The lounge was excessive. Soft lighting, overpolished brass fixtures, a jazz trio playing something smooth and pointless in the corner. Crystal glasses tinkled, waitstaff moved like ghosts, and the floral arrangements looked expensive enough to feed a mining colony for a week.

  Aurania sat straight-backed across from Admiral Marrow at a table clearly meant for fine dining, her drink untouched. She wore her traditional elegant robes, but hadn’t done anything excessive for the meeting. She wasn’t sure what bothered her more, the forced elegance, or the fact that she hadn’t been able to say no this time.

  She had been dodging him for weeks. But after having to explain why three of her team members had trashed a pavilion the other day in a two-on-one brawl, she’d run out of polite excuses. So here she was, performing diplomacy, half-suffocated by the atmosphere, nodding at a man who still thought this was a date.

  Across the table, Marrow leaned in with a practiced smile, one elbow hooked over the chair like this was some upscale lounge planetside instead of a repurposed officer’s club on a military dreadnought. “I’m just saying,” he drawled, “there’s a certain charm to unpredictability. Keeps the blood moving. Your crew’s got energy.”

  Aurania sipped her water, slow enough to hide the eye roll. Energy. That’s what he was calling it.

  She gave him a faint smile. “You sure you don’t mean chaos?”

  Marrow chuckled, unbothered. “I mean, there is that too. But you get results.”

  He tried to segue into something flirty. She could feel it in the shift of his tone, the way his gaze lingered half a second too long.

  She cut him off before it could land. “The data from Piria proved there is a chance to save Nox. Now we just need to find schematics for the damn thing.”

  Marrow sipped his drink, watching her. “Yes, the Graviton Anchor.”

  “We need actual plans,” she said flatly. “Preferably soon. Every mission you send us on that isn’t related to that is a waste of time.”

  They had been granted some reprieve after what happened to Elias, but The Resolute Wind was currently en route to another location where they were expected to deploy and assist the LU once more in finding someone’s lost truck keys or some shit.

  He blinked, then leaned back, schooling his expression into something more neutral. “Don’t forget that the support missions your team is sent on are payment for us assisting. Nox is still an independent planet.”

  She could feel her temper flare and tried to keep it in check. “Don’t give me that. We agreed to assist on your missions while we searched for a way to save our home. Now that we’ve found it, we cannot afford to waste time.” She finally took a sip of the alcohol. Then she added, “Don’t you forget what almost everyone on this damn boat owes to Riza. And she’s paid enough.”

  Marrow took a small breath and let out a sigh. “We’re pursuing multiple leads to get you what you need, but you have to understand, the Liberty Union isn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of sending a unit deep into Conservatory territory. It’s dangerous. And a political nightmare.” He tried to maintain his tone, one she was sure he thought was suave and charismatic. It wasn’t.

  “Please, Matron Aurania,” he continued. “You have to believe me when I say I am trying my best to get approval, it’s just a hard sell for my superiors.”

  Aurania pushed back her chair. “I don’t give a damn how hard of a sell it is, sir.” She rose to her feet. “I have about a year until the surface of my planet is on fire. And not long after that, it will fall into the sun.”

  She threw her napkin down on her chair and turned to leave. As she was stalking out, she yelled back at him, “And I’m not a fucking Matron.”

  She didn’t care about impressing anyone. She didn’t care about protocol. She just wanted to save her home.

  And she was tired of asking nicely.

  The corridors felt too quiet as she left the lounge behind. Or maybe she was just too loud in her own head. Aurania kept her stride sharp, deliberate, but her thoughts blurred. She was used to pressure, used to carrying command on her shoulders, but lately, everything felt… unbalanced. Like her center of gravity had shifted, and no matter how straight she stood, she still felt tilted inside.

  She had purposely pulled back from Soren. At first, she told herself it was strategy. She needed space to process what happened on Piria. But somewhere between the aftermath and the silence that followed, she had made herself scarce. Ducking rooms when he entered. Keeping things professional. Leaving messages instead of talking face to face.

  It wasn’t strategy. It was fear.

  She had watched him unravel on that battlefield, seen the raw power pour out of him, wild and untrained. He shook the very planet with his grief, and nearly destroyed himself too.

  She had been able to pull him back from it. But she didn’t know what to do with that.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. He had proven he had good intentions, was a decent person. But she didn’t trust what he was. If he could control it.

  And she didn’t trust herself. Every time she looked at Soren, it stirred something in her chest she didn’t have words for. And if she let that something grow, what then? What if it clouded her decisions? What if they couldn’t save Nox because she chose to go down that rabbit hole?

