Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week Len realised that Ascent is an SNT. This week, she contemplates the implications and the dangers of staying with an amnesiac SNT ship. For the next couple of weeks, I will be posting slightly longer episodes of Dragon because I feel it will be better for the flow and enhance your reading pleasure by allowing these posts the extra length necessary to complete the scene. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 24: Not My Memories

Ascent was an SNT!

The thought screamed across her consciousness flashing supernova bright. But she swallowed back the urge to blurt it out as quickly as it had come, hoping they were not so connected that he could read her mind. It should have been obvious to her from the beginning. Thinking back now, hadn’t it been plucking at the back of her mind since she first woke up? How could she not have made the connection considering the household she’d been raised in, with her mother doing what she did and her uncle … ending up like he had? How could she not have seen the signs? And yet under the circumstance it should have been impossible for an SNT to be here buried in a Tak Major salvage dump. It made no sense at all that he should be here. Her skin prickled, and she forced herself to breathe deeply, to calm down. That her uncle’s fate was still unknown unlike so many of the SNTs and their compliments made her hold her tongue. Ascent didn’t remember who he was. Ascent! The strange name suddenly made sense Ascent SNT! Whatever had happened to him had been that traumatic. An SNT with no memories of who he was or what had happened to him or what he had done could be a very dangerous thing. And, sweet Vaticana Jesu, she had his biological soup running through her veins now.

“Ascent,” she sat up on the edge of the bed, then stood to pace feeling him watching her intently, “What do you remember before I woke you from your long sleep?”

“Nothing,” the answer was quick and sharp edged. She stopped pacing and froze, feeling the skin crawl on the back of her neck. Then he added more gently, “I do not know how long I have slept here in this place. Lenore, you are frightened, why?”

“Do you want to know your past,” she asked.

“I wanted very much to know … facts, information, data. When you were dying and I could not help you, I wanted, I tried, I raged to access what I needed to know in order to heal you. I could not. There are other parts of me, however, that I wish never to access again. They make me feel things I do not wish to feel.”

She stopped pacing and sat back down on the edge of the bed. “These memories, the ones you don’t want to access. Is it that you aren’t willing to access them, or is it that you can’t?”

For a moment the stillness in the room was electric. If it had not been for that feel of static and tension she’d felt in his presence before, she would have thought he had left her.

“I have not examined … that part of myself closely enough to ascertain if it is one or the other. I … have slept so that I did not have to remember.”

“Ascent, before you pulled me back from the salvage yard today, I remembered horrible loss, fire swallowing up everything and the wanting nothing more than to sleep. Those weren’t my memories. Could … could your blood give me access to your memories?”

Again the feel of static passed over her skin and he said, “I do not want you accessing my memories. There is no place in them for a humanoid stranger.”

She forced a laugh. “Believe me, I don’t want to access your bad memories. I have enough of my own without yours to keep me company too. I guarantee I didn’t access them on purpose.” When he didn’t respond, she continued. “You said it had been a long time since you embraced a humanoid. That means you have, right? At some point in your life you have embraced a humanoid.”

“There are no points in my life. I have no life. I am a ship’s computer.” This time the static was cold and nearly painful, and she recalled with a sudden lurch of fear the madness of the SNTs and resolved to ask no more. He gave her no options though even if she had wanted to.

“Go and take a shower,” he said, sounding for the first time since she had known him like a ships computer. “Then rest.” And just like that he was gone.

She had no intention of sleeping after she showered. For the first time since she woke up in the place Ascent had created for her, she wasn’t anxious to linger in the cleansing cascade, her discovery making her hyper vigilant to every sound, though there were few other than the barely audible hum of the life support system. Ascent’s breath breathed out for her, she thought. And then she wondered if he would now end it because she had made him uncomfortable. She stood for a moment, frozen on the floor of the bathroom, towel clenched tightly to her breasts, heart racing, willing herself to be calm. He would know it if she was panicked. She was very young when the SNTs became infected and went on a destructive rampage, but she recalled the details only too well, details that had changed her life forever. The SNT virus had affected the organic CPUs, the brains of the SNTs, driving them into destructive madness. Several of the maddened ships had turned off their life support systems and suffocated their compliments before jettisoning them into the vacuum like so much rubbish. Others had been responsible for the deaths of millions. Had this ship been one of those? And would he suffocate her? Of course she wasn’t in the void. The atmosphere was breathable on Tak Major, if not very nice, but the ship could pump in carbon dioxide and she would die just as surely. All he needed to do, really was just abandon her to the planetoid itself. Without help, without transport, she would never make it back to Sandstorm alive.

