___
S ARAH'S FASCINATION WITH the ship glowed from her eyes, filling Rei's heart with shared joy as he escorted her through the cargo bay and took the antigravity lift to the upper deck. It was a vast relief to see her regain some of the sparkle she'd lost after the fight. She seemed to be handling things better now, but Rei knew from his own experience that it was going to be an up-and-down process. Sometimes she'd be fine, sometimes she wouldn't. It had been awhile since he'd had to help someone who was new to fighting through the aftermath of what the Galateans called battle shock.
But exploring the ship helped a lot. Everything fascinated her, even the most commonplace things. She touched the wall with wondering fingertips, stared at the galley fixtures, peeked into the tiny medbay with eyes round with wonder.
"This place is amazing."
"You're looking at the bathroom," Rei said dryly.
She punched him playfully in the arm. "It's a space bathroom. Shut up."
"Looks better without bodies all over the floor," Jeren remarked, coming in from the bridge.
Sarah jumped.
Rei growled softly at him. "Thanks, you're helping a lot. What were you doing up here, anyway?"
"Just checking out our new little friend here." Jeren patted the ship's battle-scarred bulkhead, and flashed a fang in a smile. "Seeing how we're going to be sharing quarters for a bit, or isn't that the plan?"
"The plan is to drop you off at the first inhabited planet we come to. Unless we just put you back into stasis—"
Now it was Jeren's turn to growl. Sarah moved closer to Rei.
"Nobody," Jeren said in a voice that was soft but full of menace, "is shoving me into one of those pods again. Ever."
Rei made sure his hands were unencumbered, just in case he needed them for fighting in a hurry. "Yeah? If you expect us to leave you free, I think it's about time you told us what you did to get locked up."
"I'm a bounty hunter," Jeren said.
"Yes, and? Last I checked, that's not illegal in the Empire. What'd you do to make them shove you in a pod like a violent criminal?"
After a long silence, Jeren said, "They think I killed someone I didn't. I'm not a murderer."
Rei gave a short, disbelieving laugh. "Your behavior on the ship says otherwise. I literally watched you kill people. Not to mention your suggestion about blowing up the engines and killing everyone on board."
"Self defense is different. You said it yourself. Yes, I've killed. I'll probably kill again. You telling me those cuffs on your wrists are just for show? Every last dead Galatean on this planet was killed by me, huh?"
Rei curled his lip and said nothing.
"Yeah, thought so." Jeren stalked past him, with a parting shot over his shoulder. "Guess I'll go work on patching that hole you cut in the side of the skimmer so we can take off, huh?"
Sarah was quiet. Rei held her tight against him and kissed the top of her head. If that asshole pushed her into another battle-shock breakdown, Rei just might kill him.
"I don't like that guy," Sarah said softly.
"Yeah. Me neither."
"Do you trust him?" she asked, pulling away. She seemed steadier; Rei let her go.
"Not in the slightest. Especially since, as an escaped slave, there is a bounty on my head, dead or alive."
Sarah's eyes rounded. "I didn't think of that. Does he know?"
"I'm sure he's put two and two together. But he's right, we'd have a real fight on our hands if we try to get him back into that pod."
"I liked your idea about stunning him while he's asleep. I'm worried about him slipping into our cabin and slitting our throats."
"I'm not especially worried about that. Stunning me and stuffing me into a pod to take me back to the Galateans ... that's what I'm worried about. Fortunately he's still locked out of most of the ship's systems. I can only get in because I'm a pilot."
"Do the cabin doors lock?"
Rei smiled briefly. "Not usually, but I can make them do it. Do you have a choice of quarters?"
"Somewhere far away from wherever he's going to be."
"The cabin just behind the bridge is the captain's quarters and therefore the largest. We could take that one. We'll need to ... clean it out first."
The sick look was back on her face. "Oh no, I hadn't thought of that. All their things are still going to be—"
"Sarah." Rei took her face in his hands. "You can't change it. We can't change it. And we have to sleep somewhere. This is a military vessel, so the crew swaps out on regular rotations; they haven't been here long, either. It's not their house."
After a moment, she nodded. "What did you do with their bodies?" she asked quietly, looking up at him, her face still framed between his palms.
"Burned them," he said without hesitation. If she could handle the rest of it, she could handle this. "It seemed the best way. The Galateans cremate their dead, so that's what would have been done at home."
To his relief, she just nodded again. It was time, he thought, for a distraction.
