The third moon of the ice giant TOI-532c, which had been unofficially dubbed Parthax by its initial survey team, was not somewhere you went for a vacation.

  While it was geologically active, with its own magnet field to protect it from the solar wind of its class K-type star, its atmosphere was less than friendly with a high percentage of hydrocarbons and greenhouse gases. While there was a decent enough level of oxygen in the air, our sensors showed between the heat from the greenhouse effect, and the pH was low enough that just a few hours of breathing it would permanently and perhaps lethally scar a human’s lungs.

  Overall, it was like a look back at Sol’s second planet, Venus, before its atmosphere went completely off the rails.

  “Such a lovely place that your people chose to set up on.” Tindron commented as the Elegance began its atmospheric insertion.

  Toftri’s hands were confident and light on the helm controls, a sign of just how skilled he was. Insertion into an atmosphere as thick as this tended to give salvage pilots the collywombles, but he didn’t seem stressed at all when he shot back, “Indeed! Nothing like burning the lining off your lungs to make a giobhioni feel alive! People back home climbed all over each other for an opportunity like this!”

  Tindron let out a laugh, and I caught Jesse giving them both an eyeroll. “You two, I swear. I’m surprised Boudya hasn’t tossed you out an airlock, Tindron, or do you and Thomas not feed off each other the same way?”

  “You’re brother is far more fixated on technical stuff when Boudya is around,” Tindron grins, shooting me a mock yawn. “It’s more often my patience being tested with the two of them! The jargon puns are horrific! They go on for hours sometimes, and Stacy just encourages them with her flirting.”

  “Not my fault you don’t understand the hilarity of the self-sealing stembolt song.” I shot back.

  “Please don’t start singing it again…”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jophixa doing her best to suppress her mirth at the byplay on the bridge. Given the seriousness of the situation, I was a bit surprised that she hadn’t demanded a stop to the jocularity manifesting on the bridge. Maybe she was trying to relax a bit before we dove into whatever the secrets this moon was concealing. Or perhaps she was just so confident in Toftri’s skills at the helm that she wasn’t too concerned that we'd distract him during atmospheric descent. Either way it was nice to joke around a bit before we landed at the outpost and needed to get serious.

  My mind drifted back to our experience aboard the Keeper’s station. The unpleasantness of those events still lingered, and caused me to wake up in a cold sweat from time to time. I certainly hoped nothing remotely like that happened on Parthax.

  Jo must have noticed a shift in my mood, because she glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow in silent enquiry. I shot her a half smile and a one shouldered shrug. I was wondering if the odd new interface my implant was facilitating would allow me to send a direct message to her command chair displays when the swirling clouds beyond the bridge’s main viewport cleared enough to show the Outpost below.

  After the situation had been settled with Colonel Aberdeen, and Admiral LeBeau ordered the outpost's new commanding officer Captain Controy to give us complete access to the research site, Jophixa had questioned him about the feasibility of bringing the Elegance itself down. Considering the planet’s unfriendly atmosphere, we weren’t sure what their berthing facilities were like. Overall, the acidic air wouldn’t have been too damaging to the ship, between the alloy of the hull, and the shields, but wasn’t comfortable taking risks after the extensive repairs we’d already had to do.

  Looking down at the outpost, I now saw why the captain had been so positive that it wouldn’t be a problem.

  The largest feature of the site was a huge irised ring that seemed to be sized for a rather large cargo transport - more than large enough to accommodate Elegance of Light. When I brought up our sensor feeds in my implant’s HUD, I was greeted with the fact that the ring was composed of a rhodium based cermet alloy. It must have cost an insane amount to build the thing, considering the rarity of rhodium, especially since the pH of the atmosphere wasn’t that low. It made me wonder if this moon had a weather phenomenon that varied the acidity so drastically.

  “Commander, we’ve received landing instructions.” Jesse called out, “we are to proceed to that irised ring and hold position one meter above it. The iris will open and allow us to descend into the hangar after they erect a shield dome.”

  “Thank you Ms. Aacen. Be’tsar, take us in.”

  “Sepaq, Commander.”

  “Commander Throhx?”

  The man that stood at the bottom of Elegance’s boarding ramp almost seemed to be as wide as he was tall. If he was much taller than a meter and a half, I’d have been surprised, but he was, to quote an old earth saying, built like a brick shithouse. Wearing the uniform of a Commonwealth marine, he was a wall of muscle to the point I expected that if he were to flex too abruptly, the buttons on his tunic would have come loose with sufficient force to take someone’s eye out.

  “That would be me.” Jophixa replied, as she stepped off the ramp, followed by the Kintzels and myself. Her voice was echoed in English from the speaker in her armor. Even though she still had to look up to lock eyes with the marine, her bearing was one that exuded an air of ‘try me, I’ll eat you for breakfast.’

