The twin moons of Aria cut black holes in the night sky. Thin white rings bordered the black voids in the ocean of stars. Below the twinkling lights was the Enewtok Forest. The thick, unbroken canopy kept the air beneath smelling of moist earth and freshly fallen rain. A symphony of insects sang in the muggy night air under the cover of nearly unbroken darkness.

  From the starry sky, a small airship rapidly descended. It was small and boxy, and it glided down almost silently. The rabbit pilot stabilized the vessel as it glided just above the sea of dark green. Beside him, serving as his co-pilot, was a doe. She flipped through mission details displayed on a small tablet.

  A chirp from the dashboard drew both their attention. On the holographic display, a notification appeared. It read ‘Beacon signal aquired.’ The co-pilot perked up as she slipped the tablet into the side of the chair she was sitting in, as the words changed to ‘Please complete link process immediately.”

  “Green light from the beacon is a go,” The pilot said as he tapped the marker.

  “Good. Run an echo scan while I set up the comm link,” The co-pilot responded as she tapped a metal band clasped at the base of her ear. A band of hard light shimmered into existence before her eyes. Across the small screen flashed the words, ‘Unit 98 Access request…Identification required.’ A ring of light appeared in front of her mouth before she started to speak, “Operative Brandy Fender, reporting in.”

  The words on the screen disappeared and were replaced with, ‘Please provide job code…’

  “Job code…” Brandy paused as she tried to recall the word. After a moment of silence, the robotic voice repeated the request, this time using a monotone voice, and allowed for another stretch of silence. The rabbit mouthed a few profanities while aggressively patting herself down. The voice spoke again through the metal earpiece, which drew a groan and eyeroll from her before the pilot clearing his throat caught her attention. Through the visor, Brandy could see the pilot pointing at the cockpit floor. Right beside her chair, Brandy found a folded piece of paper, “Job code: Meatball.” Brandy finally answered, reading off the note.

  The words disappeared from the screen and were replaced with ‘Connecting,’ followed by ‘Access Granted’. A flood of indecipherable code ran across the screen followed by a final message of, ‘Beacon synced. Handoff approved.’

  ‘Thanks, Jacob,” Brandy said while tapping the clip again, causing the visor to disappear. She blinked a few times as her eyes readjusted to the far dimmer cockpit. “Anything show up on the echo?”

  “Nope,” Jacob answered as he tapped the dashboard, “Just a few larger signatures but they came back as bestial. Nothing worth worrying about. Beacon’s about two hundred clicks out.”

  “Sweet, let me get the team ready. Hold her steady,” ordered the rabbit as she slipped out of her seat. Jacob nodded to her before she exited the cockpit. Stepping through the sliding door, Brandy called to the other members of Unit 98 to attention.

  With the unit leader joining them, the headcount in the cabin grew to six. To her right sat another doe, whose eyes were fixed on her own tablet. Across from her sat an older lion whose gold mane was quickly being claimed by grey and his scowling face was turned toward the window. To her immediate left was a horse and a younger lion across from him. All of Unit 98 were dressed the same: a sleek black uniform with a simple silver insignia made of five straight bars with the longest center.

  All of this made the sixth person stand out all the more. He was the only male rabbit in the cabin and his outfit was a simple white jumpsuit. On the left side of the chest was printed, ‘Greyhart 0721’ in black block letters. His lilac blue fur clashed against the white jumpsuit and matching wavy locks that spilled down his shoulders. Clasped over the rabbit’s mouth was a smooth white device that bound the rabbit’s mouth shut, covering everything from his chin to just over his nose. His head was held high, and his eyes were locked on the spot just above the doorway Brandy had stepped through.

  “Look alive, everybody. The beacon’s lit and we are getting close to the handoff. Standard job means standard protocol. Make sure your long distance comms are off. Sam, Gab,” Brandy looked to the pair to her left, “You two are off first. Give me eyes as soon as your boots hit dirt.”

  “Aye,” Samuel confirmed.

