Work By The Plutonian Light
by imp

Work By The Plutonian Light

imp

Summary

Taylor is a smuggler with a taste for the glamorous. When she agrees to take on some illegally traveling passengers, she gets herself in a lot of trouble - especially with Selena, a passenger who doesn't trust Taylor at all.

Notes

None

Chapter One

Taylor's biggest regret is that she picked a profession where it's not really practical to paint her ship with Aurora paint.

"Your clothes are sparkly enough," Abigail tells her when Taylor brings this complaint up, again, eating dinner in the galley.

"But Aurora paint is so gorgeous." Taylor sighs. "Why am I a pirate again?"

Abigail gives her a measuring look. "I honestly don't know," she says, and drinks her reconstituted carrot juice. "You hate breaking the rules."

Taylor sighs. "I know. But I hate the central government more."

"I really doubt they're that bad."

"They exiled my parents." Taylor grew up on a farm, and she's very sensitive about it. Of course, a small town was just a few miles away. But still, Taylor hasn't forgotten what it felt like to be a farm girl.

"They sent your father to a city, I'd hardly call that exile."

This is an old argument. Taylor sighs again, making it a big huff this time. "Fine," she says. "Well, we'll be landing on J-495 soon."

"You could use the planet names, you know."

"Their starmap designations are easier." Taylor finishes her chickpea curry and stands. "Will you be going planetside with me?"

Abigail taps her gun. "You know me."

"Good," Taylor says, and goes to get ready. She likes to dress up for merchants. It's a perk of being a smuggler: the romance of a pirate.

J-495 - or, fine, DeLingsa - is a crowded planet where the heat of the summers is matched in intensity only by the bone-chilling winters. It's summer right now, which means that going underground is a relief. Taylor can already feel her nose getting red.

"I keep telling you, put on some sunscreen," her contact says.

She turns and greets him with a nod. "People who don't need it shouldn't throw stones."

Kanye grins. "Sure. Come on in, let's see what you've got for me."

Taylor clashed with Kanye when she first met him. He controls this and two other planets, and he has a vast ring of distribution that reaches into the black market on the central planets. This planet is his favorite, though, even though it's plopped in the middle of a bunch of rural designated planets.

Taylor pulls out the holo-disk and drops it on the table. "Have a look for yourself," she says. "We've got haridium bullion, Farrin short-range teleportation bracelets, and jewels from the heart of Beltan."

"Very impressive," Kanye says. "That's a couple million credits of haul." He pauses for drama. "If I didn't have to distribute it."

Taylor rolls her eyes. "And since you do have to distribute it, it's at least a million credits. This is the biggest haul I've ever had. Your games aren't going to work."

"Five hundred k."

"A million, or I walk and find a merchant who won't try to scam me."

"Seven fifty."

"How about two million?" Taylor says sweetly.

Kanye laughs. "You know I'm kidding. A million." He pulls out his holo-pad and taps it a few times. "Credits transferred."

Taylor's own holo-pad confirms it. Even anti-government firewalls don't slow information transfer down that much these days. "Good doing business with you," she says, and leaves.

Abigail walks abreast of her as they head back to the ship. "You're not going to shop?" Abigail says.

"You're just mad you didn't get to shoot anyone," Taylor says. "And I wish we could, but we have a pickup."

"What is it?"

Taylor grimaces. "Passengers."

Smuggling human passengers is lucrative business, but Taylor is particular about her ship, and she doesn't want frightened passengers who've fallen on the wrong side of the law getting in the way. But that's the only job available right now, so Taylor's going to do it. A million credits doesn't go far when you have a crew to feed and a ship to keep up.

"Oh," Abigail says. "Well - hang on, look." She picks up a pink-and-yellow-streaked scarf. "At least buy this."

"That's real Andes silk," the seller says eagerly.

Taylor sighs, but she pulls out the purse of coins she keeps for stalls. "Here you go," she says, handing one over.

The seller bites it, then waves a hand. "He be with you."

"He be with you," Taylor says. She had her crisis of faith years ago, but there's no sense in making unnecessary waves.

When they get back to the ship, Caitlin's sitting on the loading deck, fiddling for a group of people standing around her in a loose circle. They're largely dressed like rural desigs, in roughly-woven skirts and beaten-up hats.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Taylor says, coming to stand next to Caitlin.

They all blink at her. She tosses her hair. Iridescent skirts are in. "Welcome to my ship," she says. "We have a hold for all of you, with a Conceal 2.0 shield, the highest non-military grade available."

One of the passengers is a girl with long black hair, shorter than Taylor herself, who's currently narrowing her eyes at Taylor. "And if the ship is searched by the military?"

Taylor sighs. "December is never searched by the military," she says. "And if it were, the compartment is only accessible by a hidden panel, so it's very unlikely that they'd find it."

"If you say so," the girl says, sighing snottily.

"What's your name?"

"Selena."

"Selena." Taylor fixes her with the most commanding stare she can muster. Okay, she's not very commanding; it's not very impressive. But she hopes it works. "My ship is secure. If you don't want to be a passenger, you're welcome to leave."

Selena smirks a little. "No, this is fine."

"And that's our captain, ladies and gentlemen," Caitlin says. "How about we let Al - he's our inventory manager - take you belowdeck."

"Come with me, children and…gents," Al says. He waves his hand and leads everyone belowdeck.

Taylor wishes they had a couch here so she could flop on it. "I hate having passengers."

"It takes a unique kind of person to understand you," Caitlin says.

Taylor narrows her eyes. "Is that an insult?"

"Of course not." Caitlin smiles. "Are you going to deny it's true?"

"Well - okay, no," Taylor says. "But I wish it weren't. Why can't I be normal?"

"Hon, you'll never be normal." Caitlin taps her shoulder lightly with the bow. "Why don't you see if Elizabeth's got the darkspace compressor running? Being able to make light speed again would be nice."

"I know," Taylor says. She goes to the engine room, pausing to say hi to Abigail as she sharpens her knives. Abigail really, really likes her knives.

Elizabeth is in the engine room, covered in grease. She's got long, dark hair that's tied back, and some of the most agile fingers Taylor's ever seen. She's really pretty, if you're into that kind of thing - which Taylor obviously isn't. "How's the -"

"Darkspace compressor? Working on it," Elizabeth says. "Give me a day and we should be up and running."

"What if we have to deal with feds before then?"

"Shoot, boss, it hasn't been legal to try to outrun the feds in three hundred years."

"And yet, we still try."

"Gotta keep our talents up." Elizabeth flicks back a stray lock of hair. "We're ready for launch, though. How're the passengers settling in?"

"Could be worse."

"I know you hate them."

"They're necessary," Taylor forces herself to say. She doesn't want to whine. "Got a mil credits today."

"Not bad. Kanye?"

"The same." Taylor dithers for a few more minutes. "Well," she says finally, "I'm going to go see if Ben's getting us off the ground anytime soon."

"Remind him he owes me ten credits!" Elizabeth calls after her as she leaves.

Taylor does, saying, "You owe Elizabeth ten credits," as soon as she got to the pilot's deck.

"Yeah, yeah," Ben says. "Maybe she should reconsider betting with wastrels like me."

Taylor laughs. "Wastrels? What is this, 2040?"

"It's making a comeback." Ben flips two switches on the pilot's panel. It's antiquated - the switches are on a touchpad, not a 3D interface - but it works. "We should be launching in a few minutes, as soon as she warms up."

Taylor runs her hand over the smooth poly-natural material. It feels almost like real wood. December is old-fashioned, but in a comforting way. "I'd better go make sure the mess is ready for our passengers, then."

Ben clucks his tongue. "Who's got cook duty?"

"Abigail," Taylor says, "but I'm sure the passengers will treat her like she's the ship's cook. They always expect that."

"To be fair, we usually have a cook." Ben was the biggest fan of them rotating cooking duties, even if his own food couldn't compare to Abigail or Al's.

"But not someone whose job it is to make fancy reconstituted eggs so they can pretend they're on a cruise ship touring the Seeian Galaxy."

Ben flicks all five fingers out, and the engines start. "Someone's cranky."

Taylor presses the back of her hand against her eyes. She's being dramatic, but Ben's turned towards the observation window, so it's not like he'll see. "I hate passengers."

"I know, babe." Ben reaches out for the control pad and types in a sequence. "I'll get us to Gaea as quick as I can."

"Thanks," she says, and leaves. He doesn't like having an audience when he guides December out into space.

She expects all of the passengers to be huddled in their bunks, afraid of flying into the nothingness. They picked them up from a rural desig planet, and none of them looked like they were used to travel. So she's surprised to see the snotty girl, Selena, in the kitchen.

Selena speaks before Taylor says anything, even though her back's to Taylor. "No real food, then?"

"Reconstituted food is real food," Taylor says. She wishes she had more than just her knife, even as she hates that having passengers makes her feel like she needs to be armed on her own ship. "Legally, anyway."

Selena laughs, then turns around. She's holding a packet of seaweed. "I'm from a Rural planet," she says. "I helped set up my family's irrigation when I was six."

Taylor narrows her eyes. "Even most Rural planets do multi-level irrigation now. Are you telling me you're from a flat planet?"

"Newly settled. R-920," Selena says. She empties the seaweed packet into a bowl, then pulls out a chicken broth packet. "We're still single-level, fourteen years later."

Taylor's never heard of R-920, but there are plenty of Rural planets she's never been to. There's not much money in smuggling to a bunch of poor farmers. "How'd you end up on J-495?"

"Took a jumper. I don't have inter-planet travel papers, but I wanted to get out."

"Gaea's not exactly a place for a Rural kid."

Selena laughs. "Worried I'll get taken in by the nuns? Or by the Thieves' Guild, maybe?"

"At least they're both regulated."

"Fair enough. But -" Selena adds water to her bowl, then stirs it, staring at it suspiciously. "Let's just say I'm ready for a change," she says finally, looking at Taylor.

Taylor stares back at her. Her eyes are intent, and something about her is just - Taylor wants to keep looking. Her skin looks so soft, softer than any farmer from a Rural has a right to.

She looks away. "Fine," she says, pressing her lips together. "Dinner's in three hours, you're sure you want to eat that?"

"Oh, I'm not sure I want to eat it at all," Selena says. "But I will. You want any?"

"I'll pass," Taylor says.

She makes a very dignified exit after that. It's definitely not running away.