  The marine saluted smartly. “Lieutenant Schwartz. Captain Controy sends his regrets. He wanted to be here to welcome you in person, but there seems to be some trouble regarding the Colonel. I’ve been ordered to escort you to the officer’s lounge, where he will meet with you when he can spare a moment. It shouldn’t be more than an hour or so.”

  “I take it there have been some objections to the orders relieving the Colonel of command?”

  Schwartz shrugged, “I’d rather leave that for the Captain to fill you in on.”

  “Very well,” Jo replied, “please, lead the way.”

  The walk to the officer’s lounge was one of pointed silence, our escort not seeming to be one prone to small talk. His earlier comment of preferring to leave explanations to his new commanding officer seemed to encompass every detail of the base. Whenever we passed anyone in the corridors, any conversations happening immediately stopped as they stepped to the side in order to allow us to pass - their eyes following us with suspicion.

  It seemed like maybe a culture of paranoia had been fostered here, and it made me wonder if we would actually get complete and total access to whatever secrets they had discovered in the giobhioni site.

  When the lieutenant finally keyed open the door that led to the officer’s lounge, we were greeted by the mouthwatering aroma of fresh baked cookies, brewed coffee, and… “Is that beef I smell broiling?” Giselle asked.

  “The captain ordered food to be prepared while you wait.” Schwartz said with a half smile. “He thought maybe you’d like to enjoy access to our stores, long voyages shipboard doesn’t always lend to fresh supplies. The coffee’s fresh, and the burgers will be out shortly. Make yourselves comfortable.”

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  I wasn’t a die hard coffee addict like the majority of humanity - the stuff gave me the jitters and made my insomnia ten times worse - but I still enjoyed a cup from time to time. So it was my first instinct to pour myself a mug, lace it heavily with cream and sugar, grab a couple of the chocolate chip cookies from the counter and park my ass in one of the plush armchairs. The twins did much the same, though I notice Gertrude went for the tea instead of the coffee. Jophixa, however, sat down in the chair next to mine, eyeing me sideways with her nostrils flaring.

  Glancing over at her, I gave her a half smile, “It’s called coffee.” I explained, “An extremely popular drink in the Commonwealth. Except that it isn’t, actually, the real thing. The plants the stuff came from originally were wiped out by a pestilence around a hundred and eighty years ago. People were so addicted to the stuff, however, that companies spent enough money to choke a black hole to synthesize it.”

  I held out the mug to her. “Care to try a sip?”

  She took the mug and held it under her nose, taking a long sniff and scrunching her face up at the smell before taking an experimental sip. Instantly, her face screwed up even more and she began looking around as if to find somewhere to spit it out. Finally giving up and swallowing it, she gasped out, “You drink this strixta willingly?”

  Giselle chortled, while Gertrude shook her head, “Can’t stand the stuff personally.” She explained, “Which is weird, because the military virtually runs on the stuff. Tea is more soothing.”

  “Jesse is going to be disappointed she missed out.” I said, shaking my head, “I wonder if we can convince them to spare a couple pounds of beans.” I glanced at Jo again, smiled, and offered her one of the cookies.

  The look she gave it was one of extreme suspicion, but she took it, and just like with the coffee, gave it a long sniff. “Don’t worry, that isn’t anything like the coffee.” Gertrude assured her, and we all watched expectantly as she took a hesitant nibble.

  Her ears went straight up and tilted forward slightly, something I’d only seen happen, between her and Tratsa, during very specific activities. The thought got me stifling a laugh. Well, some people do say chocolate is better than sex, I thought. It seems Jophixa might agree it’s at least as good.

  “We should try to obtain some more of these as well!” she said finally, after having torn through the rest of the cookie in a way that reminded me of a googly-eyed blue puppet from an antique children’s show. “I cannot believe your sister would not become extremely irritable at having missed these.”

  The twins and I whole-heartedly agreed. I was sure it would have been a hard decision for her - hell, possibly Boudya and Tindron as well - to have stayed on the ship knowing there’d be coffee and chocolate chip cookies to be had here. But when Tratsa had approached Jo while we were approaching the planet, and suggested the time in which we were dirtside at the outpost would be a good time to give the three of them implants, they couldn’t resist the opportunity. There were just too many advantages for them in it, even if the implant they received would be slightly “downgraded” from mine. There was still some concern about the recent changes in mine, and everyone involved wanted to play it safer. Stacy had worked out a way the implants could be upgraded later, however.

  Jophixa ended up grabbing her own plate of cookies, and after sampling Gertrude’s tea, fixed herself a cup of that as well. By the time she’d polished off both, a woman with sergeant’s insignia on her sleeve wheeled in a cart with a platter of burgers, condiments and a medium sized chafing dish heaped with fries. “The captain sent word he’s on his way, but please go ahead and eat.” She explained, “I’ve also set up a to-go box and it’s being delivered to your ship as we speak.”

