Chapter 12Max didn’t much like leaving the Hot Mess unattended in space, after only getting it back so recently. But they’d have to leave it behind anyway, because it was too big to get through the passage and leaving it too near the Maze risked it being spotted by remnant fleet patrols. So a day before reaching the Maze, they transferred the crates of holmium to the Swan, and undocked from the Hot Mess. Max hoped no salvagers found it and claimed it as abandoned. Tai had suggested he stayed aboard while Tai did the final run. Max had teasingly accused him of trying to hog all the glory for the successful mission. Of course he wasn’t going to let Tai go off alone. And not only out of fear of him being offered all kinds of favors by grateful station residents.
“Max,” Tai said, rousing him
