Hortense ensured his bridge crew were on alert as they approached Dirt. He had placed a crew of four on the replacement Mobile Salvage Processing Centre vessel. On his cruiser he had brought along a ‘Cleaning’ crew of twelve ex military employees. Hortense planned to go down with the ‘Away’ team and get Navi back - or at least find out what happened and make those who did this, would pay.

  Scree had once more paused hunts. Her excuse was ‘Technical difficulties and Maintenance’. Hortense didn’t care. He wanted free rein to finish the job and clean up the mess. His own sources had told him there were some quiet enquiries taking place in the Imperial court regarding Dirt. He would do his part and assist HTI and Patter.

  ****

  X Bear was waiting at the small round table in Harrick’s quarters when Harrick, Hendon and Clinton returned from the latest hunt. Since the cleanup of the orbital space junk, hunts had been getting ‘More Exciting’. Their last Hunter Safety Team mission was to retrieve one of the hunter’s bodies that had been trampled by some wild beasts and fallen down a ravine, losing her communicator during the fall. He had sensed that Dirtlings were nearby watching, but none engaged.

  Clinton and Hendon stopped just inside the door in surprise while Harrick just walked over to his cooler box and pulled out some bottle of Fizzy.

  “Would you like one?” he asked X Bear casually.

  “Sure,” said X Bear, equally at ease, matching Harrick for his attempts at nonchalance.

  Clinton and Hendon didn’t move but looked between Harrick and X Bear.

  “Hello Hendon. Hello Clinton,” said X Bear, raising his bottle of Fizzy to them, “Come join us. We need to have a little chat.”

  Hendon grunted with a shrug and sat down on the chair opposite X Bear, while Clinton sat next to X Bear, not breaking his gaze.

  “Didn’t we secure our quarters, Sir?” he asked Harrick.

  “Of course we did,” said Harrick, “This is X Bear. He doesn’t seem to care about doors and security and that type of thing.”

  “Not true,” said X Bear, “I care about security quite a lot.”

  Harrick agreed, “Yes, just not anyone else’s.”

  X Bear shook his head in agreement, “True. Actually, that’s why I’m here.”

  “Security?” asked Clinton.

  “Yes,” said X Bear, “HTI Security is pretty good. I presume you know about HTI’s clean up of the orbital space junk of Dirt?”

  “Certainly,” said Clinton, “The skies are much clearer now.”

  “Did you see what happened to the MSPC vessel?” X Bear asked.

  Clinton looked at Harrick and Hendon, who both showed curiosity.

  ”No,” said Harrick, “By your presence, Scree’s announcement that it finished was not completely true.”

  “It is currently a wreck on Dirt, on that huge, mostly barren island where you experienced your second VIP hunt and where Heron and Byron were captured.”

  All three members of the Hunter Safety Team were stunned. Crashed? And they didn’t even know?

  “What you also don’t know is that it appears some Dirtlings hid amongst the junk in orbit, came up behind the MSPC, boarded it and somehow crash landed it on Dirt,” said X Bear sombrely, and took a sip of his Fizzy.

  “But, Dirt is Non Compatible!” said Clinton.

  X Bear raised his eyebrow, questioning Clinton by his look.

  Clinton paused and thought, “Sorry. We know that is probably an incorrect classification. Bad habit.”

  “Your ‘friend’ Hortense is coming with a replacement MSPC and his cruiser to finish the job and investigate the crash. His brother, Navi, was the pilot of the crashed vessel,” said X Bear, looking at Harrick.

  “Oh dear,” said Harrick.

  Hendon said, “Scree has just announced another pause to hunting. ‘Technical and Maintenance’ was the reason, which is technically true. We have the next week off.”

  “We don’t know what Hortense will do once he finds out his brother is dead,” said X Bear.

  “Are you sure?” asked Harrick.

  “Pretty certain,” said X Bear, “Navi would not have let anyone wreck his ship if he had any breath in his body.”