Two days pass without much incident. The passengers are every bit as entitled as Taylor assumed they would be, but it's bearable. She can at least hide in her cabin. It's small, but it's big enough for her to play her guitar and do some deep breathing.

On the third day, though, Elizabeth rings her vidscreen. "Taylor, Caitlin says you need to come up to the nav deck. There's an anomaly on the screen that she and Ben want you to see."

If Taylor panicked every time there was some kind of nebulous anomaly, she'd never get anything done. So she just says, "Understood," and slips into her boots.

"We're being tailed," Caitlin says as soon as she steps onto the nav deck.

"Wonderful. Ship class?"

"Yeah," Ben says, drawing the word out. "Here's the thing about that. We can't actually tell."

"What do you mean you can't tell?"

Caitlin taps the display pad. "Come see for yourself. They're cloaked. Hell, we could be being followed by a planet and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

"Planets don't follow people," Taylor says. "I mean, usually. Military?"

"That'd explain it." Ben twists his finger quickly, and the ship shudders with the change in momentum. "We need to - ah, fuck."

The display pads flicker red, and audio cuts over their speakers. "Class III ship, you are unauthorized to be in Amish territory. Please stand down and allow us to board."

"What the -" Taylor says. "Fuck, Amish territory? What did you two do?"

"We're not in Amish territory," Caitlin says. "I'm at least ninety percent sure."

"They're gaining," Ben says. "Fast."

"We're not letting them board." Taylor is suddenly coldly furious. December is her ship, these passengers are her responsibility. "Evasive maneuvers," she says. "Speed us up, cloak us, land us somewhere safe." December's cloaking isn't perfect, but it should be enough to lose them. Hopefully.

"Sure thing, boss," Caitlin says.

Then the fun begins, Caitlin and Ben's hands flying over controls as they fight to land December. "Non-designated planet," Caitlin says as they approach it, "and…we've lost them."

The actual landing is fast and painless. Taylor employs excellent pilots. When they're safely landed, Taylor lets out a slow breath, relief coursing through her.

But it doesn't last long, because their comm screen flickers to light, to show a green-skinned Amish person holding an old-fashioned pistol.

"Identify yourselves," the Amish person says.

Damn it. Taylor steps forward. "I'm Taylor Swift, captain of this vessel," she says. "I'd like to request asylum."

"We've surrounded your vessel. Come out unarmed," the Amish person says. The screen goes dark.

The Amish aren't technically old Earth Amish. Well, some of them aren't, anyway. They're a religious collective that's set itself apart from the central government. Their planets legally can't be breached by the military, but then they're not known for harboring criminals longer than it takes them to commit another crime. Amish justice is swift and merciless.

"Goody," Taylor mutters, taking her gun out of her belt and putting it aside.

"What is going on?" a sharp voice says.

Taylor whirls around to see Selena standing there. "We were almost boarded," Taylor says, as calmly as she can. "By pirates, most likely. We took evasive maneuvers."

"Pirates would have shot you down," Selena says. "That was a government ship, wasn't it? We heard the broadcast."

"I'm smuggling you, what do you care?" Taylor snaps. "We've landed and we'll stay here for a few weeks, until things blow over. It's not exactly complicated. We've done this before."

"In Amish territory?"

"Well - no, but -"

"I hope you're ready for this to end very, very badly," Selena says.

Taylor sighs. "Fine. Whatever. Can we just - we need to go out there. You two, with me," she says to Caitlin and Ben.

"I'm coming too," Selena says.

"What makes you think I want you?"

Selena grits her teeth. "I have - look, I can negotiate, okay?"

Taylor laughs incredulously. "You're from a rural desig."

Selena glares at her. Taylor has the uncomfortable feeling they'd have to tie her up to prevent her from following them, and they don't really have time for that. "Fine," she says. "Let's go, before they get antsy. If you're carrying any weapons, now's the time to get rid of them."

"I left them in my bunk," Selena says, and falls into step next to Taylor.

The Amish are waiting for them when they disembark. Taylor's not worried about anyone still on the ship making trouble; she trusts that Elizabeth will have found the passengers and will be making them stay calm. Right now, she's focused on not offending the Amish. They might not use any high-tech farming techniques or go off-world, but they've invested plenty of money in weapons, enough to keep the central government at bay.

"Taylor Swift," the Amish leader says. "I am Jane, leader of the Amish county of Meladast."

She's human, with plain brown hair and brown eyes. Taylor nods and bows. "It's good to make your acquaintance."

"What criminals do you harbor, that you seek shelter from the central military?"

"Not criminals," Taylor says. That she knows of, anyway. "Just people. People who don't have travel visas, who want a new life away from where they were previously."

"Travel visas are easy to get. What prevented them from doing so?"

Taylor resists the urge to snap, saying instead, "The government can be unfair. They chose to travel with me to avoid inconvenient regulation."

"Avoiding the inconvenient is far from a virtue."

Taylor nods. "But we're peaceful. I'm a merchant, a trader. I don't want trouble, only a place to rest."

Jane's eyes flicker over the others, lingering on Selena. "This one," Jane says. "Put her in bondage with us for five years, and we will grant you shelter."

"No," Taylor says. She looks over at Selena, but Selena looks incredibly calm. "I'm not trading any of my people," Taylor says finally.

"Then you will work," Jane says. "We don't tolerate laziness."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Taylor says.

"Good." Jane puts her gun back in the holster. "Gather your people. We'll wait."

That's how Taylor finds herself with her crew and the smuggled passengers, standing in plain barracks. "Two to a room," Jane says. "You will report to dinner in two hours. Tomorrow you will work." She looks at Taylor. "I trust you to manage your crew," she says, and she and the other four Amish with her leave.

Great. This is just wonderful, Taylor thinks. "Okay," she says. "Well, guys, this is it."

A girl raises her hand. Taylor sighs. "You can speak."

"What are we going to do?"

"Work for a few weeks, maybe a month. Then leave," Taylor says. "They're not hostile to us, and you're all from rural desigs anyway, right? It should be easy."

Selena snorts. "And what will you do?"

Taylor frowns. "Work with you."

"Will you really?"

"Of course," Taylor says. "What do you take me for?"

"A bit spoiled," Selena says, "If you really want to know."

"Fine," Taylor says. "That's great." She gets an insane idea. "You're bunking with me."

"What?"

"Unless that won't do for you, your highness?" Taylor says sweetly.

"Oh, give me a break," Selena says. "Fine, we'll bunk together. We can even work together." She narrows her eyes. "You won't be able to get rid of me."

A weird thrill goes through Taylor at that. She doesn't betray herself, though, just says, "Wonderful." She looks at everyone else. Caitlin and Abigail look obscurely amused, but Taylor decides she'll deal with that later. "Everyone, go settle in," she says. "Say your prayers, whatever you need to do. We need to make nice with them in two hours."

Everyone obeys. It's a small miracle, Taylor thinks, that there hasn't been some kind of mutiny. Then again, where would they go if they mutinied? She's not under the delusion that anyone who'd go on her ship wants to live with the Amish forever. And once Taylor leaves, there's no guarantee another ship will come by for another twenty years. The Amish are isolated; half the refugees they take in come in single-use pods. Most Amish communities don't even use credits or have off-planet communicators.

"Come with me," she says to Selena. Selena rolls her eyes, but follows.

Taylor - Taylor doesn't get Selena. She speaks like someone who's used to being in charge, but she's supposedly just a country girl. Something about her is off, and Taylor doesn't know what, but it makes her uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. She wants to - she's not even sure. Figure out what makes Selena tick. Get to know her, just so she can understand her. Something.

"What's your story, anyway?"

Taylor almost bumps her head on her bunk as she turns to look at Selena. "What?"

Selena's standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame. "Your story," she says. "You're, what, 20? How'd you become a smuggler?"

Taylor sighs. She always has to explain this. "I'm not a smuggler."

"Um," Selena says. "You kind of are."

"I'm not. Or, I'm not only a smuggler."

Selena stares at Taylor. "So, what, you're also a thief?"

"Sometimes," Taylor says. "I like to think of myself as...free."

Selena doesn't look convinced.

"I used to want to be a pop star," Taylor says. "An intergalactic folk singer."

"Folk music's out of style," Selena says.

"I know," Taylor says. "And I was - I don't like bullies. I like doing what I want. And I love having a crew. My parents wanted me to stay on-planet, so I decided to go to the skies."

"Very romantic."

That makes Taylor laugh in spite of herself. "You wouldn't say that if you knew how hard it was to find a boyfriend when you're a smuggler."

"A boyfriend?"

"Yes," Taylor says. "I like guys."

"Of course," Selena says. "I don't know why I thought otherwise." She finally goes into the cabin, brushing past Taylor to lie down on the bottom bunk. "I'm going to take a nap." She closes her eyes.

Taylor can't help but stare, because - what just happened? But at the end of the day, she's not going to protest. She leaves to find Abigail.

Abigail is sitting in her room, which she's sharing with Caitlin. There's a rug in the center of it, and Taylor flops down on it dramatically, throwing an arm over her eyes. "I hate this."

"Evidently," Abigail says.

"She's so -" Taylor pauses. "Complicated," she finally says. "I don't understand her. And I'm not sure I like her."

Caitlin laughs.

"What?"

"What you're saying is you're obsessed with her."

"Not obsessed," Taylor says. "At most, preoccupied."

"Is that a fact."

"What?" Taylor props herself up on her elbows. "What are you trying to say?"

"Have you ever considered that you might swing that way?" Abigail says.

"Of course I have. What is this, the 21st century? But I don't."

She watches Abigail and Caitlin exchange a Look. Definitely with a capital L.

"Uh-huh," Abigail says finally. "If you say so."

"I do," Taylor says, lying back down.

But she thinks about it that night. She really, definitely does, lying down and staring up at the ceiling. Selena's breathing softly in the bottom bunk. Taylor really doesn't think she wants her; she's never experimented, but she doesn't need to. She likes boys. Taylor always dreamed about a prince sweeping her off her feet. What room is there for some girl who's kind of mouthy and arrogant and doesn't trust Taylor as far as she can throw her?

None, Taylor thinks, and goes to sleep.

The Amish put them to work the next day. "If you don't work, you don't eat," the green-skinned Gilarian tells them. The Gilarians are the only other humanoid species in this galaxy, and a disproportionate number of them have joined Amish colonies. Taylor finds out that, to her disappointment, she's not in charge of anything, not even a team working in the fields. Instead, she and Selena are sent out with a basket and instructed to forage edible fungi and leaves. They're even given a tablet with diagrams, as though they'd be lost otherwise.

