Chapter 3

Mark paced the room as Nissie looked on, the worry evident on her face. He had been planning what to do all week when they reached the next system. After loading the ship with the anti-hack and anti-virus programs that he had gotten from the headmaster, he had paced all week after going over the info that had been supplied.

It was a new planet, in a new system that his father had been sent to. Mark hadn’t been sure, so he had reviewed the communique that his father had received from Earth. Much as he suspected, after only an hour of reading and dissecting the message, he was able to see through it. It appeared that Tantka was working with the rebels on the planet. The rulers there had been seriously hampered by all of the mechanical failures and were not able to defend themselves very well. Again, Mark cursed; what was the universe coming to? He was starting to think that the people out here were complete idiots.

As the ship neared the planet, he kept his eyes on all scans, waiting for Tantka to make another attempt. 2 days out from the planet, he tried again, only this time, Mark had been ready and bounced back at him. Mark could only smile, as he knew that the creep wouldn’t have been ready and would be almost completely unprotected. He could almost see the panic on his face as Mark’s program, which he had slipped in, would have started to delete everything on his comp and would try to reach out to his backups to delete them, too.

Arriving without further incident, Mark and Nissie breathed a sigh of relief. They were met at the spaceport by a full contingent of soldiers as they were led to the headquarters of the planet’s ruling body and those that had contracted out to him. Fully aware that if he succeeded, the rebellion would fall, Mark had taken precautions for the move from the ship to the headquarters. Though the guards were there, Mark knew that any of them could be a traitor.

“Nissie,” he started, “I want you to stay exactly by my side. If what I think will happen does happen, I want you safe.”

Nissie was shocked he really did care about her.

Nearing their destination, Mark knew if it was going to happen, it was now or never. Stopping for a broken down cart in the road, Mark pressed a button next to his wrist comm and waited. As the soldiers stepped forward to assist the people in the cart, the rebels struck. The soldiers took cover and returned fire. Mark calmly stood nearby as bullets and energy beams bounced away from him and Nissie.

“Shit, retreat!” one of the rebels yelled, “He’s got an energy shield. We can’t beat that!” the rebels scattered into the nearby alleyways and buildings and were gone.

Mark smiled as he turned a very small scanner toward the retreating rebels. He had the ones there now. There was no way that they could deny or escape. Continuing on, theY reached the building without further incident. Reaching the commander, Nissie stepped forward to convey Mark’s words.

“Mr. Mark wishes to know if you have the promised payment,” she started, “also...”

“I do not deal with subordinates,” the leader snapped at Nissie.

Mark leaned over and whispered in her ear.

“Mr. Mark says that you will or you will be in breach of contract,” she snarled back at him, “and as you have seen, you are no match for the tech he possesses.”

The leader sputtered and signaled as ten men began to fire at Nissie and Mark.

Mark was pissed. This was the second time this shit was happening; reaching to his arm, he activated a small device and reached toward the commander. Lifting off the ground, the commander began to choke as Mark raised his arm, and the commander went higher; then he dropped his arm, and the commander hit the ground hard. “Alright, you little piss ant, asshole, you get to deal with me directly. When I am done with you, you will know why I had her talking to you. I am not forgiving, and you are only a heartbeat away from me walking out of here, shutting this whole goddamn place down.” Mark took a deep breath and thought that he just might anyway, “so, you have that long to apologize to her and then, me, because right now, I’d rather crush your fucking throat than look at you again, you called ME, agreed to MY terms.”

Grabbing his throat and trying to talk, the commander knew that he was in deep shit. The president wouldn’t take very kindly at all to him having pissed off the maintenance man.

Gruffly, he squeaked out, “I most sincerely apologize to you, Miss Nissie, and you, Mr. Mark. There will never be a repeat of this again by anyone here or in this command.”

Nissie was floored; she was just a slave, and slaves weren’t apologized to, and she suddenly had a newfound respect and affection for Mark. Mark leaned over again and whispered in her ear again. Nissie’s eyes got big as she relayed the message.

