Freelancers 02: The Cat's Genes

The girls nodded in confirmation and Kal opened the inner hatch. A short corridor led into a bigger one parallel to the hull where several crew members ran back and forth. The ones running towards Kal and the girls when they stepped into the corridor were in for a nasty surprise.

Kal quickly fired projectiles in both directions of the corridors while the girls used their special ability and slipped in and out of the shadows, killing anyone approaching through side corridors and from nearby compartments.

With the corridor cleared, they moved forward towards the bridge, Kal shooting the locks and hinges of every closed hatch to pieces while the girls took care of anyone trying to come up from behind.

One of the pirates to face them brought grenades, tossed one at the girls, and ducked behind a doorway with his hands against his ears. The explosion trembled through the structure, and he and two of his fellow pirates waved at the smoke while they moved cautiously forward, guided by the flickering overhead lights. They were too late to react when the two girls jumped out of the shadows and shot them point blank.

Qurro flinched when several loud bangs hit the hatch of the bridge and the final one threw it across the floor. His men fired through the doorway, oblivious to the two black figures slipping along the shadows behind them. Saeru and Viri took them down them with little resistance.

Cold sweat drenched Qurro when Kal stepped calmly through the doorway. He smiled at his girls, and walked up to the leader of the mostly dead pirate band. He gazed him straight in the eyes with an icy look. 'I have a few questions. You will answer.' he said as a matter of fact, and Qurro realised the less he told the truth, the more painful and longer his last moments alive would be.

#

Viri watched the burning wrecks of the pirate ships projected on Torianne's bridge when they had returned later. 'Of course they wouldn't ask questions when they're paid that much.'

Saeru looked again at the sum of money they had retrieved from the pirates and transferred through several fake accounts before it ended up at their own account. 'You can be sure the few leads he gave us will end up nowhere.'

Kal leaned back in his seat and rotated the hidden micro signal transmitter he had retrieved from Reliant between his fingers. 'I expect so, yes. It takes a whole lot to bribe a gate crew or sufficient part of it to redirect a jump. Bribing someone at the port to plant this thing on our ship is dirt cheap in comparison. Someone is very eager to lay their hands on our cargo.'

'Those folks from Telum were correct in taking measures to not have their research stolen.' said Viri. 'Now I'm curious to know what it is.'

Kal stood up from his seat. 'It's trouble, that's what it is, but that's also why we're paid so well.'

'I scanned the entire radio band and found no signals coming from inside me.' said Tori.

'Good. It should be safe to jump to our next point.' said Kal and sat down again in the command seat. 'Tori, if you will.'

'With pleasure.' she said, rotated herself into the direction they needed to go, and activated the interstellar mode her creator had integrated into her engines. The normal blue glow from them turned to purple and red, and she jumped to their destination.

Viri checked the navigation beacons at the new solar system, but she could see they had arrived where they wanted to be by the looks of the planets. 'Sunben it is.'

Saeru checked the scanner images on her console. 'No one around. We should have arrived without anyone noticing.'

'Well done, Tori.' said Kal. 'Let's stock up on ammunition and materials to repair the damage, and take a short break while we're here.'

#

The three of them were browsing the busy shopping streets at one of the cities of the only habitable planet in the solar system, which was also the only place they could buy ammunition without too many questions asked. The small streets between the tall buildings littered with store signs and blinking advertising vying for attention were a source for anything you could buy as long as you were willing to pay the price. The lack of daylight only fit the theme of shady businesses.

A cafe in a side alley lured them with relaxing jazz music into having a drink, and they sat down at the only empty table in the back while a small band played the piano, bass, drums, and saxophone to the side. Saeru lifted her drink after they were brought. 'A toast to surviving so far.' Viri and Kal chuckled and toasted with her, and they downed their drinks in one gulp and ordered one more round.

They enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and their drinks until Kal spotted two men in cheap suits entering the bar and checking the clientele. 'Heads up.' he said, and the girls focussed their attention to the new arrivals.

Them being the target of the search became obvious when the two men walked up to them. The thinner and older one of them presented the badge of the local police force, identifying him as inspector Rix Therras. He looked much younger on the photo of him on his identification card thanks to a fuller head of brown hair and the less disappointed in life look in his dark eyes. 'Are you the owner of the transport ship named Reliant, currently parked at the port?'

