Faring Soul - Science Fiction Romance by Tracy Cooper-Posey

planet will add some speed and the planet is
between Sibéal’s place and the gates, so we can use it for cover as
we head for the gates. That’s why I didn’t see them at first.”
    It sounded like he was apologizing.
    “It is what it is.” Catherine said. “We
only have to get a few light hours away. If they see us after that,
they still won’t be able to catch up before we hit the gates. How
long before the planet will hide us?”
    “Thirty-three minutes.”
    It was a long thirty-three minutes.
Both Lilita and Brant came onto the deck to watch, silent and
tense. At one point, Lilita said quietly; “Over-capacity by three
percent.”
    “I’m aware,” Bedivere said softly, his
eyes on the consoles.
    Catherine didn’t speak. At times like
this, Bedivere seemed to commune directly with his instruments. His
face became calm and expressionless and his eyes stayed on the
consoles, moving from one readout to another. His fingers shifted
decisively and it seemed like he was moving slowly, except that
Catherine couldn’t match him for speed. She had long ago resigned
herself to the knowledge that Bedivere outclassed her as a pilot
and she didn’t come close to matching his skills as a navigator.
She was glad, right now, that it was him at the controls and not
her.
    Instead, she watched the less-critical
readouts and secondary data and tried to keep half an eye on
Bedivere’s stiff, upright figure in case he needed her for
something.
    “Thirty minutes,” Brant said and his
voice sounded loud.
    Catherine looked at Bedivere.
    “Almost,” he whispered.
    There was a clock on her console,
calibrated to standard time. She watched it roll through a single
minute and it felt like an hour. She swallowed.
    The readout rolled through another
minute, taking a light year to do it.
    “Were they coming for us?” Bedivere
asked and Catherine jumped.
    “They just happen to arrive through the
gates to an uninhabitable world that no one ever uses, in their
fastest pursuit class. They were there either for Sibéal or for us.
The timing suggests it was us they wanted.”
    “How did they know we were there?”
Brant asked.
    “And why do they want you?” Lilita
added.
    “Us,” Catherine said firmly. “You’re
tainted because you’re on my ship. The Federation have wanted me
for years.”
    “Clear,” Bedivere said and sat back,
letting out a deep breath. He glanced around at everyone. “Two
minutes, then we have to finish jump prep.”
    Brant looked at Catherine directly, his
odd eyes holding her gaze. “Would you really have killed me, back
there?”
    “I was counting on you being a good
man,” Catherine told him.
    “But you would have killed me if I had
not, despite all life being precious to you.”
    Catherine smiled. “We’ll never know,
will we?” She turned back to face the console. “Let’s get this jump
locked in. I want to be gone from here as soon as possible.”

Chapter Eleven
    The Ivory City, Cathain City, Cathain
III. FY 10.070
    Kare stood up.
    The shouting around the long, long
table cut off as Kare’s heavy chair crashed into the floor behind
him. He hadn’t intended to topple it, but it served him now, so he
remained on his feet until everyone was looking at him. Those at
the far end of the table, the junior members and the newcomers to
the Federation, including the brand new Shantan governor, probably
saw him as a mere dot, but the screens that hung down the middle of
the table would have focused on him now and their view of the
screens would be unimpeded.
    Good.
    In the silence that awaited him, no one
coughed or cleared their throat, or shuffled their feet. They were
watching him with expressions that ranged from surprise to
dismay.
    Kare pressed his fingers to the dark
clear, cool surface of the table. “The best response force the
Federation could muster was out-run by one tiny, aging cruiser.
That is fact. Arguing the hows and whys is a waste of my time. We
failed. Absorb that and take what