Her Commanders - M.K. Eidem Page 0,94

there. "Sub Commander."

"Cali," Taarig responded with a much warmer expression on his face.

"Taarig and I wanted to speak with you. Taarig left you his link code." He gave Taarig an aggravated look when he bumped him in the back. "I mean, we were hoping you'd use the code."

"I received it," Cali told them, not wanting either of them to think Mae hadn't given it to her. "I just didn't see any reason to use it."

"You didn't…" Jamis growled, and Taarig bumped him again. After taking a deep breath, Jamis continued in a less aggressive tone. "Taarig and I would greatly appreciate it if we could meet to discuss something with you, in private."

"I'm working." Cali wasn't sure why she was pushing so hard except that she enjoyed seeing Jamis outside his comfort zone.

"You're the owner," Jamis barked.

"And you're the Star Base Commander," Cali argued back. "Do you get to neglect your duties whenever you want?"

"No," Jamis admitted gruffly. She watched him turn his head and nod as Taarig murmured something Cali couldn't hear. "Could we then arrange a time to meet when you finish working?"

"It will be late into the dark shift."

"Then we'll…"

"We're running low on Galaian Rum," Mae chimed in, drawing Cali's attention. "I was going to go down to the storage unit and get a case once things calmed down."

"You shouldn't be doing that in your condition," Cali chided.

"You did it all the time when you were the manager," Mae told her stubbornly.

"I wasn't about to present offspring!"

"Well, then I guess you can just go get it," Mae said, a small smile curving her lips.

Cali's eyebrows drew together. Mae usually never interfered with another being's business. Mae normally didn't like to draw undue attention on herself, something leftover from growing up on Gala, but it seemed the security of becoming The Brink's manager had changed that. "I guess I can."

"Unit ML105," Mae told her.

Cali frowned at her. "I know which unit is ours, Mae."

"We'll meet you there." Jamis ended the transmission before Cali could respond, and she suddenly realized what Mae had done. She'd allowed the Commanders to meet with her.

"Why did you tell them that?"

"Because I think you should hear what the Commanders have to say. They seem very interested in you."

"Really?" Cali gave her a skeptical look. "You can say that after they planned to fuck another female?"

Mae waved a dismissive hand. "But they didn't. All males make stupid mistakes."

"Does that include Tay?"

"Sometimes," Mae admitted. "But what you need to do is decide if you're willing to forgive them or give up on something that could potentially be life-altering!"

"Why do you say that?" Mae knew she'd been with the Commanders, but Cali hadn't gone into great detail about it.

"Because working here, I've heard thousands of tales about females the Commanders have been with, past and present. But never in all those stories did someone claim the Commanders all but begged to meet with her. We both know that's true because if they had, it would have spread faster than a Verian rash."

Cali couldn't help but smile because it was well known how fast and nasty that particular rash was. "True."

"So that means they're seriously interested in you."

"I'm just not sure I can trust them," Cali whispered, the fear she hadn't admitted to herself.

"Then don't, but you'll never know if you can unless you listen to them first." Mae gave her a sad look. "My ma used to say, 'If you don't listen, Mae, you'll never know what you don't know.'"

"She sounds like a wise woman."

"She was and a good ma."

"You will be too, Mae."

"I hope so."

"I know so." Cali gave her a reassuring hug. "Now, I guess I better do as you said and find out what the Commanders want."

Smiling, Mae watched her boss and friend leave the bar. Hopefully, she'd come back with a smile on her face. Turning back to the bar, Mae frowned at the untouched drink sitting there.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Cali made sure to stay out of the workers' way, unloading cargo from supply ships attached to the Star Base via airlocks. As a single ship rarely carried cargo for just one business, merchants were assigned a specific storage area for their wares. Ships would dock at the airlock closest to the one with the largest merchant order, then transfer the rest. The Brink's storage area happened to be the farthest away because they did order a full ship more often than not. It also had its own airlock.

As she moved