The spaceport was an enormous hub of activity; there was a perimeter wall surrounding the landing platforms, complete with guard towers, dozens of security checkpoints; all for the simple purpose of ensuring no augmented people or weapons crossed without being detected. What seemed strange as the shuttle approached was a cargo container; a classic rectangular block of metal; seemingly floating in midair... with an enormous line of them on a track behind it.

As the shuttle landed, she could see a spacecraft dip down just far enough for magnets on the bottom to snag the container... and then lift back off, heading back into orbit. She blinked, watching it ascend, and glanced at Bobby in the next seat.

"...I thought cargo was moved in giant ships. Freighters, hundreds of meters long. Whats the story there?"

He glanced over, watching as the next container is pulled forward, and starts to float upwards itself. "Well. The main cargo ship never actually enters atmosphere. Its got like a dozen shuttles that drop and pickup containers from spaceports in a steady stream until its got everything settled... and then goes on to the next planet. Those big mothers only make the long, direct routes to hub worlds... and all the smaller ones, where you can see pirates and so forth, are taken up by little freighters."

The shuttle settled down on the landing pad... inside the security perimeter. The back hatch opened, forming a ramp to the ground... and Bobby stepped out onto the concrete, looking up at the ship she was about to board... a boxy shape, hundreds of meters long, at least a hundred wide; a massive, fat monster of a ship, bulbous and rounded, with ramps every few meters, people and cargo being loaded on. She looked up at the behemoth, and rose to her feet.

"...Its the size of a building." And this was a tiny fraction of the size of that behemoth of a cargo ship in orbit.

"Yup. Passenger liner. The KIS Bonavent. Those two beside it are the KIA Malice and Aggressor." He pointed at two much smaller, but still at least several dozen meter long, spacecraft beside it. "Her escorts. A few of the crew are augs, and they don't let the Bonavent out of the range of their guns til they leave Alliance space. It... makes things a bit stressful. Some of our inspectors have been shot trying to board one."

"...." She looked at one of the smaller, more wedge-shaped craft. There were at least three visible bulbs that undoubtedly protected turrets from re-entry, likely ready to pop free and start defending the ship at a moment's notice... and from the shape of the hull...

"...That's... a Dragon? Those are from the second galactic war, aren't they? Older than the Alliance?"

He chuckled. "Dragons are an old design, yes. But its a forty meter railgun with a crew compartment and defenses wrapped around it. Those Karth folks make their own, new ones, with the latest stuff. And some of the older stuff, too."

She sighed... and stepped out after Bobby, with the carrier whining as it stepped down, servos working under the weight of her luggage. She glanced at him, then the ship. "Older stuff... if you're refitting it to new tech, why use older stuff too?"

"Not sure. Some of our captains want to do the same thing, so there's got to be a good reason, but... not navy."

"So... I just walk up... give them my ticket... and then poof. Out of the Alliance. Into independent space. Into the stars."

"Yup. Your ticket gets you an actual room, somewhere in that monster. A bed for the next two days. Just keep your weapon on you, your carrier prepped... and don't shoot unless you have to."

She looked at the ship for a moment, then at Bobby... and nodded, starting to walk towards the ship, the carrier drone following a few steps behind. She could hear a digitized voice as she drew closer, from the carrier. ~If you wish to convince them you are disabled, I would recommend leaning on me for now, or simply riding.~

She slowed down a bit, leaning on the drone as she walked... and approached the ramp.

Two men wearing full body-armor; the core was clearly a vacuum suit, just like the Alliance security armor she'd seen every day, but this had ceramic plating over everything but the joints... and there were visible scorchmarks on the chest of one man. All of the armor plates were black, with the underlying suit being red; and the woman who took her ticket was also wearing red as she studied the flimsy wafer, scanned it, then looked her over.

The woman gave a firm nod, then focused on Seraph's face. "It seems this is your first time offworld, and out of Alliance space. Let me make it clear... most of our duty crew are augmented. They are also the crew of this ship. You are to obey any commands they issue while aboard without question, and if you cause a problem, you will be locked in an airlock and kicked out at our next stop, regardless of whether its your destination or who is on the other side. We cannot promise the exact time of our arrival at any given destination, but do our best to maintain timeliness. Once we've arrived, you will have two hours to disembark before you'll be required to pay for the flight to the next destination or be disembarked forcibly with or without your belongings. Do you understand?"

"Of course. Thank you."

She looked at the wafer again.. and nodded. "Well then. Your comm-unit should have the directions to your room loaded, and will notify you at meal-times and when you arrive. Welcome aboard the KIS Bonavent."

***

The ship was massive; several floors tall, filled with expansive chambers for everything from working out to eating to... well. It wasn't quite a resort hotel with thrusters, but it came close. All of the designs were odd, with the 'cafeteria' having each table inside a sort of odd cubicle, currently flat against the wall... She couldn't help but gawk for a moment at one of the crew; the red-skinned vacuum suit wrapped around a 3-meter tall, hairless, pale woman who was directing people up a flight of stairs... and noticed Seraph, giving a nod... and pointing at a door.

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"Your ticket indicated you had difficulty walking. We gave you a bottom-floor room. There are warnings to strap down during the red lights... they'll flash first to warn you. For someone who doesn't handle walking well, I'd recommend doing it for the yellows, too. Red is a hard burn... like when we're lifting off, or landing.. and yellow is the minor stuff... docking with a refueling station sort of situation. When we're underway, look for the blue X on the wall; that's the floor. When we land on a planet, look for the green X."

