Everyone seems friendlier than you thought

Viper shows you around the various rooms, which extended to an airlock where an escape pod could be fitted, but is just used for any space walks for external repairs or work, and also an impromptu disposal service at a push. The reckoning being that there's enough debris left from ships falling apart of getting wrecked by the various dangers of space travel that a few extra bit of incriminating evidence here and there wouldn't be much harm the odds of anyone picking up someone unfortunate enough to fall off their ship on a space walk even in the business of shipping routes was so astronomically slim that its considered a kindness to space someone without a suit rather than make them suffer in the cold dark void.

The bridge was about what you expected for a freighter this class, room for about one to sit comfortably and it needs to seat two, the pilot and co-pilot or as in many cases a pilot, and the guy to yell at the pilot when things were going wrong. The finer points of the equipment was lost on you a bit, having not flown anything other than the occasional hover vehicle, but there wasn't anything sparking and the cables were all tucked in under the floor mesh so you took that as a good sign that they didn't need constant repair. You took a moment to gaze out of the cockpit as a distant Scarlett gas cloud an unfathomable distance from you slid past like you were passing a tree on land. You had to admit that as terrifying as space travel could be with the huge number of ways it could go horribly wrong so quickly, and with all the comforts lost just to do it, that there was still a certain majesty in it as you watch the beauty of the cosmos drift by, and you can see why despite all the worries and troubles with it all that people still go out and explore it.

Once Viper had dragged you away after staring out the cockpit for a while you were shown the medical facilities, which was basically an adjustable chair with lights and a collection of medkits and various pill boxes, of which you spy a worrying number of anti radiation pills, something which Viper notices.

"Don't worry Val we don't have any cracks in the hulls shielding, it's to do with our home world." Viper says with a reassuring pat on your shoulder.

"I noticed the few scales on Jacque's skin when I met him now that you mention it, but I wasn't sure if it was cosmetic or not." You say as you pick up one of the boxes and see a dosage which means little to you.

"Yeah the three of us all came from a colony out on furthest stretches of what they call 'civilized' space, which makes us borderlines scavs." Viper says with a strong tone of sadness which made you feel guilty about your easier upbringing, after all you might not of liked half of your family, but at least you didn't have to worry about any long term illnesses or conditions just for being born in the wrong part of the galaxy.

"There's no way you three are scavs for starters none of you have tried to take my teeth." You say with a laugh as you try and lighten the mood.

"That's because I called dibs and Ant and the Captain are scared of me." Viper replies with a giggle.

"So is it anything serious or just are you just more susceptible to radiation?" You ask after the two of you stop giggling for a moment.

"Yeah just more susceptible, its a twin sun system and the planet was rich with various useful and rare isotopes, but rather than build the colony on one of the nicer planets or hell even just a star port with had domes and just shuttle the workers in they decided to build shields to keep the people safe." Viper says as she starts ushering you back into the hallway.

"Let me guess, they cheated out on the shields, and turned to gene modding to try and patch it?" You say as this was the common solution, try and use the cheapest tech, and when that fails copy from nature and splice the solution into the populaces DNA.

"Actually the opposite, they built the shield too damn well, and It cancelled out all the radiation, so a few generations down the line the ability to handle the small doses died away and you had folks getting sick from X-rays and other low exposure events. The gene mods are actually only a few generations old as a solution for colonists who want to travel, as officially they colony's governing body doesn't recognize the lack of being able to absorb background radiation when there isn't any on their planet as a problem." Viper says as she shakes her head.

"Well that sucks, but well you look good if that's any consolation." You say nervously as you follow viper.

"Thanks, you're not half bad looking yourself." Viper replies with a giggle "Last but not least the place we eat the crap that passes for food on this boat." Viper continues as you follow her through the doorway and see Jacque and Ant prodding at some reddish substance on a tray, a strange looking substance which seemed to be both rock solid and and part liquid and you'd soon learn completely devoid of any decernable flavor.

"Craps a bit harsh Viper." Jacque says with a grin as Viper gets two trays from a cupboard, and passes on to you.

"Yeah crap actually has a flavor." Ant finishes as Jacque shakes his head and laughs.

"Don't let them put you off, it might look unpleasant and lack flavor, but its all we got, and it's preferable to starving." Viper says as she puts her tray under the dispenser and presses the button and a gelatinous red jelly drops onto the tray, where half begins to set where the other halfs begins to crumble into a slush.

"Well with a sales pitch like that how can I possibly pass." You say as Viper takes a seat at the large metal table leaving you to dispense what you refuse to dignify by labelling it food, but considering the alternative you're willing to look past it's look as the red mass slaps wetly onto the metal tray, and take an empty seat between Jacque and Viper.

"So hows you coming along with the containers." Ant asks as you probe the red mass of nutrients with your spoon, and you swear you heard the red mass groaning like the tortured metals straining under the intense heat and pressure of atmospheric rentry.

"Well you last man was a complete idiot, but I reckon with some bits of the engineering equipment I can overcome the electrical locks and that'll make the safe enough for me to assess the physical locks." You say as you slowly spoon some of the red mass and take a bite of it, it doesn't taste bad, or good, or of anything really, and once you get your head around that you can eat the red mystery.

"Sounds like good progress in just a few hours keep it up and I'll be begging you to join up." Jacque says with a chuckle as you swallow another spoonful.

"Well lets wait and see how I get on with the job first, it sounds easy enough on paper, but well I'd reserve giving you any estimates until I've at least gotten the first one open." You say as you toy the the red mass so it's all one consistency.

"Cute, smart, talented, and not a total bitch about it, damn you sure we can keep her?" Viper says with a smile.

"She also didn't try and screw us for a cut of the deal too." Jacque says with a smile as he shovels a spoonful of the red nutrient substance into his mouth.

"Damn, that is a rare thing these days, especially in our line of work." Ant says as he stares at with mock suspicion, as you finish off your tray and grab a bottle of water from the side and crack it open.

"Well I think I'll go try and tackle the electronic locks, what's the best way to contact one of you If I need help with equipment." You say as you stand up from the table.

"Oh right we should give you a com link, it'll let us get a hold of you if we need to make use of your skills for something else too. Viper could you get Val one and a few jumpsuits if we have any." Jacque says as he also gets up and grabs a water bottle.

"Sure thing, I can't promise the'll all fit well but I'll scrounge what I can for clothing, but I got a spare comlink on me." Viper says as she slides over a small transparent object about the size of your finger tip, you've used them before so you slip it into your ear and prepare for the discomfort as two prong slide out and anchor it to your ear as you walk back to your room.

Once the discomfort passes as the comlink makes a few adjustments and configures itself, as you make a mental note to try and pick up a more advanced model that can be simply strapped onto your clothing and allows you to connect to other peoples comm networks which would have its obvious advantages for your work, as well as not having to experience having something latched into the inside of your head like some mechanical parasite. You begin to work on the electronic lock and quickly discover that you're best bet for this one at least is to drain the power out of it, which with the added bonus refilled a spare portable capacitor for the ship which means in the event of a power failure that you'd have a back up to use while you attempt the repair, which endears you more to the crew.

All that's left of this first container is the mechanical lock, which while tricky and stubborn eventually relinquishes itself under your skilful working of the various probes and other tools that your predecessor had left, and with a hiss as the air tight seals of the container open, you are finally faced with the contents of what this crew were smuggling.