“Who is this and how did you get this contact line?” Brooks demanded.

He could feel his heart beating harder in his chest as the voice on the other end spoke.

“Hullo, Captain Ian Brooks,” the caller finally said.

The voice sounded male, though such a thing could always be faked.

“Who are you?” Brooks asked again.

“I am calling on behalf of a mutual friend,” the voice continued. “She sends her regards and wishes you continued good health.”

“Who is this mutual friend?” Brooks asked.

He knew. This was his most private of contact lines, one he had given to only a handful of beings in the universe – most of whom were on this ship. None of whom would ever use it outside of an emergency.

The only one he could think of who might do this was Dawn.

“Our friend is quite shy, you know,” the voice told him. “She expects you’d understand how embarrassed she’d be if we spoke too openly, even in private.”

“Is she there with you?” Brooks now asked carefully. “Where are you?”

“Ah, Captain, you are as forward as she said. But I expected you to be more clever. Do we really need to do this dance?”

“We do,” Brooks said. “Because you still haven’t given me a reason to trust you.”

“To be quite frank, Captain Brooks, the trust has already flowed your way. You are the one who owes a debt after all, aren’t you?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Damn it, Brooks thought. So that’s what this was about.

“You didn’t answer me. I’d like to speak with her if she’s there.”

“She is nowhere near here, Captain. She is far-off ensconced – even I don’t know where she is, and I am one of the few she has some trust in.”

Brooks doubted that was true. Vermillion Dawn trusted almost no one.

“What sort of favor is she asking?”

“Ah ah – not a favor, Captain. Payment.”

“Money? I did not expect her to be so crude,” Brooks replied.

“Payment comes in many forms. Sometimes it is as simple as a meeting.”

He wracked his brain; she wanted to meet him? It had not been long since he’d contacted her through the virtual headset in that drug den on Gohhi. It had been years since they had spoken before that.

So why did she want to speak to him now?

“I can meet her,” he said. “I can leave tomorrow.”

“You are making a false assumption, Captain – you are not the one she wishes to meet.”

He knew he shouldn’t be surprised, let alone disappointed, yet he was, and it threw him into a spin. “Who then?” he said quickly, almost aggressively.

There was a slight pause before the other voice answered. The man on the other end had caught the tone shift and noted it.

Brooks cursed himself for giving away too much.

“Your intrepid doctor is a most fascinating individual,” the voice said. “And she would be delighted to make his acquaintance.”

Brooks felt his anger get the better of him. “I cannot order Y to go off and meet whomever I want. He is his own being, and an officer-“

He was angry on Y’s behalf, yes. But he was also angry because of the wording – which he knew was quite intentional.

Dawn had called him, with a dry sarcasm, the ‘intrepid captain’ quite often. To call Y by the same term was the proof that he needed to finally know this was indeed sent by her.

And it angered him deeply that she was only using him for an introduction.

“A chance to speak to the Doctor in person is all that is requested. You have every guarantee of his safety – and his status as an individual is not in question, Captain.” The voice was almost chiding at the end.

He had to clamp down on his emotions. Taking a slow, quiet breath, he put his voice back onto a professional keel.

“What I mean is that I will have to broach the topic with him. While I acknowledge the debt I owe . . . I cannot say for certain that he will agree, or when he will choose to make such a trip if he does agree.”

“I will call again in two hours, Captain. By that time the good Doctor will have agreed and we will arrange the meeting place,” the voice said.

He did not give Brooks a chance to reply, but ended the call immediately.