“You look like hell, Commander.”
The blunt comment got her attention. She quickly turned her head. “Sir?”
“You look like hell.” He enunciated each word very clearly, as if she was hard of hearing. She was shocked to see that he was actually frowning at her with an expression of anger.
“My apologies, sir. If the captain would be so kind as to excuse me I’ll remove my repulsive appearance from his presence.”
Captain Hill’s expression turned stony. “At ease, Commander. Your tone is not excused.” He swallowed some coffee before continuing. “You aren’t on the duty roster today.”
Maggie was still too irritated with his comment on her appearance—if he had any idea how hard it was to put on a uniform with a stiff and aching shoulder and a still swollen ankle he’d stow his damn comments—to concentrate on what the captain had said.
“Are you?”
“Sir?”
Hill sighed as if suddenly presented with a particularly troublesome toddler. “You’re not on the roster for today. Why are you up this early?”
O’Connell opened her mouth to snap an angry comment at the captain and then thought the better of it. Then she thought of a stinging retort and opened her mouth again—only to snap it close and simply glare at him while her temper cooled.
To her aghast dismay, he broke into hearty laughter. “That,” he said between chuckles, “was an impressive display of restraint, especially for you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Any further discussion was delayed by the arrival of Lieutenant Price. Characteristically oblivious to the angst in the room, he sailed in with a chipper grin and an exuberant greeting.
“Good morning, sir, ma’am. Ah, muffins, excellent! The coffee smells divine. Your brew, sir?”
“Yes, Lieutenant.” Hill hadn’t broken off his staring match with O’Connell.
“Capital!” Tony stuffed half of a muffin in his mouth before becoming aware of the tension of the officer standing beside him. “I say, Commander, you look a bit pale.” He yanked out a chair. “Please sit down.”
The captain’s left eyebrow rose an inch. O’Connell’s jaw clenched as she ground her teeth. “Thank you for your concern, Lieutenant. To what do we owe your sunny mood?”
“Just grabbing a bite before leaving for the surface. I’m off to retrieve a few more bits of your lander.” Price was busy watching O’Connell’s face for any sign that his verbal slight had hit home, and so, missed the captain’s cold glare turning to focus on his back. The captain certainly hadn’t missed the clenching of Maggie’s hand around her water bottle or the hitch in her breathing.
“Perhaps you should head down and start your pre-flight checks, Price. I’ll join you in twenty.” The captain returned his attention to O’Connell.
Tony knew a dismissal when he heard one. He swallowed the rest of his muffin and topped off his coffee before leaving.
“Sir, if I could—”
Captain Hill heard the plea in her tone before Maggie finished the first syllables.
“No.”
The subjugated, pleading, look vanished from her features. “Sir, it’s my responsibility. I’m still the senior pilot on this ship.”
“At what point since your accident did you form the, erroneous, opinion that my orders were open for debate?” He stood and walked to the counter to refill his coffee. “You’re still on medical mandated stand-down, Commander. I can have the doctor review the terms of that condition with you, if you are somehow unclear about your status.”
She stood and snapped to attention. “Understood, sir. Permission to return to quarters, sir?”
“Go.” He avoided looking at her. He missed the emotional hurt that her expression betrayed and the slouch to her shoulders as she departed. If he’d noticed he might have needed another cup of coffee before joining Price in the flight bay.
“Price, with me!” The captain’s barked order echoed in the mostly empty bay. Price jumped from the open door of the lander and hurried to where the captain stood waiting.
“Lieutenant, if you ever again pull a stunt like that with a superior officer, I will personally see your career ended.”
Tony stopped walking. “Sir? I don’t understand what it is I have done to offend you, sir!” He honestly didn’t believe the captain had noticed his slight taunting of O’Connell. Moreover, Price didn’t think he’d crossed the line between the usual competitive banter between pilots.
“You’re not stupid Price. You know damn well to what and to whom I’m referring. This discussion is over. Any other incident such as this will result in formal charges. Are we clear?”
