When Juliet walked to her quarters to drop off her duffel, she decided to put on something other than skin-tight athletic shorts and a tank top before speaking with Alice. With her right arm accompanying her movements with clicks and grinding sounds, she pulled on a pair of tapered, stretchy black jeans, a blue pullover shirt with long sleeves, and her good old, sturdy work boots. She slipped the harness for her needler holster around her shoulders and ensured the weapon was loaded and ready to fire. She felt a lot better with the familiar, comforting weight under her left arm.
It wasn’t that she intended to do battle with Alice, but she felt a lot more confident dressed like she could do battle. As she emptied the duffel, putting her guns in the bottom drawer of her dresser, she lifted out the monoblade, admiring the craftsmanship of the sleek black scabbard and the hilt, wrapped in some kind of slightly grippy material. She had no idea what, but it oozed quality. The pommel was a polished reddish-orange stone, and one thing she’d learned from Honey about swords was that it probably was important, giving the blade its perfect balance.
She hefted the sword, guessing its length to be about two-thirds of a meter. As she gripped the scabbard with one hand and the hilt with her other, Angel said, “Please be exceedingly careful, Juliet. Honey wasn’t lying about how dangerous that weapon is.”
“I will.” Juliet slowly, haltingly, pulled the mirror-finished blade from the scabbard and watched as the holographic red lights and patterns began to dance along it, giving it a futuristic, flashy, deadly appearance, no doubt designed to intimidate people who hadn’t yet learned that they were facing a monoblade wielder. When she’d pulled the scabbard completely free, she set it down and gripped the blade in both hands, turning it slowly, trying to see the impossibly fine edge. It was easy to see where it was—the holographic projection was a solid red line representing it, but her eye couldn’t see the metal.
It was weird how tempted she was to test the edge with a nail, the way she might a sharp knife, even knowing the monoblade would slide through her nail and finger like it wasn’t there. “How does it work? How does that tiny, super-thin edge not get nicked or broken?”
“Simply because of how fine it is. The word ‘monoblade’ refers to the fact that it’s been sharpened to a monofilament edge; the specialized alloy of the blade has been sharpened to the width of a single molecule. It slips through the molecules of the objects you wish to cut with hardly any friction. Well, unless the object you’re trying to cut is extremely dense or designed with interlocking molecules, as certain kinds of armor or industrial items are.”
“Makes sense.” Juliet picked up the scabbard and very, very carefully lined up the tip of the blade so she could safely slide it home. “God, I’m sweating from handling that thing!”
“Yes, I feel it will be a while until you feel comfortable using it for more than an art piece.”
“All right.” Juliet stood up and moved to the door. “Connect me to Alice, please.” She saw Alice’s name light up on her crew window, and then, she heard her voice, “Hey, Lucky. What’s up?”
“You think we can talk for a few minutes? You busy right now?”
“Uh-oh!” Alice grinned. “The dreaded ‘can we talk’ message. Okay, okay, come up to the bridge; I’m the only one here.”
“Thanks, Alice. It’s nothing bad. Be there in a minute.” Juliet cut the connection. “I should talk to her, right?”
“Absolutely. You should solidify some percentages regarding ownership, some timelines, some guarantees about your role in the new company, and ensure there’s an escape clause in case the repairs on the gunship prove more difficult than Bennet estimates.”
“Uh, sheesh! Maybe I should just have you talk to her . . .”
“I’d be willing to do so, but I think this is a good experience for you.” Angel’s voice was so deadpan that Juliet honestly didn’t know if she was joking around.
She walked to the lift and touched the button for the bridge level. “You know I’m joking, right? I agree; I need to talk to her.” As the lift jerked and bumped its way up, she added, “She’s kind of intimidating to me, you know? I’m not sure why, either. Like, Shiro seems more gruff than her, but . . .”
“Perhaps it’s that Shiro defers to Alice, placing her as the proverbial head of the household.”
