“Absolutely.”
Krystal tapped away on her screen, streams of data rolling past so fast that T’arq had no hope of understanding what was going on. Without the training, how was she taking it all in?
T’arq muted the comm. “Krystal?”
“Just a minute,” she said, waving a hand dismissively.
He smiled. So much for being anxious and overwhelmed. Once her brain was engaged, she was so preoccupied that it didn’t matter what else was going on.
The sounds of the bridge on the Zataras rolled over the speaker, the distant voices chattering softly in the background and the familiar electronic noises of a battleship bridge rolling over T’arq. He had once thought to pilot a starship like the Zataras, but then he had met Zac at the military academy on Taurus and everything had changed. Zac, a son of an elite Taurean family with a military pedigree T’arq could only dream about, had taken him under his wing. The two had quickly become friends, almost inseparable. So much so that when it became known that T’arq had no preference for gender in his partners, many suggested that they were lovers. But no. T’arq loved Zac, but like a brother, nothing more.
And when Laila arrived on the scene? T’arq could see how happy she made Zac, and how could he begrudge his closest friend such happiness?
But in the quiet hours of the morning, lying alone in his bed, he ached for more.
Krystal’s voice shook him from his thoughts. “I’m going to test the cloak now. I have enough baseline data.”
“You mean you haven’t been testing the cloak?”
What had she been doing for three hours?
She shot him a puzzled look. “Of course not. I needed control data.”
T’arq groaned, letting his head fall back against the headrest.
“T’arq?”
He rolled his head on the headrest to look at her. “Yes?”
Krystal glanced from him to her tablet. “We need to engage the cloak, but…” she trailed off and bit her bottom lip.
T’arq watched as she chewed on it between neat, white teeth, making her lip redden. He swallowed, forcing himself to look away.
“Go on,” he said, picking up a tablet and mindlessly flipping through the screens to stop staring at Krystal’s lips.
Get a hold of yourself!
“I need to see if the Zataras can see us on their scans when the cloak is up,” she paused and then finished in a rush, “but I’m worried it’s going to fail, and I’ll look like an idiot and you’ll be angry because we’ve been out here for hours.”
She looked like she was about to cry and T’arq couldn’t have stopped himself from consoling her if he tried. He reached over with one large callused hand and cupped her face, brushing his thumb down her cheek.
“It’s not a waste of time. I believe in you and your work. I’m sorry I’ve been grumpy. I’ve enjoyed this time spent with you. Really.” He said, the truth of the words bringing a warm glow to his chest and a reassuring smile.
She nodded and swiped at her eyes with the back of her fingers. “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
She took a shaky breath. “Ok. Then I’m going to engage the cloak. Can you have the Zataras see if they notice anything?”
He nodded, picking up the comm and hailing the big starship. “Zataras?”
“Here, Qu’Ress Alpha.”
Krystal’s fingers moved so fast on the screen that he couldn’t tell what she was pressing. She made one last, definitive gesture on the screen and then said, her voice steady, “The cloak is engaged.”
“Check your scans,” T’arq directed., “are we appearing?”
After a long moment of silence, a stunned voice came over the comm. “No… I assume this is what you were expecting?”
