6 hours into combat, Wojtek Hangar decks, Whisper

  As massive as Wojtek was, the majority of its size was taken up by cargo and hangar spaces. The largest of its hangars, which all others connected to, ran along the dorsal spine. Wojtek angled its thicker ventral side towards the fighting during combat operations, like right now. In this way, the large dorsal hangar doors were out of view of the enemy, allowing Wojtek to launch and receive ships relatively safely, even with the Enigma cruiser and the corvettes not far out of canvas reach ranges with their guns. Of course, the Enigma ships were completely in range of almost any of the smaller ships, shuttles, and war crafts that Wojtek carried for the Remnant Coalition.

  The large hangar stood open, an inviting haven for Whisper to land her dropship. No sooner had she landed than she unstrapped from her flight seat and was halfway down to the dropship's rear ramp. A haggard-looking deck chief waved as she jumped onto the hangar deck before the ramp finished drooping.

  “I'll get you refilled in a minute, ma’am, but you're on hold until we get this next wave landed and launched again. 5 minutes tops,” The deck chief said.

  “I need to find a new crew chief before I take off anyway,” Whisper said, pitching her voice into a clear yell to be heard over the ruckus of the machinery, shouts, and screeching of engines as a new set of assault ships came in to land. Lines of Remnant Marines with patches that had a bright blue 13 on every shoulder were marshalling for rapid boarding and deployment to the Enigma cruiser.

  The truth was, Whisper didn't just need a new crew chief, but to find out where she was needed most. Opting to keep her conversation short and not risk her drop ship's priority sinking on the service list, she jogged off the main hangar deck, towards one of the side bays, angling for an exit to take her into Wojtek's access hallways.

  Walking through the much quieter hallways towards what she hoped was a room being used to coordinate some part of this organized chaos, she started working on her wrist comm, hoping to contact someone she knew who was in charge enough to give her special treatment.

  “Whisper? Hey Whisper!” A familiar voice called from behind. Whisper didn't slow her pace, recognizing the speaker by her voice. Layla was one of the orphans that Whisper and Canine Jerik had been raising together, along with Layla’s brother and other orphans.

  “Hey, kiddo, where are you supposed to be?” Whisper said as the teenager ran up beside her.

  “Finding you, actually. They have me delivering messages and doing odd jobs. I'm glad I found you when I did. If I hadn't seen you, I would have gone into the hangar and missed you. Why aren't you staying with your ship?”

  “I need a new crew chief, and frankly, I need orders. I left so I didn’t have to tell the deck crew. I'd rather they give me a full tank of gas than maybe wait later,” Whisper said, stopping to knock on a door.

  “They're using the rooms closer to the pilot's lounge for relaying and command,” Layla said. Whisper sighed, frustration building with how chaotically stupid and unorganized Wojtek had been jury-rigged into serving as a combat Carrier. Not that there is a rule book yet on how to run something like this.

  “I keep saying they need to pick a room and stick with it for consistency,” Whisper sighed, glaring at what she now knew was the wrong room.

  “Well, I guess that's why they sent me,” Layal said.

  “Sweetheart, I raised you better. Shove that shit back up the ass that shat it out. You said it yourself, if you hadn't seen me leave the hangar, I'd be out here wandering around with my thumb up my ass. Don't encourage stupidity by pointing out its merits.” Whisper said, gesturing for the 15-year-old to lead them. Whisper couldn’t help but feel anxious knowing one of her orphan charges was here participating in this conflict, even if only as a courier.

  It didn't take them more than a minute to make their way to a dimly lit, crowded room with monitors lining the walls and tables covered with personal tablets and physical models. The tactical and logistical nightmare of running a giant airport in space like this was only made manageable by a mix of brilliant and diligent staff of Xeno and humans spread around the room.

  “Status on Gray flight?” a human male asked.

  “Grey 1 is reporting contact with a Tinman on the cruiser, but sent Grey 3 back to his Prontroma. Grey 3 should be ready for tasking in the next few minutes,” A deeper, distinctly Thraug voice answered.

