Marit didn’t react to that except to ask. “What positions are open?”

  “Science, medical, communications. But we want you for science. I don’t expect you to perform surgery.”

  “Hmm. All right. I’ll happily rejoin the Hermes. You’re still on Hermes, aren’t you?”

  Jordan smiled. “Yes. The ship is still in one piece, and it’s getting a bit of an upgrade. I also expect everyone to come out of the mission with more experience and training. So there will be benefits.”

  “Can’t argue with that. When do you expect to ship out?”

  “As soon as we get the other crew. Were you around when we had two Velox working for us?”

  “Gregor and Kafka. I remember. I liked them.”

  Jordan blinked. “Really?”

  “I like ants. Could be worse. They could have looked like cockroaches.”

  Jordan smiled. “Understood. How long will it take you to join us?”

  “Tomorrow. I need time to pack. After that, I’m all yours.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  Marit Landry walked up the boarding ramp for the Hermes. She walked with determined strides, carrying a large duffel bag. Her space suit was a sky blue, distinguishing herself from captain’s white.

  The Hermes wasn’t a bad looking ship. Like most of her class, it had a long body with the engine nacelles spaced to either side. Like every engine since they ran on steam, the engines were volatile, the exhaust was deadly, and any way to keep explosions away from the main ship was always worthwhile.

  Technically, Marit thought, wind power could end messy as well. Especially if the masts on ships snapped during a high wind.

  Jordan was next to Hermes, waiting for her. He waved as she closed. “Mari! Find the place all right?”

  Marit nodded. “Of course. It’s not too far from your usual berth. I noticed you’re not staying in a room on Starport. There a reason for that?”

  Jordan frowned, considering whether or not to tell her. He’d made a point not to tell the rest of the crew. He wasn’t sure what would put off most of them, that the captain had run around with organized crime while he was younger, or that the Thrynn mob had considered muscling in on their haul.

  But Marit already knew about when he was younger. One of their first conversations had been during his physical, when she wanted to know where all of his scars came from. Thrynn claw marks were distinctive.

  Jordan waited for Marit to get closer before he answered. In fact, he brought her in for a hug and said lightly into her ear, “Veedo is back in my life. Or he wants in. It’s hard for him to shake me down at the ship.” When he broke the hug, he forced a smile and waved towards the open cargo bay. “Shall I escort you to your lab?”

  Marit went through several facial expressions at once. Jordan’s attempt to brush off Veedo with a diversion to the lab threw her. “I trust you haven’t moved it,” she said at regular volume. Quieter, she asked, “What does Veedo want?”

  Jordan started walking for the ship. Marit followed close behind him so he couldn’t get away from the topic. “The right of first refusal on anything we bring in. But we know that would just be the start, so screw him and his hatchlings.”

  “You don’t have any family to threaten, Will. So what’s he relying on? Previously established dominance?”

  “He wants to threaten the crew. But honestly? That sounds unlike him. Killing off crew means I can’t do as much for him. So really, I don’t know. He’s Thrynn. You know what they’re like. They’re greedy, aggressive, and unless you’re family, you’re probably screwed. It’s their cultural imperative to be pricks. This way.”

  Jordan sped up. Marit knew enough that he meant the topic was closed. “So, what’s your game plan with Interstel? You ever going to get a full crew?”

  “I guess I’ll have to. We can have some people doing double duty, like you in medicine and science, but I’d rather not risk it in deep space.”

  Marit smiled at his tone. “You almost sound like you’d rather not have a crew at all.”

  Jordan laughed. “Some days I’d rather not. You know how well I do with people. By the time I was old enough to get on a ship and get off of Arth, I knew all I needed to about people. You can’t trust half of them. The half you might be able to trust are hit or miss as to whether or not they’re worth a damn.”

  Marit raised a brow. “I’m surprised you even called me, then.”

  Jordan smiled. “Oh, you’re worth every penny.”

  Marit stumbled over her own feet. Jordan backed up enough to catch her. “Um … I’m flattered? I guess?”