  Aurania slowed as she finally reached the common room, standing just outside the door. Laughter trickled out through it, soft and genuine. The kind of sound that didn’t feel rehearsed or weighted by politics.

  She needed that.

  She exhaled through her nose, smoothed the lines from her face, and opened the door.

  As she stepped inside, warm light spilled across the floor and the hum of conversation and movement washed over her like a welcome current. The scent of spiced food lingered in the air from whatever Brolgar had prepped, and the air felt lived in in a way the rest of the ship never quite did.

  Commander Garrin stood at the kitchenette counter with Inelius, both leaning over some kind of datapad, half in discussion, half in mock argument. He glanced up and said, “Ma’am,” nodding in her direction.

  Aurania shifted her weight to one leg. “Oh, hey Garrin, good to see you. Listen, sorry if you catch any blowback or anything. I might have just blown up on your boss.”

  Garrin grimaced a little and then looked back at Inelius. “Did you hear anything? I didn’t hear anything.”

  Inelius grinned back and forth between them. “I can’t hear shit. I’m basically deaf. In fact, I’ve got four eyes, but three of them are blind, and the other one has a cataract. I don’t even know who I’m talking to right now.”

  Aurania let out a real laugh, the tension in her chest loosened slightly. “You’re an idiot.”

  “SAY AGAIN?” He yelled out.

  The rest of the room was spread out across the soft furniture and scattered floor cushions. Soren was seated cross-legged by the window, speaking softly with Tamiyo, who had a diagnostic scanner open and was casually poking at something in his wrist.

  Violet and Amalia were sharing a bowl of something and arguing over who got the last bite, while Veolo stood behind them, absentmindedly braiding Violet’s hair while watching the news screen.

  Raine was in the middle of the room, attempting to retrieve the remote from Riza with only one arm. The remote was in Raine’s hand, but it was the hand of her detached arm, which Riza was holding out of Raine’s reach.

  Brana was slouched comfortably in a lounge chair, sipping tea and muttering commentary about the antics in front of her. Brolgar sat beside her, arms crossed but clearly amused.

  It was chaotic, loud, and perfect.

  Aurania felt her muscles ease, just a little. The pressure didn’t go away, but here, it didn’t feel like she had to carry it alone.

  “Hey!” Aurania called out in a commanding tone, but she had a smile on her face.

  Everyone froze and looked at her.

  “Push the couch and everything up against the walls, give me a big open space in the middle of the room.” She had been thinking about something for a while that felt past due.

  Everyone exchanged confused glances.

  Soren slowly stood and stretched.

  “Everything alright, Boss?” Riza asked, handing Raine her arm back.

  Aurania said, “Yeah,” in a hurried tone, but didn’t elaborate. Then she snapped her fingers a couple times and said, “Come on, hurry up.”

  Everyone scrambled to follow orders, moving somewhere between happy and anxious about whatever she had planned. The couch was pushed back, floor cushions stacked, bowls retrieved from underfoot. Within a minute or two, the center of the room was cleared.

  Aurania pointed. “You five, fall in at attention.”

  Soren, Violet, Veolo, Amalia, and Riza all blinked at her, then quickly moved into place, standing side by side in the center of the room.

  Once they were in position, Aurania stepped up and faced them.

  Hmm, need a little more space.

  “Take a couple steps back please.” Her tone was calm.

  They complied, their faces growing more confused by the second.

  Then Aurania said, “Inelius, get up here.”

  He hesitated, then walked forward with measured curiosity, standing directly in front of her. There was a slight tension in the air, as everyone waited to see what was coming next.

  “Before we even departed Nox,” she began, her voice taking on the firm clarity of a commander addressing her unit, “I knew you were a soldier I could count on. You have since then gone above and beyond, demonstrating your leadership, your combat skill, and the grounding presence this team needed when it mattered most.”

  Inelius shifted uncomfortably, caught somewhere between gratitude and disbelief.

  “Lieutenant Inelius Drozek,” she said. “I do hereby promote you to the rank of Major.”

  The room was quiet for a beat.

  Then Inelius blinked. Then he stammered a bit as he said, “Thank you… You uh, you do know we’re not actually part of the LU military, right? And I technically left the Owangara militia.”

  Garrin leaned in from the back. “Also, you skipped a rank.”

  Aurania turned her head toward him and shrugged. “It’s mostly ceremonial. Don’t think too hard about it. Plus, I’m lacravida royalty. I could name him duke, or prince, or high marshal of snack distribution if I wanted to.”

