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Authors: Annabel Wolfe
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do. She was used to activity on a
constant basis, so the enforced sedentary lifestyle probably bothered her as
much as it bothered him. There was a running machine, but it wasn’t as
effective as being able to do the same thing, and though he wasn’t surprised
the quarantine berth was less than luxurious, he chafed to get out.
“She fell asleep a while ago.” Larik shrugged and picked up his glass to
take a drink.
The Covenant: The Starlight Chronicles 2
47
Trey knew that for it had gotten very quiet. What was interesting was
that his companion had stayed and simply watched her sleep. He’d done that
too before. Just admired her beauty in repose.
“At least if we can’t really exercise any other way, we have sex.” After
the lighthearted joke Trey studied the liquid in his cup for a moment in
abstraction. He glanced up. “Do you think Governor Kartel got your
message?”
Neither one of them had mentioned to Aspen it had even been sent.
They both knew she’d been ordered along to make sure military rules were
followed and contacting Kartel using the Rapt One government
communication system did not qualify as regulation. It did qualify as a
crime, though.
“I’m sure he got it.” Larik looked noncommittal. “Let’s see if he does
anything about it. It’ll be a moral dilemma for him because he does take his
responsibility seriously. If he does buy into the idea that maybe the infected
visitors might have been a ploy to keep me away from the energy station, he
may just use some muscle to get us out. But it’s optimistic to think he’ll do
it without more proof. Aspen is right. It’s also a stretch to think something
that drastic would be done just to keep me from looking at it.”
Trey agreed. He said slowly, “I’ve been sitting here thinking.”
“Are pilots supposed to do that?”
“Very funny. Shut up, Armada and listen.” Trey took a sip of wine,
waited a moment, and then said, “Answer me this, why did they call for
you?”
“What do you mean?”
He quirked a brow. “To look at the station. It seems like heavy hitting to
me. You’re a pretty expensive commodity and you’re being sent with a
military liaison. My orders were to sit on my ass here and wait until you’d
figured out the problem, no matter how long it took. It was very clear.
Normally I drop off transport passengers and then go pick up others. There
are always transports coming and going, so the official orders to wait
puzzled me at the time. It ties me up, and ties up my craft.”
“It all comes back to the station, doesn’t it?”
“That’s my guess.”
Larik surged to his feet and paced across the room. “I keep thinking that
maybe we do need to talk to the Governor of Rapt One again.”
48
Annabel Wolfe
“The only problem is that tricky little part about you breaking into the
system. He’s going to be pissed. If he finds out you used his name and code
specifically to contact Minoa, he’ll be even more fucking irate, I’m going to
guess. If he wanted, he could have you dragged out of here in about five
minutes flat, charge you with espionage, and you could even be euthanized.”
Trey wasn’t exaggerating. It bad enough to hack into the system,
because he knew if anyone could do it and go undetected it was Larik. It
was something else to admit it to a government official who had a state of
emergency on his hands and a lot of power. Aspen had gone positively pale
when she’d seen Armada had accessed the system on what was supposed to
be a simple communication device to access galactic news and transmit
generic messages.
“Kartel would never allow that.”
“He isn’t governor of this colony,” Trey pointed out flatly. “Yes, he has
influence and could probably help you, but the truth is, it could all be over
before he even heard about it. Prisoners of war don’t get much leniency, at a
guess, even if they are someone like you. What worries me more is
constant basis, so the enforced sedentary lifestyle probably bothered her as
much as it bothered him. There was a running machine, but it wasn’t as
effective as being able to do the same thing, and though he wasn’t surprised
the quarantine berth was less than luxurious, he chafed to get out.
“She fell asleep a while ago.” Larik shrugged and picked up his glass to
take a drink.
The Covenant: The Starlight Chronicles 2
47
Trey knew that for it had gotten very quiet. What was interesting was
that his companion had stayed and simply watched her sleep. He’d done that
too before. Just admired her beauty in repose.
“At least if we can’t really exercise any other way, we have sex.” After
the lighthearted joke Trey studied the liquid in his cup for a moment in
abstraction. He glanced up. “Do you think Governor Kartel got your
message?”
Neither one of them had mentioned to Aspen it had even been sent.
They both knew she’d been ordered along to make sure military rules were
followed and contacting Kartel using the Rapt One government
communication system did not qualify as regulation. It did qualify as a
crime, though.
“I’m sure he got it.” Larik looked noncommittal. “Let’s see if he does
anything about it. It’ll be a moral dilemma for him because he does take his
responsibility seriously. If he does buy into the idea that maybe the infected
visitors might have been a ploy to keep me away from the energy station, he
may just use some muscle to get us out. But it’s optimistic to think he’ll do
it without more proof. Aspen is right. It’s also a stretch to think something
that drastic would be done just to keep me from looking at it.”
Trey agreed. He said slowly, “I’ve been sitting here thinking.”
“Are pilots supposed to do that?”
“Very funny. Shut up, Armada and listen.” Trey took a sip of wine,
waited a moment, and then said, “Answer me this, why did they call for
you?”
“What do you mean?”
He quirked a brow. “To look at the station. It seems like heavy hitting to
me. You’re a pretty expensive commodity and you’re being sent with a
military liaison. My orders were to sit on my ass here and wait until you’d
figured out the problem, no matter how long it took. It was very clear.
Normally I drop off transport passengers and then go pick up others. There
are always transports coming and going, so the official orders to wait
puzzled me at the time. It ties me up, and ties up my craft.”
“It all comes back to the station, doesn’t it?”
“That’s my guess.”
Larik surged to his feet and paced across the room. “I keep thinking that
maybe we do need to talk to the Governor of Rapt One again.”
48
Annabel Wolfe
“The only problem is that tricky little part about you breaking into the
system. He’s going to be pissed. If he finds out you used his name and code
specifically to contact Minoa, he’ll be even more fucking irate, I’m going to
guess. If he wanted, he could have you dragged out of here in about five
minutes flat, charge you with espionage, and you could even be euthanized.”
Trey wasn’t exaggerating. It bad enough to hack into the system,
because he knew if anyone could do it and go undetected it was Larik. It
was something else to admit it to a government official who had a state of
emergency on his hands and a lot of power. Aspen had gone positively pale
when she’d seen Armada had accessed the system on what was supposed to
be a simple communication device to access galactic news and transmit
generic messages.
“Kartel would never allow that.”
“He isn’t governor of this colony,” Trey pointed out flatly. “Yes, he has
influence and could probably help you, but the truth is, it could all be over
before he even heard about it. Prisoners of war don’t get much leniency, at a
guess, even if they are someone like you. What worries me more is
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