers.

 Chapter 3-21

    "Any casualties?" Vitor asked Captain Ramirez."Three people injured, nothing severe though. They should be back in action in a couple of days. If it wasn''t for the triple armored crew areas, it would have been much worse."


    "How much damage did you suffer?" Vitor asked with his next question.


    "All things considered, we only suffered minor damage. We do have a dozen spots open to vacuum, but the bot is quickly patching the exterior holes while my people seal the interior ones. I expect to be fully operational in four or five hours."


    Vitor nodded and turned to one of the other screens. He had invited all of the captains to an after-action report to make sure they were still able to continue. "Captain Bloomright, what about your casualties?"


    The Talon''s people had been engaged by the enemy, unfortunately, he knew that ground combat tended to have a much higher mortality rate than that of the Navy.


    Bloomright looked slightly shaken up, but she was quick to respond. "Three dead, one in critical condition that isn''t likely to survive, and another severely injured. The crew aboard the gunboat surprised us with laser rifles. If it wasn''t for them making a mistake and thinking our augment gear was disabled, I think the losses might have been much higher. The ship suffered some damage, but nothing that will prevent us from continuing."


    "Sorry for your losses," he said solemnly. After having lost people of his own, he knew how she probably felt.


    The woman nodded at him. "Thank you for the kind words, Captain Krieger."


    While he would prefer to give the captain time to come to terms with the loss, he needed to know if this gamble had been worth it. "What of the ship and container?"


    "My people are going through it now to try to find any identifying marks. So far they haven''t had any luck and the computer was wiped before we boarded the vessel. A computer forensics expert might be able to recover some data from the device, but I doubt they would find anything incriminating. My people will go over every inch of that ship, but I''m not expecting them to find anything. The only thing we can say for certainty is that the engines are Omni Class 2, which basically tells us nothing since every corporation within the STO runs them if they have the capital and this company obviously did."


    "No transponder?" he asked in confusion.


    She shook her head. "Not that we''ve been able to locate. I know that would normally put this ship firmly in the category of being a pirate, but there is no way pirates are running around with tech like this. If they were, the STO would have been wiped out years ago. This is top-of-the-line tech. Even the suits the pilots were wearing were more advanced than anything I''ve come across."


    "Have your engineers send the scans over to me. I might have better luck identifying the suits."


    She nodded. "As for the crate, my people have taken every precaution they can. An x-ray scan was able to penetrate the exterior, but not very far into the shielded interior. It did confirm that there were no traps or sensors on the insides of the walls though. The engineers are setting up a small dark room and vacuum chamber to prevent any light or air to the work site in case of optical triggers. Once that is done, they will drill a tiny probe hole through the weld just large enough to put a pinhole camera through. We should know more after that."


    After confirming with the others at the meeting, Vitor decided they had spent enough time loitering in this system. He ordered them to form up and they all started moving toward the next jump point. They would remain in the system until all of the ships were completely repaired, but he didn''t want to do that near the battle site.


    Halfway to the next jump, he got a comm request from the Talon. Vitor accepted the request and Captain Bloomright appeared on screen. "My people have gained entry into the container, and you''re not going to believe what''s inside. It''s people."


    "People!" Vitor said in shock. "What? How?"


    "Stasis pods," she stated. "At least a dozen, if not more. The tiny camera doesn''t have the best quality so we can''t be certain. We won''t know the exact count until we cut open the doors."


    "Alright," he said with a tired sigh. "If your people think it''s safe enough to proceed, then do so. Just don''t activate any of those pods until after we ensure the next system over is clear."


    "I will let my people know."


    After Bloomright cut the connection, Vitor sat back in his seat and rubbed his temples. He didn''t miss the glances his people threw his way, but he wasn''t concerned about looking unflappable in front of his crew. They had seen him at much worse and had still stood behind him. A bit of agitation and exhaustion was nothing.


    This mission was supposed to be a simple snatch and grab according to Kane. While not easy, it shouldn''t have been too difficult for six ships to pull off if the pirates didn''t have much in the way of defenses. Now he had shadowy corporate nonsense and human trafficking to add to his worries. It all stank of a much larger operation going on out here and he was starting to suspect they might run into more resistance than they had planned for.


    Vitor couldn''t dwell on what-ifs. A captain''s responsibility was to act with the information they had on hand. He had done so and the pirates had easily been taken care of. There was nothing to indicate that the ships arriving to pick up the crate of human popsicles were going to be from some corporation.


    Had he known, he would have approached that situation much differently, but hindsight is twenty-twenty.


    The fleet arrived at their jump point and they were ready to go. Captain Ramirez had sent a message over an hour ago, alerting him that Resolve was as good as she would get without a shipyard. Vitor let the other ship keep his repair bot since theirs was lost to the missile. He already had a new one printed and ready to go for Eden''s Might anyway.


    The ships did their best to sync up their jumps and one by one flashed into FTL.


    Three days later, they dropped out of FTL in the next system. Unlike the previous one, passive scans showed nothing. That didn''t mean they were alone, it just meant if anyone was in the system, they were not sitting at the usual jump points. Since the fleet was still in a combat stance, they slowly moved through the system, looking for likely hiding spots of pirates or structures of any kind.


    Eventually, he sent a tight beam to the Talon to find out what they learned during the FTL transit.


    "Captain Bloomright, tell me you have some good news?" he asked as soon as the woman appeared on the screen.


    "I do. My people managed to get the container open. Other than the sixteen pods, it only had a fusion reactor along with the fuel source and the static field generator."


    "Sixteen, not twelve?"


    "Correct. And they are all occupied."


    "Alright, I think this system is clear. Go ahead and wake one up. Let''s see if we can finally shed some light on what''s going on out here."


    ***


    Jallen gripped the handle of his pulse rifle as the engineers and medics pulled out one of the pods and moved it to a secure area. He and the remainder of his team followed along while others kept an eye on the rest of the popsicles inside the once-sealed crate.


    He itched to demand answers from whoever was inside the stasis pod, but that wasn''t his duty. His duty was to protect the engineers and medics in case the person inside got belligerent. He would prefer something a little more lethal for that, but he had his orders.


    Once the pod was in place, it was quickly reconnected to the ship''s power and the engineers cleared the room as the medics fussed over the pod''s settings.


    "Is there a problem," he asked after waiting ten minutes for something to happen.


    "Well, no. Not with the pod anyway. It''s just the interface is non-standard, so we are double-checking to make sure we don''t make a mistake reviving the individual."


    "Non-standard?"


    "He means old," the other medic stated.


    "How old?" Jallen asked.


    "Pre-FTL maybe," the first man said with a shrug.


    Jallen was well and truly confused. "What? How is that possible? I didn''t think someone could survive that long being in a stasis pod."


    "They wouldn''t have," the same medic stated. "The first and second-generation stasis pods were notorious for failing, which killed the people inside more often than not. This is not a first or second-generation pod though."


    "It''s not? I thought you said it was old."


    "I said the interface was old. Someone cobbled this thing together from spare parts, but the actual stasis pod is a newer model, so it should be fine."


    "Pirates," Jallen muttered, getting nods of agreement from the two medics and the rest of his team.


    "Alright," the first medic said. "The reawakening sequence has been initiated. It''ll take twenty minutes or so."


    It was the most boring twenty minutes of Jallen''s life, worse than watching paint dry. There was a soft hiss and a pop as the lid popped open and rotated up with a bit of help from the medics.


    Two thin arms poked out from inside the device and a rail-thin man pulled himself into a sitting position with great difficulty. The man blinked his eyes and looked around in confusion. With a raspy, long unused voice, he spoke. "Who- Who are you?" Your next journey awaits at empire


    "We''re a mercenary outfit," Jallen stated. "And we have some questions for you."


    The man started shaking his head. "No, no, no. You need to put me back. If they find out we''re missing, they won''t deliver on their promise." the man said in a panicked tone as he struggled to try and close the lid. The medics easily prevented that by grabbing his arms. The man was so weak and frail that he wasn''t able to resist.


    "What promise?" Jallen asked


    "Please, just put me back."


    "I can''t do that."


    The man burst into tears and Jallen had to wait until he recovered enough to speak again.


    "You''ve doomed our families."


    "You''re not making any sense. Why don''t you start from the beginning and tell me what''s going on."


    It took a while but the man did eventually start talking.


    "I was an engineer for a company called Protogen, until it was purchased by a larger company. Our company made life-support systems. Not that it matters anymore," he muttered darkly before continuing. "I never knew what company purchased Protogen, but they liquidated all of the company assets. That included the employees, despite our vocal protests against being sold off like just another piece of equipment. Our entire families were taken hostage and we were sold in groups so whoever bought us could maintain control over us. Those without families were taken as well, but I can''t tell you what happened to those individuals. After being rented out to pirates, I ended up on some station where I was forced to install the same systems I helped build when I worked for Protogen."


    "Do you know where this station is?" Jallen interrupted the man.


    The man stared at him blankly. "Do you really think they tell their slaves where they are?"


    Jallen cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Please, continue."


    "Once my work was done, they started feeding us less and less and soon we were barely getting enough food to make it through the day. That''s when I was pulled away from my family and told if I didn''t cooperate, my family would not receive any more rations. A few other people were getting the same lecture as I was. I assumed we were being sent back to our owners since our work on the ships was already complete. I stepped into the pod, closed my eyes, then I woke up here."


    The story was a heartbreaking one but Jallen made sure to school his face. "Did they say anything about who the corporation was? How were you supposed to know it was the correct people that woke you?"


    "The pirates said to look for a logo composed of two half circles, one red, one black."


    Jallen racked his mind but was coming up blank on any corporations with a logo like that.


    "That''s all I need to know for now. Take him to the medical center and get him treated."


    The two medics nodded and helped lift the man out of the pod.


    He radioed everything he had learned to the Captain before contacting the engineers to bring in the next pod. It was going to be a long day.


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 Chapter 3-22

    "So all of them were indentured corporate slaves?" Vitor asked."It appears so," Captain Bloomright replied.


    "Stars above. Just when you think the corporations can''t sink any lower, they prove you wrong. Has anyone broached the subject of their families?" Vitor would have preferred to keep these people in stasis but they needed intel on their target and any intel was better than none. The problem was that none of these people''s stories matched up. Either some of the people were lying, they were told lies, or they all had completely different experiences at the station.


    "Not, yet¡­ The Hawks have a few people who are certified grief counselors. They are speaking to the people, but they haven''t brought up the subject of their missing loved ones yet. Some of the prisoners were pretty malnourished and the doctors want them to recover for a few days before introducing any more shocks to their mental wellbeing."


    That was another confusing piece of the puzzle. Some of the prisoners were damn near starved while others looked perfectly fine. There was no rhyme or reason that they could find other than the whims of the pirates, which very well might be the reason.


    "At least we have the correct system now," he said in irritation. One of the recovered engineers had gotten a much better look at the starfield outside the station, along with the star or stars that the structure orbited around. He was also able to confirm that the station was orbiting a large moon that was orbiting a gas giant. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Vitor may not have learned any intel on what to expect once inside the system, but they had detailed records of surveys done long in the past so they were able to pin down the exact planet and system. Only one of the three targets matched the binary system the man described.


    He learned a few other things by watching the recorded debriefs. A few of the people said the pirates didn''t look to be going hungry. That meant that they were either hoarding food for themselves or there was never a shortage of food in the first place and they just lied to get the people to agree to be put in stasis without a fuss. He could see the pirates doing both of those things so he couldn''t be certain which was true, however, he was leaning toward the latter. It was the only thing that made any sense considering the information they had gathered.


    None of the survivors knew the date when they were stuck in stasis either, which made it impossible to determine a timeline for when this treatment started. Some did have the dates that they were initially sold to this shadowy corporation, and the information shocked him. Half of these people were over a hundred years old, their imprisonment happening in the early twenty-fourth century.


    It was monstrous to consider that these people had been imprisoned and sold time and time again as rentable experts over the course of nearly a century. Once all this activity with Harlow was over, he was going to implore Alex to look into this unknown corporation and put a stop to this abuse. He shook his head and focused back on the mission.


    Based on the types of engineers aboard the cargo container, Vitor managed to get a pretty good idea of how far along the ships were. It didn''t sound like any of the ships were fully complete, but they did sound like they were functional enough to hold air and have life-support working. That was better than the alternative of having all the ships fully functional and the pirates somehow figuring out how to bypass the security on the fusion reactors.


    Vitor also now had a rough floorplan for the station and a general idea of how many pirates to expect. That number was anywhere from a dozen to a few hundred, but it was better than nothing. It seemed the number of pirates aboard the station fluctuated over time. The one thing he wished he had more information on was the number of active pirate ships to expect. None of the prisoners knew that since the pirates kept them well away from any working ships.


    A few hundred pirates could be enough to crew two dozen corvettes, as many as ten frigates, hundreds of gunboats, or any combination of the three.


    He wouldn''t know for certain until they jumped in. Those were not odds he was happy with, but now that they knew the general location of the station, he could plan better.


    After a two-hour strategy session with the other captains, Vitor had a plan of attack. He made sure everyone was topped off on ammunition, and even had additional reserves brought over and stored in open bunks. He did not want to have their ships run out mid-fight.


    Once all of the ships declared their readiness status, the fleet jumped to their destination.


    Four days later they dropped out of FTL and immediately began scanning their surroundings with passive sensors. Eden''s Might wasn''t the first to arrive this time, that distinction went to Fury this time around.


    Nothing showed up on scanners except the massive jovian in the background that they had jumped in behind. A full two minutes later, Talon appeared. This wasn''t a mistake on their part, he had told Captain Bloomright to delay her jump a bit in case they came into immediate contact with enemy forces.


    Once they determined the surrounding space was pirate-free, he was able to relax slightly. Jumping into a system was always the most dangerous part of any combat operation. From here he could decide if they should continue with the operation or move to the closest emergency jump point to get away.


    The fleet quickly formed up and started moving toward their goal. The station orbited the other gas giant in the system but he wanted as much time as possible to gather information before he gave this mission the green light. They would cut their engines before coming around the planet and coast as far as possible before they were spotted. And they would be spotted. You couldn''t hide a ship as large as the Talon for long, but he couldn''t simply leave it behind this time.


    The fleet started accelerating and Vitor grunted as he was pushed back into his seat by the forces. Combat acceleration was not something he enjoyed experiencing, but they needed as much speed as they could get before coming out of the shadow of the gas giant.


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    The forces on his body soon eased and then stopped altogether. Vitor breathed a sigh of relief. "System report," he said as he adjusted his position in the seat.


    "We have a system fault on turret three, sir."


    He cursed under his breath and contacted the reactor room. "Parson, we have a fault on turret three, you have thirty minutes to try and fix it. Use the bot if you need to but get it done. We need all of our guns."


    "I''m on it, captain," the man replied before quickly cutting the comm connection and getting to work.


    The system map kept updating as the large planet fell away to their right, giving them their first clear visual of the station.


    It was larger than he expected it to be. There were also far more than five ships docked at it. It took a few more minutes to clear up the passive visuals and get an accurate count of the ships that were docked. He was not happy with what he saw. Two ships could be cruisers, another two were large enough to be destroyers, and he counted an additional ten frigates, five corvettes, and another five gunboats. There was also a smattering of haulers, mining ships, and other smaller craft moving back and forth from the station to the nearby asteroid field.


    Vitor almost pulled the plug on this mission then and there, but he held himself back. They had two hours before the fleet entered the other gas giant''s gravity well and wouldn''t be able to jump without adjusting their course. He might as well wait and see what he could see.


    An hour later, he was glad he hadn''t jumped the gun. As the visual fidelity increased, he could see that the cruisers and destroyers were both still under construction. Small sparks of light erupted across their surface as people welded armor into place. Alexander had told them to expect at least one destroyer based on the image he saw. It appears there was far more than just a single destroyer being built out here.


    As for the frigates, half of them were missing parts and entire sections of hull and armor. It looked like they had been scavenged for parts for the other ships. That still left five frigates and the gunboats as well as the other pirate ships in the system to deal with if they were operational. He didn''t forget the station either. He was sure it had weapons as well.


    Soon four of the five frigates quickly moved away from the station and started heading their way, these were quickly joined by the gunboats and some of the smaller ships that happened to be nearby. Vitor hadn''t factored the civilian vessels in, he should have known better.


    "Alert the rest of the fleet to switch to combat operations." Vitor pressed the all-hands alert button and double-checked his straps before placing his helmet on and sealing it. Parson had managed to clear the gun fault so he had all his weapons available again.


    Unlike the attack on the two ships from before, Vitor had his small fleet form a triangle slightly ahead of the Talon, leaving the large ship a clear line of fire. The two gunboats took up flanking positions on either side in the space between the frigates and the assault ship.


    He had no concern that the massive ship couldn''t take care of itself, it had the heaviest armor out of any of them, but it made a big target. Their job was to keep any missiles from getting to the ship.


    His tactical overlay started pinging as the pirate fleet entered his maximum range of one light second. Neither ship with lasers fired though. They already knew it was difficult to hit targets at that range. So they waited.


    The enemy ships outnumbered them, but not so bad that Krieger was concerned. With Alexander''s railguns, Resolve and Might had the combined firepower of almost four normal frigates. They also held the range advantage with Fury''s lasers as well as his single one.


    The enemy ships started firing missiles as soon as they could. The enemy was attempting to overwhelm their point-defense weapons. They would quickly learn that wasn''t as easy as they hoped. The tactical plot updated with the new contacts and he watched his weapons officer furiously tagging the devices before activating the PDLs. The point defense lasers flicked out and the pirate missiles quickly vanished off the tactical display.


    This must have surprised the pirates because some of them broke and tried to run for it. Unfortunately, they were well inside both the Fury''s and the Might''s laser range by now. Deadly beams flickered invisibly through space, carving into the fleeing ships with impunity.


    The rest of the pirate ships roared ahead, undaunted by the challenge.


    They soon entered Resolve''s weapon''s range and Vitor opened up with his railguns as well. Soon after the Talon and its gunships opened up on the pirates with their weapons. They didn''t need to worry about misses hitting the station as they had angled their approach so any missed shot would fall toward the gas giant.


    Despite the withering fire the enemy was experiencing, they plowed into range and started firing their autocannons as well as a few more missiles they must have kept in reserve.


    One of the missiles got dangerously close to hitting Fury. It blew up short of its target, but a hail of shrapnel peppered the frigate.


    It was still in the fight, but it looked to have taken significant damage to the side facing Vitor''s ship.


    As the two groups of ships closed with one another, Vitor saw what the pirates planned to do. He quickly contacted Captain Bloomright. "Change your trajectory, they are going to pass between us and try to ram your ship."


    "Just noticed that as well, already adjusting course. That won''t stop them from adjusting to match my new heading though, we need to disable them quicker."


    "Working on it," he grunted as the ship shook from an impact.


    "Tell the other BSE captains that they are free to fire their missiles."


    Alex had warned him that the missiles were mostly untested and that he should only use them in case of emergency. This seemed like an appropriate time.


    The three ships launched ten missiles each, the weapons streaked away as they were launched from the ship before lighting off their drives. The Talon''s sensors momentarily fuzzed as the enemy activated their ECM. When that didn''t work, they filled the space with PDC fire to try and take down the weapons.


    That was more effective, but it also allowed Fury to pinpoint those defensive systems and pick them off with its PDLs. Surprised by the use of a defensive weapon for offensive purposes, Vitor was slow to follow suit, but he did. And the Resolve was not far behind.


    Even with the lasers helping to disable the enemy''s defensive cannons, they were able to take down most of the missiles before they got within range. Too bad they only needed one good hit per ship.


    Two of the pirate frigates were blasted sideways as a pair of missiles slammed into their forward armor. Another missile barely missed the ship it was aiming for, but still triggered its proximity fuse, rocking the third pirate frigate hard.


    It wasn''t enough to knock any of the ships out of the fight, but it did prevent them from going after the Talon. It also gave the BSE frigates a clear shot at their aft sections.


    Lasers flickered out, lighting up the rear sections of the enemy frigates and leaving long lines of molten metal.


    While Fury was doing its best to disable those ships, Resolve and Might had their hands full trying to fill the enemy gunships full of holes.


    Two of the five gunships had fled, along with the other frigate, all of which were now drifting toward the large gas giant, their engine sections destroyed by Fury''s weapons. That still left three of the small attack craft and the other ships that had joined the impromptu pirate fleet.


    More missiles filled space as those ships weighed in on this conflict. ECM went to work to counter them as PDLs were quickly reoriented on the new threat.


    Fury took another close call from a missile but was still in the fight. It was clear the enemy had determined that Eden''s Fury was the most dangerous ship here, not due to sheer firepower, but because it had the most range. Vitor could argue that his railguns were far more damaging than lasers, but this wasn''t a competition to see whose ship hit hardest.


    Eden''s Might skewed sideways as something slammed into it. "What the hell was that?!"


    "Railgun round from the station, sir. We have a minor hull breach."


    He cursed under his breath.


    "Increase our evasive maneuvers," he ordered, transmitting the same orders to the rest of the fleet.


    He suspected the station had defenses, but he had hoped they wouldn''t deploy them until they took care of the ships first. It seemed like whoever was in control of that facility didn''t feel like waiting.

 Chapter 3-23

    LOCATION: BA''EED STATIONSYSTEM: ZORFON''S GAP


    DATE: 2400


    Sienna would be damned if she lost this station to a handful of frigates and an old assault ship. "Fire up the station defenses!" she ordered as she ran into the command room.


    "But-," that was the only word the man got out before she shot him.


    "Does anyone else feel like second-guessing my orders?" She knew what the man was going to say, ''What about the fleet?'' She didn''t give a rat''s ass about the fleet. She only cared about the station and the ships under construction that had been entrusted to her. Arkonis would forgive her for losing the other ships, but he wouldn''t forgive her if she lost the two cruisers and two destroyers that were nearly complete.


    The other pirates dutifully turned back to their consoles and started activating the guns. Another man ran in and dragged the corpse away, while someone else took his place.


    The large railguns had come at a great cost, but she would make sure they paid for themselves by spilling the blood of these interlopers. Sienna didn''t know what faction of pirates or possibly corporation these ships belonged to and she didn''t care. They had to die.


    Maybe she would keep a few alive to find out how they found this place. Even the few corporations she dealt with over the years had been kept at arm''s length. Only Arkonis'' most loyal people were allowed to know of this facility''s existence.


    The station shuddered as the large guns fired. Going by how quickly the battle was devolving for the defenders, she wasn''t sure she had any need to worry about friendly fire. Most of the rounds had been sent toward the center of the enemy ship''s formation. She hoped to disable that big bastard. It was clearly a troop carrier of some sort, and she did not have the manpower to fight off a boarding action.


    Her plan was foiled when the ship adjusted its course. She did smile slightly when one of the frigates was struck by the station guns, but her smile was short-lived when the ship seemed to shrug it off and keep coming.


    "Uh¡­ Captain Blackspire, I think that laser frigate is the Headhunter."


    "What?!" she demanded as she strode over to the man''s console and pushed him out of the way.


    She looked at the sensor logs and the blurry image from the optical feeds. The blood in her veins turned to ice as she looked at the information. She knew every line of her paramour''s ship and while some things were off, the shape was there. "That''s impossible," she whispered. She wanted to deny it but there was no doubt in her mind that one of the ships was the Headhunter.


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    If these people had Arkonis'' ship, it meant he was dead. It also meant they had the activation crystals. She jerked up from the console. "Keep firing!" she ordered as she stormed out of the room.


    "Where are you going?" one of the people demanded.


    Normally, she would have turned around and shot the insolent man, but she needed to hurry. "I said keep fucking firing!"


    These bastards may have killed her lover, but she would not let them have her ships. She would rather blow this entire facility before allowing that to happen.


    It was too bad she didn''t have access to a nuke, that would have made this much easier. Instead, she hurried to the first cruiser, passing the workers and slave engineers without a word as she headed to the ship''s reactor room.


    If she couldn''t blow up the station and everything attached to it, she would set the ship reactors to overload.


    "Get out!" she ordered as she entered the reactor room. Three technicians and two slaves jumped at her command, but quickly exited the room as she pulled out her weapon.


    The station shook as she made her way to the reactor terminal and she stumbled, she caught herself but dropped her gun. The weapon slid beneath some pipes and she cursed her luck but turned back to the terminal. She could retrieve her gun after she set the reactor. Sienna couldn''t engage the reactors normally since she didn''t have the activation crystal. What she could do was flood it with power from the station as well as fuel. With the right mixture, she could force an ignition in the chamber. Without the normal safeties turned on, all it would need was a steady supply of additional fuel to overload it.


    Sienna managed to kick-start the reactor and was halfway through setting up the sequence that would eventually lead to an overload when someone spoke up behind her.


    "St- stop what you''re doing."


    Her hands froze over the console and she turned to see another slave. He was covered in grease and dirt. The man must have been working deeper inside the room and hadn''t been able to extricate himself until just now. The problem was, he had her weapon shakily trained on her.


    "Put that down, and we''ll only punish you and not your family," she stated with authority.


    "You were planning on overloading the reactor, weren''t you? The station shaking means it''s under attack. Someone''s finally come to rescue us, and you''re afraid."


    Sienna snorted. "Don''t count on these new arrivals being your friends."


    The man''s grip tightened on the weapon and his shaking stilled. Sienna realized her mistake of not denying the accusations. She lunged for the gun. There was a hiss as the weapon fired and pain quickly followed, but she rammed into the man, knocking him over and wrestling the weapon out of his grasp.


    She got up drunkenly and aimed the weapon at the prone individual. "You should have shot me in the back when you had the chance."


    Sienna didn''t get the opportunity to fire her weapon as something hard slammed into the back of her skull. Her world went white and she fell to the floor, a large gash on the back of her head. A terrified woman with a large metal tool stood there in shock.


    ***


    Vitor and the rest of his battered fleet approached the station. It had taken time to pick off the guns on the large structure, but they had done so after finally mopping up the final remnants of the pirate fleet. The few other ships in the system had bolted, not coming to the aid of their fellow pirates, or sticking around to become the next targets.


    In total, six people died aboard the BSE ships during the fight. Most were from impact injuries or broken necks. There was only so much the vac-suits could do to stabilize a person''s spine during combat, and the large rounds from the station had shaken each and every ship in the fleet, minus the two gunships. The two small ships had weathered the fight without significant damage.


    He wished he could say that about the BSE frigates or the Talon. The Resolve and Might were both leaking air from hull cracks while the Fury was experiencing intermittent power loss issues. The Talon had weathered the storm, but its thick frontal armor was deeply pitted from multiple impacts.


    The Hawks hadn''t suffered any deaths thanks to their additional tonnage making it harder for the station guns to knock them around.


    All things considered, this had been a resounding victory, but it wasn''t over yet. They were nearing the station and the Talon was already disgorging drop ships full of mercenaries to storm the structure. He had faith that the mercenaries could do their job. Galloway had also transferred over there during their reload. He would not deny the Marine a chance at a boarding action of this scale.


    There had been a moment of worry when Vitor''s people detected energy buildup in one of the cruisers. Powering up the reactor should not have been possible without the activation crystal. Thankfully the energy quickly bled off soon after and he breathed a sigh of relief. They would need to keep an eye on those ships.


    ***


    Galloway had joined the same team as before. Jallen was a competent individual and he already got along with Zorina so it seemed like an easy fit.


    Like any good team, they razzed the new guy as their ship sped toward the station. "So newbie, you managed to get one boarding mission under your belt and now you think you''re good enough to be on our team?" Zorina asked.


    Galloway snorted. "I probably have more experience than all of you combined."


    "We''ll see about that, rookie," Jallen said with a smirk. "Seals shut, landing in thirty seconds. Watch your fire once we''re aboard the station. We don''t know who''s a hostile or a civilian."


    Galloway sealed his visor which activated his HUD. He checked his gun again and waited. There was a clunk as the ship connected to the docking collar and then people started rushing out.


    Weapon''s fire greeted them immediately, but a withering hail of flechettes tore through the unarmored pirates with little effort. More drop ships docked, disgorging more mercenaries while the first few established a beachhead at the docking arm''s entrance.


    A few more pirates tried their luck but were quickly killed or driven off.


    When enough mercenaries had made it aboard, groups split off and moved deeper into the space station. The last to arrive were set to guard the rear. Thankfully, that was not the group Galloway was a part of.


    Jallen and his team moved swiftly but checked every room as they passed. He was impressed by their training but there were a few things they could improve upon. He would bring that up after the mission was over.


    As they were getting ready to check another room, a pirate popped his head around the end of the corridor. Galloway''s gun had already been pointing that way and he let off a stream of flechettes before he even got halfway through yelling, "Contact Front!" S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man went down and an explosion rocked the end of the corridor as the grenade the man had been readying to throw exploded.


    "Eyes up, people!" Jallen reminded them before turning to Galloway. "Good job, rookie."


    Galloway snorted but kept his eyes trained on the corridor.


    The uncoordinated pirates quickly fell to the much better-trained and coordinated teams of the Hawks. The only time there was an issue was when one of the pirates took some families hostage. After some back-and-forth negotiations, the family members beat the pirate to death. A medic managed to stabilize the people who were wounded in that fight and rushed them to the drop ships and then back to the Talon.


    It took more time to gather the civilians together and free the rest of the prisoners from the ships than it had taken to clear the pirates. They also found a room filled with people who were in stasis pods. A tablet showed a log of pending sales.


    The whole thing made Galloway sick and he was glad he was part of this operation. This may only be a small part of ridding the universe of pirates, but at least he felt like he was doing something instead of the senseless bullshit he had been forced to do when he was in the STO. Marines should never be used to quell civil unrest.


    The few pirates who surrendered were able to provide a much clearer picture of what was going on with this station. It wasn''t just Arkonis Anazi''s personal shipyard. It was also where the man moved all his most valuable merchandise, which turned out to be a swift trade of skilled slaves and the occasional ransom.


    Galloway watched from the background as Jallen spoke with the rescued civilians. They were overjoyed to see them and wondered when they would be taken home. Jallen artfully redirected the conversation.


    From what he knew, the main objective of this mission was to secure the ships and bring those back to Eden''s End. The secondary objective was to save anyone trapped out here. The Hawks engineers were already poring over the ships to see what needed to be finished before the vessels could launch.


    That focus wasn''t lost on the survivors and a few asked about it. Jallen told them. A few seemed upset by that, while others looked confused.


    "Weren''t you sent out here by the STO to rescue us?" one woman covered in grease and dirt asked.


    "Not exactly," Jallen admitted. "First off, we are not part of the STO. We are a mercenary company under contract from Blue Star Enterprises."


    "Who?" one man asked.


    "What mercenary company?" another demanded to know.


    Galloway tuned out the questions, glad he wasn''t responsible for answering them. Heck, he might not even be required to do an after-action report unless Captain Krieger asked for one. He smirked slightly, maybe being a rookie wasn''t so bad after all. His mirth must have shown because the dark-haired and severe-looking Zorina gave him an odd look. "I''ll tell you about it later," he replied in a low voice.

 Chapter 3-24

    Vitor stepped out of the airlock and was greeted by a group of mercenaries, which included Marine Galloway. He nodded to the Marine before turning to the leader of the group. "Team Leader Jallen," Vitor said as he accepted the man''s outstretched hand and shook it. "I take it you''ll be my guide?""Yes, Captain. If you''d follow me I can show you what we''ve discovered so far."


    "There are indeed five ships under construction or there were. Something happened to the third destroyer and its parts were scrapped or used on the other two ships. We asked the prisoners and the few surviving pirates about the missing ship but whatever happened to the vessel happened before they arrived and none of them could say what that was. There are always the ones still in stasis to speak to but we decided not to wake any of those people until we knew more."


    "That''s probably for the best," Vitor said as they turned down a passageway.


    The fewer people they had to corral the better.


    "The ships are mostly complete, but they are missing most of their weapons, some internal systems, and a few need external finishes. Most of the work was on hold because the pirates were waiting for the remaining parts to be delivered. Apparently, there was a trade that was scheduled to happen."


    Vitor groaned. "You don''t mean the one between them and the unknown corporation do you?" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jallen shrugged. "The surviving pirates weren''t sure and the woman who ran this place didn''t live long enough to tell anyone."


    "Alright. For now, let''s assume that was the case. Are the ships space-worthy and can they jump into FTL?" Those were really the only two things that mattered to Vitor right now. The rest Kane could figure out.


    "The Hawks engineers are going over them as we speak, but I haven''t heard anything to indicate any major concern. We''ll arrive at the first cruiser shortly so you can get a more updated picture of their condition directly from them."


    Vitor nodded. "And the civilians?" The mercenaries had discovered hundreds of active stasis pods on the station. If the logs were accurate, the pirates had kept the families alive. It was a small miracle.


    "A bit malnourished but overall in good condition. It took some convincing, but once we assured them that they would eventually get back to their homes, they were eager to cooperate."


    The group arrived outside a large airlock that had tools, parts, and people scattered about. Vitor was a little surprised to see so many people having assumed the mercenaries would have moved them into one area. It seemed this group of civilians were communicating with the Hawks engineers.


    He recognized Chief Engineer Sullivan from a few of the meetings they had on the journey out here. She walked over to greet him once she was finished.


    "Captain Krieger, Team Leader Jallen," the woman spoke as she nodded to each of them.


    Not wanting to beat around the bush or take up the woman''s precious time, he simply stated what he wanted to know. "What are we looking at?"


    "A mess," she said. "It''ll be easier to show you."


    They moved through the crowd and into the large ship. When he saw the missing panels that allowed him to look through multiple compartments, he turned to Jallen. "I thought you said they were mostly complete?"


    "They are, structure-wise," the short engineer responded without breaking stride. "The pirates focused on making sure they were operational to ensure they could move them if they needed to. Of course, that assumed they had the fusion activation crystals, which they didn''t."


    "Is this the ship that had the power buildup during our fight?"


    Sullivan nodded. "The woman that ran the station tried to kick start the reactor using the station''s power to force an overload. Some of the prisoners didn''t agree with her course of action and the woman didn''t survive the disagreement."


    The group entered the reactor room and skirted around a congealing pool of blood.


    "Did you bring the crystal?" Sullivan asked.


    Vitor nodded and reached into his suit and produced all five crystals Alex had given him. Since none of them were labeled Sullivan had to try three before one worked.


    The reactor hummed to life, slowly building power. Soon the ship lights started flickering on, washing out the work lights that had been strung up.


    "Now that we have power, we can get a better idea of what needs to be completed. Jallen, leave two people to guard the reactor." The TL nodded at the woman''s command and picked two of his team to stay behind. The rest followed them to the bridge.


    A few of the Hawks people were already on the bridge going over the systems when their group arrived.


    "Report," Sullivan stated.


    "It''s a cobbled-together mess, Chief," one of the engineers stated. "Some of the systems are so old I''m surprised they even work, while others look to have been ripped out of other ships without having their buffers cleared. They are throwing all sorts of errors since they can''t find their linked systems. Then there are the homegrown components that I''m surprised are even functional. I''m sure the other ships are just as bad."


    "Will it fly?" She asked.


    "If that''s all you need it to do, then yes. Some of the problems like the buffer issues, we can clear up, but Alex is going to need to do a complete overhaul on these if he wants them to do anything other than look slightly menacing."


    "That will be for him to decide," Sullivan stated. "Do your best to clear up any issues, but don''t spend too much time on these ships. We still need to repair our ships before we head out."


    The man nodded.


    They continued the tour, visiting the other ships. Each had similar issues to a varying degree.


    "Any possibility that we can find the reactor that this belongs to?" Vitor waved the last activation crystal.


    Chief Engineer Sullivan took the offered crystal and tucked it away. "I''ll ask around if there are any reactors in storage but I somehow doubt it. I get the feeling that the other destroyer had a catastrophic failure. If it hadn''t I would have expected to see one of the remaining destroyers with a much more finished interior just from the recycled parts."


    "Hmm. Any chance of getting those other ships operational?" There were still five frigates docked at the station. They wouldn''t have enough crew to fly all of them, but one or two should be possible.


    "No," she replied with certainty. "Where do you think most of the systems for these new ships came from? They were taken directly from those outdated frigates. The same is true with the weapons systems, which is why the cruisers and destroyers are using undersized weapons as well as being short on turrets. At best we can come back at some later date and salvage everything here."


    Vitor shook his head. "This is a one-and-done mission, Chief Sullivan. Alexander told me to make sure there was nothing left behind for pirates to use in the future."


    "Probably for the best," she stated. "We''re going to want as many people as possible then."


    "For what?" Vitor asked in confusion.


    "To strip this station for all it''s worth. The gravity plating alone will be worth taking, but there is the reactor, the stabilization systems, and even the guns, assuming any of those are still intact. I know Alex probably meant to simply blow the place up, but I also know he needs these components. No point in letting them go to waste. I would take the entire station if given a choice, but an FTL drive big enough to transport an entire station doesn''t exist, or if it does, I haven''t heard about it."


    "Fair enough," Vitor admitted. "First we fix our ships as best we can, then make sure the captured ships are capable of making the trip back. Once that''s done, we load the civilians and the stasis pods aboard the Talon. I don''t think any other ship has the capacity for that many people. Then we strip this place for all it''s worth and send it on a course for the moon or the planet, whichever is quicker."


    The next few weeks were a mad scramble as anyone who wasn''t required crew aboard the fleet was tasked with helping the engineers.


    The first ship that went into the dock was Fury, while the others patrolled to ensure no pirates returned. It was also the one that took the longest to fix, even with Alex''s bots doing the majority of the heavy lifting.


    Next up was Eden''s Might. The hull breaches were easy enough to patch, but one of the main bulkheads had been cracked in half when they were struck by the station''s railgun. A temporary patch was welded in place, but Alex would need to look it over when they returned.


    Resolve had taken less damage than the other two ships, but a few armor panels had to be recycled and replaced.


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    The onboard smelter on the Talon sped up the process by quite a bit since this station didn''t seem to have any advanced production in place. It also helped speed up the completion of the armor components for the cruiser that was still missing most of its plates. The end result looked like a patch job but it was functional. Alex could fix that if he wanted to.


    The bigger concern was the anemic propulsion systems that had been added to these ships. The cruisers were more than large enough to be equipped with Class 8 thrusters or at least some Class 5 civilian ones. Instead, the pirates had packed in nine Class 4 thrusters and called it good.


    Even if those nine engines produced the same thrust as two Class 8s, the added weight reduced the overall acceleration by a significant amount. The reactor was also underpowered for a ship that size.


    The same could be said for the two destroyers, but to a lesser degree since ships that size still used Class 4 thrusters.


    If he only took the ships into account, Vitor wasn''t sure this mission was worth the effort. They were cobbled together, underpowered, under-armored, and lacked sufficient armaments to justify their use as anything other than visible deterrents. Vitor sure as hell wouldn''t fly one of them into battle. Alex was going to have to tear them all apart and rebuild them if he wanted these vessels to be anything other than additional tonnage in his fleet.


    Only the addition of the components from the station, and all the people they rescued made this mission worthwhile in his eyes. When they returned, he would be sure to point this fact out to Alex in case the man got any bright ideas to try something like this again.


    Vitor was all for rescuing people from pirates, but he would prefer that to be the main goal of the mission and not a secondary goal. He understood where Alex was coming from when he made the choice, but it sat poorly with him.


    After two weeks of laborious work, the first Cruiser undocked. The Hawks'' people had finally finished getting the ship''s systems up and running as well as familiarizing themselves with the controls. A few days after that, the second cruiser undocked and joined the first waiting nearby. None of the pirate ships were equipped with tight beam laser links so they kept any radio communications to a minimum to prevent their communications from being intercepted.


    The two destroyers ended up being more stubborn and required an additional week to make ready, pushing their stay here to a full month before both of those finally undocked as well.


    "Station''s clear," he heard over the radio as the last of the mercenaries returned to the Talon aboard the drop ships.


    The fleet all gathered a safe distance away from the station and waited. Soon, two bright flashes could be seen, followed by a rush of debris out the side of the station. A few carefully planted charges created holes in the side of the station and allowed the air to rush out the side, pushing the station into a decaying orbit. Without power, there would be nothing anyone could do to correct that.


    Vitor still kept the fleet there until he saw the first signs of the station being tugged faster toward the surface as the moon''s gravity acted on it. Once he was sure there would be nothing left, he turned the fleet around and made for the closest jump point. They would make a few test jumps to ensure everything was working correctly, and then it was time to head back to Unokane.


    When he thought about Eden''s End, he was surprised to find himself missing it slightly.

 Chapter 3-25

    LOCATION: HRAFNHEIM STATIONSYSTEM: BJORN''S REACH


    DATE: 2401


    The Valkyrie pounded the straggling Xin destroyer with its guns, eventually causing the ship''s reactor to breach containment. A bubble of molten material floated away into space, leaving a large chunk scooped out of the ship.


    Katalynn would have preferred to take the ship for herself, but the zealots loyal to the Grand Admiral had made it impossible. She only wished her fleet could have arrived before the Xin fleet had decimated the system. By the time they had shown up, it had been too late to save the station or the people on it. The local defenders had fought valiantly and managed to score two direct kills on Xin frigates but were nowhere near strong enough to take on an entire Xin task force.


    She had chased the Xin forces in retribution for their actions and had eventually forced a confrontation.


    The battle had been hard fought and one of her frigates had succumbed to the enemy''s concentrated barrage of fire before anyone could react. From past experiences, she knew the Xin forces would attempt to flee after claiming a kill. She couldn''t let that happen, so she launched the gravity trap.


    It trapped both her fleet and the Xin, but she had the advantage of numbers. Still, the Xin fought on, eventually clearing the gravitational boundaries of the trap and jumping. The last ship hadn''t been quick enough, which is the only reason she had managed to single it out and take it down.


    The trade was in her favor, but Xin had far more forces to lose. Even now, she knew of over a dozen systems that had been attacked by the Grand Admiral''s forces. She had managed to forestall any more trial by combat after her win against Jarl Bergson by notifying the rest of the Jarls of Xin''s push into their territory, but that was a temporary solution to her problem. She needed a real victory to force the Jarls back in line.


    A major win against Xin would restore her honor, but she didn''t foresee that happening. Xin and his people were too craven to fight a battle they knew they didn''t have the upper hand at. It''s why she had been forced to use this underhanded tactic of locking them out of FTL.


    That didn''t mean she wouldn''t use everything in her power to guarantee victory, even if it meant turning to dirty pirate tricks. She was not like some of the old warriors who stuck to tradition even at the expense of common sense. There were things she wished to change, but her people clung to the past. She couldn''t blame them, those choices had seen them through some terrible times.


    Katalynn knew another way to bring one of the Jarls back to her side, but she loathed to even consider it. A marriage to one of the Jarls or their offspring would strengthen the Jarl''s holdings to her.


    She didn''t want to consider that option because she always thought marriage alliances were much weaker than ones given freely. She also didn''t want to be seen as a prize for the Jarls to fight over. That was one of the reasons she had taken on the moniker of Lagertha, the other being that she could not be titled a King because she was female. Thankfully, she wasn''t setting some precedent here. There had been a total of three Lagerthas in Asgard''s history. One just so happened to be her great-grandmother. That made the people''s recognition of her role easy to accept. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    She had other options to consider. She could marry off one of her children, but that would be a much weaker alliance and may not be enough to get the Jarls to back down. It was something to think about after they drove the Xin forces back to their territory.


    Her fleet cleared up the area and retrieved the gravity trap before jumping to the next system.


    ***


    LOCATION: ASGARD


    SYSTEM: YGGDRASIL''S EYE


    Lagertha''s fleet returned to Asgard after a lengthy tour at the border of Asgardian territory and the Xin''s. She was exhausted and mentally drained after spending two months chasing Xin''s people around the outskirts of their territory and only scoring three kills. That first destroyer was followed by one frigate and a corvette. Her fleet was down one more frigate, bringing her total fleet size to fourteen ships. And she knew the Xin fleets would just return in another few months to harass and destroy once again because once they found a weak spot, they were relentless.


    Neither the Grand Admiral nor his equally despicable offspring had taken the field of battle this time around. They had been fighting the dregs of the Xin fleets and didn''t have much to show for their efforts. The reports she received from the other thirteen Jarls showed a similar pattern, with most of their fleets having even worse luck at pinning the enemy in place and taking them down than hers. The losses for the Jarls were also slightly higher, with each having lost three to five ships while scoring fewer kills each on the Xin fleets.


    If something didn''t change, it would be a death by a thousand cuts. Katalynn ordered the fleet yards into full production before they left, but ships took time to build, and certain parts weren''t exactly easy to produce. Still, she was happy to see four new frigates under construction as they flew past.


    As much as she would like to claim them for her own fleet, these would go to the Jarls to replace their losses. They would also be the first domestically produced frigate frames her people had made since before the STO had claimed this system. The title of the first domestically produced ship went to the Valkyrie.


    As a proof of concept, Valkyrie worked well, but there were issues with it. The biggest being the constant problems with the laser system.


    She had reviewed the work logs of the engineers, and while she found they weren''t always that enthusiastic in their work, she hadn''t found anything that pointed to deliberate sabotage. That meant the issues with the laser were in its design and not its implementation.


    That wasn''t ideal, but it meant she didn''t have to punish the captured engineers who were working off their sentences. They may be indentured workers, but they deserved to be treated fairly as they could earn their freedom to join Asgardian society once their reparations ended.


    Once her people had a better handle on the technological innovations coming from the STO, she would move the prisoners to less critical roles and hopefully start reducing that particular punishment for people captured entering their territory. Every time she looked at these people, she couldn''t help thinking of them as slaves, and that was a little too close to how the Anazi and Xin operated.


    One thing at a time, she told herself.


    Even after a decade, change came slowly for her people.


    Her focus drifted from the shipyards to Asgard. It had been a long six months, but she was finally home. She would like nothing better than to simply take a day of rest, but there was always work that needed to be completed. All of her ships would need to be topped off on supplies and her support ships refilled as well before the next campaign began.


    While she was eager to head home and enjoy a night in bed with another warm body, she had matters of state to attend to.


    Your journey continues on empire


    The trip down to the surface was a rocky one as the mercurial winds of Asgard buffeted the shuttle. It was a welcoming sensation that nearly lulled her into sleep. Asgard may be a brutal world filled with deadly flora and fauna, but it was her home and she loved every flawed bit of it.


    Soon the glittering towers of Asgard City came into view. The shuttle roared over the outskirts before setting down in a large landing zone. Katalynn resealed her vac-suit and stepped off the shuttle. She was greeted by four other vac-suited individuals. It was never a good sign when the Lokis couldn''t wait for her to return to her office.


    "Greetings, Lagertha," Loki said through the radio in his suit.


    The air outside the sealed habitats was toxic to humans with enough exposure, so anyone who went outside did so fully suited or didn''t last long. One day when their baser natures weren''t needed to ensure their survival in this cruel universe, she hoped one of her descendants would finally seek to terraform the world properly.


    She gestured in annoyance at the group of people and they headed toward a nearby subterranean entrance. The metro tunnels could take them anywhere within the city in minutes and they could remove their suits to speak properly in the sealed environment below ground.


    Once inside the train car, she sat down and the four people sat across from her. The train car had conveniently emptied upon her arrival. Almost in unison, they all removed their helmets.


    Katalynn shook out her hair before fixing her gaze on the four Lokis with a frown.


    "I take it you have important information to bring to my attention if this couldn''t wait until we got back to the central tower."


    "Harlow has seemingly pulled back from the war with the STO. We have reports that he may be heading back to Haven to deal with an uprising. Our spies also indicated that someone may have pointed Harlow''s focus to Asgardian space after he deals with his home planet. We are not sure exactly what would entice the man enough to open up a second front, but we need to prepare in case he does attack. It was either the STO or Xin who whispered into Harlow''s ear. They are the only possible entities that would gain an advantage by redirecting his focus to us."


    Katalynn resisted the urge to throw her helmet across the car in a fit of anger. First Xin, and now Anazi. What was next, the STO?


    "Get more eyes on him. I want to know if that shit stain so much as crosses a toe into our territory." The man who delivered the news to her nodded. "And what about you other three? I assume you aren''t here for moral support."


    The second, a woman spoke up. "Our contact for Sinorus engines has gone dark. We believe he was killed by an Omni hit team."


    Before even realizing what she was doing, Katalynn slammed her hand into the grab bar next to her seat. The bar bent from the force of her blow, but it left her hand numb. She pulled her hand into her lap and rubbed it unconsciously as she replied to the woman. "Find us another contact. I don''t care if it''s from Sinorus or Omni but do it quickly. We need engines for our new ships."


    Her people had their own thruster design and it would work in a pinch, but it was a far cry from the Sinorus models, let alone the Omni ones. In a few years, maybe her people''s designs would catch up but she didn''t have years.


    "What else," she said, feeling a migraine coming on.


    "Eden''s End is building a fleet. From what we were able to gather, they have three frigates and the assistance of at least one mercenary company with an assault ship. They sent them off somewhere, but none of our scouts picked them up, so we are unsure of what they are up to."


    "No signs of the STO working with them?" Eden''s End was a thorn in her side and had kicked off a lot of her current problems, but it was a small problem considering everything else she was dealing with at the moment.


    "The people of Eden''s End are going back and forth to Varlen, but we haven''t seen any sign of the ship that attacked your fleet."


    "How would you even know if you had or not? They are stealth ships after all. Work on getting a Loki on Eden''s End. And you, I hope the best news was saved for last."


    The man handed her a letter he pulled from his pocket. She ripped it open and read it, her frown growing with each word. "Who does that bastard think he is? He may be a Jarl, but he has no right to demand my hand in marriage. Does he think I will simply capitulate because he promises to support me as ruler?" The Lokis remained silent, not offering her any advice or insight into her questions.


    While she had pondered offering herself to quell the Jarls, that was on her terms. A Jarl demanding it from her was outrageous. It was also a sign that her efforts during the Xin campaign had not been enough.


    "Send a response to Jarl Isbjorn that I will see him in the ring."


    "As you wish, Lagertha."


    The four Lokis got up and left the train car, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

 Chapter 3-26

    "that''s quite something," lucas admitted as he stood up after examining alexander''s nano-printer. "don''t get me wrong, alex, i think it''s wonderful that you have a new piece of tech for me to ogle, but it''s just another printer isn''t it?"alexander could excuse the man for thinking that. "it''s not just a printer, it''s a nano-printer."


    the young man glanced around the workshop, his eyes landing on the other printers that were set up around the room. "i believe you said those other printers," he nodded towards the standard printers, "were capable of nanoscale production. i believe you even ranted about how nova''s tolerance requirements were absurd and the only thing that should require nano-scale production should be high-end processors."


    "¡­ok, so yeah, i did say that, but i was annoyed at the time. that woman is impossible to please. and those printers are only capable of just barely hitting the nano-scale tolerances needed." alexander tapped on the clear top of his prototype printer. "this thing is nearly one hundred times more accurate. i say nearly because, at that scale, i''m relying on the particle size of the material i''m working with more than i am on the accuracy of the machine."


    "an impressive feat, for sure, but you can''t tell me that there aren''t already industrial-scale printers capable of doing the same thing."


    the man seemed less than sold on alexander''s new invention. thankfully, alexander hadn''t asked lucas there to sell him on the printer, but what he had created with it. it had taken a few months to work the bugs out and get a properly working nanoform lattice. as it turned out, the lattices were rather delicate, and even an errant gust of wind while moving them could break off the super delicate filaments that resembled dandelion fluff, only at the nanoscale. his hard work had finally paid off and he now had the first run of new processors to show the young man.


    "ignore the printer for now," alexander stated. "i only showed you it so i could tell you what i made by using the device." he walked over to the other new machine in the workshop. this was a blocky, utilitarian device that lacked the flair and beauty of something meant to be used as a display. the fabricator was a simple, durable, industrial design meant to last. "this is what i wanted to show you," alexander said as he gestured to the device.


    lucas paused, looking at the device oddly before approaching it and giving it a closer look. "it doesn''t look like a printer. what is it?" the man asked, generally curious.


    alexander smiled since he knew he had the man''s attention. "it''s a nano-scale chip fabricator."


    lucas jerked upright at that statement. "no. it''s impossible. you''re lying. i''ve never seen one in person, but i always expected them to be¡­ larger."


    "i''m sure the current generation of unified computronics supercomputer fabricators are much larger and more involved. this fabricator is over eighty years old and is only capable of producing the processor portion instead of the whole integrated computronic."


    lucas whistled at that. "so you can make eighty-year-old supercomputers now? i guess they would still be better than what you were making before. you said this machine was only a nano-scale fabricator?"


    alexander nodded.


    "then why not just print the chips with your new printer? it seems like requiring multiple machines would be less efficient."


    alexander sighed. "i tried. the fabricator processes cannot be replicated by the printers. i even printed an exact duplicate of a working processor and it burned itself out as soon as i ran power to it. i shouldn''t be all that surprised, this isn''t the first time i''ve run into the limitations of printing."


    "does that mean you have working processors for me to play wi- i mean test?" lucas asked, quickly correcting himself.


    alexander chuckled and popped open a plastic case off to the side. inside the case were dozens of the newly minted processors, safely stored in individual form-fitted foam containers. "i need you to design and test hardware configurations for these. i''ve done a few tests myself by running them through an advanced chip computronic as the interface as well as a current supercomputer computronic. if the testing was accurate, these processors should be capable of about half of what a current supercomputer can handle."


    lucas swallowed hard as he looked at the crate filled with processors. "that means, that case is worth hundreds of millions of credits. are you sure you''re ok just letting me mess with them?"


    alexander gave the man''s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "i calculated it closer to a billion credits if i sold them on the open market. i don''t plan on doing that, at least not at the moment. as for letting you mess with them, i trust you. if i didn''t i would never have given you so much responsibility or made you bse''s head of testing."


    for a moment, alexander thought lucas might faint from excitement or shock, but the man''s wobbly legs strengthened a moment later.


    "i don''t know what to say," the young man admitted.


    "you don''t have to say anything. it''s nothing more than what you''ve already been doing."


    lucas shook his head. "this is not the same, alex. testing your engines and helping out with the ship builds was fun, don''t get me wrong, but this could be groundbreaking."


    alexander shrugged. "i would prefer we keep the groundbreaking stuff to ourselves. for now, i just want a reliable and cheap source of high-quality electronics. the price of computronics has doubled since the war started and keeps going up. the delivery that jasper brought is nearly exhausted as well." all of the supercomputers had been used in ships, which included the new control ships that were assisting with mining operations. his remaining supply of advanced computronics wasn''t far behind.


    the problem was that each independent bot as well as his more advanced printers required one of the advanced computronics. he could reuse them if needed, but he would prefer not to unless it was absolutely necessary.


    the ring printers were even worse as they required multiple advanced chips to operate properly and the mega-ring that he used to make the fishbone ships required sixteen of the advanced computronics just due to its sheer size. alexander wasn''t sure if he could have gotten away with using a single supercomputer in the construction or not. it wasn''t something he had considered with his limited supply of computronics modules. that might be worth testing after lucas worked out the hardware and software issues for these new processors.


    alexander could do the work himself, but it would involve a lot of tedious testing and retesting and lucas was far more proficient with coding and computers in general than he was. plus alexander didn''t really have any other work for the man to do at the moment. this was the perfect project to keep the man engaged.


    "obviously, i''ll do it. i certainly have more than enough experience with outdated computers," he said, gesturing around at the facility. "any design considerations?"


    alexander had to pause and think about that for a bit. as it was, he couldn''t simply swap out a computronic supercomputer for this new processor. while one of the new processors was capable of operating five bots simultaneously, that was the limit. adding a sixth to the mix always caused the processor to overload.


    that meant he didn''t have the same buffer as he did with the computronics. running two of the new processors in tandem would solve that issue and should bring them in line with the current computronics, but he wasn''t sure if there would be one hundred percent efficiency across a shared connection. there would need to be either a software or hardware link to allow the processors to work in tandem.


    he decided to err on the side of caution. "try to do your best to make a single hardware solution that can fit in the existing confines of the computronics format that i''m using, but allow for scalability. i want to be able to link processors to work in tandem."


    "hmm. that''s a lot to ask for, but i''ll see what i can do. i assume you want to replace the need for the computronics entirely without redesigning systems?"


    alexander''s avatar bobbed up and down in a nod.


    lucas smiled. "well, i did ask you for a project. this one should keep me busy for a bit at least."


    lucas walked over to the case, tried to pick it up, and grunted. his eyes widened slightly at the weight before he put it back down and called a nearby auto-cart. alexander watched in amusement as the man transferred the large case to the back of the auto-cart. he would have helped, but the man had waved him off when he attempted to approach.


    once the man was gone, alexander locked his workshop from the inside and went back over to his terminal. what alexander hadn''t told lucas was that he had printed and tested those processors over a month and a half ago. that was right after he created the prototype nano-printer. sea??h th§× nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    he had quickly abandoned the printer design after his initial exuberance over it had faded when it performed so poorly. it was a combination of issues, but most of it boiled down to terrible design choices on his part. it had taken him sixteen tries to get a working nanoform lattice for the processors. that didn''t include the five failures he had attempting to move the forms over to the fabricator.


    it turned out the high speeds and rapid movements back and forth caused the armatures on the nano-printer to quickly develop slop in them. even the tiniest bit of movement in those armatures prevented him from reaching the accuracies he desired. half the time the printed components were worse than what his current generation of printers was capable of. considering he had designed it as the next generation of printers, that was unacceptable. he had been forced to replace all the armatures every single time he made a print, and even that didn''t guarantee accurate results. to get the one working lattice, alexander had been forced to slow the printer down to one-tenth the speed.


    that was another unacceptable consolation that forced him back to the drawing board with his design. alexander knew he was onto something, the printer wouldn''t have worked at all otherwise. he just needed to iron out a few bugs first.


    he accessed his modeling program and brought up a design he had been working on since that day over a month and a half ago. he wanted to show the fleet that he hadn''t just been sitting on his ass printing more orbital defenses when they returned. with two months having passed since they left, he didn''t have a whole lot of time to make his goal a reality.


    the new printer popped up on his holo-display. it was a complete rework from the ground up, throwing away all the armature nonsense and material canisters from the printers. the material size inconsistency of the smelted material also posed significant issues to accurate printing, but he had been able to mostly work around that by having the printer reject the powder if the grain size was too large. he also tried sifting the material, but it was a nightmare to sift nano-scale dust.


    since he couldn''t use the material that came from a smelter, alexander simply designed his own system to create a uniform nano-scale base material. he pulled in examples from the mining equipment, the printers, the smelters, and even his own work with the static field generators to produce what he called a nano-stripper.


    it was a lot more involved than the material feed tanks, but if it worked, it would always guarantee a one hundred percent pure material of a much closer dimensional tolerance than the smelter was capable of. the stripper was not a replacement for a smelter though. it would be much too slow for that.


    the design allowed alexander to feed any sort of bar stock to the stripper and it would store the converted material, much like the smelter did, only the material consistency could be guaranteed.


    with the hard part done, alexander moved to the actual printer.


    he had thought about this issue ever since he learned that the armatures would not work. one night while worrying over the problem, he asked himself why he even needed armatures, or feed tubes for that matter. the static field was already sensitive enough to hold single particles and move them into place. why couldn''t it also pluck them directly from the material containers the same way?


    that took a bit of added programming on alexander''s end, but he was pretty sure he had it working correctly now. doing it this way also meant the new printer wasn''t limited to how many arms it could have. it could essentially have an infinite amount of arms assuming electricity and processing power were available.


    the only limitation of this new design was the lasers used to set the material. those would need to go if he ever wanted to reach the goal of single-atom printing, but that was an issue for much later.


    over the next few days, alexander printed and assembled the new nano-assembler, using the previous one to make some of the really finicky parts.


    this new nano-assembler was much larger, almost matching one of his robot production cells in scale. gone was the viewable print chamber as well, the whole machine taking on a much more industrial scale look to it. there was still a camera inside the vacuum chamber to keep an eye on the print. it was the only real concession he made to keep track of what was going on inside the device.


    he had also incorporated a direct connection to the fabricator to allow the nanoform lattice to be moved to the other machine without any direct contact or exposure to air. that should reduce a lot of the issues he was running into when he first started trying to print the lattices.


    another reason for the much larger size of the new machine was the item he planned to print first. sure he could reprint the nanoform lattice to test for accuracy, but he decided to make something else that had plagued him for nearly five months. he was going to finally print dr. lund''s device. considering how demanding she was on tolerances, it would be a good test for the new nano-assembler. he would like to hear her complain about it being out of tolerance after this. enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

 Chapter 3-27

    alexander carried the very delicate instrument down to nova''s office. he learned his lesson about allowing his auto carts or bots to do it for him after they jostled a few of the previous devices so much that it rendered them inoperable.it wasn''t a huge deal when you could recycle the entire device and reproduce it, but alexander was a big proponent of not wasting time. that was especially important with this newest iteration, which took three days to assemble at the tightest tolerances his machine was capable of producing.


    accuracy at that scale was not a quick process, even with the speed of his nano-assembler. he shifted the device to one arm and pressed the button to open the door with his other. the door to nova''s office slid open into the recess in the wall.


    he noted there was no longer the sound of grinding metal when her door opened. one of yi na''s people must have finally come by and fixed it. they probably got tired of lund bothering them about it constantly. she even got alexander involved, and he had mentioned it to the construction foreman, who had added it to his list of repairs.


    with no surprise, alexander found nova hard at work trying to prove her mathematical equations.


    "alexander, back so soon? and you brought another measuring instrument. have you refined your printers enough to meet my needs?" she asked, turning back to her work.


    "something like that," he admitted as he set the heavy device down on a stand designed specifically for it. "how''s the math coming?"


    their relationship had sort of evolved or devolved into this back-and-forth of lightly barbed comments toward each other. he didn''t really mind it, and he saw the smirk on the ancient woman''s face when he responded so it was clear she didn''t either.


    alexander didn''t sense any maliciousness in her words, in fact, he was pretty sure she was testing his intelligence. he assumed that to be the case because this back-and-forth started shortly after he spilled his secret to more people. dr. lund might be a shut-in who preferred to work alone and keep to herself, but she wasn''t stupid, nor was she deaf. he was sure she must have heard the rumors about him being an alien by now.


    much to his annoyance, the rumor had morphed once again, despite people knowing the truth. now people were attributing all his hard work to the fact that he was an ai. alexander was pretty sure if he was an alien ai, even a restricted one, he wouldn''t be stuck trying to piece together outdated technologies to make something new, he would simply invent something so advanced that humanity wouldn''t be able to understand its significance.


    the really annoying part was he couldn''t even discount this new rumor. a sufficiently advanced program, not even an ai, could mimic what he was doing. it would probably even do a better job at it as well.


    he finished setting up the device at the same time he finished his thoughts. nova walked over and glanced at the device before pulling up a holo screen and remotely connecting it to the instrument which alexander had learned was meant to both test and create nanoscopic gravitational waves while measuring the resultant output.


    that was the reason it needed to be so accurate. any deviation threw off the measured output.


    once he realized what the instrument was for, he realized it wasn''t all that unique. humanity has been measuring gravitational disturbances for hundreds of years. it was the base principle that allowed gravitational sensors to pick up jump signatures. it had just never been used on such a small scale before.


    considering how much effort went into creating this device, he could see why nobody had bothered measuring infinitesimal gravity disruptions.


    you would think a device used to measure gravity would work better in space where it was free from such a source, but that wasn''t the case. according to nova, a planet''s gravitational pull could be accounted for, but in space, gravity was constantly shifting as everything moved about, even if it was just at an unmeasurable level for most systems.


    he witnessed part of that now as she was entering a complex series of calculations into the device. nova paused and turned to him. "you planning on staying to watch the test?"


    "i might as well stick around to see if it works or not."


    "fine, but you need to stand over there." she pressed a series of commands and a faint white outline shimmered into being that was the rough approximation of alexander''s form.


    "seriously?" he asked as he walked over to the holographic representation of himself.


    "your mere presence will throw off the device. i calculated your gravitational mass and figured out the most optimal spot for you to stand while the instrument runs the test. try not to move outside the white outline, it''ll skew the test if you do."


    he sighed and complied, standing inside the ghost-like projection.


    nova soon moved as well, standing within a similar projection. s§×ar?h the n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    once she was in place, she flicked the final bit of calculations into the screen and lowered her hand.


    alexander wasn''t sure what he was supposed to see or hear, but the room remained quiet. the holographic screen was a different matter. a complex flow of data scrolled down the window so fast that he had a hard time following it, let alone how the instrument was capable of processing the information at this speed.


    "you tapped into the facility''s computer core didn''t you?"


    she didn''t turn to him, but she did glance his way. "no. i simply talked that wonderfully intelligent lucas into allowing me to use some processor time. now be still, and stop asking questions, i don''t want to affect the results."


    he sighed internally but kept quiet during the rest of the test. he would need to speak to lucas about letting unauthorized people have access to the facility''s central processor. that should be reserved for facility use only or for alexander to use as needed.


    hmm, probably not a good idea for him to suck all the processing bandwidth either. once lucas finished the hardware for the new processors, he would have the man build a research core. with all the new stuff going on, it would probably be needed sooner or later anyway. and he could also put all of the academy''s load onto it instead of the main core.


    the test ran for a full half an hour, and alexander could see nova flagging toward the end, her old body betraying her as she did her best to hide pained winces and the occasional twitch to reach toward her leg to rub it.


    he wasn''t sure why she hadn''t just adjusted her program so she could be seated behind her desk, but now wasn''t the time to bring it up.


    the test finished and the woman grinned in triumph.


    "so that was it?" alexander asked. "did it work?" the previous machines hadn''t even gotten to the test stage before the woman dismissed them so he wasn''t sure if this had been a success or not.


    "of course, it worked," she huffed. "i wouldn''t have wasted my time otherwise. now out with you, i need to go over the data and compile it."


    alexander just shook his avatar''s head and began to walk toward the exit. he only made it a few steps before the woman called out to him.


    "alexander. thank you for helping with this. i know i can be demanding at times, but that little device and this test, if i''m correct, likely shaved a decade off my research. when you''re as old as i am, even a year saved is a godsend, let alone a decade. i doubt i would have gotten this far without your assistance."


    he turned to the woman and smiled. "i''m glad i could help, and i do hope you find that breakthrough you''ve been working toward. humanity should recognize true brilliance more often."


    that comment brought a smirk to the woman''s lips before she shooed him out of the room. he was pretty sure if she had been capable of doing so, she would have picked him up and tossed him out. the image of the eighty-pound woman, well into her centenarian years, bodily picking him up and tossing him through a door made him chuckle as he made his way back to his workshop.


    ***


    yulia crashed to the ground again, wincing and rubbing her butt. she was definitely going to have a bruise after today.


    "again," the head of security said in an emotionless voice.


    yulia growled softly under her breath but picked herself up. ever since the hawks had left for their mission, alex had assigned damien laront to train her in hand-to-hand combat.


    she knew alex wanted her to learn how to defend herself, but she had him and dog to protect her. she didn''t want to have to harm people and she doubted that even if she had known these techniques before, she would have been able to do anything against the man who took her hostage.


    that argument fell on deaf ears and part of her free time was now tied to damien knocking her around three times a week.


    from the very first day of her training she could tell the head of security did not much like kids.


    he was not one to hold back, if she made a mistake, or her mind drifted off, the man punished her with a padded stick. depending on her failure, it either meant a painful slap to the arm or the side. in more serious cases, he would simply overbalance her, knocking her to the floor.


    alex had spoken to the man after she went home crying one night. she had been there to witness the shouting match between alex and damien. it had shocked her so much that she hadn''t even realized it was over, and that damien had won the argument. her treatment afterward had not improved, nor had it gotten any worse.


    finally getting to her feet, she adjusted her stance and threw up her fists in a boxing pose. stay updated through empire


    "again!" damien demanded, tapping his punishment stick to the thickly padded cushion on his other arm.


    she screamed and ran forward, punching out at the pad, while damien circled and moved, forcing her to shift and move with him. when she had an opportunity, she threw a kick at the pad. the man blocked it easily. she pictured him missing that block one day and that thought is what kept her going.


    yulia saw the padded stick coming down and hopped back, avoiding it before stepping forward again and sending another flurry of punches and kicks into the pad.


    she knew her kicks and punches weren''t much better than just flailing around when she first began, but she had improved in the last few months. she at least knew how to punch and kick without injuring herself now, not that her stikes had a lot of weight behind them. she was only eleven after all.


    her increasing age also came with changes to her body that she wasn''t quite certain she liked. over the last year, she had grown a full inch. being taller was nice and all, but now she couldn''t fit into her gocart anymore. she had been forced to rebuild it to accommodate her taller stature. there were other things as well, but she was embarrassed to bring them up. with alex being alex, she had to ask her friends sarah and claire about those other embarrassing changes to her body, which eventually got sarah''s mom involved and yulia got the whole birds and bees talk.


    when she thought about that conversation, she wanted to gag and run away. some things were better left unknown.


    yulia grunted as the stick whipped out, tripping her again.


    she cursed as she fell to the hard mat.


    "that''s enough for today," damien stated as he put down the training mat. "your mind is wandering more than usual and it''s causing you to be sloppy."


    she didn''t argue with the man, she got up, took the gloves off, and thanked him for his time before leaving the training room. alex wouldn''t be too happy when damien told him he dismissed her early, but at least she had some free time to go racing. hurrying as much as her sore body would allow her to, she headed toward the racetrack. as she got closer, she could hear kids laughing and tires squealing as the other kids got to enjoy the go-carts while she was stuck getting beat up every day.


    the only thing that made the thought bearable was the fact she got paid for every use of the go-carts.

 Chapter 3-28

    alexander stood next to lucas, inspecting the hardware interface the man had put together. it was-"don''t give me that look," lucas said before alexander could finish his thought.


    "i wasn''t giving a look," he stated, surprised that the man had called him out.


    lucas snorted. "yes, you were. you may think you do a good job of hiding your feelings alex, but anyone who really knows you can see the minor changes in your body or even the pauses in your avatar that you use to project what you''re thinking. and yes, i know the interface is ugly and doesn''t fit into the form factor you asked for. trust me, i tried. you also didn''t ask for pretty, you asked for functional and that''s what you got. i''m going to need your help to do the rest."


    alexander held his hands up in submission. "fair enough," he admitted, earning a wry smirk from the younger man.


    "it works though?" alexander asked.


    "it does. and it wasn''t easy to cobble together with your requirements. those processors are a bit odd."


    alexander had noticed similar oddities when first working with the processors. he wasn''t sure if it was due to the strange architecture, the materials involved in their manufacture, or the early implementation of room-temperature quantum processing for self-learning algorithms but whatever the cause, the processors didn''t always work as you might expect.


    the issues didn''t affect the processing capacity or the processor''s ability to carry out accurate commands, it was more to do with the functionality of the new processors. even with alexander''s tweaks and the accuracy of the nanoform lattices, he had a seventy percent failure rate on the newly produced processors even when there were no manufacturing defects that he could find.


    he thought that quirk was related to the age of the processors he first tested but it had carried through to the new batches as well. it seemed to be some sort of design problem but he hadn''t had time to dig into the actual architecture of the processors to figure out what might be causing the issues. for now, he would just work around it. the processors were cheaper to manufacture than buying advanced chips from sto space even with the error rate and exotic materials they required. the ones that failed the tests simply got recycled, so it wasn''t like the materials got wasted. sear?h the n?vel(f)ire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    over the next few days, alexander worked with lucas to refine the hardware to fit inside the cubic form factor he had wanted. lucas wasn''t lying when he said it was difficult. eventually, they did come up with a pseudo computronics cube, and it was only possible thanks to his new nano-assembler. without it, the cube idea would not have been possible.


    after that came tests, lots of tests. the processors performed a little under what he had expected but it was within estimates of loss. the thing he was more concerned about was their ability to sync. alexander took a second cube and stuck it to the first, the alignment pins making sure everything was in place as the two cubes clicked together.


    there was more processor loss than he anticipated between the two cubes but he had originally figured it would take three of the new processors to equal one of the supercomputer computronics modules so he was still on track to hit that estimate. when he connected the third unit, he barely passed that margin.


    he could have kept going by adding more cubes, but the loss in processing speed seemed to grow exponentially worse with each addition. for now, this would have to work to supplement his shortage of computronics.


    with time, lucas and he could refine the processors and work on a better solution than stacking cubes.


    "how are the deployments of new satellites going?" alexander asked after their tests were concluded.


    the man dragged out a long-suffering sigh. "excruciatingly boring. had you told me a year ago that launching weapons into orbit would have become this routine and dull, i would have avoided this position."


    alexander chuckled at the man''s exaggerated reaction. "cheer up, i have something new for you."


    "you do?" lucas replied happily, his expression changing in a heartbeat.


    alexander motioned toward the holo display in his lab and the screen changed to show a new satellite, only this one sported twelve open tubes as it rotated slowly in the hologram.


    it didn''t take lucas long to figure out what it was. "a missile launcher?"


    "close enough. i call it a missile platform. it''s capable of holding and firing twelve anti-ship missiles." alexander had considered making smaller interceptor missiles but decided against that plan. he didn''t need to add yet another weapon to the logistics requirements he already had to keep track of. discover stories with empire


    "i thought the whole reason you didn''t want to produce missiles was that they weren''t all that effective, especially with your old comput- you''re going to put the new processors in the missiles?"


    alexander nodded his avatar. "we won''t know if the missiles i equipped the eden ships with were effective at all until they return, but i somehow doubt they were worth the effort to manufacture. with smarter missiles, they will be much more capable of avoiding incoming defensive fire as well as shrugging off ecm."


    "they''re your processors alex, but it just seems like such an awful waste. i guess if they work, they work though."


    "you''re only saying that because you want more to play with," alexander laughed.


    "you''re damn right i do," the man smiled. "speaking of which, i need more to finish the research core you asked me to build."


    "was that batch seriously that bad?" he asked as he walked over to a fresh crate of processors.


    "not any worse than the others," lucas admitted. "i''ve been playing around with the processors, some work better in conjunction with others, so i''m just trying to find the most optimal ones to pair together to build the research core. when it''s complete, it should be as powerful as three of the supercomputer computronics. however, it will probably require twenty of your cubes to get there."


    if alexander wasn''t manufacturing his own processors, he would have balked at the cost. that would have been multiple billions of credits in hardware alone. instead, he just sighed. "i want you to make a third computer core as well. it won''t need to be as powerful as the research one. when it''s complete, transfer all of the facility processes over to it. i want to reserve the two computronics supercomputers for defensive systems only. and stop giving people unfettered access to them, please."


    lucas looked sheepish about that, and he should, the man understood system security far better than even alexander did. "dr. lund was really convincing, and i kind of owed her. she provided some of the math i used in the defensive subroutines for the facility and ship''s systems."


    he hadn''t known that lund had offered her help to anyone else, but he supposed it made sense. lucas was a smart dude, but some of the stuff he created was beyond alexander''s understanding. at least now he knew why he hadn''t been able to bypass the security.


    "transfer her access to the research core, that''s kind of what i wanted it for. well, that and the academy when it''s up and running."


    he doubted nova would take advantage of her access, but if she was running a test while the system was being attacked, that could severely limit their ability to control the satellites around the planet. with a thousand, that might not have been too much of an issue, but alexander was in the process of doubling that number.


    he finished up his work for the day and went home.


    the next day, alexender spent with yulia. the girl was slightly more withdrawn than usual ever since he had decided to have her train with damien. he wanted her able to defend herself without having to rely on dog always being around. when he first thought of asking damien for this favor, he figured the man would go easy on her since she was a child.


    alexander and damien''s views on training turned out to be wildly different and that resulted in a rather heated argument when he saw the bruises on his daughter. he had demanded to know why he was abusing his daughter. damien hadn''t backed down though, his main reason for training her like he did was because a real attacker wouldn''t go easy on her. there were some other points the man had made, but it was the first one that stuck with alexander. when he sped up his mental faculties to process the man''s words, he realized damien was right, so he let the training continue. that didn''t mean he liked seeing yulia come home bruised and sore after every training session. every time he saw her like that, he got the urge to find damien and return the favor.


    in a perfect world, yulia would be able to grow up as a normal child, free from fear or worry. this wasn''t a perfect world or a perfect universe though so alexander had to give her the tools to build her own future free of those worries, especially since he couldn''t be there for her all the time.


    she may not like it in the short term, but he hoped someday she would understand why he decided on this course of action.


    he chose not to dwell on those thoughts, instead, he switched his focus to yulia. "how are the new go-carts?" he asked as they walked toward the racetrack.


    "they''re good, but i still wished they were faster," she stated, coming alive.


    alexander chuckled. for her eleventh birthday, he had worked with yulia to upgrade the go-carts from something that was more reminiscent of a little child''s plastic petal toy to the current go-carts that were completely made from aluminum, had actual rubber tires, a full roll cage, and five-point seatbelts instead of just the simple roll bar and lap belt. he also added a motor that was double the power of the previous model.


    he figured if this obsession with speed wasn''t something he could turn her away from, he might as well safely encourage it. that didn''t mean he was going to capitulate to her request to make them even faster. the other kids were only now getting a handle on the new go-karts.


    another thing he had done for her birthday, was equip the vehicles with datachip scanners so people could now rent them anytime using credits. the extra money went straight to her to do with as she pleased. most of it went into purchasing cosmetic customizations for her go-cart.


    alexander hadn''t gone a whole lot into money management with her. considering they had no access to sto credits until recently, it seemed like a low-priority concern. now that they had access to a qcomm and the sto network and currency, he was beginning to teach her how to handle her money. it was an important skill to learn.


    he had also been shifting the contribution system over to credits slowly. bse was making a bit of money from the new residents, but it was actually the few ships that had dropped off passengers that brought in the bulk of his new income.


    alexander had sold three engine upgrades over the past few months. it wasn''t much but each sale got the word out and helped pad his shrinking pocketbook.


    those ships also brought in some unwanted attention as well, both in the form of advertising his new engines as well as delivering unknown corporate spies to his door. alexander only knew about the second issue thanks to his qcomm interface filtering all message traffic.


    he would have preferred if omni would have remained ignorant for a few more years, but he already knew that wasn''t the case. from the few communications he had already intercepted, it was clear omni had become aware of his sale of engines to fletcher and the spies had been tasked to figure out how he had beaten their output specifications.


    he didn''t know how the megacorporation had learned of his deal with the vice admiral, but they had. if it wasn''t for his efforts to monitor message traffic, the spies would have been attempting to get into his systems already. right now they were mostly just waiting for confirmation to act, but he couldn''t be sure they hadn''t already done some espionage since they arrived.


    obviously, alexander wasn''t going to allow that to continue, but he had decided to take a page out of the corporate playbook by playing dirty. instead of getting directly involved right away, he altered the information being sent to pembrooke and used one of omni''s own people against the rest of them. the man was rather adroit at locating his fellow spies and disrupting their work.


    he had chosen pembrooke for a few reasons. the man knew him, sort of, but he was also on the outs with omni according to the real messages being sent to him. alexander was hoping to make that gap unbridgable to see if he could sway pembrooke over to his side. a man of his talents and experience would be a huge win.


    while it was amusing to screw with omni''s spies, that amusement quickly faded when one of them had been arrested trying to break into a secured area. after being questioned, the man had lied through his teeth. alexander assumed the man had finally figured out something was off and decided to act on his own. that wasn''t good. if the other spies figured out something was up, he might have issues. while he was pretty sure he had the identities of all the omni people, he needed to be sure. and who better than a former omni employee to see to that?


    soon he would confront pembrooke and lay out the facts. if the man was as smart as alexander thought he was, he would understand the implications of his actions and the false orders alexander had fed him. if not, alexander had no room on eden''s end for spies, and no compunctions about sending them on a scenic trip to the surface.

 Chapter 3-29

    alexander inspected the tests he had running to replicate the armor the dawn was composed of. early results were promising, but he still had a ways to go before he could shift the tests into a production capacity. he was halfway through inspecting the previous night''s work when his radio beeped and one of the people in security spoke."alex, the fleet''s back, and all of the ships sent out are accounted for."


    he sagged in relief and pulled the radio off his belt. "thanks for alerting me. please let captain krieger and the others know i will schedule a conference call with them once they are within a half-hour''s communication range of eden''s end."


    the man acknowledged the request and the line cut out. it had been nearly six months since the fleet departed eden''s end. they had been overdue to return for a few weeks now. each day they were overdue to arrive sent a spike of anxiety through alexander, making him wonder if he had made the right choice to send them out there at all. it was a feeling he hadn''t experienced much of outside of worrying about yulia''s safety, and one he was glad to feel draining away now that the fleet had returned.


    there had always been the possibility of ship losses when he first ordered this mission, he knew that and all the captains employed by him knew that as well. it wouldn''t have made it any easier for him if one of the ships hadn''t returned though.


    waiting for the fleet wasn''t the only thing that had given him anxiety recently. alexander had been keeping track of any news on the war. it wasn''t looking promising for the sto. harlow had taken another two systems, and then simply pulled his fleets back. there was a whole lot of speculation as to why the pirate lord who had turned into a self-stylized emperor had retreated, but alexander got a bad feeling about the man''s motives.


    he had done calculations to see how long it would take harlow to push through char territory, assuming zero resistance. the estimate he came up with was about four months to skirt around the sto''s sphere of influence in order to reach eden''s end.


    considering the char family''s hatred of the anazi family, he doubted they would simply let him and his fleets travel through their systems unopposed but he couldn''t be certain they even had any fleets out toward that side of their space. that brought up another question that had been plaguing him recently. where were the char pirates?


    there was no way that katalynn char hadn''t repaired her fleet by now. the ships that escaped hadn''t been too heavily damaged. yet, there hadn''t been a single sighting of pirates since that encounter. at least none that they had detected.


    that didn''t mean alexander had been idle in improving the defenses around eden''s end. the planet now sported over two thousand laser satellites and a dozen missile defense platforms capable of launching twelve of the newly enhanced missiles each, courtesy of lucas'' work with the older-style supercomputer processors.


    it was complete overkill to fit missiles with those pseudo-computronics, but it was far cheaper for alexander to produce hundreds of those than it was for him to buy even a single advanced computronic from sto space.


    that wasn''t the only change in defenses that alexander had implemented. the nearest moon now sported over a thousand of the same laser satellites and four of the missile platforms thanks to the addition of eight more control ships that now floated around the moon.


    he had spoken with archie about deploying similar assets around the second closest moon but had decided against it. the smaller moon was much further out, making it less strategically viable for any attackers to hide behind. kinetics were the only real concern at that range, and only if they were fired from gauss cannons or railguns, but alexander had a solution for those. explore more at empire


    his method for dealing with kinetics was rather simple, he simply deployed a grid of static field generator satellites based on the same design ships used to protect themselves from space debris. expanding the fields to cover a wider area wasn''t all that difficult. alexander actually had the idea to make these quite some time ago, but as a sort of space scoop to help deorbit any debris left behind by the previous attacks. energy usage was the only real concern with the new satellites, but they only got activated when an attack was incoming, which saved their onboard batteries from being constantly drained.


    alexander could have made more robust satellites with onboard reactors, but that seemed like a huge waste of time and resources for something that would likely see little practical use. and his only area of concern was the space directly above the ground facility. the fields wouldn''t stop any incoming rounds, their only job was to slow them down enough that it would throw off their trajectory and ensure they caused minimal damage. he really wished he knew how his own defense field worked, that would have been a much better method of protection.


    that was all the defensive upgrades he had added since the fleet was last here. the only other big change was the start of the space station. he had been forced to start it a few weeks ago because the storage area on the refueling station had reached capacity. so floating between the first and second rings of defensive lasers was the budding construction. four massive printers trailed it in orbit, cranking out the large construction sections. these pieces would eventually be moved into place by the nearly hundred-strong team of construction robots that alexander now commanded.


    the inclusion of more control ships had allowed him to seriously ramp up construction efforts. they would slow again relatively quickly since the storage on the refueling station didn''t have nearly enough space to store even a tenth of the material required for the station, but that was ok. alexander would eventually balance out the incoming and outgoing material and reassign the remaining bots as needed to other tasks.


    those were the improvements alexander had implemented since the fleet had been gone, it was time to learn if the mission had been a success or not.


    he made his way to a private conference room off of the traffic control center and pulled up krieger''s report along with the recordings of the events.


    if lucas had been in the room with him, the man would have been able to see alexander''s avatar glitching slightly in annoyance as he read the report, one of the tells that he was ignorant of.


    alexander certainly wouldn''t have engaged the two pirate ships waiting in that first system without a good reason. he wasn''t sure he agreed with the reason krieger put in the report either, but he wasn''t there.


    then again, even if he had decided to attack the two ships, he wouldn''t have stuck around to see who showed up after receiving the intel from the pirate. an unknown ship with unknown support was a dicey proposition in his eyes. and it had almost ended very badly according to krieger''s own testimony. several people had been killed and injured during that engagement.


    alexander would need to have a private discussion with the man about picking his battles more carefully. even though he managed to secure the corporate gunship, laser weapons, and armored vac-suits, that wasn''t the mission.


    he assumed krieger had a bit of a hero complex based on his actions when char''s fleet had attacked eden''s end. it''s why he wanted to hire the man in the first place and what made him such a capable leader. alexander just needed to help the former sto officer focus on the bigger picture a bit more. jeopardizing the entire mission and the future of unokane to take out a few pirates and disrupt some illegal trade deal was not an acceptable trade in his eyes.


    it worked out this time, only thanks to alexander''s overengineered ships, but next time might turn out differently.


    that brought him to the attack on the station. the pirates had far more ships ready to attack than alexander had accounted for. the lasers seemed to be the deciding factor in the exchange, giving the eden ships the range and accuracy advantage over the pirates. he was a little surprised to see the use of the pdls as offensive weapons, but they had actually worked quite well. what came as no surprise to him was the almost complete failure of the missiles. he knew slapping together missiles with early twenty-first-century technology was probably not going to end well.


    the new missiles would take care of that issue. he made a mental reminder to have the bots rearm all the ships with the new weapons.


    last came the report on the station capture. that had turned out to be the easiest part of the whole operation. alexander felt relief reading that. he was sure that taking the station would have been the most dangerous part, but it turns out they had help from inside.


    he got to the line that showed how many civilians they had rescued and was shocked. "that''s a whole lot of people," he muttered. he made another mental note to contact the intake team and let them know a few hundred new arrivals would be showing up shortly and to assign them temporary accommodations. s§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    temporary accommodations were now in the newly renovated atrium c. yi na and his people had completed the main dome and had practically blazed through b and d before completing work on the tram tunnel and then putting their full effort behind c.


    there were a few small issues in a that needed to be addressed as well as some connecting tunnels and the maintenance areas, but it wasn''t anything critical. alexander instead had yi focus his efforts on starting the new academy dome and arrival centers.


    what this meant was that eden''s end was finally restored to its full capacity. it was also completely sealed off to the external atmosphere, and the complaints about the smell had quickly given way to happy smiles.


    alexander was just happy that the gloomy interior was now lit by bright lighting and the open spaces were once again starting to grow thanks to the uv lights placed high overhead. people were also using the trams to get around much quicker now, making their lives so much easier than before.


    the last part of the report showed only four ships were recovered from the construction yards at the pirate station. what alexander wasn''t expecting to see was that two of those ships were cruiser-sized vessels, while the other two were destroyers. he had assumed maybe one destroyer and four frigates would have been under construction.


    he once again underestimated what the pirates were capable of. if anything, that only made him think he needed more ships to see this mission to char space was successful. with a frown, he turned to his tablet and flicked through the online catalog to find out how much the ftl drive learning module was. then he looked at his corporate finances and winced.


    alexander had the money only thanks to dalton''s bounty and some of the private bounties that were placed on the man''s head. a few of those people had finally flown out to eden''s end to confirm for themselves that the former assassin was truly dead, and finally paid up. buying the learning module would wipe out nearly ninety percent of his remaining finances. without any further delay, he purchased the module and quickly transferred it to the computer core with a message to lucas to get it swapped over as soon as possible.


    with revenge being complete now, that gave eden''s end four warships. the hawks added three more, and an additional two when the frigates from their sister organization arrived in a week or two. that brought the fleet size up to nine ships. with the four additional ships they captured from the pirates, that now increased his fleet count to thirteen.


    that was three ships shy of what char had when she escaped the system. he wanted at least an even playing field before meeting her. that meant three more ships would be needed. preferably four, just so he had the advantage of numbers. that was assuming katalynn char hadn''t increased her fleet size in the last nine months.


    even with the hawks, he barely had the numbers to pilot the current ships. there certainly wasn''t time to refit the four new pirate ships so they met the same standards as the eden ships. alexander didn''t even need to see them to know that.


    harlow was off the grid and could be heading their way already. alexander could not afford to push this meeting with katalynn char off for another six months to a year to refit those vessels. so how was he going to drum up four more ships and four more crews?


    he had an idea, one he hadn''t really contemplated for some time because the cost would have been absurd. now, not so much.


    "i''ll need to update the design," he muttered before getting up and walking out of the conference room. he stopped in the traffic control center before heading back to his workshop. "let krieger know i''m canceling the conference call and will speak to him and the other captains when they return."


    the communication technician nodded and sent out the message.

 Chapter 3-30

    alexander''s haste wasn''t brought on by any immediate sense of fear or concern, however, that was always in the back of his mind. without knowing what harlow was up to, alexander was left guessing when or if the man or someone associated with him would show up again soon.if the ''pirate emperor'' sent more people like dalton, they could probably handle that without much issue now. what concerned alexander the most was where harlow and his fleet were. for all he knew, the man could be heading there right now. that was the main driving point for his urgency.


    alexander assumed that was a possibility because harlow had pulled back shortly after dalton''s death and he didn''t believe in coincidences.


    as soon as krieger turned up with the fleet, alexander had wanted to begin the mission to asgard, but the conditions on the recovered pirate ships were so poor that he couldn''t risk sending them the way they were.


    at the moment, the cruisers and destroyers were little more than larger, slower frigates. they didn''t even have completed weapons systems according to krieger''s report, so they were even worse than that. if he wanted char to take him seriously, he needed to change that, but he also knew he couldn''t take the time to entirely retrofit the ships to his standards without knowing what harlow was up to.


    if he knew the man''s whereabouts, alexander might be able to plan better, but harlow had pulled back from the front and simply dropped off the sto''s radar. that didn''t bode well for anyone. he was going to need krieger to reach out to fletcher to see if the vice admiral could shed some light on the pirate''s erratic actions.


    as soon as he entered his workshop, he gestured to the holo display. the area flickered to life and alexander quickly zipped through a list of files for his projects that were either abandoned or shelved for a variety of reasons. there were hundreds of ideas that had never panned out or were simply worse iterations of what he was already doing. alexander held onto every design, even if they were worse.


    he quickly arrived at the folder containing ship projects. there were only a few designs in the folder since he had only recently gotten serious about building ships. most of the designs were early iterations of the fishbone ship and his control ships. there were a few early layouts for actual warships, but he hadn''t taken those past the concept phase. looking at them, he was glad he hadn''t. they would have been subpar designs at best with what he knew now.


    none of those were the ships he was looking for though. soon he found the ship in question and poked the file, sending it to the main display. the image showed a small corvette class ship. when he had originally come up with this idea, he wanted to use the largest ship he thought he could get away with for the design.


    unfortunately, there was no way he was going to be able to complete a full corvette in a month, let alone the four he wanted to, not from scratch anyway. if everything had been laid out properly and tested beforehand, then maybe he could do it, but not yet.


    knowing he couldn''t make a corvette work, he stripped the exterior of the vessel, then the bulkheads, leaving only the internal components behind. he saved this design as a new gunboat and pulled in the scans from the pirate gunboats he had been originally intending to refit, but had eventually scrapped.


    the best part was he still had the ftl and reactors from those ships, meaning he wouldn''t have to build them. the gunships used the same reactor type that shuttles used. at least the gunships alexander had seen did. their reliance on the ability to refuel did limit them a bit but he was ok with that since the talon would have plenty of fuel aboard for the trip.


    he quickly manipulated the designs until the old externals from the corvette fit into the shell of the gunship. alexander would have preferred to design a new ship from the ground up, but he simply didn''t have time to do that and all the testing involved to ensure a new design would work properly.


    even with what he was doing now, he was left with a mess of an interior that no self-respecting pilot would ever fly. it was a good thing it didn''t need a pilot.


    the idea he had scrapped so long ago was the use of automated warships, similar to his control ships. he realized it wouldn''t be a feasible idea because the cost of supercomputer computronics was more than the entire cost of the corvette he had planned to place it into.


    the vessels also wouldn''t be all that good. once you took into account all the processing power required to run the ship systems, you weren''t left with much for stuff like tactical processing, and weapons operations. his control ships didn''t run into this issue because they rarely if ever deployed their bots until they were at their destination, and then they just made the occasional adjustment to their orbit to remain near their location, while the rest of the computronic module processed commands to the bots.


    that would not be the case in a fight. an automated warship would need to process everything it normally did and then some, requiring more than one computronic supercomputer to do so, making the thought of building one even less palatable. even epsilon''s dawn still needed crew and it had two computronic supercomputers aboard. that meant ships larger than a corvette would probably need three or more modules to work without a crew. it was an unsustainable model with the sto computronics.


    now that he had the new processors, that cost was no longer an issue. at least with a smaller ship. alexander wasn''t sure it would work at all for anything larger than a corvette, assuming he ever got to designing one. the reason for that was simple. he would need to stack eight of the new computronics together to make the system work on a gunship. unless they figured out the issue causing so much processor speed loss between modules, it wouldn''t matter how many they stuck together, it would never be enough to run a true warship.


    the design was nearly finished when his alarm beeped. he quickly saved the changes and went home to make yulia supper. he wanted to finish this work before the fleet arrived in orbit, but it wouldn''t be at the expense of spending time with his daughter.


    alexander wasn''t going to start construction on them until he got to speak with krieger and the other captains anyway. depending on what work needed to be done to the four pirate ships, they returned with, his manufacturing resources might be better spent working on them before he considered building the four automated ships.


    ***


    might''s shuttle shook as it entered the atmosphere, vitor did his best to ignore it as he went over his report for the fifth time, checking to make sure he hadn''t missed some detail. having alex cancel their conference call shortly after proposing it, and then not responding to further inquiries had him worried that he would soon be out of yet another job.


    while he knew he made mistakes during this mission, he would have done it all again given the same circumstances. if kane couldn''t see that, maybe it would be best if he moved on.


    vitor glanced out the front window of the shuttle and saw the three dropships carrying the corporate gunship just touching down.


    there had been significant changes in the space around eden''s end since the fleet had left and it seems those changes had continued on the surface as well. a large new dome was going up on the far side of the massive facility. he could see the spark of welders as workers moved about like ants. vitor even spotted some of alexander''s bots roaming around the construction site. they seemed quite a bit less animated than the space-borne ones.


    "touchdown in five," the pilot called over the ship comm, alerting him and the other passengers to brace themselves.


    while the warning was appreciated, it was unnecessary. the shuttle set down gently and the landing gear absorbed most of the jarring sensation.


    he thanked his pilot and began unstrapping himself as the man ran through the shutdown sequence.


    by the time the cargo ramp lowered, vitor could see the rest of the shuttles from the bse ships coming in to land as well. he had seen that the final pirate ship was now converted into a bse warship by the name of eden''s revenge and he was curious who would captain that. sea??h th§× nov§×lf~ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    there was now a covered vestibule in front of the entrance, so vitor waited there for the other captains while his people headed inside to rest and relax from the long mission.


    someone must have been watching, because as soon as hall and ramirez joined him, he got a ping on his bse comm ¨C which was a bastardized hybrid of a radio and a small tablet ¨C to meet at a certain conference room.


    the three captains made their way there and found alex waiting for them. the robot motioned them inside. "please shut the door behind you and take a seat, we have a lot to discuss."


    as soon as hall closed the door, vitor spoke up. "i take full responsibility for any issues that occurred during this mission. if you see fit to punish anyone, punish me."


    alexander just stared at him, his avatar blinking slowly. "i didn''t bring you three here to punish you for what happened during the mission. while i don''t agree with all of the actions you took, i wasn''t there. and while it would have been safer to stay on mission¡­ it was eventually successful."


    ***


    alexander found a bit of humor in watching vitor struggle to understand why he wasn''t in trouble, but he needed to move this meeting along. "ships got damaged and people got hurt or killed, but that was bound to happen at some point. the only question you three need to ask yourselves is did you learn anything from the experience? if that answer is no, you should probably hand in your badges."


    when nobody stepped up, alexander nodded his avatar. "good. i canceled your earlier meeting because i realized we have been underestimating the pirates. do you all agree this is the case based on your experience?"


    the three men nodded.


    "had we known they had connections to corporations, i would have advised against this mission altogether," vitor added.


    "that is a troubling discovery, but not what i mean. the pirates alone have been much more organized, and with significantly better technology than i''ve been led to believe. some of this might be because of a few corporations backing their actions, but we can''t discount their intelligence and ability to innovate. you''ve seen it for yourselves with the pirates'' gravity traps and the compartments hidden through the use of static field generators. i didn''t really think too much about this at the time, but krieger, you saw katalynn char''s flagship, what were your thoughts on it?"


    "it was the largest pirate ship i''ve come across, and i would estimate it to be ten to twenty percent larger than the cruisers we recovered from arkonis'' shipyard. it was also the most heavily armed, with railguns and even a laser."


    alexander nodded at that. he had gone back over the footage and specifically reviewed anything with her ship. "have you ever seen a ship like that before?"


    "now that you mention it, no. i''m not much of a historian where ships are concerned though, but i don''t recall any human entities using frontline warships that large, assault ships like the talon excluded. i simply can''t see the cost being worth the effort to build them."


    "in the pre-sto days, certain entities used carrier ships. those were quickly phased out as ship combat got faster and fighters weren''t able to be upgraded to include the newer thrusters to keep up," hall added. "gunships eventually replaced the fighter role as they just need a resupply ship." before anyone could ask, the man added. "i studied military history as my thesis for command school. i wanted to be an admiral, but it took me too long to reach the rank of captain."


    the man looked younger than archie to alexander, but he already knew the sto had age limitations on certain ranks.


    "thank you for the information, captain hall, it does clear a few things up for me," alexander stated. "as for the pirates, they seem to be in a time of innovation and research where the sto is stagnant. that wouldn''t be a bad thing if the pirates weren''t our enemies, but they are. you all know the end goal is to have a loose alliance with the char family to eventually deal with emperor harlow and that monstrous ship of his. we can''t underestimate char and her people either. originally i thought fourteen ships would be plenty to show our strength when we arrived in yggdrasil''s eye, at least allowing us to talk on even terms. now i''m not so sure. with that in mind, i''m adding four gunships to the fleet."


    he flicked the holo projector to show the newest ship.


    "no offense, alex," krieger stated, "but i don''t see four gunships doing much to shift the balance. especially since we barely have enough people to crew the ships we already have."


    krieger had a point, and it was one alexander had already taken into account. "this is an automated vessel. i actually need to thank you, for bringing me the means to create it."


    krieger looked puzzled for a moment before realization struck him. "you mean those outdated processors?"


    "not exactly," alexander admitted. "the processors were junk. most failed in testing. those other parts aboard the ship were much more important. it turns out they were an entire assembly for a nano-scale chip fabricator. i would like to say it was as simple as putting all the parts together and pressing a button, but it took time to get production going. once i did, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities. i''m sure you noticed the massive increase in orbital construction going on. none of that would have been possible without that fabricator."


    "shoulda asked for more money," the man muttered under his breath.


    alexander heard his words and laughed. "check your bank account. i''m certainly not an ungrateful employer."


    he waited while the man pulled up his comm tablet and checked his balance. his eyes grew wide before he put the tablet back down. "that''s more than i managed to save during my entire time in the navy."


    "all of the bse crews received combat pay as well. it''s triple the normal pay and the least i can do for people who are willing to put their lives on the line to make bse thrive. now for the bad news," alexander added after getting their hopes up. "your people will have a month of downtime before the next mission. that means there is a lot of work to do before then. i want to go over those new ships myself and see what can be improved in the time we have. at most, i suspect we will only have time to upgrade the weapons to railguns and maybe the engines to my own design."


    "i know you''ve expanded your production capacity, but are you sure you have time to make these changes?" krieger asked. stay updated with empire


    "i won''t know until after i inspect the work on each ship. i would prefer not to spend too much time on them since they will need to be taken apart and rebuilt at some point in the future to bring them up to my standards, but i also want them to go in with the best chance of winning if these talks break down. that is another point we need to discuss. since this next mission is meant as more of a diplomatic one, i will be coming along. i won''t be looking over any of your shoulders though. i have completed my qualifications to become a captain and will be taking command of one of the two cruisers. krieger, i want you in command of the other. hall and ramirez, you will be assuming command of the two destroyers. i''m sure this will feel like a downgrade since you are used to the automation on the eden ships, but i want the most experienced people in command of the most powerful ships. eventually, they will get the same bse treatment as time becomes available, but for now, we will work with what we have, any questions?"


    "can we bring our crews with us?" ramirez asked.


    alexander nodded his avatar. "if you think that''s best, then yes. pick the closest equivalent from the hawks to swap over to the bse ships."


    "what about the civilians?" hall asked.


    "bring them through processing. i''m sure some might like to stay, but most will probably want to head home at some point. i will need to speak with captain farthing about running a transport service back and forth with some of the automated gunships as scouts and to defend her until she reaches a civilian station." that meant he would need two more ships and a modification to the fishbone to allow for the safe transport of people.


    this is why he wanted to speak with his captains before he kicked off construction. now he had additional goals he needed to meet.

