Round Robin/The Starfire

The Story
Ran Chylde silently watched the canvas of stars move under the bow of the cargo transport Gideon's Fall. It was par for the course for her when she was thinking to star out of the porthole in her cabin.

Ran had been aboard the Gideon's Fall for nearly a solar month, and she was becoming restless. But today was the day she'd arrive in the Vega system, ending her twenty-six day journey. Suddenly, she turned from the porthole, her implants were picking up the footsteps of someone coming down the hallway outside of her cabin. No doubt it was Ansel Cray, a member of the loading crew that had since taken a liking to Ran.

He annoyed the living hell out of her. But no-- she could tell now from the pattern of the footsteps who it was. And it definitely wasn't Ansel Cray.

Ran felt her heart jump. She was here already? They hadn't even entered the Vega system yet. Hell, Ran hadn't even realized that the Gideon's Fall has taken on another passenger! She quickly ran to a small codebox sitting on her nightstand, and picked it up carefully. After all, the contents of the codebox were immensely valuable. But soon, her responsibility would end, and she could pass it along, and never had to look back.

After this, she was home free.

The door chimed, indicating that someone was waiting outside. Ran slowly walked to the door, took a deep breath, and opened it.

--Ex Machina