(Note #1: All comments and constructive criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

Note #2: Those of you wishing for a quick story to wank to will want to look elsewhere. Although chapter  7 and chapters 9 to 12 of this story featured the characters fooling around, the next few chapters won’t see anybody getting their freak on. If you want to skip ahead, the sexual shenanigans will commence again in Chapter 16.

Note #3: Steve Rayner drew the picture of Sal. The first and last pictures were created by the Imagineart AI Art Generator while thre third picture was created by the Perchance AI Art Generator.

Note #4: And finally, thanks to volunteer Literotica editor TheNyxianLily for her help with editing.)

Celebration filled the Ravenfang’s cockpit as all three spacers embraced the end of their perilous journey. Calley and Sal leapt into each other’s arms. Alezanna, for her part, was a little more focused on her current task. She was still sitting at her station and examining the sensor data as both her shipmates, making sure to include her in their celebrating, took turns kissing the Bellixan on the top of her head.

“The planet ahead isn’t Rangxu, obviously,” she declared. “Rangxu itself is on the other side of the system. About one and a half B-klicks out. With half our Lo-Vels offline, maybe three hours away. If you decide to fire up the damaged ones too, we can. We might get there a little faster, but probably not much. Honestly, if we’re not in a time crunch, I’d recommend we just use the bottom ones and leave the damaged ones be until tomorrow.”

“Fine by me,” the captain acknowledged. “No sense risking an engine blow-out when we’re not in any great hurry. If we limp in at half-speed, that’s fast enough for my tastes.”

He returned to the pilot’s chair and activated the Lo-Vel engines on the underside of the Ravenfang. The ship started moving forward towards its destination. “Let Rangxu know we’re on our way and give ‘em the position of that asteroid collision in Tayoel. Hopefully, we can prevent anybody else flying into that mess. Calley, patch into the holo-net and make sure we’re good to avoid medical quarantines.”

“Already on it,” the medtech informed him. “Looks like nothing out of the ordinary. Well, except there’s a higher instance of venereal diseases than I’m used to seeing. You said this place was a major trade hub, right?”

“It is,” Collondo confirmed. “Lots of spacers blowing their pay at the brothels after long runs in space. Guess the local fleshpits aren’t up to the high standards in other systems. Ladies, I expect not to find you hanging around those places. Though not out of any moral objections. More ‘cause we just can’t afford it.”

“No worries on that front,” Alezanna assured him. “I’m going to be busy showing the best navigator in the galaxy how much I’m grateful for his expertise tonight. What do you think Calley? Should we double-team our resident genius to show him our appreciation?”

Calley turned her chair to face the Bellixan and said, “For calculating a planet’s position from three sectors away? Manually, and getting us this close to it? Yeah, I think that’s worth some special attention. I’ll let you take the lead on that but whatever you want me to do to him, I’m game.”

Sal smiled and told them, “Well, far be it for me to dampen that kinda enthusiasm. But if I’m gonna be passed around like that, I might need those pills you were discussing earlier, Calley.”

The Gynapsi snickered as she returned to examining her readouts. “How’s the ship handling?” she asked him.

“Not so bad. Even with some thrusters out, she’s manageable. Dunno how comfortable I’d be flying her near anything with its own gravity well. But in space, at half speed, she’s not a problem. Come to think of it…”

His words trailed off as he entered some data into a console at his station. That done, he turned his seat towards the cockpit door and got up. He told Calley, “I entered a short course you can follow while I go get dressed. Take the controls. Being away from anything while flying slow is a great chance for you to get some time at the controls. I’ll be back when I remember where I put my pants.”

Calley took his seat and, for the first time, controlled the ship’s path. In all her time on the Ravenfang, she’d only been at the controls when the ship was flying at Hi-Vel speeds. In those cases, it was the computer steering the ship, not the pilot. Sal was correct in his assessment that it wasn’t hard to stay on the course he’d entered, but it was still something she had to actively pay attention to.

When he returned, he was wearing a sleek, blood-red shirt along with a pair of black pants. He’d replaced his slippers with a nice pair of black spacer boots. It was a different look than his usual loud shirts and Calley commented, “Looking good, captain! But what about appearing destitute for the sake of our buyers?”

