“But what if their ship had been destroyed, or the mercenaries had won?”

  “Then they would have failed the test. But they passed–proving their capability to handle both space and ground combat. Now, with the mercenaries’ gear and Tec, they stand an even better chance of completing the mission. Not to mention, letting them think they had me at their mercy put them in a position to agree to the mission they would have flat-out refused otherwise.”

  Trax looked up at his superior with admiration. “That was expertly executed, boss. But why did you have to risk yourself by personally going to their ship? You could have accidentally been hurt.”

  The Sedumorph smiled arrogantly. “Please. The hardest part of executing the plan was timing my force shield to fluctuate at the exact moment they took a shot at me. I was never in any danger.”

  “I have much to learn from you, boss.”

  “True. It's time to prepare for the second phase. I need to be ready to move in when they return. NO_ONE won’t know what hit him.”

  ***

  The hours passed slowly for Nathan. He wandered through the ship, curiously studying her new configuration. He was in the process of learning where everything was located in their new galley when muffled sounds of fighting whiffed over from the direction of their cabins.

  Nathan left the galley and cautiously approached the source of the sound. Reaching the aisle between the cabins he walked silently until he reached the door to the captain’s quarters. It stood slightly ajar, and through the crack the young man was able to see Nori. The captain wore tight-fitting pants and a sports bra, displaying her thin, muscular frame and abdominal muscles. She was holding two sticks and was practicing some quick combat maneuvers.

  The young man smiled at the sight and quietly withdrew from the door, closing it behind him. Continuing his survey, he checked every one of the large general-purpose rooms on the second floor’s aft. The first three were empty; the fourth held their impromptu med bay with the basic equipment they had purchased. No one among the crew had the ability to operate anything more complex.

  The last door was wide open.

  Nathan peeked inside and saw Lana busily working on the console of the large stationary scanner she’d ordered. The piece of Relict shard lay on top of the device, and a deep frown creased the science officer’s forehead as she examined the data.

  Opting not to interfere with his friend’s work, Nathan continued his walk, moving downward.

  The lower floor had also transformed significantly. The partition between the cargo hold and Unity’s right corridor was removed, leading directly to their new armory and workshop.

  Bulco and Serk were busily working over the Aky’s damaged mech.

  “This motor’s busted,” the Engineer’s thick voice sounded.

  “Indeed,” Serk answered. “It will need to be replaced. I’m afraid we won’t be able to install the multi-axis sprocket. Maybe we should cannibalize the—”

  “Na,” the Engineer said. “Give me ten minutes in the workshop. The new workbench upgrade we bought ought to do the trick.”

  “That would be exceedingly beneficial,” Serk replied.

  Nathan chose not to listen to the rest of it and approached the armory. The reinforced door was sealed, but it swung open with a wave of his hand.

  Cattie was inside. The newly minted security officer turned to the young Technomancer with a smile. “Nathan! Glad you’re here.” She turned and proudly gestured around the room. “What do you think?”

  The built-in cabinets and shelves were almost fully stacked. The various weapons they'd collected were sorted in different lockers according to their type and grade. Shelves were stacked with orderly rows of power cells and bullet magazines. Cattie proudly pulled out a few drawers, revealing several grenades. Each grenade was housed inside a specially fitted groove.

  “Cool ah? I kept the best loot our unexpected guests left behind. Along with everything else we bought on the station, we now have a halfway decent armory.”

  Nathan wasn’t sure he felt comfortable in a room full of so many deadly weapons, but he nodded at the security officer’s enthusiasm. “Very nice.”

  “Well,” she stretched and yawned exaggeratedly. “That took me hours. I had to disassemble several of the units. I think I earned my beauty sleep. I’m off for my first official night in my private cabin. And, uh...” She gave Nathan such a conniving smile, he was suddenly afraid she was going to ask him to join her. Instead, she chuckled. “Unity has a very … soothing voice. Think I can convince her to sing me a lullaby?”

  He shrugged. “She might. You can ask her.”

  Cattie’s eyes sparkled. “I think I’ll just do that. G’night, Nathan.”

  “Good night.”

  “Soulmate?” Unity’s voice spoke softly.

  Though they could communicate empathically, the conscious ship opted to use her voice for more mundane issues.

  “Yes?”

  “What is a lullaby?”

  Nathan sighed.

  ***

  For most of them, twenty hours passed quickly, and before they knew it, Unity’s crew assembled in the galley after a good night's sleep.

  Bulco stood behind the curved counter, searing a few pieces of bacon on a single-plate stove while making sure to check the timer on the batch of waffles he was making.

  For once, Lana skipped her usual morning cereal.

  “What is that?” Serk’s large eyes widened even more at the sight of the steaming plate of waffles and bacon that was placed before him.

  “Wait, you also need this,” Nori said, pouring a generous amount of maple syrup on top of the dish. “Try this now.”

  “It’s OK,” Lana said encouragingly. “Our species’ dietary specs are nearly identical.”

  Bulco nodded. “Just don't eat anything that contains capers and you’re good to go.”

  “Capers?” the Aky asked worriedly. “Are those poisonous to my kind?”

  The Engineer shook his head. “No, just disgusting.”

