Thunderbolt

'...just don't engage until we catch up if you can avoid it. They'll take you to pieces. I've got Tochiro and Mimay working on a modulation to the dark matter shield and on modifications to the main cannon. By their calculations it will take both ships to put a dent in one of the Phantasma.'

After Harlock's hologramatic image had winked out, Yanez turned to Nero with a frown. 'He might be right, but he comes off as a pompous pipsqueak, doesn't he? Who does he think he is?'

'Captain Harlock,' Nero drawled. 'Don't let the boy next door looks fool you. He's got a sound head on his shoulders.' He smiled. 'More so than his predecessor, in a way. At least he's polite.' He sat down in the captain's chair with a sigh. 'Rather more worrying is the news about the sabotage on board the Arcadia. Once we're in flight grab a couple of men and check out our own systems.'

'Already on it,' Yanez informed him grimly. 'I know we've kept access to the ship to a minimum, but I'd rather know before take off…'

Nero took the implied rebuke with a silent twitch of his lips. 'And my dark matter engine?'

'An obsolete museum piece,' replied a girlish, bell-like voice from behind him. 'Did Yngwie bother to upgrade this over the past hundred years? At all…?'

'Just reassure me it'll do the job and not blow up in our faces and I'll settle for that,' Nero told her, without turning around to look at her. He smiled at her heartfelt sigh. 'We're all a little past our best, Freya. The Thunderbolt doesn't have the advantages the Arcadia does, of a dedicated AI that can respond instinctively to the ship's needs.'

'And remodel the damned hull on a whim…' Yanez added. He watched, enraptured, as the Arcadia soared into the sky with a rumble that made his chest reverberate, on a column of dark matter. 'Lumbers a bit getting out of the gravity well doesn't it? And do we make that much mess?' he asked. 'It looks like a vessel running on fossil fuels with a really bad service history…'

Nero slapped him on the shoulder. 'It does seem to be spewing dark matter faster than it can absorb it, doesn't it? But none of these ships ever looked graceful in atmosphere, my friend. It isn't their element. In space however… they are sharks. Elegant, fast, and deadly.'

'They'll be faster than the Phantasma.' Freya perched on the arm of Nero's chair, one foot tapping gently at the side. 'But the trouble is, the Phantasma class ships do not need to keep changing position to fire on their opponents - those "ribbons" carry the weaponry to wherever they need to aim, so they can continue on the same vector. The Deathshadows can move the main arrays on the ratchet system - and fire in multiple directions, but have a more linear attack vector. You still have to angle the ship to bring maximum force to bear.'

'I'll worry about that once we're en route,' Nero told her. 'How long before we lift off?'

Outside, the Arcadia was descending onto the surface of the ocean, her massive bulk sending out a large displacement wave as she settled, the red eyes of the skull in her bow seeming to stare straight into the bridge of her sister-ship. Despite the temperature being a comfortable eighteen degrees, Nero shivered, and looked away.

Freya smiled up at him and patted his hand where it lay on the arm of the chair next to her. 'As soon as you have everyone on board, Captain,' she informed him in a teasing tone that sounded as though she was almost about to laugh.

'You,' he replied, 'are entirely too chirpy for a nibelung.' He sighed as he looked over her garb - very short green shorts over pale green leggings, and a cropped top in another shade of sea green. 'And that get-up isn't exactly ship-board regulation…' he pointed out, a little stiffly.

She just smiled up at him. 'Really? If anything causes a rupture bad enough to take out the bridge, it's not as though I'll have time to reach a spacesuit.' She patted his hand again, bounced to her feet and headed back to the dark matter engine with a skip in her stride.

