by M. D. Cooper
Katrina nodded. “In a nutshell, yes. But I would prefer the both of you to call me Verisa. We can’t have any slip-ups.”
“And what makes you think I’ll go along with this?” Carl asked.
Juasa walked across the maintenance bay and stood before Carl, her hands clasped. “Because you’re a good man, Carl. We’ve known each other forever, and I need your help. Please.”
“Yeah, good man,” Carl said as he reached up and pulled at his collar. “See where that’s gotten me? Did you know that my piece of shit brother paid off his debt and is now free again? Did he put one goddamn red cent toward the part I took over? Nope! I still owe a decade’s worth of wages to pay for that…that fucker’s freedom.”
“Shit, Carl, I didn’t know,” Juasa said, her tone genuinely apologetic.
“Yeah, how would you?” Carl asked. “You’ve been too busy pining after our high-class guest here while she fucked the captain.”
“OK, Carl, that’s not fair. A lot has been going on, and I’m really sorry that your brother screwed you over, but maybe we can figure something out. Katrina has a lot of tech. Certainly enough to pay off your debts.”
Carl looked at Juasa, and then over her shoulder at Katrina. “What did you offer her for her help?”
Katrina smiled. “Nothing.”
Carl’s eyes darted back to Juasa. “Nothing? Really?”
Juasa chuckled. “Well, not nothing. Katrina’s taking me with her.”
Carl reached up and stroked his chin, walking away from Juasa, and then back again. “So your ship. It’s as big as you’ve said?”
“Yes,” Katrina replied, guessing at where this was going. “It was built as an evac ship for a research facility. It can hold four hundred people, in a pinch.”
Carl’s eyes met Juasa’s and he shook his head. “She could take us all.”
Juasa nodded. “I’d thought of that, but I don’t know if everyone would want to come. What about Rory and Mal?”
“We could cut them out,” Carl said. “But the rest, the rest would kill to get out of Bollam’s.”
Juasa looked back at Katrina. “So, how do you feel about having a crew?”
Katrina honestly had no idea. Until a minute before, she had only thought of how delightful it would be to continue her search for the Intrepid with Juasa at her side.
But a crew…a good crew is like a family. So long as we share the same goals.
“I can’t say I can offer permanent positions or anything, but if we get FTL on the Voyager, I’d be more than happy to take anyone wherever they want to go.”
Carl nodded. “That’s a good enough start. Now we just have to get the captain to think all this is his idea.”
Katrina gave a sad laugh. “I think that particular task falls to me.”
SACRIFICE
STELLAR DATE: 11.15.8511 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: KSS Havermere, en route to Voyager
REGION: Scattered Disk, Bollam’s World System (58 Eridani)
Katrina moaned with feigned delight and clawed gently at Ferris’s chest as he finished. He gazed down at her with a possessive look before pulling back and collapsing on the bed next to her.
She bit back an unhappy sigh—as well as the half dozen things she wanted to say—and instead spoke softly in a breathy voice. “Strong captain and amazing lover…you’re wasted out here on this repair boat.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. Ferris was moderately competent in bed, but certainly not a patch on Juasa. If he could figure out how to keep his pride out of his quest for her affections, he might have learned what she had to offer.
Ferris chuckled. “You’ve noticed, have you? It’s not all bad, though. The Havermere is a good ship, and I have a good crew, mostly. But I’ve always wanted more. There’s a ceiling at a place like KiStar; there aren’t any ships bigger or better than this one in the KSS fleet, and once Uriah proves out through her stint as the company sales flack, she’ll get the reins.”
“It’s certainly a strange way to handle succession,” Katrina said.
“Yeah,” Ferris said, sliding his hands behind his head.
Katrina could tell what he was thinking about, and it wasn’t her. The captain was probably wondering what it would be like to have Uriah next to him.
“I might be able to help you on a road to something better,” Katrina said quietly. “I have some means at my disposal.”
Ferris turned on his side to face her, an eyebrow raised. “Oh yeah, what sort of means?”
