The familiar twisting of space spat the Phoenix-disguised Wandering Loon into the Kelpie system. The traffic alone would have told him he was no longer on the Rim. More ships than he had ever seen in a single system flew through, broadcasting their flight plans. It wasn’t crowded, space was just too damn big for that, but it felt that way for Heath, who had grown up on the frontier. The Loon aggregated the data and displayed each of them as a web of lines on his station screen.

  Freighters, pleasure yachts, and everything in between zipped to and from each of the twelve inhabited planets and scores of stations throughout Kelpie. The public comms were busier than he was used to as well. Jenny Mae and Emerald were both scrambling to parse the relevant data. On their past routes there was rarely ever signal boosters placed far enough out from settlements to pick up anything interesting.

  Heath took manual control as he adjusted their proposed routes to avoid getting too close to any of the other ships, without going suspiciously out of the way either.

  “Captain, we’re being hailed,” Jenny Mae announced.

  “Open channel, please, Loon.”

  “Channel on.”

  “Welcome to Kelpie, Phoenix, I see you’re adjusting your flight plan. Follow these guidelines, if you would.”

  A thick band appeared on Heath’s screen, a flight lane they were expected to follow. He made the necessary adjustments to stay straight down the middle of it.

  “What brings you to Kelpie?”

  “Just passing through. Maybe a trip to one of your dungeons if we have time.”

  “Sounds good, sounds good. Sorry about this Phoenix but it looks like you’re getting flagged for random customs inspection. I’m sending you an updated flight path. We need you to decel down to locking speeds and we’ll send a skiff over. You know the drill.”

  “Umm, that’s right, we do.”

  “Gate Control, out.”

  The line cut out, leaving Heath to reassure a worried crew. “We don’t have anything hot. Random inspection should be limited to the cargo bay. Jenny Mae, I need you to find a place to stash the awake one.”

  “Hmm? What’s that? Which one?”

  He wasn’t saying it. “The one that was in your room a couple of hours ago.”

  “I can’t recall.”

  “Godsdamnit. Fine. Get Mr. Snuggles somewhere safe.”

  “Right away, Captain!” She bolted from the bridge, leaving the rest of them to go over the rest of their manifests.

  “Nothing to worry about. Law says animal transport is only relevant if there are biological systems needing attention. Stasis is allowed.”

  “Who’re you trying to convince, kid? It’s too late, what will happen, will happen, now.”

  “Thanks, Emerald, for that rousing show of confidence.”

  The older spacer shrugged but they weren’t wrong. Heath was mentally walking the ship, picturing each room and if there was anything they would need to handle. “Ekaterina, pull up the weapons manifest and do a walk through, make sure everything is secured.”

  The Wizard got up and left the bridge without a word.

  “The mercocite with the mana circuits underneath is going to be memorable, nothing we can do about that. Loon?”

  “Yes, Heath?”

  “Try not to say anything during the inspection.”

  “Alas. I understand the necessity even if I loathe the thought. Fear not Heath, I shall not give myself away.”

  “Okay, okay.” He looked at his remaining crewmembers. “Now what?”

  “Now we wait.” Emerald leaned back, relaxed as if it was just any other day. Another hour before they get here.”

  “Relax? What are you even saying?” Heath pulled at his hair, imagining all the ways this could go wrong. It was easy to envision. They would come in and notice all the ways in which the Loon wasn’t like other ships. From there it would be obvious they were wanted pirates and smugglers. Fines, if they were lucky. Detainment more likely. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

  “Everyone gets boarded sometimes, kid.”

  “I’m not a kid. I’m a justifiably concerned starship Captain.”

  “Okay Captain Concerned, come with me.” Copperfield stood and left the bridge, detouring to grab Heath’s arm and drag him along. “We’ll get a quick workout in. Then you’ll have a reason to be sweaty.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “I don’t see why everyone is so calm about this.”

  “Because we know you’ve got this. And for once we actually aren’t doing anything illegal.” Copperfield checked in the hatchway. “Well not too illegal.”

