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  The group made a left turn and found themselves standing toe to toe with five heavily armed intruders. Each of them was wearing an all black, skin tight, armored vac-suit. Their faces were obscured by a visor that ran across their eyes and a breathing apparatus over their mouth. They carried a rifle of some kind that neither Marcus, Genny, nor Anthony could identify. The barrel of the rifle glowed a bright orange and metal woven tubes ran from the middle of the gun to the base of the grip.

  Before any of the armed intruders could take aim, Bartl drew his pistol and fired. Five head shots, each exploding into an electrical field. The five intruders shuddered for a second or two and collapsed.

  “Keep moving,” Bartl ordered. “Hangar four is the door on the right.”

  “Whoa,” Anthony blurted out. “This your first time shooting?” He said sarcastically.

  Bartl ignored the comment and followed the group into the hangar. “Alvin, do your thing,” Bartl said.

  Alvin made his way to the wall on the right and dozens of cables and wires launched from his hands. Within seconds he was plugged into a console that hadn't been there moments before. A monitor appeared on the wall and loading screens flashed faster than anyone could keep track. A few seconds later Alvin unplugged and the room began to reform. A moment later they were standing in an exact copy of the bridge.

  “Transfer protocol Alphis 9.8 sub code flux R-D2, command codes Bartlenum'betrakzit, authorization: wendigo, Marie, fiver,” Bartl said quickly as he plopped down into the command chair.

  “Command codes accepted and voice iDent confirmed,” the ship's computer said. “Bridge command has been transferred to hangar four.”

  “Alvin,” Bartl said, “I need you to go defense unit. Use temporary paralysis procedures.”

  Alvin walked to the center of the room and began to transform. The metal plates covering his body shifted and moved. After a few moments, Alvin had converted into a bunker with a large mounted rifle pointed at the door.

  “You three hunker down behind Alvin,” Bartl ordered. “If someone comes through that door, one of you point and fire. Don't worry, the gun only stuns. It does however, feel like you're being dragged over dozens of juboolia beasts though.”

  “What's a juboolia beast?” Marcus asked.

  “What? Oh...” Bartl answered. “Little creature, covered in barbs.”

  “These folks are wearing Uni garb Taam,” Bartl spoke out.

  “Roger that,” came Taam's voice over an intercom.

  “Uni?” Anthony asked.

  “Central Core Specialty Unit,” Bartl replied. “A subdivision of their own personal police. Probably want to detain us and question why we took three Class A beings–you all–from a planet minutes before a time lock.”

  “That's not illegal,” Genny said. “So why's it matter.”

  “Is it me, or is it still weird that we know stuff like that now?” Anthony asked Marcus in a whisper.

  “I told you, that Psionic Link thingy is crazy,” Marcus responded.

  “Volja is a popular legend,” Taam said over the intercom. “And we aren't the only people after it. I've managed to keep track of a few groups who are also on the hunt. Apparently, the Central Core has a deeper vested interest in all of this than we thought, which complicates things.

  “Also,” he continued, “you'll get used to the PLN fellas.”

  “He heard us?” Marcus asked.

  “Yup,” Taam answered. “We're in lock down procedure seven. All of our communications are hyper linked at the moment. We can hear everything, even the tiniest of whispers.”

  “Two Unis are closing in on your position,” Bartl called out as he watched a half dozen monitors that were displaying various parts of the ship. “Three from corridor 9C, and four more coming up from 4A.”

  “Got it,” Taam called out. “Anything else on the radar?”

  “Negative,” Bartl responded. “Looks like they just sent in a single unit. It's kind of rude don't you think?”

  “They probably thought they'd catch us off guard,” Taam responded.

  Marcus, Genny, and Anthony watched Taam on the monitor as he made his way through the ship. He slid to a halt at the edge of an intersection of corridors, his back against the wall and pistol at the ready. Another monitor showed a group of three intruders approaching his position.

  “Actually,” Bartl said to Taam. “This group doesn't move like Uni. I'm thinking scav group with Uni gear.”

