Seignur Veeoni’s Private Workroom
“I’ve completed the document as you requested, Researcher. I’ll bring you a glass of nutrient while you read it.”
Seignur Veeoni stopped, turned, and considered her henchwoman.
M Traven returned her gaze, calm, as M Traven was always calm.
“Am I low on nutrients?” Seignur Veeoni asked, moderating her tone. M Traven was not to be taken lightly.
It might go too far to say that Seignur Veeoni was fond of her guard. She did, however, value her. More, M class soldiers were extremely practical. It was no small thing to have that practicality working for one.
M Traven shrugged her broad shoulders.
“We can extrapolate,” she said. “When was the last time you had nutrients?”
Seignur Veeoni consulted her memory.
“Ten Standard Hours ago, I had a glass of nutrient.”
M Traven did not point out that a glass of nutrient was considered adequate for six hours of activity. In return, Seignur Veeoni did not sigh.
“Bring me nutrient, then. Is the document on the screen?”
“Yes,” M Traven said, possibly in answer to both request and query. “You should be aware that I asked Mentor Jones to go over my first effort. He made several helpful suggestions, which I have incorporated.”
“Why did you deem it desirable to have Mentor Jones’s input?” Seignur Veeoni asked, honestly curious.
“I believe that the mentor’s livelihood, and his life, are rooted in his ability to be persuasive. I thought to use that resource to improve our chances of success.”
It was not ill-reasoned. Seignur Veeoni nodded to indicate she had received the information, and crossed the room to the screen.
It was a briefer document than she would have supposed, given the necessity of being persuasive. She had finished her first read-through by the time M Traven brought the nutrient and placed it on the desk by her hand.
She raised the glass, took a sip, and returned to the top of the document.
Her second read completed, she became aware of something else.
M Traven was still standing by her desk.
No.
No, it was not too much to say that M Traven was hovering. That was unusual. Though not so afflicted herself, Seignur Veeoni did know that some individuals experienced doubt with regard to their work, and periodically required reassurance.
She had never observed this behavior in M Traven. However, this was the first time she had been required to produce a sales document.
Seignur Veeoni sipped more nutrient, looked up and met M Traven’s eyes.
“It is adequate to our purpose,” she said. “I will forward it to Light Keeper yos’Phelium, so that he may in his turn forward it to Korval and Korval’s qe’andra.”
M Traven inclined slightly from the waist.
“It was an interesting assignment,” she said. “I would welcome another like it.”
“I will hold that in mind.”
Seignur Veeoni finished her nutrient and put the glass on the desk. With a few spare keystrokes, she sent the document to Jen Sin yos’Phelium, certain that M Traven had seen the transaction.
“While you were away, I made a command decision,” M Traven said.
Seignur Veeoni paused in the act of reaching to the screen.
M Strain soldiers were perfectly capable of command. Indeed, M Traven had been second in the command structure at Seignur Veeoni’s former laboratory. There was no such command structure in their current situation—or, Seignur Veeoni thought, perhaps there was.
M Traven was the sole soldier attached to Seignur Veeoni.
Therefore, M Traven was not merely first in a chain of command.
She was commander.
“What have you done?” Seignur Veeoni asked.
“I have forwarded a copy of the original station schematics to Light Keeper yos’Phelium.”
Seignur Veeoni took thought.
“I see no difficulty,” she said after a moment. “He is the light keeper, and has as much right as we have to the information.”
“The reason that I shared that information with Light Keeper yos’Phelium,” M Traven continued, “was that he had not been told about the arriving delivery, and was placed into a situation where he felt it necessary to defend the station from attack.”
Seignur Veeoni spun in her chair.
“He did not damage our cargo!”
“He did not, but that outcome would not have been in question, if he had been told of the delivery in advance.”
“Ah,” Seignur Veeoni said. “I see. Pray inform the light keepers when we are expecting deliveries. I do not wish to risk having necessary supplies damaged.”
M Traven inclined from the waist.
“Yes,” she said.
The comm pinged. M Traven crossed the room, leaned over, and looked to Seignur Veeoni.
“Light Keeper yos’Phelium calls,” she said.
“I will speak with Light Keeper yos’Phelium,” Seignur Veeoni said.
“I will be brief, as I know you are busy on the Light’s behalf,” Jen Sin yos’Phelium said, briskly. “I wish to remand a hasty order. Please do not destroy the recovery units.”
Seignur Veeoni did not smile.
“I will not destroy the recovery units,” she said, so that there would be no shadow of doubt. “I do intend to download and analyze the data from each, but this will not alter their utility in any way.”
“Thank you,” the light keeper said. “yos’Phelium out.”