Chapter Eight

Docking

Crush breathed a sigh of relief when the Talon dropped out of Transit Space, hearing Cara and Andy doing the same. After the disaster on the arc ship none of them were going to be comfortable in that chaotic mess of a place. Not for a long time.

“Scan?” Crush called immediately.

“Clearing now,” Sec called, “We are clear.”

Crush looked at the command screen, seeing the line of ships stretching from one jump point to another. They were coming in from a different angle, almost at ninety degrees from any other traffic. It wouldn’t be long until someone noticed.

“Quad, power down the weapons. Take us to minimal shields,” Crush said quickly. “We don’t want to look like we are looking to make trouble.”

“Aye, Boss!”

“Prim, contact the Silver Smile and Carbon Hide to do the same,” Cara added.

“Aye, Girl-boss!”

Silence reigned as Andy and Crush did everything in their power not to laugh.

“Prim?” Cara called.

“Yes?” She asked innocently.

“Girl-boss?” Cara asked.

“Uh, what else should we call you?” Prim asked while Andy was going purple, trying not to laugh.

“Cara is fine, or X.O.,” Cara said through gritted teeth.

“Not girl-boss then?” Sec asked innocently, and the bridge erupted into laughter.

“I hate you all. I want you to know that,” Cara said through gritted teeth.

“The destroyers are reporting weapons off and shields to a minimum, Exo-boss,” Prim said with no apparent worries about being shot.

“Okay, everyone!” Crush clapped his hands to get everyone to pay attention. “We are going to be going in slow and friendly. No aggressive moves. Remember, we are just here to trade.”

“Right,” Tri nodded. “System-wide domination is next time.”

“Just take us in,” Crush sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Ten seconds into the mission, he was already getting a headache.

“Berenice, are you about ready to go?” Crush opened a comm line to their resident merchant. She was the one who actually knew what they had to trade and how much they wanted in return. She had been working with Salem for months, so she was the only one really qualified to know right from wrong here.

“I will be by the time we dock, so try not to start a war, okay?” Berenice said, her voice was teasing in the way it always was. The woman could make an offer of scrap metal sound funny, and before you knew it, you had brought the damn thing.

She had been an adjutant quartermaster on the Hub before everything went to hell, and she got stuck out in the boonies. Eventually, she ended up with Nellie and now, on his ship—lucky, lucky him.

“Why does everyone think I run around starting wars?” Crush groaned. “I’ve never done that.”

“If you are about to tell me you ended a few, I’ve heard it before,” Berenice chuckled. “I didn’t believe it then either, soldier boy.”

“That’s Marshall to you, Merchant,” Cara said sniffily.

“Cara? Is that you?” Berenice called happily. “I was wondering when I would get another chance to tell you to kiss my ass, and would you look at that! Here it is!”

Crush gestured to Prim, who cut the internal communications.

Nothing like a crew of well-oiled professionals. At least, that was what Crush assumed. He always ended up working with people like this.

Still, it kept things from getting boring.

“We have contact from the station, Boss,” Prim added a moment later. “It seems urgent.”

“The word is frantic, Prim,” Tri laughed. “They seem frantic.”

“Captain Crush-Cha, Marshall’s Colony, how can we help?” Crush asked when the line connected, and the screen filled with the image of a woman in a brilliant white uniform. Her bald head sported a ridge of spines down the center. Even her eyebrows seemed to be tiny spines. Other than that, she seemed pleasant enough, even if she did look incredibly nervous.

“Captain, can I ask your intentions here?” the woman asked immediately.

“We bring goods and materials from our colony to trade at your station,” Crush answered smoothly.

“You appear to be in a warship and under escort, Captain,” she said, the spines on her head flaring as she said it.

“We are yet to acquire a pure trading vessel,” Crush had anticipated their wariness. After all, the last ship they knew had visited this system from this jump point was the Last Chances. “We are also keenly aware that we don’t know this region of space well. It seemed prudent to travel under armed guard.”

“I see,” the woman frowned. “The last time we allowed an approach from that jump point, it was a ship claiming to be damaged. It landed on a moon and proceeded to terrorize the settlers there.”

“The Last Chances, I assume?” Crush saw no point in playing coy.

“Yes!” The woman narrowed her eyes. “Explain how you know that name. I warn you, steps were taken since their visit. We are not defenseless.”

“The Last Chances jump here is how we knew this was a jump point,” Crush explained. “We got the information off their computers when the ship was taken.”

“Explain, please, Captain.”

