Destin's Hold (The Alliance #5)(31)
10
Over the next several months, Destin and Sula’s life fell into a daily routine that he found he enjoyed. Since the first day aboard the Star Raider, there had been an unspoken agreement between them: when they weren’t attending to the duties they both had been assigned aboard the spaceship, they spent their time together. Fortunately, Sula was able to modify her work schedule around his so they could be together more often than not.
Destin enjoyed the challenges of learning new things. Life aboard an alien spaceship gave him an appreciation for the complexities of running a self-sustaining habitat. On the trip to Rathon, he had still been recovering from his injuries and had spent most of his time either in his cabin working on issues from back home or in the training room working out.
This time, he had been assigned a job which had given him a better understanding of what life on a spaceship was really like since he went to every section of it as part of his daily duties. He understood the difficulty of running a close-knit community from his own challenges back on Earth, but this was a true Ecosphere. Each person was responsible for a specific task and held accountable because it meant the survival of everyone.
His assignment was minor, helping with maintaining the waste disposal units. He had been pleasantly surprised when he discovered Sula in the Communications center. One of her specialties was frequencies and space noise, much like a radar technician on a submarine. She was responsible for monitoring the different frequencies to make sure there were no celestial threats.
“I swear I have never seen a male grin as much as you do,” Trig complained, rolling his head on his shoulders. “I will be glad when we arrive on your world tomorrow. I am about sick of being on here. This is why I’ve always steered away from this division.”
“And that makes four hundred eighty-one times you’ve said that,” Destin remarked dryly, dumping the last of the trash into the incinerator before replacing the container.
Trig grinned. “I’m still under the five hundred mark you bet me,” he retorted, leaning back against the wall, his smile fading. “Things are going to be different when we get back on Earth, you know.”
“How so? I’m not going to have you up my ass all the time?” Destin asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Actually, I’ll be so far up it that you won’t be able to take a shit without me knowing about it,” Trig replied lightly.
Destin released a sigh and shook his head. “Where did you learn that phrase?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Your current flame has been sharing some of her cultural verbiage with me – plus, I hang with Jordan pretty regularly just to piss off my brother,” Trig stated. “That means to irritate him, by the way.”
“I know what being pissed off means,” Destin replied dryly. “I swear if you start talking like a surfer, they’ll never miss the fact you didn’t make it down to the planet – and what did you mean my current flame? Have you been bothering Sula again?”
Trig shook his head. “She has assured me that I am not bothering her,” he replied, straightening. “I meant what I said; things will be more difficult once we are down on the planet.”
Destin frowned. “Everything has been quiet. I thought you said that there had been no other reports on the Waxian or Drethulans,” he commented, walking past Trig and pressing the controls to ignite the disposal unit.
“They found the male who attacked Razor’s dwellings,” Trig stated.
Destin frowned. “When did that happen? Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, pausing to stare at the other man.
Trig pressed his lips together and shrugged. “A couple of weeks ago. There was nothing to tell. The male was very resistant to talking. Of course, he was already dead, so that was a contributing factor. Unless you know how to survive in the forests of our world, you won’t last long,” he said with a wry grimace.
Destin shot Trig a disgusted glare before turning away. “Considering I was almost killed in the attack, I think I should have been told,” he replied with a sarcastic bite to his voice. “What about the ship, or are you not allowed to share that with me either?”
Trig grunted and leaned against the console. “Razor said I might as well tell you, otherwise Kali would. I think he has given up trying to keep Jordan from hacking into the system and has finally hired her to keep everyone else out, but of course she relays information to whoever she wants to, which usually includes Jesse, Taylor, and Kali,” he said.
“That’s great, and…,” Destin snapped, throwing his hand up in the air with a twist to show he wanted Trig to get to the point.
“They were able to retrieve information from the transport that was on the beach,” Trig said. “It came from Dises V and there were communication logs linked between the transport and a Waxian named Prymorus Achler. From the little that Ajaska was able to relay to us, the bastard has a personal vendetta against Trivators, especially Razor and Hunter. Razor is trying to find out more, but we do know that the Waxian is the one who was behind Taylor’s kidnapping.”
Destin paused in what he was doing to study Trig. The familiar, blank mask had settled over the Trivator’s face. The nagging feeling that something bigger was going on continued to eat at Destin to the point that he had already decided to part ways with the man once they were back on Earth. He didn’t need cryptic messages or uncertainty undermining his own men.