"Want to see the bridge?"
"I know what you're trying to do," she said with a tiny pout and a scowl.
"Is it working?"
The scowl broke up in a smile, a little shaky, but sincere. "The bridge of an actual spaceship? Are you kidding?"
Rei didn't think the bridge was that much to look at. Its main attraction were the viewscreens, covering the entire width of the ship and wrapping around. The screens looked like windows, but weren't; the prow of the ship was heavily shielded against radiation, enemy fire, and stray space debris. At the moment the screens showed the dark pasture in front of the ship, but they could be set to any other view within range of the ship's sensors.
But Sarah looked amazed, wandering from one side of the bridge to the other. "Does this ship have a name?" she asked. "Do Galateans name their ships at all?"
"They do." Rei slipped his arms into the pilot's cradle to make contact with the ship, and closed his eyes as text scrolled behind his eyelids. "According to this, it's called Glory to the Empire 46."
"Well, we're sure not calling it that."
Rei opened his eyes to grin at her. "As this ship's new co-owner and co-captain, would you like to name it?"
"Millennium Falcon?"
"Sure."
"No," she said quickly. "That was a joke. One you wouldn't get. Um ... how about North Star?"
"Your planet's fixed star?"
"Yes. A fixed point to steer by. A star to guide you home."
"I like that," he said, and made a few tweaks to the ship's designation. "North Star it is."
***
Jeren was nowhere around when they left the ship. Rei hoped he wasn't off placing a call to the Galateans for the reward money. Of course, that'd just get Jeren thrown in prison himself, if he had told them the truth. The enemy of my enemy is my friend ... maybe. Or at least less likely to kill me.
Back in the house, they found Agent Rhodes and Gary on the couch, having coffee and talking.
"Really, Dad?" Sarah said. "You're making friends with the Men in Black?"
"Turns out Aaron here—"
"You're on a first-name basis with the Men in Black?"
Rhodes flashed a quick smile.
"—served in Afghanistan," her dad went on. "And me in 'Nam. Just catching up on old times. Seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same."
"Except we had better gear than you guys did."
"And better chow, from what I hear," Gary said with a grin.
Rhodes grimaced. "Most of the time."
Sarah glanced at Rei and then shook her head wearily and turned toward the stairs. "Have fun bonding, you guys. I guess."
Rei followed her upstairs as the quiet voices in the living room resumed.
"What do you think your government is going to do next?" Rei asked softly.
Sarah went into the bathroom and started washing her face and hands in the sink. She left the door open, which Rei took to indicate that she didn't require privacy. "I don't know," she said. "Maybe Dad can talk Rhodes into helping us. Maybe he'll turn us in. I'm just too tired to deal with it."
Rei took his turn at the sink, scrubbing at his hands until the skin hurt before he made himself stop.
Take the advice you gave Sarah. We did what we had to do. That's all.
What comes next will come.
He went into the bedroom to find Sarah stripped down to her underwear, gazing blankly at the wall as if she'd run out of energy in the process of changing into her night clothes. Rei stripped off his own clothes and, wordless, they climbed into bed and lay in each other's arms.
He was expecting a replay of today to fill his head as soon as he closed his eyes, but his mind was surprisingly cooperative as long as he grounded himself on the feeling of Sarah against him, breathing softly against his neck.
The sound of a vehicle door slamming outside made him sit up. Sarah pulled back the curtain, and they watched the red rear lights of Rhodes' vehicle turn out onto the farm road.
"I guess he and Dad came to some kind of arrangement," she said quietly. "Where's creepy cat dude, do you know?"
"Jeren? No idea. On the ship, I hope."
"What are the odds he'll figure out how to fly it and take off without us?"
"None," Rei said, then amended it to, "Very little, anyway. I don't think he has pilot mods or he'd be gone already."
"Pilot mods?"
"Special implants in my head that let me fly spaceships."
She nodded and settled sleepily in his arms again.
"Anyway," he said softly into her hair, "if he tries anything, I've had a rough day and I don't mind having someone to take it out on."
Sarah laughed quietly against his neck, and then slowly her breathing evened out and she slept. He held her as, a few minutes later, she twitched through a nightmare before settling down again.
It was very like sleeping with his sept, clinging to each other through their dreams, holding each other as they cried.
He wondered if any of his sept were still alive out there.
With a ship of his own, and Sarah by his side, perhaps he could find out.