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  “I ended up on the first floor. Can we meet in the elevators?”

  “What? How did you manage that?”

  “I climbed through the vents but my path only allowed me to drop down,” she explained, Kaiden could hear a tinge of embarrassment in her voice and his spontaneous chortle of amusement likely did little to help.

  “Do you have a thing for vents or what’s the deal there? It’s like every other mission for you.”

  “I wouldn’t have to resort to them so often if you wouldn’t make going into the halls such a nuisance,” she retorted. “Plus, I don’t have any defensive options other than my guns and the second floor is crawling with at least twenty guards.”

  “I can meet you wherever you need me to,” Kaiden assured her. “But the elevators? Won’t we trap ourselves in what would be essentially a moving coffin?”

  During the few moments of silence that followed his question, Kaiden wondered if he’d lost the connection. Finally, she sighed and responded. “I have a plan for that.”

  The captain of the guard burned with rage, but his mood had begun to lift. He and his men had been played like fools by these two off-worlders. If they were able to get back to space and contact another outpost, the World Council would knock on their doors in a matter of days.

  And he did not intend to be the one to explain their little deal with the pirates when the powers that be asked the inevitable questions.

  Now, however, he saw the opportunity to eliminate them. He and a dozen men stood in front of the elevator doors to the hanger. He had seen on the surveillance—one of the few things he could wrest control of away from that damned infiltrator—that the two had met up and now took the elevator to this floor. He had thought they were elite agents, but such an idiotic decision proved they were simply mercs who’d had one lucky break. That would end. Now.

  “The elevator is arriving, sir,” one of the guards informed him and the rest readied their weapons.

  “As soon as it arrives, blast it apart,” he commanded. The men were silent as they waited for the hum of the ascending elevator to stop and the light above to flash with its arrival.

  Ding.

  The guards opened fire before the doors even opened and it exploded beneath a volley of both kinetic rounds and laser fire. Smoke kicked up from the blasts and chunks of the doors and interior careened like giant shrapnel. When the firing ceased and the smoke began to clear, the captain chuckled. “Bring out the bodies. Maybe we can salvage their equip— What the hell?”

  “I guess I owe you a hundred creds.” Kaiden sighed with his arms folded as he and Chiyo stood atop the elevator. “I can’t believe this worked.”

  “Show some faith with that pride,” she chided and knelt to grab the handle of the hatch. “Besides, do you really think it’s so different from something you would suggest?”

  “Okay, I won’t say no,” he admitted as he removed his grenade holster and depressed the button on top to activate all the thermals within. “But I will counter that by saying that you would think it was as stupid if I did it.”

  “I won’t say no,” she responded and opened the hatch as he threw the container down and over to the feet of the guards in front of the elevator. A massive eruption drowned out the shrieks of the unsuspecting victims. Kaiden drew his rifle and nodded to Chiyo, who activated a stealth generator and became translucent before she disappeared and her armor created a mirror-like surface to hide her.

  Kaiden vaulted into the elevator and immediately opened fire. He picked off several guards as Chiyo rushed past him to commandeer one of the ships. He eliminated two other guards as they tried to recover and turned as a door opened in the far corner of the hanger. Another group made their way in, but the doorway throttled the press of bodies. Kaiden fired two more shots before his rifle overheated, but with the defenders so bunched up, the shots he had managed to fire effectively decimated those in front. He vented his gun, placed it on his back, and drew Debonair.

  After a deep breath, he surged forward to get closer and dodged a few shots before he rolled beside a metal crate. The laser blasts from his adversaries began to melt through the container and his makeshift shield, but it would hold for long enough. He leaned to the side and delivered three shots to the stomach of one guard. At this range, it took only one shot from to penetrate the armor and another to finish the kill.

  With two men remaining, Kaiden rolled out from behind his cover and fired. A bullet penetrated one man’s visor and another two in the leg brought the second guard down. He fell and gave Kaiden a perfect shot to his head. With only two more shots, the last of the defenders had fallen.

