LITMIR.BIZ

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down comfortably and began planning the trip with Humph, “Well what do you reckon, worth a go?”

      “Seems possible, we can circle the worst of the obstacles,” Humph considered, “If we can coax Roxz into a little extra fuel we should miss any risk of fighting. He doesn't need to know that our ship still has the best range if not quite the fastest.”

      “OK, I suppose. As you often say tedious gives time to contemplate 'the whichness of the why',” Killa said a little tongue in cheek as Humph, while the adventurer of his people, still had the caution of a long-lived race.

      On the other hand, Killa had his tail feathers burnt a couple of times. Then needing rescue by solid old Humph; just the sort of thing that breeds caution in the young if they live long enough to learn from the misadventure.

      Humph brought up the holographic map of the galaxy displaying the sectors that had to be traversed to arrive at Grnatz.

      Using the controls, Humph ran a probable path from the present position to the destination. “This line is the most direct, however at these points, there are Imperial custom stations and ships; and at this point adjacent to Tatooine is our old mate Jaya and his crowd,” As he spoke and manipulated, colour patches and icons appeared highlighting the choke points. This map now resulted in several blockages across the commerce route.

      “Using the smuggler's route puts us through Imperial blockades and pirate zones,” Humph pointed at these and added to the display, “So if we use this line adding about 40% to the distance we should avoid the nasties.” The path now weaved around the coloured zones and passed through a couple of nebulae. “The nebulae slow us, and with the extra distance the fuel for the return journey should be about 100 tonnes, so if we ask for 150 tonnes, which is what a standard freighter would require for the direct run, Roxz should be happy with that.”

      Mike calculated and suggested, “If we load some freight to Grnatz and perhaps intermediate stops we can pick up a little spending money and also give a cover story for our primary quest. Allowing for inspections, acceleration and deceleration the round trip would take 80 days in a standard freighter, still going the long way we should do the round trip in less than 40 days.”

      “That should satisfy Roxz though he doesn't have to know the details,” Humph concurred.

      So with this in mind, Killa transferred the data onto a stick to present to Roxz and assembling his gear wandered back to the warehouse.

      “Here you go, old fellow,” Killa said as he placed the stick on Roxz’s desk.

      Roxz grunted and loaded the stick onto his computer. After reading the information, Roxz asked, “Not leaving yourself short are you?”

      “With a bit of coasting, no dramas. I even added a smidgeon if we have to duck and weave,” Killa breezily replied.

      “OK then, I will organise some extra freight to take to Grnatz. Though not much as it is painful to transact business with those bandits,” Roxz added, “Likely they will try to pay in freight back to here. If you make a couple of credits, good luck, you’ll need plenty. I notice that the route you are taking is not in the data?”

      “The walls may have ears, shouldn't give all our secrets away,” Killa responded.

      “Sound thinking,” Roxz agreed then demanded, “So what are you leaving behind to guarantee your return?”

      “What don’t trust us? I’ll have to ask Humph,” Killa said faking a shocked look then listened to Humph the parrot then reporting, “He has about 40 tonnes of various panels and equipment he could put in storage. It has to be secure, as some might be considered valuable.”

      “I have a quarantine warehouse, and I can put plague stickers on it,” Roxz suggested wryly, “I expect to have loaded the freight and fuel in a day or two after we store your stuff.”

      Consulting the data, “So if the traders need to send up to 24 containers you can handle that,” Roxz commented putting his merchant hat on and then waving Killa away after he nodded.

      On the way back to the ship, Humph complained, “That hostage demand is annoying; I don’t want to lose any of my good stuff.”

      “As long as it looks like junk to most people, it should be safe,” Killa said. This banter was ongoing between the two old friends as Killa thought it was junk that Humph recycled into hull panels and power equipment of dubious reliability.

      So loading a container with several completed panels, a couple of sub-light engines together with one ion cannon ready for restoration for use. Humph probably intended to install at the next refit. Humphs delivered the filled container to Roxz’s warehouse with an injunction to store safely. Anyone would think that Humph was leaving his first born son with hyenas, if Killa hadn't been necessary as a crew, Humph would prefer him as the hostage.

      “Don’t fret old fella; your babies will back to you in no time at all,” Killa said in mock sympathy, then grinned when he received a hurt look.

      Still, their usual routine of freebooting freight and exploration was on hold until they repaired the credit imbalance. Needs must when your creditors called the tune.

      Years before Humph had tempted Mike away from the farm to explore the Galaxy. As a younger son of a farmer, he would have had to leave home to seek employment in a city as an apprentice or something similar. So when offered the chance to become a crewman on a spaceship, he jumped at the chance. Since then, Humph had taught him all the tricks of a travelling merchant and pilot.

      On the way to Grnatz

      The appointed time arrived with all the fuel and cargo aboard, so the ship lifted off bound for Grnatz. First heading towards the main route to their destination; the passage to the hyper point took about two days, first accelerating at 50 G dampened to one G internal then cruising to the exit point. This performance is consistent with a standard light freighter behaviour so as not to draw attention from the watchers.

      Humph phased into hyper then warped the path to spiral through the maze necessary to avoid detection by potential belligerents. While Humph's ship the Yella Terra was unique in construction, at this pace the signature of the emissions was consistent with an under three kiloton tramp freighter and usually considered too small to be worth tracking or reporting. He was careful not to engage full power near technically advanced planets as that would give a signature consistent with a 10-kiloton military vessel or a 50-kiloton capacity freighter, either of which would attract unwelcome interest.

      The route that Humph programmed starting at Kessel sector with the first navigation check at Akrit’tar then to Voathkace, a longer loop to Sneeth before committing to an outside galaxy grand circle over the central core, this being the crucial leg as there were few stars and no rescue if a critical system were to fail. Re-entering the galactic spiral at Aduran with the last official datum point at Esfandica. Then consulting a smuggler’s Rutter, which gave directions, such as so many parsecs in one leg to a red dwarf than the next point a different direction for a set distance. When they emerged into natural space, it was in the outer reaches of a star system with the spectrographic datum of Grnatz’s sun.

      As the Yella Terra approached at sub-light speed; a motley group of fighters swarmed from the orbit of the planet. A radio challenge to the transponder triggered the code response together with the official identification of the ship, its’ cargo and home port. This data satisfied the leader and a direction to land at the commercial port for customs examination and introduction to the required merchants.

      “What do you reckon, could have handled them no dramas?” Killa grumbled not liking the aggressive manner.

      “Unnecessary, they are just paranoid; most fringe dwellers are leery of visitors being potential Imperial survey teams,” Humph patiently explained, “A violent response would hardly augur well for trade, which of course that is why we are here.”

      The landing was uneventful, once parked and cooled down a vehicle arrived with a team consisting of a customs officer with attendant guards who requested entry; these were

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