The coordinates led to a large planet surrounded by six moons. Orbital platforms and satellites surrounded the planet and the moons. Ships of various sizes orbited the moons, receiving and deploying shuttles; none of the moons had atmosphere. Both of Kiera’s ships were ordered to land on the highly industrialized planet. All crewmembers were required to disembark, all shuttles, mecha and equipment were to be removed and taken to a nearby warehouse for inspection.
The crew didn’t need to unload alone. Short, hairless creatures with small horns on their brows, serrated ears, small claws with thin prehensile tails helped them. None of the creatures were no larger than three feet tall, they had large eyes that took up almost a third of their face, tiny noses and fang filled teeth. A membrane between their arms and legs let them glide and stuck tight to their skin when not in use. Each creature wore a harness that let them pick up whatever they touched with relative ease. Their teamwork was phenomenal and the ship was clear in only a few hours.
Once they were done the crew assembled and met their curious patron. As expected, Skorv stood eight feet tall, towering over all of them. Steam occasionally blew from his body as he walked the line of the crew. He stopped three times: in front of Tara, Locke, and Kiera. Each time he only said one word: “Who?” and tapped their prosthetics. He seemed satisfied with their answers. Then he turned his attention to the ship.
A human entered the warehouse and made a beeline for Hitomi, carefully examining her and nodding several times. He was tall and dressed in a blue jumpsuit. He was clean shaven with short, close cut black hair. Kiera couldn’t sense any emotions from either Skorv or the human. Not that they were suppressing them, but they were nonexistent, it was like trying to figure out what a table was feeling, or the judge.
“Neither of you are human,” Kiera blurted, “how are you in the Guild? How are you an Admiral?”
Both Skorv and the unknown thing shaped like a human turned their attention to them. The man stalked forward with no expression on his face. He stopped in front of Kiera and looked into her eyes, which was a first. Most people checked her out as they approached her. He narrowed his eyes at her and then took her hand. His hands were calloused and leathery and felt warm, no different than holding anyone else’s hand.
“Still think I’m not a human, girl?” he snarled.
“Yes,” Kiera said, “I don’t feel any emotions from you. Tam, Kari back me up?”
Tamalyn stepped out of the line and walked over to them. She put her hand on Skorv’s without any hesitation or reluctance, “Nothing,” Tamalyn confirmed, “I’m not even getting a pulse.”
“Can confirm, there are no emotions from either of them. He wouldn’t be able to hide them from me,” Ikkari confirmed.
“No thoughts that I can detect, either,” Pa’ku added, his eyes glowing orange.
“His chest isn’t rising or falling,” Kinsley observed.
“A simulacrum,” Tara concluded.
A horrible low clanking sound came from Skorv, steam bellowed from him, gears screeched, metal groaned. Everyone cringed and covered their ears, groans and shouted complaints peppered the air. The noise only continued and the giant Admiral slapped his knee, banging metal joining the torturous cacophony. It slowed down before it stopped to everyone’s relief. Corbin stuck his fingers in his ears.
The man looked at Koda and Kida, “Why did you cover your head?”
“Because that’s where our ears are,” Koda growled, his hair had grown shaggier but still failed to hide his ears.
“We’re moreaus, bear moreaus,” Kida said, pointing to her ears, she didn’t keep them covered, “Our ears aren’t on the sides of our heads. We only have one set.”
“You have impressed me again,” the man said, “Hitomi is quite the find, I never before found such a wondrous device. I am Jaxion Skorv, or rather the proxy that you will be serving. I am most curious why the survivors of Pantaurus have joined the Red Moon Mercenary Guild, particularly Princess Sol.”
The crew immediately reacted to the news. Locke and Gargax pulled Kiera behind them. Hiro wrapped his ears around her. Riley, Alyxia, and Ikkari moved to flank the human. Isaac, Koda, Calvin, and Edgar moved to flank the larger Skorv. Kida, Tara, Robyn, and Sage moved down the line to put themselves between Skorv and Hitomi. Corbin and Pa’ku circled around, their attention on the giant. Kinsley and Jaina disappeared as the crew fanned out. The small creatures just watched the movements, as did both Skorvs.
