Page 2 of How to Steal a Galaxy

“You weresupposedto crash the ship neater,” I point out. The plan had been to wreck theRoundabout, then let me loot the goods the operation needed and be gone before anyone else showed up. It was the best plan to keep the crew alive and still get the data, and with the crash, there was an excellent chance it would be weeks before the government even knew the material was missing. With a freighter like that, any pause to open up a cofferdam or allow outside boarding would have sent immediate alarms through the system, and probably the United Galactic Systems Navy would show up, guns blazing. But by crashing the ship, communication was just cut off. No one would know about the evac crew until they saw the crash site. And the government agencies monitoring theRoundaboutwould believe they’d have to gather up a salvage crew, wasting valuable time.

Time that I could have spent getting the goods and getting out.

Had the ship’s crash site not been quite so bad.

“We did what we could,” the contact says. “And it can’t have beentoodifficult. You got the stuff.”

The crew of theRoundaboutknew the drive was in the bridge box, and they suspected the key was in one of the cargo crates—but all the cargo crates had been linked to the security system, so they couldn’t locate it before the wreck.

“It was a hassle, is what it was,” I grumble. “I deserve a bonus. I have to pay for repairs that I incurred runningyourjob. Which was also in the middle of fucking nowhere.”

“You knew that going in.”

I did. TheRoundabout’scourse was set on an unusual path that was supposed to be off the charts. But it was heading to a nanobot factory on one of the little unnamed worlds with no atmosphere. Safer to produce something directly designed to interfere with water cycles on a world without water. If it malfunctions, you just scrap the design without risking ruining the whole freaking planet.

Bots are wild. I don’t really mess with them, because I don’t like the idea of someone programming something invisible to the naked eye that can mess you up. People used to use them for everything, including biological and medical issues, but some regs came out limiting their use. Thing is, bots work like a virus—they can replicate, and they can infect other bots with bad coding. No one volunteers these days to infect themselves with nanobots that a coder could bust into and hack your ownbody. But for things like the environment? I guess the government cleared that.

Infect a whole planet, see what happens.

My contact tilts his head back, looking down his nose at me as if he has me all figured out. “You’re not in it just for the money.”

“I am,” I snap back immediately. “Also, did you not notice the hole in my hull? It’s kind of big deal. And it’s gonna cost a lot.”

He starts shaking his head, this little smirk on his face really tempting me to just punch him. “Nah, you say it’s about cash, but really? You care.”

“Of course Icare,” I snarl. It was why I was willing to riskGloryto get the work done. “But if theHalifaxhad offered me more than you guys did, I would have taken it. Those people weren’t even willing to give me seconds at mealtime.”

“You interacted directly with the government salvage?” My contact is surprised.

“Mm,” I say, looking at my data band to find a repair at the station.

“How much interaction did you—”

“I was on theHalifaxfor a few nights,” I say. “And I would charge you overtime, but they fed me well. Except for being stingy with the portions.” I take a moment and think about that chicken. Thatpeach. I wonder how much luxury food costs on Rigel-Earth. Probably as much as this repair is going to cost.

“Did you—”

“I didn’t learn anything you don’t already know,” I say, sighing as I look up at him. “Probably only the government operative on board knew the full picture of what they were salvaging.”

“Who—”

“Rian White.”

He leans back. “Oh.”

A tone like that? My body goes still. “What’s thatohmean?”

“We’ve run into White a few times. He’s...observant.”

Damn right he is.

“Won’t take a bribe,” he continues.

Not surprising.

My contact weighs the box in his hand. “He’s an operative, not a decision-maker, but he’s someone who influences those who do make the calls. But...White doesn’t know coding.”

And there’s the rub. See, Rian wants to help Earth. But he believes there are proper channels for that,officialways to help. That the government arcs slowly but eventually bends toward goodwill. So, he probably headed a commission for solutions, and he probably listened to all sorts of private investors who came up with action plans, and then he probably helped pick the final companies to manufacture these nanobots that are supposed to clean up Earth.

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