Black Dawn Read Online Free PDF

charge of all the hyposprays?”
She smiled again at the hint of levity. “Thank you, Captain,”
she said sincerely. “I guess I’ll go schedule that physical.” They both
got up and Coy walked her to the door. She paused halfway through
and turned back. “And , Captain?”
“Yes?”
“Eat your sandwich.”
* * * * *
    Ken Butler sat in the bar staring blearily at the drink before
him. He hadn’t even had a sip and the world was already out of focus.
It had been out of focus for days now. He squinted as he tried to remember how many days it had been. Since he hadn’t slept in between
any of them it was hard to calculate.
    Hadn’t slept, hadn’t changed clothes, hadn’t eaten much, come
to think of it. He ought to check and see if he had enough currency left
to get some food, but the effort of getting it out and counting seemed
overwhelming.
    The thought shook him into pseudo-alertness. Had he really
sunk so low so quickly? Obviously so, he told himself. He shook his
head but it wouldn’t clear. This was crazy. He had to pull himself together.
    He pushed the drink aside and stood, a little shakily. Perhaps
he could trade it in on a sandwich or something. There, a plan. A goal.
Life was looking up. He staggered over to the bar, glass in hand.
The bartender was talking to some people in black uniforms.
    “That’s some ship,” he was saying. “There’s rumors all over
the station what it is.”
“Just a ship,” one of the men answered. “A big empty ship.”
“Yeah? What’s it supposed to be full of?”
“Mercenaries,” a second man spoke up. “We’re just a little
understaffed at the moment.”
His companions snorted at that.
“I know a hundred mercs who could sign on in a second. Just
let me spread the word…”
“No,” the first man cut him off with a shake of his head. “The
Skipper is a little more particular than that when it comes to hiring.”
Ken couldn’t resist. “Particular about what?”
All four turned to stare at him. At his red eyes, his hollow
cheeks and wrinkled clothes.
“About what kind of people it hires,” a woman in the trio told
him.
“It?” Ken asked.
“Herm,” she explained.
“Really? A real one?” He wondered if he sounded as inane to
them as he did to himself. Evidently he did. They shrugged him off as
a nosey drunk and turned back to their own conversation. But unwilling to be dismissed so easily, he put a hand on the arm of the older
man in the group. “What kind of people does it want?”
“Why?”
Why. Good question. Why was he bothering these mercenaries? Was he really desperate enough to seek employment with pirates?
Soldiers of fortune? But these people hardly looked like pirates, trim
and neat in their black uniforms. Weapons gleaming, boots polished.
They wore no markings or insignia of any kind, though.
“I…” he began, then followed the man’s gaze down to the
hand on his arm. He removed it and tried again. “I need…”
“We don’t take applications,” the man said. “You want a job,
you go see the captain.”
Ken blinked. “Yeah, okay. Where is he? I mean it?”
“The Raven . Docking Bay 106.”
“106. Thanks.” Butler left the drink on the bar, forgot about
the sandwich completely and headed off in search of Docking Bay 106,
not entirely sure why.
When he found it he understood the barkeeper’s comments. It
didn’t look like any mercenary ship. Not that he was up on that sort of
thing. But this didn’t even look military. It looked…elegant. Smooth
and black. Like the uniforms. Must be a theme here.
Uniforms. He looked down at his own clothes in shame. He
tried to smooth them and his hair with his hands. Nothing he could do
about his eyes.
The guard posted at the tube connecting the big ship to the station, was watching all of this. Probably in amusement. Gathering what
shreds of dignity he could, Butler walked over to him and looked him
in the eye. To his surprise, there was no amusement.
“I’d like to see