“Okay, you know what, that was a lot of fun!” Bennie exclaims, a grin splitting his green face, entering the bridge of the Ghost. Behind him, Wil and Zephyr follow, both exhibiting a little bounce in their step. Zephyr is also smiling broadly.
Wil drops into his command chair in the center of the room, running a hand through his light brown hair. Might be time for a haircut. “No argument there. Those idiots got in way over their heads,” he says, tapping a few commands into the control on the arm of his chair. “Between the reward and what we got from their hold,” he looks down at the ship’s account balance, “we should be able to pay off the bounty the Consortium put on our heads in no time.”
Bennie cackles, and in a mocking voice says, “The Xenetan pirates are known throughout this sector, blah blah blah.” He drops to the ground, kneeling, and cries out, “Don’t hurt us! Please! Mercy!” Then he doubles over, laughing.
Zephyr takes her seat, bringing her own console to life. “I’ll admit, getting a letter of Marque from the Harrith government has proven to be less of a terrible idea than I first assumed. There is something satisfying in kicking pirate ass, as Wil would say.” She reaches up and releases her hair from the ponytail she prefers to use when in combat.
Wil beams. “So I was right? I’ll take it.” He leans back and puts his boots on the pilot station in front of him. “Bennie, what’s up next?”
The small Brailack gets up from the floor and hurries to his console. He swipes the screen a few times. “We’ve got a few options. There’s a mining colony that’s been harassed by pirates a few times, so they’re asking for help. There’s an agricultural settlement that’s offering a pretty credit for some livestock transfer. There’s a freighter convoy looking for some protection out in the badlands, and a few other things on the network.” A few more swipes. “The livestock job actually has the highest guaranteed pay-out.”
The hatch to the bridge opens, and Maxim walks in. “I’ve secured the last of the crates we took on, what’s next?”
Before Wil can answer, Zephyr does: “Livestock.”
Without another word, Maxim turns and leaves the bridge.
“I know what he means,” Zephyr says, looking from Bennie to Wil. “Livestock jobs suck.”
Wil nods. “No argument here. Maybe that mining colony?”
Inclining her head, “Probably a good one. If it’s pirates, we get to claim whatever is in their hold, plus fees.” She smiles. “And their ship, those always fetch a good price.”
Nodding, Wil says, “Yeah. Okay, Bennie, take the mining colony gig.”
The Brailack nods. “Roger that.” A few taps and then, “Okay, I’m sending the nav plot to your station. The colony is about three days from here, a small system called… well it doesn’t appear to have a name, just a registration number. ‘P3X-984’, how poetic.”
Wil nods. He flips a few switches and a low rumble begins to build from deep within the ship. Moments later, the Ghost is on its way. The station they have been docked at, in orbit over the outermost planet in the Harrith system, quickly recedes from view on the main screen. “We can go FTL in twenty minutes.” He turns to Bennie, “Why don’t you go down and set the table? We’ll get dinner going as soon as we hit FTL, and if I recall, it’s your turn.”
“It was my turn last night!” the small Brailack protests
“No, it wasn’t. It was mine, and you know it,” Zephyr says from her station, then sticks her tongue out at him, while pulling one eyelid down with her finger. The small alien mutters something under his breath as he leaves the bridge.
As the Ghost clears the station, and the gravity well of the planet it’s orbiting, the large FTL nacelles at the end of its wings power up. At the rear of each a red glow begins to form, then with a flash the Ghost jumps to FTL. Wil and Zephyr have worked in companionable silence, getting the ship ready for their next mission and filing the appropriate paperwork to close out their most recent adventure in privateering. The letter of Marque might be lucrative, but the paperwork is monstrous. They stand to leave the bridge and join the others in the lounge. Before they reach the hatch, Zephyr turns to Wil.
“You know we can’t keep this up forever. Right?”
Wil sighs. “I know, but that dickhead Xarrix burned us good. The Consortium still has its members and their bounty hunters out for our heads, and the only thing keeping them at bay, even a little, is the Harrith government and our arrangement with them. We leave this region of space, and it’s a free for all. Believe me, as soon as we have enough to pay the bounty, we’ll pay it.”
He continues: “Stealing Gabe from the gangster storage facility was still the right thing to do.”
Zephyr nods. This isn’t the first time the two of them—she acting in her mostly-official role as first officer—have had this conversation. When they had agreed to raid a secret space station for Xarrix, they hadn’t known that a Peacekeeper Engineering bot would be aboard. It turned out that GBE-102002—Gabe—was carrying important data, proving that the Peacekeepers were conspiring to create a war in order to force several non-member systems to join the Galactic Commonwealth. The Ghost’s decision to expose this plot had kicked off what GNO were now dubbing the “Harrith Incident,” a shoot-out that had eventually involved several major systems, the Peacekeepers and the rebels and which was still having significant repercussions throughout the galaxy.
“I know it was the right thing, Wil,” Zephyr says. “And the crew does too, but that doesn’t mean they’re not getting restless. The other day I caught Bennie hacking the voting system on Galatea—for the ‘fun of it’ he said, but I suspect he’s been taking on side work.”
“That little...” Wil starts then takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I can’t blame him, I guess. Fucking Xarrix, it’s not our fault whatever deal he had set up for Gabe and the data he contained fell apart.”
“It sort of is,” she smiles.
“Well, yeah, but it’s not like we could have just walked away. I mean I wanted to and all...” he trails off, then resumes. “You and Max’s reputations and lives were on the line. Not to mention everyone back there on Harrith.” He shrugs. “I wonder what he even had planned—it’s not like what Gabe had was all that lucrative. Outside of maybe the GC and Peacekeepers paying to keep a lid on it.”
“Don’t underestimate how much they would have paid to do just that.” She sighs. “Well, just keep this in mind: something is going to have to change sooner rather than later if you want to keep this crew together.” She turns and opens the hatch leading off the bridge.