“Thank you Captain!” Loori said, embracing him for the third time.
“Thank you Jonas Valent,” Oomal said, patting his back.
“That is rude Oomal, he is not called that anymore, he is Captain Valance now.”
“We must know who we were to know who we are Loori, I am only helping.”
“I have to go take care of something before we arrive,” Jake said as she let him go.
Ramirez cleared his throat. “I'll stay with them and make sure they can get through to the bridge Captain. We're just starting to get to know each other.”
“Thank you, I'll remember this Hernando.”
“Call me Hernan.”
Jake Valance made his way to the main doors, people stared at him as he went by. As he drew closer to the entrance he could see the lines for food. There was one to the left, another to the right, and two right up the middle. Stephanie was directing the traffic with the help of several of the slaves. At the entrance they had stacked up all the crates that would fit through the door. There were maintenance staff taking the empties and running them back to the Samson's cargo hold so they could refill them with fruit. It was as fresh as the day it was picked thanks to the preserve systems built into the crates.
“We will be handing out food until we arrive in the Thadd system in four hours, then rescue teams will come on board with supplies and medical staff. Please be patient when they arrive, you will be escorted off this cargo container and into a safe place where you will be able to contact your people,” Stephanie was saying as Jake approached, she was a little hoarse.
He put his hand on her shoulder. “Think you should take a break? Have someone else start yelling?”
“There's no one else sir. Everyone whose willing to lend a hand has something to do. Us boarding crew are just keeping the peace.”
“Has there been any trouble?”
“Well, we had part of the deck collapse in one corner, no one was hurt though. A few have tried to run out of the cargo container. We had to let one of them into the Samson, he's sleeping in the forward cargo deck.”
“Wow, couldn't catch him?”
“Nope, he was climbing walls like there was no gravity. He just needed to get out. Once he saw the inside of the Samson I guess he realized it was smaller than where he'd come from and just went to sleep after we stopped chasing him. I hear Finn nearly crapped himself though, he was working on converting an old emitter into a space heater when the nafalli went right up over his head from behind.”
Captain Valance laughed, actually laughed aloud. Stephanie may have seen him do that five times in the more than four years she had been aboard.
“Can I say something sir?” She asked quietly.
“Any time, you've been crew longer than anyone aboard.”
“Well, it's just that saving lives seems to suit you.”
Captain Valance just looked at her for a moment. She looked tired, not as tired as he felt, but it seemed like she wasn't working for the money just then. “Thank you, too bad I'm about to kill Burke. That is unless he starts working on this encryption.”
“I'm sure you can convince him sir,” she said with a crooked grin.
He walked towards the doors then. All eyes were on him and he made sure to thank everyone who was helping in passing. They looked frayed, most didn't know how to do what they were doing but the few who did were happy to instruct and they had fallen into a rhythm. The compassion and care he watched people exhibit as they handed out fruit and rations of basic nutrients from the galley was unbelievable. He had never seen that side of his crew before. Their efforts were not without reward. The slaves were very grateful for the help and most of them had to take a moment to make it known.
One complained at getting so little food and another slave who was helping with the line stepped in front of him. “You have as much as everyone else has gotten, and there are many waiting. Be happy, and don't get in everyone else's way!”
The statement seemed practised, as though it had been given several times and the volunteer looked to the Captain after the mildly irate slave walked off. Captain Valance nodded his thanks, to which the issyrian smiled in return and continued watching the front of the line.
It was hard to put everything he had learned about his life out of his mind, to ignore the fatigue that was made worse by starting recovery from radiation sickness. He focused on finding out more about the shipment.
He wasn't willing to simply hand over all the information to the Thadd authorities. There wasn't much chance of them taking action against a corporation like Regent Galactic. He didn't know what he'd do with the information either, he just needed it.
Frost met him just a few steps inside the Samson. “Captain, do you know how much this is costing us? That fruit shipment Regent let us keep was a bonus, a huge bonus if we sold it in the right port. And paying us out of your own pocket? What the hell for? If you had just waited a few hours you could have let Thadd Search and Rescue take care of it and maybe we'd be out a job, but you could have paid the crew half of what that fifteen mil job would have paid and we'd have all stayed on.”
“There are people in that compartment who would have died if we didn't start helping. I met them, I treated them myself. I saw hundreds, a couple thousand bodies, just laying on the deck or in bunks. They started dying off when people started hoarding food a couple weeks ago.”
“That happens out here, you know that. Whole crews with a burnout, no way to get anywhere fast enough starving on their own ships. Anyone can walk down the wrong alley and get taken by slavers, end up on a ship like this, just cause you're seeing it for the first time doesn't make this special. Doesn't mean we have to jump in and be heroes.”
“I've done a lot of things that would make me a criminal in any port, taken a few lives I wish I hadn't, but I couldn't walk away from what I saw in there. Have you seen it for yourself? Have you gone and helped back there?”
“No, I've been minding your ship Captain. That's my job. I do it, I get a share, that's how it works.”
“Well you don't have to be on the bridge now, so get your ass down that catwalk and do something useful.”
“No, and you won't cut me out neither.”
“I'll not only cut you out, I'll put you to our aft and hit the thrusters.”
“You're goin' soft.”
“Your choice, go help or get off.” Captain Valance said as he turned towards the brig.
Frost stood there looking down the hall for a moment then turned and started walking towards the cargo train.
Captain Valance punched his security code into the panel beside the thick brig door. Beyond it was a small compartment with two barred cells. Burke sat up on the edge of his bunk and smiled. “The hero of the day pays me a visit. Frost tells me you're handing out fruit and emergency rations.”
“I am, but that's nothing you have to worry about. I need two files decrypted, and you're the only man on board with the know how.”
“Your problem. If we're not dropping these cargo containers off with Regent Galactic, I know we're not getting paid. I don't work for free Captain.”
“You won't be working for free, I'll pay you the same share right out of my pocket. Just do it, run whatever custom software you've got and crack these files.” Captain Valance said as he took a data chip out of his arm command unit and offered it to Burke through the bars.
“Out of your own pocket,” he said, looking back with scepticism.
“The whole crew knows I'll be paying them. I can't go back on my word or they'll turn.”
“You'll let me out of the brig?”
“I will.”
“Lead the way.”