“You have a very loyal crew, Princess Sol,” human Skorv said, “To see such camaraderie would bring a tear to my eye if I could cry. At ease, at ease. Your Imperial ID bands gave away your identities. The spoofing code is very well executed; abandon them. You are all under my banner and I will not harm you. Neither will anyone who values their lives.”
Warily the group collectively relaxed. The man was impossible to read, his facial expressions and body language gave nothing away, and without being able to sense emotions Kiera might as well been talking to a statue with a fancy speaker in it. She couldn’t imagine what Ikkari was experiencing; the Saturnian’s empathy was in a completely different league considering their language was based on emotional responses. Kiera had been picking it up and had made Tallah laugh with joy the first time she tried to say hello.
“I have a reputation for not caring about life and only technology. The ships under my command are some of the most ruthless in the Guild, when on a job. You took my contract and completed it while gaining new technology and sparing the lives of those onboard. It made scavenging easier. Now, I wish for an answer to my question,” Skorv’s attention was split between Locke and Kiera.
Kiera stepped forward. She had changed out of the skimpy outfit and into her normal ship clothing when they were told they had work to do, “The Red Moon killed our classmates because they were after me and my niece, who they killed. I decided I wanted to find out who made the contract. My friends,” she gestured to her crew, “Wouldn’t let me do it alone. The only way to find out the patron was to join.”
Skorv nodded slowly, likely for their benefit, “How are you friends with Kingdom citizens, enough that they gave you a ship?”
“They’re my family,” Kinsley said, revealing herself near Hitomi. “The Sous family recovered me from a wreckage and brought me to the Empire. They supported me even when I left them so they would stop being accused of kidnapping me and facing slander because of me. Paran gave us the ship. Ikkari and Pa’ku came to help us on his request. She’s my cousin.”
Again, Skorv nodded. “What will you do if you find the client?”
“Bring him to justice,” Kiera said, “Make them pay for their crimes. My father would not treat them favorably.”
“You wouldn’t kill them?” Skorv asked.
“Killing them wouldn’t give us answers,” Locke said, “It wouldn’t honor those who were killed by them, it would just be revenge.”
“Revenge bring revenge,” Gargax added, touching his scars, “Clan need peace, closure. Kill not bring peace.”
Skorv was quiet. It was a strange thing watching someone who was semi-animated become completely still. The second minute of the silence started to feel awkward. After the third looks were being exchanged and the teens started to murmur to each other.
“Did…did he lose connection?” Calvin asked.
“Dunno,” Edgar answered, “You want to check them out, Tara, Kari?”
“It is rude to mess with another engineer’s creation without permission,” Tara said, “Especially since said engineer was just using them.”
Ikkari walked forward and peered into human Skorv’s eyes, “He didn’t lose power, I can see lamps still on.” She shrugged and walked back to her spot, “But I’m with Tara on this one. No tinkering without permission.”
“He’s probably just thinking,” Pa’ku said, “I think we have been quite the surprise to him and he needs to process it. Just like anyone else.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The crew was starting to get restless and looking around the warehouse after ten minutes passed in silence. Small flying drones were floating around scanning things, assisted by the hairless creatures. She heard Edgar ask Pa’ku to mind read one of the creatures. The request was denied; reading someone’s mind who was not an itorian without their permission was considered to be rude in itorian culture. Enemies didn’t count.
“You young people,” Skorv said, startling most of them and bringing everyone jogging back to stand at attention in line. “You are idealists, and have no idea the horrors that will await you serving in the Red Moon Guild. You have already made compromises, hard decisions breaking your own moral codes. Stealing, attacking without provocation, trading yourself for an ally, breaking two morons out of prison. You are resourceful, clever, and daring. If I could just give you the name of the client and send you on your way then I would. But Lupin is keeping this very close to the chest and has learned not to keep his secrets in places I can access.
