Page 9 of Redstone
“Yes, Warden.
“And yet I see here”—she looked down at her tab, purely for show because Robbie was certain she had already memorized whatever she was looking at— “that you’ve also made a request for spousal accompaniment.”
Uh-oh.Robbie kept his expression impassive, but he didn’t like the way this was going. “Yes, I have.”
“You’re aware that there are practically no extracurricular options for Redstone spouses. In fact, very few employee spouses are given permission to travel to Redstone due to its very poor accommodation of them. Spouses have literally been driven to injure themselves while confined there, and the rate of divorce, coming out of a stint on Redstone, is triple the Alliance average.”
“I’m aware, ma’am.”
“And yet you persist in wanting to bring Wyl with you?” She shook her head. “I expected better of you, Robbie.”
Robbie didn’t expect her disapproval to hit him quite so hard. He already had a mission; working for Grace had always been secondary to that. But she was a good commander and a fair person. Moreover, she was completely charmed by Wyl, just like almost everyone else who met him. “I gave him the option to stay here or go to another planet, ma’am. He refused.”
“Of course, he refused; you’re practically newlyweds.” Robbie shifted in his seat, but she waved his objection away. “Anything under fifty years is practically newlyweds. He adores you; of course, he wants to be with you. But Redstone isn’t conducive to happiness, Robbie. I’m worried about you. Both of you.”
“I appreciate that.” And he did, very much. “But Wyl and I are good. He won’t hesitate to tell me if he wants to leave; you know him well enough for that. In the meantime, he’s bringing plentyof things to occupy himself with while we’re there. It’s only for six months, ma’am. We’ll be all right.”
“I can see you’re determined to do this.” Grace sighed faintly but just loud enough that Robbie could pick it up. “And to keep your reasons to yourself.”
“Ma’am.”
“Very well, then. I’ve approved the transfer as well as a promotion for you. The very least I can do is ensure that you’re choosing your own shifts. You’ll be third in command after the warden and his lieutenant once your probationary period is over.”
Well, that was … a surprise. Hopefully they wouldn’t be there that long, but still. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“I also increased your weight allotment to make sure that Wyl can have his tools. Redstone wreaks havoc on electronics and mechanicals, but if anyone can engineer something to make it work in that place, it’s your husband.”
“That’s very generous.”
Grace shrugged and looked down. “I thought the situation merited a big gesture. I rarely have the chance to make them.”
Robbie considered her, this staunchly plain woman in an age when you could be as beautiful as you wanted, her lovely red hair kept short, her uniform pressed and clean, no jewelry, no mourning marks. He knew she’d been married once, and that her wife had left her several years ago. No children or other close family that he knew of.
Garrett would have to meet her, Robbie decided. He’d adopt her in an instant. “Thank you. You’ve been one of the best commanders of my entire career. It’s been an honor to serve under you.”
Grace smiled a little. “Careful, your marine is showing.” Most of the prison guards were civilians, highly trained but without a military background. It could be a sticking point in interpersonalrelations, each group with chips on their shoulders when it came to capability.
“I mean every word.”
“Well, then.” She stood up and offered Robbie her hand. “The honor is all mine.” They shook firmly. “You have a little under six hours to get everything onto that transport, Robbie. I suggest you go and start motivating your husband.”
“I’ll do that.” He turned and left and resolutely didn’t let himself think about might-have-beens. It wasn’t that Robbie loved being a prison guard, but he liked having purpose, order, a certain structure to his life. Since retiring—again—from the military, he’d lost a lot of that. Being here, if only briefly, had felt like slipping into his old uniform again. It was comfortable and comforting.
He entered his private quarters and heard a loud, “Fuckingdamnit!” from the back room and grinned. Then again, comfort was relative.
“You okay?” he called out as he set aside his weapons, which were sucked from the entryway table into the wall and secured.
“Fine,” Wyl called out irritably. “I just cut my finger on this stupid damn lump of iron. Raw iron, for fuck’s sake. Do you know how hard it is to match these resonant frequencies? Redstone better be exactly as advertised, or my system isn’t going to work, and then I’ll bepissed.”
“Your communications system?” Robbie unfastened his jacket as he headed into the back. There was Wyl, perched on his work stool and wrestling with a chunk of iron the size of his head.
“Yeah. It’s just about done, which is good because I won’t be able to work on it on the transport ship, and we’ll want to deploy shortly after we get to Redstone. Actually, en route would be best, but since it’s not our ship, there’s no way to do that. Which, hey—how are we going to get access to a ship while we’re there?” Wyl swiveled to look at Robbie. “Because I’m not spacewalkingthese over the surface of that place; it’ll probably make my suit malfunction.”
“It looks like I’ll have access to the station’s ships as a result of my new promotion,” Robbie said, leaning against the doorframe as he took in his husband’s state. Messy dark hair, scarred fingers despite regular Regen use because he was always more excited than cautious when it came to his work, plain white shirt, and brown pants covered with oil and grime … Robbie had never loved anyone so intensely in all his life.
It hit him, looking at Wyl, how stupidly lucky he was to have him. Wyl was happy right now, and Robbie wanted to keep him that way forever. Maybe Grace had a point.
“Promotion?” Wyl grinned. “Aw, see how your boss loves you?”
