Into the Black

(Dimiya Industrial Shipyards, Dimiya System)

“Well, I gotta say, Mister Mollen, I was kindof surprised when you reached out to us for work, what with you having your own yards and all.”

The man in front of me was a greasy, slimy, and generally disreputable-looking knelfi businessman named Elmer Sarphine. Literally, he was the only fat knelfi I had ever seen. The only reason I was bothering with an odious little man like him is because he was the owner of the industrial shipyard here in Dimiya. Which meant I needed to come here to get the ships I needed for my expedition.

“Well, you know how it is. Our slips are full up at the moment, working through the backlog of orders we’ve had. We’d have to push projects back to make the ships ourselves, which wouldn’t win us any favors. You had open slips, and the plans and setup already in place to make the mining and processing ships. We make mostly freighters and small craft. Sure, we could make the industrial ships, but we’re just not set up for that kind of thing, you know? Would have to retool a few lines to set up for that.”

The fat knelfi man nodded at that. “Sure, sure. And your freighters don’t cut into our profits any, cuz we’re specialized, like ya said. Least you’ve got sense about coming to someone who knows these things, rather than trying to throw something together on your own.” He then looked at my companion, and said, “And I can’t complain about you bringing her by to brighten the place up a bit.”

Raven shifted slightly in her seat, but simply smiled at the man. I was around her so much that it was sometimes easy to forget that the drone body she’d inhabited was originally designed as a high-end sexbot, and was easy to fool people, especially with a full ship suit on, like she was wearing. The fact that her ship suit was skin tight did nothing to help the man’s concentration, but that was neither here nor there, and was certainly not the reason I had Raven with me at the moment.

“Now, as I said in my message, we have a few hulls ready to go, but they were spoken for, way back. It’ll cost more to bump those customers, and I’m only doing this because you’re an influential man.” The yard owner brought up several files on the wall screen, showing seven ships.