Twelve hours in the jump hole seemed like an eternity, especially with their space suits on. When Aisac began the thirty second count down, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Nyree was sitting in front of her control console, when Evan entered into the control room. She didn’t acknowledge his presence, but he was beginning to understand that was just her way. Sitting down in his chair, he prepared for them to reconstruct.

The feeling of his stomach lurching forward told him that the time had come. As soon as they exited the jump hole, a small fleet of Regime patrol was awaiting them. Nyree pulled off her helmet, and removed her gloves as they hailed them.

“Unidentified ship, your authorization codes are invalid. Prepare to be boarded.”

“Your brother gave us away!” Evan yelled.

Nyree look at him, he still wore his helmet, “My brother would never do that.”

“Then how the hell did they know we were coming?”

“I don’t know, but that’s not important right now. We need to get the hell out of here.” She hit the ship’s inner comlink, “Everyone report to battle stations!”

“What’s going on?” Dill asked as is screen opened up between them.

“How many ships, Aisac?” Nyree demanded.

“One battle ship, and fifteen fighter ships. It seems to be a patrol, we must of entered Regime Space as they were passing by.” Aisac told her.

“Bullshit, they were waiting for us.” Evan snapped.

Dill interrupted before Nyree could argue, “They are opening their clamps.”

“Sparks,” Nyree said over the comlink to the engine room, “I need you to help Aisac divert as much power as necessary to our boosters.”

“I’ll do my best.” Sparks answered before Nyree shut off the comlink.

“Where are we heading?” Dill asked.

“Anywhere, but here.” Nyree mumbled her answer, and Evan felt the ship beginning to move forward. There wasn’t enough room between them and the fleet to maneuver around them.

“What are you doing?” He asked, knowing full well that she was going to break through their center.

“It’s this or be arrested.” She answered.

“This could get us killed.”

“Unidentified ship, shut down your engines or will we consider you hostile.” The male voice from the Regime battle ship announced.

“We need to make it to max 6, Aisac.” Nyree ordered.

“There isn’t enough room between us and them, we don’t have time to reach that speed.” Aisac told her calmly.

“Then you are going to blow up.”

There was a moment of silence, before Aisac replied. “Max 5 is the best I can do.”

“It will have to be good enough.”

“Whoa, whoa! What are you planning to do?” Evan tried to ask calmly, but the sound of confused panic was clear in his voice.

Nyree was inputting several commands into the control panel, as he awaited her answer. “We have to break through their block. If we go through fast enough they might ricochet off our shields, it’s going to cause a lot of damage either way.”

Evan looked out over the patrol, “You want to crash through them?” It was a rhetorical question. He watched as Nyree prepared the ship, though he didn’t know exactly what she was doing. Watching the patrol outside, he heard the patrol begin to give another warning for them to power down. “Battle ship!” He yelled as the large ship approached the small patrol.

Nyree eyes popped up from the control panel, “Mother ship.” She corrected, “That’s where the patrol docks and gets it’s orders from. Also, where they want to take us. Aisac, are you ready?”

“All systems are prepared.” Aisac responded.

“Let me fly.” Evan ordered more then asked.

Nyree looked across the panel at him, “You’ve never done this before, nor are you familiar with the Aisac’s controls.”

“Try to fly between them, so they don’t give us direct hits, right?”

She nodded her head gently.

“What the hell is going on in there?” Dill’s voice asked. “Are we going to comply or what?”

Neither of them answered him, instead Evan continued to speak. “Look if I am going to die by doing something stupid, I want to be the one flying. Besides, if we make it out of here, I have a mechanic friend on Frelus that can fix the ship and keep from reporting us.”

Nyree stared into his eyes for a moment, “Alright, you fly. I’ll try to hack into the Mother Ship, and get her to power down. The fighters share radar with it, and will be blinded…”

“Unidentified ship, you are now considered hostile. This is your last chance.” The voice said.

“Do whatever you do, Nyree.” Evan ordered, “Aisac, power up the thrusters.”