"This is so demoralizing," Taylor says, stomping through the fields just outside massive wood to the east of the town.

"And insulting, 'cause you're a big-deal space pirate?" Selena says. She kneels with the tablet and picks some mushrooms.

"I didn't leave a rural desig so I could pick -" Taylor glances at the tablet. "Dandelion greens. How do they even have dandelions here?"

"They're a distant cousin of the Earth original," Selena says. "They grow to be three feet tall."

"They still sound like weeds," Taylor says. She sighs. "How is this not bothering you?" Maybe if she knows, she can figure Selena out.

"It's just not," Selena says. "We're doing what we have to do until it's safe to leave."

"That's an awful lot of rah-rah-team coming from someone who tried to undermine me yesterday."

"Oh, please." Selena picks the leaves from a giant dandelion. Taylor reluctantly plucks some from the plant next to it. "I wasn't undermining you. Your crew is devoted."

"The passengers aren't." The back of Taylor's hand brushes against Selena's. She jerks it away, trying not to turn red as she thinks of Abigail and Caitlin's totally off-base teasing.

"Well, you hate them," Selena says.

"I don't." Taylor puts the dandelion greens in her basket, and they keep walking down the path towards the woods.

"You do. It's obvious, every time you talk about having passengers. Would you rather sell illegal goods to Kanye West?"

Taylor stops dead. "How do you know that?"

There's a beat of silence long enough that Taylor's thinking desperately that she should have brought her gun, but then Selena laughs. "Oh my God, relax, would you? Caitlin told me."

Caitlin's never been that good at keeping secrets. Then again, it hardly matters if their illegally smuggled passengers know they also deal with Kanye West. "Fine," Taylor says, and starts walking again. "I don't care."

"Of course you don't." Selena doesn't need to sound so condescending, Taylor thinks.

"I don't." They start walking into the woods. Selena doesn't answer, and Taylor takes her own tablet and inspects the flora around them.

There are some edible mushrooms and berries and greens, so Taylor picks them. She's fighting it, but it almost feels soothing. Before everything got complicated, before Taylor started to feel genuinely desperate to go off-world, she liked doing this with her parents. She'd walk barefoot then, and it was...nice.

She moves with Selena down the path, lost in thought and glad Selena doesn't try to make conversation. It's not until Selena gasps and laughs that Taylor even looks at her again.

She's pretty, Taylor realizes. Not that it means anything, but - she is.

"What?" Taylor snaps.

Selena just laughs again. "Look. A peach-parrot."

The climate is warm enough for them, and sure enough, there's a huge, orange bird perched on a branch high above their heads. It's pretty, Taylor can grudgingly admit as she watches it croak out a call and fly away.

Although. "They sound awful."

"They're native to where I'm from," Selena says, sounding wistful.

Taylor wants to ask about it. She really wants to ask. Which is why she doesn't, turning instead to the edible flowers nearby.

It doesn't take long for their baskets to be filled, deep as they are. Taylor would like to find a meadow to lie down in, but the Amish don't tolerate fooling around, and she knows it. So instead, she says, "We should get back."

"Unfortunately," Selena says. She hoists her basket and starts walking back down the path.

Taylor feels a weird kind of wanting. She shoves it down and follows.

The Amish aren't all bad, as it turns out. Sure, they're draconian when it comes to work; but after dinner, all of that changes. They go to a barn with benches arranged loosely in rings around a dance floor, and some of them play music while other dance. Katya and Dennis, two of Taylor's passengers, do a traditional dance from their planet; Caitlin fiddles, and Abigail claps along to the music. Even Ben gets in on the action. Taylor sits, unwilling to let on that when her ship does this, she usually sings.

And Selena dances.

Taylor knows it's nothing special; plenty of people dance. But Taylor can't stop watching her, and there's now a niggling little doubt in the back of her mind.

She thought she didn't like women. She never got crushes on girls growing up - if anything, she was kind of jealous, and had trouble making friends. Maybe she was jealous because she secretly wanted them? Or maybe, Taylor thinks as she stares at the fireplace across the hall, she's just losing her mind because she's stuck with the Amish.

It's a lot of maybes. Taylor didn't become a ship captain by getting drowned in possibilities, though, so once she realizes how confused she is, she excuses herself and goes back to the sleep hall.

The sleep hall is darker and quieter than Taylor's ship ever has been. She changes into sleep clothes, then lies in her bunk, thinking. If she wants Selena - well, does it really matter? Selena's the first girl she's ever thought of like that, and Taylor's too busy trying to survive right now. Once they get back to December, it's a quick jaunt to the drop-off point. Especially if Elizabeth gets the darkspace compressor fixed. There's no point in overthinking it, really.

Taylor overthinks it so much, she's awake when Selena gets in.

It's not technically very late, only two hours past sunset. Selena's very quiet as she changes and gets into bed. Taylor thinks she's fooled Selena into thinking she's asleep until Selena says, "You're not breathing like a sleeping person would."

Taylor starts. "What?"

"Your breathing," Selena says. "If you were sleeping, it'd be different."

"I don't think that's any of your business," Taylor says stiffly.

"Maybe not, but if you want to fake it in the future, you should know how to do it."

Selena's voice sounds playful, and for a second Taylor thinks that's innuendo. That second ends, though, and then she realizes Selena's just trying to get a rise out of her.

She turns over on her side. "Goodnight," she says firmly.

Selena's quiet voice floats up to her. "Goodnight, Taylor."

Taylor assumes that, as the captain of a valuable ship, she'll be fielding requests from the Amish for information about December's defense and weapons systems. People mostly don't mess with the Amish, because they don't do defensive maneuvers like most people do. They go straight for the kill, even if it means massacring an entire ship. They protect their peace at all costs.

So Taylor expects to run into some problems. She's on edge pretty much constantly.

But days pass and nothing happens. The military doesn't try to breach Amish peace, and the Amish don't press Taylor for anything other than daily labor to keep the community running. Even Selena mostly avoids her, though part of that might be because Taylor spends a lot of her free time in Abigail and Caitlin's room. It's peaceful.

It makes Taylor antsy.

She's almost relieved when Selena appears in the doorway of the laundry room one day and says, "Jane wants to speak with you."

"What did you do?"

"Maybe it's what you did," Selena says.

Taylor scowls and throws the laundry she was folding down. "Let's go, then."

As it turns out, Jane has something more interesting in mind. "I need two hardy people to go to another village and request medical assistance," she says. "Three of our own people have taken sick."

Selena says, "That sounds like it could be a problem."

"The illness is contained," Jane says. "We utilize medical technology. However, one of the insensate is our doctor."

Taylor's more than happy to leave the village if that kind of thing is going on. "We'll do it," Taylor says. "Just load a map into my tablet and we should be ready to go."

"Good," Jane says. She taps her own tablet, and Taylor's beeps. "Oh, and a reminder." Jane smiles thinly. "There are bears in the woods."

Who even knows what constitutes a 'bear' on this planet? "We'll go to December and retrieve our weapons, then," Taylor says. She doesn't need any keys; December will know her.

"Well, that was suspicious," Selena says as they walk towards December.

"How so?"

"She's willing to let us have weapons?"

"We've been peaceful. And if there are bears -"

"Some bears. We've been in the woods before."

Taylor blinks. She's embarrassed, but she hadn't thought of that. "That's...a good point, actually."

"I know," Selena says. "Still want to go?"

"We might as well," Taylor says. "It's a day's walk, so we need to get a move on."

Selena doesn't answer, but she picks up the pace a little, and Taylor moves to match her.

They get weapons from December and start walking through the woods. The path narrows after they've been walking for about ten minutes, and starts winding up and down small hills.

It's not silent; there are birds chirping and the rustling leaves that signify various animals. Hopefully they're all small animals, and not bears. Or...actually, Taylor has no idea what animals live on this planet. That's a major problem.

Then again, maybe it won't be a problem. Maybe, for once, everything will go smoothly.

Hah, hah, Taylor thinks.

"So," Selena says after they've been walking for twenty minutes. "What do you think we'll find in the village?"

"A doctor, hopefully," Taylor says.

Selena snorts. "Because there was nothing shady going on, with them sending us with weapons."

"We don't know that." Taylor would like to believe the Amish aren't, actually, going to backstab them.

"Sure," Selena says. "Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's all innocent."

And that just - really irritates Taylor. "So, what, you believe the worst of people? I'm sure that's gotten you far in life."

Selena makes an incredulous noise. "You're telling me you're a pirate and a smuggler, and you look for the best in people?"

"Um, yeah," Taylor says.

She looks over to see Selena shaking her head. "You are not what I expected."

"You had expectations?" This wasn't exactly planned ahead.

"When I knew I'd be smuggled in some moldy cargo hold."

"Well, I'm not a typical pirate."

"Apparently," Selena says.

She's snotty. Taylor's surprised to find she kind of likes that.

The first sign of trouble appears just past noon. Taylor's feet are starting to hurt; she's in shape, but she has a ship. She doesn't exactly make a habit out of walking miles on end.

She's distracted from the way her feet hurt pretty quickly, though, because out of nowhere, heavy clouds roll in and the temperature drops easily 15 degrees. She can't look up the stats of it, because they're on a damn Amish planet, but she's shivering as they continue to walk.

"So," Selena says. "Are we both going to pretend there's not a huge storm coming, or what?"

"I was hoping it would blow over." Taylor glances up at the sky. Thunderclouds are gathering; the sky is almost black. "Maybe not."

"Maybe not," Selena echoes. It's mocking, but Taylor doesn't snap at her, because she also sounds as worried as Taylor feels.

"Shelter," Taylor says. "Let's find shelter."

"You think we should go off the path?"

"The Amish have GPS, I'm hooked in," Taylor says. "One of the few things they do have. Come on." She heads off in one direction, hoping against hope that she'll find the needle in a haystack.

Thunder starts overhead, sounding like the groaning of a ship after a direct hit. Taylor knows what that sounds like; December's been in a few firefights. The crackling and popping fills the air, and Taylor ducks as a gust of wind sends a branch flying towards her face.

"We have to get out of this," Selena yells.

The hills are higher here. Taylor looks around frantically. Trees, trees, a hill, more trees, some bushes, a hill - wait.

