Harvey paused upon entering the restaurant, his companion stood out far too much and not just because he was Thoracian. Most of his species were well to do, upstanding individuals and quite accepted among the upper classes. Where most of his brethren had a knack for fitting almost any social scene seamlessly, Xacks had a knack for standing out. Half tempted to cut his losses, leave and reschedule with someone else the burly officer approached the table and sat down.

"Are you fucking high?" He questioned tilting his head to the side, inspecting the bug's eyes.

"If you have to ask then you don't know me that well. When am I not high? So if your finished telling everyone here, let's get to this matter you want to discuss."

"Remind me why I use you for these jobs again." Harvey asked looking around to see who had overheard.

"Because I'm the best." Xacks smiled, only it looked more creepy than reassuring.

"Nope, that's the drugs talking. If you were the best you wouldn't be flying small shipments across the city limits." Harvey burst his bubble. "I hire you because your good enough and I can't afford someone better."

"Fuck you Knapp. You know how hard it is to fly this city? I don't see many humans doing it." Xacks raged, grating his plate like teeth.

"We're not flying city this time, I need someone who's with it enough to handle a C38 and preferably someone who can meet in a posh place like this, without showing up dressed like that." Harvey scorned pointing at the Thoracian's armoured garb. "You look like your about to invade their pantry for nibbles and rob the till on the way out."

"Have you not seen the shit that's brewing these days, anyone not getting around in this has a death wish." Xacks hissed, lowering his voice somewhat.

"Your paranoid... Still this Cruise is going to be a long one so I need to make sure you're in it for the long haul."

"How long?"

"Seven months our time, Five years on the outside." Harvey kept the tone down. "Unless you want to share some of that tech you bastards are sitting on."

"Seven months sounds like a walk in the park. I take it your supplying the C38?"

"I have one ready, had a slight problem with previous owners but it got sorted."

"Hope you didn't do anything I wouldn't have." Xacks clicked instead of a snicker.

"Some smugglers that I've been tracking for a while now. Had themselves a problem letting go of their profits." Harvey smiled. "I flooded the entire deck with superheated hydraulic fluid. It took me three days to clean up! But I swear, it still smells like burned dog hair in there."

"What was the cargo?"

"Dogs."

Harvey smiled and Xacks let out a howl of loud clicks before settling down to listen to the arrangements. Getting a C38 clear into orbit was a tough endeavour, luckily for Harvey, the smugglers had prearranged most of the flight plan. It was always cheaper when someone else was footing the bill. The ship was quite a large vessel too, with a large cargo hold and luxury rooms. A good thing too as seven months in space with a bunch of people you didn't like could easily turn into a blood bath. He hadn't told the Thoracian about passengers yet, the bug was used to flying solo and Harvey wasn't sure how he would take to company. There were a lot of rumors about the space crazies, people going insane on long voyages and myths of cannibalism. Personally Harvey thought it was just the normal crazy that happened everywhere humans lived. Still he wasn't much in the way of an authoritative source when it came to knowledge of this stuff.

"So whats the deal? I transport the goods back here and the whole trip takes five years?" He might have been a crack addict but the guy wasn't stupid. "Your not making any sense, what aren't you telling me?"

"Thats the fly part of the job. The other part is that you will have passengers on board."

"Whoa that's a big ask you know. I mean flying solo is one thing. Seven months with a bunch of cunts, What happens if they get the space crazies and I'm forced to shoot and violate them all." Xacks exaggerated but only to make his feelings clear. "Remember that guy we met said he was going up with the Seminal, turns out they did themselves in. Nasty business that shit."

"You say he was the guy but you don't know." Harvey scoffed. "For all you know they fucked off the wrong people and got done over."

"Tell you what I think. I figure that fellow we run into did everyone on board. Killed 'em all. Then he decided to take a swim, see how fast his blood would boil out his ears." Xacks was clearly making a ploy for a greater share now, Harvey lent back and let him carry on. "Besides how are they going to feel when I start walking around naked, jacking off on stuff and eating their food."

"The ship is big enough for everyone. You will have plenty of jacking space and I'm prepared to give you thirty percent." Harvey smiled as the Bugs antennae twitched at the mention of the pay.

"This better be a good margin!'

"Since when do I do shitty margins?" Harvey felt a little insulted and he let it show.

"Fair call." Xacks agreed before changing the subject. "So who are the passengers anyway?"

"There's only three. A guy, a girl and an Andy." Harvey laid it out.

"An Andy?" Xacks sounded confused and rightly so. "So is it three passengers? or two with an Andy?"

"The Andy is alone." Harvey shrugged. "He says 'he's his own unit' and he had the cash."

"I suppose you know what you're doing and background checked them?"

"Of course. They all have good reasons for wanting to get away for a few years." Harvey sighed. "Besides I'm coming along for the ride too, so you'll have nothing to worry about, they will be my problem."

"Well that just gives me one more thing to worry about." Xacks clicked at his own joke.

"Here is the address of the ship." Harvey passed the slip of paper across the desk for the pilot. "How about you fuck off and prepare. I'm sure there is some stuff you will want to bring along. We depart in two days so make sure you have everything you need stowed before then. Now if you don't mind, I need to see someone about a drop to drink."

With that he stood and made his way to the door labeled kitchen leaving the armoured bug holding the scrap of paper and the bill.