Chapter 1 - 10: Mercenaries?

A small shuttle suddenly appeared on Cassandra's and Kanya's sensors. Kanya asked, "What's that?"

"Hold on, I'm running a scan. It's just one of the ship's shuttles."

"What would a ship shuttle be heading off in that direction for? The ship is due to leave in several hours, right?"

"I'm trying to get the identification code of the shuttle, but its computer doesn't seem to be responding."

"Let's follow it."

The shuttle then suddenly disappeared off the screens.

***

The shuttle was obviously not an ordinary one. Pandora was the one commandeering it. It did not take long before she found the people she were looking for.

"Hello, Pandora. Took you long enough."

"The interrogation took a lot more of my time than I thought it would. Those basic military officers just don't know when there is no longer any useful information."

"I'm pretty sure you're fuming over what happened, and I'm here to apologise."

"Just give me what you came here to give me. I heard from your boss that you managed to intercept an assault team. Not bad, although I'd have to say coming within sensor range of the MV2904 was pretty stupid. The TRi did not hire you to scare the MV2904 into hauling itself all the way to Nakamura."

"Both of us know the dangers when a rogue fleet attempts to attack a supply vessel."

"Your boss told you what's on the ship? Your sarcasm is terrible. Just send me the data before I decide that you guys shouldn't get paid for your makeshift job."

"Uploading it now to your PDD. Patience, Pandora. Someone of your age shouldn't be so temperamental."

"I'm getting far too old for this kind of stupid things to happen."

"As if anyone would believe that."

"Tell your boss the supplies are coming in a few days. Make sure he prepares a good crew to unload the stuff. I'm returning to the ship."

***

Back on the ship, Cassandra and Kanya wrangle through the launch records. They find nothing, but see a shuttle entering the hangar.

"That has to be the one!", Cassandra exclaims.

Her pleasure over the discovery is shortlived as she discovers the one who gets off is Pandora.

"She's as mysterious as she can get apparently," Kanya stated the obvious.

"There's no way she could be the one who gave us up. She didn't come on the ship until after the failure."

"There's goes your... lead."

Cassandra pokes Kanya playfully in response to his joke. They watch as Pandora heads to the bridge portion of the ship.