The logistics of funding a revolution were... iffy, at the best of times.
Thousands of mostly independent cells operating in the shadow of an empire that spanned dozens of planets did not lend themselves well to any kind of structured allocation of resources, nor any aboveboard method of obtaining those resources in the first place. If your unit was lucky, you had a pilot sympathetic to the cause who could "lose" shipments that might prove useful. Really lucky ones had fronts to funnel money in directly.
The cell Kat was a part of was not lucky, and so her and the other pilots were out knocking off cargo ships.
"Target should be in your visual range right about now." Isa crackled over comms. She was off on some hilltop with a better vantage point, while Kat, Jade, and Maya lay in wait. The ship came into view right on cue, and Kat booted up her engines.
"We have visual." Said Jade.
"Great. Hold there, I'm gonna put him down right next to you."
Kat could almost hear Jade rolling her eyes.
"We're exposed out here, just take the shot before he sees us."
"And make my favourite girls walk all the way to the crash site?"
"Isa."
"Jaaade."
"Isa he's going to see us."
"Won't do him much good~" Isa said, singsong.
A crack like thunder, and the ship lurched. Cargo haulers like this weren't aerodynamic, they managed in-atmo flight through thruster power alone. Something that's much more difficult when a railgun slug the size of a fridge is suddenly embedded in one of your-
Another crack.
-both of your engines. The ship was coming down fast, right on top of them.
"Alright, I'm headed back to base. Trucks are inbound." Said Isa, the slightest tinge of smugness coming through her mic. "Have fun unwrapping your present girls, get me something nice."
She dropped out of the comms channel.
"I wish she wouldn't show off like this." Jade said, and Maya chuckled.
"Hasn't backfired on us yet. Any crew?" Maya asked.
"Just the pilot."
"Think he'll live?" Asked Kat, quietly.
"Through the crash? Definitely. Ship like this, pilot'll walk off without a scratch." Maya said, powering up her weapons systems ominously. "After that is up to him."
The ship slammed into the ground no more than 100 metres away from where they were waiting.
"How does she do that?" Asked Jade, exasperated.
"Explanations I've gotten from her include 'vibes', 'techno-occultist magicks', and 'eyeballin' it'." Offered Maya. She placed a metallic foot on the mostly intact cockpit of the wreck and flicked on her loudspeakers.
"Pilot, you have thirty seconds to exit your vehicle or we will remove you by force."
"That seems a little short..." Complained Kat, and Maya flicked her speakers back off.
"I'll wait longer, it just gets 'em moving."
Forty-three seconds later, a panicked man scrambled out of the smoking carcass of his ship.
"D-Don't shoot! It wasn't my idea, I swear!" He yelled, and Maya smelled blood in the water.
"What wasn't your idea?" She purred, and the pilot's panic mixed with confusion.
"You guys aren't cops?" He asked.
"Nope. What wasn't your idea?"
"Nothing, I-"
His words were cut off by the whirring of Maya's minigun spinning up.
"I couldn't quite hear you." She taunted.
"It's just a little contraband! Take it! It's yours! Container 17!"
"That's right." She cooed, and powered down her weapons. "Now get the fuck out of here before I change my mind."
The pilot started running,
"Alright." Said Jade. "Trucks should be here any minute. Start unloading cargo, make sure to nab container 17, we get first dibs on any good shit."
"This is the shittiest contraband we've ever found." Complained Isa, as she sorted through boxes of illegal brain implants. "Accounting implant, Marketing implant, Beginner's French? How are you going to get a brain implant to cheat at learning and only be a beginner?"
"I have..." Kat squinted. "Political Theory For Dummies? That can't be ethical, that goes in the trash pile."
"When you said you were bringing back contraband I expected drugs, or booze, or, I don't know, gay porn?"
"If that guy was hauling a full shipping container of gay porn I could not in good conscience rob him." Said Maya. "Hell, I'd give him a medal. He would be my hero."
Jade peeked her head in. "I've got a guy who says if we can get these offworld he's got a buyer. Pick out anything you want to keep and pack the rest back up." She said.
Maya stood up and raised her hands. "I think I have enough questionable metal in me. You girls have fun."
She and Jade left, leaving Isa and Kat to sort through their ill-gotten gains.
"You know Jade doesn't like your 'making the ship crash at our feet' trick." Kat said delicately.
"It's not a trick, you of all people should know that you nerd." Isa replied teasingly. "A cargo ship is as aerodynamic as a brick. If I know how fast it's going and I know how high it is, I know where it'll land if nothing's keeping it in the air. This is highschool physics."
"I understand how it works. She doesn't like how close you let the ships get before shooting."
Isa shrugged. "Jade worries too much. They're gonna call for help when they get hit whether they see you three or not. Factor in the extra time to get to the wreck, them potentially having a chance to take a defensive position, I see it as safer this way." She paused and held up a box. "Ooh, Indoor Agriculture! I could start my own grow op, get us something better than month-old stems."
"Please don't put the sketchy implant in your brain." Kat sighed. "And just tell Jade that you think your way is better, I'm sure she'd understand if you stopped framing it as something you do to impress us."
"Ah, but then she wouldn't be as impressed."
"She'd also have healthier blood pressure."
"I think it'd take more than that to fix her stress problems. Luckily for her..." Isa held up a box labelled 'mindfulness exercises'.
"Brain implant that makes you calm sounds actually horrifying."
"Yeah, I think we're done here. Let's go see if the food crates have anything good."