Mitchell's Revenge
Topernicus bootleg shipyard, Cirrius Minor System

The Guardian Angel slid smoothlyinto bay seven. The automated cradle arms approached the ship as it floated,motionless, to complete the docking procedure. Rufus held the ship steady asthe arms attached gently to the ship. Once firmly attached, he powered down thedrives. The docking bays’ outer space doors closed, sealing with a whumpf asthey shut the vacuum out. The Guardian Angel settled into the repair pod cradleand Rufus began their disembarkation sequence.

The crew manifest was copied to thesysadmin before docking and no questions were asked. Rufus glanced from thecontrol room window to see two of the shipyard security personnel emerging fromthe connecting door that linked the docking bay to the inner wheel of the complex.The door was located between the two sections of crew quarters positioned atthe rear of the repair pod.

The security people were uniformedand armed with stun guns. No other weapons were allowed into the shipyard. Rufuswas required to display their personal weapons to security and then lock theminto a strong box on board the Angel whilst they were here. This included any lasersand other firearms, knives and hand to hand combat equipment. It was standardprocedure for the shipyards and stations in this galaxy.

Flick, Snatch and Grabb changedinto faded navy coveralls which they hoped would blend them into the general populationof the shipyard. They planned not to draw unnecessary attention to themselvesover the next few days. Flex, as previously agreed, stayed on board. Rufus remainedin his Captain’s garb until he confirmed their arrangements with security. Whenthe shipyard personnel were satisfied that all requirements were met theyreturned the way they came. Rufus loped back on board the ship to change.

“So far, so good,” he said to Flexas he removed the Captains’ pips from his jacket and put them carefully intothe small storage box he kept in his cabin for this purpose. He extracted anavy coverall from the robing cubicle and climbed into it. Flex was loungingagainst the door frame, waiting for Rufus to change.

“It’s a good start,” Flex replied. “Wejust need to keep it that way... You know what to do, so let’s get on with it!”

Rufus nodded. “Bolter’s down therealready sorting out the parts we need,” he said to Flex. “Snatch will help himwith the heavy lifting. If you want to go up to the bridge we can communicatewith you from the tarmac via the coms unit. Set the control room window toobscure and you should be safe from prying eyes. We’ll all be wearing headsets.If you want me to come up and help you in here, just let me know.”

He turned and made his way backdown to the tarmac where Bolter and Snatch were standing, staring up at thebelly of the ship.

“She’s ugly all right,” commentedSnatch.

“What do you expect from somethingthat’s been cobbled together from salvaged ships?” asked Bolter.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get yourknickers in a knot. I’m just saying,” responded Snatch.

“She can bloody fly though,” saidRufus, arriving at the end of the conversation.

“Thank you Captain,” said Bolter. “Let’sget to work. We need to see if we can patch those couple of gashes while we’rehere too. We must have scraped some rubble in that asteroid belt when we wentafter Ripley’s Revenge.” He pointed tosome long silver streaks on the hull that looked like flashes of forked lighteningscoured into the metal.

“Better check the hull integrity,”he muttered as he began unpacking sensors and tools from the kit at his feet. “Rufus,you go back inside and run some diagnostics over the hull while I get thissorted.”

Rufus nodded. “On my way boss,” hesaid as he grinned at Bolter. They all got to work.

Meanwhile, Flick and Grabb werechecking the on board food stores for what they needed.

“Coffee, definitely,” commentedFlick, as she typed the word in to her handipalm unit. They checked and addedthings until they were satisfied they had all they needed on their list. Thenthey checked the med bay stores and added a few more items.

“I’ll transmit this to the shipyardStore Master. See what they’ve got that we can buy,” she said to Grabb, “Andthen we can go for a little walk. It’ll be good to get off the ship for awhile.”

They’d been in space for months,running from the police, raiding other ships, and running again. It actuallyfelt good to be still. And, they believed, out of harms way for at least a fewdays.

