13 Degrees of Separation (30 page)

“See? Not so hard,” he teased. He turned her hand over and
kissed the back of it. She squirmed, now intensely embarrassed. She jerked her
hand out of his grip. Something had her going, her ears were burning and she
felt butterflies in her stomach for some reason. Like she'd just gone null G or
pulled a fast flip. It was weird.

“Can we at least be colleagues?” Harif asked, black eyes
wide. She rolled her own, looking away. He poked her again and her arms went to
her sides defensively.

“Stop,” she muttered.

“What this?” he asked, poking her again. She laughed as he
got past her guard. Her hands came up and she retaliated. “Oh ho!” he laughed,
“No fair!” his voice rose in mock fear and laughter.

When they were finished they sat on the floor gasping for
breath. He shook his head and wiped sweat from his brow. “Okay, note to self,
don't mess with the pilot,” he said.

She giggled. “Good idea,” she said.

“Can I ask you a favor?” he asked, hands on his knees. She
looked over to him. “I mean, can you well, help me out? I know I'm an ass, I'm
sorry. Can you show me what I'm missing? You are right, we need to get this
going,” he said.

“Before they kick both our asses,” she said getting up.
“Come on, I'll lend you a hand. I'm tired of being in this station anyway, I
want to get out and about.” He grinned and got up. “But no more pranks!” she
growled, rounding on him, one finger raised.

He held his hands up and shook his head. “No, promise.
Scout's honor,” he said. She looked at him suspiciously for a long moment
before she nodded once and turned away. He poked her in the rear and then
danced off to the small supply closet. She growled but followed, shaking her
head in exasperation.

For the rest of the shift she taught him about the tug and
mechanical engineering.  He finally understood why she took such an interest in
the ship, and why she loved it so. They trade notes and papers. He'd been going
off of manuals. She taught him the basics and encouraged him to learn more.

At the end of that shift they were finished with the basic
repairs. They went over the ship with a tablet, performing a mock inspection.
Savo had gotten a copy of the inspection check list, they studiously went over
it and then back over it. When they were sure they were ready they called Clio
who arranged the appointment for the next day.

...*...*...*...*...

Grimly nervous the next morning, Mairi watched the Veraxin
technician arrive and chat with first Clio and then Sparks who had swapped
shifts with someone else to be here to represent the company. Harif was
nervous, he bobbed a nod and waved to the tug.

“Ah, here she is,” the Veraxin said, waving his antenna.
“You've got quite a nice tug from outward appearance,” he said nodding. He
checked the bay with his eyes. Harif hid a grin. Savo had tipped them off that
part of the inspection was a Foreign Object Detection drill. If anything was in
the bay with the craft, anything larger than a fleck of paint they'd be dinged
on points.

The Veraxin spent the shift poking around the craft, asking
them to show him the various systems and test them one by one. He plugged an
external computer into the auxiliary port of the avionics and ran a program.
When it was finished he chattered absently as he noted the results.

When he was finished he gave them a clean bill of health
and a printed form. “Of course you have preliminary certification for a test
flight. Once you prove the craft in space for a period of five minutes you will
have probationary status. A twelve hour shift without a maintenance problem
will give you your full registration.”

“Thank you sir,” Sparks said, nodding politely to the tech.

“No thank you. This has been a pleasant experience. I look
forward to your 1,000 hour tear down and re-certification,” the Veraxin
replied.

When he had left Mairi rounded on Sparks who was high
fiving Harif. “Thousand...”

“One thing at a time kid,” Sparks laughed. “Don't worry
about it. Right now the important thing is we're green.”

“That we are,” Clio replied.

“Clio,” Sparks said turning to her. “Can you spread the
good cheer?”

“That I will,” the AI responded and winked out.

They talked about the planned test flight the next day.
Harif was concerned but Mairi was relaxed. She waved off his concern but when
she could still see it clouding his eyes she swatted him, thoroughly
distracting him and her from any further worry. When play fight broke up they
stared at each other until Sparks called to them. “Yeah, um, coming!” Mairi
called, turning her head and then leaving in a rush.

...*...*...*...*...

Mairi was stopped on her way home later that evening. She'd
tired and decided there had to be a quicker way home. She was good at navigation,
so she picked one out. She wanted to shave five minutes off her commute. She
tried a new short cut through a darkened passage and now it was going to cost
her. Rough hands had her by the arm, she turned suddenly frightened. “What the
hell? Let go of me!” she snarled. She kicked, her steel toed boots hammered at
someone's shin. The man let go of her arm and howled, hopping on one leg.

She turned, shrugging off another hand on her shoulder and
then cutting into the attacker's space. Her knee came up, ramming home. The man
howled, doubling over, hands to his crotch.

“Kill the bitch! Slice her throat!” the first guy said. The
second reached for her but she pirouetted out of his reach. Unfortunately she
moved into the first's reach and he caught her again.

“Clio! Someone!” she screamed, punching for all she was
worth. She heard a whistle but her attention was fixed on the shiny knife the
second man pulled from the back of his trousers. He held it out, black eyes
gloating at her.

“I'm going to cut this little bitch up. You want red meat
or white?” he cackled, still doubling over.  He backhanded her a few times,
turning her fear into rage and a thirst for revenge. Her red glittering eyes
caught his.

“Oh feisty,” he growled, leering at her as she struggled.
“We like feisty don't we Wilcks?”

“Shut it man,” Wilkes replied, angry that the dumb idiot
had used his name. There was no telling where a microphone was.

“Shit man, no one around,” the second said, spreading his
hands and looking around. “Just us. And we're going to party,” he gloated,
leering once more. “You gotta pay the toll girly,” he said.

