Rand's voice is weak, his eyes only barely focused. "Clubby... he was our security. And... and it's r-running, so the valid... validation key's not active. Once you shut it off, it has a keycode to power it up."

Rand offers a little more. "Won't matt-matter. Needleship blocking Aikoro's Gate. Cuttin' off all traffic for a full day now. We'd be... be gone otherwise."

"A blockade, huh? How unsporting. We'll have to give them something else to worry about. Now, what's the activation keycode?"

"724568," Rand replies.

Hugh radios the keycode to Luis. "Test that for me, will you?"

He looks to Rand. "Trust, but verify."

"You got it, Captain!" With that Semo will set to work.

"Anything you want to learn from them, or do you just want me to talk to them?" Davis asks in English.

"Just the usual," Hugh replies.

Angel watches the ambush with a tired detachment, the muck from his hybrid artillery bombardment/swimming expedition only half successfully cleaned off.

"Well, that was dull. Just so we're clear Sarge, I fully intend to sleep for a full and uninterrupted week when we get home."

Luis notes Rand's code and heads into the Body Snatcher.

Max is familiarizing himself with the vessel's many controls when Luis comes in, sits down in the good chair, and powers off the Snatcher. The engines die off with a whine, the displays blink out, and the ship settles down slightly on its struts now that its impellers are powered down.

The canyon is quiet. Quiet save for a faint fading whine, like the sound of a flashbulb recharging. A strange noise for a powered-down vessel, Max thinks. Luis doesn't hear it, but it's definitely somewhere in the cockpit.

---

The lights flicker off, leaving Semo and his helpers with just the dim reflected dawn coming in the open hatches. They made their way into the ship and are clearing it of Dunamis' team's gear. Aside from a host of minor widgets and personal items, there are three armored spacesuits, half a dozen assorted energy weapons, and a lot of melee weapons. Knives, swords, batons, even bolas.

admiralducksauce wrote:

Luis notes Rand's code and heads into the Body Snatcher.

Max is familiarizing himself with the vessel's many controls when Luis comes in, sits down in the good chair, and powers off the Snatcher. The engines die off with a whine, the displays blink out, and the ship settles down slightly on its struts now that its impellers are powered down.

The canyon is quiet. Quiet save for a faint fading whine, like the sound of a flashbulb recharging. A strange noise for a powered-down vessel, Max thinks. Luis doesn't hear it, but it's definitely somewhere in the cockpit.

"Luis. Don't fucking move. Don't even breathe funny." says Max rather directly yet calmly to the Delta Operator, knowing the sound of a pressure detonation switch when he hears one.

*keys radio*

"Captain. They booby-trapped the controls. I advise that no one touches anything until we give this ship the once-over." adds the Action Scientist, moving slowly towards the chair with his bag o' tricks.

Davis hears the radio call about the booby trap. "Better make that twice-over," he says, and looks at Ngawai. "Ngawai, grab Dunamis and come with me." He picks up Rand and starts walking up the slope towards where they were taking cover. He binds Rand and shoves him back against the wall and waits for Ngawai to do the same. "You two sit tight, we'll be right back," he says and motions for her to follow him. "How much do you know about interrogations? They teach you any tricks in Kansat training or you pick anything up afterwards?"

"Nothing you probably don't already know," she says. "I was fond of the 'cut off bits of them and grow them back' routine, but the wounded one's gonna need some time to heal up before we get to that."

---

It doesn't take Max and Luis long. It's not a bomb, either. The whine came from a portable energy cell under each pilot's couch. Luis figures it's wired to the starter, and Max determines that each couch has what's basically a taser set to fire barbs through the seat when Rand's code is entered. Between the two techs they're easily disarmed. Max runs some tests - the batteries would probably not have killed anyone who tripped the booby trap but he winces at the thought of those barbed harpoons puncturing his genitals.

Hugh watches the casual disarming of the countermeasures with a bemused smile before radioing to Davis.

"Well, that was kinda cute. Would you kindly ask our guests what the real code is?"