"This way," Taylor says. Selena stares at her, so Taylor grabs her wrist and yanks. The first sheets of rain begin to fall as they make their way towards the hill Taylor saw.

But the rain is falling sideways over a hole in the hill. A cave.

Luckily, it's too small for bears. It's an enclave, more like, a hollow the size of a small room. When they reach it, Taylor pulls Selena in and stops dead, gasping as lightning flashes and the rain increases.

"Oh, my God," Selena says, shivering. "We don't have anything like this where I'm from."

Thunder sounds again, and Selena winces. She looks honestly afraid, and for the first time, Taylor feels a little sympathy.

"We do where I'm from," Taylor says. "Relax, it's not a big deal." Even if they are soaked, and even if Taylor herself is also freezing.

Selena's lips are turning blue. "Oh my God, how cold is it?"

Taylor pulls her tablet out and shakes the water droplets off of it. She looks at the planet specs, and - oh.

"Cold," she says. "This planet is known for temperature spikes. Unpredictable, dangerous. It could get very, very cold before the storm's done."

"It's going to get colder?" Selena throws her hands up. "We really were sent out here to die."

Taylor's distracted, suddenly, by the way Selena's white shirt clings to her. No - that's not what she needs to be focusing on, at all. "It is," she says, tearing her eyes away from Selena. She meets Selena's eyes and realizes she's noticed Taylor looking.

So, great: now Taylor's blushing. "I don't want to believe they'd do that," she says.

"That doesn't mean they haven't, though."

"True," Taylor says. "I don't know what you want from me."

"Confirmation that something weird is going on would be nice."

Taylor's about to answer when the rain gets louder. She looks out, and blinks hard to make sure she's not just randomly hallucinating. The rain has turned into hail.

"God fucking damn it," Selena says, slowly and sincerely.

"I don't have anything to build a fire," Taylor says.

Selena looks around. "Wait," she says. "The side of this cave - look. It's a tree root. And you have a blaster."

Taylor doesn't need her to complete that thought. "There'll be others. We just have to pull them out of the ground."

They end up with a small, weak fire. The roots are damp and they have to put the fire near the mouth of the cave, so the smoke mostly exits it. But after they do that, they have a tiny bit of warmth.

But Taylor is denying - to herself, and by extension Selena - what she knows about preserving body heat. So she forces herself to say, "Come here."

Selena looks at her. "What?"

"Something weird is going on, okay?" she says. "They might be trying to kill us. But they will kill us if we don't stay warm, so come here."

Selena's glaring at her like Taylor's just announced her plan to steal back into the Amish town and kill everyone there, but she scoots towards Taylor. They're both freezing still, in spite of the fire, but Taylor puts her arm around Selena and leans towards the fire.

They're not touching that much. "Maybe we should lie down," she says.

Selena's head is tucked into Taylor's neck. She puts an arm around Taylor's waist, pressing them together as they slowly dry. "Maybe."

They stay upright, though, clinging to each other as the hail slows down. The fire is still burning when it finally stops.

"Will it get warmer now?" Selena says.

"I don't know," Taylor says.

"My clothes are soaked." Selena sighs. "This isn't going to work."

Taylor glances outside. It's still, but the temperature isn't getting any warmer.

Right, then. She pulls out her blaster.

"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" Selena says.

Taylor aims the blaster at the far wall of the cave, the wall that's mostly rock. "I can make this rock hot enough to stay warm for hours," she says. "We can lie by it. But we'll have to ditch the clothes."

"You're insane," Selena says. "Oh my God, how are you a pirate captain? You're completely crazy."

Taylor feels crazy, but that just makes it better. She laughs. "You know, I wanted to paint December in Aurora paint," she says, and fires at the rock.

It takes fifteen blaster hits before the rock starts glowing with warmth. Once it's hot - and looks like it'll stay hot - Taylor takes a deep breath and strips her shirt off.

"You're really doing this," Selena says, sounding wondering.

"Our clothes have barely dried," Taylor says. "So unless you have a better idea, yes. We're doing this."

Selena shakes her head, but she pulls her top off. Taylor strips her pants off and tries not to cover herself up.

She leaves her underwear on. It'll dry, and anyway, she can't cuddle naked with Selena. She'd rather freeze to death. When she's done, she goes over to the rock and lies down on the rocky floor.

The rock is giving off waves of heat, a result of nearly melting it with her blaster. Taylor tries not to show anything when Selena lies down behind her, putting an arm around her waist and curling into her.

"This is awkward," Selena says, a hint of humor in her voice.

"Um, duh," Taylor says. She has to resist the urge to shift uncomfortably. Selena is slowly getting warmer, and it's simultaneously comforting and alarming.

Selena must mistake her tension for worry about the possible murder attempt, because she says, "If Jane is trying to kill us, we'll deal with it."

"I don't know how you can say that," Taylor says. She shifts a little, her arm falling over Selena's. "I'm practically powerless. I can't stop her. Hell, even my access to weapons is restricted."

"They can't board December. You made sure of that. And if we have to, we'll sneak back onto the ship and leave."

"The sky isn't safe either."

"Nowhere's safe," Selena says after a moment. "But the government - maybe they'll go away. You're not exactly a prime target."

Taylor feels a bit of irrational annoyance at that. "I could be."

Selena laughs quietly. "You don't own an armada, Taylor."

That's true enough, though it is one of Taylor's goals. She's a big fish in a small pond as it is. "Someday."

"Do you ever think about giving it up?" Selena moves against her, hooking one ankle around Taylor's. "The piracy?"

Taylor thinks about it and then shrugs. "I like it," she says. "And I don't trust the central government. Their rules...I take things to rural desigs a lot. What would they do without people like me?"

"You have rivals, though. People who want to see you hurt."

"I'll deal with them."

She sounds a little snappish, she knows, and Selena must pick up on just how much she doesn't want to have this conversation. She pats Taylor's wrist and says, "Okay."

The temperature begins to rise as the sun sets. Taylor and Selena are completely dry by then, and the heat is faded from the now-twisted and scorched wall of rock. Taylor shifts a little and says, "We should start back."

Selena doesn't respond, but she sighs a little, her breath stirring Taylor's hair. Taylor shifts away from her and turns around to find that Selena's sleeping, her head awkwardly pillowed on the arm that wasn't around Taylor, crooked against the stone floor.

She's in her bra and she just - she looks so good that Taylor can't deny to herself, right then, what she wants from Selena. She wants to touch her, to kiss her. Selena's lips are a little wet, and her skin looks so soft - and is. Taylor knows that now. And, God, she wants.

But she can't have Selena. She's smuggling Selena; in a few days, she'll never see her again.

There's nothing for them.

So Taylor shrugs the feeling off as best as she can and shakes Selena's shoulder. "Wake up."

Selena blinks her eyes open and yawns, smiling a little. "Good...afternoon?" She props herself up on her elbows. "Evening."

Taylor gets up and goes to her clothes. They're mostly dry, by virtue of being left by the rock. "We need a plan."

"A plan?" Selena shimmies into her pants. "That's ambitious."

Taylor thinks that might be a jab, so she ignores it. "Well, we need to leave. This was definitely a mission we weren't meant to come back from. Who knows if anyone is even sick?"

"So what's your idea?"

"They won't expect us back," Taylor says. "We walk back until we're at the edge of the forest and wait until it's late, sneak in, get our people, and get out."

"Our people?"

Taylor yanks her shirt on and scowls. "You know what I mean."

"I do," Selena says. She's smiling a little; Taylor's not even sure if she realizes she's doing it, but it makes Taylor desperately want to kiss her. Damn it, she thinks.

"So we sneak in, grab everyone, and fly off."

"That's the plan."

"Not a very sophisticated plan."

"Do you have a better idea?" Taylor says waspishly.

"No," Selena says. "I really don't."

"Then we'd better eat," Taylor says. She still has her bag with their lunch, forgotten in the rush to not freeze to death. Now that it's warming up again, she's hungry.

"You really do like the finer things, don't you," Selena says.

Taylor stiffens. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, only that you aren't much for roughing it." Selena opens their satchel and passes Taylor wrapped-up hunks of meat and cheese. "Sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way. Just, you know. That's how you are."

Taylor kind of hates hearing 'that's how you are'. "Well, I'm sorry," she says, taking a bite of cheese.

"It's refreshing," Selena says. "I've met - never mind."

Taylor desperately wants to know what she was going to say, but Selena's expression is troubled, so she drops it. Instead, she eats her jerky and cheese and watches the sun descend below the tops of the trees.

Taylor's read adventure stories from the old days of Earth, thousands of years before the first deep space exploratory vessels were sent out. This is nothing like that, really; her tablet will remain charged as long as she can get it some sunlight or body heat for a few hours a day, and that tells her their location, the time, and other important information, even in the relative isolation of an Amish planet. But it feels a little like an old adventure novel, sitting next to Selena in drying clothes, planning a daring escape.

"What I don't understand," Taylor says awhile after they've finished eating, "is why Jane would try to kill us."

"Suspecting we're planning on staying? Sociopathy?" Selena shrugs. "It could be any number of things."

Taylor privately can't help but feel that Selena should really be more worried. But she just says, "Good point. I guess it doesn't matter."

"Can December withstand heavy fire from the Amish? I'm sure they won't hesitate to use their defenses."

"She can withstand it," Taylor says. She's not sure why Selena would ask such a technical question, but it doesn't really matter; Taylor's not going to tell her the details of December's arms just because Taylor wants to sleep with her. The entire idea makes her blush.

"You're brave," Selena says quietly.

Taylor turns to look at her. The light is rapidly fading, but she can see the seriousness of Selena's expression, the sorry on her face. "It's okay," Taylor says. "We'll be fine."

Selena smiles a little. "That's not what I meant." She reaches out and touches Taylor's face. "But I know we will be."

The touch makes Taylor freeze. A thought flickers through her mind - she'd shoot down a hundred Amish if it meant she got to kiss Selena, right now. Well, a hundred hostile Amish. Maybe she wouldn't shoot them down. But -

"Taylor," Selena says, and leans in.

She doesn't kiss Taylor, though. She hovers near Taylor's face, and then her lips ghost over Taylor's cheek.

That's not enough for Taylor. She lets out a noise in frustration and leans forward, cupping her hand around Selena's cheek so she can kiss her the right way.

