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9

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Atom enjoyed the peaceful nature surrounding the town. Exotic, woodland birds sang in the trees lining the boulevards. A fresh breeze replaced the stale, recycled ship air and his lungs rejoiced. Atom felt rejuvenated by the walk. Halfway down the curving road he passed off the pram to Daisy and shifted Margo to his shoulders. Her joy refreshed his soul.

The trip proved all too short, but they approached the Wooden Duckling in high spirits.

“This place grows on me every step I take,” Daisy skipped with high knees behind the pram as he admired the delicate carvings adorning the front of the building. His antics drew stares from the scattered natives, but elicited laughter, claps, and hoots from his crewmates.

He danced to music in his head.

“You sure are an original,” Shi laughed and linked arms with Daisy as she joined in his prancing.

Byron walked behind them with a wan smile on his face, but a stomach too tender to warrant joining in on the revelry. He did clap along, his cadence off from the dance reeling in Daisy’s mind, but the capering hulk adjusted his steps.

Atom mounted the steps to the Wooden Duckling. A soft breeze rippled down the mountain, stirring a set of heavy wooden panpipe wind charms. Something stirred in the back of Atom’s mind. His steps faltered, but nobody noticed.

A familiar, haunting melody in the wind dangled a thought, a memory, just out of reach. He wracked his mind, lost in the depths of his mind, but on automated feet, he followed their happy tramping. They pressed through the heavy front doors into the two-story hall that centered the rustic inn.

A roaring fire in an open, central hearth drew everyone like moths. Even Atom drifted close. Daisy dropped into a sturdy lounge chair and propped his feet on the hearth with a heartfelt sigh of content.

Atom shook his head to clear his mind. “Looks comfy,” he said to Roger as the others wandered away.

“I think it is the best of what we can offer,” Roger said. “There is one inn further down the slope. They are fancier and smaller, but I believe Hither’s food to be better. There are also several flop houses, but I would not recommend them. Here everything is good you need. Is clean. Food is great. Beds are soft. And even though there are not private baths, the communal bath is big and steamy.”

“Sounds like paradise,” Atom looked around at the tree trunk beams framing the room. The inn seemed grown instead of constructed. “Who do I see about accommodations?”

“Hither. She is over at the desk, the laughing woman talking with the two diggers,” Roger pointed out a tall, flame-haired woman perched on the corner of the reception desk. She spoke in hushed tones with the two men, and as she reached out to give a playful shove she turned enough for Atom to catch her profile.

“Hither?” Atom whispered in shock. The woman stood taller than Atom, graceful in her movements, curved and beautiful with just enough of her porcelain skin showing to walk the fine line between modest and provocative.

Dressed in supple, tan leather, she somehow embodied the rustic décor while projecting a sultry outlandishness that set her apart.

She laughed, a light musical dance that contrasted with the miner’s coarseness.

Atom stared.

Hither covered her smiling mouth with a slender, delicately manicured hand. Her eyes flashed an emerald green. Then she glanced over at the newcomers and made eye contact with Atom. Her laugh fell like a stooping kestrel.

As if the inn existed as a projection of the woman, the room fell silent with Hither’s dying smile. Only the crackling of the fire remained. Atom and Hither remained fixed, eyes locked while everyone else tried to understand the sudden change in barometric pressure.

Before comprehension set in, the smile returned to Hither’s face.

“Welcome, folks,” she slipped, like an actress, into her role as innkeeper. She slid from the desk and sauntered over to Atom and his crew. “You showing up with Roger while the blockade is in full eclipse can only mean one of two things. Either you’re the plumb craziest merches this side of the Knuckles or he’s found someone crazy enough to help us out around here.

“Either way, you’re crazy,” she flashed a heart-melting smile.

“Bit of both,” Atom returned the smile like a cool breeze on a sweltering day. “Roger agreed to buy a load of cryo-beef I’ve got sitting in my hold in return for a little help with your current situation.

“Atom Ulvan,” he extended a hand to the approaching woman.

“Didn’t even bother to change your name?” she shook her head as she opened her arms and embraced him.

Atom hesitated, then under the amazed eyes surrounding them he returned the hug. “I knew those chimes sounded familiar. Couldn’t place them though.

“Hither,” pulling back, he held the woman at arm’s length and studied her. “Not a bad choice, but a far cry from what I remember from back home. You do look just as good as the last time I saw you.”

He pulled her close again, like a long lost sister.

“We might want to continue this later,” Hither whispered in his ear. “The others are starting to get the suspicion we know each other.”

Atom pulled back again and turned to his crew. “Hither’s an old friend from the homeworld,” he grinned. “She used to be married to a... close friend, back before....”

“It was time to leave,” she quirked a grin above a non-committal shrug. “My marriage contract ran out, and I wanted to travel. My husband at the time decided to stay in the familiar, so we parted ways. Atom’s known me for most of my life.”

Daisy yawned and returned his glazed eyes to the fire.

Shi scowled.

Byron continued to stare at Hither’s curves as an unabashed adolescent boy. He remained transfixed until Shi flicked him on the ear.

The miners accepted Hither’s words and turned back to their conversation with little lingering interest. Even Roger and his brother nodded, happy at the simplicity of the reunion, and trotted over to join their fellow miners.

“So I’m guessing you’ll be needing rooms then?” Hither threaded her hand through Atom’s arm and snuggled up as she guided him back to her desk. “If you’re here to help, I’ll comp you, but you’ll be obliged to have dinner with me to pay for your crew.

“We’re slim on patrons with the blockade and all,” she scanned through her display. “So I can give you separate rooms. If that’s what you want?” she glanced at Shi.

“Separate is fine,” Atom rolled his eyes.

“Fair enough. Dinner’s at six. We sit as family under my roof, so don’t miss it.”

“What time is it now?”

“Few ticks past three,” Hither pointed to an ornate, wooden clock mounted high up on the wall. “Day’s a few hours longer than standard, but close enough to just adapt. Everything fits normal rhythms except the long night which lasts about a week every sixty-four days.”

“Mother’s shadow?”

“You studied,” Hither punched Atom, playing the long lost sister well. “Means a lot to me.”

“Don’t get your stockings tied,” he laughed. “I always do my research.”

“Old habits?”

“Never die,” sadness touched Atom’s eyes. “Which way to the baths? I want a good soak before dinner.”

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The single table in the dining room sagged under the weight of all the dishes, but Atom slid into his seat without regard to the structural danger. The others already sat around, waiting for their captain before digging into the feast.

Sitting at the head of the table, Hither bowed her head in silence before waving the others to eat.

“You look like you’ve never been fed,” Hither said to Byron as she passed a steaming bowl of candied beets his way. “Fill up son. It’s not like I have to stretch the food very far.”

Hither provided simple, filling, family style food. Her cook rolled platters and bowls out as if he was feeding an army, while the lone server kept their glasses topped off. The group huddled at one end of the sprawled table, a testament to the actual capacity of the Wooden Duckling. Keeping with the carpenter’s paradise, the décor of the dining room consisted of rough-cut beams and intricately ritualistic carvings intermingled in a cozy manner that disguised the fact that the room occupied half the first floor of the building.

“So, how do ya really know Atom?” Shi asked after she cleared her second plate. “He’s playin’ off as a lowly merch lookin’ for a crew. Problem is I met him when he put a tag on my employer. Ain’t a merch alive I’ve crossed could do that.”

“Did he now?” Hither picked at her plate, choosing her food with care.

“Yep, he won’t tell us a dern thing beyond that, but we all know.”

Daisy stopped eating to take a sip from his glass. “He’s brought us all on board with his little merc venture, but still won’t tell us about his past,” he fixed Hither with a serious look. “He won’t even tell us if he got picked on as a kid. I mean, I demand to know where he’s from.”

Hither looked to Atom. She scooped a bite of stew onto a crusty heel of bread and fed it to Margo as the tyke wandered past.

“So what are you asking me?” she asked with feigned ignorance.

“Where’d he come from?” Shi pleaded.

“Up the Fingers,” Hither shrugged, then met Daisy’s studied gaze with a pleasant smile. “Just like me.”

As if to punctuate the finality of her words an interstellar engine shrieked overhead, rattling the walls of the inn. Hither lifted her eyes, the mask of polite indifference slipped for the moment. “Bastards, they know they aren’t supposed to buzz the town, messes with the structural integrity of our buildings.”

Atom continued eating, but studied Hither’s reaction to the interruption. He registered the flicker of fear in her eyes. He set his spoon down on the table and slid his chair back. He motioned for the others to follow as he walked to the front door in a calm. Out onto the front porch he strolled, as if he wanted to check the weather, but instead he watched a pair of mid-range fighter-bombers set down on the pads just up the slopes from the town.

“Friends of yours?” Atom asked as Hither joined them on the broad porch with her unflappable façade once more in place. He waited for Margo to follow everyone before scooping her up into the pram.

“No,” her voice tightened. “Those are some of the mercs running the blockade.”

“They have a name?”

“Tyridium Lancers.”

“Never heard of them,” Atom watched as the ships settled behind the upper buildings of the small spaceport. “Kozue, get me everything you can find on these bokes.”

Atom started walking up toward the landing pads without hesitation. He wanted to see his opponents, look them in the eye and measure them. Behind him the others fell into step. Shi flanked out to his left while Daisy ghosted in their footsteps, looming behind the pair of gunslingers like a wall of muscle. Byron hung back, walking alongside Hither.

“Tyridium Lancers, led by Erasmus Tull,” Kozue sounded like a student regurgitating a boring history lesson. “They are based out of the Nails and have never made a name or lasting presence for themselves past the first Knuckle. They have a list of assumed atrocities, but have yet to be found guilty of any serious war crimes.

“Erasmus Tull is the only son of a tyridium mining couple from Schek. His parents both died when he was four. He processed through the system, bouncing through a series of homes and institutes.

“He completed a single tour with the imperial marines, but was discharged with the rank of corporal.

“Records indicate he utilizes brutal efficiency in limited engagements, but lacks discipline when not in combat. His psych eval indicates borderline psychosis which he either fuels or keeps in check through self-medication.

“Tull is unmarried. He is known to have three offspring in three different systems. There is no recorded contact with children or their mothers.”

“You found all that?” Atom sounded impressed as he climbed the curved road.

“I’m proficient,” Kozue said, but Atom sensed smugness in her voice.

Just as they passed the last cluster of buildings and mounted the ramp to the spaceport gate, an explosion ripped through the air. Atom froze. His head darted back and forth as he pinpointed the sound and identified the device.

“That’s my ship,” he cried out and broke into a run.

