Rules of Redemption (The Firebird Chronicles #1) - T.A. White Page 0,6

am, the ship and you would have been toast."

"If you were so amazing, the ship would never have been touched," Kira muttered to herself, prodding the offending part.

"What was that?" Jin's voice was sharp.

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought you said. Nothing." Jin's voice trailed off as he turned away from her.

"Can't you fix it with one of the 3D printers we have on board?" Kira complained.

That's why she had paid an arm and a leg for one after all—to make the necessary repairs when they were in the deep of space.

"No. Someone decided not to pay the tax on the last batch of material, so I don't have enough to fabricate what I need."

Kira looked away. She was that someone. In her defense, the tax had been increased nearly fifty percent this last time. It was robbery, pure and simple. They got away with it because most ships waited until the last minute to order the raw materials they needed for the printer. The station was one of the few in several million miles that looked the other way on some of the salvagers’ less-than-legal business endeavors.

Kira rubbed her forehead, trying to soothe away the headache beginning to sink its claws into her.

"Even if we did have the material, it wouldn't matter. That part is highly technical. It's impossible to replicate. I can fabricate a workaround but it has a limited shelf life. Once it goes, we'll barely have sublight speed."

Which for a ship out on the edge of nowhere could be a death sentence.

Kira's headache got worse.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Alright, let's route to Omega Station. We can get the part we need there."

"Can't," Jin said, his voice slightly tinny and flat.

"Why not?"

"Because the part we need is at O'Riley Station."

Kira stiffened, turning to look at her friend. Jin hovered several feet above the deck, his spherical body no bigger than her head. His shell was an out-of-date military grade drone coupled with all the advances she could get her hands on. Although his parts might be metal and hardware, his mind was pure organic sapience, with all the pitfalls that might bring.

"You can't tell me Omega doesn't have what we need."

Jin was the cool voice of logic and reason in almost any situation. But every now and then, he developed vexing opinions. When he did, things tended to go very badly for Kira.

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what he was up to. She refrained. If she were wrong, the question would offend him, and she'd have to live with a grumpy drone for the next few days—one with control of the ship's internal sensors including temperature and hot water.

"I've already checked the catalogs we downloaded during our last stop. They were out then and weren’t due to be replenished for several months. We'd be stuck in port while we wait for the next shipment of spare parts," he told her, a soft whir sounding as Jin turned to face Kira, a small lens observing her.

Kira knew he'd done it for her benefit, turning his “eye” on her so she'd know he was serious. She'd upgraded pretty much every part of him herself. There were over a hundred small cameras installed on his exterior to help him “see” and analyze the world. The lens was a joke between the two of them taken from an old Earth show he'd since adopted into his personal habits.

"We'd be okay short-term, but eventually it would fuck up the entire engine. You don't want to be out a few hundred million miles from the nearest station trying to replace it, would you?"

It was a rhetorical question. As the person who handled their money, he knew exactly how much they had in their accounts and it was nowhere near enough to outfit an entirely new engine.

She growled in frustration. "This had better not be you meddling in my life again. You know how much I hate that place."

He started for the door. "Maybe you should be more careful in your flight maneuvers then."

She threw a wrench.

The wrench froze three inches from him. There was a slight whomp as he tossed the wrench back toward her.

"At least this way, we'll get top dollar for the wreckage you salvaged instead of having to go through a middleman," he said, his voice trailing behind him as he left the room.

Somehow, his silver lining didn't make Kira feel any better.

CHAPTER TWO

Kira vibrated with impatience as she waited for the airlock to open.