Calista arrived in the morning as expected, although the Sun was already halfway towards noon for Venus. Calista doesn’t need to be worried about losing her Job as the Cooperative is rather desperate for qualified Huntresses to join. Calista was wearing black relaxed shorts, a blue athletic layer, and a gray vest. Her hair was pulled back under a deflector band, and I could see the deflector panels integrated into her vest, which also concealed a handgun hidden under her arm. Her shoes were soft tops, and I suspected she expected to do a significant amount of walking. Tony was wearing the Enforcer disguise and the only weapons he had were his hand cannon and shotgun. The moment Calista set her eyes on Tony, she examined the disguise .
“It’s not perfect, but most shouldn’t notice.”, Calista said.
“Tried it out last night, works better than expected. Thank you, but why not just use normal enforcer mechs? That might save you money.”, Tony asked.
“Oh you’re not here for fighting. Running around with an entourage of enforcer mechs, is the wrong answer. Before I became a huntress, I investigated runaways, narcotics, and kids who ditched classes, and that’s what the huntresses recruited me for. There was never an expectation to investigate rape and murder. That’s why I came to this planet. The victims are women who were attacked without warning nor witnesses. You’re here to advise me with your expertise. Did I hire the right mercenary?”, Calista asked.
“I guess I won’t need this, then.”, Tony said as he removed his shotgun.
“Actually keep it. It will help me tell you apart from other mechs, they usually carry phase rifles. Did you finish reading the files I sent?”, Calista asked.
“Yes, I also have a few theories on how they were killed.”, Tony replied, and he returned his shotgun to it’s rest across his back.
“May I ask what case you’re working on?”, I asked Calista.
“Still working on the rapist case, but now I need to sort out which victims he actually attacked, and the prosecutor needs more evidence. Only victims that can be linked to the rapist will be involved in the case against him. Some victims were killed without any evidence of rape, our old theory was they were killed because they were witnesses to the rapist or became aware of his crimes, but that has been proven incorrect, with the discovery of new evidence.”, Calista replied.
“Anything I can do to help?”, I asked.
Calista responded with a puzzled expression.
“Sorry, I’m surprised to hear another Huntress offer to help. Thank you, but most Huntresses are working two low profile cases at a time. Makes me glad to have just one high profile case. You haven’t been assigned a case yet?”, Calista asked.
“Nothing yet, I haven’t been back a full day yet though. I guess I’m lucky.”, I replied
“If I had to guess, as a pilot the best case to assign to you is tracing smuggled contraband, and that puts you in a spot to catch refugees and you won’t need to worry about quota. But maybe you are lucky and there are no cases that suit your speciality. That might change if another huntress falls behind.”, Calista said to me.
“Falls behind?”, Tony asked.
“Didn’t you almost chop off Meiyo’s head? Yeah, that could have started a war between Venus and Mars. I read the reports…”, Calista asked in protest to Tony’s question.
“Everyone thought she was a man, looking for revenge in a war zone.”, Tony replied.
“They thought Meiyo Ymiri, the most beautiful woman on Venus…was a man? Tell me this story on the way to the first stop. We need to get started, especially if you’re billing me by the hour.”, Calista said as she followed Tony out of the ship.
I walked into cargo bay three and saw Ylisaya carrying Tony’s chest armor and attaching it to the rest of the whole battle armor hanging from a bar attached to a stack of shipping containers. Ylisaya was wearing her space attire, but was covered in grease stains, ashes, and burns. The widescreen television had been setup and was set to the morning news. Boxes of tools and spare parts were spread out around the floor mixed among images of the armor plans and designs displayed on plastyn sheets. Ylisaya removed a leg from Tony’s battle armor and carried it to the center of the arrangement of tools, and she faced the television. Ylisaya reached for a diagnostic tools and attached the wire probes to the leg armor with mechanical clips. Ylisaya examined the diagnostic tool and watched an energy gauge quickly drain. Ylisaya removed the probe clips and reached for an adjustment tool and small hammer. She set the nose of the adjustment tool inside the armored leg and tapped the opposite side with the hammer. Ylisaya returned the hammer to the box it came out from and then proceeded to disassemble the leg armor.
“How’s it going?”, I asked Ylisaya.
