"Isabo Kelly - Last Call on Eldora Station" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly Isabo)

Last Call on Eldora Station
Isobo Kelly




Katie flopped onto the bar stool and scowled down at the shifting hologram decorating the bar’s counter
top. A Tancan whiskey appeared under her nose. She would have smiled if she’d had the energy.
“Thanks, Nick.”

She dropped her head back on her shoulders to look into the bartender’s eyes. Purple eyes. Stunning
against his pale skin and black hair. She raised the glass in a silent salute then downed the whiskey in one
gulp, squeezing her eyes shut against the sting in her throat. When the sting subsided and warmth settled
in her belly, she opened her eyes and sighed.

“Tough day?” Nick’s slow, sympathetic grin added to the glow in her gut. He took the empty glass from
her lax fingers. “Want another?”

She shook her head. “The commander wants me back on duty in an hour.”

Nick’s easy grin dissolved into a scowl. “You’ve been on duty for the last twenty hours.”

Katie raised her eyebrows surprised he knew her schedule. “Don’t remind me. I’m so beat my eyes
won’t stay open. But he wants the main power grid re-routed through another alternate series after that
last station-wide failure. Seems to think if we re-route enough systems we’ll solve the problems.” She
shook her head in disgust then rolled her neck trying to work out a kink. “We’re not ‘fixing’ anything.
Just putting a bandage on it, hoping for the best. Damn station’s falling to bits, and Commander
Whitney’s too cheap to requisition the parts we need to fix things.”

Nick picked up a glass and started drying it with an ever-present towel. She loved the quaint habit. He
didn’t have to hand-dry anything. That’s what the drying tubes were for. But he insisted that being a
publican on a space station didn’t make him any less a proper publican and publican’s dried glasses while
talking to their clientele. She relaxed as she watched him, soothed by his habit as much as he was.

He set the glass down with a click. “You could probably use a cup of coffee.”

She watched him move off down the bar, continued watching him as he poured her coffee and brought it
back to her. Watching Nick was becoming a hobby, the only hobby she had time for these days. But it
was a nice past time. He looked almost as good walking away as he looked walking back to her.

“You know what really gets to me?” He pressed his palms into the bar, leaning toward her as he spoke.
She sipped at the hot, black coffee and shook her head, fascinated by the genuine anger in his eyes. “The
fact that there’re civilians aboard this station. It’s supposed to be a home to people, a mini-society. And
Commander Whitney plays with it like it’s a toy, heedless of the consequences if it breaks.”

She set her mug back on the bar. “He’s proud of his efficiency record. If he comes in under budget
again this quarter, he gets a promotion and a hefty financial reward.”

“It’s nothing but greed. And it’s dangerous.” He slammed his fist onto the counter top, making her mug
jump. The small handful of people in the pub looked up from their drinks. Nick grimaced and went back