Once enough time had passed that Kas was sure she'd left Astell far behind, she returned to the cargo hold and approached the X1. He hadn't moved an inch since she last spoke to him, but there was a slight tilt to his frame that suggested he was present in the moment. She walked around to his front cautiously and looked into his visor.
'Hik?' she said.
'Yes, Ms Balera?'
'Any idea what happened to the flight lieutenant's ship that caused it to come away from my own?'
'Yes. I deactivated his boarding gears.'
Kas blinked. 'And how, exactly, did you do that?'
'I accessed his control panel through my wireless interface.'
Kas suddenly understood. Hik was an X1; X1's were federal machines; the Federation ran the C.A.P. Hik was actually built to access cap ships.
'You hacked his ship.'
'Yes.'
'Why?'
'I sensed that our mission had been compromised. If you had been detained, you would not have been able to return me to Selva, and in doing nothing, I would have been responsible for your failure. I wanted to ensure our mission's success, so I disabled the flight lieutenant's ship. It will be fully operational again in two hours.'
Kas swiped her tongue across her front teeth as she considered this. Hik had done as she had instructed - he hadn't talked or moved - but he had absorbed the situation and understood its meaning. He recognised that Kas was in potential danger and he chose to act. He had even broken the law in doing so by hacking a Federal vehicle.
The thought scared Kas, and though he had helped her, she could not bring herself to trust him.
Her thoughts were shattered when the hatch in the ceiling swung open and Worm wriggled out. She dangled briefly from its edge before dropping and landing softly on her small feet. Seeing that Astell had gone, Worm gave Kas a thumbs up and a goofy little smile.
Looks like we're back to normal...