Serendipity (Book 1 of the Dana Halliday series)

THE KOLMIRA SEVEN. PANNO AID. THE BLINKY END.

We hadn't taken more than two steps into Main Cargo when Patricia spoke.  "You should get Lonavat.  I think he'll want to know about this."

Adrian grumbled.  "Why the hell would—"

"It's Novernyi."  When Adrian's face remained blank and exasperated, Patricia continued, "Novernyi Tamma, his former wife?"

The blank look was replaced with comprehension.  "Oh, yeah, I remember.  The pilot. She's probably in the race coming up.  Hang on."

I stopped just inside and leaned on a stack of wood crates.  I looked back and forth between Flynt, who was pacing again, and disappearing Adrian.  "Former wife?"

Flynt shrugged, gazing at the ceiling in a longing manner, as if he wished he could fly through it.  "I don't know Lonavat that well, I've only met him a couple times."  

He stopped pacing to stand near me.  As I watched, he touched his wrist behind one ear, rubbed it along the edge of the crates, then repeated the process.

"What are you doing?"

Flynt froze, looking down at his hand.  Then he stuck it in his pocket and leaned next to me, giving me a rueful grin.  "Sorry."  I raised my eyebrows, and he elaborated.  "I was...putting my scent there.  It's just an anxiety thing.  I didn't realize I was doing it."

"Oh."  I supposed it was similar to the way cats rub their faces on things.  "Better than peeing on it, I guess."

He chuckled.  "Earthers do tend to frown on that."

"Why are you in such a hurry to get out of here?  Adrian said there was a dispute with Serendipity's former owner?"

He appeared to plan his reply for a few moments before answering.  "Yeah, but it's resolved now.  It would just be, um, awkward if we ran into anyone here who knows about it."

I decided, perhaps foolishly, not to pursue it.  I didn't think mere awkwardness merited this much anxiety, but I clearly wasn't going to get any straight answers for a while.  Besides, I was too overwhelmed with relief that Natalya was in more qualified hands than mine to worry about much else.

Adrian returned, Lonavat behind him.  The Bruttar looked harassed, his feathers bristling a bit.  "All right, Patricia," Adrian called.  "Let's go get her."

It didn't take long to get to the ailing vessel, which was drifting within Tirza 50's solar system; there were no restrictions upon speed here, unlike Earth's system.  

At least, I thought it must be the right place—it didn't seem that Patricia was wrong very often—but there were three ships there.  Two of them were about the size of Serendipity, but clearly of different make or model or whatever.  They were floating at odd angles—there's no up or down in space, if you will recall—and pointing their noses at a relatively tiny vessel between them.

"Dammit," Adrian muttered as we slid into place.  Now the little ship was at the center of a sort of triangle.

"What's going on?" I asked Flynt.  All four of us were crowded into the control room, Lonavat bent over in a manner that made my lower back whimper. 

The Fenn seemed much more serene now.  "Rival rescuers.  That one's a Sturv-owned company—Kolmira, I think it's called—but I don't know about the other one."

"Bruttar," said Adrian.  "The Panno Aid Corporation.  I wonder if that's still Garamil Lirro's ship?  I've run into him before."  

Lonavat made a croaky throat-clearing sound.  "I used to work for them."