Terran Incognito by J.S. Morin

Author:J.S. Morin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643553764
Publisher: Magical Scrivener Press

Captain Blackhorse accepted the comm from her personal quarters. Her predecessor had left the screen angled so that it caught a glimpse of her private dining table. She’d rearranged things such that meals took place in actual privacy, and the background of her comms showed off a pair of commendations and an ancient azrin hunting axe she found particularly apropos.

“Mr. Jopok,” she greeted the laaku businessman with a curt nod. “I trust you saw fit to contact me with good news.”

The laaku smirked. “A bird in the brig is worth two in the station.”

This already sounded promising. “You’ve captured one of the Ramseys?”

“So far,” Jopok replied casually, with a languid swagger as the camera panned to follow him browsing a cheese bar in his suite aboard Echo Niner. Much as she enjoyed the benefits of command, Captain Blackhorse found herself envying the offhanded luxury on display. “I expect to round up the other soon enough. Siblings… they’ve got a sort of magnetic pull. Know what I mean?”

“Of course,” the captain lied. She was the youngest of four children but hardly knew her siblings the way Jopok implied. The youngest of the bunch was still twelve years her senior. Lucy had been the flower girl at her eldest sister’s wedding—to a man she’d met in law school. “How soon?”

Jopok popped a morsel of moldy cheese into his mouth, pausing to savor it with his eyes shut. After letting out a sigh of ecstasy, he replied, “It’s not on a schedule. But it’ll happen. First, though, I want to lay out a few conditions of my own.”

“You’ll receive your reward at a digital account of your choosing as soon as I have the prisoners in custody aboard my vessel.”

The Admiralty always hated dealing with these sorts of matters. They’d backed her play, but there were protocols. No one was venturing aboard that station with a suitcase full of hardcoin, and the concept of failing to make good on the bounty never seemed to cross a single admiral’s mind. Those terras were as good as paid—once Jopok delivered. But the laaku would be paid on her terms, not his.

Instead of balking, the laaku simply waved off her concern. “Keep your terras.”

That news perked Captain Blackhorse up instantly. This whole mission was political from both ends. Accomplishing it would earn her kudos and get her name spoken back on Earth. If those conversations didn’t have to include a distasteful caveat about how much she’d paid to secure the Ramseys, all the better. Admiral Purcell certainly wouldn’t object to finding the prisoners came without a quarter-million-terra price tag.

“Always good to know that there are still patriots out there who remember the cooperation of the ARGO era. If you should ever decide to ally yourselves with—”

“Can the speech. I want something better than terras.”

Oh. Naturally. Far be it from a laaku to express gratitude for the good old days of interspecies cooperation to thwart threats to galactic safety.

“I hope you don’t think you have room to bargain, Mr.

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