Frank and Susan left the suit room and entered a corridor running a little over half way down the ship, on either side of the corridor was a line of five doors, these would usually be crew quarters, although each room was small, it was none the less a private space for the crew in an other wise cramped ship, but Artok had had the rooms converted into small private cargo holds. At the end of the corridor was a door leading to the engine room, which had a ladder leading to the cargo bay and about half way down the corridor was a ladder leading up to deck one,
“So have you met that weird guy Yi yet?” Frank asked as the pair slowly walked down the hall,
“Yeah strange kind of guy.” Susan said with a smirk, “He seemed to be in some sort of trouble with the Pats earlier!” Susan put her hand on the ladder leading to deck one and turned to climb,
Frank stood thinking for a second, “What do you mean?” He asked as he put his hand on her shoulder to stop her climing,
“Well,” Susan replied in a confused voice, “It was kind of weird now I think about it, I got here about ten minutes before you, and...” Susan paused thoughtfully, “Actually it seemed more like an argument than a typical Pat search, although Yi’s so messed up on, well what ever the hell he been taking, he strike’s me as the argumentative type put it that way.” Susan laughed as she held the bar above her head and swung gently,
“Any idea what they were arguing about?” Frank asked as he leaned back against the wall,
“Yeah, well, sort of, they seemed to leave as I approached, which I thought was weird, but Yi said they were searching him for drugs and other contraband!” Susan smirked, “Kind of lucky he wasn’t arrested eh?”
“Yeah, lucky!” Frank said in an agitated voice as he pushed himself away from the wall, “Suzy, this is important, what did the guy’s look like?”
Susan thought for a second, “One tall guy, big nose, real ugly, yuck!” Susan said jokingly, “The other…”
“Let me guess!” Frank interrupted quickly, “The other slightly shorter, short black hair, and a scar on his left cheek!”
Susan looked confused, “Yes but…”
There was a loud thump from the suit room, both Frank and Susan pulled out there weapons and made there way along the corridor to the suit bay entrance. Frank held up his hand and stopped Susan at the entrance, Frank knelt down, and, while facing the door, leaned in quickly and held out his weapon ready to shot anyone in the room, the room was empty, Frank leapt to his feet and ran quickly over to the hatch and pointed his weapon down the hatch, it was empty too,
Frank turned to Susan, “Look, I think Yi’s a spy!”
“What!” Susan said surprised as she replaced her weapon in her holster,
“Go get the ship ready to go, I’m going to investigate and catch Yi!” Frank taped Susan on the shoulder reassuringly and almost threw himself down the air lock hatch, making surprisingly little sound,
Susan turned and ran out the suit bay, Frank leaned cautiously out the air lock and looked down the hanger, Yi was sliding to a halt, he had clearly been running very quickly across the hanger bay, “Yi, STOP!” Frank yelled loudly,
Yi was desperately hitting the lift button while trying to take cover behind a pillar, Yi turned and took a shot at Frank, the blast came flying across the hanger and blasted the side of the ship, Frank pulled his head into the ship, a couple more shots came blasting in the direction of Frank each time he tried to get a shot of his own away. Frank leapt from the air lock and rolled behind some metal supply crates that hadn’t been loaded yet, he popped his head up and saw Yi leaping into the lift, Frank took quick aim and fired, the shot flew perfectly across the bay, the lift doors slammed shut and the shot ricochet off the middle of the left hand door, “Damn it!” Frank shouted as Artok came running out of the cargo bay, “Artok!” Frank yelled,

“What the hell’s going on?” Artok yelled angrily,
“Quick get on board, Yi’s a Pat spy, we…” Before Frank could finish the lift door was opening and half a dozen heavily armed patrollers came flooding out, Frank took aim and fired several shots at the troops to give Artok cover to get over to him,
“Close the cargo bay!” Artok yelled at the professor, who was now sprinting at full pace up the ramp. Artok slid behind the crate Frank was behind as the cargo bay started to shut slowly,
Blasts came flooding past and above the crate Artok drew his weapon, “Go for the Air lock! I’ll cover you!” He said quickly,
Frank ran quickly towards the air lock as Artok blasted off a few shot’s, making contact with one of the troops and sending him flying back against the wall, Frank leapt into the airlock as a laser shot blasted him on the leg, “Damn!” He yelled in pain as he dragged him self to his feet, his face grimaced with pain as he put pressure on his leg,
Artok looked over at Frank, to be honest if the situation hadn’t been so desperate Artok would of probably gone and congratulate the patrollers who had shot Frank, after all he had been wanting to do it since he met him, Artok took a couple more shots at the troops, who were spreading out throughout the hanger desperately trying to get a decent position to attack the ship it’s self, “Are you Okay?” Artok yelled as he took cover,
“Yeah I’m fine!” Frank yelled angrily, “I’ll cover you on three! One…Two…Three!” Frank leaned out the air lock and started blasting, he hit one trooper the force of the blast sent the troop spinning around in mid air before he came slamming down on the ground with a loud thump,
Artok leapt into the Airlock, the ship started to hum loudly as the engines came on line, Frank pushed a button on the panel beside the door control, “Get us off the ground!” He said into a microphone as Artok fired repetitively at the troops,
The panel screeched loudly before quieting down, the voice of Anna could be heard from the panel, “Okay! Get that air lock sealed we’re going to have to blast the hanger door!”