  Jordan helped her straighten up. “Mari, I’ve never seen you act anything less than professional.”

  Marit held onto his arms until she got her balance back. “Will, I’ve seen you work with the crew. Or I should say that I’ve seen you work with the ship? There are days I wonder if you even talk to Weyand. How would you notice how I work?”

  Jordan rolled his eyes, then smiled. “Mari… I do pay attention. To you. But last time you were on board, you were married. I couldn’t spend as much attention on you as I would have liked.”

  Marit blinked rapidly, flustered. She removed her hands from Jordan and smoothed out her suit. She decided it was time to move on. “I asked for your game plan for the ship and the crew. Not for trying to seduce me.”

  Jordan blinked, paused, then shrugged. “I don’t recall having a game plan for that, but whatever.” He started walking again. “You see, we’re not generally built for deep space maneuvering. We have no idea what we’re going to encounter out there. We need armor, better engines, weapons, everything. A full crew whether I like it or not, because we need to be prepared for whatever is out there. Anything that’s out there. And while people are avoiding certain spaces like Interstel has suggested, my goal is to go straight to those places that are off limits, because no one else will try. He who dares, wins.”

  Marit frowned, thinking. “Sometimes he who dares gets taken out back and shot.”

  “That too. But I’d rather not be flying blind. And your reasoning is why I want to spend the better part of our first few weeks building up the ship and building up the crew. If we’re all at a hundred percent by the time we go into the void, I’m sure we can take on whatever the galaxy can throw at us.”

  “And you’re making this money how?”

  “Oh, yes. Sorry. You don’t know. We get a terrain vehicle for resource gathering. It’s a nice, big sucker. Six wheels, big enough for the entire crew and for recovering resources.”

  “Great. So what’s your plan?”

  Jordan stopped at a lab and opened the door for her. Marit nodded and went in ahead.

  Marit looked around. “These are quarters. Did you attach it to the lab?”

  “No, I just wanted you to drop your bag first.” Jordan waved her inside. He leaned against the bulkhead as he said, “Sure I have a game plane. The Interstel notice told anyone who would listen about the ruins of the Old Empire at coordinates 17n x162e, on the second planet of the neighboring k-class system …”

  Marit chuckled as she threw her bag on the bed. “Let me guess, that’s not enough for you?”

  Jordan smiled and shook his head. “Nah. I am far more mercenary. I’m more interested in all of the scout reports that indicate, and I quote, ‘a high density of minerals in the mountainous regions of the innermost planet of our system.’ From there, the rest is easy. We’re going to invest everything into upgrading the Hermes—expand the cargo pods, upgrade the armor, the engine and the weapons. Then we fill in the staff positions, and train everyone fully. The next step is to head to the areas the Interstel notice warned everybody away from: like coordinates 135,84, where two ships have disappeared, and system 175,94, where there is ‘indication of alien activity.’

  Marit nodded. “Because you’ve always preferred high-risk, high-reward endeavors.

  Jordan held up a finger. “Ah! But also highly-prepared! By the time we get out into the more interesting parts of space, we’ll be loaded for bear.”

  The next month was fairly boring, sticking close to home, mining chromium, promethium and tungsten out of one planet, tin and gold from another.

  But by the end of the month, Jordan had fully upgraded the entire ship. He started by purchasing the largest cargo pods we could. The next upgrade was to the engines, making them so fuel efficient, the endurium consumption dropped. Next came armor, and weapons, and then fleshing out the rest of the crew and their training.

  But by the end of the month, everything had changed.

  Jordan docked with Starport, and his first order of business was to check the notices from Interstel.

  Jordan’s stomach lurched at the notice. Back when this project started, he knew something was up. Something had to be up. No company started a venture like this without a darn good reason. Companies paid money for results, not for the hope of results. Throwing away fifty thousand in the vague hope that people would find the right planets or useful artifacts was insane.

  But this was a little worse than he could have imagined. The notice, posted yesterday, 02-01-4620, started with an understatement. The header was “UNPLEASANT NEWS.”

