Free The Lost Star Episode One by Odette C. Bell

pretty
reasonable."
    Hunter opened his mouth. He had no idea what to say to
that.
    He didn't get the chance anyway.
    His wrist device beeped. Surprised, he
shook his head. "These are working now?"
    "Sure. B'cal got them up with limited use
for senior staff a couple of hours ago," Chen said offhand as he
walked away. "If that's the captain – and I bet it is – inform him
I will be preparing a report on this incident." With that, he waved
and ducked out of sight.
    Hunter took a steeling breath and tapped his wrist device.
"Lieutenant McClane here."
    "Hunter. Get to my office. Now. I want you
to tell me why the hell one of my lifts is a smoking pile at the
bottom of the ship."
    Hunter let out a slow breath. "On my way."
    He twisted hard on his foot. Rather than use
a lift to get to the bridge, he settled for sprinting through the
corridors.
    It took him a full fifteen minutes, but
finally he reached Harvey's office.
    "You chose to walk?" Harvey snapped as
soon as Hunter entered, the doors swishing closed with a
hiss.
    "Can you blame me? I think I'll give the
lifts a miss for now."
    "Fair enough. Now sit down and tell me what
the hell happened."
    Though Harvey looked as though he was trying
to control his expression, he was failing. Badly. Stress lines
marked his brow, his mouth drawn into such a thin frown it looked
like it had been drawn on by a ruler.
    Hunter told him the full story from beginning to end, leaving out
nothing.
    Harvey sat there silently as he either
tried to take it in or decide how much to believe. Then he let out
a sharp sigh and collapsed his hand over his eyes briefly before
letting it drop to his desk. "So you're telling me I almost lost
two crewmembers without even leaving space dock."
    "Almost. We're still alive, Harv. Nothing
happened."
    "Nothing? By the sounds of it, Ensign Ava
almost bled out in an access tunnel. How'd she get to the med bay,
by the way? You left that part out."
    Hunter stiffened.
    He had no idea what to say next.
    He'd known Shera for years. She was a close
friend of Meva and nearly all the other Avixans he'd ever met.
    Apart from Ava, obviously.
    But worse – Shera was very much
romantically involved with Harvey. Harvey had never told Hunter
this, but Hunter wasn't an idiot.
    "What aren't you telling me?" Harvey
pushed.
    Hunter winced.
    "Just spit it out."
    "You want to know how Ava got to the med
bay... she walked."
    "Sorry? I don't understand."
    Hunter couldn't control his expression. He knew it was a confused
mixture of guilt and confusion. "She walked herself to the med
bay."
    "W-h-y?" Harvey asked, e nunciating every syllable, his expression
becoming dark. "If she was as injured as you claim...." Harvey
quickly typed something on his personal computer panel. His
expression stiffened even further as he read something. Finally he
jerked his gaze up. "And the medical reports confirm," he continued
in a truly dark tone, “Then what the hell was she doing walking
herself to the med bay?"
    "... Shera pretty much ordered her
to."
    In a single second, Harvey was derailed.
His expression went from barely-restrained anger to shock. "What
are you talking about?"
    "I wanted to go with Ava to the med bay, but
Shera insisted I show her where the lift crashed. She said she knew
more about Avixan biology, said Ava would be fine on her own."
    Harvey didn't move a muscle.
    Neither did Hunter.
    "I see," Harvey managed eventually.
    Really? Because Hunter didn't.
    The more he thought about this, the more he
didn't understand.
    He pressed forward in his seat before he
knew what he was doing. "I think Shera has a problem with the
ensign." Maybe he should have chosen his words better – phrased
things differently. But he had to say something.
    Harvey visibly stiffened. "Why do you say
that?"
    "It's plain as day. You should see the way
they look at each other."
    "So Ensign Ava has a problem with the
lieutenant commander," Harvey concluded, stressing Shera's proper
rank.
    "I didn't say that."
    "You