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PREVIOUSLY: A trio of Generals arrived at the top secret marine shipyard to inspect the WHISPER proto-type, the pirates used this distraction to sneak into the hanger bay behind them...
The main hanger bay of the secret Galactic Marine ship yard is enormous. The door that Rue, Garr, and Val have just crawled through is by far the largest, but not the only one. There are several launch doors for small fighters. Each one has a couple of ships ready in the tracks. There is a wide assortment of other Marine vehicles stored here as well.
The rest of the massive bay looks like a well organized machine shop. The General's transport sits in the center of the hanger bay. It's a big unimaginative box of a ship. Rue, Garr, and Val are behind this ship obscured for the moment from the group of marines running toward them.
The alarms wail again, "BREACH IN THE MAIN HANGER!" Everyone jumps. Val and Garr are still tied together with the rope that is knotted to the suction cup fused onto the outside of the space station. Rue quickly uses his laser tool to slice the rope behind them, he tosses it back out of the doors. Then he shoves Garr and Val toward the back of the General's transport.
They crawl underneath it as they hear the thunder of boots rushing toward them. They scramble to hide behind one of the landing struts. They can see the Marine's legs as move toward a manual control panel near the door. They can also see the suction cups that Val dropped after he got through the door. Rue scowls at Val, Val winces apologetically.
One of the Marines punches a combination of keystrokes on the panel next to the door. "The doors won't shut." He exclaims.
"Get somebody out there to check the sensor pad..." He trails off as he spots the suction cups on the floor, he kneels down to pick them up. Val stops breathing.
The Marine turns the suction cups over curiously. He peers under the General's ship. Rue, Garr, and Val squeeze themselves into the shadows of the landing strut. The Marine moves closer to the transport, slowly circling around the back of it searching the hull. The boys watch his feet nervously, carefully shuffling to stay out of sight.
On the other side of the station, in an observation deck above the main docks, the Generals stare out the large windows while Marines set a table behind them. To the naked eye the dock looks empty. Goddard peers through a set of special goggles, his hawk like face almost cracks a smile. He passes the goggles to Hannon.
As the thick necked man peers into the goggles he sees WHISPER; her sleek stingray shape floats silently over the deck. She is a medium sized battle cruiser, but unlike most Galactic Marine ships, she is sleek and elegant. From this angle, Hannon can see through the ship’s long skylights right into her executive quarters.
Hannon nods, he is impressed. He passes the goggles to Dubaal, who shoves a handful of appetizers down his throat before taking them. Laurine stands next to them looking smugly confident. Commander Dillian looks on nervously. When the alarm sounds about the breach in the hanger bay, he nearly jumps out of his skin.
"I had better see to that, if you'll excuse me." He hurries off the observation deck. Dubaal is busy gazing in awe at WHISPER, none of them even notice his exit.
In the hanger bay, the young deck-hand with Val's suction cup in his hand inspects the back of the General's ship trying to figure out where it might have fallen off. The other Marines hurry off to check the outside of the doors.
Under the ship Rue makes a hand signal at Garr, his space suit crinkles slightly. Garr nods, completely understanding. Val looks back and forth between the two, completely confused and terrified.
As the deck-hand walks past their location, Garr reaches out and grabs his legs. Before he can scream, Garr yanks him off his feet, drags him under the ship, and knocks him unconscious. Rue flips open his kit, with one of his laser tools he quickly cuts out the length of rope between Val and Garr.
While they untie the rope around their waists, Rue uses his piece to bind the Marine's hands and feet. He rips a piece of tape off a roll he produces from his pack and slaps it over the kid's mouth. Then he and Garr slide the deck hand under the transport, well out of sight.
Quietly they peer out from under the ship. The coast is clear, the rest of the Marine deck jockeys have returned to their jobs at the back of the hanger bay. Rue motions for Garr and Val to follow him. They crawl out from under the transport and quickly shimmy out of their space suits. No one notices them at all.
They wad their space suits back into the built in container tubes. Garr secures his heavy metal walking stick in its holster across his back.
"I've got just the spot to stow those." Val whispers to the others.
He takes the space suit tubes, cautiously he sneaks over to one of the fighter ship launch tracks. Rue and Garr follow, keeping an eye on the workers across the hanger bay. At the edge of the launch track Val pops open a panel on the deck, it provides access to the launch controls. Val tucks the space suits into a girder under the deck, "They'll be safe here." He whispers.
After Val replaces the deck panel, he leads the way along the wall toward the hanger's main exit. They stick close to the wall and move quickly. At the sound of boots marching toward them they slip behind one of the fighters waiting at the back of its track.
The Marines march into the hanger bay and continue toward the workshop without ever seeing the intruders. After they pass, the boys scurry out of the hanger into the station.
"Keep your eyes open and follow me." Val whispers as he hurries down the corridor away from the hanger bay...
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