Gloria entered the main dome of Mars-8 and smiled. It had been forever since she had been back, for obvious reasons. She looked up at the “Dome of a Thousand Suns” with pleasure. Mars-8 was one of the largest surface domes on the entire planet with the enclosed area of a large city. She was here “on a mission” but she indulged herself in a pleasant walk through one of her favorite parks. It hadn’t changed a bit.

She paused at a peach tree and picked herself a true Martian peach and sank her teeth into the succulent flesh. She then grabbed herself an apple. She grinned. They just didn’t taste the same anywhere else. She paused at the “honor transactor” and paid two credits for her feast. That was the great thing about Mars-8. There were gardens just about everywhere they could fit them and they were quite inventive when it came to fitting them just about anywhere.

She sat and enjoyed her fruit and watched as people passed by. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it until now.

It was a shame that she wasn’t going to be able to return. Oh well.

She checked the time. Back to the mission. She hailed a cab and went to the closest rail stop. About ten minutes later she exited into a smaller residential dome containing expensive villas. As she walked down the street she smirked as people did double-takes, pointed and whispered, and some even pulled out communicators. She distinctly heard the word “police” on several occasions.

It’s nice to see they haven’t forgotten me, she thought as she chuckled to herself. She made a point to keep her hands where they could be easily seen, just in case a cop didn’t check the records first.

After a short stroll she stopped at the gate of one of the nicer residences in the dome. She grinned and pressed the intercom.

“Samuels residence,” Clara, the housekeeper, answered. “Oh my God! Gloria!”

“Hi Clara,” Gloria replied. “Is mom home?”

“Yes! I will tell her that you are here! Please! Come in!” Clara exclaimed as the gate opened.

***

Gloria’s mother practically lunged out of the door and drug her inside.

“Did anybody see you?” she anxiously asked.

“Yeah, plenty of folks,” Gloria laughed. “A few of them called the cops and everything.”

The color ran from her mother’s face.

“What have you done?” she exclaimed in horror.

“Mom, chill,” Gloria chuckled. “I am not wanted in the Republic anymore.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I'm completely free and clear of all warrants and bounties. I bet Ms. Rothwright is all shades of disappointed,” Gloria laughed.

“How?” her mother asked, confused. “I thought-”

“We sort of made the Republic very very happy a little while back,” Gloria said with a smile. “Part of the deal was a clean record.”

“And you didn’t visit?” her mother asked accusingly smoothing her hair. “Not even a call?”

“We’ve been kind of busy.”

“So I have seen,” her mother said accusingly. “The White Star? A Federation Councilor? The whole Federation is going to hunt you down like a dog for that!”

“They have already been hunting us like dogs. We’ve had death squads on us for quite some time now thus me not paying you a visit,” Gloria said with a musical laugh. “In fact, the White Star and Councilor Morgan probably saved our lives. We have fresh new bounties and arrest warrants all across the Federation now.”

“And that’s a good thing?!?!” her mother asked pouring herself a stiff drink.

“A very good thing,” Gloria laughed. “Probably still have death squads on our ass though.”

“And I suppose that Jessica Morgan is just going to let the whole killing her grandson thing slide, huh?” her mother said as she downed the drink in one gulp.

“She’s probably a little pissed off,” Gloria smiled as she poured herself a drink, “Probably has bigger fish to fry right about now, though.”

“What do you mean?” her mother asked dubiously.

Gloria handed her a data crystal.

“You haven’t seen that?” Gloria asked. “The document that Ambassador Jon Wintersmith sent?”

“That garbage,” her mother scoffed. “I have it on good authority-”

“And I have it on even better authority that it’s legit,” Gloria said as she sipped her liquor and nodded approvingly. “Nice. The Ambassador is telling the truth, mother. I think my info is a bit better than yours. Hacked it ourselves.”

Her mother poured herself another drink.

“… God...” she said as she sat down and took another gulp. “But that means...”

“Yup. Hell in a hand-basket.” Gloria replied with a pleasant smile. “Which explains me dropping by. I wanted to make sure you guys knew the score and I wanted to… Well… I just wanted to see you guys, that’s all.”

