Thaum had a plan, steal the ship.

The smuggler base had more ships than he wanted to fight with his damaged ship, so he wouldn't. Instead, Thaum would shrink his own ship and stick it in a pocket dimension, then transport the two women to the Night Runner and fly away. The ship was designed to outrun everything after all.

Thaum glanced at Ellora's missing arm, "probably should have done this before we were hiding in enemy territory, but they haven't reacted yet." He grabbed her stump and yanked her towards him.

"What?" exclaimed Ellora.

Thaum explained, "I did say I would give you a new arm. Now hold still." Thaums hands glowed an emerald and gold mixture. Both women yelped Ellora much louder when her stump started bleeding, but the blood didn't fall. It pooled around the end of the stump, slowly moving forward.

Ellora shivered, "that feels so weird, both good and bad at the same time."

They watched in amazement as Thaum regrew Elloras arm. "wow." Ellora said, moving her hand new hand around, "It is like I never lost it. Even tier one hospitals take months to do something similar, and most complain about the 'feel' of the new limb."

Thaum shrugged, "to be fair, regrowing limbs is a very advanced magic. Almost a form of art rather than a technique." Thaum ignored the awed looks and said, "Now you are combat-ready. Grab a gun. I'll transport you two into the Night Runner cockpit. Alice, you will be flying. Ellora, you will hold the cockpit while I clear the ship."

Alice shifted, "I'm still a novice pilot--"

Thaum interrupted, "Would you prefer to clear out the ship? Or perhaps you would like to have an intership fight with this ship or the Night Runner. I doubt we would win using either."

Alice robotically nodded, "I- I guess I should fly." She turned to Ellora, "Will you be fine killing those men if they try to break in."

Ellora gave a one-shoulder shrug, "they are smugglers."

Alice raised a brow. She couldn't believe she was so casual about it, "So because they transport things without paying taxes, they deserve to die?"

Ellora rolled her eyes, "How naive. Taxes aren't what smugglers are worried about. Some even pay them, so there is one less avenue the law can come at them with."

Thaum added, "The stealth requirement for smuggling means they can't truly trade in bulk, so they can't compete in most legitimate markets with the added expense of such difficult travel. Instead, they deal in high-value goods, but carrying such goods and not having a contingent of guards which would stick out makes you a target.

The end result is most smugglers end up trading illegal goods. They aren't usually worth that much to other shadow groups. They already have their own goods and can only sell so much, so the threat of theft is far lower, and the profit is higher."

Alice said, "But not all groups--"

Thaum said, "Any group that has been around long enough will, almost without fail. It starts small, things that shouldn't be illegal. It is a small step from taking freight to taking illegal medicine to save people or other such things, then another small step to justifying that some medicine is 'medicinal.' Another to drugs that don't cause harm, another to drugs that do a little, and then it's the fault of the user. Soon there are no rules because the way power works pushes the devils that do up the ladder.

What second or third in command will take less of a cut because the leader is too moral? When those below claw for his position, how long until one of them does sink a hook in with a promise of better benefits for those around him? No one enforces accountability or deals with corruption at the top of a criminal organization.

That is why I have stopped bothering to find guilt in such places. It isn't worth the time." Thaum didn't blame her. It had taken a long time to assume guilt and kill, longer than she had lived.

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Alice had taken a seat at one point, trying to think of a rebuttal that wasn't, once again, 'but not all.' Thaum wouldn't blame her. It took longer than she was alive for him to come to such a way of thinking.

Ellora had got the computer to manufacture a simple chemical firearm (a gun) and ammunition. Thaum raised a brow in question.

Ellora said, "Laser rifles are crap for boarding battles, the cooling required on anything automatic with more than a few seconds of fire weighs too much. They are generally only emplaced weapons. Single shot rifles are usually for distance because they can't beat full auto of one of these, and they are quite long compared to an SMG, which makes close quarters harder."

"Hmm," Thaum mused, "and ships are all tight fighting. Pistols?"

Ellora gave a so-so gesture, "Laser pistols won't get through even thin armor and lose even more power after a few meters."

They continued discussing the finer points of inter-ship combat and her experiences against pirates for a few minutes. Alice cut in and asked if they were going to do this now.

Thaum put the conversation on hold and started the mission.

They went to the airlock and put on their space suits. Went over the plan once more, then stepped out into space. Thaum focused his invisibility magic on covering the group as they exited. When it felt stable, he raised both hands to his ship.

Several minutes later, the ship was shrunk and placed in his pocket dimension. Thuam grabbed both women and started floating toward the Night Runner.

Thaum took them around a loop of the ship. Found where the bridge was hidden in the ship, then phased the group through the walls into it.

