The king laughed. “And you’re brave. Most wouldn’t dare talk to me that way. I could have you executed for that.”
Tanin cocked his head to the side. “You could try.”
“That confident in your skills?”
“I don’t waste my resources protecting statues.”
The king laughed again, from deep in his belly. “Yes. You’ll do fine. Very well. But the chest I want you to transport isn’t here. I want you to get it and bring it here.”
Tanin inclined his head in understanding. “Send the coordinates; I’ll send you my fare. When the first half of the payment goes through, we’ll go get it. Second half to be given on delivery.”
“Wait.” The king stopped him when he turned. “There’s just one thing. I want total discretion.”
“I assure you, your majesty, no one on my crew will tell anyone what’s in your chest. And you wouldn’t be the first to ask me to transport some weird sex thing, so don’t worry if you’re embarrassed.”
Gissrn’s grin turned into a scowl. “Don’t be crude. My treasures are priceless beauties, not some weird… Ugh. Never mind. And that’s my point. I said,totaldiscretion.”
“Ah. I see what you mean.” Tanin smirked. “Sorry. Personal policy. I don’t let anything on my ship if I don’t know what it is. I can do the inventory myself and keep the contents secret from my crew, but Iwillinvestigate anything that comes aboard. That is non-negotiable.”
A deep, rattling hiss came from the king’s chest. Tanin turned, facing him head on. Waiting for his attack. Or, more likely, for him to order an attack. Tanin’s fingers caught on the loop of the weapon he kept around his wrist. The one that always managed to avoid detection by scanners and pass physical searches as being ‘harmless’. But if growing up in the slums taught him anything, it was thatanythingcould be a weapon. Tanin used that knowledge to make sure he was never unarmed.
However, it didn’t come to that. The king blew out a breath, ceasing his rattle, and gathered himself, forcing a smile back in place.
“Very well.Youmay investigate the chest. But only you. And don’ttouchanything. The treasures within that chest are worth more than your life. I won’t be pleased if I find them with your disgusting oils all over them. Get me?”
Tanin inclined his head again. “Deal.”
“Good.” The king set his shoulders back. “Another thing you should be aware of. I don’t have the exact coordinates of my chest. Only a general area.”
Tanin hummed. “Well, that is a problem. I deliver things. I don’t go hunting for them.”
“Relax.” From inside his shirt, he pulled out a simple control device and passed it to him. “The chest was originally obtained by a male who works for me. However, after a refueling break at a station in a rather… seedy area, they were beset by brigands. And like fools, they jettisoned my chest, and some other valuables, in an effort to protect themselves.”
Tanin looked from the controller up to him. “Your chest is floating out in space?”
“Exactly. Their plan worked. At least against their pursuers. They stopped to recover some of the objects. But luckily, not my chest. It’s still out there somewhere. My people were able to provide me with coordinates to where they were when they made that foolish choice, but not to exactly where my chest is. Luckily for them, the chest contents are sealed and protected, so they won’t be harmed by being abandoned in space. Furthermore, there is a tracking beacon within the chest. However, given its location, if it were to be activated now,anyonein the general area would be able to detect it as there’s nothing else around to disguise the signal. Any sort of uncouth individuals would be attracted to a sudden beacon in the middle of nowhere.”
“Pirates, you mean.”
“Precisely,” the king smirked, but there was only derision in the expression. “So, you can see my dilemma. The only person I would usually trust to do this has proven themselves incompetent. Anyone I would send has to be capable of transporting my chest reliably, but also tough enough to brave a pirate infested area of space, and strong enough to actually fight back. Because when you activate that beacon, theywillcome for you and my chest. You are also the only one I’ve spoken to who hasn’t corrected me to brag about their accomplishments in hopes of obtaining my business. Therefore, you are the only one who can assist me.”
Tanin closed his hand around the remote, slipping it into his pocket. “Send the coordinates. I’ll send you my bill. Upon completion of the first payment, we’ll take off. If I don’t hear from you within one Standard day after sending the bill, I’ll assume you’ve decided to not use my services, and I will go on to the next client on my list.”
The king smirked, victorious. “I look forward to receiving my beautiful treasures.”
Tanin turned, walking out of the garden the same way he went in – bypassing the massive, modular style palace in the center of the rich, black lawn. He was very conscious of all the eyes – real and video – on him as he went around the castle towards the small, one-person hover waiting for him out front. The monohov was his preferred method of transport when he was planetside.
Throwing his leg over one side, he slipped his legs into the stirrup compartments before activating the hover tech. He bent low over the console, grabbing the controls. The wind shield slid up over his head as he jerked on the throttle, sending himself rocketing off into the air.
He’d come down in a landing shuttle, but he hadn’t landed it near Gissrn’s castle. He didn’t trust most of his clients, but especially not wealthy ones like this. A surplus of funds always did something to people’s minds. Made them think they could do anything. The objects he’d transported for some of the wealthiest people were disgraceful – and the things he’d outright refused to transport were absolutely sickening. He’d never land his shuttle right there within a potential enemy’s grasp, no matter how convenient. The public landing spots came with a fee and could be crowded, but the fact that they were so tightly regulated and watched made them safer than private ones – at least, in Tanin’s experience. He could admit, his experience wasn’t precisely normal.
Sometimes, the wealthiest clients didn’t want to pay for their deliveries and would rather kill the delivery person instead. Or they were willing to do anything to keep their delivery a secret. It had just become habit to not land the shuttle in a client’s yard.
The city of Pod Qarall was a large, wealthy one. And old. Holivair was notorious for having very unsteady ground. Due the unstable tectonics, the topography was constantly shifting and changing. It was why their buildings were all modular. It allowed for easy disassembly and reassembly in the event of a quake. But Pod Qarall was well established and very stable. They rarely had quakes here, and even when they did, they weren’t devastating. That made it one of the few places on the planet where a spaceport could be placed. Another reason Pod Qarall enjoyed the wealth and influence it did.
Tanin weaved in and out through the air traffic, heading to the spaceport on the far side of the city. His shuttle was there, in line with multiple other landing shuttles. His starship wasn’t huge, but it was just big enough that it was disqualified from being able to perform planetary landings. Which worked just fine for him. He’d rather only a small shuttle land anyway – again, less likely to be attacked that way.
As Tanin approached, the back of the shuttle immediately opened, allowing him to fly inside and come to a halt on the monohov docking pad. He powered it down and moved to the pilot seat instead. As he was putting in for takeoff clearance and preparing the shuttle, the console blinked and a faceless, yellow figure, about the size of his palm, began walking around his holodisplay.
