Milk Run (Smuggler's Tales From The Golden Age Of The Solar Clipper Book 1) (11 page)

When Natalya got back to the cockpit, a message flashed in her queue. “I hope she had another idea.” She popped open the message.

Zoya stuck her head around the corner from the galley. “Anything?”

“Just one. Kristiana. With a K.”

Natalya rebooted the system with the new key and the refresh kicked in. “That was it.”

“Really? Who’s Kristiana?”

“I’ll ask as soon as I get this update started.” Natalya kicked the update process and watched the data spooling out. While she waited, she sent a message back to Inge.
Thanks. That was it. Who’s Kristiana?

Zoya came out of the galley and handed Natalya a fresh cup of coffee. “We good to go?”

“We still have a bit of tankage,” Natalya said with a glance at the status. “Maybe half a stan before we can leave.”

“What do we do now?”

Natalya sipped a bit of coffee before climbing out of the couch. “Now, I stow the spares and update the inventories. Wanna help?”

Zoya gave her a very clear look expressing exactly how much she wanted to help, but said, “Sure. Why not?”

They ambled aft. With both of them working, the stowage and inventory updates took less than the half a stan. Zoya took the excess packing materials to the lock. “Leave it here or dump it in space?”

“Keep space empty. I’m sure they can recycle it here. Kondur’s not one to let material go to waste. I thought I saw a bin just down the passage from the docking tube.”

Zoya nodded. “Be right back.” She stepped into the lock and triggered the cycle.

Natalya finished her coffee and stacked the cup in the sanitizer rack. The engineering console beeped as she sat back in her couch. She smiled and started laying in the course for Odin’s.

The lock-call chimed and she chuckled when she remembered Zoya didn’t have the access code. She trotted back down the passageway to the lock and keyed the outer door. She was halfway back to her seat when Zoya spoke.

“Uh, Nats? We may have a problem.”

Natalya turned around and saw Inge standing behind Zoya in the passageway.

The woman’s skin glowed in the lights from the overhead, and Nats could swear her tattoos writhed on her white skin. She stared at Natalya, her pink eyes giving her an otherworldly appearance.

“Inge? What is it? We’re just about to shove off.”

“I know. It seems I have business with Bjorn. Please. Take me with you.”

“Bjorn?”

“Gunderson. He runs Odin’s Outpost.”

Natalya felt her mind skip a beat or two. “We’re not exactly set up for passenger service.”

Inge smiled and the overhead lights picked up the wrinkles at the corners of her mouth and eyes. That smile made her look much, much older than Natalya had first assumed. “I’ve slept in the navigation couch before.” She held up a small satchel. “I travel light. I don’t eat much. And you need to be there in less than thirty-six stans now if you’re going to fulfill your contract with Kondur.”

Natalya glanced at Zoya who shrugged in return.

“All right, then. You want some coffee? I need to get us out of the docking bay and burning for the Deep Dark.”

“I’m fine,” Inge said. “Please. Continue with your preparations.”

Natalya grinned. “Fair enough,” she said.

Inge’s whole body appeared to relax at once.

Natalya climbed back into the pilot’s couch. “Find a place to sit. I’m requesting clearance to undock in about five ticks.”

Inge followed Zoya into the cockpit and pulled down a jump seat from its stored position in the aft bulkhead.

Natalya buckled her harness and typed a request to undock. She finished laying in the course and waved Zoya into the navigation couch. “Double-check me, please?”

The comms screen flashed with permission to undock. Natalya pulled the lock releases to unlatch the docking tube. The quiet thunks preceded a brief flickering of the cabin lighting.

Zoya said, “Undocked. We’re running on ship’s power.”

Natalya nodded and drew more power from the fusactor. She slipped on her headset and keyed the traffic control frequency. “Dark Knight Local,
Peregrine
.”

“
Peregrine
, Local. Go ahead.”

“We are unlatched and ready to depart, Local.”

“Roger,
Peregrine
. Hold one.”

“Local,
Peregrine
. Roger. Hold one.”

They sat for just a few heartbeats before the outer door began sliding open.

“
Peregrine
, Local. You are clear to depart. Use local lane alpha-two for departure. Over.”

“Local,
Peregrine
. Roger. Clear to depart on lane alpha-two. Over.”

