Hank Fede's Story

Hank looked up at the man in front of him. "Whadya need?" Hank asked the man. They were in a small shop somewhere in the recess of Hank's mind. His mind had created this for when he slept in the Gap. Hank was eleven in this world of his.

"Where is your mother, child?" asked the man politely. He had a great big mustache and long beard, but was bald. Hank pointed at the woman who was cleaning the windows. "Excuse me madam," said the man to his mother. His mother turned around and smiled at her son who returned the gesture. She then looked at the man and spoke lightly, "Yes?"

"We must take him away. He has to fight in the war," he said, talking about Feron, Hank's older brother.

His mother was sad not angry. It was as if she knew this day would come. "He is not here at the moment. Come back later."

"I am sorry, but time is of the essence. I did not come here to ask of your permission, Madam. I merely came to inform you." He turned and walked away. Hank looked at his mother and searched for an answer in her eyes. He never found one.


Hank woke up from his sleep because the conscious mind cannot stand the gel. The feeling of drowning took over him and tried desperately to remove the gel from clogging his trachea. Fear decided to join in and Hank shouted but no voice came. Then he vomited and the gel that had set up shop inside him fell on the ground. He coughed a few times and staggered as he removed the gel from his face. He took deep breaths and calmed himself.

He opened his eyes to a blurry world. He searched the console near him for his glasses and found them. They were not where had he kept them; better positioned they were now. Hank walked out of the tank and grabbed the bathrobe from the locker. He went to the shower room and a few minutes later he emerged. He wore his usual garments and walked over to his station as the captain gave him his instructions.

He looked at the screen and decided what all incoming information would not be required. Stock updates? No. Gameshows? No. Sports updates? Culture Information? Police information? No. At this moment none of this was needed so with a few button presses he stopped the ship's automated information seeker from asking or seeking for this information. Some of this information, like current status of the planet, was broadcasted so they didn't need to ask for it. Stock updates and such had to be requested.

Of course there were requests of information from the star systems that each ship had to reply to. Some could be neglected without any legal problems. But to some requests, the replies were automated. Even the ship's captain could not override, unless his ship was not built by the United Shipbuilder's Corp.

Number of members, Crew Information, Cargo, Nature of Cargo etc; except Nature of Cargo he ignored all requests. Harmful If Mishandled, he sent his reply. All this happened in the few seconds between the first order and the new order he got. He stood up for a moment and then sat down. He hadn't transferred the power. A few seconds and a some button presses later he stood up again, his work done, and made his way to the bridge.

Neil woke just before the gel started draining. He let his body float in a relaxed state of mind. Having been involved in many diplomatic missions, across many systems, Neil had spent more time in the gel than he had in a real bed. He learned to enjoy the floating sensations. He also knew that relaxing worked better than fighting against the sensation of the gel in your lungs. He held his breath, there was no need to try and breath yet. The gel in his lungs would have enough oxygen to sustain him for a least 20 mins now that it wasn’t being recycled. So, Neil relaxed. He slowly allowed his legs to take his weight as the gel drained. He kept his eyes closed, another trick he found helped suppress the panic most felt in the gel. “Don’t let your sight fool your brain that your body is in trouble. Your brain knows better but your eyes can easily sway it.”

When he heard the capsule open he knew it was time to start moving. He stepped out, one step. Still holding his breath he shook his hands sharply to clear them off as much as he could. Then he wiped his face and eyes. Finally, like a diver clearing a snorkel, he ‘exhaled’ in one hard push. He felt his lungs clear easily and heard the gel splat to the floor.

Now he opened his eyes and grinned. A short breath with another hard exhale to get the remaining gel from his lungs and he headed to the showers. This was the one thing he did appreciate like others in the gel. Nothing felt better than a hot shower after a long gap sleep. He took his time, stepping out to hear the first of the captain’s orders. His stomach rumbled at the thought of breakfast. This ship was equipped with fairly nice dining options. Of course, anything compared favourably to military style rations. And even those sounded good compared to what Neil had to settle for while on the run.

Neil hadn’t been on one ship for longer than one gap run since he’d went AWOL. This was the first one he’d been on with the Dragon. Most times, whenever they entered a new system and the captain heard the typical list of wanted and missing they always gave Neil a funny look. Neil took the hint. Changed his hair and eyes, picked a new name, and tried to find a new ship to sign up with. Mal gave Neil a different feeling though. He got the sense Mal liked Neil’s ability to shift idents.