Still none of her speculation made any sense when he had worked so hard to bring her back from the dead. Surely he wouldn’t have gone to all that trouble only to kill her again. But she had no idea how long she’d been dead before he revived her, did she? What if she was just the experiment of a demented CPU? The abilities she now had certainly weren’t natural, and then there were the memories that weren’t even hers and with the way they could communicate inside each other’s minds, was she even human at all anymore or had he created for himself a new, Frankenstein’s monster sort of companion to replace the one he’d lost? But she recalled her uncle’s connection to Quetzalcoatl. Hadn’t he said they could share thoughts, and that by being bonded to the SNT, he had abilities he could have never have had as a mere humanoid. But that bonding process had taken ages. There were the immunosuppressant drugs, the transfusions, the other things she’d not understood as a child, and then there was the actual bonding experience between ship and compliment, which was supposedly some sort of secret union that was never shared between anyone but a ship and their bonded compliment, and certainly never spoken of in any detail with anyone outside that bond. She did remember that her uncle seemed different somehow, but it wasn’t something a little girl could easily define or understand. She only knew that he was about to begin a great adventure in the most amazing ship ever. And then she lost him, and she and her mother had to flee the shackle.

By the time she was dressed, her mind was racing. If Ascent was an SNT, then which one could he be? He certainly wasn’t Raven or Ouroboros. They were both females. The sex of a ship was the sex it was born with, just like with infants. And Ascent couldn’t be Quetzalcoatl because that was her uncle’s ship, and when Ascent spoke of his compliment, he spoke of her. The others that had survived were on the far side of Authority space separated to the far corners in distant and abandoned shipyards, their locations kept secret. None of this made sense, and yet she knew as certainly as she knew her own name that Ascent was an SNT who had survived the destruction, the decommissioning and the diaspora. While Ascent had no memories of himself, the real question was had the experience driven him insane, and if so was she in danger. Not that it fucking mattered. She had no way of getting back to Sandstorm, even if she was.

She lay down on the bed, lost in her thoughts, wondering if perhaps Ascent might know something of her uncle’s fate, but for the moment, he didn’t know his own name and she was afraid to ask any more questions. She was certain she would never sleep, certain she should begin trying to plan an escape. But the thought of going back to Sandstorm was far less appealing than staying where she was. As a child, she’d only ever dreamed about growing up to be the companion of an SNT. Well, certainly this wasn’t what she had in mind, and she didn’t fancy suffocating in her sleep or finding out she was some kind of zombie created to serve a demented ship. But it was very hard to get enthusiastic about returning to Sandstorm, where at some point she would have no other choice but to turn Arji down and resign herself to a life alone, or share his bed and resign herself to a life that was a lie. She supposed that said something about her own sanity, but before she could dwell on it, she did sleep.

Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week  Tenad Fallon got an unexpected lead on the whereabouts of SNT1 Fury. This week Len discovers a secret even Ascent doesn’t know. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 23: A Revelation

Ascent’s patience was infinite, like all computers, she supposed. But unlike all computers he claimed to have brought her back from the dead. He waited while she did her best to let that fact soak in. It was only death. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been there before, and certainly this time was no more traumatic than the first. In fact this was a waltz through the Kingston poppy fields by comparison. Her chest still hurt when she thought about it. Death, sweet New Vaticana Jesu, she’d lived so fucking close to it for so long that she damn near took it for granted like a well-worn pair of shoes. How sick was that?

Finally when she was certain she wouldn’t vomit what she’d just eaten, which would have been a real pity when it was so delicious, she spoke the truth that had always been there inside her head knocking to get out. “Then I was right. I did come here to die. I thought so.”

The computer didn’t answer. There was no needed when she was merely stating facts. At last he spoke. “When you came back to me for refuge I could not let you die when I could be of help, and yet I did. I did let you die.”

“Of course. You were here all along, weren’t you?”

“It is not as though I have anywhere else to go.” He said, and in his words she could almost feel a tinge of bitterness at the back of her throat.

