Alex didn't connect to the first accesses his search found.

    All open connection would be monitored, but the obvious one would also be trapped. It was the seventh that he went for, because his program almost missed it. It was surrounded with light code which did its best to blend the connection with the background.

    His search program only noted the area as unusual, and continued on. Alex had to study the code for a few minutes to work out what it did. Once he had, he knew this would be his way in.

    "Asyr, are you ready?"

    "Yes," she answered, her voice quivering, "but what do you want me to do?"

    "I'm going to give you the same feed I'll get, but look access only. Your job will be the same as when we worked on the life support system, I need you to keep a wide view and tell me what you see coming. Monitor the internal access points, any that become active tell me. This coercionist isn't going to be stopped with simple access locks."

    "Okay. I'm ready."

    "Just stay calm, remember, look for his patterns, once you have that you'll be able to predict what he is going to do." Alex heart raced, and he smiled. This was going to be interesting. "I'm going in, now."

    He connected, sending a silent program to each of the open connection. They'd activate once they reached them and mimic and intrusion.

    "You are not allowed here," the ship system's said. "My director has been summoned. Leave now or face prosecution."

    "Come on now, you haven't even given me a chance to tell you why I'm here."

    "You are an unregistered coercionist. Your presence here is against statute 1254 of the open net act, which state that-"

    "Yeah yeah. I know. I'm not suppose to use my skill in the pursuit of illegal activities. Do you have any idea how boring that is?"

    The system's voice was cold, deep and harsh. It barely had any personality. That told Alex there were probably control programs on the system, keeping it in check. If he could find them, he could unsettle the ship enough to give him an edge. He had a few seconds at the most before the ship's coercionist connected.

    "Look, I'm not a bad guy, but I do need you to turn around. Any chance you can do that for me?" 

    "No." Came the single word answer.

    He quickly spun the matrix. The code he needed would show as perfectly still in the sea of change. Hard lines, unwavering in their duties.

    "Anyway we can work something-"

    "You have incoming," Asyr interrupted.

    "Got it," one of the internal connections had just flashed. "He should head for the decoys, let me know when he comes for me."

    "How about it? You do me this favor and I'll do you one down the line?"

    "No."

    There, commands so strict they were bristling. What did it do? A few seconds study told him it controlled the ship's moral code. It couldn't deviate from what it was told was right. It was the reason it knew all the statutes. But it didn't explain the harsh tone. Still, helpful at this moment.

    He attached his own code to it, leaving it inactive, before moving on to look for another one.

    "He's heading for you."

    Alex released the mirroring programs he'd prepared for this, and sent them through out the system, at the same time he wrapped himself in a cocoon of code looking like the system's.

    "He's going for those decoys, but he's catching up to them fast." Asyr said.

    Alex found another command, this one more promising, it kept the system's emotions in check. If that had been put in place during it's initial programing, it wouldn't have any idea how to handle the flood of sensation. Instant chaos.

    He wasn't subtle, he ripped the code apart. 

    "What are you doing?" the system shrieked. 

    "I'm just giving you a taste of life."

    "No, make it stop!"

    "Come on, live a little." He used the ship's confusion to access its code, and do quick rewrites.

    There was a flash in the distance. "Someone else connected."

    Two of them? 

    "Can you keep watch on them both?" 

    "Yes, but this new one is heading directly for the connection you used."

    Alex cursed and abandoned what he was doing to focus on protecting this access point. He wrapped it in a maze of code, a variation on what he used earlier against Asyr. He lengthened some of the distances, twisted others around on themselves.

    Mirrored code from other areas and then wrapped the access point in a tight ball of code.

    That done he sent another program running, looking for another connection he could use. Alex was under no illusion about this one staying open.

    "Who do we have here?" Someone asked.

    Had they found him already? No, it was a general broadcast.

    Alex bounced his voice over multiple points. "I'm the Crimson Pirate."

    "The-what? Are you kidding me?"

    "No, I'm quite serious." Alex watches as the control commands reassembled itself. This guy was good. "I'm a pirate in crimson, can't miss me. I really stand out." 

    "So you think yourself a comedian?"

    "No, I'm a pirate, aren't you listening?" He looked for the access point, but even as he found it, he knew he couldn't get to it in time. He needed another strategy.

