Broken Episode One (6 page)

It was her turn to lean closer to him. “Not too late
to start acting like a commander.”

“I’m a special commander.”

“Does that mean you have special dispensation to act
like a dick?”

He
snorted, but before he could continue the conversation, the engines
hummed into life. No, hum wasn’t the right word
– they roared. This transport had such little
insulation between the engine room and the main deck that it
sounded like they were inside a storm.

He watched Mimi cup her ears uncomfortably.

“It’s not going to get better. As soon as we hit
faster-than-light speed, it’s gonna get a hell of a lot worse,” he
told her, raising his voice to be heard over the engines.

“Why are you even on this transport? You’re a
Coalition officer, don’t they usually ship you to missions in a
little more style?”

He laughed, maybe a little too loudly. “Sorry,
you’re talking to me about traveling in style? How many luxury
cruisers have you been on, Miss Chester?”

“Don’t call me that. I’m just Mimi. And to answer
your question, one.”

“What, you don’t book a luxury boat every time you
head to the store?”

“No, I walk.”

Josh took the opportunity to smile at her snidely as
he thought of what to say next.

She got there first. “Let’s not start this. I’ll
agree to leave you alone if you agree to leave me alone.”

“You didn’t leave me alone at that briefing. I’m not
sure if this is a fair deal.”

She
turned to him. She had particularly pretty, piercing blue eyes.
They were an odd pale shade that reminded him of the sun reflecting
off a clear lake. “Special Commander, no offense, but you’re a
member of the Academy. You have a public role, and you’re entrusted
with a great deal of responsibility. But you also have a lot of
power. Now not everyone may appreciate that the Academy has an
excellent PR machine, but it does. When a company is so used to
controlling its public image, it becomes even more important to
keep asking hard questions. You may think I’m harassing you, I’m
not. To be honest, I appreciate you’ve had a different upbringing
to mine, and I appreciate you did what you had to to survive. All I
want to know
– and all the
galaxy deserves to know – is whether you crossed the line one too
many times. Only you can answer that right now.”

Josh’s gut clenched. A mix of nerves, anger, and
shame washed through him.

Her words had cut way too close to the bone.

“Considering your past, I wouldn’t lecture me, if I
were you,” he threatened.

“My
past? You mean what happened at the Academy? I’d never encountered
an engine fault like that
– I
was a third year student. You think I did it on purpose? You think
I was too arrogant to waste my time with looking? Well guess what?
Unlike your past, mine’s been thoroughly documented. The whole
exercise was recorded for training purposes – you can see me making
the mistake, if you’d like. You can read through the numerous logs.
As an officer, you can probably read the actual deliberations of
the committee that acquitted me. It’s all there, because I don’t
have anything to hide.”

Josh felt the heat of anger rise through him. “Every
cadet thinks you made a mistake because you were too cocky to do
the job properly. With your daddy there to fix your mistakes, you
don’t care what you do.”

“Cocky? You want cocky? How about ignoring evidence
in favor of hearsay. Three qualified engineers testified that the
engine fault was virtually undetectable, and only a seasoned pro
would have picked it up. I know what the cadets say about me, I
also know that it’s easier to paint me as a target than look at
their own responsibility. That training exercise should never have
been approved. We were too young and inexperienced.”

“Really? You think you can exonerate yourself by
pushing the blame onto your teammates. I see you didn’t stick
around the Academy long enough to learn loyalty.”

“We were
all part of E Club, though I’d only just joined. I’m not sure if
you know what E Club is, as you kind of skipped standard training,
but it’s full of people who think they’re the best and brightest. I
think I was only invited to join because of my dad .... Anyway,
Carinthia Forest wanted to organize a special training group to
undertake battle simulations outside of classes. Cadets who go
through more simulations have a higher chance of graduating as an
officer, rather than a standard ensign. The harder the simulations,
the better. So the E Club made them brutal. It should take a team
of proper technicians to set them up and ensure safety protocols
are working
– all we had were
undergrads. I was stuck with checking the engine systems. I wasn’t
qualified. Once I finished, I realized I couldn’t trust my work,
and I told them I wasn’t comfortable with the simulation going
ahead without another person checking. They ignored me.”

