Submission

Jinx turned to look at the far end of the hangar, a good one and a half kilometers away. The ship stretched almost to the end of the huge open space.

She looked down at her PDA and scrolled through the pre-flight check-list she had bullied the hangar supervisor into giving her. The engines and fuel delivery entries were next, and there was absolutely no way she was going to walk.

She picked a particularly colorful greeble as a land-mark and teleported to the rear of the ship.

Immediately, alarms sounded, and red lights lit up along the length of the hangar. Jinx looked up and spotted a security camera floating nearby. She took a few steps towards the drone and waved.

The red lights and alarms continued as a squad of troopers in hard-suits approached. Jinx decided that putting her hands behind her head and smiling was probably the smartest thing to do.

As two troopers dropped on one knee and pulled up shoulder-mounted rail-guns, their sergeant approached her with obvious caution. Walking up to her carefully, he poked her in the left shoulder with a baton.

He spoke to her through his voice modulator. "Please refrain from teleporting in the future."

She looked into his helmet. The band of black plastic at eye level had two luminous eye-spots that regarded her with a stylized expression of disinterest. She wondered how frightened the trooper was.

"All right. Can you turn off the alarm?"

"Of course, ma'am." Even through the hard-suit, she could see the posture of the sergeant relax. He waved to his colleagues. "All clear."

The alarms stopped, and the red lights stopped pulsating. Everyone, Jinx included, breathed a sigh of relief. She lowered her arms and decided to push her luck.

"Can you guys get me a cart or something?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll requisition you one immediately."

Jinx smiled as sincerely as she could. "Thank you."

The trooper and his colleagues loped away in their powered armor.

She grabbed a transponder and pointed it at an exterior airlock on the gigantic vessel. The red lights marking the corner of the exterior door blinked twice as she pressed the "unlock" button on the small black plastic device, and the door opened automatically.

She entered the airlock and closed the exterior door. The displays warned her that the interior was filled with pure xenon gas, and she had to confirm that she was willing to enter the compartment without a breathing apparatus. Further warnings reminded her of xenon's anesthetic properties, that the reactor was active and producing a hazardous neutron flux, and that the reaction chambers included fusion catalysts with very low nuclear binding energy. The ship's computers briefly considered her reckless disregard for her own safety, and asked her for a final confirmation, absolving the systems for any responsibility in the event of a fatal accident.

Jinx agreed. The interior door opened, and a few lights turned on, illuminating a hallway upholstered in orange, padded carpeting with ladder-like handholds in each corner. As she walked on down the hall, blue lights flashed inside her eyeballs. Evidently the computer wasn't kidding about high neutron flux.

She stilled her reflex to breathe. She was good for a few hours of activity in this environment, but it was ugly and oppressive enough that she wanted to get the check-list done as soon as possible. She worked quickly, and checked the pressure readouts. Stage one deuterium-tritium flow nominal. Stage two di-lithium flow nominal. Stage three carbon ion flow nominal.

She left, and the airlock decided not to give her any trouble on the way out. As normal pressure returned, she started to breathe again.

An old man sat in the passenger seat of the cart waiting for her as the exterior doors opened. Most of his mane had fallen out long ago, and his fur was streaked with gray. Nevertheless, he looked unnaturally energetic and trim. He smiled broadly at her, and spoke.

"Pleased to meet you! You are my pilot?"

"Yes, Magus Graves. The pleasure is all mine." She sat down on the driver's seat, and turned the cart back towards the habitation modules in the middle of the ship. She looked at her passenger as they drove towards the bulky structure.

"Have you ever been in deep space before?"

"No, ma'am, I haven't."

"Ah." Jinx thought that explained a lot. "This ship is an old long-range survey model. We can stay out for a couple of years with a full load of fuel and bio-mass."

The old man chuckled. "Too much is better than not enough."

Jinx couldn't think of anything to say in response. He continued to speak.

"I'm glad they picked someone competent to bring me out. You have my life in your hands."

"Thank you, Magus--"

"Call me Jack. I will be requiring assistance for a number of the experiments I wish to run, and I think you will do very nicely."

Jinx's copy of the mission briefing had not included these minor details. "What did you have in mind?"

Jack smiled beatifically. "We're going to resurrect dead gods."

Jinx was again at a loss for words, this time because she had too many questions that needed to be asked. She picked the best one.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"The Corporation needs to find a way to re-connect to our history, especially the period before the rise of the Reyll Theocracy. By studying ancient god-forms under controlled conditions, I hope to make a map of our deepest needs and desires, as expressed by our pagan pantheons."

The old man paused for a minute, and looked at Jinx intently. "It's art, for art's sake, and the culmination of a life-long dream."

Jinx stopped the cart in front of the habitation modules. However much she wanted to run away, she realized that this was something she wanted to see for herself.

