Page 5 of Savage Union (Brutal Universe #2)

4

TURK

I kept my word to Slade—I and my crew searched the Space Port from top to bottom, looking for Jessina. But my little bird was nowhere to be found.

Finally, with only a few hours before we were set to lift off for the Triplex Cluster, I had to call a halt to the hunt. I sent Slade a message that I hadn’t found her and went back to The Illyrian with a sore heart. Where could she be?

I didn’t know but I had to push my worry to the back of my mind. I had put out a call for a navigator and a qualified one had applied for the position. I had to interview him and be sure he was a good fit with my crew before I could take off.

It was always a pain, finding a new navvie. Those who are able to navigate outside the galaxy and go where there are no Space Gates to ensure a safe entry and exit from the fabric of Space Time are few and far between.

Illyrian’s last navigator had crafted a bad jump and landed us too close to a brown dwarf star— way too fucking close. We were nearly sucked into the star’s gravitational field before my pilot was able to steer us clear at the last second.

It had been a close call—one I didn’t care to repeat. As soon as we got back to the Imperium Galaxy, I let the old navvie go. He begged and pleaded for a second chance but I’m not that forgiving when it comes to risking the lives of my crew—not to mention the expensive cargo we were carrying. The Clan Savage Chieftain would have been extremely pissed off if that had been lost.

So it was out with the old navvie and in with a new one—I hoped. I just had to be sure the next person I hired was able to jump a star ship outside of intergalactic space without killing me and the entire crew.