We didn’t encounter space pirates for ninety percent of our trip. We thought we were safe, we thought were going to arrive on Venus, and we thought everything was going to fit in our perfect plan. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Surhey invited me to sickbay where she had been working on the medical diagnostics we skipped on since Tony had been shot by the experimental ammo.

“Jhessyreen, thank you. Comparing your medical scan to the Captain’s and Ylisaya’s really helps me in understanding just how much more we Earthborn need to expand our understanding of cybernetics before we can safely develop our own. If you and Ylisaya were just human women, you’re both in excellent health, but I have no way to estimate your cybernetics, but the Captain is still a mystery to me. Did you know his brain can sleep while his body can keep running? I thought he was ignoring me, or sleepwalking, but this is way more sophisticated.”, Surhey said.

“I’m not surprised, I’ve known him the longest. I guess working with him is just normal for me. Acutally the brain sleep ability can only be used when he’s alone, he won’t remember entire conversations correctly without a functional hippocampus.”, I said to Surhey.

“I think he should seek spiritual guidance. I’m worried that he might question his identity as a cyborg. I saw him reading the Holy Book of the Cathlahn faith.”, Surhey said.

“There’s no problem there. He’d said on more than one instance that he disagreed with something we did as bounty hunters, because it was against his religion. So I said he should read the Holy Book.”, I said.

“Wow. I’m also Cathlahn and I’ve never read our Holy Book, I’m too busy anyways. But that’s not important. I have your’s and Ylisaya’s medical reports for the first officer. First I needed to understand Rylkonian physiology. Whoever designed your cybernetics, sees the human anatomy on a whole different level. The technology is small and almost invisible. The digestive track has integrated conductor cathodes allowing it to produce useable electricity, and also gives your people significantly increased muscle power. But almost every cell, except for blood cells functions as a microscopic quantum reactor, which I understand powers your weapons and deflector shield technologies. So I won’t expand on those. At first I assumed that your nervous system functioned like a computer system, and the hive mind would be identical to a computer network, which is also outside my expertise, but that only led me to incorrect assumptions. Your bodies interact with the quantum energy around you and are sensitive to the actions of other’s who can also access that quantum energy. Like a sixth sense. What’s it like?”, Surhey asked.

“Imagine a pool of water, and you can put just your hand or your entire body into the water. When you or someone in that water does something everyone else can sense it. As we become more familiar with being in that environment, we can begin to understand and even communicate using that. If we don’t need to we just take out hand out of the water.”, I replied.

“Incredible! I also noticed that not every cell develops the same cybernetic structures, I won’t even pretend I know what they do, but the outer most cells are fascinating. Each one has this machine-like-membrane and they link together like a chain. That explains why Rylkonians don’t need space suits, and your skin is so smooth. Because it’s not any kind of skin I have ever seen. It’s a cybernetic membrane. Can you tell me why Ylisaya has significantly less cybernetic development when compared to you, is it just her age?”, Surhey asked.

“That’s a factor, and a major factor. She hasn’t been assigned a specialization. That’s not something we have the capacity for on the Something Clever.”, I said.

“So your specialization is pilot?”, Surhey asked

“Pilot is my job, navigator is my specialization.”, I said.

The ship slowly shook as simulated gravity arced with the forces of changing direction.

“What was that?”, Surhey asked.

“We changed course. I need to get to the bridge and see what’s going on.”, I said.

“Are we in danger? Is it space pirates?”, Surhey asked.

I entered the bridge and Tony was still on shift but had put on his full armor and helmet. As soon as I touched the pilot’s seat, Tony jumped out of the captain’s seat into the gunner’s seat, and I threw my flight jacket onto the captain’s seat.

“What are we dealing with?”, I asked Tony as I connected to the flight systems, navigation array, and neural inter-connect with the pilot’s seat.

“One pirate ship attacking a merchant freighter, less than a micro cycle before we get within max sensor range range. I almost missed them, they didn’t activate their emergency distress beacon. I only noticed the weapons fire.”, Tony said.

