Dalton’s ship wasn’t the first in the voy line of ships, that would have been too spicuous. Arrivihe middle of the refugee group meant he had to wait in line, but it should bring less scrutiny as people grew pt. It seemed that whoever was running this pce was f the ships to nd o a time, slowing dowire process. It was an easy way to trol the speed of people being processed, but it worked to his advantage as well by increasing the fatigue of anyone on duty.

  The only problem with that approach was that not every ship that came along could nd on a phe first ship just so happeo be one of those, and it was forced to dock at what could generously be called a statio to watch as people were shuttled down in small groups over hours. There were at least two ships behind him that were equally as rge and would o gh the same process.

  While the waiting was annoying, it did give him time to study the space around the p without active sensors.

  He didn’t like what he saw. Hundreds of ems were orbiting the p sihe st time he had been here. They had to be some sort of on system or there would have been no point pg them around the p. It wasn’t like they needed global satellite ce for one facility.

  To top it off, two fully armed frigates were docked at the station. He reized the general shape of Arkonis’ ship, only it had ged. Somehow these people had rebuilt it, and another ship that probably beloo one of Char’s people. And they did it in a little ht months.

  Based oher derelicts docked at the station, it looked like they po do the same thing with two more ships.

  The speed of buildup here was truly ihe people running this pce must have deep pockets and access to plenty of teology. If Kane was somehow involved with this effort, he was starting to get an idea of why Harlow wahe man so badly.

  Hours passed by until he finally got the response he had been waiting for. “Toby’s Pride, you are cleared to nd.”

  Dalton suppressed his anticipation as he responded. “Copy that, ground trol.”

  He followed the instrus sent to him and came in for a slow dest. He heard his passengers pining about the rough ride, the ungrateful shits. He would be gd to be rid of them. Then his real mission could begin. He had a month at most until his gene-shift treatment wore off. Pushing it to the st moment wasn’t a good idea though, so he gave himself two weeks to plete this mission. If he couldn’t do it by then, he would o get out of there and figure out another pn.

  As he desded through the atmosphere, he finally got his first look at Eden’s End. It looked like a deteriorating shit hole, but he could see areas that had been repaired or newly built. He even spotted a ship off to one side and a group of armed individuals blog off an area where a rge bck square was being moved into pce. Most people wouldn’t have reized the monolithic bck cubes, but Dalton had seen the devices before so he reized the Q array almost instantly. If these people could afford a Q, it just reinforced the fact that they had deep pockets. It was too bad they weren’t pirates or criminals, he was always looking for new tele.

  Despite the ck of new work he was likely to find here, Dalton could sell the information about the Q on the bck market. The p might have det defenses, and he suspected those items orbiting the p were some sort of on, but some people would risk it to get their hands on the elusive FTL arrays.

  Sooouched down and cheeried from the back of his ship. Their jubint attitude made him want to vomit, he was gd to finally be rid of them.

  Knowing it would be suspicious if he left his ship online, he started putting it into cold standby mode. It provided just enough power from the reactor to power the lights and mirical items on the ship as well as the static field geors that shielded his on’s partments from sers.

  Ohe ship was on standby, he put on a fake smile and headed to the cargo bay.

  The parents of the families he had coerced to cover his entry cpped him on the bad he shook their hands in celebration before moving over to the cargo bay ramp. “Don’t fet your masks,” he called in fake .

  Those who hadn’t dohe oxygen masks did so now. Dalton followed suit and opehe ramp door. The first thiiced was the dozens of armed meraries waiting to guide the new arrivals into the facility.

  That would have put a wrinkle in his pn if he hadn’t already pnned for it. In fact, they were integral to his mission. He he meraries to finish bringing in the new arrivals before he acted. It would give him time to find his target but also split the focus of all the security people here. The timing would be tight though. If he waited too long, the chaos caused by taking in this many people would die down and the security forces would be able to look into any insistencies.

  “Hands where we see them,” one of the mercs stated as he approached the ramp with his on pointed down but ready to snap up in a moment. “We’ll be sing you all for ons.”

  Dalton joihe rest of his passengers, looking surprised by the statement before he headed down the ramp with his arms up.

  The man ran a simple metal detector over him before pausing as it beeped.

  “Titanium impnts from an old injury,” he stated, pulling up his sleeve to show the man two long faded scars along both arms.

  The man nodded and motioned for him to joiher waiting meraries. Once everyo checked, Dalton turo one of the men. “ I close up my ship?”

  “No,” the man stated. “Once all of the refugees are settled, all ships will be checked for traband. Ohat is plete, you e back out here and remove your fusion activation crystal.”

  “Any idea how long that will take? I have some food in my fridge I’d rather not let go to waste.” He didn’t have anything worth saving in his fridge, but he needed some excuse to ask about the time frame that wouldn’t make the man suspicious. He could also make a big stink about how this would be illegal in STO space. He might even win that argument sidering what he was able to dig up oraight-ced Hawks of Ganos, but that would bring him unnecessary attention.

  “A week or two,” the soldier responded non-itally.

