Alexander didn’t bother watg the man drift into space to die a slow and hopefully agonizih. Not killing the man ht robably not the most logical choice, but he didn’t regret the decisio and he would do it again without question if they tried to harm the people he cared about. Did that make him a monster? Maybe, but he would gdly bee the monster if it meant Yulia was safe.

  He closed the p and hurried over to the stasis pod to e was still funing. It was. His sigh of relief was lost in the vacuum of the ship. He didn’t even want to prehend what might have happened if the pod hadn’t been on board. To think that their attacker had a manual system to vent the air on his own ship, just what kind of monster was he?

  The thought of ing so close to losing her like that was such a bleak ohat he simply stood there to process it. When he finally worked through those emotions, he moved to the room he rescued her from to see if the damage could be repaired.

  The far wall was charred bck from the explosive, but his was with the ragged hole bsted in the side of the ship. Armor should have prevented a breach like this from such a tiny explosive, but the hull in this room looked like it wasn’t even armored. He did his best to bend the panel ba pce, but he wasn’t able to seal the hole and there didn’t appear to be an emergency seal kit in the room either.

  Instead of wasting time searg the ship for some quick seal kits, he made his way to the cockpit. It was a good thing the man had fired the ser pistol at him and not the hull or he would be dealing with multiple hull breaches. The first thing Alexander did was cut the ehen he located the radio a a text message about the situation.

  A quick reply came from both Fury and Resolve, letting Alexander know the ships had trailed them. He was only able to send ahe response because he was directly ected to the ship once more.

  The mental block, which was essentially an intrusioiram Alexander had assembled on the fly, was still in pce, preventing anything from going to those unknown hat was a good thing sihe puter was attempting to send encrypted traffic to them. It must have been some failsafe tied to Dalton. Even after the puter stopped trying to send the unknown ands, Alexander left the blo pce.

  Alexander was happy to see that his new crews were quick to react to the situation, although, he wasn’t sure what they pnned on doing. Any attempt to disable or board the ship probably would have resulted in Yulia and his deaths or damage to those other ships when Daltourned fire with his hidden ons. He would very much like to know how the man had hidden those systems from ss. Now that he thought about it, the breached wall might lead to one of those oions. It would expin the ck of armor and the spaot being pressurized.

  While he waited for the ships to arrive, he sealed off the vents that were still letting the air out of the ship as he pondered what he could have doo prevent this attack. Alexahought Eden’s End couldn’t be any safer.

  They had multiple yers of orbital defehat were tinuously being improved when produ capacity was avaible. He now had two fully operational warships in the system. It wasn’t much but it was enough to deter the random pirate that came by. Then there were also the Talon and the Hawks gunships. With all of those, approag Eden’s End with bad iions was a bad idea at best.

  Then there was the ground security. Damien’s guards patrolled the entire facility and no hallway went unchecked for more than an hour. Any important location was either guarded at all times or checked more frequently, like his hallway, which atrolled once every fifteen minutes, which was increased from how often it was checked before because of Shall’s break-in.

  Damien only had so many people though, and the Hawks weren’t on ission at the moment. They still helped out with Damien’s she of security people, but they spent the majority of their time either in space or outside the facility, going through the ships, which had taken far lohan aicipated. It was likely that exact reason was what had allowed the hidden partments and other items in this ship to go unnoticed.

  All of that security should have been enough, but it wasn’t.

  This man had snu right under everyone’s noses, bypassing every single security measure they had in pce. And if the archive Alexander had perused was any indication, the man had dohis sort of thing many times before. Having their entire security breached by a professional didn’t make Alexander any more happy that it happehough.

  This breach opened Alexander’s eyes, so to speak. He knew he could never make Eden’s End pletely safe from every threat out there, but he o do better. Improved security measures would o be taken, and not just to protect his daughter, but to protect everyohis man could just as easily have been after anyone else on Eden’s End and the result would have been much worse.