“Just one? Why’s a merchant freighter alone out here?”, Ylisaya asked as she entered the bridge and took the engineer’s seat.

“They are in the Earth to Mercury trade route. Right now Earth, Mercury, and Venus are close enough for a few solar cycles at full pulse speeds. Might not have bothered to think about a security escort.”, I said.

“Or the attacking ship is the security escort, tipped off the pirates, or they planned the attack weeks in advance. Activating cloak. Are all the passengers set?”, Tony asked Ylisaya, as the ship hummed to activate the distortion field, but also reduced the range of my navigation scanner.

“Meiyo and Nyrella are in their quarters, the prisoner is still talking in the brig, and Surhey was already in sickbay when I checked on her.”, Ylisaya reported to Tony.

“Captain, are we on an intercept course for the space pirates?”, I asked.

“I already scanned for cloaked ships. It’s really looks like just the one pirate ship. We’re just gonna scare them off of the freighter, we have three passengers, thirty pigs, one dread pirate, and a chosen one on board. That’s more more important than whatever’s on that freighter, and I don’t want my promotion report to say I didn’t fight space pirates for the interest of profits.”, Tony replied.

“What’s on that freighter to make space pirates attack?”, Ylisaya asked.

“If the ship is moving exports from Earth, then it’s probably junk food and pornography, which explains why they chose the time for a shorter flight when the planets are closest.”, I said.

“Another reason might be about…smuggling people…through illegal markets…”, Tony said as he was trying to avoid a topic with Ylisaya around.

“So…Sex slaves? Are you sure we don’t need to fight them?”, Ylisaya asked.

“That would explain why they didn’t turn on the emergency distress becon. I’m gonna have a look.”, I replied.

I connected to the targeting scanner, and I could see Tony had already aligned it to have a target lock on the pirate ship. I sensed Tony’s mind adjust his aim to shoot the engines, and disable the pirate ship, but the merchant freighter was still within the blast radius. I detected Tony had been watching the amount of damage sustained by the merchant freighter which was unlikely to survive a blast strong enough to disable the pirate ship. I sensed Ylisaya’s mind access the targeting scanner, as she probably determined what I did through the flight systems.

“Why does the pirate ship look like a merchant freighter with cannons strapped onto the hull?”, Ylisaya asked.

“Because space pirates steal ships and then strap weapons onto the hull.”, I replied.

“The first space pirates were merchant freighter crews. Their corporate customers refused to pay the crews, so the crews turned against the corporations, and started raiding the corporate supply shipments. Then they started raiding everyone’s trade routes. The only thing that scares space pirates is putting a bounty on their heads, especially when the amount is in my price range. That should be close enough for Flash Pulse shot. Jhess line up a flanking run for me please.”, Tony said.

I turned the ship towards the pirate ship’s flank, but we were too late. The pirates disabled the merchant freighter, connected their ship to the merchant freighter, and started invading. The pirate ship and merchant freighter were both connected to each other’s front airlock, which allowed the pirates to enter the merchant freighter.

“Just great! Now, I can’t fire without out destroying both ships. It’s gonna have to be enough. Decloaking. Ylisaya, full power to deflector shields. Jhess, let’s chase down some pirates!”, Tony said as he tapped the surface of the gunner’s console and then reached over to the captain’s console to switch the ship into it’s combat role.

“Aye captain.”, I said as I pushed the ship to full pulse drive.

Tony accessed the fire control system and fired three warheads that exploded in Flash Pulse blasts around the merchant freighter and pirate ship. Flash Pulse won’t do any real damage, but will reveal any cloaked ships.

“I thought you already scanned for cloaked ships.”, Ylisaya asked.

