They walked through the hallways silently, careful not to alert any nearby droids. After what seemed like half an hour, they ended up at the in-line, which was blessedly free of any metallic resistance or nattering admirals.

“They must already be at the mainframe,” Rogers said.

“That’s unlikely,” Deet said. “I changed the mainframe location on the map so that it was in the kitchens.”

“But the kitchens are all on fire,” Rogers said.

“Exactly.”

Thankfully, the in-line was still in operation. Rogers was sure the droids would have shut it down, but perhaps he’d overestimated their ability to mess with the ship. They zoomed through the belly of the Flagship, Rogers tapping his foot nervously, until they came to the deck where the engineering bay was located. The in-line dinged, and for a moment that stretched out in time, the doors slowly opened.

“Get ready,” Rogers said.

The doors opened to reveal exactly no one in the hallway. It kind of seemed like a letdown.

“For what?” Deet said.

“I don’t know,” Rogers said as he exited the car and jogged down to the entrance to the Pit. “I just felt dramatic. Leave me alone.”

He and Deet burst through the large cargo doors into the Pit to find the entire engineering staff working like bees, so far unmolested by droids. Hoverlifts zoomed back and forth across the floors as the crews desperately tried to undo all the potential damage done by stacking explosive containers like morons.

“Rogers!” someone called.

“Lopez,” Rogers said, jogging over to where Lopez was busy directing the entire Pit crew. She passed a datapad to a starman, who trotted off. “No droids yet?”

“Not yet,” she said. “But that won’t last for long. Captain Alsinbury sent a message that there was a squadron of them on their way down here and that we should expect a fight.”

“Damn it,” Rogers said. “How soon?”

“She didn’t say. But she’s sending reinforcements as soon as she can.”

“Good luck,” he said. “Where’s Hart?”

Lopez pointed to the far end of the Pit, which connected to the engineering docking bay. There was a small room that bridged the gap between the two areas that looked like the top of an old-fashioned air-traffic control tower, a dodecahedron with windows on every side.

“He’s in there trying to get the cranes to move your ship to the right place and open the hatch so you can launch.” She looked at him, her eyes narrowing. “What are you planning?”

“They might still be listening,” Rogers said. “Let’s just say I’m about to fire the head chef.”

“Please,” Deet said, “no more chef references. I really don’t have the processing power to deal with your MALE BOVINE EXCREMENT.”

Rogers ignored him. “Are there any spare VMUs in there?”

Lopez was already walking away, shouting at one of the younger engineering troops with the colorful language that only a senior enlisted member could manage.

“Look for yourself !” she said. “. . . Sir.”