Mission 3: Desperation

  — 29th of Lifesari, Year 390 PD, 20:24 local time; Loading Dock 15, Space Station Glacial Port, Iceflow System —

  Aaron Snowstrider closed out the latest report from his accountant and leant back in his chair as he stretched, looking out of the viewport of his office aboard his light freighter, the Sojourn. His ship was currently docked aboard the system’s primary starport, the space station Glacial Port, which maintained a geosynchronous orbit over the Iceflow system’s sole terrestrial colony on the perennially frozen world of Glacial Wind. The mining companies that had sponsored the colony and the sprawling space-based industry in the system had their regional headquarters on the planet below him, and while they were supposedly funding a joint operation to terraform the planet, no progress had been made in over a decade. ‘Not that anyone should have really expected otherwise, those Federation Corps are far too greedy to want to put any real amount of effort into their latest cash cow.’ he thought to himself, standing up and moving to stand in front of the viewport, hands clenching behind him. ‘Besides, we’ve got our own problems to deal with.’ The tall, thin, white-haired fox-kin glanced back to his desk, and the missive from his accountant that he had just finished reading, his black-tipped ears and tail flicking in annoyance. ‘If only I had done more to keep them safe,’ he thought to himself, not for the first time, ‘then we wouldn’t have been in this mess!’ His face twisted into a snarl, as his mind drifted back to the latest orders to come down from his new masters.

  Six months ago, he and his crew had been returning from their latest run from their homeworld Frostwood to the Ordan Theocracy. The run had gone off without a hitch, with them successfully dropping off their cargo of restricted or outright outlawed media and personal devices for a tidy profit, before picking up some well-paying individuals looking for discrete passage out of the system. However, after dropping off their passengers at Frostwood’s primary civilian spaceport, Aaron found himself stopped by one of the spaceport’s security officers, who handed him a datachip and recommended he view the contents ‘as soon as possible, to avoid potential consequences’. Feeling confused and threatened by the officer, he carefully pulled out his portable data slate and plugged the chip in, opening the message within. His face paled as he finished reading the message and as he glanced back at the officer, the man simply smirked back before turning away to leave, telling Aaron as he left that his ‘friends’ would “Be in touch soon regarding a mutually beneficial business opportunity.”

  The new “opportunity” was simple. Aaron would now be working to transport goods for the Crimson Claws, and in return, the Claws would ensure that nothing happened to his sister and her family. Aaron had simply gritted his teeth, and while he quietly offered to his ship’s crew to attempt to negotiate for their safety if they wished to leave, they all decided to stick with him, rightfully reminding him that as long as the Claws had his family, they had all the power right now.

  And so the past few months had gone by, with the Sojourn now made to smuggle weapons, drugs, and stolen goods from port to port within the cluster, on behalf of the new Overseer and his cronies. But then, shortly after the Claws’ gang members had picked up his latest delivery of weapons and alcohol yesterday afternoon, the news hit the station that the RHN had sent some of their warships to the cluster, and had completely wiped out the Bloodseekers as their first action! This got him thinking. If the RHN was moving to protect their merchants from the pirates operating in the system, then it was only a matter of time until they came into conflict with the Crimson Claws, seeing as they had practically complete control over all underworld activities in the cluster at this point.

  ‘This inevitable conflict could be an opportunity,’ he thought to himself, his hands slowly unclenching themselves as he started considering his option. ‘My crew and I can’t stand up to the Claws on our own, but if I can get them to help safeguard the families of me and my crew, then we may be able to finally find a way to fight back. The question is, how?’ After all, the only real fighter in the crew was Allison Sunstripe, the amazonian badger-kin mercenary he hired to be his personal bodyguard and his ship’s security chief. She was big, tough, experienced, and well-equipped, but she was only one woman. Sure, he was a decent enough shot, and he was certain that his ship’s engineer and loadmaster, the white-haired rat-kin Arthur Frostfur, could probably improvise some pretty dangerous weapons if needed, but Arthur’s wife, Celine, was far too meek and soft-hearted to really be of much use in a fight. Sure, she was a whiz with numbers, and had proven herself as his ship’s navigator and co-pilot (and especially as his personal accountant and occasional secretary), she practically froze at the sight of blood, and had never touched a weapon in her life. ‘Well, no time for that now. Better see what “cargo” Blacktail has for us this time.’

  Aaron scooped up the data slate he had been using earlier, pulling up their latest directive as he made his way to the cargo hold. Apparently, Overseer Steelclaw had been negotiating some sort of deal with his counterpart in the Theocracy, and wanted to send them a gift to help ease things along. Since he and his crew had the most experience smuggling people and goods in and out of the Theocracy amongst the overseer’s subordinates, they had been given the ‘honor’ of the job. He strode into his ship’s cargo hold and nodded to Arthur as the rat-kin secured one of the crates that was being brought on board into place, before making his way to the station’s dockmaster and resident Crimson Claw lieutenant.