“Certainly,” Crush nodded graciously. “They were a bunch of pirates. Once we knew that, they were killed, and their ship was destroyed.” He nodded to Prim. “My comm officer will transmit all relevant logs and information for your justice system.”

“We will need to review this information,” she replied sternly. “And verify it is authentic.”

“Of course,” Crush nodded again. “Do you want us to stand off from the station while you do so?”

“No, you may dock, but be aware that we will take steps if you attempt to land on a planet or moon in this system before these files are verified.”

“Very accommodating of you,” Crush smiled. “And rest assured, we have no interest in visiting any of your celestial bodies other than the station. We hope to trade quickly and return to our colony. You know how it is.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I do, Captain.”

Crush had them keep the Talon to twenty percent of thrust as they made a long and slow approach to the station. It was tense, considering an Imperial Line ship could arrive in the system at any time, but it was better than getting everyone’s back up, which would delay them even more. Most of the time was spent scanning every inch of space around them, getting whatever information they could from passing shipping without getting caught doing it.

Boring was what they were hoping to be. Forgettable.

At one point, Crush toured the ship, as he had been told Captains did from time to time. Apparently, seeing the captain themselves made the crew happier.

That might have been true on other ships, but the Talon was highly automated. Other than the bridge crew, it was a dozen cents, all connected and therefore only four people, and the silent Centrum security group of ten units.

They were not a talkative bunch, and Crush suspected they didn’t give two shits about seeing him in person.

Oh, and Berenice, who he avoided whenever possible.

It wasn’t that she was a merchant or even the constant mix of flirting and teasing she seemed to do. It was the sheer energy of the woman. Berenice was one of those people who woke up a fizzing ball of endless energy, continued like that for eighteen hours, then immediately fell into a sleep so deep it might have been classified as a coma until ‘ding!’ she was up and off again. Even with nanites fueling him, Crush found her exhausting to be around.

He was more of a stop-and-smell-the-flowers kind of guy. On the other hand, Berenice was more a ‘look a flower, quickly harvest its seeds, grow a dozen more, sell them after getting the seeds. Oh, isn’t that a pretty flower? Quick make a design based on that. Someone will buy that too!’ kind of person. All in the same amount of time.

She was a nice person, but Crush would rather suck a blaster pistol than spend too long around her.

===<<<>>>===

“Talon, this is Maiusarian Control; you are cleared to dock with your escorts at berth twelve on the inner docking bays.” The computerized voice responded to their docking request. “Proceed at current speed, and please keep to seven degrees above the central axis to avoid traffic. Maiusarian control out.”

“Roger that control, Talon on approach,” Prim called back.

“Wait!” Berenice burst onto the bridge. “What are you doing?”

“It’s called docking,” Quad explained slowly. “It saves having to throw our goods at each other across open space.”

“Thanks, bolt face,” Berenice flipped him off. “We can’t just dock!”

“Why not?” Crush asked.

“May I?” Berenice gestured to the comm board.

“Go ahead,” Crush nodded.

She called Maiuarian Control up again.

“Maiusarian Control. What is the request?” The automated voice returned.

“Control, this is Talon. Please state any and all fees involved with station docking, when they are to be paid, any penalties and fees, and if those charges can be paid in goods or trade materials. If so, who decides the relative value of goods?”

Crush felt his jaw go slack as reams of information were fired back over the comm line. The currency wasn’t one he recognized, but it was all pretty big figures, especially the fines.

“...We would naturally assess the value of all items.” Control finished.

“Unacceptable, Control,” Berenice replied. “Please cancel our docking request and list us as outbound. We will have to take our exclusive items somewhere else.”

Silence for a moment.

“Aknow—” The automated voice cut off as a second comm line lit.

“Captain?” Berenice asked.

“Prim, connect it on the main screen,” Crush nodded as Berenice walked into the center of the room.

The same woman appeared on the screen, a polite smile on her face.

“I believe there is a problem with the docking fees?”

“Yes, that is unfortunately correct,” Berenice beamed. “Your fees require payment in a currency we do not use, and the terms of exchange on goods are unsatisfactory.” She looked back at Crush, who took the hint and ordered Tri to plot a course away from the station and into the flow of ships toward the nearest jump point. “I’m afraid, as Merchant on board, I can not accept that.”

“I fail to see the problem. A colony is unlikely to have goods we are unused to handling. What exactly are you carrying?” The spines flared again. It seemed to happen every time they had a strong emotion.

“We are carrying advanced prosthetic limbs, complex machinery with self-repairing functions, rare metals, and some autonomous drones,” Berenice took a deep breath and carried on. “As you can see, these are specialist devices.”