Artok and Frank both went for the door button and hit just as a loud blast echoed around the hanger, The door slammed shut as the hanger door got blown apart, bits of the door got pulled out side as the air started to be sucked from the room after the air tight seal separating the minimal atmosphere outside to that inside was broken, the troops got thrown from their feet as they desperately scrambled to grab hold of the pillars, the ship rose quickly as it spun around and out the hanger, just in time to avoid being hit by the emergency door, the ship turned away from the station and the main engines fired and the ship sped away.

Artok helped Frank out the air lock before he sealed the inner door, Frank dragged himself to he feet, “I can’t believe I got hit!” Frank said angrily,
“You’re getting old!” Artok laughed as he walked passed Frank,
“Yeah but I get better looking each day!” Frank laughed as he limped into the corridor after Artok,
Artok hit a button on the arm band he was wearing, “Professor.” He said into the band,
“Yes?” The professors voice said through the band,
“How’s the cargo?” Artok reached the ladder and started to climb,
“It’s fine!” The professor replied,
“Good I’ll be down shortly to check up, Artok out!” Artok pulled him self up to deck one and held out his hand to Frank, who shrugged his shoulders and grabbed hold of Artok’s hand, Artok pulled Frank up through the hatch with one easy pull,
Frank was a little surprised how strong Artok was, but hey, it was easier than climbing the ladder him self! “Thanks!” he said genuinely as he stood gingerly on his wounded leg,
“Don’t worry about it!” Artok replied, “You better get to sick bay, if you don’t get that wound sorted out you’ll lose your leg!” Artok turned and wandered towards the bridge,
Frank laughed and shook his head, “Sick bay can wait, it’s not a clean hit and I get the feeling you’ll need me at the helm!” Frank limped quickly after Artok.
Frank limped onto the bridge, the bridge was about twenty feet long and about half the length on the ship, dark room, there were two large windows at the front, one on each side of a large view screen, which was showing the front view of the ship ascending quickly towards orbit, down the right hand wall was a row of computer stations stopping six feet from the front window, in the middle of the room was a very comfortable looking captains seat, on the back wall was a door leading to what should have been the captains room, but had been converted into a small medical bay, along the left hand wall was three primary stations, tactical on the far left, navigation in the middle and a remote engineering station, Artok ran over to the tactical bay, where Susan was sitting, he taped Susan on the shoulder so she knew to move to let him in, Susan stood up and ran over to Frank,
“You’re hurt!” She said concerned as she let Frank lean on her, “Come to sick bay!”
“Treat me later!” Frank said as he started to make his way over to the helm,
Susan shook her head in frustration, “Fine, I’ll treat you as you fly, how about that!”
Frank laughed as he limped over to Anna who was at the helm, “Anna!” He said just before he reached the station,
“Ah, good of you to join us Frank!” Anna said sarcastically as she stood up,
Frank slumped down in the seat and slid him self up to the control consol, the consol was entirely touch screen, in the middle was a long speed control line along with two electronic flight controllers to operate the ships pitch and direction and angle there was also a long control meter which allowed Frank to control the sensitivity of the Inertia dampeners, along the top of the panel were a series of camera angles showing the front, back and side views from the ship, there on the left was a manual course input, with a slip activation button (Which wouldn’t operate till a course was laid in) on the right was a computerised course input where he could receive computer planed courses of courses from the navigation bay,
Anna ran back to her seat and sat down, “Tactical report!” She asked confidently as the ship broke out the planets atmosphere,
“I’m picking up three patrol ships on parallel intercept courses!” Artok said as he studied his screen,
“Three!” She replied, “They must really want what’s in the cargo bay! Intercept time?” she added firmly,
“Sixty seconds!” Artok answered quickly,
Anna checked a panel that was built into her seat, “Raise shields! Helm adjust course to, 231.341.7!”
“Aye mam’!” Frank said sarcastically as he pushed a few buttons on the consol,
The ship turned a few degrees up and to the left, the ship sped up, almost to the top of the sub light speed of the ship, the hum of the engines echoed throughout the ship, Artok turned to Anna, “The lead ships hailing us!” Artok smirked,
Anna shook her head, “On screen! Suppress our video output!”
