"You're not from the Kaarzee clan," Axel said. "Do you work for them?"

The boy waved his axe. "What do you think?"

Axel took a deep breath. It was time to play the only card he had. "My name is Axel Ford. I'm the son of the war hero, Quentin Ford. If you're from the Kaarzee clan, you'll do well to remember the Battle of the Ten Signs. He was there for your family when you needed him the most and right now we could do with a favour on your behalf."

The guy smirked. "And if I'm not from the Kaarzee clan?"

Axel hadn't considered that. Marcella stepped forward. "Then you'll probably have realised that this planet is not a great place to be on right now," she said. "We just wanted a place to hide out."

"You'll have to hide out in the hanger then," the boy replied. Axel clenched his fists. This guy was starting to get on his nerves. "Because I am the owner of this ship and you are trespassing on my property."

"We need to get off this planet, we won't be any trouble to you," Axel pleaded.

The guy opened his mouth to answer but it was drowned out by a warning siren from outside the ship. He shot a look at Axel. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't him," came the voice of the Ivarozzan girl. "That's coming from outside, big bro. We need to close the entrance hatch quick."

She pushed past Axel and Marcella and pressed the button to close it up. Then without warning something flashed up on the panel. Axel was now looking at a projection of the Kaarzee member who owned the Gambling District. Rutan Kaarzee looked very angry.

"You!" Rutan spat. He was speaking to the teenager who apparently owned this ship. "Listen scum, if you don't get out of my ship this minute, I'll make sure you don't ever manage to get off it alive.”

This was clearly an argument between whoever this guy was and Rutan. Axel could feel the clock ticking on Hyke's safety and they'd lost too much already to fail his father's mission. He stepped forward. "Rutan Kaarzee, am I to understand that this man doesn't own the vessel we are aboard?"

Rutan's fat lizard face scrunched up. "Who are you?"

"My name is Axel Ford, son of Quentin Ford," said Axel and from the way Rutan's face fell he knew that he didn't have to explain anymore. "I have come to your hanger seeking a favour."

"So you decided to try and steal my ship with your little scumbag friend over there?" Rutan shouted as spittle flew from his mouth.

"We don't know each other," said Axel. "I assume you remember the Battle of the Ten Signs."

Rutan nodded. "My father thought it important. I can't see it as anything but history. It no longer affects our family."

"After what my father did--"

"--I don't care if your father solved the hunger crisis of Saxonica. You have broken into my ship and for this you will pay," snapped Rutan, his big lizard cheeks flushing an angry red.

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Axel's face fell. He had been counting on this having more of an impact on him. Maybe if he'd spoken to an older Kaarzee there would be a level of respect but Rutan just seemed to be an insolent brat.

"Now, this is your last warning," shouted Rutan. "Get out of my ship or else my men are coming in there."

Axel looked over to Marcella and then the boy with the axe. They were all thinking the same thing. The Kaarzee weren't known to be a lenient family, if you crossed them once, you would be made to never cross them again. While Axel didn't mean any harm by coming here, he doubted that Rutan would see it that way.

"It seems you've made your decision," Rutan said and the projection of his face flickered off.

"We need to get out of here," said Axel.

"You heard what he said," snapped the boy with the axe. "We're all dead meat. If you go out there they'll shoot us on the spot, if we stay in here they'll blow this place to smithereens. We're done for."

"Why so negative, big bro?" came the voice of the young Ivarozzan. She was sat at one of the control panels and pressed a button which lit up three of the monitors in front of them. One screen showed what was going on in the hanger; no longer a pit of darkness, Rutan stood leaning on a cane in deep conversation with two Vaxorians in Hyper-Titan mech suits.

"Shields activated," came the robotic voice of one of the other monitors which now read:

Shield capacity: 100%

Rutan turned to look at the Homesteader and scowled.

"How did you manage to do that?" asked the boy with the axe.

"Because, Cain, I'm a complete and utter wizard," the young Ivarozzan said as her face broke into a cocky grin. "Everyone who knows anything about hacking knows how to access the deep code of a ship."

The third monitor lit up and the computerised outline of an Ivarozzan face appeared on it. "Captain Rutan, I notice you have turned on my shields. May I be of assistance?"

The AI's face creased in confusion. "You are not Captain Rutan. You are an impostor. Trespassing protocol activated."

Axel's heart sank as he realised what had just happened. The Homesteader wasn't just any ship. It was a ship with a sentinel AI. An AI which was programmed to follow only Rutan Kaarzee. It would take more than a bit of basic hacking to get this ship working.

"Ship evacuation commencing," came the robotic voice and they jumped as the metallic gate of the ventilation shafts opened. "Releasing termination gas."

"Wait a minute!" cried out Cain. "We're friends, we know your Captain."

For a moment, all they could hear was the whirring of the engines, then finally the AI chipped in.

"If you are friends of Captain Rutan, you will know the safety code," it said. "Please say it out loud or type it into my dashboard. You have one minute to report before termination gas is released and ship evacuation will recommence."

"That's not good," said Axel. "If we don't turn that off the whole place is going to be full of toxic gas. There's no way we'd survive that."

The boy with the axe, known as Cain, turned to his little sister. "Any ideas?"

Axel stepped forward. "Let me have a look at the console, I've heard about these things at the Academy."

"You studied with Space Division?" asked the Ivarozzan girl. "Do you think you can find me the AI's physical interface? I might be able to rework its loyalty settings."

"I think we've got bigger problems," said Marcella and her eyes widened as she spotted what was happening in the hanger.

Rutan's men wheeled in a large energy cannon. "That thing takes plasma capsules," Marcella whispered. Her suspicions were confirmed as two of the large Vaxorians heaved a plasma capsule three times the size of those her father had into the cannon. "That thing will rip through our shields and take us out with one hit."

"Ship evacuation in forty five seconds," said the AI.

A projection of Rutan's face came up. "Are you sure you don't want to get out of there?"

"You're bluffing," said Cain. "No way you'd destroy your own spaceship."

Rutan grinned slyly. "Plenty more where that came from."

He flickered off.

"Ship evacuation in thirty seconds."

Rutan's men turned the cannon to face the Homesteader and prepared to fire.