The next day was more of the same. Emerald left to go do shady outlaw things – Heath was still not clear on how you just picked up something to smuggle – and Heath returned to the same job hall as before to wait for applicants. With input from the others the previous night, they had narrowed down the jobs they were taking, and Heath set about accepting them while he waited for anyone to wander in. A process that was interrupted when Jenny Mae dropped down into a seat next to him.

  “Howdy,” she said. Next to her feet was a standard spacer pack, bursting at the seams with who knew what, and she clutched a thermos full of what smelled like synthetic coffee in her hands.

  “Umm hello? Did we miss something yesterday you wanted to talk about?”

  “Nope! Just pullin’ my weight is all. Figured I could sit around in my room all day or come join the interviews.” The frighteningly-perky newest member of Heath’s crew produced a pad and stylus and settled in. “Oh, are those our manifests?”

  “Ye -e - ess,” he said, draggin the word out.

  “Alrighty, let me just,” she poked around on his pad, sending herself all the information, which she began to flick through at high speed.

  Heath felt the buzz of skills activating and left her to it. If she wanted to be helpful, he saw no reason to stop her. The same waitress as the previous day dropped off the drink Heath ordered, making pointed eye contact and then flicking her gaze to Jenny Mae and back. She tsked as she walked back behind the bar. Heath was planning on ignoring the whole exchange but she returned a moment later, placing a cup full of something that both looked and smelled grassy in front of the Administrator.

  “On the house. For the greenie,” she said before leaving once more.

  “What?” Jenny Mae hadn’t even noticed the interaction and was staring at the cup like it was going to bite her.

  “It’s free,” Heath said. “Must be a local thing. Might as well drink it.”

  “Yes. Okay. Of course. I will do that.”

  They both stared at the cup. Heath was about to tell her it was okay when she muttered “you’re a Classer now”, grabbed it, and tossed the whole thing back at once.

  The expression on her face had Heath bursting into laughter as Jenny Mae gagged and scraped at her own tongue.

  “Why?”

  “Toughen you up some,” the bartender yelled out across the mostly empty room.

  The look of abject confusion on her face after that sent Heath into another storm of laughter. When he caught his breath again, Jenny Mae was just looking between him and the waitress, who’d gone back to ignoring them.

  “Why?”

  “Eh, not always a reason for what happens in port.”

  “So it’s always like this?”

  “Nah. Sometimes it can be way weirder. Was in a job hall a little while ago that turned into a bar fight then an angry Skill-induced mob that chased me off the station.”

  Heath wasn’t aware eyes could get as wide as Jenny Mae’s were right then. “Are you sure you want to join on?” he asked.

  “Yes.” No hesitation or blinking. Maybe he was underestimating the greenie.

  “Okay then.”

  They went back to their respective tasks, Jenny Mae reviewing contracts and shipping lanes, and Heath waiting around for someone to show up to join the crew, reading random articles he found on the local net, and grabbing some time at a training hall for the next morning.

  The interviews were like the day before, but somehow even stranger. Every wannabe spacer that came in had no experience, no Skills, and no actual interest in joining a cargo crew. It got bad enough that Heath double and triple checked his listings, just to be sure he hadn’t made a mistake on the phrasing.

  Heath’s shoulders slumped as the waitress delivered their sixth round of drinks. Word must have gotten out, or else the waitress had taken it upon herself to let the patrons that afternoon know that there was a greenie in the hall. Spacers had been buying her rounds all afternoon. Each of Jenny Mae’s drinks had been confusing and horrible, and when the girl tried to politely order something else, the waitress just nodded and brought the next nightmare -fuel instead. The newbie had determined that she had to prove herself by consuming each of them, no matter the contents. And despite Heath’s hesitant suggestion otherwise.

  Heath had once more been switched to water. “Don’t worry too much, kid,” she said, “Place like Atala’s too established for the crowd you’re used to. Barely even counts as on the frontier anymore. Means the young ones get dreams of being the next Argent Paladin or Voidwalker Knight without any idea of how the universe works.

  “This one seems hardy enough,” she said, nodding at Jenny Mae. “But don’t expect much more. No one gets lucky twice”

  “Thanks.”

