“Did you know that Loch and I were in the RCDF together?” he asked.
The Royal Consortium Defense Force was the combined military arm of the Consortium. While each House maintained its own fully operational military, those forces masqueraded as solely defensive units. The RCDF deployed when Consortium interests were threatened, even if it was just against a single House, because they were the only military units authorized for offensive maneuvers. But the RCDF would not intervene in wars between Houses.
“I didn’t know,” I said. “Loch refused to say how he knew you. He said I’d have to ask you.” Burning curiosity warred with guilt—I desperately wanted to know more about Loch but I felt slightly dirty getting the information from Rhys instead.
“I’m not surprised,” Rhys said. “It wasn’t exactly the highlight of either of our lives.”
I put two and two together and came up with seven. Still, I couldn’t resist testing my theory. “You were at Fornax,” I said. Another realization struck when he didn’t deny it. “You’re part of the missing squad.”
Rhys nodded once. The world tilted, then snapped back into a strange new form. The Consortium blamed Marcus for the death of his commanding officers and the unit with him. But the bodies of his squad had never been recovered, supposedly burned to dust in a massive explosion.
“There were eight of us,” Rhys said. “Loch was our squad leader. He bought our freedom with his.”
I frowned at the phrasing. “What do you mean?”
Rhys’s grin was sly. “You’ll have to ask him.”
“In that case, I’ll go to my grave never knowing,” I said. “He’s decided I no longer exist. I’d have better luck questioning the door.”
“You were both fine this morning. What happened?” he asked.
“I happened,” I said with a sigh. “I freaked out because he appeared to be sticking around and my relationship experience thus far has been shit. He was too angry to understand my concerns, so we fought. And now I am persona non grata.”
“Do you want him to stick around?” Rhys asked.
“Yes,” I said, “and that’s the problem. How do I know he’s sticking around for me and not because I’m a von Hasenberg?”
“Loch can be as manipulative and conniving as they come,” Rhys said. He held up a hand to prevent me from interrupting. “But he’s also one of the most honorable men I know. And honorable men don’t take advantage of women, no matter what their name is.” He paused and gave me a hard stare. “And honorable women don’t pursue a relationship they have no intention of committing to. Get your head straight.”
I nodded my understanding. “Thank you, Rhys.”
“If you need an opening, ask him about the Genesis Project.” He stood. “Tell him I told you to.” With those cryptic words, he left.
I tried searching for anything related to the Genesis Project but we were too far from a net node to get live data, so I had to make do with the cache on the ship’s computer. Nothing came up, but it was hard to target such a generic search term.
Rhys knew me well. The curiosity would eat me alive until I had to talk to Loch. It was a genius plan on Rhys’s part, but I vowed to hold off as long as I could because he was also right that I needed to get my head straight.
A glance at the commander’s console showed our orbit had covered 75 percent of the planet’s surface. I decided to wait to jump until the ship scanned the final 25 percent. It was unlikely anything would be found, but if I didn’t know for sure, I’d wonder about it later on.
I drifted in the realm between awake and asleep until the gentle beeping of the ship’s alarm pulled me fully alert. The planet’s entire surface had been scanned and no life-forms were found. No radio transmissions or signs of human settlement were found, either. As far as the ship was concerned, nothing man-made existed on this planet.
The feeling of defeat was unexpected. I’d known this planet was a long shot, but subconsciously I must’ve been hoping to find something that would allow me to stop here. Without that find, I had to move on to more dangerous waters and drag the rest of my passengers along with me.
The door slid open again and Lin’s excited chatter entered with him. He went silent when he caught sight of the planet through the window. Veronica nudged him forward.