A/N: Thank you pallysAramisRios for reviewing!

"Light 'Em Up"

2393

"Two ships coming up behind us," Raffi reported from the operations console. "Shit, it's a customs patrol."

"I thought you said our trajectory was clear?" Rios snapped.

"It was! They were hiding behind one of those moons."

Rios's jaw tightened as he pulled up the sensor readings on his holographic display. Merde was right.

"They're hailing us."

Rios took a breath and swiped the command to open a channel.

"This is Commander Oglan of the security patrol ship Ferlin. Power down your engines and prepare for a security search."

"We're transporting cargo from the fifth planet in your system," Rios replied calmly. "I can transmit the manifest for you to confirm with the authorities on Trebalt."

"Power down and prepare to be boarded," the commander repeated tersely and disconnected the comm.

"Shit, shit, shit," Raffi repeated under her breath as she frantically went over the controls.

Security patrols in this sector were as corrupt as they came, citing and impounding starships for the most minor infractions so they could extort their own profit from anyone trying to do business in their region. The problem was, the sector was rich with natural—and valuable—resources that made it very profitable to conduct trade with the inhabitants. If they could get around the security forces.

Rios kept his ship running as tight as a Starfleet regulation vessel and any citations would be trumped up bullshit. But there was that little matter of the pyrillim ore hidden among his sanctioned cargo. If the security forces didn't have such a chokehold on the region, regular merchants wouldn't have to resort to extreme measures just to do business outside the star system.

"Rios," Raffi said in warning. "We really don't want to spend the next twenty years in an Azkabalian prison."

"No shit," he snapped back, turning the controls of the helm and feeding more power to the engines. Making a run for it was risky, but so was submitting. And Rios really didn't like pompous authority figures telling him what to do.

The engines thrummed with the increased speed, sending them rocketing through space. The problem was the patrol ships could easily keep up. Weapons fire struck the hull, making La Sirena jolt and alarms start blaring.

"Great, getting blown up is so much better!"

"Shut up and let me fly."

Rios torqued the holographic controls, taking them into evasive maneuvers as fulvous plasma fire streaked past the windows. Going to warp wasn't going to lose these goons; he needed another option.

He remembered there was a nebula along the edge of the system, one of the border points. Cranking the throttle, Rios banked the ship sharply to head straight for it.

"Hiding in there isn't going to help us!" Raffi exclaimed. "Their sensors can penetrate it."

"Hiding wasn't quite what I had in mind," he gritted out, pushing the engines to maximum. "Get ready to open the plasma coolant vents on my mark."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Raffi shook her head and swiveled back in her chair, fingers tapping urgently over the controls.

La Sirena careened into the nebula, the dense purple gases immediately blocking out visibility out the window. Rios glanced at the sensors; the patrol ships were following right behind. He eased up on the power just enough for them to close the distance.

"Now!"

Raffi slammed the command control, venting the plasma coolant out the rear of the ship. The gases inside the nebula ignited in a frenzy of fireworks, pink and red and white flower bursts that lit up the region with blinding intensity. Rios squinted against the glare suffusing all the way through his ship's windows as he wove the freighter in and around the cascading pyrotechnics. The security patrol vessels, disoriented by the sudden eruptions, went spiraling away.

Rios thrust the throttle forward and increased their impulse engines to maximum again until they skyrocketed out the other side of the nebula. From there, he immediately went to warp. No one followed.

Raffi finally sagged back in her seat and turned around. "Damn, that was some smooth flying there."

Rios let himself exhale in relief as well. He hadn't been part of Nova Squadron back at the Academy for nothing. "We should probably avoid jobs in this sector in the future."

She snorted and turned back to her station.

They delivered their cargo without incident, though their payment definitely didn't seem worth the risk they'd gone through for it. Rios figured they needed to start looking elsewhere for work.

On their way out of that system, a vessel hailed them on long-range communications. Since it didn't have the signature of one of those patrol ships, Rios decided to answer it.

A man in brown garb entered the view screen. "Greetings, Kaplan F17," he said, addressing them by La Sirena's make.

"What can we do for you?" Rios asked guardedly.

"I heard about a stunt a Kaplan freighter pulled against an Azkabal customs patrol," the man replied. "Would that be this ship?"

Rios flicked a tense look at Raffi, prepared to go on tactical alert. "Who's asking?"

"Name's Kabral. I'm with the Fenris Rangers, and, if you're interested, I have a job for you. One that will require some delicate and crafty maneuvering, if you catch my drift."

Rios and Raffi shared another look. After what they'd just been through, did they really want to go looking for potential trouble again so soon?

"Alright," Rios said thoughtfully and told the Fenris Ranger his rate, upping it a bit from his usual one. He figured if he was going to be taking on more dangerous gigs, he should get paid more for it.

The Ranger grinned and didn't quibble over the price. "Let's meet and discuss details in person. Comm signals are so easily intercepted."

Rios nodded and signed off. The Fenris Rangers did a lot of work outside the law. They had to; as there was no law to be found in the region of space they fought to defend. Rios found he didn't mind supporting their cause a bit.

As long as he got paid.