SeekerStar by Blaze Ward

Author:Blaze Ward [Ward, Blaze]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781644701386
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Five

Kathra watched Isaev’s docks in the distance out her personal cabin’s window, moving slowly as WinterStar’s disk rotated around its central hub. She had moved her ship to a point midway between the TradeStation and Isaev’s graving yard, the massive factory station where new ships took form.

The work was nearly done over there, faster than most people had probably expected, but she wasn’t spending money for unnecessary extravagances inside the hull. No grav field inducers, nor the massive power systems they required. No extra effort inside to hide raw steel plates that made up the hull. Not even carpeting that would wear out and have to be replaced regularly.

The Mbaysey lived rough, stoic lives. At least the folks on WinterStar and the new ship. ClanStar inhabitants could spend time and energy on making things softer and prettier for themselves, but the warriors did not.

That let her build a new ship quickly. She would need it.

Already, Kathra was nervous about the amount of time she had spent at Tavle Jocia, nearly two months, when her normal TradeStation visit was a matter of two to three days. Just long enough to order new supplies, deliver trade materials, and depart again once she loaded up.

Daniel had a plan to investigate the station for the pixies that he was convinced were following him. Or her. She had told him flatly that he was not allowed to even begin his looking until the new ship was done and she was in the process of acceptance trials with the builders.

If he was provoking someone who had been content to just watch up until now, she wanted to be ready to flee at the moment something went wrong.

With her new ship.

The Sept had spies here, reporting back to their masters. Getting a message out of the Free Worlds and drawing trouble to Tavle Jocia was a longer round trip than she was going to be here, so Kathra generally ignored them, except to have Daniel inspect every new candidate.

A knock at the door drew her eyes from the window and Kathra brought herself back to today’s problems, rather than what might lurk around some distant corner.

She walked to the door and opened it, smiling down at A’Alhakoth as the young woman stood at attention.

It had been an interesting challenge, dressing her in the tangerine and black that was the current uniform of the comitatus. Nobody was used to making clothing that small, so they had had to create entirely new patterns by cutting one of the woman’s existing outfits into pieces.

Not that she had probably missed the old faded grays, almost on the verge of disintegrating.

“Come in,” Kathra stepped back and gestured.

Her newest warrior entered, perhaps a bit hesitantly, but Kathra directed her to one of the two chairs and closed the hatch again.

Like her warriors, Kathra lived a rough life. She liked to occasionally think of herself as a barbarian warlord in the distant past of Mother Earth, living in a tent, rather than a palace.

Her personal cabin was no larger than Erin’s.

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