5. Nothing Special (part 3/10)

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She'd been afraid of something like this. A void purge is generally reserved for dangerous overpressure or fires. It can be lethal for anyone not properly protected. "Fee!"

Char winces. "There's a cloud of debris outside the dock. Everything not fastened down has vented." He looks directly at Kimiko. "There's no sign of a body, suited or unsuited. We can't risk sending unarmoured suits inside with the system in this state. Our hazard carapaces are still a few minutes out." His look hardens. "Why is your name on the alert? What are you to do with this?"

No time for evasion: Fee's life is on the line."I can confirm the system compromise. Fee called me. Let me show you." She forwards him the full call record with the inspection alert. Whilst he's digesting it she snags any data is available for the dock. Only logs from the independent monitors, but better than nothing.

"Why would she call you?"

"Well aside from being friends, I'm the technician of record for the dock's last inspection." She can almost see the glee at possible conflict of interest charges light up his eyes. "All above board, our relationship is registered, and the annual inspection is a three man team. I should have been included in any alert. But if you've looked at it ..."

"The keys are invalid. Probably from the fugitive Kervin."

"Which the dock systems did not detect."

"So they'd been compromised."

"I tried to warn her but it cut off." The timestamp on the end of her call is almost a minute before the pressure drop from the purge. More than long enough for Fee to suit up. But then where is she?

"So it was deliberate. And Ms. Falkenberg knew." Char's use of Fee's family name confuses her for a moment. "We can see that the pod is still in its cradle."

"It's independent. If she were in there she could contact us."

"Indeed. But the clamps are dock controlled." He knows she had all this detail, so why is he labouring it? "And the pod is delicate." Was he thinking it through at her? "If the incident is malicious then it wouldn't be safe." No, he's trying to get her to think it through. Fee knew she 'd been attacked and didn't know how big the threat was. She's in a suit and has gone into hiding. "Thank you for your information. But as the inspector of record it would probably be better if you were not too closely involved in our operations." He was trying to get rid of her? "I have to ask you to leave the scene." No, he was giving her an excuse to go look for Fee.

"I understand." She retreats backwards towards the perimeter. "Please, call me with any news."

"I hope you'll return the favour." He turns back to the dock and his squad as she ducks away through the throng.

Priorities, she needs to go off grid. Char may be worried about Fee, but he would still love to nail her. One hand-rolled subversion mesh and her signal is on a tour of the station. She has Ryo-Ohki, but needs a private void lock, and support. She opens a line.

"Where are you? I got out the best china." James sounds chipper, that's a good sign.

"Crisis management." Her turn to be terse. "Fee's dock went rogue and voided on her." The silence on the other end is deafening. "I think she got out, but it was deliberate. She's gone to ground, and I'm going looking for her."

"What's she got?" James is on the case.

"She'd almost no warning so assume just an emergency suit. An hour's air, maybe 40 minutes under stress." She checks the times. "Over twenty minutes ago, we are on the clock." Kimiko ducks into a maintenance corridor. "I need tracking support and a soft void lock. As you currently have both scape sheaths, you're on hacking duty."

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