“We do,” Han said.
“I can throw in some technical support,” I said. It was a joke.
I’m not entirely sure Han got that. “It’s not the usual move from programming to piloting,” he said.
“It’s the programming that got me interested in piloting,” I said. “I was one of the programmers who had some semblance of social skills, so eventually I was assigned to go up to Phoenix Station and work on ships to customize the software. So I spent a lot of time in ships and talking to crew and listening to them talk about where they’ve been in the universe. You do that long enough and just sitting at a desk pushing code seems like a way to spend a lot of time wasting your life. I wanted to see what was out there. So I hustled my way into an apprentice piloting gig. That was seven years ago.”
“Not exactly an upward move, paywise,” Han said.
I shrugged. I figured that the shrug would come across as a casual and cool Hey, some things are more important than money rather than Hey, I’m living with my parents who are beginning to resent that fact so I will take what I can get. Anyway both were true. Lots of things can be more important than money when you lacked other options.
Not to paint my parents as the bad people here. It’s just that they had made it clear that it was one thing to support me while I was working my way up a ladder, and another thing to support a thirty-two-year-old human while I was sitting on my ass at home between gigs. Maybe they wouldn’t let me starve, but they weren’t going to make me comfortable.
Which was fine. I wasn’t out of work because I was lazy.
“Says here you’ve been out of work for the last nine months,” Han said.
“I’ve been between ships, yes,” I said.
“Want to explain that?” Han asked.
Well, there was no way around that one. “I’m being blackballed,” I said.
“By whom?”
“By Captain Werner Ostrander of the Lastan Falls.”
I thought I saw a faint smile on Han’s lips when I said this. “Go on,” he said.
“There’s not much to say,” I said. “I was second pilot on the Baikal and the first pilot wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so when I heard there was an opportunity to move up to first pilot on the Lastan, I took it. What I didn’t know was that there was a reason why the Lastan had gone through six pilots in two years, and by the time I found out it was too late. I ended up breaking my contract.”
“That must have been expensive.”
“It was worth every penny,” I said. “Also, as I was leaving the ship I dropped my mother’s name to the chief steward. My mother’s a labor lawyer. The class action suit against Ostrander that followed was, shall we say, very satisfying.”
Han definitely smiled at that.
“But it also meant that Ostrander now goes out of his way to warn off anyone I try to get a pilot’s job with,” I said. “No one likes a troublemaker.”
“No, no one does,” Han agreed, and inside I groaned, because I figured this was where I just blew the gig. “But then, I crewed on the Lastan Falls for a year, early in my career.”
I blinked. “You did?” I said.
“Yes,” Han said. “Let’s just say I can understand wanting to break your contract. And also that at some point I want to hear the details of that suit.”
I grinned. “You got it, sir,” I said.
“I’m going to be blunt, Mr. Daquin, this position is a step back for you,” Han said. “It’s third pilot, and it’s a straight bread-and-butter trade run. We go here, we go to Huckleberry, we go to Erie, we repeat. It’s not exciting, and just like the Baikal, there’s little chance for advancement.”
“Let me be equally blunt, sir,” I said. “I’ve spent nine months at the bottom of a gravity well. You know as well as I do that if I spend too much more time there, I’m going to get stuck. You need another pilot right now so you don’t lose time and money on your trade run. I get that. I need to get off the rock so I can have another shot at first pilot somewhere else without Ostrander’s blackball over my head. I figure we’re both in a spot and can help each other out.”
“I just wanted to be sure everyone’s expectations were in order,” Han said.
“I have no illusions, sir.”
“Good. Then I can give you a day to close out your business here.”
I reached down and patted the crew bag at my feet. “Business closed. The only thing I have to do is find my friend Hart and buy him a drink for setting up this interview.”
“If you can do that quickly there’ll be a shuttle to the Chandler at gate thirty-six in a couple of hours.”
“I’ll be on it, sir,” I said.
“Well, then,” Han said, stood up, and extended his hand. “Welcome to the Chandler, pilot.”
I took the hand. “Thank you, sir. Glad to be aboard.”
* * *