Leo looked up at her. “You mean yesterday?”

“No. That’s when I almost broke his jaw,” Kat said, though Leo didn’t actually need a reminder. He could still almost hear the crack of her titanium fist smashing into the captain’s cheek, all for show, of course. “I know I threaten to kill him every five minutes or so, but I’ve only come close once. It was just after he rescued me from that craphole mining colony on Andural.”

“After you killed the guy who cut off your arm?”

“I told you: poor Nero just happened to fall from the top of a very tall building.” Kat glanced down at her titanium fingers. “That’s not the point. Point is, soon after Baz took me on, we docked at this waystation, sort of like Kaber’s Point but a little less seedy. Baz said he needed some supplies. Four-arms wasn’t with us yet, so it was just him and me and Skits, and she was tucked away in the back charging. I was in rough shape still. Just plucked off the street, scarred, scared, wary. Still only looking out for myself. I found Baz sitting in the cockpit counting stacks of pentars. I had no idea where he even got the money from, but it was more than I could steal in a year. Enough to buy passage to some other planet or bribe some merchant to let me join her crew, because even though he’d gotten me off that godforsaken rock, I still didn’t trust him. I also didn’t think he’d just give it to me if I asked, so I decided not to ask. I crept up behind him with the knife I carried, the one I used to cut the pockets of people while they slept, knowing it was plenty sharp enough to slit his throat. I was maybe five feet away when he opened that big mouth of his.” Kat paused, smiled.

“And?” Leo prodded. “What did he say?”

“He said, ‘This shirt’s all kinds of vintage, and blood’s hard to wash out.’”

Leo had to admit that sounded like Baz. “So what did you do?”

“I froze, knife in hand, debating whether or not to go for it, try to stick him and slow him long enough to take the money and make a run for the hangar. Then he pushed the stack of pentars across the console without even turning to look at me and said it was mine if I wanted it. All of it. No stabbing necessary and no strings attached. I could take it and go. Or I could put my knife away before I hurt myself and learn to trust someone for a change. Funny. It was one of the hardest choices I ever had to make, between knifing some guy and taking his money or letting him help me instead.”

Leo knew which path she had taken. She was here, after all. First mate of the Icarus. And Baz was still constantly shooting off that big mouth of his. Even after she punched him in it.