"Computer estimated time to defold point."
	"One hour thirty minutes, current speed." Beeped the computer.
	Sapphire nodded an approval and fell back into her nap. She was 
curled up on the pilot's seat, the seat back down, the arms still up, 
in case she rolled over and out of the seat. The head rest had been 
inflated. A rainbow of colors and light streaked by outside the ship 
while it traveled through hyperspace corridor. A timer on one of the 
many ceiling monitors ran down, ETD in big letters flashed in blue 
against a white background. Her only cargo sat on the floor while her 
boots and a spare jumpsuit lay draped over one of the extra jump seats 
behind and to the right of pilot's well.
	Sapphire had picked a good ship to build. Her ship classification 
was Cargo Runner. That was what came up on her IFF, the ship's manifest 
and her job application. The ship looked like a Cargo Runner but was 
built for one purpose, running blockades. She had built the ship when 
she had been tempted by someone to run a blockade, only two rules 
applied. One: make a ship fast enough to out run any of the Secoian 
Firebirds and Two: make the little bugger small and armored enough to 
really piss off the ship captains. She had gone one step further 
though, she had given the Aloi Jade a pair of experimental Tran-Star 
Drives, alien armor and enough fire power to take on a squad of 
Firebirds. It was only after a few runs that most of the Quadrant knew 
Sapphire's ship even before she came up on the scanners. The one thing 
they didn't know about the ship was that she was bigger on the
 inside than on the outside.
	Sapphire's tail swished off the side of the seat as she fell back 
into a deep sleep. Her heart beat slowed as did her tail while dreams 
surfaced bright as they were. Her eyes continued to move behind her eye 
lids when her tail stopped, letting her dreams and memories become 
one.....

	Memories and dreams. They both pulsed in her mind. A few cob webs 
here and there, the occasional complete and utter blackness. A few 
dreams surfaced for a few seconds, they pulsed and moved. Sapphire 
relaxed a little more and settled in for a nice quickie, something 
surged. A memory. White and black, voices in low and high pitches. The 
memory pushed itself a head of the dream and.....

	<"This is the bridge, Secoian Shuttle Crina has cleared shuttle 
bay doors. Now on course to Seco Space Dock. Shuttle Crina this is the 
Calipso, please be advised to notify Seco Traffic Control once in 
range." The Podaci comm officer spoke into the comm set while the 
bridge crew made their finally pre-fold checks.
	"Roger Calipso and thank you. Crina out."
	"Calipso out."
	"Thank god that's over."
	J'ram swiveled around from the comm station on the second floor 
of the bridge and looked down.
	The person who had commented was the first officer, a Tseidi by 
the name of Sta'vei. She was humanoid just about his height, five seven 
and a standard Tseidian Drone but with a few additions to her 
inbreeding. Her inbreeding stated she was half Tseidi/half Podaci. Her 
skin was a blue/silver color, a few areas on her body were pure living 
metal. Those areas she had hidden from the too nosy Secoians they had 
met. Those people who were leaving. Her hair was living metal too, 
although with a nice coat of red paint she almost looked normal. She 
tugged at the one piece formal white uniform, she hated wearing it. 
"Stashi you have the bridge, I'm going to get this thing off before it 
suffocates me."
	The female Kasarian science officer chuckled from the port side 
scanner pit, a half level under the bridge. A pit that lined both walls 
effectiving making a giant U. The curve of that U at the very front of 
the bridge. The lanky blue feline humanoid watched the alien shuttle as 
it arced towards it's homeworld. "I'm next, line forms to the right of 
me."
	"None shall pass till we get dessert!"
	Stashi poked her head up from the pit and saw two sets of furry 
padded feet standing in front of the lift door. One set of feet 
belonged to her offspring while the other belonged to the engineer's 
offspring. "Don't mind her Stavi. Sapphy, I thought you and Wolf were 
down playing with the other kids."
	"She got bored," Wolf replied, the furry adolescent looked around 
the bridge with wide eyes. "She said it was better up here." The gray 
Kasarian wore one of his mom's oversized shirts and had a very large 
dish in hand.  
	"And it is," Sapphire replied and continued to block Sta'vei's 
way. "Now where'd the dessert tray go too?"
	Stavi smiled and ruffled Sapphire's thick fur. "I'll find the 
tray as soon as I switch out of this." She side stepped the two kids 
who by this time seemed to have forgotten the idea of food and were 
wide eyed at the sight of the bridge. "You better train this kid 
Stashi, she's going to become a fighter some day."
