.wonderful error.

Chapter 5

          As he lay flat on his back, Nero stared up at the crossed metal of the bunk above his. After leaving Garnet, he expected to speak with Commander Rezar, hopefully about the mission from the previous night. Unfortunately, the second he showed up at the Commander's office, he was promptly shooed away. There was a strange man in the office Nero had never seen before. Massive, like a brick wall with skin. The man was well over six feet tall, with a lumpy bald head that had a scar cut into it, over his right ear. He was intimidating to say the least. Silent. Not saying a word when Nero entered the office.

Commander Rezar had seemed a little off, as if not expecting the man to be there. Defensive, a little uptight, with a hint of anger. Or so Nero assumed. It was often hard to tell what Rezar was thinking. He seemed a little shifty as he told Nero to head back to his bunk, that he would send for him when ready for their discussion.

Then entire day passed and he hadn't heard one word from the Commander. It put Nero a little on edge. It also annoyed him, as he wasted time in his room rather than doing something productive.

The worst part about lying around in his bunk all day was the extended amount of time left to his thoughts. They lingered on Skye, replaying the events from the previous night over and over in his mind. The things she said echoed through his head. He wished Grey would come back to the room so they could speak privately about it.

When Grey finally returned, it was in the company of Garnet and Indigo. They were laughing and joking about something and the youngest member of their group seemed to be back to his usual self. He wasn't quiet anymore. Didn't have that far-off look in his eyes.

"Hey, we've been looking for you," Grey said, a broad smile spreading across his face. "You been in here all day?"

"Sort of," Nero answered and cast a glance at Garnet.

"What did the Commander want to talk about?" she asked, as if on cue.

Garnet walked over to the chair positioned in front of her desktop computer and plopped down gracefully. Indigo sat on his own bed while Grey perched on the edge of Nero's. It annoyed him at first, but he had gotten used to his best friend always sitting there on his bed. Though sometimes he wished Garnet did that instead.

"You saw Rezar?" Grey asked.

"No," Nero stated simply. "He was busy."

"I'm sure it wasn't too important then." Indigo shrugged. "Probably a follow-up to your mission from last night. We all know Grey is bad at paperwork, so he'd obviously go to you about that."

"Dude, I'm not that bad," Grey said as he rolled his eyes. "Maybe if it wasn't so boring."

Nero tried to believe that's what it was, tried to tell himself that it had nothing to do with Skye. Had nothing to do with what she was saying to them. Though judging by how strange the Commander was when Nero walked into his office, he didn't think that was the case.

He kept quiet as the others chatted casually about one topic or another—what they were serving in the cafeteria that night, Indigo's new gaming addiction, the cute blonde that Grey swore was checking him out in the gym earlier. After a few hours, they all started to drift off. Grey went first, giving Nero a little kick as he climbed onto his bunk. Indigo went to bed not long after that, and he would be snoring before long. Garnet turned her attention back to her computer. Its screen was the only source of light in the room, a blue glow which painted the streaks of blonde in her hair. It lit up her face and Nero couldn't help but stare for a moment. Her tongue was sticking out of her full lips, bit between her teeth as her short fingers moved furiously over the keyboard.