Poisoned Pawn (2 page)

“It’s a straightforward mission, Major.”

“So you say. I want our agreement in writing.”

“I’ll have it ready for your signature in the morning.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Lowell tugged his lip as he watched Major Clark leave the office. Maybe Clark wasn’t the best choice.

His handcomp beeped. He flicked a glance at the blinking urgent light. He tapped the screen, bringing up the text. Then swore under his breath. He called Paltronis on his com.

“Sir?”

“Dace got herself arrested. The stationmaster wants to throw the book at her. Go convince him that letting her leave will be his safest course of action. After she hires the pilot I’m sending her way, of course.”

“Yes, sir.”

Lowell rubbed a hand through his silver hair. Clark had better be sharp. Dace was already messing up his plans and she hadn’t even left Viya Station yet.

“Paltronis?”

“Sir?”

“Any word on Tayvis’ whereabouts?”

“Planetary Survey has him assigned to a population survey in Cygnus Sector. They wouldn’t say which planet. They stated very clearly that Planetary Survey is not under the authority of the Patrol Enforcers. They also told me where you could shove your rank, but I don’t think you want to hear that. Planetary Survey Command is still upset over the last time they helped you with an investigation.”

“I’ll apologize, again, if you think it might do any good. Send me all the information about their survey. Did you get the personnel files for Cygnus Sector?”

“Flagged, tagged, and sent, sir, along with everything I could get about Daviessbrowun’s business interests.”

“What would I do without you, Paltronis?”

“You’d find someone else. Do you want me to go intimidate the stationmaster now?”

“Please.”

She disconnected the line.

Lowell propped his feet on the desk, watching the bustling docking bay through the wide window. Too many pieces, too many different games, and too many wild cards loose. But that’s what made it fun.

I sat in a cell on Viya Station and fumed. The last time I’d been on Viya, I’d left a trail of destruction and almost caused a war with aliens called the Sessimoniss. Most of it hadn’t been my fault, but the station authorities still held it against me. I wouldn’t have come but the only cargo we could get on Tebros was for here in Viya. The pilot we’d hired, because regulations insisted on two, had gotten into a nasty brawl in the worst bar on Viya. When the authorities showed up, they’d arrested me. My pilot ducked out and disappeared. If she ever showed her face at the ship again, she wasn’t getting back on. Her contract was void.

I kicked the wall a few times out of frustration. The guard yelled at me to quit or be fined even more. I quit.

Another long hour passed.

The guard appeared, keys jangling. He opened the door and waved me out. “You made bail. Don’t come back.” He gave me a look that promised lots of pain if I did.

“I’m not planning on it.”

Jasyn waited impatiently in the foyer area, still gorgeous even though I knew she hadn’t had any sleep for almost two days. Next to her I was short, dumpy, and mussed.

“We’re broke now,” Jasyn said as we approached the airlock of the ship. “We have barely enough to pay docking fees, if we leave in the next few hours. It’s a good thing the cargo I managed to find is pay on delivery. No deposit. What were you thinking?”

“I was getting Letha back,” I said, slapping the controls for the hatch.

“So where is she?”

“I’d like to know myself.” We stepped through the hatch.

“What happened, Dace?” She turned to face me, dropping paperwork on the small galley table. “You’ve got a black eye.”

“Letha was in a bar, drunk and starting fights. I tried to stop her.” I touched the bruise and winced.

“You were the only one they arrested.” She rummaged in the locker behind her for the small med kit. We had a more complete medical bay in the back cabin, one I hoped we would never have to use. With my luck, I’d spend more time in it than out, I thought sourly. Jasyn put the kit on the table. “I’m the one who’s supposed to get in fights with men who don’t understand no.” Her voice was gentle, taking the sting out of her words, but not the antiseptic she dabbed on my cheek.

“Letha wasn’t saying no, either, which is where the problem started.”

“I take it we’re short one pilot?”

I nodded while she put the kit away. “You get to hire the next one. I’ve had lousy luck.”

“Not luck, you just make bad choices.” She tapped her perfectly manicured nails on the table. They were a light pink that contrasted nicely with the green of our ship uniforms. She had a golden zigzag on her left thumbnail, to go with the patches on our sleeves, a phoenix burning. “The station wants us gone in less than three hours. That was part of the deal to let you out. We have cargo to collect and a pilot to find.”

