“We need to figure out what we’re doing next. Obviously, we’re burned with Frontier, and we’re probably never going to get another contract with anyone else. What we should be more worried about is what happens when we get back to civilization. We’ve never been on the run before,” I say. We’ve been coasting in purgatory for a few minutes, not saying much at all, the gravity of our situation sinking in. It was bad enough when we were responsible for a planet-side slip, but now, we have a permanent target drawn on our backs.
“Well, I don’t know what we should do, but I’ve got a few ideas of what I would like to be doing right now if you hadn’t just cut open a Frontier megalith. What even happened? Everything should’ve been just fine. Frontier doesn’t give a shit about what happens on some halfway planet,” Cicero says, directed at me. He’s totally right, Frontier’s problems had nothing to do with the slip, they just wanted Evelyn. I was expecting to have more of a chance to negotiate with Pierce, but he just blew us off as soon as we didn’t immediately give him what he wanted. I guess when you’re used to having the power to take whatever you want, you don’t spend much time negotiating with hired guns; his loss.
“They wanted us to hand over Evelyn, I told them we didn’t pick up any extra passengers,” I respond.
“What the hell is wrong with you Gabriel! Frontier asks for some girl we just picked up from the middle of nowhere and you tell them to screw off and then you cut their ship in half, putting us on a hit list in the process. Are you insane?” he says. I get it, I understand why he’s upset, but I didn’t have much of a choice, they had made up their minds before we stepped foot on their ship, we were just too dumb to know.
“They didn’t give me much of a chance Cicero, they’d already made up their minds before we got there,” I say, but he’s not listening, he’s already walking towards the back of the ship, to his room.
“We never should have picked you up in the first place. Gabriel should have given you up on a silver platter when they asked,” Cicero says to Evelyn as he passes her in the hall.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
“Well fuck you too man, it’s not like I wanted any of this,” Evelyn says, coming out of her shell, apparently tired of being talked about as if she wasn’t standing right there in the hallway. Cicero makes a quick move towards her, a juke, a fake out punch, as if to intimidate her. It comes off as childish though, an immature lashing out. To her credit though, she didn’t flinch, she stood her ground looking unshaken; not many would stand so stoic, Cicero is a big man. Standing at 188 centimeters, weighing 104 kilograms, he can be intimidating. Cicero shakes his head, exasperated, as he continues his way back to his room.
“I’ve been running from corps for a while, so I’ve got a bit of experience in this area. I know you all wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for me, and I apologize, but if you want my advice, I would be calling any friends you’ve got out there for a place to stay for a while,” Evelyn says, looking at me.
“I’ve got a place we could crash for a while, with an old friend of mine, we grew up together. You know Thomas?” Juno says.
“Yeah, you were telling me about his winery a few months ago, that would be cool. You think that he’ll take us on for a little while?” Liam says.
“Yes, he’s been begging me to come stay with him, says this business we’re in is going to get me in trouble. Guess, he was right,” Juno says with a smile. “It has been a while since I’ve seen him.”
I’m glad Juno’s going to get to see Thomas, she’s talked about him on several occasions, but I hope that having five of us stay with him won’t be too much to ask.
“Alright, looks like we probably should have done this a while ago if he’s been begging for you to stay with him. Does Thomas have somewhere where we can park Star Fury? We can’t use a regulated port, we need to stay off the books,” I ask.
“He has a bunch of land, his parents were well off when we were kids, he inherited everything when they passed. We can land out in one of the fields if it comes down to it. I’m excited for this, it’s been too long. I’ll go ahead and lock coordinates if this is what everyone wants to do?” she says. She’s practically squirming in her seat now, it’s nice to see her so happy, who would’ve thought we would be looking forward to something so soon.
“Yeah go ahead and slip whenever you’re ready,” I say.