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And I will be able to guide him towards more appropriate selections, Khoth thought.

Yet Jace’s confidence in Thammah’s love and his worthiness of it buoyed him only so far. His balance had deteriorated completely on his way to the hanger bay. His palms were sweating. His left eye was twitching. And he continually paced before the door to the hanger bay. He had never behaved this way before. Well, that wasn’t true.

He had been in a similar state before he learned if he had been accepted into Haseon’s Flight Academy. Daesah hadn’t even laughed at his lack of balance, but instead had hugged him tightly and assured him that he was worthy and would get in. She had been right. But she was not here now to tell him that he could repair things with Thammah. What he had said had hit at the core of her. It was meant to scar her and make her wish to avoid him. Could that be undone?

He paced. And paced some more. He thought about going back to Jace’s quarters and helping with crew selection. That might be better. He paced some more. He was careful not to step near enough that the sensor opened the door. He imagined it opening and shutting as he paced. That would have looked ridiculous. But was it not ridiculous already? Thammah would be laughing at him. He would actually have become less nervous if she did. For that meant she could not be so angry as to never establish their friendship again.

A message appeared on the comm on his forearm. It was from Thammah. You can stop lurking out there. I am done with Jack’s flying lesson.

She was most definitely laughing at him. He tried to hope that his supposition was right that meant she wasn’t irretrievably against him.

Squaring his shoulders, he entered the hanger bay. Thammah and Jack were by the Kryptoria II. Jack had a broad smile on his handsome face. His cheeks were suffused with color and his eyes were bright. Khoth knew this look. It was the same look that appeared on Jace’s face when he was excited and happy.

Like father, like son.

Jack flashed that smile at him as he caught sight of Khoth. He was dressed in a smart black flightsuit. It was a new design that the Osiris had evidently come up with.

“How was your first lesson, Captain Parker?” Khoth asked.

“It was amazing, Commander.” Jack beamed.

“Jack is a natural,” Thammah enthused.

“I have a very good teacher.” Jack flashed another grin.

“I sent you a list of the manuals you should review.” Thammah checked her comm, flicking through holographic menus to make sure she had marked everything of interest. “But I’m a big believer in hands-on learning. I recommend that you spend as much time as possible in the flight simulator.”

“Sounds like a plan, Flight-Commander.” Jack gave her a salute.

Thammah rolled her eyes, but then said, “Dismissed. We’ll meet tomorrow at 0800 to continue.”

Another salute and Jack was off, jogging out of the hanger bay. Both of them watched him go. Only when he was out of sight did they speak.

“How was his performance truly?” Khoth asked.

He assumed she had said “natural” in order to avoid actually grading Jack’s performance in a way that might put him in a bad light with Khoth. So he wasn’t expecting her reaction.

Thammah let out a sharp laugh. “You’re expecting me to say not as good as the worst Thaf’ell’s, aren’t you? So typical.”

“Is that accurate?” Khoth lifted an eyebrow even as he felt like was in a field filled with landmines all of a sudden.

“No.” Thammah shook her head and headed into the Kryptoria II without asking her to accompany him.

He paused a moment before following her up the gangway. Had she not asked to speak with him? Why was she seemingly moving away from him? Perhaps her Xi and Xa were still out of alignment from their fight like he feared. She could not see him without remembering his cruel words. He stood awkwardly at the top of the gangway while she moved around inside.

“Jack is already a skilled pilot,” she said after noticing him standing there. She did not invite him in. “He’s just learning a new starcraft.”

“In a new medium as well. Space is different from Earth’s atmosphere,” Khoth pointed out.

“Well, Jace already let him pilot his ship to the Moon,” she said. “So he’s picking it up pretty quickly.”

Khoth frowned. Jace hadn’t mentioned that. But there were always the ship’s systems to take over if Jack made a mistake.

As if reading his mind she added, “And Jack didn’t make any mistakes requiring the ship to take over. I reviewed his flight and he did well then too. Like I said earlier: he’s a natural.”

She headed over to the sleeping area in the ship. A pass of her hand over a sensor and the bed slid out from the wall. She sat down on it and began to take her boots off. Khoth lifted another eyebrow. He had forgotten that she was using the Kryptoria as her berth instead of living in the quarters the Osiris had assigned her.

“Will you be using your quarters at any point?” he asked.