  That broke the tension.

  Raine was standing by Tamiyo and Soren near the window. She raised her hand. “If you’re handing out titles, can I be a princess?”

  The room laughed.

  Inelius gave a formal nod. “Major Inelius Drozek formally seconds that motion. I need to get her a tiara.”

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  Aurania dragged a hand down her face. “This became unserious so fast.”

  Brana sipped her tea loudly.

  Aurania looked at Raine, who was grinning like a gremlin. She couldn’t help but smile back at the purple-haired CIPHER.

  “Fine,” Aurania said, sighing. “Get up here.”

  They lingered for a while in the common room, talking, joking, letting the high from the mock ceremony stretch into something quieter. Someone pulled out a deck of cards and Raine kept issuing royal decrees for more snacks. Garrin even stuck around for a bit and helped Violet, Riza, and Amalia build Raine a throne out of recliners.

  Aurania stayed near the edge of it all, just listening. She let herself breathe among them, recovering from the stress of everything.

  Eventually, Riza stood. She was livelier these days, playing more, but still often spent time quietly in her own space. Now, as she headed toward the door, everyone noticed her going, but out of respect, no one highlighted her exit.

  Riza paused on the threshold, then turned around.

  “Everyone?” Riza said, her voice unusually small.

  The room fell quiet, looking at her.

  “I’m pregnant,” she said plainly.

  Then, before anyone could react, she stepped through the door and was gone.

  The room was so silent it felt like the ship’s engines had shut off.

  Raine blinked. “Did she—?”

  “She did,” Veolo said, voice perfectly pitched in shock.

  Aurania stared at the door, mouth hanging open. The words hadn’t fully processed yet, like her brain had tripped over them mid-step. She wasn’t alone. Around the room, faces ranged from confused to slack-jawed.

  Tamiyo looked like her synthetic brain was buffering.

  Amalia’s hands flew to her mouth, eyes huge and glittering. Then she screamed.

  A full, delighted squeal that broke the stunned silence and launched her across the room in a blur of limbs. She leapt onto Soren’s back to make herself taller, practically vibrating.

  “Did you hear what she said?!” she shrieked, grabbing both his shoulders and shaking him. “Did you hear what she said?!”

  “I did,” Soren managed, his voice slightly strangled under her grip. He gave a small, helpless grin.

  “You’re not even freaking out enough!” Amalia hollered. “I’m gonna be an auntie!!!”

  “I’m processing,” he said dryly, steadying her with one hand as she continued to bounce in place.

  Veolo snorted and looked away quickly, pressing her lips together hard to hide the smile trying to break through.

  Aurania stood there quietly, watching the others swarm with emotion. She still felt anchored to that moment when Riza had spoken, like something seismic had shifted under them all. She hadn’t seen it coming, none of them had.

  A few more beats passed. Laughter bubbled up again, brighter this time, if still carrying the sharp edges of disbelief.

  After a few minutes, Aurania stepped back from it all. “I’m gonna go get some air,” she said, barely heard over Amalia trying to convince Brolgar to start prepping baby food already.

  No one stopped her.

  As she walked back to her room, the echo of Riza’s voice still rang in her ears. She thought about Elias, and how so much had been broken. She found herself smiling, knowing something had survived.

  Aurania stood outside her quarters, hand hovering just over the panel. The lights were dim in the corridor, quieter now that most of the LU crew had tucked in for the night. She could still hear the distant echoes of laughter from the common room, faint as heartbeat memory.

  Her thumb was just about to press the unlock panel when another door down the hall hissed open.

  Riza stepped out and stretched. Her hair was slightly mussed from laying down, and her eyes were softer than usual. For a second, all Aurania could do was stare.

  Deja vu hit her like a punch to the gut.

  That night, Elias, slipping out of Riza’s quarters with a soft smile, trying to not draw attention to himself. That flicker of intimacy Aurania hadn’t meant to witness. And now, same hallway, same hush, different weight entirely.

  She blinked.

  When her vision cleared, Riza was looking at her, brows slightly drawn. “You alright?”

  Aurania inhaled once through her nose. “Yeah,” she said quietly, but her voice was shaky.

  “Do you want to talk?” Riza asked.

  Aurania felt bad saying no after Riza had been so vulnerable with everyone.

  She nodded, “Yeah.”

  They entered Aurania’s quarters in silence. She kept the lights low, letting the soft glow from the cityscape holo-wall cast its amber wash across the floor. It felt less like a briefing room that way. More like a place where secrets could be spoken aloud without echoing too far.

