Jason's steps splashed through the wet tarmac of the landing zone. I hope you're here though scanning the grounds. The grounds were quite large but there was not much ship traffic in the redlight compared to other areas in Xenon city. Just as he was going to turn around and look elsewhere, he noticed a blot of smoke rising above the last row of ships. “Hmm” he thought, “I hope that's not them”.

Jason wandered cautiously past the line of ships and saw the smoking hull of a crashed ship; it was the cloud hopper. Jason approached the wreck quickly to assess the situation, but as he came closer, he heard the tale tell signs of repair. He looked inside and Sam was crouched at an electrical console in the main cabin of the ship.

“Eric! I swear to fuck, if you crank the stabilizer rod into the coms tower one more time, I’ll stick that power cable up your ass and strap you to the roof.” Sam stood up and began clapping his hands on his pants in order to clean the dust off. Jason leaned on the entrance way observing the situation, as Sam turned around and saw him there. Sam immediately became uncomfortable, with the situation and it showed in the way his arms dropped slightly. His hesitation only lasted for a moment as he swung back into gear.

“Well, hi, Jaxon right?”

“Jason”

“Damn it your right.”

Jason sighed, “Of course I am.”

Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb.” Sorry, you caught me at a… bad time.” As if on cue the ship shudders that threw Sam off balance.

“Damn it Eric!” he shouted after the shudder had subsided. Jason smiled and placed his hand on Sam's shoulder as he passed to go outside. “I'll wait outside while you shove the power cable up his ass. I hear people make good coms receptors.”

“I’ll be right out.” Sam sighed in defeat. Jason took a moment to think over the plan as he stood in the field. He needed a ship for this job, and by the look of the Cloud Hopper, he was worried he would need to look elsewhere. Sam came out of the ship, shortly and stood next to Jason.

What do I owe your visit? Sam said without his usual performative flair he tried to speak with. His eyes were sunken, and his skin was missing a certain glow it had had before, his face had an overall weathered look to it. He slid a black cigarette out of its box and offered one to Jason, he waved them off.

“You look like you need them more than me. I will say, I didn't take you for a Blacs guy.” Jason said as politely as he could.

Sam scoffed and lit his cigarette on a piece of smoldering hull. He took a deep drag, “You come all the way down here to judge my vices?” The smoke that came out of his lungs had a slight tinge of blue, as was the Blacs trademark. Back on the citadel Jason had been a huge fan of Espacio vaquero Classico cigars. They were made traditionally but with the enhanced tobacco from Grogan.

“I actually came down here to talk to you about a job.”

Sam perked up to the tune of a potential pay day, “And what might that job be?”

Jason looked off toward the city, “Julie and I have been hired to steal from very powerful people. In order to do that we need a crew. I think you and Eric could be a pivotal part of my team.” Sam rubbed his chin in thought, but it was not he who spoke up.

“We are in.”

Jason turned his head in search of the voice. It came from a large burly man with tan skin, and a stern strong unshaved face. Jason remembered the man, not by his face or voice, but rather the man's size.

“You must be Eric, Good to finally meet you.” Jason extended his hand and Eric took it with a nod. Sam spoke up exhaling another cloud of smoke, “He said it, now we will need to fix up the ol’ ship as you can see, is there funding for that?”

Jason leaned back against the ship, “well not enough to make her look brand new… I'm sure we can get funding from my employer to at least get her airborne. ” Jason looked at the smoking hull. “By the way what happened to her.” he asked.

“Sam, wanted to look for more fugitives in the dump zone, well the good news is we found one bad news is they did not like that we were going to collect the reward on him. He went wild and downed the ship.” Eric said matter of factly.

“Did you get the reward?” Jason asked quizzically.

“NOPE, Eric closed the door on that when he snapped the guys neck” Sam snapped glaring daggers at Eric who just lackadaisically shrugged and returned to managing the rough repairs.

“ I told you that was a waste of time.” Jason scolded, Sam rolled his eyes as he took another drag. Jason continued, “The employer and Julie came to a deal where we can choose the flight team and then the employer and you can work out the price for your services.” Jason paused for a moment looking at the wreck. “When you talk to her only ask her for money to fix what's absolutely necessary to fly… the full repairs may make her wary of hiring you.”

“Well, you are right on that.” Sam sighed.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Jason waited outside as Jessa and Sam haggled over a comms link. From what he could make out, Sam was asking for full pay upfront so he could fix up the cloud hopper as soon as possible. Jason realized that Sam was not very skilled in the art of striking a deal, not like Julie had been. Sam knew what he wanted and wasted no time getting to the point. His ship was wrecked and the only thing that mattered was getting that ship back off the ground. There was some sort of bond between Sam and the ship, that was obvious, but Jason was not sure of how that bond was formed.

“I think that's all sorted out,” Sam leaned on the cloud hopper in an exaggerated exhaustion and took a deep drag of smoke, “I'm not one for making deals with the elite… so what's your plan anyway?”

