Unconventional Warfare

[PKPower]

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While passing the guard, Fischer responded to his wishes with a sloppy salute. The departure hall was large, loud and filthy. It was apparent that this was one of the areas of the base that experienced the most traffic. Even through the filter in Fischers helmet the air was barely breathable - crowds of desperate refugees rushing through the hangar, or sitting on the floors herded together like cattle. As in many stations that were not looked after that carefully the floor was littered with trash, but instead of nutrition bar wrappers and cigarette buds, most of the litter were personal belongings like articles of clothing, bags and toys that have just been trampeled into the ground, instead of being cleaned up or even just put aside.
It took Fischer some time to identify the ship he was supposed to pilot. It was smaller than a Humpback and while parts of an actual one were attached to it, the rest of it was stitched together with various scrap from all kinds of makes and models. The papers might say 'Humpback', but the appearance said 'accident waiting to happen'. Squeezing past a group of refugees Rosa turned around to point Fischer towards the ship. The look he gave her made it clear that he had already seen it. Stepping over a mother feeding her baby, the two of them took the ladder to the cockpit and Fischer closed the door. Finally some silence.

Fischer climbed over to the pilot seat and pulled out the device Rosa gave to him earlier. After inspecting the instrument cluster for a few seconds he banged his fist one of the interior panels towards the middle of the cabin. The plating dropped to the floor, like it was just waiting for an excuse to give way. Fischer pulled three cables from the hole, plugged them into the device and put it back into the hole. He also tried to put the panel back in its original position, but gave up after the second time it refused to stay in place.

He turned his attention back to Rosa. “Thank you for your help on this one. I'm all set up here, so they can load the 'cargo' whenever they're ready. Let's hope I'll survive the flight in this deathtrap."