Monique sat at the security console waiting to play her part in the mission. Mik’t had explained what to do once the deep space carrier left, even going so far as writing a cheat sheet for the symbols she would need onto a piece of paper. Blowing the artificial atmosphere from the orbital station wouldn’t be hard, especially since there was an emergency protocol built into the system for that express purpose. The hard part would be to remain inconspicuous until the transport ship was far away.
Sadly, that was easier said than done. Even if the station was only minimally staffed, the inhabitants still expected to get an answer from security when they called for it. She’d been able to ignore anyone coming to the door so far, but it was only a matter of time before one of the remaining crew members got tired of waiting and tried to enter the console.
If and when that happened, she would have to kill the Scaladorian. Luckily, killing the bug-like creatures was the entire reason she was currently on the ship in the first place. It would be easier if she could do it without needing to get her hands dirty for each one, but if that’s what it came down to, she would perform her duties as needed.
It took nearly forty-five minutes after Rodney and Mik’t left, but eventually the deep-space carrier decoupled from the orbital station and started a sub-light burn out of the system. A part of her wanted to see the ship activate it’s Faster Than Light drive and watch them burn some of the precious gravitrum they could no longer restore, but the captain of the other ship actually followed the orders to save the commodity and refused to get anywhere close to a speed that would burn their valuable fuel. They didn’t know that what they carried in their cargo bay was the last shipment they would receive from Narax, but the empire had been so careful lately, their refusal to use the resource was extremely predictable.
There were exactly thirty souls currently stationed on the orbital platform, and they all seemed entirely useless at maintaining the satellite. While a few sported the look of an engineer, most were clearly additional guards that could be dropped on the planet at any time, or pilots waiting to perform their duties once the rotation came to a close. The last thing the prisoners of this desolate world needed was more guards, and letting the ones on this platform live was a surefire way to ensure reinforcements would be on their doorstep earlier than expected.
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It took nearly five more hours of waiting, but eventually the carrier was out of effective communication range and they were once again alone in the depths of space. Monique flipped through the cameras on the console, counting the aliens on board and ensuring their trap would effectively eliminate all threats. They were safely locked away behind cabin doors, but a few keystrokes before venting the atmosphere could quickly solve that problem. With very little effort, she could unlatch every door on the station. Then, once she vented the air, they would all be sucked out into the void of space.
She looked down at the cheat sheet, identified the symbols she needed, and lifted the station wide lockdown before manually resealing the security room door. Next, she pulled the enviro-helm from her bag and slipped it over her head, securing it in place and sealing herself inside. Finally, she typed the line of code that would vent the atmosphere and waited for the world to turn to chaos.
On the screens above her head, bulkheads flew open as decompression began. Loose items across the station flew, slamming into walls and Scaladorian alike. She watched with casual disinterest as a set of long tools skewered one of the remaining engineers, breaking the alien's grip on a doorframe and allowing it to be pulled from the station. On another screen, one guard slipped into a closet as it tried to survive. Instead, all it accomplished was slowly dying of suffocation rather than a quick cryogenic death.
Less than three minutes after opening the airlock, the station fell quiet. All the Scaladorians were gone. Only Monique remained. Reaching back to the console, she resealed the station and hailed the shuttle. It was time to return to the surface of Narax and begin the next phase of their rebellion.