The others followed as he sprinted the last hundred yards to the summit of the road. As he reached the gate to the pads he slowed and turned back to the others.

“Spread out and back me up. I want to see what we’re up against. If we can avoid an actual scrap, that would be opt,” he pointed to Byron. “You hang back and keep Hither safe. I want the two of you to observe everything and tell me what I miss.

“Everything,” he stared them down. “Numbers, armament, positioning. I want every scrap of information you can glean from this encounter.

“The rest of us will be worrying about as much as we can without stirring the nest.”

After confirming that each of his crew understood their role in the coming interaction, Atom turned, loosened his rail-pistol, and strode through the gates to the landing pads. He pushed the pram like a father out for a stroll, but he kept his fingers on the controls. A crowd of menacing soldiers stood waiting. Behind them smoke poured from the exhaust port of the One Way Ticket.

A short, stocky man stood in front of the others, arms crossed with a grin leering from his face.

“That’s Tull,” Kozue said. “Facial matches the profile.”

“That’s my ship,” Atom called out. Halting twenty paces away, cautious, but relaxed.

“Oh, is it now,” the man said with a laugh as he turned to his men. “He says it’s his ship. But it’s on my pad and he dropped by without my say-so. I’m guessing that would be considered trespassing.”

Atom squinted in the dusky sun.

“Maybe we started wrong, but where I come from we don’t go blowing ships that don’t belong to us, mate. It’s not right,” Atom fixed the man with a hard scowl.

“Never cared much for what’s right.”

“Seems we’re in for a heap of trouble,” Atom flipped brown coat open to clear his pistol. “We planning to settle this like gentlemen?”

“He’s thinking I’m gentlefolk,” he turned his back on Atom, stirring up laughter in his men. “What kind of eejit brings a bobby to a standoff?”

“My daughter is safer here with me.”

“Think so,” Tull spun. “About time you think again.”

Action erupted without warning.

Atom glanced at Margo and flipped her shield up. In that instant Tull jerked his pistol. He locked on Atom’s back, but Shi, tracking the motion, drew her pistol in a lightning smooth motion and fired a pair of shots.

Hearing the report, Atom reacted. He turned just in time to watch the impact. Not into flesh, but into a personal shield.

Daisy slapped his own shield belt and darted towards cover.

Tull laughed maniacally, even as the force from Shi’s shots drove him to his knees. He shifted his aim, and before Shi could react, he ripped a burst from his auto-pistol. Then he slipped behind his men.

Shi screamed and collapsed in a heap.

Driven by instinct, Atom left the pram and sprinted for Shi. As he ran he drew both rail pistols and began winging shots into the crowd of mercenaries. Several dropped by the time Atom skidded on his knees beside the prone Shi. With a grimace of pain she sat up and snapped off a pair of shots before the mercs took cover behind their ships.

“The girls sing and people die,” she flopped back and clenched her eyes.

“Do you ever miss?” Atom surveyed the damage. Shi’s leg hung in tatters.

“You don’t pay me to miss,” she looked down and glimpsed the remnants of her knee. Blood drained from her face. Her eyes rolled back. Shi dropped her pistols on her stomach and began rocking back and forth. Atom slipped the guns in her holsters, but she gave no notice. A blank stare locked on the blood streaked sky.

“This is going to hurt like hell,” Atom said, and without giving her time to react he grabbed her by the collar and dragged her across the pad to the bordering retaining wall. The destroyed leg dangled and bounced behind like a child’s marionette. He dropped down behind the wall and pulled her down behind him, cradling her under the arms as she dropped.

After nestling Shi up against the wall, Atom popped up and squeezed off a brief flurry of shots before ducking down to check on Shi.

Her breath came in short gasps. She stared with dead eyes at her leg.

Atom shifted the wreck, trying to straighten the leg. Involuntarily she spasmed and he knelt on her thigh to pin the limb down. Then, he whipped off her belt and looped it around the thigh in a rough tourniquet.

Shi grunted, pressing down with her stomach at each breath.

“Can it be saved?” she panted.

“Don’t think so,” Atom cocked his head as a fusillade erupted from the mercenary ships.

Shi pulled one of her pistols from her belt and fired a shot in the air like a drunken reveler. Looking at Atom through wavering eyes she tried to smile. Her head dropped to her chest and her breathing slowed.

As Atom surveyed her leg, trying to decide the best course of action a new sound smothered the whine of bullets. Retro engines. Multiple ships screamed down from orbit, homing in on the landing pads with the recklessness of missiles. Their deafening roar blended, defying Atom in his attempt to count them.

Atom cursed.

“Daisy, get the pram over here now,” Atom poked his head up and yelled with Kozue’s help.

Without hesitation, Daisy sprinted the short distance to the pram and retreated with Margo in tow. As he ducked behind the gate a new contingent of enemies fell from the sky as the dropships slowed, hovered, and disgorged a squad of troopers.

“Go,” Daisy screamed, waving Byron and Hither back.

Any further instruction fell on deaf ears as a dozen new enemies converged on Daisy. He rolled his shoulders and flipped a switch on his belt, activating a personal shield of his own. As the soldiers charged he slipped his hands in his pockets and pulled them out, sheathed in power gauntlets.

He grinned as bullets and plasma bots splashed from his shield. Before the first wave arrived he grabbed the pram and shoved it in Atom’s direction. Then he pounded into the mercs, pistoning his arms with methodical devastation.

The pram, gliding towards Atom, compensated for the retaining wall and hovered down beside Atom.

“That my getaway car?” Shi watched through heavy eyes.

“I’m going to have to cut away what’s left so you’ll fit in the limo,” he placed a hand on her chest and tried to sound reassuring. He knelt with his full weight on the thigh of her damaged leg.

“Get off me,” Shi clenched her teeth and grimaced up at Atom. “If I want my leg gone, I’ll do it myself.”

Atom hesitated. Shi seized the moment to shove him back, and then sat up. He saw the move, compounded by the blood loss, almost stole consciousness from her, but she took a steadying breath and pulled a long, thin knife from the boot of her damaged leg.

She hissed, but managed to steady the knife. Then, in one swift motion, she severed the last strings of flesh connecting her lower leg.

Panting she fell back.

In a morbid repose, she crossed her arms, holding pistol and knife over her chest and closed her eyes. “Bring my leg,” she whispered. “I like these boots.”

Atom lifted Shi, and trying not to jostle her, he hooked the pram with his foot.

“Margo, out,” he commanded

“Shi?” Margo asked in concern as Atom stood over her. Bullets danced and sang over their heads. Without another word the toddler slipped over the side of the pram like a spider monkey and stepped out of the way.

“We’ll get you back safe,” Atom promised as he squeezed Shi into the pram with a tender hand. She barely fit, with her head wedged tight, her good leg draped, and her stump staring skyward.

“Koze,” he yelled as he jammed the detached lower leg in the basket beneath the pram. “Hijack the pram and get it back to the Duck.”

As if anticipating the command, Kozue seized control of the pram’s AI and in a spurt of dust the baby cart shot off, listing as the suspensors strained to compensate for Shi’s mass.

“Now for you,” Atom said to Margo as he knelt behind the wall. “Up you go.”

He swung the girl onto his back in a habitual, fluid motion and snapped her in the harness. “Stay tight and low, girl,” he commanded as he peeked over the retaining wall. In response Margo nestled her head into the center of his back.

Looking over the wall he found Daisy swinging away in wild abandon. Realizing his shielding prevented an easy takedown, the mercenaries had shifted their tactics, but the pilot’s pugilistic talents left several of their number lying motionless on the ground.

Atom rose up, pistols in both hands and gunned down the mercenaries surrounding Daisy with a well-aimed fusillade.

“What?” Daisy looked around in surprise.

“Daisy,” Atom yelled as he crouched back down. “Quit dancing and get over here.

Daisy scowled, but complied.

“You ruined my fun,” he said as he dropped over the retaining wall.

“Yeah, well we don’t have time for fun right now.”

“Always time for a little fisticuffy fun.”

“Did you see Shi?” Atom holstered a pistol and grabbed Daisy by the jacket. “We need to end this now and save her life. We can’t be stuck up here if we expect to do that.”

Daisy settled his combative ire into a more subdued anger. “What about the others?” he asked, tucking his gauntlets away and massaging his knuckles.

“I don’t know. I thought you told them to run?” Atom ventured a look over the wall. He ducked as a barrage of bullets kicked up chunks of plasteel pad. “I was focused on Shi and lost track of them.”

“Ask Kozue,” Daisy said. “She should be able to track them, right?”

“I knew I kept you around for a reason,” Atom slapped Daisy on the shoulder. “Kozue, where’s Byron? Is Hither still with him?”

“I do not believe so,” Kozue hesitated. “He is on the move across the pad as we speak, and although I detect several persons in his vicinity through electro-magnetic pulsing, I do not believe any of the signatures match Hither’s”

“What?”

Atom leaped up in time to see Tull backing across the landing pad, with an arm looped around Byron’s scrawny neck. Atom drew his pistols again and drew a bead on the mercenary, but Tull kept the mech positioned to afford little target.

Atom swore as he watched the boy kick and scream and fight.

“Kozue, patch me through to Byron,” Atom kept his rail-pistol trained on the retreating figures, but waited for Kozue to give the go ahead. “Byron, settle. Don’t fight or give them any reason to lay a hurt on you. Koze will track you through the nanos and we’ll be coming for you as soon as we have Shi settled. She’s headed to the doc now.

“Try acting a little crazed when they settle you. Fly off a touch and use the jibbering to talk to us,” Atom watched as Byron fell limp in Tull’s arms, resigned. “This will actually work to our favor. We can track you to their supply base. Keep your eyes and ears open.

“Kozue will keep the nano’s dormant to slip past scans and only activate in tiny bursts. You can talk to her even when she’s asleep, she’ll hear you. Keep your eyes and ears open. Relay any information you can. The more important thing is for you to keep your spirits up and don’t let them break you.

“Hold on, we will come for you,” Atom said, even as his words drowned in the backwash of a lifting ship.

Atom stared as the ship rose vertically, hovered for a few moments, and then punched boosters to soar into the sky. As the ship vanished, Atom took one potshot of frustration and turned back to Daisy.

“That’s a storm of rads I didn’t ever want to get caught in,” he hopped up on the retaining wall to look over the battlefield. “If they hadn’t taken By, I’d say we won.”

“But they took By,” Daisy said.

“I count thirteen dead. Our ship is out of commission for the moment.”

“But they left a ship behind.”

“Ten on one it’s booby trapped,” Atom wandered across the pad, and with callousness he put a bullet in each body he came across

Behind him Daisy looked on with unease.

