“So, what now?” Steve asked from his place sitting on the spiral staircase that ran up through all three levels of the Valerian Coop Infiltrator.
Kori shrugged. “Like Jax said, we sit here with the modules. Wait for the client to come pick ‘em up. The sun will be up in...” She trailed off.
Skip volunteered, “Half an hour, -ish.”
“-Ish?” Steve asked, looking at the ceiling.
“I’m a spaceship, not a clock.”
Rudy chimed in, “We’re almost at the drop off. For what it’s worth, I agree, we should drop the ore module with the other one, then wait for the client. Once that’s done, we can head to Salma. They have the large spaceport anyway, will be easy to get a landing clearance.”
Kori nodded. She had to grab a railing set in the bulkhead near where she was standing to keep her balance. “Yeah. Jax can take care of himself, and it sounds like Naomi is even more capable.” She thought for a minute. “Just to confirm, those shuttles aren’t onto us, right?”
Skip made a laughing, clucking kind of sound. “I’d expect you to know better, Kori. No base shuttle is going to track me, unless I want it to.”
“Lotta ego for an AI,” Steve said, standing to head up to the common deck.
From his position on the module swaying below the Osprey, Baxter beamed, I like it better when it’s just Jackson. These two talk too much.
Agreed, Rudy and Skip beamed back at the same time.
* * *
The sound of heavy boots thudded above the small hatch.
Jax looked at Naomi in the faint glow of their combined gPhone screens. “These mechanicals, plus the ore, should make us nearly impossible to detect.” He paused as someone stomped by overhead. “At least with the gear these guys likely have.”
“You think those shuttles brought in gear or tech?” Naomi asked. She’d managed to smudge one side of her face with purple-ish dust from the ore in the modules above. It seemed to find its way everywhere. It covered every surface of the crawl space they were hiding in.
“I can’t imagine. They were probably dispatched to see if any ships or ground vehicles were nearby. The bypass didn’t work, something went wrong, so the engine crew got an alert. I’m sure they know the ore is gone, but I’m guessing they can’t investigate until the train arrives in Salma. Lot of companies and coops will be clamoring for their ore.”
The train car bumped along and rumbled. The sound of shock troopers moving around in the narrow walkway overhead had subsided. Naomi looked at her phone. “Should we get out?” She tried to twist into a more comfortable position, unsuccessfully.
Jax shook his head. He’d given up trying to sit in the low clearance space. He was lying on his back, hands behind his head. “I think we should wait. When the train pulls into the Salma stockyard, it’ll be bustling with activity. We can sneak out then.” He took a breath. “I think.”
“You think?”
He turned to look the woman in the eye. “Look, girlfriend, I’m a lot of things: smuggler, occasional pirate—though rarely—freight hauler, a bounty hunter, once—but that was more an accident—private security.” He held up a finger. “Secret agent, never been on the list.” He smirked. “Or ninja, though that’d be pretty cool. I’d sign up to be a ninja.”
She looked at him for a minute, then sighed. “Maybe being your partner isn’t a good idea.”
Jax blinked several times. “Uh, I never offered you a partnership.”
She winked. “You would, eventually. I’m persuasive.” When he got a look on his face, she said, “Not like that, you horn dog.”
Jax leaned back, both hands held up. “Woah.”
She raised a purple dust smudged eyebrow. “In the short time I’ve known you, I’ve found out that sleeping with anyone of poor taste or decision-making skills is right near the top of your skills list.” She grinned. “Above smuggler.”
“I can’t help being dashingly handsome.”
She laughed loud enough that she clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes darting left and right, making sure no one had heard her.
Jax eyed the woman next to him that he barely knew. “So, we’ve got time. What’s your deal?”