  “Are we expecting contacts? I thought this was just a hand off.” Gabriel asked.

  “We are only expecting the handler but the cargo is sporting a pretty sizable bounty. Better to move with caution.” Brandy explained. The reference to his bounty caused the buck to let out a huff of pride. She spared him a glance before turning and continuing her orders, “Rebecca.”

  “Hmm?” Rebecca looked up from her tablet.

  “Our guest’s accommodations holding up?”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Yeah. Hasn’t tried anything though. Hell, he hasn’t even looked at us since we picked him up. What’s with the muffler?” Rebecca answered while turning off her tablet.

  “You’d have to ask his handler. He wanted Lucien quiet and I’m aren’t in the business of asking questions.” Brandy said with a smirk. As she continued with her orders, she was greeted with the annoyed grumbling of the elder lion. “Something bugging ya, Gus?”, Brandy asked while crossing her arms.

  The lion responded with a disgusted growl before turning away from the window and facing the doe. He gestured to the white-haired rabbit and simply said, “The rat.”

  “And what specific issue do you have?”

  “The fact that this rat put Unit 96 and Patrick on the shelf,” Gustavo turned his attention from his commander to his charge with eyes trying to burn a hole in the side of Lucien’s head, “This vermin withheld intel and cost Unit 96 our transport ship, reputation and Patrick’s leg. I wouldn’t even be on this mission if it wasn’t for him.”

  “Yeah, it's a shame what happened to Pat, and trust I am aware of his reputation. Commander Dimatte was pretty vocal about this mission. I’ll tell you, like I told her, that his handler took care of intel, and they paid upfront. That being said, you are on cargo detail.” Brandy’s order was met with a growl, this time aimed at her. His aggression was met with bemusement from the doe.

  “If you want to fail the mission, go right ahead,” Gustavo grumbled.

  “Oh no, you’re the best to keep him safe. So, regardless of how you feel, you are going to pretend the waters of life flow from his rear. At least until we complete the hand off. Am I understood?” Brandy spoke, meeting Gustavo’s aggression with warm indifference. The lion stared right into her eyes as a soft growl filled the cabin. In turn, she asked again if her order was understood. The bite in her second go round was clear and silenced her subordinate.

  “Understood,” Gustavo relented, turning his attention back to the window.

  “Fantastic! Any more questions?” Brandy's tone switched back to the more jovial mood she entered with. She was met with a unified no as a response from the team, sans Gustavo. “Sweet. Should be closing in on the beacon, so we should be hitting blackout soon. No magic from anyone other than Becky until we land.”

  A speaker crackled to life from the corner of the cabin, and the crew’s attention was drawn to the pilot's disembodied voice. He called the captain back up to the front as the ship entered the beacon’s black zone, signaling the landing zone was coming up. She called to the front before tapping Rebecca on the shoulder, turning on her heel and heading back to the cockpit.

  As soon as the captain had vanished back up front, Gustavo took one more chance to glare daggers at the cargo. A familiar disgust crept up the lion’s throat and came out a comment in Lios, the lion’s mother tongue. Though the others missed it, Gabriel understood the insult and tried his best, but failed, to stifle laughter.

  “Wait, what did he say?” Sam asked, looking between Gustavo and Gabriel.

  “Um, I’m not sure how to translate that. Just know it was foul,” Gabriel chuckled. The lion leaned closer to get a better look at the rabbit’s face, what the muffler didn’t cover. Even moving into the prisoner’s line of sight, the rabbit refused to look at him. Instead he shifted his eyes as far right as possible to avoid looking at Gabriel. With a scoff, the lion leaned back into his seat and spoke, “Seems like a lot of trouble for a fancy fail-son. Not sure what the big fuss is.”

  Being called a fancy fail-son, that remark did what Gustavo couldn’t: Get a rise out of the aristocrat. What was a mostly unchanging visage melted into one far more hostile. Tiny green pinpoints attempted to burn a hole through Gabriel. Unfortunately, the display meant to instill fear only brought the lion to another round of laughter. The second being far more mocking.

