North Hudson Ground Station, Hangar 46 at Dock 12.
Standing at the hangar entrance, watching the shuttle driven away by Sereni, Reno took out the communicator. "Eagle calling Alpha, the bait has been deployed. How's the situation on your end?"
Claire's gentle voice came through the communicator, "Alpha received. All personnel have reached the designated target point and commenced takeover operations."
"You better hurry. No one knows how long those women can hold out."
"Understood, make sure you come back quickly too," Claire responded.
Putting down the communicator, Reno turned around to see a vast harbor with a starship docked, and numerous soldiers busy on it.
The Abrodyne! The Amenia Spaceport's Dock 4 was now completely occupied by former Abrodyne soldiers wearing blue-green uniforms. They were swiftly working on the ship, not for repairs but to reassemble the dismantled parts and cover the exposed areas, removing the repair equipment and securing anchors, striving to restore the starship to its original condition.
In simple terms: the ship had been repaired to this point.
On the other side of the dock, the original maintenance crew, including the port's chief engineer Amon Palma, were tied up and left on the platform, guarded by several soldiers holding guns.
"Bang!" A crane accidentally bumped into the ship, making a loud noise.
"Be careful, you fool!" Engineer Palma, tied up, angrily shouted, "You'll damage that regulator. It's responsible for redistributing the energy to forty-three energy conduits. Any malfunction could lead to an overload in the energy circuit, or even worse, pressure loss and explosion... You're playing with fire! Taking out a ship that's not fully repaired is a death wish!"
Engineer Palma shouted without any grace or fear.
"Don't be so nervous, Mr. Palma," Claire smiled as she approached, "If we could bring it back once, we can bring it out again. Even if the ship isn't fully repaired, it won't be worse than when it first entered the port. Besides, haven't you already fixed the most crucial core components?"
"Hah!" Palma made an incredulous expression, "Is this why you came to steal the Abrodyne? You think that if you can bring back a broken ship, you can take out one that's not so broken? What kind of logic is that? It's absurd!"
Claire responded expressionlessly, "We came to steal the Abrodyne because it was the only option we had... There wouldn't be a fully intact starship waiting for us to steal without any defenses."
"But this is too risky!" Palma lectured Claire without courtesy, "I admit that the ship can be taken out, but it still has too many issues. And any problem in deep space could turn into a disaster. You might just go halfway and boom, turn into a massive fireworks show! Besides the fireworks, you won't leave anything behind. The person who came up with this plan is simply insane!"
"Perhaps. But we don't care. We're soldiers, taking risks is our duty," Claire replied.
"Loyalty should be your duty, not taking risks. You're traitors!" Palma retorted.
"No!" Claire replied, "We didn't betray the country, the country betrayed us!"
Palma was slightly stunned.
He saw Claire's serious expression, her eyes filled with sadness, and saw all the soldiers looking at him at that moment.
A soldier said, "You'll never understand what we went through in that hospital, nor will you understand the feeling of a soldier returning from the battlefield only to be imprisoned. You don't understand how it feels. You're not understanding this, Mr. Palma. You're just a technical bureaucrat, spinning between cables and bearings, ignorant of blood, death, and even less about harm and betrayal. We're not traitors, those high and mighty guys are... they betrayed us!"
Palma shrank his neck. "I sympathize with what you've been through."
"We don't need sympathy; what we need is not sympathy," Claire shook her head.
She ignored Palma, turned to the Abrodyne, and said loudly, "Bell, stop wasting time on that thing; we need to hurry."
Bell, the chief maintenance officer on the Abrodyne, was directing soldiers to unload a massive piece of equipment. However, the equipment was too large and difficult to install.
Hearing Claire's words, Bell shook his head. "No, Jia. This force meter must be taken. There are still four balancers that haven't been fixed, and we need to prepare for continued repairs on the way."
Palma shook his head disdainfully. "Fool! The force meter is indeed a device for repairing the balancers, but it's not the only one. The characteristic of that thing is automatic operation, suitable for large-scale repairs. But if it's for shipboard repairs, the adjacent three-phase machine is more suitable. It's only one-tenth the size of the force meter, but it can do everything the force meter can!"
Bell hesitated for a moment, looked at the nearby three-phase machine, shrugged, and finally said, "All of you, put that thing down and bring it up."
Claire smiled lightly.
She turned to Palma. "Thank you for your reminder. Bell isn't bad actually. We owe our survival last time to him."
"Yes, I've seen his work." Palma looked at the Abrodyne and said, "From the makeshift repairs, he's a bit clever, agile in mind, but lacking in experience. He can handle various new equipment proficiently, but not the old ones... Actually, many of the old ones are not worse than the new equipment."
Claire couldn't help but say, "Perhaps you can help us? After all, you're in charge of maintaining the Abrodyne. You know best about its problems, what still needs fixing, and potential risks, right?"
Palma shook his head vigorously. "Don't even think about it. I won't agree. If the federal government finds out, they'll come after me."
"You can say you were forced," Claire took out a gun and aimed it at the other tied-up maintenance workers. "Like this?"
Everyone was terrified.
Palma looked at Claire in disbelief. "You... you wouldn't do this, right?"
Claire replied, "I'm giving you a reason, Mr. Palma."
Palma swallowed hard and reluctantly said, "Fine, young lady."
After ending the call, Reno peeked outside, and a laser beam grazed past him. He waved his hand, causing a guard's gun to fly out of his hand, while Nora promptly fired a shot.
"Let's get out of here," Reno said.
"Been waiting for your words," Nora had already jumped onto a shuttle and started it up.
With the roar of the engines, the shuttle shook as it lifted off.
"Reno, come on!" Nora shouted.
Still standing at the door, Reno glanced at the people outside. "Got it. But we need to suppress them first."
His gaze fell on the Gatling gun that Clarice had left behind. Reno gestured, and the gun began to shake and automatically lift off the ground.
The muzzle aimed at the security team.
With a swift motion, the gun roared to life. The steel storm that had just subsided erupted again, instantly overwhelming the unprepared security team.
The shuttle took the opportunity to fly out of the hangar.
"Reno!" Nora screamed.
Seeing the shuttle flying outward, Reno turned and ran toward it.
"Hurry up!" Nora waved and shouted loudly. The shuttle had already rushed out of the hangar and ascended into the sky.
Reno ran as fast as he could. At that moment, a beam of light shot past him, grazing his leg and tearing off a large chunk of flesh.
"No!" Nora yelled.
Limping, Reno rushed forward. But his speed was starting to lag, and unfortunately, the shuttle couldn't slow down in time.
Nora was frantic.
Reno shouted loudly, "Throw down the tether!"
Nora turned around and threw the tether from the shuttle.
Reno gestured with his hand, and the tether flew towards him, wrapping around him, then automatically pulling him towards the shuttle.
Laser beams chased after Reno. He looked like an aerial acrobat, soaring upwards from below, rolling into the machine, while simultaneously waving his hand, and the cabin door closed.
"Go!" Reno shouted.
Nora breathed a sigh of relief, the shuttle entered full-speed flight, soaring into the sky.
Only after completing this did the two breathe a sigh of relief together.
Nora turned to look at Reno. She said, "I thought I was going to lose you."
Reno replied, "I won't leave you, ever."
"You, or you both?" Nora asked.
Reno hesitated.
He didn't say anything more, just turned his head and flew silently.
Watching the shuttle disappear into the clouds, the security team below rushed up and occupied the hangar. Of course, they found nothing.
After searching fruitlessly, the chief of security was about to order a retreat when suddenly a voice came:
"Sir, there's a woman here. She seems to be alive."