Although for Lana, that month was longer than the rest of her life had been, at least what she remembered. And certainly a lot more peaceful and full of joy.
Which was probably why she wasn't quite as happy about the prospect of going back to the pirate routine as everyone else seemed to be, even Dax she suspected. Although she had to admit that, as amazing as the opportunity to spend so much time with her boyfriend had been, she was looking forward to finally getting off the ship.
A month of working hard to learn her duties as a member of the crew had taken her a long way. She finally knew enough about the engine systems to take over entire shifts for Belix, and do routine maintenance and even minor repairs. She was also familiar enough with shields that, if needed, she could manage the system during combat so Fix could focus on making emergency repairs or repelling boarders.
She was also studying as much as she could, trying to make up for a lifetime of lost knowledge. Or, perhaps, knowledge she hadn't gained in her previous life. Belix had grudgingly told her she might just be smart enough to calculate rift jumps, and the Ishivi certainly didn't seem to mind the prospect of another crew member able to take over that onerous duty. But Lana had months or even years of study in complex mathematics and physics theory to tackle before she could even attempt those calculations, and even then she'd probably be ten times slower than anyone else on the ship.
Throwing all her energy into making herself a useful crew member could only take so much time, however, and after a month it had long since stopped being a reprieve from the close confines of the ship crushing down on her.
Not even Dax's comforting presence was enough to prevent her from practically climbing the bulkheads at being cooped up in the deceptively small space for so long, prowling through every square inch of the Last Stand in a desperate bid to find an escape from its smothering confines. Out of necessity, their romantic forays into full immersion had gradually shifted to soothing hikes through some of the most open, vast stretches of land they could find, although even that only helped so much.
Not that they didn't find moments for intimacy, even while hiking across empty prairies or scaling towering peaks.
Lana wasn't sure how her boyfriend handled the close confines of the ship so well, even considering the fact that he'd been born to them and had almost never left, aside from brief jaunts on colony worlds like Callous. Technically, as far as she knew her experiences were almost identical to Dax's, but even so she couldn't handle the enclosed spaces for so long nearly as well.
Maybe it was his Construct conditioning, or the fact that he'd had years longer to get used to it. Even so, she liked to think he appreciated being with her as a distraction from the drudgery of weeks of unchanging travel through the void between galaxies. She knew she'd certainly have long since gone crazy without him there.
So yes, Lana was looking forward to finally setting foot on the Ceras 2 spaceport. Especially since she planned to insist that Aiden allow Dax to come with her; honestly, she couldn't see why the captain refused to let the young man off the ship anyway. Other than maybe some petty aspect of their uncomfortable history.
It was a plan she hadn't revealed to her boyfriend, however. She had a feeling he would stubbornly protest that she shouldn't try to intervene on his behalf, and might even try to pretend like he was content with being a virtual prisoner aboard this ship. Even though she'd heard him express something very close to resentment in the past about not being allowed to leave.
Which was why, as soon as they'd made the final jump to the station and were preparing to go aboard, she intended to make her demand to the captain. And not allow him the option of saying no.
That would happen sometime in the next several hours, depending on how well Ali was able to plot the final jumps in an unfamiliar galaxy. Which was why Lana felt a surge of excitement that morning as her eyes flew open, once the grogginess of sleep faded and she remembered what day it was.
She gently disentangled herself from Dax on the bed they shared in his quarters; crew beds were cramped even for one person, but in the month they'd been a couple neither of them had voiced a single word of complaint about sleeping together in such tight conditions. As far as Lana was concerned, it just meant they got to snuggle up even closer. And in spite of her boyfriend's solid muscles, he still made a surprisingly comfortable pillow.
Speaking of sleep, he was still completely dead to the world. She didn't know if it was his conditioning, long habit, or what, but he always tried to arrange things so he got the full amount of sleep he needed, and was stubborn about waking up until he had. It was sometimes annoying, when Lana woke up in the mood to do other, more enjoyable things while they were in bed together, and often meant they didn't have time to enjoy more than a brief good morning kiss before it was time to start their shift.
To be fair, it meant she always got as much sleep as she needed, too. And she had to admit it was sometimes nice to just lay there looking at his face; in sleep his handsome features were more relaxed, peaceful instead of rigidly disciplined.
But not this morning . . . she had a mission. So she awkwardly eased out of bed onto the narrow strip of floor next to it, fumbled around
