of the irritating little human being mated to another male.
Shaking his head, he laughed, ignoring the fact that the sound had an edge of disbelief and mania to it. He was just tired after a long journey and stressed at starting yet another assignment where he was disliked. That was nothing new. A few good nights’ sleep and he would be back on top form.
Reassured, he closed his eyes and resumed his prayers. Everything would work out exactly as Lady Liaanas decreed. Of that he had no doubt.
He’d finished his prayers and was looking over personnel files when he was interrupted by an alert that his shift on the bridge was about to start. When he arrived this time, it was not as a guest but as the new second of the ship. The red sash of his position crossed his chest over his open uniform jacket, and a new ident tag pressed against his skin.
For a moment he allowed pride to fill him as he stepped onto the command deck, imagining this was his ship and somehow a Vesh had made it to war commander. It was a dream, he knew, but sometimes he couldn’t help the little hopes and yearnings of his soul.
Turning, he walked across the deck to take the command chair. He didn’t bother to look at the faces of the crew he passed, not wanting to see the same closed off expressions. No doubt now the news that he was Vesh would have gone through the crew like wildfire, and minds would be shuttered against him. He would have no personal alliances with any of the crew. He would stand or fall on his own.
Always alone.
But despite all his expectations, the warrior who levered himself from the command chair to cede it to Nyek nodded in respect. “Commander, the deck is yours.”
“Acknowledged...” It took a moment for his brain to catch up with his ears before he added haltingly, “...thank you.”
“Commander,” the warrior said with a salute.
He was one of Danaar’s seniors, if his braids and the rank notches on his leathers were any indication. Rank and position on a Latharian vessel were a complicated affair, depending on standing within a clan, time in service and battle record. A senior warrior could be relatively lowly ranked, yet still serve on the command deck with his commander, while a higher ranked warrior could be relegated to one of the lower battle decks if he was out of favor or not considered brave enough in battle.
He could only imagine what the humans made of it, if they understood it at all. It was likely they didn’t. They were female, after all, and despite Lady Indra’s somewhat aggressive manner, they were much too delicate for combat service. From the little he’d been able to glean from elders who remembered when the Lathar had females of their own, those females had been delicate, fragile creatures who needed a male’s protection and guidance.
That did contradict a lot of the old stories and myths surrounding the gods and goddesses, particularly the Lady Liaanas, goddess of war, but Nyek had long since realized those stories were allegories. It was unlikely females went into battle, so they had to be stories to inspire and teach rather than tales of real females in the past. Even the Lady Liaanas... some of her deeds were only possible through divine intervention. There was no way she’d been a simple warrior before ascending to the hall of the gods and taking her place there.
The warrior nodded and turned away, leaving Nyek standing in front of the command chair. Turning smartly, he sat and logged himself into the command systems through the console built into the arms. A quick check of the current department status reports told him the ship was operating at full efficiency, with a routine maintenance scheduled on the port environmental systems’ generators later that day. His eyes narrowed as he noticed a request from one of the humans for something called “lasagna.” He had no idea what that was, so he made a note to research it. Whatever it was, he wasn’t about to agree blindly in case he found out later he’d given permission for a weapon or for some kind of deadly creature to be brought on board.
His lips curved into a small smile, wondering if it was a trap set up by the war commander. If so, he’d have to try a lot harder than that to get Nyek to misstep.