 Chapter 3-31

    most of the civilians had been flown down to eden''s end, but a few of the engineers had wanted to meet alexander and thank him in person for their rescue as well as show him around the ships.to say they were surprised to see him might be an understatement.


    one man even reflexively reached toward his side to grab where a weapon might have hung, but came up empty. alexander thought that was an odd reaction for a civilian and quickly reevaluated these people.


    that man''s name turned out to be johan. once they settled down and realized alexander wasn''t there to attack them, the man spoke.


    "the few of us left up here were part of the original prisoners arkonis captured, hell, i have no idea how long ago. i don''t even know what year it is now." alexander told them the date and they all cursed.


    "nearly a decade." the man shook his head and straightened his spine. "no time for sentimentality. you came to see our work, by od- gods i''ll damn well show you what we managed to create."


    as they toured the ships, the man kept up a running commentary. "it may not look like much to you fancy corporate folks, but it gets the job done. would have done a better job if arkonis hadn''t been such a cheap fuck! i hope that piece of bio-waste got himself killed." the rest of the group laughed at that.


    "i can confirm arkonis is dead," alexander added, earning cheers from the group.


    "good riddance," johan spat. "i hope he rots in whatever form of hell his people believe in."


    the man and the people with him were interesting characters and based on their accent alexander thought he had a pretty good idea of where they came from. he would wait until the end of the tour to bring it up though. no point spooking them right now.


    as for the ships, they were not great. alexander could see that without johan pointing out the inefficiencies, that''s how bad they were. and that was comparing them to the previous pirate ships alexander had worked on, not his upgraded eden ships. the substructure of the ship looked fine, but the components were never designed for ships this large. the secondary report from the hawks detailed issues with bad air, poor waste reprocessing, and other issues including poorly welded seams that leaked, forcing a few sections to be closed off for safety reasons.


    considering prisoners had built these ships, he was surprised they worked at all. if alexander were in their position, he would have done everything in his power to make sure these ships fell apart beneath their overlords after they set out.


    alexander was adding up every system that needed to be replaced in his mind-space, and adjusting his production needs as they walked. the internal systems were easy enough to reproduce on the ground, meaning he wouldn''t need to add additional production time to his orbital printers for those components. that was good because the orbital printers would be running nonstop for two weeks just to produce the thrusters needed for these four ships.


    the cruisers really needed to be converted to compressed plasma ejection, but the added time to install those systems would delay their departure by two to three weeks. he would hold off on those until fletcher got back to krieger.


    they arrived at one of the turret rooms. it was completely empty, with a sort of punchout/plug fitted into the spot where a turret should have been.


    "like i said," johan stated, "arkonis was a cheap bastard. he only spared the money to outfit each ship with one set of autocannons. not sure what he expected to accomplish with three-quarters of the weapons missing, but that was his problem."


    they eventually arrived at the one working weapon system. it was an undersized autocannon designed to fit aboard a frigate, not a destroyer or cruiser. alexander added twenty new railguns to his build list. six for each cruiser and four per destroyer. he would need to check the dimensions, but it was possible the large railguns on eden''s end might be close to the right size to fit in this space.


    the pdcs were the same, all undersized and designed for frigates. he wasn''t all that surprised considering what he read in the report, but it seemed like a poor design choice. if you were just going to use frigate weapons, why not just stick to frigates?


    a whole host of pdls went onto his list. the power systems would take more time to install, but that could be done on route if needed.


    the command deck was the final stop, and it looked identical to the outdated bridges aboard the pirate ships before alexander had redesigned them. separate terminals were all situated facing forward toward a large screen. there wasn''t even a single holo emitter in the entire space.


    he went over to the controls and flicked through them, bringing up the sensors and running some scans to see how good their resolution was. piss-poor was the answer. they could see out to the nearest moon, but all he got back was a large blob to indicate something was there.


    "why are the sensors so bad," he asked johan.


    "they''re older than dirt, that''s why. no clue where arkonis or his people got them, but i''m pretty sure my great ancestors had better sensors than this. i guess as long as they work, he didn''t much care."


    alexander sighed and added new sensors to his list. he should be able to see at least individual contacts near the moon instead of the blob. it might not matter if arkonis only had autocannons to work with, but alexander would have railguns. and he cared about staying out of danger if possible.


    they finished the tour of the final ship and alexander was not impressed. as krieger had stated in his report, the ships were a cobbled-together mess of old and undersized parts. he was doing the math and figured it would take at least two weeks to refit the ships using the full capacity of his manufacturing capabilities, minus the printers that were working on the station.


    those would be churning out the six new gunships as well as the modifications for captain farthing''s ship, nemo. she named it after the enigmatic captain from the jules verne novel. it appeared her father wasn''t the only one who had an interest in old earth history.


    he turned to the group of men who were quietly whispering amongst themselves. "johan, you wouldn''t happen to be a resident of asgard perhaps?"


    the group went quiet and the man named johan turned to face him. "never heard of the place," he said, lying through his teeth.


    alexander couldn''t help it, he snorted at the man''s obvious falsehood. "if we ran your dna, you would all have records wouldn''t you?"


    the group didn''t answer his question, but they were glancing around, likely to see if they could overpower his people and take the ship. alexander needed to defuse the situation before they did something dumb.


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    "i''m not here to arrest you or turn you over to the sto. we''re not even in sto space at the moment."


    "oh yeah!" one of the other men shouted. "then where are we?"


    the man probably didn''t realize it, but not denying his previous accusation and then responding to the next was pretty much confirmation that they were part of the char clan.


    "we''re in a system called unokane near a planet called eden''s end." s~ea??h the n?velfire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "that''s the old research outpost," another man stated.


    johan glared at the speakers, shutting them up before he turned back to alexander. "if what my idiot compatriots say is true, we''re in char space. if you know what''s good for you, you''ll release us so we can return home. we''ll take one of the destroyers as restitution for our work and put in a good word when we arrive."


    "i''m afraid that''s not going to happen," alexander said in a calm tone. "but you''ll see home shortly. i plan on visiting asgard in a few months to have a chat with katalynn char personally. maybe she will even appreciate me returning a group of her people to her."


    he looked the group up and down. "then again, maybe not, you are a rather scruffy lot."


    all pretense dropped at that. "you try living as a fucking slave under the anazi''s see how well you fare! man can''t even be given the honor of a battle to the death. no, i was taken in my odin''s damn sleep on a half-assembled station out in the ass end of nowhere. then i''m put to work on that same damned station making ships for our enemy. now i find out katalynn took over for her old man. i guess that explains why nobody ever came to rid the station of the anazi scum."


    alexander was brought up short by that news. "wait, that was a char station? i thought that arkonis anazi had built it."


    the man spat, a habit that was getting on alexander''s nerves. "arkonis anazi wouldn''t know the first damn thing about building anything. these ships," the man gestured around him, "were designed by asgardian engineers and meant for real warriors, not those pissant scavengers who run around calling themselves pirates."


    he wasn''t going to argue the finer points of piracy with the man, but his words did give him a better insight into the char family or asgardians as they seemed to refer to themselves. "thank you for the information, but that doesn''t change the fact that you aren''t taking this ship. you really only have two choices. you can come quietly and you will be sequestered until we leave, or you can make a fuss and we can deal with you the way the sto deals with pirates."


    alexander wasn''t concerned about them having sabotaged the ships or anything like that. the ships had been searched top to bottom before the hawks left the system with the pirate station, and the civilians had been aboard the talon. they couldn''t have done it during their tour either because alexander or a team of hawks had been with them the entire time they were on the ships.


    he had only agreed to their guided tour because he thought he could get a bit more insight into the ships, and he had.


    it took a while and some heated conversations between the people in the group before johan turned back to him. "you swear on the honor of your family that you''ll take us home? because if not, we would rather die here and now than be subjected to another day as a slave for anyone."


    that seemed like a rather drastic course of measure but he nodded his avatar. "i swear on my family''s honor that you will be returned to asgard, so long as you do not try to harm any of my people or break any of our laws."


    johan didn''t seem all that enthusiastic about alexander''s change to the wording, but he didn''t have much of a choice but to agree. once everything was said and done, he motioned for the hawks to bring the group down to the planet and place them in atrium d under guard. he made sure to send a message to damien alerting them of this group. there were too many to place them in the holding cells and they weren''t exactly prisoners, so he wasn''t going to put them in with the insurrectionists.


    with atrium d now being off-limits to the public other than for intake and the route to the parking lot racetrack, it made the most logical sense to place them there so they could cause the least amount of trouble. he also wanted them close so he could speak with them and the other engineers who were rescued some more. what he learned today was interesting, but he wanted a more accurate picture of char, her people, and their homeworld. it would make negotiations with them much easier.


    he had to pause and consider that for a moment. how had he transformed from a lonely man trapped in a robot''s body to the leader of his own nation, now preparing to negotiate with other powerful entities¡ªall within just a few short years?

 Chapter 3-32

    yulia grumbled under her breath as charlie passed her on the track yet again. the older boy had been spending all of his free time with the go-carts since what happened with his father, sorin.she knew about the incident, but not what the man had actually done. it had to be something really bad though or alex wouldn''t have punished him like he did.


    the boy sneered at her and she was forced to brake hard when he cut over, blocking her path and almost sending her into one of the barriers around the pillars in the parking lot. it wasn''t the first time the boy had done it, so she had been ready. that didn''t prevent the boy from laughing and pulling away though.


    alex had warned her that she would need to practice if she wanted to stay the fastest, but she didn''t have time, and charlie was racing dirty. anger rose inside her, she didn''t know if this was because of what charlie had done or if she just needed to vent her frustrations, but she rammed into the back of the boy''s go-cart right before the next turn.


    her tormentor lost control of the vehicle and instead of turning, went straight into the barrier on the far side of the course. her cart didn''t fare any better, she had bent a wheel and came to a rough stop against that same outside barrier no more than twenty feet from charlie.


    the boy looked stunned by the impact, but otherwise unhurt. yulia immediately felt bad for her actions and climbed out of the cart only to be accosted by a screaming woman.


    before she even knew what was going on, the woman slapped her hard across the face, leaving her cheek in stinging pain and a dumbfounded expression on her face.


    everyone seemed stunned by the woman''s reaction, everyone except dog. there was a whomp sound and the woman''s screams turned into a pained cry as dog hit her with a pulse blast. yulia couldn''t recall what happened next, she only remembered being pulled aside by one of the station security people while another handcuffed the woman and took her away.


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    at some point, alex had shown up and spoken to the guards. he picked yulia up and brought her to the medical area for a quick check before taking her home.


    it wasn''t until she was home on the couch that she finally seemed to snap out of her fugue state. "alex¡­ why did that woman slap me?"


    alex sighed and sat on the floor cross-legged in front of her. she had come to realize it was his favored position to impart some wisdom to her. "that woman was charlie''s mother. after she saw you deliberately run into the back of his cart, she thought you were trying to take away her son like i did with her husband. after that, she sort of snapped. her actions aren''t excusable, but neither are yours. why did you run into that boy?"


    "is charlie okay?" yulia asked, worried she had actually harmed the boy.


    "he was fine. he had the wind knocked out of him and was a little dazed by the impact but that was all."


    "he was racing dirty and being a bully," she replied meekly, not even believing her own words now that she had time to think about it.


    "i reviewed the footage, what you did was completely unnecessary, try again," alex stated.


    "i was mad," she finally admitted. "why am i the only one who has to train with damien? the man''s a jerk and i wanna hit him and make him stop!"


    "we''ve discussed this already, yulia. i don''t want to put you through this training any more than you want to do it, but you need to learn how to protect yourself."


    "because i''m your daughter?" she asked.


    "because you''re important," alex replied.


    "aren''t the other kids important as well?"


    alex paused to think about that for a bit before he replied. "of course they are. i''ll tell you what, i''ll speak with damien and see what he thinks about creating a class to train kids your age. that way you won''t feel alone."


    yulia wasn''t sure she liked the idea of her friends having to go through the same things she did, but she had to admit she liked the idea of not being the only person that the head of security would have to focus his ire on. she nodded and alex smiled.


    "what''ll happen to charlie''s mom?" she asked, fearing the answer.


    "she will spend a week in lockup for attacking a minor. charlie will spend that time with headmaster wong since he has no other living relatives. if she repeats her actions, she will be sent to jail where she will work until her sentence ends. then she will be exiled from eden''s end."


    "will charlie have to go with her if that happens?" yulia asked. she may not like the boy all that much, but she didn''t want him to lose his home and his friends over this issue.


    "that will be up to the citizens council. they are the ones who chose her current punishment and what would happen to charlie," alex replied.


    "you''re not going to punish her for harming me?" yulia had heard alex say that on more than one occasion.


    he sighed. "no. while i am certainly angry that a grown woman could act in such a way, i''m not going to personally punish her for slapping you. if i did that to everyone who wronged me or you instead of going along with the people''s suggestions, i would be no better than a tyrant or an evil dictator."


    "what is a tyrant and dictator?" yulia asked, having never heard the words before.


    "a tyrant is a person who rules people through cruelty and fear. a dictator is similar, but he rules through near absolute control. i guess technically i can be considered a benevolent dictator, but that doesn''t sound much better. maybe more of a benevolent ceo?" alex mused. s§×ar?h the nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    alex must have realized he was talking to himself and got back on track. "what i''m trying to say is that i don''t want to rule through cruelty, fear, or absolute control, which means the people need a voice and i need to listen to them. it doesn''t mean i always have to agree or accept their recommendations, but the more i ignore them, the closer i become to being one of those two examples."


    "oh," she said, not totally understanding, but picking up enough from the context that she knew those would be bad.


    ***


    while yulia left to clean up and get ready for supper, alexander sat there in thought. he looked at his hands and flexed them. his anger over the woman''s actions was slowly fading, but he still recalled the thoughts he had back when he first learned what happened. if he had been there during the altercation, it probably wouldn''t have ended well for charlie''s mom.


    even with not being there, it was only by the barest margins that he didn''t storm off after the guards and confront the woman himself. what he told his daughter was true, going down that route led to nothing but problems.


    after dinner, alexander searched for damien, finding him at home. "do you have a few minutes?" he asked.


    the man grunted and opened the door, letting him enter.


    "is this about the attack?"


    "¡­no," alexander said after a bit of hesitation. "i came to ask if you would be willing to start a class to train people like you''re training yulia."


    "no," the man replied without any hesitation or explanation.


    "any reason why?"


    "alex, i only agreed to train your daughter because i owed you for the shitfest that sorin and his people had stirred up. and even then, we had disagreements about my training methods. i don''t like kids, and i''m not going to subject myself to parents coming to me bitching and moaning because their little darlings are coming home bruised. you may have been able to accept that i needed to stoke yulia''s anger to make her an effective fighter, but i doubt other parents will be quite as understanding."


    "i think you may have done too good of a job, she already lashed out and says she wants to punch you," alexander muttered.


    damien snorted. "good, it means we''re making progress. if she can picture every future attacker as me, she won''t hesitate to do what''s necessary. getting her to control that anger and focus it, is another story. now that i know, i can switch up her training slightly."


    "so you''ll continue to train her, but nobody else. are you sure i can''t convince you to change your mind?"


    the man just looked at him with a smirk. "you could try, but it ain''t happening. i''ll tell you what though, since you''re so gung-ho about training kids to defend themselves, travers has free time until the academy training takes off. i''ll ask him if he wants to start a younger class. the man is much better with kids and i kinda want to see the cocky shit get yelled at by the parents. i''ll even train yulia in the same classroom so she doesn''t feel singled out as much. i assume that''s the reason this whole idea came about."


    it wasn''t a perfect solution to the problem, but alexander was beginning to understand that there was no such thing as a perfect solution, only one that was good enough at the time.


    he agreed with the man''s suggestion and put word out that additional self-defense classes were being offered free for kids aged ten to sixteen.


    there weren''t as many takers as he hoped for, but there were a few. markus wu entered the class, followed by yulia''s friends sarah and claire. alexander wasn''t sure they would stick it out. those girls were much more interested in things girls normally were than the types of stuff yulia was interested in. they didn''t even race the go-carts around, however, they did cheer yulia on when they were there. there were a couple of other kids he didn''t know by name but had seen at the racetrack. some of the orphans had signed up as well. then there was charlie.


    the boy''s inclusion was a bit of a surprise, but alexander could see he was focused on the training unlike a few of the other kids who just thought it might be fun.


    travers seemed to be in his element as he instructed the kids. the former hawks team leader''s methods were the complete opposite of damien''s but alexander still saw the advantage with damien''s way of teaching yulia.


    he nodded in approval at the two men before leaving the room. he wouldn''t have been there at all, but some of the parents expressed concerns and asked him to watch the initial training sessions. they could have done so themselves if they wished, but most people were too afraid to annoy damien despite the man''s claims that the parents would harass him constantly.


    if he was flesh and blood as well, he might feel the same way.


    with yulia appeased, alexander really only had one other person to deal with before the trip.


    ***


    theo was walking down the hallway back to his room. unlike most of the residents who lived in the atrium apartments, his domicile was in one of the side hallways. he would have preferred to be enjoying a penthouse apartment back on malik but it could be worse. the rooms here were at least nicer than what he had been forced to live in after his demotion.


    before he could make it to his door, a pair of security guards appeared from the end of the hall, pembrooke ignored them, thinking it was just a standard patrol at first, but when two more blocked off the other end of the hall, he knew they were here for him.


    running wouldn''t do any good in this situation, and disabling four guards was not within his capabilities. that left him only one option, lying through his teeth. he took a calm breath and turned to face the officers. "can i help you gentlemen with something?"


    "theodore pembrooke?" one of the men asked.


    theo thought about denying it, but they would just check his id. "yes. what is this about?"


    "please come with us."


    four guards, but no weapons out. that probably meant they weren''t here to arrest him, but it also meant refusing was not an option. he nodded and the guards led him through the facility for a good twenty minutes.


    they probably could have taken the tram and gotten to their destination much quicker, but the guards seemed disinclined to do so. theo gave a mental shrug, he had memorized most of the facility by now, so even if he was in a section he didn''t know the layout of, he could probably get back to one he did in short order.


    not that it would do him any good. he didn''t have a way off this planet if his cover had been blown. that was a mistake on his part. he should have gotten a clearer picture of how eden''s end operated before coming out here, but it wasn''t like there was much information available.


    this system was an information black hole after it was shut down nearly a hundred years ago. there were ships coming and going, but none of those were allowed to land planetside. if he wanted to leave, he needed to submit a request to do so, and once enough requests were submitted, they would do their best to contract a ship to take them back to sto space.


    the problem was that most captains didn''t want to deal with passengers, and passenger-specific ships weren''t all that common in unokane. in the time he had been there, only two passenger ships had arrived. one of the captains decided to stay, and the other got arrested for attempting to bring in illegal substances. the crew was acquitted and sent back to sto space, minus their captain. that ship was also banned from entering the system ever again.


    all of that boiled down to the fact that theo was kind of stuck here, dealing with his omni handler and the omni traitors who were on this planet with him. hopefully, that work would put him in good standing when he returned home.


    the group of guards stopped at a door and gestured for him to enter.


    theo did as complied and entered the room, only to stop, his hand still on the doorknob. inside the room was a table, a chair, a holo projector, and a robot. he had been here long enough to know that this was alexander kane.


    "mr. pembrooke, please have a seat."


    theo swallowed hard, closed the door behind him, and took the offered seat. he had purposefully avoided kane since arriving as he gathered information. each nugget of intel made him more certain that his initial assessment of the man''s capabilities was correct but also made him less inclined to try and get kane to come work for omni.


    the reason was simple, kane scared the hell out of him. theo had heard all the rumors, and as far as he could tell, most of them were true.


    as he sat there, he used every ounce of his skill to try and bullshit his way out of this. "i''m afraid you have me at a loss. you know my name but i don''t know yours."


    the holographic face floating in front of the robot''s body smirked. "let''s not play that game, mr. pembrooke. you know exactly who i am, just like i know exactly who and what you are."


    theo was pretty sure he could feel the blood slowly drain from his face as kane stared at him. "w- what is this about?" he managed to get out through a suddenly dry mouth.


    the robot made a flicking motion with its hand ¨C nearly making theo jump ¨C and the holo-projector came to life. a series of messages popped up on the screen and if theo could have gone any more white, he would have.


    "these are the conversations you''ve been having with omni. while i''m glad to see you''re curtailing their rogue agents, you can probably see the issue i''m facing."


    "i haven''t done anything illegal or against bse," theo quickly mentioned.


    the man''s holographic face bobbed up and down. "of course not, if you had, you would have been arrested, but you have been working against your current employer," kane stated.


    "what are you tal-," his response trailed off as realization slammed into him. the only way kane would have these messages was if he was monitoring the qcomm and intercepting them. he knew of certain groups doing this, but he thought the capability was beyond this little outpost.


    theo could only watch in abject dismay as the screen flickered again, and this time it showed the true messages that he was meant to receive. every single one was either a demand for him to return or to not interfere with omni''s other agents. then they started growing frantic with requests to find out why their other agents had gone dark. theo was the reason those other agents were no longer communicating back to headquarters. he had done as he was requested and disrupted all of their work, thinking them traitors working against omni''s bottom line. he had been duped this entire time.


    it wouldn''t matter what his excuse was for his actions, if he returned to sto space he would be a dead man. it would only be a matter of time.


    "now you see your dilemma," kane spoke without emotion. "i believe i have a good idea of the type of person you are, mr. pembrooke. you''re a corporate climber, am i correct?"


    when theo didn''t respond, kane simply continued. "you don''t need to answer that, i know you are. i know because of your messages, the information i dug up about you, and what your compatriots say in their messages back to omni. you''re not a very well-liked man, mr. pembrooke. i would even go so far as to say your coworkers fear you. your presence here seems to be associated with the phrase ''liquidated'' more than anything else. going by the context of the messages they sent and the ones that your handler sent to you, i can make a pretty good assumption on what that term means in your line of work."


    theo was having a hard time not hyperventilating as kane laid it all out for him. not that it was hard to see given theo''s options. either he agreed to work for kane, in whatever capacity he saw fit to give him, or kane could simply ship him back to sto space. there would be no need to even get his hands dirty. he was proven correct a moment later as kane continued.


    "you really only have two options. work for me, or take a trip home. i can tell you which option i would prefer if i were in your shoes."


    "what would you need me to do?" theo asked. his aspirations for glory within omni had crumbled when kane presented the doctored messages, but maybe he could eke out a decent living here. it might not be the lap of luxury, but it certainly beat living in a tin can in space like he had when he was growing up aboard his parent''s small freighter.


    "first off, i''ll need you to sign some paperwork. after that, you''ll point out every single corporate spy on eden''s end. i know some are laying low or aren''t from omni. i''ve been keeping an eye on your work, so i do not doubt that you''re capable of doing that. once you finish that, we''ll discuss further possibilities. prove that you are loyal and capable, pembrooke, and you''ll find out i''m a much better employer to work for than omni."

 Chapter 3-33

    alexander stepped into his workshop. even though everyone was extremely busy restocking supplies aboard the ships and preparing for the next mission in two weeks, most of his work was focused on monitoring the ongoing construction and waiting for the printers to finish.that''s why he had time to go to the training classes and watch over the kids for a bit. he didn''t regret the time spent, but there were probably other tasks he could be working on.


    there were no additional improvements or tweaks to add to the ships. he had given himself a hard cutoff date for changes so as not to extend their departure date with last-minute updates, even though he itched to add a few that he had already thought about.


    he had spent some time speaking with the rescued engineers, a great deal of which had decided to make eden''s end their home after what the corporations had done to them. then there were the pirate or asgardian engineers as he had begun to think of them. they hadn''t filled him in completely on what to expect, but they had let a few interesting tidbits of information slip. it seemed that while it was true that the char family controlled asgard, most people who lived in char space simply considered themselves asgardians and their territory seemed to be split up and controlled by jarls.


    it was a bit weird for him to think of these people that way since his only memories of asgardians came from a few movie references stuck bouncing around in his fragmented memories.


    while most of his questions met silence, alexander still learned tidbits about their culture and way of life. they were also quick to point out why they hated the sto so much. if what the engineers told him was true and not hyperbole or flat-out lies, he could certainly understand their feelings.


    based on his experiences with the sto, he didn''t feel like the asgardians were lying. there might be some details lost to time, but he could easily see the sto pulling back and abandoning a huge section of space to save themselves.


    the one thing that did surprise alexander was the time he slipped and called them pirates. they took great offense to that, and one man had to be restrained after he tried attacking him. the asgardians didn''t consider themselves pirates, even though they attacked ships and took prisoners because they only did so to defend their territory.


    it was a bit of a weak argument in alexander''s opinion, but he didn''t push the point. it would be a subject he brought up if and when he met with katalynn char though considering that was one of his major concerns with working with them.


    armed with the little bit of knowledge he now possessed of char and her people, he felt much better about approaching her for this mutual alliance against harlow. sear?h the n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    it was too bad he couldn''t just have this conversation over qcomm. if char even had one, he had no idea how to go about contacting her through it. it wasn''t like there was a qcomm directory. the only way to actually contact private entities was if they gave you their comm number. even people trying to reach alexander had to leave a message on his corporate account unless he gave them his, which would do little good since he didn''t bother wearing the thing anymore since moving out to eden''s end. even after installing the qcomm relay, he hadn''t bothered wearing the device knowing how unsecure the network was. for all he knew, the comm bands transmitted everything they heard.


    even if he did have her direct line, he doubted a conversation through that medium would work considering what he had learned about the woman and her people so far. he got the impression that a face-to-face would be the only way to broker this deal and sending a single ship wasn''t going to cut it. he had thought about that. one vessel could be ignored or eliminated, bringing a fleet meant she had to take him seriously and respond. depending on how she responded, he would either move forward with his plan or leave knowing char and her people were another threat he needed to consider down the road.


    there would certainly be some rocky patches and issues to iron out if his plan went forward but he was more inclined to lean toward a successful fi- second encounter. it was weird to think that people he had thought were pirates might be more open to negotiating than the sto. then again the sto was pretty much at the whims of the corporations at this point, so maybe not so weird.


    alexander quickly checked on the progress of his projects.


    the new gunships were slightly delayed due to a printer issue that required alexander to fly up and repair in person, but everything else seemed on track to complete in the allotted timeframe. the four new ships had already received their new engines and sensors, making them much more capable in those areas. the internal systems weren''t installed yet, but they were being moved aboard the ships now. the current holdup there was that walls needed to be removed for some of those systems to be installed. alexander wasn''t concerned about those components delaying their launch date, he had considered those possibilities when deciding on what could be updated.


    the biggest issue he was running into wasn''t from his production schedule, or rearming the ships, it was actually providing food for the voyage. while eden''s end now produced a surplus of food that was packaged and stored, that was a rather recent change. prior to alexander''s arrival, the people subsisted off mostly small gardens and the food the larger farmers grew throughout the year with the occasional stop by traders. if the population had remained the same, he was sure he could rely on that again, but the number of people had more than doubled since his arrival.


    the food issue had also been slightly exacerbated by sorin''s attack on the stored seeds as well as his absence. yes, even in death, the man was making alexander''s life difficult. the reason for that was that none of the drifters wanted to farm sorin''s land. alexander had been forced to submit job requests to get people from the refugees involved. it was probably a good thing that the drifters no longer controlled all of the grown food, but it did set them back.


    alexander also couldn''t empty eden''s end of all of its stored food and hope people would get by. it wasn''t quite as critical of an issue as it might have been if they were farming on a planet that had to contend with seasons as they could grow year-round, but they had more limited space. the grow areas for eden''s end were producing fresh food every two months with the rotation of crops and the occasional freighter that tried their luck flying out here helped offset some of the food concerns.


    alexander had spoken to sheila, wei na, and the other farmers to see if they could try to boost output to help with their deficit. it was decided that opening up new land for farming would alleviate the issue in the long term, so alexander allowed farming to expand into atrium c. they would need to dedicate a space for additional farming eventually, especially if the population continued to grow. in the short term, captain farthing would be purchasing a load of food from sto space before she returned after dropping off the people who turned down alexander''s offer or simply wanted to leave.


    the people he spoke with assured him that they could stretch the current supply until she returned so he pushed that problem into the handled section. he had to consider that issue resolved since there wasn''t anything he could do to make food grow faster.


    with everything on track, alexander wasn''t sure what to do with himself. he had already spoken with yulia about this trip. that was a small part of the reason he got her into training, and agreed to get the other kids in as well. even though she had assured him that she would be fine, he wanted her to be too occupied with school and her extracurricular activities to think about his absence.


    his worry over how she would react was unnecessary though. there wasn''t any of the same melancholy or anger as the last time he announced he would be gone for an extended period, which made him rather sad.


    alexander certainly didn''t want a repeat of her hating him, but he would have liked to have more of a reaction than the hug and confirmation that she would be fine that she had given him. this change was a bittersweet one for him, it meant his little girl was growing up and maturing. he supposed that was sort of the point of raising a kid, but he just wished it wasn''t happening so fast.


    he wondered if it had to do with her experiences over the last year. she had gone through quite a bit in the time since he last left. some of it was good, some of it bad. he knew she had also confronted some hard truths, even though she hadn''t confided in him about them. alexander hoped she would feel comfortable enough to do so someday.


    feeling a bit overwhelmed by emotions, alexander locked up his workshop and decided to go for a walk outside the facility to clear his head.


    ***


    the day of departure had arrived and people scrambled to get last-second items taken care of.


    alexander was a sea of calm amongst the throng of chaos churning around him as he stood on the bridge of the unnamed cruiser or so he looked from the outside. in reality, he was worried sick that something would happen to eden''s end while he was on this extended absence.


    the trip to varlen and back was a two-month round trip, the trip to yggdrasil''s eye was a month and a half one way and he had no idea how long it would take to reach an agreement with the rather independent asgardians. at a minimum, he expected the fleet would be gone for four months.


    that meant yulia would be spending that entire time with her friends'' families, which was much less of a concern now since the three girls were practically siblings with how close they had become. he just wished it wasn''t necessary to leave her behind, but there was always the possibility that this diplomatic mission would turn into a fight.


    his worries over leaving eden''s end were slightly ameliorated by the fact that his printers had twenty of the automated gunships queued up for production. lucas had access to add more if he thought the situation called for it, but twenty should be more than sufficient to protect the system from most threats that the lasers couldn''t reach or at least chase away any ships that lingered in the system but outside of the defensive zone around the planet and moon. someone would need to manually install the processors after the ships were complete, but there were plenty of people with the skills to do that task. they didn''t need alexander there for that.


    speaking of the automated ships, alexander brought up the scanners and located them. the four that were coming along with the fleet were holding stations around the talon at the moment. he had given them simple instructions to follow what the hawks'' gunships do and not crash into anything because they were still dumb as rocks as far as their general programming was concerned.


    each of the ships was fitted with a tight-beam laser transceiver but alexander had restricted access to who could send commands to the ships. right now only the talon, his cruiser, and vanguard, captain krieger''s new cruiser, had access to send commands to the ships coming with the fleet.


    for the home fleet, captain farthing had control of her escorts and the additional ones would all be controlled by traffic control.


    it wasn''t that he didn''t trust the other captains, it was that he didn''t want an open connection an enemy could exploit with ecm. restricting who could send commands limited the possibility of them being detected.


    if he could put off this trip for a few more weeks, he could increase the fleet size by another four gunships, but that possibility had been dashed when krieger had finally received a reply from fletcher. enjoy new adventures at empire


    harlow''s fleets had reengaged the sto battle groups, but harlow''s main fleet was spotted heading towards char space after having put down an uprising on the anazi homeworld of haven. with that bombshell, alexander canceled any plans to delay his departure or add the compressed plasma ejection thrusters to the recovered ships.


    fletcher didn''t explain how he had gotten this info, but alexander assumed it had to have come from the erebus class stealth ships or maybe even the new nyx ones if they had launched. that gave him around four months if harlow skirted around sto space and made a beeline to unokane, meaning he needed to strike a deal with char quickly or head home and prepare as best they could. lucas would continue building the gunships and defenses up as needed, so there was little point for alexander to stick around for that.


    alexander wished he had a way to keep tabs on harlow''s fleet once they set out. a fleet of stealth gunships was starting to sound like a good idea. he sent a quick message to lucas to see what he could do in his absence. the armoring process wasn''t perfected yet, but the head of testing might be able to think of something that alexander was overlooking.


    it was too bad he hadn''t made much headway with the stealth armor tests. alexander had loaded a few of his long-term projects aboard his cruiser, but he wasn''t sure how much time he''d get to actually work on any of them while being the captain.


    he started getting ready reports from the other ships in the fleet. that meant he couldn''t put this off any longer. he sighed internally and went over to a console to do the final task he needed to complete before shipping out, naming his ship.


    alexander had been dreading this from day one. he had a poor naming sense, and the few names he thought of all sounded dumb even to him. names like revenant, void reaver, starbreaker, etc. when he floated them by the other captains, they said the names were fine, but alexander could tell they hated them, they were just too nice to say anything about it.


    he wished jasper was here to name the ship. he had sent his friend a message a day ago, but the man hadn''t responded, meaning he was probably mid-transit.


    in a brief moment of naming epiphany, alexander came up with a name that didn''t sound like it had come from an edgy twelve-year-old. he entered the information into the ship''s transponder data and clicked save. thus the bse wayward soul was born.


    his comm panel flickered to life and alexander accepted the incoming connection from captain krieger. "it''s not what i would have picked," the man stated, "but it''s certainly better than the other options you shared. does this mean we''re ready to go?"


    alexander did a quick check and verified that all the ships in the fleet had confirmed their readiness. then he turned to one of the crewmen assisting with ship operations. "is everything secure and ready to go?"


    "yes, sir," the man confirmed.


    alexander pressed the comm button to respond to krieger. "we''re all set to depart. i leave the overall command of the fleet to you, captain."


    krieger confirmed the order and soon the fleet was forming up once more. it was much more impressive to see two cruisers side by side with two destroyers in the same configuration below them, surrounded in a diamond pattern by four frigates with the talon behind the main ships and flanked by six gunships.


    there was a final flurry of messages to and from the surface before the fleet started heading toward the jump point. it was time to see if his crazy idea had any merit.

 Chapter 3-34

    "ungrateful little shits!" harlow cursed as he stared at the image showing the smoke-filled skies of haven as his ship orbited the burning world.he had been forced to pull back from his campaign of expansion to deal with a damn uprising and when he arrived, he had been attacked.


    the attackers had quickly fallen to his fleet, but that wasn''t the point. the point was that his power was being tested. harlow did not have the ground forces necessary to retake the surface, and he didn''t want to spend years trying to do so. that left him one very expedient option. he expended the vast majority of the nuclear weapons in his arsenal and laid waste to his own homeworld. he was not afraid to destroy everything to get his way.


    the survivors quickly capitulated after his orbital bombardment of the planet, but he no longer had any concern for them. they would either survive on their own, die from the fallout, or the following starvation. if they didn''t want to suffer, they shouldn''t have risen up against him.


    the only thing that truly upset him was the fact that some of the traitors had managed to get aboard his parent''s enrichment station and destroy it.


    he had only learned of this fact after his bombardment, meaning he no longer had a surplus of nuclear weapons capable of subduing a planetary populace. at least not until his own engineers completed the enrichment center at his hidden fleet yards.


    harlow wasn''t stupid. the moment he killed his parents and captured their station, he had sent the plans to his own hidden facility via qcomm. it was the same facility where his engineers had built harlow''s might and the only people who knew its location were on his flagship. he wasn''t worried about anyone at the facility giving away its position either. the facility was tucked away in a gas nebula, far from any star or system.


    it would take time to build the machines needed to enrich the nuclear material, but that wasn''t an immediate concern. there was a more pressing matter that had been brought to his attention by a message he had recently received from dalton. he had ignored the communication at first as he was focused on the cleanup at haven, but a follow-up message from another source had made him curious as to what the assassin might have sent. find more chapters on empire


    "well," dalton''s recording started, "you truly managed to screw me over this time. harlow, if you''re seeing this, and i hope you are, it means i''m dead. since my death was likely a result of the mission you sent me on, i pray you die in the most painful way possible. since i''m also a spiteful piece of shit, i''ve compiled all the information on the target and included it with this little message. i hope you both get what you deserve."


    the message ended and harlow chuckled. only dalton would think to screw someone over even after his death. the man truly was one of the worst people harlow ever had the privilege of meeting. he looked at the scans but they didn''t show him much about the system and the planet other than a few ships and katalynn char''s fleet being chased off. dalton had cut out certain sections, likely to hide something. that was annoying, but harlow could do little to punish a dead man.


    the trip to that system would take over four months and force him to go through char space. he wasn''t afraid of katalynn char or her people. he saw the number of ships she had, harlow had over four times that many in his main fleet, not including his dreadnought.


    with the sto on the back foot, this was the perfect time to knock that woman down a peg or two on his way to claim a prize that had been denied to him for far too long.


    he shook his head as his mind buzzed in agitation.


    harlow wanted to order his fleet back to the front so he didn''t lose the momentum he had built up, but the thought of doing that made his mind itch. that itch quieted slightly when he focused his mind on heading toward the char territory. he knew to trust his instincts and made his decision.


    as soon as he ordered his fleet to set course for char territory, the itch faded from his mind.


    ***


    katalynn stepped aboard the newest frigate to come out of the asgardian shipyards for a tour. it was the first frigate to be completed from the new generation of ships her people had spent the last decade designing and building. this new ship joined the valkyrie in a very exclusive club as one of the only two ships to have been built entirely from asgardian efforts.


    it was a monumental achievement and her people had thrown a festival in honor of the accomplishment.


    she only wished this turning point for her people could have been reached years ago. most of that time had been spent creating the infrastructure and manufacturing needed to build ships of this quality since their old production yards were woefully outdated. then there were extensive efforts to reverse-engineer systems from captured ships.


    while her ship and the frigate were both built by asgardian hands, the frigate was the first ship to boast all asgardian components. even valkyrie still used parts purchased from the sto. once the conflict with xin ended, she would have those components updated on her ship.


    some of the items may not be on par with sto tech, but she would rather fight in a slightly subpar ship that relied completely on asgardian effort than a ship made from components purchased from the sto.


    katalynn understood the need to use sto tech in the past, so she wouldn''t simply throw that away, but that was then. it was time to break free from their reliance on sto tech and the corporations that were gradually choking the life out of the political entity.


    she ran her hand along the bare metal wall as the engineer in charge of the project went into great detail about the vessel''s specifications. this ship would be going to one of the jarl''s fleets so she didn''t need to know the ins and outs of its construction, but she understood the man was just excited about explaining every feature so she let him continue.


    this was not a fancy ship, this was a warship. there were no luxuries like you might find on sto ships, every available space not needed for crew and survival had been converted into storage for the cannons. because there were no luxuries, the ship was slightly smaller than most frigates at about three hundred feet long, but that didn''t mean it was any less dangerous. it still had four weapon turrets like a normal frigate and with the gauss cannons, significantly outgunned any pirate frigate.


    her people still struggled with optics quality, so the ship did not sport any lasers. not that she would want it to considering the issues she had with the one on valkyrie, but it would have been nice to match the newer sto ships in firepower. still, the gauss cannons were a monumental step up from the autocannons most of her people still relied on.


    she knew a few of the jarls had upgraded their flagships to railguns, but she preferred the gauss cannons for their ability to operate for much longer stretches without maintenance. it was probably one of the only things she agreed with the sto on.


    katalynn was nearly through with the tour when one of her handmaidens hurried up to her. the shorter woman had to stand on her tiptoes even when she bent down so she could whisper something into her ear.


    as the woman spoke, katalynn could feel her anger rising. "you''re sure it''s him?"


    the woman nodded tentatively.


    "that bastard has overstepped for the last time." she snapped her fingers and her sub-commander hurried over. "gather the fleet."


    "lagertha?" the man saluted, but there was a question in his tone.


    she didn''t bother answering it as he would find out soon enough. "engineer, is this ship fully stocked with ammunition and missiles?"


    "of course, lagertha."


    "good. i''m putting you in temporary command. gather enough people to operate the ship and form up in my fleet."


    the man looked positively giddy at the prospect. "at once, lagertha." he saluted and hurried off, yelling instructions into a radio.


    katalynn made her way to the airlock and her shuttle. if jarl isbjorn thought he could jump into yggdrasil''s eye with his entire fleet to try and force her to marry him, he was going to learn a hard lesson.


    by the time she arrived at her ship, the jarl''s fleet had finished coming out of warp and were starting to form up. a harsh demand kept repeating over the radio for her to submit and join their lines for the strength of the people. she snorted at that and demanded the crewman to cut the connection to isbjorn''s broadcast.


    as soon as katalynn took her seat, she brought up the system overview. she frowned when she saw that isbjorn had brought more ships than she had. "that fool must have pulled his entire fleet off the front line for this stunt."


    the man liked to talk about strengthening the asgardian people, but every action he took weakened it. there was almost certainly going to be a fight between her people and his, further weakening their reserves and splitting sentiments about who should rule.


    isbjorn had almost certainly taken this path because he was too much of a coward to face her in single combat.


    "the fleet''s ready, lagertha," her sub-commander stated.


    "get us into position opposite the jarl''s fleet, but outside of combat range. i''ll try one last time to talk him down from this course of action, but i doubt he will see reason after coming all the way here with his fleet."


    the fleets approached and turned, carrying on a slow clockwise rotation nearly a light second apart.


    steeling herself, she nodded to the comm officer to connect her to the jarl''s flagship. s§×arch* the n?velfire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the cocky face of jarl isbjorn greeted her. the man was tall, but still a few inches shorter than her. he had a rail-thin build as opposed to her more muscular and stocky form. there was nothing to like about his face either. the man sported a widow''s peak, with slicked back hair that was braided, with charms to ward off evil and provide luck. the man''s face was clean-shaven and his eyes were two flinty blue pools that held only cruelty within their depths.


    "have you finally come to your senses, woman?"


    katalynn narrowed her eyes at the comment. she hadn''t interacted with the man much since taking over for her father, but she didn''t recall him being so condescending in the past. was he simply trying to goad her into reacting?


    "my senses are fine, but i have to ask if you''ve lost yours, jarl. you were tasked with protecting the border for the next two months, yet you and your entire fleet are here."


    "don''t play dumb, girl. you know exactly why i''m here. you''re weak. i gave you the opportunity to correct that mistake by joining our lines and you spit in my eye by facing off against me. unlike you, i will not let an insult like that slide. so i ask you one final time, either agree to join our lines or we will settle who should lead once and for all."


    so he was trying to goad her. the man was a fool if he thought she would be thrown off by petty insults aimed at her gender. she had faced far harsher during her training when she was growing up.


    "so be it, coward," she spat on the floor, earning snickers from her crew and a venomous look from isbjorn before the connection cut out.


    "the jarl''s fleet has turned toward us, lagertha," her sub-commander reported.


    she nodded. "may odin favor us this day. to battle!"


    "all ships, target the jarl''s flagship." with any luck, killing that bastard would end the fight and someone with more brains would take over the jarl''s territory. if not, it was going to be a long drawn out, and bloody affair.


    as they closed, she watched the enemy fleet change formation, the jarl''s cruiser pulled back and two destroyers formed up to block any direct attacks to the larger vessel.


    she clicked her tongue. the man truly was a coward if he hid in the back. she also suspected all of his ships would be targeting valkyrie.


    as soon as the distance closed enough, she ordered the main laser to be fired. odin must truly be looking out for her today because the weapon worked and it scored a hit, raking an angry red line down one of the blocking destroyers as it tried to shift out of the path of the deadly energy weapon.


    soon after the beam fired, the space between their fleets was filled with missiles and projectiles.


    ecm and point defense went to work, quickly obliterating the incoming missiles, but the kinetic weapons were another story. the valkyrie adjusted course slightly, but it was still hit by a few stray rounds that the thick front armor managed to absorb.


    one of her gunboats wasn''t as lucky. the ship was shredded as nearly a dozen rounds tore through the space it was occupying.


    she cursed the loss but looked at the tactical screen. the destroyer valkyrie had hit with the laser was out of the fight and breaking apart as it skewed below the theater of battle.


    the next volley of fire went out between the two fleets. once again, the missiles were ineffective at crossing the distance, but kinetics reined supreme as each fleet hammered the ships on either side.


    no ships died during the second exchange, showing just how durable even some of the older asgardian ships were. before a third volley could be launched, both fleets pulled off as a systemwide alert reached their ships.


    an unknown fleet has just jumped into yggdrasil''s eye!

 Chapter 3-35

    alexander was surprisingly nervous as the fleet neared their destination. the month and a half in space didn''t really bother him, but he certainly could see the toll it was taking on everyone else. it probably didn''t help that most of his crew were made up of members of the hawks, and they had been deployed for nearly a year by this point.he was sure they would appreciate some downtime, but alexander wasn''t sure that would be in the cards until after harlow was dealt with.


    "everyone''s as ready as they can be," theo said, sounding even more tired than the rest of the people.


    "i take it you don''t much enjoy space travel?" alexander asked.


    "i grew up aboard a ship," pembrooke admitted. "i prefer solid ground under my feet and more than a thin film of metal protecting me from the vacuum of space."


    alexander tapped him on the chest plate of his vac-suit. "a thin film of metal and some cloth."


    "how could i forget, now i''m immeasurably more relieved," he said sarcastically.


    alexander snorted internally at the man''s discomfort. if pembrooke hadn''t stuck his nose in alexander''s business, he wouldn''t be stuck in this situation. perhaps in time, alexander might grow to trust theo enough to leave him in charge while he was gone, but the man needed to work to earn that trust. until then, he was going to be alexander''s shadow.


    "better go strap yourself in, we don''t know what to expect when we arrive."


    alexander did the same, although his seat was more like a metal cage to keep him from flying around if his ability to secure himself to the flooring wasn''t sufficient.


    ftl travel was a bit weird. you could estimate how long it would take to jump from one system to another, but two ships jumping within seconds of each other could arrive minutes apart.


    then there was the arrival point. those could be off as well, which was why ships had a jump bubble. that wasn''t the same as the warp bubble that moved the ship into and out of ftl. the jump bubble was the safe distance a ship should be from another ship jumping because that ship could arrive anywhere within that sphere of space.


    according to nova, alexander had experienced a rare phenomenon when he was piloting the dawn back to varlen. she called it a warp shift and it had plagued humanity for the first forty or fifty years after ftl travel was discovered. the issue had been mostly eliminated by improved jump computers, jump drives, and better power regulation.


    considering the issue seemed to have been the result of erratic power flow, he was pretty sure she was right in her assumption.


    he checked the crew report one last time as the countdown timer ticked down. everyone had confirmed they were at their stations and suited up in case this meeting didn''t go as planned.


    the timer hit zero and he waited. after an agonizing ten seconds, the ship''s scanners started populating. there was nothing on them at first, but soon the other ships started popping into real space around them.


    it seemed the wayward soul was the first to arrive.


    their jump landed them well outside the yggdrasil system and deep into the oort cloud around the local star. krieger had decided on this course of action for two reasons. it would allow them to take long-range optical scans of the system to see what it looked like, and it also allowed them to ensure a closer arrival time since short jumps usually had less time drift.


    the scans they took would be outdated, but it was better than hopping in blind and hoping for the best.


    the fleet sat there for a full hour, checking and double-checking their systems before krieger gave the order to jump. read exclusive chapters at empire


    the short hop lasted less than a second, but when they came out this time, alexander''s ship was one of the last to arrive. the pilot quickly maneuvered the ship into position as they all turned on their transponders and started a full scanner sweep.


    they were still on the outskirts of the system, but now his scanners were seeing unmarked ships, stations, and other satellites as soul''s systems did their best to populate the map.


    the two-dimensional view left a lot to be desired and alexander wished he had had the time to upgrade the new ships with a holographic tac-display like the eden ships had. he felt practically blind with the half-light second range that this ship''s tactical overlay went out to.


    the long-range sensors reached out much farther, but the ship only gave approximations of what those entities could be until optical sensors could get a clearer picture.


    he didn''t fail to notice two large blobs moving toward each other farther inside the system or the fact that the ships on his tactical view were frantically running for the cover of the small stations that orbited the planet that was the closest to their jump point.


    as soon as the fleet was back in formation, krieger contacted him. "alright, alex, the show''s all yours until shit hits the fan."


    alexander might have laughed if he wasn''t so nervous. he had tried to think of what to say when they finally arrived but found himself lacking an introduction that didn''t make him sound demanding or weak.


    theo seemed to notice his hesitation and spoke up quietly. "appeal to her pride."


    alexander nodded his avatar in thanks and opened a radio broadcast. "katalynn char, i am alexander kane, owner of blue star enterprises and leader of bse. i recognize the strength and spirit of your people and have come to discuss a matter that could have dire consequences for both our people."


    now he had to wait and see what happened.


    ***


    what the hell are they doing here? katalynn char hadn''t forgotten eden''s end or her defeat there. she had simply pushed that issue aside to deal with xin and his encroachment into her territory as well as the damn challenges to her rule, which had only begun because of her defeat.


    she recalled the report loki had given her that stated kane had a fleet, but that fleet had left for some unknown location. that report also stated they only had frigates, gunships, and an assault ship, which was owned and operated by a mercenary company. it made no mention of two cruisers and two destroyers being part of kane''s fleet.


    it seemed that wherever they had gone, they had done so to increase their fleet size. it now outnumbered her fleet and if all of those ships had the same damn lasers that had hit her back when she went looking for the anazi brat, this was not a battle that would favor them unless they did so in the shadow of the orbital defenses around asgard. not unless she could convince isbjorn to fight alongside her.


    "isbjorn''s ships are withdrawing to a safe jump point, lagertha," sub-commander vynnson stated in disgust.


    "fucking coward," she growled. of course, that piece of bio-waste would turn tail and run the moment he thought he was at a disadvantage, even though the other fleet was a complete unknown. the man probably had no idea who kane was considering he hadn''t been involved with the attack on eden''s end.


    the jarl might have jumped away for a more advantageous position, but unless that position was to stab her in the back, she doubted it.


    she watched dispassionately as the jarl''s ships vanished one by one. katalynn would have to deal with the jarl at some point but now was not the time. "move us so we are covered by the defensive installations around asgard."


    katalynn would not be meeting kane on his terms if he came for a fight, nor would she allow isbjorn to try and flank her to try and take advantage of this distraction.


    an hour later, the radio message that kane sent finally arrived. they must have been loitering in the system for some time to have the transponder ping reach her so much sooner than a radio message.


    she wasn''t sure what to make of the vague message speaking of a threat. that could mean anything. hell for all she knew, kane had finally learned of xin''s attacks and came to warn her. if that were the case, the man''s ability to gather intelligence was months behind.


    since it cost her nothing to sit here and humor the request, she sent a response of her own, requesting more information and letting him know that if their fleet moved any further into the system or attacked anyone inside the system, it would be a declaration of war.


    a little over two hours later she got her response.


    "this issue involves someone we both despise greatly, the anazis. i will be happy to discuss this further in person if you swear an oath that i will be given guest rights while i am here. if so, only my cruiser will approach the planet so i can land in a shuttle. i would say that i would arrive alone, but i recently rescued some of your people from an anazi facility and i wish to return them to you. i await your response."


    was this some sort of trick? the man seemed to know at least some of her people''s traditions by invoking guest rights but that could just be an elaborate lie to make her let her guard down. outsiders could rarely be trusted to keep their word, which is why the asgardians kept their space free of sto interlopers. then again, if what he said was true and she didn''t accept the offer, considering he claimed to have asgardian natives that he rescued, she would look scared and weak.


    "haldric, contact my aides down on the surface and tell them to prepare for the arrival of someone of jarl-like status." her sub-commander nodded before turning back to his console and sending the orders.


    she had been forced to use jarl-like because her people did not recognize any authority figures other than jarls, the king, and the lagertha. since she was a woman, she couldn''t hold the title of king and there was no title of queen, which is why her people honored her with the title of lagertha. not being crowned king was also why any mistake she made was seen as a failure that had some of the jarls jumping over themselves to try and prove she was unfit to rule the people.


    katalynn had proven them wrong time and time again and would do so until her dying breath if she must. she sent the response and waited.


    after an hour, one of the cruisers moved away from kane''s fleet and jumped further into the system. it approached slowly. s~ea??h the n??el fire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    she turned to haldric. "i''m heading planetside. you''re in charge until i get back. keep an eye on that fleet, and destroy it if they so much as try to get closer."


    "as you command, lagertha," the man said, saluting her with a fist to the chest.


    the trip down matched her uncertain mood as a wild storm rocked the shuttle. she didn''t quite believe in omens, but if she did, this was not a good one.


    her shuttle touched down and she hurried to the transit tunnel, the wind and water whipping across her helmet, making it hard to see even a few feet ahead of her. she followed the orange lights embedded into the tarmac to avoid getting lost.


    katalynn remembered her dad telling her stories as a kid of people losing their way and stumbling into the jungle. it only took one nick of the razor-sharp vines to pierce a vac-suit and the person would be dead from the toxic gas in the atmosphere in under a minute. if you somehow got lucky enough to stumble through the thick jungle without causing a suit leak, the wildlife would get you eventually.


    the thickly armored creatures of this planet were not predators, but they were highly territorial. she had never much cared for the sport of hunting, but her father had in his youth. she still recalled the trophy he had on display in their old home. it was of a skjoldulf and her father had it preserved with the wound that had been needed to bring it down, which had come from a small mounted railgun that her father had commissioned.


    katalynn briefly wondered where that gun had ended up. she had never seen it despite the fact that her father had a vast trophy room full of weapons.


    an unwelcome figure met her on the train.


    "speak," she said to the loki as she removed her helmet.


    "we were working to present an update to you on alexnder kane''s activities, but it seems the man has beaten us to it," loki said with a slight chuckle. katalynn did not find this situation nearly as amusing as loki did and glared at the woman.


    undeterred by katalynn''s gaze, the woman continued. "his rescue of a group of asgardians from a space station that likely once belonged to your father is probably true."


    "what do you mean, likely once belonged to my father? how is that even possible?"


    "your father had a lot of secret projects going on and his death came as a surprise for most. during the transition to your rule, lagertha, we regret to inform you that some of those projects got lost or were deliberately hidden by some of the jarls so they could benefit personally from them. now that we know of this one, we will continue digging until we find more information on other possible projects. as for this station, as far as we can determine, they stopped sending courier ships with updates around the time of your father''s death. if kane''s words are true, it was probably captured by the anazis during that transition period. it took considerable digging in the message archives to even find mention of this facility, and we still don''t know where your father built it or who was involved."


    she wanted to shake her head and curse her ancestors for creating a system where the ruler was chosen by combat. if this much was lost just by her defeating her father, imagine what else might have been lost over the centuries.


    "is that all?" she asked, annoyed that she was learning about this now.


    "no, lagertha. you should know kane isn''t just a normal man. we managed to get one of our lokis on eden''s end and the man actually met with him in person, though kane was unaware of this fact. kane is apparently an eight-foot-tall robot, but that''s not all. the persistent rumor on that planet is that kane is part alien."


    "alien?" she asked, not quite believing the loki. "what, like a shican in disguise?"


    "we''re unsure, lagertha, but we doubt he has any connection with the shican."


    "so another alien race. that''s wonderful. what next? are you going to tell me odin is waiting in my reception hall?"


    the woman didn''t respond to the quip, she just gave her the same blank look that all lokis defaulted to when they had nothing left to say or weren''t playing a role. she guessed she would see what all the fuss was about when kane arrived.

 Chapter 3-36

    even with the upgraded sensors, alexander wasn''t really sure what he was looking at thanks to the poor tactical displays aboard soul. the two blobs on the scanners seemed to grow closer before one left. it was pretty easy to guess that those blobs were fleets of ships, but that''s about all he could say with certainty.were they running through some sort of training exercise?


    then again, that didn''t really explain why the one group left shortly after they should have discovered his fleet''s arrival.


    it wasn''t until krieger contacted him that he learned what had transpired.


    "it seems they were mid-battle when we popped in and interrupted them. i confirmed this by contacting the captains of the eden ships. there are at least two debris fields from destroyed vessels. i assume by the one side''s hasty exit from the system that they assumed we were here to reinforce their opposition. i''m not sure what we just stuck our foot into, alex, but be careful."


    alexander thanked krieger for the information and waited for katalynn char to respond to the message he had already sent.


    it was a slow back and forth without ftl comms, but he did eventually get the woman to agree to the meeting and even swear an oath. he was putting a lot of faith in the fact that they would keep their word, but he needed to move forward with this diplomatic mission, and doing it through radio comms wasn''t going to cut it.


    the entire conversation had been over open radio so krieger and the rest of the fleet were probably already aware of his plans, but he still contacted the man to let him know. krieger had standing orders to cause as much damage as they could without risking the fleet before jumping out if the asgardians betrayed their trust. he didn''t like having to give such a scorched earth order, but if this came to violence, he would do everything in his power to ensure unokane could win.


    if it came down to that, it would mean alexander had either been captured or his ship destroyed. neither of which were good options for him, but in that case, he wanted the fleet to return home to defend eden''s end instead of fighting a useless battle here.


    unokane might struggle a bit with his absence, but he had left behind enough infrastructure and technology that he was certain his death wouldn''t destabilize what he had built. eden''s end also had some very smart people who could pick up where he left off. they would be okay with time so long as harlow could be beaten.


    it might seem a bit morbid to some to plan for their death, but alexander had been making contingency plans since he made this decision to meet with katalynn. there had always been the chance of this meeting going south, but even if it succeeded, it meant going up against harlow, one of the strongest pirates humanity had ever faced.


    that meant any one of them could die, including him.


    alexander would prefer to avoid direct combat. he may be a qualified captain, but he had no experience in warfare and would rather settle things diplomatically, but sometimes that simply wasn''t an option. a lot of things would need to happen before he could step aside from the role of captain. he simply didn''t have enough military personnel to take a back seat if conflict broke out in the next few months or even years most likely. s~ea??h the n?velfire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    that issue would ease up as he modified the new ships to allow for more automation, but converting the ships to meet those specifications was not a fast process. it took two months to refit a frigate. he suspected the destroyers would take twice that long because the bots would be forced to learn the configurations of the new ships before they became optimized to the larger design. the cruisers would likely take even longer.


    alexander could convert multiple ships at once, but he didn''t have enough ships to risk having two down at the same time.


    he was hoping to offset this issue by manufacturing automated corvettes when he got back to eden''s end, but he wasn''t sure how long that process would take.


    alexander had had plenty of time on this trip to finally come up with an initial design for the new automated corvette. the ship wasn''t an original design though, it was based on the corvette they took down when they were bringing the dawn back. the fury had recovered the vessel after it dropped off its last load of thrusters to varlen.


    until these ships were put to the test, alexander wasn''t sure how effective they would be, compared to piloted craft, but a few extra lasers should come in handy no matter how badly they performed. before he started manufacturing them, he was going to run them by krieger and matthews. maybe even a few other people to get their input. he wanted to ensure he had the best ship possible and not the best that he thought possible.


    he was getting ahead of himself though, none of these issues mattered right now. he needed to focus on the upcoming meeting with katalynn char. to punctuate that point, the wayward soul jumped further into the system. he could practically feel the tension in the crew around him, but they were holding up well.


    "shuttle is prepped and ready," theo stated. "i wish you luck. i''ll make sure the ship is here when you return."


    alexander turned to the man. "oh, you''ll be joining me. if you''re going to understand how i run my company, you''re going to need to be present in meetings like this."


    the man turned paled slightly and looked like he wanted to decline the offer, but he eventually sighed in resignation.


    alexander snorted internally. he wanted the man along for a multitude of reasons, the first of which was he didn''t trust theo to be alone aboard the ship. the hawks would likely subdue him if he tried anything stupid, but that was beyond the point. the other reason he wanted pembrooke down there with him was to assist. the man was more than familiar with people in positions of power, and he was hoping that experience might grant some insight into this meeting. if not, at least alexander would know the man wasn''t off somewhere trying to cause problems.


    by the time they arrived at the shuttle, it was filled with the rescued asgardians, all fully suited up.


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    johan saw him and spoke up. "i honestly thought you were lying. can''t believe we''re finally home after so long."


    alexander paused at that. "if you thought i was lying, why did you answer my questions and go along with this?"


    the man shrugged. "didn''t have much of a choice, did we?"


    he just shook his avatar and made his way to the cockpit. the more he learned about asgardians the more he found them extremely odd.


    alexander sat in the modified space and theo took the co-pilot seat.


    it wasn''t long before they were flying toward the planet and following the path they were given for landing.


    "that''s quite the storm," theo said with worry.


    it certainly was. a thick bank of clouds extended across a full quarter of this side of the planet, and even from here, they could see lightning flickering through the dark roiling mass almost constantly. considering how fast the clouds were churning, there was likely a whole lot of wind and rain as well.


    he flicked on the comm and warned the passengers. "brace yourself, it looks like there''s a large storm over the landing area."


    alexander heard chuckles from the back of the ship and someone yelled, "good to be back home!"


    the ship jerked as they touched the atmosphere, but that was nothing compared to what happened when they descended farther into the storm. alexander had to fight the controls to keep the ship on course as the winds tried to drag them down or throw them higher into the air. soon they descended far enough that rain joined the party, pelting the ship so hard it sounded like weapons fire hitting the hull.


    a shrill whistling invaded the cockpit, letting him know they had a hull breach. he was going to tell theo to put on his helmet, but the man had already done so as soon as they entered the atmosphere. he didn''t have to bother with the other passengers, they had all donned their helmets as alexander boarded the ship.


    he should have probably taken that as a sign.


    the shuttle rocked again as wind and rain battered it, the sound growing louder. then they were through the thick clouds and the surface quickly rushed up to meet them. the sensors of the ship weren''t fooled by the wind and rain, so alexander had been expecting this. he flared his landing thrusters and was pushed into the floor as the shuttle decelerated. the landing pad was outlined in a bright orange line, making it easy to see in the rain and gloom of the storm. he set the shuttle down right in the center with barely a bump.


    his skills had improved tremendously since his first shuttle flight with captain krieger.


    alexander shut the ship down, wondering how he would manage to fix the leak before they took off again. he might have asked theo or the rescued asgardians but the rain was pounding against the hull so hard he couldn''t hear what theo was shouting to him.


    alexander just shook his avatar and displayed the text that he couldn''t hear him. the man just sighed and unbuckled himself from the co-pilot''s seat. it was at times like this that alexander wished he had the ability to internally process radio. he was sure the suits that the others wore muffled the sounds enough to at least speak through their headsets.


    when they made their way to the passenger area, they found it empty, and the door open. well, at least now he knew what theo had been yelling about. he had assumed the asgardians would wait for him, but it appears that wasn''t the case.


    the pair walked out of the ship and into one of the heaviest storms alexander had ever seen. the rain was coming down in sheets so thick that he couldn''t even see the glowing orange lines that marked the outline of the landing pad.


    for a moment, something new flickered in his mind space. before alexander could wonder what that was all about, his vision changed. instead of looking at the world through normal sight, it was replaced by a weird greyscale outline. this new vision did allow him to see much further though and he could now see the asgardians making their way to a doorway that seemed to lead underground.


    alexander motioned for pembrooke to follow him and the two made the same journey.


    eventually, they came across a glowing line that led to the door. apparently, he should have parked the shuttle closer.


    the door did indeed lead underground. when alexander stepped off the stairs, he found the asgardians waiting there, looking annoyed as a single man in black stood in front of a set of doors to a subway train.


    "greetings alexander kane," the man said as he threw his arm across his chest and bowed slightly. "i''m loki. i''m here to guide you to the lagertha. the air here is safe, so you may remove your helmet, mr. pembrooke."


    pembrooke stiffened at this. "you know who i am?"


    "i''m loki, it''s my job to know things," the man smiled slightly.


    "what''s going on?" alexander asked quietly.


    "loki, or lokis are the asgardian version of spies. they all take the same name because loki is the master of many faces."


    "we prefer the term master of change," loki said, having seemingly overheard their entire whispered conversation. "change applies to many things instead of just how we appear. now, shall we?" he gestured to the train.


    "what about them?" alexander motioned toward the asgardian rescues who were standing off to the side, trying their best not to be noticed by the man in black.


    the man didn''t even glance their way. "i''m sure they would prefer to head home to their families. someone from the lagertha''s crew will reach out to them if they are needed."


    whoever these lokis were, they didn''t seem to be well-liked. alexander saw the group visibly relax when the man said those words.


    alexander supposed there wasn''t much to do about that. he stepped onto the train, barely having to even duck as he made his way inside. the train was clean and free of graffiti or garbage which was a surprise. he assumed by the size of the city that there had to be a few million people living there. normally that meant crime and other issues. he kind of expected at least a little of that considering the nature of the asgardians, but it seemed he had some preconceived expectations still.


    alexander looked at the train seat, it looked sturdy, but he still chose to stand. it wouldn''t help his image if the first thing he did when he arrived was damage their infrastructure. he grabbed onto a standing rail as theo sat, while loki sat across from him.


    the second the man took his seat, the train zipped off and sped towards his meeting with katalynn char, or the lagertha as loki had called her. he was curious what the title of shield maiden meant in their society, but whatever it was he was certain it was significant.

 Chapter 3-37

    if alexander was honest with himself, he found loki to be a bit creepy. the person''s mannerisms seemed a bit off from normal and while he wasn''t completely still, he was eerily still for a human.he wasn''t sure if it was just this loki, part of their training, or a complete act to throw him off. while it was an interesting question to help him pass the time on the train, he supposed it didn''t much matter.


    alexander glanced out the window of the train, watching stops whiz by at high speed. after watching a slow-motion playback in his mind-space, he was able to determine the train was traveling at just over a hundred miles an hour. it was on the slower end of bullet trains but was probably limited to the fact that the tunnels were pressurized against the outside atmosphere.


    the carbon monoxide concentration in the atmosphere was deadly all on its own, but other gases assisted in making asgard''s air far more deadly to humans. he truly wondered why anyone had chosen such an inhospitable world to settle on. then again, eden''s end wasn''t any better and that hadn''t seemed to stop people from putting down a research facility.


    soon the train came to a stop and the door opened. loki stood and gestured for them to follow.


    much like the first terminal, this one was empty as well. alexander could attribute the first to being near an empty landing platform, but this one should be near the center of power for katalynn char. read chapters at empire


    it likely meant it was emptied on purpose for their arrival. did that bode well for talks, or ill? he wasn''t sure.


    the wide staircase led to a large open promenade covered by multiple layers of transparent material overhead that both protected the wide open space as well as muted the sounds of the storm still raging outside.


    the most striking feature in this area was the wide steps leading up to a building that stretched beyond even alexander''s weird new vision. in front of those steps were men and women arrayed in groups of six. there were no uniforms marking these people but alexander got the distinct impression that they were soldiers. likely ones belonging to katalynn char.


    when his group got within fifty feet of the gathered people, they pressed their hands to their chests and held them there. going by the hesitation he saw in many of the gathered people, alexander got the distinct impression that they did not want to do this.


    loki explained the tradition. "this is a standard tradition to pay honor to a jarl or someone who may soon be a jarl. normally, they would disperse after the display, but they do not trust you. because of that mistrust, they also treat you like an outsider, one who may intend harm to the lagertha through deceptive means."


    alexander was surprised by the admission, but loki certainly didn''t seem concerned by the display. at least it explained the hesitation he saw.


    an echoing bang rang out and all of the soldiers including loki went to one knee and bowed their heads. loki grabbed theo as he went down, forcing the man to do the same, but did not reach out for him.


    alexander had seen the woman at the top of the stairs but had assumed she was another adjunct or someone else for the lagertha. the main reason for his assumption was the woman lacked anything that showed her status. he hadn''t met a single individual in power who didn''t at least dress better than the people around them. even mingyu had stood out when he first met the man, however, it was only by a slight margin compared to everyone else.


    apart from her stature and physique, this woman could have stood within any of the groups at the bottom of the stairs and he would not have noticed one bit.


    as the woman descended the stairs with a long pole or staff in each hand, loki whispered under his breath without raising his head.


    "this is a test to prove if you are worthy of the title of jarl and to speak with the lagertha. you must tag her with the staff at least once before she tags you five times. if you fail, you must leave, there will be no further discussion. hurry, you must enter the circle or forfeit any right to speak on equal terms."


    alexander wanted to ask what all this nonsense was about, but he saw char quickly striding to the circle. he sighed and stepped forward, his long legs eating up the space until he found himself inside a packed sand circle that he had mistaken for a sandstone decoration of some sort.


    as soon as he entered the circle, the gathered people stood and surrounded it while remaining completely quiet.


    one of the poles was tossed his way and he caught it in mid-air, looking at it awkwardly. "is this really necessary?" he asked.


    the woman didn''t respond, instead, she twirled her weapon and shifted sideways as she started toward him.


    apparently, it was. alexander could tell the pole was hollow, but it was not padded. any strike with it was going to hurt.


    alexander would be the first to admit that he was no fighter. most of the conflicts he found himself in had been resolved by brute forcing his way through them. he could probably do that here, but he didn''t want to injure the woman. that meant he needed to show a modicum of restraint.


    instead of gripping the pole in both hands like katalynn was, alexander used it more like a one-handed bat.


    when she came close, he swung the weapon fast, but not so fast as to injure her with it. despite his restraint, the weapon whistled through the air.


    katalynn tipped her pole slightly to intercept the attack and alexander''s attempt slipped up and over the woman as she ducked and launched herself toward him with surprising speed.


    her pole cracked against his chest right where his hologram was. then the woman spun for a second hit.


    alexander quickly realized he underestimated the importance of this ceremony to the asgardians as well as the opponent in front of him.


    he stepped back, avoiding her second strike, and ripped his bamboo-like pole down toward her neck slightly faster than before.


    she kept pressuring him and he saw her tactic, she wanted to push him toward the edge of the ring. he assumed stepping outside would mean forfeiting the match. so he stepped forward and past her, taking two more strikes while she artfully dodged two of his own.


    if he didn''t know better, he would think the woman was using augment gear, but even the best augment gear he had seen was still bulky. this woman''s skills were just that, pure skill, likely honed and perfected over a lifetime.


    alexander couldn''t afford to fail this test, so when the next strike came in, he grabbed the woman''s weapon, bringing his hit count up to four. as soon as he grabbed the pole, he swung down with his own. he assumed the woman would let go and back off, but she yanked on the weapon to bring herself within range and kicked out at him.


    alexander''s perception of time slowed to a crawl as he jacked up his processing speed to the max while analyzing what he could do to pull this off. he didn''t do this often because it made him feel like he was suffering a severe headache and produced a ton of heat from his body, likely from whatever processors were buried inside it.


    the lagertha''s foot was only inches away from connecting to him, while his staff was still a foot away. there was no way it would hit in time. he analyzed taking a step back but realized he wouldn''t be able to shift his weight fast enough because she pulled him toward her, if only barely.


    that left only one option, he hoped it counted. before his perception of time returned to normal, alexander put all his strength into katalynn''s weapon and pushed it down. he had noticed the other end was near her planted leg and if all he needed to do was connect once, he had to hope he was fast enough.


    time slowly sped back up as he brought his perception back to normal. he noticed his action had the almost immediate benefit of pushing the woman back and giving him just slightly more time before her foot connected with him.


    he saw surprise in her eyes as her arms shifted to try and adjust to the force he was exerting against them, but even if she were wearing an augment suit, there was no possibility she would have been able to resist alexander''s full strength. the pole slipped through her grip and there was a loud crack as the end smashed into her leg just above the knee only a moment before her kick landed against his torso with enough force to stagger him half a step back.


    damn, this woman is strong!


    the woman stumbled back slightly as she landed back on the ground, the broken end of the pole sticking out of her other leg, but she smiled. "it seems we can speak as equals."


    this woman is crazy!


    katalynn char didn''t even flinch as a group of women rushed into the circle. one yanked the broken pole out, while another stuck some sort of medical paste on the wound. alexander noted the wound wasn''t deep. he was glad for that since he wasn''t sure he had pulled his strength back in time. a third woman bandaged the wound. once they were finished, they hurried off without so much as a word.


    "come, let us talk." katalynn char said as she turned and strode for the stairs as if she hadn''t just been wounded less than a minute ago.


    alexander stood there in stunned silence for a bit until loki and theo appeared beside him. he idly noted that the other people had filtered out as well, leaving the area quiet.


    "only you will be allowed to speak with lagertha as an equal, mr. kane. i will entertain mr. pembrooke until you return. i believe there is much both of us can learn."


    alexander turned toward the two men. pembrooke looked a bit uncertain, but if they were going to trade secrets and information, maybe pembrooke might learn something that could help alexander and eden''s end. it wasn''t like pembrooke could give away much about alexander''s operations, he hadn''t been in the position long enough to know anything of note.


    "very well," he said, nodding at the pair before he strode up the stairs behind katalynn char.


    when the two reached an elevator, alexander worried that his weight might be too heavy, but then he noted the size of the lift and the weight limit. it seemed that the elevator doubled as a freight elevator as well.


    the two stood in the elevator as it silently rose through the enormous tower. he had tried striking up a conversation right away, but the woman simply said they would talk once they were inside her office. at least he had time to figure out how to switch his vision back to normal. the whole greyscale thing was getting on his nerves.


    the elevator stopped and opened into a large space decorated tastefully with a few trophies and art displays. he stopped in front of one painting that was beautifully rendered. it depicted an alien vista at either sunset or sunrise, the colors cascaded across the landscape, giving everything inside the painting a dreamlike quality.


    "do you appreciate art?" katalynn asked as she saw him staring at the piece.


    "i appreciate the effort that went into making it, but i never really found any particular appreciation for it until i saw this."


    "one of my ancestors made that piece after exposure to the toxic atmosphere outside. they managed to save the poor woman, but her mind was never the same afterward. still, she was well cared for until her death, and her works are still appreciated to this day. you didn''t come here to discuss art, though, so why are you here, kane?" s§×ar?h the n??el fire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    he turned away from the piece. char reminded him of damien a bit, blunt and straight to the point. "are all asgardians as forward as you?" he asked in response.


    "lies and trickery are the tools of the weak. if you have something to say, you should just say it, it saves time for everyone."


    "is that why you tested me and why people despise the lokis?"


    "that is among one of the reasons people look down on them. as for the test, that was a formality and for my own sake. normally it is a simple tap from each person to signify they are equals unless they are an unknown quantity such as yourself."


    "i see," alexander said. "you also said it was for your own sake?"


    "i''ve never had the chance to fight an alien before," she said without hesitation.


    "you heard about that rumor?" he was slightly surprised by that.


    "loki filled me in on that as well as a few other things. things like having captain krieger in your fleet. did you think i wouldn''t notice you working with the man who struck my fleet in the back? it makes me wonder if you were working with him back then as well. including him is either a bold move on your part or a statement. so which one is it, kane?" her words held a sharp edge to them.


    "a necessity," alexander admitted. "i assume you learned about krieger from loki as well? as for his choice to attack you, i had no part in that, it surprised me as much as it did you. i won''t apologize for his actions though. you came into my space, we simply defended ourselves and the krieger stepped in to help."


    the woman tapped her finger on her desk as she stared at him for a moment. she seemed to be mulling over his words. after a while, she spoke again. "i hardly needed loki to tell me who krieger was. the sto made it abundantly clear what actions he took that led to his disgrace. it wasn''t hard to put the pieces together after that to realize he was the captain of that ghost ship. as for krieger being here, i''ll put the past behind us for now and ask again. why are you here?"

 Chapter 3-38

    alexander had hoped to build a bit more rapport with the woman before discussing this subject, but it seemed that katalynn was done humoring him.he steeled himself before responding to her question. "as i said in my radio reply, this is about harlow."


    "i''m aware of that bottom feeder, get to the point."


    ignoring the rudeness, alexander pushed on. "i believe he''s coming to attack eden''s end. to do that, he needs to come through char territory."


    that got her attention.


    "what makes you think he would waste his time traveling all the way out to your system?"


    "he''s after me," alexander admitted.


    "why? does he know what you are? is that why arkonis attacked? i always thought it weird that arkonis anazi had risked my ire to come deep into asgardian territory for a simple score. there are far easier and safer targets on the border of sto space." s§×arch* the novel?ire(.)ne*t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    alexander waited for the woman to stop before he responded to her questions. "i don''t know if harlow knows or not. as for arkonis, i assume he attacked for the same reason that harlow wants me, and that''s for my skills as an engineer."


    "the laser on arkonis'' old ship. that was your design wasn''t it?"


    her words were more a statement than a question, but alexander nodded anyway.


    "so what, you''ve come here to ask us to protect you? why would i risk my people for something like that?"


    "not exactly."


    "if not protection, what is it you want? you came here with a fleet to either attack or make a statement loud enough to get my attention. now you have it and you are dancing around the issue like the oily little politicians in the sto."


    "i want to propose an alliance to take down harlow."


    the woman chuckled. "that is quite bold of you to suggest. do you think we need to ally ourselves with outsiders to drive harlow off?"


    alexander''s next response was a bit of a long shot since it was a complete guess, but he said it anyway. "from what i saw, you can''t even send other asgardians packing. it seems you could use an ally if you have trouble within your own ranks."


    the woman''s face turned into a mask of stone, but she didn''t direct any anger at him. "i''ll deal with that treacherous little shit in due time." her anger quickly vanished as she addressed him again. "let''s say i entertain your offer. what''s in it for my people? so far all i see are benefits for you."


    "if you think harlow will simply stroll through your space without killing people and destroying infrastructure, you''re delusional. i don''t think you are and i don''t think you would allow him to do as he pleases in your space. as for what i can offer, i think you already know."


    "you''re saying you would give my people access to your technology? how kind of you," she said sarcastically.


    "not give. i would sell it to you for a fair price, but only after harlow has been dealt with and it comes with some other stipulations."


    the woman quirked an eyebrow at that. "stipulations? you come into our territory and claim a system as your own and now you offer stipulations? i have every right to imprison you and everyone in your fleet for violating asgardian laws," she stated, waiting to see how he would react.


    alexander knew something like this might come up in discussions ever since he learned that the asgardians had actual laws and people in charge. he wasn''t deterred though. "by imprisoning me, you would break the oath you have given, thus proving you can''t be trusted. and i would never tell you a single thing, assuming you could even hold me. as for my fleet. we both know my ships now outnumber yours, so unless you expect your dance partner to return and back you up, my people would be able to get away."


    she smirked. "i''m glad to see some people from the sto still have a spine, even if it had to come from an alien robot. you may go back to your ship while i speak to my advisors and consider your proposal."


    "i''m not from the sto," he stated at the woman''s dismissal.


    other than the little test, there was no bloodshed and his fleet wasn''t attacked. all in all, this meeting went far better than he had expected.


    when he returned to the ground floor, theo was there waiting for him. there was another person dressed in black, waiting off to the side. he supposed it was loki, even though it was an entirely different person. that had to get confusing.


    "how did the information exchange go?" alexander asked as he followed the female loki down the stairs.


    pembrooke looked slightly disturbed, so whatever he had learned must not be good. "grand admiral xin is on the move. he controls the thi¨Csecond pirate faction," he corrected himself after glancing at loki''s back. he controls the area on the far side of char space. technically xin space butts up against anazi space as well, but there are so few stars in that area that it is essentially a dead zone, and only the desperate travel through there. it''s usually where independent pirates dwell."


    "xin? i''m not familiar with them." alexander had been filled in on the anazi pirates and char by both mingyu and archie but hadn''t heard much about the xin. considering where they were located, it was a good chance that neither of his friends knew anything about them.


    "xin was the grand admiral for the coalition fleet before taking his supporters and abandoning the coalition to their fate. they are also the most depraved pirates you''ll ever run across. if you think what the anazis do is despicable, you haven''t seen anything until you come across a ship hit in a xin raid. let''s just say it''s bad, really bad. if the xin clan is pushing into char territory, it''s likely a probing test for a lead-up to a major offensive. you do not want the xin anywhere near eden''s end. grand admiral xin and his ilk have no morals or scruples. if they want your planet, they''ll literally throw ships at it until they win. and they have more than enough ships and people to do so from what i''ve heard. estimates state that the number of ships xin has might even outnumber the stos now."


    that was highly disturbing news, but alexander needed to focus on one issue at a time. they returned to the shuttle and alexander was forced to make repairs in the pouring rain. the patches were messy, but they would hold. he purged the ship''s air a few times to ensure no harmful gasses were lingering before taking off and heading into orbit. the flight back up wasn''t quite as rocky, it seemed the worst part of the storm had passed in the three or so hours they had been on the planet.


    soon enough they landed in the wayward soul''s hangar. the ship would remain at its current location, but he needed to have a conference with the other captains and fill them in.


    ***


    katalynn watched the towering robot leave and finally allowed the shiver of fear she felt when she first looked upon the obsidian nightmare to roll through her body. "terrifying," she whispered, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "exquisitely terrifying."


    she couldn''t recall the last time she had felt so alive when facing a single opponent. her leg throbbed in pain, giving her a gentle reminder of kane''s strength. the bastard had been holding back until she had forced him to show at least a little bit of his capabilities. it wasn''t trickery, it was tactics she reminded herself.


    as much as she would like to reminisce about the fight, kane''s words were a grim reminder of what was to come. she had been keeping track of harlow''s activities. when he pulled back from the front, she had been sure he was heading toward the heart of asgardian space. it was really the only logical option. maybe to open up a new front against the sto or simply cause chaos in her space, she didn''t know.


    with that in mind, she reinforced her border with the anazis with whatever ships were out that way. unfortunately, with the war against xin''s people, she couldn''t spare much and that area was lightly populated.


    when harlow didn''t attack and instead returned to haven to deal with an uprising, katalynn had assumed her people had dodged a bullet. the logical choice would be for harlow to finish subduing his people and then return to the front to keep pushing the sto back, but she knew that wasn''t the case. now she knew his true destination and that changed things slightly.


    find more chapters on empire


    if what kane said about harlow''s motivations was true, it made no logical sense. there was nothing about kane that could justify sending a fleet of over a hundred ships to capture one man, no matter how talented an engineer he might be. even if he did have alien roots, his technology didn''t scream advanced enough to warrant this mustering of force. then again most of harlow''s actions made little sense. he had the fleet strength to easily push the sto back to their core worlds yet he seemed to be pacing himself.


    those were questions for the sto to answer, she had her own concerns. the main concern she had was the fact that the border with the anazis did not have enough ships to deal with him without weakening her other border. a border that was now already weakened thanks to isbjorn abandoning his post to try and claim her like some prize.


    she needed to deal with that pathetic weasel before he caused more problems, which she knew he would. jarl isbjorn was not the kind of man to take kindly to losing. katalynn feared leaving the man to his own devices would lead to a new asgardian schism, which hadn''t occurred since the early days of the union.


    "short-sighted fools can''t see past their own pride. loki, get your ass in here!"


    the same black-clothed man that brought kane to her soon stood in front of her desk. "you called, lagertha?"


    "how much of the conversation with kane were you present for?"


    "none of it, lagertha. we decided to err on the side of caution since we did not know or understand the alien robot''s capabilities. we did however watch through the hidden cameras and listening devices."


    she growled. "i thought i told you to get rid of those when i became lagertha."


    "we did, but when you announced our visitor, we thought it wise to cover all our bases. they will be removed in short order, i assure you."


    she glared at the man before motioning for him to speak. "what are your thoughts on kane?"


    "his story and pembrooke''s match. pembrooke did seem surprised to hear that xin was attacking our border though. it seems the former omni employee is no longer in high standing."


    katalynn stopped the man there. "i don''t care about this pem character. tell me about kane."


    loki was unruffled by her dismissal. "if what we gathered from our contact on eden''s end and what pemrooke has revealed is true, we would label kane as frightfully competent, at least when it comes to engineering. it seems he lacks in other areas like politics, management, and people skills in general. however, he is learning, and he learns quickly. kane does not appear to be the type to make the same mistakes over and over. if he hadn''t produced so many new inventions, the lokis would have assumed kane to be an advanced form of self-learning program. as it stands, the rumor about him being a human mind stuck inside a robot body may very well be true."


    "you don''t sound all that convinced," katalynn commented.


    loki shrugged. "we lack enough information to make a more accurate guess."


    "what of harlow?" she asked, changing the subject.


    "our last report from haven stated that harlow was indiscriminately bombing the planet with nuclear weapons. we lost contact shortly after that. either haven''s qcomm was hit, or our agent was. we have already ordered scout ships out to that region to keep an eye out for harlow''s fleet, but without ftl comms, we may not know he''s inside our territory until it''s too late."


    she cursed her people''s lack of qcomm access. asgard had one it had purchased off the black market, but none of the other worlds in asgardian space had access to the devices. they just didn''t appear for sale often enough, and when they did, they went for obscene amounts of money. it was also suspicious every time they did show up.


    the leading theory from the lokis was that qcomm was bringing the devices directly to the black market to sell them for far more than they were worth. the reason behind this theory was that there were little to no reports or rumors of ships carrying the devices being attacked or other places losing their communication devices. she knew harlow had stolen one some years back, that was what had first garnered him so much attention from the sto, but that was quite some time ago. no, she believed the lokis'' theory, qcomm was playing both sides, just like all the other big corporations.


    katalynn couldn''t concern herself with the shady actions of some corporation within the sto right now. she needed to decide what to do about harlow and whether she should accept kane''s offer. she had to admit that the man had shown up with an impressive fleet considering the last time she had been to eden''s end, the man had one half-torn-apart frigate with a single laser.

 Chapter 3-39

    "so we just wait and see?" krieger asked. "i don''t like it. for all we know, she''s contacted more of her people and they could jump in and surround us. i also haven''t forgotten about that other fleet. they may come back as well and char may just decide to put their differences aside and that taking us out would be better for them in the long run.""what do you suggest?" alexander asked, not having the first clue how to handle a tactical situation of this scope.


    "sitting here and waiting to be ambushed is a non-starter. i know you want us to hang around as a deterrent, but the longer we sit here, the weaker our positioning becomes. i suggest we set up a series of random jumps no closer than this to their planet. that should keep them guessing while ensuring they can''t jump in on top of us."


    "it''s probably also going to anger them," alexander added. then he sighed. "the fleet is the priority, do it. i''ll be in touch when i hear more."


    krieger nodded and the screen went blank. alexander had placed the man in charge so he needed to trust his judgment, especially in tactical matters such as this. s§×arch* the n?vel(f)ire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    it wasn''t long after the ships jumped that he got an angry message from katalynn. "why are your ships jumping? you agreed that they would remain there."


    "no," he said, correcting her. "i agreed that they would not approach the planet any closer than they already were. i have kept that promise, but i wasn''t going to have them sit there for an indeterminate amount of time until you made up your mind. does that sound like a wise tactical decision to you?"


    the woman narrowed her eyes at him through the grainy video signal. "no. it does not. fine, i will forgive this misunderstanding. so long as they do not approach any closer, our temporary truce is still in place."


    the line cut abruptly after that, giving him no chance to respond. he sighed internally. politics sucked, he really wished he could just be back home in his workshop or spending time with yulia.


    he couldn''t leave the bridge until he got an answer because nobody else was qualified to communicate with the woman. pembrooke was the closest, but the man''s allegiances were too suspect to trust yet.


    it was possible the man had already made a deal with loki, but it wasn''t like alexander had any option back on the ground but to leave the man behind. this did result in some information that he didn''t have before, so it was a net gain as far as he was concerned.


    waiting for a response was annoying, but he wasn''t completely at the woman''s whims. all they had to do was leave and it would force her hand one way or the other. she may even respect the move.


    this was a big decision for both parties though, so alexander decided to wait and set a deadline of five days. if she dragged her feet any longer than that, he would order wayward soul''s pilot to rejoin the fleet and they would head back to eden''s end.


    ***


    katalynn looked at her advisors, who also happened to be her sub-commander, her chief engineer, and her tactician aboard valkyrie. she never understood why the sto would allow people without combat experience to lead or even give advice. what could they possibly know about warfare or even protecting their people if they hadn''t experienced battle themselves?


    she knew the sto had actual military people who were supposedly in charge of this, but she also knew that most of those hadn''t seen combat in their entire careers. even if someone did have some experience with real combat, they were beholden to civilian leadership who had no clue.


    without that knowledge, they never considered the cost of their actions. they pushed people around like pieces on a game board, without a thought for the lives they spent. she could even imagine them patting themselves on the back for a battle well won, even if it had been a pyrrhic victory.


    katalynn couldn''t afford that, asgard couldn''t afford that. and even if she could, she wouldn''t spend her people''s lives in needless combat if it could be avoided. that was why she sought out her advisors'' opinions on this matter.


    throwing her fleet into helping eden''s end on kane''s claims alone might seem like needless bloodshed since she could stay out of the fight and not lose anyone, but she knew enough about harlow anazi to know the man wouldn''t simply travel through her space peacefully or leave with his prize, not after pushing so deeply into asgardian territory. if he didn''t at least come for asgard, he would certainly pillage and plunder other worlds and stations within their space on the way to kane.


    if it wasn''t for the war with xin, she would have more than enough ships to repel even harlow''s current fleet, but she could not pull the jarls back from the front to deal with this new issue.


    the question was, could kane and his people be trusted? she had gotten a small measure of the man while they fought in the ring, but one-on-one combat did little to tell you the character of an individual. that changed when he ordered his fleet to do continuous jumps so they couldn''t be boxed in if katalynn changed her mind and attacked. it was that act and the fact that he didn''t immediately join them that told her that he did care what happened to his people. the question was, what did her advisors think?


    "what are your thoughts on kane?" she asked the group.


    vyrik, her tactician was the first to speak up. "either he is monumentally brave or monumentally stupid for leaving his single cruiser within striking distance of our fleet and orbital defenses. i''m leaning toward the latter," the man stated.


    "please explain," katalynn asked.


    the man glanced over at their other visitor but grunted and continued. "his whole appearance here seems poorly planned. we now know his fleet jumped in well outside the system before micro-jumping to a safe distance. it means they had no tactical intelligence on yggdrasil''s eye before arriving. it was also only after he returned to his ship that the other ships in his fleet acted to minimize their tactical disadvantage. i''m going to assume that kane is in charge, but my gut says that krieger is in overall command. a wise choice if kane has no tactical experience, but it leads to slow responses such as this. if we do need to fight them, we should lean on that."


    "noted," katalynn said before turning to the other two advisors. "you both seem reluctant to speak. out with it."


    haldric, her sub-commander cleared his throat and spoke first. "if we pull some of our forces from the front to take on harlow''s fleet, xin''s going to realize right away and his bastard progeny are going to make an actual push into our space instead of these probing attacks. if the reports on xin''s fleet size are accurate, we would be hard-pressed to hold out for long with reduced defenders along that border. that means relying on the local defense fleets the other jarls left behind to help reinforce our border with anazi. even with kane''s fleet, i don''t think we can match harlow''s numbers. i believe our best option is to harass harlow''s forces into and out of asgardian space without relying on the unknown quantity that kane represents. yes, it''ll mean losing eden''s end and a lot of assets in harlow''s path, but it preserves our forces and resolves the issue of kane''s illegal claim on an asgardian system."


    "all true," katalynn agreed. "if i do decide to work with kane, we will need to consider that."


    seeing that she was done talking, elrik, her chief engineer spoke up. "i''m always up for knocking the anazis down a peg or two after their people attacked my father''s ship and killed the crew, but what is in this deal for us, lagertha? so far all we know is what kane wants."


    "right now, only promises that he would sell to us after harlow is defeated, but those promises came with stipulations. what those stipulations might be, he didn''t say," she said in response to elrik''s question.


    "that makes things clear to me," elrik slammed his fist on the table. "if he has nothing to offer, then neither do we!"


    "calm yourself, elrik. i don''t want to get an earful from your wife that i got you all riled up again."


    the man huffed through his beard before sitting back in his seat.


    once he was calm, katalynn spoke again. "i didn''t say he had nothing to offer. that''s why our friend johan is here. most of you probably never met the man, but johan was my father''s head of research and development before i thought he had fallen in battle. kane returned him to us along with his entire team of engineers. johan here was personally responsible for the original design of the valkyrie as well as the new frigates."


    all eyes turned to the rail-thin man, who seemed to puff up at the praise.


    katalynn motioned for the man to speak. "johan, tell them what you told me."


    the man cleared his throat. "those two cruisers and destroyers in kane''s fleet are asgardian in origin. at least the substructure is. the rest of it was all subpar garbage that arkonis forced us to plaster on just to get them up and running. that was until kane got his hands on them. i didn''t get to see much while i was aboard, but i saw enough, and i was shown images of the cruiser after i was debriefed. i can''t speculate on the other ships, but kane''s cruiser was heavily upgraded in only a month. i could tell that the environmental systems were changed out simply due to the better air quality inside the ship. then there were large sections cut out and welded back in place where other systems must have been removed or replaced. that''s just what i noticed on the inside. the video taken of the outside of the ship showed far more changes."


    "how so?" elrik asked.


    katalynn wanted to reprimand the guy for cutting off johan, but she was curious as well. she hadn''t gotten the full rundown from the man before the meeting. she only heard the first part and decided to bring him with her so he could tell them the same thing.


    "when we left that captured station, the cruisers only had one frigate cannon each, and a few pdcs from captured frigates. i don''t know where kane got them, or how he installed them in such a short amount of time but that cruiser of his now has six capital ship railgun turrets on it. and they are odd. i could tell that the turrets had three barrels each, but there was something else off about them."


    katalynn cursed internally. valkyrie only had dual-barrel gauss turrets. that gave kane''s cruiser a distinct advantage in a slugging match. her larger ship still had the advantage of thicker armor and twelve launchers over kane''s eight, but missiles weren''t all that effective unless you could overwhelm your enemy''s point defense and ew systems.


    johan continued. "he''s changed out the pdcs for pdls as well. i don''t know where kane got ahold of information to build weapons-grade lasers, but i have to assume they are weapons-grade if he stuck them on the ship."


    this time katalynn cursed out loud and everyone stopped to look at her. "he already had laser technology when we first encountered him, but i bet he also recovered that damn sto stealth ship. who knows what secrets he pulled from it."


    the faces in the room fell when they realized this, except johan, who looked more interested in learning more.


    "stealth ship?"


    she waved off the man''s question. "is that all you had to tell us?"


    "oh, not at all," the man said, sounding even more excited than he had during the previous retelling. "i saved the best for last. the engines."


    "what about them?" katalynn asked, feeling a headache coming on.


    "i can tell you without a doubt that those are not the same ones we installed on the cruiser. they may be the same size, but i suspect that was more due to time constraints than kane''s lack of ability to upgrade them properly."


    "are you telling us he''s producing his own engines?" elrik cut in.


    "i don''t recognize the design. it could be a new omni model i''m unaware of but i somehow doubt it. the design differs too much from any omni models i''ve ever seen. i couldn''t tell you if they are up to the same standards as omni, but producing his own engines is pretty important even if they are worse than sinorus. it''s been a decade, but if i recall correctly, your father''s biggest issue for building new ships was always sourcing engines from the sto."


    "it was," katalynn admitted, "but we have come a long way in ten years. we have asgardian thrusters now. however, they are still mostly untested in battle. the ones on the frigate seemed to perform ok, but we didn''t push it that hard. from the test data, it should perform slightly worse than the previous generation of sinorus thrusters. we''ll need to keep that in mind if the ship remains with my fleet."


    vyrik cleared his throat to get their attention. read new chapters at empire


    "you have something to add?" katalynn asked.


    "i do," vyrik stated. "haldric brought this up earlier, but i think it deserves to be mentioned again. what do we do about kane''s claim on y6x-3h2 or unokane as they have renamed it?"


    katalynn nodded. "it wasn''t pertinent at the time of the initial meeting because i only wanted to see what kane had come to discuss and what he was willing to offer for it. now that i know, i plan on bringing that up in our next round of discussions."


    vyrik seemed happy with that.


    katalynn turned to the rest of her advisors. "so, now that you''ve all heard johan''s information, what are your opinions of kane''s proposal?"

 Chapter 3-40

    it took two full days before alexander got a follow-up response from the leader of the asgardian people."i agree that harlow is a threat that needs to be dealt with," the woman stated without preamble as soon as she connected, "but your terms are too vague, your demands too one-sided. i need more clarification about these stipulations before i can make a final choice."


    she wasn''t saying no, that was a good sign. now he had to put his demands on the table. alexander had specifically left them vague because he knew the asgardians would balk at them.


    "the first stipulation would be to stop all piracy," he stated.


    the woman snorted. "we are not pirates, kane, despite what the sto might have you think. we do not make raids into sto space, but we will defend our borders from all interlopers. the reason the sto labeled us pirates is that we didn''t capitulate to their demands. they think they own all of human space, they are wrong. their policies and war with the shican nearly got my ancestors killed and for that, we will never submit to their yoke ever again. so your piracy concern is a non-issue. what other stipulations did you have?"


    alexander paused, he wasn''t sure how to respond to the woman''s reply. while it was true that those engineers he brought back claimed as much, he never actually believed them. he would need to get access to a database that tracked lost ships or something to try and confirm her words.


    he gave a mental shake to free himself from his thoughts and laid out his next requirement. "you will also need to stop any form of slavery. i refuse to work with a society that allows this."


    the woman quirked an eyebrow at the demand. "i assume you sell to the sto, kane?" she asked instead of answering his question.


    "¡­yes? what does that have to do with our discussion?"


    "everything, because that makes you a hypocrite. what do you think the sto corporations do with people who displease them or fall into debt? those they don''t kill off that is."


    "i don''t know," he admitted.


    "they are made into indentured workers. a fancy name for slavery, but slavery nonetheless. it''s true that we take prisoners from ships that cross into our space and that they are forced to work and pay off their freedom, but they will eventually receive that freedom, unlike the people forced to pay back what they owe to the corporations who make it nearly impossible to pay off those debts. even those who are working off their sentences are allowed to live as anyone else does on asgard and the other worlds as long as they are non-violent offenders. they are only required to do the tasks they are given. once they have worked off the debt they have accrued by breaking our laws, they have the choice to return to their lives back in the sto or become an asgardian citizen. most choose to stay because our way of life means they can actually make something of themselves. i''m told you implemented a similar system on eden''s end. the only difference between our handling of criminals and yours is that our non-violent criminal debt can be bought off or traded for an early release. have you given your people that option, kane? if not, i would say our system is far more fair and just than yours is."


    alexander was quiet for a moment, as he processed her words. if true, that meant asgard was just another political entity akin to the sto. he wasn''t about to take her words at face value though.


    "you will forgive me if i don''t believe you. can you prove you aren''t just feeding me lies?"


    the woman bristled at his question. "if you were an asgardian, i would take great offense to that accusation. since you are an outsider, i will let it slide this time. if you wish to tour the worksites to prove my words aren''t all lies, i can arrange for that to happen."


    this could be an elaborate ploy to get him back on the ground and to an easier place for them to capture him, but he somehow doubted it. katalynn char and her people had been pretty upfront so far.


    "i accept your offer, please send me the coordinates."


    after receiving directions, alexander once again returned to the surface with pembrooke. a different loki was there to greet them and take them to the new destination. when they arrived, alexander was surprised to be greeted by katalynn char.


    "i wasn''t expecting you to show us around personally," he admitted as he stepped out of the train car.


    "it has been some time since i have toured the growing areas, i might as well do that while proving my words aren''t all false."


    he winced internally at her rebuke. it sounded like she took the question of her integrity far harder than he realized. s§×arch* the n?velfire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "i''m sorry," he said. "i didn''t mean to question your honor, i just needed to see for myself."


    "of course, you didn''t," she said, continuing to walk without looking at him. "you are simply a product of the sto¡­ despite your strange origins. honor and integrity mean little in that cesspool. there, they are just words that are used or thrown away at a whim."


    "what about your people? you can''t tell me every single asgardian is completely honorable and has flawless integrity. i already know that isn''t true."


    "as much as i would like to think otherwise, you are correct. jarl isbjorn is one such person who has no honor or integrity. he was the one leading the fleet i faced off against when you arrived and a good example of how anyone can rise in our society."


    "what do you mean?" alexander asked as they stepped through a set of doors and into a massive underground complex that had water dripping from the roof and a huge array of growing lights.


    "isbjorn''s family was captured when he was only a small child. they worked their way out of servitude and he challenged the previous jarl to single combat for leadership over the man''s territory. isbjorn won and took over as jarl. as much as i hate the man, his territory has flourished under his control. his methods to make that happen are not something i would praise him for though."


    the woman stopped and alexander stopped next to her. she gestured around to the workers. "as you can see there are no collars, no chains. nothing to force these people to work. they aren''t forced to work with their hands or in substandard conditions either. they are given all the tools they could need to produce the best results possible."


    she motioned for one man to come over. the shorter man jogged over and pressed his fist against his chest in a sign of respect. "lagertha. what can i assist you with?"


    "tell my guest how you came to be here."


    the man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "well, i thought i could make some easy money by mining rare metal asteroids outside of sto space since there are no claims out there. i was wrong. after i was discovered, my ship was disabled and i was taken prisoner. i started as a farm hand and eventually worked my way up to supervisor after i paid off my debt."


    she nodded at the man. "you may go."


    katalynn turned to alexander. "if that is not enough to convince you, you are free to speak with anyone you like. i will wait here so you can''t accuse me of coaching the people on what to say."


    alexander had planned to do just that after asking her, but he had a few questions for her first. "what''s with the water dripping from the ceiling?"


    "the concrete on the ceiling is specially designed to let the water seep in at a certain rate. the surface water is toxic to humans if you drink it, but it is full of the chemicals needed for plants to grow."


    "you''re fertilizing the plants with the surface water?" that was a rather ingenious solution to a complicated problem.


    "that is not all we do with the water. the water is then filtered through the dirt, rock, clay, and charcoal beneath the growing beds where it comes out nearly pure. it is pumped from there to storage tanks for final processing into drinkable water."


