Chapter 56 Dax
Dax
Burn, Mercer, Orion, and I hung out the open doors of the shuttle as Lacy circled the landing zone twice to see what kind of welcoming party was waiting for us. But, like the compound, there was nobody out there.
I levered myself back inside the shuttle and looked at the others. “I didn’t see anything, did you?”
Mercer shook his head. Burn said, “No, Sarge,” and Orion kept looking another minute before he returned inside and pulled up the infrared goggles. “Nothing.”
“That’s really fucking weird, isn’t it?” Burn asked. “I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“He said he didn’t want to hurt me.” Layla spoke for the first time since she’d puked outside the compound. Head back against the seat cushion, she didn’t open her eyes or look at us.
I dropped back into the seat next to her, gently so I didn’t jostle her. “What? Who said that?”
“Johnstone Farrow,” she said in a deep voice that weirdly suited the name, because that was exactly how you’d expect that name to be said.
“The guy you met from the forum?”
That got her to crack an eye open. “You know about the forum?”
“I know all about your files,” I said. “Your research project.”
She opened her second eye. “Lacy really does trust you.”
Burn sat on the other side of her. “So have you found the treasure?”
“So you all know then?”
Mercer and Orion nodded.
“Fucking perfect,” she muttered in the exact tone Lacy would use. “No, I haven’t found the ship yet.”
Burn’s face fell. “Dammit!”
“But I’m close. I know it. Farrow knows it now too.”
“You gave him your research?”
“No!” She sounded offended I would even ask. “He said he had journals from the original crew. Said his family had been on an escape pod from the Queen of Stars that landed here on Kottke.”
“And you believed him?” There was Mercer’s cynicism.
Layla shot him a dark look. “No. Do I look like an idiot? I vetted everything he said. Questioned it all. But he had information that, well, the only place he could have gotten it was from someone who’d lived it.”
“Hey, so I’m glad you all are having a nice reunion with my sister, but can I land this thing yet?” Lacy called from the cockpit.
“Shit, yeah, sorry. Go ahead and land. There’s no one out there,” I said.
“Strap in, everybody,” Lacy instructed.
Mercer and Orion took their seats, but everyone was still focused on Layla. “Why did you say that he didn’t want to hurt you? Did he hurt you?” I felt sick at the thought.
“No,” she shook her head. “He treated me okay. He was really apologetic. Said his dad got overzealous. I guess finding the ship has been the family’s, I don’t know, quest, forever.”
Lacy interrupted again. “Touching down in five, four, three, two . . . one.”
The landing jostled a bit, but I’d had a lot worse in the service. Even Layla looked calm. That made sense, given her—their—upbringing.
“Now that we’re back, could someone open the cargo hold for me?” Lacy stepped out of the cockpit and into the main cabin.
“Why?” I asked.
“So I can fly the shuttle inside.” She made it sound like the obvious answer.
“We’re not taking the shittle with us,” Mercer said.
That was my gut reaction too, but Lacy always had a reason. “Why do you think we should?” I asked.
She gave me a small smile. I’d apparently asked the right question.
“You’re going into the cargo business, right?”
When we all confirmed that was still the plan, she continued. “With a shuttle, you’ll have access to more ports. Smaller ones that Fortuna can’t dock at, but you can remain in orbit and send your shuttle down.”
“I thought you said it was in bad shape,” Orion said.
Lacy shrugged. “Yeah, the guys in the chop shop messed her up. But she can be fixed.”
“She’s the best mechanic you’ll find,” Layla interjected. “Let her do it. She’ll get it good as new. Better even.”
Lacy’s cheeks pinked at the compliment. “Look at it this way. You basically get a free shuttle; you’ll just need to pay for parts.” When no one said anything, her face fell. “Well, and you’ll have to pay your mechanic.”
She returned to the cockpit without another word.
Layla stood. “You’re all a bunch of assholes.
So she didn’t tell you who our dad was. Big fucking deal.
News flash, she’s not Orpheus Blazer. She’s Lacy Dupree.
Mechanic. Pilot. Best sister in the galaxy.
And you don’t deserve her. Especially you.
” She poked me hard in the shoulder as she passed me to join her sister in the cockpit.
“Now can we please get off this fucking landing zone and onto the ship before they turn us all into scrap?”
After she disappeared into the cockpit, Burn said, “Damn, I wish my sister had defended me like that.”
Orion patted her shoulder gently. We all knew about her fucked-up childhood.
“Layla’s right,” I said.
“About getting in the air?” Mercer grumbled.
“Yeah, that, too.”
I stood, my mind whirling with all the thoughts that Layla’s passionate defense of her sister had stirred up. She was right. I had an amazing woman and I was letting her slip through my fingers.
Winning her—and wooing her—would have to wait.
Mostly.
Nothing said a little shuttle that needed some TLC couldn’t be a courtship gift.
“Help me get the cargo hold open. We’re keeping the shittle.”