Blue Star Enterprises

Jasper looked at the tablet Alexander had handed him and read through it before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. "I knew you had a terrible naming sense, Alex, but did you truly have to name the system One Kane? I can at least understand why you named your political entity BSE but why something so generic for the system?"

"It’s pronounced oo-no-kan-eh," Alexander replied proudly.

"Fine, you named the system Unokane. I don’t think that’s much better, but what’s done is done. How did the STO react?"

"Honestly… the process went much easier than I imagined. The three clerks barely even seemed to care." Alexander had spent hours preparing to counter any argument they might have used against the formation. The fact that he only had to step in and correct one mistake made the whole effort feel like a bit of a waste.

"Well, congratulations, my friend. You did well by keeping this a secret. I would love to help you navigate these waters, but you’ve stepped into uncharted territory here. You probably know more about what’s expected of you now than I do."

"I wish that were the case," Alexander sighed. "I mostly did it to claim the system before someone else could. I suppose my new position does give me, and anyone I designate as part of my government, diplomatic immunity. What that entails, I’m not quite sure. The laws covering diplomatic immunity are so old, I have to travel to Earth to pull them from the Library of Congress. It seems like nobody thought they were important enough to upload to the net."

"I doubt something like that was overlooked, Alex. They probably did it on purpose to pull any new political figures to the homeworld so they could make connections. If you plan to go, I suggest you do so very carefully."

"I understand your concern, Jasper but you need not worry at the moment. While visiting the Core is something I’ll have to do eventually, it’s not something I will be committing to until I’m good and ready. For now, I got everything I needed out of this deal, which was to prevent someone else from coming in and pulling the rug out from under me."

"Fair enough," Jasper relented. "Let us talk about something other than politics. How is your manufacturing going? I see the area around the planet looking rather busy these days."

Alexander smiled at the question. "Everything is going well. We just completed the Resolve, which is the second frigate to be restored from the pirate derelicts. The third one should be getting moved into position to be worked on shortly. Only I’ll be short on crew to run it. Which is a common issue it seems." He shrugged before continuing. "The station is still being modeled, but I should have a workable design soon. Other than that, everything is on schedule."

"You’re balancing your time like I suggested?"

"I am," Alexander laughed lightly. "There was an issue when I had to leave Yulia to go to Varlen, but I worked it out with her when I returned. We’ve never been closer."

"I’m glad to hear that, my friend. Your life is going to get much more hectic going forward, you must not forget what’s important."

"What about you?" Alexander asked as they walked through the atrium.

"Me? Everything is going well. We closed a few lucrative deals before taking on yours. Not that your deal isn’t lucrative. It’s just more of a long-term investment than a way to make quick cash. Speaking of deals, have you made any headway with Dr. Lund?"

"It’s a long-term investment," Alexander said with a sigh, earning a chuckle from Jasper.

"Lund’s a force of nature, but a valuable one if you can get her to work with you. Just don’t let her stomp all over you though, or you’ll regret it."

"We have a working understanding," Alexander responded.

The two continued to chat about other subjects as they walked.

***

Yulia hurried home, she wanted to get some laps in for the race she scheduled for this weekend. It was the first one since Alexander had helped her build the other go-karts. The other kids were skeptical at first, but she eventually figured out that trading meal bars was the best option for most.

She didn’t much care for the bars herself, so she had been saving them and planned to award them to the top three winners of the race.

"Excuse me," she said as she skirted around some man she didn’t recognize. He was probably one of the new arrivals.

Yulia put him out of her mind, she wasn’t interested in getting to know the new adults, but dozens of new kids arrived with the refugees and there were opportunities to make plenty of new friends there. Since Yulia was one of the few kids who spoke the Coalition language, she assisted with their learning.

The classroom had grown so full, that they had to open up a second nearby room to fit all the new kids. Being separated from her friends sucked but she knew how hard it was for her to adjust when she first moved here, so she was happy to help out.

Not all of the kids were happy to be here, and some even thought they were better than everyone else. Not just the other refugees, but the locals and her too. They refused to acknowledge her when she tried teaching them Solarian.

She learned from some of the other kids that the group of ten kids were the children of well-off families and resented being passed around like garbage. Yulia didn’t know why being well-off made a difference but it seemed to since the other kids didn’t feel the same way.

It wasn’t until Markus entered the room that the group finally paid attention. It wasn’t because they wanted to, Markus simply made it impossible for them to ignore him. Her friend came into the room acting like he owned the place. For anyone who knew the boy, it looked forced. The kids didn’t know him though, and Markus stepped right into their personal space, ensuring they were on the back foot right away.

Alexander had explained a little about how this worked and showed her some examples. The main example in these instances came from Eva Wu, Markus’ new mother. It was no wonder Markus was copying the woman.

