Emerald

  Most of the Gamma Hounds were seated comfortably in front of the governor’s desk, while Evan stood off to one side, leaning against an ornamental bookshelf. Jenner kept throwing glances in the human's direction. His looming presence clearly unsettled the rotund tortoise. To save time, Emerald gave a brief retelling of the information they had already been given in their first briefing.

  “That about sums up the situation as I know it as well,” Jenner confirmed with a nod. “We already have rescue crews ready to respond as soon as you clear out the Reavers. While there are bounties on recovering the harvesters, I ask that you prioritize taking out the pirates. I’m also going to personally pay eight hundred Zorkmeds for every miner you locate.”

  Emerald’s brows shot upward in surprise. “That’s a rather big personal investment, Governor.”

  The portly tortoise nodded with quiet resolve. “I have a responsibility to this station and to the people on it. That includes doing everything in my power to ensure their safety. We haven’t suffered a pirate attack since this station’s deployment to the Orvus system.” His claw tapped anxiously against the desk, a faint tremor betraying the iron tone of his words. For all his confidence, the tortoise looked more like a man trying to hold himself together than a governor in command.

  As the governor ended his impassioned words, the door behind the Gamma Hounds crashed open. Two nearly identical rabbits strode in. For a moment Emerald couldn’t tell them apart, but the subtle feminine features of one made it clear enough. The male wore a frown directed at both Emerald and the governor. Evan, still by the door, didn’t shift an inch—silent and statuesque.

  “What’s the big idea starting the meeting without all hunters present?” the male snarled at Jenner.

  The tortoise looked apologetic, but his tone held firm. “This is a matter of life and death for the station’s miners. Waiting for both teams would cost time those miners may not have.”

  The female wore a sneer. “That doesn’t matter, the standard procedure—”

  “The standard procedure?” Jenner cut in sharply. “This is a critical situation.”

  “This is hardly unheard of, Governor,” she replied disdainfully. “You called all monikered hunters, and both Harriet’s Harriers and the Gamma Hounds responded.” She nodded toward Emerald. “By starting the briefing without us, you’ve given them an advantage and hurt our bottom line. Lives are always at stake in our line of work. We’re professionals—treat us as such.”

  The distorted sound of Evan’s mic flared as his voice filled the room. “Callous doesn’t equate to professional.”

  Both rabbits jumped and spun, hands on their blasters. Evan didn’t move, though his right hand rested on his kinetic sidearm while his left gripped the hilt of his combat knife.

  “Do not draw weapons in my office!” Jenner bellowed, slamming his fist on the desk. His assorted trinkets and desk ornaments rattled with the impact.

  Slowly, the rabbits lifted their hands away from their weapons. Evan matched their pace, though his grip remained firm on the knife until their tension eased. Only then did he relax his hand.

  “Look, Harriet—the bounty thief wants to lecture us on professionalism,” the male quipped.

  The female, Harriet, smirked. “Well, that seems a bit hypocritical to me, Harriot.”

  A snort escaped Evan, sharp enough to make both rabbits sneer at him.

  “Something funny, Black Shadow?” Harriot mocked.

  Emerald cringed inwardly. That was a sore spot for Evan. Luckily Ratchet spoke up before things escalated.

  “Woah—did Danger Bunny just mock someone else’s moniker?” Emerald bit back a smile at Ratchet’s insult; in their line of work, a moniker was both shield and brand, and living with a bad one could sting worse than any scar.

  Harriot’s ears shot straight, his nose twitching rapidly. He took a challenging step toward Ratchet, hand drifting again toward his blaster.

  “Mr. Harriot,” Jenner said darkly, “one more implied threat of violence and you will be barred from this bounty and banned from my station.”

  Harriet grabbed her brother’s shoulder. “Drop it, brother. It’s not worth the fight.”

  “Easy for you to say, Thumper,” Harriot sneered.

  Emerald almost felt sorry for the brother. She had to admit, he’d gotten the short end of the stick when it came to names. The two siblings exchanged a heated glare, only to be interrupted by the governor’s cough.

  “While you children bicker, my miners remain in danger. Even though I’d prefer to let the Gamma Hounds go ahead and start, I’d waste more time arguing with you. I’ll do another briefing—but I want you blasting those damn pirates the moment we finish.”

  Emerald sighed, resigned to sit through another monologue. Nia and Ratchet mirrored her expression while Evan stood stoically in the corner, unflinching.

  Half an hour later, both squads were up to date and heading toward the port. Aside from a few glares, little was exchanged between the groups as they went their separate ways.

  Evan

  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little excited to finally be back in the action. When I was solo, I rarely took more than a few days between bounties. Though, to be fair, I had never gone on a commissioned bounty like this. They were almost always reserved for monikered hunters.

