Or inspecting.
“Not my business,” Tanin waved away Alred’s question. He opened the comms on the ship. “Is everyone in position?”
Five people responded to him – the last one didn’t need to add his voice as his position was with his brother. A benefit of working with avanava twins was that they spoke with one voice.
They were definitely in pirate territory. There really was nothing around here. The closest space station was a small, rundown thing meant only for refueling and resupply. And, honestly, that station was probably owned by pirates too.
WhywasGissrn’s servant out here? It was a mystery. Whatever was in that chest, it was clearly something Gissrn wanted no one to even know existed. He was definitely a prime candidate for someone who would try to kill Tanin rather than let him live to witness whatever this was. Tanin didn’t trust him to begin with, which was why he went himself for the pickup instead of sending one of his crew. However, he’d have to remember to bring the twins with him when he delivered the thing instead of sending Rok by himself as he usually did. Just in case.
Tanin spoke into the comms. “Be ready when I activate the beacon. Sway, you focus on getting us out of here. I’ll track the chest. Rok, be ready to bring it in. Everyone else, you’re on defenses.”
Another chorus of responses rang out. Tanin lifted the remote and looked at Alred.
“Ready, captain,” he assured him calmly.
“Activating beacon,” Tanin announced, pressing the button.
“Got it,” Alred announced almost immediately. “It’s pretty small. We won’t need to open the main stowage doors.”
Tanin worked quickly, his fingers moving over the ship controls. Sway was normally the one who did their navigating – he was the only one who could do the subspace math necessary to work the generator. But they weren’t moving faster than light, and everyone on the Humility could pilot at below light speed, just in case.
“Two ships detected en route to beacon’s location,” Alred informed him calmly, his arms folded behind his back as Tanin worked.
“We’ll get there first,” he said, rushing towards the location. And Sway would get them away before the pirates could descend.
And if he couldn’t, the twins and Trove would deal with it.
His ship and crew worked together like a well-oiled and maintained machine. They weren’t afraid of pirates, Tanin just didn’t want to deal with the hassle of fighting them, nor the cost of any repairs that might need to be made afterward. Just being practical, it was easier to grab the chest and get away before it started cutting into his profits.
“Lining up with beacon,” Tanin announced. “Rok.”
“On it, captain!” Returned the deep, grunting sound. “Just one moment… and… It’s in!”
“Sway, get us out of here.”
“Already gone, captain,” returned his navigator in his soft, melodious voice.
“Rok, which stowage is it in?”
“Put it in one, captain.”
“Good. Nothing immediately dangerous?”
“No. Just looks like a regular chest.”
“Alright. Good work. I’ll inspect it now. Everyone else, stay ready just in case. Alred, I’ll meet you down there.”
“Yes, captain,” Alred inclined his head before his projection winked away.
Tanin turned from the console and grabbed the ladder leading to the bridge. He slid down and left without talking to Sway, not wanting to disrupt his navigator/helmsmale while he was working. Tanin would come back to help him when he was done, but he didn’t allow anything on his ship unless he knew exactly what was in it. It was a matter of safety, and good sense. He had no idea what he just picked up, or what danger it might possess. The inspection was, therefore, vital.
And since Tanin had promised total discretion, and charged for it, he had to do it himself. With Alred’s help, of course. Alred didn’t really count though. Especially since no one knew he was on board, and he wasn’t registered as a member of the crew – and Tanin had only promised to keep it secret from his crew.
Down in the storage area, Rok had already gone to help with defenses, leaving Tanin alone as he walked into the first of the smaller storage areas. There were three in total, just to the side of the main storage space. Four doors all in a row, with the last leading into the landing shuttle. The smaller storage rooms were able to be opened to the vacuum of space with ease. The main storage area could only do that if they had enough time to release all the air first. Which they did not now. If the chest had been too big to fit into one of the three mini-storage bays, they really might have been caught up in a pirate fight.
As he walked into the room, Alred blinked into existence at his side. The two of them moved around the chest together, inspecting it from the outside first.
It was metal, waves of cold radiating off of it after being out in space for so long. It was wider at the top than the bottom and had no identifying markings. There was an obvious line where the lid would raise, as well as another line at the bottom marking off the base where the electronics were likely housed. A console on the side was dim but for a single, purple blinking light, likely indicating that everything inside was still secure.
