She'd just made a joke.
He burst out laughing in spite of himself and she joined in, seeming relieved he'd understood her intent and pleased she'd made him laugh.
He suddenly realized he liked spending time with Lana. In fact, she was the only person on the ship he felt that way about aside from Ali, who wasn't technically a person. It had been ridiculous to avoid speaking to the young woman because he was afraid he'd say something stupid.
The Aiden Thorne who'd originally accepted command of the Last Stand and flown her out of the Preservationist shipyards would've been disgusted by how timid he'd become around women.
“Guess that was a good setup, huh?” he asked wryly.
Lana nodded. “So perfect even I couldn't miss it.”
He laughed again. “I can't tell you what a relief it is that you have a sense of humor. If I had to be stuck on this ship for much longer, listening to nothing but the acid cynicism Barix calls wit, I would've thrown myself out an airlock.”
That made her giggle. “What about Ali?”
“Yeah, even she would've gotten to that point with Barix's jokes,” Aiden replied, which set Lana off again. She seemed in the mood for levity, and he had to admit it felt good to laugh with her.
“I meant I've heard her tell jokes before,” she elaborated.
Aiden sobered a bit, smiling fondly as he thought of his companion. “She does. And she laughs at my jokes, too. It's just hard sometimes not to think she's only laughing to make me feel good, since that's what she's literally programmed to do, and my jokes might not actually be all that good.” He made a face. “Also, aside from her off the cuff banter a lot of her material comes from other sources . . . I can find most of her jokes on the allnet with a bit of searching.”
“Well, for what it's worth you made me laugh,” Lana said. “Although I'm not exactly an expert on humor. Or anything, for that matter.”
“Well, let's see if we can fix that when it comes to flying, at least,” he said, leaning forward with a businesslike expression. “I'll show you how to do all the maneuvers at slow speeds, and explain what speeds the ship and the people on it can handle when you do those maneuvers for real. After which, if you're a quick study, I think we can try doing them a bit faster.”
He pantomimed moving the controls a certain way. “We'll start with a corkscrew, which is an excellent move for throwing off enemy fire from certain angles.” He paused a beat, lips quirking upwards. “And also actually is a real move in the bedroom.”
Lana blushed again and looked intently at the display, mimicking his movements.
“Everything okay up there, my love?” Ali asked over his radio. “Sorry I'm taking longer than I expected.”
He turned away, pointing to his radio for Lana's sake so she wouldn't be confused about why he was talking. “I was just teaching our new crew member some piloting. Take your time.”
“You're letting her fly the ship already?” his companion replied, sounding amused. “You must really like her.”
For some reason, he felt his cheeks heating up. “Talk to you at lunch.” He hastily returned to Lana, who'd kept them in a slow corkscrew he'd barely even felt this entire time.
They spent the next hour or so going through basic maneuvers, interrupting the lesson only long enough for Aiden to reclaim the pilot's chair for a rift jump. He gradually increased the speed as Lana flew, making sure she made the maneuvers more slowly and cautiously to compensate.
Finally, he gave the young woman a chance to accelerate the ship to top speed, grinning at her huge smile as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up with the g-forces and he rocked back on his feet.
He kept his eye on the display, making sure she stayed on the safe course he'd plotted for her, for a minute or so before finally reclaiming the pilot's chair for the next jump.
By the time he finished up, Lana had already drifted away, looking around the bridge. He set the ship to hold a stationary position, then rejoined her as she silently contemplated the ship's name stamped on the wall behind the pilot's chair, the words large and beautifully detailed.
She ran her fingers across the raised letters. “Why the Last Stand? It doesn't seem like a usual ship name. Does it have some significance to you?”
Aiden snorted grimly, thinking of the day he'd received his commission to captain this ship, a Preservationist light cruiser fresh from the shipyards, and had decided on its name. It had come when the war was at its most desperate, things looking grim, but it had still been a good day. “You know what a last stand is?”
She hesitated. “Vaguely.”
“At last, a phrase the walking dictionary hasn't heard.” He chuckled. “It's when you're facing a battle with no hope of victory. You can try to run, but there's not really any place to go. You can try to surrender, but you know the enemy will make you regret it. So all that's left is to fight, take as many of them down with you as possible. Make your death mean something.”
Lana frowned. “If the fight was hopeless, and then you die, what meaning does it have?”
Aiden gave her an annoyed look. “More than if you'd died in some worse way, as a prisoner or hunted down like a dog. Maybe you have to be a soldier to understand it. We get to control so little about our lives, but if the only thing I control is how I die, then I want to make sure it's a good death. One I can be proud of.” He looked around his ship. “One
