“Rax! Morgath!” Tig shouted, snapping my attention. I didn’t think I’d heard her raise her voice once in the entire time we’d served on the ship together. Pride filled my chest when she added, “Calm down!”
Their matching grumbles resonated through the room, but the twins took their seats again.
“If LunaCorp wants me to work with a Kravaxian or two,” Tig said, “I can do that without compromising our intel.”
“Our intel has already been compromised, though, hasn’t it?” Elanie asked, at least trying to come off less judgmental than she probably was. “With these breaches?”
Tig’s shoulders curled inward, her earlier confidence deflating. “That’s different.”
“I know this situation is extreme,” I said, trying to rein the meeting back in. “But Chan is still the boss. We need to at least hear what he has to say.”
With a resigned sigh, Chan said, “Thank you, Sunny. But nobody is going to like what I have to say next, not even me. All I can ask is that you remember we are all in this together, and”—he looked directly at the twins—“if you break anything in this room, it’s coming out of your paychecks.”
While Morgath shrugged, Rax turned his palms up on the table as if to saydon’t care.
Soldiering on, Chan said, “LunaCorp is using this holiday for the FF”—he stopped himself, his jaw flickering—“for theKravaxiansas an opportunity to provide them with some on-the-job training. One will be assigned to IT with Tig. One will spend the week with me. And the remaining two are to shadow”—not only was his swallow audible, but it looked like it hurt—“security.”
After several seconds of stunned silence, Rax and Morgath burst into laughter. Doubled over with his head onthe table, Morgath wheezed like a serving drone on its last thruster. Rax, red-faced, clapped his brother’s back, releasing a lengthy post-laugh “hoo” at the ceiling.
Elanie rolled her eyes. “Are you two finished? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life at this meeting.”
“And the captains are still in agreement with this plan?” Freddie asked, his arms crossed thoughtfully over his chest.
Chan nodded. “They are. They’ve had briefings on the situation from Brock Karlovich himself, and they both feel confident that the Kravaxians present no danger to this ship.”
In possession of his faculties again, Rax growled, “I don’t give a flying fuck what the CEO of LunaCorp says. We are not training Kravaxians. It’s not happening.”
Impressively undeterred, Chan fired back. “It is indeed happening. And you and your brother will behave yourselves, do your jobs, and give the Kravaxians a fair shake before you write them off. Or you will find another ship to work on and another director to put up with your tantrums. So, you know, good luck with that.”
While Rax and Morgath at least had the good sense to look contrite, Chan, riding on momentum, ended the meeting in no uncertain terms. “When the Kravaxians arrive, we will be polite and accommodating. And we will not create a Known Universal incident by showing them mistrust and hostile aggression when they have done nothing to earn it. Is that clear?”
“That was intense,”Freddie said as we huddled near the moon jelly tank.
When I replied, “Thatwas Chan at his finest,” it earnedme a knee-buckling smile, all tilted lips and crinkled eyes. His tie was a bit crooked, and for the life of me, even though Elanie and Tig were standing right next to us, I couldn’t shake the desire to straighten it for him.
“As stimulating as this morning has been,” Elanie said, following my gaze to Freddie’s smile, then to his tie, then rolling her eyes. “I really do have work to do.” Before any of us had a chance to say goodbye, she turned on her heel and disappeared down the hall.
Staring after her, his lips pursed, Freddie said, “She is a very unique bionic. Like a breath of fresh air that occasionally, for reasons unknown, slaps you hard across the face.”
I laughed out loud. “That is the best description of Elanie I have ever heard.”
Tig stopped chewing on her fingernails long enough to nod her agreement, but then she said, “I should go too. I’ve got a hacker to expose.”
Squeezing Tig’s elbow, I said, “Be careful.”
“I’ll try,” she replied before walking off toward her office.
“What are your plans today?” Freddie asked. We were alone now, and when he turned to face me, the blue and purple light from the moon jelly tank rippled over his cheek. Just like it had during his welcome party. It was strange, I thought, how long ago that day seemed. But he was staring at me now, waiting, so I said, “I think I’m on damage control.”
“What damage?”
“Aquilinian twin damage,” I clarified. “I should probably do whatever it takes today to keep Rax and Morgath from interrogating random guests in order to find out who the senator’s SOs are. And then I need to prepare for Garran and Kasa’s date later this week.”
“That’s right.” His eyes twinkled. “Still want my help?”
“Yes. Please. I could definitely use your charm with my attempts to play Cyrano. And if you’re not too busy, I could probably use your help with the twins…today…too—What?” I said, distracted by his grin, even more crooked than his tie.
“Did you just call me charming?”