Kal put his drink on the table. 'Correct. Assuming our Reliant is parked where we left it.'

'We need you to come with us.'

'Why?'

'We believe you are in violation of transporting prohibited goods.'

Kal chuckled dry once. 'How do we know you're not part of a criminal gang and just flashed a fake badge to kidnap us and steal any possibly valuable cargo we might happen to carry?'

Rix gestured to the bar behind him. 'You're free to ask them to call the local station and have them send an escort. They would be less inclined to ask friendly as well as aiming at non-vital areas of the body.' he said, and revealed the standard issue handgun underneath his jacket.

Kal looked at the girls. 'We'll be nice.' he said and stood up.

The second man took out handcuffs. 'Please turn around.'

Kal turned slowly while the audience watched and whispered curiously while the band continued playing as if it was an everyday occurrence.

The girls threw their drinks into the face of the second man, and Kal spun around fast and pushed Rix hard backwards across another table with both hands.

The second man reached for his gun, but Viri was faster. She snatched it from him while Saeru sent him backwards across another table with a strong push.

Viri tossed the gun across the floor into a far corner, and the three moved quickly between the amused public towards the exit. Kal dropped some bills on top of the bar. 'Sorry about the mess. This is a great place.' They stepped outside and stopped in front of several uniformed police officers with drawn weapons. Kal raised his hands. 'Well, so much for our brilliant escape plan.'

#

Kal walked a slow circle through the cell they were locked in, covertly searching for any listening devices although he didn't expect any inside the bare concrete space with one steel door and two steel benches riveted to the wall.

Saeru read some of the text scrawled on the bench by previous inhabitants. 'Wow, the president of the Remotussan Pact has been here.'

'I wonder if that was at the same time as regent Naalnlas of the Maai Territory expressed his culinary opinion for the local cuisine.' said Viri when she read that statement on the wall. 'We should be honoured to stay in the same place where such people of high importance have been.'

Kal chuckled and sat down between them. 'First pirates, and now the authorities. I doubt the same people are behind both.' he said softly.

Viri leaned against him. 'They weren't just a couple of guys on a side job, so it seems the authorities are really behind this.'

Saeru laid down on the bench with her head on his lap and one leg propped up on her knee. 'This turned out to be an interesting gig.'

Kal laid his hand on Saeru's stomach and Viri's thigh, and rubbed affectionally with his thumbs. 'Maybe we'll learn more when they try to question us.'

The wait hadn't lasted long when the door was unlocked and Rix stepped inside. 'I'll keep it simple. We know you were transporting dangerous cargo. Where is it?'

Kal gave him a blank look. 'I don't know where you got your information from, but we're not carrying any cargo right now, dangerous or otherwise. I'm sure you already looked in Reliant without our permission. We're not keen on dangerous goods ourselves.'

Rix frowned at him. 'As I said, I keep things simple. While you're not talking, you're not going anywhere. We'll talk again when I receive the transgate logs and know where you've been lately.'

He left the cell and Viri chuckled. 'Good luck trying to find our rotating transponder code.' she said softly.

'He didn't threaten us with any evidence, so I guess they don't know what exactly is going on. Must be someone higher up ordering our arrest. Someone who also knew enough to find us here. We're leaving.'

They stood up from the bench and moved to the door, where Saeru and Viri pulled back their caps to free one of their flattened fox ears, and listened closely for any sounds nearby. Viri gave Saeru a nod after a few moments. 'No one on the outside.' confirmed Saeru.

Kal put his hand against the door lock, focussed his magic to create a thin beam of high speed matter, and used it to cut through the bolt. A soft metal clink later, he opened the door far enough to peek outside. The short corridor with doors on each end and three more cell doors was empty and they entered it. Saeru and Viri listened for a moment again, and they both pointed towards the same end. 'That way.' said Saeru, and they casually went through the door at the end.

