Soldiers of Fortune by Joshua Dalzelle Page B

emerge looking only slightly worse for wear. When he and Crusher saw each other they immediately started laughing, which was a slight relief for Jason. Although it seemed like harmless fun the night before, much like he had taken part in countless times in the service, it wouldn't take much to create turbulence within the tight-knit crew. When Twingo stumbled out, however, everyone began laughing raucously. Sometime during the night he had managed to make an attempt at changing clothes, with varying degrees of success, and looked like he had been dragged behind the Phoenix during an unpowered landing.
     
                  "What?" The small, blue alien asked indignantly, his ears laid flat against his head.
     
                  "Your pants are on backwards," Crusher said from his seat at the bar. His comment only increased the laughter at the engineer's expense. Twingo looked down and could only laugh himself. He shrugged and made his way over to the buffet and began loading up a plate, still a little unsteady on his legs. 
     
                  "Ok, gentleman, and I use that word in the loosest possible terms, we have some decisions to make before we get called to this meeting with Crisstof," Jason said, getting everyone's attention. "This guy seemed to be on the level from what we could tell, and we were paid very well for picking up the Senator and his family."
                 
                  "I hear a 'but' coming," Kage said.
     
                  "But," Jason continued, "that job was a little more risky than he originally let on, so we're going to have to keep that in mind when he pitches this next one to us. We squeaked it out, but we almost ended up on the business end of a destroyer's main guns."
     
                  "So we have no idea what this job is?" Twingo asked.
     
                  "No," Doc said. "All he would tell us was that it wasn't 'strictly legal', but no specifics. From what I could tell, he wasn't all that comfortable talking at all in the surroundings we were in. Lots of ears in that room last night."
     
                  "I concur, Doc," Lucky spoke up. "He seemed to want to say more, but stopped himself short each time."
     
                  "Let's also get something else out of the way while we're all here," Jason said. "I know you all had a good time last night, or at least started out to, and it got a little out of hand. Does anybody have any grievances to air before we press on? Once we leave this room, it's buried and done with." Nobody spoke and Jason was met with three very sheepish looks that threatened to break into spontaneous laughter at any moment. "Alright then, let's finish eating and get cleaned up. I want us packed and waiting for Crisstof's call within the hour." They all began to eat with more of a purpose and made their way to their respective rooms to get cleaned up and changed. Jason had no intention of staying on Eshquaria another night; either they would be flying out on another job, or they would just be flying out.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
                  The call came three hours later to tell them that there was a vehicle waiting in front of the building. Jason marshaled his crew out the door, the room looking as they had found it... minus one chair. They walked out into the bright Eshquarian sunlight and towards a long, black ground vehicle. Apparently government vehicles are the same the galaxy over. They all piled in and were soon off. Jason was glad to leave the suite behind before someone presented them with a bill for the damages.
                  The vehicle drove past all of the shining government buildings, past the more mundane looking service buildings, and even past the squat, ugly utility buildings. They pulled up to a pre-fabbed style building that looked