She glared at him. “Bargain? You say that like Tsu gave me a choice. I also didn’t mention it to my bunkmates, so thanks for that.”
“Why didn’t you tell them?” Rainer said.
“Because Tsu could have changed his mind and he probably did with this shitty score and summary.”
“Tsu has not changed his mind. The Aptitude roster is about to be announced. In an hour, at a formal piano concert that the entire ship will be watching. It’s quite an event.”
“W—hat?”
“Oh, no one told you?” Rainer said innocently.
“No?” she said in a small voice.
“Wait here. I have something for you.”
Rainer sauntered back out the open door, then returned holding a long, sleek looking bag. He hooked it to the end of the bed. “You’re going to need this for the concert.”
Petey and Jevon exchanged looks.
“What is that?” Lachesis asked.
“A dress, of course.”
“Oh no.” Some trickles of sweat slid down her spine. Her throat throbbed with her weird, heavy pulse.
“Public scrutiny is part of being a senior officer,” Rainer said. “That scrutiny and intensity starts now.”
Her heart fluttered, and the breathless feeling got worse.
“Wish I could stay, but I have to go oversee any final details with getting the concert grand piano moved onto the stage, and my orders came from Tsu, and they were,” Rainer counted off on his fingers, “bring you the dress and do not overstay my welcome. I’m certain I’m being monitored to make sure I comply. I’ll see you at the concert.”
“I’m not going with you?” she asked, a little wounded.
Rainer paused as he turned to go. “Someone will be by to escort you.”
The door slid closed behind him.
“Command Aptitude,” Marie said. “You’re taking Aptitude?”
“You are fucking kidding me,” Petey spat.
She flicked her middle finger at them and slid down off her bunk. She unlashed the bindings on the sleek bag. Inside was a dress: a short dress with a fitted bust and lightly flared skirt made of extremely fine woven wool. The wool had been a natural cream, but this was dyed a little bit to darken and even out the shade. The hem of the skirt had been painted with red and gold leaves, like a watercolor painting, with stray leaves blowing about the skirt, and blue sky and clouds mingled with it, and more of the pattern across the bust and trailing down the sides.
It was a painting. Someone had painted it like watercolor canvas.
On Ark, she’d owned one dress that had been gifted to her for her first promotion by her parents. Artisan clothing was one of the most common (and practical) luxuries people liked to indulge, but she’d had other priorities. Rainer must have paid for this one. Someone had paid for it, from the beautiful fabric that was from an artisan weaver from artisan sheep, then handed to an artisan tailor and painter. The dress may not have been made exactly for her, but had been tailored to her exact form.
She was going to wear a painting. This was so beautiful it could have been put up on a museum wall. She touched one of the leaves drifting across the skirt.
Time to get dressed.
She slid her feet into her sandals and shook out her hair one more time, standing in front of the single mirror. The dress fit her perfectly, falling just above her knees, but left her shoulders bare except for two thin wool straps. A bit chilly. She didn’t have anything to cover her shoulders.
The door to the bunk slid open.
Captain Tsu, in formal dress, stood on the other side.
She spun around and everyone else jumped (or fell) out of their bunks.
He gestured with one hand. “At ease.”
Rainer’s formal dress was a smoky gray, but Tsu’s was an intense indigo blue. His boots were russet, not black, and the cut of the long coat was a little different, with sleeves that tapered to slightly elongated points that matched the line from his shoulder to pinky finger exactly. Four bars of command slashed across his shoulders, and like Rainer, the flame and hammer of Engineering on his breast. He wasn’t wearing gloves or a silk sash, but he did have a ring on the third finger of his left hand.
He took quick stock of the bunk, then turned to her. “Lachesis. Excellent. Are you ready?”
She’d thought she was, but not anymore. “Yes, sir.”
“I know the look of a she-wolf appraising a male.”
