(eng) Nick Webb - Earth Dawning 03 by Neptune's War

Author:Neptune's War [War, Neptune's]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Triton

EFS Intrepid

Ready Room

Should I suspect Delaney, too?

She had asked it of Larsen only as a jab, but the question would not leave her alone. When she returned to the bridge, after confirming that the Andromache and the three other missile frigates had indeed not made it out of the Neptune system, she beckoned Delaney out of the room with a jerk of her head. She kept a stony silence while they walked to the captain’s quarters.

“What’s going on?” he asked as soon as the door closed. “All the secrecy with Larsen, the way you spoke to Pike….”

“Send word out to the rest of the fleet. Everyone. Every last ship. Meet us at Earth. We should be there in four days—that should give everyone else time to get there. We’re going to need it in case Tel’rabim tries to pull something on us when the Dawning tries to access the archive.”

“Laura.” He hesitated. “Sure. I’ll make the calls. But … what’s going on?”

“What’s going on with you?” she asked him instead. “Any concerns? Things you’ve wanted to tell me to do, but haven’t? Questions about my … state of mind?”

He stared at her in silence.

“No,” he said finally. “Or … none that can be addressed.” The way her face changed must have frightened him, because he shook his head. “I told you, Laura, you’re the closest thing I have to a child. Why d’you think I wanted you to come to this ship instead of any other? I could have sent that shuttle to one of the destroyers, but I was … selfish. I wanted to keep an eye on you. I worry.”

“About?” She refused to be taken in by this. She began to pace around the room, throwing glances at him over her shoulder.

It was a neat place, this. Not a single shirt out of place. Delaney was never the type to have clutter.

“What d’you say to your daughter?” he asked her. “You tell her to be happy, you tell her to find someone who….” He sighed, and looked away. “You tell her not to get drawn into fights, you tell her to take as much joy from her life as she can. But what do you tell her when she’s the admiral of the fleet?”

She looked up in silence, her feet drawing to stillness.

“You can’t rest,” Delaney told her. “None of us can. You saw what happened to the Stockholm. To the Andromache. It seems our friends can now destroy our ships with the press of a button. So it doesn’t matter how much I worry when you’ve got shadows under your eyes. It’s life or death, we can’t let up. I’ve tried to do what I can, give you time alone with Pike, despite my reservations. You should have some joy. But there won’t be a wedding. There’ll be a battle.”

She began to laugh, and could not stop. “You don’t know how right you are,” she managed to get out. The sound of her voice was growing louder, wilder.

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