Шарон Ли - Agent of Change

He suddenly recalled the training she had not had. "Many people. At least on the third planet. See that silvery shimmer over the land mass that looks like a wine bottle?"

She squinted. "Yeah . . . . What is it?"

"Smog." He smiled and took her hands in his. "Miri, listen: Where there is smog, there's technology. Where there's technology, there exists the means to build a transmitter. Where there's a signal, sooner or later, is a rescue." He lifted an eyebrow, winning a glimmer of her smile.

"You don't think Edger will let us stay missing, do you?" he asked. "He's bound to be along, in a decade or two . . . ."

Epilogue

THE ADJUTANT SAT with the Engineer and the Commander, apart from the crew.

"Report," Khaliiz ordered.

The Engineer reported that things were not well. The Adjutant reported that a number of men were dead, more injured: the ship would be hard put to resist a determined boarding party. The Engineer, quaking, reported that it might not be possible to have full power drive for home.

Khaliiz thought.

"It is apparent," he said. "that the vessel we approached had been badly damaged in the previous battle. It exploded, giving up what energy was left in its drive cells."

He pointed at the Engineer. "You will make the reports read so, as you value the air you breathe!

"Who swore the ship empty, Adjutant?"

"Sir, it was my Second, Thrik."

"You will shoot him, personally. You will then record your demotion to Assistant Cook. This will be your lifegrade. You failed in your choice of assistants."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," the Assistant Cook said.

"Get out!"

Khaliiz played idly with the cover of the destruct switch, though he had made his decision when he ordered the man shot. If he had meant to destroy the ship, he would have ordered the Second Adjutant to push the button. But he played with the cover, anyway, wondering if he'd been tricked—wondering if the little Liaden had blown himself up on purpose. Or if it had been an accident.

A distant boom claimed his attention, the echo ringing as an explosive gunblast will inside a ship.

It had been an accident, the Commander decided. For centuries, Liadens had lacked the courage to emulate the Yxtrang—lacked the honor to be truly worthy opponents. That could not change.

An accident.

THE END