Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Tish was headed for the docking ring, still second-guessing last night’s impulsive decision to offer to help. Not that she’d told them that she was a ship mechanic. She’d left herself an escape hatch. All she had to do was ask the other mechanics she knew to take the job. One of them would say yes.
She hadn’t done that. Despite hours of overthinking and doubts, she was on her way to the bounty hunters’ ship. Just considering those two words made her question things again. Bounty hunters.
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe their claims that they didn’t take corporate contracts and didn’t kill their targets. None of the admittedly few cyborgs she’d met would ever work for the corporations that had enslaved them, especially not if it meant killing for them.
No, the issue was simpler than that. If Hamish Kerr decided that revenge was worth more than her value to him, he could put a bounty out for her.
Mace and Xaber might want to safeguard society, but in her experience, it wasn’t so easy to sort out the difference between good and bad beings.
Some of their targets would be beings like her—not exactly innocent but not guilty of terrible crimes either.
She’d broken her indenture because she faced an impossible choice, either submit to abuse from her new owner or run.
She’d opted to flee.
Still, she needed work, and from what she knew about the two cyborgs, they were decent and kind. Tish understood that her circumstances were not their fault. Her opinions about their chosen profession were hers. And while they were valid from her perspective, that didn’t mean she was right.
Tish sighed, giving vent to her frustration and general fatigue. She’d been going around in circles on this topic all night. It was time to make a decision. Was she doing this, or did she need to let the job go to someone else?
She scoffed. Who was she kidding? It was a chance to spend time with two very hot, surprisingly decent males. Plus, she needed this job. Oxygen might be free here, but everything else came with a price tag.
Decision made, her next priority was to pick up her tools from her locker in Grotta’s office. She left them there because it was more secure than her pod at the hotel, and until now, she hadn’t needed them for any other jobs.
She approached the section of the docking ring where the incident had happened last night. Tension crept into her shoulders as she neared the spot, only to fade when she saw that the airlock on that side glowed red, indicating it was sealed with no vessel on the other side. They were gone.
And good fraxxing riddance to the lot of them.
Grotta wasn’t in her office when Tish got there, which meant she could grab her things and leave without the need for small talk or explanations.
She’d put on the cleaner of her two pairs of coveralls, which was probably an indication she always intended to take the job.
Same as she’d done her best to tame her hair so that it fell over her face in tight spirals instead of puffing out like an agitated peskin having a bad hair day.
She growled to herself as she fastened her tool belt around her waist. “If my subconscious already knew what would happen, why didn’t it send a memo to the rest of my brain? If I had known, maybe I could have gotten some sleep!”
Even as she said it, she knew that would not have happened.
She hadn’t slept well since Hamish had stopped taking no for an answer.
From the moment she’d hit him over the head with a wrench and run for it, she hadn’t felt safe enough to relax and get a proper night’s rest. She operated on caffeine and stubbornness until her body finally collapsed from exhaustion for a few hours.
That was her life now. She was free…but it came with a cost.
Being alone and perpetually on edge was better than the life she faced back on Amadox Station.
Hamish saw her as a possession, like the shop and contracts he’d inherited from a female he was only distantly related to and had met only a handful of times.
If there was an afterlife, Zendi was most likely plotting her nephew’s painful demise right now.
She made it back to the Living True’s berth a few minutes early. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one ready to get things rolling, because she was still a few meters away from the door when it slid open and a large but familiar form stepped out.
Mace. Since last time they’d met, she’d almost convinced herself that he wasn’t as dangerously handsome as she remembered.
But now she was staring up at him, and if anything, he was better looking.
Damn it. She was not developing a crush on her new employers.
Sure, they were hotter than the heart of a star, but that was a good reason not to be interested.
Males who looked like that could have their pick of females from almost any species she could name.
Mace smiled in greeting and then glanced up and down the corridor with obvious confusion. “Morning, Tix. Not that I’m unhappy to see you, but I thought you were bringing someone who could help us with the ship. Did they turn you down?”
“Help has arrived.” She flung out her arms. “Ta-da. I’m the mechanic.”
“I see.” Mace gave her a level, assessing look. “You had doubts?”
It wasn’t the words that clued her in to the issue. It was the set of his jaw and the way his ice-blue eyes darkened.
She lowered her hands and met his gaze. “I did. But not about you or Xaber. It’s what you do for a living that gave me pause. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be involved in that, even indirectly.”
“And what did you decide?”
“I realized that trust doesn’t work on a sliding scale.
Either you believe in someone, or you don’t.
” She placed one hand on her tool belt. “I trust you both, so here I am. Oh, and in case you have concerns, I’m a certified ship mechanic with almost twenty years of experience. I’m certain I can set your ship right.”
“Twenty years of experience?” His lips twitched. “You’ve been doing this longer than Xay and I have been alive.”
The unexpected comment broke the lingering tension between them, and she laughed. “Does that make me the older, more experienced woman in this arrangement?”
It was out of her mouth before her internal filter activated. She ducked her head and quietly hoped the deck plates split and let her fall into the void. Better that than death by mortification.
Mace snickered and then burst out laughing. “If you’re offering to audition for the role…”
Her head jerked up, and she threw up her hands. “No! I was…that was… I didn’t mean…” She couldn’t think of anything to say that would help, so she stopped talking.
He spoke up immediately. “I know that wasn’t what you meant. It’s what made it so funny. That and the expression on your face right after you said it.”
