Teflin shook his head in defeat as Gend pushed off towards the probe launch bay.

  “Thing is, we found a probe. It was pretty beat up and barely transmitting without any IFF. We took it aboard to see whose it was. We never once thought it was the Moglis’. We’re not thieves. After we’d brought it aboard however the Moglis showed up,” he explained as he flipped about to land beside the hatch near the middle of the massive cargo bay.

  Gokhead leapt forward before Gend could open the hatch. “Why are we examining a probe in the launcher? Why isn’t it up in a recovery sling?” he asked, pointing back towards the front of the ship.

  Zithe remained silent as Cadet’s Teflin and Gend exchanged nervous glances in response. “I was hoping that you wouldn’t notice…”

  “Be you thinking that we be stupid?” Trevis roared as he jumped into Teflin’s face. Zithe held his ground as Trevis took hold of Telfin’s uniform, and the smaller cadet shook. “We not be needing to help you. Now be straight with us or we be going.”

  That was Zithe’s cue. Floating up, he rested a hand on Trevis’ shoulder. Teflin’s fear stink wafted into his nose. “Ease down Trevis. Now Teflin, what really happened?”

  Resignation rang off every syllable as Teflin drifted out of Trevis’ grip and pushed towards the front of the ship. “Okay, no garbage. Gend was telling the truth. We only just cracked the outer casing of the probe when the Moglis showed up. They screamed at us that the probe was theirs. We said it wasn’t. It’s too old. Then that nut Cafer said if we didn’t give it up willingly that they’d take it by force.”

  “And he punctuated that with a warning shot,” Blazer replied. It wasn’t a question.

  Gend shook his head. “They waited a pulse before that.”

  “Exactly,” Teflin added. “I want it noted though, that I didn’t flinch. Then they brought all their guns to bear on us. They’d already had their fighters out so I decided to run. We fired off a couple of volleys to try and disable them and their fighters then we slipstreamed out of there.”

  Nash scoffed and Zithe could understand why. “You trusted Quare to fire a disabling volley? He can barely shoot straight and you trusted him to make a precision engine shot. No wonder you got your asses handed to you. Let me guess, he didn’t even bother to wait for a clear shot on the engines and tired to fire through the hab spokes?”

  “That’s right,” Teflin replied. “They tore us apart, and we barely made it to slipstream.”

  Zithe shook his head. This all still felt wrong to him, there had to be something more. “What aren’t you telling me? Why was this probe so important that you risked getting ghosted for it?”

  “I’ll show you why,” Gend replied and keyed the hatch to the probe recovery area open.

  A crew of cadets were examining the probe. Even with all of its access hatches open as it hung in the cradle, he could tell that it was far older than any of their probes. Its pitted and scarred surface spoke of a long life in a hostile volume of space. Its sensor array alone had been smashed beyond repair.

  “We found it in a decaying orbit around one of the eighth planet’s moons. Considering its condition I’m surprised we even found it.”

  Zithe could almost feel Gokhead gasp as he laid eyes on the probe. “By the high mother, you found a legacy probe.”

  Even Zithe was curious as he watched the younger Drashig rush into the probe recovery area, Que Dee trailing him. “Explain,” he ordered.

  “A legacy probe?” Gokhead asked as if they should all know already. “Cadets sometimes leave them behind in systems while on their way out to help cadets who come after them. The probes continue to scan the system long after the cadets have returned to the academy. It can stay out for annura just gathering data because of how the academy cycles through their list of training systems. If you find one you can get almost all the data you need on a system in one shot!”

  Zithe nodded as he watched Gokhead run his macomm over the probe and read the radiation signature to determine its age. “I see why you fought so badly for it then. Has it yielded any useful data?”

  One of the cadets hung his head in frustration. “I wish. This thing is positively ancient and it has some seriously weird encryption we can’t crack.”