“I’m finished with the back and chest, but I’m not working fast enough. What happens if I can’t finish?”, Ylisaya asked, and she continued disassembling the armor.
“Well, you put the armor back together, tell Tony you couldn’t do it, and renegotiate. Need any help?”, I asked.
“Can you read this?”, Ylisaya asked as she picked up a plastyn sheet and handed it to me.
The sheet displayed a technical schematic of a machine I didn’t recognize.
“Probably not.”, I replied, returned the plans, and moved towards the corridor.
“I have questions.”, Ylisaya said.
I stopped, and turned towards her.
“What are your questions?”, I asked.
“What exactly is a huntress? And why does it sounds like the Cooperative doesn’t even want them?”, Ylisaya asked.
“A Huntress is intended to be the face that leads the Cooperative, but the majority of their military is made of enforcer mechs. So the Huntresses have priority over their drone military and other emergency services. Officially the Huntresses are not part of the military, but they are most qualified to exercise command over the enforcer mechs. You might be able to guess why the Cooperative has a problem with them now.”, I said, and took a seat on a crate.
“Militarization and Privilege, the first two stages of Patriarchy.”, Ylisaya said.
“Correct and when the Cooperative makes it difficult for a Huntress to do her job, and they are not a military, they can choose to resign anytime. That loss of qualified Huntresses means that staying becomes a burden as more and more Huntresses leave. The huntresses that actually believe in the mission of the Cooperative just have to take greater burdens, and greater risks, and their lives become more and more dangerous.”, I said.
“Why is there no training for Huntresses?”, Ylisaya asked.
“Combat training? Battle strategies? Intelligence? Spying? Deploying Enforcer mechs? What do those sound like?”, I asked Ylisaya to imply my answer.
“Militarization…Reminds me of what Tony asked me last night. What’s the point of combat training on a planet that’s safe?…So how did the Huntresses begin?”, Ylisaya asked.
“This planet doesn’t even have police patrols not even security cameras. The colonists who were former officers from Earth, naturally stepped into that role, and it got better. Then the supply shipments were attacked by space pirates, children were captured by slavers, and the colonists went from concerned citizens and turned into a full on rank structure. That’s about the same time that the Cooperative became the popular political power, with their army of enforcer mechs, but mechs lack two capabilities. Wanna guess those two problems?”, I asked
“Not great for space travel and are not compliant with Mars Pax?”, Ylisaya replied, as she examined the leg armor though a magnifying device and started re-wiring the armor components.
“And what does Venus have that can travel and is also compliant with Mars Pax?”, I asked.
“Huntresses. But what about the Mermaid?”, Ylisaya asked.
“The Mermaid‘s story is more about the story of her captain than anyone else. Captain Rythizon, Protectorate second class citizen. Started as the helmsman of a Rylkonian battle cruiser in the Parasite wars, and came out the other end as the Captain of the Mermaid. Now he is the overseer of the recently independent Venus colonies.”, I said.
“Is that because the Cooperative hasn’t been able to pay the Protectorate for the construction of the Venus colony yet?”, Ylisaya asked.
“The Protectorate doesn’t actually care who’s in charge of the Colony, as long as the Colony is functional and trading imports and exports. And the Protectorate only needs the colonies until we can return home.”, I informed Ylisaya.
“That’s a very unusual problem. If this colony isn’t growing, at least not fast enough for the colony’s needs, and it’s not dying fast enough for the Protectorate to find replacement colonists. Why would the Protectorate sell Rylkonian children to a planet that hates Patriarchy? Or even bother extending the life of a government that will go extinct after the Protectorate no longer has any need for the Planet? It makes more sense for the Cooperative to make a deal with another government.”, Ylisaya said.
“Only Captain Rythizon can answer that question, and it’s as if the Cooperative is acting on that simple fact.”, I said.
“Isn’t that a good thing, it means the Protectorate has more control over the decisions of the Cooperative, especially if the future generations of the Cooperative will be Rylkonians, right?”, Ylisaya asked.
“It would be except for one problem. It means the most powerful person on Venus is a man, and everyone knows who he is.”, I said.
“What about the Mermaid’s crew? They take orders from a man. Why is that allowed?”, Ylisaya asked.
