EIGHT

Black ops vessels don't benefit from fancy names, as this would only make them easier to identify and track. So, there is only a designation number, "Zero Five A dash Two," remaining of the highly sophisticated vessel that went haywire for no apparent cause and was quickly lost with all hands.

Inexplicably, the ship's PA system began blaring an audio sample of an unknown rock song from the twentieth century. The sound was so mind-numbingly deafening that the crew instinctively removed their hands from the ship's controls to cover their ears. They were rendered completely unable to communicate with one another, thus plunging operations into chaos.

In various rooms throughout the craft, protein and beverage dispensers activated with excessive pressure. The resulting puddles on the floor caused two crewmembers to slip and suffer minor injuries as they scrambled to reboot the communication systems.

A holographic, hand-to-hand training instructor appeared in all rooms that contained projectors, and began questioning the utterly confused mercs.

"Do you have what it takes?"

"Fix your posture or I will blow you down, merc!"

"Your power means nothing without speed!"

The disorientation caused by this sudden appearance was made even wilder by the projection's intermittent blinks between standing on the floor, then walls, then ceiling.

On the ship's bridge, a different kind of combat training commenced, and the pilot suddenly saw four federal alliance ships, closing in with weapons hot. He took the craft into intense evasive maneuvers, knocking some crewmembers off balance and into the walls, much to the outrage of the hand-to-hand combat instructor.

The pilot was incredibly adept in his skills, which was why he made such a great mercenary. Thanks to his abilities, he disposed of the federal alliance ships with ease. Slightly shaken by the sudden turn in tactical situation, he brought his ship to a stop. With that, the federal alliance combat simulation concluded, revealing the vessel's actual surroundings.

The Odin was merely twenty meters ahead, facing away from black ops ship "Zero Five A Dash Two." The gargantuan engine ahead went into ignition two seconds later, incinerating the forward decks of the mercenary ship.

# # #

As Talia regaled the entire crew with this story, Jack couldn't help but think that ego and pride were universal constants, regardless of if the intelligence was natural or artificial. He turned away from story time, checked the Odin's systems, and took one last moment to appreciate the black ops debris that was now floating all around his ship.

After assessing the Odin's status, he turned back to face the group.

"So, we have two things that need fixing." He was surprised at how readily the entire crew gave him their full attention. Even Kane, who appeared to have not taken a command in the last decade, was suddenly standing by. "Our fuel supply, some damaged systems," he pointed at Eden. "And her head."

Eden squinted at him. "That's—"

"Don't tell me it's three things. I was just being descriptive." He counted with two fingers. "Broken ship. Broken girl."

"I was actually going to say 'that's rude.' Now that you mention it, though, that was definitely three things."

"She's right," Talia said.

Kane nodded. "No matter how you cut it."

'Yeah," Arissa said.

And we're back to disobedient.

Jack punched in the coordinates of a random refueling station and pressed "engage," set to a low speed, maximum efficiency burn. At this point, going anywhere was better than going nowhere. Their last known location had almost certainly been transmitted.

"You've taken an erroneous course of action," Talia said. "The mercenaries will undoubtedly be waiting for us at Proxima Station, especially with Eden's broken head."

"We're going to have to enact some privacy firewalls between you and this console." Jack looked around the room. "Does anyone have a more sophisticated plan they would like to offer up?"

There was a moment of silence before Arissa spoke.

"I might." She turned to address Eden directly. "I know someone that could free you from that mental shackle up there."

"I like them already," Eden said.

"Is this friend of yours within our limited fuel range?" Jack asked.

"If we take it slow, yeah. He's on Titan."

Jack closed his eyes and rubbed his face, exhausted.

"Let me guess. He lives in Jada."

"Yeah. Rogue hackers have a tendency to live in shit towns."

"And you think this, uh…"

"Jakob."

"Yeah." Jack snapped his fingers. "You think this guy can get that thing out of her?"

"Hopefully that, and more."

"More? More how?"

"I want to know who put it in there in the first place. Now, shall we?"

Jack gave his "better than nothing" shrug, spun in his chair, and plotted a new course. Under his breath, he said, "Maybe he can clean our newly criminalized records, too."

# # #

The Odin made it to Titan in one piece. Flying through space was what it did best. Although, once the ship's hull hit atmosphere and gravity, it started losing a few pieces. Jack, for all his grace in flying, set the Odin down in what could have been a minor crash landing.

"Sorry for the rough landing," he said. "She's missing a few vital organs, I think."

"I've been in worse crashes," Eden said, standing and heading to the airlock with the rest of the team. They stepped out onto the sand-swept landing pad. Paying the terminal for the space, Jack started talking.

