Jalldrid continued to grumble and complain about the shipment for the next hour after their departure from Mirke.

“It’s psychotic!” he would say loudly and anybody who happened to be nearby. “What’s the point of having an intrasector tariff if nobody bothers to follow it!”

Apparently, the impression he had gotten at origin from the large and angry dispatcher on his docupads proved to be illegible. It was unlikely, he conceded when his sister yelled at him to shut up, that it would really matter in the end. “But still,” he added stubbornly, “What kind of operation do they having going on when not even the basics of hauling regulation are not followed?”

Jerall sat on the Captain’s chair in the bridge and sighed in exasperation to Bob, “It’s too bad the roto-engine is working fine. If it was malfunctioning, it would at least shut my brother up and turn his attention elsewhere.”

It turned out that the roto-engine is what took up the majority of the labor force’s actual work. Apparently, it took constant monitoring and calibrating from two operators at once during transit. Bob had inquired as to what exactly was needed during this process, but he had gotten lost in the complicated explanation Rafel had given him. Still, work on the roto-engine went on constantly and was divided into 6 hour shifts between the crewmen, each working as a pair.

“It might seem terribly inefficient,” Rafel remarked to Bob as he tinkered inside the engine room, “and it is disproportionally one of the most costly parts of the job. Even on the bigger and newer ships with the new roto-engine models that automate much of the process, a large crew is still needed operate it during transit. Our engine is small and doesn’t need as much monitoring as the much larger ones.”

“it’s a good thing too!” Bob heard Fallin shout across the lower deck. Fallin was on duty at the roto-engine at the moment along with Jalldrid and he sat back lazily. “Without it, people like me would be out of an easy job.” He laughed out loud.

Bob took the next few hours before they reached the pickup zone for their other guest to learn more about the crew members and their respective duties and feelings towards the company. Bob quickly felt it would be enough time to understand the nature of many of the crewmembers.

Fallin proved shamelessly open with Bob. He talked without remorse about his previous work and his current attitude towards life. “My life to too short to have to worry about following all the rules that faceless governors make,” he said smugly, “I was born as a second class and that’s how it should be.” He added with a grin towards Rafel, “The best thing that ever happened to me was when the rat over there married my sister. Once he was connected to me, I knew I could wring him dry.”

“Is that so?” Bob replied dryly. His distaste towards Fallin was evident.

Fallin turned a keen eyes towards Bob, “And what about you? I hear you are a citizen, but you ain’t like any citizen I have ever heard of. Where are you from, eh? What’s your story?”

Bob stood up to leave, “Thank’s for your time Fallin.”

“Yeah, that’s fine!” Fallin called out after him, “You can keep your secrets. I tell you all about me, but you don’t have to. You live by different rules, you’re a citizen!” Fallin cackled loudly at him as he left.

The two cousins turned out to be very uncommunicative, particularly since their shift at the roto-engine didn’t start till later and the wanted to sleep until then. After Bob had knocked on the open entrance to their quarters, one of them poked his head out just to scowl at him. Without a word, he shut entrance in Bob’s face.

Bob spent most of the time when Rafel then, learning about his employment with Freeline and some of his past that led him there.

“I had known the captain back when she worked as a pilot with the Asdred Corporation.” He had said, “But I never worked with her much. When her brother came back from school, they decided to start their own company and they asked me to come on with them.” He shook his head, “It was a crazy idea then, and it’s still crazy now. None of the other independent hauling companies had survived past the first year, they barely had enough money to start a lease on a ship, let alone the blasted roto-engine. And when they first got this ship it was a heap of junk that ran only half the time and only then with serious trouble. I swear, I spent my entire first two years here performing constant maintenance, always having to try to, as the captain said, make it work, instead of purchasing replacement parts like we really need to. But of course, they didn’t have the money for that.”

“What made you stay with them then?” Bob asked, putting tool that he couldn’t identify into Rafel’s outstretched hand. “It must have been very difficult. Didn’t you have a nice job with Asdred?”

Rafel laughed, “I did it because it was fun! Jalldrid is a good man and I got to know him well very quickly as we worked together repairing this ship. It might have been a harder job, or at least more hours of work, to come to Freeline, but the pay isn’t any worse. Don’t underestimate Asdred! I may be the best mechanic on the station, but I never completed my education, so my pay was low already. However, the best part about this is the autonomy we have. There was such bureaucracy in Asdred Trans. but here it is much more simple. I simply enjoy working here much more.”

“Even though there is much more work?”

Rafel smiled and took his eyes of the stabilizer he was working on, “The bosses here work with you instead of against you. It’s a good feeling! There is a reason the company has lasted this long, mind you. Despite what it might look like, the Captain and Jalldrid are very sharp people. I only hope that we can continue like this going forward.”

