SEVEN

"Eden's brain is worth about three million credits," Talia said, strutting her projected self around the room. "Or rather, the thing inside it is. I appraise that to be approximately three times the Odin's value. Is that correct, Mister Fox?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe four. What's the prize in her skull?"

"A neural tracker, sophisticated well-beyond the known top of the line. If you knew what to look for, you could pick up its signal from the other side of a black hole. The transmission cannot be blocked, scattered, falsified, or disabled."

"Someone doesn't want her out past curfew," Kane said, after a disappointed glare from Eden, he amended. "Not that you're that young. Just saying…"

Arissa stepped up.

"Eden, do you have any idea why these people are after you?"

She shook her head. "I can't remember anything."

"A possible side effect of the tracker's insertion," Talia said. "Alternatively, blunt force trauma to the head."

"So we're not going to figure out the what," Jack said. "Not yet. How about the who? Who would be willing to put a small fortune into this girl's head?" Jack, also learning to correct himself around Eden, added, "Sorry. This lady's head."

"Sounds like Federal Alliance money to me," Arissa said, and the mood of the entire room turned dark. "You were all thinking it, I just said it."

"We should avoid jumping to conclusions." Talia stopped her pacing.

"And hope you're wrong," Jack said. "If we're up against the alliance, we're fugitives 'til death do us part."

"Who else could it be?"

"Some bored independently wealthy guy with a lot of free time. I don't know. Why don't we ask Kane? He got hired to do the same job."

"I already told Eden. I don't know who he is." Kane shook his head. "Our holo-calls are blacked out and his voice is distorted. Talia tried tracing the signal once but she got kicked around like a kid's football."

"And I'm pretty smart," Talia added. "So that's saying a lot."

"We noticed," Jack said, bringing a validated smile to the projection's face. "Is it possible you and the mercs were hired by the same guy?"

"Why would he do that?"

"Like I said. Bored. Lots of free time."

"And… we're back to conclusion-jumping," Talia said, in a tone befitting of a disappointed mother.

Jack didn't know what else he was supposed to do. He was looking at a puzzle with half of its pieces missing. Maybe it had no pieces at all. It was just the vague idea of a puzzle, described by a two year old, under water. They were being pursued by an unknown enemy for an unknown reason and could be tracked all the way across the universe. Not that they would make it that far. He checked the Odin's H.U.D. and cut back into whatever conversation had started forming since he zoned out.

"We've got eight minutes before annihilation. Are we going to remove this tracker and blow it out into space or just wait for these guys to come and get it?"

"Removal is not an option," Talia said.

"Why not? And don't say it would kill her because as I see it the options are her, or her plus all of us."

"Then kill me," Eden said, cold and plain. "If this is all my fault and it's the only way, then do it. I'll throw myself out an airlock if no one else wants to do it."

The room went still for a moment. Arissa spoke up.

"Eden dear, maybe tone it down a little. I'm not sure if you noticed but none of us really deal in sincerity."

"I'm afraid the sacrifice would be meaningless anyway." Talia almost seemed to be enjoying the conversation. "Removing the tracker would either kill you or dramatically maim your brain's higher functions. It would also plant the beginnings of a second chip which would then grow to maturity within your feeble mind. Disembarking via airlock would also kill you, but not save us. The mercenaries have a signal lock on you, and a visual sensor lock on us. Once retrieving you, they would likely hunt down and destroy the Odin."

"Great," Jack said. "If our comm signal isn't being jammed, I suggest we each come up with a will and testament and transmit it into the gulf of space. Assuming any of you have more than debt to pass on."

"Unfortunately that would not be legally binding," Talia said.

Jack sighed. "Do you have to shit on every idea I have?"

"It's my nature. I also have it on good authority that my partner has love for absolutely no one and would prefer to take his net worth to the grave."

Kane gave an innocent shrug, agreeing. Talia took a look around.

"It is so fascinating to observe all of you in this moment. Humans have such diverse reactions to the anticipation of their own death. I am pleased to announce you will most likely not be killed today."

"Are you saying you know a way out of this?" Jack asked.

"I do."

"And you waited until now to tell us, why?"

"Study and observation. I have yet to come to terms with my own inevitably deletion. If I had told you I would have been treated to the looks on your faces. Jack, you in particular seem ready to die. Why is that?"

Jack rubbed his tired face with his over-worked hands.

"Just present your plan to the class," he said. "Pretty please."

"As I stated before, the signal is indomitable. However, I took a stroll through the black ops vessels' helm control and determined that all three ships are running on autopilot in pursuit of the signal." She pulled up a holographic projection of the pursuing ships.

"So we can jam the signal on their end?" Arissa asked.

"No, please remain silent until I'm finished. The link between ship and tracker cannot be broken, but there is a weakness in the autopilot protocol."

"You can steer them away from us?" Eden said.

"No, they would simply assume manual control and resume course. Their firewall is also far more sophisticated for me to assume that level of control. Now, please close your mouth." She waited for silence. Jack stifled a laugh, covering it up with a cough. Talia continued. "Each ship has a failsafe subsystem that prevents the autopilot from doing stupid things."

