Inside, she danced a little victory dance. A score like this would keep her floating for a good year or more.
Next, she moved to the other end of the engine compartment, removing some of the electronics and stripping the wiring. The metal would fetch a nice price even if the original purpose was fried.
Each item she removed was stored in a bag at her side.
On this first trip, she was mainly doing reconnaissance, cataloging items of value and identifying the equipment she’d need to salvage when she returned. Only small items, or those considered too valuable to leave behind, would be salvaged on this expedition. A find like this could take years to adequately strip.
When she judged the engine room sufficiently deprived of the things she could carry in the small sack at her side, she headed for the command center in the foredeck. Buried in the most protected part of the ship, each command center looked and operated a little differently.
One thing remained the same—it was the military and strategic mind of the ship, a source of valuable intel if the Tsavitee ever decided to return.
This command center was in the shape of a hexagon with no exterior windows. On a human vessel, there would have been countless screens keeping track of conditions and data as circumstances changed. Not so for the Tsavitee. Another mystery to go along with all the rest. No one knew exactly how they flew their ships or sent orders out to their troops.
Kira floated to a stop at the door, careful now she was here. She wouldn't put it past the Tsavitee to set traps for the unwary. She'd seen it before.
She peered inside, her headlamps illuminating the large room. Parts of the space shimmered, giving her a glimpse of a strange, silvery cloud of dust floating inside.
Razor ash. Damn.
The captain of this ship had been smarter than she'd given him credit for. He'd read the signs of where the battle was heading and then deployed defensive measures to secure the information housed in this room.
Razor ash wasn't anything to fuck with. It was diamond-hard, capable of cutting through damn near anything, including her suit.
If even a few specks attached to her, she would decompress within seconds. The suit might be able to repair minor tears, but once the ash got inside, it would eat away at the lining and destroy any electronic circuits–to say nothing of what it would do to her flesh.
It wasn't a pleasant way to go.
The captain and his officers were buckled into their seats, their clothes ragged and their flesh pockmarked from the razor ash.
Kira hovered in the corridor as she considered her options.
The ash didn't have the same tracking system as the eel. It was meant to stand sentry, forever sweeping through the room on the lookout for intruders. Otherwise, it would have locked onto her already. As long as she didn't disturb it, she should be safe enough.
A smarter person would have turned around and left. The haul at her side was plenty.
She pushed off the wall behind her, plotting a course through the room to maximize the chances of avoiding the ash. Lucky for her, it had settled against the far-left side before snaking along the ceiling above, leaving an open path from the hall to the captain’s chair.
Kira wanted whatever the captain had deemed important enough to set the ash as a permanent watchdog.
She slowly floated through the room, careful not to use her thrusters. The energy signature their use would throw out would have the ash locking onto her within seconds.
She arrowed toward the console in front of the captain, judging it as the most likely to contain useful information.
She checked the ash's progress. It was stationary, but that could change at any moment.
Satisfied she was safe for now, Kira stripped the metal housing from the console, exposing its innards. The information stored in the chips inside was protected by several layers of metal sheeting. It would take time to reach the bits she wanted.
She was halfway through when the ash rippled, sliding through the room as it drifted into a new pattern.
Kira worked faster as the ash floated closer.
Almost there. Almost there.
Kira pried the metal loose, using a pair of force grips to wrench it free, much like a can opener would, the unique alien metal folding under the force and exposing the circuitry inside.
A sheet of razor ash moved in front of the door, cutting off her escape. She grunted as she reached in and started pulling pieces free, storing each one in her bag as the leading edge of the ash slid closer and closer.
Looked like it planned to settle right where she was.