“I did, but I fired Flash Pulse for two reasons. I don’t want them to know I scanned, and I want to get their attention. Right now the space pirates should be thinking those blasts were fired by someone, and they should start looking around. Maybe they’ll notice the battle ship with full power shields and fusion cannons is racing towards them, and realize their about to enter a world of hurt, when we catch them. Let’s hope they assume that a Rylkonian battleship cares less about rescuing a freighter from Earth than the reward for each space pirate’s head. I’m not planning on protecting hostages, the thought terrifies me. That situation depends on what the space pirates think and what they do about that. Like I said I just want to scare them away. If you have any reason to change that plan, feel free to say something. I’m open to suggestions.”, Tony said and Ylisaya remained quite, and seemed stunned.

“We’re still two micro cycles away from range to intervene, but we might be within range to scan for life signs. And see what’s going on in the freighter.”, I said, and I sensed Ylisaya access the scanner array.

“It looks like the pirates are returning to their ship. I think they saw us.”, Ylisaya said.

“Good, at least that part of the plan worked. I’m gonna talk to Meiyo, if we find any refugees at least the women should be able to stay on Venus.”, Tony said, as he departed the bridge.

Ylisaya looked through the scanner array again, and I could sense her mind deciphering the movements of the space pirates.

“It looks like the pirates have raided the cargo…and now they’re killing off the freighter’s crew. We’re too late.”, Ylisaya said.

“If we’re truly too late, we can fire a warhead and wipe out those pirates now. I’m not willing to do that. Are you?”, I asked Ylisaya.

“What about the captain?”, Ylisaya asked.

“Yeah…let’s not ask the combat cyborg killing machine, who renounced his humanity, and hates space pirates, about shooting space pirates in a total loss scenario. Can we avoid that please?”, I said to Ylisaya.

Tony returned to bridge, and took the gunner’s seat.

“So is Meiyo helping?”, I asked.

“What about Meiyo?”, Tony asked.

“Tony, you said you were gonna ask her about helping possible women refugees, and now you’re back from talking to Meiyo. Did something happen? Is your brain in sleep mode?”, I asked.

“Hey, I’m awake. Nothing weird happened.”, Tony said, which meant something completely weird happened when he saw Meiyo.

I looked in my mirror and saw in Ylisaya’s face that she reached the same conclusion.

“Oh look, the space pirates are moving.”, Tony said, as the space pirate ship disconnected from the freighter.

The pirate ship turned and activated their engines, trying to escape. Tony accessed fire control, and fired a warhead directly into one of the pirate ship’s engines. The warhead detonated as it entered into the exhaust vent of the pirate ship. The sharp fragments of the warhead’s casing tore through sections of the pirate ship and the pirate ship was disabled, just drifting in space.

“New plan… Jhess, dock with the freighter, you’re gonna look for survivors.”, Tony said.

“What about the pirate ship? They still have weapons.”, Ylisaya protested.

“Nice to see you’re learning. I’m going to the pirate ship. I luckily hit them before they accelerated, now I can sneak in while they attempt repairs, and I don’t need refugees to see me anyways. When you’re done there, you’ll pick me up from the pirate ship, or I’ll just super jump back. Depends if I can sneak out.”, Tony said, as he pulled out ammo from an ammo compartment on his armor.

“Use this. It’s stun ammo. Survivors might try to attack you. And watch out for traps.”, Tony said as he presented the ammo to myself and Ylisaya.

“Scans so far suggest the pirates took whatever they could, and tried to run. There shouldn’t be any pirates. No time for anything else, their priority should be stealing supplies and valuable merchandise. The merchant crew might have setup traps.”, Ylisaya said.

“Take it anyways, the pirates might try something stupid. If you don’t find anything, just turn on the freighter’s emergency distress beacon and get back to the ship. I don’t want to waste anymore time here than we need to.”, Tony said, as he departed the bridge.

“They still have artificial gravity, and its atmosphere is identical to the standard human environment on the freighter.”, Ylisaya said as she continued scanning the freighter.

