Dathan smiled. “It gets better. TheNeroslippedbeyondthe galaxy’s edge not far from your very location. This was obviously before the space station of the same name existed.”
Nissa could feel the treasure hunter building up to something. “And?”
“And, when it crossed back into charted space, it stopped at the market world of Souk. Apparently, they’d suffered some damage, had injured crew, and the ship needed maintenance.”
Justyn straightened. “That’s the planet your moon orbits.”
Nissa felt her muscles tighten across her shoulders.
“Yep. After I learned this, I did a bit of digging on Souk. I found the maintenance records for theNero, as well as some images. There was something a little strange about the pics.”
“Jesus, get to the point, Dathan!” Justyn burst out.
“Take a look at theNeroin drydock on Souk.”
Again, the images were of poor resolution, but they were clear enough for everyone to see.
Nissa sucked in a breath. “That isnota starfreighter.”
The ship in drydock looked like some sort of starcruiser. Sleeker, less cargo room.
“You’re sure that’s theNero?” she asked.
“That’s what the records say. And this second image shows Griffin talking with the mechanics.”
And there he was. Same short, stocky build.
Justyn stood, his gaze turned inward. “Something happened to theNerowhen it left charted space and when it returned it wasn’t the same ship.”
Nissa’s heart beat hard and slow in her chest. Her gaze snagged with Justyn’s. Whatever the hell had happened to theNero, she’d bet her captaincy that it explained what had happened to the Constitution.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Seven hours straight of staring at Sync screens, reading old documents, and running computer searches was not easy on the eyes.
Justyn squinted at the screen, scanning yet another document. The information Eos and Dathan had managed to pull together was incredible. He swiped the screen and moved onto the next page. The computer was running several searches for any references to theNero. He and Nissa were manually going through anything the computer flagged.
Beside him, Nissa shifted in her chair. Again. For the hundredth time since they’d settled in the empty cabin to work.
“This completely destroys all my beliefs about the adventure of treasure hunting.” She sank back into her chair. “This is boring.”
Justyn hid his smile. He suspected Captain Sander didn’t spend much time sitting around. No, she’d be striding through the corridors of theResolute Freedom, checking in with her crew and solving issues. “I don’t know, I kind of like it.”
There was a thrill to finding a hidden reference to a long-ago ship and its crew. And on top of that, he and Nissa had workedsteadily together, almost like they’d been doing this kind of thing for years. He even liked the companionable silences.
Being able to watch her wasn’t a hardship either. He’d learned she had a habit of gnawing on her bottom lip when she was concentrating and tapping her nails on the table when she was frustrated.
She got to her feet and walked over to the large holo-screen mounted on the wall. It showed a star map and was marked with colored dots that showed any reference of theNeroor a reference they suspected could have been the ship.
They were slowly piecing things together, but there were still a hell of a lot of gaps.
An idea popped into his head to help break up the boredom and he fought back a grin. Oh yeah, he liked the idea of spicing things up a little. Touching his Sync, he quickly typed a message.
I keep from getting too bored by remembering what you look like with your clothes off.
He hit send.
Nissa’s console chimed. With a frown, she wandered back to her seat and tapped the screen. He watched her eyebrows wing up. “Phoenix.” A warning tone.
