Janet double and triple checked the reports as her ship approached the floating freighter. A little more than a standard week had passed since the last transmission was received from XFP Endeavor at this location. The Endeavor was a ship out of the civilian sector, a mid-sized cargo freighter known to make deliveries to some of the wealthiest planets this side of the galaxy. Usually these ships had escorts for protection, but the Endeavor was rumored to take less-than official contracts with no logs and no outsiders.
Scans reported the atmosphere inside the ship was still suitable for most sapient lifeforms. In fact the oxygen content of the interior atmosphere was higher than standard. Missing however were biosigns of any known species that had crewed the ship. Stranger still was the lack of active energy signatures from the ship's systems. There was no way the interior of the ship should still have been livable at all, much less have the oxygen levels raised so high.
Still, the reports didn't lie, and this was a big score for Janet. When it came to the void of space the laws were simple - finders keepers. Janet closed the reports on her screen and glanced at the dark ship. She knew she had to move fast, she wasn't the only scavenger in this arm of the galaxy and this was a true prize. Livable atmosphere or not she slowly donned her atmosuit, checking the seals as she went. Better safe than sorry.
Life as a scavenger wasn't an easy one, but it was the one Janet chose. Military service hadn't been her style. Working to put a paycheck in a greedy ship captain's pocket in the civilian sector held even less appeal, so she was on her own. Just her and her ship, a small corsair made to be fast, quiet, and easy to disappear in.
"ADOM." she spoke aloud to her ship's computer. "Guide the ship in for docking as near the cargo holds as you can. I want to be in and out as fast as possible." Despite years of doing this, dead ships still gave Janet an uneasy feeling. As her smaller ship gently attached to the side of the freighter, she made a final appraisal of her rifle, checking the charge and condition. From beneath her feet she felt the vibration of a passage being cut into the freighter. With a solid jolt the vibration stopped and the computer spoke up.
"Docking complete. Your entrance point is an estimated 1.5 kilometers from cargo hold C. Ship schematics have been downloaded to your visor. Scans reveal no structural damage to the interior."
With a hiss the hatch by her feet opened, revealing a short tunnel extending to neatly cut hole in the freighter exterior. Janet took a deep breath of recycled air before dropping into the tube. Weightlessness took her and she drifted down the tunnel as she thought of ADOM. She had long ago forgot what the acronym stood for. He wasn't one of the new fancy AI systems, but she wouldn't trade him for the world. She drifted through the hole in the freighter as the hatch above her hissed closed, leaving her in total darkness. A light on her visor clicked on and she glanced around. She had expected the artificial gravity to be down due to the lack of running systems, but for the emergency lights to be off was concerning. She pushed down the unease that was creeping up her back. This haul was going to be worth any discomfort.
The air around her was hazy with some sort of dust, but not enough to obscure her vision. With a grin of determination, she overlaid the route on her visor and pressed forward. Moving without gravity was a practiced art, and Janet excelled at it. Her toned arms pushed her from handhold to handhold, her legs providing stabilization as she glided down the hall. The corridors in civilian freighters were straightforward, markings along the wall confirming her schematics were accurate. Her unease began to grow into a gnawing dread as she found no signs of the crew. A ship this size didn't take a lot of people to operate, but there should have been some evidence of the crew that were on board when the distress signal was sent.
'Accidents happen all the time,' she told herself. 'Just get the goods and get off, same as every other floating wreck. Nothing to it.' With renewed confidence she pushed on, failing to notice the small leaves and vines that seemed to be tucked into various corners and vents. The further she pushed towards the cargo hold the thicker the haze got, taking on an almost yellow tint in the beam of her flashlight. About 100 meters out she finally noticed the vegetation, now thick vines and sprouting leaves. That explained the crazy atmosphere, they must have been transporting some sort of plant or seeds that has gone unchecked in the crew's absence.
Coming to the door for Cargo Hold C she found the plant life had jammed the door half open. She took a deep breath, if there were smuggler's compartments on this ship like the rumors suggested, they'd be here in the center of the ship. Failing to find anything in the hall to try and lever it open further, she squeezed through the gap in the door. She didn't feel the thorn on one of the vines tear a hole in the mesh fiber her suit near her neck, and she didn't notice the change in the air as the pollen filtered in slowly.