“Correct,” they both said at once.
They think the southeast bunker’s doors might close as soon as the command is issued to open the northwest bunker’s doors, or the citizens of New Penza will attack them. They also are not entirely confident that their new code will work. This is why they want to work with us. Captain Renalta doesn’t want to sacrifice his own people.
“This seems like a complicated process,” I said with a frown. “You must have over a hundred bodies up on your ships. Why do you need us to do this?”
“There is a security lock on the government center building. We cut the power source, but it has a backup solar generator that we have been unable to locate. The batteries expire after a few hours of darkness, then the door can be opened,” Commander Tunar-Roz explained.
This is the crux of their problem. If we weren’t here, they would begin building a new structure to cover the government building so that the drones could not enter. However, this will take Renalta four months or more. They also fear retaliation from the New Penza natives that have taken refuge in the bunkers. They want them as mining slaves so they don’t want to kill too many.
His superiors have demanded that he bring this planet back under Lith Dae rule in a few weeks. They sent both Lachie and him here to work together, so he wants to get it done himself. This is why he wants to try us first. He doesn’t know how we escaped from the planet at dusk, but he thinks we might have some sort of cloaking technology on our ship or in the suits we are wearing. Either way, we are a quick and expandable solution to his problem.
“Sounds like it will be a juggling act,” I said.
“You’ll need three teams to coordinate everything. The team who enters the government building will need someone skilled with computers. The terminals there all have passwords protecting them. The team who enters the northwest bunker will need to be able to open the drone terminal and upload the new code. There might also be automated defense systems in each of the bunkers,” Captain Renalta said.
“What kind of automated defense systems?” I asked.
“We aren’t sure, but you should expect some resistance.”
Ahhh. More is becoming clear. Renalta and Tunar-Roz believe the citizens of Uraniel will do whatever it takes to keep from falling back in line.
“Do you have some extra muscle on your ships?” I asked. “You are asking a lot of my crew.”
“I am also offering a lot of rhodium. Two-hundred grams is probably the largest haul you’ve ever seen. Eh?” Renalta gave me a half-smile and chuckled.
He has the rhodium, but he doesn’t think you’ll actually live to collect. Even if we do upload the new code to change the firmware of the drones, they will still kill us when we exit the bunker. For him, this is a shot in the dark, but it is worth his time to talk to us because he’ll get data around our failure which can help him succeed later.
“It is a good amount.” I shrugged. “I guess I’m still wondering why you care about this planet. We have done a fly over, their technology is old, and I didn’t see any mining areas.”
“We could ask you the same,” Commander Tunar-Roz said. Her eyes narrowed at me, and she crossed her arms.
“We are here because we heard they are a backwater planet that almost never gets visitors. Those types are always eager to trade and travel.” I shrugged.
They want the dig sites. By the stars, Adam, the crust of this planet is filled with unearthed technology of an ancient and powerful race of humanoids. The wasps the people of Uraniel accidentally unleashed are just the tip of the iceberg. Lith Dae was able to recover a tiny portion of the technology, and they are using it to develop biological weapons they think will give them control over this part of the galaxy, maybe even the entire Milky Way. They fear the citizens of Uraniel might have dug sideways in their bunkers and found some of the technology. They were transmitting radio signals up until a month ago, but then they stopped suddenly.
“It’s our colony planet,” Captain Renalta said with a shrug. “We are required to protect our people. The sooner we get these drones fixed, the sooner we can get the poor people of this planet out of their bunkers.”
“I like jobs where I get paid to help people,” I said with a nod. No sane person would take this job; Captain Renalta expected us to die while doing it, and if we didn’t, he wouldn’t pay us anyways. The alternative wasn’t an option though. If we leave, it would only be a matter of time before the Lith Dae figure out how to open the bunkers and re-program the drones. Then they would eliminate whichever citizens are hiding and pull every bit of advanced tech they could from the planet.
Commander Tunar-Roz intends to let the drones into the bunkers. Millions of people will be trapped and killed by the birdlike robots. It will be horrible.
Eve’s telepathic words made my brain boil with anger, but I managed to hold my poker face.
“Good!” Captain Renalta said. “Commander Tunar-Roz has the information for you.”
“Here is the detailed location of the government center. The control terminal is wired to a different power system than the locking doors. It was working last we checked.” The woman handed me a silver computer storage fob. “We also have the blueprints to the two bunkers there.”
“What about the programs?” I asked.
“This one is for the government terminal. It will open the door to the first bunker. The other one is for inside the control bunker. You’ll have to find the terminal for that one, but it should be somewhere close to the first floor. Do you have someone who can crack the passcode to the government center computer?”
“Yeah,” I said as I took the other two data sticks from her. I refrained from pointing out that they were obviously lying to me about Uraniel being one of their colony worlds; they would have known the password to the system if that was the case.
“And you’ll need someone with knowledge about drones to push the new code through the system. Do you have someone?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “So let’s talk about rhodium. I thought you said two-hundred grams.” I knew the two naval officers were going to try to wiggle out of paying us anything upfront, but it would set off their alarms if I didn’t ask.
