“From my research, that is one part of your body that will not grow back,” Frost commented as he snapped the remains of Gasper’s tongue from around his wrist. “You are hereby remanded to the custody of the Coalition under violation of the Star Act four-fifty-two, Region…”
Frost never finished his sentence. Gasper, choking on the remains of his tongue, reached for the knife he had in the waistband of his pants. Gasper threw the knife he had grabbed underhanded in the hopes of catching Frost off-guard. Those hopes died at the same time as he did.
Frost, seeing the movement of the other man’s hand, shot out his right hand, sending sharp blades of ice that pierced Gasper’s neck and chest while swinging up with the sword of ice he held in his left hand to slice through the blade coming toward him.
“… the penalty is death,” Frost finished, ignoring the screams from the woman and child. “If you should resist.”
Frost sighed as he stared disgruntledly down at the dead male. He hated it when they resisted, which was pretty much all the time. It always involved more documentation on his part.
Pulling the communicator off of his belt, he turned it on with a swipe of his thumb. He ignored the bored face that brightened up when the communications officer saw it was him. Instead, he quickly punched in the code for a Reaction Team.
“Hi Frost, Passion was trying to reach you. She isn’t very happy with you right now,” Scarlet told him as the request processed.
“What else is new? I need a cleanup team,” he bit out.
“Like you said, what else is new?” Scarlet joked. “I’ll send one once you’ve sent your position. I’m patching you over to Passion. She said the moment you made contact to let her know.”
“Don’t….” Frost started to say before sucking in a frustrated breath as Passion, the commanding officer of the Star Rangers, came on.
“I could say the same thing for you,” Passion snapped out. “You know you aren’t supposed to shut off your comlink.”
“I was busy,” Frost retorted. “The damn thing went off just as I was about to apprehend Gasper.”
“Apprehend my ass. You mean kill the bastard,” Passion retorted. “I have an urgent assignment for you.”
Frost glanced at the door Newmar had disappeared through with her daughter before looking down at the mangled body of Gasper. This was supposed to be his last assignment before returning to his world. He had more than enough credits saved up so that he wouldn’t have to work another day in his life if he didn’t want to. He did want to work, only this time, it would be at something he enjoyed. He missed his home world and wanted to join his older brother back on Glacier. It was past time for him to join Rime at the huge casino and hotel business they had been building over the past fifteen years.
“This was my last assignment,” Frost growled.
“No, the one I’m about to give you is your last,” Passion stated. “There has been an escape from Maxprime.”
“Max…” Frost clenched the communicator in his hand. “Who?”
“Taar,” Passion replied quietly. “This is top secret, Frost. You brought him in. I lost five good Star Rangers before that. You know how he thinks.”
“No one knows how that bastard thinks,” Frost growled. “How did he escape?”
“He killed eight guards as he was being transported for execution,” Passion stated coldly, looking to the side at the screen holding the details. “I’ll send you what we have. Frost, there is one more thing.”
“Isn’t there always,” he muttered under his breath before glaring at the dark red-skinned face of Passion. “Well, are you going to make me guess or are you going to tell me?”
Passion glanced away from the screen before returning her focus to it. Leaning forward, she stared intently into his eyes. The skin on the nape of his neck crawled. The only time that Passion acted like this was when something went wrong… very, very wrong.
“The tracker on the ship he stole shows he is heading for an undeveloped star system. There is only one planet in the region that he is heading to that has life on it. Reports from the database state that the species living there is very primitive.”
Frost grimaced with distaste. He hated primitive planets. They either tried to make him into a God of some sort or kill him. Either case didn’t sit well with him.
“How primitive? Have they mastered space travel?” He asked bluntly.
Passion shook her head. “No, not that we have any information on and there are no recorded instances of the species interacting with traders. The last reports we have indicate they had the rudimentary concepts of building with primitive tools and they believe they are the only life forms that exist.”