There were indeed three alien vessels hovering around the remains of Progga’s ship when they arrived. Two were duplicates of their fighter-sized escort, while the third was considerably larger. “Not that much bigger than a Republic cruiser, though,” Car’das pointed out. “Pretty small, considering what it just did.”

“Looks like they’re opening a docking bay for us,”

Maris said.

Car’das measured the opening port cover with his eyes.

“Not much room in there.”

“Our bow will fit,” Qennto assured him. “We can use the forward service tube to get out.”

“We’re going to go into their ship?” Maris asked, her voice shaking slightly.

“Unless they want to use the tube to come in here instead,” Qennto told her. “The guys with the guns get to make those decisions.” He lifted a warning finger. “The key is for us to keep control of the situation while they’re doing it.”

He half turned toward Car’das. “That means I do all the talking. Unless they ask you something directly, in which case you give them exactly as much answer as they have question. No more. Got it?”

Car’das swallowed. “Got it.”

Their escort led them to the larger ship’s side, and two minutes later Qennto had the Bargain Hunter‘s bow snugged securely inside the docking collar. A boarding tunnel began extending itself toward the service hatch as Qennto shifted the systems to standby, and by the time the three of them had made it down the ladder the exit sensors indicated the tunnel was in place and pressurized. “Here we go,” Qennto muttered, drawinghimself up to his full height and keying the release. “Remember, let me do the talking.”

Two of the crew were waiting outside the hatch as it slid open: blue-skinned humanoids with glowing red eyes and blue-black hair, dressed in identical black uniforms sporting green shoulder patches. Each of them had a small but nasty-looking handgun belted at his waist. “Hello,” Qennto greeted them as he took a step into the tunnel. “I’m Dubrak Qennto, captain of the Bargain Hunter”