Adventures of Joe Trader

Perimeters:

Joe: An ex soldier of the galaxy Federation, One of the elite, a retired veteran after twenty five years.
The vessel: A massive old surplus transport supply vessel.
THE General Henry
Armament: Defensive Plasma weapons fore and aft. Controlled and fired from the bridge.
Drives: Impulse, for inter- planetary movement.
Station keeping for, orbital docking.
Faster than Light. For Inter galactic travel, from star to star in the galaxy.

Joe, Watched the last shuttle finish with the transfer of goods to his ship’s holds. He activated the gravity locks and the load was secure. He was ready to leave orbit. He checked the load manifest, There were numbers of different size motors, pumps and a variety of pipes, couplings and things needed for irrigation. He had been to the arid world of Dessica .and knew they needed irrigation supplies, When he happened on the large supply of merchandise being sold at a ridiculous price, he moved in and offered even less, His offer was snapped up. A negotiated price of the loading and he had a number two hold full of irrigation merchandise. He plotted the route in the computer and prepared to get underway. He planned to make a stop at another small planet on the way, the planet of Denton. They had large chemical businesses there, he hoped to get a few tons of some cloud seeding supplies and further enhance his profits.

The Planetary document and clearance control finally gave him the go ahead and radioed permission to leave, all permits were in order and bills paid, no one had filed a claim against him or his vessel…. It was a problem doing business on these small out of the way planets. Sometimes they would make life miserable for small traders, and end up costing the owners excessive fees in a form of graft.

His impulse engines took him out far enough to engage his FTL and soon he was in a quiet mode, the whisper of his FTL drifted up to the control room, and he settled back to rest and contemplate the next stop. He figured to be at Denton in approximately four days and to Dessica Within a two week period .

Since the old cargo carrier was a former military space transport vessel , she had a large captain’s state room and several officers quarters that were quite comfortable, in an upper deck there were quarters for personnel, he had contemplated using them as passenger accommodations, However ,since he was new to the business of trading and travel throughout the galaxy he had not listed himself with any agencies. As a result his destination was known only to himself.

Joe had not married and did not figure to ever have a woman that would put up with living on board a vessel such as this one. He would be the last person to suggest it to any female.

The Space navy had installed surveillance cameras in the holds to be able to monitor the contents. They had hidden the cameras and the ultra violet lights they used, He figured they had wanted anyone in the hold to not know they were being observed, the only way to know was to be close to the lights or be able to sense infrared. He randomly scanned the cargo and panned the camera around the holds. Number two was full and he went to number one, It was closest to the living quarters and ships bridge, He thought he saw movement in the screen, his attention was instantly focused there, he directed the camera to the movement.