Reth had his hands full with the Kressl run.
At some point since the last time the ship’s maps had been updated,
a small moon had disintegrated just south of Bellisle, leaving an
asteroid belt strewn across space like debris lining a busy
highway. It took every waking hour to plot and re-plot the ship’s
course. More than once, he had to call down to the gunnery to
request clearance. Some of the damn asteroids were just too big to
outmaneuver.
Not that Reth needed an excuse to page Xan to
the depths of the ship.
By the third day of tedious navigation, the
asteroid field was clear. Sensing an impending end to his shift,
Reth pressed the intercom button that would patch him through to
the gunners below. With a faint push, he turned his navigator’s
chair away from the bridge for