“Do you remember the tech I’m taking to Sol?”
“Mmhhhhmmm,” Ferris responded. “There’s more than one betting pool running on the Havermere as to what it may be.”
“In a word, stasis,” Katrina replied.
Ferris half sat up, propping himself on his elbow. “What? Like pods?”
Katrina nodded. “Yeah, pods.”
Ferris whistled, falling onto his back. “I don’t even know what a stasis pod would go for.”
“Here? Yeah, I can’t even imagine,” Katrina replied. “I bet you could retire on it, though.”
“Yeah,” Ferris said with a snort. “But the White Queen and her father at KiStar wouldn’t take too kindly to me getting in on action like that, though.”
“What if I paid for the upgrades with stasis pods? Let them in on the deal?” Katrina asked. “My buyer in Sol doesn’t know exactly how many I have—I didn’t want to commit to him before I secured the cargo. But you’ve been such a generous host, and I know your crews are going to do great work. It seems like it would be a shame not to help you out as much as I’m able.”
Ferris rubbed his chin. “Jan could probably work out a price; I’m sure that it wouldn’t take many pods to pay for it—they’re probably each worth as much as the Havermere.”
Katrina traced a hand across Ferris’s chest, and then brought a finger to his chin. “In that case, how do you feel about two?”
“I could buy an interstellar freighter and stock it with whatever I wanted with that kind of credit…” he locked eyes with Katrina. “And you? What do you get out of this? That’s quite the haul for someone flying an older model with bad grav emitters.”
Katrina chuckled. “Well, I haven’t sold them yet. I got them in a bit of a…windfall.”
“Oh, yeah?” Ferris asked with a grin on his lips. “I knew you were more than just a pretty face. You’re a schemer, aren’t you?”
Katrina winked at Ferris and traced a finger down his chest. “I’ve been known to hatch a plan in my day. But what do I get out of you in trade, Captain Ferris? I want your protection. Your crew is going to see my cargo; I don’t want them thinking that they can walk off with it—or mutiny against you and take it all for themselves. Anna seems like the sort that might consider a move like that.”
Ferris sat up in bed and glanced down at Katrina before nodding to himself. “She might be, yeah. She always has been grasping.”
“Then what’s your plan?”
“Well, for starters, we will need to talk to Jan. Nothing happens without her giving a price on the pods. If it’s solid, then we work out a deal.”
“And how are we going to do the work?” Katrina asked. “I don’t trust Juasa; she’s been shifty ever since I arrived.”
“Yeah,” Ferris nodded. “She has issues. But I can sideline her and put Carl in charge of the repairs. I can buy him off easily enough. His brother has some serious debts—it’s why Carl is indentured. He had to take on part of the load. He’ll do what he’s told.”
“And he has a select few discrete workers?” Katrina asked.
“Yeah, I’m certain of it,” Ferris replied.
“Well, then,” Katrina said as she pulled Ferris back down toward her. “I think we should seal this deal with a kiss.”
Ferris laughed as he reached around and slapped her ass. “I think a little bit more than a kiss is warranted.”
REPRIEVE
STELLAR DATE: 11.16.8511 (Adjusted Gregorian
)
LOCATION: KSS Havermere, en route to Voyager
REGION: Scattered Disk, Bollam’s World System (58 Eridani)
Katrina felt like an errant schoolgirl, sneaking off to have a tryst with her lover as she waited in her pinnace for Juasa to arrive.
Except she had never done anything like sneak off and have trysts as a schoolgirl. She had lived under her father’s iron rule, with barely a spare moment.
Perhaps this whole wild chase after the Intrepid—culminating in her affair with Juasa—was her mid-life crisis.
A soft click reached her ears, and Juasa appeared in the back of the cabin, entering through the open maintenance in the belly of the ship.
“Katrina,” Juasa whispered as she approached with a tender smile on her lips.
“Verisa,” Katrina cautioned. “We can’t have slip-ups. How did the team take it?”
