come with it. Even though he knew it wasn’t in his best interests to get so attached to a Network asset.
He clicked out his first FieldStat to Dr. K. It went up as an encoded transmission from his wristcom that the site’s sensitive equipment couldn’t block. Just like they couldn’t detect his stealth tech or his thought transmissions to and from Cassie.
Initial recon report.
Pocket successfully deployed.
Proto performance exceptional.
Day 1 objectives initiated.
He lowered his wristcom, and a visual of the a-com’s bronzed face floated into his thoughts, unbidden.
“Dek good,” Cassie piped up. “Like Dek.” She climbed up his camo-clad leg and made a couple of quick circuits around his knees before jumping back to the sand.
Telon dropped his head and narrowed his eyes at his gleeful partner, now staring up at him expectantly. “What is Dek?”
“Who! Who!” Cassie transmitted back. “A-Com. Dek.”
“That’s her name?” Telon queried.
“Yes, yes!”
His situational brief had only IDed the second-in-command as Lieutenant Commander Garr—no given name supplied.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Man talk. Talk, talk, talk. Dek, Dek, Dek.”
Cassie wasn’t capable of communicating complex thoughts, but she generally got her point across.
“Her men are talking about her?”
“Talk, talk, TALK.”
“Talking about her a lot.”
“Yes, yes.”
Dek. Well, the name fit. Short. Direct. To the point.
Refocusing on the task at hand, Telon gave Cassie a smile. “Let’s have another look around.”
“Look! Look!” Cassie agreed, and took point at a brisk trot.
3
Dek conducted the mid-morning brief with her team, finished her rounds by midday, compiled her StatRep—Status Report—to General X, grabbed a late take-out lunch from the mess, and returned to her quarters. After pulling down the collapsible ladder concealed in the ceiling, she climbed up. Holding her meal bag in one hand she popped the roof hatch with the other. Luckily, she’d been assigned the quarters that housed the maintenance access to the modular structure’s flat roof.
Settling down on her lookout atop the quarters, she made quick work of the pseudo-poultry sandwich and flavored drink. She tucked the disposable wrap inside the bag and set it aside to lean back and stretch out her legs.
Dek enjoyed her rooftop retreat. At this time of day, warm rays of sun slanted in from the opening above and she could perch near the edge and take in the comings and goings of her team and the site personnel. But she also liked the solitude. It gave her a quiet break in the routine when she could process her internal StatRep. Sure beat sitting alone at a table in a crowded mess, surrounded by men who weren’t quite sure how to deal with her as the recently assigned a-com.
At least her watch had started well. The mid-morning had been fairly routine. The science team had arrived on schedule and proceeded down the lift to the restricted lower site to begin their work. The on-shift security personnel were all posted at their stations.
Only the second intruder alert and her brief run-in with the errant visitor had been departures from the norm. In the first instance, the four young males who’d approached the site had turned back toward Sarcassius long before they’d reached the infrasound barrier. They hadn’t even come close enough to provoke the hot-headed Sergeant Garr, thank the Fire Lords.
And as for their visitor, he’d retreated to his quarters where he was apparently resting.
“A-Com.” The intruding voice came low and unwelcome from behind her left shoulder.
Telon.
She turned her head slowly to meet his eyes, her muscles going taut with a sharp flare of alarm. “What in Hades are you doing up here?”
“The same thing you are, I imagine. Quietly observing.” On his shoulder, his little bio-engineered partner jerked her tail and cheeped.
Dek stood. “And just how did you get access?”
His attention moved to the rock wall behind the quarters block before shifting back to her face. “It wasn’t difficult.”
She regarded him through narrowed eyes but held her tongue. What exactly had he climbed up here to observe? The site’s operations…or her?
“Everything go okay with your earlier ‘situation’?” he asked.
“Details about our operation are not your concern,” she answered coolly.
“Point taken. I was only following up because it did seem urgent.”
“It was dealt with.”
“Consider the subject dropped.” Telon’s little pet chittered in his ear, and he shifted his weight. “I get the distinct impression I’ve intruded into your personal space?”
“You have,” she said matter-of-factly. “But since you’re here, let’s have a talk.”
“All right.” He gave a noncommittal shrug and cocked his head. “About?”
“I find it odd that right after I’m assigned as acting commander, you show