"I'm going to see if I can get closer and hear what they’re saying," Jin said.
"Don't you dare."
"But—"
"No buts. Sit still and don't draw attention," she ordered.
"Boring," Jin pouted.
And Kira wondered where Elena got her sass from.
Seconds later, Jin nudged forward inside the hood.
Kira slapped a hand over him. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for the seatbelt. I don’t see it.”
“Don’t even start with that again,” Kira said through gritted teeth. “The objective is to appear normal. Not like we have a few screws loose.”
Even if their screws had long since come undone and been lost to the void.
Before Jin could respond, a figure wearing dark clothes and a hat pulled low over his face dropped into the seat across from her. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Jace." Kira blinked dumbly at him, caught off-balance.
She glanced around.
"I'm alone," he assured her.
"How did you find me?" Kira asked, thankful Joule and the rest had chosen seats out of hearing range
Jace made himself comfortable in his chair, stretching out his legs until his feet edged close to the aisle. "I'd like to say this is on purpose, but it's quite by chance."
Kira didn’t believe that.
One coincidence maybe. Two? Unlikely.
She could have overlooked Joule and the presence of the others. For Jace to pop up as well, that strained the threads of credibility.
Jace's lips quirked as he sensed her doubt. "You're starting to rub off on us. I simply needed to ask myself what ship Kira would take and then wait. The hoods are a nice touch and the big guy threw me off for a moment."
Finn shifted at the comment, his expression not entirely friendly.
"Don't worry, I doubt anyone besides those who've had close contact with you would think this way," Jace assured her.
Finn grunted. Whether in amusement or grumpiness, Kira couldn't say.
"Also, Himoto stationed a few of his most trusted around the dock with orders to report any unusual behavior.” Jace grinned. “Speaking Haldeel—that’s a bit attention-grabbing.”
There it was. The truth.
In her defense, she hadn't expected the ability to be considered unusual.
To her, it was a no brainer to have at least a basic understanding of your host's language, even if the extent of that knowledge was only a common greeting.
Kira let herself relax a tiny bit, satisfied the risk was still at acceptable levels.
"How was your trip?" Kira prodded.
