AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A muscle flexed in his cheek, his very jaw trembling, the grinding and pressure making him almost vibrate. There’s the snake, Kira thought, wildly amused at the showing of it. Like a rattlesnake tensed up to strike. Oh, he was shaking his little rattle to the point every bit of prey in the area could hear it, but she wasn’t prey.
Captain, this isn’t helping matters.
Replying to Watson meant speaking out loud. She remained silent, but he’d get his answer either way. “Look, West, I’ll admit, it could have been handled much better. We could handle this much better, but what’s done is done. Why can’t you just take the money, play it off as a training exercise, and up your budget for your security to prevent it from happening again?”
Flesh against metal let off a sound as he dragged his hand down, the screeching made her clench her teeth. West was taller than her, by quite a bit, enough to bear down his weight as he leered, “You think Daddy’s little girl can get away with whatever she wants, don’t you? Well, I’ve got news for you Princess. There’s an entire galaxy out there, and part of it wants to know who’s taking out the dirty laundry.”
Kira’s muscles tensed, every fiber of her being fought and clawed to not to strike back. Then, to handle this with less animosity, less berating, but could the voice of reason win?
Kira, don’t put us in this position.
“Do you have fangs West or do you just hiss like a snake? I’d like to see you try to strike.”
KIRA.
“You’ll see it alright.”
West went the very direction of his namesake, stalking off as if he were proud to have the last word. If he checked the cameras later, he’d earn a quaint view of Kira, making a rather lewd gesture at his back before the door shut and locked.
What have you done?
“West won’t do anything. He’s all bark and no bite.”
That is… an unwise assumption.
“Yeah, well, I lack wisdom. Just look at your records. I’m sure your unfailing memory can provide you with plenty of examples.”
You’re too volatile, Kira, you always have been.
“Just monitor his correspondence, Watson. Take a peek into the Eikos. Follow what Quinn did, get some monitors on what he’s doing, and who he’s talking to. If he so much as sneezes without using a tissue, I want to know about it.”
At your command, Captain.
Chapter Twelve
QUINN
Quinn arrived on time for dinner, but stood arms crossed in the doorway leaned against the side. The picture of a sullen teenager being dragged on a vacation they’d thoroughly been against, but he was there.
In his opinion, there was no straightforward way he could fix it, so he should deal with it.
Watching Kira, she didn’t greet him when he came in. She just put something that looked like meatloaf on the pass-over section they’d been using as their makeshift table. Getting down some glasses, she gave herself water. “What do you want to drink?”
“Water, please,” Quinn shrugged off the doorway. He still failed to branch out regarding his beverage choices, not seeing why someone would consume empty calories.
The glass appeared in front of him, as did Kira’s uncharacteristic silence. He did not see her silence as a matter of concern, not yet. Taking the glass, he sipped and then cut into his meal. Just like the last time they’d eaten together, he treated the entire thing more like a science experiment than a meal. He combined different variations of flavor on his plate slowly before consuming each morsel one bite at a time.
“You know, if there’s anything you’d like to try, I can attempt to make it.” A look up revealed her attention fully on him, like it normally was. The woman’s unnerving habit of trying to make eye contact never ended.
“Okay.” A beat of silence before he said, “cheesecake.”
“I’ll look at some recipes tomorrow.”
“No hurry.” He continued to eat, focused mostly on the food. Thus far, it was among the more pleasant conversations they’d ever had.
“Probably do Camgen tomorrow night.” A quick search revealed it to be an Empyrean dish of mainly vegetables with thin strips of something resembling beef in it, a hearty dish.
“Alright, got any questions about the ship’s progress?” Quinn asked, making it abundantly clear that he did not know how to do small talk. His go-to topic being business.
