Gee leaned a forearm on the portal and gazed at the stars. His nostrils flared at the aroma of freshly brewed coffee rising from his cup. He hadn't taken a sip yet. This was possibly his favourite moment of the day, and he wanted to savour it as long as possible. Make this one daily cup stretch out as far as the universe.

He snorted as his old partner's voice floated through his memory, "Gee, we grow a whole crop of coffee. Why don't you just drink as much as you want? Don't get this whole 'abstention' thing you've got going on."

Yeah, Jug didn't get a lot of things. Tried to take a lot though. Gee's hand tightened reflexively around the cup. It hadn't been pleasant to float Jug, but he admitted right up front he'd been planning to float Gee on their next shipment drop and take the operation for himself. Gee rolled his shoulders. Five years on and the betrayal still rankled him.

Five years on and the operation had expanded to a whole ship of coffee. His snort echoed faintly down the metal corridor. It was funny that centuries on one of the few surviving things from Earth was coffee. Other than the infernal English language that was like a cockroach and wouldn't die, as much as humans themselves, great big galactic cockroaches now, scattered around and popping up in ports you'd never expect.

He'd swung by Earth once. Filthy dirty place. He'd take a Tashmau farm any day over that clogged air. No wonder people had left.

He leaned into the window to look down the length of his ship, or ships, as it were, since he had his farm ship on this side and the coffee farm on the other, then the last five hulks he'd found tethered out behind like a bumpy, misshapen tail. All strung together by magnetic field and physical tethers he could pop with the flick of a switch should he ever have a run-in with pirates. He snorted again. The last run-in hadn't gone so well for the pirates, but had been quite the boon for him since that last ship was all that was left of them.

He smiled at his own cleverness. If he ever got tired of scavenging and grub farming, he'd set up shop in some space port and make mag-ships like this one. It was a wonder no one else had figured it out.

However, the size of his ship with all those extra tag-alongs made him a target for the pirates that were becoming a bigger problem on the whole. He had a run-in at least once a year now. Back when he started, he only had two run-ins in a whole decade.

He rubbed his chin and made a noise at the back of his throat. He'd been spaceside a long time, maybe it was time to consider a planetside operation. No one knew he grew the coffee and grubs himself, so he could keep the ship in orbit and still trade it. Just set up some kind of trader station and make it appear like people brought the stuff to him. He could even keep selling to his old customers just by flash-frozen shipment instead of fresh. Maybe he could even see if she was still around. He looked back to the stars and sucked on his teeth. It warranted further thought at least.

When he looked down into his cup, ready for a first sip, his damn bionic eye got stuck again. Smacking the side of his head a few times finally got it moving. He shook his head to clear the ache from hitting himself. Fifteen years he'd had the thing with no problem. Maybe it was time for an upgrade. Stars knew he could have afforded it seven years ago.

The tech had gotten better too. The Lunt at his last stop had tried to talk him into it. Said they'd gotten more savvy about how to integrate their tech to human bodies. Probably finally figured out how lucrative a market human mods are, is more likely.

Maybe he'd have to look into getting a new eye on this next drop. Top of the line. He trusted the Lunt that gave him this one. Wouldn't be too much of a detour to see him.

He took a sip and smiled at the stars. It would be good to be planetside for awhile.

The alarm sounded it's clarion warning through the ship. "Damn pirates!" Gee cursed and gulped down the hot coffee, nearly scorching his throat, before sprinting towards the bridge.