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Now, Lee wanted to convey similar feelings to Flaps. Somehow, the helmsman now fancied himself an expert horseman.

  Cringing, Lee extended his flesh and blood arm. He’d lost his other arm in a similar “misadventure” on Rigel and replaced it with a bionic.

  Flaps grabbed his forearm and yanked him up, and Lee went with the motion and landed behind Miroslav.

  “Admit it, Lee! You know you’ve always wanted to ride one of these!”

  Several whistling sounds cut the air—projectiles whizzing past.

  “Flaps! If we survive this, I’m liable to inflict serious bodily harm upon you.”

  The little upstart grinned manically back at him.

  “Well, that seems mildly inappropriate, for a harmless horse ride. I know you’re secretly enjoying this! It’s ok I get it, you can’t let me or anyone else see you enjoying yourself. Doesn’t suit your tough-guy image!”

  Before Lee could respond, Flaps yanked the thing in the horse’s mouth and the animal veered left sharply, almost flinging Lee from the rear. Lee had no clue what Flaps was doing as he jammed heels into the poor creature. They surged forward, and he gripped the ensign tighter.

  Lee risked a glance behind. Their pursuers rode similar hideous creatures, yelling and shouting like maniacs, and all the while firing from some antique but very effective mechanical pistols. Even more antique than the ones he crafted and preferred to carry.

  Paradise was a tech-2 world. No large cities, not much technology apart from that needed to communicate with the United Systems and facilitate trade.

  Every structure here was hand-crafted from raw materials gathered planet-side. Wooden structures were the most common. But Paradise was a special world—one of the few planets in the United Systems with a large population of these creatures, both feral and tame.

  The horse population on Earth was dangerously low and consequently, exporting them was forbidden. Who would have thought these animals would be an endangered species in the twenty-fifth century? But horses were still in high demand on other similar tech-level worlds, and Paradise had the largest horse population throughout the USS. The local economy revolved around selling or trading them with other star systems. Apparently, that made horses rare and valuable. Why anyone would want a horse in this century puzzled Lee. Yet, the animal had endured through history.

  Even in the so-called technological revolution of the twenty-first century, horses held a special place—and that hadn’t changed. Tech-1 and Tech-2 worlds desired them for everyday use. Tech-3 worlds used them for recreation similar to tech-4 and tech-5 worlds. There was probably something therapeutic about riding the animal but it was lost on Lee.

  Next, Flaps would want one on the ship as a pet. The thought of walking the ship’s deck and being trampled by this creature made him laugh.

  Unfortunately, pirates had recently targeted the horse trade on Paradise. Who would have thought of horse thieving in the twenty-fifth century?

  Funny thing about crime and criminals is, it didn’t matter how outrageous a crime might appear to a law-abiding citizen, so long as there was profit to be made, a criminal would indulge. Only a criminal could understand the mind of a criminal. Lee laughed.

  Interstellar horse-thieving-pirates.

  But these pirates posed a serious problem for the population on Paradise. The Authorities didn’t have a local space-navy or system-police patrols. The pirates’ starships and weaponry might be old, but against a population without warships of any kind—they had an unfair advantage.

  But that advantage was about to end.

  Since there was no United Systems Police Agency, and most other member worlds had their own intra-system law enforcement assets, no local enforcement agencies of another star system were expending resources to deal with the issue here on Paradise.

  And this activity, although seemingly low-tech, caused serious problems for the populace on Paradise and their trade partners. Paradise was a United Systems member world—and as members—their problems became the United Fleet’s problems.

  Which became Lee’s problem.

  It seemed like a good assignment for the Intelligence Bureau. Identify the particular pirate cell raiding Paradise, where their base is, and call in the cavalry. A simple and boring mission the spy lady—Lieutenant Delaine—had promised.

  Now, they’d infiltrated the pirate-scum gangs. Then it’d gone to hell in a hand basket fast, when the thieving scum they’d joined, got confronted by a local group attempting to stop the latest heist. Good ol’ Flaps wasn’t about to let the locals get hurt and tried to subdue the pirates. That’s when all this kicked off.