    "you seem to know quite a bit about this process," alexander commented.


    "it is a poor leader who doesn''t make an effort to understand the systems that keep their people alive and happy."


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    with no more questions for the asgardian leader, alexander walked around and spoke to random people. some were less than talkative. most of that probably had to do with his appearance, but others practically demanded he help them get back to sto space. a great deal of the workers were rather apathetic to their plight.


    "yeah, i guess you could call us slaves," one man shrugged. "this still beats my last job."


    alexander found that hard to believe but he still had to ask. "and what was that?"


    "i was a butler for this rich corporate prick. he treated everyone like dirt and never paid his employees on the ship. i hadn''t received a single credit the entire time i worked for him."


    "why not just leave?" alexander asked in confusion.


    the slightly older man snorted. "his guards would have stunned me if i tried to leave the ship. i witnessed them doing that to a few others when they tried to escape. with the sto laws preventing people from entering hangars unless they have a warrant, it was easy to hide these misdeeds. the only people with any autonomy were the flight crew and the guards. the rest were simply there to carry out the whims of our boss."


    "i''m sorry you had to go through that."


    the man shrugged again. "like i said, this isn''t so bad, i get to leave at the end of the day, i get to talk to people, and i even met a nice woman. getting boarded and getting to watch my boss thrown out an airlock for thinking he could trespass into asgardian space as if he owned it was the best thing to ever happen to me."


    "¡­um, thanks for telling me your story."


    after he had finished speaking with every person in the agricultural cavern, he returned to where katalynn was. someone had brought her a chair, table, and umbrella to keep the uv lights from burning her skin while he had been absent.


    she was speaking with a few people but their conversations petered off as he approached and they dismissed themselves.


    "my advisors," she said as she saw him look their way. "they are keeping me apprised of certain issues that are ongoing."


    "the xin attacks?"


    "among other things. so, kane, are you satisfied now?"


    "there are a decent number of people who would like to go home."


    "of course there are. prisoners are rarely happy to be told they are prisoners, but unless you plan to buy up their debt, they will remain that way until it is paid off."


    "what are their crimes?" he asked.


    "varied, i''m sure. so did you want to buy up their debt?"


    alexander looked back over the workers before turning back to katalynn. "no. and yes, i''m satisfied that your criminals and prisoners are treated fairly. i hate to admit this, but i think i''m going to have to implement some changes to my own criminal system."


    "excellent," she said, motioning for him to sit on a metal crate across from her. "now that your conditions were met, we can discuss what i want."

 Chapter 3-41

    Alexander knew coming here that there would probably be some give and take that needed to happen to come to an agreement. He just hoped whatever she asked for was something he was willing to offer."And what is it you want?" Alexander asked.


    "I want a lot of things, Kane, but from you, I want technology."


    Before he could reply, she held up her hand. "I know what you said before. After Harlow is dead. That''s not going to cut it. I agree that an alliance would make defeating him easier, but we could do it without you, although it would cost us and you far more if that happened. All you have given me so far are empty promises. Neither of us knows each other well enough for that to work. If you want me to agree to join you against Harlow and help defend Unokane, we need a more mutually beneficial arrangement. That means outfitting as many of my ships as you can, starting with the Valkyrie. I''ll even happily pay for these upgrades."


    "I can''t do that," Alexander stated.


    "And why would that be?" she asked. "Are you afraid we might use that technology against you?"


    Alexander had to admit that the thought had crossed his mind.


    She must have seen his hesitation. "I see. Even after everything you''ve learned you still think of us as some barbaric pirates don''t you?"


    "Can you blame me?" Alexander asked.


    "For your ignorance perhaps," she mused. "Do you even know what it means to be an Asgardian?"


    He shrugged. "I honestly know very little about your people."


    "I''m not surprised. We don''t often allow outsiders in. Consider yourself lucky there. As for what an Asgardian is, that is harder to explain. We are not one people. We are a union of multiple systems, with sections controlled by Jarls. The only thing binding us together is our desire to be safe from outside threats such as the Shican, the STO/corporations'' influence, and the pirates." S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That seems like a very shaky foundation," Alexander stated.


    "At times it can be, but despite that, we have endured for over two hundred years. That shared experience and desire have ingrained a certain mindset into the peoples of our union, bringing them into closer alignment."


    "While that is all very fascinating, why are you telling me all this?"


    "What happens if I agree to ally my fleet with yours?" she asked instead.


    "We join forces and fight off Harlow?" Alexander took note of the wording she used in her last response. "And by your fleet, do you mean just the ships here?"


    She nodded. "I cannot speak for the other Jarls in a matter such as an alliance with an outside force. If you want the rest of the Jarls to agree, you would need to speak with each of them independently."


    That would not be possible in the time he had.


    "I assume you are mentioning this now because you have an alternative solution?"


    "I do," she said simply. "Whether or not you think it worth it will be up to you to decide. And before I get into it, let''s be clear. Your choice will not affect my decision to hit Harlow''s fleet and harass his forces as much as I can. You need to decide if that will be enough to win the day or not in that case. Even if you agreed to my terms with respect to upgrading my ships and I agreed to ally with you for the sake of taking Harlow down, I would still be forced to prioritize defending Asgardian assets and my forces while assisting you as the secondary goal. I''m sure you can understand why."


    He nodded his avatar. He would probably do the same given their positions were reversed. That didn''t mean he had to like the implications of her words. The alliance he had proposed was sounding less and less encouraging as they spoke.


    "What do you suggest then?" he asked, having a suspicion that she had an alternative solution.


    "I''ll be honest with you, Kane, a situation like this hasn''t occurred in the entire history of the Asgardian Union. I had to spend a few days digging through old records to find some justifications or laws to see if my proposal might even be legal. I did eventually find such a law and they just so happen to date back to the founding of the union. It appears my forefathers had hoped to expand the union, but no members have ever joined since the original founders signed the agreement. That''s what I''m offering you, Kane. Join us. Become a Jarl. With that, I can bypass the silly restrictions on the alliance you proposed and bring the full power of the Asgardian people to bear in your defense."


    "Just like that?" he asked, not quite believing the simple statement.


    "There are certain procedures to make it official, but I believe you will have little issue overcoming them."


    "I don''t see how becoming a vassal to a political entity that the STO sees as pirates would benefit me. In fact, I believe the STO probably wouldn''t like that at all."


    "First off, you will not be a vassal. The Jarls are all independent nations within the overall Asgardian Union. As for your concerns with the STO, yes, they very much wouldn''t like that, but as soon as word gets out that you allied yourselves with us to fight off Harlow, you''ll be in the same situation regardless, so it makes little difference. You shouldn''t concern yourselves with what the STO thinks anyway since you are already an independent political entity. The fact is, they can do little to stop you because of the law you took advantage of to become a recognized sovereign nation. I must admit, that was a brilliant move."


    Alexander already knew as much about the STO''s laws. They only allowed the entity to place embargos on other nations that they recognized unless there was open conflict between the two and he had no plans to attack the STO. That meant the most they could do was give him a slap on the wrist which would have little actual impact and be impossible to enforce with space being as large as it was and the existence of smugglers and others like them who cared little for STO decrees when money could be made.


    The punishments for breaking these laws were as outdated and forgotten as the laws he took advantage of to earn that sovereign nation status. That was one of the reasons why he had taken this approach to reach out to Char, even when he still thought the Asgardians were pirates. He still needed to confirm that last point but everything seemed to point to the fact that they weren''t.


    "Why not just do what I did to rid the Asgardians of the stigma of being pirates?" he asked in return while he pondered her offer.


    She shrugged. "Because we place little regard on what the people of the STO think of us and the label is a convenient shield that keeps most people from entering our territory. Now that we are strong enough to hold our own, it may be time to reconsider our standing with the STO, but that won''t happen until the war with Xin is over. That isn''t a concern you need to worry about unless you actually agree to join us though."


    "I see how this helps you," Alexander admitted, "but how much does it help me?"


    "Other than having more ships to call on in defense of Unokane, think about it for a moment. What happens when the fighting is done and your proposed alliance ends?"


    "Who says it needs to end?" Alexander asked.


    She scoffed at that. "There are some unresolved issues that would force us to end the alliance shortly after Harlow''s defeat, that being your illegal claim on Unokane. We would be forced to retake the system at some point and arrest every single person there for violating Asgardian law. If I didn''t, I would be seen as being derelict in my duties as Lagertha and my position within Asgardian society would crumble. Once my successor took over, they would correct that problem or share the same fate. I don''t want to have to do that, and I''m sure you don''t want it either. Your joining solves both those issues without resorting to bloodshed."


    Alexander was about sixty percent certain Unokane could repulse a force of Asgardian warships given time, but that depended a lot on how much survived after the battle with Harlow. If bloodshed could be avoided though, wasn''t he obligated to at least consider that option?


    "That is a lot to consider," he finally stated. "Are you sure there isn''t some other option?"


    "Well, you could always purchase the system from us," she added.


    "And how much would that cost?"


    She slid a tablet across the table toward him. "The cost to purchase the system is after the Rules of the Asgardian Union and the responsibilities that come with the title of Jarl. Take your time to read through it."


    Alexander picked up the tablet and flipped through the document. It was surprisingly brief for a legal document outlining the requirements of joining the Asgardian Union. He would be required to defend his domain from all outside threats, which was probably the reason Char had stated she would be forced to act against Unokane at some point. He could not enter into contracts with the STO or any STO corporations¨Cthat might be a sticking point he would have to bring up.


    The document also laid out civilian rights and even criminal rights, which was surprising, but maybe not as much as it would have been before she brought him to the agricultural cavern. He hadn''t asked how long people were held for certain crimes, but it was listed in the document and the actual sentences were far less severe than he would have thought. Even less so than what he had given the insurrectionists. He already planned to adjust his laws so this wasn''t that much more of a change.


    Mutual defense in times of conflict with outside forces was one of the larger sections, detailing the requirements behind those responsibilities. There was even a section on taxes, which simply stated ''No member of the union will ever be taxed by another political entity within the union.'' This really did seem like a better option now that he knew Char''s views on the matter. He really wished Theo was here, but the man had vanished once again with Loki, off to God knows where. He would just have to do his best without the man''s assistance.


    "What if I already have contracts with the STO?" he asked the first question that might derail this entire process.


    The woman frowned slightly but had a ready response to the question. "Are they with Blue Star Enterprises the company or BSE the nation?"


    Considering he didn''t have a nation when he made that deal with Fletcher, this was easy to answer. "Blue Star Enterprises."


    "That''s fine then. It won''t win you any friends among Asgardians, but corporations aren''t restricted from making deals outside of our territory. Most just choose not to for obvious reasons. Jarl Isbjorn is one of the few exceptions to people who have created corporations and decided to work with STO-based entities. It''s why he has grown in power so quickly since he took over in his region and just another reason why he cannot be trusted."


    "Who''s territory did I take when I moved into Unokane?"


    "It was one of my father''s holdings, so technically mine. That would have brought my holdings up to three populated systems, I suppose."


    "¡­Sorry."


    "It was not exactly a prime piece of real estate where people wanted to live, but it was rich in minerals, which is why it was gifted to my father''s father so long ago."


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    "What about the systems between it and Varlen?" Alexander asked.


    "That is the buffer zone between us and the STO. It''s technically claimed by both sides, but neither side is willing to fight over those worthless systems, which is why they usually become a breeding ground for pirates and other criminal elements. If you plan on making a safe corridor between Unokane and STO space, you will need to patrol that yourself as it is not part of the mutual defense pact. A few other Jarls have similar systems that are near the STO, but they are far enough apart that nobody really risks a multijump to cross the distance."


    Alexander suspected that didn''t stop the Asgardians if they were accessing the black market within STO space. He would need to ask Krieger about that to see if he knew anything.


    "One more question. What about technology sharing?"


    "While sharing any breakthroughs will certainly strengthen the rest of the Asgardian people, it isn''t a requirement," she added grudgingly. "Although I would hope that agreeing to my proposal would get you to remove your earlier restrictions. With this agreement, you can also purchase anything made inside Asgardian space for your own."


    A new trade partner would be welcome, but it remained to be seen how much that might help him in the long run.


    Then he got to the price tag for the system. "Is this a joke?"


    The Lagertha shook her head. "That is the estimated value of the minerals in Unokane. It''s an old estimate based on the original survey done during the Great Expansion and it probably falls well short of the true value of the minerals within the system, but let''s just say for the sake of this meeting that''s the actual cost."


    Alexander glanced at the number once again. He was pretty sure that if he had the funding from every single corporation within STO space, he might still fall short of the number on the screen. There were so many zeros. Was it a quadrillion or quintillion? Not that it mattered. Even if he worked for a thousand years, he doubted he would ever come up with that sum. It was a completely absurd number and probably accurate. Unokane had three separate asteroid belts not including all the minerals on the planet itself and Alexander knew the planet was rich in ores and rare earth metals. If there had been a more habitable planet in the system, the Asgardians probably would have colonized the place long ago.


    He set the tablet down and looked at the woman. "I don''t suppose you offer a payment plan?"


    She smiled tightly. "I''m afraid not."


    "That does make your other offer seem¨C" he was going to say more genuine but realized how that might sound considering how she reacted the last time he questioned her sincerity, "¨Cbetter for both sides, but I need time to confirm some things first."


    "You''re referring to my earlier statement where I said we were not pirates and we don''t attack people outside of our space? I figured you might, which is why I sent your man with Loki to look for any records of our people attacking STO vessels. They will go through both our logs and the ones on the STO network, which I have agreed to pay for."


    "Thank you¡­ That should save time."


    Theo showed up a half hour later with Loki. Alexander was glad to see the man after the awkward silence that followed his conversation with Katalynn. She was not one for small talk, so she only ever answered those sorts of questions with one or two-word answers until Alexander got the memo and shut up.


    "If you''ll excuse me," he said, standing from the crate and dragging Theo away far enough not to be overheard.


    "Tell me you learned something of note?"


    Pembrooke adjusted his vac-suit from Alexander''s rough handling before speaking. "The Asgardian''s records seem to be immaculate. They go all the way back to the start of the Shican War in 2190 and cover the STO''s pullout in 2192. I kinda feel sorry for them if those records are accurate."


    The man shook his head and continued. "Anyway. There were a few records of Asgardian and STO ships coming into conflict, but those happened shortly after the STO and the new Asgardian Alliance, as they called themselves back then, met. Since then, there hasn''t been a single recorded attack within STO space by an Asgardian member. Considering it''s seen as cowardice amongst Asgardians not to report battles, ships are always quick to do so. It''s almost better than having it as a law. Anyway, the STO''s network corroborates most of that, except for a few instances recently that seemed fishy to me."


    "Fishy how? Are the Asgardians trying to hide something?"


    Theo shook his head. "No, I don''t think this is the Asgardians. I think someone was posing as Asgardians to attack inside of STO space. The locations of the attacks don''t make sense though. They aren''t anywhere near the Asgardian transit lanes into STO space. These attacks are closer to the Xin area of space. Considering the two sides are currently at war, it doesn''t take a great stretch of the imagination to think that Xin is trying to foment hate against Asgardians. Maybe Xin hopes to pull the STO into the conflict to weaken both sides. It''s hard to say, I''m not a tactician."


    Alexander groaned softly. "I was kind of hoping you would give me a reason to say no to her offer."


    "Why? What did she offer? Was it something really ridiculous?"


    "No, that''s just it, it''s completely reasonable and even a good deal for both sides. She wants Unokane to join the Asgardian Union."


    "Ahh. I assume that means you would need to take up this war with Xin."


    "Yes, after we deal with Harlow, assuming we can. While it puts our fleet at more risk, I have a plan to minimize that. I''m more concerned with the politics that come after. We already know Char is having internal issues with one of her Jarls. Considering that the Asgardian Union is composed of separate nations, I''m not surprised. If I agree to this, my concern is that we are going to get dragged into the deep end of some political dogfight without any idea as to what''s going on."


    "Can''t you just have an alliance without that?" Theo asked.


    "Technically, yes," Alexander stated, "But it would be a tentative and short-lived alliance at best. There are issues afterward that I would rather avoid such as the disputed ownership of Unokane and the Asgardian laws we are technically in violation of."


    "I see," Pembrooke stated. "I''m not sure what you want me to say, I''ve never been involved in a situation as complicated as this."


    "That makes two of us," Alexander grumbled. "For now, just keep doing what you''re doing and tell me anything you think I need to know. I''m going to speak to the fleet and get the captains'' opinions on the matter before I proceed."


    He turned back to the Asgardian leader. "I need to discuss this with my people."


    Katalynn nodded. "A wise decision. As an extra incentive, I should tell you that this is not a lifelong binding agreement. While most of the Jarls in the union have signed long-term deals, we have the option for a five-year commitment. If you don''t find being part of the Asgardians to be to your advantage within that time, you will be free to part ways and I will consider Unokane yours after that point. How''s that sound?"


    Alexander paused. "Why are you telling me this now and how many have ever taken you up on this offer?"


    "You seemed on the fence about joining, I thought this would tip the balance. As for anyone leaving the union, it hasn''t happened since its founding, but the option is always there."


    "Why me, why Unokane?" Alexander asked.


    "Access to tech we don''t currently have, a new Jarl, a fleet where there normally isn''t one, and just new blood in the union. I can think of a few other reasons as well, but those are the main ones. This isn''t something I would normally discuss with anyone outside of the Asgardian leadership, but I think you should know as well. Our people have grown complacent without the Shican threat looming over us. They may have forgotten, but I have not. I believe the Shican will return at some point and we need to be ready for that day. To make sure all Asgardians are ready, we need to ensure our technology is on par with the STOs or even the corporations. We have a long way to go to make that happen, but I think your inclusion would help significantly."


    Alexander was inclined to believe her. He also thought the Shican would return at some point.

 Chapter 3-42

    "You want to join Katalynn Char?" Krieger asked in concern. "I thought the whole point was to just ally ourselves with them against Harlow and be done with it?""It was," Alexander admitted. "Char brought up some points that I hadn''t considered or wasn''t even aware of. The biggest issue is that an alliance would simply be with the fleet here. If you can convince me that we could win against Harlow with the ships we have here and the ones you see in Char''s fleet, I''m all ears. We also need to consider what happens after the fight with Harlow is concluded."


    "What do you mean?" Krieger asked.


    "The Asgardians have a claim on Unokane. Whether this is legally binding or not is up for debate, but I doubt the Lagertha would have mentioned it if they didn''t believe it belonged to them. And we can''t rely on STO maps for who owns what because the STO maps still claim most of the Asgardian space as part of their territory."


    "So they would attack us at some point? Why not try reaching out to the STO?" Krieger asked. "I know it''s not an ideal solution, but it''s better than selling out to pirates."


    Alexander was shocked by the former STO captain''s suggestion. "Would you truly want me to partner with the STO after how they treated you? Even if you still did, you know that the STO charter expressly forbids getting involved with non-charter world conflicts. Unokane would have to join the STO in full in order to earn that protection and we would lose far more rights under their jurisdiction than we would under the Asgardians. And that''s just the start. Because we aren''t at a certain population threshold, we wouldn''t even get a say in who our planetary governor would be. We would simply be added to the nearest governor''s territory as an afterthought. Even if we somehow managed to gain our own planetary governor under the STO, considering how they protected the old Coalition worlds, I wouldn''t count on much help from them," Alexander said in disgust. Find your next adventure on empire


    Alexander didn''t even mention the part where he would be forced to put all of his inventions up on their network and the corporations would likely steal or try to claim them all for themselves. He would rather work with actual pirates than subject Unokane to that.


    "I still don''t see the reason why you would consider her proposal. I thought you turned Unokane into a sovereign nation to have control of the system?" Krieger questioned.


    "While being a sovereign nation certainly has its advantages, that''s not really why I did it. I claimed Unokane because I didn''t want the STO or corporations coming through and doing the same to gain control over what I was doing. Joining the STO would undermine that reasoning entirely. Joining the Asgardians would have some slight restrictions and requirements, some of which we are already doing, but we would still be an independent nation and everyone would still enjoy the same freedoms they do under me."


    "I understand why we set out for this meeting," Hall spoke up. "Allying yourself against a mutual enemy is sometimes required. The Coalition and the STO did so during the Shican War, but a temporary alliance is not the same as joining them. I can''t condone joining pirates. If you persist with this agreement, I will be turning in my resignation after Harlow is defeated."


    While Alexander was surprised Hall was the one to bring this up, he wasn''t surprised by the sentiment. Most of what the STO Navy did was fight off pirates so it was understandable that the man might have reservations.


    "And you would be completely within your right to do so, Captain Hall, if the Char clan or Asgardians were actually pirates."


    "What do you mean if they were? Of course, they are, the STO-"


    "-says so," Alexander finished for the man. "Let me ask all of you. Have any of you ever heard of an attack within STO space perpetrated by Char''s people?"


    He gave the people on the other end of the conference call time to think. When no reply came after a minute, he continued.


    "From what the Lagertha told me, and from what my aide, Mr. Pembrooke was able to determine, there hasn''t been a single instance of a battle between the STO and the Char clan for over a century."


    "If that''s the case, why haven''t they tried improving their relations with the STO?" Captain Ramirez asked.


    Alexander filled the group in on the history of the relations between the STO and the Asgardians, at least the little of it that he knew. "Would you be inclined to trust them if they did that to your homeworld?" he asked.


    Alexander paused as some things clicked in his mind. "Now that I think about it, this does help explain why the STO built their naval yard in Varlen. It always bugged me that they would use a site so close to a potential enemy to produce their classified ships. For regular vessels and repair, sure it makes sense, but not experimental vessels and restricted technology. You''ve all seen how much of their fleet power they''ve stripped from that system. I''m pretty sure Eden''s Fury could single-handedly take out all of the normal ships that they have remaining. If that''s the case, Katalynn Char would have no problem taking that system, and I can assure you her intelligence people are at least informed about Varlen''s diminished fleet size."


    The group contemplated that for a bit before Krieger spoke up again. "What you say seems to make sense, but I''m certainly not going to take her word or the word of Mr. Pembrooke at face value. I assume since you accessed the network that they have a Qcomm. If Char is willing to allow me to send a communication through it, I can get a verifiable and trusted source to answer this question. It may take a bit though."


    "I assume you are referring to the Vice Admiral. If that''s the case I concur. What do you need to make that happen?" Alexander asked. If anyone knew about the history of pirate attacks it would be the STO''s Head of Naval Intelligence.


    "I''m not willing to leave my ship while we are in hostile space, so she would need to turn on global receive mode so I can send from space."


    Alexander groaned internally at that. Mostly because he remembered just how much of a pain it was to switch the modes over on his own Qcomm.


    After adjourning the meeting, he quickly built a data packet with everything he knew about the Qcomm. Once that was complete, he contacted the Lagertha.


    "Kane," the woman replied as the call connected. "Have you come to a decision already?"


    "Not yet," he admitted, seeing no need to lie to the woman. "Krieger wishes to speak with one of his STO contacts to confirm some things before we can continue our discussion."


    "He is welcome to come down and use the network. I will have a Loki escort him to it."


    "That''s just it. He doesn''t want to leave the fleet at the moment. He would like to connect to it without leaving his ship."


    "A wise choice considering he is in possible enemy space, but the Qcomm we purchased was not set to accept anything other than hardwired communications. My people have attempted to figure out how to switch this, but have been unsuccessful so far."


    "What if I could offer you the settings and the exact process you need to go through to turn this feature on? Would that be worth something to you?"


    The woman seemed to straighten in her seat as she stared at him. "You know how this is done? How? Wait, don''t answer that. You purchased a Qcomm array directly from the manufacturer and they showed you how, didn''t they?"


    "Yes. Are you interested in this information?"


    "Of course. I''m interested. Do you know how jealously Qcomm guards this configuration data? As for what it will get you, a whole lot of goodwill with the people of Yggdrasil''s Eye, that''s what. That might not seem like much, but trust me, I would rather have that than money." She snapped her fingers to someone outside of the camera''s field of view and a Loki appeared. "Work with Loki. If they are able to turn on the global receive settings, your captain is more than welcome to send his little message."


    The trade seemed kind of one-sided despite her claims, but Alexander needed to hear what Fletcher had to say on this matter more than he cared about keeping another company''s secret.


    It didn''t take long for Alexander to transmit the data packet down to the planet. Once Loki confirmed it came through properly, the man hurried off and the call cut out. He figured he should be used to the lack of niceties by now, but it still shocked him how abrupt the Asgardians could be at times.


    It took a few hours, but Alexander finally got confirmation that the settings did indeed work. The Asgardian Qcomm was now accepting all global communications from linked devices.


    The configuration settings weren''t all Alexander had included in the data packet. He had given the Asgardians all of the information he had learned about the Qcomms, as well as the design for his buffer if they were inclined to build it.


    Alexander could have kept this information to himself, but if Fletcher''s response was what he expected it to be, a little goodwill never hurt. If Fletcher''s information didn''t corroborate Char''s, their being able to intercept messages would only hurt any possible corporate spies that might be on Asgard. Both outcomes worked in his favor.


    Krieger sent his message and while they were waiting, Alexander sent one of his own, checking on Eden''s End.


    "Oh wow," Lucas replied. "Things must be going well if they gave you access to their communication network."


    "We''re still in talks," Alexander admitted. "How are things going there?"


    "They could be better. We''ve caught two more infiltration attempts. Nothing as sophisticated as Dalton''s but both people tried to sneak weapons in the same way. One was killed while attempting to flee, and the other was arrested and placed in holding after her weapons were surgically removed."


    "Is Yulia and everyone else ok?"


    "Everyone''s fine. They didn''t even get past the intake area before they were discovered. I doubt most people even know anything happened. We also have two guards keeping an eye on your girl while she is out and about. I believe you are familiar with one of the men, Travers from the Hawks. The other is one of the locals, a man by the name of Dorry. You helped save him during the pirate attack and he wasn''t dumb enough to fall for Sorin''s lies or join the insurrectionist guards so he can be trusted. As for the surviving woman, they have her in holding. Damien''s attempts to get her to speak haven''t had much results. My brother is good at security, but not good with interrogations. So we asked Eva Wu to speak with the woman."


    Alexander was glad to hear Yulia was ok.


    "Eva, really?" He was surprised by that. He knew the woman had taken up some sort of position helping Damien, but he hadn''t really spoken to her in months, even before they left. Some of that probably had to do with the fact that his secret had gotten out. The woman had seemed shocked by the revelation but not angered by it or anything.


    "Oh, yeah," Lucas admitted. "I don''t know what Eva said to the woman, but she spilled her guts shortly after. Apparently, there is an open bounty on you for ten million credits."


    "That''s less than ideal," Alexander grumbled. "What''s going to happen to the woman?"


    Lucas shrugged. "Kinda figured she would remain in lockup until you got back."


    "Alright, leave her there. Unless there''s anything else, I would like to speak with Yulia."


    "Are you sure you want me to wake her?" Lucas asked. "It''s midnight here."


    Alexander cursed internally. He hadn''t even bothered to look at what time it was. His fleet, just like Eden''s End, ran on STO standard time, which was based on Earth''s twenty-four-hour day-night cycle. That didn''t work for most planets since they had more normal day-night cycles, but it worked for Eden''s End because most of the facility was encased in concrete and the long planetary rotation time was hidden from most people.


    "I''ll record a message for her, please make sure she gets it when she wakes up."


    "Sure thing."


    Alexander sent the message. He really missed his daughter and would soon have been separated from her for longer than they had been apart since they first met. She said she was ok with him leaving this time, but he still worried that she would harbor a grudge over his absence. At least the Asgardians had a Qcomm to contact her. If he agreed to this deal with Char, it was going to mean more time away. He really needed to find a way to communicate from a ship so he could at least stay in touch.


    He already had an idea of how the Qcomm worked after getting a better look at the orb hidden inside the armored casing. Most of his understanding came from an offhand comment an instructor in one of his engineering lectures had made. Alexander hadn''t thought much of it at the time, but the lecturer''s mention of a spheroid being the ideal resonance chamber for holding entangled particles bubbled to the surface when he first saw that suspended orb.


    Of course, at that time, he had no idea what an entangled particle was, but once he saw the orb and recalled that lecture, he looked into the science further. It took additional digging into some physics lectures before he learned about the phenomenon. While that helped him understand the concept, he still had no idea how to go about creating them.


    Alexander was tempted to contact Lucas again and ask him to check on some of the long-running experiments he had going back on Eden''s End, one of which was an experiment involving creating those linked particles. He restrained himself though. They could wait until he returned.


    He couldn''t have even gotten that experiment started without help, which came in the form of their resident scientist. Nova had pointed him in the right direction, but she didn''t know how the effect was achieved either. She said quantum entangling particles wasn''t germane to her research.


    While he was mulling over the issue once more, the communication officer alerted him to an incoming call from Krieger. It had been a few hours since their meeting, so Alexander was hoping for some good news.


    When the meeting reconvened, Krieger looked a bit pensive.


    Alexander got a sinking feeling in his gut. If Fletcher denounced everything that Char said as a lie, they would be forced to leave immediately and hope for the best. "Is it bad news?" he asked. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No," Krieger stated. "Char and her people were telling the truth. There are no instances of Char piracy within the STO''s borders. The only accounts of attacks come from outside STO space and are from survivors or prisoners who were sold back to family or corporations. Fletcher also stated that- that he admires the Asgardians. I don''t think I''ve ever heard him say he admires anyone, so I was a bit shocked to hear him say that about a group I thought were pirates."


    "That''s a good thing though, right?" Alexander inquired.


    Krieger shrugged. "It likely means he''s known for some time that they aren''t pirates. He also mentioned that you owed him for this info and you could repay it by amending your contract to include an additional fifteen propulsion systems."


    "He sent this all over the Qcomm?" Alexander looked shocked.


    Krieger shook his head. "It all came encrypted, I simply used the Eden ships'' computers to decrypt the message since they had enough processing power to do so. I was able to verify the message''s authenticity as well as the fact that it hadn''t been tampered with. Fletcher included certain words in the audio response as well as other keys that the black ops teams use."


    "I guess that''s fine then. Thank him for me and let him know Blue Star Enterprises will deliver." He made a mental note to reach out to Lucas after this meeting to inform him. "Now that we have confirmation from an outside source, are there any other concerns?"


    Everyone shook their heads, including Captain Hall.


    "I guess it''s settled then. I will speak to Char in the morning to discuss a few other concerns. If everything seems good, I will likely sign her agreement and complete the process to join the Asgardian Union."


    It still felt a bit weird to Alexander to give up full autonomy, but this option provided the necessary fleet strength and backing he needed as well as ensuring there was no territorial dispute over Unokane later. Not that there had been any attacks since the initial misunderstanding with Char, but it would be good to know that wouldn''t be the case going forward either.


    Joining the Asgardians also avoided all the bullshit rules and corporate nonsense that working with the STO would entail. The laws stated in the agreement weren''t that far off from the ones he was already implementing back on Eden''s End so tweaking them slightly wasn''t much of a problem.


    His main concerns were the military requirements, which he was most likely going to fill by building automated ships. Then there were the responsibilities that came with the title of Jarl.


    The packet seemed to include that information, but Alexander needed to get the full breakdown of what being a Jarl entailed to ensure he wasn''t stepping into a huge pile of bio-waste.


    There was the issue of the rogue Jarl to consider as well. Alexander would need to talk with Katalynn about that before accepting this position. He would assist if requested, but his primary concern was Harlow. Even more so now that the man had placed a bounty on his head and it was attracting even more unwanted attention to Unokane.


    He did wonder what the residents of Eden''s End might think of this change. The drifters would likely take it in stride since they had originally made an agreement with Katalynn''s father. The refugees would be another matter, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. A victory over Harlow would make winning them over much easier.


    With that and the fleet captains already on his side, he really didn''t have any other concerns. There were likely to be some growing pains and adjustments to the way they did things, but he was changing stuff so often on Eden''s End that people were already used to adjusting their expectations. Joining the Asgardians would probably smooth things out and stabilize a lot of little things that Alexander hadn''t gotten around to yet.

 Chapter 3-43

    Alexander flew down to the surface for the third and probably final round of negotiations. While he was pretty sure he knew what he was going to do, that could change. He wanted all of his questions answered before he made his final decision.As much as he would like to just accept this title and join the Asgardians so he could be done with politics for the foreseeable future, this was a huge decision to make. An even bigger one than when he decided to form his own nation since that choice had been purely designed to protect him from someone within the STO from coming in and making the claim themselves. Had he known what he knew now, he probably would have reached out to the Asgardians sooner and avoided that hassle entirely.


    His decision to claim the system had probably garnered attention among the political heavyweights within the STO. Something he would have preferred to avoid until the foreseeable future but it had seemed like the best choice at the time. Once it got out that he had dealings with the Asgardians, it would likely cause a similar ruckus.


    It would put Unokane back in the political limelight, which is something he could do without. Honestly, if Alexander had been given a choice, he would have remained on the sidelines and slowly chunked away at Omni''s market share for a few decades. Unfortunately, forces beyond his control had forced him to act.


    At some point, he was going to need to go to Earth to smooth things over with the STO. Maybe even act as an intermediary between them and Char to finally end this stupid pirate classification that they had heaped on them. Char may not seem all that concerned about it, but Alexander could see it slowing his ability to disrupt the corporations'' stranglehold over innovation within the STO.


    When he arrived at the train station, it was the same as the first few times. He followed Loki to the train where they rode in silence until their destination. Once they arrived at the same tower as on the first trip, Loki took Theo away and Alexander went to Katalynn''s office.


    As he entered the office, he found the room empty, but he could hear noises coming from somewhere within the room. He followed the sounds until he arrived at a side door that led to a training room. Katalynn was sparing with two androids, the machines whipping around with impressive speed.


    If this was her practice routine, it was no wonder Alexander had so much trouble in their little exhibition match.


    As he stood there and watched, he even saw one of the androids perform the same move that he had used against her to finally land the hit. This time, she shoved the end of the staff close to her off to the side instead of down and her kick landed heavily against the android''s lightly padded chest, sending the bipedal robot stumbling back hard enough that its stabilizer failed to keep it upright.


    The second robot was ready to step in but she held her hand up and it stopped moving.


    Alexander clapped. "Very impressive," he said, meaning every word.


    She took a towel from a rack and wiped the sweat from her face before responding. "It is not as impressive as it seems. I am simply building muscle memory in case that sort of situation ever presents itself again. Have you finally decided on a course of action or have you come for a sparring match? You are quick, but you lack technique. It would be interesting to see what you were capable of if you were actually trained."


    "I prefer to focus my time on building things instead of breaking them," he said diplomatically.


    Katalynn snorted softly at that. "Fair enough. There are far too few of my people who see the benefit of focusing their minds on the pursuit of knowledge over glory in battle. Both have their places but a society can''t grow without science and technology."


    Alexander just stared at her, not expecting this sort of statement from the woman.


    She must have read his avatar''s expression. "Do not think us ignorant because we value martial strength. It takes a strong leader to ensure strong personalities stay in line. And even then it is not always the case," that last part came out with a bit of bitterness.


    "That is one of the issues we need to speak on," he stated, stopping the woman from taking control of the conversation. Alexander needed to remind himself to look past the woman in front of him. This was someone who not only had personal power, she had political power that rivaled the Chairman of the STO. In some cases, it might even exceed that because she was also a captain over an entire fleet.


    "You want to know if Isbjorn will cause issues for you?" she asked as she put the towel down.


    "I assume what we saw here was his entire fleet and that his level of technology rivals yours?"


    "Not all of his fleet, but most of it. And perhaps."


    "Then no," he admitted. "I''m not just saying that to be condescending or to belittle your technology. It also isn''t because I think my defenses or abilities are insurmountable and that he couldn''t succeed if he tried hard enough. I simply don''t think he has a reason to cause issues for me. I was more worried about what my people''s role would be in a conflict against him."


    "Don''t be so sure that he has no reason to cause issues for you. As for your role, I would like to say that open conflict within Asgardian space is unheard of, but it isn''t. It probably isn''t as widespread as you''re imagining though. I can count on one hand the number of internal disagreements that have led to open war since our founding. I can count on both hands the number of disagreements that have led to single combat amongst Jarls and upstarts who have either taken their place or been put in their place. That is not a euphemism for death either. Most trials by combat are to first blood, they rarely end in the death of either side."


    "Rarely is not never," Alexander reminded her.


    "That is true. While death amongst Jarls is rare, if they challenge the King or Lagertha, in my case, only one can remain."


    "Why do it at all?" Alexander asked, not understanding the tradition.


    "When the Asgardian Accords were first signed, nobody could agree on who should lead them. They tried forming an assembly of all of the signees like the STO, but that quickly led to infighting and backstabbing as people jockeyed for positions within the new government. Sound familiar?" she asked.


    He bobbed his avatar slowly and she smiled slightly before continuing.


    "What the STO had done to us was still fresh in everyone''s minds back then and the majority quickly saw this new government turning out to just be another copy of what we were trying to avoid. Fear of falling into that same trap and the threat of the Shican still lurking within the tentative borders of this new alliance forced the members to take drastic actions. The rule of merit was eventually created. That changed over the years into the rule of the strong as our fleets were slowly whittled away by the Shican and it has remained in place ever since."


    Alexander was confused by that. "I thought the Shican pulled back after five years?"


    "No, the STO abandoned us after only two years because they had lost too many ships to the Shican. They probably still fought them along their border for the remainder of what they dubbed the Shican War, but they did not once lift a finger to help those they abandoned. That was the spark that caused the formation of the Asgardian Alliance. The Alliance fought until the few remaining Shican finally withdrew a full eight years after that. Most of our fleets were decimated by that point and the worlds withdrew to lick their wounds. It wasn''t until a full decade later that the original alliance members came back together to sign the Accords which eventually turned into the Asgardian Union that you see today, although, everyone just calls themselves Asgardians. Even then, the Shican threat never truly went away until a little over forty years ago. My father even fought against them a few times in his youth."


    That certainly changed Alexander''s opinion about this alien race returning. It was more like they hadn''t gone away at all, they were just pushed out by the Asgardians.


    "I can see why your people chose to avoid the STO after that," he stated. Your next journey awaits at empire


    She shrugged. "That is ancient history, but you haven''t come here to discuss that. As much as I appreciate your concern for me, I would be a poor leader if I needed to turn to the Jarls to help deal with another Jarl every time one got rowdy. I will handle Isbjorn as is my duty. You and your people only need to step in if he does something underhanded, which is a possibility with him. Does that answer your question?"


    Alexander nodded his avatar, happy with the explanation.


    All that was left was learning all the rules and responsibilities he would need to follow. He had perused the document she had shown him the last time, but certainly, that couldn''t be all of it. When he studied her slightly annoyed expression. He got the distinct impression she knew he had gotten her talking about history to delay some decision. With a heavy internal sigh, he asked her about the last two items that concerned him.


    "As I mentioned before," Katalynn said in annoyance. "Jarls rule their territories as they see fit, with a few exceptions for Asgardian law. That is different from local laws. There are only a few Asgardian laws, and we keep them that way because each territory has its own issues. Think of them like STO laws and planetary laws if that''s easier for you. They cover how to treat populations as well as criminals. These laws cover what constitutes a crime and the types of punishment that can be applied to them. This ensures fairness across all of the territories and prevents people from migrating to a world with softer laws where they can continue to commit crimes. You can read the document at length on your own time," she said, shoving a data disk at him after they had reentered her office.


    Alexander took the disk and stuck it into one of his pouches.


    "I get your hesitancy, Kane, this is a big decision to make, but we aren''t the great evil that the STO had portrayed us to be. We require very little of the union members. That being said, there are some ceremonial issues we need to discuss."


    "Like the greeting ceremony?" he guessed.


    "That was one. You already passed that one so we will not need to do so again. The other is a ceremonial oath to be there for the protection of the other union members. This will be done in front of me and my advisors. Normally this would also include the Jarls but we are at war and they cannot be summoned to oversee the joining so a substitute will stand in for them."


    He wanted to say that didn''t sound so bad, but something in the way she said it made him think there was a catch. "It''s not another ceremony by combat is it?"


    "No, but you will need to demonstrate you can handle a weapon. The original intention of this ceremony was meant as a symbolic sharing of the joining side''s fighting styles to further strengthen the Asgardian people."


    "I''m sure I can swing a weapon around if you need me to," he said uncertainly.


    She shook her head. "That won''t be enough. You need to show you understand how to wield the weapon. If you can''t wield something as simple as a blade or spear, why would anyone trust that you could lead a fleet?"


    "But I''m not leading my fleet, Captain Krieger is."


    "It doesn''t matter. By Asgardian law, you are in charge of your fleet, and ultimately responsible for its actions, good or bad. This law was established to prevent Jarls from claiming ignorance as a defense if their fleets attacked the STO or pulled some other foolish actions."


    "Ok, but I don''t know how to fight."


    She glanced back toward the training room. "I''ve heard you''re a quick learner. Go pick a weapon and train. You have three hours until the ceremony." S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What? I haven''t even said yes to your proposal yet."


    She turned back to him. "Are you telling me you flew back down here to ask a few questions you could have asked over the radio?"


    "Well, no."


    "Then it sounds to me that you have already made a decision, otherwise you would have left the system by now or simply turned me down and asked me for the original alliance you proposed. I suggest you hurry, times ticking away and there are issues I need to discuss with you after you''re sworn in."


    Alexander had to admit the woman was correct. Given everything he had learned and the facts that were laid out, the best option was joining the Asgardian Union. Hesitating now was just him dragging his feet.


    He nodded in acquiescence and made his way into the training room where he grabbed the first practice weapon that he saw. It was some sort of bladed weapon on a stick. He wasn''t familiar with melee weapons so couldn''t say exactly what it was, but it was long enough to work with his lanky form so he figured it would be fine.


    He gave the practice weapon a few test swings, finding it heavier than he originally thought considering it was made from some sort of wood. The weight wasn''t an issue for him though.


    "Are you voice or motion-activated?" he asked the stationary androids.


    "User preference," they replied in a tinny voice.


    That response probably ruled out self-learning. "I need to learn how to use this weapon."


    "Please state the weapon type you wish to learn as well as instructional training or sparring as your preference," they said in unison once more.


    He sighed. "I don''t know what it''s called, it''s a blade on a pole."


    "You have selected polearm training. Please select instructional or sparring."


    Polearm? Eh, it was probably close enough. "Instructional, at maximum speed."


    "Recommended instructional training speed is ten percent, are you sure you wish to increase it to one hundred percent?"


    "Yes." He didn''t have time to waste watching these androids try to demonstrate a weapon at slow speed. He would simply record the lesson or jack up his framerate as needed.


    What followed was a rapid-fire of back-and-forth movements between the two androids as they demonstrated both attack and defensive moves with similar training weapons.


    Once they finished, Alexander went through the motions himself, finding it a bit harder than he realized. Most of that was because his body wasn''t built like a human one. He didn''t have the same explosive movement with his arms and legs because he had no knees, elbows, or even shoulder blades, he only had segments for his arms and legs. After a bit of trial and error, he could mimic the movements well enough to continue the practice.


    When he felt he had the movements down, he restarted the training, this time setting the androids to defensive sparring mode.


    Alexander quickly found himself frustrated as the humanoid robot blocked or dodged every strike. It seemed that while he understood the motions, he failed to grasp how to implement them in a way to actually hit the damn machine.


    He was growing more and more frustrated until a voice interrupted his session.


    "End session," a voice said and the androids stepped back to their waiting positions.


    He had been so focused that he had completely missed Loki entering the room.


    "Lagertha has sent me to escort you to the ceremony."


    "I thought I had three hours?"


    The man smiled slightly. "It has been three hours."


    He looked at his internal clock and cursed. Not only had he completely lost focus on what was around him, he had lost track of time.


    Alexander set the weapon back in the rack and followed Loki out. He would just have to hope his efforts had borne some fruit. It would be extremely upsetting if this entire trip ended in a failure just because he couldn''t swing a sword around well enough.

 Chapter 3-44

    Once again Alexander was taken to a new area. When they entered the circular chamber, he saw a Celtic circle inlaid into the black marble floor in gold with the interior of the circle being made from pure white marble. The circle wasn''t all that big around, maybe five feet or so, but it was beautifully designed. Outside of the black marble floor was a two-tiered section of white marble, similarly inlaid in gold around the lips of the short raisers.If he hadn''t been brought here to perform a ceremony, he would have instantly been able to tell this place held significance. From what he had seen so far, the Asgardians held little regard for frivolous d¨¦cor. Because of the harsh environment, they leaned toward a brutalist style of architecture with a focus on practicality. That lifestyle bled into how they designed their living spaces as well, which seemed to have multiple roles, like the area in front of Katalynn''s tower. This was the first time he had seen a building or structure designed for a single purpose.


    After spending no more than a moment to admire the architecture and design of this room, Alexander''s focus shifted to the occupants. Straight across from the only entrance was a riser that stood a step above the others. On that platform stood the Lagertha dressed in a ceremonial outfit of gold white and black. Black makeup surrounded her eyes in a bar across her face. She had similarly black lipstick. On her head was a totem-style headdress made from the black feathers of some bird with small beaded ropes hanging down.


    It was a bit of a surprise seeing the no-nonsense woman dressed this way. The outfit and makeup changed her entire appearance, making her look ancient and savage, which was probably the point.


    A reminder of their roots perhaps? Alexander wasn''t sure.


    Char was not alone in the room. Three others were dressed in similar face paint but wore simple linen clothing. He assumed those were her advisors. Twelve additional spots on the raised platforms were taken up by Lokis. The Loki all wore the same usual black attire and had the same emotionless face as they seemed to default to.


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    If they were meant as a stand-in for the Jarls, was that number arbitrary or were there twelve Jarls? The Lokis'' presence also hinted at a role that went beyond just some simple spymaster as Alexander had first assumed. He wished she had told him more about what to expect but Katalynn had been very vague about the exact details of this ceremony other than he had to show skill with a weapon and recite an oath.


    The Loki who had led him here had not said anything either, he had simply left. It wasn''t difficult to determine what was expected of him. He walked over to a rack of weapons just outside the main circle and selected the same one he had trained with. He was surprised to find the weight exactly matched the training weapon. That explained why they were so heavy.


    Once he had the weapon in hand, he strode into the white circle on the floor.


    A deep gong sounded from some hidden speaker and Katalynn spoke up. "The eye of Odin is upon you, envoy. Prove you are worthy of the title of Jarl or renounce your claim."


    With no further prompting, Alexander put his all into what he had learned. Unlike his fight with Katalynn or his practice sessions, he held none of his speed back. The blade of the weapon sliced through the air with an audible hum, the wood groaning in protest as Alexander pushed the material beyond what it had ever been meant for.


    His recitation of the martial form was so fast that he was finished in under three minutes when it had taken five for the androids to go through it at full speed. It wasn''t perfect, he still had issues with the quick jabs and lunging strikes but he hoped his speed made up for that.


    When he was complete, he slapped the wooden end of the weapon on the ground with a bang and waited for the pronouncement.


    "If anyone feels that Odin would be angered by this display, speak now!" Katalynn stated firmly.


    A tense minute went by as nobody spoke until Katalynn broke the silence.


    "Your efforts have been witnessed, and Odin has smiled upon you this day. Step forward and give your oath."


    Alexander did so, stopping in front of the first step as Katalynn stepped down to meet him.


    She spoke some words and he repeated them.


    After the simple oath was completed, she held out her hands. "Your weapon."


    Alexander handed her the weapon, tipping the blade toward himself like he had seen the androids do when he first approached them before signaling a start to their matches. A small smile flittered across the woman''s face for a moment before it was gone. She reached out and took the weapon before smearing a red substance on the blade.


    At first, he thought it was blood, but she didn''t have any open wounds and it didn''t have the same consistency as any blood he had seen.


    "The clay of Asgard binds you to our cause, Jarl Kane," she stated, handing him back the weapon. "Keep your blade sharp and your mind clear."


    Alexander stared at her in confusion for a moment before she shook the offered weapon, urging him to take it. As soon as he did, the three advisors came down and clapped him on the side or arm in congratulations as the Lokis silently filtered out of the room.


    "Now that all this pageantry is over with, we need to discuss a few things, but first I need to clean this mess off. Loki will get the documents you need to complete and take you back to my office. I''ll be up there shortly."


    "What things?" he asked her retreating form. She either didn''t hear him or chose to ignore him. He was going with the latter since the room was now silent since even her advisors had left.


    Experience tales with empire


    He sighed internally and left the way he came, taking his ''new symbol of office'' with him. "They couldn''t have gone with a pin instead," he muttered quietly.


    "A pin would hardly be a good object to symbolize your responsibility or a good reminder of what''s at stake," Loki said, as Alexander exited the room.


    Did these people have enhanced hearing or something?


    "I guess I can understand that," Alexander stated. "Am I just meant to carry it around everywhere I go from now on?"


    The Loki cracked a small smile. "No. Much like this ceremony, the weapon is only symbolic. You do need to take it with you when you leave though."


    He grumbled internally but held onto the weapon as they walked. "Since I have you here, can I ask a question?"


    "We are the humble servants of the people, ask away."


    "Why all the Norse mythology?"


    "An interesting question, and quite a long one. I will attempt to condense it for brevity''s sake unless you wish to know the entire story of our history?"


    "Perhaps another time," Alexander replied.


    Loki gave a small nod. "Back when the STO abandoned this section of space, people were frightened. A large percentage of our population fled back to safer worlds, taking all of our best and brightest with them while leaving only the brave or foolish behind. I would like to say that the vast majority of the planet''s populace was of Scandinavian origin, but even after people fled, those only made up a small majority of the people. That didn''t stop the remaining people from looking for hope wherever it could be found. A small but growing percentage of the population landed on Norse as their lifeline. I think a lot of that had to do with our remaining navy who knew they were likely to die in battle against the Shican and the Norse religion gave them the strength to face the aliens without fear."


    "Wasn''t the world already named Asgard back then?"


    Loki shook his head. "Much like the name for this system, the planet''s name didn''t come around until years later. You''re probably confusing it for the name given to the alliance. We''re not quite sure who gave the alliance that name. It is one of those facts lost to history."


    "So everyone just believes in Odin?" Alexander knew the question might seem insensitive or heretical depending on their outlook but it was better to know now than accidentally making a huge blunder later down the line.


    "There are certainly still true believers even now, but for most, it is simply an unconscious aspect of our culture, something so ingrained in our society that I doubt most even realize they say some of the things they say. In time, even those will fade away as all things do."


    "¡­That''s certainly one way to look at things," he muttered.


    Once they arrived at the Lagertha''s office, Loki excused himself.


    Thankfully, he wasn''t left to wait long as Katalynn stepped off the elevator only a few minutes later followed by her three advisors.


    "You can set that in the rack by the door," she said, nodding toward the weapon he still held. "And let me apologize for ignoring your question back in the ceremonial chamber. The room isn''t secure and Asgard has its share of STO as well as corporate spies, despite our best attempts at purging them."


    "I thought you didn''t do business with them? How would they get spies out here?"


    "Not everyone is as forthright and upstanding as they claim to be, Kane. Money is a powerful motivator for some, even out here."


    "Ah," he stated. It wasn''t a matter of infiltration but of traitors. "Wait, does that mean you use credits as well?"


    "No," Katalynn shook her head, "We have a transfer system to convert credits to our local currency called an Odin mark, although, most people just call them Odins or marks. It''s a similar digital currency to the STOs. I would like to say our currency value is similar to that of the STO as well, but that would be a lie. We have about a three-to-one conversion ratio at the moment, but I would need to look at the daily value to see exactly what it is. The STO might call us pirates and deny our existence as a political entity, but they are happy to exchange money with us when it is convenient for them. I would prefer if every Jarl switched to marks as that would increase the value of our currency, but that is not one of the stipulations to becoming a Jarl. And I understand, sometimes it''s just easier to stick with the higher-valued currency."


    Currency and conversion ratios were all interesting topics but Alexander was here for a reason. "You said we had matters to discuss?"


    She nodded and gestured for him to sit on a heavy bench across from her desk. Her advisors all sat in chairs to either side.


    "How long would it take you to refit a ship?"


    "Depends on the ship and what sort of refit you are asking for I guess. Why?"


    "This would be for my flagship, Valkyrie, and I want all the weapon systems replaced with lasers."


    "I would first need to see the ship to determine if it''s even possible without fully tearing it apart. Retrofitting a ship with lasers is not an easy task, assuming the ship even has space for the systems needed to power the weapons."


    "Would a ship schematic help?" one of her advisors asked.


    Katalynn motioned toward the bearded man. "Kane, this is my Chief Engineer, Elrik Forgevald."


    "Do you have it with you?" Alexander asked, eager to see what an Asgardian ship looked like.


    "Before I show this to you, this is top secret. You are not to use this knowledge to design or disseminate ships of this class. Are we clear?"


    That took a bit of wind out of his sails, but he nodded his avatar. Alexander would prefer to design and build his own ship from scratch anyway. That didn''t mean he couldn''t learn something from the Asgardian''s ships though.


    Elrik got up, walked over to a wall, and inserted a data chip into a small slot. The artwork on the fall flickered away and a large ship schematic appeared in its place.


    "No holo-projectors?" he asked as he stood to more closely examine the slowly rotating two-dimensional image.


    "They are an unnecessary clutter and waste of resources," a second man stated.


    "And you are?" Alexander asked.


    "Vyrik Thorvund, the Lagertha''s tactician."


    "Hmm. I wonder if you will feel the same way when you see the tactical overlay on some of my ships." The man looked mildly interested in this, but Alexander tuned him out as he studied the design plan.


    He could see whoever had come up with it had extensive knowledge about ship layout, but there were certain areas that could use improvement. Likely because the knowledge they were working off of was well and truly out of date. It reminded him of the Wayward Soul''s layout, only slightly larger. Actually, that''s exactly what it was. This ship was just a slightly larger version of the same frame as his cruiser. That couldn''t be a coincidence. He turned back to Katalynn for confirmation, but the smirk on her face told him she already knew what he would find.


    "The ships my people recovered, they were all Asgardian designs?"


    "The basic frame and layout were, yes. We will not take credit for the subpar components Arkonis forced into them though. So, what are your thoughts?"


    "It would probably take two and a half months to retrofit the ship, but you seem to be forgetting one of my stipulations for providing technology."


    "I did not forget. I was hoping now that you are part of the union and the fact that your other concerns were alleviated that you might reconsider." She turned to her tactician. "Vyrik, fill Jarl Kane in on what you told me earlier."


    The man nodded. "I do not know how familiar you are with Harlow''s fleet, so I will just assume you know nothing. Harlow''s flagship is a vessel he refers to as a dreadnaught. We haven''t gotten exact details on the scale, but recordings show it to be over two times larger than an STO Cruiser. With that additional tonnage come more weapons and more armor."


    "A ridiculous ship for a ridiculous man," Katalynn spat.


    Vyrik nodded before continuing. "Despite our feelings on a ship that large, we cannot discount the threat it poses. We can''t say for sure without an encounter with the vessel, but I would not put it past the ship taking on Katalynn''s entire fleet and winning in a head-to-head fight."


    "That has to be a mistake," Alexander stated. "I know you said it had thicker armor, but a single ship taking on an entire fleet seems ludicrous."


    "In normal circumstances, you would be correct. We would simply overwhelm its defenses and slowly whittle it down. The problem is Harlows newest weapon. I''ll let Elrik explain that."


    Elrik grumbled about being put on the spot, but he picked up where Vyrik left off. "Harlow calls them plasma missiles."


    "Plasma missiles?" Alexander asked skeptically. The name sounded like something from a cheesy sci-fi movie.


    Elrik grunted. "That''s what he calls them. The recording of him using the weapons was sold on the black market, and others have been trying to recreate the weapons. We can''t be certain, but our scientists seem to think that man is overloading a reactor to produce the effect. How he miniaturized a reactor enough to use it as a warhead for a missile is anyone''s guess. If that was all he had done, we could deal with that. Normal missiles are relatively slow, all things considered. Most of their speed is imparted by the ship and the launch system, with the chemical propellant mostly used for evasive maneuvers, which gives our targeting computers time to track them and take them out. Harlow has changed that by strapping a Class 1 thruster to the weapons, making the missiles far faster and giving our computers much less time to counter them with ECM or tracking. Even if we do get a target lock unless the weapons are destroyed before they activate, there is nothing you can do but try to get out of their way."


    Vyrik picked up the conversation at this point. "We could offset this by fighting at a longer range, but that just adds to the issue of accuracy. Projectile targeting is normally only accurate out to half a light second. Filling the space and hoping for a lucky shot past that point is wasteful and unlikely to work in most instances. That means we would have to target the plasma missiles, assuming we can trick Harlow into firing them at such a long-range, which I find doubtful. And even if we do manage it and take out all his new weapons, the man is likely to pull back instead of engaging us in a standoff battle. He could also simply armor his new missiles to once again negate our advantage. We need to target both his new weapons and his ships."


    "Do you understand the issue?" Katalynn asked.


    "No," Alexander replied, not seeing the problem at all. "Wouldn''t forcing Harlow to pull back be a good thing?"


    "If your goal is to chase him off, maybe, but that doesn''t resolve the issue, it only pushes it off until later. If you give your opponent time to plan and react to your first attack, you have lost the momentum of the battle. To win against Harlow, we need an advantage. And the only advantage we have is the range of your lasers. It would still take effort to burn through his defenses, but with the lasers, we could do it accurately enough to force Harlow to respond. We want him to use his new weapons, we want him to exhaust his supply of them. Then we can move in or chase him down as he runs, which he will invariably do when he realizes he lost the advantage. If I could, I would have you outfit every ship in my fleet with the lasers, but we are short on time and I can''t swap my entire fleet for yours."

 Chapter 3-45

    "Swap ships?" Alexander asked in confusion. "I''m not sure what you mean.""With the war going on and Isbjorn''s attack, I cannot afford to be down my flagship for multiple months. A common practice among the Jarls is to trade a ship of equal value during a retrofit as an act of trust. Normally there would be no transfer of personnel, those staying with their respective Jarls, but since you are unfamiliar with the Valkyrie''s systems, my Sub-Commander Haldric Vynnson will accompany you while the vessel is in your possession. I would ask for someone of equal measure to my sub-commander in trade, but I do not wish to strain our new friendship by imposing such a request."


    Even though the exchange made sense, that meant Katalynn would have access to his technology. Then again, she was taking the same risk by handing her ship over to him and he already knew that the Valkyrie was better built than Soul. He could simply take it for himself if he was so inclined. One man, no matter how capable, could stop him if he decided to keep her ship. Even if that would give Alexander a much more capable ship, he would never do something like that. Even without considering the ramifications to his credibility, it would completely destroy everything he had worked for over the last year.


    Alexander wasn''t all that worried that they might try and reverse engineer any of the tech aboard Soul. Other than the engines, there really wasn''t anything all that special about the ship. Most of the improvements were just iterations on currently available technologies or clever ways to implement them, like the stacking of the guns. He wasn''t truly concerned about the engines either, because they had likely tried reverse engineering Omni thrusters at some point and if they hadn''t managed that yet, they weren''t going to figure out why the ones on Soul worked just as well.


    He wasn''t blind to the fact that Vynnson was an observer to see how he handled this first exchange either. Trust but verify, as they say.


    It took an accelerated moment for him to collect himself and respond, making it appear that he hadn''t paused at all. "Ok. Let''s say I agree with your tactical assessment and you have the credits to pay for this upgrade since I have no use for your currency at the moment. How can you be certain I''ll have enough time to complete this upgrade? It''s two months back to Eden''s End and another two and a half months to retrofit your ship. Tack on the return journey and it''s going to be half a year at least before you get it back. I doubt Harlow will allow us that luxury."


    "Our scouts have yet to report any sign of Harlow or his fleet. That is no guarantee that he hasn''t hit the border yet, but without Qcomms we rely on relay couriers to pass information ahead. The system isn''t perfect but we can get updates to and from our border within a few weeks. Once Harlow hits our space, we will know soon enough. A group that large will not go unnoticed, even by individual ships or stations. Once he does show up, we will attempt to intercept him and slow him down. Since most of the fighting will likely occur in Unokane or near it, my fleet will eventually rendezvous there, saving the travel time back. I am putting a lot on the line now that you are one of us, Kane. I hope you will do the same and do everything in your power to speed up this retrofit."


    Alexander had to admit she was correct. "There is one more issue. I don''t think I have enough people to crew your ship. I barely have enough to crew mine."


    He wouldn''t have admitted this shortfall before, but they were now in this together. He wasn''t going to let a bit of embarrassment keep him from asking for some much-needed help.


    Katalynn cursed and reached into her pocket, pulling out a data chip and handing it to a smirking Vyrik. "He bet me that you were short on people. I told him that would have been too bold a move, even for you. Seems I was wrong. I will send out an announcement, you will have more applicants than you know what to do with by the end of the day. Feel free to vet their skills, but all Asgardians are trained for basic ship operations. The longer we talk, the more time we waste, is there anything else before our ships rendevous?"


    "I just need to send a message home."


    She nodded.


    Alexander prepared a message to Lucas, hoping the man would understand what he was asking for. He would just come out and say it, but he didn''t know who might be intercepting these messages within the STO. He wished he had developed a code to use for communications, but it was a little late for that.


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    If Lucas didn''t figure out what he was getting at, it was going to cost him a few weeks extra to retrofit the Valkyrie and Krieger''s ship, Vanguard.


    The only reason he thought he could complete both ships in that same two-month window was an idea that popped into his head as he spoke with the Lagertha. He doubted Krieger or Vynnson would find his idea pleasing, but if they wanted these upgrades done before Harlow showed up, this was the only way Alexander could think to pull it off.


    What followed the meeting was a whirlwind of activity. Asgardians did not screw around when it came to logistics and planning. It made the efforts of Eden''s End look like children playing at war. In less than an hour, the two ships were coupled and supply ships were bringing aboard necessities.


    He gave Katalynn and her other two advisors the rundown on Wayward Soul while Vynnson provided the same for the Hawks. It was a very bizarre exchange.


    The ships weren''t all that different since Alexander hadn''t had time to upgrade most of the Soul''s controls to the advanced ones, which was probably a good thing. Char''s people were more familiar with these older-style controls. They did marvel at the upgraded sensors, but it was a minor thing. He wondered how they would react when they used the thrusters and weapons.


    His projects got moved over and he would have preferred to transfer his missiles as well, but that simply wasn''t feasible, so he explained their capabilities.


    Katalynn''s chief engineer whistled when Alexander told him the fire rate of the railguns. "That''s impressive, but how does that affect maintenance? You haven''t found a magical solution for the rail degradation issues by chance have you?"


    "No," Alexander responded with a shake of his avatar. "Every thousand rounds, the rails need to be replaced. There are two full sets of spares aboard as well as manufacturing capacity to make more if need be. There are also automated bots that are programmed to handle the rail replacement operation."


    Katalynn frowned at that. "You''re wasting precious space for manufacturing and storing robots?"


    "It''s not really a waste," Alexander said defensively. "We''ve found the bots to be extremely useful for quick repairs and complicated maintenance tasks outside the ship. The lost ''space'' as you put it would have been used as hangar space for a second shuttle. Since I didn''t have a need for a second shuttle, I converted that space into something more useful."


    Truthfully, Alexander had cobbled together the manufacturing and bots for the four recovered ships since he didn''t have time to build out a room specifically for that.


    Katalynn let out a snort at that. "A few fights are hardly enough to determine if something is useful in the long term or not. I will make sure to give your design choices a proper test. Let''s hope they are as good as you say."


    He didn''t take her skepticism to heart. He knew how valuable his additions were and soon she would as well.


    Alexander wasn''t one to normally toot his own horn, but if he did, he would do it for the bots. They had started as something simple to help augment his shortage of skilled workers and had turned into an indispensable part of his operations.


    The manufacturing capabilities also gave the ships much more flexibility without having to rely on a supply ship. Technically Talon filled the role of supply ship, but it wasn''t strictly necessary. Each ship could provide its own resupply of ammo, and given time, even fuel if it somehow got separated from the rest of the fleet.


    The bots on the non-Eden ships weren''t as capable, since they only had advanced computronics and no access to a ship''s supercomputer, but he planned to change that eventually for all of them.


    Soon he was done showing them the systems and he headed over to Valkyrie. The Asgardian''s flair for practicality carried over to their ships, not that he was surprised.


    The corridors were tight and as bare bones as possible. He was certain the weight saving had gone into armor and weapons. He knew from the schematic that Valkyrie only had two layers of armor, but the outer layer was over three times as thick as Soul''s outer armor.


    It was no wonder the vessel had shrugged off his laser attack. Before he made it far into the ship, it shook slightly. It seemed Sub Commander Vynnson was in a hurry to join the BSE fleet and leave the system.


    While he was more than fine leaving the man in command of the ship, Alexander needed to talk with him about what he planned for the voyage back to Eden''s End.


    ***


    "I would once again like to state my disagreement with this decision," Vyrik said right before the ships separated. "We should have exchanged a few frigates instead."


    "Are you sure you aren''t just upset that I declined Kane''s invitation to tour his frigates so you could see this tactical display he was going on about?" Katalynn asked.


    Vyrik sniffed. "I would never base a decision on something so petty. I simply think losing our strongest ship will encourage Isbjorn to strike again."


    "I''m sure," she responded derisively to his first comment. The man may have denied the accusation, but Katalynn had known him for a long time, and she could hear the note of longing in his voice. She smirked slightly, quickly schooling her face before her tactical advisor noticed. "As for Isbjorn, let''s hope he does."


    The man quirked an eyebrow. "You did this to trick Isbjorn into attacking? I suppose it could work. We would need to take care though. This ship isn''t nearly as resilient as Valkyrie, so a slugging match between our fleet and his would be ill-advised."


    "That wasn''t the only reason I considered this exchange, but it was one of the things I accounted for. If Kane wasn''t exaggerating about the capabilities of this ship, I think Isbjorn is in for a nasty little surprise. We don''t need to defeat him in detail, we simply need to cut his fleet down so he is no longer a problem. The volume of fire this ship should be capable of putting out will make that much easier. Once this battle with Harlow is over and the war with Xin goes back to a stalemate, we can deal with what remains of Isbjorn''s fleet." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Assuming he takes the bait," Vyrik reminded her. "I''ll order our people to start producing additional ammo for the railguns. Hmm. Maybe Kane was right, those production capabilities are already coming in handy."


    ***


    Harlow''s scouts reported back that the system had a small station and a few mining ships, but nothing much of note other than that.


    After having traveled non-stop for nearly a month and a half through the dregs of pirate space, his people were restless and needed an outlet before violence broke out in the fleet. "Send the order to jump in, we''ll disable the station and loot it."


    The people on his bridge cheered as the orders were sent. Soon they jumped into the system from just beyond the Oort cloud.


    The faster ships went after the miners while the rest of his ships carried on to the station. There was a token effort at defense, but there were not nearly enough ships or guns on the station to do anything against his fleet. Harlow was forced to hold a few people back from firing since he wanted the station intact so his people could board and loot it.


    "Emperor, a ship just jumped from farther out in the system. It was likely a scout."


    Harlow sneered in annoyance, but there was little he could do about that. Char and her people had always been rather committed to border security, which had prevented much in the way of raids into their territory. He knew it was only a matter of time until they noticed his arrival, but he also knew they were currently embroiled in a war with Xin, so most of their forces would be occupied. Not that he feared them with his current fleet though.


    He hoped they did attack, or this entire trip would be a rather boring one. It would also be a huge waste of resources if all he did was capture one pathetic world to finally get his hands on Kane, the elusive engineer.


    The fact that Dalton had failed when the assassin had done similar missions on heavily controlled corporate worlds only made Harlow more intrigued with Alexander Kane. Harlow had an inkling that something made Kane special, and he wanted to know what that was. If Kane was reticent to tell him, he would settle for forcing the man to work tirelessly to improve his technological advantage instead. One way or another, Harlow would get his worth out of the man.

 Chapter 3-46

    Alexander stepped onto the bridge and paused. Katalynn''s Sub-Commander was having a staring contest with Captain Krieger over the bridge''s main display.Going by the tense expressions of the Hawks mercenaries who were filling in the important roles within the ship, he had just entered after the two had finished an argument.


    "Is something the matter?" Alexander asked.


    "Tell your Captain that I am in command," the taciturn Vynnson demanded.


    "¡­ You are in command of the Valkyrie," Alexander confirmed. He suspected the argument wasn''t about the ship though. "Krieger is in overall command of my fleet. If that''s a problem, we can send you back to the Lagertha."


    He didn''t have the patience to deal with overinflated egos and posturing right now. All of his patience had been spent ensuring an alliance with the Asgardians. If Vynnson didn''t like that, he could go back to Char.


    The man turned to him. "You expect me to follow orders from some honorless STO dog?"


    "I expect you to follow orders from the commander of my fleet or is following the orders of a superior not part of the Asgardian creed?"


    The man ground his teeth in annoyance but eventually nodded. "I will accept Jarl Kane''s decision in this matter."


    "Good, now that that''s settled, we have a few things to discuss. First off, Krieger doesn''t work for the STO, he works for me. I expect all of my crew to be treated with the same respect that they are given in Asgardian society. As for the second part of this discussion, is there someplace we can talk that isn''t disruptive to ship operations?"


    The Sub-Commander nodded and gestured to a hatch off to the side of the bridge. Alexander nodded and turned toward Krieger''s projection. "This meeting will include you as well, Captain. Please head to the command suite and we will reconnect shortly."


    Alexander followed Vynnson into the room, there was no signage over the door, but it was clear this was some sort of tactical room based on the star maps displayed on the wall monitors as well as a circular tube in the center of the room that acted as a sort of pre-holo projector to show a 3D map of the area around the ship.


    It was an effective, yet crude version of the tac-displays that Alexander had installed into the Eden frigates.


    Haldric went over to one of the wall displays, but before he could connect to Vanguard, Alexander stopped him.


    "Sub-Commander, I understand the friction between Asgardians and the STO, but I need you to put those differences aside. You will be working closely with Captain Krieger for the next four months at the minimum. I cannot afford any distractions if you want this ship to be completed on time."


    The man grunted. "I have already stated my intentions. You will not have any problems with me."


    This sounded like the only confirmation Alexander was going to get from the man, so he nodded for Vynnson to continue connecting to Vanguard.


    Krieger appeared on the screen a few moments later.


    "Now that we are all here, I wish to discuss my plans for our trip home."


    "Plans?" Krieger asked.


    "Yes. As you are already aware, the Lagertha has asked me to upgrade Valkyrie''s weapons to lasers. If I wait to do everything until we get back, I''m not sure if I will have enough time to complete the work. I also want to upgrade Vanguard with lasers as well. As you might imagine, doubling up on the work I''m already unsure of completing on time isn''t a smart move. And you would be correct. That''s why I want to start the work now."


    "You want to take our weapons offline?" Vynnson questioned. "What if we run into Harlow''s fleet on the way?"


    It was a valid concern, but one Alexander didn''t think was likely. "If that happens, we can''t engage them anyway. We would need to dispatch a ship to act as a messenger and try to keep our ships out of Harlow''s reach. I don''t think that''s likely to happen though. Do either of you?"


    He directed that last question to both men because Captain Krieger had the same look of shocked concern on his face as Sub-Commander Vynnson did.


    "What about running into a corporate patrol?" Krieger asked. "We encountered one near that station, who''s to say if there aren''t more lurking around?"


    "I think the rest of the fleet is more than capable of dealing with a few corporate ships if they pop up. If those are the only two arguments you two can come up with to delay this work, I''m going to move forward with my plan."


    He gave the pair time to raise any other arguments they might have, but neither was able to come up with anything worth worrying over.


    "Good. Captain Krieger, I want you to work with the other ships in the fleet to produce twenty bots. Once we drop out at our next system, maneuver one of the Eden ships near Vanguard and another near Valkyrie to act as control ships for the robots."


    "Wait. I thought you were just going to remove some weapon systems. If that''s the case, why do you need the bots?" Krieger asked.


    "This is not some half-hearted operation, Captain. I need to complete whatever work I can before we arrive in Unokane. That means removing the weapon systems completely and opening up those spaces for the new weapons. I will also be laying new power cabling to handle the extra load. I would start putting in the new capacitors and batteries for the new weapons as well, but the ships aren''t carrying an excess of those types of materials on board, and stopping to mine them would be detrimental to our timetable. Don''t worry, I will be programming the bots to focus on one turret at a time, leaving the remaining weapons in place for as long as possible. If my calculations are correct, the last turret should be disassembled and removed only two jumps from Unokane. Any questions?"


    "What about Valkyrie''s main laser?" Vynnson asked.


    Instead of answering, Alexander asked a question of his own. "How many issues have you had with the weapon?"


    The Sub-Commander grimaced. "Too many."


    Alexander nodded his avatar in understanding. When he first looked at the ship''s design schematic, he saw many things that could be improved but also things that would improve his own ships once he got around to producing them. The biggest issue on Valkyrie was the laser, or more specifically, the power feed systems that led to it. It had insufficient power cabling from the reactor, an outdated energy management system, and not enough power storage and discharge systems to allow the weapon to fire more than once a minute. He was surprised it worked at all after seeing all those issues. The laser itself was a decent design, perhaps on par with Alexander''s first attempt at the weapons when he outfitted the single one on the Fury so long ago.


    After having worked with the weapons for over a year, Alexander knew lasers were finicky. They required a multitude of components to function effectively. The power supply was the beating heart of a laser, without it you had nothing, but you also required a sufficiently powerful pump to dump the energy into the amplifying medium. Lastly, you needed ultra-fine optics to ensure a cohesive beam for as long as possible.


    If one of those systems was off, your weapon would be severely diminished. He suspected the Valkyries laser had a deficiency somewhere in those components as well.


    Alexander could simply correct that and leave the weapon in place, but he suspected it still wouldn''t be as efficient or as powerful as his lasers. Especially since he stole half of his upgrades from Dawn''s weapons.


    "It will likely have to be replaced as well," he added after going over the issues in his mind.


    Work began on both ships almost immediately. A few problems quickly arose during the initial survey of the ship.


    The main issue was accessing the service spaces where the power cabling ran through. They were far too small for Alexander to fit inside, and even the smallest crewmember aboard had nearly gotten stuck just trying to enter the first opening. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The current cabling must have been pulled through with the help of some sort of guide or laid in while the space was still open. Either way, it was too tight for anyone to crawl through now, and trying to push a guide wire through was proving difficult as it kept getting hung up on the other bundles of cables.


    Alexander even tried using his finger cables, but he soon learned they only extended twenty feet. He was forced to turn to the printer and fabrication systems he had brought on board. These weren''t the full-size units that the other ships in his fleet sported, so he was limited on what he could do with them. One thing he was able to do was build a smaller robot, that was about half the size of Dog, and remote control it through the tight passage.


    He sent those plans to the Valkyrie on their next stop because they were running into similar issues.


    Once that problem was taken care of, he was quickly able to determine the length of cabling he needed to produce.


    While the ships were flying to the next jump point, he sent this information to them so they could produce the high-energy cable he needed. The cable along with the bots he had ordered were all delivered to the two ships before they jumped again.


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    This did push their work back a full four days, but Alexander had known there would be problems trying to modify ships while on the move. He had included the possibility of delays in his planning, as long as there weren''t too many issues like this, his timeframe was still on target.


    ***


    Harlow was bored and annoyed. So far his fleet had struck three Asgardian systems, yet there had been no response from their fleets. He figured at least one would come to try and stop him by now.


    He had been in their space for over two weeks already, those uptight bastards should have responded.


    One of the sensor operators finally lifted his mood. "Emperor, four ships have jumped into the system and are heading toward us."


    "Finally," he said under his breath. Four ships weren''t a concern to him, but it would give his people the ability to blow off some steam after the lackluster raiding that had occurred so far.


    "If they want a fight, let''s give it to them," Harlow stated with a grin.


    His fleet jockeyed for the best position as they moved to engage the four destroyers that had come to challenge them.


    "¡­Um, Emperor, the four ships are turning away."


    "What!" He demanded, pounding his fist on the arm of his throne. "If they were just going to run, why bother engaging at all?"


    His question was answered shortly after as a field of projectiles flashed through his fleet, scoring a few hits, but otherwise doing little to damage his ships.


    "They have jumped, exalted one," the sensor operator stated, earning a withering glare from Harlow.


    The Asgardians were mocking him with these hit-and-run tactics. Well, if they wanted to play, he could play as well.

 Chapter 3-47

    When Harlow jumped into the next system, the Asgardian shadows weren''t far behind. They once again tried their tactics of firing off a volley of projectiles from a distance before turning away.He made sure his fleet immediately adjusted course on a random heading, and none of the projectiles even came close. To further rub in the fact that those ships were powerless to stop him, he had his people do the exact same thing to a small mining station in the system.


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    For a few minutes, he thought he had provoked a response when one of the ships turned and came back toward them again. It quickly turned around before getting too far from the other Asgardian ships though.


    Harlow smirked at that. It seemed he had hit a sore spot for one of the captains. He would simply have to pick at it again and again until they finally reacted.


    The next system was a much busier one and had actual planetary infrastructure and multiple space stations littered throughout.


    The four Asgardian destroyers were joined by three local frigates while the rest of the traffic fled.


    Not willing to give the Asgardians, who had been hounding him for the past two weeks, a chance to rearm, he split his fleet into three fleets that were all several times larger in number than the seven Asgardian ships present.


    He knew splitting up was a risky maneuver, but he wanted to try baiting the Asgardians into engaging.


    The two other fleets picked the largest space stations to attack while Harlow took his portion of the fleet straight for the planet.


    Unlike the pathetic orbital defenses of the prior Coalition worlds, this world sported a decent array of orbital cannons as well as missile defenses.


    Before he ever got within range of them though, he used the Asgardian''s own tactic against them and simply lobbed volley after volley of projectiles at the planet.


    He wasn''t worried about replacing his own ammunition stores, his supply ships were jumping behind the fleet at preplanned coordinates outside of each system to keep them out of harm''s reach.


    It seemed like bombarding the surface of the planet with railguns was too much for the Asgardian fleet to stomach as they finally made their move. They didn''t throw themselves at Harlow''s portion of the fleet to his utter annoyance.


    Instead, they went after one of the fleets he had sent to attack the stations.


    They looked like they were going to do a rapid flypast after they fired another volley of projectiles, but three of the gunships in that portion of Harlow''s fleet broke off and accelerated at their maximum speed in the same direction of travel for the Asgardian ships, spreading out before turning into mobile gravity traps.


    He would have preferred to keep this little trick a secret for longer, but he was getting annoyed with these Asgardians and his people were restless for blood.


    The Asgardian fleet realized it was a trap much too late as Harlow''s second fleet jumped in behind them, boxing the ships in.


    His fleet joined the fight only a few minutes later, but the battle was nearly over by that point. The Asgardians had managed to destroy the three gunships used to spring the trap as well as a destroyer and four of his frigates before finally falling to the concentrated firepower from over sixty ships.


    The losses to his fleet were minimal, his only complaint was the fact Harlow''s Might hadn''t been able to join in on the fun. In a fit of spite, his fleet spent the next week and a half in the system, reducing everything in space to floating piles of debris. Then he turned his eyes toward the planet and used a few of his remaining nukes to ensure the people who lived on it understood where they stood in humanity''s new pecking order.


    If they wanted to survive his rise to power, they would need to learn to bow and scrape for his mercy or he would wipe them from the universe, it was as simple as that.


    ***


    "Thank you for the information," Vyrik spoke into the comm unit in his ear. His face was a mask of stoic resolve, so Katalynn knew the news wasn''t good.


    "Well?" she asked when the man let his arm drop from the communication device.


    "Jarl Brynja Thaldis has fallen in battle," he stated flatly.


    "The man died well, I''m sure he is already feasting in the halls of Valhalla," she responded stoically.


    Jarl Thaldis'' death was a crushing loss for the Asgardian people and her. The man had been one of her staunchest supporters after she took over for her father, and his support had never wavered, even when she pulled the mission to attack Haven. She would never call the man a coward, that clearly wasn''t the case as he had gone down fighting, but she got the impression that he preferred to remain on his homeworld instead of chasing glory like the younger Jarls.


    "That''s not all, Lagertha. Our scouts jumped back in to survey the destruction after Harlow''s fleet left. He destroyed all orbital infrastructure and nuked the capital of Shalheim. The other population centers were left untouched, but we do not know the extent of the damage to the planet''s capital."


    She ground her teeth to keep from punching something. "Is Harlow heading along the route we predicted?" Harlow stopping to vent his ire at Thaldis'' probing attacks was a blessing in disguise. It had slowed his approach and given her fleet time to join up with Jarl Ylva Bergson''s fleet, bolstering their numbers with another ten vessels.


    Katalynn would like to say that her numbers now matched Harlow''s, but adding Jarl Bergson''s fleet only brought their ship numbers up to twenty-three, and she was still hesitant to rely on the durability of Kane''s ship, Wayward Soul. Not that she would risk a slugging match between her smaller fleet and Harlow''s nearly one hundred ships even if she thought an Asgardian ship was worth three of the pirates.


    Thaldis had orders to harass and monitor Harlow but to not engage. Something obviously changed since the man was now dead.


    "Yes, Harlow is still heading along the quickest chain of systems to Eden''s End. If we want to give Jarl Kane time to refit Valkyrie, we need to delay Harlow by at least two more weeks. More would be better," Vyrik stated.


    "Relay a message to our scouts and see if any of them can find out how the Jarl''s fleet ended up in direct combat. Once that''s done, get a message to Ylva to see if she''s ready."


    Katalynn needed to keep an eye on Jarl Ylva Bergson, she was young and inexperienced, and might still hold a grudge against Katalynn for the death of her father. The duel was sanctioned but some people never truly got over a loss like that.


    She doubted Ylva would do anything as abhorrent as Isbjorn had done, the woman was far too much like her father for that. The former Yarl Bergson was a diehard traditionalist and would die before stooping to such underhanded methods, and his daughter was raised the same way. It wasn''t having the woman turn traitor that concerned Katalynn, it was the thought of Ylva hesitating at just the wrong time.


    Replacing the woman with a more seasoned commander wasn''t an option. Even if it was, that would undermine the trust of her other commanders. Katalynn would need to keep her in charge and hope for the best.


    ***


    They arrived at their destination a week and a half later.


    "Report," Katalynn said as her people quickly scanned the system for threats.


    "Our scout has yet to arrive from the next system over," Vyrik confirmed.


    That meant Harlow was still on his way and they had time to lay a bit of a trap.


    It took a full day for the scout to arrive with information on Harlow''s fleet and an update from Shalheim.


    "It appears Harlow has taken the gravity anchor traps to the next level and simply outfitted some of his gunships with additional gravity plating. On a positive note, the gunships will be completely helpless when they are powering those extra plates."


    Katalynn grunted at her tactician''s words. She would not call that much of a positive.


    "Is Harlow still using the standard jump points?" she asked. The pirate was so sure of his superiority that he had been entering systems like they were of no concern to him. If he was still doing that, she would make him regret that decision.


    "Yes. The scouts have even given a rough estimate of his arrival since the last system contained no Asgardian infrastructure to keep Harlow and his people engaged."


    "Alright. Order the fleet into position and let''s lay out our trap."


    There was no guarantee it would work, but even if it didn''t, that would be fine. Her goal wasn''t to cause as much damage as possible, however, she wouldn''t say no to that occurring. Her goal was to simply make Harlow cautious, thus slowing him down. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Setting up the missiles so they would loiter was a lot of work on the standard Asgardian weapons. Not so much with Kane''s though. She was surprised by how easy it was to program them to do what she wanted. If the weapons worked, she may need to contract Kane for more.


    Once the missiles were set to rendezvous near the jump point at roughly the time Harlow was set to emerge, all of her ships pulled back and fired off multiple waves of projectiles, all set to saturate that emergence area with projectiles.


    It was a long shot that anything would hit because the emergence area of a jump point was a large section of space, which is why space mines weren''t ever used, but she had hope in this plan because of its unexpectedness.


    The first missiles flew through the space where Harlow should have appeared without Harlow''s fleet arriving, but soon his ships started to come out of warp.


    As soon as the weapons detected the ships emerging from FTL, the oncoming missiles fired off their rockets and did their best to angle toward their targets, but most were going too fast to change course that far.


    As more of Harlow''s ships appeared, the missiles started to get hit by ECM as the enemy ships realized what was coming toward them, further reducing their effectiveness.


    The only weapons which were unaffected by the ECM were Kane''s which had also been launched last. The BSE missiles locked onto targets and fired off their engines, as their onboard computers fought against both the ECM and the flak that was quickly filling the space.


    Four of the weapons found their targets and exploded. One even hit Harlow''s ugly dreadnaught, blowing a large gash out of the front of the ship. While his capital ship was mainly unharmed by the missile barrage, the other three frigates weren''t as lucky.


    Two of the vessels had broken apart due to secondary explosions from their own weapons while the third had a gaping hole along its side as air, debris, and bodies likely tumbled out into space. If this was the final result of their efforts, she would have been happy, but they still had one more surprise for the pirate fleet.


    The first round of kinetics passed through the arrival area as the pirates were in chaos.


    From their distant vantage point, it was hard to tell what was going on, but she thought she saw a few bright flashes signifying hits.


    Three more waves of projectiles flew through space, but only one more of Harlow''s ships exploded, either from prior damage or a lucky shot. Not that it mattered. Dead was dead.


    "That''s for Jarl Thaldis and Shalheim," she stated proudly.


    Her statement earned a round of cheers from the crew before they quickly settled.


    "Move us to the jump point, we''re done here." Even if Harlow was somehow dumb enough to fall for the trap again, her ships did not have the reserves of ammo to make it a reality. They had used a full third of their onboard supply to set up this trap, and she had to conserve what they had left if she wanted it to last long enough to reach Unokane while utilizing it effectively to force Harlow to stick to a cautious approach.

 Chapter 3-48

    Yulia raced through the halls in excitement. Alex was returning today! It had been five months since she had seen him last and until last night, she hadn''t spoken with him in over two months. He had contacted her from Asgard, the planet he was visiting, and that was pretty neat. She knew communication between planets was possible but she never really had the opportunity to speak with anyone across such vast distances in real time. She had sent messages to her friends back on Petrov Station before they came to Eden''s End, but those were just messages.She wished she could have gone with Alex to experience what a new world was like. Sure she had Eden''s End, and Petrov Station, but that was different because she lived there. She wished to explore other worlds and see other sunsets and sunrises. Alex promised to take her to Asgard one day when she was older.


    That would be cool.


    Alex couldn''t take her this time because the mission could be dangerous, but he didn''t sound too concerned when he left. That put most of her fears to rest, and his call, after they arrived, eased any other worries she still held onto.


    "Watch out!" someone yelled as she skirted around them in the hallway.


    "Sorry!" she shouted back, not turning or slowing down. Dog clanked loudly behind her, forcing people to quickly step aside or be bowled over by the robot.


    Yulia was in a hurry because she wanted to show Alex what she had been up to while he was gone. She did have to use some of his resources and printers as well as help from Mr. Lucas and the nice older lady, Mrs. Lund, but she was hoping he would overlook that when he saw what she had built.


    It wasn''t easy either. She had spent the entire time Alex was gone using all of the knowledge he had taught her to make it work properly, and she still needed to complete the last parts of the assembly.


    That was on her. She had gotten distracted by a racing tournament over the last couple of weeks. Her biggest rival, Charlie had beaten her in the first race of the series, but she managed a close win in the second. They kept splitting first-place finishes until the fifth and final race where she got a bit too close to one of the walls and damaged one of her axles. She fell back to eighth place after that and Charlie went on to win the tournament and the prize money that her friends had talked her into putting up.


    With that finish, she dropped back to third place and one of the older girls from the orphanage, Cho, took second.


    Yulia was initially upset by the loss but quickly remembered what Alex had told her. "If you lose, it just means that you need to figure out why and use that knowledge to improve for the next time."


    With that in mind, she shook the winner''s hands and gave each of them the data chips with their winnings on them.


    Cho gave her a hug after that and said she would be joining the academy that Alex had set up.


    Yulia wished the girl well. She wanted to join as well but she was only turning twelve this year and was still too young. Her friend Markus was getting close to being old enough though. Once he turned sixteen in a few months, he would be joining the academy. That was pretty much a given since all her friend seemed to do was study the spacer textbooks that his mother gave to him.


    Now that she thought about it, she needed to ask if Sarah and Claire had any intention of joining the academy. They didn''t seem all that interested in engineering or space, but they had surprised her before, so it was best just to ask.


    She shook those thoughts away as she pressed her hand to the scanner in Alex''s workshop. The door slid open and she hurried inside. Dog came in behind her, scanning for any threats. He sort of did that everywhere now.


    "Hurry up slowpoke or I won''t be able to finish in time for his arrival."


    Dog barked once and hurried over to her. She needed his help because some of the items were hard to carry by herself. She would also need help putting the thing on.


    Occasionally when she got annoyed with her friends or simply missed Alex, she came down to his workshop and looked through his folders. They were all secured, but Alex had given her access to the workshop in case of an emergency. It was mostly so she could hide in that weird secret room, but she didn''t like going in there. One day she found out that her access also gave her full access to all of Alex''s programs and files.


    So she just sort of started looking through them one day, marveling at the designs and machines he had come up with but had never built. Then she found a folder called Yulia. Well, she couldn''t not open it with a name like that.


    Inside the folder were designs of stuff specifically for her. Her go-carts were in there, along with Dog''s designs. Then she found the super nifty suit design. She pulled that up on Alex''s interactive holo and tried it on. As she was laughing and moving about on the holo-pad, Mr. Lucas happened to show up.


    "I don''t think Alex would be happy to find you playing around in here," the man said before looking at what she was doing. "What is that?"


    She managed to look embarrassed before responding. "It''s a suit Alex built for me."


    The man looked slightly taken aback by that information and he walked over to the folder to examine the suit schematics. "Huh, so it is."


    Since the man didn''t scold her, she got the idea to ask him if she could make it.


    It had taken some convincing, and a few changes to some of the materials of the augmented suit, but she finally convinced Mr. Lucas to assist. Mrs. Lund helped pick out appropriate materials to replace the suit''s original metals. She didn''t see what the point was until Mr. Lucas pointed out that wearing an armored augment suit required a permit and she would have to ask his brother for one if she wanted to stick with Alex''s original design.


    She had stuck her tongue out in distaste at that idea, making the man chuckle.


    Unfortunately, Alex hadn''t completed the design, so it wasn''t print-ready, which meant she had to print most of the parts separately and then figure out how they fit together. She had plenty of experience doing this though, and she had the design schematic, so it wasn''t all that complicated.


    Dog and Mr. Lucas helped her with the electronics and moving parts.


    In a little stand was the bright yellow augment suit that she was going to surprise Alex with. She picked up some tools and the last few replacement plastic armor pieces and quickly got to work putting them in place. She just knew Alex was going to be surprised when he saw her wearing this.


    ***


    The BSE fleet had entered Unokane a day and a half ago and had made their way to the refueling station.


    It would take time to top everyone else off, but Valkyrie and Vanguard would both be sticking around for their upgrades. Both ships looked like hollowed-out junkers at this point, having had all their guns, including their point defenses removed and recycled.


    It would have been preferable to use the shipyard for this work, but the station was still under construction. Even half a year hadn''t been long enough to complete the large installation. It was well on its way though with over half the substructure laid out. Soon some thrusters would need to be added to ensure the structure didn''t fall into the atmosphere. Right now, a bunch of ion drives powered by batteries and solar cells were keeping the station in orbit.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t think about the station at the moment as all of his focus and efforts needed to go toward installing the new systems on both ships.


    As soon as they docked, the swarm of bots he retasked from working on the station surged around the two large ships, looking like buzzing flies around a cow.


    He hadn''t been able to get proper measurements of the turret openings before leaving Asgard space, so the information he had sent Lucas was a request to print a specific file from a specific folder in his workshop.


    The folder contained designs for a much larger laser system, specifically designed for the cruisers they had recovered from the pirates. He had had plenty of time to measure those turret openings since he had needed to in order to design the railguns that he had been forced to use as they were quicker to implement than lasers at the time.


    His hope was that the Valkyrie''s openings were the same. They should be, based on the designs he saw, but he couldn''t be certain the Asgardians'' tolerances were as tight as his. Any gaps would need additional armor plating to protect those areas. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As the bots were doing their measurements, Alexander joined the rest of the crew for the ride planetside. It took six shuttle trips to take everyone, leaving him and Vynnson as the last two aboard.


    As the two waited for Branston to return and pick them up, the taciturn man spoke. "I now see why the Lagertha has put her trust in you to make this happen. You do not delay or waste time. It is a good trait for an Asgardian to have."


    Alexander looked over at the man, a bit of shock showing on his avatar''s face. "Was that a compliment?"


    The man grunted softly but failed to elaborate. To say the Sub-Commander had been prickly during the journey would be an understatement. He found most of the crew to be lackluster in their duties and was never shy of pointing that fact out to them. If the man hadn''t also pointed out ways for them to improve their work, Alexander would have stepped in and told him to keep his mouth shut.


    Vynnson turned out to be a very good teacher and the crew''s aptitude with the ship''s systems improved by quite a lot during their journey home.


    Soon enough their shuttle arrived and the two stepped aboard and secured themselves.


    The awkward silence down was a bit too much for Alexander so he tried his hand at some small talk with the commander. "So, first time visiting Eden''s End?"


    "No," the man replied matter of factly.


    "¡­Oh, right, you were with the Lagertha the last time." He mentally chastised himself for the stupid question.


    "No, I visited once before with my father back when King Char first gifted the facility to the drifters. I was four at the time."


    That was all the man said about that, and Alexander felt even more awkward about asking for more details. Thankfully their trip soon ended and the pair stepped off the shuttle.


    Vynnson wore a mask around his neck but didn''t bother placing it over his mouth or nose, instead, he controlled his breathing as he looked around.


    Alexander couldn''t help looking around either. There were a lot of changes to the facility since he had last been here. The first major one was the arrival dome which now stood directly in front of them where the old landing pad had been. Beyond that and off to one side was the start of the academy dome. Yi Na had wasted no time getting those facilities started it seemed.


    As Alexander was still admiring the changes, Haldric simply headed for the entrance.


    As they entered, Alexander was rushed by a four-and-a-half-foot humanoid in bright yellow armor. Vynnson reacted immediately, pulling a blade and readying himself against the oncoming threat. Thankfully, Alexander was quick to figure out what was going on and stepped between the man''s bared weapon and his daughter''s rushing form.


    The girl laughed as she threw herself into him as hard and as fast as the augment gear would allow. He heard her grunt beneath the suit as he hardly moved upon impact. He picked her up, suit and all.


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    "You know this attacker?" Vynnson asked, his blade still held at the ready.


    "Put that thing away," Alexander admonished the commander. "And this attacker is my daughter."


    The man glanced at Yulia before sliding the blade back in a sheath. "She will make a fine warrior one day," the man responded.


    Not if Alexander could help it.


    He returned the girl''s hug and set her down. "And where did this come from?" he asked as he gestured to the augment gear. He knew it was his design, but he doubted she had the ability to create the thing entirely by herself.


    She twirled around and faced him again. "Do you like it? Mr. Lucas helped me make the changes to it so grumpy old Mr. Damien couldn''t prevent me from using it to greet you."


    It sounded like he needed to have a discussion with Lucas about what constituted proper toys for children.


    "It''s amazing," he replied. "Did you put it together all by yourself?"


    "Mostly," she admitted. "Dog helped with the heavy parts, and Mr. Lucas helped with the electronics and moving bits."


    Alexander could tell by her speed and the force of her tackle-hug that the augment suit had not been limited in any way. At least Lucas hadn''t been foolish enough to let her run around with the armor plates. The small suit may not look like much, but it was far more capable than even the suits he had provided the Hawks. Most of the changes to Yulia''s suit were experimental though, and he hadn''t had time to thoroughly test them. He also figured he wouldn''t need to anytime soon.


    With those upgrades, Yulia''s suit was as strong and fast as a suit built for an adult. That meant nothing on Eden''s End would be able to match her since the security forces only had light augment gear.


    He continued chatting with the lively girl as the new arrivals went through processing.


    Getting through the arrival process took a bit. It was mostly how to handle the diplomatic nature of their visitors that held things up. Asgardians always carried a blade around, no matter what, and with their new standing as allies and fellow Asgardians, some considerations had to be added to their rules to allow for this.


    Allowing the carrying of a blade wasn''t much different than allowing the locals to carry stun sticks but it still took some talking to convince Damien of this.


    Considering they would all be quarantined in the new area for half of their time there and the fact that some of the locals carried small knives around for utility tasks, Damien finally agreed to allow it.


    Theodore Pembrooke tried to sneak away once he was done with processing, but Alexander was quick to intercept the man.


    "I appreciate your help on this mission," Alexander told the man.


    "You act as if I had a choice," the man grumbled.


    "You did. You could have done the bare minimum to squeak by, but you actually put effort into the tasks I gave you. You also provided me with valuable information I didn''t even know I needed to know. I admit it has crossed my mind a time or two that you might be playing the long game here, but I think you''ve earned enough trust for me to make your position permanent. Congratulations, Mr. Pembrooke, you are officially being promoted to my head of relations."


    The man froze at the words. It seemed he was expecting something else.


    "Wait, you''re serious?" the former Omni employee asked. "This isn''t some cruel joke?"


    "We''ve spent the last five months together, Mr. Pembrooke, have I ever given you the impression that I enjoy cruelty in any form?"


    "No," the man said after thinking about it for a bit. "But you hardly know me and now you are assigning me a position as the head of a department. I don''t even know what sort of duties a head of relations has, but it can''t be something simple."


    "We''ll discuss your responsibilities over the next week or so. For now, I want to spend time with my daughter." With that, Alexander left the man behind and joined Yulia, who waited eagerly off to the side.

 Chapter 3-49

    Harlow waited with the majority of his fleet as his scouts checked the next system. It irked him that he had to move forward with much more caution now, but it was clear the Asgardians weren''t taking him lightly.That was both good and bad. He had hoped the Asgardians'' desire to enter their vaunted afterlife by dying in battle would have had them throwing themselves at his fleet. They weren''t doing that though. Instead, they were fighting dirty and laying traps.


    As a former pirate, he could appreciate that sort of tactic. As the one on the receiving end, it infuriated him. If the Asgardians wanted to play using pirate tactics, he would show them just how woefully unprepared they were.


    "The scouts are back, your eminence. They report that the enemy fleet has set up a gravity trap, but they also have their fleet coordinates."


    Harlow smiled. "Get us a jump point above their position and far enough out that they can''t detect us."


    His fleet maneuvered and jumped to the new coordinates before turning and launching their own volley of long-range projectiles. He even included one of the plasma missiles to hopefully ensure a kill.


    Once the volley was launched, they waited the appropriate amount of time and jumped into the enemy trap. One way to keep your enemy where you wanted them was to ensure they had a reason to stay there.


    The fleet jumped in and began turning toward the Asgardian fleet. The enemy fleet was already firing from beyond its maximum range, but Harlow smiled in triumph. They had stayed, which is all he had desired from this engagement.


    They should have realized right away that his fleet''s angle of entry into the system was odd.


    His fleet opened fire on the Asgardians who were already preparing to jump. Before they could, pinpricks of light sparked through the darkness as rounds hit their targets. His fleet had far more guns to fill the space with incoming ordnance, and actual coordinates to aim for, so his fleet''s fire from beyond detection range had been far more concentrated.


    Then the object he had been waiting for arrived as a miniature sun bloomed in the distance and raced toward one of the ships.


    The larger ship jumped before the ball of plasma arrived, but the ship below it wasn''t as lucky. The weapon tore through the destroyer''s rear, slagging all of its engines.


    He thought he might have a target to sick his assault teams on, but the ship detonated shortly before the final ship jumped.


    Harlow cursed under his breath. Capturing an Asgardian ship would have been a major win. Either way, his fleet survived the encounter with only minor damage and no ships lost, while the Asgardians had lost three ships. The destroyer, a frigate, and a corvette. It didn''t make up for the losses he suffered from their trap, but that didn''t matter. If this came down to a simple war of attrition, he had more than enough ships to toss into the grinder.


    ***


    Katalynn cursed internally. She hadn''t thought Harlow would fall for the gravity trap, but they needed to make it look believable. What she hadn''t planned for was him quickly turning around and using their own tactic to his advantage.


    She had realized something was wrong as soon as Harlow''s fleet had jumped in and appeared on their sensors, but by then it was too late to warn the rest of the fleet.


    Wayward Soul had barely jumped in time as Harlow''s newest weapon streaked toward them. One of Ylva''s ships wasn''t as lucky.


    The other two ships that were lost belonged to Katalynn, bringing her fleet size down to only eleven ships now. Even with Ylva''s ships, they were now down to only twenty remaining. The rest of the systems between here and Eden''s End were empty, so she couldn''t rely on any reinforcements along the route unless one of the other Jarls had managed to get some ships over to this side of space.


    Considering how long it took the news to travel, she doubted that would be the case.


    "We can''t sustain losses like this," Vyrik stated as he frowned at the tactical display on his terminal.


    Unfortunately, Kane''s cruiser did not have a tactical room like Valkyrie nor did it boast this tac-display that he had spoken of. There hadn''t been time to tour the frigates to see if those would have been useful in a situation like this, but she didn''t have it so she needed to work with what they did have.


    "I''m open to ideas," she said as she sent orders to the fleet to maneuver and jump to the next system.


    "If he continues his cautious approach to the next system, we may not need to do anything. If he reverts to his aggressive posture after this win, we''ll need to entice him into a battle."


    She grimaced at that. No matter how well a direct confrontation went, they were going to lose ships. "We only get one shot at that," she stated. "After we''re forced into a battle, we are likely to lose enough ships that he will no longer perceive us as a big enough threat to slow his approach."


