“Let go of her, Commander. You have no right to treat one of my crew this way. You’re on my ship, and she’s our only hope of stopping all of this.”
My eyebrows come together as I wonder what he means. I know the Master Sergeant knows I have the drive. He’s the one who told me to just keep it hidden away. So why isn’t he saying so? I look up into the dark, empty eyes of the galactic commander. He must not know if he can trust this commander.
The commander releases his grip on me but doesn’t move. I don’t either. I look him right in the eyes. If this commander is on the side of the pirates, we’re all in trouble. There’s more to this ongoing situation than just data on a drive. There have been lives lost, and the information on that drive is priceless.
I turn slowly and face Abuchi. “Why do you think I can stop this?” I wave my arm toward the view screen where the ships are still frozen in place around the pirate vessel. “And by ‘all of this,’ you mean the pirating of tech secrets? ’Cause I’m saying again, you have the wrong person here. I’m just the coroner’s daughter.”
The Master Sergeant beckons me over to a console while staring down the galactic commander, daring him to interfere. “I want to show you something Miss Teves.”
Tension leaves my shoulders, as I get farther away from the galactic commander. I’m hoping this is all a big mistake, and all they need from me is the drive. Why isn’t Abuchi ordering me to give it to him? Also niggling at the back of my mind is the fact that my dad’s not here. I step next to the Master Sergeant and stare down in disbelief at the screen.
The communication screen is split into four sections. Three of the screens are inside shots of terror and human pain and suffering as bands of pirates attack mining workers.
My heart clenches as I stare at the images, and I can feel myself down there with those people. I was raised in the red mines of Mars, and even though this is definitely not Mars by the color and texture of the natural walls, I identify myself with them. I clench my fists again, determined not to cry in front of these officers.
The fourth screen is a view from above the mining asteroid. The aftermath. Dirty oxygen escapes through holes blown in sections of the asteroid, and galactic security ships enter the view as several pirate ships speed away from the damaged asteroid.
“When did this happen?” I try to keep my voice steady. I heard there had been some issues on several mines, but I didn’t think it would be this serious.
“Right before this vessel showed up here at Delta. Even though he couldn’t have been at this particular asteroid when this attack happened several hours ago, but he could still be responsible.”
Derek steps next to me, comforting with his warm presence. I give him a weak smile and turn to Abuchi. “You said I could help stop all this. How am I supposed to help you stop pirates from doing that?” I point to the carnage on the screen. “I’m not in security or trained like Derek or any of the officers in this room. What do you want of me?”
“The galactic hospital ship is still docked here. I want you to go with her to this asteroid and help with retrieving the dead miners,” he says loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
I look at Derek, who is just as shocked as I am to hear this. I look between the pirate ship outside and the vids of the nearly destroyed asteroid mine. There’s a connection there, otherwise the Master Sergeant wouldn’t be asking me to be involved.
“Why don’t you send my dad?” I ask quietly.
Abuchi straightens. “We need him here as our main medical incident commander. He has experience with station rebuilds and disaster management. He says you’re more than capable of helping investigate the deaths on the mining colony.”
I bite my lip. They’ve already talked to my dad. I understand my dad has more experience and is needed here, but I wonder if the Master Sergeant has chosen me because he knows I have the data drive.
Ash Corp, the largest mining conglomerate has discovered a method to mine asteroids without having to first create artificial atmospheres for the miners. The plans I saw on the drive were for an anti-grav machine that could dig and crawl through an asteroid like a drone and pull all the minerals out in a fraction of the time a team of miners could. And only a few humans would be needed to oversee the drone and fly the raw materials to a processing plant. It would make Ash Corp extremely rich, and would put hundreds of thousands of miners out of work. Generations of families growing up in the mines would no longer be needed. I grind my teeth. It’s always about politics or money.
I look back at the Master Sergeant. “When do I leave?” I feel Derek shift toward me.
“Tonight. We’ll keep the pirate vessel locked down while you board the hospital ship and leave. The hospital ship was already logged in to head toward the mining colony to help. So there will be no suspicion that you’ve left with her.”
“What about the drive this pirate says this girl still has?” The gruff voice of the galactic commander startles me, and I jump. Derek steadies me as we turn to face the rigid commander.
“You’re going off the words of a pirate that someone paid to steal and lie.” Master Sergeant Abuchi answers calmly from next to me.
I want to faint; my heart is beating so hard. I force myself to relax under the commander’s scrutiny. He says nothing, just stares between Abuchi and me.
I grab Derek’s hand and step away from the galactic commander. I need Derek to keep me from falling down. “Your galactic security already searched the morgue and our private quarters and the entire station. If you trust your troops then you know they didn’t find anything.” I edge past the commander, holding onto Derek tightly. His warmth and quiet strength keeps me going. “If you’ll excuse us, I need to pack so I can be ready to leave on the hospital ship tonight.”
