by M. D. Cooper
I highly doubted it would be anything other than staying out of prison with the promise of more dirty work to stay out of prison.
“OK, then let’s head back. I need to get to my ship before either Penny or Kallie is dead.”
“They don’t like each other?” Mars asked.
“Well, Kallie’s an acquired taste, and Penny doesn’t like to try new things.”
The train car began to move, and a grin settled on the general’s lips. “You’re going to have your work cut out for you, Bremen.”
Don’t I know it.
20
NEW CREW
The airlock did a fast cycle, and I rushed into the cargo bay to see a couple of personal travel cases sitting in the center of the space.
I dashed down the passage to the ladder and practically leapt up to the next deck. I’d half expected to hear gunfire within the ship, but what I encountered when I ran into the galley was even more terrifying.
Kallie, Tammy, Penny, and Sherry were all playing Snark. Penny—who wore a tight red shipsuit that squeaked softly when she moved—was in the captain’s chair, and Kallie was sitting on a crate.
“Don’t worry,” Penny said with a laugh as I skidded to a halt. “I’m sure you’ll get out of the bilge eventually.”
“Oh shit,” I gasped for breath, placing a hand on the table to steady myself. “I thought things were about to come to blows.”
“They are.” Kallie ground out the words. “Penny cheats…and she squeaks. I think she’s doing it just to mess with me.”
“Do not.” Penny set her cards down and rose. “But now that the captain is here, we’ll have to suspend our game. Jax, I’d like you to meet Sherry. She’s coming with us on a little jaunt to pick up her items.”
“Is she, now?” I asked. “And did you bring payment for the next batch’s delivery? The Kerrigan doesn’t fly for free.”
“You’ll get it when they’re delivered,” Penny replied. “Not a moment sooner.”
I decided not to argue with her in front of the crew and her client—who had a strange air about her, something I couldn’t place.
“OK, then.” I looked to Kallie. “How are we on servicing? Full up on fuel, food, and water?”
“To the brim,” she said with a nod.
“Good, then let’s get this show on the road.”
I turned and walked out of the galley and past the crew quarters. I was almost at the bridge’s entrance when Penny caught up to me.
“What about our cabin assignment?”
I couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t used a plural. That was good, since I would have preferred one more sweep over Fledge’s old cabin before I put Penny in it—not to mention laundering the sheets.
“That one,” I gestured at our other empty cabin. “I’ll have Oln put your things in it.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Penny said quickly. “Sherry and I will get them, and then meet you on the bridge.”
“Great,” I drew out the words and rolled my eyes. “I’m so happy to have you aboard, Penny. I’ll have to send Korinth a fruit basket.”
Something sparked in the woman’s eyes, and she gave me a narrow-eyed look. “He might need it after this.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, but she’d turned and walked away.
I decided not to borrow trouble and continued to the bridge.
I found Finn and Oln within, Finn hunched over his console, intent on whatever he was working on, and Oln asleep in my seat.
“What’s the word?” I asked Finn as I walked up to Oln and stared down at the man. For such a veritable mountain of a human being, he breathed like a child when asleep, never snoring once.
“Did our pre-departure plaswork when our new crew came aboard. Figured either we were taking them somewhere, or we were giving them the boot and then running for our lives, so either way….”
“Fair enough,” I laughed.
Oln still hadn’t stirred.
I bent over, my lips centimeters from his ear. “Oln!”
His fist swung toward my head, but I was ready for it and stepped back. A pair of lidded eyes glared at me. “What?”
“Go make sure the station lines are detached and sealed properly.”
“Sure.” He slowly rose to his feet and stretched, his back sounding like the popcorn he’d burnt earlier. “Too many women in the galley.”
I nodded. “Noticed that. They’re gone now. Go get yourself a snack so you don’t pass out on the long walk to engineering.”
“Funny.” He grunted the word while lumbering toward the exit.
“So…where are we gonna tell the tower we’re headed to?” Finn asked. “No one’s going to believe we just wandered off to the barycenter during an occlusion.”
“We have some cargo destined for Lothar coming in a half hour. That’ll get us on the move. Once we get there, we’ll see what we can pick up bound for Chal.”
“Chal?” Finn cocked an eyebrow. “We might not want to go back there too soon. You know, angry Skip and all.”
“Is that it?” I asked. “Maybe angry local government that we didn’t have a real writ of marque?”
“Hey, it was real…just not legally acquired.”