He turned back to his work and Bob sat still for a moment, thinking. He said after a moment, “Has either the Captain or Jalldrid informed you as to why I am here?”

“As a matter of fact they didn’t.” Rafel said easily. “I had assumed at first that you were simply a transit guest like the one we will be picking up soon. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Why? You want to tell me? Why has a citizen come with us, if not as a passenger?” He glanced over at Bob with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll leave that up to your imagination for now,” Bob said, “If the bosses haven’t told you, I will follow their lead in this.” Rafel shrugged and returned to work. “I would like your opinion, though,” Bob continued, “On the current industry trend for your type of hauling.”

Rafel frowned, “That’s not my area of expertise, I am afraid.”

“Then let us be more general,” Bob conceded, “How has business been the last year? Has it been getting steadily worse due to the Family conflict? I read a report that currently half of all the available trading zones in this sector have been declared “danger zones”. This is up from the one quarter it was 5 years ago when Freeline started. You have effectively lost a third of your business and competition has become fierce for these jobs.”

Refal kept his frown, “It’s true that we have been going on fewer jobs recently, but for me that simply means more time to fix up the ship. If you’ll notice,” he said proudly, gesturing across the engine room, “the renegade is running much more smoothly that it used to only last year. But as for your danger zones, I don’t have much to say. You read the report, not I.”

Bob nodded, and asked, “Do you think it is possible to get the renegade qualified to run in the danger zones?”

“No possibility!” Rafel said with a laugh, “None at all! The renegade barely passes hauling standards as it is. The costs to upgrade the ship would be enormous and I doubt the ship could even handle it. It would better to get a new ship entirely!”

Bob let it go and asked instead, how he had gotten stuck with Fallin as a brother –in-law. Rafel rolled his eyes, “Had I known that my wife came with such baggage, I would have thought twice about marrying her!” Bob laughed with him.

The picking up of the next passenger was even more interesting than the pickup of the goods at origin, Bob concluded. The space they entered was much more populated than the mining platform and several ships could be seen from the view port in the bridge at they started their approach.

“It’s kind of an out of the way planet,” Jalldird explained, on the bridge with Bob and Jerall. Jerall was in the pilot’s seat again. She pointed to a dark blue speck in the distance. “That is the planet where our guest is from. I’ve never been here before, its a rarity that has occurred twice on this trip already. The planet is called Cydon, according to our map. It’s not notable in any way, its population is comparably small, its resources are minimal. The only thing that makes it unique is the large portion of citizen’s here.”

“Are we going to land on it?” Bob asked, hoping to be able to see such a landing.

“Afraid not,” Jerall said, “This ship is not designed to handle atmospheric conditions.”

Bob clucked his tongue in disapproval and Jalldrid laughed, “Very few inter-stellar ships can enter an atmosphere, my dear Citizen. If you look over there to you left you will see another space platform, that’s where we will be picking up our guest. We first need to drop off our goods over there,” He said pointing directly ahead, “Because the station doesn’t allow loaded ships to come too close. It not unusual, they just want to be extra cautious. But special ships carry the surface dwellers to the station and from there the inter-stellar ships then pick them up.”

Bob frowned, “I had hoped to see the planet up close at least.”

The renegade reached the drop off point of the goods and Jalldrid returned to the lower deck to help coordinator the powering down of the Roto-engine. Within moments, the blue white light that wrapped itself around the Valahide container withdrew itself from it and then disappeared altogether. The container was left drifting in space and the renegade started moving away.

“Is the container going to be okay?” Bob asked with concern. “It’s just drifting there. What if it hits something? Or what if somebody just comes up and takes it?”

“Don’t worry about that” Jerall responded dismissively, “This drop off zone is carefully monitored by the platform so that such things don’t happen. When we come and pick it up again, we will have to identify ourselves to the station in order to take it again. Not just any ship can just come and drag it away; all ships are monitored and easily identified. And also, it takes careful calibration of a roto-engine to grab hold of a container and that takes time, especially in space. Most ships don’t have a roto-engine. Take that one for example,” she said letting go of the controls with her right hand and pointing out of the view screen. She pointed out a ship that Bob had not even noticed before. It was sleek and dark with no running lights on it to illuminate it in space. It cruised slowly around the perimeter of the dropoff.

“What about it?” Bob said, coming closer to the front to get a better look at it.

“That ship cannot have a roto-engine, it not designed correctly for that. From what I can tell, I’d say it is primarily a private ship for a Citizen. Even so, if it came and took the goods, there would be clear record of it.” Bob grunted in understanding and looked out at the ship apprehensively. It looked suspicious to him.

