EG 3 Ch 18 (Patreon)

I stood on the bridge of the Griffon as a map was laid out before us.

"At least we got some substantial credits," Tiri said, looking over the credit chit I had handed her.

"Honestly, he parted with this like it was nothing." I told her.

"To some people it is," Tiri said, tucking it carefully into her pocket. "But not to us."

I of course nodded in agreement. Not to us. This would be near enough for us to recover all of our losses when it came to the ship repairs. The actual value of those materials we traded were far more, but few people wanted banned technology.

"But is it clean?" I asked Tiri, more concerned that the money would be used to identify us.

"The money is fine. This is all fairly standard." She patted the pocket.

"Well, the next item of concern is what we're going to do with the information. You know, the reason we were there in the first place," I reminded Tiri before she got too preoccupied with the money.

"Correct," Tiri said, putting the money down. Everyone else on the bridge paid attention as Melgara brought the information up on the front viewscreen.

"He highlighted four military installations," Melgara said, "and gave us a decent amount of information on each. What he can't account for, and neither can we, is that shipments are constantly in motion, and we never quite know where any one ship group will be."

I nodded in agreement, looking through the options and immediately coming up with a few criteria.

"No planets," I said, to which the rest of my group turned to me for clarification. "Planets are messy. There are always civilian populations, and there's a delay in getting up and down. We've been caught a few times with our pants down because of that added complexity," I reminded them all.

"Rather not get orbitally bombarded again anytime soon," Brick agreed. It had probably been too much work for him.

"Fair," Tiri said. "Then that leaves two stations."

"I assume the further out from the core worlds, generally speaking, the less resistance we're going to find," I said, staring at the map and trying to play through the options.

"Probably," Violet agreed.

"Then I think we should start outward and move inward. If these are places with the kind of tech that we can trade, then they're probably going to be at least modestly outfitted," I deduced.

"We probably got lucky with how little resistance there was on our last job," Tiri said, and I could only nod in agreement. Still, as far as I was concerned, the last mission had been a grand success.

"Shall I set the coordinates for the station?" Melgara asked. "They're most likely scanning should anyone JACK in too close, but we can cut the time down to about a day in hyperspace."

"Perfect. And then, secondarily, we're on the lookout for anything marked Project Tomorrow," I said, repeating what I had been told on the station.

The crew on the bridge shrugged, unconcerned with the project name.

"Any idea what it's about?" Brick asked.

"Not a clue. While I was being treated as a potential ally in a lot of this, they were definitely keeping some things close to their chests. Privately the man was a revolutionary." I shrugged.

"You would expect at least that much if you're talking revolution." Melgara offered.

"Yeah, but that's at least why I feel like we can trust he's not going to betray us," I said, looking around the group. "Because the second we get hauled in, all we have to do is point them toward his knowledge and his desire for a revolution, and I'm certain this Unity would have him dead or captured within a day."

"And Project Tomorrow?" Melgara asked. "Any idea what it's about?"

"Just that it's a next-gen weapon. I can only assume someone with a revolution on their mind would very much like to know their enemy's play before they make it." I answered.

"That's not much to go on," Violet pointed out, but immediately conceded. "Not that we need anything to go on. It's not like we're guaranteed to find anything on it. The real question is, how are we going to go about our attack?"

I smiled at Violet and looked around the bridge. "This time, we get to go to them." I grinned. "Honestly, I'm looking forward to being on the offensive."

The group around me all hummed in agreement. It was one thing to fight when cornered, another to fight on the offensive. If I was being honest, it was far more satisfying being on the lead foot than the back.

"Well, here's the plan, at least as I see it," I said, steepling my fingers and leaning forward.

***

Melgara sat up straight at the controls. "Ship detected," she said, and I grinned.

"Swoop in low. Don't let it realize we're even here. Bring her in," I said, watching the ship on the scanners.

We had been idly floating in space, waiting for such a moment the last two days. I was pretty excited for what I thought might be the most creative use of Lily's ability to date.

Ship scanners weren't a whole lot more than a million lasers thrown off into distant space, sweeping and receiving any signal that bounced back. The signal would bounce off shielding, and it was launched in a varied enough array, across a large enough spectrum, that it was increasingly difficult to simply absorb all of it to attain some sort of stealth.

Not that it was impossible, merely impractical, to find the kind of material that could do so and also survive the challenges like reentry to a planet were at odds.

And that's where Lily came in handy. The helivore could spread such a material over the entire exterior of the ship, and then retract it while the ship was in operation. Such as right now as Lily's primary body was spread out over the surface, scattering and absorbing this other ship's scans.

"Commencing landing," Melgara said, flying our unshielded ship down atop theirs as Lily's mycelial network stretched out from the base of our landing gear, twisting and neatly punching through their shields, only to arrest the other ship's movement.

"They're panicking," I said with a grin, watching as they started blasting signals out everywhere around them in hopes of understanding what they'd just run into in the middle of unoccupied space. But they were already a fly in a web with Lily ready and waiting to wrap them up.