	"A cute fighter," J'ram added.
	"I'm not cute, I'm a mean ferocious bounty hunter!" Sapphire 
bellowed at the top of her lungs, she then proceeded to place her bowl 
on the floor, extend her claws and hiss at everyone fiercely. The rest 
of the bridge crew were now attracted to this sight.
	"Come on kids, I'll treat you to some ice cream in the galley 
before we fold." Stavi couldn't contain her laughter and herded the 
kids towards the door.

	"So where are we going?" Sapphire asked once they were in the 
main corridor. The corridor linked the entire ship, the gray and blue 
deck plates vibrated as the thrusters fired and took the rather large 
ship from the gravity well of the planet. The wall monitors switched 
from telemetry of the planet to space. The ceiling lights dimmed a 
little as power was diverted from the main drives to the fold engines. 
The crew got ready early, a few aliens walked towards their stations 
while others got off shift.
	"We're going home," Stavi replied, she unzipped her uniform a 
little and stretched. The metal protrusions on her back and arms 
stretched the fabric while she cracked her back. Some of them were 
round while others were long, she one of the few Tseidi/Podaci hybrids. 
She was a second generation hybrid, her metal and skin combinations 
were much more seamless then her mother's.
	"Home, Kasar One?" Wolf asked. He walked behind her so he 
wouldn't get run over by other officers.
	"Nope we're going to our home."
	"I haven't seen that have I?" Both kids asked in unison.
	Stavi shook her metal locks of hair. "This is going to be your 
first time."
	"Yay!"
	"More people to "hunt", kiddo."
	Sapphire turned and cocked her tiny fists as they came to a 
junction. "Don't call me that."
	^Sapphire^
	She hesitated at more rebuttals and listened. Her ears perked up 
and she stopped in the middle of the corridor. She was passed by a few 
more officers, techs and warriors who walked right by her. She narrowed 
her eyes and sniffed the air. "Sta'vei do you smell something?"
	Stavi turned a few yards down the corridor, eyebrows knit. "Come 
on Sapphire stop playing around."
	Sapphire extended her claws and hissed quietly, looking over her 
shoulder and turned around. She took a step forward and listened. Her 
eyes darted from corner to corner. She sensed something, something just 
outside-
	"Come on Saf." Wolf walked up behind her and pulled her away 
towards the galley. "Time for eats."
	Sapphire turned and continued towards the galley. The something 
would have to wait.

	Stavi shrugged out of her uniform and dumped it in the clothes 
hamper, a tag on it would tell the little elves down in the wash room 
who it belonged to. The AI system on the ship was too advanced even for 
her knowledge of computer. She leaned around the corner and watched the 
kids slowly gobble down their dessert in the main galley while she 
unpacked her on-duty attire in the kitchen.
	She didn't feel like making two trips so she ordered the clothes 
to be sent to the kitchen instead of her room. She unpacked the energy 
ball and mulled over the events that had happened over the last few 
days. One of those events was the conference. The conference with the 
Secoians had gone over and the kids attending had grown restless along 
with the adults. Stavi's own personal opinion was they dragged it out 
for some reason. She just had a feeling.
	Her hair had reverted back to it's own silver gray enamel by time 
she had slipped into her own personal body shield. The body stocking 
soaked into her own skin making it a black/silver/blue combination. The 
most metal that she had on her body layered her chest and pelvis. The 
layers of metal only covered about ten percent of her body. Her sisters 
on the other hand had received more than she had ever seen. She pulled 
on a pair of jeans, something the Secoians had given most of the crew 
as presents and a white t-shirt. Her sidearm attached itself to her 
right hip as well as her energy sabre which dangled on one of the belt 
loops. She unrolled her black duster and slipped it on.

	Wolf sat in one of the high backed chairs while Sapphire made a 
mess of her coffee ice cream a treasure that Sapphire had found when 
she had been very young. She sat there cross legged, her tail bapped 
the leg of the chair in pure delight while she ate the unsuspecting ice 
cream. She watched some of the Helioians eat at the far side of the 
room, their offspring chirping endlessly. A craving popped up in the 
back of Sapphire's mind for a moment then dove back down in the depths 
of her mind at the sight of the offspring.
 	She relaxed and waited for the cold treasure to find it's place 
in her stomach. She took a deep breath and tried to warm her throat. 
She had learned the hard way that eating too much would be bad, a very 
cold memory. Her eyes darted around the room while she gulped in air 
and settled on door to the corridor.