Kissing a girl is just like kissing a guy, it turns out. Or maybe it's just that Selena is pushy the second Taylor touches her, shoving her back against the cave wall and kissing her back hard. Taylor moans a little, then flushes in - embarrassment? Maybe. But she also feels the most acute need she's ever had, and it's all centered on Selena.

"Taylor," Selena says, and then she's in Taylor's lap, tugging Taylor's hair out of its braid. Taylor would protest - her braid is nice, and it takes forever to get it just right - but Selena's kissing her again, and it feels like her entire body is being lit on fire.

"Oh God," Taylor says when Selena tugs them sideways. "Selena -"

"This is good," Selena says desperately. She props herself up on one elbow, looking down at Taylor. "Right?"

Taylor can barely breathe, but she wants this more than anything, so she nods. "Yes. It is."

Selena quirks her lips in a smile. "Good," she says, and kisses Taylor again.

Leaving aside the whole girl thing, this is the most uncomfortable makeout session Taylor's ever had. Rocks are digging into her back, and she knows she'll be bruised. But somehow, that makes it hotter - and when Selena slides a hand down Taylor's stomach and between her legs, Taylor doesn't even think to protest.

"Let me know if this is terrible." Selena smiles at her a little, crookedly, then presses her thumb against Taylor's clit. It's an almost-light touch, and Taylor gasps as Selena trails her fingers over Taylor, slipping in just barely and then going back up, kissing her as she does it.

Taylor's - Taylor's done things before. But never like this. Selena slips a single finger in her and plays with her clit, rocking against Taylor slowly, creating a rhythm that builds in Taylor. It feels so weird, not foreign but not - not really what Taylor's used to, either. That doesn't stop it from feeling good, though, doesn't stop Taylor from gasping and surging up to kiss Selena, tilting her hips so that Selena's finger slips further inside.

"Oh, God," Selena says. Then she swears in another language and kisses down Taylor's neck, biting lightly at the curve of her shoulder, then back up again, kissing Taylor hard as her hand on Taylor's clit speeds up.

Taylor can barely even think about what's happening, but Selena is fucking her more quickly, now, and Taylor's so wet, and her head is spinning a little with the effort to not just let go. Selena says, "Is this," and slips another finger in, and Taylor finds herself nodding frantically and bucking her hips, saying, "Please, I just -"

She comes like that, on Selena's hand - and then again when Selena presses the heel of her palm against Taylor's clit, callouses sending sparks of sensation through Taylor.

"Oh," Taylor says when she can think again. "I - oh."

Selena draws in a shuddery breath, and then slides a hand down her own body. But that's a terrible angle, and Taylor acts before she thinks, reaching down and copying Selena's movements. She's slippery, and she moans when Taylor touches her - and it doesn't take long at all before she's coming, arching her back and kissing Taylor, then pulling away.

For a second they just stare at each other. Taylor's never had sex like this, fast and messy - she wasn't even aware it could be that fast, with girls. She almost says something stupid like "are you okay?" before she catches herself and looks away.

"Hey," Selena says. She kisses Taylor again, briefly. "I'll keep watch. You get some sleep." She goes to the mouth of the cave.

There's no way she's going to be able to sleep. Or at least, that's what she thinks, right until she falls into a nap.

Taylor starts to panic as they're walking back to the village. She's done something very, very dumb by sleeping with Selena. What is she going to do when Selena leaves? And she will leave. This is a smuggling job, not a romance novel. What has Taylor done?

She's almost relieved that people are trying to kill her, because it distracts her from panicking about what an idiot she is. The Amish don't have much security around their town; they trust their planetwide defenses to take care of them in that department. It's almost suspiciously easy to sneak back to the sleeping quarters housing the crew and Taylor's passengers.

Taylor wakes Abigail and Caitlin up, whispering, "Come with me. Don't make a sound." Selena must issue similar orders, because everyone's standing in the hallway when Taylor emerges with Caitlin and Abigail.

Taylor and Selena have stopped by the ship, so they have weapons, even if Taylor's praying they won't need to use them. They all creep down the hall and out into the open, moving as quickly as they can while still maintaining silence. They creep past dark houses and slip into the fields on the far side of the village. Their ship is a ten-minute walk away.

They reach it without incident. Taylor lets out a breath when everyone's on the ship, closing the loading dock and going up to the pilot's deck.

"Take us out of here," she tells Ben.

"With pleasure," Ben says, and starts the liftoff sequence.

Taylor won't be happy until they've broken the atmosphere. They can probably withstand the Amish defense, but 'probably' isn't a sure shot. She holds onto her gun, knuckles white, as they slowly climb.

"Targeting system locked on us," Ben says. "Engaging evasive maneuvers."

He sounds calm, but then, he was in the military for awhile. It makes sense that he'd be calm.

"Engaging stealth," Ben says. The telltale shipper starts over the nose of the ship.

They climb higher, and no one fires at them. When they break atmosphere, Taylor collapses in the other pilot's seat in relief.

"We should be good," Ben says. "And on a quick route to the drop point."

"Excellent," Taylor says faintly.

"Are we in the clear?" Selena says behind her.

Taylor whirls around, almost falling off the swivel seat. "What are you doing here? Isn't Elizabeth keeping you guys in your cabins?"

Selena shrugs. "No."

Taylor scowls.

"We're passengers, not prisoners."

Selena licks her lips, and - it can't be deliberate, but Taylor is suddenly distracted, staring at the redness of Selena's lips and the way her breasts look when she crosses her arms.

This was such a bad idea.

"I'm going to shower," Taylor says, and launches herself out of the seat, half-stumbling on her way off the deck.

The shower helps her a little, but she still feels like an idiot when she gets out. Selena's gorgeous and funny and leaving, and Taylor's gotten attached. Way too attached.

It's stupid, too, because Taylor didn't even think she liked girls. What if this is just an aberration, some kind of minor mental break brought on by the stress of this run? Taylor wants to be swept off her feet by a dashing pilot or captain of a ship. Selena's neither of those things.

But she's so pretty, and Taylor has to put up with her for at least another week.

She goes to the engine room. Elizabeth's there, somehow already with grease smeared on her cheek.

"How is she?"

"Fine," Elizabeth says. "The darkspace compressor's going to take some more work, though."

Given that normally, only incredibly good, highly-qualified engineers can repair a darkspace compressor, Taylor's not going to argue. Instead she says, "Can I hang out here for awhile?"

Caitlin pokes her head around a tangle of machinery. "Oh my God, you slept with her."

"What? No!"

"Slept with who, the cute girl with all the opinions?"

"Selena," Taylor says.

"Like I said." Elizabeth shrugs. "I mean, she really is cute."

"You slut," Caitlin says. "I can't believe you slept with her! You said you were straight!"

"I thought I was," Taylor says. "But I just...she's really pretty."

"Wow," Elizabeth says. "Wow, Taylor."

Taylor sits down on a lockbox, putting her face in her hands. "I'm so stupid."

"Well, it's not a big deal," Caitlin says. "It was just a one-time thing, right?"

Taylor can't answer. She doesn't want it to be a one-time thing, but it has to be."

"Okay," Caitlin says slowly. "Maybe this is a problem, then."

"No." Taylor takes her head out of her hands, feeling resolute. "It's not. I'm going to go tell her we can't do it again."

"You're sure that's a good idea?"

"It has to be," Taylor says. "I won't - I can't do this. I definitely cannot do this."

Elizabeth and Caitlin both look doubtful, but Elizabeth says, "Well, good luck," and stands aside to let Taylor out of the engine room.

Taylor takes a deep breath and heads for Selena's quarter. Who knows if she's back yet, but Taylor can wait. It'll give her time to plan what she's going to say. Aside from 'this can't happen again', which is a given, but part of Taylor is worried that Selena doesn't want it to happen again. What if she tells Selena that and Selena laughs in her face?

It's not like Taylor really knows Selena. Maybe Selena's the type to be like that to someone she's slept with.

Stomach feeling heavy, Taylor arrives at Selena's room. The door is cracked, so Taylor raises a hand to knock.

Then she hears Jane saying, "Your orders were to not let them leave."

"I couldn't stop them," Selena says. "If you just give me more time -"

Taylor acts without thinking. She kicks the door in and grabs Selena, throwing her communicator to the ground. "Your orders?"

Selena breaks Taylor's grip easily. "I can explain."

"No," Taylor says. She draws her blaster and aims it at Selena, trying to ignore the way her hands are shaking. "You're going down to the brig."

Selena makes a face, almost unthinkingly. "You have a brig?"

"Start walking!" Taylor almost yells.

They've only made it halfway there when Caitlin intercepts them. "Taylor, I need - oh my God, what's going on?"

"She was working for Jane," Taylor says. "She set us up, she tried to kill me, she - " Seduced me. "Just - help me get her down to the brig."

They march Selena down and lock her in a cell. Selena looks sad - which, Taylor thinks viciously, serves her right. "Let me explain," Selena says. "I was going to -"

"I don't want to hear it." Taylor tucks her blaster away. "You're lucky we aren't throwing you out an airlock."

"So what, the fact that we slept together means nothing to you?"

Taylor makes herself look strong. Bitchy, even. "No," she says, and she and Caitlin leave.

Once they're back upstairs, Caitlin shakes her head. "That's a rough break."

"Jane's got to be a criminal leader," Taylor says. "That's why she wanted to kill us."

"We can interrogate Selena. I've got some stuff that would help."

"I don't want to know what drugs you have," Taylor says. "No, we're going to get to P-1834, and we're dropping her there. I'd rather never see her again."

"Sure," Caitlin says. "Okay, Taylor. We'll do that."

Word travels fast. Taylor feels like a coward, but she hides in her room during dinner, trying to write out her feelings in a song. But there aren't really enough rhymes for "wrong" to capture how she feels right now, so eventually she gives up and rests her head on the desk, trying to forget how Selena looked at her when they kissed.

Abigail sticks her head in Taylor's door just as her sleep shift is supposed to begin. "You okay, hon? We missed you at dinner."

"I'd rather not have everyone stare at me and know I'm heartbroken."

"Understandable," Abigail says, "Though in your defense, it's not like everyone knows you got down and dirty with her."

Taylor feels like she might cry.

"Wow, hey, I'm sorry, that was flip." Abigail comes in and pets Taylor's hair. "It'll be okay. You'll get over her."

"I know," Taylor says, "and I know I've only known her a few days, and - I just, I liked her so much."

"You're better than she is," Abigail says. "You're so awesome, Taylor, and it'll be fine, it really will."

