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The panel pried open, and Vishin’s boot spilled out, clunking with a certainty that filled me with a surprising dread.
Nothing. It couldn’t change anything about my plans.
I was a soldier. I had a mission.
Failure was not an option
A small wave of guilt hit me, but I quickly brushed it away.
This was war. And in war, there would be losses.
I’d spent plenty of time reading reports that detailed the countless human lives lost because of these Commanders and their horrid beliefs. His death wasn’t for me, it was the for them. And any time I felt that sense of doubt of my actions, I remembered the humans who had been sacrificed in the name of glory.
Surely, Braxl faced his missions with a similar determination. No distraction could lead him astray.
A smile snuck to my lips as I remembered the flame of his eyes, that driven, soulful look that said he would get whatever he was after.
It thrilled me that I had been the challenge he set his supreme focus on during our holodeck escapade. Braxl had given me access to the kitchens. I had played it well, happy to be involved in the wedding plans and eager to taste the items that might be served at our blissful reception. Or so I seemed. I tried not to ask any questions about trash disposal for fear of raising suspicion. But the fires burned bright in the kitchen to eliminate any waste while traveling through space.
A body would burn in no time.
I still hadn’t had a chance to communicate with the Resistance. I wasn’t sure I was going to. I had a Trans-Space Comm, shaped like a lipstick tube, that would bottle a message and ping it from station to station, encrypted and coded, eventually arriving at my superior’s compound on Earth.
It was still a risk, though. By the time any message they wrote in response reached me, we would be celebrating post-wedding, and charges would already be laid to blow.
There was no reason to endanger the mission needlessly. I had known that when my feet left Earth, my future was going with it.
The more interesting message to send, one that I could actually use some guidance on, had nothing to do with the misfortune of this pile of bones and blood beside me. It had to do with Braxl, my wedding day prey.
It surprised me how readily Braxl defended me. I couldn’t help but feel a certain satisfaction in my ability to captivate him. Considering the prejudice against humans, I had anticipated more resistance.
However, conflicting emotions tugged at me. It was unsettling to realize I felt a pang of guilt about manipulating Braxl, casting him as the unwitting star of my dramatic performance. There seemed to be a genuine concern in his actions, a care that went beyond any ulterior motive.
Yet, deep down, I suspected that much of this was driven by his animosity towards his father.
For all I knew, he had broadcast our holodeck experience to the whole of theGloryDazein order to prove to his father that he could subvert expectations.
I was using him, too, but maybe there was something of more mutual interest that could serve us both. And be better served by both of us staying alive.
Namely, the destruction of his father.
I managed to wrestle Vishin fully out of the closet. The smudge of his blaster burned face was not appealing to look at and had started to smell.
I took a deep breath and peeked from the closet out into the hallway. Completely empty.
Well, empty except for the trolley cart that I had swiped from one of the janitorial rooms. I wasn’t sure how I would explain that the fiancée of the ship’s Commander was pushing a pile of wash rags to the kitchen.
I hoisted Vishin to my shoulder, huffing against his weight. Even though he was a small Krafina, he was still taller than the average Earthling.
I took one more peek, leaning his body against the door, then kicked the closet wide and heaved Vishin into the cart of fresh hand towels.
His body barely fit, but it would work. I lugged up some of the towels and covered him entirely.
The kitchen staff knew to expect me. They probably wouldn’t expect me with a load of towels for them to use, but I supposed I could say I was learning all parts of the ship that would soon be my home.
That might even win me some points if they could tell I didn’t think I was above their station as kitchen or janitorial staff. It might make it easier for me to come and go in the kitchen as I liked, keeping up the pretense of wedding prep, while I disposed of bodies as I needed.
Assuming there was any more unlucky interference before the big day.
