The Highlander settled against the hull of the mega freighter with a soft clang. Powerful electromagnets, intended to tether the smaller vessel to docking platforms in low G or otherwise unstable situations, powered on and locked the ships together. Indra looked around incredulously.

“You mean you didn’t know it would work?!” she demanded. Junebug shrugged her shoulders.

“The scientific method in action,” she responded as diplomatically as she could, wondering if the woman would have preferred to stay on the ground while Sven and his men stormed the ship. Indra was her employer however so she maintained her professional demeanour. 

“We could have all been killed,” the beautiful woman hissed.

“But we weren’t,” Junebug replied. It was also true that the most dangerous part of this experiment was still ahead of them, though there seemed little point in advertising that to the already skittish Indra. Sayeeda glanced at her console, the holographic read out showed a pair of schematics in wireframe. One was the Karma Hazu as read by the Highlanders gravimetric sensors before they attached, the second was the post attachment read. The gravity rings rendered the Highlander essentially massless and the readouts confirmed that there was no significant difference in the Karma Hazu’s mass to four significant figures. That in theory meant that the bigger ships RIP drive should carry them safely, but there was a world of difference between theory and practice.

“How long till they jump?” she asked Taya, correctly assuming that the girl had already penetrated the aged mega freighters onboard computer. Taya touched a button and a countdown clock, three hours and twenty five minutes flashed up on her screen.

“We left a little earlier than we planned,” Taya reminded her.

“You don’t think Sven will send ships to stop us do you?” she asked, glancing at the sensor board nervously. That was a reasonable enough concern. Under ordinary circumstances she would have said there was no chance that they could be traced to the Karma Hazu. Hahn had no orbital satellite network or sensor array but Junebug wasn’t willing to bet that the crafty cyborg wouldn’t be able to piece together what they were doing, his superhuman ability to synthesize trivial facts had just been demonstrated afterall.

“Taya can you make the Karma Hazu think its getting a broadband transmission from the planet?” she asked, turning her chair to face the blonde woman. Taya nodded and touched several keys.

“Its done,” she replied. Sayeeda smiled, previously Taya might have asked questions before taking action. She was learning that in a tense situation there wasn’t always time for a debate. An icon to engage a transmission appeared on Sayeeda’s console and she touched it.

“All ships currently in orbit of Hahn, you are hereby the property of Sven Khan, planetary overlord of the Hahn system, heave to and prepare to be boarded!”

Junebug cut the comms with satisfaction. Indra stared at her with shock, her face suggesting that Sayeeda might have lost her mind.

“Taya cut, their receiving gear so they get no response to any hails.”

Even as she spoke the big ships drives kicked to life and its bow began to swing ponderously. The countdown timer dropped to fifteen minutes as the freighter prepared for an emergency jump away from the perceived danger.

“Always bet on people running away if they have a chance,” she explained with a satisfied smile.