“A re you sure about this?” he muttered .

I rolled my eyes and patted his leg. “You are going to be outside the entire time, right? There is nothing to worry about. This is my crew though, they need to see me on the ship. Plus, we need to know if Jordan is the spy .”

“I still don’t see why I can’t come in with you,” he grumbled .

“Because this is my work. I don’t want people thinking that I can’t handle coming into work without a towering bodyguard okay?” Rizor was still pouting. “I promise that I won’t be long .”

“Fine,” he muttered .

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before slipping off the hovercar. It did make me feel better knowing that he would be right outside to help me if I needed anything. Still, Jen had left a cryptic message saying she needed to talk to me alone. There weren’t many people that I could trust in my life anymore, but Jen was one of them. If Rizor joined me on deck, I would never hear the end of it, considering how much I preached about not wanting a boyfriend .

As soon as I stepped on board, I was stunned into silence. They’d been starting a series of upgrades when I left and now they were almost complete. New panels and flooring gleamed from hours of waxing. Jen was the best thing that had ever happened to my crew. I don’t even think they noticed I wasn’t around for almost four days. When I slipped into the captain’s office, she was sitting in the chair, going over the books. Her eyes lit up when she saw me and she jumped from the seat to salute me .

“Oh, stop it,” I whispered to her .

Jen grinned. “It’s good to see you, boss. Did you have any problems getting here ?”

“No, but the ship looks absolutely amazing! You’ve done a wonderful job. I’m starting to wonder if it’s even mine anymore .”

“Come on, boss, this baby is always yours. But I’m glad that you approve. We’ve been working almost around the clock to get it done. I wanted everything perfect for when they clear your name .”

“Then you shouldn’t have rushed because that is taking a lot longer than we thought. Have you heard from Jordan at all? I need to speak with him about a couple things .”

Jen shook her head. “No. After you put me in charge of the repairs and pulled him off them he got a huge attitude. Yesterday, I went to check his bunk and he was gone. It looks like he packed up in the night and left .”

“Really?” I muttered .

“I say good riddance. He wasn’t very good at his job anyways .”

“Well, just to be sure, I want you to tell the crew that he’s off okay? No one is to let him back aboard this ship. I’ll need to speak to a few of them also. Anyone who spoke to him or saw him right before he left .”

“No problem, boss, I’ll go start asking around now and send in the first one when I find them. Can I get you anything else ?”

I shook my head as she closed the door. If I could have a dozen more just like Jen onboard my ship, I would be thrilled. Hardworking, dedicated, and stubborn as a mule, she was every captain’s wet dream. I sat down in my chair behind the classic oak desk and flipped open my screen. I had a hunch and I wanted to see if it was correct. I had dates and times already stored on my phone, pulled from my home system the night before. Each one was a different attack on Vaxvia. I’d been blamed for all of them so far, except the one where I was in jail .

I started with the first date, moving to a few minutes before the attack and scanning through the screens until I saw Jordan who was sitting at his space. I couldn’t see what he was doing on the computer monitor. You’d think, given all the advances we’d made, better cameras would be an obvious thing. It didn’t matter. He was at his computer which meant he could have been hacking Vaxvia’s militia system .

Moving onto the next date, then the following one, I started to see a pattern. He was at his computer for every single attack, even when Jen was standing just feet away taking care of her own tasks there didn’t seem to be anything that would stop him. Finally, I leaned back and knew that I had a solid lead. Given his disappearance and the knowledge I now had, I was sure that he was the spy. Still, sitting at his desk during the attacks didn’t mean squat to the militia. Not when his log books online showed that he was just running routine maintenance .

He was covering his tracks very well and it was infuriating. “Come in,” I muttered as someone knocked .

“Hey Emily,” I said as I closed down the system. I’d gotten all I could from it. “How are you doing today ?”

“Good now that you are back!” she exclaimed. “We were all starting to get worried .”

“No need for that,” I said with a smile. “So, you saw Jordan before he left ?”

The young woman nodded. “Yeah. I saw him right as he was packing up his things. He seemed surprised to find someone here .”

“I bet he was. You’re living on-board right now, aren’t you ?”

“Yes ma’am. I haven’t found a roommate yet for permanent housing so I stay here since you let us. I thought I had one too.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “But then the girl’s boyfriend proposed and she backed out to live with him .”

“That’s a bitch,” I said .

“Ain’t that the truth .”

“Did you get excited and let everyone know you were moving out by chance?” I wondered .

