Starfade

by Gary Swaby

  STARFADE

  Realm Blender 1.5

  GARY SWABY

  STARFADE

  Copyright © 2019 by Gary Swaby.

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For information contact :

  www.reditalgroup.com/publishing

  www.garyaswaby.com

  Book and cover design by Gary Swaby

  ISBN: 978-1-9160066-1-4

  First Edition: March 2019.

  STARFADE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  Chapter three

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THE END

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  CHAPTER ONE

  FROM THE GROUND, the communications tower showed no signs of being tampered with by wildlife. “Interesting,” said Chiaki, to herself. “We must have unwanted visitors.” Originally, she thought that maybe the winds had disrupted the tower, although they hadn’t been so fierce today. It was clear now that someone had come within the planet’s atmosphere. Chiaki wondered how her alerts hadn’t triggered the moment another ship came within range of the satellite.

  She wasn’t able to make contact with her friends at the base with the communications tower being down, nor could she try to make contact with her unwanted guest. But she didn’t pride herself on being the most gifted hacker in the Milky Way for no reason.

  She weighed her options as she peered up the tower. She could climb up, but that would take too long. She wanted to get back to her video game as soon as possible. She’d been in the middle of a competitive online match, and now her team would lose because of her abrupt departure from the game.

  Luckily for her, she had created a private network with a limited range. She had a few nifty tools connected to this network.

  “Tobi,” she called, summoning her A.I assistant. She stared at her Comm-link device, strapped to her left forearm. Blue sound waves rippled on the screen.

  “I’m here, Nova, but I cannot connect to the network.”

  “Yes, I know that,” she said. “Please, use the local network to summon the Skylifter.” Chiaki watched the blue swirl on her Comm-link as Tobi registered the command.

  “It’s on its way now,” said Tobi, in its British accent.

  “Xièxiè.” she smiled.

  “Chinese today? You haven’t practiced your Japanese for some time,” said Tobi.

  “Hey, just because I’m half and half, it doesn’t mean I need to speak both.” The truth was that she only held onto the Chinese word of gratitude because it was the last thing she’d heard her brother say.

  She could hear the Skylifter wheeling itself towards her now; its wheels bumping on the rocky paths of Flade. Each bump making it sway to the point it could tip over. Flade was a small planet that her brother had been given by a client who could not pay him for a job. Chiaki had inherited the planet from her brother after his murder.

  “The Skylifter has arrived, Nova,” said Tobi.

  “Thanks again, now go enjoy the peace of being disconnected.”

  Chiaki climbed the ladder attached to the side of the Skylifter and swung her legs over the edge, one by one. She held the joysticks and drove it towards the tower. “Tobi, I know you don’t have access to all your data right now; but do you have anything in your cached memory that would give you an idea which asshole would come knocking on my door today?”

  “Nothing,” said Tobi. “Currently, I only have a record of your last job on Mars. You successfully retrieved all recorded data on Ernest Gorbitson’s great-grandmother.”

  “Well, Mars is full of assholes. Maybe I pissed someone off,” she said, as she set the Skylifter to rise. Chiaki knew that probably wasn’t the case. She’d programmed Flade’s security so well that no average being could show up without triggering her alerts. She knew that whoever was out there must have access to some serious tech.

  She thought of her brother Kura’s murder. He’d had no planetwide security systems in place that day. Only the hideout itself had been secured. Meaning, he’d let his murderer through the doors. It must have been a client of his. All she needed was some evidence, and she’d murder them herself. She’d been through all of his records and she’d investigated all known clients, but she suspected that the one who’d taken Kura from her had been undocumented.

  When the Skylifter had extended as high as it could go, she grabbed a rope that she kept inside for occasions like these. She wasn’t scared of heights, but she liked precautions. It was what made her such a reliable hacker.

  Just as she clamped her hand on the cold space-metal of the tower, she heard the unmistakable sound of a shuttle car descending through the sky. “Shit!” she said, running to peek over the opposite side of the Skylifter.

  A white shuttle was landing below. “Call, incoming,” said Tobi.

  “Keep it ringing, Tobi,” she said. “I’m going to try and find out who it is first.” Chiaki loaded up the touchscreen keypad on her Comm-link and keyed in a number of commands to obtain the callers’ Comm-ID while the call was pending. “Almost got it,” she said, observing the first set of three numbers as they loaded one by one in a sequence.

  Before the ID finished displaying, the call was dropped. Through her peripheral vision, she saw the shuttle’s doors open up. A pair of armored feet revealed themselves from the gap. Soon enough, Chiaki was looking at a Galactic Alliance marine with blond curls, clutching a megaphone.

  I should have known, she thought.

  “This is Commander Pearson of the Galactic Alliance. We have infiltrated your hideout; please come down. We will not take action if you co-operate.”

  Chiaki hurled saliva over the side of the Skylifter.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ALLIANCE MARINE OR NOT, Chiaki would not stand for people trespassing on her planet. Her irritation led her to raise her SMG at the marine as soon as she touched the ground. She didn’t care that he was equipped with a rifle that could drop her with one shot.

