The Sevarian Way by Justine Elyot Page A

sorry not to provide you with the non-stop circus you evidently crave, but I thought you might have been prepared for the fact that space exploration requires a great deal of time in space . What do they teach you at the Academy these days?” He shook his head sadly before snapping into grim disciplinary mode. Suka always identified this by a locking of his jaw and a narrowing of his eyes. She swallowed, aware of her hair prickling her skin. “You won’t be seeing the glowstick until we return to port. And, for the remainder of this shift period, you will catch up on lost sleep by going to bed at the start of Association Time.”
    “Oh, don’t make me miss Association Time!” wailed Suka , embarrassingly aware of how bratty and pathetic she sounded. “It’s the only thing to look forward to most days.”
    “You can sulk all you like, Ensign,” said Paul briskly. “I won’t have deliberate rule-breaking in my crew, and the sooner you process that lesson, the better for you. I had such high hopes for you when I read your reference from the Academy, and I don’t take disappointment well.”
    “Neither do I,” whispered Suka , half-hoping Paul wouldn’t hear her. The half-hope was in vain.
    “I beg your pardon?” He turned back from the move towards the bridge front he had been beginning and fixed her eyes uncompromisingly with his.
    “Nothing. Doesn’t matter,” she muttered.
    “Yes, it does,” he said, deceptively gently. “What my crew thinks matters very much to me. Tell me.”
    “It’s just, well, I thought I was joining an elite crew of enlightened intelligent explorers. I wasn’t prepared for Sparta in space.”
    For a moment, Suka had the impression Paul was about to strike her. Her palms grew slippery and her breath retreated into indefinite suspension. The Commander, pale and impassive, seemed to be calculating how hard he should slap her. She had never seen him actually rattled before, and it unnerved her more than she could express.
    The monitor began to bleep and flash, precipitating a huge exhalation from Suka . She put her trembling fingers to the keyboard.
    “ Paladium Three, Sir,” she managed to say, when speech was possible. “It’s within teleportation range now.”
    His skin flushed back to a more normal shade and his eyes lost their glaze as he swung around the side of the monitor and crouched over the back of her chair, scanning the screen eagerly.
    “Right. Paladium Three. Callil , the environmental checks have been run?”
    “Yes, Sir. You’ll need an oxygen patch, mid-grade. As we know, all denizens are dead, so you won’t need diplomacy tools. Superficial check shows no active airborne threat to humans. I’m just running the full scan, Sir.”
    Paul’s face drew closer to Suka’s , his breath fanning her cheek as he watched the satellite swoop lower, picking out sharp, focused images of the planet’s surface.
    “It’s a recent ruin,” he commented. “Most of the buildings intact. You know what killed them, I take it?”
    “Yep. Those hoodlums from the Chavian Belt, dropping toxic waste from their illegal dumper ships. Outrageous. They need sorting out.”
    “Well, the Federation is doing its best, I gather. They aren’t an easy species to deal with. Out and out hedonists, no values, no discipline .”
    His breath puffed against Suka’s skin, making it prickle and inducing a strange clenching between her thighs. Spoken so close to her ear like that, the word was irresistibly erotic to her. But Paul wasn’t to know that!
    She straightened her stance in an effort to force him back. It didn’t work.
    “Fascinating people, the Paladians . Did you study them at the Academy?”
    “No,” admitted Suka . “I’ve read a little, though, recreationally.” She emphasised the last word, still angry at what struck her as heavy-handed punishment for a bit of light studying.
    “Good.” Paul stood up, finally releasing her from the strange half-arousal his nearness