  The laughter was brought to an abrupt end as Rebecca clapped her hands. Now that everyone’s attention was on her, sans the cargo, she thanked her teammates for their silence. Pulling her hands apart, a twinkling prism formed and shifted. The form faded in and out of nothingness, only visible from certain angles. She formed a triangle with her hands around the twinkling form which caused it to spin faster. Soft chanting caused it to accelerate until the shape flattened out into a smooth disk. As the chanting ended, the disk popped like a bubble and faded into nothingness.

  Outside the ship, the air began to twinkle and shimmer. Gradually but quickly, the ship's exterior started to melt into the inky blackness of night. It didn’t take long before the small ship had vanished entirely from view. Not a trace of the vessel was visible and the leaves displaced by the ship’s movements would be indistinguishable from those moved by the night’s soft breeze.

  “And done,” Rebecca whispered. She picked up the tablet that sat dark in her lap and tapped a few buttons, “Looks can be deceiving, Gab. You are in the presence of one, Prince Lucien Inkwell Grayhart, and he is currently sporting a seven hundred and fifty thousand credit bounty on his head. Failson or not, he’s at least worth something.” She flipped the device around and showed a digital dossier file, backing up her claim.

  Before Gabriel and Sam could get a better look at the screen, Brandy’s voice spoke through the speaker. “Look alive, Unit. The landing zone is coming into view. We land in five.”

  As the crew prepared, the ship moved silently through an opening in the forest’s canopy. It faded back into view, though the poorly lit forest left it mostly invisible short of the lights that dotted the exterior. The only other light in the clearing was an old metal building. A lantern burned over an old wooden sign with the only decipherable words being ‘train depot’. The rest had been lost to weather and rot.

  Out first were Sam and Gabriel. The two went to work as soon as their boots hit the mossy and damp forest ground. The horse drew circles of light into the air and encased the ship in a bubble. As the translucent shield solidified, Gabriel’s eyes glowed a pale blue. He scanned the area while he approached the edge of Sam’s shield.

  “Hey Captain?” Gabriel spoke as he tapped his metal ear clip.

  “Talk to me,” Brandy’s voice came through the metal clip.

  “Not picking up anything out here ‘side from bugs. No sign of the handler.”

  Brandy was monitoring the beacon's information in the ship's cockpit. What was showing was the same as when the beacon came online. Judging by the placement, it was located in the old metal building. She and Jacob exchanged a look before she made her way out. While passing through the cabin, she checked on the three remaining occupants. Gustavo was still in his seat with a heavy boot tapping. Becky was up and out of her seat, working to remove the binding holding him in place. To his credit, Lucien remained unmoved and uninterested in Brandy or her team. Now on high alert, she extended her arm and a blade of dark red energy formed above her hand before jumping out of the ship.

  “Um, everything good?” Becky asked, eyes locked on the blade of red light..

  “Maybe. Gab didn’t see any trace of the handler. Gonna step out. Be ready to strap him back down if things go weird.” Brandy answered sternly before moving to join Gabriel and Sam. The visor reformed as she tapped her metal clip and the beacon’s signal was still intact. With boots on the ground, she instructed the two to follow her toward the metal building while staying inside the bubble. “Ghost tongue, this is Captain Fender with Unit 98, We are at the agreed location but have no sign of life. Requesting visual before we hand over the cargo.”

  There was another moment of the silence. The beacon blipped again, as it had every few seconds since coming online. This time, however, a pair of knocks came from the old metal building. The metal door under the burning lantern opened with a loud creak and from inside stepped a well-dressed horse. Both Brandy’s visor and Gabriel’s eyes picked him up as he approached. He pulled a small disk from his pocket and held it above his head. Brandy watched him cautiously but saw the beacon’s signal coming from it. The blade retracted as the horse tapped the blinking light on the disk.

  “Greetings, Captain Fender. Forgive the cloak and dagger. Needed visuals for clarity. I’m sure you understand.” The horse spoke with a posh accent.