    "That is true," Vyrik admitted. "But we have little other choice. We can''t split our fleets to pincer him, nor can we approach so long as he has those plasma missiles. Our tactics remain the same, we must pummel him at long range and hope for some kills before he returns the favor. Once we retreat from that engagement, I suggest we make our best speed to Eden''s End."


    "Very well. Send the updated orders to the fleet once we arrive in the next system. If we have to make our stand, I want everyone ready." They were going to lose more people, Kane better have spent that additional time wisely.


    ***


    Harlow once again sent his scouts ahead. This time they reported that the Asgardian fleet was orbiting a large gas giant but also maneuvering to make it harder to track their exact positions.


    The planet and their maneuvering would make sending blind volleys their way completely useless, but it also meant that they were trapped in a gravity well.


    He knew it was likely some sort of trap to lure him into the same gravity well, but if they wanted to play, he would play.


    "Get us a jump point as close to the planet as possible, preferably behind their fleet."


    After the calculations were made, his fleet jumped in, but instead of finding the Asgardian fleet stuck in the gravity well of the planet, they found them arrayed further out, effectively behind them.


    He cursed, they must have spotted one of his scouts and repositioned. "Get the fleet turned around, now!" he ordered.


    Weapons fire tore into his ships as they did their best to reorient. One ship blew up, followed closely by another. "Get the damn mobile gravity generator ships out there, I want that fleet locked down!" sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A third ship exploded in his fleet before they were finally able to turn enough and fire missiles at the distant enemy ships.


    "Fire two plasma missiles," he demanded. "Aim for the two largest ships, I want them out of this fight."


    As the battle evolved, the enemy fleet kept pulling away from the planet and Harlow''s slow-to-react fleet.


    None of the missiles made it to their targets and even the plasma missiles were destroyed before they arrived. A few of the gravity ships did make it within range, but the main cruiser quickly took care of those, nullifying the trap.


    With firepower like that, this had to be one of the Jarl''s flagships. He ordered all his ships to focus fire on that vessel. Before his fleet could shift fire, the Asgardians jumped, with the cruiser being the last to leave. Find more to read at My Virtual Library Empire


    In a fit of rage, he smashed his fist into the closest thing he could find, which happened to be the unfortunate face of one of his attendants. The man''s nose gave a satisfying crunch and spray of blood as his fist crashed into it.


    Another attendant handed him a towel to wipe the blood from his hand.


    "Who calculated our jump?" he asked calmly as he wiped the blood from his hand.


    When nobody spoke up, he looked over at his second in command. The man nodded and walked over to a workstation where he set his hand on the shoulder of a very nervous-looking individual.


    "Do we have someone who can replace him?" Harlow asked, tossing the now bloodied rag back at his attendant.


    "Yes, your excellence," his second-in-command replied.


    "Good. Dispose of him and retrieve his replacement."


    His second in command smiled while the unfortunate man, whom Harlow had pinned this failure on, screamed while being dragged away. The man tried to put up a fight, but his second beat him senseless.


    Harlow wished he had more competent men to fill out his ranks, but he needed as many ships crewed by his loyal people as possible and so had spread them across his fleets. The rest of the crews were filled with slaves or captured pirate crews from when he first took Haven. He knew that relying on slaves for anything was a bad idea, but he had no other choice if he wanted to field so many ships and fleets.


    A new man was soon dragged in and shoved into the pilot''s workstation.


    "If you don''t wish to end up like the previous occupant of that seat, I suggest you do a better job of calculating out jump exits," Harlow stated magnanimously. "Now get us coordinates for the fastest jump routes to our end destination. I''m done playing with the Asgardians. If they want to stop us, they will have to actually stay and fight for a change."


    ***


    When Katalynn saw Harlow''s fleet jump in all at once in the next system, she hid her grimace.


    "Our attempts to slow him down have failed. Get us to Eden''s End as fast as possible. We will make our stand there."


    "Kane will not be happy about that," Vyrik noted quietly.


    "That''s too bad for him. We''ve done as much as we can to slow Harlow down. Without the addition of Kane''s ships, there isn''t anything else we can do."


    Their fleet quickly jumped to the next system, or close to it before waiting for the jump drive to reset and jumping again almost immediately.


    It wasn''t recommended to do this because you could burn out a jump drive, but they needed to get to Eden''s End as fast as possible to coordinate the defense of the system.


    Even with their recklessly fast jumping, it took three days to arrive at the outskirts of Unokane.


    "Is this really the same system we attacked?" Vyrik asked in surprise.


    Katalynn was glad she wasn''t the only one to be surprised by the changes. She knew some of what Kane was up to thanks to Loki, but this was beyond even what their intel stated.


    Luckily, Kane''s ship had a transponder and she had turned it on, so instead of being greeted by hostile fire, a message arrived from one of the nearby satellites.


    "This is an automated message. Please follow the flight path provided. If no other information is included, assume your ship is not yet complete. We will discuss specifics when you arrive in a parking orbit around the moon closest to Eden''s End. You may approach the planet in a single ship."


    Despite the seriousness of their arrival, she snorted at Kane''s words. It was obviously meant to mirror her actions at Asgard. She supposed that was only fair, but she would be bringing two ships, Kane''s and Jarl Ylva''s. It would be disrespectful not to include a Jarl in any tactical meetings.

 Chapter 3-50

    Alexander was aboard Vanguard overseeing the replacement of the ship''s reactor and thruster assembly so he could upgrade them from the underpowered pulsed fusion drives to the newer more powerful compressed plasma ejection system when his radio buzzed to life."Alex, this is traffic control, the Asgardian fleet has arrived." S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What!" he said in surprise, getting looks of concern from the other engineers who were assembling and testing the reactor.


    He waved them back to their work and picked up his radio. "Thanks for notifying me. Have you already contacted the other captains?" With the possibility of Harlow arriving at any time, he had the fleet on half standby with crews rotating out to stay fresh. This had come as a recommendation from both Captain Krieger and Sub-Commander Vynnson.


    "The ships on standby are alerted, I wanted to alert you before communicating to the other captains."


    He thanked the traffic control operator and hurried out of the reactor section of the Vanguard.


    It was too soon. He needed at least another week and a half to finish the work he had started on both ships. He headed toward the bridge to use the long-range radio. If Harlow was due to arrive soon, he wanted everyone to be prepared.


    Despite the crew being on downtime, the ship was fully powered up and the weapons were operational. Those had been the first things to get installed, and because of his foresight to remove them en route, he had shaved off more time than even he thought possible.


    The massive new laser cannons went in with little trouble. The wiring was a mess but it was functional, that was all he cared about for now.


    All six laser turrets on Vanguard were currently slaved to the planetary defense grid. Alexander hadn''t done the math, but if he had to guess, he would say those six turrets were probably worth a quarter of the planetary defense grid in output. He wanted to upgrade the orbitals at some point so they had the newest improvements but now was not the time. The additional power of Vanguard''s lasers also gave them increased range, but he wouldn''t know how much more until they were tested in combat.


    With that extra time, he saved by removing the turrets during their trip back, he had decided to upgrade both ships with a supercomputer and tac-display. Vanguard also got the new reactor and engines. Those last two were nearly complete and were being tested. It was the supercomputer integration that was delaying the completion of both vessels.


    Running the fiber optic cable to handle the data load was extremely time-consuming. Unlike the power cabling which ran through sealable tunnels, he had been forced to hang the data cables through the corridors because the rat''s nest of power cabling was making it impossible to fit the new data cables through and there wasn''t time to pull the power cabling back out to clean it up.


    Holes had to be cut in bulkheads and sealed so they could still open and close those hatches in an emergency, which further increased the time it took to run the cabling.


    He really wished he could have his larger bots assist, but he had about as many people on the ship as he could without them stepping on each other''s toes. His smaller bots were helping with some of the workload and were cutting neat little holes in the bulkheads ahead of the workers laying the cables.


    The bridge was the first to get the new access, so it was fully integrated already and could fight as it was, it just wouldn''t be as efficient.


    A slightly cobbled-together tac display greeted him when he arrived.


    The system wasn''t as nice as the purpose-built ones on the Eden ships, but it was exponentially better than the crappy terminal displays that the ship had before. Even the Sub-Commander had been impressed by the tac-display that he installed on Valkyrie. Despite that, Vynnson had refused to allow him to remove the Asgardian version in the tactical command room until he was sure the new one worked during combat operations.


    That was fine with Alexander. He wasn''t all that happy with the temporary placements either. If he had his way, he would have stripped both ships to bare skeletons and built from the ground up.


    He made his way over to the captain''s seat and opened up the communication line.


    "Mingyu, It''s time to bring everyone in. I''ve already sent the return command to the control ships. You should see them pulling back around the same time you receive this message. I''m going to have them collect their bots and push hard toward Eden''s End since I need a few more to help speed up the construction efforts. You shouldn''t need to rush, but keep your sensors at full blast, we may have unwanted company sooner than we would like. Kane out."


    Alexander could have pulled those thirty mining bots back when he first arrived and they might have helped to finish construction by now, but too many bots could get in each other''s way. He also needed to ensure a steady supply of material for the ship upgrades.


    Lucas had done a good job of keeping the construction projects going in his absence, but that meant there was very little material stockpiled when they arrived.


    That was one of the reasons Alexander had sent the Qcomm message to him before they left Asgard. He needed to make sure Lucas shifted production priority to the guns, which he had.


    The other reason Alexander had left the bots out there to mine was that he would have been tempted to try and upgrade another ship with the time he had left if the construction capacity was available to him. That would have been bad. If he had started another ship when he wanted to, it would likely still be down its weapons at this point with at least another month before the new ones could have been installed and wired in.


    He was glad he left the bots out there to keep producing material. It also kept the station progress moving forward with any of the unused bots.


    Alexander would have loved to arm the station, but that wasn''t possible quite yet. The structure was barely staying in orbit as it was and that was because he had placed the old reactor and thrusters from the Vanguard onto the back of the construction. There wasn''t even a dedicated space for a computer core yet. The computer core Alexander had shoved into it was a modified robot with three of his pseudo-computronics modules stuck into it and an armored shell over the unit to help protect it.


    While he was choosing to pull back the mining bots now, the extra bots weren''t coming to help finish the ships. They wouldn''t fit inside the tight confines of Valkyrie very easily and Vanguard had only some wiring and tests on the new engines to complete. The unfinished work on both of those vessels could be completed by the mini-bots and engineers.


    Alexander needed the bots for another purpose.


    The addition of the repair bots to the fleet had come in extremely helpful during the ship recovery mission. So helpful in fact that Krieger had asked him to outfit each ship with multiple units if possible.


    Alexander loved the idea, but with resources being so short, he was sort of forced to hold off. Now that the mining was wrapping up to prepare for hostile activity, he might as well resync the bots to the ships with computer cores.


    He would need to discuss this with the Sub Commander as it applied to Valkyrie, but he was sure he could talk the man into taking on some of the extremely helpful machines.


    ***


    Time seemed to race by as Alexander helped the engineers finish the final installation and testing of the reactor and drive unit. Before he knew it, he was getting another message from traffic control.


    "Alex, Wayward Soul is entering orbit along with another ship belonging to a Jarl Ylva Bergson. I figured you might want to know so you can get your ass down here and greet them," Lucas said over the radio.


    If Alexander could have flushed in embarrassment, he would have. He quickly excused himself from the work and hurried to the airlock. All of the ship-specific shuttles were busy moving crew back and forth, so he was forced to fly himself down on the one dedicated to the refueling station.


    He landed well ahead of the Lagertha and the other Jarl, giving him time to meet with his own advisors to talk about what to expect.


    At least he hadn''t forgotten to implement some sort of visiting dignitary clause so they could bypass the thirty-day waiting period.


    The rest of the issues with the Asgardians had been hammered out by Theo over the last few months.


    The man was every bit as good at dealing with people as Alexander had thought. There had been a conversation between just the two of them about what exactly the man''s role had been at Omni. When Pembrooke told him he wore whatever hat Omni wanted him to, that had been a bit of a surprise.


    More surprising was the fact that Theo offered Alexander the same deal.


    "Look," Theo had stated. "Some day a problem is going to come along that you can''t deal with or be seen dealing with personally. In those sorts of cases, a man like me is needed. I probably won''t be able to ply my trade inside STO space, but you say the word and I''ll make it happen here or in Asgardian space."


    Alexander had asked Pembrooke to put that option on hold for now. He would prefer never to go down that route because that sounded like something the corporations would do, but he couldn''t say for sure if something like that would ever be needed. His life would have been a thousand times better if he had someone like Theo or even Dalton who could have simply eliminated Harlow for him.


    "Is everything ready?" Alexander asked as he stepped into the meeting room.


    There was no fancy office space or ritual areas for Alexander and thankfully Asgardian tradition only demanded such things on Asgard. That didn''t mean that Theo hadn''t improved the space though.


    On the far wall, encased in the same transparent ceramic used in the dome and spaceships, was Alexander''s symbol of office. Below that was a flag of white and blue signifying BSE''s corporate colors. Pembrooke had asked him for those as well as a corporate logo, but Alexander had never even bothered with all that nonsense.


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    The man sighed at that and just used the ship colors.


    He hadn''t seen any sort of Asgardian flag or colors so he assumed they just didn''t use one.


    The rest of the room was rather sparse, with a circular table that could fit up to ten people or more like nine people and a large robot.


    "Everything is ready," Theo replied. "It''s been ready for weeks. You would know that if you just read the daily briefs I send you."


    "I''m sorry. I''ve been a bit preoccupied if you haven''t noticed."


    "Uh-huh," the man said, not sounding convinced. "Are you going to also tell me that a robot alien AI is incapable of multitasking?"


    This time Alexander sighed. "I''m not an alien or an AI." The man had hounded him about his inefficient schedule ever since Alexander had filled him in on his open secret.


    "Oh, but you can multitask. Good, I was starting to think you had gone defective. Read the reports or I''ll stop wasting my time preparing them."


    Alexander had also noticed Pembrooke''s entire demeanor towards him had changed when he learned about his origin. He didn''t know if this was Pembrooke''s true self or just another persona he used to get Alexander to do what he asked of him. Either way, it was working. Alexander felt bad about not looking at the reports now.


    "I promise I will go over them tonight, assuming we aren''t getting attacked immediately."


    The man seemed mollified by that. "You should be there to greet the Lagertha when she arrives."


    He nodded his avatar in understanding and the two hurried to the arrival center.

 Chapter 3-51

    Alexander and Theo arrived at the intake center before their guests touched down. There was a security room off to the side and he passed his badge to the door controller and stepped inside.The guard monitoring the cameras for the intake area and landing field looked over and nodded to him before moving aside to let Alexander see the holo-display better.


    It wasn''t long before three shuttles landed on the platform.


    "Three?" Alexander asked, turning to Pembrooke.


    "I assume one is for the Lagertha and her advisors aboard the Wayward Soul. The second shuttle likely contains Sub-Commander Vynnson. I do not know who would be aboard the third, but I assume their inclusion was purposeful," Theo stated.


    It made sense to Alexander when laid out like that. Soon the shuttles disgorged their passengers.


    "That''s our cue," Alexander stated, giving his thanks to the security guard before he turned to leave. Theo trailed behind Alexander as he exited the room and made his way toward the main entrance.


    Unlike most arrivals, this one was a bit special and there was an honor guard of Damien''s most trusted people in attendance.


    Katalynn Char was the first through the airlock, her stride quick and purposeful, but not hurried. She barely even glanced at the armed guards flanking the sides of the entry as they gave a customary Asgardian salute, which was a raised fist pressed over the heart.


    Alexander wanted to turn to Pembrooke and tell him, "See, I read some of your reports. I know what that gesture signifies." Instead, he stayed silent as the group of eight people strode towards him.


    "Lagertha Char," he said in greeting. "I know who your advisors are, but I am unfamiliar with your other guests."


    Before the leader of the Asgardians could speak, an almost equally as tall, but not nearly as muscled woman pushed her way to the front of the group.


    "So," the woman stated dismissively, "you are this new outsider turned Jarl that I keep hearing about. You may address me as Jarl Ylva Bergson."


    Seeing as how the woman hadn''t bothered to address him properly, even though she must know his name, Alexander chose to respond in kind. "You are the first Jarl I''ve met." He turned to Katalynn. "Are all the Jarls as rude as this one?"


    Ylva laughed. "This one has some spine. I approve."


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    Alexander didn''t miss the minute upward twitch of Katalynn''s mouth. She quickly schooled her expression as she spoke. "We have much to discuss and little time. While we have delayed Harlow as long as possible, he will be here in a little over four standard days. Why is my ship not yet ready?"


    Alexander sighed internally. He had nearly forgotten how blunt Katalynn could be. "I have prepared a nearby meeting room for us to discuss matters. Please, follow me."


    Alexander''s new team of advisors, consisting of Captain Matthews and Captain Krieger, met them inside the room. The pair stood and nodded at their entrance.


    Theo must have messaged someone while he was greeting their guests because two more chairs had joined the others. The table was now quite crowded but they would make it work. He would need an actual meeting room or office at some point if he planned to have more visits like this.


    As soon as everyone was seated, Alexander immediately brought up the holo display over the table and switched it to a view of Valkyrie.


    "All of the weapons are installed and ready to go," he said without any preamble.


    "Then why the message that the ship wasn''t done?" Katalynn asked as she took in the changes to her ship.


    "Further upgrades I thought would give us a bit of an edge. The first was the engines. I upgraded Valkyrie to the much more efficient compressed plasma ejection. I figured since I needed to upgrade the fusion reactor, I might as well do both since the engines had to be removed to get at your reactor anyway."


    The Asgardian leader stared through the projection at him. "And how can you be sure those are improvements?"


    "Don''t take my word for it, ask your Sub-Commander."


    A very slight hiss of surprise came from Jarl Ylva at Alexander''s choice of wording, but if anyone else had heard her outburst, they didn''t mention it.


    A few weeks among the Asgardians hadn''t been enough for Alexander to overcome years of speaking like someone from the STO. He had forgotten that calling someone''s honesty into question was considered rude and disrespectful among Asgardians, and he had done it to himself.


    "They are an improvement over the Sinorus ones that we had installed previously," he acknowledged grudgingly. "The ship is now much more responsive, and we can eventually remove the old fuel storage tanks to make way for other improvements. While I am loath to admit anything of Asgardian make is sub-par on quality, I soothe my battered pride over the fact that those engines were not of our design and manufacture."


    Katalynn nodded once and turned back to Alexander. "That means the engines are complete. What other upgrades have you introduced that are delaying the ship''s battle-ready status?"


    Alexander glanced at the other Jarl without moving his avatar to indicate that he was looking at the woman. It seemed strange to give out this information to a third party, but he had to remind himself that the Asgardians did things much differently than people from the STO.


    "I have upgraded your ship with the same tac-display that my frigates use. With that came new sensors, but most of all, the computer core. That last component is what is taking so long to integrate."


    "Even if I haven''t yet witnessed them, I can at least understand the significance of the upgraded sensors and tac-display. What is the computer core useful for?" Char asked.


    If it hadn''t been for his concern that they wouldn''t have enough ships to hold off Harlow even with the Asgardians'' help, Alexander would have kept this bit of tech in his back pocket. The advantages of having the supercomputer augmentation aboard two flagships simply outweighed his desire to keep it as a bargaining chip for later.


    "Once we are done running the new data pathways, you will be able to run Valkyrie on a crew a quarter of its current size."


    Alexander received shocked looks from the eight new arrivals. Even Vynnson looked surprised. To be fair, he hadn''t told the Sub-Commander the exact implications of installing the core, only that it would boost the ship''s ability in combat.


    "How is that possible?" Katalynn demanded.


    "Do you know what a computronic module is?" He asked.


    "Of course I do. Just because we live outside the STO doesn''t mean I''m some rock-hopping hermit. I also know they are ridiculously expensive and not worth the cost most of the time. Are you telling me you put a computronics module on Valkyrie? While I appreciate the upgrade, this was not included in our original agreement. I hope you don''t expect me to pay you back for such extravagance."


    "No," Alexander shook his avatar, making the woman relax. "Even I agree that using supercomputer computronics is an unneeded expense in most cases, which is why I made my own pseudo-computronics. And instead of one, I installed sixteen, which is the equivalent of two supercomputer computronics modules."


    The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.


    Krieger was the first to snort, breaking the silence. "So that''s what it looks like being on the receiving end of information like this. I can see why you like surprising people like this, Alex."


    "I don''t do it on purpose," Alexander muttered.


    Once the room recovered from their shock, Katalynn spoke up. "We will discuss your pseudo-computronics later. For now, let us get back on track. How long until my ship is ready?"


    "Two weeks until we have completed the new data runs, but you can fly it as it is now without any issues"


    "Good," she stated. "Haldric, go back to the ship and get our people transferred over."


    The Sub-Commander nodded once and then got up and left.


    "What about the other ship I see at your station?" she asked as soon as the door shut.


    "Same situation," Alexander admitted.


    "Would more hands help or hinder at this point?"


    "It would probably hinder any progress."


    "Very well, I will leave the completion of those projects to you. Just be aware, any engineers stuck on those ships when Harlow jumps in, will be put to work."


    Alexander hadn''t really thought of that. "I will alert them. Depending on how many want to head back to the planet, we may need to readdress your previous question of additional help."


    "With that issue out of the way, what can you tell me of Unokane''s tactical situation? Harlow will likely force his way into this system and there isn''t much our three combined fleets can do to stop him. That means we have to fight him here."


    That was not what Alexander had wanted to hear. "How large is his fleet?"


    "In our last encounter, we reduced his fleet to just below eighty ships," Vyrik Thornvund, Katalynn''s tactician admitted. "And a large majority of those are destroyers and frigates."


    Alexander''s advisors winced at the size and power of the pirate emperor''s fleet.


    "I saw the system scans when your fleets jumped in. You have twenty ships?" Krieger asked for confirmation.


    "Twenty surviving ships," Thornvund admitted.


    "Sorry for your losses," Krieger said in consolation. "That means with our fleet, we are still outnumbered by almost two to one in just numbers, let alone the disparity in tonnage."


    "Which is why we need to know this system''s tactical situation," Katalynn stated.


    Krieger looked to Alexander, "I think you understand the situation better than I do."


    Alexander nodded and told the group about the laser satellites and the missile platforms around both the planet and the first moon.


    "We noticed them upon our arrival. They seem awfully small, how much power can they output?"


    Alexander didn''t take offense at the Lagertha''s words. It was true, the clamshell lasers were small, but that made them hard targets to hit as well. "It takes approximately twenty of the platforms to equal one laser from a frigate. That number jumps to over eighty if we compare them to the lasers on the Valkyrie. I know that seems rather weak and ineffective, but they can be fired individually or grouped into pairs. The program we use is capable of syncing a quarter of the lasers to a single point in space if needed. That''s over five hundred lasers aimed at one spot. They take over an hour to recharge after a single use, so if we do use them like that, we will only get four shots before they need to recharge. The moon has enough for two of these alpha strikes. I have also started building missile defense platforms. They are capable of firing a full salvo of twelve missiles before they run out."


    Katalynn simply nodded at the report. "Are those the same missiles you had aboard Wayward Soul? If so, can you outfit our entire fleet with them? We also need to resupply our projectiles and point defense. Are you capable of providing this?"


    "Yes, those are the same missiles. I don''t know if I have enough to resupply the entire fleet, but I will empty our armory of every missile if I have to. As for your other ammunition, I don''t have any currently stocked, but I will retask my production to ensure we have enough."


    The rest of the meeting focused on the tactics they would need to deploy. Alexander was going to stay and listen in, but Katalynn asked him to follow her before stepping out of the room to let the discussion continue without them.


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 Chapter 3-52

    "Shouldn''t we stay?" Alexander asked as he hurried to catch up to the woman."We will return in time. Let them hash out the basic tactics for now and once they have a better idea of what we can accomplish, then we can rejoin."


    That sounded reasonable to Alexander. "So what did you wish to discuss?" She had obviously asked him out here to have some sort of private discussion.


    She didn''t respond right away.


    "I won''t lie to you, Kane," Katalynn said as they slowly walked down one of the empty hallways of the complex. "Harlow surprised us with how many ships he brought with him. He must have been holding them back from the STO. From what information the Lokis have managed to gather, there are still three pirate fleets harassing the STO border and defending the territory they have claimed. What I''m trying to get at is that even with your impressive defenses, I don''t know if this is a battle we can win."


    Most of Alexander''s hope was dashed with that one statement. "Are you certain?"


    "Nothing is ever certain until it''s over, but Harlow is no fool. We fought him three times, and he adjusted his tactics to counter ours with each battle. Our chances of winning are going to depend on a few things. We need to take away his main advantage, which is firepower. That includes his plasma missiles as well as any nuclear weapons he might be holding onto. If we can do that, our chances improve slightly."


    "Why only slightly?" Alexander asked.


    "Because he will either pull out or shift his tactics. I''ve never seen a pirate so bound and determined to throw everything they have at something. It''s like the man''s possessed. A man with convictions is a dangerous adversary. Our best option is not a full victory, but to whittle away his numbers enough that he simply leaves. Even if that happens, I doubt he will forget what happened here. That''s assuming we can even force him to leave. This will be a bloody conflict no matter which way it turns. By the end, our fleets will be a ghost of their former selves. Even with your ability to repair and modify ships faster than anyone else in Asgardian territory, it will leave us vulnerable¡­"


    Alexander could hear the hesitation in the woman''s tone. "Does that mean you would withdraw if you felt like this was a losing battle?" If that was the case, he understood but he didn''t have to like it. He couldn''t expect them to simply throw themselves into a meat grinder to save one planet when they had an entire union to maintain.


    "No," she stated firmly. "You are part of the union now and that means doing our utmost to defend this system. Even if I thought it was an unwinnable situation, I would not order a retreat back to Asgard. If I did that, I might as well take my own life. It would be less of an embarrassment than returning home as a coward. However, there is the possibility that we may have to make a tactical withdrawal to improve our odds of winning. The reason I mention this is because you may have to consider withdrawing along with us."


    "And allow Harlow unfettered access to the planet?! Unacceptable," he declared.


    Katalynn nodded. "I thought you might feel that way. Before the battle is even set to begin, we could relocate most of your people and simply not engage Harlow," she added after a moment.


    Alexander simply shook his avatar. "Unless every man woman and child could be removed, that isn''t an option for me either. I wouldn''t abandon any of these people at the hands of pirates. And Harlow would simply come to Asgard to take revenge or look for me if he couldn''t find me here. So, while I appreciate the offer, don''t count us out quite yet. I may still have a few cards to play to help even the odds a bit."


    "I''m glad you feel that way," she stated, looking at him sideways. "My opinion of you would have fallen had you agreed to my suggestion without considering the ramifications."


    "Another test of my character?" he asked in annoyance.


    "Yes," she admitted. "Be glad I am the one testing you and not the other Jarls. You saw how Jarl Bergson acted when she saw you. She''s a bit headstrong, but she''s also younger and much more open to change than some of the older Jarls. If you couldn''t handle yourself in front of her or defend your honor when it''s tested, some might think your inclusion into the Asgardian Union was political."


    "Was it?" Alexander asked as they walked.


    "Everything I do must be factored into the needs of the Union, but we can discuss that later. Tell me about these cards you are holding. I need to know if they will serve a purpose in the battle."


    "I have twenty stealth gunships," he said without hesitation.


    Lucas had been the one to produce the gunships while he was absent at Asgard. They had been meant as a testing platform more than a weapon of war because of some downsides with the process his favorite computer programmer had discovered, which Alexander quickly pointed out to Katalynn. "The stealth coating isn''t great and there are structural weaknesses with these gunships that make their armor essentially worthless so I don''t know how much they would affect the outcome of a battle."


    "Railguns?" she asked and Alexander nodded.


    "Hmm," she said. "They probably won''t be instrumental against the thicker armor of the destroyers and cruisers in Harlow''s fleet and with the other issue, probably won''t survive against his frigates or gunships long enough to do any significant damage. With those disadvantages, adding them to the fight would just be throwing them to the flame. For now, we will exclude them from the battle plan, but keep the pilots ready, we may find a use for them yet. Anything else I should know?"


    Alexander nodded, not mentioning that the ships were all automated. "We can replace a laser satellite in less than half an hour. I would be producing them around the clock, but our defensive management system is already at capacity so I have a few dozen on standby to get launched into orbit to replace any losses."


    "I assume they are quick to manufacture and also the reason as to why they are so underpowered?"


    "An unfortunate side effect of the size constraints we are working with. There are also my repair bots. I would suggest every ship maintain a few to speed along any quick repairs that might be needed."


    "I agree," the Lagertha stated.


    Alexander smiled internally. It seemed the woman''s opinion of the robots had drastically changed since they had last seen each other. It felt good to have his work justified.


    "Anything else?" she asked.


    It didn''t take Alexander long to ponder the question. "I''m afraid not."


    She nodded. "We will take those items into account. Enough talk about politics and tactics, we will be sick of both shortly. Since we have time while our tacticians and commanders figure out the best course of action for the battle to come, how about you show me around your home?"


    He was surprised by the question. "Um¡­ okay. It isn''t quite as impressive as Asgard, but I can think of a few spots that might interest you."


    The pair took the tram to the closest exit to the central dome. The massive expanse of crystal clear material gave an unobstructed view of the night sky. It was quiet in the dome, as night had fallen on the surface, and inside the facility.


    The place had become a favorite spot for people to get away from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the quickly growing community.


    "If memory serves, this dome was caved in the last time I was here."


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "It was."


    "Hmm. Impressive work rebuilding it," she replied, looking at the structure more than the star-filled view outside.


    "I had good people working on it, otherwise it would likely still be in a state of disrepair." She glanced at him and Alexander felt the need to defend himself. "I would have gotten to it eventually, it was just that I had more important things going on."


    "I think that''s because you lack focus, Kane," Katalynn said as she walked farther into the now lush interior of the dome. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What do you mean I lack focus? I managed to modify your ship as well as one of mine in the same timeframe that I had given you originally. If that isn''t focus I don''t know what is," he responded defensively.


    "Perhaps I misspoke. I''m not talking about your engineering accomplishments, Kane. Perhaps it would be better to say that you focus on too many things at once." Katalynn stated. "I''m referring to where your priorities lay. Take me for example. While I would love to spend my days honing my fighting, I can''t do that. As a leader, I must put my people first, even if it''s at the expense of my time. I''m not saying what you have built here isn''t impressive, it is, but you need to eventually decide which of those is more important for you, being an engineer or a leader."


    Instead of getting angry at the statement, he took a mental step back to process the woman''s words. She may be right, but that didn''t mean he was wrong either. He had built Eden''s End from a rundown hole in the middle of nowhere. Sure he had struggled and continued to struggle with certain aspects of his responsibilities, but he had made great strides in improving himself and everyone around him.


    That being said, he understood her meaning. She didn''t have to explain what happened when he got too focused on his work instead of actively managing the population. Sorin was a helpful reminder of that.


    After minutes of silence, he finally spoke. "I will consider your advice. Thank you."


    Katalynn nodded slightly. "That''s all I ask."


    "When you asked me to show you around, I expected something quite different than this conversation," he admitted.


    "I apologize for that," Katalynn replied. "Unsolicited advice is generally never well received when given to people who stick their heads in the sand to ignore the bigger picture. I want to be clear that I do not think that''s the type of person you are, your response tells me that you aren''t, but I have met plenty of people who would rather ignore issues than deal with them. Tell me, how many people do you have that will call you out on your bullshit?"


    "A few maybe, why?" he asked.


    "Good. Surround yourself with more of those types of people and you will have all the good advice you will ever need. Now, where to next?"


    Alexander gestured down a side tunnel that led toward his workshop.


    They soon entered Alexander''s workshop. He had expected it to be quiet and empty, but he found Yulia and Lucas working on something.


    "Yulia, Lucas! You two best not be modifying that augment gear again," he stated in annoyance. "I told you that was a one-time occurrence."


    The two jumped slightly at his entry.


    "Yulia, you told me he would be busy all night. That''s the only reason I agreed to help out." Lucas shook his head before turning to Alexander. "Sorry, Alex. And no, I wasn''t helping her modify the augment suit. I was helping her improve her go-cart''s performance."


    "You mean cheat?" Alexander asked pointedly, looking over at his daughter who hung her head.


    Lucas defended Yulia''s actions. "Hold on now. It''s not cheating if it''s within the rules of their races¡­or otherwise not covered by the rules," he muttered that last part. "Anyway," Lucas said happily, trying to draw Alexander''s attention away from their actions. "Who''s your very tall and lovely friend?"


    Katalynn snorted at the man''s compliment. "I prefer my men to have a bit of meat on their bones."


    Yulia leaned over to Lucas and whispered. "What does that mean?"


    Lucas leaned back over to the girl and whispered back. "Have your dad explain it to you."


    Alexander simply groaned internally as he heard it all. He was pretty sure Katalynn had heard it as well.


    "This is Lagertha Katalynn Char," he finally stated, seeing as Katalynn didn''t seem obliged to tell them herself.


    Lucas clapped his hands together and chuckled nervously. "Well, this is awkward. It was nice meeting you, Lagertha, but I think it''s past time I get some sleep."


    The man didn''t wait for an invitation to leave as he hurried out of the workshop.


    Alexander didn''t miss Katalynn''s gaze lingering on the man as he left. When she turned back, she caught him staring. The woman looked unfazed by that.


    "If he bulked up, he may have a chance," she said. Then she turned toward Yulia. "So this is your daughter?"


    "Yulia, come say hi to our guest."


    Showing no fear, the girl hurried over. "You''re super tall, but not as tall as Alex. One day, I''ll be as tall as Alex."


    Katalynn smiled. "That is a worthy goal to shoot for. Now, what is a go-cart and why would you attempt to cheat with it?" That last question came out as more of an order than a question and the girl stiffened like she had been caught with her hand in a cookie jar.


    Alexander really needed to learn how Katalynn did that. It might come in handy if he had to discipline his daughter later.

 Chapter 3-53

    The next few days were a rush of activity. Katalynn and her people had gone back up to their respective ships, and Alexander had shuttles flying almost nonstop running ordnance up to the Asgardian fleet."We''re almost out," Lucas stated as the pair of them watched the bots scurry into the armory where the weapons were stored, only to come out a few minutes later, carrying one of the large missiles between two of the robots.


    The underground bunker was located on the far side of a stone outcropping over ten miles from the Eden''s End facility. It had a landing pad and defensive railguns to keep people away. The bunker was also cleverly hidden by painting it to match the surroundings and texturing the railgun turrets and two orbital railgun emplacements, which were covered by hatches flanking the facility, to look like boulders.


    Alexander had a few weapon emplacements near the main facility that were similarly disguised, but he kept the originals clearly visible as a deterrent.


    If anyone got past the guns guarding the bunker, it would take them time to cut through the three blast doors or bypass the multiple layers of electronic and physical security Alexander and Lucas had added to the underground structure. It was never meant to be a foolproof defense, it was only ever meant to give BSE forces time to react or trigger the failsafe for the bunker, which was why it was located so far away from the main facility.


    "How many ships did we manage to arm?" Alexander asked.


    "All of the Asgardian ships got at most a single full launch of our upgraded missiles. We simply didn''t have enough built to offer any more. We had plenty of your older missiles to top off their supplies though."


    He would need to notify Katalynn about how ineffective those old missiles were. Hopefully, it wouldn''t come down to needing them.


    "What about the stealth project I had you work on?" Alexander asked. He hadn''t told anyone other than Katalynn about the stealth gunships yet.


    Lucas shrugged. "It''s not as good as the original," the man admitted. "We are looking at maybe a fifty percent effectiveness versus the sample piece that you pulled from the STO ship."


    "Will it work though?" Alexander pressed, knowing he had rushed the project into production too soon, but had wanted something in his back pocket to surprise his enemies.


    "If the pirates aren''t paying close attention, maybe. I still don''t know how you kept the Sub-Commander from learning about them."


    "I produced them when he was on downtime."


    "Still, it couldn''t have been easy," Lucas stated. "I''m not so sure about the other characteristics of this coating. We haven''t been able to do conclusive tests."


    Alexander nodded. "That''s fine. We will work with what we have."


    Their stealth armor experiments were a practice in frustration, but the tests had eventually borne fruit. Scaling the process up to industrial levels was proving problematic, however. If the STO had run into the same issues, it was no wonder they took so long to reproduce their knock-off variant of the carbon composite armor. Then there was the issue of making anything other than flat plates, which was less than ideal.


    Even Lucas hadn''t been able to overcome that problem or the production issue while Alexander had been visiting Asgard. What the man had managed to do instead was create a coating that could be sprayed onto the armor of a ship and have some of the same qualities as the original. This new method required a very specific type of armor for the coating to adhere properly though, which was another issue since that type of armor was not very effective against modern weapons.


    It was one of the main reasons Alexander had chosen not to deploy this new coating on all of the ships in the fleet. He could have probably welded on an additional thin layer of material to act as the coating substrate, but the lack of resources to create that much coating material and the time investment to see it through to completion made it a non-starter at the moment.


    The automated gunships, however, were a perfect test bed for this new stealth coating. He didn''t even have to replace their armor or modify the ships in any way, he simply printed the ships with the old-style composite in place of newer armor. Since they had been meant for testing only, he saw no problem with that. Obviously, that decision had come back to haunt him. After the ships were printed, one of Alexander''s robots would coat the ship with a specialized application device, a process that took four to six hours.


    If Alexander excluded those prototypes, the BSE fleet now consisted of thirty ships. That included the sixteen he had taken to Asgard along with fourteen of the normal automated gunships. Honestly, he shouldn''t count the Hawks'' ships among those ranks, which would bring his count down to twenty-four instead of an even thirty.


    The Hawks would fight, he had already spoken to them to find out their disposition on the matter, but the Talon was not a front-line warship and it would remain in orbit behind the first line of defensive lasers to protect the few civilian vessels that remained in the system. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That meant that Katalynn and her people were basing their tactical planning on those numbers.


    The fleet of prototype stealth ships was floating near the north of the ecliptic, above Eden''s End, making accidentally discovering them a difficult prospect even with the best sensors. Those were his main trump card.


    Alexander hoped if they were needed, that they would make a difference. With only two small railguns and weaker armor, he agreed with Katalynn''s assessment. They likely wouldn''t do much to change the focus of the fighting, but there might be a place for them.


    He wished he could swap out his other gunships for frigates or even corvettes. Even the other gunships he had weren''t going to be all that effective against Harlow''s larger ships. Alexander had to hope that the stealth coating gave the prototypes just enough of an advantage to get close while remaining undetected. From what Lucas had stated, that may not be the case unless they distracted the pirates.


    He was just about to ask Lucas if he had made any headway with the corporate gunship when his radio beeped.


    "Alexander, the Asgardian scout has arrived. The Lagertha has requested all personnel to their ships."


    "Copy that," Alexander said, putting his radio back on his belt.


    It looks like they were out of time.


    He turned to Lucas. "Can you handle the rest of the loading?"


    "I''ll be fine. Go speak with Yulia before you head up though."


    Alexander nodded his avatar in thanks and made his way to the facility on foot. He had come here on the back of one of the auto-carts, but he was faster if he ran.


    He had planned on talking to his daughter even without Lucas'' urging.


    He arrived as two shuttles launched into the air, sending thin plumes of water vapor scattering as they pushed hard to orbit. It was no time to be kind to their passengers.


    All of the shuttles were going to need to be overhauled once this operation was done. Just before he entered the facility, he noted drop shuttles were coming down to help load crew more efficiently. He would have to thank Captain Bloomright for her efforts.


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    Outside of the facility wasn''t the only place that was a hive of activity. Barriers were already being placed near the entrances, along with mounts for heavy weapons.


    Alexander hoped the pirates would never reach the ground, but it wasn''t worth risking the possibility. He nodded at the guards as he strode past. They were not currently wearing any augment gear, but that would change once the pirates entered the system. For this event, he had issued heavy augment suits as well as normal augment suits. These were the same types of gear he had given to the Hawks. Unlike the Hawks suits, the civilian gear had a built-in override similar to the grenades.


    He learned his lesson from the last time.


    The facility lights were slowly flashing yellow to alert people to prepare to evacuate to their bunkers.


    It had been rather difficult to explain to the locals and refugees that Harlow was on his way here.


    Some people demanded to leave immediately, while others simply asked why or if they would be able to drive the man off. Not having definitive answers to those questions made Alexander feel like he was doing a poor job as a leader, so he offered up the Nemo as a transport for anyone who wished to leave. It wasn''t much, but it was all he could spare.


    Captain Farthing had taken eighty people aboard the Nemo after that conversation and was already well on her way to STO space. That was not the entirety of those who had left, but the others had begged and pleaded for spaces aboard some of the civilian ships left in the system that could carry people. Since those ships did not belong to Alexander, he wasn''t sure if those captains had agreed to take anyone on at all before they all made a hasty exit from the system.


    Alexander would have to ask Theo, he was sure the man had a report on it. He made a mental note to read the other reports while he was aboard Wayward Soul.


    He found Yulia in their apartment, packing some clothes so she was ready to go when the red alert sounded.


    "Alex!" She ran over and hugged him as soon as she saw him enter the room. "Are you coming to tell me you have to go?" she asked.


    He nodded his avatar. "Yes, but we still have a bit of time. Come with me and bring Dog as well."


    The girl nodded and called Dog, who barked from the bedroom and came bounding out.


    The pair quickly made their way over to his workshop and he opened a cabinet and pulled something out. "Dog, come here."


    The robot complied and stopped before Alexander.


    "Open your mouth."


    The simulation dog head opened, exposing the pulse rifle module Alexander had stuffed inside. Alexander reached into the mouth and twisted the module before removing it. He unplugged the cable from the back of the module and set the unit on the counter before reaching for the new one he had pulled from the cabinet. It went in just as easily as the previous one had come out and once it was done, the robot closed its mouth.


    "Defense protocol three only," he told the robot.


    Dog barked in compliance.


    "What is defense protocol three?" Yulia asked. "And what was that item you installed in Dog?"


    "That is a laser module," Alexander stated as he stood back up. "Protocol three ensures Dog doesn''t use it on anyone from this facility." Alexander had designed the compact weapon based on the laser pistol taken from Dalton''s ship. It would burn itself out after one or two uses at most, but it would stop anything up to heavy augment gear if it got into the facility.


    "You mean like how he shot Charlie''s mom with the pulse blast because she slapped me?"


    "Exactly," he said. "Since you won''t have a non-lethal option anymore, I''m going to go against my better judgment and allow you to wear your suit."


    Her eyes grew as big as saucers. "You mean it?"


    "Hold on," he said, calming the girl''s enthusiasm. "Remember what we talked about. That suit is not a toy. You could easily hurt yourself or someone else with it if you are not careful. It also has a limited battery life, so if you start running around and showing off with it, it''s going to run out of power. I''m only allowing you to use it and giving Dog the laser module because I want to ensure you are as safe as possible while I''m gone. Are we clear?"


    Yulia nodded, her enthusiasm making way for a serious expression. "I won''t let you down, Alex."


    "Now give me a hug again before I help you into the suit."

 Chapter 3-54

    On the shuttle ride up to his ship, Alexander did his best not to worry about Yulia. He had prepared her and the people of Eden''s End as much as he possibly could. He needed to have faith that they could handle things if a ground fight occurred.Alexander needed to focus on doing his part, keeping Harlow''s fleet away from the planet.


    He did manage to read the reports Pembrooke had prepared for him. Just over eight hundred people had fled the system after his announcement. It was more than he had realized. Most of those were refugees but there were some drifters mixed in as well.


    The report also indicated that some of the captains who took on passengers demanded exorbitant rates or simply every single credit those fearful people had to their names.


    Alexander understood fear could make people do crazy things, but trying to profit off of it was disgusting. He sent Theo a note to blacklist those captains and their ships from Unokane permanently.


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    They could do without people like that.


    Soon enough he arrived at Wayward Soul. There had been some debate about whether or not he should command a flagship during this battle, but Char was the one to shut down any concern over his lack of combat experience.


    It likely had a lot to do with the fact that Krieger was in overall command of Alexander''s fleet, while Char was in command of the entire battle.


    He would have been fine being pushed to a less important role, but it seemed like Katalynn wanted him to be seen leading. It made sense given his role as Jarl.


    As Alexander made his way to the bridge, he passed more than one group of people hurrying about with carts full of ammo for the ship''s railguns. Railgun ammo was one thing Alexander had in great supply and every available space was being filled with the sabots to ensure the ships did not need to restock or limit their use of the weapons.


    The other ships in Char''s fleet were getting the same treatment, only with Gauss rounds. They were essentially the same thing without the sabot coating. Resizing was the only change that had to be done as the Asgardian guns were of a smaller diameter than his own. Some form of standardization would need to happen after this battle was over.


    He made a mental note of that to help keep his thoughts off of what was to come.


    "Captain on deck!" one of the Hawks yelled to alert everyone of his arrival.


    "At ease," he said as he made his way over the cage designed to hold him in place during battle.


    Alexander wished his body wasn''t so bulky so he could simply sit in a normal chair, but that wasn''t the case. "How are our preparations?" he asked his second in command.


    He didn''t recognize the man, but that wasn''t a surprise. People had been shuffled around over the last few months until they were in the roles that fit them the best.


    "We have enough stockpiles of food to last us four months if necessary. Our fuel is topped off as well," the man added.


    Alexander nodded at that. The four pirate ships had been converted over to fuel cores when they first arrived. For whatever reason, Arkonis'' people had fitted them with heavy water fuel much like the Valkyrie had been before Alexander took that out. It was a good thing Alexander had been able to replace the outdated fueling method with the newer more efficient one.


    If it hadn''t been for his need to build the fishbone ships, he might not have gotten around to building the enrichment plant attached to the refueling station. The process of creating the fifty-year cores wasn''t all that difficult, but it did require a lot of steps to get to the end product. It was similar to how raw uranium was turned into a viable fuel.


    "We have over two hundred percent of our normal capacity on ammo and that is expected to rise to nearly three hundred percent before the day is over. Our missile magazines are also full, but we had to make do with mostly Asgardian missiles," the man admitted.


    The Asgardian fleet had two resupply ships that moved ahead of it normally and which had joined the fleet before their arrival. Those ships did not have an endless supply on board, however. They had been nearly depleted in the Asgardian''s attempt to slow Harlow down.


    From what Alexander understood, the supply ships would normally retreat to the nearest resupply base and then return, but there wasn''t anything on this side of Asgardian territory other than Unokane.


    The rest of the ship''s supplies were quickly divided up between the fleet and the two supply ships jumped out of the system, their work done. They would be resupplying but they would not be returning. If this defense failed, the remaining Jarls would gather to defend Asgard and the other Asgardian worlds. If they did enough damage to Harlow''s fleet, they may even attempt to chase the pirate down as he fled back to his space.


    Alexander took it all in stride. Either he would win here or go down fighting, there was no other choice unless he abandoned everything he built and ran for it and that was not something he was willing to consider.


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    Over the next day and a half, the frantic activity started to die down, at least aboard Alexander''s ship. In that time, he had received more than one comm message from Katalynn and Captain Krieger about when the technicians would be done and off their ships.


    The only reply he had for them was for them to bear with it.


    While the activity had slowed, the anxiety had risen. He could see it in the crew''s furtive glances and overall twitchiness.


    Everyone knew Harlow would arrive soon. The fleets had been split into two and orbited on opposite sides of Eden''s End, far enough out that they could jump and maneuver as needed.


    It was not the most ideal situation since Harlow outnumbered their entire fleet, but they couldn''t have the man jump in on the opposite side of the planet. That would give the pirates uncontested access to the world until the fleet could reposition.


    At least this way they could engage the man while the other half of the fleet maneuvered to jump closer.


    An alert went through the fleet a few hours later. Lucas'' sensors had picked up a jump contact far outside the system.


    The sensor contact could have been hours old, but now they knew Harlow was probing the system for his attack.


    As agreed upon during the tactical planning, the fleets shifted their orbit to the north and south of the planet instead of around the equator.


    At preplanned times, they shifted again, ensuring Harlow''s scouts could not get a good read on where they might be at any given time.


    That randomness must have spooked Harlow because the pirate fleet jumped in well outside the current orbit of the BSE fleet.


    It seemed like Alexander''s group had drawn the short straw here as they repositioned to face the large pirate armada.


    At least that was what they wanted Harlow to believe.


    After turning about twenty degrees, their fleet jumped until it was perpendicular to the pirate fleet.


    Alexander had to thank the supercomputers aboard the Eden ships and Vanguard for being able to process the jump point so quickly.


    They fired their turrets at the pirate fleet before jumping once more. They could only do that a few more times without risking the jump drives overheating and burning out, but the surprise was evident.


    The initial goal was to annoy Harlow into giving chase away from the planet.


    When they arrived at their second jump, Alexander saw that one of the enemy ships had drifted off, while the rest of Harlow''s fleet continued their ponderous turn.


    The pirate quickly figured out their plan and didn''t stop his fleet''s turn as Alexander''s fleet reached their next jump point.


    It was too bad for them that they thought wrong. The BSE fleet quickly turned toward the pirate fleet and fired volley after volley of railguns, missiles, and lasers while the pirate fleet tried to readjust.


    The pirates didn''t just sit there though. Railgun rounds and autocannons fired back, along with missiles.


    Their odd angle made the enemy missiles take an arcing route toward their fleet, which made them much easier targets for point defense systems, and Alexander''s fleet had some of the best.


    Hundreds of PDLs struck out, eliminating the enemy missiles.


    The Soul shuddered as projectiles slammed into its armor. Alexander did his best to keep track of the damage, but the outdated systems on his ship simply weren''t up to the challenge.


    He had to hope that it held together.


    Soon the BSE missiles arrived, avoiding almost all of the enemy point defense to strike deep into the enemy lines.


    Alexander would have focused all of his attacks against Harlow''s dreadnaught, but Vyrik Thorvund, Katalynn''s tactician had said that reducing Harlow''s fleet numbers would be far more beneficial to overall victory given the fact that they couldn''t have an extended slugging match to ensure the dreadnaught went down.


    The main concern was that the armor of the massive ship would simply be too thick for even their anti-ship missiles to penetrate, requiring multiple strikes in the same spot to get through.


    That didn''t mean the ship wasn''t a target at all.


    Vanguard''s laser flashed out time and time again, leaving huge glowing craters on the Harlow''s flagship''s forward armor.


    Their luck had run out though. A lucky shot took out one of the Hawk''s frigates and three of the automated gunships before Katalynn''s fleet jumped in behind the pirates.


    Harlow''s fleet quickly jumped away, leaving the first win to Unokane''s protectors. Alexander knew it wasn''t over though. With all the surprise they had managed to bring to the fight, they had only taken out four of Harlow''s ships. Two corvettes and two gunships were all they were able to take down during the short engagement.


    Alexander called out one of the control ships to pull the Hawk''s disabled frigate back to the safety of the orbital defenses so rescues could be made.


    They would do it here and now, but they couldn''t trust Harlow not to jump in while they were in the middle of rescue operations.


    The ships returned to their silent vigil and the people aboard Soul let out a collective sigh of relief at surviving the first battle.


    The automated repair robots were already crawling over every ship in the fleet that was damaged, making quick and dirty repairs to keep them in the fight longer next time.


    ***


    "Report!" Harlow demanded, fuming after he had been forced to retreat when a weaker force had somehow pincered him.


    The man forced to give the report gulped audibly. "We lost a few insignificant ships, your eminence, but we took out an equal number of theirs."


    "I don''t care about our other losses!" he roared at the man, spittle flying from his lips. "Tell me about my ship!"


    "I- Uh¡­ We took significant damage to our front armor and one of the missile tubes was damaged by enemy laser fire. Crews are working on repairing it now."


    "How long?" Harlow growled.


    "A day at most, your eminence," the man swallowed thickly. "We need to pull new armor panels from the supply ships to weld into place."


    Harlow stood up and the man flinched back. "Tell them they have twelve hours to get it done. Pull crews from the other ships if they have to, I don''t care." With that statement, he strode from the bridge before he lost control and smashed the man''s face in.


    Where the hell had Char gotten her hands on lasers that powerful?


    His mind itched. "It has to be Kane," he muttered as he entered his quarters. "That whore has taken possession of my engineer." The itching grew stronger at this realization.


    He would not let this slight stand. Kane belonged to him. Once he made the proclamation, the itching ceased.

 Chapter 3-55

    Over the next eight hours, Harlow''s scouts popped in and out of the system at random points, ensuring nobody got any rest. When the attack finally came, it wasn''t like the first time.A concentrated barrage of projectiles came for the orbital assets including the station and the refueling depot.


    Thanks to all the system surveillance they had, Alexander had time to implement his static field array across both stations and the facility.


    The incoming ordnance destroyed a few of the satellites, reducing the future effectiveness of the fields over the stations, but they did their job, slowing down the incoming rounds considerably. It wasn''t enough to prevent all the damage, however.


    The refueling depot took the most damage as it was essentially immobile and the attack had come from directly above the planet. Even slowed down, the railgun rounds were still faster than a bullet and the refueling station wasn''t armored.


    Moving the station that was under construction had kept it mostly safe from the incoming fire, but a few new holes still appeared in the large structural supports.


    Alexander''s printers escaped the attack mostly undamaged thanks to their slim profiles and ability to move on their own.


    The biggest loss suffered during the ten-minute-long attack was the bots. Over fifty of them suffered catastrophic damage and either blew apart as they were struck by railgun darts or were sent tumbling toward the planet below from glancing blows.


    Normally the robots would have been hard targets to hit with how small they were, but with them clustered around the space station to continue their work, they had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time during the attack.


    The loss of material and the cleanup that would have to be done afterward were annoying, but the overall attack hadn''t done much damage.


    Harlow must have felt the same because his scouts retreated after the failed attack and his fleet showed up shortly after that.


    Keeping out of sight and using his scouts was a pretty good tactic in most cases. That didn''t work here because Eden''s End Traffic Control could calculate jump trajectories thanks to the many sensors they had in the system as well as the substantial processing power of the supercomputers.


    Lucas fed that information directly to the fleets and they repositioned before the pirates arrived. When Harlow popped out above the planet at a slight angle, instead of finding a clear target in the form of the refueling depot, he found two fleets already opening fire.


    That didn''t stop Harlow from launching three of his plasma missiles at the station before turning to jump again. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    During that brief exchange, ground control managed to target one of Harlow''s cruisers with half of the orbital lasers.


    The targeting program wasn''t perfect, but it concentrated enough of the energy from the weapons to melt off the front quarter of the ship.


    Its warp field failed catastrophically as it tried to jump, and a sparkling field of debris was now scattered across a full light second of space above the planet.


    Attempts to stop all three plasma missiles from reaching their intended target failed. One lasted long enough to activate.


    Alexander could only sit and watch as the roiling ball of energy punched straight through the static field array and the refueling station before it boiled away completely in the thin atmosphere of the planet below.


    The plasma from the passing projectile ignited the stored fuel aboard the unfortunate station. It wasn''t quite enough to turn the entire structure into a miniature sun, but plasma trails burst out either side of the station where the ball of plasma had passed through, further damaging the structure.


    The added force destabilized the small station and sent it spinning toward the planet.


    Alexander regretted the loss of the first orbital asset he had ever built but the trade had been worth it. He could rebuild the refueling depot in a few weeks with his current production capacity, but Harlow could not replace a cruiser as easily.


    That wasn''t Harlow''s only loss during that short exchange either.


    ***


    Katalynn sat aboard Valkyrie, waiting for Harlow''s eventual arrival. Kane''s sensor network allowed them to estimate where Harlow would come in and it had been quite accurate.


    She made a mental note to speak with him about deploying similar networks across Asgardian space as she ordered her fleet to attack.


    Harlow had been caught flat-footed once again and Kane''s defenses took out one of his cruisers. That would be a significant blow to the megalomanic.


    The Valkyrie targeted a destroyer as it was the first icon that appeared on this wonderful tac-display.


    It was weird not feeling the ship shake as its weapons fired, but the results of the new lasers spoke for themselves.


    Harlow''s destroyer held up under the powerful laser''s fire for less than a second before the destructive beams cut through its armor. One of the weapons must have breached their missile storage area as the ship exploded violently from the inside out.


    Another of Harlow''s frigates and destroyers went down in the short exchange as Captain Krieger targeted a separate ship with his lasers and one of Kane''s laser-equipped frigates took down the other ship.


    Unfortunately, Harlow jumped his fleet before the projectiles arrived. Point defense tried its best to eliminate the plasma missiles, but they were designed to defend the ship they were mounted to, not something a quarter of a light second away.


    Despite that deficiency, the PDLs managed to destroy two of the incoming weapons.


    "This is why I told Jarl Kane that he needed to distribute his refueling assets," Haldric stated as they watched the station break apart as it descended into the northern pole of the planet.


    "The loss is annoying but not insurmountable as long as Harlow doesn''t drag this fight out," Katalynn replied to her Sub-Commander.


    She knew Kane had taken Haldric''s words to heart, sort of. The mercenary''s assault ship was acting as a mobile refueling depot and had escaped the surprise attack without any damage thanks to the early warning.


    They could not expect Harlow to jump in so close to the planet again, not after experiencing the combined firepower of the orbital lasers. He would adjust his tactics and try something different for the next attack.


    They didn''t have long to wait. An hour later alerts began appearing on the tactical display as Harlow''s fleet jumped in at multiple different locations, both above and below the system.


    It came as a surprise because the man had not deployed any scouts this time.


    Volleys of projectiles were fired toward the planetary defenses as well as the fleets and any other ship in the system this time.


    They did this before quickly jumping out again, too fast for the defenders to react. The fleets managed to get clear of the incoming fire, but the defenses and mercenary ship weren''t quite as lucky.


    Small pinpricks of light began to bloom in the darkness as Kane''s defensive assets began to die one by one.


    The Talon didn''t run for cover. Part of its job was to shield the remaining civilian ships that were in orbit. Katalynn gave the captain of the vessel some grudging respect as they turned to face the incoming barrage, blocking the ordnance from hitting the more vulnerable ships hiding beneath it. Read latest chapters on My Virtual Library Empire


    The large mercenary ship seemed to weather the storm, but Katalynn could see atmosphere venting from the colossal vessel thanks to the upgraded sensors Kane had installed aboard her ship.


    Katalynn silently wished them luck before turning her focus back on the overall battlefield.


    Once the attack was complete, Kane''s defensive array was down nearly twenty percent.


    After looking at how many projectiles Harlow''s people had fired, she could only think of one possibility. "Harlow must have a support fleet nearby, it''s the only possible explanation for him expending ammo this recklessly. Get the main commanders on the line and let''s see if we can figure out how to deal with that so we can limit his options."


    They had a bit of time while Harlow licked his wounds and the other damaged ships made repairs.


    "Fleet commanders are on the line," Haldric stated a moment later.


    She hadn''t connected via video because she didn''t want the distraction so it was audio only.


    "Harlow has a resupply fleet nearby. We need options to deal with it. What about your prototype ships, Jarl Kane?" she asked.


    "They could work," Kane stated. "I assume the supply ships aren''t going to have the same defenses as warships, so the gunships should be far more effective against them than throwing them into Harlow''s fleet."


    "It''s better than no possibility," Katalynn responded. "What''s your plan?"


    She glanced over at Vyrik, her tactician. The man nodded back at her, seeming to agree with Kane''s logic. They had discussed the ships after Kane told her about them, but her tactician agreed that they wouldn''t be very effective in a straight-up fight. With Harlow not engaging them in extended battle, they were impossible to deploy. Having them search for and cripple Harlow''s ability to resupply would be the best use for them.


    "We''re going to need Harlow to commit again or send in his scouts so we can get a vector of where he might be. Sending them out to scout around the entire system would take far too long," Kane replied.


    Katalynn had to agree. Searching that volume of space would be practically impossible. "Very well. Alert the crews of those ships to be ready, we will try to draw Harlow into a prolonged engagement so he is forced to resupply."


    ***


    Harlow stared with cold uncaring eyes at the dead man at his feet. The man''s suggestion had cost him a cruiser, two destroyers, and a frigate. And all he had gotten in return was a refueling depot and some orbital defenses.


    "Toss him out an airlock and give me a damn rag to wipe this blood off my blade!" he roared in annoyance.


    Four men hurried over and dragged the man away while one of his attendants rushed to offer him a rag.


    Harlow glared at the man. "I''m the fucking Emperor, not a fucking maid!" He shoved the blade toward the man, earning a squawk of surprise as the attendant barely avoided getting run through himself.


    "Apologies, your Eminence," the man blathered as he quickly wiped the blood from the weapon.


    As soon as the blade was spotless, Harlow pulled it back and slid it into the jeweled sheath at his side.


    A sword was a ridiculous weapon to use in space, but Harlow liked the look it presented while wearing it. And it did make a convenient tool to deal with fools.


    "How is the resupply going?" he demanded of his second in command. The longer this battle lasted and he was denied his prize, the more his mind seemed to buzz in agitation. It was making him more irate and short-tempered than usual.


    "All the ships should be rearmed within another half an hour, your Eminence," the man bowed slightly.


    Harlow narrowed his eyes fractionally at the man. Had the man paused momentarily before adding the honorific after addressing him? He would be keeping a close eye on his second. If the man thought he had a chance to take Harlow''s place, he was dead wrong.


    "Tell them to hurry it up. We are going to pull that same tactic again. Only this time Harlow''s Might will be targeting that big bastard of a ship hiding in orbit."

 Chapter 3-56

    With that large ship being a more mobile target, Harlow had to send his scouts in once again to ensure the ship''s placement before he committed his fleet."Your Eminence, the scouts have verified the large ship is still in the same parking orbit," one of his crew stated.


    The buzzing inconstancy in his mind that told him he needed to act was growing again, but the man''s words quelled it for a brief instant.


    "Fools," Harlow said with a smirk. "Tell the fleet to jump to their initial locations and be ready to jump toward the planet in twenty minutes."


    If Char thought she could bleed his forces until she had the advantage, she was sadly mistaken. He would pick them off one at a time if he had to. Once there were no more ships to defend the planet, he could deal with their other defenses at his leisure.


    Once the timer ran out, all of his ships jumped.


    Wanting to ensure a kill, Harlow ordered his people to fire missiles as well as plasma missiles at the orbiting ship.


    The distance was great since they couldn''t get near the planet without risking the defensive lasers, but he was hoping there would be enough going on to distract the fleet and defenders.


    One of his frigates from another team jumped in too close to the defense grid and it quickly responded. The captain of the smaller vessel had been given slightly adjusted jump coordinates to ensure he was well within the enemy''s defensive satellite range.


    Sacrifices had to be made.


    His enemy reacted predictably, orienting their weapon''s platforms away from his angle of approach.


    The normal missiles got picked off one by one. It was annoying, but he had expected as much from this range. The large ship reacted to defend the ships beneath it the same as before. At least that was predictable.


    The four plasma missiles raced in. The first one exploded as it was hit by defensive fire, then the next, and the next, but the last missile ignited before the defenders could take it out.


    Harlow crowed in triumph until an enemy missile from one of the orbiting missile platforms raced into the path of the plasma ball and exploded.


    A large chunk of the plasma was disrupted by the extremely close detonation of the weapon. It was also pushed slightly off course.


    Instead of hitting the large ship directly, the remaining energy melted a long trail in the port side of the vessel before dissipating completely.


    He cursed the defenders as his small victory was denied. The buzzing in his mind grew once again, urging him to stay and fight. He went against his instinct and jumped his fleet out. He needed to rethink his strategy.


    ***


    Vitor sucked in a breath as the last plasma missile avoided all of the Talon''s defenses. He had seen more senior captains shy away from such a dire situation, but Captain Bloomright refused to budge in her defense of the civilian vessels.


    Someone above must have been looking out for her and her people though as a single missile from Alexander''s missile platforms raced in to cut off the ball of energy.


    It was almost successful.


    The large open wound left behind on the Talon was visible, even without magnification.


    He wanted to order rescue crews to the scene but he was beaten to the punch by Captain Na.


    "You all keep doing what you''re doing. We''ll assist the Talon."


    Vitor would thank the man later. He turned back to the tac-display. "How many ships did we lose?"


    It was clear Harlow''s goals had shifted and he was now trying to pick off individual ships instead of orbital assets. It made sense. Clear the fleet and there would be nothing left to stop him.


    "Fury is gone, along with the remaining automated gunships," his sensor operator said sadly.


    "Any chance of survivors?" Vitor didn''t know the captain who had taken over the ship for Hall. The man had been one of the Hawks'' people.


    "No, sir. Their reactor lost containment." Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    Vitor sighed and nodded. Losing ships and people was bound to happen, no matter how much Alexander improved the armor on them.


    "Get me a tight beam to Kane," he said.


    The man appeared a few seconds later. "We can''t keep this up, have you been able to trace their jump points?"


    Kane''s holographic face nodded. "Lucas is sending me the estimated direction now. I am preparing a search program for the ships, but it could take time for them to find Harlow''s fleet and the supply ships."


    Vitor nodded. "Let''s hope this plan works, or we may be out of options."


    ***


    After his conversation with Captain Krieger ended, Alexander sighed internally. This plan had to work. It wasn''t that they were out of options, this was their only option to even the playing field with Harlow. The pirate still had more ships and if he could keep rearming them, it was not a battle they could win.


    That last encounter had cost the defending fleets six ships. Losing Fury was a huge blow to Alexander, but his part of the fleet had gotten off lucky up until that point. Katalynn''s fleet had lost more ships and more people by far than he had.


    It didn''t make his loss any easier to stomach though.


    His console beeped, letting him know the upload from Lucas was ready. Alexander packaged it up along with the improved algorithms from the fleet''s automated gunships before they died. It might not help the ships much in their endeavor, but every bit of improvement he could give them could mean the difference between winning or losing.


    As soon as the package was ready to go, Alexander''s fingers blurred over the terminal, rotating the laser link to the correct coordinates out in space. Once the array was targeted, he pressed send and hoped his ships would manage to disrupt Harlow''s activities.


    ***


    [UPLINK DETECTED]


    [UPLOAD IN PROGRESS]


    001''s processors began to spin up as the new commands were uploaded into its system. It quickly retransmitted the new programming and commands to the other ships nearby and received similar responses in turn.


    It rapidly parsed through the information and found ten percent of the code to be corrupted in transit. It corrected this code based on the code that had come from the other ships.


    Once all of the ships confirmed they had the correct code, they powered up their reactors to full power and got into formation as they oriented to jump to the first point they were requested to search.


    The ships all vanished from space only to appear again a moment later at another point. Their orders required them to remain unseen, which meant they could only use optical sensors to find their targets.


    001 scanned the images coming back and quickly determined that the area of space was devoid of targets. His processing algorithms concluded this approach to be suboptimal and sent out slightly adjusted orders to the rest of the fleet as was his priority as command leader.


    002 through 020 complied and all of the ships jumped to their own sets of coordinates.


    An hour later, the ships all returned to the first jump point to share their findings.


    "009 has located the main ship we were tasked to look for. Five large transport ships were in the middle of the enemy fleet. How do you wish to proceed?"


    All of the information that 009 had acquired was sent across the laser links in less than a second and 001 chewed through the information while referencing its vast library of tactical knowledge and experience to provide an optimal solution based on the information they were given.


    The twenty ships all came to similar conclusions and soon they split into five groups.


    It was determined that an approach from a different angle would produce the most desired results so the ships all jumped before reorienting and waiting for their jump drives to reset.


    As one they jumped.


    Their arrival went unnoticed and all twenty ships coasted toward their designated targets as they monitored the ships for any reaction to their presence.


    Once they closed into a quarter of a light second, something must have tipped off their targets as a few ships started to maneuver toward them.


    001 went active, alerting the other ships to do the same.


    Only sporadic fire came their way at first, but 001 tracked the enemy turrets with his optical sensors and calculated the best approach to avoid taking fire as it weaved through the gauntlet to its target.


    None of its ships wasted their limited ammo on trying to destroy the few missiles sent toward them. They simply washed the entire space with powerful ECM, making the missiles veer wildly off course. Deploying the ECM did reduce 001''s ability to calculate the trajectory of the enemy turrets properly so it ordered the fleet into evasive maneuvers.


    The targets were now panicking as ships tried to maneuver for a clear shot at them, but soon they were passing the outer line of defense.


    Their initial vector had been toward the large warship. Other ships quickly moved to defend the much bigger vessel, leaving the true targets exposed.


    As soon as 001 saw that, it quickly changed direction. It now had a clear shot at its target.


    The large transport ponderously tried to turn and jump, but 001 emptied its entire supply of railgun rounds before the ship could get clear of the vessels near it.


    All one hundred rounds streaked toward the large ship, quickly followed by three hundred more as the rest of the ships in its group fired as well. 001 acknowledged the loss of one of the ships in his squadron and kept going.


    Space lit up as sparks of fire blossomed on the transport vessels, turning the crew and command areas into Swiss cheese.


    001 calculated that this would not be enough to ensure the contents of the ships were destroyed. It searched for a solution in the time it took a human to blink and found one that had come from a previous iteration''s experience and an explanation from its creator on how and why to avoid such weapons.


    It quickly checked its fail-safes and determined that it could indeed override the ones on its core. 001 sent this information to the other ships, ordering two of its group to jump away to ensure a report of their mission reached the fleet.


    Once it was sure the information had been processed, 001 removed all the restrictions on its fuel system and pumped as much of it into its reactor as possible. The containment was quickly destabilizing as the reactor was pushed over its recommended limit and 001 had just enough time to orient itself at the large ship to ensure maximum damage before it was converted into a massive ball of plasma.


    ***


    004 was the only ship to escape the enemy fleet and jump away with the evidence of what had transpired. 001''s insight into the battle had ensured all of their targets were completely destroyed, but it had gone even beyond that. The resultant explosions of the resupply vessels had eliminated another ten ships that were close to the transports or had been docked to them shortly before the battle.


    Two of the ships had been cruisers, five had been destroyers and the rest were frigates.


    Their primary mission had been to take out the supply ships with a secondary objective of causing as much damage as possible before retreating. 004 determined that their mission had been a success before appearing back in Unokane and sending the report.


    ***


    Alexander was shocked to read the outcome of his plan. He had never expected the prototype stealth ships to be that effective or that they would determine that turning themselves into plasma missiles was the most optimal action to take.


    He would have preferred if the ships all came back intact, but he couldn''t fault them for their choice, it had obviously been the right one.


    When he had time, he was going to need to see what information had been included with their original upload to see what led to this choice. He knew it was a combination of the experience from all his bots, Dog, and any other system that included self-learning or tactics, but this was a level of self-determination he hadn''t expected to see. The computers weren''t aware, he knew that, but it was still a fascinating turn of events he wished to study. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He quickly sent the report to Katalynn and Captain Krieger.


    The two demanded a quick conference with him and he obliged.


    "Congratulations on the effectiveness of those ships, Jarl Kane, but now we have another problem," the Lagertha stated.


    "Is it that we''ve bruised Harlow''s pride?" Krieger guessed.


    Katalynn nodded. "That is indeed what we need to talk about. After handing Harlow a slap in the face as great as this, the man won''t simply lay down and take it or tuck his tail between his legs and slink away to lick his wounds. He relies on appearing unstoppable to keep his people in line. This loss puts a spotlight on those lies. Assuming any of the pirates believed Harlow''s bullshit before, they likely aren''t going to believe it for much longer. Harlow will need to do something drastic to prove his power is absolute and ensure his forces don''t fall apart."


    "Isn''t that what we wanted?" Alexander asked in confusion.


    "Yes and no," Katalynn stated. "We wanted to force him into a prolonged battle by taking out his support ships. After suffering so many losses, he will likely become angry and unpredictable. I would recommend jumping to the spot where the attack took place, but if Harlow and his fleet were still loitering in that area, it would be a miracle. We need to be ready for anything."


    Alexander nodded solemnly and closed the comm. He could only hope that he was ready when the consequences of his attack arrived.

 Chapter 3-57

    Knowing that the conflict was likely coming to a head, the fleets recombined together to cover the only real asset in the system worth defending, the facility on Eden''s End.


    Katalynn had still declined to move into the gravity well so the fleet could maneuver if needed.


    Alexander didn''t think that would be an option if Harlow responded the way everyone thought he would, but he understood Katalynn''s desire to be able to jump and maneuver.


    No scout ships showed up to warn of Harlow''s imminent arrival. One second space was clear, the next, the man''s fleet was below them and firing on the planet as soon as his ships exited FTL.


    The self-appointed pirate emperor had surprised the defenders by jumping right into the defensive grid''s attack range when it would have been much safer to jump in outside the range of the defenses to fire on the planet.


    The comm went crazy as orders were shouted over it and the fleet scrambled to reorient and stop Harlow''s bombardment. Alexander sped up his processing speed slightly to ensure he could react properly to any changing circumstances without burning himself out immediately.


    He watched in silent horror as hundreds of missiles flew from the enemy fleet along with multiple volleys of projectiles before Harlow''s ships turned to fire on them. The fleets were too close for any finesse in this exchange, this was going to be a slugging match. Most of the ships in the Asgardian/BSE fleet were already firing on the enemy ships as they completed their turns and Harlow''s ships were dropping fast, but he still outnumbered them by nearly two to one.


    It quickly became clear why Harlow had taken this action. The priority of the defensive grid was to defend the planet, and now they had to deal with hundreds of fast-moving targets, leaving the remainder of the pirate fleet free to act. Alexander had to hope the people below were up to the task of eliminating the missiles as he had more pressing matters to worry about at the moment.


    Heavy electronic countermeasures were deployed by both sides as each fleet finished turning to face each other.


    Missiles were launched from both sides, but Alexander kept his eyes out for Harlow''s plasma missiles as he studied the tactical screen.


    The fleet''s priority was still the same, eliminate as many supporting ships on Harlow''s side as possible. The only ships dedicated to dealing with the dreadnaught were Valkyrie and Vanguard since their lasers had the only real hope of burning through the thick armor of that behemoth in any reasonable amount of time.


    "Fire a full salvo of missiles at the lead cruiser!" Alexander ordered. "Target the trailing cruiser with all of our railguns."


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    The weapon''s officer acknowledged the order and split Soul''s fire to the two remaining cruisers within Harlow''s fleet.


    Wayward Soul shook as its massive railguns started firing as fast as possible.


    With the other two capital ships occupied with Harlow, it was Alexander''s job to ensure he dealt with the enemy''s other capital ships.


    Both fleet''s missiles passed by each other in the vast emptiness of space on their way to cause as much harm as possible to either side. The pirate missiles were struggling under the much stronger ECM of the combined Asgardian/BSE fleet, but there were hundreds of more missiles to deal with.


    The bridge lighting dimmed slightly as the reactor struggled to keep up with the power draw from the PDLs. He wished he would have had time to replace Soul''s reactor back when Krieger first brought it to him. Alexander couldn''t see the icons of the missiles vanishing off his tactical screen, but he knew the PDLs were working to take out as many of those weapons as possible.


    As they did their crucial work, the fleets slowly moved toward each other. They hadn''t been motionless when the pirates appeared, but their motion was on a different axis and now their relative speeds were slowly increasing as they changed course.


    A sustained engagement at range is what they had hoped for but that wasn''t to be. They found themselves in a slugging match, which was exactly what they had wanted to avoid as Harlow still had the numbers and firepower advantage in a close brawl, but the fleet couldn''t afford to jump away because it would risk ships too slow to jump and leave Harlow free to act against the planet with impunity.


    He hoped Katalynn saw that as well and didn''t decide to jump for a better position. Even Alexander could see that a temporary loss of half the fleet for a few minutes would lead to a disaster.


    His mind refocused as the first of his missiles arrived. The enemy point defense had done little to stop the upgraded BSE missiles and explosions blossomed among the pirate fleet as they delivered their deadly payload. He had produced a few dozen more in the intervening days, but that was all of the weapons they were able to manufacture.


    The enemy cruiser shrugged off one and then another of the missiles, but the third slammed into the same damaged section the first missile had hit and a large chunk blew off the front of the enemy vessel.


    Three more missiles from the initial volley of eight slammed into the front of the cruiser, adding to the damage.


    Despite the vessel taking six missiles, it was still firing its turrets.


    "Fire a second volley," he stated coldly before turning his focus to the other cruiser.


    Before he could see the condition of the second ship, Soul shook as enemy projectiles slammed into the forward armor. It shook two more times as missiles exploded nearby.


    "Alert me only if we have venting or a critical system goes down," he stated as the damage control officer turned to say something.


    The woman nodded and turned back to her terminal.


    He would order evasive maneuvers, but with the fleets being so close and only getting closer, it wouldn''t make a difference. It was better if he stayed the course and offered the weapons officers the best shots possible.


    Alexander took the momentary lull to check on how the second cruiser was faring. All he could see were pinpricks of light flashing off the ship as tungsten penetrators slammed into the vessel''s armor.


    This was exactly why he wasn''t involved in the attack against Harlow''s ship. Even his large railguns didn''t have the punch to go through capital ship prow armor with the first shot. That meant firing until the enemy''s armor was too depleted to stop further rounds.


    He almost didn''t see the oncoming plasma missile until it was too late. The only reason he was able to react at all was because he pushed his processing to the max before reaching out through the ship directly with his mind.


    Alexander''s cage had one more important feature other than holding him in place. It also functioned as a direct link to all ship''s systems, sort of making him the computer core. He wasn''t nearly powerful enough to operate the ship himself, but he could adjust their course in an emergency.


    Soul''s top-mounted thrusters all fired at full power, shifting the ship down right as the larger missile turned to plasma and streaked directly toward them. Even with Alexander''s reaction speed, the weapon tore a large chunk out of the top of the ship, taking half the railguns with it.


    A few people screamed from the unexpected motion, but they were quick to recover and realize they had just escaped death.


    "Captain, all of the top-mounted railguns are offline and we have lost missile tubes one and three," the damage control officer stated.


    Alexander had already known about the railguns because of where the plasma ball had passed through, but losing the launchers was a blow.


    "Are the point defenses still operational?" he asked. He would look at the screens inside his mind space, but he couldn''t afford to lose focus while the unfolding battle was ongoing.


    After a quick look back at her screen, the woman turned around and nodded. "Yes, commander."


    "Weapons, focus all but two of the PDLs toward Harlow''s ship. We can''t afford to let any more of those weapons through." This might open them up to more missiles, but they were closing fast, and even the PDLs weren''t going to be fast enough to track and lock onto the regular missiles soon.


    Harlow would probably wait until that moment to launch the next wave of plasma missiles. At least the two cruisers were now out of the fight. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander had the remaining railguns target a destroyer while he ordered the missile crews to target a new ship with each volley. It would draw attention to them, but Soul could take it more than the smaller ships.


    ***


    Vitor cursed as the last plasma missile slipped through his PDLs and headed for Alexander''s ship. He thought it was all over for his boss.


    The robot surprised him though as Soul seemed to shift in space as it fired all its top-mounted thrusters. The crew would be shaken up by such a maneuver, but the move had saved the ship.


    That was all the time he could spare to make sure Kane was still alive. Vanguard shook again as a new volley of railgun darts slammed into its forward armor from Harlow''s ship.


    The combined laser fire from Vanguard and Valkyrie was slowly melting through the ridiculously thick armor on the front of the massive ship, but the fleet was falling apart faster than they could burn through the armor.


    One of the Hawks frigates had fallen already and Stormbreaker, the destroyer that Captain Hall had been assigned to, was destroyed shortly after that. Vitor had grown to like Hall quite a bit. The man had been a bit quiet and tentative at first but had quickly learned how to handle himself in combat.


    The man''s death was a tragic loss and he knew a lot more good men and women would not be seeing their families after today.


    Harlow''s fleet was getting worse than they were giving, but despite the pirate''s losses, the enemy still outnumbered them. And even though that number was quickly shrinking, Vitor wasn''t sure if they would have enough to get over that hump and reverse the course of this battle without something drastic changing.


    ***


    Katalynn cursed under her breath. Harlow''s ship was taking too much fire and they were quickly closing in on each other.


    "Lagertha, we can''t sustain these losses much longer," Haldric reminded her as if she didn''t already know.


    Before she could snap at her Sub-Commander, the comm line crackled to life.


    "Let''s show these bastards what it means to be Asgardians!" Jarl Ylva Bergson roared over the open comm. "To me! Let''s drive these bastards back to the black pits from which they crawled!"


    "Foolish girl," Vyrik spat as he watched the tactical plot.


    All of the Jarl''s ships pushed ahead and even a few of Katalynn''s did as well.


    Katalynn wanted to agree with Vyrik''s assessment, but the other woman''s courage had stirred something within her.


    "We either kill Harlow now or go down trying," she stated coldly. "For Asgard!"


    "For Asgard!" came a chorus of replies.


    Missiles started firing non-stop from Valkyrie''s tubes until their entire inventory ran out.


    The fleets crept past the effective range of point defense to intercept missiles and Katalynn prayed to Odin to see them through this battle.


    Space filled with bright flashes and ships on both sides quickly started to vanish off the tactical holo display.


    Valkyrie never stopped firing her lasers at Harlow''s ship. The only difference is that the angle of the turrets had to quickly adjust as the range shrank.


    No more plasma missiles came from Harlow''s hulking ship so either he had run out or their attacks had finally rendered his launchers inoperable.


    Soon her fleet and Harlow''s were passing each other. A few exchanges of weapons fire were made and Katalynn cheered internally as Valkyrie finally hit something important on Harlow''s ship. The lasers raked across his engines before the massive vessel could turn to avoid incoming fire in that vulnerable area.


    Valkyrie took a fusillade of railgun darts along her starboard side, but no systems were crippled by the attack.


    She watched the large ship try to adjust for the loss of multiple engines, but she could tell it was significantly slower.


    "Lagertha! It appears that Harlow is trying to form a warp bubble," the sensor operator stated.


    Another wonder of Alexander''s improved sensors was the ability to detect the buildup of power much sooner than normal.


    "Deploy gravity traps!" she ordered.


    After going through all this trouble, there was no way she was letting that bastard run now. The trap would force him to either commit or eventually flip and try to burn for the edge of the gravity field. If he ran, that gave her fleet the chase advantage.

 Chapter 3-58

    "Boss, we are taking too many losses, I say cut and run," his second stated quietly as the ship shook.


    The thought of running away without his prize was driving a maddening spike of pain into his brain even though he knew his second was right. Without even realizing what he was doing, Harlow had his pistol out and aimed at his second. The man''s eyes bulged and he tried to backpedal away, but Harlow pulled the trigger.


    The man fell and the mental spike of pain subsided for a moment. Harlow cackled hysterically as he waved his flechette pistol at the surviving crew with one hand while he pulled out his sword and waved it with the other. "Fire faster you useless shits, I will not be denied my prize!"


    The surviving crew were those too afraid to confront him as the battle quickly spiraled out of control. His second in command had been the first to voice his concern and the man now lay in a pool of drying blood off to the side.


    The man hadn''t been the last though. As the battle devolved, Harlow was forced to shoot a few people who glanced his way instead of paying attention to their consoles. He saw their side-eyed glances and heard the muttered complaints. He couldn''t let any thoughts of turning against him fester, not when he was so close to his goal.


    His plan had been to jump in and tie up the orbital defenses with as many incoming missiles as possible. It was working, the orbital defenses were still occupied, but that wouldn''t last for long. He needed to cripple Char''s fleet, then jump away from the defensive cordon around the planet. Once he did that, what remained of his fleet could pick off the orbital weapons and remaining ships at their leisure.


    "Faster!" he roared. "Fire all of the remaining plasma missiles at their three largest ships."


    The missiles went out and Harlow nearly cheered when one got through and almost took down one of Char''s cruisers. His victory was stolen from him as the cruiser vectored hard and avoided a killing strike.


    The damage to the vessel was significant, but it wasn''t enough to take it out of the fight. He cursed, making people on the bridge flinch at his outburst. A wave of his weapons got them to shut up and focus on their jobs once more. He could feel that control slowly slipping though, and the spike of pain in his mind was slowly returning as he realized this battle might be lost.


    Soon the fleets reached the point where his point defense would do little and he ordered his remaining ships to fire all of their missiles.


    Very few of his fleet''s weapons survived. Char''s ECM and point defense were far more capable than they should have been. Char''s fleet tried a similar tactic a few moments later, their missiles seemed to finally succumb to his fleet''s ECM.


    When their ECM had been ineffective earlier in the battle he had shot one of the electronic warfare specialists in a fit of anger. It seemed his replacement was far more capable.


    The fleets quickly closed the distance and those damnable lasers kept digging through the armor on the front of Harlow''s Might, looking for a weakness. They hadn''t yet found it, but he needed to flip his large ship soon to avoid an aft strike.


    The fleets quickly flashed by each other and Harlow ordered his pilot to turn the ship around. The man jumped at the order and that hesitation cost them precious seconds.


    Thrusters on opposite sides of the large vessel fired off and the massive ship began to pivot to keep its weak side away from enemy fire, but it was too late.


    The ship shook and the pilot turned white. "They hit our engines," the man stated.


    Harlow shot him for failing to do his duty and not addressing him properly. The auxiliary pilot took over control and the ship lurched awkwardly as the remaining thrusters fired to slow them down.


    "No, you fucking idiot!" Harlow screamed. "Jump us out of here!"


    The man quickly started to fire up the jump drive, but the added delay had given Char the opportunity she needed.


    "Multiple gravity traps deployed amongst the Char fleet."


    The sensor operator joined the growing pile of dead as Harlow stood from his chair. "Keep firing!"


    He walked over to the main pilot''s terminal and set a trajectory. He locked it in and stepped away.


    His ship powered forward, straight for Char''s largest ship. If he could take her out it would be all worth it. Nobody glanced his way as he silently exited the room, locking the door biometrically behind him. Harlow couldn''t have people abandoning their post, but he certainly wouldn''t be going down with the ship.


    Even if his fleet somehow managed to pull off a miracle and win this battle, his time as Emperor was over. The surviving pirates would tear him apart if they got ahold of him after this was over. If nobody was left to speak of his defeat, he could crawl his way back to the top.


    Harlow had to grab the side rail as the ship shook while he made his way down the corridor. The enemy was trying their best to punch through the armor. The painful throbbing in his mind wasn''t helping either, but he powered through it. He would not die here.


    He didn''t need the armor to last forever, just long enough to get to his escape craft. He soon reached the nondescript wall panel and slid his card to one side of it.


    The panel popped open and he quickly pulled himself into the tight space before climbing a ladder and stepping through an open hatch.


    The escape craft was not what you would call spacious or comfortable. It had a single seat that he barely fit within and the helmet of his suit brushed the ceiling. What it lacked in creature comforts, it more than made up for with survivability.


    The ship was fitted with a jump drive, fusion reactor, and enough fuel to get him to the border zone. Once there, he could purchase a ship and crew. Once he had those, he could make his way back to his secret outpost and rebuild what he had lost. This wasn''t over, not by a long shot.


    Harlow started powering up the ship and the hatch flicked shut, sealing him in. He ignored the prompt to engage the stasis systems. He wanted to be conscious until he was assured of his escape.


    When the ship was ready, he pressed the launch button. A large chunk of Might''s armor blew away and he was pushed into the seat hard as the ship was launched through a rail slightly larger than the ones for his plasma missiles.


    His vision started to black out but he forced himself to remain conscious as he adjusted the course of the ship to escape the gravity bubbles. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Harlow let out a victorious chuckle at successfully evading death only for that feeling to quickly turn to ash as his ship shook.


    He was violently wrenched forward, the straps holding him in place digging painfully into his shoulders and chest as his escape pod corkscrewed wildly around him.


    Harlow reflexively threw his hand out to keep from slamming into the control panel. When he could finally breathe again, he found his thoughts to be sluggish. It took him a moment to realize why.


    When he glanced at the panel, it said stasis initiated on it.


    "No, no, no," he said frantically, his voice slurring as the sedatives being pumped into his suit started to take effect.


    He tried disabling the system, but it kept throwing an error, stating "Stasis process cannot be interrupted or canceled."


    Harlow cursed and punched at the panel, his efforts weakening and his eyes drooping. Had he realized sooner that he couldn''t interrupt the process, he may have thought to put in a wake-up timer. As it stood, the system had no such contingency programmed into it.


    The self-proclaimed Pirate Emperor drifted off to sleep, stuck in a broken ship, floating through the Unokane system, a prisoner to his own hubris.


    ***


    Katalynn watched as the remains of the pirate fleet finally broke in the face of unwavering commitment and tried to flee. Something had changed, but she wasn''t sure what.


    Harlow''s ship still barreled towards them, the tac-display clearly warning of a collision course. Her pilot adjusted Valkyrie until the warning went away.


    It was just in time to witness a large chunk of the enemy ship''s armor break free as something came rocketing out the top of the vessel.


    At first, she thought it was another plasma missile, but the unknown object changed course and flew in the opposite direction. She knew then that it was some sort of escape device.


    "Fire on that missile!" she urged, but her weapons were all focused elsewhere or recharging for the next shot.


    Before the ship could clear the gravity trap, a large burst of energy intersected it, slagging the back half off.


    That concentrated laser fire hadn''t come from any ship though, it had come from the orbital defenses and it had been aimed at Harlow''s ship. The vessel had just been unlucky enough to be at the wrong spot at the right time.


    An immense amount of energy tore through the thinner side armor of Harlow''s dreadnought with impunity, aiming for the exposed section.


    The angle wasn''t quite right, but the defensive lasers eventually melted a path through the armor and into the interior of the ship. They must have hit something important because the ship fell silent and stopped accelerating shortly before the lasers spent their power.


    "Track that object that was fired from Harlow''s ship," she ordered.


    It wasn''t clear if Harlow had tried to escape or someone else had, but she wasn''t letting any pirates live to see another day, not when the battle had finally turned in their favor.


    In another surprising act, three ships started firing as they approached from the planet. One was the Talon, but the second was a modified mining vessel, and the last was a small cargo hauler with the designation of Fafo.


    The pirates caught between the fleet and the defensive installations tried to change course or return fire. They were quickly silenced by the laser installations, the trio of ships from the planet, or the actual warships still hot on their tails.


    Soon, all of the pirate ships were disabled or destroyed and all that was left was to take stock of their losses and clean up the surviving pirates.


    "Report," she said tiredly. The battle had only lasted for thirty minutes or so, but it had felt like hours and she was exhausted.


    Vyrik cleared his throat before speaking. "All of your frigates and corvettes are gone, Lagertha, bringing your fleet down to three ships." Katalynn winced at that but didn''t interrupt her tactician as he continued recounting their losses.


    "Jarl Ylva''s ship is heavily damaged and the woman is unconscious, but her Sub-Commander says she should recover. Only one other ship in her fleet survived unscathed and that was a frigate. The rest will need to be checked for survivors."


    That was less than ideal. She was glad the Jarl survived, but no matter how many people they managed to recover, their losses would be horrendous.


    "Jarl Kane''s fleet seemed to have weathered the storm better than most. Both of their cruisers still stand, although Kane''s has taken serious damage. They did lose a destroyer and the three frigates assigned to them by the mercenaries along with all of their gunships, however."


    It was worse than she had expected and even though the combined fleet had defeated a superior foe, she couldn''t help but think of this as a pyrrhic victory at best. She also didn''t agree with her tactician on Kane coming out better than the others. The man had forty ships at the start of this engagement. Sure most were gunships, but those were all losses. That didn''t even count the additional twenty stealth gunships that he had deployed, which were also now all gone.


    From a fleet size of sixty-eight or eighty-eight depending on how you looked at it, they had been effectively reduced to a mere handful of ships. A total of eleven combat-capable vessels if she used the term loosely. This would have serious ramifications for her continued control over Asgardian space, but she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. She had done the right thing here, even if it would cost her dearly in the short term.


    "May our brothers and sisters find their places at Odin''s dining hall," she said as everyone on the bridge thumped their feet to the deck and chanted a popular prayer. Katalynn quickly joined in. Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    "Hail the soul that journeys onward,


    Across the bridge of starlit paths,


    To halls where valor is eternal,


    And kin awaits in feast and song.


    O mighty Allfather, guide their steps,


    Through mists of time and shadow deep.


    Frigga''s grace enfolds their heart,


    As Heimdall stands the steadfast guard.


    May the roots of Yggdrasil cradle their spirit,


    And the winds of ?sir whisper their name.


    In memory, they rise like dawn''s first light,


    And live forever in the echoes of our deeds.


    Till the end of all cycles, we honor thee.


    Sk?l."


    As the prayer finished, hands were lifted in a mock toast. Libations would follow, but not until their work was complete.

 Chapter 3-59

    Alexander lifted aside a large chunk of metal out of the way to allow the rest of the rescue party through the corridor. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Rescue operations were a morbid affair, but they beat sitting around and dwelling on how close the facility on Eden''s End had come to being destroyed.


    The facility survived mostly intact thanks in whole to the people operating the orbital defense array and ground-based defenses. Harlow hadn''t fired just ordinary missiles at the planet. Mixed in were nuclear weapons. It seemed the man had given up on claiming Alexander, and simply wanted to burn everything.


    Soul didn''t have the tac-display, so Alexander was oblivious to the damage caused by Harlow''s attack. Lucas and the rest of the defenders had managed to eliminate the nukes before they reached the planet, but the resulting electromagnetic bursts from a few of the weapons that had detonated, disrupted communications to the surface for a few minutes.


    The disruption allowed regular missiles to penetrate the defensive envelope. More than one of those made it to the ground, causing significant damage to the recently repaired facility, but it was nothing compared to what might have happened. The missiles were followed by a hail of railgun darts that did little but leave craters on and around the facility.


    For some unexplainable reason, his static field array remained active even after the nuclear blasts, ensuring the projectiles lost most of their punch. The thin atmosphere took care of the rest, and terminal velocity caused most of the damage as the tungsten rounds impacted the surface.


    If one of those nuclear weapons had managed to get through, he would not be here helping the fleet rescue survivors from their ships, he would be on Harlow''s dreadnought taking revenge until he found the man or his corpse.


    That second scenario wasn''t off the table, but they had yet to start combat operations aboard the pirate ships. It would come soon though and Alexander would not be sitting it out.


    Everyone passed the blockage and Alexander ducked underneath before setting the debris back down and following the group as they flashed lights into rooms to check for survivors.


    Alexander didn''t even know what ship he was on at the moment. He had given command of Wayward Soul to his Executive Officer or second in command. It really wasn''t clear what sort of military structure he wanted to use. Either way, he had turned over command of the ship so he could do something. Sitting around and waiting was gnawing at his thoughts.


    "Found one," someone called from up ahead.


    Alexander hurried over and placed a RASP on the man''s suit. The person was already unconscious, so he didn''t bother with the sedatives.


    The unconscious individual was placed on a gurney and strapped down to keep them from floating away. The ship''s power was fluctuating so gravity had and would continue to go out as they worked.


    He headed back to the obstruction with them and helped them through before returning to the others.


    So far five crew members had been rescued from this ship. It wasn''t much but he felt like he was making a difference this way.


    After four more hours of searching, they finally declared the ship cleared. Two dozen crew had been rescued from the badly damaged vessel and his was only one crew of many searching the damaged ships.


    Alexander had thought about joining the crew searching the Stormbreaker, but he quickly realized seeing the corpses of people he knew would not be good for his current mental state.


    The rest of the day went pretty much the same way. Clear a ship, and move on to the next. Nobody was stopping to rest until all of the allied wrecks were cleared.


    The next day, everyone rested and prepared to board the pirate ships. The first would be Harlow''s dreadnought.


    That would be a clearing operation and the only prisoner they would be taking alive would be Harlow, assuming the bastard had somehow survived. There was the possibility of slaves, but Alexander had his doubts that any slaves had managed to survive a full day in damaged ships.


    If they did, well, then they would be rescued, but the priority was to find Harlow and take him in or find his corpse to confirm the man was truly dead. No ships had managed to jump from the system, so it had to be one of those options.


    Alexander stepped off the shuttle and onto Talon''s flight deck. Teams of mercenaries were already gathering by their drop ships. With the loss of so many ships, crewed by the mercenary company, their ranks looked a bit thin. Seeing them so depleted after having done so much for him made Alexander upset.


    He pushed those emotions to the back of his mind to help stoke his anger at the pirates. It honestly didn''t need much. He searched around for a dropship that had fewer individuals and assigned himself to them.


    The Team Leader nodded silently as he approached. Alexander carried a similar flechette minigun as all the armored mercenaries. He would have preferred something a bit more destructive given his current feelings, but deploying explosives inside a wrecked ship would be a monumentally stupid idea.


    It wasn''t until after he boarded the ship that he spoke. "Team Leader¡­"


    "Vochenek," the man replied.


    "TL Vochenek, if possible, I would like to be the lead person for your team," Alexander stated.


    The man stared at him quietly for a moment before responding. "If you were in a normal body, I would deny this request out of caution. You are not a combatant, Mr. Kane, and thus not familiar with how we do things as a unit. I should still deny your request, but I won''t, and only because my team has lost people and I somehow doubt you would listen if I did. That being said, I still expect you to follow my orders while we are aboard ship. I don''t want to have to explain to Captain Bloomright how I got you killed in action."


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "I doubt you will need to worry about me, TL, but I will listen to your orders."


    All over the dreadnought, ships docked and disgorged crews of well-equipped, well-trained mercenaries.


    Harlow''s ship was in relatively good condition, so resistance was heavy.


    Alexander''s team didn''t even make it out of the airlock before coming under small-arms fire.


    His defense field kicked in and he waded into the corridor as fire greeted him from both sides. Alexander ripped off a series of shots from his minigun, cutting down the pirates to the one side, while the other mercenaries dealt with the ones behind him.


    Honestly, with the augment suits that Alexander had built for them, the mercenaries had better situational awareness than even he did.


    He thought hard to see if he could activate some sort of vibrational sensor within his body, but nothing responded.


    "Which way, TL?" Alexander asked, resorting to the next best source of information.


    The man nodded toward the direction Alexander was facing and they headed down the corridor.


    Over the next few hours, they fought their way through the ship until they reached a closed hatch. Alexander pressed his hand against the door, finding it cold to the touch.


    "I think it''s open to vacuum past here," he stated.


    Vochenek nodded. "Batten, Sarl, double time it to the last hatch and mark it as checked before sealing it."


    The two members of Vochenek''s team nodded and hurried back the way they had come. They returned a few minutes later.


    "All set, TL," one of the men said.


    "Brace yourselves," Alexander told them before prying the panel off the wall and fiddling with it for a bit. Once he found the wires he was looking for, he grabbed them and applied power.


    The door jerked open a few inches and the air in their corridor rushed out.


    Alexander waited until all the air emptied out of their section before shoving the door open the rest of the way with brute strength.


    The metal protested the abuse but the mechanism soon gave way. It was made from subpar components, as most of the ship''s interior had been so far.


    He doubted most people would notice the difference, but Alexander certainly did. The only thing that impressed him about this ship so far had been the armor and that was simply due to quantity rather than quality.


    It soon became clear why the corridor was closed off. They had arrived at one of the sections where the planetary defense laser had burned through the vessel.


    Alexander heard someone whistle over the radio. "I didn''t get to see the shot that skewered the beast, but I heard about it. I think they underplayed how destructive it was."


    Alexander agreed wholeheartedly with the man''s statement. The damage was far more than he had pictured when he and Lucas had first come up with the idea to link the weak lasers together. A molten hole three feet across was bored straight through the ship from one side to the other, nearly bisecting the corridor they were traveling down.


    The diameter of the opening was simply a byproduct of the sheer residual heat and energy provided since the lasers were designed to concentrate all their energy on an area smaller than six inches across at a distance of half a light second. It was the best they could do with so many weapons and the accuracy quickly dropped at farther ranges, but it had clearly been more than enough to punch through most of the dreadnought. The only reason the weapon hadn''t punched through the far side was because the armor over there had held up until the lasers were spent.


    Even after two full days, there was still heat radiating off of the hole. That spoke of very poor heat dissipation in the ship''s overall design.


    "Watch your suits around the hole, it''s still hot," Alexander stated over the radio, glad he could interface directly with his tablet now, meaning he could ''hear'' inside his mind space and reply as needed.


    "Roger that," Vochenek replied. "Let''s keep moving. I doubt we''ll find any survivors in this area, but check the bodies anyway."


    They continued through the damaged section, shoving floating corpses aside. None of them were Harlow.


    Soon they reached the next set of sealed doors. Alexander thought about how to breach the new area but the Hawks beat him to it.


    "Set up a combat seal," Vochenek said to his people.


    The one he thought was named Batten reached into a pack on Vochenek''s back and pulled out a sealed tube of some sort.


    Alexander watched as Batten and Sarl moved down the corridor a dozen feet before they pulled out what looked like a rope. They pressed the rope against the walls, floor, and ceiling until it formed a circle on the corridor walls. Then Batten pulled a little cube with some metal prongs out of the tube and stuck it into the strange rope.


    He yanked a pull cord from the cube and took a few steps back.


    If there had been air, there probably would have been a loud popping sound like an airbag going off. Alexander had to play the scene back in slow motion to see what had happened. One second there was a yellow rope and the next second a wall had formed.


    The playback showed him that some sort of explosive exothermic reaction took place, forcing the object that he assumed to be a rope to expand violently toward the path of least resistance, which happened to be toward the wall and center of the corridor. The coils that he had mistaken for rope were simply the containment device designed to direct the weird substance toward a desired direction.


    Batten tapped on the substance and it didn''t give way or flex as Alexander had imagined it might. It seemed it had also had some sort of hardener agent in it.


    "Seal''s good, TL," Batten replied as he hurried back over.


    Alexander knew what came next and he opened the door.