“No need today. The price was set when I agreed to deliver the cargo. I only dress down when we’re carrying something with no set buyer. And since it’ll be a while before I get ready to set up another run, no need to look bad on that score either. Maybe I’ll dress differently when we start shopping for parts, but that’ll be tomorrow. For today, I thought I’d look nice for my ladies. Alez, why don’t you go get dressed now while I contact our buyer and see about getting our dock changed to someplace in orbit instead of on the planet?”

The tall woman left her seat and went off to get changed while the captain got on the comms. He requested to be put through to Margraite Madzen. It took about ten minutes before a voice announced Governor Madzen would be on the line shortly.

“Governor Madzen?” Sal asked aloud. “That can’t be right.”

Before he could get back online to whomever he’d been speaking to, a booming female voice erupted from the comm station’s speakers. “Collondo!” it cried out. “I oughtta have ya arrested, ya pirate!”

“Is the volume on the speakers too high?” Calley asked him before he turned his headset’s microphone on and her voice might be picked up.

“No, she always sounds like that,” Sal answered before turning the microphone on. “Margie! Always nice to hear the dulcet tones of your voice.”

“I’ll shove my dulcet boot up your crooked ass, ya bastard!” the angry woman threatened. “You were supposed to be here three days ago!”

“I ran into some trouble in the Tayoel system. Got delayed. But I’m still in the delivery window we agreed on. The tail end of it, maybe, but I’m not in breech of our agreement.”

“Maybe not, but that cuts both ways. If we’re sticking to the letter of the contract, that means we stick with the price we agreed on. No renegotiating!”

“I take it our cargo’s value went up after we came to our agreement,” he stated. Calley suspected he hadn’t phrased it as a question because he’d already guessed the answer. Otherwise, this lady wouldn’t be so adamant about not changing its price.

“Ya take it right.” the woman confirmed. “But ya better not expect a microcred more than—”

Sal cut her off with, “I don’t renegotiate, Margie. I know it’s been a while so maybe you think I’ve changed that policy. But it’s still the same. And so’s the price of the cargo. You’ll give me what we agreed on and that’ll be that. Unless you’d like to save some starcred by doing me a favour or two.”

“Ha!” the voice exclaimed happily. “That’s the Sal Collondo I remember! Always looking to make a deal or two. And you’re right, I do remember how ya feel about renegotiating a deal. The wall at Stoney’s bar still has the burn mark where you vaporized that clown that drew on you. He shoudda just paid us what he was supposed to. So what are ya offering me, Sal?”

“Well, first of all, I need to change where you pick up the gerazin plating. I assume you’ve got docking space somewhere in the orbital bases?”

“Sure, that’s not a problem. We said you’d deliver it to my place on-planet but I don’t think the contract actually specified it. So switching it over is okay with me if it’s better for ya. And judging by the state of your ship, I’d say it’s definitely better for ya.”

“How did you…” he wondered aloud before remembering “Oh, right, you’re the governor now. I guess you have access to the planet’s long-range-sensors.”

“That I do. And I see ya reported an asteroid collision in the Tayoel system. From the looks of the Ravenfang, I’d congratulate ya on managing to hit every one of those rocks. Seriously, did ya miss any or was it a clean sweep?”

“Right,” Sal said as Calley recognized that his tone of voice had shifted. He was negotiating a new deal with Governor Madzen now. Whatever their past relationship was, the medtech knew the captain was going to fight for every scrap of starcred. “So, since the change of docking venue to your orbital berth doesn’t contradict anything in our contract, I’m assuming it won’t cost me.”

“Be careful about assumptions,” the woman warned him. She may not be shouting threats as she was before, but Calley could tell the governor had steeled herself into a harder mindset to negotiate as well. The Gynapsi thanked the Gods Sal took care of this aspect of their business. She didn’t think her nerves could handle the high-stakes posturing it required.

“How about we write off the venue change in exchange for future goodwill?” Sal suggested.

“I can live with that. Now, you’re gonna need to overhaul that crate of yours, from the looks of her. You’ll be needing to stay a while while you do that, am I right?”

