Galactic Gambit

Chapter 9

The shipyard door opened as Neo pulled close and carefully brought the ship in, proving to be more difficult than pulling out was. Reiyna constantly glancing back and forth between Neo and the small place they were trying to land with scrutiny and serious concern.

Luckily, she didn't make a complete fool of herself and was able to park the ship and activate the braces. It was just . . . rough. Neo made sure everyone had their eggs hidden, or carefully concealed if they were going to try selling them like she was. Teag was on his way down from engineering to get the cargo, so she had grabbed her jacket, and her pack and waited on the shipyard platform with the rest of her crew.

Fynn didn't seem eager to be leaving the ship but insisted that he knew a guy here that buys . . . well, anything. Neo took him at his word, since from her assumption, he grew up there. He didn't ever say much in the way to confirm her theory, but he had said enough to make her think so. Pax was thankfully fully clothed and standing under the wing of the ship with his arms crossed. Glancing over her shoulder she could see the damage to the ship behind him, but he stole the focus with his fixed gaze on her. She whipped her head back round to see Teag stepping off the elevator with two other men to help with the crates.

Neo looked over her other shoulder toward Reiyna where she leaned against the docking brace with one foot kicked up against it picking at her nails with her knife. Teag's slow and steady pace only added to Neo's anxiety. Sure, she had stolen things when she was a kid. Broken pipe pieces, random little stuff, but this felt like a different kind of thing. It's worth it, for the ship and for the crew, she thought as Teag was finally approaching.

"Well, how'd it go?" he asked, clasping both hands in front of himself as his two younger helpers stopped behind him.

"Everything went accordingly. We did get chased from Pydania by an enforcer, but we sorted it," she said feeling especially proud about that bit. "The crates are in the back."

Teag nodded and thanked her for the delivery and left his men to haul off the crates on the hover cart they had brought with them. Neo could finally breathe easily. It was done. Reiyna headed up to the main platform before Teag had even left, leaving Neo and Pax to follow Fynn to meet this guy he had mentioned. The elevator ride up felt awkward and uncomfortable, there was not enough space or breathing room. There was, but not when Pax was standing right behind her—mere inches away filling the space with his presence. She escaped the elevator and put some distance between herself and him, waiting for Fynn to lead the way.

Once he stepped out, he waved a hand for them to follow and took hurried steps toward the back of the platform. There was a darkened hall to the left that ran back beside the armory, with a sign above saying Maintenance, which Fynn turned down. There was a metal door at the end, but Fynn did not go to it. Instead, he stopped by the wall, looking back as if to check for anyone else coming, and then proceeded to take down a metal panel from the wall. There was an opening leading into what must be a passage for maintenance workers. He stepped inside, ducking his head as he went through and reached out an arm to wave Neo and Pax inside. She couldn't help looking over to Pax to check for his reaction, but he looked more curious than anything.

Neo lifted her leg, putting one foot inside while grabbing the sides of the opening to help herself through. Her height did not help much in this situation, as she had to balance on the back of her thigh to get the other leg over into the passage without her foot being able to touch the floor on the other side. Pax climbed in behind her much easier than she had. The passage was dark, wires were strung above and throughout the open sections of the interior wall, and there was a buzzing noise that filled her ears.