3, Prison Break (In): Part One

Having managed to pull off their first high-profile job, the Susan’s crew took advantage of some well-earned downtime. For the most part, they either used their time wisely or, where vices were indulged, at least discretely. However, Vapour found he was unable to keep a low profile even when relaxing. During his colourful past, he’d developed an obligation to Yattu, an influential enforcer for the Echo Wave Riders. Although Vapour had tried to discourage his brother from following in his footsteps, his brother had proven just as stubborn and pig-headed as Vapour and taken a job as one of Yattu’s goons. After undertaking a successful side job for his Yattu, he’d taken his brother out to sample some of the local Hijaa vine at a local bar. Whether it was the euphoric effect of the Hijaa or just innate stupidity, Vapour had returned from the bar to find his brother regaling all and sundry with the details of their latest exploits on Shimaya. Sighing inwardly, Vapour made a note of two things; one: never to tell his brother anything about his work ever again, and two: that several known snitches were paying particular attention to the details being so thoroughly described by his brother. No doubt, the authorities would be very interested when they heard the details...

Meanwhile, back on the Susan Bonto was scanning the sector comm-nets for a likely paying job. Everyone knew that the Sah’iir controlled the ansible network that connected the systems and sectors of the Hegemony. What only a select few knew, however, was that there were certain ‘agreements’ in place between the Sah’iir and less acceptable (criminal) elements to enable other, less controlled communication to take place. If you knew the right people, you could purchase a specially-built module that could pick up signals encoded into the carrier waves of certain innocuous broadcasts. If you knew which broadcasts and when, with the highly illegal device you could take your pick of a range of unusual or just highly illegal jobs that could lead to wealth or a lonely death in deep space, depending on your luck. When the crew got back together to discuss their next move, one job immediately caught their attention. Draxler’s Raiders had put out a call for a crew to enter Isotropa Max Secure (Procyon’s most secure prison) and locate an IMS employee named Rey Livia. Having located Rey, the crew were to hand over a package of drugs. Draxler had discovered that Livia supplemented her income by acting as a fixer for some of the more affluent or influential individuals who found themselves guests of IMS. Once the package is handed over, the crew were to instruct Livia pass the drugs to an inmate named Haight Kalo li Vosa in place of his usual supply.

As Bonto read this out, the crew looked at each other sharply; the li Vosa clan were a powerful family who ran shipping lines across the sector. Kalo was one of a long line of li Vosa scions who had squandered the opportunities afforded them by drinking, gambling and fighting their way into a succession of high-tech prisons. The pay was right, the risk seemed low and the chance to get on the good side of Draxler’s Raiders was too good to miss.

So it was that Vapour found himself piloting the Susan towards the blocky immensity of the Isotropa Max Secure facility. It seemed to squat there before him, radiating malevolence as the Susan edged slowly towards it. Vapour concentrated on his instrument panel, trying to fight the sensation that the station was looking directly at him through the walls of the ship. Their approach plan had been simple enough in principle, but eye-wateringly difficult in practice. The Susan had used floating radioactive gas clouds to approach the prison, avoiding detection by running with all systems powered down, including drives. Vapour had flown by dead reckoning only, eyes closed, using the shielded computer systems to govern the twists and turns of the ship at a significant percentage of the speed of light. As they flew closer to the orbital bulk, what had seemed to be a blank wall was revealed to be pocked with a range of entry ports and maintenance shafts. The Susan edged towards a small exhaust port, no different to any of the hundreds of others save that the Susan’s crew had purchased a transponder code that would allow them to enter without setting off the prison’s alarms.

Once inside, Vapour brought them in close to one of the many maintenance hatches that dotted the length of the tunnel. As they coasted to a halt, a flexible tube snaked from the side of the Susan and closed over the maintenance hatch, forming a pressurised airlock. Moving swiftly, Bonto and Dar grabbed their gear and started to override the computerised locking mechanism. Bonto was in his element, his eyes widening with glee as he quickly overcame the security protocols. But his absorption was nearly his undoing; reaching out his hand for a probe lance, he almost took hold of a live cable that would have seriously injured him and tripped Isotropa’s security systems. With inhuman reflexes, Dar reached out and snatched the cable out of Bonto’s reach, grimacing as the power grounded through him and made his hearts flutter sickeningly for a moment. As Dar glared at his careless crewmate, Bonto chuckled to himself as the hatch opened, oblivious to Dar’s selfless act.

