Harrick, Hendon and Clinton beamed down within seconds of Hortense and his team.

  They stood in the blazing heat a short distance from the remains of the crashed MSPC.

  “This is very hot!” said Clinton, “How do Dirtlings live here?”

  Hendon pointed to the surrounding barren landscape, “Not much lives here.”

  “Let’s go,” said Harrick and walked towards Hortense and his team.

  Hortense gestured at his men to spread out and secure the area. They obeyed, but in the vast open landscape around them there were very few places anything could hide, other than perhaps some small lizards. Hortense saw Harrick approaching and grunted, pointing up at the crashed vessel.

  Harrick smiled and said to Hortense, “Hello Hortense! I can see the Dirtlings really liked your MSPC. So much so, they took home some souvenirs.”

  Hortense gave Harrick a glare, and Harrick accepted the response.

  Looking up, he saw that very little remained of the vessel. The engine was gone, most of the panels were missing, the recycling machinery and storage bays were non existent and even the bolts and what would normally be considered scrap was also gone. All that was left was the skeleton of the ship and interestingly, most of the control room up top with some cladding left around the edge to form a sort of platform.

  “I wonder why they left the control room?” Clinton asked Hendon quietly.

  “Up we go,” said Harrick as he stepped forward and pressed the controls on his Anti Gravity Belt. His small forwards momentum combined with the upwards force of the Anti Gravity belt placed him exactly on the platform around the control room. Hendon landed next to him and leaned back casually to catch hold of Clinton who had slightly misjudged his forward momentum.

  “Oof,” muttered Clinton as he bumped into Hendon, “Thanks.”

  Hortense landed with a thump on top of the control room with two of his team at his side. His ‘Cleaners’ had their weapons in a ready position, pointing all round in a sweeping motion. Their readiness was in stark contrast to Harrick, Hendon and Clinton who kept their weapons in their side holsters.

  “Shouldn’t we be more cautious?” whispered Clinton to Hendon.

  “Nah,” said Hendon in a whisper, “Where would they hide? Besides, our staying nonchalant is much more important for our relationship with Hortense. Now stay quiet.”

  Harrick walked up to the window and looked inside the control room. He looked up at Hortense and said, “Hortense, it looks quite safe. I think the Dirtlings left you something.”

  Hortense stepped down from the roof to the platform using a very short burst of his Anti Gravity belt and pressed against the window. His hand brushed away the covering of some sort of clear plastic without any impediment and he stepped in.

  Harrick gestured to Hortense’s assistants to wait a second, and he stepped in behind Hortense. Clinton and Hendon made “After you,” motions to let them proceed in next and Hendon and Clinton followed.

  The Control room had also been completely salvaged, leaving just enough walls to protect against the heat and dust. In the middle of the empty room lay Navi, cleaned and dressed in some sort of blue cloak, similar in colour to the Hortense company’s standard uniform.

  Hortense stood quietly at the side of Navi’s body. Near Navi’s head was a small box and an upright cross. There was a red letter resting against the cross.

  “I think the letter is for you,” said Harrick quietly to Hortense, drawing Hortense’s attention away from his brother arrayed in front of him.

  Hortense picked up the letter and opened it. He read it without a word and then stood still, looking upwards, with the letter in his hand by his side.

  He gestured to his assistant and the assistant quickly moved forward and placed a transmitter bracelet on to Navi’s arm. Hortense spoke into his communicator and said, “We’re leaving.”

  He turned to Harrick and handed him the letter, “I don’t understand these Dirtlings. Tell them…”

  He paused and thought, “Tell them they can have the wreck. We will go soon.”

  He then pressed the button on his communicator and Hortense and his team dematerialised in a blue shimmer.

  Clinton and Hendon stared in amazement. Hortense had spoken in complete sentences.

  Harrick read the letter aloud so Clinton and Hendon could understand, “The letter looks to be from the Black Hat. I’m sure it was him and his team that prepared Navi’s body. This is what he wrote,

  ——

  Your friend has fallen in battle.

  He was brave and fought to defend his ship. He died honourably.

  We honour him as a fellow warrior. He did not kill innocents.

  We gave him full funeral rights as we would our own fallen.