“I don’t exactly know how they work around that, but the solution I would use, is he simply does not get involved in Huntress activities, at least not while on Venus.”, I said.
“Why is the Cooperative allowing Huntresses to join from another government and keep their citizenship? Aren’t they concerned about potential spies?”, Ylisaya asked.
“The Cooperative doesn’t have a choice, when they don’t have enough Huntresses to solve problems like the ones they are facing now. They had to activate their drone military to patrol their cities, they also needed to hire experts for the skills and knowledge they lack.”, I said.
“It sounds like the Huntresses, are over burdened, underfunded, and unpopular, because they’re willing to do the job that the Cooperative failed to do in the first place, but that just puts them at risk of having to provide morally dubious successes even if that means sacrificing a Huntress.”, Ylisaya said.
“You’re sure you still want to become a Huntress?”, I asked.
“I think I wanna renegotiate for safe passage to Jupiter. Maybe I can get assigned to the Protectorate capitol?”, Ylisaya said.
Ylisaya and I received a cyberlink request from Tony.
“What do you need?”, I sent my question through the cyber link.
“Prepare for launch, we may have to intercept the Mermaid. She should be near the sector where we fought the space pirates.”, Tony’s thought reached us through the link.
I departed for the bridge as I instructed Ylisaya to assist me with pre-flight.
“Show me.”, I sent my thoughts to Tony.
As we connected our minds we could now see through Tony’s eyes. Tony and Calista were inside a morgue with six dead bodies lying on examination tables, arranged in two rows of three. Tony and Calista stood on opposite sides of a dead body, in the middle of a row.
“How certain are you that she was killed with elevation?”, Calista asked.
“Bleeding from the eyes, nose, and ears, ruptured internal organs, torn spinal ligaments and muscle tissue, but not a single bruise, cut, nor scrape, no injections, no toxins, nor infections in an otherwise healthy woman. This woman’s killer is either a cyborg with super strength and speed, or has access to an airlock. That’s my only interpretation, unless you know a place on Venus where a woman can be thrown five thousand feet into the air, and not crash. Only a few methods inflict these specific injuries.”, Tony said to Calista.
“How did the killer evade detection?”, Calista asked.
“Either the killer knows the enforcer mech’s procedures or patrol patterns, or has help from an insider, or is a Huntress.”, Tony said.
Calista looked around the morgue and I suspected she was concerned over who could hear her next words.
“Do you realize what you’re suggesting? If a Huntress was involved in a murder on Venus, the entire Cooperative could be called into question. Two million women are in danger, we have to be certain. If I report that this woman wasn’t attacked by the rape suspect, I have to disclose everything to the Huntress who gets assigned that case. How do I tell a Huntress she has to be prepared to arrest another Huntress?”, Calista asked.
“Two.”, Tony said.
“Two? What do you mean?”, Calista asked.
“Two killers. The other five victims were killed in the only other method and intentionally left to be found. The details of the killing methods isn’t public knowledge, so at least one unique killer has to know specifically which parts of the other five victims that could be used to detect any evidence of a rape, and specifically removed them from the victims. The second killer has skill in human anatomy, left behind evidence, but made the evidence worthless. These five victims were dissected. So if a killer did rape the victims, no-one can prove it now. Destruction of evidence implies hiding the crime, but leaving a dead body could be a distraction, deterrence, or a warning. Both killers used the fact that the rapist was going to be found as an opportunity to frame the rapist. And both can evade Enforcer mechs. The sixth murder after the rapist was arrested was sheer luck. These killers know what they’re doing. I think these victims were assassinated.”, Tony said to Calista.
“The Lady killer isn’t my case! I only ever planned to investigate runaways, narcotics, and kids ditching classes. That’s what the Huntresses recruited me for. The Cooperative was never prepared for high profile crimes like rape and murder. So if none of these women were raped, we need to figure out why these six women were killed and what’s their connection? But if there is no link to the rape suspect, then they’re just not involved in my case.”, Calista said.
“If the theory that they were witnesses and killed to keep their silence, fails because they aren’t connected to a specific crime, is it possible they were killed for a different reason, like some other secret?”, Tony asked.
“Assuming you’re right, and they have a connection beyond my investigation, and the killer is framing the rapist, what on Venus is worth the lives of six women?”, Calista asked.
