Chapter Four

Traci picked up a dirty pan from the heating element's side and reached over to stir some soup in a large pot. The cook, who was called Cook, nodded at her in thanks and continued to bring something from the fresher.

Putting the dirty pan inside the quick clean unit, Traci waited for a second and then pulled it back out so that she could put it away. The ship had been underway for two weeks, and she had helped Cook through thirty meals. A week for ten standard days, no one could remember when or who had established those days.

There were many times and limits that have been established that are used so that there is some conformity to travel and man-built satellites and even some worlds. No one can confirm when it began or what it was built upon, but it did seem to be more comfortable to the human body.

A year is broken up into twelve, and one of those periods is divided by four on a Galactic-Sol calendar in today's many systems. Then it all gets smaller into time units that everyone has just accepted.

For the four divided periods called weeks on the old calendars and interpreted in many languages, Traci made herself useful to Cook and found friends on this ship. She avoided the officers of which there were only two and did small things for the others of which there were only six, including her and Cook. It was a small ship with a small crew.

It wasn't hard to think about the time or the days of the weeks, as one went from place to place in ships out in the colonized worlds. Traci soon found out that one place might have a different internal change due to its world's movement, but it still used the Galactic-Sol calendar when dealing with offworlders and doing business.

The BoseIn Lines ship had made one quick stop at a moon to drop off some crates. Traci stayed in her bunk with the curtain drawn. The name BoseIn Lines was a misleading title for the ship, as it was the only one owned jointly by the Captain and his brother, who was still at a distant home.

The Captain proved to be as distant and grumpy as the XO, who was the man who Traci met when she first entered the ship. She only saw them at meals, and they never acknowledged her or Cook. Cook just warned her to make sure they had lots of coffee, and he took care of getting their food in front of them.

It wasn't hard work, and she had lots of downtimes when the cleaning was done. This allowed her to go back to the large storage areas where there was a certain section. Either the Captain had allowed some mats to be laid down, or he didn't know about the workout area for the crew. So far, Traci had taken turns at different times on the mats and never seen the officers behind the mess area.

She had learned early that at another time and place, she was to wear loose clothes when she worked out with others. Her movements and body drew advancements from all types if they could see her curves. Moxxi/Traci thought some women had more voluptuous bodies, it had to be how she moved. It was what she had inherited, so she kept her exercise movements in sharp military warm-up sessions.

Friends had developed strangely in her short term on the ship. One was the Cook, who soon was grateful to have a helper that helped. The other was a surprise. It was Gome. Someone had told him that Traci had helped get him on board in time and into the med doc. Gome also had a set-to with Harv, who wouldn't take no from Traci.

Harv was one of those guys that assumed that Traci found him irresistible since he told everyone who would listen that she picked him up on the dock area of Solitude. The first time she had gone to the workout area, she heard about his version of what happened on the docks. Harv had followed her and kept bumping into her as she moved around.

Doing a quick turn, she let her foot hit his belly, and he went down. He came up yelling, with hands drawn into fists. Gome stepped in and popped him one on the chin. Harv went down, but when he looked up at Gome, he waved off and just grinned.

"Hey buddy, sorry. My bad." Harv stood and wandered off with a lot of eyes following him. Gome looked around to find Traci.

"Sorry, he can be a jerk at times."

"No problem. Thanks." Traci smiled and turned to move back into her arm strikes. Gome stepped back and, shaking his head, found another place to begin some jumps and reaches. After that, Traci began to make sure that Gome found extra dessert on his bunk now and then.

Traveling and working on the BoseIn Lines was good, but unfortunately, it ended too soon. As Cook and Traci were serving a midday meal, the talk was not about the next stop at a planet but the following home stop and a stay of several months.

The news meant that a couple of the crew from the ship's home planet would be getting off at the next stop with a small bonus. Of course, that meant Traci would leave the ship and look for a new or a different ride. She did have funds in several hidden accounts, and one of them was under the name of Traci Cen, with another in the name of Moxxi Tycen.

Thinking about the problem, as she cleaned up after the meal, she didn't want to use the name of Moxxi after the warning note on Solitude. Someone or more than one knew her by that moniker. But with the daily funds and the bonus, Traci should have enough to last while deciding on wherever they were landing.

Life was never without surprises when traveling in the deep dark. After the last meal was over; Traci, Gome, and a couple of other crew were heading for the mats. This time it was not for exercise but to sit down and play a game. Their walk was interrupted with a loud beep and then an announcement from the XO.

"Attention. We are being stopped and boarded for inspection by an OOW cruiser. All crew who are not on essential jobs should report to the bunks and get out their ID chips. Cooperate, and this should not take long."

As they all turned around to return to the bunkrooms, Gome put a hand on Traci's shoulder. She was in front of him, following the others back to their rooms. There were two bunk rooms, and there were always a couple of people sleeping who were working on other shifts. Usually, it was quiet, as a person entered, out of politeness to whoever needed their rest.

This time even the ones sleeping were roused up and getting dressed to wait for the officials. Traci went to sit on her bed with her feet on the floor with the usual ID chip in her hand. Most of the others were doing the same thing, but a couple went through their storage cupboards digging out their flat IDs.

Looking down a couple of bunks, Traci caught the eye of Gome. "Will we have to power down the engines?" Traci wondered what this was all about with the OOW military stopping this particular ship.

