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  The captain let out a long breath. “Okay… So, when I said I worked here at GiganCorp, I maybe should have mentioned that I was on the team working on the MEC with my mother, Mariah, here. My father is the Director of this R&D division.”

  Mariah crossed her arms. “What are you doing back here, Alyssa? I thought your clearance had been revoked when you ran off with your girlfriend.”

  “Administrative oversight,” Alyssa replied. “I see you had no trouble taking all the credit for my work.”

  “This was always a team effort. And you left the team,” her mother replied.

  Finn raised his hand. “Sorry to interrupt the family reunion, but we have a job to do.”

  Alyssa nodded. “He’s right. Sorry, Mom, but we’re going to take the MEC.”

  “Like hell you will! Guards will be here any moment,” Mariah responded.

  “Nope.” Finn shook his head. “Everyone is busy imbibing and snacking until they realize they’ll have to pay full price.”

  Mariah worked her mouth. “You mean you just walked in here and you think you can walk right out?”

  “That’s precisely what’s going to happen.” Alyssa headed for the back of the lab.

  Three workstations in the middle of the space were filled with electronic components and a holodisplay for overlaying various digital models with the physical parts.

  Jack scanned over the various components and tools scattered on the workstations, looking for anything worthy of adding to his collection of random things. A compact soldering gun caught his eye.

  He reached for it. “Is that—”

  “No, we’re only here for one thing,” Alyssa stated.

  He sighed. “Fine.”

  The centerpiece along the back wall was a plexiglass enclosure containing a pedestal topped with a compact metallic cylinder approximately eight centimeters in length and two centimeters in diameter. Blue grooves ran the length of the sides up to the black caps on the ends.

  “It looks even better in real life,” Alyssa murmured as she admired it.

  “You did a brilliant job with the design, I’ll give you that,” her mother said. “But you walked away from it when you walked away from us.”

  Alyssa scoffed. “This will never be used for good so long as it’s with GiganCorp. You have to know that.”

  “It’s business.” Mariah shrugged. “You’re the one who couldn’t separate family from the day job.”

  “I was doing a fine job of it until you asked me to commit corporate espionage.”

  “So you went to work for a weapon’s dealer instead? Great career move.” Mariah sighed. “You could have been running this company in another ten years, Alyssa. Your vision is wasted.”

  “Not wasted at all,” Triss interjected. “She just had a vision bigger than yours.”

  Mariah smiled but her eyes were narrowed. “You must be the one who caused her life to derail.”

  Alyssa examined the lock on the case containing the MEC. “My life is right on track, Mother. It just isn’t the path you wanted for me.”

  “It’s a real pleasure to meet you, by the way,” Triss said to Mariah with thick sarcasm.

  Jack could see that the situation was on the precipice of devolving into an argument about parenting techniques and child rebellion, so he elected to follow Alyssa to the back of the room and assess the case with her. “Let’s get the MEC and get out of here. The restaurant could catch onto our ruse at any time,” he urged.

  “Right.” Alyssa took a centering breath. She placed her hand on the biometric lock for the case; it let out an angry beep.

  “The central security team may have overlooked your access, but I didn’t,” Mariah said. “You’ll never—”

  Finn knocked her on the back of her head with a metal frame component that had been on one of the workstations. “Sorry, Alyssa.”

  “No apology needed,” she replied. “I was about to do that myself. Help me get her over here.”

  Finn and Alyssa dragged Mariah’s unconscious form to the MEC’s case. Alyssa grabbed her right hand and placed it on the biometric scanner. The display prompted for a password.

  “Triss, a little help?” Finn said.

  “On it.” Triss took her hacking kit and hooked into the console. She ran through the password combinations; in a matter of seconds, a match appeared and the case unlocked. “Huh. It was ‘Fuzzybutt0ns’, apparently.”

  “Ah,” Alyssa nodded. “Good ol’ Mr. Fuzzybuttons. He was my pet rabbit.”

