Broken Flyght – Chapter 5

If this whole consort thing isn’t going to work out with Sean, then I need to concentrate on better options, like finding my brother.

My chest heaves with measured breaths as we approach Ossun Orbital Station One, the last place my brother traveled to before he disappeared into the vacuum of space. At least, I hope he didn’t. Because I need to kill him first before he’s gone for good.

“We’re docked, and we have permission to board the station,” Skylar informs us from the bridge. “Go find my cousin, so I can rip his balls off.”

Carlos squeaks out a hesitant laugh as he hands my wristlet back to me, and I unstrap from the crash chair in his den of tech.

“Okay, Captain. We’re mostly off Athens Industries tech now so you can have this back.”

I smile as I attach it to my left wrist. “It was good to hear Ai’s voice this morning, though it came as a surprise in the shower.”

“Captain, I’m so flattered you missed me!” Ai chimes in. I can almost hear her blush… and that’s really weird when you think about it. “I missed you all as well.”

“Okay, well, next time you want to purr in my ear, please do it in a common area. It’s a little creepy knowing you watch me when I bathe.”

“But those hips… and those legs. I can’t help myself.”

Carlos’s face is the color of sunset at home. “Ai, we talked about this. Please keep your sexy thoughts to yourself.” He leans back and raps his knuckles on a wall of blinking lights. “Despite my best efforts crawling her code for Athens back doors, I couldn’t do anything about her personality. But at least, she’s ours for good now.”

“I just need a safe word, and I’m all set.” Ai’s voice contains a wink, and I sigh.

“Your safe word is now ‘banana cream pie.’” All I can think about is desserts and the food I will consume on OSO.

“That’s a phrase, Captain.”

I roll my eyes as I fasten my wristlet. “No shit. And what will you do if I ever say the phrase?”

Ai hums. “It’ll be a surprise.”

“I don’t think I want to know.” Carlos shakes his head and turns back to me. “Go ahead and access it.”

I do what I usually do, turn my wrist over and flex my fingers. The home screen pops up on my eye implant, and I blink in surprise. Carlos’s version of Hecate is pretty cool, different yet familiar. I still have access to my conveniences, but the interface is smooth and polished. A star logo has replaced the Hecate logo in the bottom left corner.

“This is my Estrela, an interface I’ve been working on for two years. It’s open source, though I control our version, and it does pretty much everything that Hecate does. But now everything is encrypted so you may notice a slight lag with comms or payment systems. No big deal though.”

I listen as I move through the systems with my ingrained hand and finger gestures. Mail, comms, Dad’s database, all of my personal records — they’re all here.

“I have improvements and ideas for you once you get the plants growing.”

My shoulders sag, and my lungs push out a heavy breath. “Right. The plants.”

Carlos glances at me as he throws a few items into a backpack and zips it up.

“Sean seems like a competent guy. Really into engines which is cool.” Just like Carlos is into tech. “He’s been fixing the things I broke since he came on board, so that’s good.”

I can hear it in his voice. Carlos is trying to put lipstick on a pig, as my dad would say.

“That’s not all I need him to do, though.”

“Well,” he says as he shoulders his bag, “let’s ask him again to take care of the lights.”

This will be the third time in two days I’ve made this request, and I’m tired of asking. What I need to do is talk with Marcelo about how to handle Sean. Sean has all the qualifications for being an excellent engineer and a possible mate, but what works on paper is obviously not working in real life. And Marcelo is gone once again, visiting family this time.

Rock music echoes out of the engine room as Carlos and I stop by. Sean is shirtless, a subtle sheen of sweat coating his muscular upper body. I lick my lips as I hold my breath. He’s a fine specimen of the male body, sculpted and lean. If he turned around now and smiled at me, made a joke, or expressed any kind of interest in me, I’d fall over my own feet to get him whatever he wanted.

“Hey, Sean,” I say, raising my voice over the clamor of his music mixed with the machinery of the engine room. We’re docked now, so the engine is quiet, but still, so many other systems run through this area. We’d have to be completely dead for it to be silent in here.

Sean’s head pops up, and his face flattens to a frown. Ugh. Why does it have to be like this?

“I’m in the middle of calibrating this. Do you need something?”

I swallow a few times, trying not to be embarrassed by the way he speaks to me, always with a hint of annoyance and disdain, like I’m less-than and not fun to talk to. Carlos is watching my reaction with a grimace.

“I, uh…” My good grace slips away. I was going to offer to bring him something from our trip to OSO, maybe a favorite treat or drink, but now? “Nothing. Never mind.”

“The lights, Captain,” Carlos reminds me as I try to slip away and not be seen.

I growl under my breath. “Right.”

Turning to the engine room door again, I raise my shoulders and find another gram of confidence.

“Sean?”

This time my voice brings him up from the depths of the machinery, and he scowls at me.

“Sorry! Look, I’m glad you’re here and working on the engines so soon. I’m sure Skylar really appreciates it. But I need to have the grow lights hooked up in the auxiliary cargo bay. It’s top priority.”

He rests his arm up on a pipe and clutches a wrench. “I’m kind of an engines guy. I’m not qualified to be running wires and cables throughout the ship.”

Wait. Huh?

“That’s not true. I know your qualifications from Marcelo. You have the background to do electric work too.”

He sighs. “I can do it, but… Can it wait? I was just getting started here.”

Oh my God. I’ve only known this guy for the blink of an eye, and I want to wring his neck. Does he not understand that I’m paying his salary? And that he’s supposed to consider this as a position in my relationship network too?

Temper, Vivian.

Perhaps I’m being too bossy too quick. I’ve never had to shepherd in new employees. That was always the role my mother took on the farm. I worked with plenty of people, and I even led projects with little to no difficulty. But this is the first time I’ve hired someone on my own and made them a part of my team.

But this isn’t how I pictured things would work. I thought there’d be a spark, a connection between Sean and me. Maybe Marcelo and I are out of sync. He offered to help, be a sounding board and a friend, and I haven’t taken him up on it yet.

The biggest stumbling block in this whole situation is me.

“You should get to it today. Top priority, okay? You can go back to work now,” I say, backing away from the door with Carlos. “I’ll check in with you when I get back.”

“Great.” Sean’s voice is even and unenthusiastic.

We’re halfway down the hall when Carlos grasps my arm. I think this is the first time he’s voluntarily touched me, and I want to laugh at that.

“Captain, I really don’t like how that guy treats you.”

I pat his hand. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s not fine. You shouldn’t have to put up with that. No matter how pretty he is.”

“You think he’s pretty?” We step through the airlock and dog open the connection.

“Yeah, but nothing wrecks a pretty face like a sour personality.”

Too true, Carlos.