The Kiss: An Anthology About Love and Other Close Encounters(127)
Instead of scheduling the trial immediately he decided to hold off until after their current mission. To recharge the ship's weapons and support systems they would want to spend a few hours near the solar system's star and the downtime then would be perfect to hold the trial.
Despite this resolution he found he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts to dwell on the case. Once back in his cabin he invited his officers to join him for dinner.
In less than ten minutes the Thorian, Trell, Beth, Doug and the ship's doctor, Kaiden, were in his cabin with him. Although the Thorian never said much, Dylan could tell he was annoyed at himself and saying even less than usual in conversation.
As soon as they'd finished eating, where they only talked of inconsequential things, as Dylan made it a rule not to talk about work while eating, Trell launched into something that had obviously been on her mind the whole time.
“Is Auraylia really on trial for unauthorised weapons possession?”
“Yes, the girl's the most foolish excuse for a human I've ever met,” Varl said before Dylan could respond. The Thorian got up, nodded at his captain and left the room.
“Did she attack him, then?” Trell continued, even more interested after this reaction.
“No, she attacked me.” Dylan motioned to the scratch down one side of his face and the line of dried blood that formed the scab.
“But she was so lovely before. I spent hours talking to her and she borrowed several of my books, although I found the last one dropped in the women's toilets.” Trell pouted.
“I don't know what's happened. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it, but I'm equally disappointed in her.”
“Do you think there's more to it, that something we don't know about might have caused the change?” Kaiden asked.
“Perhaps. Varl seemed to think so, but she won't tell me anything. I'm hoping the trial will get her to talk about it.”
Dylan sat back and allowed the conversation to wash over him. Kaiden's question was important and he knew the Thorian must believe something had happened. It wasn't like him to free a prisoner, much less bring her to his cabin, unless there was a reason behind it. For now, however, he needed to let his second in command cool down.
When everyone had eaten, talked, and left, he snatched a few hours of sleep before their arrival on the planet Etam. It felt like no time at all before Trell was waking him to tell him they'd arrived and landed in the main docking area.
Once outside he noticed the horrible conditions. The planet was even drier than he'd expected, and everywhere he looked the ground was cracked and dusty. The few buildings in the area were weather beaten by sandstorms, and even inside the plantation dome the inhabitants had set up, the ground was cracked and the plants withered.
The planet's Unified Federations official came out to meet him before Dylan could even start removing the cargo from his own ship.
“We're very glad to see you, Captain. It's been weeks since we last had supplies and we're very low on water.”
“Well, I have a ship full of cargo and Admiral Dokar assured me a larger cargo ship was coming around on the safer route. They should be here in about three days with even more.”
The official beamed and pumped his hand up and down for the second time. The gratitude and cheerfulness helped Dylan feel like the journey was worth it. Up until this point it had seemed like a chore he could have done without.
Trell oversaw the workers to unload everything and stash it where the planet wanted as the sun beat down on them. Dylan kept in the shade as much as he could and encouraged the rest of his crew to do the same, but they were all soon sweating with the heat.
An hour later the cargo was all off his ship but they were delayed from leaving by confusion on the exact location of all the supplies. It took him another half an hour, with Trell's help, to double check the inventory and reassure the people on the planet they had everything they were sent. Although Trell was competent and experienced, it couldn't have contrasted more with Auraylia's efforts in having the cargo loaded in the first place. She'd somehow kept track of every box, container and barrel, despite carrying little of it herself.
“We've not much to offer, but your crew and yourself are more than welcome to stay and share a meal with us,” the official said as Dylan turned to go.
“Thank you for the invitation, but we cannot stay. The sun is about to set here and our ship is in dire need of recharging. We were attacked three times on the way over. If we don't leave now with the energy we have, we will be stuck here until this time tomorrow.” Dylan allowed the man to shake his hand again and thank him for the fifth time since arriving and said goodbye.
Although it felt good to help people and normally he enjoyed spending time off on a planet, he wanted to put the trial and the mess with Auraylia behind him. He also suspected she wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer, as he'd found out from Thomas that she still wasn't allowing her body to rest.
On the way back to his cabin he ran into the Thorian.
“Can you gather the officers. I want us to perform the trial as soon as we're stationary and recharging.”
“As you wish, Captain.”
“And, Varl, do you know something more about this?” Dylan tried to read the Thorian's face for signs of information but the features remained impassive.