“And you remember me being here the first time?”

“Of course I remember. You were the first humanoid to come to me since my long slumber began, and it was you who awakened me. A fact I still do not understand, nor was I best pleased about at the time.”

“And that’s why you kept silent?”

“You were not who I expected.”

“You were expecting someone?”

“A ghost from a dream. That is all.”

The glass of orange drink had been refilled at some point during their conversation and she ran a finger around the rim, then noticed the dirt beneath her nails and quickly placed her hand back in her lap. “I thought … I dreamed that I wasn’t alone.”

“You were cold. I gave you my warmth. I did not want you catching a chill and having to convalesce in this place.”

She laughed. “I’ve slept in worse conditions, but I appreciate your effort.”

“I believed you would leave and I could return to my slumber. I could not imagine why you would return to this place. I believed it must be some mistake. When you left I believed I would simply return to my deep sleep. But it was imperfect after you left.”

“Sorry I disturbed you. I came here looking for something, but when I found a way through the fence, I had only a tiny bit of time before I had to rendezvous with the ship.”

“And what were you looking for, Lenore? Surely whatever salvage you could find in this place would not be worth the cost of transport here and back.”

“You were worth coming for,” she said. “And anyway, sometimes it’s less about making money and more about discovery. My mom used to say that.”

“And that is why you took such a terrible risk with the crew of the Dart?”

She only nodded her response. “Arji told me I should have waited, but I’m not very patient.”

“If you had listened to this Arji, you would not have died, and I might have eventually returned to my slumber, but when you returned to me so damaged and violated, and I could not remember how to heal you, I did what was necessary to bring you back”

“Is that why when I was outside, I could move like I could in the Shimmer? Is it because of something you did to bring me back?”

“That is correct. I apologize if your sudden abilities have upset you. Had I not let you die, such measures would not have been necessary.”

“It’s all right, Ascent. I’m not afraid to die, but I would just as soon not be dead if there are other options. I don’t even feel like I’ve lived yet, and I’d really like to see the firestorms on Diga Prime before I die for good. I’d like to see almost anything that’s outside the Taklamakan System.” She thought for a moment and absently nibbled her pasta, which had amazingly not gotten cold. “Perhaps Arji is right then. Perhaps I am a cat.”

“I do not understand.”

She swallowed and drank more water. “There’s an ancient Terran legend that domestic cats had nine lives. It’s not the first time I died.” She hadn’t meant to tell him that. She would never deliberately bring that up even to herself. What was wrong with her?

There was a sudden chill in the room and a rush of goose bumps rose up her spine. A wave of static crackled over the fine hair on her arms. “Who killed you?” Came the voice suddenly gone ominous and threatening, the same voice that had chilled her when he had informed her she would not have to worry about the Dart and its crew ever again.

Jesu Vaticanus, why had she brought it up? “No one killed me. I killed myself.” She shivered and chafed her arms. “It was the only way I could make it to Tak Major.” She spoke quickly hoping that he would not question further.

But he was not ready to let it go. “Why would you want to come to such a desolate place so badly that you had to kill yourself to get here?”

She put down the fork and bit her lower lip, forcing herself to breathe deeply. “It wasn’t that I wanted to come here, but Tak Major was the only place I could get to on a supply drone with any chance at all of being revived if I did die.” She twisted the napkin in her lap, much the same way her stomach felt like it was twisting. “It was dumb luck that it worked and when Arji and Fido opened the drone, Fido knew how to revive me. Anyway it all turned out okay, didn’t it?” She tried to smile, but the corners of her mouth twitched with the unnatural act she did not feel at all like doing.

“Then you came from Taklamakan Minor.” It was not a question. There was no other place she could have gotten from on a drone and survived.

It was what he might say next that she did not want to hear. Computers had databases. He could easily enough access what had happened on Tak Minor, and no doubt he would, but she didn’t have to discuss it. Still mentally kicking herself for bringing it up in the first place, she pushed back from the table slopping electrolyte supplement across the clean white tablecloth. “I need a shower.”

“A shower can wait.” She felt Ascents’s arm around her as surely as physically as she had in the darkness. “You are very distressed, Lenore. Your heart rate is too fast and your respiration is too shallow. Please do not dwell on what has been. The past we cannot change, or surely we would have done so and prevented ourselves all that we have suffered. You are safe beyond the Authority’s reach here. Please do not trouble yourself.”

