Miami Pete 15:

Much to my surprise, other than an occasional message, everyone seemed to be leaving me alone.  Looking at the external cameras, I didn't see any more of the orange and yellow uniforms that would indicate station guard, and I wasn't receiving any visitors.

Since I had it, I took some time to do a once-over on the ship to make sure everything was in top condition.  Maintenence helps me think.  I overhauled a couple of spare-spare components that I had in my project drawer - two is one, one is none after all - since our last visit to what Pete referred to as "that damn junk place", but I liked to think of as Nirvana.  It's basically the flea market just outside the space port on Activa 9.  Well, more like a moon of Activa 9, but the domed city on the moon calls itself Activa 9 also.  The actual Activa 9 is a gas giant that provides more than enough energy and reaction mass to make the city a going concern.  Add to that Activa 9 was also once a military shipyard and major manufacturing facility, and you have something special.  When whatever war it was built for was over, at least a hundred year ago, it was abandoned and sat empty until some enterprising people claimed it and turned it into what it is today.

It was nice to get back into my little workshop and do something constructive.  Something I could control.  Ever since Pete picked up those monks, everything had been a mess.  Well, not Hauley.  Hauley had been in the best condition it had ever been.  It was strange to think about, but the main difference between before and now was that engine overhaul.  I know the old engines put out a few harmonics, some of which may have been induced into Hauley's power distribution.  Interesting.  Just as I started to think about tests that could be done to either prove or disprove the theory - and mostly coming up empty - the buzzer on the hatch buzzed.

Since I wasn't expecting visitors - none that I wanted to talk to anyway - instead of heading for the hatch, I headed for the bridge where I could use the camera to see who was out there.

To my surprise, when I looked I saw of the very last people I wanted to see.  It was Gracie, the psyco-whatever.  In the background, I could see Al standing guard trying to see if he could wear out his neck joint by looking in every direction at once.  He seemed nervous, like he was expecting an attack at any minute.

"Hello?  What do you want?"  I sent over the ship comm to the hatch.

"It's me, Gracie.  Can you let me in?  I really need to talk to you." 

Well, of course it was Gracie, I could see that plain as day on the monitor.  What did she want though? 

"I'm not inclined to let you be anywhere near me.  Why would I let you in.  You can say what you want to say from there and leave."  I replied. 

"Please.  It's dangerous for me to be out here like this. Someone might recognise what I am."  She said.

"You got old Al there to protect you, you should be fine."

"Please, I really need to talk to you.  I can't go back!"  She actually sounded upset.  It almost sounded and looked like she was trying to escape from something, but what?

Then all hell broke loose on the concorse.  Alarms sounding, explosions, the works.  Then the sound that every spacer dreads.  The hissing of air, and the announcement that the station had been breached. 

I looked outside, there were 'rus ships attacking the station.  Then back at the monitor, Gracie and Al had nowhere to go.  Without thinking about it, I double checked that the inner airlock door was sealed, and opened the outer hatch.  As soon as they were in, I closed the outer hatch and equalized the pressure in the airlock.  It was a little frightening how much air it took.  They made it just in time.

"Power up the drives and get us out of here!"  came Al's voice over ship's comm from the airlock.

Traffic control was a mess.  I wasn't able to get through to anyone.  Usually, before you power up a ship, you have to call traffic control to let them know you were leaving and to coordinate such things as disengaging docking clamps and such.  There was no way to get through to them.

To my surprise, Al and Gracie bardged onto the bridge.  "Get us out of here!"  he ordered.

"I can't raise station traffic control!"  I replied.

"Of course not, they have probably evacuated."  Al replied.  "We need to get out of here before whoever's attacking the station start targeting us." 

I jumped to the helm station and started the power up sequence.  The quick one, not the slow one that I usually used that saved wear and tear on the drives.  It was a risk, but sometimes risks had to be taken. 

"Nothing for it, you'll have to tear the ship free from the moorings." Al advised.  Little did he know that Hauley was equiped with tear-away hatch facings.  I couldn't blame him.  It isn't very common to see those outside of certain... ahem... illegal circles, but Hauley had them as long as I've been aboard.  Basically, what a tear-away hatch facing is, it's an extra layer between the ship's docking interface and the station's docking interface.  When they are installed, care is taken to blend them into the ship so they aren't noticable unless you know what you are looking for.  Their function is, if there is a situation where you need to leave in a hurry, but the station you are docked to refuses to release the moorings, a quick button push and wha-la, the tear-away splits and you are free to go.  The nice feature is that there is no damage to your ship.  The ship side part of the tear-away can easily be removed later.  The REAL nice feature, although it doesn't apply so much this time, is that the side that stays attached to the station doesn't cause any damange.  If I didn't have the tear-away, I would have had to literally rip the ship free of the morrings, which would usually cause a hull breach on the station.  Of course, they are already having a hull breach, so it wasn't as wonderful this time, but the lack of damage to Hauley was definitely worth every penny Pete, or whatever predecessor to Pete that had them installed paid for them.