  Aurania sat on the edge of the bed. Riza took the couch.

  “You had that thousand yard stare,” Riza said eventually. “Like someone recalling a hard memory.”

  Aurania smiled sadly. “There was a night. Maybe… A week or so after Orryx Station. I was returning to my room, and I saw Elias sneaking out of yours.” She grinned, looking up at Riza.

  The sniper grinned back warmly. “That was a good night…”

  “He didn’t see me,” Aurania said quickly. “I wasn’t sure how under wraps you guys were trying to keep things.”

  Riza tipped her head to one side. “He left pretty late, what were you on your way back from?”

  A small chuckle escaped Aurania. “Soren said that Veolo invited him to something. We ended up stalking them through the corridors together until we stumbled upon Amalia guarding the door to her sister running a train on Veolo with half a platoon of Liberty Union guys.”

  Riza snorted a laugh, “Wait, really?”

  “Eh, something like that.”

  Riza pressed a tongue into her cheek and raised her eyebrows. “So did Soren join in?”

  Aurania looked away, trying to hide her emotion with a small laugh. It came out like more of a scoff. “No, he got really nervous when they asked.” She was quiet for a moment. “I do remember wondering if his answer would have been different had I not been there.”

  For a moment, the silence between them was thick. Riza stared into the holo-wall’s light. Then she said softly, “I know this isn’t usually my territory, but even I’ve noticed how physically closed off you’ve made yourself lately. What’s going on with you?”

  Aurania crossed her arms. “I don’t know what you mean. As a matter of fact, I just spent time with Admiral Marrow.”

  Riza’s face twisted. “Really? He does not seem like your type.”

  Aurania arched a brow. “Why? Because he’s human?”

  “No,” Riza said plainly. “Because he’s kind of an idiot. You’ve even called him one. He doesn’t know anything about lacravida culture, and it doesn’t look like he’s trying to learn. It has nothing to do with him being human.”

  “Yeah,” Aurania admitted. “We just had an insufferable talk over drinks and then I stormed out.”

  Riza looked at her sidelong and added slyly, “I know you don’t mind humans.”

  Aurania felt herself turn red and looked away. “That’s different.”

  “Is it?”

  Riza let it hang.

  Then, gentler: “Why’ve you been keeping Soren at a distance?”

  Aurania narrowed her eyes. “What, are you my new Kizara?”

  “Please don’t compare me to her,” Riza said dryly.

  Aurania snorted. “Keep it up, I’ll set you two up on a playdate when we get home.”

  Riza rolled her eyes.

  A moment passed.

  “He has messed with my head from the moment I met him,” she said eventually. “What happened with Klix and the others. Then when I attacked him in the research lab. And how he has acted the entire time.”

  Riza waited.

  “I admit… I’ve felt, somewhat drawn to him. But lately…” Aurania’s voice dropped. “What I saw him do on Piria scared the hell out of me. He massacred those soldiers. Unleashed power no mortal should be capable of. I could feel it, whatever was inside him. I don’t know what sets that off, or what happens if one day I can’t stop him.”

  Riza tilted her head to the other side. “If his anger was going to make him lose control and kill one of us, I never would’ve left Altina.”

  That left Aurania speechless.

  “You don’t act like yourself around him,” Riza went on. “You mellowed out for the most part after Violet called you out, but then that shit in the battle circle with Veolo? You got him dancing around confused. He learns about our culture, sees how we connect with each other, but you make it feel off limits. Then you go and give him the cold shoulder.”

  Aurania looked down, jaw tightening.

  Riza’s voice didn’t soften. “The man is literally bonded to you, and he’s still trying to figure out where he stands. I might’ve taken too long with Elias, but I was never cruel to him. He was always my friend.”

  Aurania didn’t answer. There was nothing to say.

  Riza took a deep breath and let it out, resolve solidifying in her voice. “His power isn’t something you need to be afraid of. I intend to use it. To keep pushing him in the field until he is sharp as a blade.”

  Aurania didn’t need to ask why. Sable.

  Riza’s eyes met hers. “Maybe you should start pushing him off the field. Might do you both some good.”

  Aurania blinked. “Since when do you advocate for Soren?”

  Riza gave a small, warm smile. “He’s the one who figured it out.”

  Aurania frowned. “Figured out what?”

  Riza touched her stomach gently. “Told me.”

  Aurania’s breath caught, and for the second time that day, her world shifted.

  There was a knock at the door.

