by M. D. Cooper
Grayson realized he was famished. Avoiding Kylie had meant avoiding a lot of her group meals, and he was dying for a hearty dinner.
He began walking toward a restaurant with a moderately promising name, ‘The Seared Gear’ when he spotted a group of SSF soldiers strolling down the deck.
Seeing them was no surprise—the SSF had a small garrison on the Futz, and there were three cruisers currently docked at the station, but Grayson recognized one of the men. A colonel named Denny, who was a by-the-book sort who had never really liked Grayson much.
“Shit!” Grayson whispered to himself and turned in the other direction, walking across a bridge to the side of the sweep where the docks lay.
One of the dock’s large doors were wide open and he ducked inside hoping neither Denny nor his pals had spotted him.
The bay only had one ship in it, a Schriver Bosun 182 if he wasn’t mistaken. It was a solid long-range hauler, the sort that frequently crossed the fringe between Silstrand and Scipio.
“Hey, you!” a voice called out, and Grayson saw a woman step out of the ship’s open cargo doors.
“Me?” Grayson asked, pointing at his chest.
“Yeah! Get over here already.”
Grayson didn’t want to make a scene and began to walk toward the woman as she stepped out of the hold and crossed her arms under her breasts.
Grayson couldn’t help but admire the fit of her shipsuit. The logo over her left breast matched the one on the ship above her, so he assumed the tight blue one-piece suit was her uniform.
He wondered if leaving it unzipped to the navel was part of the dress code.
She wore a blue cap with long blonde hair cascading down behind her; the overall look was rather attractive. The smile she gave him was welcome as too. None of the women—or men, for that matter—on the Dauntless had smiled at him in some time.
Except Rogers. But Rogers was always smiling.
“You’re here for the position, right?” The woman asked, her accent lilting in a way Grayson couldn’t quite place—Jerrod would have known the origin.
“Uh, yeah, saw the listing on the kiosks,” Grayson said.
“What’s your name?” The woman asked with a small smile and a note of laughter in her voice.
“Oh, um…” he almost said his real name, but caught himself in time. “Rudy.” He grimaced as it left his mouth. “Tom Rudy.”
“Hey Tom.” she leaned in for a handshake. “Nice name you have there. Two of ‘em, even. Old school, I like it. Captain’s on board. Why don’t you step up and he can give you the once-over? We’re behind schedule though, so if you’re good with a QC98 diag kit, you’ll probably get the job.”
“Like the back of my hand,” Grayson said, now understanding the position he had inadvertently shown up for was for an engineer. He wasn’t the best, but he wasn’t a slouch either. It was also fortuitous that Kylie’s ship used the QC98 series of diag and repair kits. He’d had plenty of opportunity to become acquainted with them. “What’s your name, by the way?”
The woman gestured for him to step onto the ship. “Tayna. Welcome aboard the Emperor’s Tears. Glad you responded so quick, we only had the listing up for twenty minutes, but the captain’s antsy. Sucks losing a crew member, sudden too. Don’t worry though, it wasn’t related to the ship or the haul. Just some unforeseen shit.”
Grayson hadn’t known, or been worried, but with Tayna bringing it up he found himself wondering what had happened to their previous engineer.
“Sorry to hear that. Most things are sudden out here, it seems. People come and go, sometimes not of their own accord.” Grayson replied as Tayna led him into the ship.
“Not of your own accord. I like that. You sound pretty buttoned up. We could use someone like that. Help smooth things over no matter where we go, you know?”
Inwardly, Grayson grimaced. If he was going to blend in, he’d have to check his tendency to speak as if he was addressing a group of officers.
The ship was smaller on the inside than he had expected. He didn’t have the model’s detailed specs on hand, but he was certain there should have been another passageway at one point, and two of the holds they passed looked too shallow.
He noted that access to The Futz’s general nets was cut off inside the ship. A lot of ships didn’t connect their nets to station networks, but blocking Link access outside the ship was a lot less common.
Perhaps it was a smuggler’s ship; on The Futz anything was possible. In fact, ships entirely on the up-and-up were probably the exception here.
