“The shield, the shield, check out our shield!” the young Captain shrieked and then added a scream of pain to it as he moved his hands in excitement, and the shackles instantly induced a bolt of pain through his body.

“Our shield,” Timothy answered in a calm voice. “This little transporter even has a shield. And it’s fine, down to seventy percent but holding.”

The Captain had some other ideas. “You need to kill the stab oscillators. Put all the power into the shield and engines! GIve us some speed, man!"

“That would be smart,” Marv agreed. “We don’t need stabs here in space.”

“He’s a captain all right,” Timothy added.

“And track the shot of that torpedo. It would be good to know what we are up against.”

Timothy and Marv exchanged a quick glance as they looked for a way to do just that. “How do you track it? This scanner here is not picking anything up in space. It almost seems the shut came somewhere from the planet.”

“It’s not a very good scanner, but,” the Captain said, “AI, calculate the trajectory of the torpedo that hit us, and zoom in the area.”

“You can voice control this unit?”

The Captain suddenly decided to stay quiet.

“I bet you could even shut it down, couldn’t you?”

“What if I could? What would you do to me if I do?”

Timothy chuckled as if that needed answering at all. “Throw you out in space. What do you think we would do?”

The Mith’s face frowned. “You did not disable that part of the security system?”

“What?”

“That’s the first thing you should have done! As soon as you got into this transporter.”

“I did not know it even had it! You’re supposed to be a technician. Not me.”

The Mith got red-faced and jumped up, and then when he came down, he came down with his fists in front of him, slamming the left part of the instruments so hard that one part came out, smashed out of controls.

“What did you do that for?”

“I took out the AI. What do you think I did?” Marv said as he tossed the black cube between his fingers.

Timothy shook his head in disbelief. “Did you really had to slam it that hard?”

“Well, I fixed it. Trying talking to it now if you can,” Marv said as he turned around and threw the busted control cube into the Captain's lap. “Now we can still shoot him. Or…”

“Imagine if that was your head,” Timothy said as he glanced back to the young Captain. “And that was one of his most gentle taps. You would almost beg me to shoot you instead.”

“I won’t cause you any trouble. I could have already if I wanted to. So, just relax. I, I wanted to know what you are after first before… But, just tell me now one thing-”

“He’s a smart one, I told you.”

“If he gets to be too smart, he’ll be dead smart.”

“I mean, without AI, how do you plan to defend this transporter?”

“What?”

Another blast reminded them they were being targeted again by a hostile force outside.

Marv screatched his head. "I forgot about that.".

“Shit. The shield dropped to forty,” Timothy muttered.

“You fuckin’ idiots. I guess you pissed off so many people, no wonder some are trying to kill you.”

“And I wonder who it can be,” Myth said mysteriously with a smile suddenly creeping on his face.

The answer came a second later as the communication opened up to display the frowning face of the redhead from the bar.

“Hi, Sornia,” the Mith said and gave her a smile. “I thought that was you. Three greeting kisses. Who else could it be?”

“What kisses? Why are you firing at us?” Timothy asked angrily. “What got into you?”

“Relax, it’s just a bit of neopalm-charged EL torpedos. It won’t hurt you, Pretty Boy.”

“She is with you as well?” the Captain asked, not believing what he was seeing.

“Well, I prefer if you did not use neopalm on us, okay!” Timothy said half upset and scanned the area and found the Union’s transporter trailing them two miles.

“Oh, you seem to be upset,” Sornia said in an angry voice. “You don’t get to be upset! What the fuck took you so long? We were on a schedule, and you blew it! And then you took forever doing your foreplay.”

“Don’t get him started,” the Mith added swiftly.

“You never complained about my foreplay before,” Timothy said, almost confused.

“Hah,” Sornia chuckled. “Don’t get me started on that."

But Timothy had something else to enquire about. "Yeah. You want to talk about time management, where were you? I'm not running engines not even at eight percent waiting for you."

"Where do you think I was? Cleaning after your ass."

"What? You were supposed to put explosives around the main communication center long before I came to the bar. Wasn't that the plan?"

"Sure. Of course I did. And then we waited at the bar for like twenty minutes before you came. And then you took your sweet time. For space spirits sake, how you like to talk, and talk, and talk."

Timothy suddenly had enough. "That is not true?!"

"I did my part. I disabled their land comm as soon as you left. But you know perfectly well they have mobile comm devices on some of them, don't you? I mean, you were a Union soldier or whatever, weren't you?"

"Yes, I know that. But regular troops don't have that gear. It's not a standard-"

"Yeah, but there were two first sergeants downstairs with the prostitutes."

"I did not know that," Timothy said defensively.

"You think they might have a way to contact the battleship directly?"

"Sure, that's possible," Timothy answered.

"So, actually, it was a good idea me staying behind and stunning the shit out of them when they tried to communicate with the ship. Because if I did not, imagine the surprise we would have once we arrive there, huh? You dumb fuck. You took too long! You know they don't wait for anybody. And now, we may be late.”

“You’re a dumb fuck, Sornia! You're a good cleaner, but you're a dumb fuck!”

“Did he just call me a dumb fuck?” Sornia asked, not believing her own ears.

“I think he did,” the Mith confirmed, ignoring Timothy who jumped up and tried to defend and explain himself. “I think next time you get a chance to cut him, you do that. Just slice off a little bit of him, see if he wants to insult you next time. I mean, with all that ego, a little bit of him gone it can only serve him good. Besides, is he really going to miss it?”

“It’s not that big either,” Sornia said, talking directly to the Mith and ignoring Timothy’s protests completely.

“And you would know,” the Mith said.

“And I would know,” she confirmed.