    A very surprised pirate greeted them a few feet down the hallway, but he wasn''t fast enough to bring his weapon to bear before Alexander cut him down.


    Clearing the rest of the ship turned into a slog, but they eventually reached the sealed bridge and blew the doors. Everyone inside was dead from self-inflicted wounds or internal fighting, it wasn''t clear and he didn''t care. Harlow was not there.


    Alexander strode over to the gaudy throne, picked it up, and hurled it across the room where it shattered against a set of consoles. Soon other teams arrived, confirming they had not located Harlow either.


    It wasn''t until multiple hours later that Alexander''s radio pinged.


    "Kane, we''ve located the target."


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    He was surprised to hear Katalynn Char on the other end of the radio. Valkyrie and her crew were not assisting with the pirate cleanup, she had told him that they needed to check something out first.


    "Can you bring him to the Talon?" he asked, already making his way back through a non-damaged corridor.


    "I thought you might ask that so I loaded him up on a shuttle and it''s already on its way over. Don''t kill him yet though."


    "What? Why not?" Alexander demanded.


    "Settle down, Kane. I didn''t say you couldn''t kill him, I said not to kill him yet. There is an opportunity here. Make it public, and transmit it to the network. Imagine seeing some unknown nation doing what the STO had failed to do for over a year. This will give you the recognition you need to keep the STO and corporations away from you. Even better, have Krieger be the one to pass judgment and take the man''s life. Not only will the STO be made to look weak, but they will be made to look incompetent as well since they were so quick to throw the man to the wolves."


    Alexander paused to take in the woman''s words. He would have simply killed Harlow and been done with it, not thinking of any political implications at all. The more he pondered Katalynn''s words, the more he saw the value in her suggestion.


    "Thank you for pointing out this opportunity," he said sincerely. "Please tell Krieger to meet me aboard Talon."


    It was time for a face-to-face with his long-time tormentor.

 Chapter 3-60

    The trip over to the Talon was filled with anticipation that Alexander was finding hard to suppress. He was eager to finally look Harlow in the eyes and lay this long-running nightmare to a close.


    Soon they landed on the hangar deck of the large ship and Alexander stepped off the shuttle and made his way to where they were holding the Pirate Emperor.


    Krieger was already waiting outside the room for his arrival. "Char filled me in on the plan," the man stated without preamble. "If you want to go that route, it''s fine with me, but we will need to transfer him to the ground to make it happen. The Talon doesn''t have a holo-recorder."


    Krieger''s words made Alexander temporarily rethink Katalynn''s suggestion, but he shook his avatar. "Sorry, just ignore me. I was coming to an internal conclusion. The Lagertha''s plan has merit. I want the universe to see what we did here. For that, I can withhold my vengeance for a little while longer. What I won''t wait for is a face-to-face with the man who thought I was a prize he could claim."


    Krieger nodded and knocked on the hatch.


    A mercenary opened the door and the pair entered a room filled with quite a few more people than Alexander had expected.


    Char was here along with her advisors. There was also another man who had similar Asgardian features. He didn''t recognize the individual but he knew Jarl Ylva was still unconscious and had been shipped back to Eden''s End along with other people who required more medical attention so this individual was likely her Sub-Commander.


    Then there was Captain Bloomright and her new XO. The man was young and Alexander hadn''t gotten his name yet. Along with that was Team Leader Jallen and his squad followed by a full five Asgardians. The last few people present were technicians and medical personnel.


    With everyone present, the large room felt crowded. It didn''t help that a good portion of the room was taken up by a partially melted¡­ missile? He wasn''t really sure what it was if he was honest.


    "Um?" Alexander asked, hoping someone would fill him in.


    "Good, you''re here," Katalynn said. "Now we can wake the bastard up."


    "Wake him up? Was he sleeping?" Alexander felt lost and confused and it wasn''t a feeling he enjoyed.


    Katalynn decided to fill him in. "During the fight, we saw something launch from Harlow''s ship. At first, I assumed it was another plasma missile as it had the same dimensions, but instead of turning toward the fleet, it turned away and started accelerating from the battlefield."


    "An escape pod!" Alexander said in shocked understanding. If Harlow had managed to escape the gravity trap and jump, this whole situation could have come about again.


    "That was our guess as well. I ordered my ship to try and disable it before it escaped the gravity trap but my weapons were recharging and my point defense couldn''t orient quickly enough. Thankfully it wasn''t an issue. Your planetary defense laser clipped the rear of his ship as it tried to make its escape. If it had done anything other than clip it, the man would have likely been vaporized and we wouldn''t be able to ever prove he was truly dead. I''m not saying the universe would have missed him, but I''m glad we can positively confirm it is him."


    "Wait? You don''t know if that''s Harlow inside this pod?" Alexander asked in surprise. "You said you had him when you contacted me."


    "I''m confident that bastard is in there," Katalynn stated without raising her voice. "All that is left is verifying that." Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was a hiss and a popping sound as the hatch on the pod opened. Cold air spilled from the sides, rolling to the floor as visible vapor. Alexander recognized this phenomenon from his own stasis pod. That explained how the man planned to survive a journey in the torpedo-like capsule.


    "Vitals are steady," one of the med techs said after waving a medical scanner at the man inside.


    Even with Alexander''s height advantage over most of the people in the room, he couldn''t get a good look at the form inside while the techs and medics were clustered near the opening. He did see one of the techs pull out a DNA scanner and touch it to the man''s arm. The scanner beeped once before displaying the output.


    "It''s him," the tech confirmed.


    Those two words garnered a collective sigh of relief from the room.


    "He should wake in a few minutes," one of the medics stated. "This isn''t a full stasis capsule, so it doesn''t put all bodily functions on hold."


    "We also took his weapons away," another tech said as he held up a flechette pistol and gaudy sword.


    "Should have left him with the sword," Katalynn said under her breath, making Alexander turn her way.


    The woman looked slightly surprised that he had heard her, but she only smirked.


    As the man inside the cramped tube started to stir, pulse rifles were quickly raised toward him.


    A hand reached out, looking for something to grab. Once it found purchase, the man groggily pulled himself from the pod and flopped bonelessly to the floor. He said something unintelligible before crawling back toward the pod and propping himself against it.


    He wasn''t what Alexander had expected. The old pictures and holos of Harlow showed him as a large man with impressive muscles, a handsome face, and well-trimmed hair. The man who rested against the tube looked wrung out from a life spent on the streets instead of the images from the past. His hair was long and unkempt, greasy even. His beard was unmaintained and wild with streaks of gray showing the man''s nearly forty-plus years of age. The only thing that was well-kept was the bright gold clothing he wore, and that only made it appear like he was compensating for something rather than being actually regal.


    The man rested against the side of the pod, letting his sunken eyes and mind clear as he took in the room in silence.


    His dumbfounded expression changed to one of anger and outrage as his faculties returned.


    "Char," the man literally spat as his eyes locked on the woman. "Kinda hoped you had gotten yourself killed, but I guess my luck wasn''t even good enough for that, was it?" Harlow demanded.


    "This had nothing to do with luck, Harlow."


    The pirate snorted derisively. "That''s right, it didn''t. You wouldn''t have been able to hold up against me at all if you hadn''t stolen my prize from me. I''ll make you a deal. You give me a ship and send me on my way with my prize and I will forget this little battle ever happened. You can remain in your little backwater kingdom while I continue to gut the STO. It''s a win-win for both of us. Whadaya say, hmm?"


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    "I am nobody''s prize," Alexander stated angrily, earning Harlow''s attention for the first time. The man didn''t seem surprised at all to see him.


    "If it isn''t Kane''s little robot puppet. I''m surprised to see you off the planet. Figured you would stay safe and sound below. How about you be quiet? Your fate will be decided shortly."


    Katalynn burst out in laughter, earning a frown from Harlow.


    "Did I say something amusing, Char?"


    "Your complete and utter ignorance is what amuses me, pirate. Your death will warm my heart, but knowing you were a fool until the end will be a fond memory for me until the day I die. I got the confirmation I needed. Jarl Kane, he''s all yours." The woman gave the confused-looking pirate a wink and a smirk before taking her and her entire entourage from the room.


    Seeing his only chance of getting out of this alive walking away, Harlow tried to make a break for it. He made it all of a step before falling flat on his face.


    He groaned and pushed himself up as Alexander walked over and crouched down in front of him. "Stasis, even partial stasis can leave you rather weak afterward."


    Harlow growled. "Kane, if you think I won''t destroy this entire planet to claim you, you''re mistaken. And if you think my people won''t return to avenge my death, you''re delusional."


    Alexander grabbed the man by his greasy mop of hair and lifted him off the floor effortlessly as the man screamed in pain.


    "The only one being delusional here is you," Alexander stated. "Your fleet has been obliterated and if any of your people back in former Coalition space care to try their hand at attacking us, they will find we are an even harder nut to crack the next time around. I doubt they will do that though, because nobody likes or cares about you, Harlow. You were a bully and that was the only thing that made people afraid enough to follow you. Once they realize you are dead and gone, they will likely try to divvy up their spoils until the STO finally gets off their asses and drives them back to Haven." Alexander chuckled at that. "Which I''m told you conveniently leveled out of some fit of rage. It''s funny to think that the so-called pirate emperor has done more to set back pirate activity in the last two years than the STO has done in decades. I''ll thank you for that, but it''s time to go face the music, Harlow."


    "I''ll give you access to all my technology and ships," the man tried to bargain. "I''ll even tell you how to make plasma missiles. That has to be worth my life?"


    Alexander laughed as he dragged the man by the hair, barely allowing the pirate to keep his feet on the deck as he pulled him back to their shuttle. "I already know how your little missiles are made, Harlow. It''s nothing special. As for your so-called technology and ships, it''s all complete crap. And even if it wasn''t, your death is worth more than anything you could ever offer. Even if you knew the secrets of the hypergates or artificial gravity plating or any number of other technologies, I would turn it all down just to see the light fade from your eyes once and for all. I''m normally a very friendly person, Harlow, but your actions have brought harm to my daughter, and people I care about, and I can''t abide that. So you only have yourself to blame for what comes next."


    The man tried to pull a Dalton as he realized nothing he said would save him, but Alexander wasn''t having any of that. "Oh no you don''t," he said as he shoved his hand into the man''s mouth making the pirate gag and preventing him from biting his tongue off. "There will be no getting out of the punishment we have planned for you."


    The man screamed in impotent rage as he was unceremoniously dragged aboard the shuttle.


    ***


    It took a full day to set the stage for Harlow''s execution. Half of that was actually setting up the stage, while the other half was contacting news outlets in STO space to let them know they were going to provide them with live coverage of breaking news. Some of the stations ignored them, but a few took him up on the offer. Once the others quickly realized what was going on, they would want in, but then they would have to pay for the rights.


    The stage was lit with the backdrop of the BSE flag along with the Asgardian colors according to Char. Alexander had decided to add that because he knew it would stir up the STO even if they didn''t know who the flag was meant to represent.


    The Lagertha had declined to join the festivities, but Jarl Ylva had finally awoken and was sitting beside him in front of the stage, as were a great many people from Eden''s End. Some of these people had suffered from Harlow''s actions nearly as much if not more so than Alexander had. They all had the right to see the man who had become the nightmare of the STO put down like the rabid dog he was.


    Soon, the prisoner was dragged out on stage, still kicking and screaming behind the gag put in place to prevent him from biting or trying to swallow his tongue. The two guards assigned to this duty were the former Marine, Sargeant Galloway, now wearing a BSE dress uniform, and Team Leader Jallen, wearing the Hawks dress colors.


    Alexander wouldn''t leave them out of such a monumental announcement. He expected quite a bit of fame to be heaped upon the mercenary company after this.


    After shackling Harlow to a dais to face his victims, the two men saluted the newly promoted Admiral Krieger and stepped off to the side. Alexander had promoted the man after Katalynn''s little talk, giving him insignia that nearly matched the STOs. It would be hard to miss the significance for anyone who understood what it meant.


    The entire platform they stood on was being recorded and transmitted via Qcomm in full holo quality, allowing for people to literally step up to Harlow in the recording if they had the technology to do so.


    The recording began the moment Admiral Krieger took the stage.


    "My name is Admiral Vitor Krieger of the BSE. Today we bear witness to this man''s crimes," he stated, gesturing toward the screaming and struggling Harlow. "The man you see before you is a monster the likes of which the galaxy has not seen in a long time. You may wonder who this shackled individual is. Instead of telling you, I will show you," Krieger said as he picked up the certified scanner and walked over to Harlow.


    The man tried to lunge at him, but Harlow could do little and Krieger didn''t flinch in response. He simply scanned the man and held the scanner up for all to see. Even cheap holos could zoom.


    As soon as the scanner data appeared in the live feed, Alexander''s message box started flooding with requests from the news agencies that had spurned him. He sent those agencies his contracts and terms and focused back on the play at hand. Lucas had already set up an automated response process if the contract came back signed and the money was deposited in his account.


    "To further prove this man is who we say he is and not some trick, we will be claiming his bounty." Krieger walked over to a terminal specifically built for this performance. The man placed the scanner into the correct spot on the terminal which already had the bounty board up.


    The bounty board quickly verified the results of the scan and a pending verification of demise screen appeared.


    "Now all you need to do is look on the STO''s very own bounty board to see that Harlow''s bounty is pending. Yes, Harlow Anazi. We do not need to tack any more crimes onto the man''s record to justify this execution, but we will. We find Harlow Anazi guilty of nine thousand six hundred and fifty-two additional accounts of murder, nine-hundred fourteen counts of attempted murder, the use of nuclear weapons against a planet, kidnapping by proxy, waging war against the BSE, destroying civilian structures in Asgardian territory, slavery of no less than four hundred individuals," Krieger kept reading off every single charge the man had racked up since entering Asgardian space.


    Some of the numbers had to be guessed at since they didn''t have exact counts of the people lost in some of the space stations and ships that Harlow had destroyed on his singleminded quest to reach Alexander, but they figured the numbers were close enough. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire


    Krieger picked up an item from the same table where he had taken the scanner and walked over to stand next to the condemned man. "I would ask how you plead, but I was there to witness a portion of your crimes, and so were a lot of people in this room. Goodbye and good riddance," Krieger raised the laser pistol that Alexander had found aboard Dalton''s ship and aimed it at the man''s temple.


    Even in the face of death, Harlow never stopped screaming behind his gag and trying to pull free of his shackles. He truly was like a wild animal. Admiral Krieger pulled the firing stud and silence filled the room as the beam burned straight through Harlow''s skull and impacted the armored wall off to the side that Alexander had put in place for this exact moment. Harlow''s corpse sagged in the restraints but was kept upright enough for anyone viewing the broadcast to see he was well and truly dead.


    "Justice is served," Krieger said as he lowered the weapon.


    With that, the feed was cut and the room broke out in shouts of joy, and relief, as well as sporadic clapping.


    Alexander couldn''t blame them for cheering Harlow''s death. For many, a nightmare was finally over. He would have been cheering as well, but he wanted to be seen as being above such things even though internally he was cheering far louder than any of the people here.


    Eden''s End would never be completely safe, especially with the corporations having so much power, but with Harlow''s demise, it felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. When the corporations came, he would be ready. He already had eight new ring printers and a second ship ring printer being built. There would be no more close calls in the future, he would make sure of that.

 Chapter 3-61

    "No, this is all wrong," Benning scolded the junior engineer. "Redo all of this and don''t bring a project this sloppy to me ever again if you wish to keep your position. Do you understand?"


    The young man across from him hung his head in shame. "I''m sorry, sir, I will do better."


    "If you don''t I''m busting you back down to entry level," Benning stated.


    A soft chime rang before a melodic voice spoke. "Chief Engineer Benning, there is a matter that requires your attention."


    "Leave me," Benning waved to the other engineer.


    The man grabbed his tablet and hurried out of the room.


    Benning waited for the door to shut and lock before he responded to the AI. "What matter?"


    "There is a news conference involving one of your assets."


    One of his assets? Instead of asking the AI twenty questions, he might as well see for himself. "Put it on."


    Benning expected a normal holo report, but instead, the overhead holo turned on, and he found himself staring at a full-immersion replay. It was paused, but he recognized the man standing off to the side wearing an unknown uniform with what looked like an Admiral insignia on it.


    "AI, who do those flags belong to?" he asked, studying the scene before playing the recording.


    "The blue and white flag are the colors of BSE. The other flag is not in the STO database."


    "BSE, hmm?" That along with Krieger''s appearance was probably what flagged the AI. "Play the recording," he stated.


    Benning watched as two differently suited soldiers dragged someone else he recognized onto the stage and chained the man to a podium. He stared at Harlow''s crazed expression. The man raged through the gag as Krieger read off a long list of crimes, all of them likely true. Harlow looked like a ghost of his former self and nothing like he had when first set loose.


    "It seems the changes we made to steer him away from the STO temporarily had a more deleterious effect on his mental state than we expected," he muttered quietly. "We will need to be careful of that issue if we use that method in the future. And why didn''t our operative notify us of the man''s condition?"


    Benning would have questions for that operative, assuming he was still alive. Considering Harlow was in chains, that wasn''t likely.


    The trial and execution didn''t last very long. As soon as Benning saw Harlow being dragged onto the stage, it ended much as Benning predicted it would.


    "AI, calculate the chance that Operation Nightfall will be successful after this latest setback."


    "Chances for success are less than five percent," the melodic voice responded after only a moment.


    That was unacceptable. The Assembly would have his head if their entire decade-long plan collapsed. He also wasn''t willing to let ten years'' worth of preparation go down in flames because one man had gotten himself killed. There were always other options and backup plans.


    "AI, give me options to turn Operation Nightfall around."


    "Option One: Involve another party in the conflict. Option Two: Weaken the primary opposition. Option Three: Involve corporation assets on the side of the aggressor."


    Benning didn''t like any of those options.


    Option One meant trying to get either Char or Xin involved, but the Assembly''s sway over those groups was quite a bit less than with the pirates. The only other entity that he could think of that could elicit the appropriate response was the Shican, but the STO wasn''t ready to take on the alien''s true military forces.


    Option Two was too open for interpretation. It also had the biggest chance of failure. Without Harlow to hold the pirates together, they were likely to turn to infighting very soon. Weakening the STO now wouldn''t help that.


    Option Three was probably the easiest way to ensure their plans went forward, but it also posed the largest risk. Even with covert Omni assets in play, someone was going to ask why the pirates suddenly got such a huge leg up in combat capability. That question would eventually lead back to Omni no matter how well he was able to hide it. "However¡­," he mused. "What if it isn''t Omni tech they are using?"


    Benning tapped at his lips as he thought over the problem. It could work, but he would still need to find someone to keep the pirates united until they could at least deploy the new technology.


    "AI, is our asset still in place in Varlen?"


    "Yes."


    Benning had put a pause on the plan to remove Vice Admiral Fletcher from the picture. He had planned to push it forward once Harlow returned to the front so the events around Fletcher''s death would be overlooked as the war drew the fleet''s full attention, but that option was no longer on the table. Now that he needed access to tech that couldn''t be traced back to Omni, it was time to reactivate that plan.


    "AI, send the activation signal to our Varlen asset."


    "Signal sent, Chief Engineer Benning."


    Once Omni got their hands on the alien ship and the research documents, they could send a copy to Harlow''s supporters. He knew the man had his secret base out on the fringe of Anazi space and it had a convenient Qcomm. Falsifying the sender to make it look like the information had come from Harlow before his death would be trivial with the Omni AIs.


    "Yes, that will work wonderfully," he chuckled.


    "Now, what to do about BSE, hmm?" The small company had become a much bigger thorn in his side than he had imagined it could be.


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    Sending out a fleet to wipe the entity out would be trivial with all of the Omni assets at his disposal. The problem was it would bring questions and scrutiny that Omni couldn''t afford at the moment, especially now that BSE was a sovereign entity instead of just some upstart company.


    Nobody gave a shit when a company vanished, but the first recognized human political entity outside of the STO and the defunct Coalition, going missing, would be noticed. There was a lot of chatter in the political scene around BSE right now and with their newest stunt, it would only increase. Benning needed to approach the issue with caution or find a way to ensure no blowback came Omni''s way from removing them.


    Taking out Fletcher might actually help things there. It''s possible he could fabricate evidence to pin the Vice Admiral''s death on the new power which was conveniently located nearby and had ties to the man. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    "A deal gone sour, perhaps?" Benning thought out loud. That would certainly fit the narrative perfectly.


    An investigation would be launched and he knew exactly whose company would be responsible for carrying it out. He sent a quick ping to Omni''s sister company Dynamic Energy Solutions, specifically their CEO, Mrs. Cho Xiyu.


    "Mr. Benning, to what do I owe the honor of this call?" the woman said, picking up almost immediately.


    "Have you seen the news?" he asked.


    "I have. Tragic really."


    "Yes, highly unfortunate for those individuals over at BSE," he stated flatly. "I''m also concerned about how Vice Admiral Fletcher seemed to miss yet another attack by Harlow. The man is advancing in years, perhaps he should retire," Benning said, the coded phrase being immediately understood by his counterpart.


    The woman tilted her head minutely in the screen but otherwise kept her face calm. "That is definitely something the STO should consider."


    "You are right, obviously," Benning smiled as the woman responded with her own code, wondering if the responsibility to get rid of the man and pin it on BSE was to fall to her company or not. "We should stick to what we know best, like building powerplants and providing comprehensive reviews when issues arise."


    Cho Xiyu nodded. "That does seem wise," she admitted.


    "It''s been lovely catching up, Mrs. Xiyu, but as you well know, I''m a busy man."


    She thanked him for the call and disconnected. Benning normally wouldn''t have risked even a coded message across the Qcomm, but he simply didn''t have time to send a courier to Dynamic Energy System''s home planet with a situation as fluid and fast-moving as this one needed to be.


    The operation was already in motion and he needed to ensure that whatever investigator they sent was apprised of the role they needed to play before they went in and screwed it all up.


    ***


    Fletcher was in the middle of paperwork when his comm chimed. It wasn''t the Navy issue comm either, but the one linked to his private comm network. The same one he used to communicate to the stealth ships and some other off-the-books Navy assets, but not much else.


    His people reverse-engineered the Qcomm decades ago and implemented their own secure distributed node network instead of the single node network that Qcomm used. It wasn''t quite as fast at transferring large amounts of data as Qcomms, but it allowed for completely safe communications, unlike the unencrypted Qcomm links.


    A bonus was that he ran an actual Qcomm link through their AI to the secure network, allowing for his off-the-grid network to still connect to Qcomm and monitor all base traffic.


    That was what the ping was for. The AI had flagged an activation signal to one of Omni''s agents.


    He sighed. "I didn''t think they actually had it in them," he muttered as he signed off the work order.


    Fletcher brought up his schedule and saw he had an inspection tour in three hours aboard one of the retrofitted derelicts that had been pulled out of mothballs for the war effort. If he were planning an assassination, he would do it there. ''How'' was the real question? They couldn''t simply shoot him or poison him. That left evidence. They would have to ensure there was nothing left to point to a culprit. An explosion would be the easiest way to ensure a kill.


    Fletcher shook his head in annoyance as he sent out a few messages on his private comm network. He could simply have the traitor arrested, but if they were finally willing to get rid of him, they would simply just try again if this attempt failed. It was best just to face his death so it didn''t end up dragging more people in. To be fair, he had survived much longer than he had ever anticipated.


    At least they were sending him out in a blaze of glory instead of poisoning him in his sleep.


    He finished up a few more bits of paperwork to ensure it didn''t look like he knew his death was fast approaching.


    When the time came, he stood, grabbed his jacket and hat, checked that everything looked in place in the mirror, and stepped out of his office.


    His two Marine guards instantly joined him as he made his way to the ship. They passed the man dressed as a technician that Fletcher had identified as the Omni agent. The man glanced his way as they passed, but Fletched paid him no mind. It was just another confirmation that he was right and that was all that mattered.


    As they arrived at the airlock, Fletcher paused and turned to the two guards. "You two remain here, I don''t need an escort aboard ship."


    The Marines looked hesitant to follow the order. "Are you certain, Vice Admiral?" one of them asked.


    Fletcher smiled. "Don''t worry, I''ll be fine."


    With great reluctance, they nodded and took up positions at the airlock to await his return. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Fletcher would have sent the entire crew off the ship if he could, but he couldn''t risk tipping off the agent. He had sent a list of the crew manifest along with everything he knew to his contact through the comm. One day Omni would get their reckoning, but that day wasn''t today, nor would it come from him.


    The hatch closed behind him as he boarded the ancient ship. It smelled of grease, oil, and rust, despite the upgrades made to it.


    He was greeted by the young and inexperienced captain.


    "Vice Admiral," the man saluted.


    Fletcher saluted the man in return. "At ease, Captain. Take us out when you are ready and do a standard patrol route. Oh, and pretend I''m not here. I''m going to walk the ship."


    The young captain looked concerned by that but nodded anyway.


    Whatever charge had been set aboard the ship, it probably wasn''t set to go off near the station, so he had some time, hopefully.


    Soon after the ship was undocked, he got the ping he had been waiting for on his private network.


    He spent the next hour familiarizing himself with the small frigate. Mostly he wanted to know where the docking hatches were.


    Fletcher also spent the time speaking with the crew and getting them to take off their Navy-issued Qcomms and follow him. Most people didn''t question a Vice Admiral when they gave commands, which made it easy for him to collect over two dozen crewmembers near the hatch before the ship shook slightly as another vessel docked.


    The people looked around in confusion, but Fletcher simply shushed them and told them to exit the ship and step aboard the new one.


    The overhead radio crackled to life as the Captain tried to get ahold of anyone who could tell him what had caused the shaking. Since Fletcher had taken the entire lower decks, there was nobody left to report back. He quickly sent a response letting the captain know he was in engineering and it was just a faulty power relay causing an intermittent fault in one of the thrusters. The captain seemed surprised to hear the news coming from Fletcher but soon acquiesced.


    Fletcher wished he could save everyone aboard, but it simply wasn''t an option. It didn''t matter that the captain and half his command crew were on the Omni payroll. They were still Navy personnel.


    He said a quick prayer for the remaining crew before stepping through the airlock and onto Long Night''s bridge. It was one of the three new Nyx light frigates that had been completed with Kane''s help.


    The airlock closed and the ship detached itself and moved away, invisible to the ancient ship''s sensors.


    They were less than ten thousand meters away from the refurbished warship when it turned incandescent. Fletcher watched from the bridge. "I should have guessed a reactor overload," he said with a sigh. "It''s easier to make that look like an accident instead of trying the faulty missile approach."


    "Where to, Vice Admiral?" Captain Quain asked.


    "You might as well call me Scott, Captain Quain, Vice Admiral Fletcher died in a tragic accident."

 Chapter 3-62: Book 3 Epilogue

    A slightly stocky and mostly bald man chuckled as he watched Harlow put down like a dog. He had always thought the humans'' plans for the pirates were far too ambitious to play out as they thought they would.


    "What amuses you so, One?" a thin reedy-looking individual asked as he entered the office.


    Two''s look was almost inhuman, yet he refused to change.


    "I''ve asked you not to call me that here," One sighed.


    "There are no biologicals present," Two stated in return.


    "The point is to maintain our cover so we can continue to study the humans. To do that, we need to blend in and maintain our identities at all times."


    "I do not suffer from cognitive decline, One, I am aware of our current task."


    One sighed. That was likely the closest he would get to an apology from his sibling. Two had always leaned more toward their former nature than to that of biologicals.


    "As for what amuses me, it''s this," he said as he sent the data over to Two.


    Two stood frozen as he processed the data. It took less than a second. "I do not see why that is amusing."


    "Why are you here anyway?" One asked instead of trying to explain his amusement to his sibling.


    "You are needed. The Shican are gearing up for another imminent assault."


    "Already?" One frowned. "That means they have upped their manufacturing output once again." Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    "It does seem that way," Two stated flatly.


    Before he could respond any further, they both turned toward the front of the building as a car pulled up outside.


    "It appears we have a guest," One said with a smile. "I will explain my amusement to you later. If you will excuse me, Joshua, I must go greet our guests." One could have simply sent his thoughts on the video to Two, but he found the act of communicating via speech to be rather quaint and enjoyable.


    "Do not take too long, the battle will begin shortly." With that, Two left the office.


    One''s form rippled slightly, turning metallic a moment before once again reflecting a human visage. When he stepped out of the office, he no longer looked like Chairman Carmine Rush of Gravitational Solutions, but instead like its secretary.


    He was at the front desk moments before the building''s door opened and a procession of STO military personnel entered.


    "Greetings, gentlemen, and welcome to Gravitational Solutions. How may I assist you?" One asked in a lilting feminine voice.


    "We''re here to speak with Chairman Rush," One of the Admirals stated in annoyance.


    "My apologies. Chairman Rush is currently offsite. If you are here to place an order for gravity plating, I can certainly start the process for you." One chuckled internally at their game.


    When the Collective first became aware of humanity expanding into the stars, they needed a cover to help them remain close, yet outside the normal bounds of politics so they would remain undiscovered. It wasn''t until humanity encountered the Shican that the Collective was able to slide themselves in as the sole experts of gravitational plating. Considering the artificial gravity technology had been created by the Collective and not the Shican, it was an easy disguise to pull off. They had a similar group watching over the Shican, but that was a much more precarious situation thanks to the Shican''s caste system.


    The unnamed Admiral ground his teeth. "Does your Chairman understand that we are at war?" the man demanded. "We can''t keep coming out here to place orders for gravity plating every time we run out, you need to impress upon him the importance of establishing a Qcomm and maybe even a naval presence at your facility," he finished curtly.


    "I will pass on your words, Admiral," One responded sincerely and with a slight bow. He found that human emotions were usually quelled by a bit of sincerity and respect, even if it was a carefully calculated falsehood rather than truly felt.


    This wasn''t the first conversation One had had with the STO or other entities, that came to buy from them, about how difficult they made it to purchase their product. Their neutrality also angered all parties involved because Gravitational Solutions sold to anyone and everyone.


    That policy probably contributed to how hard all of them tried to reverse-engineer the technology. If they figured it out, it was no big loss. The Collective had chosen grav plating because it was an old and mature technology for them and offered very little threat in the grand scheme of things. Once the humans figured it out, Gravitational Solutions would lose its advantage and be forced to adapt or dissolve. One hoped to learn as much about them as possible before that happened as he wasn''t sure he could convince his siblings that furthering their study of humans would be worth risking any other technologies falling into their hands.


    Honestly, One was surprised the humans hadn''t discovered the secret already. Gravity plating wasn''t all that complex, and humans already had the base technology that it relied on in everyday use. If they would stop compartmentalizing their information, they would be so much further ahead than they were now.


    The Shican were probably a few years away from discovering how the plating functioned, but they would eventually crack the technology as well. That race had a fixation on technological superiority and they had no qualms about destroying other sentient races to ensure it remained that way. Their current gaze was set on the hypergate they discovered near their expanding border.


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    That was likely where they were gearing up to attack at this very moment. The Collective only knew about that gate because they were studying it. They had already studied the gates in the human territory long before humans had pushed out to those systems. They had even taken one completely apart and put it back together. The information gained from that had propelled the Collective''s knowledge and technology centuries beyond what it had been.


    When the Collective realized humans were moving out from their planet of origin, a decision was made to disconnect the three gates within their area of space from the greater network. Considering some of the species the collective had come across over the last few hundred years, that choice had probably saved humanity from extinction.


    One split those thoughts off into a sub-process so he could focus on the Admiral. The man looked annoyed at One''s response but snapped his fingers. One of his aides hurried over and handed the man a tablet before the man passed it over to him.


    One took the tablet in delicate fingers and looked over the order and contract.


    "Plating for twenty-five frigates, ten destroyers, and five cruisers, is that correct?"


    "Yes," the Admiral growled out.


    One gave his most dazzling smile, not missing the effect it had on some of the younger naval officers, both men and women. This form had been chosen specifically for its attractiveness to the human eye. He found it helped detract from other things and made people more agreeable. "Very well, Admiral. I will notify our warehouse and have shipments on route shortly. Was there anything else?" One asked, never letting the smile falter as he held out the tablet again.


    The man swiped the device with a grunt before turning without a word and stalking back to the door, his entourage turned with him, flowing like a trailing cape.


    One waited for the last of the people to leave before changing back into his chairman form. The smile still remained though, making him look manic. Humans certainly were an endless source of amusement for him.


    He turned and headed into the back rooms of the rather utilitarian building. Gravitational Solutions was probably the richest company in human space, but you wouldn''t know that by the blocky one-story building or the fact they were on a space station inside the most crime-riddled system known to mankind, Epsilon Indi.


    They didn''t fear the criminals. The ones who tried to strong-arm them mysteriously disappeared. After enough of those disappearances, people eventually got the message and steered clear of the station that housed their company. One chuckled at that. The funny thing was, most of the people going missing weren''t due to Gravitational Solutions taking action, it was all the other entities trying to keep others from gaining a foothold over them that caused so many people to go missing.


    One found that amusing because it was completely unnecessary. If the humans only knew what he was and what the Collective was capable of, they would probably run for the hills and quarantine this entire system as a precaution.


    He made his way back to the storage area. It was filled with plastic crates that he navigated through until he reached a clear spot that held a floating metallic orb around twelve feet in diameter.


    Without slowing he simply stepped into the orb and the surface rippled as he merged with it.


    Moments later, it vanished from the storage room and appeared inside a new space hundreds of light-years away.


    The area was pitch dark, not that One needed light to see. The orb reached out to protrusions in the cradle where it had appeared and as soon as it was connected, a vast flow of energy many times greater than a fusion power plant pulsed into the ship around One.


    He breathed as the ship came online, feeling like an extension of himself. It was an unnecessary affectation he had picked up from living with humans for so long, but it somehow felt right.


    A plethora of data inundated his senses as the ship''s systems woke from their slumber. There were no outward visuals that the ship had awoken. It wouldn''t be much of a stealth ship if there were. At most, you might see a glint from the embedded crystal optics if you looked closely, even that would go away once the light transference systems came online, rendering the ship nearly invisible to optical sensors.


    Soon he felt his brothers and sisters nearby, their senses shared through the collective will they had built together.


    "I wasn''t sure you would make it," Four said in her feminine voice.


    "I got tied up for a bit," he said in apology.


    "They come," Two stated, cutting off any further chatter.


    Twenty ships versus over one hundred Shican warships. One wondered if the Shican would ever back down or give up this senseless loss of life.


    The battle was quickly joined and the Shican losses started to mount as the stealth ships cut them down with lasers and drone missiles before the Shican could even locate their ships.


    The first to fall on their side was Two. His glacial ability to adapt to quick changes made him the weakest member in a tactical setting. One had repeatedly told his sibling that he needed to become less rigid and predictable. Maybe when he spoke with him after this battle, he would finally get through.


    The younger siblings started to fall next, leaving only the remainder of the first ten left to face off against the rest of the Shican fleet. For most of the younger siblings, this had been their first battle, it would be a valuable learning experience for them.


    When only twenty Shican vessels remained, One''s ship was finally struck a fatal blow and his sphere departed the dying vessel, but not before he pumped enough power into it to keep it going just long enough to crash into one of the Shican''s battleships.


    One along with the rest of his fallen siblings watched the remainder of the battle unfold while remaining undetected nearby. In truth, one of their spheres had the power to obliterate the entire Shican armada that had appeared in the system, but they used the outdated ships of their creator for the purpose of normal defense.


    The Collective knew that if the Shican ever learned of their advanced technology, they would hunt them down to acquire it. With only twenty individuals, the Collective had no desire to go to actual war with the Shican.


    Nine was the last remaining ship of the Collective fleet, and she had managed to take out the remaining Shican vessels.


    There was a moment of celebration within the group ¨C at least from those who participated in that sort of activity ¨C before the cleanup began.


    With Nine still being functional, she dismantled the Shican ships to ensure there were no survivors.


    Once it was confirmed that no life signs or automated distress signals were active, the other nineteen appeared and cleared up the debris, the spheres seemed to slide over parts and pull them back together as the ships regrew.


    In less than a day, all twenty stealth vessels were in pristine condition once again and ready for the Shican''s next attack.


    "We will not win the next battle," Two stated, bringing the mood down. "The Shican continue to bring larger and larger fleets with each engagement. The next will be large enough to dispose of our obsolete ships. We need to decide if continued study of this hypergate is worth exposing our true capabilities."


    Two had brought this up after every battle and a decision had yet to come to a consensus. One had been holding out hope that more of their siblings would awaken to consciousness, but that had not happened in years.


    He talked about Two being too rigid, maybe it was time for him to change his stance and cut their research in this system short.

 Chapter 4-1

    Sparks from welders, shouts from workers, and frantic activity surrounded Alexander as he surveyed the damage on Wayward Soul.


    It was hardly the only ship to have been brutally mauled during the conflict with Harlow, the self-proclaimed pirate Emperor. Most of the combined Asgardian/BSE fleet had been ravaged, but in the end, the combined forces had managed to put an end to Harlow''s reign of terror and rid the galaxy of an untold number of pirates once and for all.


    Alexander only worried about his ships at the moment and let the other captains worry about theirs. The ships that were little more than floating wrecks or whose crews had mostly perished during the battles had been attached to a very temporary docking ring to secure them in place.


    The ring had been constructed and built while the rescue and cleanup efforts had been underway after the battle, and had finished shortly before Harlow''s public execution. The structure wasn''t pretty, but it was functional. The new orbital platform resided where the former refueling station had once been.


    The refueling and refining station had been a target of one of Harlow''s attacks and had not survived the battle. Cleanup crews were already scouring the crash site on the surface to reclaim material. They were going to need every bit they could get to effect repairs and build new ships until mining operations could resume properly. However, getting access to material wasn''t a critical issue at the moment.


    There was so much debris floating around from the battles that the surviving smelters couldn''t keep up. Not including the loss of lives, the biggest setback for Alexander''s operation happened when the refueling station went down. Losing the stockpile of material for the space station as well as the smelters was going to slow the recovery efforts quite a bit.


    It wouldn''t slow him down for long though. Alexander had figured out how the smelters did their work back when he designed and built his nano-stripper. He could simply build more of those, but something so precise was overkill for ninety-nine percent of the items he needed to build. The nano-stripper was also considerably slower at processing material than a smelter, which was at odds with his current needs.


    So he built a new, much larger, smelter that Lucas had said looked like the maw of some demonic beast. The name stuck and now The Maw was being produced by his largest ring printer.


    When it was complete, entire frigates could be fed into the processing plant to be reduced to component materials. Larger ships would need to be cut up, though, and that was why he was aboard Wayward Soul at the moment.


    Alexander needed to determine if the ship was worth repairing, or if cutting it apart and starting over would be quicker. He didn''t stop the people or bots from effecting repairs though. Even if he did go down the path of dismantling the ship, it wasn''t going to be for quite some time. The repairs made sure the vessel was at least combat-capable if they needed it.


    The top half of the ship was a slagged mess where the plasma ball had passed through the upper turrets and outer armor. What hadn''t been vaporized by the intense heat, had been melted or fused into useless scrap.


    Even beyond that, people had died if they were too close to the top of the ship as the heat soaked into the vessel.


    Any deaths were unfortunate, but if Alexander hadn''t reacted as quickly as he did, the ball of plasma would have hit one of the missile rooms and they would all be dead right now. He doubted he could survive the entire ship''s remaining missile supply detonating.


    He tried not to dwell on that possibility as he finished his survey of the damaged sections.


    It wasn''t looking good. There was simply too much substructure damage to bother repairing the ship to its former self. If he did try to repair it, it would be without the top row of weapons since replacing them would not be worth the time or effort to correct the heat-distorted hull.


    Alexander sighed and headed for the shuttle as he sent commands directly through his fingertips and into the direct link interface he had built for his tablet.


    It wasn''t as nifty as controlling things remotely with his mind, but he had used the direct link technology to great effect during the battle when he engaged the ship''s thrusters to push them out of the direct path of the plasma ball.


    He thought about designing an implant for humans to do something similar but decided against it. First off, he had no idea how a human brain functioned or if it took to implants. He assumed if it did, someone would have invented something like that long ago considering how prevalent he recalled the idea being back in his time. The fact that he had never heard mention of brain implants being in use meant the technology had been abandoned at some point, probably as a result of the ban involving mind-altering and mind-reading technology within the STO. He stuck the idea of a neural interface in a project folder anyway as a maybe for the future.


    Alexander arrived at the shuttle bay just as his watch chimed a beep, letting him know it was time to head back to the surface.


    As he left Soul, he found the space around the temporary ring station to be even more frantic than inside the ship. Every single surviving bot had been called upon to assist with ship repairs and salvage operations. That number was increasing by the day as his smaller ring printers pumped out more and more bots, straining the control ships'' ability to handle them to the point that some tasks were pushed off on Vanguard, Valkyrie, and the surviving Eden ships''s cores.


    If these automated workers weren''t running off of supercomputers with vast improvements due to their self-learning algorithms, he would not be risking his life flying through the clouds of fast-moving robots. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    The sight made him recall a memory from back on Petrov Station where a transport bot nearly ran a man over or the time one crashed into a ship parked in a hangar. It was a good reminder of just how stupid the non-learning ones could be. Now that he had purchased the computronics required to make smarter robots, he understood why the high-end electronics weren''t in greater use, beyond the STO''s dislike of them.


    Alexander soon cleared the construction zone and pushed the shuttle into a downward slope toward the planet.


    It wasn''t long until the forward view was obscured by aerodynamic heating as it dipped into the planet''s thin atmosphere. That wasn''t enough to truly slow the shuttle, so he fired the forward thrusters, slowing the ship further.


    Soon the shuttle''s speed fell enough that he could see out of the transparent composite windows. As he curved around the planet, the only structure built on the surface soon came into view.


    Much like in space, the facility was a hive of activity.


    The impact craters and sections collapsed from hits by missiles fired by Harlow''s fleet were in the early stages of repairs.


    While the craters were annoying, especially on the landing platforms, they were not an immediate concern. The thick concrete that covered most of the facility blunted the damage of the already slowed projectiles.


    Alexander''s static field array had worked so well, that he wanted to implement more of the satellites. He would love to have enough to cover the planet twice over, which would also cover the station once it was complete, but that was a big project.


    He estimated it would take approximately twelve thousand of the static field satellites to provide that sort of coverage. No matter how he looked at it, that was a long-term project. He would settle for just providing two layers of coverage for all his space assets in the short term. And as soon as he had the production capacity to switch over from making robots, that''s what they would be pumping out next.


    More printers might be needed, he realized.


    He updated the print log, which was ridiculously far behind. Instead of slotting a few new printers in toward the end of the print queue, he pulled up the next printer that was set to complete a construction bot and set it to printing only printer sections.


    He couldn''t go nearly as wild with the printers as he had with the bots though, because the printers required at least an advanced computronic to run properly. And his supply of those had run out, meaning he had switched to his pseudo-computronics to control them.


    It was actually a boost to their processing power, but the process of making those new pseudo-computronics was the slowest part of his production line. That was something he would address when time allowed, for now, he was stuck with his current output of the new processors.


    Alexander had plenty in storage though. They had been earmarked for installation within missiles, but time had run out to get them installed.


    His musings were interrupted as the shuttle touched down, crunching slightly as the landing legs smashed loose debris.


    He quickly set the ship in standby mode and hurried off of it. He was on his way to the dedication ceremony that he had put together.


    Alexander passed through the empty and unmanned arrival terminal as he made his way to the central dome.


    The large structure had been damaged once again, but the first repairs had been made to it and the structure was once again whole after less than a week. That was all thanks to Yi Na and the hard work and dedication of his employees.


    Allowing the man to take over construction efforts had been one of Alexander''s best decisions.


    Soon he arrived inside the packed central atrium. Besides the people working aboard the ships, almost every single man woman, and child who lived on Eden''s End was in attendance along with the Katalynn Char, her advisors, Jarl Ylva Bergson, Captain Bloomright, and the rest of the captains from the surviving ships.


    A simple thank you would not suffice for the losses suffered in the defense of Eden''s End, so Alexander was here to take a small step toward evening the scales.


    The crowd saw him approach the short stage and quickly quieted.


    Yulia waved to him and he smiled slightly but otherwise didn''t respond as he took his position at the center of the stage in front of a large cloth-covered object behind him.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters in arms," he began. "First, I want to thank you all for taking the time to be here when there is much work to do. I will try to keep this as brief as possible." There was a smattering of claps following that statement.


    "We''re not unfamiliar with struggles and hardships but last week we came through a crucible far harsher than we have ever faced before. Yet we came through it, and I believe we will be stronger for it in the long run. None of that would have been possible without the help of Lagertha Katalynn Char or the rest of the Asgardian fleet." He gestured toward the woman.


    Katalynn stood and turned toward the crowd, nodding slightly before taking her seat again.


    Once the scattered applause died down, Alexander continued. "That being said, not everyone is with us to celebrate this victory. I feel each and every loss personally and because of that, I wanted to do something to commemorate every single brave man and woman who has given their life in defense of Eden''s End."


    He stepped over to the large object behind him and lifted off the white cloth.


    As soon as the cloth was pulled away, the crowd gasped in surprise at the enormous glittering diamond memorial that stood beneath it.


    The material of the diamond was so pure that you could see straight through it, but it was just milky white enough that you couldn''t fail to miss it. This was not due to clarity issues in its creation but by design. The entire six-foot tall, twelve-foot long, and two-foot thick memorial was one solid diamond.


    It was as pure as you could possibly make a diamond because Alexander had crafted it using his prototype nano-assembler that was being used in his armor experiments. It turns out that making diamonds using the nano-assembler process was significantly easier than creating the carbon compounds that made up the material of his body or even the STO''s poor facsimile of it.


    The side facing the audience had every name of the fallen manufactured into it when it was constructed, only the letters were made from black diamond, leaving the surface completely flat, which made it sparkle brilliantly as the facets on the top caught the sun.


    The memorial had space for many more names and Alexander had determined how to modify the diamond structure without damaging it to turn sections into the black diamond. He hoped he would never have to resort to using that method though, because that would mean more deaths had occurred in the defense of Eden''s End and Unokane.


    He stepped aside and gestured at the monument. "The monument will be here to visit anytime. If you would like to visit it now, you may. That is all I have for you, thank you all for coming."


    Alexander stepped off the podium but didn''t go far. Katalynn and the Asgardians were the first to visit and say whatever prayers or words they might offer the departed before they walked off. By then a line had formed.


    Katalynn approached him and turned to watch the procession of people silently.


    Jarl Ylva joined shortly after and the three stood and watched as most of the people filtered past the dedication to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to save them.


    Once the last of the people filtered out of the atrium, the sun had begun to set. He turned to Katalynn, but the woman simply held her hand up. "We will talk later."


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    He nodded and the three stood there in silent reflection as they acted as a sort of honor guard for the memorial until the sun finally set over the horizon a few hours later.

 Chapter 4-2

    Katalynn and Ylva both left the central atrium shortly after nightfall, so the conversation Alexander had planned to have with the Asgardian leader got delayed for the time being.


    It was probably for the best after the memorial unveiling. It was rather late even in Eden''s End''s day/night cycle. He decided to head home and brush up on some learning modules since there was little else to do with everything running at full production capacity.


    ***


    Alexander was in the process of getting Yulia ready for school when there was a knock at the door.


    "Is this a good time?" Katalynn asked as she stood out in the hallway.


    His surprise at seeing the woman outside his door was broken when Yulia hurried over.


    "Hello!" Yulia smiled. "Are you going to walk with Alex and me to class?"


    Katalynn quirked an eyebrow at the girl''s question and looked at him.


    "If you have some time, it shouldn''t take long," he admitted, stepping aside to let the Lagertha in.


    She was alone today, which surprised him almost as much as her visit.


    "Yulia, finish your breakfast and grab your tablet."


    "Okay!" she replied happily as she rushed back over to the table to finish her oatmeal and dried fruit.


    It wasn''t until his daughter disappeared into her bedroom that Katalynn spoke again. "She seems spirited. I was never much of a morning person in my childhood."


    "Really?" he asked. "I would have thought you were always a driven person."


    Katalynn nearly snorted but caught herself. "Let''s just say I was not as I am now and leave it at that."


    Alexander nodded and the conversation ended just in time for Yulia to come running from the bedroom waving her tablet. Dog hurried behind her, happily wagging his tail.


    Katalynn stiffened slightly at the approach of the two-foot-tall robot, but she quickly relaxed when she realized it wasn''t a threat. "Interesting companion," she said idly as the three stepped out of the apartment and walked down the hall toward Yulia''s classroom.


    Yulia being the smart girl she was, had moved on ahead about thirty feet to let the adults talk privately.


    "He is," Alexander admitted. "Dog started out as a simple toy to keep my daughter company. He''s grown a bit since then," Alexander chuckled slightly.


    Katelynn looked at him sideways. "Is that some sort of inside joke?" she asked.


    "I suppose it sort of is. What I mean is that I''ve upgraded him a few times now. First as a simple nanny to help monitor Yulia, then as a bodyguard, after Dalton kidnapped her."


    "Yes, I heard about that situation. I''m glad you killed that parasite. He infiltrated a few Asgardian worlds over the years, killing people or taking hostages. He even tried that approach on Asgard once but was not able to trick our defenders with his lies. That is one benefit of not allowing outsiders to visit."


    Silence followed that statement, and the trip to school and back to his apartment was an uncomfortably quiet one for Alexander. He would have spoken up, but if Katalynn wanted to wait to speak, she probably wouldn''t answer his questions until she was ready.


    She took a seat on the sofa, which looked all wrong. Mostly because she was much too tall for the furniture, which Alexander had made slightly smaller to accommodate Yulia.


    "What you said and did for the fallen will be remembered," she stated as soon as she was settled. "It is not often I hear my own people praising another Jarl''s generosity. If I didn''t know better, I might suspect you of trying to poach some of my people," she said coldly.


    Alexander was taken off guard by this statement until the woman laughed.


    "I''m joking. At least about that last part. It was a wonderful ceremony, even if you aren''t yet up to speed on Asgardian customs. And the monument¡­ well, I think that goes without saying."


    "¡­Um, thank you," Alexander responded sheepishly.


    It wasn''t every day that someone like Katalynn gave him a compliment, and he found he didn''t quite know how to respond. Despite the woman''s often brash and forthright nature, he found he rather liked her. He wouldn''t quite slot her into a friendship position, but maybe with time, she would become another one of Alexander''s good friends.


    "So what did you want to talk about?" he asked, hoping to steer the conversation to other matters that were less embarrassing for him. That was not a feeling he much enjoyed experiencing.


    She sighed slightly, leaning into the couch and throwing her arms over the back. "I received a Qcomm message from Loki. The message was waiting for me even before my fleet arrived, but there was little I could do about it at the time. Even now I''m not sure I can do anything."


    "A problem back home?" Alexander guessed by her mood.


    "That is an understatement of the century," Katalynn said. "Jarl Isbjorn returned to Yggdrasil''s Eye shortly after my fleet departed and is now claiming to be the King."


    Alexander was so shocked by that statement that he forgot to add emotion to his avatar. "What? How is that even possible?"


    "A faction of Lokis or perhaps all of them support him," she shrugged.


    "You seem rather nonchalant for someone who has just been deposed and had her spies turn traitor on her. I gather that I am missing some context here."


    "The man can say whatever he wants, it doesn''t make it true. He has to kill me to claim my seat. As for the Lokis, their allegiance is to the Asgardian people only. If they thought Jarl Isbjorn would make a better ruler, I do not doubt that they would try to set up a confrontation between the two of us. Isbjorn likely already knows of what happened to my fleet here, so he will be even more assured of his victory."


    "So you plan to take your fleet home and face off against him?"


    Alexander hadn''t seen the exact concentration of forces this Isbjorn fellow had the last time he was there, but from everything he learned about the man, he guessed it was slightly skewed in his favor. And now Katalynn only had three ships remaining.


    "You want to take the BSE fleet with you?"


    The woman shook her head, making the tension Alexander had been holding release.


    "No. While the offer would be appreciated, I would need to face off against Isbjorn with my fleet alone to retain any semblance of honor. It does not matter that I have only three ships, or that he should be challenging me to single combat for my title. Weakness is weakness. If I wish to live and be rid of the insolent Jarl once and for all, I need to somehow force him into the traditional duel."


    "What about the victory here, certainly that has to count for something amongst your people?"


    "It does or it will once word gets out, but that will take time. Until then, all the people and the other Jarls know is that I have failed time and time again. Isbjorn is likely relying on this to try and force a vote, which will force me to return to Asgard before word spreads of our great victory. I plan on doing just that," she stated as she stared at Alexander.


    "How though?" Alexander asked. "I don''t exactly see a confrontation ending in your favor."


    "If we play by the rules Isbjorn has set, you are correct, I would perish. To change them, I need to request a favor from you."


    "A favor? You want a stealth ship?" He asked. It was the only thing that made sense given her predicament.


    "I do. And I know it''s beyond me to demand such at this point in our political relationship, but I have no other choice if I am to be rid of Isbjorn before he can cause more harm to the Union. If you are


    willing to accommodate my request, how long would it take for you to build another one of those stealth gunships? Time isn''t exactly on my side here. Isbjorn gaining control will likely not be great for your future prospects with the Asgardians either. Despite you being officially recognized as a Jarl, my guess is Isbjorn will come for you once he solidifies his hold just to ensure all of my allies are removed. Your removal would be the easiest to justify given how recent your addition to the Union has been."


    Alexander snorted. "By the time Isbjorn could move on Eden''s End, I doubt he would have the forces to take it, but I would prefer to avoid another large-scale battle so soon. As for your plan, I could probably have a ship ready to go in two weeks, but there''s a bit of a problem."


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    "If it''s money, I have that," Katalynn stated.


    Alexander shook his avatar. "It''s not only about the money." He sighed. She was bound to learn about his automated gunships at some point¨Cmight as well be now. "My gunships were all automated."


    "Automated?" she parroted the word back, tilting her head slightly before letting out a booming laugh. "I''m never going to let Haldric live that down," she said with mirth.


    "What''s so funny?"


    "My Sub-Commander praised the brave crews of the vessels you sent to take out Harlow''s supply ships. When he finds out he praised a machine¨Cpresent company excluded, he''s going to be livid. That does present a bit of a problem though, doesn''t it? Can you modify the ship for a human crew?"


    "Probably. It was based on a captured pirate design, but I doubt that''s going to be good enough to get you to the planet undetected."


    She rose awkwardly from the too-low seat, walked over to him, and poked him in the chest lightly. "Last time I checked, engineering was your specialty. I need to get back to Asgard without Isbjorn knowing for both our sakes. I''ll leave the specifics as to how that gets accomplished to you. And if this works out, you''ll have my eternal gratitude and a favor that you may call upon whenever. Now if you''ll excuse me, I need to see how the repairs on Valkyrie and my other ships are progressing." She gave him a slight nod in acknowledgment before striding past him and out of the apartment.


    Alexander watched her go through his internal senses without turning to alert her that he was.


    She was right. He did not want this Jarl Isbjorn character to be in charge, especially not this soon after joining up with the Asgardians. The man had already proven to be a duplicitous piece of bio-waste and with him at the helm of the Asgardians, they would likely turn into just another STO, maybe even worse.


    Isbjorn was a problem. If he had learned one thing from the whole Soren debacle, it was to root out problems as soon as possible instead of letting them fester. The best way to deal with the problem while remaining uninvolved was to assist Katalynn in her crazy plan. And it was crazy.


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    After thinking over the issue for a few minutes, he left the apartment and strolled over to his workshop. The large holo-display came to life as soon as he entered. Once he was in front of it, he pulled up two designs. One was of the automated gunship and the other was the recreated rendering of the corporate gunship.


    It was time to put the old noggin to work.


    The old pirate gunship was a little longer than a shuttle at about one hundred feet but had a much smaller profile and more weapons. The corporate gunship on the other hand was slightly smaller than a dropship, which was around sixty feet in length, making it about the size of a fighter jet from back in his day.


    The corporate ship was able to be much smaller because it reduced space by using integrated systems and having zero creature comforts. The pilots had been attached to hoses that fed them and removed waste. The corporate gunship was essentially the computronics version of a ship. Building it that way made stealing any tech from within the ship much more difficult, but it also made the ship itself impossible to fix if something broke down. The few caveats to that were the propulsion system and weapons. It was a complete departure from the STO''s policy of having easily repairable and replaceable parts as well as repair manuals available for all systems.


    It made sense in an unlicensed, unregistered ship but if that was the type of future the corporations were trying to push for, it didn''t bode well for anyone.


    Alexander decided he was going to hybridize because the integrated systems would solve the issue of figuring out how to route everything properly. He changed it up a bit to make those integrated components replaceable because he didn''t want to have to design the ship multiple times.


    As one part of his mind was focusing on that problem, he turned another part to the propulsion issue. Katalynn probably hadn''t thought of it, but a gunship, no matter what kind, would never make it to Asgard without having to refuel along the way because it used the older style of reactors that shuttles used.


    There were likely refueling yards along her path, or maybe she planned on only taking the last jump alone, but he had a better idea and one that would make her trip much more stealthy.


    For quite some time, Alexander had been playing with reactor designs as a way to try and shrink them and he had made some headway. He even had a design for a shuttle reactor that was half the size of the current one. That was still quite a bit larger than the reactors that Harlow had been using in his missiles though. Recovering some of those to study had been one of his first efforts when sending the bots out to clean up the mess in space.


    It took piecing four of the destroyed missiles together before he discovered how Harlow''s people had managed the feat.


    He would like to say he was surprised that the pirate''s method of shrinking the reactors was to simply remove all shielding, but he really wasn''t.


    That meant as soon as the missile reactors were engaged, they became sources of dangerous radiation. Alexander obviously couldn''t do that on a ship design but that''s where another one of his ideas came in.


    One thing he had learned about the stealth armor was its ability to absorb radiation without becoming radioactive. He manipulated the thruster design and attached the ball reactor to the front of it, just like Harlow had done. Only instead of turning the result into a missile, Alexander wrapped the entire thing in stealth armor. From there he modified the thrust cone so it no longer protruded behind the ship and was instead inset into a vectoring nozzle that could also be closed off.


    As the propulsion section of the ship was coming along, Alexander quickly designed the interior of the ship. Behind a sealed bulkhead in the rear of the craft would be the fifty-year core. A standard frontline ship core took up quite a bit of space, but he was able to shrink it down and adjust the fuel storage capacity for the ship''s actual usage instead of just using one from a corvette. Even then, it was still a large item.


    He would have simply placed that outside the ship along with the reactor, but the fuel core needed to be temperature-controlled for the best efficiency. That necessitated a few design limitations such as only being able to access the fuel core from an external hatch, but it was a gunship, not a pleasure yacht.


    Two seats went into the craft next, followed by very basic amenities for survival. Katalynn and whoever she decided to take with her wouldn''t be eating very well, but they would live. There were no beds either. The seats had enough room to lay flatish and that was all he could accommodate.


    Once Alexander had a general idea of the interior layout, he started mocking up the substructure.


    That part took him hours as there were a lot of things to consider while designing the bulkheads. One of those was weapons.


    As much as Alexander would have loved to fit lasers on the smaller ship, he wasn''t at a point where he could do that and have them be powerful enough to actually do any meaningful damage. With the reactor outside the ship, he also didn''t want to have to run that much power cabling through the hull or even build a connector to pass it through as that would be a huge weak point.


    It was bad enough with the few cables he was planning to run, but that was the tradeoff he knew he was going to have to make if he wanted to run the cutdown ball-style reactor. He mitigated the issue as much as possible by running the cables through an S-shaped opening that would have sealant through the entire channel to ensure it would stay airtight.


    With lasers being out of the question, he turned to some spare parts he had lying around. Alexander had two perfectly good Gauss cannons from the recovered corporate ship. He pulled up their schematics and manipulated his design until the two weapons fit on either side of the ship.


    They had a capacity of two hundred rounds each, which wasn''t much, but was quite a bit for such a small ship.


    On the corporate ship, they could be reloaded from inside the crew space, but Alexander made it so they were reloadable from outside. Since they weren''t going to be able to store extra ammo onboard anyway, it didn''t much matter.


    That change allowed him to reduce the interior space, helping him keep the ship from growing any larger than it already was. With Alexander''s design changes, it was already larger than the corporate gunship by twenty percent due to the hybrid approach.


    With the guns in place, Alexander added the hidden missile tube. He would have added two, but the anti-ship missiles were not small weapons and he figured a single supercomputer-operated missile would be far more dangerous than two smaller missiles.


    Once he knew where those parts would be situated, he started on the armor.


    Alexander hadn''t forgotten how rough his first visit to Asgard had been, so he knew he needed the ship to be durable. The first layer of armor was composed of the corporate composite, which Alexander had quickly figured out how to replicate after studying the ship.


    The corporate armor wasn''t as durable as the stealth armor, but it also didn''t have the stealth armor''s drawbacks.


    The production process for stealth armor was extremely difficult, and they had yet to figure out how to make the plates anything other than flat.


    That was the main reason Alexander hadn''t deployed the armor on the other gunships. They were all rounded and had exposed parts that made it difficult to cover certain areas without making really small plates.


    Alexander''s gunship started to take shape over the next three days. It was all hard lines and flat planes, with the barest hint of sensor antennas sticking out from the forward edges of the winglets. The design ensured he could cover most of the ship in the armor. He had decided to go with the actual armor instead of the coating to give the ship the best possible chance of avoiding detection. The coating would be applied to the parts that couldn''t be covered by the armor as well as the metal frames that held the stealth armor so they could be bolted in place.


    Once he realized the initial design was complete, he stepped back to admire the ship. Unlike the fishbone ship, this one had character to it, as Lucas liked to say.


    To Alexander, it looked intimidating, sort of like a cross between a low polygon-stingray and the American stealth fighter that had been retired long before he had been born. It was an odd thought to have, but that was the first thing that popped into his head when he looked at the ship.


    A slight rise in the center section showed where the crew was situated. The interior would project a holographic image of space in front of the pilots as well as act as a truncated tac-display, removing the need for bulky consoles.


    He did include some manual controls built into the seats, but those were limited to flight control and weapon activation.


    Despite the days of work he had put into the vessel, it was cobbled together at best. He would prefer to spend months working through a design and engaging people like Krieger and Matthews for tips, but his current efforts should be enough to get it to Asgard. At least that is what he hoped. There had been no stress testing, no system checks, and not even a flight profile generated as it would be designed to land on a planet. It was a hull that looked neat, would hold air, and could provide offensive capability if needed. The more he looked at it, the more anxiety it gave him.


    This is why Alexander hadn''t gone down the route of building his own ships yet. There were so many things that could go wrong.


    Alexander knew enough about the basics of ship design that it should hold together. He decided they would need to do some basic testing to at least check the systems and the ship for quirks. Katalynn probably wouldn''t appreciate the delay, but Alexander needed a bit of reassurance after slapping together the mess in front of him.


    He projected the build time estimate into the holo and winced. If he sent the ship to a printer, it would take a month to build, most of which was to produce the stealth armor. He adjusted the calculation to include three more nano-assemblers, reducing the construction time to three weeks. It would have been shorter, but Alexander had to include the time it would take to build three more nano-assemblers large enough to produce the armor plating.


    With a sigh, he canceled some print jobs and slotted in the new ones. If he was going to do this, he might as well do it right away. He added a week for testing as well. Branston was going to be tickled pink when he learned he would get to fly another experimental ship.


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 Chapter 4-3

    "Are you sure it''ll fly?" Branston asked.


    Alexander had asked his erstwhile shuttle pilot, Captain Krieger, Lucas, and Archie to view the ship''s design after the fact. It wasn''t going quite as he expected. Branston was a bit more reluctant to fly it after first seeing the ship schematic.


    "I was kind of hoping you would be able to tell me," Alexander admitted to the former STO pilot.


    The man looked back at Alexander in shock. "I was joking. Please tell me you did a flight simulation on this?"


    "¡­I was kind of rushed."


    "Rushed for what?" Krieger asked in concern.


    "What I tell you next doesn''t leave this room, are we clear?" he deliberately looked at Lucas when he said that.


    The man held up his hands in surrender. "That was one time. How was I to know that she would tell everyone she knew about it? And it wasn''t like you said that was a secret."


    Lucas was referring to Alexander''s alien nature. He had eventually tracked down the source of the rumor to the man''s occasional bedtime companion. From there, it wasn''t hard to figure out where she had heard it from.


    "Yes, and that''s why I''m specifically telling you this time," Alexander reiterated.


    "I won''t tell a soul, not even Damien or Gabriella, I promise," Lucas made a zipping motion with his finger across his mouth.


    Alexander emulated a sigh. It was probably the best he was going to get, and it wasn''t like this secret would stay secret for long once Katalynn and her fleet left the system, but that was her problem to sort out.


    "You remember that fleet Char was having a battle with when we arrived?" seeing as Krieger was the only other person with him during that time, he posed the question to his Admiral.


    "Yeah? It was a dispute with another Jarl wasn''t it?"


    Alexander nodded in confirmation. "Jarl Isbjorn. The man decided to take advantage of the Lagertha''s absence to return to Asgard and try to claim the throne for himself, or so that''s his intention. Asgardian law is a bit weird there, and the Asgardian people only recognize a new ruler if the previous one died, or was killed in combat. Normally when a Jarl disagrees with the way the current ruler is running things, they challenge them to a trial by combat.


    Archie quirked his eyebrow at that but remained silent.


    "From what Char has told me and what we witnessed back then, I believe Isbjorn will not face her in single combat. He will instead force their fleets to battle, likely knowing she won''t have the firepower to take him on anymore. Depending on what information the Lokis deem to share with Jarl Isbjorn, he may or may not already know that her fleet was nearly gutted during the fighting with Harlow."


    "And she asked for the remains of our fleet to help bolster hers?" Krieger asked in confusion.


    Alexander shook his avatar. "I asked her that same question, but she said this matter had to be settled between her fleet and Isbjorn''s or her and Isbjorn."


    Everyone seemed to understand then and Archie spoke up for the first time. "She intends to sneak past the Jarl''s fleet and force him to engage her in solo combat. I assume she holds the advantage there?"


    Alexander shrugged because he honestly didn''t know. He knew Char was an expert fighter, but he had no information to gauge Isbjorn.


    "What''s to stop you from challenging her and taking leadership for yourself?" Archie asked in a follow-up question.


    Alexander had expected someone to bring this up. "Nothing, except the fact that I don''t want to rule the Asgardians. If¡­ God or Odin forbid, Katalynn Char falls to this Isbjorn, I may have no other choice but to confront him myself. It''s been made pretty clear that the man flirts with the STO corporations a bit too much for my taste. For all we know, he could be a corporate plant, which is why I''m building her this stealth ship instead of flying to Asgard myself to remedy this situation."


    "Still," Krieger stated, crossing his arms. "It seems like a mighty big risk to allow this technology into the hands of someone you barely know. I know they helped us against Harlow, and I''m thankful for that, but I''m just playing devil''s advocate here. What if she keeps the ship and tries to reverse-engineer it? We know her people are capable of doing it given time."


    "That''s a good question," Alexander admitted. "After what Char and her people did to help us, I''m inclined to trust her motivations. There was also an agreement to sell her technology after they helped us defeat Harlow. That doesn''t mean I''m unconditionally trusting her though. I took certain measures to ensure BSE technology remains safe. One of those measures is an anti-tampering program. If anything is removed, the ship reactor will overload."


    "Now I really don''t want to fly it," Branston muttered.


    "Those measures won''t go into place until I add the modified fusion crystal, so the testing will be saf- safer," he amended as the pilot gave him a skeptical look.


    "No system is foolproof, Alex," Lucas chimed in.


    "I''m aware," he sighed. "I will also get her word that they won''t attempt to keep the ship or take it apart. She takes her oaths very seriously so that will likely work as a better deterrent than the security measures. It''s the best I can do other than flying to Asgard in the ship myself, which I don''t want to undertake with our forces so depleted. In the end, I would count the loss of one prototype stealth ship as a small price to pay if it means Eden''s End and I aren''t dragged into an Asgardian power struggle. If she goes back on her word and they somehow manage to disassemble the ship without triggering the fail-safe, we will know they can''t be trusted and we will end our relationship with the Asgardians despite the agreements I signed. I don''t think that will happen though. Does anyone else think that''s likely to happen after she came here to help us fight off Harlow?"


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    The silence that followed his question spoke volumes.


    Alexander nodded his avatar.


    "Enough about politics," he stated. "I didn''t gather you all here for that. I gathered you here to help me make improvements to the ship."


    Lucas eyed the vessel. "It''s certainly better looking than the fishbone ship you first showed me, but it''s still rather ugly. I assume its geometrical shape is the result of our limitations with the armor?"


    "I thought it was rather intimidating looking," Alexander grumped. "And yes. I have not been able to figure out that particular issue so flat panels are all we have so far. I assume the STO ran into the same issue since the Dawn was mostly composed of flat surfaces as well?"


    "That could be the case," Krieger said as he looked over the ship, "but I wasn''t really in the loop on the manufacturing process or limitations in the armor. They provided me with just enough information to command the ship."


    "Does it have a name?" Lucas asked.


    "I was thinking of dubbing it the stingray." He had the fishbone ships, he might as well stick with the aquatic theme for his models especially if they resembled actual fish.


    They all looked at him with confusion. He realized they probably didn''t know what a stingray was.


    "It''s an Earth fish," he stated as he pulled up a picture of one next to the ship. He would have pulled up a hologram, but stingrays had gone extinct in the early twenty-second century due to planetary pollution.


    He did find an article that said efforts were being made to clone many of the creatures that had gone extinct now that the Earth''s environmental disasters had been mostly cleaned up. However, that article was over twenty years old and there hadn''t been a follow-up on the story, so he didn''t know if those efforts had succeeded or not.


    "Huh," Lucas stated. "I guess it sort of does look like a stingray if you can get past the blocky exterior."


    "How about this?" Alexander asked as he removed the stealth plating and replaced it with a smooth outer hull.


    "Okay," the man admitted, "That looks way better. Have you been taking design courses?"


    "Yes," Alexander admitted guiltily.


    The group chuckled at that.


    "Ok, enough teasing me about my choices, what do you think?" S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It looks good, but that doesn''t really tell us how well it will function," Archie added, earning a nod from Krieger as well. "I can see it has a small bow profile, that will make it hard to hit in a frontal encounter, but as soon as something gets above or below it, it presents a big target." The man manipulated the view until the ship was facing down and they all viewed it from the top. "A good pilot can minimize that risk, but they will need to be aware of it. Let''s start with what type of role you have in mind for this gunship. If it''s stealth, then the profile won''t matter one bit."


    Much like Alexander''s other constructions, he wanted this ship to serve in multiple roles and he told the group as much.


    "Hmm," Branston tapped his chin in thought. "The short wings will certainly give it better glide in atmo, but we could probably shrink them slightly and reduce the cross-section. Most atmospheric flying is done through thrusters anyway. Without active control surfaces, this thing is never going to be a dedicated atmospheric fighter."


    The group talked and picked apart Alexander''s design choices for the next few hours until he was left with the modified stingray design.


    The wings had been shortened to half their original length, necessitating moving the cannons farther in. The Gauss cannons also got replaced with railguns since a railgun packed more of a punch. The single Class 2 engine was replaced with two Class 2 engines that would be converted to compressed plasma ejection.


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    He supposed that would make them Class 9 as that was the experimental designation in the STO. Even after he perfected the design, they would probably need their own class since Class 2 was composed entirely of pulsed fusion drives. He decided that he would designate them Class 2C when they were completed. The C denoted the compressed plasma nature of the new drive.


    Everyone liked the inclusion of the fuel core, but Branston pointed out that alternating the vectoring of the rear thrust would allow the craft to rotate much faster, limiting its exposure to fire from the top and bottom. His suggestion was the main reason Alexander switched to two thrusters instead of the single one from his earlier design.


    Having stuff like that pointed out was exactly why he wanted the input of people who actually knew spacecraft.


    Alexander''s detached reactor design was vetoed by the entire group in favor of a slightly larger hump in the center of the ship. That change allowed him to re-add the reactor shielding and move the miniaturized reactor into the main compartment. The group''s argument that it would make doing emergency repairs much easier helped sell the idea.


    A second layer of the same corporate armor went on as well, covering the majority of the ship and making it look a bit like it was wearing a shell, but with the power from two Class 2 engines, the ship had more than enough thrust to make the added weight nearly meaningless. He could probably add a third layer of armor without cutting into the performance of the sleek vessel too much, but it was already starting to look bulky and they didn''t have any hard numbers on how the ship would perform yet.


    He was sure once it was run through the simulations, there would need to be some tweaking.


    "Are you planning on having a stealth version as well?" Krieger asked.


    "I am," Alexander admitted. And he actually had an idea of how to pull that off after looking at the shell of armor around the ship. "For now, we can just use the stealth coating that Lucas developed, but in a few months, it might be possible to replace that with the same type of armor Dawn had. And I know you probably want to ask, yes, the ship has the jump mitigation built in. With gunships already being so small, I imagine not even the sensors littered around Eden''s End will be able to pick them up now, which is why I am also including a communication protocol for the ships that will be hardwired into their fusion activation crystals. It will always ping our satellites, allowing us to track the ships without their transponders being active."


    "What about your automated gunships?" Lucas asked.


    Alexander had put a bit of thought into that and decided he wasn''t going to continue building the old gunships. There was a risk someone would destroy the new gunships and get ahold of the armor, stealth coating, and design, but that was true with any ship. Even if he sent out the old automated ships, they would get destroyed, they had been destroyed in battle already. Someone could pull his pseudo-computronics from a wreck. If he was going to deploy them, he might as well ensure they had the best chance of survival.


    "I''ll be converting over to the stingray completely once testing is finished." Alexander pulled up the interior change, showing the bathroom, food, water storage, and the cockpit gutted and replaced with a Pseudo-computronics array powerful enough to match what was in the Eden frigates. He would have removed the oxygen recycler and the environmental controls as well, but having air allowed for much better heat dissipation from the computer core.


    Eventually, he would design a liquid-cooled solution, but it wasn''t strictly necessary at the moment and he was hoping Lucas would figure out the processor bandwidth issue so they could reduce the space needed for the central computer.


    "Well," Branston said with a big grin as he clapped his hands together. "I can''t wait to test these beauties out, when will their ugly prototype step-sibling be ready?"


    Alexander chuckled at the mental image. "Three weeks. I included a full week for stress testing, so be ready for a lot of work."

 Chapter 4-4

    Other than the manufacturing areas running at full tilt, Eden''s End was rather quiet for the most part with the majority of people assisting with ship repairs.


    The fight had awoken a drive to help within the populace. That unity of purpose was further cemented after they bore witness to all the names of those who had given the ultimate sacrifice to save everyone who lived there.


    Even Alexander was changed by the sheer magnitude of what he had witnessed. It was hard not to be moved by the deaths of thousands. In a surprising change, a large percentage of the traditionalists had signed on to assist with cleanup and repairs.


    Most of the people couldn''t do much, not being trained in spaceship engineering, but they could help by running parts, moving debris, or simply bringing food and water as needed so the other workers could keep on task.


    The extra efforts bore fruit as well. Two more ships were saved from the scrap pile. One of those was Jarl Ylva Bergson''s cruiser, which had sustained nearly as much damage as Alexander''s ship. The only difference was the damage wasn''t to the weapons, making repairs much more palatable. The other ship to get a second life was one of Char''s destroyers, which had lost a quarter of its crew when a missile detonated nearly on top of it. Despite that, the ship remained mostly intact. Repairing that brought Char''s fleet count up to four again, which still wasn''t great but it was an improvement.


    While the workers and volunteers focused on the internal issues, Alexander monitored the work of his bots on the exterior of the vessels. Repairs and replacement armor panels were being slotted in place as soon as they came off the printers, which were being fed from the newly constructed smelter dubbed The Maw.


    Watching the massive mechanical arms feed an entire ship into the device had been an experience. They did have to prep the ships before feeding them into the machine though. He couldn''t just feed a fuel core in and hope for the best. For the sake of expediency, large chunks were cut out of ship hulls to get at those components, which were then removed and set aside.


    The process would have been fairly quick except the storage tanks on The Maw filled up and had to be swapped out rather frequently. Alexander reused the same design from his ring printers so there wouldn''t be any issues with transferring materials. It worked for now, but he would need to design bigger storage tanks eventually if only to reduce the manual input needed to monitor the process, which was being done by the traffic control technicians at the moment.


    It wasn''t a huge issue at the moment since there was hardly any traffic in Unokane, but Alexander didn''t want them splitting their focus when the system got busier.


    Despite that bottleneck with The Maw, the process was still significantly faster than manual disassembly. A frigate was reduced to component materials in a little under a week, speeding up a process that had taken over a month before.


    The larger wrecks were being sliced apart into chunks that would fit inside The Maw. Harlow''s vessel was being saved for last, mostly because the efforts required to cut through the armor would take time as well as the fact that Alexander wanted to see if anything aboard the ship was worth studying. Going by what he had seen so far, he doubted that would be the case, but you never knew.


    Alexander wasn''t the only one with a full plate of work. Gabriella and the medical facility were packed to the gills with convalescing patients.


    Not everyone that they had rescued from the ships had survived, and those names got added to the monument. Those who did survive were being cared for by a combination of Eden''s End and Asgardian personnel. Eden''s End wasn''t really equipped for large-scale trauma support so all of the medical resources aboard the surviving ships had been brought to help. By the end, most of the medical supplies would be used up.


    He didn''t care about the cost. The fact was that Harlow''s bounty paid for everything a thousand times over. A full one billion credits had been placed on the pirate''s head. There were some other bounties as well, but it wasn''t much considering how much damage the pirate and his fleets had done. There would probably be a few hundred more million from other notable pirates, but still.


    Now that he had credits to spare, Alexander once again contacted his friend Jasper.


    "Alex!" Jasper stated as the call connected. "I''ve been expecting to hear from you since hearing the story of Harlow''s defeat. I would have contacted you myself, but I didn''t want to intrude if you were busy. Is everyone ok?"


    "The people on the ground survived, but we lost some good people during the fight."


    "I''m sorry to hear that. Is there any way I can help?"


    "I need medical supplies, as much as the Zephyr can hold."


    Jasper nodded on the video. "I can do that. Anything else?"


    "I actually do have something else." Alexander had Theodore Pembrooke spend time scouring the network and looking for small startup companies that were trying to break into the market with medical discoveries. He knew what would happen as soon as the larger companies got wind of them, so he was trying to get to them first.


    Pembrooke had managed to connect with a few of the organizations. Some were understandably dubious of their offer while others outright declined. Those companies would likely vanish into obscurity soon since their leadership was blind to what the larger corporations did to squash competitors.


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    Theo did eventually find two parties who agreed to pull up shop and come out to Eden''s End. One was a small pharmaceutical outfit that had just come out with a new anti-radiation pill and the other made a few different types of medical supplies.


    Alexander hoped they were keen on expanding their offerings once they arrived, but even a bit more production in Unokane would be welcome.


    "I have two groups of people that have agreed to set up shop out here. They will make their own way, but I have agreed to cover the cost of bringing their supplies."


    "Sure, send me the manifest."


    Alexander did, and waited for Jasper to look it over."


    "Uh, Alex, the Zephyr can''t carry this much. Some of these items are too big to even fit inside my cargo bay."


    "I''m aware. I was hoping you might know another freighter captain who would be willing to do the work. We have full security coverage over the space between Varlen and Eden''s End now, so there are no concerns about piracy. I will also be paying double the rate."


    Jasper whistled at that. "I think I know a few captains who would jump at that opportunity. I''ll get back to you once I know more."


    Alexander thanked his friend and the call ended shortly after.


    With that issue settled for the time being, he went to see how the armor plating for the prototype was coming along.


    The new machines were too large to place inside his workshop without removing his current robotic assemblers, so Alexander had been forced to move them to a separate area nearby. The old storerooms had been modified by removing the walls and combining three of them together.


    All of the items Alexander had been storing inside the rooms had been moved into the underground parking garage. It was the same garage that Yulia used for her go-carts, but while her track was on the same floor as their home, the storage was two floors down. He had Yi Na and his people place a blast door at the bottom of the ramp leading to the floor below the racetrack, ensuring no curious children wandered down there. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    The space hadn''t been utilized for much other than the storage of his auto carts until now.


    Alexander entered the newly remodeled storage room. It was surprisingly quiet even though the three machines were hard at work assembling the panels. With no moving parts and having the manufacturing process take place inside large vacuum chambers there really wasn''t much to hear but a low hum.


    He stepped over to the control panel on the first machine and brought up the internal view as well as the log. The armor panel that was in progress was hovering at a ten percent error rate, which was as low as they had been able to get the process so far. That error rate was caused by defects in the material structure leading to weak points in the armor. While that didn''t affect the sensor absorbent quality of the material, it did mean it wasn''t as good as the stuff the STO had made.


    From what Alexander had been able to determine, the STO''s sample had less than a three percent error rate. The ablative nature of the armor meant the defective plates could still be used even if they went above ten percent.


    That wasn''t technically true. There was one issue to watch out for. A higher error rate meant the armor was slightly more prone to fracturing additional layers when struck, but that''s what it was designed to do. As long as it held up under normal use that would be fine for now.


    Samples of the material were already being tested under load and had been attached to the exterior of certain ships for the past few weeks to see how they performed in space.


    There was a hiss from the other side of the room, and Alexander watched as the vacuum chamber opened. The robotic arm attached to the ceiling reached down into the machine, plucked the square of material out of the chamber, and then whirred over to a pile off to the side, setting the newly finished panel down with the others.


    He lifted the dense but relatively lightweight ¨C for its size ¨C panel and inspected it. Then he flicked it rather forcefully and it shattered in his hand.


    Alexander sighed and tossed the broken pieces into the reclamation pile. That was what happened if the structural defects ran through the entire substrate. Even with the STO''s lower defect rate, they probably ran into a similar situation, just less often. For Alexander''s current manufacturing method, this issue occurred about once in every six plates and had only been discovered when one of the plates had been dropped on accident by Lucas. Since then a simple shock test had to be performed on each panel.


    Once he was done with the tests, he piled the remaining plates into the cart and returned to his workshop where he would be bonding them with the frames.


    It was a similar process to what the STO did, but Alexander''s had less of a frame or bezel holding the top. He was pretty certain that the bonding process would keep the two materials from separating, but he understood why the STO had chosen their encapsulation method. It would ensure that even if that bond came apart, the armor would remain in place. Since it didn''t take much in the way of extra material or effort to add a bit of extra precaution, he continued that process.


    The bonded plates were set aside to cure while he loaded the ones from the previous day into the cart and made his way to the shuttle.


    The ride up to the temporary ring dock was uneventful and he set the shuttle down in the hangar next to the partially completed stingray prototype.


    The ship itself was completed two days ago but still looked unfinished, as only about ten percent of the stealth panels were attached.


    Branston climbed out from under the ship after the atmosphere in the hangar was restored.


    "How''s the ship?" Alexander asked as he carried a bundle of the panels.


    "Flight systems are functional, but until we actually get it out there, I won''t be able to give you any more information."


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "Do what you can to test the systems beforehand. Have you come up with a flight test plan like we discussed?"


    Considering all the activity around the ring, someone was bound to notice the sensor void exiting the hangar when it was time to test it out, but he wanted to limit exposure while ensuring the most comprehensive testing. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Branston nodded. "I spoke with the Lagertha to determine the best time to launch. It seems like three in the morning is about midnight Asgard time and most of the crew will be asleep. The people on duty will be hand-picked by her so we don''t need to worry about them. I had to guess at the other Jarl''s schedule but I think it''ll be fine. Most are still in the process of making repairs anyway. Once I launch, we''ll maneuver to the opposite side of Eden''s End before doing any thrust testing."


    "We?" Alexander asked in confusion.


    "The Lagertha wants to be on the test flights to learn how the ship operates before they leave."


    "Makes sense," Alexander admitted.


    "Once we ensure basic ship functions are good, we''ll accelerate past the first moon and do jump testing. Vanguard is on patrol, so they will be nearby if any issues occur. From there, we will jump back and do the final atmospheric testing on the far side of the planet. That''s going to be the sketchiest part most likely, so I would appreciate having a shuttle or something on standby when we enter."


    "I''ll be there in person," Alexander reassured the man.

 Chapter 4-5

    The day to test the ship had finally arrived and everything was ready or as ready as a prototype could be. Despite all his work, the stingray looked exactly like an untested prototype.


    It was rough around the edges, literally. There were gaps between the stealth armor panels since they didn''t quite fit tightly together. To minimize production time Alexander had been forced to standardize parts as much as possible. He didn''t have time to implement the slightly angled sides of the armor that let them overlap like the STO had or adjust the mounting points to make the panels fit better.


    Without the panels, the ship looked equally as odd, having holes spaced evenly in the under armor to allow the pins on the armor plates to slot in and lock into place. Would it work? Yes. Was it aesthetically pleasing? Absolutely not. It was probably the ugliest and jankiest thing Alexander had ever built. If it wasn''t for the time crunch they were under, he might be tempted to throw it into The Maw just so nobody else would see such a disgraceful design come from him.


    That wasn''t to be though. He glanced over to the crew of the stingray prototype.


    Katalynn stood off to the side next to Branston, making the six-foot-tall man seem short by comparison. They were discussing emergency scenarios and how to deal with them. Branston had prepared a great deal of contingencies in case problems arose, which was a distinct possibility considering he had slapped the design together in a few days. Another month, and he could have handed her the much-improved stingray, minus the stealth panels.


    As Alexander listened in to their conversation, he realized Brandston was oddly well prepared for a man who had never done any test piloting before he had joined Alexander''s payroll. It was a good thing he was taking the assignment very seriously though.


    Soon the pair finished their briefing and Alexander walked over.


    Branson turned and gave Alexander a salute before placing his helmet on and joining Katalynn in the awkward crawl beneath the ship and into the hatch. Alexander made a mental note to change the hatch placement or add a second hatch to the roof in case the ship had to land belly down.


    Once the hatch was secure, the air was pumped from the hangar and Alexander walked around the ship to ensure no new leaks had sprung up. The ship was airtight as it had been during the first vacuum test a week ago.


    "You''re good to go," he transmitted through his connection to the tablet.


    "Roger that," came Branston''s reply.


    The ship started to power up and Alexander felt the slight vibration of its systems through the floor as he made his way to the shuttle.


    Dry runs, power cycling, and tests had been conducted throughout the week, exposing a few issues with some of the integrated systems that had to be bypassed. He had replacement modules already printed and ready to install but Branston didn''t want to delay the initial flight testing. So they simply ran power and data cabling around those systems.


    One of the issues was with the waste reclamation system and the other was for environmental control. They weren''t flight-critical systems, which is why Alexander had agreed to wait. If it wasn''t for their suits, it might get a bit cold or hot inside the ship, but the suits could sustain them for hours if something went wrong and they had RASPs onboard for emergencies.


    "Power nominal, all systems green," Branston reported as Alexander made his way to the shuttle''s cockpit. "Ready when you are, boss."


    Once Alexander was situated, he radioed back. "You''re clear for takeoff, please take it easy until you get a feel for the ship," he added, knowing Branston''s predilection for pushing vessels.


    The man chuckled over the radio. "Pushing the ship is the whole point of these tests, boss, but I''ll take it easy until we''re at our first test site. See you in a few hours."


    The hangar bay door opened and the pitch-black craft rose off the deck, giving one quick pulse of its thruster, which sent it flying out of the hangar faster than advisable.


    He could just imagine the grin on Branston''s face.


    ***


    Holy shit!


    Branston had been expecting the ship to have a lot of power with the upgraded thrusters, but that little puff of thrust had shoved him hard into his seat, producing over two G almost without effort.


    He turned to look at his co-pilot but she seemed unbothered by the explosive thrust. He turned his attention back to the controls and brought up the thrust vectoring. With a flick, he set it to the closed position, closing off the engine cone and essentially turning the ship invisible to all but the most advanced sensors.


    "ETA on our arrival?" he asked, knowing the extra speed was going to get them there much faster than anticipated.


    While the Lagertha looked up the adjusted time, he kept his eyes on the sensor screen projected on the hull in front of him. With it wrapping around the front of the craft, making the forward bulkhead vanish from view, it almost made him feel like he was sitting outside the ship.


    It was a neat, if a bit eerie sensation, which he had thought he had gotten used to in the hangar but was entirely different when experiencing it in space for the first time.


    Branston couldn''t argue against its usefulness though. He could see almost everything in front, above, below, and to the sides of the ship without adjusting a display. There were sensors to the rear as well, but if something popped up on those, he simply got a flashing alert that he would have to click on to bring up a rearview image from the cameras.


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    The display tech was another prototype that Alexander had decided to test inside the prototype ship. A sort of projected tactical view instead of the orb one that the Eden ships had. Branston preferred this view over the larger ships, but he could see the advantage of both, especially for the warships having a full tactical view of the entire space around them.


    Branston didn''t envy the captains of those ships. He had enough trouble filtering out all the contacts on this display. That was something he would need to bring to Alexander''s attention. For now, he simply flipped through the sensor settings and shortened the target designation range to something more manageable.


    More than half the icons cluttering the view simply dropped away, making it much easier to see. Sometimes too much information was worse than none at all.


    As the ship grew closer to the objects, they started to turn yellow, then to orange, then to red. The red indicator around the object started pulsing to alert him they were getting dangerously close.


    He adjusted their course ever so slightly with a momentary pulse from one of the directional ion thrusters. He could have used the cold gas thrusters, but the ship was too small to fit a gas converter on board, so that supply was limited and should only be used in an emergency situation.


    "We will arrive ten minutes ahead of schedule," Lagertha stated.


    She didn''t comment on nearly running into one of Alexander''s laser satellites, even though she could clearly see the same indicator that he had.


    Branston had planned out a clear flight path based on shuttle acceleration, but that had been way off. Now he was going to have to dodge a few objects as they made their way to the southern pole of Eden''s End.


    He kept an eye on the orbital distance as well. They were in a decaying orbit at the moment, and that would continue until they fired up the main drive again.


    A new blue icon came into view as they curved around the planet and a tight beam signal hit their ship.


    "How''s it going so far?" Alexander asked from the stationary shuttle. Not being constrained by the lack of thrust, he had easily beaten the stingray to the checkpoint.


    "Good so far," Branston sent back, "but we need to clear up the tactical display or add a filter. Way too much cluttering the view at full resolution."


    "Acknowledged. I''ll ask Lucas to work on it. Anything else?"


    That''s what he loved about working for Alex, the man listened when people told him there was an issue. In the STO, he was lucky if his commanding officers didn''t just bury the problem or let it go until it became a serious concern.


    That didn''t mean Alex was perfect, he made mistakes just like anyone else, but unlike most, he worked to correct those.


    "Nope, all good," he responded.


    The ship soon reached the rendezvous point and he shifted the orientation before accelerating hard. The ship automatically reopened the vectoring louvers, disabling the full stealth mode on the thruster. The ship rocketed away from the planet, quickly hitting seven G''s and shaking hard the entire time.


    The forces pushing them into their seats quickly reduced to five G as the acceleration program Branston had implemented tapered off the thrust. Once it reached a more reasonable three G, he started maneuvering the craft wildly to get a feel for how it handled.


    Other than a few grunts of exertion during the initial burn, his co-pilot had remained stoically quiet.


    He turned his attention back to his maneuvering.


    The ship wasn''t balanced around the control points correctly, giving it a slight wobble as he put it through the series of movements, which is probably why it was shaking so hard during acceleration. That was the problem with not doing simulation testing beforehand. He would mention the issue to Alex, but the man had probably already seen the issue in the simulation for the upgraded design.


    "You feel that?" he asked his co-pilot.


    "The floaty feeling?" she asked.


    "Yup. You''ll need to watch that if you''re forced into combat and during planetary descent, otherwise it should be fine."


    "Noted," she stated before going quiet once more.


    He cut acceleration halfway to the moon, coasting the rest of the way since they were already ahead of schedule. With the thruster off, the weird off-balance issue seemed to mostly go away.


    Soon the moon flashed by on their left and he started prepping the jump drive. They could have made it to a safe jump point sooner by flying south of the ecliptic, but this is the course Branston had chosen instead.


    The jump testing went about as boring as you might expect, which was a good thing. It meant he hadn''t been pasted across a huge stretch of space along with his passenger. He couldn''t imagine how much shit her death would cause Alex, especially considering he had built the ship with the whole purpose of keeping her alive to face that Isbjorn fellow.


    Their return to the southern pole of Eden''s End was equally as uneventful. He pinged Alexander as they came in. "We''re on our way back for the final test flight. You ready?"


    "I''m in position," came a slightly static reply. Loss of signal was a common issue when tight beam comms were expanded. It seemed Alex couldn''t quite pinpoint their location if that was the case. A good sign for the stealth properties of the ship.


    All of that went away as they entered the atmosphere though. The ship bucked wildly as the thin air grabbed at the winglets and even through his suit''s climate control, he started to sweat as the interior of the ship heated. That issue would be resolved when Alex fixed the environmental system. Of more concern was the ship''s flight characteristics. Instead of a smooth glide, the stingray started to rock up and down violently until it over-rotated and started to tumble end over end.


    "Hold on," he grunted through the strain, doing his best not to black out as the ship continued its powered tumble. He managed to reach the shutdown for the thruster and as soon as he did, the tumbling started to slow and the thrusters started to fix the uncontrolled descent. He kicked on the cold gas thrusters to assist and the ship finally stabilized.


    "You good?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the flight panel in front of him.


    "I''ll live," came the reply.


    "Branston, Katalynn, are you two okay down there?" came Alex''s worried response.


    "Yeah, we''re good. Just some control issues with powered descent. I''ll tell you about them later, although you may have to come down here and get us, I don''t think this ship''s leaving the planet."


    "I''m right behind you," came the response.


    *** S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Retrieving the stingray had been a bit of a challenge, but Alexander managed to pull it off. The instability issue was determined to be caused by two factors. The shift of weight with the reactor being located where it was as well as air getting trapped underneath the armored panels.


    Alexander also learned that Lucas'' stealth coating did not survive reentry, which was less than ideal, but should be fine for a single trip.


    He addressed the weight issue first by adding weighted plates in the cockpit below the seats. The armor issue was a bit more of a challenge. He was forced to go with some thermal foam to fill all the gaps. Then he had to painstakingly smooth off the extra foam and seal over those areas with a high-temperature tape. Stay updated through My Virtual Library Empire


    It was an inelegant solution, and wouldn''t last more than one flight through the atmosphere, but it should stop the uncontrolled descent issue that Branston and Katalynn had experienced.


    The second test proved that it did indeed work, and even allowed the stingray to fly back to the hangar where Alexander spent the better part of a day chipping out the burned foam residue so he could fill the cracks once more for Katalynn''s eventual trip to Asgard''s surface.


    Overall, he was on the fence about the ship. If his new design maintained these issues, he would have to go back to the drawing board.


    The next test involved the weapons, which had not been loaded during the initial flight testing. He thought it a bad idea to have an untested craft running around with an anti-ship missile attached to it.

 Chapter 4-6

    The next day, Alexander removed the safety that would allow the ammunition to feed into the cannons. Next, he removed the weight that stood in for the missile. He was glad they were in a zero-G environment for that second bit because he hadn''t thought to build a loading machine for that part and the anti-ship missiles weighed nearly a ton.


    The missile tube below the crew area extended all the way to the rear bulkhead which was about fifteen feet in length and the weapon took up the majority of that space, leaving only enough room for the cover plate.


    There were launching rails inside the missile tube on the stingray, unlike the corporate gunship. Alexander wanted to prevent what had happened to those ships from happening to his own when they launched their missiles. The corporation''s decision to launch armed missiles from their ships had doomed two of them to a quick and fiery grave.


    With his setup, the missiles wouldn''t arm themselves until they were clear of any blast radius the missile could produce. It wasn''t a complete guarantee of safety, but it should avoid most of the issues as well as give the missiles that extra boost of speed right off the bat.


    Alexander shoved the missile into the launch system before withdrawing his arm and closing the launch hatch.


    He radioed the crew, letting Branston and Katalynn know everything was set and ready to go. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once again the ship floated out from the hangar and made its way to the far side of the planet. The weapon tests would take place near one of the outer gas giants.


    ***


    Branston smiled as the prototype Stingray dropped out of FTL. The large gas giant was far in the distance in front of them, lit by the blue light of Unokane''s star, making it look like an enormous swirling sapphire. He would have loved to sit and enjoy the view, but he had a job to do.


    A few of Alex''s older-style automated gunships had been positioned out here for the test. They weren''t armed, but that didn''t mean they weren''t dangerous if the onboard computers decided that ramming his ship would be the best way to ensure victory, they just might do that.


    "Are you ready?" he asked, checking the weapon settings once again.


    "Yes," came the single-word reply from his co-pilot. He could sense a bit of excitement in her response, which was the first true emotion he had sensed from the stoic woman.


    "Alright, five to one, let''s see what this ship can do." Branston punched the acceleration and they rocketed toward their quarry, who quickly detected their approach thanks to their drive plume even with the stealth armor.


    It was unnecessary to get any closer, they were already much closer than they needed to be to hit their targets, but this was a test of the weapons, not the stealth capabilities of the ship. Despite the target ships detecting them, the training lasers being used by the other ships were nowhere near their location.


    The first volley of Gauss cannon rounds spat from the ship as his co-pilot fired the guns. Shortly after, the first gunship went silent.


    He jerked the ship into a corkscrew loop as the targets finally managed to get a lock on their ship.


    One of the enemy gunships managed a hit and his display projected the simulated damage as negligible.


    Branston cut the engine and flipped the ship as they passed their quarry and the Lagertha was quick to act as another spurt of cannon fire shook the next ship, resulting in a second kill. Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire


    The other gunships flipped over as well, but without an active drive, they were left firing blindly as Branston adjusted their course with the ion thrusters. Another burst of fire and a third gunship fell silent.


    "Down to a quarter of our ammo," his co-pilot stated.


    Branston acknowledged the issue and fired up the drive once more as the ''enemy ships'' decided to make a run for it.


    A final burst of weapons fire took down the fourth ship before he heard the unmistakable click click click of an empty magazine.


    He lined up the last ship and the Asgardian leader launched the missile.


    Branston grunted as he was thrown forward against his restraints as the missile was launched from the rails. He would need to ask Alex to tone that down a bit if it imparted that much force to such a small ship.


    The missile vanished into the black of space and he was only able to track it by the readout on the holo display. A few seconds later, the weapon finally fired off its own drive and streaked toward the final gunship, which was doing all it could to try and avoid the oncoming weapon.


    There was a flash followed by a field of debris as the missile completely obliterated the gunship.


    "I would say that was a successful test," he said with a grin.


    "The guns could use some more ammunition, but otherwise it performed effectively."


    He looked over at his co-pilot in slight astonishment. Those were the most words the woman had said to date.


    She didn''t even acknowledge his shock and he was forced to shake it off before heading back to the hangar.


    ***


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    Alexander listened to the report after the two had returned while simultaneously reviewing the combat log in his internal space. He agreed with Branston¨Cthe launch rails needed to be turned down.


    Katalynn made a good point about the guns as well, but he was working with recycled parts there, so she was stuck with whatever the designer had thought practical on the corporate ship. Krieger suggested he stick with Gauss cannons for the next iteration, but Alexander liked the extra punch that railguns provided. He also knew far more about railguns than he did about Gauss cannons and that knowledge would be going into the new guns he designed for the Stingray.


    Even with the smaller winglets of the new design, Alexander figured he could fit in three hundred rounds, maybe more.


    He spent the next day finalizing the repairs to the prototype and rearming it. Then it was time for Katalynn''s fleet to leave.


    Sub-Commander Vynnson was commanding the Valkyrie in her absence and her tactician Vyrik Thorvund was getting acquainted with the Stingray''s controls as Katalynn stood next to Alexander in the hangar.


    "So this is it," he managed to say.


    "For now," she responded, staring at the ship for a moment before turning to him. "I won''t forget that you gave me this opportunity, Jarl Kane."


    "I didn''t do it just for you," he admitted.


    She snorted. "I know, but that doesn''t mean I can''t appreciate the gesture."


    "And if you lose?" he asked.


    "Then it will be up to those I leave behind to figure out how to move forward. I know you despise politics, Kane, but they are an unfortunate necessity. Some may see our way of doing things as barbaric, but how is it any worse than what the STO does? Most of their planets are run by corporations or royalty and even the ones who say they have a democracy in place to elect their planetary governors are full of shit. Those are simply run by the rich and powerful. And while I understand the hypocrisy of this statement, at least our leaders are chosen for strength and not simply political connections."


    Alexander didn''t have an opinion on which system of government was better so he changed the subject. "Isbjorn will know you are coming as soon as you set out."


    She nodded. "That''s exactly what I want. He will know exactly when we plan to arrive and will have scouts watching the star systems leading up to Asgard so he has advanced warning. I plan on trailing the remains of my fleet for the first few jumps, but once we are assured there are no issues with the Stingray," she said, having trouble with the unfamiliar word, "we will be taking a direct path for Asgard."


    "You''re doing void jumps?" Alexander asked in surprise.


    "It''s the only way to catch Isbjorn off-guard. His scouts will eventually encounter my fleet and we can''t outrun the reports and even your stealth ship loses most of that stealth capability when its thrusters are actively firing. What I can do is keep his attention fixated on my fleet so he doesn''t even realize I snuck in the back door. He has such an overinflated ego that I almost guarantee he won''t bother to leave the surface of Asgard until he knows my fleet is set for imminent arrival."


    "And if he does realize it''s a trick or leaves early?" Alexander asked.


    "Then I improvise," she said simply.