  His first ace he got back was to try and figure out how to bypass whatever shielding was being used to hide Dalton’s ons. Not being able to detect ships with hidden ons was uable.

  That would take care of one issue, but he couldn’t pn how to resolve the other issues he didn’t even uand. The biggest one was how the man had gotten the explosive inside Eden’s End in the first pce. The security ss were desigo pick up stuff like that.

  He would o speak with Archie and the Hawks to try and figure out how those snuck through. He k wasn’t corruption or inpetehat had allowed it. He trusted the Hawks and Damien to run a tight ship when it came to safety.

  Alexander looked at the small blood stain on the wall from where he cracked the man across the face with the handheld ser. For a moment, he regretted tossing the man out the airloly because it made identifying him harder. Hopefully, there would be enough DNA to get a positive ID on the individual. There was no way their kidnapper wasn’t in some criminal database somewhere.

  That was ahing he was going to have to ask the Hawks about. Somehow the man had fooled the DNA sers as well.

  In the end, Alexander could have the best defenses money could buy, but that would only take him so far. He didn’t he kidnapper's firmation that this wasn’t over. He knew as long as that bastard Harlow was out there, the man would tinue ing for them until either he got what he wanted or he was stopped.

  That was uable.

  Alexander would not live his life in fear of some scumbag pirate on the opposite end of human spaor would he subject his daughter to a lifetime of that. Running and hiding to keep ahead of the man and his goons wasn’t an optioher. Alexander had built up a life here, and he wouldn’t be chased away like he had been at Petrov Station.

  That left one choice. He o strike bad get rid of Harlow ond for all. That was the only way to ehese attacks stopped.

  Alexander wasn’t stupid though. He knew Harlow Anazi was not some simple pirate who could be taken out with a few ships and some luck. The man was single-handedly responsible for pushing back the STO. Going up against him with two warships and a retrofitted mining ship was a suicidal proposition, even with his improvements.

  He needed more ships, and he needed allies, ones who would be more than happy to see Harlow gohe STO was the first group that came to mind, but they were obviously already engaged in a war against the man and his fleets. If they could do more, they already would have. At least he hoped that was the case. He didn’t have a high opinion of the STO in general, barring a few people.

  Alexahought about seeing if Vice Admiral Fletcher might be able to use his Erebus css ships to somehow attack Harlow, but he dismissed that idea just as quickly. From the ck of respoo the loss of his other ship and his issues with that captain in Varlen, Alexander got the impression that Fletcher’s position and power were not quite as unshakable as the man made it appear.

  He could try hiring more meraries, but BSE’s finances weren’t bottomless, and Alexander didn’t want to offer other merary pahe same pensation as he did the Hawks. From his experiences and speaking with Jasper, he knew most merary panies were more like Captain Harn and his crew from Petrov Station, essentially just bounty hunters. Very few had the same morals and ideals the Hawks personified. Even fewer had actual warships.

  That left his pool of possible allies rather limited.

  There was one he had sidered but was on the fence about. The sed group of pirates, who had attacked, and been driven off by Krieger and the Dawn. Ever sihat enter, Alexander had mulled over the idea of reag out to them to try and smooth over any misuanding. While their short bad-forth unications hadn’t ended well, they had at least unicated, which was more than he could say for any other pirates so far.

  He certainly wouldn’t apologize for defending Eden’s End, but he was living in ahat had been cimed by them, so they would likely i more iure. He would prefer those iions to be cordial instead of hostile.

  He hadn’t pursued that idea very far because he knew being seen colluding with pirates would have prevented him from f his own nation. Now that he was reized as his own nation, he no longer had that restri. With the way the STO’s ws were written, they couldn’t retract the fact that they aowledged them as a sy, even if they engaged in piracy or other as. It was a rather gring loophole in their w, but it wasn’t like Alexander pnned on turning to piracy himself.

  He would o think about this idea more and speak with people who khe politidscape a bit better. All he knew was that something had to ge.

