While the crew of the Appalachia was planet side on Sortis they were unaware that someone was listening in on their com channel, and was very intrigued by what was going on.


    In a small shuttle in docking bay 74 in the space station in orbit around Sortis sat a young girl with long red hair who was about 18 years old. She had fair, pale skin, and stood at about 5.6. She wore a plaid skirt with white stockings, black shoes, a black vest over a white blouse, and a blue hair band to keep her hair out of her sky-blue eyes.


    This was Rebecca Powers. Child protege, computer genius, talented hacker, information broker, and completely bored with her seemingly uneventful life were all ways you could describe this girl who had no interest in being just a regular member of society. She wanted adventure, and her forays into "impossible to hack" cyber security networks to obtain sensitive data was barely entertaining enough to keep her from going insane with absolute boredom.


    While sitting back in a computer chair with a sucker in her mouth she listened to the communication chatter between members of the Appalachia''s crew, and used the AGI security network to watch events as they unfolded. There were several monitors in front of her which she had hooked up to a small quantum computer that was plugged into the station’s power grid. She had been siphoning power from the station’s power source for quite some time, and spied on several "secure" channels in her spare time to learn the dirty secrets the groups and organizations on Sortis were hiding.


    Several days earlier Rebecca had intercepted a transition from one of AGI''s private communications terminals that was sent out to what seemed like a random ship out in the ether at the time. She treated it like any other communication hack at first, but once she heard what the crew was planning, they started to peak her interest.


    Rebecca hacked into the com frequency being used by the AGI employee, and used that to hack into the communications system of the Appalachia. Now she knew every detail of their plan. She put pressure on the Appalachia crew’s contact in the station who was going to deactivate the tracker on the tech they had stolen from AGI to ask them to move to docking bay 74 after landing and dropping off the briefcase. Their contact was told to say that this was so they could throw AGI off their scent which was partially true, but it was also so Rebecca could stowaway on their ship. She wanted a new life full of adventure, and this was the crew she wanted to join.


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    Rebecca had made a name for herself as the infamous Magus who sold information on the black market to several different groups both on Sortis, and within the surrounding systems. She went with the name Magus because her skills with computers were described as being like magic. It also fit the Latin naming scheme that many location in this solar system followed.


    It was also a name that might inspire aww, and give off a sense of mystery, or at least that''s what she intended anyways. However, most people thought it was just kind of dorky, and believed that Magus was probably just some geek with absolutely no social skills trying to pull one over on everybody. Nobody told her this directly, mainly because she never met anyone in person, and only spoke to her clients through computers, or com links. There was also the fact that she was a good source of information, and obviously talented at her craft so people wanted to keep "The Great and Mysterious Magus" on their side.


    ***


    It wasn''t long before the Appalachia entered a random docking bay, and Owl, Blackbird, and Harpy got off the ship.


    Right as the left the landing platform, Owl opened up the com. “Hey, Scarecrow. Don’t for get to meet us in docking bay 74.”


    “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. I got it. I’m not that unreliable.” Hendricks said.


    Harpy shook her head. “I think we’d all beg to differ. If you''re late this time Hendricks a swear I''ll send you flying into the deep void of space with my mech.”


    "I know, I know docking bay 74. I heard you the first time you threatened me. I''ll skip around to a few different ones before I get there too just in case someone from AGI sees the ship."


    "Just don''t be late Hendricks.”


    Just like he said, Hendricks moved around between several docking bays while the rest of the crew was getting the tracker deactivated until he finally ended up in docking bay 74.


    Hendricks decided to stay in the cockpit once he landed. He placed his feet on the dashboard and started playing dub step off of his wristwatch. However, he turned off his music and switched over to the coms channel after only a few seconds. "Hey Harpy, I''m all ready to go just like I said I would be. I''m just waiting for you guys.”


    "Good. We''ll be there in five minutes", she replied pleasantly surprised, but also half doubting that what he was saying was true. "Make sure that you put the platform down before we get there so we can make a quick escape, and don''t leave the cargo bay until we get onboard. We don''t want any stowaways."


    Meanwhile, Rebecca saw that the Appalachia had landed in docking bay 74 through the station’s security camera. This was it. This was her opportunity to sneak aboard the Appalachia, and finally begin her new life of adventure.