Titans

[46] Merc

TIMESTAMP: 03:30, March 13th, 2122
LOCATION: USO Headquarters, Province 2, Earth

There's a scary sort of ease with which we break into the hangar bay, almost as if we're meant to. We set off no alarms, come to no dead-ends, run into to no late-night security. One might say the universe left out a clear path for us, one where each successful door opened was its way of whispering, This is what you were meant to do.

This is what we were born, and raised, and trained to do. And now we're breaking all the rules to do it.

We hack through the final door and emerge into the hangar, our footsteps loud on the polished concrete floor. Every sound is amplified; every cough, every ruffle of fabric, every whispered word vaults around the massive cavernous space, lit up by ceiling lights high above. Along the back wall there's a long strip of windows the overlook the place, but I can see no one through them. Even still, I can't help but feel exposed.

"Cal–"

"Got it." He runs to the back of the hangar where there's a small control room. Among other things, it holds the controls for the lights, as well as – and most importantly – the controls for the hangar doors, which will need to be open if we're to have any chance departing.

The rest of us keep on. There's only three large ships docked and we head for the furthest one, the largest one – a long sleek masterpiece, curved and coloured a metallic dark grey. Only the best for this mission. Which makes stealing it all the more inconceivable.

"Holy shit," Lilith says, echoing my thoughts. "We're actually doing this."

Atara shushes her.

The ship ramp is all rolled out and ready when we arrive, as if waiting for us to board. Atara marches on ahead, Lilith happily following after her. I send a look back – at Cal in the control room, at the windows high above, at each entrance to the hangar bay. When I find that everything is as empty and silent as when we first arrived, I follow the girls in.

The deeper I go into the ship, the more my worry dissolves, stripped back by years of walking these same halls, taking the same turns, visiting the same rooms. Most people grow up in homes with their family but we – we grew up on this ship. And the more I recognise how much of a home it is to me, the better I feel about stealing it in the dead of night. Because really, how can you steal something that's already yours?

Before following Atara and Lilith through to the control room, I make a stop at my quarters. We've taken this ship on a few spins around the planet and my things are still nestled away, ready for the next departure. Clothing and medical kits, photographs and books. Even an old laptop, tucked away in a drawer under a pile of shirts. I triple check everything to make sure I have what I need. It's not like we'll be able to come back if I've forgotten anything.

Satisfied, I join the others in the control room. Atara's already taken her spot at the helm and Lilith sits in one of the seats, helping to do a speedy check of all systems before we boot up the engines and start making a lot of noise.

"What's Cal waiting for?" Lilith says.

"Probably for us to get the engine running."

She blinks at me. "Wouldn't that–"

"He can hack the alarms that might be triggered by our engine start up, but not the ones for the door. They're under the guard of too many firewalls. I suppose in case of scenarios just like this."