Allison hit the steering wheel with her fists and swore under her breath. Of course, they would put up a check point in front of the Space Port. They had escaped prisoners. She quickly typed a pre-made message she attached the cargo transfer with the confidential addendum into her stolen holo-phone she hoped her ruse would work twice. She briefly pondered smashing through the security cars with the much bigger cargo truck. She shook her head and pushed the idea away. Triggering any alarms this close to the Space Port would cause a lockdown, including their transport. Space Port security was yet another thing she’d had to study for her Space certification on her pilot’s license. She blew out when she reached the roadblock. One of them motioned for her to get out. She got out.
“What’s your destination and what’s in the back?”
Allison sent the message to the officer. He scanned it on his tablet. It read: My cybernetics are malfunctioning, and I cannot speak currently. I have the attached cargo in my truck, it is marked confidential, and I’ll open the truck, but I’d rather not because I could get fired.
“Oh, I see. We have a scanner. We’re just looking for some escaped illegals. Two of the idiots came here with open warrants for public indecency of all things. Morons got their whole group caught. We flagged them as soon as they left the space port.”
Allison nodded and motioned to the driver’s side of the truck.
“Go ahead. It will just be a few minutes before we can scan the truck.”
Allison got back in then quickly started digging through her saved daemons. They were all crude and amateurish, but she didn’t need to be surgical, she just needed the scanner to not work. As part of her infiltration training, she had been tasked with getting past a bio scanner. She’d lost marks because the virtual instructor had expected her to tweak her own bio-readings. In typical Allison fashion, she’d done something completely different and tweaked everyone’s bio-readings by making them just not appear. It was easier and the daemon was extremely quick acting, almost instant. With any luck the security officer wouldn’t be familiar enough with the device to notice that no one was showing up. She scanned the local area for available connections. She whispered: Yes. The police bio-scanner was open. She launched her daemon at it. He scanned the back of the truck a few seconds later.
The officer holding the scanner motioned towards the space port. Allison leaned out her window. The officer she’d been talking to spoke to her.
“You’re all clear.”
Allison gave him a two-fingered salute and pulled away slowly. She glanced in her driver’s side mirror, and it appeared the officer doing the scanning had realized something was up with his scanner because he was hitting the side. She pressed her foot on the accelerator and sped towards the Space Port. She pulled up to the outer bay door to the hanger where they’d docked the transport. She slammed both feet on the brake pedal and put the truck in park. She smiled and dusted her hands off.
“No problem.”
She grabbed the duffle bag and walked around to the rear of the truck and hit the door twice. The group lifted the door and started to pile out. They all looked a little bit banged up and a little green. Miles shook his head at her.
“Chica, where did you learn to drive?”
Allison shrugged.
“You hired me for my flying, not my driving. I don’t have a license and I’ve never driven a wheeled vehicle before.”
She rolled her eyes and went to the pad and swiped her hand several times. It was refusing to work. She smacked the back of her hand against the Space Port’s concrete wall and the bay door started opening. She shook her hand. She figured the ident chit was done now. She walked around the back. Miles was already carrying the smaller wooden crate. Pinto and Dimi were trying to move the Vampire’s iron tube. Neither seemed to be able to get it moving. The wooden box crumbled under the pressure of Dimi’s cybernetic arms.
“Damn it Pinto, if you’d upgrade both arms this wouldn’t be a problem. Zebra go find a hoverskid.”
Allison shook her head and got into the back.
“Pinto, please get out of the way.”
Pinto laughed and shook his head. He held his hands up and moved out of the way. Allison took his place and tried to lift the tube. Between her dhampric strength and her armor she was able to help Dimi lift it, but she was struggling. She closed her eyes; Eyre had taught her to use more of her supernatural strength and endurance without vamping out and using blood. It was one of their gifts. When it kicked in, she found the Iron tube felt light. She hopped down from the truck and the pair of them carried it all the way onto the transport. Pinto and Zebra brought up the rear carrying the duffle bag with their kit and the remnants of the iron tube’s box. Dimi and the crew went about securing the cargo.
Allison went to the cockpit. She swiped her hand over the pad that would let her ident chit activate the ship. She tried it several more times. She hit her hand a couple of times and tried again. Still no response. She swore in Swahili before standing up. She punched the transport’s wall as she walked towards the rear. Miles looked at her as she approached.