"Naw. At least most of the time, we don't have any interruptions. They have power because they have the funds and contacts to have a relationship with the big guys. They pull up and lock onto us and send some guys over to check out what we are hauling and make sure we all have our legal IDs."

"Yep, it gets them more pay to bother hard-working folks." This came from one of the women between Gome and Traci. That brought out some nods and mumbles. So, Traci got the feeling that there were hard feelings about the military. Well, she had some also, but she wasn't about to verbalize anything right now.

The best thing to do was remain invisible, so she slid back and rested against the cold metal wall. The thing about this small ship with the narrow halls was that they heard the steps of the people who boarded them through both airlocks. Traci guessed that the military ensured no one would try to make a space jump by covering both airlocks. The OOW cruiser would cover the back ramp where items could be loaded.

Evidently, everything went as expected. Some of the uniforms that came on board went to the storage areas with the XO and the crewman in charge of that section. What looked like an officer and another uniform went to the bridge and then, as the rest of the crew quit peeking out in the narrow hall, two uniforms headed to their two bunkrooms.

Two uniforms went into the first door to check out the ID coins and ask a few questions of the crew in that bunkroom. Everyone in Traci's area sat on their beds with feet hanging out, up and down on three levels. There were three empty bunks; two had never held crew and were empty because the male worked in communications.

For a young woman with a lot of smarts and on the run due to her birth, Moxxi still made some stupid mistakes. It was her mouth that seemed to talk all by itself, without her brain working first. It had gotten her into small fights when she had said the wrong things to guys who made a pass at her. It was a problem when she saw someone picking on someone smaller or unable to help themselves.

So, she tried to take a deep breath and look at her friends, who all looked uncomfortable. No one liked to be questioned by the authority because no matter how innocent you were, there were those little lies you told in your past.

After hearing some argument in the first room, there was silence, and the voices continued. It seemed like it was taking forever for the uniforms to clear the ship.

At last, it got quiet in the other bunk room, and the soft steps of the ship-boots could be heard moving down the hallway. It was one man with two silver bars sewn into his collar and another with some dark blue slashes on one sleeve. They also had all kinds of other badges and labels sewn into their uniforms. People that spent a lot of time in space did not have loose items on their clothes. Most of the military, and also on crews, had information sewed or dyed onto the material. Nothing that could get loose in case of loss of gravity or a quick need to get into safety gear, like an off-ship suit.

"ID coins." This was a demand from the officer. The man with the lower rank walked up to the first crew, who held out his flat ID chip. It was scanned, and then the man asked the guy who had offered the chip his name and position on the ship. The guy known as Mottie shrugged and told the uniform exactly what it said on the coin the uniform held in his hand.

Looking over at Gome, Tracie saw him raise his eyebrows. Was this a game? By this time, the Senior uniform knew some facts about the ship, so he looked around and pointed at one of the women sitting on a top bunk.

"Are you going to the home world of the ship or leaving at the next stop."

The crew woman was older than Traci and had muscles enough to lift some of the bigger boxes that most men couldn't move. Still, she answered in a polite voice.

"Sir, I am leaving at the next stop. I have a good record and will get a job on the next available posting, sir."

Thinking that the woman was too polite, Traci just looked down at her hands, holding the odd-shaped ID chip.

Again the Senior Officer spoke from where he stood, blocking the entrance, looking at everyone. "Who is the senior crew person here?"

There was a hesitation, and Harv raised his hand. The officer motioned to his man, who stepped over to Harv, to take and scan his ID coin.

"So, who belongs to the empty bunks?" The Officer did not even look up as he pulled up his pad and asked the question.

Everyone assumed that he was talking to Harv, so Harv cleared his throat and looked around the uniform, scanning his ID coin.

"Well, sir, the second one over Traci, the lady there is empty, as well as, the one on top over me. We never did pick up crew and didn't need anyone for them. You can see they don't have any blankets on them. The clean blankets and pillows are stored in the cabinets at the end. That other one over there belongs to Ethi, who is in the communications station right now. It is his shift."

Finally, the Officer moved away from the entrance and slid past his man to move down the length of the room. He was not looking at the people; he looked at their bunks and down at their suits. Finally, he reached the end and stopped in front of Traci. Reaching down, he took her ID chip, and without turning away from her, he handed it behind him to the uniform with the scanner.

"How long have you been on this ship?"

Glancing over at Gome, she decided on the truth. "I came aboard at the Solitude station."

"So, you are not part of the original crew and will be leaving at the next dock?"

"Yes." Traci felt it best to keep her eyes down. She was feeling a bit of anger inside and didn't want the man in front of her to see it in her eyes.

"The next stop is dangerous for such a fragile female." The statement was said in almost a quiet tone as if it were just between the two of them.

Now she did glance up at him, feeling uncomfortable, as he had moved too close to her feet and legs.

"She's stronger than she looks. You should see her in the kitchen." It was Gome who spoke up, and the Officer turned with a frown.

"Yep, you should see her wrestle those garbage barrels." This was Harv, and Traci was surprised he was speaking up for her. Especially since they didn't have any garbage barrels.

"Have you checked him?" The Officer pointed at Gome. The uniform reached around and handed Traci her ID chip.

"Yes, sir, I got them all. I sent the data to your pad."

The Officer looked at the pad and then looked around the crowded room. "I don't have time to mess with this group. Let's go."

With that, the crew was left alone to hear the military's soft boots leaving the ship.

Traci sat rubbing her thumb over her odd flat ID chip. She had to wonder what the Officer meant when he said the next stop was dangerous.