"Indicator's green," Sarah reported.

Rebecca replied, "Just two more connections then we can start wrapping things up here."

"There's no chance of it going off by mistake is there?" Cam asked nervously. "Either that one or this one?"

"No chance at all. These things have multiple levels of safety built in," the captain stated confidently.

The three of them were about two hours into an EVA, on the starboard side of the ship somewhere near Rebecca's cabin. The engines were in standby mode while I sat strapped into the pilot's seat and used the manoeuvring thrusters to keep the ship stable. Jenny was next to me in my usual spot, monitoring the sensors. And both of us were monitoring our shipmates.

The past four days had been hectic, between a couple meetings with Gwen and Tanya, topping up the Demeter's stores, sourcing and loading emergency medical supplies and farming goods for the people of Ganvis, and finally all our own planning and preparations.

Now it felt a little like the calm before the storm. We were floating deep in empty space about three hours out at Jump-1 from Ecclestone's World, only another hour away from the Fuminja Cluster. The ship's artificial gravity was turned off but we hadn't had to depressurize the holds, our shipmates made use of the Demeter's main cargo airlock for their EVA.

Sarah's voice came over the comm after a couple minutes to announce, "Another green light."

"One more to go," Rebecca responded.

They were in the process of replacing the warhead in one of the Demeter's two missiles. The original anti-ship warhead had already come out and Cam was keeping track of that, while Rebecca and Sarah were finishing up the process of wiring the atomic warhead into the missile's control systems.

Jenny had video of the operation displayed on one of the monitors in front of me, although the image was from an angle that made it hard to see exactly what was going on.

The hull plate in that area was on hinges and actuators to swing it clear, and the twin tubes were recessed into the space between the outer and inner hulls. One of the missiles had been partially extracted from its launcher so they could access the warhead section, which was basically in the middle of the weapon. The front end was all guidance and control circuitry, while the back end was engines and fuel.

After another minute or two Sarah reported, "That's three green lights. Looks like it's good to go."

Rebecca replied, "Let's get the panels back into place then we can put it to bed."

That took them another twenty minutes, working in zero-g to get the panels securely bolted into their original positions. And finally they had to manually guide the missile backwards until it was properly seated inside the launcher.

"Positive contact," Jenny announced when the weapon was in place. "The missile is locked down, control circuits are connected, all safeties engaged."

Cam asked, "Are we finished then? Or are we going to do the second missile too?"

The boss didn't respond right away, but we could all hear her take a deep breath then let out a long slow sigh as she thought it over.

I could imagine she was weighing the pros and cons. We'd all agreed this was the absolute last gasp, that we hoped we'd never need. Before they started work on the missile Rebecca said we'd be swapping the conventional warhead back in again afterwards. Repeating the process on the second missile was just double the work now, and double the work again in the future.

On the other hand, if it was our worst-case scenario and we had no other choice, did we want to trust everything to a single shot? Or would it be more prudent to have a follow-up, like a backup to our backup plan.

"All right," Rebecca finally stated. "Let's get this warhead into the ship, then we'll bring out the other replacement and get to work."

Sarah replied, "Aye-aye boss. Looking on the bright side, it should be easier this time right? Now that we're all experts at the process."

In all it was nearly three hours later by the time they'd finished work on the second missile. The hull plates were swung into position and locked down, then our shipmates made their way back to the main cargo airlock with the second conventional warhead and all their tools. It took another ten or fifteen minutes for them to get out of their e-suits and get the original warheads stowed away safely, then Jenny slowly ramped up the artificial gravity.

Finally Rebecca returned to the cockpit with our two mechanics in tow. The boss didn't ask for her seat back yet. Instead she just stood there in the doorway with Sarah and Cam crowded around her as she stated, "That's the last of our preparations. In an hour we'll be at the Fuminja Cluster, and we'll be committed to this course of action. Is everyone ready for this? We all know the plan, are we all ready to execute it?"

Cam was the first to respond with a quiet, "Yes ma'am."

"I think so," Sarah added.

"I'm ready," Jenny stated.

I agreed, "Ready as I'll ever be."

Rebecca nodded once, "Then let's get going. Once we're in jump we can take forty-five minutes to relax and try to de-stress before we're all back at our stations."

Our mechanics both headed aft while the three of us in the cockpit swapped seats, Jenny moved to the engineering station and I sat in the co-pilot's position so the boss could have the pilot's seat. I'd already plotted the jump but the captain reviewed it to be sure, before engaging the drive.

