Drop Team Zero

by Jake Bible

  “That planet is going to collide with the purple one that is directly behind us,” Hole said. “They’ll collide within the century. Odds are, it will be within two decades. I’d avoid the Havlov System around that time.”

  “I’m going to avoid it as soon as we leave,” Geist said. “No desire to come back here. You have any idea what gas planets do to my camouflage instincts? All that swirling? Makes my skin crawl.”

  “That’s not hard,” Wanders said. “I remember that one time we were looking for those B’clo’nos and you—”

  “Hold up,” Hole said as she cocked her head to the side.

  “What? You remember that, right, Hole?” Wanders asked.

  “Quiet,” Hole snapped. “Listen. Do you hear chatter on the broad spectrum?”

  “We aren’t dialed into the external coms, Hole,” Geist said. “That’s all in your head. Literally.”

  “Right. Of course,” Hole said and tapped at the console in front of her. The external coms, broad spectrum nets that caught any transmissions within the System, kicked on over the bridge’s speakers. “Hear that?”

  Both Geist and Wanders concentrated as they listened to what was mostly static. But interspersed within that static was certainly something. The looks Wanders and Geist gave each other said they had no idea what that something was.

  “It’s coded,” Geist said. “I think.”

  “No, you are correct,” Hole said. “The transmission is coded. It is also using a laser-directed frequency that should not carry an audio transmission at all.”

  “That why it’s so staticky?” Wanders asked.

  “Yes,” Hole replied. “We are only picking this up because I have the Eight-Three-Eight’s antenna cluster tuned to grab any and all transmissions within this System. If I wasn’t so paranoid, we would have missed it completely.”

  “Good for you and your android paranoia,” Geist said.

  “It’s not because I’m an android,” Hole said.

  “So it’s a true personality flaw?” Wanders asked.

  “You two having fun?” Hole asked. “Pick on the synthetic because you’re bored?”

  “We’ve gotta do something to pass the time,” Geist said. “Dropping off some councilman’s brat to the Fleet isn’t exactly what Zero was commissioned for. We could have just called the kid a wormhole taxi, handed him some chits, and been done with it all.”

  “Yes, Geist, that is exactly what we should have done,” Hole said. “If we wanted to end up before a Fleet tribunal with the threat of a court martial hanging over us for complete professional incompetence.”

  “I was just joking, Hole, sheezus,” Geist said. “Lay off.”

  “There something you aren’t telling us, Master Sergeant?” Wanders asked. “Because it certainly sounds like there is something you aren’t telling us.”

  Hole hesitated.

  “Oh, crud!” Geist exclaimed. “There is something, isn’t there? Wanders totally nailed it. Oh, come on, Master Sergeant Hole, you can’t keep it from us.”

  “Need to know,” Hole responded.

  Geist and Wanders went silent. They stared at the android for a couple seconds then turned back to their consoles.

  “Fo,” Geist muttered.

  “Need to know,” Wanders said. “That’s not good. Really not good.”

  “Are we about to get in the crud?” Geist asked after a couple of minutes. “Can you at least tell us that? Is this drop off about to get very complicated?”

  “It shouldn’t,” Hole said. “This is the easy part.”

  “Son of a gump,” Wanders said. “This is the easy part. Okay, okay, I can handle that. This is easy. No reason it shouldn’t be.”

  “Then the black site is the hard part?” Geist probed. “Harder than what LT made it out to be?”

  “Need to know,” Hole replied.

  “Motherfoer,” Geist said.

  He looked at the holo of Motherboard and the others as they stood in front of the Fleet officers that were sent to fetch the boy. The handoff was happening in the docking portal where the two ships were joined. Geist pointed at the lead Fleet officer.

  “The other two are Marines, but who is this guy?” Geist asked.

  “Need to know,” Hole said.

  “You’re wrong there,” Geist said. “Better check your protocols. The man is standing with one foot on his ship and one foot on ours. Once that foot hit Eight-Three-Eight metal then need to know became I get to know.”

  Hole remained silent for a moment as if she never heard Geist then said, “Fleet Intelligence officer.”

