She immediately shut down.
“Khar, you can’t ask that.”
He blinked. “Of course I can. Ah. I see. Credits are sensitive. Like sex.”
She groaned.
“All right,” he continued smoothly. “Don’t tell me. I’ll give you ranges and you decide where you fall. First, you know how much they deduct for Helios docking and storage, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Add that back to your thirty cycles pay. If it comes out under two thousand credits, that’s unacceptable. Between two and four thousand is not outrageous, but still low. Four to six is reasonable. Anything above that means you negotiated well.”
He saw the answer on her face before she muttered it, eyes downcast.
“Looks like I’m terrible at negotiating.”
Now it was Khar’s turn to brace his temple beside a horn.
“You should not be earning thirty percent less than colleagues in the same role. That violates Equal Access law. It applies even more strictly to abductee status. Wasn’t that covered in your integration program?”
“It was,” Lily said quietly. “I just assumed they were acting legally. I’m bad at this. I’m scared they’ll fire me if I push.”
Khar frowned.
“Even without the statute, you should be earning at least four to five thousand. You lack formal certification, but you operate at Herion engineering level. You unload half a cargo bay without antigrav support, and your endurance is exceptional.”
“Well,” Lily said hesitantly, “maybe I’ll talk to Vegrun after we land. He’ll be in a better mood then.”
Khar stared at her.
“No,” he said flatly. “We strike now.”
She blinked. “Strike? They could fire you because of me.”
He crossed his arms stubbornly.
“I will not work another cycle under these conditions.”
She looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
Time to change tactics.
Khar crouched in front of her, lowering his voice.
“Lily, if you want to handle this your way, I trust you. But if you trust me, let me speak to Vegrun. I’ll call him now.”
She shook her head. “I won’t let you get fired because of me. This is my problem.”
Khar laughed softly.
“No one is getting fired. I promise. Colleagues stand up for each other. If they don’t, this keeps happening.”
She chewed her lip, thinking hard, then gave a barely perceptible nod.
“All right. Worst case, we look for a new job together.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Khar said. “Now let me do my second favorite thing in life, which is extracting obscene amounts of money from a billionaire. One question. Who set your pay? Horos or Vegrun?”