Mairi felt a hand grab her hair and pull upward. “You're
going to pay you blue haired bitch,” she winced as spittle hit her face. Her
elbow rammed backwards, glancing off something, most likely a belt buckle.

“That won't work twice pretty bitch,” the man laughed.

“Well, lucky for her it doesn't have to,” a familiar voice
growled. The man turned, looking over his shoulder. His eyes went wide just as
the punch hit him in the kidneys. He grunted and let go of the girl, who
shrugged out of her jacket enough to wrap it around her arm. She deflected the
knife of the other attacker.

The man however wasn't focused on her anymore, he was
focused on the angry chimp tearing his partner apart. Mairi took advantage of
his distraction, disarming him and then rabbit punching him in the balls again.
He went down but she wasn't finished, a single blow to his throat made him drop
to the deck, gasping.

“This is Beta, I need back up and medics at this location,”
Savo said, pulling plastic cuffs out of his pocket as he sat on the first perp.
“You got that one kid?” he asked, brown eyes checking the girl.

“Yeah,” she said, yanking the perp over onto his side and
then his belly. The man gasped with one hand. She dug her knee into the small
of his back, twisting his left hand up behind him into a hammer lock. “Thanks,”
she said.

“All part of the service kid. But next time...”

“Yeah I know, stick to the lit corridors,” Mairi griped,
rolling her eyes. She wiped sweat and spittle off her face and then spat on the
guy she had pinned. “Stupid slike,” she snarled as running feet approached
them. She turned to see additional security and a green uniform of a deputy
showing up. “Never thought I'd be glad to see cops around,” she said, suddenly
relaxing.

“Scared?”

“Hell no, pissed. Son of a bitch ripped my jacket!” she
said, indicating the jacket nearby. Savo looked at it and chuffed a laugh.

...*...*...*...*...

Later Savo talked with her as she sat on a gurney. The
paramedic who had been called in had treated her bruises and pronounced her
sound. The deputy had taken her statement and Savo's and was already hustling
people away. “Go on! Nothing to see here! All over with! Where were you when it
went down? I'm looking for witness statements all of you get to be
interviewed...” He waved his hands angrily shooing them along. People dispersed
rapidly when he took his little black book out though.

Savo told her gently it was a stupid thing to do. She
resented it, resented being lectured like a child. Fury swelled up in her. She
looked at him, trying to glare but saw the concern in his brown eyes. Her
defiance slipped away and she ducked her head. After a moment she nodded. He
sat next to her with a sigh and wrapped his arm around her. She was surprised,
resented that touch but then felt the strength and silent support there. After
a moment she leaned against him. He escorted her back to her quarters. “For my
piece of mind if not yours!” he replied when she protested she was fine. She
did like the idea of an escort, she was getting jumpy and didn't like that.

“Yours?” she asked.

“Yeah. You have any idea what the others would do to me if
I let anything happen to you? And If I let you walk home after that Shari, Alice,
and the other gals would have my hide! I'd never hear the end of it!”

She laughed then, shaking her head. He smiled at her and
then tipped his head in the indicated direction. She nodded and they were off.

...*...*...*...*...

An hour after he made sure the girl was home safe Savo
wound up in the bar for an impromptu meeting of the board. Everyone wanted to
know what happened. “So Miss Jersey is okay?” Taylor asked when Savo finished
laying out what happened.

“Yeah,” Savo replied with a shrug. “A bit battered but
she's okay. A good night's sleep and she'll be fine.”

“Well, tomorrow she better bring her A game. That test
flight will be watched by more than just us,” Clio replied. Savo turned to her.
She shrugged. “We've got a lot riding on this flight.”

“Oh?”

“We've been having problems with the other corporations for
some time. It is coming to a head now that we are becoming more independent.”

“Really,” he said in exasperation. He sat back and took a
swig of beer. Alice shook her head at him. He ignored her reproving look. “Do
tell,” he asked, brown eyes staring at the AI.

“Well, McDougall has cut us out of the iron market again.”

“Great,” Taylor sighed. He shook his virtual head. They all
knew that the corporations were conceited, that they each looked down on Yard
Dogs with ill concealed contempt. Each had its own reason to try to buy assets
the dogs desperately needed to grow and run their business. There were constant
problems with them, they kept getting over or under bid for work. “We keep
getting screwed both ways. The corporations are both sucking up all the assets,
the good people and the work on the station. You'd think there would be enough
to go around but we keep ending up hind tit. Sorry, maybe next week. This
sucks!” Savo snarled, slapping his thigh in anger.

“Yes. Yes it does,” Alice agreed.

Clio frowned. “Well, the good news is Toni Zark of Zark
Freight isn't interested in running us into the ground anymore. Or at least not
this week. They are actively backing off and even deferring to our interests.”
She laid out for them how the market had gone that day. It was nice hearing
that even though McDougall had shut them out of the iron they needed, and Pete
had picked up most of the chemicals for plastics, they'd gotten some tungsten
and titanium. Not a lot, but enough for a bot.

“This week,” Savo scoffed.

“That is correct,” the AI responding, bowing slightly to
the chimp. “Any peace we can get, I'll gladly take.”

“True,” Taylor replied. “What is she up to?”

“I'm not sure. She could be over extended in her purchases
or rethinking their practices. Or they could be saving their capital for a
larger push down the road. Possibly in another quarter.”

“Possible, but there is another possibility,” Alice mused.
The group turned to her. “She could have a change of heart and interest. Zark
is a shipping firm. If they are interested in more hulls especially space
hulls...”

Petunia suddenly smiled and chuffed. “That's right! The
station and us! We're it! And the station would charge a fortune if they went
to them!”

“If they can even do anything,” Savo said, eying the three
council members in their midst. “I'm guessing you three can't say anything
because of the conflict of interest. It goes both ways.”