She froze, unsure how to respond, or even what he was accusing her of. He was married, she was married, he was her father’s age, there was zero chance she’d been sizing him up like that. He was also the damned Captain. She didn’t get to “size him up.” Hell, she didn’t have the right to appraise anyone on this ship from where she sat peering up from the bottom.
Tsu waited for her response.
She fumbled to find her vocal cords. “I was just noticing your dress uniform is different from Rainer’s.”
Oh hell, did that sound as pathetic as she thought it did? From Marie’s face-palm and Jevon’s soft groan, yes, yes. Next level pathetic.
“You didn’t get that far into the QuarterMaster manual, did you?”
“I skipped it. The matter of officer dress and uniforms seemed non-essential.”
Petey groaned softly and rubbed his head. “Lake…”
Tsu’s lips quirked. “My compliments on passing. Even with your bunkmates’ experience to help you study, managing a passing score is no small thing.”
Her bunkmates’ assistance? No point in correcting the Captain, and they had helped by telling her how screwed she really was. “Thank you, sir. They were very helpful with getting my mind around things.”
As in you are VERY fucked.
“Excellent. I am your escort to the concert. After we arrive, you’re welcome to sit anywhere you like. This will be your first meeting with your Aptitude crew. Everyone was informed of their selection, but sworn to secrecy until the formal announcement. They will all know each other to varying degrees, but don’t know they’re on the same team.”
“It’s going to cause a furor when you escort me in, sir. I don’t mind walking in alone.”
“You’re going into this test as the Captain’s prerogative, and it will be on both of us to leave the strongest possible first impression of your place on the crew.”
“I think whoever wrote my Entry summary has already made that impression for me,” she said, trying not to sound sarcastic.
Tsu said, “I wrote it.”
With allies like Tsu, how needed enemies? “Much obliged. Sir.”
Tsu gestured to her like he was a conductor. “Head up, shoulders back, spine straight. You are never going to be a personable member of this crew. It doesn’t mean you can’t be respected and admired.”
Marie snorted, then caught herself.
“Spend the next three weeks carrying yourself like an officer.” Tsu ignored her bunkmates.
“I am about the farthest thing from an officer that can be on this ship,” she said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
“You’ve almost seven years of exceptional Crèche service on Ark. You were clearly on an officer track.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
Tsu leveled her with a stare. “Do you believe I would imperil seven of NightPiercer’s best and most promising officers by including you if I thought you didn’t belong there?”
“I’d hope not.”
“But you’re not sure?”
“Rainer trusts you. I’m not sure I do.”
Tsu spun on his heel and gestured to the door. “After you. We’re running late.”
Tsu escorted her down the hallway towards the open doors of a small concert hall. “I suggest you put some thought into who you are going to sit with.”
She gulped, breathing hard. She’d had to stop to catch her breath a few times already. “Is there a right answer to this?”
“I would say your choice of where to sit t
his evening will be your first politically-charged command decision.”
“So, yes. Yes, there is a correct answer.”
“No, just a choice you’ll be judged for. Would you like some advice?”
“Please.”
“Your choice to sit with him will be noted. Rainer is one of the officers designing Aptitude. You two must be very discrete the next few weeks. An alternative, should you wish a presumptuous if neutral choice, is you may sit with my husband and I.”
She swallowed around the cotton in her throat.
Rainer, in his dress grays, stood towards the front of the platform, and the entire room turned to watch her and Tsu enter.
Hold it together, heart. Don’t faint.
Bennett was also there, his dress uniform a pale dove gray compared to Rainer’s cool metallic gray. Keenan had a smoky green, while Forrest sported a rich maroon. She tried to catalog the faces she saw, and the scents, but there were too many.
This made trying to figure out who to sit with in the mess hall easy.
Maybe she should sit with Keenan. The Crèche Commander was by herself. Forrest’s wife was with him, holding their son on her lap. Tsu’s husband and daughter waited in the front row.
