Profits from Prophets, Part 3
29 May 2016Michael Wolfe
“The hell do you mean you didn’t rig for silent running?!”Kyndi was alternating between chewing my ass and attempting to reason with the wing of three Utopian Enforcers that were escorting us to Tanner Settlement. She couldn’t outrun them- they were Vipers, and she couldn’t outshoot them- they were Vipers.
I shook my head and held up my hands in a gesture of annoyance. “Because I’m in the habit of docking like a normal pilot? Besides, how the hell was I supposed to know you had a cargo hold full of onionhead?”
My partner didn’t answer, only holding up a single, angry finger at me as she turned back to the comms.
“I keep telling you guys, you’ve got it all wrong! I just bought this ship, and I’m delivering grain, not drugs! Your scanners must be detecting the leftovers of whatever the previous owner had stashed! It’s not my fault I picked it up for so cheap!”
One of the Utopian Vipers descended right in front of the canopy, deploying its weapons in a show of intimidation.
“Faulcon Kappa Mu, your ship and your voice are an exact match in our registry. You’re not fooling anyone. Now slow to sixty-five and proceed to pad fourteen- now.”
With a sweep of her hand, Kyndi killed the comm and grudgingly changed course. Glancing at me, her expression hardened into a scowl.
“I said that places like this pay through the roof for anything illegal. You didn’t really think that I’d make the trip without a little up-front profit, did you? What kind of a partner are you?”
I returned her scowl with a scoff of my own. “Right now, I ain’t sure what to goddamn think. You spent the first six hours of the job passed out in your bunk and neglected to even mention that we were ridin’ dirty- so what kind of partner does that make you?”
Kyndi’s expression changed from annoyance to pure contempt. “The kind of partner who was stupid enough to think that you’d be on the level. You’ve already cost me-” her head glanced to the screen to her right- “over sixty k! And that’s if they just let me pay the fine. Who the hell knows what kind of ‘re-education’ someone like me might be in for?!”
For the rest of the story, click here!