I glance back at the Master Sergeant, who is locking eyes with the galactic commander as Derek and I hurry out of the room. We don’t talk or slow down until we reach the morgue, and I key in through the side door. The corridor is empty since the morgue techs are probably still in the autopsy room.
I drop Derek’s hand and slide down the wall to sit hard on the floor. I wrap my arms tightly around my legs and pull them to my chest. Derek sits down next to me, shoulder to shoulder.
“Tonight, huh?” Derek finally breaks the silence.
I look over at him and see sadness on his handsome face. I turn so I can sink into his embrace. “And things were just getting back to normal.” I joke as I lay my head on his shoulder. “Seems we can’t catch a break.”
He pulls away to look into my eyes. “I’m going to miss you so much. It’s not fair that we finally don’t hate each other, and now they’re shipping you off station.” He laughs tightly, his perfect smile showing a single dimple.
I grin. “I’ll miss you too. I’m sure this won’t take long. A hospital cruiser was already there. I just have to deal with the dead.”
Derek’s smile fades.
“Sorry. Morgue humor.”
He shakes his head. “No, it’s not that.” A small grin plays at the corner of his lips. “I’m starting to get used to your dark humor. And why you need it.”
I turn into him and pin him up against the wall and kiss him just because I’m happy he understands me. I’ve never had many friends because of the type of work my dad and I do. And before Mom died, she was a medical examiner and coroner on Mars as well. So I’ve grown up with death and dark humor my whole life.
“Then what is it? What’s the matter?”
“I think we both know the Master Sergeant isn’t sending you to that colony to only help with the dead.”
His dark eyes pierce me with clarity and understanding.
I settle against Derek’s chest, enjoying the warmth. “He thinks I can unravel this mystery like I did with the Tempest.”
4
Bait
Derek helps me up, and we walk past my dad’s dark office. “I wonder where my dad is. He should’ve reported here during the alarm.”
I grin. “Yes we don’t like to just sit still and do nothing. You know if I can solve the secret behind who’s behind all this data research and why pirates are involved, maybe they’ll put me on the list for the Carina mission again.”
Derek reaches out a hand and stops me. “Wait. Now I’m worried for your safety. Do you think the Master Sergeant thinks you’ll find all those answers at this asteroid?”
I shrug. “I can’t read him well enough yet. He disguises his emotions and what’s going through his mind almost as good as the commander. But there are other coroners out in that sector who could’ve taken care of the dead on the asteroid, so there must be some other reason he’s sending me.” And why he didn’t admit I have the copy of the data.
“But why would he send you into such danger? If the answers are there, the pirates and whoever else is responsible for the death of the Tempest’s crew and the destruction of our station might also be there.” His brows furrow as he pulls me close to him. “I don’t like it at all.”
Derek’s body is warm up against mine, and for a moment, I think about changing the subject to something less professional. I sigh and wrap my arms around him. “I understand you’re worried about me, but I’ll be fine. I’ll be with the crew of the hospital ship. They have hundreds of people on board, including security.”
He gives me a clipped nod, but he doesn’t relax any.
I narrow my eyes. “Are you worried about my safety or what will happen to us if I get onto the 2080 Carina Mission? It would mean years without seeing each other.”
Now that I’ve said it out loud something inside me cringes at the thought of leaving Derek and everyone on Delta station. A tingle of doubt shoots through me like lightening. I’m not sure I still even want that mission. I’ve trained hard on Mars and here at Delta for it, but now, I don’t want to lose Derek.
His frown turns into a tiny smirk, but he says nothing.
I tilt my head and scrutinize him. His dark eyes are intense but they don’t give anything away. Still in his warm embrace, I don’t feel him shifting or leaning away. Only the smirk makes me question his silence. I narrow my eyes at him. “Have you applied for the 2080 mission as well?” Since moving to Delta, I lost my chance to apply to the mission until this fall. But I had to sign up for the application process a few months back. Back before I knew Derek this intimately.
His smirk turns into a frown again. “Would you be all right if I did?”
“Of course I would!” I pull him into a hug. Relief floods through my body, and I breathe easier.
Derek holds me back at arm’s length. “Are you sure? I didn’t know how you would feel about it. How you feel about me. You know, in the future.” He looks away and drops his arms. The loss of the warm contact makes me shiver. “I know it all sounds stupid.”
I gently place both my hands on either side of his face and kiss him, like he did with me for our very first time. He’s hesitant at first, but then he wraps his arms around me and kisses back with intensity.
We break apart and lean our foreheads together as we wait for our ragged breathing to subside. He’s grinning, and the sparkle is back in his eyes. “Thank you. I didn’t want you to think I was just following you like a creeper. I want you to know I really want to be with you.”
“A creeper, huh? Like when you and your friends put live worms on my chair in science class?”
He tries to look ashamed, but he’s grinning too much to pull it off. “That was before. You know I’m sorry how I treated you back then.”
I pull back and lean against the corridor wall admiring how good he looks in his security uniform. “I know you are. I’m just teasing.” I hold up a finger. “But I would like to know if you actually want to be part of the 2080 mission or are you just doing it because you know it’s my dream to go?”
