Third Moon Chemicals: Adventures of a Jump Space Accountant Book 3 by Andrew Moriarty

Author:Andrew Moriarty [Moriarty, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-04T11:00:00+00:00

“Jake, move over so I can key the radio,” Riley said, sliding into the control room.

“Shouldn’t we scan them first?” Jake asked. They had arrived at the rendezvous. He moved to the second console and reconfigured it as a sensor station, then began to study the readings. “Do you have any sensors at all?”

“Telescope and basic radar. The radar isn’t that great.”

“That’s all? No infrared? No radar receivers?”

“Jake, we’re a Free Trader. Sensors cost money. We have what the ship came with.”

“Are you sure that’s your contact for the containers? It’s not a freighter?” Jake asked.

“Yes,” Riley said. “It’s a passenger launch. Big passenger cabin. Space for two containers, single engine, short range.” She switched her radio to the lowest setting. “Sidecar, this is R&R, over.”

“Sidecar here. Awaiting two container swap, over,” a man’s voice said.

“Sidecar, one container swap. Ring Alpha, container five. And we have, uh, passengers for you, over.”

“Only one container. And passengers? We don’t get passengers.”

“We are pretty sure they are yours. There are twenty-one of them.”

“Twenty-one? We’re not expecting any passengers. Where from?”

“One of the containers broke open in transit. There were twenty workers inside.”

“Twenty workers? Inside the container? Wait one.” The man’s voice paused for about a minute. “We’re okay with twenty, but you said twenty-one.”

“We also have a shuttle pilot for you.”

“A shuttle pilot? Why would we need a shuttle pilot?” the man asked.

“To fly a shuttle. I don’t know. She says you sent for her. You can ask her. We’ll be happy to get her off our hands.” Riley smiled at that, then began to type on her board.

“That’s an odd ship to have out in the dark,” Jake said. “With its range and all. Riley, are you sure this is all legit?”

Riley shrugged. “You should have thought of that before you signed up, Jake.” She began to maneuver toward the other ship. Jake noticed how precise she was with the thrusters.

“You have a very delicate touch on the thrusters,” Jake said.

“Fuel costs money,” Riley said. The radio squawked, and Riley switched back. “Sorry, just fixing up the approach. How do you want to transfer the passengers?”

“We’ll come alongside and rig a tube. Stand by for a party coming over. We’ll pick up the shuttle pilot then.”

“Standing by.”

Rick and Nadine crowded into the control room. “What’s the plan, sweetie?” Rick asked Riley.

“They’re going to send a team over to rig a tube for the passengers, and take Nadine off our hands,” Riley said.

Nadine looked at the sensor screen. “Hey, that’s a launch. What’s it doing way out here?” She frowned. “Something is strange. Why do they need all these workers? Why an old launch?” She shook her head and turned to Rick. “Don’t do it, Rick. Don’t let them on your ship. Something is wrong.”

“Why shouldn’t I? We meet up with them every trip. This is the same. They put a crew out, we release the chains, and they swap containers.”

“Rick, I’ve been talking with these GG guys—they expected to be working at a station.

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