“You are. How much are you gonna fleece me to stay in your docking bay?”

“Fleece you?” the governor asked in a tone of mock offense. “How can you accuse me of that when I’m gonna save ya a fortune in repair costs. I hafta buy engine parts in bulk to keep my fleet up and running.”

“Your commercial interests or the system militia?”

“Both. So I get a bulk discount from my suppliers. Your requests for parts go through me and my savings get passed on to you. That’ll make my docking fees seem way more reasonable.”

Sal considered it for an instant and told her “Well, seems to me like it’s a conflict of interest between your business and government positions. But if it saves me starcred, I’ll keep my mouth shut about it.”

“Yeah, about that, we’ll hafta justify our arrangement. Maybe ya do a job or two for me when your ship gets underway again. Or better yet, ya tangle with any pirates lately?”

“You know how it is with pirates. Had a dust-up with some a few sub-cycles back,” he informed her as Alezanna returned to the cockpit wearing a simple but exquisite cool grey dress. She took a seat at Calley’s usual station to allow Sal to continue his conversation and let Calley keep flying the ship.

Madzen said, “And I see you’re still registered with the Mercenaries’ guild. Perfect. When ya shot those jerks, and with your guns I know you hadta shoot a few, turns out you were acting under orders of the Rangxu System Defense Forces. We’ll fudge your enlistment date so it’s backdated to whenever we need it to be.”

“We’re not talking on an open comm line, are we,” Sal said without, again, really phrasing it as a question. The answer was too obvious.

“Fuck no! Ya think I’d be talking about this when anybody could hear me? No fuckin’ way! We’re on a scrambled line, dummy.”

“Good to know. The Rangxu government sounds corrupt as the seven Hells. Makes me proud to be part of it, Madam Governor.”

The woman let out a roaring laugh. “Ah Sal, I missed ya! You should’ve stuck with me back when I was still running my ops. You’d be an admiral in my navy by now instead of running cargo and smashing into asteroids. I got a sweet deal going here. But let’s get something straight. I might make starcred on the side, but my government’s been damn good for Rangxu. Under my administration, we’ve eliminated pirate attacks. Used to be ya’d have to keep your shields up until ya docked when ya came here. Now, nobody’s fired a shot at a ship in-system for going on two cycles now. The economy’s booming. We got twenty-one commercial stations in close and far orbit. People come here to make and spend their starcred and we keep ‘em safe and happy while they do it. As a result, I got the highest approval rating of any governor in the planet’s history. If the Prophet Himself showed up and ran against me in an election, I’d whup his ass!”

“And that’s the Margie I remember,” Sal said with a laugh of his own. “Boastful and sacrilegious all in the same breath. So when’d you decide to become governor anyway?”

“Well, I got here five cycles ago, give or take. The previous idiot was doing a shitty job dealing with tariffs and pirates. He’d hired my outfit to keep the traffic safe, but his military advisors kept sticking their noses in my business. Bunch of morons who couldn’t find their own asses with both hands and a nav-computer. I decided to ignore ‘em and do things my way. Got results. Then decided to use the public support I had to take the governor’s job. Beats getting shot at. One election win later and I’m running the government.”

“You always were an ambitious woman, Margie. Not surprised to hear you’ve got things settled down over there. Not to mention how you run a tight operation.”

“You’re Godsdamn right I do! But the new job really ain’t that hard. You just gotta know how ta delegate. Hire good people and ya get good results. All I gotta do is check in on ‘em once in a while to let ‘em know I’m still in charge. But aside from that, it’s all meetings and banquets and trade negotiations. I might let ya sit in on one of those. Ya’d get a kick out of it. And the Gods know I could use ya negotiating an agreement. Yeah, that’s an idea. If ya wanted to apply that cutthroat nature o’ yours to my benefit with a couple of stubborn diplomats I’m dealing with, that’d be worth more starcred to me than docking fees.”

Sal looked over at his two crewmates with a look of undisguised interest in his eyes. “I dunno Margie. My services don’t come cheap. You’d really have to make it worth my while.”

