Unfinished Business

Chapter Twenty Nine

Rachel slunk through the dimly lit corridors of the Suri Madron like a shadow, her special stealth “ninja suit” helping her avoid detection. She didn’t really even need to bother with it – this level was restricted access, only Alliance personnel, and damn few of them around at that. In the half-hour she had been sneaking around, she had seen one bored guard and one flustered technician – and three or four monkeys.

The monkeys had observed her, no doubt catching her scent, but they didn’t seem terribly excited about her presence. She had been a bit unnerved by them, but she knew this was a lab ship. They were probably specimens or pets. Either way, since they didn’t deter her or obstruct her, she ignored them and focused on her mission. They watched her pass with casual interest and went about their own business.

After skulking around in the shadows she finally closed in on the control junction box on this level. It was unguarded, of course – who guards a non-descript access panel? -- and unlocked, so popping the cover off was child’s play. She hooked up the screen she carried and started in.

If this had been an Alliance-built ship it would have been difficult. Military spec ships had three levels of encrypted security that kept them from being easily tampered with. Not that she was unable to contend with them all, but she was just as glad that she didn’t have to. The Suri Madron had originally been a terraforming barge, and the control systems and electronics were all factory-standard civilian designs. Access was technically restricted by passcode, but it took her electronic slicer less than ten seconds to figure that out. Then she was in, and ready to do mischief.

First things first: download contemporary schematics and the last few years of public orders off of the system. While that was happening, she ran an application that jiggered the security protocols of all of the exterior airlocks, which would have made boarding the ship a little m