Taylor blinks hard, and a few tears squeeze out. "Thanks."

"So quit being pathetic, okay? Get some sleep, and then come to command tomorrow well-rested and ready to kick ass."

"At least she's in the brig," Taylor mumbles.

"There's the spirit," Abigail says. "Now get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay," Taylor says.

Abigail leaves, and Taylor changes into pajamas and lies down in her bunk. She does, eventually, get some sleep.

But then she dreams about Selena.

In the dream, they're sitting under a tree on a rural desig planet with a purple sky and farm houses in the distance. Selena's head is in Taylor's lap, and she's saying something about how flower crowns are more fun to make on Gillen because the flowers sing. It doesn't make any sense, but her voice is so pretty and she's smiling up at Taylor, and so Taylor just smiles back happily, combing her fingers through Selena's hair.

Taylor wakes up with a jolt, feeling sick. At her movement, her lights turn on dimly. Taylor checks her tablet. It's almost time for her shift to begin, so she gets up and brushes her teeth, carefully putting makeup on. She's not going to let Selena turn her into some kind of person who doesn't care about grooming, for God's sake. Taylor is going to kick ass even if she is miserable.

She eats breakfast and then goes to the observation deck. "Hey, girl," Caitlin says.

"Report?" Taylor says.

"Nothing major," Caitlin says. "The darkspace compressor's coming along, according to Elizabeth."

"I heard," Taylor says. "That's...good."

"You don't sound excited."

"Of course I'm excited. The sooner we get rid of Selena, the better. Have we found any information on her?"

"Abigail's been searching every network we can reach, and there's nothing. Either she's really good at hiding her tracks, or she's really small-time."

"Small-time," Taylor says. "She works for Jane."

Caitlin nods. "That's kind of what we were thinking. Jane herself, well, it's an alias. But Abigail couldn't find anything on a mafioso pretending to be Amish."

Taylor nods. She already feels tired again. "Good to know."

"You sure you don't need more rest?"

"Positive," Taylor says. "I'm going to go talk to Elizabeth."

Elizabeth is working on the darkspace compressor, a giant tangle of cables and more digital displays than Taylor can imagine ever needing. "Hey," Taylor says.

"Hey," Elizabeth says, making a sympathetic face. "Are you -"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Taylor says quickly.

"Sure." Elizabeth nods. "Makes sense."

"What do you have going on?"

"Just this."

"If it's going to be awhile until it's fixed, I'd rather you turned up the juice and got us to the drop point faster."

"Ferrin? Sure." Elizabeth cocks her head, thinking. "Honestly, I could probably get it down to a day, if you want to hail Rihanna and let her know we're coming early."

"A whole day? Really?"

"We'll need an extra 48 hours planetside to recharge, but we'll get rid of the less savory elements of our cargo faster, so..."

"Do it," Taylor says. "The sooner, the better."

"Aye-aye, captain."

Taylor goes back to the observation deck. Caitlin's taken over piloting for Ben - not, Taylor thinks, that the ship needs much guidance, when they're following a plotted course. Still, it's good to have someone watching things.

Her shift drags. She knows it's ridiculous to feel heartbroken, but she still feels that way, like her entire chest is balled up and the strings of her heart tangled. She should write a song about it, she really should. So many things rhyme with "strings".

When she wakes up after another sleep shift, it's to the news that they're barely an hour outside Ferrin. Taylor throws on clothes, adding some sparkly jewelry, because Rihanna is always so dressed up and Taylor wants to match that, or at least come close. She makes sure her hair is perfectly straight and her lipstick is as red as they make it before finally going down to the loading deck.

Rihanna's waiting for her, wearing a black jumpsuit, dripping with jewelry, her hair dark red. "I only count four passengers."

Taylor nods. "The other's in the brig. My crew should be bringing her around momentarily."

Rihanna raises an eyebrow. "The brig?"

"She was...let's say we had some issues." Taylor points a finger at Rihanna. "You should do better research. She had mafioso connections. She nearly got me and my crew killed."

Taylor's been doing business with Rihanna long enough to know when she's managed to surprise her. Rihanna's eyes widen very slightly, but then she shrugs, faking nonchalance. "Risk to doing business."

Taylor shakes her head. "Not for me. You send me a passenger like this again, we're done."

"Sure thing, Blondie," Rihanna says. "And my other cargo?"

"The darkspace compressors are being unloaded by my planetside crew," Taylor says. "They're stripped of identification and contain the best cloaking tech on the market. Ten million for all of them, a million for the passengers."

"We agreed on half a mil for the passengers."

"That's before one of them tried to kill me." Taylor sneers. "Do you think I don't know how much money you make from them?"

"Fine," Rihanna says. "Seven hundred and you've got a deal."

"Good enough," Taylor says. "But if you ever do this again..."

Rihanna waves a hand. "Yeah, yeah. Credits transferred."

Taylor checks to confirm, then nods. "We'll be staying at the Galactic Raz tonight if you need us. My people know to lock December up." She hoists her bag and waves to Caitlin and Abigail, and they take the 5th level shuttle to the hotel.

As soon as Taylor gets in her room, she sits down heavily on the bed. Selena's gone; Taylor will never see her again. She didn't go to say goodbye because there's no need to say goodbye to a backstabbing criminal you're unloading onto a crime-ridden planet. And she feels good about that, she really does. Selena betrayed her comprehensively. Taylor doesn't want to see her again.

She goes to sleep with sadness ghosting over her, and wakes up in the morning to rain falling to the ground a mile below. The rain won't be able to reach the covered market, where Taylor plans to buy jewelry and maybe a dress before going back to December to supervise restocking the ship's stores. She gets dressed quickly and then rides a hover-stool to the market.

It's on the fourth level of the city, just a quarter of a mile off the ground. The rain streaks past the enclosure in streaks as Taylor wanders the market, nothing quite catching her eye.

"Flowers for your hair, pretty lady?" says an old woman, hunched over in her stall, a scarf over one eye.

"No, thank you," Taylor says.

"I think you'd like it," she says, grabbing Taylor's wrist.

"Hey!" Taylor says, trying to yank her arm away. But she's too late: a flower is shoved into her face, and then she's being pulled into the tent as her consciousness falls away.

She wakes up in a dark cell.

An actual, old-fashioned cell, the kind that easily violates five Galactic Humane Standards regulations. It's got a dirt floor, it's cold and damp, and there are metal bars on the door. The only light comes from a flickering torch on the wall. Taylor can't tell if they're underground or not, but she's suddenly incredibly terrified.

"Hello?" she calls. "Listen, whoever you are, you've made a mistake."

"Oh, I don't think so," someone says, stepping out of the shadows of the hallway.

It's Jane.

Taylor throws up her hands. "Oh my God, okay, you win! You're a better smuggler than me! I'm so small-time, why are you doing this?"

"You're gaining ground," Jane says. "What kind of smuggler would I be if I didn't attempt to cut your advantage?"

"That's ridiculous," Taylor says. "Come on. There's more than enough room in the galaxy for both of us."

"Maybe," Jane says. "But I didn't get here by being generous to competitors."

For a moment there, Taylor's indignation made her forget about where she is. Now, though, she's all too aware of it. "So what are you going to do?" she says, coldly aware of her own helplessness.

"What do you think I should do?"

Taylor rolls her eyes. "I'm not going to tell you to execute me. You'll do it anyway."

Death. God, she has to find a way to get out of here. Her tablet has been taken, and she hadn't activated the distress symbol. If they used gloves, it's possible it wouldn't be tripped, unless they try to use it. Jane seems like the type to be too smart for that. And will her crew be able to fight their way in? They can't call the authorities.

Taylor could die here.

"I'll let you think about it," Jane says. She smiles cruelly. "You shouldn't have tried to take my star agent," she says, and turns to leave.

"I didn't take anything!" Taylor yells. But Jane's already disappeared.

Taylor sits down on the rickety bench in the corner of the cell, the only furniture in it. She's thinking of her crew, who she's been with for years, looking for her - and then she's thinking of Selena, who betrayed her, and who's been cast aside on this planet. Taylor feels like she should be glad for it, especially since she's currently awaiting her death, but instead she just feels...empty.

Taylor's always known that she falls in love easily. Too easily, maybe. But this...this hurts.

Abigail, Ben, Caitlin, Elizabeth. Selena. God, she wants Selena on December. She'd fit in, people like her. And she wouldn't be under the thumb of someone like Jane. But Taylor will probably never see December again, or her crew. Or Selena.

No one comes back, or gives her food. Taylor wants to demand some, but she's not stupid enough to stick her neck out like that - especially since she's all too aware that torture is a definite possibility with someone like Jane.

The worst part so far is the boredom. Taylor's used to constantly having something to do - a million tiny tasks on December, plus the galactic network on her tablet. And now she has nothing, not even scenery out her window.

She thinks she's going to lose her mind, so she starts reciting her songs. They sound better with a guitar behind them, more plaintive and meaningful, but speaking them out loud anchors her. She feels so much saner with the lyrics of her song scrolling through her mind, tumbling from her lips.

But not sane enough that she's not terrified out of her mind.

"It will be okay," she whispers. "You're getting out of here. It will be okay."

She doesn't believe it for a second.

Days pass, Taylor's pretty sure. She doesn't know how long, but it has to be days; she sleeps twice, on the floor, tossing and turning and trying not to think about what must be crawling all over her as she sleeps. She's just waking up when she hears a noise from above.

It's just a clanging, so she dismisses it. But then the clanging turns into shouting, and banging down the hall, and Taylor leaps to her feet, knowing she has to be ready but not knowing what for.

So when Selena shows up, Taylor's so shocked she almost falls over.

"Stand back," Selena says, and raises her gun.

Taylor scurries back. Selena shoots the lock once, twice, and the blast from the gun melts the lock.

"What are you doing?" Taylor says. "What -"

"Your crew is here," Selena says. "Luckily, Jane's security is shit. She thought no one could find this place." There's a noise down the hall. Selena doesn't look back, just opens the cell and says, "Come on, we have to move."

"How -"

"Now, Taylor."

Taylor might not be the typical smuggler, but she's still a smuggler, and she's been in danger before. She leaves the cell and takes the gun Selena hands her, and they go down the hall, guns out.

But there's no one but slumped bodies. Taylor thinks of how many people Selena would've had to kill to get in here and feels cold. Taylor's never killed anyone, but it doesn't seem like Selena's hesitated to do so.