Her friend didn’t need to raise his voice, he simply spoke to the group in a quiet, firm, but respectful tone. She could tell he didn’t get through to the whole group. A few of the kids scoffed and got up and left. The rest, however, stuck it out.

She was curious as to what punishment those kids got. Leaving class without a parent or guardian was a big no-no on Eden’s End, and it wasn’t like you could bypass the guards.

Those kids would learn quickly that they couldn’t shirk classes, but she put them out of her mind as she passed the keycard over the door to her home.

Just as the door beeped and she reached to open it, a shadow fell across her. She hadn’t seen anyone in this hallway and nobody had been behind her except that one lone man. Getting a bad feeling, she tried to quickly open the door and close it behind her.

Before she could close it, the man she had seen a few minutes ago shoved the door open, knocking her to the ground. As soon as she saw his face, she knew this was not a good person. She screamed and tried running for the bedroom.

"Oh no you don’t," the man stated as he grabbed her by the collar as soon as she got her bedroom door open.

She kicked, screamed, scratched, and bit at the man as he wrestled to place something around her neck. She didn’t know what it was but she knew it couldn’t be anything good.

Dog came bounding out of the room, barking and ramming into the man’s leg. The man kicked him away hard enough to shatter his plastic legs against the wall. Something clicked into place a moment before the front door burst inward, silhouetting Alex.

***

It had taken far longer than Dalton had anticipated to learn the routines of the guards, the girl, and the damn robot. He was running out of time to make a choice. Leaving without grabbing at least the girl was an option, but he didn’t like his odds of survival in those circumstances.

If he went that route, he would have to launch the electronic warfare module that he stuck on a data chip and shoved into one of the many terminals across the facility. Assuming it even worked, it would only give him ten minutes at best. He based that estimate on his ship computer when he tested it, but he couldn’t be sure with the computers in this place. He had planned on dealing with outdated hardware or software, but the damn consoles were brand new and more responsive than his own ship’s computer.

He recalled the walk to the facility and through processing and estimated that was ten minutes. If he had no obstructions and ran the entire way, he could do it in two. It would take five minutes to bring his ship online.

Dalton shook his head, it was too close. It was now or never.

He continued his slow walk down the hallway. She should be here soon. The girl in question nearly ran into him as she hurried down the hall, giving him a passing apology. Dalton stopped at the next intersection, saw it was clear, and hurried back after the girl.

His timing was spot on and he reached her just as she was opening the door to their apartment. It was the best outcome to this rushed kidnapping, but if he could get her under control and get her to his ship, he would have much more leverage.

He pushed through the door and raced after the girl as she tried to go for another door in the living space. Without knowing if that door had a lock, he needed to stop her. He managed to grab her just as she pushed it open. Some toy robot came out and started barking at him, but he punted the stupid thing across the room.

Dalton struggled to get the little girl under control and get the explosive collar around her neck. She bit and scratched at him but he ignored the pain even as she left scrapes across his face. He was tempted to knock the damn girl out, but he was just as likely to kill her as render her unconscious.

The one moment of concern was when she clawed at the wound in his elbow where he had been forced to open up his arm to extract the collar and detonator from his sub-skeletal storage. The pain made his arm go numb for just a moment and the girl nearly slipped out of his grip. He managed to wrap his other arm around her neck and there was finally a satisfying click as the collar locked in place.

He didn’t even have a second to celebrate as the slightly open front door burst inward hard enough to crack against the wall. Reacting with long years of experience, Dalton pulled the girl in front of himself and held out his other hand with the deadman’s switch in it. "Take another step, and we all die." The robot froze and glanced over at the device in his hand.

Dalton wasn’t lying he would detonate the collar in a heartbeat if he thought this situation was unsalvagable. At least then he would get the last laugh.

***

Alexander was doing some corrections on the space station design when his tablet alert went off. That alert was specifically keyed to Yulia being in trouble, so he rushed over to see where she was.

Dog alerted him that a man was attacking her in the apartment.

Not wasting any time, Alexander rushed out of the room and down the hall. He nearly tore the front door off of the apartment as he rushed inside, but froze at the man’s words and what he spotted in the man’s hands.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked, trying to gain some time to figure out options.

Time slowed slightly as Alexander increased his processing speed. It was a trick he learned about during the attack from the former pirates but didn’t often employ because it left his mind feeling ragged and his body saturated in heat. He only used the ability to increase his perception of time slightly and allow him to process events and think of some solution.

He quickly calculated and dismissed his odds of crossing the apartment and snatching the detonator out of the man’s hand. Alexander was fast, but he wasn’t that fast. If he knew how the device operated or what type of signal it generated, there might be some way to block it or mimic it, but he would need the device or a scanner to figure out what that was.

Alexander didn’t exactly carry stuff like that on him, nor did he believe the man would sit there and just allow him to scan him. He really wished he had the ability to pick up signals with his body and recreate them. For all he knew, he did, but his body wasn’t keen on deploying them automatically. He didn’t notice any changes in his mind-space readouts either, even the ones he still couldn’t understand.

