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him. I’ll let you know when we meet.”
    “Sure,” Meriel said. “Say, do they teach you how to attack ships in space?”
    “Uh, yeah. Hull breach, hand-to-hand weightless, EMP weapons. It’s history mostly, not practice. Why?”
    “How about defense in open space?”
    “No,” he said. “They always tell us that surprise is unlikely, even impossible without betrayal.”
    “How so?” she asked and finished her shower to listen.
    “Well, if you are smaller than a moon, it’s too hard to find you in open space unless your attacker knows right where you’re going to be,” he said and left his shower. “If your attacker is waiting for you, you can see him before he sees you.”
    “How does that work?” Meriel asked.
    “Well, if you want a better explanation, you need to ask a pilot about coordinating in space and how hard it is. It’s just easier to find relatively fixed targets like stations. Nothing like sublight in atmosphere. Jerri will know, and Smith would too.”
    Meriel nodded slowly, going over the implications. “What about smugglers? If it’s so hard to locate each other, why even try a drug drop in space?”
    “Expense and time aren’t issues when it’s illegal or when secrecy is paramount,” he said.
    Drugs again. This doesn’t help . She finished dressing and saw John’s text calling her bet. Then she met Cookie in the passageway.
    “Just let me know when you want to do this again,” he said. “You can usually find me in the gym or the galley. I can qualify you to marine-four, if that’s your goal.”
    Meriel nodded again. “Eventually, sir. Thank you.” She smiled, grateful for her good luck, and turned to leave.
    “Hey, I don’t mean to pry, but is this about the Princess ?”
    Meriel looked at him silently. She did not talk about the Princess , because the first thing people usually said was “sorry” or “poor girl” or “oh my God!” The last thing she wanted was pity.
    “Don’t misunderstand, Chief,” he said. “I got nothing against you. I’m head of security. I read the files. If you qualified marine-three and logistics-five, you’re good on my team.”
    “Appreciate it. Just not ready to talk about it yet.”
    Cookie nodded. “No problem. I’m off to the galley. Where you headed?”
    “The mess to study. I have a nav-three test coming up.
    “Isn’t it noisy there?”
    “Sure, but studying gets lonely, especially since that’s all I do when I’m off duty.”
    They walked together to the mess hall, and Meriel sat down at a table. Cookie brought her coffee.
    “I’ll bet Smith can help you with nav,” Cookie said with a glint in his eye.
    “Uh-huh,” Meriel said with a look that said, “Mind your own business.”
    “Hey, just saying,” Cookie said and went back to the galley.
    Meriel used her link to cast a holo of her test prep but could not concentrate. She was preoccupied by the threat of losing the Princess to the station lawyers and her helplessness to stop it. Calm down. Jeremy will have an idea .
    The five-minute claxon interrupted Meriel, and she returned to her cabin to prepare for the jump. There she drank the nutrients, took the tranq without boost, and had another nightmare.
     

Chapter 3 Lander Station, Lalande 21185 System
Lander Station—Inbound
    The Tiger dropped out of jump at the edge of the Lalande system and made a few short jumps to synch its velocity to that of Lander Station. Lander was the interstellar hub for the system and another transshipment logistics center. It was also the financial center for the sector and had the highest concentration of wealth outside of Earth and Sirius.
    There would still be a few hours of one-g deceleration until the pilot ships and tugs met them near Lander, so Meriel returned to her cabin after checking the cargo. Her lawyer said he’d be on the station, so Meriel thumbed a text to him.
     
    Will be on Lander by 2300. Where should we meet? M
     
    Then another to John.
     
    I owe you a