“Don’t act like you’re not drooling all over the idea, Sal Collondo!” the politician chided him. “Don’t forget that I know ya. And judging by the state your ship’s in, you’re gonna need starcred to fix it up. I’m offering ya an honest way to make it. And ya know damn well ya’ll have fun doing it.”

Sal saw Alezanna shrug at him so he told the woman on the other end of the comm line, “Okay Margie, you’ve got me interested. Let me get my ship settled down in a good spot and we can meet to discuss the particulars.”

“A smart man makes a smart decision. One thing though. Ya still dressing in those Godsawful shirts? I can’t have somebody representing me looking like that.”

Both Alezanna and Calley chuckled as Sal glared at them. “Don’t worry about it,” he told Madzen. “I clean up nice nowadays. You invite me into a diplomatic function and I won’t look out of place.”

“Ya better not. Though I’m not one to talk. I hafta wear my military uniform to every gala and conference I attend ‘cause nobody around here can figure out how to make a Vottonian look good in a dress.”

At that, Alezanna suddenly stiffened up and tapped Sal on his shoulder to get his attention. She pointed at his headset and silently indicated she wanted it.

“Just a sec, Margie. My first mate wants a word,” he told the governor before handing the headset to the Bellixan.

“Talk to your crew on your own time, Sal!” Madzen said in a slightly annoyed tone. “I’m taking time off my busy schedule to talk to ya.”

“You misunderstand, Madam Governor,” Alezanna spoke into the headset. “It’s you I want to speak to. My name is Alezanna Verrazo, of the Verrazos of Bellixa. If you’re looking for a good dress, I can certainly make one for you.”

“A Verrazo?” the governor said incredulously. “On Sal’s ship? Sure, and I’m the High Seer of Ravona.”

“I assure you I am who I say I am,” Alezanna said as she shooed the captain away from her station. “You can verify my credentials with my family on Bellixa. While you do that, I’m going to send you some samples of my work. I think you’ll agree they’re very interesting.”

The Bellixan’s slender fingers danced across the controls as she beamed images of her dresses to the politician. “Sweet Prophet’s breath!” Madzen exclaimed. “Ya got a talent, girl! I’ll admit, these are pretty damn nice. Trouble is, I ain’t got no delicate Bellixan figure on me. We Vottonians are built real different.”

Alezanna put her hand on the headset’s microphone to prevent it from picking up her voice. She turned to Calley and asked, “Do you mind if I—”

“Do it,” the younger woman agreed before her friend could finish the question. If Alezanna wanted to send a holoscan of Calley in her red and turquoise dress to the governor, the medtech had no objection.

“I work with many different races,” Alezanna said to the politician as she sent the holoscan.. “As you can see. And while I’ve never made a dress for a Vottonian, I’ve never met any woman with a body I couldn’t dress beautifully. Let me design something for you and I guarantee you’ll be happy with the results.”

“Hmmm…” the voice on the comm channel said as Madzen looked over the new holoscan. “Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting this when I called your captain today. Tell ya what, girlie. I’ll head over later today when ya get your ship settled in my dock and we can discuss your ideas for me. If I like what I hear, you, me and Sal can discuss who’ll owe who and how much. In the meantime, I gotta talk to some people  ‘bout some state business so I can’t stay on the line with you greedy spacers all day. Make sure Sal looks presentable when I show up or all deals are off.”

With that, the comm line went silent. There was a pause as each of the three crewmembers took in all that had just been discussed.

“Sorry for jumping in on your conversation,” Alezanna told Sal, “but I sensed an opportunity and had to seize it.”

“Good instinct,” the captain complimented her. “And no worries about interrupting me. I didn’t wanna negotiate too much with her over the line when we’ll see her later on anyway. Kinda surprized you decided to use the family name after all this time. This gonna be a permanent thing?”

“I’m not sure. Right now, my name is worth starcred, and we’ll need starcred to get the Ravenfang back in shape. So for the time being, I might as well use my name. If I ever get another price on my head, I’ll reconsider. But since the family has no objections and nobody’s after me as far as I know, I might as well take advantage of the family prestige.”

“Speaking of which,” Calley interjected, “what’s the governor gonna get when she looks up your credentials?”