He kept his mouth shut, though. He’d meet with the captain, do something to botch the interview and be on his way. All things considered, this was a great way to avoid bumping into Denny—or anyone else he might know—out on the docks.
He followed Tayna up a ladder, and then down a short passageway leading to the bridge, doing his best not to stare at her exceptionally well-shaped rear end.
Tayna strode through the open door without hesitation, Grayson a pace behind.
“Captain, someone’s here to replace…uh…interested in Sammy’s old job.”
Grayson saw a tall man, easily two-hundred centimeters rise from a chair and turn toward them.
“Well, good luck and fortune to us!” the captain said loudly and ran a hand through his wavy mop of brown hair.
There was something vaguely familiar about the man’s face, and Grayson struggled to place it. Another instance where having Jerrod around would have been useful.
“Tom Rudy,” he said, extending his hand.
“Captain Gabriel of our fair Emperor’s Tears,” the man replied with a broad smile.
Gabriel…the name seemed familiar.
“Captain Gabriel,” Grayson said with a nod and offered his hand.
“My friends just call me Gabriel.” He shook Grayson’s hand. “You know your way around an engine room, Tom?”
Grayson was about to say something stupid to end the interview when it clicked. Gabriel and the Emperor’s Tears…there had been a security briefing before the op to get Kylie. About Scipio using traders to infiltrate Trio and Gedri. One of the ships had been a Schriver Bosun, though he couldn’t recall if it was a 182 or not.
Grayson cursed himself for relying on Jerrod so much to manage details like that. Then it clicked.
There had been a Schriver Bosun 182 on the list. However, it hadn’t been named the Emperor’s Tears, it had been Gabriel’s Tears and was captained by a man named Ian, who was well over two hundred centimeters tall.
He was suspected to be a high-ranking officer in Scipio’s intelligence service.
Grayson couldn’t just walk off the ship now. Stumbling onto this ship at the exact time when all of the major players who were after the S&H nanotech were on The Futz was no coincidence.
Or if it was, he needed to find out either way. Even if the Emperor’s Tears had nothing to do with the nano, it may be a way to prove to the SSF that he was still on the right side.
“Sure do,” Grayson replied brightly. “Last run was on a PetSil Scrapper that ran fusion burners not that different from your Bosun 182 here. Provided you got the retrofit a couple decades back when they recalled the coils on the tokamak.”
Captain Gabriel reached out a long arm and slapped Grayson on the back. “Well sounds like you know a fusion engine from a refrigerator. We got the coils replaced like you said, so we’re up on that, but our sensors keep warning that the hydrogen/helium mix is off while our onboard NSAI insists that they’re correct.”
Tayna nodded. “It’s a mess. Sammy could have worked out the discrepancy…but…”
“Station won’t let us fire up our reactors when our two main systems disagree on the projected rate of burn in a fusion reaction—not that I blame them. You sort it out, you got yourself a berth.”
“Sir?” Grayson asked as he cocked his head.
“We ship out in ten hours. You have until then.” Gabriel turned back to the console he had been monitoring.
“Come on,” Tayna said and tugged at his sleeve. He followed her out into the passageway. She gestured to the ladders. “The faster we get to the engine room, the faster you can fix this hunk of junk.”
“Have faith in me, do you? We’ve barely even met.”
Tayna shrugged. “You have one of those faces.”
“Those faces?”
“That says you can be trusted.” Tayna said.
If only she knew the truth. “So, what happened to the last guy you had down here?” Grayson asked as he slid down the ladder.
He made room for Tayna to drop down beside him and followed her aft toward the engine room.
“Accident. You just have to be careful when you work in space, you know?” She gave him an appraising look, making him feel less of a person and more like a slab of meat.
“Engine compartment’s through that hatch, you can get on the general shipnet. Grab me on the link if you need me.” Then, with an extra swivel to her hips, Tayna turned and slinked to the ladder, climbing it far more slowly than necessary.
Pretty and dangerous—just his type. However, if Grayson didn’t miss his guess, also quite deadly.
THE NEST
STELLAR DATE: 09.23.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: People’s Republic Tower, The Futz Spire, Freemont
REGION: Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Lana shifted left, making room for Winter as he set up behind a partition on the third level balcony in the GFF’s general assembly.
