“Lieutenant Quinn,” she said in an officious tone, “I’ve reviewed our current stock of Lot Six, and I regret to inform you that we simply don’t have enough to last the entire duration of this new mission.”

  The news hit Lt. Quinn like a punch to the gut. He clenched his fists, his face reddening with anger. “What do you mean we don’t have enough? Didn’t anyone think to check the supplies before we left Mars?”

  Dr. Sharaf bristled at his accusatory tone. “I did my best to anticipate our needs, Lieutenant, but I couldn’t have foreseen such an extended mission. Lot Six is an expensive and highly controlled substance. We can’t just conjure it out of thin air.”

  The two continued to argue heatedly, their voices rising in volume and intensity. The rest of us in Red Company headquarters glanced nervously at each other. We were uneasy about the escalating confrontation between the lieutenant and the doctor.

  Lt. Quinn banged his hand on a nearby table, causing the instruments to fly off. “Solve this. Now. We can’t just let my marines suffer through uncontrollable mutations.”

  “Lieutenant, I must remind you that Lot Six is an incredibly expensive drug. To make more with what we’ve got aboard Borag will require breaking down other medications. I’ve already stretched our budget to its limits. I’m simply not in any financial position to cover these costs.”

  Her words hung in the air for a few seconds. All of us infected marines exchanged glances. We were finally catching on. Yeah, that’s right… this was about money.

  Wasn’t it always about money when there was a shortage of something? Of anything?

  “I propose,” Sharaf continued, “that each of the affected marines contribute financially to the acquisition of more Lot Six. I understand this is a difficult request, but it’s the only way we can process enough medication for all of you from the ship’s supplies.”

  Lt. Quinn’s jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed. “Doctor, let me get this straight. You’re asking my marines to pay for a drug that is essential to their survival. Is that it? The ship’s accounts should be paying for this. I smell Blackwood’s complaints behind this shortage. Am I wrong?”

  Dr. Sharaf refused to back down, her stubbornness shining through. “I understand your concerns, Lieutenant, but the fact remains that we need more Lot Six, and therefore we need the funds to acquire it. I’m doing everything in my power to find a solution, but I can’t do it without your marines’ cooperation.”

  As the argument between Lt. Quinn and Dr. Sharaf continued, it became apparent that the doctor was the kind of woman who never admitted she was wrong. She stood her ground, even as the discussion became more heated. Finally, Quinn agreed to her terms.

  She then began to inject all of us, one at a time. The honey-like stuff in the syringe didn’t look any better than it ever had, and it burned in our veins.

  As the secret meeting came to an end, we marines weren’t happy. We weren’t only worried about our mutations getting out of control, but also about the new financial burden that Dr. Sharaf had placed upon us. We dispersed with heavy hearts, our minds racing with uncertainty.

  Private Ledbetter couldn’t contain his frustration any longer. In a hushed tone, he approached me with a radical suggestion. “Hey, Starn! We can’t let this bullshit continue. I’m done with these mutations.”

  “Don’t you like growing new eyeballs on your ass-cheeks? What are we going to do?” I asked him. “We’re screwed.”

  “Not necessarily…”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you thinking?”

  “Well… What if old Dr. Sharaf were to, you know… have an accident? She could fall out of an airlock, for instance. How about that? Huh? Our problems would be solved. We’d even recover her share of that magic potion. That’s more Lot Six to go around, right there.”

  I snorted and shook my head in disgust. Sure, Ledbetter’s suggestion had merit, but it was going too far. “Ledbetter, that’s insane,” I told him. “We’re not going to resort to murdering the old bat. Secondly, no one else even knows how to make the stuff.”

  Ledbetter grunted, and he appeared to give up on the idea. He turned and went his own way through the ship’s passages.

  Lost in thought about our mission and with the growing concerns about the Lot Six supply, I wandered up to the mid-decks. I almost didn’t notice Freya until she was standing right in front of me. Her eyes were red and puffy, a clear indication that she was close to crying.

