Kat kept her pace rigid, even under the low-gravity. And Dax, bless his free-soaring soul, dutifully followed despite the bland and seemingly pointless directive she’d presented. When she wordlessly handed him the first bin, he set to work.
Kat didn’t need to explain herself. She was a squadron lead—she was a Gamma, and he, her cadet. But she remained with him while he filled his bin, working to load the other.
They had filled both of the bins with moon dust before she motioned for Dax to switch to the backup-com channel.
“Everything okay?” he asked once they were both on the emergency channel, the rest of their squadron securely on the other line.
“What you said earlier, to Lee and I—about the others acting weird around us. Why aren’t you?”
“Because I’ve worked with you and Lee before. I know your style. I know you. And I knew Levy.” There was no uncertainty to his words, only honesty. Pure, blunt honesty.
He really was a good soul.
“We could use more like you at the Academy,” she said.
Dax, bless his little cookie interior, was getting all red and gooey-eyed. “You don’t have to say that. It won’t change my opinion of you or Lee; I know you’re just being nice. I can get under people’s skin.”
Kat shook her head. “Get under our skin.”
She was smiling by the time they headed back towards the ship with their collections in tow. They’d switched back their coms to the common channel so she could share his brand of good humor with the rest of the squadron. Dax could be pleasant to be around when he wasn’t trying so hard to kiss-up.
Their squadron took their time loading everything up when they were done, having filled all of their containers and then some—and still easily within their mission’s time allowance.
“What?” she asked when she caught Lee staring at her. They were the last ones to remain standing on the surface of the moon.
“Nothing.” Lee shook his head, a mist of apricot-dust coating the gravity between them. “You’re breathtaking, that’s all.”
Kat grinned. “I know.”
“Have a nice chat?” he asked, a bit too knowingly.
And she thought she’d been very sneaky with her motives. Kat winked back at him. “A lady never tells.” But as she peered out across the moonscape once more, she couldn’t help but think there was hope left in their galaxy.
“Dax isn’t so bad. We can bring him along again sometime.”
With Lee a half-step behind, they clambered inside the ship with the others, sealing off another raid on the books. And with it, an extra layer of dust she hadn’t known she’d been carrying around with her.
They had their squadron de-suited and back onboard the Academy within the hour. After completing the post-raid follow ups, and instructing the dock workers and flight crew where to unload the moon dust collection, they followed their cadets out of the skimmer.
“Enjoy your afternoon naps!” she called to their cadets’ retreating backs. Dax alone laughed at her joke. Whatever.
Lee shot her an incredulous look.
“Think they heard me?” she asked. When Lee stared at her, Kat shrugged. He appreciated her irreverence, even if he didn’t know it.
Since they didn’t have labs associated with this particular raid and everything was being shipped directly to resource management, all they really had left was their cadets’ health surveys and the mission reports. Both of which could wait until later.
Which left the afternoon completely free.
“Thursday… What do we even do on Thursday afternoons?” Kat mused as they filed up through the Heptagon. It had been a while since they’d had time for normal cadet things. Just thinking that felt like a red flag. She’d been blazing after Nolan cranky-pants not two days ago, but even now, she wasn’t sure that was a lead she wanted to pursue.
She supposed they could always check-in with the twins.
They reached the showers. And despite the outer suits and helmets they’d worn out on the mission today, she still felt as if she could feel it in the crevices under her all-terrain suit and under her fingernails—essence of moon dust.
She ached to get a deep scrub in. But when she went to voice that, Lee twined his fingers through hers, pulling her towards him with just enough force to keep her feet grounded. “Hey, get over here.”
Giggling, she gave in, collapsing against him and throwing her arms around his neck. He twirled his fingers in her ponytail, yanking softly as he aligned her mouth to his. Kat grinned against his lips, eyelashes fluttering over the smattering of freckles dotting his nose.