Josh opened his mouth, but she put up her hand.

“Before you ask, that’s on the footage too. I even
made a note in the log. And you want to know why I was stuck with
engineering duty even though I wasn’t even studying engineering?
Because they all wanted to take part in the actual simulation. I
wasn’t bothered.”

“So what, you think this makes up for what you
did?”

“Yes, I do,” she said flatly.

“You think your teammates are the ones to blame?
Well I’ve got news for you, you made the mistake.” He stabbed a
finger her way.

“Yeah
and no. I missed the fault
–
there’s no doubting that. But we should never have been
there.”

“If you couldn’t handle the assignment, you should
never have accepted it,” he said indignantly.

“Really? That’s it? That’s the solution? I was a
weak link, end of story? So it will never happen again, then?”

“What?”

“I’m asking you if a training accident like that
will happen again. Surely if it was just my fault, then you get rid
of me, and you’ve fixed the problem.”

“I’m not saying it will never happen again,” he
conceded gruffly. “I’m saying you can’t dilute your responsibility
by shifting the blame onto others.”

“Oh, for a second there I thought you were actually
interested in stopping things like this from happening. Because if
you were, you’d look at the culture within the E Club and the
Academy as a whole. Having experienced that culture, I can
absolutely guarantee you that it will happen again. Those cadets
think the only way to get ahead is to push themselves. The Academy
encourages that.”

He had to laugh. “The galaxy out there is pretty
dangerous, Miss.” He leaned a little closer to her as he hissed the
word Miss. “I’ve got news for you, the only reason you enjoy the
peace you do is that men and women push themselves every day to
keep you safe.”

He was expecting her to cower back. She didn’t. She
looked him right in the eye, not even bothering to lean away,
considering how close their seats were.

“I know that.”

“Really? It sounds like you take it for granted. It
sounds like you’re all too ready to turn on your teammates, even
though their only crime is trying their hardest to be the best they
can be.”

“To be heroes?” She asked.

He opened his mouth to say an emphatic yes, but the
word stuck in his throat.

Hero. He hated that goddamn word.

“What if the cadets in E Club aren’t trying to be
the best they can be, what if they’re trying to be heroes?”

He shrunk away from her questions.

“What if they live in a culture that’s steeped in
this myth of Coalition heroes single-handedly saving the galaxy?
What if they’re bombarded with stories from the Academy’s press
wing day in and day out espousing the incredible deeds of a few?
What if they graduate thinking that the only way to save the galaxy
is to become a hero? Do you think that will ensure peace, Special
Commander?”

It was his turn to lean away from her.

“You don’t need to answer. We both know it won’t.
You might be a lot of things, but you don’t strike me as dumb. I
think you appreciate more than most that painting a world of heroes
and villains only ever hides the truth. It simplifies complex
situations into good and bad, epic and dull. It prevents us from
ever finding peace, because a hero always needs an enemy.”

Josh stood up. It was a knee jerk reaction. His body
was so tense with anger it felt like he’d snap.

She looked up at him, never blinking once.

Mimi was turning out to be a lot of things, but he
couldn’t deny she was brave.

And terribly goddamn obstinate.

“I’m going to find another seat,” he managed as he
turned on his heel.

“I’m
pretty sure the only one that’s left is on the Captain’s lap,”
she
quipped from behind
him.

His back was rigid, his shoulders so stiff it felt
as if they’d burst out of his top. Without another word, he walked
away.

Her words followed him.

A hero always needs an enemy ....

Mimi bit her lip as he walked off.

He looked seriously mad. Maybe she’d gone too
far?

Maybe she should apologize when he got back?