Grabb agreed. “Do you think they’dactually have any chocolate anywhere? I’d kill for some of that Copernican darkwe scavenged off the last ship we raided.”

Flick laughed. “You never know, wemight get lucky. Let’s go see.”

They each slung an empty handipakonto their back and headed towards the connecting door to the shipyardinterior.

“Stay in touch via your headsets,” suggestedBolter’s voice in their ears as they reached the door.

“Will do,” responded Grabb, andthey were gone. The door slid shut behind them.

The diffused lighting in the innercorridor of the shipyard made it hard to see at first. Flick wished she’dbrought a flashlight. As her eyes began to adjust to the gloom she realisedthat most of the shipyard power must be reserved for the repair pods. She’dnever been to one of these facilities before so she supposed that some thingswould seem odd to her. A yellow linedown the centre of the corridor and signs on the walls indicated that theyshould stay to the left at all times.

Grabb, on the other hand, was quitefamiliar with this kind of set up. In his days as a ballroom dancer, he hadcompeted in some very grubby venues in his home galaxy, so this was no surpriseto him. A flashlight would be handy though, he thought as they headed towardsthe first connecting corridor to the centre hub. They were relieved that therewas no one else around as they walked.

An automated trolley whirred pastthem, disappearing down the corridor they were heading towards.

“Should have hitched a ride,” commentedFlick. Grabb laughed.

“I’d say we need the exercise,” heresponded. “Been on board far too long and I’m fed up with the ships’ gym!”

They continued on, walking brisklynow as they got their bearings. Forty five minutes later they were in the centralhub of the shipyard. They checked thelayout against what they remembered from the schematic they’d viewed on boardthe Guardian Angel as they came in.

“Med bay first,” instructed Flick. “Let’ssee if they’ve got our first aid refills ready. And it’ll be the lightest stuffto carry around.”

A few minutes later they hadeverything they needed loaded into Grabb’s handipak. They headed towards wherethey thought the shipyard central goods and food store was located and found theywere passing through the centre of what resembled an old fashioned food hallfrom an old earth shopping centre.

“Good god,” exclaimed Flick. “Inever thought I’d see something like this, let alone be standing in one! What a strange set up they’ve got here.”

She looked around to see all mannerof food outlets, a drinks bar and a serious looking coffee shop. The storeswere situated around a central courtyard scattered with tables and chairs. Thelighting was better here and when she looked up she saw that the ceiling depictedclouds and blue sky. There were even tall green plants standing in pots dottedbetween the tables here and there.

“Wow!” agreed Grabb, “I’ve never seen anythinglike this before! Cool. We can try lotsof different foods all in one place.”

He walked excitedly towards thenearest cake counter and started examining the chocolate cakes on offer. Flicksmiled. She’d never known anyone to love chocolate as much as Grabb.

There were more people here too. Flickcast her eyes over several groups and noted that they all seemed quite relaxed.There was a mixture of human types, some dressed in bright colours, and othersin the ubiquitous faded navy ship suits that were found in every galaxy she hadbeen to. Hair styles varied from spiky upstanding quiffs to long silky hairtied back in pony tails.

Her eyes were drawn to aparticularly attractive girl seated with a man and a woman at one of the tables.She seemed to be quite tall and willowy, with long dark hair in a ponytail downher back. She had big brown eyes and the most beautiful smile. She smiled oftenat her companions. Flick saw that Grabb had noticed her too.

“There’ll be none of that whilewe’re here,” she hissed in his ear as she edged closer to him.

Grabb looked innocently at Flick.

“She’s a stunner alright,” he said.“So many women, so little time.”

“Stop it,” Flick hissed at him. “Wedon’t want to draw attention to ourselves. Remember?”

Grabb shrugged his shoulders underthe weight of the handipak and turned back to studying the chocolate cakes infront of him.

“You get the coffee and I’ll get the cake,” hesaid cheerfully, and pushed Flick in the direction of the coffee shop.