T’arq and Krystal grinned. She punched her fist in the air in celebration and T’arq laughed.
“Has it worked, Qu’Ress?” This time it was the voice of Captain Tomas Fa’Rell, the deep tones unmistakable over the comm.
T’arq looked to Krystal, gesturing to the comm. She hesitantly flicked her mic and spoke. “Initial testing appears positive, sir.”
They heard excited whoops in the background. T’arq imagined the news would be quite good for the bridge crew, who had witnessed many a pilot’s death in battle. One more step to keeping them safer was not to be glossed over.
“Although,” Krystal continued, “I’d like to see it working with physical interference.”
T’arq spoke up, “Permission to alter our flight plan, Zataras?”
“Granted. Just be careful. We can’t track you anymore, Qu’Ress.”
“Noted. Qu’Ress out.”
Communication with the Zataras now cut, T’arq let out a whoop that had Krystal jump in her seat. She pressed a hand to her chest and glanced at T’arq, who grinned at her.
“Do you realize what you have done?”
Her brows drew together as she shook her head slightly.
“You’ve saved hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives! Krystal, you’ve done it!” His enthusiasm was contagious, and a small smile broke out across her face.
“So far it’s looking good, yes.”
“Oh, don’t be a pessimist. It’s working and will continue to work. I know you can do it.” T’arq turned back to the controls and flicked a few screens to find a suitable obstacle to test the cloak. The asteroid field they had been heading toward should do nicely. He re-charted the course to go near the field, planning to guide the ship manually once they arrived.
“It’s going to be awhile until we get to the asteroid field. Are you hungry?”
A growl from Krystal’s stomach greeted his question, and she flushed.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Until now, the ship had not used the artificial gravity. With T’arq and Krystal strapped into their seats and everything stowed in its place, there was no need. But T’arq did not like preparing food in zero gravity. It could get messy easily, and liquids were not friendly to electronics.
He unstrapped himself from the seat and eased himself upright, stretching as much as the small space allowed. Once upon a time, being strapped into a seat for hours on end didn’t cause him any grief. Age found everyone, he supposed. If you were lucky.
Chuckling to himself, he paused, realizing Krystal was staring at him, mouth open.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled, face red and her head down, the dark curls falling forward to hide her face from him.
He looked at her for a long moment, but she studiously refused to look up, so he shrugged and made his way into the tiny galley cum cargo hold. Stealth ships were primarily used in combat for quick dash and fire missions. The cargo hold was really a multi-purpose space, with a pull-out hygiene station that T’arq tried to only use in a pinch, and a small food preparation area housed in a cupboard. There were tie-down rings to hold boxes, though the space was empty right now.
He began pulling out the various packets and a container to make their meal. With a practiced flick of the wrist, the heating element in a silver package activated. He put it aside as he flicked through the rest of the stash of ready meals until he found what he was looking for.
“Hah! There you are,” he muttered, quickly setting this one to heating as well.
In a few short minutes, he had arranged their food on a tray. He made his way back into the main cabin with it and, with a command to the on-board computer, a small tabletop slid from a recessed panel to click into place between the two chairs.
“Here,” T’arq said as he slid into his seat. “Eat.”
“In a minute,” Krystal replied, head still bowed and busily tapping away on her tablet.
“No. Now, little mouse. You need your energy if you’re to be of any use.”
She glanced up at him and, with a resigned twist of her lips, she nodded. “Can I undo the harness?”