“The universe needs a three-second time delay and a take-back button,” she muttered.
“If you find the suggestion box, feel free to toss that one in for me, too.”
“I will.” She huffed out a breath. “How about we pretend the last thirty seconds didn’t happen and you show me around your ship now?”
He stepped aside and pointed toward the door. “After you.”
She went through the airlock and into the ship. Mace followed behind her, and as he stepped into the doorway, his big body blocked out all the light.
Once inside, the door slid shut.
She waited for half a heartbeat, but nothing changed. No sense of regret, no doubt. Good.
The layout of the ship was familiar. The inner doors were locked open, so the airlock led into the main corridor that ran down the spine of the ship.
Next, she did something her fathers called getting the feel of a ship.
She stood still and took in everything. The sounds, the smells, even the vibrations beneath her feet.
A few things struck her. The deck was worn but clean, and the air she breathed was fresh, not stale or tainted with mold.
Someone was taking care of basic maintenance then.
The artificial gravity was set too high.
Not by much, but enough that she noticed.
The cyborgs were probably too strong to feel the difference, or maybe it was intentional? She’d have to ask.
It only took a few moments for her to catalog her first impressions. In that time, she also recognized the ship’s design. “This is a Falcon-E model, from Gyrex Shipping. Isn’t it?”
She turned back toward Mace as she asked her question.
He nodded. “It is. From what we learned before buying her, the Falcons are supposed to be low-maintenance, reliable transport.”
Tish patted a bulkhead. “They are. These ships are workhorses. Strong. Tough. Versatile. I’ve seen more than a few in my time.
Even better, they use standard, easy-to-find replacement parts.
Where I’m from, that was a definite plus.
We were too far out to get much in the way of specialty equipment.
The engine room is aft and up a deck. Right?
I should go up and get started. I know you’ve got a delivery to make. ”
Mace raised a hand. “Hold up a second. Xaber is on his way here. I wish I could stick around, but I’ve got errands to run before I head to work in a few hours.”
Tish added that information to her growing store of information about her new employers. “You have a second job? Is that why you’re not going with Xaber to Ashur?”
“Yup. I work security at one of the new clubs on the station. Xay will be fine doing this transport on his own. We already did the hard part. Our guest is secured in the hold. He won’t be a problem.” Mace flashed a wicked smile. “You will never guess what ship our target was on.”
She could only think of one vessel that would make Mace grin like that. “Karta’s ship?” Her chest tightened. Oh no. She did not want to be anywhere near that asshole. “He’s not here. Is he?”
“Sadly, it wasn’t him. You’re right about the ship, though. Karta kept out of sight while we took his buddy into custody. Oliver is this guy’s name. Was he part of last night’s problem?”
She recalled the name from the previous night. “If he goes by Ollie, yeah. He was there.”
“What part did he play? I only saw the bit where you busted Karta’s nose.”
“He was one of the gaggle hanging back. He called me a bitch and did his best to make a bad situation worse.”
“A shame he came quietly, then.” Mace shrugged. “I’ll let Xaber know. He’ll make sure the guy gets the extra spicy rations at every meal.”
That made her laugh. “Your idea of revenge is to over-spice his food?”
“Yup. And no dairy. Nothing to ease the burn.”
That was fine with her. It was a petty sort of revenge, but there’d be no lasting harm. That felt right.
“Did I hear that right? Was my reluctant travel companion misbehaving last night?” Xaber’s voice rose from somewhere out of sight.
It only took Tish a second to realize the cyborg was at the base of the ladder one deck down.
“Quit eavesdropping on private conversations and get your ass up here, pretty boy. Or are you not planning on saying hello to Tix?”
Then he glanced at her and tapped his temple. “I sent him a message to let him know you were here.”
Ah, right. Cyborgs had built-in channels that allowed them to connect to their batch-siblings and others.
That would be useful. And it meant there was always someone around to talk to.
She envied them that. Some days between shifts, she didn’t speak to another soul.
She’d thought a station as big as Defiance would mean she wouldn’t feel so alone.
She’d been wrong about that.
Xaber climbed the ladder faster than she’d thought possible. Mace called him pretty boy, and the moniker fit. He looked like an actor that specialized in action vids, a dangerous combination of muscle and charm with hazel eyes that seemed to sparkle when he smiled. The male even had dimples.
“Hey, Tix. I hear you’re our mystery mechanic. If you can get our girl up and running again, we’ll owe you a lifetime supply of pizza.”
“Challenge accepted. But pizza is a bonus. I still want scrip for my time.” She winked to soften the statement, but she didn’t want there to be any confusion.
“Of course you’re getting paid,” Mace stated. “Those of us who work get paid.” He inclined his head toward Xaber. “Which is why he’s doing this next job solo. The most he’s done this week is burn our dinner. Twice.”
“That was not my fault,” Xaber protested.
“Says you,” Mace retorted. “I think you just wanted pizza.”
Xaber laughed. “I admit to nothing. Speaking of work, don’t you have shit to do? I’ll let you know what Tix finds and what parts she’ll need once she’s had a look at the True.”
“I’m going.” He turned to look at her, his ice-blue eyes locking on to hers. “Thank you for trusting us.”
She felt the weight of his words in her soul.
“Thank you for trusting me with your livelihood.” She nodded to Mace and then jerked her chin in the direction of the engineering deck. “Let’s get to work.”