“Well, I’m in cargo ops, Riley. And I’m not stupid. I’m not sure what you are doing, but it’s something a little sketchy. Your cargo mixes don’t add up, and your trip profiles are falsified. It sounds interesting. I want in,” Jake said.

  “What about your job on the station?”

  “I didn’t like it. It was pretty boring. I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf. I don’t want to be bored anymore. Do some more exciting things.”

  “Exciting? Dying of suffocation in a container doesn’t sound exciting to me,” Nadine said.

  “I told you, Nadine, if you calculate the volume of air in there and then check the partial pressure—”

  “Enough of your volumes, Jake. Enough,” Nadine said. She turned to Riley. “I’ll tell you something about our friend, Jake, here. He’s useless with a gun, can’t hit a subsidized merchant from a loading dock, but give him a rule book, or a calculation, or a volume, and he’s right there,” Nadine said. She shook her head. “The question is, can we trust him?”

  “What do you mean, ‘we’?” Riley said. “When did it become ‘we’? You pointed a gun at me. Jake didn’t do that.”

  “I walked in and introduced myself. He stowed away. You can’t exactly trust Jake either,” Nadine said.

  “That’s not true—” Jake said.

  “Shut up, Jake,” both girls said. Jake held up his hands and backed down the container headspace.

  “Yes, but the point remains. He hasn’t done anything to me.”

  “Sneaking onto your ship isn’t ‘doing something to you,’ is that what you mean?”

  “He didn’t point a gun at me.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t have taken my guns away. And I’m supposed to be on this ship, unlike him. I’m a valued passenger, remember? And I don’t feel very valued right now.”

  “Passengers don’t need to be armed, and they’re not supposed to pirate the ship partway.”

  “I didn’t pirate anything, you stupid bitch. I just wanted my clothes back. And my knives. But you started it.”

  “I started it? Look, bimbo brains, I didn’t start anything.”

  “You pointed a gun at me when I got on board.”

  “You were snooping. And if you want to start something right now, blondie—”

  CLANG! Everybody stopped talking.

  “What was that?” Riley asked, looking around.

  Nadine turned toward Jake. “I think it came from that container next to Jake,” she said.

  Jake had stepped back from the argument and had been leaning against a container watching the girls yell at each other. The noise had startled him upright. He looked at the container.

  CLANG! The noise came again. He raised his eyebrows and reached for the handle.

  “Jake, maybe you should wait for us,” Nadine said.

  Jake ignored her and pulled the handle. Unlike the container he’d holed up in, this one swung open easily. He stared inside, and stepped back. A babble of voices started up. Jake looked back at Riley, very puzzled.

  “Riley, why are there two dozen guys in GG colors in this container of office supplies?”

  Chapter 19

  “Dad, they’ve been kidnapped or something. This is horrible. We’re people slavers.”

  “We are not.”

  “Dad, what in the Emperor’s name is going on?” Riley said, watching the crowd line up for a drink of basic.

  “Easy, sweetie. Just easy,” Rick said.

  “What’s happening then? Who kidnapped these people?”

  “I’m not sure. This is as much a surprise to me as it is to you,” Rick said.

  Jake looked at Rick. “What did you think the fifty thousand food trays were for?”

  “Jake. How did you get here?”

  Riley explained Jake’s presence. The twenty or so workers in the container had streamed out after Jake had opened the doors and began yelling at Jake. Unfortunately, they were yelling in Spanish, which Jake did not understand.

  Nadine did and spoke with them. Afterward, she led them up the cargo tunnel to the lounge. They were all very thirsty, and very much wanted to use a toilet. Two lines formed—one at the head, and one at the basic tap. They were orderly and quieted down after they lined up. After using the head, they sat and talked to Nadine until Rick came down.

  “Dad, what are we going to do?” Riley asked. “Why are they here? Where are they going? What are we going to do when we meet the transfer ship?”

  “Aha, that’s how it worked,” Jake said.

  “How what worked?” Riley asked.

