They wasted no haste in crossing the hangar to the skimmer that awaited them, perched, as they’d choreographed, near the hangar doors. Its cabin lights were on tonight, too, bidding them welcome.
A single other ship sat between them and those doors, but that should be easily maneuverable enough.
Striding up the loading ramp, Kat set foot onto the ship—only to find a couple of figures standing there inside the main cabin. At the sound of her footsteps, the first turned, his long French braid whipping around behind him, a crooked grin on his face.
“Cutting it to the last minute, aren’t you?” Whistler joked, as Zane lifted his dark eyes to face her as well.
“Guys, what—” Kat blabbered, as Lee came up behind her, stopping short.
At first Lee appeared just as stunned as she felt. But his surprise quickly melted into a fierce grin. “I should have guessed.”
“We figured it was better to beg forgiveness later,” Zane shrugged, tightening the arms crossed over his chest. The left side of his hair was now a blank slate, freshly buzzed—to nothing. To possibilities.
“We kept waiting for you to ask us, and when you didn’t… well, we just thought we would extend the invite to ourselves on your behalf. And, I mean, when you sent us those coordinates, I took that to be just the invitation we needed,” Whistler agreed, now striding deeper into the skimmer and up towards the cockpit. “I’ve already plugged them in and made the necessary adjustments to Isla’s configuration.”
“But you—and Demi—” Kat began.
“We talked about it. Told him this was where I needed to be.”
Kat was still gaping and speechless as she looked to Lee to see what he made of this change in plans. They had always intended for this next adventure to be theirs—as in the two of them.
But, maybe, their story wasn’t quite finished yet.
Lee had his eyes set on Zane.
“And you’re sure about this?” He didn’t need to remind them that this was permanent, that there would be no returning to the Academy after this. They’d ridden this last wave right alongside them.
“I thought I’d made myself clear a while ago,” Zane said, dark eyes challenging. “The Academy doesn’t hold anything for me anymore.”
Kat didn’t know the details of everything that had gone down between Lee and Zane. What all had been said and admitted toget him here. But she didn’t really need to know, anyway. Not as Lee nodded. His confirmation was the only one she needed.
And as they followed Whistler up through the ship, the familiarity an unexpected comfort tonight, Kat realized she didn’t wholly mind much this twist in plans. To the contrary, their plans felt fuller, somehow. More complete.
She was already adapting and adjusting expectations in her head as they reached the cockpit. Whistler lay a hand atop the headrest of the pilot’s seat, draping a headset lovingly over the crook of his elbow. And from the look in his eyes as he glanced back at them, she could see that he’d surrender this spot in a heartbeat if they wanted it. But surprising even herself, she waved it right back to him. He belonged there.
When Zane, however, motioned for Kat to claim her favorite and rightful place as co-pilot, she didn’t hesitate to accept it, with Lee at her right-hand. Her forever co-pilot.
She had her harness all buckled up and a headset over her ears, with Lee and Zane standing behind them at the ready, when she heard Whistler’s tenor voice in her ears.
“To De Carmos?” Whistler expanded the coordinates to display one of the planet’s moons. A former trading outpost, hidden along the outskirts of the De Myra Solida grouping, the moon De Carmos So-i awaited them.
She glanced back, not towards their pilot, but to her friend. Her first friend, who was now her everything. She met his gaze, his bright green eyes dancing; with clarity and with life; with challenge; and with light, amid even the murkiest of unknowns. “To De Carmos,” she breathed.
Whistler fired up the engines, the skimmer hovering to life as the boosters around them thrummed in anticipation. And with it began the opening sequence of chaos. They heard the first of the shouts coming from behind them before they saw the movement—
But they were ready for them. All attempts to stop the skimmer and halt operations fell flat as the pre-programmed hangar doors rolled open, the hangar managers’ radio bouncing off of them, in a duet coordinated just so. Sparing the ship up ahead of them, Whistler maneuvered around it with ease.
And as they drew up towards the hangar door, Kat locked eyes once more with Lee. She had the pilot-talk of Whistler in her ear, and the security and forbearance of Zane at her back. Home had always been right here. And now she would bring it with her, to wherever this next flight led them.
Tick tick boom.
“Hey Lee, we’re on our way to Gemini,” she called out coolly. The hangar doors looming, but a heartbeat away, now.
“Go for 30,” he called back, the thrill in his voice, as they blitzed out into the dark galaxy, and didn’t look back.
EPILOGUE: LEE
FOR FOUR days they traveled, flying just under hyperspeed and avoiding hyperjumps altogether to avoid attraction. They stopped to recharge when necessary, taking it in shifts to avoid exhaustion. But other than that, they just cruised, forward. Onward.
