“Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to repair this ship?” asked captain which I trusted more.

Other one was on his way to the ship, but even he stopped when he heard his question.

“Like I told you before, this ship belongs to me and that means I have all code from it, even ones for original power source.” I said.

“That I know, but it’s more. Your shield emitters look new, even your weapons are far better than anything we have.” he said.

“I don’t think it’s in my interest to share all my secrets. On the other hand your crew looks different than this one or one I shot down. How come it’s so different?” I said.

“He don’t belong to us. He works alone and he wouldn’t work with us, if circumstances didn’t forced him into it. At least that’s what he tells us all the time.” said other captain and went towards his ship. He and his crew had to use only narrow passage between plasma fires that was raging around his ship.

“Is he telling the truth?” I asked curious about his answer.

He turned his head away from me and with bitter tone answered. “Yes, we don’t have enough money to buy fuel and food. We were forced to take this contract, but that doesn’t justify our actions.”

“George it’s not your fault. Like you said we were forced to do this.” said one of his crewmembers.

“Doesn’t matter, I knew we were doing wrong thing when we took this job. I hope you’ll have better luck then we had.” said George.

All of them turned and walked back towards their ship. I looked after them and thought about what to do. There was one solution and I hoped I judged them right.

“Wait. I’d like to talk to you about small proposal.” I called after them.

They turned and I could see small hope on some faces while other dreaded what I would want. George had stone face and I couldn’t read him at all. He walked up to me.

“What proposal do you want to talk about?” he asked.

“Well I need to make some repairs on my ship. I would like to hire you for two jobs. One would be to protect my ship while I would work on it and second would be to deliver goods to one of my friend.” I said.

“As you know we are in dire need of money. What do you want to pay us with?” he asked.

“Parts. I can make parts for your ship and even some that you could trade with.” I said.

“That’s not much and even If we have parts to trade, we don’t have fuel to take them and sell somewhere else.” said George.

“I can maybe give you enough money to fuel your ship and as for the parts, they would be factory new. I didn’t see almost anyone use these so their price should be pretty high.” I said.

“How do you mean factory new? Almost no one can make them and certainly not on such small ship.” he asked incredulously.

“Wouldn’t tell you, if I could. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”

“I’ll have to talk about it with my crew. Give us ten minutes to make decision.” he said and went towards his crew.

In a mean time, I called Lany and told her about what I wanted to do. She wasn’t thrilled with my idea, but she agreed they would be good help. I told her to sit down behind one of the consoles and I sent her some manuals that she could read. She was excited with idea of learning about something new. I was smiling when I ended call with her.

When George came back he was smiling. “We decided to take your offer, but before that I would like to introduce at least part of my crew.” he said and motioned to his crew.

Five people detached from them. It was three mans and two women. One of the women was more of a girl then a woman. She looked to be around Lany’s age.

All of them wore same uniform which make them look like military. As they came George pointed first at woman. Her name was Talia and she was his CO. She looked to be strict and evidently wasn’t very thrilled with my proposal.

Then he pointed on one of the men. His name was Sam and he was his Second officer. He was smiling at me and his whole appearance was loose. He looked to be one of the men who could enjoy life as much as they could. It was probably for the best that we worked different clock then Talia.

Then he pointed at strong man who measured me whole time. It was his chief of the security. They called him Wall, but his real name was Leon. He looked more like soldier then security on the ship. He had this feeling of hunter waiting for pray to make a mistake.

Last man was chief engineer. He looked hopefully at me, probably because of my promise of factory new parts. His name was Jonny. He was tall slim man with long unkempt hairs.

Lastly he introduced me to girl who joined them on last mission. She didn’t know her real name so they called her Hana. She was learning to work as pilot on ship. Right now she frowned at me.

“Don’t think that because you defeated us once that you are better pilot then Me.” she said and tried to look bigger than she was.

I turned to George who pointed his hands up when he saw my smile, “What can I tell you? She’s best damn pilot I ever saw.”

I looked back at her. “Maybe she is, maybe not. I’m going to teach my apprentice how to pilot ship. You can join us if you want.”

“Why would I want to learn anything from you. …. Auch” she finished when Leon the Wall hit her on the head.

