Chapter 4

March 11^th 3532

Lycos System, aboard the Get Rich.

Derik Snow sat in the chair as Conrad Jones pounded on the side of the Vat tank. The left side of his face was covered with piece of cloth to stop the bleeding. His head hurt and his eye was killing him, and on top of it, he was getting a headache from the shouting and he snapped out, "CONRAD!"

Punching the control panel he turned, "What, boss?"

"Getting angry at a piece of machinery isn't going to get the fucking thing working."

"I know, boss. That fucking doctor has all the machines code locked," Conrad replied as he walked over to the medical supply stand.

"Is there anything on his computer?" Derik asked.

"No. Not a single code." Conrad answered.

He pulled out a skin stitcher and some blood clotting agents along with bandages. Setting them on the table, he pulled up the cloth and looked at the damage. "Well boss without the machine, you're going to loose the eye. Nothing I can do about it, so I am going to sew up what I can and then we will put a patch over it. Then you will really look like a pirate," Conrad said with a smile.

"Just get it over with. I have a bitch to kill," Derik said with a snarl.

"Damn, boss, she almost killed you. Are you sure you want to try it again?" Conrad asked as he finished peeling the cloth off and picked up the clotting spray as Derik's face started bleeding again.

Derik's hand came up, and he wrapped his fingers around Conrad's neck and he started squeezing.

With a snarl, as he tightened down his fingers, he said, "Just shut the fuck up, or I will snap your scrawny neck. Got me?"

"Got ya, boss," Conrad gasped out.

"Good. Piss me off again and I will snap your scrawny neck," Derik snarled as he released him.

"Yes, boss," replied Conrad as he rubbed his throat.

He picked up the stitcher. Starting on the first of the five slices, he started sealing them. 'Damn she fucked him up good!' Conrad thought as he looked at the damage. Picking up the spray he coated the wound and then took a soft cloth soaked in the Silian fluid and then fastened it to the ruined eye socket.

Thirty minutes after he started and two hours after the escape Derik walked onto the bridge and sat down.

Rubbing his chin he said, "Where is she? What type of craft is she in?"

"She's in a Titan class shuttle and is on a direct heading for Lycos Station. That is if she doesn't hyper out," Snut said from his sensor station.

"Okay, here's what we are going to do. I am going to take half my team with me to the station. Snut you are going to take the freighter to the Varlin asteroid fields and set up the new mining operation. I am leaving the guards under the command of Jason Rock. If anyone disregards his orders, I have told him to drop them in the smelter. Got me?"

"Yes, Sir," came the reply from around the bridge.

"Good let the rest of the crew know. I am out of here," Derik said as he got up and walked out off the bridge.

Ten minutes later Derik walked into the landing bay and looked at the four mercenaries he had picked.

The first was Torg, a dog from the Korland Empire. He was the largest Dog he had ever met. Almost three hundred pounds of muscle and bone and was deadly as a snake. When he stood up on his hind feet, he was six foot seven inches tall. Both arms were bionic. He had said he'd lost his, when his ship was attacked in a skirmish with a Terran Dreadnaught.

Next was Vamp, a Solian from Tau Ceti, she stood five feet three inches and weighed in at under eighty pounds. Her ability to hide in bright light made her a deadly assassin. Her blood touch could drain a human in two minutes leaving a shell behind. The neurotoxin she released to feed was able to freeze a normal human in twenty seconds. Her white hair was kept in a braid and her pointed canine teeth were razor sharp.

Lion was a human merc that Derik had hired two years ago. He was just as deadly as he was. The only thing that was flesh and bone on his body was his head and internal organs, the rest of him was all machine. His arms could change from hands to pulse lasers before he could say 'Shit'. During the attack on the Marshals, he took out four of them before the rest of the crew could fire.

Vala'ia was from Centaur Station in Alpha Centauri. She was a survivor of the Plague that swept through the system ten years ago and her face and body showed the hideous scars from it. Her one hundred and ten pound body could hurl a Durasteel knife into six inches of hardened oak to the hilt. She once killed a Terran Ambassador to Centaur Station from ninety feet away. The knife went through the ambassador and killed his wife standing at his side.

With an evil smile, Derik looked at his comrades and climbed onto his bike.

"I want that bitch alive and in front of me. I will deal with her myself. Do you understand me?"

