Lost Cargo by Noah Chinn

Author:Noah Chinn [Noah Chinn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Noah Chinn
Published: 2023-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

Roy had been invited to meet with the acting commander in his office. And by invited he meant forcibly shoved by two security guards without any kind of request being made. He was pretty sure they’d been ordered to make him as uncomfortable and unwelcomed as possible the whole way, going so far as to give his collar a slight jolt when he scowled at one of them.

He was only a little surprised that they allowed him in the office with Nekkar alone. But then, the former first officer no doubt wanted to demonstrate that he didn’t see Roy as a threat.

“Whatever special arrangements you had with Commander Miram died with her,” he said bluntly. “When time allows, you will be returned to the Terran Colony Fleet and face whatever justice they see fit. In the meantime, you will continue to provide any and all information I ask for pertaining to the lost cargo from the Maruma. Your cooperation will be passed along for consideration at your trial, but that is all. Those were the terms agreed to as written in the Commander’s log, and the only ones I am willing to honour. Is that understood?”

“Did anyone tell you about attracting flies with honey instead of vinegar?” Roy asked. Much as he expected, that remark earned him a shock.

“If you behave childishly, you will be punished accordingly.”

“By punishing me childishly? Yeah, I can see that.” That got him another shock, but it was worth it.

“Is that understood?”

Roy leaned forward on his desk. “You need to feel big by jolting me? Knock your socks off. You want information? I’ll give it to you. You expect me to snap to attention and salute? You might as well blow my head off right now.”

“Don’t tempt me,” said Nekkar.

“Please. You need me, just like Miram did. Now, since I don’t want to be in the same room with you any more than you do, let’s do each other a favour and get down to business. What have you got?”

Nekkar pressed a button on his desk, activating a display. He cycled through a series of still images, some partially corrupted. They showed the interior of the Maruma, and either one or two people walking inside it.

“As we expected, the main computer’s memory was thoroughly wiped. This is all we were able to salvage from the individual cameras. Anyone here look familiar?”

Roy studied the images. One was of a woman floating down the corridor with the gravity off, using her wings to manoeuvre. She was Elysian, like the captain, but the lights were low so he couldn’t get a good look at her features.

“She was the last aboard,” said Nekkar.

“Sorry, not ringing any bells.”

The other images were more well lit and showed two people in the corridor. One was a Terran woman, the other a man in a mask. A green and red old Earth wrestling mask.

Seeing that had been such a surprise, he wasn’t able to hide his reaction. Even Nekkar could pick up on the body language.

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