“Why you doing that?”

“Habit,” Atom squinted up at the mid-range fighter bomber. “I’ve been in one too many fights where bokes play dead to hop up and start shooting from the back. Put a bullet in them makes sure they don’t play that game.

“I’m put off that they didn’t give us time to finish eating. Fact is, I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep in a bed that’s not moving.”

“Put off seems light,” Daisy harrumphed.

“Probably more than that, Daisy, but I don’t have time to whine. Got a mech taken, a gunner down, and we haven’t even docked ourselves a proper tech yet.”

“Speaking of,” Daisy stopped following Atom and turned back to the shack where Byron and Hither had taken cover at the outbreak of the skirmish. “They took By, but I didn’t see Hither go anywhere.”

“She’s fine.”

“How do you know?”

“I trained her myself.”

Daisy snapped his head around. “You always have one more surprise, cap.”

“Hell, I surprise myself,” Atom put a bullet in the last body. As he stepped around the grounded ship, he froze.

Still looking over the eerily silent pad, Daisy bumped into Atom with a grunt of surprise. Craning his neck, he peered around the curve of the ship to find a panicking merc training a laser rifle on Atom’s nose.

“Seems we have a situation,” Atom stood motionless, his pistols held still at his sides.

Fear infused the merc as the gun wavered. “Just back away,” the man said.

“Calm on, son,” Atom shifted his head and nodded to Daisy. “We’ll listen to you, son. Sorry day when a commander leaves one of his own behind on the battlefield.”

With careful steps Daisy backtracked.

“Tull’s got one of your boys, we’re stale,” the merc tried to sound confident.

“Wrong, son. Tull took one of mine. I didn’t leave Byron. He was taken. There’s a big difference,” Atom met the man’s stare and measured him. “And you know what that difference is?”

“What?”

“I’d do anything to protect my crew, while Tull will use any crew to protect his own skin. Now tell me something,” he eased his pistols into their holsters and held up his open hands. “How’s this ship rigged?”

“Why would I tell you that? Tull would kill me for giving away company secrets.”

“He killed you when he left you,” Atom dismissed the man and turned his eyes to the fighter-bomber “I just wanted to give you a chance to live through this.”

“What?” the merc tightened his grip on his rifle. Then a look of surprise filled his eyes and his arms dropped to his side of their own accord. The laser rifle clattered to the ground.

“I told you, son. I gave you a chance, but you didn’t take it,” Atom watched as the merc followed his rifle down, revealing a blood spattered Hither crouched behind with a pair of long, thin knives in her hands. “Think he would have told us something?”

Hither shook her head. She wiped the blade clean on the dead man’s shirt and rose.

“Pad’s clear,” she said.

“How’d they take Byron?” Atom asked as Daisy stepped back to look at the stranded ship from another angle.

“Dropship put a squad down on top of us. I took them down, but Tull slipped through and snatched Byron while I was busy with the others. Sorry, it didn’t cross my mind that you’d have a boke on your crew who didn’t know how to fight.”

“I’ve two who can handle themselves,” Atom stated. “One’s a brawler and the other’s a slinger. Figured Byron wouldn’t even need to see action.

“He might not know how to scrap, but that kid’s one hell of a mech.”

“I understand, Atom,” she dropped her head. “Sorry for letting my eyes off him. What about your gunner? I saw her take a wicked hit to the leg before the bokes dropped on my position. Is she around here somewhere?”

“No, I tossed her in the pram and sent her back to the Duckling. I had to keep Margo with me,” at her name the girl peeked over Atom’s shoulder. “I hope Shi made it.”

Hither smiled and reached out to tickle Margo even though her eyes held worry. “We should probably check. I’ll show you the shortcut. It’s a little steeper, but it’s faster.

Without waiting for a reply she took off running, her long legs devouring yards at each stride. Atom hesitated a moment. Then he reached back, cinched Margo tighter and sprinted after Hither.

“Daisy,” Atom said via Kozue. “Check the pads. I want everything you can get on the ships. I need to find Shi. Just be careful with the Lancer ship, booby traps.”

“I’ll stick to the Ticket.”

Despite his lanky height Atom lost sight of Hither before he covered half the pad. She disappeared over the lip of the slope. Hopping over bodies and the retaining wall, Atom reached the edge of the pad and without hesitation dropped down the slope at a run. Hither had spoken true, a narrow path afforded a more direct, switchback alternative to the main, curving road, but Atom ignored most of the path and used it as a set of widely spaced stairs. In bounding leaps he moved from one section to the next, like a mountain goat fleeing a cougar.

Down below, Hither used the entire path, juking back and forth in short sprints. Before she reached the halfway point of the slope Atom overtook her and swept past with a nimble leap.

Grunting, Hither followed suit and began leaping down the slope in a controlled fall. Inside a minute they reached the narrow alley running behind the row of buildings on the first main street of Clarity. Atom found a narrow gap between two of the buildings and squeezed his way out onto the street.

“There she is,” he pointed to where the pram sat in front of the Duckling, listing dangerously to one side. “Where is everyone? This place looks like a ghost town.”

“They heard the ships, same as we did, except they headed for cover,” Hither panted as she led the way to the Duckling at a sprint. “They’ll come out in an hour or so, once they’re sure the raiders aren’t coming back.”

“Well, we’re going to need a doc,” Atom approached the cart. “Can you get one down here on the fly?”

Hither nodded and ran in the opposite direction.

“How you doing, Shi?” concern laced his face as he looked down into the cart.

Her breath stirred her chest in tiny pulses and her face had turned pale as ash. He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. Shi cracked her eyes and tried to smile, but the effort seemed only to bring pain.

“Relax, help’s coming,” Atom knelt down so his face hung close to Shi’s. “Hither just ran to get the doc. I’m going to loosen the belt just a touch to get a little blood down into your leg. Now bear with me, this is going to hurt like hell is crawling into the wound, but if we want to keep it viable for regrowth it needs some blood.”

“Reckon I ain’t got a leg,” Shi grunted. “Seein’ as I cut if off.

“Or maybe I do, but it’s under there,” she waved a weak gesture down below the pram and gave a wheezing laugh.

“I saved the boot,” Atom loosened the tourniquet enough for a sluggish dollop of blood to well from the stump. She gritted her teeth, but Atom watched her body tense to fight the pain. “I’m just glad you’re still with me. Most people would have gone into shock as soon as they took the damage.”

“I’m almost there, but this ain’t my first dinger”

“Yeah, me too. See my hands,” he tightened the tourniquet again and held up his hands for Shi to inspect. “Can you tell me which one I was born with and which one I had regrown?”

Shi squinted. Despite her pained scowl she focused on studying Atom’s hands.

“Left one,” she finally said.

“Trick. They’ve both been replaced. Lost them at Antilles. A girder crushed them as I was trying to pull one of my pilots to a shuttle. Thought I was gone, pinned on a dying ship with enough holes to give our AI a meltdown as she tried to close off bulkheads and save the ship.

“I was lucky she liked me,” Atom took Shi’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “She sealed me in with enough air to survive until a rescue party found me. They cut the arms off to get me out.

“What’s your best war story?”

“I served two tours with the imperial marines, earned my citizenship,” she slurred her words in a hoarse whisper. “Saw action more time’n I care to recall. Lost ‘nough good bokes to fly my own cap ship.

“I was at the Antilles,” her eyes sharpened. “I was with the holding action that bought time to trap the Corsairs. They chewed us up, but the Lord High Admiral held us firm long enough. Admiral Ulvan Meriwether was the boke’s name. Hardest bastard this galaxy’s seen in a long while. What was his first name?”

She fixed him with a hard stare.

Atom returned the look with a flat, masking gaze even as he squeezed her hand hard.

“Atom,” he whispered.

“Thought so,” she grinned through the pain. “You saved my life once upon a lifetime ago. It was your ship that saved mine. You rammed the Corsair ship that was about to board ours after we took a torp in the pipe.

“We were dead in the black ‘til you swept up,” she pulled his hand to her cracked lips and kissed. “I owe you this lowly life a mine.”

“Instinct, Shi,” Atom pulled his hand back with a reluctant tenderness. “I didn’t know who you were, but I couldn’t let any of my troopers go down without trying to save them. I’m just glad I did. If you hadn’t been around, I don’t know that I’d be with you here now.”

Shi closed her eyes and set her jaw, but she maintained her steely grip on his hand. Atom knelt beside the pram, leaning against the metal as he watched over the gunslinger. With Shi’s eyes off him, Atom surveyed the empty street. The silence unnerved him, and Atom used his free hand to check the load on both pistols.

“Shi boken?” Margo asked over his shoulder.

“Shi’s hurt, but she’ll survive,” he reassured.

Then he noticed Shi’s already shallow breath growing shallower.

“Kozue, where is this doc? Hither’s been gone too long.”

“Just a mome, let me log into their local network,” Kozue paused. “Quarter tick. Three streets down and two to the east.”

“I can’t wait for them,” Atom rose to his feet and disengaged his hand from Shi’s clutch. “Actually, Shi can’t wait. We need to get her stabilized.”

Atom swung the pram around and built up speed with smooth steps so as not to disturb Shi. He pressed down the street. Through the deserted city he sailed at a clip. As he moved his existing suspicions increased. Storefront after office after boarding house passed, and they all sat, squat and silent.

“Is anyone actually here?”

“There are people on this planet, but it would appear that the actual city is quite deserted,” said Kozue. “My hypothesis would point to many of the residents moving to safety up in the hills. You’re a military man, what’s the safest place in times of invasion? Would you stay down here in the valleys or move to the high ground surrounding us?”

“You’re probably right,” Atom relaxed as he turned his mind to the problem in his pram. “Can you patch me through to the doc’s office?”

“I can try, but I’ll not promise anything with the current occupancy of the city.”

Atom ran on in silence, his footfalls the only cadence in his ears. As he approached the corner he heard a distant echo. Drawing his rail-pistol, he pulled the suspensor pram to a halt and backed it into a recessed doorway.

The echo persisted. Footsteps.

“Any luck, Koze?” he whispered as he peered through the dirty glass.

“No answer. You could be hearing the doctor approaching now. It is the most probable explanation.”

Atom laughed, shaking his head at his own jumpiness.

“You’re probably right,” he walked out of the doorway, but out of habit snuck a peek around the corner as if a threat approached. Stealing a glance he noted a woman in dark blue scrubs loaded down with a heavy backpack running toward the corner. Beside her Hither easily kept pace, lugging her own hefty duffle.

Hither caught the movement at the corner and slowed the doctor with a firm hand.

“It’s just me,” Atom stepped from the corner and Hither relaxed. “I have Shi with me. I figured we might shave time if I came to you.”

