Aeyris sat thoughtfully for a few moments. "I would think your concern is more what they intend to do with it than what's in it. But that can wait until I don't need your help."
"Very well. How many people have you here?"
"Eighteen." Aeyris paused before adding tersely, "Out of fifty-two."
"We're going to need that ship then."
"You're crazy," Aeyris replied flatly.
"From what I saw on the way all the large ships that come here dock on that platform. You'll never manage to ferry that many people over there."
"How did you get here?"
"In a Viper. It's probably been discovered by now."
Marchero chuckled. "GalCop's not going to be happy when you loose their toy."
"Fine, then, something must have brought the Viper here," Aeyris insisted.
"Perhaps. But it's not coming all the way here. It would be far too dangerous," Kirrik declared. "Look, that pseudo-Constrictor is the only ship here big enough to take everyone. Even then it's going to be hard."
"You're assuming that it holds the same number of people as your stolen one," Aeyris pointed out.
Kirrik shrugged, a movement made awkward by his injuries. He grimaced at the effect of the gesture on his battered body before saying, "That had a crew of ten. The life support systems were designed to cope with twelve. You'll probably loose some people trying to take it, anyway."
Aeyris jumped to his feet and rushed over to Kirrik. His raised his right hand to hit the Disian, but controlled himself with obvious effort. "If I loose any more people," he snarled straight into Kirrik's face, "I'll hold you responsible. And avenge them on you as much as The Gateway."
Kirrik hadn't flinched during this threat. He waited until Aeyris backed off before saying, "You live a high-risk business. People get killed when doing dangerous things."
"How can you be certain that there's no other ships with the capacity? We've seen the odd Fer-de-Lance on the cameras. Crew of twelve, and usually room for several more. And there's one here right now." Aeyris returned to his chair.
"Whatever we leave in, they're going to try to blast it as soon as they see it. If they've built that ship right it's probably the only one here that stands a chance of escaping."
Aeyris didn't reply, but Marchero murmured to Kirrik, "Or are you just refusing to leave without it?" He ignored her.
Eventually Aeyris said, "We'll take the Constrictor. It's in the nearest bay to us, and the more of the base we'll have to go through the greater the chance of being stopped."
"It's also going to be the most heavily guarded!" exclaimed Marchero.
A harsh smile appeared on Kirrik's face. "When they interrogated me I think I left them with the impression that there area couple more of us here. Looking for our phantom companions is going to keep them out of mischief."
"Well?" she asked the pirate captain.
Aeyris held his hand out to Kirrik, who passed the monitor back to him. He looked thoughtful. "The place is swarming with soldiers, mostly in the area you were first seen. Which isn't all that close to here. There's a few standing around the hangar, but it'll be possible to take them out. Seems you've fooled them well enough, if they are only leaving enough people to mind against a couple of others." He stood up and ordered his own guards to bring together the rest of his people.
They arrived in no order, sixteen men, women, and unknown, not counting Aeyris and the two who had been notifying them. Two were non-human, one a strange insectoid being and the other a humanoid giant, eight feet tall, with huge muscles under sparse brown fur. All were dressed untidily and randomly. Amongst them was the medic that had attended to Kirrik earlier. Under Aeyris' instructions he returned to the Disian, using up several of their limited medical supplies on him.
After a few minutes of random chatter Aeyris called them to order. Some sat in empty chairs, others slouched around the room.
"These two," he began, waving at Kirrik and Marchero, "seem to think we can get out of here. They've stirred up a hornets' nest, anyway, and if we don't leave we'll doubtless be dug out soon. And we're going on that strange ship we've all been wondering about for so long." A babble of voices broke out, some surprised, some eager, and some clearly thinking that their leader had gone mad.
Aeyris eventually had to shout some of them down into submission. Grumbling to themselves, they fell silent.
"There's not much to say until we're on the ship. Anyone we come across on the way, take them down quickly. We're dead if they can call in help. If there are too many lurking around a corner then wait. Keep all weapons on minimal power. Only go up if you see someone in armour. It doesn't matter if we kill or just put to sleep. Arrachachak, take the cannon anyway. You've got five minutes to arm yourselves and assemble outside. Go!"
They filed out, apart from the medic, who was still working on Kirrik. Two minutes later he too left. Kirrik stood, grimacing slightly.
"Can you make it?" Aeyris asked.