Hidden Garden space station, 2 days later

I never knew that formally studying was this tedious, the nagging of Idunn and the A.I. got to me and I almost ignored them. Telekinesis, using the mind to influence matter is the basis of many types of power to manipulate the world around the user. Through training videos I learned how to levitate, grip, bind objects and androids in the gym. The levitation speaks for itself, I lifted myself, weights, water bottles, knives in the air! It was so easy, but when I lifted two androids I got a killing headache. Gripping the weights on the ground was the easiest part of the training, the powerful artificial muscle of the android trainers couldn’t even budge them. Binding is the same thing has gripping and it was boring.

Right now I was learning how to pull and push, the A.I. was saying how important the basic of mental manipulation is important. That I should master all the skills that it’s showing me because they will be part of more complicated techniques like TK body reinforcement. As if my enhanced body wasn’t enough, I could become even more resilient, strong and agile. Never would I have thought that obtaining abilities like mine would throw me into a learning frenzy. These last two days were not kind to me, I had to eat, study, sleep, and repeat. Idunn took a real pleasure to cook my protein supplements, she said “I am catching up on my motherly duties” and wouldn’t let me just have the military rations onboard.

More importantly, the stealth ship who ventured in this solar system has stopped but recently a fighter shuttle or drone was launched from it recently and is approaching us. We could detect passive attempt to scan the space station from afar, the systems on this station are so advanced that it is no joking matter. When I saw the logo of the Vice Industries on everything I finally understood who Idunn is friend with. Anyway, the sensor detected a stealth fighter probing the perimeter of the station. I devised the plan in case the station get boarded or when if the mercenaries were wary and deployed spytech.

I focused and a pet bottle that was on the bench six meter from me flew in my waiting right hand. TK is so useful that I ask myself how come I lived without it before, it made me lazy. But I wallowed in the power rippling through me when I use it, I am aware of everything going on too. It will come in handy if I ever get in a fight with multiple foes, it did work with the training androids. Fortunately, the station fabricators can recycle those I’ve broken with my misuse of TK. When I don’t control my will sufficiently my abilities lash out and crush my foes even when I don’t look at them, the space sense of my telekinetic powers is always on. Drinking water from the pet bottle, I feel refreshed.

Ding!

A Holo window opened before me with a message only for me.

Lady Fenicia, you asked me to warn you if the craft currently scouting the perimeter of the station is in the targeted area for the EMP mines.

And my plan comes together beautifully, it made me smile and slosh water on my black sports bra. I carefully watched toward the gate to see if someone saw and is relieved to not have spoiled the image I try to project. I passed my fingers in my blue hair and relaxed thinking if what I am about to do is going to bite me in the sizz*(*mean ass in Saryan).

“Daneel, engage EMP mines and the tractor beam,” I said and smiled ruthlessly.

Acknowledged, Lady Fenicia.

Standing up I remembered the plan: Awaken the EMP mines orbiting around the station, get the fighter shuttle/spy drone they send to scout, message the ship it launched from if they don’t flee. Destroy their weapons and hyperdrive, provoke them to board the station or make them flee.

Aware that with the defensive system of the station I could heavily damage the other ship but not destroy them I implemented the plan to steadily force them to board it, and use the androids and tactic to thin the mercenaries and let Daneel the AI take control of the enemy ship by bypassing the command and control and own AI. I will without a doubt have a harsh fight; because I don’t think I’m going to keep prisoners.

***

Ell Evan

 

Aboard the Eagle RX897, I probed the space around the orbit of the space station designated Hidden Garden. It looks like a research station; the kind made to research on planets with funky biospheres that human cannot colonize. The best examples are those that the Shdeveri people love to colonize dangerous and challenging biosphere with magnificent jungles. It doesn’t prevent them to plant vegetals from their mother planets on others.

The vessel I am on is a stealth fighter, commonly used in the Terran sphere of influence. But I feel naked and jumpy as if I knew that it’s not enough. I feel it in my guts, something is about to go wrong! And when I hear the multiple Klang on the hull that feeling solidified, a thrumming could be heard as if something was building up.

“Oh shit!” I yelled.

All the electronics were disrupted and fried, even my quantum jewel on my right ear exploded. Shit, I got caught! Fumbling with the commands and the surviving interface of the fighter, I tried to see what the fuck happened to it when an even bigger shock rocked it and made me hit my forehead on the low ceiling of the cockpit.

“Damnit.”

What is happening? I feel heavy as if a powerful pressure is applied on me and it gradually increases. For long minutes I had trouble moving until I could even lift a finger. I reflected on my options and the tactical meaning of what is happening to me. There is a great chance that the people in that space station know that my squadron is out here and that our stealth tech is nothing to them.