“Any number higher than six, up to two million.”, Tony said.
“I’ll put in our launch request.”, I sent my thought to Tony as I disconnected from the cyber link.
I reached the bridge of the Something Clever, took the Pilot’s seat, and accessed the ship’s systems. Ylisaya was already in the engineer’s seat, and I opened the template for the launch request and entered, “Urgent to contact a Huntress regarding a high profile investigation.” Luckily I didn’t need to say anything about the Lady Killer case nor the Mermaid. Launch control returned their reply that the Something Clever was cleared for launch. As Ylisaya and I completed pre-flight, preparing every panel of the ship for space travel. However I stopped as I considered that Ylisaya and I would be unable to subdue the crew of the Mermaid, and we didn’t stand of chance of outshooting the Mermaid in a gunship versus gunship battle without our gunner.
“Resume your work on the armor, we’ll have to wait for the Captain’s return. The Mermaid is too dangerous to approach without a gunner, and at least a solid plan to take out a rogue ambush-class gunship.”, I said.
Ylisaya got out from her seat and started moving towards cargo bay three. I followed because that’s where Tony moved the wide-screen display, and that’s the screen that allowed us to watch the Data Net.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Have you heard about the case of Nilly Bailey?”, Ylisaya asked, as she reached for a box containing the disassembled leg armor and tools.
“No. Sounds like a fake name… Who’s that?”, I asked.
“I read about her on the Patriarchy.”, Ylisaya said, and she took her position to examine the armor through a magnification lens and watched the display.
“You should stay away from that. It’s going to be full of propaganda, and even if true, it’s going to be biased to try to influence you.”, I said.
“That’s why I’m reading it, I want to be prepared.”, Ylisaya said.
“I’m probably going to regret asking, but…what is the story of Nilly Bailey?”, I asked.
“Nilly was a Cooperative citizen, owned her own business, and did well for herself. But she made plans that didn’t suit the Cooperative’s vision for women. She wanted to find a husband and raise a family. She even got permission to consult a similar business on Freya Station. That’s where she met a farmer on the station and they made plans for a future together. However she couldn’t stay on Freya, because she knew the if Cooperative found out they could have her deported. She returned to Venus, got a parental license, got hired by the business she consulted for on Freya station permanently, and three months ago sold her business. But when the Cooperative found out, she lost her parental license and her work license because the Cooperative wouldn’t allow one of their citizens to be sold as a sex slave, a farmer isn’t good enough for a Cooperative husband. Now she’s not allowed to leave Venus at all. How are women safe, when the Cooperative treats them like they’re just a harem?”, Ylisaya said rhetorically.
“You mean a cult?”, I asked.
“The Patriarchy specifically used the word “Harem”, and there’s more.”, Ylisaya said.
“More? That sounds like the Cooperative. But can you skip to the end?”, I asked.
“She accepted she’s going to die alone, and the farmer needed to forget her and move on with his life, so she broke off their plans together. That’s it, that’s her story.”, Ylisaya replied.
“Why did this story get your interest?”, I asked.
“It was the only story that involved Protectorate interests, Freya station. So if a farmer which is probably one of the most important jobs on a Rylkonian controlled space station, isn’t good enough to allow this woman to live with him, what is good enough? Who is a worthy Husband for a woman from Venus?”, Ylisaya asked.
“At least you’re not influenced by propaganda. I just wished you’d ignore it.”, I replied.
I switch on the widescreen display and the image showed us two news correspondents.
“This is probably the greatest moment in the History of Venus. Everyone is going to remember what they were doing in the exact moment when the Star of Hope arrived and saved the planet.”, said one of the correspondents.
“The future of Humanity, the destiny of all women, including everyone who needs to see life return to Venus can’t wait for the Rylkonian children to join our world. The Star of hope should be visible at least to a quality video camera. Let’s see if the Cooperative is ready to let us see their view from the docking ring.”, said the other correspondent.
The display changed to an image of a cargo freighter following three Rylkonian assault cruisers. The freighter exploded and turned into a trail of the burning wreckage that streaked across the sky of Venus. Ylisaya and I exchanged glances for a moment and then focused again on the widescreen display.
