“See you tomorrow.” You tell her gruffly, leaving her cabin and dropping down the boarding ramp.
As you cross the barren terrain back to the Eclipse, you smile wryly. While Eris might not be the most well-adjusted of women, she’s certainly a wildcat in the bedroom. While you might need a little time to recover from her vigorous brand of sex, you look forward to repeating it. You pause at the base of the Eclipse’s boarding ramp as a dishevelled Mariko steps out, blushing slightly when she sees you. She flashes you a coy smile before hurrying towards her own vessel. You watch the slender hacker disappear into the night before climbing the boarding ramp and smiling to yourself. Still, there are always other options…
Continue
The next morning, you all reconvene on board Eris’s ship. With the others all gathered in the cramped aft compartment, you are glad of your own space in the pilot’s seat. Eris climbs into the seat alongside you and you glance tentatively across at her.
“Let’s do this.” She smiles, the events of the previous evening apparently all but forgotten. Relieved that there is no hint of awkwardness between you, you fire up the engines, the small dart shaped vessel rising into the air. You pull back on the joystick and fire the boosters, the engines roaring as you accelerate rapidly into the sky.
Once in orbit, Eris programs the navigation system with the transponder frequency for the Aurigan Empire flotilla and you set a course through hyperspace to intercept them.
“Nervous?” You ask as the ship streaks through the crimson hyperspace conduit.
“Do I look the nervous type to you?” She laughs. It’s true, while she gazes attentively into the swirling vortex ahead, she is calm, focused and resolute. “Excited perhaps, but never nervous.”
“You certainly don’t lack for confidence do you?” You chuckle.
“You don’t last long in this game if you are crippled with fear and self-doubt.” She shrugs before leaning forward, something catching her attention. “We’re closing in on the flotilla.” She tells you, pointing ahead. You follow her gaze and can just about make out a few dark shapes silhouetted against the shifting red eddies of hyperspace.
“Matching speed.” You murmur.
“Now we wait.” Eris replies, leaning back.
You continue in their slipstream for the next two hours, six large escort ships arranged in a tight formation around the even bulkier vault ship. The larger vessel bristles with turrets and you wonder if she is truly a decoy.
“There!” Eris grins, pointing at the long range scanner. One of the escort ships is venting a thick plume of smoke from the starboard engine. “That’s our vault ship! Lock on to it. It will drop out of hyperspace any moment.” Sure enough, moments later the vessel peels away from the rest of the flotilla and disappears out of the swirling crimson hyperspace conduit. You quickly drop out of hyperspace too, the inky black of space filling your vision and the tiny shape of the escort ship just about visible in the distance, silhouetted against the pale green disc of a planet.
“Looks like Orion Prime is the true destination of the dylatinum.” Eris tells you, checking her instruments and nodding towards the distant planet.
“I’m closing in on them.” You grin, enjoying the thrill of the chase. “We should intercept them long before they reach Orion Prime. So far, so good.”
“Remember, as long as you stay in their wake, we should remain undetected.” Eris reminds you. You nod, slowly closing the gap until the glow of her engines fills the cockpit window. The smoke is still venting from the apparently stricken vessel.
“You’re sure she’s not really damaged?” You ask. “It looks pretty convincing.”
“An effective ruse needs to be.” Eris replies, licking her lips. You draw closer to the escort ship’s three huge cylindrical engine outlets. You shield your eyes from the glare, watching the hull temperature soar as the engines rapidly heat the nose.
“Time to make our move.” You murmur.
“We need to time this just right.” Eris tells you. “If we go too soon, we’ll be picked up by their scanners and shot to pieces. Go too close to the engines and we risk burning up.”
Make the manoeuvre now
Draw closer to the vessel before you make the manoeuvre
“I don’t like this.” You murmur grimly as you reduce the distance to the escort ship, the hull temperature readings climbing well above safe levels.
“I don’t like being shot at either.” Eris tells you. The blinding white haze of the engines fills the cockpit window. You squint, warning messages flashing up all over the console before you. You both jump as an ear piercing siren sounds.
“Engine cooling system disabled and offline!” You gasp. “We’ve got to back off and abort.”
“No, not when we’re so close!” Eris snarls at you. “Make the manoeuvre now!”
“Our engines are going critical!” You snarl back. “You’ll kill us all.”
“Do it, we only need to last a few more seconds.” As you swoop beneath the engines, the extra strain is too much and you hear a dull thump as something outside the ship explodes. Klaxons go off, the cockpit bathed in red strobing lights as the whole ship lurches to one side.
“Goddamn it!” You shout, fighting with the controls and wishing you had listened to your own instincts. After all, Eris might be an expert assassin, but you’re the professional pilot.
“Get us under control!” She shouts, panic rising in her voice.
“What the fuck do you think I’m doing?” You snap. The vessel veers wildly upwards and the grey hull plates of the escort ship fills your vision. You have just enough time to utter the first syllable of a curse before you smash into the underside of the colossal vessel, the tiny ship exploding in a ball of fire that is instantly extinguished by the vacuum of space.
