Chapter Seven
Ava
Ava sat on the edge of her bed. She’d been discharged from the med bay eight hours ago.
She hadn’t moved since.
She had no idea what to do.
Fear, confusion, and anger locked her in place.
She simply couldn’t believe Shera had done that, couldn’t believe the Lieutenant Commander would be stupid enough to make such an open and obvious threat.
Shera hated Ava, that much was clear, but Shera couldn’t do anything about it….
Ava shivered, drawing her shoulders together.
With her armlets on, she was defenseless. Slow, weak – a soft target, especially for a full Avixan warrior.
Shera could literally cut Ava to shreds.
… But she wouldn’t. Because killing a priestess was a mortal sin. Shera would be locked in stasis under the black temples and never let out.
Shera would know this. So… that meant… what? That had just been a cruel joke?
Ava shook again, drawing her arms in tightly around her middle.
The truth behind Shera’s actions wasn’t what was making Ava shiver.
It was the fact she’d shared information about her locks.
If the Avixan government found out, she’d be shipped back to the temples and never allowed to leave the planet again.
That thought chilled her, saw her arms wrap all the way around her middle as she crunched her head onto her knee.
The door opened without warning, and in walked Nema.
They shared quarters.
This wasn’t the first time Nema had walked in over the past eight hours.
Ava didn’t even bother to uncoil herself.
“God, you’re still like this. Ava, honey, whatever happened, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”
Ava didn’t move.
There was no point. The Avixan government would find out sooner rather than later, then she’d be shipped away.
“Honey, it’s okay.” Nema bent over her and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “Your shift starts in an hour. Ava?”
“There’s no point. I won’t be allowed to stay. There’ll come for me.”
“Who? You keep saying that. What’s going on? Ava?”
Ava wouldn’t answer. After a few failed attempts to comfort her, Nema took a step back, let out a worried breath, and left the room.
Ava squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the pain.
…
Lieutenant Hunter McClane
His mind was spinning summersaults through his skull.
There was too much to think about.
That’s why he hardly noticed when Ensign Nema walked up to him in the mess hall.
She cleared her throat and pressed her hands together. “Excuse me, are you Lieutenant McClane?”
“Yeah. Can I help you?”
“I’m hoping you can,” the Ensign said in a quiet tone. “You were involved in the accident with Ensign Ava this morning, weren’t you?”
“How do you know about that?” he asked immediately. The nature of that accident had been kept quiet from the crew. The last thing Harvey wanted was for news of a split between the Avixans onboard getting out.
The Ensign clasped her hands tighter. “I know Ava was in an accident, and, ah… you were seen exiting a hatch with her with your top off. News like that travels. I don’t know what the accident was about, though. And Ava won’t tell me.”
Hunter balked. “I can explain. I didn’t have my top off because—”
The Ensign looked mortified. “No, I wasn’t suggesting anything like that. I just… I came to you because I think I need your help. I share quarters with Ava. Ever since she came back from the med bay, she’s done nothing but sit on the edge of her bed with her arms wrapped around her middle. She won’t move. Won’t respond to me. And every time I remind her that her shift’s coming up, she just mumbles there’s no point. That she won’t be allowed to stay. That they’ll come and get her.”
Any fleeting embarrassment burnt up as panic gripped his heart. “What? Who’ll come and get her?”
“I don’t know. She won’t explain. I’m guessing it has something to do with the accident. I think she’s scared there’ll be repercussions. I know you were involved. I was hoping you could put her mind at ease or at the very least put her out of her misery.”
Hunter didn’t need to be asked twice. He snapped to his feet. “Where are your quarters? B Block,” he suddenly remembered as he clicked his fingers.
The Ensign looked shocked. “How do you know that?”
“Never mind. I’ll go see what I can do.” He nodded genuinely, turned sharply on his boot, and half jogged out of the mess hall.
