And with Belix, of all people!
Although that was mostly his fault, since he'd been avoiding her since their confrontation as much as she'd been avoiding him. Which was absurd, because she didn't seem angry at him. She was probably just waiting for him to take the first step in patching things up between them.
After all, as a Blank Slate, this might be the first fight she'd ever really had. She probably didn't know how to resolve it. He just needed to help her past this unpleasantness, and these meals were a good place to start. Hopefully, after eating together, letting the tension between them clear, they could go back to being friends.
Maybe even more.
Granted, the fact that Belix was at these heartwarming crew bonding sessions was also giving him pause. Resolving things with Lana was important, and shouldn't be too painful, but it was years too late to settle the issue he had with his former lover. Assuming he even wanted to, after what she'd done.
Who knew, maybe he and Belix could work out an arrangement, trade off meals or something. Aiden felt like he could put up with the discomfort of being around the gunner as long as Lana was there as a buffer.
What a mess . . . why couldn't they all just stick to their own familiar spaces on the ship, only interact when they needed to? They'd had years to get used to things, there was no reason they couldn't keep being isolated, lonely, and miserable like they'd been before the young woman came.
“Barix,” Ali said suddenly from her station. Aiden jumped slightly, distracted from sneaking glances past his companion at Lana, trying to think of a way to bring up joining her for meals in a way that didn't sound terse or needy.
Since they were approaching a point of interest, they were all once again gathered on the bridge, aside from Fix that was. Everyone was at their workstations in the semicircle in front of the main display: at the left end, Lana was in her usual place at her moveable terminal on the other side of the gunner, with Ali between the young man and Aiden. To the right was an empty station, a mutually agreed upon buffer between him and Barix, with Belix at her station on the other side of her brother.
Aiden had actually considered giving the empty station to Lana, partly as an excuse to be closer to her so they'd have more opportunities to talk. But it hadn't been practical while she was training with the gunner, and anyway, he didn't want to subject the poor girl to sitting next to Barix.
Although he was reconsidering that at the moment; it might be petty, but he was actually a bit jealous of how much time Lana was spending with the gunner. Not that he thought there was anything going on between the two, of course . . . he wasn't sure the construct was even capable of romantic thoughts or behavior.
It was just that, well, he wouldn't have minded being the one spending all that time with the young woman.
At his station, Barix sighed. “Here we go.” He swiveled his chair to face Ali, giving her a false put-upon look. “Well, let's have it.”
“All right,” the companion replied mildly. “What we have is reports from crew members about your inappropriate behavior in the galley earlier. This is notice that you will not be welcome at such social gatherings if you cannot be civil.”
“Official notice?” The slight man sneered at Ali and turned to Aiden. “Is this coming from you, Captain? Or did you promote your sex robot to XO while I wasn't paying attention?”
Aiden felt a surge of annoyance. He'd heard about the incident in the galley, although he hadn't specifically told Ali to handle it. Especially not while he was in the room, weakening his authority as captain of this ship. “Her position remains the same.”
“Then that position is beneath you, all connotations intended,” Barix shot back. “You may enjoy being bossed around by her in the bedroom, but unless she's offering me the same services I don't intend to obey her orders.”
“You'd let an AI boss you around if she was servicing you?” Belix asked her brother, smirking.
Aiden cut in before this conversation could go even farther south. “That said, Ishiv, I agree fully with her warning, and it is now official . . . if you can't keep a civil tongue, keep it still.”
“Or what, you'll keelhaul me? Tie me to the mast and give me twenty lashes?”
“I'll halve your share of the prizes we take,” he replied coolly. “That, or invite you to leave my ship.”
Barix glowered at him in apoplectic outrage, but thankfully didn't throw a tantrum; splicers with weapons capable of liquifying you from the inside out were not people you wanted losing their composure, and the twins were the quintessential spoiled brats. “I notice you didn't take exception to my charming banter until after the Blank Slate came aboard,” he said through gritted teeth.
“We all did, actually,” Ali cut in, tone reproachful. “The others just became more aware of it once someone who hadn't had to endure you for long periods of time joined us. Like a frog in boiling water.”
The slight man threw up his hands in sullen defeat. “I guess even sex robots stick to the clams before hams mentality, huh?”
“Half your share, Ishiv,” Aiden warned again.
Barix hunched over his station, muttering under his breath. “I can't even talk to anyone on this ship these days without getting yelled at.”
“Nobody expects you to be pleasant,” Aiden told him. “We all know that's impossible. Just tone it down to tolerable levels, if not out of respect for us than out of respect for your precious chits.”
“Void, are we still on about this?” The slight man manipulated his controls, and a marker appeared on the main display in front of them. “Rift jump to Brastos 4 plotted. If you're done whining at me, we
