"Captain Atreus, I think we have a real problem here," Commander Letés said as he walked onto the bridge.
Commander Swan was also there, the rest of the crew had been confined to quarters while they searched the ship. We were guarded by two armed guards.
I tilted my head as I looked down at him from my pillar. "Did you contact the Xerces corporation, Commander? They are awaiting their cargo delivery."
The brown-haired human nodded and slipped pages on his PAD. "I did. They claimed to have hired your ship to transport agricultural equipment to our system. That is not the problem," he said before looking up at me before he continued. "The problem is the twenty assassin droids in your armory, the five droid fighters in your hangar as well as the heavy ordinance on your ship, Captain."
I blinked and relaxed around the pillar. "Assassin droids, Commander?"
He nodded. "Yes. Armed, repulsor lift droids. Assassin droids are illegal without special permission."
"I find that my mobile security turrets are licensed and registered. Fully legal," I answered as I used just a hint of glamor. Nothing aggressive, just make my feathers look prettier.
Letés frowned. "Security turrets?" he asked and I nodded, pressing a combination of buttons on the pillar, transferring the paperwork to his PAD.
"Indeed. You will find that I also have also transferred the paperwork for escort fighter craft," I said. "Perfectly legal. Which I could have explained before you wasted a day searching my ship."
He frowned at his PAD before he crossed his arms. "And what exactly does a merchant ship need with this kind of heavy ordnance?"
I stared at him for a moment like he was a idiot before I answered him. "Commander, if you knew exactly what we have been through, you would be asking if we wanted more weapons or possibly an escort ship following us around. We are currently carrying a cargo of computer components and agricultural machinery. Do you know how much that is worth?"
The human shook his head so I continued.
"It is just agricultural equipment and computer components... and it is still worth more than your father, you, your son and your future grandson will make in your entire lifetimes. We have had too many close calls with pirates, slavers and other scum for me to take chances with my cargo and my crew. Now, if you would mind finishing your inspection and let us get on with our job? I am already going to pay a penalty for late delivery."
His jaw clenched for a second. "We were informed a pirate ship masquerading as a heavy freighter would enter our system at around the time your ship did. I still believe that is you."
I tilted my head as I looked down on the dustling. That was curious.
"Do you have any proof that we done anything illegal?" I asked him, turning my glamor up slightly but still keeping it low. Every bit help but I don't want anyone to realize I affect their mind, if only a little.
He returned his attention to his PAD for a moment before he let out a frustrated sigh. "No. All we found was a bottle of contraband booze and we have already fined your cargo master for that. Assuming these papers check out... and I will check... You will be free to go. But we are keeping an eye on you," he said before he turned and walked out.
Shifting my wings I traded a glance with Commander Swan before I went back to ignoring the guards and lack of sleep to play a card game against the computer.
Most curious. Somebody tipped them off about us possibly being a pirate ship... a case of mistaken identity or somebody that tries to mess with the company?
As it is, we already lost 20% of the pay for this cargo run. If they delay us enough, we might lose all of it and possibly all future business with that company.
XXXXXXXXXX
"That bantha loving jerk better hope I never meet him in a dark alley," Swan swore as she stalked off the cargo shuttle as it returned to the ship after the last load of computer components was dropped off on the spaceport.
"Who?" I asked as I walked up to her.
The small human that was my second in command basically snarled. "Letés! He delayed us for a day and a half! We lost a good portion of our pay and all future business with Xerces!"
Ouch. We were meant to carry another load from them on the way out of the system. Unless we found something else quickly, we would be deadheading out to a more populated system in search of a new cargo.
I sighed and shook my head. "Perhaps we can renegotiate, give them a better price. A small profit is better than carrying nothing."
Swan growled and shook her head. "No. I already talked to the representative when we unloaded. They already have somebody new for the job. Offered better than our first price as well."
"That was fast," I commented and turned towards the bridge as she walked with me.
She nodded. "Yes. Turned out the Thail Corporation had an Action IV already in orbit. They snatched the job right up."
As we entered the bridge I climbed onto my pillar, thinking for a moment. Convenient for them.
"What do we know about them?" I asked her as she sat down in the navigator's chair before spinning it around to face me.
"Not much. I looked them up on the way back to the ship. They are larger than us, almost a hundred ships, medium freighters and up," Swan said as she crossed her arms, shrugging. "Do you think they had anything to do with our 'delay'?" she then asked.
I tightened around the pillar for the moment before I shook my head. "No. One incident is not a trend, it is a data point. We will see if we run into them more times under strange circumstances."
My second in command grimaced before she nodded. "So where to next?" she asked.
Thinking for a moment I shrugged my wings. "Coruscant. It is always easy to find cargo there. Besides, we are skipping shore leave here so I think the crew will appreciate a nice place to spend a couple of days."
Swan nodded. "Better not stick around longer than needed. I have a feeling Letés are just looking for an excuse," she said with a frown before continuing as Jack wandered onto the bridge. "What about Mon Cala?" she then suggested.
Nope. All my bloody nope.
I shook my head. "I don't think so, Commander. That destination is bad luck."
My communications officer grinned as he dropped into his chair. "Captain, just because we had some bad events when heading towards that system it doesn't mean it is cursed. I heard they have some of the best beaches in the galaxy."
I sighed and flattened my feathers unhappily before I nodded in agreement. I was being a bit silly... besides, while I was not a huge fan of water, my crew was made up by mostly humans, a species that do enjoy the water along with an amphibian Mon Calamari who would like to appreciate seeing her homeworld. Besides, it was a major world, even if it wasn't a city planet so there should be plenty of jobs to be found.
"Well... I suppose we could just as well find a cargo there. Set a course, commander," I finally said as Tel'te walked onto the bridge.
"Course to where?" the blue-skinned twi'lek asked as she sat down into the pilot chair.
"Mon Cala," Commander Swan answered with a smile as she started to calculate the course. "We are getting a vacation with beaches."
Tel'te grinned. "Oooh," and quickly turned her attention to her controls.
An hour later we were approaching the hyper limit and I was relaxing around my pillar, playing a strategy game against the computer.
Suddenly Melton sat up straight and held his earphones tighter to his ears before he spun his chair around to face me with a sheepish look on his face. "Captain... we are getting a distress call on a Jedi frequency."
Cursed. Definitely cursed.
"What exactly are they saying?" I asked after a moment as I closed the hologram down.
"We know them already," He said and flipped a switch to let the message through the bridge speakers instead.
"... eneral distress call. This is Padawan Jinn on board the light transport 'Julies Light'. We are without power and are leaking atmosphere. We have several wounded. Requesting immediate assistance. This is a general distress call..."
On one hand, saving Jinn meant saving Dooku. But on the other hand... leaving them would mean leaving somebody barely past the hatchling stage to choke to death in the void.
"New rule. We never, ever, take a job taking us to Mon Cala," I finally said before I shook my head. "Divert course to the coordinates in the distress call," I ordered before bringing my game back up.
Sometimes it sucks being the good guy.
And I'm starting to wonder how the hell these people survived before I arrived.