What was I missing?
“Now that you know my credentials, what do you say?”Lacy kept the conversation on business.
“Not so fast,” he said.“Maybe I should do some due diligence.Reach out to Blazer and verify your claim.”
Lacy’s back stiffened.“Be my guest,” she said coolly.She pulled out her comms device and slid it across the table.“You can even use mine.Need the code?”
Damn, she was impressive.
“No, no need.”Bolton’s gaze flickered from her to me again.
I kept my face impassive.I still hated that she had been part of Blazer’s crew.Orpheus Blazer had made his name as a smuggler decades ago.Rumor had it, he worked for whoever could afford him.He wasn’t number one on the space corps’ most wanted list, but he was in the top ten on any given day.
Interestingly, none of the crimes he was wanted for were violent ones.I’d always assumed that was because someone was covering up for him.Now that I knew Lacy had crewed for him, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the truth.
Seemed unlikely.No one had such a long career, had so many people willing to protect him, by charm alone.
But the legend of Orpheus Blazer wasn’t why we were here today.Valuable cargo was, so I tuned back in to the negotiations.
“What’s your cargo max?”
Lacy launched intoFortuna’sspecs.I understood most of the stats, but I wouldn’t have been able to rattle the numbers off like that.
I stifled a sigh.Another thing to learn.Maybe I could convince Lacy to become our cargo master if Finn took on the role of mechanic.
Even as that thought took hold, I realized it was unlikely.Lacy was in her element in the engine room.Finn had been the one to keep our gear working on missions, but would he be able to keep a ship the size ofFortunarunning?The biggest projects I’d ever seen him work on were repairing vehicles when we were on missions, cobbling together fixes so we weren’t stranded planetside.
“Do we have a deal?”Bolton asked.
“We have a deal.”Lacy extended her hand.
Bolton shook it, then they touched their comms devices together.“That’s the contract,” he said.“Funding will be released upon delivery.Successfuldelivery.”
“Got it.”Lacy scrolled through something on her comms.“Looks in order.We’ll see your team for loading tomorrow morning.”
She stood from the table.“We have a few other arrangements to make.Pleasure doing business with you.”She nodded to each man then left the room without a backward glance.
I backed out of the room, keeping my eye on Bolton and his crew, still not sure they were trustworthy.
“You’re damned lucky to have her on your ship,” Bolton said before I reached the corridor.“We wouldn’t be doing business with you without her.”
I nodded to show I understood, then met Lacy in the hall.The door closed behind us.
Ducking my head low, I leaned close and asked, “Back to the ship?”
“Yes.”
I placed my hand on the small of her back and escorted her through the crowd.
31
Dax
With two more crew onboard, we’d been able to implement round-the-clock watches.I didn’t expect trouble, but handling it would be a whole lot easier if at least one person was running on a good night—or day’s—sleep.Once we had a full crew, we’d reevaluate and reassign.
I grabbed a cup of coffee and what looked like fresh pastries from the mess hall and made my way to the bridge.
“Morning,” I said as I entered.