She had told him nothing of their fleeing the Authority, but his database would have supplied all he would need to know. Gently he settled her onto the bed where she curled onto her side and shivered. Ascent formed a part of himself to embrace her in a spoon position, an embrace that was comforting, not solicitous. When she was sure she wasn’t going to bawl like a baby, she said quietly, “I try not to think about it, but then I died again and memories, they come back.”

“I understand. I also do not want memories to resurface. The past is never a place to revisit if one can avoid it, I think.”

For a moment she lay taking in his comfort. And then she gathered her courage and spoke. “Is that why you couldn’t remember how to save me?”

There was a long pause, and she was almost certain she could feel the body he had created to comfort her stiffen. At last he let out a very convincing breath and said, “it was. I would have, in that moment, given anything to recover the data that could have so easily healed you. Instead I had to resort to a much more risky, much more invasive, procedure of bringing you back.”

Could she hear distress in his voice? “It doesn’t matter, Ascent. The end result is the same and anyway, I was in no condition to know the difference.”

She snuggled down closer to the warmth he generated and closed her eyes. In the darkness of her own head, it was very easy to imagine him completely humanoid, comforting her, embracing her, caring for her. And she was happy to stay in that place for the moment. There had been very few comforting embraces since her mother’s death. She knew that Arji was willing, but she also knew that he wanted more than to offer her comfort, and that was something she couldn’t give him, so she’d always been careful not to give him reason to hope for more, even in those moments when she would have loved a little human comfort.

A large hand brushed the hair away from her face, and she moved her cheek into the touch, finding herself terribly close to tears again. He sensed her longing and continued to gently stroke her cheek and neck. For another long moment she simply lay there breathing deeply until she was more in control. “And what you did to bring me back also the reason I healed so quickly?”

His hand stilled, and again she felt the tightness in the flesh he had created. “Ascent?”

“It was not unexpected, though I had no way of knowing how quickly your body would adjust to the extreme measures and our incompatibility. Certainly I did not expect your recovery to be so rapid. It should not have been possible.”

She turned toward him and rose up on one elbow to look down at what seemed only an empty space next to her, but she knew it wasn’t. “Ascent, what exactly did you do to me.”

“I performed the only procedure I knew to do. I gave you my blood, and you did not reject it, although I do not understand why. You have not been prepared for my blood. You should have needed repeated doses of immunosuppressants in order that your body would adjust to the presence of my genetic material and stop rejecting my blood. Had your body rejected it, then you still would not be fully recovered.”

Ascent was an SNT!

Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week Kresho Ivanovic laid down the ground rules that must be met if Tenad Fallon wants to resupply at Vodni Station. This week, Tenad gets an unexpected lead on the whereabouts of SNT1 Fury. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 22: A Possible Lead

Tenad returned to the Virago after the unsatisfactory tour. Anders was well versed in the boring details of Vodni Station, but he was about as interesting as a wet bath towel. Certainly he gave nothing away that might give her the upper hand on Ivanovic. And she wanted the upper hand on the man. She’d like to have both hands on the man, actually, but that was out of the question even if he were willing. She could certainly persuade him to be interested given a little time with him.

She paced her cabin unable to settle, unable to figure what it was about Kresho Ivanovic and Vodni Station that troubled her.

There was a ping of her door and it slid open. Derek, her head of security stepped inside. She’d been expecting him. He spoke without preamble. “The crew of the Dart are being held and questioned onboard their ship. It’s less quarantine than it is being used as a makeshift brig.”

“Interesting. How did you find out so quickly?”

The man gave a broad shouldered shrug that made his neck disappear in his uniform collar. “My guess is that for some reason Ivanovic wants us to know. More than likely he’s checking us out at the same time. Apparently the tavern has rolled out the best booze and feel-goods, and made easy with the staff who might like a good fuck with a stranger, and to charge handsomely for it.”

“I certainly would,” she said. “And you’ve made sure the crew know to loose lip it?”

Derek nodded. “They know.”

“And what about the crew from the Dart?” She continued to pace. “Why is the crew of a ship being held against its will instead of receiving the comfort of the station?”