“It has been a long time since I invested in a long term project like this. I am feeling…excited for the first time in years. We have much work ahead of us, my young friends. Shall we get started?”
=+=
“Go!” Riley shouted climbing into the cockpit of Kiera’s mecha. The engines roared to life, sending them flying out of a space station with three fighters hot on their heels. The mecha shook as two blasts struck it, throwing Riley into Kiera’s lap, “Sorry!”
“I’m not!” Kiera laughed, moving her hands so they were around Riley as they curved around a pylon, “I love having a beautiful woman in my lap and these guys just aren’t that great.”
“Maybe at piloting but their security forces are pretty decent shots. I’m just glad that Kins and Locke got into Koda and Emily’s mechas. Skorv’s really spoiled us, hasn’t he?”
Kiraa grinned, as she fell into formation with the other two mechas. A barrage of missiles from Corbin struck the lead starfighter and caused the one behind him to crash. The third fighter broke off as a starship undocked from the station. The Sunrise Eclipse was waiting for them, and once all they were all aboard. The hatch closed.
“He has, and I love it,” Kiera said, “That was a little wild.”
“Uller’s contracts are always wild,” Riley said, “Whatever pretty we snagged made them pretty mad.
“You love them,” Kiera replied, taking off her helmet, then Rileys and giving her Andoran lover a long kiss. “The contract said it was part of the Kaleidoscope Dasmyr.”
The contracts that Kiera’s crews completed were far away from the Empire. They mostly involved squabbles between young powers, raiding ships from the Doras Corporation and searching worlds for artifacts that Uller found on his Galactic map, and stealing technology that Skorv encountered and sometimes scavenging. In many ways Kiera felt it strange to be living and working in another Galaxy, one filled with strife and non-unified systems. The galaxy didn’t have any kind of unified rapid travel. It was thrilling in many ways but Kiera felt like she was being kept from learning the truth about who had hired the Moon to attack them. None of their contracts took them near the Empire and communication was often difficult. Uller would transfer and receive messages on their behalf. Skorv had jumpgates scattered throughout the galaxy, most of them concealed from sensors.
“So, are we going home or going to Skorv’’s?” Riley asked.
“I’m not sure,” Kiera said, “Depends on if we got any more contracts while we were raiding that base.”
Admiral Skorv was a master engineer. He was responsible for building the Red Moon Mechs and ships from his planet of Mechanus. Its moons were made of enough minerals and other resources that it was an engineer’s playground. Tara, Hiro, and Ikkari spent several of the last few months working with Skorv on the planet, building new gadgets, improving on others. They were taught how Skorv built his drones and they taught him about various Imperial technology, especially the PUC. He seemed to know almost everything about Kingdom technology, which was surprising. His mecha knowledge was extensive as well, and he was up to date on the latest designs. He even commented on Kiera's racing career in the minors.
Skorv interacted with them via different drones, depending on what part of his planet they were on. Not all of them appeared human or even bipedal. Skorv’s original organic body was lost somewhere near the core of the planet, his life unnaturally sustained by his cybernetics. Their cybernetics were upgraded and Kiera was given a neural band like Locke's. Her storage compartment could shoot her sword into her hand, and there was a magnetic clamp on the bottom of the foot. She was surprised how comfortable the neural band was and forgot she was wearing it after thirty minutes.
Skorv was very interested in Hitomi and sent the crew on a mission to a desolate world. It was a graveyard of technology that was inhabited by viscous machines that were continuously built by a simple AI. None of Skorv's crews that went on 'salvage runs' were able to do anything about it, but Tara was. Skorv had upgraded her cybernetics to let her link to systems via touch, the same way a khelban could. With this new ability she was able to hack into the AI and give its machines additional programing making them non-hostile to anyone that had a specific transmitter that Skorv gave all his crews They also had a special transponder that they could use to contact Skorv on his own personal frequency.
