Page 14 of Full Speed to a Crash Landing

“I can’t wait to meet the rest of our crew!” I say, beaming at Ursula.

She almost looks complimented for a moment, then shifts to a glare. “Mycrew. Not ours.”

“Notyet,” I say, undeterred.

The bulkhead door hisses as it opens; the shuttle bay is safe for entry. Inside, the shuttle door also opens, and two suited people step out. I see the way the mirrored face shields turn from the captain to me. Pretty soon, the helmets are off, and both the crew members stare openly at me.

The person closest to me is a large woman with broad shoulders. Her suit’s labeled with her surname—Yadav. Iglance over at the other person, male, with a surname of Magnusson. Yadav has brown skin with deep warm undertones, and when she tugs down her skull cap, I see shining dark hair braided in a crown. Magnusson has chin-length blond hair, pale skin, and eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Hi!” I say cheerily. “I’m your new crewmate!”

Magnusson gapes at me.

“Name’s Ada Lamarr,” I offer, sticking out my hand. He looks down at it and then to the captain, as if making sure I’ve not actually proffered a venomous snake.

Yadav removes her gloves and gives me her hand. “My name is Saraswati; do not call me Sara.” Her voice is stern, but her smile is light. I note the way the second syllable of her name goes up a little when she pronounces it.

Magnusson doesn’t offer me either a greeting or another name. “Why is she here?” He’s looking at me but talking to the captain.

I guess he’s not askinghowI’m here because he already knows. The whole reason theHalifaxdelayed responding to my distress signal was they thought I was a sabotage attempt, and they probably rushed to get their crew on the ground first. My eyes flick to Magnusson’s waist. He’s carrying a blaster on his hip. Saraswati is too.

They expected trouble on land.

Good of them to be prepared; no fault in that. If I was paranoid like this crew, I would have assumed the worst. Iwouldn’t have waited hours and hours to make the rescue and almost leave the caller to die, but you know. Choices.

“So, how was it?” I ask Saraswati, the nicer of the two. “Did the entire world try to burn you up while also eating you?”

Saraswati snorts a laugh. “Yeah, pretty much.” Her tone shifts a little as she turns to the captain. “Volatile conditions, as expected. But there were...complications. We recorded multiple significant seismic shifts, and the area forward of the wreckage shows—”

“We’ll debrief once you’ve both had a chance to change,” the captain says, cutting her off. “White, will you please escort our...refugee elsewhere.”

“Where?” I ask eagerly, as if I’ve not been dismissed.

“Elsewhere,” the captain growls.

Rian sweeps his hand toward the door, a smirk on his face. “I’m growing on her,” I confide in a loud, carrying whisper. “The captain’s going to hire me on properly any day now, I can tell.”

I think the loud groan I hear behind me as I climb the steps out of the cargo hold is from the shuttle-bay door opening, but it could have been Ursula. Before I go back into the ship proper, I turn and wave. “Lovely to meet you, Saraswati!” I call. Magnusson looks up when Saraswati waves back, so I blow him a kiss that makes him scowl so hard, I’m surprised he can see under that furrowed brow.

6

Rian escorts me to the bridge.

“Ooh, this is new!” I say excitedly. “It’s a real mark of your trust in me.”

Rian neither confirms nor denies this. I take it as a win.

The bridge onHalifaxis far more expansive than the little cockpit onGlory.I can fit a copilot and a navigator with me, but it’s tight and there’s a good chance someone’s sitting on someone else in the tiny space. TheHalifaxis designed to easily fit a crew of at least four, with a few more spots left over if anyone wants a show. Saraswati and Magnusson aren’t just shuttle crew; one of them is a nav, and one’s an engineer, I’d bet coin on that.

Rian sits down at a table with an inlaid screen and gestures for me to sit opposite him. I swivel the chair on its base and plop down, my eyes bumping from the ostentatious captain’s chair over to the lockbox built behind the main console, protected by a biometric scanner. It’s shut and secure, I think, but I don’t look at it too long. I don’t want to call attention to it.

I fiddle with the earring in my left ear, a little silver stud. It’s not just a metal decoration; it’s got a pretty decent voice recorder in it, one not linked to any comm sys. I wear it always, a backup where I can record stuff offline. I could “accidentally” lose it here and let the audio pick up some of Rian’s secrets . . .

No. Too risky. I’d have to retrieve it again to get the data off it. And if Rian finds it first, it’d give away the game. Still, looking around the bridge, I make a mental note to be better prepared next time.

If I had something valuable on board a ship like this, the lockbox here on the bridge is the most obvious place to put it.

I flip my gaze over to Rian, who’s watching me as if I’m the most fascinating person in the room. I mean, true, there’s only the two of us in here, but still. A girl likes to be appreciated.

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