	She caught sight of something looking in at them from the 
corridor.
	She stopped.
	It did too. It hesitated for just a moment as if thinking, maybe 
she didn't see me. Something dark and cold. Sapphire didn't blink, her 
tail continued to bap the chair leg and her jaw slowly dropped. Her 
mind stopped and she could see it, all of it. Her tail stopped. Wolf 
noted the rhythm had stopped and looked down at Sapphire's spoon as it 
hovered over the ice cream as it tried to escape the horror of this 
eating machine.
 	He looked down at the bowl and then at her. He frowned and leaned 
to the left trying to see what she was staring at.
	It was gone.
	Sapphire blinked. I saw you, she thought.
	Another thought popped up, hide and seek. She turned and finished 
her ice cream. Wolf looked from the doorway to Sapphire to Stavi as she 
reappeared and then to Sapphire again. "Where we going now?" He asked.
	"Well, I thought I'd take you to the bridge. You can watch us 
fold into the corridor." Stavi borrowed a spoon and hazarded a bite of 
Sapphire's ice cream. She expected a spoon war but she got none.
      "Attention: All officers report to stations, pre-fold checks are 
cleared. Fold to outer marker boundary in ten minutes." J'ram's voiced 
echoed through out the ship.

	Sapphire's mood seemed to darken as the group walked up towards 
the bridge. She seemed more tense and Stavi caught this. She seemed 
more interested in watching Sapphire than the corridor in front of 
them.
	"Someone's here," Sapphire finally said it.
	"Who?"
	"Something."
	Wolf shook his head. "Sapphy's been seeing ghosts again."
	"Ghosts?" Stavi asked. "Like what kinds?"
	"One that's been lurking in the corridor for us to come out. It 
wants to delay us." Sapphire's eyes narrowed at Wolf's questioning 
sigh. "It's playing hide and go seek."
	Wolf snorted. "What about the security measures?"
	"It can't be picked up on the sensors. You can't look for it. 
It's looking for something. It wants it bad."
	Stavi halted the group, knelt down in front of Sapphire and 
looked into her eyes. "What did it look like? Big, tall, short, what 
color?"
	"No color, it was tall and smells."
	Stavi sniffed the air and crossed that off the list in her mind. 
"How do you know this?"
	"I asked it."
	"What did you ask it?"
	"Why was it hiding, I could see it."
	Stavi leaned closer. "What did you say to it?"
	"I thought to it. I thought: I see you."
	Wolf watched the color drain from Sta'vei's face. "That's a cool 
trick." He commented and tugged on Sta'vei's duster. "Can we go to the 
bridge now?"
	"You're telepathic?" Stavi blustered. "How?"
	"We can't go to the bridge." Sapphire replied.
	"Why?"
	"Because," Sapphire pointed to the door way a few yards in front 
of them. "It's right there."
	Stavi looked over her shoulder, eyes wide.
	The area around the door started to shift, colors and voices. 
Something chanted. The area fluxed and something started to appear in 
front of them, a vision of pure darkness. Stavi pivoted on her heels 
and made sure Wolf was behind her. She made sure that both of the 
children were behind her when the darkness bore it's sight into her. 
She made sure the safety on her side arm was off when the lights in the 
corridor died......
      "It wants me."
	Stavi raised her arm, her sidearm clenched between her hands. Her 
heartbeat had started to rise, she could still see it in the dark. The 
eyes, always the eyes. Her eyes had gotten used to the dark, parts of 
her brain were metal. She had the best eyesight out of all three of 
them. So how did it get past you? Stavi thought. She could hear it now, 
she sensed it now. Something dark, angry, hungry and afraid. A pair of 
red slits appeared just about eye level, they narrowed and looked down 
at Sapphire.
	"Mine." It's voice raked over coals. "Give her."
	Stavi snorted. "Get out of our way, unless you want me to come 
closer." She took a step forward and stared down the darkness. In the 
back of her mind she opened her mental defenses to send one message. A 
test to J'ram. A simple little test of ones and zeros. "Why do you want 
her?"
	"Mine."
	Stavi shook her head. "She's mine. What do you want?"
	"He wants to delay us."
	Wolf stared in awe at what was in front of him. "You one ugly-
	"Wolf!" Sapphire hissed. She averted her gaze from what was in 
front of them and looked up at one of the wall scanners, the only 
things that still seemed to be still functioning. She caught sight of 
something, against the back drop of space and stars. Something was out 
there. "We have a problem."
