But they got through it without any unpleasantness, which was a start.
Belix was first to excuse herself, leaning down to hug Lana and kiss her cheek. “Visit me in the engine room when you have the time,” she invited. “I'm sure the gunner could use a break from you every now and then.”
“No I couldn't,” the young man quickly replied, sounding almost defensive. Then he stiffened slightly to his tense posture. “That is, I enjoy our time together.”
The Ishivi gave him a look of amused speculation, which she turned on Lana for a few seconds before shrugging one shoulder and leaving the galley.
Lana felt her face heating, although she wasn't quite sure why. “Exercise?” she asked, standing to begin cleaning her place.
Dax nodded and quietly joined her.
* * * * *
The next two days were relatively uneventful.
After sharing that first meal with Belix and Dax, Lana was surprised to find it quickly became a pattern. Neither of the two seemed eager to talk to or spend time around each other, but they came to keep her company even so. Lana was just happy that her presence was bringing them together, even if they still had a long ways to go.
Maybe there was hope for them yet, although she wasn't holding her breath about Aiden and Ali joining them for nice meals with the whole crew anytime soon; that was more healing than she could hope for at the moment.
Although it turned out that inviting Barix to eat with them was nearly as disastrous. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, after even Belix admitted her brother was intolerable, but she immediately regretted making the offer.
It started while her, Dax, and Belix were seated around the table eating breakfast, when the slight man brazenly walked over to his sister's locker and filched a chocolate bar. Belix looked on the verge of ripping him apart with her bare hands, and Lana hastened to defuse the situation.
“Why don't you come eat with us?” she asked.
She didn't know who in the galley was the most surprised, although Barix was first to recover. “An actual human gesture, on this ship?” he asked in amusement, hastily ripping the wrapper off the candy as his twin descended on him, so he could make an obvious show of licking it.
At that Belix made a disgusted noise and returned to her seat, only to screech in irritation when her brother beat her to the table and stole it, settling down next to Lana. The elfin woman furiously plopped down next to the slight man, while he smirked and offered Lana a bite of the licked chocolate.
She may have been a Blank Slate, but she knew enough about social cues and aversion to germs to politely refuse.
It didn't seem possible things could get worse from there, but they somehow did. Barix was as aware of the awkward tension in the room as the rest of them, which was even more pronounced thanks to his presence. But rather than doing his best to ignore it like they were, he deliberately called attention to it.
Then, even worse, he began picking at the painful past he shared with his sister and nephew, needling them over it as if it was all a joke.
It wasn't long before Dax abruptly stood and silently cleared his place, then walked away. Belix was right behind him, clearing her food by flinging it in her brother's face before storming out. Barix just laughed as he wiped caviar off his cheek, taking a casual bite of chocolate as he turned his eyes to Lana, raising his eyebrows as if asking if she was going, too.
Lana stood and cleared her place, more disgusted than angry. “I take it you really don't have a problem with what your sister did?”
Barix snorted. “What she did? You think she wouldn't have gotten my help creating a construct? Just implanting the memories into his DNA is a process that takes forever.”
She didn't know why she was surprised. “Then you really don't have a problem with what you did?”
He shrugged. “Which part of it? Taking a few cells from someone who was happy to give them up, then using them without his knowledge or consent? Creating an ideal worker who's never voiced a single complaint about his existence?”
“Dax would have something to say about that second thing. As for the first . . .” Lana gave him a sharp look. “Didn't you mention once you've literally killed people for trying to take your DNA?”
The Ishivi sneered. “Well yes, because mine actually has value. Nobody's lining up to sell the Captain's jizz on the black market. He can't even give the stuff away, insult to his prowess with the ladies very much intended.”
Lana gave up and left to find Dax.
That afternoon, on the twelfth day since leaving Callous, Aiden announced they were about to make the final rift jump to a spaceport around the planet of Brastos 4. It would be a short stop, just long enough to have Ali pull the current news off the allnet, as well as listen in to local chatter. She could apparently pick up the communication of all ships, stations, and cities on the planet within range, and parse it all very quickly.
Assuming the companion determined things looked safe, the captain also planned to stop briefly at the station to get in touch with a contact, purchase information and send messages along to acquaintances. But this would simply be a quick stop, he assured them, with no lengthy stay to make purchases or sightsee or anything else. Just in and out.
It turned out to be quicker than they expected.
Chapter Seventeen
Brastos 4
Aiden needed to start attending these meals Lana had started hosting.
On the one hand, it was great that she seemed to be good for crew morale and cohesion. He'd been a soldier long enough to appreciate the value of that. But on the other hand, it sort of irked him that she was doing it without
