Free Close Encounter by Deanna Lee Page B

Irish.”
    Eliza grinned. “I’m completely charmed by her.”
    “Are you going to take the job with Teko Solutions?”
    “Well, I guess that depends on you,” Eliza said quietly. “I mean, your grandmother was serious about how difficult it will be to get a divorce.”
    “I think Admiral McAlister was right.” Sean opened up a packet of eggs and poured the mixture into the skillet in front of him. “I think if you don’t have anyone connected to you legally that you’ll be railroaded once you get to Earth. They’ll either get you to parrot their agenda or they’ll blame you. Or worse, you could tragically die in transit back to Earth. The fact is that I don’t think you’re safe in the hands of anyone from Space Command at this point.”
    “What would you have me do then?” Eliza asked, exasperated.
    “Before or after we fuck?” Sean quirked one dark eyebrow at her.
    “Both, whatever.”
    “Transmit your mission report and the data proving your story to everyone in this fucking solar system, resign your commission, take the job Samuel Tek offered you, and we can spend the next year getting to know each other. Let Tek fight it out over you with Space Command. He’ll go to the wall and dick-punch half a dozen of those bastards without even breaking a sweat. I’ll sign up for another rotation on this station—we’ll work together, make love as often as possible, and see if we can make a life together. It’ll give everyone time to get used to you being around, and it’ll keep you isolated from the press until you’re in a better place emotionally.”
    “And after the year?”
    “We can go back to Earth and make babies.”
    “Oh.” She flushed. “Well.”
    “I’m just trying to say that I’m all in .” Sean dropped a plate in front of her. “Even if you can’t cook.”

 

     
     
Cobblestone Press, LLC

     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    Sean set aside the data-pad Eliza had given him and cleared his throat. She’d prepared a report, resigned her commission with Space Command, and signed a contract with Teko Solutions. Arti already had a copy of the information for a data-burst and was preparing the encrypted files.
    “It’s pretty damaging. There are people who will lose their jobs once it gets out that declassified files on your mission were incomplete. The mere fact that you and some of your crew had functional, life-saving nano-tech in place is going to be political suicide for people like your friend McAlister. He knew about it, and he didn’t bring it up during the declassification process. And he likely noticed the crew count was wrong.”
    “The two fictional crew members… If their names had been listed, it might have eventually come out what had happened.” Eliza shook her head. “No verifiable school records or service files. And the thirty-four people in Space Command who helped us prep for the mission saw those two men every day leading up to the mission. Every day for six months. Most of them are still alive, but only three are still in uniform.”
    “McAlister, Cramer, and…”
    “Admiral Maya Lively.”
    “She was my last CO,” Sean said quietly. “She’s headed up research and development for the USC for nearly fifty years. She’s also a closet naturalist.”
    “Naturalist?”
    “Their motto is Let Nature Take Its Course ,” Sean said dryly. “She’s the main reason I left Space Command. She kept rejecting my research proposals, and finally I just had enough of it. Even now she holds new technology up in testing for years to prevent them from being distributed. I’d say she was one of the driving forces in the suppression of nano-tech.”
    “She’s a hundred and fifty years old,” Eliza groused. “She’s obviously had bio-mods.”
    “She has no choice,” Sean reminded. “Not as long as she stays in uniform, but she does her part to keep new protocols and bio-mods out of the armed forces. She hated me.”
    “Because your family is