Phoenix Phire

"ID please," the wide-shouldered guard's deep voice lacked any inflection, clear evidence that he was bored working the front gate. "You with BFS?"

The dark-haired man smiled slightly before handing his papers to the guard. "Yep, Bellatora Fire Suppression... You guys had an accidental activation last week."

"Right..." The guard checked his hud, his eyes glancing over the details. "Nasty bit of business, the entire building had to be emptied and sanitized."

"BFS uses nothing but organic materials; this stuff is environmentally safe and will snuff out any fire."

"Lower the glasses, Mr..." The guard glanced down at his hud before continuing his sentence, "Magnus Pon."

"Sure thing." The dark-haired man lowered his sunglasses, calm yellow eyes staring calmly.

The guard patted the side of the white flatbed truck and motioned him through. "They are expecting you."

Nix watched his rearview mirror for a few seconds while he pulled away from the guard post. "I'm in."

[You okay, Trip-7?]

Nix smiled at the sound of Darsi's voice. She was as cool as ice. "Why wouldn't I be okay? What's the worse that could happen?"

[Why the fuck do you have to say that?]

Nix chuckled and pulled into temporary parking to wait for his escort. "It's too bad Quebec and New England are the only viable targets."

[I guess we have a shortage of good arsonists.]

"I know, right?" Nix nodded to himself and shut down the engine.

[Contact me when you're clear, Trip-7]

"Sure. When I'm clear."

Thirty minutes later, Nix watched as his escort downloaded the barrels from his flatbed truck onto a much smaller cargo hauler.

His escort ignored the labels written on the outside of the containers and opened each one before inserting a chemical sensor probe. "These barrels scan in as LVS."

Nix noted that the man's name tag said Ed in overly large letters. But, if nothing else, Ed was very thorough. "Yep... Don't forget the 5-gallon buckets. They are a glycerin-based wax."

Ed checked each of the buckets and then proceeded to close everything up. "What's the wax for?"

Nix pointed to the floor buffer, the last item to be loaded on the hauler. "Standard clean up once I finish refilling the LVS reservoir and bleeding out the pipes."

Ed nodded in approval. "You're cleared to work in both the inner and outer halls. I'll be escorting you the entire day."

Nix paused while considering the diagram he committed to memory earlier. The inner hall was the border for the launching courtyard; a round cemented area roughly two hundred meters in diameter. "I miss the old days when launching shit into space meant big beautiful plumes of flames fueled by a few thousand tons of hydrogen."

"You and me both, Mr. Pon." Ed switched his hud to another display before looking up. "This railgun tech sends them into low orbit with a three-round burst, barely anything to see."

[This inspection a problem, Trip-7?]

Nix shook his head slightly, knowing the Bottom Feeders were watching him from v-Earth.

Thumper cursed loudly from the navigation platform. "Who the fuck is this Trip-7?"

Stiletto studied the building diagram while Thumper stayed close to Quicksilver's operative. "No idea; Quicksilver says he's solid."

Thumper left the platform and drifted casually through the walls of the outer hall while Nix used a dolly to move the barrels to the first reservoir. "Dibs on Trip-7."

Stiletto paused and looked toward the warehouse below. "You tried that with Dex. Only then you said you like the innocent young ones."

"What can I say? My taste varies." Thumper wrinkled her nose slightly, a telling sign that she was irritated. "You think Quicksilver has her hooks set in Trip-7 too? Fucking unfair is what it is!"

Nova nodded in agreement while moving the platform directly over Nix. "He's too edgy for me. Those lion eyes... make me feel like an antelope. I'll keep my sights on Dex."

"You two realize that we're all on the same channel?" Quicksilver exchanged glances with Dex. "For the record, if you're interested in Trip-7, you'll have to step around a half-dozen wives."

"Oh god..." Thumper covered her face with both hands, suddenly glad that the man she was shadowing couldn't see her face. "Sorry, Trip-7! We were just having some girl talk."

Despite being virtual, Stiletto felt her face heat up as she closed her multi-colored eyes tight and tried to recall her exact words. "Shit...," she muttered under her breath.

"It's actually seven wives, according to Colonial lore," Dex manipulated code directly into the first G-5 satellite while Quicksilver interrupted the feed coming from Quebec's server.

"Hmm... He didn't actually marry that Su'Dhassi woman; Nix arranged something different for her." Quicksilver smiled at the memory. "As part of a treaty, he married her off to that trouble-maker from Pathfinder. What was his name again?"

"Jiggs," Nix replied.

"That's right... Fucking Jiggs, that guy always steps in the shit." Quicksilver shook her head at the code she was interrupting. "Making a copy of this so I can we can analyze it later. We owe Nova one for giving us the intel."

"I guess..." Dex frowned at the mention of the Infiltrator's name. Nova was the one that discovered that Quebec was going to format their satellites all at once. That revelation caused the Bottom Feeders to come up with a plan. Upload their own format onto the G-5 platforms and force an early launch.

