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through the Pipe.”

    C haron. I had him memorized. I knew his face, I knew his habits, I knew where he liked to go on certain days and the times he went there. I knew his life. I just about had the lay-out of Fluture mapped in my head and began visualizing the logistics of how I was going to get myself in range undetected, make my move, and get out.
    Charon had two places he liked to call home: a sixteenth floor penthouse in the La Rouge Hotel of the casino that he ran in the heart of Fluture, and his two story villa located among vineyards on the side of the Sertina’s Pass mountain range overlooking the city. I decided Charon’s life would end at his villa.
    Before I left North River I sent in a laundry list of items I wanted for the mission. Drop spots should have been arranged for me by now, all I had to do was get there, pick up what I wanted, and set up the hit. I would be alone for that part. Everything would be on me. If I was successful, the pay-off would be tremendous. If I failed and got caught, I’d die as an unknown. I had my fingertips sanded before I left home and did a chemical scrub on my body known as “scaling”. Now I’m untraceable. I am become invisible.
    If something happened to me, officials would be working for a long time trying to find out who I was and where I came from.
    Nikki asked a few probing questions but it was no big deal. I learned more about her than she did about me. She had a slight accent that was barely detectable, and she always seemed to be on edge. I had to be careful with her, she seemed to have a talent for reading people, and an eye for detail.
    I sensed that Nikki wasn’t telling me everything about our voyage and that was fine. I figured if I didn’t ask her too many questions she would reciprocate by withholding her own queries.

Chapter 6
    “N ikki, do you copy?” It was Max, and from the tone of his voice, this sounded urgent. “Nikki can you hear me?”
    “Yes Max, what’s going on?” I pressed my left hand over the ear piece of my headset and leaned forward. Scotty had sunk into his seat and fallen asleep.
    “I’ve got a signature on my screen showing that you’ve got company out there.”
    “Details?”
    “None yet. You’re so far out it could be anyone.”
    “Nothing on my side yet. How far way are they from me?”
    “Two hundred miles. One craft. It’s about the size of a Class-3 freighter…”
    “Okay, I’ve got ‘em, Max, they just blipped on the scanner.” A transmission chimed-in on my headset. I could see on the panel it was coming from the ship--a looped message on the general call network. 
    “…CQD, this is the Moria Balá…need assistance…CDQ, this is the Moria Balá…”
    “Max, I’ve got an incoming communication on another push. Looks like a distress call.”
    “Be careful, Nikki. Could be a siren.”
    “Thanks for the heads-up, Max.” I disengaged the auto-pilot, took control of the Zephyr, and steered in the direction of the distress call.
    “Trouble Nikki?” Scotty asked quietly as he yawned and stretched.
    “We’re not alone.”
    “What’s up?”
    “Not sure yet, but it looks like a disabled ship.”
    “Anything I can do?”
    “Yeah, relax and let me do my job.” I said firmly as I double checked the Black Spyder and slowed down to a sub-hypersonic speed and put the drives on coast.
    “…CQD, this is the Moria Balá…need assistance…CDQ, this is the Moria Balá…”
    I didn’t have it in me to ignore the call, and if this was a ship in trouble I couldn’t live with myself if I abandoned other humans in space. So for the first time in my career, I broke the first rule of smuggling and keyed my headset.
    “Mark One, Moria Balá, come back.”
    “ CQD, this is the Moria…this is Captain Seinz of the Moria Balá, can you hear me? Over.”
    “Roger Moria Balá,” I responded calmly, “your transmission is clear.”
    “Please i dentify. Over.”
    “ This is the pilot of the Blue Zephyr,