“There is always someone better then you. You can’t be best if you don’t learn from them.” he said.

“But I’m better than her.” she pouted.

George sighed, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but I think she has more experience than you. You are one of the most talented pilots I ever saw but that experience makes her better pilot.”

“Even you?” she said to Captain and turned to me. “Then tell me something that I didn’t know.”

I thought about what to tell her and smiled when I found out simple thing that would help her tremendously. “Learn specs of your ship.”

I saw Jonny smile, but others looked at one another confused. “I already know enough about my ship. I learn its specs from the manuals.”

“I’m not telling you to look at manuals. I’m telling you to let Jonny show you components and what you do to them while you are flying.” I said.

“I still don’t understand what you want to tell me. I know what I do to parts while I’m flying.” she said.

I turned to Jonny who shook his head. “She means to tell you that you need to learn engineer side of power source, thrusters, engine and other parts of the ship.”

Hana looked at Jonny with betrayed expression, “Why would it help me, if I learn more about parts?”

“Simply because you would know what you can and can’t do.” I said.

She looked confused at us, but Leon whispered something in her ear and she suddenly brightened, “I think, I know what you want to tell me. If it makes me better pilot, I would gladly join your and Jonny’s lessons.”

“Ok, everything is arranged. We should change the area. I was hoping for something more defensible and harder to spot. I suggest we land in some cave or something similar.” I said.

“Yes we should hide, but I’m not sure if we can land our ship in cave.” nodded George and looked at the ship and Hana. Thankfully she didn’t see him.

“I can send you data from my sensors. That should provide you with better map and make it easier to land your ship.”

“We’ll see when and if we find some cave. It would have to be pretty large to store both of our ships.” said George.

“Let me take care of that. If there is a cave suitable for us, I’ll find it.”

He looked skeptically at me, “Ok, but we should plan for failure.”

I called for bot to retrieve me, “Don’t worry, I’ll make some backup plan.”

“You better.” he called after me as I was going up into my ship.

As soon as I was on the ship I went to the replicator and made three surveillance drones. They would map potential cave and measured it.

When I had placed all necessary parts into the replicator, I went to bridge. There I found Lany absorbed in reading the materials I sent to her. I smiled when I saw her and remembered times when I too spent long time readings about ships and gadgets.

I sat in a pilot seat and went to the mountain where I woke up. Finding a suitable cave proved to be easier than I thought. As soon as I came over the mountain I went to replicator room and took all three surveillance drones.

I sent them to map a caves in the mountains and in an hour I had it mapped enough to pick one. I picked one which was large enough for both of our ships. As soon as I landed I woke up Lany from her trance and we started to work on necessary parts for George and others.

Some things on my ship I could repair on my way to the Qunar. For the whole week I worked almost non-stop. I knew Lany wanted to work right alongside me, but she needed to sleep while I needed more of a small pause.

I also started to teach her and Hana how to fly. Hana already knew a lot of things I thought, but there were still some parts she didn’t know. While learning Lany and Hana became good friends in no time. Even mercenary crew grew to like Lany and they let her look around their ship.

We could see another mercenary company going over the mountain while we were hiding there. When they came I knew I had to move to different part of my plan sooner then I wanted. I still didn’t have all part for the city, but I needed to make my ship space worthy. I needed to replace everything that I would need for the space travel.

When I saw searching parties move away from our position I immediately took apart both drives and started to work on them. They were more damaged then I originally thought and that prolonged the time I needed to work on them.

That proved catastrophic as I saw one of their drones moving in our direction. They will find us in a day if we don’t do something. I called George and told him what I found. We decided to call a meeting in my engine room.

After week spent with them I already trusted them. I even told them about replicator and gave small tour for Jonny. I had already worked out light jump drive, but I couldn’t use my sub-light drive.

“So you probably already know what our problem is. Enemy drone will discover us in a day and I’ll need about two hours more to finish overhaul.” I said and continued to work on the drive.

“Well you hired us to work as your protection. We can go out there and shoot it down.” said Sam.

“Yeah and they’ll discover us that much sooner. You know that there are about five more ships out there. We’ll be destroyed without doing anything. We need something else.” said Talia.