  Harrick nodded, “Perhaps we could borrow the shuttle and have a look while Hortense is around? Just a routine maintenance run. After all, how would we know Hortense will be here? Scree told us this was just a routine delay for maintenance.”

  X Bear smiled, “Excellent. I will take a visit down to Dirt and have a closer look. Take care.”

  Hendon spoke to Harrick, “Sir, ‘borrowing’ the shuttle is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it?”

  “I just want to make sure Hortense doesn’t exceed his responsibilities. Stirring up the Dirtlings would not be the best idea. It would be good to be nearby just in case we need a calming mind,” said Harrick, “What do you think X Bear?”

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  They turned to look at X Bear and just saw an empty Fizzy bottle. X Bear was gone.

  Harrick just rolled his eyes, “Typical.”

  ****

  Hortense spoke with the crew of the new MSPC as they orbited Dirt, “Start cleaning up what is left of the junk in Dirt’s orbit. We have installed multiple laser turrets on your vessel. If any junk is nearby that is larger than a cubic metre, make it smaller. If anything approaches you, no matter how small, shoot it!”

  The leader of the crew indicated his agreement and added, “There is about a week’s worth of sweeping to finish the cleanup.”

  “Good,” said Hortense, “Begin your operations while we investigate the site of the crash of our MSPC.”

  As he watched, the MSPC started picking up the remaining satellites in its maw. Every now and then one of the turrets fired, reducing larger satellites or space junk into smaller pieces. Hortense grunted in satisfaction and tapped one of his crew on his helmet, “Have you found Navi?”

  “Yes, Sir,” said the operator, “Near the top of that large island, we can see the wreckage. Do you wish to send the team down now?”

  “No,” said Hortense considering, “Let’s see what the Dirtlings do first.”

  ****

  Johnny Cartwright was sitting alone in his chair, watching the monitor in his office. The Brick II was finishing off the work started by The Brick. This time there would be no bold rescue attempt, no reprieve from the destruction of his CartNet. He decided he would watch the destruction of his pride and joy alone in his office.

  His intercom buzzed.

  “Not now, Lana,” Johnny said, “I am watching my satellites get eaten by an alien Brick.”

  “Stop moping Johnny,” said Lana, “Sit up and be welcoming. General Gant is coming in to see you.”

  Johnny stood up from his chair and waited for the General. He knew his satellites would continue to be eaten on the screen behind him, but he would try and be hospitable to the General. Just be polite and the General would leave and he could watch the last of his satellites disappear.

  The General opened the door and stepped in, walking tall and proud and approached Johnny, “Mr Cartwright!”

  “Hello General,” said Johnny, “It’s a pleasure to see you on this terrible day.” General Gant looked up at the monitor and winced as another satellite was sucked into the maw as others nearby were shot with laser bolts.

  “Don’t worry about that!” said the General, waving towards the monitor, “That can’t be stopped, but you have work to do.”

  Johnny paused and looked at the General, “Work to do? What work? I can’t rebuild CartNet!”

  “Pfft,” General Gant who mimicked dismissing the monitor with a wave of his hand, “What’s the best way to get at the aliens who destroyed CartNet?”

  Johnny thought for a moment and said, “We can’t blow them up, even though that would be nice. Send them a nasty email?”

  “Bah,” said the General, “Stop being so down and out. We have work to do. For you to do. You and your Cartwright Space Team to do.”

  Johnny stopped mid whine and looked at the General.

  “The Brick, man, The Brick,” said the General, “We have had four weeks to totally dissect and analyse that thing. We transported all the really interesting bits off in a mix of cargo trains and those multi trailer rigs Aussies call Road Trains with smaller more precious items taken off in transport helicopters and planes. Everything was sent to another remote place, about a day’s drive from where The Brick crashed.”

  “So?” asked Johnny, “What’s that to do with me?”

