While Owl, Blackbird, and Harpy were speaking with Tranquil Blue, Hendricks was sitting in the cockpit of the Appalachia. The ship was parked right in front of the shuttle Rebecca was using to house her computer equipment.
Rebecca took the opportunity to sneak aboard right as the Appalachia landed. She immediately hacked into the ship’s systems, and lowered the platform leading to the cargo bay.
She uncovered her sleeve to reveal a computer console that wrapped around her forearm, and used it to activate the platform while she approached the ship. Rebecca entered the cargo bay and saw a wide-open space. The cargo bay was a decent size being a few dozen feet in each direction. The mech that Harpy used was parked in the back of the docking bay along with some kind of machine with a tarp covering it.
The cargo bay was practically half of the ship which was pretty common considering it was a cargo vessel. However, Rebecca noticed a large wall toward the front of the cargo bay that wasn’t standard with ships like the Appalachia. Rebecca walked through the door and found herself in a common area which took up half the cargo space. It had a two-story, open-air design with multiple rooms, and a stairway that led further into the ship.
Rebecca scanned the area for a place to hide, but the only pace that might work was the area below the stairs. Before Rebecca had a chance to investigate further, she heard the door upstairs open. Rebecca quickly bolted under the stairs and went through the first door she saw. Under the stairs and to the right there was a door that led into a small room that was the size of a walk-in closet.
Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief when she closed the door behind her. However, she was struck by an inexplicable feeling that she wasn''t alone in here. Rebecca slowly turned around to see an android standing at a power station in sleep mode.
The android looked almost human to the point where it was kind of creepy. Everything from the shape of its face to its slender build seemed like a male human in shape. With the exception of the outer shell being silver you could easily mistake it for one if you dressed it up in clothes and had it walk around.
The android was at its charge station at the moment, so its eyes were closed, and it wasn''t moving. However, Rebecca was concerned that it might turn on at any moment, but before she could leave the room she heard people talking and it sounded like they were approaching the common area.
"Well, I’m surprised Hendricks,” Harpy said. “So, you actually can be on time. I was just about to write you off, but apparently you can show growth."
Hendricks put his hands behind his head. "Hey, I''m one of the best star pilots this side of the galaxy. Don''t underestimate me or else you''re going to lose."
Blackbird smirked at Hendricks retort. "Please if your piloting was half as good as you think it is we''d have been off Sortis much sooner. In fact, if you were so good Harpy and I probably wouldn''t have needed to even take the mech out."
Owl interrupted to prevent everyone from bickering. They were on a tight schedule and couldn’t afford to waste time. “Alright enough guys. We''ve got to stay on schedule. We have a rendezvous in under an hour to pass off the package. Let''s get to the cockpit, and hit the road."
Hendricks saluted Owl in a vaguely embellished tone. “Aye aye Captain.”
The crew all went to the cockpit and took their usual seats. Scarecrow, real name Hendricks, as the pilot took the front left seat while Owl, real name Starforged, took the seat next to him on the opposite side. Blackbird, real name Rodriguez took the seat behind Hendricks, and Harpy, real name Morgan, took the seat behind Owl who was the ship’s captain.
As the ship powered up to take off, Rebecca decided it was almost time for her to make her grand entrance. She had been listening to com chatter between AGI members and also chatter from Tranquil Blue, so she knew they were in for a surprise. Her grand plan was to rescue them from the unknown enemy that was awaiting them on their way to their rendezvous to drop off the package they had stolen from AGI HQ, but before she could take a step out of the closet the android activated.
***
Upon booting up ANDI, or the Advanced Networked Defense Intelligence, saw Rebecca creeping toward the door of the maintenance closet they were both in. ANDI grabbed her before she could get away.
“Hey, put me down.” Rebecca started kicking and screaming as ANDI threw her over its shoulder and took her upstairs toward the cockpit.
ANDI tightened his grip on Rebecca and spoke in a synthetic voice. “Trespassers will be taken to the captain for questioning. Please do not resist.”
“No way I’m letting you do that.” Rebecca reached for the console around her forearm in an attempt to hack the android, but it dropped her on the ground at the top of the stairs once it realized what Rebecca was doing. It then grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her the rest of the way. “Hey, wait, no. Get your hands off of me you bucket of bolts.”
Beyond the stairs was a small room that had a total of four doors. There was the one that led to the cargo area that she and ANDI had just came from, the one across from that led to the cockpit, the one on the left was clearly labeled airlock, and the one on the right was labeled latrine.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Another thing that would have stood out in this room to anybody who was familiar with this model of cargo ship was the ladder right in the middle of the room leading up to a gun turret. This was not standard issue for this type of craft.
“What have I gotten myself into?” Rebecca asked herself as she continued kicking and screaming, hoping the Android would let her go.
The rest of the crew could hear Rebecca screaming, and upon opening the door witnessed ANDI dragging a young girl by her arms across the floor.
Hendricks jumped out of this seat in an intentionally overdramatic fashion. “Wow, ANDI. You got a girlfriend we didn’t know about?”
ANDI drugged her all the way into the cockpit, lifted her in the air by the arms and sat her down in the back seat on the right side, then cuffed her hands behind the chair. “Captain I found an intruder in the maintenance closet. Shall I eliminate the prisoner right here, or throw her out of the airlock?"
