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desperate sprint for survival, but
the singlet she had on was ruined. She ignored her tattered
clothing for the moment and stomped through her ship. Her thick
boots made a loud clunk with each step.
    As she washed,
she tried not to think about her fallen comrades; a part of her was
actually glad that they had fallen and not her friends. What if
Aart had died, or Orion? She’d tried to save them all but the
super-soldier was too much, they’d been out-gunned and taken by
surprise.
    Nova shook the
thoughts from her head and focused instead on the upcoming job. She
wouldn’t usually take security but this one had been too good to
pass up.
    Drigoon was a ‘tamed planet’. It had been hostile to human
civilization but along came Terraform Incorporated and bam, a brand
new planet to live on was born. Terraform Incorporated was the big
name in terraforming, one of the biggest growing industries of the
century. During her background reading, Nova had found that the
head honcho of Terraform Inc. had styled himself as President of the tamed
planet. She had to chuckle at the thought.
    The next day
was the big ‘planet-opening’ ceremony and everyone who was anyone
in the terraforming business was going to be there. It was
predicted to be an utterly dull affair but the new President had
insisted on external security.
    At first Nova had ignored the bounty ad but then she seemed
to be seeing the President’s name everywhere. Geron Feders, President of Drigoon. He was definitely making a splash and if nothing else, his
tamed planet, Drigoon, sounded like a blast. It had been populated
hundreds of years ago with plant life, but was deathly toxic to
animals, including humans. It was something to do with the
atmosphere; too much carbon dioxide. She was looking forward to
seeing it; a planet inhabited solely by plants was bound to be
interesting.
    She stepped
out of the shower just as Crusader’s engines kicked into full gear
and propelled them towards Drigoon.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER
THREE
    Nova woke up
to one of Cal’s thin metal arms poking her in the ribs.
    “ Oi!” she yelled, shoving his pincer away.
    “ We’re nearly at Drigoon,” Cal said without apology, floating
out of Nova’s sleeping pod.
    She sat for a
few moments on her bed, cursing the robot under her breath.
Eventually she managed to push herself up and hobble to the food
generator. She stood for a few moments studying the front of the
machine, still half asleep.
    She shook
herself and reached out a hand to rest on top of the appliance as
she gathered her thoughts and decided what, exactly, she wanted for
breakfast. The red cut on her hand stood out against the rest of
her flesh; it must have been worse than she’d thought if it was
still there even after a healthy application of Second-Skin.
    “ Muesli!” Nova said as if in triumph. “I want cold
muesli.”
    The food
generator sprung to life and Nova’s mind relaxed now that the
decision had been made. She took the bowl and carried it to her
command chair.
    “ Let’s see it,” she said around a mouthful of food.
    Crusader
obliged and the blacked out front screen flickered into life.
Taking up half the visual was a small green planet, with a few
splashes of colour scattered across it. Swirling clouds dotted the
landscape where storms pounded the planet’s surface. Carved into
the centre of the green mass was a silver dome with long spindles
spreading out from it.
    The silver mass was President Geron’s creation; the base of operations for the terraforming
project. The silver dome normally housed the workers and their
families, but tonight it played host to far wealthier occupants.
The terra-forming project was still in its early stages as the
atmosphere had yet to be converted, and so on any other day the
complex would be swarming with workers.
    As Crusader
got closer to the silver dome and its attached landing bay, the
green mass resolved itself into trees and plants. The green