Raj shrugged. “Okay, whatever. Load up, kid. Next time, keep your headphones off so you can hear us.”

  Jake nodded. “Of course, officer.” He gave them a false grin. Baton man pointed his finger at Jake, and his partner laughed, but they turned and walked away.

  Jake watched them for a second. Then he returned to the pile of boxes on the pallet outside the container. Crap, he thought. He’d have to put that entire pallet’s worth of boxes back into the container. But before he did, he scanned some of the food trays in the back.

  Stolen. Formerly the property of TGI.

  And just for fun, he checked the bill of lading for this container. Yup, the R&R, Captain Richard Reece. And now, who had turned him in to security, and why?

  “Nadine,” Jake said. Why didn’t she want him investigating the R&R? He needed to keep a better eye on that girl, and see what was next on her agenda.

  Chapter 14

  Nadine stuffed her stylish neck and wrist ruffs into a greasy pocket, then hefted a crewman’s duffel bag on her shoulder. She’d overpaid for the used coveralls. At least they covered her custom skinsuit. She began to walk toward the docking ring. A thin man in clean, plain blue overalls stepped up beside her.

  “Hey, pretty lady, where are you off to?” he asked.

  Nadine glanced at him. “I’m signing on a new ship.”

  “That a fact? A new ship. As what type of crewman?”

  “I’m an engineer third class.”

  “An engineer third class? Well, good for you.”

  “Yes.”

  “You got some sort of ID that says that, do you?” he asked, rounding a corner with her. They began climbing a set of stairs. He had long legs. Nadine had to take two steps to his one.

  “Not at present,” Nadine said.

  “Well, missy, it’s your lucky day. I happen to have a complete set of engineering papers here. And ‘cause I like your smile, I’ll let you have them cheap.”

  “Thanks. But they’re only good if they are in my name.”

  “Is your name Nadine?”

  “It is.”

  He spread his arms wide. “What a coincidence, sweetheart. I happen to have a set of papers in that exact name.”

  Nadine laughed. “You’re an ass, Tommy. Thanks for the rush job.”

  “Pleasure is all mine. Given the price.” He handed her a chip, which she slipped into a pocket.

  “Did you make that call I paid for?”

  “Sure did. See, my cousin has a friend, and his friend’s sister is sleeping with the district manager, and the manager goes to this gym, and well, you meet other people at a gym—”

  “I don’t really care about the details.”

  “That’s a shame. Getting that fixed up was a work of art. But rest assured, your requested discussion is going on right now.”

  “Right now?”

  “As we speak. You get to that lock, and you’ll be able to hear for yourself. I gotta run. Need to see a man about a dog,” Tommy said. He then peeled off toward a side corridor.

  “Thanks, Tommy,” Nadine called out, after which she continued forward. She walked down to the Free Traders’ area.

  The R&R was latched on to the shared truss—the scheduled departure time was indicated, but the outbound traffic slot wasn’t. Riley and her dad stood next to the ship’s loading hatch, alongside a pile of boxes. She wore a regular skinsuit, with a bright yellow dress over it. Nadine wanted that dress. It looked like sunshine. Rick wore crumpled coveralls over his skinsuit, and seemed very chubby standing next to her slim frame. The two of them were arguing with a short black-haired woman in a Castle Transport uniform. Her overalls had the words “Stellen” and “Station Operations” printed on it. Nadine walked toward the group. She wanted to hear the conversation before they noticed her.

  “Look, that’s more than fair,” Stellen said. “You are supposed to have a licensed engineer onboard. We’re fining you just starting today, and you have to clear the paperwork with us before you go.”

  “I told you, we have an engineer,” Rick said.

  “The paperwork says otherwise. The license number you gave us is registered to a ship permanently Docked at Militia-3.”

  “That’s their fault, not ours. They must have made a mistake with the attachment.”

  “If they did, they made this mistake twenty-seven years ago when they went into a permanent docking orbit. And this engineer, Angelina Misou, is ninety-two years old. A little old to be on a Free Trader, don’t you think?”