  The ace stood and glanced around quickly. Chiyo decloaked and waved him over. As he began to make his way over to her, he recalled that he hadn’t seen the captain—yet he could have sworn that he heard him when they arrived.

  When he felt a wind rush around him, he whirled and stopped as one the fighter craft hovered and turned slowly toward them.

  “You won’t get out of here,” the captain bellowed over the speakers in the hanger. “I am the judge on this planet. And for everything you’ve done, I sentence you to death.”

  As ominous as the fighter was, what Kaiden saw behind it galvanized him into action. Adrenaline kicked in and he sprinted away from the craft as its cannons began to prime. The captain’s laugh was one of both mockery and triumph, distorted and amplified by the speakers.

  A flaming wreckage of a ship barreled in and the captain barely caught it in in his periphery before it slammed into his fighter. Both craft exploded and the force hurled Kaiden to the floor. Crates, ship parts, and other items in the hanger rolled past or sailing over him. He flipped and stared at a massive fire on the other side of the hanger where the two crashed ships burned.

  “Good Lord, What was that?” Kaiden demanded.

  “A rescue…of a sort,” a familiar voice answered over the comms.

  “Genos?” he asked and peered around for his teammate. “Was that you?”

  “Indeed, but if you don’t mind, could you come to the front of the hanger?” Kaiden scrambled to his feet and rushed forward. Genos dangled on the lip of the hanger entrance. “I could use some assistance, if you please.”

  Kaiden grabbed the Tsuna’s waiting hand. “Crazy, man. I’ve rubbed off on both of you.” He chuckled and hauled his friend to safety.

  “I received Chiyo’s distress beacon and I was able to get the ship airborne but not in the best shape,” he explained as he dusted himself off and checked his gear. “I wish you could have held off getting into danger for a couple of hours more.”

  “It wasn’t really our intention. I mean it,” Kaiden assured him and flicked a thumb at the ship Chiyo had activated. “I’ll explain once we set off if you like, but for now, do you think you’re steady enough to fly that?”

  Genos looked at the ship. “Certainly, and maybe the system will realize I am a far superior pilot than it believes me to be.”

  “So it did bother you, then?” he prodded and the Tsuna simply gave a curt nod as he passed. They made their way to the ship, boarded, and closed the door. “Best we get out before any more guards come in.”

  “Agreed. Good to see you made it, Genos.” Chiyo greeted him from the co-pilots chair as Genos took his seat.

  “With aplomb, too,” Kaiden pointed out.

  “Once we make it into space, what will our next move be?” Genos inquired as he completed Chiyo’s preparations for take-off.

  “I have coordinates for the station. It should be a straight path but with a fair amount of flying without a warp gate or high-grade thrusters,” she stated.

  “Then I guess we’ll save and take it on later.” Kaiden rubbed the back of his neck as the ship began to depart. “I have a date with a killer robot in about nineteen hours.”

  Chapter Six

  “Are the tests finished?” the lead technician asked his subordinates.

  “Yes, sir. We’ve completed the trials,” one
of them said enthusiastically. “With this, we can advise Axiom that the device will be completed on schedule.”

  “Wonderful,” the lead said with a smile. “I appreciate all the work you’ve done in support of this, gentlemen. We will tell them they will have it in their hands in seven days’ time.”

  Gin paused the video and looked past the techs at the device they spoke of. It appeared to be such a simple thing—merely a slim square box, mostly featureless with the exception of a hole in the middle that contained a scanning device. From what he understood, it wouldn’t even function properly without a top-grade mirage system linked to it.

  Which happened to be one of a number of things he had acquired in his travels, so he certainly had no concerns there.