After that all five of us gravitated into the ship's lounge, where I ended up on the sofa in between my two girlfriends. Rebecca was on my left with my big floofy tail on her lap, while Sarah cuddled up against my right side. And I had my arms spread out to hug both of them. Cam and Jenny sat next to each other on the comfy chairs off to the right, the cat-kin had their tail wrapped around onto their lap so they could stroke it and fidget with it.

Unfortunately it wasn't very relaxing, but at least it was some nice cuddle time. Nobody talked much though, it felt like there wasn't anything more to say.

All too soon it was time to get back to work. I felt the tension rise another notch as our captain reminded us all to arm ourselves. Cam still refused to carry a weapon, but for the first time Jenny put on a belt with a handgun at her hip and spare magazines at her side.

Then we all returned to our stations before the ship came out of jump. Rebecca stayed in the pilot seat but she had me fly the final approach through the asteroids and into Fuminja Beta so we could load up more fuel.

In a way it was all very normal and routine, except we all knew each of those steps brought us closer to the confrontation at Fuminja Epsilon.

Rebecca and Sarah went down to the main hold to coordinate and pay for the fuel transfer. Then when that was done the captain had me take the pilot seat for the last little hop from Fuminja Beta to Epsilon while she operated the comms. As we neared the research facility they initially refused to give us docking clearance. The captain explained that we were carrying a personal shipment for Dr. Kelsonian, and that it had been arranged by Doc Linnz of Regulon-4. That did the trick, we were finally given clearance and assigned a vector to one of their docking gantries.

Once we were docked the boss got up out of her seat and said, "Showtime. Amanda start plotting a level one jump to Deveron-8, so we have that ready as soon as we get clear. Ignore the standard shipping lanes, take the shortcuts, make it a direct route. Jenny, let's go. Good luck everyone."

At some point during the docking process our android crewmate switched to autonomous mode and the fringe in her hair turned pink. That was all according to plan, her main self would be focused entirely on hacking the research facility's computer systems. In fact she probably started the moment we were securely docked.

While android Jenny and the captain headed aft to take the starboard ladderway down into the hold, Sarah came forward and joined me in the cockpit. I started plotting our escape jump as the cute engineer slipped into the engineering seat, while the copilot seat remained empty.

"Where's Cam?" I asked as I took a quick look around and over my shoulder.

Sarah grimaced, "They excused themself to go to their cabin just before we docked. I think the stress got a little too much for them?"

I nodded quietly and resumed my work on the jump plot, but my attention became divided when the boss and our android shipmate stepped into view on one of the display screens. We had it tied to the camera in the main hold along with the intercom down there, so we could monitor the situation remotely.

"Sealing the hold now," my blonde girlfriend stated as soon as she saw the others were in position. The ladderway to the main deck and the doors between the main and secondary holds both closed and the locking mechanisms were engaged. Then Sarah reported through the intercom, "Hold secure."

Rebecca acknowledged as she hit the controls to open up the main airlock and lower the ramp, then moved back to stand next to Jenny again. They had the case of expensive booze on the deck next to the boss's feet.

From the display in the cockpit we could see the research facility's docking gantry slowly exposed as the ramp lowered, then we finally got our first look at Doctor Ayala Kelsonian. And the two armed 'dockhands' who were accompanying her.

Kelsonian was a tall slim woman, probably in her mid forties but she could have passed for thirty. Her black hair was in a short no-nonsense style, she wore impeccable make-up that helped make her look younger than she was, and she was dressed in an expensive-looking taupe skirt-suit that looked custom-tailored. The suit jacket was open, revealing a white silk blouse underneath. She was also wearing a small device in her right ear, that looked to be a tiny personal commlink of some sort.

Her body-language suggested she was at ease and felt in control of the situation, which was probably thanks to the two strong burly men standing on either side of her. They were dressed in generic grey coveralls with a corporate logo on the left chest, and dark work boots. They both held their weapons raised and ready, aimed directly at at the chests of our captain and shipmate.

The guy on the left had a submachine gun pointed at Jenny. And the guy on the right was armed with something I wasn't familiar with. It looked vaguely like a shotgun, but with a shorter barrel and no obvious magazine. I figured it was probably some new experimental weapon, another research project they'd developed at this facility. Whatever it was, he held it aimed at Rebecca.

"The docking clamps just locked," Sarah suddenly reported. "We can't leave until they release us."

I remembered something Rebecca said last time we were here, "The Demeter's strong enough to break away. We might take part of the docking gantry with us, but we're not stuck."

Before she could respond we heard the boss's voice come through the intercom as she finally spoke up.