“I don’t know what just happened, something has gone wrong with the Star of Hope.”, said one of the correspondents, as the image of the explosion changed back to the two correspondents
“I am so sorry to have to report this, but the Star of Hope has been completely destroyed. All crew, passengers, and cargo is lost, the Cooperative is preparing a statement and will make an announcement soon. Cooperative media is suspending all reporting until after the Cooperative’s official statement. Please allow others to grieve this tragedy.”, said the correspondent and the image changed to a litter of small dogs exploring a small room that they appeared to be unable to escape from. The small dogs wagged their tails and their ears flopped back and forth as they ran to gather around a larger dog, that appeared to be the parent of the younger dogs.
“Oh that’s a cruel image to show right now.”, I said as I switched off the display.
“I think this was the vision, Tony and I saw.”, Ylisaya said.
“You and Tony said millions of women were affected, this only affect women with reservations for genetic material. Tony also said I will find the culprit. So who did this? What else can you tell me?”, I asked Ylisaya.
“I don’t know. I don’t control the vision. I can only block it out. What did you ask specifically?”, Ylisaya asked.
“I asked what case will be assigned to me.”, I informed Ylisaya.
“I understand now. That’s all that was in the vision. It’s just the answer to your question, and nothing more. But when you asked the context of the answer didn’t yet exist either.”, Ylsaya replied.
The ship’s systems notified me that an urgent message arrived for me. I went to the bridge to read this message and I was asked specifically, "To report to a Huntress meeting in the Cooperative Senate to provide my expertise about Gunship maneuverability.”
I left Ylisaya with the something clever and as I travelled, I found the number of enforcer mech patrols had doubled on the continent. On the monorail I also saw fewer normal passengers. I reached the Senate and the Enforcer mechs recognized me as a Huntress, as they allowed me to enter. The Enforcer mechs guided me to a waiting area where I found Tony and Calista, who appeared to have spent the entire day working on her investigation.
“Is that wise, if you haven’t finished?”, Tony asked Calista.
“The Cooperative wants this trial to start because of the destruction of the Star, it shows they can do their job.”, Calista said as she noticed me.
“Do you know what’s going on?”, Calista asked me.
“Not really I just got here.”, I said.
“Huntresses have been arriving for the last three hours.”, Tony said, as he pointed towards the offices of the Senate.
Calista and I glanced in the direction Tony was looking, as we saw Meiyo was also in attendance dressed in her Tri-tech armor and she carried her helmet under her arm. As we looked around some Huntresses were wearing relaxed clothing, some looked as though they were leading Enforcer mech patrols, and some appeared to have just returned from court. Meiyo seemed to notice us and she immediately started heading towards us. Each Calista, Tony, and I exchanged glances as we each wondered which of us Meiyo needed, or what she needed. Meiyo acknowledged Calista and myself, but when she looked at Tony, she looked closely at Tony and into his visor. Meiyo grabbed Tony’s arm, as he continued to act like an enforcer mech.
“I know it’s you Phantom. Come with me, the Cooperative needs you.”, Meiyo said.
“Is the Enforcer mech armor a problem?”, Tony asked, but Meiyo interrupted.
“I don’t care. Just come with me. We need your expertise.”, Meiyo said, as she pulled Tony forcing him to follow her.
Tony had to follow Meiyo, because it made no sense for an Enforcer mech to defy a Huntress, and he followed Meiyo as they moved passed the other Huntresses also waiting to find out why we were all called to the Senate. The only Huntresses we didn’t see were the crew members of the Mermaid. Huntresses continued to arrive, and after a while of several micro cycles the Enforcer mechs all exited the spaces of the Senate officers and an announcement sounded through the building.
“All Huntresses, please proceed to the inner chambers.”, the voice instructed us.
Calista and I followed the other Huntresses into the Senate as found ourselves standing in the main floor of the Senate. The voice made another announcement.
“Huntresses, please sit. You are about to learn the details of this meeting.”, the voice said.
I found a seat in the middle of the Senate floor, and I imagined some Senator using this seat to vote on the major decisions that affect the entire planet. There were significantly more senate seats than huntresses, so we each had an entire senate sized table to ourselves. The lights dimmed and Meiyo appeared entering from the doors next to the main stage of the senate floor. Meiyo walked up to the main podium and began speaking into a microphone.
