Torran waved the young man away, and the server bowed and withdrew. He closed the door behind him, leaving me trapped in a room full of enemies, so I decided to go on the offensive. “Have you reconsidered your objections to my standard boilerplate?”

Torran ignored me. “I brought a contract for you to review.” He slid a slate across the table. Made of Valovian tech, it was a wafer-thin flexible display about the size of my two hands held side by side. I heard Kee’s soft exclamation over the comm and bitterness twisted through me—not at her, but at myself. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t afford to get her the tech she wanted and needed.

But if I took this job, that would change.

With that in mind, I focused on the slate. It displayed a long wall of text, written in legalese. I read the contract twice, then slid the slate back to Torran. I clenched my fists, fury burning away the bitterness. “I will not sign that.”

Torran’s expression didn’t change. “Why not?”

I had many problems with the contract, but I listed the worst first. “It gives you the right to take over my ship and my crew in the event of an emergency—an event you can define however you like. So if I refuse to do something I think is stupid or dangerous, you can declare that to be an emergency and take over. If I continue to refuse, you can lock me—and my crew—up. Any captain who signs that contract is not qualified to be called captain. If that is what you expect, then we’re done here. Find someone else.”

Torran stared at me for a long moment, but I didn’t feel the telltale brush of his mind against mine. We were closer than we’d been earlier, and I could see hints of copper and teal in addition to the silver in his irises. If he thought he could cow me into agreeing by staring at me, he was about to be disappointed.

“I don’t appreciate being jerked around,” I said when he continued to hold his silence. “This does not bode well for our future working relationship, and I have serious doubts about our ability to work together. So here is my offer: we start with my boilerplate. I will give you an hour of my time to modify it until it is satisfactory to both of us. If we can’t reach agreement in an hour, we’ll go our separate ways.”

Torran pulled the slate closer and tapped on the surface. The text changed and he slid it back to me. “These are the modifications I require.”

My clenched fists tightened. We desperately need this money. I had to keep reminding myself or I’d tell him exactly where he could shove his modifications.