  Lee wasn’t about to let the locals get hurt either, but he wished Flaps had let him deal with it. Now, their former “partners in crime” pursued them across hard dirt.

  On horseback.

  Lee gripped his gas-propelled grappling hook. “Flaps, get us close to the red-shirt guy.”

  “You think this is a bloody spaceship? I can’t just turn it like it’s got yaw and pitch you know!”

  Lee cringed at Flaps’ use of ‘bloody’. The young ensign had been trying to insert so-called colorful metaphors into his speech. It just didn’t suit the kid.

  “Just do your best and quit complaining. Get us closer.”

  Lee’s chosen target had a long-rifle. Lee didn’t want to chance giving the pirate a good shot. The guy might get smart, dismount and take aim.

  Lee counted about twenty pirates pursuing in total. In some instances, there were five line-abreast riding in rows.

  The dust and dirt their ride kicked up hindered their pursuers’ visibility somewhat. Flaps galloped to the right and increased the angle from the pirate in the red shirt. He then yanked the thing over to the left, and the horse complied slightly rising on its hind legs. A swift kick from Flaps, and the beast galloped the way they’d come.

  The distance closed with Lee’s target. He shot the grappler end into the chest of the pirate knocking him off as his mount continued forward.

  “Nice one, Lee!”

  The rest of the horse-riding goon-squad pulled up to slow their rides and continue the chase.

  Flaps rode forward again.

  “That’s the leader, Flaps. Head right for him.”

  Flaps complied and pulled the horse to cut off Lee’s desired target.

  Lee jumped and snatched the man to the dirt.

  They both tumbled for a while. Lee rose first and surged in grabbing the leader by his neck. The intense grip Lee applied to the pirate’s neck forced his surrender. He put both hands in the air. The universal “I give up” sign.

  A thunderous rumbling filled the atmosphere. Flaps yanked his mount to a stop nearby. It was the small pirate raider. A hunk of junk really, but the antipersonnel turrets on the nose would be more than enough to shred anything. Shepherd would be collecting their remains with a strainer.

  Another few seconds and it would be on top of them. The rest of the pirates halted where they were with smug looks on their faces.

  “You want to whack that with your arm too, Lieutenant?” Flaps asked, pointing towards it.

  Lee shook his head. “This complicates things.”

  “I’ll say.”

  “Hey, kiddo, don’t worry. At least it’ll be quick. One shot from those turrets and you’ll be breathing from a thousand new holes.”

  The pirate leader squirmed. Lee glared at him. “If your ship opens fire, my hand will involuntarily snap your neck.” The pirate stopped squirming.

  Flaps dismounted and crouched next to him. “Yeah, just when I was enjoying all our time together. You know I had a brother once. Really miss him. I know you give me a lot of heat, but deep down you couldn’t live without me. Aren’t I right?”

  Flaps babbled when his nerves got the better of him. Lee still suspected that was how he got his nickname. But there was no denying it. Lee was fond of the scrawny little pilot. If the end was near, Lee might as well tell the kid how he felt. He’d had a little brother on
ce, until fate ripped him from his life. He never talked about it—and tried never to think of it. His younger brother was just about Yuri’s age when he died.

  “Well . . . the truth is Yuri . . . I—”

  Another thunderous rumble, drowning out the sound of the pirate ship, erupted across the atmosphere. It moved faster and more graceful.

  Star Runner. The sleek high-speed courier. The un-armed high-speed courier.

  But the raider either was oblivious to the lack of armaments on Star Runner, or didn’t care to find out. It fired its thrusters and burned for orbit. The raider was unimportant. Lee and the others had already located its base of operations in an asteroid nearby. A task force from the Fleet would handle the base. That had been the plan, anyway. All these goons would have been on that ship back at their base with the horses when the Fleet raided.

  “Lee, what were you going to say?”

  Lee drew in a deep breath. “About what? Never mind that now, Delaine’s here!”