“Why aren’t we moving yet?”
Allison disabled her hologram and shook her head.
“Ident chit is fried. It took us too long. Without it I can’t power the fusion reactor up or lift off. It’s a security feature so ships can’t be stolen, and unlicensed pilots can’t launch them.”
Dimi looked a bit confused.
“Then just use yours.”
Allison turned to him.
“Okay genius. Four problems with that idea.”
She held up her fingers and pulled each down in turn.
“One, I am not listed as qualified on this class of ship. Two, I’m not authorized by BMC to be flying this, Three, I would get arrested if it did work because my license has my real ID on it. And finally, number four, I don’t have an ident chit, or this would have never worked in the first place!”
Dimi pouted.
“You could have just said it won’t work.”
Miles looked at Zebra.
“You can hack this right? Make it work?”
Zebra shrugged.
“I don’t know shit about hacking vehicles.”
Allison shook her head.
“No, it won’t work, the theft interlock is physical. You can bypass it but the minute I do it will alert Titan Corporate Port Security. If they’re as efficient as Eden Prime Port Security response we’ll have maybe five minutes to power the fusion core, charge engines, plot an FTL course and make the jump to hyperspace. Once time is up, they’ll have fighter squadrons from the base, from the orbital station, and we’ll be dealing with corporate fleet response. If, and it is a huge if, because this is literally a cargo barge with no shields or weapons, if we manage to do all of that. Then we’ll have to deal with System’s Alliance Fleet response which can trace our FTL trajectory and easily intercept us at the heliopause before we can make the FTL jump to Sauroid Prime.”
Miles made a face and scratched at his beard.
“How do you know all of that for certain?”
Allison hit her head against the transport’s armored hull.
“Because I’d usually be the one responding to it. We run drills. Hello System’s Alliance Starfighter pilot here.”
Miles looked at everyone.
“Come on guys, we got the goods, we have a ship. All we need to do is get it to the client for a big payday. It’s either that or we wait here until Security starts searching each hanger for us. We’re escaped prisoners. We’re fucked either way. So, think!”
Allison closed her eyes. She would definitely lose her flight status for this, possibly her commission… at least she’d get off as a juvenile. She shook her head and closed her eyes. For some reason she could hear Major Ghai shouting at her, Adapt and overcome soldier! She started whispering, Adapt and Overcome, to herself over and over again like a mantra. She looked around the transport. She pulled her scanner out and started walking around. Eventually her eyes focused on Dimi. She smiled.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Dimi, your accelerator augment, its powered by a micro-fusion reactor, isn’t it? A really powerful one?”
Dimi nodded and looked at her nervously then between his friends. He took a step back when Allison stepped towards him. Allison held her hands down and low.
“I will give it back; I promise I just need to borrow it for a few hours.”
Dimi shook his head.
“No way. This chrome cost me a fortune.”
Miles and Pinto shoved him towards Allison who grabbed his arm. He struggled against her. Pinto grabbed his other arm. Dimi shouted.
“Get off!”
Zebra approached and put her hands on his cheeks.
“Babe, if we don’t get out of here, the corps will rip out all of our chrome give us Chiptronics replacements and sell ours off to pay our fines, including your Supremacy.”
Dimi sighed.
“Fuck hon, I just got it, I haven’t even had a chance to use it!”
Allison pulled out her scanner and ran it along Dimi’s metallic spine. She pulled out her liquid metal multitool and pressed it against a screw. The multitool solidified when she pressed the slider down and it formed to the keyed screw head. Her multitool was only legal for System’s Alliance Security and Military personal. And this was the reason. Proprietary screws for tools that would cost millions of credits. She could do with forty credits worth of liquid metal. Zebra swore under her breath. Allison unscrewed the corners of the plate and popped it off. Inside was a fist sized fusion core. She smiled. Ran her finger along the edge of it, then unceremoniously yanked it out of its housing. Dimi’s legs gave out. Miles and Pinto let him down easily. Allison motioned at the duffel bag that contained the group’s equipment.
“Pull the e-clip from your heavy laser rifle. It should fit. He’ll be able to walk but if he tries to use the accelerator, he’ll burn it out.”