  “She’s very spry for her age,” Riley said.

  Stellen stepped back and swung her hand in an expansive gesture. “Well, let’s see her old bones come hopping down the dock here and climb on board, and I’ll forget the whole thing.”

  “Engineers are expensive,” Rick said.

  “So are new docking trusses when you crash into them because your thrusters pack up at the last second—which, by the way, wouldn’t have happened had you been maintaining them.”

  “Look, we’ll be dropping today. Can’t you give us a break?”

  “I’ve already given you a break by not backdating the charges. What happened to that nice lady who was your engineer last time we inspected?”

  “My wife. She died.”

  “Oh.” Stellen frowned. “I’m sorry. Look, I gotta do my job here. I can say that you have an engineer reporting on board today, but you gotta have the paperwork cleared up by tomorrow.”

  “What if we don’t? What if we do our business and just drop?” Riley asked.

  “That will solve my problems, but not yours. The computer will just flag you in violation, and if you try to dock here again, instead of me, a security crew would be meeting you, and we won’t be selling you any supplies. Probably same with the other corps. You can try the Free Trader stations then, but you’re not going to be coming back here, or to any corporate station for that matter,” Stellen said.

  Nadine loitered at the next lock, pretending to read the shipping schedule. Perfect, she thought. All she needed was for them to get a little louder, and she could say she had overheard that they needed an engineer. She had an engineer’s paperwork, and she needed a berth.

  Considering the departure time listed on the board, they should be moving through their launch window right now.

  She had been observing the argument out of the corner of her eye when somebody addressed her.

  “Good morning, Nadine. You’re up early,” Jake said, striding by.

  “Good morning, Jake,” she said automatically. Wait. “Jake? Jake, what are you doing here?”

  Jake winked at her, joined the group on the loading hatch and introduced himself.

  “Mr. Reece, Jake Stewart, engineering technician second class, reporting.” Jake smiled at Stellen. “Officer Stellen, I think that will clear the paperwork.”

  Rick blinked. Riley looked surprised.

  Stellen scowled. “Who are you? Did you say you were a technician second class? Not a full engineer?”

  “Yes. I have a TGI license. I’ll give you my license number.” Jake did.

  “They need a full engineer.”

  “Actually, the regs say that for vessels this size, they only need to be inspected by a full engineer at least once every three months if they have an allied corp technician assigned. If I’m assigned, then they have three months until they need a full engineer to inspect.”

  “You are part of the crew? You’re shipping with them?”

  “I don’t have to ship with them. I just have to assign my license to them.”

  “That’s not true. Regs state that you have to be on board.”

  “Station regs for Castle Transport employees say that I have to be on board,” Jake said, “but, the thing is, I’m not a CT employee. I have a TGI license, and the inter-corporate ruleset applies here.” Jake began talking.

  Nadine listened. Give it to Jake, he knew his rulebooks. It helped that Stellen didn’t really care, as long as she got a clearance on her computer. Jake talked her through the screens on her program.

  “Just click here, then here, put my license number here—and click ‘not assigned as crew,’ accept that, and it will submit it to your computer. Then wait.”

  Her screen turned green. “Approved,” Jake said.

  “Approved,” Stellen agreed. “You have conditional approval for ninety days, captain. Enjoy your visit. I’m off.” She went on to the next ship.

  Rick turned to Jake. “Um, that was great. Thank you. Ah, how much is that going to cost me.”

  “Nothing,” Jake said. “Happy to help.” He looked at the floor. “I was, uh, just coming down to see if Riley wanted to go to lunch with me.”

  “You wanted to ask me to lunch?” Riley said.

  “Well, not if you were busy or anything, or if you had something going on. But that’s okay if you did. I understand.”

  There was silence for a moment. Rick looked at Jake. “But Jake, I have to ask, why help us out with that engineer thing?”

