I’ll say one good thing about Torline; at least the planet wasn’t a rust pile somehow drifting through space through the combined power of witchcraft and sheer luck. I certainly can’t say the same about this freighter. Does it even have shields? I’d be surprised if the array wasn’t wearing away like the rest of the systems here. It’s probably why they’ve hired me. It wouldn’t be the first time someone hired me as a mechanic instead of getting a qualified technician.

Plus this freighter’s destination is a much needed long distance from Torl enforcers.

Though I do recognise that Torl. His copper hair is as uncontrollably curly as his sister’s always was. I guess that the way their noses wrinkle up when angry is kind of the same, but that’s where the similarities end. For starters, she’d never storm down a corridor with a disruptor pointed at my face. And while his narrowing eyes are a boring grey, hers were silver. With him here though, I can almost imagine Yana frowning at his side.

Brett stops, his disruptor an inch from my forehead. “Give me one good reason to not shoot you right now.”

“Hi Brett, how’re you? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Like a year or so. Guess you’re on security for this freighter. Fair enough. I’m pretty sure it was your boss that hired m-.”

“Sorry, I forgot my manners.” He presses the disruptor against me. “Hi Tina, terrible to see you again, give me one good reason to not shoot you.”

“Yana hated to see us at each other’s throats. Imagine what she’d think if I killed her little brother.”

Brett scoffs. “Like always, you don’t understand the situation you’ve gotten yourself into. Maybe if you learned such a basic skill then she’d still be alive.”

“She wasn’t following my instructions like some android; she made her own decisions, even if some were bad ones.”

“The only bad decision that Yana ever made was putting her trust in you.”

“It’s funny how easily you’ve convinced yourself that I somehow brainwashed her into loving me.”

“Yana may have married you, but I doubt she ever loved you.”

“It wasn’t some fling, you idiot! We were married for eight and a half years. She was the only good thing in my life.”

“If you truly loved Yana then you would have put your greed aside and gotten her as far away from this disgusting lifestyle of yours as possible. And you never would’ve allowed her to risk her life in the first place.”

I swat his gun away. “At least I never turned my back on her.”

Brett flinches.

The captain strolls in with a wide smile. “Ah, good to see you two already know each other. It’ll make this mission much smoother.”

“Speaking of,” I say, turning away from Brett, “What exactly are you hiring me for?”

“We need some extra security here for the next couple of days. It was actually Brett here that recommended you. He spoke of how ruthless you are.”

“How sweet of him.”

Brett frowns. “It was a slip of the tongue. I didn’t know you’d actually be here.”

“Well I would’ve given you warning, but you stopped talking to me after the funeral.”

The captain clears his throat. “I hope you two working together isn’t going to be a problem.”

“Of course not.” Brett gives me a look as if challenging me to contradict him.

I shrug. “You alright if I tail behind in my ship? Something tells me this freighter doesn’t have functioning weapons.”

“It’s a medical freighter. Weapons aren’t a priority.”

“Says the guy who was holding a disruptor to my head a couple of minutes ago.”

Before Brett can retort, the captain steps in. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be fine with Brett here tagging along. He’s an exceptional pilot in a fight.”

I roll my eyes. “Fine. We’ll fly beneath you. It should confuse anyone scanning this ship.”

Brett finally holsters his disruptor. “I can’t wait to see what piece of junk you call a ship now.”

If I wasn’t desperate for a job after over a week of nothing, I would punch Brett in his smug face. Instead, I merely smile and lead the way, focusing instead on a mental picture of Yana mad at me, like she was every single time I gave into my temptation and attacked her little brother. I must do this for Yana. This is the same brother that stopped all contact with her for three years out of spite for me. I must do this for Yana. This is the same brother that helped The Interplanetary Enforcers ban her from legally practicing medicine. I must do this for Yana. This is the same brother that she forgave every time because he’s the only family she had.

And how can I argue that?

“Is that a Quisek Fighter model? What’d you do, steal it?”

“It was the only payment a bunch of freedom fighters on Calitrexia could give me.”

“So you stole it in exchange for what, blowing up enforcer headquarters?”

“No, in exchange for freeing child slaves.” I drop into my chair. “And if you’re talking about what happened on Torline last week, that wasn’t a job.”