I lined up the Something Clever’s airlock door with the freighter’s airlock. I was notified by the ship’s systems that airlock number five had been opened with Tony’s override code, and I instructed Ylisaya to activate the docking ring, since the ships were right next to each other. I departed the bridge for the front airlock and I instructed Ylisaya to follow me, as we put on our breathing masks. When we reached the airlock, we found Meiyo waiting for us, and she was wearing the the Red-Rotono Tri-tech armor, the red-cloak, her handgun hanging from it’s ammo belt, and the Blue-Rotono blade on the opposite side from the handgun. Meiyo held her mask under her arm as she followed us into the Airlock.

“Are you going with us?”, I asked Meiyo, as I activated the control panel for the airlock.

“The captain said space pirates, and I jumped into my armor.”, Meiyo said, as I sealed the door of the Something Clever behind us.

“But you’re not part of the crew, you can just stay in the safety of the ship.”, I said, as Meiyo put her mask on.

“I am a huntress, my job is to protect women from such threats. Where’s the Captain?”, Meiyo asked, as the airlock’s lights began flashing yellow.

“He is going to the pirates’ ship first, we’ll meet up later.”, I said, as the light stopped flashing and stayed a constant yellow.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Meiyo looked at Ylisaya, and pointed to the handgun on Ylisaya’s hip.

“You know how to use that?”, Meiyo asked.

Ylisaya lifted the handgun from it’s holster, loaded a clip of stun ammo, primed the handgun, and returned it to the holster, as Meiyo watched the whole process happen in a single fluid motion.

“I’m impressed, your Captain has trained you well.”, Meiyo said, as the light changed from yellow to green and the freighter’s door opened.

“Training?…I guess… I learned to do that from watching three seasons of the Assassinator TV Show.”, Ylisaya said, as we entered the freighter.

Inside the freighter we found most of crew were killed by space pirated, some looked like they tried to fight back, but everyone else looked as if they had been executed with single a gunshot to the head.

“This is where the space pirates boarded.”, Ylisaya said.

“Some of these dead men might be space pirates.”, Meiyo said.

“Stay together, and if you think something might be cloaked, I’ll fire a Flash Pulse shot. We’re finished once we turn on the emergency distress beacon, and we’ll return to the Something Clever.”, I said to Meiyo and Ylisaya, as I opened my revolver and loaded four bullets of stun ammo. I slowly closed my revolver against my leg, to avoid making a hostile noise. We searched the freighter room by room, but found no survivors. But we weren’t ready for what we found in the crew quarters.

In the freighter’s crew quarters, we found a dead Aurovean girl. She had been stripped naked and beaten, which was obvious from the bruises that covered her body. She was curled up on the floor as if trying to hide or too afraid to move. One of her arms and a leg had broken bones as if she was restrained and she struggled with all her strength. She had been left there dead, naked, and in a pool of her own blood that flowed from between her legs. She was murdered with a gunshot at close range through her head. Ylisaya saw the girl and froze and I suspected Ylisaya realized she was about the same age as her. Meiyo knelt down next to the Aurovean girl and turned the girl’s face so she could see. The girl’s face was covered in tears, and we found the parts of her the bullet pushed into the floor below her. I suspected the last few moments of this girl‘s life must have been terrifying.

“Odd, the floors are armored not just the hull, or else this bullet should have gone through.”, Meiyo said.

“Who was she?”, Ylisaya asked, as Meiyo released the girl and stepped away.

“Don’t know, but whoever she was, she didn’t deserve this. Nobody deserves to die like this.”, Meiyo said.

“But why? Why did they do this? Why her?”, Ylisaya asked.

“I can’t begin to guess a motive. Maybe they thought she was pretty, maybe they thought they could get away with it, or maybe space pirates are desperate people who resort to brutal methods to survive in a brutal world, and maybe the Dread Pirate locked up on your ship is correct about a future war prediction.”, Meiyo said, as she stepped closer to me.

“Jhessyreen, this is not a merchant freighter. The cargo was more valuable than the lives of the crew, the floors are armored, and the only reason they didn’t use their emergency distress beacon is they didn’t want to be found. They couldn’t call for help. This is a smugglers’ ship, maybe even slavers.”, Meiyo said.

“Let’s keep looking.”, I said.

