“I don’t want you on the battle team,” he said abruptly, his face hard and expressionless.
“What? Don’t be daft,” she laughed, expecting him to be joking. But his expression didn’t change.
“We’re going into an unknown location with dubious intelligence. You’re already on SO13’s watchlist,” he insisted, still holding her arm. “What if they’ve used your brother to draw you out?”
She yanked her arm free. “What? By making up stories about experimentation on aliens? From a brother it’s known I don’t get along with? In case you hadn’t realized, Zero, I’m not exactly the white sheep in my family.”
His brows snapped together. “Yeah, well. I don’t like it. It doesn’t make sense. And you were injured. You could get hurt again.”
The anger she’d been doing such a good job of keeping under wraps flared, burning the walls she’d kept it contained behind to ashes in the blink of an eye.
“No. It doesn’t make sense. You know what else doesn’t make sense? Keeping one of the two people who actually have a fucking clue how human security forces work off the team. Yeah, you Warborne are good, but I served for years. I’m not some delicate little flower you need to protect. I’m more than capable of looking after myself… a fact I thought I’d already proven!”
“Yeah, and in doing so you almost crippled yourself!” he bellowed, the anger in his eyes matching hers. “I will not allow you to put yourself in danger again.”
Her eyebrows almost disappeared into her hair. “You? You won’t allow it? Tell me, when did what I do become your decision? When we fucked? Sorry, sunshine, but me letting you shove your cock inside me, good as it was, does not mean I cede all life decisions and control to you. Ever. Now, if you’ll get out of my way, I need to speak to Allen about this battle plan.”
Shaking with pent up rage, she shoved past him and marched away up the corridor before she could do something she regretted.
Like burst into tears over an asshole man.
Eris didn’t return to their quarters that night.
Grumbling under his breath about women and their moods, Zero had gotten ready for bed and tried to sleep. He wasn’t too worried about her going and getting herself into trouble. The Sprite was a small ship and everyone on board knew she was with him.
She’d probably gone to Red, he reasoned. Who would have offered Eris the spare bunk in her room until she’d calmed down enough to see sense. There was no way she should be heading into combat, not after the kind of major treatment she’d had. He was surprised Talent hadn’t raised an objection in the briefing. But… he was still a relatively new member of the crew. Probably didn’t want to rock the boat.
He sighed and looked at the underside of the bunk above. The Sprite had originally been a troop carrier, so each room had two bunks. Most of the crew used the extra for storage. There were forty-eight rivets in it, he noted idly.
Yeah… Eris would be fine. She’d sleep and then realize he was right. She should leave the combat to him and the Warborne, all of whom were hardier races than humanity. Sparky… well, he liked the human, but the guy was quite frankly insane. If Sparky wanted to hurl himself headlong into danger at the drop of a hat, Zero couldn’t do anything about it. The man wasn’t Zero’s responsibility.
“When we fucked? Sorry, sunshine, but me letting you shove your cock inside me, good as it was…”
Her words came back to haunt him just on the edge of sleep, and he winced at the crude phrasing. They hadn’t just fucked. There had been a real connection. He’d felt it all the way down to the soul he wasn’t sure he had.
No, he knew he had a soul. He had to because otherwise, how had he felt such a connection between them? How had mere fucking made him feel so alive and near to heaven? How did her smile and the mere fact she existed make him, a creature who believed in facts and figures, in data and code, believe in the existence of something as intangible as heaven?
But… she’d said it was good. He’d argue it was better than good… but good he could work with. A smile curved his lips as he cheated and used his onboard to trigger a sleep cycle. His last thought as his body went lax and he drifted off was that he would make pancakes again in the morning after Eris came and apologized to him…
“Wake up, Zero! We’ve got a problem!”
A heavy fist hammering on his door yanked Zero out of sleep abruptly. He gasped and jerked upright, almost slamming his head into the metal panel of the bunk above.
“What the fu…?” He scrubbed at his eyes and checked the time. Shit. He’d overslept. They were only ninety minutes out from the moon lab.
“I’m up,” he yelled back, opening the door remotely as he tumbled out of bed, reaching for pants at the same time.
“Oh jeez…” Red recoiled. “Underpants, Zero. They’re a thing.”
“The seams rub,” he growled and hauled his combats on over his bare ass.
“Whatever. Nice package,” she commented, but without the usual sass and bite. An automatic response. “Get your ass up to the bridge. The humans are gone.”
He froze, still shoving his feet into boots, his blood running cold. “What?”
“Humans? You know… kinda small,” she waved a hand about shoulder height where Eris came up to on her. “Talk back a lot. Remember them? Yeah? Well, they fucked off in the combat shuttle with a couple of power suits.”
“Shit.”
Zero finished dressing and reached the bridge in record time to find the rest of the Warborne already assembled. T’Raal’s face
