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Colemenoport

Transient Docks


The shuttle sat respectably at dock, gangplank out, green at-home lights visible above the hatch.

The driver of the secure car provided by the Wayfarer opened the doors, and the back hatch.

At the top of the ramp, Priscilla pressed the button just under the green light, lowering her head somewhat in deference to the scanners.

“Mendoza,” she said calmly. “Come to collect crew.”

“Greetings, Captain,” Dil Nem said, his voice sharper than usual through the speaker. “We’re all three on our way out to you.”

Priscilla frowned.

All three? she thought, and shivered.

She went back down the ramp to join Karna on the dock.

Dil Nem debarked first, pulling two cases.

He hit the end of the ramp, and saluted.

“Captain,” he said, properly. “Reporting for duty.”

“Third Mate,” Priscilla answered. “You are welcome.”

A slim shadow stirred at the hatch, resolving into Jes dea’Tolin, pulling one case, and carrying a second, shrouded in cloth.

Priscilla felt a chill run her spine.

“Captain,” Jes dea’Tolin said as she reached the end of the ramp. “Reporting for duty.”

Qe’andra,” Priscilla answered. “You are welcome.”

She glanced past Jes’s shoulder, hoping that her sudden understanding was an error, and that the third crew member would just now—

“I thought it best to protect her from the strange environment,” Jes said gravely. “I fear she is a little put out with me.”

Priscilla eyed the swathed cage, and extended a gentle thought of welcome.

She received the mental equivalent of a disdainful sniff.

“You brought Lady Selph?”

Despite her best efforts, it seemed that her dismay was obvious.

Jes pressed her lips together.

“Those were your precise orders, Captain,” Dil Nem said. “Lady Selph, and no other, was to come with us, and make our third.”

Priscilla closed her eyes, recalling that dropped moment in her conversation with Danae. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and took the cage from Jes.

“Welcome, Lady Selph,” she said.


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Framed