+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Jahellios System

New Krakow

FS Zoeker

“We got 'em…” Harold said. “We’re picking them up by radar. Six surface contacts. All fast movers. Most are patrol boats, and one of them is a corvette-sized vessel. They’re twenty kilometers away, dead ahead.”

“This ship can go up to thirty-six knots,” Foxtrot said. “Approximately twenty minutes, and we can catch up to them at full speed.”

I looked at the map ahead of us. It seemed that the ships prowling this specific area were definitely not pirates, as Juliett was already tapping into their comms. All of them seemed to be searching for an unknown vessel within the vicinity, which we could only conclude was André’s ship. Naturally, the kid must be hiding, really well in addition, staying radio silent, under EMCON most likely, and with a ship that had a reduced RCS (Radar Cross Section).

I had an almost silent admiration at that sixteen-year-old’s sheer tenacity in doing this. To nab an advanced ship, and sail it under these conditions, all while hiding from a flotilla of hungry warships, he must be a kind of a mental prodigy himself. Even I, a twenty-four-year-old bastard, struggled at all of these things. I mean, I could pilot the Jukebox well, but I wouldn’t be able to hide this well in a surface ocean.

Not that we’re too different.

We were almost the same once, I suppose. On the run, hiding, all while leveraging speed and stealth to get away. I knew it was a difficult task, which raised my enthusiasm to help him out. I plotted the directions of the enemy ships, which we could now see on the map, courtesy of our powerful radars and Juliett’s incessant feeding of targeting data into our ship.

It was as if we had an eye from the skies. An eye in the electronic realm. Well, she was an extremely advanced AI, so it must be her thing. Perhaps it wasn’t her powerful weapons or those phase capabilities that made her strong enough to be given the mission to “save the sector”, but this. After all, I could see the sources of the data we were using to triangulate their locations.

We were using both satellite imagery and data from New Krakow’s Defense Grid, and we were even funneling the contacts spotted by nearby civilian ships into our systems to better spot them. At this point, our own radars and sensors were useless, as Juliett’s ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) capabilities were that of a monster.

I should have known that back in Escuardo System. She wouldn’t have been able to find that ship that contained all of those hostages with pinpoint accuracy that quickly without that. Still, I suppose her capabilities had limitations, as she didn’t know that they were in a mutiny.

And right now, we also didn’t fully know where André was.

“Louise, I want you to come to a decision here,” I said, facing her. “Do we continue laying low, and wait until we find your brother’s ship, or do we press on an attack and eliminate them before continuing the search?”

“Tell me. What would happen if we pressed on an attack?” She asked, and I came up with a quick calculation to answer that. Attacking these ships would mean we would light ourselves up like a beacon, attracting the attention of the authorities. We would have to quickly find André’s ship, rescue him, and leave through the Jukebox.

We would have to do that quickly, without a single second wasted. Completely wasting the ships that New Krakow was using would definitely get us into trouble, and the only way to avoid said trouble was to get out, sneak out of this planet using the Jukebox, and “innocently” re-dock into the New Krakow station, controlled by Ms. Kalista.

Planetside, we were at the mercy of the New Krakow Colonial Government. If something wrong happened, even Ms. Kalista wouldn’t be able to bail us out. In fact, she had even warned me that if we were caught and they found out, she would be in big, big trouble herself. It was why we saw her agents already talking to that port’s official who lent us this ship before we left.

I would bet that she “finished” the job there and there before word came out.

On the other hand, if we didn’t press on an attack, these ships could potentially find André first. And if they found him first, there would be no way that they would hold anything back. They’d waste his ship without mercy. And while thirty-six knots was fast, we wouldn’t be able to get there in time if that happened.

Two awful decisions. As usual, it was how life was for me. For us even. Almost all the time, we would be presented with awful options. I could squint hard to appraise which option would be the better one, but that works about as well as tossing a coin and betting heads or tails and deciding from there.

After all, in this situation, everything is a game of luck and fate.

“If we press on the attack, we’d have to fight,” I answered. “And if we fight, the authorities would easily discover us. We’d have to be fast at finding him and getting out, or we’re very much screwed.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She nodded. I continued. “On the other hand, if we lay low and wait for the best opportunity, they might find him first. I think you know the implication of that.”

Louise fell silent, and so did the rest of us. I could see everyone, Louise, Juliett, and Harold weighing the options I presented to them. Even I was weighing it myself, but I didn’t want to decide here. Louise was eighteen…an adult. And we were talking about the fate of her last known family. Her very own brother. I wouldn’t want to place the decision of how we would act in my hands.

