They Called Me Defective, Until I Tamed the Interstellar Commander novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Admiral's Price

I pulled the sheet up to my chin, and Caspian stood and put himself between the bed and the screen.

He had not bothered to find his shirt.

"Admiral," he said. "It's the fourth hour."

"I know. I'm sorry for the hour." Maltravers's voice was soft and even. "I wished to speak with Miss Hargreave, and the inspector says she isn't in her bunk."

"She's with me."

"So I see."

The Admiral looked at the room, at the broken chair, at the dark seam on Caspian's arm.

It stayed dark.

I watched the Admiral take that in, and something went across his face that was gone before I could name it.

"Then come to the bridge in an hour, both of you," he said. "I'll make it a formal conversation. The crew should hear it, I think."

The screen went blank.

Caspian stood very still.

"Don't go," he said, without turning around. "Let me go. I'll tell him you refused."

"He asked for me."

"He's going to make you an offer."

"Then I'd like to hear it," I said. "From the front."

He turned.

His face was rough and grave.

"He doesn't offer things," he said. "He buys them."

"Then I'll tell him what it costs."

I got dressed in my own boots and my own trousers, and I walked onto the bridge beside him at the fifth hour with my head up.

The whole crew was there.

Dax leaned on a console with his arms folded, and he did not smile.

The main screen showed the Admiral in his white coat, seated in a quiet room on the Station.

"Miss Hargreave," Maltravers said. "Thank you. I'll be plain, because I respect you."

"I'd appreciate that."

"The Anchor Office made an error in your testing," he said. "A defective score is a serious injury to a young woman, and I will not have it said that the Fleet left you with it."

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