DJ's Mission (6 page)

When Aeolus didn’t elaborate further, DJ turned
his attention back to his cover story to make sure it was committed to memory.
He had to smile at the creativity of his friend. Iaido had originally created a
complete back story and credentials for his bounty hunter persona, Rote Falken.
But with the imposter stepping in and seizing the name, he also had a whole
string of marks that had been taken down that could be claimed.

The only major difference between the two Falcons
would be the ships. He had the Aetós, the Red Falcon’s original ship. DJ bet that
if he looked at the registry of the Aetós, which he was certain the SS would
do, it was in the name of Rote Falken. However, all the recent sightings of the
Falcon were in a different ship. DJ found himself nodding as he looked over the
stats on the imposter’s ship. According to Athena’s notes, the upstart Falcon
was using a red and black Kestrel Mk3. They were a very reliable FALC – Fast
Attack Landing Craft – with twin oscillating jet engines that made it fully
capable for VTOL – vertical takeoff and landing - and STOL – short takeoff and
landing capable. He’d ridden in a few during the war and had no complaints
about the aircraft. He had a few complaints about some of the hellholes the
Coalition dropped him in but that was another subject altogether.

DJ turned his attention back to the data
concerning his target and shook his head at the slip-up. He tapped his forehead
several times as he repeated to himself…mark, mark, mark. Shooters have
targets, bounty hunters have marks. It was just one of a few details he needed
to get straight to pull off his cover story.

Back to his mark. El Gato, translated from Spanish
as
The Cat
. That was his mark’s nom de plume. Not much was known about
him. It was assumed to a ‘him’ since El Gato was the masculine connotation of
the title but couldn’t be confirmed since he’d never been captured. Iaido had a
few leads and contacts listed for him to check out, supposedly for tracking
down El Gato but in reality to set up his escape from Titan.

Aeolus’ voice brought him out of his reverie.

“Sergeant, if I could be so bold to suggest that
you don your hunting armor since we will be docking in less than fifteen
minutes. At Master Spartan’s direction, Epista’tis loaded your equipment in the
aft compartment.”

“You’re right. I do need to get ready.”

When DJ opened the cabinet and he saw what was
inside, he whistled.

His new bounty hunter armor consisted of crimson
colored chest plates, leggings, shoulders and arm plates over a black mesh suit
that resembled a super high-tech chainmail. In addition, there seemed to be an
exo-skeleton aspect that would run along his spine and to each extremity. Of
course, there were matching boots and gauntlets to go with the armor.

DJ immediately recognized it as a heavily modified
version of CSA - Confederate Scout Armor. He’d gone up against them too many
times during the war not to be familiar with the distinctive armor. He knew CSA
wasn’t as advanced or fancy as Iaido’s ARC suit or as durable as his HAVOC-V
armor but it had served the Confederate Infantry well during the war.

Obviously it had also been altered. First to fit
his considerable frame, at an even six foot but nearly three-hundred pounds, he
was nowhere near the typical size of a scout. Secondly, the helmet had been
tweaked to resemble and give the impression of a falcon or at least the upper
beak of one. It also differed from the ARC or HAVOC helmet in the fact that it
wasn’t a one piece helmet. The lower portion, or beak, could be removed to
expose his mouth and chin. This was designed to allow the wearer to eat and
drink easily without completely removing the helmet.

Strapping the armor on, DJ noticed that it was
still a bit snug. Another reminder to keep working on his diet but it didn’t
seem to constrict his movement at all and was more comfortable than wearing a
HAVOC suit. Pulling out the weapons belt, he noticed the twin powered gladii
he’d been training with attached to the harness in addition to dual Graver Mk7s
and plenty of ammo. As he slipped on the gauntlets, he noted a nozzle on the
back of his right hand and a port on his left. It only took a moment for him to
figure out that the right hand was the nozzle for a flame thrower and the left
was the launching port for a net-gun; a non-lethal device that would be useful
in capturing a mark. It seems that Iaido had thought of everything.

“Your pardon Sergeant, we are on final approach.”

“On my way to the cockpit and I guess for the
duration of this op, you should call me Falken or Captain. It might take some
time to get used to but I believe it’s appropriate given the circumstances.”

