Fiction Friday: Chapter 7

Previously:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6


* * * * *


With the Port Authority clearance we could now arrange to have the containers shipped to yet another warehouse, this one adjacent to the planetary shuttle transport bay so that they could be shipped down to the surface. I started rummaging through the printouts on the desk for the contact information of the station crew to arrange the move while wondering where my brother was. as if summoned by my thoughts, the door opened and he strode in.


"Hey Kor, look, I"m sorry about what I said," I got out before he could say anything. "I was tired and exhausted and didn't mean it."


"Yeah sure," he replied sullenly. "Forget about it." I could tell by his expression that he felt the exact opposite of his words.


"We'll get that bastard after all this shit is done. We'll put in one of those anonymous calls to the police or something, you know? We'll fix it. Just... later."


He nodded his head with its unshaven face and tired eyes. I resolved to take this up later when we were both more rested. I decided to get his mind off it with some work.


"Ok, we got work to do. Port Authority was by and cleared the stuff."


"No problems?" he asked, perking up a bit. Business was like a stimulant to him, I wonder why Father never liked him; they had so much in common.


"No, not really besides the guy being a jerk about it." I relayed the story of the inspector with as much forced joviality as I could muster in an effort to lighten the mood and it seemed to work, or at least he decided to go along with it. We had a chuckle at my expense and got back to work. Korannon easily located the contact information for the work crew (it was in the terminal and not on a printout) and made all the arrangements with ease, 1500 units to one hanger for Blodel and the other 1000 to another hanger for smaller dealers to pick up from.


After all was in motion I contacted Rusack to tell him the news. "That's great, guys!" he effused. "I get the ISK once the transfer to their hangers is complete and I'll send you your share right after that." We signed off and I sat down tiredly but kind of happy once more. It was going to work out, I thought.


The work crews were not scheduled to arrive for a couple hours so we left and went back up to our quarters to take showers and a rest. I set my alarm to force me awake and we pulled ourselves together with clean clothes and cups of coffee, and then made our way back to our warehouse hanger. Back at the hanger we met the work crew, signed the release forms, and watched them work over the next couple of hours.

Once the last container was removed and the work crew signed off, we retired back to the office to sit down and await our payout. While we waiting Korannon had a far off thinking look on his face. I waited for him to say something as I recognized that look and I knew prompting him would not speed up the process any faster. After a minute he looked right at me and said something that chilled my soul.


"Maybe we should have asked for half the ISK up front before signing everything away."