Title: Sojourn: Part 1 - Breakout

Author: JadeHeart

Located/Archived: If anyone would like it, please ask me first!

Creation Date: 1994

Fandom: Blakes 7

Rating: M

Timeline: A few years after the end of the TV series.

Original Characters: Kitra and Griffen are mine.

Summary: Fate brings the players from the past to gather again.

Author's Notes: This is merely some thoughts about what could have been after the final of Blake's 7.

Disclaimer: I do not own the idea/outline/characters of Blake's 7, this belongs to the original creators, nor am I making any profits from this.

Chapter 4

"Well, any luck?" Kitra asked as she came into the room, slapping her gloves against her flight suit. Fine dust rose in a cloud around her at the contact.

"Not yet." Vila replied. "Where'd that come from?" pointing to the dirt drifting from her clothes.

She grimaced. "Just finished that run out to Tapis II. The god-damn place is a dust bowl!" She pushed her hair from her forehead, leaving a grimy streak. "Got a good price for those Antrian spices though. Since the Federation put the tariffs on them the black market is booming!"

She withdrew a couple of pouches from her deep pockets, pouches that bulged and clinked in a very satisfying manner to Vila's eyes and ears. She tossed one to him, which he caught with ease.

"Your share. Without those magic fingers of yours it could have been a little difficult getting the cargo out of the warehouses so quietly."

Vila chuckled as he weighed the pouch in his hand. He knew he held a small fortune in his palm. "The Federation is still probably trying to figure out how it got out of the locked room with no alarms being tripped." he said with smug pride.

"Well, limber those digits up, we've got another job."

"Already?" Vila asked with dismay, visions of a spending spree fading away.

Kitra let out a short laugh. "The bills don't pay themselves!"

"We don't have any!"

"Oh, yes we do! Where do you think spare parts come from, energy cells, food, medical supplies, your wine?"

"Oh," Vila replied subdued.

Kitra frowned as she sat heavily into a chair. "Come to think of it, you should be paying for the wine out of your share, you drink most of it. I think that's going to be the new policy from now on."

"Oh!" Vila repeated, wincing at the thought of parting with the wealth in his hand.

"Anyway, this is just a quick job. Griffen's checking things out at the moment, making sure everything's kosher. It's supposed to be a simple courier job, picking up some cargo and dropping it off. We'll get the co-ordinates sent to us once we're on our way."

"Seems safe enough," Vila said.

"Seems," Kitra replied darkly, eyes narrowed, "Doesn't necessarily follow that it is. I don't know if I'm just getting more suspicious in my old age, but something about this one bothers me."

"Like what?" Vila asked seriously. He trusted Kitra's instincts and hunches. They had warned them away from danger more than once with an uncanny accuracy. Vila wasn't going to question it. Not if it kept his hide intact also.

She shook her head, still frowning. "Not sure. Maybe it seems like they got in touch with us too easily." She shrugged a little, "I just don't know. Maybe I'm just tired and seeing trouble where there isn't any. We've been working steadily for quite a few months now. Maybe I need a break."

She frowned for a moment more in silence, then slapped her hand against her thigh, sending up another eddy of fine particles, and spoke briskly. "Right or wrong, I think we're going to take a few precautionary measures. Start packing, I want everything crated and stored on the freighter, ready to go. See if you can get Orac to scout for a suitable planet to shift to, preferably somewhere the Federation isn't and not likely to come looking for us. You know the usual thing."

"You really think it's necessary?" Vila queried. They had only moved base once since he had joined her, but Kitra had indicated that she and Griffen would do so whenever they felt the need arose. This was obviously one of those times.

"I'd rather be certain than sorry. We've been here a while now and they may have got an inkling about us and are now trying to pinpoint our position. I want the freighter loaded and sent somewhere else before we set off on this job."

"Right," Vila agreed. "I'll load the wine on 'Pegasus'."

Kitra looked at him in puzzlement. "You mean the freighter, don't you?"

Vila shook his head. "No. If we're going to be dodging Federation pursuit ships we're not going to be able to head straight for the new base, are we? So we could be flitting around for a while. I get kind of dry, you know."

Kitra chuckled as she folded a cabinet down so it formed a carry case. "Vila, you never change!"

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Kitra spat in fury, fingers flying over the console. The ship rocked from another blast.

"Shields weakening. Right stabilizer fluctuating." Griffen's disembodied voice came to her.

"Lock it down!"

"Plasma bolt launched! Bearing 932.62!" Vila read his screen.

"Compensating!"

"Second plasma bolt launched, bearing 762.34! Kitra, do something!"

"I'm open to suggestions!" she threw back at him.

The deck tilted as she manoeuvred to avoid the second plasma bolt before levelling out. Then the ship suddenly rocked violently from an impact, throwing them both from their seats to the floor.

"What the hell was that!" Kitra yelled, clawing her way into her seat, a trickle of blood running from a gash at the temple.

"A third pursuit ship has arrived, bearing 328.96." Orac spoke up. "The odds of survival now calculate as.."

"Shut up!" Vila yelled.

"Griffen, take over! Keep us out of range if you can! Vila, come with me!"

Kitra propelled herself from the console to the flight deck door, holding on as the ship bucked from another glancing blow. Vila joined her there as he was flung across the deck.

"Where are we going!" he shouted over the noise.

"Engine room!" she replied as she released her hold and practically ran down the corridor.

"Why!" he yelled after her disappearing figure before letting go himself and stumbling in her wake.

