Free Omega Force 6: Secret of the Phoenix by Joshua Dalzelle Page B

here.”
    ****
    The Phoenix blasted into the Setit System, carrying a lot of forward velocity still from their mesh-out. Jason waited tensely for Doc to clear the system, half-expecting to be attacked in the few seconds it took for the systems to come back up after dropping into real-space.
    “Nothing on the sensors,” Doc reported. “There’s a bit of local traffic and a ConFed corvette sitting in high orbit, but no sign of those cruisers.”
    “That may not be a good sign,” Twingo said. “They either have no idea where we were going next, which I find a bit unlikely given our recent luck, or the bloody nose we gave them scared them enough to bring more firepower next time.”
    “That’s an unpleasant thought,” Jason said as he directed the ship onto a course that would intersect one of the eight open approach vectors to the planet. Setit was apparently not a planet that appreciated ships randomly making orbit and entering their atmosphere. “We’ve got a flight time of fourteen hours to the planet.”
    “Fourteen hours!” Kage said, calling up the navigational data. “What the hell? Are we suddenly trying to save fuel?”
    “Nobody is shooting at us for the moment,” Jason said. “I’d like to try and blend in to the local traffic and not draw any undue attention. Even if we leave without incident, I’d rather not have someone remember the ship that came screaming in at .85c and blasted off a short time later.”
    “Sound thinking,” Crusher said, standing up. “I’ll be in my quarters.”
    ****
    The trip all the way down to the surface of Setit was uneventful and the Phoenix touched down on the outskirts of the spaceport with a soft bump. Kage and Doc stayed on the bridge to watch over things with Jason instructing them to keep the engines running in case anybody affiliated with the two light cruisers showed up. Twingo climbed out of the dorsal hatch and began making his inspections along the starboard side where they had taken hits, and the rest of the crew followed Naleem out to the terminal building to catch a ride to the storage facility.
    As luck would have it, the facility had a loaner airtruck that was large enough to accommodate all the rest of Naleem’s equipment in one trip. Jason was walking among the generic black crates when one caught his eye. It was much taller than the others and was sitting upright on its end. What really made him curious, however, was fact the crate had its own power source.
    “Naleem,” he called out. “What is this?”
    “What is what?”
    “This crate here, the one I’m pointing at right now,” he said shortly. “What is it?”
    “It’s just another storage crate like the others,” she replied. “Why do you ask about that one in particular?”
    “Because it looks suspiciously like a stasis pod,” Jason replied, turning to face her. “What’s in it?”
    “It’s just a cryogenic storage unit,” she said. “What use would I have for a stasis pod? Some of the chemicals I use for dating are sensitive to temperature changes. The best way to keep them viable is to store them down to the temperature of liquid helium. Is this trip going to be a constant barrage of interrogations? What can I do to put your mind at ease?”
    “Nothing comes to mind,” Jason said. “Trust is earned. Right now you’re a paying charter, and one I’m not certain we should even be carrying. By the end of this we may become lifelong friends. Or … you prove to be untrustworthy and put my crew or ship at risk and I toss you off the back ramp.” He walked off to look over a few more of the crates, leaving her standing there with her mouth hanging open.
    “Is he always so charming and cheerful?” she asked Crusher, who happened to be walking by.
    “Who? The captain?” he said. “He’s always a bit moody. What did he do?”
    “I believe he threatened to toss me out into space if I wasn’t what I was selling myself as,” she said.
    “Eh, that’s a bunch of