The partition hid repair work done on the balcony earlier in the day, and Winter had paid off the two workers to go take an extra-long lunch break. The kind that lasted for the rest of the day.
She used chromed strip on that same partition to study her new appearance: Long auburn wavy hair, new apple cheeks, and a slightly larger nose made her almost indistinguishable. She almost liked this look better than her old one and Lana couldn’t help fluffing her hair out one more time.
She shuffled closer to one of the gaps around the edge of the partition and looked down at the floor of the assembly. With the enhancements the nano had made to her eyes, she could make out the entire scene clearly.
The assembly was nearly full, and her gaze swept over the crowd, really wishing she had a snack. She could see Kylie and Nadine sitting together, near the front. They were sitting right beside one another and Kylie had a hand on Nadine’s lap.
Lana wondered if they were getting over whatever was going on between them. Nadine still looked rather stiff, but Lana didn’t know if that was normal or not.
Lana thought that over as she threw a glance at Winter. His lips were drawn together and it was clear he was concentrating as he assembled his rifle. He hadn’t mentioned what had happened the last few nights in various locations on the Dauntless, acting like today was business as usual.
For Lana it had been amazing, intense, and powerful. Lana could tell he was one of those guys who didn’t dwell on things like relationships, but she thought he’d at least mention it today. Or touch her, or something.
Lana sighed quietly and continued her surveillance of the room. Double doors on the left side of the assembly opened and four guards—all in black—swept into the room, followed by a gorgeous woman in a custom-fitted suit complete with shiny, glamorous hair. She smiled, and Lana recognized the type. Her father had them over frequently. Cold and calculated.
Lana shook her head. Knowing a snake was in the grass didn’t stop you from getting bitten—at least that’s what her father always said.
“Pres lady just stepped in,” Lana whispered to Winter as he adjusted the eyepiece on his sniper rifle, then ran a cable from the rifle to the hard-Link port on his forearm. He didn’t look at Lana, or give any visible indication that he had heard her.
Lana bit her bottom lip.
Lana tried hard to suppress a smile, but it was hard when Winter talked so macho. Lana said privately to Abby.
It was a little late for that and Abby knew it. Lana wondered how upset the AI was with her.
Uncomfortable silence stretched between them as Lana considered her words. She went back to observing the crowd, looking for Harken. Nothing yet.
That made Lana feel a lot better, and she sent a seductive avatar across the link, blowing Winter a kiss.
Okay, okay, Lana got it. She shifted and looked down where the president sat in one of the cordoned-off sections on the left side of the assembly floor. She did a double take. Someone looked familiar…too familiar….
Lana cycled her vision, focusing on the man who had caught her attention. Blue jacket, cuffs rolled up, black and floppy hair, a pair of sunglasses so dark they could block out a nova. There was no mistaking that man.
It was Fra-X. The jerkoff who had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Her heart leapt in her chest, pounding like it wanted out of her rib cage. Lana sucked in a sharp breath, she wanted nothing more than to pound his head into the ground.
How dare he!
Winter turned a knob on his sniper gun and leaned in as if prepping for a shot.
Would it kill him to react a little bit? His lack of response was making her feel worse, not better.
For the first time, Winter shifted in reaction to Lana’s words.
Rogers chimed in.
Lana tensed, fighting the urge to run.
Lana couldn’t accept that answer.
A toxic mix of disappointment and rage raced through Lana. She thought of Fra-X and everything he had set in motion. She couldn’t let him get away with it, and she couldn’t settle with Kylie being down there with him, unaware of the danger. She had to be warned. Kylie had saved Lana and now she would return the favor.
Lana pivoted and crept toward the closest exit off the balcony. If Winter wasn’t going to warn Kylie, then Lana would. And if she got Fra-X at the same time, well that’d be karma for the sonofabitch.
She rushed out into a service corridor, glancing behind her, uncertain whether or not Winter would follow. The job might mean too much to him, but she couldn’t be sure. She took a service lift down to the main floor and casually walked toward the doors which should lead around the back, from where Vaax, and later Fra-X had emerged.
The doors were locked, and Lana leaned against the wall next to the access panel, placing her hand over it.