“We have experience with prosthetics, top-of-the-line ones,” the quills bristled again. “Look at this.” A schematic was displayed on the screen. Twenty percent of feeling is recreated, and it has near complete freedom of motion.”

“That does rather prove my point,” Berenice smiled happily. “Allow me to respond in kind.” Without any more preamble, Berenice whipped off her left arm and held it up as sections of the apparently natural skin slid aside and revealed the interior mechanisms. “Full sensory feedback, full range of motion. In many ways, it is an upgrade over natural limbs.”

The screen seemed frozen for a second as the woman sat with her mouth half open until a quill dropped off the top of her head, bouncing on something off-camera before she blinked and smiled.

“Excuse me, allow me to introduce myself; I am Station Manager Viria. I would be delighted to facilitate your trading mission. As a start, allow me to agree to accept preemptively one of those prosthetics as full payment of all docking fees.”

“Considering the usual costs of docking fees, that would be extremely bad business, but thank you for the offer. Captain, when you are ready?”

“Tri, take us out,” Crush said with a lazy smile.

“Thank you for the time, Station Administrator Viria.” Berenice cut the comm line. “Okay, give them five ignored requests on the comm board and then transmit a busy signal. It will make it look like we are talking to the other ships about the best place to sell our goods. When they get to ten, connect them again.”

Looking around the bridge, Berenice noticed an empty console and headed over there, signing on and sorting through some of the cargo lists.

Crush frowned at that. She wasn’t planning to…

“I think I will stay on the bridge from now on; it’s fun!” Berenice grinned over her shoulder.

Shit!

“Station Manager Viria, is there anything else we can do for you?” Berenice asked when the comm signal was finally let through.

“May I speak to the Captain, please?” Viria asked.

“Certainly,” Berenice bowed aside. “Allow me to present Captain Crush-Cha of the Talon.”

“Captain, I am pleased to tell you the Justice Ministries on both Castus and Pollus have declared the proof you offered as authentic. You have our thanks for ridding us of a menace.” Viria said.

“Happy to have helped,” Crush replied with a smile.

“As a reward for your act of service to the Maius system, we would gladly offer you free docking here at the station and waive all fees.” Viria smiled.

“How kind,” Crush ignored the ‘I told you so’ look Berenice gave him. “I hope having our security on the dockside will not be a problem?”

“Naturally,” Viria beamed. “You are carrying highly valuable goods, after all.”

“I will transmit proof of source, ownership documents, and the like,” Berenice added. “Please acknowledge acceptance and agreement before we dock.”

“Of course,” Viria said with a wide smile, all her spines standing up like mad.

“Tri, take us in,” Crush said as Prim cut the line.

“Ownership documents?” Cara asked.

“We don’t want them claiming our cargo is stolen and seizing it,” Berenice said drily. “She would definitely try that.”

“How do you know?” Andy asked.

“I would,” Berenice grinned. “If you dock at the Rest with highly advanced tech we want? I’m not letting you leave with it if I can help it.”

The approach was smooth and uneventful, even if Crush could not help but feel their ‘under the radar’ mission was already going off the rails. Having goods that no one else had, getting their docking fees waved, approaching, aborting, and then approaching again.

It was not exactly the definition of covert behavior.

On the plus side, absolutely no one would think they were trying to hide. Their aborted docking had practically set off fireworks. Only a complete idiot would think they had anything to hide at this stage. Crush just wished that made him feel more secure. Unfortunately, he was well aware of exactly how many idiots there were running around the galaxy.

It never seemed to take too long to find at least three. Idiots tended to come in groups.

The bay they had been assigned was a triple. It was clearly intended for ships with escort craft—a sizeable central docking arm with two smaller ones on either side. All three opened onto the same dock, and their scans showed there was a small group already waiting for them.

It was not exactly a surprise, but the weapons they were carrying were not a welcome sight.

“Get the Centrums fired up and waiting at the airlock,” Crush nodded to Cara, and she headed down to lead the units out and secure the dock. They had confirmed acceptance of the cargo being Talon-owned, but that didn’t guarantee anything. People always did stupid things, especially if they thought they could get away with it.

His suspicions were almost confirmed when the welcome party moved quickly toward the Talon’s airlock before the escort craft had completed docking.

“Let’s go meet the locals,” Crush told his crew.

“And shoot them?” Quad asked.

“Let’s hope not,” Andy sighed.

Crush grinned and checked the hip holster, which was still secure.

You never knew.