9 – The Jeros System

Mika lied on her stomach across her bed, facing the back of the room. She kicked her feet lightly as she nibbled on the electronic pen in her mouth. On her left she had a dictionary of terms and notes pertaining to map cataloguing. She thought she’d never have to use the book again. On her right she had an electronic clipboard with projections of data and coordinates she had already deciphered. In front of her, bulging toward her face like a mocking bubble, was the blue sphere Trace invested so much love in. He constantly barged into her room asking how the decoding was coming. Mika wondered if he was just trying to catch her changing or coming out of the shower.

“It’s not like I would be totally against him doing something to me,” Mika giggled.

“What was that?” Rint asked.

“Ah! Rint!” Mika blushed in surprise. “When did you come in?”

“Just a few seconds ago,” Rint replied. “You looked deep in thought.”

“I was not!” Mika shouted. She covered her mouth and stared at the globe in front of her intensely. She huffed and stabbed at a line with the electronic pen. “This map is taking longer than I thought. Some of these coordinates are on here multiple times.”

Rint bent down toward the map and stared. “That’s an elaborate chart. It looks like it covers a pretty big area too.”

Mika turned to her in shock. “You can understand this?”

“I know my way around stellar cartography,” Rint answered. “I can do planetary cartography too.”

Mika grabbed Rint’s shoulders with a tearful smile. “Rint, you’ve gotta help me!”

“What is it?” Rint asked.

Mika slid the spherical projection toward her and pointed out different lines. She had already charted some of the points, but to do them all would take weeks. Rint gladly agreed to assist. She loaded half of the lines onto her holocomp and found another electronic clipboard. They lied close together and shared the reference dictionary. Mika glanced at Rint shyly.

“What is it?” Rint asked.

“N-Nothing,” Mika answered. She rubbed her arm, trying to ignore her quick heartbeat.

---

The Lady Mar left hyperspace at the edge of the Jeros System, near the sixth planet. The star system was a small one, with three small planetary bodies close to the sun, and then a medium rock planet. Reta was the habitable life-sustaining planet just a bit further away, almost 250 million kilometers from the star. The last planet, Jeros 6, was much further away and was a giant gaseous planet. There were resource stations in orbit, much like the ancient ones that were first built around Jupiter and Saturn of the Solar System. But surrounding the system was a large ring of floating asteroids.

“Oh man, you’re kidding me,” Mika cried. She held both control sticks firmly as the ship neared the wall of rocks.

“You can do it Mika,” Trace said with a strained grin. “We can’t contact the relay stations. They’re under Alliance control; they’ll know we were here for sure.”

“And there are sensors nets above and below the asteroid field,” Maria added. She pressed one of her headphones to her ear and slid a finger across the radio bar. “Still nothing on the frequency. I think we came in silent.”

“I don’t believe this,” Mika muttered. She pushed the ship harder and turned in an arc. Mika breathed quickly and slowly tapped a button on her console. A red light appeared at the top of her monitor. It blinked and turned yellow. Mika grinned and squeezed the thrust control. The light turned green. Mika slammed her foot against the fuel accelerator. The Lady Mar roared forward, spitting jets of energy out of its engines.

“Shit, Mika!” Trace shouted, cowering in his chair.

Maria gripped the sides of her headset and watched as the main screen showed boulders and mountains of rock. Mika danced her foot to the other pedals, jerking the control stick sideways. The Lady Mar wheeled around a large asteroid and skimmed above another. Two more rocks rotated sideways, coming close to each other, but the ship zipped past one and turned to glide around the other. Mika pushed harder on the thruster, while keeping her foot pressed on another pedal.

“Mika this isn’t a flight simulator!” Trace shouted. “Shouldn’t you take it nice and slowly!”

Mika watched the carefully charted sensors on her console, completely ignoring the whirling rocks on the main screen. “Have faith in your pilot,” Mika laughed. “And it’s actually easier to navigate these at high speed, it keeps collisions to a minimum.”

“Yeah Captain, the less time we’re in here, the better our chances are,” Maria said sarcastically.