Once inside the prison, the crew found themselves on a wide walkway, opening up into a huge internal space criss-crossed by power cables. Far above them, transport pods flicked to and fro between different sections of the prison; Vapour eyed them hungrily, hoping he’d get the chance to see how much speed he could coach out of their small engines. Rapidly, the crew made their way towards where they could access the turbo-lifts and system access workstations. They would need both to find out where Rey Livia could be found and how to get to her. As they made their way carefully through the maze of maintenance shafts that riddled this part of the structure, the crew turned a corner and ran straight into another group of maintenance workers heading the opposite way. Luckily, they’d anticipated such an encounter and had made sure they were equipped with the clothing and security passes that would allow them to pass themselves off as maintenance workers. Smoothly, Vapour spun a believable lie: that this segment of the prison was contaminated with highly-toxic coolant gas and should be avoided by all personnel until further notice. Cursing, their supposed colleagues rapidly turned round and headed in the opposite direction, thanking the crew for the warning. Smirking at the others, pleased with his own cleverness, Vapour led the way deeper into the prison and towards their quarry,Rey Livia.

As soon as they found the system access point, Bonto set up his state-of-the-art hacking rig and set to work. Perhaps he was getting over-confident; although he managed to pull Livia’s work assignment and location from the system, he also managed to trip a hidden intrusion counter-measure programme. Although they hadn’t been rumbled yet, it was now only a matter of time. Grabbing their gear, the crew jogged rapidly around the corner...straight into another maintenance crew. Unlike the other squad they’d encountered, something seemed very...off. Where the other squad was made up of Non-Baselines, humans adapted to live and die in zero gravity, this team was made up of a mix of species and had significantly more muscle mass. This, combined with the presence of prison tattoos of varying quality, revealed that they had their own secrets. Again, Vapour took the lead in a swift negotiation backed up by a looming Dar. As the two ‘maintenance teams’ passed each other warily, Vapour grinned to himself; after a whispered comment from Bonto, he’d sent the other team into an area that would bring them into eventual contact with security teams. He had a feeling that they might need a distraction at some point, and this might provide just that...

Finally, they located Livia. She was a mid-level, career prison administrator and was currently assigned to personnel (payroll) duties. Looking through the window of her shared office, the crew took a breath and entered, loudly complaining about problems with pension contributions. Once they had her attention, they tried to pass the package of drugs over to her without attracting the attention of her fellow administrators. However,  Livia clearly had no idea who they were and why they were there as she initially called security to detain them. Just as a security team arrived at the door of the office, Livia realised her error and began to explain her error. Luckily, Vapour’s earlier misdirection of the second non-maintenance team proved to have been well-planned; alarms began to blare and the security team immediately ran to investigate. In the confusion, Livia ushered them into a side-room where they repeated the instruction to give li Vosa the drugs. Having anticipated Livia’s likely mistrust of their motives, they’d spent some of their future earnings to obtain a flawless forgery of a letter from the li Vosa family, requesting that she do just that. To do this, they’d had to ask a favour of Rakka, a shady diplomat of their acquaintance; there was no doubt that this favour would be recalled, in time.

But for now, the first part of their task was done and they needed to leave, quickly. Livia pointed them towards a nearby transport hub, where they were face with a choice: a slower return to the Susan via turbo-shaft, or a faster but riskier ride via a transport pod. For Vapour, there was no contest: he leapt aboard a pod and started the engines, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. The others piled in after him and the pod shot away, Vapour redlining the drives to get back to his beloved Susan. Unfortunately, he misjudged the tolerances of the engines and brought the pod in at too steep an angle, crashing it and knocking himself senseless in the process. Picking themselves up from the floor of the wrecked pod, the remaining crew members carried the unconscious Vapour into the hatchway leading back to the Susan...only to run into their not-maintenance team friends, fully occupied in using a las-cutter to force their way into the Susan’s hold. As Dar and Bonto skidded into view, Vapour draped between them, the other crew looked up with a snarled intake of breath... (to be continued!)