Outer Olympus

Outer Olympus: Chapter 5

In truth, the kids were fairly well provided for. Though they were orphans, they had been, like many others in their generation, informally adopted by the Dockworker's Syndicate, given a place to stay (an unused room in an administrative center) and free access to the community meals the Syndicate provided despite not technically being members. All three of them knew it was a lot better than orphans planetside got- and there were children living in deeper poverty elsewhere on the station. But it was not a comfortable or particularly fulfilling life, and they would always long for more.

Keeping their home in acceptable condition wasn't free- furniture, technology always breaking down even with Taroh's expert maintenance, as his skills only went so far when the parts he was working with were of poor quality. Taroh recycled the pieces the Syndicate had deemed too unreliable to justify using in a section of a spaceship where failure meant the death of the crew rather than a trio of children being annoyed that their holoprojector wouldn't work for a few weeks. And the free food they got was enough to sustain them, but it wasn't good, and each coffee purchased at a corner store to warm up in the morning added up. They bought magazines- the cheap underground ones, not the glitzed-out ones with Hegemonic Seals of Approval, games, toys, all sorts of things to keep their lives somewhat tolerable. Generally, a month's expenditure for the three of them was about twelve hundred credits, which meant they barely scraped by working their various schemes and petty heists.

The Magneto-Harmonic Displacer Taroh was shoving into a vent in Raven Outpost would likely be worth about fifteen thousand if sold to the Syndicate. It was not the most expensive piece of equipment they were leaving behind today. But if they were to rescue this girl, they couldn't bring dozens of pounds of expensive equipment with them, so they were stashing it away in the vain hope that after they broke her out they could return and quickly regain their prize.

"I'd really like to not have to leave all this stuff behind," he said weakly. Geode pushed in a Drive Recompensator that would likely value around six thousand credits. What had been their ultimate payday was quickly dwindling to a loss.

"I'd really like not to have to spend any more time stuck inside this station," they added.

"I don't like leaving money on the table any more than you do, Taroh," Viola answered, brow still furrowed as she thought through the best plan of attack. "Although, I do like being in danger more than you, Geode."

"I'm aware," they replied.

"How many Enforcers did you say were in the Outpost?" Viola asked, ignoring Geode.

"Six. Looks like the VISOR guys are taking the military railcar up to the Magistrate's office."

"Good. Don't want to have to deal with those guys if we don't have to," Geode replied.

"The Enforcers aren't going to just leave the prisoner alone like they did with all this junk." Taroh said, pushing equipment worth a few months' pay into the vent. "She's new and shiny."

"I think I can deal with that," Viola replied. "Assuming I can, how long do you need me to buy you?" Taroh stopped stashing their loot away and opened his laptop, bringing up the security feeds of the holding cells.

"Looks like I'd need to get through two blast doors, military grade, rated for space combat. Two, three minutes each, I think."

"Exit strategy might be a problem." Geode said glumly. "I'm not sure a girl with one arm can easily rappel out a window."

"Crap," Viola's face fell. "Well, I'm dealing with the guards, Taroh's dealing with the doors, so I guess it's your job to figure that out."

"I think I have an idea," they said, reaching into the vent to pull out a bag of ill-gotten machines.