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PREVIOUSLY: Enticed with a strip of gold, Val has agreed to help Rue and Garr find the secret military base where they plan to find and kill Red Klaw...
After days of intensive searching Val is eventually able to triangulate the coordinates of the top secret Galactic Marine shipyard. It's located in open space between systems.
Rue cuts the engines far outside of sensor range. Val and Garr crowd into the cockpit behind him to peer out the windows at the space station. It's a massive flat structure spread out like a small city in the middle of nowhere.
"The patrols are staggered, there's one about every ten minutes." Val explains.
"What's the best access point on the station?"
"The main docking bay is on that end, I never saw the opposite side, but I think there are some kind of labs and maybe a ship dock." Val points.
"What's the delivery schedule for supplies?" Rue asks.
"I don't know, pretty regular, maybe once a week or so."
"A week? Great." Garr grumbles.
Rue pulls out a star chart and opens it up. "Well, Fayben is the biggest system close by, so deliveries would probably come from this direction. We'll just wait here for the next transport to come by. Then we can sneak in behind them and follow 'em in."
"What about the patrols?" Val asks.
"No problem, Garr? Would you do the honors?" Rue points to a button on the far side of the console. As Garr flips it on, Rue explains, "Sensor jammer. If we power down completely, we'll just look like debris drifting aimlessly out here."
And so they wait. The living quarters of Rue's ship are cramped, their design was in no way created to accommodate three, especially one as big as Garr. But they make due, they spend most of their time playing cards and munching on the ship's rations.
Two full days pass with out any sign of activity. The patrol ships fly by without any clue that they are there.
Finally a burst of light off their starboard side indicates the opening of a hyperspace window. A large, boxy, military transport drops out of hyperspace. Rue scrambles to the cockpit and fires up the engines. Val slips into the co-pilot's seat, Garr hovers behind them.
The transport comes in from a slightly different direction than Rue expected, he has to punch it to catch up to them. "Damn! I was hoping for something a bit bigger."
"The escort ships just launched from the station!" Val reports.
Four single man gun ships speed out of the station toward them. "Hopefully we're far enough away they can't see us!" Rue pushes the ship to full throttle.
He flies straight at the transport ship. It slows down as it approaches the station. Rue maneuvers his ship into the energy wake directly behind the transport.
Val grins as he sees what Rue has up his sleeve, "Oh, I get it! We just sneak in on their wake and hope to hell they don't slam on their breaks."
The ride is rough. Rue pushes his little ship right up behind the transport. The entire ship shakes and groans. "I hope those shield modifications were worth the price we paid!" He struggles with the controls and grins.
"What modifications?!" Garr snarls. Rue just grins at him.
The others cling to anything they can. "Weird. This is an executive transport, must be some high ranking officers to warrant one of these." Val muses.
The hull of their little ship begins to glow as the transport's radioactive exhaust sets off every alarm on the console. The closer Rue gets to the engine's exhaust the more their little ship is buffeted around. He’s flying by wire, keeping the ship at just the right angle by sight alone.
"Those fighters are going to come around and pass over us, you might want to get a little closer. Tuck your nose just under their engines." Val suggests.
Rue tosses him a shocked look, "Just remember, this was YOUR idea!" Val nods. Garr groans.
Both hands on the controls shake from the strain, but Rue pushes the little ship closer. A piece of their hull platting rips off and sails past the window. It burns up in the exhaust.
“I hope we didn’t need that!” Rue exclaims as he leans into the controls.
Through the waves of heat they can see the fighters, two by two, cross over behind the transport. They bank back around to flank the large ship. Rue lets his little ship fall back into the middle of the exhaust stream.
"We're close to the station, what's your plan?" Val asks.
"Surveillance; above or below the hanger bay door?" Rue counters.
"Ahh... Above." Val's now very curious.
Rue pushes the ship's nose down until they can see under the transport. The space station is very close, Rue slides his ship underneath. They can see the hanger bay door open, waiting to receive the ship.
Rue hugs as close to the transport as he can. The nose of the transport breaches the airlock force field. When the transport is over halfway into the hanger bay Rue jukes the controls sideways. He rolls his ship and plants it just under the hanger door.
Garr reaches over Val's head and yanks down on a lever. There is a clang from under their ship as the magnetic feet drop out and grab onto the space station.
"Smuggler's claws!" Val smiles as understanding dawns on him. “Sensor jammer, magnetic feet, enhanced shields, you guys are full of surprises! Now what?"
Rue unbuckles his safety straps and grins at Val, "We suit up and walk in."
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