Chapter 2: Grand Theft Shuttle
Alden uncoupled the engine clamps and moved the lift towards the Space Shuttle kept at the Esper Mansion. He couldn't fathom why Espers needed a shuttle when they could just magick their way to wherever they needed to go, but decided that was best left to those who understood Esper logic. The hangar that the suttle resided in was kept underground, hidden from prying eyes on Dezoris. Alden had to admit it helped that a constant blizzard manifested itself around the cliff where the shuttle would exit the hangar to whatever destination the pilot desired. He suspected that perhaps magick was useful in some experiments. He guided the lift to the optimal distance and stopped his forward motion. Switching the lift to standby, he used the loading lever to extend the lift upwards until he heard the distinct "clicking" sound telling him the engine had fit in the groove on the shuttle. Lowering the lift slightly he turned it off, attatching his tool box to the back clamps of his black worksuit, and began to scale the lift to where the engine now rested. Reaching the top he unfastened his tool box, crawled into the cubby and started fastening the engine to the shuttle. Every now and then he would stop welding and lift the face shield of his helmet to examine his work with sharp grey eyes. Scrutinizing every inch of his work area, he fixed any spots that he might've missed and move on to the next section of engine.
Alaires quickly ducked behind a box in the hangar, glad that she took some of those lessons Chaz gave her about being stealthy in the dark more seriously than Raja's lectures. She found it painfully easy to slip past those who were supposed to be "eagle eyed, battle ready warriors" that patrolled the mansion and it's surrounding environs. Maybe whenever she caught up to Rune she would let him know how sloppy the guard were. Surely she'd get some recomendation for that bit of information, maybe even learning Magick from Rune himself! She was so caught up in her thoughts that she nearly crashed into a stack of boxes near the shuttle. Stopping quickly she scanned to her left then her right and breathed a sigh of relief as she wasn't spotted. She took a moment to duck down next to the boxes to look for her friend at the hangar. Frowning that she didn't see him, she wondered if he might have already ended his work day. Her disappointed was short lived as she saw the shuttle nearby with it's boarding ramp extended down. This is too easy she thought as she sprinted up the ramp and towards the bridge. Maybe she could figure out how to get the automatic pilot to work.
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The final spot was welded. Looking over the engine again to make sure he didn't miss anything, Alden crawled out of the cubby and made his way down to the seat of the lift and placed his hand on the startup switch. Seeing something move out of the corner of his eye, he looked to see what appeared to be a shadow disappearing up the boarding ramp. He arched an eyebrow wondering who would be going into the shuttle this early. He fished around on the lift to find the schedule disk and placed it into his handheld reader. Going over the information he noticed that supply loading wouldn't be for another week and maintenance was already done on the electronics inside the shuttle. Turning off his reader, he slipped it into it's resting place on the shoulder of his suit and hopped down to the hangar floor and made his way up the boarding ramp into the shuttle. He stood for a moment in the back of the shuttle and looked around, checking each storage space above the makeshift passenger seats and the tall storage closets. The shuttle jerked to life and he was thrown to the ground with a loud clang as the boarding ramp began to close. Alden jumped to his feet and ran down the short hall to the bridge only to find the door locked. He snatched his engineers card out of his pocket and swiped it through the reader and dashed inside the bridge to see a little girl punching most of the buttons at the pilots station. He already had the words to have her stop on the tip of his tongue when the engines roared to life, lifting the shuttle off the ground and zig zagged it's way through the portal leading to the surface of Dezoris. Placing his hand on the pilots chair, he swirled it around to come face to face with a little blonde haired, purple eyed girl no more than 11 years old. Blinking for a moment, he absently ran a hand through his dark blue hair, searching for what to say to the little thief
"Who are you and why are you taking this shuttle. I am authorized by the Esper Council to apprehend any thief by force!"
Alaires made it to the bridge and sat down at the pilots chair. The console on the shuttle seemed a lot bigger than what she saw on the holovid shows. Not letting something like this keep her from rescuing Rune, she started pushing some of the buttons that the heroes did in the holovids. First she heard a soft whooshing sound as the door behind her closed, followed by a click. Then she felt a jolt as the shuttle rumbled to life, running through some start up diagnostics. She heard a loud bang in the back of the shuttle and was about to get up to see what she might've damaged when the console lit up, showing that the boarding ramp was closing and launch was being initiated in a few moments. Shrugging she figured that she would check out the noise after the autopilot was in control, taking her to Motavia. Pushing some more buttons she heard the engines come on and felt the shuttle rising in the air. As they began to move to zig zag to the portal the chair she was sitting in spun around and she came face to face with a rather tall, dark blue haired man in a black suit that resembled the old 386 type Cyborgs. She peered into some fierce, but perplexed grey eyes and froze. Who was this person? A stowaway? A pirate? Before she could say anything he stated that he was going to take her in by force if necessary. She was about to reply or scream, whichever came first but the autopilot kicked in and they shuttle blasted out and upwards toward outerspace, tossing the tall man out the door of the bridge and throwing Alaires out of the chair and rather roughly into the wall. Her head really began to hurt as she felt herself hit the ground. The last thing she saw before giving in to the coming darkness was the many stars of the Algo star system.
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