  “It is necessary to give you some unpleasant news. You may have been aware that for the last several years scientists have been observing anomalous fluctuations in the radiation levels of our sun. While you have been away it has been ascertained that the stability of our sun is definitely deteriorating. How much time we have until there is a fatally large flare, we are still not sure, but there is little doubt that this will eventually occur.

  “As yet, we have no clue as to the cause of this instability. Therefore, we must assume that there is nothing we can do to change the situation.

  “In view of this the only option available to us is to get as many colonists off of Arth as we can. You can be invaluable to us in this.

  “First we need endurium to power the ships we will build. We will pay well for any that you can bring back.

  “Secondly, we need to know where to send the colonists. Your ship is equipped with homing drones which you may use to log your recommendations. This is so that we can move the colonists out as quickly as possible.

  “In addition, a sensor has been installed which will inform you of the stellar condition upon entering a system. Your ship computer will inform you in the event that a flare is imminent. We advise caution while in systems which are more than slightly unstable. Being caught in a solar flare would certainly be fatal.

  “In your manual we have outlined the criteria which will be important in your evaluation of viable colony worlds. You will be rewarded for recommendations of valuable planets and penalized for recommendations of planets which turn out to be uninhabitable. Consider carefully before logging a planet.”

  Jordan winced. The notice was so calm and casual, it did everything but say “Have a nice day.”

  Weyand is going to love this. Heck, what do I tell the crew? “Hey, we’ve upgraded the ship enough to go into deep space and find a replacement for Arth, before the sun explodes.” He rolled his eyes so hard, he almost strained something. This can only end well, he thought sarcastically Just when we were in the black and ready to head out of the system.

  Jordan shook his head. The first priority was to sell off the latest haul, then finish the upgrades with Tryp. After that, he could worry about what to tell the crew and how. He left orders for everyone to stay in the docking area, and hoped that would suffice to keep rumors from reaching the crew before Jordan could talk to them.

  Jordan tried to smile and fake being upbeat until he got off of the ship. He needed to allay any suspicion until he knew what he was going to say.

  Unfortunately, as he walked away from the ship along the cargo ramp, Veedo was waiting for him. Today, the Thrynn seemed relaxed. He leaned up against the rail, giving Jordan plenty of leeway to walk past him.

  Jordan stopped short of Veedo, deliberately striding to the opposite rail. “Vito.”

  Veedo nodded. “Will.”

  Jordan sighed, more exhausted by Veedo’s persistence than anything else. “Now what? I’ve been a little busy.”

  “We noticed,” Veedo hissed, still looking at his claws. “My leaders thank you for turning us down the first time. We did not realize you would focus exclusively on minerals, and not leaving the system. It would have been a waste of your time and ours had you accepted our offer.”

  Jordan shrugged. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that this was a simple thank you call. “Not a problem. I needed the ship fully capable before trying to make a profit. But that’s the next step. And I still reject your offer.”

  Veedo nodded, almost a bow this time. “The offer has changed, Will. This time, we merely want information.”

  “Information? About?”

  Veedo bore his fangs in a smile. “We want to know which planets you deem useful before you tell Interstel. The sooner we know, the more we can set up shop on the planet of our choice. Interstel will have to work with us. So will any who want to move onto the planet.”

  Jordan sighed. He didn’t have time for this. “Let me get back to you Veedo. I have to get rid of this run of cargo. I have to talk with Tryp, the mechanic that works the bay. Then I have to talk with my crew.”

  Veedo straightened. “I think not. You will agree, and you will agree now.”

  Veedo stomped his feet twice on the deck. New motion in the corner of his eye caught Jordan’s attention. There were more Thrynn as they blocked the exits to the cargo bay.

  Jordan looked back to Veedo. “Why don’t you talk to Snoopy, Vito?”

  Veedo cocked his head. “Who is this Snoopy?”

  “The captain that interrupted our fracas last time. Blonde human. About yea tall? Thinks he’s God’s gift to astrophysics?”