“The crew claims they were about to crash onto a remote planetoid, they were tractored by some strange tramp freighter, treated for injuries while their ship was repaired, then given some kind of chemical castration, and flung back into space. The Lizzie Ann only just managed to grab them and tractor them in or they’d have been hurdling toward the Rift. The captain says-”

She raised a hand to stop. “There’s no contagion? They’re safe?”

“Safe as rapists and abusers can be, I guess. I hear that’s why Ivanovic won’t let them on the station, but I think there’s more to it than that.”

“Get me a secure connection to Ivanovic,” she ordered the com officer over her PD.” Then she turned back to Derek. “I think I may have found a way to scratch Ivanovic’s back and convince him to return the favor. In the meantime keep trying to find out all you can about Ivanovic. Everyone has dirt in their past. Find his.”

She dismissed him and settled at her desk. Camille brought her Polyphemian basil tea and silently served it. She could have gotten it from the replicator, but it was better when Camille made it from scratch. She always served it at just the perfect temperature, so Tenad didn’t have to wait. It always helped calm her and settle her nerves, always helped her think more clearly. It was her only vice, and as with all aspects of her life, she carefully controlled it. She had long ago stopped considering her activities in the bedroom as a vice. Sex brought relief and pain brought clarity. The two together gave her the edge that had kept her safe in the Fallon viper’s nest and allowed her to succeed in the world of the conglomerates.

When her heart rate had returned to normal and the tea had worked its calming magic so that she could focus once again, she was certain down deep that the ship who had flung the Dart into space and done such exquisite repair work was none other than SNT1. She was sure that she could get far more out of the Dart’s captain than Ivanovic ever could.

The door slid open silently and the med-bot glided in. She eased out of her uniform top and said. “Fix the ribs, and anything else that might interfere with hard interrogation.” The tingle of the med-bots efforts caused her skin to goose flesh, as she sipped at the tea and waited for Kresho Ivanovic to get back to her. She didn’t really need his permission for what she would do, but she wanted him well in her debt in case she needed bigger favors. She wanted him as an ally and not another formidable enemy she didn’t need. And her gut told her he was way more formidable than anyone thought.

Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week we  met Kresho Ivanovic, who was unhappily preparing to meet with Tenad Fallon on Vodni Station. This week we discover that neither was what the other expected as the dance between enemies begins. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 21: Not What He Expected

As he approached, she turned to face him, bright green eyes curious, but not angry at his slight, not impatient. “Tenal Fallon, you’re a long way from the Authority’s Teat.” He prided himself in being charming.

She offered him a lazy smile, accessing his threat level while holding his gaze. So the military training might be more than just a fashion statement. He wondered how much training she’d had. “Kresho Eyvanovak, the Authority has very big teats And it’s Tenad,” she replied.

“Mmm, to match their very big twats, I would imagine, and it’s Ivanovic.” He nodded to her ribs. “I can escort you to medico if you’re med bot’s not working.” Ah. There it was. Not exactly a flinch but a slight twinge of a nerve being tweaked the wrong way. No one else would have noticed, but Kresho never missed anything.

“Thank you, but there’s nothing wrong with my med bot. I find a little pain from time to time is good for the soul.”

“Giving or receiving,” he asked.

Her smile became a soft purr of a chuckle. “That depends on the circumstances.”

“Well you are a Fallon, so I suppose you give as good as you get.”

Another almost flinch.

Kresho studied her longer than would have been considered polite, but then nothing about their first encounter was polite. But she simply stood quietly as though she had all the time in the world, until he took in a slow, hard put-upon breath and said. “You’re at the ass end of the galaxy, in the middle of nowhere with three hot rod jaegers. I don’t give a shit what you’re doing. Hell out here we all mind our own business, but I do give a shit that you’re here on my station. Since you’re not here for the holiday climate, I can only assume you need to resupply.”

The smile that she offered and the mischievous glint in those green eyes wrong footed him for a split second. Fallons were never to be trusted, and especially not if they flirted. “There! You see, we barely met and already we’re on the same page.”

“It’ll cost you.”

She shrugged. “As you say I’m far from the Authority’s teat. And unlike most of the Fallon brood, I’m filthy rich in my own right.”

“It’ll cost you a lot.”

“I’ve got a lot,” she replied.