  Rostov Blacktail, a hulking, black-haired rat-kin whose overly bulky muscles practically screamed “I’m on steroids”, leaned casually against a set of crates waiting to be loaded up, with a cruel grin showing off his crooked teeth.

  “Look who finally deigns to grace us with his presence.” The dockmaster sneered as Aaron approached him, “I hope you are feeling properly grateful for this opportunity that the Overseer has granted you, Captain Snowstrider.”

  Aaron covered up his unease with the most charming smile he could. “But of course, Mr. Blacktail. It is a tremendous honor to be of use to the Overseer himself. I assure you, we will do our utmost to see that his gifts are delivered in the manner they deserve. But this does bring up a potential problem that I’m afraid I will be needing to bring to your notice.” Aaron brings up his hand as his boss begins narrowing their eyes and stiffens up, no longer leaning against the crates beside him. “Not anything major, I assure you! I just needed to inform you that we will be needing to make a stop in the Frostwood System on our way out to the Theocracy, in order to pick up some more goods to better conceal our actual cargo.”

  The rat-kin practically glared at him, before replying in a stern, demanding tone. “Explain yourself, Captain, and it better be reasonable! The Overseer will not tolerate unnecessary delays on this.”

  “It’s simple, sir. I have an arrangement with several of the customs officers in the Theocracy. Whenever I swing through on one of my trips, I send them a coded message with my ship’s official cargo manifest and they send me a set of coordinates. We immediately swing by those coordinates, and drop off a quarter of my cargo as ‘seized contraband’, and they clear my ship and its cargo without anyone actually stepping aboard. I am then able to carry on to whatever destination I wish within the system, free and clear. That being said, if I were to break from that pattern, then they may rightfully decide that our ‘arrangement’ is no longer on, and attempt to seize my vessel, something I am sure we would all prefer not to happen. So, I will be needing to pick up enough of my usual selection of goods that I would normally take to the Theocracy to fill up a quarter of my cargo bay, in order to keep the OAN off my back while I deliver the Overseer’s back. And let’s be real, Frostwood has the best selection of holomedia and consumer electronics in the cluster, especially of the types that the Theocracy officially doesn’t want in the hands of its citizens.”

  The dockmaster continued to glare at him for a few more moments, then sighed and relaxed the tension in their shoulders. “Very well, Captain, have it your way. You’re right that the Overseer would not want to draw undue attention to our activities, both here and in the Theocracy. Just be sure that your layover in Frostwood is not overly lengthy, and that it is the only stop you make before leaving.”

  “But of course, sir. Now, I’m sure you have more important things to do than babysit us while we get everything here secured for transit. My crew and I will take things from here for you.”

  The rat-kin just grunted, giving the smiling fox-kin one final glare before he turned away and made to exit the loading bay. Only after he had left and the door was firmly closed behind him did Aaron turn back around and drop the fake smile on his face, his posture drooping slightly as he sighed. He looked over to Arthur, whose face was full of sympathy as he shook his head, making his way towards the crates beside his captain, pulling a grav-loader behind him. “Thanks for handling that, boss. I don’t have your patience with that waste of air.”

  Aaron let out a weak chuckle at the remark. “Yes well, we all have our strengths I suppose. Let’s get all of this onboard so we can get out of here. It’s going to take the better part of a day in hyper to reach Frostwood, and I’d rather not stick around any longer than we need to.”

  “Aye, at least there we can pretend to have a more normal life.”

  “Indeed, Arthur. Indeed.”

  — 30th of Lifesari, Year 390 PD, 04:37 ship time; Captain’s Quarters, Sojourn, somewhere in Hyperspace —

  Aaron groaned as the comm device next to his bunk began blaring, waking him from his slumber. He rolled over to grab it, practically glaring at the device as he saw what time it was, before answering it, growling sleepily.

  “What is it?”

  “Sorry to wake you so early boss,” came the voice of his ship’s engineer, “but we have something of a situation in the cargo bay. You need to see this.”

  Aaron glanced at the time again, and seeing that his shift at the helm would be coming up in a few hours anyway, he decided he probably wasn’t getting any more sleep anyhow. “Alright,” he replied, “I’ll be down there as soon as I get dressed. What’s the problem anyway?”

  “I think it would be best if you saw it for yourself, but these stinkin’ claws have crossed a line I’m not happy with.”

  “What, drugs and guns weren’t enough?”

  “They’ve got us running people this time.”

  “In crates?”

  “In crates. Wearing slave collars.”

  That woke him up in a flash as he immediately sat up, his entire upper body going stiff.

  “Well shit.”

  “Well shit indeed.”

  Thirty minutes later, Aaron strode into the cargo bay, where a tired looking Arthur and visibly pissed off Allison were waiting for him, beside a trio of nervous looking rabbit-kin. Aaron froze upon seeing them, recognizing them as the trio that he had helped escape Theocracy space on their last visit there, a Doctor and her twin daughters, draped in a set of blankets, both to help them keep warm in the cold cargo hold and to cover their clearly nude bodies.

