Read Honour's Knight for Free Online

die?”
    “Billions,” Nova said sadly. “Scientists still haven’t figured out exactly what went wrong, but the holiday makes sure Svenya is never forgotten.” Her face fell as she looked down at her sparkling star dress. “Maybe I should go change.”
    “No way,” I said. “I’m sure the ghosts of Sven-whatever won’t mind you looking cheerful. Now get out of here.” I nodded at the open cargo bay. “You’re letting in the dirt.”
    Nova and Basil hurried down the ramp to their waiting cab. I watched them drive off until the bright blue vehicle disappeared between the hundreds of parked freighters sharing our tiered dock, and then I went back inside to continue the serious work of picking out which new blade I’d be making Caldswell pay for.
    The repairs to the Fool went on all night and into the morning. The captain and Mabel took shifts supervising, and when Nova and Basil got back from dinner, Caldswell pressed them into service setting up the new equipment being loaded into the bridge. Hyrek, of course, stayed in his room. There was nothing for the xith’cal doctor to do, and his presence would only terrify the work crews. I was banished for the same reason, but unlike certain lizards, I can’t sit around reading all day. I’d found and ordered my new weapon the night before, and now that I didn’t have blade shopping to keep me busy, I was getting bored.
    A bored Paradoxian is a dangerous thing. Caldswell knew it, too, and the moment I came out of my room, he’d put me in charge of picking Cotter’s replacement. I’d never had a hiring position before, and I was so thrilled at the promotion that I said yes before the captain had finished speaking.
    An hour later I’d rewritten Caldswell’s grossly inadequate job requirements and put a new ad up on every employment listing I could find with instructions for applicants to send their résumé. The résumé requirement was a risky move since we were leaving tomorrow, but there was no way in hell I was doing a cattle call like Caldswell had used to find Cotter and me. After all, the person I picked would be the one guarding my back. This contract with Caldswell was my ticket to becoming a Devastator, and I’d be damned if I died because I wasn’t willing to take the effort to find a partner who could do the job properly.
    If the résumé requirement cut into my replies, though, I couldn’t tell. Not four hours after I posted the position, I had fifty applications waiting on my com. I rejected most out of hand, but by evening I had a nice pile of potentials. All I needed now was the captain’s approval and I could start calling people back, so I hopped out of bed, threw on a long T-shirt over my shorts and tank top so the Terran work crews wouldn’t leer, and headed out to find him.
    I’d thought Caldswell would be overseeing the work on the bridge, but Mabel was the only one up there when I stuck my head in. The captain wasn’t in the lounge either, or the cargo bay. That left his cabin, so I started down the spiral staircase to the lower hallway where the captain kept his rooms. I’d just made it to the second spiral when I heard someone say my name.
    The sound stopped me cold. I didn’t recognize the voice, but it was masculine, softly accented, and clearly angry. The anger wasn’t what stopped me, though. I couldn’t actually say what had done it, but something about hearing my name in that soft accent hit me like a shot. But while I was trying to recover, the man was still speaking.
    “…can’t stay here,” he said. “Send her back to Paradox. Leave her on Wuxia if you have to, just get her away.”
    And with that, shock was replaced by rage. There was only one Paradoxian left on this rig, and that accented idiot was trying to get me kicked off. Applicants forgotten, I dropped into a crouch and peered through the gap in the metal stairs to see who the voice belonged to, though I had a pretty good idea already. Sure enough, the cook