“That’s a good question,” the dark-haired woman said pensively. “I used to be a prodigy in the business, but that was over thirty cycles ago. I wasn’t lying when I said I worked with many different races. That set me apart from most of my peers back then. There should still be examples of my designs in the house archives. But then again, styles will have changed a lot since then. I hope the governor doesn’t think my work is outdated.”

From Calley’s usual station, Sal reassured her, “Don’t worry about it. Margie’s not exactly a dedicated follower of fashion. If your clothes look good, she’ll appreciate it on that level and nothing else. I never knew her to really care about how she dressed but I guess politics may have changed her outlook there.”

“How do you know this woman?” Calley asked the captain.

“She and I go way back. When I got the ship her guns, Margie was dealing with the same armorer. She was looking to sneak her band of mercenaries onto a planet I was heading to. I helped her out since they were looking to take down a local tyrant who I didn’t like one bit. I helped her out a few times after that. Not the most profitable runs though. That’s why, despite becoming friends with her, I couldn’t really work for her long-term. And transporting mercenaries gets you shot at more times than I’m comfortable with.”

“Did you really shoot a guy in a bar like she said?” the young spacer asked him.

“Had to. He went for his gun when Margie told him how much he owed us both for a job we’d done. Not sure which of us he was intending to murder. Maybe the two of us, for all I know. Well, doesn’t matter in the end ‘cause I didn’t give him a chance to do it. Luckily for us, he had business partners we were able to track down so we got the starcred we deserved in the end.”

“You know, for a guy who claims to be a bad shot, you sure seem to have blasted quite a few people.” the medtech observed.

“I am a bad shot. The people who draw on me just tend to be close by when they try it, that’s all. I’ve got a pilot’s reflexes, so I’m a fast draw and I can hit a person from a few meters away, sure. But from across a room or further? Not so much. If somebody on a rooftop decided to aim a rifle at me, I’d be dead. And that’s exactly the sort of thing that worried me about working for Margraite Madzen. Back then anyway. If she’s in politics now, it’s a different sort of danger. But if it can get us the starcred we need to fix up the ship, I’m willing to risk it.”

“From the sounds of her, I’m not sure if it’s her or her enemies we’ll have to worry about,” Alezanna opined.

Sal chuckled and observed, “Yeah, she’s an acquired taste but a good friend to have when you’re in a jam. Tough woman. Grew up a slave and choked her owner to death before getting off-planet. Don’t bring that up unless she mentions it first, and she just might. She used to have a price on her head just like you did, pet. So you have that in common and she might bond with you over it. And I guarantee you that she was looking up who you were while the two of you were talking. She’s shrewd. Tactically brilliant. If she barricaded herself in a house and armed herself with a toothpick, it’d take a battalion of soldiers to get her outta there. Genius with logistics. And most important, crazy loyal. She’d walk through all seven levels of Hell for her people and they’d do the same for her. If you impress her with that dress Alez, you’ll do a lot more than solve some of our starcred problems.”

“If she’s a woman, I can make her look good,” the raven-haired noblewoman promised. “Don’t worry about that. I can definitely hold up my end of the bargain. But speaking of bargains, you better make sure she knows the value of a Verrazo design.”

“You know damn well I will! Between your dressmaking and my negotiation services being put to work for her, we may come outta this overhaul losing very little besides our time and effort. With a little luck, we might even come out ahead in the end.” He turned to Calley before adding, “The bad news is, you’ll have to handle the repairs solo for a while until Alez and I finish up our work for hire.”

The younger spacer told her shipmates, “Not a problem. The comms still need a lot of work and power systems too. I’m gonna be busy with just those for at least a week or two. It’s the other stuff that worries me. The Lo-Vels, the guns, the thrusters. All that is way beyond my skills.”

Alezanna told her, “I’ll make sure I’m finished with the governor’s dress before you have to start that by yourself. If worse comes to worse, you can take the plating off the Lo-Vels and spend a day or two picking out the rock fragments. Or maybe you can do that, Sal. It’ll be a break from welding armour plating onto the hull.”

“Shame we’re delivering that gerazin plating to Margie,” Sal mused. “I’ll bet you the price of that dress she tries to sell it back to me at a profit.”