In the next crew quarters we found women tied to sections of the ship, and all of them had been executed each with a single gunshot at close range. In the center of the room we found children from onboard the ship, but they had also been killed, some were even beaten to death. Meiyo knelt down next to one of the executed women and began to examine her face, which was covered in tears.

“These are some unusual bruises.”, Meiyo said as she placed her hands on the dead woman, trying to determine what caused the bruises.

Meiyo’s hands moved around the woman’s face and eventually Meiyo found she was holding the woman’s neck from behind and she could choose where to make the woman look, if she were alive. Meiyo dropped the woman in shock and disbelief.

“They made these women watch as the children were murdered.”, Meiyo said.

“Let’s keep looking.”, I said.

“No Jhess! I don’t want to look anymore if it means I have to see more of the victims of evil…space pirates.”, Ylisaya protested.

“Then go back to the Something Clever and wait there, I need to find survivors, turn on the emergency beacon, and keep you safe. The only part of the ship left is the bridge, the beacon should be there, and I already think this ship is a total loss. I don’t need to add fighting you to the list of things I need to deal with.”, I said to Ylisaya.

We finally reached the bridge and Ylisaya continued the mission with us, even if she did so under protest. We switched on the distress beacon and traveled through the ship back to the Something Clever. Tony had already returned as we found him with in the Bridge of the Something Clever, as he was sitting in the gunner’s seat. Meiyo returned to her quarters to file reports, while Ylisaya and I returned to our assignments on the bridge, and I sensed Ylisaya connect to the ship’s systems as I also connected.

“So, was the merchant freighter a total loss?”, Tony asked.

“Not merchants…smugglers, maybe slavers. But yes, it was a total loss…Was there any trouble on the pirates’ ship?”, I asked.

“Oh, this was a great find. I got fresh supplies, lots of spare ammo, they never even saw me…and we’ll be long gone before they can repair their ship, if they can finish repairs without the supplies.”, Tony laughed…and waited for a reply.

“I know, leaving them defenseless and doomed to starve is no better than a space pirate.”, Tony admitted.

“I don’t think they deserve mercy.”, Ylisaya said.

“Okay, I missed something, and I know it was something you saw on the other ship, while I was robbing the pirates, who are still distracted with repairs. Jhess, please fill in the blanks for me.”, Tony asked.

“We saw what the pirates did to the other crew, and I wouldn’t be upset if you fire the fusion cannons and shot that pirate ship out of the sky.”, I said.

“I totally agree, and if that ship is gone, I might even feel better.”, Ylisaya said.

“We went from…not what I expected, to the…opposite of what I expected.”, Tony said.

Tony tapped his console and the communication system beeped.

“Yes, Captain?”, Meiyo’s voice said through the comms array.

“Hey Meiyo. Are you busy? Can I see you on the Bridge? Jhessyreen and Ylisaya have quite the report from the rescue mission.”, Tony said.

“On my way…”, Meiyo said, as the system beeped.

Meiyo arrived on the bridge and had already removed her armor, as she was only wearing the athletic layer that wrapped tightly around her torso, shoulders, and hips. I saw Meiyo’s flawless shape through my mirror and I resisted being compelled to turn around to see her with my own eyes, it was clear that she was a trained warrior despite her injuries. Ylisaya looked twice and looked forward to focus on the engineer’s console. Tony didn’t move, but I already knew he can see in all directions.

“Thank you Meiyo, but this isn’t urgent, you can get dressed and come back.”, Tony said.

“With all due respect Captain, if this is about the rescue mission, I think it is urgent.”, Meiyo said as she focused her vision on the Captain, and rested her hands on her hips.

Tony twisted in the gunner’s seat to look over his shoulder, but every time his eyes looked at Meiyo’s body he focused his vision at the ceiling.