Oh, stop fighting it, Lachesis. Your choices are Bennett, Rainer, Tsu or snub everyone and sit by yourself like an antisocial lone wolf who actually likes being a belligerent snarky feral who doesn’t play nice with others.
Bennett’s gaze burned. She ignored him and stepped up to Rainer.
“I’m flattered,” Rainer whispered as they sat down. On her left was Forrest. The Medical Commander delicately picked up her wrist, his fingers finding her pulse.
“You should be,” she whispered back, ignoring Forrest, and also ignoring the fact Bennett and Keenan were sitting next to each other.
Tsu stepped up onto the platform. The beautiful black concert piano commanded the stage, anchoring the sight of the Captain. Tsu clasped his hands in front of himself. “It is our first Command Aptitude in two years, and it will be a Bridge scenario. Command Aptitude crew, please stand so NightPiercer can see who has been chosen to enter the crucible.”
A hush fell over the room as everyone on the roster stood.
Eight of them in total. They all wore uniforms, except for her. They nodded to each other, pretty much having figured out as soon as they arrived who their teammates were, but the side-eye was strong as they realized she hadn’t shown up just to start the gossip wagons rolling on an apparent reconciliation with Rainer.
Tsu gave them an additional couple of heartbeats to absorb it. “The one unfamiliar face to many is Lachesis. While many know her as Commander Rainer’s wife, they may not be aware of her qualifications. At twenty-three she had already served seven years in Ark Crèche and achieved a rank commensurate with Jr Lieutenant. She is also an expert pilot, fully qualified navigator, and a cartographer that has extensively contributed to our star maps and understanding of the Jovian system.”
Polite, if bewildered, applause.
“Lachesis,” Tsu spoke directly to her. “You will be at the Telemetry position. As the only qualified pilot, you will also be expected to hand-fly if needed.”
Telling her to sit at Telemetry was like telling someone in the Kitchens to manage a Biome. She also didn’t know the first thing about flying NightPiercer except what she’d learned from reading the documentation. She was technically qualified to fly Ark because she’d flown it in the simulator many times, but NightPiercer was not the same ship and the only simulator that had ever been built for it had been left on Earth.
On the other hand, if things in the box had gotten so fucked she was hand-flying, they’d already been dead five minutes.
Tsu raised both his arms in a gesture to the crowd, which cued them to break out in more enthusiastic applause. The other members of crew grinned and enjoyed it. She wasn’t dumb enough to think any of the applause was for her, so she sat down.
The pianist replaced Tsu on the stage.
Oh, she missed live music. Her father had played every single day, and she’d grown up with the luxury. As an adult, when she’d gone up to see them, he’d played for her. Twice a week, at least, sometimes more.
The pianists’ fingers on the keys brought all those aching feelings to the surface. The notes hit her nerves, her mind, her heart. The music was different. Her father and sister would have loved to work with musicians from other ships.
It was better they didn’t know what she’d been up to.
Rainer moved his left hand to his thigh and turned it palm up.
After a moment, she put her hand in his.
An Officer & A Lady-Wolf
It was somewhat crowded walking up to the officer’s deck. Tsu, his husband, Bennett, and Tsu’s daughter, with her and Rainer.
“Congratulations,” Tsu’s husband, a tall, attractive human male a few years Tsu’s junior said. He had a bright, ready smile and easy demeanor—a good compliment to the controlled Tsu. Even his scent matched his expression. He had the Crèche emblem on his collar, and the solid and dotted stripes denoting he was some kind of specialist like she’d been, but she couldn’t tell if he was Biome or Civilization Management.
“Thank you,” she replied, wondering how much Tsu shared with his husband. Forrest’s wife—a she-wolf—had eyed her up with all the secrets churning on her scent, but Tsu’s spouse seemed unaware of the storms his husband managed.
“Did you enjoy the concert?” he inquired.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed live music. I’m spoiled. I grew up with it.”
“Your father and sister are musicians,” he said.
“My sister is an Artisan violinist. Or she will be when she graduates School. Do you have those on NightPiercer?”