  I chuckled to myself as I started up the Alis. Danger Bunny and Thumper. Thumper wasn’t too bad, but Danger Bunny? He must’ve really pissed someone off to end up saddled with that. Thinking about it Violent Vulpus was pretty on the nose too. Goofy too, but at least it wasn’t Black Shadow. Nia had mentioned hers once—Buckshot. Honestly, I was bitter about that. Here I was, stuck with a name that sounded like the goth alias of a school shooter—or maybe a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon. While she and Ratchet got names like Buckshot and Overclock. Whoever was signing off on these monikers was in my humble opinion: the biggest bastard in the galaxy.

  “Gamma Hounds, prepare for takeoff.” Emerald’s voice rang over the private channel, her feed flickering onto the comms display.

  Above me, the Gamma Ray’s hangar doors peeled open, revealing the endless sprawl of the asteroid belt. Either Nia or Ratchet had piloted the carrier free of port. I was definitely looking forward to having carrier support—it reminded me of at least three bounties where a carrier would have completely changed the outcome.

  “Launch!” Emerald barked.

  One by one the fighters shot free, flying defensive patterns around the Gamma Ray. I waited for the others to clear the hangar, then pressed my thrusters. The Alis leapt into space like a bullet.

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  “Everyone’s clear,” I reported.

  “Alright,” Emerald ordered. “Let’s advance on the asteroid belt. I’ll call for formation before we enter.”

  The nav console said three minutes to entry.

  “I’m going to send out scan pulses,” I announced. “They won’t be as effective inside the belt, but at least they’ll warn us if something’s waiting on the edge.”

  “How many bells and whistles do you have on that thing, Evan?” Nia asked.

  I shrugged. “Anything I needed as a solo hunter. Though now I guess I can swap some out.”

  I leaned aside and tapped a panel on my right. It slid open to reveal a compact food unit I affectionately called my microwave. Not accurate—it cooked differently, and unlike a microwave, it cooked all the way through—but the name stuck.

  Emerald snorted. “What do you even eat in there?”

  I hesitated. It had been a while since I’d stocked it, and what I used to keep wasn’t healthy. Though when I needed to, I could always burn calories by reversing the gravity compensators in my suit. “Nothing recently. I stopped putting food in there when I moved onto the carrier.”

  “Yeah, but what did you eat when you were stuck in your Alis for days?” Ratchet pressed.

  Before I could answer, my scanner pinged two unknown ships. My gut said pirates, but their direction told me otherwise.

  “Company approaching from the station,” I reported, sending the scan data to the squad.

  Moments later, a comm request lit our screens. Four grimaces and one drawn-out sigh from Nia followed.

  “What in the vastness could they want?” she groaned.

  I slid my helmet back on just as Emerald rolled her shoulders. “Let’s get this over with.”

  She answered the call. Predictably, Harriot and Harriet’s faces appeared.

  “To what do we owe the pleasure?” Emerald asked, not bothering to mask her annoyance.

  Harriot sneered. “We’re just letting you know to stay out of our way. We’ll be collecting the most heads on this bounty.”

  His voice grated like nails.

  “That means stay out of our way,” Harriet added, unnecessarily.

  I dragged a hand down my faceplate. “Yeah, we gathered that,” I muttered. Her cheeks flushed faintly, embarrassed.

  “Don’t talk down to my sister!” Harriot snarled.

  “What?” I questioned, bewildered. All I’d done was point out her redundant statement. Not exactly an insult. He acted like I leveled a personal insult at her looks. I took a moment to really look at Harriet and truth be told, she was kind of cute. I felt my brain short circuit and internally despaired. Oh god, I’m turning into a furry.

  While I wrestled with that revelation, Harriot’s rant continued. He leaned closer to the screen, his teeth bared. “We’re faster, better, and hungrier. Don’t get in our way—or you’ll end up chasing scraps. Don’t even think about stealing our bounties either as I’ll be recording. Any attempts at that and I’ll report your washed-up squad to the association.”

  The feeds cut abruptly.

  “The fuck was that?” I asked the moment they vanished. “Did they just call to throw weak shit and hang up?”

  The rest of the squad wore the same baffled expressions. Emerald shook her head.

  “We’re about to enter. Take formation.”

  The three of them pulled into a tight advancing wedge while I hung back as tail. Far enough behind to stay off first scans, close enough to respond instantly.

  “How are scans?” Nia asked.

  I checked. Nothing but our fighters. “Clear.”

  We pressed forward, entering the belt. At the edge, the asteroids were spaced wide enough to hold formation easily, so we did. I kept my eyes scanning everything—sides, top, bottom. You’d be surprised how many forget space is omnidirectional.

  A new ping lit my console. Something on one of the nearby rocks.

  “Doesn’t look like a fighter,” I said, transmitting data.

  Ratchet glanced at it. “Not a fighter. Probably a miner.”

  Sure enough, an emergency beacon registered.

  “Don’t answer,” Emerald ordered and everyone nodded.

  Ratchet smirked. “Maybe the rabbits will be dumb enough to give the pirates an easy signal trace."

  Emerald shook her head. "I wouldn't count on it. They're hot-headed, not stupid. Mark the asteroid, Evan—we’ll send the data back after we deal with the Reavers.”

  I nodded, logging the coordinates.