Sigh.

It is really a fucking suicide mission, it made me laugh. But, I’ll not give up without a fight.

Bong.

Hearing that sound, I felt that pressure on me recede. I pushed the buttons on my belt that kept me hitting everything in the cockpit and I was free. The control instruments showed me that I am not in space anymore. From what I can already see what happened; those people who captured me are good, really good. They got something that caught my craft and neutralized the controls and used a tractor beam to get me in… I perked up. I must be in the station.

Suddenly a blade pierced the roof of the cockpit, it made lower my head. I heard the sound of metal being cut and wrenched open. The exposing ceiling of the docking bay of that space station looked pristine and shiny. A black sphere came flying into the fighter new entrance and floated there, red light projected out of it. It scanned me and I was suddenly in mid-air and out of my fighter. Near the nose of the craft an armored figure was there, the being distinctively female. She had blue short blue and golden eyes and built like those amazons depicted in ancient Terran history that the doctor forced me to study when I was a kid. She pointed a gun at me and fired, a blue beam of energy hit me and darkness engulfed me.

***

I was brutally woken up by an acrid smell and opened my eyes and seeing someone crouching before me and having a sort of bottle under my nose. The being, the same one which put me in this state smiled at me, her golden gaze sizing me up as if I am a mystery she must resolve. Before I did anything she was against the table on the far wall six meter from me. That scared me shitless; I didn’t even see her move. I kept my heart steady to find a semblance of calm. That female Amazon was playing with her com tablet, not concerning herself with me. I took the trouble to stand up. The Amazon looked at me from her com tablet. She was playing games with me, I can feel it. Assessing the place I am located in by looking around, a big room with grey walls, and white furniture, mainly chairs and a table. On the left wall compared to my position a door could be seen, a control panel glowed that must open it is located on the right of it. I was surprised to not be restrained and to still be in my flight suit.

“Who are you?” I asked defiantly.

“You have penetrated private property of Vice Industries, you’ll be detained until the owner dispatch a craft to come retrieve you and ensure that you are tried for your trespass.” She read calmly from her pad.

Yes, she was reading this, her voice had an accent in it that I couldn’t place.

“Ah! You are not a centurion! Or you would know all the procedures. Seriously, who are you?”

She was already on me when I finished my sentence and had her hand around my neck and lifting me from the ground. The gauntlet of her blue armor chimed and she let me fall to the ground. The Amazon spoke in a language I have no knowledge of and turned her back to me. Someone must have contacted her. Thinking that I can take her when she has her back turned to me, I was about to launch myself at her, only to find the muzzle of a high-velocity pistol in my face. The translucent LED on it and the design showed me that it is a Casul R-XV that use electromagnetic accelerators with selective modes and targeting computer assist. In my fear, I could feel jealousy welling up in me. This woman was superbly equipped with the best tech while I had to scrounge with outdated gears from the Human Federation. I frowned, the woman turned herself toward me and pointed her gauntlet at me. A source of light could be seen from one aperture of the gauntlet and from head to boots covered me. Was it some kind of scanner?

“Enhanced human? Y’er one of this super soldier, right?”

“Corporal Ell Evan, Serial Number18789B-58.” Is all I answered her.

“Oh, yes. You had that resisting interrogation training shit you humans do. There is a sure way to circumvent this, we have a psionic onboard that will rip inside yer head or the technological way which consist in the use of a pain inducer that the V. I. pioneered.” She was listing possibly destructive option to my mind and body as if it was a matter of course, and that damn accent of her grated on my nerves.

She approached me, her armor clanging on the metallic ground. Her shiny high-tech armor made her look even more formidable from so close. The Amazon stared hard at me and put a heavy hand on my right shoulder. My flight suit crinkled a bit.

“Or I could buy you your freedom, deactivate the fuckin’ explosive in your noggin that makes you subservient to your owners and help me catch the cloaked ship yer fighter came from.”

My mind raced, hope and wariness played a tug of war inside me. She must be lying, something… there is a catch. The Amazon must have read my expression because she added. “No catch.”

I thought about the loyalty, time and training I owed the Private Military Contractor Ares. I thought of all the hardship, the freedom they dangled and all the lies and violence I have been subjected to. The good times I had were few, and I have always been alone because of my capabilities.

*Fuck them.*

It was time to show what I am truly made of, my eyes found those of the tall female with all the decisiveness and sincerity I can muster.

