Location: Anodia Storage Complex…Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1734 Hours.
The three young men stood at the front door of the warehouse working as fast as they could.
“Hurry up, man…she just told me we might have additional security guards to worry about,” the tallest one whispered as he quickly looked around for anyone with prying eyes.
“I’m almost there…just a few more clicks,” the shortest one said as he punched in a few more numbers into the lock-pad. Moments later, a string of beeping sounds and a few flashing lights made him smile as he said, “I got it!”
As soon as the door opened, they darted inside and ran towards the middle of the warehouse with small flashlights as their only means of breaking the darkness around them.
“Here it is!” The tallest one said as he walked over to a large crate. Seconds later all three of them were removing the crate’s lid with crowbars and small, electric saws. Within moments the lid was broken into pieces and laying all over the floor.
“Shit…nothing’s easy,” The shortest one said as he moved his hands over the large, metal box until he found a lock. “Keep an eye out, I’ll have to crack the code to open it.”
“Here ya go,” The tallest man said as he handed his friend a handheld, electronic device.
The shortest man inserted a wire into the lock and started pressing buttons on the device as its small monitor screen flashed a series of numbers. He bit his lower lip as he watched the numbers and said, “I guess I never thought I’d be using my engineering degree to break open locks and steal something.”
“I never thought we’d have to do something like this…”
“We have to do this, guys…this is our atonement for to deciding to work for a company that designed those Penitentiary locks and security systems.”
The shortest one gazed at the device and said, “If I had only known what life held in store for me earlier I would have just kept my job as a waiter.”
“And miss out on a chance to change history,” his friend said as the small, electronic device began to beep. “Holy shit!” The shortest one explained, “This thing worked…we got it! We got it!”
The lock snapped as the lid on the metal box slowly opened with a soft hydraulic hissing sound.
“Holy shit…would you look at that…how come the Engineering Department at University never taught us how to build these things?”
Their flashlights illuminated three shiny objects that were about the size of footballs. The young men felt a surge of adrenaline and a sense of awe as they realized what they were looking at.
“Hell yeah,” One of them said softly. “The tables are gonna turn now boys…Jacob was truly a genius!”
A com rang. The shortest man answered it, “Yeah…we got em’…and they are beautiful.”
The voice on the other end of the com said, “Then get out of there as soon as you can…and just a heads up, you need to deliver them to this new location I am texting to you. I’ve received word that Wallace has turned on us…he’s trying to find you guys.”
His eyes became wide as he said, “But I thought Wallace and his friends were caught…”
The voice on the other end of the com said, “Apparently Jacob’s betrayal of them wasn’t enough…Wallace is still free…and if he finds you guys…this whole plan could go straight to hell. Now get moving, we haven’t got much time, you need to get those items to some people we trust. Wallace isn’t the only defector we need to worry about. When our little club had its falling out, some of our more important assets went to the other side and there are others, like Wallace, who want our plan to fail.”
“We need just a few seconds of quiet…these items you sent us for are still connected, they could still be activated…we just need to cut this wire and flick this switch…”
The other two young men breathed a sigh of relief when the small actions were finally over.
Got it,” the short man said. “We’re on our way.”
The young men reached into the crate and used their combined strength to life the heavy objects out of the box and carefully placed each one into individual duffle bags. When the final zipper had been shut and locked into place, they looked at each other with near disbelief at what they had just accomplished.
“Let’s get the hell out of here…we’re not home free yet and we have a mission to complete.”
The darkness engulfed them again as they jogged back to the door they had used to enter the building. Their small circles of light bobbed along the gray walls and zigzagged across the floor as they panted and prayed that they could escape this abyss from which they had traveled so deep into.
None of them noticed how one of their flashlights briefly illuminated a shiny buckle on a gun holster as they turned a corner and began to sprint for the exit.
Their eyes fixated upon the streetlight shining into the warehouse. They could smell the freedom in the fresh night air. They were twenty meters from the door when the man in black stepped out of the shadows behind them and reached for his gun. He was about to draw and shoot them all in the back when his cranial communications unit started beeping. He raised his hand to his head and heard that familiar voice in his ear again.
“Stop!” The voice silenced his other circuits as it said, “We need them alive, for now.”
The man in black relaxed his hold on the gun as the voice in his ear said, “I know your boss told you to hunt them all down so he could gain the advantage over Kalapana…but they are fitting into our plan all too nicely…and when it is all said and done, we need someone to blame for all the hell and chaos that is about to be released onto this planet. The items they took having tracking devices on them…can you get a fix?”
Once he saw the trio of friends escape the warehouse, the man in black snuck up to the door and carefully peered outside. He saw the three young men putting their duffle bags into an old, purple hovercar that resembled the kind of vehicle poor University students would drive. The young men were obviously not gang members; they were into some other kind of trouble.