After dropping the goods, the renegade quickly approached the platform that held their guest. Jalldrid had stayed below deck to welcome her when she came aboard. Over the communicator, Jerall was receiving specific instructions for her approach and landing to the station. She listened and followed them with slight annoyance.

“This station seems much more organized and friendly than the last one.” Bob commented. The station was lit up brightly and looked clean and well maintained from the outside. Bob liked the sight of it.

Jerall grunted in disapproval, “They are taking intersteller travel too seriously for such an inconsequential planet. They are going to grab hold of my ship with a roto-engine and bring her in, the prissy buffoons. Why can’t they trust me at the controls? I hate it when they do that!”

Sure enough, as they got close enough for Bob to see some of the details of the landing area, a gentle jolt took hold of the ship and it Jerall let go of the controls and sighed. “Why do we even bother? They take the fun out of piloting.” Personally, Bob liked the idea of being guided in. It seemed safer.

“No blue light, eh?” Bob asked with a smile, “I think I like the blue light of your roto-engine better.” Jerall grinned at the comment.

Soon, the ship landed inside a wide ship bay on the platform. Looking out, Bob saw dozens of other ships there as well as well as hundreds of workers down below. “A busy station.” Bob stated. “They must have a lot of traffic here. I wonder what their primary form of business is? Clearly it is not hauling goods.”

“Who knows?” Jerall answered, “It probably related to some cultural exchange or market down below. There is a large population of citizens on the planet, but it doesn’t concern us. Besides, this really doesn’t count as busy.”

Bob continued to look out across the platform, “I think I’d like to go down and have a look around. Do you think there is time?”

“We can’t leave the ship.” Jerall said flatly, looking at her nails, “We don’t have the permission for that.” She looked up suddenly, “Well, you probably can. But we shouldn’t be here long; I imagine we’ll leave in less than ten minutes. You can come here later when you want to travel.”

Bob frowned, “You guys have a lot of restrictions on you. Do you need permits or permissions for everything?”

Jerall laughed, “You say funny things sometimes.”

Her comlink buzzed and she said into it, “Yes?”

“We have the passenger,” Her brother’s voice came through. “We are ready on our end.”

“That was fast.” Jerall remarked back.

“She didn’t have much luggage and was ready and waiting when we arrived.” The comm squawked back.

“Right,” she answered back, “I’ll clear us for departure then.” She clicked off her watch and turned on the ship communicator to request permission from the station control.

Bob listened quietly to the Captain as she bantered with the control tower. Control didn’t seem to like how fast the whole exchange happened and made her stay put. Jerall sighed in exasperation and said, “Those stupid apes. We are all ready to go, why do they have to make everything so difficult?”

“Its probably security related.” Bob commented.

“What, does the renegade look like a terrible threat? Let us go already.”

Bob shrugged, “Appearances can be deceiving.”

It was another few minutes before control contacted her again, this time they we were cleared and again, the ship was guided out by a roto-engine. Jerall complained mightily, but soon enough, they were freed from the station and set to go.

“Finally,” Jerall said, blasting the ship forward as soon as roto-engine disengaged. She had had the engines already running as the roto-engine was still attached, not per station policy.

“All that’s left now is to pick up our goods again and then we are free.”

Bob nodded without comment, not that she could see him from the helm. “Will we be long, getting the goods again?”

“Not really, we already have all the specs of the valahide shipment, we will just to a quick scan to make sure no aberrations occurred before we take it up again.” She turned on the comm again and spoke to the local relay, identifying herself as the owner of the valahide shipment. After a pause the relay turned he to standby. She slammed the comm off in disgust.

“That ship is still out there,” Bob said, pointing to the dark mass within the viewport. “What do you think it’s doing?”

Jerall looked at it too for a moment and said, “I’d say that is a Citizen operated ship. Otherwise it would not be able to run dark like that. The controller wouldn’t allow it. That being said, it's therefore none of my business.”

Bob continued to look at the craft, only being able to see it from the dark blot in the stars. After a moment, Bob spoke, “When you have time Captain, I’d like to see your financial statements from the last few years.”

“Why would you want those?” Jerall asked loudly, “I’ve never looked at them” She laughed at herself.

Bob scowled with sudden dislike before Jerall continued again, “Sorry, I was joking. But you’ll have to speak to Jalldrid about that request; he handles all that kind of stuff.”

Bob left the bridge, going up to the second deck where Jalldrid was still guiding the new passenger.

“And here,” Jalldrid said, opening up one of the hatches for the quarters, “Is where you will be staying during our trip.”

