gaian consortium 03 - the gaia gambit by Christine Pope Read Free Book Online

to have the populace tempted by too much drink. Just enough to give the semblance of someplace to rest and unwind, although the alcohol served on Ganymede was carefully lowered in potency so it couldn’t cause too much trouble. She still remembered the first time she’d had a glass of undiluted wine at the university on Eridani — she’d barely been able to walk afterward.
    Her parents had a spacious end unit that occupied two levels. As Lira approached the entrance, her steps gradually slowed. Something in her very much wanted to turn and run, to take her meager savings and go someplace where no one had ever heard of Lira Jannholm, disgraced starship captain. But she wouldn’t be that kind of coward. No, she’d face whatever might come next with her head held high. Perhaps she had made a dreadful mistake in going to Rast sen Drenthan, but it had been a mistake born of a desire to ensure the safety of Chlorae II, not for any personal gain. Her intentions had been good.
    And we all know what’s paved with those good intentions , she thought, then shook her head.
    Better to get this over with. She paused at the door, set down one suitcase, then reached out with her free hand to push the buzzer.
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    He should have been completely satisfied. His new ship, the Tarlentha , was newly commissioned, sleek and elegant and with captain’s quarters that would have pleased a man with far more extravagant tastes than he. The promotion brought with it an extra measure of respect; it was clear the admiral favored Captain sen Drenthan, and his new crew were far more obsequious than his former shipmates, who had tended to be a rowdy bunch. This group ran a tight ship, but Rast had the feeling he would miss the easier companionship on board the Brensa before too much time passed.
    And yet…
    Something about the situation didn’t feel right, didn’t smell right. He’d pondered the situation, in those few rare moments when his time was not occupied by some demand, some new situation to learn from and absorb. For one thing, the political currents he encountered here on Syrinara were far different from those he had dealt with while patrolling the farther reaches of the Stacian Federation. Some days, he thought he was expending more energy on keeping track of whom to curry favor with and who could be safely ignored than on actually running his ship.
    Even so, he had stolen minutes here and there when he could be alone in his quarters, when he could sit and think about how he had gotten here, and the woman who’d been the casualty of his new success. Learning where she had gone proved to be more difficult than he’d thought; after all, he couldn’t make outright inquiries through regular channels. But a man he’d had dealings with years before when securing a few black market items for his parents’ comfort said he might be able to track her down, given enough time, and Rast had to be content with that for now. At least he knew for a fact that she wasn’t dead.
    Given all that, he should have allowed himself to push the matter aside until he had more concrete information as to Lira’s whereabouts. That proved impossible, however. He kept ticking the timing over in his mind, and something about it didn’t seem to add up. Unless Admiral sen Trannick had those five cruisers poised in exactly the right position, they could never have reached the Chlorae system in enough time to intercept and destroy the incoming colonists before they even had a chance to land on the planet’s surface. No, it was almost as if he had known the Valiant would be withdrawn.
    And how was that possible? He would have had to receive some sort of intelligence from within Admiral Horner’s office that Captain Jannholm was about to be discharged from service. Rast was willing to believe many things, but somehow he couldn’t believe that two such sworn enemies would have colluded to make sure the Gaian colony on Chlorae II was destroyed before it had even