Jrak rubs their smooth face with their hands. Once again, there was a complication. They happened, sometimes, when doing long distance transportation. They weren’t unfamiliar with how difficult things could be on this side of the galactic map. Even still, it just meant more legwork and less spacework, which was inconvenient to say the least.
They checked the almost collar-like device around their neck and the back of their head, the oxygel softly bubbling around the almost feather-like protrusions of their gills, before they touched the airlock on the side of their cargo vessel. A deep gurgling sound emitted as the water that filled most sections of the ship was drained away and replaced with air pumped in from the port’s pressurized docking bay. Jrak smacked their lips as they were introduced to the recycled air of the spaceport, and pulled up the liquid-proof tablet containing his bills of lading. A rubbery finger slipping over the touchpad and it responded.
The problem was that the distributor who had placed part of their shipment’s order didn’t exist anymore. Now they were left with a large quantity of recreational beverages and the contract had pushed the loss of the shipper onto them. So now JRAK owned a large quantity of recreational beverages. It was absolute drek, but that’s why you have insurance. So now, Jrak was left fulfilling the requirement of their insurance. The company would cover the rest of Jrak’s losses on that load, and fourty percent of their shipping fee, as long as they sold the remaining amount of their cargo to someone. It didn’t matter for how much, though the insurance company obviously preferred if Jrak got a good price on it.
Jrak shuffled away from their ship with their tail dragging behind, clipping the datapad and their ID chip onto the belt of their casual atmospheric exosuit. They exited the spacedock and went to the pilot’s lounge, moving through the other pilots who were milling about in between their jumps and approached a port access terminal. Jrak connected their ID chip, identifying their cargo logistics company, and began to sift through the metaphorical yellow pages of the port.
Jrak popped their lips, pausing a moment and then quickly swiping with several gestures through the search filters. Jrak knew what they were looking for now, recently submitted permits in public records. They were better able to sell the product they got to someone who was just recently setting up, it was only common sense. A bit of tapping, and they found a listing for a bar opened only a few days ago.
Jrak downloaded the navigational data to their datapad and then pulled their chip, logging off and heading away towards the establishment, keeping their datapad up to glance at the spaceport’s geonet location and navigation directions. Someone was going to be a lucky humanoid, and hopefully Jrak would be out of this atmosphere and back in space again soon. As they stepped out of the dock into the habitation city proper, the warm rain pattered against their rubbery skin, and they blink up at the droplets. At least it was humid, right now. They smiled a little, smacking their lips as they waddled off into the streets.