  Gokhead’s brow furrowed and he connected his macomm to one of the probe’s unused IO ports. “That can’t be right.” Gokhead tapped away on his macomm in a fury as he pulled up a library of command logics. After a few pulses Gokhead pulled his macomm and sighed. “You’ll never get any data out of this probe. It uses an old Aplex 4 crystal data matrix core.” Gokhead turned back to the other cadets, several of them already pulling their computers free at the news. “Who wants to tell me what happens when an Aplex 4 loses power?”

  Zithe shook his head and waved for Gokhead to go on.

  “When an Aplex 4 loses power for too long the crystal data matrix collapses in on itself. It would take less time to gather all that data again than to try and fix it. Even if you could recover the data it would be corrupted and worthless. That’s why we stopped using them thirty-some annura ago.”

  Zithe watched Cadet Teflin as the gravity of what Gokhead had revealed hit him full force. This was a delicate situation in every respect. Don’t push him too hard or we risk losing any chance of gaining him and his crew. We can use them. He has some of the best scientists on his crew. “Let’s just put a stitch in it and call it a learning experience.” He laid a reassuring hand on Teflin’s shoulder. “But we need to act fast. The Moglis are sure to know where you went by now and won’t be far behind. So let’s dump the probe on the planet, someplace hard to get at and let them waste their time trying to dig it up. If their crew doesn’t have Gokhead’s knowledge of probes then they could lose decles trying to get it working again.”

  Teflin eyed Zithe. “And what do you want for that?”

  Zithe put on his most sincere smile. “I don’t want anything. But, you need to realize that you’re a marked ship now. The Red Force will hound you the rest of the exercise if you don’t have backup. You know how competitive and spiteful Chertsin can be. He’ll probably order them to not even ghost you, just keep you from gathering your survey data. Think about that.”

  Teflin looked away, considering the non-offer. He turned to the crew around him, and Zithe could almost read their thoughts. “You’re still planning some great data share at the end of the exercise, correct?”

  Zithe nodded, he saw where this was going and knew that Teflin had to save face.

  “All right then. My people have been through enough already. We’ll join Blue Force.”

  “Excellent, now let’s get you up and running again before the Moglis arrive.” Zithe looked back at Que Dee and motioned towards the probe, the robot staying behind as Zithe led the rest away.

  Forward Cafeteria, UCSBTS-27413

  Blazer couldn’t believe how tired he was feeling as he stared out the cafeteria viewport. For the better part of the cycle, he and the other engineers had worked on the simulated damage to the Pogrin’s Payback’s transport. It had taken them all that time to get the vessel up and running while Gokhead and his team readied the probe.

  Blazer didn’t care to know what Gokhead and his crew were doing to the probe. I know that under normal circumstances it could lead to trouble for all of us. For now, he just wanted to relax and spend time with Marda. Sitting beside the big view window, he watched his wife make her way through the galley, programming the autocook with their dinner.

  The door opened and Zithe walked in, Arion and Alieha following. Blazer didn’t want to talk to Zithe but made no motion to stop him as he sat at the table across from him. “Now, let’s talk about these maintenance issues of yours.”

  Blazer stared back at him in silence for a moment. “The shuttles were not getting proper service while I was away. And the fighter’s maintenance logs indicate they weren’t either.”

  Zithe sat impassively and turned to Alieha. “Well?”

  “We didn’t anticipate Blazer being gone for so long and didn’t schedule anyone to cover his maintenance duties. We’re all working hard enough as it is, with our duties and class assignments.”

  Blazer shot a look at Arion across from Alieha. “Remember that time in the guild when Ferish went on leave for two decles and it extended to three?”

  Arion nodded, in remembrance of their old shipmate in the Mapper’s Guild.

  “Did we let any of his duties slip? Or did the Captain order us to get off our…,” he paused for a moment. “Off our rears and get the work done?”

  Zithe held up a hand to halt the conversation. “I understand. We all made mistakes. We won’t let it happen again.”

  Marda sat and set a tray in front of Blazer. He relaxed and sighed at the sight. The food looked delicious. When did she learn to program an autocook like that? “Good, because while medical wasn’t a complete mess when I got back, I could still tell where things didn’t get done.”

