RavensDagger

  Chapter Forty-Five - Driftwood

  Owing to its ins as seveations tucked under a sirench coat, Driftwood station had a very loose set of ws, rules, aions.

  Initially, the two stations that met and started Driftwood, Drifter Station Seven and a small geostationary dog port whose name was an alphanumeric string, had their leadership sit down and pare notes.

  The result was a Driftwood station with a set of rules pulled from both stations. Some had been cut out, others adjusted, and everyone was as displeased as they should be after a good iation.

  Then a third station joined, and they sat down once more, pared notes, made ges, adjusted the regutions. Before they were done a fourth station joihen a fifth.

  At some point the matter went to ittee, which olite way of saying that the problem was given to a team of unpaid, overworked interns who didn't have any real iive to figure it out.

  Now, Driftwood's charter was simple: Don't fuck around and you won't find out.

  With as many tradictory rules as they had, everything was a crime, and so nothing was as long as the right people were in the know.

  It was anarchy, but they made it work. The locals actually lived fairly det lives for people stu a drifting space station. The number of itis was high, but every so often Driftwood Security would scoop them up and toss them onto a ferry heading out to wherever. Plenty of money exged hands here. Ships docked and didn't want any attention, and not getting attention cost extra.

  A ship refuelling engineer on Driftwood station could expeake a healthy 16 an hour, which was about two bucks shy of what they'd make around Mars. But the fee for keeping their damned mouth shut was an easy hundred, and that made one hell of a differe was more than a lot of corporate ass-kissers made around Jupiter.

  As the Sappho and the Held Together came in and docked in two side-to-side berths, Aurora found herself loosening her pursestrings and p out a few thousand into the local ey to keep things on the down-low. She barely even bli the expense.

  "Alright," Missy said as she stretched. The st bit of flying was done by puter, and the Sappho's navigation and man software retty det, but she still had to sit at the sole and keep an eye on things for a few solid hours. "So, what now?"

  "I suspect that we're going to want to meet the crew of the Held Together," Ivil said. She currently had a small worry. That Missy and Twenty-Six would scamper ht away now that their home ship was so close. Still, there would be some dey. "It's going to need a fair amount of repair, I imagine."

  "Urgh, yeah. More than Two-Six handle on her own. We're gono hire outside help on this one," Missy said. She stood, stretg her back out as she went.

  Surprisingly, Driftwood had artificial gravity. It was something that very, very few stations could afford. It either meant that there was someone using a core to create an artificial downwards pull, or the station had a mae built by someoh the right set of cores.

  That kind of thing didn't e cheap.

  Ivil stood herself, it was just the two of them on the bridge at the moment. "Will you be heading ht now?" she asked.

  "Think so," Missy said. "Aurora mentiohat she o researething, and I think Twenty-Six will be w on the Sappho first. It's pretty spotless, but there's sur mainteo do anyway, and it'll ease her into things. Plus, between you and me, I think she's afraid of starting on the Held Together."

  "Oh?" Ivil asked.

  "It's a lot."

  That was fair, she supposed. The old ship had been through a lot, it would take a lot to keep it going. "Where are you goily?" Ivil asked.

  Missy frowned. "Why? You pnning on makiay here?"

  "Not at all," Ivil said. "The st thing you o worry about is me interfering with how you want to live, or me stifling yrowth. I'm merely curious. And, to be ho, a little bored."

  Missy sniffed. Her lips were drawn into a thin line, and she had a hand on her hip as she looked at Ivil, then she rolled her eyes and turowards the exit. "You e," she said.

  Ivil didn't hasten to follow, but she did stand from her seat and walked after Missy, catg up with the woman as she opened one of the lockers set into the walls and pulling out some gear. First a handgun fit into a holster that she strapped on, then a simple coat to hide the gun pressed against her side.

  "Are we expeg trouble?" Ivil asked.

  "Not all of us are impervious to gunshots," Missy said.

  "That's fair. There's a lot of power in just being able to kill someone, even if you never pn on doing it. It makes iating so much easier," Ivil said.

  "Speaking from experience?"

  Ivil nodded. "Of course. So, are we going anywhere in particur?"

  Missy looked at her for a long while. "There's a bar that I've been to on this station o retty alright. How about you buy me a drink while we're there. And there's someone I have to meet ter. An old... friend."

  "I wasn't expeg you to ask me to go bar hopping with you," Ivil said.

  "I've been giving what you said some thought is all," Missy replied as she started towards the airlock. Ivil followed after her, and soon they were both waiting for the lock to gh its depression cycle. "I'm pretty damned sure I'm not the one for you. Or for anyone else. But I get what you're looking for."

  Ivil blinked. She hadn't expected Missy to start talking about emotions and the like in such a casual way. "You uand me?"

  Missy ughed. "Fuo. But I get you. No one wants to be alone, Evelyn. There's a lot of power in that. Bae, it was one of the only things keeping the anarchy at bay, because we all khat as free as we were, we still o act a certain way or we'd be free to be alone."

  Ivil nodded slowly, uain of where this versation was going.

  The airlock opened, and they stepped out into a small hangar space. There were a few discarded old pallets to one side, and more free space than the Sappho had room in its hold. Likely this was where items being loaded and unloaded from a ship would go, but they weren't here for that.

  "So, where's this bar of yours?" Ivil asked.

  "It's called the Bar Station," Missy said. "One of the stations that got folded into Driftwood ba the day was this failed eaihing. Think part o, part restaurant-thing. Lots of crap like that. Anyway, Bar Station is... I have no idea."

  "Helpful," Ivil said with a small grin.

  "Hey, I've only been on Driftwood a couple of times. It's a maze. And sometimes they move things around too, which doesn't help. There's always a map though, and shuttles."

  "We'll find our way over," Ivil assured her.

  She was slightly worried about leaving the ship, but Sonic Spectre was nearby now, and she ought to be able to handle any moderate threats on her own.

  She was more ied in Missy's iions. "So, is this a date or not?" Ivil asked.

  "If you keep asking it won't be one," Missy said. "Look, I'm good with hookups, alright? My entire life I've never had trouble with that kind of thing."

  "I see," Ivil said. She could uand why. Missy had an attractive visage and was lean and dangerous. While Ivil had a bre of what she could sider attractive, Missy certainly fell into the upper part of that range. "What about loerm retionships?"

  "My job didn't allow for that," Missy said. "Closest I've ever e was stringing a mark along for a while. If I ever wao get... close to someone, I'd take a day or so off the Held Together and find someoo have some fun with."

  Ivil wasn't sure what to think about that. She tamped down on the jealousy she was feeling. It wouldn't do to be envious of strangers. At the same time... well, she was never looking for someone puritanical as a panion, but she also didn't expeeone who was so... open about her needs.

  "You got a problem with that?" Missy asked.

  "No, I don't think I do," Ivil said holy. If that's what shaped who Missy was today, then so be it. Of course, if they were to go beyond merely dating, then Ivil expected a little more faithfulness in that regard. She wasn't sure if that was too much to ask for or not. She supposed that this was what the dating process was made for, in any case.

  ***

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