“Yes sir, I have made such a notation in my memory
banks.”

“Good.”

Climbing into the captain’s chair, DJ set his
helmet on the ground next to him before locking himself into the five-point
harness and looking out the window to take in the grandeur of Saturn’s rings.
Even though he’d been through this region before, it didn’t matter; the view of
the slowly spinning rings of Saturn was always a spectacular sight.

His radio squealed as Saturn Approach Control –
SAC - came on line. “Starship Aetós you are cleared for landing at docking bay
seven. Upon landing, please taxi to the first available dock as we have several
more ships on final.”

DJ keyed his mic. “Will do SAC.”

Aeolus followed the automated guidance beam and
landed gently. As he taxied to the unloading dock, DJ noticed the look of awe
on the faces of the dock workers. The Aetós was such a unique ship that once
seen, it would be hard to forget and quite the subject of conversation.

DJ thought about that for a moment. That would
certainly separate his Falcon persona from his true identity. There would be no
reason for his ex-wife’s husband or the Sheriffs to suspect that retired Staff
Sergeant DeJarnette to have access to such a vessel.

As the ship powered down, Aeolus opened up the
hatch and lowered the gangplank. “Good hunting, sir. Remember that I am just a
short call away.”

“Thanks Aeolus, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Standing up, DJ snapped his helmet into place and
exited the beautiful ship. Unsurprisingly, there were two members of the
Sheriff’s department flanking the Customs Agent assigned to his arrival.
Without waiting to be asked, DJ moved forward and thrust the datapad with all
his documentations and credentials in the customs official’s hand. Turning his
attention to the closest sheriff, DJ turned on his external speakers as he
said, “I’m assuming from your presence here that you have new information on my
mark?”

DJ was amazed at the internal HUD - Heads up
Display - of his armor. The built in sensors immediately scanned the area and
locked onto every target that could possibly be considered a threat. But what
amazed him the most was that those same sensors began measuring the deputy’s
rates of respiration, pulse and eye movement. And as soon as he began to speak,
a meter popped up on his HUD showing the percentage that he was lying.

“Um…no, I…we are…”

DJ interrupted. “You realized by intergalactic law
and the treaty of twenty-two zero-one that local magistrates are not allowed to
interfere with a duly registered galactic bounty hunter while in pursuit of
their quarry.”

“Yes, but…”

“Furthermore, I am only obliged to notify you of
my presence in your jurisdiction if, I repeat if, I require your assistance or
use of your detention facilities. Anything other than that is considered a
professional courtesy.”

The deputy looked to his partner and back at the
towering armored warrior. He didn’t know what to say. Never had a bounty hunter
been up to date on the laws governing their interaction with local law
enforcement agencies. He swallowed once and cleared his throat. “Sir, we are
just here to offer our assistance to your hunt. If there is anything you need…”

“Thank you. I will call on you if need be.
Honestly, the less attention you pay me the better. El Gato is as slippery as
an Enceladus Eel and must have informants in the area or he would’ve been
caught by now.” 

DJ turned his attention to the customs agent while
the deputies pondered if he had just insulted them or not. “Are you through
with your inspection yet? Not even the JDL takes this long.”

DJ saw the customs official stiffen at being
compared to a Jupiter Defense League agent. It would be like comparing a blonde
to a brunette. Yes, they are similar but both would argue that they were better
than the other and completely different.

“I’m finished here. I was just being thorough. I’m
sure someone in your line of work can appreciate that Mister Falcon.”

DJ shook his head. “There’s no mister, its Red
Falcon or just Falcon.”

Taking back his datapad with all his warrants and
information on it, DJ ignored the trio and began walking away. One of the
deputies reached out and grabbed his arm in an attempt to get his attention. DJ
reacted out of instinct and moved with unbelievable speed. Evidently, the CSA
augmented his strength and reaction time more than he was aware. When the
deputy grabbed his arm, DJ moved with the pull and drew one of his powered
gladii. Toggling it on, he had the razor sharp blade under the startled
deputy’s chin before either of the two law enforcement officers could react. DJ
looked down at the black and red uniform and read his nametag.