Jack's eyes went wide. He already knew where this was going.

"You can disable it?"

"Yes. Another word and I wont. With the failsafe disabled, if we reduce speed and fall directly into the black ops formation, all three ships will automatically adjust course to pursue us. Without a self-preservation protocol, their new course would incur a high-speed collision, thus disabling or destroying our mysterious opponents."

"Assuming we can get out from between them," Kane said.

"Precisely."

Jack smiled. "I love fireworks. How long until you disable the failsafes?"

"I just did."

"Great. Move us into position."

"Excuse me?" Talia sounded offended.

"I assume you've infiltrated all of the Odin's systems by now. Right? Take helm control and fly us where we need to be."

"Yes, Mister Fox, I am able to control the Odin's navigational systems, unfortunately the ship's maneuvering hardware have the consistency of a natural disaster. Each thruster fluctuates in power output by a margin of fifteen percent, the structural—"

"I got it. You're saying my girl needs a human's touch." Jack rubbed the dashboard, petting his pride and joy.

"For precision, yes. Also, why is your vessel named the Odin if it's female?"

Jack scratched the back of his neck, as if he could find a retort there.

"It's a ship thing. You wouldn't understand." He grabbed the twin stick controller. "Everyone ready?" He considered giving his new crew a three-count, but didn't want the added anticipation to affect his performance. So, he simply said. "And. GO."

Slamming back and left on the controls, he threw the Odin into an inertia brewing deceleration. Roughly one second before colliding with the lead, center ship, he banked right, slipping between it and its escort. The Odin fell right in line with the formation. Jack checked both sides and saw the black ops ships crushing inwards towards him. He couldn't see an enemy pilots, but on the off chance they were watching him, he gave an apologetic wave and yelled.

"Sorry! Forgot to check my blind spot!"

With that, he dropped the Odin back even further, exiting formation and falling far enough behind to watch the thrill show. The smaller mercenary ship on the right careened inward, smashing its nose right into the larger frigate's starboard hull and releasing an unanticipated shower of debris and shrapnel.

"Oh, shit." Jack jerked the controls, pulling the Odin up and over the flying mess that had been released by the explosive collision. A few stray chunks glanced their way off of the ship, and of all thoughts to have, Jack wondered if the passing bits would have any salvage worth.

Tipping the Odin's nose down again, Jack saw that the center and right side vessels had completely wrecked each other. The left, however…

"Mister Fox," Talia said. "It appears that the third ship has averted the collision. In all likelihood this means that the ship's pilot was sharp enough to assume manual control. Did that statement inspire competitive spirits in you?"

"Quiet, please." Jack took the Odin downwards, right onto the remaining ship's tail. "Kane! Are you on the guns?"

"No, I'm right next to you."

"What? Are you waiting for a notarized order or something?"

 "You were supposed to blow them all up." He ran towards the turret controls, taking Talia with him. "Guess I'll take clean up duty."

Moments later, the Odin opened fire, but hit only empty space. The mercenary ship juked left then darted right. Jack did his best to pursue, but by the time he turned the ship was gone.

"Where the hell did you—"

The Odin shook violently as an explosive charge detonated merely two meters from its hull. Seconds later the mercenary ship appeared, completing its lateral run just over Jack's head.

"He had us dead to rights," he said to no one in particular. "Why didn't he blow us the hell up?" He spun the Odin into evasive maneuvers while coming up with the answer to his own question. They were trying to take Eden alive. "Oh you poor bastard. Someone's making you play by the rules."

In a flash, the merc ship was gone again. Another close detonation followed, damaging the Odin's engines. Rules or not, the enemy was flying a set of hardware that was about ten years newer than Jack's

"You scoring any hits back there, Cyclops?"

"I've been nailing him!" Kane sounded furious. "His shields are too dense."

Arissa leaned down right next to Jack.

"Slow down and burn him with the engines?"

"Nope." Jack cut sharp to the left, evading a shot. "Black ops mercs don't fall for the same trick twice."

"Then come up with a different one."

"I just did. Hey, Talia!"

"Yes, Mister Fox?"

"Can you hack into that sucker?" Jack weaved the Odin's course, anticipating enemy fire.

"Absolutely not. My work on their autopilot was a complete miracle, which I have yet to be thanked for. Achieving active control of their vital systems is less likely than convincing them to surrender."

"Forget vital systems. Do you have to have access to anything else?"

"Nothing of use, I'm afraid."

"List them anyway!" Another hit rocked the ship and illuminated the cockpit.

"Meal roster, food dispensers, recreational systems, and personal logs full of useless information. For the record, none of the mercenaries have girlfriends."

"Alright, rewind. Recreational systems. What exactly do black ops mercs do for fun?"

"The systems include holo projectors, isolated speaker systems, various brain enhancement puzzle games, and several virtual combat instructor programs."

Jack smiled.

"This is going to be so good."