Jerall looked at the passenger with a slightly confused air. “You’re a citizen?” Jalldrid was frozen.

“Yes,” She replied emphatically, “and you’ll do as I say.”

“Look, Miss Citizen,” Jerall cut in, “I don’t care if you’re the Governor of the Orius system. Your status on the ship is only that of our contracted passenger and you’ll get treated as such. We’ll be taking you to where you have already agreed to and that is final.”

The passenger got angry for the first time and she drew herself up to her full height, short though it was. “I am a citizen, you larze mice! You must take me to the Parius system or I will have the defense force decommission your disgrace of a ship permanently. Understand?!”

Jerall looked as if a rather repulsive slime rodent entered her bridge. “You can’t do that.” She answered indignantly. “If you keep spouting more nonsense, I’ll have you forcibly removed to your quarters- you space ridden Monicaly. Nobody orders my ship around but me!”

“Wait, wait!” Jalldrid burst in, visibly frightened, “Captain, wait. You can’t do that!”

“What do you mean I can’t do that?!” Jerall replied angrily, turning to her brother, “This is my ship!”

The passenger interrupted impatiently, “disengage the roto-engine now, I want to-“

“Shut it!” Jerall snarled back at her. Jalldrid blanched but didn’t say anything. With a push of a command, the whole of section 17 appeared on the view screen.

“Section 17 deals with our relations with Citizens,” Jalldrid explained. “You should have read this whole thing as soon as you came in to contact with Bob like I did. It says a bunch of things, but most importantly it warns us that when a Citizen is on board a ship, they have the authority to dictate the direction and use of the ship! This is why I told you to be careful! Especially concerning interstellar travel, citizens have huge power over foundationers!”

“And if we refuse?” Jerall demanded.

Jalldrid swallowed, “we can’t. Like she said, she can bring down the full weight of Asdred security on us for disobeying her command here.”

Jerall stared hard at the view screen for a moment. Then she swore violently.

“This is why I told you to be careful around Citizens,” Jalldrid responded angrily, “I told you they were dangerous. How did you not know she was a citizen?”

“This and that are separate matters,” Jerall said coldly. She turned on the Comm and yelled into it, “Bob! Get up here now!” She switched it off without waiting for a response.

Jerall demanded from the passenger, “Did you just change your mind or did you plan on going there from the start?”

“I don’t care to answer those questions,” the passenger replied with a snarl.

“and what’s in Parius for you anyway? You know it’s a danger zone, closed off from public travel, what could you possibly want there?”

“Again, that’s none of your business!”

“That’s reactor waste, Citizen! Of course it is our business; we would be the ones taking you there. What makes you think that this ship could even make it past the border security there?”

The passenger paused and then answered, “They’ll let me in.”

Before they could interpret her words, the hatchway form the upper level opened and Bob came crawling in. “What’s going on?” Bob replied, annoyed. “You could be a little politer with your requests.”

Jerall didn’t answer but swung her want and pointed at the passenger accusingly. “Negate her orders for me.”

“I… What?” Bob asked uncertainly.

“Yeah!” Jalldrid replied, suddenly bright, “That should work!” Bob looked back, still confused.

“What are you doing?” the passenger demanded.

Jerall ignored her, “Bob, this passenger is a Citizen and she ordered us to go the Parius system right now.”

“Really?” Bob said, looking over at the passenger. He studied her head piece, “I thought you said you never saw citizens.”

“They’re are crawling out of the bulkheads now,” Jerall answered indifferently, “Under Section 17, Citizens have the authority to waylay and alter any route of any foundational ship they are on. That being said, she ordered us to the Parius system which we really don’t want to go. Can you just belay her orders, as a citizen?”

“Uh, sure,” Bob replied uncertainly. “do you want a statement in writing or will a verbal word do or what?”

“Who in the space are you!” the passenger barked out furiously at Bob, causing him to flinch.

“Ignore her Bob,” Jerall answered, “Just a verbal word from you wishing to go to our original destination should suffice.”

Bob looked at the passenger and replied somewhat lamely, “I am Bob, a citizen. I want this ship to go to its original destination.”

