“Destination set,” Bob said. “ETA, five hours.”
So fast! I marveled at the ship’s speed. She was an old girl but she could outpace any ship I’d heard about. And the engines aren’t even operating at one hundred percent!
I’d picked a remote system called Zenith that had fallen back into the industrial age a few generations after colonization. It was an independent system and no one went there. It would be safe for me. I decided it would be best if I disappeared. Everyone would assume I was dead, which was perfect. I’d need a new identity, but for a slicer of my reputation and skill, that would be child's play.
Zenith was not only remote but the tech level was way behind Radon's. I could sell my services there or invent new tech if I wanted, not that I planned to do anything so mundane. No, the priority was to fix up my new ship. I still hadn’t settled on a name I liked. Night Hawk sounded cool but was missing something. Shadow Dancer was OK but lacked the undertones I wanted. It sounded quick and stealthy but not dangerous enough.
“Silent Death. Ugg, too ominous. This is hard.” I’d never had to name anything before. Certainly nothing this important. Then it clicked. “Shadow Hunter!” Yes, this was perfect. A smile formed on my face. The name spoke to my soul, harkening to my chosen profession, the thrill of the hunt shrouded in shadows.
“Bob, from now on the ship will be designated Shadow Hunter.”
“Confirmed, Captain Peligro. Shadow Hunter.”
I grinned and propped my feet up as I laced my fingers together behind my head. Life was hard but it certainly had its moments of joy.
* * *
Space travel was exciting to contemplate, but in reality, it was quite boring. It didn’t take me long to grow bored and pulled out my wrist computer to surf the ethernet. I set up some accounts for my new identity. This time I got to pick my own name.
“Ginny Amerson.” I tapped the enter key to finalize the new account. A few hours later I had a bank account in my name with a complimentary twenty credits for opening a new account. I registered with the Ship Owners Association, listing one of my small hyper-capable ships in the hangar. It would give me access to some ship owner perks if I ever made port without revealing all my cards.
“Captain, we are thirty minutes from our destination,” Bob said.
“Thanks, Bob.” I yawned
After sitting idle for so long, stood and stretched. We’d be at Zenith soon. Fixing the engine and repairing the RB units had used up most of the scrap metal. There were enough degraded linens and other synthetics to add a few pieces to my wardrobe, but my other resources were lacking. I changed into a less form-fitting suit. This one had the same bells and whistles but was dark blue color and not a skin-tight attention-grabbing black leather.
I took my place on the bridge and strapped in. “So Bob, what materials do we need to fix the rest of the ship.”
He started rattling off everything we needed, only half of which I’d even heard of. “What the heck is Bismuth?”
“Bismuth is a non-conductive metal, Captain.”
“That’s so helpful,” I muttered.
We dropped out of the hyperway and the sensor quickly propagated the map. The abandoned mining station was all that remained from the colony’s early space age days. It was beaten up pretty badly from asteroid impacts. Trying to salvage it in the asteroid field would be difficult.
“So this is Zenith,” I muttered.
I charted a course to place us in orbit and looked at the scans. The sensors were only slightly damaged. They were perfectly capable of getting me a good scan. “Bob, highlight points of interest for me.”
“Power sources, Captain?”
“No, locations that have the materials we need to make repairs. That’s why we are here, remember?”
“Industrial centers will need power, Captain. The manufacturing centers likewise use energy,” Bob said.
I pinched my nose. “Bob, scan for locations where we can collect scrap metal and other materials without anyone noticing us, please.” Did he think we were going to buy stuff? Lame. Besides, it wasn’t like I had money for that! It also went against my principles to buy something I could get for free.
A location showed up on the screen a minute later. “What am I looking at, Bob?”
“It's an irradiated battlefield.”
“No wonder it looks dead. Are those tanks?”
“Yes. It appears a global conflict is currently underway.”
“And they have nukes. Okay then. Great. I didn’t think they had reached the nuclear age yet.”
“Captain, if you took the salvage ship down to the planet, you could land in the irradiated zone and process the remains from the battle.”
“And melt my skin off. Great plan, Bob.”
“The ship's shielding will prevent harmful radiation from affecting you. Likewise, your suit can shield you and would keep you safe.”
“Wait, you mean I could walk around down there, in just my clothing?”
