But I was just as Sponder had said. Less than. Not worthy.
Somehow I had to push past my self-doubt. No one could deny I was good at hacking. On Earth and here as part of Velerion’s team. I didn’t trust people, but I trusted data. Could find it. Understand the ebbs and flows, find patterns.
And something about this data was… off. Wrong. The feeling was pure instinct, and I didn’t try to deny it. Something about this entire situation was strange. Too personal. And data was not personal. Data was the absolute. Impartial. It didn’t lie.
I couldn’t trust Kass, and I’d thought him worthy of it. I’d never trusted Sponder.
I had no one else. No one had my back here. Sure, Jamie did, but she was based on Arturri. It wasn’t the same. I was on my own. So I let my fingers fly. I read. I cross-referenced. I correlated all the information, saved documents. News reports. I focused first on Sponder, then Commissioner Gaius. Discovered the programmer who had created the Starfighter Training Academy.
That was one genius I’d like to meet.
Sponder. That bastard had his fingerprints all over the place. And not just on Eos Station. His record went back more than a decade, and it was all a little too neat and tidy. Except for his issues with Kass, it seemed he had a squeaky clean, perfect record.
An asshole like that? Yeah, right. He had friends in high places, that’s what Captain Sponder, nephew of Commissioner Gaius, had going for him. Nepotism at its finest and the chip on his shoulder to go with it.
“Starfighter Becker.”
I blinked, so entrenched in the data I thought I heard my name.
“Starfighter Becker.”
I had. “Yes,” I called, realizing I was being paged through the comms system.
“Report to duty on the flight deck.”
Report for duty? Now? I looked to the time, discovered hours had passed. I’d learned a lot about Sponder. Things he didn’t want anyone to know. He was a dick, but even though that was fact, everyone knew it. There was more. I was close to something big on him. I was exhilarated, amped on adrenaline. It was there, hovering in the data. Something was off about him.
“I just need more time,” I murmured.
“Negative,” the voice replied even though I hadn’t been speaking to her. “The mission begins in thirty minutes. You must be in your starfighter in fifteen. General Jennix wants you to meet your new pilot.”
I glanced at the comm unit, even though it was only a voice transmission, not video. My new partner. I swallowed hard. I’d forgotten, lost in data. “Yes. I’ll be there.”
I stood, stared down at the pseudo-laptop. It was in my nature to keep going. To keep digging until I had the answers. But the mission was more important. Kass had cheated. The data was there that proved it. He wouldn’t be flying with me. I also didn’t have the evidence—yet—that Sponder was more of a tool than Kass had said.
I’d get the data. I’d get Sponder. And then I’d get Kass. Because I was pissed. He’d messed with the wrong woman. I just had to help save a planet first.
Kass, Cell T-492
Gaius and Sponderaccompanied me to the brig. They’d brought four guards to deal with me. I was flattered.
When I looked at Sponder and his bleeding nose, I was pleased. The fucker.
I didn’t say anything. Talking now wasn’t the time. I’d humiliated Sponder enough. Doing anything now in front of Gaius would be foolish. I had no idea how Sponder had pulled a commissioner in to help with his cause to see me demoted to a trawler hauler.
And why? I hated the guy, but once I’d gotten reassigned to Starfighter MCS, I hadn’t wanted to think of him again. Yet he kept coming back. He’d shown up here on the Resolution not once, but twice to deal with me personally.
Jennix had to know something was up.
But the mission was huge. Any petty fuckery Sponder had against me was nothing compared to the constant threat of IPBMs blowing up Velerion or any of our outposts. Jennix was focused on that. Not me.
I wasn’t worried about myself. I was worried about Mia. She’d accepted her role as Starfighter MCS, and she’d accepted me as her pair bond. Now, because of Sponder’s shit, she was going on a mission without me.
It was my fault. My guts that were hated. My choices that would now affect her.
She could die. Who was her partner for this mission? Was he or she qualified? As skilled as I was? Would they click and be able to work together as well as Mia and me?
Of course not.