Rachel leaned around the corner, gun hand first, but the two men slid out of her view before she could fire. She checked the LED indicator on the side of the stolen pistol; there were six rounds left in the clip—less than half full. That was proof enough for her that these people had killed what remained of the UR crew. That, and the fact that two very angry men with assault weapons had them pinned down.

"Dex, do you see any other way to get back to the airlocks from here?"

The mechanic's eyes darted around at the corridors surrounding them as he muttered to himself about the dimensions of the ship. Finally, he pointed further down their path at a curving tunnel that faded in the half-lit distance. "That hallway turns back toward us, see?" Rachel nodded. "Means its followin' the curve of the ship. We stay with it long enough goin' t'other way, we'll reach the docking layer."

Leo peeked around the edge of the wall, then snapped back with a burst of gunfire. "If we go that way, won't they be able to cut us off?"

"Only if they know what we're doin'." Rachel glanced down the rounded corridor, then back toward their covered opponents. "We need a distraction."

"Easy. Surrender." Rachel and Dex looked back at him horrified. Leo shrugged. "Yell out that I'm hit and we're ready to give up. Throw…I don't know, something about the size of your gun out into the corridor."

"Then when they come over here, we circle around until they're a junction behind us again." Leo nodded curtly. Rachel shrugged in appreciation and turned to Dex, who grudgingly nodded.

"Good plan."

"Thank you. But we still need a gun."

Dex's gaze flitted around the tight corridor, and he smiled. "Knife." Rachel handed him the thin weapon, and he carefully cut a section of the exposed atmosphere duct away. With a few more deft cuts, he bent down a handle and held it in place with a 'trigger guard' cut from the end of the pipe and looped through small holes in the handle and barrel. When he was finished, the ten inch segment of plastic insulating pip