  Going by what he witnessed, he was going to put that estimate closer to the longer end. It wasn’t ideal, but Dalton now had a firm timeline. If they did a thh search of his ship, they were bound to find any number of hidden partments he would rather they didn’t. And if they shut down the reactor, the ons would quickly be located.

  He had worked with tighter timelines in the past so he should be good.

  As he followed the mercs to the facility, Daltoally reviewed what he knew of the target. Kane was a sickly man who was fio a stasis pod and who used a robot to i with the outside world.

  Easy enough to find the robot, but without knowing the capabilities of such a mae, he wouldn’t risk going after it directly. He would focus on the child Kane adopted instead. The attat to an adopted child might not be as strong as a biological one, but it’s the best option he had to work with. The only other option was log the stasis pod and making off with it. sidering what was i, the medical device was likely secured beyond what he would be able to get past in the short time frame.

  The only issue with his pn was that he didn’t have a positive ID for the girl, just her age.

  As they were led into the building, Dalton refined his pn to figure out where Kane and the girl were.

  When they entered a sort of holding area, he noticed there wasn’t an X-ray ser setup. Had he known that he wouldn’t have bothered with the sub-skeletal impnts. An X-ray could still see through bone, but the titanium rods he had grafted to them to make it look like substandard medical repairs would help mask what was ihe bones. Retrieving those items would be painful, but he couldn’t ge that part of the pn now.

  He was led to a table where his bag was searched, then moved to a booth where he was given a bio-locked ID after his record came back . Then he was moved to a waiting area.

  Ohe families were through, he moved over to them. “You’ve all had a long day. How about I find out where the kids go for learning, that way you all rest?”

  It didn’t take any more ving than that to get them to agree.

  One of the guards came by to grab people, Dalton told them to take the families first. This selflessness further ingratiated him with the families and allowed Dalton to see how the facility guards operated.

  They looked very professional with their matg outfits, but Dalton could tell they were inexperienced. Normally that would be a good thing, but inexperienced people tend to make more mistakes and act without thinking. He would o ensure none were around when he made his move or they might actally kill the girl, making this whole operation pointless.

  O came his time to be led off, he spoke to the officer. “Would it be possible for me to meet the person in charge so I thank them personally?”

  The man g him without turning his head. “You want to see Alex? I guess I could ask. It might not be right away though.”

  Iing, he wondered if Alex and Alexander Kahe same person. “That’ll be fine,” Dalton replied with a smile.

  They eventually arrived at his assigned room.

  “This will be your room, if you wish to switove, you must request a ge using the terminals. Atrium A is that way,” the guard pointed down the hallway. “Just follow the signs. That is where you purchase food and supplies as well as look for work. There is also a job board oerminals. You are allowed to go into any public spaces. If you break the rules, you will be locked up and punished accly. Any questions?”

  “Just one. I came with some families and promised them I would look into schooling for their young children, could you point me in that dire?”

  The guard looked at him with a bit of suspi before replying. “The uards probably notified them of the room where kids are taught. I reeing them figure it out.”

  “Fair enough,” he chuckled, doing his best to mollify the man’s suspis. It seemed he pushed too far by asking that question. He would have to learhis pce was another way.

  ***

  Alexander sighed. It had been a long week, or more specifically, a long four days. That was how long it took to process the nearly twelve hundred people on the ships. It would have gone much faster, but half the ships couldn’t nd, and the shuttles had been running non-stop ferrying people down to the surface.

  As far as he khe Hawks were just now starting to check the ships on the ground. It was a very ineffit process and probably bent a few STO ws going by how some of the captains of those vessels grumbled.

  He didn’t care. Alexander didn’t ihese people, if they wao stay, they followed Eden’s End’s rules.

  Holy, he wahis whole intake process over with so he could foore important issues. One of the things he was waiting for was the firmation that the Q was ready and w. Based on the reports he got, it should be pleted sometime today. In the meantime, he was greeting a few people who wao thank him for allowing them to live here.

  Most were families dispced by the first attacks. They had been bounced from world to world sinobody wao take them in permaly. The families roups all flinched when they saw him, which wasn’t much of a surprise. The remaining people were refugees of the sed attack, which was o Alexander.

  It seemed like the war against the pirates was not going iO’s favor. The ge must have happened retly because there was no news of it the st time he left STO space. He was certain he would have heard about it if there had been.

  The sed grouping of people had much the same rea to meeting Alexander. All except one man, who looked eoo chipper to meet him. The man shook his arm and told him his name, but the only thing Alexander could remember of the guy was how he looked like someone who had too much pstic surgery. He had that overly stretched face look which made his mannerisms look entirely fake or pletely missing.

  Alexander didn’t bring attention to that fact, but he was gd he couldn’t be caught staring. Maybe he could talk to Gabriel about it. There had to be better methods to tighten and firm skin than whatever that poor man had paid for.

  A little over an hour ter, Alexander finally received the news he had been waiting for. The Q was online and the teis were ready to speak to him about its operation. It was a moal step for Eden’s End.