I shrugged. “Well, we’ll worry about that when we get to Lothar. Worst case, we say we’re going to Chal, then have some sort of ‘engine trouble’ on the way,” I held up my fingers to make air quotes, “and then come back. I doubt Penny is going to want to go to Chal anyway.”
“You never know,” Penny said from the entrance to the bridge. “I go where Korinth sends me—which means I tend to get around.”
“Well, you pay for the ride, and we’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
“What about…Earth?” she asked with a laugh.
I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes as I gazed at her. “Even you and Korinth can’t afford a trip to Earth.”
“Sometimes I wonder if you know what humor is, Jax.”
“No clue.” I sat in my chair. Turning my back to Korinth’s left hand made my skin crawl, but it was going to happen a lot over the next couple of weeks. “I’m filing our flight plan, and then once we get a bit of cargo, we’ll be on our way.”
“Oh?” She walked past my chair and leant on Tammy’s hamster ball. “Do we need cargo?”
“Uh huh.” I nodded. “We ship things, it’s what our ship does. I picked up a load of crap from the DSA. Stuff they needed sent out in a hurry for some convoy they’re running.”
“The DSA?” Her voice took on a serious note. “Is that wise?”
“It pays up front, which is nice when other passengers are not willing to do so.”
She took a step toward me. “Shit, Jax. You just got paid a shitload of credits today. You blow them gambling or something?”
I couldn’t help a mischievous smile. “I have expenses. Either way, I took the DSA cargo because we’re bonded to haul for them, and it eases suspicion. Letting their cargo handlers aboard is not something people with something to hide usually do. We’ll be fine. Just watch your mouth on the ship, and you’ll be fine too.”
“You mean they might sneak recording equipment aboard?” she asked.
“Uh huh. I’m sure you’re used to it.”
Penny nodded, and I could see that she was genuinely dismayed. “Yeah, just thought I could speak freely for once.”
I reached into an inside pocket and pulled out a few slips of paper. “Here, these can be handy.”
“Seriously?” She cocked an eyebrow.
“Yeah, if someone hands you one, read it, then eat it. Onboard cameras are set to a lower res, so they can’t make out words.�
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“Ummmm.” She scratched her head. “How do I make marks on it? I don’t exactly carry around archaic writing implements.”
“There are a few in the galley next to the coffee maker. Have at ‘em.”
Korinth’s left hand walked off the bridge, squeaking softly with each step.
“Daaaaamn,” Finn whispered.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You know that the most brightly colored things in nature are the most dangerous, right?”
The man nodded. “Yeah, and Tammy is pushing for something more than just cabinmates on long trips.”
“Uh oh,” I shook my head. “Your days of philandering are coming to a close.”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “Still, I do spend most of my time on this ship. Makes sense to have peace here.”
My thoughts turned to Kallie, and I nodded slowly. “I can’t fault you there.”
I knew the ship’s engineer would be in the main bay, there was no way she’d let DSA cargo handlers onto the Kerrigan without being present. I quickly filed the flight plans for Lothar, sending them to be tweaked by Tammy, who entered the bridge while I was working.
“Looks good, boss,” she said after a few minutes. “I made a couple of adjustments to the burns, you know, just to be more efficient.”
“Of course you did,” I laughed at our ongoing joke. “Good thing I have you around.”
She flashed a grin over her shoulder and leant back, feet on her console. “They’ll assign a tug for sure, so nothing for me to do till we’re a thousand klicks out.”
“Just don’t fall asleep.” I rose and glanced at Finn, who was staring intently at Tammy. “Or get too distracted.”
I only got a wink from Finn as I walked off the bridge, followed by an innocent whistle from Tammy. The galley was empty when I passed it, and I didn’t see any sign of Penny or Sherry.
It suddenly occurred to me that every woman on the ship had a name ending in an ‘ee’ sound. Is there some sort of insidious plan going on? They’d better not team up against me.
Luckily, the chances of Penny and Kallie joining forces for good or evil were more than damn slim.
I found my engineer in the cargo bay, sitting on the same crate I’d been perched on earlier in the day. Wordlessly, I hoisted myself up beside her and sat cross-legged, staring at the main airlock in silence.
“You’re nuts,” she finally said.
I nodded silently, wondering if I should tell her about the fact that we now worked for DSA Intel. I didn’t think it would go well, and having her angry when the cargo was delivered wasn’t a great plan.
Then again, having her angry while trapped on a ship in the black wasn’t great either.
There was no easy road forward, but in the end, I decided I cared for her and her opinions too much to leave her in the dark. Plus, she was probably waiting for me to tell her what had happened at the meeting anyway—and likely assuming the worst.
