Cyra stifled a yawn.They’d been sitting at the Bucket for hours without conversation beyond a few males trying to hit on them. As soon as she tried to talk to them about a job on her ship, they laughed and walked away. She pushed her chair back and stood. A pale, almost translucent female caught Cyra’s eye. The woman darted between tables, eyes locked on Cyra, mouth frozen in a determined line. Cyra sat down again, wide awake.
“Captain Maejzur? I’m Blaize Dreheer. Doc Maretine sent me.”
Oh wow. It was the first time a stranger addressed Cyra as captain and it was like she’d drunk three Rings of Saturn cocktails. But the caffeinated alcoholic rush of that beverage had nothing on being called captain. She barely managed to keep a huge grin at bay. “Have a seat.”
Blaize dropped into the empty chair and introduce herself to Veda.
“So what do you do, and why are you looking for a job?” Cyra didn’t feel like wasting any more time.
“For the past few galactic years, I’ve been contracting as an engineer. In between jobs, I pick up environmental systems maintenance work on the station. Not the most glamorous work, but it keeps me in food and shelter.”
“Why short-term contracts?”
“At first, I thought I would be able to captain on my own ship again. Short-term contracts pay pretty well, and I saved as much as I could. But there are long periods in between.” Blaize brushed her deep red hair back over her shoulder. “I thought I would earn credits faster and build a network of crew members who would want to work with me. That didn’t exactly go as planned either.”
Cyra stiffened. Why would a talented engineer who had been a captain want a job onThe Treasurewith an inexperienced commander? Did Blaize plan to grab the ship out from under her? “You were a captain?”
“Right out of a ninety-cycle boot camp. I had a small inheritance and spent it on a shiny new ship for me and the person I thought was my mate. It was a crazy plan. I didn’t even know enough to know better. He convinced me we could be successful. I hired some other classmates and somehow got a commission to provide transportation for the Galaxy Exploration Division. But, they didn’t renew.”
Cyra’s biggest fear was her story would end like Blaize’s. To taste her dream and then lose everything would be worse than never being a captain, assuming she could even get a crew and get off the station. She’d get every detail she could get from Blaize so she wouldn’t repeat the woman’s mistakes.
“My lover, was a complete lying bastard. He hated that I was a better engineer than him. He sabotaged things and told lies about me to the crew. It’s possible he’s still sabotaging me.”
Cyra set her jaw to keep from interrupting. Why did some males have to be so deceptive and competitive? Doc wasn’t like that. Captain hadn’t been either, at least not maliciously.
“He thought if he made it look like I wasn’t doing a good job, he would be able to take over. He fucked me over literally and figuratively. Then I found out, he was fucking his best friend, the Communications Officer, too, the rotten asshole.”
Cyra nodded, encouraging Blaize to continue.
“I ended up putting a lien on my ship to pay the crew. When I didn’t get another contract, I lost it.”
Veda winced audibly.
Blaize glanced at Veda and nodded. Then she turned back to Cyra. “The man who fucked me over? I think you may know him.”
“Me?” Cyra flinched. She hardly knew anyone who wasn’t a member, well, former member ofThe Treasure’screw.
“Varik?”
“Varik?” Her outburst betrayed her shock that it could be the same person attacking them both. Was this a setup? “Your lover was VarikPectori?”
Blaize grimaced with a slight shrug.
What a complete asshole. It hadn’t been Cyra’s relationship with Captain Auvi that made Varik act out. If what Blaize said was true, he’d ruined her life too.
“I’d heard he had hooked up with the infamous Captain Auvi Thenal and was acting as the ‘launch assistant’ in addition to being the Engineer.”
Cyra nodded, her cheeks heating and her stomach souring. She was never an official crew member. She’d never been on a ship before Captain Auvi rescued her. She had no idea that he was infamous, or that strangers looked down on what she did for him, or that anyone knew what it took to launchThe Treasure, beyond the immediate crew.
“I want to join your crew. I have experience on all kinds of ships, and systems of all ages.”
Blaize would be a dream come true if she wasn’t sent by Varik. “Varik emptied the accounts. I can’t pay you.”
Veda chimed in, “She means, we can’t pay you right away. Our credits are tied up in the current shipment.”
“I don’t care. I want Varik to suffer. Making sure he doesn’t get his hands on your ship is a start. Making sure we all make a fortune would be even better. I want to be a partner.”
“A partner?” Cyra’s gills flapped under her hair. She took a slow breath and searched Blaize for signs of deception, ticks, nervous movements. But the woman met Cyra’s gaze directly.
