Chapter 1

As the ship roared out of the atmosphere, things became a lot quieter as the transport left the atmosphere of Vector Twelve. The pilot has no trouble navigating the ship away from debris and into deep space. Once out there, he set a course for the Capital City and activated the core, which allowed the ship to move at the speed of light. It would take twelve hours for them to reach Earth Gamma, and when you were transporting prisoners, this was when the bartering phase of a prisoner's incarceration would kick in. For some reason whenever someone was arrested, they always assumed it was the transport worker who was more likely to be bribed or swayed to change their mind. For Captain Rogers, this was not the case. He was well paid, mostly because of his stellar record of long service to the Rocket Patrol. He was the least corruptible member of the unit and was given more benefits just because the Patrol didn't want to lose someone of his experience.

Another perk was to get a rookie to do the heavy lifting for him. Rogers was even allowed to hand pick his own servant right out of the academy. No one every turned him down, not only because of his legendary status in the Patrol, but also because many recruits fresh out of the academy wanted to go out into space for their first assignment rather than get guard duty for the Capital City. It had been almost two decades since Rogers agreed to this special deal, and during that time he had worked with seven new recruits and molded each one into find members of the Patrol. The Patrol's only condition was that each rookie could only work with Rogers for a maximum of four years. Once that term was over, he had to pick someone new to work with. Only two rookies were unable to make it to the end of their term. His first was killed in action, caught off guard by a massive boa. Rogers had told the young man to stay close to the ship but he didn't listen. The other rookie that didn't make it was also injured, but she survived the ordeal. The result was the loss of a limb, which made physical work difficult. She now worked at Headquarters in the Capital City, with the division of central security if he wasn't mistaken.

His last two rookies had taken a toll on the Captain, to the point where he honestly considered retiring for real this time. The previous rookie was none other than Amanda Starr. She was one of the toughest rookies he ever took under his wing and while some would use stubborn to describe her demeanor, Rogers preferred to call it a strong conviction. She was persistent and eager to get out there into the world. Rogers was quite concerned she would become the second companion to die on the field but it never happened. She managed to serve out the four years without much difficulty and when she took a position with the city at the end of her tour, while it surprised the Captain that she would volunteer for the job everyone dreaded to take, he had the feeling she was just giving the galaxy a breather before going back out and taking no prisoners. One of the finest cadets he ever worked with.

Most people would have thought his favorite companion would have been Ben Roderick, but that was not the case. Rogers and Benny got along just fine and the four years flew by like it was only two months. They were so alike in both looks and personality, people could have sworn Roderick was Roger's long lost son. The Captain was happy to see Roderick move one, as the old man spent most of the four years concerned he would lose him like the previous first cadet. Roderick proved to be far too grounded, and lucky, to end that way. Rogers watched Ben's career flourish over the years but was still amused when he volunteered to do front line work with the other patrollers. The fact that a Commander wasn't too proud to do the grunt work with his fellow officers made the younger members of the Patrol look up to him. Roderick made Rogers very proud every time they met up on the field.

Then there was his latest selection; the one that Rogers was hesitant to take. The academy literally begged Rogers to take this cadet, telling him that she was going to be expelled due to multiple counts of insubordination and he was her only chance to graduate. Miranda O'Brien had zero respect for authority, but the patrol could see her potential. She was from the planet of Ireland, and while they expected her to be a little tough, she was far worse than anyone could have imagined. In exchange for her services and efforts to round out O'Brien's rough edges, the Patrol offered to double his salary for as long as his tour with her lasted. Rogers and O'Brien struggled at first, and it led to a lot of fights. One of those fights even came to punches being tossed, and Rogers didn't hesitate to hit back knowing that people from the planet of Ireland hit everyone equally. After that altercation, and Roger's refusal to press charges for something that wasn't even illegal where she came from, O'Brien against respect for the old man and things got better from there. It was evident why the Patrol was willing to double his salary, they likely would have tripled it had he asked. It would have been well earned.

Despite their ups and downs, O'Brien was molding into one of the finest and by far the toughest members of the Patrol the Captain had ever seen. Much so that Rogers was considering doing something he never considered before; asking for a second term with his current companion. Things were just smoothing out between them and the Captain was worried that O'Brien might fall into some old habits and mess up if assigned somewhere else too quickly. The young woman's toughness also made sleeping a little easier for him, which was important at his age. Taking on a new rookie would cause sleepless nights, something he wasn't ready to do again. Chances are if the patrol didn't approve his request to let O'Brien stay on with him for another term, or permanently, he was going to retire. After the bruises and crazy adventures he had experienced so far with the young Irish woman, Rogers couldn't see himself doing this again. When he was picking up the prisoners on the techless colony, Rogers had considered floating the idea by Benny to see what he thought about it. He decided not to tell anyone about it until he had made up his mind about what he wanted to do. He knew the other commanders, like Anders in Capital City, would want Rogers to keep taking on more rookies and use the old man as much as he could. The old man couldn't tell if he was able to do this again, especially if the next cadet was going to be as tough or stubborn as O'Brien. Rogers was clearly getting too old for this shit.

The prisoners had been rather quiet, but Rogers could tell that one of them was eager to speak his mind. The old man, the one known as Montgomery, seemed to have that look on his face that clearly told Rogers that he wanted to speak with the Captain.

"Don't even bother," Rogers said, holding up an open hand, "You have nothing that I want, and I make more than enough to keep me in line. Neither of us is willing to hear your offers of fortune and freedom, so keep your mouth shut and enjoy the ride to Capital City."

"Are you sure about that?" O'Brien asked.

"I am quite sure," Rogers answered, looking back at her and chuckling, "I know for a fact that a patrol salary is far more than what you would make on the potato fields. The work is more exciting as well and you also get to legally carry a blaster that works anywhere you want. We may not be the richest around, but you can't say we don't get our perks."

"Should we send a message to the city?" O'Brien asked.

"No," Rogers said without hesitation, "We're under orders to remain silent until we make orbit with the Capital."

"Anders isn't going to like that," O'Brien told him.

"I don't care if he doesn't," Rogers replied, "My orders come from someone who happens to outrank him."

"Wait a second," O'Brien said, turning to face Rogers with a look of absolute shock on her face, "Roderick outranks Anders??"

"He does," Rogers confirmed, "When two people share the same rank in the Rocket Patrol, the one who was promoted the rank first is the superior officer. So since my orders to remain silent came from Benny, what Anders thinks about it is of little concern to me, or the Commander."

"Wow," O'Brien said, "I had no idea. What was a Commander doing at a techless colony? Why is he doing what's considered an unpopular assignment?"

"It's not unpopular to him," Rogers answered, "Benny always liked visiting the techless colonies, and he's been a great ambassador because of his ability to get along with them."

"I could not handle going techless for a week." O'Brien said, shuddering at the thought, "I don't know how he does it."

"He doesn't," Rogers continued, "If the colonies knew how much tech he really had on him, we'd never hear the end of it. His ability to blend in where others cannot is what makes Benny one of the best the Patrol has to offer. And I also recommend you never play poker with the man, unless you want to lose your shirt."

"Duly noted," O'Brien said, turning back to her panel.

That was the longest conversation they had the entire trip back to the capital. She wasn't much of a speaker, but the Captain knew she was dependable and could handle her own in any situation. In the end, that was all he could really ask for out of a cadet.