Her mother looked at her with worried eyes.

“Gloria,” she said very calmly, “The last time you ‘just wanted to see us’ was right before you resigned your commission and joined up with those fucking pirates. What the Hell are you about to do?”

“It can’t happen again, mom. It can’t,” Gloria said urgently.

“What can’t? Gloria, you aren’t making any sense.”

“The war… What we did… God...” Gloria said in anguish.

“What we did?” her mother said with hatred in her voice. “After what those bastards did to this system, to our family, we didn’t do nearly enough! Those...” her mother trailed off realizing that was exactly the sentiment that sent Gloria straight into a life of piracy and murder.

“No,” Gloria said weakly as she buried her face in her hands, “I...”

Gloria’s mother held her daughter helplessly as Gloria, sobbing, told her for the very first time, what she actually did during the war.

“… Oh my poor girl!” her mother cried as she held her after Gloria’s tale had finished.

Gloria took a deep breath and her eyes glazed over.

“So, mother, I will not let that happen again, not over some bullshit like this. We did what we had to do. I know that, I do, but that doesn't make it right. We can never do that again. Never! I’m going to put a stop to it,” Gloria said with a calm assurance that terrified her mom.

“...Gloria…” her mom said with fear in her voice, “what are you going to do?”

“For starters,” Gloria said as she got up and poured herself another measure of some truly fine bourbon, “I’m divesting my stake in the Consortium.”

***

Gloria walked into the headquarters of the Mars Consortium with a wry smile. Telling her family that she was going to sell off her stake in the “family business” went over even worse than she anticipated.

At least they aren’t feeling sorry for me anymore, she chuckled to herself as she walked to the reception desk.

“Hello,” she told the man sitting behind thick security glass, “I am here to see Martin Samuels.”

The man raised his eyebrow.

“And who might I say is calling?”

“Gloria Samuels. I am here to divest my stake.”

That got a reaction.

“Um, one moment, please,” he said in a very confused tone and started typing. After a few minutes he looked up at her with a somewhat terrified/awed expression. “Yes, Ms. Samuels, Mr. Samuels will see you. One moment, please. Feel free to take a seat. Can I get you anything?”

“If you have some decent Martian bourbon I would love a glass.”

“Yes, Ms. Samuels! Right away!”

Shortly after Gloria received her quite large glass of bourbon on the rocks two very well dressed humans, a flaxen man and woman walked up.

“Ms. Samuels?” the man said, “This way, please.”

Gloria followed them into an elevator.

***

The elevator went up for a while and then came to a stop at the top floor. When it opened Gloria was greeted by half a dozen very professional very well dressed individuals.

Security… of the mercenary variety, Gloria thought to herself.

“Good afternoon,” a woman said as she approached with a scanner. “If you wouldn’t mind would you please disarm?”

Gloria shrugged and surrendered her pistol and blades. The woman then scanned her, twice, and nodded.

“Thank you, Ms. Samuels,” she said in a professional voice. “Mr. Samuels will see you now.”

Gloria smiled and followed them into a large office.

It was empty.

“What the fuck?” Gloria asked in alarm and turned to leave. Two mercs stepped in front of the doors. She quickly scanned the room for something to fight with.

“Please relax, Gloria,” a man’s voice said from another set of doors. “I just want to talk, that’s all.”

The doors opened and a flaxen man entered… a very young flaxen man.

“Shit!” Gloria snarled and prepared to make a suicidal charge.

“We can have this conversation over drinks or we can have it with you strapped to a hospital gurney, your choice.” the man said as all of the mercs, their hands turning into blurs, drew heavy stunners.

Gloria snarled, her eyes full of pure hate. She started gauging the distance between her and the “young” man in front of her. If she could just get close enough…

“I see you have figured it out,” the man laughed ruefully. “Martin Samuels, a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“I wish I could say the same, traitor!” Gloria hissed. She realized that she still had a heavy glass filled with bourbon in her right hand. She took a good long sip. The glass was going to be useful but it would be a shame to waste the bourbon.