“My crew is convinced the best course of action is to destroy the pirate ship. As a Captain or as a gunner, I have to consider if my actions could start a war, and who is impacted. As an applicant for first class citizenship, my actions potentially determine the future of the Protectorate. So now that all three of you are here, none of those pirates, women, children, nor families are Protectorate citizens. They potentially attacked possible citizens of an Earth based government, within Mars Pax space that is enough for me to open fire. Worst case scenario they are Earth dissidents, but are unlikely to be offered asylum by Earth, Mercury, nor Venus, except for their women, but based on what I saw they are unlikely to ask. Meiyo, as a huntress of Venus, what is your view on this matter?”, Tony asked.

“Venus is a safe place for women, but Huntresses understand our rules will be challenged, tested, and can even be used against us. Those space pirates are alive and they still have a ship, which means they can attack again, and they won’t listen to us. I don’t trust them to not attack a ship trying to rescue them. I’m not about to risk my planet or our future, for one woman or any woman that contributes to the success of piracy. And those pirates are the monsters I fear, their children are being raised as pirates, and will be a future generation of pirates. I saw a girl, stripped more naked than I am right now, beaten, raped, and left for dead in a pool of her own blood, and she was awake for the entire assault. I saw women forced to watch their children die. Those space pirate families aren’t hostages of morality, they are accomplices. They already chose to sacrifice the women of another ship. Venus has enough to deal with. Right now, I would pay all the money I have left if you open fire on the pirates, but I’m also aware this isn’t my fight. We failed to find any survivors, so the Venus Cooperative is no longer involved. I’ll go get dressed now.”, Meiyo said as she departed the bridge.

Tony looked at Ylisaya, as she nodded in acknowledgement of Meiyo’s account of the rescue mission, and then towards my mirror, and I nodded in acknowledgement as well.

“Jhess, I’ve decided. We’ll continue for Venus, after I clean up these skies a bit.”, Tony said.

I accessed the navigation array and as I looked through the ship’s sensors I saw an escape pod floating next to the ship. I instructed Ylisaya to seal the hull of the ship and disconnect the airlock. We drifted away from the ship we failed to rescue and I turned the ship towards Venus.

“Captain, there’s an escape pod out there.”, Ylisaya asked Tony.

“Oh, that’s how I got the pirates’ supplies back to the Something Clever. I think I took everything of value off of it. It’s worthless now.”, Tony said.

Tony activated the ship’s fire control and aimed the fusion cannons. Through the ship systems I could see Tony lined up a kill shot, aimed directly at the reactor core of the pirate ship. The blast radius would engulf the entire pirate ship, and the smuggler freighter had drifted out of danger. I imagined the warhead rolling down the magazine, then sliding into firing chamber of the fusion cannon, and the fire control system priming the warhead for destructive power. Ylisaya curled up in pain as she disconnected from the ship’s systems.

Tony used his mind to command the system to fire and through the navigation sensor I watched the warhead fly towards the pirate ship, and pirates crawled around the hull in their space suits, moving parts back and forth out of their airlock. As I imagined Tony sneaking into the ship while the pirates made repairs. The warhead slipped into the door of the pirate ship just as the outer airlock closed. The pirates were now completely helpless to escape their fate, but I told myself again and again, this was just the consequence for what they did. A shockwave shook the Something Clever, and the pirate ship turned into a cloud of debris. I activated the flight systems and we resumed our travel towards Venus.

“It’s strange, I saw something just before the pirate ship was destroyed.”, Ylisaya said.

“What did you see?”, I asked Ylisaya.

“The pirate ship getting hit with different blasts from the fusion cannon and then destroyed in three different ways. What did I see?”, Ylisaya said.

“Did you see the Pirate ship hit in the bridge, then the engines, then the reactor core?”, Tony asked Ylisaya.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I saw, in that order too. Did I…see the future?”, Ylisaya asked.

“No, that was my scanner vision. Target prediction and simulation of damage scenarios. Scanner vision optimizes my accuracy when shooting moving targets. If you think it was the future, did you see if we delayed our flight for cryonic-freeze? How many more ships get attacked by those pirates?”, Tony asked Ylisaya.

Ylisaya turned to me and I nodded in agreement with the captain.

