Randolph Lalonde - Resurrection

“Okay, start warming up, spend ten thousand on Xetima.”

“That'll still only fill our fuel reserve to fifty one percent.”

“I don't want to overspend here, the prices are way too high.”

“Do you want me to do anything about these two men? There is a remote cracking program running as well. I'm trying to ignore it, but it's quite persistent.”

“Do you think you could back hack it? Maybe find out who's trying and where it's coming from?”

“Too risky. I would have to form a firm connection with the assailant and he's very good.”

“Okay, close up your network, even the commline with me. Just lower the forward crew ramp when I make a run for it.”

The express car made several stops along the way and Alice tried not to get irritated as she was jostled and moved one way and another by people getting on and off at odd places. At long last, it finally arrived in her section. She had to press between two burly men to get out just in time.

She ran down to the hall to the common bay her small ship was docked in and slowed down as she came to the entrance. It was just as Lewis had described, two men looking very carefully at the ship for any extra hatches or openings. It was a Arcyn Starskipper, jet black with an extended engine section. Its mirror shine black hull showed no hint of windows. The sleek, forty two meter long body had a fast, predatory look, built mostly horizontally, favouring the deck space required to support its four rear engines. The front of the ship came out just a few meters from the center, protecting a sealed missile compartment.

She had seen the ship before her second life began. After completing a job for a wealthy Duke years later she requested the Clever Dream as her payment. To her surprise, he obliged.

The pair of inspecting, prodding men were joined by a third, who was holding a multiscanner. “I've got to see what they're after before I walk in,” she said to herself as she ran into the massive landing bay and hid behind a stack of crates. With the mechanics working on various ships she didn't have to worry about being quiet. The bay was large enough to house over twenty ships the same size or slightly larger than hers and it was busy.

She ran behind a massive tool chest and patted it on the back. It made a mechanical 'gronk' sound and the safety camera on its back swivelled to look at her. “Hey, can you just walk over to that ramp for me big guy?”

“Yes,” The robotic tool chest answered with a voice box that sounded so cracked up it was difficult to understand. It lifted slightly and trundled along on a pair of treads for ten meters. She used it for cover, following behind hit as it slowly moved along.

When she got to the staircase, she patted it on the back again. “Thanks, now you should get back there so you're ready to hand your master tools.”

It started back and she ran up the stairs, keeping her head behind the metal plates under the banister. At the three story mark she peeked back up. She could see two of the three men; the one with the scanner and another who was standing watch. “Now there we go,” her mechanical eye zoomed in on the scanner readout several hundred meters away and refocused. He was trying to find a seam in the hull near a data cable so he could cut in and try to bypass the ship security. “Ship thieves? I have two super corporations after me and the big problem I'm facing today is ship thieves?” She connected to Lewis's communication line. “Did that cracking program give up?”

“It did, as soon as I closed all my communications lines.”

“That makes sense, they're looking for a data line they can tap. I don't think these guys are hunters, they just want the ship.”

“Not encouraging news.”

“No, but if you get us clear to take off by the time I get there I'm pretty sure I can just blow through them and up the ramp.”

“Don't do anything I'll regret.”

“No promises. Tell me when you have clearance.”

“Yes Alice.”

She went over the railing and landed on the hull of a much older vessel below. “Help! They're trying to steal my ship!” she called out.

Several mechanics heard her and a security guard armed with a stun pistol came running out of a storage room so far away she could barely make him out with her biological eye. She ran down the sloped hull of the ship and dropped off the low side, hitting the ground running and drawing her sidearm. “Get the hell away from my ship!” She shouted so loudly she was a little winded.

To her surprise one of them drew his handgun and fired. It narrowly missed her and she ducked behind another ship's heavy landing strut. “Lewis, I don't think they're just ship thieves. They might have wanted inside so they could surprise me when I returned.”

Someone was firing a smaller weapon from another direction, most likely the security guard.

“You are aware that if station security's sensors record you firing your sidearm they will not allow us to leave until local law enforcement clears us.”

“Are their sensors that good?”

“I can't be sure, but I'd advise against leaving it to chance.”

“Well then, plan B,” she said, climbing up the landing gear into the undercarriage of the much older ship.

As expected, the firing soon stopped. Anyone who had stepped forward to help before was probably under cover and that guard most likely didn't win the exchange. She dug around a little in the undercarriage compartment and found a number of hoses. She picked the thick brown one and pulled a knife out from an inside jacket pocket.

“Where are they?” She asked Lewis silently, using her mental link.

“They're approaching your location.”

“Oh goody, I have a surprise,” she sealed the head piece to her vacsuit and quietly pulled one of the hoses in the undercarriage compartment.

“Please don't cause damage we can't afford to pay for,” Lewis complained.

The pair of men looked behind the large landing strut. They were just starting to look up when she cut the liquid waste recycling line and let it spray in both their faces. Her intention was to drop out, knock one down and then trip the other. Instead her foot slipped and she ended up falling on one of the large men.

From her awkward position, on her back with one man under her, the other in front, she had no choice but to draw her sidearm and point it at the one left standing. “Drop it!” She ordered, rolling to her feet.

Her opponent complied and Alice kicked the weapon hard before picking up the other one.

“Behind you,” Lewis warned.

She spun on her heel and pointed her sidearm at the third assailant who was running to aid his friends. “I wouldn't,” She called out loudly.

He raised his weapon anyway and made to fire, Alice got back behind the landing strut just in time. “God this is frustrating!” She yelled at no one in particular.

One of the disarmed attackers made to tackle her and she sidestepped him, kicking his knee cap square on with her heel. Several shots rang out and she got fully behind cover again. “Can't I just shoot him?”

“Whining won't help,” Lewis replied. “Should I open the door?”

“Please,” she ducked low and gripped the sidearm she had picked up by the barrel. In one swift action she peeked around the the strut and threw the gun as hard as she could. It made its mark, smashing him in the nose.

The narrow forward crew ramp was just starting to lower as she made a mad dash for it. Lewis knew her all too well, he didn't open it all the way. He left enough space for her to run up so he could close it right behind her.

Instead of running to the cockpit she removed her jacket and vacsuit entirely, making sure not to get any of the raw sewage on her before she ran to the cockpit. “Oh my God that stinks. No wonder the one I hit full in the face with that stuff was down for the count.”