Chapter 24

Zeke could see two men sitting at their small, twin-panel console.

For some odd reason, they were wearing blue and cream-cameo military fatigues. They looked as if they had been washed a lot in the past, the very distant past.

Zeke wasn’t sure of their nationalities. One was dominantly Asian in looks but had a dark-brown skin. Otherwise, he was pretty average. The other man looked like a cousin or brother of Armid’s and was just as ugly.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. We have missiles aimed at your ship. If you do not do as I say, we will blow you into atoms.”

“And what is it that you say?”

“We will dock with your hold and relieve you of your cargo. If you comply, you people and your ships will live to fly another day.” He then grinned menacingly.

Well, that was the expression Zeke believed the man was aiming at. Somehow, it just didn’t work, despite the brutish face. A large, bent nose and a long, jagged scar down his right cheek to his jaw indicated he didn’t win all of his fights. It was messier than Armid’s scar.

“By all means, you can try to dock. If you can, then you can access my ship. It is the one on your right. The one painted ochre red like Mars, not the one with red and white stripes.”

The Captain furrowed his brow, “No, we will dock with the second ship.”

“Suit yourself. However, we have already moved most of the cargo to my ship. You will have to lug everything through both ships.”

“No, you will be shifting it to my ship,” he growled.

“Not likely,” Zeke replied and then smiled as if amused, which he was.

“Just prepare to be boarded,” the Captain growled at Zeke. Turning to his sidekick, he barked, “Turn off the comms.”

Zeke watched as Shorty, since he was the shorter of the two, fiddled with something on their panel. However, the comms didn’t cut out, as Freya had already circumvented the feed.

She did cut the feed from her helm to theirs.

Shorty turned to the other man.

“That was weird. That Captain was way too cool and calm, Baraz.”

“He won’t be after I smash his teeth in. My cousin Armid said that he fights dirty, so don’t get too close to him. Once he and his friends empty their ships, we will blow those fuckers up.”

“I wouldn’t have thought there was much to be made collecting space junk,” Shorty said as he went mining for gold in his left nostril. He inspected the nugget and wiped it on his sleeve.

Zeke shuddered; he could only be thankful that Shorty didn’t eat it.

“Idiot, they useta use a lot of gold and other expensive metals in those old satellites and stuff. The red and white freighter has been at it for weeks. That’s why the Boss sent us. That Zeke bastard being here is just a bonus. Though he isn’t in the ship Armid described.”

“Must have traded up. That ship looks awfully new. It’s a design I’ve never seen, either. I heard some scuttle that old Bolts got a new contract. The Boss wants me to apply for a job and work with Pablo to see if we can thieve his parts and stuff.”

“I prefer to do my thieving off station. It can get messy when they think they can call for help. A couple of years back, a guy we did, who owed us money, tried to fight us off. I had to bust him up with a pipe.”

Shorty chuckled as he bent to one side to rip off a fart.

Zeke was back on the helm when Raul and Sofia entered.

“Mute comms, but leave visuals, please, Freya.”

Raul stopped to look at Zeke’s spacious helm. He liked all the walking room around the flight controls, even if he couldn’t work out why it had three stations.

Raul asked, “What’s the emergency?”

Zeke turned to the screen. “Split the screen and show the ship, too, please Freya.”

The screen split. The left half showed Shorty in the control room, and the right displayed the ship behind and below them.

“Apparently, we are to be boarded. I thought you would like to see the show. Look around and then make yourself comfortable while I get coffee. This could take a couple of hours.”

Zeke left them to settle in.

Zeke’s control room was a little different to most.

He had three high-gee chairs in an opposing arc, facing the main screen. Zeke’s chair was central. In front of each chair was one-third of the trapezoid-shaped main instrument display and control panel.

Each section had a long, low-mounted screen. It was angled back for easy viewing and touch control. It could be split into two or three sections. Above them was a thin control panel.

The centre of the panel held the tactical controls, indicators, and smaller digital displays for the auto flight systems. Drives and main engine readouts were to the left. Air pressure for each room, fuel, water, fire alarms, proximity and door alarms were to the right.

Trapezoid-shaped pedestals angled down from the main panel to go on either side of the central chair. The inner halves were for Zeke and the other half for the other two chairs. Skinnier pedestals bracketed the outer chairs to complete the three sets.