Opalina Outpost

Chapter 5: Decisions and Decisions

Crossing to the opposite corner of the bar was either Lio's best or worst decision of the night. The buttoned-up subal was hotter than the desert in daylight, and delightfully unexpected. Ravi played along effortlessly with the game Lio had made of concocting ludicrous backstories for all the undercover aliens in the bar. But he was far too easy to talk to. A random man in the corner had no right to be quite so wonderfully, dangerously comfortable.

"Lio?" Ravi cocked his head to one side.

First Goddess damn him, but he loved the way Ravi said his name, like he held it on his tongue for a hesitant heartbeat, and then exhaled the rest as if he couldn't help himself. Ravi arched an eyebrow at him, still waiting for an answer to whatever he was asking.

He straightened from his slouch against the table. "What? Sorry, I got distracted—what was I saying?"

"You were talking about your family. They sounded kind of...pushy."

"My mother does like to remind me that it's pressure that makes the diamond," he said, before he realized that he was talking about his damn mother. Hardly suitable for flirting. He smiled, gave a hollow laugh, and tried to salvage the situation. "They're fine, really. Very well-intentioned. Just the territory that comes with being the youngest among ambitious siblings." Perfect. Now he'd made himself sound like a child.

Ravi was examining him with bright-dark eyes, lips slightly pursed. As if he awaited a kiss Lio badly wanted to give him. "Shot in the dark," Ravi began slowly, "but I'm guessing doing your service way out here with Fennec region units isn't the route your brother and sister took."

"Accurate shot." His smile faltered when he held Ravi's gaze across their second round of drinks. "They joined specialty units in the capitol for their service years. Their ambitions always were more acceptable."

"And yours aren't?"

"According to everyone else, I don't have any ambitions. Just idle fancies." Chief among them was getting this man into a bed. But he wasn't certain that this encounter was headed any of the places he wanted—with an alarming degree of intensity—to go.

Another piercing look from his companion, almost shrewd, as Ravi settled back into the booth seat. "You weren't entirely joking about wanting to find a Mastali lightship, were you?"

Lio's mouth ran dry and he dropped his gaze to the tabletop. It was hardly his goal for Ravi to think him a frivolous dreamer untethered to reality, the way everyone else did. Which is why he should keep his mouth shut, laugh it off, and make some joke. "Well," he began, "I don't think the capitol's efforts to create their own lightships are going anywhere. And everyone just discounts the possibility that undiscovered Mastali tech might still be left here—" He stopped. None of that was remotely close to humorous.

Ravi tapped a finger against his drink. "The Mastali's last base was supposedly out here, wasn't it? People say they were last seen in the Fennec region?"

"Yes," Lio said, a bit breathlessly. "They've discovered pieces that seem to be Mastali-made out here. Why try to reinvent something that already exists, if we just spent a bit more time looking for it?" Ravi didn't sound like he was making fun of any of this, far-fetched as it was.

"Is that why you came out here? You think you can find something that'll help the Enlightment units build a replica lightship?"

The truth slipped out. "I think that an actual lightship might still be here."

Ravi's eyebrows flew up, but there was still no trace of laughter in his expression. Lio had become painfully good at recognizing when someone was holding back a disbelieving snicker.