The captain was tight lipped as he escorted us through the corridors of the outpost.

  The earlier conversation must have really rubbed him the wrong way, and it was kind of hard to be annoyed with him for it. If he was a loyal officer like the Admiral seemed to think, he might not enjoy having strangers privy to the disgrace of any of the people he served with. I saw the same thing happen with salvager crews that worked together for long runs. They really preferred to keep it to handle any troubles that came up without the public knowing.

  I was sure Jophixa and the twins understood that even more, but being military themselves, they might not see themselves as outsiders in the same way.

  We were guided into a transport tube - a reinforced tunnel carved into the bedrock of the outpost, with a clear plasteel tube extending out into the ‘station’ - loaded into the cylindrical transport sled inside, and soon we were rocketing through a network of featureless underground tunnels. Jo had taken a seat beside me, and was keeping a steady eye on Controy. Every so often I caught her glance over at the twins, who had parked themselves across from us. They exchanged an eye roll at the man’s continued silence. It seemed like the three of them were of the same mind in regards to his reaction to the entire situation.

  Normally I’d be right there alongside them. For some reason, perhaps the fact that this place held secrets regarding my mother’s death, the silence was annoying the fuck out of me. I tried to distract myself with suit diagnostics, or going over engineering data through my implant, but I just couldn’t focus on it. Eventually, I just couldn’t take it anymore, and cleared my throat.

  Everyone in the transport cabin glanced at me. “Captain, look.” I said, “I know this started poorly, and for my part, I’d like to apologize. It’s been a pretty tense few months. I realize you’re dealing with some complicated shit here, but so are we. Did the Admiral read you in on the situation at all?”

  All I got was a curt head shake.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Jophixa looking at me with one raised eyebrow and her ears slightly pinned. I did my best to think I can’t stand this! At her with my implant, hoping it might transmit to her commlink. A moment later, she blinked, then nodded slightly.

  “There is an alien species called the ktonshi.” I explained, “Nobody is really sure where they are from originally, but they are extremely aggressive. They seem to want to cleanse the galaxy of all sophont species other than them. Part of their plan to achieve that is through an engineered contagion the Giobhioni call the Nessicon Contagion.’”

  I saw him stiffen slightly. “Yeah, it was mentioned in the ruins here, wasn’t it?”

  He coughed then gave another curt nod.

  “Figured as much, since ole Fisch seems to know about it, and has plans to adapt it for his own speciesist beliefs. Do you know what the contagion does?”

  “Beyond my pay grade,” he muttered.

  Shooting a glance at Jophixa to gauge her reaction, I noticed her frowning, though she again gave me a slight nod.

  “It rewrites the DNA of anyone it infects. Completely rebuilds it from the bottom up.” I explained, remembering some of the footage Stacy had shown me. “It turns anything it infects into one of them. As far as anyone has been able to tell, there is nothing left of the original person.”

  He turned and just stared at me for a minute, a deep frown on his face, then suddenly let out a series of guffaws that threatened to send him onto the floor. The four of us just looked at each other, and I could hear Jo’s jaw muscles creaking from how hard she was clenching it. Eventually, Controy noticed that none of us were laughing, and fell silent, looking around at all of us.

  “Oh come on,” he said finally, staring at me in disbelief, “the admiral put you up to that one right? That bit of paranoid rumor has been a joke for ages! Pretty sure it outdates my time here. Scuttlebut says some ditzy bint that was one of the first xenoanthropologists here made that shit up.”

  I felt myself go rigid, and my blood began to boil. I had no way to know if the ditzy bint he referred to was my mother or not, but even the idea that it could be had me seeing red. I wanted nothing more than to break the man’s face at that moment. My knuckles popped, my teeth ached. The sudden buzz-whine of a PPG powering on made me blink. For a split second I thought it might have been one of the others pulling a sidearm, but then the movement just at the edge of my vision caused me to turn my head.

