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10
"Welcome to the Gamma."The captain and two security officers greeted J'avet and I as we stepped off the pod.
Brinley and E'rel stayed back to gather E'rel's devices. The Parvoran was adamant they not be left behind for a moment, and J'avet agreed. Honestly, so did I. Trust was a hard commodity to find lately, what with all the nanobots running around the galaxy.
"Thank you, Captain," J'avet said, his tone and expression distracted.
"You're welcome, Commander." Captain Marshall eyed him as though amused by something. She was taller than me, and more slender. The hair at her temples was grey. Lines on her face suggested she smiled a lot.
I suspected she didn't miss anything, ever. I bet nothing happened on her ship that she wasn't aware of. I would bet just about anything she took even less shit than I did. That was saying something.
She reminded me of Doctor Kalvix, who died on Infinity. That in turn made me think of how Slek had flirted with the doctor. He would flirt with the captain too, I suspected. Hopefully, I would find that out for sure soon.
It couldn't come soon enough.
"Thank you, Captain," J'avet said again. "We'll be on our way as soon as the Freytauri are transferred to the infirmary."
In spite of his firm tone, Marshall smiled. The kind of smile that said he wouldn't like what she was about to say, but that was too bad. "You'll be here a while longer than that. Admiral's orders."
J'avet scowled. "You said we were to be allowed to go on our way. I appreciate the need for Gamma to follow at a discreet distance, but—"
"Things change," Marshall said shortly. "You've proven that one small pod is too vulnerable." Her eyes were like pools of steel, hard and uncompromising.
Still, I had to try. "We dealt with the Iritauri," I pointed out. "We just don't have room for more on the pod. We'd run out of oxygen and fuel before we reached Iritauri space." There was no point in freeing the hosts only to have them suffocate along with us a couple of days later. Besides, I didn't want to share the cans of frankfurts with anyone else.
J'avet gave a sharp nod. "We have a greater chance of success—"
Marshall held up her hands to cut him off. "Argue with the admiral. I'm simply following orders. You will all remain on board Gamma until we get closer to Iri space."
"Then what?" I asked. I had the funny feeling they wouldn't simply let us go again, now we were here. Was there room in the brig for four of us?
"Then we await further orders," Marshall said evenly. She lowered her hands as though the conversation was finished.
Evidently it wasn't as far as J'avet was concerned. "Since when did you follow blindly?" he asked, his voice almost a growl.
The side of her mouth twitched in annoyance. "Since the future of the entire galaxy was at stake," she replied. "I know this is hard to believe, but this is bigger than you, Commander."
I choked back an ironic laugh. I'd lost track of the amount of times I assumed J'avet thought himself more important than whatever went on around him. This time though, I knew he knew otherwise. He was doing all of this for the good of everyone.
J'avet gave her a cold stare. "I know that, Captain," he said through gritted teeth. "That's why I don't want this mission fucked up by someone behind a desk."
"He has a good point," I said before Marshall had a chance to respond angrily. "J'avet knows where to go. We need to get in there undetected. Someone who has never even met an Iri, much less dealt with one—"
"Is still in charge," Marshall said firmly.
If I didn't think it would get me into trouble, I might have pointed out how rude it was to interrupt. She'd done it three times since we stepped off the pod.
"We've set aside cabins for you all," Marshall went on as though we hadn't spoken at all. "Take what you need from the pod, you'll be locked out of the pod bay. Just in case."
J'avet's eyes flashed. If he could shoot lasers out of them, I'm sure he would have.
We couldn't even argue this point, really. We had tried to steal a pod in the first place. Just because we'd been allowed to didn't mean we were off the hook for that.
"Yes, Captain," he said finally. He'd already grabbed his bag. Apparently that was all he needed because he headed toward the pod bay doors without even a glance back at me.
"He's such a charmer," Marshall said dryly.
"He's okay," I said. "Kind of." He had his moments. If he thought I would trot after him, he would have to think again.
