Page 92 of Star Claimed Omega
His heart slammed into his chest wall, and his throat worked once before he snapped his gaze to her.
‘Thefokkis this? Is it even real?’
Miral shrugged, lips pressed in a line. ‘It’s authentic, alright.’
‘You sure?’
‘Triple verified. Biometrics, including retinal match and voice print, confirmed. It’s not a mimic. It’s her.’
His jaw ticked. Heat flooded his limbs. ‘Hell.’
He thought for a long moment, his eyes out to the view of space rushing past. ‘Send a priority comm,’ he ground out. ‘I want her in my office. Now. Still, be gentle about how you summon her,naam?’
‘Already on it,’ Miral replied, vanishing a second later.
SOLEIL
The scent of sterilizing spray and pine-foam lather clung to Soleil’s fingers as she rinsed out the last of the stall sinks.
Her roster today was in the public bathhouse near the lake shore on Deck 27.
She liked days like these, where a quiet mist rose from the water outside, and sunlight flickered off the waves.
She wiped her brow with the back of her glove when her comm tab vibrated against her wrist.
She blinked at the display.
Miral: Priority request. For a face-to-face meeting at the Executive Level. Immediately please.
A second later, a sleek pass download lit up her screen.
The digital crest of the XO shimmered across her screen.
Her breath hitched.
Summoned in an official capacity to Santi’s office?
Fokk. Had she been rumbled?
Her stomach flipped, hard as a slow, insidious crawl of heat blooming along her wrists.
The phantom ache that accompanied her mortification at her enforced secrecy surged into a ball of bitterness in her throat.
She bit down hard on her inner cheek, recalling her mounting sins.
Earlier that morning, she arrived at the maintenance offices early, before Wren did.
After making sure the coast was clear, she’d slid behind his console.
Her fingers had even trembled as she pulled up his logs.
Just the prison codes and schematics, she’d told herself.I have no choice.
She hated herself for her rationalization.
Still, a woman’s life, not her own, depended on it.
All she got were maps to the chutes that led close to the prison’s Cold Sector facility.