“So you’re telling us that we need distraction. What about some remote control drone.” said George.

“They could just track the signal and we back at the same spot as before.” I said, “No, we need something different.”

“What about ground attack? I and …. say two others could go out and shoot it down from different position. After that we’ll move to different location where you’ll pick us after everything is over.” said Leon.

George looked thoughtful, “It’s going to be dangerous and there is good chance you’ll die before we’ll be able to pick you up.”

“I know, but Me and my man are prepared to fight. Give us the order and it’ll be done.” said Leon back with stern expression.

“I don’t like it. It’s too dangerous. We should find other solution.” I said.

“I’m not telling you to stop looking for better solution, but for now this one has best chance of success.” said Leon.

“I know, it’s just that I don’t want to endanger anyone on my behalf. I should have waited with the repair.” I said hitting nearby hull with my fist and everyone jumped little at loud bang. “Couldn’t they come two or three hours later?”

We talked about the other possibilities, but we couldn’t come up with a better option. In the end, I let the matter drop and told them to come here with their equipment. I could at least upgrade it little to give them a better chance.

All three of them picked light armor that wouldn’t hinder them while moving. Armors were in good condition, but their camouflage was made more for jungle then this desolate lands. I let Lany repaint them according to instructions from Leon.

Only thing I changed was their weapons. I gave my laser rifle to the Leon and made two similar rifles with the replicator. From specs they sent me it should be enough to take down the drone. Also it was much better then heavy rocket launcher that they wanted to use before. They still took two with them as they said, “For luck.”

I still thought there should be something else we could do, but I couldn’t find anything. George and others said goodbye to them and they went on their way. According to the plan all three should pick different location and hid immediately after taking down the drone. We all know there was pretty big chance they’ll die, but they still wanted to do it.

I tried to speed up repairs as much as I could, but I it was still slow work. I tried to think about something else then two men and one woman who went out so I could repair my ship. I didn’t want to be heartless, but I needed to focus on my job so I could help them sooner. I couldn’t worry about them because that would slow me down.

• • •

First part of our way we went together. Me and my fellow soldiers were once more needed to protect the others. When I looked at the others I could see them smiling even thought there was real chance none of us would return.

We were tasked with destroying the drone that was heading to our direction. I would be first to take it down and if I miss either Helia or Borsky would finish the job. We predicted that they would send another drone in our direction before they come to investigate.

We would destroy it too and then try to buy as much time as we could for Leya to finish her repairs. We were honor bound to protect her now that she gave us back our honor. We knew that what we did would trample on our honor, but we told ourselves that it was necessary. Now that I saw her, I wasn’t so sure. We talked with Lany while Laya was working and she told us more about her. She came here without resources, but in little time she was here she made a lot of work.

We were once elite forces directly working for emperor. It his last command to go away and try to help as much people as we could. In the end, we managed to save some people and relocate them on a different planet. At first we stayed with them, but there wasn’t a place for us. We were warriors in society that was tired of fighting.

After some time we decided to join the mercenary company and help others wherever we could. At first we were ok, but with time our ships started to fall apart. With war continuing around the galaxy and universe number of qualified people were waning. With ships quality going down, our losses started to climb.

From what I heard on our last gathering, we were one of the last group that was still working around the galaxy. I didn’t want us to end up being a common soldiers. More I thought about it, more I thought about Leya and why did she need such powerful ship. I was interrupted from my musings by Helia.

“What are you thinking so hard about boss?”

“About our future. This is first mission after long time that I feel good about.” I said.

“I know what you’re talking about. George is good captain, but he’s in it for money. I still remember our general and what we sang as we marched around. We were meant for different kind of work.” Said Borsky.

I chuckled, “Make them tremble, make them fear, for the Black legion is near.”

All of us smiled at past memories. We stayed silent for a while as we thought about our past.

“Where do we move after this mission?” asked Helia.

I was silent for a while, “I’m thinking about joining Leya on her quest. From what Lany told us she’s going to save her friend which is commendable. But other thing is she not someone who will stay outside of things. Sooner or later she’ll need our help.”

“I agree we should move on. We lost our purpose on our travels. I think that Leya could give it to us back.” Said Borsky.

