But this?
She shook her head.
This was so far beyond her experience and control she wanted to weep.
All she could do was wait and see what happened when they reached the pod.
Her eyes met Dagon’s.
“You defied the odds,” he reminded her softly. “Whoever is in that pod can, too.”
That helped a little. If it were Simone or one of her immortal brethren, perhaps they didn’t answer because they had slipped into stasis the way she had.
Lifting her chin, she gave her fears the mental middle finger. “You’re right. My friends can defy the odds, too.”
Dagon turned to Galen. “Set a course for the pod.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Six days, Eliana thought. She had six days to prepare.
The next morning began much like the previous one had. Dagon sat in the commander’s chair on the bridge. Eliana appeared, then dragged a chair over, plunked it down beside his, and proceeded to swipe through screen after screen on her tablet.
When she leaned closer and rested her head against his biceps, all kinds of warm tingly feelings leaped to life inside him. Dagon even found himself fighting a sudden urge to lean down and press an affectionate kiss to the top of her head. Instead, he occupied himself with trying to guess what she was searching for, but—as she had the previous day—Eliana swiped through the screens without pausing.
“What are you doing now?” he asked, unable to quash his curiosity.
“Learning,” she replied once more.
It was a response he heard often in the days that followed, which rapidly fell into a routine. Every morning Eliana sat with him on the bridge and learned. Then they shared mid meal, parted for the afternoon, and came together again for last meal.
Dagon’s favorite hours of each day were now those he spent with Eliana. Even when they each focused on their own tasks and didn’t speak much, he liked being with her. He also enjoyed lingering over dinner as she called it, learning more about her as they shared last meal, the two of them smiling and laughing so often they raised eyebrows among the crew.
Almost a week into her stay with them, Dagon once more found himself eagerly anticipating her company after a particularly long afternoon full of holoconferences, problem solving, training evaluations, and other tasks his position as commander required. But he couldn’t find her. When he didn’t see her in any of the open-doored training rooms, he checked Med Bay, the mess hall, and her quarters. He even checked the armory.
“CC,” he commanded finally, “locate Eliana.”
“Searching,” CC promptly replied. “Eliana is currently located on Deck 2 in Training Section 3, Simulation Room 1.”
Dagon turned up the hallway and soon entered Training Section 3. Soldiers snapped to attention as he approached and passed. The light outside Simulation Room 1 glowed white, indicating one could enter without disrupting the simulation.
Dagon slipped inside, the door closing behind him. Bright flashes of light flared, simulating an explosion, then subsided. Abruptly engulfed in near darkness, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust enough to examine the scene. Three of his soldiers—armed with simulation-safe weapons—stood in the center of the large space. The walls, floor, and ceiling replicated a shadowy shuttle bay one might find on an Akseli battle cruiser. Several enemies were down, their armor still smoldering from either the energy blasts that had struck them or the explosion that had temporarily blinded him as he entered.
Since a stunner could render a soldier’s camouflage inaccessible, all Segonian soldiers were ordered to train both with and without it. The three before him cautiously approached, then entered a corridor that branched in two farther down the way. Or the soldiers appeared to enter the corridor. The floor of the simulator allowed them to make the motion of walking forward without actually moving from their position in the center.
A faint rustling sound arose.
One of the soldiers held up a hand and issued a signal.
The others ceased moving. All lowered to a tense crouch, weapons ready.
A loud crunch sounded.
The three men spun to the left.
Dagon followed their gaze and nearly burst into laughter.
Eliana lounged on a bench, an open bag of jarumi nuggets in one hand. The slender fingers of her other hand bore a light coating of pale yellow dust as she crunched the tasty snack. “Nope,” she said, her mouth partially full, “that was me again. Sorry.”
Sighing in a way that suggested this wasn’t the first time she had distracted them, the men straightened. Quoba—the party leader—made another hand motion, and the three resumed their simulated trek forward.
Dagon opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated.
Eliana stopped chewing and glanced at the hallway ahead of them on the right, then at the trio.
The men continued forward.
Again she glanced at the hallway, then at the soldiers.
An Akseli soldier in full-body armor stepped out of the hallway on the right and fired at the soldiers.
The three dodged the blasts and returned fire until the Akseli collapsed to the floor.
Eliana looked at Dagon. “I’d duck if I were you.”
All three of his soldiers spun toward him, their bodies in a crouch. Two sighed and straightened, lowering their weapons. One fired.
Simulated blood spewed from Dagon’s chest.
The two seasoned soldiers cursed.
The younger soldier stared at Dagon with wide eyes and flushed a deep scarlet as he stuttered an apology.
Dagon sent Eliana a baleful glance. “What are you doing?”
“Learning.” A smile lit her features as she rose and motioned to the flustered soldier. “As is he.” Popping another jarumi nugget into her mouth, she crossed to the young man. “Don’t sweat it, Brohko. Just assume that every enemy you face is fighting dirty. I’ve used that tactic myself to trick an opponent into stabbing one of his own men.” She tilted her head, her look turning thoughtful as she wiped her fingers on her pants, leaving yellow dust streaks on the black fabric. “Actually, I’ve used that one a lot. You’d be surprised how often it works.”
“I wouldn’t,” Quoba muttered.
Brohko flushed again.
Eliana pointed behind the men. “You’d better look out.”
None of the men even glanced over their shoulders, determined not to fall for another ruse.
“No, seriously,” she said. “The simulation is still running.”
Dagon looked past the men.
An Akseli soldier leaned out of the hallway on the left and lobbed an e-grenade.
As the trio whirled around, Eliana jumped up, caught the simulated grenade, and hurled it back with impressive speed.
An explosion lit up the hallway on the left.
The three soldiers gaped at her.
“Yes!” Spinning around, Eliana grinned up at Dagon. “That was awesome!” The fingers of her free hand curled as though she held a ball. “It felt like a real grenade! How does it do that?” The other hand still held her bag of jarumi nuggets.
Brohko stared at her. “How did you do that?”
She shrugged. “Just lucky, I guess.”
Dagon seriously doubted that. “Pause simulation.”
The simulation halted.
Eliana faced him once more, her expression turning earnest. “Now, if this were a real-world situation, would that grenade have exploded on contact or shocked me or anything?”