Hornet's Nest

Wichmond Moon

Daigo immediately realized what was happening. They had lost track of time and gotten too close to the moon. They had been hailed, not responded, so they were now being targeted by weapons systems.

Going by the accusing glare, Kiyin had arrived at the same conclusion. “Argh, I told you I should be in the cockpit!!” she yelled, and ran off to stave off their destruction

Daigo stepped to follow but then stopped and turned back to them. “Sára will first get right to it,” he said, and walked off with a yell. “Right now!”

The girl bid him farewell with a heavy sigh. “Aye aye, captain…”

Daigo ran out of the room and rushed across the corridors which took him in a spiral until he reached the short flight of stairs that led into the cockpit. Kiyin was already bringing the ship to a stop, by then.

As Daigo walked in, Kiyin gestured at the panel which contained the microphone to indicate that she had already answered the call coming in from the moon satellite.

“This is Hornet’s Nest, offering our deepest apologies!” Daigo said, loudly but without shouting. “We were on auto-pilot and absent from the cabin. We have stopped our advance and request you disengage all targeting at once. Over.”

Throwing a nervous smirk at Kiyin, who met it with a deadly glare, Daigo sat down and muted their input.

“What? You were having fun and didn’t notice the time pass by.” Daigo changed his smile to show apology. “That’s good, right?”

Kiyin turned her face aside duly flustered, blowing on her bangs. Meanwhile, Daigo observed the main panel’s combat feedback while he disengaged the general alarm system.

Within seconds, they were un-targeted.

“Hornet’s Nest, this is the Wallace landing satellite. That was a very bad way to initiate contact. Over.”

“We offer our deepest apologies!” Daigo said, smirking, “our autopilot's been acting up. Over.”

“As in we don’t have one,” Kiyin whispered, almost making them both laugh.

That was true, they called it autopilot, but it was really just a stabilized forward thruster. In space, that was good enough for them.

“Well, what is your business? Over.”

“Our business is with Mr. Wallace. It should be scheduled. Over.”

Daigo leaned back and waited, tapping on his legs a bit nervous. He exchanged glances with Kiyin, who had her hand on the thruster, ready to high-tail it away if anything went wrong.

C’mon, girl…

“I’m afraid I don’t see anything for a Hornet’s Nest… Can you explain? Maybe it’s under a different name? Over.”

Daigo’s brain hurt with tumultuous thoughts, trying to come up with something to say or do. An explanation. Instead, he decided to trust Sára.

She had, after all, never failed him.  “How did you write it? Over.”

“Nest of the Hornet. Over.”

“Ah, that’s the thing,” Daigo remarked, sagely. “It’s plural Hornets and then nest. Try that? Over.”

“What?” Kiyin whispered, dumbfounded.

But sure enough, the man was quick to reply. “Acknowledged.”

Daigo and Kiyin groaned in relief.

“One hour ahead of time, but it is here. You’re clear for approach, we’ll ready transport. Over.”

“Sure thing, perfect. Hornets Nest in approach. Over.”

Turning off the connection, Daigo leaned back with a tired chuckle. Him and Kiyin shook their heads together, helplessly.

“Damn girl doesn’t even know the name of her own ship,” Daigo said. “Gimme a break.”

 --//--

Wichmond had built a mega factory of solitude on his moon, which also served as his palace. Independent landings weren’t even allowed, and any attempts would be met with a security system that gave even military organizations pause. The only way onto the moon was to be transported by the Wallace landing satellite which systems functioned isolated from the galactic cyber networks. Wichmond had set up his own network, local to the moon and its satellites, and the proximity necessary to even attempt suspicious cyber operations was enough of a deterrent for most crews with suspicious intentions. Still, it would have the appropriate security for even that eventually.

It was rare for even large smuggling operations to employ experienced cybernauts. It was unthinkable that a vessel of Hornet’s Nest’s size and notoriety – which was close to none – would have a genius of Sára’s caliber.

Sára’s talents would usually net her compensation planets above what Daigo could afford. Ordinarily, the largest crime syndicates would be fighting over her loyalty with systems’ worth of ransoms. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t been the ones to save her and her brother from s*****y. Unfortunately for them, one of them was behind said s*****y.

Unfortunately for them, Sára cared even less about money than she did her life. Or most things, really. “Sára, we need to have a talk. Come by the cockpit at once.”

Kiyin chuckled at his serious tone.

“What is it? Did it not work?” Sára asked in return, instead of stepping to it.

“Move that butt over here before I remind Kyle he should show you more affection,” Daigo warned.

A heavy sigh came in reply. “How cruel and unusual, captain... I’m on my way.”

Kiyin nodded, impressed. “Well, you know her well enough.”

“No,” Daigo said, pouting, “not well enough.”

They were docked by the time Sára arrived. The transport shuttle had initiated landing procedures, but since it was still attached to the satellite, it would be over an hour until they actually began their descent.

“Oh, I always forget how constrained this room is,” Sára said as she entered, almost half bent over since she was taller than Kyle, and Kiyin too. “Well? What is it?”

“Hornet. Apostrophe. S. Nest,” Daigo spelled out, annoyed. “How do you not know the name of your own ship?!”

Sára raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Really?”

Her tone of confusion made Kiyin laugh.

“Yes, really!” Daigo said, exasperated.  

