Chapter 24: Pierra 1C

Aria had gotten suspicious of her brother Jake almost 3 months ago, when one day, while coming home from school she spotted Jake and Lyra exiting a construction site.

She knew her brother was intelligent, and them being alive and safe was mainly because of him, but being an elder sibling, she still had pride. She worried for her brother and since then whenever she could, she would tail them, keeping an eye on Jake and Lyra's activities.

Today, however, Aria had a different feeling, that something would go wrong if she did not follow Jake today, so she did. She skipped school and kept an eye on her brother who made a few odd trips before heading to the port.

When she saw the transporter Jake was heading into, she dashed forward not wanting her brother to do anything he would come to regret.

"Really Aria, you could have just asked me you know." Jake spoke to his older sister who sat next to him in the cockpit after she explained what had happened.

"Then why could you not have told us from the start then?" Aria angrily shouted at Jake.

"Aria, you know exactly why, I'm a child, Do you think mom or Aunt Grace would allow me to do this?" Jake spoke in a calm collected voice.

"I know it's risky, I know with Mom and Aunt Grace's incomes we are not struggling, we have a decent life here, but there are things I need to do which require both time and money, both of which I am extremely short of." Jake tried his best to explain to Aria without explicitly exposing the Atlas.

Aria was shocked at Jake's depth of knowledge and understanding, being a child prodigy herself, she knew Jake was intelligent but not to the extent that she had been seeing ever since they escaped Naru.

"Here." Jake showed Aria the contract after having a confusing look on her face, reading the end had her eyes wide in shock.

"A hundred thousand EC's!" Aria exclaimed an exorbitant amount of money when their family could easily live well on less than a thousand EC's a month.

"Jake, this has to be a scam." Aria rightly had her doubts about the job.

"I thought the same but look here." Jake showed her his band, a private account showing her his funds earned from doing Olaff's jobs for the past year.

Once again Aria was stunned by the amount but recovered quickly as Jake spoke again.

"So you see, he has credibility, I was also doubtful from the start, and I still am to a certain degree, but if I can get this job done, I can finally get started on what I need to." Jake tried convincing his sister.

Aria thought for a while before speaking "Fine, fine, you can do it and I won't tell Mom, you have to take me with you."

'Dammit Aria!' Jake internally screamed, he could account for his safety but another person would make things harder.

(This is good Jake.) The Atlas felt the opposite of Jake's thoughts.

'What do you mean Atlas?' Jake confusedly asked.

(Well Jake, for one, Aria will have to listen to you, it will put you in a position of authority and in the future when you make decisions Aria will recognise and stand behind them if this works out well. Also, Aria would become an accomplice, she won't be able to rat you out to your mother as she would also be in trouble. This will also be a good start when you con- *cough* *cough*.)

'What was that Atlas? Since when did you cough?'

(What was what Jake? Don't we have bigger things to do?) The Atlas asked, almost sounding like it was mocking him.

'Fine, whatever, we'll discuss this later.' Jake was very suspicious of the Atlas but had to leave it for now as he would be late.

"Alright Aria, you can come." Jake spoke in a defeated voice.

"Hmph, I knew already." Aria smirked, she could finally use her authority as Jake's elder sister but Jake's next words threw water on all of her thoughts.

"But you have to listen to every word I say." Jake spoke but in a different tone, a serious one.

"It's going to be dangerous, and to keep both of us alive if anything is to go wrong I need you to trust and listen to me Aria. Now put these masks and clothes on." Aria was a genius but only theoretically, she could not fly a ship or handle a gun well but Jake could which is why she conceded her defeat and went to the bathroom to change her clothes.

When she came out she looked at Jake and said "Are these necessary?"

Jake who looked at Aria spoke, "We don't want whoever we're dealing with to know who we are and we can't have them knowing exactly how old we are too, these masks should easily mask our voice and the clothes should mask our body shapes."

Aria who was a young teen looked in the mirror, her body, no one would be able to tell she was a girl.

Jake called Aria to the co-pilot seat and quickly took off, worried that he would be late for the pick-up.

Bravus Port:

3000km away from New Canberra

"He should be here by now. You think he bailed" A large blonde man in his late 20s wearing blue overalls spoke as he leaned on his chair.

"Have some patience would you Jordan, Mathaus personally recommended him, we're lucky we even have transport in this fucking system anyway.

You want to traverse GOE territory by yourself, be my fucking guest but only after we get this done, you understand?" A man in his early 40s spoke, he had black hair, a thick beard and a scar slashed across his face, he wore blue overalls as well but towered over the blonde man at almost 6'10" tall. The man seemed to be the leader of this group.

"Oh come on Wilbur, ease up on the lad, and you too Jordan have some patience, they'll be here." A man spoke, trying to defuse the tension. The man looked older than the other two, and also calmer owing to his experience in this field. He had a goatee and a buzz cut, unlike the rest he sported a trenchcoat, a cowboy hat and a pair of aviator glasses.

"I still don't get why they brought you along John." Jordan spoke, voicing his disdain directly at John.

"Cause I'm the best in the business lad." John spoke with a smile on his face. "Oh look at that, they're here, now wake up your lazy arses and get a move on." John spoke as Jake's transporter arrived to pick them up.

The group of 6 men entered the ship, carrying large bags slung on their shoulders.

Jake stood up from his seat and walked up to them as they entered the ship.

"Mathaus' Pilot?" Wilbur walked up to the person wearing a mask and suit.

"That's me." Jake spoke, the voice sounding like a man in his 30's. Jake spoke in a voice without a hint of nervousness as he greeted the giant towering over him.

"Mathaus did say, your identity would be kept a secret, alright you know the job right?" Wilbur asked.

"I do." Jake responded and Wilbur nodded before taking a seat with the rest of his group.

"He looks like a fucking kid. Are we gonna rely on a child?" Jordan spoke after seeing Jake's height, having no trust in him.

"Child or not, he's a pilot recognised by Mathaus, as long as he does his job, I have no issue, now shut up." Wilbur spoke as everyone quietened down before Jake took off towards Pierra 1C, a rocky dwarf planet on the edge of the system.

"Jake, who are these people?" Aria spoke into her headset, not wanting the others to hear her.

"Most likely mercenaries, as long as we do our job we won't have a problem, we're almost there anyway." Jake calmed her down.

Jake took an abnormal route, which looked odd to the mercenaries on the ship, but the ship went undetected by any cargo scans by GOE ships. John recognised Jake's ability and knew he needed to keep an eye on him in the future.

As they approached Pierra 1C, Wilbur advised them to take them around to the dark side of the planet. Jake followed his orders and approached the planet.

When they got near a certain crater, Jake descended seeing a landing pad opening up below the surface.

Jake landed the ship as the landing pad descended, deeper and deeper, the top closing off again.

"Listen here Pilot, I don't wanna keep you here any longer than I have to, but you can't leave just yet." Wilbur spoke as the rest of his group got off the ship, revealing a large underground base.

'Shit'

(I told you so)