Blue Star Enterprises

Dalton’s ship wasn’t the first in the convoy line of ships, that would have been too conspicuous. Arriving near the middle of the refugee group meant he had to wait in line, but it should bring less scrutiny as people grew complacent. It seemed that whoever was running this place was forcing the ships to land one at a time, slowing down the entire process. It was an easy way to control the speed of people being processed, but it worked to his advantage as well by increasing the fatigue of anyone on duty.

The only problem with that approach was that not every ship that came along could land on a planet. The first ship just so happened to be one of those, and it was forced to dock at what could generously be called a station. He got to watch as people were shuttled down in small groups over hours. There were at least two ships behind him that were equally as large and would need to go through the same process.

While the waiting was annoying, it did give him time to study the space around the planet without active sensors.

He didn’t like what he saw. Hundreds of new items were orbiting the planet since the last time he had been here. They had to be some sort of weapon system or there would have been no point placing them around the planet. It wasn’t like they needed global satellite coverage for one facility.

To top it off, two fully armed frigates were docked at the station. He recognized the general shape of Arkonis’ ship, only it had changed. Somehow these people had rebuilt it, and another ship that probably belonged to one of Char’s people. And they did it in a little over eight months.

Based on the other derelicts docked at the station, it looked like they planned to do the same thing with two more ships.

The speed of buildup here was truly insane. The people running this place must have deep pockets and access to plenty of technology. If Kane was somehow involved with this effort, he was starting to get an idea of why Harlow wanted the man so badly.

Hours passed by until he finally got the response he had been waiting for. "Toby’s Pride, you are cleared to land."

Dalton suppressed his anticipation as he responded. "Copy that, ground control."

He followed the instructions sent to him and came in for a slow descent. He heard his passengers complaining about the rough ride, the ungrateful shits. He would be glad to be rid of them. Then his real mission could begin. He had a month at most until his gene-shift treatment wore off. Pushing it to the last moment wasn’t a good idea though, so he gave himself two weeks to complete this mission. If he couldn’t do it by then, he would need to get out of there and figure out another plan.

As he descended through the atmosphere, he finally got his first look at Eden’s End. It looked like a deteriorating shit hole, but he could see areas that had been repaired or newly built. He even spotted a ship off to one side and a group of armed individuals blocking off an area where a large black square was being moved into place. Most people wouldn’t have recognized the monolithic black cubes, but Dalton had seen the devices before so he recognized the Qcomm array almost instantly. If these people could afford a Qcomm, it just reinforced the fact that they had deep pockets. It was too bad they weren’t pirates or criminals, he was always looking for new clientele.

Despite the lack of new work he was likely to find here, Dalton could sell the information about the Qcomm on the black market. The planet might have decent defenses, and he suspected those items orbiting the planet were some sort of weapon, but some people would risk it to get their hands on the elusive FTL comm arrays.

Soon he touched down and cheering erupted from the back of his ship. Their jubilant attitude made him want to vomit, he was glad to finally be rid of them.

Knowing it would be suspicious if he left his ship online, he started putting it into cold standby mode. It provided just enough power from the reactor to power the lights and minor electrical items on the ship as well as the static field generators that shielded his weapon’s compartments from scanners.

Once the ship was on standby, he put on a fake smile and headed to the cargo bay.

The parents of the families he had coerced to cover his entry clapped him on the back and he shook their hands in celebration before moving over to the cargo bay ramp. "Don’t forget your masks," he called in fake concern.

Those who hadn’t donned the oxygen masks did so now. Dalton followed suit and opened the ramp door. The first thing he noticed was the dozens of armed mercenaries waiting to guide the new arrivals into the facility.

That would have put a wrinkle in his plan if he hadn’t already planned for it. In fact, they were integral to his mission. He needed the mercenaries to finish bringing in the new arrivals before he acted. It would give him time to find his target but also split the focus of all the security people here. The timing would be tight though. If he waited too long, the chaos caused by taking in this many people would die down and the security forces would be able to look into any inconsistencies.

"Hands where we can see them," one of the mercs stated as he approached the ramp with his weapon pointed down but ready to snap up in a moment. "We’ll be scanning you all for weapons."

Dalton joined the rest of his passengers, looking surprised by the statement before he headed down the ramp with his arms up.

The man ran a simple metal detector over him before pausing as it beeped.

"Titanium implants from an old injury," he stated, pulling up his sleeve to show the man two long faded scars along both arms.

The man nodded and motioned for him to join the other waiting mercenaries. Once everyone got checked, Dalton turned to one of the men. "Can I close up my ship?"

"No," the man stated. "Once all of the refugees are settled, all ships will be checked for contraband. Once that is complete, you can come back out here and remove your fusion activation crystal."

"Any idea how long that will take? I have some food in my fridge I’d rather not let go to waste." He didn’t have anything worth saving in his fridge, but he needed some excuse to ask about the time frame that wouldn’t make the man suspicious. He could also make a big stink about how this would be illegal in STO space. He might even win that argument considering what he was able to dig up on the straight-laced Hawks of Ganos, but that would bring him unnecessary attention.