  “Oh, you never mentioned him before,” Triss commented.

  Alyssa scowled. “Yeah, it’s a bit of sore subject.”

  “Why, what happened to him?” Jack asked.

  “My parents decided it would be a great life lesson to eat him for dinner. Figures Mom would immortalize that event with her password.”

  Jack’s mouth dropped open. “Your parents made you eat your pet rabbit?”

  Finn whistled between his teeth. “That’s some messed up parenting.”

  “Yeah… I’ll just be the one to say it,” Triss cut in. “Your mom is pretty awful.”

  “No need to tell me.” Alyssa dropped Mariah on the floor and opened up the MEC case. She gingerly took the device from the pedestal and examined it. “I’ll find a way to get this into the right hands—somewhere as far away from here as possible. We need to grab the schematics, too.”

  “I’m on it.” Finn pivoted to one of the workstations so he could access the files and grab the relevant documentation.

  Triss handed Alyssa a carrying case for the MEC. “What do we do with your mom?”

  “Lock her in the closet, I guess,” Alyssa suggested. “Someone will find her eventually.”

  Jack helped Alyssa and Triss drag Mariah to a closet on the side wall and prop her up inside. She stirred when they had her in position and then began snoring softly.

  Alyssa was the last to step out from the closet when they were finished. “Maybe we can come to terms with each other eventually.”

  Triss took her hand. “I’ll be here to support you no matter what happens.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I hate to break up the tender moment,” Finn interjected, “but I have the files. And I just checked the security feed and we’re about to have some company. Looks like not everyone got our email about Mexcelente, and some of the guards that stayed behind seem to have found our actinium.”

  “No need for the suits anymore?” Jack asked.

  “Not as far as I’m concerned.” Finn began removing his. “The actinium has been removed.”

  The others quickly stripped down to their regular street clothes and grabbed their gear.

  “We’ll have to make a run for it,” Alyssa said. She drew her laser pistol. “And we might have to shoot our way out.”

  Finn readied his pistol and grinned. “Oh darn.”

  CHAPTER 17: The Great Escape

  Jack followed Alyssa, Triss, and Finn out of the lab. Moments after the door slid closed behind them, rapid footsteps echoed down the hall from the direction of the exit.

  “That’s the only way out,” Alyssa said. “If they shoot at you, shoot back.”

  “No need to tell me twice.” Triss aimed her laser pistol in front of her.

  “No argument here.” Jack readied his weapon. Without the containment canister or hazmat suit, he felt nimble and ready for anything the guards could throw his way. He smiled with anticipation for the thrill of the fight ahead.

  Alyssa noticed his enthusiasm. “Why don’t you go first, Jack.”

  He groaned. “You just want them to use me for target practice instead of you.”

  “Obviously. Go on!” she urged.

  With a sigh, he loped down the hall. “I have no idea where I’m going, by the way.”

  “Follow the bad guys,” Triss replied. “It’s a fair bet they’ll be blocking our path.”

  “Yay—” Jack’s sarcastic retort was truncated by a laser blast zipping by his ear. “A
nd they found us.” He ducked around the corner of the nearest side corridor.

  “Pretty sure they knew where we were the whole time.” Alyssa slid in next to him and crouched low to the floor.

  “Hand over the MEC and come out with your hands up!” a male guard called out.

  “Gonna pass on that.” Alyssa reached her hand around corner and opened fire.

  “Take cover!” the guard ordered his companions.

  Jack peeked around the corner as Alyssa pulled back, and he fired at the shoulder of someone wearing white body armor who was taking cover in the next hallway intersection. The shot connected and the guard sprawled dead on the ground.

  “Nice shooting,” Alyssa said. She poked her head out enough to spot a target and fired, taking out another guard.

  Triss and Finn were hunkered down on the other side of the hallway intersection opposite Alyssa and Jack, and they were engaged with their own set of guards.

