What Emi really wanted to do was change the subject. “DSMC said we can name some of the larger features, like the ocean and continents, if we want. Any ideas?”
Donna snorted as a grin filled her face. She pointed out at the water in front of them, where gentle rollers broke upon the white sand. “How about the Amazon Ocean.”
“Huh?”
She giggled. “In honor of you, for kicking that woman’s fucking ass.” She paused, thinking about it. “And for kicking Eckhart’s ass, too.”
Emi steered the topic of conversation back to less deeply contemplative things. They spread out lunch for the men once they’d been satisfied that the rover was performing as required. But after lunch, with a full tummy and the warm sun, Emi found herself drifting off to sleep.
Aaron gently shook her awake. The first thing she noticed was how much cooler it felt than it had. “Hey, sleepyhead. How was that full-tummy coma?”
She sat up. Donna and Rob were nowhere to be seen, and the star at the center of the Dee-Tee’s solar system looked lower in the sky than it had following the picnic. “How long did I sleep?”
“Three hours. It’s getting late.”
She glanced around. The rover had returned and was parked next to the cargo ramp, ready to load. “Where’s Donna and Rob?”
He hooked a finger over his shoulder at the lander. “Inside. From the sound of it, they’re finished.”
A wave of disappointment, her own, flooded her. “I’m sorry. I’d kind of had that in mind for us, too.”
He smiled. “It’s okay, babe. I’d rather you get the rest. You looked more peaceful sleeping there than I’ve seen you look in a while.”
She stood and helped him shake the sand out of the blanket before folding it. “This has been a beautiful afternoon,” she admitted. “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you, though. And I wish the twins could have been here to enjoy it with us.”
He hugged her to him. “It’s okay. We’ll have lots of opportunities for these kinds of days.”
She inhaled his scent and let the feeling of his love for her wash through her soul. “I don’t ever want to forget days like this.”
He snickered. “I know Donna and Rob won’t.”
“Why?”
He looked down at her with an evilly playful grin. “He forgot the vid recorders were running inside the lander. Their sex tape is now part of the official exploration record.”
Chapter Four
And giddy Fortune’s furious fickle wheel,
That goddess blind,
That stands upon the rolling restless stone.
Emi enjoyed the rest of their time in orbit doing detailed scans of the planet. They performed two more landings, in different areas, allowing all the men from both ships opportunities to set foot on the planet.
Donna refrained from getting sexy with her men on the other two landings.
Two days after their departure from the orbit of Daxious Theta 2, and just hours before they were to engage their jump engine to head for their next destination, Caph was on night watch when he called their quarters.
“Hey, Aar?”
Emi heard his voice first and rolled over from where Ford had his arms around her to find Aaron. She poked him in the shoulder. “Hey, you,” she mumbled.
“What?”
She was about to say something when Caph’s voice sounded over the intercom again. “Aaron, hey, wake up.”
Emi heard Aaron let out a sigh. “What is it, Caph?”
“Need you up here on the bridge. Official order override from DSMC.
Emi blinked at the sudden shift of Aaron’s energy from relaxed sleepiness to high alert, feeling almost a spike through her senses, as he jumped up from their bed and ran from the room without bothering to pull any clothes on.
Ford lifted his head from his pillow. “Huh?”
She reached over and patted his shoulder. “Go back to sleep.”
“Mmkay…”
He was already breathing deeply again as she crawled out of bed. She pulled on her bathrobe, grabbed Aaron a pair of shorts, and headed for the bridge.
Aaron was leaning over the command console, reading, with Caph standing behind him looking over his shoulder. In the dim bridge light, the screen threw up a bluish glow over his face.
She didn’t like the feel of the irritated buzz through their souls. “What is it?”
Caph looked up. “We’re being pulled.”
“What?”
“From the mission. They’re yanking us.”
“Why?” She looked at Aaron.
Aaron rubbed his forehead. “They want us to proceed to the Robards Alpha space station. They have an assignment change for us. Want us to take on a temporary crew member to test some special equipment.” He took his shorts from her and pulled them on.
“Crew member?”
He flashed her a comforting smile. “Don’t worry, babe. Temporary assignment, and no, not like that. They’ll only be with us a couple of months before we drop them at Mars.”
“Them?”
“Him or her. DSMC didn’t identify who it was.” He stretched. “They’re not really pulling us from our mission. They just want us to divert to pick up this person and their equipment and help them finish testing it. The other ship had some mechanical problems and couldn’t complete their mission. Two-week jump to the station from here. We can grab the guy, help him finish his testing, then drop him off at Mars and head back out to where we were originally going. Easy-peasey.”
His energy suggested to her he was only saying that to placate her. “Then why aren’t you happy about this?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t like our missions getting interrupted. For once I wish they’d pick on someone else.”
“Hey,” Caph said, “it just means they trust us to get stuff done.”
Aaron scrubbed his face with his hands. “Yeah, but it’s a pain in the ass for us. Anyway, Emi, you and I can go back to bed for a few hours.” To Caph he said, “Please punch in the course changes to nav. We’ll do the jump in the morning like we planned, only this time to the station.”
“Sure thing.”
Emi broke the news to Donna when she woke up the next morning. “So this will be the last time we get to talk live for a while.” She played with Bucky while she talked with her friend.
“That’s okay. Maybe you’ll get assigned a hottie.”
“We’re not looking to expand the family.” She knew Donna didn’t mean it seriously, but after nearly losing her men on Kal’moran, she didn’t take them for granted.
“No, not that. Sheesh. I meant eye candy. You’re married, not dead.”
She let Bucky sit on her thigh. “Well, that’s true.”
“And you have to promise to send me pics if he’s hot.”
Emi let out a laugh. “If he’s hot, we’ll see if we can get him transferred to your boat.”
“Promise? Don’t tease me, girlfriend.”
“Absolutely.” She tried to swallow back the sad feelings “I’m going to miss talking to you. This has been like being back in school.”
“Yeah. Only with multiple hunks of our own and plenty of raunchy sex.”
“Hey, our sex isn’t raunchy.” Emi couldn’t suppress her smile.
“Um, girl? We have three husbands each. That is, by default, raunchy. I didn’t say it was bad raunchy. Good raunchy can still be raunchy.”
“I’m going to miss you,” Emi said again. During their time in med school, Donna had become more than just a friend to her. She’d been a surrogate sister and the closest thing to a family. A complete extrovert, Donna had refused to let Emi withdraw and have zero social life. She always made sure to include Emi whenever possible.