“Maybe. She also has a certain look. Like, she’s measuring everything she sees and can cut through the bullshit. Maybe it’s ‘cause she used to be a fighter pilot . . .” The lift jerked to a halt, and Juliet shut up before she said something embarrassing as she strode down the corridor, more cramped up there but less banged up and dingy, toward the bridge. As she climbed the slight ramp to the open hatchway, she ducked through and smiled when she saw Alice sitting in her pilot’s couch, one leg hanging over the side, while she perused some holographic data sheets displayed from the projector in her console.
“That you, Lucky?” The pilot shifted so she could look over her shoulder, her chrome-irised optics twinkling with reflected lights as she caught sight of Juliet.
“That’s me.” Juliet smiled and moved to sit in the navigator’s couch to Alice’s left.
“You wanna talk business?” Alice waved a hand, dismissing the holograms.
“I figured we should. I’d like to get a few things solid in my head before we head out. Is this a good time?”
“Sure; we’ve got the numbers for the Bumble sale, and the buyer’s transfer is pending at the clearing house, so if all goes well, we should see it in our account tomorrow.”
“Well, I have a lot more to talk about than money. I mean, sure, that’s a big part of it, but I have some questions about how things are going to operate and . . . about my business partners.” Juliet sat back in the gel of the couch, swiveling it a little so she looked more directly at Alice. She grinned to try to lighten the tone of her words, but Alice didn’t seem bothered. She nodded back to her.
“Yeah, we have some questions for you too. Me and Shiro, that is.”
“Do you want to call him? Get him to join us?”
“No, no. I know what he wants to know, and I can pass it on.”
“Right, so how do you want to do this?”
“Well, you called the meeting, so you start.” Alice sat up a little straighter, taking her leg off the arm of her couch and crossing her ankles near the decking.
“All right, um, let’s start with the numbers. I know we spoke about percentages of ownership for the gunship before, and I started at four percent. Before we talk about how much money I might put in and how that will affect my percentage of ownership, can you tell me how you were going to finance the repairs without me?”
“Sure. We were all going to pitch in our shares of the Bumble sale and then use the Kowashi for collateral on a loan to get the ball rolling. If we couldn’t get it done with those funds, we were going to talk to some friends on Luna and Mars and see if we could get any silent partner types.”
“Did you have any estimate on how much it’ll take to get the gunship operational?”
“Yeah. Bare minimum, it needs new wiring harnesses to the port drive, new conduits, new battery banks, reactor service and fueling, and repairs to all three drives. Bennet’s sure he can handle the work, and he thinks the drives will be fairly easy to fix—just a matter of swapping out some parts, nothing too expensive. Of course, it’s a gunship, so we need to service the cannons and repair or replace the main gun. Those basics, leaving a lot still in need of repair, would run us between three and four hundred k.”
“Pretty big spread . . .”
“Well, Bennet hasn’t had time to break all the drives down, and we have a lot of work to do, shopping for replacement parts.”
“Are you glossing over some things? Bennet told me the drives would be hard to repair because they’re Takamoto tech. He said it would be tough to get the parts you need . . .”
“Right, right.” Alice held up a hand, nodding. “Those estimates assume we find used replacement parts. If we can’t, we can pay a lot more to have new custom parts machined, or we can, worst case, swap out one of the broken drives for a close match from a different manufacturer. In that case, we could use the old drive for parts for the other Takamoto drive.”
“Well, assuming things go well, even at the high end, it seems like you’d be almost there with just your half of the Bumble money.”
Alice frowned, shaking her head, and said, “Yeah, but that’s just doing the bare minimum. We’re talking a million plus to get that bird really fit.”
“And if you did that, got her ‘really fit,’ what do you value that gunship at?”
“Ten million plus.” Alice drummed her fingers on the arm of her couch and added, “Easily.”
Juliet whistled and thought about the math for a minute. “So, if I walked away, in six months or a year, I can expect a 400k transfer from you guys?”
“Hah, not quite, but close. We’d have to deduct the money we put into it before we come up with a gross valuation for you.”
“All right, listen, Alice, I’m going to throw out my offer, and I want you to consider it. If it sounds fair, let’s sign something today, and if you think you have a better counter, I’ll listen, okay?”
