Chapter 152: [ Book 2 ] Chapter 12: Hitching a Ride

Dash inhaled, taking in the galley's aroma of a quaint cafe mixed with a flower shop. Wesley stood at the prep counter, contributing to the latter as he strained a pot of herbal tea. Ruki was at his side, observing while he explained his meticulous steeping process. Turned out they were two of a kind in their love of aromatic beverages of boiling water and plant leaves.

They were also the only pair in either party who hadn’t been butting heads since meeting each other, so they had that going for them.

The others sat at the table. Celescia and Yanna sipped on recovery blends to sooth their throats. Ice clinked against the metal sides of Gaius’s cup, the greenish tint of his beverage matching his skin. He sipped from it and smacked his lips at the brisk temperature.

Dash took his own unique approach, mixing the opposing forces of alterant and recovery. Wesley's jaw hung loose when he first saw Dash pour his flask into his mug. Dash knew he'd get a lecture about it at some point. What the medtech didn't understand was that despite any so-called science, the concotion worked for Dash. And that was all that mattered.

He swallowed a mouthful and exhaled, reveling in the refreshing heat in his throat.

At the counter, Wesley finished straining the tea and topped off two mugs. He offered one to Ruki. She lifted it to her face and inhaled the wisps of steam. "That is lovely."

Wesley closed his eyes and repeated the gesture. A pleasurable expression formed on his face. "It tastes even better."

Ruki blew a light breath over the mug, then sipped from it. She grinned at Wesley. "Terrible."

"Are you done snorting your flowers?" Yanna asked from the table. Beside her, Celescia shook her head and appeared to mutter to herself.

Dash stifled a laugh at this supposed powerhouse cultural icon who couldn’t keep control over her mouthy sidekick. It reminded him of his own supposed virtual-superstar pilot and the resulting drama that crossed into the real world on occasion.

Ruki and Wesley joined the others at the table. Dash took the opportunity to look the troupe over, studying their outfits. He’d thought the garments and masks were all for show—flashy eye candy to sucker in simple-minded folk. But then he reminded himself of the turmoil roiling the Tyrcellus system. The protests, the riots, the arrests, the bombings. Whoever these singers were, their actions earned them the hostility of some powerful forces. Enough for them to try and snatch the troupe off a channel station and murder the support team. It took genuine conviction to stay strong in the face of those consequences.

There was much more to these singers than he initially thought.

His head ached thinking about it all.

Lucky for him, he had a cure in hand. He drank again.

Lowering his mug, he noticed the glint of Celescia’s bright blue eyes studying him in return. The scrutiny left Dash with a swell of discomfort. Even with the little he now knew about her, he got the feeling—a dusting of inferiority—that he was hosting someone far above his social class, even if it were within a different cultural system.

A self-conscious voice sounded in his head, questioning what she thought of him, his ship, his crew. He told the voice to shut up, that he didn’t care, but it wouldn’t stop. It squealed in protest from the corner he tried to stuff it into.

Celescia’s head tilted as if she could read his mind. The longer he stared, the more he couldn’t look away. It was as if her appearance contained a gravity well that he couldn’t boost out of no matter how hard he fired the engines.

Words flashed through his head until he settled on the most appropriate one to describe her—alluring. Not in a sexual way, at least for him. He’d always been an old-fashioned guy who liked the counterpart sex of his race—that being women. His pilot cavorted with enough other races to more than make up for Dash’s plain inclinations. But something about Celescia held an appeal that captured even his vanilla tastes. It helped him understand her universal popularity.

She glanced down at her outfit, then peered back at Dash. Her eyes narrowed, leaving him to wonder what she was up to. All at once, the colors of troupe’s garments morphed, shifting to a glittery texture of blue and purple. Both Ruki and Yanna examined the changes, then looked to their leader.

"The colors were too dreary. I couldn’t stand it any longer," Celescia said. "Besides, there’s no need for a disguise in here."

"Certainly not."

"Before we discuss our options, I wish to thank you again for coming to our rescue. Otherwise we'd be in custody of the Theocracy."

"Or dead," Ruki added.

Dash shrugged. "I did what I thought was right. And I'd like to get you somewhere safe. But before I do that, I need to know what we're signing up for."

Celescia gave him a questioning look. "You doubt our cause?"

"No, but movements concern me. They have trouble knowing when to end."

Yanna said, "The Theocracy is--"

Dash held his hands up. "An oppressive homeworld regime. I get it. The Pree aren’t the first, nor will they be the last to deal with that. But why you? Are three singers that threatening?"

"Celescia is not just a singer," Yanna said, each word a bite. "She is an inspiration to billions of our people. A spokesperson for Acculturation. The Theocracy knows the influence that she holds is enough to tip the balance of the vote to ratify the charter."

"Why doesn't the Theocracy just have you killed?" Gaius asked, earning an incredulous look from Wesley. "What? It's a legit question."

"They cannot be so bold. Celscia would be a martyr. People wouldn’t stand for that," Ruki said. The words came out like she was terrified to speak them and invite a karmic reckoning.

Celescia placed a comforting hand on Ruki’s shoulder. "If we were disappeared or killed, the backlash would doom the Theocracy in the charter vote." Celescia smirked at something amusing. "At least that is what Acculturation analysts tell us."

"Easy to say when their ass isn’t on the line," Dash said. The skin on the back of his neck tickled, unease stirring. It was the same sense of being a pawn he felt with his own dark history with the end of his military career following the Auturia incident, and the way it came back around twenty years later with his new medtech and the secrets he’d unknowingly carried.