“We do. I’m impressed, but as I told Tsu, I’m not surprised.”
“No?”
“Math and music come from the same part of the intellect. It’s more remarkable that your mother produced two pups equally talented but by two different sires.” He flicked his gaze towards Rainer, then back at her. “Should be interesting.”
Tsu pressed his lips in a controlled smile. Bennett didn’t roll his eyes, but his scent said he wanted to.
“Eternal optimist, Arden?” Rainer asked.
“Crèche has to be a combination of eternally optimistic and eternally pragmatic,” Arden said with a wink.
“Dad, you’re not Civilization Management,” their daughter said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Of course I am.”
“Don’t say it.”
“… I manage you.”
She stared at the ceiling, smelling of absolute exasperation. “Old joke is really old. Dad, when will you tell him to quit it?”
“When his comedic timing falters,” Tsu said, expression impassive but his scent exceedingly amused. His scent also betrayed Tsu was intensely fond of, and quite attracted to, his husband.
“Which means… never,” Arden told their daughter.
Even Bennett cracked a smile.
Tsu’s quarters were the first, which meant Bennett walked with her and Rainer, as his were at the far end of the deck. She entwined her arm through the crook of Rainer’s elbow, hating how Bennett brushed against her arm and skirt as he passed them.
But he didn’t merit thought as she stepped into Rainer’s quarters.
For the first time, it felt like coming home. Sort of. She trailed her fingers along the wall as she stepped into the living room. Kicked off her simple sandals and squished the fibers of the rug between her toes.
Rainer slid up behind her and kissed her bare shoulder, his big hands stroking her through the gorgeous dress. “Everyone could not stop looking at you.”
“Because I’m not supposed to be there.” She leaned her head to the side and smiled anyway, letting him kiss a gentle pattern along her shoulders. His other hand lifted the skirt of her dress and slid along her thigh.
She’d never been stroked through anyth
ing other than her uniform. She savored the rich fabric moving against her skin, the breeze on her ass, the buttons and trimmings of his dress uniform. Was this what it would have been like on Earth a few hundred years earlier? She laughed. A fair maiden and her officer lover come in from some front?
“Let’s not talk about it.” Rainer nipped her ear. A sharp, pleasing pain lanced through her skin.
“You’re one of the proctors, aren’t you. You’re designing it.”
His hot, heady scent darkened. “Let’s discuss how quickly I can get you out of this dress.”
She broke away from him, turned around, and pulled the dress over her head. “About that fast.”
His teeth shone bright white as he gave her a sharp-edged smile. A predator’s smile. Her heart beat in her throat, and the moisture started between her thighs. He looked her up and down, and growled in his throat, before shrugging off his own long coat.
She set the precious dress down carefully, then sauntered into the bedroom. She’d never had sex on a large bed before. Just a (as it turned out) rickety bunk with a thin mattress. There were better, more stable places to have a good time.
Rainer, having removed his dress uniform and boots in record time, came into the room after her.
She glanced at his lower body. Damn, he was impressive. And without shame.
She licked her lips, and clenched her thighs, a tingle shooting through her as her body dampened further.
“I can smell you,” he growled, pulling her towards the bed.
“You would be a lousy wolf if you couldn’t.” She bit his shoulder gently, drinking in his own scent. It made her dizzy with want.
She sighed as he kissed his way down her breastbone, raking her fingers along his scalp. He kissed the outside curve of one breast, then the other, then circled his tongue along one whole globe, ending with a whorl around one taunt nipple.
He moved to the other breast, whirling his tongue around the nipple before biting it gently between his teeth and tugging. Hot, sharp shocks went through her body, up to her neck and down right into her core.
His fingers played with the other nipple while his teeth dug a tiny bit more in the other, edging the pleasure to just enough that her skin rewarded him with a shimmer of pleasure salted by a tiny bit of pain.
Separated Starlight (NightPiercer Book 2) Page 8
