is now on board, patching her through” Sarsen announced.
“It’s a stalemate down here, Captain.” Luryae said.
“Figure it out and be quick, we have company out here. Hayf frigates” Zsilana replied.
“Hayf? Captain-” Luryae spoke up but was cut short.
“Do your job Luryae, let me worry about the Hayf.”
“Another ship gone,” Sarsen said, “frigates closing in to our position.”
“Bring ships to cover,” Zsilana said.
“Our boarding team has been repelled,” Teran said.
“Can we still get the device?” Zsilana’s voice quivered.
“Soon,” Teran replied.
“Captain, bad news,” Sarsen said, “a Hayf cruiser just appeared. No warning and no visual yet.”
“Luryae? Get out. They’ve brought the heavies.” Zsilana called out over the com.
Sarsen read out further casualties, “Another ship gone, they’re taking us down too fast, but the frigates have been deflected from our position. This is our gap to leave. That cru-”
“Forget the device, let’s go. Now! Lieutenant Byrol, ready the engines.”
A low rumbling engulfed the ship’s hull, the floor vibrated which caused the screens to flicker in and out of life.
“Pull us free, we need to leave,” Zsilana shouted.
“We need time to release the clamps and close the airlocks.” Taren replied.
“We don’t have time.”
“Cruiser circling to our position,” Sarsen warned.
“Go! Go! Go!” Zsilana paced back and forth in front of Feyu, she cracked her knuckles and slapped the sweat from her brow.
“Luryae? Are you on board? Respond, please,” Teran spoke over the com.
A dim sound came back on the com chanel, “here, lieutenant.”
Zsilana’s lead ship pulled free from the Terosan vessel, as it undocked the boarding jetty sliced a gash along the hull. Shrapnel and dirt fanned out from the Terosani hull. Bodies, tools burst, pipes all came free into the darkness of space.
A narrow escape from death itself, this was a story all too familiar for Zsilana. Somehow this was different. She’d never come face to face with any Hayf ship. There was never any need to venture near their territory, and this time was no different. How did they get here so quickly? They’re Hayf her conscience told her. They can do anything.
She had stared down the barrel of a gun more times than she could count. Sometimes she held the trigger, other times she was on the floor with the barrel in her mouth. Yet none of those times ever lead to death. Zsilana still lived despite the dangers of her style. She was afraid when death knocked, she never learnt to overcome the fear but perhaps that’s what kept her alive. Fear can be suppressed but never killed.
Despite all of that, all the past experiences, this time felt different. Her fleet had never been so methodically disabled or destroyed by anyone. Not the Terosan, not Kyopix, not her rivals, and the petty kings of factions faceless and unknown that inhabited the non-Terosani freeworlds. Zsilana had tried to explain this to Vohosecy, but he didn’t seem to care. He seemed heartless.
“I have the plans.” Zsilana smiled, she played coyly with her hair.
“The device? You don’t have it? I can’t pay you without it, I asked for the device,” Vohosecy replied in a cool tone.
Zsilana looked at him sternly, “you didn’t say there would be any Hayf presence there.”
“I couldn’t know.”
“You should have, you knew there was a fair chance I’d be slaughtered which is why you gave me this mission. You knew the capabilities of the Hayf ships but needed someone else to test that theory.”
“No device, no payment.”
“Your intelligence agents should have known, you sent us out there to be killed.”
“I want the device, not your head. Why would I let you go? You could have ran and never come back, I took that risk and I still need the device.”
“The plans will be sufficient, if you don’t buy them then someone else will. I’ll find a market for them somewhere.”
“You’ll get a tenth of what they’re worth.”
“I thought you only wanted the device.”
“I want the device, yes. Besides, there is no way to prove that you haven’t already copied and sold the plans.”
“Well, that’s a chance you’ll just have to take. I’m right here, right now. Convenient point of sale my friend.” Zsilana smiled.
“A known thief with plans of a secret device, sounds like like grounds for making you an outlaw, and all outlaws have bounties on their head. Will you be accepted both dead or alive? We may have to see, and perhaps I should claim the reward myself.” Vohosecy smiled and eyed Zsilana, but she didn’t flinch at the threat. “Guards!” Vohosecy called out, he rubbed his hands together, “give me the datachip.”