Yanez clapped Nero on the back hard enough to almost stagger the larger man, and ignored the sideways glare this earned him. 'My brother, it might be rather disturbing to see that tiny blue-green heinie in come-fuck-me shorts, but what do you really think you can do about it? You're not her father…' He smiled. 'Come to think of it, looks aside, she's older than you are, and despite those big, round wide eyes, if you think there's anything innocent about that race, you haven't been paying attention.' He leaned sideways to peer around Nero's larger frame, and grinned admiringly. 'I have to admit - never thought I'd say this but she sure is a lot prettier to look at than Yngwie - and a lot friendlier.'

'I'm not sure anyone thought we'd see anyone prettier than Yngwie,' Liam O'Malley interjected as he strolled past the pair to his station. 'Including Yngwie…'

'How is he?'

Liam shrugged at his captain's question as he ran his hands over the controls. 'Nursing both a headache and a grudge… honestly, sir - if we didn't need him to control the dark matter drive, I'd have left him somewhere where his spite wouldn't poison anyone else. I'm actually relieved to find out that they aren't all like that as a species…'

'Nope.' Freya popped her head around the back of Nero's chair and smiled prettily at the red-haired officer. 'Some of them are a lot worse…' She tossed her head slightly, causing her silken, gossamer-fine hair to float gently back to her shoulders, which the ends just brushed. 'Because in my admittedly biased opinion, it takes a special kind of innate lack of compassion for an entire species to think using its own children to control dangerous devices that directly manipulate dark matter is a good idea, don't you think?'

'You say that so prettily,' Nero said. 'Yet I have a feeling you'd love to get your hands on those responsible…'

'Raised by pirates,' she replied brightly. 'It rubs off.'

'Maybe we could swap?' Yanez said, a wistful note in his voice. 'We could borrow Mimay for a few months and they could rub some of the edges off Pretty Poison.'

'Wouldn't work,' Freya replied sagely. 'Mimay's as bound to the Arcadia as Tochiro is, in her own way. You caught the backlash from the dark matter release - the Arcadia was the origin point. You're long-lived because you're living on or near the dark matter engine, but you're not a part of the ship the way Harlock, Mimay and Tochiro are.' Her tiny mouth quirked into an oddly feral grin. 'Besides, Harlock would plant one on him the first time he pissed him off.'

'My Harlock or yours?' Nero asked.

'That's the big question isn't it?' Hannibal's voice preceded him onto the bridge as he strode up the stairs.

'Admiral on the Deck!' Nero called out, his wide, full mouth curled into a mischievous grin. 'So how did Phantom disentangle himself from the ship?'

'Belay that crap, Khal. I'm a civilian again these days. Thank god. My brother found a loophole that allowed another captain to replace him, hoping to die…'

'Didn't we go to see that opera in Bayreuth?' Nero asked him. 'Or was it that he had to find a woman brave and true to love him?'

'Depends which version you read,' Hannibal replied. 'As it happens the Arcadia can function with another captain at the helm, thanks to Tochiro, though it probably helps that Yama exposed himself to a massive dose of unfettered dark matter on Earth and was a blood relative. Kodai, however, wasn't so fortunate as either you, me or Harlock, however harsh our fate might feel on long winter nights, Khal. What Harlock and Zero found on board the Deathshadow Three isn't something I'd have wished on my worst enemy.' He sighed. 'And we still have no idea what happened to Komarova…'

'Nothing good I hope,' Nero growled. 'That bitch didn't give Harlock a chance to explain.'

'Be fair, Khal,' Hannibal chided him gently. 'He didn't exactly ask for one…' He cleared his throat. 'I just popped over to bring you Tochiro's specs for the upgrades you'll need. Harlock didn't want them sent over the link, just in case.' He handed over a small, brassy, octagonal chip, which Yanez appropriated from Nero's open palm. 'Start with the comms - that way you can upgrade the AI's security en route, and Tochiro can share the data needed to use the self-repair to help with the remodelling. Once you have that programme, the rest is pretty straightforward.'

'Thanks. When are you taking off?'

'About half an hour after I leave here. Morgan's captaining the Lightning, I take it?'

