“Surely you can hack this AI or whatever and take control of the station?” Vice-President Robert Thor, III, asked Gjosta.

  It had been several hours since Gjosta had opened the bay, and clearly “the boss” had gotten bored. He didn’t have any useful skills that Gjosta trusted him with in this operation, so he was just there to “supervise.” His custom-fitted and armored tactical space suit was the same as the rest of the team. Except his was all-black, instead of the grey pattern the rest of them had.

  Gjosta looked up from the control panel. He was trying to get the balky power crane in place to move the crew module in the cylindrical container. The commandos with them were set to work on the transfer, while a small group monitored the entrances to the ore loading hangers.

  “Sir.” Gjosta attempted to remain polite. “An AI isn’t like other computer systems. It fights back, and has complete mastery of its environment. I need physical access and a lot of luck to take one out. Ideally, I’d have a suite of cyber enhancement for the hack.”

  “Really.” The Vice-President managed to sound sarcastic and doubtful all at once.

  Gjosta noticed that Robert clumsily used his wireless to access the terminal where Gjosta worked, and attempted to install a control virus. Gjosta tried hard not to roll his eyes at the naive rich boy. The basic hack would have been fine, if Robert didn’t mind setting off every alarm in the station.

  Gjosta shut the hack down by routing it through a dummy proxy in his own cyberware system and kept working. Robert thought he’d proven something so he began to fiddle with the dummy system Gjosta had fed the hack. Like giving a baby a toy to play with, Robert attempted to get root access in a virtual system that just fed him nonsense.

  “Respectfully,” Gjosta said. “This refit must happen, otherwise I can’t exfiltrate the security team.”

  “There’s three seats in on the Traveller, right? One for me, one for you, and one for this BE human you’ve found. I’m sure she’ll be happy to come along with me. The security team can secure the station and we’ll bring back ships and things. We’ll be back in a few days.”

  “The plan that the Chairman, your Grandfather, authorized requires an escape route be prepared in advance.” Gjosta wouldn’t have done this mission if he didn’t think he could walk away.

  “He’s not here. I am. As Vice President of corporate security, I’m changing the plan.”

  “Sir, respectfully, this operation has been in development for ten years.” Gjosta tried hard not to sound condescending. “We gave you the final briefing on it, in relative time, less than ten hours ago. Each element was designed to make it possible to get the key data and the material and get out with the least amount of casualties. Taking the station is a tertiary goal, at best. Traveller ditched the countermeasures module, and we need to finish the swap to the crew module so we can escape.”

  “No, no, not a big change. Once you get the machinery up and running, we leave three of the team here to finish connecting the module, and we take the rest in and find the data port for you to hack the AI. Maybe we find this BE girl you mentioned.”

  “The CEO added you to the team only recently relative time. We should stick to the plan.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The Vice-President opened a channel to the rest of the commandos. Gjosta almost groaned at the comms beep.

  “Ambrose, come up here for a consult.”

  They were in a near zero-g environment, and a vacuum. A private channel conference on the radio could be held anywhere. The helmets didn’t even let you see faces. You had to identify each operative by looking at the markings on each suit. Gjosta couldn’t think of a reason why they’d need Ambrose next to them for a “consult” unless Robert planned a mutiny.

  Gjosta’s team answered to him, not Robert. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the military. The ancient principles of chain of command did not apply. Gjosta would have to put up with it.

  Ambrose left off the work he was doing to unlock the crew module from the cylinder. He kicked off hard and used his maneuvering jets to cross the distance. He joined them in the control room.

  “Ambrose, I know you’re Gjosta’s second on this mission. I’ve been thinking though. Everything has gone smoothly, and there’s a version in the plan where we take most of the team into the facility and just leave a small crew here to prep the ship to leave, right?”

  “That’s true,” Ambrose said.

  “Let’s implement that plan.”

  “Let’s not,” Gjosta replied. “We’ve avoided detection so far. But, this AI had no issue attacking Traveller. We’re not secure here.”

  “Ambrose, your work has been exceptional, and I know you’ve been with the company a long time. If we can take this station, the whole team will benefit. You know with my background, I won’t be a Vice-President forever. Grandfather has held the CEO position open for me.”

  Gjosta couldn’t see Ambrose’s face, but he could tell the man stiffened. Now his subordinate was caught between his bosses, and while it wasn’t an order to unholster or anything so sinister, Robert was as unsubtle as a brick.

  Gjosta idly considered running his hacks back up the Vice-President’s idiotic connection and frying the man’s cyberware. That wasn’t really viable though. His suit might shut down and asphyxiate him. Gjosta wanted to be paid, and he had a feeling that killing a Thor family member would result in a pay cut.

  “Alright,” Gjosta said before Ambrose could reply. “If you want to risk your life so badly, we’ll leave the engineering team here.”

  Gjosta ordered his three engineers, Seong, Javier, and Yago to stay. Gjosta didn’t prefer it, but he also connected Traveller to the interface to run the heavy equipment for moving the crew module into place. Traveller would be able to screen the surveillance cameras.

  “Has the station’s AI noticed us?” Gjosta asked Traveller on a private channel.

  “No. I’m not detecting the kind of computing power associated with an AI. It might be on a different system entirely.”

  “What about the peripherals; how is it accessing them?”

  “There’s a network node, and the commands are coming through conventionally. There’s a firewall; if you need me for a hack, you’ll have to bridge it or something.”

  “No. Too dangerous. This AI is unusually good. What about the data?”

  “It’s not here. AI may have erased it. There are some logs and design files from someone called Rifka. Been living here about a decade.”

  “Where is she?”

  “I can’t find her. There’s no movement.”

  “Do you have cameras at the lab?”

  “No, but we knew it wouldn’t be on the same network.”

  “That’s less than ideal, but there’s cameras everywhere. Keep us off them. I’ll leave this channel open for you; listen to our chatter, text if you see Rifka.”

  Gjosta opened the channel to the team.

  “Team, and VP Thor, we are going to proceed to the lab and try to recover the company property. There’s a woman in here somewhere. Set your e-rifles to the human stun setting; we’re taking her alive if we see her.”

  “I’m not stunning her if she shoots at me.” Robert protested.

  “All the indicators are that she’s alone. She’s probably a prisoner.”

  “Still. She’s a squatter.” Robert replied.

  Gjosta checked his hack on Robert. He still hadn’t noticed it. Gjosta wouldn’t let him kill the girl; she was too valuable. Who knew what information she might have locked away; she might even be able to restore a BE program so that their family could grow.

  “I am still team lead here,” Gjosta reminded them. Gjosta might answer to the company, but there came a point where his personal safety was far more important than the money and information Thor & Co. would share. “Let’s be careful. We’ll go slow and quiet.”

  “Let’s see if you are worth the money.” Robert said.

  “Of course. I’m setting the map coordinates. Try not to shoot me in the back.”