Eventually, she checked her hyperband again. The rest of the Academy would be getting out of trainings, soon, for the day. The hallways would be flooding. It was probably as good a time as any to come up for air, lest someone actually come looking for her and discover her secret generator space. Her therapy would do her little good if the space became a metal zoo.
Some of her spatial-awareness had returned by the time she knocked on Lee’s door with an elbow, her backpack clutched in one arm and a couple of green drinks in the other. She still felt a bit like she was floating, but maybe her feet were a little closer to the ground.
She knocked on the door a second time, managing to take a swig from one of the drinks while she waited. She’d opted for something different than her usuals, going for an interesting melon flavor.
The door slid open, and Lee popped his lazr-pods from his ears. His eyes were bright, a tuft of hair poking up by his ear. While her day had been a mush of tangled thoughts with the generators, Lee looked like he’d already had a full day. And judging by the music in his ears, he probably had.
She smiled as she pressed the second drink into his hands.
“One of those for me?” he asked with mock surprise, even as he slipped the straw up to his lips.
“Ha, ha.” Careful not to bump his drink with her bag, she edged past him.
Lee’s room smelled as it always had, of teakwood and cedar. Although, she’d swear the aloe by the window had grown since she’d last been here. Could plants grow new limbs in only a couple weeks worth of time?
And his bed…
Heat rushed her face and her hands, the air crackling and fissuring around her as she drew in a shallow breath.
They’d shared a bed at least a hundred times. She knew the feel of the sheets, and that his body ran a high kelvin during the night. And while she hadn’t been over here much since they’d been back, she was no stranger to the space.
But this wasn’t like those times. This was... They were…
The rest of her thoughts fled her as she stared helplessly over at Lee’s bed, her green juice crushed between her arms as she fed that tension back and forth in pressured squeezes while Lee brushed past her to transfer the music over to his holoblock. He flicked past a couple of the songs until he found something he liked.
She’d barely shuffled a step or two before he turned back to face her, one of his medium-brown curls falling down over his brow.
Void help her. It was all she could do to draw in another breath. When had these rooms gotten so compact?
Lee cleared his throat. Scooping up his holoblock, he motioned with his head to the bed.
Not waiting for her to follow, he tumbled backwards, taking a spot near the headboard. The bed sagged under him as he leaned his back to the wall, adjusting the pillows to make himself comfortable.
Grinning, Kat grabbed her own holoblock and dropped her bag to the floor before crawling after him. Tossing her ponytail over her shoulder, she stretched out her legs, letting her heels knock as she reacquainted herself with oxygen and the teakwood settling around her. Her knees bumping comfortingly into Lee’s. Shehadmissed this.
She drew up the holofiles on the hub to see what was there, listening to the rhythmic sounds of the guitar in the background. They hadn’t heard anything from Zane since the meeting yesterday, but Whistler had sent a message this morning, confirming his portion of the mission report had been uploaded.He’d also included a personal addendum regarding one of the very tempting snacks he’d identified buried in the kitchen’s stockroom. Some fancy, red bean cookie.
She flipped through Whistler’s uploads before opening up a second set. Zane’s were there as well. “He’s being quite chill about this. He hasn’t raised the flag of rebellion,” Kat murmured, scanning through its contents. Quantitatively, it was a slightly more comprehensive version than what had been showcased during their debriefing with the General. Qualitatively, there was nothing new in there.
She would expect nothing less.
As for her own complementary portion and conclusion to the report, the AMG could take it to thevoidfor all she cared. She stood by the version they’d presented yesterday, regardless of the holes the Commanding General had drilled into their story.
The operations onboard Segura may have been imperfect, their practices unethical. But at least they’dtriedsomething. Which was more than the rest of them could say for their galaxy.
Lee leaned over to peer down at the hologram open on her lap, chuckling softly. “When you said you wanted to finish the reports, I assumed you’d started already.”
“I had.” She read through the line she’d typed two nights ago, amid confused dreams and a sleep-muddled brain.
They are the defense.
Let everyone make of that what they would. Kat left it as is, moving down to the next section. “It’s all old news, now, anyway.”
Lee didn’t say anything as he went back to his own portion of the report.
Kat had written all but the last section before she sat back again, leaning her head against the cool wall. She feigned stiffness and cramping to ease the shakiness that had crept into her fingers while she waited for the images in her headto subside. The echo of sparks. The blue-green lights. The recollections imprinted on the back of her head after last night’s round of nightmares.
She flexed her fingers, rubbing at her temples.