The man in black squinted and activated his cranial electron pitched radar system. Within seconds, he had locked onto the devices in the duffle bags and could mentally track them as the three young men jumped into their hovercar and tried to drive away as quickly, yet casually as they could.
The mysterious voice in his ear then said, “You’ve got them…good. And before you leave there tonight, be sure to grab those other five pieces of merchandise those boys left behind. We can use them to tie up the final loose ends before we proceed any further. We’ll get in touch with you soon. When we give you the go ahead, track down those three items and take pictures of where those guys stored them at…that will be the evidence that ends up in the hands of the authorities. We only need one of those items for our plan. They can have the other two for whatever fun they have envisioned for themselves. They claimed that The Evil will continue…well my friend, this is where it is all gonna end.”
Location: Audrey’s office at Hana Paloi.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1445 Hours.
Audrey sat hunched at her desk, her heart racing so fast it made her chest hurt. She stared at her computer trying to make sense of an enormous amount of data, while her eyes felt like they were going to start bleeding from the stress she was under.
Jack was currently in the hallway with some angry Ailanian High Senators. Her breathing was almost painful as she waited for a phone call. She balled her hands into small, shaking fists while she prayed that Jack could hold off the High Senators’ demands for just a few more minutes.
Audrey felt herself nearly leaping from her seat when the call finally came.
“Hi Audrey,” Cindy’s unusually cheerful voice said over the com, “I just got those results you wanted. The bodies of those murder victims, who were killed in those apartment complexes, were all radioactive to some degree. Most of the radioactivity was centered in the lungs.”
“That’s great!” Audrey said in a voice that was almost glum. She had been working in her office for the last fourteen hours, but this was the news that she had been waiting to hear.
“So…Audrey,” Cindy’s voice became sycophantic as she said, “Could we maybe talk about, say…getting me out of the morgue…and into a job where I would be of more assistance?”
“Not now, Cindy…I have to go!” Audrey said and hung up before the lab technician could even form a protesting thought. Audrey stared in wide-eyed wonder at her large computer monitor. She had finished her mathematical modeling of a crime scene, and had found something. As of last night, another couple of murders had allowed her to see a pattern emerging.
But time to prove her theory was running out.
Jack Bauman felt as if he were trapped.
High Senator Ulu Jinkua scowled, her lips curling with disappointment and anger. She appeared as if she would bite his head off as she said, “You will sign this order, Agent Bauman. We are sick of waiting for your promise to arrest these evil drug dealers. We want the CIA to start finding narcotics producing facilities for the Allied Military to destroy and we want them soon.”
High Senator Karamotzain’s face was a maze of wrinkles and displeasure as he said, “You may take your orders from Kalapana, but Kalapana ultimately takes his orders from us…it may take a bit longer with the High Senate in such chaos right now. But believe me, son…when order is finally called and the final vote is cast, you don’t want to be on the losing side of this decision. We are not the bad guys, Agent Bauman, we simply have millions of people on this planet that voted for us, and are demanding that we clean up this planet, and get rid of these criminals, so that the Aurorians will invest some much needed capital into our economy and create jobs. So, despite what your boss may have told you about us, we are not the ones demanding this action, the Ailanian people are…remember Agent Bauman you work for them as well. We only ask that you think of their interests.”
High Senator Rammy Klunka, even though he was lower in the chain of command, was just as convincing as he said, “I’ve always supported you, Agent Bauman. I’ve always thought of you as being the best man for this position. However, my committee only has so much money to pay both you and Ms. Winters, for what should really be a consolidated position within a government, which really should be getting smaller instead of getting bigger. But if you are on our side, we’re on yours…catch my drift, son?”
Jack smiled. He acted humble and diplomatic as he said, “Exalted High Senators, please consider our case…an investigation such as this takes time and must be pursued carefully, lest we allow the bad guys to catch onto our cloak and dagger methods. Last night, the police found two men dead in a downtown Polynea apartment. The murders had been grisly, just like the others. One man had been bled to death in the kitchen, and the other, decapitated while sitting in an easy chair. But despite the means of death being somewhat different, we have discovered that all of these murders have something in common.”
High Senator Jinkua sounded like an Earthen Language teacher, who was dealing with an unruly student, as she said, “We don’t care about the drug lords’ murder victims…we only want the drug lords themselves. We wish to wipe out immorality at its source, and getting rid of those drug lords, by any means necessary, will turn many, many of our people back into good, productive citizens again.”
Jack tried to sound enthusiastic as he said, “But Ma’am, Audrey is finally onto something! She now has quite a few confirmed cases of buildings with security cameras being knocked out in such a manner that the useless cameras form a very straightforward route to the murder victims’ place of residence.”
“So what?!” She snipped, her eyes becoming dark with anger and frustration.