	"MINE!" It yelled. "Give me her!" It took a step forward as did 
Stavi and it retreated. It's voice stammered, a light flashed and 
groan? "Forbidden..." it's voice trailed off. "What are you!"
	Stavi's eyes narrowed. "Something bothering you?" She asked and a 
smile formed. "Can't copy me, moron." Her eyes darted to the small area 
to the left of the bridge door. An idea that had never been completely 
built. It was something she had brought up before the ship left the 
Thirteenth Quadrant but never seemed to have enough time to tweak the 
gremlins out. An emergency fold pod. In case the worst came it could 
handle just so many and fold them to where ever. "Now be a nice little 
Huntsman and move!" She activated the pod with her mind, the pod 
started to cycle through, the lights which would have come on didn't 
but the cycle started anyway. "What are your friends going to do? Blow 
us up? Or the Secoians?"
	The darkness backed away from Stavi's sidearm as well, against 
the bridge door it felt it's way to the left and into the pod. "Took 
something of yours. Don't know what you're dealing with."
	Stavi smiled, the light from the scanners flashed over her 
contorted face. "You're right," she said and let the hammer drop. "You 
don't." She sent the command and the pod started to test fire. Bars of 
white light slammed into the darkness, it howled as the test sequence 
ended and the fold gate opened and sucked it in.
	The sequence stopped and the corridor lights came on.
	Both of the kids groaned and looked at where the darkness had 
been, the floor was scorched. Black as ash, just dust. Stavi was 
already through the door of the bridge when both of them realized she 
had left them. They both ran through the closing bridge door, making 
sure to miss the ash as it evaporated.
	"Jei, any ships on long range sensors?" Stavi was already over at 
the weapons panel, instructing the green behind the ears operator what 
to do.
	The Secoian Ops officer turned from what he was doing and turned 
the scanner on to active. The screen in front of him pulsed quietly and 
he watched as nothing came up. "Nothing ma'am."
	"Short range then, tight, flood space with beams, I want every 
spec of space searched!"
	J'rem looked down at Stavi while she ordered the ship for silent 
running. "What's going on Commander? I just got a test on my board."
	"A problem," Sapphire and Wolf were at the front of the bridge, 
looking at the massive window that lay before them. Both of them sat 
between the railings, cross legged and watched as the long and short 
range scanner checks appeared before the window on a twenty by twenty 
screen of energy. "Something followed us."
	"What?" Stashi blurted. "I'm picking up nothing from my station. 
Stavi what's going on?"
	"Are the floods fixed?"
	"Of course they are."
	"Then burn them out!"
	Jei blinked. "But we just-"
	"Do it, ensign that's an order!"
	Jei turned from his station with weapon in hand. "I can't allow 
you to do that Commander. The ship will be in orbit soon, we can wait 
until then." He whirled right and pointed the weapon down at Stashi who 
was ready to leap on the traitor. "Settle down fur ball. Now give me 
the access codes to the helm."
	<No one move.> Stavi sent out to all, except Jei. She was still 
at the weapons station on the far side of the bridge. The only part Jei 
couldn't see was from the waist down. "Why are you helping them?"
	"What kind of question is that?" Jei edged slowly out towards the 
middle of the bridge. A few feet away from the main command station. "I 
have my orders." 
	Sapphire and Wolf turned slowly both stared blankly at the 
Secoian. They both looked at each other and in one brief flash they 
were gone.
	"So do I, mine are a little more clearer then yours. Why are you 
helping them? Do you have any clue what you're dealing with? No you 
don't do you. Not one inkling." Stavi thumbed down her selector to stun 
and gauged how much space she would have. "What did they promise you? 
Power, money, what?!"
	"Stop babbling!"
	"I'm not babbling, it's the truth. You didn't get your hands on 
what they wanted, they delayed me. You didn't expect that, now did 
you." Stavi took a deep breath. "Your backup is outside walking home. 
Now put the weapon down or someone will seriously have to maim you."
	A furry little paw bapped the flood's control panel. The floods 
started to warm up, there was a soft beeping and a "shhh" that followed 
but by the time Jei turned back to his station the owner of the paw was 
gone. "Where are those kids, where-"
	"Right here!"
	Jei whirled around and was slammed to the floor. The weapon 
skidded onto the floor and spun around a few feet from him. He passed 
out, the wind knocked out of him. The blue furry blur dug all of its 
claws into its dinner and growled at it.
