Lina was feeling a little on edge.
It was four in the morning, Galactic Standard Time, and the constant stream of incoming reports had made it impossible for her to sleep.
A riot had broken out at Kor Port Prison in the middle of the night.
It had started two hours ago. The central control room for the Lower Three Levels had mysteriously lost power, and the doors to the cells throughout the prison had opened. The villains locked up on the lowest level had broken free and easily seized the guards' weapons.
Now they were exchanging fire with the Peacekeeping Force that had rushed to the scene. The sound of explosions had already spread across half of Kor Port.
New images kept popping up on Lina's Network Terminal. Her subordinates had snapped photos of the criminals, with detailed identification notes beside each one.
Lina was relieved that Yang Ming hadn't appeared in any of the photos so far.
The riot had been planned by Kolev, a somewhat well-known pirate chief who had been active for many years.
Those damn pirates. Why did they have to make trouble now?
Had Hanton been caught up in this, too?
Lina rubbed her brow.
Staying up tonight would age her skin by three months!
Lina was certain that three factions had set their sights on Hanton: the Sherman Empire Military Intelligence, the New Federation Third Investigation Bureau, and the organization she truly served. Only she knew Hanton's true value.
[Hanton was the sole success of the Imperial Valkyrie Program.]
Even more remarkable was how stable Hanton was. If he wasn't fighting, he was just like an ordinary person. Every kind of testing instrument would only find that his body temperature was slightly elevated; there was nothing else unusual.
This kind of biological modification technology was practically a world-changing achievement!
Lina had already made all the necessary arrangements. Once her Escort Fleet reached the space around Kor Port, she could use her covert agents in the port to forcibly take Hanton back.
As long as they returned to Guer Alliance territory, every problem would cease to be a problem.
To keep Hanton in line, she could even offer him the beautiful body she had cherished for more than thirty years. Besides, it wouldn't be a bad deal.
But now, the situation had suddenly changed.
Those damn pirates!
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone rapped on the hotel room door. A projected window appeared in front of Lina, showing three men and three women outside.
Lina hurried barefoot to the door, let her subordinates in, then quickly closed it and activated the jamming equipment.
"How's it going?" Lina asked calmly.
"Ma'am, we can't tell exactly what's happening inside Kor Port Prison. They've cut off every network-connected device. These rioters are highly professional—their efficiency is even better than that of our Special Operations Force."
"We scanned the prison with our Detection Devices. There hasn't been a large-scale loss of life inside. The guards seem to have lost their ability to fight very quickly. We believe they were knocked out by Hypnotic Gas."
Lina's gaze sharpened. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. The guards are being held in the cells on the sixth level. There are very few casualties, and nearly all of them are still alive."
This was bad!
A wave of weakness washed over Lina, but she forced herself to remain as calm as possible.
If everything was as she suspected—if Hanton had fought the Valkyrie head-on and survived—then dealing with this undisciplined, medium-sized prison would be no challenge for him.
The only thing she couldn't be sure of was whether Hanton's identity as a modified human had been exposed.
She didn't dare take that gamble.
"Ma'am, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Lina hadn't mentioned Hanton to her intelligence officers. It was the only way to keep him from being exposed.
Now she had to make a decision.
"Start the plan early."
Lina's beautiful face was set with determination.
"Get our fleet to the space near Kor Port as quickly as possible, at any cost. Remember, at any cost! Even if it means casualties later! Get all our agents here moving!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
The six of them hurried out.
Lina returned to the bedroom of her suite. She leaned over the bedside, her slender but curvaceous body bent forward as she picked up a palm-sized screen and a button-sized main unit. She lit the screen and quickly typed in commands.
Soon, a 3D Topographic Map of Kor Port, as intricate as an ant's nest, filled the screen.
Lina entered several commands, and a pale green cursor appeared at the location of Kor Port Prison.
As the map zoomed in, Lina soon saw that the cursor had reached the edge of the prison and was quickly crossing its boundary.
He was out!
Hanton had left the prison with almost no resistance!
How did he do it?
Lina immediately grabbed her communication device.
She couldn't let Hanton slip out of her control.
"Woohoo!"
A Hover Pickup with a blue glow beneath its chassis sped along an empty metal street.
In the passenger seat, Kolev wore black leather pants and a leather jacket, with a black bandanna wrapped around his head. His wrinkled face was alight with excitement, and he kept letting out strange whoops.
At the wheel, Yang Ming frowned at the old man while figuring out how to drive a Hovercar properly.
He was a little worried about the old pirate's mental state—and whether his heart could take it.
The two of them had come to respect each other.
During the takeover of the prison, Yang Ming had shown a small part of his personal strength. Kolev, meanwhile, had shown off his impressive pirate skills and his knack for rousing and organizing prisoners.
The battlefield had now been left to the prisoners, who were practically delirious with excitement.
The two of them had changed into somewhat more normal clothes and used a pickup from the prison kitchen to slip out successfully.
That had been part of Kolev's plan, too.
The little hover truck had a biometric security system, but Kolev had easily hacked into it.
"We should put on some music!"
Kolev fiddled with the central control panel and chuckled.
"This is incredible! The two of us actually took over that prison, First Mate Hanton! With your strength and my brains, we could become the most powerful pirates in the Milky Way Galaxy! Oh, why am I already old? It's not fair!"
The old man suddenly grew sad.
Yang Ming smiled. "I didn't come to this world to become a pirate, First Mate Kolev."
"Oh? Do you have some kind of dream?"
"My dream..."