For once, the calmer, rational, portion of Price’s personality took charge. He knew a serious threat when he heard one. “Aye, aye, sir. Would the captain like to review my flight plan?”
Hill shook his head in the negative. “I’ve read it through twice. Use utmost caution. The value should be placed on crew welfare, not the return of the damaged craft. If there is, at any time, doubt about the success of the salvage, you are to err on the side of caution and return to Dremiks station.”
“Understood, sir.”
The captain stared at the younger man for a moment before nodding. “Carry on. Good luck.”
Price snapped a salute and pivoted away. While the captain walked away, Tony kept himself busy checking Lander 2 for pre-flight issues. He took out his anger on the main hatch assembly. O’Connell could be an insubordinate bitch and crash a lander, but still no one saw through her. He was tired of playing second fiddle to a spoiled brat.
***
The recreation area was quieter with all the colonists on the surface. A few enlisted crewmen worked on the free weights while another used a rowing machine. When Hill stalked into the room, O’Connell was leaning against the free-bag while Swede towered beside her. The captain’s eyes narrowed. Guttmann leaned closer to say something he obviously didn’t want anyone else hearing. She shook her head. As she raised her hand to push her hair out of her eyes, she saw the captain across the room. Their eyes locked.
With a grunt, Maggie shoved the bag back at Swede.
“I’ve got to get back to quarters. Good luck.”
“Good… luck?” The lieutenant watched her leave, then, turned to look over his shoulder. Her meaning instantly became clear. The captain was tying on a pair of boxing gloves while keeping a stony glare fixed on the door that snapped close behind O’Connell.
Hill flicked his gaze over the engineer while he finished tying his gloves. “You’re the second officer I’ve said this to today: you look like hell.”
“Long night and an early morning, sir.”
“Your whining won’t gain you any pulled punches.”
Swede rolled his shoulders and flexed his hands inside his own gloves. “I wasn’t whining, sir, merely explaining why I might leave you a few unbroken ribs.” He met the captain’s glare with one of his own.
Ten minutes later, both men were wheezing heavily and dripping sweat. Swede leaned against the wall, while the captain rested his hands on his knees. When he managed to catch his breath and stand straight, Brett wiped a hand across his mouth and noticed the blood trailing across his glove.
“I guess I deserved that.”
“You did.” Swede shook his head as if trying to shoo away a bothersome fly. “My ear is still ringing.” He watched his captain for a minute before taking a deep breath, and a chance. “You know it would be easier on everyone, and especially my face, if you’d stop treating her like a glass doll.”
Brett yanked with his teeth on the strap to his left glove. “You’re treading in dangerous territory, Lieutenant.”
“Well, Captain, since you just knocked out the hearing in one ear and did your best to beat me black and blue, I’d say I’m already in the thick of it.” He watched as the captain stopped pulling off his gloves. The senior officer’s body language betrayed nothing of what he was thinking. “At this point, the command
er’s ego is more banged up than her body. The last thing she needs is the feeling that you won’t let her do her job anymore.”
“She has you carrying water for her?”
Swede’s nostrils flared. “Damn it sir!” He sucked in a breath, then another, as he tried to calm himself.
Not used to loud outbursts from his usually placid engineer, Brett glanced over his shoulder and took note of the empty room. Whether the other personnel had sensed the coming storm and beat a hasty retreat, or simply finished their workouts, he’d never know.
“She’d kick what’s left of my ass if she knew I was having this conversation, and you know it, sir. Do you think she doesn’t notice you jumping down Tony’s throat every time he ribs her? Do you think she’s not going to notice my bruised cheek and your split lip?”
Hill grabbed a towel off the rack and ran it over his face. He winced when his torn lip pulled against the cloth. “She nearly died. Mangoda is barely out of his coma.”