THE END
Go back a few moments and rethink your actions
“We’ll make our move now.” You tell Eris, the hull temperature already well beyond safe levels.
“You’re the pilot.” She shrugs, clearly of the opposite opinion. You push forward on the joystick and fire the boosters. You swoop below the engines and accelerate beneath her, the huge escort ship dwarfing Eris’s tiny dart-like vessel. What she lacks in size, she makes up in manoeuvrability, handling superbly, far more agile than your cumbersome freighter. You match speed with your quarry and close the gap until you are within touching distance.
“Extending limpet clamps.” You murmur, pressing a button on the console. There is a low rumble as the clamps unfold from the dorsal side of the hull, clamping into place against the escort ship. “Hard lock successful.”
“Drazix, deploy umbilical.” Eris speaks into her communicator.
“Umbilical extended and sealed.” Drazix’s voice replies over the communicator a moment later. “Cutting through hull plates now.”
“Time to get paid.” Eris grins, rising from her seat. You move to the aft compartment where the others are gathered around the open hatch in the ceiling. Drazix’s feet are visible on the rungs of the ladder while a shower of sparks rain down on the deck below as the laser cutter whines as it shreds the hull of the escort ship.
“We’re in!” He calls down, as the laser cutter falls silent and the last of the sparks fall from the hatch.
“Who’s first into the breach?” Eris asks. All eyes flick towards you and Vanessa.
“Looks like we’re up.” You grin at Vanessa, drawing your blaster and stepping forward. You carefully climb the rungs of the ladder, wondering if you did make the manoeuvre too early and an ambush awaits you above. You cautiously peek over the smouldering edge of the breached deckplate into a long white corridor with several blue coloured doors along each side. You sweep your blaster each way, but the corridor is deserted. You breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe, just for once everything will go smoothly. Vanessa is just behind you, her own blaster in hand. You gesture for her to come closer. She raises an eyebrow, but steps towards you.
“Lis
ten Vanessa,” You whisper, leaning into her, your lips close to her ear, “If everything goes south, get back to the rendezvous and bring the Eclipse to Orion Prime’s spaceport. I’ll meet you there.” She nods and you move back to the roughly circular hole Drazix has cut through the hull.
“Clear.” You hiss down at the five faces gazing up from below. Eris nods and they all clamber up the ladder and join you in the corridor.
“Vanessa, stay here and guard the ship.” You tell her. She nods. “Where’s the vault?” You ask Eris.
“Three levels above.” She tells you. “We need to access the server room first and disable the electronic locks. That’s on this level.”
“Lead on.” You grin. She glances at some schematics on a wrist mounted display and gestures towards a nearby door.
You make your way through a maze of similar corridors before Eris gestures towards a door at the end of a shorter passageway.
“This is it.” She tells you. As you approach it, a door behind you hisses open. You whirl around as an Aurigan crewman emerges. While humanoid, there is a definite feline quality to the Aurigan race with their pointed swept back ears high on their heads and their long, sharp canine teeth. His amber eyes widen in surprise when he sees the motley group of criminals assembled before him. Eris’s eyes narrow and she raises her blaster.
Let Eris shoot him
Take him alive
“Stop!” You shout, knocking Eris’s arm. Her blaster discharges harmlessly to the left of the surprised crewman, leaving an elongated scorch mark on the wall. She glares at you as you quickly grab the crewman and jam the muzzle of your own blaster under his chin.
“I just saved your life.” You growl, nose to nose with him. “In my book that means you owe me. Fortunately, today is your lucky day and you will be able to repay your debt straight away. You’re going to help make us all rich! Understand?” He nods, his eyes wide and fearful. “Good. Just so we’re clear: Any attempt to betray us and you will suffer and then you will die.” He nods even more vigorously. You shove him towards Mariko, who grabs him by the back of his collar and presses the muzzle of her blaster into his back.
“He’ll give us away first chance he gets.” Eris tells you.
“He doesn’t look that stupid.” You reply, glancing malevolently at your captive. He blanches and looks away. Eris shakes her head and steps forward, the doors of the server room sliding open. You enter a large circular chamber, standing on a gantry which encircles a huge cylindrical server core. It stretches high above your heads, lights glowing and flashing over its entire surface area and giving off a low hum.
“We need access to the server to disable the electronic locks on the vault.” Eris tells you. “The plan was to send Drazix through the ventilation system and physically connect a remote interface into the mainframe, though maybe our new friend could give us access instead.”
“Dangerous to trust him with the computer system.” Aki warns. “He could just as easily alert the rest of the crew without us even knowing.”
Send Drazix through the ventilation system
Tell your captive to disable the server firewalls
“Disable the firewalls.” You growl at the captive crewman.
“I don’t know how…” He stutters.
“You were on this level, so I figure you’re likely to be a technician.” You interrupt. “If not, then you’re not much use to us alive are you?” He gulps and moves over to an interface on the edge of the gantry. Mariko watches carefully over his shoulder, her blaster pressed into his ribs.