“A fool, yes,” Martin chuckled, “A traitor? Most assuredly not. I did take advantage of Patricia Hu’s miracle in a vial but under no circumstances will she gain control of the Consortium. All she has done is kill me… and my wife...” His demeanor turned grim. “Mars will never fall! A few of us were foolish and we will cleanly and painlessly die for it when it is clear that our time has finally come. Executive duties are quietly being transferred to the next in line so as to not adversely impact our stakeholders and our citizens. From what we can gather we have anywhere between six and twelve months to transition to new management and we should have everything cleanly accomplished within four.” Martin paused and poured himself a drink. “Our successors have been preparing for decades to replace us so not much is required other than a clean and gradual transfer of executive power.” Martin paused and smiled. “So, do you want a refill or are you still planning on smashing in my skull with that highball glass?”

“I can multi-task,” Gloria said with a smile as she walked towards the bar.

After they both filled their glasses Martin turned to Gloria.

“I take it that you wish to divest your shares?”

Gloria nodded as she took another sip.

“The timing is very interesting,” Martin said with a smile. “Do you mind if I ask why?”

“I’m having a ship built,” Gloria replied calmly, “and I need funds. That’s all.”

“This ship,” Martin replied looking into her eyes, “does it have anything to do with your previous occupation.”

“It might,” Gloria smiled.

Martin nodded and sipped his bourbon.

“Is your target Patricia Hu?”

“It is. What happened, during the war, it can’t happen again. What she seeks to do to the Federation and to us can not be allowed to happen.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Martin asked with a grim smile.

Gloria’s eyes ignited.

“I’m going to tear it all down,” she replied staring into his eyes, “everything she has, it’s all going away. Every ship, every station, every stronghold, every business, every supply cache, every lab, every single thing she fucking has… It’s all going to burn.” Gloria drained her glass. “She plans on having the resources to rebuild Terra? Nope. She won’t have a goddamn thing. She can’t play if she doesn’t have any fucking toys can she?”

Martin shuddered as he looked into Gloria’s real eyes. She smiled.

“As far as that war she is so keen on? Not happening,” she snarled. “What I did? Not going to happen. If I have to personally rip the engines out of the whole fucking fleet it isn’t going to happen and if the Federation wants to invade I will personally remind them why that isn’t a good idea but it won’t be some luckless innocent soft targets. I will light their fucking capital on fucking fire! I will hunt their councilors, their businessmen, and their families. I will bring the horror of war to them. I only know one thing, Martin, and that is how to kill. Fortunately, that is exactly what this situation calls for and I am the fucking best to have ever drawn a fucking breath. The bugs couldn’t stop me. The Feds couldn’t stop me. The Republic won’t be able to either. The only person who stops me is me.”

Martin, and the entire room, unconsciously backed away from her as her soul burned and her eyes gleamed with pure delight.

“I’m fucking back, bitches, and I have my dream ride being built as we speak!” Gloria exclaimed with pure joy. “Momma just has to pay the bill so pay up!”

Martin nodded and smiled.

“I’ll do you one better,” he said as he pulled out a tablet and started typing. “There is now a numbered bank account in the Consolidated Bank of New Vegas with one billion credits in it. I think that should be sufficient funds to get you started, yes?”

Gloria just smiled.

“It should get the ball rolling nicely,” she replied, her eyes burning like coals.

“Splendid,” Martin smiled grimly. “I consider it a good investment for the security of the Consortium and the Martian people. Show me some results and there is more where that came from. Show that bitch she picked the wrong planet, the wrong company, and the wrong family to fuck with.”

He walked forward and extended his hand.

“I look forward to working with you Ms. Samuels.”

“Likewise, Mr. Samuels,” Gloria said with a smile as she shook it.

***

“Gloria, where the fuck have you been?” Sheila demanded as Gloria strode onto the Paper Tiger. “I’ve been worried sick and that pisses me slap the fuck off!”

“Oh,” Gloria smiled. “I had some family stuff to iron out.”

“Oh?” Sheila asked dubiously. She didn’t know a lot about Gloria’s family except for the fact that she refused to ever discuss them. “All better now?”

“Yes, much,” Gloria smiled. “Oh and I’m quitting by the way,” she said calmly as she walked towards her cabin.