  “Well shit.” He exclaimed before he could stop himself.

  Allison looked ready to strangle someone, her large, fit frame dwarfing the trio beside her. “I hope you aren’t seriously going to follow through on this one, boss.” She all but glared at him, as continued on in an almost accusatory tone. “You know how I feel about slavery. If you really are going to drag these ladies back to the Theocracy like this…”

  Aaron quickly interrupted her. “Not a chance. After all this time, you know I didn’t help them get out of there just for the money. No, the real problem will be how to go about not delivering them to their intended recipient without the fallout landing on us.” He looked over to Arthur, who looked ready to collapse on his feet. “Arthur, go to bed. While I would normally yell at you for taking a peek at the goods like this, given the circumstances and your quick response, I forgive you. Now go get the sleep your curiosity has denied me before you collapse on the deck. I don’t need to hear from your wife about “overworking” you again.”

  Arthur gave him a weak smile at that, then gave a sloppy salute. “Aye aye, Cap’n. Talk to you later.” He then started trundling off towards the crew cabins, cleaning up his tools as he went.

  Aaron then turned to the ladies. “Alright, c’mon the rest of you. Let’s get you set up someplace more comfortable than here. I’ll get you some actual food, and one of us will see about scrounging up some clothes for the three of you. I can’t promise much though, our fabricator isn’t set up to handle cloth, and the only ladies on the crew are Allison and Celine, neither of which are likely to have much that could fit.”

  In all, it took the better part of an hour for the crew to get their new charges washed, fed, and dressed, before the three of them collapsed exhaustedly into a set of spare bunks in the ship’s guest quarters. Aaron practically collapsed into his seat by the ship’s helm next to Celine, while Allison sat down in her chair at the bridge’s security station. Celine turned around as the two sat down, a look of shock on her face as the two explained why they were on the bridge so early.

  “You’re damn right we aren’t just hauling them back to the Theocracy like that!” She exclaimed. Then her face fell as she paused for a moment to think. “But what else can we do? If we don’t, poor Amy and the rest will probably be made to pay the price.” She looked up nervously at the other two, her hands grasped in her lap as she rubbed her thumbs together.

  The other two narrowed their eyes as they dropped into thought. Silent tension practically hung in the room as the minutes went by, and then Allison spoke up.

  “What if we just don't drop them off in the Theocracy? Maybe make it look like they managed to escape after we dropped off their crates.”

  Aaron was quick to reply. “Won’t work, you saw the crates and bindings they were in. No way they could have gotten out of there without outside help.” The silent tension continued for a few more moments, then Aaron suddenly straightened up in his seat, as a thought struck him. “But you may be on to something, actually. You served a tour in the Royal High-Rest Army before you became a merc, right Allison?”

  “Umm, yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “Well we know the RHN is now in the area, and just kicked ass in Frostwood. If the newsies are right and they are here to hunt pirates, we could drop off our guests with them instead.”

  “But what about you? If word gets back to the Claws about that, you know they will make your family suffer.”

  “But that’s just it. This isn’t their territory, and I doubt they plan on fully relying on the local governments to just let them roam about as they please. Which means they have to have agents of their own operating in the cluster, at the very least to help them narrow down possible base locations. So, we offer them all the information we have on Crimson Claw activities in the sector, contingent on them getting Amy, Trevor, and the kids someplace safe from the Claws.”

  Celine’s eyes and ears perked up in hope, while Allison looked thoughtful. Allison was the first to speak up. “You know, that may just work. Especially if we go straight to them, maybe try and drop out of hyper right where the newsies have been sighting them at the edge of the system. I take it you want me to make initial contact, seeing as I have at least some positive history with the RHN?”

  “Yes please.” Aaron responded. “We all know that the Claws have agents within the Frostwood Defense Force, which means that any attempt we may make to reach out to RHN forces in the area from Trade Station Woodside Lodge will more than likely be intercepted. Which means we need to go straight to them first, with our transponder off, to avoid raising suspicion by the claws.”

  “Which will go over real well with a bunch of warships that just fought off a pirate ambush.” Allison replied, the sarcasm in her tone dripping from her tongue. She then sighed, before continuing in a more serious tone. “Very well. This feels like the best shot we have at finally getting out from under the Claws, and keeping those three from going back to slavery. I’ll do what I can to keep the Navy from blowing us up when we show up unannounced.”

  Celine practically squealed in excitement, startling the other two as she suddenly spun her chair back around to face the displays at her station.

  “I’ll get our course adjusted right away! I can’t wait to see your nephews again, they are just way too cute!”

  Aaron couldn’t help a soft smile at the thought. “Thanks Celine. I’ll help you with that. Once you’re done, could I get you to see if you have anything that might fit our guests? They were brought on board without a stitch of clothing, and all Allison and I have are some shirts that make some ok dresses for them.”

  “Okay!” She replied cheerfully. “I may have some things Dr. Springtail could wear, not sure about the twins though. We’ll figure something out though, I’m sure!”

