When billionaire financier Harrison Fairfax boards the EarthFed starship Starchild, Captain Trieka Cavendish knows he’ll bring trouble. Earthlubbers always do. But she has no idea “trouble” will come in the form of a vast government conspiracy that will turn her whole world upside down.
Harrison Fairfax has spent the past seven years trying to find out what happened to his wife, an investigative journalist. But his wife’s disappearance is only the tip of the iceberg. What lies beneath is bigger—and much, much worse. It’s a conspiracy reaching to the highest echelons of EarthFed.
Government strongmen, who are on to Fairfax’s meddling, drive him and Cavendish into the wilds of the colony planet Denahault, where they discover even more secrets—and a passion that may be the only thing that can save them.
From Chapter Three
The annoying buzz that was supposed to be a chime jarred Trieka
out of a more restful sleep eight hours later. Bleary, she looked at the clock
on the shelf by her berth: 0459. As she stared, eyes barely focused, it clicked
over to 0500 and began to beep.
Whoever was outside her door activated the buzzer again.
The situation should have made sense, but in her
semi-unconscious state, Trieka couldn’t fit the pieces together.
“Captain!” That was Jeff’s voice. “Breakfast.”
“I’m coming,” Trieka replied reflexively.
She swung out of the bed as she gradually remembered she’d
set her alarm a half hour later than usual. She didn’t go on duty until 0600,
and had figured the extra sleep would do her some good. Quickly, she shed her
pajamas and stepped into her uniform. She folded the pajamas and laid them on
the bed, shoved a hand through her hair to put the riotous curls into some
semblance of order, then went to the door.
Jeff and Lieutenant Wu stood outside. Jeff, as always, was
pressed and pleated within an inch of his life, his dark blond hair crisply
combed, boots so shiny you could touch up your mascara in the reflection. Robin
at least looked like she’d recently been asleep, her fine, dark hair
entertaining a not-quite tamable cowlick.
“Rough night, Captain?” Robin asked.
“No rougher than usual on the first night out.”
“Weird dreams?”
“Very.” She had no desire to go into detail, especially with
her crew, but Fairfax had continued to haunt her dreams, naked and otherwise.
She didn’t make a habit of using sleep enhancers, though it was fairly common
for crews on long voyages, but she was beginning to wonder if it might not be a
bad idea.
Although crew and passengers had been scheduled to eat in
shifts, the small mess was filled to capacity. Ensign Rico had held their table
while Jeff and Robin went to fetch Trieka. Trieka helped herself to the food at
the counter, then joined her crew.
“How did it go last night?” Trieka asked Rico.
Rico shrugged. “Smooth. No catastrophes.”
“That’s always a good sign. How about you, Jeff? How was Fairfax’s preboard? He give you any trouble?”
“No, not really. Asked a lot of questions.”
“Good. I think Admiral Derocher would appreciate it if we
were nice to him. The government wants his money.”
“Is that why he’s here?” Robin looked as if she had just
solved a particularly annoying puzzle.
“That’s right. So kiss his ass as much as possible.”
Robin grinned slyly. “May I take that literally?”
“Only with his permission.”
Jeff cocked an eyebrow at Robin. “Best be careful,
Lieutenant. We don’t want any lawsuits.”
Robin shrugged it off. “Not likely. I just think he’s cute,
that’s all. And being rich doesn’t hurt anything, either. What do you think,
Captain?”
Trieka had her mouth full of toast, which was fortuitous
since the question caught her off guard. She chewed and swallowed, trying not
to think about the dreams.
“I think he’s skinny and he has a big nose.”
Jeff looked at Trieka in amazement. “I think that if I were
talking about a woman like that, you’d write me up.”
“Oh, please—” Robin protested, but Trieka interrupted her.
“No, Jeff’s right. It’s highly inappropriate. Lieutenant,
write yourself up for unbecoming conduct.”
“Write myself up?” Robin gaped, only half-serious.
“Well, it would save me the trouble.”
Jeff, on the other hand, had worked up a snit. “I’m offended
you’re not taking this seriously.”
Trieka laid a conciliatory hand on Jeff’s arm. He’d been a
good friend since academy days, so she hated to chastise him. In fact, she’d
requested him as her second-in-command because he was smart and dependable and
maybe a little cute. But his too-proper attitude didn’t fit in with her concept
of a colony ship. She wanted things more relaxed. On the other hand, he’d
probably make a great admiral someday.
“I wouldn’t write you up for talking about a passenger,
Jeff. After all, I didn’t even reprimand you for what you said about me at the
holiday party last winter.”