“Oh this takes me back,” Mika whispered. She switched her feet to different pedals and swiveled the control sticks. The large ship squeezed through a narrowing escape tunnel. The ship dove around a large seemingly stationary rock, but quickly found bouncing debris moving at high speeds. Mika made a quick gasp and tugged on the thrusters jets. The ship was propelled upward instead, but she leveled it upside down. She continued forward and slowly twisted it normal, whenever veering meteoroids allowed her to.

Mika directed the ship down a huge asteroid valley. For a fleeting moment, the ship breathed easily. But the second it left the safety of the asteroid’s bowl, more meteoroids spun toward the main screen. Maria covered her eyes as Trace watched what he accepted was going to be the most beautiful death he’d ever witness. Mika rotated the bulky transport ship. The main screen quickly diverted its view to a safer path.

Mika sighed in relief and loosened her hands. She moved around two more large asteroids, while keeping her eyes on the sensors of her console. It showed a meteoroid coming up from the rear corner. She dove in the opposite direction and spun the ship upside down again. She continued down and skimmed the bottom of another asteroid. The Lady Mar twisted around a long line of light colored rocks. It weaved past another set and slowly arced away from the belt.

The scanners in front of Mika beeped yellow and then became green. “I did it,” she whispered. “I did it! I made it past the field with no impacts or collisions." Mika turned and looked at Trace and Maria. They had panicked but relieved faces. Mika giggled and held the controls loosely. “We did it didn’t we,” she whispered. Her face took a solemn smile as she remembered the last time she had to navigate an asteroid belt. She clenched her teeth and frowned.

“Nice work Mika,” Trace said tiredly. “Maria, how are the channels looking?”

“They’re still clear,” Maria said.

“Ok then, Mika, get us to Reta. Our passenger friend says the Kingdom ships should be duking it out with the Alliance near Jeros 6. If you take comet orbit and pass behind Reta, we should be safe.”

Mika calmed her body and pushed away her old memories. “Yes sir,” she answered.

The Lady Mar traveled toward Reta using the path Trace suggested. Extreme sensors showed activity around both out planets, but nothing could be accurately confirmed. The ship passed close to Jeros 6’s orbital path. Reta was just ahead.

“Captain! Multiple ships inbound!” Maria suddenly shouted. “They’re on an intercept course; small ships launching and catching up fast!”

“What?” Trace asked. “Mika! Full throttle!”

“Gears and fighters on approach, there’s no way we can outrun them!” Maria said.

“Get Kline and Haley to their gears,” Trace ordered.

The ship was quickly put on high alert. Rint stared up from her bed and looked at the flashing lights. She quickly shut off the clipboard to let the map calculations to wait. Kline and Haley immediately ran to their capsules, knowing the urgency of the situation. They climbed inside and connected to their gears.

The blue and pink machines climbed up from the hangar floor and walked toward the lowering exit ramp. Once it clicked into place and gave a green light, the two gears catapulted out of the ship. Their shifting blue and green jet streams flickered and intensified. They moved out to meet the incoming Alliance ships.

“Come on Scott,” Robin shouted. “We’re going to defend the ship too.”

“Alright I gotcha,” Scott called. He slowly strapped himself into his gear and reached for the hatch button. Robin’s newer scavenger gear ran and hurdled out into space. It had a submachine gun and shield.

“At least the beam cannon is fixed,” Scott muttered. He shut the cockpit hatch and grabbed the cannon.

Kline and Haley’s gears stayed close, gliding and moving softly from side to side.

“How should we do this?” Kline asked.

“Pistols first and then boosts,” Haley answered. “If they split up we’ll separate. I think Robin can handle the ones that get through.”

“Don’t forget about me,” Scott said through the radio.

“You can’t do anything,” the children laughed together.

Maria frowned and glanced across her monitor. “All of you cut the chatter,” she interrupted. “They’re breaking up, you two. Get on them.”

Four Hammerhead fighters split up into pairs. Behind them, five gears struggled to keep up. Kline and Haley separated and aimed their guns. There were missiles and mass driver fire, but the colored gears avoided the initial attacks. They weaved and rolled until they separated further away from each other. The Hammerheads chased their prey with the ferocity of real sharks. Kline saw the sparks of shell fire striking his gear’s body. He spun around and pointed his gun. He had fought the Alliance's Hammerheads before, and knew their weaknesses. He slowed and streaked close to one of the fighters until he was in a better kill zone. He fired three shots, the last ripping into the cockpit.