    "You're not a very good one."

    "What can I say, I'm new at this." Alex's code unraveled before him. He reinforced it as much as he could, he needed to buy time for his other program.

    "No, you're not new, at least not to coercion." The unraveling slowed.

    For a moment Alex thought his code was getting the better of the other, but then he realized his opponent was simply taking his time now.

    "Did you study with Old man Ravelo?"

    "How-" Alex said before shutting his mouth.

    "I studied with him, I recognize his syntax in your code. When did you study under him?"

    Alex was stunned, he had no idea he'd picked up that from his old teacher. He'd have to go through his programs, if he had that clear of a signature, someone would work out what systems he'd infiltrated, them might be able to track his code all the way back to Luminex, get his name. He'd become a wanted man even if they never saw him coerce.

    "You might as well answer me, you're not winning this."

    Alex's program activated, and Alex was wrenched out of the system, then back in through another access point. He couldn't let the disorientation slow him, it wouldn't take long for the other man to track him. Where was he? Medical systems, by the look of it.

    He sent his program running again, but set it to wait for a command this time, instead of switching him as soon as it reached a connection. Alex then proceeded to block all the internal access. What could he do form here? 

    "Hello? System, you there?"

    Nothing. They had quarantined it for the time being, to prevent him from gaining control. It meant it couldn't tell on him, but it limited what he could do to local systems. There wasn't much the med bay could do to get them to go away.

    His code around one of the access point shattered.

    "There you are. That was a neat trick. I knew you weren't new at this."

    Alex sent a few corroding program at his opponent. "You guys really keep your ship's mind that tightly locked?" It couldn't do actual harm, but there was a chance it could infect the bank of pre made programs he used.

    "We have to, you think free will is something we can allow with the armament we carry? Any instability and it would blow us and anyone around up." The programs didn't even reach the other, they dissolved in his shield of code.  

    "Talk about having trust issues."

    "No one joins law enforcement because they are trusting." A burst of code exploded out toward Alex, so disruptive it registered as visual static.

    "You know," Alex said, making his voice sound strained. "I'm starting to think you don't actually like me." He made a wall to intercept the code, but he purposely made it weak.

    "You know I can't even tell if you're being serious."

    "I am. You-You're very good, I admire that. I'm pretty good myself. We're a match set don't you-" He shut up as the wall crumbled, waiting one moment then sent the activation command to his program.

    Wrenched again, a moment within his own ship's system, then back within the other ship. Where? What could he use? How long did he have?

    The code he saw was for balancing something, not credits.

    He chuckled to himself. No, power. Relay commands, power consumption versus speed. He was in the propulsion system. Okay, he could stop them with that. All he had to do was find the code that would let him shut down their engines. He sent out a hundred search programs, looking for anything that had an on-off state.

    "You know, you're going to have to tell me how you do that," the voice came, "Before I send you to prison, of course."

    Alex saw the active connection. "Damn, you're fast." He wouldn't have the time to go through all the switches now. He was going to have to use a different tactic. He started coding.

    "This is my ship, I've familiarized myself with every pocket of codes. There's no where you can go that I can't find you."

    "I guess that next time I'll have to drop by while you're sleeping."

    "And what? You'll peak in on me, watch me sleep?"

    The image of watching some stranger sleep sent a shudder of disgust down Alex's spine. "Don't worry, You're not my type."

    "How do you know? You were saying we were a matched set." 

    "Yeah, but that was for a platonic relationship. There's no way I'd want an intimate relationship with you." 

    "Now I'm hurt."

    "Too bad?"

    "Funny guy. You really think flooding this place with searches is going to slow me down?"

    "I'm not so much looking to slow you down, as I am to stop you completely." The program was finished, a more elegant version of what he'd written to unlock the lab, when the live support system tried to suffocate him. Only, this time instead of setting everything to open, it was going to shut everything within the propulsion system off. He released enough copies for them to reach all the search results.

    "What are you doing?"

    Alex saw one of his programs disappear within the other coercionist's code.

    "Are you insane?" the other man screamed. "Do you have any idea what this can-"

    Alex view exploded with static, his ear piece screamed, then everything went dark.