concluded. “Anyone else?”
“I realize that you can’t go.” Kellen seemed to slump for a second, then squared her shoulders and returned Rae’s gaze with apparent confidence. “I’d have preferred to see this mission through under your command.”
“Do you have specific plans drawn up already?” Rae asked, but didn’t comment on the impossibility of Kellen’s last wish.
“Yes, but they’re fairly rudimentary. I need more intel from Paladin before I commit to any specific plan. Right now, I’m devising several backup options in case I need to change our course of action.”
“You speak of this as if it’s a done deal,” Rae reminded Kellen. “I haven’t approved anything. Yet.”
Kellen leaned forward and placed her hands, her fingers laced, on Rae’s knee. “This is about doing the right thing. I can’t allow my world to lose their most loyal heroes. They’ve sacrificed almost everything, risked their lives over and over, to take a stand against Onotharat.”
She spoke in a low, urgent voice that Rae hadn’t heard her use in a long time, not since Kellen had sat across from her after being captured and her ship towed to the Gamma VI space station. Rae remembered the defiant Gantharian with blue tears of fury streaming down her face, and her heart ached.
“I can’t promise anything, Kellen,” Rae said, struggling to keep the dread out of her voice. “Give me all the information you have and an overview of the plans you’re prepared to set in motion.”
“Yes, ma’am.” There was nothing sarcastic in Kellen’s response. This was business and had very little, and yet everything, to do with their marriage. “I’ll have it ready for you in an hour.”
“Good. Include a request for vessels with the new drive we installed.”
The Fleet had made good use of the last months by copying the propulsion system of the Onotharian ships they held in custody. Now they could fly faster than tachyon-mass drive, which was prohibited because it polluted space, and a ship could reach the Gantharat System in one week, instead of three.
Kellen rose. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. See you later.”
After Kellen nodded and left, Rae walked to the window, drinking from her keep-hot mug. Vast fields billowed around the Cormanian capital, and the fact that she was on the eighty-fourth floor made it possible to see the curve of the horizon all the way to the ocean. This breathtakingly beautiful planet contained protected areas that normally would have tickled her imagination.
They had moved here from the Gamma VI space station, where Rae had been the commanding officer before her promotion, and now resided in the Supreme Constellations’ headquarters on Corma, not far from the SC border, but inside the protective ring of space stations.
At the moment, her life consisted of planning and preparing for war; she worked on tactics all day and processed them all night in her dreams. Sometimes I feel trapped, as if this is all I’ll ever be. A warrior.
Rae forced her thoughts to return to the people she couldn’t do without. Kellen and Armeo. Not even the threat of a protracted war could cast a shadow on her feelings for them. Kellen had made it possible for her to open her heart to others as well: her parents, with whom she’d had a complicated relationship; their friends Leanne D’Artansis and Owena Grey; and the man who held his hand over them politically, Councilman Thorosac. Rae was finally able to show how much she cared for them all.
However, Kellen’s latest plans might alter everything, and possibly not for the better.
*
Roshan sat among her peers in the Commercial Lobby, listening to a speech honoring its oldest, most esteemed member. An elderly woman, at the impressive age of 145, was retiring as CEO for her global conglomerate, and they had gathered to honor her and to welcome her successor, her granddaughter.
“She’s too young. She won’t last once she has to deal with the
“I realize that you can’t go.” Kellen seemed to slump for a second, then squared her shoulders and returned Rae’s gaze with apparent confidence. “I’d have preferred to see this mission through under your command.”
“Do you have specific plans drawn up already?” Rae asked, but didn’t comment on the impossibility of Kellen’s last wish.
“Yes, but they’re fairly rudimentary. I need more intel from Paladin before I commit to any specific plan. Right now, I’m devising several backup options in case I need to change our course of action.”
“You speak of this as if it’s a done deal,” Rae reminded Kellen. “I haven’t approved anything. Yet.”
Kellen leaned forward and placed her hands, her fingers laced, on Rae’s knee. “This is about doing the right thing. I can’t allow my world to lose their most loyal heroes. They’ve sacrificed almost everything, risked their lives over and over, to take a stand against Onotharat.”
She spoke in a low, urgent voice that Rae hadn’t heard her use in a long time, not since Kellen had sat across from her after being captured and her ship towed to the Gamma VI space station. Rae remembered the defiant Gantharian with blue tears of fury streaming down her face, and her heart ached.
“I can’t promise anything, Kellen,” Rae said, struggling to keep the dread out of her voice. “Give me all the information you have and an overview of the plans you’re prepared to set in motion.”
“Yes, ma’am.” There was nothing sarcastic in Kellen’s response. This was business and had very little, and yet everything, to do with their marriage. “I’ll have it ready for you in an hour.”
“Good. Include a request for vessels with the new drive we installed.”
The Fleet had made good use of the last months by copying the propulsion system of the Onotharian ships they held in custody. Now they could fly faster than tachyon-mass drive, which was prohibited because it polluted space, and a ship could reach the Gantharat System in one week, instead of three.
Kellen rose. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. See you later.”
After Kellen nodded and left, Rae walked to the window, drinking from her keep-hot mug. Vast fields billowed around the Cormanian capital, and the fact that she was on the eighty-fourth floor made it possible to see the curve of the horizon all the way to the ocean. This breathtakingly beautiful planet contained protected areas that normally would have tickled her imagination.
They had moved here from the Gamma VI space station, where Rae had been the commanding officer before her promotion, and now resided in the Supreme Constellations’ headquarters on Corma, not far from the SC border, but inside the protective ring of space stations.
At the moment, her life consisted of planning and preparing for war; she worked on tactics all day and processed them all night in her dreams. Sometimes I feel trapped, as if this is all I’ll ever be. A warrior.
Rae forced her thoughts to return to the people she couldn’t do without. Kellen and Armeo. Not even the threat of a protracted war could cast a shadow on her feelings for them. Kellen had made it possible for her to open her heart to others as well: her parents, with whom she’d had a complicated relationship; their friends Leanne D’Artansis and Owena Grey; and the man who held his hand over them politically, Councilman Thorosac. Rae was finally able to show how much she cared for them all.
However, Kellen’s latest plans might alter everything, and possibly not for the better.
*
Roshan sat among her peers in the Commercial Lobby, listening to a speech honoring its oldest, most esteemed member. An elderly woman, at the impressive age of 145, was retiring as CEO for her global conglomerate, and they had gathered to honor her and to welcome her successor, her granddaughter.
“She’s too young. She won’t last once she has to deal with the
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