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He didn't apologise, but he did lighten up.
The comms buzzed before Marshall spoke again.
"They didn't respond. I made them an offer to leave IF space before I fire on them. You'll note their change of course."
"They're heading toward the Gamma," Brinley said.
"Change course," J'avet said. "Take us away from both ships."
"Getting the hells out of here so we don't end up as a ship sandwich," Brinley said with a nod.
"Definitely the worst kind of sandwich," I agreed.
"I don't think a laser sandwich sounds like much fun," Brinley remarked.
I grinned.
"No, but a canon sandwich—"
"I see being annoying is a human thing," J'avet said dryly.
"I don't think so," I replied. "I think it's universal. You're pretty annoying too." I gave him a smile over my shoulder.
The side of his mouth twitched. "I don't think you can make a comparison between us."
"That's true," I replied. "I'm nowhere near as annoying as you."
Brinley stifled a laugh.
"You're all equally irritating," E'rel said. He looked as though he'd just woken up.
"Did we wake you?" Brinley sounded genuinely concerned.
His scowl softened slightly when he looked at her. Yeah, he had it really bad.
"I should have woken an hour ago," he said. His scowl was back in place again.
"You were sleeping so peacefully, I thought I'd let you sleep for a while longer," Brinley said.
I exchanged glances with J'avet. If he also thought they were too cute for words, he gave no indication. His expression gave me no hint as to what he was thinking.
"Next time, don't let me oversleep," E'rel snapped. He turned and stalked back toward his corner to work on various gadgets, or whatever he did back there.
Halfway there, he stopped, and turned his face back to say, "Please."
Brinley nodded, although she looked unimpressed.
If he was interested in her, he was going to have to work harder than that. J'avet, for all his flaws, at least displayed moments of reasonable, compassionate behaviour. He was frustrating and confusing, but I knew there was someone decent in there. More or less. When I didn't want to kick his ass. Which was often, but it went both ways. Sometimes I even deserved it, but not often.
"The unidentified ship is almost in visual range," Brinley said. "I'll turn on the screen when it is." To me, she added, "Having screens running uses more fuel."
"That makes sense," I said. "Don't want to end up with a flat battery."
"Not out here," she agreed. "And not right now. That would be bad."
"There's Gamma," J'avet said.
The ship soared past us, at an angle so she wouldn't collide with us on the way past. For a small ship, she was enormous compared to our pod. A cruise ship beside a dinghy. A whale beside a tuna. An elephant beside… Well you get it.