She also knew that this mission was pretty much guaranteed to end badly.

She Fell Through The Plot Hole

Jinx had her own corner of the holding cell.

In front of her bunk, a huge bruiser of a man lay on the floor with his hands clasped over his head, sobbing. He was remembering every bad thing he had ever done.

The other six prisoners in the holding cell were backed into the opposite corner, and looked at Jinx with a mixture of fear and respect. A guard came to the door, and triggered the lock. "Jinx Bubastis --"

He stopped as he saw the man crying on the floor. "What did you--"

"I didn't lay a finger on him."

The guard reached for his sidearm as Jinx approached the door. "Put that away. I've played nice with you guys. Someone wants to see me?"

The guard moved his hand from his holster and eyed Jinx warily. "Yeah. Right this way."

Jinx turned to the other prisoners. "Toodles, assholes."

As they walked down the hallway, the guard talked a little with Jinx. "Your visitor is someone important. They just spent half an hour chewing out my boss for putting you into gen pop."

"He wanted to humiliate me. Your boss is really into humiliation."

The guard did not respond. They walked down the hall in silence.

The guard gestured towards a door, and they stopped in front of it. Jinx turned towards the guard. "Take care of yourself." The guard held a card up to the electronic lock, and the door opened automatically. Jinx walked into the room.

A woman sat at the table, dressed in a gray business suit. Her fur was glossy black, and her golden eyes locked with Jinx's as she stood up and extended her hand.

Jinx accepted her hand, shook, and sat down across from her. "Pleased to meet you, Ms. Bubastis. My name is Lilandra Verisal, and I'm glad you've decided to accept our offer. Before we begin, I have some questions I need to ask you."

Jinx nodded. "All right."

Lilandra took a small tablet from her suit coat pocket and gestured at the device. "What role did you serve in the terrorist cell called M-Seven?"

"I was responsible for obtaining parts and munitions for the fighter fleet and provisioning the fire control systems."

Lilandra pushed the tablet towards Jinx. A list of star-ship registry data filled the small screen. "Please review this list -- are these the ships you attacked carrying out this mission?"

Jinx looked carefully at the list, scrolling around a little. "Yes, this looks complete."

"What role did you play in planning the attack?"

"I was given a laundry list of parts to obtain -- there were a number of components that could not be manufactured on Suburbia -- and told to keep an eye out for usable munitions. Demonslayer's main requirement was that the weapons have a radioactive payload. Once I obtained the bombs, I was tasked with preparing the fire control systems."

"I see. There were a large number of people involved in the conspiracy. Were you given any responsibility for routine operations?"

"Demonslayer would provide work details to help me unload captured cargo ships. It seemed to be some kind of forced labor arrangement for people who were discipline problems. Lots of drunks and druggies. She told them I was the devil, so they were all terrified of me. Other than that, I was mostly on my own."

"Did you have any contact with Rrmu Kelbakika?"

"Who?"

"Red Menace. Young woman with electromagnetic powers?"

"No. I only ever saw her together with Demonslayer. She didn't look very happy."

"We captured her shortly after the attack. She indicated that she would be willing to defect."

Jinx's facial expression did not change. "She's pretty powerful. I didn't have much to do with her. I think she'd know more about the operations on Suburbia."

"Yes. We're hoping so. Please wait here, I need to talk to our lawyers." Lilandra walked out of the room, leaving Jinx sitting at the table.

Jinx leaned back in the plastic chair and waited. Her face was an expressionless mask. Her eyes scanned the room, and her head turned towards the far corner of the room. She pretended there was a hidden camera there, and stared into it's possibly non-existent lens with a neutral expression meant to be nonchalant while suggesting that she wasn't having any fun at all.

She held this expression for quite some time.

Lilandra returned and sat down at the table.

"Ms. Bubastis?"

"Yes?"

"First, thank you for your honest and accurate answers to our questions. Ms. Kelbakika and our own investigations have confirmed the correctness and completeness of your deposition. Now, for some bad news -- "

Lilandra looked at Jinx with a appraising eye. Jinx did her best to maintain her neutral expression.

"-- the Corporation is not prepared to offer you immunity to prosecution at this time. However, my working group is authorized to offer you a temporary position on a contract basis." Lilandra took her tablet from her pocket and pushed it towards Jinx.

"If you accept, and faithfully carry out your obligations, I may be able to convince Legal not to pursue further punitive actions against you. Please take a moment to review the terms and conditions." Lilandra gestured towards the tablet.

Jinx took the tablet and tried not to shake. She paged down a few times. "An escort mission?"

"Yes. Well outside Corporate space. Please note the non-disclosure clauses."

Jinx read, and put the tablet down.

"You have twenty--"

"I'll do it."