Tred Decker wore a curiously annoyed expression, staring out of the view screen at the angular alien, dagger-shaped prows, floating in the deep blackness of space, gun ports ready to vaporise him in an instant. His stomach grumbled, and silently he cursed himself for having skipped breakfast.
The upper right hand monitor displayed an ugly three-eyed beast who's face was painted with garish red and white stripes, and it wore a ridiculous looking set of goggles with cross hairs superimposed over the central eye, and, as if it could be of any assistance in space, a belt of ammunition. It was talking in the deep, intimidating tones, obviously trying to frighten him into complying, which was typical when dealing with the Paranid, but sounded ridiculous to Tred, and it would have to most other Argons.
For a moment, Tred seriously considered pushing the throttle to full, and vaporising the offensive alien face in a hail of super-heated plasma, but his business sense overruled his desire for entertainment, and it wasn't like he was paying much attention to the creature's original transmission anyway. So, Tred grudgingly keyed his transmitter, and with as much ennui as he could muster said,
"Say again, I didn't copy that?" An Argon probably would have been insulted, but his displeasure was mostly lost on the Paranid,
"Cargo. You drop and leave now, you live. If you not, destroy ship!"
Tred's annoyance only grew at the demand, and now he had to use his left hand to prevent his right from squeezing the trigger. But that was risky, especially outnumbered three to one. And he certainly wasn't getting paid enough to die... Yet. Time to find out just how badly his current client wanted his cargo to reach its destination.
"Acknowledged Paranid patrol, stand by!"
He cut the transmission before the creature could respond.
"Computer! Set for burst transmission, preset subspace channel Omega-1."
It took a Sezura before the computer responded, "Confirmed."
"Set maximum encryption, and send the following message as text only: Urgent. Have encountered unexpected difficulties. Agreement dictates that I comply with request to abandon package. Insufficient incentive to resist. Contract terminates in 3 mizura in event of non-response. End."
Normally Tred would just terminate the contract refund the customer, but this particular client had left an emergency transmission frequency, and requested Tred to make contact in the event of just such difficulties. Besides the happy thought of turning that ugly beast into an anomalous cloud of particles had a pleasant effect on his stomach.
The computer chimed exactly one mizura after having sent the message, "Incomming Message."
"That was fast..." Tred murmured. "Computer, decrypt and playback message."
Tred's lips curled into a smile. The gnawing in his stomach subsided almost completely, and it looked like it was going to be a good day after all. The decrypted text scrolled by,
"Additional payment authorized. Request that you overcome all difficulties and deliver package on schedule. End."
An attachment to the message indicated that a sizeable number of credits had been transferred to a generic account, specifically set up for this mission. His usual fee had just been tripled by his client. Tred still wasn't getting paid quite enough to die. Tred was now getting paid more than enough to see to it, that anybody who bothered him, would be strongly
encouraged never to bother him , or anybody else for that matter, ever again.
Anomalous Cargo - Prologue
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