Secretly, Kat had hoped there was no possible way to sneak inside, but unfortunately it had been like taking candy from a baby. Kat wondered why such an important task as safeguarding the ship had been left to just one Makaen. On the other hand, no one would be suicidal enough to enter a Makaen ship without invitation, so the crew probably didn’t deem it necessary to have lots of guards. That thought made Kat cringe.
The crates had been sealed, so it had been impossible to hide in one of them. But there were so many that it was quite simple to hide amongst the crates without being seen. In the back of the hold, they found a small clearing that would give them enough room to lie down. If they hadn’t been on a freaking Makaen ship, Kat thought, it would almost be like camping.
With the few credits they had left, they had bought enough water and food to last them three days. What would happen after that remained to be seen.
After all the crates had been brought aboard, the massive doors to the cargo hold closed with a metallic shriek. Sitting with her back against a crate, Kat looked from Lirid to Mitha in silence. She was too scared to talk, afraid that someone might hear them. Even though they didn’t speak, Kat could tell that both men were worried too. She could read it in their eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity, the floor started to vibrate.
“We’re lifting off,” Mitha whispered.
Kat felt her stomach clench and her heart jackhammer in her chest. There was no way back now.
“Wait, I just thought of something. Aren’t the ship’s sensors going to detect us?” Kat asked in horror.
Mitha shook his head. “Not as long as we stay in the cargo hold. Most of these freighters also transport organic and living products, like animals and plants. If the sensors were set to detect living creatures in the cargo hold, they would go off constantly. As long as the Makaen don’t have a reason to do a full sensor sweep, we’ll be fine. But if we leave the hold, the sensors will detect us immediately. It’s crucial we stay right here.”
“What about going to the bathing chamber?” Kat asked, worried. Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner? “There isn’t a bathing chamber here.”
Mitha opened his backpack, stuck his hand in and held up an empty bottle. “Don’t drink too much.”
Kat raised an eyebrow. “Do you know anything about the female anatomy?”
“Of course I do. I’ve pleasured many women. I see myself as an expert,” he boasted.
“Yeah, not what I meant. And also: ew, too much information.” She grimaced. Partly Cassidi or not, she really didn’t want to hear those things from her cousin.
Mitha gazed at the bottle, then at Kat and then at the bottle again. “Right, I see the problem. I also have some waterproof bags. Would that suffice?”
Kat rolled her eyes. Was he seriously expecting her to do her business in a bag? Yep, this was so much worse than camping. She would take Mitha’s advice to heart and not drink too much. Or at all. Quite frankly, she would rather die of thirst than make use of a bag.
Kat snorted, pulled her backpack toward her and lay down, using the backpack as a pillow.
“I’m going to try to sleep. Wake me when something is…um…wrong.”
Hopefully she would be able to sleep through a big part of this ordeal. The alternative, being awake and feeling nauseous from fear all of the time, wasn’t appealing at all. Kat glared at her brother. “And don’t scare me by pretending there’s something amiss when there isn’t. If you do, I will kill your sorry ass.”
Lirid let out an indignant huff and put a hand on his chest. “I would never do that. Frankly, I’m a bit hurt that you think I would do something like that.”
Prudently, Kat kept silent and patted her brother’s back to calm him down. She knew all too well he had it in him to pull a stunt like that. He had done it before, more than once, just because he found her reaction entertaining. At least this time, she had made it clear she would have none of it.
“I think it’s best if we all try to rest a bit,” Mitha said. “There’s not much else we can do.”
Mitha and Lirid lay down next to Kat. Not long thereafter, Kat heard them both snoring. She couldn’t sleep, even though her exhausted mind and body welcomed it. She stared at the ceiling, feeling anxious and trapped. Trapped on a Makaen ship. Kat rubbed her hands over her face. If this ended well for them, it would be a miracle.
“Captain, we have a problem.”
Dykan looked up from his datapad to see his best friend Selvin standing in the doorway to the bridge.
“I told you not to call me captain,” Dykan responded, shifting in his seat. “I’m not into titles and ranks, and you’re my best friend.”
Selvin stepped onto the bridge and walked over to Dykan. “You paid for this freighter and you are our leader. That makes you our captain whether you like it or not. So you better get used to it, Captain.”
Dykan growled. When his friends called him captain, he felt like such a fraud. He didn’t deserve that title: he hadn’t earned it, hadn’t fought for it. He had just bought it. Yes, this ship had been purchased with his capital, but he hadn’t even worked to earn those credits. He had inherited every single credit from his mother. Her death had made it possible for him to buy this ship. Her death had made him the captain. That was nothing to be proud of. Quite frankly, there wasn’t anything in his life he was proud of, and he knew that was of his own doing. He had chosen this life, turning his back on his father and his brothers. At least living on this freighter was a thousand times better than the shit he had to deal with on his home planet, Makaen-Prime.
“What’s the problem, Selvin?” Dykan sighed.
“There’s something strange going on with the cargo’s weight.”
“What do you mean?”
“As you know, we’re transporting a hundred crates of Siloesian minerals from Blackway space station to our client Slazmal Bonairy on Apron III.”
Dykan nodded. “Yes, I know. I negotiated that deal myself. Siloesian minerals are highly sought after due to their…relaxing properties. Slazmal Bonairy needed one hundred crates. He’s a very rich male.”
“Slazmal Bonairy is also a paranoid bastard. He demanded that we check and log the weight of his goods twice every rotation because he’s afraid we may use some of the minerals for our own pleasure or steal some to sell to another client.”
“Whatever the costumer wants,” Dykan murmured.
“Normally, we don’t weigh the goods when they are in the hold. Only before, to make sure the cargo isn’t too heavy for the hold’s floor or to distribute the goods equally.”
“You’re not telling me anything new, Selvin.” Dykan was starting to get impatient.
“There is an increase in weight.” Selvin showed Dykan his datapad with the calculations. “The first number is the total amount of weight before the crates were transported into the cargo hold. The second number is our current weight.”
Dykan stared at the different numbers and frowned. “Was the cargo hold empty before the crates were put in there?”
“Affirmative,” Selvin answered, revealing his military background.
“Is it possible that a mistake was made during the first calculation?”