Amye licks the fudge from her spoon before waving it before him. “I don’t know who invented this or even when or on what planet first, but you can’t improve on such a device so why bother.”
“No need to reinvent the wheel.”
Amye giggles. “Osirian saying?”
“Yes.”
“A lot of cultures have failed to invent such a device. It’d advance society a lot. I studied so many cultures in the IMC school. I had to pick thirty to know well.”
“Australia knows over five hundred.”
“Nysaean brains work like a computer. Thirty was hard enough. If you were smart you’d pick some of the obscure ones so you could travel more and maybe work on some exotic planets.”
“The IMC functions like it’s an empire.”
“They might as well be. They make weapons, sell ore, and have their own space fleet, factories, and self-contained education system.”
“How did you get stuck on Tartarus?” Reynard releases too late he should not have asked this question.
“It was a family thing. Grandpa, Dad, Sister…” She trails off. “I couldn’t get my test scores high enough to escape.”
“I grew up on a farm. College was going to be my only way out of hauling hay and shoveling manure. Nothing prepared me for the Iphigenians’ invasion.”
Amye snaps back from her thoughts. “Not being aware of your true history or that life truly exists beyond your solar system. Your people must have been so alone.”
“We couldn’t stop finding new ways to kill each other long enough to notice. Having over half the population conscripted into the Iphigenian Civil War may be the only thing to save us as a people.”
“It seems all your crew lost so much in this war. You and Australia—even Scott—lost your home planets.”
“We don’t have to talk about it.” Reynard hopes that if he doesn’t inquire into her losses, Amye will speak about them.
“Do you do this with all your crew?”
“Chat with them?” Reynard’s unsure what she means.
“Serve them ice cream—alone—in your quarters.”
“JC and I’ve had many long private talks over scrambled eggs. Australia just sits in that chair in full-on-follow-procedures-and-report mode, but no, I’ve not served anyone else ice cream. I thought you might want to talk…”
Amye’s thoughts drift. She doesn’t hear anything else Reynard explains. When she snaps back to reality, she mumbles, “My sister…”
“What about Kymberlynn?”
“Nothing. She would question my time in here with you.”
Reynard spots an opening, “You don’t talk much about her.”
“What’s to say? You know she’s the perfect pilot. With the perfect hair. Even more perfect performance results. I’m sure Scott could tell you some more things she’s perfect at.”
“He would have a long list of women to compare her to,” Reynard realizes too late he shouldn’t have mentioned Scott and Kymberlynn’s affiliation.
“I wonder if Australia knows how long. He’s the only thing that makes her lose her propensity for rule following.”
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with the functioning of the ship, I’m staying out of it.”
“But you have no problem butting into my business,” Amye snaps.
“Now wait a minute. I’m not butting in. You just completed a difficult mission.” Translation—your first murder.
“As your captain I thought you might need to talk, so the next mission your mind’s clear. I’m not butting in, ‘Little Sis,’ I’m doing my job.”
Amye swears he hears her call her “Little Sis” with Kymberlynn’s tone and voice. Did he scold me the way she does? No, he’s not trying to get your jumpsuit off. He is just doing his duty. He is being a friend.
“You’re correct. It was difficult. I should’ve taken the sniper shot. I just couldn’t bear the thought of blowing him apart in front of those children.” One thing you will not do is cry. You won’t cry in front of him…your…captain.
“We had orders. His death will save lives.”
“Why do you keep training so hard to fly a Mecat?” Amye asks.
“Because I’m not cut out for this assassination stuff either,” is Reynard’s quick answer.
“It wasn’t the same as firing on the Mokarran,” Amye admits.
“I was willing to fire. Willing to do what I asked one of my crew to do and hadn’t done myself. I was looking for any reason not to. Not everyone we face will be the source of evil. I trust Maxtin has examined the ramifications of a death. I trust when he says one death will save lives he’s correct.”
“People tell stories of Zayar brutality. All they wanted was to be left alone on their planet. One such tale was of a trade delegation wishing to open a dialogue. The Zayars slaughtered half their planet as their response with minimal losses of their own. Another tale was of two planets in a neighboring solar system whose war threatened Zayous. So, again, they slaughtered half on each planet and forced a treaty on them.”
“I’m sure those accounts have been exaggerated.”
“A five-hundred-year-old treaty exists between those worlds today. Zayars are big on population control. Supposedly, they systematically eliminated half the population, people they deemed unsuitable. Scientifically, they strengthened the gene pool of each species.”
“The Iphigenians did something like that with my people, only they only took those they felt had certain—characteristics.”
“I thought you were frozen.”
“Not immediately. While I was waiting to be inspected I saw one of my classmates being released. She was a perfectly healthy person.”
“On the outside. You’ve no idea what her genetic makeup said about her. The Iphigenians had the military hardware but not the soldiers. They took those who could be quickly trained. She may not have had an aptitude for the pilot’s chair.”
“When it comes to a Mecat, neither do I.”
“But they placed you in cryosleep. You and a selected few others. Without the data from the cryostats ship we won’t know why.”
“I certainly don’t feel special.”
“You’ve learned
