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“The good thing is Maeve knows there’s something wrong with the Mebsuta C. She’s probably telling Fleming he needs to reverse course and come retrieve us right now. Or at the very least call in the Space Navy. We just have to survive.”
“Not much of a plan.” Jayna made herself smile.
“I remember a detail I read in passing in Herron’s notebook that may provide more of an answer. I’ve got to go to the captain’s suite and retrieve it so I can check a few things.”
“You mean the notebook Nishagwaq’s used as a pathway into your brain? The one you were obsessed with?” Jayna made a fist and gently bumped his chin. “Am I going to have to take drastic steps again?”
He caught her fist and kissed it gently. “Thank you for rescuing me. No, I’m on the trail of one specific thing I think I remember him mentioning fairly early on, when he first acquired the Mebsuta C. I’m not going down any treasure hunting rabbit holes this time.” His grin was rueful. “We’re a sad bunch aren’t we? You’re the only one she hasn’t managed to ensnare with her mind games.”
Jayna debated for a moment and decided to trust him. “She’s got me too.” It was hard to keep her gaze focused on Theo’s brown eyes, warm as they were. “PTSD flashbacks and nightmares worse than any I ever had.”
He folded her close to him again and Jayna didn’t resist. “I wish you’d told me instead of battling it on your own. I’m ex-Navy, I get it.”
She refused to get drawn too far into the topic, even with Theo. Lurking in the recesses of her mind she sensed the demons waiting to strike again. “I’m coping. You’re not my shrink.”
“No, I hope I’m more than that. I know this isn’t the time for discussion but if we get out of this I want us to be a real couple, with a future, not only in the bedroom. You mean everything to me.”
She studied the controls behind him, her mouth dry, and then again forced herself to meet his eyes. “I’d like a future together very much. I’m willing to try.”
“I’m nothing like whoever soured you on men,” he said fiercely. “I’m strictly a one-woman guy and you’re the one I want to give my loyalty to. Only you.”
Jayna leaned in, unable to resist the attraction between them. At first the kiss was gentle, sweet, but then Theo was crushing her to him and passion made the air crackle. She looped her arms around his neck and got as close to him as humanly possible with clothes on, standing in a LB cockpit. Their tongues danced in a hot erotic ritual as old as time and Theo stroked the side of her breast through her uniform shirt. She ground her hips against him, relishing the pressure of the hard as steel arousal he was now sporting.
“I think,” he said, breaking the kiss off and feathering small caresses along her jaw, “We’d better hurry up on the escape plan.”
“Best idea you’ve had all day. What I need from you I can’t have right here, right now.” Regretfully she stepped away, although their hands remained linked for a heartbeat longer. “I’ll get Turner safely to her cabin.” Leaning over, she unfastened the pocket in her utilities and fished out the battered notebook. “I believe you needed this?”
Theo hesitated before taking it from her hand. “We can burn this once we’re free and clear. Thanks.”
“I’ll meet you on the bridge?” she said, raising one eyebrow. At his nod, she added, “I warn you right now Paxter is nearly in full mutiny mode, hopped up on feelgoods and watching trideos on duty. Nishagwaq has unlocked quite an unexpected side to our pilot.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Al right, I’m gone then. See you soon.”
“Stay out of the damn hold. Promise me.”
She squeezed his fingers. “My word as an officer. No going in there without you.”
Turner was perched on the edge of her seat, waiting for her. Jayna was afraid she was going to make an awkward comment about what she and Theo had been doing in the cockpit but instead the pale, trembling woman said, “Can you think of anywhere on this bucket I’d be safer than in my locked cabin?”
As they left the lifeboat and emerged into the Mebsuta C’s corridor, Jayna told her the truth. “I don’t know that anywhere on this ship is safe. Do what we told you and don’t open the door unless it’s Captain Knox or me on the other side. He’s working on a new plan to get us to safety.”
Turner refused to be comforted by the patently inadequate reassurance. “If things go any further south I’m heading to medbay and taking an overdose. I’m not going to let an alien thing eat my brains.”
Jayna didn’t know what to say and so they proceeded the rest of the way to the tech’s cabin in silence.
After doing a quick search of Turner’s cabin while the tech sat on her bed shivering, Jayna checked the woman had her weapon, which she did. “I’ll be back when the captain gets his plan together,” she told Turner.
“Good luck.” Curling up under the covers, Turner rolled over, cradling the blaster. “Don’t forget to lock the door.”
Emerging into the corridor, Jayna didn’t hesitate but headed toward the previous captain’s suite, making one stop along the way, at her own cabin. Carrying the brightly colored stuffed animal under one arm, she resolutely keyed open the door to the Herrons’ quarters and stepped inside. The temperature was normal, at least so far, but she heard the child’s voice from the next room, singing a silly song quietly. Jayna tiptoed across the deck to the bedroom door and her heart thumped hard at the sight of Angelee’s holo cuddling several dolls and singing to them.
“Hi,” she said when the song ended. “I brought your lovey. I hope you don’t mind me borrowing it for a while.”
Angelee watched her with an expressionless face as Jayna walked to the bed and placed the stuffed animal against the pillows. She wanted to give it directly to the girl but of course given her immaterial state, the gesture was impossible.
“I told you she wouldn’t let you go,” Angelee said.
