Drake knew the mark before the cloth brought all of it clear.
Maren Kells.
Not the public registry mark scraped from the outer boards. This one sat beneath the paint beside the inner latch, where she marked emergency return stock that was not to be borrowed for ordinary repairs.
He remembered borrowing some anyway.
Merrit checked the salvage tally while Ruth examined the inventory flap. The crate contained ordinary valuable components, carefully packed. A return fitting in the listed series could replace one aboard Gull’s Luck that Ruth had been nursing within a reduced limit.
“Don’t fit it yet,” Drake said.
“I wasn’t going to.” She looked up. “Ownership review first.”
Cal Doran stood beside the net, wet to the knees from the last sweep. His boots had been patched twice at the same seam.
