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Please remain in your transport until security arrives. Failure to comply will result in legal repercussions.
Octavia groaned. The last thing they needed was to have the ship searched just after docking. Adrian! If you got any planifolia extract back there, hide it now.
I told you: I don’t eat that stuff anymore! The balding man grumbled back as he entered the control room.
Then explain to me why we’re being stopped by security. This man gave her more trouble sometimes than their worst clients. If Octavia didn’t need the extra pair of hands (or could afford a bot), she’d have abandoned her uncle at another station by now.
Probably just a random search. Just let me handle the talking, and we’ll get out of this easily.
The last time you took charge –
Octavia’s protest was cut short by a hard knock at the door. “This is station security. Open up.”
Adrian and Octavia stood stiff, before the latter remotely opened the door via her augment. Waiting there were two security personnel, each with a gun and magnetic handcuffs strapped to their hips.
“I believe there’s been a mistake,” Octavia said before her uncle could speak, “We only transport malum.”
You idiot. Now we look suspicious.
Shut up. I’ve got this.
“We’re not here to check your physical cargo,” the augmented one, Officer Layman, said as he snapped his set of cuffs over Octavia’s wrists.
“Officers, you-you’re free to check our cargo hold,” Adrian stammered in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid being cuffed too.
“Our scans found that your ship has about 35,000 hours of DRM-cracked media belonging to 24 different corporations,” Officer Liefeld coldly explained, “including Sanctuary Moon, owned by Foxney-Warner, this station's parent company.”
“What have I told you about downloading shit from shady sites?!” Adrian’s anger and fear couldn’t be contained to the feed.
“I don’t! There must be some mistake!” She’d never even heard of Sanctuary Moon.
“That will be decided by the station judge,” Liefeld said, dragging the two cargo-runners by their wrists.
Octavia scrambled to check the ship’s files and delete whatever had tripped the sensors before Layman could find anything, but found that station security had blocked her from doing so.
So, this was how it was going to end: wasting away in prison in unfamiliar territory with someone she hated all because of some stupid shows she’d never even watched. She should’ve known the deal on this ship was too good to be true.
Just before they reached the door, Octavia received a ping from the ship itself. A second later, Layman, perplexed, exclaimed, “I don’t see any of the files listed in the initial scan.”
“You sure?” Liefeld looked just as confused as Octavia felt.
“Yeah, everything’s compliant with CR media law.”
Liefeld eyed the cargo-runners with suspicion then removed the cuffs. “You two are free to go,” he said before the two officers exited the ship.
“What just happened?” Octavia asked, dumbfounded.
The ship responded with another ping.