“Usually merchant freighters hire gunships for protection. We just fly with them, and that’s usually enough to scare off pirates. Sometimes pirates, shoot back, but they usually just try to escape. But I’ve never seen the evidence left behind like this.”, I said.

“Considering what the warhead did to the pirate’s freighter, I’d estimate the pirates were never concerned about anyone finding any evidence. If they could just use any victims for target practice, it’s easier than guessing who can keep a secret. Based on what Meiyo said, I’d be ashamed of my Aurovean heritage. The threat is over, we’re going back to normal flight shift rotations. Ylisaya, please let the passengers know we’re clear of danger and resuming our travel to Venus and let Surhey examine you. See you at your next shift.”, Tony replied.

At the start of my next shift, Ylisaya entered the Bridge and sat down in the Engineer’s seat. I was confused because I just started my shift, and I was on shift for only twenty micro-cycles when she entered the bridge. I thought it was also unusual when she didn’t activate any of her chair’s engineering functions, because she only accessed the internal sensor.

“What’s going on?”, I asked Ylisaya.

“Captain gave me a task. He learned something about Nyrella.”, Ylisaya said

I accessed the internal sensor with Ylisaya and we both could see Tony entering the med-bay. Surhey was studying two med-scans, one of Nyrella and the other of Tony.

“You wanted to see me Doctor?”, Tony asked.

“Thank you captain, but I’m not that kind of doctor. I’m a genetic researcher. Nyrella is asking about the pirate ship, you destroyed. Jhessyreen and Meiyo wouldn’t tell her anything, but Ylisaya said something, and what Nyrella heard she told me. Meiyo isn’t going to be a problem, but I think you know what’s going on and depending on how you feel about that, I’m prepared to offer you some information, in exchange for Nyrella’s safety. By safety I mean keeping her away from any problematic discoveries.”, Surhey said.

“If Nyrella asks Meiyo for protection, I know Meiyo will, but that doesn’t include telling her the truth. I figured out that part too. I know the Cooperative sent you without a huntress bodyguard, because you and most of the huntresses are diametrically opposed. I’ve seen enough huntresses to know they seek out talent, because the Cooperative will not militarize them. That’s the first stage of patriarchy, which is why they funded genetic research instead. How am I doing?”, Tony asked about his progress.

“It’s true Meiyo and I have been avoiding each other. I knew she was a Huntress when I first saw her, and I was afraid she might try to kidnap Nyrella to make her quota, but that was all before I realized she’s also the Red-Rotono.”, Surhey said.

“I see why the concern for secrecy. If you were Nyrella’s mother, you can bring to her Venus and send her anywhere later, but if a Huntress rescues her and eliminates a political rival no-one would ask otherwise, and Nyrella just spends the rest of her life on Venus as a refugee. And I’ve known you’re not her mother, that’s just your cover story. Do you know where she came from?”, Tony asked.

“No, I met her on Saturn and that was the first time we ever saw each other. I just look right enough to move her around without too many questions. But I can promise you, she wasn’t kidnapped, she’s not an orphan, and she’s not being abused. She’s a clone. But Nyrella is unique among her sisters, as her genetic sequence allows her to exceed the limitations, that cybernetic enhancement could only slow down. She can save Venus.”, Surhey said.

“You’re talking about sacrificing a little girl, who didn’t ask for genetic modification. What exactly did the Cooperative pay for?”, Tony asked.

“We know we’re not recruiting enough women, and not birthing enough daughters. We know because the Huntresses have a standing priority to rescue survivors, and then the Cooperative indoctrinates survivors to hate men. Only way to convince them to stay on Venus. Nyrella can end all that hatred.”, Surhey asked.

“So Nyrella is this ultimate queen, that will save Venus? How?”, “Tony asked.

“Sort of…We can’t rely on our birth rate, we need a faster one.”, Surhey admitted.

“What the fuck Surhey? The women of Venus didn’t want to be baby factories, so they just bought one instead? I expect this from pirates, but not the Cooperative! The Cooperative lied to you, and I can prove it. Not only do I know who her father is. I think I also know who her mother is. How many evolution points does she have?”, Tony asked.