“Ok, but I want in the action too. I want to kill all those fuckers, they don’t deserve any mercy.” My decision was final.

The Amazon smiled, and said, “You’ll have to go under for a bit.” And struck me lightly behind the head, and familiar darkness embraced me once again, fuck my life.

 

***

Fenicia

 

Idunn was working on the super soldier and defused the bomb that the scan found in her skull. Enough explosive to reduce her head into bloody mist. Those guys from the super soldier farms aren’t playing around, I know I am taking a leap of faith that this Ell girl can help me. But Idunn read her thought when I proposed her to be free. She would have chimed in with my com gauntlet if she was misleading me.

At the same time, Idunn was scanning her mind for info on the opposition. That is serious multi-tasking she’s doing. No wonder she was given that station to do her own work by the Tyrant. That’s what we call the woman who is the face of Vice Industries, who in one fell swoop and lengthy preparation kicked the human federated worlds asses with force and technologies tightly guarded. I am scared, but I will not show it, resolving the present situation is more important. I watched Idunn work with the quantum field generator and inject something in the skull of the girl. Normally I am not squeamish but… I hope she didn’t do that to me.

I was sitting on the sofa in the viewing room which is separated by a combination of transparent aluminum and a force field, real alternative to an antiquated blast door. The door whooshed and an android came bringing me a drink. A drink that Idunn said is important for my new constitution which I drank promptly. It tasted like a tropical fruit from the Thelian colony in the Tersian system, sweet and fresh with a delicious bit aftertaste of sourness.

Staying like this, worrying about that super soldier wasn’t the usual thing for me. I know that I have always been a selfish bitch, but what happened to me since I’ve been born seems to be taken into question. What led me to be banished from Sarya, My mercenary and assassination works, and the way I am used to keeping people at arm’s length because of all this.

I giggled with derision because I found all this too much. My problems are piling up, Idunn, my memories, the threat of the station being board and the changes made to me.

“I want a fucking break.”

My mind shifted on the problem of the ship and the mercenary waiting to pounce on us. They must already know that I took out their scout and will either back off or attack. But victory will come by exploiting their weaknesses.

“Daneel.”

Ding.

 

Yes Lady Fenicia?

 

“I want you to arm and activate the horizon canon and fire on the hostile ship when it comes in range of the stealth weapon platform. Either they get destroyed or damaged; then recharge the canon at 30% power, just in case the ship’s class and structure become visible to our sensors. You should take out their hyperdrive.”

The Horizon canon is one of the external defenses of this facility, it is powerful and I almost didn’t see that it was there in the schematics list of the station. A particle beam cannon with extreme reach and hitting power, but the big weakness of it, is the time it takes to charge it.

If the Vice Industries has this kind of weapon at hand, I understand why they took over the Sol system. Ok, I have perimeter mines. Explosive, EMP and the Fusion ones. The fusion mines could take out the ship but they gain a signature once activated. The EMP ones don’t have a lot of range either and the explosive can be taken out easily. A smile formed on my face. Sometimes simple is the best, overly complicated strategies and tactic can be overturned if the opponent has sufficient imagination and is focused on the future. With all of them on that ship, they may think that they have us trapped, but I will make them realize that it is them who are trapped in this system with us.

 

I hear and obey, Lady Fenicia. Charging the horizon canon.

Calculating.

Possible counters for evasive maneuvers taken into account.

There is a 15% chance to destroy the enemy ship with the first salvo.

67% chance to destroy hyperdrive of the enemy ship with a 30% charge of the H. C.

Awaiting movements of the enemy ship.

 

I laughed.

“Excellent Daneel!”

The com on my gauntlet chimed and Idunn voice is heard.

“I am done. The explosive has been made inert and consumed by the nanites I injected in that young Terran body. And I have information on the number of troops and weapons they can bring to bear against us.”

I watched Idunn through the transparent blast shield; she looked unconcerned and kind of laid back. But I could see the nervousness in her demeanor, she’s not the cool dashi*(a sort of cookie from Sarya) she shows herself to be. Idunn is more the kind of being to plan and have multiple redundancies for carefully weighed predicted situations.

“Excellent, can you wake miss Evan? We will need her, arm her with an Omni-rifle and an armor. And I want you to be on board the secreted shuttlecraft, you are too important to be a casualty.” I said.

Idunn looked at me in the observer room, judging. I don’t really understand the way she is looking at me right now. But I can feel that she is worried and afraid.

“Fenicia, I lived the worst time of my life when I couldn’t find you on Sarya.” She turned fully toward me.

“The life that you had hardened you and made you what you are today and I understand your reluctance to believe me and to call me what I wish you would call me.”