Jack smiled and tried not to sound rude as he said, “This allowed for whoever killed these people to have easy entry and a fast escape route. And, even better than that, we now also have lab results that confirm all these particular murder victims had lungs that were coated with a radioactive substance, like a tracer that allowed them to be located.”
Wram Karamotzain snorted and said, “We still have no idea what significance this has?”
Like a used car salesmen, Jack sounded upbeat as he said, “Well, this explains why our investigation took so long. As you can see, it was only after hours and hours of scrolling through maintenance logs that we were able to determine which cameras had been shut down. Audrey and I discovered there were many more of these access and escape routes all throughout apartment complexes in lower Polynea, mostly around the Go-Go district.”
Klunka said, “We don’t care about the murder victims!”
Jack stood up straight and tried not to look as if he wanted to slap them all, “but this is going to get you the justice you seek…we just need a little more time!”
Back in her office, Audrey was becoming frantic as she searched through her files, looking for one more piece of crucial evidence. She whispered a short prayer while she viciously tapped her computer’s keyboard, and accessed one of the files that Jack had given her. She discovered that a new CIA “Agent”, named Mara Killikia Wilson, was frequenting some of these apartments as she documented life in the Immoral sections of Polynea. After doing some extensive, yet heart pounding research, Audrey discovered that Mara, had been at one of these apartments, where a radioactive person was still living.
“Come on, come on!” She whined to herself, she was nearly at the stage of having a full blown panic attack. Audrey downloaded one of Mara’s ‘documentaries’ that she had done recently, and braced herself. Audrey found herself unable to even blink as she gazed intently at her monitor. She pressed her lips together as she saw how Mara was sitting on the floor of the apartment, with a few other Ailanians and humans, who appeared to be in their mid- twenties. The group of Immoral people were having a discussion, over a bong and a large bag of Cutz, which Audrey tried to ignore. Mara, was stirring the conversation pool.
From the documented conversation, Audrey heard a voice saying, “I think Ailana’s biggest problem is that we have such a big gap between the rich and the poor. I work all the time and I can’t make ends meet…that really sucks. My boss makes five hundred million dollars a year, and quite frankly, I don’t think he deserves it! The company I work for is struggling to make a profit and he ain’t doing dick. Did ya know that our Union agreed to take a pay cut so the company wouldn’t go bankrupt…and we just heard that gave himself a raise?”
Another voice said, “at least you have a job, I ain’t got shit…I was going to try University but I ain’t got any money and can’t get a loan since the banks are so screwed up from the credit crunch the pseudo-capitalists caused. Like education would make a difference anyway…Ailana’s schools are underfunded and shitty…my friends dropped out and joined a gang…they make more money selling drugs than I would with an education…”
An angry voice declared, “Nobody can stay employed long enough to get ahead…my family is on welfare and in debt…and it ain’t fair. My dad worked his ass off at that factory. When I was old enough to go work there, they went out of business. And guess what happened next, the rich owners and CEO’s received government bailout money and the workers got canned. The unemployment line is so long now that I don’t even bother looking for a job…besides, any job that’s left don’t pay shit anyway.”
A bitter voice said, “These rich people, who control the government, keep scaring the poor Moralists, who still believe in that crap about the Ailanian dream, that taxes and government regulation will kill any hope for an economic recovery on Ailana. I can’t stand it! People still believe that bullshit about if you work hard…then good things will come to you…on Ailana, we work hard and all we get is used and abused by rich people, who don’t want us to have shit…so they can keep it all to themselves.”
An inebriated voice said, “I can’t find a job and I don’t want one. I just wanna get high everyday…I’m broke, broke, broke…that’s why I smoke, smoke, smoke.”
There was the sound of a bubbling bong before the screen suddenly became white. Audrey realized that Mara was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, stoned out of her tree. “No! No! Don’t pass out on me yet!”
Audrey’s dry eyes finally felt relief as she saw Mara turn her head to the left. She began looking at the floor near the front of the room. Audrey gasped as she saw three pairs of legs. One pair was skinny and bare. The other two pairs of legs were muscular, and were wearing camouflaged pants, along with very large black boots. Audrey could see a black case sitting on the floor.
Her heart raced. She shook her fists as she exclaimed, “Those black cases…I bet they contain drugs!”
Audrey pressed a few buttons to activate her computer’s voice filters, until she heard a confident voice saying, “We would like to thank you very much for doing such a good job of keeping this stuff safe for us. We have had some problems with people cutting and selling our merchandise when we specifically told them not to! It’s so hard to find help nowadays.”
A weak voice said, “Well, that bag you gave me to sample was real potent. I still got some. In fact, I completely forgot about this stuff I was keeping in the safe for you. That shit you gave me blew my mind away, dude!”
“Well, glad to hear it,” The cocky voice said, “And for being such a loyal friend, here is an extra hundred dollars, and another bag of that mind-blowing stuff. Ailana’s corporations don’t believe in rewarding good employees, but Marco does. Just think of it as his way of saying thanks.”