Three enemy gears closed on his position. Kline lifted his head and saw the red squares on his tag display. He stretched his arms and then grabbed his wrist. A bubble of gravity expanded out, pushing the gears apart. Kline fired his bullets at the gear on the left, tearing off one of its arms. The other two gears recovered and sprayed a volley of machine gun rounds. Kline’s body clanked and chipped. Then a bullet tore into his gear’s left eye.

There was a scream across the radio as Kline writhed in agony from inside his pod.

“Kline!” Haley shouted. “It’s not real, remember!”

“What’s happened?” Robin asked.

“Kline, calm down, you’re still fighting.”

Kline cried loudly as his gear spun out of control. An Alliance gear raised its handheld cannon and fired. The round missed Kline’s chassis by just a few meters. As it adjusted its aim, Haley darted past it, slicing it in half with a sword of ice.

Kline shook his head and rubbed his eye. “It hurts,” he muttered. His gear fired two shaky shots into a Hammerhead closing in.

Haley latched onto a different gear and pressed her pistol into its side. She fired into its chest until she saw small beads of blood leak into space. She kicked it away to avoid the explosion. As she turned to find another target, a large teal colored gear loomed over her. It fired a heavy shoulder mounted rocket into her body.

“AHHHHH!” she screamed. Her gear spun backward but she tried to control it. She aimed her pistol through the misty debris of chipped armor and fragments. A flaming sword curled around her arm and hacked it off.

There was another panicked and terrified scream. Haley held her hand in tears, though it was still attached. “My arm! My arm! It broke!”

“Haley!” Trace shouted. He squeezed his hands as he watched the torture from the main screen. The teal gear was a boost type, similar in appearance to the gear Robin had when he first found her. The teal gear changed its flaming sword into a lance and dashed toward Haley, stabbing it toward her chest.

The lance was deflected against a hard shield. Robin pushed the lance upward and brought her submachine gun forward. She squeezed the trigger spewing a chain of bullets. The Alliance gear backed away and retreated. Trace sank into his command seat with a thankful smile.

“Status on the ship,” he asked.

“Systems are optimal, still moving at max speed,” Mika complied.

“Shields have taken a few hits, but Scott has destroyed the two Hammerhead fighters that were attacking—” the edge of her radar lit up “—more contacts!”

“From where?” Trace asked.

“Reta!” Maria answered. “It’s a Kingdom fleet, I’m picking up two waves of fighters and bombers. The Alliance are pulling back!”

A group of Kingdom space fighters opened fire on the Alliance gears surrounding Haley, Kline, and Robin. A few of the gears were destroyed and the rest were chased down. The only one that made it safely away was the teal-colored gear, more than likely the commanding officer.

The Kingdom heavy cruiser, Retribution, opened a channel feed to The Lady Mar asking for an explanation of their actions. Trace quickly explained the job they were carrying out. Patrick strolled onto the bridge and asked for a quick word with the captain of the Retribution. He said two lines and gave a salute. The captain of the Retribution immediately told Trace to head to Reta’s major city, Jordan.

The Lady Mar retrieved its gears and sped down to the planet. The fighting between the Retribution and the retreating Alliance wasn’t worth seeing. The Alliance was in full retreat and the Kingdom only had orders to patrol around Reta. The city of Jordan was beautiful and mercifully untouched, despite the raging war in the space above it.

The Lady Mar landed at the spaceport, where a welcoming party was already waiting for Patrick. To Trace’s surprise, there was a limousine, four tough looking gears, and a convoy of hover tanks. Patrick turned and thanked Trace for the journey and the safe passage. He then looked at Rint with an expression of relentless solemnity. She averted her eyes despairingly and nervously walked toward the safety of the kitchen.

“And just like that he’s gone,” Trace muttered.

“He looks like a VIP or something.” Mika was waving her hand in a friendly goodbye. “Ah,” she lightly gasped. “Where did Rint go?” Mika walked away but continued looking for Rint.

“We got our money and most of us are in one piece,” Maria commented. “Let’s get out of here.”