Yanez nodded. 'He's young, but one of the best we have. The other captains will be Stiller, Carmaux and Van Guld. With the Miranda that gives you five ships, and five hundred men. Would that we had more to spare…'

'It'll be enough. If your intel is up to date, the ground assault will be critical, and we shouldn't encounter anything we can't handle in-system,' Hannibal assured him, a twinkle in his hazel eyes. Yanez snorted.

'Aye, you old fox… you're rather looking forward to this, aren't you?'

Hannibal kept his expression suitably enigmatic, and merely bid them good hunting. After his bootsteps receded down the stairs Yanez folded his arms and grinned at his captain. 'You were right. I like him..'

'Most people do,' Nero replied. He grinned, showing his white teeth. 'I feel a lot better about this knowing the Admiral's around.'

'So this Young Harlock…'

'Pleasant, and a harder nut than he makes out, but he's still an unknown quantity. Mamoru I knew for a long time, before…' he broke off, noticing Freya frowning at him.

'You can trust Harlock, you know,' she told him firmly. 'Hannibal does.'

'Mamoru trusted his brother,' Nero pointed out. He waved a hand around to take in the bridge. 'Look where that got us…' But he smiled more warmly at her before continuing: 'He reminds me a lot of Mamoru, which is no bad thing. But enough gossip, my dear. When can I have my ship in the sky?'

'When I've gone over the damned systems,' Yanez reminded him. He winked at Freya, who laughed with him at Nero's impatient frown. 'Oh my impatient capitao... ' he swept a low, elaborate bow and then left the bridge, his laughter lingering behind him.

Arcadia

The lower bridge was large enough to look rather sparsely populated even when all the stations were manned. With the entire crew gathered - bar the handful on the upper gantry - there was room and to spare for them to shuffle around keeping careful distances from each other, casting wary looks at anyone who got too close. The murmurings and rumblings held an ugly undertone that Mamoru couldn't remember ever hearing. Beside him, Rei gripped the railing tightly as he surveyed the group.

'Anything?' Mamoru whispered to his friend.

'Don't rush me. It's tough to see properly since you're all surrounded by dark matter.'

'But it should show up, right?'

'Maybe. There should be a difference…' He grunted. 'Huh. You know… I can tell the new guys from those who were here before your dad took over. Their auras are a much deeper blue… Even Sabu's is kinda wispy, and I know how long he's been on board…'

'So,' Mamoru leaned on the railing and stared at the muttering throng. 'What exactly are you looking for?'

'Dunno. I guess I'll know when I see it.' He mirrored Mamoru's casual pose, arms on the railing, chin on forearms where they crossed. 'I was hoping for something obvious… red, green…'

'Being shot in the face by an imposter who overhears you talking about it?' someone whispered just behind him.

'Fuck!' Rei leapt upright as though scalded. Next to him, Mamoru sniggered. 'Shit, Ali… someone oughta put a bell on you…'

Ali smirked and slapped him on the back. 'Not paying attention kiddo - even Mamoru here heard me coming, and he's not got your mad skills.'

'There's always someone clomping around up here,' Rei pointed out grumpily. 'But you bloody well meant to do that, so get the fuck outta my face.' He shoved Ali in the chest, apparently with just a fingertip, but the burly crewman grunted and almost stumbled backwards. Rei turned his back on the indignant spluttering. 'You know… it could be a stowaway…' he said hopefully as he laid his chin on his arms again. Somewhere below one of Doc's cats, annoyed at being moved from someone's seat, hissed, spat and streaked across the room and out through the open bulkhead doors.

'On this ship? Some things might slip past Tochiro's sensors,' Ali scoffed, 'But not that. And we all know each other…'

Rei surveyed the assembled pirates as nonchalantly as he could. To his enhanced senses, the wispy blue threads that connected the ship to the crew were only just visible. Proof of life, he'd always thought of them. Although he couldn't tell whether they came from the ship and manifested around the crew, or came from the living and were made manifest by the ship. They pooled and twisted and flared around the men - and a couple of women - like pale flames. Here and there, as he'd pointed out to Mamoru, those flames flared hotter and more strongly around those who'd been on the ship the longest.

