In three days, we’d be on Valovia.
I had not ventured into Valovian space since the war, and I’d never been through the wormhole that led to Valovia itself. Now I had less than twenty-four hours to resign myself to the fact that I was leading my crew back into enemy territory. The thought sent nervous prickles down my spine.
I’d already added Lexi to the duty roster, so I decided to see if I could give Anja a hand with the maintenance. With all of the extra parts, she’d need all the help she could get.
And I needed the distraction.
By dinnertime, I was tired, sweaty, and filthy, but Anja and I had made significant progress on the most important fix, which involved replacing worn parts in the heating and cooling systems. I hadn’t let any of the ship’s routine maintenance get dangerously behind, but I hadn’t exactly been swapping out parts early, either.
If nothing else, this job would give Starlight’s Shadow a much-needed round of upkeep.
When it became clear that the fix was going to take longer than expected, I’d asked Eli to cook dinner.
In my bedroom, I stripped off my clothes and put them directly into the refresher. I set the cleaning cycle to run, then quickly showered and changed into clean clothes. I felt better after the shower, but my body was a collection of aches.
My arms trembled from holding parts in place for hours, and I’d put too much stress on my bad knee while trying to contort myself into the tiny maintenance crawlspaces with Anja. My knee had been so much better that I’d forgotten that Havil hadn’t been able to completely heal it. I hoped I hadn’t undone any of his work.
I limped my way to the galley, stomach rumbling. I arrived just as Eli finished cooking. Havil glanced my way, his brow furrowed. Shit, I’d forgotten that he was empathic.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to shield pain, but I strengthened my mental shields, and he went back to helping Eli without saying anything.
At least without saying anything out loud.
Torran turned and frowned at me. His gaze flickered over me, presumably looking for the injury. When I raised an eyebrow at the frank assessment, he met my eyes, expression unreadable.
“Are you hurt?” he mouthed.
I shook my head.
His frown returned, but he dipped his chin and returned to his conversation with Kee.
Lexi and Varro were working together to set the table. Lexi had changed into stretchy dark pants and a light blue shirt, but her expression did not match her relaxed wardrobe. Her smile was too bright, too sharp.
I pulled her aside after she’d laid out the plates she held. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s just strange to see Starlight full of Valoffs,” she said, her eyes troubled. “And Kee chats with them like they’ve been friends forever. It’s like she’s completely forgotten that they tried to kill us for years—and damn near succeeded. I know she could make friends with a rock, but cozying up to the enemy is too much, even for her.”
“Give Kee some credit,” I admonished lightly. “She is aware of who they are. The first day, General Fletcher threatened to kill everyone on the ship, and I had to break up a fistfight between Eli and Varro. Since then, we’ve had nearly a week to get used to it. Take the time and space you need. I was planning to seat you between Eli and Fletcher,” I said, pointing at chairs, “but I can put you on the other side of Eli instead, if you would prefer.”
She considered it, then shook her head. “Your original plan is fine. I’ll adapt.”
“Let me know if you change your mind. Have you been introduced to everyone?”
“Thank you. And yeah, Kee introduced me to the rest of Torran’s crew. Quite the interesting collection of people, isn’t it?” She didn’t wait for a response, but at least her smile was a little more genuine when she went back to helping Varro.
I leaned against the wall and watched the two teams interact. Lexi was right—both teams were becoming more comfortable with each other. Chira and Havil helped Eli plate the food while Kee kept up a constant stream of conversation with anyone who came into her orbit.
Anja entered the room, freshly showered. She headed my way with a grimace. “I think we may have overdone it,” she said. “I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve gone a dozen rounds with a boxing bot.”
“At least I’m not the only one,” I said with a laugh. “Good work today, but go easier tomorrow. You don’t have to fix everything all at once. If you’ve been working this hard the whole time, I’m surprised you didn’t escape on Bastion.”
She ducked her head. “I like your ship,” she said quietly. “I wanted to ensure you would keep me on.”
“Consider yourself kept. Now promise me that you won’t push yourself quite so hard.”
“I’ll try to ease up a little. Thanks for your help today.”
“You’re welcome. Now that the processing unit upgrade is done, ship maintenance is the highest priority. In a couple of days, once the rest of the crew gets done with their extra cleaning, I’ll adjust the roster so you have more help every day. Until then, I’ll help when I can.”
She waved me off. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. But I have a bit of time, and it needs to get done—without you doing it all yourself.”
Eli called us all to the table, but I stared at Anja until she gave me a reluctant nod. “I won’t do everything myself. But,” she said, drawing out the word, “I can knock out a lot of the smaller tasks while you’re busy with other things. I won’t overdo it.”
That was likely all of the concession I would get, so I smiled and let her go.
Torran’s eyes tracked me across the room. I was positive my limp did not go unnoticed, but he didn’t say anything when I sank into my seat.
Eli had made a potato and veggie dish with a cream sauce that was simple and delicious. He didn’t cook much, but when he did, he proved that he knew his way around the kitchen.
The lack of sleep followed by the afternoon’s work had left me exhausted. I let the conversation flow around me, soothed by the sound of my crew enjoying a meal together. I’d missed Lexi’s snort-laugh when Kee said something especially ridiculous, and the way Eli gently teased both Lexi and Kee until their smiles were wide and genuine.
All of the surviving members of my squad were safely back in my care, and while I knew it wouldn’t last, I would enjoy it while I could.
After dinner, the crew headed down to the rec room to get ready for the next episode of Crash Crush while I stayed behind to clean up. Both Eli and Lexi had offered to help, but I waved them off.
Torran was harder to dissuade—mostly because he didn’t offer, he just started helping.
He cleaned the counters and stove while I loaded dishes into the sanitizer. I set the machine to run and then stretched my arms overhead, trying to work out the tightness in my back.