  Aaron smiled as the mood on the bridge lifted. ‘Here’s hoping this actually works…’

  — 30th of Lifesari, Year 390 PD, 16:21 ship time; Bridge of the RHNV Wakizashi, Frostwood System —

  Rina was on the bridge, looking over Lieutenant Broadmoor’s shoulder at the display showing the results of the last training sim they had recently completed, when her sensor officer suddenly cried out.

  “Hyper footprint! 387,000 km aft and 51,000 km above! Initial mass readings suggest either a light freighter or cruiser in size.”

  Rina whipped around to face the rest of the bridge, calling out as she turned around. “Maintain stealth! Comms, anything yet?”

  Lieutenant Sprystep stepped behind the comm officer’s station, keeping an eye on both the sensor plots and the comm station’s display. “Nothing yet ma’am. It seems like their transponder is off as well. No positive ID on the ship, but initial light-speed reports from the passive sensors suggest the ship is likely a Startrader-class light freighter.”

  Rina felt herself relax slightly as she made her way to her command chair. “Alright, sound general quarters, just to be safe. Comms, let me know the instant they start squeaking.”

  “Aye aye, ma’am!”

  The lights switched over to red and the ship wide alarms began to sound as Rina took her seat and donned her helmet. With practiced ease she pulled up the sensor feed of the area, showing the task group’s known positions in blue, and the new arrival in white. She watched the plot as the ship simply held its position, not moving or even switching on any active sensors, before her comm officer reported an incoming message.

  “Incoming message, addressed to the task group as a whole. Appears to be an unencrypted directional transmission, aimed away from all known inhabited locations in-system. Message is as follows: ‘To all Royal High-Rest Naval Vessels, this is the independent merchant vessel Sojourn, requesting immediate assistance. We have uncovered time-sensitive information regarding Crimson Claws activities in the system, and are in danger of reprisals for acting on this information. Repeat, this is the independent merchant vessel Sojourn, requesting immediate assistance from RHN assets in the system. Please respond, over.”

  Rina leant back in her seat in wonder at the captain’s boldness. ‘She sure has guts, dropping onto a task group like that.’ she thought to herself. ‘What information could run the risk of being blown up on arrival by doing so?’ She shook her head to clear her thoughts before turning towards Lieutenant Sprystep’s station. “Any word from the Commodore yet, Sarah?”

  She saw the rabbit-kin shake her head before responding. “Not yet ma’am, they might be deliberating things still…hold on.” The lieutenant suddenly stiffened in her seat. “New orders from the flag: ‘All ships, stand down. Repeat, all ships, stand down. Paladin, out.’ Seems the commodore is willing to take a chance here. Looks like they have switched to lasercomms, so I guess we’ll find out what this is all about when the commodore wants us to know.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Understood, stand down the crew back to condition green. Good work team, that was our fastest readiness response time yet.”

  She looked about as she joined her bridge crew in doffing their helmets, a small smile of pride on her face as she saw similar smiles on their faces as well. That smile turned quickly to a slight frown, as she looked back down at the plot before her. ‘Just what is going on now?’ she thought, gazing suspiciously at the ominous white glow showing the Sojourn’s position.

  —30th of Lifesari, Year 390 PD, 18:57 ship time; Officer’s dining room, RHNV Paladin, Frostwood System —

  Rina took another bite of the splendidly prepared whitefish on her plate, trying not to let her inner confusion of the evening show on her face. It has all started with the invitation for dinner from the commodore aboard the Paladin, addressed to her and her XO directly. This seemed odd to her, as she wasn’t aware of the commodore inviting others in the Task Group for individual dinners like that, and it left her uneasy. Then the next round of confusion hit her when she walked into the dining room with Cassidy right behind her, only to see a group of civilians in the room, along with Captain Strongtail, the Paladin’s otter-kin captain, and Christine Springpaw, the intelligence operative running all RIA activities in the cluster. Things became a little clearer when introductions were made, and she learned who the civilians in question were.

  First was the handsome fox-kin, Aaron Snowstrider, the captain of the merchant ship that had popped out of hyper almost on top of them, along with his security chief, a massive badger-kin woman that apparently used to be part of the Royal Army. Then there were the three rabbit-kin, one Dr. Agnes Brighttail and her twin teenage daughters, who were refugees from the Ordan Theocracy that Captain Snowstrider and his crew had helped smuggle out past the Alliance’s inquisitors. Apparently, the good doctor and her husband had been a bit too vocal in questioning the Theocracy’s increasingly conservative policies and laws regarding healthcare and birth control, resulting in him being arrested and executed for ‘heresy’. Understandably upset by this, Dr. Brighttail began looking for ways to get out of Alliance space, but couldn’t use the more traditional methods due to increasingly draconian travel bans that were being instituted throughout Alliance space. Fortunately for her, someone sympathetic to her woes helped her make contact with Captain Snowstrider, who apparently made his living smuggling goods and people in and out of Alliance space that, while perfectly legal in most parts of the galaxy, were under much greater restrictions within the Alliance.

