by AZ Kelvin
Balscion IX is a giant gas planet so large it rivals the size of even some small stars. The clouds of the atmosphere swirled violently as they wrestled with the massive planet’s high winds. The deep red color was mixed with ever-changing streaks and puffs of a thousand other colors, where the under layers of the atmosphere punched their way into the planet’s upper layer of clouds. Bolts of hot white lightning arced from cloud to cloud wherever storm systems converged. The four rings surrounding the planet were more like chaotic debris fields of death than icy dust and rocks, serenely orbiting around other planets in the galaxy. Frequent collisions between the planetary flotsam blasted particles out into space at dangerously high speeds and in unpredictable directions.
The Altered Moon closed in on the third moon of the forbidding gas giant in search of any sign that Leland or the Blood Stars were anywhere in the area. The moon was a calm vision of blue-and-white beauty standing out in stark contrast to the angry planet. CJ sat in the captain’s chair at the command station. Boss was in his suspensor chair at the science station. Gina was in pilot’s seat, as usual, but other than that, no one else was on the bridge.
The question was, who would show up first, Leland or the Blood Stars? They didn’t have to wonder at it long before an assault craft appeared from the black of space and closed in on the Altered Moon at high speed. The sensor reading broke into three separate blips when the assault craft split into three fast attack fighters. The telltale burn of red plasma gave away the Blood Stars’ involvement in the attack. The Blood Star ship opened fire as it moved into position to strafe the Altered Moon.
Six dotted streams of red disruptor fire burned through space, hungry for the hull plating of the Altered Moon. The speed of the fighters brought them a hundred meters from their target before they realized the weapons fire passed right through the Altered Moon.
“Now!” CJ Evermore said, from the bridge of the actual Altered Moon.
The projection of the Altered Moon faded away to reveal a Goose missile modified by CJ and Cal with holographic emitters and the Altered Moon’s ID beacon. The EMP warhead detonated and disabled all three ships in one massive pulse.
“Hook, line, and sinker. Move in, Cal,” CJ said over the comms.
“Roger that,” Cal responded from Moonshadow.
Cal and Gina were dressed in full EV suits in the shuttle as they flew in toward the Blood Star ships. Gina flew in close to the ships while Cal, who stood secured in the open airlock, shot the ships with a magnetic power disruptor that would prevent the ships from reinitializing their power systems.
“All done, Cap,” he said when he tagged the last ship.
“Copy, good job you guys. Let’s bring ’em in.”
CJ opened a comms channel and broadcast a message toward the third moon. “Leland Stile, Leland Stile, this is CJ Evermore. Do you read this transmission?”
A short delay and a static-filled reply came back. “Yes, this is Leland Stile. I read you, Captain.”
“Change to freq zero-nine-zero and scramble.”
“Roger.”
“What’s your situation?” CJ asked on the new frequency.
“Stable and very ready to get the hell out of here.”
“Then I suggest you expedite your departure. We’ve eliminated the immediate threat, but it won’t be long before they’re missed.”
“I understand, but where do I go?”
“Do you know where the planet, Tarris, is and can you get there?”
“Yes, but Tarris is dead.”
“Not anymore, just go there and transmit an SOS. Tell whoever responds you’ve been told by us to wait there until we get back, understood? We’ll be there tomorrow, maybe the next day.”
“Yes, understood. How’s Pene?”
“She’s doing fine, Leland. You’ll see her soon.”
“Good, thanks, Captain.”
“And Leland, don’t lose my artifact.”
“Don’t worry, Captain. That ugly thing is all yours,” Leland assured him and CJ closed the channel.
The crew made quick work of gathering up the three ships and in a short time had them, and three very irritated Blood Star pilots, locked down in the shuttle bay. The Blood Star ships were single-pilot deep recon fighters with long-range capability, as well as Dark Matter Thrusters for stealth attacks. The Blood Star pilots could only sit by and watch while CJ, Cal, Gina, and Katy surrounded them. A woman in a ship marked with ‘Lt. Che “Sunburn” Talos’ along the bottom of the cockpit canopy regarded them calmly and coolly. A man, whose ship was marked with ‘Spl. Verlon “Darkcloud” Rayne,’ honored them with a middle finger salute. A second man spoke soundlessly through the canopy of his ship and then pointed several times directly at Cal; his ship was marked with ‘Spl. Benton “Blaster” Capp.’ Cal smiled and shook his head in disbelief.
