humiliation to Jewel’s rage.
“I’m trying to show you I love you,” Erik told her. He
stepped close against her again. “And trying to remind you that you have
feelings for me too…”
She shoved him away again. “What is wrong with you? Do you
have any idea how impossible you’ve made my life on this ship? You’ve had
relationships with the captain and the engineer. How am I supposed to work with
both of them hating me?”
“They’ll get over it,” Erik told her. “We have a right to
see each other if we want to.” He stepped in to kiss her again. This time he
was ready when Jewel tried to push him back. He blocked her feeble effort
easily with a martial arts move and got his arms around her body and his lips
on her mouth.
She struggled for a moment, but her body betrayed her,
reminding her of how good it had felt when Erik held her in the shower. She
began to relax into Erik’s kiss, but then remembered Spacer Arico was still
watching them and shoved Erik away, not as violently as the first time, but
seriously just the same. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest and a
frightening yet delicious heat roared between her thighs. Her face felt just as
flushed as Erik’s looked.
He stepped forward as if he planned to kiss her again.
Jewel shook her head to clear her thoughts and thrust one
arm out between them. “That’s enough of that,” she said. Her voice wasn’t
nearly forceful enough, but it slowed him down a little. “I can’t talk now, I
have to think and…” What was she doing before Erik interrupted her anyway? She
remembered with sudden clarity. “And I have to get to the bridge.”
Erik backed off a step, apparently satisfied that she’d
stopped completely rejecting him.
Pulling the tattered shreds of her dignity together, Jewel
pushed past Erik, gaining confidence as she walked. She almost thought she’d
escaped when the exec called out again from behind her. “Wait up, Jewel. I have
to go there too!”
* * * * *
The bridge remained a mess forty-one hours after the crash
translation that had dumped them in this star system. The vomit had been
cleaned up and the personnel had showered and donned fresh uniforms, but the
atmosphere was a second disaster waiting to happen. Part of the problem was
mental—the crew was angry over its circumstances and the knowledge that their
pay for this trip was going to be atrociously small at best. But the other part
of the problem was physical—like everything else on the Euripides, the
air filters needed replacing. While they were still technically viable if the
ship’s crew carried out regularly scheduled maintenance cleaning, they’d long
ago lost the ability to make the air they circulated smell fresh and clean.
Taken together the atmosphere on the command deck was reminiscent of a
terminally ill beast snapping at its handlers when they tried to bring it
water.
“What’s our status, Warrant?” Erik asked as he entered the
bridge behind Jewel. He couldn’t even let a few minutes pass between their
entrances. No, he had to emphasize the fact that the two of them were
together—even though Jewel had just tried to make it clear that that wasn’t the
case anymore.
“Tried” being the operative word. Not kicking Erik in the
balls when he kissed her in front of witnesses probably supported the still
together argument pretty well.
“Unchanged since our last update,” the Deck Officer told
him. “We’ve received an automated message from Brynhild Station instructing us
to assume a parking orbit, but no human has responded to any of our queries.”
“I see,” Erik responded. There was an odd tone of
disappointment in his voice that had nothing at all to do with their plummeting
chances of fixing the Euripides ’ problems.
Behind him, Captain Kiara entered the bridge. The
scuttlebutt had it that she hadn’t been here at all since those first minutes
after entering the system, working from her cabin where the air smelled
“I’m trying to show you I love you,” Erik told her. He
stepped close against her again. “And trying to remind you that you have
feelings for me too…”
She shoved him away again. “What is wrong with you? Do you
have any idea how impossible you’ve made my life on this ship? You’ve had
relationships with the captain and the engineer. How am I supposed to work with
both of them hating me?”
“They’ll get over it,” Erik told her. “We have a right to
see each other if we want to.” He stepped in to kiss her again. This time he
was ready when Jewel tried to push him back. He blocked her feeble effort
easily with a martial arts move and got his arms around her body and his lips
on her mouth.
She struggled for a moment, but her body betrayed her,
reminding her of how good it had felt when Erik held her in the shower. She
began to relax into Erik’s kiss, but then remembered Spacer Arico was still
watching them and shoved Erik away, not as violently as the first time, but
seriously just the same. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest and a
frightening yet delicious heat roared between her thighs. Her face felt just as
flushed as Erik’s looked.
He stepped forward as if he planned to kiss her again.
Jewel shook her head to clear her thoughts and thrust one
arm out between them. “That’s enough of that,” she said. Her voice wasn’t
nearly forceful enough, but it slowed him down a little. “I can’t talk now, I
have to think and…” What was she doing before Erik interrupted her anyway? She
remembered with sudden clarity. “And I have to get to the bridge.”
Erik backed off a step, apparently satisfied that she’d
stopped completely rejecting him.
Pulling the tattered shreds of her dignity together, Jewel
pushed past Erik, gaining confidence as she walked. She almost thought she’d
escaped when the exec called out again from behind her. “Wait up, Jewel. I have
to go there too!”
* * * * *
The bridge remained a mess forty-one hours after the crash
translation that had dumped them in this star system. The vomit had been
cleaned up and the personnel had showered and donned fresh uniforms, but the
atmosphere was a second disaster waiting to happen. Part of the problem was
mental—the crew was angry over its circumstances and the knowledge that their
pay for this trip was going to be atrociously small at best. But the other part
of the problem was physical—like everything else on the Euripides, the
air filters needed replacing. While they were still technically viable if the
ship’s crew carried out regularly scheduled maintenance cleaning, they’d long
ago lost the ability to make the air they circulated smell fresh and clean.
Taken together the atmosphere on the command deck was reminiscent of a
terminally ill beast snapping at its handlers when they tried to bring it
water.
“What’s our status, Warrant?” Erik asked as he entered the
bridge behind Jewel. He couldn’t even let a few minutes pass between their
entrances. No, he had to emphasize the fact that the two of them were
together—even though Jewel had just tried to make it clear that that wasn’t the
case anymore.
“Tried” being the operative word. Not kicking Erik in the
balls when he kissed her in front of witnesses probably supported the still
together argument pretty well.
“Unchanged since our last update,” the Deck Officer told
him. “We’ve received an automated message from Brynhild Station instructing us
to assume a parking orbit, but no human has responded to any of our queries.”
“I see,” Erik responded. There was an odd tone of
disappointment in his voice that had nothing at all to do with their plummeting
chances of fixing the Euripides ’ problems.
Behind him, Captain Kiara entered the bridge. The
scuttlebutt had it that she hadn’t been here at all since those first minutes
after entering the system, working from her cabin where the air smelled
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