He wondered what was so important to her that she had scurried all the way out beyond the ends of nowhere and didn’t even attempt to haggle.

“Also, my crew is sorely in need of some shore leave.”

“That can be arranged. My com officers will liaise with your ships to make arrangements. They behave themselves or they end up in the brig with a nice fat fine.”

“They’ll be on their best behavior.”

“Also I wouldn’t mind a break from the confines of my shop either.”

“Same rules apply to you.”

“Then I’ll do my best to stay out of trouble.”

“You’re in luck, the VIP suite is unoccupied at the moment. There’s a replicator, no room service.”

“I’ll be bringing my indentured,” she said.

This time all civility slipped away. “No you won’t, not if you want to resupply at my station, and not if you want your crew to survive this little visit.”

This time she studied him as though he amused her, and that made him want to shove her out the nearest airlock. He did not drop his gaze from those green eyes, but the ice in his gut made him wonder what was behind that look. At last she tilted her head and gave a quirk of a smile as though he were some interesting specimen under a microscope. “I have three fully equipped jaegers outside your station, Mr. Ivanovic, all state of the art and then some, one is a planet buster. You might reconsider threatening me and my crew.”

“I know exactly what you have, Ms. Fallon, and I know that you wouldn’t be here if your arsenal was in any kind of condition for whatever you’re up to. I also know Vodni Station is the only out post for a very, very long way.”

“I could just take what I want.”

He took a step closer into her personal space and heard, her breath hitch from the pain of having to step back. “You could do that if it were here for you to take.” When she blinked her confusion, he continued. “I’m not a stupid man, Ms. Fallon, to leave myself wide open to the likes of you. Surely you don’t think the Authority is the only place with hunter and dreadnaught class ships to you? And do you really think I would leave myself and my station vulnerable to any such threat. I said no indentureds on my station, and I meant it. Unless you’re willing to leave them here to be released.”

She raised her brow at that.

“No indentureds and no more discussion. If you need the help of an indentured so desperately, then I suggest you stay onboard your ship at night.”

Instead of threats and ultimatums, she simply replied, “very well. I’ll stay onboard the Virago.” And then she changed the subject as though they had only disagreed on some minor negotiation, not a human slave. “I’ll have my second in command send over the list of what we need, and if you could get me an estimate the sooner the better so I can make the credit transfer. I don’t intend to stay longer than necessary.”

“I don’t intend to delay you in the least. You’ll have the estimate before beddy-bye time tonight.”

Again she wrong-footed him by turning to look out the view port. “Mr. Ivanovic, are you also a salvage dealer now?”

Over the woman’s shoulder, he caught the view of the Lizzie Ann tractoring a battered sparrow class ship into docking bay B just as a sub-dural message from Gert came in. “Chief, we got an unexpected visitor. The Lizzie got a distress call and, well, you better get down to the dock.”

He tapped the side of his throat in silent acknowledgement and turned to Tenad Fallon. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

This time she offered him an uncharacteristic pout. “What no tour for a VIP?”

“I’ll have Anders there show you around. I’m sure he’d be delighted.”

“So my guard doubles as a tour guide. How convenient,” she said.

“We’re a small station. Everyone has to multitask here.”

“And I imagine you, as the boss of this place wear a lot of hats.”

“Naa,” he said. “I have one job and that’s dealing with all the shit no one else wants to deal with.”

“Sounds like you could use a vacation,” she said looking him up and down.

“No rest for the wicked,” he replied, returning the favor. Then he excused himself as another message from Gert came in. He left her tapping in a message on her PD in front of Anders, who stood stone faced and unimpressed in front of her. Anders was a man of certain taste, and she wasn’t it. In fact, Anders wasn’t a man at all. That’s why he was so good at what he did. And he was very good at multitasking, Anders was.

Kresho counted silently to himself and made it to seven before another

message of his subdural. This one was not from Gert.

“Tenad Fallon’s people have been ordered to find out about the ship the Lizzie Ann is tractoring,”

“That didn’t take her long,” he responded. Then he spoke to Gert. “Let prying eyes pry. And put out the word to our people to pump Fallon’s crew for all the information they can get. Tell Savvy at the Tavern to give ‘em the good stuff.”

Gert responded with just a tap. She knew the drill.