“Wasn’t destroying it the first time good enough for revenge?”

“They were going to sell Yana to slavers. Her arrest had nothing to do with me.”

“You’re lying.”

I spin to face him. “Does it look like I’m lying?”

Brett focuses on the navigation console. “I knew our enforcers had gone rotten, but I didn’t know how bad it was.”

“Course you didn’t. You’ve been avoiding your own planet like the plague.”

“You’re one to talk.”

I shrug. “Compared to the rest of the galaxy, Earth’s boring.”

“Weren’t you wanted there for murder?”

“Technicalities. Prison’s boring so Earth is therefore boring.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“What’s so hard to believe about prison being boring?”

"Not that, look." Brett slams his communicator. “We’ve got pirates ahead! I repeat, we’ve got pirates ahead!”

“What could pirates want with a medical freighter?”

I don’t wait for Brett’s answer. A few swipes and the weapons console lights up. I activate the targeting system and see exactly what we’re facing. There are three ships: one light cruiser that looks almost as frail as the medical freighter, and two fighters that are fresh out of the shipyard. Brett manoeuvres us ahead of the freighter. I let loose a torrent from the fore heavy turret, tearing through one fighter’s shields in seconds. Its explosion makes me lose track of the other one.

My ship lurches to the side. The remaining fighter flies past us, turning around for another attack.

I swear loudly. “Please tell me that escape is an option.”

“The freighter’s engines have been playing up for weeks. They won’t be able to jump to lightspeed.”

“What if I fixed them?”

“While we’re under attack? I know you’re good, but you’re no miracle worker.”

“Look, I can target the cruiser’s weapons and maybe take out that other fighter. Chances are, they’ve got a boarding party ready that’s just waiting to steal medical supplies and terrorise the injured. Your best bet is getting the freighter out of here.”

Brett manoeuvres us out of the way of a torpedo. “I didn’t know weighing your options was a skill you had.”

“After what happened to Yana, I’ve gotten a lot better at it.”

He fixes me with a very Yana-like stare. “Okay. We’ll follow your plan and I’ll get you to the freighter. It’s probably best I keep up covering fire in here though. You okay with me being alone in your precious ship?”

“Just because you can’t trust me doesn’t mean I don’t trust you.”

*

Brett pulls away with my ship, flying it way better that I ever have. I understand why Yana always wished he’d be a pilot instead of some security officer. But pilots won’t matter if I don’t get this freighter’s lightspeed drive up and running. The freighter shakes with every hit, sending sparks and me flying everywhere. I push myself off the ground for the fourth time in this corridor alone and sprint down to the engine room.

It somehow looks more rusted than the rest of the ship. I’m pretty sure half of these pipes and wiring are meant to be covered, and the other half should not be that colour. Why didn’t they just get me to fix this in the first place? It would’ve meant less trying to stay upright while everything shakes and more pulling off panels to see the root of the issue. Okay, so whoever designed this decided that the engines and lightspeed drive just had to be connected. I better give the captain head’s up.

“Hey, I’m going to have to make us sitting ducks for a few minutes. Divert all power from engines to whatever remains of the shields until my signal. Then switch everything to the lightspeed drive. We should be able to manage a small jump. After that I’ll give your systems a full repair.”

“That wasn’t part of the original deal.”

“So? There’s no way you’ll be able to pay me if we die before getting to Deziet. Just follow my instructions so we can get away from these pirates.”

The captain goes silent, and Brett speaks. “For what it’s worth, I trust Tina’s judgement. At least when it comes to all things engineering.”

“We’re diverting power now.”

I give a silent thank you to Brett and get to work. Within two minutes the lightspeed drive flares to life and with one final shake, which sends me flying into a wall, the freighter jumps to lightspeed. I let out a sigh and climb to my feet. I’ll have to keep an eye on things down here in case it decides to suddenly stop working, so I won’t be able to check if Brett has left any dents in my ship. He knows how dangerous I am around volatile energy sources. I could just as easily repair this freighter as I could tear it apart from the inside out.

But Yana once worked on a freighter like this. And she would’ve loved to see me working with her brother, even if it’s just for this job.