Taylor's not sure how she feels about it. Then again, they're jailbreaking, so she doesn't really have a ton of time to think about it.

"Are you coming with us?" Taylor says.

"Rendezvous at December," Selena says. "I'm going to need to lay low for awhile. Your ship's a good enough place for that. You need an agent, anyway. You could have a fleet if you wanted." Selena tosses her a smile. "Why do you think Jane wanted to kill you?"

Taylor thinks of what Jane was probably going to do to her and feels cold. Selena takes them up the stairs, and then they're out into open space.

"Hurry," Selena says. "It won't take them long to send people after us. I shot Jane in the leg, but -"

"Got it," Taylor says, and they take off running down the street, pushing people aside as they go.

December is in a shabby hangar, and no one cares that they're running with guns out. They go up the loading dock and stop, gasping, watching Caitlin and Elizabeth walk up the ramp.

"Ben? Abigail?" Taylor says.

"Both coming," Caitlin says. "They're taking evasive maneuvers." She hands Taylor a tablet. "Though you might want this."

"We need to get into space immediately," Taylor says. "December's loaded well enough, we'll go back to - well, I know a place - and lay low."

"You're a real smuggler now," Caitlin says with a slight smile. "People wanting to kill you and everything."

Taylor is not, definitely not, going to burst into tears. She leans on the control panel instead, taking deep breaths with her eyes closed.

"We're here," Abigail says. "Let's go, now."

Taylor hits the panel and the ship closes, the three layers that make up the airtight hull clanging shut. "Ben?"

"On it," he says, and heads up to the observation deck.

An hour later, they're clear of the planet and well into the darkness of space. "Now would be the time to discuss where we want to go," Ben says. "Before we get too far in the wrong direction."

Taylor thinks about it. She doesn't want to do this, but she knows it's the right thing to do. They'll stay out of the spotlight, and they'll have things to do.

"I've never told you guys where I'm from," she says.

"You're out of the database," Ben says.

"You've never told anyone," Abigail says. She doesn't need to say 'even me'.

"I know," Taylor says. "Now I'm telling you. We need to lay low, and my home is the end of the galaxy." She turns to Ben. "Take us to Pennsylvania."

Earth was abandoned almost a millennium ago, houses left to ruin, skyscrapers slowly turning into weed-covered monuments to humanity's arrogance. But thirty years ago, some people came back, building houses over ancient foundations. Taylor's parents were one of them.

They have an ancient map on a data chip. Pennsylvania is a strange name for a region, but it's one of the most populous places on Earth, with almost ten thousand people spread out over about 50,000 square miles. Taylor grew up nestled in the mountains, with clear, crisp air, playing among the ruins of old stone fireplaces, the only remnants of houses from a thousand years ago.

They land just outside Greensburg, a town on the border of New Pennsylvania. It's about ten miles away from Taylor's parents' house; they can take the car for the rest of the distance. It's quiet, almost eerily so; even most rural desigs aren't this quiet. No one really wants to repopulate Earth, but some people want to live in peace, on a warm but healing planet.

"Welcome to Earth," Taylor says as they disembark.

Everyone's silent as they load into the car and head for Greensburg. There aren't really any roads, but the car hovers about five feet off the ground, so it doesn't matter.

"This is home?" Abigail says finally as they arrive at the town.

"My parents used to have a farm," Taylor says. "But I got a letter from them a month ago, they're in the town now."

People are milling around, staring at the car and at the crew. It's not because of the technology, though; Greenburg still has the internet, tablets, the whole nine yards. No, they're staring at Taylor, the small town girl turned smuggler. Taylor keeps her head up as they go past the barber's, to the small red house that belongs to Taylor's parents.

"Here we are," Taylor says, and climbs up the steps, knocking on the door.

"Taylor," her mom says when she opens it. "Taylor, oh my God." She sweeps Taylor into a hug, squeezing her so tightly Taylor can barely breathe.

"Hi, Mom," she manages to say.

"I thought you were dead," she says. "You didn't reply to my postcard, I couldn't get you on the internet, I - Taylor."

"I'm here," Taylor says. And now she cries, tears cropping up in her eyes and falling when she tries to blink them away. "I'm here, and, um. This is my crew."

"Nice to meet you," Selena says, in her usually assertive way.

"Of course," her mom says. "It's nice to meet you all as well. In person, I mean - hello, Abigail."

"Hi," Abigail says.

Her mom jumps a little and pulls away from Taylor. "And of course, you should all come in. If I'd had more warning, things would be a little nicer, but -"

"We need to talk," Taylor says. "I couldn't risk hailing you electronically."

"Oh, Taylor," her mom says sadly.

They settle in the living room, which is by far the biggest room. Taylor and her crew will need to stay at the inn - or her crew, at least. Taylor wants to stay with them, which is surprising on its own; she's not sure when her crew became more comforting than her parents.

"You know my business is...less than legal," Taylor says.

"Oh, honey," her father says. "Yes, we're aware."

Taylor nods. "Well. Apparently I was more dangerous than I thought."

Taylor's mom twists her hands in her lap. "Someone's after you?"

"Another smuggler," Taylor says.

"I used to work for her," Selena says. "She's a piece of work."

"And you need to lay low," her mom says. "You know I've made my peace with your profession, but Taylor, if you're not safe -"

"I am," Taylor says. "I mean, most of the time I am. Just not right now."

Taylor's mother takes a deep breath. "I love you," she says. "You know I do. I won't ask you to stop, and I will feed your crew for as long as you need. But I'm scared for you."

Taylor's mother grew up a psychiatrist on a central planet, and it's stayed with her. But right now, Taylor's relieved for it. "Thank you."

Her mother smiles. It's only a little wobbly. "You know I'd do anything for you."

"Now," her father says. "The inn can handle all of you and then some, and people will be wanting to know why you're back planetside, Taylor." He claps his hands. "Everybody up."

The Candlelight Inn is huge and always filled with people; cars are fast enough that people can arrive from a hundred miles out in an hour or so. Now, tons of people stare at Taylor and her crew as they come in.

Taylor's never shied away from a crowd, so she smiles and says, "Hi, everyone," as Abigail and Caitlin push together two tables.

She gets a thick chicken stew and a crusty hunk of bread, and suddenly she's aware that she hasn't had anything but a protein bar and the moldy bread they tossed at her in Jane's prison when they finally realized how long it had been, not for days. She tears into it, draining her bowl and then ordering another one. The waitress is Jill; she and Taylor went to school together. Now, Jill smiles at her and says, "It's good to see you back."

Taylor doesn't tell her that she's not staying. There will be plenty of time for that later. For now, she says, "It's good to be back."

"How long do we need to lay low, do you think?" Selena says.

Taylor stares at her. She holds her roughly-hewn wooden spoon like it's second nature, and she's got a huge hunk of bread in her hand. She's Taylor's crew now, partly because she saved Taylor's life and partly because she's - because Taylor wants her. Still.

"A few weeks," she says finally. "Maybe a month. Enough time for our trail to be lost."

"And enough time for you to engage someone to take care of Jane," Abigail says, quietly enough that Taylor's the only one who hears her.

Taylor's going to have to hire a killer. The idea chills her. It means she's in this business for real, and it means she's a killer, basically. She didn't have to shoot anyone on the way out of Jane's prison, and now...

Well. Now she has to fight.

At least, she thinks, money's not a problem.

They finish dinner and hang out for awhile, talking to people who approach the table. After about an hour of drinking beer, Taylor's ready to go up to their rooms.

"I'll share with you," Selena says as they walk back to their car for their bags.

Taylor swallows. "Yeah, okay."

Selena smiles at her a little and grabs her bag. "I don't want to let you out of my sight just yet."

Taylor doesn't know how to answer that, so she turns bright red and looks away. Abigail and Caitlin are smirking.

Taylor's never actually slept at the Candlelight Inn before. It's reasonably nice, with crisp linens and a fireplace in the room. Selena looks around and tosses her bag on the floor, sitting on her small bed. "I was hoping there'd be a queen."

Taylor has no idea how to take that. She sits down on her own bed and says, "Well, you could always ask for one, but you'd have to pay for it yourself."

Selena laughs. "I don't get paid nearly as much as you."

"I'm good at my job," Taylor says, shrugging. She's a little chilled, though, because Selena's job was to spy on Taylor. To lead her to her death.

"I'm sorry," Selena says quietly.

"There's no need to apologize."

"There is, though." Selena shakes her head. "I was arrogant, and Jane - she's not a bad boss, as far as crime bosses go."

"I'm not a crime boss, but I'm not that cruel," Taylor says. Yet, she doesn't add.

"No," Selena says. "And even with a fleet, you wouldn't be. But Jane is ruthless."

Taylor's about to search the darknet for an assassin. She's not sure she has any high ground anymore. "I see."

"But I was free." Selena sighs. "I was born on a rural desig planet, my parents were conscripted into work. I didn't think - I mean, most people never get out. Jane was an opportunity to see the galaxy."

"How many people have you killed?" Taylor says. She's flushed with shame as she says it, but she refuses to drop the matter. She deserves to know.

"A lot," Selena says. "I'm hoping I'll have to do that less, flying with you."

"But you want to get me a fleet."

"There are ways to direct pirates that don't involve killing," Selena says.

Taylor turns so that she's not facing Selena. "I'm about to hire an assassin."

"You have to. That's different."

"Is it?"

"We all do what we have to do."

"I could farm," Taylor says. "Settle down. Live a nice, steady life."

"You could. But Jane attacked you. She was going to kill you, torture you first. You don't think you deserve the right to retaliate?"

Taylor can't answer that. Instead, she says, "How do I know you won't stab me in the back, like you did with Jane?"

"I would never," Selena says.

Her vehemence surprises Taylor. She blinks and says, "Okay. I - believe you. I swear."

"Good," Selena says. She takes a deep, shuddering breath. "I thought you were dead."

Taylor can't answer that. She doesn't know what to do with the feeling in Selena's voice; it almost hurts to hear it. Instead she says, "We should sleep."

"Order the assassin first," Selena says. She stands up and takes a nightgown, disappearing into the bathroom.

Taylor's navigated the darknet before. She puts in her bid on someone with almost thirty kills. A few minutes later, it's accepted. She'll have proof of Jane's death within a week.

Somehow, it doesn't make her feel better.

