Dozer opened the door slowly, ever so slowly, and sneaked into his new double cubicle. He slowly and silently closed the door, making sure that the lock engaged as silently as possible. He shook one shoe off, and then the other and tip toed over to the bed where someone was snoring slightly under the covers. He smiled at the almost imperceivable sound she made when she slept, it was so cute. He sat down and listened for three whole minutes, almost a new record in concentration for him. He took one of the roses he had brought and placed it near her nose, the deep red of the flower matching the colour of her hair, making sure the fragrance of the flower woke her up gently. She stirred and Dozer smiled like a man on drugs, which he was in a sense. She opened her eyes and looked at the rose, a smile crossing her face like sunlight on a rainy day. She stretched and held her arms out.
"Mmh, where have you been love?"
"Sorry dear, I had to do some urgent guild business, and after that I went to the flower shop and to the...no, O am not going to say anymore. I am not going to ruin he surprise."
He smiled down at her and kissed her on her forehead as she started to rise.
"What, let me go, I want to see."
He grinned and let her up, admiring her milky-white skin that was framed by the long red curls. He had one hand on his back, hidden from sight.
"Promise you'll behave," he said in a mocking voice.
"Absolutely not."
She tried to reach behind his back, and after a mock fight she grabbed his hand, and what was in it. She took the small box and stared at it with big round eyes. She looked up at Dozer.
"You didn't, you shouldn't, you"
"Why don't you just open it?"
She did, and saw the large deep-red ruby necklace that matched the colour of her hair perfectly. Needless to say, they ordered room service later....much later.
###
Retractile readied his Rev C for a high speed run across Latos and rendezvous with Remley orbital. He was carrying the heavy pouch that yoda had given him containing a single sealed envelope, not sure what was supposed to happen to it. He knew he was supposed to deliver it to a person in Remley station, but he wasn't too keen on searching a whole station for a single packet, no matter how important it may be. He launched and had to focus hard as he moved to the jump point, as a convoy of Orion ships exited the station at the same time, their slow reaction times indicating extremely heavy loads. Weapons or the like, probably very profitable. He sent a message on the pirate net and received a single answer form Swag Man. Retractile jumped to Remley orbital and initiated the docking procedure. Inside the station, he was greeted by four Rent-a-Cops in the finest TPG uniforms, all had readied weapons pointing at him. He ignored them completely and calmly reached into the ship for the pouch. He looked at the large bore rocket hand canon that was inside the cockpit, but merely smiled and turned to the scared cops, his hands in his sides.
"Now listen I know you all want to do your jobs and be wary of the pirate, safeguard the station and all that stuff that little Betty-Lou Wetpants likes to hear down in the bar, but could you at least do me the courtesy of having the weapons loaded and the safe off?"
The guards all as one looked down at their weapons, and Retractile attacked at that time. He swung the pouch into the face of one of the guards, snapping his head back and launching him across the bay, moved up to two others and placed a single kick in the chest of the second man, crumbling him to the floor. The third guard managed to look up and see Retractile's head impact on his own, the twin metal studs in Retractile's forehead shielding his own brain and working like a club on the guard. The very loud sound of a safety switching off pierced the air, and Retractile turned slowly and by doing so relaxed the guards attention precisely enough that when he ducked and spun, the shot went over his head and impacted on the chest on the guard behind. Retractile kicked a single foot up into the groin of the shooter with all his might, making him double over and loose his taser. Retractile stood and turned slowly around, eyeing the hurting guards.
"Pah, what a bunch of loosers."
He once more kicked the guard that had tried to shoot him and walked off into the station. Now where the hell was he supposed to deliver this pouch?
###
The thirty minutes was almost too much for the automatic defence systems in the PA main computer system. When NP jacked in, the virus was only one level away from the main data core of the host. He immediately counter attacked with everything he had, and managed to freeze the virus where it was presently. Using software that was illegal to use in all nations, he tried to burn the virus out of the immediate critical systems, but only partially succeeded. He cursed in his mothers language, the soft syllables so much better than Standard for swearing, and then started on a smaller infestation with some alternative programmes. Again, he was only moderately successful in burning the virus, but he now had an idea of what to do. He smiled inside, his outward appearance that of a corpse while jacking, this was a nice challenge for once. Whomever made this virus was very good. He found the file that would enable him to attack the virus, opened it and froze. It had been a trap, inside the file was a trojan that took control of NP's headware and shut him down, the mental interface first, and then proceeded to open the headware to the outside attacker. NP could only observe the mind rape that happened on him, while floating impotently in his own head.
###
The order to go was given, and the centaur slowly accelerated towards the station. The lights inside the cargo bay went from yellow to red, and the five troopers inside readied themselves. Outside the station two ships from KAOS with the pilots called William Cutting and Fagious Maximus entered controlled space and engaged the nearest trader with a load of swarms, easily attracting the attention of the tactical operations centre of TPG. The first Strike Force wave was quickly annihilated in a swarm of jackhammers, and the next group readied themselves for launch, even if it was probably a suicide mission.
In the meantime, the centaur docked in the TPG part of the station to the complete black of a station that had lost power. The cyber attack that was the third component of the attack, had succeeded in taking over the power sub-mind, the station was now under foreign control. The doors to the cargo hold of the centaur opened and five figures in black combat suits fanned out, covering the docking bay in seconds. A series of short bursts came from one of the figures, and several thumps were heard where the dockhands had stood before. Sounds of shuffling feet and strip-locks as the dockhands were tied in their prone positions, and then some not quite seen movement towards the entrance to the station proper. The lights went out in the corridor, and the safety door opened. So far the plan had worked very well.
