She gave it a grateful squeeze. “Not much of a dinner companion, am I? I’ve barely said a thing all evening.”
He smoothed his thumb across her soft skin. “Quiet doesn’t trouble me when I’m with you, milessia.”
That managed to lure a faint smile from her. “I don’t suppose you’d care to tell me what milessia means, would you?”
“Another time perhaps.”
Nodding, she released a long sigh and set her utensil down. “I can’t eat anything tonight. I’m too…” She shrugged. “Do you think you can down some of this for me? I don’t want to hurt Kusgan’s feelings.”
“Kusgan is a soldier,” he reminded her. “He’ll understand.”
She looked toward the kitchen. “I guess he’s probably heard about the empty escape pod, huh?”
“Everyone has,” he told her. “I’ve raised the alert level of the ship while we wait for engineering to finish a more detailed sweep and analysis of the pod. We’ll likely remain on alert as we venture into K-54973’s solar system.”
She nodded, then glanced down at his empty tray. A wry smile momentarily lit her features. “I’m glad my boring company didn’t lessen your appetite.”
He shrugged. “It’s a holdover from my earliest years in the military. Like everyone else, I began my career as an infantryman. And as often happens in battle, we didn’t always know when we’d have our next meal. So if an opportunity arose, we ate whether we were hungry or not.” He gave her hand a last squeeze, then rose, stacking her tray atop of his.
“Could we maybe stop by the bridge and see if anything new has come up?”
He would’ve been commed if it had, but nodded. “Of course.”
They headed toward the kitchen.
“Maybe we could take Janek and Galen something to eat. I think they both missed mid meal, and I didn’t see them in here tonight.”
Even when consumed by her own worries, she thought of others. “An admirable idea.”
Several minutes later, they strode onto the bridge.
Dagon handed his comms officer a closed container.
Janek’s eyebrows flew up. “What’s this?”
“Last meal.”
His jaw dropped. Galen’s did, too.
Eliana stepped up beside Dagon, her face at last lighting with a true smile. “You act like you’ve never been served a meal by your commander before.”
“I haven’t,” Janek said.
Dagon chuckled. “Well, you’ve Eliana to thank for it. It was her idea.”
Janek grinned. “Thank you, Eliana.”
Galen’s stomach growled.
Eliana chuckled. Taking the second container from Dagon, she turned to the navigations officer. “Don’t worry, Galen. We didn’t forget you. You get one, too.”
He gave her a broad smile. “Thank you, Eliana.”
Laughing, she set the container on the edge of the navigation console.
The ship jolted suddenly… hard enough that Dagon had to brace his feet to keep from toppling to the deck. He threw out a hand and grabbed Eliana’s arm when she stumbled.
She glanced down at the container she’d set on the console, then looked up at him with wide eyes. “Oh shit. Did I do that? We shouldn’t have brought them dinner!”
An alarm began to blare.
Dagon shook his head. “It wasn’t you.” He addressed the crew. “Were we fired upon?”
Galen and Janek dropped their meal containers to the floor. Every man present consulted his screen, some raising holographic images above their consoles.
“No ships are registering within firing range,” Galen announced.
“Shields?” Dagon asked.
“Shields remain at one hundred percent,” Rahmik answered.
Dagon stared through the crystal window. “Whoever it is could be cloaked.”
Galen shook his head. “Infrared isn’t picking up the presence of ships, and I’m not reading any energy signatures.”
Janek turned to Dagon. “There’s nothing on comms either.”
“Then what the srul happened?”
“Here.” Rahmik pointed to the hologram hovering in front of him. “An explosion damaged Forward Thruster 2. Engineering is battling a fire.”
“Open comms,” Dagon ordered. “Engineering, report.”
Clangs and shouts carried over the speaker as Chief Engineer Cobus spoke. “Forward Thruster 2 has been damaged in an explosion. I don’t know yet how badly.”
“Any casualties?”
“A few. None life-threatening. I’ve summoned medics, and we’re putting out the fire now.”
A distant expletive carried over the speaker.
Dagon’s scowl deepened. “Cobus?”
“One moment, sir.” A second voice murmured words he couldn’t catch. Then Cobus spoke again, his words grim. “Switching to a private channel.”
The speaker went silent.
A beep sounded in Dagon’s ear. He tapped his earpiece.
“Commander Dagon?” Cobus asked.
“Yes.”
“We found what’s left of a device that we believe triggered the explosion. It was sabotage.”
Eliana’s eyes widened. “What?”
Dagon shot her a quick look. Had she heard Cobus? “What can you tell me about it?” he asked the engineer.
A long pause ensued. “There isn’t much left of it but… the design is one I’ve not seen before.”
The ship jolted again.
Eliana staggered, but maintained her balance.
Dagon swore. “Cobus?”
“We’re okay. That wasn’t here.”
Rahmik spat an epithet. “Forward Thruster 3 is down. Another explosion took it.”
Dagon’s lips tightened.
Eliana stared up at him. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“I don’t either,” he growled. They had retrieved an empty escape pod, and hours later the Ranasura’s thrusters started exploding? “Someone must have come aboard with the pod.”
Janek shook his head. “Our scans detected no life forms.”
Eliana looked back and forth between them. “Has anyone ever fooled your scans?”
“Not in years,” Janek answered. “And even the escape pod’s system recorded no life forms aboard.”
Dagon ground his teeth. “Then whoever it is has found a way to elude the scans. We need to find him before he blows up something else.”
Eliana’s mind raced. Dagon paced back and forth as he used private channels to quietly order his soldiers to conduct a search of the ship, starting with the hangar bay in which the escape pod rested.
How had someone managed to sneak aboard? How had she and the others missed it? The fighter pilots had spotted no other craft while they were out there in space with it. She, Dagon, and the others had stood just outside the hangar and watched the acquisition beam bring the pod in, and no suspicious characters had clung to its exterior. She had even walked around inside the pod and had seen nothing. No one. The only things she had noticed were the clothing and—
“I smelled something,” she blurted suddenly.