  Unfortunately for her and her daughters, while they managed to escape the Alliance’s inquisitors, they found themselves abducted by slavers when the passenger ship they had boarded to take them to Treetop was attacked en-route. They quickly found themselves slapped into chains, but before they could be dragged off to an underground slave market and sold off, word somehow got out that they were originally from Truesight, and that the Theocracy apparently had a bounty on their heads. The local Overseer for the Crimson Claws apparently saw this as an opportunity, and claimed them for himself as a special gift for his counterpart in the Alliance, which had at least spared them from immediate rape or torture, and had prevented the family from being further split apart at the markets, but still didn’t leave them feeling too hopeful.

  But then they once again found themselves on the Sojourn, and when Captain Snowstrider’s loadmaster and ship’s engineer let his curiosity get the better of him and took a peek at the contents of the Overseer’s ‘gift’, he immediately freed them from their suspension pods that had been disguised as cargo crates, and called for his captain and the ship’s security chief.

  Her respect for the Sojourn’s captain grew immensely when she heard from said security chief that he apparently didn’t even hesitate before seeing to it that the poor women were properly fed and clothed before sitting down with his crew to discuss options that did not involve following through with their assignment. And the delivery was clearly an assignment from the Crimson Claws, not an active choice, given the fact that he wasn’t exactly getting paid for the trip, and that they were effectively holding his sister and her family hostage to ensure his cooperation.

  Which led to why Rina and Cassidy had been invited to join them for dinner tonight. Captain Snowstrider wanted the RHN’s help in ensuring the safety of his family members on Frostwood, and in exchange he was offering everything he knew about the Crimson Claws’ activities in the cluster. Which was a pretty enticing offer, since none of them had realized that the intergalactic crime syndicate had established so much control over the underworld out here as he seemed to be hinting that they had, and he seemed to think he knew who some of their agents were within the FPDF might be, which would certainly be a start in helping them clean things up around here. However, since they hadn’t exactly gotten clearance yet from local authorities to move their warships closer to the planet, the only way the RHN felt that they could help was to rely on the Wakizashi, and her enhanced stealth systems.

  Over dessert, the diners started to work out a plan of action, and by the time they were finishing up their after-meal tea, the commodore felt content that they had something in place. First, Agent Springpaw and Miss Suntstripe would take one of the Wakizashi’s shuttles back to Frostwood to organize an extraction team for Captain Snowstrider’s family. Meanwhile, the Captain would take the Sojourn on its original schedule to one of the trade stations orbiting the planet, to hopefully throw off anyone watching his movements and make them think that he was still working for them. Once the shuttle was off and the Sojourn began resuming its initial journey, the Wakizashi would start making its way deeper into the system while under stealth, in order to establish a rendezvous point for the shuttle and its extraction team to retreat too once they secured the fox-kin’s family.

  Alex stood up at the end of the table looking everyone involved in the eye before speaking. “Everyone, best of luck with this operation. May the sheltering grace of the World Tree bless our coming efforts.” He then raised his teacup for a toast, with the other officers following suit. “For Glory and Honor! To the King!”

  “TO THE KING!”

  — 3rd of Risisari, Year 390 PD, 22:30 local time; Snowflake City, Planet of Frostwood, Frostwood System —

  Allison leant back in the front passenger seat of the hover-van the RIA had acquired for this mission, waiting for the call to come in to kick-start her end of the operation. She had been quietly impressed with just how quickly Agent Springpaw had gotten her people moving once they made planetfall a little ways outside Snowflake City, where her boss’s family lived. She let a small smile crack on her face as she cradled the stun-rifle in her lap, thinking about her boss’s cute little nephew and niece. ‘They’ll be safe soon.’ she thought to herself, her face hardening into a much more serious look as she psyched herself up for the next part of the mission. ‘I’ll make sure of it this time.’ She felt herself stiffen up as the radio sitting between her and the RIA agent in the van’s driver’s seat beside her, sprang to life.

  “Icicle to Snowman, blindfolds are on. Repeat, blindfolds are on, over”

  The ordinary looking, brown-haired mouse-kin woman picked up the radio’s transmitter and thumbed it on. “Snowman to Icicle, understood. Code Silver, repeat, Code Silver. Snowman, Out.” She put the transmitter back down and started the vehicle up before pulling out of their parking spot four blocks away from the family’s house.

  “Think they’ll be ready to go when we get there?” the agent asked Allison, noting the tension in the former soldier’s frame as they made their way down the quiet streets.

  The badger-kin shrugged as she responded. “Here’s hoping. While I’ll admit the Cap’n has a way with words, and probably knows what to say to get his sister moving quickly, I don’t know them well enough to know for sure.”

