On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance

by Alex T. Kolter

  “Maybe half an hour,” Trix replied. “Now that things are working.”

  Her guess didn’t prove far off, and about thirty five minutes later, the newly-christened Fafnir disengaged its spacetime distorters, and re-entered regular space. Leaping out of the blackness in front of them came a large, grey planet, with two big moons orbiting very close it. Nero looked on with interest, having never seen such large moons before.

  Trix slowed the ship down, and they approached the planet on its dark side, the solar system’s sun hidden behind the bulk of the planet. With growing curiosity, Nero noted how populated the planet was. There were more dense areas of artificial lighting than he’d ever seen before on a planet, and flying far above it were numerous ships.

  “You know which city we’re heading to?” Nero asked Trix, as they rapidly approached the outer layers of the planet’s atmosphere. He walked closer to the panoramic window, and studied the planet below them.

  “The big one,” Trix replied. Nero gave her a disparaging glance. “I’ve got coordinates,” she said. “Apparently our buyer is on the edge of a large city. Didn’t specify which, though. I guess we’ll just have to see where our coordinates lead.”

  She brought the ship down, descending rapidly through the planet’s atmosphere, and making sure they didn’t go too near any of the other ships. They didn’t want a crash, not when they’d just got the ship working again.

  Ando and Kess entered the bridge at the same moment, holding on to the overhead rails whilst the ship was shaking, the air resistance causing some not-insignificant turbulence.

  “You two been...?” Nero asked, letting the pause drag out. Both looked a mite dishevelled. They glanced at each other, horror on Kess’s face, and an intrigued expression on Ando’s.

  “No!” Kess said. “And don’t go giving him ideas. I went back to bed, if you must know,” she explained.

  “Sure you did,” Nero replied, ingratiating understanding in his voice.

  “Oh, alone, Nero!” Nero exchanged a sly glance with Ando, and then turned back to the window. They were just above one of the cities now, and were rapidly nearing it. He glanced down to the map of their destination’s coordinates, and saw that they were nearly on top of it. Leaning forward to look down, out of the window, he saw an endless sea of buildings, none more distinctive than the other.

  “So... how are we going to find our buyer?” he asked.

  “I’m hoping that will become self-evident after we land,” Trix replied, concentrating on bringing in the ship to land. There was a small spaceport not far away from their destination, and Trix skilfully spun the ship around, and brought it down to land on the tiny landing pad. They had maybe a couple of metres clearance between the ship and the walls of the spaceport.

  “Nice job,” Reese said as Trix cut the engines. She smiled, and stood up from her captain’s chair.

  After they’d opened up the boarding ramp, they had a good view of the city’s skyline above the low walls of the spaceport. Mostly, the city consisted of relatively low buildings not more than a few stories high, with just the occasional tall building thrusting upwards into the sky. It was most unlike the city back on Dimora, Nero thought as he looked at the view. Though like Dimora, the buildings were mainly glass and metal.

  A person walking up to the ship got Nero’s attention, and he looked down to see a middle-aged woman pushing an empty hover-board. She looked harmless enough, he thought, and following Trix and the others, he walked down the ramp to meet her.

  “Hena?” Trix asked, stepping forward to greet the woman.

  The woman inclined her head. “And you must be Trix?” she asked, and it was Trix’s turn to nod. “If you don’t mind, we’d better load this stuff up quickly. I don’t want to draw too much undue attention,” she said.

  “Certainly,” Trix agreed, turning to head up the boarding ramp with Hena. “Are you expecting trouble?” Nero looked around them, wary of being watched.

  “Not specifically. But this whole planet is under direct CSG control, and this is something they would frown upon.”

  “I see,” Trix said, eyebrows drawn down into a frown. Nero wondered what that meant exactly. After all, all planets in the galaxy were theoretically under CSG control.

