A Starship Called Starsong

Chapter 53

That huge sale would bring in a lot of profit. It would also open up a lot more room for other goods and cargo. Procurement was already looking into what they wanted to purchase to fill the space while we were at one of the largest trade centers in this corner of space. They had already sent me a list of five different suppliers who I would have to personally meet at Sceltar.

In the meantime, I had several days of boring space travel to endure.

*         *         *

I left the Cargo Bay, pleased that Victor was getting along very well with his new Overseer. I didn't foresee any more such problems in the Cargo Bay. Regan had come to my room the evening of that fateful day to apologize profusely for his actions. He had already apologized to Victor, who ended up forgiving him, before showing up at my doorstep.

Regan had been given a position as an assistant in a life support section where attention to detail was crucial. He was on probation, but he was throwing himself into his new training and was determined to make sure he would not repeat that particular mistake again.

All of the eight former-pirates were fitting in very well. Starsong was monitoring them but had no concerns. They were determined to learn and work hard, grateful that they even got the chance to prove themselves. I had watched them in-person as well as through some of the numerous hidden cameras, but they were all very dedicated to their work and fitting in with the crew as well as any other new member.

"We may have a complication at our next stop."

I refrained from groaning since I was walking down a corridor. 'What kind of complication?'

"It seems that the planet Folkar is at war with another planet in the same solar system, and each planet is attacking anything that tries to dock at the other planet. No traders or passenger shuttles are docking due to this tactic."

I went into a vacant mechanical room to better concentrate on the conversation without potential witnesses. I leaned against the wall as I said, "I guess that explains why they were willing to pay so much for any fruits or food products. Wait, those trades we arranged had a pretty high penalty fee if we backed out. Is that going to affect anything?"

Most pre-arranged trades had a penalty fee if a ship failed to hold up its end of the deal, and the ones on this planet had been shockingly high, although we hadn't thought anything about it since we would be picking up one new crew member while we were there. There had been nothing preventing us from stopping and several good reasons for us to stop.

"And there is still nothing preventing us from stopping. We will hold up our end of the trade deals and collect our new crew member. Neither planet has any large or powerful warships. Their mid-sized warships are no challenge for our shields or weapons."

Those warships were more powerful than the average Enforcement ship. If they decided to attack us, they were going to be in for quite a surprise. And it would give us some rather unwanted publicity...

"Sooner or later, people are bound to realize that attacking a Starship is a mistake. I am not about to run away because two immature leaders are in the middle of tiff and are acting like a pair of ten-year-olds having an argument."

I winced slightly. Starsong was clearly not impressed with whatever reason they were using to justify this fight. Considering we had just found out about it, it was just the two planets bickering and not a full-fledged official war; otherwise, there would have been notices at every port within a week's travel.

I sighed, "What kind of fallout should I expect when you manage to put several warships back in their place?"

In theory, a warship should be able to incapacitate the average trading vessel fairly easily. I was also quite sure that more than one warship would try to intercept us as we approached the planet.

"I do not anticipate much. Although, if the warships try to use force, the suppliers on the docking station will not underestimate you like so many do. Perhaps it is a good thing that Procurement already signed off on the trades. You only have one meeting scheduled with one supplier, and that meeting may be interesting."

I was more than a bit wary of his use of the word interesting. I knew what he was getting at though; if a trading ship managed to bypass or defeat several warships, then people would be very curious about which Captain had dared to attempt such a feat. Great... Life just loves throwing curveballs my way...

It was too ironic. I had just been walking through the corridors on a walk-about to keep boredom at bay, and right on cue, boredom decided it didn't like being snubbed and completely left the area to see if I would miss it.