They left the galley, and he took her to a storage locker set within the inner ring of the corridor. As he rummaged inside, she said, “Seems like Nielsen and the captain bicker a lot. That normal for them?” If she was going to be stuck on the Wallfish for longer than planned, Kira wanted to get a better feel for the crew and for Falconi specifically. She was trusting a lot to him.

A small thud as Trig hit his head on a shelf. “Nah. The captain doesn’t like to be rushed; that’s all. Most times they get along fine.”

“Uh-huh.” The kid liked to talk. She just needed to provide the right encouragement. “So have you been with the Wallfish long?”

“’Bout five years, not counting cryo.”

That raised Kira’s eyebrows. The kid must have been really young when he joined the crew. “Yeah? Why did Falconi bring you on?”

“The captain needed someone to show him around Undset Station. Afterward, I asked if I could go with the Wallfish.”

“Station life wasn’t to your liking?”

“It sucked! We had pressure breaches, food shortages, power outages, you name it. Not. Nice.”

“And is Falconi a good captain? Do you like him?”

“He’s the best!” Trig pulled his head out of the locker, a pile of clothes in his hands, and looked at her with a somewhat hurt expression, as if he felt she were attacking him. “Couldn’t ask for a better captain. No, ma’am! It’s not his fault we got stranded here.” As soon as the words left the kid’s mouth, he seemed to realize he’d said too much, because he clamped his lips shut and held out the clothes for her.

“Oh?” Kira crossed her arms. “Whose fault is it, then?”

The kid shrugged, uncomfortable. “No one’s. It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter. We’ve got Jellies incoming, and my neck is on the line, same as yours. I’d like to know who I’m working with. The truth, Trig. Tell me the truth.”

The stern tone of her voice made the difference. The kid wilted before it and said, “It’s not … Look, Ms. Nielsen usually books our jobs. That’s why the captain hired her last year.”

“Real time?”

He nodded. “Minus cryo it’s been a lot less.”

“You like her as first officer?” The answer was obvious enough to Kira, but she was curious what he would say.

The kid shifted, color darkening his cheeks. “I mean, uh … She’s real sharp, and she doesn’t order me around like Hwa-jung. And she knows an awful lot about Sol. So, uh, yeah, I think she’s nice.…” His flush deepened. “Uh, not like that, but, uh, as a first officer and all. W-we’re lucky to have her on board.… You know, as crew, not, uh—”

Kira took mercy on him and said, “I get it. But Nielsen didn’t book this job, the one to Sixty-One Cygni, did she?”

Trig shook his head. “The skut-work we were doing—cargo, packet missions, that sort of thing—it wasn’t paying the bills. So the captain found us this other job, but it went sour. It could have happened to anyone, though. Really.” He peered at her, earnest.