Senior Engineer Izan Castillo is captured by pirates, and taken to the rundown and close to uninhabitable Triple R space station, where he’s set to work repairing their failing systems. His only assistant is Milo Foss, still an engineering apprentice at nearly thirty. Izan would never have someone so underqualified in his team normally, but working with Milo he sees that the man has abilities beyond what his lowly qualifications would suggest. He also soon learns that Milo and many others are no happier to be stuck on the Triple R than he is.
Not prepared to simply wait for rescue, Izan sets a plan in motion and begins to gather allies. Milo is the first to join him, desperate to escape the station and get back to his family, even if it means going to jail. But nothing’s ever gone right for Milo since the day he was reluctantly assigned to a pirate ship, and this time will be no exception. At least while they work on the plan he can be with Izan, the hottest guy he’s ever seen on the Triple R. Even if they are only using each other to escape. Because that’s surely all there is to it. No actual feelings involved. It’s no more than a transaction for both of them. Right?
“Let’s go eat in the bunk room,” Milo said. He grinned and from one of his copious pockets, took out a bottle of brandy he must have lifted from the supply in the mess. The brandy was quite a decent brand, Izan recognized. Presumably the loot from a raid. He nodded and put on a smile. If he wanted to avoid a forced transfer to the Ice Blade, then waiting around for rescue could be a mistake. He might be gone before it arrived. Which left the more proactive option of escape. And for that he needed allies. Milo was already in his pocket, but he might as well get him as deep in there as possible while he worked on finding others too. In a few minutes they were lounging on Milo’s bunk, eating the snack foods and drinking the brandy. A ridiculous combination that would cause his father to disown him if he could see it.
“Captain Zentu was surprisingly understanding about the incident in Operations,” Izan said.
“She’s old school that way,” Milo said. “Back under Li there were strict rules.”
“I understand those were about prisoners though.”
Milo sipped his brandy and shrugged. “Yeah, well, same difference.” He looked at Izan. “Did you mean that, about this place not being livable in six months, if you don’t fix it up?”
“Six is probably generous, even if I do fix it up. Some crucial system could fail tomorrow. I can only put off the inevitable for a while, especially without spare parts. It seems Zentu won’t be happy to see this palace abandoned though. She said it’s a valuable source of income. She didn’t only mean from trade did she?”
“Nah, Duscha has to pay her protection money.”
“Protection from what?”
“Well, she says from rogue ex-Li ships and other pirate groups, but really it’s mostly from Zentu herself.” His hand brushed Izan’s as they both reached for the snacks. His skin was rougher than Izan’s. Not a supervisor’s hands, that was for sure.
“Ah, the old game,” Izan said.
“Yeah, like I said, she’s old school. Why’d she call you Don ... what was it?”
“Don Quixote. He’s a famous character from Spanish literature. It appears Captain Zentu may have actually read a book.” He smirked, and Milo grinned back.
“Spain is on Earth, right? Is that where you’re from then? Spain?”
“I’m from Gran Canaria, an island once ruled by Spain.”
“Wow, an island. What in the ocean?” Milo asked, making Izan chuckle. He may never have set foot on a planet. Many people from the outer system had not. “What’s it like there?”
“Hot. Rocky. Volcanic.”
“Volcanic!”
“The volcano hasn’t erupted for a couple of thousand years.”
“Still,” Milo said, sounding dubious. “That sounds a bit risky to live on.”
“So says a man living on a failing station in deep space.”
Milo quirked a smile. “Yeah, well, when you put it like that. So have you climbed up the mountain?”
“I’ve climbed up it, and ridden my bicycle up it.”
“What’s a ... what did you call it?”
“A bicycle? It’s a miracle of engineering.” He chuckled and sipped some more brandy and set about explaining bicycles to Milo, and went on with tales of riding his to the top of Pico de las Nieves.