“We might consider paying for it anyway,” the mechanic suggested. “And on the subject of things we’ll be buying, we’re missing a communications mast now. It’s not a real problem when talking to people in-system, as we’ve seen today. But when it comes to reaching those further away, we’ve lost range. Are we going to replace that mast?”

“I think we should,” Collondo stated. “We won’t need it to find a good job around here. But a lot of our best runs came from buying something from a remote port and taking it to a market beyond the local systems. I can’t set that up without good range on our comms. So unless either of you objects…”

Both the women shook their heads and Calley threw in, “It takes starcred to make starcred, as my people always say.”

“All right then, it’s settled,” Sal announced before a beep from Alezanna’s station caught everyone’s attention. She flipped a switch on the instrument panel and a male voice said, “Attention Ravenfang. This is Lieutenant Balrose. My wing’s been ordered to escort your ship to Command One. We’ll be pulling alongside in a minute.”

Alezanna put the headset she’d removed back on her head to answer, “Understood Lieutenant. My sensors show four Warden-class fighters approaching. I hope that’s you.”

“Affirmative, ma’am,” the officer confirmed. “We’ll match your speed as soon as we get there.”

Sal rose from the port station seat and silently gestured to Alezanna’s headset. She passed it over to him so he could tell the Rangxu pilot, “Lieutenant, Captain Sal Collondo speaking. Will you be able to keep up with us? I know your engines aren’t designed to fly so slow.”

“You’re correct, Ambassador Collondo,” the lieutenant agreed. His use of the title ‘Ambassador’ surprised the three Ravenfang spacers. “If we were flying in a gravity well, I don’t think we could maintain a slow speed like yours. But our course’ll keep us in open space until you dock.”

“Good to know,” the captain (and apparently newly-promoted diplomat) acknowledged as he flicked two of the switches to reveal the topside blaster cannons. “Hey, since you’re out there, take a look at my topside guns. My crew wasn’t able to assess if they were damaged when we ran into trouble.”

The crew saw the approaching fighters out the canopy. The two lead ships had spotlights activated to help inspect the freighter. “Mitchewl, take a look at the port cannons,” the crew heard Balrose order a subordinate. “Starboard cannons look banged up, Ambassador. And judging from the sparks coming off the nearby power conduits, I’d say they’re not getting any power either. Definite puncture marks on the barrels. Even if they were powered up, I’d advise against firing them.”

“Portside cannons also unpowered, sir,” came another voice over the cockpit speakers. “Don’t look damaged though. You could probably use ‘em if they were juiced up.”

“Acknowledged. Thank you, gentlemen,” the ambassador told them before handing the headset back to Alezanna. She closed the comm line.

“Yeah, about what I expected, Ambassador,” the mechanic said.

“Guess Margie’s serious about using me to negotiate some deals,” Sal assessed as he flipped the switches to return the cannon to their hidden state.

“Maybe she’ll make me Minister of Fashion if she likes what I make for her,” the Bellixan hoped aloud.

“There’s no such position, pet.”

“There is on Bellixa. But on that point, you look fine for a transport captain, but as an ambassador, you’re under-dressed. Might I suggest…”

“The hoity-toity outfit?”

“The hoity-toity outfit.” she confirmed. She then turned her attention to Calley and told her, “For your part, the governor’s already seen you in your fancy dress so there’s no point in you putting it on for today. Gods, I wish I’d had time to make you some other outfits. For now, I think the purple blouse and your white pants might do. And the light blue neckerchief.”

“You have her wardrobe memorized?” Sal asked incredulously.

“Hers, mine, even yours. Though the latter I wish I could forget. It gives me nightmares sometimes.”

“Gods, I’m getting it from all sides today!” Sal said as he headed out the cockpit entrance to go get changed for the second time in the last hour. Calley likewise left the cockpit to go get dressed, leaving the ship’s controls to Alezanna.