  “We’re picking ’em off!” Finn cheered. “Keep at it.”

  It was Jack’s turn to take a shot while Alyssa planned her next move. He switched glanced around the corner, seeing one of the white-clad guards running across the hall to reposition. Jack fired two shots in rapid succession and the guard was struck in the leg and then his torso, causing him to fall backward with a cry.

  “We’ll have them in no time,” Alyssa said.

  “Jack, help us out on this side,” Triss said. “This is a better angle.”

  “All right.” Jack prepared to jump across the hall. He lined up a leap and dove for it, unaware that one of his boot lashings had come undone.

  Jack tripped the moment he left cover. He found himself standing hunched over in the center of the hall, completely exposed.

  A dozen laser shots zipped all around him. Miraculously, none connected.

  Not wanting to chance it, he finished his run across the hall and ducked to safety with Triss and Finn.

  “That was close!” he breathed.

  “We need to press forward,” Triss said. “Just seven more to take out and then we can run to the next intersection.”

  Jack dropped to his stomach and positioned himself below where Finn was standing and Triss was crouched.

  The three of them took aim and fired at the five remaining guards in their line of sight, while Alyssa took out the two guards visible from her angle. The seven guards fell to the ground amid their slain comrades.

  Jack rose to his feet. “Body count is kind of stacking up.”

  Alyssa assessed the pile of guards in the ineffective white armor. “That’s what they get for trying to take us on.”

  “We’re kind of terrible people, aren’t we?” Jack realized.

  The other three shrugged.

  Jack brushed it off, and they resumed their forward push. Just shy of the intersection where the first wave of guards had taken up position, a new wave suddenly appeared down the hall. The guards began firing before Jack and the others could take cover.

  A torrent of red blasts filled the corridor, completely surrounding the group. Yet, no one was struck.

  “These guys have terrible aim,” Finn laughed and continued walking forward, remaining unscathed by the enemy barrage.

  Alyssa shook her head with disbelief. “I think they are literally not capable of hitting us.”

  Jack fired at one of the guards and his shot landed square in the guard’s chest. “Meanwhile, I’m not even trying to aim and I hit them every time!”

  “This is simultaneously awesome and ridiculous,” Alyssa agreed as she also opened fire while continuing forward.

  “Good to be us, I guess,” Finn said as he took out another guard.

  Triss laughed. “Look! I’m firing with my eyes closed and still have better aim than them!”

  “I guess it won’t be tough getting out of here after all,” Alyssa said.

  They continued working their way through the hall, firing randomly and taking out the guards while remaining untouchable. In short order, they reached the lobby where a final defensive line was waiting to stop them.

  “You’ll never get away!” one brave guard shouted. He released two dozen blasts at the group.

  All the shots struck the floors and wall around them, forming a singed outline of where they were standing.

  Alyssa smiled. “You get an ‘A’ for effort, but we’ll be on our way now.”

  They walked out the door while the guards continued their hopeless assault.

  “We’ll get you!” one of the remaining guards called out. “You don’t stand a—”

  Jack blindly aimed behind him and took out the heckler. “Best heist ever.”

  CHAPTER 18: Nowhere to Run

  Still laughing and joking while they casually strolled away from the GiganCorp lab, the group returned to the Little Princess with the MEC safely in hand.

  “So, what’s our next move?” Jack asked as soon as they were on the ship. He flopped down on the couch. “Getting the MEC was easy enough, but we still have the Vorlox after us, and your friends from Svetlana’s crew need rescuing.”

  Alyssa frowned and took a seat at the galley table. “I just wanted to get the MEC and be done with everything. Why did the Vorlox have to come along and make everything complicated?”

  Triss coughed into her hand, “Plot Device Principle.”

  Alyssa ignored her. “I guess we have no choice but to meet with the Vorlox and try to negotiate for our friends’ releases.”

