Page 7 of There’s an Elf in My Cockpit

She wasn’t wearing the dress or stockings now, but I’d made sure to stow them on the shuttle so they wouldn’t get lost. The chemistry between the two of us was sizzling and I just knew that she felt it too. Once I convinced her that I was a good guy to date, I’d convince her to wear those stockings for me to bed and nothing else.

Those thoughts were enough to keep me warm as we continued our hike, staying a little closer together this time as the wind was picking up and snow and sleet were starting to whip us from all directions. It wasn’t as safe as I liked, but it wasn’t good to lose sight of one another either, we were instinctively seeking the comfort of seeing the other as we walked.

When I had to check our heading for the fourth time in less than ten minutes I knew the weather was starting to get too extreme to keep going. On top of that, darkness was suddenly falling, much more rapidly than I expected. That wasn’t safe, once it was dark we wouldn’t be able to see any of the possible dangers ahead of us.

“Let’s call it a day,” I announced, my words getting ripped away by the rapid winds filled with ice and snow. I could feel the tiny flakes hit any exposed skin like tiny needles of ice. Vi looked immensely relieved when I said that and I wondered if she’d been soldiering on for much longer than she really wanted, pushing herself past her limits so she wouldn’t slow me down. I should have checked on her much more often, a fatigued hiking partner was worse than a slow one.

“Sit down,” I ordered her when I pulled out my fold-out shovel, I could see that she was moving to grab the one strapped to her bag. “I’ll take care of this, you rest.” She was in shape to have kept up as long as she had after that exhausting climb, but now her stamina was running out. I would be faster if I built the snow shelter myself, and she’d save her strength for the rest of the walk tomorrow.

Testament to how tired she was, she didn’t protest when I had fully expected one. I worked quickly, building up a snow shelter to keep the wind off the tent once I put it up. It would partially cover the fabric shelter, but this wasn’t just some Earth tent, this was much more advanced technology and I was eager to test it out during real subzero conditions at last.

It was actually a much more Christmas-like setting than the resort had been, maybe I should just consider this absurd adventure a precursor to the festivities soon to come. Maybe once I’d pinged the Vagabond for pick up I could get the boys to do some proper snowball fighting down in the crater. Considering our walking pace, even Belal would probably be back on his feet by the time we got back there.

I was putting the final touches to our tent, anchoring it down into the ice layer beneath the snow, as I considered the Hoxiam kid. His species meant he was shunned and cast out nearly everywhere he went, though he’d made me learn that only a small fraction of his kind were man-eaters. Many, like him, just ate the flesh of the beasts they hunted down on their snow planet.

Being what he was out in the Zeta-Quadrant was tough because of all that prejudice, but I’d seen Vi discard all of that when she realized he was hurt. She’d just acted with kindness and compassion, which told me all I needed to know about her character. She was a good person and she deserved our help. Whatever had caused her to end up dating someone as notorious as the right-hand man of a Crimelord, she knew she’d made a mistake and she was trying to do the right thing now at great personal risk and cost.

“Ready. Get inside, sweetheart,” I said once I was certain the tent wasn’t going to move an inch and was fully protected from the harsh winds racing across the ice plain we were on. Dark had almost fully fallen but she hadn’t taken out a light, and neither had I. We didn’t want to risk our small light being picked up by a set of unwanted eyes but once we’d both crawled into our shelter and shucked our outer, snow-covered layers, I lit a single lantern.

The tent had heating lines powered by some kind of technology I didn’t understand. Da’vi, the ship’s mechanic had mentioned some kind of bio-luminescent algae but that was where my understanding had ended. Regardless, it was if not pleasantly warm, at least not freezing inside the tent. With our added body heat, the place would start to warm up enough for us to safely go to sleep.

“Call the teens? I want to make sure they haven’t run into any trouble,” Vi said once we were sitting crosslegged across from one another with a self-heating food ration in our laps. I still had my mouth stuffed full of mystery meat but obeyed anyway, thumbing Darth’s contact on my wrist com and holding my hand out in front of her face so that she could speak.

The Tarkan youngster answered the com after a long, static-filled minute, his voice crackling from the bad signal. “What is it, Olly? Is everything okay or should I fly out to assist?” So eager that one, and so serious, although I had my suspicions that he’d been trying to kickstart my possessive urges concerning Vi on purpose.

“It’s Vi, and everything is fine!” the woman across from me said, “I just wanted to check on you guys, make sure all is quiet at the shuttle. No sign of Elpherian?” Ah, so that was the name of the bastard that was chasing her, was it? What an elfish name, it didn’t make him sound like a dangerous formidable foe. But I knew just as well as any of my gladiator friends that the evil bastards that were in charge were often the clever ones, not the big guys.

“Thank you, Miss. All is quiet,” Darth responded, and then a bit more eagerly, “Are you sure you don’t need any help?” I bristled even as I felt amusement bubble up alongside the possessive urge. Was Darth trying to rile me in case I was listening in, or was he just that eager to see some action? I imagined the boys were bored out of their minds by now inside the shuttle. I doubted they’d manage to stay inside it the entire time I was away like I’d ordered. They would be too tempted to explore the crater, even just a little.

“We’re sure,” I barked out, “How’s Belal? Leg healing?” That redirected the younger male and he assured me, he’d checked the youngest of them several times with the scanner, and the break was mending properly. I was still going to make sure that the Vagabond’s Doctor checked the kid when we got back, but at least he wasn’t in pain. I hated that none of us had thought to secure that one errant bag during our flight, if we had, Belal wouldn’t have broken his leg. That was definitely my fault, I was the one who’d just dropped it on the floor.

Once the call disconnected, I set out our sleeping bags and considered them while glancing at my companion from the corner of my eye. This tent was small, the space already so cramped that our knees had been touching while we ate. How good was she at maintaining her temperature once she went to sleep? If she was anything like any of my ex-girlfriends, she’d have freezing feet as soon as she crawled into bed. Was I seriously considering if the prospect of heating cold feet was worth it if I could convince her to share the sleeping bags? Yeah, I really was.

When I started to zip them together without asking her, she caught on immediately, her fair skin going pink. “What are you doing?” she demanded, while she grabbed the end of the sleeping bag nearest to her, her fists going so tight that the knuckles went white.

“What does it look like?” I shot back, fighting to contain my grin at seeing her riled. Ah, man I was bad for enjoying that but that blush was just the cutest. She was thinking all kinds of things, not because she was scared, but because she was as attracted to me as I was to her. That wasn’t vanity talking, I’d seen the appreciation in her eyes, felt it in the way she’d touched me so far.

“Making sure we don’t freeze to death while we sleep,” I added, just to see how she’d respond to that. Her blush deepened and she dropped the sleeping bag to look away. I was pleased by that, certain that she was confused and a little disappointed. Too bad it was much too cold out here to really enjoy a steamy interlude beneath the blankets, we’d need to keep most of our clothing on, layering up to preserve heat. I couldn’t resist teasing her a little more though, she responded so well to it.