The Cold Steel Mind by Niall Teasdale Page B

was for certain. Ella’s view on the matter was predictable: she suggested they invite Lena to the hotel.
    Any decision was put off for the time being by the arrival of three men at the table. They were all navy, and a mismatched bunch. One was big, heavy on the muscle, with short-cropped, blond hair, and a slightly flattened nose. One was handsome, dark-haired, fit, and self-confident, and the last was smaller than his companions, clearly the one who followed rather then led. They sat down without being asked, though the third looked hesitant about it.
    ‘Are you boys lost?’ Shannon asked, her eyes on the handsome one who was sat beside her.
    ‘I’m a trained navigator,’ the man replied. ‘I don’t get lost. I’m Brin, this is Donnal,’ he indicated the big man, ‘and over there is Kennan. We thought you looked lonely.’
    ‘Thought you might like to come upstairs with us,’ Donnal said. Aneka saw Brin’s eyes twitch at the unsubtle suggestion. Kennan’s cheeks coloured.
    Shannon turned to Aneka. ‘They rent rooms by the hour as well as people.’
    ‘I’d guessed,’ Aneka replied. ‘Charming as the thought of playing pro for some horny sailors is, I’ll pass.’
    Donnal, it seemed, did not wish to give up so easily. ‘Tell you what. Drinking contest. You match me, shot for shot, and we’ll call it quits. You lose, you come upstairs.’
    ‘What do we get out of this?’
    ‘Free drinks?’ Brin suggested.
    Aneka looked around at Ella and Shannon; both of them were trying not to laugh. ‘All right, you have a deal.’ It was going to be a cheap evening.
    ~~~
    An hour later Donnal was looking slightly shaky, and Aneka was not behaving any differently than before. Ella, on her third glass of wine, was getting on quite well with Kennan. He had got the impression early on that she was not interested and that actually seemed to make him relax. Similarly, Brin was chatting casually with Shannon as though the outcome of the drinking contest meant nothing to him. Aneka was pretty sure he did not have a lot of trouble getting women who actually wanted him, so a failed conquest this evening was not going to harm his self-esteem.
    They were all members of the same crew aboard the Delta Cuprina, a frigate. The Delta-class frigates were, apparently, among the fastest fighting ships in the fleet, but theirs was in dry dock and they were doing hostile environment training in the downtime. It was, according to Brin, hard work and unlikely to ever get used in action.
    ‘I did the equivalent years back,’ Aneka commented as she waited for Donnal to sink his next shot. ‘Jungle survival training in Brunei.’
    ‘You’re that woman they found on the Xinti ship, right?’ Kennan said.
    Aneka suppressed a wince; she hated being famous. ‘Uh-huh. Ella was one of the ones that found me. Shannon’s co-pilot on the Garnet Hyde, which was the ship that found the derelict.’
    ‘So this “Brunei” was on Old Earth?’
    ‘A small country in Southeast Asia.’ Donnal put his glass down, empty, and Aneka threw back her next shot without a second’s thought. ‘I spent two weeks with mud in every crack and nothing to eat but grubs. It didn’t leave me with a great love for the place.’
    ‘I heard you were ex-military,’ Brin said. ‘Didn’t recognise you from the vid footage. You’re… better looking in reality.’ His eyes were on her chest when he said it; did the camera shrink her boobs?
    ‘Thank you.’
    ‘You’re also not even slurring and Donnal’s about to keel over.’
    Aneka smiled. ‘I really don’t get drunk easily.’
    Donnal gave a grunt and conceded defeat. ‘If I won I doubt I could do ’nything ’bout it.’ He sagged back in his seat and gave her a broad grin. ‘Y’re one chin man da pyow tser.’
    Brin pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, but Aneka just laughed. ‘And thank you, Donnal. I think.’
    Ella was giggling. ‘Serioushly, Donnal, you’ve no idea how