  “Devin?” she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. “It’s confirmed, we’re not returning to Mars anytime soon. We’re going to be out here for months, chasing those pirates around. I don’t want to go on another mission that takes us into deep space for over a year, like last time.”

  I winced at the mention of our last deep space mission. We’d flown all the way out to Eris, a dwarf planet far out in the Oort Cloud. We’d made a lot money, but it had been a long, hard year with many deaths. I’d nearly been marooned on an ice ball so far from Earth you could barely see our home world with the naked eye.

  I’d hoped Captain Hansen would get out of her new orders somehow—but that wasn’t going to happen. Freya’s confirmation made the reality of our situation even more daunting. I reached out and gently took her hand, trying to provide some comfort.

  Ensign Freya Carter was my girlfriend. She was hot—and everyone knew it—but that wasn’t the only thing that had attracted me to her. She had long, wavy, chestnut-colored hair that framed her delicate features. Her large, almond-shaped eyes were a light shade of blue.

  Freya wasn’t a shorty, but she wasn’t quite average in height, either. She had a slender, athletic build and her uniform hugged her curves in a way that always drew too much attention from the rest of the crew.

  “Freya?” I said softly. “Don’t worry. We’ll get through this together. We always do.”

  She looked into my eyes, and for a moment, I could see the fear and sadness that lay beneath her brave façade. She leaned in and barely brushed her lips against mine before pulling away. It was a fleeting moment of connection, but it reminded us both that we had something to fight for.

  As we parted ways, another passing ensign caught sight of our intimate exchange and snickered. “Aww, isn’t that sweet? A Red Company horndog, humping on a leg that’s too good for him.”

  I felt a flash of irritation, and I felt like slugging the guy. I would have done it, too, if he hadn’t been a fleet officer.

  Freya was an officer now. She’d been promoted after last year’s campaign, just as I had. Some of the guys… they didn’t think I was good enough to touch her. Fortunately, Freya didn’t agree.

  An overreaction like that would only make the situation worse. Instead, I chose to ignore the remark. It was going to be a long journey to Neptune. With an uncertain date for our return, we all needed to be at our best, both physically and mentally.

  Chapter 4: Insults and Sneers

  Borag’s engines continued to rumble. We were pursuing the pirate mothership, and we were flying all-out. The acceleration pressed us all hard against the deck.

  Despite Red Company’s high state of readiness, the chase went on for hours. Then days. There was no sign that the pirate ship was going to slow down.

  One morning, things changed. A crackling transmission came through to Borag’s bridge, and the techs piped it down to everyone aboard.

  Watching the big view screens, I ate a bite of tank-grown eggs while Captain Hansen faced off with her counterpart aboard the pirate vessel.

  It was Captain Deng. I recognized his distorted face in one hot second.

  Deng, was a twisted, rodent-like pirate captain we’d tangled with about a year ago. His voice was as twisted as his face as he spoke to Captain Hansen.

  “Ah, I should have known,” he said with a sneer. “Captain Hansen, of the pathetic flying bathtub known as Borag. The unluckiest ship in the cosmos has struck out again. How does that feel? Huh?”

  The pirate captain was pretty disgusting to look at. He was human, sure, but those features… they were reminiscent of a rat.

  His face was gaunt and elongated. His eyes were beady and black. His skin was a sickly, pale leather that stretched over his sharp, angular bones. It was as if he had been sculpted from clay and then left to dry in the sun, with every crevice and wrinkle accentuated.

  These kinds of malformations weren’t uncommon out here in deep space. People like Deng had spent their entire lives in space without proper sunlight, gravity or sustenance.

  Despite Deng’s repulsive appearance, there was an undeniable cunning in his eyes. You got the sense by looking at him that he was always thinking several steps ahead of you.

  “What do you want, pirate?” Captain Hansen asked the apparition on the screen.

  Deng’s pointed nose twitched, as if he needed to sneeze. “Seems like you just can’t resist chasing after us, can you? Too bad your fat ship is too slow. Still, in time, you’ll get what you seek—a quick death.”

