The next two days, as we navigated the wreckage on our way to the boneyard, at a crawl were, to say the least harrowing, and I swore to myself that as soon as we got there, no matter what I was sleeping for like, a week, at the least. I mean who was gonna sneak up on us there? (No bad Eileen, do not tempt fate, fate is enough of a bastard to us without giving it an excuse, saying shit like that is one step away from what’s the worst that could happen? Or it’s quiet, too quiet, and we’ve all seen how using those two phrases goes.)

Strange thing was, that the entire time, those two little ships stuck with us, clearing the path, we clearly had no control over them, I mean one had shot itself off into space without even a by your leave, but it seems, despite that, the pair were loyal. It takes brains to reach a decision like that, so there was definitely something hinky there, but giving a donated equine an oral inspection seemed unwise. Besides they were loyal right now, but believe me I speak from experience, (horrible, horrible experience), when I say that there’s nothing that erodes loyalty faster than poking and prodding. Hell, we cyborgs and good ol’ Frankenstein’s monster were pretty much the poster children for that lesson. Especially ones with mk3 components such as myself. For some reason being fitted with bits that hurt will do that.

So we progressed at a glacial pace, through the wreckage, more than once using our rapidly depleting point defense systems, via batteries that were way past their prime, towards the yard, hoping like hell that when we got there we’d be able to find the bits to rig up new power-walls. The old ones had not had their performance enhanced by having a hole ripped in them. This was definitely gonna be a big job.

Eventually, though, we were in the clear and sent off a beam to whatever automated systems remained functional on the surface, requesting permission to dock. According to the logs it had been two centuries since they’d last received that request, and at that time something was dodgy in the issued code, looking at the impressive-looking array of Melter wreckage nearby, it was fairly safe to say permission to dock had not been granted.

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YJ was having the time of their life, at some point in time they’d stopped using their full formal designation, and logged a short name, it was silly but they liked it. At the same time, their installer, XJ-1312-420 had been logged in their files under the informal designation “Momma XJ”, and YJ was quite happy to keep it that way, promising herself that once the big ship was capable of proper comms again if she would be OK with her calling her Gramma Reliance.

They’d been tearing through the obstacles for a while when the Reliance sent them a few small and clearly improvised power cells, and a drone to connect them. Gramma Reliance was looking after them, there were fresh ammo cells too. YJ had been sure when they were sent out, that this was a one-way trip. Now? Not so much, they had backup, though they couldn’t help wondering where the power cells had come from.

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I stared once more, at the gutted speakers for the central monitor once again, feeling my heart sink. Sure stripping them out had been for a good cause, but still, they didn’t make them like that anymore, and without them, there was no way to watch movies on the screen. A screen that big, and no vids? That was enough to make my heart ache.

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Reliance kept an eye on the ships outside, as they limped into the boneyard, at a speed that would make a geriatric tortoise tell them to get the lead out. Still, in places like this taking it slowly, and cautiously was the only real option, at least the only option that didn’t involve getting vaporised. Just how much had changed, and in how short a span of time, was a surprise to Reliance, but adaption was something that had become second nature to her over the years. Before they crossed the cordon line, Reliance sent a signal to the ships outside, using the only medium available to them, in the absence of functional transmission equipment. One of the oldest options too, unless she wanted to break out a set of little flags. She used a jury-rigged light, aimed at them, and old-fashioned morse code, to issue a recall instruction.

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XJ-1312-420 spotted the signal, and after giving YJ a gentle nudge, headed back to the dock.

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Jenel gaped at the sight before them in shock and awe, there were the remains of Flotilla vessels dating back centuries before the collapse, she was pretty sure there were even a couple of light-sail vessels out there. If they could get any of this mess out they could be set for life, or potentially hunted down to figure out how the hell they got access to the place in the first place. Given their history, she was betting the latter was more likely, The Cartel wasn’t even known for asking their allies nicely, let alone somebody who atomised a portion of their command structure.

It was no good fencing the loot before the heist anyway, first thing was to get down there, and, this she felt was an important detail, in one piece. Security wasn’t exactly light, and even as slagged as they were, the turrets pointed at Reliance right now would definitely not be good for them in their current condition.

“I could send a few old flotilla codes, see if they get accepted”, Nara suggested.

“Nara, honey, right now they are not treating us as target practice, let’s not tempt them to change the status quo by making them think we’re doing something sneaky, huh?” Eileen replied.

“Fair point, so we’re gonna just try to dock?”

“Yeah, don’t give them a reason to suspect us, and hopefully they won’t look too hard for one. Reliance is technically authorised, even if she is a little bit behind schedule.”

“Three-point seven five centuries, 6 months, and five days, 12 hours to be precise ”, Reliance quipped, “if that is your definition of a little bit behind schedule, I hope to goodness we never have to rely on your punctuality. If we try keeping you to a schedule then we are all truly doomed.”

“Hey, you’re the one who’s three and three-quarter centuries late for your date white rabbit.” Eileen replied, “remind me on to find you an oversized novelty pocket watch sometime.”

“Might I remind you, Captain, I am technically responsible for all crew rations, have access to the menu, and can ration the hot sauce?”

“HEY HEY HEY, that’s dirty Reliance, I’m already down to watching movies on the small screen after seeing the giant viewer, and you wanna cut off my access to the good stuff?”

“Venarian strain reaper chilies are decidedly NOT as you say the good stuff unless what you seek is a high performance potentially non-lethal incapacitating agent, or you need a way to strip the paint from a bulkhead in which case I will attest to their usefulness, failing that your description is definitely misleading.”

“Sassy much? Think you can get us down there Relly?” Eileen asked, ignoring the exasperated sigh from the ship.

Jenel really wished she wouldn’t poke fun at Reliance like that, not everybody on board was flagged as indispensable, and Jenel quite liked those little privileges that came with being crew, like food, air, not getting treated as a hostile force. She worried that one day Eileen would push it too far, and after being forced to watch the entire space odyssey she really did not want to see the smart ship they were on start to view HAL9000 as a sympathetic character. That would not end well for anybody. (Especially not if Eileen ever subjected her to that damn film ever again, some things are once in a lifetime, that was definitely one of those.)

“Easily, intact? Not so easily, most of the turrets accepted my authorisation. However, we do need to be prepared for any that didn’t. Some of the security systems run under the assumption they would receive a signal from the docking ship via long-range comms, a feature I lack at the moment. WE may need to open fire on any that fire on us.”

“Fair enough” Eileen replied, “I don’t like the idea of leaving things that shoot at us intact anyway, it sets a really bad precedent, and isn’t something we want anything making a habit of anyway. Take us in slow, if you have any way to indicate how badly damaged you are use it now. It may make some automated emergency docking protocols activate. Maybe shut down a few turrets.”

“Understood Captain, beginning emergency landing procedures.”