Page 31 of The Last Hunt
Maeve leans forward, starting to see the path of Aethon’s line of thought. “Brimstone - the corp that’s providing the bounty for Daik?”
Aethon nods, then winces, putting a hand to the bandage at his neck. He continues. “Whatever Daik did has Brimstone so eager to catch him they’re willing to part with six million credits to get it done. Almost every bounty hunter is after him. What if Daik didn’t do something to piss off Brimstone - what if he stole something?”
“Information,” Maeve mutters, staring at the map.
“Brimstone and Dreadnought are both mining corps,” Aethon says. “Uninhabited worlds to mine are getting scarce in colonized space. Information on newly discovered planets with rich mineral deposits are of utmost value to those corps.”
Maeve’s mind is going into overdrive. She hasn’t had anyone to bounce ideas off of like this in… forever. She enjoys talking with TAI, but it’s not like this. Positively electric. The energy between her and Aethon is practically visible. “When the bounty went out, Daik immediately went and hid in the Narrows. He only left to take a trip to Nova Halifax -”
“Nova Halifax has the only high-speed subspace transmit system within ten jump points,” Aethon says eagerly, his eyes going wide. “You can send data from there to anywhere in colonized space in just a few hours.”
Maeve stands up striding next to Aethon. She feels elated with discovery. “What if Daik contacted Dreadnought from Nova Halifax?”
Aethon raises his hands in the air, emphasizing her point. “And offered to trade whatever information he might have stolen in exchange for safety from Brimstone?” he replies. His whisky eyes draw her in and Maeve can’t help but grin at him.
“Fuck,” she breathes. She leans on the dash and looks at the map. It feels right. Maeve has been a bounty hunter for long enough to know when to follow her gut. And her gut is telling her that they’re on target.
“We’ve got him,” Aethon murmurs. He leans on the dash next to her and she looks back over at him as his eyes scan the map. He’s still smiling and Maeve leans toward him, a smile tugging at her own lips.
“Maevey?” TAI’s voice makes Maeve blink.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t mean to interrupt this chemistry filled conversation,” TAI says. “But you two are making an awful lot of assumptions. Daik could choose any one of over a hundred paths I’ve mapped out based on his current course.”
“And how many paths lead to the Tri-Centauri system?” Maeve asks.
“Seventeen,” TAI replies.
Aethon pushes himself back from the dash. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what his next move is.”
Maeve clears her throat. “We? I’m leaving you on a starbase, remember?”
Even as she says it, she doesn’t want to go through with it. If their guess is right about Dreadnought and Brimstone, then she’s going to be following Daik into a situation far more dangerous than anything she’s yet encountered as a bounty hunter. People don’t get on the wrong sides of corps that big unless they want to wind up dead. Maeve doesn’t want to be on Dreadnought’s shit list. That would make any retirement she has planned much less relaxing. It would be nice if she wasn’t alone. If she had someone watching her back.
“You sure about that, Bladesy?” Aethon asks. He raises his chin slightly, looking down that long nose at her. “I have some experience dealing with corps. I might know someone close to Dreadnought that could help us.”
Maeve leans a little closer to him. “Might?”
He shrugs, then winces, his hand going up to finger the edge of his bandage. “It’s been a few years, so I’ll have to do some digging to find her. But, yeah. I might have an in with Dreadnought.”
Maeve sighs. “And I’m assuming you won’t tell me anything about this person unless I promise to split the bounty with you.”
“Correct,” he says. “If you want my help and resources for this, I need enough of the bounty to pay my dues. I haven’t calculated it out, but with rent on my rooms too - it’s going to be around 100 thousand credits.”
Maeve stares up at his face which has gone serious now. It’s not nothing, but it’s not a significant portion of the bounty. She’ll still have enough to leave Two Roses. The thought of working with him on this - of trusting Aethon with her secrets - makes her nervous. It goes against everything she’s learned since leaving Tellamar and working in the guild. But does she have another choice? Sure, she could still leave him on a starbase. But if she wants to catch Daik, she has a much better chance of doing it with Aethon than alone. She sighs.
“Fine.”
Aethon’s eyes widen. “Did you just… agree?”
“She can be quite agreeable sometimes!” TAI interrupts with a chirp. “As sweet as a peach, actually.”
A slow smile spreads across Aethon’s face. “Is that right?”
Maeve rolls her eyes. She sticks a hand out for Aethon to shake. He takes it eagerly, his grip firm and warm.
“It’s a bargain,” Maeve says.