Day: -2

Year of event: 22+ 10^( 10.1395)

Notes: this entry contains themes of racism and xenophobia.

The first docking bay of Cosmos 6 was nothing like its twin sister. Although it was identical in size and shape, its layout had been designed in an accessible way. In addition to six landing pads, ranging from personal cruiser to cargo ship size, which were separated from one another by knee-high decorative barriers, the atmosphere in the bay had been adjusted to accommodate its most frequent visitors.

As a matter of fact, most of the Cosmos 6 station was kept humid and warm to allow for the Liaga traders to feel more at home. The Liaga were an interesting folk; short, wide and amphibious. They were nomads, with no planet to call their own, but a culture of transforming their favourite hubs into tropical saunas, which seemed to be engraved in their genes. Liaga traders could breathe most atmospheres just fine though, having adapted through centuries of space travel.

One of these traders was currently arguing with a high commissioner, the official person utmost in charge of running Cosmos 6, regarding the type of goods the former was transporting on his ship.

"I aam teelling you, I doon't haave aany Siilver Snoow on my shiip!" The frog-like man argued.

"And I am telling you that I have received a report!" The high Commissioner replied, raising his tone with every word. He was a Human man with a short temper, a big gun, and deep pockets. On Cosmos 6, he wasn't as much respected as avoided, like a distant uncle outside of Christmas dinner.

"Come on, friend." A Gromlid man interrupted. He had been leaning against the merchant's ship during the interaction, and gently scratching slurs into its otherwise immaculate coating with his clawed fingers. "Help a man of the law out."

"That's right," the commissioner agreed. "I've got a report that a ship on the fourth landing pad was transporting halusi- hallucinogenic substances."

"I haave been teelling you foor loong, I do noot haave iillegal drugs. Soomeone liied to you!"

"Friend, you must understand, no one on this station would lie to such a reputable man as high commissioner Tully Junior." The Gromlid intervened once again, as he pushed away from the ship's haul and wrapped an arm around the commissioner’s shoulders. The gesture might have been seen as friendly, if not for the way he brushed his sharp fingers against Tully's neck.

The skin around the merchant's eyes darkened; a sign of weariness. He wasn't oblivious to the subtext that his neck may be the one to come in uncomfortably close proximity with razor-sharp fingers next.

"Listen, I'm not doing this because I like it," Tully lied. "You have two options, either you let me search your ship, or you try to find the one son of a bitch on this station who would be stupid enough to lie to me."

The trader glanced around, trying to make eye contact with anyone who’d help him out of this situation. But his crew had long since taken refuge aboard his ship, and were very likely getting ready to destroy all of their merchandise at the first sign of a Human entering the ship (as for any reputable merchant this side of nowhere, not all of his cargo had been legally acquired). But the fact that the Gromlind kept staring at him as if he was ready to tear him to pieces, and the way the commissioner looked way too pleased with himself, did not make the thinking process any easier for the poor merchant.

“Maybe you could name a name, point us in the right direction, that is of course if you truly don’t have any Silver Snow aboard.” Tully suggested in a tone that came off as everything but helpful.

"Master Lozzo." A hoarse female voice interrupted before the merchant had had the time to come up with another excuse.

She had emerged from the side doors that led to docking bay 2, and the merchant didn’t fail to notice that this was the first Faklar he’d seen all year. His mind instantly switched to “business mode” as he wondered whom the creature belonged to, and how much he should offer for it. But as soon as he saw the way the Gromlind glared at her, all notions of business left the merchant’s mind.

Lozzo let out a displeased gruff. Timing could not have been worse. He had ordered all four of his idiotic kalbs to watch over some empty crates, just to make sure they were out of his way. And one-three was supposed to supervise them, because for all its flaws, it was the only one who could take down a Vimlen and a half. Lozzo had spent too much time and money staging this whole stunt to get the attention off his own illegal trafficking, just to see all his efforts crumble at the last minute.

"What's your thingy doing here?" The commissioner whispered. "You told me you had nothing to do with the drugs."

"It's a coincidence." Lozzo answered. It wasn't clear if he was trying to reassure the commissioner or himself.

The merchant darted his slimy eyes between the two men. He was more confused than ever, but he was ready to take the first chance to slip away.