"Already on it. Also, if someone could bring the device up here when it's been removed, that would be great," Davis radios back. "Well," he says to Ngawai, "since we don't have the time to be more subtle, why don't we just each take one and apply persuasion until they talk? Lady's choice."

Semo is gathering up gear with his crew when the ship powers down and the lights flicker. He pauses for a moment, then hears Max's voice over the comm.

"Shit. Don't move, guys. Let the nerd herd take care of it."

Fortunately, the crisis is short-lived. Soon, they are back to work. To Semo's mind, the suits of armor are the real prize. He'll get those loaded in the sled if he can, then stow the rest in a duffle for later review.

Once that's done, he reports in to the captain with his findings. "Wouldn't mind a suit of that armor myself, if it can be sized to fit."

"I think the real problem's gonna be finding boots in your size," Hugh replies, still smirking. "The Army can't get that right, I don't think the Imperium's gonna do much better."

Semo gives the armored suits a once-over. They might not fit him as-is, but the flexible panels might not be a bad thing to have sewn into a set of fatigues. Semo could probably do the work himself - he knows his way around a sewing kit. It'd be pretty Mad Max, but it might work.

---

Ngawai mulls it over and picks Dunamis. "You better take the one I shot. He probably won't talk to me without me cutting on him. Let's get 'em separated."

---

Max and Luis pore over the cockpit, looking for anything else that might turn their prize into a pitfall. The electrocution boxes are the most technically adept traps they find, but they're not the only hazards. A stinger's clamped to the underside of the primary console; a loose panel near the exit ramp yields a second.

Davis nods, and picks up Rand. "Come on, let's have a little chat."

He walks 50 feet away from Ngawai and throws him roughly against the rock wall. "So, you must think you're pretty funny, huh?" he says in a slightly joking tone of voice, smile on his face.

Rand cries out as he goes down. The raw meat on his back leaves a greasy smear on the rocks.

"Hey, I wanted to leave! You people are crazy!"

---

Ngawai kneels down beside Dunamis and pulls the gag down.

"I coulda told you not to put that code in, but you fuckers gagged me," the bald Apprehender says.

"Yeah, sure," Ngawai replies dismissively. "How's huntin' workin' out for ya, Kon?"

"Not so good. How's terrorism working for you?" he spits back.

"Better than I thought it would. I don't think they'll kill you if you just give me the right code."

"Sure, but I know they won't kill me if I don't."

"There are two of you, you know. We only need the code from one."

"Your man over there... Davis, right? He's tryin' to recruit every motherfucker he can find. It's a matter of time before one of 'em sells out your entire fuck-family. As one Apprehender to another, get out while you can."

"I'd wager I'm not an Apprehender anymore, Kon. The code, please."

"Then I can still get you out. Use the same trick you used to get onto Aikoro. Get me in that cockpit. I start 'er up, fly to the port, we use the footgate under the pretense I've captured you."

"Right. And you call every Turai in the port over as soon as you get inside. We could use your license, Kon, it'd help us out. Why not come with us?"

"Holoni, as long as I'm your prisoner I might live when the Rav-Whetu comes down on these bastards. The second I turn, I'm dead. I'm not Narsai'i, I'm just a traitor, same as you."

"Well then," Ngawai states. "Who's this Rav-Whetu?"

"I don't know for sure, some muckamuck who's got a hard-on for your new friends. Decreed no interrogations - no serious ones, anyway - if the Narsai'i were caught. They're the one who upped those bounties so high."

"All very interesting, Dunamis, but it's still not the startup code."

"You've got a really funny way of showing it, not giving us the launch code." Davis sits down next to Rand. "Look, we're not out here to make enemies. Any other day, we'd have done this peacefully, without having to shoot at each other. But right now, we're in a tight spot and don't have the time to be friends right away. So just tell us the launch codes, and we'll get you set up with a nice comfy bunk and you can let that arm heal properly. Otherwise, I'll have to go talk to Dunamis, who probably isn't in a very charitable mood towards you at the moment, and is likely to sell you out in a heartbeat if it saves his own hide. What do you say?"