The weak voice was suddenly happy, “Whoa, you guys are all right. If ya ever need me to store your stash for you again, call me up, bro. I never use that safe in my room for anything dude…I ain’t got shit worth stealing.”
“I’m sorry, amigo,” The cocky voice said. “By tomorrow afternoon, we’ll have loaded up all our merchandise on a spaceship. We’re getting ready to leave off this rock for good long time.”
“It was a pleasure doing business with ya!”
“Same here, my friend,” The large legs, and the black case then moved towards the door.
“Oh shit!” Audrey cried as she looked at the date which the documentary had been recorded; yesterday, at thirteen hundred hours. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she looked at the clock on her office wall; fifteen hundred hours.
She leapt out of her seat and dialed her com on the way to her office bathroom. She burst through the door and ran to her locker where she kept her field uniforms.
Moke answered with a tired voice, “what is it, Audrey?’
“Moke! I think I’ve found a shipment of Cutz! And I think it belongs to Marco Giraudoux!”
“Holy shit…” Moke sounded as if he were in shock as he said, “Audrey, get your team together! Meet me and Jack in the tactical room in five minutes!”
Location: 20,000 meters above Polynea.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1600 hours.
Within an hour of Audrey telling him how a group of Cutz smugglers had been storing their product in apartment safes belonging to people living in downtown Polynea, and how they probably had more than enough product to justify leaving the planet, Moke was aboard a high speed security aircraft. He was dressed in a black flight suit that was padded in the elbows, knees and chest area. He wore a thick helmet that had a microphone on a boom in front of his mouth.
The helmet’s visor had multi-binocular optical settings that allowed him to observe the ground beneath him. Sitting beside him, in the same uniform, was Captain Robert Kalawai, the head of the Ailanian Security Forces Bureau. Captain Kalawai was talking on his com to his officers at all the spaceports on Ailana. Moke had declared a state of emergency so he could issue and order to triple the number of security personnel at the spaceports.
“New information?” Robert said sternly, “send it over.”
His computer monitor lit up with some new data. Robert learned over to Moke and said, “We have three hundred ships with registered Expedite Passes at various space stations right now.”
“Keep looking!”
Robert scrolled through the data a little more. “Here it is!” He exclaimed, “We have someone lodging a complaint to the Akawala space port in Aiser City! Someone has had their computer system broken into and their Expedite Pass is missing from the files.”
“Let’s go!” Moke shouted as the sleek aircraft began moving downward at a very high rate of speed.
Location: AkawalaSpacePort…AiserCity…Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1603 Hours.
“Man, would you look at that thing,” The heavy Bontune man in the black overalls said to his Hokupi friend as he shook his head. “That’s a mighty nice spaceship.”
Both men were standing in an enormous hanger, gawking at the sleek yacht that was sitting on its landing gear in front of them. The sounds of clanking metal rang throughout the enormous building.
“Four stabilizing fins…Externin-VC series engine …full Delhon coolant system. The owner sure spent a shit-load of money on that thing let me tell ya,” The Hokupi man said.
“I hate rich people,” The Bontune man said with a jealous sigh.
“Yeah,” The Hokupi man said with envy, as he straightened out the Union pin that was stuck to his shirt. “I hope the asshole who owns it, ends up crashing the damn thing into the moon.”
They watched the ship as it was pulled away by a small tow truck and looked away since the driver appeared to be a regular Union employee. The ship rolled down a large, well lit tunnel for several hundred meters while people in blue and black coverall suits walked around, not knowing that the ship was in the process of being stolen. The driver began to slow down the vehicle’s momentum. He pressed a lever that slowly activated the brakes on the yacht’s wheels and it came to a halt.
“Contraband in motion,” the tow truck driver thought. “I did my part. The rest is up to them.”
The relative quiet in the hanger was disturbed as some large hovervans squealed their way next to the ship. A man with long, auburn hair stepped out of one of the vans, and he appeared to be in a hurry.
“Let’s get to it! We ain’t got all night!” Marco shouted as some very large men stepped out of the vans and began loading what appeared to be dozens of black plastic cases onto the spaceship.
While all the commotion happened all around him, Herb Swenson sat behind the controls of the tow truck, picking his teeth with his fingernail. He gave Marco a cocky grin as the sharp dressed outlaw walked up to him.
“So Marco, where’s your lovely lady?” Herb asked, with a devilish look on his face.
“Sadly enough…she won’t be joining us,” Marco said.
Herb cracked a sarcastic smile and bluntly said, “Well, sadly enough…I won’t be leaving with you either. It seems the Jonez boys, Bronson and myself have some more work to do.”