Natalya goosed the maneuvering rockets a bit to get them off the deck and moving toward the open door. As she cleared the station, her nav plotter laid a track on the console labeled alpha-two.

“
Peregrine
, Local. You are on the beam. Contact Dark Knight Control when you clear the local markers. Over.”

“Roger, Local.”

“Dark Knight Local, out.”

“
Peregrine
, out.”

“This course looks fine, Nats,” Zoya said. “We’re about four stans from the first jump point.”

Natalya looked aft to where Inge sat strapped into the jump seat. “So, you’ve been aboard before?”

“Indeed, I have. You’ve done a wonderful job refurbishing it, but it’s still the
Peregrine
. It brings back so many memories.”

Natalya checked her boards. “We’re clear of station traffic. You can unbuckle if you want.”

“How long until we reach the outer markers?” Inge asked.

“Another stan or so,” Natalya said.

Zoya turned to Inge. “If you don’t mind my asking, why do you need to get to Odin’s so fast?”

Natalya turned to say something to Zoya but Inge held up a hand. “I need to talk to him about my daughter. Family business. I’m sure you understand.”

Zoya shrugged. “Sure. No problem.”

Inge released her harness and folded the jump seat back into the bulkhead. “Can I make some coffee for you? Tea perhaps?”

Natalya nodded and smiled. “Thanks. That would be lovely.”

Inge slipped into the galley and started rustling about. “Do you have enough coffee for the trip?” Her voice carried the lilt of amusement.

“Should get us most of the way there. I’ve got some spare tubs in my stateroom,” Natalya said.

Inge’s low chuckle reached them even over the sound of the kickers.

“That was rude,” Natalya said, leaning closer to Zoya to speak softly. “You don’t ask people’s business.”

Zoya scowled and her lips pressed together for a moment before she spoke. “We don’t know who she is or what she’s doing here. She could be drugging our coffee right now so she can steal the ship.”

Natalya glanced at the passageway and weighed Zoya’s fears. “It’s possible.”

Zoya’s eyes went wide with shock.

“But not probable.” Natalya shook her head. “We don’t know that she could fly the ship even if she got control. She’s a well-known fixture at the station and she’s a talented artist.”

“We don’t know that.” Zoya stared at Natalya. “All we know is what she’s told us.”

Natalya shook her head. “No, we know a lot more than that. She and Kondur both knew my father. She’s flown on this ship before. Simplest answer is she flew with my father. That’s enough for me.”

“How do you take your coffee?” Inge asked from the galley.

“Black for me,” Natalya said.

“None for me, thanks,” Zoya said. She sighed and nodded. “I’ll take your word for it, but this is just reckless.”

“Like jumping out of Port Newmar wasn’t?”

Zoya sighed again and shook her head. “I’m going to catch up on some sleep while it’s quiet. Wake me for the jump?”

Natalya checked the plot. “You don’t need to get up for this one. Get a solid six. We can make a couple of jumps before we need to let the capacitors recharge a bit. You can take the next watch.”

“Fair enough.” Zoya pushed past Inge in the passageway as she slipped into her stateroom.

Inge brought Natalya a mug of coffee and slid into the navigator’s couch with her own. “Will she be all right?”

Natalya took a sip and let the rich brew roll around on her tongue, so hot it nearly burned. She swallowed and nodded. “She’s not used to Toe-Hold space.”

“And you are?”

She thought about that for a few heartbeats. “Not really, but at least I’ve been introduced to it. My father took me on a few short jaunts growing up and a grand tour for my sixteenth birthday. He always said CPJCT was the real danger.”

Inge blew on her coffee before sipping. “He might have been right.”

Natalya nodded. “Zoya’s afraid we’re going to get mugged and killed, and the ship stolen.”

“You’re not?”

Natalya sipped her coffee and gave it serious thought. “No. Well, yeah. Anything’s possible. Sure, it could happen. It’s probably more likely that we’d get the ship stolen here, but I’m not sure how much more likely than in Confederation-controlled space.” She paused. “I’ve got friends who’ve been mugged in Port Newmar. Friends who’ve been killed. Accident and misadventure don’t respect politics.” She glanced over at Inge.

“Your father must be proud of you.”

Natalya chuckled. “Maybe. I’m not sure what he’d think if he knew I was herded out of Port Newmar by TIC interceptors.”