"Doctor Kelsonian I assume?" Rebecca addressed the woman. She seemed to be ignoring the two armed men, but I knew she'd be working out tactics and how she'd react if or when things got serious.

"Of course," Kelsonian replied. The woman seemed slightly amused as she continued, "And you are Rebecca Piper. I've been looking forward to this meeting ever since you stole one of my shipments. I assumed I'd have to put some effort into finding you, so I do appreciate you saving me the trouble."

As if I wasn't tense enough, hearing that set off some alarms in my head. And those alarms only got louder as the woman continued talking.

"In fact I've been doing some research on you Captain Piper," Kelsonian stated. "You've been around for quite some time, haven't you? Almost thirty standard years in fact. I couldn't find any record of your true age, but you must be at least in your late forties. Yet here you are, looking like you're still in your late teens."

By that point both Sarah and I were very uneasy as we stared at the display. The camera angle was behind our shipmates so we couldn't see the boss's expression, but I knew she had to be worried about what Kelsonian had uncovered.

The woman smiled as she kept talking, "I'm going to enjoy working with you Rebecca. Or may I call you Becky? We're going to become such good friends in fact. You see, you're going to be the basis of my next project. I'm going to find out how you've managed to block or reverse the aging process. And I'm going to become very rich when I package that up and sell it to the highest bidders."

The boss finally spoke up, "You sure do love the sound of your own voice, don't you? If you've really done your homework then you'll know those two thugs aren't enough to scare me. Or my crew."

Kelsonian gestured towards Jenny as she scoffed, "Your crew? Please. I happen to know that's a Platinum SX synthetic companion. It can't even touch the gun you've put on its belt, let alone discharge it. Honestly Becky, I already knew you favoured the fairer sex but I never guessed you were the type to go for a sexbot."

"Although I suppose I should applaud your taste," she added. "The sixty-nine hundred model is top of the line. I'm glad to see you didn't skimp on one of the cheaper models."

By that point Sarah and I were both anxiously staring at the display as we monitored the situation in the ship's hold. About the only positive thing I could think was Rebecca didn't need to do any stalling, Kelsonian seemed happy enough to drag things out and buy us all the time Jenny needed.

Sarah must have been thinking the same thing as she asked quietly, "Jenny? How's it going?"

The AI's voice came through the cockpit speakers, "There is progress, but it's slow."

"I've gained access to their secure computer core," she added, "But there are several layers of internal security and obfuscation. This is by far the most advanced system I've attempted to penetrate, and it's going to take some time."

Meanwhile Kelsonian had already started speaking again, "I assume you've reviewed the contents of that shipment you stole. After all, isn't that why you're here Becky? You think you have some hope of stopping me, perhaps? Some misguided sense of justice? I might commend you on your bravery, but I also have to condemn you for your foolishness."

"You see," she continued, "The product we were testing at the mining colony wasn't my primary objective. That was a side project, for a rather large and important customer. Their requirement that the product be programmable after deployment necessitated the complicated changes and messy tests that took up the past year and a half of my time."

Her smile grew wider as she explained, "My original design was much more elegant really, and I finished work on that over a year ago. I simply preprogram the product with a payload that's been custom-designed for its intended target. It's much quicker too, as the preprogrammed changes are able to take effect within minutes of application. And based on my research into you Becky, I've produced something special just for you."

My gut lurched and my blood ran cold when I heard that. I glanced at Sarah and asked, "Is there anything we can do from here? Any way to intervene?"

"Not really," she shook her head. "Not without everyone down there noticing us anyways."

Meanwhile Kelsonian was gloating as she continued telling our girlfriend what was in store for her, "You're a little too rough around the edges for my tastes Becky, but that will soon change. Don't worry though, I've made sure you'll enjoy being my meek obedient little teenaged assistant. You'll be such a good girl, so eager to share all your secrets with me."

By that point I almost felt nauseous. I stated, "We have to do something. Jenny what's your status?"

"I've run into a snag but I have a solution," the AI responded. "The backups are kept offline so I can't access or purge them directly. I've repurposed one of their maintenance robots, I can get access to the backups through that. I just need more time before I'm ready to act."

"ETA?" Sarah asked.

Jenny sounded apologetic as she replied, "Five minutes. I'm sorry, if I try and move any faster my presence will be noticed and we'll be cut off completely."

"There must be something -" I started to say, but I was cut off by an alert from the sensors on the co-pilot displays.

"Oh fuck," I swore as I stared at the sensor display. "The ISS Kennington just arrived, and she's moving into position behind us."

I looked over at Sarah and added quietly, "We're trapped."

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