I lay in a maintenance tube, cut off from the rest of the ship physically, sealed away in a tiny slice of paradise. Sweaty, sated, lying on a fucking soft, white cloud of bliss. I had responsibilities to see to. The assault team would have contained the situation in the mayoral hub. They probably had the mayor detained already. Possibly even shifted him to the brig. Hell, Chan was no doubt hounding Pavo, trying to get a bead on where I was. Demanding the AI patch him through to my wrist comms. There were things that needed addressing. We hadn’t located Archibald’s second base yet. There might be more mercs out there. Marama Kereama was still missing.

There were things that demanded my immediate attention. I knew this. I felt the weight of them pressing on my back and shoulders. The pressure of command seeping back into my loose limbs. I knew all of this, but for the life of me, I couldn’t move. I wouldn’t move. Not yet.

“I’m never letting you go, Ana Kereama,” I said, my voice still husky from desire and sex.

“There’s nowhere for me to run to on this ship,” she offered.

Her hair flowed out over my chest; her finger drew lazy circles over my stomach. I thought, perhaps, she might have a fascination with my abdominal muscles. I suddenly felt inordinately pleased I’d suffered through all those sit-ups.

“Angel,” I said, ignoring all the responsibilities for just a few moments longer. The immediate danger had passed. The Sector One Fleet was still a few hours away from catching up. We had time for this. For us.

“Angel?” she asked.

“Your name. I looked it up. Anahera means angel in Māori.”

“My name’s not Anahera.”

“It’s Ana.”

“Not the same thing.”

I shrugged. “Too bad. You’re my angel to me.”

She scoffed.

“If you become all lovesick and sappy, I will kick you in the balls, Captain.”

I winced.

“That is your job,” I said.

“Kicking you in the balls?” she queried.

“Challenging me. Both on and off the bridge. I expect you to challenge me, Commander. Constantly.”

I smiled up at the rounded gel ceiling. I was so looking forward to butting heads - and other things - with this woman.

“You’re on. Sir,” she added.

I chuckled; relishing the feel of her naked in my arms.

“Captain?” Pavo said, in what was an entirely cautious tone of voice. As if he didn’t want to disturb us and was actually thinking of our need for privacy.

I arched my brow at the ceiling. That was new.

“Pavo?” I replied.

“Lieutenant Chan wishes to talk to you. Doctor Medina is waiting in the mayoral hub to check on Ana. And I have located the masked room.”

The masked room. Archibald’s secondary base.

I felt Ana stiffen beside me. She went from languid, sexually satisfied female, to first officer and niece to her aunt in a split second. I almost tried to hold on to her.

“Right,” I said instead, forcing my arms to release her body. “Let’s get dressed and get out there.”

Ana’s eyes met mine. She was scared. Scared of the new dynamics between us? Scared of facing reality now we’d created a type of fantasy? Or simply scared of what had happened to her aunt?

I reached out and cupped her cheek. “Do you want me to ask?” I said.

Relief flashed in her expressive eyes. I was thinking it had little to do with offloading the burden of discovery and more to do with the fact I had guessed right. She was scared of what may have happened to Mara.

This woman was so strong. So incredibly strong. Once she made up her mind, little would sway her. And I’d just won her heart. She wouldn’t run. She’d stand strong in the face of what was out there. In this, in us, she was strong.

But concern for her aunt was eating away at her.

“Pavo,” I said, holding Ana’s gaze with a steady one of my own. I couldn’t promise her Marama was all right, but I could promise with my look, my presence, with everything in me, that I would be there for her no matter what. “Have you located Marama Kereama?”

“Yes, Captain.”

There was something in his tone. Something an AI should not have. And I knew, right then and there, that this would not be good.

“Dress first,” I said. My voice that of the captain.

Ana responded as a well-trained soldier should. She dressed. She kept her head down and her hands busy, and only slightly did her fingers shake.

I would have killed Damon Archibald, again and again, to spare her this. I was fairly certain that if Samuel Cecil hadn’t been killed by the assault team already, I would be seeing to his death in short order.

Pavo created an opening in the maintenance tube once we had our uniforms as straight as we could manage lying down inside such a small location. Ana looked dishevelled, but I couldn’t tell if that was because I’d just made love to her or because she’d been shot at, almost died, and was climbing out of a fucking maintenance tube.

I noticed a hatch covering on the floor when I slid out. And Nico Medina waiting for us.

“Captain!” he said, rushing over. “That blasted tin can wouldn’t tell me where you were hidden. He said, and I quote, ‘The captain and commander are indisposed.’ Indi-fucking-sposed! What the hell does that mean? And why the hell would an AI show such discretion? You said Ana was injured. Commander!” he snapped. “Are you well? Where does it hurt? I have a med scanner. Let me see you.”

He reached out and ran the scanner over Ana’s body, pressing a button here, swiping a finger across its touchpad there, and then scowling down at the results. He pressed another button. He shook the device. He slowly brought his eyes up to my face.

“Commander Kereama,” he said steadily, “has an extraordinary amount of serotonin and oxytocin in her system. In quantities, I would expect to see post…”

“That will be all, Doctor,” I said.

He stared at me. I stared at him.

“If you’re sure, sir,” he said.

“I have never been surer, Nico,” I replied levelly.

He put his med scanner away.

“In that case,” he said. “I have work to do in the medbay.”

And then he walked away.

“What just happened?” Ana asked.

“We just announced to the world that we’re dating.”

Ana let out a slow breath of air. “OK, then,” she said.

“OK, then,” I repeated, trying not to smile like a fucking idiot.

“Pavo?” Ana called. My smiled dimmed. “Take me to my aunt.”

A blue arrow appeared on the gel floor before us. To me, it seemed sad.

But that was impossible. It was a flashing blue arrow on a gel-coated floor.

But, fuck me, it looked sad.