  There was no more conversation as Copperfield put Heath through a cardio interval training in their tiny training room. Mostly because Heath could barely catch his breath. The equipment in the room scaled as the Loon grew, which meant it was perfectly capable of handling their level 50 stats.

  He was a sweaty mess as he waited outside the airlock for the message that the inspection skiff was locked to the Loon. It was like entering a dungeon. As the hiss of the pressurizing faded, everything came into focus. The nerves didn’t necessarily go away, but he pushed them to the back of his mind. Now was the time for action.

  The hatch opened and in walked the inspector. She was not the stoic imperial Classer Heath had expected. A blinding smile contrasting her umber skin and forest green uniform, she bounced across their threshold, all five foot nothing of her.

  “Howdy y’all. Inspector Flora, with the Kelpie system Customs Bureau. Thanks for making this easy. Manifest?” Heath passed it over, unsure how to respond to the informality of it all. “Travelling light I see.”

  “Hoping to get a better haul once we make the drop off,” Heath said.

  “Good luck, it’s harsher in here than you might be used to on the Rim. Now let’s see.”

  The inspection of the regular cargo went quickly. Inspector Flora chose a few crates at random for Heath to open, poked through their contents, and allowed him to pack it up again.

  Then they arrived at the cages.

  “Cute little fuckers, aren’t they.”

  “Umm, yes.” Protocol was iffy on a question like that, but agreeing seemed like a good strategy. “How are the crates holding up?” Flora had stopped in front of the one cage Copperfield had noticed was close to failing.

  Heath tried to nudge her along mentally. “We’re confident they’ll make it to the destination.”

  “See that they do,” she said. “Would hate to see you get fined for these guys.” She looked down at the manifest one last time, and then around the rest of the cargo bay. “Okay, you’re good to go.”

  “That’s it?” Heath blurted out. He could have kicked himself for questioning. “I mean, thank you.”

  The inspector just laughed. “Yeah, that’s it. Just need to make sure you’re moving what you say you are.”

  They returned to the airlock, and Heath allowed himself to relax. That had been a lot of stress for nothing.

  “I really love the design,” she said, lingering at the edge of the connecting walkway. “I’ve never seen something like that before.”

  “Thanks. Lucky dungeon drop.”

  “Oh, you’re delvers too? Must be busy.” The inspector leaned against the wall.

  Heath did not want to encourage that. “Only a few, a while ago now. Cargo’s our main gig.”

  “Nothing wrong with that. Enjoy Kelpie.”

  “Thanks, we will.”

  She was in the connecting walkway now, just a few more feet and they would be home free.

  “Mew.”

  **********

  “Fuck the dungeon, we’re leaving,” Heath announced when he returned to the bridge.

  “I’m so sorry, Heath.” Jenny Mae hugged Mr. Snuggles to her chest, looking crestfallen.

  “That’s okay. I claimed it was a ship pet. She definitely didn’t believe me, but I think she felt sorry enough for us after the rest of the cargo to toss some charity our way.”

  Copperfield chuckled. “Oh she definitely thought you were a rube. ‘You know it's more competitive here than the Rim’. ‘Running light, huh?’.” His impression of the inspector had been surprisingly accurate. “She’s convinced we’re going to be back soon with our tail between our legs.”

  “I feel terrible. I didn’t think he would bolt. Or that he could even work the latch on that cupboard.”

  “Now we know. Loon, how much farther until we can drop these things off?”

  “Two weeks, Heath.”

  “Two weeks,” he repeated. He just had to make it two more weeks.

  **************

  The usual twisting sensation of a gate jump flitted through Heath as he ignored it to focus on the controls. Ekaterina had given enough warnings to take this next part seriously. A fact he was simultaneously grateful for and resentful of when he was hailed a moment later, the signal pushing through any of the Loon’s defenses to broadcast directly to the bridge. Without approval.

  “Your identification codes are being flagged. Follow the assigned route. Any deviation will be treated as hostile.”

  “We will.” Heath duly nosed the Loon off their automatically-generated flight path and onto the assigned course. “We need a line to the main Althalas estate.”

