Glaring at the side of Burn’s head, I recounted everything that had happened since Elegium Station, up to and including a longer account of Finn’s accident.
“Dammit, Dax!You’re supposed to be the coolheaded one of the squad,” Orion said.“And you just let some woman waltz off with our ship?”
Swallowing the urge to growl, I shoved my hand through my hair and wished for patience.I was getting damn tired of defending myself.“What’s done is done,” I said with finality.“We lost one cargo, but we picked up a new, more profitable one.”
“We lost one crew member, but it’s okay because we picked up another?”Mercer asked like an asshole.
“That’s not what I’m saying.And we’ll get Finn back.After he has time to recover.”Suddenly, I was done with this conversation.“Look, the plan is to pick you both up and then go rescue Lacy’s sister.After that—after we’ve delivered them somewhere safe and sound—that’ll be it.End of story.”The words tasted like ashes in my mouth.“You two coming or not?We can pick you up after otherwise.”
I’d miss them if they decided not to help.Burn was right, we could definitely use backup.But I couldn’t—wouldn’t—order them to do this.
“Hell yeah, we’re coming, Dax,” Orion said.He dropped his voice to a whisper.“I gotta get out of here.My family is driving me nuts.”
“Hey, Orion, weren’t you planning on going to Parcival Prime rather than home?”Burn asked.
There was a heavy pause.“Yeah, that didn’t work out.”
Before Burn could ask another question, we heard in the background, “Orion, dinner!”
“Was that your mom?”Orion must be blushing from the top of his buzz cut all the way down his neck.
“Yeah, shit.I mean, dangit, I gotta go.Momma made my favorite tonight.”
“Lucky,” Burn said wistfully.
Orion’s laugh was subdued.“She’s on a mission to remind me how good life is here.The food is great, but she keeps inviting the neighbor girls over for me to get a look at.”
I smiled.“Is it working?”
Another long pause.“No, uh, not so much.”
Sounded like there was a story there, but before I could ask, he said, “Let me know when and where and I’ll be there.”
He dropped off the line, leaving just the three of us.Me, Burn, and Mercer, who’d been silent for the last few minutes.
“You in, Mercer?”
“Yeah, I’m in.My family’s driving me nuts too.”
I wasn’t surprised.His family had been pressuring him to join the family medical practice since the day we met.Not that it was really a practice.More like an interplanetary hospital system.He’d really pissed them off when he joined the military.Their only solace was that he’d gone in as a medic.Now that he’d mustered out, the pressure must have exponentially increased.
“Great, thanks.”The tension in my shoulders eased.“Are you with your folks?We can pick you up there.”
“No, that’ll take you too far out of the way.There’s no time to waste if this sister really has been kidnapped.”
I wasn’t going to get into it about whether Lacy was telling the truth.I’d seen the videos, Mercer hadn’t.“Where then?”
“Where are you heading?”I heard him typing in the background.
“Cluster of planets on the edge.Most likely spot is a place called Kottke.As far as we can figure, it’s a dusty outpost.No industry that I can find.Just a shitty little planet on the edge of nowhere.”
“I thought we were done with shitty little planets,” Burn said.
She was right.We’d seen too damn many during our tour.It was pure luck that our assignments on planets like Kottke had only ever been temporary.Long-term duties would have been mind-numbing.
“Looks like there’s a planet called Justin nearby?—”
“What the fuck kind of planet name is that?”Burn asked.