“But it should be at least Hornets’ Nest, surely,” Sára complained, “as in, apostrophe after s, because the nest belongs to Hornets plural, right? Not singular.”

“What?” Daigo asked.

“It’s both yours and Kiyins’, isn’t it?” Sára asked.

Daigo was stumped at that. He glanced at Kiyin to catch her glancing at him, meaningfully. Embarrassed, he all but choked on what to say.

No, Daigo had never thought of the ship as belonging to them both. A hornet had been a reference to Kiyin because that was his first impression of her. She’d sting someone to death before leaving her nest, which was the ship rather than her home. Or rather, the ship was her home.

“It’s -- no, it’s a figure of speech, Sára, you know? Don’t stir the hornet’s nest?”

He always considered himself the fortuitous executive manager of the ship, not its owner.

“Oh,” Sára remarked.

“Yes, oh,” Daigo waved towards her, impatient.

Sára scratched her chin, yawning, “I see.”

“Good. Now go prepare for landing. It’ll be rough, we still don’t have the disruptors.”

“Did we ever?” Sára asked with a sigh, “Maybe we should try doing landings without thrusters, too.”

“That’d kill--” Daigo interrupted himself and squinted at her as she shrugged, knowingly. “Go, smartass. Make sure your brother’s strapped in.”

Sára sighed. “Always do…”

And then she left, leaving her question behind, floating in the air unanswered. Kiyin knew him well enough to know he had lied about his explanation. He was a bit frustrated at himself, he shouldn’t get stumped like that, but when it came to Kiyin, it was hard not to freak out when something happened that might push her away.

It was so much effort pulling her back in.

Daigo cleared his throat before Kiyin said anything. “I’ll go check on the clone,” he said, immediately standing up.

“Okay,” Kiyin said, and he wasn’t sure how she said it. Daigo didn’t want to try and read her tone right then so he gave a nervous laugh and left.

The clone was as frightened as when they had left him in the room. Daigo hadn’t paid him much attention outside of having Hannes feed him. Kyle was too soft-hearted to be trusted with a crying whimpering genius inventor corporate magnate. Even if the old clone didn’t seem all that put together.

Maybe especially because of that.

Daigo hadn’t even bothered to ask the clone any questions because he could be lying. He’d rather not know and assume things blindly than have to guess whether to lean towards what he was told or the opposite in case it was a lie.

In any case, the clone’s reaction to Daigo’s arrival was to looked away, frightened. The old clone was sitting on his bed, chewing on his nails, shivering and jumping at invisible threats, with deep dark rings around the eyes from the lack of sleep. His state was enough to convince Daigo to never give cryo-sleep a chance. Something had definitely gone wrong. Or maybe the cloning had gone wrong.

Daigo didn’t understand why either would be the case. Both technologies were not as experimental as that, much as they were rare and, in the case of cloning, outlawed.

For better or for ill, that was his payday. That shivering, manic-fearful man.

Right, Daigo thought, ruefully remembering his practice, I need that apple.

Daigo walked away from the clone, leaving his room. His insides were stirring heavily at the thought of the mission. They had been since he had made the decision to carry it through.

In fact, risk being what it is, I should really punish myself, Daigo thought, shaking his head at himself, I’ll have two apples.

The fortress was a green that mixed with the blue of the moon’s floor. Beautiful shades of Viridian steel towered inside a dome that had been built to both protect it, and to artificially manage its climate. The docking platform was outside of the dome. They would need security clearance just to get inside the dome, and it was assumed that Wichmond had cleared them with his systems.

If not, they would be pulverized. In any case, the shuttle placed the Hornet’s Nest at the landing platform, and then quickly began lifting off procedures. They would only be able to leave the moon when Wichmond authorized the transport to return to the surface and pick them up.

Or if they had independent lift-off potential.

By the time the boarding party reached the first security measure, the shuttle was crossing the near-inexistent atmosphere on its way back to the satellite.

Daigo, clueless Kyle, paranoid Hannes, and the dubious, fidgety clone.

Initially, Daigo had been afraid that they would be stopped on the ground due to the clone’s obvious abnormal look. But as the clone had warned, most things functioned automatically. Something that could have been a lie, and if it was, they could just bolt. But it turned out to be true. The doors, the sensors, they all functioned accordingly as the party moved, reacting automatically in response to a myriad of scans that they were constantly executing. There was no need to wait, nor any one person to give them a more human check.

The Satellite is the human check, Daigo considered, if we land, Wichmond assumes we should be here. But if one of this scan fails… well, nobody will have landed by mistake, will they?

Daigo didn’t pay much attention to the fortress’s systems, but rather to the clone himself. Every single hesitation or second thought made him more nervous than he should be. Kyle was fine and mostly oblivious to the danger as he combed his surroundings with excited attention. Meanwhile, Hannes was convinced that the clone was bringing upon another clone revolution, so he was even more on edge than Daigo.

Everything went smoothly. No alarms, no one suddenly showing up and going “hey, you’re not supposed to be here!” Room after room, the silence, quietness, and overall absence of life continued as the man’s DNA, retina, vocal analyses, blood, and passwords all pulled through. One after another.

It wasn’t until they reached the man’s room, where they would take the other Wichmond down supposedly, that they found the first sign of life. It, unfortunately, wasn’t Wichmon. Not even close.

It was a Centauri warrior.