  “You only loaded two containers at a time—always food. I couldn’t figure out which station was within twenty-two hours’ round-trip flight. But there isn’t one. You are meeting a ship in the dark. You swap containers, and then it goes to a higher orbit. To an outer station.”

  “You were tracking when we dropped?” Rick asked.

  “Sort of,” Jake said. “Mostly I wanted to know when you latched.”

  Rick reached down and took the wrench from Riley’s hand. “Why did you want to know when my ship latched, Jake?” Rick said. He slapped his palm with the wrench.

  Jake looked at the wrench. Uh-oh. He squared his shoulders and looked Rick in the eye.

  “I didn’t care about your ship, Rick. I wanted to make sure that I had a spare night when your daughter was around so I could take her out to dinner, or drinks, or something.”

  Rick stopped slapping the wrench in his palm and looked at his daughter. Riley reddened slightly, then her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by a ‘spare’ night, Jake?” she asked.

  “Some nights I wouldn’t be able to take you to dinner. I would be busy.”

  “With who?” Riley asked.

  “Doing what? Something?” Rick asked. He slapped the wrench in his hand again.

  Jake opened his mouth but was saved by Nadine putting her hand on his shoulder. “You can talk later, Jakey. Everyone, this is Jorge, Jorge, this is everyone.”

  “Hello. Thank you for the basic and the facilities,” Jorge said. He was a stocky dark-haired man with a weathered face. “It was very crowded in the container. May we please stay in the lounge until we reach the station?”

  “You speak standard English,” Jake said.

  “Of course I do,” Jorge said. “What sort of idiot doesn’t speak standard?”

  “But you spoke Spanish to me,” Jake said.

  “We thought this was a Castle Transport ship. They all speak Spanish. Look, it can’t be much longer to the station, right? Can we just stay in the lounge? We won’t be any trouble, and we’ll go back in the container for the station drop-off.”

  “What station drop-off?” Rick asked.

  “Where you put us down at the station so we can get to our jobs,” Jorge said.

  “Put you at the station? No, no, you don’t have to do that,” Riley said. “We can take you back to the orbital. You’ll be free there.”

  “Take us back to the orbitals? Why would you do that? We don’t want to go there,” Jorge said.

  “You don’t?”

  “Absolutely not. We paid a great deal of money to be brought out here. And I’m sure you were paid as well. We want to go to the station.”

  “Which station?” Jake asked.

  “I’m not sure. Don’t you know?” Jorge said.

  “You want us to put you back in the container?” Riley said.

  “When you are ready. Look, this is all arranged. We have jobs waiting.”

  “Jobs out here? Why not dirtside? Why come all the way out here?” Jake asked.

  Jorge shrugged. “Some of us, perhaps, have some credit issues with the GG company store, or perhaps some minor legal issues. But that is past, on the surface. We are in orbit now. Groundside issues do not matter here. We will be workers on a station and earn a decent wage.”

  “But you won’t be safe in the containers,” Riley said.

  “We won’t? Haven’t you done this before?” Jorge looked at them. “Didn’t you know we were in there?”

  Rick looked nonplussed. Jake looked bland. Riley looked at Nadine’s hand on Jake’s shoulder. Jorge looked confused. Nadine saw the look on Riley’s face and leaned into Jake more, then she smirked at Riley.

  “You didn’t know we were in the containers?” Jorge asked.

  Rick coughed. “Uh, no. We didn’t.”

  “You weren’t monitoring the container life support?”

  “No.”

  “What if something happened to us?”

  “We wouldn’t know. Look, we usually just move a few containers of cut-rate food trays. I don’t know anything about people.”

  “How many times have you done this, Rick?” Jake asked.

  “Not now, Jake. Look, Jorge, you guys can wait in the lounge. There’s no problems. I mean, there won’t be, right? It’s the Militia that’s picking you up.”

  “The Militia? No, we were approached by somebody working for Castle Transport. That is where my cousin worked. When he came back, he said the work was hard but paid well. We expected to be on a Castle Transport station for a year, then come back to the surface like my cousin.”

