The man with the bloody face started to yell, trying to get the captain aligned with his side of things. It was a gambling dispute. There were packs of rations strewn across the floor along with a deck of shiny octagonal playing cards.
Jolo looked around the room at the mothers, grandmothers, small children--all of them well fed, but dirty and tired and ready for something new.
"I know that you are all miserable here in the storage hold," said Jolo. "But I promise you right now that we are going to leave very soon. We'll find a place where you can find work and avoid any more BG or Federation, uh, entanglements." One of the women stepped forward.
"Thank you for saving us, Captain Vargas. I’m Bertha.” She was the matriarch who took care of the orphaned children and young mothers. “We need one more favor though. Please bring us down to some planet that will have us. Where we don't have to fear for the safety of the children anymore."
"Or if the bastard’s do come they'll be a gun nearby that we could shoot ‘em with," said an old man.
Jolo put his hand on her shoulder. "We’ll find a good place. I promise.” And then he turned to the two men who’d been fighting. “But from here on out no more gambling and no more fighting.”
Jolo turned to the Greeley brothers. "Go get Hurley and Koba and meet me on the bridge.” And then he turned to Berg, "you coming?" Berg nodded.
And soon they were all standing around the 3-D star map. Jessica was a tiny green dot in the center, and all the planets within several jumps were displayed around that point.
Koba had not spoken to Jolo in three days, since Jolo shot him in the hand. The med bots had done their job and there would be no permanent damage, but Koba was still bent and there was no getting around it. "Maybe we should just go back to Qualus and shoot everything we see," said Koba. Jolo just ignored him.
"Well I don't think they would expect that," said Hurley, in his old-man’s scratchy voice, trying to smooth things over.
Some said it was best just to run to the edge of space. But then you had problems like depleted fuel cells, running out of food, pirates, and a host of other issues. But the choice between dealing with pirates and the BG was easy. They all agreed that dealing with the pirates would be better. Hurley said a pirate was the most honest man you’d come across, because you knew exactly what they wanted. They’d come on you face to face and declare their intentions: fight us or pay us. Not so with the Fed or the BG. They’d call you friend until you didn’t suit their needs, then they’d take everything you had.
Jolo stared at the map and once again was drawn to a star cluster on the edge of their range which held the small planet Duval. Would the Fed expect him to return there?
After some discussion they agreed Duval was worth a try. The Fed didn't pay much attention to Duval, though there was a BG presence monitoring the alacyte production facility there. “We’re fine if we stick to the other side of the planet--the pirate side,” said Hurley.
"I think there's a town there called Jaxxon," said Katy. "It's pirate territory, but I think there's work. Our people would have a chance there."
"Okay. It's settled," said Jolo. "We head for Duval. Come in on the pirate side, away from the BG alacyte production facility."
……
Jolo set down in Jaxxon and let the former BG slave workers off the ship. There was a thriving community there and even though the pirate element was strong, Berg and Bertha seemed confident that he they could find work and assimilate. The BG were mainly concerned with protecting their alacyte production on the other side of the planet and the Federation had no real presence there other than the Valhalla II, which was mainly just reconnaissance.
Before they said their goodbyes, Jolo made sure each person had their pockets filled with Fed rations. And the people genuinely seemed hopeful.
The Jessica lifted off and Katy looked at Jolo. "Where to, Captain."
Jolo suddenly realized he hadn’t thought that far. He mainly wanted to make sure that the people from Qualus had a chance. And now they did. But what now? He knew that Duval felt right. But that's all he had: a feeling.
Instead of pulling up the local map, Jolo gazed at the orange Duval landscape on the large bridge screen. It reminded him of the escape pod and how he barely made it out alive. It seemed like years ago but it was only a week since he crash landed on the Soldown Flats to the south. He remembered the mountain chain, the wide river, and the orange earth.
"Katy, take me to the north end of the mountain chain," Jolo said.
There was nothing logical about this decision. And he couldn't tell the crew that this was just a hunch. So he pretended like he knew what he was doing. It had worked so far.
As they got closer the mountain chain got larger and more rugged. Jolo felt like this was the perfect place to hide, maybe to make repairs to the ship. The thruster had taken damage on the right side and needed to be fixed. The computer didn’t accept all of Jolo’s commands. The cells needed charging and Hurley had a list of other things that needed doing which required some downtime.
They flew over the edge of the mountain chain and Jolo saw a small crack that led into a narrow ravine.
"Katy, take us there."
"Captain, I
