And what a shock it was. Who was this woman, to kiss another girl so affectionately like that? Whatever this Kaze was, she was bad news.
Akane glanced over at the navigation console. Unfortunately, it was at an odd angle, so Akane couldn't read it. And none of the other displays showed anything about navigation.
After struggling with the ropes during all this time, they were starting to loosen. Akane just hoped that Kaze won't notice.
***Kyushu system reached, Kaze. Engaging cruise engines.***
The A.I. that controlled the Atlas said in the comms.
"Alright, Tee. Thanks.." She looked at Akane and unsheated a weapon known to Akane. Her blade. Her soul.
"Nice blade, Miss Spy.. So mind telling me what was your job on 23?"
She nicked Akane's neck as the Atlas approached the trade lane.
"I would answer soon to my questions.. Not enough time to live..." Kaze grinned and her eyes glinted, right in the style of a mad woman.
Akane stared at the katana in disgust. Her own blade. Being used against her!
"Okay, fine. I was grabbing some information on your ships. Got some nice pics of one of your fighters, while the pilot was seemingly asleep. But nooooo, you just had to wake up and catch me! Now, kindly gimme back my blade so I can cut you down with it."
"Ah! Sure!" Kaze gave a little spin to the katana and threw it at Akane. The hilt hitted her head and the katana fell behind the co-pilot seat.
"Tsk tsk. You didn't catch it? Too bad. Now.. Who gave you the order?" Kaze asked, as she lifted herself from the pilot chair and sat on Akane's lap and leered onto her tight V cleevage shirt.
Akane felt disgusted how she was being used and felt that she was nothing but a toy to her. Suddenly Kaze's lips found her own and another breathless kiss was exchanged.
"So.. Won't you reply me?" Kaze grinned as the trade lanes passed one by one into the Tsushima Depot direction.
At that exact moment, Akane managed to break free from the ropes she was carefully loosening all this time. Grabbing Kaze in a fit of rage, Akane proceeded to throw Kage to the floor, ripping Kaze's vest in the process.
In the middle of the scuffle, the ship computer spat out a warning about the tradelane being disrupted. But both girls were too busy fighting to hear it.
Kaze's back hitted the cold steel that was the floor of the piloting cabin. She saw her shirt ripped and tattered and grinned. She dextrously spun herself on the ground and with a nimble hand she grabbed the leg of the now rising Kempeitai agent. She jumped over the falling Akane and kissed her again as they took sucker punches and kneecaps at each other.
Akane bitted Kaze's lower lip making Kaze to yelp. As Kaze got herself free, she gave a headbutt to Akane. As Akane tried to compose herself from the blow, Kaze grabbed her collar and threw the still dazed Akane over the ship various consoles. Akane's breasts were now in full view, and as she stood up and tightened the standard Colonial jumpsuit to cover herself, Kaze grinned at the spectacle.
Suddenly four pulse shots hitted the ship.
***Energy failing. Several secondary systems are down. Life support is decreasing. Disconnecting artificial gravity for extraction. Kaze, get out of here.***
The A.I. said on the comms as the whole ship electronic devices took a beating and the ship itself rocked hard from the shots.
Both girls begun to float in the air as the artificial gravity came offline. Spotting her sword, Akane pushed off one of the ship's consoles, completely ignoring the half-tied jumpsuit. Reaching out, she grabbed the katana in-mid-air, before smacking straight into the wall.
Another blast shook the ship. A pair of oxygen masks fell out from one of the side compartments, floating away from a upset Akane.
Like birds of prey on wings of thunder, they descended on the hapless Colonial transport. A pair of Sabres, with few markings and a dark black-and-grey camoflage. Burning quickly in, bracketing the Transport with their guns, before each unleashed an Inferno blast onto the ship's hull. Nearly instantly, the shield dome collapsed, and the Sabres began raking the bare, exposed hull of the transport with their guns, shattering defense systems and causing several explosions and ruptures.
Behind the Sabres and approaching fast, two modified heavy Lifters lead by a Dromedary moved rapidly toward the stricken transport, the latter firing cruise disruptors to pin the vessel. The Sabres pulled around for another pass, firing each another Inferno round onto the naked hull of the transport. With no shield to protect it, the EMP arced into the ship's subsystems and electrical grid, causing a cascade of overloads, breaker trips, and sparks.
With the Transport now fully disabled, the Sabres merely circled their prey like vultures. The Two heavy lifters moved in next, slowly moving to position themselves on either side of the transport ship, matching it's velocity and roll, as the Dromedary moved close to one of the main airlocks on the aft of the ship, opening it's cargo bay doors, as several bulky, metallic, humanoid figured jumped out, and maneuvered their way onto the ship's hull...
Kaze grabbed one of the masks and placed it on her face. She unsheated her custom made katana and swindled the other mask on her hand.
"So.. Do you require this?" Kaze grinned seeing the rage boiling up in Akane's face.
As Akane launched herself from her support, Kaze waited for the right moment. The swift downward movement of the blade came and Kaze dodged it preemptively and launched herself at her objective, to the compartment where the masks came. She grabbed the spare oxygen cell without Akane noticing and prepared to attack.
She stood immobile in mid air, and raised her katana for a downward thrust still far away from Akane. A position taught by many centuries by samurai descendents.
As Akane in a rage of fit launched again, the A.I. shouted something in the midst of sparks and small electronic explosions.
***We are being boarded, Kaze. Uploading security images.....***
As the two looked at the holo projector, Kaze switched the air cell from the free mask by the one that was specially prepared for this.
"Great. The \CS\..." Kaze threw the air mask at Akane and said: "Temporary alliance so we can get the hell out of dodge. Tee, start the autodestruction protocols and set it for 15 minutes."
Akane nodded and placed the mask and breathed deeply. The oxygen felt somewhat.. diferent.
A massive explosion, followed by the distinct sucking of hard space. The Boarding robots had breached the airlock, with the lead unit effortlessly walking through the tornado of escaping air. Immedietly, the robot deployed four hovering devices which attached to the four corners of what were once the airlock door. Between them, was stretched a permiable liquid-membrane, which acted like a shield, stopping the atmosphere from venting further.
The remaining robots soon followed, passing effortlessly through the membrane and walking into the ship. Their mission was simple; Locate and pacify any crew on board the Colonial freighter... alive. Without any speech or gestures, the bulky robots strode deeper into the hallways aboard the ship. Scanning with thermal cameras for any signs of life.
Outside the ship, the Salvage tugs had begun to latch onto the hull, their massive magnetic grapplers pulling them tight alongside. The Sabres and the Dromedary maintained a formation a ways above the stricken vessels.
On-board the freighter, several observers monitored the robots' progress, as well as sensor feeds from the Salvage-Tugs and other sources. There was little speech, as these men were disturbingly focused entirely on the task at hand... overseeing the methodical search throughout the hull of the stricken Colonial vessel.
The boarding robots split up, checking every corridor and every storage bay, making their way steadily toward the ship's command center.
![[Image: sig01.png]](http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/9739/kazessig05big.png)
