Chapter 16 · The Long Invoice Wakes

Briar doesn't ask. She just walks past me to the primary console and slams her palm on the ident plate.

The vault shivers. Every surface in here hums like something's about to crack.

"What are you doing?" I'm still holding the dataslate with my own contract on it. The one that says I sold myself.

Briar's already pulling up system trees I haven't seen yet. Her fingers move fast. Too fast for someone who's supposed to be muscle. "Taking her back. You said the hull thinks you're owner. Let's see if she remembers who paid for the retrofit."

"That was thirty years ago."

"Thirty-two." She doesn't look at me. "And she remembers. Vey's charter's always been provisional. The Long Invoice's ours. Was ours. Whatever."

The air goes cold. I mean actually cold. My breath mists.

Then the vault screams.

Not aloud. Through the walls. Through my jack. It's not words. It's rejection. A blazing red exclusion protocol that floods every panel, every screen, every surface I can see.

STOLEN VESSEL. UNAUTHORIZED CHARTER. FLAGGING ESCORT HULLS.

Briar swears and yanks her hand back. The ident plate's gone white-hot. I can smell burned skin.

"It's not recognizing you.