  The killer tapped a finger against his chin as he considered his options. How should he approach this? It seemed it would be easy enough to simply go in and take it. Thanks to the access he had through his benefactor, it wouldn’t require too much to hide himself from prying eyes. Perhaps he could make it part of a night’s work quickly completed. He mulled it over for a moment before he decided against it. Although this particular company, Eton Inc., wasn’t a part of Zubanz’s little organization directly, it did work for Axiom whose owners very much were. Given that connection, it was probably for the best that he didn’t stir the pot too much.

  He sighed and scratched his head. It truly was most inconvenient to work for others and have to factor in things like allegiances and who was pandering to whom. He would far rather not have to deal the politics. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t know someone had been there when a special, classified device had been removed directly from the factory. He sighed and told himself to focus on the toys he would have later. The fun he would have would be so much greater after a job well done.

  It appeared, then, that it would be the stealthy way. He checked the date on the record—three days ago. That still left more than enough time but he didn’t want to risk them handing it off early or possibly transferring it to another location due to safety concerns. Well-founded safety concerns, perhaps, but it would still be a nuisance. He turned the video off, took the chip from the table, and flipped it in his hand as he approached a massive oil-painting in his sponsored abode.

  Gin traced his fingers over the lines of a bleeding-heart flower in the middle entwined around a pale beauty. The painting shimmered in a dull white light before it dissolved to reveal his armor, weapons, and tools hidden behind it. The table that held the suit moved away from the wall and descended at an angle in front of him. He smiled as he traced his hand over the front of his chest plate before he lifted it to retrieve his helmet and placed the chip inside.

  He wondered if perhaps his plan was too elaborate to snatch a single target. It was an honest question but was conquered when he thought of the prize—both the boy and the tool he would create.

  With this, he would not only take care of one of the few who got away, but he would have access to the Nexus Academy whenever he wished, both in the real world and inside their celebrated Animus.

  “Are the security systems in place?” the night watch captain, Bellerd, asked his subordinate.

  “Yes, sir. Everything is locked down and defenses are active. I don’t think anyone is in here except the night shift guard,” the man answered.

  “Good, but you would be wrong on us being the only ones in here,” Bellerd stated. “Professor Lumiya is still in his office.”

  “This late? It’s past midnight,” the guard spluttered, “Isn’t he a new father? You would think he would want to spend time with his family.”

  “This is his last big project before he takes an extended vacation,” the captain explained. “The man is a workaholic. He’s as excited about his baby girl as anyone would be, but he’s also the lead in this project. He gotta make sure everything works right, otherwise his vacation might be spoiled if he’s called back in.”

  “Fair enough.” The other man shrugged, “I guess I’ll go take point at the main entrance. I promised Darvish I would take over from him so he could get some caffeine in him.”

  “I’ll join you after I make another round on level four,” Bellerd promised. “The sensors there still aren’t aligned right and I constantly receive silent alarms if even so much as a bolt knocks against the ground. The brass knows that, but I would still get reamed with reports if I didn’t go and record the area.”

  “Understood, sir.” His subordinate saluted and made his way to his position.

  The captain sighed as he watched him go. He’d known Ovid for a few years, now, and the man would probably make lead in a few more years himself. He was a good man if a little uptight. While he respected that his subordinate knew protocol, they could relax a little in this job. The systems did most of the work there, after all.

  “I thought he would never leave,” a low, mirthful voice muttered. Bellerd instinctively grabbed for his shock baton, but his hand was snatched and forced against his back. Something jabbed into his neck and he saw only black before he could make a sound.

  Gin held the night watch captain up and dragged him over to the door to the main development lab. He used the guard’s keycard to activate the console and opened his eye for the scanner to read him. Eye readers were tricky. He couldn’t simply remove the eyeball as it wouldn’t read life signs. Even tranquilizers or sedatives had to be administered with extreme care. Otherwise, the eyes flickered or some shit and the scanner would register them as asleep. That was certainly a good way to trigger an alarm.