  A Chirp with a gnarled black beak caught Whisper’s attention. His reddish-brown, leathery face observed everything from the head of the largest table. His huge white and yellow eyes met Whisper’s as Layla walked in behind her. This Chirp was of renown among the original crew of the Wojtek. His name translated from his native tongue into galactic standard into something like ‘bomb’, or ‘blows up loudly’. Like any translation of the Chirp language, it was rough, so most just called him Housecarl BB.

  “Still waiting on orders for you, but I assume they will want you loitering in space on standby to respond quickly to an emergency. That's what your SAR guild would have you do, too, isn't it?” BB spoke to Whisper as if he knew exactly what she was about to ask.

  “You waited for me to get all the way here just to tell me that? You could have just messaged me when I landed," Whisper huffed.

  “No, pay attention, short stuff. I said I don't know what your orders will be. I wanted you here when we received them. Besides, I understand that you left everyone, including your crew chief, on that ship out there,” BB said, referring to HFS Grimoire.

  “Yes, who do you have?” Whisper asked, glancing around the room, hopeful to see someone she knew who was qualified to assist her.

  “No one. Everybody's either already assigned or off ship. No one else is qualified,” BB said.

  “Ahem,” Layla coughed. “I'm qualified, I finished the last qualification two weeks ago.”

  BB looked at Layla with a tilt of his head, an expression like he already knew she was going to say that. His eyes widened to the size of her fist as he stared expectantly at Whisper, making her feel like the real reason he wanted her here was to talk Layla down as one of the girl's legal guardians.

  “You don't need to be out there–” Whispers began.

  “I am not a little kid anymore. I'm almost a legal adult, and I have enough training to serve as a crew chief. I'm not being forced to do this. I'm doing it because I want to. I haven't finished all my medical training, but in a pinch, I could help you if you have to do paramedic stuff.” Layla said, but Whisper raised an eyebrow at how Layla said ‘paramedic stuff.’

  “It's dangerous, and I don't need you too–”

  “To what? End up like my brother! I'm not him, and I'm not being manipulated into this situation. I know everybody's protective of me, and I understand why, but sooner or later, I'm going to be in harm's way. I'd rather it be on my terms and with my mom out there with me,” Layla snapped back at Whisper. Her interrupting so much made Whisper’s eyebrow twitch.

  Whisper, closed her eyes, pinching her nose. It was a low blow for Layla to throw her brother into the conversation when Whisper never intended to bring him up. Layla's referring to her as mom was very telling of who was actually being manipulative. Most of the time, Layla referred to her as Auntie Whisper. Layla rarely called her mom unless they were having a touching moment or the girl wanted something. Certainly, the only thing touching Whisper was a growing sense of irritation and a waning overprotective instinct.

  “Okay… but you better not fuck up my ship,” Whisper groaned with an angry clip to her tone, grown from her struggle surrounding her anxiety that Layla was going to be in harm's way to some degree, no matter what. Still, she recognized that this was inevitable and a long time coming. They couldn’t coddle Layal forever.

  BB’s beak loudly clicked together in annoyance at Whisper encouraging Layal instead of helping make the 15-year-old back down. It clearly didn't matter to Houscarl BB that Layla was almost old enough to go on her own pilgrimage if she grew up on an HFS ship. Yet even one of the senior Houscarls of Jarl Aleksandr wilted under the gaze of a 4’ 8” SAR Valkyrie mother when it came to matters regarding one of her adopted kids.

  In the end, all BB said was. “Get to your dropship and wait for orders. Fly safe.”

  6 hours into combat, HFS Grimoire, Sara

  Sara hadn't expected who her escorts would be, let alone for there to be more than one. Strangely, she immediately recognized Lieutenant Heart from the medbay, but had a momentary lapse of recognition for the first watch's helmsman. She knew his name wasn't Micky, but she barely ever saw his face, let alone spoke to him. It was weird to imagine being so unfamiliar with somebody who was regularly on the bridge with her. He was always at his station before she arrived on the bridge, and he rarely left before she did. With his spot at the forward of the bridge, only interacting with the command staff, she could see why she barely knew Micky. It still felt weird being more familiar with an outsider, even if he was Nick's friend.