Marco sensed the frustration in Herb’s voice and didn’t appear to be phased by it. Marco looked at Herb with a bit of contempt, before he glanced over his shoulder and saw how Jhett Jones seemed almost bored as he sat behind the wheel of the hovervan. “You’re not getting scared are ya, Herb? It would be a shame to have to replace a good computer hacker with another one of those cyborg beasts. I kinda like having humans in my gang.”
“I’m not scared of them. I’m Jhett’s buddy and I just bought some Zoppy’s chili for Bloke.”
Marco flipped his hair and said, “Just make sure my merchandise in that warehouse stays safe. I’ll see you next, when I see you next.” His cape billowed in the air as he walked up the ramp and into the ship.
Herb got into the hovervan and said to Jhett, “Drop me off at the Kias Corporation Headquarters before you head down to the warehouse. I’ve got some, evidence to destroy.”
Jhett stayed stoic as he put the van in drive and slowly pulled away from the ship, rolling his way slowly out of the hanger.
As Marco boarded his newly acquired spacecraft and his cyborg employees drove away, no one in the hanger noticed how a bottom panel near the rear of the ship opened up. No one saw how the man in black slowly exited from the cramped space underneath the ship’s thrusters and slowly lowered himself to the ground. Without a sound, he calmly made his way towards the nearest exit without being seen.
Location: 15000 meters. Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1604 Hours.
The voice on Moke’s com, tried to sound calm and dignified, “Sir, this is Rex Broadstein speaking…and I was referred to you by these fine people here…I just need to tell you that I had an expedite pass stolen from my ship’s computer system. And dang-nab it sir! This is really starting to piss me off! I can’t begin to tell you the shit I have had to put up with…”
Moke barked into his com, “where is your ship now, sir?”
“It’s at the Akawala spaceport…I was having some maintenance done on it.”
“We have a team there and ready Captain!” Robert said loudly.
Moke felt himself not thinking at all, his actions became automatic, like an animal fighting for its life. “Give the order to detain all ships!” Moke said even louder so he could be heard over the whine of the aircraft’s engines. “None of those expedite registered ships will leave until they have confirmed their pass number!” Moke felt his rage building as he shouted, “And make sure they get thoroughly searched!”
Robert nodded his head at Moke in agreement and began barking orders to his police officers at the Akawala spaceport through his computerized communications gear. The aircraft began a quick descent that made Moke’s guts experience a tingling feeling.
Within minutes they were hovering over the expansive spaceport on the outskirts of the city. Akawala spaceport had sixteen launching facilities, all radiating out from a large multi-domed building that housed the central command center. The ships were launched into the air with a combination of the energy from catapulting reverse tractor beams in the launch pad and their own thrusters once they were given clearance from traffic control.
Moke looked down and noticed all the launch pads had a ship on them. There appeared to be seven personal yachts and nine enormous transport ships of various makes. The larger ships belonged to Earth owned transport companies that made a huge amount of money by importing almost everything Ailana needed to have in order to operate as Earth’s welfare recipient.
Moke’s head hurt as Rex Broadstein’s voice grated in his ear as he scolded him for allowing someone to steal his pass. Moke bit his lip and mentally scoffed at the pseudo-capitalist as he remembered reading a message Audrey had intercepted for him. It was a message that Jacob Colombe had sent to one of his co-conspirators right before Moke’s D-Squad had tried to make contact with him.
We have it! We have the proof we need! It’s true! They have been killing our economy for the last decade! Our evidence is an economic model based on over 70,000 hours of continuous observation! We also have expert witnesses and whistle-blowers like Rex Broadstein! It’s obvious that what they are doing is for personal and political gain! We know about the role of the pseudo-capitalists! WE ARE All PART OF THEIR PLAN!
“Shit!” Moke narrowed his eyes in disgust as he realized that Rex had been cut off in mid-sentence.
“We lost him sir!” Robert shouted.
“Keep tracking!” Moke screamed, “We gotta find Mr. Broadstein! He just might be the key to all of this!”
Location: UlaLuba Hotel…Downtown Polynea…Ailana.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1610 Hours.
Police officers, clad in black fatigues, broke the door down by kicking it repeatedly with their heavy boots. After smashing the door down, they all ran inside like a stream of black ants
“It’s clear, sir!” One of the police officers yelled from the room.
“I realize that, you idiots,” Van Dien said impatiently. “Step aside.”
Without any sort of warning, he shinned a bright light onto their helmets, disrupting their night vision sensory system.
“SIR! We have lost our ability to see in the dark!” The officers began to hit their helmets with their hands, desperately trying to regain their vision again. Van Dien was soon disgusted by what he was witnessing. He pushed another button on his com and the officers became very still.
“That will be all, gentlemen,” Van Dien said into his com. “Use your cranial compasses to exit the room.” The men turned around and walked into the door frame. With a loud smack and a thump, they fell over each other into the hallway.
“Sorry sir!” One of them yelled to the other.
“We’ve got light out here!” The other cried out, “Deactivate the helmets! Let’s go home!”