“There you go,” Jerall stated, turning back to her controls, “Crisis averted. In the future, I now know to screen all passengers to make sure no cockroach of a citizen can interfere with us.” She keyed in commands to the computer and the view screen returned to normal. “We’ll be at our destination shortly.”

“Captain,” Jalldrid said still looking at the passenger warily, “You still need to be polite to them.”

“She just tried to take over my ship,” Jerall replied evenly, “I am afraid I have lost my ability to be polite to her.” She keyed in a few more commands and turned back to the passenger. She hadn’t moved.

“Now for the last time,” Jerall barked, “We’ll be taking you to the contractual destination. Please wait in your quarters until then, it will only be a few hours.” She stared down angrily at the passenger.

The passenger didn’t respond, but was staring at the floor. She seemed frozen, but replied back something incoherent.

“What was that?” Jerall demanded. Bob looked at the passenger uneasily.

Suddenly, the passenger reached into her cloak and pulled out a shiny bare blaster. It looked bulky and uncouth in her small hands and she wielded it inexpertly. Still, its tip was deadly and she pointed it at the shocked Jerall and screamed, “Take me to the Parius system, now!”

Everybody in the bridge froze at the sight of her shaking hands holding up the gun. She was breathing heavily and looked scared, but she held the blaster resolutely. She screamed again, “Do as it say!”

“Just calm down,” Jalldrid started to say standing up slightly, “Put the blaster down and let’s talk this over-“

The passenger swung the gun around and pointed it at Jalldrid, shutting him up. “No talking, just do as I say!”

“And then what?, “ Jerall asked boldly, not moving even as the gun came onto her again, “it’s a weeklong trip to Parius. Are you going to hold us to gun point the entire time?”

“Shut up!” She screamed, her face flushed and sweaty.

“No, really,” Jerall continued calmly, “I think it’s a great question. Have you thought this through at all? Do you really plan on holding us at gunpoint for a full week, without sleep or rest? The moment you do, we’ll wrestle back control from you. If I were you, I would simply lock us all out of the bridge and take control from there, but I doubt you know how to interact with the comm on this ship, much less operate it and land it.” The passenger stared back at Jerall wildly.

“Now listen,” Jerall continued, “I can see that you are frightened, but this is not the way to do this-“

The passenger suddenly removed her gun from Jerall and turned it to Bob who put his hands up instinctually, his eyes wide in fear. “Without your citizen’s interference,” The passenger said, breathing heavily, “You will have to obey me again under section 17.”

Bob stared at the gun in alarm. “Can you really kill a fellow citizen?” Jerall asked standing up out of her chair, “I would think there would be real consequences to that, as opposed to killing a foundationer.”

“I hope you can come up with a better argument than that,” Bob said dryly, keeping his eyes on the blaster.

“Don’t think we’ll follow you easily, if you kill Bob,” Jalldrid spoke up, earning the tip of the blaster as well. “Its one thing to follow the commands of a citizen under section 17, it’s another to follow the commands of a murderer holding us hostage.”

The passenger stood unsteadily on the bridge, her small hands slippery with sweat and her eyes wild and dangerous. She said again, shakily “We are going to the Parius system.”

“No we are not.” Jerall replied firmly, now standing rather close to the passenger. The passenger stared at Jerall for a second. “You will do as I say!” She snarled suddenly, bringing her blaster back to Bob with clear intent. She squeezed the trigger, firing the blaster.

Jerall stepped in quick as a bolt and grabbed the passenger’s arms, swinging it up. The blaster’s spray of fire showered the bridge momentarily as both Bob and Jalldrid drove out of the way. The flashes of light and sparks of mayhem lasted only a moment as Jerall twisted the blaster away from the passenger and slammed her head against the bulkhead fiercely with a savage snarl. The passenger went limp from the impact. The incident ended as quickly as it began.

“Are you two alright?” Jerall called out.

The moment lasted only a second, but it left the bridge in a mangled mess. The blaster managed to fire off five shots before it was subdued, and those five shots lefts five burnt and melted holes on the wall and ceiling in a straight line. The smell of burnt ozone and melted metal filled the cabin.

“I’m alright!” Jalldrid called out, getting up slowly from the floor, “I’m fine.” He assessed the damage on the bridge with a frown.

