Freelancers 02: The Cat's Genes

'Inside!' said Kal as he pointed at the door from the nearest building. Viri and Saeru provided cover fire while they hurried there. Kal wasted no time making a clean cut through the bolt, but caused a concentrated build up of matter and fire inside the lock on the way and blew it up. They rushed through the door while the alarm rang all over and lights turned on at the back.

'They're coming through the fence.' said Saeru. 'We can't slip behind them in this light.'

Kal took out his portable radio. 'Tori, can you hear me?'

'I hear you.' came back through some interference.

'We're trapped and need your help.'

'I'm on my way.' she said while firing up her engines.

Although the attackers meant to not kill Delia and Gerond, they weren't too careful about it and kept the pressure on the rescuers. Breaking noises coming from behind them in the building made things worse. 'I'll look.' said Saeru, and hurried towards the source.

Guards moved through the front entrance of the building in formation, and she silently cursed as she returned to the others. 'The guards are coming this way. We're boxed in.'

'Kwarf!' grumbled Kal. 'We'll just have to hold out until Tori arrives. You hold the rear.'

The guards turned on the interior lights as they moved forward, and Saeru could only keep them at bay with bursts of precision fire from her position behind a doorway.

The sight of Torianne coming down in the night sky was a welcome sight. 'I'm here.' she said over the radio.

'Take care of the people at the back, will you?'

'Of course.' she said, and opened fire across the attacking group and scattered them in all directions while they returned fire in vain.

'Saeru! We're leaving! shouted Kal while Viri moved outside to add cover fire.

Torianne touched down onto the ground outside the fence while Kal and the girls covered Delia and Gerond on the way to her. She opened the larger doors at the front of her lower section and the group hurried inside, after which she took off into the sky again.

Genuata meow-growled in joy when Delia and Gerond entered the bridge, and the happy couple hugged and petted her while the others took their seats. 'Stop near the port.' said Kal. 'I'll fetch Reliant.'

Torianne landed at a quiet place near the port after a fast low altitude approach, and Kal hurried to the port. 'Oh, great.' he said when he found Rix standing next to his transporter. He was glad to see the inspector leave when a car drove quickly up to him with its lights flashing and picked him up, and quickly flew Reliant away without politely requesting permission from port control this time.

#

'So, what's the story?' asked Saeru when everyone was seated in the common area later.

Delia stroked the purring Genuata's head on her lap and looked at her husband. 'You'd better tell them everything, dear.'

He gave her a nod. 'To begin with, we're both genetic scientists who worked for a biology division of Telum. Our goal was to research and look for practical applications in medicine and the like. We discovered a certain cat species reacted favourably to modifications involving human genes, and the idea was born for a literal pet project. We spliced and assembled what we were reasonably sure of would work, and grew an embryo in vitro. As it grew without any ill effects, we decided in our enthusiasm there was no reason to terminate it according to company policy, and eventually we ended up with an adorable kitten.' He chuckled and stroked Genuata. 'She grew up fast while we discovered her high intelligence, and felt like the proud parents we had never been before.' He sighed with sadness 'It made the news that management decided to take her for the weapons division all the worse. We protested because we knew they'd put her through horrible tests and end up dissecting her to create more of her if she was successful. She's such a good girl without a hint of meanness in her, we could not let that happen. Unfortunately, Telum restricted our access and shut us out from the work we had done, and took her before we had any chance of taking her away. When we heard through friendly sources she was going on a transport, we worked to find out where and how, and made an educated guess from the data the company collected as they tracked you. We thought something wasn't quite right on where you stopped for fuel, and bet on you making a final detour through Beid Lnujun space.'

Viri sniggered. 'You guessed correctly, but were lousy at the rest.'

He chuckled with embarrassment. 'Yeah, sorry about that.'

'Oh, don't worry about that. We were all the more glad about that.' said Kal with some amusement. 'The question now is what you plan on doing next.'

Gerond looked at Delia again. 'We only planned on going into hiding at some remote planet to live out our days, but we didn't expect the company to be so persistent in finding us.'

'Nor their rivals.' said Delia.

Saeru looked at Kal. 'We'll have to make them disappear.'

He nodded. 'And prevent the company and its rivals from ever trying to look for them.'