  She had fallen into step behind the two men while she mused. She noticed that Lieutenant Heart kept looking over his shoulder at her, and Micky would turn his head ever so slightly, every time right before the Remnant Marine looked away. Sara saw the intense look in Micky's eyes, like he was a big brother mad dogging a boy looking at his sister. The thought made Sara giggle, which in turn made both men stop and look at her.

  Micky had a hard expression that made Sara wish she had known him better before today. It was hard to tell if that was his normal look or just the helmsman’s exhaustion. Sara waved as if to dismiss her giggle. Before they could get moving again, Lieutenant Heart asked the million-dollar question.

  “Did…did you have that tail earlier?” The Remnant Marine asked. The bewilderment in his expression was a common reaction, but Sara still found it fun and couldn't help giggling again. She started walking to help get them moving again while she explained.

  “No, I usually like to wear it for fun, but it has a lot of practical applications. After we took this job, though, the captain told me to put it away, so it's been collecting dust in my closet.” She explained.

  “Oh… it's kinda pretty… I mean, pretty cool.” Micky glared at The Remnant Marine, and Sara got a happy, proud look that was accentuated by her tail wiggling faster behind her head.

  “My tail is pretty, or I’m pretty?” Sara asked. Before Micky could give the poor man another stare, Lieutenant Heart came to a stop so fast that his shoes squeaked on the floor.

  “Okay, I'm going to make this really clear. I get that you're uncomfortable with my men being armed on your ship and wanting to patrol.” Lieutenant Heart said, pointing his finger at Micky. “And you, ma'am, don't get it twisted, regardless of whether you're pretty or not, you are Nick's best friend, and judging by the way he always talked about you, you are likely the only person he cares about as much as those kids he always took care of. So, other than the fact that I just respect my friend enough not to mess around with his other friends, I really need both of you to lay off me. Miss, yes, you're pretty, but I don't want to catch any more smoke from your crew.”

  “No, you just want to look for a Roomba with your high-powered rifle,” Micky said skeptically.

  “What the fuck is a Roomba?” Lieutenant Heart asked.

  “It's like an old far-gone Earth cleaning robot. Everybody's been calling the maintenance bots Roombas ever since a training exercise a little while ago.” Sara explained.

  “Okay…and no, I told you already, dear chaperone. These rifles are soft lethal, so they're not going to do much to the interior of your ship, but then our rifles won't do shit against a Tinman, not that hard lethal would do much better anyway. There's a small chance that the puppet signature my ship detected means there is a Tinman on Grimoire, but if one is, my guys are going to be your best bet to get it off your ship.” Lieutenant Heart explained. Sara opened her mouth to explain, but realized she didn't have any time now that she arrived at one of the aft engineering compartments. She made a mental note to pump Lieutenant Heart for more information when she was done with the first hot fix.

  6 hours into combat, HFS Grimoire, Lieutenant Heart

  “Chief Sanders sent me to help with a network issue. What's the progress on it so far?” Sara Michalson asked as she entered the room. Scott Heart watched with interest, ignoring the stink eye Grimoire’s best ship driver was glaring at him with. Again.

  One of the technicians was explaining something that a simple Fighter like himself could follow. “I know this is your specialty, ma’am, but even with your help, it’s going to take hours. The programs I have running are helping, but there's only so much we can do between each scan.” The technician who greeted Sara kept talking. The only thing Scott Heart gleaned was that if Micky stayed the whole time, then Scott would be stuck here for hours.

  “Actually, why is the best ship driver on this ship showing me around? Wouldn't you be better off serving on the brid– I mean the CIC?” Scott asked without taking his eyes off Sara’s smooth black tail, flicking back and forth.

  “We are going in a straight line, and the thrust changes and minor course adjustments are just as easily done by anyone in the CIC. Nothing so complicated that would need one of us shipdrivers.” Micky said. Scott glanced at the man to see that he was transfixed by Sara’s tail as much as he had been. “Watch,” Micky said.