The screen jumped into action and the image of a short stumpy woman in an immaculately pressed uniform sitting in her captains seat appeared, “I’m captain Francis Per, of the United Star Patrol.” Captain Par stood up, “You are in direct violation of the illicit goods act of 2145, lower your shields, cut your engines and prepare to be boarded! I should warn you we have orders to destroy you if we can’t take you peacefully.”
Anna shook her head, desperately trying to stop her self laughing, “Oh.. Ah.. Yeah!” She stammered, “We’re experiencing some… erm… Technical difficulties right now, our engines aren’t responding, give us a couple of seconds to gain control!” Anna shrugged her shoulders at Artok, who was laughing quietly,
Captain Par sat back down in her seat and laughed, “You have thirty seconds before we’re in weapons range!”
Anna made a cut movement with her hand at Artok and the screen turned off, “How long before we exit the system?” Anna shouted at anyone who would listen,
“Two Minutes!” Frank shouted as he adjusted the course slightly, “I’m bringing us to 241.345.9! It’ll give us an extra ten seconds!”
“Excellent!” Anna said, “Charge weapons!”
Artok pushed a few buttons, six of circular hatches opened on the top and bottom of the ship and a large plasma cannon came out of each hole, “Weapons charged!” Artok said, with a distinct smirk on his face, a light on his panel started flashing, “Oh, there hailing us again!”
Anna shook her head, “Don’t these freaks ever take a hint? On screen!”
The screen turned on and Captain Par was standing with a very unhappy expression on her face, “Our scans show you’ve activated your weapons and changed course, this is your last chance to surrender!” She sat back in her seat and drummed the arm rest,
“You know what!” Anna said angrily, “We’re not going peacefully so just do your self a favour and save your self’s the humiliation of being beaten by a ship an eighth your size and just turn your ship’s around and go home!” Before the Captain could reply Anna turned to Artok and made the cut sign again, the screen turned off, “Frank we need time to get out the system so we can jump to slip.”
Frank winced with pain, after all, while this was going on he was being treated for his wound by Susan, “Okay, I’ve a few tricks up my sleeve.” Frank pushed a button and the ship turned towards the seventh planet in the system,
All the while this was going on a tall thin man was sitting with his back to every one in the navigation section working feverously, Anna turned to him, “Wilson! How long till the calculations are complete?” She asked angrily,
“Jumping to slip isn’t all that easy, it requires precise calculations!” He replied in a loud defensive voice, with out looking away from the screen,
“Naw! You don’t say genius!” Anna snapped, “How long?”
“Three minutes!” Wilson snapped back,
“In three minutes we’ll be space dust! We leave the system in one minute, I need the calculations by then!”
“But…” Wilson stammered,
“Shut up and work!” Anna snapped,
“They’re in weapons range!” Artok shouted, a loud bleeping sound came off the panel, “Brace for impact!” Artok shouted, there was a loud thud and the whole ship shook violently, “Shields at seventy percent!” Artok shouted as he pushed a couple of buttons,
“Return fire, but just try to disable them!” Anna said as she punched in a couple of commands into her seat panel,
Artok pushed a few buttons and three of the cannons fired large pulses, “Bam!” Artok shouted victoriously, The ship got walloped by a couple more shots from the second patrol ship that had just entered firing range, “Damn! Shields at thirty five percent!”
“Transfer auxiliary power to shields!” Anna snapped, “Frank evasive manoeuvres!”
“Hold on to your teeth!” Frank said as he pulled the ship violently to the right pulling it right in to the path of a large gas giant (The last planet in the system) The ship got rocked by another blast and a panel to Franks right exploded and caught fire, Susan jumped to her feet and grabbed the fire extinguisher that sat at Franks seat and ran over and started to extinguish the fire as the ship got blasted again,
“Shields failing!” Artok shouted as he fired all the cannons at the different targets that were in pursuit,
“Damn it!” Frank shouted, “Artok the next shot that comes in vent plasma from the engines, it should disrupt their targeting sensors, and let me know as you do it, then hold on tight!”
“Incoming!” Artok said as he grabbed on to the panel, the ship rocked violently, “Plasma vented!” He yelled,
Frank pushed the manoeuvring arrows the ship dropped into a steep descent towards a small moon in orbit of the gas giant, laser shots blasted the surface of the moon only a couple of feet behind the ship, Frank veered violently to the left, following the gradient of the moon. The ship shot from the moon’s surface and entered the electromagnetic field of the planetoid, the ship bounced and jarred violently as Frank struggled to control it, he brought the ship down into the atmosphere as he increased the speed to the maximum of the engines capabilities, “Hold on, things are going to get a bit rough!” Frank said as the ship bounced and almost threw everyone from there seats, the ship rocked and creaked loudly as it got battered and bumped by the powerful magnetic storms,
“Frank what the hell are you doing?” Anna shouted as she held on to her seat,
“Trust me for once!” He replied angrily, the ship banged and another panel blew, Frank pushed a couple of buttons and the ship rapidly sped up, the strong gravity of the planet sped the ship up giving them enough power to escape the gravitational pull of the planet, Frank growled aggressively as he pulled the ship out the other side of the planet, “WOOOOO!” He yelled ecstatically, “How about that!” Frank said smugly as he pulled the ship into position,
“The patrol ships have just detected us, and are coming around the planet!” Artok yelled,
“Shield status?” Anna shouted,
“Thirty percent and rising!” Artok said calmly
“How long before the patrols are in weapons range?”
