Free Dremiks by Cassandra Davis Page B

order about limited communications, I find the timing questionable. Surely the admiral would have informed me of this prior to our departure.”
    The admiral had informed Ryan Hill, but he chose to keep that information to himself. “I don’t think it will be an issue. Young Ensign Robertson is in charge of communications. I’m sure we can escape the notice of a green boy.”
    Trell’s second chin wobbled when he shook his head. “Don’t underestimate Robertson. His father has an ear for our cause. I would not make an enemy of him.”
    “I know who our friends are, Chancellor. I remind you that the military is my problem. You still trust me to handle this, of course?”
    Trell rushed to assure his deputy of his continued support. When Ryan answered a page from his wife and asked to be excused, Trell was in a more amicable state of mind. “Of course. We must keep the good lady happy, mustn’t we?”
    The younger Hill brother shot the chancellor an assessing look. His features returned to neutrality when he discerned no hidden meaning in the portly man’s words. “Yes. The trials of marriage...” He forced a laugh and departed. The door had barely shut behind him before a scowl marred his features.
    In his quarters, Ryan found his wife in a state of hysterics.
    “Calm down, Marissa. It’s just a small change in our schedule.”
    “Small?” Her shrieks echoed in the tight confines of their room. “It’s too damn soon! They will discover this too early and then what will we do? It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. You said...”
    Ryan Hill walked over to his wife and slapped her across the face. She reeled backwards from the blow. In shock, she sat on the edge of the bed, holding her cheek. “Control yourself. You knew the timing could be affected this way. You will watch your tongue and keep yourself together, is that understood? Any more outburst like this and you risk giving away everything.”
    “How dare you hit me?” She hissed the question at him while pushing back her long black hair.
    “I dare Marissa. I dare quite a lot, and I dare for you. Never forget it again. I have work to do before the jump. I suggest you lie down and get some rest. You will need it.” He left her sitting there. He could feel her glare on his back; he didn’t care.
    ***
    Outside the bulkheads and corridors of the ship, Neptune slipped past. The Hudson slowed, as if taking a deep breath before plunging into the blackness beyond.

Chapter 5
    At two hours until jump, as announced on the ship-wide broadcast system, O’Connell relieved the captain as officer of the deck. Lieutenant Price strapped himself into the co-pilot’s seat but did not remove helm control from computer guidance. Once buckled in his seat, Tony began running through the co-pilot’s one hundred-fifty point pre-jump checklist. Most of the items on his list were redundancies shared with O’Connell’s pilot’s list. When it came to conduit jumps, the ISA felt double checked was double sure.
    O’Connell didn’t immediately settle into her own seat. She’d be strapped into the pilot’s chair for the better part of four hours and was in no hurry to start that stretch any sooner than necessary. Jumps were, to her, an exercise in hyperactive boredom. Everyone on the ship scuttled about frantically checking systems before strapping into seats and… waiting. Once the navigational computers told the engines to begin their phased jump sequence there was nothing for the pilots or anyone else to do. They sat and stared at computer screens and hoped everything worked as intended. Price and O’Connell would both have their hands on the controls in case something did go wrong, but any actual piloting of the Hudson during the jump was done completely by the computer systems.
    Around the crowded bridge, military personnel moved to their stations with swift steps and intent expressions. If anyone shared the commander’s cynical view of the pre-jump routine, he