Shadows and Shades (#4 Post-Order 66 Series)

Shadows and Shades - Part 11

She was seated in the left chair in front of Ba-Ran's desk, her cap and a bag resting in the seat next to her. Crosshair's mind raced. Will she know me? He and Iden had spoken a little about what she and Nisa had discussed after they'd broken Howzer out of prison. He knew she was aware of him at a minimum, but he was unsure if she knew what he looked like. Holding his breath, he stepped up to her right side, keeping the tattooed side of his face from her view. She glanced up for a moment at him, and he nodded at her. She returned the silent acknowledgement before turning her attention back to Ba-Ran.

"Admiral Rampart is wanting figures on how the prison labor I've supplied has been working out. I was wondering if you've been tracking statistics pertaining to their performance, any sort of disciplinary measures that have been necessary, that sort of thing."

Crosshair was trying not to stare, but he was finding it difficult to not survey all the similarities between the woman seated to his left and the woman he fell into bed with every night. Their bone structure was similar enough to mark them as siblings. Their noses were slightly different, but they shared the same piercing eyes. When she had turned to appraise him, he'd noted the little pinch between her eyebrows that Iden also got at times. He also noticed the silver leaf necklace peeking out of her collar. When his eyes moved back upwards, they were met with a hard stare.

"Do you have a problem, worker?"

The delivery was so reminiscent of Iden's sarcasm that he almost could have laughed if his pulse wasn't suddenly pounding in his ears.

"No, ma'am. Just noticed your jewelry flashing in the overhead lighting. It's a beautifully crafted piece."

Nisa's gloved hand closed around the leaf pendant absently, her thumb rubbing over it before tucking it back inside her uniform. She was still watching Crosshair carefully, but her face softened slightly.

"Thank you. It was my mother's."

Ba-Ran had frozen behind his desk at her initial remarks, concerned there was about to be a confrontation, but was clearly relieved as the situation diffused itself. "This is Aban. He's one of our best quality engineers."

Nisa nodded at him before turning back to her datapad.

"I can come back later if now's a bad time, Ba-Ran," Crosshair said noncommittally, trying to find an escape from the room to avoid being around Nisa as much as he could.

"That won't be necessary," she stated. "I'll only be a few minutes. Now, the data?"

Ba-Ran was scrambling at his computer, trying to search for the files that she'd requested. "Yes, just a moment, Commodore. I'm compiling it now onto a data disk for you."

Nisa sniffed. "Very good."

"Will your workers be staying with us much longer, Commodore?" Crosshair asked, trying to keep his voice neutral as if he were making casual conversation.

Nisa's eyes immediately narrowed at the question. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "Just wondering how much time I should spend getting to know my new coworkers. Building interpersonal relationships is helpful in the workplace, I hear." He was terrible at joking, but hoped it came off as slightly teasing.

His response appeared to mostly satisfy Nisa, but she was still watching him warily. "They'll be here a while longer I'm afraid, but I wouldn't recommend getting to know any of them on a personal level seeing as they're all criminals."

Before he could stop himself, Crosshair glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "If you say so."

If Iden was here, she'd shoot me in the foot for that comment.