“Sure, Lucky.” Alice narrowed her chromed eyes, brushed some of her bright red hair behind an ear, and stared at Juliet. It wasn’t clear to Juliet if Alice was trying to be intimidating, but she certainly had a look about her, a look that said, “I can smell bullshit a mile away, and something in here stinks.”
“The way I see it, you all have almost the money you need to get started—barely. If you dump all your funds into the gunship, what are you going to live on? What will you operate the Kowashi with? No, you’ll have to find other investors or put the Kowashi further underwater, giving some corpo bank scumbag way too much authority in your day-to-day lives. Maybe you’d get an investor you liked, someone really hands-off, but maybe not. Maybe they’d be all up in your business, bugging you for reports and a return on their money at every turn.”
So far, during Juliet’s speech, Alice had slightly relaxed her face, and Juliet saw her nod ever so slightly a couple of times. She continued, “If I step in and throw my half of the Bumble into the gunship, that might free up some operating capital for you. It might give us enough money to get the gunship almost ‘fit,’ as it were. Better yet, you don’t need to deal with a bank, and you know what you’re getting with my involvement—a pretty damn nuclear operator, if I’m being modest.”
“We already agreed to let you buy in . . .”
“Yeah, but not percentages. You already owe me four; I’m guessing that will come from your and Shiro’s cut?” Alice nodded, so Juliet continued, “That leaves you two with seventy-six percent. I’d like to get an additional thirty-six percent for my investment. That would put me at forty, you and Shiro at forty, and the other two at ten each.”
“You want us to give up thirty-six percent for a 325k investment?” Alice leaned forward, but her face was unreadable to Juliet. Was she pissed, amused, or just repeating it back for better understanding?
“Yeah, I do, and I think it’s a good deal. That ship might never fly; Bennet could be completely wrong about a hundred different things. Regardless, it’s a risky venture; what if the damn thing gets shot down on its first engagement? If you think you can find better terms from a bank or some guy on Mars, I guess you could try. Think about it! Do you really think an investor isn’t going to pressure you to sell that thing as soon as you can make a big profit? You and I both know that gunship can earn that much in a year. Less! Think of the salvage you can go after with that thing escorting you! Heck, it’s your call, Alice. If you want, I could walk away and wait for my transfer for the four percent value.”
“Chill, Lucky. I didn’t say no. I’m just trying to wrap my head around all the numbers. You want forty because you don’t want us to be able to do something on our own, me and Shiro, right?”
“I guess. I like the idea that one of us others will have to agree with any major business decisions. You get the same protection, by the way; I won’t be able to do anything without one of you agreeing.”
“Actually, we’ll structure it so that a sixty percent majority of stockholders have to agree for certain major decisions and only fifty percent for most others. Still, your point stands. Yeah, it has a nice symmetry. So, you want me to write it up?”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah, I agree to your terms.” Alice shrugged. “Bennet and Aya can’t really object ‘cause it’s Shiro and me selling you our shares, and the damn company isn’t even formed yet.”
“Thanks, Alice.” Juliet let out a deep breath, one she didn’t know she’d been hanging onto, and then added, “You’re intimidating, you know that?”
Alice barked a short laugh, snorting inadvertently, and as she covered her nose, her cheeks blooming red. “You’re joking, right? You’re the one who goes around killing pirates and bangers, raiding secret prisons to rescue people! You don’t know how nervous I was when you said you were coming up here!”
“Seriously? You seem so cool!” Juliet leaned forward, her smile spreading. “Since we’re laughing, and we’re going to be partners, can I ask you a kind of personal question, though?”
“Oh no, here we go. I get to ask you one, then, deal? One for one, two for two, etcetera.”
“Oh, seriously?” Juliet chuckled. “I guess I better make it a good one. Okay, here we go: I’ve heard rumors from . . . unnamed sources that you used to be a badass interceptor pilot. I also heard that you insisted on not arming the Kowashi because you didn’t want to get involved in ship fights anymore. Why are you changing your tune? Why the gunboat?”