“I have it,” Zsilana flashed the chip, “but you don’t think I came without some assurance? Do you know where your son, Feyu, is?”
“He was dealing with some local corporations, I left him to deal with them,” Vohosecy paused, “but, now that you say… have you… I see, you’ve met my son, haven’t you? What did you do with him?”
“Nothing yet, he’s a sweet boy. Kind hearted, warm.”
“He let himself get captured? He means nothing to me.”
“I didn’t say I captured him, I just asked if you knew where he was. Feyu is safe, along with the plans for the device. This datachip on the other hand contains nothing useful, it is simply a recording of Feyu asleep on my ship.” Zsilana smiled then threw the chip on to his desk, “If you harm me then you won’t find either the plans or your son.”
“What makes you think you can get out of here alive?” He baited.
“If you are thinking of forcing me to go against my will then be assured that I have people on the station waiting for me. If I die they will know and my ship will leave with the plans and your son aboard. I don’t want to die but I think you’d rather have your son back, or you want the plans at the very least.” Zsilana held her head high.
Vohosecy said nothing. He stared out a viewport into space, he reclined with a glass of whisky.
“If you won’t buy then I shall be leaving,” Zsilana spoke clearly.
“Go!” Vohosecy shouted.
Zsilana straightened her tunic then turned to leave the room. She grabbed for the panel by the door. A low toned whoosh noise preceded the opening of the apartment door. She left.
“Ok, I yield. I yield. Come back,” Vohosecy called after her.
Zsilana stood in the doorway. She was silent but smiled.
“Give me the plans, and my son, and you can have a third of your payment.”
“Half,” Zsilana complained.
“You’ve copied the plans already. I can tell. You’re not stupid, so don’t treat me as an idiot either. Your losses are your losses, and you can no longer guarantee exclusivity of the plans,” Vohosecy said.
Zsilana nodded but hid her smile. A third would be more than enough to replace what she had lost. The Hayf had only disabled the ships, not destroyed them. The Terosan military had boarded and captured the crew but they ought to still be alive. There was hope.
Story Four – Gnir’s Raid
“What are you doing?” Qevon sat reclined in his computer chair, he watched Cerrun work with a las-torch.
“Frying my bio-chip,” Cerrun replied. Qev stared back, mouth agape.
Cerrun smiled back at him, “what?”
“You removed your bio-chip?”
“Yep.”
“How?”
“Just took it out,” Cerrun laughed.
“You know what I mean,” Qev wrinkled his brow, he was surprised that a Terosan police team hadn’t descended from the roof top and broken in through the window, “how did you remove it without setting off the alarm?”
Cerrun smirked, “y’know, the usual way.”
“You remember the story about what ha
ppened to me as a kid?” Qev said.
“Yep, I didn’t just pop it out. You need to plan in advance for this sort of thing.”
Qev slinked uneasily in his seat, he tried to get a better view of what Cerrun was doing. Did he actually have another chip in his arm, or what was he doing? “Well, y’know,” Qev emphasised the last work mockingly, “this is my place and I don’t plan to get arrested today.”
“I have another chip hooked up the datapad in my jacket, I planned ahead.” A smoldering smell reached Qev’s nostrils, he squirmed in fear of Cerrun’s madness. “The pad does the business and the chip believes it, everyone’s happy.”
“I’m not,” Qevon said, “you’re not the first to try this, and there’s good reason that more people don’t.”
“The first attempts at chip faking was before the TGN was even set up. The first to do it was younger than we are now, although it was simpler then. No profile faking or chip cloning, just straight forward rewiring.”
“Profile spoofing has never worked though, they always get caught,” Qevon warned.
“The good ones don’t get caught and that’s why we never hear about them.”
“And what about that guy recently who changed his appearance on the TGN?”
“He didn’t do it right.”
“Clearly,” Qev snorted.
“I saw his code, a fair attempt but too simple. He copied a gaming profile and tried to run that on the TGN with his normal biochip. A spoofed profile but the hardware was the same. The authorities are wise to that. Running faster than a shuttle through some of the busiest streets didn’t help either.”
“We’ll see how well you fail then,” Qev patted Cerrun on the back and then left to grab a couple of beers. He returned with two opened synthglass bottles.