We looked at each other and I smiled at them little. Then I replaced it with stern expression.

“Ok, erase those thoughts for now. We need to focus on mission.” I said.

“Yes, sir.” Said both of them.

We spilt up and everyone went to their position. We picked spots around the small valley. We were pretty sure that drone would go as this valley could hide our ships. Borsky and Helia were on the side of the valley while I was in the middle of it.

We didn’t have to wait long before drone appeared over the valley. I aimed Leya’s laser rifle at the drone and fired three quick shots. I could see the drone going down even thought I missed my second shot because of recoil from the rifle. It fell down about one klick from us.

I knew it sent information about my position before it crashed so I quickly moved to another position. I picked small hole that should block their scan from finding me. At least I hoped so.

As we expected next drone entered valley in half an hour. This time it was Helia’s turn to shoot it down. She too shot three times and hit all three. As drone was falling down I could see a ship going towards our position.

I prepared for the ship. We talked about it when Leya wasn’t with us. She would not have liked our plan. We decided to do at least some damage to it with our weapons. I changed laser rifle for rocket launcher and waited for ship to release another drone. They would need to lower their shield which gave us chance to take them down.

As soon as the ship was over the valley it released two drones. That could complicate things, but I had confidence in Borsky. He should be able to take them down. As best sharpshooter in our division he was our best shot on this.

I waited for little shimmering that would mean their shield is down for a while. As soon as I saw it I fired the rocket. I could see another rocket going from my right side. That had to be Helia. I looked back at drones and I could see them falling from the sky. I didn’t have time to wait for the rockets to hit the ship. I used this chance to change my position quickly.

I jumped from behind the rocks and run towards small patch of trees. They should provide at least some protection from their scanners. As soon as I came in the woods I turned towards the ship. I could see some smoke going from it, but the ship was still up. That meant we didn’t hit anything important.

I used rifle scope to zoom on ship and I could see people going down on a ropes. I smiled when I saw it. It was time to do little hunting.

● ● ●

These little shits damaged my ship and managed to knock out our weapons system. I picked ten other men and we went down to hunt them. There were only three of them and eleven of us. This would be easy mission.

As I touched the ground I looked around. Everywhere were these stupid rocks. We couldn’t see too far between them. I took one step and saw one of my man falling down from the rope.

“Take care! Don’t you know how to use rope?” I said.

“Boss I think he didn’t slip. There is a hole in his head. Someone shot him down.” Said one of my man.

I looked up and saw red streak and one more man fall down.

“Enemy fire! Take cover!” I shouted and vaulted over the nearby rock on the ground.

Most of my man took cover behind the rocks and looked up at few remaining that were still up. There were two more red streak which meant that another two of my men were dead. I started to sweat under my armor. It wasn’t supposed to go like this.

We outnumbered them. We should be one on offensive, but before we even started hunting them they killed four of my men. That left me with six men. Seven with me against three of them.

“It’s still two on one. Come we’ll move towards the first one.” I said and motioned them to follow me.

Of course, I didn’t go first. I picked nice place in the middle of our group were I would be better protected.

Slowly we advanced to first position were one of them was firing at my ship. Ships sent us updates on their movement. They could see only one of them, but he was only hundred meters before us.

I smiled when I thought about killing him. Even better would be if we catch him alive.

I motioned for others to stop called silently at Milan. “Milar how’s our back?”

No one responded so I called little lauder, but still no answer. I went back while others looked nervously around.

“Razor where is Milar?” I said to last man in our column.

“I don’t know. One second he was there and another he vanished.” Said Razor.

“What do you mean vanished? And why didn’t you say something?” I almost shouted at him.

“I wanted, but you were already going towards the back. I didn’t want to shout when I could tell it to you personally.” Said Razor.

“You idiot! Something like this you have to tell immediately.” I said then turned around and saw there were only five of us left.

“Where is Reaper?” I asked.

My men looked around, but Reaper wasn’t there evidently. I started to panic and looked around. In every shadow, I saw someone hiding. I picked my rifle and started to shoot at them. My men followed my example and started to shoot with me.

In about thirty seconds we shoot all munition in our clips. Before we could reload I saw someone come from behind one of the rocks. I saw him point something at me and I was falling on the ground. I couldn’t hear anything, but I saw my men falling around me.