  An hour ter, the ship shook as one of the BSE vessels docked with it. Alexander would have turhis ship around, but he was unsure how the damage to the outer hull would react to a deceleration burn.

  Two men with pulse rifles ehe tral corridor and Alexander waved to them with a relieved smile. He had turned his avatar ba after disposing of the trash so as not to scare people. The men looked relieved upon seeing him. After a bit of pantomiming, he got them to follow him to the cargo hold where he checked on Yulia and unplugged the stasis pod. The men helped him carry the medical device through the airlod into the Resolve.

  Ohey were ba a pressurized enviro, Alexaarted bringing Yulia out of stasis.

  “What happened?” the captain asked. “We were told you were kidnapped, and to report to the ship so we could track you. I assume they wanted us to look for an opportunity to capture the fleeing transport, but with such limited information, we were unsure of how to proceed.”

  Alexander really o learn his new employee’s names. “You performed admirably based on what you knetain. There wasn’t anything you could have done. My daughter was kido get to me. I mao free her and put her iasis pod before I engaged with the kidnapper. He detonated some device, which blew a hole in the side of the ship, but I was able to deal with him.”

  “I’m gd you’re ok, sir.” The man scratched his head in fusion. “If your daughter is in the pod, where are you?”

  He had pnned on sharing this information with his employees eventually, but it seemed now was as good a time as any. “Since you all work for me now, I’ll let you in on an ope. I’m ihis robot. I always have been. The rumors of me being sid stu this pod are just that, rumors. I would appreciate it if you didn’t spread this information though. It seems that rumor saved both our lives today.”

  “We work for you, Mr. Kane. If you wish to hide your situation, it’s none of our business,” the man said pointedly as he g the other crewmen who had gathered. They all nodded.

  “I appreciate that…”

  “Captain Horatio Ramirez, sir.”

  “Thank you for your assistance, Captain Ramirez. Now if you’ll excuse me, I o borrow the Resolve’s repair robot to fix up the hole iher ship. I would have tur around and flown back to Eden’s End if it was just me on board, but I didn’t want to risk it with my daughter.”

  “It is your ship, sir, we are at your disposal.”

  The stasis pod would take twenty minutes or so to wake Yulia, he wao be there when she came to, so he quickly went to a terminal and activated the repair drohe instrus to weld a pte over the damaged se of the other ship were simple enough that he didn’t o monitor the bot.

  He was gd he included one of his spider bots and a small print bay with each ship. It was mainly for initial testing, but he hadn’t gotten around to removing the one from Fury yet. Maybe he would leave them ihey did e in handy.

  “Sir… where is the corpse of the attacker?”

  Alexauro Captain Ramirez. “I tossed him out into space. Why?”

  “While I certainly uand your desire to dispose of criminals in an as effit manner as possible. He may be able to answer more questions. Assuming you left him alive and in his suit.”

  Alexander didn’t want to admit it, but the Captain was right. He provided the man with a likely search area based on the ship's sers and speed at the time.

  Yulia woke up before Fury was able to locate the pirate and Alexander led her to one of the private bunks on the Resolve.

  “Why do people keep attag us?” she asked as soon as the door shut.

  He k dowo his daughter. “They think they get to me through you. Unfortunately, they are right. Don’t worry, this will never happen again.”

  “Ok,” she replied, taking his words at face value.

  Alexander wished he had as much faith in his ability to keep her safe as she did in him.

  Shortly after, a knock came at the door.

  “Mr. Kane. We were able to recover the object.”

  He opehe door and thahe man for being tactful. “Yulia, wait here, I’ll be ba a few minutes. If you need anything, this fine man will assist you.” Her eyes grew wide in fear, and Alexahought she might refuse to remain behind.

  She looked at the man, who nodded. “I’ll wait right outside the door if you need anything.” That seemed to mollify the terrified girl.

