Free Enemy Within by Marcella Burnard

few days, I gather. Consider this a reminder that there are sights and experiences out here that are worth dying for.”
    The impatience crumbled for a moment, exposing the exhaustion and something much grimmer riding his tight features. He looked like a man who wished he’d died. Ari blinked and clenched her teeth. It had only taken a few days of Chekydran captivity for her to know the feeling. She couldn’t do a thing for him there, but the exhaustion . . . “Mr. Turrel, when was the last time you slept?”
    “Wh . . . I . . .” he fumbled, startled into meeting her eye. He looked so nonplussed she had to struggle not to smile.
    “You’re off duty,” she said. “All of you.”
    Seaghdh chuckled but didn’t sound the least amused. “Nice try. Turrel, six hours. V’k, twelve. Sindrivik, eight hours.”
    “Aye,” three voices replied.
    “We take turns manning the galley,” Ari said. “You’ll have to fix and clean up your own. Watch supplies. The ship’s not stocked for a crew of nine. The commissary unit here in the cockpit only dispenses soup, water, and tea.”
    “Acknowledged,” Seaghdh said before glancing at his crew. “We’re off when you report for duty, Turrel.”
    “There are six cabins,” she said. “Shift Jayleia in with Raj. They’re cousins. They won’t like it, but they can share. Then, if one of you takes my cabin . . .”
    “Belay that,” Seaghdh commanded, his tone sharp. “Don’t even open that door.”
    Turrel scoffed. “After seeing her lockouts? Hell, no, I ain’t going in that room.”
    V’kyrri and Sindrivik laughed. They tromped off the bridge as Ari watched with growing trepidation. She did not want to be left alone with Cullin Seaghdh. Or did she? Maybe now she could get some questions answered.
    She glanced at him.
    He’d studied her, speculation in his eye. “The reminder,” he said, pointing at the infant stars on the view screen. “For us? Or for you?”
    Ari found she had no answer. How did he manage to see so much she tried so hard to keep hidden? Nonplussed, she swiveled back to her station, scanned her panels, and then let her hands drop to her lap. She didn’t even know where he was taking her.
    “Destination?”
    “Plotted and laid in,” Seaghdh said, rising.
    She looked at the coordinates as he accessed the tiny commissary unit. The savory smell of vegetable soup made her mouth water, but she shook her head.
    “I strongly recommend a more scenic route, one that at least looks like it’s headed for TFC space,” she said.
    He returned, two cups in hand. Settling into the nav chair, he put one in the holder beside his panel, then leaned across her to fit the other cup next to her.
    Ari held her breath at the shock that went through her at the proximity. He hadn’t even touched her. She felt his gaze prying into her head as he straightened and glanced at the course he’d given her.
    “You think the Chekydran cruiser’s still out there?”
    “I guarantee it. I have some acquaintance with that particular captain,” Ari replied, ironing her voice flat.
    He picked up his cup, sipped, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the newborn stars in their gas-cloud crèche for several seconds. “Tell me about this acquaintance.”
    Her heart trembled in her chest and her hands knotted in her lap. She had to remind herself to breathe. “It’s none of your business. The only thing I’m willing to say is this: don’t provoke him. I said I wouldn’t turn you over to them. I mean it. We do the expected. That means pointing the nose toward Tagreth Federated. They’ll follow us to the border, but they won’t cross in and face the Armada. Once we’re out of their sensor range, we can route to Silver City.”
    The impression rose in her that he was watching her too closely as he put his cup back in the holder, gauging everything about her, measuring, assessing. She felt like one of her own specimens. Time to turn those tables, to start thinking. The