"The Theocracy has never taken such direct action against us before. They started with public condemnation, then increased their attacks. We knew operatives tracked us, but we were always steps ahead of them. We scheduled shows in secret or at the last minute. Outside of Preemona, Acculturation support is strong."

"Except Sanctum, apparently," Gaius said, slurping from his drink.

"That was an anomaly," Celescia said with a defensive edge.

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"I’m not surprised. Sanctum is a channel station. People there don't get involved in local affairs," Dash said. "Something changed to cause the Theocracy to actively go after you. Did it have to do with your attempted meeting with that elder Pree?"

Celescia answered after a moment of hesitation. "We don’t know. Our task was to meet with a Theocracy defector on behalf of Acculturation. Unfortunately, the operatives interrupted us."

Dash glanced between each of the singers, looking for any signs of a tell. Body language queues could be hard enough in one’s own species, let alone an entirely different one who also happened to be wearing form-shifting garments and masks to hide their true identities. Even the PD translations were only so much help. He didn’t see anything of outright concern, but his pesky gut told him something stunk about the whole thing.

For one thing, it seemed odd that Human operatives would be involved in Pree politics given the harsh consequences of interfering with charter proceedings. But he knew it happened. The world of espionage was a dirty game, one he wanted nothing to do with.

He asked the singers about this. Celescia's face shifted with a hint of discomfort. "There are rumors that Cosmogenic supports the Theocracy."

"Cosmo who?" Gaius said.

"Do you know nothing?" Yanna said.

Celescia placed a hand on her partner’s arm. "Cosmogenic is a multi-racial consortium that opposes the very concept of the Commonwealth. They don’t believe in all the bureaucracy and centralized regulation. They claim that it breeds corruption, that the Commonwealth allows for races unworthy of class one status to gain access to the galaxy. Races who don’t get along well with others."

Dash couldn't help but think of the Gyhera. One of their major clans had instigated the Auturia incident. Between destroying the Ferrulian colony ship and eating the corpses of his comrades—and attempting to eat him—he had a hard time feeling sympathetic towards them.

He said, "In other words, Cosmogenic believes in survival of the fittest."

"Something like that."

"If you’re so important from a publicity standpoint, why did the Acculturation send you out on this op? Seems a little reckless to me," Wesley said.

"A few reasons. We were close by. The operation was deemed low risk. But most important is our influence. It grants us access, such as docking at Sanctum with little notice, or bypassing checkpoints and inspections," Celescia said.

"Makes sense. But it backfired in a bad way," Dash said.

"It did. But it won’t happen again. A Commonwealth diplomatic fleet will arrive in two cycles for the charter ratification vote. The deadline has been set. Now we must focus on what we do best. Spreading our message to the people. Something not even the Theocracy will be able to stop."

"Only if you can’t get to where you’re supposed to be. So where do you need to go now?"

"Aurora Station."

Dash opened the GalaxyNet infohub for the station on the table display. "A Commonwealth-sponsored habitat and distribution hub. Not too far from the Tyrcellus channel region."

"And with the incident on Sanctum, you no longer have transportation to Aurora station," Wesley said.

"Yes," Celescia said. She paused, and glanced at Yanna, as if having a private PD rebuttal. Celescia turned her attention back to Dash. "I’d like to propose contracting you for transportation to Aurora station. If you’d be willing to deliver us, I will ensure you are well compensated."

Dash leaned back in his chair. "There’s no other ships that can take you there?"

"None nearby."

"This seems a little dicey. I’d usually take a percentage up front for this sort of work."

"Unfortunately, our discrete account is frozen. We’ve only discovered this since coming aboard your ship," Celescia said. "But I can assure you our Acculturation contact will compensate you."

Dash must’ve flashed something like suspicion on his face, for Yanna said, "We’re not scam artists. We always pay our debts."

Ignoring Yanna, Dash glanced at his crew. They both nodded at him, though Gaius made a circling motion with a finger, indicating a return trip to the channel.

"Here are my terms. We can bring you to Aurora, but we’ll need compensation for the trip there and back to the channel. Standard base rate plus profit margin. No charge for cargo operations since we’re not hauling anything. Unless you’ve got connections for contracts out of Aurora. I’ll only charge for the trip there if you get us work. But I'm wary of this charter issue blowing up in our face."

"How altruistic of you," Yanna said with a flat voice.

Celescia didn’t even flinch at her partner’s comment, likely ignoring her now the same as Dash was. "No one knows we’re on your ship. Once we reach Aurora, we’ll walk off, never to see each other again," Celescia said with a finality that Dash found borderline vindictive. But then again, he started off the proposal with a proclamation to bug out as soon as possible. For all he knew, she felt the same.

"I don’t think we need to be that abrupt about it as long as we’re taking precautions," he offered in what he thought was a conciliatory tone. “I need a moment to speak with my crew.”

He stepped into the passageway with Gaius and Wesley. They both supported helping the troupe for different reasons. Gaius loved the thought of easy creds, while Wesley was emphatic about helping someone in need. Dash fell somewhere in the middle, with a modicum of relief about making a profit in the immediate future.

He knew from the presence of the operatives that trouble lay ahead. But he couldn't say no and condemn the singers to the wolves. Not after what he went through with Auturia.

The crew returned to the galley. The troupe, having decided, awaited them.

"We request one other condition, Captain," Celescia said. Dash gestured for her to continue. “We wish to rehearse in the cargo bay. I assume that wouldn't be a problem. given the lack of cargo.”

At first, Dash thought it was a dig at him, but then he noticed the slight playfulness in her expression. "As long as you leave it the way you found it, you have yourself a ride to Aurora.”

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