A flicker of annoyance crossed the doctor’s face, but she brushed it away and nodded in agreement. Without a word she dropped her pack and began checking over Shi with medical thoroughness.

“This tourniquet’s good,” she said. “Whoever did it saved her a lot of blood. This stump is mangled.

“Not a bad thing, more surface area for regrowth,” her words flowed as an operating room statement as she focused on her patient. She rolled through the exam with the brusque speed of a parent running through the grocery store with a squalling baby.

As the doctor made her way to the stump she reached down and pulled a stasis cast from the top of her pack. With efficient speed she slid it over the stump, adjusted the seal, and popped off the tourniquet. Inside the clear blue cast, blood seeped like sluggish oil for a moment and then stopped as the stasis field enveloped the damaged tissue.

Comfortable at the placement of the stasis cast, the doctor stood up and ran a full body scan with a portable trauma unit. “Everything else seems fine. She’s in mild shock. Frankly, I’m amazed. With a wound like this, I would be dealing with severe shock or shipping her to the morgue.”

“She was a marine,” Atom said.

“That explains it. Good training,” the doctor nodded in approval. “She’s good to move.”

Atom resumed his position behind the pram and began pushing it down the street at a trot. Behind him the doctor gave Hither a questioning look, then gathered her gear and followed. The final two blocks flew by as Atom forgot about the stillness and silence of the surrounding city.

“The medical clinic is just ahead on the left,” Kozue said.

Angling the pram for the front door, Atom glanced over his shoulder to the two women. “Sorry, doc. I get ahead of myself sometimes. This is your place, I should let you take charge. I just get worried about my crew.”

“Understatement,” Hither shook her head with a knowing smile.

“It’s a nice change,” the doctor slipped ahead of the pram and unlocked the doors to her practice. “I’ve had my share of captains who just dump crippled crew on my doorstep and take to the skies. Always say they can’t be slowed. Schedules to keep. Deadlines to meet.

“Meanwhile, I’ve got a crewmember who needs knitting stranded here on this rock, waiting for the next crate with an open slot.”

“I don’t bring expendables,” Atom maneuvered the pram through the doors.

Hither grabbed the door and pointed the doctor through. “Doc, this is Atom Ulvan, captain of the One Way Ticket. He’s an old friend of mine, so if you’d take extra special care of Shi, I’d appreciate it.”

“I do my best with all my patients, Captain Ulvan, I’m Miranda Ross. “I’ll have Shi back on her feet as quick as I can. Or back on her foot,” she shrugged.

Atom chuckled, finding kinship in the dark humor of doctors and soldiers. “We do have a pressing matter at hand,” Atom stated. “I won’t leave her here long term, but I don’t know that I can afford to sit around and wait for her to heal.”

“Typical,” Ross scowled as she turned away to prep her exam table.

Atom remained silent as he pushed the pram over beside the table.

“It’s not the usual story,” Hither stepped to the far end of the pram. “The Lancers took his mech. Payback for him breaking atmo here. Atom’s just worried about his own. It’s not about the profits, if I know Atom.”

“This true?” Ross asked.

“About sums it. You going to give her anything for the pain?”

“Stasis cast is deadening the nerves in her leg,” Ross slipped a hover board beneath Shi and with guidance from Atom and Hither, she shifted Shi over to the exam table. “The full scan will only take a few minutes. What’s your plan with the kidnapped mech?”

Atom shrugged as he pulled the suspensor pram away from the table. Then he sent it gliding toward the front door and knelt to unhitch Margo from his back. She played shy.

“She’s still too pale,” Atom placed a comforting hand on Margo’s head.

“I’ll agree,” Ross eyed Margo, as if seeing her for the first time. “Let me mix up a plasma cocktail that should jumpstart her body replacing lost blood. She’s stable at the moment and her body will naturally do this, but the cocktail will help speed the process.

“She has your scowl.”

“Excuse me?” Atom looked from Ross to Hither and back with a startled expression.

“Margo, Atom,” Hither shook her head with a smile.

“Thanks, I think,” Atom hefted Margo and stepped back from the exam table as it hummed to life. Lights and lasers played across the surface as the med table provided a hovering hologram display of Shi

“How long we looking at?” Atom squinted as he studied Shi’s pulsing organs.

Margo’s mouth dropped open in wonder.

Ross zoomed on the stump, rotating the 3-D model and enlarging different aspects of the mangled flesh. “I’m pushing for a six week regrowth,” she tossed the hologram back to the table, bringing up Shi’s full scan with a contrary motion. “As I expected, everything else is in excellent condition, not counting the shock.”

“Six weeks?” Atom muttered as he turned to the pram and caught sight of Shi’s leg sticking out from the basket. “Anything we can do with this?”

“With what?” Ross asked without turning from the hovering scan.

“I saved her leg.”

“No,” she scowled at the holo-display. “It’s easier to regrow a new leg than try to reattach nerves and muscles, especially when it’s a catastrophic amputation like this. I could do the surgery, but there’s a high probability she would never have a fully functional leg again.

“No,” she reaffirmed. “Regrowth is the best course of action for this situation. Six weeks minimum.”

“Then I’ll have to leave her here.”

“I didn’t say that,” Ross turned her attention to Atom as a fleet of arms descended from the overhead robotics suite tipped with an arsenal of medical weaponry.

In swift motions the medical robot carved away necrotic flesh and cleaned out the wound. Then the arms picked up speed. Faster than the eye could see the long, spindly arms began to weave a protective film over the stump.

“Give me a day or so and I can fit Shi with a prosthetic that will allow her to walk to some extent and provide a growth chamber for the stump,” Ross crossed her arms as she stepped back to observe her handiwork. “It’s not ideal, but I understand the need to have all hands on deck to try and recover your mech.”

“It will make things easier.”

“But it’s not ideal. She could do further damage. She could actually hurt it worse than it is now. Tweak the stump wrong and we might have to amputate and reset the whole regrowth process.”

“I’ll leave it up to her. Just get her patched up, so she can make that decision.”

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Atom sat in an overstuffed chair in the Duckling’s lounge. Lost in thought, he stared into the low flames of a real wood fire. On the floor at his feet, Margo lay on her stomach playing with a pair of model ships. Utilizing full sound effects, she conducted a no-holds barred dogfight.

On occasion, he glanced down to check the outcome of the longstanding feud between the two ships, but more often, Atom lost himself in the flames.

“What’s the word?” Daisy dropped into the other chair by the fire. “It’s been two days and we’re still just sitting here wondering about Byron. I’m starting to worry about the lad.”

“He’s fine,” Atom’s eyes remained fixed on the fire. “Kozue’s been monitoring his vitals and has patched me through to him periodically. They haven’t done anything to him other than toss him in a locked room on what I’m assuming is their flagship. He had a rough trip, but he’s safe for now.

“Kozue played eye-on-the-wall and counted thirty-two ships in orbit. Honestly, I’m surprised we made planetfall as easily as we did.”

“Thirty-two?” Daisy slouched and propped his feet on the hearth.

“I know,” Atom turned from the flames, blinking at the contrasted shadow. “They must have been stopped to refuel on the far side.

“As is, I’ve had Koze digging for two days on these Lancers. From what she’s found, I’m guessing they have their entire force congregated here around the planet. They’re a bigger merc charter than I gave them credit for. They’ve just stayed out on the Skin enough to go unnoticed. They may have a ship or two out watching han jump gates, but they’ve enough ships here to make hell for us.”

“They roamers?” Daisy began to fall under the hypnotic dance of the flames.

“Kozue hasn’t found a home planet for them, so I’d peg them as a free company.”

Daisy nodded, his head growing heavy and a yawn fighting to break free.

Atom blinked and rubbed at his face. He turned his attention to Margo and watched as one of her ships finally tagged the other. With all the violence of a two-year-old arm the ship crashed into Atom’s foot, accompanied by the appropriate sound effects.

“What are your thoughts on Hither,” Atom mumbled around an unstifled yawn.

Daisy craned his neck enough to study their host as she sat at her desk, talking to Dr. Ross.

“I like her,” he gave an innocent shrug.

“Love Hither,” Margo rolled on her back and fixed Atom with a comic glare.

“Anything else?” Atom fought to control a smile. “I told you I was looking to bring on a tech. I just didn’t realize it would be her.”

“Is that a problem?” Daisy barked out a laugh and sat up from his fiery stupor. “Just because you have a history with a dam, don’t mean she isn’t the best for the job. Actually, the pickings are slim out here in the Nails. If she’s as good as you say, bring her on.”

“We don’t have a history like you think.”

“None of my business, cap,” Daisy held up his hand in innocence, but gave a leering grin behind them.

“I was an imperial concubine,” Hither whispered as she leaned over Daisy’s seat.

He leaped to his feet, fists up, and stumbled back.

Atom remained seated, but gave an impressed nod to Hither.

“I knew Atom from court. He was the Lord High Admiral once upon a yesteryear,” she slipped into Daisy’s seat with silky grace. “Every concubine fulfills her duties to the emperor, but she is also a ghost. Atom trained me in everything I know.

“There are seventeen items in this room I could use to kill you, excluding my own body,” she leaned on her fist and affected a becoming pout. “I’m good at three things: tumbling, tech, and killing. Care to take a tumble and gamble on which of the other two skills will come into play?”

“No, ma’am,” Daisy stammered as he back himself into the wall.

“Daisy, I didn’t hire you to live up to your name,” Atom chided.

Daisy stiffened and stepped out from the wall. “Spot on,” he cracked his neck and raised his fists. “If I don’t have a choice, let’s scrap.”

Hither’s light laugh danced in counterpoint to the crackling fire.

“I’ve no cause,” she draped her long legs over the arm of the chair and bounced a foot provocatively. “But now you know our secret. We are both wanted.”

Atom dropped his eyes to Margo, and he studied her in silence. His history weighed on him. Every member of his crew knew he wished his story to remain hidden despite their piecing together parts of his past. After the establishment of military connections with Shi, he felt more comfortable with the others, but Hither had just unveiled his darkest secret.

“People will die for this information,” he kept his eyes on Margo.

“Why?” Daisy walked back to the fire and sat on the floor beside the girl.

“Hither was an imperial concubine. You don’t walk away from that line of work. You may retire, but you never leave the service. She is one of two in my lifetime that actually escaped and the only one alive today. Concubines are privy to too much information to safely leave.

“And I was the Lord High Admiral. I trained every new concubine in the ways of death. I commanded fleets of warships. The emperor held me in the greatest trust.”

“What happened?”