  “Son of a gump,” Wanders said again. “We’re in league with the spooks on this one? That’s not cool on so many levels.”

  “What do the spooks want with Councilman Keer’s kid?” Geist asked. “This should be a straight-up Marines thing. The Fleet never sends Intelligence for a simple fetch mission.”

  “Need to know,” Hole said.

  “Oh, for fo’s sake,” Geist grumbled. “You suck, Hole.”

  “LT will sort it out once we’re on our way, Geist,” Wanders said. “Let the bot have her secret fun. It can’t stay need to know forever.”

  “Bot?” Hole asked. “Do you even know how offensive you can be sometimes?”

  “Sometimes,” Wanders replied and shrugged his shoulders. “Most of the time, I just say things and you all tell me after. It’s a system that’s worked so far.”

  The background static of the mystery transmission cleared for a second. The three froze. Then they jumped into action.

  “LT? We’ve got incoming!” Hole called over the com.

  Motherboard turned and looked directly out of the holo at Hole.

  “Sit rep,” Motherboard ordered.

  The Fleet Intelligence officer began to speak as he reached for the Keer boy. Motherboard held up her hand and the officer paused. Then he started moving again. Mug and Cookie came into view, their hands on their sidearms. The pistols remained in their holsters on the teammates’ hips, but it was obvious they wouldn’t stay there if the Fleet Intelligence officer continued on his course of action.

  “We have six ships incoming,” Hole said as she dialed up the view screen to show the wormhole portal. “Heavily armed and ready. I don’t need the Eight-Three-Eight’s scanners to tell me their weapons are hot, I can see the power signatures with my own eyes.”

  “Fo,” Motherboard said. “We’ve been made.”

  At those words, the Fleet Intelligence officer yanked hard on the Keer boy’s arm, pulling the kid across the threshold of the docking portal. The Marines behind the man brought up their carbines, but looked completely confused as to what was happening. Hole was glad to see that. It meant the Marines weren’t bought and paid for. She wasn’t 100% sure the Fleet Intelligence officer was either, but his behavior indicated it was highly likely. That and the coincidental arrival of six Collari Syndicate fighter ships showing up at such a convenient time.

  Hole switched the holo’s audio from com only to the speakers on the bridge.

  “—do this, VilMon,” Motherboard was saying. “Give the boy back, come with us, and we can set this all right.”

  “You were always a dreamer, Falk,” the Fleet Intelligence officer, VilMon, laughed. “An idealist in a job where ideals are a liability, not an asset.”

  “Everything in this galaxy isn’t about liabilities and assets, VilMon,” Motherboard said. “You gotta get out more, see the sights, learn something about the galaxy we live in. The War is over. We have a chance to—”

  “The War is never going to be over, Falk,” VilMon replied, his hand gripping the Keer boy’s arm hard enough to make the kid wince. “The theatre changed, that is all. Your problem, Falk, is that you never learned the actors’ names. You assumed the Fleet and the Skrang Alliance were who was on the stage. They were bit parts, are bit parts, and now the real stars are about to make themselves known. Back off and you can live to see the show. Keep pushing me and you won’t make it
to intermission.”

  “Sheezus,” Geist said. “This guy is really committed to his theatre metaphor.”

  “Hole?” Wanders asked. “If we are going to engage these Collari fighters then we need to disengage from the other ship and get moving. I may have four hands to work this console, but that don’t mean a good Eight Million Gods damned thing if we sit here like a Sterli duck.”

  “I know,” Hole said. “But this is Motherboard’s call. She has to handle this.”

  “The kid is on the spook’s side of the portal,” Geist said. “If Zero makes a move then we are essentially attacking our own Fleet. This goes sour and we’ll be lucky if we get hanged or jettisoned into space as our punishment.”

  “This has already gone way past sour, Geist,” Wanders said. “It’s full on rotten.”

  “Motherboard is fully aware of what the consequences are,” Hole said. “She is the one currently engaged so she makes the call.”

  “Sheezus,” Geist said. “Wanders?”