  Veedo chuckled. “Who’s to say we won’t make the offer to him as well?”

  Jordan considered agreeing to Veedo. He did. There were options down the line to feed Veedo misinformation. Jordan was going to trip over all sorts of planets out in the empty darkness. The odds were that most of them were going to be complete disasters. Some would be barren rocks. Some would be deserts. The Hermes would run into a planet of hostile aliens. Jordan could generate two lists. One would be places the Thrynn mob could go and be destroyed. Some would be just so far out there, the Thrynn ships could empty their engines, and never come back. It would scuttle their plans for certain.

  But no, that wouldn’t work. Veedo would almost be certain to have a source of information inside Interstel. If Jordan turned in a different list to Interstel and one to the Thrynn gang, Veedo would know something was up. Even if the plan worked, and the Thrynn believed him, Veedo would eventually try to twist his arms for something else, some new favor.

  Instead, Jordan decided to be straightforward. “You can’t keep me here forever. You know that Vito.”

  Veedo straightened, his claws out and ready for use. “I know. But you will serve one way or another. You will be oursss, or you will be a message for others.”

  Jordan looked at him with tired eyes. The notice from Interstel had taken more out of him than he realized. Then this stupidity made him feel simply exhausted. “You know what, Vito? Fine. Do it. Come at me. Kill me. Skin me. Eat me. Whatever. I’ve put up with your crap for long enough. Just freaking do it.”

  Veedo nodded. He did not seem surprised. “Then welcome pain.”

  “Will! Run!”

  Jordan barely heard the clang against the deck between him and Veedo. He didn’t stop to look at it, but turned and ran towards the ship.

  Whatever hit the deck exploded in fire behind him, casting light bright enough to cast shadows along the ramp. It illuminated the face of Marit Landry, waving him towards her. She wore a sky-blue space suit that he thought offset her hair quite nicely.

  Jordan ran down the ramp towards Marit. Whatever she had thrown at Veedo would have delayed him only a few seconds. It would probably be the only time he had. Veedo may not have been as graceful as other Thrynn, but the reptile was fast when he wanted to be.

  As he ran for Marit, Jordan wondered when she would also start running. In fact, she seemed perfectly calm, despite the armored killing machine chasing after him as they both ran in her direction.

  It only took him a few more paces to figure out what she was doing.

  She was acting as bait.

  Marit threw something else. She tossed it underhanded, in an arc over Jordan’s head. Whatever it was ignited close enough behind him that he felt the heat on the back of his head.

  I just hope my hair isn’t on fire on top of everything else.

  Jordan ran into Marit’s arms with no time to slow down. They crashed into each other, spinning around before they slammed into the ship. Jordan made certain that his back hit the hull. Jordan looked over her shoulder, back towards the cargo ramp.

  Veedo was over the second hurdle of fire and coming for them. His claws and fangs were bared, looking angrier than Jordan had ever seen him.

  “Stay with me,” Marit whispered harshly.

  Jordan nodded, despite his urge to take Marit in his arms and run towards the open cargo bay. But if she had a plan, he’d trust her. What else was a crew for?

  Veedo drew closer with each split second. Jordan hugged Marit closer to him, bracing for impact.

  Motion above them caught Jordan’s eye. He glanced up. One of the Velox crew came over the top of the Hermes. Jordan couldn’t tell if it was Gregor or Kafka, but he carried what looked like a rifle. Jordan glanced again. On closer inspection, it was a laser welder. It was a nice idea, but once Veedo was in range of the welder, he would be close enough to kill Marit and Jordan before the welder could warm up to full power.

  Much to Jordan’s surprise, the Velox raised the welder and fired at Veedo anyway. At that range, the welder wasn’t going to make a crack in Veedo’s scales.

  Lucky for everyone concerned, it didn’t need to. The laser reached out to Veedo. It wasn’t enough to weld a hull breach. It wasn’t enough to fix a crack in the floor. Though it was still a laser.