The Scaladorian cruiser slid into Narax’s high orbit after a nearly disastrous jump into the system. They were running on their last few grams of Gravitrum and the ship's captain was worried there wouldn’t be enough for the return trip. While it would be easy to take a portion of the load that was transferred to the ship and use it to get home, he needed to be sure none of the security cameras observed the theft. While they were members of the Stygiboran empire and welcome to most of its resources, the incredibly rare ore was a controlled substance and any unauthorized use was always punishable by death.

  As they drifted toward the Deep Space Orbital Transport Station, the captain tried to calculate how much Gravitrum he could take without being noticed. There were rumors about the last time someone had tried, but that’s all they were. People claimed to have served on that ship and seen the punishment, but the officers knew the truth; not a single member of that crew survived. When the fleet found the missing ship, it was like the hand of a cosmic god had shredded the hull.

  “Identify yourself or be destroyed,” the radio crackled to life, catching the captain's attention. “This is your second warning. Failure to comply will result in defensive measures being taken.”

  “Reply to the station. Give them our identification and transmit my authority code. I will not be threatened by a security goon,” he said to the communications tech. “On second thought, transmit override code 74952831 and take operational control over the station. Power down their weapons and connect to the airlock. I will have that soldier’s head.”

  “Aye-aye.” The comms tech replied, typing the command phrase into his station.

  ~~**~~

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  “Did they take the bait?” Jean asked, focusing on the holographic display unblinkingly.

  “Yes, they did,” Rodney replied. “Mik’t and a squad of Scalador transmitted the signal from a dummy system. The incoming ship thinks they control the station, but all they control is a radio connected to a computer with absolutely no network access.”

  “Good. And the team knows to continue mirroring their commands?”

  “Of course. Mik’t is up there. We know we can trust him to do what is needed.” Rodney said, tapping at the holo interface and pulling up a live view of the orbital station’s airlock.

  “If there is anything I know, it’s that trust is earned. Mik’t has long since earned that from all of us.”

  ~~**~~

  “Captain, station weapons are powered down, and the airlock is waiting for us to dock.” The comms tech said, sending a constant stream of commands to the station interface.

  “Pilot, bring us in for docking. Life support, I don’t want to see your mistake from The Pillar repeated here. Make sure we have a confirmed lock before synchronizing with the station. We are already low on gasses, and another breach like the last one will leave us unable to breathe for the return trip.”

  “Yes sir,” the two Scaladorians replied.

  The cruiser approached the station, turning hard to starboard and aligning the access hatch with its twin. Of the three airlocks on the cruiser, only one was large enough to allow the cargo sled to enter for storage. Unfortunately, that also meant the pilot needed to secure a lock against the bottom rear of the ship, where only two cameras would allow him to see. Nobody liked using the cargo dock, but when there was no other choice, pilots across the fleet shrugged their antennae and did it.

  A soft jolt and hiss rippled across the ship as they were locked into place. With a sigh of relief, the pilot powered down the engines for preventive maintenance and transferred control to the life support station. His job was done, and with nearly twenty-eight hours of flight on this trip, he was long due a rest. “I’m headed to my quarters to wash up. Please let me know when we need to go onboard.”

  “Will do. I’ll take some time to seal properly, so you should try to get some sleep. You look like shit.” The life support tech said, beginning the slow sealing sequence. While doing things the slow way was boring, it was significantly better than suffocating because he accidentally vented too much air.