“Well first we need to steal a military grade tractor field emitter, and I need your help to do it.” Jason looked at Sam who was grinning in what seemed like agreement. He remained like that for a few moments before his face turned. He raised his finger at Jason.

“No... WE” Sam signaled to Eric and himself, “are to not going anywhere near a military installation.”

“We have to.” Jason said, not missing a beat. “It’s integral to the plan that you just agreed to. Besides all the way in the outer systems I am sure any citadel forces guarding any base will be fairly light.

“NO!” Sam was obviously not convinced, “We can't do anything like that. ERIC! Call us a ship we are leaving, tell Jessa that she needs another crew because we aren't going to raid a citadel base.”

Jason did his best to calm down Sam who was acting frantic. He knew that there were two kinds of people that were this scared of the Citadel troops: Rebels and ex-citadel military personnel.

“How long have you been outbound?” Jason said calmly.

Sam stopped what he was doing instantly, and glared back at Jason, “How did you know about that?” Sam asked.

Jason pointed to his neck right behind this ear. He knew that anyone who was once part of the citadel forces would know what being outbound meant. By Sam's reaction Jason knew that he had to be ex-military.

“You too huh.” Sam sighed and sat down on a jumpseat. “It's been a clean break for two years, and I’m not trying to get my status changed.”

Jason looked at Sam with a confused look, “What is your status then.”

“Dead” Sam said without hesitation. “Eric and I both” he mouthed the word boom along with animating an explosion with his hands.

“Shit...“Jason sat down in the seat opposite Sam, “This does throw a wrench in the plan.”

The two men sat in silent reflection until Sam spoke up.

“I have an idea. There is a light star cruiser further out in the desert, I have caught some of its transmissions over the coms. It seems they are looking for rebels in the deserts and since I'm a gambling man, I’d bet that a ship like that has a tractor field emitter installed.”

“What makes raiding this ship so different than just hitting the base?” Jason asked.

Well, there is a difference in terms of reporting. The bases, even small ones, have access to the citadel net. They could easily look up my ship's ID and see that we have been MIA for years and that would be investigated by detaining me followed by a thorough interrogation, and that's if we decide to land and surrender. With the light cruiser, they can only download information from the citadel net at a base and since they are sending so much information to the base already searching the desert, they will not be able to also search up a lone Ship ID so I have some wiggle room.”

“Hmmmm” Jason stroked his chin in thought, “You are sure they will have a tractor field emitter on board?”

“They did when I worked with them.” Sam stated as he stood up from the seat. He walked through the cabin and peaked out of the broken doors. “Eric, when can we get the old girl airborne?

Eric took off his head set and set down his plasma torch, “I'd say with the right parts maybe a day? But Sam, it's going to be impossible to fly with the damage to the cabin and cockpit.”

Sam cracked a smile, “I could fly a toolbox if it had engines, and you know that!” He slid back into the cabin and slapped Jason on the shoulder. “Get whatever you need and meet us back here tomorrow… Oh and be prepared, it will be a bumpy ride.”

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The wind that whipped through the ship was ice cold. Jason was bundled in multiple jackets and even then, the cold was still biting.

“Sam said you will need these” Eric Handed Jason a set of metal boots.

“What are these?” He asked Eric as he started putting them on.

“Mechanic MAG boots. They are used for inflight repairs that require a mechanic to exit the craft.” Eric said matter of factly.

“Why do we need these?” Jason asked hesitantly and Eric gave him a knowing look.

“MADE RADIO CONTACT, YOU GUYS ARE ON IN 30 SECONDS!” Sam Shouted over the rushing wind.

Eric handed Jason a plasma cutter and clipped a tension line to Jason's belt.

“Follow me and do what I do ok, oh...and stay calm.” Eric said as he got prepared to repel from the cloud hopper, Jason did the same.

“GO!” Sam shouted. Eric and Jason jumped from the ledge and began to free fall towards the light cruisers hull. As they neared the hull the tension line tightened. *Boom **boom* Jason and Eric landed and decoupled from the ship as the tension lines shot back up to the cabin where they were stored. Jason watched as the ship disappeared into the light cruiser’s hanger, they only had a short time to get the tractor field detached. Jason looked around and found Eric standing on the edge of the hull. When Jason approached him, Eric swung himself under the lip of the cruiser causing him to walk inverted on the belly of the ship. Jason tried to do this but with much less grace. It took him at least three tries to stick his mag boot to the underside of the cruiser. Once he had gotten attached his orientation made him sick. As he looked up, he saw the desert stretch on and on. Its size was dizzying… that or the fact he was miles up in the air upside down. Jason and Eric approached the tractor field emitter, and began the work cutting the emitter free. One bolt, Two bolts, Three bolts. Jason got into a groove halfway through the job the roar of engines could be heard.