Last thing I saw was someone crouching before me with knife. He was covered in mud wearing light armor. Then there was only darkness.

● ● ●

I thought it would be harder, but we managed to take down four of them before they even climbed down from the ship. They didn’t even post anyone to cover them. That was plain stupid. They even picked rocky side of valley where we could hide wherever we wanted.

Next two we took silently while we used Helia to lead them in the trap. We picked them while others wasn’t looking. I got one with my nanoknife and other took Borsky. Then they lost it. They started to shoot around and when they used all their ammunition we finished them.

Now came harder part. These were amateurs, but now that we took them, they’ll send someone experienced. From our brief contact with other mercenaries I knew there were couple of companies that were professional and knew their job.

I went to others and we split up once more. If I counted right, we needed only hour or two more before Leya finishes with repairs. I scanned the sky from my position on one side of valley when they started with bombardment.

They first started to bombard our previous position, but I knew before long they’ll go and start to bombard the whole area. I run towards the side of valley away from bombardment. I counted on my team to run away because we couldn’t survive this without a good shelter.

I ran about half a click when I heard something over me. I started to look up, when I was tossed to my left. I think I had to pass out because when I woke up there was no bombardment. I looked up and I could see a ship hanging above me.

I squinted at it and grunted when I didn’t recognize it.

“So big Sergeant Leon Barlovsky ended up as sacrificial goat. I didn’t think that I would see you die this day, but to tell you the truth, it’ll made my day.” Said voice to my left.

I turned my head and immediately sharp pain stabbed me in the head.

“You shouldn’t move much. You lost your hand and we bandaged it so you could see your man dying before I kill you.” Said same voice.

I could feel someone raise me up. I could see Helia and Borsky bound before me. They looked little battered but all in all they were fine. Behind them was standing man I looked for a long time. Once, we were comrades, but that changed when he sold us. Because of him they were able to take down our whole planet.

I tried to go after him, but I was held by two men.

He laughed, “Don’t be so impatient. We’ll have time to talk more with one another, but before that I’d like to get closer to your men. Or in this case man and woman.”

“Touch them Raul and I’ll kill you, even if I have to raise from dead.” I said.

“You shouldn’t be so bad at me or I might take it wrong. I would have to do something bad to your men.” He said with smirk.

I was furious, but I knew I wasn’t helping the situation. I looked at Helia and Borsky. “I don’t know if we’ll survive this, but it was honor to serve with you.”

“Ours too boss.” Said Borsky.

“Same here.” Said Helia.

Raul clapped his hand behind them. “How touching. I should make a video.”

I saw him pull out the nanoblad and move towards the Helia. I tried to get away from my captors, but I was too weak. I lost too much blood.

Saw him place knife on her throat and look at me with smile. “Say good bye.”

Before he could move the blade across her throat there was bright flash and ship above us was vaporized. In her place stood the ship I already knew. I sighed, at least Leya managed to repair her ship.

Raul looked up with anger written all over his face. “Shit. Who dares to interrupt me?”

I could feel both hands holding me going down. I was suddenly released. I immediately went after Raul, but he was already running towards the small cave. I wanted to go after him, but I needed to take care of my team.

I ran toward Helia and I found knife embedded in her back. I didn’t know if it was bad or not, but I needed to stanch the flow of blood. I knew I couldn’t pull the knife out because she would bleed to death. I turned to Borsky, but he managed to free himself.

“What do we do boss? We need medic.” Said Borsky.

I heard ship landing behind me and the sound of a running feet. I looked back and there was Leya running towards us with two bots. She stopped before us and looked at Helia.

“She was stabbed we need medic!” I shouted.

“Yes, me and you,” she pointed at Borsky, “will load her on stretcher and bots will take her to my medical room.” She said.

“I can help.” I said.

She looked at me and shook her head. “You’re barely standing. As soon as we load her, I’ll help you get on the ship.”

I wanted to argue, but she was telling the truth. I could feel my head spinning and I was barely standing. I wasn’t even sure I could get into ship without help. Both she and Borsky put Helia on stretcher and both bots quickly went towards the ship.