Twice more the ship was hit, throwing him from side to side. The second time whilst he was pressed up against the bulkhead he could hear the hissing sound as the automatic safety equipment sent jets of sealant into the area between the bulkhead and outer hull to seal any breach. He shuddered at the thought of the hull being punctured and terror spurred him on.

As he reached the engine room Griffen's voice came over the com, "Kit, the shields are down to 26! Another direct hit and we'll be history! And there's another pursuit ship coming in! Better be quick about it!"

Vila stumbled though the open doorway to land on his knees next to Kitra.

"Glad you could make it," she said, without taking her eyes from what she was doing. "With a fourth pursuit ship out there, we don't have a chance, even if our shields were fully charged. I really should have found time to upgrade them."

"What are you doing?"

"Something I'd rather not be," was her unnerving reply. "Right, I need your delicate touch." She lifted away the panel she had just unscrewed. "Put your hand in here and reach to the far right corner. You should feel a knob."

Vila reached in and felt around. "Got it,"

"Okay, push it in and turn it 90 degrees to the left, then stop. Don't!" she said firmly looking him in the eye. "Don't turn it any further than 90 degrees or you'll blow us all to kingdom come."

Vila swallowed nervously and rolled his eyes, then carefully followed her instructions. "Done."

"Now, pull it out as far as it will go and turn to your right until it completely screws out." The ship rocked violently again and Kitra supported Vila against the concussion.

"Shields failing!" Griffen's voice came to them. "Fourth pursuit ship will be in firing range in 55 seconds!"

"Hurry, Vila!" Kitra said urgently.

The screw suddenly came free in his hand. "Done it!"

"Bring it up and keep a grip on the wire attached. Don't let it knock against anything."

Villa pulled it up carefully, trailing a blue wire behind.

Meanwhile, Kitra had located another two wires and now held a pair of electric pliers and an electron booster pack.

"What now?" Vila asked, thinking of the time ticking away and wondering what Kitra had in mind.

"Now I do a bit of jury-rigging and if all goes well it will provide a single burst of speed that will get us out of here."

"How fast?"

"Around mark 15."

"Through that!" Vila said, pointing to the make-shift gadget she was even now attaching wires to and fixing settings. "It won't be able to contain that much power! You'll blow us all up!"

"We're dead if we don't!" she snarled at him. "What would you rather chance!"

"Shields collapsing! Fourth ship in range, three plasma bolts launched!" Griffen called to them.

"Do it!" Vila yelled.

Kitra brought the final wire towards the junction box. Sparks arced between the two components making her wince then she jammed the end in.

Vila closed his eyes and prayed. There was a blinding flash and he heard Kitra cry out, then he felt a wrenching lurch in his stomach and was forced to the floor by the pressure as a rushing filled his ears.

Vila groaned as he opened his eyes. The pressure was gone, although his body ached from head to toe. The bulkhead above him seemed to be moving until he blinked his eyes into focus. That only slowed the spinning a little. He rolled over and groaned again at the pain.

"That is something I don't want to try again." he murmured, sitting back on his heels.

Looking around he saw Kitra lying crumpled at the base of the opposite wall. He crawled over to her. "Kitra?"

He reached out gingerly to touch her face, unsure if she was alive or not. A sudden flashback came to him of the planet Terminal and Cally's death. It made his hand shake. He could still hear Cally's voice echoing in his mind as she died. He banished those thoughts. Cally was dead, had been for years. That was in the past. This was the present.

Just then Kitra moaned as she stirred. Vila breathed a sigh of relief, as the ghosts of his past faded away. Thank goodness for that. He helped her sit up.

"Did it work?" she asked weakly.

"We're still alive so it must have." Vila replied with a small grin. "Otherwise, if this is Heaven I want a refund."

"I'm glad I guessed right then."

"You guessed?" Vila asked, feeling suddenly queasy.

She looked up at him with a half smile. "You don't think I do this all the time, do you?" she said, as she held up her scorched hands. Ugly burns blistered the blackened skin up to her wrists.

"My god!" Vila exclaimed. "We've got to get those fixed! Come on." He hooked an arm around her and helped her to her feet.

As he supported her to the medical unit, she spoke up, "Griffen?"

"You alright?" came his voice.

"Bit battered and bruised but nothing serious. What happened?"

"It worked. Whatever it was."

"So I gathered. How far away are we?"

"Far enough. We're just doing the calculations now."

They reached the medical unit and Vila sat her in a reclining chair, before slapping a soma pad on her arm to ease the pain. She breathed a sigh of relief as it took effect.

He smiled at her reaction. "Great stuff, isn't it? Got many a fond memory of it. Best relaxant out!"

He lathered salve on her hands to kill any infection and numb the area, before applying strips of synthetic skin to help the rejuvenation of her own tissue.

"They'll be sore for a while but it should fix up alright."

She nodded slightly, not fully aware of what was happening, letting herself drift with the relaxant he had given her.

"Kitra?" Griffen's voice came over the ship's com.

She stirred herself to answer. "Yes?"

"You'll be glad to know we're only a day from base. You know, there are less hazardous methods of getting home in a hurry. A bit of forward planning perhaps next time instead?"

"I'll keep that in mind." she replied with a weak smile. She then glanced up at Vila. "Well, it should be smooth sailing from here. She's all yours. Wake me when we get there. Oh, and try not to hit a meteor or something on the way back. I've had enough excitement for one day."

"Would I do that?" Vila said, sounding injured, as he left.

She closed her eyes and settled back comfortably. "I knew this was going to be a bad day." she muttered.