  “Oh, I heard the argument. About the license. I grew up on a small station. I feel for you with all this corporate stuff. I know a lot about regulations and paperwork, so I decided to help you out.”

  Riley looked uncertain. “Jake, that was sweet, but Dad and I have a launch window. We can’t stay.”

  “Oh,” Jake said. His voice dropped and he faked a smile. “Well, maybe next time. You will be back soon?”

  “Not for a while, Jake, sorry,” Riley said.

  Rick coughed. “We’ll be back in about a hundred hours, Jake. You two can go out then.”

  Riley looked at her dad. “I think I’ve got plans then.”

  “Cancel them,” Rick said. “We owe Jake a favor.”

  For a moment, Riley glared at her dad, who glared back at her. She grimaced and then turned to Jake, flashing a smile. “Dad’s right. We need to do something nice for you. When we get back, I’ll get reservations at Max’s— It’s a bistro. You’ll like it. See you then.”

  Jake exchanged a few pleasantries, assured her he’d be there, and walked away, smiling.

  “Well, thanks for your time. Delivery will be next week. We’ll see you later. Free trades,” Rick said. He released the radio channel, then drew a long breath and exhaled in a whoosh. He shook his head and picked another channel.

  “R&R, requesting drop slot.”

  “Drop when ready, R&R,” the radio voice said.

  “Understood. R&R out,” Rick said.

  Riley watched her father from the other seat in the control room, then she turned and surveyed her screen. Rick began to shovel food into his mouth.

  “That went well, sweetie. We can drop off that container on our way—pick up a transport fee. Then do our special run and be back at the station,” Rick said.

  “Dad, do we have to keep doing these special runs?”

  “I don’t like them either, sweetie. But we need the cash.”

  “But shipping stolen goods is illegal.”

  “We don’t know that it’s stolen.”

  “Who else sells fifty thousand red-green-blue trays? It’s got to be stolen.”

  “We don’t know that, sweetie.”

  “Dad. And that ship, and those people—why do they need so much food every month? And they always have weapons.”

  “They pay well, sweetie. And after your mom died, we need a place where our paperwork isn’t investigated too closely. They’ve never asked about us being short an engineer. It’s a good thing that your friend signed for us here. You should keep being nice to him.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Well, yes, actually,” Rick said. He turned to his daughter. “I need time to fix this engineer thing. When we’re back, take him out to dinner, talk to him. That’s all.”

  “Dad, are you pimping me out?”

  “No, just treat him like a regular cargo contact. Make it like a business dinner.”

  Riley flicked a switch, then frowned. “I guess I can do that.”

  “Besides, you might find yourself liking him once you get to know him.”

  “He’s not my type.”

  “You mean he has a steady, regular job, works hard at it, and doesn’t make you pay for his meals?”

  “Dad.”

  “Oh, and I don’t think he slept with your best friend, or has he?”

  “Dad, shut up.”

  “Sorry. I never liked Jean-Marc.”

  “As you have told me many times. And fine, you were right, and I was wrong. Happy now? Jake is nice, but that’s all.”

  “Nice? Uh-oh. That’s the kiss of death. Even I know that. Why is he just ‘nice’?”

  “Dad, he went to a merchant’s academy, for the Emperor's sake.”

  “Do you know I met your mother at a merchant’s academy?”

  “You did?”

  “Yes. She was on a Free Trader scholarship.”

  “Well, he’s not a Free Trader. He’s from the Belt.”

  “So?”

  “Dad. He’s a clerk. He sells cleaning supplies. He checks shipping paperwork. He’s boring. Girls don’t like boring. They don’t even like to talk to boring guys.”

  “Huh,” Rick said, pointing at a screen with a view of the loading dock. “Appears at least one girl disagrees with you.”

  Nadine had watched the whole thing with her mouth open. Jake waited till the docking hatch spun closed and the R&R dropped before walking back to her.

  “Nadine.”

  “Jake.”