“Huntresses, at nine-thirty a.m. Senate time today, the Star of Hope entered the stratosphere of Venus and then exploded. The importance of the Star was too great and the security was too serious, we are not convinced this was some accident. The Three Rylkonian assault cruisers escorting the Star are investigating the wreckage. The Huntresses with relevant expertise are going to be assigned unique cases. For security purposes, none of you will be aware of which Huntresses are assigned an aspect of this case. Even if you are currently assigned another case, this takes priority. We are telling as many of you this now to let you know that even though you may have questions, and you may want a role in resolving this tragedy, your first role is to ensure the safety of the planet, the security of the Cooperative, and future of woman-kind. If you have an existing case, please report to your assigned case manager.”, Meiyo said and then left through the door she arrived from.
I received a request for Cyber-link from Tony, but all he sent me was a location of a senate office. I looked around and I saw Calista was already talking to another Huntress. I decided to go to the office location. When I entered the office, Tony was already waiting there. He removed his mech enforcer helmet but had his holographic face active. As he was already communicating with Meiyo through another hologram on the desk in the center of the office. Tony acknowledged me as I walked up next to Meiyo’s hologram.
“Excellent, I have a few more things to take care of and I’ll see you shortly. Phantom you can share the details of your mission with your crew.”, Meiyo said.
Meiyo deactivate her end of the communication and the hologram disappeared.
“What did they want from you?”, I asked Tony.
“The Mermaid is the prime suspect in the destruction of the Star. The Mermaid was investigating the sector of the pirate attack, and was supposed to meet a U.D.E. ship which has just gone missing. The Mermaid is heading back to Venus and should return tomorrow. Our task is answer three questions. First, can an Ambush class Gunship complete such an investigation and successfully attack the Star? Second, can the threat from a rogue Ambush class gunship be neutralized by another gunship? And lastly, is Venus capable of keeping prisoners equally as effective as the Pits of Charon?”, Tony informed me.
Meiyo arrived and immediately walked to the other side of the desk in the office, and removed her armor, until she was only wearing athletic layers. I looked at the corner of the office and Tony looked at the ceiling, Meiyo rubbed her shoulder and tipped her head side to side, as she stretched her neck muscles.
“The Mermaid arrives in less than one day, so I need to know do you have a plan to fight off a rogue gunship?”, Meiyo asked.
“I can’t even begin to describe the threat from an ambush class against a planet with no fleet defenses, they will be significantly more dangerous than the average pirate raid.”, I said.
“I have a plan…Do they know they’re being investigated or that they’re even suspected?”, Tony said.
“They shouldn’t. We’re the only three that know this much.”, Meiyo replied.
“Then change nothing. They don’t know this. Make everything look like they have a safe place to land, show them a schedule for future missions, and make them think they got away with it. If nobody is supposed to know what anyone else is doing, that can reasonably keep information away from them. So just do that, if you’re already going to anyways.”, Tony said.
“That’s a big gamble, Phantom. But that’s the only plan I’ve heard.”, Meiyo said, as she reach into a shelf under the desk and revealed a data stick.
“This is all the data we have on the Star, flight path, sensor data, and cargo manifest. The battleships are still in the area, we can call them. But we don’t know where their loyalties stand, especially if they’re asked to turn against a gunship. You have until tomorrow.”, Meiyo said, as she presented the data stick to me.
Tony and I left the Senate, swung by a Honey-Tress salon, picked up a hair mod for me, and returned to the Something Clever. We examined the data from the Star of Hope using the pilot and gunner stations. Tony and I watched the simulation many times looking for a direction to attack the Star of Hope without being detected by the battleships.
“If the trajectory of the Star is approaching from the asteroid belt and the Mermaid is approaching from the direction Mars, they’re on opposite sides of the planet. Even if I fired a lower speed warhead and let it orbit Venus, the Mermaid has to know the Star will make no course corrections, even then it only has a twenty five percent best possible chance of hitting the Star. That’s assuming everything went right.”, Tony said.
“What about a cloaked and self guided warhead or some sort of homing beacon hidden onboard the Star?”, I asked.