“You go find one, I’ll get the cargo.”

“I don’t think so. You’d start a riot just walking across the station. You go hire a pilot. The hiring office is right across the dock. How much trouble can you get in? Never mind, don’t answer. I don’t want to know.”

“You trust me to choose a good one?”

“Eventually you’ll have to. The odds are against everyone you pick being trouble.”

“They have been so far.”

“Then change your hiring methods. Go.” She shooed me out the hatch.

I went grumbling, determined to hire only the best pilot.

There was only one name, one pilot available for hire. I asked to talk to him anyway. I was told that he had just been hired. I closed my eyes, shutting out the smug hiring office receptionist and its dirty green walls with their posters and job postings, and counted to ten. It was my latest attempt to gain control. It didn’t help, but at least I didn’t scream. I turned to leave, wondering why I tried.

“You looking for a pilot?” a man said, hurrying up behind me.

I stopped and turned to look at him.

He wouldn’t have stood out in a crowd. He was average height, his hair a sandy blond, longer than most spacers wore it. He wore a gray shipsuit, no ship patch, only a pair of tarnished pilot stars on his collar.

“Do I pass inspection?” he asked, green eyes dancing, mouth quirked. He lifted his arms and turned around.

“I need a pilot, not a clown.” I pushed the door open.

“I’m a pilot,” he said, more serious. “I heard you were hiring.”

I stopped and turned back around, letting the door shut. “Then let’s go talk. You’ve got to be the only one left on the entire station.”

We went to one of the small interview rooms. I sat on one side of the rickety table in a chair that had seen better days. A very long time ago, I thought as I shifted off a loose spring that jabbed me. The man sat across from me, pulling out a packet of papers. He put them on the table between us, flipping them open. His pilot certification was on top. I picked it up. According to it, his name was Trevyn Clark. He’d been a pilot for seven years. His ratings covered a ship the size of the Phoenix. I put the paper down and looked at him.

“Why are you looking for work here?” I asked. “What happened to your last job?”

He pulled a paper out of the stack and flipped it at me. “Last five berths. I’m stuck here because the ship I was on was being delivered to her regular crew here. They needed a pilot to fly it.”

“And before that?” I watched his face, looking for lies.

“I flew three jumps on a Terellian ship. One pilot had just gotten married and moved in with his wife’s family. Their other pilot was still finishing school. They never let me in the cockpit.”

That one made sense. Regulations required a certain number of pilots, depending on the ship’s size and rating. Terellian ships were huge things, trading ships that carried generations of the same family. If you weren’t family, you weren’t crew. They married only with other trading families, so I’d stayed away. I hadn’t run into them much, I’d never been to the territories they usually worked. No profit in it for me.

“How far back do you want me to go?” Trevyn Clark asked. “I’ve had a run of bad luck finding a solid berth.”

I looked down his list. And stopped. I recognized a name. “What happened on the Iniori Matsura?”

He raised his eyebrows. “I was on the ship two months. I filed charges against Captain Calligan. For harassment.” His mouth pinched with anger. Whether it was over the situation back then or my asking about it, I didn’t know.

I laughed. I knew Isidora Calligan. I’d flown as a cadet on her ship a few times. Her predation of male pilots was well known even though the rest of the crew tried to keep it quiet.

“I won’t ask about any of the rest,” I said. “You wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t really flown with her.”

“You don’t trust my credentials?” He still didn’t look very happy.

“I’ve had bad luck in the past.” I leaned forward on the table. “What are you looking for?”

“What are you offering?”

“I need a pilot. I’m desperate now, yes. Viya won’t let me go without one, but they want me gone within,” I glanced at the time display on the wall, “two hours.”

A grin spread over his face, his eyes greedy. “I could take you to the cleaners.”

“And I’d break both your legs.” My grin was just as steady.

He threw back his head, laughing and slapping his leg. “Who else is on your crew?”

“The navigator.”

“Plenty of overtime. This could be good.”