  “Fair enough. Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

  Allison merely grunted in response, as in a scant few minutes they were pulling up in front of the Icewatcher’s house. As soon as the vehicle stopped, she hopped out and started scanning the area, flipping through various settings in the visor she was wearing to scan the area under different settings, hunting for signs of any crimson claws agents that the RIA team might have missed. Nodding happily to herself that her scans had come back negative, she flipped the visor back to ‘normal’ vision and turned back to her companion in the van.

  “All clear on my end. Still want me to take point for this?”

  The mouse-kin nodded back to her. “Yes. You are at least a familiar face. I’m a stranger. I suspect that talking to you first will make this easier.”

  Allison shrugged once more. “You’re the expert.” she replied, before securing the rifle over her shoulder and across her back and making her way up to the front door, knocking carefully to keep the noise from echoing through the neighborhood. She heard movement come from within the house, then the sounds of the door’s lock disengaging before carefully swinging open. Standing behind the door was a male fox-kin, their white hair cropped short and gray highlights barely visible along the tips of their ears, dressed in comfortable clothes clearly intended for a night in. Their gray-blue eyes widened upon recognizing the badger-kin before them, and they gave a slight yip of surprise before speaking to their visitor.

  “Ally? What’s going on? Where’s Aaron?” Their eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the van parked in front of the house, the engine still running. “Is this about that note we got?”

  “Hey John. Sorry to come by so late, but we needed to avoid drawing too much attention to our visit. And yes, this is about the note.”

  “I see, that note was a bit sparse on details though. Just asked us to pack some bags and that some friends would be by to ‘look after us’.” His eyes widened again, as he started piecing things together. “Hold on, is that why you’re here? Just what is going on?”

  Allison sighed. “We don’t have time for the full details right now, but the short version is that the Crimson Claws have started taking over all of the questionably legal to fully illegal businesses operating in this cluster, and the Captain got dragged into it by them threatening to harm you guys if he didn’t cooperate. However, he decided that he didn’t want to get involved in the slave trade, so he has asked for some help from some new friends we made to see about getting you all safely out of harms way. May I come in?”

  John went stiff at the news, then mutely waved them in. After closing and locking the door behind them he gestured to the living room. He took a deep breath, then told them to make themselves comfortable while he grabbed his wife and the kids and got ready to go. Allison went and leaned against the wall near the entryway into the room from the front door, while John went down a hallway towards the bedrooms in the back of the house.

  Roughly five minutes later, the fox-kin emerged from the back of the house, now dressed for travel with a backpack on his back and holding two suitcases. Right behind him was another fox-kin, this one clearly Aaron’s sister, with their infant daughter strapped into a carrier on her back, holding their barely awake three year old son in one arm and carrying a diaper bag in the other. She looked both tired and worried as she looked over to where Allison was standing, before whispering.

  “Ally? John was saying something about us being in danger and that you were here to take us someplace safe. What’s going on?”

  “I can explain more on the way. You ready to go then?”

  John nodded. “As ready as we can be. Where are we going?”

  “Right now? To a shuttle we have stashed outside the city. From there? We’ll discuss that once we reach the rendezvous. There’s a van parked outside that should fit all of you, and some new friends of ours have a team keeping the Claws that are supposed to be watching the house too distracted to notice us leaving. That being said, they can’t keep them distracted forever, so we should probably get moving quickly.”

  Kate and John shared a concerned look between them, then nodded back to Allison, gesturing for her to lead the way. Allison guided Kate out to the waiting van while John locked up the house, opening the back door for her and helping her with the kids. Once the family were buckled in and ready to go, Allison hopped back into the front passenger seat and nodded to the waiting agent, who started driving off before flicking on the transmitter of their radio.

  “Iceman to Icicle, package secured and on route, Over.”

  “Icicle to Iceman, understood. Maintain your current cycle. We will notify you of future changes. Icicle out.”

  The two fox-kin in the back of the van shared a look of confusion, as Kate spoke up.

  “Iceman? Icicle? Allison, who is this and what’s going on?”

  Allison took a deep breath, then responded quietly. “Iceman here works for the Royal Intelligence Agency.” The two fox-kins eyes widened in response, so Allison went on, sharing with them what kind of work they used to do prior to the Crimson Claws involvement, how they had threatened to hurt or kill the Aaron’s family if they didn’t agree to work for them, all the way to them being told to deliver an enslaved doctor and her twin teenage daughters as ‘gifts’ from the local overseer to his counterpart in Theocracy space. A trio they had recently helped escape the Theocracy.

  The conversation took up the better part of an hour, as the three of them quietly conversed, with the two fox-kin looking equal parts worried and horrified by the end of it. ‘Not that I can blame them.’ Allison thought to herself, a tense silence washing through the vehicle as they approached the outskirts of the city. ‘After all, they did just find out that an intergalactic crime syndicate is probably planning to hurt or kill them if one of their family members steps out of line.’ The tense silence stretched on as they left the city, only to be interrupted by the crackling of the comm device sitting beside their driver.

  “Icicle to Iceman, Blindfold is down. Repeat, Blindfold is down, over.”