  “Who has some of the most practical space knowledge on the planet?” asked the General.

  “My team are the best,” boasted Johnny truthfully.

  “We want to form a combined operation based on Cartwright Enterprises, with funding and support of the US and Australian governments, and additional technical support from NASA, ARSE and other space and research bodies,” offered the General.

  “Where will it be based?” asked Johnny, hope building in his breast.

  “At a secret base near Broken Hill in outback Australia. Some of the pieces we liberated from The Brick are too big to transport here and frankly, we want to store them at a place no-one would expect, and quick enough so that the aliens don’t see where the bits are all stored. There is also enough desert and arid areas around there for testing without causing too many questions or collateral damage,” answered General Gant, folding his arms in satisfaction, smiling at Johnny. “We can use a number of abandoned mines in the area to create an underground research centre.”

  Johnny looked at the General then up at the monitor. He groaned internally. More of CartNet was getting destroyed every minute. He picked up the remote and pressed the red button. The monitor winked off.

  “Lana,” he said into his intercom, “Get Rudy and Kent in here. We need to make plans.”

  “They are already here Johnny,” Lana answered, “We were just waiting for your call.”

  Johnny looked at General Gant, “What would I do without her?”

  ****

  The communications officer of Hortense’s Cruiser spoke, “Sir, we have had constant observation of the MSPC and there has been absolutely no movement or activity all week. There are some buildings a few kilometres away, but they also look abandoned. No lights at night or any life signs or transmissions.”

  Hortense grunted in acknowledgement. The officer was pleased with the recognition.

  “We investigate. No interference with MSPC?” said Hortense.

  “No, Sir,” the officer said, “No transmissions, no new rockets, no unusual debris movement.”

  Hortense stood up to move to their transmission room when the officer spoke again, “Sir, we have a communication.”

  Hortense looked at the officer.

  “It is Harrick, Sir.”

  Hortense sighed and sat down again in his chair. He indicated to the officer to make the connection.

  “Hortense!” said Harrick cheerfully, “You’re back! You should have called. My meal offer still stands you know.”

  Hortense just stared at Harrick.

  “Ah well,” said Harrick, “Perhaps later.”

  Hortense continued to stare at Harrick.

  “I see you are here to finish the clean up and investigate the crash,” said Harrick, “Very sorry to hear about Navi. Always a very determined fellow.”

  “What?” said Hortense.

  “What do I want?” replied Harrick, “Can we come down with you? We have quite a bit of experience on the planet Dirt now. Several months of action. I feel we know the place pretty well. We could serve as a guide, you know.”

  Hortense considered. Harrick was correct. Dirt had many surprises and Harrick had experience.

  “Advisor Only,” instructed Hortense.

  “On our shared Federation Military Honour, we will only be there as advisors. You and your team can take any action as you see fit to order. How does that sound?” agreed Harrick.

  “Ten,” Hortense said and tapped the officer on the helmet. The communications cut.

  Hortense moved quickly to the transmission room. He will meet Harrick in ten minutes next to the wrecked vessel.

  Meanwhile, over on the HTI shuttle, Harrick said, “Hendon and Clinton, come with me. It will be just us three.”

  Hendon said as they began moving, “What about our team?”

  “They will stay here, ready to beam down if needed. Also ready to beam us up if necessary.”

  Hendon pointed at his team leader who directed the troopers to positions around the transmission pads.

  As they were getting into position, Clinton commented, “You know Sir, you seem to be more chatty than usual when talking with Hortense.”

  Harrick smiled, “Yes, I suppose I am. I think it is to make up for his game of speaking as few words as possible. Keeps our conversations interesting.”

  Clinton grinned, “Interesting. Every discussion with him tends to revolve around dangerous matters, so you need to make it more interesting. Got it, Sir.”

  Hendon just smiled and said, “Move on Clinton, we’re going down. You wanted interesting things, so stop complaining.”