“Yes, Captain, the skinsuit should be more than capable of reflecting the harmful radiation away. A warning will sound if the concentration is too dense for it to handle.”
“What's the status of the scavenger ship?” I’d gone over all the ships already and Arby had done some minor repairs to several to get them into working order but all of them needed work.
“The scavenger ship has one stabilizer missing along with several shield emitters that need to be replaced.”
That would be fun. A missing stabilizer would make landing tricky. Just lovely. I gathered some more information and then waited a few hours to make sure there was no activity in the area. A war was raging all across the planet. Over a dozen major nations were engaged in the war aligned into two factions.
The closest fighting was twenty miles to the north where an armored division was attacking a fortified position of infantry and artillery. Anti-tank guns traded rounds with the tanks and early jet-powered aircraft and helicopters fought for dominance in the sky. The defensive position was perfectly placed to block the advance on a major city further up the valley with mountains on one side and a marsh on the other side.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The irradiated zone was behind the attacker's line. It looked like several divisions had been caught in the blast zone. There would be a lot of good salvage. I tried not to think about how many died there. Fortunately, their remains were probably turned to ash.
I made my way down to the salvage ship. Its two cranes were tucked along the hull but they would work just as well on the planet as in space. I did a quick visual check and then boarded and strapped in.
“Okay, here we go. Computer, establish a channel with the Shadow Hunter.” It complied. “Bob, send Arby down. I might need a handyman.” I snickered.
I primed the engines while waiting. The ship hadn’t been used in centuries but I had it checked out while we were en route. One of the shuttles needed a lot of work. It had been cannibalized to keep the shuttle I’d used to get aboard in working order. The dropship and fighter were both in desperate need of maintenance but seemed to power up fine.
Arby walked in and activated the mag-locks on his feet. I fired up the engines and lifted off. Despite my many hours in the simulator, I felt a little nervous flying. I’d done it escaping from the Triv Prison ship but I’d have far more pressing concerns on my mind at the time.
The sidearm I’d claimed was strapped to my side and I’d brought the rifle along just in case I needed more firepower. The ride was smooth until we hit the atmosphere and then the ship was buffeted around. We made it through the stratosphere and were approaching my chosen landing zone when several additional stabilizers shut down.
“No no no!” I cried as the ship listed to the right. I hauled on the stick, trying to level out and correct my course but it refused to respond. I screamed out a curse as the ground rapidly approached. At the last moment, I overrode the shutdown, and the stabilizers and maneuvering jets fired. They quickly killed some of our speed, before failing. Then the ship slammed into the ground and I was thrown against my restraint. The straps cut deeply into my flesh as the ship plowed into the earth.
The ship finally came to a stop fifty yards from the impact sight and I sagged in my seat.
“Ow,” I moaned. I released the straps and felt the wounds. I was lucky the straps didn’t fail or I might have face-planted into the view screen. I’d surely have cracked my skull for sure.
“Arby, remind me to replace all the restraints with new ones. Okay?”
“A note has been entered into the log, Captain.”
“Great.” I opened a link to my AI. “Bob, did you see what happened? Will we be able to fly this thing out of here?”
“It is doubtful you’ll be able to take off again without extensive repairs, Captain.”
“Suggestions?”
“Salvage materials for the ship’s material processor and foundry. The salvage ship is equipped with a small but fully functional processing unit.”
“Really? Oh yeah, you did mention that.” There were a lot of details that had gone in one ear and out the other, and not all of that was due to being exhausted. There was only so much I could absorb at a time and Bob didn’t understand the concept of information overload. He was an AI though, go figure.
“Okay, Arby. Looks like we have some work to do.”
Bob chimed in. “Captain, I suggest you scout the area while Arby scans the ship to make a list of the parts needed for repairs. Then you can collect some materials to make a scanner to speed up your search for the proper components.”
That sounded like a decent plan. “What’s the radiation density here?”
“Higher than expected but your suit should be able to protect you when you leave the ship.”
‘Should’ was not the word I wanted to hear when exposing myself to radiation. I clenched my teeth together to stop myself from griping. Focus on the work, Ginny.
