1 The Job

Searching through a pile of metal scrap on a large derelict station that might still have some useful stuff that might do well at the market was not what me, Jack Fabien, had as an idea of a well-paying job.

But then again, most jobs usually involved being shot at by people that wanted me killed in very gruesome ways about now.

So, this job was at least not dangerous.

Definitely an improvement, a vast improvement.

Never want to go back to that one 'garden' planet ever again; it took several months before I stopped having nightmares.

Especially that one about the insectoid…

Definitely, don't want to experience that again.

Now, what was I doing on an old derelict that used to be a research station in free space you may ask?

Well, I was given the job by some very nice people with very, very scary weapons and very… unique ideas for threats.

Better than I could come up with anyway.

I'm never going to get the idea of having my hand being slowly sliced into pieces while I'm still conscious out of my head any time soon, at least not without several bottles of gin and several decades of not ever seeing those people again.

I shivered at the thought of the other threats they gave me.

I noticed something shiny in sticking out of the pile, I soon found something in the pile of scrap, something that would do very well on the market.

It was a relic weapon. What is a relic weapon, you ask?

Well, it's a weapon that was made during the technology revolution, one of the most profitable revolutions in that very few people died because of it.

Well, fewer people died because of it when compared to most revolutions that had occurred.

Such revolutions had led to entire planets being thrown into chaos and left anywhere from one third to one-quarter of the population alive at the end.

So yeah, the tech revolution was the best revolution. Now, enough about revolutions lets get back to the weapon. It was in pretty good condition, what with it still being in one piece and all, which meant it could fetch a hefty price of a good 50,000 Q's on the market.

That could keep me and my whole crew fed for a whole three months! This was exactly when I heard a gun being cocked back, just from behind his head.

"Oh, crap…"

I did what anyone with any good amount of sense would do in this situation.

I calmly put his hands up and turned around.

It was not my worst nightmare in front of me at the moment, that's for sure.

But it was pretty damn close to it.

There was a team of three armoured individuals pointing guns at my head. Well, this job went from relatively safe to absolutely pants crapping at the drop of a hat.

If it wasn't for the fact that I was wearing normal scavenger spacer gear, brown suit along with a mask that probably was supposed to be used by a mineworker, they would probably see how much my face gave away that I really was outright considering just poofing out of existence at the sight of them.

"May I ask what you are doing on this ship?" the one pointing their gun at my head asked through a robotic voice modulator.

I was very eager to give an explanation.

"Just looking for spare parts, that's all, nothing else."

They looked at me a bit before looking at what was in my gloved hand. "Is that a relic weapon right there?"

"Uh, yes, what of it?" I asked very nervously, though my mask probably made it sound like my voice was several times deeper than it actually was, probably making me seem like I was threatening them.

At least I hope that they don't find it that way and just shoot me.

"Are you using that as self-defense or did you just find it?" The one pointing the gun at me, a Confederation officer now I realized, kept asking me more and more questions.

"I, uh, found it." This didn't seem to make them happy.

"What were you planning to do with that relic weapon once you left this station?" I also realized something suddenly about the three officers all at the same time, all of them were femininely shaped, signifying to me that they were all women, along with their movements that showed at least two of them were used to walking with a weight or two on their chest.

Or maybe it just signified that they had breasts, I don't know, sue me.

"I planned to do what I always do with something like this, sell it" I stated matter of factly, or at least as matter of factly as I could when there was a gun was in my goddamn face.

"You do know where you are, right?" She asked me.

"A derelict in the middle of nowhere?" I answered back to her.

This place was a complete and utter dump, no way it could ever be important.

"A prime research facility from the technology revolution." One of the other officers stated to him.

I stared blankly at the three for a few seconds before speaking.

"Oh, well shit I didn't know that, I was just told to look for some useful stuff and some scrap and get paid, along with selling the stuff I 'accidentally' leave out of the haul."

I went on to explain pretty much my entire reason for being there, not out of honesty or pleasantness, but in the vague hope, they would just let me leave with what I had gathered and not kill me.

That seemed to be enough. The main officer lowered her gun.

"Okay, since this is free space, we won't harm or arrest you."

This brought a nice piece of hope into my heart.

Maybe I could leave as quickly as I could, preferably away from these people if at all possible.

"As long as you let us see what you have and take away anything that we deem extreme contraband."

Those words quickly killed my hope in a violent street fight with bloody knives and lots and lots of swearing. Yeah, never blame me for making bad analogies.

"Okay.." I said to them nervously, not wanting to anger the confederation officer women who until now had been pointing very well made guns at my head.

"Go ahead, but I need the relic weapon, the money I could make from it could keep me and my crew fed for months!" I gave my lining about the stuff

"What else do you have?" The main officer asked quickly.