  “Denied.” The voice on the other end of the line didn’t even pause to consider. “Proceed on your route.”

  Heath tried again. “I have a member of the Althalas family on board, carrying news the House leaders will want to hear.”

  “You and every other questionable ship that comes through that gate. Returning Althalas family members are subject to the same protocols as anyone else.”

  With that sharp setdown, the comm line snapped shut, leaving the bridge in an uncomfortable silence. Heath, along with everyone else, turned to look at Ekaterina, who was examining her own fingernails in what would have been an impressive display of nonchalance, if her tense shoulders and scowl hadn’t given her away.

  “We’re being herded towards the outsystem, should we be worried?” Heath tapped at his controls to bring the flight plan to the main view screen.

  Ekaterina gave up the pretense and shrugged. “I am not aware of all of the minute protocols the gate guards follow, but that would make sense if we are being treated as a threat.”

  “You said you have a way of proving identification?”

  “Yes. When we get to our destination, I will be able to prove myself to the inspector.”

  “Can’t we just send it now?” Copperfield asked from where he was lolling in his own seat.

  Ekaterina sniffed. “It is not able to be broadcast. Such a thing could be easily faked.”

  “And if they decide to fire on us before you get a chance to have some face time with the boss?” Emerald put voice to one of Heath’s very real concerns. “Not sure we’re outrunning these guys. Even what the scouts are packing could give us some trouble, let alone what’s lurking in the outsystem.”

  “They did say something about the codes. You think they know we aren’t the Phoenix?” Jenny Mae was facing her own station, running through every bit of data they had and hiding her face, but her voice shook, just a bit.

  “We can only follow instructions for now,” Heath said. He tried to project a bit of confidence he didn’t quite feel. “If they had a real problem with us they would have fired. Once we get to the inspection point, Ekaterina can explain. Right, Loon?”

  He got no response.

  “Loon?”

  “I apologize Heath, I was moping and that is unseemly, and does not live up to the stellar performance of such a superlative crew.”

  “Aww, that’s sweet,” Jenny Mae said.

  Heath had some idea through [Ship Merge] what was bothering the Loon, and hoped she wouldn’t mind him revealing that to the rest of the crew. “Like Emerald said, we are outclassed and outClassed. Nothing we can do but follow instructions.” Even if it rankled every instinct. Even if it was anathema to the life they had all sought out as spacers on the Rim. “These ships could swallow us for breakfast and still have room for dessert. No way could we have stopped that comm signal.”

  He saw the light of awareness flicker on in the other’s eyes as they jumped in to continue his reassurances. The Loon would outfly any ship in the Core when he had a couple decades to get her up to speed. But until then, she was a cargo hauler with some hidden tricks.

  Perhaps a more practical demonstration would be helpful. Heath reviewed the stream of data coming to his own station, condensed down from the others. “Emerald, toss your scans to the main view screen, layer gravity wells, persistent habitation signals, and any running lights for engines.”

  “Aye,” they grunted. A moment later, the view screen blinked, their flight path now a blue streak slashing across a vibrant portrait of a Core system. Planets, asteroids, and the single local star came into sharper focus with the Imperial-standard coding, green for rocky and easily habitable, orange for gas giants, and white for the star itself. Then the stations and other inhabited locations appeared, giving each of the four populated planets an aura of yellow, with so many people and the resulting tech packed in together. A new sea of stars had appeared for the stations in a longer orbit. For mining the gas giants, research, or whatever else rich systems did out in the void.

  The last layer were the ships. Still smarting over unflattering comparisons, the Loon highlighted them all in a potentially-hostile red. Even the busiest ports on the Rim wouldn’t compare. It was like a fire ant colony had scattered through the view screen. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of transports, flitting between the habs. They, and an equal number of haulers poured into and out of the five jump gates, scattered at random through the system. And around each, dozens of well-armed guard ships, ready to herd any hostile forces away from the rest of traffic.

  Hostile forces like the “Phoenix”.