“Another han wanted my job,” Atom’s mirthless smile failed to reach his eyes. “They implicated me in a plot to overthrow the emp, and then they liquidated my entire han as a penalty.

“Why not talk to the emp?”

“I’d be dead before I stepped foot on the capital planet.”

“Revenge?”

“I’m one man and his child against the entire Walkerhan, one of the most powerful hans in God’s Hand. I’ll kill a Walker whenever I meet them, but I could never hope to take on the entire han and win.”

“So what do you do now?”

“I’ve a ship, so I have freedom. I have a crew that I trust, and maybe one more,” he shifted his eyes to Hither. “So I have some security. Now I play to keep flying and survive.”

Daisy sat cross-legged before the two chairs like a massive child. Resting his hands on his knees he looked up to his captain

“As long as the pay’s steady and you don’t mind me tippling dirtside, I’m your man,” Daisy said in a solemn tone. “A tight crew is worth more to me than any reward or bribe.”

“Even if that reward would buy you a small planet?” Hither examined her nails.

Daisy hesitated.

“If the temptation is there, give me the courtesy of betraying me to my face,” Atom fixed Daisy with a hard stare. “I’ve always lived with honor. I might be an assassin and a warlord, but I have my beliefs. I’m not perfect, but I aim to live by those beliefs.

“Plus,” Atom grinned. “If we cut the right gigs and removed the right souls from the empire we might be able to swing a planet without betrayal.”

“Yeah,” Hither scoffed. “Maybe somewhere on a hangnail.”

“Better than no planet at all,” Atom laughed with genuine amusement. “You aboard Daisy? Knowing all you know?”

Daisy nodded and extended a hand, palm up. “I’m your man,” he bowed his head.

“And I’m your woman,” Hither slipped from her seat to kneel before Atom and extended her hand in a similar manner.

Atom laid a hand atop each of their palms “We’re a crew,” he said. “We stick together through thick and thin. We watch out for each other, and we’ll all profit.”

“What’d I miss?” Shi asked as she limped through the door to witness the formalities.

A broad smile lit Daisy’s face. In a blur he rose from his seat and swept the gunslinger up in a bearhug. He held her close for a long moment before setting her down, taking care with her damaged limb.

“I just found out who Atom really is.”

“Took you long enough,” Shi grinned. “I’ve known for a while.”

Atom frowned. “You put a pair of random pieces together two days ago,” he shook his head even as Daisy laughed and clapped Shi on the shoulder.

“So, you aboard?” Atom asked Hither as she continued to kneel.

“Feels like I’m home again,” a flicker of emotion crossed her face.

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Later that night they sat at one end of the dining table. A smattering of other diners filtered in and out as the remaining population of the city and some of those who had fled to the surrounding hills, sought company and good food. Culinary aromas and kitchen steam wafted on the air, mingling with scattered vapes and incense as conversation created a warm, albeit subdued, atmosphere.

“So how do we get him back?” Shi sipped at a whiskey. Her prosthetic leg stood beside her and she kneaded at the fresh growth of her stump. After only two days the wound had closed up and a fresh pink of life had replaced the angry red of the trauma.

“Part of me’s tempted to just let him get out on his own,” Atom pushed back from the table and wandered over to stare out the window into the dark spring evening.

“Leave him? That’s cold,” Daisy said as he fed Margo a bite of pie behind Atom’s back.

“He’s the most instinctual mech I’ve seen in years. I’m pretty sure he could rig something to get himself out. In fact, I know he could. My only question would be his getting off the ship.

“He’s definitely not a pilot,” Atom turned back to the table.

“Not many are,” Daisy laughed as he continued to eat. “Takes the touch.”

“Touch of the tiller?” Hither asked.

“Nope, touched in the head,” Daisy flashed a broad grin.

“But are we right to leave him?” Shi pressed.

“No,” Atom scowled at the floor. “He can get out on his own and could probably hide out on the ship, but I don’t know if he could ever get off.”

“What about stowin’ away?”

“Possible, but we don’t know that he’d get back to Shelley. If he stows aboard an outbound ship, then he’ll fall out of Kozue’s range and we lose him for good.”

“And we’re sure that hasn’t happened already?” Hither poured another dram from the bottle she shared with Shi.

“No, Kozue’s still got him pegged.”

“Sounds a catch twenty-two,” Daisy loaded his spoon with stew and downed it.

“Why?” Shi asked.

“Bottom line, By needs us. I need a ship to fly so we can help him, but he’s the only one who can rightly repair the Ticket that we need to go get him.”

“What about the merc ship,” Hither hugged a leg and leaned her chin on her knee.

“Buttoned up tight,” Atom replied. “We can get in, but I’m not sure on the timeline. Depending on their AI, it could take a week just to hack into the ship. After that we still have to bypass their system to fire up the ship.

“Am I forgetting anything, Daisy?” he dropped back into his seat and rubbed his face, weariness showing in the taut set of his jaw.

“Don’t ask me,” the giant pilot scoffed. “I’m the pilot, not the new tech.”

Atom turned his eyes to Hither.

She shrugged. “If the pilot’s any good he’ll have a worm in the system that’ll fry the nav-comp. If we aren’t careful, that ship will never fly without a complete electronic overhaul.

“It’s too bad you don’t have a tech who can pull of a hard reset in less time than a worm can fire,” Hither frowned into her glass.

Atom cocked his head. “Can you do that fast enough to save the ship?”

“What’s the worst that can happen?” she tossed down the last sip of whiskey and thumped her glass to the table. “If I fry the circuits the mercs are down a ship and we are in the same place we sit right now.”

“Fair,” Atom said.

“And don’t forget there are actually mechs here on Shelley who can fix the ship.”

“I know there are, I just hate having outsiders fiddle with my ship if I can help it. You never know how they’ll muck it up. Plus, I have a few surprises they don’t need to know about.”

“So we goin’ to get By,” Shi grinned as she topped off Hither’s glass.

Atom nodded.

“And the only way’s through the merc ship?” Hither scooped up the drink and swirled the contents.

“Seems that way,” Atom leaned back in his seat.

“And I’m the only one who can run the systems on the merc ship,” Hither raised her glass.

Gezon,” she toasted and tossed down the amber liquid

“And after we have the ship flying?” Daisy asked.

“We kill ‘em all,” Shi’s smile carried a grim darkness as she pulled her leg on

“Nothing so grand,” Atom said. “I’m thinking this will need a subtle touch.”

All three sat staring at Atom in silence. He met each of their looks with casual reassurance. Then a slight smile cracked his flinty façade, and he waved the waiter over to order a round of triple-berry pie.

“Well, subtle and a slight punch in the face,” his smile widened as the waiter brought out a warm pie and four plates. “Shi, you can handle the suite on the merc?”

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“Are you sure you want Margo around while we’re doing this?” Hither asked as they crested the rise to the landing pads, four shadowy figures and a pram parting the morning mist. “If they have an endgame failsafe the whole ship could blow, she’d go up with the rest of us.”

“Do I have to be here?” Daisy asked with an easy laugh. “I can wait down at the pub. Just call me when you’ve got everything running smooth.”

“While I breathe, she stays with me,” Atom focused on the ships rising above the mist. “And Daisy, don’t be such a pipkin.”

The One Way Ticket sat on her pad, one quad engine, ruptured by the mercenary’s charge, hung by a few odd lines and warped support struts. Behind their homeship, the merc fighter-bomber sat like a shrike beside a red-tailed hawk, dwarfed, but deadly.

“Could have been worse,” Daisy appraised the damage as they stopped beside the One Way Ticket. “Looks like they just used a pulse grenade. I’m no mech, but I’d guess it caught the fuel left in the engine, but the emergency shutoff prevented anything shooting up the lines.

Daisy snapped his head to Atom. “I’ll bet the bastard was hoping the shutoff wouldn’t trip and the whole ship would go up with one grenade.”

Atom studied the ship through narrowed eyes and nodded in agreement.

“Any which way, we’re going to need a whole new engine,” Daisy circled the engine coupler and surveyed the wreckage form multiple angles. “I sure wish By were here. He could tell us exactly what we’re looking at. I’d venture there’s structural damage floating up through the rear struts. Without his say-so, I’d guess we’re grounded here at least two weeks. And that’s if we got the whole crew working on this. I know you said no outside contractors will ever touch the ship, but does that include autos? You get a robotic crew under a mech’s supervision and you could probably have the wreck cleaned out and engine replaced in a couple days.”

“Autos are even worse,” Atom pushed the pram over to join Daisy. “First, they have a digital record of everything they see, and second, they have a bad habit of resetting everything to factory specs. You can kiss any mods goodbye. I’ll stick with people, at least they can forget or be fuzzy on the details if you pay them enough.

“What are you afraid of people finding?”

“Just a few mods I installed after I bought this crate,” Atom stared at the ship in thought, scratching at his scruff as he did so. “I’m an old military man. You really expect me to fly an unarmed merch?”

Daisy shrugged and turned his attention to the engine and couplings.

“Hither, I want you to get over to the merc and see if you can get a prelim on what sort of defensive suite we’re dealing with,” Atom called out. “And Shi, take Margo with you and go over the Ticket from the inside and see if you can spot any visible damage.

“I want both you and Daisy talking with Kozue about what you’re seeing from inside and out.”

Hither trotted off without a word, her heavy satchel bouncing against her hip.

Shi, however, limped over to Atom. “Don’t you think Kozue’s got a better handle on the breakdown?” she asked as she gathered up Margo.

“Probably, but use your eyes and don’t rely solely on any AI.”

“I’m insulted,” Kozue bantered.

“I know you can see it from the inside,” Atom said. “But I’d like to have an idea of what we’re talking about when we sit down and go over things. It’s not so much distrust as I like to be fully informed when I make a decision.”

“Makes sense,” Shi balanced Margo on her good hip and turned for the side hatch. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“Good,” he dismissed her with a nod.

“Daisy, I want you to work on getting this engine detached. See if you can sell it for scrap, and while you’re there, price out a new engine. I don’t think Byron’s going to be able to salvage this,” he slapped the side of the engine and a directional focusing ring clanged to the ground.

“Hopefully by the time you get back, Hither and I will have hacked into the merc ship. As soon as we’re in, I want you dropping in the pit. I can fly a ship, doesn’t mean I know the ins and outs like you do.”

Daisy reached up and shoved at the engine. A shriek rang out as metal shifted and settled.

“I’m on it. Couple hours to get this cut off. I’ll have everything lined up.”

Without a word Atom left his pilot and trotted across the pad to check in on Hither. He found his new tech seated cross-legged before the fighter-bomber’s hatch.

“I should have asked Daisy about the specs on this ship,” he said.

