Searing pain, like so many fiery little multi-pronged blades ricocheting in his head…a sensation of flying, followed by the blunt force agony of impact…his breathing constricted…as if a malevolent hand were wrapped around his heart and squeezing…squeezing…
Alec Dishman jerked to wakefulness streaming sweat. For a few desperate seconds he didn’t know who or where he was. He found himself in bed, naked. Not alone. A woman stirred beside him, also naked. She rose and a silken bed cloth slipped down her body revealing a pair of plump, perfectly augmented breasts. She yawned aloud before settling a mildly curious gaze upon her paramour of the moment. “Bad dream?”
Alec swung his legs about, planting his feet firmly on the sponge carpeted floor to steady himself. He looked around a sparsely furnished, unadorned room before glancing the woman’s way. The first flesh and blood woman he had enjoyed in a very long time.
Months earlier he reconfigured one of his six avatars to look like a human female, programming it with all the characteristics he found appealing in a woman. While the avatar satisfied him, he found intimacy with a real woman to be a more fulfilling experience.
Looking into the woman’s purple tinted eyes, Alec wanted to confide in her his hopes, desires and the grand ambition of restoring an empire. Instead, he remained silent. He wasn’t ready to pour out his soul to another organic. Not until his quest was realized.
Alec stood, mentally shaking off fragments of a nightmare. “Not a bad dream,” he replied. “Just reliving a bad episode.”
“Care to talk about it?” the woman inquired, turning on her side.
Alec studied her. Growing arousal put him on the verge of loosening his tongue. How long had it been since he had a heartfelt conversation with an organic? No. She could have been a spy. Humans were one of the United Empire’s founding species. But substantial numbers could be counted among it enemies. Was he being paranoid? Maybe.
“I don’t want to bore you.” He climbed back into bed, sliding on top of her.
“Your time is almost up,” she reminded, responding pleasurably to his kisses. “I’ll have to tack on extra to my fee.”
“That’s ok,” Alec whispered in her ear. “I’ve got a little more currency to spare. You’re worth it.”
****
Fara, his female looking avatar, was standing outside the room when Alec walked out an hour later. Alec brushed past her and the avatar fell in a half step behind him. “Status,” he demanded. “The ship docked seventeen minutes ago. Thirty members have debarked, leaving ten on board to maintain essential functions.” The human’s lips parted in a trace smile.
Marauder packs had arisen and proliferated like vermin since the UE’s fall. The docked marauder ship was part of a particularly nasty flotilla. Its crewmembers weren’t just satisfied with capturing unarmed space vessels. They took particular delight in torturing, mutilating and murdering passengers and crews.
It wasn’t solely Alec’s thirst for vengeance that attracted him to these marauders. Their ship was equipped with high-level weapons and propulsion/guidance systems that they could have only acquired from an abandoned UE stockpile. He wanted that vessel badly.
“The crew members inside the establishment have begun imbibing,” said Fara in a melodic voice. Her well formed features and deep sienna hue gave her an authentic human appearance…if one didn’t look too closely. “They are predominantly Tiran, with humans and Delqers comprising the remainder.”
“And why is the species makeup relevant?” Alec asked distractedly.
“It takes two hours for the effects of heavy alcohol intake to falter a Tiran’s awareness. For humans and Delqers, the period is shorter, meaning they will precede the Tirans in retiring to their quarters.”
Alec slowed just enough to allow Fara to walk side by side. He regarded…(her?) He found it increasingly difficult to not perceive the avatar as more than an ‘it’.
In many ways that bothered him, Fara was an excellent assistant and a competent sexual tool. Nothing more... and yet…
“Thank you, Fara. I forget I’m not as thorough in my planning as you are. That information is quite useful.” They stepped out of the guest quarters into a bustling common area. “We’ll definitely use it to our advantage.”
****
Tens of thousands of visitors passed through Stanos Point. In better days it was a high end resort catering to powerful UE clientele, executives, politicians, military officers and the like. In recent years the Point suffered a rapid reversal of fortune when the planet around it was reduced to rubble by rival UE fleets. The former resort town rose from the ashes after the fighting died down. Of course in light of the UE’s dissolution Stanos Point would never reach its former glory. Not even close. Now, it served a type of clientele upstanding elements would charitably label dregs of the galaxy.
