Page 23 of Star Prince

Gann’s doubts surged. This Lara’s attitude was as rotten as year-old oster eggs. He hoped it didn’t interfere with her ability to do a job, because he had no time to waste hunting for another tracker. “I’ll pay you what you need to free your ship—once the woman is in my custody.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “I’ll wait while you gather your things.”

Lara scowled at Eston as she walked past, her demeanor proud but unyielding. The cloaker smiled. “Tell me all about it when you get back.”

“Yeah, right.” The tent flap whooshed closed.

Only then did it hit Gann that he was stuck with Miss Sunshine. By the heavens, he thought, this voyage was going to prove very long indeed.

“I’ll standfor no more sleeping past your assigned rest period, Tee. Every one of the six crewmembers aboard this ship carries his own weight.” Admonishing Tee’ah as she sat in the pilot’s chair, Quin leaned toward her.

She reared back, but the headrest stopped her from retreating as far as she would like. After he had spoken to her, Ian vanished to who-knew-where, Muffin headed into town, while Gredda and Push drank tockin the galley and went over files listing what goods were in the cargo hold. That had left Tee’ah alonewith Quin, who delightedly used the time to lecture her on the ship’s rules and her duties, which he said included taking her turn in the galley to cook meals when her number came up—something she prayed wouldn’t be soon. She had never prepared a meal in her life. While cooking her own food was something she had expected, and even looked forward to, dinner for six was something she had never anticipated. Her sympathies went out to the crew.

Quin pursed his lips, scrutinizing her. “I hope that liquor you like to guzzle hasn’t eaten all your brain cells, because you’ll need a few for this.” He shoved a tablet computer into her hands. “Here—your shipboard systems manual.” He tapped the tablet with work-worn fingers. “You’ve done all right so far. But like I told the captain today—if you fly rough, I’m not fixing whatever you break without it first being docked from your pay. Got it?”

“Yes. I do,” Tee’ah replied. Her tone was cool but not cold. As a professional starpilot she refused, no matter how much the man baited her, to bicker with her mechanic, wrench-wielding demon that he was.

She was thankful when Quin skulked off without further provocation. With the tablet nestled in her hands, she relaxed against the contoured pilot’s chair.Herchair. She could grow used to the sound of that, she thought as she accessed the data stored on the little computer and began studying the lengthy shipboard systems manual.

But, as she waited for Ian to come back to take her to Grüma’s marketplace, her attention drifted to the miles of sunlit, forested hills outside the ship’s forward viewscreen. True, viewscreens in late-model starships weren’t transparent and displayed only what the computer “saw,” but it was obvious the day was lovely. The idea of being closed inside smothered her with a sensation of claustrophobia. She had spent too much of her life gazing longingly out of windows; it was her time to be on the outside. She would await Ian there.

She checked her hip pocket for credits, her weapon, and the personal comm unit Ian required her to carry. Across the cockpit, Quin crouched on his knees. His head was buried in an open panel underneath the comm station and tools glinted near his boots. The mechanic had been working since they landed, muttering about “bad luck” and “suspicious damage.” She doubted that cutting short her studying of the ship’s systems would make his mood any worse. “I will see you later, Quin.”

As she rushed down the gangway from the cockpit, Ian exited the cargo hold. “Ready?” he asked.

His words were interrupted by a shout— “Tee!Halt!” Quin clambered down the gangway. Red-faced, he looked as if he was ready to vent all the outrage in his rancorous little soul. “You’re confined to the ship.”

“She’s on probation,” Ian corrected. “Not confinement.”

“But, sir. I thought you said we had to keep an eye on her.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her. I’m taking her to the market.”

“Quin’s worried about the remaining quantity of functional brain cells in my head,” Tee said dryly.

The mechanic scowled at her. “Do me a favor, starpilot; don’t go losing any more today.” He hoisted himself up the gangway and stomped back to his repairs.

After watching him go, Ian turned and dropped a cap and a pair of eyeshaders into Tee’ah’s hands. “A makeshift disguise,” he said.

The crown of the cap was decorated with Earth runes— “ASU”, and a mean-looking little red man with horns and a tail. “Thank you. Is this Quin? It rather reminds me of him.”

To her delight, her employer laughed. “Meet the Sun Devil, the Arizona State University mascot and my ship’s namesake.” He seemed to search for a suitable English-to-Basic translation. “It’s where I received my higher education on Earth.”

Tee touched her fingertips to the emblem on the cap. Earth and its inhabitants symbolized all she hoped for in her new life— unconventionality and brash independence. “It will be an honor to wear it,” she said. Proudly, she wedged the hat onto her wretched hair—or what was left of it—and led the way down the entry ramp.

She walked with Ian along a dirt path leadingaway from the ship. The breeze held a slight chill, but it was sweet with the scent of sun-warmed pine and mild enough to warrant leaving off the thermal-control sewn into the inside lining of her brother’s shirt. Inhaling, she angled her face into the sun, an intense blue-white pearl so different from Mistraal’s oversized golden star. The sunshine complimented the hues of the lavender sky and a forest of conifers that was broken only by frothy streams and a few outcroppings of bald rocks.

Ian spoke companionably as they walked, picking up pebbles occasionally and tossing them into the dense undergrowth lining the trail. “So, you and Quin aren’t best friends yet.”

She rolled her eyes. “If he could inventory and keep track of my brain cells, he would.”

“The truth is, I need you, Tee, and he knows it. We’ve lost three pilots to alcohol. And don’t forget—you were drunk when I hired you.”

“I don’t drink…that much.”I don’t drink at all,she longed to tell him. But she had a questionable past to maintain.

“Carn used to say that too. Then he killed himself with the stuff.”

Her hand flew to the wings on her chest. Likely they had belonged to her predecessor. The thought made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. “I’m sorry,” she said.

His casual shrug belied deeper feelings on the subject. “Between us, I’m sure we can think of somerecreational activities that don’t include alcohol.”

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