“Twenty seconds!” Artok yelled angrily, “Wilson, anytime now please!” Anna said in a cool sarcastic voice,
“In a second!” Wilson snapped,
“ten seconds!” Artok shouted,
“Come on Wilson!” Anna snapped,
“In a second!” Wilson was now getting very agitated,
“Five seconds!” Frank rocked the ship from side to side to try and slow down the Patrol from targeting them,
“Brace for impact!” Artok said as the ship got rocked by several blasts! “Shields are gone! One more and we’re dead!” Artok turned to Anna and shrugged,
“WILSON!” Anna shouted angrily,
“Got it!” Wilson yelled,
The slip button on Frank’s consol started flashing,
“NOW!” Anna shouted,
Frank pushed the slip button, the slip engines slowly extended from the side of the ship and several electrical pulses leapt from the outer skin as the engines pulse blast shots were fired by the patrol ships,
The engines started to make a humming noise that got steadily louder as the engines fully charged, the electrical pulses almost covered the ship and the engines turned a blinding light blue when the ship leapt quickly forward and entered the slip channel as several laser blasts flew right past where the ship had been just seconds ago.

Anna slumped back in her seat, her whole body relaxed completely and she gave of a huge sigh of relief, Frank fell of his seat and started to roll around the ground laughing. Susan had been thrown across the bridge and she lay laughing with delight slumped in the corner,
“There not pursuing us!” Artok exclaimed with a great deal of surprise,
“Of course not!” Anna said smugly, “I’m masking our Ion trail, It’ll take them a while before they pick up the trail, and by that time we’ll be long gone!” Anna smiled happily,
“Damn that was close!” Frank said as he sat up and inspected his healed leg,
After a long pause Anna sat forward in her seat “Well done guys!” She said in a proud, happy voice, “Frank! I have to admit, I forgot how good a pilot you are!” Anna smiled as she sat back in her seat again,
“Oh careful you might actually be in danger of liking me again!” Frank said as he got to his feet,
“Frank!” Anna said calmly, “What makes you think I ever liked you?” Anna laughed “Don’t sweat it fly boy! A few more performances like that and I may just start to!”
Frank walked over to Susan and helped her to her feet,
“How’s your leg?” Susan asked as she leaned over and looked at the small scar,
“Fantastic, you know you’re a damn good doctor!” Frank said as he proudly displayed his wound,
“Hmmm,” Susan said thoughtfully, “Complements will get you every where!” She said jokingly as she looked up at Frank, “There will be a small scar there, but at least I didn’t have to cut your leg off!” Susan smiled and slapped Frank in the right arm as she stood up straight,
Frank smiled as he turned away from her and walked back to the helm and turned the seat round to face the rest of the bridge,
“Damage report?” Anna asked curiously,
“I’ve a small scar on my leg!” Frank replied quickly as he sat back down at the helm,
“Is anything important damaged?” Anna replied mockingly,
Susan walked over to one of the panels on the right hand wall and punched in a few commands, “Ah, we’ve blown a few minor systems, internal sensors are off line, lighting in the cargo bays out oh!” She exclaimed with some concern, “The O2 recycler is only operating at twenty percent.”
Anna growled angrily before pushing a button on her seat arm, “Malktik are you down there?” She asked into the intercom,
“Yeah I’m here!” Malktik responded, “I’m having a few problems with the power grid!”
“I know, the O2 recycler isn’t working properly, make it a priority!” Anna said calmly,
A loud clatter of tools followed by a series of nonsensical rambling followed before Malktik responded, “Ah, damn, I hadn’t noticed that, I’ll get on it immediately!”
“Keep me informed!” Anna said as she turned off the intercom,
Artok stood up, “I need to brief you all on our cargo. Meet in the mess hall in ten minutes, I need to go down the main hold and rescue our passenger.”
“Artok!” Anna said as she stood up, “You’re a damn good tactical officer and you’ve done a good job on the ship but if theirs anything alive down there I’ll kill you my self!” Anna smiled threatening (When Anna made a threat like that it was worth taking note of it because she isn’t joking.)
Artok made no response as he stormed quickly of the bridge.