Ep.#1 - "Escalation" (The Frontiers Saga: Rogue Castes) Read Online Free Page B

if I wanted to. How the fuck am I supposed to fix something if it breaks in flight?”
    “I thought your job was to make sure things didn’t break in flight,” Captain Tuplo remarked as he reached the door to his cabin.
    “Of course, but…”
    “I’ll make sure Marcus shifts the load around to keep the crawl space hatches clear once we off-load some of the cargo on Paradar.”
    “Thank you, Captain, but can you tell him not to…”
    “You know, Dalen, you are an adult. You can tell him yourself, you know.”
    “He doesn’t listen to me, Cap’n. He only listens to you.”
    Captain Tuplo sighed. Dalen Voss was a gifted mechanic, but he was a kid, barely old enough to leave home. Because of that, Dalen felt uncomfortable standing up to Marcus, who was old enough to be his father. And Marcus saw little reason to listen to anything Dalen had to say, regardless of how skilled the young man was at keeping the ship’s systems in proper working order. “I’ll speak to Marcus,” he promised as he disappeared into his cabin.
    Captain Tuplo closed the door, removed his overcoat and hung it up on the hook on the wall next to his gun belt. Although runs in the more prosperous regions of the Pentaurus sector did not pay as well, especially after the higher port fees and propellant costs, at least he didn’t have to carry a weapon at all times.
    He slipped off his foul-weather boots and heavy trousers, replacing them with black pants, deck shoes, and his captain’s shirt. They were carrying passengers on this trip, and he would have to pass through the forward cabin to get to the flight deck. If the good side of plying the inner Pentaurus sector was not having to carry a gun, the bad side was always having to play the part of captain in front of passengers.
    Captain Tuplo quickly shook the water from his thick beard and smoothed it down with his hand. He then placed the traditional captain’s hat on his head and exited his cabin.
    A few steps forward and Captain Tuplo was through the forward hatch and in the forward passenger cabin. Between this cabin and the one above the cargo bay, the Seiiki could comfortably carry fifty paying passengers. It had been a big financial gamble for the captain to invest in the conversion of those spaces to carry passengers, but it had increased their earning potential significantly, especially after the idea of traveling by jump drive became more commonplace. Whenever possible, Captain Tuplo had chosen to sell the seats directly, and at a lower price than the passenger-only carriers, hoping to attract people who normally could not afford the high cost of interstellar travel. It had worked, at least for a while. But eventually, other carriers had realized the potential of that same market, trading higher per-seat prices for volume instead. These days, the only advantage the Seiiki had was the fact that they had not tried to cram too many seats into too small a space.
    As usual, the captain earned more than a few worried glances from passengers. With his thick beard and wavy brown hair sticking out at odd angles from under his cap, Connor Tuplo did not exactly engender confidence in those who laid eyes on him, at least not at first. It usually took a few minutes of conversation with the rather quiet captain, and a bit of solid eye contact, to overcome the initial negative reaction to his appearance. But sooner or later, his blue eyes and his polite manner would win a person over.
    However, today he was running late, and he avoided the passengers by moving quickly forward. Moments later, he was passing Neli, who was securing the forward hatch.
    “Full load?” the captain asked.
    “Yes, sir,” Neli replied. “Both cabins.”
    “That’s what I like to hear,” he replied as turned the corner and ascended the steps up onto the flight deck.
    The cockpit of the Seiiki was where Captain Tuplo felt most at home. She was not the newest, nor the most modern of ships. Like most other jump ships