OMEGA Exile by Stephen Arseneault

was worthless, Commissioner Thomas had no one to blame but himself.
    As the commissioner was released and we pulled away, I said, "You handled that like someone who had been doing it for years."
    Joni smirked. "I’ve seen enough politics in my life to know how a negotiation goes when you have the upper hand. Now, we have this information, what are we going to do with it?"
    I replied, "You are the acting officer. You came by this information through your thorough investigative activities. I believe that makes it your decision to either pursue this or pass it off to the Captain for another detective to check into."
    Joni shook her head. "Uh, no. I am not handing this off so we can get another squeaky-clean inspection added to our schedule. We have eight hours until we are due on the Fromrider for an inspection of its seed cargo. I think we look into this now."
    I smiled. "Detective, set the course for the path of the Angel’s Fire . If we bust a freighter loaded with bleurgh, you will get recognition, whether you want that recognition or not."
    Joni pulled up the nav screen and set the course. "Bleurgh. The name alone should tell you to keep away from that stuff. I don’t get why so many people enjoy getting blotto-ed. I like to be aware of whatever is going on around me."
    I replied, "There are a lot of people out there who lack the drive and ambition that you have. They feel trapped in their existence, and that junk offers them an escape. Some don’t seem to care that it is addictive and that they will crave it for months after doing even a single dose. What I find strange is that it has a nearly identical effect on almost all species. It is a near-perfect drug for corrupting the masses. It’s cheap and easy to distribute. I heard that some of the outer colonies offer hits as part of their weekly pay packages. Those workers will be enslaved to those companies for the rest of their lives."
    As the Angel’s Fire came into view on the nav screen, an all-stop order was sent. An angry captain first refused to comply and was quickly persuaded under threat of a complete power system shutdown. Every ship in the AMP and then again in the New Alliance was required to have a shutdown circuit integrated into their systems. Noncompliance was met with an immediate confiscation of a ship and its cargo and an arrest of its captain with a lifetime sentence imposed. In my forty years of service, I had never come across a ship without the circuit being active.
    As Joni and I stepped out onto the deck, the manifest administrator met us with his logs. "We are on a tight schedule, detectives. You will find the logs in order, as an inspection was performed at SS9 only two days ago."
    Joni said, "Thank you, Mr. Dapner. Now, if you could direct us to hold number four, we would like to perform a spot inspection."
    Roger Dapner stood with a stunned look on his face. "Wha, what? Why number four?"
    Joni smiled. "Either we can follow you to the inspection door, or you can lead us."
    The administrator began to raise his hand to press the comm button on his arm pad. Joni grabbed his wrist. I took note of Joni having her other hand on her blaster as she reached out.
    Joni moved his hand away from the arm pad. "Alerting the captain will not work in your favor, Mr. Dapner. Full cooperation may yield a lenient judge if contraband is being transported by this ship. As detectives, we do have discretion over what we include in our reports. A favorable report can make a world of difference to your future if an issue is found."
    I slowly shook my head in a warning to three crewmen who had picked up hand weapons in an attempt to defend their administrator. After I tapped my finger lightly on the side of my blaster, the three men stepped back into the shadows of a dimly lit maintenance area.
    The administrator slowly lowered his arm. "This way."
    Hold four had one large container sitting in its center, magnetically bonded to the deck plating. A quick measurement