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“Status, Toran? Are we under attack?”
“Negative, sir,” the ship’s AI replied. “Status normal. We will enter normal space near the EridanusSystem in forty-five minutes.”
Lieutenant Keyes coughed again. “Good. Thank you, Toran.”
“You’re welcome, Lieutenant.”
Eridanus was on the border of the Outer Colonies. It was just far enough off the beaten path for piratesto be lurking . . . waiting to capture a diplomatic shuttle like theHan . This ship wouldn’t last long in aspace action. Theyshould have an escort. He didn’t understand why they had been sent alone—butJunior Lieutenants didn’t question orders. Especially when those orders came from FLEETCOM HQ on
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planet Reach.
Wake-up protocols dictated that he inspect the rest of the crew to make sure no one had run intoproblems reviving. He looked around the sleep chamber: rows of stainless steel lockers and showers, amedical pod for emergency resuscitations, and forty cryogenic tubes—all empty except the one to hisleft.
The other person on theHan was the civilian specialist, Dr. Halsey. Keyes had been ordered to protecther at all costs, pilot this ship, and generally stay the hell out of her way. They might as well have askedhim to hold her hand. This wasn’t a military mission; it was baby-sitting. Someone at Fleet Commandmust have him on their blacklist.
The cover of Dr. Halsey’s tube hummed open. Mist rippled out as she sat up, coughing. Her pale skinmade her look like a ghost in the fog. Matted locks of dark hair clung to her neck. She didn’t look mucholder than him, and she was lovely—not beautiful, but definitely a striking woman. For a civilian,anyway.
Her blue eyes fixed upon the Lieutenant and she looked him over. “We must be near Eridanus,” she said.
Lieutenant Keyes almost saluted reflectively, but checked the motion. “Yes, Doctor.” His face reddenedand he looked away from her slender body.
He had drilled in cryogenic recovery a dozen times at the Academy. He’d seen his fellow officers nakedbefore—men and women. But Dr. Halsey was a civilian. He didn’t know what protocols applied.
Lieutenant Keyes got up and went to her. “Can I help you—”
She swung her legs out of the tube and climbed out. “I’m fine, Lieutenant. Get cleaned up and dressed.”She brushed past him and strode to the showers. “Hurry. We have important work to do.”
Lieutenant Keyes stood straighter. “Aye, aye, Ma’am.”
With that brief encounter, their roles and the rules of conduct crystallized. Civilian or not—like it or not—Lieutenant Keyes understood that Dr. Halsey was in charge.
The bridge of theHan had an abundance of space for a vessel of its size. That is, it had all themaneuvering room of a walk-in closet. A freshly showered, shaved, and uniformed Lieutenant Keyespulled himself into the room and sealed the pressure door behind him. Every surface of the bridge wascovered with monitors and screens. The wall on his left was a single large semicurved view screen, darkfor the moment because there was nothing in the visible spectrum to see in Slipspace.