Two paths appeared in Yang Ming's mind: one led to Minx Port, whose location he didn't know, and the other to the city of Mech Twilight, whose location he did.
"I want a ship that can make jumps. I want to set out on my own, hoist the sails, and explore the mysteries of the universe and the edge of the galaxy."
"Cool!" Kolev shrugged. "But isn't that just being a pirate?"
"I don't want to prey on the weak."
"We've always robbed the rich, not helped the poor," Kolev explained indistinctly. "Of course, sometimes things go too far. That can't be avoided... You know how it is... There are plenty of real scumbags in this line of work. They have no sense of restraint..."
Yang Ming smiled without replying.
As soon as the pickup merged into traffic, a large number of police cars came "dropping out of the sky," sealing off every route away from the prison.
Watching the police cars flash amber in the rearview mirror, Yang Ming adjusted his speed and followed the flow of traffic toward a safer area.
"How long until your people get here?" Yang Ming asked.
"They've completed their jump, but the nearest jump point is still some distance from Kor Port. It'll take them a little over an hour. We can go meet them."
Kolev looked at the holographic screen projected from his watch and spoke smugly.
"Looks like these fellows still care about this old geezer."
"They might reach the rendezvous point before we do. Until then, the riot at the prison will keep going. Don't worry; the Peacekeeping Force isn't much of a fighting force, and the Humanity Association won't let them use heavy weapons freely."
"All we need to do now is get ourselves a little sightseeing ship."
Did everyone get this talkative when they got old?
Yang Ming asked, "Do they have docking permits?"
"We're Star Pirates! Pirates, my dear First Mate!" Kolev laughed with exaggerated gusto. "Of course we're leaving like pirates!"
Yang Ming was about to ask a few more questions when his eyelid twitched. He whipped his head to the side.
A Hovercar came hurtling straight at them, seemingly out of control!
His enhanced reflexes came to the rescue again. In almost an instant, Yang Ming performed a series of maneuvers, sending the sluggish pickup through a gap in traffic.
Chaos erupted behind them. Alarms rang out everywhere, and drones patrolling nearby quickly rushed over.
Several Hovercars sped toward them from both sides, closing in as if to surround them and force them to stop.
"Oh!" Kolev grinned, showing a few yellow teeth. "Are they after you?"
"Buckle up."
Yang Ming calmly shifted the gear all the way up and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.
A hovercar was still a car, wasn't it?
And he had a manual-transmission Class C1 driver's license!
Yang Ming gripped the rectangular steering wheel and floored the accelerator. The Hovercar even pulled off two backflips before shooting straight into the express lane.
Because of the dangerous driving, one police drone after another came racing over, their shrill sirens wailing.
More than a dozen Hovercars of different makes closed in around the pickup, trying to force it out of the Express Lane.
For a moment, danger was everywhere.
Yang Ming was afraid he'd snap the steering wheel if he put too much strength into it, and his breathing grew a little ragged.
Kolev laughed heartily, clearly reaching the old man's excitement threshold. But he didn't forget to operate the two Network Terminals at hand, searching for the drones' signal frequencies.
Half an hour later.
The battered pickup hovered over the dimly lit Metal Bridge.
Just moments ago, Yang Ming had carried Kolev on his shoulder and sprinted through the dark alleys near Kor Port's Red Light District, quickly shaking off the group of men and women behind them. They were probably from some country's intelligence agency.
Now, the two of them were crouched behind a dumpster, cautiously surveying their surroundings.
"Why are they like burrs?" Kolev complained.
"I might have a tracking device on me," Yang Ming said quietly. "It must be something I swallowed."
He thought of the medication Lina had given him.
Kolev frowned. "Oh, First Mate, you should've said so earlier. I'll need to get you an aluminum-lined isolation suit or a signal jammer."
Yang Ming looked around the narrow, cramped alley and at the men and women leaning along the street.
In Kor Port, where human rights were respected, prostitution was legal and there were no restrictions on gender.
The two were silent for a while, then spoke almost at the same time.
Yang Ming: "From now on, you follow my lead."
Kolev: "From now on, you follow mine, young First Mate."
"It seems," Yang Ming said helplessly, "we still can't convince each other."
"Your fighting skills let you dominate the prison, but from here on, we'll need a spaceship—and this."
The old man pointed to his head and grinned.
"To the stars, you're still a rookie. You have a lot to learn, Hanton."
Yang Ming fell silent for a moment.
Kolev narrowed his eyes with a smile. He wasn't worried that Yang Ming would refuse. The initiative was in the hands of this great pirate, and he already understood what the powerful modified human wanted...
"Hanton?"
A gentle voice suddenly came from nearby.
Yang Ming immediately grabbed the Laser Pistol in his arms, while Kolev quickly ducked behind him. The two of them warily looked toward the voice.
At the mouth of the alley ahead, a beautiful woman with her hair simply tied back peeked in. Her delicate, palm-sized face was full of surprise.
It was Dr. Lina.
"Hanton, you're here! I heard there'd been a riot at the prison, so I was going to hurry over and see what was happening! Thank goodness. Come with me, quickly!"
Kolev immediately tugged on Yang Ming's arm, warning him to be careful.
Yang Ming grabbed Kolev by the wrist in return and sprang up excitedly.
"First Mate Hanton, who is she?" Kolev asked warily.
Yang Ming grinned. "The spy who planted the tracking device on me. She'll get us out of here! Don't worry, First Mate Kolev."
Hearing the two of them whisper without bothering to hide it, Lina froze.
She... had been exposed?
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