“Maybe,” he said neutrally. “What made them think Dustor would be the best place to purchase a ship? There would be more of a selection, and more ships that weren’t likely stolen to start with, in Alliance space.”
“Technically, they just said we could start the search here.”
Erick squinted at her. “Meaning they’d prefer the ship come from Alliance space?”
“Meaning that I don’t have to buy something here if I don’t find anything. But the sooner I find something, the sooner I can fly off on my own. And help my parents expand their shipping business and make more money.”
His squint deepened. He believed Jelena cared about her parents but doubted their financial future was foremost in her mind here.
“They want to make sure they’ve saved enough money to send Nika and Maya to a university when they’re old enough,” Jelena added.
“This is private turf,” a man grumbled from the shadows of an open cargo hatch on a blocky freighter with the aesthetic appeal of a rectangle. A rectangle covered with rust and dents.
“Isn’t this a lot full of ships for sale?” Jelena asked before Erick could open his mouth. “We’re interested buyers.” She smiled and waved at the surly man.
Erick might have called the smile flirtatious on another woman, but Jelena always struck him more like an enthusiastic puppy wanting to spread good cheer to everyone rather than someone trying to manipulate a situation.
“You kids don’t have no two hundred thousand tindarks,” the man growled, not sounding like he was interested in flirtatious women or good cheer.
Jelena lifted her netdisc. “We have—”
“Funds sufficient for purchasing a slightly used ship,” Erick interrupted, not wanting her to announce their financial fortunes with so many ears listening. At the least, the drug dealers were still watching them. Judging by the moans coming from the other side of the ship, the other couple had found something else to do. But with his Starseer senses, Erick detected more people around, inside and outside of the ships.
“Sure you do, kid.”
Erick bristled. Jelena might be young, but he’d just turned twenty-four. He was a university graduate and had solid job prospects. He was hardly a kid.
“We work for someone who’s providing the funds,” he said, forcing himself to remain civil, especially since the rusty brick of a freighter was the most promising ship parked in the lot. “I’m the chief engineer.”
“You don’t look old enough to build an engine out of Zizblocks.” The surly man looked Jelena up and down. Her pony shirt wasn’t exactly sexy and revealing, but his gaze still lingered on her chest. “But you can send your girl in to talk business with me, and maybe I’ll listen to offers.”
Erick’s grip tightened on his staff. Stanislav always preached that it was important for Starseers to keep their calm and that one shouldn’t lash out in anger, or mete out justice when one wasn’t qualified to pass judgment, but he longed to knock this brute on his ass.
“What about that one, Erick?” Jelena was looking at another ship and seemed oblivious to the leering. “It looks like a pterodactyl from Old Earth, doesn’t it?” She sounded approving, as if a dinosaur-shaped ship was desirable.
“It has wings and a big head, but look at the body. How much room could there be in there for cargo?”
“It could be bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. We should take a look.”
“A simple volume equation assures it isn’t. You’re just interested because it’s shaped like an animal. Sort of.”
The man in the shadows stirred, jumping out of his hatchway. “That ugly clunker couldn’t even carry your makeup bag, little lady.”
He strolled toward Jelena, a thumb hooked into his belt, a belt with two blazer pistols in holsters on either hip. The graying man gave her another once over, an open leer on his pale spacer face.
“Little?” Jelena protested, frowning back at him. “I’m five-eight. That’s not little.”
“Next to your friend, you’re not too tall. Or next to me.” He lifted his chin—he was a few inches shorter than Erick, but that still made him well over six feet. And he was much broader, too, with a muscled build. He probably hurled weights around during the long hauls between planets. “I’m quite tall, you see. And long.” He winked at her. “You can see that too if you want.”
Jelena’s face wrinkled in distaste. She wasn’t so oblivious that she could miss an innuendo with the subtlety of an air hammer on a bombing run.
“Do lines like that ever work for you?” she asked.
“If the woman is drunk enough, maybe,” Erick muttered.
He took a step forward, not liking the way the man was coming closer to them—to Jelena. He shifted his staff, both to block advances and in the hope the twit might notice the runes and realize what he was dealing with. He sent a tendril of his mental power into the weapon, and those runes flared to life, glowing silver. Unfortunately, in the bright sunlight, it wasn’t that noticeable.
I don’t need you to guard me, Jelena spoke telepathically into his mind, her words coming across as dry. I only asked you along to look at engines.
Leonidas would wring my neck if I let this lecherous baboon lay a finger on you, he responded in kind, not taking his gaze from the ship owner.
That is true, but he’d also be terribly disappointed in me, if I couldn’t keep groping baboon fingers away.
I won’t argue with that.
“My lines work just fine, little lady. Women have a hard time resisting a man with his own ship, a man who can forge his own destiny and show them the stars.”
“Why are you selling such a ship?” Erick asked. “And how much are you asking?”
“I’ve got an upgrade lined up. How much