  Scott looked back at the tech geeks just in time to see Sara taking a seat backwards in a chair. She leaned facing the door where they were, but had her eyes closed. There wasn’t much to watch until the pointy black heart-shaped tip of her tail split open as it connected to the largest box, computer, server, or whatever. To be fair, Scott was more focused on Sara’s disconnected expression, the way her eyelids fluttered, and how she slumped on the back of her chair.

  “What the hell is–” Scott began.

  “Shhhh, she's concentrating,” Micky said, an awed tinge to his voice, as if he were a kid getting to see a ship hard burn for the first time from the comfort of a station's cafeteria, or, for that matter, a kid getting to see a buffet for the first time.

  “I’m multi-tasking, and you don't have to be quiet, Sir,” Sara said, squeezing one eye shut and focusing the other on the two of them standing in the door.

  “Just call me Micky, do you mind if I just call you Sara?” Micky asked.

  “Sure, so long as you don't call me Doctor, or Officer Michalson,” Sara said while massaging her eyes.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Well, you do have a doctorate, don't you? Why–” the technician began.

  “Shut the fuck up, Carl!” Sara hissed. “Just cause I got the credentials doesn't mean I want a pretentious honorific every time someone says my name. Sara works just fine for me. Also, I found the problem. That virus those traitors left wasn't fully purged from the system. Whatever was left of it was clogging up some of the automated subroutines.”

  Before the technician could respond, Scott couldn't help but cut in and ask, “How did you find it so quickly? Did it have something to do with your tail?”

  “Carl, why don't you try to answer the nice boy's question while I work this fix. Shouldn’t be more than a minute.” Sara said as she closed her eyes.

  Scott looked expectantly at the technician, whom she called Carl. “ Well, I'm new to Grimoire, but I did hear what I thought were rumors about one of the bridge officerssss… I mean… one of the bridge crew had a spinal implant that could directly interface with computers. Now I see that it's true, although I've never seen a fellow human with such an expensive augment. Her tail is fascinating, too. There doesn't seem to be any kind of information buffer system. It's just a direct app into her spine, and I assume direct access to her brain. I wonder how the motor function of her tail–”

  “How it works is fascinating, but what does it do? Like, specifically what is she doing right now? Is that like her plugging into the matrix or something?” Scott asked, stealing a glance at Micky, who was just as fascinated by the conversation.

  “Goodness no, most old movies like that, or the concepts that they were based on, are pure science fiction. No, she's essentially interacting directly with the computers. Not necessarily the code directly, but the means of interacting with the computers so that she can use her skills to work with the code. It's like a cheat to bypass the natural barriers of having to type on our keyboards and scroll through different windows on screens. Depending on how it's hooked up to her brain, it could even be bypassing some of the steps it takes for our brain to communicate our actions to our bodies, and then.” Micky coughed, meaningfully glancing at his wrist comm as if checking the time. “Ugh, fine. In basic terms, it streamlines her interactions with computers and how she takes in information directly. Rumors said that the spinal mod could overwhelm her brain, and that was why the captain ordered a hold on using the tail. If the rumors were true and Sara is the crew member they were referencing having such an exotic mod, then I guess that's true too. Really, these types of mods aren't cheap even if you're at the right kind of station or city that specializes in these things.”

  “I worked my butt off to earn this fair and square, usually three jobs a week on top of college to earn enough money just for the Spinal Tap. After joining Grimoire, I had to save for a long time before I could buy this data link tail.” Sara’s tone was so distinctly defensive that he empathized with her knee-jerk reaction to explain a large purchase as a human. He had been on the receiving end of accusations for owning expensive items or loading cargo that only wealthy shipping contractors handled. Back in the days when Wojtek was just the smaller Vik clan, even Jarl Aleksander stayed out of sight and let BB or one of the Xeno crew work the docks and talk to locals about business.

  “I didn't mean to imply anything,” the technician said.

  “You didn't. I’m sorry, force of habit. Anyway, I got most of it and repurposed your snoopers to look for similar malignant code. Thanks, Carl, pretty accurate explanation, though it's not really as big a deal as the Captain and Jean…” Sara's confident voice faltered at the mention of the deceased XO. Scott remembered helping put an elderly woman in a body bag and carrying her onto Whisper’s drop ship. It was the way Sara’s eyes lost focus as if she were looking through the many decks of Grimoire at something only she could see, that reminded Scott of that body bag. He remembered Sara staring unmoving at the dead face of their XO, just like she was staring now.