Alec found himself oddly fitting into this disreputable milieu. From a fifth level terrace, he watched the crowd below. The Point’s west end was a medley of shops, lounges restaurants and the occasional brothel like the one he just stepped out of. Vendors weaved through the throng, peddling items at prices designed to undercut their stationary competitors.
He spotted at least a dozen individuals who were clearly up to no good. Pick pockets scoped for targets. Strong-armers selected their prey. Dealers alongside hollow faced customers conducted shady transactions. And then there were the loiterers whom Alec couldn’t decipher. But something in their pitiless, hard-eyed stares advertised malice and ill intent.
Everyone he surveyed had a purpose and a goal. If given means and the opportunity they would stop at nothing to achieve their desires. Alec was no different. He fit in perfectly.
He strolled toward a tavern called the Empire’s Bottom. Apt name, he thought humorlessly. He glanced up. The entire west end was enclosed in a domed structure with an opening at the top. A blanket of nightfall unfurled across the sky. Light bars posted along the walkway glowed brighter the darker it became. They bathed the west end in perpetual daylight.
Alec with Fara at his side, peeked inside the bar’s open entrance. He spotted five of the marauder ship’s crew sitting at a table, laughing, shouting, and most importantly, gulping from huge beverage filled mugs.
One of his faceless avatars emerged from the bar, its presence drawing no special attention from patrons or staff. AIs were ubiquitous at the Point. As long as they minded their own business, they were free to roam just like any organic.
Of all his avatars, Fara was the only one he named. The rest went by the alpha-numeric designations they were given after assembly and programming. Yet, it was uncanny he recognized A14. I’m getting too close to them. Too close.
A14 walked past Alec and Fara, avoiding any hint of recognition. But Alec knew both avatars were communing silently.
“A14 reports the departure of two crew members after they purchased a variety of drugs and associated paraphernalia from a patron,” said Fara. “In all likelihood they are heading to their quarters.” Alec nodded. “Good, have A14 confirm.” Fara transmitted the order and followed (her) human superior into the bar.
****
A military grade avatar possesses ten times the strength of a healthy human male. Weapons and close quarter combat proficiency is part of its programming. It can see as easily in the dark as a human can in broad daylight. It could hear the flutter of an insect’s wings at 200 yards.
From the bridge of the Restoration, a Valiant-Class Deep Space Recon shuttle, Alec sat in the commander’s chair. Neural tabs attached to his forehead opened a window in his mind, enabling him to see what his five avatars on the planet were seeing. He could not only see through their eyes, but also felt their powerful mechanical vitality. He luxuriated in being free of the comparative constraints of his body if only for a few minutes.
Fara stood next to the sensor console, staring straight ahead. (She) was also linked into the avatars below. Alec narrowed five avatar viewpoints to a single perspective belonging to A14. The rest of the planetside Marauder crew had retired to their quarters at a very late hour. They were all in the same guest wing, located two levels below ground.
Before linking to his avatars, Alec accessed the computer controlling the guest wing and disabled all optics. The avatars scurried through the wing’s corridor, unseen, unrecorded by visual devices. They entered rooms where marauders were quartered and inflicted quick, silent death, using carbon bladed combat knives.
Alec followed A14’s progress…well, for all intents and purposes he might as well have been A14, having immersed himself so fully into the avatar’s viewpoint.
****
A14/Alec overrode the door lock mechanism. The door swished opened. The avatar/human slipped into a room twice the size of a large closet. A bare chested Tiran lay sprawled out on a thinly padded bunk in a drunken slumber. A14/Alec advanced toward the bunk with carbon knife in hand. Alec pondered waking this murdering bandit so he could see his death coming.
The A14 part of the pair lifted the marauder’s head without ceremony, plunged the blade into an arterial junction at the back of the neck, where a Tiran’s spine and skull connected. Clear pinkish fluid gushed from the wound, splattering the wall, soaking the bunk. Alec terminated his connection to A14 as the avatar stealthily departed the marauder’s room. Within five minutes, Fara reported all planetside marauders eliminated.