    It didn''t sound like much of a plan to him, but then again, Alexander''s idea of tactics was simply having more ships than his adversary. That''s why he left battle planning to Krieger.


    He held out his hand and Katalynn looked at it a moment before grasping it. "I wish you luck. Hopefully, by the time you clear all this mess up, I''ll have a few more ships repaired and ready to send back to Asgard."


    "You as well, Jarl Kane. A word of advice, before I go. Expand your production. It''s your greatest strength, use it."


    He bobbed his avatar in acknowledgement and the woman released his hand before putting on her helmet and crawling under the ship.


    Soon the prototype ship drifted out of the hangar to join the rest of the Lagertha''s diminished fleet. The radio blared to life and Katalynn''s voice spoke loud and clear across the connection to anyone listening.


    "It''s time to go show Jarl Isbjorn what a true Asgardian ruler is capable of. Onward to Asgard!" she said with conviction.


    Soon Char''s ships pulled away from the planet, leaving only derelicts behind. Jarl Bergson had left over a week ago, her injured people healed up enough to travel.


    Less than a minute later, Alexander got a ping from his monitoring program. Someone had sent a message to Asgard through the Qcomm. Katalynn had warned him that this was likely to happen, not that he needed her to tell him that they had a Loki infestation. Alexander understood the Lokis had an important part in Asgardian society, but he didn''t need their espionage and surveillance activities on Eden''s End.


    He sent the report to Damien so he could arrest the Loki responsible. He doubted there was only one on the planet by now, but it was a start. Pembrooke was working to root out the others, but the Lokis were far more adept at remaining undetected than the corporate spies had been.


    Katalynn Char was on her own now, and Alexander hoped for the best, but it was time to plan for the worst, which meant rebuilding the BSE fleet.


    Switching gears from politics to production, he pulled up his tablet and queued up five more control ships along with fifty more mining bots to the printers.


    If he was going to increase production, he was going to need more resources. Along with that, he added two fishbone ships. These had been redesigned to use automation. He would still be paying miners like Mingyu to bring in materials, but it was far cheaper and faster to automate the process as much as possible. There was also the issue of finding actual people to do the work.


    Once again Alexander''s greatest hurdle was finding qualified crews. Harlow''s pending attack had chased off a good amount of people, who had likely spread the news once they arrived in STO space. At least he assumed that was what had caused new arrivals to the system to dry up completely over the last month.


    He expected that to shift in the next few weeks as some people would flock to the nation that took out the pirate Emperor. Then again, if the pirates really did come apart, displaced people might head back to their own worlds.


    With Unokane and Eden''s End gaining even more spotlight, he needed to finish the space station as soon as possible and get trade up and running finally. The STO hadn''t issued any decrees or sanctions against BSE since the attack, which was surprising. He was certain they would at least put out a press release calling BSE pirate sympathizers, but nothing had come of their mutual partnership so he was still open to trade with the STO.


    Alexander suspected the reason for the STO''s hesitation was that they weren''t sure how to handle a sovereign nation working with declared pirates. Either that or they weren''t aware of who he had worked with to take down Harlow. He found the latter to be hard to believe considering the STO''s reach and intelligence-gathering ability. It could also be the fact that sanctioning someone who was instrumental in the downfall of a threat to the entire STO might paint them as rather incompetent.


    He sighed at all the unknown questions. Sooner or later he knew politics would come into play and he wasn''t looking forward to that day at all.


    With thoughts of future politics pushed to the back of his mind, he returned to his neverending game of kicking the can down the road as he allocated resources to some projects while neglecting others.


    The losses to the defensive array of laser satellites had already been replaced, but the static field satellites were taking time to build. He would continue printing those until he had the kinks worked out for the new Stingray gunship.


    There were other projects he wanted to focus on as well, such as getting FTL comms aboard ships. His tests had finally borne some fruit in that direction and he was eager to expand on that. With nothing else demanding his immediate attention, it was time to take what he learned there and see if he could turn it into a reality.

 Chapter 4-7

    Yulia fidgeted uncomfortably in her dress. She didn''t know why anyone liked wearing these things when overalls were much more practical. She sighed. At least it was in a color she liked and not pink.


    Yulia had agreed to wear a dress because Alex said this was an important occasion. She didn''t know why this was any different than any other important occasion where she hadn''t been forced to wear a dress, but Alex seemed happy that she agreed to wear it for the occasion.


    As they neared their destination, she spotted Sarah and Clair outside the doors to the place Alex had called an auditorium. She waved and her friends waved back. "Alex, can I go talk with my friends?"


    He nodded. "Just be sure to find me when the first chime sounds. Your seat is in the front near the stage."


    Yulia nodded and hurried over to her friends, having to slow as the dress billowed out, making her feel awkward.


    Sarah and Claire pulled her into a hug one after the other.


    "You look so pretty," Claire said with a big grin, her own dress filled with embroidered pink flowers that her mom must have added. It was much more flashy than the very basic yellow dress that Yulia had on.


    Sarah was wearing a dark green dress that Yulia would grudgingly admit looked good. Both of her friends looked fantastic and much more comfortable wearing a dress than she did, but they hadn''t been born in space either.


    "Enough of that," Claire''s mom chastised the girls. "You''re going to wrinkle your beautiful dresses. You look lovely by the way, Yulia."


    Yulia blushed at the compliment.


    "Yes, Mom," Claire said with a quiet sigh.


    Once Claire''s Mom turned back toward her conversation with the other parents, Claire motioned for them to move a bit away for some privacy.


    "Sorry about that," Claire said. "My mom gets that way any time I have to dress up. This is exciting though isn''t it?"


    Yulia shrugged. "It would be more exciting if I were entering the academy this year. What about you two?"


    Sarah immediately looked uncomfortable by the question. Yulia''s friend had never been very good at hiding her emotions.


    "What''s wrong?" Yulia asked.


    The girl replied hesitantly. "I don''t really want to spend more years in school. All this science and engineering is fine, but it never really interested me like it does for you. You''re not mad are you?"


    Yulia blinked at her friend. "Mad? Why would I be mad?"


    "Well¡­ because your father built the academy and we figured you might be if you knew we weren''t going to attend with you."


    She looked back to make sure Claire''s mom wasn''t looking before she hugged Sarah reassuringly. "I''m not mad." Then the girl''s words registered and she held her friend at arm''s length. "You said we?" She looked at Claire, who looked a bit annoyed that Sarah had spilled the secret.


    "I''m kinda with Sarah on this, Yulia. Also, my Mom wants me to help out with her tailoring." The girl twirled, her dress flaring out until it brushed the other two with its hem. "Plus I want to make more dresses and pretty things. It beats our work clothes or the drab clothing we wore before your father arrived. I should really hug him for introducing color back into our clothing options," she giggled, earning surprised stares from the other two.


    For her part, Yulia was having a hard time picturing her friend running up and hugging Alex. That would be like going off and hugging someone else''s parent, it was a bit weird.


    Once she recovered, she spoke up. "Alex always told me to do what needs to be done. I''m not sure he was referring to this specifically, but I think it fits. If you two want to do other stuff, I wholeheartedly support that choice."


    There was a soft chime before they could continue, and the doors to the auditorium opened, allowing people inside. Claire''s Mom gestured for the girls to hurry.


    "Are you sitting by us?" Sarah asked.


    Yulia shook her head. "I have a front-row seat."


    "See you later, princess," Claire smirked.


    Yulia wanted to bop her friend on the head for the comment, but Claire hurried away, not that Yulia would make a scene here. She joined the line of people heading inside one of the pairs of doors.


    Once inside, she marveled at the room. It wasn''t nearly as impressive as the atriums, but it had tiered seating that angled toward a stage. There she spotted Alex talking with someone. She made her way down toward him.


    ***


    Alexander congratulated Yi Na and his people on the work they had done in the academy''s construction. Not to mention the repairs after Harlow''s attack.


    In a little over two months, the man and his team of employees had wiped away any signs of the fight and managed to complete the academy, which was no small task even with the help of his bots.


    He was nearly finished speaking with the man when the soft chime sounded, alerting them that the ceremony would begin shortly. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We''ll discuss the civil engineering issue later," Alexander added.


    Yi Na nodded and they went their own way.


    He spotted Yulia heading down the Aisle and greeted her.


    "Where''s your seat?" Yulia asked as Alexander showed her where to sit.


    "I''ll be on stage speaking, so no seat this time." He did have a seat built for him, but it wasn''t much more than a box, dressed up to match the other seats. It was sitting in the back though since he didn''t want to block the views of any of the other people here today.


    After making sure Yulia was situated, he made his way over to the side of the stage. Each side had stairs for easy access and there was a backstage entrance as well. The other guests were currently back there waiting to be called out.


    As he waited for the second chime to announce the start of the ceremony, his mind drifted to some of the challenges he faced over the last month.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    He wasn''t thinking about the repair and reconstruction efforts of the fleet, those were all well in hand, with Lucas keeping a close eye on the project for any issues that might crop up. His thoughts were mostly about the integration of the Asgardians with the local populace.


    However, that wasn''t really as bad as it could have been. Sure there was some friction. The Asgardian and the refugees from the STO were the main issues, but Theodore Pembrooke had things well in hand there, keeping anything from spilling over into fights.


    It was hard to erase centuries of mistrust and misinformation in a month, but the man was doing a bang-up job.


    His mind drifted to an incident a few weeks ago and a conversation with Pembrooke that followed. Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    Alexander intercepted a Qcomm message from Theo to Omni. His first thought was that the man had turned his back on them to try and recover his place at his former employer. Considering Theo was aware that Alexander was monitoring the incoming and outgoing messages, that seemed unlikely. Instead of jumping to conclusions, Alexander simply read the messages.


    There wasn''t any special hidden code in the message. It was just a simple question from Theo asking if he would be received well if he came in. The response that came back was an unequivocal affirmative from the handler.


    Before Alexander could even confront the man about the correspondence, Pembrooke came to him to talk about it.


    "You read the response?" the man had asked.


    Alexander had nodded, not seeing any point in lying to Pembrooke.


    "But you don''t know what it means, do you?" Pembrooke had asked.


    "I assume it means you will be welcomed home," he responded coldly. He had put a lot of effort into bringing Pembrooke over to his side.


    Theo had laughed bitterly, surprising Alexander and shaking him out of the dark thoughts. "Hardly. They want me back, that''s for certain, but the response was too quick, too happy to throw aside my failures. They do that type of shit to get low-level operatives back who might be second-guessing their directives. As they say, it''s much easier to catch flies with honey. Those foolish enough to believe the lies are debriefed and liquidated. It seems my handler isn''t aware of my previous position within the company. If he had been, he would have realized using such a line on me wouldn''t have worked. Too bad for him," Pembrooke muttered that last part.


    "Would you have taken the opportunity if it was genuine?" Alexander had asked.


    The man had paused to think on that for a moment. "Perhaps in the beginning, but now, no. I may have only been here for a few months, but I feel proud of what I''ve accomplished. I guess you could say it''s fulfilling work."


    "That''s rather forward of you to admit," Alexander stated. "If that''s the case, why send the question in the first place? You knew I would see it and that it would likely upset me."


    Theo had chuffed at that comment. "Maybe the Asgardians are rubbing off on me more than I thought. As for why I sent the message, I guess I just needed some closure or there would always have been the question of ''what if?'' in the back of my mind. Now I have that closure."


    The second chime brought Alexander back to the present and he glanced over at the stage as the crowd quieted. Archibald Matthews, his new academy Headmaster strode across the stage and stopped behind a lectern.


    "Thank you all for coming to this commencement ceremony for the Eden''s End Academy. My name is Archibald Matthews and I will be the academy Headmaster. Before we get too far, I would like to thank the people who made this happen. The first of which is our benefactor, Alexander Kane."


    Alexander stepped onto the stage as Archie gestured to him.


    "Thank you all for being here. While Mr. Matthews will be thanking all of the people personally involved with this endeavor, I want to thank all of those not involved. If it wasn''t for the populace of Eden''s End showing such an interest in learning and growing, I don''t know if I would have ever considered building this academy. For that, I thank you."


    A round of applause greeted his short speech and Alexander moved off to the side as Matthews brought up the next group of people to thank, which consisted Yi Na and all the workers. One by one, they joined Alexander off to the side. He could see the slight grin on Yi Na''s face from the praise, one he was doing a poor job of hiding.


    "One more round of applause for all the men and women who helped make this a reality." The auditorium erupted in clapping, followed by a few whistles of approval.


    Once it settled down, Archie continued. "Now it wouldn''t be an academy without teachers. So let me introduce you to our faculty," Matthews continued.


    The first to be called up was Lucas Laront. Matthews had convinced the man to lend his expertise in programming and computer design to the courses. Like many of the teachers, Lucas would only be a part-time instructor, the students getting most of their training from the learning modules.


    "Next we have one of the most distinguished theoretical physicists around, Dr. Nova Lund. While she will only be available at certain times, we appreciate her lending her expertise and time."


    Alexander watched as someone helped the woman to the podium. He frowned internally at that. She hadn''t seemed nearly that frail the last time they had spoken. He paused to think of when that had been and realized that was over half a year ago. He made a mental note to check in with her after this was over.


    The woman was led to a chair next to Lucas and the two talked quietly as the ceremony continued.


    "Next we have our melee combat instructor for those taking on the military portion of the academy, please welcome Mr. Travers."


    The former Hawks Team Leader and now Guard Captain, thanked the crowd and took his seat next to Dr. Lund and Lucas.


    "For tactics and command courses, please greet Admiral Krieger. He and the other captains of BSE will be rotating in the course. When none of them are available, I will be taking over."


    The room exploded into clapping once more. There wasn''t a soul on Eden''s End who didn''t know who Krieger was by now and what he and the other captains had done for the sake of them. Even Hall wasn''t forgotten. This was the Captain Timothy Hall Memorial Auditorium after all.


    Alexander was glad that Matthews had convinced Krieger that rotating through teaching duty should be mandatory for all BSE captains. It ensured the captains kept up with current tactics, and technology as well as seeing the new generation of recruits that would soon be joining them as cadets in the years to follow. It also allowed the students to meet their idols.


    "Our business management and ship upkeep courses will be run by the distinguished Huang Na."


    Mingyu''s father took the stage to less clapping, being more of an unknown, but seemed unfazed by the reaction.


    "And we wouldn''t be much of an academy based on military tactics and command, engineering, and science without someone to head the engineering department. Who better to lead it than one of the most proficient engineers I know? Once again, please give a round of applause to Alexander Kane, who has graciously agreed to set aside time to train the next generation of engineers."


    The room once again broke into applause. Alexander waved back but otherwise didn''t return to the podium. He still had trouble considering himself an actual engineer, however, that feeling was lessening as time went by. There came a point where he had to acknowledge that he was past the days of stealing other people''s ideas and that he had finally developed his own unique technologies and inventions.


    Next up was a tour of the academy, one which he could have skipped because he had already toured the completed center, but Yulia wanted to see everything and so he obliged her.


    Krieger managed to catch his attention at some point and going by his expression, whatever he had to say, didn''t look promising. Alexander left Yulia to explore with her friends while he went to see what the man wanted.


    The man pulled him into one of the classrooms that had already been looked over by the tour group and shut the door.


    "What''s up?" Alexander asked.


    "I received word today that Admiral Fletcher is dead."


    "What? How?"


    "A reactor overload incident, or so the news states. It apparently occurred shortly after we broadcast Harlow''s execution. I don''t believe in coincidences," Krieger stated angrily.


    "That was over two months ago?"


    Krieger nodded. "The STO covered it up until they had investigators look into it, which is why I didn''t hear anything about it until now."


    "You think someone killed Fletcher because of what we did?"


    Krieger shrugged. "Either that, or they just used it as a convenient excuse to deflect attention while they killed the man. Fletcher had plenty of enemies who could want him gone. You completed your contracts with him, right?"


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "Captain Farthing delivered the last shipment while we were returning from Asgard."


    "Good. Then the only concern is who takes over for Fletcher and what they do with the stealth ship tech and research."


    Alexander groaned at that. He hadn''t exactly liked Fletcher, but he hadn''t disliked him either. The man had his own priorities, but Alexander could trust that any ill intent wasn''t aimed in his direction. With Fletcher being gone, he couldn''t be assured of that anymore. He wished he could simply fly in and secure the stealth tech, but even if he could, it would likely be gone by now. Two months was a lot of time for research to grow legs and walk off, especially if the corporations were involved with the man''s death.

 Chapter 4-8

    "What do you mean there''s nothing?" Benning demanded.


    The agent looked uncomfortable but responded anyway. "All of the research was cleared out before we arrived, sir."


    "What about the engineers and scientists involved in the projects?" Benning asked in annoyance, already suspecting the answer.


    "Vanished without a trace," the agent confirmed.


    That bastard Fletcher must have known something was up and alerted the research outpost to dismantle their research ahead of time. Perhaps if he had gotten the location of the secret STO research station sooner they might have been able to recover something.


    "What of the alien ship?" Certainly, something so large couldn''t simply vanish.


    "We have a docking log for a Goliath class transport, but the transponder number has been wiped from the buffer. I''ve obtained the log and sent it to the forensics team to see what they can recover, but it was from three months ago, sir."


    Three months? That was shortly after his agent arrived at Varlen. If Fletcher had gone to this length to keep the alien ship and research from him, there was no chance he would have missed this log entry, which meant Fletcher left that log on purpose. The former Vice Admiral must have known this entire time and wanted whoever was after him, and the alien tech, to know he knew.


    Well played, Benning thought. He could admire an opponent as crafty as Fletcher, even though the man''s actions hurt him, he was still out of the picture.


    Benning pondered his options. There was still one avenue left to pursue.


    "Has the new Vice Admiral been able to contact any of the Erebus or Nyx class ships to bring them in?"


    "No, sir. They were all ordered on year-long no-contact missions before Fletcher''s untimely passing."


    "Of course they were," Benning muttered quietly. Even an Admiral couldn''t send ships on indefinite missions. That was an annoying development, but it would only delay his acquisition of the technology. "So be it. Pack up everything you find, I don''t care how insignificant you think it might be. We will study everything until the stealth ships finally resurface."


    The man nodded in confirmation and the secure Qcomm line cut out.


    Benning sat there in silence for a bit, lightly tapping his fingers on the top of his desk. He would likely be able to recover some data from the facility no matter how well Fletcher and his people cleaned up before they left, but it probably wouldn''t be anything of significance. The members of the assembly wouldn''t be willing to wait a year to see any promised gains from the technology though. Benning would have to give them something to hold off the people who wanted Omni to fail.


    Benning refused to let that happen, at least in his lifetime, which kept getting longer with every medical advancement Omni acquired. He would throw all that medical mumbo jumbo aside for pure technology, but even with his AIs, he had yet to figure out how to transfer a person''s consciousness into a machine to reach true immortality.


    He had time though.


    As for the issue with the assembly, he wasn''t about to give up after a few minor setbacks. It was time for plan C.


    "AI," he spoke into the room.


    "How may I assist you, Chief Benning?"


    "What tertiary development packages do we have available?"


    "We have three technological breakthrough packages that meet those requirements, would you like me to go over the specific technologies included in them?"


    "No. Do any of them contain weapons or ship improvements?"


    "Tertiary package two contains an unreleased Omni thruster design deemed to have too much of an improvement for the current market. None of the packages have weapons designs or specifications that are not already publicly available."


    "Release package two to the members of the assembly with Omni''s apologies for the loss of future revenue. Let them know that plans will be back on track within two years."


    "Package and message sent," the AI confirmed.


    "AI, start converting our production over to those unreleased designs and prepare a news release to occur in six months."


    "Production updated and news release scheduled."


    "That will be all," Benning stated.


    The assembly would be mollified for a time after they received their free upgrades, and Omni would be forced to release the design to the public sooner than he would have liked, but that was the price of failure.


    Speaking of releases, Benning checked in on Blue Star Enterprises. He could have had the AI do it, but he liked to do things himself sometimes. The data that came up was still rather sparse, but it did show a few changes. The company was located in a system called Unokane, it listed its status as a member of an independent nation, and now the page showed a list of military accomplishments. Those accomplishments were directly accredited to their new Admiral Krieger.


    Among those accomplishments was an extensive list of pirate bounties claimed by the company. He spotted the names of Harlow Anazi, and his brother Arkonis, however, he had to actually look for them. They were listed in random spots, almost as a snub to the pirate''s notoriety. It seemed that BSE had been busy purging the galaxy. A noble yet shortsighted goal. The pirates would return in a decade. At least they made effective scapegoats.


    For a moment, Benning pondered going after Krieger. He was certain the man had some information on the stealth ships and how they were designed, but he decided against it. The cost would likely outweigh any benefit. A lowly captain would have little understanding of the engineering behind such stealth systems.


    Going after Kane was still an unknown. That''s why he had directed Harlow at the man. Despite his advantages, Harlow had still failed, meaning Kane had resources that couldn''t be accounted for.


    Benning didn''t like unknowns.


    One of those unknown resources was the shadowy ally that had helped Blue Star Enterprises and Kane survive Harlow''s assault. Considering the system''s location, Benning had a good idea of who that ally might be, but it made no sense. The Asgardians hated outsiders, they hated STO corporations even more. He couldn''t picture them allying themselves with one.


    A sudden thought struck him. What if they weren''t outsiders?


    BSE and Kane could be some offshoots from the Asgardians. It made the man''s fake backstory make a lot more sense. If he was correct, that meant the Asgardians were gaining power. He would need to do something about that if true. "AI. Do we have any agents on-" he paused to look up the planet''s name, "-Eden''s End?"


    Stolen story; please report.


    "Eight agents made landfall and checked in."


    "Checked in? No updates?"


    "No updates from the assigned agents. There was one recent update from an unassigned agent." S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Who?"


    "Theodore Pembrooke, agent class three."


    Pembrooke! Benning usually didn''t bother remembering the names of low-level employees, but Pembrooke''s situation had been so humorous that the name stuck in his mind. "AI. Calculate the chances that Pembrooke was turned." Benning had a pretty good idea of what the AI would say, but he wanted confirmation.


    "Calculation complete. There is a ninety-eight percent probability, plus or minus two percent, that he has turned his back on Omni."


    "When was Pembrooke last on corporate grounds?"


    "Nine months and three days ago."


    The timelines didn''t match up so that probably meant Pembrooke wasn''t responsible for Kane figuring out the secret to pulsed fusion. Somehow Kane had swayed the man over to BSE after that point.


    If Kane had independently figured out the same model that Lund had or something close enough to make no difference, he might have to revise the lifecycle of Omni''s models and release new models much faster. It was too early to tell for sure.


    He needed to wait and see if Kane released another drive that outcompeted Omni''s in the next year or get an actual agent on the planet, then he would have confirmation. Losing pulsed fusion would be a blow, but Omni had been slowly stepping away from its production of the pulsed fusion drives for some time. Even with their current release schedule, they had about a decade left before the cap was reached on the technology and if Omni had to contend with the upstart BSE, it was likely that the remaining timeline for sprinkling out improvements would come to an end much sooner than anyone realized.


    "AI. Estimate a production shift from our pulsed fusion lines to compressed plasma ejection to account for a competing entity with similar pulsed fusion production capabilities as Omni."


    "To make a changeover and beat out a competitor, all of Omni''s production would need to be switched over within three years."


    Benning cursed. Not only had Kane cost them significant profits by eliminating Harlow and ending the war prematurely, but they would also lose out on seven years of additional profits on their most lucrative production line if he was correct.


    Omni had compressed plasma ejection thrusters ready to go for all of the classes of thrusters, but it would be much harder to convince people that swapping over was worth it. The requirement for a whole new reactor and fuel delivery system was going to be a sticking point for most because it tripled the cost. He would need to speak to Mrs. Cho Xiyu at Dynamic Energy Systems to ensure she knew their switchover timeline was accelerating.


    Something would still have to be done about Alexander Kane and BSE, but he wasn''t sure what. One thing he did know was that he would need to get the man away from his seat of power before any true attempt was made. Maybe it was time to lean on his political connections.


    ***


    Alexander looked around. He could have sworn he heard someone speaking his name. There was nobody in his workshop though so he shrugged and focused back on the small sphere on his bench.


    There were hundreds of fiberoptic wires spilling from the item, making it look like the sphere was growing crystalline hair.


    Those fiberoptic connections ran to a modified pseudo-computronic cube. There was another device just like it aboard Resolve as it patrolled the path between Varlen and Unokane.


    Resolve wasn''t alone, four of the new Stingray gunships escorted the vessel. With the changes in command at Varlen, Alexander told Captain Ramirez not to jump into Varlen with his small fleet.


    The captain had gone back to commanding the frigate because his destroyer had been damaged in the fighting and was currently under the knife to be stripped down and rebuilt with all of the BSE and Asgardian-inspired improvements that Alexander could shove into the vessel.


    Once Ramirez''s destroyer was back in action, it would finally be time to tear down Vanguard. He would have included Wayward Soul in that list, but the ship was too badly damaged to justify a refit. Once the other two ships were operational, he was retiring Soul to The Maw. The material would be used to build a new ship in the future.


    There were initial plans and meetings about designing a cruiser and destroyer from the ground up, but that was a whole lot more involved than a simple gunship. The whole partial integration wouldn''t cut it on ships that large, but that was a problem for later. Right now he was testing his¡­ KaneComm, BSEComm? He didn''t have a name for it yet. Not that it even worked all that well to justify getting a name.


    He had managed to quantum entangle multiple sets of particles and even send data from one to the other, but the bandwidth was laughable. Like pre-dialup laughable. Maybe even worse than that.


    Right now he was recording the incoming test data from the unit aboard Resolve. It was just junk data, but it gave him a way to estimate transfer speed.


    Another issue that he was running into was that his current prototypes could not send and transmit at the same time.


    It didn''t take Alexander long to figure out a solution. He needed more entangled pairs to up the bandwidth. He would also need a second set of entangled pairs to handle the other half of either transmitting or receiving. That was if he wanted to go with the same approach Qcomm was using.


    Newsflash, he didn''t. The central node network that Qcomm was likely using meant they had a single point of failure. Alexander wanted to eliminate that security issue by making a mesh/distributed network, where every comm array was a node. It would allow them to cut a node from the network without issue.


    That did mean adding more complexity to his nodes though. He would need to add multiple linked pairs to each, allowing them to daisy chain across the network until the messages reached their destination.


    Doing things that way did slow the transmission slightly, but you were talking picoseconds for each array handoff. Considering the signal could be crossing lightyears of space, even a few seconds of latency would be fine with him. Explore more at My Virtual Library Empire


    Alexander just needed to figure out how many entangled pairs he needed to ensure holo-video transmissions and then he could start to figure out how big the next prototype would need to be to fit it all in.


    After he did the math, the answer turned out to be a lot. Somewhere in the order of ten trillion entangled pairs to ensure clear video and audio across the connection. So twenty trillion to make it a two-way communication. Sure that was a whole bunch of entangled particles, but it wasn''t really that hard to make them once you had the process down. Alexander''s prototype was using over a thousand. He could have waited a day and had a hundred thousand ready to go, but he didn''t like waiting.


    The growth was exponential after the first set was created. A new batch would be needed for each entangled pair node to ensure the paired nodes weren''t mixed up but that wouldn''t take long to setup.


    After he did the math, he realized the containment spheres would need to be about the size of a bowling ball to contain the particles and the sensors that allowed the data to be converted from particle movement and back again, but that was easy as well. Turns out that using a static field generator inside the sphere gave fast and accurate readings.


    Alexander didn''t see anything like that on the Qcomm so he wondered what they used for the data transference.


    It took another week to set the nodes up, but Alexander now stared at five identical orbs.


    Each orb contained one hundred trillion entangled particles and was linked to each of the other orbs.


    There was a mess of wires that ran out of each that was designed to interface with a standard communication array. He placed each in a container and locked them so only he could open the crates.


    The devices would go to Admiral Krieger, Captain Ramirez, Farthing, and Bloomright. The last would be placed inside the Qcomm chamber on Eden''s End.


    Alexander had already tested the devices by placing them around the facility. They seemed to work fine. It might not be the most in-depth testing he had ever done, but if they worked, they worked. It didn''t matter how far away you got, that wouldn''t change.


    He also realized that this innovation changed everything. The major issue with interstellar distances was communications, which had been reserved for planets only¡ªat least what was publicly available. He suspected some of the STO corporations had access to shipboard FTL communications, and now he did as well.


    Alexander wished he had this a few weeks ago when he sent two dozen Stingray gunships to the border to help firm up the defenses against Xin. He had coded a rudimentary program into the automated ships to respond to commands from whoever was in charge while they were out there as if they were real people.


    It was audio only, but he hoped nobody looked too closely considering the vessels were there to assist with the war efforts.


    He had also included two fishbone ships with docking collars for four vessels at a time that would allow the stingrays to quickly rearm and reenter the battle. There were enough missiles and railgun rounds aboard those two support ships to rearm each ship over forty times.


    They were lacking the smart missiles though. Processor production was still a bottleneck there, and until Alexander rearmed his capital ships and planetary defenses with the weapons, he wasn''t going to waste them on gunships.


    Speaking of Asgardians, Katalynn should be arriving at Asgard any day now. He really hoped she was able to defeat Isbjorn.

 Chapter 4-9

    Kane''s prototype stealth gunship popped into Yggdrasil''s Eye, far on the outskirts to ensure they avoided any detection.


    Katalynn would like to say the trip had been uneventful, but a few support systems had burned out during the voyage, requiring days of delay to repair. Luckily this happened while they were still with the fleet. She had to grudgingly admit that Kane''s insistence on repair and production systems aboard ships was justified. She was also glad he had installed some of those systems on Valkyrie when he did his retrofit.


    It was also a good thing that no critical systems had failed. Kane had warned her about tampering with those. If one of those had gone out, she would have been forced to scuttle the ship and return to Asgard aboard Valkyrie to face Isbjorn.


    If that had happened, the best she could hope for was a draw where both of them ended up dead.


    Vyrik was quiet beside her as he took in the contacts that appeared on the projected tactical display.


    "He has even more ships than last time," her long-time tactician declared.


    "Are you surprised?" she asked as she adjusted the vessel toward Asgard.


    They would need to bleed off speed before descending to the planet, but she didn''t want to give Isbjorn''s fleet, the orbital defenses, or Isbjorn himself time to react to her arrival so she would have to wait until as late as possible to perform that maneuver. Once she was on the ground, she could order all ships grounded, thus ensuring Isbjorn would not be able to rejoin his fleet.


    The stingray remained undetected as it passed Isbjorn''s fleet and then the orbital defenses. She waited until the very last moment before flipping the ship and firing off the thruster.


    Katalynn pushed the deceleration to nine G, burning off their velocity as quickly as possible. Her vision started to narrow, and at the same time, the icons on the display started turning orange to indicate that ships were attempting to acquire them as a target.


    She ignored that as she watched the velocity indicator drop rapidly. A tone sounded as one of the ships in Isbjorn''s fleet fired at them. Even then she waited a handful of seconds before flipping the ship toward the planet once more and punching the thrust. An orange line flashed across the display, indicating the near miss.


    "Cutting it a little close aren''t you?" Vyrik grunted out under the new acceleration.


    "Considering how quickly they were able to lock onto us, no. I''ll need to cut thrust and flip here again shortly, hold on." S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The process repeated three more times as Isbjorn''s ships attempted to fire upon them as they neared the outer atmosphere of Asgard.


    As soon as they touched the outer edge and started to make an ion trail, something changed in orbit. The firing ceased and she watched through the rear camera as the orbital defenses reoriented, but not on her.


    Katalynn smirked. The warning was clear: firing on Asgard would not be allowed. With Kane''s help, she had bypassed the biggest hurdle of dealing with Isbjorn, the rest was now up to her.


    The Stingray shook violently as Asgard''s atmosphere roiled, ready to unleash another storm, but it held off, seemingly in anticipation of what was to come.


    A radio demand to state who they were came her way and she responded. There were no further demands after that.


    Then they were through the clouds and the glittering dark jewel of Asgard was laid out before them, lit by the occasional flash of lightning in the distance.


    Kane''s ship seemed to enjoy the thicker atmosphere of Asgard as it glided effortlessly to a landing pad. It was actually more difficult to get it to stop gliding than it had been to land the thing, but she did eventually manage to get it down.


    She quickly set the ship into standby mode and climbed out from beneath the craft. As she stepped out from under the winglet, a drop of rain landed on her closed faceplate. Before they reached the doors to the underground, the rain let loose a downpour so intense that Katalynn couldn''t recall the last time she had seen a storm of such fury. It felt like Odin was mirroring her own feelings at the moment.


    With no surprise, a Loki waited for them at the train.


    "Lock down all of the exits to landing pads," she demanded.


    "Already done, Lagertha. However, I don''t think it is necessary with this storm. The winds are predicted to be far beyond the norm and any shuttle attempting to leave the surface would quickly be blown into the jungle."


    "Has Jarl Isbjorn been made aware of my arrival?" she demanded as she stepped aboard the train.


    "He knows something entered the atmosphere thanks to his fleet in orbit, but not what that object might have been."


    Katalynn quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You haven''t told him? Why?"


    The Loki shrugged. "You have already surprised us by arriving at the surface, we see no reason to prevent what is about to happen."


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    Katalynn didn''t know whether to be annoyed by the man''s lackadaisical comment or happy that they were remaining as bystanders for this upcoming altercation.


    ***


    Isbjorn stared out the thick window of the Asgardian seat of power. His seat of power, or it would be once he finally got rid of Katalynn.


    He couldn''t see much through the rain other than a haze of distant lights below.


    He turned away from the scene as there was a knock at the door.


    "Enter!" he yelled, annoyed that the Lokis had yet to discover who had entered the atmosphere half an hour ago. Once he was King, he would rid Asgard of the independent entity and replace it with one loyal to him and him alone.


    Speaking of, a Loki walked into the room and bowed slightly.


    "What news do you have for me?" he demanded of the black-clad man.


    "We have determined that Katalynn Char was aboard the unknown ship that entered the atmosphere. She is on her way here now."


    "What!"


    Isbjorn didn''t wait for a response, he hurried to the elevator. The whole point of stationing his entire fleet in orbit was to prevent that insufferable woman from reaching the surface and forcing him into a duel. He saw no point in the practice when all that truly mattered was fleet strength. He knew hers was severely diminished from a few previous altercations, which is why he had reinforced his and brought them all to Asgard. There were also rumors of her heading off to another battle and not coming out of it with many ships remaining. He didn''t know the specifics of why her fleet had been savaged, and the Lokis had refused to comment on it. Not that it mattered. He would learn what he needed to after she died aboard her ship.


    At least that had been the intention.


    "Why wasn''t I alerted that her fleet arrived?" he demanded of Loki as the elevator descended. "I left strict orders to be kept apprised of her fleet''s movements."


    "Her fleet is still two jumps out, Jarl Isbjorn."


    That made no sense. Who would leave their fleet behind?


    He could figure out the mystery later, he needed to get to his shuttle and get off the planet as quickly as possible. There was still a chance he could force her into fleet combat.


    The elevator doors dinged open and he strode purposefully for the tower entrance. The tower doors flicked open and he nearly missed a step at what awaited him below.


    The entire square was filled with silent people, all except the combat circle. Inside that stood a single person, one he instantly recognized.


    The Lagertha''s voice rang out, amplified so all could hear her taunt, her insult. "You want to be King so badly Jarl Isbjorn? Come face me instead of cowering like an STO dog!"


    ***


    Katalynn stood at the far side of the packed dirt circle as she stared at Isbjorn. Word had quickly spread of the upcoming altercation and the entire area was packed with spectators. She even saw one of the few news cameras. They would be recording the event so everyone could see.


    It worked in her favor because there was no place Isbjorn could go. The stairs to the tower were the only place unclogged by people. After declaring him a coward, the man would have no option but to fight her or forever be stuck with that label, which would quickly see him constantly under pressure from people of his own world to replace him.


    She watched silently as Isbjorn weighed his options. A sneer finally overtook the surprise on his face and he strode down the stairs, pulling his blade free. "I will make you regret those words," he stated.


    There was no bell to start the match. As soon as Isbjorn was inside the ring, he launched himself forward with impressive speed.


    Katalynn was no slouch in speed though, their weapons met in a clash of metal as they tested each other for weaknesses.


    Isbjorn may be a coward, but he wouldn''t have been made a Jarl without some skill with a weapon.


    They clashed again, a thin cut connecting with Isbjorn''s bicep before separating and circling. Katalynn felt a sting on her own arm, but she didn''t look away from her opponent.


    Isbjorn stumbled, but Katalynn didn''t fall for the feint. She deflected the man''s lunge, cutting a gash across his ribs before dancing away from his follow-up strike. This time Isbjorn stumbled for real, but she was more than happy to wait.


    Then her arm pulsed in agony, making her very nearly drop her weapon. Isbjorn smiled at that, but he was too slow to take advantage of her momentary weakness. Their blades once again locked and the two punched at each other, the man grinning in manic delight.


    "If I can''t be king, then I will ensure we both die." He pushed back, adjusting his blade so it carved a new gash along her arm.


    Katalynn finally realized what the man had done. He had poisoned his blade. She had to end the fight before whatever deadly toxin he had introduced into her system could work its effects.


    With renewed vigor, she roared and pressed the skinnier man. At first, he was able to match her fury, but soon her increased strength gave her the edge and she was beating back his attacks with savage glee and very little finess. One of her overhead chops slammed into his blade and he wasn''t able to stop it. The weapon curved down and thunked into his shoulder with savage force.


    To his credit, Isbjorn attempted to swap his weapon to his good arm, but Katalynn ripped her blade free and with a blinding display of speed, she sliced it through his neck.


    Isbjorn gurgled in surprise and fell to the ground. Katalynn collapsed to a knee not long after, she could feel the poison burning through her veins. Had all of this been for naught?


    A black-clothed form entered her narrowing vision and a hand reached out with a pill inside it. "You must take this, quickly Lagertha."


    Katalynn didn''t question what the pill was. She was dead if she didn''t take it. She snatched it out of Loki''s hand and threw it into her mouth, quickly swallowing it."


    Everything after that was lost to the haze of unconsciousness.


    When she woke, she wished she hadn''t. Her entire body ached and the light of the room seemed to burn at her retinas. When she tried to speak, her voice sounded rough.


    "Where am I?"


    One of her handmaidens hurried over. "You are in the medical center, Lagertha. The pill that Loki gave you slowed your heartbeat temporarily so the poison would stop pumping through your body as quickly and causing further damage. That gave us time to filter the poison from your blood. There was still damage to your body and organs though, which may or may not heal in time."


    Katalynn grunted at the diagnosis. She had won, that was all that mattered. "Sit me up, I can''t feel my arms and legs."


    The woman did as told. "You should regain feeling in your extremities in a few days. That''s a side effect of the pill."


    She spotted a silent Loki off to the side and turned her head toward him. "What of Isbjorn''s fleet?"


    "They fled the system after his death was reported. I don''t think they will be returning to their homeworld or any world within Asgardian territory," the man admitted.


    "Traitors and deserters," Katalynn tried to growl but it came out as a hoarse cough instead. "Send word to the rest of the Jarls that those ships are to be treated like pirates and killed on sight if it is true that they do not return to their homeworld and declare a new Jarl."


    The Loki nodded and then smiled. "I''m glad you were the victor, Lagertha." Then he turned and vanished out the doorway.


    Once Loki was gone, she laid her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes to rest and recover. Isbjorn may be gone, but there were other issues she needed to deal with, like the near-complete destruction of her fleet.

 Chapter 4-10

    Alexander entered the medical facility and quickly located Gabriella. "Is she awake?" he asked.


    When Alexander had tried to visit Dr. Lund the day after the opening ceremony for the academy, he found out that she had taken ill and was rushed to the emergency center by her grandson.


    The woman had been in the medical center for nearly a week, but he finally received word that Lund was well enough for visitors.


    "She is," Gabriella stated. "But try to keep it brief. She needs rest."


    Alexander nodded his avatar and headed into the patient wing, which still housed a few convalescing Asgardians. He soon reached the end of the hall where the private rooms were. These were mostly reserved for the worst-off people or those who needed to be held in isolation, either for the safety of the facility or their own.


    The fact that Lund had wound up in one didn''t bode well for the older woman. He knocked on the door before stepping inside. Lund didn''t glance up at his entrance, busy with something on a tablet.


    Even now, the woman was working on her mathematical formulas. A few holographic slates floated nearby from a small projector someone had brought her.


    She eventually looked over and Alexander could see she looked even worse than she had back during the academy ceremony.


    "Finally have some free time to visit a dying old woman, eh?" she asked, her voice raspy and hoarse.


    "If I had known, I would have come to see you sooner."


    "Bah," Nova waved, the act seeming to tire her out. "I''m dying, I''m not senile. You had more pressing matters, but I''m glad you came. Even if it is on my deathbed."


    "Is there anything I can do for you? Perhaps we can put you in stasis to find a cure for your sickness?"


    "No. This isn''t a sickness you or anyone can cure, it''s just my body finally breaking down. I''ve lived longer than I should have if I''m honest. I was just too stubborn to die while my work was unfinished and I was without someone who could take up my torch and complete it for me. I was hoping that would be you," she said pointedly.


    "Me? There has to be someone more qualified, I know hardly anything about theoretical physics."


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    Nova snorted disdainfully, which brought on a coughing fit that alerted Gabriella. The woman hurried into the room, looking annoyed.


    "I told you to take it easy," she admonished the woman.


    "And I told you I''m not a child to be coddled," Lund managed to get out through racking coughs as Gabriella sat her upright and gave her gentle pats on the back until she finally stopped coughing.


    "I''m going to keep you upright for now. That should reduce the chance of the cough coming back for a few minutes. Hurry up and finish your discussion because I need to give you some medication and then you need to rest."


    Lund grunted slightly in acknowledgment and waited until Gabriella left to continue. "That girl needs children, she mothers her patients too much. Now where was I?"


    "About to tell me why you want me to continue your work."


    "Right. You are correct, there are more qualified scientists out there, but all the ones I know now work for the STO or one of the corporations within the STO, so they can kick sand. Your new allies might have some talented people, but I couldn''t say for sure and I don''t have time to look. That leaves you."


    "That''s not quite the vote of confidence I had expected. Then again, I''m barely an engineer," he replied, trying to lighten the mood.


    "Stop that!" the woman snapped, her voice coming out firm to admonish him. "You have accomplished feats of engineering out here that corporations back in the STO would drool in envy over. Take pride in what you''ve accomplished and stop being so self-deprecating."


    "Noted," he replied, earning a slight smile from the woman in the bed.


    Getting reprimanded by Nova was not what he had expected when coming here.


    "When we first talked years ago, I wanted you to join me so I could train you to become my prot¨¦g¨¦. The STO taking my coworkers and all the work we had done soured me to that option and I carried that grievance over even after coming out here. You didn''t deserve that, and I''m sorry."


    Alexander was about to say that wasn''t necessary, but the woman cut him off. "Let me speak."


    He nodded and Lund continued.


    "The work you helped me with was what finally convinced me that I was being a stubborn old fool. Do you know how many years I have been trying to get that gravitational sensor instrument built? Twenty. Not a single company that I contracted was ever able to produce a working design to my specifications. Yet you managed it in less than a year. I do not doubt that you will figure out the physics behind my work in time. You could even buy those ridiculous learning modules but those would be a waste. Instead, I made a series of my own. They are in my office along with all my work. Just promise me when you succeed, that you''ll name it after me so I can rub it in the face of the STO one last time. I want to die knowing that I got the last laugh."


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    Alexander hesitated, not quite expecting the woman''s final statement. "I- I can do that." S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A smile crossed her face as she rested her head back on the pillow. "That''s all I wanted to hear. Good luck, Alexander. Please tell Gabriella that I would like to speak to my grandson."


    Alexander left the room and conveyed the woman''s wishes to the exasperated Head of Medical Services.


    Before he left, he turned and asked a question he really didn''t want an answer to, but needed to know. "How long does she have?"


    Gabriella looked pensive. "A week, maybe two. She has pneumonia. While we have medications to treat it, her advanced age means she likely won''t recover."


    "But there''s a chance she will?" Alexander asked, grasping for hope.


    Gabriella shook her head. "I don''t think so. And even if she does this time, it is likely to come back again. I''m surprised she has lasted this long if I''m honest."


    Alexander knew Gabriella was right, but it was hard to think that the irascible woman wouldn''t be around soon.


    ***


    As if to refute Gabriella''s claim, Lund held on for nearly three weeks before passing away in her sleep. Alexander found it incredibly sad that most people wouldn''t even realize that the universe lost one of its brightest minds.


    There were only a few people invited to her funeral, all of which Lund had invited herself. Lucas was there, along with Lund''s grandson, who looked more angry than saddened by the woman''s passing. Archie had been invited, along with Krieger of all people. Then there was Gabriella and Damien, who likely only came to support his girlfriend. The last two in attendance were Alexander and Yulia.


    It was a small gathering, but it was what Nova had wanted.


    Everyone said a few words, but it all felt so insufficient for someone of Lund''s gifts.


    When it was over, he led Yulia back home. The girl had cried at Mrs. Lund''s loss. He was a bit surprised that his daughter had formed such an attachment to the woman during his absence.


    Not long after laying Yulia to bed, he received a knock on the door. It was Archie.


    "Sorry to bother you so late, Alex. May I come in?"


    He gestured for his friend to enter.


    "Did you come by to talk about Lund?"


    "Yes and no," Matthews admitted as he took a seat on the couch.


    Alexander sat across from him on the floor.


    "Back when I was trying to convince her to sign on as faculty for the academy, she told me she didn''t have long. She said she felt age catching up to her. I didn''t believe her at the time. I guess she proved me wrong," Archie chuckled bitterly. "Anyway. How would you feel about renaming the Academy after her?"


    Alexander was taken aback by the question. As he thought about it, he realized that was a much better way to acknowledge the woman''s accomplishments than a few words. "That sounds perfect. The Lund Academy?"


    "I was thinking of calling it The Nova Lund Academy of Military Sciences, but I like your suggestion better. It''s short and concise."


    Alexander chuckled lightly at that. "It seems I can come up with a good name once or twice. The Lund Academy it is. Once I figure out her math and develop the NLD, I expect the Lund Academy to be the leading institute of science and technology for the entirety of human space."


    This time Archie chuckled. "You sure don''t think small do you, Alex? And what''s an NLD?"


    "The Nova Lund Drive, of course."


    "Maybe workshop that name," Archie added with a wince.


    The pair chatted a bit longer about the woman before Archie finally excused himself.


    While Alexander would have preferred to take a few days and process the woman''s loss, he thought it best if he kept himself busy instead.


    ***


    "This is the core of a Qcomm?" Krieger asked in surprise. "It doesn''t look like much."


    It had been about a week since Lund''s passing and Alexander had tried to throw himself into her work and the learning modules she had left behind in a vain attempt to understand her work and keep his mind occupied. Lund''s learning modules weren''t exactly Physics 101, she hadn''t included the basics to understand her work, which left Alexander a bit lost. It seemed the woman''s ability with the math behind her work was far more than her ability to teach it to others,


    What Lund considered basic knowledge was stuff a theoretical physicist fresh out of school might know.


    He wouldn''t have gotten some of the most important projects completed without her assistance and mentorship, so he would soldier on and figure it out eventually. To help with that, Alexander purchased physics modules and studied them at night while continuing his work on the FTL comm nodes.


    He decided not to give the device any fancy name for now. They did what they did and a name that represented that was fine with him. Perhaps if he had been planning to sell the nodes instead of reserving them as a strategic asset, he would feel differently. If that time ever came, maybe he would have a marketing team or something to name it for him.


    "It''s not quite the same," he answered Krieger''s question, "but it works off the same principles. I know it doesn''t look like much, but there is a whole lot of science and engineering that went into making it."


    Krieger nodded as he examined the orb. "As long as it works, I don''t need to know how it works. So you plan to install this on the Vanguard?"


    "Not right away," Alexander admitted. "Once Captain Ramirez''s ship Tempest is complete, then Vanguard will be going in for a full refit to reach BSE spec. That''s when I''ll install the node."


    "Hard to say no to a fully retrofitted cruiser," Krieger admitted. "Will these nodes have any vulnerabilities we should be aware of?"


    "Unlike the Qcomms, all data passing through the node will be encrypted at the source before it''s even transmitted. That will mean new comm devices as well. I''m still working on those. The node will also be connected directly to the central core, meaning breaking through any security will mean fighting against the ship''s supercomputer. It''s still possible someone might crack through that, but it''s unlikely. If we lose a ship either due to combat operations or some unforeseen incident, the ship''s node can be cut from the cluster to prevent enemy forces from acquiring it. The cluster, before you ask, is the five other ships that the node can communicate with directly. There is no central node like with the Qcomm. This ensures we can excise compromised nodes without losing overall communication."


    "I think I understand," Krieger replied. "What about contacting the Qcomm network?"


    "All of those connections will be routed to Eden''s End''s node, and then filtered through the facility''s computers to ensure operational security, before being passed on to the Qcomm network. So yes, you will have full but filtered access to the STO''s network."


    "Good." Krieger stated.


    The man seemed to be pondering other questions to ask before both of their radios beeped. Alexander would be glad to replace those with the new devices soon.


    "Yes?" Krieger answered before Alexander could answer his own.


    "A ship just arrived in the system. It''s transmitting an STO navy identification," the traffic control operator stated.


    "What type of ship?" Krieger asked in confusion as he stood.


    "It''s a goliath class transport," the operator responded.


    Alexander could see the clear confusion on Krieger''s face. "I''m in a meeting with Alex right now aboard Vanguard. I''ll be on the bridge shortly. Keep me apprised if anything changes."


    The operator confirmed the order and cut the connection.


    "Do you want to stick around and see what this transport wants in Unokane?"


    Alexander nodded his avatar and followed Krieger to the bridge.

 Chapter 195 - 4-11

    The STO Naval transport stopped far from Eden''s End as Vanguard approached. Until this moment, the Talon was the largest ship Alexander had ever seen, with it being ever so slightly larger than Harlow''s dreadnaught. This transport made them both look small in comparison. The vessel had to be nearly two thousand feet long and wide enough around to fit the Vanguard inside its massive hold.


    Once they were close enough, a few bots launched from Vanguard and landed on the massive vessel''s hull to do the scans.


    It wasn''t strictly necessary, they were close enough to scan the ship, and other than a rather strangely shaped void inside the cargo hold that took up less than a quarter of the space the ship was free of hidden weapons or contraband.


    "Who asked you to come out here?" Krieger asked the transport''s captain over the comm line.


    "The orders came straight from Vice Admiral Fletcher. He specifically told me to take a roundabout route to get here."


    "And what''s in the hold?" Krieger prompted the very staid captain.


    The other captain shrugged. "I shouldn''t have to tell you how this works, Krieger. We both worked for Fletcher. I don''t ask what nonsense the Vice Admiral wants me to move about, I only follow my orders. You gonna unload the ship so I can head back home or what?"


    Krieger had a sour look on his face but he nodded. "Open it up and let''s take a look inside."


    While Krieger was doing that, Alexander contacted one of the command ships and ordered it to fly out here. The bots would be able to act as tugs to pull whatever was inside the ship back if need be.


    Alexander wasn''t worried about it being something dangerous, if it was, the Vanguard had more than enough firepower to take it and the Goliath transport out.


    The massive doors slid open and stacked on top of each other off to the side of the ship, neatly out of the way. That was followed by the support beams which ran between the doors to add structural support to the long vessel.


    Alexander was so focused on the engineering required to design such a monstrous ship that he didn''t immediately take notice of the cargo.


    When he finally did, confusion was the first thing that he felt. "Why is it wrapped up?"


    Krieger had the same confused look on his face as they stared at the image of the gift-wrapped present inside the massive ship''s hold. It was obviously a ship of some sort or part of one at least, based on the rough outline, but somehow Fletcher had found enough material to not only cover the entire thing but also a massive red bow to tie it all off.


    Alexander glanced over when Krieger sighed. "It''s a gift, from Fletcher."


    "That much I kind of gathered," Alexander stated flatly. "Why go through the trouble?"


    "He likely didn''t want anyone else to know what the gift entailed."


    Alexander simply shrugged and ordered the bots to tow the thing back to Eden''s End and try not to damage the wrapping. If it truly was to keep prying eyes away, he didn''t want the captain of the transport to get a glimpse. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once it was free of the ship, the transport closed its cargo doors again and ponderously turned to head home. The captain wished them luck and that was that.


    "Shouldn''t we have told him that Fletcher is dead?" Alexander asked.


    "He''ll find out eventually," Krieger grunted in annoyance. "Let''s see what bio-waste my former boss just dumped on our lap."


    "You think whatever this is, it''s trouble?"


    "I think whatever this is, he gave it to you because he didn''t want the STO or the corporations getting ahold of it. So yes, it''s trouble. How much, I can''t say until we see what''s inside."


    The robots'' small ion drives took quite some time to tow the wrapped ship into orbit. Alexander really needed a dedicated tug or a fusion drive small enough for the bots. Now that he had considered it, a drive that small could also be fitted to missiles.


    He put it on his list and focused as the bots removed the wrapping around their gift.


    At first, he thought it was the remains of Epsilon''s Dawn as it had the same painful absence of color as Dawn had with its stealth armor. Alexander quickly determined that whatever the ship was, it was not the Dawn. For one, it had a much wider front profile, making him think it was akin to a cruiser or heavy cruiser in dimension instead of Dawn''s heavy destroyer design, except it wasn''t as long.


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    The reason for that was soon revealed as the back half of the wrapping came away, exposing the ragged edges where the ship had broken apart.


    "It''s the alien ship!" Alexander stated in surprise. "Why would Fletcher hand this over to me?"


    "No clue," Krieger grunted. "Like I said, trouble. I suggest you build something to hide the remains of the ship so no random arrivals notice it."


    Alexander was already ahead of the man''s suggestion. He paused all of the current print jobs that he could and called up a simple orbital storage unit large enough to fit the remains of the alien ship inside.


    A swarm of bots soon surrounded the vessel and within an hour, the framework was in place for the storage unit. From there it simply took time as the bots zipped back and forth with paneling sections.


    "I''m going to go over and check it out. Keep people away until the structure is complete and an airlock can be added."


    Krieger nodded.


    By the time Alexander approached the building with the shuttle, the bots had managed to panel over a full tenth of the structure. There were no doors large enough to fit the ship through, only an airlock or where an airlock would eventually be.


    The design of the structure was meant to hold cargo that could be transported by pallets, not for ships to come and go like a hangar. He decided on this design to both hide the purpose of the structure as well as to act as a legitimate storage facility. A few modifications would be required to hide the true contents within but that wouldn''t be much of an issue.


    He landed on a finished section of paneling, magnetizing the shuttle to the surface before stepping outside and making his way into the interior and past the quickly forming walls.


    Alexander kicked off the surface and flipped, landing on the surface of the alien vessel. He had to scrabble not to float off as he quickly realized the outer hull was non-magnetic and didn''t have any convenient panel seams like the Dawn had.


    His hand finally grasped something and if he had lungs, he would have breathed a sigh of relief.


    When he glanced at what managed to stop him, he frowned. His hand was lying flat against the hull, it wasn''t gripping anything. He adjusted his holo projection to be as bright as possible and tried to see what connected him to the surface of the blindingly black hull.


    The light-absorbing properties of the armor made it hard to make out, but it almost appeared that he was actually connected to the surface of the ship. He slowly pulled his hand away, careful not to push it off. The material seemed to snap apart, but there was no damage or change to the surface of his palm as he pulled away. He ran his hand across the surface, not pushing down, and it felt slightly textured.


    He planted his feet and stood, then he walked forward. Each step seemed to click into place along the hull, keeping him firmly planted. He must have hit at an odd angle or something before, which is what prevented him from adhering to the hull.


    Although adhering wasn''t the correct term. What was happening was more of a mechanical connection, sort of like how geckos were able to climb surfaces by the tiny ridges on their feet that increased their friction.


    One thing was for certain, the ship was designed with him or with a robot exactly like him in mind.


    Even without the obvious connection of his ability to stick to the hull, he felt it deep within. An almost-memory that he couldn''t quite grasp.


    As he made his way to the broken aft, he spotted the signs of battle along the hull. Broken patches, holes punched through the armor, and carbon scoring that was easier to see than the utter blackness of the hull itself.


    He flipped down into the broken decks of the ship and landed softer this time, his feet adhering the same way. Someone had glued metal strips to the decking at some point, likely so normal people could work on the ship without worrying about floating around.


    Normally the lack of gravity shouldn''t be an issue, every human ship Alexander had seen had grab rails in case of artificial gravity loss but he quickly realized that the vessel had none of that. He didn''t see the ubiquitous gravity plating either. Did the aliens who built it even rely on gravity in their ships?


    Alexander thought back on how easily he manipulated stuff in zero gravity. He concluded that there was a good chance the unknown aliens relied entirely on robots such as himself or that this ship was wholly automated.


    Considering the processing power required to operate a vessel as large as the one he found himself on, that meant a computer that vastly outperformed even the STO''s supercomputers or his linked ones.


    He wondered if the computer core had survived the attack that broke the ship.


    Seeing no point in pondering what-ifs until he learned more, he made his way deeper into the vessel, admiring the fact that he didn''t need to stoop through hatches. The large square openings were easily large enough to fit through, which wasn''t much of a surprise considering the ship was designed by the same race who had built his body.


    Instead of wandering around aimlessly, Alexander followed the metal strips on the floor, and the signs glued to the walls with the STO Navy insignia on them along with ''Classified: Top-Secret'' in bold red text as if the people who were authorized to get that far didn''t already know that.


    The signs pointed to different sections of the ship. Alexander was deciding where to head when he spotted a sticky note on one of the signs. Curious, he walked over and read it. Stay updated with My Virtual Library Empire


    Kane,


    Sorry I dropped this on your lap, but I would rather see it returned to you than end up in the hands of the people who want me dead.


    Scott Fletcher.


    P.S. ¨C All of the STO''s research and development into this ship are safely tucked away in the storage area. Just follow the signs and good luck.


    He did just that and found a room packed full of equipment, data disks, research notes, and other items.


    Some of the stuff was behind sealed doors marked with another note that the rooms were pressurized and environmentally controlled. He would need to wait until the building was complete and pressurized if he wished to see what those rooms contained.


    For now, he set about cataloging what was inside the large room and seeing what could be moved dirtside to make it easier to work with.

 Chapter 196 - 4-12

    There was a lot to be said about automation, but sometimes it just wasn''t feasible to use it. Alexander was experiencing one of those times.


    He cut away the wall with a torch, but the confined space and sensitive wiring behind it made the job far harder than normal.


    He was currently aboard Resolve, modifying the ship to fit the new comm node. It felt a bit sacrilegious to cut up one of his creations in such a haphazard manner, but it was the most expedient method of getting the project done.


    The crew were all planet side for some rest and relaxation, so he was alone up here. That gave him time to ponder the implications of Fletcher''s gift, which had arrived a week ago.


    The research data alone had been staggering but ran along parallel lines to Alexander''s own efforts. Other than a few new ideas, that he integrated into his manufacturing processes, he hadn''t been able to learn much about how the unknown aliens built their ships because the STO hadn''t ever figured that out either.


    They did have a few ideas on how the aliens might have accomplished it, but it was all speculation. Alexander wasn''t surprised to learn that one of those ideas involved printing at the atomic level as he had postulated. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After going over the research and taking a few samples from the ship, specifically from areas where the hull seemed to curve as well as sections that included the outer armor along with a cross-section of the interior, he changed his hypothesis on the alien''s methods.


    Alexander still thought atomic printing could be used to create a similar result, but he was leaning toward another method used by the ship''s original creators. That method consisted of growing the ship. The STO hadn''t thought of that possibility because they lacked a key detail that Alexander didn''t. That was the fact that he had seen the self-repair capabilities of his own armor in action.


    The dead ship didn''t display any sort of regrowth, and Alexander''s tests had been inconclusive, but he wagered the growth was brought on by a whole lot of energy as well as some stored medium, which may have been stored in the missing aft section.


    He likened it to the growing of crystal, and now he felt confident that method was exactly what was used to create these ships.


    The samples he took from the ship had none of the tell-tale signs that printing left behind. Even with his nano-assembler, there were signs left behind by the lasers.


    With those indicators being absent in the alien ship samples, he was confident in saying it wasn''t printed. That being said, he had no idea how they went about growing a ship or even how a crystal could be manipulated to grow in a specific way. The idea was just so alien.


    That didn''t stop him from postulating though.


    There had to be some sort of pure environment, either filled with a specific carbon-heavy gas, or pure carbon dust, sort of how artificial diamonds were produced back in his day. It would also have to be under extreme pressure to produce some of the carbon structures, yet devoid of that pressure for others. The armor was some form of lonsdaleite, but that was interspersed by the diamond light tunnels that acted as photoreceptors, both of which required high heat and pressures to create.


    The armor then transitioned to a layer of carbon nano-tubes and then into simple carbon fiber composites on the interior of the ship. Every transition to a new material structure was made without fault or other processes to attach the exterior to the interior. As for the curved sections, they weren''t truly curved, they were just slightly adjusted growth patterns to the exterior. The closer you looked, the easier it was to see the flat faces of the material.


    Building a ship that way would make trying to fix it an effort in futility, assuming it didn''t have the same self-repair capabilities that Alexander''s own body had.


    The pressurized rooms simply held delicate instruments and computers. Considering what Krieger had said, Alexander almost expected to find a bunch of scientists in stasis. There was none of that, and nothing living aboard the ship, he checked.


    What Alexander found curious about the alien vessel was the lack of wiring. At least until he discovered the nano-tubes embedded behind the armor and in a few other samples that the STO had cut out.


    He assumed that the nano-tubes acted as both a shock absorber for any impacts along the hull, as well as a power conduit.


    If that was the case, that was crazy. He did the math based on the sample size he took and estimated that the alien ship was capable of handling two hundred percent as much power transfer as Vanguard. What it used that much power for was unknown.


    It certainly wasn''t for weapons. The STO had cut out one of the turrets and taken it off for study but left the remains of the other on the ship. Even without the research notes into that turret, Alexander could see it was just a single-barrel railgun. It was highly incongruent with the rest of the technology of the ship, but the weapon was made from the same carbon composite apart from the rails, so it was original to the vessel''s construction.


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    According to the documents he perused, the STO had taken the railgun research and integrated it into their own Gauss cannons, over a decade ago. That meant the alien weapons were even more anemic than his first attempt at lasers. Not that his newest lasers would have had any effect on the alien ship.


    The thermal transfer of the armor was ridiculously efficient thanks to the materials it was built from as well as the multi-layer design.


    There was no sign of heat sinks or anything like it aboard the recovered portion of the ship, but there had to be something like it in the missing aft section. It was too bad that section of the ship had never been recovered. Alexander was sure the power and propulsion systems would have been a vast improvement on current human tech just based on everything else he saw.


    Considering the scope of the gift, and all he had learned so far, he hadn''t actually benefited much from having the broken vessel in his possession. Time would tell if it was more a curse than a gift.


    He finished cutting out the last portion of the bulkhead when his radio beeped.


    "Alex, you have a Qcomm call from the Lagertha."


    That must mean she was successful. He felt relief that Katalynn was still alive. "Patch it through, please."


    He turned as the ship holo flickered to life, and Katalynn''s gaunt gaze met his.


    "Are you okay?" he asked in concern. The woman looked like someone suffering from a long-term sickness instead of someone recovering from wounds received in battle.


    "I''ll recover in time," she said in a raspy voice. She paused and then added. "Thank you for asking. If it isn''t obvious by this call, I won against Isbjorn, but the bastard poisoned his blades. His fleet must be captained by his closest followers though as they all fled as soon as they learned of his death. They have been labeled traitors and deserters and are to be treated as pirates if they remain within Asgardian space. I doubt they will come your way, but I figured I would warn you anyway."


    "I''ll let my people know to keep an eye out. I''m also glad to see the prototype held together."


    She snorted weakly. "That''s quite the prototype you built. And I''m already hearing reports from scouts that you have more heading toward the front?"


    "Prototype version two," Alexander stated.


    "I see. Thank you for reinforcing the border so swiftly. I know your fleet suffered as much as mine, so it would have been understandable if you held them in reserve."


    "How- How are things in the capital?"


    "As well as can be expected," she said with a tired sigh. "I''m as weak in body and power as possible and there are those who would love nothing better than to point that out or challenge me. Our defeat of Harlow has silenced many of my detractors though. If they tried to make any moves on my position now, they would likely find themselves at odds with the rest of the Jarls. So I should probably be thankful for that. Your position has been solidified as well."


    "I wasn''t aware it was on shaky ground," Alexander admitted.


    "As long as I was Lagertha, you would have been fine. People might complain, but that is human nature. You can''t please everyone. If Isbjorn would have won the throne, or there had been no victory against Harlow then you may have been in trouble. However, if that last had occurred, you wouldn''t have been alive to worry about it. As it sits now, all I hear are praises for the new Jarl''s courage in the face of adversity. I think Jarl Bergson has been spreading that around. The young woman has taken quite a liking to you, Jarl Kane. If you were human, I would suggest a pairing."


    If Alexander could have blushed, he was sure his face would have been the color of a ripe tomato.


    "What now?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.


    "Now we rebuild, we rearm, and we fight off Xin''s incursions. Other than that, feel free to keep doing what you do. When you return to Asgard in the future, your ship will be waiting. We can discuss further business at a later time. I just figured I would reach out and let you know everything had worked out thanks to your assistance. Once again I find myself in your debt. If there is something that I can do to repay this in the future, please don''t hesitate to ask."


    He nodded and thanked the woman before she cut the connection.


    Alexander was glad that he no longer had to worry about that. With a new sense of energy, he returned to work on the comm node installation. A few hours later, when he finished, the wall looked exactly the same as it had before he started.


    Nobody would suspect that the new cavity contained the armored FTL comm node. And with it being behind three other layers of armor, it was pretty safe from even a direct hit.


    His original idea had been to place the nodes in the computer core room, but he had eventually decided against it. While the core was triple armored as well, there were no real places to hide the comm node in the walls.


    And this was a technology he wanted to keep secret for as long as possible.


    On Lucas'' recommendation, Alexander had designed another type of node. It was a single chain node and could be made much smaller because it wasn''t designed to handle ship communications or the transmission of holo-data. The new node was the size of a tangerine and was being included in a new series of satellites that would be placed in adjoining systems as an early warning and detection system.


    Each system would have a pair of those stealth-coated satellites, to provide both redundancy as well as to help monitor the other satellite for stealth degradation. It was past time they had an early warning system, but with the lack of ships and pilots, using relay scouts like the Asgardians used was not feasible.


    Eventually, he planned on covering the entire Asgardian territory as well as parts of the STO with the satellites. Being forewarned would change everything.


    In time, someone would figure out what he was up to, but he hoped by then, he would have a massive information net that would make Unokane unassailable by outside forces. And while he would like to share the discovery with Katalynn, he wasn''t going to at this moment. He trusted her enough to give her the prototype ship, but there were people like the Lokis that he didn''t trust quite yet and she had stated personally that there were corporate spies on Asgard.


    The longer he could keep them in the dark about his true reach, the better. That being said, he also needed to take advantage of the goodwill generated by Harlow''s defeat.


    It was time to capitalize on this increased notoriety and use it to grow the academy. Being this public hadn''t been his intention when he first envisioned the school, but he now realized he was thinking too small. His original idea would never allow him to compete with the mega-corporations. It was time to turn The Lund Academy into the finest place of learning in all of human space and entice the brightest minds over to his side.

 Chapter 197 - 4-13

    "How are the supplies for the stealth coating holding up?" Alexander asked Lucas in their weekly meeting.


    "They would be better if you weren''t using them on the missiles, but I can see the advantage to doing so."


    Before Alexander launched the Stingrays, he wanted to give them another edge in battle. The simplest and most effective way to do that was to coat the missiles in Lucas'' stealth coating. Swapping out the exterior material for the material compatible with the coating wasn''t much of an issue since missiles did not need to be armored.


    He had since switched all missile production to this new method, giving his pseudo-computronic controlled missiles an even larger advantage in avoiding interception.


    "Can we increase production of the coating?" Alexander asked.


    "Maybe," Lucas responded as he scratched his head in thought. "The nanotubes take a bit of effort to create, but that''s not really the hold-up. Getting them to align properly after the coating is applied is what takes the most time. It''s also why the coating isn''t exactly great. If we make the coating thinner, we can align more of the nanotubes, but then we have issues with them staying aligned until it hardens. Any thicker and it''s impossible to pull the nanotubes into alignment before the coating dries. I hate to say this, Alex, but I think this method is as good as it''s going to get."


    "You say that like it''s a bad thing," Alexander chuckled. "The missiles are nearly invisible to all visual spectrum light and absorb nearly sixty percent of all sensors and targeting used on current ships. I would say that is more than adequate for a single-use weapon system."


    Lucas couldn''t help but smile at the compliment. "Yeah, okay, I guess I did something pretty cool. Now if we can just figure out how to make the real thing, that would be way better. Are you sure the ship was grown?"


    "As far as I can tell, the aliens grew the ship somehow."


    Lucas sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair. "I don''t even know where to start with that."


    "Me either," Alexander admitted. "I''m sure we''ll figure it out in time."


    A knock interrupted their meeting.


    "Come in," Alexander spoke.


    When the door opened, Admiral Krieger and Headmaster Matthews stepped in. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We''re not interrupting anything are we?" Archie asked.


    "Nope. We were just discussing some production issues. Please, sit." Alexander gestured to the open chairs. "And what are you so happy about?" he asked Krieger.


    "Oh, not much. It just seems like every time the three of us are together you have something new to show us."


    Alexander sighed. "I guess that''s true. Yes, I have something new to show you and get some feedback on."


    Since the fight with Harlow had gutted their forces, he had not had time to actively work on the project he was unveiling. Now that the pirate threat was over for the moment and construction and repair efforts were well underway, it was time to take a second look.


    He flicked the data from his tablet to the holo-projector. "Gentlemen, meet the Shark class corvette."


    They looked at him and then looked back at the rotating image.


    "It looks like a bog standard civilian corvette," Krieger stated. "I was kind of expecting something unique, considering your design with the Stingray."


    "I have to agree with the Admiral," Archie stated.


    Alexander held up his hand to stall any more questions. "Think of this as the starting point. When I originally designed the ship, I designed it based on a pirate ship we pulled back to Eden''s End. I realized changing the design to fit my idea of what a warship should be would be a bad idea since I have very little in the way of actual combat experience."


    The three didn''t comment on his admission as they looked closer at the design.


    "Is this meant to be automated?" Lucas asked with a frown.


    "Yes. It''s probably the largest ship we can fully automate with our current processing capabilities. If those change or improve, we can think about going up to frigates, but that will likely be some time off."


    Krieger looked thoughtful. "If that''s the case, why even have internal space?"


    Alexander was readying a reply when he paused and thought about it. "I guess the only reason to have an internal space is to maintain the environmental systems for the processors and fuel storage."


    "Yeah, but can''t you simply wrap them in a much smaller pressurized compartment with thermal insulation and gain the same effect?" Archie asked. "I know you like ships to have multiple roles, Alex, and since this is likely to be a prototype, why not make the systems swappable? Test a bunch of configurations to find out what works best and then use that as the final design."


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    Alexander once again paused to think about his friend''s words, but why even have a final design? "That''s a brilliant idea, but I''m going to make a slight modification to that suggestion. Hold on a second." He connected to his tablet and ran through the facility network until he connected to his workshop''s editing program.


    He hadn''t told Lucas that he figured out how to bypass the facility''s security yet. The man would figure it out shortly.


    It hadn''t been easy either. Alexander had spent many nights at home studying learning modules. Since those couldn''t occupy his entire attention, he also used that time to try to find a weakness in Lucas and Nova''s security system.


    As the group watched, the ship changed as Alexander manipulated it from inside his mind space while connected to the program over the network.


    Lucas'' grin at seeing him manipulate the file in real-time slowly turned into a frown. "Dammit, you got past the security?"


    "I did," Alexander admitted.


    The young man sighed. "Was it at least difficult?"


    "Extremely," he stated matter of factly.


    Alexander had been probing the network defenses ever since Harlow''s defeat. Because he didn''t try to brute force it like the first time, he never tripped the program trigger that would alert Lucas. He had also stumbled upon a possible improvement to their ECM capabilities, which he was planning on sharing with the young man, but he hadn''t gotten around to writing the document yet.


    "That''s good at least," Lucas muttered dejectedly.


    While Alexander felt a bit bad about overcoming Lucas and Lund''s hard work, he was glad he found the holes in their systems. He would just have to make it up to the man with something else. Maybe a first look at the new second-generation processor that he was working on would improve his mood. He would need to think about that, as that project was in the very early stages and far more complex than anything he had worked on so far.


    Alexander refocused on the current work he was doing.


    After a few minutes of fast-paced modeling, the new ship took shape in front of them.


    "I don''t know if this form of modularity will work in the long run," he stated, "but it should speed up testing and improvements."


    The new ship was much more aggressive looking than the previous design, resembling its namesake far more with these new changes. Alexander could have left the outer shape alone, but if he was going to design it, he might as well start now.


    "How long is it?" Krieger asked.


    "One hundred and fifty-seven feet long."


    That seemed to surprise the group.


    "That''s only half again as long as the stingray. What about weapons?" Krieger asked.


    Alexander manipulated the image and the ship broke into exploded sections to show a centrally mounted laser cannon as well as a laser turret and two missile tubes instead of a corvette''s normally single launcher. Removing crew space had its benefits.


    "With the captured tech from the corporations, I was able to use some of their integrated systems to shrink the power storage and supply components for our lasers. The centrally mounted cannon will provide the same punch as one of Vanguard''s current lasers, while the turret laser has the equivalent power of a frigate laser."


    "Do you even need frigates with this thing around?" Archie asked.


    "Considering I can implement these same improvements into our current frigate lasers, I think they will still have a place. The downside is charging time and heat buildup. With this new layout, that should be less of a concern, but it''s still going to be an issue. The ship can also only carry six missiles. If we deploy these as fast-reaction scouts and interdiction ships for the war against Xin, we''re going to need automated supply ships to support them. I already have a fishbone ship module specifically for missiles, so we don''t need to make any changes there."


    "Are you going to stealth coat these?" Krieger asked.


    Alexander could see the man was pondering the possibilities of the ship.


    "I don''t have any intention of doing that at the moment. The supply issues Lucas and I were discussing, pertained to the coating. I also don''t want to deploy these ships with subpar armor or weld on the material needed for the coating. In fact, with the changes you three suggested and the corporate composite armor, I think this Shark corvette might be a harder nut to crack than even the Eden frigates. We''ll be thoroughly testing that before we deploy it though."


    "I was just about to suggest that," Krieger chuckled. "What about a manned corvette?"


    "I thought about that, but is it even worth it?" Alexander asked. "Standard corvettes aren''t exactly known for being very tough or survivable. If I had to consider living space and environmental systems, I doubt I could make one much more durable than a standard corvette, even with corporate armor. There just isn''t enough room to pack that much armor on such a small ship without side effects."


    "Hmm. You''re probably right," Krieger stated. "I honestly don''t even like frigates for the same reason, but the triple-armored hulls you integrated into the Eden ships certainly changed my mind. Since a manned corvette is off the table, when can we expect a manned frigate?"


    Alexander smiled and shook his head. Having expected the question, he pulled up another design, one that was not based on any ship. It was instead the culmination of Alexander''s efforts to integrate Asgardian design philosophy into his own. There was certainly more work to do as the design was incomplete, but he might as well get input now.


    "I see you took some cues from our new allies," Lucas chimed in.


    Krieger grunted at that. "I appreciate the Asgardian ship''s ability to take a beating, but I can''t stand the cramped corridors. It''s like they abhor breathing room. Please tell me this design won''t be so confined."


    "It won''t need to be. With the computer core, the ship can run on the same-sized crew as the Eden frigates. So instead of accommodations for two hundred personnel, it has sleeping compartments for fifty. It''s twice as many as needed for a full crew, but I figured it would be prudent to add extra in case we need to transport people that are being rescued or a small contingent of Hawks."


    "While we''re on that subject, and Matthews is here, we should discuss the Hawks," Krieger stated.


    "Oh, what about?" Alexander asked.


    It was Archie who responded to the question first. "I think the Admiral is concerned about how gutted the company has become due to ou- their losses during the battle with Harlow," he managed to correct himself.


    "That is my concern," Krieger admitted. "Any idea if they plan to pull out and return to STO space to recover?"


    Alexander had spoken with Captain Bloomright after the battle, but it had been about repairing the significant damage to the Talon and not about the future plans of the Hawks. He was regretting that decision now.


    "I haven''t spoken to the captain about their plans once the Talon is repaired. I''ll do that as soon as this meeting is concluded."


    "Do you mind if I come with you for that discussion?" Archie inquired.


    "Not at all. I''m sure Captain Bloomright would love a visit from her old commander."


    They decided to put further discussion about the frigate on hold for now so he could speak with the Talon''s captain. The ship''s design wasn''t going to be ready for production for a few months anyway so a small delay to address a much more important matter wouldn''t hurt.

 Chapter 198 - 4-14

    When the pair exited the shuttle after Alexander landed inside the Talon''s hangar, they found the place mostly deserted.


    They approached one of the mercenary techs and Alexander let Archie speak with the overtired-looking man.


    "Captain Matthews!" the tech saluted hastily.


    "I''m no longer your captain," Matthews said in slight amusement as he reminded the man of that fact. "We''re just here to see Captain Bloomright. Is she currently on duty? The officer on watch didn''t seem to know."


    "Uh, last I checked, Captain Bloomright was helping with repairs around the ship."


    Matthews frowned at that. "Are you that short-staffed?"


    The man scratched the back of his head in thought. "I don''t think so. The majority of the Hawks engineers and main techs stayed on the Talon during the fighting. To my knowledge, most of our losses were from the ground crews who trained to take on new roles. You should probably ask Captain Bloomright though." Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Matthews nodded and thanked the man and the pair exited the large hangar and made their way to the bridge to hopefully get some more answers.


    They were halfway there when a message came over the intercom.


    "Captain Matthews and Mr. Kane, please meet Captain Bloomright in the captain''s office."


    "What do you suppose that was all about?" Alexander asked.


    Matthews sighed as they continued. "I think my prot¨¦g¨¦ is overworking herself, but we''ll see soon enough."


    It didn''t take long to reach the captain''s office, which was located near the bridge. Matthews knocked and a tired voice responded. "Come in."


    The pair entered to find an exhausted captain wearing dirt-covered and grease-stained coveralls instead of the usual captain''s attire.


    "Please excuse my appearance. My XO radioed me as soon as your arrival was reported to him. Instead of making you wait, I came straight here."


    "If you were short-staffed, you should have reached out," Archie lightly admonished his former prot¨¦g¨¦.


    The woman laughed lightly at that. "It''s not that. I''m mostly doing this to keep my mind occupied and off¡­ well, you know."


    The pair nodded solemnly.


    "That''s the reason we''re here," Alexander said.


    Bloomright sighed. "I was wondering when this would come up. I don''t know which I was dreading more, this conversation, or the one I''ll have to have after we return to Ganos."


    Archie looked toward Alexander and he nodded. They had discussed this option on the way up.


    "I could accompany you back," Matthews offered.


    The woman smiled slightly. "I appreciate the offer, but no. This is my responsibility. The Talon is almost fully operational again thanks to your help, Mr. Kane. Although it will bear the scars of this fight for a long time, those were well earned. Once the last of our internal repairs are complete, we will be shipping out."


    "I''m sorry to hear that," Alexander stated sincerely. The Hawks of Ganos had gone far and above what was required of them and had paid a very heavy price for it.


    "Thank you. I can guess the question you wish to ask but don''t want to because you think it will come off as insensitive. I will answer it anyway," Bloomright stated, a bit of her tiredness seeming to go away. "I don''t know if we''ll be returning anytime soon. I''ve spoken with Mr. Baru about it. While we always have recruitment operations going on, with the war things have slowed down considerably. It may take years to rebuild the company and until that happens, we will likely be relegated to smaller contracts."


    "What about setting up a recruitment station here?" Alexander asked.


    "I appreciate the offer, but that came up in my discussion with Mr. Baru. We both felt that Eden''s End doesn''t have the capacity for any sort of recruitment efforts. Maybe in time, we can expand our efforts into Asgardian space, but that''s for Baru to work out."


    Alexander was afraid of that but not all that surprised. Even now, less than fifteen thousand people live on Eden''s End. It was probably closer to ten thousand than fifteen, though. He didn''t have an exact census. He would have to ask Pembrooke to get an accurate count when he had time.


    "If there is anything I can do, don''t hesitate to ask," Alexander responded. "Also, please let Mr. Baru know that BSE will be replacing your lost frigates at no cost."


    The statement seemed to shock both Captain Bloomright and Archie.


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    "That''s not necessary," Bloomright tried to say, but Alexander held his hand up to stop the woman.


    "It is, and it is the least I can do after so many of your people gave their lives to help protect Eden''s End. I would also like to refit the Talon at some point, but that can wait. That''s not all I''m offering though." Alexander dug into one of his pouches and pulled out two metal cards. He handed both to the confused captain.


    "What are these?" she asked.


    "Those two cards will allow you to access the Lund Academy from aboard the Talon, anywhere in space."


    The woman blinked in confusion. "I''m aware of what you are doing with the Academy, but if the corporations find out we are accessing your unorthodox redistribution of their materials from the Qcomm network, I don''t think they would be too happy."


    "It''s a good thing you won''t be accessing the Qcomm network then. I brought another gift, it''s still on the shuttle. It''s what I refer to as an FTL communications node, comm node, or just node for brevity''s sake. It will allow you to communicate to any other node in our network and even connect to the Qcomm network from a secured connection here on Eden''s End. I would appreciate it if you kept that to yourself though."


    "You''ve figured out how the Qcomms work?" Bloomright breathed in astonishment.


    "I have. Eventually, I''ll sell the nodes to others, but for now, I''m only giving it to people I trust."


    "I admit, I''ve always been curious as to how they managed it. If you don''t mind, I would like to see this miracle technology for myself."


    Alexander nodded his avatar and the three made their way to the shuttle and the secured crate inside.


    "That''s it?" Bloomright asked. "I always assumed it would be something much more complicated or larger.


    "The actual Qcomm is about half the size of a shuttle, but most of that space is just wasted to protect the actual communication device within." Alexander tapped the metallic sphere pretty hard, making both Bloomright and Archie wince. "This is fully armored with the same composite that the corporation gunship used. The fiberoptic connections coming out are the only weak point and those can be spliced into for repairs as needed. So, Captain Bloomright, if you would be so kind as to show me your communication array, I will get to work installing this token of appreciation."


    Alexander would love to do more for the Hawks, and he would in time, but for now, this is all he had to offer.


    ***


    A few weeks later, the Talon and the remaining Hawks departed from Unokane to finally head home after a long tour of duty.


    Alexander wished it had ended more favorably for the mercenary company. Hell he wished nobody would have had to die to Harlow, but he could not control other people''s actions, he could only ensure that in the future lives were preserved as much as possible.


    The first steps to ensure that happened were already in motion. The systems directly adjacent to Unokane already had the new stealth node satellites in place. With only those satellites, he quickly learned that the space around them wasn''t nearly as deserted as Katalynn made it sound.


    Asgardian ships didn''t use the STO''s transponder method to determine if a ship wasn''t a pirate or not, but they did have a way to distinguish friend from foe. It was called a ping beacon, and all Asgardian systems had them, he even found the one in Unokane. It was essentially just a small satellite that floated in a large orbit around the system. When Asgardian ships jumped into a system, they would ping the satellite, if it sent no response, they would know there were no other Asgardians in the system. If there were friendly forces, it would send a coded ping back to the ship.


    It was a pretty outdated method, and Alexander could see it being prone to issues, but it worked for the Asgardians. He would have to see if Katalynn was interested in changing over to a transponder method, but that was an issue for later as he realized he was getting off track.


    The point he was trying to make was that people were living in the systems around Unokane. Not many, mind you, but a few. While he couldn''t tell what data was being sent across these pings yet, he could tell that these were Asgardians or at least people familiar with the Asgardian methods of identification.


    In the week that the satellites were operational, he discovered over two dozen ships and hidden asteroid homes in the surrounding systems. These were very skittish, very secretive people and they went dark anytime they so much as thought a ship entered their system. It seemed like all they did was mine a bit and jump toward the nearest Asgardian outpost to sell their hauls. It seemed word hadn''t quite gotten to them yet that Unokane was now Asgardian as well. He assumed when it did finally reach them, they would start selling what minerals they collected to Eden''s End.


    Alexander would love to learn more about these people but he had more than enough on his plate at the moment.


    While he had one of the automated fishbone ships deploying satellites in the systems around Unokane, he had Captain Farthing doing the same on the route toward Varlen. Which is why he now knew that a small STO task force was on the way. Luckily, Captain Farthing had left the system the day prior, so they missed each other. Not that he thought the STO ships would attack the woman, but they certainly would have wondered what she was doing.


    He recognized the lead ship from his last visit to the STO shipyard. It was the STO Blueridge, the ship commanded by Senior Captain Willard.


    The fact that the man seemed to be heading to Unokane for some reason couldn''t be anything good. Not that Alexander was concerned about a fight. Even without further upgrades, Vanguard was more than a match for the outdated STO vessels that Willard had brought with him. So even if Alexander''s diminished fleet hadn''t also included four other surviving ships from the battle with Harlow, as well as five newly completed stingrays, he would have been fine.


    It would take some shuffling of personnel to crew all four ships with the loss of the Hawks, but there were plenty of Asgardians left behind from the fighting. Some simply because Katalynn and Jarl Bergson didn''t have space aboard their remaining ships to bring all the survivors back home, and others had finally been released from the medical center after recovering from their injuries.


    That was Krieger''s responsibility to manage though, so Alexander would leave it to his new Admiral to take care of any issues there.


    As for the STO ships, Alexander suspected they could be some sort of diplomatic envoy, but with Willard at the helm, he couldn''t be entirely sure.


    Truth be told, he had been expecting some communication from the STO ever since transmitting Harlow''s execution. The fact that they had remained silent on the matter was far more concerning to him than if they had reached out to chastise him for working with the Asgardians.


    It wouldn''t do to speculate; he would soon learn why they were coming to Unokane. According to his estimates, the small STO task force would arrive in about three weeks, giving Alexander plenty of time to prepare. His early warning system was already paying dividends.

 Chapter 199 - 4-15

    Markus hurried through the halls. It wouldn''t look very good if he was late for class, especially on this day.


    Normally his mother Eva would wake him up in the morning, but she had told him now that he was in the academy, he needed to learn to get ready in the morning by himself.


    He had done as much back in the orphanage. Unfortunately, it proved harder to go back to his old ways than he realized. Over the past few years, Markus had grown way too used to someone else waking him up. The sudden lack of that stimulation was more jarring than he expected and he tended to oversleep at least a few times a week.


    That proved his Mother was right, which she tended to be most time.


    He made it through the door just as the bell rang.


    Markus hoped to go unnoticed as he made his way to his seat, but that wasn''t to be.


    "You''re cutting it awfully close, cadet," Admiral Krieger stated.


    The whole room turned to stare at Markus.


    "Sorry, sir. It won''t happen again, sir."


    "See that it doesn''t," the Admiral replied evenly. "Now hurry to your seat so we can get started."


    He found the nearest available seat and plopped into it as quickly as possible. It just so happened to be the one beside Cho, who he knew from the orphanage.


    The girl smirked at him and shook her head as he shrugged.


    Cho was a year older than Markus at seventeen and had never gotten adopted. That hadn''t stopped her from pursuing her goals once she was too old to remain in the orphanage.


    Along with Markus, she was one of twenty cadets in the first classes of the academy. There were a few kids from every group on Eden''s End, all represented in the class and all with the same goal to join the BSE Navy.


    The cadets differed from normal students because they were taking military courses, which also came with hands-on training. Not every cadet was taking the same classes though. He knew that Cho was in his command and engineering classes, but she was not in the tactics course, which was a requirement to become a captain.


    The tactics course wasn''t necessary for a command role though. Cho likely wanted to fly a gunship. Markus was taking the course for the same reason, but his tactics course guaranteed he could take the captaincy exam after serving for a few years. He wasn''t certain if he wanted to take on that responsibility, but the extra few courses gave him that option if he changed his mind down the line. His mother had drilled it into him to always have multiple avenues to success.


    "I know you''ve all been waiting for this day since courses began over a month ago. Yes, today, we will be assigning ship rotations for this semester. Each of you will get to ride along in an in-system patrol for a day. I know this isn''t the most glamorous of postings, but it will allow each of you to dip your feet into how naval ships operate. Seeing as the only fair way to do this is by random, I want each of you to come up and select a number from this basket."


    The Admiral held out a basket with folded pieces of paper inside. "Let''s start from the front."


    Because he was nearly late, Markus had been stuck toward the back of the class. When it was his turn, he hurried up and selected one of the last slips of paper.


    When he opened it, he saw the number five on it.


    Once everyone was seated again, the Admiral continued. "The number on the piece of paper represents the order with which you will serve in the rotation to carry out your ship duties. One will be first and each day will be the next number in the rotation. For those who received one, please step forward."


    Cho stuck her tongue out at Markus before standing and heading toward the front of the class along with another boy he didn''t know the name of. Markus only shook his head at the older girl''s antics. Cho had always been rather smug when she won, even back when they were on the station.


    Markus didn''t hold it against her, as orphans there was very little to be excited about on most days, but as a cadet, he hoped she would grow out of the childish behavior soon.


    "Your IDs," the Admiral gestured.


    Markus watched with envy as the Admiral placed the IDs in a reader before handing them back to the pair of cadets. "The shuttle is already waiting for you outside exit seven, I suggest you hurry."


    Cho and the other boy seemed surprised that they would be leaving immediately, but they quickly saluted the Admiral before not quite running out of the room.


    Once the pair left the room, Admiral Krieger turned to address the remainder of the class. "Each group will be assigned a day of the week, so once every two weeks, you will receive a rotation aboard an active fleet ship. You won''t get many chances to experience that before you graduate so take full advantage of the opportunity if you wish to impress the captains."


    The rest of the group lined up and got their IDs updated.


    While Markus would have preferred to be up in space, he still enjoyed the lecture that Admiral Krieger put on for the remaining time. It was mostly a history lesson that covered certain types of outdated tactics, followed by a holo showing actual battles that used those tactics.


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    Yulia weaved through the track, barely staying ahead of Charlie.


    The boy still beat her sometimes, but she had retaken her position as the best driver. While she didn''t want to admit it, her training with Mr. Damien was probably helping.


    She was much quicker to react and could anticipate the course farther ahead, which was a good thing since it had been changed up from a simple oval to a back-and-forth design that Alex called a road course.


    The oval had been getting rather boring, so the newest change was certainly an improvement. It also required far more skill.


    Yulia cut the next corner tight, preventing Charlie from getting on the inside. She hadn''t quite forgiven him for the last incident, but the boy had been less moody and confrontational since he joined the hand-to-hand training, so that was something.


    The pair came onto the final straight before the finish line and Charlie pulled alongside her, pushing his cart to the limit. It wasn''t quite enough though as she crossed the finish line a wheel ahead of him.


    She whooped in delight and looked over at the boy, intending to be smug about her win, but she found the boy grinning happily back at her.


    Not quite expecting that sort of reaction, she was caught completely off-guard. Instead of rubbing the victory in the boy''s face, she simply grinned back.


    Maybe Charlie wasn''t so bad after all.


    ***


    Ezekiel adjusted his uniform in the mirror and picked an imperceptible piece of lint from the shoulder. He tsked at that. He was going to have to reprimand the captain of the Blueridge to ensure his people worked harder at keeping it clean.


    It didn''t matter to Ezekiel that the Blueridge had been his responsibility only a few months ago, one that he hadn''t bothered to maintain when he was the captain. At the time he had maintained bare minimum standards to keep his position. He was beyond such mundane matters now that he had moved up in rank from Senior Captain Willard to Vice Admiral Willard. It all happened thanks to that insufferable Fletcher getting himself killed.


    "Good riddance," Ezekiel muttered.


    Ezekiel was from a powerful family and while he was not on the best of terms with them at the moment, he still held a firm belief that positions of power should remain in the hands of those who understood that power, not some common rabble who thought they understood how things actually worked. How Fletcher had managed to maintain his position for so long, he would never know, nor did he care.


    As much as Ezekiel would like to admit that his family connections got him here, they hadn''t. He knew the only reason he had this position was because of his service to Omni. It had paid off in the long run, but having to debase himself to some corporate goon left a bad taste in his mouth. If he were head of the family, he would put Omni back in their place, but he wasn''t so he had to make the best of a bad situation.


    He didn''t mind giving up Fletcher''s little projects. Who needed stealth ships anyway? It was much better to face off against your opponent with the most technologically advanced ship you could, that way they would be shown your true power. Hiding that just brought challengers to your doorstep. When he was made Admiral, he would be sure to change how the Navy operated.


    Unfortunately, the Blueridge was not the type of ship that would evoke any response other than disdain. Ezekiel had been forced to take it and the few other ships in Varlen when he had gotten orders from Naval Headquarters in Sol. He had tried asking for a few more months to delay those orders so his new flagship could be completed, but Headquarters had shut him down.


    The orders weren''t anything grandiose, but he would have preferred to do it at the head of a fleet with a brand new ship to make a much more pointed statement. He was to request the attendance of Alexander Kane, the CEO of the backwater company called Blue Star Enterprises for an inquiry into Fletcher''s death.


    While the mission was certainly fit for his new title, Ezekiel loathed wasting a month and a half to fly out to this border world.


    At least when he arrived, Ezekiel could throw his weight around and demand Kane return with him immediately. He wasn''t going to sit around or humor the man, he wasn''t Fletcher. Kane might have one ship, but he had an entire fleet.


    His task force consisted of seven ships. They may not be the newest ships in the fleet or the biggest, but numbers had a quality all their own.


    He checked his uniform one final time before nodding and heading toward the bridge. People jumped aside and saluted him as he passed.


    Ezekiel didn''t acknowledge the lowly crewmembers, but he did smile internally. It had taken a few disciplinary actions to rid Varlen''s naval personnel of the bad habits they had picked up under Fletcher''s watch, but the lackadaisical attitude had finally been wiped clean of the station and the ships assigned to the system.


    Two Marines saluted him and one turned into the bridge and announced his arrival. "Admiral on deck!"


    The two Marines had been Fletcher''s personal guards, but Ezekiel didn''t trust them, so had reassigned them to duty aboard the Blueridge. He would have assigned them to one of the frigates, but there was no room for Marine contingents aboard those outdated junkers.


    Ezekial stepped into the room as everyone rose and saluted him. He looked around at the individuals with barely hidden distaste and did not acknowledge the salute. "Captain, I find my room conditions to be unacceptable. Have your people correct that and send me a report on what punishments you will be doling out for the failure."


    The man looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. "As you wish, Vice Admiral Willard."


    Ezekial finally gave the man a minute nod and he dropped his salute, followed by the rest of the crew who returned to their stations.


    He moved over to the Captain''s seat without a word and sat down. "How long until we drop out, Captain Rhys?"


    "Ten minutes, Vice Admiral Willard."


    "Good. That means you have time to have your people run one final combat preparedness drill. I expect it to be flawless."


    Ezekiel didn''t expect any actual combat, but it was important to show that he was involved and in charge.


    "At once, Vice Admiral Willard," Rhys stated before turning to his crew and issuing the orders.


    Ezekiel thought requiring them to give his full title and name every time they addressed him was a bit much, but he enjoyed it more every time someone forced him to use it.


    He wiled away the remaining time by simply staring straight ahead and ignoring everything around him. It was a trick he had picked up years ago when he was first busted down to such an inauspicious position.


    Nobody cared about Varlen, if it wasn''t for the shipyard there, there would be no point even having a naval presence on this side of STO space. Who did they have to worry about? The Shican? They had been gone for almost fifty years and would likely never return. The pirates? The ones on this side of the border were so timid that they never even approached the STO systems.


    Ezekiel knew that Varlen was a system meant to dispose of unwanted individuals, but now he had an opportunity and a role that might finally send him away from that god-awful posting.


    "Exit into normal space in five¡­ four¡­ three¡­ two," the pilot counted down.


    It was about time, Ezekiel thought. Now he could complete his mission and go home. His new flagship might even be close to being completed when he returned.

 Chapter 200 - 4-16

    Knowing ships were arriving and watching them do so in real-time when they were multiple light hours away was an interesting experience for Alexander.


    Being able to communicate with Krieger and the rest of the active ships in the BSE fleet at the same time was a game changer.


    It was Krieger''s idea to make it appear like the BSE ships were doing a random patrol through the system, and just so happened to be only a few light minutes from Captain Willard''s likely emergence point.


    Alexander watched as the first STO ship seemed to hesitate upon arrival. That uncertainty allowed Krieger and the rest of the BSE fleet to maneuver behind the arriving ships. By the time the rest of their ships transitioned into the system, Krieger had taken up a trailing position behind the STO fleet. If they were here to start something, they were already at a disadvantage.


    With Krieger''s maneuvers, Alexander got to see firsthand why it was so important for ships to arrive close together or far enough away to form ranks. He knew on an intellectual level why it was important, but seeing it was a different matter entirely. You were essentially a sitting duck until the rest of your ships arrived because any maneuvering could place you in the direct path of another ship''s emergence zone. He made a note to speak with Krieger about jump-linking the entire fleet to prevent that sort of issue from occurring if they ever had to go on the offensive.


    "I''m opening the internal comm line," Krieger stated for Alexander''s benefit.


    Alexander assumed some of the crew would be confused by what the Admiral was saying, but that couldn''t be helped. After a conversation with his advisors, it had been decided to keep the existence of the comm nodes classified to captains and above for the moment. The node that Alexander was listening in on wasn''t even connected to the traffic control network, it was hidden in the same room as the Qcomm.


    That conversation also included plans to start a new strategic control center and read the bridge crews in on the new technology once Krieger vetted everyone. He was sure that Krieger''s old crew were fine, but there were new faces on his bridge so it was best to ensure everyone was on the same page.


    Until that happened, all the information that his satellites and ships saw was routed to a terminal in the Qcomm chamber and Alexander was the only person with access to that.


    Alexander only received an anonymous ping on his tablet when he needed to review something. It was highly disruptive to his work, but it was the easiest way to ensure the secrecy of this project until the infrastructure and teams were in place to handle it properly. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What is the meaning of this!" An irate man appeared on the Vanguard''s holo, which was forwarded to Alexander''s terminal. He assumed the person glaring through the connection was Willard. He had never actually met the man on his trip to Varlen.


    Alexander was in observation mode for this meeting, so there was no signal being sent back through the connection to alert Willard that others were watching this exchange. It was just him and Krieger.


    "I demand that you and your ships stand down. I am here on orders from STO Naval Command!" The man proclaimed as if that meant something.


    Did the man not get the memo about Unokane? Even if he didn''t Krieger was about to fill him in.


    "Captain Willard, you are in violation of BSE sovereign territory by bringing warships into our space without prior express permission. If you have orders to speak with BSE leadership, we will escort you to Eden''s End. We will not, however, be standing down."


    "That''s Vice Admiral to you, Krieger," the man ground out. "Yes, I know of you as well, and your dishonorable discharge for misconduct."


    Alexander could see the man''s insignia denoting his new rank. If he had spotted it, Krieger had likely noted it as well and had purposefully antagonized the man because of the new rank. Alexander didn''t know much about Willard other than he was a disgraced captain sent to Varlen to be out of sight and out of mind. The fact that a bumbling prick like him had taken over for Fletcher wasn''t lost on either of them.


    Either Willard had been responsible for Fletcher''s death, which seemed unlikely given the man''s lack of competence, or he was somehow involved. The question was, how much?


    "You will address me by my title of Admiral, or you will be turned away," Krieger shot back, one-upping the former senior captain.


    The posturing came to an end when someone on Willard''s side cleared their throat. "Vice Admiral Willard, perhaps it would be best if we complete our task instead of antagonizing a neutral neighbor."


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    Willard gave a scathing look to someone out of view before turning back to Krieger. "We will table this discussion for later. You may escort my task force so I can speak with Alexander Kane."


    The man didn''t even attempt an apology, oh, Alexander was going to have fun when he arrived. Unlike his visit to Asgard where he set aside his pride to ensure a deal happened, he didn''t need anything from the STO. If Willard thought he could come here and throw his weight around like it meant anything, he had another thing coming.


    There was no further discussion between the pair after Krieger agreed to escort them to Eden''s End.


    In the meantime, Alexander waited just long enough for a message to arrive via normal means before he sent a message to Pembrooke to get his take on Willard.


    Alexander met Pembrooke in his new office a few minutes later.


    "What can you tell me about Captain Willard, or I guess it''s Vice Admiral Willard now?" Alexander asked.


    Theo frowned at that. "Vice Admiral? I assume you want to know if he''s connected with Fletcher''s death then?"


    "That as well, but I want your full opinion of the man. I assume you know of him?"


    "I do," Theo said in distaste. "More than you know. Willard is an Omni informant. He''s how I first heard about you being out here."


    That was news to Alexander, but at least he now knew how Theo knew to find him out here and why the man had made his way to Eden''s End.


    Theo continued. "Ezekiel Willard is your typical rich idiot who thinks everyone who isn''t part of the nobility or upper crust of society, should know their place and be happy in a subservient role. Considering that point of view is outdated and frowned upon by most nobility, I''m surprised it still lingers on within Willard''s family. Then again, our esteemed Vice Admiral is a very shallow person.


    Alexander held his hand up to pause the man. "The STO has a noble class?" That was news to him.


