“Stock prices would plummet. My heart bleeds.”
“You might not respect the Galactic Trade Index but everyone suffers if our stock drops too low. This would also give some of our neighbours a reason to break treaties, citing inhumane treatment and the need for them to investigate further.”
“Putting the rest of your practices under a spotlight. You know what? You deserve it, I should just let this go.”
“But you won't.”
“You're right, I'll do it for the colonists. They didn't sign up for this crap, but I'll take your fifteen million and I want something else.”
“What would that be?” The holographic Officer looked surprised.
“Give me access to your entire consensus, military and civilian arrest records.”
“What? Why?”
“Like I said, I'm sick of working half blind. I need to know what you know about the people you have me chasing after. Two of my other employers have no problem providing me with all the information I need and that's fair. So it's time you start treating me the same way.”
“I'll get back to you.”
“You have thirty seconds.”
“It'll take longer to-”
“Twenty eight seconds.”
“One moment,” the holographic representation of the Chief Recovery Officer disappeared.
Jake Valance waited with his arms crossed, staring at the empty air where the hologram had been. When it reappeared he was staring it directly in the eye.
“Done. You'll have full access in the next few seconds.”
“Don't monitor my searches.”
“That may be more difficult to arrange.”
“You're the Chief Recovery Officer for this sector, make it happen.”
“You're really push-”
“I don't risk my crew's lives for nothing. That comes at a premium that you couldn't normally afford.”
“All right, you will have access to your own search logs and can purge them whenever you like.”
“Good, I'm sure there's still going to be something watching what I do, but that's better than having some AI lurking over my shoulder. Have your deck crews finish servicing my ship, I want everyone you've got on it.”
“There is another ship in the docks beside yours.”
“Turn them out, ignore them, I don't care what you do. Just get my ship serviced and ready to go as soon as possible. I want this over with so we can get our fifteen mil and get out of this sector.”
“I'll do what I can.”
Just as Jake was about to step into the tube car the hologram called after him. “Oh, and Captain Valance.”
“What?”
“Good luck.”
By the time he was back on board the Samson there were over a hundred service people working on his ship. Doing hull inspections, improving outer hull welds, refuelling and stacking provisions in the rear hold. They were even bringing the cargo from the Ferret III aboard and stowing it under Frost's direction.
“Sir, what's going on?” Frost asked him as soon as he was aboard. Ashley and Silver weren’t far behind.
“We've been hired for a big job.”
“We payin' for this?”
“Nope, part of the deal. We picked up a fifteen mil job.”
Everyone in the hallway just stopped as Captain Valance walked on towards the bridge.
Hyperspace Day 1
“So the Vesuvius, huh?” Ashley asked Frost as he returned from his meeting with the Captain. They were all at one end of the forward cargo hold. Not all of the fruit shipment from the Ferret III fit in the rear cargo section, so several of the crates were stowed in the forward hold. The hold also served as a recreation area for the crew. There was an old holographic game table and a holographic projector that was turned up all the way so it could play media back three meters high. It could all be stowed at a moments notice. The newsreel they picked up from the Regent Galactic drifting station was playing as several of them sat around savouring oranges. They had been given the go ahead to dig into a crate when the Captain called for Frost.
The entire bridge crew; Ashley, Frost, Finn, Burke and Silver were there along with half the maintenance staff. The deck chairs were full and a few of them sat on small preserve crates. “Aye, but we're not goin' with him, at least not for the first part,” Frost replied as he took an orange from a small crate, closed it and sat down on the lid. “He's actually goin' ta do it alone.”
“What?” Silver asked in complete astonishment, frozen with an orange segment half way to his mouth.
“He's finally lost it. I mean, confidence is one thing, but this is ridiculous,” Ashley said as she stole Silver's orange slice.
“Does he have a will? Am I in it?” Asked Stephanie.
“Hey, I thought you were gettin' off and heading out to a far fringe colony somewhere?” Asked Ramirez, a maintenance crew member with a roughed up exterior and a square jaw. He was also an experienced member of the boarding team.
“Aw, I didn't know you cared,” she replied with playful sarcasm. “Well, I was going to wait until we got to the next port. They don't exactly have regular transports on drift stations. Then I heard about this fifteen mil job and well, would you leave?”
Ramirez nodded. “You're right, and if the Captain needs us boarding grunts, the more the merrier.”
“Well, at first we'll have to get close enough, but he says there's a way there without getting slagged. He says he can do the rest from there.”
“Seriously? What's he going to do?”
“He didn't say exactly, not about how he'd be getting aboard anyhow. He said that he'll need us to swoop in and hook up to the cargo train when he's ready.”
“We're stealing from the Vesuvius?” Burke, the communications officer asked, wide eyed.
“Yup, you won't be able to guess why either.”
“Well, I know the Captain had it out a few years back over a cargo or something,” Ashley mused. “It was before my time.”
“Yup, sweet haul of medical supplies, Captain signed on a few seconds earlier than he did and got it,” Frost replied, nodding. “I had just signed on then. That's not why Captain's so hot to ruin Xander. That bastard's hauling stolen colonists.”
“He's hauling what?”
“Aye, Captain Xander got his hands on a cargo train loaded with eight thousand colonists an' two thousand non-violent inmates in deep stasis and got it out of Regent Galactic controlled space. They're makin' best speed to some slave market right now. Prolly sellin' the pods an' all.”
“Damn, it's bad enough that they're being transported in a bulk cargo carrier, but to be sold into slavery? Imagine waking up to that? You expect to be in some kind of new port on a new planet but instead you get pulled out of the tube and put to work in some mine or worse.”
“Sold to some household to do chores and look pretty,” Ashley said quietly. Her mood had turned sullen, she looked down at an orange piece as she absently picked at it.
Everyone quieted down then, most of them turned their attention to the entertainment news showing on the holoprojector.
Finn couldn't help it, once again he was clueless as to what had the air so thick, what everyone was thinking but no one would talk about. “Are you okay Ash?” He asked her quietly.
She looked up to him, half smiling; “I'm fine, just a sore topic.”
Frost nodded. “Some of us have been pretty close to slavery at one time or 'nother. You've been closest, Ash.”
“Yup, I'm behind the Captain on this one, I'd do it for free,” Ashley said. “The cash is just a bonus.”
“A real, big juicy bonus. You kidding? That's like what-” Silver said, his long fingers doing math in the air.
“It's over two hundred twenty two thousand credits for each of us after the Captain's cut and the ship's upkeep. Biggest take this ship has ever seen.” Stephanie put in.