Why the hell had the Captain ignored her?

Jaya sat back in her chair, a sense of unease in her stomach.

She knew the Captain had had a lot to do in the aftermath of this fiasco.

But she had fully expected him to take the time to chew her out for her insubordination.

Which, she admitted, she deserved. For an officer to question their superior openly like that was not acceptable; objections had to be made in a specific way.

He’d had the right to make that call to destroy the pirate vessel. But it had been the wrong call.

There were over a dozen injured, they had managed to rescue only a single colonist, and worst of all, they had not recovered any relic technology.

This was a failure in every conceivable way, and Brooks had lost his nerve.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She could not have blamed anyone else. They were dealing with things that beggared the greatest imaginations. Forces that could kill stars and break entire fleets.

She had thought he understood the need, though.

They had to understand. They had to press forward, even if the cost was great.

Wasn’t he the same man who had ordered her brother to his death, because that was what needed to be done?

It would be terrible to lose Response Team One and Executive Commander Urle and, it hurt her terribly to even think, Apollonia. She truly liked the girl.

But sometimes those sacrifices had to be made. The stakes were too high for mankind.

She slammed her hand into her desk, letting out an angry yell.

“Damn it, Brooks!” she yelled.

She breathed heavily, fighting the urge to overturn her desk.

Jaya rarely lost her composure, but this was too personal, too deep a pain, and too important.

Forcing herself to breathe deeply and slowly, she calmed.

Then, she got out her system and input the code that would shield her next message from anyone else on the ship. The code she’d been given by her superiors.

On the official report, she would not contradict Brooks.

But in this message she would tell the truth of what had happened. Including how the Captain had failed.

She had hoped one day to recruit him. But she could see now, even though it was a bitter pill to swallow;

Ian Brooks was not the man she had thought. He was a great man – but he was not strong enough.