  We fashioned an appropriate covering in colours we tried to match to your uniform.

  With respect,

  Father Brian Pacioli

  Chaplain, ARRG

  ——“

  Hendon grunted in surprise. Clinton couldn’t help himself and spoke, “Sir, Um, that is not what we expected.”

  Harrick agreed, waving the red letter in his hand, “This just complicates things. Hortense handed this to me, as he didn’t want this live grenade in his possession.”

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  “Sir?” asked Clinton, not understanding why this was an issue.

  Hendon poked Clinton in the shoulder, “For someone well read, you have no idea sometimes.”

  Harrick explained for Clinton’s benefit, “The Dirtlings attacked the MSPC and killed Navi. That could be explained away as just a reaction and ignored. But this letter, and the presentation of Navi’s body, completely contradicts the NC classification. The question is, what am I going to do with it?”

  “Would this be a situation for X Bear?” asked Clinton.

  “It certainly would,” said X Bear from behind them.

  Clinton jumped in surprise and Hendon stiffened. Harrick retained his calm demeanour and simply held out the letter to X Bear.

  X Bear walked over and accepted the letter, “Thanks Harrick. This is really important for our growing case file.”

  “Do you need video of the draped body?” asked Clinton, “I have been recording everything with my helmet camera.”

  “Thanks Clinton,” said X Bear, “I will accept your recording. I will combine it with ours.”

  X Bear pointed to Kurt, perched on the window frame, who said, “Coo!” in greeting.

  X Bear added, “Harrick, you were right to suspect Black Hat’s involvement with the body. Kurt was watching while the Dirtlings were preparing Navi’s body and was able to hear much of what they discussed. Most of the Dirtlings didn’t notice the pigeon as most of them were from cities in which pigeons are background noise. But I think Black Hat noticed. At one point he looked at Kurt and waved.”

  “I gather they evacuated the place so no-one would get caught in any vengeance?” asked Clinton.

  “Yes,” said X Bear, “All the salvage was taken elsewhere by multiple modes of transport. Too many for us to follow while watching developments here. I even tried to use my tracking beacons but they moved items from one transport to another too often. They are quite paranoid. I was impressed.”

  “What now?” asked Clinton.

  Harrick answered, “We’re back on duty. In a day or so the Dirt sky will be clear of any debris. Hunting will be back in full force.”

  “And hunts will be more dangerous again,” warned X Bear, ‘The satellites were providing an early warning system to make Dirtlings rapidly move away from hunt arrival points. Hunters will now be able to catch them unawares.”

  Hendon said in a low voice, “I think we will be doing more body retrievals. These Dirtlings are getting dangerous.”

  ****

  Major Tierney watched the monitor displaying the views from the security cameras left behind at the remains of The Brick and saw the last of the aliens beam up. He turned to Lieutenant Smythe and said, “Let everyone know the site is clear, let’s salvage the rest of that wreck.”

  He then turned to Father Pacioli who had been watching the scene, “Padre, did you see that X Bear talking to the Hunter Safety Team?”

  “He has been watching us for the last week or so. I am pretty sure he was using a pigeon as his remote spy,” said Father Pacioli.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” said the Major.

  “Would it have made a difference?” said Father, “I expect X Bear is doing some good work for us. At least we were able to hide the secret research base from him.”

  Major Tierney was about to say more, but Father put his finger to his lips.

  The Major nodded in understanding and said, “Well, we should complete the salvage in very short order. The orbit will be clear of everything we have put up there over the last eighty years or so. All gone.”

  “Once the Brick II is gone, Humphrey should leave too and I expect we will get more hunts again. This time with no worldwide GWS, just a more local one,” added Father.

  “I think we’ll establish more ARRG teams, spread around the edge of the GWS network. With more dangerous hunts I think the thirst for revenge will be strong.”

  ****

  Nelson and his team were back on duty after the latest ‘technical and maintenance’ hunting pause. Like last time they would be working double shifts to catch up with the schedule. He saw that Harrick and his team were very vigilant at each recall message and were very quick to respond.

