Aurora descended smoothly through the atmosphere. The ride got a little choppier as we neared the hangar. Rain lashed the outside cameras, dropping visibility to mere meters. Luckily, the ship’s sensors were well equipped to deal with inclement weather and Aurora landed gently on the assigned launch pad.
This spaceport could hold a dozen ships spread out in two rows of six. Based on the limited view from the outside cameras, about half of the pads were occupied with ships of varying quality. A couple of newer ships meant Aurora wouldn’t stand out too much, but some extra protection wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Before I could arrange that, however, I had to change clothes. Not only had I been wearing these for two days, but my blouse, slacks, and heels were wildly inappropriate for Brava.
I kept spare clothes and boots onboard, simple clothes in sturdy materials that made me look more like a merc and less like the daughter of a High House. In Brava, it was far better to be unremarkable.
The captain’s quarters on Aurora included a sitting room, a bedroom with a bathroom en suite, and a study. The sitting room was painted a bright, happy cyan, while the bedroom and study were done in soothing shades of pale green and blue, respectively.
My closet was stocked with pants and shirts in darker colors. I selected a pair of black pants and a crimson shirt. A heavy pair of boots with thick soles completed the outfit. They wouldn’t give me as much height as my heels, but they were far more practical.
I slung a holster around my waist and added a blast pistol on my right hip and a combat knife on my left. The knife was not likely to save me if it came down to that, but in Brava it was better to be prepared for everything. I still wore the shielding cuff I’d put on for my meeting with Evelyn. That meeting felt like a lifetime ago.
I packed extra clothes and toiletries in a small backpack. I could stay on Aurora, but if Ian posted a bounty on me, then the mercenaries would tag my ship within a few hours. It was safer to find a shabby hotel that accepted anonymous credits and didn’t ask questions.
I debated taking the silencer. It would help if the signals become overwhelming, but none of my other identities had permission to carry one. If I got caught with it, I would have to prove I was Bianca von Hasenberg or face an automatic ten-year sentence. Normally, proving my identity wasn’t a big deal, but I was trying to stay under the radar, so I left it in my purse.
I pulled on the backpack and added the final piece of my wardrobe, a waterproof hooded cloak that covered me from head to toe. It would protect against the rain and help to disguise my identity.
I put several hard credit chips into separate internal pouches to protect them from pickpockets, then headed to the cargo bay to look through the supplies Ada had brought for me.
The four pallets were stacked high with individual crates. I removed the straps and pulled the crates free. Each crate had a neat electronic label indicating the contents. It was a far more organized system than Ada normally used, so I bet Veronica or Rhys had helped.
Ada really had outdone herself. She’d gotten everything I requested plus a bunch of useful stuff I hadn’t. I grabbed an extra com and a few trackers and bugs. I considered the blast rifle but decided it would be a little too conspicuous, even with the cloak over it. There was a fine line between being armed enough to not be an easy target and being so heavily armed that you obviously carried something valuable.
I checked the outside cameras with my smart glasses. The weather remained terrible, but it was unlikely to change any time soon, so I’d have to deal with it. I closed the front of my cloak and raised the hood. I set an alert to scan the news for any mention of my name. With nothing left to do, I opened the cargo door and stepped into the rainy, midmorning dark.
I tightened the ties on my hood as the wind tried to rip it away. Rain pounded down, overwhelming the hydrophobic coating on the glasses. Water was supposed to slide right off the lenses, but the rain was coming down hard enough that it looked