Then one day there came a person who had no name nor spoke of their employer, they came with an offer. They had documents showing they could bring back not only Violet, but Bell’s pup too from the realm of death. The report showed that they were experimenting combining humans who had died with Beast as well as adding Keptl spores as the catalyst to gather the psionic emanations of the dead person. In it he found and watched as a man came out of a tube and be able to speak and hug loved ones.
But as with Hunters, they had no money. Everything they wanted was free… except this procedure. Since he could never own a single credit or be exiled from the organization, the speaker was a woman with peach colored hair and supermodel assets and she promised that rather than pay like other private investors on a ten trillion price tag to bring back a lost loved one, that in exchange he could complete a very difficult task.
Deegen and Bell were of the same mind that aside from killing innocents he and she would not care about the means as the ends will be justified and worth it to see their children and hold them again.
They agreed.
The supermodel seemed pleased and told them about the Pirate King Jake Dorgen asking for extra Hunter support nine months prior to being hired before he began to question his new employer’s motives. Apparently the Dorgenox captain was searching for fearless candidates and Deegen’s stood much further out than others. Being a suicidal risk taker was seen more as ambitiously driven than what it truly was. So he was chosen quickly and placed aboard with no one the wiser seventeen months ago.
His mission was simple, gather information and pilfer rare artifacts without being detected. He knew at a glance Steven and Visor were simpletons, but deadly as himself and loved explosions. Stone and Satellite were an issue as the two of them were quiet and deathly calm, rarely revealing their inner emotion. Stone was bigger too and frighteningly precise in even the most heated situations.
The only ones he and Bell truly feared was Renee and the Drakes. They had known Drake custom to not pry into private affairs and made sure to never draw too much attention. If he did then his mission was in jeopardy. So he meditated many hours a day on honing conscious thought the Drakes made contact with to speak when in the company of his oblivious brothers he acted well enough. Living one full century had helped.
In private he knew how to move about the ship without his signature detected, roaming about when he seemed to be a shut-in inside his quarters. Over weeks of careful work he began to carefully access the ship’s data and copy it without Jessica Menann’s computer prowess being alerted. Sometimes he would break into the ship’s treasury as well as the captain’s private treasury and take unassuming valuables he could pocket. Sometimes he could cause a distraction like disabling dampeners or lighting small fires so he could access the power room to take scans of the still superior engine of the ship. Galicom had yet to create such a ship as Jake Dorgen was known to have designed it all himself.
Any civilized planets the ship went to Deegen carefully delivered the information and packaged the treasures to a private residence on Verard.
Things were going well till the discovery of Oliver. Deegen struggled mightily with telling the employers about him, but Bell was wisely right and stayed his hand. Oliver’s innocence began to melt Deegen’s cold heart enough to genuinely laugh after years of bitterness. Each passing day Deegen noticed and interacted rarely as he began to feel kinship.
But his daughter was still too much to leave be.
So to keep himself from losing perspective he devised the bombing at Galicom to keep Oliver and Renee away. It would keep the Drakes focused elsewhere and with every person searching gave him free reign to move about unrestricted and he began copying and stealing. Only now it was different, Oliver’s memory loss had begun to wear a crack in Deegen’s metaphorical armor. The opening began to show just how misguided he had been and how easily he had been manipulated. His grief was exactly the reason for the offer of rebirth.
He then was startled to learn Oliver was a genuine Solarian and so too was Renee in a way. He was glad he hadn’t reported something so volatile to the shadow people, but couldn’t give the final ultimatum with Mrs. Menann’s ability to block all communications.
Opportunity came after leaving the ship in controlled Keptl space. Even as he spoke, he knew the outcome wasn’t good after getting his hands on the actual rebirth results Renee and Oliver extracted from prison. He was devastated, but held on to false hope of seeing his child alive again. But no matter that cost, he could not betray Oliver again and see what would happen if the wrong people found out, and he knew those pulling his string were by the very definition, wrong.