  The ‘hardy enough’ junior Crewmember waited for the waitress to leave before speaking.

  “I’ve finished reviewing, and I have some comments.” She tipped back her drink, this time something pink and fizzing, served in a tiny espresso cup. “Based on the amount of space you said the Loon has, I think we should be able to fit a little bit more. If we just move around a few of the orders, and strap everything down, we’ll end up with another handful of cubic feet. That’s enough for a small job. Or maybe mail?”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  She’d lost steam by the end, thankfully. But that she commented at all put Heath in the confusing position of wishing his crew was less competent. The Loon, Heath, and Emerald had spent a good portion of the previous evening arranging cargo designs so that there would be a few nooks and crannies overlooked. All the better to slip in some undeclared shipments. He hadn’t anticipated Jenny Mae noticing and calling it out. She was enthusiastic, which he appreciated, and he was hopeful they’d become real friends at some point. But she was also painfully by-the-book, if the periodic quoting of regulations was anything to go by. Their extracurricular shipping activities were not something he was about to spell out to her. Not yet. And definitely not in a public job hall.

  “Can’t mix those orders up in storage. Not on this haul,” he lied. He did his best to implore her with his eyes not to say anything else about it.

  “Okay.” She didn’t believe him, but that was fine. For now.

  The end of their interview period ticked over, with not a single prospect from the day’s work. They had one more afternoon in port before their scheduled departure, and it would be cut in half so they could ensure all the cargo was loaded and secured.

  Heath tried to buoy his spirits. They’d found Jenny Mae, and she would be a great addition at the nav station. He had hoped for one or two more, ideally someone with enough combat skills to help them on some of the more dangerous routes, or a delve or two. Or an engineering class to share some of the burden of running the ship. It was fine. They would get there eventually. And even the low-level Skills Jenny Mae had shown would come in handy. It would require storing the smuggled goods elsewhere or bringing her into the scheme but if they could eke out another contract or two on each leg she would be more than paying for herself.

  Jenny Mae stood up when he did, swaying just a bit. He was pretty sure the last round for her had been a straight shot of a purple liquor Raquel had liked to order. Heath had tried it once and couldn’t remember the rest of that night all that well. Before he could decide if it would be weird to offer help, the waitress appeared with one last drink. This one white and creamy, and definitely not anything as innocuous as milk.

  Heath maybe should have stopped the whole process before getting to this point. It had started out funny, had passed concerning when neither he nor Jenny Mae had noticed, and was coming up on dangerous. Feeling out the edges of what a Captain could reasonably order in port was a terrible excuse for letting his new crewmember get hurt.

  “I think she’s had enough.”

  He reached out to grab the drink and got a smarting hand slapped away for his troubles. “This’ll counteract the plumberry wine. I’m not sending her off with some random guy while she’s like this.”

  The waitress gestured to Heath as though he was the one who had poured every strange concoction they could think of down her throat over the course of an afternoon. Before he could say anything, Jenny had chugged the glass like she was in the final stages of a drinking competition.

  Heath was poised to react but nothing happened, except Jenny Mae’s eyes went from glazed to clear. And her complexion turned from pale to slightly green.

  “Oh that doesn’t feel so great.”

  “There you are.” The waitress gave Jenny Mae a hearty slap on the back, causing the woman to whimper. “Back on your feet. Now are you okay leaving with this guy.”

  After an affirmative, they were both released into the waning rays of the Atalan sunset.

  Outside they blinked to accustom themselves to the changing light and set off towards the ship.

  “I apologize for my conduct, Captain. That was unbecoming and a poor start. It won’t happen again.”

  “What? Oh, don’t worry about it. Not your fault and it all worked out anyway. And you don’t have to call me Captain while we’re off duty.”

  “Imperial Starship Standards indicate that public drunkenness is grounds for reasonable demerits. And the chain of command should be maintained at all times, in case of emergency.”

  “Right. I think you’ll like Emerald.”

  A hand reached out from the alley they were passing and dragged Heath off to the side. He didn’t think. His elbow came up and slammed into whoever was behind him, earning a grunt for his troubles. He wrenched his arm free and turned around, lashing out with a clumsy kick.

  “Wait, wait!” The man in front of him held up his hands.

