It didn’t take long for the Argent officers to realize they had found their way into one of the station’s less frequently used gas and chemical storage bays.

“They’re firing at our decoys, Colonel,” Captain L’Orleans said confidently as she holstered her semi-legal weapon. “My work here is done.” She nodded to her crew members and made for the airlock on the far wall.

“Wait a second!” Moo almost shouted. “We’re a little undermanned here! We could use some help.”

“Not to mention you’re our only transport back to Dunkerque,” DeMay added.

Captain L’Orleans gave Moo a skeptical look. Her comrades hesitated.

“Make me an offer, colonel,” she purred.

“What? You want me to pay you or something?”

“Unlike yourself, colonel, I don’t go charging into well-guarded facilities for love and glory. If you want my crew to fight for your side, then you’ll have to do better than what we’ve already been offered.”

“You can’t possibly be working for the Ithis.”

“We’re mercenaries, colonel. We’re not suicidal.”

“I forgot my checkbook, Captain.”

“Well, there you have it. I’m already late for my next engagement, so I’ll bid you and your finest a respectful farewell.” The Captain and her men slipped through the airlock one by one and were gone.

Moo and the rest of the Argent personnel stared for a few moments. The colonel walked over to an appropriately-sized metal crate and sat heavily. He rested his arm on his leg and let the gun hang loosely.

“Sir, I’ll relinquish command to you. What are your orders?”

Moo rubbed his eyes and looked up with a tired expression. “Say again?”

“I was promoted to acting Commander for my temporary post as skipper of the Dunkerque. You are the ranking officer present. It’s your command.”

Moo looked around at his battered crew. Lieutenant Austin looked particularly spent. It was understandable, considering what they had all been through. It took a few moments, but finally the lack of a way back to Hatch’s ship dawned fully.

“I take it we can presume your ship wasn’t hit?”

“Aye. Dunkerque was intact when we abandoned ship. She should be parked about fifteen thousand clicks off the base at a bearing of two niner zero true,” Toby replied. One by one the exhausted crew members took seats on various crates in the relatively cavernous chamber. “Without a drive field, she’s going to be tough to pick out with all the debris out there.”

“I’m a little concerned they haven’t sent anyone looking for us yet,” Yili pointed out. “One would think they would have some kind of intruder detection system operational by now.”

“The gun has ceased fire too,” Zony added.

“I’m not surprised to hear they were shooting at L’Orleans’ ships,” Moo replied. “Makes perfect sense. She probably had her escorts out there taunting them while she was getting Hatch’s personnel down and intact on the station.”

“That’s what I would have done,” Yili said. “But now it’s up to us. The Captain had two objectives in mind when he sent us out here. First, we have to bring down the minefield. Second, we have to bring the gun back into operation, but that’s going to present us with our biggest problem.”

“Explain,” Moo asked.

“Once we take control of this station’s weapons, we’re not going to be able to maintain our energy source. One of the biggest strengths of the energy field system is the fact they can generate power at point “A’ and transmit it to point “B’ Once they turn off the transmitter, we lose power and the gun becomes inoperative.”

“That is a problem,” Zony said. “Too bad we can’t hijack the transmission field.”

“It’s worth a try in a lab, but out here the practical considerations are time and confidence. We don’t have enough of the former to guarantee the latter,” Yili replied.

“What about the Dunkerque?” Hatch asked. “She was our original plan. Her reactors can power the gun. Why can’t we put that back into operation?”

“If we can get to her,” Moo said. “And get control of this station with only a few insufficiently armed crewmen at the same time.”

“We need the station first,” Zony concluded. “That gives us more options for getting the minefield keyed to our control. Once we have both we can defend ourselves from the fleet and support the Captain.”

“Alright, let’s quietly find a way to get some weapons and establish some kind of a base of operations down here. Then we’ll start working on the bigger problems,” Moo said. “First–”

As though someone had thrown a switch, the entire station was plunged into darkness and silence.