  The agent glanced down with concern at the device, before scooping up its transmitter and replying. “Iceman to Icicle. Understood. Should I revise the cycle? Over.”

  “Icicle to Iceman. Negative. Maintain current cycle. Post Bravo has been informed, and we are monitoring Posts Alpha, Charlie, and Foxtrot for cycle changes. We will inform you of further situation changes. Icicle, out.”

  Allison gave the agent a sharp look. “So what was that all about?”

  The agent grunted. “Our distraction for the group watching the house has apparently run its course, and they know the family is gone. Didn’t last as long as we had hoped, but it did last longer than we were expecting. So far, they don’t seem to know how the family got out, or where they left. Otherwise, we would have heard from our people watching their response teams.”

  Allison gripped the rifle in hands, and turned her gaze back out to their dimly lit surroundings. “I see. We still have almost two hours of travel until we reach the shuttle though. Hopefully they stay lost the rest of the night…”

  ‘I should have kept my damn mouth shut!’ Allison thought to herself, not for the first time, as the van swerved left, eliciting a shriek from their passengers as they narrowly dodged a string of gauss rounds that came streaking in on them from the air car chasing them. She then leant out the now open window and twisted her torso about, firing a tight burst of shots from her stun-rifle at their pursuer. The electrified darts, designed as a “less-than-lethal” projectile for incapacitating their targets, struck the metal frame of the aircar’s passenger door, forcing the gunman that had been leaning out of it to duck back inside as electric sparks lit up along the frame.

  “So much for them staying lost!” She shouted back to the driver, even as she peered out into the night sky behind them to see the silhouettes of two more air-cars quickly gaining on them. “I don’t suppose we have any reinforcements on their way? Looks like there are two more air-cars inbound, and they aren’t flashing any lights.”

  The agent grimaced, as they continued to keep the van weaving down the road in as unpredictable a manner as they could, trying to throw off their pursuer’s aim.

  “You heard Icicle! Post Lambda is setting up a ‘welcome package’ for our unwanted guests up ahead. We just need to reach them!”

  Allison growled, as she fired off another burst of shots. “Yeah well, we can’t reach them fast enough!”

  They continued along the country road, swerving and trading shots with their pursuers, for what felt like hours to Allison, but in reality was about 10 more minutes, when the comm device came to life again.

  “Snowdrift to Snowman. Pull into the next driveway on your left. We have a package to deliver, over.”

  “Snowman to Snowdrift. Understood, pulling into the next driveway on the left. Snowman out.” The agent glanced over to the merc now hanging halfway out the window, firing as they drove on. “Might want to get back in, sounds like our new cover is coming up soon.”

  Allison paused for a moment, then fired one more burst. She let out a short cheer as she slipped back inside. “Ha! Got the bastard! Managed to knock the gun out of his hand. That will hopefully slow them down a bit. You said we finally have some backup?”

  The agent glanced over again, this time in surprise. “Yeah, next driveway on the left…did you say you managed to hit the gunman in that aircar?”

  Allison smirked. “I’m not just a pretty face holding a gun, ya know?”

  ‘Snowman’ could only shake their head. “Help me keep an eye out for our turn, alright?”

  “Sure thing.”

  The aircar following them slowed, pulling up a bit to keep them in sight but out of range of Allison’s rifle. Then they spotted the driveway ahead of them, quickly swerving onto a one-lane dirt road leading towards what appeared to be a group of barns and sheds near a two-story house. Their sudden turn surprised their pursuers, who overshot the turn and had to start looping back around to find them, though it also finished waking up the kids, with the cries of an upset infant quickly filling the van. Rina winced as an especially piercing cry ripped through the air in the van, and turned to the agent driving the car.

  “I hope whatever surprise your people have cooked up turns up soon. They won’t be off our tail long, and they have friends coming to join them.”

  “They’ll be ready for them. Just hold on.”

  The air above them practically thrummed as the three air-cars started closing in on them, one moving to cut them off from behind, another moving ahead of them, and the original one coming in from above. Just as they started lowering windows and leveling gauss rifles at them, two streaks of flame ripped out from inside the largest of the barns ahead of them, as a pair of air-to-air missiles streaked out and slammed into the air-cars in front and behind them, ripping them apart as the missiles exploded on contact, their wreckage scattering across the ground beneath them. Following in their wake, a sleek black craft pulled out of the barn, the RHN crest in blue and silver barely visible along its flanks in the firelight of the destroyed craft. The shuttle pulled up as it cleared the barn, and began approaching them. The third air-car began banking away upon seeing the new arrival, shooting off back towards the city as it tried to escape.

  It didn’t get far, however, as the shuttles dorsal point defense lasers swiveled to follow it, then lit up, melting right through the air-cars unarmored shell and tearing apart its power supply, forcing it to crash violently into the ground beneath it. The shuttle then moved to land next to the van, even as agent Snowman pulled it to a stop.

  “There’s our ride!” she shouted out to the rest. “Go on, get out! It’s time to go!”

