“Alright, crew! Everything is loaded, it’s time to go. Sierra!”

  “Yes, Captain?” his sensor operator turned.

  “Notify the station we wish to depart.”

  The woman nodded and turned back toward her terminal. He waited for far lohan was normal before clearing his throat. “Is something the matter, Sierra?”

  “The statioor is saying there is a hold on our departure. But he couldn’t see a reason for this hold. He is looking into the issue.” Of course, there was.

  “Patch me into the station, please.”

  Soon his s lit up, showing him a video of a slightly flustered-looking station tei.

  “C- Captain, I should have your issue figured out in a few days.” Jasper snorted, he wasn’t waiting a few days for that bastard Zhang to e up with another way to hold him up. That would turn into even more excuses aually Alexander’s time to vacate the station would expire.

  “Get your issar.”

  “Sir?”

  “You heard me.”

  Ten mier, a man wearing the station issar uniform appeared on the s. “Captain Daniel, you asked to speak with me?”

  “I did. I was hoping you could speed up the resolution of this issue your dock tei is running into.”

  “I see… I have been apprised of the issue. Unfortunately, it will take time to determine why this hold ced on your ship. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other issues that demand my attention.”

  The man seemed very eager to end this versation, but Jasper wasn’t having it. “issar, are you familiar with STO w on ship holds?”

  “Of course,” the man bristled.

  Jasper smiled. “Wonderful! Then you know that se 13f states that a Captain must be notified of the reason for the hold upon request. If you ’t provide a reason, then you must release the ship and look into the issue in your own time. Otherwise, you would be interfering with the wful movement of that vessel. And I thih know what that means. Oh, and you sider this my request.”

  “Give me a moment to refresh my memory,” the man stated as he stepped away from the s.

  It was aalling tactic. The issar could have just as easily looked up the regution oerminal in front of him. Jasper let this one slide. If the man wasn’t brain dead, he would uand the implied threat he had just id out. And if not, he had friends that could hurry this along.

  It only took a few minutes for the issar to return. “Apologies for the dey, Captain Daniel. I have released the hold on your ship.”

  “Thank you, issar. You may want to look into that issue. Some captains would immediately file a report with the STO if this happeo them. I would hate to see Petrov Station’s reputation ruined by such a thing.”

  The man oher end forced a smile onto his face. “I will take that under advisement. And thank you for visiting.” With that, the li dead and Jasper chuckled.

  “Alright, Wilkes, get us the hell out of here.”

  “Roger that,” the man gave a two-finger salute without turning around.

  The quiet hum of the reactor soon spread through the ship, making the Zephyr feel alive.

  “Hangar atmosphere is vented,” Sierra called out.

  There was a rumble and muted k as the liftoff thrusters engaged and the nding gear retracted. It was always a bang a stations that didn’t have indepe gravity zones, but Wilkes was more than up to the challenge.

  Soon the ship floated backward out the rge open hangar door. The inky bess of space greeted them like an old friend.

  ***

  Sergei brooded aboard his ship Steel Tempest. He had ied the ugly mining vessel from his father after he passed away but had quickly ged its name from the Lucky Strike. Lucky his ass. The ship was a barely floating hunk of steel when he received it. It wasn’t until someone approached him with a loan offer that he was able to finally bring it back to safe operational dition.

  The one good thing his degee gambler of a father had done before pletely bankrupting the family was to vely die in a mining act. If only the man would have dohat a few years sooner, Sergei wouldn’t have been forced to take that loan.

  It was o ugh from beyond the grave by his father because that loan offer had been too good to be true. On some level, he khat when it had been offered, but he couldn’t let his family's legacy die with his bastard of a father. And because of that damn loan, here he was ier belt heading for a specific set of coordinates.

  The man he had taken the money from had asked a favor from him and he failed. It wasn’t the first favor he had asked for, and Sergei doubted it would be the st. It should have been so simple. For a redu in the money he owed, all he had to do revent Kane from exiting the station before his deadline for leaving expired.

  Then someone would approach him at the st moment to offer salvation. He doubted his tact’s people would have waited until the st day. They just needed Kao be desperate. Just like he had been back wheook their offer. How the hell was he supposed to know Kane had outside tacts? Nothing in the man’s records indicated such. He knew he should have dug deeper, but he didn’t care to learn the maire history, especially with what would likely happen to him.

  Sergei had used every bit of coer he could, even pushing the w farther than he was fortable with. The illegal search could have gotten him locked up and the station hold was even more risky as that could have put a bck mark orov, making any sane person avoid the station.