Surhey nodded, and through the internal sensor I could detect intense stress, as Tony revealed how much he knew about Nyrella’s genetic modifications. I estimated she was guilty over what was done to Nyrella.

“Her capacity is one hundred and thirty three. Her first five covered the enhancements and repair from the accelerated aging. How does that help?”, Surhey asked.

“That’s the second highest score I’ve heard from any Earthborn. I’m the highest record Holder, and that means the her mother is my ex-wife. The chance that one of my children with any other Earthborn woman will exceed one-thirty-three is less than one percent. I’ll forgive you, you’re just doing your job. You didn’t know that Nyrella wasn’t kidnapped, because she was purchased. I thought my daughter was aborted before she was ever born, but apparently someone is cloning her. So…How valuable is your information?”, Tony asked.

“Safely deliver Nyrella and me to Venus, forget about all the clones of your daughter, and never expose the Cooperative. In return I’ll give you both the location of your daughter, and a reliable way to locate her. With this information, you can steal her, buy her freedom, you can ensure her safety, or even allow her to be born if you hire a surrogate. But she’s not on Venus so don’t bother looking, and don’t pretend you’ll just buy or steal one of the clones. You’re a bounty-hunter, the Cooperative would never sell one to you. But you should also know, at the moment she’s just an embryo no larger than a grain of rice, she doesn’t even have a beating heart.”, Surhey said.

“Neither do I…but you’re right…I do want this information.”, Tony said.

“May I ask why?”, Surhey asked.

“Only a few people know what happened, and staying many steps ahead of any threats is crucial to survival…My ex-wife doesn’t even know, which means I now have a six year head-start. If you’re telling the truth, I get an eight year advantage. You’re information will be an acceptable price for my cooperation.”, Tony replied, and then exited the med-bay.

Ylisaya and I disconnected from the internal sensors as we considered what we just learned.

“The Captain was married?”, Ylisaya asked.

“And divorced, his ex actually got awarded the Something Clever when they divided the marital assets. All the Captain got to keep was his job as the gunner. We had a full crew then, and we still don’t regret being the only Rylkonian crew to ever mutiny. I never thought a Lahnthano woman would be the reason the Something Clever is the only Gunship with a brig. She stole the ship in front of the crew and actually ordered us to become space pirates! We almost sold her into slavery too, and we would have gotten paid a lot for her, she was really pretty when she was younger, but the Captain intervened. She had to become a Huntress to pay her debts to the Cooperative, and she’s been a problem for the Captain for a while, and kind of the reason we don’t really respect the Captain’s chair.”, I said to Ylisaya.

“I have so many questions.”, Ylisaya said as she departed the bridge stunned by the information she attempted to process, and I resumed my flight shift although we were now very close to Venus and would be landing soon.

Near the end of my shift, I accessed the internal sensor and noticed Tony was in cargo bay three, and looking at his spare cloaking devices. When Tony finished he went directly to the brig and examined the cell, which was only occupied by a hologram of Ryfez. I reconfigured the internal sensor to detect stealth technology, and I sensed Tony also using the internal scanner system.

“Jhess don’t bother scanning the ship, Ryfez is gone.”, Tony sent his thoughts to me, as we established a cyber-link.

“Where did he go?”, I sent my question to Tony.

“He escaped…probably when we hit the space pirates and docked with the freighter.”, Tony sent his reply, through a cyber-link.

“How did he get out of his cell?”, I sent my question to Tony.

“When I built this brig, I also included a way for me to escape from it. Coincidentally this method only works when there’s no gravity and no atmosphere. I’m actually wondering how he got around those two obstacles.”, Tony sent his thoughts to me.

I wondered why Tony was so eager to build a brig on a ship that never needed one. I can’t say I’m surprised he designed it for his escape, and the crew would only support the idea if it was meant to lock up his ex-wife. The spymasters are not going to like this turn of events.