“I’m alright too,” Bob said, crawling up and sitting against the wall. “I’m not hit at all, I just have a slight burn on my arm from some shrapnel, but I’m fine.”

Jerall paused for a moment, then picked up the blaster gingerly and turned on the comm. “Rafel! Get up here, and bring Foota with you too!”

“What happened?,” Rafel answered in a frightened voice, “It sounded like there was an explosion!”

“You’ll find out when you get here!” She replied shortly into the comm. She flicked it off impatiently.

She came and kneeled down to Bob as Jalldrid keyed into the system. “Show me your arm.” She said gruffly.

Bob winced as she examined the burn and said shakily, “Thanks for saving me. It looks like she really meant to kill me, that brat.”

“I wasn’t about to let her do as she wanted on my bridge,” Jerall replied steadily, “much less murder.” She looked at the wound a moment longer. “It doesn’t look like any actual shrapnel entered the wound, it’s just a burn. We should have some dressings available here, but you’ll still want to get it looked at when we reach our destination.”

“Thanks,” Bob replied in a murmur.

Jalldrid spoke up from his terminal. “She blasted the circuit interface here!” he said, “it’s totally fried, I don’t see how we even have power here now-“ a second later the lights died on the bridge, leaving only the auxiliary red lights. Jalldrid swore.

“Rafel!” Jerall shouted, slamming her hand onto the comm again.

“I’m here, I’m here,” Rafel answered, opening the hatchway form the lower deck quickly, “I’ve got Foota too!” they both clambered in and Rafel stood up in astonishment, “Galaxy, Captain! It looks like somebody took come blaster shots in here!”

“She did!” Jerall spat, holding up the blaster to be seen. Rafel blanched at the sight of it. “Foota, take our passenger and tie her up and lock her up in her quarters. Make sure she doesn’t have any other weapons in there either and turn off any computer access as well.”

“Where did she get a blaster from?” Foota asked amazed, apparently hesitant to pick up the unconscious little girl. Jalldrid called Rafel over to him and then looked at the damage together.

“Who knows?” Jerall answered, “She’s a citizen, so she must have her connections. I don’t want her able to do anything until we release her at destination, understand?”

“You’ll want to take off her head piece too.” Bob replied, standing up with a wince. “We don’t want her contacting Asdred with whatever story she wants.”

Jerall stared at Bob suspiciously for a moment, then swooped down and detached the head piece from her with a soft click. She tossed it to Bob, “Here, you take care of the stupid thing.” She turned to Foota, “After you lock her way, go down and make sure we will be ready for delivery. We should be there soon.” Foota nodded and took the passenger with him as if she was a dangerous animal. Jerall handled the blaster still, uncomfortably.

“Hand me the blaster too, Captain,” Bob said, “If you’re uncomfortable with it.”

Jerall looked at him uncertainly and then handed it to him with a huff. With a quick action, he took it and disarmed it, sliding it into his shirt.

“Looks like you have some experience with weapons, Citizen.” Jerall commented, stepping towards the two men. Bob shrugged and didn’t respond. A second later, the main lights came back on in the bridge. “Good work, guys.” She said brightly.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Rafel replied darkly, “getting lights to the bridge is a far cry from being able to interface the system back together. All I did was bypass the circuits for the lights, but for the more operational aspects of the ship, there will not be such an easy fix.”

“What kind of damage are we looking at?”

“Most of it is superficial,” Jalldird said, pointing at the five blast marks. “We can bypass for these minor systems, but the real problem is the interface control here. It’s completely defunct; we’ll have to replace it when we get a chance.”

“What does this mean for us now?”

“It means,” Jalldrid replied leaning back pessimistically, “that the bridge doesn’t have coordination control over the systems anymore. We can still fly straight of course, but we can do any actual maneuvering from here. If our destination had a roto-engine to guide the ships in, it wouldn’t be a problem, we’d just let it take us in. But as it doesn’t, we’ll have to reset the systems to manual control from each of the main stations below and try coordinate the any landing together.”

“Is the roto-Engine okay?”

“Yeah,” Rafel added in, “That system has always been manual, so it’s not connected here.”

