Scenes From Space

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Another Confession

"Hey," Graham greeted with a smile, his projection was cast into the cubby where my bed was located. "I didn't think we were debriefing until you guys got back to base." Graham's holo looked around and then looked me up and down. "Is that the dress from Ki'ree?" He looked around again. "I take it this is not an official debrief..."

I winced a little, looked down, picked at my nails and looked back up at Graham. "No, it's not an official debrief. There's uh, some things I need to confess to you and I don't want them in the record."

Graham sighed and sat down on what appeared to be his bed. He bent down, out of frame, and came back with a bottle of beer. Well, he could drink since it wasn't an official debrief. That was fair.

"Lay it on me," Graham commanded.

"Kuzzon cornered Ben and I at that Gala we were at," I started.

And, Graham cut in, "It's a little surprising that he wasn't in the Capital but the Gala was thrown by his father's favorite inventor, in the Grand Ruler's honor."

"Yeah, well the really surprising bit is that he asked for a favor," I said, and, I could look Graham in the eyes for this. I started to pace.

"What kind of favor?" Graham led on.

"He wants to track down his mother and a human he hooked up with," I explained.

"Okay, I don't see anything wrong with providing a little information, a favor from the Prince of the Royal Collective of Planets would be a great thing to have in our back pocket," Graham said slowly.

"I absolutely agree. I told Prince Kuzzon that I'd assemble some data for him," I agreed quickly.

"So what's the problem?" Graham asked. I glanced over. Graham looked like he didn't have a care in the planetary system. In fact, he had lounged back on his bed, and the beer he was drinking was loosely grasped in his metal hand.

I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see Graham's reaction. "The human he hooked up with," I paused, took a quick steadying breath, and said, "that was me."

The other side of the call was quiet except for kink of splitting glass. I opened my eyes. I had never seen such a look of disappointment on a human face before. This look surpassed the look of disappointment my mother had given me, upon picking me from jail for underage drinking.

"How do you know it's you he's looking for?" Graham had taken a pause after each word of his question, like he couldn't even believe that he had to ask, or didn't know how to phrase his question. The top of his bottle was broken. He poured his beer into a separate glass.

"He described the girl as brown hair, blue eyes, had a marking of flowers on her left ribs, and another marking on her right hip, having slipped from his bed before he could get a name, but made a real connection," I said.

"Brown hair," I gestured to my head with one hand and gestured to my eyes next. "Blue eyes." I made general circles with my hands over the areas where my tattoos were. "Tattoo of flowers and tattoo on right hip." My voice got high and stressed towards the end. I cleared my throat.

"Guinevere," Graham sighed. He chugged the rest of his beer. "Why and how, and why even?"

"I had a night off on Blytterin so I went to have a few drinks at the casino and he's very charming and super hot and I didn't know it was him until after," I defended.

Graham gripped the bridge of his nose with his human hand. "And the name thing?"

"I introduced myself when he bought me a drink, he just doesn't remember it," I said quickly.

"Guinevere," he sighed again and I was a little tired of being the only disappointment.

"So, I don't mean to throw the Captain under the bus," I said impulsively. "But maybe you should also have a talk with him and things he hasn't been reporting." I took a breath. Fuck. "Shit, no don't, I shouldn't have said anything," I rambled. "It wasn't my place and really it's not bad, it's not even a thing. Fuck, that was so childish of me."

"Guinevere," Graham sighed again. I looked up from where I had been staring at the floor. Graham was waiting patiently. I stopped pacing. "Take a breath. It's okay. We'll handle this as needed."

"Hey, do you remember when I was so responsible about keeping my tattoos covered up while I was a stripper?" I asked and smiled awkwardly at him.

"You mean in that mission directly after you irresponsibly had a one night stand with the Prince of the Royal Collective of Planets?" Graham shot back with his eyebrows raised up. I sighed, waved at the projection and collapsed onto my bed. Graham's image re-centered across my desk.

"Yep," I said with a pop of the 'p.'

"Just," Graham sighed. "Get some rest. We'll talk about this more when you're planet-side."

I smiled sadly and nodded at Graham.

"I'll see you in a cycle, okay?"

I nodded at Graham again and the call cut off. I quickly got out of the dress, set a timer, and took a four-ish hour nap.

Graham was waiting at the bay doors. "You two, with me," he commanded, pointing at Ben and I.

"Hey, so sorry in advance," I whispered to Ben.

"Guinevere, no," Ben hissed back. I winced and we followed Graham. We didn't go to a conference room. We didn't go to the Commander's office.

"Graham?" Ben asked. Graham all but shoved us into a private room. The room was familiar. I had seen it in a video call. I took a better look around. The furniture was black. There were frameless, sturdy, pictures hung up randomly. Some looked like they were Graham's family, others were exotic landscapes. Graham took a seat on his grey bed covers. I looked down, there was a red knit throw at the end of his bed.

Graham sighed. "So, here we are. No reports. No other ears. I'm disappointed in both of you for withholding information."

"Woah, I told you about my mistake, right after I learned that it was relevant," I defended. Because who knew that I had made an impression on Prince Kuzzon? I was actually a little bit proud of my apparently excellent skills in bed. I had made an impression on the Prince. I was still ashamed, obviously, but also, a little proud.

"Yeah, and the Commander knows my family history and he still assigned my crew to this mission," Ben defended. Ben stood proud in a military stance. I belligerently crossed my arms over my chest.

"We've been lucky that neither of your relationships has completely screwed up a mission. Guinevere do you realize that at any point your face could've been seen? Ben do you realize that a childhood trigger could've incapacitated you at any point?" Graham asked. I sucked my cheeks in anxiously and looked away from both guys and apologized softly.

"Sorry," Ben mumbled. "I know better," he said.

"Benjamin, please get with our tech-department and start assembling a disk for Kuzzon," Graham instructed. "Guinevere, stick around, please." Ben left with a careful nod and once over in our direction.