“Mr. Mark says that the price has doubled for the work you want; he needs an answer in an hour,” with that, they walked out, heading to a small table they had seen outside the building. Sitting down, Mark was proud of the way she had handled herself. Food was brought, and Mark looked around at all the idle machinery. Again, he thought that these people were almost complete idiots. Back in the building, everyone was almost in a panic after the commander had called the president and told him everything.

“You tell him whatever he wants, double or triple. Oh, and by the way, you are relieved of command til further notice. Before you leave and report back here, you better make DAMN sure that he will do the work. From what I hear, he is one of the best.”

The commander scurried out to find Mark and Nissie. After relaying the message, he thanked them and left as a new commander stepped up and asked if there was anything else that they needed.

Standing, Mark looked at Nissie as she started. “Mr. Mark would like to be taken to the main comp. Any spare parts you have, bring them and...” she paused to take a breath, “you bring them yourself, only with soldiers that have been with you for years.” The commander nodded as he quickly started barking orders.

Entering the comp room, Mark was taken aback at the mess he saw. What the fuck had these people been doing? Having Nissie get the soldiers with the new commander to start to clean up, Mark walked around the room at odd intervals, stopping and touching the walls. Making his way back to them, he touched his arm again, and a shield appeared around the outer walls.

“Tell me when all the comp parts are here. They will be scanned as they are brought in,” Mark breathed out. This was one of the few times he deemed it necessary to talk.

After a few hours, Mark isolated the beginning of the problems and actually had the power to start the mainframe. Within an hour, he had most of the parts replaced, and the repair bots were armed and modified. Mark watched as they started within the room at alarming speed and were done in an hour. Slowly, as they spread out into the building, the shield was expanded, and soon, the first two floors were not only secured but repaired. It wasn’t until they reached the third floor that they encountered a small group of rebels. Mark had the bots converge as they shot all the rebels with their paralyzing beams, taking them all alive, something unheard of during the whole uprising.

The troops moved in and took the prisoners, tying them up as they awaited the arrival of the president. After he had gone in, Mark went back to work restoring the power to the city, communications, and any shields that he found were still operational. The president walked out 3 hours later as Mark finished the first of his upgrades to the city systems. His face was grim as he walked up to Mark.

“Mr. Mark, do you, by any chance, have satellite surveillance backup?” he said as he looked at Mark, then Nissie.

Nissie stepped forward, “Yes, it’s been up for almost an hour; why do you ask?”

“We just received information about your father and the leader of the rebellion. It seems that your father was on his way to talk to him when they grabbed him.” The president looked at Mark a minute, then continued, “You wouldn’t know why he was on his way there, do you?”

Mark got a little miffed as he looked at the man. “I do not communicate with my father anymore. If you think or this is a ploy to curry favor with him through me, you are VERY sadly mistaken. I am only here to carry out my contract.”

The president nodded his head as he handed the info to Mark. Scanning it over, Mark began to see a pattern here, a pattern that he was really starting to dislike.

Moving aside, Mark fed new instructions to the comp satellite system. Unbeknownst to those present, Mark reprogrammed the satellite system so as not to show where they were as he brought up the screen.

The president wasn’t happy when he didn’t see what he wanted.

“We are in need of sleep. Where can we go? I can finish this tomorrow,” Mark said as he and Nissie headed to the exit.

The president had a cautious look on his face. He had soldiers lead them out as Mark heard the crack of rifles and the screams of the prisoners as they were executed. That son of a bitch, Mark thought, and here he had been told to take them alive. Walking into their room, Mark activated another device on his belt.

“Now we can talk,” he started, “I am going to slip out and find Father. The info I got was very informative, and if what is going on is true, then I am glad that I took the precautions that I did, here,” he said as he handed her another shield generator.

“What is going on?” she asked, afraid of what he might say.

“I have to confirm a few things first, then I’ll be back, and we will go,” he said as he began to show her how to run the shield and a few other devices that were attached to it.

Clicking on another device, Mark shimmered and almost disappeared. He stepped to the door, moved out into the hallway, and went down to the front door. Making his way out of the city, he headed south for an hour as he walked to where he had seen his father on the orbital scans. Walking into the camp and directly to his father, he whispered in his ear, “Are you all right?”