Page 31 of Life-Debt

“That’s what you get for saving everybody. Hell, almost everyone in this station has had their asses pulled out of the fire because of you. I had a bunch of fretting operators here trying to find suitable presents. I had to agree to send a ship to Veloci Minor to send additional gifts. It’s chaos.”

“It’s not necessary.”

“Viva, you’re transporting a Veloc hatchling. You just saved our asses. Again. Every last one of us owes you a life-debt for taking that hatchling off our hands. You’re going to be swarmed by angry Veloc, and you can speak to them, unlike us. And the baby already trusts you.”

“She wants her mommy and daddy.”

“Yeah, we’d guessed as much. The poor thing is traumatized. We’ve already notified Veloci Minor about your ship. We told them about the bounty, and we specified it would be more entertaining if you were escorted to return the hatchling and set loose on the planet for the other Veloc to hunt.” Carthello snickered. “We’re worried about the kidnappers.”

“You don’t know if there are more of them.”

“Or why they targeted a female hatchling.”

“Fuckers.”

“Agreed, agreed. Still, keep on your toes, and if a bunch of angry Veloc want to board, just hold the hatchling and get her cooing, and they’ll be dancing to your tune in no time.”

I could handle that. “What’s the recovery cut?”

“They’ll handle it, but it’ll be fair.”

“And your cut for giving her to me.”

“We’ll get our payment from the Veloc clan, no fretting there. You have the dangerous job. We just beat the shit out of the fucker and put him in stasis.”

“Load him,” I ordered.

“Pardon?”

“Get someone to load him into the cargo bay. I’ll take him to Veloci Minor and revive him myself. And observe when he gets exactly what he deserves,” I stated through clenched teeth.

“And I’ll just get someone to send him over. Open your gangway. We’ll tether him to something, so he doesn’t go flying out into space.”

“I can turn on gravity in the cargo bay, too.”

“We’re planning on beating him on the way to the ship. He’ll be alive. Just don’t expect to keep your revival statistic intact.”

“Nobody kills my patients until the revival process is complete. No injuring him further. He’s mine, and I will feed him to the Veloc properly. After he gets a trial. Make sure they know the fucker gets a psionic trial.”

“You play dirty. You want a psionic trial, you’ll get it. We should put you in for diplomatic training. The Veloc are going to be conquered if they give you an inch.”

“I’ll beat the Veloc if they make the hatchling cry being scary and angry. She’s scared enough. You can pass that around. And bring me a weapon I can use on crabby Velocs.”

“I’ll leave a stun baton in your cargo bay with the corpse in the making,” he promised.

“I’ll even pay for it.”

“I’ll add it to the bill.”

“My bill, Carthello. If the Veloc want to give me new self-defense toys, they can. I deserve to pay for the damned thing for not having gotten one sooner.”

“All right. I’ll bill you for it. Give us ten minutes, and we’ll board the corpse.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ten minutes sounds good. I need to check on the baby.”

“Keep an eye on your security cameras, and don’t lower your gangway unless you see me.”

“Roger.”