The four mercs nodded their heads, climbed up on their bikes and pulled their helmets on. Firing up the bikes, they lifted off and flew out through the open landing bay doors. They quickly formed up into formation, the headed for Lycos Station in the far distance.

Winnie sat in the control chair of the shuttle. She watched the sensors and she thought of all her loved ones now dead. Her eyes fell on the datapad and she wondered what was on it. With a sigh, she slipped it into her pocket, and pulled out the holocube and looked at the images on it. One was of her mother sitting in the pilots seat of her fighter just before she took off with the rest of her squadron to investigate a Terran cruiser that had came into the Hades system. She was killed in the attack, but her ramming the bridge of the cruiser had enabled the rest of the teams to take her. The FDS Atlanta had become the cruiser Sylvia Lincoln and was now the flagship of the Hades fleet.

"Warning."

"Computer what's the warning?" Winnie asked as she shoved the Holocube back into her pocket.

"Long range sensors have detected a FDS cruiser just coming out of hyperspace."

"Can we reach the station first?"

"Calculating!"

"Come on, hurry it up," Winnie said as she started activating the ships systems.

"Affirmative, the ship will reach Lycos station five minutes before the cruiser."

"Boost speed by ten percent. Activate stealth systems," Winnie said as she checked the ships systems.

"Raising speed and activating stealth systems. They cannot see us anymore."

"Very well. When should we contact the station for docking?"

"Forty-five minutes and they should have us on their sensors. I am angling the ship to keep the station between us and the FDS cruiser."

"Good, I am going to take a shower. Call me in thirty minutes," Winnie said as she walked to the back of the ship and slid the cabin door open and froze as she looked at an exact copy of her quarters on the Get Rich. Walking in she noticed one thing that wasn't in hers and she walked over to it and looked at the framed paper.

This Ship is owned by
Captain Winnie Lincoln
Passed her captainship on
June 9 3531
Ship presented to Captain Lincoln
On August 12 3531
By Captain Jeremiah Lincoln,
Of the Lincoln Cargo Company.

"What? Daddy when did you do this?" Winnie mumbled.

She pulled the framed picture off the wall and saw the envelope pasted to the wall, behind it. Setting the framed captains certificate on the bed she peeled the envelope off of the wall, and opened it.

"What the hell is going on, Daddy?" Winnie said.

She sat on the bed, crying. With a sigh, she wiped her eyes and walked towards the shower stripping off her clothes as she went. Stepping into the sonic shower, she turned it on and adjusted it to a water flow. The spray beat down onto her, as the tears started coming. She collapsed to the bottom of the stall as the water washed over her. The tears wracked her small frame as she realized she was now all alone in the universe. All her family was now dead.

The water continued to spray over her body as her sobs quieted down and then she sat up, She wiped her eyes and stared at the shower controls as her mind raced with thoughts. Standing up, she washed her face and hair. Turning the water off she activated the blowers and the warm air blew her dry as she grabbed the hand dryer, and dried her hair.

Stepping out of the shower Winnie entered the bedroom and walked over to the wall dresser. Pressing one of the six buttons on the wall, a recess opened in the wall showing undergarments for her and her father. Taking a pair of panties, socks and a bra, she walked to the bed as the compartment slid into the wall and she sat on the bed and pulled them on.

Walking to the closet, she pulled out a skirt and blouse. Pulling them on she picked up a pair of heals and walked into the main cabin to the flight deck.

"ETA?" Winnie said as she sat down in the chair and slipped her shoes on.

"Ten minutes until Lycos Station will burn through our stealth. Do you wish to raise them?"

"Yes, please raise the station. Play audio."

"This is the shuttle Lincoln One requesting docking instructions."

"Lincoln One this is Lycos Station, please shut down your stealth systems for security scans."

"Shutting down stealth, now."

"Thank you."

The sensor scans reached out, and swept over the hull of the shuttle and locked on to several weapon points. The voice came back on the com.

"Lincoln one, please lock down your weapons system as well as your defense controls."

"Locking them down now," the AI said.

"I show lock down on the systems. As soon as you dock, you will be met by a tech to install a system lock on the panel. Please head for landing bay H. Follow the icon on your HUD."

"Thank you Lycos station, this is Lincoln One out."

"AI, damn I need to name you how about Nina?"