The mining team assembled in the cruiser’s makeshift kitchen, trying their best to ignore the vibration as the ship pitched and yawed to get its hyperspace vector right.

Milford entered, chomping at an electronic cigar–the best he could do in an oxygen-rich environment. “Okay, listen up,” he said. “Me and the cartel have sent you to some awfully tough and awfully illegal places for a spot of mining before, and you’ve done us proud.”

“Even when Higgins got sterilized on that iridium asteroid?” one of the miners laughed.

“Especially when Higgins got sterilized. You know as well as I do that little Higginses were always a bad idea.” Milford flipped on the projector–not the kind of interactive 3-d holography one would get on a legitimate mining guild craft, but an incandescent-powered overhead projector with transparencies.

“We’re headed for 55 Cancri E,” Milford continued. “A diamond planet.”

“You gettin’ married, chief?” another miner chortled.

“Why, you proposin’? I think we should just be friends.” Milford accompanied his quip with a “no more interruptions please” glare. “The cartel is building an illicit space elevator on…well, you don’t need to know where. But they’re going to need as much diamond as they can get.”

The ship shuddered again. “We’ll be dealing with 8 Gs down there, so give yourself time to acclimate and don’t move too fast. You can handle it, but it’s gonna feel like there’s a troop of gorillas sitting on you at first.”

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