Out of Bight, Out of Mind Read online

  “Can I get you some water or something?”

  The wave of genuine concern she felt from the woman from across the room magically settled her stomach. After a deep breath, she shakily straightened and nodded.

  The receptionist hurried out of the office while Emi backed into one of the three chairs along the wall and sat.

  What the fuck is wrong with me?

  She didn’t know. All she knew was something about that F’ahrkay was more than wrong.

  He was dangerous.

  * * * *

  Emi still sat and held her paper cup with trembling hands as she slowly sipped the contents when Aaron emerged from the commander’s office ten minutes later. She caught a flutter of aggravation from him before he tamped down on it and concern flowed through him when he looked into her eyes.

  He knelt in front of her. “What’s wrong?” he whispered as he rested his hands on her knees.

  Chewing on the inside of her lip to keep from bursting into tears, Emily whispered the feelings she’d gotten from the F’ahrkay. “There’s something wrong with him, Aaron. I don’t know what it is, but he can’t come with us. He’s dangerous.”

  “Em,” he gently said, “we don’t have a choice.”

  “I thought being bonded crew meant we could refuse crew assignments?”

  “Permanent crew assignments, yes. This is a temporary one, for one specific purpose. There’s too many alphabet-soup players mixed in on this one. The guy’s father is on the ISTC council.”

  She stared at him, shocked. “They’re forcing us to take him?”

  He took the cup from her and set it on the floor. Then he took her hands in his, gently massaging them. She tried to draw strength from the love flowing through him. “What’s going on?”

  She vehemently shook her head. “I felt it. He’s bad news. There’s something really bad about him.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  She stared at him, dumbfounded. “How can you ask me that? I’m a trained Class 2 empath!”

  He glanced down for a moment as he took a deep breath. She knew that gesture. He was trying to stay calm. He looked back into her eyes again. “You know how you always get the heebie-jeebies with the jump engines, but me and the other guys never feel it?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “And we just went through that bullshit on Kal’moran,” he added, cutting her off. “It would make anyone a little xenophobic.”

  She bristled. “I am not xenophobic, Aaron.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Dobros showed me the guy’s dossier. He’s got an excellent record. He’s crewed with Merchants, with ISNC ships, and even with NSI crews. He’s received commendations from five different captains. He holds three doctorate degrees in his fields.” The Interstellar Naval Corps and National Science Institute both had high and exacting standards.

  She knew what Aaron was doing. He wanted to convince her she was wrong and that the F’ahrkay dude was a gee-whiz good guy.

  She wasn’t buying it. “I don’t give a rat’s ass how many degrees he has, or who his daddy is, or how many asses he’s kissed on other ships. There’s something wrong about him!”

  Aaron closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking at her. She read the sadness and resignation in his face.

  “Well, why the hell can’t they put him on Rob’s boat? Why’s it have to be us?”

  “Because the Bight is a full heavy. The K-2 is a med-hev. We’re the only available ship with the technology, capabilities, and enough cargo space to take on his equipment.”

  She also read that he wouldn’t back down. “You don’t have a choice,” he said. “He’s shipping out with us.” As she tried to stand, his grip tightened on her hands, holding her in her seat. “Babe, please, listen to me. It’s only for eight weeks. He will be sleeping in the cargo bay. He has his own special pod that is his quarters. He’s chipped, not that it matters because they aren’t equipped like humans anyway. He has an exemplary record. I have no legitimate grounds to refuse his assignment.”

  “You told me you could boot anyone for cause.”

  “I have no cause!” His mouth snapped shut and he lowered his voice. “Listen to me, Em. Babe, I love you, and I trust you and support you, but I really think the issue here is you’ve never dealt with a F’ahrkay before. For all you know, they all might feel like that to you. That might be his normal. Whatever it is you’re feeling, you might feel it with any F’ahrkay you meet.”

  “Then get a group of them together so I can see and we’ll test your theory. If you’re right, I’ll suck it up and deal with it.”

  “I can’t, and yes, I already thought of that and asked. He’s the only F’ahrkay on the station.” He took a deep breath and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Em, baby, please, don’t make me order you.”

  She caught the sob and forced it back down her throat before it could escape. “Then I’ll stay here and you can pick me up on the way back.”

  He smiled sadly. “Hon, we can’t do that.”

  “Then call Rob. Get his ass over here. He can pick me up. Donna will find me bunk space.”

  He stood, then bent over to get her cup. He threw it away before returning to her. Without another word he took her hand and made her stand.

  In silence he led her from the office. She wasn’t paying attention to where they were going until she realized they were stepping off a lift into the resort’s lobby again.

  Aaron let go of her hand and walked up to the desk where the same three clerks stood. After a few minutes, he had four room key cards and returned to where Emi still waited, sulking, outside the lift.

  He held up the key card. “I’m taking you to our room.”

  “Our room?”

  He nodded.

  “I thought we weren’t getting a room.”