Allison tossed the fusion reactor up and down. She hummed while she approached the front of the ship. She pulled her data tap off of her belt and ripped the liquid metal connector out of one side. The device sparked and complained. She tossed it aside. Zebra picked it up and gave Allison a dirty look.
“Do you know how much this was worth?”
Allison shook her head as she crawled under the main control bank.
“No, I really don’t. I’ll just requisition a new one.”
She rolled over onto her back. She pulled her vibro knife out of its sheath then jammed it into the panel and ripped outwards. The panel complained but eventually tore off. She scanned the various wires with her contacts. She found the power feed for the transport’s navigation computer, which also seconded as the fly by wire control system. She pulled it down and then cut it with her vibro knife. She peeled back some of the plastic coating and then did the same to the wire she’d torn out of the data tap. She wrapped them around each other. She patted her hand around by her waist, once she felt the borrowed fusion core she wrapped her fingers around it and held it over her face. She jammed the liquid metal adaptor into one of the two output ports and there were a few beeps as the nav system came online. She smiled, then stuffed the fusion core inside the control housing and pulled herself out from under it.
Zebra leaned against the wall of the pilot’s compartment and crossed her arms as she watched Allison work her magic.
“Your talents are wasted on the military, sister.”
Allison dusted her hands off and leaned down on the control panel and started plotting three FTL jumps. She spoke to Zebra without looking at her.
“Well, I’m sixteen, and it’s a part time job. And my Babu and my Dad are both lifelong, career military. And there isn’t much call for mercenary work in the colonies, especially Andromeda Galaxy.”
She got quiet as she plotted three precise FTL courses. She looked at Zebra.
“How long do you think it would take you to back up, then reprogram a ship’s ID beacon?”
Zebra looked at Allison.
“What now?”
Allison motioned for Zebra to follow her. Allison held her scanner in front of her as she walked. She found the spot and started knocking around until she found the hollow. Allison looked at Zebra.
“If this doesn’t work, I’ll need Dimi.”
Allison looked down at her fist and shook it a few times. She decided on a different approach. She imagined punching the wall and ripping a hole in it. The armor formed a wrist plate, then a punching dagger and Allison smiled at it. She punched the wall and the blade sliced through the metal with ease. The wrist blade sunk back into the forearm plate and the forearm plate vanished. She pushed her fingers into the tear she’d made in the metal and ripped down with a groan. The metal screeched and complained. Allison tapped a cylinder.
“ID beacon. It tells everyone who we are. There is a non-zero chance this is pointless but my experience with Ops scanner techs is, they’re lazy. We flip this to appear like we’re something else, we steal this ship, and we keep it there for when we run into the Alliance interceptors. Once we make the second jump, you flip it back to its old self and we cruise right by the System’s Alliance check point in the Trappist system and we land, you guys collect your money and I’m even with Miles. Super easy. Just a simple quantum encryption to break.”
Zebra shook her head, left and came back with her computer. She pulled a cable from the computer and plugged it into the back of her neck. Allison started searching through her military training manuals, found the file on fixing your broken ID beacon and sent it to Zebra. It was extremely important for military ships, specifically fighters because it was how targeting systems did identify friend or foe.
Allison left Zebra to her work and started scanning for the theft interlock. She found it in the cockpit under the gravity plating. She sighed. This she’d have to be gentle with. She pulled her multitool out and patiently unscrewed the two plates that covered the interlock. Thankfully they were in front of the console, so she’d still have gravity in the pilot’s seat. She gathered up all sixty screws and the two plates and stowed them in a cargo pod. She sat down on the deck by the front view port with her legs dangling down into the gaps left by the gravity plates she’d removed. She did a deep scan of the interlock and all its connections. She zoomed into the scan on her AR HUD and started looking through the various circuits until she found the one she’d have to jump to start the fusion core. She called out.
“Miles! Is there any Synth-O left?”
Miles came into the cockpit holding a bottle. He tried to find an easy way around but he was much wider then Allison so he couldn’t without falling into one of the gaping holes she’d created. He threw her the bottle.
“How much of that do you need to drink?”
Allison shrugged, popped the cap and downed the blood. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and threw the bottle back to Miles. She kept the cap in her hand.
“Depends on how often favors where I just ‘sit’ in the ship end up with me committing felony theft, assaulting several officers, aiding fugitives, aiding said fugitives in escape, several violations of System’s Alliance lawful ship command, and finally, my favorite, piracy.”