“Is that one question? It felt like two or three. Anyway, I can answer you. Yeah, I used to run guard duty for gas jammers around Venus, and yeah, I racked up a lot of skulls and crossbones on my bird. I almost bit it, though. Did your ‘source’ tell you that? I spent six months in rehab, learning how to tie my shoes and count to ten. I get jittery behind the stick now; I get flashes of . . . fire and pain and things I can’t completely remember running through my mind. I’m pretty much useless in a dogfight now.
“This old girl, though?” She gestured around the bridge. “She’s just my speed. Guns on her would be stupid anyway; any fighter would pick us apart like a mouse eating cheese. I’m interested in the gunship because we’re going to have someone else fly it, and it will allow us to quit feeling like we’re broke all the damn time. Imagine pulling salvage hauls worth a million bits every month or so!”
“Fair answer, Alice. I’m sorry to hear about your PTSD, by the way. I . . . have a little bit of an idea what that’s all about.”
“My turn?” Alice’s eyes were eager, and Juliet pressed her lips together, nodding—fair was fair. “Why’d you risk so much to get to Saturn to help that woman? You guys in love or something?”
“That’s it? You could have asked me anything, but that’s it?”
“I’m curious! We’re all betting on it. Bennet thinks you owe her for saving your life. Aya thinks you guys want to get married. Shiro . . . Shiro won’t join in the gossip.”
“Well, what do you think?”
“At first, I thought you had to be in love. Then I saw what you did for those two girls, and they were total strangers, and I started to wonder if she really was just your friend. Tell me the truth, Lucky; you owe me! I just bared my soul for you.”
“Um, honest truth, huh?” Juliet frowned and sat back, searching her mind, wondering what the truth about her and Honey really was. When she started to speak, it was like her mouth took on a life of its own, and she couldn’t stop the words from flowing out. “I was on the run when I met Honey, during a lull, when I was kind of safe but still hiding. I met her on one of my first jobs as an operator, and she was the coolest chick I ever saw. Totally nuclear, running around with a damn sword, cutting through fences, bossing people around, slicing through a bunch of bad guys, people who’d had their brains fried by a corrupt corp. They were like zombies from movies, almost—vicious, mindless, wanting to eat or kill anyone they met.
“She made an impression, you might say. Then she invited me, a near-total stranger, to join her dojo and learn to fight. My time hiding out there near the ABZ, spending hot summer days training with her, going to breakfast, and gossiping about other operators and people at the dojo were some of the best times of my life. She’s grace personified with a sword in her hands, and yeah, she’s sexy as hell, but we’re just friends. Great friends, I guess, and I suppose that’s something you should know about me, Alice—I’d do almost anything for a friend.”
“Huh. Well, I can’t complain about that answer.” Something had changed in Alice’s eyes while Juliet was speaking. They’d opened up a bit, seemed less narrow, less cautious, and she almost imperceptibly nodded along as Juliet finished her rather verbose explanation for her rescue of Honey. “You wanna keep going?”
Juliet sat back, feeling a good deal more relaxed, and replied, “I have one for you. What’s it gonna take for you to let me pilot that gunship after we fix it up?”
“What’s it gonna take . . . hmm, I guess one way is you could show me what you’ve got, which I would hate, ‘cause I don’t wanna be in any more dogfights, as we’ve discussed.” She held up a hand as though she knew what Juliet was thinking and said, “I know, I know. We could do some sims together, but they’re just not the same, you know? No, I have another idea. We’re going to take some months to get that bird up and running. I have a lot of friends in the escort business. How’d you like to go shadow one of them? See what they do, and maybe try your hand at the stick. I have a few friends whose judgment I’d trust. If they gave you the thumbs-up, I’d be cool with giving you the first crack at piloting the gunship. I’d even sell the idea to Shiro.”
Juliet’s mind had exploded with imagined ship battles and adventure, flying side by side with some other interceptors or gunships; she couldn’t stop her stupid grin as she said, “That sounds slick, Alice, slick as chrome. I won’t say yes, for sure, right now, but I’d certainly be open to it.”
“Cool. When we get to Luna, I’ll reach out to some contacts. Now, you owe me one more answer.” Alice’s grin was almost predatory, and Juliet braced herself for what she might ask.