Son of Justice by Steven L. Hawk Read Free Book Online Page B

his face. He wondered if she’d notice. He didn’t know why she made him feel so self-conscious, but it had nothing to with her recognizing him. No, it wasn’t that. This felt . . . different. He’d never had much opportunity to speak with girls; there weren’t many on Waa. “And really. Thank you for saving my skin. You’re the only reason I’m not a washout.”
    Tenney nodded and stood up. The height of Benson’s bunk meant she didn’t have to duck to be seen.
    “Well, this guy here helped,” she said, pointing her chin up at Eli’s bunkmate. Benson had grown quiet over the past two minutes, which was completely out of character. “I’m going to head back to my platoon now. Good luck with your sergeant tomorrow. I’ll check back to see how it went.”
    “Great,” Eli replied, his voice cracking with the single word. He cleared his throat. “I’m sure it will be fine. As far as I know, I didn’t break any rules.”
    She offered Eli a small wave, nodded a goodbye to Benson, and turned. Eli couldn’t help but watch as she walked down the aisle and out the door. When she was out of view, he turned to find Benson staring at him, a wide grin plastered to his face.
    “What?” he asked the upside-down face that peered back at him.
    “I think she likes you, EJ,” Benson said, retracting his head. The bed shook slightly as he flopped heavily onto the mattress of the top bunk. “And I know you like her.”
    Eli found his mouth moving to contest his friend’s assertions, but he suddenly—surprisingly—found himself incapable of forming a single word.
    * * *
    “Two years,” Grant sighed and absorbed the information. Two more years until the ship is completed. There was nothing to be done to expedite the timeline, so he merely nodded and kept walking. He automatically shortened his pace to accommodate the shorter legs of the three Waa conducting the tour. They were in one of the large, underground facilities where the Waa engineers constructed all alliance ships. This particular facility was larger than most, having been built specifically for this new breed of vessel. Due to the secrecy around its construction, Grant was the only non-Waa to have access to the area and he stared up at the behemoth that had been his brainchild.
    The outer hull and all of the interior walls, walkways, and crew compartments were completed, which gave the initial impression the ship was further along in production. But he knew the delay was always the command and control systems—the components of the mother ship that governed the electrical, fusion, and drive systems. And—in this ship anyway—the weapons systems.
    “How are tests of the ship-born cannons coming along?”
    They have all been successful. The Waa’s “words” were accompanied by a sense of proud accomplishment and visions of the large cannons being fired, both in underground testing facilities and in the orbiting firing range that had been built specifically for the purpose of conducting the test. It was important to test the device using the real-world conditions that came along with space-based use.
    “Very good, Yuh. You and your workers have done an admirable job.” Grant stopped hiding his thoughts just long enough to communicate his feelings of pleasure, pride, and appreciation for what the Waa had accomplished. He was getting better at keeping his thoughts masked and, at Sha’n’s suggestion, was using this tour as a test of his abilities. She was trailing the group at a short distance, with the sole purpose of “listening in” on his thoughts.
    Ten minutes later, the tour concluded, and the general and his advisor were promptly escorted to a carrier vehicle. At a nod from Grant, the pilot lifted off and began the short, thirty-minute trip back to the Shiale Alliance Defense Headquarters compound.
    How did it go? he asked Sha’n.
    It went well. I could not detect your thoughts, nor could the others. She transferred a feeling of