"A week or two," the soldier responded non-commitally.

Going by what he witnessed, he was going to put that estimate closer to the longer end. It wasn’t ideal, but Dalton now had a firm timeline. If they did a thorough search of his ship, they were bound to find any number of hidden compartments he would rather they didn’t. And if they shut down the reactor, the weapons would quickly be located.

He had worked with tighter timelines in the past so he should be good.

As he followed the mercs to the facility, Dalton mentally reviewed what he knew of the target. Kane was a sickly man who was confined to a stasis pod and who used a robot to interact with the outside world.

Easy enough to find the robot, but without knowing the capabilities of such a machine, he wouldn’t risk going after it directly. He would focus on the child Kane adopted instead. The attachment to an adopted child might not be as strong as a biological one, but it’s the best option he had to work with. The only other option was locating the stasis pod and making off with it. Considering what was inside it, the medical device was likely secured beyond what he would be able to get past in the short time frame.

The only issue with his plan was that he didn’t have a positive ID for the girl, just her age.

As they were led into the building, Dalton refined his plan to figure out where Kane and the girl were.

When they entered a sort of holding area, he noticed there wasn’t an X-ray scanner setup. Had he known that he wouldn’t have bothered with the sub-skeletal implants. An X-ray could still see through bone, but the titanium rods he had grafted to them to make it look like substandard medical repairs would help mask what was inside the bones. Retrieving those items would be painful, but he couldn’t change that part of the plan now.

He was led to a table where his bag was searched, then moved to a booth where he was given a bio-locked ID after his record came back clean. Then he was moved to a waiting area.

Once the families were through, he moved over to them. "You’ve all had a long day. How about I find out where the kids go for learning, that way you all can rest?"

It didn’t take any more convincing than that to get them to agree.

Once one of the guards came by to grab people, Dalton told them to take the families first. This selflessness further ingratiated him with the families and allowed Dalton to see how the facility guards operated.

They looked very professional with their matching outfits, but Dalton could tell they were inexperienced. Normally that would be a good thing, but inexperienced people tend to make more mistakes and act without thinking. He would need to ensure none were around when he made his move or they might accidentally kill the girl, making this whole operation pointless.

Once it came his time to be led off, he spoke to the officer. "Would it be possible for me to meet the person in charge so I can thank them personally?"

The man glanced at him without turning his head. "You want to see Alex? I guess I could ask. It might not be right away though."

Interesting, he wondered if Alex and Alexander Kane were the same person. "That’ll be fine," Dalton replied with a smile.

They eventually arrived at his assigned room.

"This will be your room, if you wish to switch or move, you must request a change using the terminals. Atrium A is that way," the guard pointed down the hallway. "Just follow the signs. That is where you can purchase food and supplies as well as look for work. There is also a job board on the terminals. You are allowed to go into any public spaces. If you break the rules, you will be locked up and punished accordingly. Any questions?"

"Just one. I came with some families and promised them I would look into schooling for their young children, could you point me in that direction?"

The guard looked at him with a bit of suspicion before replying. "The other guards probably notified them of the room where kids are taught. I recommend letting them figure it out."

"Fair enough," he chuckled, doing his best to mollify the man’s suspicions. It seemed he pushed too far by asking that question. He would have to learn where this place was another way.

***

Alexander sighed. It had been a long week, or more specifically, a long four days. That was how long it took to process the nearly twelve hundred people on the ships. It would have gone much faster, but half the ships couldn’t land, and the shuttles had been running non-stop ferrying people down to the surface.

As far as he knew, the Hawks were just now starting to check the ships on the ground. It was a very inefficient process and probably bent a few STO laws going by how some of the captains of those vessels grumbled.

He didn’t care. Alexander didn’t invite these people, if they wanted to stay, they followed Eden’s End’s rules.

Honestly, he wanted this whole intake process over with so he could focus on more important issues. One of the things he was waiting for was the confirmation that the Qcomm was ready and working. Based on the reports he got, it should be completed sometime today. In the meantime, he was greeting a few people who wanted to thank him for allowing them to live here.

Most were families displaced by the first attacks. They had been bounced from world to world since nobody wanted to take them in permanently. The families or groups all flinched when they saw him, which wasn’t much of a surprise. The remaining people were refugees of the second attack, which was news to Alexander.

It seemed like the war against the pirates was not going in the STO’s favor. The change must have happened recently because there was no news of it the last time he left STO space. He was certain he would have heard about it if there had been.

The second grouping of people had much the same reaction to meeting Alexander. All except one man, who looked entirely too chipper to meet him. The man shook his arm and told him his name, but the only thing Alexander could remember of the guy was how he looked like someone who had too much plastic surgery. He had that overly stretched face look which made his mannerisms look entirely fake or completely missing.

Alexander didn’t bring attention to that fact, but he was glad he couldn’t be caught staring. Maybe he could talk to Gabriella about it. There had to be better methods to tighten and firm skin than whatever that poor man had paid for.

A little over an hour later, Alexander finally received the news he had been waiting for. The Qcomm was online and the technicians were ready to speak to him about its operation. It was a monumental step for Eden’s End.