“Deputy Bunnell, if you ever want to advance in
rank, you would do well to remember that I don’t like being grabbed.”

Releasing him, DJ slid his blade back into its
sheath and turned his attention to the other sheriff. “Deputy Hagan, if you
draw that weapon you have your hand on, I will be forced to kill you. The
vid-feed from my armor and this docking bay will prove that I only acted in self-defense
after your subordinate grabbed me. Is that what you want?”

Deputy Hagan slowly relaxed his grip on his weapon
and nodded. “You are entirely correct, Hunter Falcon. I apologize for my
partner’s behavior.”

Deputy Bunnell lowered his head. “I just wanted to
say that your ship is a beauty. I’ve never seen the likes of it.”

DJ knew that he’d insulted the egos of the local
LEOs – Law Enforcement Officials – with the ease at which he’d put them at such
a disadvantage however he didn’t want to alienate them completely nor make them
angry at him. Now was a time to allow the Sheriffs a chance to save face.

“That’s okay Deputy Bunnell. It is partially my
fault. I am always a bit on edge when I’m on a hunt. I apologize for my threat
and handling of the situation and I thank you for the compliment on the Aetós.
I tend to agree, she is a beaut. Sylvan designed and constructed, I won her
almost a decade back gambling and she’s served me well ever since.” All this
was in the back story Iaido had created for him and logged somewhere out in
cyberspace. It was a logical explanation for him to have such a unique ship,
especially since the Aetós hadn’t been seen in this sector in over seven Terran
years.

Deputy Hagan nodded. “That must’ve been a lucky
hand.”

“Nope. Craps. I actually won her on back to back
rolls of snake-eyes. It was the luckiest two rolls I’ve ever had.” With that,
he turned his back on the sheriffs and moved into the main section of the
Saturn Galactic Spaceport.

It wasn’t nearly as busy as Haven but it was
busier that what he’d expected. His suit continued to scan for possible threats
and nearly went into overload since everyone in sight carried a weapon of some
sort. He actually had to disable the ‘target threat’ function of his suit. The
major downside was the fact if there was anyone following him at the moment,
his suit wouldn’t be able to warn him or track them. It was back to the use of
eyeballs 101 but right now that was the least of his worries.

UR-L8 whistled to get his attention. “This unit is
pleased to be this close to home and is looking forward to reuniting with
mistress Kaitlyn.”

DJ waved a hand to quiet the ‘bot. “Stow that
talk. We’re walking into the lion’s den.”

UR-L8 had no idea what the Staff Sergeant meant
with the obscure reference to some sort of mammal’s house but understood that
the intention of his command ‘stow’ meant to ‘put away’ which was enough to
know that he wanted this unit to remain silent.

Their passage through the spaceport’s busy
walkways seemed to become less crowded as he approached. DJ noticed that many
of the travelers and workers gave him a sideways glance as he moved past, some
even openly stared. He imagined that he must look rather daunting in the Red
Falcon armor, which is probably why Iaido had crafted this persona in the first
place. It is so far removed from his normal personality that no one would ever
have suspected that the original Red Falcon was actually Iaido ‘Achilles’
Spartan. And since the Falcon had never been seen without his armor, he was able
to take over the role. Which of course, allowed the imposter to do the same
thing but that wasn’t his concern right now. Finding a way to get Kaitlyn off
of Titan safely was his only mission.

DJ did notice several other deputies stationed
strategically around the starport but he only spied two Coalition officers.
They looked to have just arrived on Titan and were having a deep discussion. DJ
was certain he hadn’t met the blonde before; a looker like her would be hard to
forget. However, the salt and pepper haired commander looked vaguely familiar.
It was probably just someone he’d served with during his time in the service.
With a flick of his eye, he shunted the image to a file and added a reminder to
do a database search later, just in case.

When a shadowy figure disconnected itself from a
nearby corridor and discreetly fell in behind him, DJ was too busy to notice.

Chapter 5

When Jennifer and Ryan stepped off the network
transport, they were met by two uniformed members of the Saturn Sheriffs. Though
she’d heard rumors about the callousness of the SS, she had to admit that they
looked rather dashing in their black tailored uniforms with white and red
highlights.