“Good, good,” Jerall said, “We can still make it for delivery.”

Jalldrid hesitated and then answered, “We should consider scrapping the delivery for now, Captain. It’s difficult enough to land with a load on the roto-engine, but to do so manually from the separate stations will be a nightmare. We can disengage the load here and leave a tracker on it and then land at the destination shipyard for repairs. We can be back and ready to deliver the goods tomorrow, or we can sub-lease the delivery to another agent in the area-“

“No,” Jerall said stubbornly, sitting down in her Captain’s chair, “We can make the delivery just fine as it is. Our delivery cannot wait a day without penalties.”

Jalldrid struggled for a moment. “Are you sure? Being a day late won’t be that big of a deal, especially considering our circumstances. DRIAS has always been understanding towards us and including the fact that it was their passenger that tried to kill us, they should be very lenient with us.”

“No, we need to be professional, Jalldrid. We need to show DRIAS that we can complete the job even if we encounter problems if we want to be considered an elite hauling company. We can’t be babysat by DRIAS forever.”

Jalldrid sighed and nodded. “Understood, we’ll make the delivery as is. I’m going to go file a report of this incident with DRIAS.”

“What?” Jerall suddenly asked sharply.

Jalldrid paused in surprise. “The repairs we put into the ship will be paid by DRIAS since the damage is due to their customer. If I can make a report and submit the claim soon, before we start repairs, we can get the new parts paid by DRIAS.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Jerall said heatedly. Bob looked on curiously, “DRIAS doesn’t need to know about this incident, we’ll pay for the repairs ourselves.”

Jalldrid looked shocked. “What are you saying? This is a clear case; we should get DRIAS to pay for the damages if we can. This shouldn’t be our expense.”

“We can’t bother DRIAS with every little thing,” Jerall said, “again we can’t appear needy to them. Don’t you understand?”

Jalldrid was flabbergasted, but was saved from making a response by Rafel. “Jall,” he said alarmingly, “We have a problem.”

“What now?” he hissed.

Rafel said something that Jerall and Bob couldn’t hear.

“What?” Jalldrid demanded, swooping in over Rafel’s shoulder. The two spoke furiously together.

Bob walked over to Jerall. “Is it your new strategy to appear unshakable to DRIAS in order to garnish favor with them?” He asked lightly.

Jerall looked over to Bob with a scowl. “I suppose so.”

“In that case,” Bob said quietly, “you would still need to report to DRIAS that this case occurred, otherwise they wouldn’t even know of it to know how well Freeline handled it. You can do so without asking for compensation too. Either way, they would want to know something like this happened.”

Jerall grunted in non-reply.

“Captain?” Bob asked quietly.

Jerall paused, and then stood up quickly and said to Bob. “You should go get your burn wrapped up, Bob.” She turned and marched to the two men up front. “What up now?” Bob stayed silent.

Jalldrid whipped around. “Our external communication relay is out. We didn’t catch it before because the systems aren’t connected here at all, but it looks likes and overload surge made its way there and disabled it. It doesn’t look like it can be repaired. I’m sorry captain, but we need to scrap the delivery.”

“No,” Jerall answered resolutely. “We’ll work around it if we have to.”

“We can’t work around this!” Jalldrid answered impatiently, “It will be hard enough to try and land this ship at a repair dock as it is with no communication and our interface gone. It will be impossible with the roto-engine running with the load.” He turned to the comm and barked in it, “Fallin and Roota, prepare to disengage the roto-engine and set up a tracker. Power down the Cyclic rate to .00345.”

“Belay that order,” Jerall cut in forcefully, putting her hand on the comm.

Jalldrid looked up in astonishment, “Captain!”

“We’re completing our delivery, Jalldrid.” Jerall said firmly.

“This has gone beyond trying to appear strong to DRIAS,”Jalldrd answered, truly angry now, “we are in a serious crisis here, Captain! Even DRIAS’s policy in this instance tells us to scrap the mission and set up a tracker on the load! We can’t complete this load without communication.”

“Bob!” Jerall said suddenly turning to him, “Will you be able to communicate with the destination with your headpiece?”

“Yes…” Bob replied slowly.

“You’ll help guide us in, correct?”

