Avalon

Jeth grunted as he settled himself in one of the less-damaged chairs. He briefly considered doing a search for the data cell, but Sierra was bound to notice. Besides, he decided Lizzie might have the right of it. He should wait and steal it once Sierra revealed its location. There’d be time. He’d make sure of it.

“Crap,” Lizzie said several minutes later. She scooted out from under the station and grimaced up at Jeth. Grease marks covered her forehead and chin. “I gotta go back to Avalon.”

“Why?” he asked as a considerably cleaner Sierra scooted out from underneath as well.

“There’s an older fifteen-x plasinum-coated fiber optic cable that I need to disconnect, but I don’t have the right tool for it.”

Jeth rolled his eyes.

Lizzie scowled at him. “Don’t even. If you think you’re so much better, try doing this yourself. I’ve got about a hundred bolts to unscrew still.”

Jeth rolled his eyes a second time. “That’s not so hard. Even I can do that.”

“Good.” Lizzie thrust the wrench she’d been holding at him. “You do that while I get the fifteen-x.”

“You sure you want to go by yourself?” Jeth said as she hurried past him.

Lizzie froze, no doubt thinking about the horror show waiting in the passenger deck. She glanced over her shoulder at him, a determined look on her face. “I’m sure.”

“I could go get it for you.”

She shook her head. “It’ll take you forever to find.”

Jeth couldn’t argue with that logic.

Once Lizzie was gone, he shrugged once at Sierra and then crawled under the station. She joined him a moment later. Awareness shot through Jeth’s body at how close she was, her arm and leg touching his. He ignored it as best he could as he set to work.

“So,” Sierra said, after a while, “how did you and the others end up working for Hammer?”

Jeth cast a sidelong glance at her, less than thrilled about the question, although he understood her interest well enough. “Nothing special, really. He got the idea that a crew of teenagers would be ideal for stealing spaceships from unsuspecting folks. The rest just happened.”

“Did he just pick you at random?”

“Nope.” Jeth slid the wrench over a bolt and started loosening it. “He determined a list of candidates based on these aptitude tests that all the kids at Peltraz are required to take. Everybody on the list was exceptional in one way or another. Like with Flynn, the tests predicted how good a mechanic he could be. Then once I picked him for the crew, Hammer sent him through a specialized training class.”

Sierra grinned. “I see, although I’m surprised his tests didn’t indicate he should be a chef.”

Jeth chuckled. “They probably did, but I think Hammer thought the mechanic stuff would be more valuable.”

“Good thing. I’m amazed he stays so skinny.”

“Yeah, we keep asking Milton to check him for worms, but he hasn’t found any yet.”

Sierra snorted as she finished removing one of the bolts and moved onto the next. “Then I guess Lizzie’s talent is her computer skills. But what about Shady?” A note of skepticism colored her voice. Jeth wasn’t surprised. Only a rare few would ever spot Shady’s talent without help.

“He’s good with firearms and explosives. That, and he’s brave enough to do anything, no matter how stupid.”

Sierra laughed. “I suppose that’s a vital skill in a thief.”

“Yep.” For some reason, her humor at this bothered him. He didn’t want her to dismiss them all as just thieves. They were more than that. He was more than that.

Are you sure?

Something like shame roiled in his stomach as he remembered the next bit of thieving he planned to do.

“What about Celeste?” said Sierra. “What’s her area of expertise?”

“She’s kind of the exception to the rule.”

“How so?”

“I convinced Hammer to make her part of the crew after I caught her trying to pick my pocket. I was already working for Hammer by then, but we hadn’t finished putting the crew together yet. I got to pick the members from the list of candidates he complied, that’s how it worked. But in the meantime, Hammer had me stealing personal comm units from people at the gambling halls on Peltraz. I’d pick one up, run it through a cloning device, and then return it before anybody realized it was missing.”

“What for? It’s not like those things are valuable.”

“They are to a man like Hammer. He uses them to spy on high rollers. Once he has a unit cloned, he can tap incoming and outgoing calls on the ship. You’d be surprised the kind of dirt you can get on people just through casual conversation.” Jeth stopped speaking, embarrassed by the way he’d sounded, like he was in awe of Hammer’s criminal ingenuity. He supposed he was, in a way, but he didn’t want Sierra to know that.

“Anyway,” Jeth continued, “Celeste tried to steal one of the units I’d just stolen. She got so mad when I caught her in the act, she punched me in the face.”

“That’s a heck of a first impression,” said Sierra.

“That’s Celeste.” Jeth often suspected that punch was half the reason he’d chosen her. You had to respect a girl who could hit like that. “Anyway, I shoved her back, and we ended up causing such a scene we both got hauled off by security. Hammer was pissed, because the comm unit belonged to the son of some big-shot politician he was hoping to put the squeeze on. But when Celeste and I started fighting, the guy saw what was happening and took the unit back before I could clone it.”