	"Don't mess with a Blue Tigress Bounty Hunter!" Sapphire spat on 
Jei and jumped up and down on his chest. "Wake up so you can see your 
maker!" 
	Wolf came out of hiding and hopped into Jei's seat. "Floods are 
ready." He reported and turned to watch Sapphire try and tickle her 
victim awake.
	"Open her up!" Stavi ordered. She tried to keep a straight face 
as Sapphire asked the security guards how much this spineless villain 
was worth and where could she pick up her reward for capturing this 
foul traitor.
	The space around them became as bright as day. The crew covered 
their eyes and waited as the flood lights on the Calipso reached their 
peak.
	"Sensors picking up one ship, inbound!" Stashi listened to the 
scanner beeps. Another set of eyelids slapped down in front of her eyes 
and she watched the screen. "Right in front of us, they're turning. On 
an intercept course. Ship is a Yato Dreadnought. Assumed MIA after we 
left."
	"They're on the ship!" Sapphire yelled.
	"Weapons are cleared, safeties are off. All weapons ports," Stavi 
squinted through the light to see the weapon lock screen. "FIRE!">

	Sapphire's upper body snapped up like a whip. Her eyes opened 
wide and claws extended. Her heartbeat was the only thing she could 
hear, she stopped hissing and tried to catch her breath and shivered. 
She looked out the window and saw the hyperspace corridor had pushed 
her out into normal space. The darkness was everywhere and so was 
something else. She blinked and waited until her secondary eyelids 
raised. She pulled a blanket around her naked body and slipped onto the 
deck with ease. She leaned on a console panel and looked out the 
window, a rather large gray and black asteroid rolled passed her. She 
breathed a sigh of relief. The outer boundary of the system loomed in 
front of her. Slowly more and more asteroids appeared, small, big, 
hollow and empty ones filled space. She eyed the proximity scanner, 
only a few more clicks until she hit the outer maker.
	She smiled and let the blanket drop onto the floor. She stretched 
and got all the kinks out of her system. She cracked her knuckles and 
ran in place for a moment. Feels like I've been asleep for days, she 
thought. She grabbed her jumpsuit off the chair and keyed the comm 
system. "Space Dock Baker, this is the Aloi Jade requesting docking and 
lay over status."
	"This is Space Dock Baker Traffic Control to Aloi Jade, please 
transmit personal key access code."
	"Affirm, TC." Sapphire keyed in the code and pressed the send 
button.
	"Confirmed Aloi Jade," TC replied after a moment to cross 
reference what they had on file about the ship and her. "Welcome back 
Captain, requiring your own docking station as usual?"
	Sapphire winced at the title, forgot about that little extra 
favor she had done. "Affirm TC, going to be staying for possibly a week 
or so. Also good chance friends will be joining."
	"Confirmed Aloi Jade, welcome home."
	"Aloi Jade out."
	Sapphire turned and watched as group of asteroids were pushed 
away and bright light appeared in the middle of the horizon. The light 
was Space Dock Baker's beacon for ships. She pulled on her jumpsuit and 
left it unzipped at the waist and prepped the ship for the tow in. 
"Computer update all files and news files once docked and prepare a 
brief synopsis for me."
	"Confirmed. There is one message in data banks for you."
	Sapphire stopped. "Repeat."
	"One message for you in data banks. Downloaded with coordinates 
for Earth."
      Sapphire held her breath while the little ship rose up through 
another layer of the belt and lined itself up with the light. The tow 
beam edged out from the light and caught hold of the ship and began to 
tow it in. "Relay message computer."
	The 3-D imaging cameras kicked in and a figure manifested itself 
behind her, right in front of the door leading to her cargo bay and 
sleeping quarters. Sapphire whirled around at the sight of the 
newcomer. Wilson's messenger. Sapphire swallowed hard, Kara Masters was 
the person that started her on this little adventure? Sapphire found 
herself on the edge of her seat, her jaw dropped while the 3-D message 
began to play. The Tendor/Secoian half breed looked down at the message 
screen for a moment just to make sure the thing was recording.
	"By the time you have found this message I'll be long gone. Don't 
come after me like the cavalry guns ablazing. You won't be able to find 
me-"
	"Computer search parameters: locate anything in the news briefs 
dealing with the Phantom Riders and the Tendors." Sapphire hissed.
	"-Something has come up and it doesn't look like I'll be able to 
request your services as I planned. There are some things you need to 
pick up from the Dock's impound services. I've already left detailed 
instructions with them on what to give to you-"
	"New brief found." The computer beeped. "Play brief?"