It was proven as Bell yelped and left his mind completely empty and alone, but Deegen knew he was next and wanted to fight. Then came the cold biting drag cross his throat so deep it hit spine. Oddly there was no pain, just a rush of cold. He fell, dropping his weapons and covering the flow spraying all over. On the floor he heard sounds of a short battle rage before hearing Oliver’s scream made all seem silent.
Then came a covered face he recognized as the foolish Hunter telling him what he already knew. The creeping cold told it all.
But he had one last thing to do so he mouthed Rose’s name when a glance to a concentrating Sparky would only make matters worse. Deegen didn’t want forgiveness, nor pity. He owed Oliver for making him realize that what he did resulted in leading the assassins right to those who were good and just. He didn’t have a clue Renee had been captured, but he wanted Oliver to know that his secret was still safe from the wrong individuals. His final thoughts were of the crystal he communicated through in his back pocket and of his darling Violet he hoped to see again.
When no more came eyes opened to Rose thinking “Steven, give the crystal to Jessica. Deegen indeed had betrayed us, but he at least took responsibility for his actions… however misguided. He had known his ultimatum would kill him as he had intimate knowledge as a loose end. It is why he and Bell were killed first rather than several Phantoms killing each of you simultaneously. The crystal he carried led the assassins and the person who hired and manipulated him tied up loose ends to also kidnap Renee. His opening to me drew me to this conclusion.”
“If it’s a tracker then I need to block the signal. Babe, help me.” Jessica said as Steven passed the bloodstained disk the size of a coin over. Stephanie nodded and they half ran to the elevators. Stephanie’s high heels clicking on the hard floor.
Steven seemed to have a sour taste in his mouth, but said “Captain, before we start planning, I need to show you something. I need your chip to do facial recognition on the person Oliver killed. Renee left nothing of three she blew up.”
Most followed, but Stone said “I’m going to cremate Deegen and Bell to sprinkle their ashes in the forest of level three. They loved that small forest.”
“Aye, the bastard may have spied behind me back, but I felt another father’s loss. I too will do all I can to bring me little girl back. That I can understand. Had he just come to me…” Jake shook his head. They followed Steven to his fighter where he pulled out a bag holding a man’s severed head, having been twisted right off telekinetically. Jake took one look and said to those around “Billy Wagner. Born in 3003. Fled the Phantom program at the age of sixteen for multiple rape and one homicide. Wanted dead with a bounty of two million credits… Alright, I’ll have someone go back down to Havannah to claim the reward while I make a plan. And ready meself to be a poor man, but have me little lass back. Better than all the credits.”
“I can’t just stand around, Captain. My woman is somewhere and I have no guarantee that even if you pay we won’t get her back alive. I know her. She will kill to escape and with her bracelet she can be unstoppable…”
“Laddie, till ye can come up with a plan that doesn’t get anyone killed I’m going to pay the bastards just as soon as I empty me funds. It’ll take a half year at the earliest. Six hundred trillion can collapse the economy of whole world
s. Ye’ve got till I gather up all the credits to come up with a better plan. Till then shut yer trap and think. Yer good at that sort.”
Oliver glared, but knew fighting would not benefit anyone so he spun and left.
Seconds turned to minutes that led to hours and days. No one had seen Oliver, but Jessica found him working through the ship’s information and terran network day in and out. One person thought they saw him brawling with Piranha Beasts and came out unharmed dragging one behind. Jessica could not keep up with anything Oliver was planning as his searches seemed too random. Not surprising by how quickly he searched, learns and assimilates complex information. Using his status as Elder Hunter he got access to freely download secretive and proprietary information.
Several times there were unexplained power outages and the crew began to suspect it was his doing. Jake made sure that no one goes near Oliver if found, but to report his whereabouts. Many saw blurs from the corner of their eye and weren’t certain if it was their imagination playing tricks or he was moving too fast to be seen. Nevertheless it was making the crew extremely uneasy with strange occurrences. Even Davan Took, wanted criminal for the murder of his assistants he was unknowingly forced to do, came out of hiding in his lab. He had spoken to the captain about missing supplies, materials and very precise machines taken. Jake did his best to calm the crew, but even he was starting to be unnerved as the strangeness only got increasingly worse week after week.