“Does it matter? Were you planning on working your way up the chain of command in a Confederated merchant fleet?”

“No, I was actually planning on coming out here after graduation. I just didn’t expect to be bringing a crew.”

“Will she settle down?”

“I think so. It’s funny. We’ve been roommates for four stanyers. The academy is tough and put us both through the wringer.”

Inge nodded but said nothing.

“We never talked.”

“Never?”

“Oh, about homework, assignments. The instructors. Summer cruises. We always just talked about the academy. It was all-consuming.”

“But nothing about your pasts.”

“Yeah. She knew I had a ship. I spent every weekend I could get away on the orbital working on her. Cleaning, polishing. It took me one whole weekend to paint the engine room and it’s not much bigger than a closet.”

“You never invited her along?”

Natalya shook her head. “Never considered it.”

“Any idea why?”

Natalya sipped more coffee and let her gaze rest on the navigation plot. “The
Peregrine
was my escape. It helped keep me sane.”

“It was a connection to your father.”

Natalya nodded without looking over. “Yeah. That, too. I guess I didn’t want to share it.”

“How about now?”

Natalya grinned at Inge. “Now? Just being out here in Toe-Hold space is a connection to him. The ship is freedom. We can go where we need to. If I could be sure I wouldn’t get arrested, the ship would be the perfect courier between Toe-Hold and Confederation ports.”

“Why would you get arrested? You mean for smuggling?”

“They said I killed a TIC agent on graduation night. CPJCT doesn’t really approve of that.”

Inge’s eyes grew wide. “Really? How long ago was that?”

Natalya looked at the console. “About three days.”

Inge started a quiet laugh. “So, in less than a week, you’ve escaped from TIC, made contact with Verkol Kondur, and got a job. With your academy roommate as—what? Observer?”

“I think of her as my wing man.”

Inge settled into the couch and took a few sips from her own mug. “I’m not going to steal your ship.” Her voice barely reached Natalya’s ears.

“Were you planning on it?” Natalya asked.

Inge wrinkled her nose. “No. I really do need to see Bjorn about Kristiana. Kondur said you were going that way so I thought I’d thumb a ride. Why didn’t you charge me for passage, by the way?”

Natalya took a moment to process the question. “I honestly don’t know. I probably should have, but you’re like family. It just didn’t seem right.”

Inge gave Natalya a strange, penetrating look. “Like family?”

“Well, you knew my father. You have pet names for each other. This was some time ago, right?”

“Yes. Before you were born.”

“So, you were more than just friends. You’ve sailed on the
Peregrine
before.” Natalya looked a little sideways at Inge. “Any friend of my father’s is a friend of mine. I don’t make money off friends.”

“How do you know we were friends? We may not have parted amicably.”

Natalya shrugged. “Possible. Not probable.”

The navigation display beeped as they cleared the outer markers. Natalya triggered the computed burn to put them onto the course for Odin’s and sat back, listening to the small whooshes of the maneuvering jets. The kickers came online with a low growl and pushed them along the vector, gaining velocity with each passing heartbeat. She looked out at the shards of light all around.

“It’s beautiful out here, isn’t it,” Inge said.

“It is.”

After a long, comfortable pause, Inge asked, “What did she do?”

“To be dragged out here?”

Inge smiled and shook her head. “I was thinking about before. You spent your down time here on the ship. What did she do? Did she have a circle of friends that will miss her?”

Natalya sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know. Studied. She spent time in town, I know.” She shook her head. “I suspect some of that time was spent on extra training.”

“Must have been lonely for her,” Inge said. “What about you?”

“I never thought about it.
Peregrine
seemed enough.” Natalya felt a chuckle bubble up from her chest. “After all the forced togetherness in school, I really needed to get away to recharge.”

“And now here you are, jammed in a ship built for two with an extra stranger.” Inge’s eyes practically twinkled.

“It won’t be for long and there’s always the staterooms.” Natalya nodded toward the passageway. “If you want to nap, you can use mine. This is too short a run for me to get much sleep.”

“How long do you think?”

“I’ve plotted it at just over twenty-three stans from now.”

“That long?” Inge’s pale eyebrows lifted toward the overhead. “How many jumps?”

“Ten. We can make three jumps back to back, but then we need to recharge the jump capacitors for five stans and I’m allowing for one stan between for course verification and corrections.”