“Aye, what captain doesn’t?”
She smirked. “Far more than you know. It speaks well of you.”
He nodded and returned to the topic of the job. “So what’s the cargo?”
“Let’s not get tied up in meaningless details,” she said, sipping her ale and reaching into her bag to pull out her case where she kept her smokesticks.
Dexter raised an eyebrow. He did not like the direction things were going. Unless, of course, it meant a bigger paycheck at the end. “Where’s this detail supposed to be delivered?”
“The third moon of Traxxis, with a penalty of 10 % for every day it’s late,” she replied, pleased that he had not made an issue over the cargo’s ambiguous nature.
“That’s steep, when does it need to be there?”
“Four weeks from tomorrow.”
Dexter’s eyebrow rose. Four weeks to smuggle some cargo to the other side of the Federation space. A straight shot through the heart of Fed space would take a little over two weeks, but dodging patrols and staying outside of normal shipping lanes would put a lot more time on it. “I could guarantee it there safe if you gave me six weeks,” he countered.
“That’s fine, but you’d be doing it for free then, and I don’t think you want that,” she said, lighting her new smokestick.
Dexter frowned. “What kind of payment are we talking about?”
“Name your fee,” she countered, smiling before pulling in the fresh smoke.
Dexter took another sip of his drink as he thought it over. “If you want it there in four weeks free of any Fed inspections or taxes, I want 2500 gold for the risk to my ship and crew.”
“That’s a bit pricy, Captain,” she said without batting an eye.
Dexter shrugged. It was more than a bit pricy, it was outrageous. “You won’t tell me what I’m hauling or how much of it, so I have no idea what it is. In order to get it there in time I need to skirt through the Devil’s Breath, and there’s not many that come out of there in one piece.”
Still not willing to offer any more details, she shrugged and took another drag on her smokestick. “Taxes would cost less,” she suggested.
Dexter grinned. “Aye, they would, but methinks your cargo wouldn’t be taxed. Seized and confiscated is more like it.”
“There are other ships and other captains that will do it for less…”
Dexter was waiting for that line. He was pleased as well that his hunch on her cargo’s illegal nature was apparently on the money. “But none of them know the Federation the way I do. I worked for them, I know how their helmsman think and I know what they’ll do.”
“You’re an unknown,” she pointed out.
“You already checked me out and you approached me, that won’t work.” He responded smugly.
She shrugged finally. “Alright, 2500 it is, minus 10 % for every day you’re late. Tell me where your ship is so I can have the cargo delivered to it.”
Dexter sat there unblinking for a moment, not quite realizing that he had contracted his first job. Then it dawned on him and he nodded, barely hiding his excitement. “Have your ship meet me on the sunward side of The Playground tomorrow morning.”
“I would think you would want as much time as possible, why not earlier, say midnight tonight?”
Dexter thought it over, that gave him about five hours, he could make it, barely, if he hurried. “Alright, we can do that. Who am I working for?”
“Why, you’re working for yourself, Captain Silvercloud. The man you’ll meet at Traxxus III will be named Drevin. Meet him in 29 days at midnight on Traxxus at the Waterview Tavern,” she said, then took a final drink of her ale.
Dexter nodded. Anonymity was not unheard of, especially in the grey area of work he had just gotten himself wrapped up in. “How’m I supposed to get it past the Feds at the port on Traxxis III?”
She smiled and shrugged. “Your concern, Captain, not mine. Showing up without the cargo, however, is inadvisable. Not showing up at all is likely to be even more unfortunate for you, however.”
“You paint a grim picture of failure.”
She smiled warmly and stood up. She leaned over next to his ear and whispered in a seductive voice, “So don’t fail.”
Dexter watched her walk away, admiring the sway of her hips, then realized that time was against him. He sucked down the rest of his ale and hurried out of the tavern, all but running for the ant.
“You think it’ll be safe down there?” Bekka asked Kragor as the Voidhawk lifted, for the first time, from the seclusion of the shadowy depression.
Kragor was busy running around the ship and making sure it performed as he already knew it would. He scarcely had time for the half-elf’s questions. “Aye, lass, safe as can be.”
The ant was already invisible to them, tucked away in the darkness they had just abandoned. It did not sit well with Dexter to leave the boat behind but it was too large to lash to the deck or the hull of the Voidhawk.
“It’s a fine little boat,” Bekka said fondly of the customized job Kragor had done when he repaired and refit it.
The dwarf moved away from the stern castle heading to check on the mainmast and the rigging on the wings. She smiled after him and shrugged, then turned to man the tail fin, which served as a tiller for a ship in the void.
Jenna was working alongside of Jodyne with the rigging, sales, and wings so that they could maneuver better should the need arise. Kragor’s enhancements had made the ship more maneuverable and reduced the need of the crew size to run it, but they were still shorthanded and moving as rapidly as possible to deal with the cloud of rocks they sailed through.
It took them nearly an hour to dodge the worst of the rocks of the Playground. Kragor scrambled about making last minute repairs. Bekka took the helm to keep the ship steady while Dexter came up on deck and waited for their appointment. Jodyne disappeared below, returning to make sure nothing had gone awry below deck. Jenna stood quietly beside the Captain, showing a patience that he considered unnatural.
In a matter of minutes Jenna’s keen elven eyes spotted their contact moving through the void. It moved close enough until they could see it clearly, drawing an appreciative whistle from Dexter. It was a slim ship that was streamlined for speed and, should the need arise, for using its twin reinforced wooden lances on the bow as a ram to punch a hole clean through a ship.
As it got closer they could see various signs of wear on the hull of the ship, however, everything seemed to be in working order. No obvious weapons were on the hull, by decree of the Federation. Most people did not care much for the law, but it was easier to obey than to face the fines, prison, and possible destruction by the Federation for refusing to abide by them.
The ship’s pilot expertly brought the vessel within hailing range, merging their atmospheres. Greetings were called out and Dexter replied, confirming that they were both who they were supposed to be. The ships then docked side by side, keeping the continuity of their gravity plane for everyone involved in the transfer.
The cargo transferred in crates and barrels. The crew of the Voidhawk took a good enough look at the other ship’s crew to draw their own conclusions. They other crew looked scruffier than they did, confirming they were most likely full time pirates or smugglers.
Dexter ratified the manifest verbally with the captain of the Maiden’s Bane, the name of their new trading partner, and bid him a farewell after flatly turning him down on his offer to borrow Jenna for an hour or so. The Maiden’s Captain left chuckling, then a few moments later the lines were cast and the Maiden’s Bane sailed away into the void.
“The Maiden’s Bane?” Jenna asked him after he walked over and made sure the cargo hatches were securely dogged and sealed.
“Aye, he named it because of the ram,” Dexter told her.
“I don’t get it,” she said, staring after the rapidly departing ship.
“Did you take a look at it?”
“Not that close, why?”
