"Hamer's got tight security on the living compound, but there's one area he didn't think about protectin'." Mona eased Artemis up toward the bottom of the spindle that jutted from the floating island. "And that's the bottom." Knuckles white on the shaking controls, Mona leaned over at a bank of indicators. "Miss Penn, Captain, you're go." Rachel finished pulling on the harness as Daphne flicked the switches to begin disengaging the Longbow from its dock. "Roger that, Mona. We're on our way." The shuttle shook as it disengaged, and Rachel was thrown bodily into her seat. "Careful!" Daphne shot a quick glance over her shoulder and grinned. "You could always hold onto me for protection." Rachel rolled her eyes. "The power plant for each island is located in the middle of the spindle; we get to that, we can take out power to the alarms, the security, everything." "With that thing you built?" "That's right." "But what about the hoverin'? Doesn't the island need power to not, you know, crash into the ocean?" Saul pulled the goggles down tighter over his face, then looked over at Dex. The mechanic, swaddled in heavy clothing and an identical pair of eye wear, nodded. "That's the beauty of this kinda EMP. It doesn't hit the generator, it hits the power distribution network that goes up into the residence. 'S like…fryin' all the connections. Won't short out the generator or nothin', so the island keeps flyin' and backup power won't come on line on its own." Saul fingered the radio clipped to his jacket. "Mona, we're ready. We in position?" "Just about!" The pilot spared a glance for the flashing proximity indicators that were trying to convince her what a bad idea this was. "All right, go!" "We got however long it takes for them to realize somethin's goin' on. Might be a few minutes, maybe less, so we need to be in position." Daphne banked the shuttle up to land nestled in the arched roofing of Hamer's estate. She nodded to Rachel, and the captain pressed a button on the far side of the console. "We're locked in, boys, waitin' for your signal." Saul pushed Dex's feet off his shoulders and scrambled up onto the ladder at the base of the gently swaying spindle after the mechanic. When they cleared the ladder, Dex turned to seek the older man's confirmation, but saw Saul's eyes squeezed shut. "Saul?" he shouted into the wind. "Yeah?" "The hell you doin'?" "Uh…I ain't really good with stuff like this." "Like what?" Saul finally opened his eyes; an accidental glance down, and he was pressing his back as hard as possible against the thin ledge of the spindle. "Like…this." Dex squinted. "You're afraid of heights?" "Course not! That'd be childish." The big man inched closer to the wall. "Just a little afraid of falling." "You couldn'ta mentioned this before?" "Didn't seem important." "It didn't seem important when we were gonna be climbin' up this thing?" Saul squinted in the mechanic's direction and shrugged. "Oops?" Rachel fastened the last of the tools to her harness, then looped the cable through. Daphne sauntered over and, before Rachel could convey the guarded body language of her choice, the Companion reached out and took hold of the vest's edges, wrestling it straight. "Have a nice day at work, dear." Rachel shot her a glare and flicked her radio button. "Dex, you two in position yet?" "Just…about." "What's the holdup?" Dex cast a glance back at the burly bounty hunter inching his way along the catwalk. He shook his head. "We've had some…complications." "Serious?" Dex tried to pull down the next ladder; he knew he'd need Saul's help, but the bear of a man didn't look ready to contribute just yet. He sighed. "S'pose it depends on who you ask." Mona glanced at the flight indicators. "Anything?" Mariah peered at the various telemetry screens at the copilot's station and shook her head. "No other ships in range." "Fedband?" The debutante blinked at her, and Mona smiled. "Federal communications frequency. Bottom left comm panel. Any chatter?" Mariah looked down. "Oh. No, uh no…chatter." Mona grinned. "See, we'll have a criminal o'you in no time." Saul pulled down the next ladder. Dex put one foot on the rung, then turned back to the cook. "You know, I'm curious…" Saul's eyes narrowed. "Bai nanhaizi, just keep climbin'." Dex grinned and started up the ladder as a sulking bounty hunter re-shouldered the bag containing Dex's invention and followed after him. Sir Anderson glanced around at the walls of the galley. "You know I never noticed before, but the floral pattern really does work well with this room." Leo nodded. "I…think Mona picked it out." Sir Anderson nodded, let out a breath, and began drumming his fingers against his thighs. Dex cleared the last ladder to arrive at the round platform surrounding the island's generator. He eyed the maintenance panel in front of him with critical appreciation. "G6 hex bolts, look to be about six inches. Zhen gui de." He held a hand back as Saul pulled himself onto the platform. "Screwdriver." As the mechanic drilled out the bolts, Saul stared measuredly at the wall. "Captain, we're openin' her up. Stand by for our mark." "Roger that." Rachel turned back toward the redhead. Daphne was grinning. "Kiss for luck?" Rachel met her gaze flatly. "Wouldn't want you to waste any." The Companion shrugged. "Might come in handy." "Are you by chance implying something about the general quality of Dex's or my plans?" "I would never." The Companion lunged forward, placing a brief, almost sisterly kiss on the captain's cheek. "Good luck. Hurry back." Rachel eyed the Companion warily as the woman's smile grew. Rachel scrambled for her radio. "Dex…" The access panel dropped to the catwalk with a clang. "All right. Saul, hand me the package." The cook handed off the device, which Dex immediately began to wire to various seemingly identical locations in the swamp-like maze of wires and cable that surrounded the island's power plant. "Mariah?" "Monitoring their power distribution. We'll know when it goes off-line." Mona nodded. "Artemis is go." Rachel backed self-consciously toward the airlock. "Longbow is go." Dex nodded. "All right." He pulled back a safety cover sticking unceremoniously from the side of the device. He flipped the switch. "Now!"