“Take it?” Juasa asked with a laugh. “They’re exuberant. Thank stars that we reach your ship tomorrow. Keeping them quiet for more than a day may have been impossible.”
Katrina tensed. “Do we need to worry?”
Juasa patted her on the shoulder. “Sorry, I was exaggerating. They’ll do anything for a ticket out of Bollam’s world. Trust me, they won’t breathe a word of this.”
“Good,” Katrina replied. “I have the captain in place, and he’s prepared to deal with Anna.”
“What about our AI, Sam?” Juasa asked.
“I’ve altered a lot of the ship’s sensors to show what we want. Sam shouldn’t pick up anything unusual from the Voyager. And if he causes problems, I have taps in place that will get my AI, Troy, in so that he can take care of things.”
“He’ll do that?” Juasa asked. “Go against another AI?”
Katrina nodded. “He will. Troy is very dedicated. He wants to find the Intrepid as much as I do.”
Juasa looked up into Katrina’s eyes. “Really? That seems like a strange thing for an AI to want.”
“That’s because you’ve never met Bob,” Katrina replied.
“Who’s Bob?”
Katrina ran her hands down Juasa’s sides. “I have to save some stories for our journey. Right now, I’d rather just get to know you a bit more.”
“Oh yeah? Get to know me up here?” Juasa gave a soft laugh and touched her forehead. Then she drew her finger down her body and let it come to a stop between her legs. “Or get to know me here?”
Katrina slid a hand behind Juasa’s back and lowered her face to her lover’s. “Let’s start down there, and maybe I’ll work my way up.”
Later, as they lay on the bunk, limbs still entwined, basking in the afterglow, Katrina wondered how long this feeling would last.
She thought back to how it had been with Markus—still feeling guilty as she did so, but less now than before. Their early days had been chaotic: getting the Hyperion safely out of Sirius, and then dealing with the myriad crises that had cropped up on the journey between the stars.
They never really had a time in their romance that was filled with wild, animalistic passion. Markus had been ever attentive, ever loving, but never primal.
Juasa was almost exclusively primal.
“What are you thinking about?” Juasa asked.
“You,” Katrina replied.
“Good answer,” Juasa said with a soft laugh. “Seriously, though.”
“I am being serious,” Katrina said, turning to gaze into Juasa’s hazel eyes. “I was thinking about how different this is from the last time I fell in lo—”
She realized what she was saying and stopped herself as Juasa’s eyes grew wide.
“You were saying…” Juasa whispered.
Katrina swallowed. Did she really feel that way? What if Juasa didn’t? Nonsense, she told herself. The woman has signed up to traipse across the stars with you. She must have real feelings, too.
“Love.” Katrina said at last. “I was thinking about how I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Juasa’s eyes were still just as wide, and now her lips had parted. Katrina could see that her heartrate and blood pressure had risen. She hoped the reaction bode well.
“Isn’t it a bit soon?” Juasa asked. “Aren’t you afraid you’re going to jinx it?”
“Juasa,” Katrina said as she reached out and smoothed the woman’s dark hair. “I’m over two-hundred years old. If I want to be in love with you, I’m going to be in love with you. I don’t need to spend months or years to figure it out. I already know it. You don’t have to be in love with me, if you’re not yet ready. But now you know where I stand.”
Juasa gave her light, bubbling laugh. “Verisa’s pretty damn hot, don’t get me wrong; but now that I’m getting to know the real you? Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that I’m in love—just don’t get rid of the she-devil skinsheath.”
“Deal,” Katrina said with a seductive smile as her hand drifted down across Juasa’s breasts. “Think you have time to show some proof before you have to go back to your duties?”
Juasa grinned wickedly. “Yeah, I think I have time to lay a bit of my proof on you.”
* * * * *
A crew was working in the bay when Juasa and Katrina finished, and, since there was no reason for Katrina not to be on her own ship, she left first.
Juasa heard one of the workers in the bay—Terrance, unless she missed her guess—ask Katrina, or Verisa, rather, what she was up to.