“Do you really need him to tell you anything about a miliship?” Hither sat like a guru, surrounded by half a dozen screened acolytes. Wires snaked away to imbed themselves in various points of the ship.

“Not really,” Atom studied the craft. “But it’s always nice to know the limits of your crew. He’s a damn fine pilot, but how well does he know his ships?”

“Hopefully well enough to fly this crate.

“What can you tell me about this... crate?”

Hither focused on her screens, but began rattling off information. “Three crew fighter-bomber: pilot, gunner/navigator, bomber. She has a medium range, meaning system ship. No internal jump capabilities, so she needs a jump-gate. Carries four torpedoes with forward firing capabilities. Upper and lower quad auto cannons, controlled by the gunner from the defensive suite. A single Alterion thruster with directional rings. She generally carries supplies for two weeks.”

Atom nodded and flipped his eyebrows up. “Nice to see you didn’t rust up when you dropped off the astral map.”

“I need to stay sharper out here than I ever did in the Palm.”

“Even the tech, or just survival skills?”

“Both, strangely, but there’s definitely a demand for tech skills. Ships are constantly running in and out of here and while we have pretty good mechs on-planet, they were shipping out their major tech problems.”

“Did anyone get suspicious?”

“Does anyone suspect you?”

“Only those that get close,” Atom scratched his jaw. “And you?”

Hither laughed without looking up. Her fingers continued to fly across the keyboards. “We didn’t get close. We knew each other from another life. There’s a difference. How many hours did you and I spend on the training mats?”

“Too many. If you’d been better, I could have spent more time with my family.”

“That’s not my fault. In my life, before the palace I relied on my hacking and my brains.”

“And your looks had nothing to do with it?”

“Those came in handy, but most people can’t see what you look like through a screen. Honestly, I never really liked relying on my looks, I know they fade with time, so I used them when I had to, but made my brains my mainstay.”

“Well, the time hasn’t come yet.”

Hither glanced up at Atom and frowned in surprise.

“I’m just saying your looks haven’t faded,” Atom backtracked and stumbled into a rare occurrence of uncomfortable awkwardness. Hither continued to pierce him with an icy stare, relishing the moment of superior position.

“Thanks,” she flashed a warm smile. “It’s nice to hear from someone who knew me in my glory days.”

“You still like to hump with my pan,” relief swept through Atom.

“Who wouldn’t? You were the emp’s right hand. You had more power than anyone alive.”

“I just followed his instructions.”

“But you commanded fleets and legions. He could tell you to fight someone, but you had the power to do it as you saw fit. And if you felt the need to fight someone, all you had to do was tell the emp your plans, and you had your way.

“No matter what anyone says,” she paused and fixed Atom with a stern stare. “Or even what you tell yourself, Atom, you were the true power.”

“And it all went away in one night,” Atom sat and leaned against the ship with his knees drawn to his chest.

“I’m sorry,” said Hither, conviction softening her voice.

“I should have seen it coming, but I was so focused on the emperor, I forgot to guard myself. With all that power comes jealousy.”

“From what I understand, the Walkerhan have been aiming for that position for generations now. Something about the time gave them an opportunity to actually strike. I had already left and was too far gone at that point to actually know what the trigger was, but they saw an opportunity.”

“The emperor’s son,” Atom leaned his head back and stared into the sky.

“Are you blaming the heir?”

“No,” Atom started in shock. “I was engrossed in making sure all angles were covered and protected.”

“All angles of the heir?”

“Yeah, I was so focused on protecting the emperor and his family....”

“That you forgot to protect your own?”

“I forgot that angle,” Atom whispered.

Hither fell silent, focusing on the task at hand and leaving Atom a chance to sift through his pain. After a quarter hour she sighed and cracked her back. Then with a grin she looked to Atom and pressed a final key.

The outer hatch hissed open.

“Is that why you do what you do, to atone for that one mistake?” She gathered her myriad boards and screens into a satchel and hopped to her feet.

Atom stared up at her for a moment, distant in thought.

“I don’t think it’s atonement, so much as this is all I really know. On some level I’m still doing what I always did, it’s just that Margo has taken the place of the emperor.”

“Then why do you put her in harm’s way?”

“Because we are family,” he measured his words. “And I can’t bear the thought of her being thrown through this world alone as a child. If we die, we die together.”

“Charming,” Hither’s eyes filled with sadness.

Atom scowled for a moment at her comment, then a soft laugh rose in his throat and he hopped to his feet. On impulse he caught Hither up and squeezed her to his chest.

“I’m glad you survived. I’m glad we crossed paths,” he said into her shoulder. “I can’t say you were my favorite, I spent too much time training you for that, but you were the closest thing to a friend I had in that palace. Of all the emp’s women, I’m glad I ran into you.”

“Me too,” she returned the embrace. “You had a tumble lately, you seem a touch tense.”

He pushed back. “Too soon,” he shrugged with a slight shake of his head.

“Didn’t say I was offering,” her light laughter floated on the afternoon breeze. “Although, you weren’t my only teacher, I have some holds and techniques that would blow your mind. Atom, I was just asking as a friend.”

“I’ve a need to kill something,” he grunted as he dropped his hands from her shoulders. “Any place I could find some work on this rock.”

“You never change,” she shook her head. “There are a couple feuds going on between minor families. And there’s a higher up in a han who might do well to be knocked down a notch or two. I’ve a hunch she’s angling a deal with the imps. But I don’t know that there’s anything up to your usual clientele list.”

“I might be willing to work a deal on your referral.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere for a while, and there’s not a whole lot you can do to help me. Let me put out a call and see what I can find for you.”

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Margo sat on a narrow footbridge spanning a shallow ravine. With childish happiness she dangled her feet and leaned over to spit into the light breeze. Imitating Daisy, she attempted to clear her throat, but in reality just growled, then she spit flecks of saliva into the air to watch them dance on the swirling currents all the way to the path below.

Absorbing sun, Atom reclined at the end of the bridge, propped on an elbow. He rested beside the pram and watched his daughter laugh with glee each time her little ball of spit slapped the ground.

A dozen people rounded a bend along the lower path. They walked in somber silence. Atom perked and studied the group from the grass blind beside the bridge.

Margo continued to spit and laugh.

As the group approached, Atom leaned forward, focused with fiery intent. Just as the group slipped beneath the bridge Margo let loose a fat gob of spit that suspended and then drifted on a warm updraft. With absurd slowness the spit danced on the wind and then struck the leading woman across the forehead.

In disgust the woman wiped her face and looked up.

“Get down here, you little bastard,” one of the woman’s followers yelled up at Margo.

The girl’s eyes widened, but she sat still, disregarding the seething anger boiling up from below. The men scrambled up the far side of the ravine and pounded across the bridge toward Margo. As the men ran, she hopped up and scampered away from them.

Atom chose that moment to rise from the grass like a gun-slinging titan.

The men slid to a halt in the middle of the bridge.

“Turn your brat over,” one of them demanded. “She spit in Elder Aymain’s face. She must be switched in atonement.”

“No,” Atom crossed his arms in defiance.

The men hesitated.

“What do you mean ‘no?’ She disrespected our elder. At least discipline your child in front of us to show that she is being taught to respect her elders.”

“No,” Atom repeated.

By this time the elder had climbed the steep bank and crossed the bridge to take charge of her men. She held out a quieting hand, and her retainers fell silent, then she turned her attention to Atom and Margo.

“I can see she is but a child,” the woman soothed. “Have her apologize, and I will know she is learning.”

Atom narrowed his eyes.

“No,” a single shake of his head.

“Do you know any other words?” the man behind the woman leaped forward with outrage. The woman laid a hand on his shoulder. Like a leashed pitbull he bristled.

“Sir, if you do not address this in some manner, I’ll be forced to request a duel to settle things,” the woman flipped her coat back from her hip to reveal a short, but deadly pistol.

“It’s fair,’ Atom said.

Without another word the woman turned and herded her group back across the bridge and out of the way. Then she returned to stand at her end. In the meantime, Atom placed Margo in the pram and initiated the shield. Satisfied with her safety, he sauntered to his end of the bridge, facing his opponent.

“I am Catherine D’Arthur, first gunner of the Carlsonhan, student of the Seven Angles School,” the woman called from across the gully.

“I am Atom Ulvan, Stone Foot Style.”

The two combatants stood facing each other, separated by a bridge twenty feet in length. Atom straightened his back and folded his arms loosely, even as Catherine’s hand hovered over her pistol.

“How do I know this duel will end here?” Atom asked.

Catherine paused, her hand drifted from her gun. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“How do I know your goons won’t gun us down after this duel?”

“You’re assuming much,” she cocked her head with disdain. “In the unlikely event that you walk away from this, I give my word, no harm will come to you on Carlsonhan land.”

“My AI is my witness,” Atom sounded preoccupied. “We agreed?”

“Mighty picky for one starting trouble,” she scowled. “But I agree.”

“Then let’s get this over with,” he tucked his coat back into his belt to free his gun. With measured movements he cracked his neck and popped the holster strap. Never did his eyes stray from Catherine’s.

Her hand hovered over her gun.

Eyes narrowed.

Atom watched a tension ride up her shoulder.

He took a slow breath and blew out his own tension. Planting his feet, he imagined them taking root in the soil.

His hand floated, as a leaf on the breeze, alive.

His soul flew to the tips of his fingers. In a blur he drew and fired.

A stunned look crossed Catherine’s face as she sank to her knees. Her hand still hovered above her undrawn pistol, waiting for her brain to pass instruction. She looked down to the spreading crimson stain that seeped from her chest.

A howl rang from the Carlsonhan bannermen as they rushed forward to gather up their fallen leader. The loudest of the bunch drew his own gun, but before he could get a shot off the others wrestled him to the ground and pried the piece from his hand. All the while Atom looked on somberly. No expression crossed his face as he registered the grief and anger boiling across the bridge.

Once the retainers settled and gathered their leader, Atom holstered his own rail-pistol.

“Catherine was honorable,” he called out and turned to walk back to the pram. “And I know you are honorable enough to follow her agreement.”

Atom kept the shield up on the pram as he turned it up the path. Glancing over his shoulder he took in each of the bannermen, weighing and judging them as they lifted D’Arthur to their shoulders.

The loudest man met Atom’s gaze with an icy stare.

“We’ll have to watch out for that one,” Atom said to Kozue in a hushed tone. “I’d put money on him trying to find some loophole to come after me.”

“He could try for a revenge duel.”

“It would be within the bounds of the agreement,” Atom crested the rise and paused to watch the Carlson retainers disappear from view. “Funny thing is, they don’t realize it was their liege lord who hired me.”