"As I said, go ahead, check for yourself, I won't stop you." I moved to the side and let them have a look at the cart I had been putting all the good stuff I found in.

They spent several minutes rummaging through what I had collected, checking everything.

If I was a betting man, and I never did bet because I wasn't stupid, I would have bet that they actually wanted to find some contraband due to how thoroughly they were searching through what mainly amounted to metal scrap and some electrical parts from a few not needed station systems, like the entertainment systems for instance.

In the end though, and luckily for me, they found nothing that could constitute for high-grade contraband. So I, Jack Fabien, was a free man. Well, as free as living as a salvager could anyways.

"I bid adieu to all of you and hope you have safe travels." I said as he started pushing his cart out and back to the direction his ship would be in.

"You're done already?" One of the officers, the short one, said to me while tilting their head to the side. "Well, after finding that relic weapon, I'm pretty much all but guaranteed food and water for a good month or two."

"Oh, and who do you work for?" The short one was continuing the questioning, trying to catch me out, or something similar to that effect. "I do odd jobs mostly, and no I refuse to do slave transport." I smoothly replied back, well, it was easy to do that when you tell the truth.

"You get asked that a lot, don't you?" The other officer, one that seemed rather skittish, like she didn't like wearing her suit at all, asked. "Yeah, I get accused of being a slaver as many times as I get paid for my work, funnily enough quite a few times the accusers were just trying to shift attention away from themselves so they could get away with hiding the slaves they have in their cargo holds." I chuckled.

"What happened to them?" The skittish officer asked. "All the crew of that ship were killed, had their fingers then their heads chopped off." The short officer clearly was having trouble keeping her lunch in, if her dry heaving was any indication.

"Sorry for ruining whatever appetite you had, missy." I apologized, not really meaning it.

"How did you know she was a woman?" The main officer asked. "Your suits aren't necessarily the best at hiding your mannerisms, you know, I could tell that you all were women after twenty seconds of talking to you, even the skittish one had a tell that clued me in after a bit."

Now it was time for me to leave, like right now!

"Hey Jack, what's taking ya so long buddy!" A somewhat short woman in brown salvager gear and metal boots came bounding towards the group, stopping mid-step when she noticed the Confederation officers.

"Oh, hey….." Dotty said extremely nervously to the officers. I face-palmed at this.

MEANWHILE, FROM THE OFFICERS PERSPECTIVE...

It was obvious to Mary that the salvager was scared shitless of her and her teammates, if their immediate compliance with their orders was anything to go by. They let me check the pile of scrap and she hadn't found anything that could warrant their arrest in free space.

It was quite surprising though how easily the salvager picked up their quirks and how said quirks made him able to tell what gender they were so easily. He must be quite observant.

I only realized he was a man because he sounded deeper than normal voice modulators allow for women. I'm observant too, see!

He was quick in his attempt to leave as well, and I would have let him go on his merry way.

I would have if I hadn't seen what that other salvager was carrying. On behalf of whatever god I was supposed to believe in, what the hell was that short salvager doing with that much tech?!

There's taking a lot and then there's taking everything. I wouldn't be surprised if that woman had taken every single part that wasn't necessary to keep the station from breaking apart.

"Why do you have several dozen parts used for keeping the station online and operational?" I asked, trying to keep a calm and friendly voice.

The voice deepener I was using probably wouldn't help with that.

"Just, parts for our ship..." The short female salvager said, obviously not liking being anywhere near us.

"One ship?" I asked her. She audibly swallowed. "Yes, one ship, most of it is just spare parts…" She wheezed out.

The other salvager stared at her, most likely giving a look that translated as 'really?' beneath his helmet. "Do you know this woman?" I went and asked the male salvager.

He looked at me and nodded his head. "Yeah, she's one of my crew's engineers, she is a bit crazy when it comes to upgrading ship parts." He explained to me.

A bit crazy when it comes to upgrading? "It's all just minor upgrades!" The girl said with a slightly disturbing lecherous smile on her face.

This girl is completely insane! "Routine scrap pile che-ck!" I stammer out and quickly move towards the girl's bag, or rather wheelbarrow, full of things.

"Waahh!" The female salvager shouted as she was pushed by me rather quickly and roughly. She fell onto her ass and started grumbling about how "nothing is ever fair" as I went through the parts with a scanner.

Luckily, there was nothing taken that couldn't be easily replaced, nothing was removed that would damage the station if taken out either. I retract my statement about this girl being insane, though I don't retract the fact that she has a problem when it comes to machines.

"BOOOOMMM!!!!!!"

Everybody turned and looked out the one window within this section of the station.

Everyone, including me, could see the Federation Stargazer breaking in half.

"That's not good." Stated the male salvager.