  “What does ‘direct control’ mean?” he asked, stepping up closer to Hena. She turned to look at Nero, and as ever when he first met someone, her eyes flicked briefly to his arms.

  “That we’d better be very careful indeed. They have an outpost on this planet, in this city. They use it as a base to reach this whole quadrant of the galaxy, so there is constant CSG activity. I regularly see patrols out in the city, monitoring things.”

  Nero looked away, out of the rear of the ship, wondering what sort of base it was. What sections of the CSG were based here? He unconsciously clenched his fists, metal fingers pressing hard against metal palm. He looked back to see Trix and the others already loading up the crates onto Hena’s hover-board, and a couple of their own boards as well.

  He went over to help, and in short order all of the crates were loaded onto the hover-boards, and they began to push them down the ramp. Nero led the way, acting as an imposing presence to any watching who might have thought about trying to make off with the crates. They had discovered in the last few months that nine times out of ten, would-be thieves simply watched Nero pass, deciding he looked like too much trouble to bother with.

  With Hena next to him, they walked out of the small spaceport, and emerged onto a narrow street that was remarkably busy at this time of night. The storefronts that lined this particular street all had bright flashing signs advertising their wares, and every store seemed to have lighting of a different colour. The effect was to lend the street a strangely festive air, and they walked through the hustle and bustle of the city’s nightlife.

  At the end of the high street, Hena took them down an even smaller street, with buildings towering a few stories above them on both sides, and led them up to a recessed set of steps. Pulling the hover-boards behind them, the group of outsiders climbed the steps between the buildings, and came up to what amounted to a second level in the city.

  Stood on the roofs of the buildings they had just been walking past, they were actually on another street, complete with another layer of buildings sat on top of the lower ones. Though only a single story, these buildings nevertheless had a multitude of shops projecting harsh lighting onto this street, and had a similarly large clientele milling around.

  Before Nero could have a good look around - there was a shop that attracted his attention, selling the strangest-looking food he’d ever seen - Hena had turned down a back alley, and quickly stopped outside a building with a glowing green cross above the door.

  She hastily opened the door, and ushered the crew of the Fafnir into the dim waiting room. There was a single alien sat in a seat, holding a bandage on its arm, and with a miserable look on its face. It looked up with curiosity with they walked into the room.

  “Again?” Hena asked, seeing the alien sat there. It nodded, and returned its attention to the opposite wall. “I don’t know what the cause is, but he’s a regular,” Hena said quietly to Trix.

  She then walked to the back of the room, and slid the door open to reveal what turned out to be a surgery. There was a white capsule in the centre of the room, long enough to fit the tallest of aliens in, and currently open to reveal the bed, and an array of surgical implements at the side of the room.

  “If you just dump the medications here,” Hena said, pointing generally to the floor, “that would be great.”

  They obliged, and in short order the hover-boards were empty of their cargo.

  Adira spoke as Hena went to fetch their payment. “If this planet is so tightly controlled by the CSG,” she said, “then why do you need to obtain medications in this manner? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  Hena returned with a small package, and offered it to Trix. “Why? The answer is in your question I’m afraid.
The CSG control things so tightly here, they can’t allow an excess of medicine to corrupt their perfect system.”

  “Corrupt it?” Adira asked, as Trix opened the package to flick through the stack of bonds.

  Hena gave Adira a questioning look, not understanding how she didn’t know how things worked. “The CSG actively limits basic supplies. Surely you know that?” Adira shook her head, and Nero glanced around to see the others, except Trix and Reese, looking equally confused.

  Hena continued. “Gosh, how out of the loop are you guys? The CSG, they run the whole galaxy, yes?” That was a rhetorical question, Nero assumed. “Well, they don’t do that just by being friendly and giving people whatever they want. They do it by exerting control over everyone.” She paused, as if to think how to explain it. “It you had plenty of food, medicine, water, heating, that sort of thing, you’re going to be pretty happy and content. Maybe a bit too content, and you might start questioning why the CSG - that often provides no obvious benefit - needs to take so much of your money. And why they should control your planet, when they’re far away in the centre of the galaxy.”

