Through the main hallway he led the youngsters to the common room where Quince and the others were impatiently waiting. Peter and Garnett raised their hoods and Quines face at once lit up with an expression of curious wonderment crossed with fury. It was only now that Copeland remembered that he had completely neglected to inform the second-in-command of his last minute commissions.

He made a hasty introduction. ‘First Mate Quince. These are the Rynex’s new cook and cleaner Peter and Garnett.’ Quince stared down at the two urchins then back at her captain.

‘Really, Skip?’

Telling the two to go and introduce themselves to the others, Copeland pulled his pilot off to one side.

‘I’m sorry. They came to me yesterday, before I had heard back from you. They’re just some poor kids. I should have mentioned earlier.’

She looked over at them. Garnett had already tucked herself away from everyone else as Peter tried to introduce himself to the older recruits who simply ignored him.

‘They look like a couple of gutter beggars. Why take a chance on some street kids? I’m not sure what you were thinking. They don’t look cut out for this at all.’

‘I have a good feeling about them. And I mean, look at the bunch you brought along.’ He knew he had gone and pissed her off before he even finished speaking. It was too late now.

‘Fine, but If that twerp ends up giving us all food poisoning. You’re going to catch hell for it.’ She stormed off for the navigation room. A quiet came over the room. He turned to see all eyes on him. Time to be the boss.

Moving to the front of the room he addressed them. He explained what they were where taking lumber to Lintu and that would be a month long trip to get there. That he looked forward to getting to know them. That they all knew their stations (he had forgotten who was tasked to what already). Tiff swore, jumped out of her seat and ran down the hall towards the engine room. Copeland called for questions.

‘What’s for lunch?!’ drawled Bronson, slowly. The Rynex shook with the sudden jolt of the engines firing up from their warm up state.

‘It’s a surprise!’ Ad-libbed the Captain. Dismissing them, Quince’s recruits slowly got up and moved off to their various posts aboard the Rynex. He went over to Garnett and gave her the primary task of clearing out the mess of bottles from his quarters and to change the bedsheets. She nodded, silently and head lowered.

He took Peter to the kitchen. It was completely trashed from the previous crew, where everyone was expected to help maintain. The sink was packed with unwashed cutlery. As Copeland concealed his embarrassment from the teenager, Peter started to take inventory of the equipment available to him.

‘What would you like for the surprise lunch, Skip?’ the young lad asked. Copeland opened the giant pantry.

‘Well I’m sure a vested cook such as yourself will be able to whip something up from-’

The pantry laid half empty. There were sacks of rice made from the material as Peter’s cloak; molded bread, flour that had little dark bugs crawling thorough it. Can’s of beans, corned meat, noodle sauce and instant coffee. The captain’s face turned red. Hadn’t he remembered to order provisions during that week on the station? He threw open the refrigerator and cold storage. Just as barren. A few bottles of sauce. A couple of frozen blocks of meat cuts. The cook peered inside.

‘I’ve worked with less. I’ll figure something out.’ He assessed with confidence. Taking off his cloak he grabbed a dirty apron that lay crunched up on the benchtop.

‘Good lad. We might have to make a stop somewhere along the way.’ He gave him a pat on the shoulder and hurried off.

On his way to the navigation room he passed by his quarters where Garnett had accidentally dropped and shattered an empty wine bottle at the doorway and was now attempting to clean up the shards as the door’s auto closing mechanism repeatedly closed and opened on her arm. He engaged the open lock on the keypad outside the room and keep moving pretending not to have seen her.

Sitting down in the spare seat in the nav room he let out a soft groan.

‘How’s it going?’ Asked Quince with a smug look. ‘Kids working out okay?’

‘Fantastic!’ He lied. ‘How are we on you’re end? Making good time?’

‘Well it looks like the queue for the elevator is backed up pretty bad.’ He could see the on frontal vision display the vast line of ships hovering in the atmosphere that were waiting ahead of them. Intergalactic on-ramp gridlock. ‘Maybe if we could have left a little bit earlier.’

Copeland lent backwards in his chair. ‘Passive aggression doesn’t suit you Quince.’

‘Hold on, there’s a comm coming in.’ The pilot hit a button on her console board. A message came up on the small display off to her side. ‘It says we are about to be boarded.’

‘Boarded? By who?’

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‘The Karhuun Royal Guard.’ She said grimly. Another groan from Copeland.

He bee-lined for the airlock bay to meet the envoy. A bump jostled the ship as the royal vessel docked with the Rynex. A few keystrokes punched into the airlock terminal allowed Copeland to equalize their airlock with his and allow passage between the two vessels. The local communication channel opened.

‘Rynex, are you there?’ an authoritarian voice sounded through the speakerbox.

‘This is Captain Copeland of the Rynex.’ Without thinking he re-assumed the same tone of voice he used back in the admiralty. Unused it in over five years , he surprised himself how quickly he reverted to it. Garnett jingled past carrying a bag of broken glass. The voice reappeared.

‘We are the Royal Guard of Karhu. We are to board your ship immediately for inspection.’ It was out of the ordinary for the Karhuun Guard to go about checking random cargo ships. Especially ships en route away from the KSD, not entering.

‘Yes… Sorry there is still a bit of decompression needed. Our airlock is a bit slow.’ There was no reply. After thirty long seconds Copeland turned a dial on the console and flicked the switch that opened the airlock with a loud hiss.