* * *
The dirt crunched under my feet. Everything was dead. For miles in every direction, there was nothing but wasteland and the remains of burnt hulls of tanks and trucks. To my left were several main battle tanks. To the right was a whole column of support trucks. The paint was melted off and the tires burnt away. Everything that could burn was gone. I glanced down at the list of materials I’d need for the scanner Bob had told me to make.
The common metals looked easy but I had no idea where to find lithium, gallium, and the other less common materials needed. The only saving grace was those weren’t needed in large quantities.
If nothing else, I could probably strip them out of some non-critical system on the salvage ship and repurpose them.
“Okay, Ginny, time to get to work. It’s grave robbing time.” I scowled, this truly was a mass graveyard. I hadn’t seen any corpses yet, most of them had probably been burnt to ash but I figured it was only a matter of time. I headed for one of the more intact-looking trucks to start my search. It looked fairly intact given the situation.
I claimed a metal gas can and pried the radio from the dash then headed back. The electronics might have some of the less common things I needed. My guess was correct. I just needed about ten more radios and I’d be golden. Great. I buckled down and got to work.
It took hours. Most of the trucks were completely useless. They had caught fire and burnt to the frame. I started searching further and further away. Things seemed more intact further south. I headed that way.
I was right. I salvaged half a dozen in just an hour, then returned to the salvage ship with my loot.
“That should do it. Now I just need to wait for it to finish building. How’s it going Arby?”
“I’ve cataloged the needed parts and started collecting scrap metal to be processed.”
“That’s great. How long do you think it will take now that we have the scanner?”
“Bob calculates the repairs to the salvage ship will take just under three days. If we are to collect more materials to return to the Shadow Hunter it will take longer.”
“Three days! What am I supposed to eat?” Or drink for that matter…
“Scans show an active settlement thirty miles to the north.”
“Active? It’s active alright. There is a frinkin’ war going on over there!” I shouted. “How am I supposed to get there in the middle of a war?”
Bob answered. “You might try using some of those thieving skills you’re so fond of mentioning.”
“Thanks, I never would have thought of that,” I said sarcastically.
I was already considering how I’d slip through the warring factions' lines. I returned to the scavenger ship and pulled out my wrist computer. The locals had some kind of global net, but it was down in many areas due to the war. My quantum comm would have access anywhere if I programmed it correctly. I just needed a place to start. Once I knew what I was dealing with I could write a software patch and get more information.
“Bob, can you tap their communications?”
“Only their radio transmissions. Their encryption isn’t very good.”
“Okay then. I need more information, here's what I want you to do…”
* * *
It took me two hours to gather the information I needed. The resource scanner finished and Arby took it and got to work while I learned more about the natives. The two main factions were the Northern Coalition and the Southern Block. The Northern Coalition Forces or NCF were mostly across the central ocean but the country I was in now was an exception. It was on the coast and all its neighbors were aligned with the Southern Block Forces and had invaded. The mountainous terrain had funneled their attacks through narrow valleys and the offensive had stalled.
The tank graveyard was what was left of most of the country’s tanks and mechanized units. After the offensive stalled, the nation launched a counter-offensive and the Southern Block and hit them with a tactical nuke, wiping out both sides' forces.
The Southern Block was fond of more totalitarian regimes from what I could tell. Several countries had been forcibly annexed prior to the conflict kicking off. There was a small town forty miles to the south, away from the fighting and I decided I’d head there instead of directly into the warzone.
“Arby,” I called out when the RB unit was close by. “Can you fix one of those supply trucks?” I’d seen several that looked decent a few miles away from where we’d touched down. I’d aimed for the center of the field, in hindsight, that had been a mistake. The main force of the blast was concentrated there. The dead zone was twenty miles across with the main force of the blast five miles in diameter in the center. Everything beyond that would make good salvage.
“Find a truck to the south and get it running. I’m going to head south to that small town. I might be gone for a few days.”
“I believe I spotted a repairable truck, Captain. I will start on it right away.”
My food and water supply was problematic. I’d only brought a liter of water and no food. Not that I had much on the Shadow Hunter anyway, just the nasty protein powder. I gathered up my things, deciding to leave the rifle behind. My sidearm should be more than capable of handling anything I might come across. I hoped I wouldn’t need it. I was a thief, not a killer.
I set off across the irradiated wasteland for at least a fifteen-mile hike. I was going to be so sore tomorrow.