Inside the limousine, Patrick looked back on the transport ship. It slowly closed its hangar ramp.

“I’m sorry you had to travel in such a humble manner, but we couldn’t spare any ships,” a tall ripe man said. He looked to be a little past the prime of his life and had eyes glazed with years of hardened and weary experience. He sat across from Patrick, wearing a medal-decorated black uniform

“Please Admiral Chavez,” Patrick answered. “That ship did a fine job navigating through the discourse of this system.”

“Now, what news does New Eden bring?” Admiral Chavez asked.

“We have a lot to discus,” Patrick said with a nod. “But first, there’s something else of just as much importance.”

“Oh?”

“You know of the Seraphim right?” Patrick asked.

Admiral nodded his head. “They are the leaders of Gabriel Candidates who defend the Kingdom of Heaven.”

“I had the merciful blessing of meeting one just now.”

“That’s an honor indeed,” Admiral Chavez said with wide eyes. He hunched forward in admiration, begging with his eyes to hear more.

“She appeared pure, innocent, and virgin enough, but she had told me some very interesting things.”

---

Haley felt a nudge against her cheek. She twitched her fingers and moved her hand for a cumbersome slap at whatever it was. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to open them yet. The poking disappeared but quickly returned when she lowered her hand. She made a quicker slap, but still missed it.

“Waaaaake uuuuup.”

She heard a whisper and stirred a little more. “Leave me alone,” she cried, trying to pull her covers over her head.

“Kline, leave her alone and get back in bed,” Maria said.

Kline sighed and stepped back to his bed. “Yes ma’am,” he answered.

Haley opened her eyes and pushed away the covers. She looked down at her arms and watched her fingers move back and forth. “They still work,” she muttered.

“How are you both feeling?” Maria asked. She walked to the back of the small medical quarters and opened a cabinet. She pulled out two bottles of pills and stood between both beds.

“I’m fine,” Kline said.

Haley touched the covers of the bed and yawned. “I want to go back to sleep.”

“Come on you two,” Maria scolded. “You’ve slept long enough. The idiot wants you both to exercise so your bodies can get rid of the comatoxins still in your systems.”

“The what?” Kline asked.

Haley giggled. “You called the Captain an idiot again.”

“Medical jargon,” Maria quickly said. “Go play around the ship so your body doesn’t get sleepy.”

“Can we have cookies?” Kline pleaded.

Maria sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Yes, go eat your cookies. Rint is making a batch right now in the kitchen—” Haley and Kline immediately pounced from their beds and darted for the door. Their bodies loosely wobbled, still adjusting to their lack of movement for the last day. “Hey!” Maria yelled. “I still need to give you medicine!”

Rint heard the shouts of eager children coming from down the hall. The voices were accompanied by quick footsteps across the metal floor. Rint put the last cookie on her cleverly arranged pyramid. She quickly set the plate down on the living room coffee table. There were two large glasses of synthetic milk beside the plates. Real milk was too dirty to bring into space. The synthetic milk in the glasses were a combination of nutrients and preservatives so it lasted more than just a week.

Right on time, Kline and Haley slipped behind Rint and plopped onto the couch. They were breathing heavily while muttering insults to each other. Rint turned to face them and sidestepped so they could see their cookies. They let out tired gasps and awed. Rint turned on the television for them and went back to the kitchen. She took off her apron and hung it close to the fridge. After she wiped the counter she folded the rag and looked down at the floor. She made a painful expression and looked at her shaking hands.

“Thank you Rint,” Haley shouted. Rint quickly looked up and saw Haley’s eyes peering over the top of the couch. She made a quick smile and disappeared.

“Thank you Rint,” Kline copied. He showed his teeth full of chocolate before he disappeared.

Rint tried to answer, but was lost for words. She turned off the light in the kitchen and quickly went back to her room. Then she sat down on her comfortable cot and stared at the floor. She didn’t want to think about anything. She looked at her lamp stand and picked up her foiled medicine. There were four black pills and seven white ones. She held out her arm and turned on her wristscreen. Her vitals were irregular; higher than normal. She hadn’t taken a pill in two days, but wasn’t sure she could hold out for another. Under normal circumstances she’d never think about rationing her pills and would be more worried about constantly running out of black ones.