'Going public?'

'Going public.'

Delia took her husband's hand in worry. 'Are you going to expose us and our work?'

Kal shook his head. 'Exposing you would just burden the peaceful life you could have, unless everyone thinks you're dead. We'll just have to kill you in a spectacular manner.'

#

Saeru showed Delia and Gerond the suite they could use while they were on board, and they sat down on the bed, ready to sleep away their fatigue. Genuata hopped on the end and laid down. Saeru giggled and stroked her head. 'Not leaving their side now, eh?' she said, and Genuata purred.

Delia smiled at the two. 'I can see she really likes you. She's hasn't been this friendly with others before, although I don't mean she'd been unfriendly.'

Saeru scratched the fluffy cat behind her ear. 'Maybe she knows we have something in common.' Delia gave her a puzzled look, and she pulled her cap from her head, revealing her own large, fluffy fox ears. Delia and Gerond stared at them in astonishment. 'Viri and I are also the product of genetic experiments, although we were saved by Kal from a crash site when we were very little and we have no idea where we came from. The charred remains of a person that Kal found dead had nothing to identify them with, and our memories from before that are just vague ones of white corridors and rooms, and physical and mental tests. Blood tests showed we're not really sisters, yet also that we are in part.'

'I'm so sorry.' said Delia. 'It was when our dear Genuata was taken away that we realised the consequences of our work. We acted out of hubris even though we had good intentions, and provided a means to turn animals into weapons for the military or anyone else who's willing to pay.'

Saeru stroked Genuata tenderly. 'It's all right. I'm sure she would say the same thing to you. You give her all the love, and in our case, Kal was the one who found us and gave us a home, and we fell in love eventually.'

Delia gave her a warm smile. 'Thank you.'

Saeru straightened herself. 'Well, I'll leave you to rest now. If you need anything, you can ask Tori to relay a message to us or ask where to find us. Just call out her name.' she said, and left the suite.

#

The attendant of the small fuel station orbiting a remote planet disconnected the fuel hose from Reliant. 'You're good to go.' he said to Kal with a nervous glance at the large animal standing next to his customer. He had seen how playful it was around the old man accompanying them, but he did not dare assume it was friendly with everyone. He was well aware of the reason why some animals had sharp fangs and claws.

'Thanks.' said Kal and secured the fuel lid. He looked at the attendant hastily winding the hose, and chuckled as he stroked Genuata's head. 'I think you made an impression, girl. His visor was pretty fogged up.'

She replied with a playful light growl, and they boarded Reliant.

In the cockpit, Gerond looked up from the copilot seat. 'I noticed that manager fellow in the office looking closely at us several times. Twice while on the phone.'

Kal sat down after strapping Genuata in her seat and began his pre-flight check. 'Then we'll probably see our friends soon.' He looked at Gerond. 'Buckle up for a wild ride.'

Kal flew away from the fuel station and set course towards the local exit transgate. He checked the transponder code he used this time and activated the radio channel for the transgate. 'Transgate Control, this is Century Duck requesting transfer to Nonderan.'

'Century Duck, passage to Nonderan is available. Please transmit your transfer code and wait for our clearance.'

'Sending code now, Control.' Kal said, and leaned back in his seat. 'And now we wait for the surprise.'

#

Several destroyer type ships appeared well before the usual waiting period for clearance and almost on top of Reliant. Kal whistled his respect. 'They have guts transferring so close to another ship with the risk of killing us and themselves.'

'Reliant, do not move or we'll blow you to bits.' came from the radio. 'Hand over your passengers and you might live.'

Kal sighed. 'Why do pirates always say the same cliché lines.' he said, and took the microphone from the radio. 'Blowing us to bits won't make your client happy, nor you paid.' He returned the microphone, and accelerated quickly between the two ships in front. The enemy ships went in pursuit at once.

Gerond looked at the monitor with the view from the rear of the ship. 'Wouldn't it have been better to do this at one of the systems with dense gas clouds to hide in?'

Kal headed for the smallest planet. 'Yes, but this one has an extra feature to make it interesting.'

'What? That planet?'

'No. What's behind it.' said Kal, and flew close to the atmosphere towards the other side of the planet.