Or around Mamoru, whose blue flames flickered across the divide between them from time to time, and licked at the edges of his own more greenish fires.

And it was in following those fiery trails through the bridge that he finally spotted the anomaly he'd been looking for, and he mentally chided himself for not thinking of it earlier. His focus on the aggrieved feline had sent him straight to it...

'Not as well as you'd like,' Rei said softly. He stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

'What do you see?' Mamoru asked in an undertone.

Rei stared down into the lower bridge, trying not to be too obvious. The blue flames moved around the crew as though moved on unseen, unfelt soft winds.

Except where they didn't.

There was nothing, outwardly, even to his eyes to differentiate the three crew members he watched from the rest, except that the wispy blue flames seemed to recoil and avoid them, or flutter into nothingness as though they hit an unseen barrier. When he looked deeper, none of the three had an aura.

He risked a sideways glance at his partner in crime, almost relieved to see Mamoru's aura pulsing in time with the soft, almost sub-audible "heartbeat" of the ship.

Now that I know what to look for, I can see it…

Rei smiled faintly as Tochiro's voice echoed in his head. Thank the cat… you know, I think it might have sensed something…

Figures. Cats had a rep for thousands of years for being sensitive…

'Rei?'

Ali's voice brought him back into the outside world. 'Yeah. Right. I need to talk to Harlock…'

'I can get dad,' Mamoru told him. 'But you want to tell us who we're looking at?'

Rei shook his head. 'And start something in here? No. Too many people around and too much damage can be done if guys start shooting, remember?' Then he grinned coldly. 'I might just have a plan…'

'Absolutely not.'

Rei folded his arms and glared mulishly at his mother and Kei, who stood in front of him, in an identical pose to his own, looking equally stubborn.

'It makes sense,' he told them. Behind him the Motherball pulsed amber. 'No-one asked you,' he told it. 'Ow!' He rubbed his left ass-cheek and glared at the hovering mechanical ball, which somehow managed to convey an air of innocence as it pulsed a soft pale green.

'Bait?' Selen shook her head firmly. 'No.' She smiled at the hovering ball. 'And thank you, my dear' she told it. The ball pulsed a brighter green.

'If nothing else,' Kei added, 'did you consider what would happen if your zero point energy interacted with what is effectively a helium 3 bomb? On board a ship powered by dark matter?'

'Then off the ship,' he suggested, thinking quickly.

'Won't work,' Kei replied. 'Why would they go after you when they're leaving on the ship and you're not? You haven't thought this through. All you have to do is tell Harlock, and they're blown. The trouble is you watch too many movies. Wait to tell Harlock, anyone with half a brain knows it's a trap.'

'But…'

'Rei, she's right. That sort of thing only works in vids. The smart thing to do is tell us who it is, and we'll work on getting them off the ship before we take off.' Selen smiled fondly at him. 'I can't fault your courage here Rei, but the "let the bad guys overhear a conversation" routine is for amateurs. You're smarter than that.' She leaned back against the wall. 'So… on that note, give me an alternative.'

'Selen…'

Selen raised a hand to forestall Kei's objections. 'They all have to learn sometime. He was at least smart enough to bring this to us first. So, Rei: how do we get these infiltrators off the Arcadia safely?'

He frowned. 'You'd need a reason to get them off… probably with the rest of the crew so there's no clues that they're being rounded up and cut out of the herd. I'd go with an emergency evacuation?' Both women watched him, not giving anything away. 'Coolant leak into the air con, accidentally set off when Doscoi and co are fixing the system. Get everyone off, then cut these three jokers loose under some pretext. Maybe Kei and her clipboard? No-one messes with that routine… More than anyone's life's worth.'

