The tracking software left only the tiniest of traces, but for the right kind of detection gear it could be found. Someone had followed his account to the public terminal that he had used. He would have to assume that they had sent something to track him as well. Asteroth closed the terminal and turned to the small thin man that was standing right behind him. He swallowed his distaste and addressed the foul smelling person.
"Looks like you were right Burn, someone with resources followed us."
"You"
"What? What do you mean?"
"They followed you, not us."
Asteroth decided that his former loathing for the smelling man-ling was about to reach new heights.
"Ok, so they followed me. And what can we do about it?"
"Not my problem. I have done what was asked. My mission is over."
Burn turned and walked with that peculiar gait that comes from having the feet and lower legs replaced with implants shaped like underarms and hands. Asteroth secretly wished that he would fall over, but he was not that lucky. Instead he walked to another terminal and opened his secondary account. He ensured that the communication was secure, and entered the sixteen-digit address to Ahriman.
"Mission not accomplished. Will continue attempt. May have been detected."
He closed the connection and walked to his cubicle. He would have to be ready for moving at very short notice if the authorities ever found out where and who he really was.
###
It was probably the best noodles in UIT space, or at least Hortan thought so. Madam Phatt's Noodle shop in the food plaza in Dau K-10.He always had the same cashew nut with synth-chicken dish, followed by a steaming bowl of sweet and sour synth-cow. He was slowly munching on the last of his sweet and sour when he spotted the New Guy. Looking completely lost in the plaza, dressed up in a completely new green uniform with pants that were slightly too small and very much too tight in the groin, a jacket that had too short sleeves, extremely shiny boots and a propeller cap on his head. He had a large binder stuffed with papers, Hortan assumed they were forms for whatnot, and a name tag that read Prissken. The slightly scared young pale man was staring at the food plaza like a Kalahari Bushman would stare at a Pachinko hall.
Hortan slurped the last of his noodles and walked over to the new pilot. He extended his hand.
"Hortan, and I assume you are not named Prissken?"
"Sir, Recruit Plissken reports for duty Sir."
The young man attempted something that may have passed for a salute and managed to drop the papers to the ground, effectively scattering what amounted to a small forest in paper all over the corridor. Hortan sighed; he could swear he had never been that young or gullible.
"Hey buddy, we don't really Sir at all, well maybe when the Boss is around, but definitely not to me. You look lost, first day?"
"Sir, ehm, yes it is Pilot Hortan. I am so hungry, but I need to fill these forms before I can do it Si..Hortan."
"Easy now, let's go have some noodles, and then I'll help you with the forms, okay? You look famished."
Plissken smiled back at Hortan in gratitude and let him be led towards Madam Phatt's. Hortan smiled broadly; finally he was not the new guy anymore. He considered dropping his own propeller hat, but quickly canned the idea and instead tilted it slightly so it didn't follow regulation 212B-1, Mandatory Headwear for TGFT Personnel.
###
The trade vessel was doomed. Down to 12 percent armour plating on the vulnerable parts of the engine with a Centurion Rev C immediately behind ready to flash more positron fire into it. The crew accepted their fate and activated the APRS systems, leaving the heavy moth to a bath in near light speed positrons. The explosion resulted in a blast wave that was more than a hundred metres in diameter and included the centurion, rocking it slightly while peeling armour and paint of the xithricite hull. Azumi swore, she had been too damned close to that one, now she would have to get "The Pink Fly" a new set of plates. She would have to get a transport ship anyway; those high-density mining beams she just liberated were quite valuable.
She entered real space around the station orbiting Sedina V, Sedina V Hold at the same time, as Chana Slan was just about to exit the station. He promptly tried to turn the Chaos Swarm loaded moth around, knowing that it would be a tight run between the incoming pirate and the 98 tonne ship. And one he could ill afford to loose. He managed to turn the moth around and almost dock when the streaks of positrons started eating away at his armour plating, only stopping when the blast door sealed his ship safely inside.
Azumi swore once more as she turned the Rev C away from the station, deftly avoiding this months edition of rent-a-cops that were scrambling like madmen to get to her. She had missed that nice juicy trader, and now had to run from the strike force. Not because she was afraid of them, but she really couldn't be bothered fighting them. She had some loot that needed to be picked up. She jumped to C-14 and then immediately back, outracing the strike force on the way inbound to the station. She crashed her ship into the docking cradle and jumped out of the ship, a mischievous grin on her elfin face. She looked for Chana and located him next to the rather scarred moth. Her grin got even wider when she saw who was right behind him. She walked slowly towards the trader while peeling her flight suit down to her waist revealing a white tank top with the caption "I went to Sedina, and all I got was flared". Chana slowly backed up to his moth while lifting his hands in the universal defensive posture. Azumi ignored the dockhands and stared directly at him, fixing him like she had immersed him in quick drying cement. She would have some fun yet.