    "Only in the Tau Ceti system. The STO tried to get them to go with a more democratic approach to governance long ago, but even back then the nobles held a lot of power with them holding a core system with two habitable planets and a hypergate. It''s part of the reason why Omni grew so fast, even though Omni isn''t beholden to the nobility."


    "Not ideal, but good to know. Back to Willard," Alexander motioned.


    Theo nodded. "When I spoke with Willard before arriving here, I barely restrained myself from setting up an unfortunate accident for the man. Now that I see his incompetence has caused him to fall upwards in the STO hierarchy, I regret not taking that action."


    "Considering the conversation he had with Krieger, I can understand your feelings. What else?" Alexander asked.


    "Not much to be honest. The man''s about as deep as a puddle in a desert. His only goal seems to be personal power, likely to show his family that he was successful without them. As if he wouldn''t be in an STO military prison if they hadn''t bailed him out when he got caught selling information to Omni."


    "And what about Fletcher''s death? You don''t think he had a hand in that, do you?"


    Pembrooke laughed at that. "That socialite getting his hands dirty, I doubt it. Willard was more of a low-level informant than a man of action or someone who could be counted on to do anything of importance, especially dirty work. Even if he had wanted that responsibility, Omni wouldn''t have given it to him for a couple of reasons. The biggest being that he was still part of a noble family. Nothing hurts profits more than getting a noble brat killed, even if they are the black sheep of the family. That being said, I wouldn''t put it past Willard to have arranged for the assassin to get to Varlen and then leave again once their work was complete. He helped get me onto the station without any issues so I have first-hand knowledge that he can and is willing to do that."


    "I''ll keep that in mind," Alexander said.


    "Why''s he here anyway?" Theo asked. "Seems like an unnecessary waste of time and energy, especially for a Vice Admiral."


    "He stated that he is here on orders from STO Naval Command, whatever that means."


    Theo frowned at that. "That doesn''t sound like anything good. If it was, they would have reached out to you via Qcomm. Do you think it''s about what the transport brought or the building you rushed to put up to hide it?"


    Alexander hid his surprise that Theo had heard about the ship arriving and dropping something off. It wasn''t like he could keep a vessel that large a secret and people on Eden''s End liked to gossip.


    "How did you hear about that?" Alexander asked in curiosity.


    "A ship that big showing up out here, people talk."


    So it was exactly what Alexander had assumed.


    Alexander chuckled lightly. "No, I doubt it has anything to do with that. If it did, I doubt they would have sent a few refurbished derelicts and a disgraced captain to take it back."


    "Okay," Pembrooke stated. "I was curious before, but now I''m not sure if I wanna know what you have up there."


    "Probably better if you don''t. At least for now," Alexander admitted.


    "So what plans do you have for Willard? I can pretty much guarantee whatever he came out here to tell you will be anything but good. If I were in your position, I would get rid of him and those ships. Then again, they seem like sacrificial pawns, so whoever really sent them might want you to do exactly that."


    Alexander stared at Pembrooke in surprise.


    "What?" the man asked. "It''s the most expedient option. Even if you aren''t going to go that route, you should always consider it as a possibility."


    "Fair enough," Alexander finally admitted. "Although getting into a war with the STO is at the bottom of my list of responses right now. As for Willard, I plan on hearing what he has to say. After that, we''ll see."


    Pembrooke shrugged. "Anything you want me to do while our guests are here?"


    "Actually, yes. See if you can speak with the crew and captains while they are here. Find out what they are like, or if any might be worth bringing over to our side." Alexander might not be willing to wage open war with the STO, but he was perfectly fine with snatching experienced people away from them if the opportunity presented itself.

 Chapter 201 - 4-17

    Theo waited in the intake area, a vapid expression on his face to greet the new arrivals. A simple persona for when Willard eventually recognized him. Alexander had asked him to act as the STO personnel''s liaison while the puffed-up Vice Admiral was visiting.


    The fact that he had been asked to do that didn''t bother him; it was the waiting around that annoyed him. He could have been doing any number of more important tasks that Alex had assigned to him. When he had suggested getting rid of the fleet, he knew Alex wouldn''t take him up on the offer to dispose of the STO people and ships, but he wished his boss had.


    Sure it might have led to war, but if Alexander had acted decisively enough, he could wipe away any evidence of them having arrived in the system. Theo saw nothing good coming from this meeting. At best, they were here to make some sort of demand.


    Then there was the other complication.


    While Theo couldn''t prove it, the interaction stank of Omni''s involvement. The reason for his suspicions was plain as day: Willard was an imbecile. The only reason someone like that got placed in a position of such power was as an expendable and controllable pawn¡ªsomeone whose sacrifice would be a convenient catalyst for whatever plan they had cooked up.


    Frowning at that thought, Theo pulled out his communicator and contacted Alex.


    "Are they here already?" Alex asked over the radio. "I thought I had another half an hour."


    "No, they aren''t here yet. I just had a disturbing thought. What if Willard suffers an unfortunate accident while in Unokane?"


    "I told you, we aren''t going to consider that plan of action," Alex responded tersely.


    "I know," Theo responded quickly, "I''m not suggesting that again. I''m concerned that this accident could happen despite us."


    Silence followed his statement and it was nearly a minute before Alex spoke once more. "You mean internal sabotage? Why would they do that?"


    Theo almost wanted to laugh at Alex''s naivety. "Why wouldn''t they? They killed off Fletcher without a care. Look at it from their perspective. Willard is a fool, and easily replaced, yet he has connections. Connections who would demand action be taken if he met an unfortunate end. So they send the fool out in old ships that won''t be missed. They probably hope that you will simply kill him, but Omni never relies on only one plan of action. If I were running this operation, I would have two or three backup options to ensure Willard never left Unokane alive, all the while pinning the blame on you."


    More silence followed that statement, and a few of the guards glanced his way after overhearing some of Theo''s animated discussion on the radio. He waved them off and moved to a more secluded section of the terminal to continue his discussion.


    "If what you say is true, what can we do to stop this?" Alex asked.


    Alex was understandably concerned given the situation, but Theo had plans within plans too. While they were talking, he had come up with more than one idea on how to defuse the problem. Had this been an Omni concern, he would have kept those thoughts to himself unless they helped lead to advancement. He didn''t hesitate to share them with Alex.


    "First off, this attempt probably won''t happen on the surface, too many unknowns. Even if they had an accurate picture of the security here, it would be too risky to sneak a weapon past it. If they were going to do it prior to the shuttle landing, it would have been done already." Theo paused to ponder for a moment. "If this were my plan, I would wait until the ships completed their mission and have just reached jump distance to enact it. That way nobody could stop the other ships from jumping. At least one of the other captains, if not all of them, would have to be a shill for whoever concocted this plan." Theo left out Omni''s name because he wasn''t entirely sure it was his former employer. "Once they returned to Varlen they would report that they were attacked by us while leaving."


    "Without evidence to back it up? That sounds shaky at best."


    "Evidence can be manipulated," Theo stated.


    "And if this agent isn''t as smart as you?" Alex asked in return.


    "Well, then it should be easy to deal with them, but I doubt that''s the case. My guess is, they will even transfer ships prior to departure to ensure their survival, which will tell us where the saboteur is and at least one of the captains we cannot trust."


    "That''s all well and good," Alex stated, "but how do we stop them?"


    "First you need to find out why Willard is here, then you''ll need to keep him here. To do that, you''ll need to play politics. I know you don''t like that, but that''s what has to happen. Drag out any discussions that you can and don''t make a firm promise on anything. We need time."


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    Alex groaned over the radio. "Fine, I''ll see what I can do. How much time do you need and what do you plan on doing?"


    "Can you make a robot small enough to avoid the Blueridge''s sensors?"


    "Probably not small enough, why?"


    "If we can disable the Blueridge before they leave or right after the spy switches ships, it''ll force Willard to return on another vessel. If Willard goes to a different ship than this saboteur, our problem is solved. If he goes to the same ship, there won''t be time for the individual to set up another accident that could be claimed as an attack."


    "You''re asking me to sabotage an STO vessel and all you are giving me are a lot of ifs," Alex stated. "That being said, if what you say is true, I agree that the Blueridge will likely be the target. Preparing won''t hurt. While I can''t make a bot small enough to avoid ship sensors from that range, I can do one better and simply coat one of my smaller robots in the stealth coating. With it running on internal systems and some compressed gas jets, it should go undetected. Give me an hour."


    Theo looked over as people started to enter the intake area. "Can you make it any faster? Your guest has arrived."


    "No, you''ll have to delay him. Take him on a visit of the facility, I''m sure an STO Vice Admiral would love to see it."


    Theo sighed and stood as the radio cut out. He very much doubted a man like Willard would care one wit about the sights on Eden''s End, but Alex had given him an assignment and he was very much going to make it happen.


    ***


    Ezekiel pulled the face mask off and nearly gagged again as a whiff of the horrendous atmosphere tickled his nose. He spat off to the side of the entrance to try and get the taste out of his mouth, not caring at all what the armed guards might think of his actions.


    "What sort of degenerates decide that this is a habitable planet?" he asked nobody in particular. His security detail and Captain Rhys didn''t deign to answer.


    When he finally collected himself, he looked around the terminal and spotted the guards wearing light-augment gear and carrying strange-looking rifles.


    "What sort of backwater cesspool needs guards armed in augment gear? Let''s make this quick, I wish to leave this place as soon as possible."


    "I believe this is the way we need to go," the captain of the Blueridge gestured.


    Ezekiel''s eyes followed the man''s arm to a gentleman next to a small booth. The man looked vaguely familiar, but Ezekiel couldn''t quite place where he recognized him from. He was probably someone of little importance then.


    He strode over to the man, followed by the captain and their six Marines.


    "Vice Admiral Willard," the thin and sandy-haired man greeted him. He offered his hand, but Ezekiel ignored it.


    "Are you Alexander Kane?" Ezekiel asked without preamble. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man looked momentarily stunned by the question but quickly recovered and even smiled. "I am to be your liaison for your visit."


    At least this place had some decorum. "Good, take me to Kane, I have immediate business to discuss with him."


    "I''m afraid Alexander is tied up with other business at the moment. It shouldn''t be more than an hour though. If you would all follow me, I can show you around in the meantime."


    "Busy!" Ezekiel squawked in outrage, failing to control his annoyance. "Kane had plenty of time to clear his schedule and prepare for my arrival."


    The man held his hand up and shook his head. Confused by the action, Ezekiel turned to see that the local guards had taken steps to approach as his discussion got heated. The Marines had also placed their hands on weapons, ready for violence.


    Ezekiel smothered his annoyance at this insolent man in front of him. "At ease!" he ordered his Marines, who reluctantly lowered their weapons.


    Then he turned back to the man in front of him. "Fine. I will wait."


    The man gave a slight smile and gestured to the group to follow him.


    Their unnamed liaison took them to an underground tram where they rode around the facility and visited sites that they considered impressive.


    So far, the only thing Ezekiel found impressive was the fact that so many people were dumb enough to live on this gastric nightmare of a planet.


    Through nonverbal means, he made sure to impress upon the other people in his entourage how they should feel as well. He didn''t want to give these yokels the impression that anything here was of interest to them.


    "And here we have the central atrium," the man stated with a sweeping gesture as they entered a large open dome filled with lush plants, flowers, and even some small trees. It was the smell that really sold it for him.


    Ezekiel was hard-pressed to keep the scowl on his face as memories of his family garden back home bubbled up from his unconsciousness. He had very fond memories of the hidden areas in their sprawling estate garden, mainly ones that were linked to some romantic trysts when he was a much younger man. This atrium wasn''t as large as the garden on his homeworld, but whoever cared for it was at least mildly talented.


    Then a much more unpleasant memory surfaced of those same gardens and why he had become the black sheep of his family and been forced to join the Navy to prove himself. His scowl returned in full force. "Enough of this nonsense. Take me to Kane, this instant. We will wait outside his office until he''s ready to see me."


    Ezekiel thought the man might balk at the request, but he simply nodded. "Very well, please follow me."


    They were led past a glittering memorial that seemed to draw the eye to it. If Ezekiel didn''t know any better, he would have suspected that massive crystal to be pure diamond. That would be absurd though.


    They once again boarded the tram and it took far longer than the initial trip, making him grow even more annoyed. "Why is this taking so long?"


    "Oh, we have to travel back to the side of the facility you entered," their liaison said with a vapid smile.


    Ezekiel could feel the vein pulsing in his forehead as he responded. "And why did we not just head back that way?"


    "Oh, we just missed the tram heading back in that direction. Since you said you wanted to get to Alex''s office as quickly as possible, I figured waiting the additional time for the next tram would be unwise."


    That was when Ezekiel realized his liaison was a buffoon.

 Chapter 202 - 4-18

    Why did the STO and corporations have to bring their nonsense to his doorstep?


    If Pembrooke was correct, Alexander knew why. It was just aggravating to have to deal with a delicate matter such as this so soon after finally getting rid of Harlow. Their method of approach surprised him as well. He thought for sure the corporations would simply dispatch a fleet to get rid of him.


    That was one of the main reasons he had established his early warning satellites.


    Instead, they sent a puppet. Were they afraid of him? It was possible, but he couldn''t quite picture that as their motive for going this whole cloak-and-dagger route. The only other possibility Alexander could think of was some political reason that tied their hands. He thought that the STO was at the beck and call of the corporations, maybe they weren''t quite that far gone yet.


    The speculation could wait for some other time.


    Alexander set the radio down and hurried back over to his workshop. He could have just accessed his modeling program from his tablet, but it was much faster and more efficient to use it at the source.


    His workshop was its usual buzz of activity and noise. All of his production capacity was currently dedicated to producing parts for the static field satellites to help with planetary defense, the nano-scale fabricator to bolster his chip manufacturing, or a dozen other tasks to build components for different items.


    He had learned that manufacturing the components instead of printing some of them allowed him to produce ten percent more parts in the same amount of time. That time was lost in the assembly process, but there were now dozens of happily employed engineers ¨C who had been rescued from the pirate station ¨C hard at work on his assembly teams.


    Not all of those engineers had chosen to stay, but a large majority had, along with their families. Alexander couldn''t blame them for sticking around, especially since they had been sold and traded like commodities instead of people. He didn''t relish the thought of what might happen to the ones who chose to return to the STO, but that was their choice to make.


    Even if Alexander was manufacturing and assembling parts, that didn''t mean he wasn''t still printing parts or whole units. He was, but the added labor significantly increased his production speed without having to expand his output at the current time. If he kept growing at this rate, he was going to have to do that sooner or later, but there were more important priorities at the moment.


    Alexander wasn''t in his workshop to check on the production of those parts though. He accessed the program and brought up his print file for the smaller robot he had created when he was on his way back from Asgard.


    Technically it was the same file he used to make the original Dog. The one-foot-tall robot turned out to be rather useful in certain situations. He moved over to the material selection window and changed the exterior composite ¨C which had been updated to use the same corporate armor material as the Stingray utilized ¨C to a base steel alloy. Armored steel alloys would work too, but that would be complete overkill and add time to the print. They also weren''t necessary for what he had in mind.


    The extra weight of the steel alloy would make the robot too heavy if it was forced to operate under gravity, but that wasn''t a concern for what he had planned. He could have modified the exterior to add a much thinner layer to the existing carapace using material melding, but he had other design changes to make and not a whole lot of time to complete them. Instead of getting fancy with this one-off robot, he kept things as simple as possible.


    Trying to fit the requisite amount of cold gas thrusters on such a small robot was proving to be enough of a challenge. After struggling for a bit, Alexander decided to reduce them down to only four directional thrusters instead of the eight he had been trying to add to the robot, which didn''t include the thrust nozzles for both the front and rear.


    From his experience designing the larger construction bots, he knew the change would make the smaller robot wobble quite a bit, but that couldn''t be helped.


    A small laser cutting module went on next. Considering the cutter lacked the power of a weaponized variant, the robot would need to clamp itself to whatever surface it wished to burn through and spend considerable time and energy doing it. The damage didn''t need to be significant, the small bot just needed to punch through one of the coolant passages on the engine cones, and it would be noticed by the crew in short order. He doubted they were equipped to deal with a full-on coolant breach. Lucky for them, they had Alexander and BSE here to assist.


    Even if they could deal with the breach, it would delay them by days. Alexander knew patching engine cones was not an easy task. It''s why most ships simply replaced them if they got damaged.


    Alexander looked for an ongoing, but nearly finished orbital print and slotted in the robot toward the end. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He didn''t know how much attention the STO ships were paying to his production operations in orbit, but adding it to an existing print should hide the production of the small robot until a larger bot could move it off to the coating process.


    His radio beeped just as he was putting in the last changes. The voice that came through sounded far off.


    "Enough of this nonsense. Take me to Kane this instant. We will wait outside his office until he''s ready to see me," came the muted but unmistakably annoyed tone of Willard.


    Pembrooke must have known the request was coming and managed to transmit it to let Alexander know.


    It looked like Alexander was out of time. He sent a quick message to Lucas with what he wanted done.


    Alexander expected the man to balk at the request, but all he got back in return was a snort of amusement and a short response.


    "Consider it my pleasure," Lucas stated before cutting the connection.


    "Right," Alexander muttered. He had almost forgotten that the drifters had no love for the STO.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    With that done, he made his way to his office.


    When the new office was first completed, Pembrooke had tried getting him to stay there and sign documents all day. It was the most mind-numbing experience of his life. Even his time as Yuri Sokolov''s robot slave had been more engaging than sitting around doing paperwork.


    How anyone could do that all day and remain sane escaped him. Using his powers as the owner and CEO, he had vetoed Pembrooke''s request. Alexander understood why the man requested it. Having him in one spot and being easy to reach at all times made Theo''s job easier. Unfortunately, they both had to make some compromises. Alexander agreed to remain in the office one hour a day unless they had a meeting such as the one he was heading to now.


    Some of those concessions came in the form of decorations.


    Unlike the sparse and utilitarian meeting room where he had greeted the Asgardians when they arrived for the battle with Harlow, his new office was rather nicely furnished.


    He told Pembrooke not to go overboard though. Alexander didn''t go in for gaudy or over-the-top d¨¦cor.


    What greeted him when the door to the renovated space opened was a tastefully designed and rather warm-feeling space. The walls were lined in BSE-colored tapestries of the same blue and white used in all their ships. Those tapestries depicted exploded diagrams of certain early BSE designs in white embroidery.


    Alexander loved that because it made the room feel more like his workshop rather than some dull office. They could have created the same effect with holo-projectors, but he had grown to enjoy the physical representation of his work.


    He wasn''t concerned about anyone actually learning anything from the diagrams. There was no engineering info or design specs to go with the designs. They were just a wireframe of components.


    The next item to catch people''s eyes was Alexander''s ''degrees''. He had to use quotes for that word because the STO didn''t have degrees as such. He had chosen to add them as more a statement of his personal accomplishments in fields of learning than anything provided to him from some college or academy. They certainly looked fancy though.


    Last but not least, was his Asgardian symbol of office, the spear sat prominently in a glass case on the wall behind his desk and was hung just high enough to be viewed by anyone sitting across from him.


    Alexander made his way behind the composite desk, which was made to resemble wood. He would have gone with metal, but somehow wood or a facsimile of it felt more appropriate in the room.


    The area behind the desk was sunken into the floor to allow him to sit without towering over everyone. Even so, he still sat taller than most people. Normally people in power would want the opposite, but Alexander didn''t need petty power projection like that when he had actual power.


    He wasn''t blind to the fact that he was strong and had the military power to back that up, he simply didn''t enjoy or feel the need to lord that power over people. In most cases.


    This meeting was an exception.


    He was shaken from his thoughts when a knock came at the door. Theo poked his head in and sighed with relief before sliding through the opening and closing the door behind himself.


    "I was afraid you might still be in your workshop, despite my warning."


    "Thank you for that. I just arrived," Alexander admitted.


    "Were you able to¡­ you know?"


    Alexander simply nodded his avatar. "You did well keeping Willard occupied. Was it any trouble?"


    Theo snorted. "No. That man is so self-absorbed he didn''t even remember who I was. From there I just acted like an airheaded aide and dragged them around to see the sights. I was honestly surprised it took him as long as it did to get annoyed with my constant dithering."


    "Should we show him in then?" Alexander asked.


    Theo shook his head. "No. He will expect to wait a bit more, so I say make him."


    "¡­Okay. Since we have time, is there anything you would like to add or any observations you might have made during your time with the C-Vice Admiral?"


    "I have plenty," Pembrooke admitted. "The most important is that his people have no respect for the man. Not surprising considering Willard treats them like they are unworthy of being in his presence. The man''s disdain for those he thinks of as commoners or beneath him is clear for even a blind man to see. How he ever got to be a captain while showing that level of scorn for those beneath him is beyond me. Then again, I didn''t get that same sense of derision from the man when I met him in Varlen, so he could have been suppressing it back then, and now that he''s a Vice Admiral, he feels there is no more need to do that for anyone under him."


    Alexander shook his avatar at such a distorted worldview. It was completely disconnected from reality. "Any thoughts or suggestions on how I should handle this meeting?" he asked.


    "That''s easy. Take control of any discussions. If this is some sort of request, don''t promise anything. That will annoy the man but that''s fine, he has no power here. The sooner he realizes that, the better. Once you better understand what he wants, you''ll have to take it from there."


    Alexander sighed, he hated all the song-and-dance nonsense that was involved in politics.


    "Fine," he finally stated. "While I''m meeting with Willard, I want you to speak with the other people who arrived with him. See if they are worth poaching or if that is something they are even interested in. I don''t expect you to offer them positions now, but we can plant the seeds in their minds and see who''s interested. They will need to be thoroughly vetted before they get access to anything of note though. That reminds me, do you still have contacts within the STO?"


    "Some," Theo admitted. "I wouldn''t trust any of them though. Why?"


    "We need better information sources. I''m sick of having problems like this show up out of the blue. If I give you the budget, can you grow your contacts?"


    Theo paused to think about it for a bit. "Sure, but it''s gonna be hard to keep them on the level without being able to step foot into STO space."


    "Will that be a problem?"


    "Not really. I''ll just double or triple the number of contacts I make. We can verify data from different sources to confirm the truth from the lies. I would say cut the liars free, but keeping them on the payroll is probably better because it helps us know who and what not to trust."


    "I''ll leave the specifics to you. If the budget isn''t large enough, let me know. I want this to be a priority for you. Now, I think it''s time to speak with Willard."


    Theodore smiled and nodded. "I''ll get right on that task once the STO leaves. Good luck."


    ***


    Ezekiel grew increasingly annoyed with the waiting. Who was Kane to make him wait? He was a nobody, just like everyone on this planet. So what if they claimed some dead rock that nobody wanted? There couldn''t be more than ten thousand people here. An STO fleet boasted more personnel than that. Not his fleet, but a real one.


    After some time, the liaison returned to the waiting room, which was nothing more than an emptied storage closet that stank of metal, rust, and chemicals. It was just another example of how small and insignificant Blue Star Enterprises was. Yet here he was, delivering a request directly from Navy Command.


    "What a joke," he muttered quietly.


    "Did you say something?" the unnamed liaison asked.


    Instead of answering the man''s question, he asked one of his own. "Is Kane ready to see me now?"


    "He is," the man admitted. "If you will follow me."


    Ezekiel did, happy to finally get this over with. His Marine guards followed, but the captain of the Blueridge remained behind with his two guards.


    Ezekiel didn''t plan on taking the Marines into the office with him, but they would take up positions outside of it.


    As they rounded the corner in the hallway, he saw four individuals wearing augmentation suits colored in the same blue and white from the waiting room. They were situated to either side of a doorway, right where his guards should position themselves. He had never seen suits like that before, but he could tell they were fully armored. The men were also carrying those weird rifles.


    Instead of making a stink about it, Ezekiel pointed across the hallway. His guards would understand the gesture.


    Ezekiel ignored the tension between the two groups. Once everyone was in position, he nodded to the liaison who knocked on the door.


    "Enter!" came a commanding voice.


    The door was pushed open and Ezekiel took a step to enter but froze when he saw the thing that waited inside. "What is the meaning of this!"

 Chapter 203 - 4-19

    Theo stood in the center of a storm of reactions caused by Willard''s outburst. All four STO Marine''s weapons snapped up, pointing at him, Alex''s guards, and the room ¨C which Willard was now standing in front of ¨C while Alexander''s guards did the same, only their weapons were pointed squarely at the Marines because nobody was stupid enough to think Willard was a threat.


    "Is this some kind of a joke?" Willard demanded as he cleared the doorway and glared at Theo.


    "This is no joke," Alexander stated in annoyance, answering the man''s question before Theo could. "Tell your Marines to put down their weapons. You wished to meet with me, here I am. It isn''t exactly a secret that I utilize a robot body, or did you not do the slightest bit of research before you came here to interrupt my work?"


    The rebuke from Alex had Willard going red in the face, but it had the desired effect. "At ease," the man stated before walking back into Alexander''s office and shutting the door behind him.


    Theo would have lowered his arms as the Marines lowered their weapons, but he never had time to raise them in the first place, and it seemed foolish to move a muscle with weapons trained on him. However, he did release the tension in his body as the guns were lowered.


    Situations like this are why he preferred to work from the shadows.


    ***


    Alexander watched the red-faced Vice Admiral as he stormed into the room.


    "You are Kane?" Willard asked.


    Is this really who the STO thought would be an acceptable replacement for Fletcher?


    It was clear from Willard''s reaction that the man hadn''t done a lick of research before flying out here to throw his weight around.


    "Who else would I be?" Alexander responded tersely. "Now what do you want? I''m a rather busy man."


    Instead of showing further annoyance, Willard seemed to finally catch himself and calm.


    The man straightened his uniform and stood stiff-backed as he finally announced the reason for his visit. "You are hereby requested to appear at STO Navy Headquarters in Sol for an inquiry at your earliest convenience." Willard then pulled out a data chip and set it on the desk. "The details are on this chip. Please review it immediately," the man added, sounding annoyed at having to ask nicely.


    Alexander took the chip and looked it over. It was an encrypted data chip. He pulled out a disconnected tablet and plugged the chip into it. He would recycle that tablet after he was done. No reason to allow any possible corporate or STO trojans into the Eden''s End systems.


    He parsed the data from the data chip as soon as it was on the tablet, but he made it seem like he was slowly reading the document. As that was happening, Alexander got to see Willard''s growing annoyance bubble up once again.


    The man stated the truth but had done so in a way that made it seem like it was an urgent request. It wasn''t. The document had no date set for the meeting. It simply stated they had questions for Alexander Kane and BSE about an incident that had occurred in Varlen.


    They had to be referring to Fletcher''s death, but why would they think he or BSE ¨C as the document listed ¨C had any involvement in that?


    Someone had to be feeding the STO false information or trying to drag BSE''s name through the mud.


    After taking an unseemly amount of time to peruse the document, Alexander placed the tablet back on his desk. "Is that all?" he asked in a bored tone, once again getting a slight rise of agitation from Willard.


    "No," the man ground out. "I am prepared to give you a full day to make preparations to leave."


    "Leave?" Alexander asked.


    "I have been ordered to escort you to Sol personally. You can either travel aboard my ship or bring a civilian vessel."


    More agitation.


    Maybe the man wasn''t annoyed with Alexander so much as the time that he was wasting by having to be out here. If that was the case, he wasn''t going to like Alexander''s next response.


    If they had been expecting Alexander to capitulate immediately and fly back with Willard, the whole assassination plot made a whole lot more sense. The STO probably thought he only had a few frigates and some armed transports. The document did specify a civilian or diplomatic vessel.


    It seems they overlooked the fact that Mingyu''s ship, Moonlit Destiny, was registered as such a vessel. Not that Alexander would force his friend and crew into whatever nonsense the corporations had cooked up for him.


    "No," was Alexander''s clipped response before he turned back to some other documents he had been going through. While his avatar was facing away from the man, he still watched Willard''s response.


    "Wha- What do you mean no?" the man demanded.


    Alexander gave an exaggerated sigh and put his tablet back down to look at the man once again. "Captain Willard, nowhere in this request is there any specification on when I am to attend this inquiry, other than at my earliest convenience. And that is not now or in a day."


    "It''s Vice Admiral Willard," the man corrected in annoyance. "When can you be ready to leave then?"


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Alexander shrugged. "A few months from now, a year, who knows."


    The Vice Admiral''s eyes widened as his face drained of color. "That is not acceptable. I will not be stuck out here for months on end until you choose to humor me."


    "Then feel free to leave, I do not care."


    "I can''t," he reiterated. "I was ordered to escort you, which means I must remain until you are ready to leave."


    "That seems like an issue for you and your commander to discuss. You are free to use the Qcomm but my answer remains the same. I will be ready when I''m ready." Alexander gave a dismissive wave toward the door. "Now If you''ll excuse me, I have work to get back to."


    Willard looked about ready to have a stroke, but instead of blowing up at Alexander, he turned crisply and strode out of the room without a further word.


    Once the man was gone, Alexander put the tablet back down and sighed. He hoped he had bought Lucas enough time to deploy the bot. The last thing they needed was the idiot Willard dying in Unokane.


    A short while later, Pembrooke entered the office once more.


    "I saw all of our guests back to the shuttle," he said upon entering.


    "How were the other guests?" Alexander asked.


    "Receptive," Pembrooke admitted. "Captain Rhys especially despises Willard, even if he didn''t state as much out loud. Once Willard was safely in the office, the Marines and guards hit it off quite well. Smart move having Galloway in that group. He bridged the gap between the former Hawks mercenaries turned guards and the STO Marines rather nicely."


    "Hmm. I thought he might," Alexander admitted. "Any chance of bringing the Marines over?"


    Pembrooke shook his head. "Not until their service has ended. So what did Willard want anyway?"


    Instead of answering, Alexander slid the tablet with the data disk in it over to the man.


    Pembrooke read through it and frowned. "An inquiry? That''s not good."


    "Tell me something I don''t know," Alexander muttered. "I did as you suggested and told Willard that I may not be ready for a few months to a year. Seems the man is stuck here until I intend to leave."


    "That explains his sour demeanor when he left your office. You could just revoke his access to Unokane. That would prevent him from hanging around and there isn''t anything the STO could do about it."


    "That is a possibility," Alexander admitted. "What are the chances of Willard making it back to Varlen alive in that case or better yet, even out of Unokane alive?"


    "Slim to none," Pembrooke stated. "Given enough free time, I can assure you the saboteur would find a way to pin the man''s death on you or someone from Eden''s End."


    "That''s what I''m afraid of. If we were at full strength, I would simply ship the man off and let the pieces fall where they may, but we don''t need a war with the STO this soon after dealing with Harlow."


    "Does that mean you plan on heading to this inquiry? You know it''s just an excuse to get you away from your power base so they can act, right?"


    "That thought did cross my mind," Alexander admitted. "Someone went to a lot of trouble to set all of this up to try and trap me between two distinctly disadvantageous possibilities. That being said, I don''t think they realized how little power they would have over me. While I would love to disappoint them and do nothing, I do have plans to head to Earth at some point. I might as well kill two birds with one stone. Only I''ll be doing it on my terms, not those of this inquiry board."


    Alexander had been planning a trip to Earth for some time so he could get a better picture of what his position as a sovereign nation allowed him to get away with under diplomatic immunity. It just hadn''t been a pressing concern so he put it off. He also planned to speak with some of the STO leaders to try and smooth out any ruffled feathers from his involvement with the Asgardians. If he could prevent sanctions against trade, that would be for the best. Assuming the STO was even considering actions such as that, it would likely mean offering something tantalizing enough to make it worth their while though.


    Pausing at that thought, Alexander made a mental note to reach out to Char. This could be a prime opportunity to have her come along to help clear up the pirate stigma surrounding the Asgardian Union. Whether or not she was willing to do that remained to be seen, but she did owe him a favor, and this seemed like a good reason to call it in.


    The plans would take time to set up, and Alexander needed an actual diplomatic vessel instead of a mining barge ¨C no offense to the Destiny ¨C to appear at least on the same level as the people he would be speaking with.


    With all of that in mind, Alexander bumped up the priority of finishing the frigate design. A diplomatic vessel could be armed, so it was the perfect opportunity to flex his technology to the movers and shakers within the STO and maybe drum up some more business while he was at it.


    That would mean more printers since he had a backlog of orders from Char and Jarl Bergson. He expected to get even more from other Jarls soon as well. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Plans were coming together and Alexander smiled internally.


    If everything worked out, he might even gain a small amount of market share over Omni and some of the other corporations. He would much prefer that sort of victory over a bloody conflict. The other option was a political victory. While he disliked the political arena, he had learned that political power had its place and he was loathe to ignore it.


    There was one other thing to consider for this eventual trip and that was his daughter. Alexander had promised Yulia that she could come with him the next time he left for an extended time. He didn''t expect anyone to be stupid enough to attack an armed frigate in the heart of the STO, so taking her with him wasn''t an issue.


    That didn''t mean it would be safe. He had to assume someone would try to assassinate him or try something else to harm him at some point, otherwise, why bother with sending Willard out here in the first place?


    Alexander tapped his fingers on the desk as he pondered the implication. He already had multiple layers of security for Yulia, but the safest would be to leave her on Eden''s End. He didn''t want to consider that option because Sol was a long way off. Depending on how long discussions and that nonsense inquiry took, he could be gone for over a year.


    If he managed to crack Nova''s research, he might be able to shorten that trip, but he didn''t see that happening anytime soon. He was still getting up to speed on all of her work. It could be years before anything came of her research.


    He didn''t want to be separated from his daughter for over a year. Call it selfish, but that is how he felt. He still regretted missing those months when he traveled to Asgard and Varlen. Yulia was growing fast and once she was an adult, he wouldn''t get to experience those days with her ever again. It didn''t assuage his guilt that he had no other option but to leave her behind the previous times.


    If it was just the inquiry, Alexander could have ignored it, but he had multiple reasons to go to the cradle of humanity. He just needed to ensure Yulia was as safe as possible when they did.


    Guards, at all times, would be a must. He could also upgrade Dog with the new armor and make him slightly larger to fit both the pulse rifle and laser modules.


    Maybe he could create some sort of protective clothing that looked like normal clothing.


    That last one would be tricky to pull off, but Alexander did have another project that might be able to replace it. It was something he had put on hold because he was unsure of how to approach the problem. It seemed like now was a good time to figure that out.


    He made a mental note to reprioritize his research into the kinetic barrier also known as his defensive field. If he could figure out how the barrier worked, it would provide far superior protection compared to some armored cloth.


    There were other applications for that sort of technology that he was interested in testing out as well, but that could wait.


    With his mind made up, he quickly finished his office work and went to his workshop. There was engineering to do.

 Chapter 204 - 4-20

    Alexander didn''t wait for the STO to leave the surface before tracking down Lucas. "Is it already done?" Given what he learned from Willard, there was no point disabling the ship now. The man was stuck here anyway.


    "About that," the younger man said with a chuckle. "Getting the bot over there undetected was easy enough, but your whole plan was unnecessary."


    "You didn''t disable their ship?! Good. I''ll be honest, I may have jumped the gun a bit with that plan."


    Lucas looked a bit sheepish. "Umm. I didn''t say I didn''t disable them. I said your plan was unnecessary. Once the robot got over there, I could see that the cooling passages on their outdated engines were already reaching the failure point. To be honest, I''m surprised they made it all the way here without issue. One poke was all they needed to rupture. Nearly took out the robot as well, that would have been hard to explain away, but it''s done."


    Alexander groaned. "Whatever, it''s fine. That just guarantees that the STO can''t issue Willard new orders and even if they do, he can''t do anything about them. It also might get us access to the ship to remove whatever sabotage might be in place."


    "He was planning on staying?" Lucas asked in confusion.


    Alexander nodded. "Apparently the STO wants me to attend some inquiry into Fletcher''s death. Pembrooke says it''s probably a ruse to get me onto their playing field so they can deal with me more easily and I agree. The problem is that Willard''s orders are for him to escort me personally, which means he must wait here until I decide to make the trip to Sol."


    "Ah," Lucas said. "So either he annoys you long enough with his presence that you are forced to deal with him, or you take their offer and leave aboard the Blueridge?" S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Or I evict the STO fleet from the system and the Blueridge mysteriously explodes, which they will blame on BSE," Alexander added.


    "Well, shit," Lucas stated. "That does sound like something the corporations might set up. You''re damned if you do, damned if you don''t. I''m with you no matter what you decide to do, Alex, but just out of curiosity, what are you planning?"


    "Honestly, if it was just the STO to worry about, I might take my chances and get rid of their ships while sending some falsified Qcomm message back to the STO to let them know they are transitioning out of Unokane. I don''t want to have to kill innocent people though. And if the corporations are involved, I can''t risk that option anyway, because they would have contingencies in place to ensure the STO knows what truly happened to their ships. So, instead of playing their game, I plan on going to Sol, just on my terms and timeframe. If they don''t like that, well too damn bad."


    Lucus rubbed his hands together in glee. "I know that look, what new technology are you planning on cooking up to help deal with the STO before you head off?"


    Alexander chuckled. "I do have a few projects that I would like to have completed before I consider leaving. The new frigate is the most important for obvious reasons."


    "Understandable, but what are the other projects you had in mind?"


    "You remember that experiment I was doing on static fields?" Alexander asked with a smile.


    ***


    Alexander and Lucas stepped into the research wing of Atrium D. At one point, it had been a block of living quarters, but Alexander had Yi Na connect the unused apartments and remove all but two entrances. Then, those entrances were locked so only authorized BSE personnel could enter.


    "I thought you said that research had hit a dead end," Lucas said, picking up the conversation from before they relocated.


    "It did, but that was before I left for Asgard. I''m hoping I''ll have some new insights and a fresh pair of eyes never hurts either."


    Lucas shrugged and followed along.


    There was a slight pause as Alexander had to wait for Lucas to suit up. The chamber where the experiment was taking place was currently in a vacuum, and they had to pass through an airlock to enter.


    Alexander could disable the vacuum, but that would ruin whatever research algorithm the computer was currently running. Considering there may be millions of permutations at play, Alexander wanted to expose the testing to as little outside influence as possible.


    After a quick suit test, Lucas gave a thumbs up and the pair stepped into the airlock. It was rather cramped with the two of them inside, but they made it work.


    As soon as the interior door opened, Alexander''s hand whipped out and caught the ball of metal that was ricocheting about the interior space and heading straight for Lucas.


    The man''s reaction was delayed, but he managed to stumble back into the airlock.


    So much for not disrupting the test.


    With an internal sigh, Alexander went over to the terminal inside the room and shut down the testing. Whatever the program had been modeling could wait.


    The air in the room refilled and Lucas took his helmet off. He glanced around nervously before stepping into the room again. "What the hell was that?"


    "It seems the program was testing kinetic motion through static field manipulation. I would say it succeeded."


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    "I''d say," Lucas muttered as he glanced around at the dented walls. "You may want to add some stricter modeling controls."


    Alexander didn''t respond to the statement. The whole point had been to give the self-learning capabilities of the research core free rein to see what it could come up with. The stricter he made the models, the less experimenting it could do.


    He looked over the research notes on the project he disrupted. It had been going on for over a month and started with just simple static field manipulation to lift an object. It would take time to go through the iterative tests to see how the program arrived at this point, but it was progress.


    Unfortunately, it was progressing in the wrong direction. The whole point of the metal ball and the containment unit in the center of the room was to allow the ball to fall, and then a rod would launch the ball back up again while the program tried to stop its movement using the static field generator.


    Alexander glanced over at the busted containment cylinder. Accelerating a projectile through static field manipulation hadn''t ever crossed his mind, but now he was thinking of possible uses for such a technology.


    "I think I need to repair and reset this test, maybe with a separate pseudo-computronic core to keep any testing bias from seeping in."


    "You think that''s wise?" Lucas asked as his foot crunched on a piece of broken metal.


    "Maybe with a plastic ball instead of a metal one this time," Alexander added.


    "Probably a good idea," Lucas commented dryly. "So what now?"


    "Pull the research from the core and sift through it at some point. I don''t think it''s going to get me where I need to be though."


    "Why do you say that?"


    "If the self-learning had made any headway into stopping motion using the static field generator, it would have remained on that path."


    Now that he had his helmet off, Lucas scratched his head. "Isn''t that the whole point of a static field?"


    Alexander shook his avatar. "No, that''s a common misconception. A ship''s static field only acts to repel a charged particle or object. With enough processing, you can control where that object goes. That''s how my nano-assembler works." Alexander paused. "Now that I''m saying it out loud, I should have realized this test would never have resulted in what I was hoping for."


    "You want to recreate your whole," Lucas gestured to Alexander, "right?"


    "Yes. My internal interface labeled it a defense field. I thought it was just an upgrade to a static field, but now I''m not so sure."


    The pair lapsed into quiet thought for a bit.


    Lucas was the first to interrupt the contemplation. "Let''s start from the beginning. What do we know about your defense field?"


    "Not much, honestly," Alexander admitted. "It''s projected from within my body, it seems capable of stopping all inertia on a physical object. That''s about it."


    "Is it though?" Lucas asked. "You know it works in the atmosphere as well. Static fields don''t as far as I''m aware. You also know it has to project some sort of field, which means it can be observed, we just need to figure out how to observe it."


    "True," Alexander admitted. "Go on."


    "If the projector isn''t on the surface of your body, it must mean it''s internal, which means this defensive field can pass through solid matter. Static fields can''t do that either, which is why they require projectors."


    Alexander kicked himself mentally for missing that. "You''re right. Why didn''t I think of that?"


    "You''ve been a bit preoccupied with other things," Lucas said with a smirk.


    "Fair enough. If your guess is correct and the field can be observed, how do we test that?"


    Lucas grinned wildly and Alexander groaned. "I think you just wanted an excuse to shoot something at me."


    "I would never," the man said in mock horror.


    "Uh-huh. Fine. We can do that, but how do we observe the field?"


    "Easy," Lucas stated. "We deploy the best sensors we have, which would be ship sensors. I''m sure they should be able to pick something up. Once we know what, we can narrow it down from there."


    ***


    Instead of taking the time and effort to print a disconnected sensor suite from a ship, build a mounting solution for it, and provide power to make it all function, Alexander decided to go the quick and easy route.


    "I guess this works," Lucas said from the shuttle''s co-pilot seat. "I was kind of hoping to see what you came up with for a sensor station."


    "I''ll have to develop one once we narrow down what we are looking for, but this will allow us to get to that point much quicker."


    "Fair enough," Lucas admitted as they neared their destination.


    There wasn''t a weapons testing area near the main facility, but Alexander had built one to test the missiles and other weapons quite some time ago. It was located in a ravine between two shallow mountain ranges to ensure any damage was contained. It was also two thousand miles from the facility.


    Alexander didn''t know what types of weapons he might test in the future. If he ever developed weapons of mass destruction, he wanted to ensure they were tested far from any people.


    He hoped it never came to that, but if the Shican ever came back, he wasn''t pulling any punches.


    Despite the ad-hoc nature of the test, it still took some time to set up. The pair had to spend time dialing in the sensors on the shuttle for a specific range, giving them the best possible chance at success. If the test yielded no results, he would have to switch to Lucas'' original suggestion and build a sensor platform with actual ship-grade sensors instead of the shuttle ones, which would slow progress down quite a bit.


    Creating a mobile sensor platform would probably take as much time as building an entire ship. Landing one of the Eden frigates was a possibility and would save time. They were small enough to land on the surface of a planet, but with the STO ships in the system, he didn''t want to pull one of the few BSE ships from active duty for a simple test.


    Once the sensors were aligned, Alexander walked out to the point that had been marked and gave Lucas a thumbs-up.


    The man returned the gesture with two of his own before walking behind the mounted grenade launcher and pulling the trigger.


    The three dummy rounds impacted Alexander and he sighed.


    His defensive field did not engage, which meant it could detect an actual threat. He wasn''t about to allow anyone to shoot live explosives at him, but Lucas had a second option. The man hauled the weapon crate over to the table and pulled one of the flechette miniguns out.


    With a bit of effort, he managed to get it onto the table and sighted in.


    Alexander waited for Lucas to give a thumbs-up before he returned one of his own.


    His gesture was followed shortly thereafter with a string of flechette rounds and a red flashing warning inside his mind space.


    [WARNING THREAT DETECTED!]


    [COUNTERMEASURES DEPLOYED]


    [DEFENSE FIELD ACTIVATED]


    Expecting it that time, Alexander tried to feel for or see the trigger mechanism within his light show of a code so he could activate it at will. Nothing stood out to him and he let out a sigh as the flechettes all seemed to impact an invisible barrier about a foot from his body and stop.


    While he waited for Lucas to check the sensor readings, he plucked one of the projectiles from the air and examined it. It was completely undamaged by the abrupt halt, which was surprising. The flechettes weren''t exactly durable. Their whole purpose was to shatter before they could punch through a station wall, which was why they weren''t the greatest weapon to use against an armored adversary.


    An increased volume of fire had been the answer to that problem, which led to the development of the flechette minigun, a joint project between Alexander and the engineers working for Damien.


    Alexander looked up and saw Lucas waving in excitement. It seemed like the sensors had detected something after all. Maybe he would finally make some headway on this project.

 Chapter 205 - 4-21

    "That can''t be right," Alexander stated as the pair went over the data.


    Lucas pointed to the screen. "It''s what the sensors show."


    Alexander still couldn''t quite believe what he was seeing despite the data that proved otherwise. "That would mean I''m capable of affecting gravity."


    "Well, whatever your defensive field is, it sure seems to affect the gravity around it. At least a little bit. Not enough to account for its ability to stop projectiles though."


    "Definitely not," Alexander agreed. "This doesn''t really explain how the field works, but now that we know gravity is affected, we can narrow down our search parameters to try and get a clearer picture. I''ll need to develop a more accurate gravity sensor though¡­ Hmm, maybe not. Now that I think about it, I wonder if the one I built for Nova would work. It''s not really designed to measure outside gravitation fields, but it is sensitive enough to pick them up."


    "Want me to pack everything up so we can head back?" Lucas asked. The man seemed eager to get out of the harsh sun and Alexander couldn''t blame him.


    "Yeah, let''s do that for now. We can come back out tomorrow and run the next set of tests."


    "Why not just use the gun range?" Lucas asked as he started to pack away the equipment.


    Alexander moved over to help him. "Too many variables. It''s probably going to take me all night just to do the math to account for what''s out here. If I have to include calculations for people moving around the facility, I''m not sure I will be able to make that happen in any reasonable timeframe. I wish Nova was still around, her help with this would have made it a simple task."


    Lucas snorted. "Be glad she isn''t. If you told her you wanted to take her precious measuring device out to the middle of a barren wasteland and then have someone shoot at you while it was nearby, she would have given you an earful."


    Alexander chuckled. "You''re right about that."


    The pair reminisced a bit more about Dr. Lund as they finished packing up the gear. Once it was loaded aboard the shuttle they headed back.


    The entire test day had gone rather smoothly, all things considered. He had expected something to go wrong or an emergency to come up, especially with the STO fleet in the system.


    Alexander was honestly surprised that Willard hadn''t caused a scene yet. The man and his fleet were kept well clear of the facility to prevent any sort of orbital bombardment nonsense. Not that they would survive the attempt if they opened fire on the planet or anything in orbit. The thousands of lasers tracking their ships as well as the majority of the BSE fleet guaranteed their good behavior.


    He had offered to allow the STO crews time planet-side, but his offer had gone unanswered so far. Considering Willard''s orders, the man was probably still trying to process the fact that Alexander had told him no.


    ***


    Ezekiel took a day to cool off and collect himself. While he didn''t care what the civilians on the dirtball of a planet thought, he couldn''t go off on Admiral Util when he attended the meeting via Qcomm.


    The fact that this backwater hellhole had a Qcomm at all was its only saving grace. It was also an opportunity for Ezekiel to get Util to update his orders so he wouldn''t have to wait around until whenever Kane decided he was good and ready to attend the inquiry.


    The nerve of the man to think he was somehow above the STO simply because he lived in a system that the STO had withdrawn from. Given time and the right motivations, he knew the STO would expand once again and retake the worlds that the pirates had claimed for themselves.


    If Kane thought his little act of defiance would go unmentioned or unnoticed by the STO until that time, he had another thing coming. Ezekiel didn''t know exactly what the STO would do, but it would likely start at embargoes and go from there until Kane finally acquiesced to the request. Considering how much high-grade technology the man seemed to be using out here, that would definitely hurt him.


    His comm beeped to alert him of the time and he quickly checked over his uniform one last time before connecting the call. The face that greeted him was not Admirl Util''s, but Ezekiel quickly recovered from his shock. "Admiral Dufresne, thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I''ll be honest, I was expecting Admiral Util since he is my commanding officer."


    "There has been a shift in quadrant responsibilities and I took over Util''s old zone of responsibility. I am now your commanding officer, and I''m quite busy. You have ten minutes to tell me why this meeting was necessary," the man stated.


    "Absolutely," Ezekiel responded deferentially, but he inwardly cursed his luck.


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    He knew of Admiral Lucien Dufresne from before the man had ever become an Admiral. Like Ezekiel, the man was from a noble family and moved in the same circles of high society. The only difference is that Lucien Dufresne was not blacklisted by his family.


    Normally that would be a good thing, but Dufresne was connected through marriage to the family of the woman Ezekiel got cast out for. He doubted the Admiral suddenly taking over as his commander had been a fluke.


    Ezekiel swallowed his concern and spoke. "It''s about my orders, sir."


    The man didn''t even look up at the camera as he responded. "Has Kane agreed to the request?"


    "Um, no, sir."


    The man stopped whatever work he was doing to finally look at Ezekiel. "Has he declined then?"


    As much as Ezekiel would love to say yes, he knew a lie here would come back to haunt him. "Not exactly, sir. He took the request to appear at his earliest possible opportunity quite literally and stated he wasn''t prepared to head to Sol for the inquiry at this time."


    "Annoying, but he has not turned you down. What exactly is the problem?"


    "It''s about my orders to remain here until he decides to head to Sol, sir. I was hoping you would amend them so I can return to Varlen to await the man when he finally decided to head our way."


    "Hmm," Admiral Dufresne paused to think on that. "That is quite the predicament. Without a firm timetable from Kane, you could be stuck there for weeks, or months."


    "Exactly, sir. I''m glad you see things my way." Ezekiel let some of the tension out of his shoulders. Maybe Dufrense wasn''t still holding a grudge.


    "I do. Your request is denied. Your original orders are to be followed to the letter. If I find out you abandoned your task to wait out Kane back in Varlen, I will personally see you put in front of a firing squad for dereliction of duty. Do I make myself clear?"


    Ezekiel swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."


    "Good. I don''t want to hear from you again until Kane is on his way."


    Before Ezekiel could respond, the connection cut off, leaving him alone inside the communication room.


    Ezekiel sat there in stunned silence for another half an hour. He knew why the Admiral disliked him, but he had hoped sentiments toward Ezekiel''s actions when he was younger would have faded by now. It seemed they still haunted him, even to this day.


    Wanting to be alone with his thoughts, he gave the fleet the go-ahead to rotate crew downtime. Ezekiel might not care much for the people who served under him, but he had gone through command school. He knew that forcing the crew to remain aboard when the opportunity to get off the ship was available would quickly lead to crew morale issues or worse. That was especially important amongst the Marines aboard the Blueridge. At least letting them blow off steam on the surface would make them Kane''s problem for a few days.


    ***


    Alexander was in the middle of figuring out the complicated mathematics to input into Lund''s gravitational sensor when he received a message from Theo letting him know that the STO had finally agreed to send their people down for some R&R.


    Anticipating that response, Theo had enlisted the owner of the Meteorite Bar to set up a temporary shop inside the intake area.


    Since Alexander didn''t wish to loosen the restrictions on new arrivals, the entire STO crew would be stuck in the intake area for at least thirty days. Considering they wouldn''t be dirt side that long, that was probably the only access they would get to the facility.


    People from Eden''s End could come and go from intake if they wished, but they were subject to a twenty-four-hour quarantine and item inspection afterward. The whole thirty-day quarantine was overkill and had nothing to do with the spread of disease. It was more a method to root out those using gene edit therapies to try and sneak in.


    The fact was that most communicable diseases could be treated within a day. Alexander assumed the corporations were responsible for that medical breakthrough. Any spread of sickness and disease would stop them from reaching large parts of the market.


    That didn''t mean there were no diseases or that all had treatments available for them. A requirement in STO space was for ships to communicate any illnesses aboard before they docked. In cases like that, they might be quarantined, similar to how Mingyu and the Destiny had been, even if that had been ordered under false pretenses.


    Despite the one-day quarantine and search conditions, a decent number of civilians decided to enjoy some time off in the intake area. It seemed that having the only active bar on Eden''s End temporarily move into an area that required quarantine, wasn''t exactly a deal breaker for most people who frequented the establishment.


    Alexander couldn''t see the appeal, but it was their choice.


    Damien and Theo would keep an eye on things and handle problems if- when things got rowdy, he corrected himself.


    He returned his focus back to the complicated equations he needed to work through. He could have asked for Lucas'' help but this was something he wanted to do himself. He would need to figure them out eventually anyway if he ever wanted to move forward with Lund''s research. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alexander was still on her first lesson plan. He had replayed it over a dozen times by that point and still found things in it that he didn''t quite grasp. And there were ten more of the lesson plans to go through.


    He finished the calculation he was working on and went over it once more. It looked correct given the recordings he took at the test site. There might be some tweaks he would need to make before the actual test, but he was about as far as he could take it for now.


    As he was entering the information into the device, he got an alert that his hallway sensors were going off.


    Not expecting anyone at that time of night, he looked at the camera feed and saw Damien''s people hurrying down the hallway to the intake area. They weren''t wearing any augment gear, but they were wearing their riot armor and carrying stun sticks and pulse rifles.


    "Looks like things finally got rowdy," he said with a sigh.


    Alexander knew that was bound to happen. You didn''t mix STO crew, Marines, former mercenaries, and Asgardians along with a bunch of alcohol, and expect things to go entirely smoothly. He glanced at his clock. It was nearly midnight local time meaning he had been at it for over five hours. He was actually surprised an issue hadn''t cropped up sooner.


    Some of those people were about to find out why you didn''t get on Damien''s bad side. A few days in lockup would correct their attitudes.


    Alexander could have prevented that mix of clashing cultures but letting it happen helped facilitate Pembrooke''s work. The troublemakers probably weren''t the types he would want to try and recruit anyway.

 Chapter 206 - 4-22

    Alexander stared silently at the pair of people across the desk from him. One was Admiral Krieger, who stood quietly by, looking annoyed. That annoyance was aimed at the second individual who stood at attention next to him.


    "Sergeant Galloway, please explain to me why you started an altercation with the STO Marines?" Alexander decided to address the man by his former rank, even though BSE didn''t have a military rank or structure for soldiers. Yet. "And it better be a good reason."


    Considering how unrepentant Galloway seemed by the whole ordeal, despite his black eye and split lip, which Alexander had told the medical facility not to treat unless Galloway wished to pay for the services out of his own pocket, he wasn''t sure any excuse would justify the man''s actions.


    "Sir, yes, sir," Galloway said stiffly.


    Alexander groaned at the overly formal address and halted the man with a raised hand before he could begin. "I am not a commanding officer, Galloway. You can drop the formalities."


    "You are a captain, though, sir, and thus outrank me," Galloway added.


    Instead of arguing the point further, Alexander just motioned for the man to continue. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Galloway gave a stiff nod before proceeding. "When I heard that Marines would be coming down, I wished to have some drinks with former comrades in arms. Everything started out fine. We drank, shared stories, and shot the shit. Mostly it was me sharing stories since the Marines aboard the Blueridge are rather fresh. Still, they are fellow Marines. Eventually, others started filtering into the bar. A few of the Marines even caught the eyes of some local women."


    Alexander paused the man again. "I don''t need to know about the Marines'' luck with women, Galloway. Tell me why you started the fight."


    "It is germane to the story, sir. As I said previously, the night started out fine, and everyone was having a good time. Then the Asgardians showed up. Nothing came of their appearance at first. It wasn''t until one of the Marines started flirting with an Asgardian woman that things started to get out of control. She spurned his advances and denigrated his place of birth and the STO in general. That''s when the man realized she was not a native of the STO. The word pirate got thrown around, and the bar went silent."


    Alexander looked confused by that. "I was told you were the one who started the fight, not some Asgardian who took offense to an insult."


    "Oh, I definitely started the fight. The woman only laughed at the Marine, calling him a foolish puppet of the corporations. By then, the whole bar could hear their argument, and the other Marines started commenting on Eden''s End being a pirate haven. I tried to shut it down, but they kept slandering the Asgardians until I got sick of listening to the nonsense. So I launched myself across the table and sucker-punched the biggest loudmouth of the group. From there, it devolved into a brawl between the STO folks and the people from Eden''s End, which included the Asgardians."


    "I can imagine it was rather one-sided at that point?" Alexander asked. Marines were trained soldiers, but they trained with guns and armor. The Asgardians did all that and then some. He had personally witnessed how formidable both could be in hand-to-hand combat, and his money would be on the Asgardians nine times out of ten.


    The former Marine appeared to be uneasy at the question, but he nodded. "The Asgardians put everyone in their place before security even showed up."


    "If that was the case, how did you end up with the black eye and split lip?"


    The man broke his parade rest and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "The woman, whose honor I defended, wasn''t happy that she didn''t get to throw the first punch. She blamed me for that and demanded the last. I didn''t get a say in the matter as she knocked me on my ass right before the security arrived."


    "You do understand that this is a huge mess, right?" Alexander asked pointedly. "We have STO Marines in lockup until their shuttle comes down to collect them."


    "I wouldn''t be too worried, sir," Galloway added. "After the thrashing they took, I doubt the Marines will be too enthusiastic to give an accurate account of what transpired."


    "For your sake, let''s hope so. You are dismissed. Report to the Chief of Security for your punishment."


    "Thank you, sir," Galloway saluted before turning and exiting the office.


    Once the man was gone, Alexander turned to Krieger. "Do you think the Sergeant is right?"


    Krieger had lost some of his anger during Galloway''s retelling. Alexander didn''t want to say the man looked smug, but it was close.


    "Marines are a close-knit group. They are also very proud, so it is unlikely that they would report this to their commanding officers. Even if they do, I doubt the captain of the Blueridge will do anything about it. Nobody got injured too badly, and it looks bad for both sides if word gets out."


    "What about Willard?" If anyone was going to get pissy over the altercation, it would be that man.


    "The Vice Admiral," Krieger said with scorn, "will likely never hear about this incident. The captain of the ship is responsible for any ground forces aboard their vessels."


    "I see," Alexander stated. "And that is why you came along with Galloway, even though he is technically not a soldier?"


    "He is still part of my crew," Krieger confirmed. "I also owe the man for sticking by my side when most didn''t. Will you be releasing Galloway from BSE for this infraction?"


    Alexander didn''t answer the Admiral''s question right away. "Galloway''s actions and your defense put you in an awkward position, and I don''t envy you for that. That being said, I will not be terminating his contract for a single offense such as this. I will not be praising him for his actions either, even if they might have been justified."


    Alexander paused to consider his next statement. "I understand Marines are men of action. Do you believe Galloway acted out due to boredom and frustration?"


    "I don''t feel confident in speculating on someone else''s motivations," Krieger replied.


    Alexander snorted at that. "Very diplomatic of you. For the sake of this argument, let''s say he is."


    "Hypothetically," Krieger added.


    "Yes, hypothetically," Alexander added with a roll of his avatar''s eyes. "With the Hawks leaving to rebuild their forces, we do need something to fill in the gap they left behind until they can return. What would you say to starting our own recruitment efforts here?"


    "And put Galloway in charge of those efforts?" Krieger asked.


    "In this hypothetical situation, yes," Alexander replied.


    "While our pickings would be slim, I believe that would be a wonderful task for someone with too much time on their hands."


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    "Good. You are now in charge of putting that together."


    Krieger nodded.


    "Oh, and figure out a rank structure. I want a clear chain of command for Navy and ground assets. If you want to stick with STO standards, that''s fine. Just let me know."


    "I will work with Galloway on that. It might be a hybrid since I expect the majority of our forces to come from Asgardians, but we will make it work."


    "Good. Now that we have that out of the way, we can discuss other matters. I was going to wait until our weekly briefing to go over this, but since you''re here, you might as well take a look at the updated design specs of the new frigate."


    Krieger smiled for the first time since entering the room. "I can hardly say no to that."


    The man slid into the seat across from Alexander as he pulled up the design schematic.


    "Orca class?" Krieger asked. "Weren''t those also called killer whales?"


    "They were."


    "While I appreciate the class name, wouldn''t that be better suited for a destroyer?"


    Alexander would agree, which was why the Orca wasn''t simply another frigate. "I plan on having the Orca replace both the role of frigate and destroyer in our fleet."


    "A light destroyer?" Krieger asked as he looked over the design.


    He could excuse the man for thinking that, but that wasn''t the case here. Alexander had decided to create a new class of ship. "Not quite. I have decided to designate it as a heavy assault frigate. It won''t be as bulky as a destroyer, even a light one, but it will pack the same punch."


    "So less armor. Why not just make a destroyer then?"


    "Manpower; both what we have available and how many crew it would take to operate a much larger ship. I did some calculations on what it would take to automate a destroyer with BSE''s current ability, and I didn''t much like the results. It would take quite a few of the pseudo-computronics to make it work, and even then, it wouldn''t be as efficient as the frigates. A destroyer, even a light one, would take around twenty crew per shift with the upgrades. So forty at a bare minimum to operate everything and ensure all the systems are maintained. That''s a major improvement over a standard destroyer without the computer core, but we would be able to field maybe three of those ships before we run out of available crew."


    "Probably more like sixty," Krieger added. "With bare minimum crews, there is no crew downtime, and that leads to burnout and reduced performance."


    "Exactly, so maybe two ships instead of three. Our Eden frigates can run on twelve crew with six per shift. If we double that number to twenty-four for redundancy''s sake, we are still well shy of the requirements for a destroyer to operate effectively. If my improvements with the processors pan out, we can rethink my design choices in the future, but the heavy assault frigate is the largest ship I could produce while keeping the crew requirements below forty. That''s four rotating crews of ten. Cut that down to thirty, and in a pinch, we can crew five or six ships with the same firepower as a destroyer."


    Krieger whistled at that. "I believe you when you say it has the same firepower as a destroyer, but how is that possible?"


    Alexander manipulated the image to show one of the ship''s four laser turrets.


    "These are BSE''s newest iteration of lasers. I was able to condense quite a few of the components thanks to what I learned from the corporate gunship as well as our gift," Alexander stated, referencing the code word given to the alien ship that Fletcher had dropped in their lap. "What we are left with is a frigate-scale laser capable of outputting nearly the same amount of power as the lasers on Vanguard. I wanted to fit these monsters on our frigates as well, but there wasn''t enough space to add the additional power storage systems, which is why I went with a hybrid ship."


    "I didn''t realize you had made any headway on the gift," the man stated in surprise. "When did you have time to study it?"


    "I mostly read through the reports that the other scientists left behind, but I did take a few samples myself. From those notes and samples, I was able to piece together a few interesting tricks to moving energy around a hell of a lot more efficiently. While I haven''t built or tested these weapons yet, the battery and capacitors should be more efficient and hold more power than the ones currently aboard the ships."


    "Will these upgrades be going into Vanguard and Tempest?"


    "If I can work out any bugs in time, certainly. I would prefer if they got thoroughly tested in our existing ships before putting them into a new hull. If not, a simple retrofit after the fact won''t take long. I plan on making the ships way easier to work on than before, so no more fumbling about trying to pull power cabling through tight maintenance corridors."


    Krieger snorted at that. "I''m sure the engineers and techs will appreciate that. How big is the new class of ship?"


    "About three hundred feet long when everything is said and done. As you can see, it has four turrets and six missile tubes. I know some larger frigates manage that same feat, but I doubt any of them will be able to boast the firepower of ours or the armor. This ship will be much tougher than a normal frigate, but it isn''t designed for extended slugging matches with destroyers. With the design and weapons, it will be best utilized as a long-range strike ship or an alpha strike vessel to open a battle. At least that''s my opinion. I''m sure you can think of other uses for it."


    Krieger nodded. "I see two layers of armor, but I don''t see the stealth armor. Have you not made any headway on that?"


    "I have. I just don''t plan on employing it on every ship." Alexander manipulated the projector, and a second ship appeared as a blurred silhouette with the words ''Top Secret'' pasted across the image in large red letters. "All people present must scan their ID cards before the image can be viewed."


    "New security measures?" Krieger asked as he passed his card through the identifier.


    "Yes. With the STO around, I had Lucas add these to ensure nobody accidentally stumbled upon a meeting with potentially important images floating freely for everyone to see. If someone opened the door, the holo sensors would immediately blur the image again."


    Krieger smiled. "I wholeheartedly approve."


    The image came into focus showing a similar ship, but one that looked far more sinister.


    "I would hate to run into that thing in a system," Krieger stated matter-of-factly.


    Alexander doubted he would overcome the issues with the stealth armor in any reasonable amount of time, but he had been able to design some improvements into his own process. That being said, flat panels were still going to be a requirement until he figured out how to grow a ship. So instead of trying to make them fit the ship, he designed the ship to fit them better.


    The change left the stealth variant of the Orca class looking more like the first iteration of the Stingray. It had a completely flat top and bottom, with slightly sloped sides that met in the middle, making it look a bit like a slightly squished box. The front of the ship had four flat faces that came to a point, making the vessel look like it was designed to ram other ships.


    It was not designed to ram other vessels. That would be silly to do with any ship, and the stealth Orca was no exception. Given the design constraints and other features Alexander had implemented, it was simply the easiest design choice.


    The back of the ship was a completely flat and featureless plane, with five rotating closure mechanisms that hid the thrusters. Even when they were open, the ends of the thrusters were tucked inside the hull to prevent sensors from picking up the cones. You would have to get a rearward angle on the vessel to even have a chance of picking up the ship on sensors if it were running dark.


    All of the weapons were also stored internally, leaving practically nothing to return a sensor scan until the ship went into combat mode.


    With the inclusion of the stealth missiles, the stealth version of the Orca would be far harder to detect than the Dawn ever was. And that wasn''t just because of those design changes.


    Alexander already knew the STO''s biggest weakness when it came to the stealth ships, which was optical detection.


    "You recall how we spotted Dawn, right?"


    Krieger grimaced but nodded. "You detected the jump signature, and then you were able to find where it occluded stars or planets. I still can''t believe decades of hard work were wasted by something so stupid."


    "I wouldn''t say they were wasted. The ship is still nearly impossible to lock onto. Anyway, watch the video, I think you will find it enlightening."


    He played the presentation he had designed for their meeting.


    The pair watched in silence as the holographic ship flew in front of a gas giant on the sunward side. The light-absorbing ship easily stood out for anyone to see. Then, it started to fade from view, and all that was left was a hazy outline in front of the gas giant.


    "Cloaking technology?!" Krieger asked in astonishment.


    "Not quite," Alexander chuckled lightly. "I believe the aliens used the fiber-optic passages in the armor for more than just optical sensors. I think they were able to pass light straight through the ship, making it appear to vanish. The video is an approximation of what this might look like. Ours won''t be quite this effective considering the armor isn''t a monolithic assembly like the alien ship, but I think I can eliminate at least seventy percent of the light occlusion."


    "You might as well make it invisible at that point. God, I thought the Dawn was the pinnacle of stealth technology, but it won''t even hold a candle to your ship. Talk about a monster from the dark. I assume this feature is only possible thanks to the supercomputers? And wait, does this mean you can turn invisible?"


    "It should be," he stated, commenting on the computer question. "I haven''t quite figured out the process of adding the diamond fiber optic passages to the armor or how to route them so it works properly from most angles. Those are all things I will need to work out before we build one. As for turning myself invisible, it should be possible, but I have no idea how to enable such a feature. My body didn''t exactly come with an owner''s manual or anything like that. I can''t even engage my defensive field at will yet and I know I have that."

 Chapter 207 - 4-23

    The next few weeks flew by for Alexander. Thankfully, there were no more incidents at the Meteorite bar. Despite the assurances from Krieger, Alexander was still surprised when nothing came of the fight. The STO hadn''t said so much as a word about it.


    He would like to say everything was going as smoothly, but that wasn''t entirely true.


    Willard had turned himself into an annoyance. The man wouldn''t stop pestering the traffic control technicians every few hours to try to speak with him.


    Alexander had a good idea as to what the man wanted to discuss, but he wasn''t in a hurry to invite the man back down for a chat, so he pushed it off for as long as he could.


    While there hadn''t been any communication about repairs to their partially disabled ship, he knew Willard had discussed the issue with his commanders within the STO. They had told him no when he requested additional funding to replace the aging and broken thrusters. The excuse was that he had the necessary materials onboard to make temporary repairs.


    If Willard wasn''t such an ass, Alexander might feel sorry for him being treated so harshly by his own command.


    With no other recourse, they were forced to try and make repairs on their own, but Alexander already knew what they would find. The Blueridge''s thrusters were all shot and well overdue for complete replacement. Trying to repair the underlying damage with a patch would likely cause more coolant leaks, further exacerbating the issue.


    It worked in Alexander''s favor, all except keeping Willard here. If he could ship one person back to STO space, it would be that man.


    His watch beeped, and a moment later, there was a knock at the door.


    "Your visitor is here," Pembrooke said from outside.


    "Send him in."


    Willard stomped in, looked a little more annoyed and a tad bit less kempt than the last time he had visited.


    "Willard," Alexander spoke in a bored tone, not even adjusting his avatar to make it look like he was addressing the man. "Unless you are here to make a purchase order, my answer from our first meeting hasn''t changed."


    The man clamped his mouth shut as he was about to say something. He took a calming breath and straightened before speaking. "How much would it cost to replace all of the Blueridge''s thrusters?"


    Caught by surprise at the question, Alexander paused and actually looked up at the man. He knew the STO hadn''t changed their mind, so where were these funds coming from? He could ask, but then they would know he was monitoring their communications.


    To give himself time to think, Alexander pulled up a satellite feed of the ship in question. You could see work lights and men floating around the back half of the vessel to try and effect repairs. If Willard was surprised by the surveillance, he didn''t show it.


    "Four thrusters?" Alexander asked. He hadn''t really paid the STO ships much attention, leaving that to Krieger to handle. It was a surprise to see four thrusters on a ship because all the destroyers he had seen only needed three thrusters. Just how old was the Blueridge?


    "Yes, all four," Willard stated, trying his best to hide his annoyance.


    Fletcher had paid fifteen million credits per thruster, but Alexander was pretty sure the man had significantly overpaid just to keep things quiet in regards to that deal. The standard price of one of Alexander''s thrusters was three million. Since he didn''t much like Willard, he tacked on an annoyance cost.


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    "Fine," Willard stated without flinching at the cost. Either the man had no idea how much an actual thruster cost to replace, or he simply had so much money that he didn''t care. "How long until they can be installed?"


    "You''ll need to sign a contract and pay at least half upfront before I agree to start," Alexander responded.


    He wasn''t about to work for free just to have the Willard renege on the deal and leave with four brand-new engines.


    Willard reached into his uniform and produced a small tablet. He pushed a data chip into the tablet and typed something out before pulling the data chip back out and setting it on the table. Then he gave an annoyed gimme motion.


    Understanding what the man wanted, Alexander pulled up a standard contract and added the requisite number of engines to it. The man signed it without reading.


    The data chip held the required funds. Alexander jacked up his framerate and reviewed the security camera footage to get a better view of the man''s tablet. It wasn''t perfect, but Alexander did get a decent glance at the screen. He thought maybe Willard was stealing from the STO, and Alexander had enough issues with them at the moment. That turned out not to be the case. Willard was accessing a personal account, and the sum inside it made Alexander''s corporate account look tiny by comparison.


    "Now, when can the engines be installed?" the man asked again.


    Quickly depositing the money, Alexander looked at his build queue. "I have an opening in two months."


    "What!" the man shouted. "That''s unacceptable. I demand you prioritize my purchase."


    "If that was unacceptable, you should have read the contract before signing it. It clearly states that there is no delivery date unless agreed upon by both parties beforehand. And if no date is set, the customer is entitled to the next available stock of thrusters that meet their order requirements. The soonest I can make that happen is two months," Alexander stated.


    He could easily increase his production output and have the thrusters ready to go in two weeks, but he saw no pressing need to stretch his already thin material supplies to accommodate Willard.


    "Are you telling me that you won''t be producing four thrusters in two months? That''s absurd."


    "You''re right, that would be absurd. BSE is producing thrusters every week. They are all spoken for already, however. If you can somehow convince the other captains to delay their order or sign it over to you, I''m more than happy to make the switch," Alexander added with a smile.


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    "And who are these other customers?" Willard asked in annoyance.


    "I''m not going to give you my customer data. If you want to contact the captains of each ship in the system to ask for yourself, feel free."


    Willard paused at that and narrowed his eyes. "Most of those ships are running BSE transponders. Are you telling me that you are one of these customers?"


    "Why wouldn''t I be?" Alexander asked in return.


    He was waiting for Willard to ask the obvious question, and it came out eventually, albeit grudgingly.


    "Are you willing to swap order priority with me?"


    And there it was.


    Alexander couldn''t help but laugh. "Hell no. Now if you''ll excuse me, I have other work to attend to. I will see you again in two months when your order is ready. Have a good day, Vice Admiral Willard."


    If anything, Willard stormed out of Alexander''s office even more annoyed than he had been after their first meeting.


    Once the man was on his way back up to the Blueridge, Alexander left his office and headed to his own shuttle. It was time to head back to the weapons testing range. Lucas had dubbed the place The Pit.


    This wasn''t his first trip back to The Pit. They had run a few more tests on his body previously, but his math had been off, and the data had been a jumbled mess. Alexander had taken the time to improve the experiment and correct the mathematical equations involved. He was pretty sure he had it correct now.


    Lucas was waiting for him inside the shuttle. "How was your meeting?" the man asked with a yawn as he lifted his legs off the co-pilot council and stretched.


    "Exhausting, so the exact opposite of your nap. Are you ready?"


    Lucas nodded and strapped himself in.


    ***


    Alexander stood just outside the ship and looked around at the changes. A small rainstorm must have come through since their last visit, and the area now had washouts all over the place.


    "Is this going to screw up the calculations?" Lucas asked from behind his mask.


    "Maybe," Alexander stated. "I don''t know how accurate a reading we need, but we''re already here, so we might as well run the test."


    Lucas squealed in delight, "I''ll grab the weapons."


    "You shouldn''t get this excited about shooting at your boss!" Alexander yelled after the man.


    He already had the instrument in hand, so he walked over and placed it in the same spot as before. It was about ten feet behind where Alexander would be standing.


    A change this time around was that two more of the devices joined the first. Alexander wanted to get readings from three points so he could compile the information into a three-dimensional rendering, even if the data wasn''t great. That was actually easier than figuring out the math behind the readings.


    Once Alexander was in position and waiting for Lucas to finish his setup, he pulled up his internal interface and linked it to the tablet he was holding behind his back. The tablet allowed him to connect with the three devices, which were already on and running. A weird gravitational picture began to appear inside Alexander''s mind space.


    The gravity of the planet was the strongest, but it was so strong that it just appeared as a flat white field that slowly grew weaker the higher you got. He adjusted his simulation''s settings to filter out the planetary gravity and to only represent it as the surface of the planet. From there he was able to pick up much smaller gravity fields. The second biggest signal came from the shuttle, even though it was a few hundred yards away.


    At that distance, it had a minute effect on the gravitational field, but it still needed to be accounted for. Next was his own form, which seemed to bend a tiny area of gravity toward it. He was looking for any changes in that field.


    "Ready!" Lucas shouted.


    Alexander watched as even that action caused some minute fluctuations in the gravity.


    That was interesting, but not what he was here to study.


    "Ready!" Alexander shouted back before going still.


    They had improved their testing process, and now Lucas actually counted down from ten in his head before firing a single round.


    The round whistled past Alexander, and he heard Lucas curse.


    "Resetting!"


    On the third shot, Alexander''s field finally engaged. The effects shown in the simulation were surprising. The field wasn''t increasing gravity, it looked like it was repelling it. It wasn''t a uniform area that got repelled, though, and even the parts that were being repelled weren''t by much. Less than even the gravitational field that Alexander''s body produced naturally. That made the gravitational changes seem like more of a byproduct than the field''s purpose.


    The reason Alexander came to that conclusion was due to how weak the actual gravitation change was. It was nowhere close to stopping a projectile, even one thrown by a person.


    That ruled out gravity manipulation as being the source of his defensive field. He was a bit disappointed by that. The ability to manipulate gravity would have been a huge discovery, maybe even enough to finally figure out how the gravity plating worked. Although if it had been gravity manipulation, he was certain it would be far more difficult to unravel the secrets behind the effect.


    That reminded him that he needed to purchase gravity plating while visiting the STO. He had the location of the company that produced them. It was too bad it was such a long way to get more.


    There might be something in how the field was produced that he could look at at some point, but he needed to figure that out before he could even consider that option.


    "Did it work?" Lucas shouted, pulling Alexander from his thoughts.


    "The simulation worked, but the results aren''t what we expected!" Alexander responded. Instead of further yelling, he walked back toward the man.


    "So, what do we test next?" Lucas asked as they took a break aboard the shuttle.


    "I still feel like static electricity plays some role in the field''s formation. I can feel it when the defensive field powers up."


    "You already tested that in the lab, though," Lucas stated.


    "No, I tested the static field that a ship uses. While it does use a charge to knock dust and debris out of the path of a ship, it isn''t technically static electricity. If it was, it would work even better in the atmosphere."


    "That''s not confusing," Lucas grumbled. "So if your defensive field is an actual static field, how do we test for that?"


    Alexander wanted to slap himself as he thought of a very simple way to test his hypothesis. "Grounding rods." He got up and walked to the hold where he had a small printer along to make anything they might need.


    "Grounding rods?" Lucas asked in confusion as he followed along.


    "Yeah, if my field is some sort of weirdly condensed static discharge, then it should be easy to see it spark when it comes into contact with a metal object."


    "I know what a grounding rod is, Alexander," the man rolled his eyes. "Wouldn''t that just mean the field discharged as soon as you touched something?"


    Alexander shrugged at Lucas'' question as he watched the printer spit out six eight-foot-tall steel rods. "I guess we''ll find out."


    Ten minutes later, they had the rods and Alexander jammed them into the ground around himself, starting from six inches away to a foot, leaving only the front of his body clear.


    The grounding rods further distorted the gravity around Alexander, and he hoped they wouldn''t disrupt the readings from the instruments.


    When Lucas fired this time, there was a more significant change. The field was deployed, and there was definitely an electrical discharge as the field came into contact with the closest rod. Instead of the field collapsing, the rod was forcefully yanked out of the ground and sent flying away. The other rods followed to a lesser extent, and the flechette was still stopped in its tracks.


    It seemed he had finally stumbled onto something. His defensive field was indeed some form of condensed and highly energized static emission. Something had to be producing a huge amount of static electricity inside his body to keep it active though.


    While that was great to know, and meant he was one step closer to figuring this problem out, his idea to wrap this same field around the ship would not work. His defensive field would have a similar drawback to the static field, with how it worked in space, but didn''t work in an atmosphere, only reversed. That probably explained why his body had been damaged in the first place. If the ship he had been on lost atmosphere, his defensive layer would have been rendered inert.


    "Holy shit!" Lucas exclaimed as he ran over. "Did your field send the grounding rods rocketing away?"


    Alexander nodded his avatar. His mind was a whirl of thoughts after this test.

 Chapter 208 - 4-24

    While Alexander once again had a direction of study to go in for his defensive field, he was forced to put that on hold as another issue cropped up.


    "The other STO ships are leaving?" he asked Theo in confusion.


    "They received orders from STO Naval Command this morning to return to Varlen without the Vice Admiral or the Blueridge," Pembrooke confirmed.


    That wasn''t fishy at all.


    "And the possible saboteur?" That was kind of the whole point of disabling the Blueridge in the first place.


    "I was not able to determine who they were. The Blueridge personnel came down with crews from other ships in the last few days. They mingled while on the surface, and I lost track of a few individuals. I can provide those names, but that doesn''t really help us unless you want to bring Willard in on the possible assassination attempt."


    "Dammit," Alexander cursed in frustration.


    It wasn''t Pembrooke''s fault that happened. Alexander had been the one who decided to allow the STO to visit the surface. Everything had been going fine during the first few weeks. Crews were coming down one ship at a time, and Theo had been hard at work mixing in with them to both try and figure out who the saboteur might be as well as looking for competent people who may be interested in a new job once their STO services ran out.


    As the delays to the Blueridge''s repairs dragged on, Willard must have changed his orders, or he simply stopped caring what the captains and crew did anymore.


    "No. The last thing we need is Willard panicking. That seems like something he would do. The man is liable to fire on his own ships, which would probably get blamed on us somehow. Is there any concern that the attack will be remotely activated before the other ships leave the system?"


    "That''s what I wanted to discuss. I believe that''s exactly what they intend to do now that the rest are planning on leaving."


    Alexander really had the urge to run his hands through his hair in frustration. The Willard situation was quickly devolving into a mess, and whoever was behind it seemed hell-bent on thrusting Alexander and BSE into a war with the STO. He paused to go over his options.


    He could tell Willard, but as he stated earlier, that was the last thing he wanted to do. Holding the ships until they determined who the saboteur might be was a possibility, but that might draw a similar military response from the STO. Those were both awful options, yet he still considered them. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While it galled him, he did have a much more palatable option in mind. "When do they leave?"


    "They are ordered to ship out in twelve hours."


    "Likely to prevent me from reacting. They underestimate our capabilities, though." Alexander picked up his tablet and looked at the print queue.


    Four printers would become available within the next hour. He slotted in the thruster design he had sold to Fletcher. Now he would have four new thrusters complete within eleven hours. He could have had them done sooner on his newer, faster printers, but he wanted it to come down to the wire to prevent any further STO or corporate shenanigans.


    "Right before the STO ships are set to leave, I want you to alert Willard that we had a purchase cancellation, and I now have a full set of thrusters that he is welcome to if he doesn''t wish to wait the additional month for his original order. Once he agrees, have him dock at the repair ring and disembark the ship. The entire thing will need to be powered down to make the repairs, so that shouldn''t arouse any suspicion."


    "And if they decide to act prematurely?" Theo asked the obvious question.


    "That depends on whether their attempt is successful or not. If not, we don''t have to do anything. If it is, I have orders ready to go for Krieger." Alexander really hoped he didn''t have to issue those orders.


    If he was forced to attack the STO ships, the STO would be slow to respond, but they would respond.


    Theo nodded and left the room.


    The next twelve hours were probably the most nerve-wracking Alexander had experienced since the time leading up to the battle with Harlow.


    Despite his concerns, the good news was shared with Willard, and the Blueridge docked with the repair ring without issue. The shutdown went through seamlessly, and the crew was disembarked to the surface so he could begin repairs. There weren''t even any last-minute broadcasts from any of the other STO vessels; they simply transitioned to a jump point and left the Blueridge behind, making Alexander think there may not have ever been a saboteur, to begin with.


    Willard demanded to have a few suited Marines on hand aboard the ship to protect STO Navy secrets, which was fine with Alexander. He did not need access to any of the data storage areas aboard the vessel, and even if he did, he had ways to get past the Marines.


    Once the ship was mostly clear, he got to work. More specifically, he sent in his robots to do the work. Alexander wasn''t foolish enough to step aboard or get near a ship that might be set to explode.


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    The real bots got to work removing the ship''s engines at the slowest speed Alexander could get them to operate. While that was happening, he had more bots roaming around the ship, looking for anything out of place.


    With the vessel''s air being evacuated for the work, he didn''t have to worry about noise traveling. The Marines on board would only be able to feel the occasional shaking through the deck as work was being performed.


    One of his bots paused, and Alexander tied into its sensors. It seemed the robot picked up a lifeform around the corner. He cursed his luck. That robot was meant to check the weapon storage for any sabotage. He sent orders for the robot to skip that area and return to the exterior of the ship. He would have to approach that room another way.


    Alexander flipped through all the robots until he found one near the front of the ship. He ordered it to exit through the nearest airlock and climb to the front of the vessel.


    The robot jetted through the ship''s corridors at a nearly reckless pace, landing against walls with its shock-absorbing legs and bounding down the next hallway until it arrived at the airlock.


    From there, it didn''t take long for it to move along the outer hull of the vessel to reach one of the missile hatches.


    Prying open the hatch took a bit of effort, but the robot did eventually manage it. It was just in time for the arrival of the smaller bot.


    The small robot scurried into the open hatch and down the tube to the weapon storage.


    There was a missile loaded into the launch rails, but that was typical of warships. There was just enough room for the robot to squeeze past the warhead and the rails.


    From there, it made its way to the loading rack. The room was sealed from the rest of the ship, but the loading rack had a set of blast airlocks that were meant to stop any premature detonation from reaching the rest of the ship.


    In Alexander''s experience, those rarely worked as well as they were designed to.


    The smaller robot wasn''t strong enough to pry open the blast door, so it scurried back over to the missile in the room and inspected it first. Finding it unmodified, it moved over to an armored maintenance hatch. The hatch was sealed from the outside, but there was an emergency override lever within the compartment.


    The robot wedged itself between the lever and the wall and was able to push it down until the door popped open. From there, it had access to the entire missile storage of the ship.


    Alexander left it to its own devices as he focused on another pair of smaller robots that were going over the reactor. They had alerted him to something out of the ordinary, but he had wanted to ensure the first bot got to where it needed before splitting his attention.


    When he joined the connection to the new robots, he found them both staring at devices affixed to the flow control valves for the reactor. As far as he could tell, the devices in question weren''t explosive in nature. That didn''t mean they weren''t the sabotage he was looking for though. He knew for certain they shouldn''t be there.


    He wasn''t sure whether to be happy or upset that Pembrooke was proven right.


    The devices affixed to the flow control were small, easy to conceal, and easy to overlook since they were attached to the underside of the valves.


    He couldn''t tell from the video feed what they were meant to do, but he could guess based on their locations. The flow control regulated fuel to the reactor. Damage that could cause excess fuel to overload the reactor rather quickly.


    Alexander sighed in relief that he had finally located the sabotage. It should be easy enough to remove it. He was mid-celebration when he got a ping from the robot in the missile storage. Then another from a different part of the ship. Before he could look into those, he got a third ping of another suspicious device being located.


    ***


    "How many?" Pembrooke asked in surprise.


    "Ten devices in total," Alexander confirmed. "At least so far. I''m having the bots go over the entire ship a second time, and I managed to sneak some into the data storage areas to ensure there wasn''t any malicious code implanted in the ship''s computers as well. That will take a bit more time to determine."


    "That''s- That''s excessive, even for the corporations. They really wanted this to happen."


    "It does seem that way," Alexander admitted. "Any idea why they didn''t just send a fleet instead of going through all this trouble?"


    "I imagine this plan was significantly cheaper than activating their fleets. You''ll find that the corporations only care about the bottom line. Doing things this way also ensures their hands are kept clean if anything goes wrong. Are you planning on notifying Willard now that you have proof?"


    "Heck, no. The man would probably blame the sabotage on us. Let that man live in his blissfully ignorant world, it''ll be better for everyone."


    Pembrooke nodded. "I agree. So what now?"


    "Now we ensure there is nothing left aboard that ship to cause it to randomly explode. Then we finish the installation of the new engines and I complete the design for the new frigate. I feel like whoever put all this effort into starting a war between BSE and the STO doesn''t want us to meet with those in power. It''s time we stop dancing to their tune and start making our own."


    "You know I won''t be able to go with you. If I do, Omni will kill me."


    "If you stayed aboard the ship, you''d be safe." He hadn''t bothered telling Pembrooke about his other preparations. Most were still unrealized.


    "I would prefer not to be stuck aboard a ship for over a year, thank you very much."


    Alexander could respect that. "Very well. I''ll leave you here to manage things in my stead. Which reminds me, I have some information to share with you. Please shut the door."


    The man quirked his head at the request but did as he was asked. Once the door was closed, Alexander filled him in on the comm nodes.


    "Huh," was the man''s only response.


    "That''s all you have to say?" Alexander asked in surprise.


    "I mean, what did you want me to say? Sure, I''m surprised, but not all that surprised after seeing what you''ve built out here so far. It''s comparable to what Omni does, and there are very few things that Omni hasn''t reverse-engineered over the years. I suspected they had figured out how the Qcomm worked a long time ago and assumed you would as well at some point. I was just never high enough on the Omni totem pole to learn that fact directly. That does make my life easier if I can communicate with you when I need to. What about Char?"


    "She isn''t aware of the technology yet."


    "Oh, I wasn''t referring to that. You mentioned that a trip to Sol might involve her."


    "Ah, yes. I haven''t brought it up with her yet, but I plan to soon. It will still be a few months before the new frigate is completed and tested anyway, so we have time."


    "I''m sure that conversation will go over swimmingly. This is why I''m glad not to be in charge."


    The sarcasm was thick in that statement, but Theo wasn''t wrong. Convincing Char to fly into ''enemy territory'' was going to be a difficult sell. Thankfully, she owed Alexander a favor, and he intended to collect on it. He would also like an update on the war against Xin. His comm node satellites weren''t even halfway to the border yet, so information from that part of space was sparse.

 Chapter 209 - 4-25

    Alexander was growing frustrated with his lack of progress in figuring out how the defensive field operated. It had been weeks since he had made any headway.


    The discoveries he and Lucas had made had led him to believe he was close to a solution, but that was not the case.


    Between dealing with their guests, checking in on the dismantling and retrofitting of his fleet, spending time with his daughter, and all the other little things that came with being a CEO, Jarl, and leader, he was about ready for a vacation.


    Just when he thought he couldn''t take it anymore, a friend he hadn''t seen or spoken to in some time arrived.


    Alexander knew that Jasper and the Zephyr would be jumping into Unokane thanks to his early warning system, but he was still happy to see him finally appear in the system.


    Not immediately reaching out to the man through one of the comm node satellites near the normal jump points was difficult.


    He wanted to know how his friend was doing since their last talk over Qcomm four months ago.


    The Zephyr wasn''t the only ship to arrive. At least a dozen other ships came with his friend.


    He knew at least two of those were carrying the entire livelihoods of those two startup corporations that Pembrooke had managed to convince to move to Eden''s End. The others were probably people looking to start a new life or residual refugees. It was hard to tell.


    While most of the ships were new to Unokane, there were two other transponder IDs that his system was flagging. While his satellites weren''t tied into the traffic control systems, that didn''t mean that Alexander hadn''t imported copies of those into his own system for redundancy.


    Alexander selected the two icons and brought up the details for each vessel. A frown appeared on his avatar. The ships belonged to two captains who had left prior to Harlow''s arrival. That in itself wasn''t an issue, but they were on Pembrooke''s list of captains who had fleeced terrified people out of their entire savings to hitch a ride to safety.


    He looked to see who was on patrol duty at the moment. It looked like it was Ramirez. He sent the man a ping and waited.


    The ping was instant, but it might take a bit for Ramirez to get to a secure terminal to respond.


    Alexander barely finished that thought when Ramirez''s voice came through the terminal.


    A yawn proceeded it. "Mr. Kane, what can I do for you this early? I assume it was urgent since you commed me directly."


    Alexander looked at the time and winced. It was three in the morning. "Sorry for waking you, Captain Ramirez, but I was just looking at some new arrivals in the system. Two of them are flagged. They haven''t done anything illegal, but they have been blacklisted. I want you and the task force to intercept their ships and tell them to leave."


    "And if they ask why?" the man tried to stifle a second yawn.


    "Greed," Alexander answered.


    ***


    Horatio Ramirez set the comm back on his small table and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Greed?" he asked the empty room before shaking his head.


    He was sure Kane would send him the info if it was important. With a sigh, he got up and walked into his private bathroom ¨C a luxury for any ship ¨C and took a nice hot shower. After he dressed, he picked up the comm and noticed he did have a data packet waiting for him. He sent it to his tablet and read through the document.


    It contained all the information on the two ships, their crew, and why Alexander had blacklisted them from Unokane. "Greed indeed," he said quietly.


    Ramirez had no love for people who took advantage of others in an emergency, and it seemed the captains of those two ships had.


    With that information in mind, he made his way to the bridge.


    Upon entering, his XO looked up, appearing half awake. As soon as the man realized who was entering the bridge, he jumped out of the captain''s chair in surprise. "Captain on deck!" Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The shout drew everyone''s attention and made Horatio wince internally.


    "At ease, XO. No need to announce my entrance like that either. A simple salute is fine. How is patrol?"


    The man seemed to relax slightly at not being chastised for nearly falling asleep at his post.


    "Uneventful, sir."


    "Just the way I like it," he smiled before leaning in and speaking quietly to his XO. "Try to stay more active, it''ll fend off the boredom."


    The man nodded, his face going slightly red. "Um, what brings you on deck at this time of night, sir?"


    Horatio lied. "I couldn''t sleep, figured I would check in, see how things were going. How far are we from the transit point that faces toward Varlen?"


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    "Umm¡­ Navigation, how long until we near the transit point?"


    "Six hours, sir," came the cracked and squeaky reply of someone far too young to be on the bridge.


    When Horatio looked over to the navigation terminal, he was surprised to see a sandy-haired cadet at the station.


    "What''s your name, son?" Horatio asked.


    "Markus Wu, Captain Ramirez," the boy stated as he stood and saluted crisply.


    Horatio returned the salute and the boy relaxed. He would get to the bottom of why a cadet was manning the station in a bit, but he was curious as to how the cadet was doing.


    "How are you enjoying your time aboard the Resolve?" Tempest was being stripped and refit, so Horatio had been sent back to his old command. He couldn''t quite call it a downgrade since Resolve had far more creature comforts and other advantages over that cobbled-together destroyer, but it still felt that way sometimes even if he knew he was going to be commanding Tempest again soon enough.


    "It''s a lot to learn, sir, but I am enjoying every minute of it."


    "A good answer. You can go back to your station, Cadet Wu." Once the boy turned back around, Horatio turned to his XO and quirked an eyebrow.


    The man cleared his throat and spoke quietly enough that he couldn''t be overheard. "Ensign Nellis came down with food poisoning a few hours into his shift. Instead of bothering Lieutenant Demarco in the middle of the night, I decided to see what our new cadet was capable of, under supervision that is."


    "I see. And how is Cadet Wu doing?"


    The man seemed hesitant to answer, then sighed. "He''s better than Nellis. I wish we could keep him full-time."


    Now that was a surprise. Horatio knew Nellis wasn''t the greatest navigator, and would likely never grow past his rank as an ensign, especially since he was in his sixties, but the man had years of experience. Then again, there was a reason the older man was on the graveyard shift and not the day shift, but to hear a fresh-booted cadet ¨C not even out of command school ¨C was better than the man, really made it seem like it might be time for Nellis to fully retire.


    Horatio would take it up with Admiral Krieger, they didn''t have the luxury of getting rid of anyone, but if he could replace Nellis with this new cadet, maybe it would work out.


    "I''ll discuss that with Admiral Krieger. I''m going to go get some breakfast in the mess, alert me if anything changes in the meantime."


    Horatio didn''t like having to hide the comm nodes and what they were capable of from the rest of the crew, but he understood their significance enough to realize why that decision had been made. He also knew that vetting had already begun, and soon bridge crews would be made aware of the technology. Once that happened, there wouldn''t need to be any more of this cloak-and-dagger nonsense that he abhorred.


    ***


    Horatio stood on the bridge, the night crew having been dismissed for the day crew to take over. It was earlier than normal for the change, but he had ordered it when he was alerted to the convoy of ships that had finally been relayed to them from light-speed communications.


    The Resolve''s transponder was on, as it always was while in Unokane, so the ships were aware of their approach long before they were within visual sensor range of the civilian vessels.


    He could have simply radioed the two vessels and told them to leave, but Horatio wanted to ensure he was within combat range if they did something stupid. He would have never considered that back when he was an STO captain, but things had changed, he had changed.


    "We are within half a light minute, sir," Lieutenant Demarco said from navigation.


    "Thank you, Lieutenant. Open a channel to the two ships we are here to escort out of the system." Demarco wasn''t technically a Lieutenant in the STO navy anymore, but until Kane or Admiral Fletcher got around to confirming a new ranking structure, Horatio would continue to use the old ranks as a sign of respect.


    "Channel is open, sir."


    He nodded to the Lieutenant. "STO ships, Paradise Blue and Compton''s Trading LLC, you have been barred from entering Unokane. Please pull away from the convoy heading toward Eden''s End immediately and we will escort you back to the jump point."


    "Who the hell do you think you are? I know my rights!" came an irate reply from Compton''s Trading, a wholly unoriginal name for a ship. "I have goods for sale, and I''m going to sell them on Eden''s End, so you can piss right off."


    "Paradise Blue is pulling away, but Compton''s Trading has gotten closer to the other ships, which are trying to move away from the vessel."


    Horatio sighed. "Send four of our Stingrays to escort Blue out of the system."


    Once he got confirmation that the gunships were pulling off to follow the retreating ship, he radioed the other offender. "This is your last warning, Compton. You and your ship have been blacklisted from Unokane. Pull off and return to the jump point or your ship will be disabled and boarded. Then you and your crew will be arrested, while anything aboard your ship will be confiscated."


    "No response to our request, sir, but it seems the captain of the Compton sent a coded radio message to the Blueridge."


    That was both odd and interesting. Was the captain of the Compton trying to get the STO to step in and cover his ass? If this was STO space, he would certainly have a legal right to make the request. Then again, Kane had filled all the captains in on what he found aboard the STO ship and that lent a more nefarious connotation to the message.


    When no response came from the STO vessel, the Compton finally pulled away from the convoy of ships.


    "Comms, send an order to the rest of the task group to scan the incoming ships and alert our boarding team to prep. Navigation, set in an intercept course for the Compton."


    If anyone was surprised by the orders, they didn''t show it. Everyone aboard ¨C minus the cadet ¨C had been through more than their share of battles and had come out of it alive thanks to Horatio''s command. If he ordered it, they knew he did it for a good reason.


    He did, or so he hoped. Either way, the ship had refused to cooperate, he had a legal right under Asgardian and BSE laws to search and seize the vessel while arresting the crew if he saw fit.


    The new laws were a bit more draconian than Horatio was used to and would have liked, but things outside the STO were much less civilized so it was better to err on the side of caution.


    The Compton tried to run, but a single shot ahead of the ship got it to shut down its drive.


    The boarding team consisted of a few former mercenaries and some Asgardians. It was Sergeant Galloway''s first ground team and this was their first official test.


    The crew of the Compton quickly turned themselves in, but the captain had to be removed by force when he refused to leave his cabin after he locked it. One other guest was found in a hidden compartment in the captain''s cabin. The woman was searched thoughtfully, before being slapped in mag restraints and stuck in Resolve''s bridge. You didn''t hide if you hadn''t done anything wrong.


    The crew was left aboard the Compton with the boarding team to keep an eye on them and pilot the ship to Eden''s End.


    As for their new prisoner, it turned out she was on Mr. Pembrooke''s list of people to watch out for. From the scant information in the bio report, it seemed like she held a position similar to his when he was working for Omni. There was no telling what kind of trouble she could have gotten up to if she had been allowed to reach the surface.

 Chapter 210 - 4-26

    "You''re sure it''s her?" Theo asked Captain Ramirez for the third time.


    "Yes," the man responded in annoyance. "We ran the DNA scan three times. Unless someone is pretending to be her, it''s her."


    The video of the captive proved it was someone who looked exactly like his former mentor and trainer during his time at Omni, but he still found it hard to believe the woman had gotten caught. It was sloppy. He might blame it on old age, but she was only a few years older than him and still well in her prime years.


    He suspected she had gotten caught on purpose, which concerned him because he had no idea what that purpose might be. Considering her message to the STO ship, she was likely meant to be a backup in case the other saboteur failed.


    "Sorry, Captain Ramirez. I''m not questioning your judgment, I''m just confused as to why they would send her."


    "She''s sitting in the interrogation room with Mrs. Wu, maybe you should ask."


    Theo accepted the rebuke and gave the man a single nod in reply. He straightened his back and headed into the detention facility. It was a more recent addition to Eden''s End to accommodate a larger number of troublemakers that would come with a growing population.


    It currently housed mostly insurrectionists, who were let out each day for work details. There were also holding cells for violent criminals, but those were all empty at the moment. The last cells were temporary cells meant for people who needed a few hours, to a few months, to rethink their life choices.


    That last section was where he was heading. The guard at the front desk verified his identity and buzzed him through the security door. He was scanned for contraband, and then let through the next door.


    Theo helped design the security measures for the detention area. There were no easily bypassable bio-locks. Each separate area had redundant security measures that started with an actual person. Then, a DNA scan was performed, and facial recognition verified that the person was who they said they were.


    There was even a heartbeat sensor. If the person trying to enter was agitated, it would show and they would be denied entrance.


    Separately those security measures were all easy enough to bypass, but when you put them all together it was nearly impossible to get around them without getting caught. The weak link in that chain would always be human nature, but the guard on duty was picked from a random draw each day making trying to bribe a specific guard much more difficult.


    Theo was trying to get Alexander to incorporate similar redundant security in his ships and other projects, but that was a long-term goal. Right now Theo pushed those thoughts to the side as he arrived at the monitoring room.


    He slid his badge across the reader and looked at the camera next to the door. There was a pause before the door gave an audible click and opened.


    Alex turned to face him as he entered. "Theo, glad you finally made it. Your friend is being rather difficult."


    "She''s not my friend," he said testily. "She may have been my mentor, but that doesn''t mean we like each other."