  “Change of plans. I have to go back to the ship for a few hours. If I’m not back first, one of the twins will be. The four of us will spend three days here. Dobros said we can take that. I’ll tell Kayehalau he needs to spend the bulk of his time during our assignment in cargo unless he clears it with me first. When he needs to be on the bridge, I’ll warn you, and you can go spend that time wherever you want on the ship to stay away from him. You’ll have minimal contact with him. Okay?”

  “How do you know he’ll agree to that?”

  Aaron shrugged. “I am still the captain. He has no choice.” He glanced away from her and down at the carpet. “And he was the one who suggested it in the first place.”

  Emi felt boxed in. At war with that, a tiny, logical particle telling her she was being silly.

  No, not silly.

  Childish.

  But her empath training had never let her down before. She trusted it far more than a computer full of commendations and recommendations about someone.

  Hell, look at Mauri. She didn’t want us writing a bad report about what happened, so she had no problem whitewashing everything to make us and her look good.

  Reports could be falsified or manipulated. People lied.

  Kayehalau was dangerous. She just had no way of proving it.

  Chapter Five

  She silently followed Aaron to their room, where he used the key card to let them in. Once the door closed behind them, he pulled her in for a hug and she avoided looking up into his eyes.

  “Babe, you have to believe that if there was any way I could—”

  “Stop, Aaron. Apparently you can’t. So just leave it.”

  She felt badly about being a bitch, but another memory had popped into her mind. In the initial pairing sim, she’d gone to a bar with the twins. Before a bar fight had broken out, she’d nearly been raped by two men from an unchipped crew. The chips did more than allow emergency crew location and prevent unwanted pregnancies—they ensured rape or infidelity could not occur.

  The nasty feeling in her gut when she met the F’ahrkay reminded her of that same feeling,
simulated or not, that she’d experienced that night in the bar. Someone wanting to do something to her against her will.

  Aaron kissed the top of her head before releasing her. He walked over to a console and pulled up a menu. “The resort map and shopping directory are here. There’s also the dining and spa service directory. Go shopping, enjoy yourself—”

  “I’m not a child, Aaron. Buying me things isn’t going to make me change how I feel.”

  A wave of irritation washed toward her from him. She felt him immediately trying to reel it in. “Em, babe, I love you. I know you feel something. I can’t fix that, and believe me, I wish like hell I could make it better for you. All I can do is try to help distract you. I’m sorry.”

  When the door closed behind him, she felt like shit. He did feel bad that he couldn’t fix this for her. And he felt bad that she felt bad.

  And she felt bad that, deep in her soul, she knew she was right about this and couldn’t just blithely go along with it.

  She also hated feeling like a childish, spoiled brat.

  Collapsing on the bed, she tried using mental and intellectual exercises she’d learned during her empath training to get past this huge mental block.

  It didn’t work.

  Maybe there is something wrong with me. After she pulled herself together she got up and went over to the console at the desk. From there, she grabbed a secure connection to her computer on the Bight.

  The F’ahrkay’s file was already there, uploaded for her convenience.

  Correction, Kayehalau. I suppose I should at least address him by name and not just “Hey, you, asshole.”

  There was nothing in the F’ahrkay’s file to show him to be anything other than a dedicated scientist and excellent crew member with an enviable record. Any captain would be happy to have him on their ship.

  And oh, crap, I have to examine him because he’s a new crew member.

  The trained doctor and scientist in her warred with the trained empath. If it wasn’t for the feelings she’d got when she met the F’ahrkay, she would have welcomed the chance to have him on board their ship temporarily. It would be a great learning experience for her.

  The empath in her shuddered at the thought.

  After several minutes she logged off from the ship’s computer and explored the resort’s directory.

  Maybe I should do a little retail therapy to get my mind off this. She realized what she just thought. I’m sure Aaron will laugh his ass off.

  An hour later, she ended up in the resort’s spa, receiving the best massage of her life that wouldn’t end with a happy finish from a chatty woman originally from Mars. Emi didn’t mind the woman’s nonstop banter, because her wonderfully warm, friendly aura helped Emi forget about the gross, dark energy clinging to her memory of her first meeting with Kayehalau.

  She was lounging by the pool in her new bathing suit and sipping a Martian Muumuu when Caph found her an hour later.

  He plopped down onto the lounge next to her with a playful smile. “Lady, we have to quit meeting next to pools like this. People will talk.”

  Emi giggled, more from the effects of her third M-squared, as they called them. “Maybe I like people talking about me.” She ran her tongue over the tip of her straw in what she hoped appeared to be a seductive and not inebriated way.

  He reached over and took the glass from her and took a sip, nearly choking as he got a taste of the frozen concoction. “Holy crap, babe. How many of these have you had?” He handed back the purple, slushy drink.

  She stuck her tongue between her teeth and looked up at the ceiling, which was a huge sky sim. “Umm…” She took another sip and held up two fingers.

  “That’s your second?”

  “No. I already had two.”

  “That’s your third?”

  “Unless I’ve forgotten one.”

  He closed his eyes as he tried to hold back his raucous laugh. “You’re drunk, Doctor.”

  “Not yet. Getting there.”

  He lay back and rolled onto his side to look at her. “You okay?”