CJ and Cal spoke for a time with Gina and Katy, and then CJ went over to the lieutenant’s ship. He climbed up to the canopy, showed her a remote-operated incendiary grenade, pointed to her dark matter intake scoop and then at the shuttle bay doors. CJ indicated the other two ships as well and waited for her answer to his unspoken question. Lieutenant Talos sat in thought for a second before she unbuckled her flight harness, took off her helmet, and raised her hands.
“Okay, Cal,” CJ said as he trained his K-13 on the lieutenant. Cal released the power disruptor and hit the manual canopy release. “Sidearm, if you please, Lieutenant.”
Lieutenant Talos slowly handed her pistol over to CJ and climbed out of her ship. Her face triggered something in CJ’s mind, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Drop your flight gear, right there. Gina, check her head to toe.”
Gina moved in to frisk her and ended up with a backup firearm and a pig sticker. The Blood Star lieutenant shrugged silently in response to CJ’s ‘really’ look. Gina took her to a far wall as they worked the other two pilots out of their ships.
The third pilot kept looking at Cal until he got down from his cockpit. “Warren—Warren Caltrop. I’d know that dog’s butt you call a face anywhere.”
“Benton Capp, you original bastard!” Cal and Blaster hugged and clapped each other on the back to the great surprise of everyone else in the shuttle bay. “If I knew that was you out there, I would’a told the Cap’n to open fire! Ha, ha!”
“Damn, Cal, it’s been a long time,” Blaster said and got serious. “What are you doin’ with people like this, boyo?”
“Me?” Cal asked back. “I can’t believe you’d take up with this lot, the things I’ve heard, and seen.”
“And I can’t believe you’d be in with murderin’ civies!”
“What? Me? No way!” Cal said angrily. “What do you mean?”
“A small trading outpost near Skriti Station. The civilians there were massacred, even the women and children. The outpost was under Blood Star protection; reports are that it was a ship called the Altered Moon, commanded by CJ Evermore.”
“Right ship, wrong info, old buddy,” Cal said.
“So you’re tellin’ me, Cal, to my face, that you didn’t kill those people?”
“Ben, I haven’t killed any civies—ever, and I have never ever killed a child.” Cal looked his friend dead in the eye. “And never would.”
The Blood Star specialist smiled, clapped Cal on the shoulder, and nodded. “Lieutenant, there’s something funny going on here,” Blaster turned to Che. “I know this man, and he wouldn’t take up with murderers.”
CJ turned to Che Talos and got a good look at her for the first time; that thing he couldn’t pin down earlier fell into place. Che Talos was a slender woman with smooth coffee-colored skin and deep brown eyes. The eyes triggered the recognition for CJ along with the way she looked back at him with both respect and irritation.
“Huh,” CJ said directly to Che. “You’re Kendra’s daughter.”
Irritation flashed a little stronger across Che’s face when he mentioned Kendra Varrin. CJ’s crew turned to look closer and even both t
he Blood Stars specialists were taken by surprise.
“Varrin’s daughter?” Katy asked rhetorically.
“Wait just a minute here. Commander Varrin, ‘The Galactic Bitch’ is your mother?” Verlon asked in disbelief and nodded his head in realization. “That does explain a few things there, doesn’t it, Sunburn?”
“Drop it, Darkcloud.” She added a glare of warning. “Captain Evermore, a bounty has been placed on your head for murder and for the destruction of Skriti Station security forces.”
“We didn’t murder anybody,” CJ said in mild anger, “and I don’t know about any security forces being destroyed, but we did wipe the universe clean of the shit stain that was Victor Borne.”
The name of Victor Borne drew a look from all of the Blood Star personnel.
“L-T, Blaster’s right. There’s something wrong here, especially if Borne’s involved,” Darkcloud said.
“Was,” Gina emphasized the past tense.
“What’s so special with him, anyway?” CJ asked.