Emily nodded. “Yeah, now I feel like a real jackass .”

“Don’t,” I promised her. “You will find a place soon enough. So, what did you see ?”

“It was weird. Jen put a block on all personal phone calls. If you need to make one, it has to be off the ship or in the communication’s center. None of us have a problem complying. I mean, it’s nothing to step outside for a few minutes, but Jordan was irritated by it right away. So, last night I was getting ready to hit the bunk when I saw him. He was hunkered down by his bunk, packing up his thing and talking on the cell phone .”

“Did you hear what he was saying?” I asked, my heart racing .

She shook her head. “There wasn’t much to tell. I heard him call someone ‘sir’ a couple times, but that was about it. Sorry boss, I wish I could be more help .”

“Is there a reason you didn’t alert Jen right away when you saw him leaving ?”

Her face flushed red. “Permission to speak freely ?”

I nodded .

“The man was a moron,” she fumed. “I know that Jen saw it too because she was constantly hounding him about things. I just assumed someone finally fired his ass and he was sneaking off board to avoid the walk of shame. It wouldn’t surprise me, pussy .”

I couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. “I knew there was a reason I liked you! Thank you for all your help, Emily, and thank you for your dedication to the crew .”

“Are you back for good now?” she asked hopefully .

“Soon,” I promised. “Very soon .”

As she left I knew that Jordan was the spy. It was the only reason he would leave without telling anyone and the phone call had me ever more concerned. If he was working for the Federation and was now off my ship, that meant that something big was coming. He could just be running because he knew we were getting closer, but still, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take with the fate of the entire planet in the balance .

Jen came back in just as I was packing up to leave. “Did you get what you needed ?”

“I hope so. You are doing a great job here, okay? Stay in touch and let me know if you need anything. Hopefully we can catch that little prick and be done with this .”

“We will be fine, but will you?” she asked awkwardly. “I know you don’t have any family here. If you need a place to stay, you can always crash with me .”

I smiled. “I know, thank you for that. I am staying with another friend though. The militia has been all over my apartment and someone vandalized it too. I think they were trying to cover up for attempting to break in, but I can’t prove anything .”

“Okay, well, be safe out there. You know we are all behind you so if you need anything, even an emergency ride, just let me know .”

“Will do, keep up the good work. I’ll see you in a few days .”

“Thanks, boss,” she said as I started to leave. “Oh, and Clara ?”

I turned around. “Yeah ?”

A sly smile crossed her face. “That’s one hot man you’ve got waiting out there for you .”

I laughed. “Yeah, you don’t know how true that is. See ya .”

I jogged back off the freighter and into the woods where Rizor was waiting for me. The second he saw me, he started the engine. “How did it go ?”

“Better than I’d planned. I don’t have anything that can get him turned over to the police, but I know that he’s the spy now .”

Rizor pulled away and as we drove, I told him everything that had happened. It had once again been a long day. It was starting to look like Rizor and I would never get any time together in peace. He saw my fatigue and gently rubbed my knee .

“Don’t worry, we will catch him .”

“I know we will, I just wish that we could take a break from it all, you know ?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “When this is all over we will get away from here for a while. So, what’s next ?”

“We need to track Jordan and find out where he is going. Do you think Tasha could help us? You seemed pretty sure of her computer skills .”

“I know she can,” he said confidently. “There’s just one problem. She left for Dragselian last night and won’t be back until the morning. I could see if Ragal can do it, but he doesn’t have her skills .”

I shook my head. For the first time all week, there was nothing left for us to do but wait. I knew just what I wanted to do while we were doing nothing. His house and his bed were calling to me as the three moons of Vaxvia lit up the road in front of us .

“That’s okay, we can wait until tomorrow .”

“Really?” he said, surprised. “You hate waiting around for anything. I’ve only known you a week and I can already tell that .”

I smiled at him. “I think we can find something to do while we wait, how about you ?”

He nodded. “Oh, I know we can. But we aren’t going back to my place. There is somewhere special I want to show you .”

“Really?” I asked .

Rizor nodded his head, but said nothing else. We drove through the night until we were out of the city at least thirty minutes. All around us there were nothing but the large, towering vines that shot up thirty feet in the air. They were the only things that could naturally survive on Vaxvia, trees having long ago gone extinct. It made the air a little thin, but the bamboo like shoots were still stunning to see .

He slowed down when we reached a small trail and winked at me. “We are here .”

“Where?”

“My camping spot .”