4. Chapter 4
Chapter four
Elenus Desfontaines just stared at Kieron for a moment, his thumb wiping up the thin trail of blood that was meandering down the corner of his mouth as he took Kieron’s measure.
Kieron straightened his back and mentally ran through every relevant passage in the rule book that would allow him to argue for leniency from a review board because there was no way he wasn’t getting fired for this, but he’d be damned if he let this fancy bastard have his way without a fight.
His dark thoughts were scattered into confusion when the Ganian began to laugh, straightening up to his full height and shaking his head ruefully.
“I suppose I should have expected that,” he said, blotting up the last few traces of blood before shrugging.
“At least it shows you’ve got a backbone, which is more than I expected given some of the reports that have been coming from this place. ”
I should never have put Dave in charge of filing status updates. It was all Kieron could do to keep from audibly grinding his teeth.
“Still, consider yourself on thin ice until you convince me otherwise,” Elenus went on. “It’s one thing to tell a guy off; it’s quite another to introduce yourself fist first.”
“Says the man who almost ran his ship into the side of the station,” Kieron muttered.
Elenus clearly heard him—of course, he did, Ganians were renowned for having all the latest physical mods and upgrades.
He could probably hear Kieron’s heartbeat if he used his implant to modulate his ears just right.
“Clearly you’ve got questions,” Elenus said. His smile went sharp, the edge of teeth showing between his lips as much a warning as the exposed blade of a knife. “And I’ve got answers, but first I need to look at your activity log for the past week.”
Kieron frowned. “Why?”
“What did I just say about questions? Come on.” Elenus walked off, finding his way far too easily.
He’s been studying the station, memorizing its architecture. He definitely came prepared. Kieron followed him, his mind in a state of upheaval, every carefully plotted step in his plan for the next five months scattered in the wake of Elenus Desfontaines’ arrival.
It’s all right. You just need to figure out what he wants and get it to him as quickly as possible.
Nobody who looked like this man—so carefully groomed, so immaculately dressed, with his slick, strange ship—wanted to be in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of the galaxy, with only the most basic of amenities for months on end.
Kieron just had to make sure he got whatever he needed and then …
And then what? Big Momma has moved on; we’re in full radiation now.
He can’t leave; it would be suicide. It’s incredible that he made it here alive—and seemingly unharmed—at all.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, Kieron was so fucked. An entire season of searching might be wasted, all because this godsdamn popinjay had decided to fly out here without any warning and ruin—
“—access it. Hello?” Kieron startled as he suddenly clocked a hand being waved too close to his face. Automatically, his arms swept the offending limb down and away, gripping the wrist and then the shoulder tight and levering its owner into a sharp bend at the waist before he remembered himself.
“Sorry,” Kieron said, letting his new boss out of the hold he’d unconsciously put him into.
Elenus straightened up and stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, rolling his wrist out before he finally shrugged again.
“It doesn’t matter. I do expect you to pay attention when I’ve got a question for you, though.
If we can’t communicate except through the vehicle of you manhandling me, we’re going to have a really rough time here together. ”
It’s going to be rough regardless. Kieron cleared his throat and nodded. “Sorry,” he repeated. “What was your question?”
“I’m not registered as a control for the system here yet. Can you sign in and give me access to the control panel?”
“Of course. As soon as you show me some identification.”
Elenus’s small smile dropped off his face. “What?”
“Identification proving you are who you say you are, and that you have the authority to ask this of me.” Kieron knew he was pushing it, but regulations insisted that he go through this part. If he didn’t, he’d give this guy even more grounds to fire him if he really had that kind of authority.
“For the love of—how do you think I was able to read everything about this station?”
“You could have gotten that information from someone who’d been here recently.” Kieron folded his arms across his chest. “I need proof before I can let you have control access to Cloverleaf Station.”
Elenus scowled. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Nope.”
“Fine.” Elenus stalked back out into the hall and toward Bay Five. Kieron exhaled long and slow, then put his hand on the console. “Open communications,” he said, and his incoming mail folder sprang up in front of his eyes thanks to the implant at the top of his spine. “Find Elenus Desfontaines.”