	"No."
	"-What I have given you is something they want, Wilson and a few 
others already know what is going to happen. More back ups are on their 
way. You'll know who they are. They may be a bit wary of you, just ease 
them into it. I wasn't able to brief them as I am doing to you now. I 
don't know whether or not the Secoians have people waiting for you at 
the Dock. It's the first place I would look, but that's me."
	"What have you done Amille?" Sapphire whispered. The main landing 
bay for the Dock loomed in front of the ship as the tow beam pulled the 
ship in past the parameter of the Dock's weapons which stood down and 
waited for the next ship to come in.
	"I already talked to Wolf, he's one of your backups. He may come 
in handy. I know there's some history between you two." Kara's eyes 
looked directly into Sapphire's. "Whatever you do, don't let them get 
their hands on your cargo, carry it with you at all times. And don't 
open it until the right time. I've left instructions with the items 
you're to pick up. Follow those and you should do fine. I have to go, 
listen to the news brief. Bring some flowers, hmm." She smiled and 
saluted. "Good luck mon Capitan." And with that the image faded.
	Sapphire sat that and took it all in. The Aloi Jade activated her 
landing struts and waited until the tow beam brought her in on final to 
her home away from home. The floods activated and lights shone on the 
bay door marked thirteen in scraggly white paint. The ship's hover 
engines fired a few spurts of blue reflex energy and brought the ship 
in as the bay doors began to close. The lights in the bay came on one 
by one. The metal chalks on the floor opened as the ship lined herself 
up and finally landed. The computer started to run the landing check 
list and one by one the systems were shut down except for the comm 
system. The door to the Aloi Jade opened and the smell of musty air 
drifted onto the bridge.
	"Computer play news brief."
	The speakers crackled and the sound of background noises hissed. 
"This is Stellar 1 News reporting from sector 372 just between the 
buffer zone of the Seco and Tendor boarders. We are at this time 
receiving reports that the main Tendor Fleet and the Phantom Riders 
flagship Phoenix were seen in this sector of space duking it out for 
what seemed to be a final battle between these two rivals. The Phoenix 
according to reports taken only a few standard hours ago was winning 
her battle against the Tendor Fleet. The fleet didn't seem to know what 
was going on. The lead flag ship for the Tendors had been destroyed 
along with about thirty thousand smaller Tendor Craft, the direct 
result of the firing of the Phoenix's main gun."
	Sapphire covered her mouth. Oh my god, she thought.
	"As we said the Phoenix was winning, we now know something 
happened. Either between the fleet and the Phoenix or something else. 
The Phoenix and the Tendor main fleet have disappeared. Stellar 1 News 
has been in the system where the fighting had taken place, there are 
large amounts of wrecks but none big enough to suggest that every ship 
just exploded. So to review for people just joining us: The Phantom 
Rider's flagship the Phoenix, along with most of the Phantom Riders 
themselves and the main Tendor Fleet have disappeared. Both governments 
have had no comment and plan to release a statement later on in the 
day. In other news-" The computer stopped, it's search parameter 
accomplished it shut down too.
	Sapphire sat there and listened to the things going on around 
her. Her eyes dropped to the metal box on the floor and picked it up. 
She pulled it close to her  and hugged her knees to her chest. Her 
bottom lip trembled for a moment, she felt the tears well up inside 
her. She took a deep breath and let it out. She swallowed her tears and 
held her head high, this is no time to mourn. You can do that later, 
you have mission. People are counting on you, those were the words that 
ran through her mind the most. She zipped up her spare jumpsuit and 
pulled on her boots. She put the box into her duffel bag and locked it. 
The bay had been broken into once or twice, after she put in high 
measures on the doors the punks came more often but never got in. Her 
duffel bag was the most secure thing on this Dock and wouldn't be 
leaving her side until this was over.
	She stepped onto the deck of the bay and looked around. The place 
was still the same way she left it, for once. The hatch closed behind 
her and locked. She walked across the tarmac and into the lift that led 
to the main area and customs. She heard the Aloi Jade's shields 
activate as soon as she cleared shield's parameter.
	She watched the lift doors close and felt it accelerate up and 
then to the left. She kept her hand on the bag and the hot item in it, 
her dart gun wouldn't be allowed on the stations main area. She had 
left that in the ship, she had a few other surprises and some waiting 
for her too as the doors opened and the noise from many different 
aliens bombarded her.
	"I'm really starting to hate this job," she muttered and stepped 
off the lift. 

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