Galactic Gambit

Chapter 3

Teag walked Neo back out of the shipyard leisurely chatting along the way. He gave her the vibe of a hard-working grandfather that never got a break. Despite the hush-hush nature of the job he had given her, she felt like she could trust him.

When she got back to her room at Cosmo's, she called Rhea immediately. Rhea answered, looking rather impatient. The hologram projection sat above the bed from where Neo seated herself and Rhea said, "It's about time. I have been dying to know what happened, was he a creep?"

Neo laughed and shook her head. "No, he was fine. He wants me to deliver some cargo for him, probably illegal stuff but I didn't ask what. But get this—my payment . . . is the ship. I get my own ship!" she nearly squealed with excitement. Rhea's jaw dropped almost as far as Neo's had.

"No fucking way. He's giving you a ship?" she asked to confirm she wasn't hearing things. Neo nodded, unable to keep the glaring smile from her face. "You can't fly it by yourself though, you'll need a crew."

"I know I already thought about that. I'm going to set out first thing in the morning and check around the station and see if I can find anyone willing to tag along. I mean, I do know a good propulsion engineer that might come in handy," Neo said with a teasing wink.

Rhea smiled, then grimaced. "You know I would love to come with you Neo, but Chief just promoted me to lead, and I can't pass it up," she replied in a guilty tone

"I know. I wouldn't want you to pass that up on my account. I know first-hand how hard you worked for that promotion. But it is a standing offer if you ever change your mind. But would it sway you if I told you I'm going to a planet?" Neo waggled her eyebrows and laughed.

"No way! What planet?"

"Hmm, I haven't checked, let me pull it up." Neo tapped through her comm band through the documents he sent her and found the coordinates. "Okay, sending you the info."

Rhea pulled it up and began entering the information into her holotronic computer.

"It says Pydania, in the Alcyoneus galaxy."

Rhea and Neo talked for over an hour about everything that had transpired before Rhea inevitably got sleepy and went to bed. Neo, however, found herself too restless to sleep. From thoughts of getting to fly, to how to go about gathering a crew, her mind was too full to quiet.

Long into the night, Neo finally fell asleep, dreaming of her would be adventures with her new ship and crew. She woke early, despite lack of sleep, and all but jumped out of bed to get ready. Shortly after, she found herself on the main platform walking aimlessly. She didn't know where to start, or if she should go and start asking random people if they'd like a job working for a first-time pilot. She sighed as she walked the platform with her hands stuffed in her pockets.

As she looked around, she noticed a small boutique she had passed a hundred other times but sitting right there in the front of the small shop, was a sleek black jacket with silver buttons running along one side. As soon as she saw it, it occurred to her that she had never bought any clothes she wanted. All she had were her uniforms that she was made to choose from a very small selection, and she hated with passion. Even more so since she had been fired and marooned.

Neo took the jacket from where it hung and began going through the rest of the clothing. She managed to find some shirts and a few pairs of pants to go along with it, and then she spotted a pair of black boots. She could almost envision them paired with the jacket and snatched them from the low shelf, holding them up to inspect them. They had a low heel, and a thick rubber bottom which looked like they would grip well on any surface, and they were her size. She carried on with her shopping spree since the money she had been saving for all those years for a ship didn't really need to be saved any more. She knew she would also need to fuel the ship and stock the kitchen. Weapons would be nice too since she wasn't sure what she was getting into on this unfamiliar planet. Teag had told her it should be fairly simple, and he had covered all the bases for her, but Neo knew very well that things don't always go according to plan, and it was better to be prepared for the worst.