Gerond gazed at the giant station under construction orbiting the planet. It consisted of modules of different sizes, connected in tight proximity by a framework and corridors. Half of the outer modules had their shell done and there was no mistaking the outline of the logo on one of them. 'That's a Telum facility?'

'Indeed.' said Kal and headed straight for it. 'Currently only manned by a skeleton crew because they're awaiting delivery of some top secret equipment.'

The radio crackled. 'Reliant, this is your only chance to surrender. We will open fire and simply give our client what remains. It will be good enough for them.' The message was underlined by tracer rounds whisking past them on every side.

'Well, well.' said Kal. 'They feel confident again.'

Gerond looked over his shoulder at a growling Genuata staring at the rear view screen. 'What's your plan now?'

'Now, we fight.' Kal said, made a sharp turn around the closest module, and fired Reliant's side guns at the first pirate ship. The hail of armour piercing bullets hit a missile bay and the load it carried, and blasted a large gap into the nose of the ship while Kal flew behind the cover of another station module. 'They won't mince words any longer now.'

Three small fighters confirmed his expectations soon, and he weaved around the corridors and modules as fast as he could while the fighters did their best to see how many bullet holes fit in the rear of Reliant. Gerond gripped the arm rests of his seat. 'Maybe now is the time to unveil your secret manoeuvre and save us?'

Kal chuckled. 'Almost.' he said while he compressed matter and energy into the side guns. He turned around the corner of another module and reversed the thrust of his engines at full power. The pirate fighters flew by them and he ignited the energy behind his bullets. Both pierced straight through one fighter and the module behind it. It crashed into a corridor and a strut from the framework and spread wreckage everywhere.

Kal didn't wait after firing and had already two more highly dense projectiles waiting in the gun barrels. One of the remaining fighters turned and fired, but Kal directed full power downwards and toppled Reliant while the fighter passed underneath them. The two bullets hit once again, and the fighter engine exploded before the hull tore a long gash in the shell of the module it crashed into.

Gerond didn't think his heart still had the ability to beat as fast as it did, but the sight of the third fighter flying away made him feel better. 'They're giving up?'

'Nope.' said Kal. 'Now they'll pull out the big guns.' He flew slowly towards the outside of the station complex, and stopped when one of the destroyers closed in on them. Hatches opened fast and four missiles flew straight at them at high speed. Kal opened full throttle on the engines and fled towards the centre of the station. 'This is it.' The missiles could barely follow his sharp turns and exploded left and right when they hit the station, but more came from other sides when the other ships surrounded the station.

'Kal!' said Saeru over the radio. 'We brought company.'

Torianne sped along the pirate ships, and several fast fighters from the justice department followed. One of them hailed the pirates but their immediate response was to open fire upon the new arrivals. They didn't give up Reliant as a target though and more missiles followed. Kal steered his ship into a long, hollow module, and as soon as it reappeared from the other side, one missile hit the left engine. Reliant spun along its axis and dodged another missile, but a third hit the side of the cockpit. Reliant crashed into a storage facility and exploded, causing secondary explosions from the stored volatile materials.

The pirate ships turned away from the station, but a fleet of justice department cruisers popped up around them and quickly disabled them in a barrage from their main cannons.

Torianne slipped through the narrow gaps between the modules of the station, halted in the middle, and opened her rear cargo doors of her lower section. 'We're clear, Kal.' said Saeru.

Kal looked through a camera at the inside of the real Reliant's cargo bay, where Viri dressed in a space suit just entered. 'We're coming in.'

Reliant entered Torianne's bay a moment later, and she quickly closed it and jumped to the edge of the solar system when she cleared the station. Kal, Viri, and Gerond joined the others on the bridge, and Kal sat down in a command seat. 'Anyone on our tail, Tori?'

'Nothing as far as I can detect.'

'All right, if nothing changes for the next few days, I assume the plan succeeded.' said Kal, and took Viri's hand. 'Nice job flying the remote decoy, dear.' He leaned his head back and sighed. 'I wonder if I can find a new spare hull and engines somewhere again. So many spare parts gone.'

Viri chuckled and squeezed his hand. 'I'm pretty sure you've been collecting them just as much for the fun of hunting as for their use, honey.'

'Well, yeah, but still.'