  “Which would be a fair point,” Ando said.

  “It would,” Hena agreed. “But the CSG doesn’t want people thinking that. After all, as powerful as they are, they can’t put down a full scale rebellion. So what do they do? They limit the basic amenities, the things necessary for life, so that people are so preoccupied with finding food, that sort of thing, that they don’t think about questioning their overlords.” Hena paused again. “It’s quite a clever strategy, really. They have the whole galaxy in line this way.”

  “So the shortages of food, medicine...?” Adira asked.

  “They’re all manufactured by the CSG. There’s plenty to go around, or at least plenty of production capacity on the planets they control. They just limit it, and control the distribution.” Hena shrugged. “Smart, as I say. Hence why we need these medications. We have too many patients, and too few drugs to treat them with.”

  Nero was silent as he absorbed this information. How many had starved, or sickened, just so the CSG could stay in power? Might his mother still be alive, if her murderer had had enough food? The CSG had been the bane of his life, from the start, he realised.

  Hena watched them, interested in their reaction. “You know,” she said, “the CSG’s regional headquarters is in this city. They organise the distribution of food, medicine, weapons even, to this whole quadrant, from right here. It’s relatively well known, among certain circles, that the CSG have huge stores under their base. Obviously, highly fortified, and virtually impossible to get into, but...” It wasn’t necessary for her to finish her sentence.

  “But if someone were to break in,” Nero supplied, “it could be rather... lucrative.”

  “Quite,” Hena said. “And of course, I and my colleagues would be willing to pay for any drugs said person might find. Should they get in, and out again.”

  Nero exchanged a glance with Trix, and saw the intrigued expression on her face. He also saw the same anger reflected in her eyes that he felt himself, at the CSG’s deception. He glanced quickly at the others, and was relieved to see determination there.

  “Well,” Trix said, “we’d better take these h-boards back to our ship, for now. But we appreciate the information Hena. Perhaps we’ll be back in contact in the future.”

  “I shall look forward to that,” Hena replied, and led them to the door of the surgery. It slid shut behind them, and the crew of the Fafnir made their way back to the berthed ship.

  ****

  “So we’re agreed, then?” Reese asked, looking around at the others. They were sat around the dinner table, in the ship’s kitchen, all much more serious than normal.

  “How could we not?” Ando asked. “There’s money, and we get to stick it to the CSG. Win-win, really.”

  “Win-win, except for the possibility of losing,” Trix interjected. “How are we going to break in without taking any casualties?”

  Nero nodded, thinking back to when he’d orchestrated infiltrations. Scrapers were relatively easy, he reflected, with very little active security. They purely relied on passive defence, like thick glass, and inaccessibility. Same went for the CSG cruiser he’d taken down. That had a small security detail on board, but no active defences, no external weapons systems. This CSG headquarters would almost certainly be very heavily defended.

  “I’m sure it’s possible,” Nero said. “We just need to use our strengths.”

  “Strengths?” Trix asked.

  “Yeah.” Nero raised his hands, and began counting off as he spoke. “We’re a small group, so we’re fast. We have the element of surprise. We have a technical expert.” He glanced at Reese. “And we have me,” he finished with a menacing smile.

  Trix paused to consider how those elements could be used, before giving up. “So what you’re saying is...?” she prompted.

  He smiled. “What I’m saying is, we can sneak into the base. They’re going to be focused on concerted break-in efforts, not small scale infiltrations through the front door.”

  “But we already saw the place, Nero” Kess said. She, Ando and Trix had gone on a short recce before they’d convened in the kitchen. “They have a massive perimeter fence. How would we even get past the checkpoint to sneak in the entrance?”