“Can you people shut up!” Timothy finally yelled over them, and they finally stopped talking but looked at him as if surprised he got pissed.

Sornia looked surprised at him. “If we’re late, it’s your fault. And I’m telling the old man you just came to the bar late and then it seemed how you just had to have your beers and…”

“We are not going to be late! They would not be still down there if they were going to be late, right, Captain?”

“Captain, were you going to be late?” Marv repeated the question.

The Captain kept his mouth shut as if suddenly he had some cards to play. But Timothy would have none of it. “That was just one little pad,” he said, nodding in the direction of the busted AI box.

“No, no, no,” the Captain finally said. “I was not going to be late. You still have plenty of time, two hours still. I was just hurrying the boys, that’s all.”

Timothy and Marve looked at each other. “Two hours my ass,” they said together. “Our schedule might still be right then.”

“How long do we have?” Timothy insisted. “You know if we are late, you will fly out of this transporter. It’s the end game for you, Mommy’s Boy.”

“The ship departure time is in forty minutes,” the Captian finally said, but meeting the darkness in Timothy’s eyes decided to add. “I am not lying. I got the message from them. They just started to energize their jump drives when you got to the bar.”

“You see,” Timothy said as he decided to slide back in his pilot’s chair. “We have plenty of time. The Captain was just getting touchy because hist crew that was downstairs could fuck longer than he could.”

“I would never pay for sex,” the Captain protested.

“I would not trust the kid,” Sornia said. “But I guess we’re going to see soon enough. I’ve got them on my scope. Arrival time in thirty-five minutes at present speed.”

Timothy sighed. “I guess then I better get ready. Or maybe one of two of you might want to take my place…” he added and cast Marv and Sornia a quick and inquisitive glance. “No, nobody?”

The Mith just shook his head and muttered to himself. “Smartass. What a smartass. You really should teach him his manners one of these days, Sornia.”

As Timothy got up from the seat, the collar on the Captain’s uniform suddenly came alive and started to beep.

“What is that?” Sornia asked.

“He’s got an incoming message,” Timothy answered. “Be smart and play no tricks now,” he added and then took his pistol out and put it in the direction of the captain’s forehead, just to make sure.

“Play the message, please, authorization A5D23,” the Captain said.

‘This is to inform you that the departure of the Destroyer M45-G20032 is to commence in forty minutes. Anyone not on board five minutes before departure time will be left behind.’

As the deep authoritative voice of the mega-ships Commander ended, Timothy shrugged his shoulders and said, “I just can’t believe you guys still doubt me after all this time.”

“Let’s just punch the engines to the max,” Sornia said. “I’d rather be there early a few minutes.”

They flew in silence a few minutes and Timothy used that time to take his duster off and fold it neatly before he laid it on the back seat. Then his armor came off.

“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” the Captain suddenly uttered from the back seat in a timid voice that only tried not to quiver.

“What was that, Cap? Why do you say that? If we wanted you dead,” Timothy started to explain to him.

“Why would you-”

“I mean, after you finish with me,” the Captain interrupted him. “I mean after I give you access to the ship, I mean that’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?”

“Hey, Cap, can I call you, Cap?”

The Captain started to nod his head but then froze, expecting another bolt of pain to him.

Timothy noticed that and smiled gently. "You learn fast," he said and leaned over to ease the handcuffs settings.

Then he sighed and looked the young captain directly in the eyes. “Whether I kill you or not, that purely depends on how you behave in the next sixty minutes, okay?”

“After you get what you want, you would not need me anymore,” the Captain said in a quiet voice, almost as if he was clearing his own head and talking to himself. “Why would you not kill me?”

“If everything goes as planned, you have my word I will spare you,” Timothy said.

Whether that answer satisfied the Captain was hard to know, but it took a long moment before he decided to talk again. “So, all that you said in the bar was pretty much an act, a bullshit?”

“No, why?”

“I mean, you really could never be a veteran. Not of Union. To fall this low. I have never known any Union veteran that ended up living a long life and deciding to take side opposite of Union.”

“What? You’re way too young to know anyone.”

“Don’t get my youthful appearance fool you. I bet I’m older than you. Besides, don’t sideline the conversation.”

Timothy raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

“You know what I mean. Once a Union solder, always a Union soldier.”

“I heard that before,” Marv said.

“They program you so hard during training that it is almost inconceivable that you would ever betray the army. So, most likely you are still working for the Union. As a Security Agent? A Shadow Man? Are you a Shadow Man?”

Marv turned around to look at the Captain then took a long hard look at Timothy.

"Shadow Men don't exist," Timothy said. "I do."

"Special Ops then?"

“Oh, how slickly you are. He is slick, isn’t he?” Timothy said.

“Yes, we should call him Slicky,” Marv said while he still continued to stare at Timothy.

“Don’t give him names. Harder to kill later,” Sornia added. “And with a tongue like that and a mind to think, I might just tell you to pull a trigger right now and take our chance when we get there.”

“Whatever,” the young Captain said. “Believe me or not. But the odds do not lie.”

“Shut up,” Marv decided to say, looking at the Captain again.

“I just can’t believe you guys are friends.”

“You keep on saying that word, friends, why?”

“I mean after everything the man did on Limux Grand, how can you be a friend with him?”

“That’s a good question,” Marv said as he stared back at Timothy, even raised his eyebrows, expecting Timothy’s explanation.

“’After everything the man did on Limux Grand?’” Timothy theatrically repeated the Captain’s words. “Oh, Slicky, you have no idea what happened on Grand.”

“Oh, no,” Marv said, shaking his head and rubbing hard his forehead of a sudden headache. “Here we go…”