  “I appreciate that.” Jo replied, the look of gratitude plain on her face. “The rest of my crew had duties to attend to on board, and I wouldn't want them to miss out on the meal. We’ve got good stores, but things can get repetitive.”

  It was another twenty or so minutes before the captain arrived. I could tell that Jo had enjoyed the burgers as much as the cookies, even if she was making a huge effort to be restrained. If we’d had to wait much longer, I’m pretty sure she’d have broken down and wolfed down far more than the two burgers she’d had.

  It seems beef, even lab grown beef which this likely was, suited the giobhioni palette. At least one’s anyway.

  Unlike the marine lieutenant that had escorted us to the officer’s lounge, Captain Controy was just a couple inches shorter than myself, but with the build of someone who worked out regularly to keep in shape. His dark hair was cropped short in a crew cut, and his hazel eyes showed frustrated exhaustion. He immediately gave Jo a respectful nod after entering the room.

  “I apologize for the delay.” he said tiredly, “I’m sure you understand that it’s not often a CO gets relieved of duty like this, and several of the security people were just a little unhappy about it.”

  “Questions are understandable. Just so long as everyone follows legal orders from the chain of command.” Gertrude put in before Jo could respond.

  Controy turned and gave her a long stare. Unlike Jo and myself, who had decided it would be a good idea to approach this situation with caution, Jo opted to wear her combat armor, and I my modified EVA suit; The twins had opted to wear their skinsuits and a simple utility harness. They had standard PPG’s holstered at their waists, but they carried themselves with the confidence of people packing more firepower than a simple sidearm.

  “And you would be?” he asked finally, when Gertrude simply returned the stare with a complete lack of giving a single fuck.

  “Major Gertrude Kintzel, formerly commander of Yintari SysSec.” she declared, absently flicking a couple errant crumbs off her skinsuit. “Now on detached duty aboard the Elegance of Light by Admiral LeBeau’s request.” She motioned to Giselle, “My sister Lieutenant Giselle Kintzel, also on detached duty.”

  The captain raised an eyebrow at that. “Quite a change from being head of SysSec in a cushy resort system.”

  “I’d already had dealings with the Commander and her…” she smiled and glanced mischievously at me, “cabin boy. Not to mention dealing with a certain former executive of Enigma Osiris attempting to use Commonwealth security forces to do his dirty work. Hell, I’m pretty certain the ship that fired on them, even after the CPS Sam Steele warned them off, was acting on that cold bastard’s orders.

  “If I were you, captain, I’d be watching your people very closely.”

  A low growl came from the captain’s throat, and I whipped my head around to watch him very closely. Maybe it was just my ptsd reacting, but I suddenly felt all the little hairs on my body standing up, and my nerves were on high alert. I was tense and ready to dive for cover. I’d been caught flatfooted back on the surface of the station, I wasn’t going to have that happen again.

  Then I felt a gentle hand on my arm.

  “We don’t have time for a bite war,” Jo said from beside me, her hand squeezing my shoulder, “especially not over stupid ego shit. Besides,” The note in her voice prompted me to break my vigilant glare at the captain and glance at her. She was grinning at him, her perfect, sharp, shark like teeth bared, “I’d win that war, blunt tooth.

  “Your outpost is holding artifacts of my people in secret. I understand the chaos involved in such a change of command, so have been patient. Your delicious - I believe Ms Kintzel called them ‘burgers’ - certainly helped with that. But I will not sit here and wait while you get all indignant over a very wise suggestion.”

  For a brief moment, I thought the captain was going to argue with her, but something about Jo’s admonition, or grin - I was betting on the grin - made Controy stop mid-snarl. I knew how intimidating giobhioni could be when they flashed those chompers, especially one kitted out in combat armor and threatening to start biting. They might be short, but they pack a whole lot of attitude.

  Ultimately, Controy heaved a huge sigh, and nodded. “Right. You’d be Commander Throhx then.” and then he glanced at me, “and you, I assume, are Thomas Aacen? You know there’s a huge bounty on your head?”

  “So the Admiral informed me.” I tried to sound casually nonchalant as I gave an idle shrug. “I hope none of your people are betting on easy money. It won’t end well for them, or your outpost. Trust me on that.”

  A stifled snort caught my attention, and I glanced over to see Gertrude with laughter in her eyes. She looked on the verge of saying something, but the captain just shook his head. “Void swallow it all. This shit is going to give me an ulcer.” he muttered. “If someone tries anything, please try not to damage any vital systems, alright? Fucking corpo scumbags throwing their money around. Commander, how about I show you to the research labs and you can see the data we’ve been gathering.”

  Another toothsome grin split Jo’s face. “That would be just splendid, captain. I’m quite curious about what my people were doing so far from home.”

  The Salvager’s Plague

  Ko-Fi or on