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“A moment young man, I think Esther’s found the right spot.”
    Suddenly there was a loud cracking noise, followed by a gentle hum as the bulkhead doors retracted back into their housings to reveal the empty corridor beyond. It was filled with air, and showed no signs of decompression.
    So much for the explosion theory.
    “Access granted,” Esther stated. “I have gained back-door entry into the command systems of this station.”
    “Excellent, hide us from internal sensors as we approach.” Sir Fawn ordered and then gestured ahead. “Now, young man, shall we see what dragon sits at the center of the dungeon?”
    “Stay behind me, sir. I’ll take point.” Tysen started forward, but a large hand appeared before him to hold him back.
    “With what, I might ask? You’re not even armed.” The knight patted the blade at his hip. “No, young man, you will stay behind me.” Sir Fawn moved to take the lead. “Esther, keep an eye on the boy, will you?”
    “Yes, master.” She nodded, then looked at Tysen with a polite smile that still made his heart skip a beat. “Please, allow me to escort you.”
    How could Tysen say no?
    * * *
    This was definitely not right. The station security was such a disorganized mess that the controllers clearly couldn’t find their asses with both hands.
    The sooner we’re off this station, the better. Ping An decided as she walked down a corridor in the docking ring with half the landing party in tow. They’d split into two groups to minimize suspicion in the chaotic station environment, and her team had just gotten off one of the lift tubes.
    "Ping-An, when you hit the main concourse take your group to the shuttle," Camus told her. His group was just ahead of them with another knot of civilians. "We’ll meet there and fly out to the...hold on, I’ve got some kind of ruckus ahead…" Then she felt a feeling of shock and surprise run along the connection and Camus’s link was suddenly cut off.
    "Camus? Can you hear me? Camus!" She sent, worried.
    No reply came. She looked through the moving crowd at the two men closest to her- Justin and Leederman. The link had been a group one, and everyone involved had been listening in to Camus’s orders.
    “Leederman, Justin, can you get him?”
    Leederman shook his head.
    “Uh-uh. Link’s dead, Bosslady.”
    “What about the others?” She asked Justin.
    “All dead, ma’am.”
    Ping An bit her lip. Was it the link that was dead, or them? An EMP pulse would knock out the Linkspace grid in this part of the station, of course, an explosion would do the same but…They hadn’t heard or felt anything.
    “Anyone armed?” She asked the group, knowing the answer- but hoping she was wrong.
    “No way,” Leederman confirmed. “You know nothing gets on board past the sensor drones.”
    Ping An’s jaw tensed and she made her decision.
    “Alright then, here’s how we’re going to do it.” She informed them. “When we hit the main concourse I want all of you to stay close. I tell you to move, you move, okay? I tell you to sit, you do it like a good doggie- got it?”
    “Sure ma’am,” Justin nodded. “No problem. But…What are you going to do? You sneak something in?”
    Ping An made herself smile.
    “Yeah,” she said with confidence. “Me.”
    * * *
    “I would have expected some resistance, but it appears we really do have the element of surprise,” said Sir Fawn, sounding both perplexed and perhaps a little disappointed.
    A slow, cautious advance past scorched walls and the burnt remains of station personnel had brought the three to a place just outside of the colony’s main command center. Now, crouched just around the corner from the main doors they waited, and discussed their next move.
    “They may not be as much of a threat as I feared.” He finished.
    “Sir Fawn, who is “they”? What’s going on around here?” Asked Tysen, who felt they were wasting precious time.
    The older man shrugged. “I’m afraid, young