Page 1 of Saved By the Servali

Chapter One

“Here’s a little something for your trouble,Inspector.”

Nessa jerked her arm away as the sketchy-looking dude with his mirrored glasses and coat pulled up around his mouth and nose forced a credit redemption card into her palm.

Three hundred credits. Not bad.

But not enough to make her overlook someone’s sorry-ass shuttle being in a no-fly state of repair.

“Which one is your shuttle, sir?”

“Berth thirty-eight.” The bald and heavily pierced man answered for his half-hooded companion.

“Well, the Milky Way Intergalactic Port Authority appreciates your generous donation to the Safe and Sound charity.” Nessa dropped the thin plastic chip into the slot at the nearest ticketing machine and pushed the donation option. Both men remained impassive, hands in deep pockets on too-large coats.

They both give me the creeps.

“I’m currently inspecting the rest of the crafts ahead of you, but yours will be ready in the next hour or so.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s fine.” They waved and walked off.

Strange behavior. Usually, passengers and owners stayed near their shuttles.

Could be an unmanned craft. Didn’t matter, really. Nessa moved to berth thirty and knocked on the door. “MWIP. Pre-flight inspection.”

“It’s bad enough I pay my mechanic to do this without having to pay someone else at every port,” a grumpy man greeted heras he opened the door. Behind him, a passel of kids clamored in the small interior as his harried-looking wife tried to get them all into their seats with snacks.

“This is a free inspection, sir. It’s also required before take-off, especially if you’re going to partake in intergalactic travel. We’re just doing our part to make sure you and your family arrive safely.” Nessa gave her best smile, round brown cheeks stretched tight with a joy she was trying to muster up for the sake of the little faces watching her.

“Come in,” Mr. Grumpy said ungraciously. “All the clearances are brought up on the control panel. We’re not even leaving the Milky Way, this is just our closest port. We’re taking our kids to Moonworld for a week. Costs two years’ worth of credits, and they’re already fussing because we didn’t bring the right snacks,” her bad-tempered host grumped and stomped away.

Rich, spoiled people.Nessa bit her lip. Moonworld. She’d wanted to go there since she was a little bitty thing on her daddy’s knee. Maybe, if she ever found the right guy, and they had kids...

Ha. Yeah. Or maybe the moon would just come to her.Thatwas more likely than her meeting anyone who could afford to get married and have a family.

“Have a great trip.” She worked quickly through her checklist, logged their destination coordinates, and bid the passengers farewell.

Half the shuttles Nessa inspected that day were nothing remarkable, all Sapien System travel. Berth thirty-seven piqued her interest. A small, unmanned shuttle loaded to the brim with packaged food, women’s clothing in all sizes and styles, and all kinds of women’s shoes (also in many styles and sizes) was being sent to a set of coordinates she didn’t recognize. Nessa peered at the coordinates again and realized she didn’t even have any ideaabout their general location. After working at the MWIP for six years, a location that stumped her was rare.

“Not in the Sapien System. Not a planet. This is... Whereisthis?” She punched in the coordinates and frowned as her device showed a moving target in the Felix Orbus Galaxy.

“What the heck?”

More information was needed before she could leave—not because the shuttle was in bad condition, but because of the one thing that had always been her downfall, even in this mostly mundane job—her curiosity. Her dad would have said it was her “downright nosiness.”

A little digging revealed that the unmanned shuttle had been ordered by one Kamau Oji and was due to be received by a Freight Coordination Officer, both on a Leonid registered long-haul freighter, theComet Stalker. The manifest listed enough snack food and sweets to make Nessa’s already generous hips pack on ten pounds just from reading it. But there were also containers of spices, types of grains, pastas, preserved meats and fish, and even seeds to grow herbs, vegetables, and fruits.

“Some kitty has the mega munchies,” she smiled to herself and scanned the door of the shuttle as it closed behind her. “Thirty-seven is clear,” she spoke into her comm.

“You don’t have tocallit in. When we see the scan completed, we know,” Joe from the launch deck replied crossly. “We’re a little backed up. We’ll get to it when we get to it. Give it ten.”

“Thank you, Joe. Ten it is.”

“Aboutten.”

“Of course. Courtesy and communication,” Nessa said sweetly before disconnecting. “Grouchy-ass bastard.”

Berth thirty-eight sent up immediate red flags. Nessa instantly knew why the shady dudes had tried to pay her off. The exterior windows were illegally tinted with a mirrored reflective polymer so no one could see inside. Two atmosphere regulatingpanels were loose on the shuttle’s exterior, meaning if the shuttle had to land planet side, it would likely catch on fire. One engine had obvious smoke damage.

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