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she had a chance to get Eric alone, but right now she was more interested in getting out of the locker room.
    No further peculiarities haunted her as she dressed and left the locker room behind. She walked past the four men waiting in the hall outside, with Tarn alone being the one to grunt, “Finally!” Eric just flashed her a smile and shrug, and then moved past her into the room to change.
    Kira considered waiting but decided she’d do better to get to the bridge. She needed the Captain happy with her, not frustrated. Especially if she was really going to try and stick it out with Eric. Staying on the Rented Mule made the most sense to her, at least for now. She knew he’d stick up for her; it was the least she could do to give him the same respect.
    “That was fast,” Sharp said as he entered the bridge and took his seat. Kira smiled to herself . She’d heard him coming and smelled the cologne he’d splashed on. It wasn’t out of any hopes of bedding her, she knew, but just something he’d done until he could get a proper shower.
    “Yes, Captain. I wanted to see if four weeks of sleep might have given me any new ideas on how to fly a blind transport ship.”
    “I like your attitude, Kira. This was a probationary milk run, but you’ve done a great job. Keep from screwing up and I might just keep you on,” he said. “Not to mention if I lose you, I lose my engineer, too.”
    Kira realized she was staring at him , too late to stop herself. He was grinning. “Thought so,” he said. Kira glared at him briefly and then turned away before he could see the heat in her cheeks or the smile that refused to let her lips stay down. “Just keep it quiet, okay? Last thing I need is Tarn running around making cracks or thinking he deserves a piece.”
    “Tarn couldn’t get a piece with a handful of Core Script in the middle of a whorehouse!” Kira slapped her hand over her mouth, turning quickly to see the Captain trying to stifle a laugh. “I’m sorry, sir; it just slipped out! I didn’t—“
    Sharp held up his hand to stop her. “Yes , you did. It’s okay; he’s a pig. He’s been with me a while and he wasn’t always like this. Couple of lifetimes ago it seems Tarn was a member of Marine FIST Team One. He was a heavy weapons guy, specialized in exo-planet operations.”
    “What happened to him?” Kira couldn’t stop herself from asking. Marine FIST teams, First Insertion Special Tactics, were the best that the Coalition of Worlds military had to offer. The Navy was better known for its ships and vast presence, but the Marines did the grunt work. FIST teams were the best the Marines had to offer. Elite and unstoppable. Plus they had access to genetic engineering far beyond anything available to the regular population. Even royalty couldn’t come close to the military upgrades FIST team members could pick and choose from.
    “He doesn’t talk about it,” Sharp answered with a shrug. “Says it was time for him to move on; pay wasn’t good enough or something.”
    Kira snorted. If he thought the pay babysitting a transport was better than the military pay plus the FIST team bonus, he was even dumber than she thought. “Doesn’t smell right.”
    Sharp laughed again. “No. No, he never does smell right, does he? Now how’s my ship doing?”
    Kira nodded and spun back around, smacking her knee in the process. She swore and rubbed it before resting her data port over the matching port on the station. She ordered a status check across the display at her station, picking and choosing what to route to the main display visible to everyone on the bridge. A few minutes later she looked up to see Tarn and Eric had joined them. She frowned, upset that they had stepped foot on the bridge without her realizing it.
    “Kira?” Sharp asked, seeing her looking around.
    “Sir, we’re still blind. Sensors are useless and our backup systems are passive, useless for navigation.”
    “Tarn?”
    Tarn abused his