Chapter 2

Sousou bowed his head and muttered a quiet, but sincere, “Yes, Captain.”

Still a bit of rumble and growl in there, but I loved hearing it from him. I pushed aside that thought as quickly as it had entered my mind and focused on the beings in front of me.

“Is there anything else on the agenda, Commander?”

ZalAna’s fingers sped over her screen, her huge eyes rapidly scanning back and forth. “No, sir.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, but did my best not to make it too obvious. Rapping my knuckles on the table, I stood. Everyone jumped to their feet. “Until next time, then. Commanders, I’ll see you tomorrow. Back to work.”

There was a distinct clatter of tablets and the smooth glide of chairs, then my senior staff headed out of the room. I waited until it was just me and my second remaining, before I turned to her with wide, disbelieving eyes. She smirked.

“I’m telling you, Zal, they’re like children sometimes. Or worse, like herding cats!”

ZalAna’s expression morphed into confusion. “The domestic felines Terran’s keep as animal companions? Why would anyone want to herd them?”

I pointed at her. “See, that’s exactly the point.” I could tell by her expression that she didn’t quite understand, but I waved it away with an impatient hand. “Never mind. Not important. What’s next?”

“The lab briefing,” she answered. “Which you well know. And then you’re expected to join the Genetian minister and their spouse for dinner.”

I whined playfully, which got a quickly covered smile from my second. “Do I have to?”

“You do,” she said, giving me a nudge toward the door. “The Genetians are interested in contributing to the research in Lab Twenty-Seven, and considering it has to do with mind-work, we need to take them up on it.”

I nodded, knowing she was right. Genetians, being telepathic, were far more advanced than any other race in mind-work. My lab scientists had been exploring options on healing fractured minds, but they’d hit a bit of a roadblock, and any help the Genetians were willing to give would be welcome.

“All right, then. Let’s get to it. But if I have to go, so do you.”

ZalAna was shocked. Her red eyes got even wider and seemed to glow for a moment as they caught the overhead light. I caught just the hint of an expression that made me think she was pleased before she schooled it. With a single nod, she proceeded me out the door.

“Majel,” I said, speaking to the AI that ran the station. “Clear us a path to Sector Thirteen.”

“Of course, Captain.”

* * * *

One briefing, one boring dinner, and three hours later, I was back in Command Central, in my office, going over reports. Half my life seemed to be filling out and reviewing reports. It was not my favorite thing and I pushed off any I could onto ZalAna. She had a much more detail-oriented mind than I did, and she never seemed to have a problem with me delegating the task to her. And when she did, she told me so.

But these needed my attention, and I still had one of my own to fill out in regards to my boring, but productive, dinner meeting. The Genetian minister had specific regulations they wanted in place, and while I knew the Terran government would never agree to some of them, it was my job to present them as they’d been given to me. And then I’d probably be in charge of negotiations until both governments were satisfied.

“Captain,” Majel’s ethereal voice interrupted. “Commander Sousou would like a word.”

“Why?” The question had popped out of my mouth without thought.

“They did not say, sir.”

For a moment, I was taken aback by the use of the gender-neutral pronoun. Then I realized that while Sousou had honored me by revealing his gender, most Ssarften did not. It was something private they did not, generally, share with everyone they met. We were friends, he and I. At least on some level. Especially when I wasn’t having to mitigate disagreements between him and Ryel.

The other thing that struck me as odd was that Sousou had not given the purpose of his meeting. Most of the time, whenever one of my officers put in a request with Majel to see me, they were quick to state the reason. They all knew it was more likely to get them in front of me faster, as I both hated being surprised, and needed to allocate my time effectively. That Sousou had specifically not said was telling. He was a stickler for regulation. But that clued me in on the importance of whatever he needed to talk to me about.