“Yes,” Renalta said. “We’ll pay you the two-hundred after the mission is completed.”
“Naw,” I said as I shook my head.
They waited for me to finish, but I didn’t. Instead I just met Renalta’s gaze with an even stare. A few seconds passed, and the man’s brows folded.
“That’s our policy. We don’t pay until the mission is complete,” the commander hissed.
“My policy is to take half up front,” I shrugged.
“Captain Adam, I won’t be able to do that,” Renalta said with a heavy sigh.
He is lying. He believes we will die, so he does not want to waste the rhodium.
“But you have the rhodium?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Of course! I am a man of my word!” Renalta said as he pressed his palm into his uniformed chest.
“I’m not comfortable doing this work without the rhodium. It makes me feel as if you don’t have skin in the game.” I frowned at them.
“We don’t feel comfortable giving you a hundred grams of rhodium before you produce any work,” Tunar-Roz hissed at me. “You can warpdrive out of here at any moment and leave us high and dry.”
“Hey, you know, you are right,” I said with a nod. My words caught the woman completely off guard, and her eyes opened wide for a moment.
“A hundred rhodium is a lot to trust me with, I get it.” I shrugged. “Still though, it’s going to take me a lot of planning to do this, and some of my crew members might die. I get how you don’t want to trust me, but you are asking me to trust that you’ll pay me after I finish, but you can also hyperdrive out of here. If you were me, what would you say?”
“As I said before, Captain Adam, I am a man of my word.” Captain Renalta let out a sigh. “How about we give you twenty-five u
p front?”
“Make it fifty grams,” I said.
The two of them looked at each other for half a moment. I couldn’t read their expressions, but Turnar-Roz seemed a bit surprised when Captain Renalta nodded.
“We’ll give you fifty. Thanks for helping us, and the good people of Uraniel,” he said.
“My pleasure,” I replied, and the woman began to shift her fingers through the bags on her belt.
He agreed to give us the rhodium because he now plans to take Persephone from us.
Eve’s voice made my hackles rise, and I had to force a smile to stay on my face. The commander pulled out five small packets of shiny gray dust, and then she stepped forward to place them in my hand.
“Thank you,” I said to them both with a nod. “We’ll get to work on our end as soon as we get back to our ship.
“Tell me a little about your ship,” Renalta requested. “She is an interesting looking craft.”
“We like her,” I said carefully.
“How long have you flown her?” he asked.
“Feels like forever.” I laughed and tried to keep the beast caged in my stomach.
“Well, once you’ve helped us here. I would love to exchange tours. The Lith Dae Navy is always looking for new recruits. The pay will probably be much higher than what you’ll get as a trade ship,” Captain Renalta said with a half smile.
“I’ll think about it,” I replied.
“You will start the mission tonight?” Commander Tunar-Roz asked.
“I’m not sure. We will have to look at the information you have given us and plan.”
“You’ll have twenty hours to plan. That should be more than en--” she began, but Renalta raised a large hand to silence her.
“We’ll give you till tomorrow night,” he said. “That should be more than enough time. Don’t you agree?”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “If we have any questions, can we reach out to you?” I asked them, and then I turned to Eve. I didn’t know if she had anything she wanted to ask, but I wanted to make sure she had an opportunity to speak.
“Of course. If you need any more information, just let us know,” Renalta said.
“Thank you,” Eve said, and her lips curled into a beautiful smile that showed her twin fangs. “We will be in touch.”
They nodded, and we said our goodbyes before retreating to our shuttles. Eve handled the ramp and door while I jumped into the pilot seat and began the lift-off process.
“Persephone, this is Adam, we are heading home,” I said into the shuttle’s transponder.
“Copy that, Captain,” Z said. “What’s the news?”
“I’ll brief you when I get back,” I said.
“Uh oh,” Z said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You aren’t even trying to convince me this is going to be easy. You normally try to brush off all of our missions like they aren’t a big deal.” The hacker sounded worried, and I turned to Eve as she sat in the copilot’s seat. The vampire frowned a bit and then shook her head.
“Yeah,” I sighed into the transponder. “This is going to be really fucking hard, but if we don’t do it, millions--maybe even billions of people that live on this planet will suffer.”
Chapter 8
The flight back to Persephone was uneventful, and the five of us met on the bridge around the map platform. I laid the data sticks on the empty table by the holographic projection and then told them about the conversation Eve, and I had with the Lith Dae officers.
“I’ll need to inspect each of these drives for viruses,” Z said as she scooped them up with her long fingers.
“How long will that take?” I asked.
“Hard to say, no more than a few hours. Just want to make sure they aren’t trying to infect Persephone with anything before we plug it into the map system.
“Good call. I also want to know what is in the code for the drones.” I looked at the twins.
“We can figure that out as soon as Z has finished her check,” one of them said with a nod.
“Ideally, we can re-program them so they aren’t hostile, or maybe make them hostile to Lith Dae. I’m not sure how hard it would be, but I don’t want these fuckers setting foot on Uraniel.” My words came out as a growl, and the four women nodded in agreement.
