Rachael twisted around as she passed through the shattered dome, activated her magnetic boots, and came to a wobbly halt on the outside of the station. She laughed as reality sped up to her deactivated cybernetic acceleration. She knew that no one could hear the laugh, but she felt better after that given what she had to do now to get back to safety.

She risked a glance down into the station to see the baffled security team rigging ropes to come after her. She wanted to be long gone by the time they got out of the station. Alfred’s voice cut through the static of the jammers, and he said, “Miss Rachael, the team has come under turret attack. They managed to avoid any major damage, but they are afraid they will not be able to get close enough. Currently, they are on their way to the moon-side of the station, away from the security systems.”

She looked at the expanse of basically open metal terrain between her and the moon-side section of the station. If she went that way, the guards would easily get a few shots at her. Her combat instincts took over for her, and she tossed a live grenade down into the room she had just vacated. She waited for shrapnel to blast past her into open space before turning and sprinting across the top of the station. Along the way, she grabbed the handle of the grapple gun at the bottom of her pack and made sure the special space hook was ready to fire.

One-hundred and eighty seconds later, she neared the edge of the station. Sparks caught her eye as bullets began pelting the station in front of her. She did not even think before running around the end of the station. She risked a glance back and saw one guard that had apparently escaped the blast of the grenade. She thought that was a lucky break for him, and he should not waste it trying to catch her now. As she turned back, her ride came into view.

The shuttle they had stolen for this adventure was not state-of-the-art, but when dealing with space technology, even bottom rung was expensive and fancy. This shuttle was middle of the road, intended for maintenance of the station that it had just been used to break into. She liked the irony. Unfortunately, she also knew that bullets would tear up the shuttle enough to make re-entry a bit more of a pain. She did not have time to properly wait for the shuttle to open like she had done on the way onto the station. And that was why she had the grapple gun ready.

The shuttle turned to give her a bigger target on the top of it. She disengaged her boots, shot the magnetic plunger-shaped “hook” at the ship, and jumped toward it all in one fluid motion. The head of her life line made contact with the shuttle near the front windows. It began pulling her along, and she engaged the reel-in mechanism. Her feet hit the plates, and she reengaged her boots. She giggled and thought about how she looked like she was surfing on a dolphin she had just lassoed.

The shuttle bay opened slowly, and she walked around to the inside of it. She pulled her magnetic grapple hook along until she could pull it off the door. Once she was inside, Alfred piped out the all clear to the team. Once the bay was closed, she headed into the cockpit and strapped into her seat. They still had a long trip before they got home, and re-entry was only step one.