The ship suddenly jolted forward, Evan’s heart beat frantically, as Nyree began to plug herself into the communication systems.

“Shield’s power at maximum.” Aisac informed them, “Max four has been achieved.”

“I need Max five, Aisac.” Evan shouted.

“Attempting.”

Evan turned on the inner com, when he realized that they hadn’t warned the crew yet. “Everyone brace for impact!”

“Max five will be achieved in five second, collision with first patrol ship in three seconds.” Aisac told him.

The ship began to jerk as the first of the patrol slammed into their shields. The mother ship took notice of this, and immediately began to send fighters after them. Once Evan cleared the initial block, he prepared the ship for Frelus, a small moon not far from them. However, they would need to ensure that the patrol did not see where they were heading, but that was Nyree’s task.

“Shields at fifty seven percent.” Aisac said.

Dill’s face popped up between them, “We took on some damage here, Evan. One of our thrusters is out and the rest are damaged, we can only reach max three.”

Evan looked towards Nyree, who had opened her eyes. “Finished?”

“They aren’t answering my hails, they must be informed of that trick.” Nyree looked over the controls, “A lot more damage then I expected.”

“We have a fleet of fighters on our ass.” Evan was a little perturbed that she looked so calm.

She gave a nod, “I’ll think of something.” The ship shuddered as they were hit by the fighters lasers, then Nyree grinned. “I think I got something. I just need them to open a link to me.”

Nyree began to hail the mother ship’s kitchen, in hope that it would bypass the block that the main communications had. It worked and within moment’s she was inside the ships controls. Yet, she couldn’t reach the radar through this particular com link. She began to check what she did have access to, and found that she could send messages to the fighter ships. The large mother ship couldn’t keep the speeds that they were flying at, and was getting further away. Nyree knew she had to work fast, even as Aisac began to announce more damage that they were taking from the fighters.

Quickly, she sent out a message for the fighters to abort their mission and return to home base. It was all she could do, and hoped that the fighters didn’t check the location of the signal. The kitchen, of course, has no control over their tasks.

“Fighters have disengaged.” Aisac announced.

Nyree unplugged herself and leaned back with a sigh.

Evan, as well, relaxed in his seat. “I don’t know what you did, but you have to be the luckiest person alive.”

She chuckled, “What’s the damage?”

“Three thrusters are unresponsive, the engine core is over heated, haul damage is extensive…” Aisac began.

“How is the crew?” Evan asked interrupting her.

“Sparks has sustained small burns from the engine. Dirk is unresponsive, though still showing life signs. All other members of the crew are in satisfactory shape.”

“Where is Dirk?” Nyree asked.

“He was on his way to the torrents, when we broke through the blockade. I believe he fell and hit his head.” Aisac reported.

Evan stood up, “I’ll get Dill and we will take him to medical.”

Nyree nodded, “Did you input a course to Frelus?”

“Yes.”

---

“Here, Doc, be useful.” Evan said as he and Dill dropped Dirk’s large form on the stretcher.

Main Frame wasn’t far behind them, as he walked Sparks into the medical bay. She had some burns on the left side of her body including her hand, face, and neck. After laying her down on the stretcher, he mumbled something about checking the computer system before leaving.

Mitch began a scan on Dirk to ensure that he hadn’t suffered any brain damage. “How much pain are you in?” He asked his sister, after hearing her moan.

Evan and Dill stood idly by, waiting to see if they could be of any help.

“Seven.” Sparks said. They used a scale of one through ten to determine how much pain they were in, ten would normally mean inherent pain.

Mitch nodded his head, “I’ll give you some pain medication in one moment.”

“You could use the medical droid to administer medication to your patients.” Aisac chirped in.

“Medical droid, where?” Mitch asked.

“In the closet behind you, he has to be manual powered up.” She responded.

“I got it.” Evan said, as he walked over to the closest and pressed the button that opened it.

The medical droid used tracks that were built into the ceiling of the ship to move around. Evan had noticed them before, but had no idea what they were used for. It had a white shell, and looked similar to a spider. With eight legs, and a three camera eyes, one on it’s under belly and two that pointed in different directions, and spun around at the droids will. They could only comply to commands, and therefore could not act on their own accord. Evan found the control panel and began to power up the mechanical assistant.