“Nothing,” Che said, in an almost hostile tone. “He’s a piece of shit the Blood Stars give license to do exactly what he loves to do: kill people.”
“Captain,” Boss said over the comms, “perhaps a ceasefire to confer?”
CJ eyed Che, who nodded reluctantly.
“Yes, very good, Boss. Meet us in the crew’s mess. Status yellow.”
“Roger that.”
CJ looked a little longer at Che.
“You have my word as an officer, Captain, neither my officers nor I will attempt anything.”
CJ stowed his K-13 and indicated for Cal and Blaster to lead the way to the crew’s mess; he and Che would bring up the rear.
“How did you know?” Che asked as they walked through the ship.
“Know what? That Kendra was your mother or that you were using Leland as bait?”
“I don’t know anything about a ‘Leland.’ We were the insertion team sent in to eliminate”—she looked sideways at him—“the threat. The mission was set up by Lieutenant Commander McCarthy.”
“McCarthy?” CJ said in disgust. “There’s your trouble, right there.”
“I don’t care for him either. Just can’t do anything about it at the moment,” she said candidly. “He and Borne are cut from the same cloth.”
“It was the eyes, by the way. They pinch at the ends when you get irritated, much the same way your mother’s do.”
Che’s eyes pinched a little bit more at that statement, and then she smiled and shook her head.
“Let’s start over. Hi, I’m CJ Evermore.” He stuck his hand out.
Che stopped to take his hand in return. “Che Talos.”
“So—Talos?” he asked, as they entered the crew’s mess.
“My father’s name. Didn’t want my mom’s position to affect my achievements,” she answered openly. “I managed to keep it a secret, up until now, that is.”
“Hmm, sorry about that.”
“It’s all right,” she replied, as she took the seat that he offered her. “It may not matter for long.”
“I’d like to talk about that, but let me first introduce my crew. This is Science Officer Boss Keltzer, Star Pilot Gina Riley, Chief Engineer Katy Evermore, and Tactical Officer Warren Caltrop.” Standard operating procedure on the Altered Moon whenever the crew met someone unknown was that GABI remained hidden and unmentioned to act as backup or surveillance.
“I’m Che Talos, Lieutenant in the Blood Stars Special Missions Squad. This is Marksman Specialist Verlon Rayne, call sign ‘Darkcloud,’ and this is Demolitions Specialist Benton Capp, call sign ‘Blaster.’”
“And your call sign is ‘Sunburn’?” Katy asked.
“Yes.” Che must have noticed the same last name and the ring on Katy’s finger. “And you’re Missus Evermore?”
“Yes,” Katy said back, and added snidely, “Your mother managed to put in an appearance at our wedding.”
“Uh-hum, Katy,” CJ said, in a ‘let it slide’ tone.
“Mmm, yes, well, ‘The Galactic Bitch’ isn’t known for her subtlety,” Che said in return, but stayed calm and didn’t rise to Katy’s remark.
A tense silence stretched over the room.
“Coffee, anyone?” Cal asked to break the silence.
“Perhaps a shot of the Shadowberry?” Boss suggested with an overly innocent smile at CJ.
“Not a bad idea,” CJ agreed. “Cal, why don’t you break out some of the Corvina, instead?”
“Aye, sir.” Cal threw a knowing smirk in Blaster’s direction.
“What mischief are you up to?” Blaster asked, but got no answer.
A round of small glasses soon stood filled to the rim in front of everyone. CJ lifted his glass and toasted the group, “Here’s to intrigue!”
“Intrigue!” the group resounded and drained their glasses. The crew of the Altered Moon knew what the vicious liquor was like, but the Blood Star pilots, on the other hand, had no idea.
“Oh!” Che whispered, as the fiery liquid burned all the way down.
“Haaaaa, that’s nice.” Darkcloud exhaled against the burn.
Blaster closed one eye and sucked in through the side of his mouth several times. “Ooh, mama.”
Boss raised a second glass after Cal filled the round again. “To th—ah, what’s the name of your ship, or is it ships?”
“Both. The Triton,” Che answered.
“To the Triton!” Boss raised his glass.
“The Triton!” the group answered and downed the round.
“That’s an interesting ship design,” Katy said about the Triton.