Kei glared at him and he gave her his best shit-eating grin. She huffed. 'Don't push it, kiddo. I have three boys your age who try that, and it doesn't work.' She glanced at Selen. 'You were right, he called it.'

'You already had a plan?' He flushed when he saw his mother's fond smile. Oh… of course they had. 'Mom…'

'Who am I rounding up?' Kei asked him, all business. When he told her she looked bleak. 'Bastards,' she muttered. 'Are we sure there's nothing left of the originals?'

'Once you know what to look for, it's obvious,' Rei told her. She'd known all of these guys for the better part of twenty years. This had to hurt. 'The blue lightning avoids them… but it's not something you'd spot unless you knew what it meant. I'm sorry Kei - those men… they're not alive as we know it. Not anymore. Even my body's a living organism, just artificially grown. Their cells… they're dead.'

'I'm sorry Kei,' Selen told her. She laid a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. 'I'll take the boys with me,' she continued. 'There's a lot of work to do here. Mamoru and Rei here can work on the power supply, and I have to speak to Nero's people about their own defences. With a bit of luck I can get Rei here to check them out when we do it.'

'It won't be so easy outside,' Rei warned her as they walked away. 'On board the Arcadia the background dark matter makes seeing the auras a lot easier.'

'I know, love,' she told him. 'But I have faith in you.'

He smiled at her and placed his arm around her waist to hug her as they walked. 'So… no pressure then?'

She laughed. 'You can take it, kiddo.' She ruffled his hair and smiled fondly as he ducked away with a mock growl.

Kei almost walked into Mamoru in the main spinal corridor. Lost in contemplation, she was neatly fielded by her son, who smiled down (very slightly) at her. 'Head up, mom. You want to be one of those morons who wanders around with their face buried in the latest lobotomising device of the day?'

'Cheek,' she huffed at him. 'Good grief, Harlock's right… you have grown!'

He grinned. 'Selen's cooking… sure as hell isn't yours!'

She thumped him lightly on the arm. 'You get that 'tude from your father…'

'I'm told by almost everyone that I come by this honestly from both sides of the family twig,' he assured her.

'That,' she replied darkly, 'is nothing to be proud of…' She frowned. 'Aren't you supposed to be with Rei and Selen?'

'On my way!' he started speaking cheerfully, but trailed off as he watched her expression. 'Mom… what gives? Rei's bombshell?'

She sighed. 'Working out how to tell your father… I'd almost prefer to just deal with this and have done, but this isn't something I can really leave him out of. And we have to ensure we don't start a backlash amongst the crew…'

'Want me to come along?' he asked in all seriousness; fifteen years old and already sometimes, she thought, with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

She gave him a quick hug, thankful at least that he hadn't reached the stage of pulling away from affection. 'Thanks, but I've got this. I'd rather you were somewhere else when this goes down.

'So,' he replied darkly, 'will those imposters, I suspect.' He raised his hand in a cheery salute. 'Catch you later?'

'Count on it,' she replied, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She watched him break into a slow jog as he left, moving lightly and covering the ground with long strides. She tried hard not to have favorites - they both did. But where Wataru and Nami seemed hellbent on finding normal lives for themselves that probably wouldn't include piracy and excitement, Mamoru was probably the one most like his parents in temperament and outlook. Always looking to the next horizon, and Taro with him…

The thoughts at least took her mind off the main problem until she reached the door to the captain's quarters she shared with Harlock, and they opened before she could touch them.

Inside, lit as ever by a multitude of artificial candelabra which gave it the air of the interior of the ancient galleon this part of the ship resembled from the outside, her captain stood in front of the leaded windows, a glass in one hand, staring out at the brilliant blue sky outside. He must have just gotten out of the shower, since although he wore form-fitting white leather pants, his feet were still bare, and his dark sandy hair dripped slightly onto his bare shoulders, a thin trickle of water running down the line of his spine between lean muscle as she watched. He reached around with his free hand to brush the annoying droplets away before they vanished behind his waistband.