I was tired and now that she was safe I could get some sleep. I closed my eyes and that was last thing I remembered.

● ● ●

I looked at the Leon and his eyes were closed and he was breathing shallow. I quickly grabbed him and started to run towards the Paladin. He needed to get quick first aid. He lost too much blood.

“Hey you.” I called to his man. “Do you have medic on your ship?”

“Yes we have one doctor and two medics. Just take us to our ship and they’ll help them.” He said.

“OK, hurry up. Go to the bridge and call them. Tell them to come into my ship as soon as I lend.” I said.

I heard him say yes and as soon as we were on the Paladin I connected into the ship and lifted us up. I flew quickly towards our hiding place and landed there. I could see three people instantly run for my ship. I let them in and told them to come in to infirmary.

I managed to stop Leons bleeding, but I didn’t know what to do with woman. I could hear her moaning as we were flying. Lany was holding her hand and stroking her hair.

As soon as medics came we move out to let them work. George and his mercenaries flew up and defended our position. I would be going out only if they could not handle enemies. I was in in infirmary whole time and waited for the doctor’s verdict.

Leon was a hard case. They gave him transfusion and stopped bleeding on his missing hand. The woman was even harder. They had to operate her and it took them more than three hours to stabilize her.

When they told me they would be alright, I felt like someone lifted giant rock from my shoulders. I thanked them and pointed them towards the mess hall and some empty room where they could sleep.

I needed to get back onto the bridge. There was still fight going outside and I need to finish it. I strapped myself into the pilot seat and did quick check on the Paladin.

I lifted the Paladin and moved it outside. I could see George put good use in new shield emitters and weapons. There was already one destroyed hull on ground. As soon as I was out I started broadcasting.

“To every enemy ship. Surrender or you will be destroyed. None of your ships is strong enough to destroy my ship.” I said.

All ships stopped shooting and placed themselves across from me. I could see them powering their weapons.

“This is your last chance. Surrender and you will be spared.” I said.

None of them moved and I saw them locking missiles on me. If no one wanted to surrender then I’ll have to force them. I sent two missiles into their midst and started to shoot at them. They too shot at me, but they were slow. Before they had lock on me I was already flying away.

They managed to shot down one missile, but second exploded on one of the ships. Their old shields couldn't stop my top of the line missiles. They looked confused as bright flash blinded their sensors.

I was blinded too, but I could use ships sensors to move. As soon as I saw something I started to shoot at it. I had George marked so I knew it was enemy. I managed to take down two other mercenaries which left me with only five.

Once more I stopped midair and started broadcasting. “Like I said before, surrender and you will be spared. Power down your weapons and land on the ground.”

I could see communication going between their ships and finally they powered down their weapons, and landed on the ground.

I told captains to get out of the ship to talk about condition of their surrender. I had George sent me couple of security guys to deter them from violent tendencies. They quickly sent them over and I pick all five captains and led them to my lounge.

Once there they sat at the table. One of them tried to sat at the head of the table, but one look from marine convinced him that it wouldn’t be good idea. I sat at the head and look at them. Two of them look pretty normal, which meant that they looked as normal military man.

Other three looked like space pirates from novels. They all wore hats, had beards and use old weapons.

We talked more than three hours before they relented and accepted my condition. Like before I wanted all codes towards their ships and signed document saying that if they attack me they’ll ship would belong to me. Those two condition went pretty smoothly compared to my last one.

I wanted some of their plating from their ships. Nothing life threating. Only some of their reserve that they had in cargo. I wanted to use it and change plating my ship. It wasn’t bad, but I wanted to make same one I used before, but for that I would need more materials.

They tried to wriggle out of this condition, but I had them and they knew it. If I wanted I could have taken their ship and let them go to nearest city on foot. With all the animals in the wastelands they would be dead before they reach it.

I saw that George’s men didn’t like my decision, but they didn’t tell anything. They wanted revenge for their commander and comrade.

After that I let security men look at their boss and comrade. They thanked me for saving their lives, but I told them it was them who saved me. When they returned to their ship, I once more changed the location of my ship and hid in another cave. Then I went to Lany’s room and talked to her until I fall asleep. I didn’t even know I was so tired.