Jed Calvert "Space Cattle herding" pt2

Who: Jed Calvert
Where: Flying through space
When: A few hours after the last Jed post
Jed had finally got rid of the lacy dress he'd been forced to wear and
swapped with the pilot of the ship he'd commandeered. Of course he
kept the cowboy hat he'd stolen from the guy in the bar.
He grinned happily with himself. The entire herd of bizarre cow/insect
animals was in his hold, cleverly shrunken to save space. He headed
out in the area of space that had weeks earlier been controlled by the
Space Corps. Now with the collapse of Earth the area had become a
free-for-all, with survivors and refugees fleeing the area, some of
them plundering other ships for food. The entire area had become a
dangerous place of desperate people.
Jed Calvert found the closest ship he could, a large passenger liner
named the "Myra Belle". They were clearly trying to keep a low profile
and escape the area as fast as possible. With such a slow ship, and
limited fuel, they were making slow progress. His small stolen ship
managed to catch them up pretty quickly.
As he approached them the recieved an audio transmission.
"Incoming vessel, please stay clear! We only have very minimal food
resources but are prepared to defend them with force."
"Howdy partner!" Jed said calmly. "I 'aint be in the mood for no
plundering. I have some food you might be wanting!"
With that he was allowed to dock.
10 minutes later he was showing the Captain of the passenger cruiser
his cargo of live animals. The cruiser Captain was a fairly timid
looking man, slightly aged and grey, and looked like it would take a
miracle for him to crack a smile. He looked very malnourished and in
desperate need of a good meal, as food in space was scarce. He was
flanked by a rather large security grunt. The Cruiser Captain
obviously clearly showing that he wasnt taking any chances with
security in this dangerous time. The grey-haired cruiser Captain
folded his arms. "Okay Mister Calvert, lets see what you've got and
whether you're wasting my time or not."
Jed grinned smugly as he opened the hold and fifty extremely small
cattle dropped out.
The Captain looked at them and after a long awkward pause said "That
the hell are those?"
Jed's grin faded as he looked at the cattle. "Well... they grow.
Believe me they're supposed to be ten times as large."
"But they're not. I don't know what you're playing at here Mister
Calvert, but we have a lot of hungry mouths to feed here, and selling
us some... pygmy cows isn't going to go a long way towards helping us."
"Mark my words they'll grow back... just give them time to readjust."
"I'm sorry Mister Calvert I can only buy them off you for one tenth of
your asking price."
Jed stroked his rouch stubbly chin in thought, then moved so fast that
whether the Crusier Captain and the Security grunt had blinked, they'd
still not be able to see him move. Jed elbowed the grunt in the
stomach whilst simultaneously kicking his legs from underneath him. As
the grunt went down, Jed grabbed the man's gun. It was a shiny chrome
laser-revolver with a long and intimidating barrel. Little over a
second after downing the hired muscle, Jed had calmly pointed the
revolver at the cruiser Captain's head where he held it extremely
still pointed between the man's eyes, showing nothing but calm confidence.
The cruiser Captain started to shake and sweat. "Wha... what are you
doing?"
Jed spoke calmly and slowly, as if not threatening the man's life, but
instead sat down having a quiet game of friendly blackjack with him.
"I'm waiting for you to make the right price."
"I'll... I'll give you double your asking price." The man sweated.
Jed grinned like a cat and put the gun in his belt. "You know it makes
sense. Good doing business with you feller!"
He shook the Captain's clammy hand and unloaded the rest of the
miniature cows.
----------------
Later, Jed sat in the Myra Belle's bar. Although the cruiser Captain
probably didn't want him still hanging around, but after the last
meeting Jed didnt expect anyone bothering him for a while.
As supplies were low, the Cruiser didn't have much in the way of
alcohol, but Calvert had the hipflash stolen from the cowboy pilot
filled with a own special brand of firewater that was very close to
his taste.
Jed had always thought that if a drink didnt make you go blind, then
it wasn't worth drinking.
He looked at the small round ship he had stolen. He could make a
killing out here, being a trader, a smuggler, selling things to
desperate refugees. But what use was a trading ship that shrunk the
cargo? He needed something bigger, a massive ship with a lot of
storage space.
But first he needed a good bar, a game of poker, a brothel and a fight.
< To be continued >