  The shoulder mounted PPG of my suit had activated, and was aimed directly at the captain.

  I blinked again, and realized the red I was seeing wasn’t some metaphorical reaction to my anger, but a reticle in the center of my vision.

  Whoa there Sweet nom of my noms! Stacy’s voice cut into my consciousness, shooting him in the face is gonna make it really hard for you to get out of there…

  I…what the fuck Digibits. I’m not supposed to be controlling the weapons, that’s your job!

  I think we just found another unexpected benefit of the special implant I designed. She said, I’ll tell the tsaki, but we should probably put the firepower away, okay?

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. An instant later, Stacy deactivated the PPG, and the sound of four people starting to breathe again got me to look up.

  Four sets of eyes were staring at me with concern and mild panic, though I noticed both Gertrude and Jo had their hands on their sidearms. I wasn’t sure if they were preparing to fire on me, or defend me. I let out a sigh. “Apologies Captain.” I said finally, “I did tell you it has been a hard couple of months. And…well, to be honest, there’s an absolutely non-zero possibility that the ditzy bint you just referred to was my mother.”

  It was only Jo that didn’t react with surprise at my statement. None of us in the know really felt like sharing it with the twins during the journey here. It had been kept in the family so to speak.

  “Wait…Your mother was part of the project? How did you…”

  “Find out?” I finished for him. “Fate. The rudiments of the giobhioni language are included in this handy tool, the Optimaster. I had an opportunity to use the thing fairly recently, in the same time span as being introduced to the Commander here.”

  “And since my people,” Jo cut in, “have never been to this part of the galaxy, as far as our records show. We had a very talented friend go digging into the linguistic source.”

  “Imagine my surprise when I find my mom’s name referenced in the details.” I continued, a bit of anger spilling into my voice again, despite my efforts. “Especially when we were told she died in some sort of shuttle mishap before even making it to the dig site she’d been hired to study. Which, from the timeline, was here.”

  Controy scowled at me for a long time, his body language shifting quickly from startled and on his back foot, to the stiff resolve of an experienced officer. I hoped he wasn’t about to go all Enigma Osiris sellout on us. That would be a serious clusterfuck for us, as Stacy had rightfully pointed out. We could certainly take care of him, but getting back to the ship, and then getting the iris open so we could leave would be a whole other challenge.

  “All that predates my arrival here,” he finally said. “This outpost was already established when I transferred in, and there were, are, a lot of files that are ‘eyes only’. As far as I know, only the colonel, major, and the scientists have access to those files. The rest of us jarheads are just support personnel.

  “For what it’s worth, if your mother was involved in the early work here, I meant no disrespect. It’s just the story of intergalactic boogie men, and space plagues of unspeakable horror are just cliche hazing bullshit on posts like this.”

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  “Trust me,” Jophixa said simply, “This is no, how do you say it Thomas, boogie doogie myth?”

  “Oogie boogie.”

  “Yes, that.” She gave me a nod of thanks, then continued, “It is no oogie boogie myth told to frighten children. We’ve been at war with these things for a long time, and it’s because of your Benson Fisch, and his hireling Johnathan Barstol that the contagion is now threatening your region of space. If it hadn’t been for them, you might have had a couple more decades at least before they started creeping in this direction.”

  “I’ve seen them myself, captain.” I informed him, “And so have the Kintzels. Up close, personal. Giselle and I were this close to being chow for one.”

  “You best start believing in science fiction horror stories, Captain.” Giselle leaned in, glaring at Controy with intensity, “because you’re living one.”

  Gertrude rolled her eyes, “Really, Giselle? Really?”

  “What? It seemed appropriate.”

  Antique popular media references aside, the short remainder of the trip fell back into silence. I could only guess that the captain was mulling over the information we’d given him. It’s not everyday you discover you are living in the midst of something that could be referred to as a galaxy wide plague.