“You get passage to wherever it is we’re going. And maybe some bonus, if we manage to turn a profit on our cargo. Then we talk about a possible contract. If I still like you when we get there.”

“Hard bargain,” he said, still leaning back. “What if I don’t accept?”

“Then we both get to sit here and rot. Take it or leave it.” I stood.

“There aren’t any other pilots. Even the ones that are available won’t fly with you. I’ve heard stories. You’re a legend on the station.”

“Not a good one. Is there a point to this?”

“Beggars can’t be choosers. I’ll take it.”

I was suddenly very suspicious. “Are you running from something? Outstanding warrants? Bloodthirsty pirates? Smuggling partners who want your head? What am I missing here?”

“From the stories, you’re the one with the price on your head. I’m just down on my luck.” He was still lounging back, looking at ease.

“Who wants my head now?” I couldn’t help asking. Curiosity runs my mouth sometimes without any help or guidance from my brain.

“The former owners of Belliff.”

“How do you know that?” Cold prickles ran up and down my spine.

“Public record, what you did. Anyone with half a brain knows Belliff management got away, at least the ones with the power. You ruined their entire operation. It makes sense they’d be gunning for you.”

“Are you this way with all your potential employers?”

“Are you this suspicious of everyone?”

“Yes.”

His amusement disappeared, wiped clean. He studied me from green eyes as hard as stone. He finally blinked. “Passing on a warning, Captain Dace. From a friend in station security.”

“I wasn’t aware I had one.” Warnings coming from the Patrol would be suspect. Especially ones from a certain Commander Grant Lowell. He’d been trying to recruit me to work undercover in his top secret organization since I’d gotten mixed up in a nasty piece of business on Dadilan. He’d even sent Tayvis after me. It still hurt to think about that. My relationship with the Patrol Enforcer Malcolm Tayvis was complicated, to say the least.

“His name’s Darl. He said to remind you of Professor Commandant Ludviga. Whatever that means.”

My mouth twitched. Darl was an old classmate from the Academy. “Darl made it into station security, then. Good for him.” He’d been dock supervisor the last time I was here.

“He sent me here from the brig,” Trevyn Clark admitted. “Told me you would need a pilot. Seems yours skipped station, leaving you in trouble. He did it as a favor to me and you. Or so he said.”

“What were you doing in the brig?”

“I wasn’t arrested, if that’s what you’re asking.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Are you hiring me or not?”

“Do I have a choice?” I ran a hand through my hair. “Get your gear. The ship’s right across the dock.”

“Don’t I have to sign papers?”

I muttered a very bad word. I hate paperwork. I sat back down and punched up the proper screen.

“Captain Dace of the Phoenix Rising,” I said at it. The proper blanks filled in. “Hiring Trevyn Clark as pilot, temporary status. Contract—confidential agreement.” I jabbed my thumb onto the pad for recording prints.

“Trevyn Clark, accepting employment as stated,” he confirmed and added his thumbprint.

The computer beeped and clicked. Two copies of our agreement slid out of the slot. I dropped in the proper amount of credits, the last two in my pocket. “Welcome aboard, Trevyn.” I couldn’t keep the irony out of my voice.

He took my hand, his was firm and a bit cool. “It’s Clark, if you don’t mind.” He let go. “Do you prefer Captain or Ma’am?”

“Don’t push your luck. I’ll take you to the ship, before I file the rest of the papers.”

He followed me out of the interview room. I paused by the outer door of the hiring office, watching him. He talked to the receptionist, the same one who’d barely been civil to me. She flirted with Clark. He collected a duffel from her then crossed the room.

“Waiting for me, Captain?”

“Saves time.” I stalked away, towards the welcoming door of my ship, through the tangles of cables and cargo that littered the wide docking bay. I wondered what Jasyn would have to say about the pilot I’d hired. I wondered what he’d have to say about her. I wondered just what Darl had said about me. I wondered if the smugglers that backed Belliff would really hunt me down. I wondered how far I’d have to go to get away from them. I wondered if the nagging voice in my head would ever shut up and leave me alone.

Clark looked around the ship and whistled. “Nice ship.”

She was. I was very proud of the job we’d done refitting her. “The third cabin is free. You can have the end one if you prefer, but it’s got a med unit in it.”