“She gets paid to fly. She enjoys the challenge. Commander O’Connell isn’t anything like her reputation in ISA, and we both know it. She’s a stone cold professional who won’t last long with you tying her down. Let her get back to work before she really gets hurt. As it is she’s killing herself trying to sneak around behind—” Swede immediately realized what he was saying and clamped his lips shut. The look on the captain’s face told him he’d let the cat out of the bag. “I’ve said my piece. With your permission, sir, I’ll go shower. I have watch this afternoon.”
Captain Hill shook his head in the negative. “Get some rest. I’ll take your watch.”
“Sir?”
“Is your hearing that damaged?”
Swede laughed for the first time that day. “No sir, but I’m wondering if I hit your head too hard.” He backed up when Hill’s lips compressed into a straight, slightly bloody, line. “But I won’t turn down a few extra hours of sack time. Thank you, sir.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Captain Hill walked out the opposite door. He nodded in passing to a female petty officer who did a double take at his swollen lip.
***
Lieutenant Price pulled off his flight helmet—required for flights in and out of Dremiks atmosphere thanks to O’Connell’s ill-fated sortie—and swiped at the grit on the face plate. This was his third trip to the crash site. The first visit, he’d been too preoccupied with the injuries to Mangoda and O’Connell to really look at the damaged craft. The second time, he’d flown by without authorization, supposedly to avoid a meteorite. Seeing the crumbled wreckage for the third time wasn’t any easier. His fists clenched.
It could just as easily have been me on that thing. That she managed to land the damn thing at all is a bloody miracle.
He’d thought that bringing O’Connell the flight recorder data would clue her into the stark realities of the accident. He had no idea why the captain was so keen on keeping the truth from the commander. Price didn’t care if O’Connell took the blame for an accident that clearly wasn’t an accident. What he did care about was that, by keeping the act of sabotage a secret and failing to hunt down the culprit, the life of every pilot in the solar system was endangered. Price flew two sorties a day between Dremiks and the Hudson. If someone was blowing up lander engines, O’Connell needed to know about it and stop it immediately.
This is bloody ridiculous. I’m going to flat out tell her and the captain’s orders be damned.
Price snapped a few pictures before returning to his own lander.
***
“Sir, I’m not sure I can do this. I think you should find someone else.”
Captain Hill’s expression was no more or less rigid than normal. He sat behind his desk, hands resting lightly in front of him. He stared at her. She stared back, knowing she would lose this particular battle. He waited. She, finally, broke.
“Sir, please. This is a bad idea. I can’t play this role.”
Some, unknown, emotion flickered across his face. “You can, Commander. You can and you will. I expect you to give this assignment the same dedication and precision of execution that you have previously demonstrated. The Dremikians have graciously offered to help the colony by providing new spacecraft for shuttle duty. You will set up the simulator program to train the civilians.”
“I crashed my lander, sir!”
She was expecting cold derision, perhaps even a flash of anger. She wasn’t expecting him to suddenly break eye contact, clench his hands, and shift in his chair as if he was uncomfortable.
He still wasn’t meeting her eyes when he said, “My decision is made, Commander. Get with Dwax and learn all you can regarding the specifications of these ships. Dismissed.”
***
On the surface far below the captain, Ryan Hill found himself in the midst of yet another tense, whispered, argument with his wife.
“Tell me you didn’t do this. It has to be the most hare-brained stunt I’ve ever heard of.”
Ryan glared at her. “And yet you think I had something to do with it? How loving, wife.“
“Don’t lie to me, Ryan! If you tried to murder that idiot girl, and her father ever traces it back to you, we’ll be finished!”
Glancing over his shoulder to confirm that their door was shut, Ryan stepped closer. “Lower your voice,” he hissed. “I had nothing to do with it. I wanted us to land, remember? It was a stroke of genius, though. If anything, O’Connell crashing made my brother even more motivated to proceed with settlement without waiting for authorization. Maybe that was the bomber’s intent all along.”