"First things first. Let's all get to this Jakob guy so we can lose our tail. The sooner we send that tracker somewhere we're not, the better."

"I'll need to go alone," Arissa said.

"That sounds a little counterproductive," Eden said. "Don't you need my head with you to get this done?"

"If Jakob finds out I'm tracking him down with a team of strangers, he'll assume it's for trouble."

"Tracking him down?" Jack asked. "You mean you don't know where he is?"

"Get off my case. I'll find him. Why don't you get some juice and Band-Aids for your baby?" She gave the Odin's hull a light pat. "If more mercs show up, just… kill them?"

"They'll never be expecting that," Talia said, just as the crew parted company.

# # #

Kane and Jack walked down the filthy street at a comfortable distance with Eden in the lead, so they could keep an eye on her. Talia, though likely listening to everything from Kane's arm, kept her projector inactive for the sake of maintaining a low profile. As they searched for a low-end vendor or scrap yard, Jack sized up Kane, trying to figure him out.

"You're going to stay with us," he said. "Aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"I just figured since we're out of danger and back on solid ground that you might go off on your own. Fend for yourself. No offense but you don't strike me as a team player."

"I'm not, but if I'm going to abandon you it's not going to be here." The grim man scoffed at the city. "Take me somewhere with women that you can't buy, then maybe I'll bail out."

They walked in silence for a little longer before Kane spoke up again. "And if I'm being honest, I'm a guy that likes to make up for his mistakes." He pointed ahead, to Eden.

"So you don't typically shoot little girls out of the sky?"

Suddenly, Talia's voice was back in the mix. "She hates it when you call her a little girl."

Jack was about to lay into Talia for once again correcting his speech, but fortunately he caught a sign that simply read:

Buy Quality, Sell Junk.

He whistled loud for Eden's attention, and headed for the place's front door. Once inside, he thought that the sign could have done the store justice using only one of its four words.

Junk junk, junk junk.

Fortunately, Jack had a knack for knowing what to look for, which occasionally made these places gold mines. He had gotten more than half of the Odin's components for dirt-cheap from uneducated merchants that didn't know the value of their stock.

"Buying, selling, or wasting my time?" The old man on the far side of the shop said, eying down Jack with preemptive distain.

"Give me good prices, and I'll buy without wasting your time."

The merchant brightened up a little at that comment, likely appreciating a customer that had something unique to say, or perhaps simply employing a tactic of good-merchant, bad-merchant.

"Power," Jack said, taking a casual look around and doing his best to behave as though he wasn't being pursued by a squad of elite killers. "I need capacitors and conduits. Got them?"

"Yes sir," the merchant slurred the words… Yezzir. "Which kind? I've got Alliance Standard, Caper Plus, and Tech Three."

"Damn." Jack snapped his fingers.

Kane was quick enough to realize that Jack was feigning disappointment, trying to drive the prices down. The Odin could clearly take any number of power outfit types. It could run on potatoes if Jack had enough of them.

"We needed Imperial K-Port." Kane took a look around the store then backed away, looking like he was ready to give up. "Know of anyone in town that sells those?"

The merchant screwed up his face.

"Imperial K? I doubt anyone's selling those in the entire star system."

"Would you mind double-checking your supply, anyway?" Jack asked. "We're not in a hurry."

The merchant grumbled and waddled off. Jack turned to Kane and spoke in a hushed voice.

"Nice work. Now how much coin do you have on you?"

"Me? It's your ship."

"And your life raft. When he comes back, we turn and walk half way to the door."

Kane nodded, and the merchant returned, too fast to have actually checked for anything.

"Sorry friends, nothing in Imperial."

"Man." Jack rubbed his jaw line, scratched his neck, sighed, and clicked his gums, all to add suspense. "I might be able to make Caper Plus work."

"But let me guess," the merchant said. "You would want a discount since it's not exactly what you're looking for."

"What?" Jack sounded indignant. "Of course not. I wasn't going to complain, but now that you mention it." He looked to Kane once again. "It would probably be more cost effective to hit up another star system."

"I know a place on Proxima that has it all." Kane shrugged. "Let's do it."

They turned to walk out of the shop and grabbed Eden along the way, whose attention had become completely absorbed in the smattering of devices on the shelves.

Jack gave a wave without turning back. "Thanks for your time."

"Alright, alright. We can work this out." The merchant beckoned them back to the counter.

Jack kept walking. "No, that's ok. Sounds like it would be a bad deal for both of us. I wouldn't want to force you in to anything."

"Fellas, this'll be the best bargain you'll get in a thousand parsecs." He smiled. "Come on back."

Jack, Kane, and Eden sidled up to the counter.