  Serk took a tentative bite of the steaming bacon-maple topped waffles and gasped. “This is good!”

  “Glad you like it, little buddy,” Bulco said. “You should try my glazed spare ribs next time.”

  “If it’s half as good as these … wafleles, I’ll be happy too.”

  “Waffles,” Lana automatically corrected him.

  “What did I say?”

  “Wafleles.”

  “Exactly.”

  Nori chuckled. “Unity, how long do we have?”

  “We will exit the null tunnel in 22 minutes, Captain,” the ship responded.

  “About time to get ready. Everyone, finish up in here and take care of your business. I want everyone on the bridge in 15 minutes.”

  Everyone murmured their consent.

  “Good.” Nori got to her feet. “See you there.”

  ***

  The tunnel-shaped spatial distortion dissipated, and Unity exited into normal space.

  Lana rapidly worked on her consoles, analyzing the data the ship’s sensors was picking up. “We’ve arrived. This is a 22-planet system. One sun. We’re currently at the edge of it. I’m detecting a lot of energy signatures, ships, space stations, mining platforms, etc.” A moment later, Unity’s main viewscreen flickered to display one of the planets closer to the sun. It was almost completely green, with several blue veins running through it.”

  Cattie stared at the upper left side of the screen. “Guys … the sun!”

  Everybody looked at her.

  “What about it?” Nori asked.

  “It’s blue!” Cattie exclaimed. “A blue sun!”

  Serk shrugged. “This is nothing out of the ordinary. The hotter the star, the shorter the wavelength of light it emits. This sun’s gravitational pull is strong enough to maintain many planets around its axis. I believe four of them support intelligent life.”

  “Yes.” Lana worked her console, and the display zoomed out a little, revealing three other planets, all maintaining roughly the same distance from the central star. There was another green and two browns.”

  “I’m betting the green ones are full of lush jungles, gardens, and open grasslands,” Cattie said with a wistful sigh. “The browns look a lot like Earth. So which one are we headed to?”

  “Err … none of them,” Lana replied.

  The viewscreen zoomed out, displaying the full view of the system, then it zeroed on a small, nearly black planet at the edge of the system. The view zoomed in, displaying a planet that was covered in porous protrusions.

  “Great,” Bulco said dryly. “So we have a selection of paradise or Earth-like planets, and instead we need to head out to the one that looks like a pimpled head from hell.”

  “Be glad,” Nori said dryly. “From our current coordinates, it will take us nearly a week on full thrusters to reach those other planets.” She checked her monitor. “We’re only half an hour away from our destination. The planet’s pretty small—about a quarter the size of our moon. ”

  “What’s the name of the planet?” Bulco asked.

  Lana frowned. “Grotula3. Isn’t that also the name of the scientist we need to find?”

  “It is,” Nori said. “I guess they named the planet after him. Let’s head down there and find out.”

  Their course plotted, Unity’s thrusters roared to life, flinging the evolving ship ahead toward their destination.

  15 - Grotula3

  “Well, this looks bleak,” Bulco said.

  He wasn’t wrong.

  From up close, Grotula3 looked even more ominous. The planet’s rocky surface was brown-black, nearly invisible against the darkness of space. It was covered with small porous protrusions that looked like something halfway between small volcanoes and pimples.

  “We’re receiving an inbound message,” Lana said.

  “Let’s hear it,” Nori said.

  “Unity, this is a restricted science facility, under the protection of the united protectorate of the Kartos system,” an emotionless voice came through the comms. “State your business here.”

  Nori motioned for Lana to respond.

  “Umm,” the science officer said hesitantly. “We were hoping to talk with chief scientist Grotula.” She felt ridiculous asking to meet with a person whose name matched the planet. Or was it the other way around?

  “I’m afraid Grotula is busy. The chief scientist is engaged in his many studies and can’t be bothered by random visitors. You may attempt to schedule an appointment through the protectorate’s civil office branches on one of the colonized planets.”

  “Wait,” Nori jumped into the conversation. “We’re here to trade, we’re looking for—”

  An intense scintillating beam of white energy burst out from somewhere deep within the planet and washed over Unity.

  “What the hell—” Bulco started.

  Everyone looked around in apprehension, but there was no damage or active alarms.

  Lana frowned, studying her consoles. “That was a high-resolution scanning beam. They just learned everything there is to know about us.”

  Cattie chuckled nervously. “Violated our privacy without so much as offering to buy us a drink first? Now that’s rude.”

  “Unity,” the dry voice spoke again. “You are granted an audience with Grotula. Please follow the designated flight path to the landing platform.”

  Cattie straightened her shirt. “I guess they saw something they liked.”

  “I don’t like this,” Bulco grumbled. “It’s starting to feel like a trap to me.”

  Serk shook his head. “The Kartos system is fully governed by its protectorate. Space pirating doesn’t exist here. That’s common knowledge.”

  “Doesn’t exactly prevent an unfortunate accident from happening to us though, does it?” Bulco grunted.

  “Well … no.”

  “We will take the shuttle down,” Nori said, getting up from her seat.

  “No one but you can fly the ship,” Bulco objected.