'Now that is my job,' she told him with a totally unstudied sultry tone as she walked towards him. She placed her tablet on the desk beside him and reached out to run her fingers down the same path the water had just taken, smiling against his skin as she laid her cheek against his left shoulderblade as he sucked in air. She lifted the goblet from his hands, and sniffed. 'Andromedan Red?'

'The occasion seemed to call for it,' he replied softly. He smiled faintly as she took a sip. 'And back at you…'

She placed the goblet down next to her tablet, careful to place it on a slate coaster. 'Rei thinks he identified…'

'I know,' he interjected. 'Tochiro told me…'

Kei ran her hand gently over his back, feeling the tension in his muscles as they twitched slightly under her wandering fingers. Catching sight of the personnel files on the desk she glanced at them.

Richard Lawrence.

Jiro Takematsu.

Valentine Marcos

He'd already marked them all as "deceased".

'Oh love…'

'They've been walking around for weeks, masquerading as friends we've known for years.' His voice was as tight as the muscles under her fingers.

'There's no mistake? Rei could be wrong…'

'I got Tochiro to do a full-spectrum scan. Once we knew what to look for. Wherever they go on the ship, there's a kind of darkness - an emptiness - in the part of the spectrum that dark matter inhabits. Nothingness in the nothingness, if you like. The rest of us light up the place like a street festival by comparison.'

And you have no idea how hard it is to do a scan for a null entity… Tochiro carped testily over the comms. Basically I'm trying to search for the equivalent of negative space… as though the universe was only real surrounding them. It does my head in…

'Your head?' Harlock muttered. Kei ran her fingers along the line of one of the many lines of fern-like scars that marred his back in defiance of the healing powers of the dark matter they were surrounded by - and infused with. The legacy of a sadistic attack years ago, when their current problems barely registered on the horizon. He reached for the dark sweater thrown casually over the back of the ornate chair. 'Let's get this over wi…'

The Arcadia's internal siren went off, wailing in their ears.

Kei winced and reached for the kill switch. The siren faded only a fraction of a second ahead of our commlinks chiming in unison, Mine was still pinned to the collar of my jacket, resting in a heap on the chaise longue several feet away. Still trying to pull my sweater on over my head, I swore under my breath as I trotted over to grab it, and then reached for my boots.

Kei took the more expedient method of getting information. 'Tochiro?'

Seems our foe read the play book… That's Yattaran calling in a raid on the armoury, Maji reporting that Jiro just tried to splatter his brains over a bulkhead in the coolant transfer room, and Mamoru just tried to tackle Rick on the flight deck.

'Where are the other two?' I straightened my sweater and pulled on the jacket, sealing the front fastening and grabbing my gun belts.

Doscoi and Maji are trying to shut down Jiro - he's trying to blow the coolant system. Val's heading towards the bridge.

'Seal it off, Tochiro,' I ordered. 'All internal bulkheads. Give me a holo plan of the ship's interior.'

The holo appeared above the desk, projected from the hollowed out interior of the ancient oak surface. The gothic monstrosity was stuffed with high-end electronics.

'Comms,' Kei ordered.

I gave my orders even as I perused the ship's layout in 3-d as it hovered above the age-scarred surface. 'Attention all hands. We have intruders on board, to be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Rick, Takematsu and Val are not who they appear to be. Do not engage. Interior bulkheads are being sealed to contain the threat. Shelter in place or return to quarters until further notice. I repeat - these are not our colleagues, but metanoid imposters.'

I placed my hand inside the image and traced a line from the armoury to the hangar deck. 'Seal the hangar off - that should contain Rick. Executive override on the hangar bay doors to be initiated. Open only on my orders or Kei's. Who's trapped in that section?'

