Sol burst out of the auction chamber and looked back behind her, checking to see that T’liss and Kael were following her. In the darkness, she couldn’t quite make out their forms.

“We are here! Go!” T’liss called, able to see her Captain looking back. Sol didn’t bother to react other than to return her vision in front of her. She hefted the rifle and held it close. She ducked as a group of people stumbled past her.

“T’liss! Which way… I’m a bit turned around…” she called. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

“This way, Captain.” T’liss said, guiding her and the doctor down a side corridor. The people thinned out as they drew away from the main sections of the station. Sol wasn’t sure the wisdom of that, but followed along, trusting her friend. T’liss pulled them into an alcove as the lights snapped back on.

“Well that took them far longer than I expected…” Solaris commented.

“Indeed.” T’liss agreed. “It is possible they will be scanning for us now.” she added, peering around the corner.

“We may need to take to the crawl spaces then.” Kael suggested. Sol nodded.

“Preferably before we run into their security.” she agreed. “T’liss?” she asked. The Vulcan nodded, and led them further down the corridor.

“Hey! You there!”

Sol turned to look and spotted three Orion guards at the far end of the corridor. Their weapons were raised.

“Well so much for that… let’s get going.” she said, picking up the pace away from the guards. Disruptor fire sparked off the bulkhead next to her as she ran. She was quite glad that they were poor shots. Or that they didn’t want to risk an anti-matter explosion if they hit the rifle she was carrying. Whatever the motivation she wasn’t currently being shot because of it and she was thankful for that. She reached down for her own disruptor and unholstered it, firing back at them.

“We need to lose them quick… I don’t think they’ll keep missing their shots forever…” Sol commented. T’liss peered back over her shoulder, nodding.

“The nearest crawl space access is just through those doors up ahead.” she responded. Sol nodded, picking up her speed just a bit more as more disruptor blasts hit the bulkheads around them. They passed through the doors and came to a halt in what looked like a dead end room. T’liss turned and slammed a hand onto the door’s control panel, causing them to close. Sol leveled her disruptor at the panel.

“T’liss…” she said, gesturing for the Vulcan to step away. She waited for her to then fired at the panel turning it and its internals into slag.

“Should keep them for a few minutes at least…” she said. “Now where is this access you were talking about?” she asked. T’liss pointed to the ceiling.

“Nothing a little closer to the ground, Commander?” the doctor asked, with a grin.

“Not with privacy…” T’liss commented as the guards began to bang on the door.

“Doctor you first… then T’liss.” Sol ordered.

“Captain…”

“Don’t argue with me, Doctor… that’s how it’s gonna be.” she said, stopping the complaint before it could fully start. The doctor nodded, and pulled a table over so they could climb up to the crawlspace. Sol kept her weapon pointed at the door as the banging grew louder. She looked back to see Kael already hauling himself into the crawl space.

“You next, T’liss…” she said, walking backwards toward the table as T’liss hoisted herself upwards. Sol unslung the rifle from over her shoulder and tossed it up to T’liss’ waiting hands before jumping up and pulling herself into the crawlspace. T’liss and Kael each grabbed a hand and assisted the Captain into the crawl spaces. T’liss reached past Solaris and pulled the grating into place, the banging from the doors growing louder for a moment before subsiding and the sound of some sort of energy device started up.

“Come on… before they get through the door… which way?” Sol asked, squinting in the darkness of the crawl spaces now. T’liss pointed in front of her and Sol nodded, starting off in that direction. She paused as she heard the doors to the room open below them along with muffled voices. She waited listening as the voices grew more animated then started crawling again as they grew distant, having moved out of the room.

“A left up ahead, Captain. We should reach a junction and we can climb down to the main level then over to the docking bay.” T’liss informed. Sol nodded and continued along. She took a left as directed and the trio soon found themselves in the junction with several crawlspaces leading off in various directions including a ladder down. Sol took a moment to catch her breath.

“Is it weird to say Ive missed this sort of thing?” she asked. Kael laughed.

“Yes, Captain… it is…” he said. Sol laughed in return, grabbing a rung of the ladder, climbing down after a few moments. She paused to wait for the others, before continuing toward the docking bay.

Sol pushed open one of the grates, connected the crawlspace to the docking bay and winced as it clattered to the deck. She poked her head out and looked around. People were scrambling to ships, desperate to evade the Yamato’s ire so no one even bothered to stop and look at what had made the noise. She pulled herself out of the crawlspace and hunkered down behind some crates, waiting for T’liss and Kael. A pair of guards stood by their ship, having clearly been told to watch it in case they tried exactly what they were trying. Sol frowned.

“Well… couldn’t have been that easy I guess…” she commented, pulling her own disruptor out again. Then she stopped and looked at the rifle she was carrying and hefted it.

“Captain?” T’liss asked. “You do not intend to use that, do you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Sol shook her head.

“No… I don’t… but they don’t know that… and I’m hoping they know what it is at the very least.” she said. She took a breath and stood, leaving the rifle at the two guards, who also brought their own weapons to bear.

“Ah! I wouldnt… I hear this weapon is very nasty…” she said, gesturing with the rifle. “Down… put them down and you get to walk away and pirate another day…” she said. The pair of guards looked between themselves for a moment, then back to her. She kept her gaze passive but focused, waiting. She raised the rifle a bit, as if to aim at one of them then relaxed as their weapons lowered. They hunched over and dropped them onto the decking before hurrying away from the mad woman advancing toward them. Sol exhaled and hurried to the ship. T’liss and Kael werent far behind, hurting up the boarding ramp. Sol set the rifle in the cargo area and headed tot he cockpit where T’liss was already powered the ship up to depart. Sol took a seat and waited as T’liss brought the ship up into a hover, before swinging it around and engaging its main engines to propel them out into space.

Sol looked through the view port at the scene unfolding outside the station. A single larger ship was adrift and a pair of the smaller ones were in direct conflict with the Yamato as more moved to assist them. That was either brave, or very very stupid.

“T’liss… head into the badlands… make it look like we’re running… we can meet up with the Yamato later.” Sol ordered. She felt the ship bank and the last thing she caught was the Yamato firing a set of quantum torpedoes at one of the attacking craft before the battle was out of her sight. The ship settled into its escape course and disappeared into a plasma drift. Sol looked back into the cargo area at the rifle sitting on a crate. She frowned. They had all but accomplished their mission, and yet she didn’t feel satisfied with the outcome. What more could she do though? She sighed and leaned her head back, listening to the sounds of the ship as they moved through the plasma field. What more could she do indeed?