Don't Take It Personal
"Joni Angkasa lived by one rule: don't take it personal. It was how he was able to survive as a smuggler in the Cakrawala."
Joni Angkasa lived by one rule: don’t take it personal. It was how he was able to survive as a smuggler in the Cakrawala, the lawless confluence of space where Bima Sakti and remnants of the ancient Naga Realm met. This was a place where Jakarta was far away, and Space Command Indonesia might as well not existed.
Don’t take it personal meant not to take offense at any personal slight. That was easy enough. Indonesians were, almost to a man, very polite, an effect of the language that made direct insult difficult - even after centuries of borrowing words from English. The xenofolks who were once ruled by the Naga Emperors were a different story. Even so, keeping one’s cool was not too difficult.
There was another side to don’t take it personal: don’t make friends. No matter what, you could never get close to anyone. Acquaintances were fine, but no friends. And definitely no companions.
Such a code was why he found his latest predicament to be particularly annoying. His ship, Garuda Nusantara, had a stowaway. The sound of steps at the back, in the direction of the cargo bay, gave the intruder away. A smuggler like Joni couldn’t afford to have stowaways. He had just finished a delivery - illegal, of course - to Merling, a planet once under the rule of the Naga Emperor; but the natives, the kucing, had been independent by the time the Indonesians came to the scene. With the ship still docked on Merling, he had to flush out whoever snuck into his ship before he left the planet for another job.
With his trusty pistol at the ready, Joni entered the cargo bay. He saw the figure of a young woman in front of his cargo boxes. A kucing no doubt, her cat ears were a dead giveaway.
“Freeze!” Joni cried, his weapon drawn.
The kucing came forward, her arms up. “Do not shoot!”
Joni gazed at his new companion, his face remained impassive. “Get out of my ship.”
“No, wait,” she said. “Please take me away from this planet.”
Joni narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
At this, the kucing reached behind the cargo boxes and showed the smuggler something that shocked him to the core.
“A baby?” Joni said. “Explain.”
And so she did. First the kucing introduced herself as Nina; it was a nickname since her real name was too difficult for Indonesian tongues to pronounce. Nina told Joni that she was trying to escape the planet with her baby sister. She herself was a scion of a noble house of Merling, the name of the family itself was of little importance to Joni. For his part, Joni found himself struggling to believe the story…
“You’re telling me that your family’s trying to kill your sister over some religious ritual? Why should I believe you?”
Nina responded, “You speak as if such a thing never happened. Perhaps that might be so for you Indonesians, but not with us, who had lived under the Celestial Emperor before your people even conceived of sailing the stars.”
Joni grimaced. “I’ve never smuggled sentients being before.” His tone turned sarcastic, “Forgive me for not taking your story at face value.”
But the conversation between the two were cut short by a loud blaring announcement from outside of the Garuda, whoever spoke did so in Indonesian - broken Indonesian, but one that Joni understood:
“Ship captain of Indonesia. Surrender the woman and the child at your possession. They are noblewomen of Merling. Failure to do so will be considered an Act of War.”
Joni shook his head. “Great. What now?”
Nina looked at Joni, her eyes pleading. “Please don’t hand us back to them. I’ll… I’ll make it worth your while.”
At this, the kucing took out a bag out of her jacket pocket, and opened it. Joni’s eyes widened as he saw the gleaming green treasure in front of him.
“Naga jade,” Joni said. “Lots of them too.”
“I have many more where that came from, Indonesian pirate,” responded Nina. “Enough to buy a whole planet.”
Joni smirked. “First of… I’m a smuggler, not a pirate. Second of all, my name’s Joni - Joni Angkasa. Finally, you do know I can just take it from you and hand you over to the authorities…”
Nina gasped, her eyes betrayed fear.
“But I won’t,” said Joni.
“You mean…”
“For now, I believe your story. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. Take the baby and come with me to the cockpit. We’re getting off this planet.”
Nina smiled, though her face was uncertain. “Do you think we can evade them?”
“We will see,” responded Joni. “The Garuda Nusantara was once a ship in the service of Raja Situmorang himself.”
***
The ship shook, threatening to throw both Nina and Joni out of their seats.
“Another hit!” Nina cried. “We are not going to survive!”
Joni’s fingers were frantically pressing the buttons of the Garuda. “Calm yourself, kucing! This ship’s made to take hits. I know from personal experience.”
But despite his words, Joni couldn’t help but fear the worst himself. He was close to the edge of the hyperspace currents. Just a little bit more before he could finally lose the Merling ships.
The window in front of them, once pitch black, started to turn white. Joni slouched on his seat and sighed in relief. They were now in hyperspace. Nina held on to her baby sister; asleep, the infant was blissfully unaware of their close brush with death.
“We’re safe now,” Joni said.
“Where are we heading?” asked Nina.
Joni got up from his seat. “Deep into Bima Sakti… civilization, where SCI’s fleets will ensure that the kucing won’t pursue us. As for the planet, we’re going to New Aceh. It’ll be a few hours before we reach our destination so get some rest.”
“New Aceh? Why there?”
“A lot of traders there,” responded Joni, “ meaning that a xenofolk wouldn’t draw too much attention. More importantly, the people there… treat cats well. Something about their religion, I think their prophet loved cats. So I’m sure a kucing like you will be fine.”
Nina raised her eyebrow. “Kucing, you said that word again. But that is not the name of my people.”
Joni smiled. “Sure, but that’s what we Indonesians call you people. Deal with it.”
***
The spaceport of Kutaraja, New Aceh’s capital, was bustling with activity. The market was nearby. For Joni, this was as good of a place as any to drop off Nina and her baby sister. With the bag of Naga jade she was carrying, he was sure that they would have no problem establishing themselves on the planet.
As far as Joni was concerned, he was doing the two kucing a favor. So why was Nina so sullen?
Of course, Joni understood; he too couldn’t help but feel sad to see her go. He saw the kucing cradling the infant she had risked her life to save. If Nina hadn’t told him that the child was her baby sister, he would have mistaken the two for mother and daughter. For a moment, the smuggler’s mind began to wander, but not for long. He remembered his own rule: don’t take it personal. “So, Miss Kitty,” Joni began, “I guess this is goodbye.”
Nina frowned, she was pensive. And she finally spoke out, “You know it doesn’t have to be this way, right?”
“What?”
“I mean, we don’t have to split apart. With the Naga jade I have, we can start a life together. You, me, and the baby. You need not smuggle for the rest of your life, Joni.”
The smuggler shook his head. “Men like me don’t deserve second chances, Nina.”
The girl looked away. “I figured as much, yet I had to give it a try.” She reached into her bag of jade. “Here’s your payment then.”
“Don’t bother giving me more than what’s necessary to fix my ship.”
Nina did as Joni told her. But before the two parted ways, her face closed in on his. And she kissed his cheek.
Before Nina was to leave for her new life with her baby sister on New Aceh, she had one last message for the man who rescued her; some parting words:
“You’re a good man, Joni Angkasa.”