  “But where do we find the Vorlox?” Finn asked as he shoved Jack’s legs aside to make room on the couch for himself to sit. “They told us to get the MEC in two days—which we’ve now done—but there were no instructions about where to meet them.”

  “Maybe they’ll find us?” Jack speculated.

  “I don’t want Svetlana or the others to get hurt.” Alyssa shook her head. “I guess we just head up into space and see what happens.”

  Without further delay, Alyssa and Triss piloted the Little Princess into orbit.

  “Should we stick around in this system?” Finn questioned when the main space station around the planet was visible out the window in the common area. “I mean, the guards had terrible aim so we got away, but what if GiganCorp sends the authorities after us?”

  “Good point,” Jack seconded. “We should probably put as much distance between us and this planet as we can.”

  “Sending the authorities after us would mean admitting what was stolen,” Alyssa pointed out. “I’m not sure they’re ready for the breakthrough to be public knowledge.”

  “There are ways to keep it vague enough,” Triss countered. “We should play it safe.”

  “And what about the Vorlox? They probably know this is where we’d get the MEC, so it’s a logical place for them to come looking for us,” Alyssa stated. “If we go anywhere else, they might think we tried to run and will kill everyone.”

  “Maybe we should go back to the Winkelson station?” Triss suggested. “That’s where we last encountered them and they told us to get the MEC for them.”

  “Yes, but I don’t want to be implicated in the station’s destruction or those deaths,” Alyssa objected.

  Jack raised his hand. “Not to be a downer, but we just killed about fifty people on camera.”

  Triss groaned. “You’re right—we never set the camera on loop.”

  “Not to mention my mom,” Alyssa realized.

  “Outlaws!” Finn cheered.

  “We have seen the power of reputation…” Triss mused.

  “The possibility of warrants is a whole other matter and will have to wait,” Alyssa said, refocusing. “We just can’t get caught before we make sure our friends get free. Given that, we shouldn’t go to the Winkelson station. The other place we’ve encountered the Vorlox is where Luxuria was destroyed.”

  “Where it all began,” Jack murmured.

  “How delightfully full-circle, I know.” Alyssa took a resolute breath. “That’s where we’ll go.”

  T
he Little Princess made the jump to hyperspace moments later before anyone could think of another reason for them to do something different. In reality, there was no clear course of action. They had in their possession one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in two centuries, authorities could come to arrest them at any moment, a band of potentially crazed killers was after them, and their friends’ lives were on the line. Going anywhere was a risk, but at least going back to the site of a former home was a return to the familiar.

  When the ship had completed its initial acceleration, Jack kicked Finn from the couch so he could stretch out. “I’m so tired. Hangover sleep is not good sleep.”

  “Well,” Alyssa emerged from the cockpit, “this might be the perfect chance for me to test out the MEC’s application with coffee brewing.”

  “Moment of truth!” Triss called out from her seat at the flight controls.

  “If this doesn’t work, then we can start working our way down the infinite list of other things we can do with it. But if it does…” Alyssa trailed off as she turned her attention to rummaging through the galley for the parts she needed to complete her contraption.

  Jack watched her work on the galley table for the next half hour, mounting components from other equipment to the frame of the existing coffee brewer. Based on the deftness of her movements, she must have theorized a design in the preceding months. Eventually, the MEC was the final piece to be bolted into place.

  “This should do it…” Alyssa said at last. She loaded in the coffee beans and activated the machine.

  A blue glow illuminated around the contraption and it hummed with the bright tone of an angelic chorus.

  After ten seconds, the glow dissipated and the aroma of brewed coffee filled the cabin.

  Alyssa removed the single-serve cup from the machine and waved it under her nose. “So far so good.” She took a sip. “Stars! This—” She took another sip. “You have to try this!”

  She ran to the cockpit and handed the cup to Triss. Her friend took the cup and smelled it cautiously. “It does have a great aroma.” She took a sip. “WOW!”

  The Little Princess rolled to the side as Triss’ hand jerked on the controls.