Page 12 of Savage Union

“Gurflug at your service, Captain,” he burbled in a voice that sounded like someone gargling with mud.

“Fuck!” I growled, withdrawing my hand and wiping it on my trousers instinctively. I would have to get my uniform cleaned later.

Gurflug frowned.

“Are you offended by my greeting? I came to your call in good faith. Perhaps you’d rather I left again. Maybe you can make your own jumps to the Triplex System.”

“No, no—don’t go,” I said unwillingly. Galafruxians can be such Prima Donnas—they know they’re the best at what they do, which means they can charge a ridiculous fee and walk off the job if they don’t feel “appreciated” enough. Goddess of the Four Faces, it was enough to make a male shoot someone!

“Well…maybeI will stay. If the price is right,” Gurflug said, smiling broadly to show his brown-stained teeth.

I clenched my own teeth, thoroughly irritated already by the smarmy fuck. But he had me in a tight spot and he knew it. He was the only one who had answered my call for a Cross-Dimensional Navigator so he could pretty much name his price.

“What were you thinking?” I asked, prepared to start the haggling—though I had zero leverage to do so.

“Oh, say…thirty thousand credits?” he said casually, raising one greasy brown eyebrow.

“Thirtythousand?”I nearly choked. Even for a dangerous Cross-Dimensional trip, that was outrageous.

Gurflug shrugged his slab-like shoulders, his baggy brown vest puckering with the motion.

“Or I could just go.”

“You know you’re dealing with Clan Savage, right?” I growled. “If I wanted to, I could force you to come aboard and do the job for nothing!”

“Yes, you could,” he acknowledged calmly. “But then you couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t jump you right into the middle of a gas giant or a black hole. We Galafruxians do not mind dying, you know—we reincarnate immediately into an even better life than the one we left. So really, if I die, it’s a win-win situation for me.”

I ground my teeth together, trying to fight my irritation and the urge to pull out my blaster and shoot a hole in his guts. I needed him and he knew it, the smelly bastard!

“Thirty thousand credits is your price then?” I asked, feeling resigned. That was my entire budget for a navigator, plus the bonus I would get for a clean run. There would be no cushion left—if we ran into any trouble or got raided by the Imperium and lost some cargo, I would be making it up out of my own pocket. Still, what could I do? The Galafruxian had me backed into a corner and he fucking knew it.

“Thirty thousand and not a credit less,” he said, giving me that brown, shit-eating grin of his again.

I was about to grudgingly agree when a voice shouted,

“I’ll do it for half of that.”

Startled, I jerked my head to the left and saw a young male, barely more than a boy, standing by my elbow. He must have crept up when I was talking to Gurflug.

“And who the Hell are you, boy?” I growled. I didn’t like being bothered when I was doing a deal and he didn’t look like a serious contender. He was too young for one thing and there was an air of innocence about him—as though this was his first time out in the big, bad world. I didn’t fucking need anyone aboard my crew I had to baby-sit.

The boy lifted his chin.

“I’m a student of Grr. Horstauf,” he said. “I heard you were looking for a navigator, so I decided to come apply for the position. I’m trained in Cross-Dimensional Navigation and I have no blind spots.”

That was a big brag—especially coming from someone so young. I took another look at the boy.

He was slim and not very tall—the top of his head barely came up to my shoulder. He had short brown hair that curled around his ears and wide, amber eyes with spiky black lashes. His skin was a smooth brown and he was wearing baggy clothes that didn’t quite fit him right. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t say exactly who.

“Grr. Horstauf, hmm?” I said, frowning. I knew the name—he was a famous navigational teacher who only took the most promising—or the richest—students. Either this boy came from an extremely wealthy family…or he really was some kind of prodigy.

But I had forgotten about Gurflug. The big Galafruxian was still standing in front of me, fuming at the way I had stopped paying attention to him.

“Anyone cansaythey are trained in Cross-Dimensional Navigation,” he snarled, glaring at the boy with hate in his bulging, purple eyes. “But I say he is a fraud—he is too young!”

“I’m the youngest student Grr. Horstauf ever trained,” the boy said coolly. I liked that he didn’t lose his head, even with the enormous Galafruxian glaring down at him. “But I’m also his best. He was the one who said I have no blind spots and I can prove it—let me use your nav band to plot a course and you’ll see.”

“Ridiculous!” Gurflug burbled. “Captain, you cannot trust this little snot! He is clearly lying to you!”

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