  “Dad, are we working for the Militia?” Riley asked.

  “Of course you are,” Nadine said. “That’s who sent me to be a shuttle pilot. I got notifications from them. And your dad meets with them all the time.”

  “That’s not true. The people we meet aren’t Militia,” Riley said.

  Rick cleared his throat. “Well, they aren’t, no. But our contact back at the station is Militia,” Rick said.

  “As is mine,” Nadine said. “They confirmed that to Rick.”

  Everyone looked at Rick. He didn’t say anything. “You did contact your buyers about me, didn’t you, Rick?” Nadine said.

  “I didn’t really have time. We had a window to make. You wanted to be on the ship, so I put you on the ship. I figured I’d bring you back to the station when we are done.”

  “So, is Jake with the Militia?” Riley asked.

  They all looked at Jake.

  “I don’t know anything about the Militia. I just wanted to get in on this smuggling thing. I could use a little more cash. You know what a clerk four makes on-station? And, well, Riley was here, and you needed an engineer, so I thought maybe something could be worked out.”

  “You stowed away to be with my daughter?” Rick asked. He started to thwack the wrench again.

  “Dad, stop that.” Riley grabbed the wrench from him. “I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.” Riley turned. “Is that true, Jake?”

  “That was part of it, yes. And you do need an engineer. This would make it easier to talk to you. You were always so busy before.”

  Jorge raised his eyebrows. “Un asunto del corazón. Well, well.”

  Riley colored. “That was sweet, Jake. Thank you. But you didn’t need to.”

  Nadine slapped Jake’s shoulder. “Jakey! What a surprise. Who would have thought you had such a romantic soul. Not like you at all. You’re always so shy around girls.”

  “Some girls,” Jake said. He tried to squirm away from Nadine’s hand, but she was doing that feminine vice thing again.

  “That was sweet, Jake, but it was a surprise. Your timing isn’t that great,” Riley said.

  Rick looked glum. “Well, we do need an engineer. And you are here now, so welcome to the crew. At least for this trip. We’ll talk more later. Jorge, you guys can stay in the lounge as long as you want. We have lots of trays and basic. Have as much as you want. Riley, put Jake in one of those spare cubes. Nadine, you don’t have to stay in your cube. And Jake, since you’re here, can you come out with me and take a look at the thrusters? Two of them are offline, and I think it’s the control lines. Riley, go to the control room and check our course to the rendezvous. Our ETA should be about three hours.” Rick beckoned Jake and stalked toward the airlock. Nadine patted Jake’s shoulder and smirked at Riley again. Jorge looked back and forth at the two women and smiled a private smile.

  Jake followed Rick into the airlock. He had his bag, with helmet, gloves, and boots.

  “Rick, you really didn’t know those people were in there?”

  “Nope.”

  “You sell these guys food, environmentals, and consumables, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “What do you bring back?”

  “Processed ore and empty containers.”

  “You never bring back people?”

  Rick shook his head and dropped his helmet. He punched the airlock controls, and the air was sucked into the tanks. He leaned forward till his helmet touched Jake’s.

  “Not even once, Jake. Not a single person.”

  “Jake, move over so I can key the radio,” Riley said, sliding into the control room.

  “Shouldn’t we scan them first?” Jake asked. They had arrived at the rendezvous. He moved to the second console and reconfigured it as a sensor station, then began to study the readings. “Do you have any sensors at all?”

  “Telescope and basic radar. The radar isn’t that great.”

  “That’s all? No infrared? No radar receivers?”

  “Jake, we’re a Free Trader. Sensors cost money. We have what the ship came with.”

  “Are you sure that’s your contact for the containers? It’s not a freighter?” Jake asked.

  “Yes,” Riley said. “It’s a passenger launch. Big passenger cabin. Space for two containers, single engine, short range.” She switched her radio to the lowest setting. “Sidecar, this is R&R, over.”

  “Sidecar here. Awaiting two container swap, over,” a man’s voice said.

