There was no doubt in my mind that I could win over Ana Kereama. She was scared. I understood that. Considering her past, that was acceptable. But we had the chance of a future not everyone back on Earth and been given, and I was damned if I wasn’t going to make the most of it.

I would just have to convince the commander of that.

I smiled as the lift doors opened, and then stepped inside and waited for Ana to join me.

“Stop smiling,” she grumbled under her breath. I got the distinct impression she thought I couldn’t hear her.

“The future is looking bright,” I offered in reply.

She huffed out an aggravated breath that made me smile wider, and slapped her palm to the gel wall saying, “Main deck.”

“The pips suit you,” I said conversationally.

She reached for her collar.

“I wasn’t sure you’d noticed them,” she said primly.

“Because I’m flirting?”

She scowled at me.

“Come on,” I teased. “Flirt back. You know you want to.”

“You aren’t yourself, sir.”

“Oh, I assure you, Ana, I am very much myself. You just haven’t gotten to know me yet. But you will.”

“I’m sure you believe that,” she said as the lift came to a silent stop on the main deck. “But you’re delusional. Pain meds,” she added as if that said everything.

“Trust me,” I muttered, “the pain meds have worn off.” I was in too much agony right now for that not to be true.

She stared at me as the doors swished open, thankfully to a deserted bridge hub.

“Are you going to be all right, sir?”

I rolled my left shoulder carefully and winced.

“I know I’d feel better if you offered to give me a back rub,” I said.

“Sir,” she said, sounding put-upon.

I leaned in closer as we stepped off the lift. “It doesn’t have to be my back,” I whispered.

“Sir!”

I chuckled. “This is going to be fun,” I said as we approached the bridge.

“Not likely,” she muttered under her breath.

“I can hear you when you talk like that,” I pointed out.

She rolled her eyes at me. I grinned back. She was warming to me, I could tell. Falling for my charms. I was so going to win this.

“Captain on the bridge!” Marshal practically shouted.

“As you were,” I said, waving them all back to their seats.

“Captain,” Lieutenant Commander Maxwell said, his eyes darting between Ana and me.

Yes, there had been tension there, I was sure. And there still was.

“Maxwell,” I said, letting an edge enter into my voice.

He had the wherewithal to look chagrined.

“Commander Kereama has given me a report,” I announced. “You have all performed admirably according to her. I want to thank you for holding the fort while I was…indisposed. But now we have our work cut out for us.”

“Archibald’s men, sir?” Maxwell asked.

“Yes,” I said. “And the mayor. For now, we continue with the former command structure. Commander Kereama is officially the officer in charge. Lieutenant Commander Maxwell, you’re her acting 2IC. I am, for all intents and purposes, incognito. Let’s see if that shakes a few rats free.”

“Understood, sir,” Maxwell said, I thought perhaps he finally did.

I held his steady gaze for a few seconds longer, letting him know I was aware of what had transpired in my absence, and then I took up position on a stool beside the ops table, settling in to observe.

“Well then, Commander,” I said to Ana. “The bridge is yours.”

She offered me a small smile and said, “I have the bridge, sir.”

Her eyes met Maxwell’s in a challenge which he wisely backed down from.

Feisty was my Ana. I was going to enjoy this.

“Lieutenant Chan,” Ana said as she approached the captain’s chair. “Have you assembled a team?”

“Yes, ma’am. They’re ready when you are.”

“Well then,” she said in what I was sure was an unconscious imitation of me. “I guess I’d best go meet with the mayor.”

Maxwell stepped forward to claim the captain’s chair.

“You have the bridge, Lieutenant Commander,” she said to him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, offering her a salute.

The salute was a bit over the top, but it indicated a clear victory for Ana. I’d be keeping a close eye on Maxwell, though; the fact that he’d needed my presence here to fall into line worried me. But he’d been an outstanding officer until this recent upheaval. And we were in a situation we’d never prepared for. I had to cut him some slack, and I had to let Ana handle this in her own way. Which was why I hadn’t outright called the man on his unacceptable behaviour as soon as I’d entered the bridge.

I trusted Ana’s abilities. I had done so from the very start. She could do this. And I would let her. I would prove to her that we could be captain and commander and also more than that.

Much, much more than that.

She approached the ops area and met my eyes.

“You have the channel, sir?” she asked.

“Pavo?” I queried not taking my gaze off the woman before me.

“I have patched you into Commander Kereama’s earpiece, Captain. I will also provide visual coverage of the mayor’s offices. The security team is in place and waiting for the commander. The mayor is alone.”

“Either supremely confident,” I remarked, “or aware that we’re watching.”

“Both,” Ana said.

“Be careful, Commander,” I warned. “I don’t trust the man.”

“I won’t be alone, sir,” she said, tapping her ear.

“Never again,” I promised, speaking softly so no one could overhear.

“I meant Pavo, sir,” she said with a smirk.

“And I didn’t” I countered.

She shook her head and turned on her heel; back straight, shoulders set, chin lifted. She made a striking picture. Just before she left the bridge, she turned back. But she didn’t turn to look at me. She was looking at her flight crew.

And they were all looking attentively at her.

“Are you set, Childs?” she asked.

What was that?

“Yes, ma’am. As soon as you’re in position.”

I sat forward.

“Maxwell?” she pressed.

“Ready when you are.”

I might as well have not come back. Ana had this, whatever this was. I tried not to laugh.

“Find my aunt,” she instructed and then left.

“Pavo,” I murmured. “You’d better give me a full report.”

“Of course, Captain. Ana has been very busy in your absence. I think you’ll approve.”

Text began to scroll across the ops table viewscreen outlining the sting Ana had put in place for Archibald’s men, but I didn’t need to read it to know how I felt about Ana.

I completely approved of the commander.

With every bit of my head and heart.