'Cai and Mamoru,' Kei replied, as she checked the locator signals. 'Really? He was supposed to be on his way out of the ship via the pedestrian entrance…'

'Get him on the personal link,' I told her. 'See if he and Cài Qiān can get Rick off the ship safely. Tochiro - add Mamoru to the list with executive override. If they have to give him a space wolf, so be it. They can give chase. Where's that coolant room?'

Kei pointed it out. 'Starboard corridor. I'm getting Yattaran's report - they took several Cosmo guns from the armoury, and a lot of explosives.'

'Not keen on the suicide option then?' I added dryly. 'That's interesting… and good for us.'

I can rig a dampening field around that area, Tochiro added. I'm already talking to Maji - the detonators won't work inside that - we specifically rigged them to be useless inside the ship unless both the override and the field are off. They might be able to hack the detonators, but they can't hack me…

'Good,' I grunted. 'But we still need Jiro's doppelganger out of there safely….'

'I'll go,' Kei offered. She reached for her own sabre, in its stand next to the window. 'There's a chance we can contain the explosive potential of their helium 3 cells if we decapitate them…' she She shoved it home into a holster with decisive, grim finality. 'Have Yattaran meet me there with a portable force-shield,' she told Tochiro. I had barely enough time to nod an unspoken "take care" in her direction before she took off at a run.

'Which leaves Val…' I mused. My fingers traced the possible paths from the armoury, the hologramme twisting and turning under my manipulations. 'Three possible routes from there that aren't a major health hazard or the hangars… I'm guessing Rick's plan was to blow the space wolves - the damage would be catastrophic that close to the engines. Jiro was targeting the crew with the coolant leak we'd planned to fake to draw them out… so logically Val's target would be the bridge, and the dark matter engine, or the central computer room…'

Can't let them get to the bridge… Tochiro replied. But there is a way to contain this if you draw them out towards the other target…

'You? Tochiro…'

Jammers, Harlock. The one thing we can't use on the bridge. Send him my way.

'Where is he?'

Stuck between two bulkheads. The section in question glowed red on the map. The bulkheads between this area and the bridge glowed orange, those towards the central computer room green.

I sucked in a deep breath, and let it out again. 'Question is… will they take the bait?' I tapped my commlink. 'Secure channel. Ali? You still there?'

'Sitting on me thumbs,' Ali's voice called out over the link. 'What the fuck is going down out there, captain?'

'Didn't you get the memo? Listen, I need you to arm yourselves from the emergency locker. I'm opening up a route for one of our imposters. If they don't take the bait, it's up to you.'

'Captain…'

I cut him off, not wanting to risk saying more in case the comms were compromised. 'Counting on you, Ali.' I cut the link. 'Okay, my friend… open the bulkheads…'

On the hologramme, the bulkheads between the armoury and the bridge opened up one by one. The invitation was a risk - it might take the supposedly easier option and risk the trap. But I was betting everything on the hope that like most "lifeforms" that considered themselves so sneeringly superior to us mere mortals, that "Val" would disdain to pick the low hanging fruit, sensing a) the trap and b) that we had more worth protecting in the central computer room.

A small light on the side of the corridor blinked on the holo. A hatch had been opened.

'Conduit?' I asked.

Conduit, Tochiro replied with no little satisfaction. Send someone in behind him please. I've got no sensors in those inter-panel spaces… we don't want any nasty surprises..

'Gotcha…' I muttered nastily as I checked the charge on my weapons. 'My friend - give me a path to the central computer room. I'm on my way.'

Will do. Tochiro paused momentarily. Erm… I do already have a guest… What do I do with her? She's kipping in the overhead cables again and no matter how often you tell her…

'She won't carry on board…' I groaned inwardly. Mimay always waved off my concerns about her not being armed. 'Wake the sleepy nibelung up and tell her to get her arse out of there.' I picked up the pace, the bulkheads opening in front of me and closing behind with mathematical precision.