  Aurania glanced up, startled out of her own spiraling thoughts. Riza casually moved to answer it.

  When the door slid open, Soren stood there, his expression uncertain.

  “Hey, Soren!” Riza said brightly, glancing back over her shoulder. “We were just talking about you.”

  “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Soren said. “I just wanted to check on Aurania, if she has a minute to talk.”

  Aurania shot to her feet, waving her arms in sharp, desperate gestures behind Riza’s back. No. No, tell him to leave. Please, Riza.

  But Riza turned back to Soren with a grin. “Nope. She’s all yours. We just finished talking.”

  “Wait, Riza,” Aurania called, panicked. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m gonna... I don’t know. Go teach Amalia to shoot NMW or something.” Riza winked at Aurania on her way out. The door hissed shut behind her, sealing the two of them alone in the quiet.

  An awkward silence hung in the room like fog.

  Soren rubbed the back of his neck. “She was lying, right?”

  Aurania crossed her arms. “Pretty sure. She never lets anyone use her cannon.”

  “Huh.”

  Another pause. She stared at him, brow tight, nearly glaring.

  “So you wanted to check on me. Here I am.”

  Soren’s shoulders slouched slightly. He looked sad, but also like he was trying to hold something in. Or maybe hold something together.

  Aurania narrowed her eyes. “What.”

  He didn’t flinch. “We’ve barely talked since Piria,” he said. “I don’t think you’re avoiding me… but it feels that way.”

  She opened her mouth to deflect. Or maybe to deny. But she stopped. “I… maybe I have been,” she said softly.

  He nodded, not accusing. “I’m worried about you.”

  She blinked. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t know how you hold all of this together. The mental load, keeping the team going… You act like it doesn’t affect you. But I know it does. You’re under more pressure than anyone here.”

  Aurania didn’t expect the genuine concern in his voice, and it hit her off-balance. She bristled instead of softening. “And that’s why you think I’ve been distant?”

  “No!” he said a little too quickly. It cracked something open. He sounded like the scared little boy Kizara had mentioned. “I mean, I don’t like that you’ve been distant. But it’s more than that. Our mental link has gone quiet. I keep reaching out when I meditate, and it’s like… nothing’s there. I find myself missing it. I just… don’t want you to feel alone, I guess.”

  She looked away. There was heat behind her eyes she didn’t want to explain.

  “Thank you,” she said at last. It was all she could manage.

  Soren hesitated, then took a breath, like he was done tiptoeing around what they had been avoiding.

  “Elias told me something shortly before he died,” he said. “He waited years for Riza. Hoping quietly. And I get it now. But…” He swallowed. “Maybe if he’d said something sooner, he could’ve met his child.”

  The words landed like a slap. Her spine stiffened. “Why are you telling me this?”

  Soren didn’t flinch from the edge in her tone, but he rubbed his neck again, then looked her in the eyes. “I’ve never been good at this,” he said quietly. “But you’ve seen how I think about you.”

  She closed her eyes, exhaling slowly, trying to keep herself composed. “I’ve ignored them,” she lied. “You said you wanted your private thoughts. So I act like they’re not there. Pretend I haven’t heard anything you don’t actually say.”

  The silence between them stretched. She could feel the weight of his gaze, like a pressure on her skin.

  “I think you’re breathtakingly beautiful,” Soren said, his voice trembling.

  She inhaled sharply.

  “Everyone I knew died thousands of years ago,” he went on. “Everyone I ever… everything I had, it’s gone. And I’m still trying to make sense of what’s left. But I know this: I want to know you. Not just the person in charge. You. Personally.” His voice was steadier now, he was powering through his nerves.

  “I think about you all the time,” he continued. “But I need to know if I'm just torturing myself, or if you feel the same way.”

  Aurania tried to answer and her breath caught, voice locked inside her chest.

  Soren’s jaw flexed. “If you don’t… that’s okay,” his voice a bit softer now. “I’ll still help save your home. You don’t have to worry about me getting close to Veolo, or any of the others. You’ve made it clear you don’t want that. And when we're done, I'll go my own way. Find a home somewhere else.”

  He wasn’t guilting her. He was offering her an out.

  “No,” she finally managed to push out. The word was small, barely audible. “I don’t want that.” Her voice cracked at the edges.

  She looked up at him, eyes wide and unguarded. She had fought countless battles, bested too many adversaries to count. She was the tallest and strongest lacravida alive in the galaxy. And she sounded like a scared little girl, pleading with him.

  “I don’t want you to go.”

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