“What is my task?” The droid asked as it moved from the closest.

“Dispense some Alfex to Sparks.” Mitch ordered.

“More specific?” The druid’s mechanical voice asked.

Mitch sighed, “Dispense three hundred ccs of Alfex to the patient in medical bed two.”

---

Frelus was a small mining moon with no more then ten thousand people living within the small base that was built on the surface of the uninhabitable moon. The neighboring planet of Tyhon used the metal that was harvested on the moon for much of their daily items. The city on the moon was nothing more then a dome that produced oxygen from plant life for its inhabitants. Nearly eighty percent of the people living on the moon were miners, and most others were there to support the mining population.

It took Evan two hours to get in touch with his old friend, who turned out to be in charge of all the docking bays. Josef Tewdor gave them landing rights within moments of seeing his old friend’s face, and met them on the landing pad. He was slightly older then Evan, patches of gray hair above his ears were just beginning to form. His height matched Evan’s, though he weighed a little more. In all his years of service, Josef had been the only man that Evan knew he could trust without hesitation.

“That’s some damage you took on there.” Josef said as he looked over the ship, he hadn’t met anyone but Dill and Evan yet. “Not the pilot that you use to be, are you?”

Evan frowned, “Hard not to get hit when you‘re flying through an entire fleet.”

“Oh, you are out running fleets now are you?” Josef chuckled, before rolling his eyes at Dill. “Beautiful ship though. Where’d you come up with the caps for this?”

“Uh, not exactly our ship.” Dill mumbled.

“Hey, this isn’t stolen?” Josef snapped, “I can’t be authorizing landing sites for stolen ships.”

“It’s not stolen, Josef.” Evan sighed, “Owner is inside.”

He nodded before folding his arms and glaring at his old friend, “So, what happened? You going to tell me or what?”

“What happened to what?”

“Your old ship and your smuggling career, and why Sahale put out a bounty for any information leading to you and your crew’s whereabouts.” Josef leaned against the ships ramp.

Evan sighed, “A bounty? Just for information?”

“Yeah, but once he finds out you are working for someone else, it’ll be your heads.”

“It’s a long story, Josef, just trust me that it wasn’t any doing on my part.” Evan looked at the ship, “Think you’ll be able to fix this?”

“It won’t come cheap, and I don’t work free… you know that.” He looked at Dill who had stumbled away from them, and was playing with some of the smaller tools on the work bench.

“Why isn’t the ship being worked on yet?” Nyree asked as she walked down the ramp.

Josef turned around just in time to watch her backside wrapped in the tight black jump suit. Running his fingers through his hair, he ensured that he looked presentable, despite the stains on his work jumper.

“We are just about to discuss price with Josef here.” Evan told her as she came to stand between them.

Nyree looked Josef over a moment, “I don’t care how much, just get it done now.”

Josef grinned, “You are Evan’s new boss, I assume?”

“Hardly my boss.” He growled underneath his breath.

“Josef Tewdor.” He extended his hand, “Evan and I are old war buddies.”

“Nyree.” She shook his hand, before looking back at Evan. “Just get it done.” With that she turned around and headed back up the ramp.

Evan glared at his grinning friend, “Don’t say anything, Josef. Not one word.”

“Well, I can certainly see why you would leave Sahale for that.” He said as he pulled out his data pad.

“It’s got nothing to do with that. She tricked us… no, she blackmailed… that is an evil woman! Devious, sly, deceitful, lying, and…”

“Seductive.” Dill mumbled as he came to stand next to Evan.

“Seductive.” Evan barked, “Wait, no not seductive, you idiot.”

“Beautiful, smart, clever… she’s got Evan all in a bunch.” Dill told Josef.

He laughed, “Does she now, Evan?”

“I don’t know where you would get that, the woman has done nothing but annoy me endlessly. It’ll be my pleasure to finally be rid of her.” Evan growled.