  Captain Hansen stared, refusing to let the taunting get under her skin. She leaned toward the communication console, her voice icy. “You’ve underestimated us before, and you’re doing it again. You won’t escape us. Not this time.”

  The pirate captain cackled—that’s right, he straight-out cackled. I don’t know how else to describe it. His laughter annoyed everyone who heard it. “You should get yourself laid now and then, Hansen. It would improve your mood.”

  “He’s right, you know,” Ledbetter said, nudging me. “Maybe you should do the honors, huh?”

  I scowled at him, and he shut up.

  If Deng was getting to her, Captain Hansen didn’t show it. She knew we were all watching her. She had to play it cool. “If you’re calling to ask for mercy—forget it. We won’t stop until you’re brought to justice. You can run, but you can’t hide from us.”

  Captain Deng’s laughter echoed through the bridge again. “You’re driving a flying pig through space, woman. The farther you get from home space, the more of my people will come to aid me. You can’t win.”

  “We shall see.”

  “No deals then?” he asked. “Nothing will lead you back to sanity?”

  “No, Deng. I’m afraid not.”

  The two stared at one another, and finally, Deng shrugged. “Such a straight arrow to the very last… I can’t reason with a frigid block of wood.”

  With that, he abruptly cut off the transmission.

  The conversation between captains had ended, but everyone else aboard seemed to want to talk about it.

  Our navigators worked diligently, analyzing the pirate ship’s trajectory and calculating her destination. Eventually, they pieced together the puzzle.

  Our chief navigator, Commander Nichols, approached Captain Hansen. “Captain, I’ve analyzed the pirates’ trajectory. They’re heading toward Naiad, Neptune’s moon. It’s a strange destination, but the math doesn’t lie.”

  Captain Hansen nodded, and she frowned at the deck for a moment. “Then that’s where we’ll follow them. Crew, prepare for the battle ahead. We won’t let them get away with their crimes. Commander Nichols, report on Naiad.”

  The navigator nodded, eager to share her knowledge. “It’s an irregularly shaped moon, Captain, and it has a very peculiar orbit around Neptune. It revolves in a retrograde motion, opposite to the planet’s rotation. Naiad’s orbit is also highly inclined and extremely elliptical, making it quite an anomaly among Neptune’s moons.”

  Captain Hansen considered this information, her mind racing as she tried to decipher the pirate’s intentions. “Very well, Commander. Inform Mars City of their destination.”

  The transmissions reporting to Mars required hours to reach across space at the speed of light. Eventually they arrived, were contemplated, and those at company headquarters replied.

  By that time, I’d been summoned to the upper decks. It was an odd fixation of Captain Hansen’s. She had been personally attacked on previous occasions. During some of those moments, I’d protected her.

  Due to that history between us, whenever the shit seemed to be about to hit the proverbial fan, she tended to request my presence as a personal bodyguard of sorts.

  That’s just how it went today. With many strange glances and muttered jokes, I found myself marching up to the bridge to stand guard outside whatever chamber she was in. At the moment, that was the officers’ conference room just off the bridge.

  While I stood guard at the door, my attention was drawn to the heated discussion taking place inside. Hansen had insisted the door be left open. That was unusual, but I figured she wanted me to be able to intercede if the arguments got out of hand.

  Sure enough, only a few minutes passed before I heard Accountant Blackwood vehemently arguing against the pursuit of the pirates.

  “Captain Hansen, this is sheer folly!” Blackwood exclaimed. “Chasing these pirates will only lead us into a trap, just as that rodent Deng warned. We’re putting Borag and her crew in danger for some misguided sense of justice.”

  “What do you suggest? That we ignore these orders from the Controller?”

  “No, no, no,” Blackwood said, making a fluttering gesture with his overly long fingers. “I would never suggest such a thing. We could, however… have a malfunction. Engine trouble, perhaps…”

  Captain Hansen’s lips folded up tightly. “Accountant Blackwood, I understand your concerns, but we have a duty to protect the interests of Interplanetary Excavations and others who rely on the resources we gather. We can’t allow pirates to run rampant, stealing and terrorizing at will.”

