CHAPTER 3
Hal Vakeri lefthis office feeling like things were spiraling out of control.
Chel had waved to him from the door and then disappeared back to the bridge, and that could only mean one thing—that they finally had a visual sighting of the massive ships their scanners had picked up earlier.
He joined his team, his gaze going straight to the screen in front of him, but it was the same view of space it had been before.
“What happened?” he asked.
“A huge spike from the scanners, as if even more vessels appeared up ahead, and then they all disappeared, within seconds of each other.” Gerbardi, his comms officer, turned in his seat to look at him.
“They light jumped away?” Hal guessed.
“Must have,” Voa, his explorations officer said. She stood, leaning both hands on the desk in front of her as she stretched out. “Except it’s the fastest light jump sequence I’ve ever seen. I didn’t think it was possible for such large ships to light jump so fast in such close proximity.”
Watching Voa stretch and bend, Hal realized they’d been sitting, hunched over their equipment, for almost a full day. Everyone was reaching their limit.
“Unless they light jump into our airspace, there isn’t much we can do about it.” He stared out at the spacescape before him, and felt the frustration rise. “So let’s get in a change of crew and get some rest.”
“And just keep doing the patrol?” Chel, his second-in-command, asked.
“Nothing else we can do.” Hal shrugged. “Everyone take a break. We’ve done everything we can.”
He turned to leave, and Chel fell into step with him as he walked out into the passageway.
“Gerbardi said you had Hoke on the line.” Chel glanced at him as they walked.
“I had to discuss something with her.” Hal didn’t say what. Chel didn’t need to know what Fee was up to.
“Nothing to do with this?” Chel seemed surprised.
“No. We touched on what’s going on here briefly, but it was about something else.” He made it sound like Hoke had needed to talk to him, not the other way around.
“And Fiona is well?” Chel asked, slowing now that he realized there wasn’t a new directive from the admiral. “I’m sorry I interrupted your comms with her.”
Hal lifted his brows. “She’s fine.”
Chel grimaced. “No need to look like that.”
“Chel, you kicked her off this ship. You alienated her from the crew. She’s never set foot back on theIlliumsince.” He was able to keep calm as he said it. Chel had thought he was protecting his captain, and he had apologized, but the facts remained the facts.
“Over time, I’ve come to see how truly misguided those actions were, and I’m happy to apologize again, if you think itwill help.” Chel stopped, and Hal realized they were close to his quarters.
“I think that might just open the wound again,” he admitted. “I’ll invite Fee up when this nonsense with the Garmman is over, and we can let actions speak louder than words.”
“I can do that,” Chel said, and there was more than a thread of relief in his voice.
Hal watched him walk away, and decided he should have had Fiona up on theIlliumbefore now. He had compartmentalized his life into time with Fiona on Larga Ways, and time with his crew on theIllium. He realized he would like to integrate them a little better, but only if his crew could treat Fiona with the respect she deserved.
He turned back in the direction of his quarters and wished he had had more time to talk with her earlier.
She would be making plans to go down to Balco.
The last time she had done that, he’d been with her, and they had barely gotten out with their lives.
This time, he hoped her trip would be a lot less eventful.
Fiona watchedLarga Ways disappear behind her, and realized this was the first time she’d left her new home since she’d saved it from destruction.