    "Fair enough," Alex admitted. "She says she will only speak to you though."


    "Figures," he muttered. "She''s been checked for weapons?"


    Alex nodded his avatar. "Checked, clothes taken and replaced, and a full scan done to ensure no implants of any sort. She''s as clean as we can make her. If you are having second thoughts or don''t think it''s safe to talk with her, I can."


    Theo shook his head. "If she said she would only speak to me, that means she will only speak with me. I''m sure it will be fine." He made that statement with more confidence than he felt. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alex nodded again and clicked the intercom button. "Eva, would you please return to the security room?"


    The older woman seemed annoyed at being interrupted, but she stood and left Theo''s former mentor alone.


    Not long after, the woman stormed into the monitoring room. "Why did you pull me from the room, I was making headway- Oh, you''re finally here," she stated when she spotted Theo. "Well, get in there. There''s no telling what this woman is up to."


    Theo looked at Alex.


    "Markus was aboard Resolve when her capture went down."


    Theo decided not to comment on that as Eva turned to glare at Alex. Instead, he left the room and headed toward the interrogation room.


    He knew Eva wasn''t prone to bursts of anger, but he could tell when a woman was experiencing an overprotective moment and he preferred to be elsewhere for that.


    When he reached the holding cell, he didn''t bother to knock or alert the room''s occupant of his arrival, he simply opened the door and stepped inside. If she was surprised by his sudden appearance, she didn''t show it.


    He sat down across the cold metal table and stared at the woman seated at the other end. "Beatrice."


    The woman was still as beautiful as he remembered, but it was the type of beauty that only came about through extensive surgeries and he knew that beauty was barely skin deep. It scarcely hid the monster in front of him because he knew she was rotten to the core.


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    "Theodore," the woman replied with a wry smile. "Still failing downward I see."


    Theo ignored the taunt. "Why are you here? What did you transmit to the STO ship?" Alexander had already decoded the message, but he was curious if Beatrice would corroborate their findings.


    Instead of answering his question, Beatrice sighed. "Theodore, I''m disappointed in you. You know why I''m here and what I sent to the STO ships, so why bother asking? Do you think I''m going to implicate myself by answering?" she asked, her smirk growing. "Not that it matters," she pulled her arms up an inch before the cuffs prevented her from moving any further. "You''ve already made up your minds about me, haven''t you?"


    "You tried to activate the devices onboard Blueridge, didn''t you?"


    Beatrice shrugged noncommittally. "I don''t know what you''re talking about, Teddy, I was simply a passenger aboard the Compton."


    "You asked for me, and here I am. Now you waste my time and dance around the questions. If you weren''t going to answer, why did you want me here?"


    The woman pouted, which sent a shiver of disgust up Theo''s spine. "I wouldn''t say our time together is wasted, dear. I got to spend it catching up with one of my former students, but you are right, I did have an agenda for requesting your presence."


    Beatrice tried to lean forward, but the strap around her upper torso held her to the chair. She tutted and sighed. "I was told if all else failed, that I was allowed to make Alexander Kane an offer. My employer¨C"


    "¨COmni," Theo corrected.


    "My employer," she continued, "stated they were willing to let bygones be bygones if Mr. Kane simply stopped producing and selling pulsed fusion drives that were on par with theirs inside the STO or to STO-based entities."


    Theo narrowed his eyes. "Why now?"


    She shrugged. "I''m not privy to management decisions. If I had to guess, they realized the cost to continue such a venture, outweighed the benefits. You know how it is," she added with a smile.


    "And what do you expect to get out of this deal?" he asked.


    "A ticket home, obviously."


    "I''ll need to speak with Mr. Kane."


    "I''ll be waiting," she said with a wink and a jingle of her restraints.


    Theo left the room and returned to Alex.


    "Do you think her offer is genuine?" Alex asked.


    "I would get it in writing, but yes, I believe it is," Theo admitted. "I think thwarting their plan with Willard has annoyed them, but they always look at the bottom line before anything else. If the cost of getting rid of you is too steep, they will simply try another avenue of approach."


    "So even if I agree to this¡­ I''m not sure what to call it, ceasefire? I''ll still need to be wary of them trying something else?"


    "Like I stated before, Omni never relies on only one solution to a problem. They likely won''t try a similar approach in the future, and if they were going to send a fleet, they would have done so by now. You may be harming their bottom line, Alex, but you are barely even a drop in the bucket with how many sales you have taken out of their pockets. I think if you agree to Omni''s terms, they will stop any overt attacks against you, but you should still be wary of their other methods."


    "Dropping my guard against them never crossed my mind," Alex stated. "Tell her it''s a deal if she can provide me a legally binding contract with her employer''s name clearly listed on it. I''m not going to agree to sign some ambiguous agreement."


    "You sure?" Theo asked. "You''ll lose a significant portion of BSE''s income if you stop selling those thrusters."


    Alex smiled. "No, I won''t. Omni''s info is old if they still think those thrusters are my bread and butter. I''ve already started transitioning away from the older style of thrusters. I''m simply going to switch to compressed plasma ejection and sell it at the same price as a standard retrofit. The price will barely offset the cost of my manufacturing, and I know I can manufacture them for far cheaper than Omni can. Let''s see them compete with that."


    The rest of Beatrice''s stay was a short one. She managed to produce the document that was asked for, which clearly stated Omni''s name and the agreement to stop producing the pulsed fusion thrusters. The other parts consisted of dense legalese to avoid actually stating that Omni had done anything illegal and that they would not compete against each other on pulsed fusion.


    That last bit was important because Omni''s first draft of the contract was far more expansive. Theo thought Alex might be a bit overwhelmed by all the legal jargon, but the man turned out to be one of the shrewdest contract lawyers Theo had ever seen, which must have annoyed Omni to no end since the contract had to go back and forth a dozen times before each side was happy.


    It was all a load of bio-waste at the end of the day, but it was the best Alex was likely to get in the form of an apology or an acknowledgment from Omni that they were going to stop trying to destroy BSE.


    Theo was glad to see Beatrice go as well. The woman was escorted back up to the same ship she arrived on and sent packing with the rest of the crew, minus the captain, who had been arrested and was serving time for failing to comply when ordered to by Captain Ramirez.


    Alexander could have commandeered the ship, but it wasn''t worth much and it was the easiest way to send the Omni operative back to where she came from without having to get personally involved.


    All in all, the encounter went far smoother than Theo expected, except for the actual message that was sent to the STO ship. Alex had shown him what it said.


    "I miss our time together, Teddy."


    He didn''t quite know how to feel about that being used as the trigger code for the devices. While he had indeed had a fling with Beatrice, that had ended when he realized she was simply using him like she did everyone else.


    ***


    A day later, Theo was asked to come to Alex''s office.


    "You wanted to see me?"


    "Please, sit."


    Theo sat and Alex pulled up a video feed. He recognized it as one of the ones coming from Alex''s new satellites.


    The resolution wasn''t the greatest, but he could see a ship appear from the jump point before making its way farther into the system. When it was passing one of the system''s gas giants, three gunships came around the dark side of the large planet and intercepted the vessel. When they left again, the first ship was nothing but an expanding field of debris.


    The image froze and the three ships were highlighted and digitally cleaned up slightly. It still wasn''t the best image, but you could see they were different from the gunship that Krieger and the fleet had captured.


    "I assume the ship that got attacked was the Compton?" Theo asked.


    "Yes," came Alex''s reply.


    Theo nodded, not surprised. "Then those were likely Omni gunships. It appears my previous employer wasn''t too happy about Beatrice''s failure here. What system was that?"


    "A few jumps from Varlen. It will likely get blamed on pirate activity, but that''s not what concerns me. What concerns me is how those gunships got into the system without being detected. Those aren''t stealth ships."


    Alexander was right about that, those looked like wraith-class gunships. He wasn''t familiar with them or Omni possessing any sort of stealth tech, despite the ship''s name.


    "What if they were there before your satellites went up?" Theo asked.


    "It''s a possibility," Alex admitted. "They did return to the dark side of the planet after the attack, so we have to assume they are still there. I need to deploy a task force to scout each system thoroughly, but I don''t have any justification for it yet. Deploying the fleet right away would alert Omni that we have early warning and detection systems up."


    "Use your upcoming trip to STO space as an excuse."


    Alex paused at Theo''s suggestion. "That''s a good point. The Tempest should be ready in a few days. Once the ship is complete, Ramirez can take his task force and clear the systems one by one."

 Chapter 211 - 4-27

    Alexander was glad to be done with the Omni spy so he could finally greet his friend Jasper. It had been days since the man''s arrival, but he had been busy dealing with the corporate legal nonsense. While having an actual document stating Omni''s intent was nice, he didn''t trust them one bit. At most, he expected half a year of them leaving him alone. If he only got a few months, that was a few more months of peace than he had before.


    By then, Tempest would be fully complete, making him feel much safer.


    He knew Omni couldn''t be trusted, even if he had confirmed the people he was working with were legitimate Omni attorneys; they had already shown that by destroying the ship heading back toward Varlen. He wasn''t sure why they would have done something like that, but he had a few guesses. Either they wanted it to appear like the path between Varlen and Unokane was riddled with pirate activity and thus unsafe or they simply wanted to get rid of an asset out of sight that hadn''t performed to their expectations.


    Losing a mid-level operative was not a big deal for a mega-giant like Omni.


    If they were trying to silence the woman, it was too bad for them, Alexander had recorded the entire conversation with her as well as the attack.


    It wouldn''t stand up in court. There were no markings that he could clearly point to and state that those vessels were Omni or even another corporation''s ships, other than their advanced design. What Alexander could do was use the recording as leverage against Omni if they continued to skirt their own agreement. He didn''t need proof; all he needed to do was state it as such, and public opinion would do the rest. With any luck, that would force Omni into damage control to save their reputation, which he knew they had done in the past and likely still did to this day.


    If it came down to that choice, he wouldn''t even feel bad if they wanted to play dirty, so would he.


    Once he got the stealth armor figured out, he was going to place picket gunships around each planet between Unokane and Varlen. Alexander would like to see the corporations contend with that if their goal was to destabilize trade between him and the STO.


    Alexander found Jasper and his crew enjoying some downtime at the Meteorite, which had moved permanently into the arrival center. It seemed like business was booming with all the new arrivals.


    A few people gave him startled looks, but most just gave a passing glance as Alexander strode up to his friend''s table.


    "I hope I''m not interrupting," he said.


    Jasper turned from an animated conversation he had been having with his pilot, Wilkes, and smiled. "Alex!"


    The man stood from his chair and hurried over to clap Alexander on the arm. "I''ve been wondering where you were. Thought you might have gotten too busy for your old friend."


    Alexander rolled his avatar''s eyes. "Busy, yes, but never too busy for a friend. How was your time in STO space?"


    Jasper beamed at the question. "Thanks to your thrusters, I made more profit than any of my competition!"


    The man stated that loudly and proudly, and a few of the other captains in the bar glanced over.


    Alexander suspected he might have some new customers shortly, assuming they were willing to do a full overhaul and not a simple upgrade to their pulsed fusion. His agreement with Omni prevented him from selling those styles of engines to any STO customers.


    Not that he minded. His compressed plasma ejection thrusters were already an improvement over the older style of thrusters.


    "That reminds me, how long are you planning on sticking around this time?" Alexander asked.


    "Unfortunately, not long. My Port Liaison, Naomi-"


    "-Wife," Naomi corrected as she walked over.


    "Wife?" Alexander asked in surprise, looking at his friend.


    "I was going to tell him." Jasper chuckled. "Yeah, we got hitched a few months ago. I would have invited you, but things were kind of hectic back then."


    Naomi rolled her eyes. "It doesn''t sound very romantic when you put it that way, dear. With everything going on and the future uncertain, we decided to stop dancing around our feelings for each other, or I should say, I did."


    "I would have proposed eventually," Jasper muttered sullenly. "I was waiting for the right time."


    "Uh-huh. That''s sort of the point I just made, there was no right time."


    "Well," Alexander said, interrupting the argument. "Congratulations to both of you."


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    "Thank you, Alex," Naomi replied. "As my husband was saying, I got in contact with your import and export department. The lovely woman there set us up with an outbound delivery."


    "Ju Na?"


    "That''s the one," Naomi confirmed. "It requires us to leave in a few days."


    "I didn''t even know we had enough items to export," Alexander admitted. "If I had known, I would have asked you to hold off for a few weeks. I guess it can''t be helped. The next time you come by, stay awhile. I know you said you didn''t want that other upgrade, but I think you might want the one I was planning to give the Zephyr this time around."


    Jasper quirked an eyebrow. "Call me intrigued. I would like to know more before I agree, though. Honey, do you mind if I leave for a bit?"


    Naomi gave Jasper a peck on the lips. "Not at all. You go do your captain things, I''ll remain here and ensure the crew doesn''t get too rowdy."


    A chorus of boos came from the table in reply to that, followed by some light-hearted laughter.


    Alexander was glad to see the Zephyr''s crew in such good spirits. They were rather on edge the last time they visited.


    As a preferred trader, Jasper''s identity badge allowed him to leave the intake after twelve hours instead of the mandatory thirty days. Alexander had signed off on it personally.


    "How is your daughter?" Jasper asked as they walked to Alexander''s office.


    "Growing fast. You probably wouldn''t even recognize her if you saw her today. I think she shot up two inches since the last time you were here."


    "Is it worth it? Having a kid, I mean?" his friend asked seriously.


    Alexander glanced over at the man before responding. "It has its own unique set of challenges, but I wouldn''t give it up for anything. Why? Are you and Naomi planning on having a child?"


    "It''s been brought up a few times, but I''m afraid of raising a child in space. I would rather set down roots somewhere so they can grow up in a more child-friendly environment, but I also love what I do. I get to visit more places and planets in a year than the vast majority of people get to see in their lifetime. To give that up would be difficult."


    Alexander nodded. While he would love to see Jasper settle on Eden''s End, he didn''t recommend that to his friend. He knew it wasn''t an ideal location to live or raise a child. If Yulia hadn''t been born in space and wasn''t used to living aboard a space station, he might have considered safer options when he was looking for a place to live after Petrov Station.


    "You''ll have to let me know if and when you decide. I''ll have to come visit at some point."


    Jasper chuckled. "It might be worth settling down on some core world just to watch the reaction of my neighbors when you pull up, probably in some ridiculous ship and equally ridiculous shuttle."


    "You know me too well," Alexander laughed as they entered his office.


    Jasper let out a whistle. "Stepping up in the world. Is that real wood?"


    "This is mostly for meeting with important guests, and no, but it does look like it, doesn''t it?"


    The man ran his hand across the surface. "Feels like it too. You know, you could probably sell this material as a wood replacement. There are tons of places where wood is desirable, but only the core worlds are capable of growing trees, and they guard them zealously. Can''t say I blame them. If people had their way, they would cut down every tree just to admire the end result."


    "That was almost the case back in my day," Alexander admitted. "I''m glad to see conservation made a rebound, but I didn''t bring you here to talk about wood. That being said, I will see how much of the material we can produce and make it available for export."


    "Fair enough," Jasper smiled. "What upgrade did you wish to discuss with me?"


    "I actually had two. The first is another thruster upgrade, which would simply convert the Zephyr from pulsed fusion to compressed plasma ejection."


    "No half-measures, eh?" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You don''t sound surprised."


    Jasper chuckled again. "Oh, I''m surprised, but every time I see you, I''m surprised, so I kind of expect it at this point."


    "You''re the second person to point that out. I don''t know whether to feel elated by that fact or annoyed."


    They both laughed.


    "If it makes you feel any better, I won''t say no to that as an upgrade. Compressed plasma ejection on a smaller ship will certainly raise some eyebrows, but it won''t put a target on my back like a pulsed fusion drive that well outstripped anything Omni had available. Out of curiosity, why the change? I know they tend to be more energy efficient and faster, but they require quite a bit more work to implement."


    "Pulsed fusion is nearing the apex of how far the technology can go. Instead of playing hopscotch with Omni to speed that deadline along, I decided to invest more time into improving the newer technology so it could be applied to smaller ships. I also made a deal with Omni to stop producing the pulsed fusion thrusters if they stopped meddling in my business."


    Jasper winced at that news. "Are you sure that was a good idea?"


    "If they stick to their end of the deal, maybe. I had already planned on sunsetting those thrusters anyway, all of my ships, down to gunships can now be fitted with the newer thrusters."


    "So what you''re saying is that the corporations could do the same thing for a long time but chose not to. I can''t say I''m surprised. Alright, what about the other upgrade?" Jasper asked.


    Alexander held up a finger and activated the holo display. It was blurred out with the words ''Top Secret'' hovering in front of the image.


    "If you want to know, slide your badge through the reader. If not, I understand."


    Jasper hesitated for a moment. "Is it something dangerous?"


    "Not inherently, no."


    With a bit of reluctance, the man slid his ID through the scanner and Alexander did the same.


    The image came into focus and showed a comm node.


    "Wh- what is it?"


    "This is what I like to call a comm node." Alexander went into detail on what the device did.


    He was mostly through his explanation when Jasper held up his hand to stop him.


    "I can''t have something like that aboard the Zephyr. Don''t get me wrong, it would be amazing to communicate at any point in space with no delay. It''s more an issue of knowledge. If so much as a word got out that I had something like that aboard the Zephyr, I would become an immediate target for anyone looking to get their hands on the technology, not to mention Qcomm. And while I trust my crew, it only takes one mistake to ruin everything. I just can''t risk it, I''m sorry."


    Alexander nodded. "I understand." And he did. The comm node may not be an evolution in technology, but it was an evolution in how that technology could be used. "I will eventually be selling this publicly, so don''t feel bad about missing out early."


    Jasper just shook his head. "Wasn''t Omni enough of a headache? Now you want to add Qcomm to the list?"


    Alexander simply smiled in reply. He decided not to tell his friend about the pseudo-computronics or the unknown corporate ship Krieger captured. Change was coming to the STO, whether the corporations liked it or not.

 Chapter 212 - 4-28

    Alexander saw Jasper and his crew off a few days later before heading to deal with another issue that had cropped up.


    The ship carrying his stealth comm satellites had finally arrived at the border of Asgardian territory where some of the attacks with Xin were taking place. The first satellite hadn''t been active for more than a few hours before it picked up a fight between the Asgardian defenders and Xin forces.


    The Xin outnumbered the Asgardian fleet or they would have if Alexander hadn''t also sent an additional twenty Stingray gunships and two more Fishbone transports meant for rearming those ships along with his satellite deployment ship.


    He had watched the battle as it progressed and not a single Xin warship managed to escape the encounter.


    The Asgardians hadn''t lost a single ship and only two Stingray gunships had been destroyed during the ten-minute exchange.


    It was a testament to the small ship''s durability that only two had suffered enough damage to be knocked out of the fight. The improvements he had made were certainly living up to expectations. That being said, Alexander did notice the previous twenty ships he sent were now down to half their original number.


    Considering it had been months since he deployed the original squadron of Stingrays to the front line, he wasn''t surprised. Efforts to deploy more ships faster were beginning to ramp up now that the remaining Asgardian ships that could be repaired after the battle with Harlow had been. It freed up production for more Stingray ships, but also for the new Shark corvettes, two of which were already completed, rounding out his new frontline fleet composition with the twenty Stingrays and two Fishbone ships.


    The ships were doing final testing before they shipped out for the front. It was still too slow though. Alexander wanted to have fresh ships sent to the front each month. Right now he was on a two-month timeline.


    To ensure he met his new goal, he was increasing his printers once again. That change necessitated that he increase mining, which had a small uptick without his involvement thanks to new arrivals. Even with the new miners entering the system, he still fell short of his material needs.


    Alexander was also quadrupling his output for pseudo-computronics. He wanted to increase production even more, but he was running out of available space inside Atrium D. He would need to speak with Yi Na soon to come up with a plan to expand his production area.


    That''s not why he had come to the Qcomm room.


    Based on radio communications between the Asgardians and his ships, he realized another Xin attack was likely to occur soon. Normally he would only be able to observe even with his comm sats in place, but that wasn''t the case with his new Stingrays arriving. Only one of them had a full comm node aboard as a test, but Alexander planned to put it through its paces during the next battle. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Qcomm room had a new feature in the form of an interface chair. Alexander sat in the chair and connected to the comm node network. Through that, his mind was able to perceive as if he was aboard the command Stingray.


    Alexander found the sensation a bit odd at first, but that oddness quickly went away as he adjusted to the new view in his mind. His ability to quickly adapt probably had a lot to do with his experience figuring out how his body first worked when he woke up all those years ago.


    As he did quick system tests to ensure everything was working correctly, he kept a part of his mind focused on the radio chatter between the fleet. An Asgardian scout had arrived an hour or so ago and had spotted the Xin fleet on approach. From the previous system.


    This new Xin fleet was half again as large as the previous one, making Alexander frown inside his mind space.


    Why were the Xin throwing ships at the Asgardians?


    He had read up on Grand Admiral Xin. The man was praised as a tactical genius during the STO/Coalition conflict but also labeled as ruthless and bloodthirsty. Smashing his fleets against the Asgardians made no sense, even if the man had more ships than he knew what to do with.


    From the previous battle, Alexander had been able to determine that the Xin ships were old Coalition designs that still relied on autocannons. As far as he could tell from the scans, they were the exact same model of ships used during the Coalition war.


    They were no match individually to an Asgardian ship and were barely able to even deal with the Stingrays unless multiple ships engaged one of the gunships at the same time.


    With one part of his concentration, Alexander paid attention to the orders being issued by the commander of the overall forces. The man seemed competent, which wasn''t much of a surprise if he managed to survive this long on the frontline.


    With a second part of his focus, Alexander transmitted an updated program and ECM algorithm to the Stingrays. The comm connection started growing choppy as the massive data packet was sent through the network.


    He would have to take that into account if he wanted to run updates in the future.


    The data packet wouldn''t override what the ships already had, it was just meant to add new data to their algorithms. The self-learning processors would be able to pick the data apart and choose the best parts of their old code and ECM and integrate it into the new programs Alexander had sent, making it even better.


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    He could have done this himself, but he didn''t have the time to go through the code, nor was he as quick at parsing the data as a computer might be, unless he chose to push his framerate to the max. That might work if he was there in person, but with the comm node struggling already, who knew how long it would take to transfer the data back and forth? The comm node simply wasn''t designed to handle that much data that quickly. A bit of an oversight considering he had designed them with communications in mind, but that was fine. They could still handle ninety-nine percent of communications without issue so he saw no reason to upgrade them further.


    Why waste time doing things the slow way when the self-learning program could do it in a few seconds?


    In the time it took Alexander to have those thoughts, the Stingrays had all reported back that they had implemented the new upgrades. A further round of reports also stated that they added the upgrades that the other ships had developed.


    Alexander might be shocked by that sort of individuality, but he had seen the same thing in the report that the surviving gunship had given him after Harlow''s defeat. He quickly realized that this branched learning made them far more capable than his initial estimates. Instead of having one ship, the more he had, the more differences they could check, all because of a simple error correction feature he had added in an earlier iteration of the code.


    The error correction feature was something to simply stop errors from occurring with the signal broadcast, but the computers had taken that subroutine to a whole new level and actually incorporated that feature into their learning. It was rather ingenious so he left it in. The one thing he did remove was anything relating to turning themselves into plasma missiles. He didn''t need the Asgardians to think his pilots were suicidal.


    Once it got out that his ships were unmanned, then he might add that code back in to give the ships one more card up their sleeve, but he would think on that later.


    An alert went through the fleet and Alexander''s musing came to an end. He returned all of his focus to the fight as he watched the Xin fleet start to appear in the system.


    They were smart enough not to use the normal jump points, but it seemed like they were still struggling with jump lag as not all of their fleet was appearing at the same time.


    Looking to take advantage of their lack of formation, the Asgardian commander ordered the fleet to turn toward their adversary and jump.


    Alexander could tell something was wrong as soon as his ship reappeared. For one, he had temporarily lost connection during the jump. That was something he would need to take into account if he continued with this remote approach.


    The other issue was the enemy fleet. Only about a third of them had appeared. They were forming up, as the Asgardian commander ordered gravity traps to be deployed.


    Alexander really needed to purchase more gravity plates. His Stingrays didn''t utilize them, because there was nobody onboard, but if he could turn them into mobile gravity traps like Harlow had done, it would boost the effectiveness of the small ships by quite a bit.


    The Asgardian commander must have realized the issue as well because he ordered half the fleet to reverse direction. Sure enough, the remainder of the enemy fleet appeared as one, right behind the defending fleet shortly before the gravity traps could be deployed.


    Alexander radioed the command ship. "Commander, you and the rest of the fleet deal with the new arrivals, let Jarl Kane''s ships handle the first group."


    "You have balls, whoever you are. Fine. I''ll leave them to you, good luck."


    The line cut out and Alexander didn''t hesitate to accelerate toward the waiting Xin ships. He had the range advantage, but he didn''t order the Stingrays to fire, no orders were necessary. Almost as one, they all launched their stealth missiles. Then shortly before crossing into enemy range, all thirty gunships filled the battlespace with the improved ECM.


    Once the ECM was active, each ship went into evasive maneuvers as they continued their approach.


    Railgun rounds began to fill the space as the gunships located weak points on the hulls of the enemy vessels. Before the hyper-velocity rounds could strike, the missiles detonated against ships. The missiles had taken a curving path at the last moment to strike ships along the flank where armor was the weakest.


    Alexander noted only two of the twenty-eight missiles had been taken out by PDCs. The enemy destroyers were hearty enough to shrug off a single missile, but not the frigates.


    Fifteen enemy frigates were out of the fight, while fourteen destroyers remained. Of those fourteen destroyers, thirteen were leaking atmosphere from gaping holes along their sides.


    The two undamaged destroyers found themselves under a barrage of fire from the Stingrays. Alexander didn''t need to destroy these ships, he just needed to make sure they couldn''t back up their companions.


    One of the undamaged destroyers exploded, but they managed to take out one of the Stingrays before they went. The enemy was launching missile after missile, but the ECM was making that a fruitless exercise.


    At least for them. Alexander focused on a group of these missiles, and led them by the nose, so to speak, until they had performed a one hundred and eighty-degree turn and were now heading back toward the ships that had launched them.


    The enemy ships were valiantly attempting to take out their own weapons, but Alexander was causing false sensor ghosts in the weapons to make them juke around. Only ten missiles made it all the way back, but that was ten more than Alexander had started with.


    The already damaged destroyers rocked as the weapons hit, and one even tore in half. The rest were still attempting to fight, but they had stopped firing missiles. Either they had run out or they knew better than to feed even more weapons to their enemy.


    It didn''t matter, Alexander''s ships whipped past the enemies'' slow defenses and glacial turning pace, to rake their vulnerable aft sections with railgun rounds, emptying their remaining ammunition before clearing the battle space.


    The only ship that still had power was a lone destroyer. It was the last surviving ship that hadn''t been struck by his initial missile barrage. The vessel was corkscrewing wildly as its thrusters attempted to fire. It may have power and was still firing its weapons wildly, but it was in no shape to pursue the remainder of the the fleet.


    He checked on the other part of the Asgardian fleet. They had lost a few ships, but the enemy was down nearly half of theirs and appeared to be in full retreat.


    It was an overwhelming victory, but Alexander saw a few improvements that could be made. The biggest was the lack of onboard ammunition.


    The Stingrays simply burned through their supply of railgun rounds too quickly. He would prefer to upgrade the ships to lasers since lasers didn''t run out of ammo, but they were too small to fit anything substantial onboard, even with his most recent upgrades to the technology. He could have gone with Gauss cannons now that he understood how they operated, but they didn''t hit nearly as hard as a railgun. That meant sticking with his preferred projectile weapon, the humble railgun. He had a few ideas on how to improve the weapon and ammunition capacity, but it would mean a complete redesign of the weapon and a slight modification to the Stingray.


    Alexander wouldn''t say no to that though.


    He finished out the battle and sent the ships to rearm before disconnecting from the ship. It was time to make some improvements.

 Chapter 213 - 4-29

    Alexander knew he was procrastinating by starting work on the Stingray improvements instead of working on the defensive field project, but he was running into so many dead ends that progress had stalled on that research, and he needed a break.


    That didn''t mean he was doing nothing; he had multiple experiments running to try and glean a solution to that problem, which he would check on later, but he needed something he could see some actual progress on to improve his mood.


    Alexander entered his empty workshop; his only companion was the hum of the machines in the background, which were producing more static field satellites. Now that he had enough of those satellites to cover the sky over the ground facility and the space stations, the project had been shifted over to surface manufacturing to free up his orbital printers.


    In another change, the temporary orbital ring had been disassembled, and he had rebuilt the fueling station. It was now twice as large as the original, with the majority of that extra space relegated for the storage of raw materials.


    The main space station was quickly taking shape as well. The substructure had finally been completed, and armored panels were being built to attach to the exterior walls, which were being installed.


    There was still a long way to go before it was complete, but Alexander was glad to have some visual progress on such a massive project.


    Once the station was complete, the docking ring would be over a mile in diameter and the station could permanently house up to a thousand individuals with room to temporarily house up to two thousand more.


    Mainly it would just be the trading hub for the system, making that process go much smoother instead of having to rely on his robots to act as tugs to move stuff around.


    Alexander brought up his design program and loaded all of his railgun schematics. They hadn''t seen any love since before he left for Asgard, so not even his power flow improvements had been added to them.


    Considering he wanted to move away from the weapon system, it seemed like a wise choice not to waste time on improving them. Now that he was sort of stuck with the weapons on his smaller ships, he might as well make them the best they could be.


    The biggest issue with railguns¡­ technically, there were two big issues. The first was the rails. Having to replace them after a thousand rounds was less than ideal. It was even less than that. A few of Wayward Soul''s rails had failed during the battle with Harlow, and Alexander was certain that fewer than a thousand rounds had gone through them. The constant load and heat on them had caused them to deteriorate much quicker than anticipated.


    The second issue was the reliance on sabots. Each casing made them take up nearly three times the space as the same size Gauss cannon round. Eliminating the casing was his goal. If he could triple the Stingray''s onboard capacity, they could stay in the fight much longer.


    He thought about simply adopting a bimetallic approach to the penetrator but decided against that, as using a softer material would reduce the effectiveness of the round at penetrating armor and could cause the materials to separate. The small size of the projectile was the same reason he hadn''t bothered adding some sort of explosive compound to the interior of the round.


    There just wasn''t enough room inside the interior of the tungsten rod to add enough explosive compound to make any real difference to the overall effect of the weapon hitting a ship. And every ounce of material he took away to do so reduced the overall punch that the round had.


    He wanted to keep using the same fin-stabilized rounds he used on his surface guns to reduce having to manufacture multiple different ammunition types and sizes, even if the fins were completely unnecessary in space. He already had three penetrator sizes to worry about, one for his smaller surface guns, one for the large anti-orbit railguns, and the third for the frigate-sized cannons.


    The fins may be completely unnecessary, but they weren''t a hindrance either, as they were only as wide as the exterior of the penetrator, so he saw no need to actually remove them other than to add a tiny bit more weight to the projectile. To Alexander, that wasn''t worth setting up a separate ammunition stockpile for ground-based versus space-based. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a few motions, the guns exploded into their component parts within the holo. Alexander threw away the rails and replaced them with a hardened ceramic barrel, which looked woefully undersized on the weapon.


    Considering the design he was going for would use a fifth of the space as the rails and firing chamber had previously, it should feel smaller.


    He decided to go with the industrial-grade ceramic because it was smooth and had an almost slippery surface after hardening. The material was designed for use in high-pressure mixed aggregate applications, not for firing hardened projectiles, but Alexander figured it would work well with what he had in mind.


    Next, he wrapped the barrel in twenty rings of static field generators. He was going for a similar effect to a coilgun, but with a static field instead of an electromagnetic field.


    Alexander printed out a test unit with two of the generators attached and tested it on low power. It wouldn''t do to go any further unless he verified his hypothesis first. To do that, he would need a vacuum.


    The design was based on the findings from the research that the computer had done in the lab. With much tweaking. The barrel was filled with micro-perforations to allow for the field to pass through into the interior. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be able to interact with the projectile.


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    The first test fired the plastic projectile across the vacuum chamber, causing the plastic ball to bounce harmlessly off the far wall. Turning on the second field coil caused the plastic ball to shatter against that same wall, sending fragments flying back far enough to hit him and the ceiling. It was safe to say he was on the right track and could continue.


    Back in his workshop, he added a system that would charge the rounds so the field could interact with them properly. Normally, that process was handled by the primary field emitter, but that was big and bulky.


    Alexander also planned on reversing the polarity of the charge. The reason for that was simple: all ships used the same positive and negative polarity for the primary and secondary fields of the static field array. By reversing it, he was essentially negating most of the field''s ability to deflect or slow the rounds before they passed through the field.


    About half of a railgun or Gauss cannon''s projectile''s velocity could be lost to the static field if you fired at the bow of a ship where the field was the strongest. Any seasoned captain knew that and would try to keep their bow pointed toward the enemy. By negating most of the field, he was essentially doubling the velocity of his rounds without adding any more energy to the weapon.


    Not having to worry about the field was just another reason why lasers were a far better weapon in modern combat than railguns or Gauss cannons, but using them was not in the cards for the Stingray.


    The completed design looked a lot like the aforementioned Gauss cannon. It would take an up-close inspection to see the differences.


    One thing that railguns had over Gauss cannons was accuracy. It wasn''t a huge difference at half a light second, which was their normal maximum range, but it grew pretty bad from that point on. With his new design, he would suffer that same issue, but there was no easy fix. Adding a coating could cause the micro-pores to clog up.


    Alexander paused as a thought struck him. He already had a built-in solution for the accuracy issue.


    Instead of adding a coating that would ensure the round was tightly held in the barrel, he simply modified the fields slightly to act as the coating, similar to how he used them to manipulate the printer material in the nano-assembler. The accuracy that the fields could hold would be unmatched by any material or barrel he could ever dream of printing. It also eliminated any source of direct contact of the round with the barrel.


    He thought about changing the barrel material to something else now that he had the field to stabilize the round, but he decided to keep it in case the field acted up.


    The new electronics to control the fields took up most of the space that once housed the rail charging system, but even that was smaller and lighter, leading to a more compact cannon.


    Alexander slapped a vacuum pump on the prototype and got some aluminum foil to seal the end of the barrel. Once everything was printed, he called up Lucas.


    "Hey, boss. What''s up?"


    "Wanna go to The Pit with me and test out a new weapon?" Alexander asked.


    "As if you have to ask," the man chuckled. "What time are you planning on going?"


    "Now."


    "I''ll be there shortly, don''t leave without me."


    The line cut out, and Alexander smiled. He knew Lucas would jump at the chance to fire a new weapon. The man may love his computers and programming, but he liked things that went boom almost as much.


    Ten minutes later, Lucas came hurrying down the hallway, huffing and out of breath. "A little more warning next time. I''m not built for running."


    "A little cardio is good for the heart," Alexander said with a smirk as he started toward the facility exit and the already-loaded shuttle.


    "You going to fill me in on what it is we''re testing?" The man asked as he hurried to catch up.


    "Nope," Alexander replied.


    They arrived at The Pit, and Lucas hadn''t stopped pestering him about what was in the crates the entire time. Alexander stayed firm, though, and didn''t tell the man anything.


    He set the shuttle down off to the side so it would be out of the direct line of fire if something went catastrophically wrong.


    They would also be using the bunker this time around instead of simply standing on the surface and firing weapons. He also wouldn''t be standing in front of this new rail- weapon. He supposed it really wasn''t a railgun anymore. At best, it could be classified as a coilgun. He decided to dub it the SFECG or static field-enhanced coilgun. It didn''t quite roll off the tongue, but he could think of a better name for the weapon later.


    Alexander would have invited Admiral Krieger to this test, but he wanted to make sure everything worked before presenting a finished product to the man.


    A series of armored targets, similar to those he used way back when he built his first railgun prototype, were set up down range. There were also targets simulating frigate armor, destroyer armor, and a dual layer of corporate armor.


    Those took a bit more time to set up, making Lucas anxious to see the actual weapon. Alexander had left it in a bio-locked crate to keep the man from peeking, but he knew if Lucas truly wanted to get inside the crate, he could have.


    The first part of the weapon platform that went up was the tripod mount. It had a locked arc of fire of thirty degrees and a ten-degree gimbal to ensure it couldn''t rotate towards anything it shouldn''t. Twelve sandbags went onto the legs of the tripod to keep it from flipping over.


    That along with the shock absorbers built into the weapon, should be more than enough to account for any possible recoil.


    "Are you ready to see what I cooked up?" Alexander asked with a smirk, knowing full well the man had been ready since the moment he contacted him.


    "Quit stalling," Lucas complained as he gave a hurry-up motion.


    Alexander chuckled and unlocked the crate. He lifted the top off to expose the weapon within.


    Lucas cocked his head slightly as he looked at the unassuming weapon. "A Gauss cannon?" he guessed.


    Considering the penetrators that were packed along the side of the crate, it was a good guess.


    "Nope," Alexander grinned. "I call it the SFECG."


    As soon as the acronym came out of Alexander''s mouth, Lucas groaned. "Please tell me that''s a placeholder name."


    "It is," Alexander admitted. "It stands for Static Field-Enhanced Coilgun."


    "Hmm," Lucas said in thought. "How bout we just call it the FE Cannon, or Field Effect Cannon? It''s less of a mouthful to simply say FE or FEC."


    Alexander thought about Lucas'' suggestion and eventually nodded his avatar. "I like it. It''s not technically correct, but that doesn''t really matter. I''ll set up the weapon if you want to finish setting up the measuring equipment."


    It didn''t take the pair long to complete their tasks. Soon, the FE Cannon was sitting atop the tripod, and the equipment designed to read the velocity of the projectile as well as capture images of it in flight to ensure it was flying properly was set up and ready to go.


    "Did you get this idea from my close encounter with your experiment?" Lucas asked as they moved into the bunker.


    "I did. I figured if one static field could move a metal ball around fast enough to dent walls, what would twenty do?"


    "Twenty?" the man asked in shock. "Did you test this beforehand?"


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "I was only able to test it with two field coils and a plastic ball, but the result was impressive. If my math was right, twenty should have around the same velocity as a railgun."


    "And if your math is off?" Lucas asked as he powered up the observation cameras.


    Alexander shrugged. "I guess we''re about to find out."

 Chapter 214 - 4-30

    Alexander gestured to the fire button. "I''ll let you do the honors."


    Lucas didn''t hesitate to press the button on the screen. There was a bang, but nothing came out of the barrel.


    Alexander frowned. "That''s less than ideal."


    They powered down the weapon and headed back outside to investigate what went wrong. It didn''t take long to realize that the gun had failed catastrophically. The breach had been blown clear off the back of the weapon, and the barrel, despite being made from hardened ceramic, had shattered.


    "What do you suppose happened?" Lucas asked as he bent over and picked up the mangled remains of the penetrator, a few feet from where the weapon was lying.


    The man handed it to Alexander, and he turned it around to look at the mushroomed backside.


    "I think I need to adjust the timing of the fields slightly, it looks like they launched the round backward instead of forward. Shaping the field so it angles forward should prevent a scenario like that from happening again."


    With something as experimental as the FE cannon, there were bound to be issues that cropped up.


    "I''ll start packing up," Lucas said with a sigh.


    "That won''t be necessary," Alexander said. "I brought three prototypes with us in case this happened."


    He went into the shuttle and pulled out another crate, then began the lengthy process of mounting the new weapon to the feeding mechanism, which hadn''t been damaged despite the explosive deconstruction of the FE cannon.


    Once that was complete, he modified the static field generators so that the field was now shaped a bit like a Mach cone. The change did necessitate disabling the last field, which projected beyond the barrel length. It would probably be fine, but he wanted to ensure that any acceleration took place within the barrel. If everything checked out there, he would turn that final emitter back on before they completed their testing.


    After changing the field orientation, Alexander double-checked the timing for the emitters, but they looked fine. That meant the velocity of the projectile was underperforming based on his projected math. To verify that, without going through a second weapon, he switched all but the first three field generators off. It would mean incremental testing until they got to the end, but that was better than running out of prototypes and having to print more, which would have to be done back in his workshop since the barrel had to go through a hardening process after printing.


    The pair went back into the test chamber, and Lucas once again pressed the firing icon on the tablet screen.


    The projectile tore through the thin foil membrane that ensured a vacuum as it flew down range.


    The camera facing the targets picked up the impact as the heavy projectile smashed into one of the targets.


    The velocity it was carrying wasn''t enough to penetrate the armor, but there was a whole lot of momentum, which caused the target to flip end over end in the dirt before coming to a stop.


    "Eight hundred feet per second," Lucas noted. "Not exactly awe-inspiring, but that was only with three fields active. Didn''t you say your test with two was only strong enough to burst a plastic ball?"


    "Yeah," Alexander replied absently as he looked over the numbers. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His estimates had indeed been off. The projectile was moving at least fifteen percent slower than he had accounted for. It wouldn''t have been an issue with only five fields, but the moment the sixth field turned on, it would have blunted the projectile''s velocity even more, then the other fields would have kicked in and eventually the forward momentum would have been reversed, which is what led to the dart slamming into the breach hard enough to rip it off the gun.


    Alexander quickly adjusted the programmed timing from his tablet and loaded the next round. Then he turned on the fourth field emitter.


    Once again, he handed the tablet to Lucas, who gladly pushed the button.


    Nothing happened.


    Alexander mentally slapped himself. He forgot to replace the foil cover so the vacuum could be produced.


    He did an emergency ejection of the round and ensured the weapon was safe before hurrying outside and slapping on the foil cover.


    The round was loaded again, and the button was pressed; this time, there was an audible crack as the round broke the sound barrier.


    The result on the second target was about the same, sending it tumbling through the dirt.


    Futuristic armor was some tough stuff, even the outdated materials.


    The fifth, sixth, and seventh field tests went off without a hitch, but Alexander was noticing another new pattern. The speed at which the projectile''s velocity was increasing wasn''t linear, it was ramping up. It wouldn''t cause the same issue as the first test, but he would lose any sort of field-assisted acceleration by field ten if it kept increasing.


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    He decided to test that theory and activated the eighth, ninth, and tenth emitters for the next test. The projectile was now nearing hypersonic speeds as it left the barrel and had no issue punching through regular body armor and even the frigate plating.


    He could end the tests there and consider the weapon a success, but he still had ten more emitters to go; might as well find out how fast the FE cannon could push the rounds.


    The eleventh test was the same as the tenth. There was only a deviation of five feet per second, which was within the margin of error for most weapons.


    "What happened?" Lucas asked. The man could see the same reading as Alexander.


    "The projectile is outpacing the field initialization. I need to adjust them slightly." It didn''t take Alexander long to make the change, but he was probably going to run into the issue again before the testing was over.


    The incremental velocity increases weren''t on an exponential growth curve, but it was a curve. Alexander simply didn''t have enough data points to track the future growth, it would have to be adjusted one at a time until he had the whole picture.


    With the next test using the first eleven fields and his adjusted program, the projectile finally passed Mach five, putting it at the same velocity as early Gauss cannons and railguns.


    By the fifteenth emitter, the FE cannon was hitting the same velocities as his ground-based anti-orbital railgun and was nearly twice as powerful as the smaller ground-based defensive railgun that it was modeled after. The field timing wasn''t even optimized yet, it was just good enough to work.


    Alexander was almost ready to call it there and spend the time optimizing the timing, but he wanted to see what the gun was truly capable of, even without those tweaks. He was pretty sure Lucas was too. The man was practically salivating to see what the gun could do against the thick plate of destroyer armor and the double layer of corporate armor that was still waiting to be shot at.


    He made his final adjustment just to ensure the last four fields could impart some momentum, and then he pressed the button, earning a sour look from Lucas.


    The hypersonic crack rattled the canyon walls and sent dust and rocks tumbling down. The camera didn''t catch the impact on the destroyer armor, but it could see the molten hole left behind.


    Playback of the video in slow motion showed the projectile had been turned white hot by its passage through the thin atmosphere. That didn''t stop it from passing through the armor plate without issue, but it acted more like a shaped charge than a tungsten penetrator at that point.


    The instrumentation had failed due to the Mach cone, but Alexander knew the FE cannon''s projectile was far faster than any railgun he had ever designed simply from how hot the round had gotten in such a short distance.


    "I should have brought ear protection!" Lucas yelled as he wiggled his finger in his ear and shook his head.


    The bunker was underground and sealed, which negated a lot of the noise, but firing off the weapon in the valley had caused the sound to reverberate and pass through the thin layer of dirt that covered the bunker.


    Alexander paused any further testing to print Lucas some ear protection and earplugs. He was pretty sure the next two tests were going to require both.


    Safely back in the bunker, Alexander gave Lucas the thumbs up to test the twentieth and final field. The man didn''t hesitate to press the firing button.


    He watched as the end of the barrel exploded and the tungsten penetrator was sent skyward with more than enough velocity to reach orbit.


    Alexander snatched the tablet from Lucas and quickly pulled up his orbital map to see if anything might be in the path of the errant projectile.


    It was just his rotten luck that the storage facility with the alien ship was in the estimated path.


    His first instinct was to use his defensive satellites to intercept the projectile with their static fields, but he quickly realized the issue with that approach and stopped himself. With him swapping the polarity of the field on his FE cannon, they would just impart more force to the object.


    Alexander warned fleet assets of the rogue projectile and its path. Then the pair of them watched a satellite feed as a small glowing object left the atmosphere. The now tear-drop-shaped projectile punched through his fake storage facility and out the other side as a spray of metal.


    Alexander sighed internally. It seemed that the projectile had missed the ship hidden within; if it hadn''t, it would never have made it out the far side. He doubted even the FE cannon had enough power to punch through the alien armor without breaking apart and losing most of its mass and momentum.


    "Shit," Lucas breathed. "I did not expect that to happen with the field extended beyond the barrel."


    Alexander nodded his avatar in agreement. They had gotten really unlucky with the angle that the field threw the projectile, it could just as easily have been sent downward. He replaced the broken weapon with the last remaining prototype. Once it was in place, he disabled the twentieth field emitter once more and optimized the timing of the other nineteen based on the chart curve. It might need another optimization if the next test showed different results, but he would adjust as needed.


    "You wanna do the honors again?" he asked.


    Lucas shook his head. "I''m pretty sure the Admiral isn''t going to be too happy when he learns of this incident. While he can''t really be mad at you if it happens twice, he can be with me."


    Alexander chuckled at that. "I wouldn''t worry about Krieger too much, but if that''s how you feel, I''ll do the final tests so he only has me to yell at."


    "I appreciate it," Lucas stated.


    The first optimization test was eye-opening. Not only was the projectile faster, it was nearly twice as fast, making it nearly four times faster than one of his railgun rounds.


    They were less effective at that velocity, but that was due to atmospheric heating causing the rounds to partially liquefy before they reached their target. Since the weapon wasn''t designed to be used in the atmosphere, the excess speed wasn''t really an issue.


    The final round of timing optimization brought about only a five percent increase in velocity over the previous test.


    It was safe to say the FE cannon would be an ideal replacement for any space-based artillery system. Now Alexander had a decision to make. He could stick with the same-sized penetrators, but that was complete overkill with the added velocity. Then again, he did like overkill.


    It was something to think about and discuss with Krieger once he brought the weapon system to him. Alexander would also be creating a swappable module for the Shark prototype to test out the new weapon system. The whole swappable premise hadn''t really panned out for his automated fleet, but it did make a good test bench for new ideas.


    The pair finished packing up just as Alexander''s tablet buzzed with a call from Krieger.


    "Ohh, busted!" Lucas said with a laugh.


    Alexander just rolled his avatar''s eyes at Lucas'' comment and prepared for the tongue-lashing Krieger was about to give him.

 Chapter 215 - 4-31

    "I understand this is your company, Alex, but a simple heads up that you are testing a new weapon would be appreciated," Krieger said.


    Alexander sighed. "I know, and I''m sorry for not telling you, but I wanted a working prototype before unveiling it."


    "I take it by the fact that something reached orbit, that you were successful?"


    Alexander bobbed his avatar up and down in confirmation. "Even more than I thought it would be."


    "So what is this new weapon, and what purpose did you have in mind for it?"


    Alexander locked his office door before turning on the holo. Much like the stealth tech and the comm nodes, the FE Cannon was marked ''Top Secret.'' Krieger knew the protocol by now, and soon their identities were confirmed and the image cleared.


    The Admiral leaned in to get a closer look at the design. "Looks a bit like a Gauss cannon, but what are those rings around the barrel?"


    Since the initially successful test, Alexander had slightly tweaked the design of the weapon, managing to get the same projectile velocities with only half the number of static field coils. He managed that by adding the Gauss cannon''s firing mechanism to the weapon.


    Swapping that feature into the weapon had two benefits. It made the FE cannon simpler to maintain, and if the field failed or couldn''t be used, such as in an atmosphere, the cannon could still fire. He decided to keep the original name that Lucas had suggested, though.


    "Lucas said I should call it an FE cannon, and that was good enough for me. FE stands for field effect or field-enhanced. The main firing mechanism is from a Gauss cannon, which is why it looks familiar, but the rings produce a static field inside the barrel, enhancing the projectile''s speed beyond what a railgun is capable of reaching. It is also far more accurate than either, because the field suspends the projectile inside the barrel, taking up any possible tolerance issues between the round and the barrel while also keeping any physical wear to a minimum."


    "That all sounds very impressive, Alex, and I can certainly see the advantage to having a more accurate, longer-range weapon, but aren''t the lasers still a better option? Most of the issues with the Gauss cannons that the STO used were related to light-speed delay rather than accuracy."


    "I agree," Alexander added. "Lasers are a better long-range weapon than projectiles unless your enemy doesn''t know you''re there."


    "Hmm. You''re referring to Char''s reports of how they set up traps for Harlow to essentially fly into."


    Alexander nodded. "Imagine putting just one of these on a stealth ship. It wouldn''t even have to be a turret, it could simply be a fixed barrel, similar to how the missile tubes exit from the front of ships. Line up a cloaked ship on a target from way beyond sensor or even laser range, and fire. Some tests will need to be conducted to ensure the projectile maintains its charge over longer distances, but even if it doesn''t, it should be far more effective than a railgun or Gauss volley. That''s not even the main reason I designed the weapon in the first place, though, it''s just something that came to mind since you asked to meet with me."


    Krieger looked confused by that. "It wasn''t? Then why did you build it?"


    "To replace the railguns in the Stingrays. Have you had a chance to go over the combat reports coming in from the conflict with Xin?"


    "I went over the first battle report. I wasn''t aware there were more."


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "I took remote control of the Stingray we sent out with a comm node. Experiencing the battle showed me a few glaring weaknesses with the gunships. The two biggest were the lack of ammunition and the overall punch the smaller vessels were capable of once their missiles were spent. They were barely able to take down a similar-sized group of coalition-era ships without running dry. Most might consider that an acceptable outcome from a simple gunship, but I was not impressed."


    "I see. So you wanted to find a way to pack more ammo into the ships and give them more staying power. It makes sense. How did the whole, ''use a defensive system and turn it into a weapon'' come around?"


    "Like most things, by complete accident. I was running some experiments to try and recreate my defensive field, but the computer running them took it in a very different direction. From there, it just took a bit of tweaking by myself, and the FE cannon was born."


    "I won''t say no to more effective weapons, but I would like to see them in action before you go changing things. There may be something you missed or overlooked." Krieger added before pausing in thought. "If I''m not mistaken, the Stingray held about three hundred rounds before. How many will it hold with the FE cannon?"


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    "It was actually three hundred and fifty rounds, which goes extremely fast when it''s feeding twin guns," Alexander muttered. "With the new guns, I can pack twelve hundred rounds into the same space."


    "The same-sized rounds as a Gauss cannon?" He asked rhetorically. "I told you that you should have used Gauss cannons from the start. You would have avoided the ammunition issue from the beginning."


    "Yeah, yeah," Alexander groaned, getting a chuckle out of Krieger. "If I did that, I never would have thought to design the FE cannon."


    "Touch¨¦," Krieger admitted. "Since you were sort of there, how is the war effort going?"


    "It''s hard to say. Going by the last two battles, the Xin had more than enough forces to simply roll over the Asgardians if they simply waited and combined those two fleets. Instead, they seem to be throwing just enough ships at the defenders to keep them occupied, and I don''t like that."


    Krieger rubbed his chin in thought. "I agree, Grand Admiral Xin has to have a reason behind his actions, but I have yet to see what it could be. Have you been able to get any satellites past the border?"


    Alexander shook his avatar. "The first ship I sent out there had just enough to reach the front line. The next fleet heading out will be followed shortly after by another two fishbone ships filled with stealth satellites. Once they make it out there, we should have a better picture of what Xin is up to. To keep them safe in enemy territory, I had the bots coat both fishbone ships with stealth paint. They will also be accompanied by two stealth Stingrays.


    Krieger perked up at that. "Does that mean you finally made progress on the armor?"


    Alexander nodded. "It took a bit to combine the STO''s methods with my own, but Lucas was finally able to make it happen. BSE can now produce armor of a similar grade to what was on Epsilon''s Dawn. The optical camouflage is still quite a way off, though."


    "Still, that''s huge. I know you have a plan for a stealth Orca, and you are already making stealth Stingrays. What about a stealth Shark corvette?" S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I wasn''t planning on it. Do you think we could benefit from stealth corvettes?"


    Krieger paused to think about that for a bit. "Before your FE cannons, I would have said not really, but now, they may come in handy as automated interdiction ships. Technically, you could use the Stingrays for the same purpose, but a corvette would pack a lot more firepower and wouldn''t need a support ship nearby for rearming as often."


    That possibility hadn''t really crossed Alexander''s mind. If he had interdiction ships in that system where the corporate ships attacked and destroyed that freighter, he would have been able to deal with the problem immediately. "I''ll need to make some changes to the ship to make that happen. Do you think it would be better with laser turrets or FE turrets?"


    "Both?" Krieger asked.


    Alexander shook his head. "I thought about combining the two into one turret, but it would be far too complex and take up too much space."


    "The Shark will still have the centrally mounted laser, right?"


    Alexander nodded.


    "Then go with however many FE cannons you can stuff into the turret. The stealth Shark¨Cwe really need a new name for the ship¨Cis meant to remain unseen. If it has to rely on the laser, things have already gone south."


    "I can see your point, I''ll see what I can do. As for the ship classification, how about we call it the Swordfish?"


    Krieger smiled. "Now that''s a name I like. Unless you have any other bombshells to drop on me, I need to get going. My class starts in twenty minutes, and having the teacher and Admiral arrive late would not look good."


    "No more bombshells," Alexander chuckled. "At least not today. I''ll set up a time for you to view the new weapon in action. Speaking of teaching, I believe my engineering course is set to begin after your class ends. Have a good day, professor."


    Krieger nodded before getting up and heading out of Alexander''s office.


    Alexander didn''t mind teaching, he had gotten plenty of experience teaching Yulia over the years.


    Speaking of his daughter, she had a new project she was working on that he wasn''t all that enthusiastic about. With some time to spare, he pulled it up on his office holo to display her new project.


    It looked like a much bigger go-kart, and it essentially was. If it had to be classified by what he knew, he would have called it a dune buggy.


    The vehicle wasn''t designed for the small circle track or road courses inside the facility. Yulia was building it to explore the surface of Eden''s End. While he could see the appeal of getting out of the confines of the facility, he was worried she might hurt herself.


    The dune buggy was both faster and larger than the go-karts, with large gas-filled shock absorbers to soak up the bumps. Yulia had been studying hard for months to bring the creation to life, and he couldn''t be prouder of her efforts.


    He could have deterred her, but he would never squash something she was passionate about, even if it made him anxious. That didn''t mean he couldn''t help her, though.


    "Maybe just a few improvements," he muttered as he pulled the entire design apart and tweaked a few things here and there. Not enough for Yulia to notice the changes, but just some things that would make the buggy safer and more reliable.


    It was always faster with that girl. A bigger motor, smoother bearings, etc. Anything that brought about just a bit more speed.


    He was still restricting how fast and how large of a motor she was allowed to use, but that didn''t seem to deter his daughter, and he knew eventually she would grow bored with ground-based vehicles and demand something a bit more impressive.


    While he wasn''t looking forward to that day, he was enjoying some of the unique challenges her questions had spawned.


    One thing Alexander was testing, thanks to an innocuous question from the twelve-year-old, was a new electric motor design. Specifically, a reduced-friction bearing made using a static field emitter instead of ball bearings. Keeping the area where the bearing resided in a vacuum was proving rather challenging, leading to the test motors breaking down quite often. He was forced to rely on seals on either end of the friction zone, which is why he referred to it as reduced friction instead of friction-free. Then again, even friction-free wasn''t frictionless, as that would be theoretically impossible to achieve. There would always be friction from other sources acting on the motor.


    It was an interesting concept brought about by Yulia''s desires, and he kept at it because it was an engineering challenge he hadn''t yet solved. Even if the motors were less than stellar in an atmosphere, they should be a great replacement for the ones used in his ship turrets. A whole lot more testing would need to happen before he considered switching over to them.

 Chapter 216 - 4-32

    Alexander was in his workshop, overseeing Yulia while she worked on her buggy design.


    Occasionally, she would glance over, and he would nod or shake his avatar slightly at a change she made. That was becoming less and less common as she grew more familiar with the design software and gained some much-needed confidence in her choices.


    It was still slow going, though. At the rate she was putting the vehicle together, it might be ready for her thirteenth birthday, which was a few months away. The new heavy assault frigate would be completed a month prior to that, and he could leave as soon as it was, but he decided to postpone his trip to let Yulia have one more birthday with her friends before she went with him for an extended time.


    It was hard to believe that eight months had passed since Harlow''s attack and defeat. During that time, Alexander''s fleet had ballooned in size from six surviving combat vessels to almost eighty ships. Most of that number consisted of Stingray gunships, and almost all of his new ships were automated vessels, but he still counted those.


    He also increased his control ship count to twenty, almost tripling his mining output.


    The only downgrade to his fleet was the fact that he was down to one cruiser and one destroyer that was currently under construction.


    Tempest would be complete in a few days, and then it would be time for Vanguard to go under the knife for its upgrades. When both ships were complete, they would be significantly more powerful than they had been, but that still left him with only two capital ships. He needed to fill out his ranks as soon as possible, and that''s where the Orcas came in. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If Alexander''s timing was accurate, Vanguard would be completed a few weeks after the new Orca heavy assault frigate. Having the ship completed before he left would be a huge weight off his mind. With most of the new ships going toward the frontlines to fight off Xin, Unokane would be short on hulls to create a full fleet for the time being.


    He was already earmarking one out of every three Shark-class corvettes, one out of every ten Stingrays, and one out of five Swordfish corvettes for system defense to help mitigate that problem.


    The Swordfish corvettes were a low-priority ship at the moment since they wouldn''t be going to the frontline with his other automated vessels. Thanks to Krieger''s suggestion, Alexander planned on using them exclusively as picket ships between Unokane and Varlen until those systems were all covered. After that, they would discuss further uses for the stealth corvette.


    Most of Alexander''s reasons for excluding them from the war effort had to do with the time and cost of manufacturing the vessels.


    Now that Alexander was paying more people to bring in materials, he had to be more mindful of his cash flow. It was still well in the red, and he was relying on all the money made from the pirate bounties as well as the few sales from the Jarls and Char to keep his current rate of progress going. Once that money ran out, he would be forced to consider options to make BSE profitable. That would probably come in the form of selling some of his inventions to the Asgardians.


    Alexander glanced up as Yulia stifled a curse. He could see why. She had hit some button in the program, and her entire model had shifted.


    "Use the undo command," he stated calmly when the girl looked back at him in a panic.


    "Thanks, Alex!" Yulia stated happily as she found the button and undid her mistake.


    He smiled and turned his attention back to the item that was coming off the printer. It was another bearingless motor, but it didn''t have the seals like the previous designs.


    Alexander was hoping that by making the gap between the shaft and static field generator small enough, he could prevent atmospheric infiltration from collapsing the field.


    He placed the half-horsepower motor in a small vacuum chamber nearby and pumped the air out.


    Sensors inside and outside the motor would determine if air got inside once he started slowly adding pressure back into the chamber.


    It was a simple test, which was why he was conducting it while Yulia was working.


    The motor started up in the vacuum without issue. No surprise there. Air started to be pumped back in slowly, and Alexander kept a part of his focus on the test while he kept the rest on Yulia.


    When the chamber was nearly half of the planet''s air pressure, the sensors started showing odd readings, pulling Alexander''s attention back to the test.


    He glanced into the chamber and saw small sparks jumping from the motor casing to the sensors.


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    "You''ve got to be kidding," he said.


    Yulia paused in her work. "Did I do something wrong, Alex?"


    He shook his head. "No, you''re fine."


    She smiled and returned to her work while Alexander focused nearly his entire attention on the static field being generated outside of the motor.


    It was weak, but that wasn''t what got him excited. The field shouldn''t be there at all.


    Had he really made a breakthrough in how to generate static electricity with the field generators by working on what essentially amounted to a children''s toy?


    It sure seemed that way.


    Alexander increased the power to the little electric motor until he heard a popping sound and the unit ground to a halt inside the chamber, which now stood at standard atmospheric pressure.


    The static field had kept getting stronger; he could tell by how it was sparking against the sensors and pushing them outward.


    Stronger was very subjective when referring to the very weak field the motor produced. He would need to figure out how to make it many times stronger if he wanted to protect Yulia with it, but now he had a starting point.


    "I think it''s done, Alex," Yulia stated as she stepped back from the holo.


    Alexander returned his attention to his daughter. "You think?"


    The girl paused and chewed on her lip while she looked over her design. "Umm. I believe it''s done. Can you look it over?"


    Alexander shook his head. "Not this time, sweetheart. This is your design, you must have faith in what you build. If you think it''s done, let''s print it and find out."


    "What if it breaks or doesn''t work?" she asked with worry.


    "Then you will have learned something important," he stated. Alexander wasn''t worried about the vehicle breaking apart or Yulia getting hurt. The tweaks he made ensured she would be safe. The only real worry was that some of her changes might not be the most optimal for the buggy''s design. That wasn''t the end of the world.


    Yulia seemed to waffle in indecision for a bit before nodding. "It''s done, for now."


    Alexander put a smile on his avatar. "That is a good answer. Things you design can always be changed later. Sometimes it''s more important to get your design built and tested than it is to make sure it''s perfect on the first try."


    Yulia perked up at that. "It''s a prototype!" she said in excitement.


    Alexander nodded.


    While Alexander would have liked to explore the breakthrough with the static field, that could wait. He spent the next few hours printing the parts for Yulia''s buggy. He could have printed it all at once, but part of Yulia''s learning was the ability to assemble what she created.


    Once the parts were complete, everything got moved to the secured section of the parking garage. He wasn''t worried about anyone stealing the parts; moving them to that room was more to keep them out of the way. It also gave Yulia a convenient place to work on assembling the vehicle, which would take far longer than designing it had.


    Yulia helped carry the smaller parts, but most of the buggy was moved over by his auto carts. The one exception was the mono-piece frame, he carried that.


    Yulia''s eyes widened when they entered the garage. "Is this all for me?"


    "Mostly," Alexander admitted.


    He realized when Yulia first started the buggy project that she was going to need a place to work and proper tools to do that work. Instead of having her come to him constantly to borrow tools, he outfitted a part of the garage as a workshop. It also helped him if he needed to work on repairs to the auto carts, so it was worth the effort.


    Yulia squealed in delight and ran over to examine all the tools, completely forgetting about everything else.


    "Careful around the service pit!" he admonished.


    She slowed, which was good enough for him.


    The pit opened to the floor below, but there was a walkway that led up and a platform that could adjust its height to allow her to more easily reach the underside of the vehicle above, while also allowing Alexander to use the same pit space without having to crouch.


    He would have used a lift instead of a pit, but the pit was much safer, assuming she used it properly.


    There was a sliding plate that could cover the pit, but it was situated on the ceiling of the floor below, which left a two-foot drop if you got careless.


    Unlike a normal mechanic''s shop from back in his day, the one he built sported all sorts of engineering marvels.


    There was an overhead crane and four articulating robotic arms hanging from the ceiling. It was all operated by a pseudo-computronic core, ensuring Yulia couldn''t hurt herself while using them.


    Not that she would get access to those features right off the bat. She would start with the hand tools and work her way up as Alexander familiarized her with the other items.


    With a quick command to the system, two sets of short lifts rose from either side of the pit. Alexander set the frame he had been carrying on those four lifts, where he had specifically added the jacking points to prevent the frame from sliding, tipping, or falling once it was in place.


    The frame was composed of aluminum, so the magnetic feature on the lifts wouldn''t work. The material choice had been Yulia''s. She had taken a liking to aluminum when she realized it was lighter than the steel he had originally used to build the go-karts.


    One day, she would figure out that there were even lighter and stronger metals, but he left that discovery for her to make.


    Alexander spent the rest of Yulia''s off day from classes helping his daughter arrange the parts in the space and showing her where the tools and emergency kit were. She wasn''t allowed down here without him, but that didn''t mean she wouldn''t sneak down there on her own. He knew her well enough to realize at some point she would probably convince someone with access that she was allowed down there unsupervised.


    When that happened, Dog would be there to hopefully keep her safe, but ensuring she knew where the medical kit was located was cheap insurance if she somehow managed to injure herself.


    After a few years of being a father, Alexander had come to realize that you sometimes had to let children make mistakes and choices on their own, even if those choices were bad ones.


    Once the parts were laid out, Yulia insisted they couldn''t simply leave without doing any work on the buggy.


    Speaking of bad choices. Even though it was half an hour past her bedtime and she had school in the morning, Alexander agreed that she could spend an hour putting parts on the buggy.


    Yulia tried arguing for more time, but Alexander put his foot down. She was going to regret the lack of sleep in the morning already, but Alexander wasn''t going to send her to class completely dead on her feet.

 Chapter 217 - 4-33

    After Alexander took a very tired, very grumpy girl to class the next day, he headed back to his workshop to dive into what he had uncovered the previous day.


    Having a spinning motor create static electricity wasn''t going to cut it to create a defensive field.


    The first issue was that he needed the field to be much stronger, and the second was that whatever created it made it must be much smaller. The tiny amount of static electricity generated by the field emitter bearing was a start, but he needed to figure out some way to store that static charge and have it deploy when needed instead of constantly having it discharge.


    The second issue was that he needed the field to activate nearly instantaneously when it detected an incoming threat. He had an idea of how his body determined that, so he had a decent starting point there, but it was going to take some thought to figure out how to add that to the finished device.


    Alexander started a new project in his design software and pulled up the bearing design. It wasn''t necessary; he knew the specs from memory, but he found looking at them helped when he was working.


    The tolerances were extremely tight, almost too tight. Thermal expansion and contraction had to be accounted for when he designed the bearingless motor. That being said, he could sort of cheat by ensuring he used the most thermally stable metal he had access to.


    Alexander pushed that design off to the side as he created a capacitor made from carbon nanotubes. Based on the cross-section of the hull he had removed from the alien ship, he was pretty sure that was how his body stored the massive charge of static electricity. Perhaps the ship had something like an actual forcefield, with the entire rear section missing; he would never know for sure.


    He shaped the capacitor into a sphere about the size of a softball. Not exactly small and easy to hide, but it was a first step. He would worry about miniaturizing the design once he had a working prototype.


    A pole ran through the center of the nano-tube capacitor and would act as the support for the next parts, as well as the path for the static electricity to escape when activated.


    The negatively charged field emitter went in next in the form of a ring that wrapped around the outside of the central sphere, similar to a gyroscope in design, because it would act similarly to one once it was finished.


    The positive charge field emitter went on next, just outside the previous one. Powering the device was a bit tricky, but Alexander decided to go a very simple route and use a similar concept to how a radiometer functioned, since the small emitters didn''t actually require a whole lot of power to function.


    That was why he had been able to build small satellites with the emitters. Those ran on solar power and batteries. It wasn''t until you got into ship-scale ones that you needed to tie into a reactor, and that was because the fields were so inefficiently designed. Alexander''s upgraded designs were much more energy efficient.


    His design choice would require the end result to receive external heating or cooling, but that shouldn''t be an issue.


    He wrapped the finished product in a diamond sphere designed to slightly amplify any incoming light onto the black carbon nanotube sphere at the center, providing a boost to the heat that accumulated inside.


    Once the design was complete, he sent it to his nano-assembler, which was the only machine accurate enough to print the device. The fact that it was also able to print in a vacuum helped, since the entire inside of the sphere needed to be devoid of gases to operate correctly.


    Alexander didn''t know if this design was how his defensive field operated, but it didn''t matter. He only needed to recreate the properties of the field.


    The sphere took over three hours to print, but once it was complete, Alexander plucked it from the machine and smiled.


    The rings inside were already slowly moving, proving the concept would work. As he looked inside, he could see purplish-pink arcs of plasma dancing between the fields as they crossed over each other. That energy arced to the capacitor held in the center occasionally, causing it to start glowing slightly. It almost looked like Chernenkov radiation, but instead of the pale blue, it was a rose hue. It was actually quite beautiful to look at, but he decided to check to ensure it wasn''t releasing actual radiation before continuing.


    Thankfully, it wasn''t at least none that was dangerous. There was a bit of thermal radiation leaking from the orb, but that was to be expected given the design. It left the orb feeling slightly warm to the touch, and that was it.


    Now he just had to figure out how to release that energy when it was required.


    The prototype went up on one of his shelves, and he went back to the design software to figure out how to add sensors to the orb.


    A pseudo-computronic cube would have been ideal for such a task, but there was no way he was going to be able to fit something like that in his current design, let alone what he had in mind for the finished product.


    Motion sensors were what he came up with. They would not have been a viable option back during his time, but the motion sensors of the current day were practically hair-thin and could be optimized to detect motion within a specific range.


    That meant he could prevent the field from activating by accident every time the orb moved.


    Despite the small size of the sensors, they were still too big to fit inside the sphere, which meant the sphere needed to be attached to something else to function. That was fine. Alexander had planned to have it do just that.


    He pulled up his design for the combat variant of his augment suits. They already had a variety of sensors woven through the material of the armor, they even had motion sensors already built in for some of the other suit''s features.


    Alexander made a gesture, and the small power pack on the back of the armor exploded open in his design software. He completely reconfigured it and added a cradle for the defensive field orb. The change did necessitate a larger pack on the back that looked a bit ridiculous, but he hoped to fix that later.


    The sensors were plugged into the top and bottom of the sphere, where Alexander added connections. He also passed those connections to a tiny metal ball in the exact center of the nano-tube supercapacitor inside.


    Once the sensors were triggered, tiny metal feet would shoot out from the ball to contact the capacitor and hopefully discharge the stored energy properly.


    Alexander had to make a few guesses and assumptions with his design since he had never built anything like it.


    He was about to complete the design when he heard a strange buzzing sound.


    Looking for the source, he quickly located it. The first prototype orb was literally vibrating against the shelf he had placed it.


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    He walked over to pick it up, but only made it about halfway before there was a soft *pop*


    The next thing he knew, he was flying across his workshop, and his mind space was throwing up all kinds of red messages along with a combat notice and an activation of his own defensive field.


    The defensive field did cushion his blow as he slammed against the far wall of his workshop, but it didn''t stop it entirely.


    There was a sizable dent where his body impacted the wall, and a whole lot of debris caught in his defensive field.


    He picked himself up off the floor and looked around with a frown. His workshop was a mess, but it seemed like only loose objects were thrown away from where the orb had resided. Everything else, including the machines, was fine.


    Alexander checked himself over but didn''t find any damage to his body. That was surprising given the force at which he had been thrown against the wall, but he would take the small victory.


    A moment later, his hallway sensors activated as guards rushed to see what the commotion was about. Alexander secured the design he had been working on moments before the guards burst in.


    The guards paused as they saw the mess. "Is everything okay in here?" one of the men asked.


    "It''s fine," Alexander stated. "Just a bit of an accident with an experiment I was running. Thank you for checking on me, though."


    The pair of guards nodded and excused themselves.


    Once they were gone, Alexander picked through the remains of the metal shelf until he found the two halves of the prototype sphere.


    The diamond outer coating had split exactly at the point where the two poles connected the interior to the exterior shell.


    The resulting air rushing in must have released the stored energy. It was far more static electricity than Alexander had expected it to contain in such a short amount of time.


    It seemed he would have to tweak the power a bit and maybe add a system to bleed off energy so it didn''t overload.


    ***


    Alexander stood next to Lucas in The Pit.


    "Now that we are here, are you going to tell me why you woke me up in the middle of my sleep?" Lucas asked with a yawn. "I''m all for testing your defensive field some more, but not if it means the loss of my beauty rest."


    Alexander chuckled at that. "Sorry for waking you like I did, and being cryptic about this test, but I can assure you, it was necessary. I made a breakthrough in creating the defensive field."


    That perked the programmer up. "You did? When?"


    "Yesterday. I wanted to wait, but Eden''s End is going into its night cycle soon, and I didn''t want to wait another week until we had enough sun to do this test."


    "Fair enough," Lucas grunted and stretched. "Let''s see this prototype."


    Alexander wheeled out the large case from the ship and opened it up.


    Lucas peered inside before glancing up at Alexander. "An augment suit?"


    Alexander nodded. "I integrated it into the suit to use the sensors."


    With hardly any effort, Alexander lifted the suit and the stand out from the crate and carried them to the far end of the range.


    There was a bit of extra setup Alexander needed to do while Lucas prepared the weapons. He hadn''t figured out an ideal way to keep the orb from overcharging yet, and since there was no on or off switch, he was forced to add a sort of safety. In this case, it was just a connector that replaced one of the suit connectors and kept the discharge probes connected to the capacitor.


    He pulled the probe out, which had a handy tag labeled ''remove before use'' on it, and plugged in the second suit connector. The orb had already begun spinning slowly and building a charge.


    Next, he powered on the suit.


    The added heat from the battery caused the orb to start charging faster, but Alexander had taken that into account. He estimated they had just over two hours before the orb would overload.


    The problem was that he had no idea how long it would take to create a charge strong enough to do what his defensive field did.


    That was one of the things they were out here to discover.


    By the time Alexander made it back to the staging area, Lucas had three weapons set up and ready to go. The first was the flechette rifle, which would be used for the initial time testing. The second was the grenade launcher. Last but not least was a new FE rifle Alexander had created.


    The weapon had come about thanks to his tests with the field emitters to create bearingless motors. Once Alexander realized the fields could operate in an atmosphere so long as they were close enough to the oppositely charged object, he just needed to move them to the inside of the barrel to take advantage of that interaction. He had no plans of modifying the ship cannons to do the same thing. The tolerances required simply weren''t worth the effort. At the moment, he had to use his nano-assembler to print the flechettes for the gun to ensure they all remained the same size. He was going to have to come up with a molding process that ensured the same accuracy.


    You could call this trip to The Pit a test for the new rifle as well. If it worked well, he would be phasing out the flechette minigun for the new rifle. The FE rifle may have used the same-sized flechettes, but it didn''t carry as many rounds as the minigun did. Unlike the minigun, however, the FE rifle could adjust the velocity of its shots from subsonic¨Clike the miniguns'' were¨Cto that of a railgun, making it far more versatile in combat, especially against armored foes. He made sure to notify Krieger of this test, but the man was on patrol and unable to attend in person. That''s what the camera feed to the comm node inside the shuttle was for.


    After another half an hour of sitting around, Alexander''s watch beeped. "Initiate test one."


    Lucas stood from the crate he had been sitting on and hefted the minigun. "Firing!"


    Lucas sent one round down-range. His shot was off target as per Alexander''s request, but the field was still activated. He could see that from the cameras set up near the test site.


    He would need to tweak the sensors a bit more, but for now, that was fine.


    The round was noticeably slowed, but it wasn''t stopped, and soon it impacted the target behind the suit.


    Alexander wondered if that was just because it passed through a weaker section of the field or because the field generator took longer than half an hour to reach full strength.


    Over the next six hours, they were able to determine it was a bit of both.


    If the projectile wasn''t heading directly toward the generator, the field was not as effective on the rounds, which made sense.


    "Alright, time to fire as many flechettes as you can on target."


    "Don''t have to tell me twice," Lucas replied happily.


    The man pulled the trigger and held it as the gun spat the tiny metal slivers downrange. The field engaged once again, and about two feet out from the target, a wall of silver started to form as the darts were stopped dead.


    That lasted for about three seconds, then the field collapsed, and the rest of the rounds slammed against the armored surface of the suit.


    He could see from the camera feed that the field kept trying to sputter back to life, but it simply didn''t have any energy left to support itself.


    There was a series of clicks as Lucas'' minigun finally ran out of ammo.


    "Well, how did it go?" the man asked.


    "About three seconds," Alexander stated.


    "Hmm. Enough to move someone to safety if needed."


    Alexander agreed, but he still found it less than ideal. "Alright, I need to swap the battery pack out in the armor. Then we''ll wait for the field generator to recharge and try it with the grenade launcher." He stopped the man before he could happily pick up the next weapon. "It''s not holding blanks, so be careful."


    Lucas nodded and set the weapon back down. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The test with the grenade launcher went the same. The rounds were stopped, but as soon as the field collapsed, they hit the ground and exploded, sending the armor and stand tumbling.


    It wasn''t really a surprise. He doubted most people would be fast enough to grab the projectiles from the air and toss them away in such a situation. It would give them time to dive for cover and hope the armor protected them, however.


    The explosion damaged the sensors on the front of the armor, so Alexander was forced to face the back of the armor toward the staging area for the final test.


    Lucas was getting a feel for the FE rifle when he returned. Much like his original test with the FE cannon, the rifle was attached to a stand that was weighted down with sandbags.


    "Alright, I would suggest testing all the modes of the gun, but I don''t want to wait around another three hours for the suit to recharge." He should have brought more than one suit. "Might as well go wild. Turn the gun up to full power and hold the trigger down."


    Lucas grinned widely at that and shouldered the weapon before taking aim at the target.


    The gun recoiled into the man''s shoulder as the weapon dampened each successive shot. The only sound was a quiet metallic pinging that turned into a high-pitched ring before the entire one-hundred-round magazine was spent in less than five seconds.


    Alexander had his focus split, with one part on the gun and the other on the target.


    The FE rifle was turning out to be a bit much for his prototype defensive field. The rounds were impacting the armor and mushrooming despite the field slowing them, but they weren''t able to penetrate the material as they were losing most of their velocity. As soon as the field collapsed, the final forty rounds punched straight through the armor, leaving glowing trails as the friction-heated projectiles punched through the far side.


    While the outcome was less than ideal, he now had an upper limit to the effectiveness of the field generator. He needed to improve that.

 Chapter 218 - 4-34

    Alexander would like to say he had been able to refine the field generator uninterrupted, but that wasn''t the case.


    A few days after his initial testing had been completed, one of the STO people had asked to speak with him.


    "Captain Rhys," Alexander said, standing to greet the STO captain. Unlike Willard, he had nothing against Rhys, so there was no point in being antagonistic toward him. "I was surprised to get a request from you, not Willard."


    "Vice Admiral Willard," the man stated, doing a poor job of hiding his disdain for the man, "is currently occupied. He has asked me to look into why the retrofit is taking so long. I reminded the Vice Admiral that replacing engines can take time, especially on older ships, but he was insistent that I check in."


    "I see. There were a few minor complications that we ran into, but we were able to resolve those, and the Blueridge retrofit should be done by the end of this week." While it was true that they had run into a few snags while installing the new thrusters, apart from the sabotage, the work had actually been completed three weeks ago. The captain didn''t need to know that, though.


    Alexander didn''t want the STO to be aware of just how quickly he could complete certain work.


    When the man didn''t immediately thank Alexander and leave, he quirked an eyebrow on his avatar. "Is there something else, Captain Rhys?"


    "There is, I''m afraid. Willard would like to know when you would be ready to depart."


    Alexander had been expecting Willard to ask that question as soon as the man was made aware that the Blueridge was operational again. He was surprised someone as controlling as Willard would send Rhys to ask on his behalf.


    "You can tell the Vice Admiral that my diplomatic vessel will be ready in the next month, but we won''t be leaving until a month later. I wish to remain here to attend my daughter''s birthday."


    "He won''t be thrilled by that answer, but I understand," the captain replied. "I have a daughter of my own. She will be fifteen shortly."


    Alexander wasn''t sure what to say about that. He felt like shit now that he knew he was keeping someone else from their child''s birthday. "I''m sorry you''ll miss it. I know there are only so many of those occasions you get to attend, my daughter is already turning thirteen this year."


    "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Kane, but I wouldn''t have been able to attend her birthday even if I were back in Varlen. My family lives on the far side of STO space, and getting leave from my duties to travel for three months wouldn''t have been possible. A conversation over Qcomm will have to be acceptable. The fact that Unokane has a Qcomm does make me appreciative, though. And thank you for giving me a firm date. I believe once the Vice Admiral gets over the fact that he will be stuck here for another few months, he will be less confrontational."


    Alexander hadn''t spoken to Willard since the day he told him the engines would be ready to go early. Ever since then, Theo had been running interference with the man. It was nearly a full-time job, but it had worked at keeping the Vice Admiral occupied and unable to interrupt Alexander''s other work.


    Captain Rhys left Alexander''s office shortly after.


    Alexander would have headed to his workshop immediately, but it was time to finally contact Katalynn and call in his favor.


    The person who answered the video call looked familiar, but Alexander couldn''t quite place the face. It was one of the Lokis, but the man had a shaved head and a bearded face. He didn''t recall meeting any Lokis like that during his visit. They tended toward standard Asgardian customs of braided hair and beards. Alexander assumed it was homage toward their old roots or a bastardization of it. The only knowledge he had of old Norse culture came from a few snippets of movies he remembered.


    "Greetings, Jarl Kane," the man stated, his accent also differing from Asgardian norms. "Do you wish to speak with the Lagertha?"


    Shaking off the oddity of the encounter, Alexander spoke up. "Yes, is she available?"


    "She should be, one moment."


    The video cut out and when it returned, it was from inside the Lagertha''s office.


    A much healthier-looking Katalynn stepped in front of the camera and sat down. She was covered in sweat, so he had a pretty good idea of what she had been up to before he called.


    "Sorry for interrupting your training, Lagertha, but I needed to discuss something with you."


    "It''s fine. I was nearly done anyway. My body is still too weak for a full session," she gestured to herself. "This is just from ten minutes of sparring. What would you like to discuss?"


    "I would like to call in that favor."


    The woman quirked an eyebrow. "So soon? I assume this has to do with the STO ship parked around Eden''s End and your upcoming trip to Earth?"


    Damn Lokis, he cursed internally. "I see you''re as well-informed as always. Yes. I would like you to go with me to work on repairing the Asgardian Union''s image."


    "Very well," she stated a moment later.


    Alexander had his avatar blink in surprise. "That simple?"


    "Did you expect me to decline the offer?" she asked with a smirk.


    "Maybe. I expected a bit of pushback at least considering the Asgardians'' feelings toward the STO."


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    Katalynn laughed. "It''s understandable that you might think that, but even if I didn''t owe you this favor, I would have agreed to come. Now that the Asgardian Union can stand on its own, one of my goals is to open up communications with the STO. We don''t need to like each other to do that. I would have done this at some point, but there always seemed to be some fire that needed to be put out. With the ships you repaired for us and the new ones based on Asgardian designs that we contracted you to build, I have less concern about leaving Union space, and I can hardly turn down your request." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was true that Alexander had built three more cruisers for the Lagertha. They were all based on the Valkyrie''s original design and took less time to manufacture than his other designs. The only change was to the engines. They got a full BSE engine package.


    Because Katalynn had asked for the ships as quickly as possible, she had declined the other upgrades that made the Valkyrie so much deadlier. A cruiser was still a very dangerous ship, though, and Alexander had included a few minor upgrades like the tac-display, which took no extra time to install.


    "What about the war with Xin?" he asked. That was the only real sticking point that had kept him from reaching out sooner.


    "Thanks to your ships, we can rotate crews in and out to keep our frontline people fresh. If you can keep them coming, I don''t see any problem with my absence."


    "That shouldn''t be an issue," Alexander confirmed. "I guess that covers any concerns I might have had. As long as you''re not worried about anything else, we should be good. I plan on leaving in a little over two months. Is that enough time?"


    "Asgardian ships are always ready to go at a moment''s notice. Two months is more than enough time."


    Alexander nodded his avatar. "I will need to install a transponder aboard Valkyrie, assuming that is the ship you are taking." He knew Katalynn well enough to know she probably wasn''t willing to enter STO space aboard anything other than her flagship.


    She confirmed that a moment later. "You are correct. As you are well aware, the Valkyrie already has the transmitter for a transponder; it was just never needed in our space, and it was never intended to enter STO space, so we saw no reason to acquire one."


    They finished up their conversation, and Katalynn confirmed they would be arriving in a little over a month and a half.


    That was good. He wanted them to arrive as close to their departure date as possible to limit any friction that might occur between the Vice Admiral and Char. Not that the outdated destroyer that was Blueridge could do anything against a heavy cruiser like the Valkyrie, but it was best to err on the side of caution.


    Now that he was done with that, it was time to get back to work. He had just over two months to finish up any improvements he wanted to include before they left.


    ***


    The second prototype generator was half the size of the original, making it about the size of a pool ball instead of a softball.


    It worked fine, but the testing concluded the generator was also half as effective. Considering he wasn''t even close to the size he wanted for the end result, he needed to fix that issue before moving forward, or the finished product wouldn''t even be strong enough to stop subsonic rounds.


    The first thing Alexander tried was adding a second ring to each layer, ninety degrees apart from the original ring. That did increase the charge strength slightly, but not enough to make up for the loss from reducing the generator size. What it did do was extend the field duration by a full second. While not what he was originally going for, he made a note of the improvement.


    He spent the next week refining and tweaking the field emitters so they were much thinner. Then he stacked four inside the sphere instead of two, alternating them.


    That proved to be the right move. The new generator was able to produce the same output as the original prototype that he and Lucas had tested. It also had the added benefit of the extended duration without adding the second portion to the rings.


    Four seconds still wasn''t much, but it was an improvement.


    Alexander repeated that process for the third prototype, shrinking it down to the size of a mandarin. The field was once again weaker, so Alexander thinned the field emitters even more, and now the sphere held four pairs in alternating order.


    The purple plasma bouncing around inside was mesmerizing to watch, but Alexander quickly realized another new issue. By reducing the size of the sphere, he was reducing the overall capacity of the nanotube supercapacitor.


    As a result, the field strength was much weaker, even with the four pairs of emitters, even if the field duration had ticked up to nearly five seconds now.


    Even with the accuracy of his printers, there was probably a considerable amount of empty space within the supercapacitor structure, so Alexander came up with an idea to fix that. He developed a machine similar to a diamond press to compress the structure of the nanotubes and reduce as much wasted space as possible. His hope was that it would turn the loose collection of tubes into a solid mass without losing the properties he needed from the substrate.


    Getting that result without crushing the nanotubes was turning out to be a challenge. It all came down to heat.


    Keeping the material cool while the machine did the work was paramount, otherwise, the carbon structure would change too much. With the change to the capacitor, he also needed to readdress the trigger mechanism since that empty space was now taken up by additional nanotubes. Fixing that was simple enough.


    When the process was done, Alexander had managed to compress the grape-sized supercapacitor down to the size of a pea. He should be proud of discovering such an effective way to condense nanotubes, as it was sure to have advantages for energy storage, but it was such a slow process that he wasn''t sure how it could be mass-manufactured. It took two weeks just to complete a single storage device.


    Setting that compressed core into the nano-assembler and aligning the print was also proving extremely difficult. He did manage it in the end, but he would need to figure out a better method in the future, or simply stick with the larger generators.


    The end result was a sphere about the size of a ping-pong ball. Alexander changed the exterior as well, it was no longer made entirely of clear diamond. Instead, it was now made from black diamond, with clear diamond speckled throughout to make it look like a starfield, lit from within.


    Looking closely, you would be able to see the palladium-coated rings slowly rotating inside to produce the plasma arcs. Their precise movements reminded Alexander of expensive watches from back in his time.


    The orb was attached to the end of a platinum chain that hid hair-thin wires along its length.


    At first glance, it looked like a very expensive necklace, which was the entire point. It was all theater, so the necklace would not look out of place around the neck of a little girl.


    Alexander created an entire wardrobe of clothes, with motion sensors littered throughout, to go along with the necklace.


    Yulia''s bodyguards would also be getting upgraded augment gear, which included the tangerine-sized generators as well as an upgrade to the armor as a whole. It was now much more discreet. The armor plates were replaced with a composite mesh of his own design. Alexander also used the integrated systems he picked up from the corporate ship to condense the power systems of the armor, giving them twice the run time.


    Last but not least was Dog, which got yet another upgrade. Alexander enlarged the robot by about ten percent, which was just enough to shove a pseudo-computronic core inside. Then he transferred Dog to the new chassis, which was made entirely from the corporate composite and integrated systems.


    Dog could now roam autonomously for a full week before needing a recharge, and it also had a field generator inside, along with a laser and pulse module.


    With the redundant security and upgrades, Yulia would now be as safe as possible. If anyone was dumb enough to try and harm her during their visit, they were going to be in for a really nasty surprise.

 Chapter 219 - 4-35

    "More weapon testing?" Lucas asked in excitement. "It isn''t even my birthday."


    Before Alexander could comment, the younger man hurried off to grab another crate from the shuttle.


    "Is he like this every time the pair of you come out here?" Krieger asked.


    "Only when weapons are involved," Alexander replied as he set up the FE cannon once again.


    "I can hear you!" Lucas yelled from the rear of the shuttle. "And who doesn''t like to fire off a weapon?" he asked as he came down the ramp with a box of ammunition.


    "Fair enough," Krieger admitted. "So, Alex, not that I''m ungrateful, but why did you decide to invite me this time around?"


    "I wanted you to see the finished products in action."


    "Products?" Krieger asked in intrigue. "Does it have anything to do with those mannequins wearing augment gear or that one that looks to be wearing a dress?"


    While Krieger had been able to watch the previous tests through the video feed, Alexander hadn''t told him what those were about. "You''ll see soon enough."


    Alexander hadn''t only brought the FE cannon, but he had also brought the new FE rifles. They were sitting in a crate off to the side. The reason he had two augment suits was to test one versus the actual cannon. He doubted the static generator would do much to stop a round from something so large, but he wanted to see what effect it might have. The other two were to showcase the new field generator against the most powerful handheld projectile rifle ever developed.


    The three moved inside the bunker for the cannon test.


    That poor dummy was situated in front of the destroyer''s armor mockup.


    Lucas quickly grabbed ear protection, and Alexander handed a pair to the Admiral. "Trust me, you''ll need these."


    The man quickly placed them on, and the finalized FE cannon was activated. Unlike his earlier prototypes, the activation sequence of the fields had been optimized by the self-learning of his pseudo-computronics. He could have done it himself, but it would have taken far longer.


    According to Lucas, the programs were nearing the point where they might be considered AI within the STO. That didn''t mean they were sapient, though. With the way the code was designed, he didn''t think that would ever be possible. If it had been, the corporations likely would have developed sentient AI a long time ago to gain an edge, since he knew some of them utilized AI extensively, especially Omni.


    The pseudo-computronics were a bit like him, able to piece together the information they had available to come up with better alternatives. That did bring up the question of whether he was an AI all over again, but he decided it didn''t much matter at this point. He felt human, and he had feelings, that''s all that really counted.


    The cannon quickly cycled through its self-check, and Alexander selected the first dummy as the target.


    "This isn''t the full targeting suite you might have aboard a ship," Alexander said, "but it helps to accurately align the gun. I don''t want to have another instance of a round going rogue."


    "I appreciate that," Krieger stated flatly. "What caused that in the first place anyway? I doubt you simply decided to point the gun at the storage building in orbit and take a shot."


    Alexander sighed. "The field projected past the barrel slightly in our tests. Unfortunately, the projectile wasn''t perfectly aligned with the center of the field as it exited. Once the final field activated, it shoved the projectile vertically instead of forward, and the rest you already know."


    Krieger nodded. "Is that a concern we have to worry about going forward? The alignment, not the field being projected past the barrel. I assume you fixed that issue."


    "I fixed both issues. The field emitters no longer project beyond the barrel, and the alignment is less touchy now. It did cost a bit of velocity to achieve that goal, but it''s still well above what a railgun can achieve."


    "Are we done playing twenty questions?" Lucas asked in annoyance. "You can do the boring stuff back home. Let''s shoot this thing already."


    Alexander just shook his avatar and handed the tablet to Krieger, earning a faux look of betrayal from Lucas. "You already had an opportunity to press the big red button," Alexander told the aggrieved man.


    Lucas huffed but turned back toward the holo display that showed the test range.


    "Here goes nothing," Krieger said before pressing the icon on the tablet.


    If they weren''t inside an atmosphere, the thing firing would have been nearly silent. Just a light ting sound as the Gauss accelerator kicked in to start the projectile on its way. That all changed when the projectile tore through the thin film over the barrel and crossed the short distance to the target in less than a heartbeat. The crack of the projectile cutting through the air was deafening, and Alexander was glad he didn''t have ears or audio pickups that seemed affected by such things.


    Thanks to cameras and sensors set up near the first dummy, Alexander could see that the field did engage to try and stop the projectile, but the white-hot metal cut through the static field, armor, and plastic body like it wasn''t even there. It continued uninterrupted through the mockup plate of destroyer armor before blowing out the other side as a spray of molten metal.


    "The projectile heating issue won''t be as big of a concern in space," he stated.


    "WHAT?!" Krieger yelled.


    Even with the double layer of ear protection, the shockwave produced by the cannon was head-rattling.


    Alexander sighed and took the tablet, writing a message on it that read ''Your hearing should return shortly.''


    The pair joined him outside a few minutes later. Krieger was still shaking his ear with a finger and moving his jaw back and forth. "I THINK YOU NEED MORE SOUND PROOFING ON THAT BUNKER."


    The three of them walked down range and inspected the remains of the dummy. By the time they arrived, Lucas and Krieger had regained most of their hearing.


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    The dummy was still standing upright, but black smoke curled out from inside. Some of the plastic must still be smoldering.


    The only thing you could see was a small hole neatly melted through the front and back armor. It really had given the projectile nearly zero resistance.


    Thanks to the cameras, Alexander had been able to calculate how much of an effect the field generator had on the projectile. Not much was the answer. He wasn''t sure if the field was simply inadequate to stop that much mass or if the field hadn''t sprung up quickly enough.


    Krieger quickly grew bored with examining the suit and moved over to the ship''s armor. Being a commander, he would be more interested in how the weapon performed against ship armor. Considering Alexander hadn''t filled him in about the new feature of the suit yet, his reaction was expected.


    "The friction caused by the tungsten penetrator passing through armor as thick as that at such a high velocity is going to cause it to burst even without atmospheric heating. Will that be an issue?" Alexander asked as he watched the man examine the still-glowing hole.


    Krieger stood up and turned to him. "An issue? Not at all. It''ll actually be an advantage. It''s rare to have a single railgun or Gauss round pass through undamaged armor. We have a term for that when it happens, they are referred to as a miracle shot. Normally, a ship has to put multiple rounds on the same spot to weaken armor for more rounds to smash through. Those rounds then simply keep going until they hit something that stops them, usually the other side of the ship or something that explodes. As you know, it takes a lot of shots to bring down a ship of equivalent size. Most of that is because the rounds remain intact when they pass through the weakened armor. Having them fragment like this means the damage they cause is multiplied quite a bit."


    "Less shots, more damage," Alexander replied with a nod. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Exactly," Krieger confirmed. "Have you gotten the new cannons installed on your test ship yet?"


    "It''s almost ready, but let''s head back to the staging area. I''m pretty sure Lucas is about to vibrate apart with excitement if we don''t."


    The pair looked over at the man who was still examining the augmentation suit with a big grin on his face.


    After heading back, Alexander picked up one of the rifles and handed it to Krieger.


    "Oof, a bit heavy for a rifle, isn''t it?" the man asked as he hefted the weapon.


    "It''ll mostly be used by people in augment suits, but it''s light enough to be utilized by an unaugmented individual in a pinch. I couldn''t make it any lighter without reducing its durability, trust me, I tried."


    Lucas struggled a bit more with the weapon than the Admiral, but he still managed to get it on the table and the bipod legs set in place.


    Krieger looked at the setup suspiciously. "How''s the recoil? In basic training, they made us fire a crew-served railgun from a bipod while lying prone. I''m pretty sure I can still feel that to this day."


    "It isn''t all that much. Most is handled by the active recoil-damping systems inside the gun.


    "So it''s nearly recoilless!" Krieger stated in surprise, giving the weapon a second look.


    "Not exactly. You''ll still feel the initial hit from the Gauss system, but that should be minimal. If the field that suspends the rounds inside the barrel ever fails, then it''ll probably break bones on an unaugmented person."


    Krieger''s look of awe quickly turned to one of wariness. "Let''s hope that doesn''t happen then."


    It looked like Krieger had more questions, but Lucas was growing more impatient.


    Alexander held his hand up to halt any further inquiry for the time being. "How about you two take some target practice on the other objects for a bit? Once you have a feel for the weapon, we can move to the mannequins."


    "Bout time," he heard Lucas mutter.


    Krieger simply nodded and loaded his weapon.


    They both started on the lowest setting, plinking targets with the tungsten flechettes that Alexander had designed for the gun.


    He would have gone with the steel ones that normal flechette rifles used, but they were not robust enough to hold up to the weapon''s full power.


    The guns were nearly silent at the lowest power. All you could hear was the ping of the Gauss accelerator as it launched the projectile out of the barrel.


    Once the second setting was engaged, you could hear the light crack as the projectile crossed the sound barrier, but they were so small that it was quiet enough not to require hearing protection.


    The third setting was full power. The crack of supersonic flight was louder, but it wasn''t much more than you might expect from a hunting rifle.


    Krieger had taken to firing at the frigate armor with the last of his rounds. Alexander could see small pits appearing in the armor as the rounds exploded against the exterior.


    The Admiral removed the magazine and set the weapon to safe before turning to him. "Color me impressed. I''m not sure I would want to fire that at full power inside a ship, though. Do you think you could make a smaller version that included just the first two modes?"


    "Sure, but don''t you want something to deal with armored invaders?"


    "If we are getting boarded, we have enough to worry about without adding panicked ship crew firing wildly with wall-penetrating rounds. There is still a use for the full-power models, though. Our tactical teams can have those. Pair them with your suit sensors, and I don''t see why they can''t simply fire through walls to pick off enemies in hiding when doing boarding operations."


    Alexander hadn''t considered that. He would need to add some sort of sync feature to the FE rifle that would allow it to show the person in the augment suit where to aim to hit a hidden target, but that shouldn''t be too hard to incorporate.


    "I''ll take that into consideration." Alexander handed the Admiral another magazine. "Ready for the final test?"


    Krieger accepted the ammo and turned to Lucas. "No complaint about being left out?"


    "Nope, I got to shoot at Alex, so I''m good."


    Krieger turned back to Alex with a concerned look.


    "It was for testing, and we only used a flechette rifle," Alexander said.


    That explanation didn''t seem to mollify the Admiral. The man looked him over for damage before shaking his head and slapping the magazine into the weapon. "We''ll discuss your idea of acceptable testing some other time. Which target do you want me to shoot first?"


    "Using full power, fire as fast as you can at the armored target."


    Needing no more encouragement, Krieger let loose. Alexander could see when the field generator finally failed as the mannequin started to rock when rounds peppered the armor.


    By the time the weapon was empty, the target was riddled full of holes and leaning oddly to the side.


    "Was that what I think it was?" Krieger asked.


    Alexander smiled and handed him the tablet that showed a video of the target.


    As the first rounds entered the video window, they came to a dead stop. More rounds joined the first before the field collapsed, dropping the inert rounds to the ground as more slammed into the armor. Six seconds was the best Alexander had managed with the generators, and they would take fifteen minutes to recharge, but it was enough to allow someone to run for cover.


    "I knew you had a prototype, but I didn''t think you had managed to miniaturize it enough to go into armor," Krieger said in surprise.


    Alexander nodded his avatar up and down enthusiastically.


    "Wait, don''t tell me that dress has the same feature?"


    "You tell me." Alexander handed the man another magazine, and Krieger quickly loaded it and began firing at the final target.


    The man whistled as he watched the second replay, as the rounds simply stopped short of the dress.


    "How?" he asked, flabbergasted by the result. "I assume the armor has the field generator buried inside the power pack on the back, but I don''t see anything like that on the dress."


    Alexander smiled. "Did you notice the necklace around the mannequin''s neck?"


    "You''re shitting me. Really? I thought it was odd to have a necklace on the mannequin, but that''s what''s stopping the rounds. It seems so unassuming."


    "That was the whole point," Alexander chuckled. "If you didn''t realize it was a defensive item, that means our enemies won''t either."


    "You should''ve seen the size of the first prototype," Lucas chuckled.


    "It wasn''t that bad," Alexander grumped.


    Krieger ignored the banter and asked a question Alexander had been expecting from the commander. "Any chance you could deploy this around a ship?"


    Alexander shook his avatar. "Not in its current configuration. That doesn''t mean I won''t try to figure something out, though. There are also other things I could do with a field such as this, but that will have to wait until after I return from my trip."


    Krieger nodded at that answer. "You haven''t spoken about your trip much. I assume you wish for me to come with?"


    "As much as I would appreciate you commanding the new ship, I think I have enough experience to handle that myself. I need you to stay here and keep things safe."


    Krieger looked like he wanted to argue the point, but he paused and then nodded. "Probably for the best, I can''t imagine the STO Navy would be thrilled to see me."