“Oh that’s neat!” Mika shouted. Rint widened her eyes in shock. Mika shut the bathroom door and walked closer. She looked at the projection above Rint’s forearm and marveled at it.

Rint was frozen in terrified embarrassment. From the corner of her eye she could see some of the numbers climbing. Rint put a hand over her wrist and the screen died away.

“I’m sorry,” Mika said anxiously. “I just thought it was cool. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“I did something terrible,” Rint muttered.

“What?” Mika asked, unsure of what she said.

“I betrayed everyone on this ship…”

Mika took a step back, still smiling. But there wasn’t anything amusing her. In fact, she was carefully going over what Rint’s words and what they could mean. The more she thought about it, the more fearful she became. Her smile faded.

“What do you mean?” she asked nervously.

“Just what I said,” Rint answered. She looked up with a regretful face. “I never said I left the Kingdom of Heaven. I’m only aboard this ship because of coincidence.”

“I…I don’t understand,” Mika stuttered.

“That man that was just here,” Rint continued. “I told him everything about the briefcase. I told him about the secret plans and blueprints. The people in black on the cruise ship were going to steal them but you and the others beat them to it. They’ll come after you sooner or later, when it’s convenient for them.”

"You're not making any sense Rint," Mika laughed. It was out of desperation more than humor. "Stop messing around."

"Do you want me to spell it out for you?" Rint asked. Her tone was insulting, as if speaking to a child. "I have no loyalty to anyone on this ship. Don't you get it? I told Patrick everything."

“How could you do that?” Mika asked.

"Because I'm still loyal to the Kingdom," Rint said.

“Then, you were just using us?”

“I guess that’s one way of putting it,” Rint laughed uneasily.

Mika put a foot down and leaned toward Rint. She slapped her hard across the face. The sound was sharp and unexpected. Neither of them said anything. Rint slowly turned her head and tapped her raw cheek. It throbbed with numb intensity. She felt the sting transfer into her eyes and began crying. She quickly squeezed her foil package and fumbled it in her hand. She huffed, trying to breath, and dug her fingers into one of the pills. She was already shaking badly, using all of her willpower to keep from a repeat of the alley on Cambro.

“Not again,” she whimpered. “I don’t want…not her…”

The foil bent and flipped out of her grasp. It landed next to Mika’s feet.

Mika bent down and picked it up. She carefully opened one of the white pills and put it into Rint’s hand. Rint stared at it in curious terror. She quickly stuck it into her mouth and swallowed. Her breathing calmed down as her mind returned to its soft calmness.

“I’m sorry Rint,” Mika quietly said. She sat down beside her and returned her pills. As Rint took them, Mika flung herself into her lap and hugged her stomach tightly. “Please don’t leave,” she begged.

Rint stared down in confusion. “But I…”

“Tell the Captain, he’ll think of something,” Mika cried. “Just don’t leave…”

Rint didn't know what to say or do. Was Mika angry, disheartened, betrayed? Rint gently smiled and put a hand on Mika’s head. “Why did you slap me then?” She felt her waist squeeze.

“I thought you didn’t care about any of us.”

Rint tightened her grip around the foil of medicine. “Mika don’t tell anyone what I told you.”

She pulled away with a pink face, glittering with smeared tears. “But—”

“Don’t tell anyone,” Rint repeated. “I don’t want to leave this ship either.”

Mika sat quietly for a moment. Her eyes went back to the medicine in Rint’s hand. “Alright,” she agreed, “but I want to know everything then.”

Rint looked at Mika’s face. There was a fearful resolve that she couldn’t understand. She nodded her head, also agreeing. They both relaxed as Rint stood up to get a glass of water. She told Mika about her status as a commander in the Kingdom of Heaven. She also mentioned the purpose of the pills, using a very vague, sugarcoated explanation. She avoided any mention of the psychotic tendencies of not taking the pills.

Of all the ways Mika could have responded to the explanation, Rint was surprised she went with admiration. Mika complimented Rint and awed at her abilities. She didn’t understand some parts of it, but didn’t mind. When Rint finished they sat quietly again.

“But you really should tell the captain about it,” Mika said. “It sounds like there might be more complications than what I could understand.”