“Two messages,” the AI responded. Kieron opened them one after the other, skimming them with a sinking feeling.
It was all right there—the transfer of authority, the indication of arrival, and a picture that matched the smug, smirking face of the guy he’d just sent back to his ship to get a physical ID. “List pertinent information on Elenus Desfontaines and Lifeship Enterprises.”
The list that popped up was as impressive as it was comprehensive.
Desfontaines was in fact the CEO of a modern shipbuilding company, one that was experimenting with and integrating all sorts of new technologies into its hulls; specifically, alloys that were designed to self-heal from all sorts of damage, including radiation.
Desfontaines himself was not only the CEO, he was the lead engineer; together with his business partner, Deysan Moritz, another Ganian, they had created enough interest and amassed enough capital to buy a place like Cloverleaf Station outright, never mind leasing control of it for a season.
So. Elenus Desfontaines had more money than most planets, was a business leader, had all kinds of political backing in the Central System, and was a tech genius.
Shit. What the hell was this guy doing here?
***
“Identification.” Elenus stalked back into the control room and practically threw a badge at Kieron, who managed to grab it without fumbling. “Verify it, and let’s get the hell on with this.”
Kieron inspected the badge. It was a modern one, with combination DNA markers and biometric signals tested.
He pressed it to the AI’s badge reader to verify that it was a real Alliance-issued ID badge, then laid it flat on the surface of the control station where the computer could cross verify as Elenus was read. “Thumb,” he said.
Elenus pressed his thumb to the silvery area in the corner, and a second later, the control station lit up in positive response.
“Identification confirmed,” the station AI said in her slightly flat, never-quite-welcoming voice.
She sounded a lot like how Kieron felt right now.
“Welcome to Cloverleaf Station, Director Desfontaines.”
Director. Shit. He had an official title and everything. Kieron was so fucked.
“Good.” Elenus sat down and began operating the control panel like he’d been doing it for months, immediately going to the log of most recent events.
“If you tell me what you’re looking for, I could help you find it,” Kieron offered reluctantly.
“If you’ve done your job and logged everything properly into the system, I shouldn’t need your help,” Elenus replied, not even looking at him.
Fine. This was fine. Watching all his meticulous maps get shoved out of the way, losing the progress he’d made with the search algorithm, undoubtedly having to explain it all the moment this asshole wasn’t totally preoccupied with whatever he was searching for now—that was all fine.
Kieron sat back in the chair that Dave had customarily laid claim to, sighing when something crunched beneath his butt.
He stood back up and pulled a protein-supplement wrapper out from the back of the seat. Chunky choc-cherry flavored.
Fucking Dave.
“Eating on the job?” Elenus asked snarkily as he continued to scan the log.
Kieron didn’t bother to reply, just put the wrapper in the nearest recycling unit and sat back down.
He watched in silence as Elenus scrolled back one day …
two days … three. He paused when he got to the rescue of the Mason’s Bay, reading through the terse report and glancing at the visual recording before moving on without saying a word.
Yeah, I do my job. What the hell is your job here, fucker?
A little further into the log, Elenus suddenly stopped scrolling. He stared down at the screen for a long moment, then delicately tapped an audio file.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!”
Kieron startled in his chair, unnerved by the sound of that strange scream.
He still couldn’t place it, had logged it as some sort of audio distortion from one of the miners’ ships, but from the way Elenus’s face went from cool and detached to heartbroken in a matter of seconds settled that for him.
This was no distortion. This was something deliberate, and it was bad news.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Elenus murmured, stroking over the audio icon. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m here now; I’ll find you.” He took a deep breath, then straightened his back and stared at Kieron. “I need to track down the source of this signal.”
He needed to what now? “There’s no way to figure out the source of the signal since it’s no longer broadcasting,” Kieron pointed out.
“Then I need the best guess you can put together, so I can get out there and start looking for it.”
Kieron’s jaw dropped. “Are you insane?” he managed after a second.
Elenus smirked. “Not today, I don’t think. Are you?”