  He had used the hold tactic a few times in the past. Mainly when his informants brought him scoops on possible rich asteroids that indepes had marked but didn’t cim. It gave him a few days headstart on them. Sergei had never worried about the indepe miners filing a report though. The few who probably khe w likely hated the STO just as much as the rest of the people orov Station did. There was no way those types of people would g to the STO to solve their problems. They simply sucked it up and moved on. He liked that.

  But not Captain Dahat man seemed to know every trid how to get out of it.

  So now Sergei was here.

  “We’re here, Captain,” his pilot called out. “Do you wao notify the crew?”

  “No,” he stood from his chair. “I’m gonna go check this o myself.”

  The man nodded a back to studying his terminal. This was hardly the first time Sergei had wao scope out an asteroid by himself. He maintaihe illusion of doing it quite often to hide his destine unications.

  Soon he was suited up in the hard suit. Then he made his way over to the maneuver pack. The semi-autonomous droached itself over his suit like some sort of tumor. If it wasn’t for the ck of gravity on the ship at the moment, he would have tipped over from the weight.

  The floor of the ore hold opened and he guided the maneuver pack down to the asteroid’s surface. Once he was dowached himself and began walking across the soft dusty surface while the pack maintained a position where it released him.

  He didn’t want the onboard cameras to record what he to. His hard suit had a data recorder as well, but thanks to his tact, Sergei had disabled it years ago. It would not be good if someohrough his records to see what he was doing.

  Soon he was out of sight of the ship and the drone. His external lights came on and he walked another five minutes before he located the rey. It was cleverly buried ieroid, with nothing to show it was even there. If he didn’t have the exact location, he would have easily walked past it. He brushed off the surface dust, pulled a hard lia cable from his suit, and plugged it in.

  It didn’t take long for his tact to speak.

  A raspy voice carried over his suit’s . “My people tell me our mutual friend has left the station. I believe I retty clear about not letting that happen.”

  Sergei gritted his teeth before responding. “I did everything in my power to keep Kahere. Perhaps your people should have acted sooner, Harlow.”

  The infamous pirate chuckled. “Feisty today are we? May I remind you, Sergei, that if it wasn’t for my generous loan, you would have lost your ship by now. As well as your standing aboard Petrov. I don’t ask much from you, but when I do ask you to do something, I expect it to get done.”

  Sergei would have liked nothier than tute this signal and cim the bounty for this pirate. But the man hadn’t remained free all these years by being sloppy. He was obviously using a repurposed Q array, making log the signal impossible.

  Initially, Sergei thought the criminal was running dark in the system. But the STames a few months back would have quickly flushed a of hiding. Now he suspected the man was hiding in pin sight aboard any of the hundreds of ships that called this area of space their home. Unless a ship was seized or boarded, the man could remain aboard without aside the crew being any the wiser.

  “Do you know where my prize is heading?”

  “No. They didn’t bistering their entire flight pn, only their destination,” he ground out.

  “Hmm. It seems Kane has found himself some petent friends. I wish I could say as much about your fellotains. I warhose idiots Kovalenko and Hoffman that their as would draw unwatention, but they thought they knew better. Oh well. With them out of the picture, that makes it easier for me.”

  Sergei had known for quite some time that Harlow’s goal was to take over Petrov Station. But he hadn’t known Kovalenko and Hoffman had dealings with the pirate warlord. The fact that Harlow was telling him this now was as much a warning as it was a heads-up. The man didn’t do anything without a reason.

  “As for Kane, I’m sure he will show up eventually. A man like that doesn’t stay uhe radar for long. Now run along, Sergei, I have better things to do.”

  “What about our deal?”

  “What about it?” the man asked in a bored tone. “You failed to carry out my request. But I’m a generous man. Instead of redug your loan by reed-upon amount, I will give you half of what I promised but only as a sedary loan. My typical rates apply, Zhang, I suggest you get out there and start finding rocks to cover your payment. It’s ing due soon.”

  The li dead and Sergei smashed his fist into the rock wall o where the rey was buried. He wao smash the rey and Harlow’s smug face, but the bastard would just ta the cost of repg the device to his growi. Debt he knew he would never be able to escape from.

  He swatted away the loose rocks he had knocked clear in his fit and tromped his way back to the drone. Harlow hadn’t stated it ht, but Sergei uood the implication. If Kovalenko and Hoffman faced trial, they could bring up the pirate's name. If he wao earn some goodwill, he o deal with the ttains before the rest of the cil started this trial.