  Allison practically threw the door next to her open, gripping her rifle with one hand while she opened the back door for the family. She helped Kate grab the kids while John grabbed their bags, then they all ran towards the shuttle as its rear loading ramp lowered for them. Minutes later, and they were all on board and strapping themselves into the waiting seats, the shuttle lifting off as it raised the loading ramp. The ship’s co-pilot secured the door and checked on their passengers before running back up to the cockpit to strap themselves in. Once they did, the pilot engaged the shuttle’s stealth systems and started taking them out to space.

  —4th of Risisari, Year 390 PD, 04:30 ship time; RHNV Wakizashi’s boat bay, High orbit over Glacial Sunset V, Frostwood System —

  Aaron had to fight to keep himself from pacing as he waited on the flight deck, his tail and ears twitching in nervous anticipation. He heard a snicker from the woman to his right, causing him to snap his head to look over to her. The fox-kin woman, with her red hair pinned up in a set of braids that formed a crown around her head and her silver-tipped ears poking up around the green and black cap worn by ship commanders of the RMN, stood at ease in her black and green uniform. He had joined her for the day-long journey to their present position around the fifth moon of the system’s 5th planet, having finished his business on Frostwood picking up his ‘cover’ cargo, and pretending to leave the system as originally scheduled. Only he had instead taken his ship back to the Task Group, where after docking with the group’s supply ship, had been graciously allowed to join the Wakizashi as it sneaked its way deeper into the system, so that he could be reunited with his sister and her family all that much sooner.

  The journey gave him some time to get to know the young Commander Silverveil a bit better, and he found himself fascinated by her. It was her eyes, their vibrantly green irises that seemed to glow like emeralds, capable of showing so much emotion and passion, when she chose to. And that was what mesmerized him so much about them, because it was clear that she really could choose when and where to allow her emotions to show. He had met professional card players with worse control!

  And now those eyes held his gaze, a twinkle of mirth dancing through them and across the smirk she was giving him. ‘She really is a striking woman, and dangerous.’ He thought to himself, then blinked and mentally shook himself clear of those thoughts before speaking to her with a slight sharp tone.

  “What?” His eyes narrowed into a slight frown as she laughed at his response.

  “You can relax a little bit, you know. Fretting and pacing won’t get them here any sooner.”

  “Yeah well, it’s not your family that just got snatched out from the jaws of death, now is it? I doubt you would be any better if our situations were reversed!”

  Rina lifted up her hand to cover her mouth as she let out a small giggle. “Of course not, I’m afraid I would probably be worse!”

  This got a laugh out of everyone present, forcing a slight chuckle out of him in turn. “Alright, alright! You win! It should be just a few more minutes anyway, correct?”

  Rina looked over to where their other two companions, Agent Springpaw and Lieutenant Sprystep were standing, hunched over a nearby monitor. “Ladies? Everything on track over there?”

  Sarah responded, “Aye ma’am! Shuttle Wakizashi-1 should be beginning boarding procedures in two two zero seconds.”

  “Excellent. Once the shuttle is secured and our boat bay is resealed, please inform the helm to get us out of here and back to the task group. Quietly, of course!”

  Sarah smiled as she saluted. “Of course, skipper!”

  A few minutes later, and the sirens of the bay doors closing finally go silent, and the air pressure around the docking cradle the shuttle is secured into stabilizes to match the rest of the ship. With a slight hiss, the loading ramp of the shuttle drops down to the deck, and the shuttle’s passengers and crew begin to disembark. The fox-kin family don’t make very far, however, as a similarly white-haired fox-kin bolts across the deck as soon as they step off, sweeping them into his arms. Rina smiles at the sight, as the family enjoys their tearful reunion, and Christine steps up next to her.

  “It’s times like this that remind us what we signed up for, isn’t it?” the agent asked her, a soft smile on her face as well.

  “You’re right,” Rina replied, “it really is times like these that epitomize what the RMN stands for. I take it you’ve already started making arrangements for where they can go?”

  The agent shook her head. “I haven’t, but my boss back in High-Rest has. Once we finish debriefing Captain Snowstrider, the plan is to have him transport his family, along with Dr. Brighttail and her daughters, back to Highland. Command is setting up both families with homes there, and I believe they plan on giving the Captain and his crew a job offer. With the increasingly hostile rhetoric coming from the higher ups on Truesight, I suspect that they are looking to establish some additional friendly eyes and ears there, and would love to have an experienced crew help get them into position.

  Rina nodded in agreement. “Makes sense. I imagine having his family safely out of harm’s way, and actually getting paid for his efforts will make for a fairly persuasive proposal. Especially if he gets to go back to ‘business as usual’ in the process.”

  “Indeed. Here’s hoping his debriefing goes well. We really could use a solid lead on finding where this Overseer is hiding out. Finding out that the Claws are involved has really thrown a wrench into things.”

  “Aye, that it has…”

  —End of Mission 3—