Episode 2:

Dirty Politics

They were already halfway through dinner when Wesley finally came in and joined them at the table. As he sat down next to Briggs, he looked over the processed foodstuffs that were laid out on the table and grimaced.

“I understand you’re nostalgic for your Army days, Captain, but do you really need to recreate the food quite so accurately?”

“Very funny, Wesley. You finish setting the course?” said Briggs.

“Yep. We should be on Salisbury in about three days time. And to answer your next question, no, we shouldn’t be running into any Alliance on our way there,” said Wesley.

“Shouldn’t?”

Wesley sighed. “I know this might be something of a shock, Captain, but I’m not actually blessed with the power of second sight. All I can tell you is that the chances of us running afoul of a patrol boat this far out are as close to zero as we can hope for.”

“They sure as hell better be. I’m not exactly planning on getting arrested for transporting illegal firearms on my ship’s maiden voyage.”

“Of course not. You probably want to have at least two or three flights under your belt before you get pinched for weapons smuggling,” Wesley said with a grin.

“Sure. Maybe four if I pray hard enough,” he replied sarcastically.

Around the table, the rest of the crew was eating and talking. Chen and Staverton were engaged in a heated political debate, while Marshall was telling prison horror stories to a wide-eyed Kase.

“So he’s lyin’ on the ground, right? And blood’s just pourin’ out of ‘em. And the guards don’t give a shit, they can hear what’s goin’ on but they just keep eatin’ donuts or whatever. So I scream at ‘em, ‘YOU LIKE THAT MOTHERFUCKER? NOT SO FUNNY WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU, IS IT?’ And he’s tryin’ to get up, but I just kick ‘em in the head again and he goes down. He keeps tryin’ to get to his knees, and every time I just kick ‘em as hard as I can. From the way he was groanin’ and shit, he musta been hurtin’ real bad. Eventually the guards musta got annoyed by all the noise ‘cause t