  “Three minutes, maybe four at the most,” Wanders replied as his four hands gripped the targeting sticks. “I can hold them off that long. Anything past that and we might as well open the airlocks and just vent our asses out into the cold for them. Be a better way to go than blown to bits.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Geist said. “You’d die, but I’d be out there floating and freezing my skin off.”

  “That’s right,” Wanders said. “You can survive vacuum.”

  “As can I,” Hole said. “So you wouldn’t be alone.”

  “Is that a comfort?” Geist asked and shook his head. “Because it’s a cruddy one, Hole.”

  “I can’t wait any longer,” Wanders said as he began to fire at the six fighters headed straight for them. Plasma bolts raced from the Eight-Three-Eight and out across the System. “Three minutes, tops.”

  “Roger that,” Hole said and stared at the drama unfolding on the holo.

  Fifteen

  Motherboard held out her hands, her hope being to get VilMon to calm down and think. She knew the man was in a tight spot, she knew he was close to desperation. She knew the look in his eyes only too well.

  “VilMon, we’ve known each other for what, a decade?” Motherboard asked.

  “Don’t,” VilMon said. “I know the craft, Falk. I know exactly what you are going to try to do. Out of respect for our past, I’m taking the kid and I’m taking Sha Morgoal. Get his butt up here or the Collari fighters tear you apart.”

  “You along with us,” Motherboard said.

  “Not likely,” VilMon replied. “They know their job. This is a snatch and grab, pure and simple. They won’t fire on my ship. They know the risks. But your ship? They’ll disable your weapons, your engines, your com system. They’ll cut you off at the knees and there won’t be a thing you can do about it.”

  “Those pilots are that good?” Motherboard asked. “You actually believe they’ll fire on my ship only and leave yours unscathed?”

  “I do,” VilMon said.

  Mug and Cookie stood behind Motherboard. They didn’t twitch, they barely even breathed. VilMon’s eyes went from Motherboard to them then back.

  “Have your goons put their pistols on the ground,” VilMon said. “Then send the Cervile to go fetch Sha Morgoal. I give you my word, Falk, that if I get what I came for, you and yours walk free.”

  “VilMon, the Collari Syndicate won’t even let you walk free from this, let alone Zero,” Motherboard said.

  “Can I ask something?” Dylan asked.

  “Sheezus, kid, shut the fo up,” Mug growled. “Let the grownups handle this.”

  “It’s kind of important,” Dylan replied. “I just want to know why me? Is my dad on the take or something? Or is he too clean that you need me as motivation for something?”

  “Good questions, kid,” Motherboard said, nodding. “How old are you?”

  “Fifteen,” Dylan replied. “I’ll be sixteen next month.”

  “No, you won’t,” VilMon said. “Unless you shut the fo up.”

  Motherboard rubbed her face slowly, careful not to alarm the very confused Marines that held their carbines at the ready.

  “Are you ready to die for this man?” Motherboard asked the Marines. “You’ve heard what he’s said. He is not working for the Fleet, but for the Syndicate. That means if you defend him, you will be working for the Syndicate as well.”

  “They said you’d try to sway us,” one of the Marines responded. “They said you’d act like Officer VilMon was the one that is corrupt.”

  “Pretty sure Officer VilMon is making himself look corrupt all on his own,” Cookie said.

  Motherboard shook her head and held up a hand. Cookie didn’t continue.

  “Listen to me, Marines,” Motherboard said. “I am ordering you to put your weapons down and step away from the traitor. I am Lieutenant Bish Falk and that is a direct order. Ignore it, and I cannot be held responsible for what happens next, whether you deserve it or not.”

  “Get me Sha Morgoal!” VilMon shouted. “Do it, Falk, or I swear to the Eight Million Gods that any blood relatives you have still alive, any friends you have back at Fleet Headquarters or anywhere in this galaxy, any old classmates from preschool, anyone at all that you have known or might know in the future, they will all die horrible, painful deaths, beginning with that niece of yours back on—”

  The pistol was in her hand and firing before he could finish. The top of VilMon’s head was vaporized instantly. His eyes went wide with shock and pain then clouded over with the near-instant death that became his fate.