Van Dien shook his head as he shined the light to the back of the room. It reflected off a slick pool of blood that had soaked itself into the sheets and carpet. He saw a body, with red hair, flowing over a blood spattered face. Even with half of her head carved off, Van Dien could tell that she had been a beautiful, young woman.
“Amateur bounty hunters…hired by Loko to protect him while he tried to get rid of his competitors and steal from his immoral business partners. Sometimes, there is no such thing as beginner’s luck,” He thought and calmly dialed his com.
“Yes?” The man’s voice on the other end answered.
“I suggest you get down here before Captain Sprog Kanta’s men arrive, there is a body over here that we need to take back to our lab. We need to examine the skull for a cranial computer…apparently, someone we know, has broken the terms of his probation…and is about ready to flee the planet. It appears that this part of our plan…is working out perfectly.”
Location: AkawalaSpacePort….AiserCity….Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1611 Hours.
The pilot of the personal yacht, Envoy, was having some trouble with what should have been a simple process. The traffic controller’s voice calmly flowed from the com, “sir, we just need for you to confirm the second half of your code.”
“Uh, sure,” the middle aged, Hokupi pilot said as he nervously fished through the pockets of his ragged flight suit. “Just let me give you the first half again, uh…gonna make sure we got it right now it’s seven…uh…three…five.
“I can’t believe you forgot to download that part of the code!” Marco screamed at him in disgust. The Hokupi man quickly turned off the com and yelled back, “I didn’t know we’d need it!
Besides, it would have taken longer to download! You wanted it done fast so we wouldn’t get caught.”
Marco unholstered his sidearm from his expensive, shark skin belt. “If you don’t get this goddamned thing off the ground, I am going to put a laser bolt through your skull!” Marco flicked a switch on the gun and pointed it at the pilot’s temple. The Hokupi man saw the gun barrel out of the corner of his eye, and wished for a second he had not accepted this job.
The controller’s voice came back on over the com, “Sir, what is the problem?”
“Uh…we’re just double checking a few things…be with you in a minute.”
“This is just wonderful,” Marco said in disgust. “Months of planning and anticipation are about to go down the goddamned drain.”
The pilot switched his com back on so he could communicate with the controller. “Sorry!” He yelled. “That was my fault! Uh…the code is seven, three, five…uh…oh shit! I dropped it. Let me get back to ya!”
“Sir! Your code is not working. Please repeat the code!”
“Uh yeah, the code…let me give you the code! Just one second!”
Marco rolled his eyes. He was officially sick of this situation. “Digs, can you read me?” Marco said into his com.
“What’s wrong?” Digs said, “Why are we not in the air yet?”
“Dipshit boy here…only got us half an expedite code. So I was just wondering, could you possibly get our ion cannon working?”
Marco winced as he realized how the voice from the ship’s com had become angry.
“Spacecraft Envoy! Prepare to be boarded and searched for illegal cargo!”
“That does it!” Marco screamed at his pilot, “Start those repulsors and get ready to fly this thing!”
“We can’t!” The pilot panicked as he shouted, “We’re locked onto the launch pad!”
“I said do it!” Marco screamed as he shoved a laser pistol to the pilot’s temple.
“Shit!” The pilot gasped as he rapidly flipped switches on the control console in front of him. The whining of the engines suddenly increased, within seconds, they sounded like a hurricane that was capable of ripping trees from the ground.
Location: AkawalaSpacePort….AiserCity….Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1615 Hours.
Robert’s computer screen began flashing red as he screamed, “Moke! We have someone on launch pad seven bringing up their engines to launch level energy! They have not been authorized to do so!”
“Get the Alpha Team over to that ship!” Moke yelled into his com, “Shoot if you have to!”
Robert barked into his com, “Team two take cover positions! Alpha team! Lock and load! You’re going in!”
“Pilot! Fly us over launch pad seven!” Moke shouted, “Gunner! Get tone on that ship’s rear section! Do not let them escape! Shoot out their engines if they get off the ground!”
Robert’s computer screen flashed, he glanced at it and screamed, “Moke! We just got verification from Squad Three…someone on the ship is arming its turret gun!”
Moke saw the turret on top of the yacht quickly swivel toward the north wing of the spaceport. The gun fired a red bolt of laser fire, which instantly blew up a cube-shaped section of the control tower.
“Watch yourselves down there!” Moke shouted as he heard alarms sounding. His eyes became wide with horror as he witnessed the Envoy shooting its ion cannon randomly throughout the spaceport. Moke glanced to his right, and felt a bit of relief as he saw how the Alpha Team took cover behind some iron barricades and aimed their weapons.
Jack suddenly screamed into his left ear, “SIR! The other ships have been authorized to launch!
Audrey screamed into his right ear, “SIR! We can hear the pilots telling their crews to report to their emergency take off positions!”
