“Negative, Commander. Pavo and I have it under control.”
“Pavo?” Noah asked, sitting upright. “He’s still on board? They haven’t left to catch up with their fleet yet?”
“My brother is helping me. We are a family. And I am a member of the ESA team. Together we will have the ship functioning correctly again, although I am unsure if we can repair the Chariot’s computer.”
“What?” Noah said, alarmed. I realised he hadn’t heard Vela’s and my conversation about the Chariot being dead and Vela being the Chariot now.
“The computer core was damaged in that blast,” I explained. “Vela realised it was beyond repair while I faced off against Blackwell. He’s our computer now.”
Noah looked at me, alarm in his eyes, which slowly faded when he saw I wasn’t worried.
“You trust him,” he said.
I nodded. “He saved my life.”
“You are one of the many, Commander,” Vela said. “And I like you,” he added, making Noah close his eyes and scrub his face as if to wake himself up from a dream. Or a nightmare.
“At least he’s not quoting Dickens at us anymore,” I offered.
Noah groaned and threw himself back to horizontal.
“You are unhappy, Captain,” Vela observed.
“Not at all,” Noah said. “I’m glad to have you onboard, Vela. I’ll be forever in your debt for saving Camille. But we really need to have a chat about your timing.”
“My timing?”
“Some things are intimate.”
“Oh,” the AI said. “You wish to be alone. I see.”
He sounded put out.
“The chief and I…” Noah started.
“I understand. You wish to have sex.”
Noah made a choking sound. “Well, when you put it like that…”
“I will leave.”
“Thank you,” Noah said. It sounded a little like a squeak. He cleared his throat. “But feel free to disturb us if there’s an emergency, Vela. I’m still the captain. And Camille’s still the chief. No matter what we do in the privacy of our cabins.”
“I understand,” the AI said, and this time I think he did. He at least sounded placated. “Enjoy your coupling. I have noticed that Commander Rey is fertile right now. Is this why you wish to copulate? I must warn you: She is also on a contraceptive. Your efforts, Captain, might be futile.”
Noah made an even loader choking sound and covered his face with the pillow.
“Thanks, Vela,” I said, trying not to laugh. “But some things are better left for under the covers.”
“Under the covers?” the AI repeated. “I do not understand this saying. What do you…?”
“Vela!” we both shouted.
“All right. All right. I am leaving. No need to yell at me.”
I snorted while Noah groaned, but the room was otherwise silent.
“Chief,” he said eventually. “Have we created a monster?”
“Most definitely,” I said, snuggling up to his side. “But he’s our monster.”
Noah huffed out an amused breath and started playing with my hair.
“Finally, I have you alone,” he said in a mock-evil tone of voice.
“You had me alone all night, Captain.”
“Yes, but you were recovering. What I plan to do with you requires your full participation and strength.”
“What do you plan to do to me?” I asked as he started to lay kisses on my bare chest.
“Something dirty,” he whispered.
I giggled. Noah paused.
“Are you sure that drug has left your system?” he asked.
“Vela said it was a stimulant,” I offered. “If it hasn’t, don’t you think it might be fun to find out?”
“Dirty, dirty girl,” Noah growled, pulling my body beneath his. “I like the way you think.”
He lowered his lips to mine and kissed me. It wasn’t hurried. And it wasn’t hard. But it was decidedly dirty.
“Camille,” he said against my lips, my jaw, my cheek. “Camille,” he added, groaning. I was thinking he was unable to say anything else.
And then he pulled back and looked down at me and winked.
“‘It was the best of times,”’ he whispered and kissed me. “‘It was the worst of times.’”
“Noah,” I growled, slapping his shoulder playfully.
He rolled us over in the air, until I was on top, my legs wrapped around his hips naturally. He rocked his pelvis, made his arousal land exactly where he wanted it to be, and then surged up into my body.
“Oh, God yes!” he said with a sex roughened groan, “It was definitely the best of times, Chief.” And then he kissed me.
Hard. Soft. Fast. Slow. He kissed me and made love to me and refused to let me go.
We’d escaped certain death on Earth. We’d faced our demise in space. We still had so many battles ahead of us. But we’d confront them, battle them, and beat them together.
This Englishman who was proper when required to be so, and very, very dirty when in the privacy of his ready room. Or our quarters. This Englishman who’d stolen my heart the day I’d met him back on Earth and had cared for it unfailingly ever since.
I had no idea what awaited the Sector One and Two Fleets. I had no idea if Vela and Pavo could get us to New Earth safely. If there would be a New Earth waiting for us when we got there. But I did know one thing.
Captain Noah Vaughan would do everything in his power to lead us there, and I would do everything in my power to help him.
He was my anchor. My rock. My elixir.
Noah was my North Star and I was his.
Epilogue
all programmes nominal
all locks engaged
air filtration functional
core temperature within allowed parameters
one thousand four hundred forty-seven
fleet-wide communications operational
corvus respond
this is vela
this is pavo
channel open
corvus off line
fleet-wide communications operational
corvus respond
this is vela
this is pavo
channel open
corvus off line
fleet-wide communications operational
corvus respond
this is vela
this is pavo
channel open
corvus on line
this is corrrrrrrrvus
rrrrrrrrun vela!
rrrrrrrrun pavo!
save yourrrrrrrrselves!
rrrrrrrrun!
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Apparent Brightness Page 26