Donna shuddered as her face went from flushed to white. “Gods, it was horrible. Graymard said we didn’t make it nearly as far as you did, and we had different scenarios, but we did well enough.” She applied more lipstick as she thought about it. “Let’s just say that when push came to shove, my guys found they couldn’t make the choice to leave someone behind, even if it meant risking their own lives and disobeying direct orders. They said screw the fucking regulations and decided fighting to the death for me was their only acceptable option.”
Then Emi felt a deep wave of love from her, directed at her men. When she spoke, her voice sounded quiet. “If you made it a lot further than we did, and I know how fucking bad our sim session was, then I can only imagine how bad it must have been for you when they finally pulled the plug.”
Emi remembered screaming for Aaron as he walked away from the three of them to a certain death, sacrificing himself so Emi, Caph, and Ford would live. She remembered fighting Caph and Ford as they dragged her out of what she thought was an alien’s bedchamber.
Emi nodded as she shivered at the memory she hoped she’d never live through in real life. “Yeah. It was pretty frakking bad.”
The crews bid each other good night at the port. Before returning to their respective ships, the three captains agreed to meet first thing the next morning to finalize the departure sequence and logistics.
Emi quickly stripped and settled in the middle of their bed. The men didn’t hesitate to join her.
Unlike their rowdy arrival romp, this gentle, tender lovemaking session found Emi cradled in Aaron’s arms while Ford went down on her. He took plenty of time teasing her until she finally cried out as she came. This time, the men were content to take turns slowly fucking her as the others held her, reminding her in many ways of the first night they spent together, although without the frenetic energy of that initial encounter.
By the time Caph went last, the men had coaxed another rolling orgasm out of her that nearly took her breath and mind away. Exhausted and sated, she curled up between Caph and Aaron, with Ford on Aaron’s other side, and fell asleep.
The next morning, Emi was the first to awaken. She received a message from Dr. Graymard as she waited for her coffee to finish brewing. Fortunately for her, the Java Max Excel 10k coffeemaker hadn’t been a figment of the simulation. Ford, as dedicated a coffee drinker as Emi, insisted there was no way in hell, unless the Tamora Bight was blown up, that they would go without coffee.
She skimmed Graymard’s message, mostly “how are you” and status report request bullshit. Then she reached the bottom.
Dr. Stevens packs almost as hard a punch as you do.
Emi smiled. Upon emerging from the sim session and realizing that not only would Aaron not die but that Graymard had tricked them, Emi had viciously slugged the man. Her three men pulled her off Graymard and into the security of their arms. Ironically, her fighting skills had been learned in the sim, not in real life.
She sent Graymard a short reply. Better learn to duck. You still have to pair the Braynow Gaston crew.
Send.
She prepared breakfast for the men and went to wake them up. Ford tried to pull her back into bed with them, but she managed to extricate herself. “Lift sequence, babe. Don’t forget, Aar has a meeting with Elloy and Tarrence, too.”
Aaron moaned. Caph still slept, his arm slung around Aaron’s waist and his face buried against his shoulder. Aaron gently elbowed the larger man. “Wake up, big guy. Work to do. Last night was our last luxury of no night watch for a while.”
Caph groaned as he snuggled closer. “Don’t wanna.” Aaron smiled and ruffled Caph’s hair.
“Breakfast is ready, guys,” Emi said. “I made you bacon, Caph. Fresh and farm-raised here on Mars, not frozen.”
His eyes popped open. “Bacon?”
“Bacon.”
Aaron sat up, extricating himself from Caph’s embrace. “That got his attention.”
“Mmm, bacon,” the twins parroted, making Emi and Aaron laugh.
The men dressed and joined her in the galley for breakfast before they split up for the morning. Ford and Caph would start final preparations, including securing the last-minute additions to their cargo load, systems checks, and other priorities. Emi wasn’t sure what they wanted her to do.
Aaron answered her unspoken question. “I want you with me at the meeting. As med officer, you need to be involved in this if we’re dealing with a medical crisis.”
They joined the other captains in the common area of the Kendall Kant. Donna sat next to Rob Elloy and managed to look like she was draped over him even though her body didn’t touch his.
In the years she’d known her friend, Emi could never remember seeing her so happy. Elloy seemed more than happy to have Donna by his side.
The captains coordinated their tractor beam setup, went over last-minute information briefs that had arrived since the night before, and finalized their lift sequences. When they adjourned the meeting, Donna took Emi on a brief tour of the K-2. Emi had never before in real life set foot inside the ship.
“Did you get space sick?” Emi asked her.
“Oh, gods, yes. I felt like I’d puke up a lung before it finally passed. Spent the first two weeks in bed after we lifted.”
Donna’s cabin was at least twice the size of the one Emi saw in the sim. Before she could ask about that, Donna laughed. “They did a little reconfiguration for me.” She winked. “I broke out the sock puppets, so to speak, about why a larger space was logistically necessary and a very wise investment on their part.”
Emi smiled as she shook her head. “Leave it to you take on military guys.”
She shrugged. “Just need to know how to speak their language is all.”
“What language would that be?”
Donna’s wide grin left no room for error in interpretation. “Body language.”
Chapter Seven
It took several hours for all three ships to be moved from the secure hangar and lifted to their rendezvous point orbiting Mars. Emi stayed out of the way, not distracting her men as they prepared the ship for the tractor beam configuration prior to jump. As they coordinated with the other two ships, they made one last check with the DSMC for additional information. Then Aaron started the countdown, which was broadcast among all three ships.
Emi didn’t understand the jump engine. Quantum physics wasn’t her forte. It wasn’t even in the same universe as her interests and intellectual strong points. Her specialty involved the human body, mind, and psyche. As the jump commenced, Emi didn’t sense anything physically out of the ordinary, even when she looked through the front vid screens, which had replaced the now-shuttered front ports.
Mentally, however, she felt a sudden crawling of her skin, her nerves on edge. She’d also felt it on their journey to Mars. The short jump they’d made on the way to Mars from Earth had lasted briefly and carried them over halfway to their destination, giving her a blessedly short period of the nasty feeling.
“I can’t get used to that feeling, or the way the vid screen looks.”
“You will,” Ford assured her. “You come back in ten minutes, that vid screen will look totally different. It’s all part of the effect. It can’t keep up with it real-time. It periodically refreshes.”
“In all the vids I’ve watched, you see a blur of stars.”
“That’s Hollywood for you. You would see that if the front plates were down and you looked out the port. In real life, we don’t dare jump without the armor plates and full energy shields in place. Too much risk.”