Idunn looked sad and terribly alone suddenly.

“I understand that I cannot expect to just come here and say ‘Hi, I am your mom. Love me please.’ I have no right, but I will prove to you that everything is true when that situation is resolved. But there is something that you cannot ask me to do and I refuse to cower in a safe place while you take all the risks!” Her gaze burned through me and I felt… I don’t know, maybe hopeful that she is telling the truth.

It made me smile. I stood up and went out of the room to be in the lab, thinking of ways that I can use for Idunn to be safe and help us at the same time.

***

Colonel David O’lleary

 

“Where did she go? Where did she fucking go?!” I yelled to my XO.

 The fighter with Corporal Evan suddenly disappeared in its scouting mission. Up-Link to the stealth fighter is cut off. It suddenly worried me to no end, nothing can disappear like this. I sat heavily in my command chair, my uniform felt tight against my body.

“Commander, the fighter was disabled and brought into the station!” The Executive officer to his right said.

“What? How?!” I screamed.

My hands went to my bald head in dismay, it doesn’t bode well. Because if they can detect a stealth fighter, it means they know that we are here too.

“Spikes of an EMP surge were detected before we lost contact with the Corporal’s fighter, sir.” The radar operator reported.

It wasn’t lost on me that we might have a FUBAR*(Fucked up beyond all recognition) in our hands, but the loss of the excellent and bothersome personnel made me see red. I pushed the buttons for communication on the keyboard of my command chair and announced.

“This is Colonel O’lleary. All assault SS put on your armor and weapons we are going to board that space station and when you are done donning your equipment we are going to make an in-system warp .”

Red alert sounded on the bridge and throughout the ship, bulkheads sealed and gears buttoned up. The non-combatant personnel went into secured areas in the center of the ship.

“Everything is ready for the assault on the station, sir.” The ensign charged of communication reported.

“Excellent, release weapon we are going in hot! Warp!” I ordered.

“Make it so, gentlemen.” The XO added for kicks and giggles.

I smiled at that and we suddenly jumped to 60 thousand kilometers of the space station. The in-system warp jump are always instantaneous. I was about to order the weapon specialist to open salvo on an unimportant unit of the space station when a shock rumbled my ship.

WHOMP.

The bridge went dark red under the alarm screaming in our ears, the bridge officers panicked but the XO called calm.

“Damage control!” The Executive Officer screamed.

Seconds passed and the engineer on console reported.

“Sir, aft of the ship is simply gone.” He said pale. “The hyperdrive chamber is gone, EPS flow is damaged but the ship is still under power.”

They suckered us! Oh by the stars they were waiting for us and I dove in like a green ensign into a space fight. My hands covered my face with a double facepalm. It’s embarrassing! Shameful! I’ve been in countless space fight and I get suckered because of my own hubris! I took my hands off my face and watched the people around me, they knew and didn’t judge, I think.

“Sir! The station is hailing us!” The com officer yelled at me.

“Put in on screen,” I said sighing.

A beautiful woman appeared on screen, the target we are here to kill. An Assurian female who didn’t look dangerous, but fetching. But the hardness in her golden eyes told me otherwise and my instinct screamed at me.

“Greetings, mercenaries. My name is Idunn, chief researcher on this station belonging to Vice Industries. You have entered a restricted system and your actions were judged inimical. We have disabled your FTL drive, you are going to stand down and lay down your weapons and you will be placed in the brig and await VI patrol to take custody of you.” She said with a sexy accent.

It was too bad that a woman of that caliber was going to be killed by us, maybe I can have a little fun before placing a velocity slug between her eyes. What she said made laugh.

“Woman you may have us by surprise but we aren’t dead, we don’t plan to surrender. I say, that you should stand down and lay down your weapons and prepare to be boarded!” I screamed.

She laughed and then snickered adorably for some time. It made me red in the face, how dare she mock me?

“You poor excuse of a man. I will kill you, you don’t even realize that you have nothing left. I took control of that tin can you call a ship.” She looked at me with pity while saying so.

I was left dumbfounded, that was impossible.

“Impossible! You are bluffing.” I said with certainty.

The woman smiled and said triumphing “One, seven, three, four, six, seven, three, two, one, four, seven, six, Charlie, three, two, seven, eight, nine, seven, seven, seven, six, four, three, Tango, seven, three, two, Victor, seven, three, one, one, seven, eight, eight, eight, seven, three, two, four, seven, six, seven, eight, nine, seven, six, four, three, seven, six. Lock.”

“Does it sound like a bluff to you?” She said smugly.