“I guess we’ll see soon enough,” he thought cheerfully, “No doubt Fede was pulling in the wanted list right now.”

Neil looked in the mirror. His hair was a mess of colours. Another thing gap sleep did to him. It made it hard to keep everything from shifting too much. He chose his typical red hair and blue eyes and shrugged. He never remembered if this was the description on the wanted list or not but didn’t care too much. It was best to get the AWOL thing out of the way quickly. See if it was going to be an issue or not.

Neil dressed and headed to the bridge as the captain issued the second order. “Uh oh. Well, here it comes I guess. Emergency meeting to discuss the implications of their language expert and co-pilot’s interesting history.”

He walked onto the bridge with an expectant grin, “Rested and ready Cap. I expect you’ve something to discuss?” He looked over each member of the little crew with a cautiously friendly gaze. Trying to get a measure if one of them were going for the bounty this time or not.

Hank reached the bridge a few minutes after he left his post. The ship was massive compared to the people inside; however, it did not have as much room as most other ships of its class. A lot of refitting later it was now able carry as much goods as it did; enough to support two crews worth of profits.

He was the last to reach. It was because his station placed him furthest from the bridge, away from all the irritating noise of the engine. He hadn't expected much of a pay or good living when had joined but this was better than he had hoped.

He looked at his captain. Some time ago this very man had offered him a job and being jobless at the time and about to be evicted, Hank didn't refuse. "I heard about your skills," this man had said to Hank one fine morning, a bottle of liquor in his hands, "Let's not waste this talent of your."

Before he had left he gave the last of remaining stuff to the landlady as rent. She was sad to see him go but he was happy. Finally he was free, free to roam the universe! Free to kick pirate ass! Alas, life in space wasn't how the great writers had made it seem. Hank realized that life on the plains of his planet was better than life in space but he couldn't leave, could he?

He snapped out of his thoughts as Malhotra, the captain, spoke, his expressions grim, "There are things that happen on each of my ventures that are completely unexpected. No matter how I struggle to, I can not plan for everything." Hank wondered if there were more pirates to face. This ship was slow moving, a space piggy. An easy target it was, but his captain had kept it out of pirate hands so he trusted they would be safe this time too.

Luckily the captain wasn't speaking of space pirates. The captain smiled then and fiddled with the controls on the arm of his chair. The wall behind him suddenly revealed a view of the outside, thick with dozens of undulating and glowing figures. The chair rotated, so that he was facing the window. "These are starseeds. We know little to nothing about them, there is a legend that states following them will lead to treasure, sanctuary, or, in some legends, new habitable worlds."

Legends, Hank though and sighed, legends are always trouble. He looked at the starseeds, first with awe then with sadness. They roamed the black void, giving exactly zero damn about the pesky humans. They lived for a million years doing what he always wanted to do, nothing. Lazing about outside the ship they had gained a new enemy in Hank Fede.

"Quite beautiful," he said in a low voice and looked sideways. Beside him stood his two crewmates, Mayor and Ayers. He hadn't spoken to them much. Both seemed friendly enough to initiate a useless conservation with, but he hadn't so yet. He would, in due time.

The captain spoke up again, talking about the starseeds. Hank himself drifted into thoughts of how he would handle a cargo check which was inevitable. This star system was volatile and checking would be stricter. He just hoped Ayers knew someone here.

Alanys greeted the rest of the crew with her customary morning smile, practically radiating positivity towards them. Whether this was because she’d recently taken a hit, or because it was her natural default with people was a question she was in too good a mood to ponder. She listened silently as Mal seemed to be taken with another one of his more melodramatic moods, observing him carefully for signs of hidden stress. Maybe it was just the gap sleep she decided without comment. Then he showed them the starseeds. They were undeniably pretty, and she stared quite attentively for a moment, relishing in the pure untainted pleasure of witnessing something new and pleasant. And then, as tends to be the case with most fleeting pleasantries, the moment was lost and Alanys turned her attention to Neil as Mal addressed him.

She tried to get a read off the red headed man, but while her specific mutation perhaps gave her a better sense of other people’s emotions than what could be considered normal, she could influence people’s emotions, not feel them. There was a big difference between the two. Alanys could testify; she’d known more than one empath. She wasn’t given much time to observe though, before Mal was calling her away to the cargo hold. “You’re the boss.” She drawled almost lazily as she turned and followed after him, resisting a snarkier comment at being referred to by her last name. They’d been friends for five years now, and though she knew it was simply Mal’s need to keep a professional formality with the crew, she didn’t have to like it, and barring situations where it was a dire necessity, attempted to foil his attempts at every turn.