  “It's okay, Sara. Do you need a moment?” Micky asked in an empathetic way that reminded Scott that he had been on that bridge too when the gunman had shot up their bridge. Sara blinked and shook her head.

  “No, you guys can go do something else. I know how to get to the hangar on my own ship. I'll head to the bridge when I'm done working through the list of issues Chief Sanders messaged me. Thanks, Carl.” Sara yelled, already running down the hallway, her tail swinging back and forth with the rhythm of her step. Micky followed after her, ignoring Sara’s offer for them to leave her to it. Scott trailed behind, but swore he heard the technician say.

  “My name's not even Carl.”

  8 hours into combat, HFS Grimoire, Selena

  Selena sighed as she exited the CIC. She felt more overwhelmed than her lack of sleep could explain. Her new role as Grimoire’s XO would have been hard enough on a good day, but her initiation was on the worst day Grimoire and her crew had ever faced.

  The sound of footsteps around the corner down the hall filled Selena with dread. Someone else is going to ask me a question or need something from me. I can't say I'm on break anymore. If they aren't doing something important, I can send them to get me something to eat, seeing as I'm probably never going to be able to make it down that many decks without being stopped every few paces. Selena thought darkly.

  A beautifully uplifting grin of her dear friend Sara running around the corner with her apple bottom butt swaying confidently with more swagger than usual, probably because of the return of her adorable thick tail. On a normal day, Sara was sometimes a bundle of joy to the point of being sickeningly sweet. Seeing the smug expression on Sara's face made Selena proud, knowing that all the hot fixes Chief Sanders had assigned, including the extra ones that popped up over the last hour, had been fixed. Selena's spirits were lifted yet again by the simple presence of her young friend.

  Although Sara's tail gave her an edge, Selena knew that Sara's unbridled intellect and skill with computers were the real advantage. Her tail only allowed the technical prodigy to excel, and if used by someone else with a similar implant, they would find themselves lacking compared to Sara. Right now, the most important thing was how adorable Sara's tail complemented her natural cuteness. Moments like this, Selena couldn't help but guiltily compare Sara to a fluffy pet greeting her after a long day away, rather than the sisterly affection she normally felt.

  “Hey, Sara, I thought I told you to go back and get some rest. The captain doesn't want you using your cute little tail in the CIC. Something about a nosebleed and vomiting on his bridge last time?” Selena said, letting out her big sister energy, she sometimes felt around Sara. She was the XO of Grimoire now, so she reasoned she was allowed a little bit more of an authoritative demeanor.

  “I know, but I thought I'd swing by and drop these off for you in the bridge team, I mean, you know the CIC,” Sara said, a little out of breath. Her platinum blonde locks framed her kind eyes as she handed Selena bundles of what passed as banana bread.

  Selena held back tears of joy as she took the bundles, but before she could thank Sara, the black-tailed twenty-something dashed off. Waving over her shoulder as much with her arm as her happily thick tail.

  “I swear, if anybody ever hurts even a hair on her head, or that Nick fellow disappoints her in any way, I'll stab a bitch.”

  ***

  Battle space summary, 8 hours after task group Wojtek arrived

  VIP Vessel HFS Grimoire designated as Northstar

  ARC 5 and ARC 3 flying close escort for HFS Grimoire in case of Enigma counterattack

  2 Enemy corvettes destroyed, surviving corvette shadowing parallel to HFS Grimoire. Both the enemy corvette and Northstar are at equal distances from Wojtek.

  Enigma Cruiser's weapons emplacements are disabled, and the 37th Marine Assault is ongoing.

  Tinmans neutralized on the Enigma cruiser.

  Tinman controller onboard Enigma Cruiser still unaccounted for, capture at all costs

  8 hours into combat, HFS Grimoire, Sara

  Sara entered her room, not knowing what to expect. She was surprised by the nostalgic sight of her best friend sitting on the couch, gazing at the ceiling as a movie played on her TV. His hair was still damp from what she assumed was a shower. His eyes flicked to the door, moving erratically, unable to focus on her.