Kal snatched a notepad from a cart and they calmly passed a few officers in the wider corridor connecting storage holds and locker rooms, and he held the exit door politely open for a female officer before they went through it without a care. They hailed a taxi and arrived later at the port without a hitch. A detour along the side and rear brought them close to Reliant, and they waited at a little distance to observe the parking area. 'They didn't deem it necessary to guard our ship or impound it.' said Viri when no one else was in the vicinity of Reliant.

They slipped on board and Kal grumbled in the cockpit at the gap in the instrument panel at the side behind his seat. 'They removed the engine control module.'

Viri looked at it. 'So that's how they expected to keep us from escaping the planet with our ship.'

Kal sighed and lifted a floor panel. 'This is costing me another trip to find a module of this type.' he said, and pulled out a spare unit from the parts kept hidden in the floor compartment.

Viri installed it quickly while he checked the flight systems, and radioed port control. 'Port control, this is Reliant requesting take off.'

'Reliant, this is port control.' said the traffic controller. 'You are grounded according to our records.'

'That was correct. You should have received a message from inspector Therras about us taking this thing to another location for closer inspection.'

'One moment, Reliant.' said the controller, and spoke again after a few moments. 'Reliant, We have received no such message.'

Kal sighed clearly into the microphone. 'Those gruffing rookies didn't do their job again.' he grumbled. 'Relay just one simple message. That's all. Unless you're the one with people walking around having trouble picking up important messages? I'd say call Rix at the station, but I know he's out at the moment and difficult to reach, and he won't be happy to hear we didn't deliver this old junker for the high priority inspection. Neither will the brass up high and they're quick to lash out at anyone involved. How do we solve this problem?'

Soft static sounded for a short while before the controller spoke up again. 'Reliant, you said the inspector is named Rix?'

'That is correct. Rix Therras. A good looking man and polite when things are not messed up, otherwise less so.'

Another moment of static. 'Reliant, you're cleared for take off. The records show he's the one who ordered the grounding, so it must be all right when you say he wants to relocate the ship. You wouldn't have been able to without the engine control unit anyway. Have a good flight.'

'Thank you, control. We'll return the favour some day.' Kal said, and smirked as he taxied Reliant towards the take-off platform.

#

Back on Torianne, Viri projected the star chart onto the bridge with the initial route they had planned. 'Do we stick to this?'

Kal studied the route once more. 'Let's assume whoever is after us has a hunch we're taking this route. It keeps us away from the shortest path without going so far out of the way that we run out of fuel if we used Reliant.' He pointed at a star to the side. 'I suggest taking a detour via Kalb Nine.'

'Cross into the Beid Lnujun Bloc space?' said Saeru. 'That's a rather long route when we can't jump because of all the debris making it unsafe in the area.'

He turned around towards her. 'Correct. I base this on the assumption they'll expect us to fake our identity at the transgates and want to deliver the cargo as soon as possible now, and thus not linger anywhere on the way or make an extra stop for fuel.'

Viri leaned back in her seat. 'Monitoring fuel stations could be how they'll try to track us in that case, yes. And they don't know how far we can fly fully fuelled up.'

'I'll make us an extra large lunch box for the road then.' said Saeru, and a new route was drawn on the chart.

#

The first stops where the crew eluded any surveillance by using middle men to buy fuel, made it look like they used up a lot of fuel. They watched the latest black market reseller fly away empty after filling the fuel pods of the Reliant, which had been drained almost empty into extra storage tanks aboard Torianne. Kal fired up the engines for the return trip to Torianne. 'If they haven't found out our route yet, they surely will soon. These short distances should convince them we can't take the long way through the neighbouring space.'

They arrived at Torianne later and joined Saeru at the bridge. 'How's your status, Tori?' Kal asked.

'All set to go. Saeru repaired the remaining modules of my flight controls and sensors.' she said. 'I should be able to fly through this part of space at a decent speed now.'

Kal kissed Saeru on her head. 'Great work. This will make for a good test run. Take us away, Tori.'

She spun up her engines, and headed for Beid Lnujun Bloc owned space.

#

The space around Kalb Nine was theorized by astronomers to be the remains of the original planets of that solar system, which were relatively stacked around the sun and collided with a lot of debris in their orbits, causing a chain reaction which destroyed every planet and later formed the current planets and the giant and thick disc of dust and asteroids around it. It had little value other than for geologists and astronomers, who spent time on and off there to study it.