“We’ll see what we can do,” the other twin said, and then she raised her hand to her mouth to cover a yawn.
“Shit, I took a nap, but you all didn’t,” I said.
“I’m fine,” the twin I guessed was Paula said, but then she yawned again. I looked at Z, and the beautiful hacker also had dark circles under her eyes.
“We’ve got till tomorrow night, how many hours is that? I think you all should rest for a bit.”
“It will be a little over forty-seven Earth hours before we need to enter the government center,” Kasta said.
“Yeah. Plenty of time,” I said. “Let’s meet back here in eight. You all get some res--”
“I’m fine,” Z said. “I need to work on these drives.”
“No, get some sleep. That’s an order,” I said to her with a smile, and the blonde hacker let out a sigh.
“What if those fucks try and attack us while we are sleeping?” Z asked.
“I can keep watch,” Kasta said with a shrug. “If you don’t mind me sitting in your chair.”
“Not at all,” Z said with a smile.
“I would also enjoy a rest,” Eve said.
“Yes, it’s been a while, and I’m still hung over from the party,” Paula said through another yawn.
“I’ll stay up for a bit more and think through a plan,” I said.
“I would enjoy a conversation with you.” Kasta smiled at me, and I nodded.
“Alright, Everyone but Kasta is dismissed. See you all back here in eight.” Eve, Paula, and Z all nodded, and then they turned to walk toward the elevator.
I followed Kasta to the other side of the bridge, and I sat in the captain’s chair while she slid into the pilot’s seat. As soon as she got settled, the android turned to look at me, but then I saw her eyes drift to the side and I glanced over.
“Can we talk?” Z asked.
“Yeah, sure,” I said.
“Uhh. privately.”
“Of course,” I got out of my seat and nodded to Kasta. “You’ve got the bridge.”
“Aye, Captain,” the android said as she turned back to study the Lith Dae Navy ships on Persephone's screen.
Z walked with me past the elevator, and I gestured for her to enter my suite. She didn’t say anything when she walked inside, but I could tell she was tense by the rigidity of her shoulders.
“So…” she started as she sat down on the couch in my foyer.
“Sorry I’ve been avoiding you,” I said as I sat on the other couch across from her.
“Whoa. That was easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought you were going to say ‘No, Z, I haven’t been avoiding you. You are making it up,’ and then I’d have to think about it, and start to doubt myself, and then think that I might have been imagining you not talking to me during Jatal’s party.” She let out a nervous laugh and then crossed her long legs.
“No, you aren’t going crazy. I’m avoiding you like you are avoiding Eve,” I said.
“Whoa, hey. What’s going on with Eve and I is not the same as with you and me,” Z said.
“Maybe not,” I said. “But I was avoiding you because I didn’t know what to tell you about our relationship.”
“And . . . Now you know?” she asked. Her eyebrow was raised, and I could see the storm of emotions in her eyes. She wanted this from me, but she was also terrified of what I was going to say.
“You are brilliant, funny, kind, and I ahhh,” I let out a long breath and tried to force my heart from slamming into my chest. Why was I so nervous about this? It wasn’t as if I had never been with a woman before. “I remember in the elevator when we were trying to escape from that mall while the E
laka Nota soldiers were coming after us.”
“And you killed all of them? That’s a weird thing to think about--”
“No.” I interrupted her with a wave of my hand. “I’d killed them, and you were still up on top of the elevator car. You reached down with your hand to help me up. That was probably when it started.”
“Ohhhh,” she said, and her cheeks started to turn red.
“I knew you were a good person then. You were brave, and you wanted to help me, even though I’d kind of gotten you into the mess in the first place.”
“Naw, it wasn’t you,” Z said with a chuckle. “It was that fuck-- no, nevermind. I don’t want to think about him.”
“So I want to tell you that--”
“Wait,” she interrupted me. “No one has ever said that to me before.”
“Said what?” I asked.
“That I’m brilliant and funny, and kind, and brave. Well, my mom did, but no man ever has. They just told me I was pretty. I don’t know why that appealed to me. Looking back, I never had a good relationship. My fucking dad left. Ugh. Maybe that’s why I fell for such scum bags before.” She let out a laugh and then her eyes met mine with surprising intensity. “It was the second we met.”
“Huh?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She laughed again. “I wish I could say all the nice things you just said about me, but in all honesty, I ahh… I just thought ‘Wow this guy is really hot. He’s got a ton of muscles, thick hair, cool looking golden eyes, nice lips, and I bet he would be really good in bed.’ Ugh. I was with Jake too. I felt bad for getting all horny about you. It felt like I was cheating on him.” Her face turned redder as she spoke, and she put her fingers over her eyes when she finished.
I didn’t know what to reply, so I didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then she let out a laugh, pulled her hands away from her blushing face, and leaned back into the couch.
“I can’t believe I am saying this to you. I feel like I can talk to you about anything, and you don’t judge me. I know we never really had anything, but I’m still sad that whatever we had is over.”
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