Page 3 of Found Treasure Bride

His smile grew predatory. “Then you’ll need to find another paying customer who can cough up the money before the end of the fourteenth day. Of course, I can’t just let you fly out of here, so one of my men would have to accompany you.”

“But of course,” I said, nodding. Neither option was appealing. Do something illegal as fuck and, if caught, go to prison for a very, very long time, or suddenly have a mysterious benefactor appear out of nowhere. “I need to talk to my business partner, is all.”

“The Frelling? He isn’t just your mechanic?”

“No, he’s also my business partner. It’s how I pay him. He gets a say in what gigs we take, and in exchange for helping load, unload, keep the ship running, and acting as my co-pilot, he gets. A modest share of the profits.”

He sneered. “I see. Well, I’ll give you until tomorrow for your answer, and I will need to meet the person who hires you to verify it is a legitimate offer before I let you leave if you choose not to work for me.”

I stood up. “I’ll hopefully have an answer before you then,” I bluffed. “Just, protocol, you know? I don’t want him getting all huffy and quitting on me.” Frellings were known to be stubborn if upset, so it sounded plausible. Grorsch was as easy-going as they come unless you damaged our ship or took potshots at one of us or something. He didn’t need to know that, though. Luckily, he bought it.

“Very well. Hopefully, you can get the furball to be reasonable.” He got up then, walking to the large window to look down over his holdings. I knew when I was being dismissed, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I booked my ass right out of there.

I did need to actually speak to Grorsch, see what his thoughts were. Maybe he could fool their computer into thinking we were still docked, and we could unclamp and fly out cloaked or something. I could take some colony runs for high-end special supplies, medicine, seeds, that sort of shit, and hopefully evade him long enough to start sending him payments. I knew one thing. I never was fucking going to come back to this hellhole.

I was halfway back to the Raven Centurion when the proximity alarms sounded. That was not good. Someone was coming in too hot, and they were trying to catch and slow them down by tractor beam. I scurried faster, looking for a place to brace in case the impact was along this part of the docking ring.

3

Nancy

Okay, so it turned out that there were a few more things wrong with the ship than I saw initially. Unfortunately, I didn’t discover one of them until I was on the final approach to the station. The sub-light engines were not slowing as fast as they should, and as a result, I was coming in a bit hot. Combine that with a damaged thruster, so I only had one that worked and get big trouble.

“Truth Seeker, we are tractoring you in. Please brace for a hard landing.”

Yeah, that was a massive understatement if I ever heard one. For hard landing, substitute ‘crashing into port’. I hated to think of the enormous bill the Institute was going to receive over this. Thank fuck they were well known and that I carried an access chit for emergency use for times like these.

I grabbed my backpack with its treasures inside and quickly put them inside a stasis locker to protect them against what was coming. My eyes drifted over to the emergency life pod. Nah, it wouldn’t be that bad, surely. However, the interior was awfully well-padded…no. I shook myself, my eyes going wide, when my view screen showed we were about to reach the dock. That sent me scrambling to my pilot’s chair and strapping in. My shaking fingers had just finished clasping the last buckle when the ship came to a stop with a loud bang and a shudder that rattled my teeth and made my neck snap forward and back. Truth Seeker groaned, then settled with a series of creaks.

I took a deep breath, amazed we hadn’t blown part from the collision, realizing they must have used a modified tractor beam as a cushion of sorts to protect the port, repelling me while the one guiding me in also checked my speed the best it could. Whoever the techs were on duty, I was buying them around at the bar, that was for damned sure!

“Truth Seeker, welcome to Second Chances.”

I tapped the comm button on the arm of my seat. “Second Chances, I’m thrilled to be here. As you can no doubt tell, I am in need of obtaining repairs.”

“Truth Seeker, we will send out a team of engineers to assess what the necessary repairs are.”

And no doubt charge me the price of a small moon for it, their services bringing me, and the damage to the dock. I didn’t say that out loud, though. Instead, I replied, “That is much appreciated.”

A tap on the hull told me I already had a visitor. Damn, that had been fast. I undid the rest of my straps, wincing as I unfolded my abused body from my seat and limped over to the hatch. I opened it, plastering a smile on my face at the officious-looking male standing on the other side. He was human, middle-aged, and looked very annoyed to have been called from his office.

“Nancy Cuthbert?”

“That’s me,” I answered.

“As the registered keeper of this vessel, you are hereby summoned to the station master’s office.”

Yeah, I was in the shit for how I came in. No doubt, the station master wished to know how I sustained the damage, as my hull was covered in scorch marks from the energy weapons they’d hit me with. Well, I hoped they understood when I explained. At least I could reassure them that I’d managed to lose the fuckers, so the odds of them coming to the station were about nil.

And I can sweeten it with the sols to pay for the damage incurred by my landing. Money always makes things easier.

“If you’ll just come with me,” he said.

“Ah, yeah, just let me secure-“

“Your ship will remain unmolested,” he interrupted, looking quite pointedly at the armed station security already in place at the foot of the gangplank.

I licked my lips nervously. They had to have dispatched these guys before I was more than a blip on their screens. Damn, these folks did not play. The security officers were in full armor, looking more like stormtroopers than security guards. Just what kind of place had I come to? I followed the officious man down the gangplank and out of the docking area into the central part of the station. A scantily clad purple woman I recognized as being Chirellian gave me a faint smile as she passed us. The outfit she had on looked as if she were an entertainer of sorts, all sequins, and glitz with dramatic makeup to match.