Three men emerged from the airlock. The patches emblazed on their uniforms indicated Copeland was meeting with two Royal Navel Ensigns lead by a third officer. Someone not of the admiralty, but a high ranking member of the personal guard of the Karhuun Royal family. They were all armed with pistols holstered at their sides. Copeland did not know whether to salute.

The leader addressed him as Captain Copeland and introduced himself as Colonel Waldermur Tooska. He was tall and slender with a sharp face and a thin mouth. He stood proudly in his dark blue uniform and golden shoulder pieces, along with the ensigns of the royal guard over the right side of his chest. Tooska stood for a moment drinking in his surroundings.

‘The name of this vessel is the Rynex, is it not?’ The Colonel asked in a pleasant voice that betrayed his serious demeanor. ‘That wouldn’t be named after the late Colonel Rynex, by chance?’

‘Indeed it is, Sir. I served under him.’ Copeland answered ‘I was there at the time of his death.’ He added.

‘I knew him as well. You were lucky to serve under such a good man. It is a shame you no longer appear to serve in the admiralty. While the war still wages on. A capable man such as yourself such a long way from the front line.’

‘It appears we both are. My lot in life has changed since then.’ Copeland said with a smile, but the air of comradery put on by this Colonel Tooska seemed feigned to him. A mask he wore to keep others at ease. To lower their defenses. ‘What can I help you with, Colonel?’

‘We are searching for someone. On the station and on all outgoing vessels.’ With a snap of his finger one of the Ensigns handed him a photograph. ‘Could be a stow away, so we have to be thorough. Tell me, do you recall seeing such a person on Karhu Station? The records show that you have been docked here for the past week.’

He presented the photograph to Copeland. Holding it in his hand he looked at the photo. It was the image of a young man cropped from some large candid image. Although the hair was different, the clothes of a higher quality and the eyes more bright and alive, it was without doubt a picture of Peter. Copeland paused, steeling himself and handed back the photograph.

‘I don’t remember seeing anyone like that.’ He lied.

‘He may have been with someone else, a younger girl. Ring any bells?’ The Colonel stared right into his eyes, searching.

‘No, sorry. I spent most of my time on the ship, getting ready for the run, the ah, next shipping job.’ He said, correcting himself for his use of hauler jargon.

‘Yes. To Lintu if I’m not mistaken. They say it is quite wild out that way. There are reports of an outlying enemy presence there. Though I’m sure they won’t concern themselves over a few bundles of wood.’ Tooska’s voiced ran cold. ‘How many crew do you have on board?’

‘Its a new crew, aside from my pilot and myself. There are seven of us.’

Do you mind if we showed and them this photo to them as well? The first bead of sweat formed on the back of Copeland’s neck.

‘Of course.’ The Captain replied, knowing the request was a formality. The Colonel could do whatever he wanted. He hoped no one got a good enough look at Peter. That Peter could hear their voices from the kitchen.

The Colonel passed the photograph back to the Ensign, who took it then walked down the hall towards the common room. The other Ensign moved past Copeland to the airlock console.

‘We will also have to check for heat signatures. Stowaways, like I said.’ Tooska explained.

‘May I ask what this lad has done?’ Said Copeland

‘It’s an internal Royal Guard matter. Necessary red tape. I’m sure you understand.’ The Ensign finished plugging away at the console.

‘Their system is on the fritz. I can’t get any reading.’ The Ensign informed the Colonel.

‘You should really have that looked at Captain.’

‘I’ll task it to our new system engineer. I’d be happy to show you around.’

‘Obliged.’ Said the Colonel.

As he lead them around the Rynex, Copeland glanced in on the common room, where the second Ensign spoke to the crew. Garnett and Peter were not present. Through the various rooms quarters and stations they checked and found nothing. He avoided going to the navigation room. Quince was likely the only one who would have seen enough to turn them over, and he wondered why he did not just do so himself. The youngsters meant nothing to him. Being caught harboring them from the Royal guard would bring dire consequences. He could lose his ship, he could lose his life. If they were found, he would simply deny knowledge of them and claim them stowaways, but he hoped it would not come to that.

Tooska requested to inspect the cargo hold. Copeland lead them down and turned on the lights, which came up one by one. Large crates that contained the lumber filled the hold. The Ensign inspected these crates ensuring they were nailed shut, looking for holes where someone might crawl in and tuck away.

From the far side of the hold there came a sound. A shadow could be seen stirring from behind a crate. At once the Colonel upholstered his pistol and approached. The shadow leaped from the crate and Tooksa raised his pistol and fired. The shot rang out. On the floor lay a large rat, dead and bleeding.

The Colonel holstered his weapon and made some guttural remark to himself in Karhuun. The Ensign had turned up nothing. The second Ensign came running down with gun drawn, but Tooska raised his hand to signal false alarm. Copeland took them back to the Airlock.

‘Report, Ensign.’ Demanded the Colonel.

‘Sir, no one has seen anything. Though I ran a background check and nearly all of them have misdemeanor and priors. A real bunch of scallywags. One even has outstanding notices for banditry. Should we arrest them?’

‘No. We’ve wasted enough time here. Captain Copeland is more than capable of handling it.’

They entered the airlock hold. As the Ensign managed the interior console Colonel Tooska turned to Copeland and addressed him.

‘You should take more care about who you employ and let onto your ship, Captain.’ He with a smirk.

‘Yes…’ replied the weary captain. ‘About that, you are correct.’

The air locked doors hissed shut. The royal ship disengaged from the Rynex leaving Copeland alone in the hallway.