“What are you talking about?” Jalldrid spat. Rafel looked up apprehensively.

“We can use the Citizen’s communication equipment,” Jerall said turning to her brother, “with that, we will be able to operate the landing and complete our delivery.”

“What- You can’t-this is Crazy!” Jalldrid seemed unable to put his objections into words, “What are you talking about?!”

“Bob can communicate for us, can’t you see?” Jerall answered, unshakably calm.

“NO!” Jalldrid shouted, stepping up to his sister, “I don’t see it! I don’t see why we should depend on this unknown technology to try to complete this move that has already been compromised. It’s too risky for this. Its fine to end it here, we will get generously compensated by DIRAS for the trouble and repairs! Why are so desperate?”

Jerall looked down at her brother with wide eyes, the smoke and smells slowly drifted through the room. She turned to Bob, “Bob, please go get your headpiece ready, we are making the delivery.”

Jalldrid stared at his sister, aghast. “Why are you doing this, sister?”

Jerall finally snapped, shouting back, “JUST SHUT UP YOU IMBECILE AND DO AS I SAY! WE HAVE TO COMPLETE THIS DELIVERY!”

The bridge became silent after Jerall’s words. Rafel tried to hide behind the terminal he was looking at while the two siblings stared at each other, Jalldrid in disbelief and anger, Jerall in firm stubbornness.

Bob broke the silence. “What do you mean by saying that you have to complete the delivery, Captain?”

Jerall answered back curtly, “This doesn’t concern you, Citizen. You have already decided against joining us.”

“On the contrary,” Bob replied easily, “You are asking ne to be a relay of communication. Before I do such a thing for you, I would like to confirm its actual necessity. Jalldrid is providing us with a perfectly reasonable alternative to your, quite frankly, irresponsible command for completing the mission.”

Jerall didn’t respond and turned away. Bob asked flatly, “Why don’t you tell us what is really in the valahide container, Captain? Lord knows it’s not processed carbonite.”

The ship seemed to become still for a moment. “What is he saying, Sister?” Jalldrid asked dangerously. “What does he mean by not processed carbonite? What is it then?”

Jerall continued to remain silent.

“Come on, Captain,” Bob said coaxingly, “It’s obvious that it is something illegal. The valahide was used to cover up its real contents, but there were many other signs. There was your questionable way you got the move in the first place, and there was also the confusing behavior of the origin agent that now makes sense as they were not a licensed agent of DRIAS. But the most important give away was your refusal to terminate the shipment now and report this incident to DRIAS. This isn’t a DRIAS shipment is it? Jobs taken illegally don’t have any of the safety nets that official moves get and the black market of hauling is unforgiving. So tell us, what really is in the vallahide? Or do you even know?”

A soft gurgling sound came from Jalldrid. Bob looked over at him and he was losing composure. He asked accusingly, his eyes wide in intensity, “Did you take an illegal job, Captain?” Jerall didn’t answer, and Jalldrid suddenly shouted, “ANSWER ME, CAPTAIN!”

“Yes!” Jerall snapped back, “Yes, I did Jalldrid. And no!” she added, turning to Bob, “I have no idea what’s in the vallahide container. It could be carrying imperially offensive contraband for all I care, it doesn’t matter! When you are carrying goods for the black market, you don’t ask what you are hauling!”

“How could you do this Captain?” Jalldrid cried out, “You’ve sold out Freeline Transportation to the ingrel wastes of the undergalaxy! And you’ve put us all at risk for Imperial prosecution!”

“Oh stop with your melodramatic screeching.” Jerall answered cruelly and patronizingly, “It’s never going to get that far.”

“You have no idea what you are doing!” Jalldrid hollered, “Or that you’ve done to us! We were a respectable hauling company and now you’ve dragged it through reactor scum!”

“So we had to get our hands a little dirty, so what? We needed the business!”

“What would father say if he knew…”

“Don’t you dare bring that old fool into this!” Jerall answered, her eyes blazing, “He worked his whole life for the “respectable” industry, and it got him nothing!”

