I could have kissed Adi all night. She tasted sublime. She felt right under my fingers. She smelled delicious, and it had nothing to do with the wet-wipes and everything to do with her natural scent. I was beginning to think Adi had been made for me.

She called forth the protector in me. She had a way of making me forget all my worries and simply be. I felt more comfortable with her than I had ever felt with any other woman. I admired her inner strength, and I cherished her outer fragility.

I’m not sure what that said about me, but I liked myself when I was with her. I wasn’t trying to be something I was not when I was with Adi. Unlike how I felt when I played at captaining. I knew my role as the most senior officer onboard, but captaining a vessel wasn’t really in me. I much preferred to be moving pieces in the background. Staying out of the limelight. Maybe one day, I would have been ready. But I could admit to myself, that right now, I was not. I was struggling.

But all of that was irrelevant now. I was the captain, and there was no changing that. I would not shirk my responsibilities.

But Adi. Sweet, sweet Adi; she made me like me. The me I was when with her. There was no pretending with this girl. No acting. No responsibility. It was all so easy. Despite the situation and her connection to the person who had caused all of this in the first place, Adi felt right. And she made me feel right, too.

I was never going to give her up; never. Adi made me feel too good, and she made all the captaining crap palatable. I could stomach being in the limelight and making all the decisions and having to be strong for everyone else if I had Adi. I knew what the regulations said about fraternising with subordinates, and they didn’t apply here. Although, fraternising with the leaseholder’s daughter was probably out.

But damn it. I wouldn’t be the captain I was if not for how I felt when with Adi. She made me see more than I had ever seen before. The civilians and the pay-for-passages. How their lives are onboard this ship. She made me see what Aquila had been before her father corrupted him. Adi allowed me to switch off and just feel. But most importantly, Adi gave me something more than just responsibility to fight for.

She represented the very best of humanity. Sweet and innocent with a core strength and desire to survive.

No. I wasn’t giving her up, but I also would not have her the topic of crewmen gossiping.

I kissed her one last time and then settled us in the pit. I tried my best not to curve my body around her, but by the time the wrist comm announced it was start of another day, Adi’s head was on my chest, and my arms were around her, and we might as well have been two peas in a pod.

I blinked open my eyes and stared up at Johnson, Armstrong and López.

“Morning, Cap,” Johnson said, grinning.

“Sir,” Armstrong offered.

López just rolled her eyes.

Adi stirred quietly beside me. All small curves and soft skin and I’d hoped to be able to wake her with a kiss this morning, but that was out.

“Turn around,” I said. They immediately complied. Sometimes being captain was good. “Adi,” I whispered. “Wake up.”

She snuggled in closer and muttered something adorable in her sleep.

I could love this woman forever.

I kissed her sweetly on the lips and then extricated myself. Ratbag immediately took my place, shooting me a very disgruntled canine look. He turned around a couple of times and then flopped down where I had been; head on paws, warm body tucked into Adi.

Lucky dog.

I stood up and walked away from the sleeping end of the pit, pressing in an order for our coffees. Adi liked her morning coffee.

The others watched me silently, as I returned with the mug and placed it beside her head.

“Wake up, beautiful,” I said, and she blinked at me.

She smiled, and the sun might as well have followed us here from Earth it was so stunning.

“Morning,” she said, stretching and yawning wide.

I couldn’t look away. My heart did something unusual inside my chest. That was new, I thought and smiled at her. Then her eyes caught movement down the other end of the pit. López, Johnson and Armstrong.

I waited to see if she’d hide herself. I was used to Adi doing that. She did blush sightly, but she looked at them and simply said, “Good morning.”

“Morning,” they all mumbled at various volumes.

Well, that’s that, I thought and got to work.

“Everyone ready?” I asked quietly, keeping my voice low so Aquila wouldn’t overhear.

“Coffees wouldn’t go astray,” López said, nodding at Armstrong who started filling orders at the synthesiser.

I cringed at the idea that she’d been keeping them out of the pit to preserve my honour. I nodded my head at her in thanks and checked my weapons.

“Any news from our friendly neighbourhood AI?” I asked.

“Nothing, sir,” López replied. “But we haven’t tried yet.

“It might be a good idea to entertain him for a while,” Johnson whispered. “Especially as we all head out.”

“I can do that,” Adi offered.

I didn’t like that idea, but it made sense that it would be either Adi or me who captured his attention the best.

“That’ll make us late to the habitats,” I observed.

“We’ll be fine,” López immediately said. Then added in a barely audible voice, “We’ve got enough teams to cover all the habitats. Nova takes Habitat Three, Flux on Habitat Two, and Mandy’s team in Habitat One.”

“We’ll join the Habitat One team then, once it’s started,” I said.

“That should give everyone enough of a chance to get into position and time our first blow together,” López agreed.

“Especially if Aquila is distracted,” I added.

They all nodded just as Mandy approached.

“Everyone’s ready if you are,” she said, eyeing us warily and flicking a glance toward Adi.

Adi met her eyes this time, and I couldn’t help feeling it was because I gave Adi the same sort of comfort that she gave me. That sort of thing helped a person find their courage. I’d long thought Adi had an enormous amount of courage, but sometimes having it and finding it are two different things.

Adi helped me to face the responsibilities of captaincy. I helped her face those things that hurt her.

I knew, eventually, we’d have to face her father; the ultimate source of her heartache. This here with Mandy was just the beginning.

“Hey, Adi,” Mandy said.

“Mandy,” Adi offered. And OK, so it wasn’t hearts and flowers, but it was something.

Mandy offered a small smile.

“Good luck out there,” the spook said quietly.

“You, too,” Adi offered.

The others began to turn away, heading in the direction of the hatch and the rest of the watches. Johnson with the wrist comm to allow them egress out of the computer core. Before Mandy joined them, however, she said, “I was always your friend, kid.”

Adi stiffened and said nothing. I shot Mandy a hard look. Most people tended to see only what their eyes told them about Adi. Small. Fragile. Sweet.

But there was more to my Adi than that. Much more.

Adi lifted her chin and looked away, then said loudly, making her voice carry so the AI could hear her, “Hey, Aquila! Read any good books lately?”

The walls pulsed red.

“I have been studying Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art Of War,’ Adriana,” the AI said. “Would you care to share notes on that?”

“It’s a little out of date,” Adi offered casually. “My father always recommended ‘How To Profit By One’s Enemies’ by Plutarch. Of course,” she added, “I was always more of a ‘The Strategy Paradox’ fan. That one’s by Michael E. Raynor. You should read it. Success is a recipe for extreme failure. It’s quite the paradox.”

Strategy. They were all strategy titles. Books I’d read in military college when I’d chosen to become a tactical officer. I stared at the woman before me; the computer core room disappeared.

Be still my beating heart, I thought.

Aquila said, “You raise an interesting…” And then nothing.

“Aquila?” Adi called. She looked at me.

It was too soon for the others to have made it to their respective decks, let alone time their first strike against Price’s mercs. I shook my head.

And then the ship rocked beneath us.

I reached for Adi. And then started running toward Johnson and Armstrong at the hatch. If we were under attack again, then we had our distraction. Aquila would be too busy with torpedoes to pay attention to what we were doing in the habitats.

The ship shuddered and groaned as Aquila announced a red alert.

Of course, we had to make it to Habitat One in one piece first.