“Why would he hire you to assassinate one of his own?”

“Weren’t you listening?” Atom looked up into the sky.

“I was focused on Hither at the time. I could draw up the recording and study it, or I could just ask you. Refraining from being omnipotent has been programmed into my core.

“It makes me more personable,” she snarked.

“That’s the most impersonal thing I can recall you saying,” Atom laughed as he pressed down the forest path. “They hired me because Catherine D’Arthur has been talking to the mercs. She wasn’t really trying to turn on her people, but she was trying to negotiate a treaty with the mercs and the government.”

“Why is that a bad thing?”

“Any treaty would take power out of the hands of the miners and their hans. They are already at a disadvantage and both sides know it.”

“So killing D’Arthur was the best solution?”

“It saved face, both for the han and for Catherine,” Atom scanned the trees flanking them. “If her action had been exposed there would have been a trial and shame for her family. Also, the other four of Shelley’s hans wouldn’t have looked too kindly on the whole scenario. They could have called for repercussions, something as drastic as elimination of the Carlsonhan if they’d chosen.”

“It’s unfortunate,” Kozue processed.

“Yeah, but it strengthens our position as a whole.”

“But it doesn’t move us any closer to rescuing Byron.”

“Thanks for bringing that up, Koze. This was just a distraction for me. I mean, it definitely helps our greater cause, but it could have been pulled by anyone.”

“I would disagree with that.”

“Why?”

“If anyone else had taken up the duel they would have been from a rival han on this planet. That would have created division among their unified front.

“As of this moment,” Kozue settled into a lecturing tone. “You are the only unaffiliated soldier on this planet. Only you can walk away from today’s duel within the bounds of honor and not expect a retaliatory attack.”

“Although, I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

“Well, as of now, there is no indication that you have anything to fear. I am scanning the surroundings and have found nothing to indicate ambush.”

“They won’t ambush. That would fall outside the code of honor.”

Atom walked for another hour, drawing close to the boundary of the Carlsonhan. The weather proved pleasant. If death did not stalk the woodlands, Atom might have enjoyed the stroll. Despite Atom’s checked tension, Margo enjoyed the time enough for the both of them. And while Atom kept her in the pram, she laughed at a butterfly that danced and fluttered about the little girl.

When the butterfly moved on, Margo took to counting the trees, one through seven, always skipping four, over and over. Atom smiled and allowed himself to relax, but he kept his eyes vigilant. After a time the hum and sway of the pram lulled Margo to sleep. Her head drooped and she curled up with her blanket.

Just as Atom reached down to snuggle her in, a distant roar slipped from the peaceful still of the woodlands.

“Atom, I’m detecting....”

“Jet bikes, a pack of them,” Atom finished her sentence.

“I believe they number five.”

“Damn, another half a click and we would’ve been free from this dilemma. Any chance I can make that border before they catch us?”

“That would be an impossibility, unless you happen to have outfitted the pram to double as a jet bike.”

Atom stared at the pram, for an instant toying with the idea of hopping on and seeing what it could do, but the thought fled, replaced instead by common sense and anticipation.

“Five bikes?” Atom listened to the staccato burp of the jet thrusters, like the strange mating of a moped and an industrial chainsaw.

“I’m guessing they’re riding single. Their purpose is speed and doubling up would slow them too much,” he paused and listened to the approaching vehicles, then he dropped the damping field over the pram’s already active shield to quiet the noise. “That would mean four against one.”

“Just four?”

“They need a witness if it’s to be an official revenge duel.”

“That is if they decide to follow the rules of honor.”

“They’ll follow them,” Atom continued at his stolid pace, but focused on the approaching jet bikes. “Otherwise they would have gunned me down on the bridge. It’s just too bad these bokes can’t let things be. I don’t mind killing, but I hate it when people die senselessly.”

“Aren’t all killings senseless?”

“I don’t think so. I try to be selective about the jobs I take and avoid unnecessary death if I can.”

As he finished his thought the first jet bike roared over the last hillock. Catching sight of their quarry, the Carlson retainers opened throttle and leaped forward. As they approached, Atom held up his hand, trying to quiet them. He gestured to the pram. With a strange sense of consideration, the warriors throttled back and glided forward to close the gap.

The bikers slid past Atom, circled, and formed a wall.

“We demand retribution for the death of our master,” the loud-mouthed bannerman from the bridge stepped from his bike with a formal bow. “This would be a revenge duel, well within the bounds of the rules of honor.”

“That it would,” Atom halted and leaned on the handle of the pram. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Why wouldn’t we? Honor demands it.”

“Honor demands you die? You didn’t fail your master, there’s nothing you could have done that would save face with your han and with your fellow gunners.”

“Why do you assume yourself the victor?”

A wolfish grin split Atom’s face. “I’ve already won.”

“Fool,” the man shouted. “Do you accept our challenge?’

“If you want to die, who am I to stop you?”

“Tami, you will stand witness,” the man pulled his gun and hopped back astride his jet bike. “This fight is legal.”

“Step on up,” Atom rose to his full height and flipping a lever, he pulled the handlebar from the pram. Snapping his wrist, he extended the staff to equal his height. “I accept your challenge.”

Atom aligned his feet and bounced to a crouch. As an afterthought he pushed the pram aside, setting it to glide clear of his anticipated fight path. He spun the staff, feeling the weight and tuning his hands. Settling into a battle-stance with the staff angled behind him, he gripped his belt with his off hand and waited.

Further up the path the Carlsons gunned their engines and roared down the gentle slope towards Atom.

He waited. Patient. Motionless.

The charge down the slope only took seconds, but Atom planned every movement he would make. Like a chess player, he anticipated reactions and planned counters.

The jet bikes neared.

Atom shifted his back foot, planting and gaining strength.

The lead assailant rose to his feet and took aim with his laser pistol, but the moment he drew a steady bead, Atom moved. Shifting like a coiled viper, he launched himself in the direction least expected, towards the onrushing jet bikes.

The first wild shot flew over Atom’s head.

In an expertly executed roll he tumbled between the first two bikes. He lashed out with his staff, flicking a short-charge energy blade from the end of the staff and slicing through the lower frame of the bike. The energy blade ripped the guts from the bike with a sad hiss and scream of wrent metal.

In the same motion, Atom swept the blade in an upward arc. With vicious precision he caught the woman on the second bike just below the hip. The momentum of the blow sliced through the woman, splitting her from hip to collar bone.

Destruction split at Atom, like a river flowing around a boulder.

The first bike careened out of control, wrecking into a nearby tree.

In a spray of blood that tinted the sunbeam’s crimson, the second duelist fell from her bike in twain.

Atom registered a solitary leg sitting upright in a nearby grass tuft. Flesh sizzled.

Then the third bike bore down, veering wide to avoid the wicked blade. Instinct overrode thought. Atom reversed his grip and sent the energy spear flying toward his foe. The blade flew true, and amplified by the speed of the jet bike, the bannerman had no time to evade.

In a smooth motion, akin to a dance, Atom pivoted to meet the final jet bike as it roared down the path.

Atom reached for his pistol, but the last soldier already had her rifle raised. Controlling the bike with her knees she squeezed off a trio-burst. Her aim proved true, but Atom’s instincts shoved him like a guardian angel. He rolled to the side even as the hail of bullets ripped up the turf where he had stood.

Coming up from his roll, Atom drew his pistols.

With a deft hand, his opponent brought her bike to a roaring, airbrake stop with her auto-rifle trained his way.

“Seems to be an impasse,” he called out as the woman caressed the trigger.

She hesitated.

“Honor, sir,” she growled.

“Doesn’t have to be this way.”

“You’re just sayin’ that ‘cause I’m a she.”

“Not so,” Atom shook his head. “I’d kill a foe, man or woman, just as easy. Just don’t see the need now.

“I could be obliged,” he cocked his pistols with a smooth click. “But my quarrel was with your master. Now your sense of honor that seems to be pointing that rifle in my face doesn’t need to get you killed.”

“I could do the killing,” she said, but Atom sensed hesitation.

He smiled, a gentle, sad look. “I don’t think it would play out that way.”

She wavered. “I’ve killed before.”

“I don’t doubt you. But have you ever shot a foeman from a dozen paces while you were talking to him?”

Atom took a slow, deliberate step forward, making their words more intimate.

“Plenty,” a bead of sweat slid down the woman’s brow.

The jet bike idled, a deep purr that drove the tension of the moment.

“Bluff,” Atom spoke calm to the woman as he shifted another step forward. “Turn and ride away. I’d take no honor in your death. In fact, killing you at this point would do more to tarnish my name than walking away. Your three friends didn’t leave me a choice, but to defend myself. But you and I are standing off, which gives me the chance to walk away with honor intact, for both of us.”

The woman’s rifle drooped. Atom nodded and lifted his pistols skyward.

“Then we’re in agreement?” he cocked a questioning eyebrow.

The woman dropped her eyes and pursed her lips in thought. Blowing out a stress laden breath, she rested the butt of her rifle on her thigh. Then, just as she began to speak Atom moved.

Like lightning his arm leaped out and a single shot shattered the still afternoon.

The woman twitched and fumbled to raise her rifle. Then she froze. Alive, somehow, she tried to process.

Up the slope from them, the soldier who had claimed to be the witness looked down at his chest in disbelief as a crimson stain slowly spread down the front of his jacket. Atom spun his pistols into their holsters and turned back to the gunwoman as she sat astride her metal steed.

“That was self-preservation,” Atom said as the man up the slope dropped his laser pistol from lifeless fingers and collapsed to the ground in a heap. “Take the news back to your han. They will need to properly mourn the passing of one of their own.”

The woman surveyed the wreckage of the battleground with a mixture of sadness and awe.

“I’ll tell them,” she muttered as she dropped her rifle into its sheath and turned to grip the controls of her jet bike. “And who should I tell them took the life of my master?”

“Atom Ulvan.”

“Of what han?”

“No han,” Atom said as he wandered over to check on the sleeping Margo. “This cub’s my only family. She’s my han.

“Go now,” Atom’s eyes flashed with lupine cunning. “Go, before I change my mind.”

Without another word the Carlson bannerwoman kicked her jet bike into gear and roared into the scattered forest. She left behind four fresh corpses and a pair of smoldering wrecks. Atom watched her fly into the forest with a dwindling burp of her jet bike. He stood motionless, collecting himself and settling his battle-amped nerves.

Then he retrieved his thrown spear and after collapsing the haft he re-attached it to the pram and strolled toward town.