“I see anything I don’t like, you die.” She growls. “And not quickly. I’ll shoot you in the gut and leave you to bleed out.” He nods and she watches intently as his fingers slide over the touchscreen, bars of light switching from red to green as he disables each firewall one after the other. Aki studies her wrist mounted computer and smiles.
“He’s done it. We’re in!” She beams.
“Feeling kinda redundant.” Drazix comments with a wry smile.
“We might have need of your unique skillset yet.” Eris replies before turning to the captive.
“Thanks for your assistance.” Eris tells him. He nods sullenly, obviously less than happy at having been coerced. “Now, what’s the best way to the get to the vault from here?”
“Back along the corridor.” He replies reluctantly. “Take the turbolift up three decks and the vault is just in front of you.”
“Guarded?” You ask. He glances at you and nods.
“Two guards.” He replies.
“You’ve been very helpful.” Eris tells him, raising her blaster. “I’ll make sure it’s quick.” The captive’s eyes widen and he begins sobbing with fear, begging for his life.
“Is that really necessary?” You object. “He’s no threat.”
“Dead men tell no tales.” Eris shrugs.
Let her kill him
Knock him unconscious instead
“Aki’s right.” You slowly nod, glancing at the captive crewman, his amber eyes flitting fearfully around the server room. “He might be useful, but we can’t risk letting him access the computer system.”
“Looks like you’re up, Drazix.” Eris shrugs, pulling a small remote interface unit from her pocket and tossing it to him. He nods and approaches an outlet for the ventilation system for the server. You watch in amazement as his body narrows and elongates and he slithers inside the impossibly narrow ducting.
“My God!” You murmur. Eris smiles.
“Once he’s planted the interface directly into the mainframe, Aki and Mariko will be able to remotely hack the electronic locks on the safe and all that wonderful dylatinum will be ours.” Your gaze traces the sound of the Aquilan scrambling through the narrow vents, up the wall to the ceiling, across over the server core and down into the centre of it. It makes you feel claustrophobic just thinking about it.
“Come on!” Vaxia mutters, her arms folded across her chest. She shifts nervously from foot to foot. Eris stands in the doorway, her blaster trained down the corridor in case you have any more unexpected interruptions. There’s a palpable nervous tension in the air as you all wait, glancing up at the ducting above your heads.
“He’s done it. We’re in!” Aki announces, studying her wrist mounted computer.
“You.” Eris snarls at the captive. “What’s the best way to the get to the vault from here?”
“Back along the corridor.” He blurts out, almost shaking with fear as she brandishes her blaster threateningly. “Take the turbolift up three decks and the vault is just in front of you.”
“Guarded?” You ask. He nods.
“Two guards.” He replies.
“You’ve been very helpful.” Eris tells him, raising her blaster. “I’ll make sure it’s quick.” The captive begins sobbing with fear, begging for his life.
“Is that really necessary?” You object. “He’s an unarmed crewman. He’s no threat.”
“Dead men tell no tales.” Eris shrugs.
Let her kill him
Knock him unconscious instead
The captive is abruptly silenced as Eris shoots him between the eyes at point blank range. He crumples to the ground, a faint smell of burnt flesh in the air.
“You are one cold hearted bitch.” You glare at Eris. She gazes coolly back at you.
“I’m an assassin.” She shrugs. “It goes with the territory.” You shake your head. He was an unarmed prisoner. While you want the riches contained within the vault, you don’t want them soaked in the blood of innocents. You step over the unfortunate crewman and you make your way back along the corridor to a turbolift.
“Just a few levels up.” Eris murmurs, studying the schematics on her wrist mounted computer as you all step inside.
“So far so good.” Drazix grins at her. “We’re so close and they don’t even know we’re here!”
“Until they trip over that corpse in the server room.” You mutter, glaring at Eris. She gazes coolly back at you. A
ki and Mariko glance at each other, the silence growing longer and more uncomfortable with each passing moment. Mercifully, the lift slows to a halt and the doors slide open. You peer cautiously into the wide corridor beyond. It’s empty apart from two sentries standing either side of a thick blast door at the far end.
“That’s the vault.” Eris whispers, again glancing at her map.
“We might just do this.” You murmur, glancing over your shoulder and flashing a smile at the others. You peer again down the corridor. The two sentries look undisciplined, both leaning back against the wall, their rifles propped up next to them.
“We can pick them off before they even realise we’re here.” Eris tells you. “I’ll take out the one on the left, you take out the one on the right.”
“Or I could remotely open the doors.” Aki suggests. “Distract them.”
“They don’t need distracting, they need shooting!” Eris replies impatiently. They both glance at you.
Use the element of surprise and shoot the guards
Have Aki open the vault doors to distract them
“Neither do unconscious ones.” You reply, crunching the butt of your blaster into the back of the crewman’s head. He crumples to the ground. “By the time he wakes up, we’ll be long gone.”
The Seductress of Andromeda Page 17