  “What's a scav squad?” Anthony blurted out.

  “Bounty hunters,” Bartl replied.

  Tamm turned and leaned out. He fired three shots. A moment later three bodies collapsed to the floor.

  “Okay,” Taam said. “Cleared 9C. And definitely not Unis.”

  “Yup, come on back. 4A has moved to our position,” Bartl said. “Don't worry, we'll dump this trash.”

  “Our position,” Marcus blurted out.

  The door to hangar four whooshed open and two metallic orbs, about three inches in diameter, rolled in.

  “Bangers,” Bartl called out. He snatched a device from the arm of the command chair and squeezed. It clicked and a blue'ish light encircled Bartl. A moment later the entire room flashed bright red.

  “What was that?” Anthony yelled out.

  “Doesn't matter,” Bartl yelled out. “Alvin has you covered. Now one of you three light that doorway up.”

  Marcus looked to Anthony, both were in the fetal position on the floor.

  Genny rolled her eyes and stood up. Three more intruders turned the corner.

  “I have a visual on one of the targets,” one of the intruders said.

  “One's enough to get paid,” another responded. “Drop em and bug out.”

  Genny took hold of the large mounted rifle and squeezed the trigger. Blasts of electricity poured out from the rifle. Everything in front of her lit up. Arcs of lightning crawled across the wall and doorway as the blasts continued to pour out. A moment later the gun powered down. Snaps and crackles could be heard dissipating. Genny stood frozen, finger still squeezing the trigger.

  “Good call Alvin,” Bartl said. “She'd burn a hole through to the other side if you hadn't shut down.”

  Marcus and Anthony slowly stood and Marcus gently took Genny's hands off the rifle.

  The Alvin bunker shook for a moment then transformed back into his robotic self. “Fine blasting lady sir,” he said. “You showed them who runs this ship.”

  “Well done,” Taam said as he entered the room. “Any signs of stealth?”

  “Nothing,” Bartl responded. “Just a smash and grab scav group.”

  “It's okay Bartl,” Taam said. “Don't take it personally.”

  Bartl shrugged.

  “What was that?” Anthony asked.

  “They really did come for us,” Genny said. Her voice was shaky. “I heard them. They saw me. They called me a target.”

  Taam looked to Bartl who shrugged.

  “As I said, we aren't the only people after Volja,” Taam answered.

  “We need to get a move on,” Bartl chimed in. “This scav team won't be reporting anytime soon. I'm assuming since they're wearing Central Core gear they're contractors. The Core will know they failed soon enough.”

  “You're right, but things just got more complicated,” Taam responded. “We knew the Core was coming, but the bounty they must've put up has to be huge, these were amateurs sure, but what happens when we're out in the open and some serious players show up?”

  “You want to change the plan?” Bartl asked.

  “Might be a good idea,” Taam responded.

  “Why don't we just go after the guy who hijacked all those weapons?” Marcus asked. “That's where we were headed prior to almost being kidnapped.”

  “Yeah,” Anthony said. “The two attacks appear to be unrelated.”

  “What would make you think we even know where to start?” Taam said quizzically. “And secondly, why do you think the two incidents are unrelated?�
�

  “Well, for starters, we'd follow the trackers in those weapons,” Marcus said. “And since I have all this space knowledge suddenly, which totally isn't weird at all, we know they only activate with a very specific kind of energy, say, from something like a trans-warp? And since Bartl told us that trans-warps can only be made at short range, it means whoever took them was close. With all this technology, I'm sure there's a trail to follow.”

  Taam and Bartl smirked as they listened.

  “I'm new to space, but there's no way you were unaware that those guns could be hijacked,” Marcus said. “Which means you left them out in the open.”

  “Listen,” Genny chimed in. “You two have us beat when it comes to all this gadgetry and space travel, and I'm convinced you know why that group just came after us. But those weapons were a set-up for whoever took them.”

  “That's partly true,” Marcus said.

  Anthony looked puzzled.