True to form, Verisa shot the man down with a cutting insult, and told him that he should keep his moronic questions to himself.
Then the cockpit’s canopy closed, and no further sound came from the bay. Juasa snapped her fingers and chuckled. She would have loved to hear Terrance’s response.
Juasa leaned back on the cabin’s bunk and pulled up the work schedules. Provided everyone got their shit done on time, no one should be in the bay in thirty minutes, and it would be safe for Juasa to exit through the maintenance hatch in the underside of the pinnace.
She decided it was the perfect time to take a short nap—all the shenanigans with Katrina was starting to take its toll. A bit of sleep would help keep her going till the end of the shift.
Juasa drifted off thinking about what it would be like: flying through interstellar space with Katrina, exploring worlds and cultures, seeing things she had only imagined. It would be a dream come true; one she couldn’t wait to embark on.
It didn’t feel like any time had passed when Juasa woke with a start. She checked the time over the Link and saw that she had been asleep for over an hour.
“Shit,” she swore aloud. She’d missed a meeting with Carl. Hopefully he’d let it slide—though she was certain he’d needle her about it for at least a day.
She began to ease off the bunk when a soft tapping sound echoed through the interior of the pinnace. Juasa froze and listened intently. The sound repeated. It was coming from the canopy. Almost like someone was trying to enter codes into the access panel.
Juasa grabbed her uniform and slowly slipped it on, wishing that the White Queen had picked a color combination that wasn’t always the brightest thing on the ship. It made it impossible to sneak around.
A quick look at the hatch in the back of the cabin told her that it shouldn’t be visible to whoever was trying to get into the pinnace, but if that person tried to peer inside, they might spot her.
She decided that quick and swift was her best bet; crouched low, she scuttled across the deck and slipped through the hatch, which she closed behind her.
Below the cabin’s hatch was a small crawlspace between the deck and the hull, and Juasa slithered through it, now thanking Uriah for such smooth and frictionless uniforms.
Ahead was the exterior hatch, and Juasa slowed as she approached, taking care not to make any sounds of her own, while listening for any outside.
None reached her ears, and she slowly slipped out of the hatch, landing hands-first on one of the cradle beams and then slowly lowering down onto her back before rolling forward and rising into
a crouch.
She peered around the cradle struts that reached up to support the pinnace and saw no movement. Juasa was just about to move out from under the ship when she heard the sound of someone walking down the ramp.
Sure enough, a pair of legs in a white KiStar uniform came into view, and started walking around the pinnace. Juasa could tell that, whoever it was, they were headed for the lower access trench, and would spot her in a matter of moments.
She reached up and twisted her hair into a messy bun, and then walked out from under the pinnace. “Who’s up there messing around?” Juasa asked loudly.
“Ju?” the voice asked, its tone cold.
Juasa muttered a curse as she stepped out to see Anna standing above her on the deck.
“Yeah, who else do you think I am?” Juasa asked. “What are you doing here?”
Anna grinned and shrugged. “Just taking a look into the golden girl’s skiff. What are you doing?”
“Working on the stupid thing,” Juasa said with a dour look. “She complained to Ferris that there was a secondary system failure on her soap dispenser or some other bullshit and I’m down here working on it.”
“Really? The soap dispenser?” Anna asked.
Juasa laughed. “No, but it was funny, right? I’m a regular comedian.” I’m an idiot. “Problem’s in the port chem booster. Just a burned out injector. It’s a nonstandard size, so I have to fab an adapter.”
“Huh, sounds like fun,” Anna said disinterestedly.
“Right,” Juasa shot back. “Wanna help? I’m going to be at it for another few hours at least.”
“Ha!” Anna barked a laugh. “I’m no grease monkey. Have fun.”
The first mate turned and walked away, not turning as Juasa shouted at her back. “That’s Chief Grease Monkey to you.”
When Anna left, Juasa walked back under the ship and sagged against a beam.