“You’ve betrayed us all!” Jalldrid shouted, deaf to her words, “And most pertinently, you’ve left us in an impossible situation! I don’t suppose this passenger who is actually a citizen came from DRIAS either? Now we are left with no compensation from DRIAS for the damage the passenger did nor any compensation for our inability to make delivery now! How could you do this to us!?”

“I HAD NO CHOICE!” Jerall burst, finally screaming at her brother, “You heard the presentation that Bob gave us. We can try to sweet coat it, but we both know the truth! Freeline is going bankrupt! We hadn’t had a move in weeks and no prediction of any sort was telling me we had anything to look forward to either! I did it for us, I did it for Freeline! We need work to survive, but what happens when there is no work, Jalldrid? I wasn’t about to let Freeline get destroyed just because of the arrogance of a couple citizen families. Freeline means much more to me than that!”

“You… You…” Jalldrid said, his eyes bulging in rage. “If we get caught, our license will be revoked on the spot! What will happen to Freeline then, eh, Sister?”

“Hey!” Bob shouted, clapping his hands loudly to get the siblings attention. “You two will need to figure out this issue between yourselves later. Right now you have a serious problem that needs to be addressed. What are you going to do about the present delivery?” he turned to Jerall, “What will the black market agency, or whatever you call it, going to do if you don’t complete their delivery?”

Jerall bit her lip. “It depends upon what actually happens to the goods.” She answered, “They weren’t clear as to what it was, but it’s definitely important to them. At the least, in the situation where we don’t make the delivery on time, they’ll take huge deductions from our promised pay, deductions that we cannot afford. We need to make delivery, today!”

“What’s worse case?” Bob cut in.

Jerall shrugged, “Worse case is that we lose the goods entirely. It’s the undergalaxy, who knows what they would do to us if the catch us.” She looked up, “We need to make delivery, at whatever the cost Jalldrid. We have to.”

Jalldrid looked back at his sister seething with animosity. “We’ll make the delivery” he said after a moment, “but you’re going to relieve yourself of command, Jerall.”

Jerall scoffed, “What? You’re going to take command, little brother? You don’t have it in you, under what guise will you make your mutiny?”

“You’re not fit to be Captain anymore!” Jalldrid barked. “Will you step down or not?”

Somewhat stung, Jerall answered back after a moment, “Who will you have fly the ship? None of you are qualified to do so.”

“You will obviously. Under me. After all you’ve done, I’m sure your dedication to Freeline won’t end now.”

For an eternal moment, the two stared at each other, their wills clashing. Rafel stared at them, frightened. Finally, Jerall conceded. “The seat’s yours, little brother,” she said, stepping away from it. “I hope you don’t find it too big for you.”

Jalldrid ignored the comment and slammed his hand against the comm, “Crew, this is acting Captain, Jalldrid speaking. As you are already aware, we are in a hard situation. Our interface is destroyed and our communication relay is inoperable. Our best choice would be to drop our load, scrap the mission, and go in for repairs. Unfortunately, that option is unavailable to us. As it is, we will be trying to make delivery with our goods as we are now. I don’t need to tell you that this will take an immense amount of coordination and luck. I’m going to need all of you to dig down deep within yourselves and pull out every scrap of effort you can possibly find in yourselves and put it to use right now. More specific instruction will follow shortly as we plan the delivery. That is all!”

He slammed the comm off again and turned to his sister, “Please get in the pilot’s seat sister and plan our route.” It looked like she was going to object, but after a moment, settled down without a word.

“Rafel!” he snapped, now turning to the mechanic. Rafel’s eyes were full of fear. “Is there anything else you can do up here?” Rafel shook his head wordlessly. “Good, then get down and station yourself on the starboard thruster control. I know that is not a position you are used to, but I need you there, understand? And also, please keep the specifics of what happened here a secret. Got it?”

Rafel nodded curtly and left the bridge down to the lower deck, performing his ritual all the while.

“Citizen!” Jalldrid spoke, turning to Bob at last, “You know what I’m going to ask you, right? Do you think it will work?”

“It should work, if I can get the right programing.” He answered. “But I have a quick and perhaps meaningless question. Do we know or care to know why the passenger citizen was so desperate to not enter this system in the first place?”

Jalldrid frowned, “No to both. Please go get your headpiece, Citizen.”