The bridge was smaller than even his ship. The walls and roof were screens showing space outside, the floor showing the same, but with a neon green hexagonal grid so you could see the floor.

There was a captain's chair with various consoles and controls hanging off it. The only other thing on the bridge was a second chair surrounded by screens showing the ship and communications. Thaum noted not to call it a bridge anymore. It was a cockpit.

A man in a jumpsuit was slumped in the second seat, tapping away at a game. His head abruptly rotated 180 degrees and crunched loudly. Thaum and the girls became visible. Thaum said, "Start."

Alice rushed to the captain's chair and said, "This might take a minute. The controls are locked out.

Ellora ran to the door and started setting up her equipment. Thaum flicked through visual spectrums. He found three targets and phased after them.

The first man was moving boxes with an exoskeleton. Thaum came through the wall and put a mana blade through his throat, deep into his spine.

The second was working in an open panel. Thaum came through the solid wall and grabbed the man's face. He shoved it into the wall with a sickening crunch.

The third had a laptop on his chest and was busy in bed. Thaum paused briefly when he saw the content. He grabbed the man and phased him through the hull to cool off.

Gunfire erupted. Thaums eyes glowed as he looked through the walls. How unlucky, the crew took that moment to return. Ellora ducked around the cockpit door, the air she just occupied filled with laser fire.

The comms seat she was using as cover was full of holes, 'damn' Thaum hadn't even finished stealing the ship, and it was damaged.

Thaum flew directly to the fight. He threw bolts of energy at the first two targets and slammed into the third, who was wearing an armored combat suit. Thaum grunted and slammed to a stop. They were far heavier than a human should be.

They turned around, trying to elbow Thaum, and dragged their auto laser rifle across the tight corridor. Thaum rolled with the blow, but he still felt his ribs crack. The armor apparently enhanced strength.

Thaum growled, "fuck this." He created a barrier around the man, cutting off the end of their rifle. The man looked around quickly, then leveled his weapon at Thaum and pulled the trigger. The weapon surprisingly still fired. The lasers flaired on the shield but did nothing.

The barrier started to shrink. Thaum checked for any more surprise enemies and saw a group in the station gearing up for combat. The barrier continued shrinking. The man was pushing against it, his body violently shaking in exertion. The suit was steaming and throwing pressurized oil everywhere.

Thaum took a moment to think. He yelled, "Alice, how long."

Alice called back, "Another few minutes. I'm resetting the bullshit they used to bypass the ship's authentication."

Thaum sighed; his plan sucked. Now he needs to buy time. Killing the next team would only increase the level of force the smugglers use. The other ships at this base aren't built for fighting, but filling a stationary ship with holes doesn't require a battleship.

So Thaum would slow them down, leave, then kill the squad. He went to the airlock and set up a mist spell in the hallway behind it. Anyone who breathed it in would hallucinate. Then he set up a barrier just in case one of them stumbled further into the ship.

Thaum made himself invisible and flew into space. He briefly went to all the other ships and placed timed spells.

When Thaum returned, he could see another group gearing up to go after the last one. They probably want to know why the group before them is babbling incoherently in their comms. Exposure to the mist.

Alice saw him enter, "We are ready to go, but two other ships have launched and will probably shoot us the moment we move."

Thaum clicked his fingers, and the timed spells went off early and melted all the barrels on the ships, "go, they aren't firing anything."

Alice nodded stiffly after a moment and undocked the ship. Ellora asked, "What are you going to do about the enemy squad near the airlock." Thaum looked at the destroyed comms panel. Ellora said, "The captain's chair also has readouts for the whole ship."

Thaum shrugged, "The warding mist is supposed to confound the senses and get people lost, so they leave. I overpowered the spell and added a few things. They are dead, or at least brain dead."

Ellora shivered. Alice glanced at him quickly. The ship shuddered as it accelerated Thaum said, "The inertial dampeners need work."

Ellora went over to the back wall and sat down, "I don't think anything you could fit in this ship could keep up with what the engines can do." as if to prove her point, Thaum found himself almost tripping over his feet backpedaling to the wall.

Alice went to turn her head, but the g force made it uncomfortable. She instead said, "We will be accelerating for the next half hour like this, so get comfortable."

Thaum grumbled, "I hate this ship already."

Ellora raised a brow, "yea, and your plan sucks, by the way. There were some really rough spots there. I almost got shot."

Thaum let out a heavy breath, "It was a bad plan. I'm still adjusting to the technology around here."

Ellora adjusted her seated position, "technology? What rock did you grow up on?"

Thaum laughed, "many." and left it at that, he did live many lives after all, but they didn't need to know everything, nor would he go out of his way to tell them.