The Diary of a Space Scoundrel: Burglary
27 Mar 2020Seth Bradwell
Morgan and I glided down to the surface of HIP 71938 4e, to a point 100 km away. We then flew as near to the surface as possible without risking a crash to avoid detection, before touching down 20 km away, where we would approach the base overland.“Are you quite sure about this, Morgan?” I asked, as we neared the base in our SRVs.
“Relax, Seth, you have done surface missions before, haven’t you? All those jobs against the Camorra meant you had to hack their data point at Wyndham Settlement, right?” said Morgan.
“Yes, but I resorted to scanning them from the safety of my ship. You only have to glance inside their trespass zone for their skimmers to start firing on you. This is also very different - station guns will reduce even the most heavily armoured ship to a thousand pieces of scrap in seconds, so if they manage to get just one shot on our SRVs then a charred stain on the moon's surface would be all that would remain of us.” I replied, nervously.
“But we aren’t in ships, Seth. SRVs have a negligible heat signature compared with frame shift drives, so anti-ship guns will have a hard time targeting us, and besides, starports don’t have trespass zones. All you need to do is get in through the airlock, and when you reach the Partnership administrative office, give me the signal, and I’ll get the power down, and the rest is down to you.” explained Morgan.
The main tower of Moon Dock loomed before us in the permanent night sky.
“Okay, so this is it. Take out the power plant on my signal - not before, and get yourself away from there - don’t wait for me. Meet me back at Birkhoff Ring.” I said.
“Confirmed. Good luck.”
I looked nervously around as I walked away from the airlock entrance into Moon Dock, checking to see if anyone would notice me, surely they would notice any strange person just strolling through an airlock without a ship. I need not had worried, and I soon worked my way around the base, which still was showing signs of damage after the attack three nights previously. I passed station security nonchalantly, on paper I was not a wanted man, in fact I was still meant to be allied with the Partnership and therefore had every right to be there, and for now there was no reason for them to be suspicious, my unorthodox entry notwithstanding.
I approach the administration building, where Hector Martin’s office was located and from where the whole colony was run. There was a surprising lack of security around, one advantage of the recent attack was that the meagre security detail of such a small colony had been put to work on repairs. Besides, they still technically answer to Marlon Briggs as acting Chief of Security, at least until Martin comes back to give Yates a mere tap on the wrist...
Okay, focus, Seth. I approach a side entrance used by the service personnel, thinking I would be less visible than if I was to brazenly stroll through the front door. Of course it would be locked and normally only accessible to those with the right security pass, and even if I was to force my way in, the alarms would soon go off and a security detail would arrive in seconds. Unless, there happened to be a major power failure, of course...
“Now!” I shouted into my communicator to Morgan. Suddenly the main lights throughout the base went dead, replaced by the dull glow of the auxiliary lighting. I went straight into action, knowing I had to move fast - even with encryption, my message on comms meant security will soon know there was a hostile afoot. I dashed up the stairs to the location of Martin’s office, the location of which was acquired earlier this morning - Morgan had managed to find a detail of the admin building’s plans and therefore the exact location of the office earlier this morning. I tried to move as stealthily as I could whilst trying to get to Martin’s office as soon as possible. As long as the power was down security cameras would not detect me, and security would be distracted by the commotion caused by the damaged power plant, not to mention engaging in a hot pursuit of Morgan. I hope you know what you are doing, Morgan... I come up to the door of Martin's office, a simple electronic lock standing between me and our evidence against him, Allan Heenan, and that thuggish oaf Yates. I got out a small device which Morgan referred to as a “skeleton key”, but what it really does is just brute force a keycode lock until the right code is found. I held it near the keycard pad, and pressed a button, and a red light began flickering for a few seconds, followed by steady green and a click as the door opened. With no time to lose I went up to his computer terminal, took out a data slate, plugged an empty data crystal into the slate, set up a data link with the terminal, and began a hacking program that Morgan had provided, and it began to access the entire storage drive of Martin’s terminal. A progress bar indicated that all his files would be downloaded in about three minutes. I keep a close watch at the door and my scanner for any sign of danger. No sooner had the program finished when I heard security sirens throughout the building. “Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Intruder in main admin building! Intruder alert!” barked an announcement on the base’s public address system. Time to make good my escape. I rushed down the stairwell as fast as I could, vaulting over the banister to jump down the last three storeys, the low gravity of the moon meaning I had a fairly soft landing. I approach the service entrance and discovered to my horror that it was now locked. I scrambled over to the main lobby, and crept up to the front entrance, expecting it to be swarming with security by now. Slowly I shuffled along the walls to avoid being seen from outside. As expected, it was locked as well, and even Morgan’s skeleton key proved to be of no use. I then frantically looked for a hiding place, and felt the taser in my side pocket - thinking out of desperation that I could incapacitate a security guard and steal his passcard and uniform, hoping that no one see through my disguise. Suddenly there was a whirring sound and I look around to see the main entrance doors opening, but no security was forthcoming. Slowly and cautiously I crept outside - surely they would be coming for me now! I quicken up my pace and head for the external airlock, and to my relief the skeleton key worked. I cover as much ground as I can between me and the base, again the moon’s low gravity working in my favour, and eventually reach my SRV, and just in time because a swarm of skimmers started firing on me along with the base’s defence turrets.
I steered away from the base and slammed my throttle to max, which soon got me out of turret range but the skimmers still pursued me for several kilometres. I drove for my life, using the vertical thrusters to jump over boulder fields and to soften my landing when driving over precipices, but no sooner had I shaken them off when a security Viper started firing at me from above, which took away the last of my SRV’s shields. I call the ship, realising that I would stand little chance of survival if I remained in my SRV, although I zig-zag in order to try and avoid his fire, watching the SRV chassis strength drop at an alarming rate. After what seems like an eternity my ship appeared and slowly started to land. The Viper pilot realises this and starts firing at the Edge of Sanity, a sitting duck without her pilot. I floor it to try and get on board before the Viper destroys my ship, helplessly watching as the shields collapse. The Viper then took up position in front, and unleashed its multicannons. My heart sank when I realised the security pilot was training his fire directly at my canopy, and I was still 2 km from the ship. If he managed to break it open, I could still take off but with less of a quarter of my Remlok's oxygen supply left after a prolonged walk in vacuum it would be impossible for me to find a friendly starport in time, meaning I either had to go to Moon Dock and let myself be captured by security or asphyxiate. Never one to willingly let himself be taken alive, I contemplated trying to find a way to transmit the stolen data to Morgan before self-destructing, when another ship appeared on my scanner and white and blue Krait loomed menacingly above me. I was just about to concede that I had finally bitten off far more than I could chew when the unknown pilot boosted towards the security Viper, and suddenly I was temporarily blinded by the flash of railgun fire. With no time to waste as the Viper turned to counter attack his new assailant, I drove underneath the Edge of Sanity and initiated boarding procedures. When I was finally lifted back into the SRV hanger I dashed straight across the ship to the pilot's chair, and after discovering with relief my canopy was just about intact, I set vertical thrusters to maximum and lifted off the surface, boosting my way out of the planet's mass lock. Making sure I was out of weapons range, I open up comms to thank my unknown ally only to see a high wake where they once were. Not wanting to waste any more time, I plotted a course back to HIP 73321, hoping that their intentions really were benevolent.