Page 17 of Full Speed to a Crash Landing

“Why didn’t you seal your bulkhead? That would have maintained flight integrity and life support—”

“Yeah, if I still had power,” I snap. “Turns out when you lose part of your portside hull, it takes out, you know. Power. Life support. A chance to survive.”

Rian nods slowly.

“It’s good to know that we don’t need to worry about damage in the same way,” Rian finally says. “I’ll inform the captain that your ship lost viability due to...” He cleared his throat. “User error.”

I stand up so abruptly that my seat goes swiveling. “User error?!” I shout. “I will have you know that I—”

“Took a cracked fuel rod to your own cargo bay and blew up your hull when you didn’t evacuate it quickly enough?”

My mouth hangs open.

Rian stands, grinning, a gleam of triumph in his eyes. “Look, we all make mistakes,” he allows.

“True,” I grumble.

“It’s just that my last mistake involved me staining my favorite shirt with hot sauce, and your last mistake led to—”

I punch him before he finishes, but all he does is laugh.

7

Rian takes me back to the mess hall.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to seduce me,” I say. When Rian’s eyebrows shoot up, I add, “The way to my heart isdefinitelythrough my stomach.”

His eyebrows go down, one side of his lips twitching up in a half-smile. “Noted. Well, the others will be here soon enough.”

I go ahead and fill up my tray from the dispenser. The lentils have been replaced with some sort of goopy thing fleckedwith seeds and nuts that tastes almost like vanilla. There are dehydrated slices of a yellow fruit mixed in, and beside that are protein balls that have, blessedly, been seasoned with something spicy enough to make me appreciate the goop.

“You guys have variety,” I say, shooting him a grin. Rian’s not taken a tray for himself. I wonder if I can get his serving later.

“I’m guessing your team found out that there are some complications planetside that you didn’t expect,” I say, pointing a spoon at Rian before turning it back to the goop.

“We have extensive scans,” he replies. “We didn’t send Yadav and Magnusson down blind.”

I nod, mouth full, then swallow. “Scans are nothing compared to boots on the ground.”

“True,” he allows. “Is that stuff really that good?”

“Mm-hm.”

He gives me a doubtful look.

“But see,” I say, skewering a protein ball, “the thing is,Roundaboutdidn’t crash right.”

“There’s a right way to crash?”

Damn, these things are chewy. “Obviously. If a ship breaks down in space, that’s the best option.”

“Didn’t work so well for you.”

“Hey, I’m here, aren’t I? Despite ‘user error.’”

I glare. He smirks.

“Besides,” I continue, “we’re talking about a scavenger’s point of view. A ghost ship floating in space? Creepy as fuck, but easy to loot.”

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