  Zithe rubbed his chin in consideration as Blazer took his first bite. He hadn’t eaten all cycle and had looked forward to this. “Did we ever get that boar or whatever it was into the freezer?” he asked after swallowing.

  “Mikle took care of that right after you landed,” Arion replied and glanced at the freezer. “Too bad we can’t barbeque it up.”

  Alieha shook her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever get why you like seared meat so much.”

  Zithe looked out the viewport as the ship began to revert out of slipstream and the universe blue shifted back into sharp focus. “This gas giant should prove promising to study.”

  Blazer considered asking him why but as he looked up his jaw dropped at the massive green gas giant before him. Storms whirled and roared across its surface like some surreal dream.

  “That is absolutely amazing,” Marda gasped.

  “Wait until you see the moon,” Zithe replied as he pulled his macomm. New bits of data they hadn’t collected on the system displayed upon it.

  Before Blazer could ask more, a glimmering moon emerged from behind the planet. Blazer dropped his fork in amazement at the scene. He watched in fascination as the light of the distant star refracted through a giant spheroid carbon-diamond the size of a small planet. So entranced were the lot of them by the beauty of the crystalline planetoid that they didn’t even ask how Zithe had come across the data.

  UCSB DATE: 1003.062

  Bridge, UCSBTS-27413, System: T-18-E-36

  Experience had taught Blazer that star-faring vessels never slept. On larger ships, three shift rotations would keep the craft operational at all times. They didn’t have that luxury on the transport. Instead, there were two full shifts with a rotating skeleton crew on duwn watch. Blazer liked sitting duwn watch. It was the perfect opportunity to catch up on all his class work. It reminded him of his time with the Mapper’s Guild and it almost made him miss it.

  He looked up after he’d finished his latest assignment, stitching it to his instructor. The hologram ahead displayed their orbit about the local jump point. After they’d recovered Gavit and Matt’s fighter they would jump into the next system. Blazer looked around the bridge. The others on watch kept themselves busy as they waited. Some did classwork, others played games, or read to keep alert before the jump.

  He thought back over the last two tridecs. They’d accomplished a great deal. They could really spend the rest of the semester or longer exploring the system, but there were two more left to investigate. They had allies in both systems willing to share data with them, but the exercise called for them to visit all three systems and collect a maximum amount of data themselves.

  Chris set aside her macomm and turned to Blazer. “So did you hear the rumor about why we’re really leaving so soon?”

  Blazer shook his head. He didn’t pay much attention to the ship’s gossip. His duties as engineer, husband, and student kept him busy full time. His favorite duties were husbandly and he smiled, imagining Marda sleeping in their bed.

  “Apparently Zithe and the Pride of Niatoo’s Squadron Commander or Captain have a little thing going on the side.”

  Blazer raised a curious eyebrow.

  “Yeah it’s been going on for a while now and since they’re in the next system…”

  Rudjick bounced out of his seat performing a dirty midair dance routine. “My man is going to get him some!”

  Before Blazer could say anything, a proximity alert lit up the display. He looked over at it, a fighter racing towards them on Slipstream. “Rudjick get back in your seat. Chris, get me an IFF. Who is that?”

  Before Chris could respond, a Midnight Blue and Silver White Splicer 5000 dropped out of slipstream ahead of them. Blazer recognized the craft an instant before its engines flared and it vectored towards the transport. Gavit and Matt are home.

  Blazer keyed the link. “Nach Six, Roost, welcome home. How was your flight?”

  “Roost, Nach Zero Six, we are cleared to depart the system. Data packet and indigenous consumables pods were exchanged with the Black Vises without incident,” Matt replied.

  Blazer smiled at that. The Black Vises had discovered a massive herd of grazing cattle on one of their away missions; butchered three of them. They’d also collected various native fruits and vegetables that they’d been willing exchanged with the Monstero Nach for data they’d been unable to obtain. “What did we get?”