He imitates me and leans against the opposite wall. “You know I’ve been questioning my job in security and how I’ve been taking electrical lessons on the side.”
I nod. “Yes, you were training to be an electrical engineer before you got to Delta and lost your apprenticeship when our lead engineer left. That’s how you were able to keep up with me when I discovered the electrical problem on the Valiant.” I grin back at him. That had been the first time we had treated each other as equals; him not calling me muerta, and me actually letting my defenses down to trust him.
“Well I think the 2080 mission is the best way for me to get out of security. I’ve applied as an electrical apprentice with security background. They appreciate multiple roles on long range missions.”
“That’s amazing. But I thought the cutoff for applying was months ago. You didn’t start thinking about your desire to get back into electrical until we started being friends.”
Derek pushes off from the wall to stand in front of me. He pushes his hands into his front pockets. “I have a friend who did me a favor. Got my name on the list before it reached Sol command.”
I widen my eyes and go for my most innocent look. “I didn’t realize you had any other friends who could read and write.” Derek’s friends here on Delta aren’t what you’d consider the most motivated bunch or even all that smart. In fact I’m sure in twenty years most of them will still be on Delta station apprenticing.
He shakes his head laughing at me. “What you don’t like my friends here?”
“It’s not that I don’t like them — in fact now that they don’t drop hateful messages in my school account anymore I can actually handle hanging out with them. But you’ve got to admit they’re not the sharpest scalpels in the drawer.”
“Speaking of which, we need to go pack your med stuff.” He takes my arm, and we walk toward the morgue. He looks sideways at me. “It was a friend from my past, one I had sporadically been keeping contact with. We were in a few foster homes together. He’s a good guy, but still bounces around from job to job. Right now he’s in communications on one of the galactic cruisers. He was able to use their advanced comm system to add my application to the others.”
The air is starting to get colder as we near the morgue. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination or if the walls around the morgue weren’t built for the cold necessary to run a morgue.
“That’s great, Derek. I hope we both get accepted. It would be amazing to be on that mission with you.” I stop to kiss him before we enter the morgue.
The door swings open, and my grin fades as I see my dad there. An explosion of bandages, instruments, boxes, rolls of tape, and med kits surrounds him. My mouth hangs open as I examine the usually pristine and organized exam room.
“Hey Bren. Derek.” Dad’s six-foot seven-inch frame is folded cross-legged on the floor as he pokes through boxes.
“Dad. What in the world are you doing?”
“I’m going through our stuff to help you pack for your trip tonight.” He looks up at me with an expression somewhere between pride and sorrow.
Dad’s eyes are even darker than mine, as well as his skin. He’s wearing a white smock, clean thankfully, but the contrast between him and the smock and all the white bandages surrounding him makes me smile. “Dad, you look like you’ve been caught in a snowstorm.”
He blinks and looks around and starts laughing. He’s got a deep booming laugh that I love to hear and I can’t help but join in. Once we calm ourselves, I wade amongst the bandages and lower myself next to him.
“So you know? Did they ask your permission to send me?” I’m super relived that I don’t have to be the one to tell him about this mission.
“Of course they did. I am your dad. And your boss.” He smiles at me, and my heart constricts. Ever since Mom died, Dad and I have done almost every investigative mission together. He would take me to the ships and colonies that needed his service
s, and we learned to work well together.
“I’m going to miss you.” My lip trembles so I push on. “Do you think the Master Sergeant has a hidden agenda with sending me instead of letting the locals do the cleanup?”
He glances briefly up at Derek and then returns his gaze to me.
I nod. “Derek knows everything. Now.” I twist so I can see Derek. “He just found out during the meeting with all the officers that I kept the copy of the drive.”
Derek folds his arms. “I suspected you’d be thorough, like you are here with your patients, clients, and records.” He looks at my dad. “But I am worried for her safety. If the Master Sergeant thinks there are answers there on the asteroid for everything that’s been going on, then Bren is in danger. It seems like this whole stolen tech problem might go farther up the food chain than we suspect.” He grinds his jaw, the muscles tightening.
I’m thankful Derek’s forgiven me about not telling him about the drive. I wanted to tell him, but I wanted even more for him to heal from his wounds without having to worry about my safety. And besides the Master Sergeant is kind of scary and had forbidden me from telling him. Until today, apparently. Now it’s all out in the open and instead of feeling relieved, I feel like I have a target on my back.
I look at Dad to see how he’ll react to this news. He doesn’t seem surprised. “You agreed to me going even knowing all this?” My voice is louder than normal. “I mean, if you even had a choice in the matter,” I say a bit quieter.
Dad unfolds himself and stands up. I quickly do the same, being careful not to knock over the stacks of medical supplies surrounding us. “I have complete confidence if anyone can figure out what is going on out there with all these asteroid mines and who’s behind it, you can.”
Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 19