I placed my hand on hers, and she didn’t pull it away. We established a point-to-point Link connection, and I drew in a deep breath.
Her mental tone was calm, almost relieved in a way.
Kallie nodded.
She didn’t respond immediately. After a minute of companionable silence, my hand still resting on hers, she said,
It was my turn to nod slowly as I considered implications.
Kallie turned and her gaze locked on mine.
She barked a laugh and whispered, “There’s no such thing in the L.”
Neither of us spoke until the DSA’s cargo arrived at the main bay door. Kallie hopped off her perch and ambled toward the entrance, opening up the double-sealed hatch.
Outside were a dozen three-meter crates on hoverpallets, escorted by two guards and a pair of handlers. One of the handlers walked forward, a tablet in his hands.
“You Captain Bremen?” he asked.
“Kallie Holms, the first mate,” she replied. “I can sign for this.”
“Sorry,” the man shook his head. “Release says it has to be the captain.”
Kallie shot a barrage of daggers at the man via her steely glare, but then shrugged as though she didn’t care and stepped back, sending a glance in my direction.
I slid off my perch and walked toward the group, noting that the two guards had sent a small drone into the bay. It scanned me and the area, but remained just a meter inside, making no further moves.
The handler extended the tablet to me. “Need you to pass an encrypted token that you’ve received the cargo.”
I frowned at the tablet’s readout and the cargo on the dock. “I haven’t received anything yet. It’s still on the dock. I’m not signing for anything that’s not in my hold.”
The DSA stevedore rolled his eyes. “Well, at least mark on the first part that you’ll take the cargo.”
I scanned that section and nodded. “OK, I can do that.”
The tablet required me to make a hard-Link to it for the encrypted token, and I pressed my thumb to the nano-port, letting a passel of the tiny machines flow into it, making a connection.
Most people in my position didn’t have nanotech at that level and would have needed to use a wrist jack. The man raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t say anything further.
I wouldn’t have noticed anyway, as the moment I made the connection, I received a message packet from Commander Mars. Taking care not to look startled, I pulled my thumb away and handed the tablet back to the handler.
“OK, bring it in.”
He complied, and I retreated to lean against the bulkhead while Kallie supervised the operation, having them put the cargo in the center of the hold, and then ensuring the crates were securely latched to the deck.
The message wasn’t small and I knew I didn’t want to read it with an audience, so I let it stew in the back of my mind while I waited.
Kallie inspected every crate in detail, noting every scuff, bump, and scratch, and then had the cargo handlers verify each seal and sign off on her own tablet that they agreed with the results of her inspection.
Can always count on her to dot every i and cross all the t’s.
Once that was complete, I finalized the form on the DSA tablet and handed it back to the DSA man.
“Thanks, see you around,” I said.
He only nodded and turned to walk out, signaling the guards and other handler to follow. The drone still hovered inside, and I wondered if they were going to leave it.
If they did, it wouldn’t last long.
Once they were back on the dock, one of the guards glanced at me and saw that I was staring at the drone. He seemed to get the picture and sighed. A moment later, it ducked out of the hold and left the ship.
“I’m going to hit the head before the tug arrives,” I said once the doors were closed. “Let me know when we’re ready on your end.”
Kallie gave me a suspicious look, to which I quirked a smile in response.
She finally said, “See you on the bridge.”
“You got it,” I replied.
I retreated to my cabin and settled on my bunk to open the message from Mars.
“You’ve got double duty, Bremen,” her voice came into my mind sounding as though she were sitting next to me. “We have some suspicions about a ship in the convoy leaving Lothar in a few days. We want you to apply to join the convoy, and then infiltrate this ship. We’re shifting the destination of your cargo to Chal and filing the required reports with Lothar. Your application into the convoy will be accepted without extraneous review.”
“Shit,” I muttered, wondering how I’d play this development with Penny.
Then the information about the convoy unfolded in my mind. It was a merchant caravan, but one with a serious escort. A dozen DSA ships were assigned to protect over fifty freighters and assorted military support craft. It looked more like a flotilla that would establish a solid beachhead than just the DSA escorting a convoy through the occlusion.
After a minute’s review, Mars’s voice came back. “The ship we need you to infiltrate is the DSS Daedalus. It’s a cruiser that has several holds full of rather valuable cargo. We need you to tag that cargo with specialized trackers, as we think it’s going to end up somewhere it’s not supposed to.”