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Written by Duncan Day
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Sunday, 05 March 2006 |
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Page 5 of 6
“Which is exactly why our customers wanted to use us, and are paying so handsomely.” Genovesi went on. “Besides, there’s more to it than these containers.”
“More than that?!” Jerzy pointed to the containers again. “How many different ways have you come up with to get us all killed?”
“Well…more than that anyway.” Genovesi nodded toward the crates, smiled and reached into his breast pocket to pull out a data chip. He held it up between them. “This is why our accounts are lower than they should be. I paid for a little extra insurance.”
“What kind of information is it?” Jerzy asked, calming a little. “An IFF hack? A Priority Pass? Shift change schedules?”
“None of the above.” The captain was enjoying himself. “There are many paths we can take to our destination. We have here the means of avoiding customs altogether. This my friend, is the navigational data that will take us through a jump route that is as yet, officially unknown. No customs, no where.”
“Oh Jesus.” Jerzy shook his head. “Now I know you’ve lost it. You paid for NAV data through an unstable jump didn’t you. We’re dead. They probably told you it would be a piece of cake, didn’t they? Approach the L-point like you normally would ‘cause customs on the outbound cue isn’t all that tight. Register the legitimate destination with STC until the clear is given. Start accelerating for the L-point when you are given the go, but substitute the secret NAV data just before activating the capsule drive. Exit C space somewhere off the grid, jump again into the grid somewhere well past the customs check, easy peezy. Right? Only they neglected to mention the fact that these secret unstable jumps are pretty much hell. Most ships never make the exit, and if they do, they’re so damaged they can’t make the next jump back to the known systems of our cluster. I wonder how many marks like you are drifting out there dead from asphyxiation or starvation, frozen in their little tug tombs because they couldn’t get anything working after that first jump? All you’ve done is open up a few more paths to our collective deaths.”
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