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“I’ve bypassed outer security,” Hither called out as Atom poked his head into the open hatch of the fighter-bomber. “I’m working on hacking into the main systems now. Not having trouble, so much as having to spend a lot of time working through the back channels.”

“Time frame?” Atom looked over the narrow confines of the three man crew quarters of the ship.

“Hour, maybe two,” Hither dragged herself from beneath the main console of the pilot’s cockpit.

“You ready for this? You ready to be part of this crew?”

Hither froze.

“I’ve made a life here,” she looked out the screen at Clarity’s downward sprawl. “It’s taken a long time on the run to finally settle.”

“I thought you were ready for this?”

“Atom,” she turned to face him, squaring her shoulders. “I gave you my word. Don’t expect me to back out now. I’m just saying life has actually been comfortable for the past few months, and I’m going to miss it.”

“We aren’t leaving permanently. Hire a manager for the Duckling, and we’ll be back before you know it.”

“And why would I want to come back?”

“To collect earnings,” Atom shrugged. “I’m coming back for the food and a soak in those tubs of yours.”

Hither laughed and dropped into the pilot’s seat. “It’ll be good to get back out there. What’s my role beyond tech?”

“Sly killing and watching Margo.”

“That it?”

“And you have to cook when your turn comes up. Unless you plan on trading scut work for extra doses of your culinary skills,” he gave a humorous look. “If you can pull some of the magic from the Duckling, I’ll turn a blind eye to the equal sharing of toil aboard the Ticket.”

“I think I might have a little magic,” Hither laughed, her eyes crinkling with playful joy. “So, I’m watching Margo?”

“Just when I can’t.”

“Which is how often?”

“Almost never. I’m usually around, and she’s pretty solid at entertaining herself. Plus, everyone seems to have taken a shine to her. Just keep an eye on her like they do. I know she’s safer with me, but it never hurts to have eyes all around her.”

Atom dropped onto the narrow bunk tucked behind the cockpit and cocked his hands behind his head.

“So what are we getting into with this one?”

“I figure we float in nice and easy, just like we’re returning from patrol.”

“And they’ll let us aboard to snatch Byron?”

“Not a chance,” Atom stared up at a holo pinup left behind by a merc. “I’ll jump and hack a hatch.”

Hither made her way back to the bunk. Pushing his feet over she sat and stretched out her legs next to him. He looked down the length of the bunk at her, his sad smile held memories.

“You plan on springing Byron and snatching a ship?” she asked.

Atom nodded.

“What about Go?’

“She stays with you. I’ll be coming back. I just don’t feel like taking her on a space jump.”

“I heard you already did that with her.”

“True,” Atom looked out the hatch to where Margo slept in the pram, in the shade of the ship. “But that was unplanned. I thought we could salvage the ship.”

“Why’d you take her in the first place?”

“Like I said, I don’t like leaving her alone.”

“Sounds like a complex.”

“Maybe, but would you leave her alone if you could help it?”

“Probably not. Then again, I don’t know that I would be taking any of the risks you take on a regular basis. I don’t have the adventure lust boiling in my veins like you do. I’m content to settle and make comfortable.”

“You’re out here, making it on your own. There’s adventure there, Hither.”

“Fair, but I didn’t have much choice in the matter,” Hither frowned and looked down at her slender hands as they rested in her lap. “I had to disappear and do it right quick. I don’t think Hammond would have killed me, but I never planned on finding out just what kind of man he really was in his core.”

“Hammond?” Atom laughed as he scooted up to prop his head against the wall. “I knew the emp most of my adult life, and I never once called him by his given name.”

“Regardless, just because I made myself scarce doesn’t mean I’m the adventurous type, at least not to your standards.”

“You have what you need, and lucky for us all we really need is a tech.”

They both fell silent and looked out at Margo as she sat up with a stretch and a yawn. She smiled up at them. Then she turned with an innocent smile and began playing with her ragged doll.

Atom swung his legs over Hither with a weary sigh and leaned on his knees. His head hung and a harried look scrolled across his face.

“Atom,” Hither whispered as she followed his gaze.

He blinked unwanted thoughts away as he saw Kozue in Margo’s expression.

“I’ll watch her for you,” in a fluid motion Hither spun. She placed a tender hand on his shoulder. “Just make sure you aren’t gone too long. Childcare wasn’t something I was ever required to worry about.”

Turning with a sad smile, Atom accepted her words.

“Now get out of here,” she pushed him away and moved back to the pilot’s console. “Leave me to what I’m good at. That is if you actually want to leave this rock.”

“Fair enough, just let me know when you’ve squared this crate away.”

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Atom found Daisy and Shi working on the One Way Ticket. They had pulled the mangled thruster from the aft section with the help of a standard exo-loader and deposited the wrecked engine at the side of the pad for scrap. Daisy clambered over the stubby wing and support, cutting the ends from damaged struts and supports with a torch. Below, Shi managed the bi-pedal loader, holding and removing pieces of the ship as Daisy cut them away.

“She’s starting to look less wrecked,” Atom called out as he approached.

“All we’re doing is the demo,” Daisy wiped his brow with a dirty rag. “Ain’t going to do us much in the long haul, other than save us some time when By gets back.”

“That’s all we can do for now.”

“Unless we want outside contractors working the ship.”

“Not a chance,” Atom spat.

“Why’s that, cap?” Shi asked as she pulled a long section of piping down from the upper reaches of the ship. “Reckon it would save us a heap a time.”

“I thought I told you, only people I trust work on my ships.”

“Ships?”

“You think this is the first ship I’ve ever captained?” Atom thrust his hands to his hips and glared up at Shi in her exo-loader.

“Just sounded like you was plannin’ to captain a fleet or somethin’,” Shi mumbled.

Atom shook his head. “No sir, just the one ship I have the title to.”

“And one you pirated,” Daisy laughed as he pointed his torch at the fighter-bomber across the pad.

“No such thing,” Atom rebutted. “They left it here. Technically that’s salvage.”

“But we plan on taking her.”

“That we do, but all they can pin on us is thievery, not pirating. There’s a difference.” Atom placed his hand over his heart. “I aim to be an honest thief and able tradesman.”

Daisy roared with laughter and even the dour Shi cracked a smile.

“So what’s the plan, boss?” Shi asked. “We ever picking By?”

“We leave as soon as Hither finishes hacking into the ship’s system,” Atom lifted Margo from the pram and set her down to run around. “Daisy, in a few minutes I want you to head over to the ship and start going through the pre-flight.

“Shi, how’s the leg?”

Shi flexed the prosthetic and the loader mimicked her movement, lifting a massive, mechanized leg and thumping it down to the padded tarmac. “She’ll hold,” Shi gave a slight smile. “Doc patched me up good. The stump itches somethin’ fierce, but it's grown an inch in a couple days. Doc says I’m on a goodly pace, and she reckons I’ll be right as light rays in a few weeks.”

“You can handle the ship’s gun deck, though?”

“Course, that should just take hands, and if I need feet, my fake should cover well enough. Doc plugged it into my nerves so I can even feel.”

“Fancy that,” Atom drifted to watching Margo as she climbed a landing strut.

“Do I pass muster?”

Atom snapped his attention back. “That you do, Shi. Head over with Daisy and familiarize yourself with the ship’s weapons systems.”

“Shouldn’t be a prob,” Shi turned and thumped away to drop her load of scrap piping.

“Atom,” Kozue said in his ear. “Hither asked me to inform you that she just cracked through the final firewall and had begun running the ship through pre-flight checks and system warm-ups.”

“Daisy, Shi,” Atom called out. “Wrap your scut. We’re burning.”

Atom whistled and Margo scampered over to her father with childish joy. He savored the moment. She lifted her arms and Atom swept up the girl with a tender smile.

“I’ll not be here forever,” he whispered into her dark, silken curls. “But I’ll love you with every breath I take. And for every breath I take, know that no one will harm you.”

He touched a tender kiss to her forehead and walked across the pad to the fighter-bomber, leaving the pram to settle to the ground like an abandon puppy in the shadow of the One Way Ticket.

Behind them, Daisy and Shi wrapped up their tasks and followed.

“So we’re looking good?” Atom asked Hither as he hopped up into the cramped interior of the fighter-bomber.

“System’s check looks solid,” Hither squinted at the holo-screen floating above the pilot’s seat. “Fuel is at 81% and all weapons systems appear fully stocked and operational. She’s got four Titans with....”

“Fifteen thousand klick range, ghosting once locked,” Atom said from rote.

“Exactly,” Hither scanned the holo-screen. “Plus, she has forward, fixed auto-cannons and twin gatling laser turrets, up and down.”

“What’s she got in her tail?” Daisy climbed up through the hatch and squeezed past Atom to lean over Hither.

“Phoenix trio with cardinal boosters.”

“That should do.” Daisy patted her on the shoulder. “Mind if I slide in there?”

“My work is tied up.” Hither tapped a few final keys and climbed from the seat.

Daisy dropped into the pit and ran his hands over the controls. He closed his eyes and acclimated himself. Meanwhile, Shi climbed in the hatch, sidestepping Hither with an awkward hop as she shifted on her new leg.

Out of the way, Hither reached out and lifted Margo from Atom’s arms.

“You guys get situated,” she stowed her mech gear on the top bunk and settled with Margo on the below. “I’ll try to stay out of your way unless you need me for something.” As the others turned to their work she flopped on her back and hefted Margo up in the air.

Holding Margo up, she noticed the pinup dancing provocatively on the underside of the bunk. After a furtive glance to the preoccupied crew she settled Margo onto her stomach and pulled a small pad from her pocket. The little girl watched Hither with fascination. Hither gave a quiet chuckle as she keyed a few commands into the pad and a van dyke magically appeared on the pinup.

Margo glanced up and noticed the image. Then, seeing the mustache, she smiled in glee.

“I have mustache.” Margo puckered her lips.

“No, darling,” Hither laughed loud enough to draw a curious glance from Atom. “Hopefully you’ll never have a mustache.

“We almost lifted?” she asked Atom.

“Shouldn’t be too long,” his sarcastic tone lightened the mood.

Atom nodded and watched Margo smile as she sat on Hither’s stomach. His distraction only lasted a moment.

“Shi, hop up and check out the gunner station,” he said before slipping down the narrow hatch leading to the bomber/navigator’s seat in the nose of the fighter-bomber.

Without a word Shi climbed to the gunner’s perch and powered up her systems.

“Daisy, what do you think for liftoff?” he asked via Kozue.

“Less than ten to run through checks, and then I’m good to burn.”

“Shi?”

“Whenever,” she replied. “I reckon I can learn the systems on the fly. From the looks, they’re gen.”

“Ten minutes it is,” Atom pulled up his own holo-display.