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She was dozing off to Sutton’s lecture about the mechanics ofColossal’son-board algae farm when Orion walked in like he owned the place. For the briefest moment, Kaia was relieved at the intrusion, which spoke exactly to the extent of the torture by boredom she was being forced to sit through. Then her brain caught up with the fact that he was probably there for her and decided she’d rather take the torture.
“I’m gonna steal Kaia for a few hours.”
“Uh, I think we were just about to learn about the hydroponic sy—” Kaia tried.
“Fuck it. Colony liaison duties come first.” He glanced at the lecturer, whose nose hairs bristled. “I’ll make sure she catches up. Let’s go.” He flapped a hand at her impatiently.
Kaia wouldn’t say she knew Orion well, but ithadbeen over a month and he looked looser than usual. In fact, he looked a little like he did when she first met him, at the bar on Riker 109. Obscenely confident and a little bored in that “I’m the most important thing in this world” kind of way.
The eyes of her course-mates burned holes in her skin as she traversed the rows of desks to the door and follow Orion into the hall in silence.
“Mind giving me a bit of space?” She talked up at him as they walked. He was following so closely behind her, she could feel the impatience oozing off him. He backed off, but only for a few seconds before his smothering presence loomed over her again, and Kaia decided complaining was futile.
Besides, she was a little curious… Not that she was confident in her ability toreadhim as well as she could Loran, but Kaia thought she'd learned to recognize when Orion was in one of his no-go moods. When his scary alien energy came to the surface, it dripped off him like bittersweet molasses, its thickness almost palpable in the air around him. She wasn’t feeling that now. He was more… excited? Restless? Kaia noticed a spattering of people standing next to the wall as they walked along the port side of the ship.
“You planning on telling me what’s going on?” She tried.
“Here.” A forearm curved around her waist from behind, steering her to a stop facing the hull. When the black wall flickered out of existence, Kaia flinched, hands grabbing instinctively for the stability of the arm still cinched around her midriff. She chastised herself. She’d been out of a cockpit so long she wasn’t used to the limitless vastness of space anymore.
Ashamed, Kaia tried to straighten and step away, but he squeezed her closer and leaned into her ear. “Watch.”
A few more people trotted to the area, hushed murmurs rising. By the time it happened, the hushed excitement all around had infected Kaia as well. She stared ahead so long that she started seeing things. Something was wrong with the space, as though a kind of deformation morphed the void. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Then, with a brief flicker, it appeared: the barely visible curves solidified into existence.
“Holy shit,” she whispered.
The cyan hull was a teardrop shape, ending at a sharp point. It was hard to judge the distance, though it had to be smaller thanColossal. Smaller but a million times more beautiful than the dark rectangular offshoots and limbs of the utilitarian giant that wasColossal.
“It’s theZenith,” Orion said behind her. “C’mon, we’ve got a job to do.”
Walking throughColossalwith the shields down and thermaview on, Kaia felt naked. This kind of complete exposure must have been a show of trust between the two colonies. But if anyone else knew there were two vulnerable colonies in such proximity… shit, if Loran knew it was even a thing that happened…He was definitely going to like her next data drop.
Orion led her to the docking bay, where small Ariel-class vessels were already prepped. Pilots in shiny black suits loitered near their craft. Next to them, a few fighter ships she hadn’t recognized had mechs crawling over them, scanning, tightening, sweeping for faults. Farther still, larger transport craft were being maneuvered into place by dock crew pilots.
“Why is it here?”
“Colony liaison business. They go over here, we go over there, and we all get shitfaced.” Orion led her to one of the Ariels, nodding at the shifty-looking docksman standing next to it, scanning something in his NS vision with faraway eyes.
“She’s all yours, boss,” he slapped the black carapace hull and left them alone.
“You fly?” Kaia asked.
“Not anymore. But you do.” Orion pressed his palm to the reader near the cockpit hatch. He sucked the pinpricks left by the sampler, as was his habit, licking a remaining droplet of blood from his lip. “Get in.”
Kaia’s brows shot up.
“How did you get the auth—”
“I’m about to run this place, princess. I have my ways.” He smirked. “Besides, you’re in training. Just don’t kill the heir, please.”
He climbed into the open cockpit. Kaia followed after a moment’s hesitation.
Orion strapped himself into the copilot’s seat, so Kaia took the pilot’s. She scanned the controls. They were different, but not unfamiliar. The Ariel’s primary use was for private transport flights between ships and stations. More modern thatAhton’s Takewas, but not in itself unique.
“One more thing.” Orion bent to his right, rummaging for something beside the seat.
Kaia’s hands flew up by instinct to catch the object he tossed at her. She looked down at her helmet, tracing the familiar dents in the chipped orange skull.
“We ran out of the non-shitty ones.” Orion winked. She snorted at the joke. The grin felt uncomfortable on her face, too big in its display. Kaia cleared her throat.
