DARKEST BEYOND (CHANCERIAN Book 1) by Drew Avera

Author:Drew Avera [Avera, Drew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-03-17T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Solitude was worse than any other punishment Calibri could imagine as she sat in her quarters, confined behind the locked door and trapped inside the four walls that seemed to inch closer to her the more she thought about them. It was an optical illusion, of course. “”This isn’t good,” she mumbled under her breath. There was no one to hear her, yet she wanted to keep her words secret in case anyone was listening. The notion was nothing more than acute paranoia, and no reason for anyone to listen to the rumblings of a condemned woman. She was caught, essentially with her pants down, and for that reason alone she knew what her future was. Eternal darkness.

“Why did I give into him?”

The question was moot and she knew why.

“Because you craved intimacy in your life. It was easy to fall for him because there was nowhere to run.”

She turned to face the mirror for the hundredth time in as many minutes.

“I never wanted to run. I was just caught in the whirlwind of lust and then it became something more,” she said as she eyed herself, barely cognizant that she was talking to herself and not any actual person who could speak back.

A knock at the door caused her to stumble out of her awkward thoughts. She looked at the door, urging it to open before she remembered she had to answer it. “Come in,” she shouted, knowing her voice would carry through the thin metal door. The sound of a key entering the outer locking mechanism preceded the doorknob turning. Bright, pale light flooded into her quarters, silhouetting the man in the doorway. It was Captain Tyrone.

“Sir,” she said tersely.

“Commander Reese,” he greeted as he stepped into her quarters, shutting the door behind him with a light click rather than slamming it shut in anger, as she presumed he would. “Everything is under control now. It was a rogue asteroid caught in the gas planet Viala’s orbit. There was nothing anyone could do to avoid it coming in our direction, especially with the engines offline.”

She listened to his explanation and wondered why she should care. It’s like he’s beating around the bush and trying to avoid discussing the reason he’s really here. “I suppose that’s good news,” she replied.

He nodded, a slight frown on his lips as he did so. “It is. Of course it was a narrow escape without the watch on the bridge to reengage the drive. I had to do it manually. I’m just glad things weren’t more catastrophic for the crew.”

Speak for yourself, she thought, immediately regretting the thought because the crew did not deserve to die just because she was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Yes, sir.”

He stepped closer and she noticed a pained expression on his face. “All of that aside, I think you know why I’m here.”

“I do,” she replied.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

She stood straighter, squaring her shoulders at him. “Nothing that would make any difference, sir.

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