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The shock of Hermieoth’s death ran deep. Like the claw of a Kopion, it dug painfully into the flesh. Was Hermieoth a victim of the regeneration crisis? BiotiCorp had written that his Imprint Viability Score was too low and that there was no functional imprint available. Hermieoth was a victim—fallen in battle against ruthless corporations in search of the truth. Hermieoth’s death must not be in vain—we must not remain silent—the corporations must not go unpunished.

In a world where megacorporations acted only according to their own rules and without consideration, someone had to raise their voice. We did not start the war, but our storm will sweep their dark machinations out of the shadows.

*

The air shimmered. The high-altitude star Pyros turned the planet Monox into an oven. The air temperature had now reached almost 60 degrees Celsius. I had unnoticed covered the last few kilometers on my hoverbike to a high rock. From there, I had a good view of Arid Reach, a settlement of the Headhunters.

Kjeld Stormanson’s clues had led me here. A spaceship transporting people abducted for ENOS experiments was said to have landed here. We knew that the ASD had received corpses from the Vanduul for the ENOS project. I wondered if humans had also been handed over to the ASD for experiments. I wanted to pick up the trail of the abducted humans here and scout the location for Kjeld.

Arid Reach was located on a small body of water, nestled between sand dunes. It was a small place with few buildings and a somewhat remote landing site. A deathly silence hung over the settlement. A few people were walking around the buildings, but no one seemed to be at the landing pad. It was the ideal place to approach the settlement. I left my elevated observation post and rode my hoverbike in a wide arc to the landing pad.

I covered the last few meters on foot and found cover behind a rock. I cautiously peeked past the rock. A freight elevator, spherical gas tanks, a warehouse, and a rocket air defense gun surrounded the landing pad. I still couldn’t see any people. However, I was concerned about a surveillance tower that towered over the entire settlement.

A light breeze swept a cloud of sand across the landing pad. Otherwise, there was no movement, not even on the tower. I screwed the silencer onto my pistol and set off. The sand crunched under my feet as I quickly approached the warehouse with my weapon at the ready. The door was closed. I pressed the open button with one hand while pointing the gun at the door with the other.

The door creaked open. Sand trickled from the door frame. I stepped out of the bright sunlight into the dimly lit room, which had only a narrow window under the ceiling. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw a tool cabinet, storage boxes, and a shelf with mattresses on it. Someone had set up a makeshift bed for the night. A crumpled blanket lay on the top mattress, and the letters “HELP” were carved into the wall. Had one of the kidnapped people spent the night here? I couldn’t find any other clues and went back outside. My gaze fell on a Drake Mule, a small six-wheeled transport vehicle with a closed cabin. Then I had a crazy idea.

The six wheels spun and kicked up sand as I put my foot down. The mule quickly bumped over stones toward the buildings of the settlement. I could only hope that the cabin would offer me enough protection if the headhunters opened fire on me. When I was close to the buildings, I slowed down.

A wide sandy path led through the middle of the settlement. There were buildings to the left and right. The settlement was secured with barriers made of stones, sheet metal, barbed wire, and steel beams. I slowly drove past the barriers. An armed Headhunter crossed the path right in front of me and looked at me. My heart was pounding in my throat. As he passed, he nodded to me. Surprised, I drove past him and found myself in the middle of the settlement.

It was confusing. Several Headhunters were on the move, but no one took any notice of me. My heartbeat returned to normal. Then I noticed the cages. Rust-brown rectangular cages that a person could stand in. They were everywhere. It was obvious that people were being transported here against their will. Arid Reach was probably some kind of transshipment point. A cold shiver ran down my spine—people were being treated like cargo here.

I left Arid Reach and made my way to the Stanton System. Kjeld wanted to meet me to gather our information.

*

I met Kjeld and Ragnar at Port Tressler. We flew deep into space in a Starlancer TAC to meet up with Niki Tricker. She had worked with Kjeld on several occasions before.

“Is this Niki trustworthy, and can I talk openly about our information?” I asked Kjeld during the flight.

“Yes, you can. But no Schmolz, no Medpens—otherwise she’ll go wild.”

“I don’t have either of those. But I do have Rust.”

Shortly thereafter, we reached the meeting point. A Polaris emerged from the darkness of space. Memories of the incident in which we had freed Kjeld and Ragnar from the brig of a Polaris came flooding back. Ragnar went alongside with the TAC.

We left the TAC and floated in EVA to the Polaris. Someone was waiting for us at the open airlock. The person was standing on their head. No, we were upside down. Weightlessness could be confusing at times. We fell into the airlock like wilted leaves.

“I’m Astrid, your welcoming committee. Follow me.”

Shortly thereafter, we stood face to face with Niki. She had red hair and was wearing makeup. Nevertheless, her face had a hard expression. She didn’t seem to be from high society. Rather, she seemed like someone who had been shaped by the steel hand of intense experiences.

“Welcome aboard,” she said kindly in an edgy voice.

Then she looked at me.

“I’m Niki.”

“My name is Zero. Kjeld says I can trust you. He trusts you, so I want to do the same,” I replied cautiously.

“Let’s sit down somewhere and discuss the matter,” Kjeld suggested.

We went to the mess hall and gathered our information. It turned out that Niki had helped salvage the Hercules from Alaska. He had lost it in an attack during Friedrich Winters’ expedition in Pyro. Niki had almost died during the salvage operation. She showed me a report about an unknown toxic substance she had been exposed to. It was unclear whether there was a connection to ASD.

I told her about our mission to the ASD Data Center and Hermieoth’s death. I handed Kjeld the reconnaissance data from Arid Reach and the data we had downloaded from the Data Center. In addition to complaints about inadequate safety precautions for experimental ammunition, the note from Dr. Logan Jorrit, ASD’s chief scientist, was particularly interesting.

The breakthroughs achieved at the Lazarus Complex are nothing short of monstrous. The radioactive radiation in the area on Pyro I has helped.
It is important that we protect our assets. Security measures must remain at a very high level. Access to our most important resource is only possible via the key cards stored in Farrot.
Due to recent security incidents, consideration must be given to conducting experiments with Vanduul biofluid and other critical experiments at a different location.
Signed, Dr. Logan Jorrit

“We have information that one of the spaceships transporting test subjects abducted on behalf of Project ENOS was lost in a gigantic magnetic storm near Pyro I,” added Kjeld. “The crew is believed to have survived. Mariette Abendroth, the Abendroths’ abducted daughter, is also believed to have been on board.”

“Everything seems to be converging on Pyro I,” I concluded. “We have to go there. However, we must expect massive resistance.”

“If we tell the Abendroths that their daughter is there, we might get support from their security department,” Kjeld remarked. “Would that be okay?”

“Fine by me. The main thing is that Ray Keaton doesn’t show up. But Brubacker isn’t too fond of the Abendroths,” I replied.

“I can also help and maybe organize further support,” Niki interjected.

“But first we have to go to Pyro IV to the data center and get the key card,” Kjeld stated. “Would you be in, Zero?”

“Hermieoth shouldn’t have died in vain. And we have to bring a storm over ASD. Yes, I’m in. Especially if you bring my bodyguard Root. If necessary, I’ll develop a computer virus that will allow you to bypass the security systems.”

I handed out a round of Rust to everyone, partly to calm my own nerves. I wanted to bring a storm, but to do that, we had to go into a storm ourselves. I thought about my first encounter with Hermieoth. Back when we found the evidence for the killer satellite. During that operation, we had narrowly escaped death. This time, we wouldn’t just escape death. This time, we would hunt it down.

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