  “But at what cost, Captain?” Blackwood pressed, his concern for the ship’s finances evident in his tone. “Think of the potential losses, the damage to Borag, the time and resources spent on this wild goose chase! We must consider the bottom line!”

  I clenched my fists, my loyalty to Captain Hansen and my fellow marines flaring at Blackwood’s narrow-minded focus on profit margins. We all wanted to run these pirates down before anyone else became a victim.

  Captain Hansen addressed Blackwood. “I am well aware of the financial implications, Accountant, but we cannot put a price on the lives and safety of the countless others affected by these pirates. We will continue the pursuit, and we will put an end to their threat.”

  Blackwood huffed, clearly frustrated by the captain’s decision but seemingly out of arguments. “Very well, Captain, but the responsibility for any losses incurred falls squarely on your shoulders.”

  As the conversation ended, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of admiration for Captain Hansen’s steadfast dedication to our mission. Despite the challenges and potential dangers, she was determined to do what was right, even in the face of adversity. I knew that Red Company and I would follow her lead without hesitation, prepared to face whatever awaited us on Neptune and beyond.

  Later that day, the ship’s marine detachment gathered inside our headquarters for a briefing on Naiad. The marines stood at attention as Commander Kaine stepped forward. He looked at us like he smelled dog shit.

  “Listen up, Red Company,” he began. “We’ve tracked the pirate ship to Naiad, one of Neptune’s strangest moons. I’m going to give you grunts a rundown on what we know about Naiad—it’s a real freak-show.”

  He activated a holographic display, and an image of the irregularly shaped moon appeared before us. “As you can see, the surface is rocky and uneven. It’s not even round, despite its size. It has a peculiar orbit around Neptune, too. That’s going to make everything difficult. Lots of radiation from Neptune, random levels of heat and cold from the irregular orbit—not to mention ice melting and ground-quakes. Expect the extreme temperature fluctuations and radiation levels to wreak havoc on your gear.”

  I exchanged unhappy glances with the other marines. Naiad sounded like a real shit-hole.

  Commander Kaine continued. He didn’t seem to notice or care about our reactions. “Given these conditions, we’ll need to adapt our tactics. Long-range weapons may be less reliable due to the gravitational variations, so plan on pushing for close-quarters combat. Make sure you carry backups on critical gear—especially electronics.”

  He paused, looking each marine in the eye. “I won’t sugarcoat it, Red Company. I need your best today. Not the kind of half-assery I’ve seen from you men in the past. You’re marines, and I want you act like it. Dismissed.”

  “What a pompous tool…” Sergeant Cox muttered under his breath as Kaine concluded the briefing. Several of us overheard him, and we coughed into our fists to cover our amusement.

  As the briefing ended, my fellow marines and I filed out of the headquarters. We howled and bitched and bet on who would die first—but all of us planned to do our best.

  Chapter 5: Neptune’s Strangest Moon

  Two months passed. We’d long since gotten bored with everything there was to do aboard Borag, but no one seemed to care about our complaints.

  Our one nagging complaint involved Dr. Sharaf and her magic elixir. We’d come to an agreement with the old battle axe, which involved our partial payment for the raw materials, and our rationing of the injections. Instead of taking them on a regular monthly basis, we began taking the shots only when we showed signs of genetic instability.

  This naturally served to stretch out our meager supplies. It was also unpleasant.

  We began to itch. That was the first symptom, almost universally. Just try having an extra finger bone sprout from your wrist, or an extra patch of hair grow on your ear… it was distracting and upsetting.

  Once such a sign emerged, we’d race to see Dr. Sharaf, who invariably rolled her eyes at us. She’d give us a few tests, grumbling and remarking upon our poor state of mind and health. Then, she’d usually kick us out of her office, claiming we were fine and that we should come back when we had something serious to complain about.