  “You have no probable cause to be here,” she said. “I don’t pay my taxes to have marines shutting down my security systems without warning.” The marine had his rifle at hand but showed no immediate regard for Chiaki’s SMG. The arrogance, she thought.

  “I assure you, Miss Nakayama, I would not be doing this if it wasn’t necessary,” said Commander Pearson, tossing the megaphone into the open shuttle. “Please join me in my shuttle and I will explain the situation.”

  Reluctant to follow the man’s orders so blindly, she decided to stall. “Why have you invaded? And are my people safe?”

  “No harm will come to them as long as you play ball,” said the Commander.

  Chiaki wondered what she had done to put herself on the Alliance’s radar. She’d struggled to pay her planet license fee a few times, but she was always able to pay it off after scrounging the web for some work. To ensure the safety of her people, she decided it best to hear out the Commander. She needed time to feel out the situatio
n before she made any rash decisions. “Just so you know; I am not dropping my weapons.” She approached him with the SMG held by her side, and the Commander said nothing.

  Chiaki sat inside the Alliance shuttle, making mental notes on its internal wiring. She glanced at the command terminal, which included a self-piloting navigation system. The vehicle was capable of covering up to ten-thousand miles unassisted before needing a charge. The terminal would only follow voice commands of an Alliance marine; but Chiaki was sure she could override its permissions. She had done it once before, after all. But that was before the Alliance had updated the firmware to prevent it happening again. This shuttle wasn’t capable of knocking down her security systems though, nor was it capable of outer space travel. She knew the Commander had a well-equipped ship on standby somewhere above.

  “Already, I can tell we have the right person,” said the Commander, seating himself. “Never has anyone looked at this heap of junk so lustfully.”

  “Cool it, Goldilocks!” she said. Pearson’s eyebrows jumped, and then his face fell into a grimace. Chiaki’s lip curled as she remembered how much she despised marines. “Just tell me why you’re here, before I lose my patience.”

  “We have an assignment for you, Nova,” he said. The use of her hacker name indicated that the Alliance was well researched. Despite her making an effort to wipe all data on herself from their systems. “Take us to the ship,” the Commander said, speaking to the navigation system.

  “Taking off now,” it said in response.

  “You want me to do a job?” she asked in response to the Commander. “Have you ever considered going through the right protocols?” The shuttle vibrated as it picked up altitude.

  “If we came here on your terms to request a job then you would have the leverage to refuse. There’s absolutely no room for refusals.”

  “So, the Alliance can now resort to taking hostages to bribe someone?” she asked. “Good to know.”

  The smug smile remained on the Commander’s face. “This matter is of such high importance that I’ve been given the privilege of breaking the rules; but only where necessary, of course.”

  “And what if I refuse your job?” she asked. “What are you gonna do with my people?”

  “I hear the C.O’s at Trador are always looking for more company,” said Pearson. Trador was a space station that housed the fiercest prison in the Milky Way. “Need I remind you that your entire operation is illegal?”

  Chiaki scowled. “Just like this mission of yours.”

  “Legal or not, I’m on the side of the people that enforce the law. You have no leverage at all. Maybe you should think about getting a new line of work. I hear Ramen spots have become popular on Utrion.”

  Chiaki clutched the SMG and pointed it at the Commander’s groin. “You mean to tell me that Earth is all the way across the galaxy and I still have to put up with this racist shit?”

  Pearson repositioned himself. “Let’s start this conversation over; now that we have the initial distaste out of the way.” He crossed his legs.

  “Believe me,” she said, “the distaste is still in the air.”

  He watched her for a moment before responding. “You know what? We’re near the ship now; I’ll brief you on the job when we get there.”

  They sat in silence for the ten minutes it took to reach the ship. Soon enough, she saw the giant vessel suspended in the air as the shuttle turned itself sideways to dock. A slit like opening appeared at the base of the ship to admit them.

  Chiaki didn’t like Alliance ships. They were too slow for her liking. But the Galactic Alliance had the money and resources to pack them full of state of the art technology; the same kind of technology that had voided her security systems. She wondered if she’d be able to get away with stealing something for later use.

  “Commander Pearson has returned to the Lapwing,” said the ship A.I.

  Chiaki laughed. “They couldn’t name your ship after a more ferocious animal?” Alliance ships were always named after animals in the Milky Way.

  “A name is just a name, Nova. It’s what you do with it that matters,” came his response. “Please call Vraxen to the conference room,” he said, as he tapped his Comm-link. Chiaki followed him, still clutching her SMG. She could feel the small star pendent—attached to the gun’s handle—dance around her thigh as she walked. They reached the conference room, which was a small oval space with a control terminal in the middle and a three-sixty degree display that circled around them, cutting off at the door frame. Chiaki ran her hand through her hair as she saw herself reflected on the blank screen. She changed hairstyles often. One of her favorite styles had been when she’d had a thick, long black plat that started midway on her scalp and ran down her back. Each side of her head had been shaved low and highlighted in purple. There were so many creative ways for her to match her clothing back then. But that was a year ago; way back before her brother had died. These last few months, she’d been carrying so much grief that she’d let her hair grow natural. Today she had a small plat on the front-side of her hair, with the rest of her hair held back into a hairband.