  Realizing what was going on, and recently re-committed to being the best possible crewmember, Jenny Mae leapt into the fray. Throwing a textbook punch that did absolutely nothing to their assailant. He was a Classer then, at least Heath’s level.

  The other man responded by taking several large steps back, hands held up to show they were empty. He had curly dark hair falling to his shoulders, a long rust-red coat that was more patches than base material, and an honest-to-gods sword hanging by his hip.

  He was also still dodging Jenny Mae, who was making up for lack of experience with persistence and enthusiasm, attacking the stranger with textbook form and zero results.

  “I’m sorry! Wait, please!”

  “Hold off a second, Jenny Mae,” Heath said. Now that his heart was calming back down, neither he nor Jenny Mae had been hurt. They could afford the benefit of the doubt for a moment. Though if they were going to be accosted in alleyways, he might look to circumvent Atala’s rules against personal firearms.

  “Start talking.”

  “You’re the Captain looking for a crew right? I’m here to apply.” The glint of shockingly white teeth contrasted with dark skin as the man gave a winning smile and a flourishing bow. The gesture spread his coat open, revealing a billowing white shirt and tan breeches.

  Heath was confused. “Why didn’t you come talk then?”

  “Took me a bit to get everything sorted.” He glanced behind himself at the empty alley. “But it should be all set now.”

  “Fine. Name, Class, Skills, and level?” It had been a long day and Heath was out of politeness.

  “Sir, I think we should wait until tomorrow, pursuant to the standing Job Hall Recruitment Protocols, all first contracts between a crewmember and company must be created in such a place to avoid undue influence.”

  Heath looked at Jenny Mae. The random stranger looked at Jenny Mae. If anyone else had been around they would have stared too. Who read the actual protocols well enough to quote them?

  “Yeah sure. Listen man, we just finished for the day, but we’ll be back tomorrow. Sound good?”

  “Wait! My name’s Copperfield. I’m a level fourteen Swashbuckler. I’ve got my own mech suit and the combat and upkeep Skills to use it. And the usual Spacer options like [Ship Operation] and [Ship Maintenance]. Just looking for a standard share and a chance.”

  They paused and looked back at Copperfield. That was exactly what he needed. Heath didn’t trust it. He glanced around at the street behind them, but didn’t see anyone waiting to turn this into a robbery. Nothing. He looked Copperfield up and down for some hidden weapons. Also nothing.

  “What’s the catch?”

  “Captain.”

  “No catch, just need a change.” Copperfield’s smile was getting strained at the edges.

  “Why do you need a change?”

  “Captain!” Jenny Mae was tugging at his sleeve but Heath refused to look away at his would-be recruit.

  “Just had a disagreement with my last boss is all. Not looking to re-up and it would be nice to get some distance.”

  “I can’t promise combat opportunities and pay, or a chance to level in that direction. So if that’s what you’re after, don’t bother.

  “I’m good on an engine, or anything with my hands. Mech suit is good practice for a ship.”

  “Captain, we really shouldn’t discuss this here.”

  “I uh, don’t have anywhere to stay tonight, would really appreciate it if we could do this now.”

  “You know what? Come by the ship.” With a gesture he sent their lot number to the other man. “We’ll do a provisional contract.”

  Emerald would tell him he was being impulsive. Heath knew it but his [Leadership] Skill had pinged Copperfield as a good potential recruit, and he really needed the extra help on the ship. Besides, he was building a crew out of long-shots and second chances, why not one more?

  “Thanks man, I’ll be over soon.”

  He turned and jogged away from where Heath and Jenny Mae were still lingering, curls bouncing with each step. They waited to resume their walk until he was well out of sight.

  “I know, it’s against the regulations.” Heath attempted to head off the argument he could physically feel brewing beside him.

  “We don’t know anything about him! Captain, I must advise you to reconsider.”

  “I get what you’re saying. But Jenny Mae, what are the chances we find someone better? Be honest. You sat there all afternoon. There’s only three hours tomorrow to find someone. This guy has combat skills and his own gear. It’s the best we’re gonna get.”

  “He could be lying about the gear,” she said. But her tone said she thought Heath might have a point.

  “We’ll make him show us. Don’t worry, I have a good feeling about this.”