Scenes From Space

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Talk with Ben

The visit back to base passed in a blur. We had a quick meeting to go over the facts of our next mission. Then, Graham and I squeezed in a quick sparring session. Suddenly, we were on a new planet, fighting with the Prince over a small piece of metal.

Kuzzon had beat us to the drive. The disc he was holding contained future battle locations and plans for the Collective. My helmet was on. I had two hours of air left. This planet was not good for me. Ben was doing fine. Kuzzon was clearly fine. I was a little put out by this. I mean, Ben was half human.

"You know, Brother, we've been running into each other quite a bit recently," Kuzzon said casually. And, brother? "How do you intend to stop me this time? Should I be on the lookout for your sniper?" Kuzzon's teammates made 'oooo' sounds like we were in kindergarten.

Underneath my helmet, I rolled my eyes and lunged, knocking Kuzzon to the yellow, Tumisian dirt. The disc went flying out his hands and landed somewhere behind him. Ben jumped over our prone bodies in search of the disc. Kuzzon rolled us so he was on top. I managed a punch to his chin before he pinned my arms down.

"Well, aren't you delightful," Kuzzon said. I wriggled underneath him. "What species are you?"

"None of your business," I responded, my voice muffled by the helmet. Kuzzon smiled when the translation came through on his side.

"Hmmm, I think it is. I think I deserve to know who my half-brother has on his traitorous team of rebel scum." Well, so apparently Ben, my Captain, and Kuzzon, my one night stand, were half-brothers. So that was a thing. My left eye made a journey back. Ben was running along a rooftop. He was going to escape. Greyeenung clipped the girl following him.

I focused back on the Prince and pulled a move I knew worked from sex and hopefully in a fight. I quickly hooked my ankle in his knee joint and rolled us over so I was on top. I quickly brought my elbow hard into his temple. His eyes fluttered and I jumped up and ran for it.

By the time I caught up to our escape ship. Ben had almost finished the startup sequence. Once the doors were closed and we were in the air, I removed my helmet. Greyeenung was settled into the co-pilot seat and disassembled his blaster.

"Well, that was fun," I said cheerfully. "Nice shooting Grey!"

Grey chortled briefly and went quiet once more. Ben stayed quiet. I put my hands on his shoulders in what I hoped was a comforting move for him and helped to stabilize me as we docked with the Rafo.

Ben shook off my hands and stormed into our ship. I looked to Greyeenung and just shrugged and picked up his bagged weapons.

"Sometimes, he just gets like that," Grey said softly. I wondered if he had heard the conservation through the coms.

I changed my clothes and washed my face and dug into my stash. I had gotten a lot better at hiding things. I pulled out the Candied Boobood Berries from a compartment under my floor and a bottle of alcohol from behind my desk. I grabbed my Earth phone and slid it into the pocket of my sweatpants.

I knocked on the door of the Captain's cabin. My knock went unanswered. I waved my hand over the motion sensor and nothing happened. I flipped up the sensor panel and overrode Ben's lockdown.

"The fuck, Guinevere?" Ben said. "I could've been in the shower." There was no heat in his voice. He hadn't even changed his clothes. He was just sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands.

I sat down next to him and sank into his bed. Jesus, his settings were soft. I placed the candy in his lap. He sighed but didn't reprimand me for having them. I went over to his sink unit and pulled a glass off from the shelf and poured myself a glass. When I sat back down next to him, Ben's face was starting to flush hot pink from the candy. It looked like an anime blush and was really cute.