Lana had a feeling she should keep being mad, but she just couldn't in the face of his sincerity and deep feeling. She felt herself melting, although wasn't about to completely give in. “You think I don't feel the same? I didn't spend the last couple months falling in love with you just to sit safe on the ship while you waltz into a facility full of people and robots that want to vaporize you. I want to make sure you don't get hurt.”
Her boyfriend gave her a slightly crooked smile. “If it's any consolation, it might not be all that much safer on the ship if things go wrong.”
It wasn't, actually.
Over Dax's shoulder she saw Aiden finally glancing their way, frowning, and reluctantly leaned back to her terminal. “Well, I guess we've got our orders and all need to do our part. I'll be manning my post during the raid, making sure the ship's still in one piece when you get back.”
Dax smiled, obviously relieved she'd agreed to stay where she'd be safe, or at least safer, but trying not to show it so her feelings wouldn't be hurt. Lana supposed it was only fair that she put up a strong front for him, hide her fears for his safety, so he could go into this fight feeling confident himself.
Apparently it was the only thing she'd be allowed to do to influence its outcome, aside from hiding in the shields room ready to tweak buffers or make emergency repairs. Which Aiden would probably order her to go get started doing any second now.
Maybe she should ask Dax to teach her how to man the weapons station. At least then, when he went on boarding parties she could do more to watch his back.
With big, super destructive lasers and railgun slugs.
* * * * *
The surface building of the ERI base was a squat little bunker just across the line on the dark side of the planet, planted like some sort of ugly fungus next to the glittering garden of solar panels on the light side. According to Elyssa's blueprints, most of the facility sprawled underground, safe from the harsh conditions of the first world in the system; the bunker itself was simply a reinforced opening leading to a larger docking bay just below the surface.
Aiden had no problems navigating the relatively slight gravity and thin exosphere of the small planet, bringing them down to the facility and through into the docking bay. Ali quickly highlighted several defensive turrets, both on the surface and inside the bay itself, on the main display, but they remained unpowered.
He settled on the glassy melted rock surface of the bay floor, bots scuttling around to attach fuel lines and plug in his ship to the facility's power, as well as a couple big cargo movers lumbering into place to unload and move the supplies the Last Stand had supposedly brought. There were no humans in sight, which wasn't unusual for a high tech facility. Especially one owned by one of the biggest corporations that produced robots and AIs in the universe.
Standing from the pilot's chair, Aiden relinquished it to Barix, who was staying aboard to watch things. Belix and Lana would be as well, the elfin woman manning the guns in case they needed to shoot their way out, and his newest crew member in the shields room in case they took fire.
That left him, Ali, the gunner, and Fix as the boarding party.
Belix, watching them make their final preparations for the mission, smirked as she called attention to the audacity of what they were attempting. “So when these ERI knuckle draggers realize you're attacking them with four people, you think they'll burst out laughing before or after they start shooting?”
Aiden smiled thinly. “Whichever it is, they'll stop when their own robots start shooting back at them.”
“Assuming our old crew mate gave us real codes,” Barix said.
“If not, this'll be the most pathetic raid in history,” Aiden replied grimly as he tucked his trusty old cauterizer, the one he'd been issued when he joined the Preservationist Fleet, into a hidden pouch on his uniform at the small of his back. It was EM shielded, although a careful scan would reveal its presence.
Then again, if security was suspicious enough that he was being carefully scanned, he probably had bigger problems than a concealed weapon.
He led the way down the ramp and towards the reinforced airlock leading deeper into the facility. Unfortunately, that's as far as they got before running into trouble; a security officer was waiting in the corridor beyond, flanked by two hulking combat androids that looked almost exactly like Fix: big and blocky and vaguely humanoid, but not enough to make people uncomfortable.
Aside from the ERI logos on their chests, backs, and shoulders, that is.
“Detach your glove from your suit and roll up your sleeve, please,” the guard said in a bored voice as Aiden and the others filed into the corridor and the airlock cycled closed behind them. While the man spoke, one of the security androids extended an arm and a small sterile blade extended out from a concealed slot.
Aiden did his best not to look alarmed as he stared at the robot stomping forward brandishing the weapon. Had they been found out, and this was a novel way to keep them confused while the robots took them out?
“What, um, is going on?” he asked as he fumbled with his glove to comply, conscious of his concealed cauterizer at the small of his back. With his hands positioned near his waist, he could get at it in an eyeblink.
The security officer snorted. “They didn't give you a heads up? Typical . . . those pencil pushers at Central Coordination probably wouldn't bother to let
