Galactic Gambit

Chapter 18

Neo spent the day flying the rest of the way out of Alcyoneus with Reiyna who was entirely too invested in her love life. She decided that her first order of business after returning to The Memento, was to find someone who could soundproof the interior of the ship, though in order to do that, they needed to find somewhere else to sell the extra eggs. Either way, Reiyna heard too much.

They finally reached the outer edge of the galaxy and entered the vast blackness of space and made their big jump back. They only had a few short hours until they would finally be finished with this mission. Neo was ready to move on to other things, see new places, explore, scavenge some ships that had been deserted or wrecked by battles. Maybe even embark on the treacherous journey to find The Albatross's hidden treasure planet, if it exists. She thought it did.

In the spare time that they had before arrival, Neo had Fynn stash their portion of the eggs, and prepped the crate for delivery. She was stressing about landing in the shipyard, but this time around she had less trouble getting it into the docking braces than before. Neo sent Teag a message informing him that they had arrived. He didn't reply, but the message had been read. She got her pack, leaving her phasers behind and headed for the docking bay.

When she came through the engine room, Pax was putting his tools away and organizing things. "Hey, can you and Asa bring the crate out? Teag is probably on his way down to get it."

He stopped what he was doing and turned to her. "Yeah. I guess," his reply was clipped as he turned to walk past her.

"Pax, please don't be mad at me. I want us to be friends. I—" she began.

He huffed, "Friends." Then as he faced her again, he told her, "I don't think I can be just friends with you." He walked away presumably to get Asa, but Neo just continued on through the ship to the docking bay. Why does everything have to be so complicated, she thought to herself as she went. Fynn was in the kitchen checking through the cabinets for something, which reminded her they could use some more food on the ship.

"Fynn, do you want to go to the main platform for groceries?" He looked hesitant but agreed and walked out to the shipyard platform with Neo.

She paced around outside the ship as she waited. A few minutes later, Pax and Asa walked down the ramp, each carrying a side of the crate. The door at the other end of the platform opened, and from this distance, Neo could make out at least four men. One of which was wearing a black brimmed hat. An uneasy feeling came over her, but she tried to brush it off. Pax and Asa set the crate down near the front of the ship where Pax took a seat upon it and Asa walked over to stand beside her.

Neo could almost hear Pax's eyes rolling, but she kept her focus ahead on the group walking toward them. She could see Teag, he was hobbling along, his shoulder edged up by the man beside him that seemed to have a hold on his arm. His face was enough to tell Neo that this was not going to go well. His eyes were wide with fear, and he looked even more haggard than the last time she had seen him.

The man with the hat had a particularly bland face with dark eyes and thin lips. He was dressed nicely with a long black coat that matched his hat and shiny black shoes with pointed ends. His clothing was not common, at least not anywhere that Neo had seen anywhere before. Despite the intimidation factor of the two brutes that were following him, he had a cheerful smile and a friendly demeanor.

"Ah, that must be mine, yes?" the man in the hat said as he walked up with his hand extended toward the crate.

"Yes, everything accounted for. My apologies for being late, we had to repair the ship," Neo informed him. Pax got up and moved to the other side of her almost protectively.