Torianne flew through the misty space, elegantly avoiding the smaller and larger pieces of broken rock in sometimes acrobatic moves which entertained her crew as they kept an eye on the space around them and her automatic flying performance. 'It feels so good to fly at full capacity.' she said with a very cheerful tone.

Viri chuckled and pat her arm rest. 'I think we can say the test flight succeeded after a full day of flying through this muck. You earned your virtual wings for sure, Tori.'

'Yes!' Tori said with joy. 'Now you can sleep without worry, assured I can handle flying in even tough environments.'

Kal smiled and gently tapped the control panel at one of the two command chairs. 'When the last circuits of your weapon systems are fixed, you pretty much won't need us any longer.'

'Aww noo..' she said with genuine sadness. 'I will always need you to be around. I want to keep experiencing life with all of you.'

'Well,' said Saeru when she finished a diagnostic check at her console. 'I for one want to learn even more about you, and would like to witness your growth when we can upgrade anything about you. Just like watching a child grow up and going through life.'

'To be honest, I don't want to imagine not flying you one day, or see someone else other than us fly you.' said Viri. 'It's such a joy to be at your controls.'

'Aww..' said Tori. 'Thank you. Also on behalf of master Maher because he designed me.'

Kal stood up from his seat and moved over to Saeru and Viri. 'I think I speak for all of us when I say that you might not be a life form in the manner that we are, but we already consider you to be family and no different from any of us.'

Torianne flew a corkscrew with her electronic giggle. 'I can't imagine a better family to be part of.'

'It's only a shame you can't join us in eating and drinking.' said Saeru as she stood up from her seat and headed for the bridge doorway. 'Times like these are a good reason for a toast.'

'Yes, I might miss out on that. But I could say the same about flying and my sensor capabilities. You can't experience that like I do, unfortunately.'

'That's life for all of us.' said Kal. 'We all have something more and lack something else compared to others.'

Saeru returned and held up a bottle and four glasses. 'Girl, you fly to your heart's content for us, and we'll drink and eat for you. Deal?'

Tori giggled again. 'Deal.'

Saeru poured the four glasses for everyone, and raised hers. 'To Tori's official graduation to pilot first class, and joining our family.' she said, and clinked the glass she had left for Tori on the console.

'To Tori.' said Viri and Kal, and clinked Tori's glass while she flew another corkscrew to avoid a large chunk of ancient rock.

They were all enjoying their drinks and imagining the enormous destructive powers that had to be at work to form that area of space when Tori spoke up. 'I'm receiving a very weak radio signal.'

Kal went over to the communication console and tuned into the frequency that Torianne had indicated. The reception was erratic while a male voice spoke through static. '... damage t-... -ortcircuit, and we can't... anyone help...'

'That doesn't sound good.' said Saeru. 'But can we risk it?'

'-mergency...'

Kal turned to the girls. 'It could be a trap, yes, but on the other hand there have been scientists suffering accidents here, and I don't like the idea to let someone die in the worst case because we ignored them.' The girls agreed. 'Tori, did you pick up other signals? Or anything suspicious at all?'

'No, this is the only thing I can detect.'

'All right. Approach the source carefully and look out for anything.'

Torianne flew towards the source of the signal while it became clearer over the radio. 'Please help us. We're stranded here and can't repair the damage to our ship. We don't have much time left. Is anyone out there?'

'There. That direction.' said Viri and pointed to the blurry shadow of an asteroid in the distance, several kilometres in size. When the bulky research ship attached to it came into view through the veil of dust, they noticed the large gap in the hull at one side. 'That looks pretty serious.'

Kal looked into every direction. 'Tori, you still haven't detected anything else?'

'Nothing else besides their transmission.'

Kal looked at Saeru and Viri. 'Shall we?' They nodded in agreement. 'All right, Tori, take us to them.'

The voice of an old man over the radio sounded hopeful when Torianne neared the stranded ship. 'Hello! Hello! Can you hear me? We need help desperately! Please respond!'

Kal picked up the microphone. 'We hear you. What happened?'