“WHAT?!?!!?!?!?” Sheila yelled. “Get the fuck back here, goddammit!” she shouted as she chased Gloria across the ship.

***

That evening the crew all sat around the bridge as Gloria stood there smiling beatifically over them.

“So you have gone completely bugshit then?” Jessie demanded more than a little angrily.

“If you like,” Gloria replied with a happy smile.

“And this ship,” T’sunk’al said as he munched on some rice, “it’s one of these… Reapers?”

“Oh no. Goodness no,” Gloria said in a happy mellow voice. “It’s what a Reaper should have been! It’s much better especially after a few modifications I just called in. It will take another few days but it will be well worth it. It’s going to be the Angel of Death. With it I will be able to fix everything! I can make everything better!”

“Nice,” T’sunk’al replied as he shoveled some more rice into his mandibles. “What’s the turnaround time looking like?”

“What’s the turnaround time?!?” Jacob spluttered, “Is that the only question you have concerning this?”

“The biggest one, yeah,” T’sunk’al replied as he sipped some tea. “The rest of her plan sounds sensible enough. Hunt shit down. Blow shit up. Repeat until there is nothing left to blow up. Pretty straightforward and may I say a refreshing change of pace from the twisty turny convoluted bullshit we normally do.”

“I should have it ready for flight testing in two weeks!”

“Ok, now I have concerns,” T’sunk’al said. “Two weeks for a complete Angel of Death? I have very real quality concerns.”

“The design is based on a Moray which were designed to be built fast and cheap. They just cut up two Morays and made one Moray and a half out of it. The structural framework is already done except for a little welding. The internals are all off the shelf… If you know the right shop that is (which I do)… I hired some true master craftsmen to do the work, much better people than made my original Reaper and I unleashed horror after horror in that baby.”

“Well, it’s your ass,” T’sunk’al shrugged. “I trust you know what you are doing.”

“Gloria… Maybe...” Eno said hesitantly, “Maybe I could test your brain chemistry? Maybe you need-”

“Of course I’m completely insane!” Gloria laughed happily. “I left sanity behind on Red Sunday and never looked back!”

“Crazy or not,” Sheila said, “and I can’t believe I’m saying this, she ain’t wrong. That bitch has to go down, now, and standing right here in front of us is without a doubt the single deadliest Moray pilot to ever have drawn a breath. Send a crazy bitch to kill a crazy bitch and, my fellow pirates, there are none crazier than our enchanting Gloria.” Sheila rose and downed her beer. “We’ve been talking about what exactly the fuck we were going to do about this bullshit the whole time we were looking for our little diaper clad Medal of Honor wearing nut-job. I think we just heard exactly what we are going to fucking do about it.” She looked at the crew.

“Pirates,” Sheila bellowed, “all in favor of backing our favorite murderer one last time?”

“One last time?!?” Gloria laughed.

“Yeah because if by some miracle you survive this you are getting help, bitch.”

“Fair enough,” Gloria chuckled.

“So like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Sheila shouted. “All in favor of backing up our favorite psychopath?”

A chorus of “Aye!”, and “Fuck it!” rang out.

Gloria just stood there, stunned as people started hugging her.

“You aren’t rid of us just yet, you crazyperson!” Bunny shouted over the speakers as she flashed the lights off and on. “You need intel, supply, support, hackers… the works! Alone you are a dangerous psychopath. With us you are an effective psychopath! Let’s blow some shit up!!! Woo!!!”

“Woo!” Jessie chimed in jumping up and down. “We’ll have your first batch of targets fresh out of the oven before the paint on your ship is dry!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I hope we can hack a video feed so we can see the look on her fucking face! Ha!”

“You guys...” Gloria said helplessly, her eyes gleaming with happiness and tears, as she started hugging everyone back.

“Ok, crew,” Sheila shouted. “Let’s all go out and raise some hell because we may never be able to set foot on Terra again!”

Cheering and laughing everybody charged out of the Paper Tiger and out into the city. Even Bunny, networked to Jessie’s tablet and posing as a karaoke app, went along.