Chromium

14.6

First draft

A few hours later, when Dia left Reyes' room, Omen was waiting for her. As soon as she turned around the corner, he grabbed her arm and practically dragged her to the sickbay.

"What have you done?" He half-growled when they were inside.

Dia looked at him with shock. "What are you talk..."

"Answer me, Dia." He demanded, his voice coming out with more than the usual heat. "Why did you spend the night at Reyes' place?"

Dia froze, her mind going blank. Her heartbeat was racing so fast, she found sweat trickling down her spine. "H-How do you know?"

Omen let out in an impatient breath. "It doesn't matter."

"The hell it doesn't!" She hissed. "How do you know?"

"It's because of Mitchell." Omen explained quickly. "Thanks to her, I have access to the ship's security system. Now," His glare became even more heated. "answer me, corporal. What were you doing in his room?"

Dia averted her gaze, "What I had to do."

Omen winced like she had slapped him. "There were other methods. You didn't have to..."

"...sleep with him?" She let out a cold little laugh. "Just out of curiosity, when you asked me to get close to Reyes, what did you expect me to do?"

Omen's expression became strained, his anger dissipating into a mask of pain and guilt. "I only expected you to talk with him, maybe flirt a bit. You didn't have to go so far." 

Her lower lip quivered. Omen was barely able to look at her. Dia kept her face impassive, refusing to admit how much that hurt her.

"Hypocrite." She said and that single word was caustic enough to dig holes in the metal floor. "You're a hypocrite, Omen." She said, stabbing an accusing finger at Omen's chest. "You wanted to use my connection with Reyes. That's why you came to me in the first place."

"That's not fair." He said in a considerably cooler voice. "I would never ask you to do something like that, corporal."

"No, of course not." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You just implied it."

"I didn't..."

"Yes, you did." She hissed. "I'm not stupid, Omen. You are a trained spy. You infiltrated the Umbra's organization months ago but you still failed to discover anything of value. I just had a few days." She paused for a few heartbeats. "That was the only way, and you knew it. We both did. And that's why your reaction pisses me off so much." With great difficulty, she managed to keep her voice level. "But don't worry. You got what you wanted." She retrieved the fake insignia from her pocket and threw it to him. "Here, take it."

Omen gripped the device, hard, his jaw tightening. "Believe me or not, Dia, but that was never my intention."

Dia shrugged, apparently unconcerned, but her shoulders were shaking. "It's done, Omen. Whatever your intentions were...it doesn't matter anymore."

Omen became utterly still, his face drained of all expression. "I only hope it's worth it, corporal." His voice was as cold and hard as she ever heard it.

"That makes two of us, captain." She said back. She felt heat rising to match his coldness.

They looked at one another in silence, then Dia folded her arms on her chest and asked. "So, what now?"

"Now I examine this." Omen answered, weighing the insignia in his hand. "Then we plan our next move. But first, let me call Sarah. I want her to hear this."