  “The perimeter is heavily monitored, I presume?” Nero asked. Kess nodded. “Perfect,” he said, getting a confused look from the others. “They’ll have lots of sensors monitoring movement outside, damage to the fence, that sort of thing, so if we get loads of those going off repeatedly...” he looked at Reese.

  “... then they won’t pay any attention to us when we break in. They’ll just think it’s another false alarm,” Reese finished.

  “Precisely,” Nero said.

  “And then we just walk in through the main door?” Kess asked.

  “Their security is all focused on the perimeter, and the security checkpoint there. Once we’re inside the perimeter, then they’ll just assume we’re meant to be there.”

  “And once we’re inside...?” Trix asked.

  “Reese or me should be able to hack into their systems. Find out where the stores are, and once we have them, well, we just walk out.”

  Adira gave Nero a cynical look. “Walk out? As simple as that?”

  “Why not?” Nero asked. “They’re focused on stopping unwanted people getting in. There’s too many people inside to monitor everyone on the way out too. As I said, if we’re inside the perimeter, then we’re meant to be there.” He shrugged.

  “Alright,” Trix said at last. “Let’s do this. Space is dark, after all.”

  “... and we’re alone in the darkness,” the others responded quietly.

  ****

  The street opened up, widening until it reached the large flat building at the end. From this distance, not many details were visible, but the hulking building had a purposeful, sterile presence. There was no colourful lighting or advertising on its walls, and visible in front of it was a large metal fence. It wasn’t the sort of place you would choose to go for pleasure, that much was clear.

  Nero, Trix and the rest of the Fafnir’s crew walked down the street, the late evening sunlight making them perspire as they strolled along. They chatted casually, in an effort to reduce the tension, and to make their little group less obvious, but they were apprehensive all the same. They frequently glanced at the building looming ahead of them, and Nero became aware of just how tall the fence was that surrounded the place. Maybe ten metres tall, there was sinister laser wire on the top to prevent people from climbing over, and on the far side was barren ground stretching at least a hundred metres to the building itself.

  “So that’s not intimidating, then,” Ando said as they walked closer, pretending to be interested in the shops, and not the government building.

  At the end of the street they were on was a crossroads, joining onto a circular street that entirely surrounded the CSG
property. They stepped onto this road, and a quick glance to the left revealed what could only be described as a bunker set just behind the fence. It looked like it could withstand a huge attack, and just in front of it, there was a group of perhaps twenty security guards. All were armed with powerful laser rifles, and wore body armour on their chests, and they were stood in front of and behind the closed gates.

  Before Nero looked away, he noticed a man, dressed smartly, being searched by the guards. Another glance a moment later revealed the gates being swung open to admit the man, and then they were closed again, the guards returning to their former positions, again standing completely still. Nero looked away again, and caught up with the others, who had already started making their way around the perimeter road, away from the security checkpoint.

  “Thinking about going through the checkpoint, Nero?” Kess asked as he caught up.

  “No, it looked a bit easy. I want a challenge.”

  “Of course you do. Well, I think we’re all going to get one.”

  They carried on round the perimeter, encircling the massive building, and noticing a couple of guard patrols inside the compound as they did so. Eventually, they reached the side of the building, and paused, finding an area that didn’t have any shops looking over them.

  “Okay, here will do,” Trix said, looking around and not seeing anybody else.

  Reese stepped forward, and moved to stand next to the fence. He looked it over, using the last of the disappearing sunlight to investigate the fence’s security systems.

  “How’s it looking, Reese?” Trix asked after a moment.

  He moved over to a slim metal box mounted on the rear of one of the thick metal posts. “Well, if I cut any of the wires, the alarm will obviously go off. Likewise, if there is too much movement in the fence, say from someone climbing it, I think the alarm would go off as well. And naturally, the guards will come running straight here...” He broke off as he pushed a laser tool through the wires, and began to lever away the panel of the metal box. “But this looks like a relay station,” he continued, grunting with the effort. “So if I can get in here...”