  She nearly hiccupped into tears, but managed to swallow them down. “Yeah. Don’t harsh my buzz.”

  He reached across to her lounger and stroked her arm. “It’s okay, babe. Stick with me. I’ll take care of you.”

  “Thanks, big guy.”

  “Hey, that’s what I’m here for.” He smiled, his green eyes playfully shining. “Well, that and to fuck your brains out. Ford threw rock to my paper or he’d be here. You’d think he’d learn.”

  “You’d think. What’s he doing?”

  “He’s helping Aaron handle stuff.”

  “What kind of stuff?”

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “Aaron told me what happened, hon. Let’s just say they’re handling stuff. All right?”

  She let out a sniff. “Is that guy going to be roaming our ship while we’re here?”

  “You really want to talk about this?” When she didn’t respond, he let out a sigh. “Naw. They’re just loading his equipment right now, that’s all. His cabin pod will be loaded before we ship out.”

  She nodded. “Good.”

  “Can I say something serious, and then I promise not to mention it again?”

  “Okay.” She sipped her drink and prayed her eyes didn’t start watering. She didn’t want to cry in front of him. Although she suspected she was far drunker than she’d let on. She wasn’t sure she could even walk at that point.

  He lowered his voice. “If you think something’s wrong, I believe you. Yeah, on paper he looks great. I met him and he seems like a nice enough guy. But you’re my wife and I will always have your back.”

  That finished her. She felt him take the chilled glass from her hand as tears filled her eyes. He shifted her over so he could lie on her lounger with her, holding her against his chest as she quietly wept. “I don’t know why I feel like this,” she whispered. “I don’t want to feel like this.”

  He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Because you’re drunk.”

  “No. Not that.” She sniffled again. “I know I’m being irrational about this guy. And I hate that I can’t be objective. I should be better than this.”

  “Hey, you’re a trained empath. No telling what it is you sensed. I trust you. I know you, and you’re an intelligent woman. If you think something’s wrong, it’s wrong. Look how it saved your life against Eckhart.”

  She snuggled up against his chest. “Yeah.”

  “I wish I could fix this for you, but Cap’s right. It’s a direct order from higher up, and unless the guy does something to allow us cause, we can’t boot him or refuse the temp assignment.” He gently tipped her chin up so she had to look him in the eye. “We’re not choosing him over you. I just want to make sure you understand that. The three of us feel like crap that we can’t refuse the order and make him go away.”

  “I know. I hate I’m feeling like this. It’s so childish.”

  “No, don’t hate it. It’s part of what makes you so beautiful, inside and out, babe.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Look how you healed Aaron. All of us. It was that special part of you, the empath part of you, that made you perfect for us.” He nuzzled her nose with his. “And if it means there are times you have conflicts with others because of it, I’m okay with that. I’ll always trust your instincts over anything else.”

  She took a deep breath, held it, and let it out again. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  He kissed her forehead. “I love you. You don’t need to thank me.”

  “Okay.” She listened to his heartbeat rumbling in her ear through his shirt. “Caph?”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “Can I have my drink back now?”

  “I’m not sure. You feeling okay?”

  She started to say yes when she broke down crying again. He cradled her against his large, comforting body. Maybe I am drunk.

  No, she knew it was a mix of the inevitable, along with hating herself for
feeling like this.

  Okay, maybe a little of the M-squareds.

  After a few minutes, she sniffled and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “I’m okay.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.” She sniffled again as she looked at his attire while he untangled himself from her and stood. Still in his casual crew uniform, he didn’t exactly fit in with the other resort patrons surrounding the pool. “Did you bring a bathing suit?”

  “Yep. I brought yours, too, but looks like you beat me to it.”

  “Aww. You packed for me?”

  “No, Ford did.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I’ll go change and be back in a little while. Don’t go anywhere.” He started to turn to leave, but he reached over, picked up her drink, and handed it to her. “And don’t get too shitfaced, sweetie.”

  “I’ll be waiting right here.” While he was gone, she hurriedly finished that one and ordered herself another drink. She might regret it the next day, but it was rare she could totally slough off her duties and just be a normal human.

  And she needed that now more than ever. Especially since she knew what was coming after her three-day mini-vacation ended.

  By the time Caph returned, she’d lowered the level of her fresh drink to match the one he’d last seen her with. He sat on the lounger next to hers.

  Resplendent in swim trunks and nothing else, his abs rippled, a blond dusting of curls scattered across his chest while a treasure trail headed south from his navel, disappearing under his waistband and leading to what she knew to be a large, delicious cock.

  He smirked. “You sure you’re okay, babe?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Why don’t I believe you? You look a little out of it.”

  She settled back onto her lounger and lowered her sunglasses over her eyes. She felt around for the sunlamp button on the lounger’s arm. Above her, a directed beam of UV light soaked her skin at nearly Earth levels. “Just enjoying myself.”

  He signaled a waiter. “Bring me one of those,” he said, pointing to Emi’s glass. The man nodded and hurried off. Caph settled back in his lounger and activated his sunlamp button. “Well, don’t enjoy yourself too much. I have plans for you later.”