Chapter 1
"You can inspect the cargo on your own time. Please sign the release so my associate and I can be on our way."
Jason Burke wasn't known for being a patient man. In recent times he had become even less so. Standing in the sweltering sun of Tetara-4, waiting for a fussy alien of an indeterminate species to simply press the “accept” icon on the tablet he had stuck in its face, he could feel his thin veneer of civility slipping.
"This will take as long as it takes," the alien said, giving Jason a disgusted look, "and you'd do well to learn your place." The human ground his teeth in frustration and checked the time again for the tenth time since they'd landed. This pushed their schedule back again and it looked doubtful he'd make his last delivery on time.
Jason watched the alien really begin to drag the delivery inspection out, making it quite obvious that it had no intention of hurrying things along for his sake. He was about to address the alien again when he heard a sudden commotion on the ramp near his small cargo ship.
He gave the alien one last hostile glare before walking around the yawning cargo doors and towards the blunt nose so he could get a better view. From what he could tell, a group of well-equipped soldiers had just executed a raid on another nondescript cargo hauler, its crew now lined up and restrained on the tarmac. It looked like the whole thing went down so quickly that it was over before anyone knew it had started. He heard the crew of the ship complaining bitterly while soldiers clad in dark, form-fitting uniforms began searching the vessel.
"Pilot," the alien behind him said in a voice that made Jason have to count to ten before answering. "I am done with my inspection and have accepted the shipment. You may leave." Jason gave one last look to the raid taking place less than a hundred meters from his ship and walked back to the cargo bay entrance. He grabbed the tablet without a word and motioned for his partner to follow him aboard the ship, slapping the control to close the cargo doors, wincing as they creaked and moaned.
"Let's get prepped to fly," he said. "We might have a slim chance of this last delivery being made on time if we leave now."
"Yes, Captain."
"How many times have I asked you not to call me that anymore?" Jason asked with a weary sigh. "It's just Jason now."
"My apologies, Jason."
"Just start the engines. I'll be up in a few minutes," Jason said, making some pretense of checking the cargo over until the heavy footfalls receded into the interior of the ship and he was alone. He leaned against the bulkhead of the aging cargo hauler and let out another heavy sigh. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Before he could really get down to the business of wallowing in self-pity he heard the engines begin to spool up, shaking the spars and vibrating up through his boots. With one last look around he turned off the lights in the cargo bay and set the environmental system to drop the ambient temperature back down to twenty degrees Centigrade before exiting the hold and sealing the hatch.
He walked up the narrow corridor that ran the entire centerline of the ship, squeezing his shoulders in as he passed the galley and climbed the short set of steps that led to the flight deck. The ship had originally been designed with a crew of five in mind, but Jason and his single partner had no problems managing without the extra help.
"Did we already get our clearance, Lucky?" Jason asked as he slid into the pilot's seat.
"It just came through ... Jason," the battlesynth replied from the seat next to him. They'd had to pull the original seat and replace it with something a bit more substantial to handle Lucky's bulk and height. "You can lift off as soon as the engines complete their startup cycle."
"On this state of the art machine that should be quick," Jason said sarcastically. In truth, the cargo ship was in desperate need of an overhaul on many systems, the standard drive engines not being the least among them. "Go ahead and contact the client for this last delivery. There's a chance we'll make it on time, but the last two stops have put us behind a bit."
"I will let them know," Lucky said. "We loaded this cargo near the front of the hold because the deadline was not as strict as the others."
"Yeah," Jason said disinterestedly. "We're certainly becoming masters of logistics ... or at least of packing shit in the right order in our tiny cargo bay. Stand by for liftoff." He grabbed the manual flight controls, which were obviously not made with humans in mind, and throttled up the ship's ventral repulsors. With a groan and a shudder the ship grudgingly hauled itself into the air. Jason double checked his projected course and fed power to the main drive, pushing them away from the spaceport.