"I want it clearly understood that if it were up to me none of you would ever be getting out of this system!" Captain Nia Travinski fumed. The woman was a good deal more imposing now that she was in her formal uniform, a black and silver affair that none the less included a holstered pistol. The over all effect was somewhat spoiled by the sunburn like discoloration around her mouth and at her wrists where the industrial strength cargo tape had been removed.

It had all gone fairly much according to plan once they had Cheng in hand. Junebug had been forced to shoot a few of his braver, or his stupider underlings but the rest of them got the impression, especially once she had started tossing the body parts of senior lieutenants out into the hallway by way of encouragement. The System Gendarmerie hadn't exactly been thrilled with them, but once Taya penetrated Cheng's network and sent them a teaser of the files they had it hadn't taken a great deal of convincing. Well not for most people anyway. Nia continued to bluster and threaten until Junebug held up a weary hand. 

"Yes, yes consider me properly intimidated or whatever," she declared breezily.

"Trust me Captain you will never see my ship or my crew in this system again." The police escorted her into the hangar where the Highlander sat. The ship was in fighting trim now, its reactor damage fixed and the hull patched. The material used for the hull patches had a slightly red gold tint to it and it gave the ship the impression of tiger stripes.

"See that you dont, you have one hour to leave this station," Nia snapped and sealed the hangar door in Junebug's face.

"...Which will be about 50 minutes more than I need," she grumbled. They had no cargo and the repairs had burned through what remained of their ready reserves of cash but they had a space worth ship, new navigational charts and and up to the minute RIP data. They had even managed to lay in some fresh rations. Still things could have been a great deal worse.

She headed up the ramp and into the Highlander, passing Taya as she fiddled with some minor electronic adjustment or other.

"Alright Neil," she called to the cockpit, "lets blow this popsicle stand."

[@POOHEAD189]