It wasn’t till fifty two days later that Oliver came out onto the deck. What people saw had people shake and shiver. He hadn’t shaved and grew a thick beard. His teeth were coming back in, but were barely half their normal. His eyes were sunken from lack of sleep and his hair was a wild mess. He was tired to even look at, but the pinpoint focus of his gaze was absolute. He was ready to kill any in his way.
Jake barely managed to not choke on his brew sitting on the throne in the bridge as he saw the wild appearance coming his way. Beside was Jessica, her splint gone, along with Stephanie and Andrea Loke. Abdul’s feline eyes constricted warily along with everyone else. “Lad… I…”
“I’m going to keep this sort and sweet. I’ve finished my preparations and am leaving.”
“Where?” Jessica spoke up with a squeak.
“To planet BQX-63.”
“You can’t possibly be serious!” Abdul choked.
“I can not wait to get my woman back for a second longer. I’m going to the Beast Quarantine Extreme world with the most deadliest and heavily populated Beasts controlled planet that even Keptl fear to venture. I’ve made all preparations and replaced all the equipment I took. Oh, let Jacob know I also extracted one ounce of Booster Oil for my FTL drive I made for the Flare.”
“Ye made a faster than light capable fighter to reach BQX-63… that’s what? Sixteen million light years away.”
“Seventeen point three four to be more accurate.” Oliver admitted. “And it will only take me a day rather than three weeks. I’ve increased output without a drain to the engines and batteries by four thousand percent. The coolant system needed to be completely redesigned and I did. Plus I dropped four percent weight so I could add more storage for medical. Just so you know, I’m taking Renee’s field synthesizer kit and injector.” He put a hand on his sword. “If you don’t hear from me in eight months, go through with the ransom because I’ll be dead. If I don’t contact, make sure Renee doesn’t know. Also I left thirty ounces of my semen time-locked for nine months in a cryogenically frozen state in our bedroom. Don’t open it before the timer zeroes out. It’ll explode. Make sure to keep her from pointy things because you know what she’ll do if she learns I’m dead. Tell her I want her to have my children, but if she does manage to kill herself if she figures it out, I left research on artificial wombs in the container to safely make sure our deaths aren’t meaningless. In it is a complex solution to nourish Solarian children. And if I lose to the Beasts I also wanted to say thank you for finding me and did so much for my sake. But I sure as hell am going to fight in event your plan fails and they go back on their word. After all, Sparky did say you’ve been a thorn in their side for years. Killing her would bring pleasure as well as keeping all your credits.”
Oliver turned and Jake stood. “Wait just a moment, Lad.” The tone was more a request than an order. “We’ve been unable to locate where ye holed up for some reason, but I wanted ye to know Andrea’s idea panned out. The mercs accepted the sixteen million in exchange for no body parts and gave us this.”
He turned to find Jake sitting down and there appeared a holo-screen that showed Renee with a swollen eye. Oliver knew a fist to the face and his blood boiled along with seeing her for the first time in a month was like the first real breath of life he had taken. Her voice sang through him as she said “Papa, they give me just sixty seconds so listen up. I’ve tried escaping several times already, but I’ll stop since they let me speak. Do what you have to and make sure my two idiots don’t do something that will get me killed. Tell Sparky I said to stop gnawing on his tail as I can feel it too and for my husband to sit still. He’s not patient. And keep him away from the fish tanks. He needs a wider diet variety. I’m safe for now.” And then the screen went black.
“Seems like my Lass knows they’ll go back on their word too. Yer gut was right, but I’ll keep up pretenses for inside information to make it look like I’m doing my damndest to scrape the money together. Sparky’s being sedated for his mental sanity. Seems she also wants ye to go hunting to break her out too. So I won’t stop ye, Lad. If eating Beasts can strengthen yer abilities I hope ye are never sated. It came two days ago. I wanted to see if ye were working hard and I was right, but I thought ye were making a weapon.”
“In eight months I will be the ultimate weapon or dead. I’m off.”
“Best of luck, Lad. Ye’ll need it.”