Alec stood, his heart still pumping from the excitement of witnessing the marauder’s demise. “Soon as the avatars are on board, we’ll set out for the Low Orbit Dock and finish this thing.”
“Alec, if I may.” The human nodded for Fara to continue. “We could have seized the ship without attacking the crew on the planet. Their deaths are not vital to the outcome of this mission.”
Alec smiled indulgently and approached the avatar. He ran a hand along the porcelain smoothness of (her) strong jawline, down (her) long neck, stopping to caress a firm breast. “That’s your problem, Fara. You can’t see around your tactical blinders. Sometimes a mission affords us an opportunity to act strategically. Killing those marauders is part of my goal of restoring piece by piece the security this galaxy no longer has. Think beyond the mission.” Alec walked away, leaving Fara to ponder his words.
****
As the Restoration glided into an open portal on Low Orbit Dock next to the marauder craft, Alec worked his magic by hacking into the Dock station’s computer and disabling all optics leading to the marauder ship. The human and his avatars exited the shuttle into a spanning vista of multi-level pathways surrounding a reactor core keeping the dock operational. Unlike the Point, the dock’s interior was sparsely populated. Very few ship’s crews opted to remain in Low Orbit Dock if they didn’t have to.
Alec and Fara breached the marauder ship through its main entry/exit point. The remaining five avatars split up entering through the ship’s flanking airlocks.
Reaching behind his tunic, Alec pulled a Mag 4 blaster pistol. Fara wore a flowing black cape to conceal (her) Falcon tri-barrel assault rifle. (She) threw back the cape upon boarding the ship, exposing the weapon.
Twice the size of Alec’s shuttle, the Marauder ship’s interior was proportionately more spacious with wider corridors and a higher ceiling. It was also surprisingly clean. Gun metal gray decks and bulkheads gleamed with spit and polish, giving Alec the faint impression he was on board a UE vessel. Whoever commanded these rogues obviously ran a tight ship.
Fara started to take point but Alec waved (her) behind him and proceeded down a corridor leading to bridge level. A human marauder strolled into view from the corridor’s far end. Alec raised and triggered his Mag 4, sending two diamond tipped rounds drilling through the bandit’s chest. He approached the downed marauder, dispensing a pair of point blank head shots for good measure. Alec and Fara then advanced twenty yards and boarded a lift.
The lift door opened three seconds later. The intruders stepped into a circular room filled with consoles, monitors and status boards. Three marauders occupied the bridge, two on one end poring over a panel circuit board. The third labored on the opposite end, probing into the guts of a terminal.
Fara swung her rifle about, pouring hot incandescence in the direction of the two marauders. Energy clusters cleaved easily through flesh and the marauders both Delqers, crashed to the deck with smoldering fist-sized holes in their leather tough torsos.
The third marauder barely had time to react. He started to turn his head to investigate the commotion. A third of that head disappeared in an exploding froth of blood, brain and skull fragments.
Alec moved cautiously toward the seated marauder. Sizzling globs of the Delqer’s brain covered a fair radius of his work space. No need for a follow up shot. Alec lowered his pistol.
Fara checked the bodies of the marauders (she) dispatched and briefly looked off into space. (She) turned to Alec. “Remaining targets are down. Two in the engine room, three in the recreation lounge and one in crew quarters.
A visibly pleased Alec plopped down in the Captain’s Chair. “Let’s congratulate ourselves. We have just added a second ship to my growing fleet.”
“This was a successful operation, Alec. What are your orders now that we have attained our objective?”
Alec flashed a teasing grin at his blank faced companion. “Slow down. You really need to learn how to stop and savor moments like these.”
Fara did not respond and Alec’s levity subsided. “All right. Activate all launch systems. Transport the bodies to the airlocks and dump them into space.” Fara acknowledged. “Right away.” Alec leaned back, enjoying the near decadent comfort of his new chair.
To be continued
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