Propositions

"Mae!" Grimm's voice rang out through the Corsair's empty passenger unit. She stopped working on the food synthesizer and looked up. His braids flopped in his face as he headed toward her with a comm. "You really need to see this."1

"If it's not a manifest for my commercial brews, I don't want to see it. Did Luke send any update at all?" Maeven wiped her hands on an already nasty rag from the floor. She'd have to clean up shortly and check the collection point again. They'd docked at their home base nearly a week ago. H.O.I. hovered in orbit over Cranmore and gave her the resources she needed to get the business up and running.2

"It's really not,"Grimm said. She took the comm from his hand. It was an intel report from the guild. They'd had a query come through on her. She read on feeling tension prick her temples. The last thing she needed was a pounding headache. Gal-Fed had run a check on her, again.3

"It's just another security check. They're beating the bushes again. It'll pass, Grimm." Maeven sounded so very confident. She couldn't imagine Grimm would be fooled. He knew her better than that.4

"You know there's some purpose to it", he said irritated. "The Fed does nothing without purpose." 5

"That's not entirely true. They broke up a riot of approximately ten people on our promenade just last shift."6

Still, she knew he was correct. This was the second security run through in as many months. That was when Maeven noticed the query request submission line and date. Security queries couldn't be anonymous, though there were ways to get around it by setting up corporations and identities within corporations. Her heart slammed in her chest as she read the name. Grimm must have noticed something. The man could read body language like no one she'd ever met. 7

"What's wrong", he asked. 8

"Jack Hardcourt. If that is his real name. . ."9

Grimm whistled. "That must have been some kiss." He should have been teasing, but neither of them were likely to laugh over this. Hardcourt wasn't a ribblez, cute and furry little hitchhikers that multiplied in the hull. The man was dangerous.10

"What do you think he wants?" Maeven hated the shake in her fingers as she asked the question and the quake in her tone. Grimm looked at her like she needed a doctor. "He can't be running a security check because he liked a kiss. There's more to it than that."11

"He's not on our side of the law, Mae. What could he want?"12

"I don't know, Grimm, but we have to find out."13

"You sure this isn't best left alone?" Grimm took the comm from her.14

"I'm positive. There's no way I'm sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop. He's docked at Cinq Port according to the manifest on his ship."15

Grimm's eyebrows shot up. "You're tracking his dock manifest."16

"Hell, yes", she said without elaborating. "I'll go check his departure time and you can prepare the ship to go. Oh, and call Luke about those damn brews. The shop is almost empty." As she walked away, she barely heard Grimm's grumbles. 17

Jack Hardcourt had an agenda. She was sure of it.18

******
Cinq Port smelled like canned oxygen because the air was canned. He was here, Maeven knew, and she would find him. His manifest quoted his docking bay number as 100. She rounded the darkened hallway to see a large hulking man lift a locked crate and shove it into a loader. His shirt off, the man's muscles played with the movement. His dark unkempt hair had been pulled back up under a Bolosian kerchief of the desert regions. 19

Maeven braced herself. "Hardcourt." When he turned, the immediate impression of Jax's face on this outlaw took her breath away.20

"Well, Captain Hall, to what do I owe the intrusion?"21

"I could ask you the same thing. What do you want to know?"22

"About what in particular?" His smirk made her forget his uncanny resemblance to her fiance back on her home planet. Jax had never once worn that cynical, hard expression on his face. She moved closer to him keeping the loader carefully between them.23

"I was born on a farm. My parents were simple folk who taught me to work hard from a very young age. They also taught me to recognize a liar. We rode to school on old-fashioned fossil fuels. Anything else you need?" Her voice rose on the last sentence to speak over the release of a neighboring ship. Docking clamps let out a terrible hiss.24

"Oh, I need quite a few things." His gaze ran hotly over her body in a border-line insult of male interest. One she was sure he handed out in equal measure to every woman he met. "But specifically, Jax Lemand. You were going to marry him, no?"25

"No." Her voice sounded flat even to her own ears. "I was going to come here. My plan had been to marry him and live happy ever after. What possible business is it of yours?" Hostility flashed through her. She wasn't talking to him about Jax. Absolutely, no way.26

He nodded. "I wondered. You see, I knew him back before my exile began."27

"How?" Her skepticism showed plainly on her face.28

"We worked together." She noticed he'd paused. That lie hadn't tripped easily off his tongue. 29

"Jax worked with a lot of people. He headed the Institute of Science for the Core Federation. But you knew that because you had a look at my file. What do you want?"30

"I simply need a second hauler for a run to the Verec. You seem to fit the bill. Your kills are adding up."31

"The Verec Per galaxy is a bit out of the way. Surely you have access to haulers."32

He smiled leaning on the stack of crates. " I have plenty of access to haulers, but I need a gunner. And a conscience. You don't strike me as the nefarious type, Captain Hall."33

Now it was her turn to smile with hard humor. "So the thief doesn't want to be a victim of theft? You want a bodyguard?"34

"I want a second hauler. Are you interested?" He quoted the figure making Maeven's heart beat faster. That was some hauling job.35

Hiding the temptation she felt to snap up the offer, she said impassively, "I'll have to talk to Grimm. He has a vote. I'd also need to inspect the cargo."36

"You don't trust me?" Maeven merely rolled her eyes and walked back to the Siren's bay. Only an idiot would trust a pirate.