Quiet footsteps sounded on the metal grating of the stairs behind me, and I wasn't surprised to see Araxis stepping down.Talvi scrubbed at their face with the back of one wrist, ducking their head in embarrassment.Araxis brushed past us, touching Talvi's shoulder briefly."Go on," he murmured."You know you can't be down here when the shuttle leaves."
I stood, slinging my pack over my shoulder again and followed him past Talvi and into the dim cargo bay beyond.I didn't look back.I couldn't stand it.I knew the child had gone when I heard the cargo bay doors hiss shut, and then the low thudding sound of the autolock engaging.We tracked silently through the dingy space, back to the airlock where the shuttle was docked.Araxis fussed at a blinkinginformation panel for a few moments, and then the pressurization systemwhirredto life, metal screeching and squealing.
I winced, and he glanced at me."It does work," Araxis said, mild."Usually.We've only vented the cargo bay by accident twice."But the glint in his dark eyes told me he was joking, or at least he wasn't worried about these particular mechanical whines and groans.
"Yeah, and on purpose once or twice?"
He trilled while the lights in the airlock flickered, unsteady."Yes, to make a debris field and throw off our pursuers."
"I think I've seen that film.Did you also blow up a moon, and then fake-marry a paledrian harem?"
His eyelashes fluttered."Don't fret, Sashen.I have since had our marriage annulled.You will not need to battle six paledrian brides for my honour."
I snorted.Just when I thought he couldn't get any cuter…
"And here I was,thinkingthat I might justjoinyourspace pirateharem," I drawled."Splitting dinner rotation and clean-up chores seven ways?A man can dream."
The lights on the panel brightened to an opalescent blue, and Araxis twisted the wheel to open the airlock door, careful to lock it behind us again.
Had it only been two weeks since we'd been on this shuttle, I wondered as I stepped inside and tossed my bag and swords on the bank of seats at the back.I dropped into the teal seat next to Araxis while he called up the bright screens.The airlock beyond the shuttle door starting hissing, its lights flickering unsteadily as the lock depressurized again and the shuttle prepared to launch.
I kept quiet while he finished the flight check and pulled us carefully away from the ship.We were anchored outside the rings of a gas giant, an obscure little corner of an otherwise busy system, so Araxis was serious and focused while he nudged us through the dense field of rocks and ice, finally breaking free of the ring and setting us on a course toward the orbital waystation at Thenat-2.He took a momentto plug in another chip Vivith had prepared, this one to give the shuttle a different docking signature.That had been how they'd avoided detection for so long, Araxis had explained the day before.Their shuttle was nondescript, and that made it easy to spoof registration data and ports of call – for short stays anyway.
At least if Vivith was going to make the creche's life difficult, they were a good hand at tech trickery.I admitted, begrudgingly and to myself only, that I probably could have learned a thing or two from them if they weren't so busy sneering at me.
"So," I said after he had finished his tasks, hands drifting away from the console and into his lap."This is it, huh?"
I watched his profile, so I saw the line of tension firm his angular jaw."Should we review our timeline again?"Araxis suggested without looking at me.
I reached my arms over my head and stretched against the chair with a long sigh."I don't think so.We know it."
His head tilted in my direction, eyes narrowing in thought.His fingers drummed against his thighs."We have some time.Did you want to –"
"Don't," I warned."If you make the suggestion, I'm going to say yes, and I really don't want to be wandering around a waystation asking for a ride with a hard-on.I think that sends the wrong message."
He trilled and shrugged gracefully with one shoulder."It was worth a try."
"And you'd better not make eyes at me when we see each other on Thenat-6.I'm weak.Who knows what I might be compelled to do?"
His smile softened, and he looked back toward the broad windows out front where everything was black except for the smallest pinpricks of light, the glimmers of planets in the distance."I am glad, Sashen, that you will be there with me.I am not happy that you have been forced into this by the unjust debt claim… but if you had to be, I will admit to some relief that I will have you at my side."
Now it was my turn to shrug, to pretend that this soft admission didn't make my heart patter against my chest."You'll have me by your side on Day Eight anyway," I said breezily."You know I'm going to play coy for that first week."
"Hm."His smile hooked a little more at the corner, sharpening."Yes, a week does seem to be about the length of time you are able to play coy."He silvered a little, looking self-satisfied in the sweetest way.
Hewaspleased with himself, wasn't he?And why wouldn't he be?For someone who'd apparently thought he might not be interested in sex at all, he'd certainly taken to fucking like a fish to water.He was practically a prodigy.
"Listen," I protested, "I can't be held accountable for being charmed!That is entirely your fault.Stop being so hot and nice.It's too much!"
"I cannot help the way that I am," he said dryly."Perhaps you should simply accept the inevitable."
I grinned."And what's that?"
His smile faltered as he looked at me out of the side of his black eyes.I saw his hand tighten, just for a moment."That if anyone is going to struggle with our timeline, it is you, Sashen.Who were you concerned about making eyes, hm?"I laughed, delighted, as he fluttered his pretty lashes at me before we turned our conversation elsewhere.
We arrived too quickly and also not quickly enough.The longer I sat with Araxis in the shuttle, the more impossible it seemed that we'd be parting.As we sat next to each other, chatting idly, I was struck by howeasyall of this was with him.I was good at talking; I could talk to anyone.But I didn't have to try with him – it came naturally, and I liked falling quiet and listening to him too.He told me about hiring a voltaari swords-master three years ago and spending a month learning the forms, which is why he was so much better than me, though he admitted he had still learned a few things about making the movements pretty from my instruction.He talked about other instructors he'd worked with in hand-to-hand combat, species-specific tactics, even how to make the media do what he needed it todo.He admitted that he'd been working on this plan for nearly five years, since the eggs had hatched; he and Vivith had planned to such granular detail that I was bowled over.
It was pretty different to my approach: panic, grab a desperate chance, sign without reading, and throw myself in the general direction of Thenat-6.