With the machines docile, the crew was able to reach a ship that was made of the same material as Hitomi. It had no power and when Hitomi scanned it she pronounced the ship dead. Their task was to enter the ship and recover its engine core. Kiera thought it was eerie to be exploring the 'corpse' of a starship and going after its 'heart.' She and Tara succeeded in finding and retrieving the core. The rest of the crew lifted the corpse of the ship from the planet. When they brought the core on the ship Hitomi became extremely excited. It was a Spark. While it wasn't her Spark, she could claim it by housing it in her Spark module and synchronizing with it. She began immediately.
It took Hitomi an entire month to adapt the Spark, but when she did her capabilities were expanded one hundred fold. She took the Eclipse, the Satisfaction, and the dead living ship and combined them. It took her only hours after integrating with the larger technorganic ship to incorporate the other two, giving them a truly unique and adaptable ship. Hitomi could shape herself without requiring user input and could segment herself into smaller ships. Every room on the ship was changed and configured to either the occupants desires or the way it was best optimized. Kiera gained a new expanded office that she shared with Locke. Emily had her dream kitchen, and the engine room's layout was changed to appeal to all three of the engineers. Med bay was fully stocked with several beds separated by forcefield curtains, a regenerative healing tank and separate surgery and counseling rooms. The new ship was named the Sunrise Eclipse. The Appetizer was adapted, and modified as well. It was an entirely new ship when Hitomi was done and renamed the Shining Dawn.
Kiera looked back at her mecha as she climbed out of it. The engineers weren’t the only ones who spent time with Skorv working on projects. The mecha pilots and special forces teams spent weeks with her working one on one to design their ideal mecha and powered armor. Locke didn’t require any of his team to be uniform. But they were in the Sunrise's purple, red, and gold color scheme Kinsley and Jaina were included, and had plenty of new toys to play with.
Named the Pixie Darner, her new mech resembled the racing darner but had higher maneuverability, deployable shields, a pair of energy swords, a photon cannon in one arm, and a disrupter in the other. Folded on her back, connected to mecha’s shoulders were a pair of repulsors that could be used for a speed boost or for combat. Skorv thought using a sonic cannon was stupid and spent three full minutes on a rant against the idiot who thought of it.They were fully rotational and there wasn’t an angle they couldn’t cover. She still wasn’t sure what kind of metal that Skorv used for the frame, but it was light weight and let her have the same armor as the Avalanche had.
“Good job you guys!” Kiera called as she and Riley linked arms.
“Good job all around,” Locke said, his own arm linked in Kinsley’s, “Ben should be happy with this.”
“Should be!?,” Kinsley commented, “That’s a center part of his flower. I’m just glad that Mary is so adept at putting the thing together. I would have thrown it out ages ago.”
“The history of it is pretty neat,” Emily said, seizing Kiera’s other hand. “The jeweler that made it had pieces brought over the cosmos to put it together. She thought it would help bring intergalactic peace in the wake of the Void Incursion. At its presentation in the Edimar Gallery Quaglian pirates decided it was too good a score to pass up. They descended on the gallery with a small fleet, and dropped it while escaping. The pieces were separated, one is supposed to be in the Imperial Treasury.”
“Is that the kind of pillow talk you have with Uller?” Corbin scoffed.
“Yes,” Emily replied and looked back at him, “Jealous?”
Koda laughed, “Yeah, Corbin wants to sleep with him!” It earned Koda a punch in the arm from Corbin and laughter from the others.
“Are we going to turn it into Benjamin and head to Sarlassa?” Emily asked.
Sarlassa was the world within the nebula where they had met Admiral Snowden. It had quickly become their favorite place to vacation; the nebula kept it hidden and there were rumors that ships disappeared when entering it. Skorv officially claimed it as his, installing orbital platforms inside and out.
“I think we’re going to meet Uller somewhere,” Locke said, “Kida has all the information. I am really glad I don’t actually have to captain this ship.”
Kiera laughed, “She is an amazing captain,” her PUC beeped, “Looks like Jaxion wants to talk to me. I will meet up with you all later.”