  Rachael’s voice came over their handhelds.

  “Looked like you cowboys were in a bit of trouble!”

  The reference wasn’t lost on Lee.

  “Cheeky, Lieutenant. Now get down here and let’s get these goons off this planet.”

  “I’ll be down shortly and we’ll round them up!”

  Lee could hear laughter over the comm. Clearly, someone had been reading about wild animals.

  ***

  Two hours later they’d detained all the pirates and secured them for transport in Star Runner’s cargo hold. The locals had insisted on a victory celebration.

  Afterwards, they all sat together on the flight deck. The console in front of Delaine chimed, there was a pending subspace transmission at least a couple days old.

  Delaine looked at the message, her eyes widened. Then she blinked and her eyes shimmered. She looked up at them.

  “It’s from Shepherd . . . Aaron’s awake.”

  Chapter 5 – You Were Never Alone

  “I remember everything” – Commander Aaron Rayne

  Recovery Ward, Medical Deck

  USSF HQ

  “Delaine, what are you looking at?”

  Aaron’s throat was dry and his voice raspy. Lieutenant Rachael Delaine stared back at him with sad eyes.

  It appeared his sudden sojourn to the deck from the bed, and his subtle query seized her tongue. No doubt his sudden awakening surprised her.

  “Aaron,” she said, as she reached down and assisted him back onto the bed.

  More like lifted him. Everything hit him at once.

  Trident. Rachael. Quintus. His crew. The Empire. The battle of Atlas Prime. The mission. Expose the conspirators within the United Systems fanning the flames of war with the Baridian Empire.

  Two weeks ago, he’d awoken. He could finally remember. The past two weeks they’d been trying to get him to walk again. Every day they had to remind him who he was, what had happened.

  They said the treatment was experimental. That his memories would return. Every day he’d cursed the universe. Just to recall the previous day took great effort. Now everything came back to him—including his struggles the past two weeks since he’d awoken from the long dark.

  “What do you remember?” Rachael asked. It didn’t seem like she was expecting much.

  “Everything,” Aaron replied. “I remember everything.”

  She stared at him a moment longer. A look of indecision appeared across her face. She tried to hide it, but her concern was apparent.

  “Don’t move.” She disappeared and returned several minutes later with Doctor Max Tanner in tow. Then she quietly slipped away. He purged her from his thoughts and focused on Max.

  Aaron knew he was in for it now. He leaned back on the angled backrest and interlocked his fingers behind his head. The doctor wore his customary lab coat and reading glasses, his eyes puffy from an apparent lack of sleep. It was ironic that a man who specialized in healing people refused to get the simple procedure done to correct his vision.

  Max reached for a small medical device and waved it near Aaron’s head. All the while nodding and murmuring to himself.

  “If you don’t stop scanning my brain with that thing and talk to me, I’m going to hurt you Max,” Aaron said.

  Max blinked and fiddled with the device.

  “Well you’re definitely on the mend,” he said. “You haven’t once threatened me in the past two weeks. I was a bit worried you’d awoken too soon after the treatment.”

  Aaron shook his head. “I don’t want to know what you’re talking about. Because if I find out you’ve been using me as one of your test subjects, you’re really going to get it. First it was Lee, now—”

  “You know,” Max cut him off. “You’re an ungrateful, mean, antagonizing, cynical son of a—”

  “Thank you, Max,” Aaron said.

  Max snorted . . . a horrible sound.

  “Aaron, take it easy for me. You suffered severe neurological damage from the pulse rifle. You were comatose for six months. Two months ago, I began repairing the damage with a treatment I devised in collaboration with your mother. Many wonderful nights of sleep were lost, and I had to live on this blasted space station the entire time. When you came out of the coma two weeks ago, we were afraid you would never regain your full memories and that your short-term memory was on the fritz for good. Tell me what do you remember of the past two weeks?”

  “Like I told Lieutenant Delaine. I remember not remembering. I remember the frustration.” He closed his eyes, pushing down the darkness. “Let’s leave it at that, shall we?”