Marissa snorted, but looked speculative. “Someone who doesn’t fear Admiral O’Connell’s wrath?”
“I’m not sure such a person exists, except, of course, for the Admiral’s daughter and my brother. It is entirely possible that the man, or woman, who placed the explosives didn’t know who would be flying. I heard a rumor that Brett had decided to send Price instead of O’Connell. Perhaps our mystery saboteur was aiming to stop the landing, rather than assassinate O’Connell.”
Marissa’s back ached. She rubbed it absently. “Do you have any idea who could be behind this?”
“One or two, but I don’t have the time, or the means, for an interrogation right now. If their purpose was to stop the landing, they obviously failed. I don’t think there’s much danger to the colony as a whole, now. Brett still hasn’t bothered to investigate that abandoned mine. We need to be prepared for what will happen when he starts asking questions about it. Our one-time allies cannot be too happy about losing their lorga supply.”
She paled. “If they know our plans?”
“No one knows our plans. Unless you’ve been talking?” Her glare answered him. “Still, we need to keep you and the child safe. How many more weeks, now?”
“Seven to full term, but anything more than three will be safe.”
Ryan kissed the top of his wife’s head in a rare show of affection. “Soon darling.”
***
“You two are idiots. Complete, unsurpassed in the annals of humanity, somewhere there are villages missing you, idiots.”
They were both superbly trained men in their physical prime. They did not jump in shock or react in any such comical fashion. Instead, the captain and lieutenant went preternaturally still, tensed to fight or flee, or both.
“Commander, the sign on the door says male locker room. You are, demonstrably, female.”
Swede turned to glare at her. “Ma’am! What if we’d been naked?”
Leaning against the door, arms crossed under her breasts, Maggie smirked. “I’ve seen it before, Swede.”
The man in question narrowed his glacier blue eyes and took one menacing step forward. The captain’s hand on his arm stalled him.
“This couldn’t have waited, Commander?” The captain practically drawled the question. It was a tone of voice that his officers knew to fear. O’Connell had heard it before—the last time she’d confronted the captain.
“Nope.” She popp
ed her lips on the “p”. Then, she added insolence to her sins by giving the captain’s shirtless chest an assessing leer. “So much the better to catch you together and off-guard.”
Captain Hill quirked his eyebrow and let go of Lieutenant Guttmann’s arm. A smirk tugged his lips to one side. He wondered if she’d thought this plan through. How did she expect this to end? Watching her expression as Swede crossed the locker room to loom over her, the captain detected no sign of uncertainty. In fact, when her head tipped back to look at her much taller friend, she looked positively cherubic.
“Idiot, am I?” Swede was doing his best to intimidate her physically. He hoped his behavior would raise her hackles. The lieutenant wasn’t sure he would make it through this confrontation if Maggie showed how hurt she was by his betrayal.
“You should’ve known better. You should have—”
He cut her off. “I went along with this because I did know what you would do. What you’re hell bent on doing now.” His words were fiercely enunciated.
“See? Idiocy! You two,” she shot a pointed look at the captain, “decided all on your own that A+B=C without even considering that your variables might be wrong. No one is trying to kill me personally! Your protective cave-man antics, while adorable, are pointless.”
“Adorable?” Looking severely offended, Swede grabbed her upper arms.
The captain cleared his throat. “Hands off the superior officer.” He waited until the engineer complied. “Shower, Swede, you have watch in less than thirty minutes. I’ll deal with this.”
Swede dipped his head, and his voice. “I’m not done with you.”
Maggie’s green eyes twinkled. “Promise?” She watched her friend stalk off, grumbling, to the shower area. Another broad, naked, chest blocked her line of sight. This time the captain did catch her fleeting look of panic.
“I ought to make a note in your record for this. I’m just not sure there’s an appropriate category of offense for accosting your commanding officer in the locker room.” He saw her suck in a breath, no doubt in preparation to launch into a defense of her actions. “Not here, Commander. Quarters, fifteen minutes.”
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