"Sir."
Rhade turned around. "Why so formal, Harper?"
Harper shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems appropriate, somehow." He gestured out towards the continuing battle. "We won, right?"
"Yes, Harper, we did. Isn't it great?"
"You don't sound very happy."
How could he explain to Harper his fear that Beka wasn't going to come back? Or his fear that if she did, she'd leave again, this time never to return. He couldn't. He didn't even try. "I am. It's what I wanted after all. Now I think things will go according to plan. Of course, I have said that before." That last part was whispered.
Harper didn't say anything for a bit. Then, "Where's Beka? She's not locked up any longer I noticed."
"I don't know."
"What!"
Rhade explained what Beka had done. "And she's not back yet." Harper was panicking. "You don't think she's--."
"No! Definitely not. She's too good a pilot for that. We just have to wait a little longer for her to return, that's all. But she will. I know it." Harper wondered whom Rhade was trying to convince.