When she got to the bedroom, Calley saw Sal removing his pants in front of the armoire. She slipped off her robe and hung it up as her lover stepped aside to give her room. She chose the clothes Alezanna had suggested along with a pair of red socks and put them on. The socks wouldn’t be seen as she put her best pair of black boots on to complete her ensemble. Meanwhile, Sal had put away everything he was wearing save for his boxer shorts and socks. He put on a white shirt with loose sleeves that ended in tight cuffs. Next, he stepped into a pair of sleek black pants with a silver stripe going down the side of each leg. And then he took a purple vest Calley had never seen out of the armoire and threw it on. Calley stepped over to him to button up the vest and told him “Looking snazzy, boss.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” he told her as his right hand slipped behind her and he gave her buttock a squeeze.

“Behave!” she admonished him. “We still have to go back to the cockpit for inspection.”

He chuckled but removed his hand. With his vest done up, he reached to the bottom of the storage unit to grab a pair of shiny black shoes she’d never seen him wear. After he put them on, she returned to the cockpit while Sal went off to groom his hair and moustache. When he reappeared, Alezanna looked them over and deemed them both adequately dressed to meet the head of the star system. Her verdict delivered, the trio all took their normal stations again.

The rest of the trip passed without incident. The spacers saw more and more other ships as they made their way deeper into the system. Calley realized that neither Sal nor Governor Madzen had exaggerated what a bustling centre of trade Rangxu was. In all her years travelling through space, she’d never seen so much ship traffic around any group of planets. Were it not for the military escort flying them in, she knew the Ravenfang would have spent hours navigating the planet’s approach lanes. The space around them was filled with ships of every size and function she could think of. Sal pointed out some interesting ones they passed by, including a long solar sail cruiser, the first such ship she’d ever seen. She also saw a myriad of tugs, shuttles, yachts, starliners and cargo haulers both great and small. And all made way for their broken-down ship.

“I could get used to being treated like this,” Calley observed.

“I know we’re planning on settling down on a farm someday,” Alezanna told Sal, “but if you wanted to retire here instead, I suppose I could be convinced.”

Sal chuckled as he told them both, “Don’t get too caught up in the luxury. We’re still working spacers in the end. We might rub shoulders with the upper crust of Rangxu society but when it’s all said and done, it’s just another port on just another planet. And let me remind you we’re dipping our toes into political waters here. Hard to stay clean when you’re doing that.”

“Whatever you say, Ambassador,” the Bellixan chided him. “But at least let me and Calley get a nice manicure before we leave this place behind.”

The Ravenfang approached a large space station the crew had to assume was the Command One base Lieutenant Balrose had mentioned earlier. The officer contacted the ship to advise that he was handing it off to the station and to wish the crew happy journeys. The station then hailed the ship and advised they were ready to tractor it into it’s assigned berth. Sal, however, told the station he preferred to fly the ship there under it’s own power and to simply direct them to their spot.

“I’m pretty sure they weren’t gonna charge us for the tractor beam, Master,” Alezanna ventured.

“It’s not about starcred, pet. It’s about my pride. In all the cycles I’ve owned this ship, I’ve never asked for help flying or landing her anywhere. I’m not about to start now.”

Calley was a little apprehensive as Sal flew the Ravenfang through the magnetic ring for incoming spacecraft. Once through it, the ship shuddered as it found itself affected by gravity for the first time since the asteroid collision. As the damaged thrusters struggled to keep the ship aloft, a grinding noise could be heard coming from various points around it. The Gynapsi looked over her displays and found the ship’s functional thrusters were getting the power they needed, so there wasn’t much she could do to make the ride smoother.

Sal sensed the tension in the cockpit and told his crew, “Don’t worry, ladies. I’ve got this. Just took me a second to adjust. It’ll all be over in a minute.”

True to his word, he set the ship down on its assigned landing platform before that minute had passed. The three members of the ship’s crew all breathed a sigh of relief when the freighter touched down. Having been inside the ship for far too long, the spacers went outside to take a look around. Calley met the station harbourmaster and presented the trio’s latest bio-scans and the ship’s cargo manifest to the official. Meanwhile, Alezanna pointed out various damaged sections of the ship to Sal. Calley was glad thet their journey was finally over and the ship was safe and sound. All that was left to do was wait for the governor to arrive and see what resulted from her visit.

NEXT CHAPTER: Calley meets the governor.