  “That group wasn't after us or the weapons,” Marcus said. “Both intruders had different objectives, which means they could've been working with each other, but it's unlikely. The hacker left our systems intact. If they were working together he would've at least attempted to shut us down to help the, scav, group.”

  “I told you they were the right folks,” Bartl said as he pulled another naala berry from his pocket and began peeling it.

  Taam smiled. “You're right,” he said. “The scav group was a surprise, and definitely not working with our weapon's theif.” He looked at Marcus. “You're also correct about their target. They were here for Bartl and I.”

  “We snatched you up just before the Central Core locked your planet,” Bartl said. “Not to mention Taam and I have a minor history with the Central Core government.”

  “We're kind of a big deal,” Taam finished.

  “Okay,” Genny said. “So you've pissed off some powerful galactic government and now they're sending people after you. If they're as big as you're implying then everywhere we go will be dangerous. I don't see how that changes things.”

  “Genny's right,” Anthony said. “That's a lot of weapons, which probably took a lot of effort to acquire. Especially since they were nothing more than bait to track this hacker down. No one goes through all of that work unless the person you need to track has something you need. So what is it?”

  “Remember when we said that he managed to shut down space travel in an entire quadrant,” Bartl answered. “The Quellar Pulse would do what we need, but keeping it stable on this ship is almost impossible. It's our backup plan. Our primary plan is to borrow whatever contraption it is that can lock out space travel.”

  “Find where Volja is going to be, set up this gizmo before it appears, and let it port into some space trap it can't escape,” Anthony said.

  “You got it,” Taam said.

  “Captain sir,” Alvin chimed in. “I've taken the liberty of trans-warping the unconscious intruders onto a drift pod and set their course to the Hostan Service Encampment. It'll be quite some time before the Core, or anyone for that matter, will be able to locate them. I've also plotted a course to our next destination, but the current plan is inadvisable. Our destination is deep within Zorg territory.”

  “Ah, geeze,” Bartl said. “Of course it's Zorg. Why wouldn't it be?”

  “Calm down Bartl,” Taam said. “We knew this entire find was going to be a fight.”

  “Yeah, but Zorg?” Bartl exclaimed.

  “I'm assuming Zorg are somehow bad and that he isn't just a racist,” Anthony said.

  “You know how in your movies there's always some alien group that travels the universe draining resources, enslaving the worlds they conquer, and destroying everything?” Bartl asked.

  Taam laughed. “You've really taken to their planet's entertainment haven't you?”

  “It's good stuff,” Bartl answered.

  “Okay,” Marcus said. “So Zorg are the badies of the bad.”

  “Well,” Taam said. “The Zorg conquer, but not planets. They sort of, partner up with smart individuals.”

  Blech, Bartl coughed out.

  “They're a symbiotic race,” Taam continued. “They thrive by forming a symbiosis with a strong host who then enslaves weaker minded individuals they call sefs. The main host has total control over its pack of sefs.”

  “Disgusting,” Bartl said.

  “It's sounds menacing,” Taam continued, “and it is, but also know that Zorg aren't usually hostile. They enslave sefs for cheap workers. Find strong, smart, people looking for some power, give them the ability to slave sefs and use them to further the Zorg empire.”

  “Monsters,” Bartl said.

  “Awhile back,” Taam said, “a law was passed on slave usage, thus making it illegal. The Zorg ignored the law claiming cultural immunity. Shortly after, they started getting more and more aggressive. They started infiltrating quite a few of the Central Core planets, and it was rumored they'd even put a host into a Prime position. Long story short, a war broke out and lots of big space ships, with lots of lasers and rockets went on a Zorg hunt.”

  “Should've wiped em out,” Bartl said.

  “An extinction wasn't the plan,” Taam continued. “Instead, the brightest scientists and inventors of the Central planets came together and crafted a way to track and contain the Zorg. It wasn't long before they, their slave drones, and their hive mother were rounded up, given some territory in space, and a containment field was launched. Any Zorg who crosses the field has their symbiotic links severed and the whole drone crew gets shut down. The tech specs for the field were uploaded to Freegate computer systems across the universe. Every planet and ship is now Zorg proof. It's been ages since anyone has even encountered a Zorg.”