Oliver hit the elevator and found himself on the flight deck soon enough, but was surprised to find Stone, Satellite, Steven and Visor. “Hello you four.”
“Captain told us your plan.” Stone spoke. “We came to see our brother off.” He came over and embraced Oliver quickly. “Hunt relentlessly, Brother.”
“I shall feast well.” Oliver said the Hunter’s farewell.
Steven did the same while the birds dipped their beaks.
The Flare was soon turned on and sounded only mildly different after all the upgrades Oliver had put in her from studying and imagination. It wasn’t too bad, but he hit the button to lift the door and flew out as if chased by hounds. Once clear of the Dorgenox, Oliver activated FTL navigation which calculated star position and automatically made corrections to the perfect angle. Outside of all planetary gravity wells which would interfere with precise travel through subspace, when the green light locked and calculated time in FTL precisely he pressed a new button and bright colors appeared along with the hum of engine output.
The Flare disappeared from the Dorgenox screens.
Inside the cockpit Oliver knew a little over twenty four hours was coming up so he took a look at himself, grimaced and did a quick shave after remembering the startled reactions of everyone. After grooming he kicked the seat back and locked it into a bed. Memories flooded and he held back the tears as he remembered Renee making love on it on what seemed lifetimes ago. Holding onto the pleasant thoughts he closed his eyes and covered his head to make it dark to finally get some sleep.
Chapter 4
‘Beep. Beep.’ A sharp chime sounded dully in his groggy state. ‘Beep. Beep.’ It incessantly chirped and after a dozen times he awoke with a start as he came out of a remarkable dreamless sleep. He sat up and looked at the console to rub his eyes to see if he was dreaming and read the countdown. One minute ten seconds to dropping back into normal space. Moving quick, he hit a button and the bed unlocked to adjust into a set of large seats comfortable for his bulk. By the fifty eighth second he was situated and readied for drop out. He flicked on personal shields on par with a ship the size of the Dorgenox and waited.
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Studying thoroughly prepared him as just as FTL dropped out sparks flashed in a solar system with three asteroid belts that are unstable with the size of the planets. Only three giants called this red giant star home as it had likely consumed lesser worlds centuries or millennia ago. The red giant wasn’t dangerous as calculations put its nova around ten to twenty million more years before it finally collapses into a white dwarf. Two worlds were gas giants and the planet Oliver had chosen was up there in size too. The planet was a six gee, like Zerika, only the surface was fifty percent larger.
An alert filled the cabin. “Warning. This system is closed due to X-Rank Beasts present. Turn back. Warning. This system is closed due to X-Rank Beasts present. Turn back…” the message repeated from an orbiting satellite around the planet covered in lush forest of dark green flora. Oliver, tired of hearing the voice, turned off the transmission and hit the sublight engines. Asteroids the size of his head was deflected off the ship’s barrier, the large ones were flown around till leaving the debris field.
Checking power reserves had him smile. Nice. Sixty three percent reserves. Better than my original fifty two calculations. Good to know.
The large planet was soon found spinning around and around without moons to keep it stable. Regardless, Oliver began long range biological scanning and more warnings went off silently, detecting many of the most deadly Beasts ever discovered below. He searched from afar, looking for a safe place to land. Quite a bit of cloud cover blocked natural visual, but scans pierced right on through. Multiple safe areas were displayed and in the end Oliver chose a high mountain.
Entry wasn’t so bad and after avoiding a flock of flying Salamanders found Oliver hovering in front of a sheer rock wall. He grinned as he pressed the red button on the control stick and squeezed the trigger. The cannons under the wing fired and blew holes deep into the mountain. He kept firing till he made a circular cone pattern before rising, tilting the nose down and switching to use only the left cannon to bore a single shot directly into the point of the cone. With it gone a great slab of stone slid out in one piece to shatter deep down below. The pattern of fire was precisely calculated and with the new hole made, Oliver turned the Flare backwards and backed in to set it down. The new cave offered shelter and made sure many of the Beasts couldn’t get in. Least not without leaving massive signs the ship would detect like from Vipers and Moles burrowing up through the solid mountain.
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