Re'A stopped a few meters away from the group. She crossed three of her arms over her chest, to show that she was unarmed and bowed down her head, waiting for further instructions.

"Speak." Lozzo said not without annoyance. "Why are you here?" He accentuated the word 'here', as if 'here' was the last place she was supposed to be.

The Faklar suddenly got an uneasy feeling, as if she was indeed supposed to be somewhere else. But she had been told to come to Lozzo, and she wasn't about to go against those orders. One crippled arm had been enough of a lesson in that domain for her.

"We," she began. Her vocal cords were struggling to form the correct sounds in universal English, perhaps due to a lack of practice. "We have taken care of the merchandise as instructed. There are currently two buyers lined up, and we'll likely be able to move the rest of the Silver Snow before the end of the cycle."

"And who is 'we'?" Lozzo asked. All six of his eyes were glimmering with malice, and his voice was heavy with insinuations.

"I meant myself." Re'A slowly corrected herself. As much as she hated taking the blame for whatever this was, she could read the atmosphere well enough to know that she'll be better off not involving the rest of the gang.

"What are you saying Lozzo?" The commissioner interjected with fake surprise. "I thought you assured me you had nothing to do with this drug trafficking problem!"

Four of Lozzo's eyes remained fixed on Re'A - She wasn't going anywhere now – as the other pair turned towards Tully, in an attempt to maintain a friendly facade.

"And here I was, accusing our friend frog of smuggling powder when in fact you -" The commissioner stopped mid-sentence when he noticed that the merchant was no longer by his side.

"Fuuck you aall, I aam neever cooming baack heere!" The merchant yelled as the airlock of his ship shut behind him.

"Don't worry about him, his ship ID is still in our system. You can black-list that idiot if he’s stupid enough to come back." Lozzo gestured in the direction of the ship. "Now,” He paused, “I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding. None of my boys or girls would ever do something as outrageous as plant fake evidence and give fake tips to the authorities." He had accentuated the word 'girls'.

Lozzo's plan, now that his original idea had gone to shit, was to buy Tully's favour. The Gromlind knew that his Human counterpart wasn't all that bright, and tended to suffer from short-term memory loss after coming in contact with large sums of money or certain rare goods. The merchant wasn't much of an issue either, since dozens of them came through the station every cycle. The real problem was one-three and its unexpected intervention.

Lozzo knew that the thing wasn't as dumb as it made itself to be, which in most cases was an asset, but at times like these it also stood out like a sore spot. Lozzo clicked his fingers as he continued this train of thought. Faklar pets were no longer in fashion anyway.

The commissioner had also been intensely thinking about where he could go with this. He had known from the start that Lozzo had organized this whole scene to get suspicion off himself. Tully didn't mind. All that meant was that he wouldn't have to distort the truth as much in his reports to HQ. Plus, the station would not have seen as much traffic and growth if not for Lozzo's little side business. But Tully had a facade to maintain as well.

"We all make mistakes. I, for starters have spilled kelp soup all over my weekly report today. It’s going to cost me a fortune to get my carpet clean, and all time it’ll take to rewrite everything …” Tully finally said.

“Then perhaps we can work something out.” Lozzo clicked his fingers one last time, coming to a decision. “There is a place I urgently need to be at. Look after one-three while I’m gone, will you?”

Lozzo headed inside the station without looking back. There was a certain merchant who specialised in live goods that he needed to see.

[The following 642 words were redacted for violation of Proper Workplace Conduct Code [PWCC] §2.1]

[To access the following section please fill in the PWCC T14-b form attached below (equivalent of 55332.004 form which is print only, and can be found at your nearest HR office)]

Notes:

I would like to highlight that such corruption does no longer occur in our society. It is proper to Onshore humans, and some biologist argue even that it is genetically transmitted. Although I myself am not an anthropologist, I can tell for certain that there is no gene responsible for greed, and that a non-monetary based economy has been most beneficial in elimination these needs completely.

As a reminder, as the main case worker on this report, I will be the one to read though any forms or other materials you send our way. Hence why I ask you follow proper procedures because it is not my job to chase you down to find out who said what or who requested which file.

Current year: 22+e^(23.347)

Redactor signature: E.E. Shwartz