Miles rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.
“Well, no plan goes perfect right?”
Allison shook her head and kicked her feet.
“Okay, Pinto, is your driver, Dimi is the muscle, Zebra is your computer person, what is it exactly you do?"
Miles grinned.
“I make bad ass plans.”
Allison rolled her eyes.
“Based on my recent experiences, you make crappy plans. How many times did Hazel have to save your butt?”
He shrugged.
“Four, maybe five times.”
Allison laughed.
“What exactly did she see in you?”
Miles leaned on the doorway and crossed his arms.
“Come on, I’m hot. Good in bed, and I treated her like a Queen.”
He grinned.
“There was this one time after a job… the first one where she wolfed out. It was on that pyramid ship, it was the first time I wasn’t-”
Allison held up her hands.
“Stop, I’m definitely too young for this story especially since I slept in that bed eew!”
Miles laughed. Pinto called out.
“Uh, guys we got company.”
Allison could hear the security bots from where she was sitting. Miles went to leave. She yelled out.
“Miles, stop. I need you.”
He stopped and turned around.
“What? They’re going to start shooting soon.”
Allison pointed at the pilot’s seat.
“Sit down. You should see a button that says fusion core cold start. I’m going to make this connection. You need to hit that. Once we do this, the entire planetary defense force is going to come down on us, hard.”
She called out.
“Zebra, how are we doing?”
Zebra called back.
“Uh, I got it backed up and erased everything…”
Allison sighed and muttered.
“Fuck it.”
She shouted.
“Close it up. We’re leaving!”
Allison looked up at Miles.
“You hit that button as soon as I tell you. Then you run back to engineering, and you look for the fusion core control panel and you type in A-R-6-8-A-C, repeat it for me.”
Allison made him repeat it six times. Miles leaned over the pilot’s control panel and had his hand over the cold start button.
“So uh, what exactly does that code do?”
Allison pushed her fingers together squishing the metal bottle cap so she could fit it into the gap to jump the interlock.
“Nothing too bad, it’s just the standard disable code for Aurelius corp fusion core safeties. It lets you speed up the fusion core power on cycle.”
“Wait, safeties? What do they protect against?”
Allison shrugged.
“Catastrophic overload. But there’s only a twenty or thirty percent chance of that.”
Dimi shouted.
“Hatch is sealed, and security is trying to unseal it!”
Miles wasn’t looking pleased.
“Catastrophic overload? I thought fusion cores were safe, and didn’t explode, that is the whole point of them!”
Allison glared at him.
“Not the time to discuss this! Once we’re in FTL ask me again. Get ready.”
Allison reached down and jumped the interlock. All the lights in the cockpit started flashing red and white. An angry synthesized male voice started shouting through the speakers.
“Theft Interlock disengaged! You are in violation of System’s Alliance law. This transport is BMC property. Port security has been alerted. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”
Miles hit the button. Lights in the rest of the ship started coming to life. Allison jumped up. Miles grabbed her arms and pulled her across the open gap. She slid into the pilot’s seat. She looked at Miles.
“Go, put the code in. Without it we’re not getting out of here before they lock down the port!”
The transports comms flared to life.
“Unidentified Transport you are in violation of the Piracy Act of 2897. Stand down or we will fire on you.”
Allison didn’t acknowledge the comm and just talked to herself.
“Yeah, yeah. Just try and catch me. You corporate cheeseheads.”
She looked back.
“I need someone in the copilot’s seat, now!”
She was hoping Zebra would respond, she was sorely disappointed, it was Dimi. He sat down and gave her a dirty look.
“Just so you know, I’m not talking to you, but I need to because I don’t want to die… but I’m not talking to you.”
Allison rolled her eyes. Dimi was a big baby apparently. She flicked the FTL controls over to the co-pilot station.
“Your job is easy. When the Engage FTL button turns green and flashes, you press it. I’ve already plotted the course presets.”
Dimi kept pouting but nodded. She started turning on systems. She grimaced when she noticed the fusion core was getting close to the red line, then shook her head and flicked the readout off her view. It would go or it wouldn’t, nothing she could do to change that now. She swept her finger along the power distribution control, dumping every bit of power the ship had into the thrusters.