A quick nod. "Thank you, ma'am. Understood." Seraph looked at the indicated door... 153... and pressed the wafer of her ticket to the slot by the door... watching it slide smoothly aside, as her carrier followed her inside.... and settled onto the floor. A fully contained, clearly water-tight booth for a shower, that would be a tub while the ship was in flight... that also had straps for attaching yourself to the wall. A modest, twin-sized bed, just off the floor... with straps to attach yourself to it, as well, and space under it for her luggage. It was right at the corner of the floor and the wall with the blue X... and there was a lever at the head of the bed. She smiled as she read the instructions...

~Pull this lever to re-orient bed, if power fails. Ensure all luggage is strapped down and everything is contained if the lights start flashing red. We are not responsible for injuries caused by unsecured falling objects.~

And... a desk with a chair. The space was tiny; the equivalent of an ultra-cheap motel room that she'd dealt with during training, before she got an apartment.

She looked down at the carrier drone, sitting beside her on the bed, and glanced at the comm... she could remotely disable it and switch the brain-chips right now... but best wait til they left the planet, just in case. She tapped a few buttons, and managed to pull up a view for the ship; a broadcast from one of the landing cameras.

She looked around the room... and then settled in on the bed, laying down... carefully adjusting the straps, securing herself down. She couldn't sleep... but she'd need to do this for launch anyways. She closed her eyes. Thought about what was going to happen, about her future... and when the sirens blared, and the lights flashed red... welcomed the feeling of weight against her chest as a sign of, amusingly enough, freedom... as the ship lifted into the sky. She glanced down at her comm; grimacing as the sudden weight tried to pull it from her hands... and watched the spaceport disappear beneath her.

Drasport. She'd always known it was one tiny city, on one tiny world, among thousands humans called home. Seeing it go from a mass of flat grey concrete... to a rough circle of grey and silver.. to a tiny dot amidst a mass of green.... and finally, resolving to a beautiful green gem of a world.

The feeling of weight persisted, of being heavier than she should be... and she could feel the bed shifting. The change of direction was disorienting; it felt just... weird... as the bed apparently moved along a track in the wall. When the lights started flashing again... and finally went off... the room looked... different. Everything was the same, but... the desk could clearly fold up and down, the shower became a tub, the bed re-oriented... it was all... odd.

She glanced at the carrier... it was currently attached to the wall, magnetically gripping it a few feet off the ground.. and then down at her comm. She was offworld. Any second now, they'd be entering Darkspace, and she'd hopefully never be in Alliance space again. She watched the comm for a bit, the planet continuing to shrink until it was just a white dot in the distance....

And then.... darkness. It felt like nothing at all, the transition from one dimension to another. If she could look freely outside the ship, she knew what she'd see; movies showed it all the time, especially ones with space battles.. perhaps they'd have a better view here. Either way... that was it. Nobody could claim Darkspace. She was out of the Alliance.

She inhaled... and held down the button on her phone. After a few seconds, the carrier beeped, going into standby...dropping to the floor with an audible thunk.. and she unstrapped herself... reaching down, finding the seam. A few moments of pressure and it popped open, revealing... Corporal Wallace.

She lifted the brain-chip out; this was no hack, rush job; it was a careful, precise piece of work, made to last. She had no idea what she'd do with this brain-chip, but... she unsnapped her bag attached to her luggage, and looked at the 'SUE' brainchip. She looked down at the drone... these things usually used an extremely limited AI to walk and follow, or were remote controlled. Hopefully this thing was compatible...

She slid it into place, shut the slide, dropping Wallace's chip into her bag... and powered it back on, watching expectantly.

After a few seconds, there was a buzz... and it righted itself, standing up on the floor, focusing on her. She studied it, and sighed. "Well... Mister Proxima. I changed my mind, for various reasons. One of them being the drone you're riding in. Can you control that drone you're in? Or even understand what I'm saying?"

The drone pointed the flat front of its shell at her. ~I was expecting to be dead, not loaded inside an... armed four-legged drone. Weird. Are you about to ask me to die fighting some Alliance troops? I wouldn't mind, honestly, so long as you make sure my mind gets destroyed alongside the drone.~

"No. Actually.... you get to live, in this plan. They gave me a sort-of security guard... a corporal who'd passed on some time ago, steering an armed drone that could defend me if needed. They slapped a 'disabled' sticker on my file, and he's listed as a mobility aid, to help carry me and my luggage."

The drone shifted slightly. ~That's... well, not the worst idea. And whats this new plan entail? How do we get out of Alliance space?~

"We're already out of Alliance space. I just didn't want to look suspicious to these... Karth Imperium... people who own the ship, and I also didn't want an Alliance watchdog on my ass. I needed to swap him out before I go visit whoever I'll be passing the intel over to so... no time like the present. Figured I'd give you a chance to learn how to drive this thing before we show up. Take a few minutes. We'll explore the ship a bit come lunchtime, so you've got a couple of hours to get your legs properly under you."

~And the other ASU people?~

She patted her luggage. "Safe and sound. You don't have to admit you secretly work for the dubs, but I'm assuming a trip to the United Worlds embassy wouldn't be a problem for you?"

~Not at all. If you're faking all this up to get information out of me, you're doing a remarkable job.~

She sighed, and glanced down at her tattoo; still no artifacts. Still, hopefully, not a sim. If this were all being recorded by some watching Alliance officers, swapping Wallace out for Tyler would likely have been the moment her crimes crossed over into provable treason. Not that it mattered... they'd have executed or enslaved her the moment they discovered what Tyler had done to her anyway, which meant anything she did to them might as well not have a penalty. Aside from pissing them off.

Hopefully she wasn't going to have some Alliance kill-team tracking her down. She knew how good those bastards were at their jobs. And how vicious.