  “Sorry your plan to get onboard the R&R as crew didn’t work.”

  “I have no idea what you are talking about, Jake,” Nadine said.

  Jake started to speak, but he stopped and cocked his head. “You normally call me Jakey.”

  “What?”

  “You normally call me Jakey. Why are you calling me Jake now?”

  “I still have no idea what you are talking about, Jake—Jakey.”

  “I had a tracker on the ship in the system. I saw them pop up on the ops crew inspection list today. They weren’t due for inspection for another seven months. It had to be a setup. Rick would have had some plan for the regular inspection—paid somebody off or something—but this would be a surprise to him. And since the station directory listed our newest engineering technician as one ‘Nadine,’ I figured it was you. Not to mention the crewman’s duffel you are carrying.”

  “Jake, you have quite an imagination.”

  “I do. I imagined somebody had called security on me last night. Only one person knew what ship’s cargo I was interested in, and where I was. It wasn’t too hard to connect the dots.”

  “Jakey, you are sounding ridiculous.”

  “That’s possible. But I know why I’m interested in this ship. Now, I’m curious as to why you are. I’m having dinner with Riley in a few days. She should be able to fill me in if I ask the right questions.”

  “Jakey, you sound like you’ve been drinking. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good to me. And don’t forget to tell your boss how Jake Stewart messed up your plans.”

  Nadine gritted her teeth. She’d had plans go awry before. But not because of a paper-pusher like Jake Stewart—him and his red-headed tramp.

  Chapter 15

  “It’s not stalking,” Jake said to himself. “It’s work.” He watched the counter on his screen. Riley and the R&R had been docked for one hour and forty-seven minutes, and still no call. His tracker program had pinged him when she latched.

  But she did call eventually, and she had booked a restaurant. He headed down and waited in the lobby until Riley arrived. She was twenty-five minutes late. “You look great,” Jake said. “Is that dress custom-made?”

  “I got it altered to fit me,” Riley said. “Some of the smaller stations are happy to trade services like sewing for cargo. Dad has a set of custom shirts. He can never get standard ones to fit him in the collar.”

  “Because he’s a big guy,” Jake said.

  “No, because he’s fat,” Riley said. “But he’s my dad, and I love him.”

  She seemed happy to see him and chatted genially. They sat down and looked at the menu. The special was buffalo, at a very good price. Riley had not eaten it before, and she seemed to enjoy the taste. She had more stories about things that happened on a Free Trader. They were mostly mundane, but she made an effort to make them sound funny or exciting. She was friendly, but not encouraging. It wasn’t the best date Jake had ever had, if it even was a date. Riley seemed to be treating him more like a passenger being entertained than a potential boyfriend. But she did pay more attention to him than before, asking him about his skills.

  “Can you repair a fusion drive?”

  “Funny, Riley, only the Old Empire can do that. I can fix controls, a little, and do most of the environmental and electrical stuff.”

  “We hired a guy once who said he could fix a fusion drive, so Dad decided to test him.”

  Riley began a story about how her dad had put a prospective crew member through his paces. She was quite the raconteur when she put her mind to it.

  Riley waved her arms. “So then, Dad said, ‘Okay, just hold this wire for a second,’ and of course, it was live, so the shock bounced him over the bench, and he knocked the coupler down. And then Dad said, ‘I hope you don’t think I’m paying for that.’”

  Jake laughed. “What happened to the guy?”

  “Oh, I dated him for a few months. He was a horrible mechanic, but he had lots of other skills.”

  Jake kept smiling. “So as a Free Trader, do you have a guy in every port?”

  “Two.”

  “Two ports?”

  “Two guys per port. That way, if one is busy, the other is usually available.”

  “Oh. Do you have them fill out an application form or something?”

  “Usually. I have standards.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. He has to be two inches taller than me.”

  Jake sat up straight in his chair. He was taller than her, but he didn’t know by how much.

  “What else?”

  “Good job. He has to pay for dinner and drinks if we go out.”