Sunday Snippet: Sabotage

June 28, 2015

Wow, what a great week of television and binge watching!

The Last Ship rocked! I can't wait for tonight's episode. So far, I love how they're not dragging stuff out and moving the plot and characters forward. Keep that up, show. I can say the same about Defiance. Moving everything along, but keeping the focus tight is awesome. I'm pretty thrilled there was a dose of closure for Amanda this week and I'm so intrigued about what's really going on with Nolan and Irisa.

Killjoys and Dark Matter continue to have me hooked. I love the dynamic between Dutch and the brothers on Killjoys and Lucy rocks. Ships with personality make me happy. With Dark Matter, I'm interested to see what our loosely group crew gets into. Keep dishing out the clues, show. I like getting them.

Strike Back broke my heart… again. At this point, I'm pretty much prepped to loose everyone by the final episode. Seriously. LOL I figure if I assume they'll all be dead by the finale, I can't be disappointed. Just saying.

All caught up on Teen Wolf and ready for season five. Looking forward to seeing how this season goes. And my binge watch of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries continues. I'm so in love with this show. Glad I've got a few seasons to sink into.

That's it on the TV front. Tonight's post is from Sabotage, a novella where my characters get to play a fun game of cat and mouse.

Here's the tagline:

Sapphire Naught and Gifford Fell are tasked with finding a saboteur and neither is allowed to fly until the culprit is apprehended. The cat and mouse game of tracking and luring their prey into a trap takes its toll on their relationship but ends up making them see new sides to each other.

And a sneaky peek…

"You two are grounded."

Sapphire Naught stood up so fast her chair went flying backwards. "Are you insane?" She realized she spoke to her superior officer and lowered her voice to a normal level. "What I mean to say, Sir—"

"Sit. Down." Commander Ned Berkley didn't have to make his request an order, his voice brooked no argument.

Sapphire dragged her chair back to its place in front of the desk and slid her gaze toward Giff. He shrugged. He didn't like the idea of not flying either, but he'd learned to let Berkley say his piece before interjecting any kind of opinion. Saph would be smart if she remembered to give her mouth the day off sometimes.

Berkley pinned Giff with his gaze. "Lieutenant Fell, got a burning desire to run your yap, too?" The commander quirked a brow.

Giff shook his head. "No, Sir. Lieutenant Naught has that covered." His attempt at humor worked, both officers snorted and relaxed.

Berkley folded his hands on the desk. "Look, I don't want to keep two of my best out of the air, but until we figure out if why the hell our planes keep having near misses, I can't risk you two being out in the black."

Sapphire slumped forward. "I'm sorry, Sir. I should've let you finish before I jumped to conclusions." Her head shot up. "You think we're being sabotaged, don't you?"

Giff tensed. A saboteur would make sense, but damn, the list of who might want to wreak havoc numbered in the double digits. The Hyperion saw action on a regular basis, usually without support from the planetary fleet. A lot of people didn't like being leading line of defense for the rabble rousing outer rim consortium hell bent on destroying decades of peace.

Berkley threw up a hand. "I honestly don't know what the hell to think, but yeah, sabotage is a big possibility." He frowned. "And I don't like the sick feeling of dread I get when I consider the probability versus the reality that we're out here alone. I mean our resources are limited, so maybe we have a bad run of parts in our inventory, but the inconsistencies of what's happening give me concern."

Giff cut in. "Nothing's been repeated. I mean the problems we've had to date aren't the same ones over and over. It's always something different." Which upped the chances they had a renegade who wanted to cause trouble.

Berkley nodded. "Exactly. And that's where you two come in." He opened a file and handed each pilot a sheet of paper. "This is my short list of suspects, for lack of better terminology." He gave them a moment to scan the names. "I don't want to stir up ill will or hit the panic button, but I have to know if one of my crew is deliberately downing planes." He stopped, a red stain of anger coloring his throat.

Sapphire settled back in her seat. "At least we're not only grounded because you can't lose two good pilots. Giff has intelligence training and I, well, I'm not actually sure why I'm here."

Giff sighed. She'd never learn.

He leaned closer to the desk. "What do you need from us, Sir?" The list had several names Giff wouldn't have pegged and lacked three or four he would have included.

Berkley studied them for several long moments, enough to make Giff fight the urge to prod the man along.

Letting a long breath, Berkley eased back in his chair. "In short, I need the names on the list eliminated and I want you two to handle crossing them off." He paused and leveled his gaze on both. "And I'm asking if you can put your relationship on hold long enough to make this happen."

The room went completely silent. Busted in the biggest way by the most senior officer. Giff's fraternization with Sapphire couldn't be considered a huge secret, but they strove for discretion. Most of the crew either knew or suspected Saph hooked up with Giff on a regular basis. They weren't the only ones, but the higher profile of being pilots made staying under the radar a lot more difficult.

And now Berkley pretty much called them out.

Well, hell.

I love to write couple who think they're being sneaky but aren't. :D

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye