Local Star Aimee Ogden (the lemonade war series txt) đ
- Author: Aimee Ogden
Book online «Local Star Aimee Ogden (the lemonade war series txt) đ». Author Aimee Ogden
Triz tossed back the entire glass of âshine. It burned on its way down, and the burn cooled the fury inside of her. Everyone here sat around wasting time while Casne waited for Justice to turn its back on her. And here was Triz, too, entertaining a space-addled cockpit jock instead of doing the something-real that eluded her. Something that would help Casne. Maybe heâd even been the one to set Casne up, as some sort of ultra-petty revenge for the crash-and-burn of a matchup sheâd made between him and Triz. Revenge against either of them, or both, and now heâd come to enjoy a long salty pour of her misery.
Triz couldnât quite square that image with the person sheâdâoccasionallyâenjoyed spending time with. The person whoâd brought her confectionary stars from the Webward Pearls, whoâd sent her long-distance dinners from halfway across the galaxy when she came down with the strain of mendicantâs flu that came through the Hab a few months back. Still, she couldnât rule anything out, even if that made her the ultra-petty one. âWhat. Do. You. Want.â
âTo help Casne. I want her out of there too. I mean, do you think she went and grabbed the first pilot she could find to throw at you? She and I came up together.â That must have meant something in Fleet-talk, because it meant nothing to Triz. âEven if sheâd rather crunch numbers than swing a yoke. This is pulling Justiceâs attention from the Ceebee trials so realistically, Casneâs case isnât going to get the attention it deserves. Fleet Hero or not, when a pile of 22CR Starbusters gets unloaded on an occupied Arcology . . . â His throat jerked; Triz looked away. âIâll be your errand boy as long as it means something, the right thing, gets done.â
âI tried doing the right thing.â Triz beckoned the attendant and pointed at her empty cup. E nodded and took out a larger pitcher to hold up to the âshine tap. Well. Triz wasnât going to argue with that. âIt didnât get me anywhere.â And I donât know what to do now, she didnât add, in case he had an opinion about that.
âOkay, so . . . maybe the right thing is what Casne would do. Or Nantha. And since neither of them is here, and we have to pick up the slack, we have to make do with the Triz thing or the Kalo thing.â
âI donât think hitting things with a wrench is going to help. And the Kalo thing is just talking. Howâs that working out for you so far?â
The attendant set the pitcher neatly on the table; Kalo offered his fob and paid before Triz could. She washed away a muttered thanks with a fresh pour of âshine. Sheâd spent a lot already tonight, and she had no job to replenish that credit now. Sheâd worry about that next. PubWel would see her housed and fed in the meantime anyway.
âYou want talk?â Kalo tipped his glass at her. âFine, letâs talk. You know and I know that Casne would never take a shortcut to win a fight.â His gaze lengthened, staring through Triz. âI once watched her fight a Ceebee in a dive on Gnosseo without a scrap of tech to help her, just to prove she didnât need it. Iâve seen her sacrifice her own tactical array to take fire from Do-Ffash pirates so a divvy Hab didnât get hit.â
Triz knew about the Fleetâs activities clearing pirates out of the Armward Bands thanks to Nantha; she hadnât heard about Gnosseo and had trouble picturing Casne engaged in a fistfight. âShe did that?â
âShe did. It was amazing. Just . . . donât tell Nantha about that one.â
âTell Miss By-the-Books about a dive bar fistfight? Yeah, I donât think so. Sheâd probably write a disciplinary note for her own file just for knowing about it.â When he grinned, Triz felt a matching expression tug at her own mouth. She crushed that tentative smile under the easy weight of pessimism. âAnyway, yes, we know what we know, thatâs great. But I donât think any Justice will factor any of that in.â
âNo, butâdonât stop there. So if we know Casne didnât do it, whoâd want to smear her?â Kalo slammed his glass down on the tabletop. It tipped onto its side, the round gleaming eye fixed her accusingly. âLanniq might know some likely suspects, but I havenât seen hide or hair of him in days. He basically lives on the drilling circuit these days. Iâm surprised heâs not chewing down the Admiralâs door himself to get answers. Itâs not like him to run away from a fight.â
âWell . . .â Triz frowned. The two glasses of âshine blunted the edge of her thoughts. She had to try a few times to pierce Kaloâs question about who could be out to get Casne. It felt good, though, like the alcohol could smother the fire of frustration inside her instead of starting a larger conflagration. âThe Ceebees, obviously. Theyâd be mad at her. She was key to their loss at Golros.â But not because of civilian casualties.
Kalo shrugged dismissively. âYeah, but theyâre mad at a lot of us. Like, some five thousand Fleet officers and crew. If they were going to fob a war crime off on one of us, why not Savelian, who actually supervised the whole thing?â A curl lifted his lip. âPlus, they have other stuff to be worried about besides revenge, like, I donât know, losing at least half their fleet and their last major planetside strongholds?â
Triz refilled both glasses, then rounded on Kalo. âWhy did you ask me what I think if youâre going to laugh at whatever I say? Stupid guttergirl with delusions of intelligence.â
âIâm not laughing! And Iâve never thought you were stupid, Triz. You know that. I hope you know.â His eyebrows came together as she set the pitcher down lopsided and nearly spilled it. âIâm just saying, the Ceebees arenât the
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