Nix completed his task ahead of schedule; refilling the depleted reservoirs before using the floor buffer to lay down a thick coat of wax in both halls took precisely seven hours.

"You have a good singing voice." Thumper had nothing to do during this time except to observe him. His application of floor wax was accompanied by a surprisingly pleasant rendition of golden oldies. "You should upgrade your music library."

Nix was already in his truck and driving toward the front gate when she commented. "Make some recommendations; I barely ever leave Colonial."

[Doing okay, Trip-7? How much of a break do you need before you head over to New England Virtual?]

Nix waved at the gate guard and slowed down just enough to make a right-hand turn. "None. I'll sleep on the plane. Just make sure the barrels I prepared are loaded up and ready."

[Sounds good! We'll hit them tomorrow then. Your flight has a jumper onboard that you can use to visit us at the v-Hive. Oh, and bring Hara with you.]

"Cya in a bit, Darsi."

Thumper's dark eyes stared as the truck disappeared into the distance. "Is Trip-777 your hacker name?"

Nix laughed at the question. "Nope. My hacker name is Pon the Magnificent."

The four Bottom Feeders rendezvoused at the Nav-Platform an hour later before heading back towards the Hive. According to Syntax, they needed to get used to transporting with the platform instead of just logging out when they were done. When these nodes eventually went active, they'd track entries and exits into their system. The Nav-Platform had built-in masking software and would become the preferred exit method.

Dex exited the T-6 a moment before his three companions. A glance showed him that Mongoose and Gadget were still working the G-5s at the newly formed New England virtual. Stepping away from the jumper, he watched as his teammates logged out.

Darsi was the next out; she swiped her thumb ring immediately after exiting before freezing in place. Her lips curved in a smile when she noticed Dex; her ring hadn't vibrated. Instead of commenting, she joined him.

Thumper and Stiletto exited simultaneously, conversing casually while walking toward the partners.

Darsi keyed one of her fun programs and waited. A moment later, a pie slammed into each of their faces.

"Fucking hell!" Thumper cursed loudly, wiping pie from her face. To make matters worse, it was banana cream, her favorite. "Why did you do that?"

Although he tried to get words out, Dex laughed so hard he couldn't manage it.

Darsi smiled innocently at the two women. "Do what?" She keyed her hud, and the pies disappeared.

"Shit..." Stiletto swiped her thumb ring. "Groundhog?"

Dex managed to nod but had to wait for a few seconds before he could comment. "Get used to it. Next time it might be snakes or spiders."

After logging out of Groundhog, Dex headed to his apartment with his partner in tow. "How did Nix get those barrels past the inspector? I thought we were done when Ed pulled out that chem sensor."

Darsi shrugged at the question. "Trip-7 is crafty. Ask him yourself."

Dex grabbed a quick bite to eat, followed by a shower before setting up the tandem jumper to access v-Hive. Quicksilver was bringing both Hara and Nix in to meet with the Bottom Feeders.

By the time Darsi arrived with her two guests, the rest of the Bottom Feeders were seated around the kitchen island. Quicksilver took a moment to introduce the couple before her co-workers did the same.

Hara hugged Dex before shaking hands with the others. "You have a round door, Dex. Got some hobbit blood in you?"

"That's what I said! Who else makes round doors?" Dex focused on Nix. "How did your barrels pass inspection? I looked up LVS; it's a fire suppression chemical."

Nix nodded in agreement. "It's also much lighter than potassium permanganate. Which is why it floated to the top."

Dex caught on right away. "So the potassium permanganate is the bad shit."

Thumper glanced from one to the other as if they were speaking in some sort of code. Was Trip-7 a fucking fire Da Vinci? "Explain it to me! Use small words if you have to."

"I filled the barrels to three-quarters with potassium permanganate before topping them off with LVS. Since it pumps from the bottom, only the heavier chemical went into the reservoirs."

Thumper was using her hud while Nix explained; her dark eyes scanned the information briefly before looking back at him. "That stuff isn't dangerous. It can be used around the house in a dozen different ways, including water purification."

"Sure," Nix agreed. "That was my goal, to clean up their water supply."

Thumper frowned at the yellow-eyed man. "Not going to tell me?"

Hara nudged him with an elbow before jumping in. "Make friends, Nix."

"Right..." Nix winked at Darsi, who was doing her best to keep a straight face. "The wax I used on the floor was glycerin-based."

Thumper keyed her hud before finding what she was looking for. "Shit..." She transferred the video to the counter's hud and played it. When the two chemicals came into contact, it immediately burst into a bright purple flame. "Are they going to have time to move the satellites?"

Nix shrugged slightly. "If they hurry. Darsi said to put pressure on them. Nothing says pressure like an Inferno."

Quicksilver fist-bumped him.. "Mongoose and Gadget will be with you when you repeat the process in New England Virtual."