“But you said—” Rint started.

“I know,” Mika quickly answered. “I-I won’t tell.” She looked away and saw the clipboard, hoping to change the subject. “So how far have you gotten with your data?”

“I’m almost finished,” she answered lowly.

Mika nodded. “I am too. Do you want to combine the coordinates?”

After a moment, Rint smiled. “Sure, let’s see what kind of map this is.”

Mika went to her bed to grab the device. She paused and stared at it fearfully. “Rint, when you told that person everything, did you mention anything about Kline and Haley, and this device?”

Rint shook her head. “I didn’t mention anything like that.” She tried to smile. “I only have to report things that have significance to the Kingdom.”

“That’s good,” Mika said in relief.

“I’m sorry Mika.” Rint looked at the clipboard.

Mika sighed and made a big smile. “Its fine, whatever happens, happens.”

---

In the hangar, Trace was watching Marcus work on Haley’s pink gear. Marcus and his four robotic assistants, two more he had bough in Forest, had already patched up the left eye on Kline’s gear. They had done a test and found the cameras and sensors were working fine again. An overhead crane balanced Haley’s severed arm as Marcus reattached it with surgical precision.

“How is it?” Trace shouted.

“Goddammit you asked me ten minutes ago!” Marcus shouted. “I haven’t done anything yet!”

Trace moved a hand through his hair but said nothing else. Robin was talking quietly with Scott. But Scott had a worried expression. Robin made a hand gesture which made Scott slouch with more worry. Trace understood.

“Robin,” he called. He jogged to her and smiled at Scott. “I’ll take it from here. What’s the problem Robin?”

“Thanks Captain,” Scott said tiredly. He slumped to his hammock in the corner of the hangar.

“Now, what is—”

“Since I can’t ask anyone else, I don’t have a choice,” Robin cut him off. She looked at him sternly and narrowed her eyes. “Tell me about the theory you have concerning that Alliance data; the one with the genetic research.”

“Robin, you don’t have to be serious.”

“But sir—”

Trace stopped her this time. He put his hands on her shoulders. “Are you angry about what the Alliance might have been doing?”

Robin was taken by surprise. “Y-Yes,” she said. “I don’t want to believe that I could have been apart of something like…”

The ship’s comm. switched on with Maria’s voice. “Captain, ehm, everyone actually, please go to the dining room. Mika and Rint have a surprise.”

Trace made a slow dramatic turn. His eyes focused on the door. “They finished it…” he whispered. He then shouted with the intensity of a battle cry. “THEY FINISHED IT!” He ran off toward the door, moving like a bear. Robin didn’t really understand what just happened, but chased after him.

“How’s a man supposed to work,” Marcus groaned. He ordered the droids on standby. Scott had almost reached his hammock when he heard the announcement by Maria. He sighed and followed along.

Mika and Rint were already in the dining room. When everyone had gathered, they showed off the large spherical projection they had been working on nearly nonstop. Mika held her hand out like a model showing off a brand new hovercar. She gave a quick nod to Rint, who blushed and mimicked Mika’s pose.

“The map?” Trace said, unimpressed.

“I was getting there,” Mika snapped. “You owe the two of us big time for this. There were actually two puzzles to do.” Mika held up a data drive and plugged it into the device. The longitude and latitude lines of coordinates disappeared. The projection appeared blue and then showed zigzagging white lines branching in nearly every direction. It was a mess of tangled electronic fibers.

“Did you solve the puzzle of this one too?”

“Maybe,” Mika said with a grin. “What are these holes for?”

“Kline and Haley’s fingers,” Trace said.

Mika nodded. “I see, I see. Kline, Haley, would you be so kind?” she asked.

They hesitated, but then obeyed. When they plugged the sockets, the projection fluttered, and slowly dimmed. The whites faded completely until dots were left instead. The blue sphere became black and the image became something more familiar. A single red dot shined brightly among the other points of varying intensity.

“It’s a star globe!” Mika shouted. She put her hands along the surface of the projection and moved her fingers. The star globe zoomed on the red dot and expanded. It showed an unexplored system, not far form the edges of charted space.

“It really…” Maria said in shock. “It’s a treasure map…”

“Fucking aye!” Trace shouted.