  “Sidecar, one container swap. Ring Alpha, container five. And we have, uh, passengers for you, over.”

  “Only one container. And passengers? We don’t get passengers.”

  “We are pretty sure they are yours. There are twenty-one of them.”

  “Twenty-one? We’re not expecting any passengers. Where from?”

  “One of the containers broke open in transit. There were twenty workers inside.”

  “Twenty workers? Inside the container? Wait one.” The man’s voice paused for about a minute. “We’re okay with twenty, but you said twenty-one.”

  “We also have a shuttle pilot for you.”

  “A shuttle pilot? Why would we need a shuttle pilot?” the man asked.

  “To fly a shuttle. I don’t know. She says you sent for her. You can ask her. We’ll be happy to get her off our hands.” Riley smiled at that, then began to type on her board.

  “That’s an odd ship to have out in the dark,” Jake said. “With its range and all. Riley, are you sure this is all legit?”

  Riley shrugged. “You should have thought of that before you signed up, Jake.” She began to maneuver toward the other ship. Jake noticed how precise she was with the thrusters.

  “You have a very delicate touch on the thrusters,” Jake said.

  “Fuel costs money,” Riley said. The radio squawked, and Riley switched back. “Sorry, just fixing up the approach. How do you want to transfer the passengers?”

  “We’ll come alongside and rig a tube. Stand by for a party coming over. We’ll pick up the shuttle pilot then.”

  “Standing by.”

  Rick and Nadine crowded into the control room. “What’s the plan, sweetie?” Rick asked Riley.

  “They’re going to send a team over to rig a tube for the passengers, and take Nadine off our hands,” Riley said.

  Nadine looked at the sensor screen. “Hey, that’s a launch. What’s it doing way out here?” She frowned. “Something is strange. Why do they need all these workers? Why an old launch?” She shook her head and turned to Rick. “Don’t do it, Rick. Don’t let them on your ship. Something is wrong.”

  “Why shouldn’t I? We meet up with them every trip. This is the same. They put a crew out, we release the chains, and they swap containers.”

  “Rick, I’ve been talking with these GG guys—they expected to be working at a station. They have relatives who did it too. But the relatives came back.”

  “So?”

  “Jake told me you’ve never brought anybody back. This doesn’t sound right.”

  “Why do you care? I mean you’re going with them, right? You shouldn’t be worried about them. Are you worried about going with them?”

  “No, but—” Nadine said.

  “Unless you’re not supposed to be here. Then you should be worried.”

  “Rick, don’t even let them near your airlock,” Jake said. “This could be bad. They could sabotage the ship.”

  “Oh, come on,” Rick said. “What can they do to my ship?”

  “Set off a breaching charge—like a sandcaster round—and breach the lock,” Nadine said, glaring at Jake.

  “Shoot out your control runs with a rifle, and cut off maneuvering and commo,” Jake said, glaring back.

  “Break into your storage and steal all your cash, and stuff it in a suitcase and jump back,” Nadine said.

  “Bring a horrible disease on board and kill you all with it.”

  “Shoot you in the chest, chain you to a desk, and force you to steal from your friends.”

  “Get your friends killed and steal your ship.”

  Rick looked back and forth between the two and cleared his throat. “That’s an interesting conversation. I think you two know each other better than you let on. But we’ve been doing business with these guys for a while. We’ll just swap a container, set up the tube, send all these people over, and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Rick, this isn’t a good idea. Do you have a ship’s locker?” Jake asked.

  “Yes, but it’s locked. And it’s going to stay locked. We don’t need guns. Look, just give us some space here. Riley and I will meet up with these guys. We’ll swap containers, get these people—and you, Nadine—off my ship, and on the way back to the station, we’ll talk about your employment, Jake. Don’t worry, I think we can work something out. Now, shoo. I need your console.” Rick waved Jake away from the control station.

  Jake climbed out and caught Nadine’s eye. He jerked his head toward the hatch in a gesture. She climbed out ahead of him and waited in silence as he locked the hatch.