"Lily," I said, turning to my security officer, "please disable their engines and comms."

Lily sat calmly while she worked, closing her eyes for a moment before they snapped open, glowing a brilliant pink. "Complete," she reported with a grin.

"Then please bring us around, and let's dock so we have time to get to know our new ship," I said, unholstering the deadly and illegal rifle that I had first collected aboard the ship. Sometimes it was better to just put your best foot forward.

The doc eyed the weapon with a look of distaste. "I do not know why you insist on such a brutal weapon."

"It is very effective," I said with a shrug.

"Captain, what are you doing?" Lily asked as I held the rifle aloft, ready to join them.

"We're going to go clear the ship," I said, as if that fact were obvious.

She paused, staring at me, before her head slowly pivoted to Violet. "Would you be willing to go with the captain?"

"Of course." Violet snapped a salute, and I looked at the divine Kikai as if she had betrayed me.

"Really?" I asked, and Violet only shrugged. I eyed her a bit, wary from her previous disinterest in killing in these sorts of situations.

"You still owe me a date," she pointed out. "And I am trying to get on Lily's good side. At first I thought I might be able to overtake her, but you've been so content with her lately, I think that ship has well and truly sailed."

That  statement only raised more questions than it answered, but Lily did not seem to bristle at all at the comment. I was glad that my helivore girlfriend was so confident in us. That at least made my life easier.

"All right," I said slowly. "I suppose that makes some sense. I'm glad the two of you are getting along." Apparently getting along very well. I wasn’t even aware that helivores understood the concept of sharing.

Violet also quietly reached for my very illegal rifle and pried it out of my hand with the same effort someone might use removing something from a stubborn toddler's grip, then handed me Akari's rifle. "Also, I'd hate to see what a mess that gun makes. This one will simply be cleaner."

"It's very effective," I told her, and the divine frowned.

"It's also a walking war crime. I'd feel bad every time you used it on someone." She told me.

That was actually a more successful argument for me, and I gave up trying to get it back. "Fine."

I stared at the gun for a moment before shifting my focus back to Akari's rifle. Lily had already descended into the enemy ship, and I assumed her main body was also getting to work, stripping any and all life from it. I checked my gear one last time as we headed to the airlock.

Violet was far more casual about this plan than I had expected. "Are you not concerned about, I don't know, having to kill someone?" I asked. She had previously held off on killing people, to the detriment of all of us.

Her jaw set as I asked the question. "I will", she let out a heavy sigh, "be fine."

To that, I could only nod slowly and descend into the ship with her. "If you feel uncomfortable while we're down here, please let me know."

"There will be no discomfort," she said sharply. "I have a mission, and it will be completed. As well as keeping you safe, Captain."

I realized my mistake. "I didn't mean to imply otherwise."

She shook her head. "Your presence will make this all far easier for me. I don't need protection, but you do, Captain."

I was very tempted to correct her of that misconception, but instead I bit my tongue. If that was what was going to get Violet on board with the plan, then who was I to argue?

***

As soon as we stepped on the ship, I put the rifle against my shoulder and began a slow plod through the ship, one foot in front of the other.

Violet twitched, all four of her tails slamming to one side as a locker exploded, but the blast didn't reach us. Instead, it was as if an invisible hand had shunted it off to the side, leaving Violet standing there, scowling.

"Perhaps you should head back, Captain. This might be more dangerous than anticipated. We hadn’t expected them to start trapping this place,” her frown was either from the danger I was in or the cowardly tactic of using traps.

"How about you just stick close? You can protect me," I offered, with the kind of smile of someone who knew he was in trouble and was determined to go through with it anyway.

"Stay behind me," Violet insisted, and marched down the corridor faster than I had been moving. Her tails were all out and on alert, even as they looked like they were waving lazily behind her.

We rounded the corner, and laser fire scattered against Violet before she rolled back around it. I came up to her side, my rifle ready and waiting to take the corner, but she held me off, her hand coming up a little too fast and nearly knocking the wind out of me.

"Oof," I wheezed, and she glanced down at her hand in horror.

"Sorry, Captain. Still getting used to the newest tail." She winced.

I waved her off, though. "It's fine. No permanent damage. Just feels like someone got a nice cheap shot in my gut," I said, hiding any pain I felt behind a broad grin and my eagerness to do something.

Violet bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Right. Regardless, allow me to handle it?" she asked, and I was ready to put up a fight. She must have seen my stubbornness in my face

"Persistent, aren't you?" She simply sighed. "On my count," she offered instead.

"On your count," I agreed.

She sucked in a breath. "Three, two, one."

A smidge early, she flung herself around the corner, causing me to lag a second behind. But she was already there, rushing down the corridor and attracting the fire of every soldier present. They had made a barricade and were hunched behind it, laser rifles tight to their shoulders, firing on Violet and doing pitifully little.