Bob knew that the passenger was female, but he couldn’t tell what species she could be, much less what gender she was just by looking at her. She was short and wore a thick gray garment that covered her entire body, including her face. Her only luggage, it seemed, was a tiny suitcase that Jalldrid was currently carrying for her. Bob doubted that she had packed any additional clothes for the trip.

As the door opened she poked her head in without a sound and paused for a moment. Jalldrid continued lightly, “Not the most spacious quarters, but it will do fine, especially considering how light you are traveling.”

Without a word, she turned and grabbed her suitcase from Jalldrid and climbed into her room. As he shut the hatch, Jalldrid called out, “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.”

The hatch shut and Jalldrid said venomously, “You’re welcome, you little buggar.”

“You shouldn’t be saying that about your precious customers.” Bob said lightly.

Jalldrid scowled back, “that customer, hasn’t said a single word to me. She just stands there, with her faceless tunic. I tell you Citizen, people who don’t show her face can’t be trusted.” Jalldrid turned and stomped down the corridor.

“She’ll be easier to transport if she doesn’t do anything, right?” Bob asked, following Jalldrid. He just snorted in response. “Listen, when you have time,” Bob continued, “I’d like to your financial statements for the last few years.”

“Would you like this period’s quarterly statements as well?” Jalldrid responded, entering the galley and heading towards the hatchway to the lower deck.

“If you could.” Bob responded politely.

Jalldrid paused at the entrance to the hatchway, tugging on a necklace he was wearing. He pulled it off and handed it to Bob, “this key will give you full access to the ship’s computer. You know how to operate a standard Revcloud ERP? That’s the kind of system we are using.”

Bob handled the key tentatively, “Are you sure about handing this to me?”

Jalldird laughed, “We don’t have much worth this kind of security anyway. Most transactions require a memory code as well as that key, so it’s not like you can steal what little cash reserves we have. The statements are in there and, well, we have no secrets to keep from you anyway.” Jalldrid smiled and ducked into the hatchway.

Bob stayed in the galley, fingering the kay and thinking. Jalldrid’s com squawked and he heard Jalldrid say into it, “Yeah, yeah, I here, I’m setting it up now.”

There was a ship computer terminal in the galley and Bob turned to it tentatively. Truth was, he did not know how to operate a Revcloud ERP system. After entering the key he fumbled around, trying to figure out how to use the.

Standing there, he felt the ship’s roto-engine engage, shaking the whole ship before calming down to a steady rumble. Bob paused, listening to the ship work and he smiled. He turned to the computer again and cursed himself for his lack of knowledge. After a few more moments of struggle, Bob gave up and returned his quarters.

“Everything is so alien,” Bob said to himself as he entered his quarters carefully. He knew there was a computer terminal in there as well. “Everything is new, even the bloody “standard” operating system. How am I supposed to live like this?”

He paused in disgust again, closing the hatch slowly and staring down at his bag. After a moment, he slid down into his bed and took up his bag, shifting through its contents. “It always comes down to this?” he said again, with annoyance. “Why does this have to be so difficult?”

He pulled out his head piece again and stared at it with revulsion. He shook his head and took a deep breath in preparation. He closed his eyes and slowly attached the headpiece to his head. Within a moment, as it always did, his mind was flooded with an uncontrollable amount of data he didn’t want. “Come on, concentrate,” he said to himself, “It just takes time a practice. You’ll get the hang up it eventually.”

After a few moments of careful breathing and efforts to relax, the data turned more fluid and clear. He smiled to himself at the success, but then suddenly the headache came and he groaned. “They say this goes away too…” he said to himself again.

He opened his eyes and stared down at the terminal near his bed. In a swift movement he turned it and entered the key. “Alright, boy. Now, how does one operate Revcloud ERP?”

Bob felt the slight fluctuation in his connection due to the renegade entering cruising speed. It jarred him a bit and he lost his place on Revcloud ERP instruction. It also stabbed him with a sharp increase in his headache. With a curse, he struggled to find the data again. While searching, a news item he couldn’t stop came forward, interrupting him. He pushed past it, barely noteing what it said.

Bob stayed in his quarters for the next few hours and the ship was quiet. They had entered the long tiresome part of their journey that only included the dull wait for their destination, still days away.

Unknown to them, a great stirring was taking place at the system they just left. The dark unidentified ship was suddenly accompanied by a whole fleet. The planetary authorities panicked at the sudden assault force, and managed to send out a single transmission of alarm to their Asdred superiors, before their communication’s array was systematically destroyed.

The defensives came up running, but they were too little and too late to do any serious damage or even delay. And while the forces were overwhelmed and the command cut off and the landing forces descended, the authorities could only ask each other unintelligently, why would the Hulian force bother such a worthless planet?