“Thank you, sir,” she said, still subdued.
“Now, as for you, Sub-Lieutenant,” Salazar continued, turning to Clarke.
“Still Sub-Lieutenant?” he asked. “I assumed the rank would revert, given the circumstances.”
“Hell no,” Salazar said. “If Captain Marshall hadn't commissioned you, I would have. Take a good look around, kid. An awful lot of this is because of you. We're still alive because of what you did back on Dante.”
“I just did what I had to do, sir.”
“Sometimes that's the hardest thing of all.” With a smile, he continued, “I'm going to need a new Security Officer. I can't think of anyone better qualified for that job than you.”
“A department head, sir? I'm only...”
“You're a good officer. A little young, but you'll grow out of it. I have faith in you, Sub-Lieutenant. All you need is to have a little faith in yourself. I know you'll do well.”
“I won't let you down, sir.”
“I know that.” Gesturing towards the landing field, he added, “You'd better get to the shuttle.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Even after three weeks, the rank still sometimes felt like a slap in the face.
“Dismissed.”
Clarke and Mortimer snapped a salute, and Harper walked over to him, placing her arm through his, saying, “It still hurts, doesn't it.”
“I think it always will. I feel like an impostor.”
“You're not. That talk you just had with Clarke? Maybe you should try having it with yourself as well. The crew like you, they trust you, they respect you. That's half the battle won, right there. If they got to make a choice, they'd choose you. Besides, neither Max nor I want the damn job. You're stuck with it.”
He turned to her with a smile, and replied, “I guess I'd better just settled down to suffering, then.” With a sigh, he added, “I've got some big shoes to fill.”
“You'll find a way. You always do. Just look around for proof of that.”
“No,” he replied. “This was Captain Marshall's victory, not mine.” Looking across the field, as the last of his crew filed into the shuttles, he added, “Let's go home.”
“Home?”
“It'll do until we get back to our real one.”
Thank you for reading 'Spell of the Stars'. For information on future releases, please join the Battlecruiser Alamo Mailing List at http://eepurl.com/A9MdX for updates. If you enjoyed this book, please review it on the site where you purchased it.
The writer's blog is available at http://tinyurl.com/pjl96dj
The saga returns in Battlecruiser Alamo: Shadows in the Sky, available soon…
Battlecruiser Alamo: Spell of the Stars Page 23