  “That’s not exactly true, is it?” the captain looked straight at Nathan.

  The young man nodded reluctantly. “Only with Unity’s help. And not as well as you can.”

  “That will be enough,” Nori said. “I’ll plot a course back to Earth. In case of trouble, just engage the null drive.”

  Nathan nodded reluctantly.

  “Alright, I’m coming with you,” Bulco said, getting up from his seat.

  Nori nodded. “Cattie, you too.”

  The security officer grinned and stood up. “I’ll be adding party to the landing party.”

  Nori looked at Serk with her eyebrow raised.

  The small alien nodded. “I will come as well. The Syndicate speaker claimed my kind were involved. I want to see that with my own eyes.”

  “Lana,” Nori turned to the young woman. “This is a science facility, so your expertise will come in handy. On the other hand, I could use you up here to keep an eye out for the rest of us. I need your opinion here. Where best would your skill be used?”

  The young woman hesitated for a second. “I’d like to come, but I think I’ll be more helpful to you guys from up here.”

  “Very well.”

  Nori opened a light console and entered several long commands. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated on doing what Navigators did best.

  “Course plotted.” She looked at Nathan and Lana. “You guys watch out for each other, OK? You too, Unity.”

  The two ex-students nodded, and Unity added: “I will do as you ask, Captain.”

  Cattie clapped her hands. “Let’s gear up.”

  They left the bridge with Lana tagging along and passed through the cargo hold and into the armory. They each equipped themselves with a stunner baton—though Nori opted to take their lone stunner gun instead. The captain also slapped on her powerful Talon and put a grenade and two power packs in her personal storage space.

  Bulco pulled the Puncher over his arm. The armor around his fist reconfigured, seamlessly integrating with the heavy melee weapon. The Engineer proceeded to examine the assortment of energy rifles on display, eventually choosing a simple grade F7 he could use. Then, like Nori, he placed a grenade and a couple of power cells in his personal storage device.

  Cattie was a bit more eager. She took out her new E-rank sniper rifle in its folded configuration and slapped it across her back. Then she took the most powerful beam rifles they had, grade E1, and her automatic, Earth-made 50cal shotgun, and she strapped both weapons across one shoulder. For a final touch, she took three explosive grenades and two smoke grenades and attached them to specialized slots on her armor.

  Lana gaped at her. “How are you supposed to move around carrying all those weapons? You look like you’re heading to a war zone.”

  Cattie grinned at her. “One of the perks of my Path is that I get reduced penalties when using long rifles. So I’m fine. Besides, they never said we couldn’t bring weapons on board. Serk, what about you?”

  The MechKnight patted his own armor. “Our size differences prevent me from using most of your weapons, but I’ll take a couple of the grenades if that’s OK.”

  “Sure thing, little buddy,” Bulco said. “You’re part of the crew now.”

  “He’s right,” Nori nodded. “And it’s time we make it official: Serk, I hereby invite you to join the Earth Force.”

  Serk’s eyes widened. After a moment, he nodded. “It would be my honor.”

  Serk joined the Earth Force

  Lana gave him a big smile. “Congratulations on becoming our first non-human member.”

  “Huh.” Cattie rubbed her chin. “Since we’re not an all-human faction anymore maybe we should remove the ‘Earth’ part from the name? How about just calling us ‘The Force’?”

  Lana shook her head. “Disney would sue us for sure. I bet a little thing like the Calamity destroying most of the planet won’t be enough to hinder their IP lawyers.”

  The small alien looked at the two women in confusion. “I … appreciate the sentiment. I am ready to do my part.”

  “Alright, let’s head out to the shuttle,” Nori said.

  The captain led them toward the rear of the ship. It had been a while since they visited the shuttle bay, but both Lana and Bulco ran periodic scans to make sure everything on the ship was in tip-top shape.

  The shuttle door slid upward with a hiss, revealing the round interior. They assumed a seat along the walls, and a harness descended on each of them, snugly anchoring their bodies in place. Serk’s smaller stature was no problem as the folding technology adapted his seat and harness to size.

  Nori activated her flight console and brought the engine online.

  “Here we go.”

  The shuttle shot out of the launch bay like a bullet out of a gun. Nori, guiding the vessel, took a long, graceful arc, bringing Unity into view.

  The freighter looked even more impressive from afar as she floated in space. Then their course straightened, and the small lumpy planet came into view. The shuttle shot forward, eating up the distance in seconds. Grotula3 had no apparent atmosphere and negligible gravity, so there was hardly any resistance.

  Nori guided the small shuttle along the flight path displayed on the central monitor. It led straight into one of the open pores. The shuttle slowed down as they reached the opening, then slowly descended into the dark pit.

  “I don’t like it,” Bulco grumbled. “Feels like we’re voluntarily flying into the bowels of a giant beast.”

  “It’s just a few more kilometers ahead,” Nori said.

  The visual display on their monitors showed nothing but darkness at first, but as they continued descending, it slowly gave way to light. A few moments later and a fully lit-up octagonal landing pad became visible below them. Illuminated walkways extended out of it, crisscrossing with many others like it, all leading into caves and tunnels chiseled into the planet’s crust.