The merchant turned to Eden. "Miss? Would you give us a little privacy?"

Eden looked utterly baffled by the request, but obliged anyway, doing her part to speed things along. The merchant leaned close to Kane and Jack.

"Now I can't give you a cash discount. That's just the way it is. But there are… other tradable goods in your possession." He nodded down the aisle, to Eden.

Jack's blood started to boil, but he played it cool.

"Oh, you like her, huh?"

"I've seen better. Is she for sale? Rent?"

"Oh she's priceless. I wouldn't sell her for a whole moon. Rent is an option, though. How many caper conduits could I get for…" he drummed his fingers on the counter, looked to Kane inquisitively, then asked, "an hour?"

"Tell you what." The merchant's eyes were suddenly wide. "Two hours, and you'll get everything you need."

Jack smiled and extended his hand for a shake. "Sounds like a plan."

When the merchant reached out to seal the deal, Jack grabbed him by his lapel, yanked him clean off his feet, back handed him twice, then dragged him over the counter and onto the ground.

"You in the human trade? Is that how you keep these dirty doors open?" Jack was delighted at the terrified look on the merchant's face.

"No, I—"

"What were you going to do for two hours? Tell her sweet things? Feed her berries and wine? It better have been one of those, because I've got friends that work in the F.A."

In hearing those words leave his mouth, Jack realized that his favorite threat had never been so false. In all likelihood, the alliance wanted him dead more than any human trafficker in the galaxy.

He gave the grubby twerp another shake.

"You ever here of General Akimoto?"

"General… who?" The merchant was cowering, crumbling.

"Retired general, thirty years served, flawless combat record. Once a month he and I get together with some friends at a place we call the batting cage." Jack smacked the merchant again. Kane jumped in with a "good cop" routine, Jack shoved him away. "It's like baseball only the balls are attached to perverts like you." He kneed the guy in the crotch, driving the innuendo home.

Kane started rooting around the merchant's back counter. He pulled out a card and some paperwork, holding the items high like a prize.

"Got his merchant ID and place of residence."

"Good. We can burn this rat's house to the ground after we drag him to the ship." Jack's game of chicken with this ridiculous story was coming to a close. He hoped Kane knew when and how to put the button on the scene without breaking the bluff.

"Hey, Jack?" Eden tenderly stepped in. "What's all this about?"

"Just another day in the galactic market place."

"Right. Well I was thinking all of that dragging and burning sounds like a lot of time."

That's it, kid. Close out the tab.

Jack hid his pride in the girl, keeping up the routine. "Your point?"

"Time is money," she said. "Maybe instead of spending time on this asshole we could save some money by getting what we came for. Maybe a discount?"

"You're saying we take some conduits and just leave? Don't you want to crush this guy's nether gems?"

"More than anything, but I'm tired and we're in a rush. Can't we come back later?"

Jack feigned disappointment in his travel companion, then looked at the merchant, who was a blubbering mess. "Any thoughts?"

"Condu- Condu—"

"What's that? You're going to give us conduits?"

Kane cleared his throat, getting Jack's attention, out of the merchant's view. The grim looking, one-eyed man completely broke his brand by using his fingers to mime two antennae coming out of his head. He wiggled them a little. Jack nodded and returned to the messy Merchant.

"And a sensor array? Wow, that's mighty generous of you, merch. You know what, you've done enough work for us. Why don't you just lay down and let us just grab what we need. Wouldn't want an old diamond like you to hurt his back or anything."

The merchant took his cue and stayed down while the trio grabbed boxes and filled them with a bounty of mid-value junk. Jack was ready to leave unannounced, but Kane returned to the sleazy slug on the floor and stood over him.

"Every now and then, I'm going to send pals into your shop. They're going to offer you fair prices on the women of your dreams." Kane crouched to the man's level. "If you take them up on their offer, they'll leave without saying another word, and tell me all about it." Without looking, he pointed to Jack. "And then that guy is coming back to make another purchase."

The merchant nodded in comprehension. With that final flick of psychological warfare, the three of them left the shop.

"Maybe time to walk a little fast," Kane said. "Anger follows fear."

Jack had already put a little pep in his step. He turned to Eden.

"Didn't expect you could pull such a solid good cop bad cop routine."

"Cop routine? What's that?"

Jack did a double take. "What? One person makes a bunch of angry bluffs and the other one pretends to talk them down."

"Pretends?" Eden furrowed her brow. "You mean you weren't going to burn his house down?"

"No, I… you thought I was actually going to abduct and torture that guy?"

Eden shrugged. "Does this mean General Akimoto doesn't exist?"

Jack shushed her urgently, looking over his shoulder like hunted prey.

"Would you be quiet? Please?"