Page 323 of Every Almost

Kess held her gaze for a beat before tipping her head.

"Captain."

"Doctor."

Then Kess turned and started back toward the Med Bay without looking back.

Reyna madethe call from her office with the door shut.

Vondra's chamber resolved on the wall display, the Lithyn Admiral suspended in her dark water. The micro-vibrations began before Reyna had fully sat down.

"Captain Solas. I was expecting your call somewhat sooner than this."

"I owe you an apology, Admiral."

That got a small flicker.

"Do you."

"I do. Two days ago, you gave me a lawful directive regarding a member of my crew, and I received it poorly. I was insubordinate in my tone and my conduct, and you didn't deserve it. You have kept this ship in commission for longer than I have commanded it, and you have never once been anything but fair to me." Reyna took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Admiral."

The water held still.

"That," Vondra said, "is a more complete apology than I anticipated."

Reyna folded her hands on the desk.

"I want to tell you about the most recent rescue," she said. "The one on Korallis Minor, saving the breeding pair of Gravhorn Palu. Eleven thousand kilos each, left behind on an evacuating colony world because no shuttle in the sector was rated to lift them."

"I'm familiar with the mission."

"Then you recognize that the Emberkind was the only vessel in range that was rated to handle the Palus. I know you know this, Admiral, because you are the one who approved the build of this ship into the only vessel that could."

"The Coalition has already logged the recovery. It was clean work."

"It was not clean work," Reyna said coldly. "It was very nearly a catastrophe, and I would like to tell you why it wasn't, because I think you should have the complete record and not just the tidy version."

The water stirred faintly.

"Go on."

"Did you know there were three colonists still on that planet? Trapped under a structure that came down during the evacuation, masked on the evacuation coordinator and our scanners for hours by the mass of the two Palu we'd come to recover?"

Another flicker. "I was not aware of that, no," Vondra admitted.

"Nobody knew they were there, Admiral. Not the colony or the Coalition. Not even us until the Palu were on board the shuttle. Every possible plan we brought to that planet had us leaving those three people to die on that rock, and the official log would have recorded a clean recovery of two animals, never knowing the difference."

"But they did not die."

"No," Reyna sighed. "They didn't."

There was a pause between them where the hum of ship and the glugs of the water were the most defined noises present.

"And why is it they did not die, Captain Solas?"

Reyna kept her voice level.

"Because my Chief Engineer disobeyed a direct order," she said.