Strojnik kneaded his meaty fist against his forehead, stretching out his callus and greasy skin. Against all odds—she had escaped! Escaped from him! It was unbelievable, either she had all the luck in the universe or he didn't know what. He had brought this deadbolt reaper ship against her and she had gotten away. He needed to change things around; or he wouldn't be living in the universe for much longer. Sighing, he heaved his left arm onto the table in front of him; the small mechanical parts of his arm clicked and whirred. He pulled a grease can from across the table and mended some of his stiff joints.
When he had been rebuilt; the Alliance engineers had forgotten one thing: that someday machines break down. But that wouldn't be for some time yet. He still had a mission. A voice broke through on the intercom "Sir, he wants to speak with you on the hologram." Strojnik did not have to ask who he was.
"Patch him through." He growled. A glowing form of a shadowy face came on screen, hovering just above the table top. Strojnik alternated his metal opposable thumbs for a thick knife, and picked his teeth with it; carefully hiding his discomfort.
"I have seen your report and their results—or lack of results I should say." The voice was deadly calm as it threw this jib at him.
"Don't worry, I have it under control. We will get her, along with everything else." He kept his voice as neutral as he could, but he couldn't help a little annoyance from creeping in.
"I don't think you understand," the voice was now angry, "how important she is to this operation. She is the only one that can do what we need, we need her now, under our watch, for when the time comes. Once she is inside that campus, she is all but lost to us; our people inside would be hard pressed to get her out, so we cannot let that happen. Get her, tonight."
"Tonight? But they are still patrolling their airspace, how can we get in? It's too soon!" His master tuned so that he was fully facing him in the hologram, his eyes gleamed with malice.
"Do what you have to do, blast them all to bits if you have to! That's why we reconstructed this ship, isn't it? To be the biggest fish in the ocean, right?"
"Yes sir, it will be done."
"Good," The man maliciously smiled, "when you have her on board, contact me, she needs to answer for wrecking our shipments. Do what you have to do, we need her only just alive." A sadistic gleam in his eye, and then he was gone. Strojnik wiped the sweat off his brow that he didn't even know he was sweating; he needed to get control of the situation—and fast.