Chapter 23 - Pivoting

The descent into Utopiam had gone well. Dukk had even been able to enjoy his favourite view as they passed over the large land mass.
The rig was humming. The stabilisers made their approach smooth and far less stressful than Dukk’s last approach into Utopiam.
“That was a walk in the park compared to last time?” Annee said as the rig connected with the maglev track. “Citadel operations have acknowledged our landing and are requesting control.”
“Sure was,” Dukk replied smiling. “Switching control over now. Marr, the comms are back with you. Ann, you can help our passengers. Bazzer, power us down.”
“On it,” Bazzer replied.
The rig’s tune changed slightly as the reactors powered down.

Dukk saw a familiar shadow swish by.
“Change of plan Ann,” Dukk commanded as he flicked up video feeds of the wings and hold. “Find their channel."
“On it,” Annee replied. She had seen the shadow too.
“What is going on?” Marr asked as she frantically reviewed the controls for the cause of Dukk’s concern.
"For crying out loud. Breach, pirates and now raiders! We really need to shake this bad omen," Bazzer said.
“Robinhood Raiders?" yelped Luna. "Where?"

The proximity alarms sounded.

“Scanning all channels,” Annee announced. “Got them. Broadcasting to crew comms channel.”
“We are on,” a crackled voice could be heard in the comms.
Suddenly their view darkened. A thud came from the direction of the windshield.
Marr screamed.
A person in an armored flying suit, with what looked like a very big gun, was now perched on the nose. The gun was pointed at them. The video feed showed three more clinging to the starboard wing just near the aft hold door.
“We are being hailed, Captain,” Annee said.
“Accept it,” Dukk replied as he looked up at the raider.
“G’Day, G’Day. Welcome home!” said the raider. “You are looking a little heavy, so we are going to do you a favour and relieve you of some of your load. All part of the service. So sit tight for a few minutes and we will be on our way. In no time at all, you’ll be at the bar telling the story. You know the drill. Do anything stupid and we all die. Now, open the aft hold door on the starboard side. You have three seconds.”
Dukk already had the rig schematic open. He had his finger over the button. He looked up at the raider and paused.
The raider stared back at Dukk intensely. She adjusted the gun slightly. It now pointed directly at him.
He smiled and clicked the door open button. The rig trembled slightly as the pressure in the hold balanced.
The video feed of the wing showed the three disappear into the hold. The video feed in the hold then showed them hustle to the doors of the containers.
“This one,” a voice was heard on the raiders channel that Annee tapped in to moments before.
The video feed showed the raiders opening the container.
“Jackpot. There are five canisters. Time?” crackled a raider’s voice.

Dukk looked up at the woman clamped to the nose. She was looking intently into the cockpit. Firstly at Marr, then she twisted her body slightly so she could see around Dukk and get a better look at Mentor. The woman looked perplexed.
“Just one, we are out of time. Let’s go,” came the response from the woman to the raiders in the hold.
The video feed showed the raiders making their way to the hold door with one of the canisters. They attached something to it and lobbed it out. They then launched themselves out the door and disappeared behind the rig.
“Thank you for your business. Have a wonderful day,” said the woman as she launched off the nose of the rig.
Dukk swiped the rig schematic and closed the starboard hold door.

“Well there goes our drinking plans for the afternoon and perhaps evening!” Bazzer exclaimed.
“How so?” Luna asked.
“We’ll be confined to the rig until the investigators have cleared us of any involvement in that raid. They will talk to us and then search the rig thoroughly. It will be for us to put everything back in order after. That will be our evening done!”
“Involvement? How could we have had anything to do with it?”
“We can’t. That won’t stop them asking a whole lot of redundant and pointless questions. And wasting a lot of our free time. They have to do something to justify their privilege.”

Dukk looked over at Marr. She was busy with the post landing protocols. Strange that she wasn’t asking questions. Dukk got the sense that she was intentionally finding ways to keep herself busy.
“I’ll see to the passengers,” Annee said as she got up.
“I will help you,” Mentor added quickly.
“Ann, will you give the observers the heads up that we’ll need them at the door the moment we are on the pad. The inspectors will want to talk to them first.”
“Will do,” answered Annee.
“Bazzer, when the systems are sorted, will you head down to the hold. Stand watch and make sure no one goes anywhere near that container before the investigators arrive. I’ll start preparing the report.”
“On it. Luna will you head to the engine room. I’d like someone in there as we reach the pad,” Bazzer answered as they both got up and left.

(to be continued...)

[Rule of Twelve, Double Take, Chapter 23 - Pivoting (Passage 1 of 5)]

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