  Silently we pressed on. The quiet broken only by the hum of my suit and the ambient noise of my ship. My eyes continuing to sweep the void while we moved. Soon enough we were approaching a section of more densely packed asteroids. They were close enough together that entering meant breaking formation. As we edged closer, something caught my eye—above, on the underside of an asteroid. Then I saw them—five Hewards and an Argonaut clinging to the underside of a rock like carrion birds.

  Parked. Watching.

  Based on our position, they had to see us too.

  “Emerald,” I said, “six pirates sitting above us.”

  On our feed, I saw the others physically turn to look. They spotted them as well. The pirates hadn’t moved, meaning they didn’t know their cover was blown. If I hadn’t killed sensors, they’d have been alerted instantly.

  “They don’t realize we’ve spotted them,” Ratchet whispered.

  Emerald studied her console, face tightening—then her muzzle split into a grin.

  “Break formation. Enter the belt and park on this asteroid.” She sent the nav mark. A mid-sized rock, enough space for all our fighters. “Evan, are your kinetics loaded?”

  I nodded.

  “Good. In front of our position there’s a larger asteroid. When they pass, I’ll give the signal. Blast it apart. They won’t stay together dodging those chunks. When they split, we pick them off.”

  Simple. Effective.

  I admit, I was a little disappointed. In an open engagement, we could crush them—even all sixteen. But in a place like this, every rock was another hazard. Another chance to crash and burn.

  Silently, I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck.

  Let’s see how this plan comes together.

  We entered the tighter section of rocks, breaking formation but staying close together. Our pace was slow and deliberate until all of our ships were out of sight. Then, the moment we were sure the pirates couldn’t see us, Emerald yipped out another order.

  “Move top speed towards the marked asteroid. I want us parked and waiting by the time they move out.”

  We followed her instructions to the letter. Soon we approached the asteroid in question, its ore-veined surface dimly reflecting the light of the nearby star. After another fifteen seconds we were all parked tightly together, waiting.

  “Evan, get your explosives ready for my signal.”

  “On it,” I responded, lining up my rudimentary kinetic sights with the large asteroid in front of us. With our preparations complete, all that was left was to wait.

  The next ten minutes felt like an hour. Every second was spent watching every possible pirate approach with a scrutinizing eye. Finally, a familiar rust-colored Argonaut slid down the route we would have taken had we continued. It was followed shortly after by five Hewards.

  “Hold,” Emerald ordered as the loose formation advanced toward the large asteroid, inching their way underneath the rock. Ten more agonizing seconds crawled by until the last Heward slipped beneath it.

  “Evan, NOW!”

  With the order clear, I set my kinetics to full power and unleashed a burst of explosive clusters into the asteroid’s heart. The massive rock shattered like cold glass dropped into boiling water. Immediately the pirates scattered, many suffering hull damage from the flying debris.

  With their formation broken, we lifted from our own asteroid.

  “Split and strike! Don’t let any escape if you can help it!” Emerald barked.

  Like wolves leaping from the brush, we charged our prey. Nia locked onto two Hewards already darting for open space. Her blasters lit up like Christmas lights, every shot precise. Their shields collapsed in seconds, and the cockpits melted into slag.

  Ratchet banked high after a Heward making a break for the edge of the belt. Red energy coalesced at the tip of his blaster before he loosed a charged shot. It struck clean, detonating the fleeing ship instantly—its shields not holding for even a fraction of a second.

  Emerald chose another Heward, but unlike the others, she took her time. Methodical, patient, she chipped away at its shielding with measured blasts. Then a smile curled her muzzle. One last low-powered shot clipped a rear thruster, sending the crippled fighter spinning. It slammed into a nearby asteroid and exploded into a spray of rock and metal.

  For my part, I banked downward toward the Argonaut and the last Heward. The debris was denser in this direction, which explained why the Argonaut had chosen it. Its hull could take a beating. Even so, I spotted several fresh dents from stray impacts. His disregard for caution let him build distance, but I didn’t put the cart before the horse—I focused on the Heward first.

  The smaller ship weaved desperately through the rocks, trying not to be crushed. I lined up my kinetics and threaded the Alis through the debris. It wasn’t until I appeared right in front of his nose that the rat pilot finally saw me. His eyes went wide with shock just before I fired a single kinetic round straight through his Heward’s cockpit.

  There was no explosion, just the dimming of lights. The rat scrambled at his powerless consoles, pawing at buttons in futility. His eyes widened further as he clutched at his throat, then bulged grotesquely before he froze in place. The Heward’s cheap vacuum systems must have failed the moment its power died.

  I admit, it was a shit way to go. But I didn’t dwell on it.

  Maneuvering around the surrounding asteroids, I pressed forward after the Argonaut. I nearly had him in my sights when he fired a shot at a massive rock ahead. The asteroid detonated in a burst of molten slag. I banked hard, narrowly avoiding the burning fragments. By the time I reoriented myself, the Argonaut had already gained too much distance to safely pursue.

  I cursed under my breath before breaking off and turning back to rejoin my squad.