  Through the screen’s reflections, she noticed Commander Pearson watching her. “Let’s cut to the chase. What do you want from me?” she asked.

  Pearson was about to speak when the vertical door rose. Behind him, Chiaki saw a Stowyth male enter the room. “Nova, meet your partner, Vraxen Komraz.” Pearson said.

  Chapter three

  “I HATE TO BREAK IT TO YOU commander, but if it’s not with one of my own people, then I work alone,” said Chiaki. Pearson eyed her with a condescending look that made her nostrils flare.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s non-negotiable. Vraxen is going with you.”

  In theory, it was smart of him to have someone accompany her. Not because she needed it, but because she was planning on holding the data they wanted for ransom as soon as she stole it. She would have demanded that they release her people, get off of Flade, and then pay her a hefty sum before she handed it over. Pearson knew what he was doing.

  Chiaki eyed Vraxen. He was of the Stowyth species; the species that had made first-contact with humans, over a hundred years ago. Ever since that day, technology in the Milky Way had skipped generations ahead. A fusion of two different energy sources—nuclear and radox energy—had created technological advances. There were entire planets in the Milky Way being farmed for their energy and resources now. And people of Earth had migrated all across the universe, colonizing new planets. And the Galactic Alliance had formed to be the official governing body of the Milky Way. The Galactic Alliance was made up of four divisions: the marines, the politicians, the scientists and the trade union. Five species had a stake in founding the Galactic Alliance; humans and Stowyths were among these five species. All other species had to fend for themselves.

  Vraxen stood tall, with his thick graphite skin. The Stowyths had elasticated skin that allowed them to stretch their limbs in unnatural ways. They could also withstand extreme hot and cold temperatures for far longer than humans could. Chiaki watched Vraxen’s blue sclera eyes blink at her. His head was rounded with a bumpy rock-like texture. The gear that Vraxen wore, told Chiaki that he wasn’t part of the Alliance. He had to be a mercenary.

  “You better tell him to stay out of my way,” she said.

  The Stowyth said something in his native tongue of Quabic. “Translating Quabic,” said Tobi, who had found a way to connect to the ship’s network.

  After a few seconds, the Comm-link had downloaded the Quabic dictionary to its memory. It repeated Vraxen’s words back to Chiaki in English, using a sample of the Stowyths own voice. “You focus on your task and I’ll focus on mine.” Vraxen had said, with a raspy voice.

  “And just what is your task?” she asked. Silence followed. A silence that confirmed he was only there to watch her and make sure she didn’t disobey the Alliance.

  “Let’s first talk about yours,” said Co
mmander Pearson. “We need you to bust into a data center on a planet known as New Yoy and extract some Intel for us.”

  “New what?”

  “New Yoy,” Pearson repeated, as if ready for the question. “A planet that only the Alliance and its inhabitants are aware of.”

  The name made Chiaki wonder just how much classified information the Alliance held. If there was a New Yoy then that meant there was an Old Yoy. She would have probed on, but she had a more pressing question. “What kind of Intel are we talking?”

  “New Yoy is home to a band of terrorists that we’ve been monitoring. We call them the Thundercloaks.”

  Chiaki raised an eyebrow. “Wow, how did Alliance lames like you come up with such a name?”

  Pearson smirked. “The planet is in a constant state of thunder, and the terrorists wear cloaks.”

  She rolled her eyes, “that’s some genius shit.”

  “To make a long story short; we need to know what the Thundercloaks are planning. We’re aware of a dangerous plot unraveling; one that could threaten the entire structure of the Milky Way.”

  Chiaki’s faith in the Galactic Alliance was so minute that she had to decide how much of this information to filter out of her brain. “Why do you need me? I’m not the only hacker in the galaxy. I hear the Alliance is hiring some of the most infamous hackers these days.” Many of the hacker groups that Chiaki and her brother had competed on jobs with were now hired by the Alliance, incarcerated or dead.

  “The complexity of the programming is advanced. We know that you’re responsible for cracking the Mars Excelsior security system.” The Excelsior was a galaxy-wide banking and stock market firm. Chiaki was once hired to break into their system. She’d only agreed to penetrate its security for the challenge and had refused to steal anything. The Excelsior was used by millions of innocent people, and she wanted no part in taking money from them. Instead, she’d set up a login for the client to do whatever they wished. After they’d paid her the second half of her score, they were free to do as they pleased with the account; or so they thought. Chiaki had later regretted granting the client access, and she’d seen to it that the client was caught for a separate crime. Having the client locked up had done wonders for Chiaki’s confidence. With every job she accepted, there was moral anxiety that she would have to overcome. The Excelsior job had been too big of a moral challenge for her.