Page 2 of Claim
She realized she was holding her alien shop vac/broom in a semi-defensive manner and scrambled for her working smile.“Hello, apex sir,” she chirped.“What brings you here?”
Jaw jutting, he frowned down at her.
Not that she hadn’t been frowned at before, of course.She’d once told the prom queen of her lil Nebraska hometown back on Earth that she couldn’t do beaded cornrows for the Corn Queen Carnival.And whoo,thathad been a frown.
But it didn’t compare to an aggrieved apex orc.Probably because most prom queens didn’t have tusks.
“My boots brought me here,” he said in a bass tone so low that her insides trembled even though he wasn’t really growling at the moment.“Unless you thought I floated.”
“Well, wearein space,” Kinsley pointed out with more sass than June thought was wise.But Kinsley’s chosen mate was the apex’s twin brother, so she could be cheeky with him.
Also, her restored hair looked fabulous, and that always gave people a confidence boost.
If anything, Mag’s tusks jutted further.“My brother told me you would be here, preparing yourselves for battle at the Luster.”
“Battle?”June squeaked.“No.We’re just doing our hair.”
Mag’s frown deepened into a scowl.“Hair?”
A sound suspiciously like a giggle emerged from Adeline, although she swallowed it back when June rolled a warning eye at her.
“Hair is the keratin strands we grow on our bodies and mostly on our heads for various biological and cultural reasons,” June started, offering a semi-paraphrased mashup of her beautician school training and the IDA handbook.
“I know what hair is,” Mag growled.“What does hair have to do with the Luster battle?”
“What does battle have to do with the Luster?”June shook her head.“And who said anything about fighting?”
“I might’ve mentioned warpaint to Sil when I said us girls were getting together today,” Kinsley said apologetically.“Maybe my janky translator didn’t quite get the point, and then I confused matters by explaining I should’ve used a different term since that one was co-opted from a period in Earth history where colonizing forces warred with indigenous tribes.”She lifted one shoulder.“So now he’s looking for Old West historical romances written by First Nations authors.”
“The Luster may not be open warfare,” Mag said, “but we were attacked by one of the subordinate members trying to claim our fortune to enhance their own standing, and many others are equally troublesome.I filed a grievance with the Luster against thePratorimbut it may come to lasers once again.So if your Earther hair can be protection or weapon, I command that you all be so outfitted.”He gave June an arrogant head tilt.
She restrained a scowl of her own.No one told her how to do hair except the client herself.
“It doesn’t quite work like that,” Adeline explained.“But it’s true that presentation and impressions is a huge part of getting ahead of Earth, which Teq tells me is the case at Luster Station too.”She did a head tilt of her own at the apex.“That is why you contracted with the IDA, isn’t it?Taking mates or at least dates to the Luster makes the Omega Reclamation Crew look like the successful and prosperous ship you want theDeepWanderto be.”
When Mag crossed his four arms over his bared chest, the apex glyph branded into his pectoral flexed, the scar gleaming pale against his blue-bronze hide.“We are already very good at what we do,” he said, but this time, for all his size and bluster, his growl sounded less convincing to June’s ears.
Kinsley nodded.“Of course we are.But as we all know, making sure everybodyelseknows is just as crucial.”
Since Kinsley had shared some of her past indiscretions and scams, June knew the other Earther woman was thinking of her brassy hair, clearly donned as part of her personal disguise.
Now she did scowl.Because dyes and extensions might not have come factory standard with her clients but the way such beautifications made them feel was real and true.
“Really, June, you should come up with a look for the orcs for the Luster,” Adeline said.
June jerked up straighter.“What?”
“Yes, that’s brilliant,” Kinsley said.“As much as I love the stripped-down utility kilt sans shirt look, especially when it’s stripped off my mate—sorry, Mag,” she added when the apex made a rough sound, “it seems a little crude for something as important as the Luster.”
“My crew is not crude,” Mag said.Definitely a growl this time.
“That’s exactly Kinsley’s point,” Adeline soothed.“June, what do you think?Could you make us shine for the Luster?”
“I’ve only ever done proms and weddings,” June protested.“And one funeral.But the Luster is like an intergalactic business affair of state for some of the most important crews in mining and salvage.”She shook her head hard enough to make her haphazard working girl top knot wobble precariously.“That’s too big for me.What if I got something wrong?”
“They won’t know orcs or Earthers,” Adeline said, all reasonableness.“We can be anything we want to be.”
That was something people always said, but it wasn’t really true, not past skin deep.
