Chapter 28
They were almost at the space station when Levi heard a ping over the ship’s speakers.
“Ship code E3792—the Imperial Surfer—has just been logged at refueling station Theta 694,” said the AI.
“Yes!” came Cora’s cry beside him, and Levi couldn’t help but smile.
“Reroute to that fueling station,” he told the AI.
It wasn’t far, and Levi pulled the ship out of hyperdrive to better approach the station. As they got closer, the ship’s tracker locked on to the Jorvlen mothership’s location. This time, Levi didn’t need to sneak around—at least not yet.
The rental zoomer looked like any other ship coming in to refuel, and Levi took the opportunity to fly in as close to the Imperial Surfer as possible, docking right beside it.
Levi and Cora climbed out, and a dock worker refueled the zoomer, even though they were about to abandon it there. What they needed was to get onto the Jorvlen ship.
“Hey, once you’re done refueling, can you park it in a holding bay?” Levi asked the dock worker.
“Sure thing,” the worker replied, and Levi sent him a temporary flight code over his comm.
Cora had already started approaching the ship, and Levi was equal parts worried by her intrepid nature and proud of it. He hurried to catch up with her as she got closer to the ship, and he nudged her to go with him into the shadows to better observe.
A group of Jorvlens were milling around the dock while others moved inside the refueling station itself, presumably to stretch their legs and rest a little before moving off again.
For the size of the ship, though, Levi knew many more Jorvlens must still be on board, and sneaking on wouldn’t be an easy task. Certainly, they couldn’t go through the front door.
“Let’s go around the back,” Levi said, and Cora nodded, following his lead.
Sticking to the shadows, Levi flanked the ship until he saw what he was looking for.
“There,” he said, pointing to a cargo door on the ship’s underbelly. “I don’t know if my lock-picker can get in there, but it’s worth a try.”
Even in the half-dark, Levi could make out Cora grinning at him.
“Starship locks usually operate on the R16 protocol,” she explained. “Your average lock-picker won’t get through. But a dark-market lock-cracker will.”
Levi could see where this was going, and for the hundredth time, he thanked his lucky stars he had such an intelligent and capable woman by his side.
“Let me guess,” he said, grinning.
Cora nodded, holding up her comm. With that, they turned back to see the crew members on the dock walk inside the doors that led inside the station. Levi knew this was their chance, and they made a break for the cargo door.
Cora was right—her lock-cracker made short work of the door, and in less than a minute, they were inside the ship’s cargo bay.
Levi hoped, somehow, that the Desolation Stone might just be conveniently held inside the cargo bay itself, but it was empty except for some spare ship parts. What it did have was a map of the ship itself pasted on one of the cargo bay walls.
“We probably don’t have much time,” Levi told Cora, scanning the map. “We can start in the administration office, I guess.”
Cora nodded. “Let’s go.”
They rushed from the cargo bay and managed to slip through the halls to the nearby office without being seen. The office, luckily, was empty, too, and Cora didn’t even have to hack into the computer this time. It was left open when the crew had disembarked.
“Nothing here about the stone,” Levi heard Cora whisper as he kept a lookout at the door. “But I found something else. A list of all the settlements the Jorvlens are approaching as allies. There are some big names on here.”
“Can you make a copy?” Levi whispered back.
“Way ahead of you,” Cora told him before meeting him at the door.
“All right, we should probably get off this ship. They’re going to be back any minute now,” he told her. “We can keep tracking it in the meantime.”
Cora nodded. “Actually, give me one more second.”
She ran back to the computer, plugging a cable into her comm and typing frantically on the holo-keys.
“What are you doing?” Levi asked, turning away from the door.
He knew they had to get out of there, but he also knew Cora wouldn’t hold them up unless it was for a very good reason.
“What’s your father’s relay code?” she asked.
Levi was puzzled but told her the code. Cora typed in the number before pressing a button and then typing again frantically. When she finally unplugged the comm and made it back to him, she was grinning.
“I just synced the ship’s internal nav data to my comm and also sent it back to Lorr, so they’ll have the same intel we do,” she told him.
“This is why I love you,” Levi said.
“And I love you for loving that about me.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“Let’s get out of here,” Levi said.
They’d just stepped into the hall when the hum of the engines suddenly started up.
“Oh, shit,” Levi said, his eyes growing wide as he looked at Cora.
That sound meant two things, neither of which was good news for him and Cora. The crew was back on board, and the ship was about to take off.
Without another word, they both ran back in the direction they’d come—toward the cargo dock. The crew must have all been prepped for takeoff because the halls were miraculously still empty. But as they approached the cargo door, Levi felt the familiar gut-dropping feeling of the ship rising.
They probably only had a couple of seconds before the refueling station’s airlock reopened and the space vacuum detectors disabled the ship’s doors. Levi knew that even Cora’s lock-cracker couldn’t help them then.
They burst into the cargo bay, and Levi grabbed a couple of bright orange space suits on the way.
“Here!” he called, throwing one to Cora.
The two of them tried to run and dress themselves simultaneously, but even as they hobbled toward the cargo door they’d come through, Levi knew it was no good. They were almost certainly too late.
With suits finally on, they ran the last few steps. Cora set her comm to crack the lock, but through the transparent wrist window of the spacesuit, Levi saw the telltale flashing red light that he’d half expected.
Cora turned to him, a look of dismay on her face. She didn’t even say anything, just shook her head sadly.
Levi let out a sigh, pulling off his now-useless helmet and wrapping an arm around Cora’s shoulders.
“Well, on the bright side,” he said. “At least we don’t have to wear these ugly suits.”
In spite of the circumstances, Cora cracked a smile and pulled off her helmet.
“Well that’s good news, I guess,” she replied. “Especially since we stick out like a couple of sore thumbs in these.”
Levi nodded as another thought occurred to him. “We might have to find a place to hide before someone comes in here, though,” he told her. “I don’t think the Jorvlens take kindly to hitchhikers.”