Zenny saw lines of all different colors, as all Cupids did, he assumed. Some of them he didn’t understand what they meant, and maybe he never would, but he knew what red meant. Red meant family.
Killian would be his family one day…
Ender eyed Saffire Starlight, the Head Engineer on the ship. With deep-brown skin, light-brown eyes, and pointed ears with a horde of piercings on them, the Unicorn’s natural pastel rainbow hair was pulled up into two balls on the top of her head. She was wearing a black tank top, cargo pants, and platform boots. And the damn chains on her pants were annoying him, as they made noises every time she fucking moved, which she did a lot, as sitting or even standing still was not her thing.
As irritating as the chains were, the real bur in his ass at the moment was the not so wanted confirmation she was giving him.
Though he had pretty much already worked out what the solar flare had fucked up the moment it had happened, hecouldn’t really say he’d wanted the ultimate confirmation that it had in fact knocked their interstellar communication system out as it rocked their fucking ship.
Saffire smirked. “I can see, based on the pleased expression plastered on your face, that you are unbelievably happy to hear me do my job of informing you of this important yet not so great news.”
“You are such a snide, one-horned crazy bitch, you know that, Saffire?”
She barked out in laughter. “And don’t you forget it, you snake-eyed bastard, because I will stab your ass the minute you do.”
It was a threat she could at the very least attempt to carry out, if not succeed at. At almost six feet tall, the Unicorn was both curvy yet muscular, her build a bit thicker than a runner.
Despite the threat, Ender chuckled at her audacity. She was young, bold, and a pain in the rear, and he loved her for it, for sure. But he’d have so shot her at least once before today if her ability to fix seemingly anything wasn’t so unmatchable.
“Stabbing is it now? Didn’t you explode my favorite scooter the last time I happened to forget that fact?”
Saffire giggled. “No fun in being repetitive, sir.”
Ender wrinkled his nose. “Don’t start thatsirshit with me. You know damn well that my gay ass ain’t into any of what you are packin’, girl.”
She winked. “I can wear a strap for you, boss. Just tell me the time and day, and what size.”
There were snorts and coughs all around as the bunch of assholes at the rounded table struggled to cover up their laughter. He glared at Soren when the Harpy just outright laughed.
“Put a plug in it, Toddles!” he snapped, before hissing at the Unicorn, “Saffire, you will find your ass made of stone and sat ina corner like a damn toddler for days the next time you say shit like that to me. Do I make myself clear?”
She pouted. “Aww, you really are getting old, Ender. You used to flirt back.”
“Like hell I did! Now, spit the rest out. What else?!”
The woman sighed. “Fine, fine, old man. So not only did it knock them out, but it pretty much fried the system. It may take a few weeks at least to fix it.”
He rubbed his eyes and groaned in pain. “You have to be shittin’ me.”
“Nope!” Saffire chimed sweetly. “It’s fucked!”
Meaning, if something went wrong three days from now, it would be weeks before they’d ever be able to call out for help. “Great! FUCKING GREAT! Keep going without me, this old man is taking a damn nap,” he hissed as he surged from his seat and left the table, uncaring if they had more to tell him or not.
Ender ignored Soren when the bastard started to follow behind him silently—the creeper.
His brother stopped his silent and awkward act when they reached the door of Ender’s private quarters. The Harpy annoyingly demanded, “Tell me already.”
Stepping through the doorway, he spun and mocked, “Go away already!”, before manually slamming the door down in the fucker’s face.
Taking a shaky breath, Ender eyed his quarters for a moment. It was the second largest room on the ship, the largest being the captain’s quarters, which was where Kore stayed. Like most of the damn ship, there was a lot of chrome, but at least this room had some rugs. Well, it had two—one underneath the furniture in the small living room, and one under the bed.
To be honest, customizing rooms in an already built ship was an expensive pain in the ass, and they’d bought it second-hand. Like most larger rooms on generic ass spaceships this size, it wasan open-plan concept, with a bedroom, kitchenette, and living room. The only other door in the room led to a bathroom.
Most of the furniture was black or silver. The room was seriously lacking in personal touches. But then, he rarely stepped on board the damn ship, let alone stayed there. At one point it had been personalized, but after a few hundred years, the things he’d brought on board had been cleared out. So decoration-wise, aside from the bolted down storage trunks in the bedroom, and the large digital calendar on the right wall of the entryway, there were just some black geometric lines to break up the chrome of the walls.
Moving to the digital calendar, he counted the days.
“This is fine… Six days back puts us arriving on August 28th. Or possibly the next day, depending on how swiftly we leave after the fight.”