  The transport sled finally slowed as it pulled into a terminal. A half dozen soldiers stood to either side of the tube, alert and on guard as the seals on our sled cracked open with a hiss. One of them, a heavily muscled woman, hair cropped down to almost nothing on the sides and the rest hidden under a black buret, Sargeant's insignia on her uniform gleaming under the artificial lights, stepped forward and saluted. “Captain Controy, Sir!”

  “At ease, Sargeant.” Controy replied, returning the salute. “You were notified of our VIPs?”

  “Yessir!”

  “Good.”

  “Sir, did Admiral LeBeau really override Order 867349 dash 6?” the sergeant asked.

  “She did, invoking authority given to her by the Prime Minister himself.” He said with a nod, “with a threat to come here herself and make sure everyone here who argued was put to death for treason. Seems Benson Fisch is on the run now, with some pretty steep charges against him.”

  That was news to me! Must have been something she sent on a subchannel,

  The soldiers all shifted nervously, and I caught my companions all casually placing their hands on their sidearms. “We’re not going to have any trouble, are we sergeant?” Gertrude asked, a harsh edge to her voice that reminded me of our first dealings back on Yantari.

  Six pairs of eyes immediately shifted to her as stepped out of the transport sled. For a brief moment, it looked like the sergeant was about to say something inadvisable, but then she just scowled. “No sir.” the woman snapped back, using that curt military tone you always heard them use on the trids. “Just confirming the situation, sir!”

  “Good.” Gertrude then turned to the captain, “Show us the way, Captain. It’s long past time since the mysteries you uncovered here were put to proper use. Instead of the agenda of a speciesist madman.”

  Again, the six guards stiffened, and I noted one of them stepping away slightly and uttering something I couldn’t hear. I was about to ask Stacy if the sensors in my suit could pick up what he was saying, when Jophixa suddenly drew her PPG and shot the man in the leg.

  All five of the other soldiers snapped their rifles up and pointed them at Jo, barking orders for her to drop her weapon. In the moment they did so, however, the twins had their sidearms out and pointed at the guards, and every weapons system in my suit had activated, each one pointed at a different target.

  In the midst of all this, Captain Controy raised his voice to a bellow. “STAND DOWN ALL OF YOU! ONE MORE PERSON OPENS FIRE AND I’LL KICK THEM OUT AN AIRLOCK MYSELF! UNDERSTAND?”

  Not even waiting for anyone to acknowledge him, he turned to snarl at Jo, “You better have a damned good reason for what you just did Commander!”

  Jo tried to explain, but the guards were still shouting, drowning her out. All I was able to catch in the chaos was her saying the word “ambush”.

  Whirling on the sergeant again, Controy stepped up close to her, “Sargeant, you and your team have exactly five seconds to shut. The. fuck. Up. After that, the quiet gentleman over there bristling with more firepower than a damned tank is likely to open fire. STAND DOWN so I can figure out what just happened.”

  The woman’s shoulders tensed, and I could see her finger twitch on her trigger for just a moment, as if she was considering firing on the captain. Then she withdrew the finger and placed it in the usual safety position, stepped back and signaled her team. “Stand down.” she ordered, “Lets here what the fucking goblin bitch’s excuse is.”

  Whoa boy. I thought. That’s not going to help.

  Sure enough, when the captain turned back to Jo, I could see she was baring her teeth. She slowly lifted one hand and pointed to her ears, “These aren’t decorative you know.” she snarled, her words coming through the translator. She was glaring hard at the sergeant. “Your man was contacting someone about setting up an ambush, not just to kill us, but you too. And if anyone dares call me a goblin again, I will have their liver for supper. And their brains for dessert.”

  “What the fuck?” the sergeant cried out, “Captain, this is ridiculous, I…”

  “I said shut it sergeant!”

  Hey Stacy? Any chance you might be able to find any details on this sergeant? I asked through my implant, You still have a visual feed from me, right?