Alanys looked up at the machinery mildly as she approached Mal in the cargo hold, and felt no desire to touch it. She didn’t need to feel the grime to know it was there thank you very much. She returned his half smile with one of her own, and took the data pad he handed her gingerly. She’d have to find a safe place to put it, somewhere in her room she imagined would suffice, though perhaps keeping it under computerized lock and key wouldn’t be a bad idea either. She might like Hank and Neil well enough, but she sure as hell didn’t know them well enough to not keep important valuables locked away.

“And since when exactly have I ever been a good judge of character?” Alanys half quipped in response to Mal’s question before shrugging with a sigh. “I don’t know Mal, they both seem like good enough guys. They both…are obviously hiding something, but having crap in your past you’d rather keep buried is something I don’t typically judge people for you know.” Which was entirely true, though from both a command and personal perspective she knew that crap sometimes had a tendency of finding its way to the surface with disastrous consequences. Not the ideal condition for your crew from a captain’s perspective either.

“I feel better about Neil than Hank.” She felt obligated to report. “I’m not entirely sure why though. Do you want me to keep an eye on them, see if I can find anything out?” Alanys asked carefully after a moment. She hated using her ability on people to make them need to talk to her, especially about things that could be private, but if the safety of the ship could be assured, and if Mal asked her to, she would. Even if it made a part of her cringe on a base level.

Neil listened to the captain’s opening lines, waiting for the questions. He was amused by Malhotra’s dragging it out. When the outside view was revealed Neil was stunned momentarily. He watched the starseeds, admiring their beauty. The colours washing over his face, reflecting in his eyes. The tint of his eyes shifted and changed with the colours of the starseeds. Neil was lost in the view and didn’t realize how his eyes were reacting.

Neil’s reverie was broken by Malhotra’s statement. He blinked and turned to look at the captain, his eyes shifting back to their normal view as he did. He was about to address the question when Malhotra asked him to think and walked away. Neil watched him walk away, confused, and slightly annoyed.

He couldn’t figure out what Mal’s angle was, “Why ask a leading question, then walk away? What the hell is there to think about? Is he trying to make me more nervous, thinking it’ll get me to talk? He obviously knows, so why draw it out. I’ve nothing to hide. It’s not like it’s a big secret that isn’t plastered all over the universal wanted lists. He doesn’t like it, the crew doesn’t like it, then I do my thing. Get them through the cargo inspection and move on. Whatever.”

Neil shrugged at the departing captain and move his gaze to Alanys. Even though he’d only had a few chats with her before the gap he realized he kind of liked her. She was friendly and easy to talk to. Now, though, she was giving him the once over. He watched her striking blue eyes take in all she could in a brief glance. He nodded to her, “Yup, she’s gotta know too. Why give me the eye like that? I bet she’s trying to figure out if I’d be a threat to the ship before the inspection. Whether to dump me now or take advantage of my contacts.”

Again, Neil was about to speak when the captain called her away, “Alright then. Typical drill. It’s not like I’ve not done this multiple times before. Same thing every time. They pretend they don’t know. They take a measure of how much I might lie to them. They figure out it’s not worth the risk to have me around, but they don’t quite want to go through the hassle of turning me in. Too many other things to risk having the military police poking around. So, I’m encouraged to seek another ship, since maybe I want to move around more than they plan to. Or maybe the next job doesn’t need my contacts. Or a hundred other excuses to kick me out. Wish it would have happened quicker, but I’ll deal with it when they come back. At least with all the activity in the area it shouldn’t be hard to find another ship to jump to if they decide they don’t want me around.”

Neil gave a satisfied nod and looked back to the controls. Keep the ship steady and bring her in easy. That’s all he figured he’d be asked to do while the captain was in the hold, “Easy enough. Not much going on out there right now. The inspection will be the challenge. Better start making inquiries around to find out who the ‘right’ inspection officer is.”

Neil turned to Hank. Neil hadn’t had any significant interactions with their techie and couldn’t really pinpoint how he felt about him. However, at this point he needed some secure communications and no time like the present to meet someone, “Hey, Hank right? Or would you prefer Fede on the bridge? Anyway, can you set me up with an encrypted communication line? It will probably have to jump around various end points in customs and inspections. I need to figure out who we want to come aboard and play the inspection game with us.”