  Between sending hunters down and retrieving them, Nelson was curious and scanned the planet below him. Somehow the orbit of Dirt was now completely clear of space junk and satellites. He had also been told there were no more restrictions as to where he could place the shuttle in orbit. The Dirtling space station was also gone without a trace.

  Toff and Nelson had decided that they would send hunts to less populated areas. Scree didn’t seem to care so long as the hunters came back enthusiastic. Nelson and Toff were pretty sure Scree didn’t care if hunters were injured. She was only excited when the hunters’ adventures were exciting and their HTI entertainment related media ratings kept rising.

  Nelson sat back and made his tenth recall message for this shift, “Hello hunters! This is Matt. Are you ready to return?”

  Nelson held the receiver away from his ear as the hunters screamed into their communicators.

  “Sorry, what was that?” asked Nelson. He heard one of the hunters hit others and said quickly, “Get us out of here! Aaarrrgh!”

  Nelson slammed the return button and the hunters returned. Nelson ducked behind his control panel by habit but it wasn’t really necessary. The repairs had included extra shielding in front of the console and a laser and projectile reinforced clear screen from the console rim to the ceiling. But he still remembered those crazy Dirt creatures.

  Hendon had overheard the hunting party screams and pressed his own ready button. Racing into the MTS room were Clinton and one of the four trooper teams, armed and ready.

  “One, Two…” Hendon counted loudly and waited two seconds before shouting to Nelson, “What is happening down there?”

  Nelson looked into the viewer and said, “There are three bodies and one is running away. I don’t know why they haven’t returned.” He pressed the recall button again and no more returned. Two of the HST troopers quickly escorted the returning hunters off the pads and stood ready. Hendon and Clinton stood on their pads and said to Nelson, “Send us down!”

  They materialised into a war zone. The HST team tactics had evolved over the last few months and they went straight into action. Clinton threw up his ‘Silencer 2000’ into the air and any cameras or devices with primitive power within the area were overloaded and burned out. The HST team dropped to the ground and moved towards the nearest cover. Clinton then threw up his ‘Life Detector 42’ into the air. He examined his communicator and waited for his app to confirm the readings.

  “One life sign over there,” he said to Hendon, pointing to his left.

  Hendon patted two of his troopers on their helmets and directed them forwards. He said to the other two, “Cover them!”

  Hendon popped his head quickly above the stone wall they were sheltering behind and then back down. “It’s an armoured vehicle.”

  Trooper Kareet grinned as he reached for the weapon at his side, “I have the PEC, Sir.”

  “Here’s your chance to fire it again,” said Hendon, “Kill it!”

  The lead trooper threw smoke grenades towards the armoured vehicle while his team mate fired a stun round at the fleeing hunter. The hunter wasn’t responding to their calls so he was taken down for his own safety.

  The smoke round blocked sight of them from the vehicle, but the PEC had no difficulty directing the guidance beam directly at the vehicle.

  “Everybody down!” called Hendon over their communicators.

  Kareet fired his PEC and was satisfied to hear an explosion as the laser bolt penetrated the vehicle’s armour.

  “Hit it again to make sure,” said Hendon.

  Kareet grinned and fired the PEC a second time. He was rewarded with a much bigger explosion as the laser bolt must have hit some ammunition or engine or something worthwhile. Twice in one battle was great. He loved his PEC.

  “Get the loose hunter,” ordered Hendon, “Clinton, any more life signs?”

  “Not nearby, Sir,” Clinton replied, “Only a couple running away very fast.”

  “Gather the bodies and get here fast,” said Hendon, “I think we may still be able to return to the shuttle before it passes out of range.”

  Nelson received the recall message from the HST and pressed the button. The HST troopers all appeared, each carrying one of the missing hunters. Nelson had already alerted the HTI medical support people who quickly retrieved the hunters and took them to the medical rooms.

  The Hunter Safety Team had gone down and returned in under ten minutes. They had certainly gained a lot of experience in a short time. Nelson remembered their uniforms used to be bright red. Now the uniforms were a mottled dark red, almost crimson with black patches. Nothing clinked or made noise when they moved. And their stance was, how best to describe it, predatory. Yes, Nelson felt ‘predatory’ was the best description. He was glad they were on his side.