  Once agaihahe man before he made his way to the bridge.

  He arrived just in time to hear a versatioween Ramirez and the other Captain.

  “You’re sure there is no way to revive him, Captain Hall?”

  “Revive who?” Alexander asked as he ehe room.

  Both captains turo him and nodded, but it was Captain Hall who spoke up. “The man bit his own tongue off and he was dead before we were able to recover him. I’m afraid we won’t be colleg any more information from him. At least with the full corpse, we identify the man and you cim any bounties he might have.”

  Alexander was unmoved by the man’s death.

  “What about pulling information from his mind?” There might still be some electrical activity left. If he could someho or record it, maybe they could figure something out.

  Alexander’s question made both men squirm unfortably.

  Hall cleared his throat before speaking up. “Mind-altering and mind-reading teology has been banned by the STO for over a hundred years, sir. It was deemed too easy to misuse.”

  Ramirez added his own point. “We only know about those teologies because it was one of the things we were taught to be och for when we served iO Navy.”

  He wondered what brought that sort of ruling about, but he didn’t really have the time or patieo ask about it at the moment. “Fet I brought it up then. As soon as the freighter is patched up, send a pilot over to fly it back. We have a lot to discuss, and I want to eh of your crews are trained and ready for anything. We will not have a repeat of this i ever again.”

  “Yes, sir!” came a chorus of replies.

  ***

  After everyone was ba Eden’s End, Alexaore apart the attacker's ship with a vengeail he learhe secret of how it hid its ons. It turned out, the ons were easily hidden by a modified static field geor. He couldn’t quite figure out how to bypass the field si was internal and essentially all it did was mask open spaces. A strong enough pulse from a sensht be able to affect the field slightly, but he would o test that.

  As for who the bastard that attacked Yulia was, the results were inclusive at first. It took a full-body autopsy to figure out why they couldn’t get a proper DNA match. The autopsy also revealed how the man had snu the explosives. He had hollowed out one of his bones and pushed the items out through his muscles and skin to assemble the explosives aonators.

  The fact that someone would do that to themselves made Alexander sick.

  Captain Matthews was the one whht news of who the unknown man truly was, shog everyone. “Alex, we finally got a positive ID on your attacker. His name is Dalton, he is a high-level assassin, hitman, fixer, you . If it was illegal, the man probably did it. He was employed by all sorts of nasty people, but the majority of his work was done for the Anazi family.”

  “So, he probably told the truth about Harlow being the one who hired him. And his bounty?”

  “Well, that’s a bit more difficult. As soon as we ran his DNA profile over the Q, we have beeing non-stop requests for firmation from dozens of private entities within STO space. It seems Dalton had a criminal recoing back twenty years. The man was single-handedly responsible for the deaths and kidnappings of some very important individuals. They are all demanding a third-party verification befreeing to pay out the separate bounties. It seems people have cimed to have taken the man out before and even provided a small sample of DNA evideo prove this, but none of them had ever been able to produce the corpse. The STO bounty aid to BSE though. I doubt they would have if you hadn’t already proven that you have taken down other pirates. The STO bounty alone was four hundred millios.”

  Alexander didn’t react to the information. While the bounty money was a wele addition, it wasn’t as important as getting rid of one more piece of shit in the universe. “Tell those other private entities that they are wele to send their own representative to verify Dalton’s corpse. We will keep him in the mue for six months. If they ’t get someo here by then, that’s their problem.”

  Alexander simply had more important things to himself with than assuaging the hopes and fears of people he didn’t know.

  He o speak with Archie and the Hawks’ netain to e up with a pn. If he wao be rid of Harlow and the man’s infatuation with him, he o have a pn. While it ossibility that he could vince Char to work with him, that was a long shot, he should make pns for both eventualities. He would also o figure out how to sell the idea of w with pirates to the Hawks. They weren’t going to like it. Alexander didn’t much like the idea either, but he would do whatever it took to keep this from happening again.