  “Great,” Genny said. “So now we get to be the first humans out here in space, the first people to track down some ancient planet, why wouldn't we be the first group to get space vampired and lived to tell the tale.”

  “Vampire legend doesn't really give credence to say they were symbiotic,” Marcus chimed in.

  “Oh geez,” Anthony blurted out.

  “What,” Marcus shrugged. “I'm just saying.”

  “Now's not the time,” Genny said.

  “Vampire?” Taam said quizzically.

  “Oh, it's great,” Bartl blurted out. “You see there's this guy named Dracula—”

  “Do you see what you started?” Genny asked Marcus curtly.

  “Okay, everyone stop,” Taam said loudly. “Bartl, you can explain this vampire stuff later. Secondly, you aren't the first humans in space. Lastly, we need to figure out how to get into Zorg territory without getting hitched.”

  “What do you mean we aren't the first humans in space,” the three said in unison.

  “That's what started this whole mess,” Bartl said. “Volja is where your species originated. That was the discovery that peeked all this interest in Volja and Earth. It's why you and your planet suddenly became so popular. ”

  “Remember when we told you that Volja's system only responds to humans?” Taam asked.

  “Yeah,” Marcus answered.

  “It's genetic based technology, ancient, but effective,” Taam continued. “Volja's CPU can determine species origination the moment someone enters the atmosphere. If it isn't human, poof, an intergalacitc port to who knows where. Up until recently, there was no point in even hunting down Volja. Even if you found the planet, if you were the wrong species, poof.”

  “But now you know the correct species,” Genny said. “So you came and got us.”

  “Bartl and I managed to get a head start on everyone else,” Taam said. “That's why we were able to grab you three before the time-lock.”

  “So why doesn't someone just pay off the debt,” Marcus asked, “Un-time lock it and grab a few more humans?”

  “I'm sure that was the plan for most,” Bartl said. “But Taam and I set up a little trap that bought us enough time get clear and way out in front.”

  Bartl bega
n to giggle.

  “What'd you do?” Marcus asked.

  “We knew that once humans were needed to grab Volja it'd be only matter of hours, a day at most, before the Core would flex their power and time-lock Earth, keeping it for themselves,” Taam answered. “Knowing this, we left a little present before we took off: a dimensional shift matrix.”

  “Do you remember when you first saw Alvin?” Bartl asked. “He was pulling stuff off the Platnuim and planting into the ground in the cavern.”

  “Yeah,” Anthony said. “I do remember that.”

  “Well,” Taam said. “The minute your planet was time-locked the dimensional shift was activated. It phased the entire planet out of reality. Everyone is safe, but your whole planet is currently untouchable.”

  “What do you mean untouchable?” Genny asked.

  “We ghosted it,” Bartl said. “You can see it, its mass, orbit, everything about it looks and acts like a planet supposed to, but it's out of phase. We could fly the Platnium right through it as if it weren't there. And forget about transporting it anywhere. As of right now, you three are the only humans available in the entire universe.”

  “This is why I said we could guarantee you'd get your planet back,” Taam responded. “Once we sell the core and pay off your planet, Bartl and I are the only two who can phase it back to reality. After we're done with Volja and pay off your planet the Central Core will have no choice but to release the time-lock. Earth will go about its business and no will have noticed a thing.”

  “Captain Sir,” Alvin said. “I'm sorry to inform you but that last statement is partially untrue.”

  “What?” Taam said.

  “It has come to my attention that along with the weapons,” Alvin continued, “the Dimensional Shift Matrix was also taken. I would've noticed sooner, but it appears that a virus was uploaded into the ship's system during our encounter with the Zorg. It's quite the masterpiece. I must've been infected when I interfaced with hangar four. Might I suggest that each of you make your way to the escape pods. It se...e...m...s...”

  With that Alvin powered down, emergency lights dropped, and alarms sounded.