She tosses and turns that night, haunted by the image of someone hunting down Jane and shooting her in cold blood. Or maybe strangling her, or pushing her down a flight of stairs; Taylor's never even written a song about assassination, much less lived it.

When she wakes up in the morning, she's facing the wall, away from Selena. She stretches and thinks about December, the hard bed and perfect atmosphere control, as she rolls over.

Selena's staring at her. She looks kind of bored, actually, but she's staring at Taylor, her head propped up by one arm.

"Hey."

"Were you watching me sleep?"

Selena shrugs. It's a motion that makes Taylor want to look at her, which - no. Taylor's still coming to terms with everything. Women are fine, but Selena? No.

"You were watching me sleep," Taylor says. "Why?"

"Maybe I wanted to make sure you're really safe, and here."

Selena's face is too honest, too open. Taylor's suddenly mad, because Selena lied to her when they first met, and it almost got Taylor killed. She wants to say that, to hold Selena accountable, but instead she splutters and says, "Why?"

"You're beautiful and a good smuggler." Selena shrugs. "I think we could really have something."

"What? You're a liar, you're not even - how could you possibly think this can work out?"

"I'm part of your crew now, aren't I? And we slept together." Selena looks Taylor over, her eyes lidded. "It was good."

Taylor shakes her head. "No."

"I think so. So do you."

"We can't do this."

"Can't we?" Selena stretches, and her shirt rides up on her stomach. "Come on, Taylor. Give me a chance."

Taylor doesn't want to look, doesn't want to want. So she gets up and goes into the bathroom, grabbing a change of clothes as she goes.

They work on Taylor's parents' garden, then do some work at the inn, sweeping and doing dishes and changing bedding. Taylor could pay for their lodging, but the truth is that galactic credits don't really matter here. Caitlin, Abigail, and the rest of Taylor's crew are happy to help; Taylor herself is glad to be able to immerse herself in something that's not thinking about Selena. It's not until mid-afternoon that the innkeeper, Anna, says, "There's a bonfire tonight. The whole town will attend. You should come."

"Of course," Taylor says. "I could bring my guitar." She remembers bonfires from when she was younger. The world, she thinks, made a lot more sense then.

"Good," Anna says. She smiles sympathetically. "I was wondering when you'd get your heart broken."

Taylor doesn't know how to answer that, so she laughs a little and goes back to sweeping.

She doesn't see Selena for most of the day, until nightfall. The bonfire starts up just as the sun disappears into the trees. It's a little cool out, and the bonfire is massive, the flames licking up towards the sky and obscuring the mountains in the distance. Taylor sits on a log about twenty feet away from it, near enough people that she feels comfortable strumming her guitar and singing for them.

"You have a beautiful voice," Selena says, sitting down on the log next to her.

Taylor starts, then recovers, continuing to strum. "I practice."

"I'd like to hear you more often."

Taylor shakes her head. "Stop trying. This isn't going to work."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I do. Just -" Suddenly Taylor's filled with an overwhelming feeling she can't even identify. "I have to go." She gets up and runs, holding her guitar close to her chest, towards her parents' house.

"Taylor, wait!" Selena yells. She follows, God damn it, and when they get to the door, she's caught up.

Taylor turns around and - she means to tell Selena to fuck off, to stop trying to make things right between them. Instead she kisses Selena, pulling her as close as the guitar will let them be.

It's an awkward kiss, horribly so. Taylor feels like an idiot, like a child, teeth scraping over Selena's lip, bent over the guitar. But when they pull apart, Selena breathes, "Yes," and grabs Taylor's hand.

Taylor's not going to think about this. She's not impulsive, she's controlled, but right now she feels like she's in a dream. They go inside and upstairs, still holding hands; Taylor takes her guitar off and then stands there, hands at her sides, feeling suddenly exposed.

And Selena, who's challenged her from the first day, takes a step forward and takes Taylor's other hand. She says, "You can let yourself have this," and leans in, kissing Taylor.

It's a soft kiss, but good, sending shivers down Taylor's spine. She kisses back, lifting a hand that's shaking a little to thread through Selena's hair, pulling her in so Taylor can deepen the kiss.

"Let me," Selena says, reaching behind Taylor to unzip her dress. It falls to the ground, pooling around Taylor's feet, and Taylor kisses Selena again so she doesn't have to think about the urge to cover herself.

She takes Selena's shirt off, too, and pushes her skirt down, until they're both standing in their underwear. Then Selena takes Taylor's wrist and tugs her towards the bed, pushing her down and straddling her.

"You're gorgeous," Selena says. "The second I saw you...I knew your work. I wanted this assignment. I wanted to catch you, I wanted to keep you."

Taylor half wants her to stop talking, and half wants her to never stop. She touches the side of Selena's face, kissing her again, splaying a hand on Selena's lower back.

They - Taylor doesn't want to think of it as grinding, but that's what they do, slowly angling their hips so they get just the right pressure. Taylor can feel how hot Selena is, her skin warm against Taylor's own, and suddenly - suddenly, Taylor wants to touch.

So she whispers, "Lean back a little," and slips a hand into Selena's underwear as she kisses her again.

She's so, so wet, and she makes a bitten-off noise as Taylor finds her clit. Taylor takes a shuddering breath and kisses Selena's neck, pressing her forehead against Selena's shoulder as she circles Selena's clit with one wet finger.

"Oh, God," Selena says. She bucks against Taylor's hand, pressing Taylor's palm against her clit, and - it's messy, it's so strange, but Taylor wants Selena to ride her hand. She wants to feel this. She wants to taste her, even, and that thought makes her close her eyes and pray this isn't a mistake.

She curls her hand and Selena rides her, thighs clenching, gasping as she rocks her hips. Her leg is between Taylor's, and Taylor has just enough of a tease that she's dizzyingly turned on, even as Selena gets closer and closer, coming with a moan, entire body going stiff.

"Oh my God," Selena says, collapsing on Taylor.

Taylor needs - she needs everything, so acutely that it almost feels like she's in pain. "Please," she says, and Selena shudders and moves down Taylor's body, pulling her underwear down and licking her, giving Taylor no quarter to even try to move away.

It's perfect; it's exactly what Taylor wants. She arches her back and lets the world fall away.

The next morning, she wakes up with Selena curled into her and waits for the panic.

It doesn't come. Selena's breathing quietly, and there's a cool breeze coming in from the cracked window. Dappled sunlight falls across the light wooden walls and makes Selena's hair shine.

"Good morning," Selena says, propping herself up on one elbow to smile at Taylor.

"Good morning."

"Regrets?"

Taylor knows she should have them, but...she doesn't. "No," she says. Then, a little more firmly, "Definitely not."

"Good." Selena kisses her shoulder, then says, "I'm going to make your parents breakfast," and gets up, putting a robe on.

They end up going down the street and making empanadas in Taylor's parents' kitchen. The kitchen is new to Taylor, but the old, chipped dishes feel right in her hands, and as she sets the table, she feels happier than she has since they made that deal with Kanye - just a few weeks ago, but it feels like forever. Taylor falls in love quickly, and hardly ever stays in love; but she feels a beginning with Selena that she's never felt before, a tiny seed of something that could be so much more.

When she sees Abigail and Caitlin later that day, they both look at her with wide grins. "Congratulations," Caitlin says.

Taylor turns her nose up. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh? So you and Selena didn't get busy?"

"Of course not."

"Liar," Caitlin says. "You don't look like you want to walk into the ocean anymore. You and Selena totally got together."

"It's not - it just could be something," Taylor says. "But it's not yet, not really."

"But it will be."

"Maybe."

"Good," Abigail says. She smiles, expression soft. "I'm happy for you."

No one, Taylor thinks, has worried about her as much as Abigail. Taylor nods. "Thanks."

They have to spend another month laying low, working on Taylor's parents' farm and in the inn. Taylor thinks of all her credits stored in her various, not-quite-legal accounts, and of December, sitting on the edge of town. Life here is idyllic in the summer and harsh in the winter, and Taylor's coming to realize that part of her will always think of it as home. But her real home, the one she wants to return to, is in the sky. It's speeding through the galaxy, making shipments, eating the reconstituted provisions in December's kitchen. It's Abigail's fiddle and the comfort of her bunk, with its fairy lights and drapery to create space in the small cabin.

And, Taylor thinks wryly, sometimes it's picking up passengers, who may or may not understand how things work on a ship like December.

She gets a message after four weeks, on the darknet: "It's done." Selena's out, so Taylor can sit down on the bed and put her head between her hands, taking deep breaths.

She's a killer now, however indirectly. But they're safe.

The next day, she gathers the crew. "Jane's - been taken care of."

Ben whistles. "You really are a pirate."

"Smuggler," Taylor says. "But - yes. I understand if anyone's uncomfortable with that. I can - you can leave if you are, at the next trade desig we land on. Or you can stay here. There's room in the community for that."

"No," Ben says. "No, I'm staying."

"I hardly think I'll leave, after all the work I've put into December," Elizabeth says.

"You know I'm staying," Abigail says.

Caitlin smiles. "What she said."

"And I," Selena says, "am not going anywhere."

"Good," Taylor says. "We'll take off at dawn."

That gives them one more night in the relative safety of Earth. They drink to their departure at the inn, and then Taylor and Selena go up to their room. They haven't slept in separate beds since that first night, and now Taylor goes down on Selena, making her bite her own arm in an attempt to stay silent, her other hand twisting in the sheets.

This, Taylor thinks. This is part of her home now.

They board the ship at dawn, and Ben takes them up as the sun is coming up over the trees. The clouds are stained yellow and pink, and the settlement disappears quickly as they climb and break the atmosphere. Elizabeth flips the darkspace compressor, and then they're heading back to J-495. Kanye has a job for them.

Taylor stands on the observation deck, with Selena beside her. "If he has me transfer people, I'm done," she says.

Her tablet beeps. She checks it. There's a sale on Aurora paint in Kanye's market; Taylor sighs.

Selena sees the message on the tablet and shakes her head. "Abigail told me about your obsession," she says. "Why don't you paint the pilot's console?"

"No," Ben says. "No, my console is not going to sparkle."

"But the colors," Taylor says. "It shines."

"It sparkles, and there's no way."

"I'm captain," Taylor says, "And I'm buying that Aurora paint." She beams at Selena. "Thanks for the tip."

Selena leans in and brushes a kiss against Taylor's lips. "Any time."

Ben groans. "I changed my mind. Mutiny it is."

Taylor laughs, and the ship flies through the stars.