“A Homing beacon? Maybe. But a Stealth warhead? How much would one cost? Who sells that? If I could sneak aboard the Star, I would try while it’s docked, and I would just plant a bomb or sabotage the ship to self destruct. But the only thing that matters on the Star is the genetic material. I could just sabotage life support, and make it worthless. No one would even know I was there.”, Tony said.
I checked the cargo manifest again and the only thing on the list was a single module of cataloged genetic samples.
“There’s a lot of empty room on the Star. Why even hire a freighter? Any of the other three battleships or even a gunship can delivery that.”, I asked rhetorically.
“Wait, what did you say?”, Tony asked.
“A battleship can also make the delivery.”, I replied.
“How fast could we make this delivery?”, Tony asked
“Eight days on Venus’ calendar.”, I replied
“How long was the Star’s flight?”, Tony asked.
I checked the flight path and noticed another unusual decision the Cooperative made.
“Two months, almost eight times slower. If I were the Cooperative, I would just send the Mermaid, and maybe not even tell them the nature of the cargo.”, I said.
“That might work on us, we don’t have a full crew. But Vickessah wouldn’t be fooled that easily, especially if Rylkonian genetic material is involved.”, Tony replied.
“So how do I report this?”, I asked.
“You don’t. It’s not part of our three requirements. That’s completely relevant but it’s someone else’s report to make. Let’s run the simulation again.”, Tony said.
Through the pilot’s chair I could see a crude geometric model of Venus, the Mermaid, the three battleships, and the Star of Hope. I was simulating the role of the Mermaid’s pilot, and Tony simulated the Mermaid’s gunner. Tony activated the cloaking device and turned the ship invisible within the simulation. Tony then sent a quantum jump request to the lead battleship.
“You think the battleships let the Mermaid destroy the Star?”, I asked.
“Only version of the simulation we haven’t tried yet.”, Toy replied.
The simulation indicated that there was only a seventy-three percent probability the that at least one of the three battleships allowed the Mermaid to Jump to their location. The simulation allowed the Mermaid to proceed and then Tony launched a simulation of an armor piercing warhead, that wouldn’t require guidance, at such a close range. The simulation ended as crude geometric explosion shapes radiated out from the Star.
“Well you completed all the parameters of the investigation objective, except you put the Mermaid on the wrong side of Venus.”, I said.
“It’s the only time I landed a hit, I can try with that hypothetical cloaked warhead…maybe better chances, but nobody uses that. If the Mermaid doesn’t have it, we can’t use it here.”, Tony replied.
“I’ll start writing it up.”, I said, as I switched to the report template and began typing.
“So my question now is, how do I lock up the crew of a rogue gunship, as effectively as the Pits of Charon without copying the patented specifications of the Pits of the Charon?”, Tony asked.
“Don’t ask me. You’re the one who escaped from Charon.”, I said.
“I wish I escaped from Charon, that challenge had a fifty million credit prize paid over ten years.”, Tony said.
“I thought you went there to test the prison. I’ve never heard this.”, I replied.
“If they passed the test, that would imply I failed. What have you heard me say about the Pits of Charon?”, Tony asked.
“Just that Charon is the toughest prison you’ve ever seen. The Pits of Charon is where hope will abandon the prisoners. Or you just stare at the sky at a four degrees of elevation and say you want to forget the Pits of Charon. So they really offered you fifty million if you could escape, and you couldn’t?”, I asked.
“That was the whole selling point, there is no escape from the Pits of Charon. What if launching the Mermaid, meant losing the Mermaid?”, Tony asked.
“If the Protectorate believed a crew went Rogue, the protectorate would place a bounty on the ship and maybe the crew too. Then its the reputation of the crew that determines if the reward is for dead or alive. It might work. It won’t lock them up, but it will keep them from flying at least. Only time it won’t work is if the Mermaid is working for space pirates.”, I said.
“You should add that to you report too.”, Tony said.
“What? You have no authority here. This is my investigation…”, I said, and then stopped myself as I realized Tony dumped his work on me.
“I’m gonna check on Ylisaya’s progress with my armor.”, Tony said, as he left the bridge.