The beamsaber she'd gotten from her master's ship swung loosely in her hands at blinding speed, yet the casualness with which she walked steadily forward while deflecting every shot made it look easy.

On the other hand, it gave me the easy job of standing behind her and firing over her shoulder.

The first shot went straight into a soldier's head, which slammed back with the force of the blast. The others realized the problem and immediately ducked, which created a bit of a catch 22 for them. Because the second they stopped firing at Violet, she shot down the hallway like a missile on a mission, reaching their barricade and chopping it in two before they could do anything to stop her.

Their barrier split, and Violet's tails swirled, throwing each section aside. I got one more shot in before her saber swung through a dozen soldiers in a single sweeping blow that filled the air with the singed, crisp scent of burnt flesh.

"Not bad," Violet said, and I couldn't help a proud grin as I stood up straight under her praise.

"Of course. I have been practicing," I said, ignoring the fact that the rifle had auto-aim features.

"We'll keep doing it like that," Violet said. "Their rifles and sabers won't do much to me, and I doubt we're going to see another divine on this ship."

"Yeah. Somehow I get the feeling that they don't play nice with others," I said, calling them assholes as politely as I could.

"I don't think they play with others at all. Though, to be on the safe side, stay behind me," Violet said with a knowing look.

"One of these days, I do need to practice a little more. Who knows, maybe my divine powers are still on their way," I said, wiggling my fingers.

The soft smile on her face would have been enough to break a weaker man's heart, but I took it with a grin. My powers probably weren’t coming, at least not without more tinkering from Lily and Melgara.

"Lead the way," I gestured, and she instantly stopped trying to coddle me, moving down the hall at a quick clip.

We rounded a corner into a similar group of attackers. Violet smashed them apart in the blink of an eye. I lowered my rifle, disappointed. But I could tell that she wasn’t trying to keep me from the fight. She was just being efficient. I would have to step it up a bit, the hesitant to kill Violet had vanished into protector Violet.

When we rounded the next corner and soldiers were present, I didn't hesitate. My rifle peppered fire down on them, pinning them for a split second and creating the opportunity Violet needed.

She was on them a moment later, a mighty kick sending the whole group hunkered behind their barrier flying, to which the divine Kikai smirked. My rifle's auto-aiming feature adjusted my aim as I held the trigger down, treating the soldiers like clay pigeons, knocking them out of the air one after the other.

Violet had the gall to blink after that marksmanship. "Well done," she said, and I only grinned.

"It's not like you were playing fair, with extra speed, strength, and durability. I guess I decided to stop playing with a handicap." I told her and had completely given in letting the rifle do its thing. It was a beast of a weapon if I wasn’t too proud to use all of its features.

"I wouldn't call it that," she said in a rush.

"Oh, don't worry, I don't take it personally. I'm enhanced somehow too, now," I said, pulling at the lock of red hair that so far hadn't shown any significant abilities beyond healing from what should have been a lethal wound. "I guess that counts for something, even if I would prefer a more… proactive ability." Not getting hit in the first place was far better than healing.

"The bridge is cleared," Lily's voice came over the comms.

"Go ahead and give Brick the feed. I want to figure out where any holdouts might be." I instructed.

"On it, Captain." Brick's voice came through loud and clear. Then the line went quiet.

I squinted at the comms. "What do you think the chances are that Lily's taking care of any and all of said holdouts?"

"Quite high," Violet admitted. "Are you mad?"

I thought about it for a moment. "No. I would have been mad if I had been stuck on the ship. I get it. I got hurt," I said as we continued down the hall, Violet noticeably one step ahead of me.

"Just being included means that much?" she asked.

We walked into a room, an officer's quarters with a terminal, and I let out a sigh. I knew my roaming of the ship had come to an end. While Lily and Violet might be able to rip armies apart, it had become abundantly clear very quickly that they were both useless when it came to technology.

"Yeah. There's a large difference between being given the safer job," I said, glaring at Violet, "and not being allowed to have a job at all. One is the caution of a girlfriend; the other is a controlling relationship. Caution I can understand. I can even respect it. Controlling…" I met Violet's eyes, letting her read the warning in them.

"I'll talk to Lily," Violet said slowly.

"Up to you," I said with a shrug, pretending that it didn't bother me at all. Though it wasn’t so much as it currently bothered me, but I knew myself well enough to know what would cause resentment in the long term and mature enough to put that forward to preserve a relationship.

I understood Lily on so many levels. She cared for me and wanted to keep me safe above all else. It was hard to be mad about that. The fact that she was willing to go to extreme measures to do so was likely more a reflection of how much trouble I could be than of her own stubbornness.

Which made me once again reflect on just how stubborn I had been in turn. About Lily, about Violet, and probably a few more things I hadn't even noticed. I let it all out in a breath and put it to rest.

I leaned over and kissed Violet's cheek, causing the divine Kikai to blush, hold her cheeks, and stammer. "What was that?"