“Aye, she can jump when all three are—” Benton started to tell her.
“Blaster, perhaps now’s not the time,” Che said to him.
“Aye, right.”
Che politically raised the third glass in a return toast to their gracious hosts and the Altered Moon.
“The Altered Moon!” The group toasted again and the high-proof alcohol began to do its work. Tension eased and they began to relax.
“This is two hundred and forty-one-year-old Corvina!” Che said in surprise after she read the bottle.
“What? No, it can’t be,” Blaster said when he heard that.
“Read it yourself.” She handed him the bottle.
“Well shove me out of an airlock in me underwear!” he said in amazement.
The group laughed, and then Che turned to CJ. “Captain, are we your prisoners?”
“I certainly hope not, Lieutenant. I will tell you this: what McCarthy is after—are children. Children who were kidnapped from Marlacuer space a hundred and seventy years ago.”
Che gave CJ a look dripping with skepticism.
“You mean the Callan thing? Come on. No way, that’s been ages ago,” Blaster said.
“Jackson Callan, yes,” CJ confirmed.
“Who?” Darkcloud asked.
“Jackson Callan. Do you not know the history of our own organization?” Blaster went on. “Jackson Callan and the VerNeer Vendetta was what started the Blood Stars outfit years and years ago and oh, well dip me in Kang shit”—he turned to look in stunned amazement at CJ—“you found ’em. You found them VerNeer kids, didn’t you? That’s why McCarthy’s so hot after your ass. He wants those kids!”
Che’s face darkened while she thought the information over. “McCarthy set us up as patsies for his personal bullshit agenda. We’re expendable to him, just loose ends to be clipped off and thrown away.”
CJ neither directly confirmed nor denied it, but the cat was definitely out of the bag now. He watched Che closely, as she wrestled with this new information. He couldn’t quite place this woman: a Blood Star who had a problem with who the Blood Stars were. Curious, he thought to himself.
“After a hundred and seventy years, they’d be dust piles by now,” Darkcloud scoffed in disbelief.
“No, no,” Blaster answered. “They were put into suspension and hidden away for the VerNeers to fin
d while Callan made his escape, but the whole thing went haywire, and Callan was killed when his ship was destroyed. Only he knew the location and the two kids were never found. The family held a grudge against Callan’s Raiders and then against the Blood Stars after that. It’s gone on for nearly two hundred years. If McCarthy were to bring those kids in, he’d stand to gain a lot of prestige.”
“Well, he’s not going to get them,” Che said emphatically and looked at the other two Blood Stars. “This is the chance we‘ve been waiting for: a chance for our cause to set right an injustice and to prove our resolve.”
CJ and Boss exchanged a quick glance at what Che had just said. It wasn’t a typical Blood Star mentality to set right an injustice.
“So, you wanna to return these kids?” Cal asked. “Forgive me for sayin’, but that’s not exactly Blood Star ideology, not as I know it.”
“McCarthy is on the far side of Blood Star ideology from me—the very far side,” Che said venomously.
CJ looked at her for a long second, as he tried to decide whether to trust her or not. “You mentioned earlier your secret wasn’t going to matter for long.”
Che looked down for a moment then glanced at Darkcloud and Blaster, who both gave her the nod. “There’s a movement inside the Blood Stars to become a legitimate security force, to get away from the outlaw aspect entirely.”
“You mean become mercenaries?” Gina asked.
“Sort of, but more like private security for outposts and space stations, or for convoys and such. Returning these children to the VerNeer family could be the first step toward real change in the Blood Stars’ regime.”
Cal looked at CJ to see if he wanted another round, but CJ called it good for now. It wouldn’t do to let things run too loose with strangers aboard; it was just enough to take the edge off.
“Where does your mother stand on this?” CJ asked.
“Pbfff—which way is the wind blowing today? But, she and McCarthy are not buddies by any means.”
“It irks me that he had us doing his dirty work,” Darkcloud said ominously.
“Me too, Darkcloud, me too,” Che said.
“What are your intentions, Lieutenant?” CJ asked Che.
“I don’t want to steal anyone’s thunder, Captain, but, if you’re going to return those children, I’d like to help.”