Page 19 of Rogue Starfighter

“The Gate does not cross the distance. It connects two fixed points by temporarily folding the space between them.”

“That explanation did not help.”

“I am a scout, not a physicist.”

“Good to know aliens specialize.”

“We do.”

She looked around the transit bay. “Where is the ship you parked at the control tower?”

“This is the ship.”

“This entire thing was sitting in our parking lot?”

“The Wraith is a stealth craft.”

“A fact airport police are going to love when they can’t find it.”

“Your security officers will recover. The building systems will resume normal operation. No usable recording of the Wraith, or of my presence, remains in their security feeds.”

“You erased the cameras?”

“Yes.”

“But not before my coworkers saw you.”

“They will not be able to prove what they saw.”

Priya rubbed her forehead. “Alvarez is never going to let me forget I picked you over tacos.”

“You have mentioned this food twice.”

“It’s not important.”

“The male believed it was.”

“The male enjoys irritating me.”

I understood the impulse. She studied the copilot station visible through the open hatch. “You knew who I was before you came to Earth.”

“Yes.”

“How much did you know?”

“Your occupation. Your training scores. Your mission history.”

“Did you watch me play?”

I could have lied. She would have known. “Yes. But not often.”

“How many missions?”

“I reviewed all of them.”

Priya’s lips parted. Her cheeks darkened slightly. “All?”

“After the system confirmed our match.”