Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Band of Smugglers

The smuggling ship landed at the arcadia spaceport under a matt black sky. Someone might have asked him how he knew it was a smuggler's ship, and Adam might simply have laughed. If you knew anything about ships, you would know this was a smuggler's ship. It was small, very small, for any sort of cargo ship. It looked more like a pleasure cruiser, but you could tell by the way she flew that the insides had been gutted. Instead of fancy couches and a fully stocked liquor bar, the ship would have the rear lounge area hollowed out for cargo. You could tell that by just how forward heavy she was. If this really was a pleasure cruiser, she would lean further back on her struts when she landed.

The forward heavy nature of a modified smuggler's ship meant that you hand to strengthen the forward supports. If you were obvious about it, you got your struts externally strengthened, but if you were smart, you simply added a little extra weight to the rear struts to balance things out.

But that wasn't the only subtly that marked it out as a smuggler's ship. It was painted a shade of mat steel gray, not dark enough to rouse suspicion, but the matt paint was clearly going to be some form of radio blocker, and would likely deflect radar.

The twin engines were too big for a ship that size,, and he was more that sure that part of the engine compartment had been adjusted to hold a D class warp core. Often, in these pleasure cruisers, they had a back backthroom that was just about big enough to hold a D class warp core if you plated up the interior with led and alloy for protection against the warp field.

All in all it was a pretty sweet ride.

Adam had flown plenty of smuggling ships in his short stint as a space pirate to know what he was talking about, and smiled rather grimmly as he watched the ship settle onto her struts.

The supercharged engines cut off with a dull roar, leaving the metal to pop and crackle as it slowly began to cool.

He recognized the man that trotted down the ramp. Donovan Red hadn't changed much since they had last seen each other. He was about a head shorter than Adam was, but built like a bulldog, with an impressively muscled upper body. He had short cropped dark hair, and tattooed sleeves that crawled up his arms and peaked out from under the collar of his shirt sending abbreviated tendrils up onto his neck.

His eyes locked with Adam, and the smile he gave was somewhere between cheshire cat and rather wolfish.

He walked over hand held out, Adam took it, and in the custom of smugglers they shook hands for a long time, sizing each other up. This was probably the first time Donovan had ever gotten to look down on anyone, short as he was, and his eyes flashed briefly over the wheelchair in which Adam sat.

The extended handshake didn't break, but Donovan clapped hard on his good shoulder, while their hands remained clasped in the middle, "Why cinderella what have you gone and done to yourself this time."

"A giant space bitch stole my nipple." Adam said, attempting to keep a straight face.

Donovan's expression remained flat, a perfect poker face, "Just a normal tuesday for you then."

Adam chuckled, "Something like that."

Donovan glanced down to where waffles was sitting obediently at Adam's side, her bright red service vest on display for all to see. Donovan gave Adam a knowing look, but Adam ignored it. The damn smuggler was to perceptive for his own good, but it didn't mean Adam had to explain himself.

Behind him, Sunny stood leaning against her spear.

Donovan dropped Adam's hand finally, in the custom of smugglers, and lifted his chin to Sunny, "Ah, the lovely Ms. Vir is it, or wait, you Drev don't have that custom."