  The door opened and Gin dragged the man inside and placed him behind a table for now. He closed the door and made a mental note to come back for him before he left. A quick glance at his surroundings confirmed that he recognized most of the area from the videos he had watched. He checked the map in his HUD. The device should be here. He took a few more steps and noticed an enclosed dome on a station in the middle of the room. Well, if that didn’t look fancy.

  He sauntered over and his scrutiny revealed laser triggers around it that would trip if he got too close. The dome itself was reinforced so he probably couldn’t blast it open, even with a hundred thermals. He smiled. Normally, this would be a pain—doable, but he would have to work on it for a couple of hours. However, now seemed like a good time to recoup some of his investment in the new bauble he’d received from Vinci. This would simply be a single demonstration of its varied uses.

  The killer held his hand out and activated the command in his HUD. The scanner washed over the display for a few seconds and he saw the interior of every device in his vicinity. In the next second, darkness appeared on his HUD and seemed to swallow all the wiring, not only around the dome but any device in his view. The lasers died and the dome opened as several other machines turned off.

  Gin smiled with smug satisfaction. It was very sensitive but he could tweak that, no problem. He would have to give Vinci his proper congratulations the next time he saw him. This had exceeded his expectations

  Maybe he should kill him so no one else would get it. Would Vinci sell out like that? He didn’t seem like that kind of man. This was a program made to his specifications after all, one of a kind. The hacker had best hope it stayed that way.

  He picked up the device and admired it for a moment before he slipped it into a container strapped onto his leg. The time in his visor indicated forty-two minutes and twenty-three seconds since he’d made his way in. Not a personal best but not too shabby given that he’d had to wait for that idiot guard to wander off.

  A gun primed behind him and his experience identified it immediately—Altair model, a slim but efficient energy pistol. He turned quickly. The lead technician from the videos stood behind him and brandished a pistol. An Altair just like he’d thought. At least he hadn’t lost his touch.

  “Who are you?” the man demanded. “How did you get in and what are you doing with that?”

  “I’m taking it,” Gin stated calmly and leaned back against the desk. “For all thos
e smarts you aren’t very wise, are you?”

  “Fool! Do you even know what that is?” the scientist demanded. “That’s a—”

  “New type of hologram system. It combines hard-light creations with replicant software and bio-transfusion chems to perfectly replicate another person,” the killer finished for him. “I believe you named the project Wormwood. I like your sense of style, Mr. Lumiya.”

  “Are you merely a burglar or is this corporate espionage?” he asked.

  “Neither, really. Plus, espionage would imply that I’m looking for schematics or something.” Gin patted his leg. “I’m taking the whole thing.”

  “You idiot. That is a device ordered and funded by Axiom. They won’t simply allow you to keep it. You’ll be hounded until they catch you and get it back. They will make you disappear when they get their hands on you.”

  “That wouldn’t change my life much, honestly,” he admitted. “And I’m good enough to disappear on my own. Although I don’t suppose you would know that. I really need to work on my introductions a little more.” He straightened and the professor continued to threaten him with the gun. Gin bowed mockingly. “My name is Gin Sonny, collector of only the finest shiny things. I’m also an intergalactic killer, but I usually leave that out. It tends to ruin the mood.”

  “Gin…Gin Sonny?” the professor stammered. “What are you— No, enough talk. I will not allow you to take that device or live to kill anyone ever again.” He fired his pistol and the interloper simply held up a hand. A small barrier formed in his palm, blocked his head, and absorbed the shots. The man changed his aim to direct a few shots at his chest, but the armor’s barrier flared to life and deflected the blasts.

  The pistol overheated and burned his hand and he dropped it with a curse.

  “Those Altair models are stylish and all and have decent punching power, but you should have sprung for the new model. It rectifies the rapid overheat problem. You should know that the overheat on those things is one of the worst in the pistol department, especially without gloves.” Gin walked forward and the professor backed away and clutched his burnt hand.