“GO FLAT!” Eric shouted, and Jason did as he was asked. They both got close to the Emitter and held still.

Recon fighters roared underneath them making their way to the hanger. They were so close to Jason that the wind that came off their wings left a cold burn on his face. There were seven or eight ships, this might make things harder, Jason thought as he uncurled from the emitter to continue cutting it free. After ten minutes the Tractor field emitter was hanging on by cables that Jason and Eric attached for quick release and the wiring for operational purposes.

“Now what, we just wait?” Jason asked.

“That's right, I signaled Sam so he will either be her soon… or we are about to get caught.” Eric said calmly.

“Great...” Jason exclaimed, head burning with the excess of blood making him dizzy.

All of a sudden, the cloud hopper dropped under the edge of the hull rumbled to a hover underneath the emitter. Sam looked up at Jason and Eric, Eric cut the wires connecting it to the ship,” Eric shuffled over and sliced the wires with the plasma torch. “Ok... on the count of three cut the cords. Ready?

1.. Eric and Jason moved over to their respective chords.

2... they readied their cords for quick release.

3… the cords released, and the emitter fell near 10 feet to the roof of the cloud hopper while Sam simultaneously cut the engines to lessen the impact on the ships roof, it buckled but remained intact. Sam raised the ship high enough so Eric and Jason could get on the roof as well. They grabbed the chords so they could fasten the emitter to the roof.

Bullets filled the air, Eric and Jason crouched to avoid the sudden bullet fire. It seemed that an alarm must have gone off when the wires were cut and now there was a response from the fast-acting recon ships. They flew by in a blur, to circle back with an attack vector. Jason remembered what these ships were like: One man crew, fixed engine fast moving ships with the body of a reverse teardrop... A copper teardrop.

“Drop! Jason, Drop!” Sam was shouting up at Jason, who had zoned out for a moment. Eric was already securing the Emitter to the roof and the ships had turned around and were headed straight for them. Jason Reached up to his feet and cut the power on his MAG boots, he fell. He fell the remaining distance to the roof landing with a thud. The air escaped his lungs as he gasped for air. As he writhed on the roof attempting to catch his breath Sam cut the power sending them into a free fall narrowly avoiding the enemy fire. Jason heard the engines rotate and kick in with a jolt. He began to slide off the roof, before a large hand grasped his shoulder and held him firm.

“Turn on your MAG boots.” Eric said calmly, and Jason did so. His feet clamped to the roof and he regained his balance and looked up to see three copper dots against the grey sky.

“We got to get inside.” Eric said as he squatted down, grabbed the railing and swung inside.

Jason ducked as a hail of bullets narrowly missed the ship. I am not staying up here any longer, he thought as he clumsily swung himself in the main cabin. The ship was rattling incessantly as it underwent more stress than it was used to.

Jason paced to the cockpit steadying himself against the wall with every bump and rattle.

“What's the plan Sam?!” he shouted over the wind.

“See that?” Sam pointed his finger toward a canyon with tight walls. “That's where I’m going, it will be tight, but it will put us and those recon ships on even footing. That is where we can lose them. Go grab that door gun and give me a bit of cover will ya?”

Jason nodded and stepped back into the cabin; Eric had already begun firing back. Jason planted his boots firm to the floor and leaned out to attack. The recon ships circled and moved evasively avoiding the return fire. As the desert floor neared the ship, Sam flattened the angle as the cloud hopper zipped into the first canyon.

The first recon ship miss judged his approach and clipped the wall and spun into a flaming inferno. The other two flew through the fire and smoke and shot off a burst that dusted the wall next to Jason. He coughed and rubbed the dust out of his eyes.

Eric clipped the wing of the next ship in the canyon, not enough to destroy it right but enough to have it bury itself in the canyon floor. The last ship had a smart pilot, he followed the cloud hopper at a distance as to avoid any fire from the door guns.

“Sam, we need an angle” Jason shouted

“Give me a second!” Sam shouted back and he whipped the ship broadside. “Left side Now!”

The unsuspecting ship came around the bend and took heavy fire from Eric with the door gun and Jason with his Justice revolver. Jason saw a mist of red from inside the recon ship as one of his bullets struck true. Eric’s door gun took care of the rest, fire erupted from the body of the ship and it was quickly engulfed in flame. Sam wasted no time and continued down the canyon.

“We can't land at the pad because of our cargo, so I’m going to have to put her down somewhere out here can you get anyone to pick us up?” Sam asked as he looked intently at the winding canyon.

“Yea I have a guy who can come get us, Just land and I'll get him the coordinates.” Jason said as he walked back to the cabin and sat on the floor next to Eric. Jason took out a flask and gulped down the brown liquid.

“AHHH,” he let out the exaggerated sound and offered some to Eric who accepted the flask gratefully. He thought about what the next step of his plan was going to be and how this might have been the easy part.