Scenes From Space

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Another Alley

Graham slipped into the seat on my right for the meeting. There was a light touch on my thigh and then Graham's hand lifted. I knocked my knee into his.

The Commander strode in confidently and took his place, standing at the head of the table. I pulled my tablet in closer so I could take notes, keep my hands busy.

"Kuzzon and his team have taken refuge on the planet Kuvii in the seaside spa village of Karutterdamn," Exandar said, and ended his sentence by pulling up pictures of the team relaxing on the beach.

I wrote down 'Kuzzon and Krew in Karutterdamn on Kuvii' and smiled at my stupid joke.

The Commander continued his briefing. "We have also received word that a high-ranking Collective Commander will be traveling with Kuzzon into the Capitol."

There was a brief pause.

"Let's try to intercept the Commander," Exander ordered. He looked around at all of us to make sure we got the message. "Graham will take it from here." He strode out the same confident way he strode in.

Graham stood up and took the Commander's place at the head of the table.

"Okay, here's what we know in a little more detail," Graham said. He gestured around and the holos changed. There were three profiles; one of Kuzzon, another of the tailed girl, and the last profile was about Waseatryn woman's activities in Karutterdamn. The tailed girl had been spending a lot of time on a private beach. The other woman had been spotted at several cafes. Kuzzon had been in and out of casinos.

Graham went into more detail about each of their schedules before saying, "Of course, we don't who the Commander is, or when he will be arriving on Kuvii, but we're optimistic that something will come up in the next two sun-cycles, if not, we're going to send you in anyway and you can suss out the situation."

We all nodded.

"Any questions?" Graham asked.

No one had any.

"Dismissed," Graham said.

"Team meal," Ben announced. I smiled at Graham and wandered out with the RAFO crew, taking up the rear of the crowd. I pulled a note out of the side pocket of my pants. The note said 'Meet me in the 354 utilities room in 2/5 cycles.' I smiled a little smile and put the note back in my pocket for safe keeping.

The team dinner passed with the usual amount of banter, ribbing, and shoving food into our mouths. I tried to gracefully bow out of the post meal game of cards back on the ship. Ben was unimpressed.

Boo was practically gleeful as she wished that I "Have so much fun with whatever secret thing you're off to do."

Mako clearly knew that I was off to see Graham, but said nothing, just dragged his brother along back to the ship. Grey and Poku were so involved with their conversation about the mechanics of blasters that I don't think they even noticed that I split away from the team.

I followed the East corridor down to utility rooms and knocked softly on the door. Graham's metal hand flew through the crack in the door and swiftly pulled me in. I blinked as my vision adjusted to the dark. Graham's face was dimly lit by the projection of slow-moving stars around us. They weren't accurate depictions of galaxies but artistic renditions of glittering stars, lighting up and dancing away. Graham's hands rested lightly on my waist.

"Hi," I greeted. I kept my volume low. My eyes followed the track of a shooting star down from Graham's left eyebrow, across his lips, and away. I didn't want to break the quiet.