She kissed the top of his head. 'Let's just take it easy for now. Not much else we can do while we wait. Anyone up for a drink?'

#

Kal perused the rows of part racks at a warehouse of another salvage yard a few days later, when Farusco appeared at one end of the isle. 'Nice try, but without any traces of biological material in the debris, the deception fell through and was only a waste of money.'

Kal turned over the circuit board he held, put it back in the box with the other boards, and casually faced Farusco. 'Time was too short to find matching bodies, so I hoped the damage would have been enough to conclude nothing could have remained to tell if anyone was on board or not.' He didn't look back when Laniël stepped into the isle at the other end.

Farusco stepped slowly forward. 'You'll understand that we like our property back and waive your fee because of all the trouble you cost us.'

Kal folded his arms and leaned with his shoulder against the rack. 'Well, the thing is, I really like animals, and when I learn about people wanting to harm them, I tend to resent them at the highest levels.'

Farusco halted a few steps away from Kal. 'That thing is an unauthorised biological product made in a lab. It is not supposed to exist, and as far as everyone will know, it never existed. You will hand it over unless you prefer not to have ever existed as well.'

Kal raised a finger. 'That's a good point you have there. As far as everyone knows.' He pulled an envelope from his shirt pocket. 'You might want to have a look at this.'

Kal tossed it towards Farusco, who caught it and opened it. Kal could see from the momentarily hardening of his expression that he did not like the contents. Kal glanced back at Laniël. 'This is only part of the data we've collected and distributed to various deposit boxes. You can verify the authenticity of the sample documents at the laboratory where we copied them yesterday. I presume you understand the meaning of this without me explaining it.'

Farusco gave him a cold, hard look. 'We still might decide to simply kill you right here, regardless.'

He froze when cold steel touched the back of his neck. 'I don't think this needs an explanation either.' said Saeru behind him.

Laniël moved her hands calmly away from her body when she heard the rustle of clothing behind her.

Kal moved closer to Farusco. 'I think we have a clear understanding, don't we?' he said, and walked away without waiting for the inevitable answer.

#

Kal stroked Genuata's back while she covered his lap as he sat on the couch in the common room aboard Torianne. 'You'll still have to live somewhere in obscurity, but only a handful of people at Telum should know you didn't die in the attack, and only we will know the safe location that we're taking you to.'

Delia and Gerond gave him, Saeru, and Viri grateful smiles. 'Thank you, for everything.' said Delia and took her husband's hand. 'We were prepared to be on the run for the rest of our lives if we had to when we decided to rescue our dear Gen.'

Genuata rubbed her cheek against Kal's face with a cheerful short growl, and purred when he chuckled and scratched behind her ear. 'We're all happy in the knowledge we saved one special young lady along the way.'

'We're at the edge of the system.' said Torianne. 'Shall I jump to our next destination?'

'Please do, Tori.' said Kal. 'As long as you don't detect anything suspicious, keep jumping towards every system until we reach Hortus.'

'All right. Hang on to your hats.' she said with a giggle, and made the first jump.

Saeru stood up from her seat. 'It'll be a little while before we eat, so how about we take a first look at your new home world and choose the place where you'll live from tomorrow on?'

#

Delia passed through the corridor on her way to her suite when she heard groans and growls from one of the compartments. Saeru, Viri, and Genuata were chasing Kal around various obstacles, trying to snatch the ball he held. Viri reached out to it when he spun towards her, but missed when he dodged and jumped away. Another dodge followed by a move from Saeru, but Genuata swiped immediately at the ball and hit it out of his hands. It bounced up from the floor, and with a quick leap she caught it in her mouth and became the target of the chase.

Kal noticed Delia and walked up to her, breathing hard and wiping the sweat from his face. 'She's definitely a tough opponent in this training game.' he chuckled.

Delia smiled with pride at the white shadow chased by the two black shadows. 'I've never seen her so energetic before. But then we're not exactly youthful enough to play with her like that.'

Kal took a deep breath. 'Yeah, one of the facts of life unfortunately.' he said and enjoyed the playful growls and laughter of the three when Genuata slipped away from a pincer attack. 'I'm certain we'll miss her. And I don't mean as a pet or something because she's way too smart for that, I just can't think of the exact term for her apart from dear friend.'