As the shuttle settled into its berth, Derek Taglioni couldn’t keep a smile from bending the corners of his lips. The feel of the ship comforted him. Hard as that was to believe.
“Hard dock. Hard seal,” Ensign Naftali told him.
Ashanti’s always-pleasant voice announced, “Welcome aboard” through the speakers.
“Good to be back,” Dek called. “Missed you, old friend.”
“We missed you as well, Dek. First Officer Turner has been appraised of your arrival and will meet you in the Captain’s Lounge.”
Dek unstrapped, glanced over at Dan Wirth, seeing devious wariness in the psychopath’s clever eyes. “You sure you want to do this?”
“Hey, I almost died in a plastic box while a bunch of overgrown lizards chewed on it. Lead forth, and let us begin.” Wirth rose and extended a hand that Dek precede him. “Whole lot better arrival than that last departure from Turalon. I barely got off that bucket with my balls intact.”
“Woman trouble, I take it?” Dek acknowledged Naftali’s salute and led the way to the hatch.
“Is there any other kind?” Wirth asked, pausing long enough to adjust his quetzal-hide vest and its garish chains.
“Oh, yeah. Cannibals hunting you, jealous relatives, Corporate regulations.” A beat. “An illegally assumed identity to cover a murder.”
“Don’t get funny.”
Dek gave the man a flippant raise of the eyebrows. “Come on. Let’s get this started.”
As Dek led the way past the hatch, it was into a different Ashanti. The sialon had been scrubbed, the air smelling slightly astringent. Taking the lift, it was like a homecoming. The feel of the ship, so familiar after all those years. And at the same time, she was different. Smelled more earthy? Green? Alive?
But when it came to different, so was he: tanned, muscular, with a glaring pink scar under his left eye. Dr. Turnienko had repaired the bone in what she’d called his left maxilla. A scar he’d indeed have, but not a dent.
As they stepped out of the lift on the Command Deck, Wirth muttered, “I’d hate to discover that armed security personnel with a warrant for my arrest waited behind one of the doors. If that happened, you know I wouldn’t hesitate to blow a hole right through you before they killed me.”
Wirth danced his fingers on the grip of the holstered pistol at his belt. And true, he was fast enough that Dek wouldn’t stand a chance.
Reaching the Captain’s Lounge hatch, Dek turned. “Here’s what you need to know: My cousin, Miko, is a smart, crafty, clever, and cunning monster. A craftier and more clever monster than I. And believe me, when it came to being a plotting pit viper, I tried. He despised me, with good reason.”
“Not exactly a scintillating recommendation of character that you’re giving him, or yourself, is it?”
“And you have a right to talk?” Dek arched a questioning brow. “By now your container with all the plunder is being loaded in the cargo deck with a Taglioni seal prominently displayed on it. It will only be opened by Taglioni agents in Transluna, and its contents will be reported straight to Miko.”
“Yeah, yeah, and from there—with your recommendation and Miko’s blessing—your people can buy my safe return. That’s a shitload of plunder. In terms of Solar System, it’s worth billions. You get your ten percent. But that’s just a pittance compared to what’s to come.”
“I get more than that. I slap Miko right across his perfectly sculpted face. And I do it with wealth the likes of which he’s never seen. There is no way you can understand what that means to me.” Dek saw the hesitation in Wirth’s eyes, and added, “Come on, Dan. In your world it’s all about you. Heartless, without remorse. The high and rarified circles of power that make up Transluna are just the place for you. So, in a sense, getting you back to Solar System is my way of paying them all back.”
“And to think some would call you petty.”
Dek opened the door, ushered Wirth into the small room, and shook hands with Ed Turner. “Hey, old friend. Good to see you again.”
“My God! Your face. I’d heard you were wounded. That’s . . . horrible!”
“It’s healing. Ed, this is Dan Wirth. Dan, Ed Turner is the finest First Officer to space with in the entire universe.”
Turner shook hands with Wirth, offered seats, and Dek dropped into his familiar spot. “Hear you’re in the captain’s chair to take Ashanti back to Solar System.”
Turner settled into Galluzzi’s chair. “I don’t know what Miguel’s doing. I think getting here was just too much. That it broke something in his spirit. He’s been living down in PA. Keeping a low profile at Shig’s place.”
“Hope you don’t have as interesting a ride getting back.”
“I’ll take my chances. I’m just not a dirtie. And besides, you should see Deck Three. We ripped out the bulkheads, put in light panels, hauled up dirt. Turned the whole thing into a farm to augment the hydroponics. And we’re going back as a skeleton crew. About fifteen of our people, another ten of Torgussen’s when Vixen matches with us next week. If we get stranded somewhere, we can survive for decades.”
“Naw. If you’ve planned for it, it won’t happen. My bet? You’re back off Neptune in two-and-a-half years.” Dek reached into his pocket and handed Turner the data cube. “This is important. I’m entrusting it to you, and you alone. Seal it in the captain’s pouch. Mark it urgent delivery to Boardmember Miko Taglioni or whoever his successor on the Board might be.”
Turner’s washed-out blue eyes held Dek’s for a moment. Then he glanced at Wirth. Nodded. Took the data cube. “It will be done.”
“And as I speak, there’s a container being transferred from the shuttle to the cargo deck. It, too, bears the Taglioni seal. Make sure it is immediately delivered to my family’s agents.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Happy spacing, Ed.”
Turner frowned slightly. Studied the cube. “Dek? You sure you don’t want to go with us? You almost died down there as it is.”
“Positive. You’d be surprised at what I found down there.”
“Like . . . what?”
“A whole new world.” Dek stood.
Wirth followed, shaking Turner’s hand. “Good to meet you. Before you space, drop by The Jewel. We’ll set you up right. Have Angelina give your cock the milking of a lifetime. On the house, First Officer.”
“Uh, yeah. Thanks.”
Outside the hatch, Wirth jerked a thumb back at the lounge. “Maybe he didn’t get it? Outside of Ali, Angelina’s the best on the planet. And it’s not like just anyone gets free tail from her.”
“Well, Dan. Not everyone’s a connoisseur.” Dek slapped the man on the back. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before Turner gets any ideas about warrants and men with guns.”