Time slowly sped back up as the man spoke.

"My name isn’t important," the man said. "As for what I want, I want you, Mr. Kane. Or more specifically my employer does. I’m going to give you half an hour to retrieve your body, then we’re going to board my ship. If anyone tries to stop us, I die, or you try to drag this out, your daughter dies. Do we understand each other?"

Alexander had been more concerned with Yulia and the detonator but now he took a closer look at the man, searching his memory for the scratched-up face. Good job Yulia.

He did recognize him. It was the man’s bland, almost generic-looking face that finally clued him into where he had seen him before. This man’s face was almost the complete opposite of the poor man who had the botched plastic surgery. "You were with one of the families when they came to thank me."

The man shrugged.

Alexander flexed his fingers, imagining them being wrapped around the man’s neck. "Let her go, you don’t need to do this. If it’s money you’re after, I’ll pay ten times what your current employer is paying you."

The man snorted. "This isn’t about money, Kane, and even if it was, I somehow doubt you would have my best interests in mind if I released your daughter and turned on my current employer. Chop, chop, Kane, times ticking away."

He turned to Yulia. "You’ll be ok, I’ll be right back."

The girl put on a brave face and nodded.

Alexander turned and rushed out of the room. It took him ten minutes to get to the medical bay. He shoved the door open and ignored the indignant response from one of the women helping out.

Gabriella must have heard the commotion, because she came running out of a small side room. "Alex, what’s going on?"

"Someone has Yulia hostage."

The woman gasped. "Should I alert Damien?"

"Yes, but I want you to tell him to clear the halls of his men. The man has an explosive attached to her neck and a switch that will set it off if he releases it."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded his avatar. "I don’t want anyone spooking this guy."

"You’re not considering agreeing to this man’s demands are you?"

Instead of answering her, Alexander went to the storage room and came back dragging the stasis-pod.

Gabriella took one look at it and understood. "He wants you?"

He nodded again and pulled the pod out of the medical area and back to his apartment. He arrived with only a few minutes to spare.

The man smiled. "Good. Now open it up."

"If I open it, I die," Alexander stated.

The man thought about this for a minute. "Fine, but if you’re trying to pull one over on me, you and your daughter are dead." He gestured with a nod. "You first, head toward the intake area."

"Let her go, use my stasis pod as a hostage."

The man laughed at that suggestion. "Why would I give up two perfectly good hostages, for only one? Now quit stalling and move, or my thumb might get tired."

Alexander turned down the hallway and began lugging the heavy medical device along behind him. At least the thing had wheels.

He watched behind him as the man roughly handled Yulia but never let her out of his grasp. Alexander had to suppress his boiling rage, it would not help the situation if he exploded in anger right now.

As they moved through the hallways, he spotted guards at far intersections. They vanished as soon as Alexander spotted them. It seemed word was already getting around.

The atrium was empty when they arrived and he made his way to the exit, keeping his eyes on Yulia’s kidnapper.

The man was ever-vigilant, which spoke of someone with training or experience doing stuff like this before.

The doors were clear, but when they stepped outside, Alexander could see the trails of two shuttles. As far as he knew, no shuttles were scheduled for takeoff. The man spotted them as well, but he just snorted.

"Pick up the pace, I didn’t bring a mask for your brat."

"Which ship?" Alexander asked.

"The small hauler off to the left."

They quickly crossed the landing area, and Alexander spotted Hawks keeping an eye on them more than once. The mercenaries looked like they wanted to step in but they probably had a better idea of what the man had attached around Yulia’s neck than Alexander did.

He crossed up the ramp and into the ship.

"Place the pod in the center of the room and sit on it. Don’t try anything stupid, I’ll be watching."

"The pod needs to be plugged in, it only has a short-term battery."

The ramp quickly closed. "You’re in luck, there’s a standard outlet under a cap in the center." After that, he dragged Yulia through another set of doors and locked them behind him.

Alexander plugged the device in and sat down as ordered. Soon he could feel the ship coming alive and leaving the surface. Anger warred with fear and embarrassment in Alexander. Once again, he failed to keep his promise to protect Yulia.

He couldn’t blame the Hawks or Damien for this situation. He had seen the reports from intake, the few people who were found with warrants had been arrested and taken aboard the Talon. Yet this man had figured a way past those checks and had managed to smuggle in an explosive as well.

No, this was Alexander’s failure. He thought the security he had implemented was enough and he let down his guard. That was stupid, he knew people were after him, and he should have been better prepared. Alexander wouldn’t be making a mistake like this again.

Instead of dwelling on his own humiliation, he needed to focus and figure out how to save Yulia before they jumped because he couldn’t guarantee what might be waiting for them when they came out of FTL.