“What the hell is going on down there?!” Moke exclaimed as ion blasts exploded all over the complex.
“All ground units! Return fire!” Robert barked. Moments later, small blue beams of blaster fire began to streak from the Alpha Team’s positions. Within seconds, every police officer in the area began to fire upon the ship. Launch pad seven had become a battleground.
Moke clenched his teeth and yelled, “Gunner! Return fire!” He prayed for a happy ending to all of this chaos as he heard the sharp pitched blast of the airship’s low caliber cannon.
Location: Akawala Space Port…Aiser City…Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1617 Hours.
Van Dien’s com rang.
It was a call he had been patiently waiting for. His voice was almost happy as he said, “Oh yes…I was hoping you would call. I do apologize for any inconvenience. The money is in your account. Did you complete what I asked you to do?”
The voice on the other end of the com was deep, and raspy. “I installed them on the ship for you. But if you want them to actually work, you’ll need to cough up another one million dollars.”
“What?”
“That detonator I gave you is a remote control device. It needs a code before it will activate the timers on each charge. Can you see the ship from where you’re standing?”
“Yes!” Van Dien sounded a bit angry as he said, “I can see Kalapana’s troops closing in! If they get on board that ship and take Marco alive, this entire plan will go to hell!”
“Then you’d better hope your bank is still open. Get me my money.”
“All right! Damn it!” Van Dien shouted angrily as he pressed a few buttons on his com in order to complete a money transfer. “Look! It’s in your account now!”
“The code is 5,4,3,2,1…and don’t worry, your balance is all caught up now…and I’ll even take care of your other loose ends for free.”
Van Dien punched the numbers into the device and pointed it at the ship, which was being pelted with laser blasts shot by police officers with small guns. He felt his heart racing with anticipation as he saw the ship’s gun turret shoot another destructive round before it exploded.
“Come on you son-of-a-bitch!” He thought as he saw the police officers moving in.
The screen on the remote control device turned red and flashed the word, “ARMED.”
Van Dien smiled and said, “It has been a pleasure doing business with you. Now please, make sure that you get me the Jonez boys…and take care of that other loose end that has been causing me so much trouble.”
Van Dien hung up, dialed another number and smiled as he waited for the person he was calling to pick up.
The voice that answered seemed irate, “What?! I’m busy here!”
“Rex…we’ve decided not to take you to court after all. Walk over to the alley behind maintenance hangar five…my limo will be there to pick you up. We’ll talk about a new arrangement that will suit both of us better.”
“I’ll be there,” Rex said and hung up.
Van Dien narrowed his eyes. His face began to fix itself into a scowl as he heard the engines on Marco’s ship whine louder and louder.
“All in a day’s work,” He thought as he smoked, “for a job that is never done.”
Location: Akawala Space Port…Aiser City…Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1619 Hours.
“That was a direct hit!” Robert yelled, “They just blew up the control panels for the launch pad locks!”
“NO!” Moke screamed as the Envoy and the huge ships all leapt into the air at the exact same time.
“Holy shit!” The pilot screamed as he slammed a foot pedal to the floor and darted out of the way just in time for a large cargo vessel to miss them by a just few meters. Moke’s face froze in a look of complete terror as he saw the gray hull passing so close to him that he could see rivets, bolts, and even places where the paint was scratched. The G-forces made his stomach jump into his throat.
He got a hold of himself and shouted, “Go around! Go around! Get to that yacht!”
The shaken pilot swerved under the rising cargo ship, but it was too late. By the time they got in sight of the launch pad again, the small ship was screaming into the upper atmosphere with poorly aimed laser bolts hopelessly chasing it. Within seconds, it was out of the range of their ship’s small blaster.
“I can get on The Military channel and call for back-up!” Robert yelled.
“They won’t get here in time,” Moke said, shaking his head. He clenched his fist and began nervously tapping his chin.
Location: Akawala Space Port…Aiser City…Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1620 Hours.
The man in black started up the truck and began rolling down one of the driveways of an enormous parking garage. His telescopic eyes zeroed in on a fat man in a business suit. The monitor on the inside of his eyes flashed the words, TARGET CONFIRMED.
The man in black saw Rex turning his back to him. A grin crossed his scarred lips as he stomped on the accelerator. The truck’s massive engine roared louder and louder as the armored vehicle picked up speed. Rex turned around as his face melted into a horrified look. He glared at the oncoming vehicle and began frantically waving his arms.
Blood splattered on the passenger side window when Rex’s face was cracked up against the door panel. The man in black kept driving faster and faster. Rex was dead before he hit the pavement.
“Now it’s time take care of some more loose ends,” The man in black thought. He didn’t even look back to confirm his kill. He had another appointment to make.
Location: Akawala Space Port…Aiser City…Akua Kai Sector…Ailana
Ailanian Standard Time: 1630 Hours.