  Yup yup Tommiberry! My sweet sugar plum. She replied. Tapping into the admiral’s database now… Oh, oh my. There was a flag on her personnel file, I almost triggered an alarm. Oopsie daisy. The good sergeant has known ties to an extremist group calling themselves Humanis Dominus. Serious anti-alien stuff, I mean, Void’s gaping asshole, they sound almost as bad as the ktonshi! Someone pulled some major strings to get her stationed to a top secret posting like this.

  Well shit. Yet another clue that the outpost was under the control of that bastard Fisch. Why the man had such a hate for other sophont species was beyond me.

  What about the Captain? I’m sure you’ve already checked him out as best you could.

  Of course! I’m not letting my commander, let alone my precious morsel of deliciousness go into such danger without checking into anyone I could. Captain Controy is just as the Admiral said. His record shows him as a rock solid career military man. Takes his oaths very seriously.

  Controy, Jo and the sergeant were still arguing back and forth the entire time I had been talking to Stacy, and it seemed to be escalating again. A churning sensation started deep in my gut, and I felt like I was on the verge of puking. Instinct was telling me to find cover, cause the shooting was about to start, but damnit, I wasn’t going to disappoint Jo again!

  “Cap, you can NOT be serious?” the sergeant barked out, “we’re not letting that…that…”

  “Say it, Strixta,” Jo spat back, “my people haven’t partaken of hak’tasu in a millennium, but…”

  “Commander…” I interrupted, stepping forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Before you go and break a taboo your people have had since before mine had even stopped thinking the world wasn’t flat and carried on the back of a turtle…”

  The look she gave me started furious, then she blinked and every muscle in her face screamed what the fuck? I couldn’t help it, I laughed, which seemed to break some of the tension. It was a shame I was about to amp it back up again. “Yes, commander, whole sections of humanity actually believed that at one point.” I shook my head, “I’ll tell you more about that later. For right now… Stacy looked into the sergeant’s background. Please don’t eat her, you might catch something disgusting.” And at that, I looked at the captain. “Someone did one hell of a job trying to bury it, but she’s linked to Humanis Dominus.”

  “Sonofabitch!” screamed the sergeant, and her rifle came up in my direction. I saw her finger slip back into the trigger guard and squeeze. The movement was so fast, there was no way I was going to be able to dive for cover before the shot went off.

  Several things happened at once. First, the PPG mounted on my right shoulder, still deployed from earlier, let off a burst of three shots, one striking sergeant’s raised rifle. Another struck the deck at her feet, and the other struck the rifle of another soldier. The power setting of the PPG had been dialed up to such a high level that the points the shots hit glowed white hot.

  At the same time, Gertrude, Giselle and the captain all snapped off shots from their sidearms. Theirs weren’t aimed to subdue, however, and the sergeant took a hit to the shoulder, one of the others narrowly missed getting hit in the groin, and a third…

  A third’s head exploded like a balloon.

  Then I felt the impact against my hip, causing me to stagger back and fall against the side of the transport sled.

  Ow. That hurt. A lot!

  “Thomas!” I heard Jo scream, and suddenly the sergeant was on the ground with an enraged giobhioni commander on top of her.

  The sergeant tried to get a hold on her to throw her off, screaming in pain and desperation, but the much shorter woman just shrugged off every blow the soldier landed on her. All the while, Jo had a death grip on the sides of the woman’s head, and was forcing her thumbs into the sergeant’s eye sockets at the same time as bashing her head against the deck.

  “Holy shit! She’s gonna kill her!” someone said, “Captain! Get her off!”

  “Commander!” I yelled, “I’m okay! St…”

  Too late, there was a sickening pop, and a burst of blood from the sergeant’s face. At the same time, the woman’s screams cut out, as she went limp.

  “Anyone moves,” I heard Jo growl out, “and you’re next.”

  The Salvager’s Plague

  Ko-Fi or on