That would rob Louise of the agency to decide for her own family. Even I wouldn’t step that low. And so, I waited for her decision. Would she take the straightforward option, or would she take the long game? Both were practically equal in risk and again, we didn’t know which one would succeed. Which was why…I would leave it to Louise.

I hope you pick the right one. Whichever may it be.

Her gaze hardened, and she looked up at me. “Captain Jones…André, my little brother, is the last human being I care about in this world. His life hinges on how I act. And how fast I act. I want to save him head-on. I want to rescue him head-on. I don’t want someone else to find him first. I don’t want them to find him first. Please…”

She took a deep breath and approached me. “Would you let me use you and your friends…to fight them head-on?”

I looked at both Harold and Juliett, and I saw them both give me a determined nod. I looked back at her and nodded. “We will. Let’s go then. We have a damned kid to save. Foxtrot! I want us going to full speed. Prepare the weapons. And everyone…” I looked at them. “Prepare for a possible boarding action should we need to do it.”

Now that she had given me her decision, it was time to take command. I’d see her decision’s execution to the end. Till we find and rescue her brother.

For my SCs.

For the safety of her brother.

For her.

And for my remaining honor.

+++

+++ [REDACTED] +++

Kingdom of Loran

Sagittarius League

My bullet dropped him…and he didn’t speak any further.

How vile. I thought. I wanted to spit at him. To kick and desecrate his corpse. What he did to this woman behind me was beyond horror. I couldn’t believe that I almost took his contract. What kind of a man would I be, to be a paid gun by this guy? I may be a mercenary in disguise, an outlaw with a bounty on my head, but I would never do something as vile as protect a man like this for the mere drop of a few coins.

My father raised me better than that.

“He’s dead,” I said to her, as she looked up at me. “You’re free now. Do whatever you want to do. I’ll clean this mess up.”

“I…I can help,” she squeaked up weakly. “I can help you.”

“No, look. You better get out of here before his goons arrive and find all of this. Trust me, it’d get too ugly.” I said to her, shooing her away. I didn’t want to make an innocent civilian, a victim of this man, to see whatever was about to happen. “Look Miss, I think you should have learned already not to associate yourself with a criminal. I’m also a criminal. You better leave me, and leave this bad business behind.”

“I…” She was without words. I was hired for the express purpose of protecting him for easy money, short term. What I didn’t expect was that I would be protecting a literal brothel from his competitors. And that I would see his “business practices”. That naturally triggered everything wrong within my unstable mind. I hated men like him. I hated those who would exploit those beneath them.

And so, within just a few hours, I exploded and turned my hired gun straight to his face. “Look, the other girls already escaped. They won’t chase you. You can disappear to the city at night and leave no trace. You’re free. Just…just leave.”

I took a stack of cash that was sitting on the table in his office. It was the same money that he would have paid me with. The same money he would reward me to protect his depraved business. I counted it, before approaching the young woman. She looked at the money, and I placed it on her shaking hands.

“Take this, and leave. Use that to survive. Just, go. Look, I’m not good at convincing people, but with that money, you should have fewer problems with leaving. Just, just go. It’s for the best.”

“Sir? Why?”

“What do you mean why?” I frowned. “Just go. There’s a lot of things for me to do here. It’s busy, dirty work, and you’re taking my damned time.”

“I-it’s just…you’re a mercenary, right?” She asked. “Why? Shouldn’t you choose money over everything else? Isn’t that your only reason to fight? For the money? Why help us…and give me money?”

I looked at her eyes. I didn’t know why either. I could have just left if I felt that the job was disgusting. I could have just stashed the money now that he was dead. I mean, wasn’t that the classic mercenary type of thing?

Yet I didn’t.

Heh, maybe I’m just trying to appeal to god or something.

I chose to listen to that cynical voice. Perhaps, that was the only truth. Or maybe I just wanted to feel like a hero for saving a bunch of borderline-enslaved girls. The white knight ego must be something that ate my mind. How stupid.

“Because I’m stupid. Or I like to play the hero. See how silly that is? Yeah, that’s right. Now piss off. You’re endangering yourself.”

She didn’t seem to be amused by the way I spoke to her, but I saw her smile…even if it was faint.

“I think…you just have honor, sir.”

“What?”

“T-thank you, sir. I’ll remember this.”

She turned around red-faced and left me…as I tried to make sense of her parting words. Only to find no sense in it. Me? Honor? A member of the Von Wicht Gang? She surely must be on crack or something. Ah, well that wouldn’t be too surprising, considering her condition. I bet that man and his goons were drugging them anyway.

I sighed to myself.

Honor…huh? Do I even have any of that left?

Of course, I didn’t.

It was impossible.