Tim Gallagher rubbed his bald head as he tried to calm down from all the excitement he had been witnessing. He nervously glanced at his watch and noticed the time. It was nearly time to leave.
“Come on, Franco,” He thought as he gazed out the canopy of the small shuttle craft he had been prepping for launch. His partner was outside prepping the last contents of the cargo hold and for some strange reason, was taking a bit longer than he normally did.
A familiar hiss from the hydraulics on the cabin door provided Tim with a bit of relief from the suspense and stress he had been dealing with. It wasn’t everyday a plan went so smoothly. Just as soon as they were off this planet and headed for a safe rendezvous point, Tim would be feeling a whole lot better.
A familiar face greeted him as Tim looked over his shoulder and saw his partner standing in the doorway.
Tim turned his attention back to the control console and began pushing a few more buttons as he got ready for takeoff. “Have a seat, Franco. Get yourself strapped in man, we gotta go.”
Tim’s eyes became wide with horror as he heard the sound of one hundred kilograms of dead meat hitting the floor with an audible thump.
“What the hell?”
Tim looked down and gasped as he realized Franco had just hit the deck. His heart nearly stopped when he saw how the rapidly growing pool of blood had just reached his shoes.
“SHIT!” Tim jumped in his seat as he saw the man in black raise his blade.
Time froze for a moment as the man in black realized that this was the bald man Marco had been talking to at the night club right before he had been shot at by the gangsters in the car. Not that the man’s identity mattered, what mattered was the extra money he was about to receive for this easy assignment.
The blade moved with lightning speed.
Tim couldn’t even scream as the man in black sliced his voice box and proceeded to open up some vital arteries and veins. The man in black sheathed his knife as he saw the bald man fall back into the pilot’s seat, quivering in pain and agony. The man in black then set a small, plastic card on the ship’s control panel in front of the man he had just carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Tim Gallagher was making a soft, squeaky sound as he stared at the card the man in black had placed in front of him. It appeared to be turning itself on like a tiny monitor. The man in black realized he had a schedule to keep and turned to exit the spacecraft as a familiar voice began to pour out of the card.
“Tim, you handsome devil, if you’re receiving this message, you’ll be dead in just a matter of seconds…so I better make this quick.”
Tim gasped and squinted at the small monitor. He saw a handsome face and a familiar voice saying, “Tim, I just wanted to extend my thanks. Because of your efforts to get revenge against Marco…my people now have everything we need to carry out our plan, which we had previously discussed with you…and you so stupidly believed you were helping us with. I guess this goes to show that your good looks and charm, can only take you so far in this life…sometimes…you truly need to be a person with substance and integrity.”
“What the fuck?” Tim’s vision became blurry as he thought to himself, “Who in the hell is this guy?”
The voice from the monitor was confident as it said, “I’m sorry we used you, Tim. But we had to because it is so important that no one find out about our plan, especially since I am personally involved with it…I needed to make sure that we tied up some loose ends.”
“Who the fuck is this guy? Is he one of those geeks in The Evil?”
The familiar voice said, “Thanks to your redheaded friend…we know that Marco and his people have been taken care of. Thanks to those bumbling spies you hired, we know that idiot who used to own Mele Entertainment will never be able to go to the authorities with what he knows about us…or tell the world who I really am.”
“Who the fuck is this? An Ailanian High Senator? One of those fucking drug producing gang-bangers? Is he one of Marco’s men? Who the fuck is this guy?”
“And most importantly, because of your mistakes, we now know this white haired man in the black suit, is for real. As you have now recently experienced, he has some real effective ways of getting things done on that planet.”
“Son of a bitch!” Tim’s mind raced with an epiphany as he remembered what the white haired man’s voice had sounded like on that day when he first spoke with him on the com many days ago. Tim remembered how Van Dien’s voice had been deep and menacing. “Is it him? Who is this fucking guy?”
“What can I say, Tim…it was better you than me. However, thanks to you…we also found out this cyborg is a man of reason…money talks, Tim…and I guess you, and those idiots you hired to help you take down Marco, just didn’t have enough of it. But thanks to your efforts…I now have a way to make myself rich and famous beyond my wildest dreams.”
“That goddamn voice…who’s voice is this?” Tim gasped and gritted his teeth in pain as he eyes narrowed in anger, “Wait a minute…I know who this is! I know who’s behind all this!”
The small monitor exploded in a flash of white light so that no evidence would be left.
Tim Gallagher could feel his heart stopping as his vision faded into rays of white light. His final thoughts centered on betrayal and defeat. He died knowing that there was no justice in the universe but let out a sigh of relief as he realized that there would be no rest for the wicked. Tim’s final thoughts reflected about how the stakes of this game had just gotten higher for those who were still around to play.
“You back-stabbing son-of-a-bitch…and all you traitors who did this…I’ll see you all in hell…”
Before his lights went out for good, Tim realized that his ship was exploding.