  “DO NOT THINK IT!” Mug screamed as she moved forward, her pistol out and pointed at the freaked-out Marines. “PUT THE CARBINES DOWN NOW!”

  The Marines hesitated for only a split-second then set their carbines down.

  “LT?” Hole asked over the com.

  “We have this,” Motherboard said. “Disengage from the other ship once we are out of the docking portal. Mug? Take Dylan to the brig. Secure him and stay there yourself. I want eyes on him from here on out.”

  “Sha Morgoal?” Mug asked.

  “Leave him be,” Motherboard said. “I don’t want anyone to talk to him until we reach our destination.”

  “That still the black site?” Cookie asked, as Mug hurried from the docking portal with Dylan in tow. Cookie’s eyes were locked onto the disarmed Marines, his pistol rock steady.

  “Not likely,” Motherboard said. “The op is FUBAR. We get clear of the Havlov System then regroup.”

  She nodded at the Marines.

  “Take VilMon’s corpse with you,” Motherboard continued. “Report back to Fleet Headquarters and tell them exactly what happened here. Be honest and let the brass sort out the particulars of betrayal.”

  “We’re letting them go?” Cookie asked. “How do we know for sure they aren’t working for the Collari syndicate too?”

  “We don’t,” Motherboard said. “But it doesn’t matter. They are more valuable alive so they can tell whomever they are working for exactly what happened here.” She took a couple steps towards the Marines and they flinched. Motherboard smiled. “When you do tell them, be sure you mention that Lieutenant Bish Falk and Drop Team Zero made it all happen. If you are loyal to the Fleet then they’ll know what that means. If you are bought and paid for by the Syndicate then they will know what it means. Just be honest with who you speak with. That’s all I’m asking.”

  The Marines stood there, hands up, eyes wide with fear and anxiety.

  “That means leave, morons,” Cookie said. “Get back on your ship and tell your pilot to get the fo out of here.”

  “LT,” Hole said again, but that time her voice was considerably more urgent. “We need you to get inside the ship ASAP. I am disengaging the portal in thirty seconds.”

  “Hole just gave you an order, LT,” Cookie chuckled.

  “Then we better do what she says,” Motherboard replied. “She usually doesn’t ask twice.”


  Motherboard and Cookie backed away from the Marines and into the docking airlock. As soon as they were all the way in, Motherboard reached out and closed the airlock. A loud siren rang out and the Marines scrambled inside their own airlock as the docking portal began to disassemble itself and retract back to the Eight-Three-Eight. The moment the sirens stopped, Motherboard spun about and activated the Team channel on her com.

  “Are we secure?” Motherboard asked.

  “Private channel only,” Hole said. “Not even Fleet tech will crack it.”

  “Zero, we are in the dark here until I can contact Fleet Headquarters,” Motherboard said. “Any and all ships that approach us are now considered hostiles. I do not care what affiliation they pretend to have. We are on our own until we are told otherwise. Does everyone copy?”

  Her com was filled with the sounds of acknowledgement. She turned and looked at Cookie and he gave her a quick nod as a mischievous grin spread across his face.

  “What?” Motherboard asked as they hurried from the belly of the ship and up to the bridge.

  “Now this is an op,” Cookie said. “Now the fun really starts.”

  “I worry about you sometimes, Cookie,” Motherboard said, but not without her own mischievous grin creeping across her lips. “But only sometimes.”

  They climbed a ladder and were almost to the top when the entire ship shook. The far-off sounds of plasma fire could be heard and the grins left both their faces fast.

  “Get us out of here!” Motherboard ordered through the com. “Hole! Do not bother engaging! Just get us gone!”

  “No longer an option, LT,” Hole replied. “The six fighters have spread out in a contain-and-collapse formation. We are basically surrounded.”

  “Fo,” Motherboard swore. “Then ignore my previous order and have Wanders take care of this.”

  “He already is,” Hole said as more plasma fire could be heard. “We are going to take some damage to our shields, but they should hold long enough for—”

  Her voice was cut off as the ship rocked violently to the side. Motherboard and Cookie stepped onto the next level just as the corridor went dark and red emergency lights kicked on.