6-383: Merchant Freighter Spanial – Control
She says, “that leads on to what I wanted to discuss with you. Officially, we have been contracted by one of those over-hyphenated golden names from the Trade Bureau to do a bunch of fairly tedious running around at sublight speeds, possibly for quite some time at our next stop. The practical outcome of that is that we will for sure be spending a fair bit of time away from anything resembling a busy port, which is what I know you are interested in. So I need to know if you want to continue our business arrangement, and come with us on the voyage, or if I should let you off here or at our next stop.
“Given I’m not living up to my end of the bargain, I’ll be willing to refund your advance payment. In full.”
There’s almost a slight wince as Karmen says that.
“Alternately, if you want to stay with us, an extra hand who’s good with cargo and particularly with people might be handy. For sure, what we’re going to be doing is not without risk, potentially from the authorities…and possibly others. I can put you on as a temporary crew member, and you get a share of the risks and the rewards, and we can pick up your passenger contract later if you wish.
“But, seeing as you have some reservations about our employer, I understand if you want out.
“Particularly if you want to be dropped off here, I’m going to need an answer pretty quickly.
“You have a decision to make, Lia.”
(Lia can, of course, ask Karmen questions.)
Lia will look at her for a long moment.
“If I were to stay on, I would need full disclosure about what work we were contracted for…”