Corey Naylor – Space Janitor

Corey Naylor only wanted a quiet shift, a working mop, and for people to stop leaving impossible stains in places clearly marked as restricted access. Then armed pirates seize the Radiant Accord — a luxury diplomatic cruiser of seven decks of elegance and several miles of forgotten corridors.

Security has failed. The pirates know the official systems better than the crew do. Unfortunately for them, Corey has access to the one part of the ship nobody important ever bothers to understand. Maintenance.

With a cornered security officer, a bucket full of suspicious cleaning supplies, and an unregistered sanitation organism called Gloop, Corey fights back using blocked corridors, false alerts, wet floors, waste systems, and the kind of human problem-solving that makes alien risk assessors update their files in a hurry.

For readers who enjoy comic sci-fi, unlikely heroes, dangerous incompetence, maintenance staff who know far too much, and space pirates having a very bad day.

The first half of a two-book story. It concludes in Corey Naylor – Hold My Mop.