The Z Team: A Sci-fi Thriller | Books 1-2

Chapter 2: Pub Talk

"Mutiny is not to be taken lightly, Henrik," Rosalie said, cradling a frosted mug.

"You think I don't know that?" Henrik replied. "But Dash has really screwed us over in coming here. Something needs to change before our livelihoods are destroyed, or worse, someone gets hurt." The chief engineer drained the last of his beer. He set the empty mug on the strip of recycled freighter hull serving as the pub countertop, trying to think about something else other than punching his captain in the face. It was a daunting task given their heated argument after the confrontation with the Terminus dockmaster an hour earlier.

"You can bet on that," added Brock. The technician's big hands almost wrapped fully around his mug. The pale skin held a brackish hue, as if colored by a perpetual lubricant stain.

"I don't think we should be talking about this in public," Draug said. Its heavily lidded eyes swept around the pub like Dash himself might be listening in nearby. Seeing they were still in the clear, Draug gulped half its mug. Its brownish skin seemingly flushed a shade pinker with each drink.

"Relax. It's hauler talk. It's not like he hasn't brought up mutiny before," Rosalie said. She polished off her fourth mug like it was a glass of water. Brock grunted in appreciation.

Henrik slapped a hand on the countertop, startling Draug. "I mean it this time!" Try as he might, he couldn't flush from his mind the events of the past day. Not with his temper already in a constant state of redline. It came to a head almost a cycle ago, when Dash had the audacity to critique the quality of Henrik's maneuvering thruster calibrations. This coming from the man who couldn't even be bothered to buy the correct parts for any of the repair work.

Nothing was ever good enough for Dash. He reminded Henrik of the head engineers at the merchant academy. Salty old cranks who rode everyone hard. The only explanation was Dash had to be jealous of Henrik's academy education, while Dash somehow managed to con his way into getting his own ship.

Given all that, Dash's surprise announcement was doomed from the start. Out of nowhere, he tells the crew the Stardancer is heading to a corporate mining station to pick up some medtech and take on a contract as a debt payment to his old captain, Boran. Besides taking on a crew member they couldn't afford to pay, the ship was "randomly" inspected upon docking and slammed with safety violation fines for violation of newly-enacted Commonwealth commercial operational standards. Enough where Dash can't afford to say no to the contract.

Truth was, if it wasn't for Henrik, the ship would fall apart in no time. Dash was just too stubborn to admit it.

"Do you realize how screwed we are?" Henrik said. "The mining guild has all the leverage. We're going to get stuck with a bad contract."

Rosalie gave him the knowing smile of someone who'd heard decades of "bad captain" diatribes. "I think you're being dramatic."

"And you're being naive." In Henrik's view, Dash got complacent in a good economy, and the ops crew tolerated his mediocrity. Now, the galaxy was a mess, and he couldn't hack it.

"But isn't it our job to put up with Dash? He's the captain, we're the ops crew," Draug said.

Henrik scoffed. He'd been on the ship the longest, and knew better. The flight crew always came first, while the ops crew had to make do with what they had. "The ship never puts in for major maintenance milestones, leaving us to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, that punk wannabe of a pilot keeps dinging up the ship and racking up fines because he's too distracted with his ridiculous gaming life. And Tinker has had so many patchwork repairs it's almost worthless, further putting us in a maintenance hole. Believe me, you'll feel the same way soon enough."