  “We’ve got half a critter under one wing and about the same mass of fruit under the other. They also threw in some geological data we’d missed on the first planet.”

  Chris leaned forward. “You have to be shregging kidding me. We could barely cut through the stellar radiation to get what we got. How did they manage it?”

  “They took one shuttle, mounted all four shield generators from their fighters and strapped a trio of probes on it then flew it in.”

  Blazer considered that. “Pretty damn good idea. I never even thought of it.”

  “We ran afoul of the Moglis and Red Lance on the way back.”

  “What happened?”

  “We all showed up at the same waypoint. They still seem ticked about the probe thing. They kept saying that they would pay back the Pogrins. Anyway, are we clear? Gavit and I could use some sleep.”

  Blazer shot a glance over at Chris and she flicked several controls at her station. “You’re all clear, bring it on in Gavit.”

  “I thought you’d never ask Chris,” Gavit replied, punctuating the statement with a kiss.

  “Only in your wildest wet dream,” Chris bit back and killed the link.

  “Be nice Chris. Now grapple them aboard so we can get out of here. I don’t want to make Zithe late for his date.” Blazer watched Gavit’s fighter as it slid aside and vectored towards the docking port. “Rudjick, make for the jump point as soon as they’re aboard.”

  Bridge, UCSBTS-27303, System: T-18-E-37

  Chertsin had never understood the point of patience. Growing up, if he wanted something, he took it. There was no begging for permission. One shows strength and takes what they want. It’s that simple. He’d lived his whole life that way: move fast, hit hard, get the job done, and get out. His ship having to wait at the jump point was driving him to distraction. He couldn’t believe their timing, arriving at the jump point just as another ship had queried the buoy to indicate their imminent arrival. “Half a hect sooner. We could have been here half a hect sooner and been gone by now,” he snarled.

  Chertsin smiled as the helmsman shrunk down into his seat in response. He had designed their course for fuel efficiency, not time. Chertsin had approved it too, but that was before he knew of the other ship’s pending arrival. “Saldray. Are any Red Force Ships scheduled to leave system 36 yet?”

  “No, but we did receive a flash message about the Monstero Nach’s possible exit.”

  That news excited Chertsin and he pulled up the message on his display. Finally, some good news. This system had plagued them with nothing but problems since they’d arrived, but a chance to ghost the Monstero Nach could make up for all of that. Chertsin tried to decide how best to do it, and brought up their deployment briefing. He salivated as he read the rules of engagement and a better plan came to mind. “I want a surgical strike on the Monstero Nach’s main sensor array, give them a full cannon spread.”

  Saldray’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Why not just ghost them, take them out completely?”

  “They’re too resourceful for that. If we ghost them, they’ll just go off on their own and all they’ll lose is their data share. But they’ll work even harder to gather the data themselves. It’ll hurt them more to hit them with a simulated strike and take out their sensors. They’ll have to waste time fixing those.”

  “How long would it take them to repair the array?” Saldray asked.

  Chertsin looked at the cadet at the engineering station as she considered the question. “A few cycles at least. Assuming Saldray is on target, we could blind them for over a decle. I have a suggestion though, if you don’t mind sir.”

  Chertsin felt charitable and waved the woman to go on.

  “Put a few rounds into their shadow shields and radiators too when we pass by. They’ll have to address those problems first or risk reactor shutdown and radiation poisoning. If we ‘destroy’ even a portion of the shields, they’ll have to heave-to for a while to repair and shut down their spin rings.”

  Chertsin couldn’t help but grin at the idea. “Saldray, make it so. Helm, bring us about and prepare to make a full speed run into the jump point. I want the maximum firepower on target.”

  Chertsin grunted as the transport’s engines fired and the helmsman guided them into position. The acceleration compensators were still acting up after their accidental slipstream drop a decle into the exercise. He didn’t care now. As they came into position, the first telltale fluctuations of the jump point as their enemies transport neared rippled across its surface.