Rebecca saw the entire crew staring at her instinctively gulped. She started to doubt her original judgment of this crew after hearing what their android wanted to do with her. "This might have been a lot more then I bargained for.”
Rebecca was about to speak up when Hendricks suddenly interrupted her. "Oh, great a stowaway, and a kid too! You just had to find her right in the middle of an operation too didn''t you ANDI?"
"Helmsman Hendricks. I was following my directive as an Advanced Networked Defense Intelligence android and apprehending any unauthorized passengers as ordered by the captain’s mandate.”
Seeing that ANDI was about to go on a long rant regarding protocol Captain Starforged interrupted him. "ANDI ignore him. He''s just giving you a hard time."
"Yes sir. Proceeding to ignore Pilot Hendricks until ordered by Captain Starforged that I am allowed to pay attention to him again."
"Hey, what did you just say rust bucket?", Hendricks said, irritated with how snarky the android seemed. "Hey, I''m talking to you? ANDI! ANDI!”
Complying with the orders of its captain ANDI continued to completely ignore everything that Hendricks was saying to him.
Captain Starforged stood up and leaned against his chair as he stared down at Rebecca. “Enough of that. What are you doing here kid?"
Rebecca attempted to stand up, but the moment she tried ANDI placed it hand on her shoulder and shoved her back into the seat.
Rebecca glared at ANDI. "Can you call off the android please?"
"Answer the question!" Captain Starforged crossed his arms and continued glaring at Rebecca.
Rebecca was embarrassed by this whole situation. She had planned to wow them with her skills and heroism. Now she was just a common stowaway. “My name is Rebecca Powers, and I''m here to warn you about an ambush your about to walk into.”
Morgan’s icy gaze met Rebecca’s frightened expression. Morgan could tell this girl was in experience. She was petite, lacked muscle, and likely didn’t know how to fight. Rebecca’s clothing also looked like a uniform for some kind of prep school, so Morgan assumed she was some sheltered rich kid. "You''re pretty young kid. What are you doing on a space station by yourself? Don''t you have any parents?"
"I''m 18. And besides even if I weren''t it wouldn''t matter. My parents don''t care what happens to me so I''m better off without them."
"So, you''re a runaway then? But why would you bother warning us about an ambush?"
"Because I want to join your crew." She mumbled under her breath, too quietly for them to hear.
Captain Starforged was standing closest to her and was the only one who noticed she had said something. "What was that?"
"Because I want to join your crew!" Rebecca clos her eyes and turned her head so she didn''t have to look at any of them.
"So, what? You planned on coming in here to tell us we are being setup, and you thought we''d be so impressed that we''d just welcome you into the crew with no questions asked? Is that right?”
Rebecca winced after realizing how ridiculous her plan seemed in retrospect now that she was in this awkward situation. However, in a desperate attempt to save herself, Rebecca tried to give them more details of her plan in an attempt to impress them. "Yes. But I could be really useful to you. I''m really good with computers, and I was even able to hack into and eavesdrop on the AGI communication channel. That''s how I knew about you guys, and I did the same with that Tranquil Blue guy. It''s because of me he agreed to disable the tracker for you guys, and it was I who told him to encourage you guys to land in docking bay 74 so I could sneak in your ship. Pretty clever Huh?"
The crew wasn’t impressed, and Rodriguez pointed out the one flaw with Rebecca’s plan. “So, if you''re the reason that Tranquil Blue is working with us, and he is the one who set us up, then doesn''t that mean it''s your fault that we''re going to be ambushed?"
Rebecca was even more embarrassed by how badly her plan had turned out. “I guess…”
Captain Starforged hated to admit it, but he already knew Tranquil Blue was going to betray them. "Actually, we probably can''t blame her for the ambush. We all pretty much knew Tranquil Blue was up to something, and he would have done this with or without this girl’s intervention.”
They all nodded in agreement showing none of them, not even the captain, trusted Tranquil Blue in the first place, and were already prepared for what was coming next.
After a brief moment of silence Rodriguez began to speak again. “So, what should we do with her Captain? Throw her out the airlock like ANDI suggested?"
To his amusement, Rebecca was freaked out by Rodriguez’s statement, and began squirming in her seat in a futile attempt to break out of the hand cuffs and make a break for it.
"No, we''re not throwing you out of the airlock” Captain Starforged then went back to his seat, but he turned the chair around to continue talking to Rebecca. "But we are on a tight schedule, so we won''t be able to take her back until after we make our delivery. You''ll just have to come with us kid."
Right then Rebecca stopped squirming, and her face began to light up. Captain Starforged could tell she was starting to think she had convinced them, so he corrected that misconception. “But if you cause any trouble, I''ll consider the airlock. You are a full-fledged adult after all.”
Unbeknownst to Rebecca, Captain Starforged was bluffing. It was mostly an act to keep her in line. If anything, he didn''t want her getting hurt, and just hoped she''d behave long enough for them to finish the job so they could take her back.
"We''ll even if we wanted to take her back, we can''t now." Hendricks had serious expression on his face for the first time since the mission started. "We have AGI Magnum’s approaching us on the right.”
Captain Starforged looked out of the window and saw half a dozen AGI fighters inbound. He and the rest of the crew all turned toward Rebecca, wondering if this was part of her plan.
Rebecca saw them all staring at her and knew what they were all thinking. “What? This isn’t my fault.”