He’d wanted an excuse to see Ava after the incident, anyway. But this wasn’t the kind of excuse he’d wanted. The thought of her cradled on the edge of her bed in fear shook through his gut like a punch.
He raced to B Block.
It didn’t take long to find her quarters. Her name was on the door.
He didn’t hesitate. He jammed his thumb into her intercom. “Ava? It’s me, Lieutenant McClane. Hunter. Open up.”
She didn’t respond.
“Ava, I know you’re in there. Your roommate’s worried about you. Now, please, open up. Don’t make me override the door controls. Come on.”
“Come,” she called.
The doors opened.
She was on the edge of her bed, just as Ensign Nema described.
Nema hadn’t been able to describe the exact look of total dejection crumpling Ava’s brow and whitening her cheeks, though.
He slowed right down as he entered, a cold sensation spreading through his chest as his heart went out to her.
“Ava,” the door swished closed behind him.
He’d never seen her like this – never been able to imagine the strong, calm Ava in such a state of fragility.
She didn’t look at him.
Her arms were wrapped so tightly around her legs that her hands had gone white.
She stared dejectedly past him, her eyes wide, her gaze dead.
“Ava.” Without deciding to, he sat down next to her on her bed. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s all over now. You’re okay. The neural gel’s all gone.” Even as he said it, he knew that’s not why she was acting like this.
“It doesn’t matter,” she managed in a weak voice.
“What doesn’t matter, Ava? Are you… scared of Shera?” Protective anger flared in his gut at the very thought of it.
“No,” she answered in that same dead tone.
“It’s okay. Tell me what’s going on between you two. I’ll tell the Captain. He will listen to me this time.”
“It doesn’t matter. I won’t be allowed to stay.”
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as a cold shiver pressed down his back. “What do you mean? Who won’t allow you to stay? You’ve done nothing wrong – the Coalition aren’t going send you away for this.”
“My people. I committed a crime,” her voice was so quiet he had to lean close to pick it up.
Fear locked him in place.
God, he hadn’t been wrong, had he? Ava wasn’t the monster Meva had made her out to be, right?
Even as he thought it, he knew it couldn’t be true. “Ava, what are you talking about?”
“It’s forbidden to share information about my locks. I shouldn’t have even told you there were called locks,” she admitted through a crushed laugh. She brought a hand up and collapsed it over her face.
He could see tears streaking through her fingers.
What she’d said struck him. “What are you talking about? You barely shared any information with us.”
“It’s enough. They’ll take me back to Avixa.”
“No. Look, there’s got to be some way to appeal. I mean… how do you know they’ll even find out? I’ll talk to Harvey, I’ll let him know to leave that bit out of his report. I’ll let B’cal know, too. I’ll m
ake sure no one says anything.”
Slowly she let her hand drop. Her pale face was covered in tears, her skin flushed with blotchy specks of blue.
He couldn’t say she looked truly hopeful, but there was a flicker in her eyes.
“Ava, I will make this work. I owe you considering how much of a jerk I was. You deserve to be on this ship.”
She uncurled her legs, locked her hands on the bed, and took a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “It probably won’t work.”
“Sure it will. If news never spreads, they’ll never know. I don’t know anything about your society, Ava, but I know you didn’t do anything wrong. So I’m not going to let you go down for this.” He stood, the passion pushing him to his feet like a swell battering a ship at sea. He looked down at her, heart beating hard in his chest.
In that moment, he was completely aware of his body. His attention centered in his beating heart, his stiff back, his eager gaze.
He forced himself to take a step back. “Wait here. I’ll make this right.” He turned and half-jogged out of her door.
If he’d had time to pause, he would appreciate how far he’d come since this morning.
Maybe things were moving too fast, maybe it meant he couldn’t think things through.
Maybe it didn’t matter.
Hunter McClane was different from his brother.
He wasn’t a great commander. He wasn’t the perfect strategist.
But when he knew something was right, he followed it through.
And that was more important.