Jeff slid from self-righteous to uncomfortable. “I was
drunk.”
“Even so, I think you were responsible for your own
actions.”
“I apologized once, and I’ll apologize again.”
Trieka grinned. She’d gotten quite a bit of mileage out of
that little indiscretion. “It’s all right. Though I have to say it’s the first
time I’ve ever heard my breasts compared to any kind of fruit, much less—”
Jeff waved surrender. “All right, all right. Fairfax is cute and he has a big nose. Can we please change the subject?”
“Sure. How are the passengers settling in?”
Apparently the passengers were settling in fine. Trieka
listened as Jeff related the mild fiasco of the boarding procedure, half her
attention focused on her own thoughts.
She had a great deal to accomplish today, with only the
usual twenty-four hours to work with. She arranged her schedule in her head,
Jeff’s words sinking in just far enough for comprehension.
She wasn’t sure what made her look toward the door, but when
she did, Fairfax walked through it. Inexplicably, Trieka’s heart sped up, then
settled into a slow, very hard rhythm that left her breathless.
He was bleary-eyed and mussed, the dark red-brown hair
standing up at his crown. From the pattern of the wrinkles in his shirt, she
could tell it was silk. It looked like he’d slept in it. He collected his
breakfast, then sat down at a table with a group of passengers, greeting them
with a weary smile.
No, Trieka wouldn’t call him cute, though the long nose gave
him a bit of a sad puppy look. Not cute, but definitely not ugly. Unable to
stop the thought, she wondered how accurate her dreams had been once the
clothes had started coming off.
“Captain?” Jeff said.
Trieka realized he’d asked her a question. Quickly, she cast
back, trying to remember what it was. Funny how she could arrange her schedule
and listen to Jeff at the same time, while Fairfax’s presence seemed to crowd
everything else out of her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said to hide the hesitation while her mind
filled in the gaps. “I was thinking.” She considered a moment. “There are a
couple of empty passenger cabins. We had some last-minute pullouts. If these
people really can’t stand each other, you could separate them.”
Jeff nodded decisively. “Good. That gives me some
flexibility.”
Trieka returned an equally firm nod, hiding her amazement
that she’d supplied a relevant answer. Jeff returned his attention to his meal,
and a comfortable silence settled over the table.
Trieka’s coffee had gone cold, and she wrinkled her nose at
the tepid, bitter taste. She enjoyed strong black coffee when it was hot—cold,
it needed sugar. She reached across the table for a sugar packet, looking up as
she did so.
Fairfax’s gaze riveted to hers from across the room. He smiled
a little, and Trieka found herself staring at his mouth. His jaw was wider than
his temple. His smile broadened, showing a flash of teeth. Automatically,
Trieka smiled back, then, suddenly self-conscious, looked away.
A surreptitious glance a few moments later found him
involved in his breakfast and the conversation of the woman sitting next to
him. Resolutely, Trieka put him out of her mind and resumed planning her day.
* * *
Fairfax was exhausted. Even five cups of black coffee
couldn’t keep his eyes open. He should have tried to exchange his early
breakfast shift with someone else. It had occurred to him, but it had also
occurred to him that Captain Cavendish would probably eat at the early shift.
For whatever reason, it had seemed worth the loss of sleep to exchange that
smile with her across the room and see her look away as if it had affected her.
But he was paying for it now. Finally, after drifting into
semi-unconsciousness one too many times, he excused himself from the breakfast
table and returned to his room.
The berth in the small cabin barely allowed him to stretch
out to his full six foot one inch frame. He lay very still on his back for a
time, trying to let his mind drift. Unfortunately, the drifting kept finding a
target. He opened one eye to look at the computer pad sitting on the small
desk. If he reached out, he could pick it up without even stretching…
No. He’d been up all night struggling with the encrypted
files he’d snagged from Derocher’s logs. It wouldn’t do him any good to struggle
more with them today. The little pad just didn’t have the processing power to
break the encryption. He’d have to access the shipboard computers to take
advantage of their power.
He needed to get into Cavendish’s logs as well. He had to
know if she carried orders from Derocher—something other than the simple
delivery of a few colonists to their destination. He had to know, and not just
because it would add to the pile of evidence if she did. In fact, he hoped she
didn’t.
Madison had taught him a lot about ship’s
computers, too. Fairfax began to run the most common configurations
through his head, theorizing where the
weakest points might be in the system’s security. The theoretical
networks
became pictures—spinning, mesmerizing webs. He wasn’t certain when they
caught
him, but they did, and he fell into sleep.
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