Chapter 22: Hacker

The inner airlock refused to close. Mark had removed it from its track and dismantled it three times now and it was seriously pissing him off. He had used the door from Varna's cabin to repair the blast damaged airlock. He had ripped the closing mechanism from the cabin wall to escape and it was not worth repairing, especially as the ship needed an airlock to go into space. Cabin doors were a low priority.

Mark swung a booted foot at the door and hit it hard in frustration. It groaned and then shut smoothly. Mark blinked at it in amazement.

"Way to go, killer, kick it into submission!"

He turned as Theasa walked along the corridor from the control room, a smile on her face.

"Huh! You can talk, Miss-it-won't-turn-on-so-I'll-thump-it."

"Well I had a good teacher, but now, I suppose the only way out is through the escape hatch again!"

"Oh ye of little faith." Mark punched the open button and the door slid back perfectly. He tried it a few times then turned to Theasa. "Ta-Da."

"Smart ass," she retorted. "But at least we're ready to go."

"Yes, as ready as we will ever be I think. I'll go and inform Arron and Minara. You go and check the last load of stores."

"Yes, sir!"

"Sarky bitch!" Mark walked out into the afternoon sunshine and Theasa's laughter followed him out.

Mark checked the engine systems as Arron and Minara made their final farewells. The Queen had been particularly upset as Minara had been first her bodyguard, Lady In Waiting and finally a personal friend since she had been a young princess. Mark noticed Minara bit back tears as the airlock closed and the boarding ramp retracted.

She had been an experienced pilot, but it had been years since she had been in a ship, and for Arron it had been even longer. Theasa's specialty was computers, so piloting the ship fell to Mark as even though he had been in a cryochamber for several years, as far as he was concerned it was only a few weeks since he had been in space. Minara had taken over weapon systems control so the majority of the time she would not be needed, that way she could look after Arron Jr. If they did get into a fight the responsibility of the baby would fall to Theasa. Arron sat beside Mark as co-pilot and navigator.

The ship vibrated with power as the main thrusters engaged and it lifted from the ground. Relief flooded through Mark, they were on their way just three days after Varna had been taken. The link that had been established between them since their bonding told him she was still alive, but at times he could sense her stress and it gnawed at him. He checked all the indicators on the console in front of him, everything showed green, so he fed more power to the engines and the acceleration pushed him back in his seat. Minara was aft in case the unfamiliar sensations should wake her son, who had been put to bed at his normal time.

The blue of the sky slowly gave way to black as they rose higher. They had agreed that their first destination was a world on the outer edge of the Grojan Empire, a rim world as Theasa and Minara called it. It had been chosen because Theasa had been there before and she could hack into the Grojan core world's computer systems without too much difficulty. As the empire had started to slowly collapse generations ago, worlds that had been an integral part of the empire became increasingly isolated and lawless.

One thing the authorities had apparently forgotten was their planetary computer systems were all linked through a vast network. The inner worlds still had functioning security services but the rim worlds did not, and according to Theasa someone had apparently forgotten the rim worlds were still connected to the Empire's network, and without having any updates or physical security it would be easy for her to remove Varna's and her own details from the criminal database and add Arron and Mark as upright Grojan citizens with an ID and fake history. The rim worlds, being largely lawless, were also an ideal place to obtain a thumb implant ID chip that could be linked to the fake history.

Once she had hacked the computer system there was a slim chance it might contain useful information on Varna's location. If not she was going to leave a private message for her that would be triggered whenever she accessed anything with her thumb chip.

The journey to the rim world proved uneventful. And as the planetary security was nonexistent they were able to land at the dilapidated spaceport unchallenged.

Once the ship had settled, Mark switched off the engines and turned to Theasa. "Is this where the bounty hunters found you?"

"Yes, they set a trap for us."

"Do you think they would come back here if Varna was taken by the same ones?"

Minara walked through the door carrying Arron Jr. "They wouldn't come back here, Mark, they would take her straight to one of the central worlds where they would hand her, and the other two's remains, over to the authorities for payment."

She walked into the control room and handed the small child to him. Arron Jr looked up at Mark and smiled. "He has been changed and fed, you know where everything is?"

"Yes ma'am," Mark replied, tickling him and making him giggle.

"I want to keep him on ship's time as we won't be here long, so please put him down for his afternoon sleep in about two hours after giving him a drink." Minara looked down at her laughing son and caressed his cheek.

Arron walked in behind her. "He'll be fine, Minara, now let's get going, the sooner we do what we came for the sooner we can get away."

They walked down the ramp, and Mark sealed the ship after them. The direct route into the decaying city took no more than an hour to walk. There were very few vehicles, and the ones they did see were either very dilapidated or the occasional luxury one, nothing in between. They walked past seedy shops and crumbling tenements with graffiti covered walls. Most of the people they saw were Grojani, but as they neared the center more Grojan were apparent, all were armed and rough looking. Theasa led them to a side street off the main highway from the spaceport then ducked through into a deserted office building.

"There used to be a security office in here. Petara knew of it and showed me when we were here last."

There were signs of squatters, but they had obviously moved on. The security office was in ruins, broken desks and chairs scattered about. Arron righted a couple and found some chairs. He then stood by the door and Minara moved to the window keeping watch, Theasa sat down and opened her portable.

She fiddled with it for a couple of minutes then a crooked smile kicked up one side of her mouth. "The network is active and I'm in, now I just need to hack into the database, it shouldn't take long."

Two hours later she leaned back in her chair and stretched. "I've set up ID files for you Arron and for Mark. I used a couple of files for men who were born out here on the rim. They were listed as missing in action so it was easy to reactivate them and change the names. You are both middle class with no criminal record and an ordinary military career. It was a bit harder to link Minara with you Arron, but you are now a legally bonded couple, congratulations."

Minara turned from the window. "I'm going to have to get my teeth fixed then."

"I was checking the records as I was searching and I have found an increasing number of rejected females showing up as being bonded." Theasa rubbed her forehead and frowned in concentration at her portable. "You have to know what to look for, but the data is there. I doubt the central world authorities would ever notice as it just involves the rim worlds, but many have multiple births registered against them. Now that is an anomaly when you compare it to regular Grojan and Grojani couples."

Theasa noticed a smile pass between Arron and Minara at her comment but decided to ignore it for the moment.

"What about Varna?" Minara asked.

"Well ... it's strange. I've removed myself and the ship from the wanted database and run a purge so it would feed out to any ships when they request an update from the central worlds, but Varna has already been removed. There is no record of her ever being on the wanted list. Whoever did it has covered their tracks well because unless you are really devious like me, a finger print is left." Theasa paused and glared at her screen. "Uh-oh, my accessing Varna's file has triggered a trace."

"Shit! What does that mean, Theasa?" Arron asked.

"I don't know, but I think we need to get away fast." She slammed her portable closed and stood. "Come on, let's get back to the ship."

They hurried out of the building and started to retrace their steps. Just as they were about to turn onto the main road back to the space port five armed men piled out of a ground vehicle that had pulled up blocking the street and walked towards them blasters drawn. Arron and Minara both carried their sword on their backs as well as blasters on their hips. "Take cover." Arron hissed at Theasa and she dived into a doorway just as he and Minara dropped and pulled their pistols. The first two attackers died even before they had time to think.