A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) Read Free

wind caught the board at just the right moment, twisting it from beneath her. Instead of landing with her normal skill, she tumbled into the water, losing her grip on the sail. I jumped up and pulled my shirt off.
    "Where are you going?" Marny asked. She was our heavily muscled security officer and girlfriend of my best friend Nick.
    "She might be in trouble," I said.
    "First, I don't think there's enough trouble within a hundred square kilometers to worry that girl," she said, giving me a lopsided grin. "And second, you're the worst swimmer I know."
    As if in response to Marny's declaration, Tabby resurfaced and clambered back onto the board.
    "You distracted me," Tabby exclaimed once she'd pulled the sail out of the water and was scooting back out to sea.
    "I can honestly say, you're distracting me," I replied.
    "Lech."
    Our conversation was interrupted as Ada ran up.
    "You guys want to join a pickup volleyball game?" she asked.
    Ada was probably the most naturally gorgeous woman I'd ever met and today she was in top form. Her ebony skin was a beautiful contrast to the brilliant blue two-piece suit she wore. Even more than her beauty, Ada's ebullient personality attracted followers wherever she went.
    "Marny? Nick?" I asked.
    "Hey, I'm in," Tabby said over the comm.
    Marny didn't answer other than to slide to the end of her chair and pull a pair of shorts over her single piece suit.
    By the time we'd had our fill of volleyball, hunger set in, so we caught a three-segment tram back to the resort. It was inconvenient that structures weren't allowed on the sandy beaches, but as I looked back toward the water, I could appreciate how they'd retained the natural beauty of the location.
    Only twenty percent of Curie was habitable. Though the atmosphere was breathable, the only surface water to be found was a single salt-water sea. Completely surrounded by tall mountains, it had been formed by the cataclysmic impact of a planetoid. It was that collision that had sheared off Curie's two moons, Irène and Ève, and left the thousand kilometer diameter crater where we'd discovered the pristine white sand beaches and brilliant blue waters of the Radium Sea. With only two hundred million people on all of Curie and extremely restrictive environmental safeguards, it was hard to imagine a more beautiful location in the known universe.
    The resort was two kilometers from the water and its huts spread back into the jungle, connected by elevated, wood-plank boardwalks. We'd rented a large hut with three separate bedrooms and a living room, a configuration we often selected when traveling on business.
    "What are you wearing for dinner tonight?" Tabby asked as she stepped out of the shower naked, holding a towel in one hand.
    I had difficulty focusing and didn't answer as quickly as she expected.
    "Hey, sailor, eyes up here." She pointed two fingers at my eyes and then back to her own.
    "Uh, I was thinking of wearing my Nuage civvies," I said.
    In the cloud city of Nuage Gros we'd befriended a clothing designer who'd set us up in the style of that city. That same colorful clothing would fit well in the festive atmosphere of Curie.
    She turned back to the head and gave a little skip to her step, knowing I'd follow her progress out of the room. She looked back over her shoulder to make sure I was watching and gave me an alluring smile.
    "I'll dress accordingly, then," she said.
    I took her smile as an invitation.
    We were only a few minutes late to dinner and I appreciated that no one called us on it.
    "So who is it from Belirand that we're meeting with tomorrow?" I asked Nick as we waited for our dinner to arrive.
    "It's more of a mystery than I like," he said. "We received the invite through Admiral Tullas' office, but when I pushed Lieutenant Peren on it, all he'd tell me was it came from the highest levels."
    "What do you suppose that means?" Ada asked.
    "Sounds like someone is looking for an off-the-books mission," Marny said. "We'll want to