Free Mutiny on Outstation Zori by John Hegenberger Page A

directly to the ship's interior, allowing communications between the two men without generating a signal that might be picked up the nearby station. Plan B called for Jamie to cut loose from the communications and lifelines, and attempt to drift across to the rotating construct.
    "I'M THE PILOT," Karr answered. "YOU'RE THE SCOUT."
    It was the same comment Kleg had made earlier during their planning session. Jamie hadn't contested it; if Aura could go over alone as a stalking goat, he could go over as a spy. Besides, it would put him in a position to gain first-hand information on the whereabouts of Cast Janssen. Still, sneaking on board an Imperial Outstation was not something you did without healthy fear, and Jamie never felt healthier.
    "GO FOR IT," came Karr's signal.
    Clamber uncoupled his lifeline, kicked off, and began to soar silently through the nothingness of space. At least they didn't fire on Aura's ship. Maybe there's hope yet.
    Kleg had given him a stealth suit to wear over his other garments, in order to be invisible once he left the Dagger 's cloak. Jamie's left arm held tightly the other items of equipment he'd brought along to use to gain access, hopefully, through one of the station's maintenance ports.
    Jamie turned his head and watched Kleg's ship dissolve from his view. The raider vanished as he floated beyond the cloaking field. Cold darkness surrounded him. Faint light glinted inside his helmet. He couldn't use his radio for fear that the station's sensors might pick up the signal. He was totally alone, unless you counted the massive surface of Zori's outer hull, swinging toward him at a frightening speed.
    His trajectory was a bit off, so he risked magnetically grappling the station's outer surface. He fired the magnetic pad, striking and holding to Zori's pitted surface, and used the grapple's thin cable to absorb the sudden tug as his body matched the station's rotation.
    After waiting approximately sixty seconds for any sign of activity from within the outstation, he began to feel a sneeze coming on. Jamie stifled it between clinched lips, an act which avoided disastrous effects to the inside of his helmet, and his ears popped like he'd been kicked in the head.
    He took a breath and located a small jack near the maintenance port, plugging in a datalink. The tiny screen on the link's face flickered through a series of status displays. Jamie was certain that the information he wanted would be inaccessible, but Zaxt had provided the datalink with a "de-classifying" programs that just might cut through the blocks and give a glimpse of what was happening inside the station.
    Working the keys of the datalink, Clamber cycled through a series of commands. The datascreens were replaced by a real-time view of the area on the other side of the maintenance hatch. Jamie added a few more prompts through the link and the monitor camera inside Zori panned left and right, revealing a workroom of some kind, but no people.
    Thank God. He knew he was nearing the point of no return when his suit's air supply would be just slightly more than enough to get him back to the Dagger .
    Jamie scrolled back through the screens on the datalink, using the de-coder function Zaxt had installed to locate and send a signal that opened the outer hatch. At the same time, within the outstation's security loop, an alarm was undoubtedly sounding, but if Jamie's luck held, he'd be through the hatch and inside the station before anyone could respond.
    "What do you know," he whispered to himself. "I'm a full-fledged pirate."
    The hatch sealed behind him. He waited with sweat dotting his brow, as the inner lock cleared. His handlaser was at the ready. When the hatch opened, no one was there thankfully to welcome him aboard.
    Jamie glanced around, confirming that he was in the station's laundry facility. There were tethered bags of clothing and other fabric items bundled along a wall next to the sonic washers. He took off the stealth suit and