Shout of Honor by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

Author:Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: korval, liad, yxtrang, liaden universe
Publisher: Pinbeam Books
Published: 2019-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Vepal woke, and lay, eyes closed, and body relaxed, questing after that which had wakened him.

Even as he did so, it came again; a small exhalation, as of air being released, or throttled.

Air. Being throttled.

It had come, he thought. Erthax had received his order to end the mission. It was ironic, perhaps, that it came now.

He took a deep breath, filling his lungs; recalling the breather he had placed in his command locker, years ago, upon taking his first measure of Erthax.

He rolled off his cot, dropped silently to the floor, extended a long arm, placed his fingertips against the lock. . .and a moment later the breather was around his neck, ready for use.

The hiss of whistling air came again, which was unnecessary. The air could have been evacuated from this compartment, very quickly, if not noiselessly, via the control panel in the main hall. There was no need to come to his very quarters, to release the air manually. Erthax certainly knew that. But Erthax didn't want him to die quickly, Vepal thought. Oh, no; Erthax wanted him to know what was happening. Erthax wanted to toy with him, as if he were kojagun – prey – rather than a true soldier of the Troop.

Oh, foolish.

Vepal rose to his feet, his blood warming agreeably.

One short stride brought him to the door. He pressed against the wall, making himself as small a target as possible, and triggered the release.

The door opened, which surprised him. Even a man drunk on revenge might think to destabilize the relative pressures sufficiently to seal the door.

He trust his foot in the track so that the door would not close, swung out –

"I yield!" Ochin Rifle whispered, urgently. "Commander. . ."

Vepal blinked, grabbed the Rifle by the collar and hauled him inside, releasing the door as he did so.

"Explain yourself!" he snapped.

Ochin saluted, standing at attention.

"Sir. Pilot Erthax received a communication, sir. From High Command. Security wrap, and the Secretary's seal. I saw it, and I saw that he did not call you. Sir. Therefore, I stepped aside, where I could watch the Pilot, though I could not read the screens. He read the message, then rose and went to quarters. Sir. I thought – you should know."

Vepal considered him. The Rifle was a truthful man – how could he be otherwise? Though this tale did much, he realized, to call his simplicity into question. Whether it was a fabrication or the truth; the Rifle's actions had been extraordinary.

And if the whole tale had been given him by Erthax to tell out again to Vepal? But what would be the purpose of that?

"At ease," he told Ochin.

He went to his private console, and opened the message queue. The last message there was from station, reminding them that they would be required to depart, or move their docking inside of the next twenty-six Standard Hours, or face fines.

"This message," he said over his shoulder to Ochin; "when did it arrive?"

"Thirty-three minutes ago, Sir."

So. He had known of Erthax's private account, but he had considered it best to pretend ignorance.

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