My stomach gurgled, its discomfort battling my left side for supremacy.I needed to make a decision and this was the best plan I had.Now I just had to get back to the docks without being noticed.
The main drag—the one where the club was located—was the shortest, most direct route to the docks.Usually the busiest too.Hopefully I could lose myself in the foot traffic all the way back to the airlock.
It took a few minutes until a group of drunk spacers passed my corner.They were going the right direction and I prayed that they were headed to the docks.
My heart jumped as I left my hiding place and fell into step alongside them.
I tucked my bag close to my body and kept my eyes on my surroundings and the people around me.
We made it all the way back to the airlock before the spacers finally noticed me.
“You followin’ us?”The spacer who challenged me was big.Built-like-a-tank big.
He was also slurring his words.Maybe I should have thought twice about stepping into an enclosed space with a bunch of drunk strangers.I obviously wasn’t firing on all cylinders right now.
There was nowhere to run and the last thing I needed tonight was another problem, so I tried to defuse the situation.
“Naw, man.Heading back to my ship, same as you.”I raised my hands to show I was harmless.My left shoulder stung and I bit back a wince.“I’m not looking for trouble.”
Just another spacer coming back from a night in port.Hopefully he’d ignore me.
His eyes narrowed.“Which ship?”Suspicion coated his voice.
By this time, his friends had turned around too and studied me with expressions ranging from goofy drunkenness to angry suspicion.I counted quickly.Seven including the big dude.
Fuuuck.
I felt the weight of his friends’ gazes, but I never took my eyes off him.It took supreme effort to keep my muscles loose and tension from my voice.
Could I brazen my way through this?
The spacers could have come from any of the ships currently docked at Elegium Station, but since they were a big group, I guessed it was one of the big ones.Hoping I was right, I took a deep breath and blurted out the name of the first small ship that came to mind: the little Cyclone.
“Fortuna.”
5
Dax
My eyes snappedopen as I shifted from a dead sleep to fully awake.I blinked up at the ceiling—where was Finn’s bunk?
Where the hell was I?And what had woken me?
Sitting up, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and scanned the room.I didn’t feel hungover, but I didn’t immediately recognize my surroundings.On the rare times I’d gotten that drunk, I’d never passed out in a place this nice.The room was way bigger than any of the berthing compartments on theSMTC Evenrude,not to mention it lacked the government-issue bunk beds.
“You’re on theFortuna, idiot.”I exhaled slowly.Not just on the new ship, but in the captain’s quarters.A room I didn’t have to share with anyone.
How much longer was I going to wake up thinking I was still in the space corps?My team and I had left the military behind.Wilson’s death eight months ago—his fucking senseless death—had been the last straw.We’d all left as soon as our enlistments were up, one after another.Finn had been out six months.I’d been the last to muster out three months ago.
And now that we had a ship, the squad would be getting back together.Our ship,ourrules.Wilson’s last wish had been that we make our dream of running a cargo company a reality and he’d left us his life savings to make it happen.Now here I was with our brand-new ship ready to pick up our first cargo.
“Miss you, man.”I rubbed the space over my heart, though I knew from experience that it wouldn’t alleviate the sadness.
The ship vibrated under my feet, snapping me back to the present.
I surged to my feet, ridiculously grateful that I didn’t need to duck to avoid the rack above me.I might still be learning all the ins and outs of theFortuna, but I was certain she shouldn’t be moving.Especially not when we were docked.
What the hell was going on?
