Who is Willing (Stardancer Book 2)

Alysha Forrest is looking forward to her assignment as the Songlance's newest lieutenant, particularly when it gets her placed as the liaison to the ship's water environment crewmembers. Interfacing with the mermaid-like Naysha and the alien Platies who serve as the ship's navigators is an exhilarating experience, and all the other officers on the crew are eager to welcome her into the fold… all of them, except one.

Mike Beringwaite, the overbearing ensign who ruined their leadership retreat years earlier, has somehow made lieutenant too. When a routine problem in the water environment throws them together, Alysha has to decide how willing she is to forgive him for what he did, whether she can work with him again, and most importantly, if she can trust him---with her life.

The disaster at the leadership retreat is nothing to the one they have to handle now. If they can....

Genre (setting): space opera (Pelted)
Tags: friendship, leadership, redemption, prejudice, racism, aquatic aliens
Rating: PG-13 for implied strong language and intense action/suspense

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Excerpt from Chapter 1

Before her loan to the Alliance Fleet, Maureen Lovelace had spent twenty-seven years in the Terran Navy’s uniform. As a senior non-com she’d logged countless hours playing shepherd to freshly minted officers...enough that her transfer had come with a high-ranking “pony saddle,” what naval personnel had dubbed officer commissions in the Pelted’s topsy-turvy system. Whatever the case, she was the UAV Songlance’s NOTC—New Officer Training Coordinator—which meant all the newbies came through her office. And in all her years, she’d rarely seen a file quite like Forrest’s. The young woman standing at attention in front of Lovelace’s desk was the newest member of the Songlance’s crew and she didn’t look old enough to have accrued the comments appended to her file.

“At ease,” she said. “Lieutenant Forrest. Welcome aboard.”

“Thank you, sir,” the woman said.

“You’re the seniormost officer we’re taking on at this stop,” Lovelace continued. “Lieutenant Shandreis is on family leave and we needed to replace him. Since you’re command track we’re going to put you on the usual full-ship rotation, but initially you’ll be handling his duty.” She tilted her head. “Your file says you have some facility with non-humans—you managed the security detail for a diplomatic visit to the Phoenix, yes?”

“Last cruise, yes, sir.”

“The Diamondwing didn’t have a water environment, did it?”

“No, sir.”

“Can you swim?”

The woman’s ears flicked back, but her reply was confident. “Yes, sir, though it’s been a while.”

“Brush up,” Lovelace said. “For your first rotation you’ll be serving as our liaison to the aliens. That’s mostly the Naysha and Platies, though we also have a small Flitzbe clod—they’re part of the Medical department. Your SKXA score indicates you should be capable of handling the task.”

Actually, Forrest’s Stanley-Kerrileu Xenophilia Average indicated she was more than capable, but the lieutenant wouldn’t know it until she was promoted to a position that involved staffing her own ship. Fleet’s Logistics & Personnel division was very tight-fisted about releasing what it deemed sensitive material despite how flat the Fleet’s command structure was. Lovelace had been on loan for three years and she still wasn’t sure how they made a military work with only six ranks. She suspected the answer was “fine, until a war broke out.”

“Until you move to your next rotation you’ll be reporting to me for everything but your bridge duties,” Lovelace continued. “Your schedule’s been tagged for you, and you’ll have the liaison’s quarters until you’re done with the assignment. Don’t let anyone twit you about their size. Just because your roommates are on the other side of a glass wall doesn’t mean you’re not bunking with them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Any questions?”

“No, sir.”

“All right, go check into your quarters. We’re glad to have you, Forrest. You came recommended.”

For the first time since she entered the cabin, the woman hesitated. Lovelace was glad to see it; she liked to see confidence in young officers, but she distrusted perfection. That pause made Alysha Forrest seem—well, human was the wrong word, despite the Pelted’s origins. Genuine, then.

“I’m glad to be here, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

Once she was alone, Lovelace folded her arms and leaned against her desk. She could have asked the First Commander to assign one of the Songlance’s existing lieutenants to the liaison spot; for the grade, it was the most coveted position on a hybrid ship. Time logged with aliens always looked good on personnel records, and the administrative skills honed bridging such disparate worlds were prized among senior staff. In fact, it would be a miracle if Forrest’s assignment didn’t cause a certain amount of friction among her peers. That was why Lovelace had argued for it. She was an old hand by Pelted standards; she’d seen records like Forrest’s before. Someone was shepherding her career, and it would be better for the Fleet to find out sooner rather than later if her patron was doing it for the right reasons.

The Pelted didn’t have a war yet, though you wouldn’t know it with the level of piracy on the border and in the neutral territory bordering it. But Lovelace gave it less than ten years before the Chatcaava brought them one, and when they did—well. They wouldn’t need any trophy officers in positions of responsibility. There had been many reasons to accept the assignment to the Pelted Fleet, but the one that had finally convinced Lovelace had been the same one that had seen her enlist in the first place: she wanted to protect humanity. And if the Chatcaava chewed through the Alliance, they’d make short work of Earth.