I switched to internal sensors and I watched Tony walk into Cargo Bay three. The widescreen display was in the middle of a commercial break for an expensive product needed by Earthborn women, so I just ignored it. Ylisaya attached the opposite leg armor back onto Tony’s battle armor, then removed the helmet, and returned to her work space surrounded by tools and spare parts, where she could watch the widescreen display. Tony walked up to the suit of armor and examined it from the neck to the feet.
“It still looks like parasitic armor,”, Tony said to Ylisaya.
“It’s no longer parasitic, well the chest, back, and legs are done. Those were easy compared to the head and arms.”, Ylisaya replied.
“How does it work?”, Tony asked.
“Parasitic armor drains power from the wearer to repair itself, but not until the armor has been damaged and needs repair. This upgrade interlaces the effect of deflector shields into molecular compartments that are naturally part of parasitic armor.”, Ylisaya said.
“How many hits could it survive?”, Tony asked.
“This could absorb impacts from planet killing super weapons, as long as you’re not standing next to the blast. That’s not even the best part.”, Ylisaya said as she picked up a tool, aimed it at the armor and activated a cloaking effect.
The armor’s torso and legs vanished, but the internal sensor could barely detect the expected distortion. Ylisaya deactivated the cloak effect and the armor reappeared. The television commercial ended and the image of the widescreen changed to a live news feed and analysis from the Patriarchy. The news feed was accompanied by the voice of a woman which had been digitally altered to be unrecognizable.
“Have you really been watching this for the last two days?”, Tony asked.
“Nashara’s critique of the Cooperative is uncontested, it’s not perfect, but why doesn’t she have any challengers?”, Ylisaya asked.
“That’s just a propaganda war between the Cooperative and the Patriarchy, neither side would care about you unless you contribute to their victory. You don’t need that.”, Tony said.
“The Cooperative can’t last forever, the Patriarchy’s in the correct position to replace them. Nashara’s strategy is correct, and I’ve got a theory about who she is.”, Ylisaya said.
“That’s unlikely, she’s an enemy of the state, if it was that easy to decipher her identity the Huntresses would have her in custody by now.”, Tony said.
“Exactly, there’s only one way to evade Huntresses. She either is or at least was one. I said I know who, not a clear identity.”, Ylisaya said.
“So you have clues. What else about her?”, Tony asked.
“She was captured by slavers, rescued by a bounty hunter, fell in love, became a huntress to find him, hopefully before another kills him, found out she was pregnant with his baby, and lost the baby when she became a huntress.”, Ylisaya said.
“That’s tragic, but what are her talents that allowed her to get recruited as a huntress?”, Tony protested.
“She’s not exactly sharing this story, it’s just slowly hearing fragments as she expresses her thoughts.”, Ylisaya replied.
The image of the display changed to the image of a woman with an enlarged belly and she began speaking with an unaltered voice. Ylisaya accessed the widescreen display to determine if they were still watching the news from the Patriarchy.
“My name is Saressah Dyleen, and I was not raped. The man that the Cooperative has arrested is the man I love, and the father of my baby. I don’t have a parental license and I don’t want one. I want to leave Venus and raise my baby anywhere else but here. I arrived to Venus a few years ago. My transport ship was attacked by space pirates and rescued by Huntresses. They sent me here. I never had a choice where I would live. The Cooperative is trying to kill the man I love, and trying to kill my baby. I ask any planet for political asylum from this genocide and crimes against humanity.”, said the woman’s image.
The display resumed it’s normal data feed and commentary. The clip of Saressah was now available to watch again through the front portal of the Patriarchy.
“Really? Getting pregnant without a license in open defiance of the Cooperative? That’s how they got caught. Rookie mistake!”, Tony said.
“This doesn’t bother you?”, Ylisaya asked.
“If they were serious about starting a family, she would have applied for a license, she could have moved away, or she could have hired a bounty hunter for a ticket off this planet. The Patriarchy is just using her for propaganda, and she is allowing this to happen. This isn’t my fight, and that’s not your fight either. If you are the Rylkonian chosen one, I think your destiny is too valuable for giving precious time to someone else’s agenda.”, Tony said.
I received a notification through the communications array. The Cooperative Senate was now requesting all available Senators to report the Senate for an emergency session, and all Huntresses are instructed to ensure any Senators comply with this request. I suspected this emergency session of Congress was the response to the Patriarchy’s latest propaganda effort.