Three days later Telisa was in deep space on an illegal mission with three mysterious men whom she had only known for a week. The enormity of her venture began to make itself felt. She worried about her decisions and wondered if she had made a terrible mistake.
But she had never felt more alive in her life.
Her quarters were small but completely private. The showers on the ship were barely larger than human-sized tubes and the kitchen was the size of a walk-in closet, but she had known it would be like that. She considered it a small price to pay for money, career, and adventure.
The quiet surprised her the most. Without the thousands and thousands of microdevices embedded in almost every manmade object talking to her link, space became a vacuum in more than one sense. The Iridar had a few hundred such services on board, a lot of traffic compared to an undeveloped planet. Once there, she realized she would have practically no contacts on her link at all. It gave her some insight into what life might have been like before Terrans had links. The world must have been so silent and lonely in those times.
One of her tasks during the voyage was to organize packs of equipment to bring with her on various sorties from the ship. She started with one basic pack that she would need at all times. Clearly water and the medical supplies were a good choice, as well as her tablet, which she would refer to when evaluating artifacts. Although her link would be usable for that, the handheld device had more power, memory and a greater range. Telisa decided to keep her stunner in the primary pack; having it around helped to dispel her nervousness.
Magnus carried a stunner as well, strapped to his belt, but it was hardly his only weapon. Telisa considered it reasonable since security was his job, but she still found his everyday gear slightly barbaric. The man lived in his Veer Industries military skinsuit; Telisa read about them and learned that they were light and flexible but capable of absorbing a great deal of kinetic and electromagnetic damage. He had some kind of a sleek black slugthrower strapped to his back, also of the notorious Veer Industries. Telisa thought it looked large enough for two-handed operation, but she imagined that the mercenary could probably wield it with one. There was also a long knife at his belt. She wondered how he managed to get such items near the spaceport. It might be that they stayed on the ship at all times, but she wasn’t sure; after all, he was a smuggler.
With Magnus in the group, she did not feel a great deal of fear about who or what they might encounter on their travels, although she had not grown to feel trust for Magnus himself. He seemed somewhat distant and she did not think they had become friends yet. He spoke politely but did not share personal details.
The second day of the trip, after Telisa had adapted to the feel of the ship, she met Jack in the galley. He had given up his Core World printed clothing for real clothes. He wore dark pants and a long-sleeved top that looked rugged, but not military.
“How are you getting along? Everything okay?”
“Yes, it’s about what I expected,” she said.
“I have something that may help with the tedium of the trip. Each of us has a secondary skill set that we use to back each other up on missions,” Jack explained. “I’m the backup pilot, and Thomas has medical skills that may be useful in certain situations. Do you have any unusual skills we should know about?”
“Not that would help on a mission—not that I can think of, anyway,” Telisa said guardedly.
“We’re covered pretty well in most areas already; the only one of us I can think of that doesn’t have a secondary is Magnus. He’s currently the only one with significant combat skills. Perhaps we should check your aptitudes in that area?”
Telisa looked at Jack for a moment. Did he expect her to balk? She nodded serenely.
“Very well. I assume Magnus will be assigned to this?”
“Of course. He can take you as an apprentice of sorts. How about you get together with him tomorrow, and he can go over some basics. We’ll see how it works out.”