Under His Command by Annabel Wolfe Read Free Book Online

away in slumber was that
    she was surprisingly looking forward to the next twenty-nine days.
    * * * *
    The bridge was quiet compared to the turmoil of the morning and
    the catastrophe on Epsilon. Jake Naiad sat in his chair, observing the
    screens, but only with mild interest. Captain Ammati, one of the
    navigators, watched a nearby meteor shower with vigilance, her hands

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    Annabel Wolfe
    hovering over the keys. Her sculpted profile was limed by the
    artificial light, her pale hair caught in regulation style at her nape.
    “So, tell me, Captain,” Jake said conversationally, “how do you
    feel, as a female, over Lieutenant Valmont’s punishment for this
    morning’s heroics?”
    “Sir?” Ammati lifted her head and almost turned it so she could
    look at him. Almost.
    “You. Feel?” he repeated dryly. “I’m curious over your opinion.”
    “You don’t want to hear it, sir.”
    “I don’t?” He stifled a laugh over the combativeness in her tone.
    “Well, let’s keep in mind I did ask. Go ahead, please.”
    The captain turned and looked at him. She wasn’t a raving beauty
    but somehow still strikingly attractive—a little too tall for his tastes,
    almost his height—and she had lovely eyes. Long-lashed, sapphire
    blue, and extremely direct. “Would you leave your sister to die on a
    disintegrating planet, sir?”
    “I don’t have a sister.”
    “I thought you wanted my opinion, not to spar with words.”
    She had a point. Her professionalism was undisputed. He inclined
    his head. “Sorry. Not very sportsmanlike. All right. No. I doubt I
    could leave anyone in my family behind if there was something I
    could do about it.”
    “The sexual service option for insubordination punishment
    demeans females.” Ammati glanced at the screen and automatically
    moved to make an adjustment.
    “Would you have taken a reduced rank or demotion to a nonflying craft?” He was genuinely curious. Of the female officers,
    Ammati took her job more seriously than most. Like Peyton Valmont.
    “No, sir.”
    “But you just said—”
    “I’m career military, Colonel. I’d do what Valmont did so I could
    get back on the job. I just wouldn’t like it.”

    Under His Command
    39
    Jake elevated his brows. “That would depend on the males
    involved, wouldn’t it?”
    “Perhaps.” There was challenge in her declaration. “Most males
    bore me.” She added, as if an afterthought. “Sir.”
    He’d wondered. At a guess most of the men had wondered about
    Ammati. Too bad. He wouldn’t mind a stab at changing her mind…
    The door lifted in a low hiss. One of the senior officers came in,
    an apologetic look on his face. “I’m sorry for the interruption, sir, but
    she insisted and I received a request from Minoa—”
    “Where’s Gallico?”
    The furious interruption made him swivel in his chair. Jake saw a
    young woman storm through the doorway past Major Grand, her face
    flushed, and behind her a young male S-species who looked familiar.
    Lounging back, irritated at the intrusion in an authorized area,
    Jake said in clipped tones, “This is for command personnel only. Care
    to tell me what’s going on?”
    The young male shifted uneasily. “I’m sorry. My father helped us,
    sir. She insists on seeing her sister and I—”
    The governor’s son, of course. Jake recognized the resemblance to
    the former head of the now defunct and uninhabitable Epsilon. He cut
    off the young man. “So you pressured Minoa for a pass onto the
    bridge of this ship because of who your father is? I’m afraid even if
    you can open the door, I can still toss you out. I realize her sister
    pulled you off a disintegrating planet, Mr. Janssen, but you still can’t
    violate federation rules. There’s a briefing planned in the morning.”
    Tara Valmont narrowed her eyes. She wore what must be
    borrowed regulation off-duty military pants and a shirt of the same
    drab color. Her loose hair was the identical rich color as her