  Max let out a loud hmm. Then he continued.

  “We observed unusual phenomena in your brain activity the past twelve hours. We had you sedated after a particularly troublesome therapy session. We were hoping it was your brain continuing to respond to the final stage of treatment. You suffered severe trauma and your entire body has contributed to the repair.”

  Aaron zoned out from the explanation. “I never want to dream like that again. It was too real. I just feel drained. It’s a scary thing, Max, to be alone with your demons and powerless to fight them. These past two weeks that’s how I’ve felt. Alone in the darkness. I remember now that I would fight you before you sedated me because I didn’t want to dream again.”

  Water had set in his eyes. He flicked away the stubborn tear that rolled down his cheek. To relive the most painful moments of your life, over and over, without an end in sight, had taken its toll.

  Max smiled and shook his head as he patted Aaron’s hand. “Oh, my boy, you were never alone. Someone was always here by your side, day and night. Believe me. There were times if your ‘royal entourage’ was tired or duty called, that random Fleet personnel volunteered to keep watch over you. I know it’s the last thing you want to hear, but you’ve got quite a fan base now.”

  “Now that’s scary. Do I get to retire to my log cabin?”

  Max chuckled. “Mad-dog sure has plans for you, but it isn’t a life of pomp and ceremony that I can assure you!”

  Aaron turned serious. “Max, where’s the crew? What’s happened?”

  “I’m not hitting you with that just yet. Suffice to say, your crew is well, your ship awaits its commander, and peace talks are still ongoing between the USS and the Empire. So no one is keeping anything from you. Now is the time for full recovery. We have to run some more tests and monitor you for any side effects to the treatment—although we don’t anticipate any.”

  Aaron raised a single eyebrow. “My ship?”

  “That’s all you got out of that?”

  “Well, you said the crew is safe, and there’s peace in the universe—goodwill among men. Now what’s this about my ship?”

  “Don’t you recall Phoenix? Has your mind gone bonkers again?” Max picked up the scanning device.

  Aaron choked down a laugh. “I was never officially given command of Phoenix. I considered it a loan.”

  “Well it’s your ship. Vee and the
entire crew were transferred officially to the USS Bureau of Intelligence. Phoenix was officially classified a covert operations cruiser and Vee was given temporary command until his ship was ready.”

  “Vee? He accepted a promotion?” It seemed he had to die to get his friend, and XO, to accept a promotion.

  “He accepted it with concessions,” Max said. “Four weeks ago he took command of the Endeavor, a new covert ops frigate assigned to Intelligence operations, directly reporting to Shepherd. So your ship awaits you, like I said.”

  “How in all the known galaxies, did anyone know I would awaken, far less be fit for duty, that they reserved me a ship?”

  “Well the way Shepherd sees it, you earned it big time. No one else needs it right now and they’ve been crawling all over it, fiddling around with the engines.”

  Aaron sat forward.

  “Where’s my mother, Max?”

  “Unfortunately, after we devised your treatment, it didn’t appear to have any effect, initially. She departed for the Border Worlds with your father where another experimental treatment for persons in your condition was being developed. It was plan ‘B’.”

  “Did you dispatch a message informing her I’d awakened?”

  “Not as yet,” Max hesitated. “I didn’t want to bring her back prematurely. And certainly not during your recovery. Developing a treatment while you lay like sleeping beauty is one thing, but I’m afraid your mother would become too emotionally involved to treat to your recovery. Touch and go as it was these past two weeks. She left this with me. She said to give it to you and only you when you awoke. I don’t even know what’s on it.” He handed Aaron a datachip.

  “Could you summon a comm tech for me?”

  “That I can do.” Max said.

  Aaron lay back on the smooth sheets. He’d look at the datachip later. He closed his eyes. Dark thoughts swirled, and he quickly reopened them. His heart pounded. He had to overcome whatever had taken ahold of him. He took slow, deep breaths. Then he closed his eyes again.

  For now, the darkness left him in peace.