Page 17 of Command

That was good. It meant Alina was free to mutter to herself as much as she wanted as her mistake replayed in her head like a vid on loop. “God, how whiny can you get?” she groaned under her breath as she picked up the styrofoam box from the auto-dispenser in the canteen. “What an idiot.”

She slammed the box onto the counter as she scrolled through condiment options. Kaia only liked one thing with her meals: salt, and lots of it. Not many things came salted these days. They were rationing and salt was for rich people.Colossalwas rich, just not “unlimited supply of salt for the masses” rich. But Kaia was the commander’s wife, and her salt rations were as good as unlimited.

Alina chimed her bracelet against the dispenser. She had to fall back to hardware when Threxin disabled all the NS comms. But unlike the happy chime she’d almost started getting used to, this time her salt order was met with a resounding orange protest.

“Commander’s proxy authentication invalid.”

Huh?

Alina sighed and tried again, rubbing the bridge of hernose between thumb and forefinger. She hadn’t had her caffeine shot yet. She was probably missing something.

When orange denial flickered again, Alina flailed her wrist against the scanner with an exasperated groan. “Comeon.”

“You are not the commander’s proxy.”

She spun toward the guttural voice behind her. She was faced with a wall of uhyre mere inches away, her back crashing into the dispenser as she jumped back with a strangled cry.

For the first moments all her brain could do was screamalien. Sure, she’d had to navigate the halls with these monsters for the past week, but she always sat and steeled herself for twenty fucking minutes before going out there. Now she was up to two unexpected encounters up close in one day.

Alina’s rabid pulse sent a steady stream of escalating panic to her head. Her limbs were heavy lead, numb at her sides. She was trapped—her limbs, her lungs. All of her. Air wouldn’t come no matter how hard she reached for it, and she wasreaching—she heard her own labored attempts to suck oxygen through the blood pounding in her ears. If she screamed, would anyone hear her? She hadn’t seen a canteen attendant anywhere. They were probably all down at the CRD. Or dead. Or… fuck.

Calm the fuck down.

“Threxin. I mean, C… Commander,” she stammered as the alien’s tilt of the head sparked recognition. She recalled those slashes beneath both cheekbones, with their crisp edges and their cyan inner fire that melded with the glow of sharp predator eyes. The several rows of spikes protruding from his skull werealmostfamiliar.

His eyes narrowed, skin slits widening slightly in contrast. His analyzing gaze moved from her eyes to the sweat beading on her forehead, then the rest of her face. It paused at herneck, the scrutiny kicking up her already frenzied pulse. What was he looking at?

“You are not the commander’s proxy,” he repeated, regarding her with the superiority one might afford an Old Earth insect beneath one’s shoe.

“I…” Shit, he was right. The privileges and rations she’d been using for Kaia were intended for the commander and immediate family. And Kaia was not that anymore. Not for now at least. “It worked yesterday…”

“I corrected.”

He instructed the ship to stop giving Kaia and Orion special treatment, he means.

“Oh. Of course…” Alina’s throat made a dry clicking sound as she swallowed. He was still too close, and the canteen too empty, but at least her head was catching up with the situation and she was finding a way to string words together.

She took three deep breaths, like Dr. Pertin had taught her. Well, he taught her to take ten, but she didn’t have time for that with an uhyre staring at her throat.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re right. I’ll just get this breakfast ration over to Kaia.”

“She never accepts your offerings,” he said.

Alina wished he’d just drop it and move. “She’s… distracted. But she needs to eat.”

Which led Alina to her next question, one she’d wondered about. She really shouldn’t even be asking now and instead ending this conversation as fast as humanly possible. But she had already made plenty of stupid decisions today. What was another one? “Do you eat? I never… I never see you eat.”

The alien grunted. “I am here, am I not? Your food is…” He searched for words, eyes rolling up to the ceiling. “Disgusting.”

Well then.

The food onColossalwas pretty damn good actually, thankyou very much. But maybe breakfast bagels and wraps weren’t much to an uhyre’s tastes.

“You know,” Alina chanced. “The canteen has some really boring, standard stuff. There are cafes and other places to eat. If you wanted to try some real food, I mean. If they’re… still open. But whatever, I don’t know… If you… I…”

The blank stare he gave her as she spoke derailed her train of thought completely, and Alina realized how stupid she was beingagain. What was wrong with her? Suggesting food for the uhyre who just took over their ship, killed a bunch of people, and threatened to kill the rest, was not part of her itinerary. She wasn’t meant to be feeding the occupier.

Threxin was already dismissing her with a flick of his talons and a head tilt. “Go away.”

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