Or maybe he deserved it.

Though Mimi liked to think of herself as a nice
person, that wasn’t always true. Sometimes she got very direct.
When pushed, she’d push back. She usually tried to be more tactful
than she had been with Josh, though.

There was something about him that truly irritated
her.

She wasn’t entirely sure it was his murky past,
either. Because while she did suspect there was a story there, she
realized it couldn’t be too bad; the Academy wouldn’t have taken
him on if he was an irredeemable criminal.

No, there was something else about the man that got
to her. She’d barely met him, but it was clear his personality
grated against hers.

Still, it was always better to be polite. And to
smile. You always had to smile.

By the time he made it back from his wander, she was
ready to apologize.

He ruined the moment when he sat down gruffly and
shoved her to the side. “You’re seat is over there.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re on my side.”

“So you shove me rather than asking me to shift
slightly? And what do you mean I’m on your side? You’re way bigger
than me and these seats are tiny. If anything, you’re on my
side.”

Josh said nothing as he sat down and shifted his
shoulders about.

Rather than have his big arms brush up against her,
she pulled herself closer to the right to get away from him.
However, there was a bulkhead next to her, so she couldn’t move far
enough to stop his arm from touching hers.

She could still hear his breath, feel the heat off
his body, and see the cold, angry look in his eyes.

At the sight of her pressing herself up against the
bulkhead, she saw his lips curl.

“Stay there and shut up, and we’ll get through
this,” he said as he crossed his arms, invading her personal space
with his massive shoulders and elbows.

“Excuse me? You know, I was thinking it over, and I
was going to apologize to you. I was going to say sorry for going
too far. I should have appreciated your feelings. But you know what
I’m going to do now?”

He turned his head towards her slowly, his neck
muscles practically creaking. His eyes glinted with a challenging
look, one that kind of did weird things to her stomach.

She ignored her tummy and angled her chin up. “I’m
going to apologize anyway, because I won’t be bullied.”

He snorted. “So this is you apologizing?”

“Yes. I’m sorry.” She looked at him directly and
bowed her head.

“But?” He prompted.

“But you have a serious attitude problem. You’re the
rudest Coalition officer I’ve ever met. I understand your job is
stressful, but that doesn’t give you the right to snap at
everyone.”

“I don’t snap at everyone.”

“So it’s just me?”

“Pretty much.”

“Is it because of my father?”

He gave a low laugh. “I’ve got no problems with
Theodore Chester, I just don’t like spoilt brats.”

“Hey, maybe don’t say my dad’s name so loud, okay?”
She asked quickly.

As soon as Josh mentioned her dad’s name, several
people in the transport turned their way. While everyone had been
happy to ignore her argument with Josh before, now she was
gathering stares.

Uncomfortable ones.

Josh darted his gaze around the transport. “They all
know who you are. You’re infamous around the Academy. Plus,
presumably the ticket was purchased under your name. It’s a little
too late to think about discretion.”

She snorted and tried to cross her arms. But there
simply wasn’t room.

“Fine, let’s go back to our original deal: you be
quiet and I’ll be quiet.”

“The deal was you would shut up,” he countered
immediately.

“Oh my god, you’re acting like a child. Can you
actually hear yourself? Is that anyway for an on-duty special
commander to act?”

He leaned in quickly. “Keep your voice down.”

“What?” She stuttered, slightly breathless at the
sight of a looming Joshua Cook.

“I said,
keep your mouth shut. And don’t say I’m on duty
– I’m not. I’m heading to a resort ship for some
R and R.”

She deliberately let her brow shoot up behind her
fringe. “Resort ship? You? I don’t buy it. Not only would it make
you the biggest hypocrite in the world, as they’re astronomically
expensive, but you strike me as the kind of guy who would hate
places like that. In fact, you strike me as the kind of guy who
never stops working.”

“Just stop talking now,” he warned. “I am going to a
resort ship, and that’s the end of the story.”