Zoe was nearly to Newark Liberty International Airport when her Archangel screamed a warning once more. Zoe didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary around her nor did she notice anything on the camera feeds.

“Huh? Is my Angel on the fritz?” Zoe wondered. A flutter of movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Zoe looked down and her eyes widened in horror as she saw a three-inch metal wasp land on her right bicep. “What in the blue hell is that?”

Zoe didn’t waste time and knocked the thing from her arm while she scanned it. The wasp was a drone developed by AmeriNet Technologies and mostly used for crowd pacification as well as spying. She didn’t doubt that it was used for more nefarious activities as well.

“Blasted thing will give me nightmares,” Zoe muttered as she wondered where it had come from.

Her Angel warned her again and Zoe used the 4x magnification of her Kaisers to look around. She spotted another wasp drone, or maybe the same one, diving toward her from the left. Her vision returned to normal as she swerved right making the drone miss and crash into the asphalt highway. The rearview camera picked up the explosion from the drone’s destruction.

“At least they’re fragile things,” Zoe said to herself. Now that she knew what to look for, Zoe spotted three dozen more drones flying around her just out of range of her Archangel on the drone camera network. “Oh, come on!”

“I hope this works,” Zoe muttered. Instead of waiting for more attacks because she was worried the tiny drones would knock her out if they stung her, Zoe targeted and attacked the drone closest to her with Locust Swarm. The new denial of service attack hadn’t been tested yet and she wasn’t sure if it would work, especially against a military asset.

*

“Private, send more than one at the courier instead of just one at a time,” the Alpha Force executive ordered. “Even if the wasps don’t sting her, they can hopefully force the courier to crash.

“I don’t know about that, Bob. This courier has shown some skill,” the Alpha Force colonel’s AmeriNet Technologies counterpart said.

“Yes Colonel Wagner! Right away sir,” the drone operator replied before ordering the six closest drones to attack the courier.

“Come on, Susan. The girl got lucky against some criminal trash and Spanish peacocks that weren’t trying very hard,” Bob told his counterpart while ignoring his underling.

“Sir, I have a problem” the drone operator said.

“Private, I don’t want to hear about problems. I only want to hear from you that you’ve incapacitated the courier,” the executive replied.

“What kind of problem are you having, private?” the AmeriNet executive asked.

“The drones are not accepting new instructions, ma’am.”

“What do you mean?” the colonel asked before Susan Gilmore could.

“It’s almost like they are out of memory,” the private answered before remembering who she was addressing. Bob Wagner was a well-known asshole even in a corporation known for them. “Sir.”

“That’s not possible,” Bob said.

“It is if they’re being attacked by a DDoS attack such as a Flood,” Susan pointed out. “That’s something that we haven’t been able to harden against completely.”

“They’re not on any other network though,” Bob replied.

“You’re using the internet to communicate with them, aren’t you?” Susan retorted.

“Ah…Private?”

“That’s correct sir. We use the internet instead of satellite because it’s cheaper,” the drone operator answered. She pointed to the main view screen. “Oh no! The drones are crashing.”

“Fuck!” the colonel shouted as he turned to the screen, which used Newark’s camera and drone feeds, and watched his wasps drop from the sky exploding as they crashed into the ground.

“Ha-ha. Luck huh?” Susan laughed. “I might need to talk with this girl and offer her a job.”

Bob glared at Susan instead of replying to her, which made the AmeriNet executive laugh even harder. The private smiled briefly before turning to her own screens. She just hoped whatever egg landed on Colonel Wagner didn’t splatter onto her as well.

*

Zoe arrived at Hangar 56 and dismounted her bike. Airport security had been very helpful and not only directed her to the hangar but provided an escort. She sat her helmet on her bike’s tank and started pacing in front of it as she started to shake. The guards that had accompanied her exchanged smiles.

“Are you alright?” the orc asked.

“I…no…,” Zoe replied.

“That is stress,” the dog beastkin told her. “Check your medical subroutines. There should be a way to bleed it off or suppress it. If you have the proper implants, there should even be drugs loaded to help.”

“This will help as well,” the orc said offering Zoe a flask.

“She’s too young to drink, you big meathead,” the beastkin said.

The orc shrugged as Zoe checked her medical subroutines and did indeed find some commands that would help suppress her adrenaline and stress. She activated them and activated her Allegro’s automated routine. Zoe took the offered flask and took a big swig from it.

“Ugh! What is this?” Zoe asked after whatever she had drunk burned its way down her throat.

“Moonshine,” the orc answered. “Take another swig.”

“Freaking savage,” the beastkin said shaking his head as Zoe took a smaller sip as she found and activated another subroutine that would help her body fight off the alcohol. If she had a cybernetic liver, the Allegro could immediately kill off the alcohol’s effects.

“Thanks,” Zoe said handing the flask back to the orc a few minutes later.

“You’re welcome miss. We’re just glad you’re alright,” the orc replied.

“Though this must have been some delivery run, we don’t know what you went through. It’s better that way,” the beastkin said tapping his nose. “I can smell that you’ve fired a gun and been shot at.”

“You could say that” Zoe replied. “What’s your names?”

“Frank and Jesse,” the beastkin replied.

“James?” Zoe asked.

“Ha!” the orc laughed shaking his head. “I’m a Morissette and Frank is a Jefferson.”

“Well, thanks again,” Zoe said sending them 50 credits each.

“You don’t have to tip us,” Frank protested.

“I think I do,” Zoe said as the hangar door opened, and a guard stepped out.

*

Katherine Collins greeted Zoe while she was being frisked by another female guard. Zoe sent Katherine her credentials and returned the greeting.

“No other weapons other than the sidearm and pocketknife,” the female guard said. Katherine nodded and the guard stepped back after returning Zoe’s backpack to her.

“Here is your package,” Zoe said as she removed it from her backpack. She held it out and Katherine took it from her before walking over to a trashcan and dropping the package into it. “What the… why would you do that?”

“Thank you and it is just a small case holding a tracking chip,” Katherine answered. “The real prototype is on its way to its proper destination.”

“I was used as a diversion?”

“Yes. Yes, you were,” Katherine unapologetically replied. “All couriers are pawns to be played when we want to play them.”

“Pawns?” Zoe repeated incredulously. The guards all shifted at her tone and a few hands dropped to holsters.

“Indeed. Instead of being sacrificed like we intended, you exceeded our expectations and actually delivered,” Katherine said. “Don’t be upset. You’ve more than earned the bonus Miranda offered. In fact, I’m giving you another 1500 credits as your bonus.”

“What? Why?” Zoe asked in disbelief as the transfer to her account hit.

“Shocked?” Katherine asked. Zoe nodded. “Don’t be. We reward competence. You came through and gave a couple of our competitors a black eye in the process. That is more than worth the money.” She turned to her guards. “Let’s go.”

Zoe watched them exit the hangar. Zoe exited the hangar as a VTOL craft took off. She heard clapping and turned to see two men leaning against a blue A220. Her eyes widened in alarm. She quickly mounted her motorcycle and drove off. The run to the court and ride home passed in a boring blur.