“Oh, then you won’t mind if I ask her out to dinner. It’ll be better then the slop you eat on the ship.” Josef asked as he finished entering his estimate into his data pad.

“Go right ahead, she won’t say yes anyway.” Evan snapped and turned around to head back into the ship.

Dill grinned, “All hot and bothered about it. I told you.”

Josef laughed, “That’s Evan for you, never could admit he was attracted to a woman. Not even his wife, which is why it took them so damn long to get together.”

“Never knew that he was married.” Dill tried to look at the data pad, but couldn’t see anything.

“Was, she past a while back.” Josef grinned, “Actually took me asking her out to get him to admit anything to her… hence my earlier comment.”

Dill smiled, “Might not be a bad idea, wouldn’t mind see the capt’n a little jealous and unwilling to confess.”

“I will if we make it interesting.”

Dill rose an eyebrow, “How interesting?”

“If she says yes, then I’ll bet 15 caps that he just sits on the ship and stews about it.”

“I’m going to bet that he goes to find you two, Evan has a rule about shipmates always sticking in groups of two or more.”

“You got a deal then.” Josef slide his data pad into his pocket, “Well, I better go show her this estimate and get myself a dinner date.”

Dill laughed the entire time they walked up the ramp, he just couldn’t wait to see how this one played out. He would have to let the others in on it, this was some action that Dirk would love to be part of. As it wasn’t uncommon for them to set each other up for a fall, and bet how they would handle it.

---

Inside the ship, Nyree was to the left of the entrance. Kneeled down on the floor, she had one of the panels opened and seemed to be trying to fix the wiring. Josef cleared his throat to get her attention, while Dill tried to disappear down the hall, but be within hearing range.

“Got an estimate here.” Josef said, as Nyree turned around to face him.

She took the data pad that he offered her, and she snorted. “Don’t try to con me.” With that she shoved the data pad back into his hand.

He grinned, “Hey, I think my time is worth it. I am after all one of the best, and people have come from all over the Regime to get me to repair their ships. Normally, they are on a waiting list, which can take up to months to get me to even give them an estimate. But, hey, you are a friend of a friend, and I am doing you a favor.”

“Doing me a favor?” Nyree grinned. “How about you just sell me the parts and rent me your tools?”

“Oh, you think you can repair that damage?”

“I’ve gotten older ships then this back in space when I was on a deserted barren planet, and could only use what was already on the ship. I think I can manage.” Turning back around she began to tinker with the wiring in the open panel again.

“Tell you what. You let me take you out to dinner tonight, and I’ll do the work for free. You just pay parts.” Josef grinned down the hall at Dill, who was trying not to laugh now that he understood his plan.

Nyree stood up, and looked over her shoulder for a moment. Finally turning around, she nodded. “Alright, deal.”

Josef smiled, “Good, I’ll be buy later to pick you up then.”

She gave another nod, “I’ll be waiting.” Her eyes turned to the hallway, “Dill, put me on that bid for 15 caps as well. I bet Evan will stew and then lecture me on an irrelevant topic when I get back.”

Dill looked around the corner, “Huh? What?”

“You heard me.” She turned her attentions back to the open panel.

Josef chuckled, “Dill was right, you are clever… so was Evan about you being devious.”

Nyree grinned to herself as the sound of Josef heading down the ramp, echoed out the entry ramp.

“You heard us, eh?” Dill asked, as he leaned against wall near the panel.

Looking up at him, Nyree frowned, “Let’s get something straight here, Dill. This may be the way things were before you joined with me, but I don’t like this type of behavior happening behind my back. You need to remember that Aisac is everywhere… and she tells me everything.”

He gave a quick nod, “Got it. I didn’t mean to offend you, it was all in good fun.”

“Don’t let it happen again. Now, go check to see if Mitch needs any help in the medical bay, and on your way up check on Main Frame. He’s been in the engine room for a while now, and I told him to use the computer console near the cockpit. Pipes keep blowing in there, and we don’t need anyone else injured.”

“Aye, aye, capt’n!” He saluted before disappearing down the hall.