  “What movie are you watching?” She asked, closing the door behind her. Nick just responded with a sarcastic smile and waved his hand in front of his face.

  “I don't know, I ended up just putting it on for background noise.” His eyes were still teal but looked much less bloodshot than earlier. He had changed into more comfortable-looking black long pants and a black t-shirt. Despite his relaxed attire, he looked even more tired than he did two hours ago.

  “Hey, why don't you try to get some sleep? I know it's kind of hectic, but it sounds like they took out the two Corvettes, and that last Enigma ship is too focused on repelling boarders than chasing us. Nohings over yet, but it's calmed down.” Sara said. There was a light tap, tap, tap near her desk. Both Nick and Sara turned to look, Nick grimacing, realizing it was too far away from him to see properly.

  “Did your goat automaton just knock on wood?” Sara said. Nick just waved his hand in front of his face again.

  “Probably, you tell me. Don't say stupid things that will jinx us.” Nick yawned.

  Sara walked over to her desk and converted it to a pull-down bed. She bent down to pet the goat, looking at her sleepy friend.

  “Come lie down in bed, you're supposed to have bed rest, not couch surfing rest.”

  “I can go back to my room.”

  “No, I like this setup. I can keep an eye on you. I think I agree with Whisper that I should make sure you don't run off. I know you've never been forgetful, but I can also make sure you take your medicine, and the injections nurse Merrell gave you.” She smiled, but Nick missed her jovial intent.

  “Have you heard anything about Whisper?” Nick asked.

  “She left as soon as she left the medbay. She's probably flying around ferrying soldiers or med-evacing people. I'm just guessing, I don't really know.” Sara said. She had walked over to her bathroom, and as she opened the door, Nick's ears twitched, and he glanced in her direction.

  “I tried to make it quick, but I think there's only 30 seconds left on your shower. Sorry.” He said, referencing the daily water allotment.

  Sara shrugged, she was only a little sweaty from walking around the ship from trouble spot to trouble spot. She remembered Nick couldn't see her body language.

  “It's okay, I'll just get changed into clean clothes, I'm not that smelly, and so long as you get rid of the acrid smell in your hair, it's worth it,” she said.

  “Hey, you try getting blown up and stuck in a hospital bed. Thank God modern medicine didn't have to keep me there long.” He said, a smile grew wildly out of control. There was a thunk, thunk, thunk noise from the goat knocking the synthetic wood of her bed with its horns. As soon as he thought seriously about his joke, he frowned. “Yeah, actually, please don't get blown up.”

  “Bed, sleep. Now!” Sara commanded before closing the door to her bathroom, a spare change of clothes in her arms.

  It took a few minutes for Sara to get changed, staring in her mirror, contemplating whether to remove her tail or leave it in. Her thoughts of earlier, when Nick helped her and got it plugged in, and how much trouble it was. She was getting more adjusted to using it again anyway. It would suck to have to start the familiarization process all over. Now her control over it was practically like a third arm. She decided to leave the tail on. It took her another couple of minutes to slowly massage her tail into a more manageable configuration. Now it was extended into a thinner, cordlike 12 ft tail. Even with independent control over the tail, it took her another couple of minutes to carefully wrap it around her waist.

  She almost left the bathroom like that, but remembered Nick's verbal chastisement earlier about not forgetting how old they were now. She smiled, remembering his blush and the way he was chewing on his finger. She grabbed a spare sports bra and underwear she kept in the bathroom and put them on underneath her bright red pajamas. Tucking the tip of her tail under her bra between her shoulders, she stretched to make sure she was comfortable enough and that her tail wouldn't pinch her, wrapped around her waist like that.

  By the time she finally left the bathroom, half an hour had passed. Thankfully, Nick looked mostly asleep on one side of her bed, facing her. The goat was comfortably tucked under his arm. Sara walked over to her couch and turned off the TV. Contemplating what to do next, she didn't notice the goat wiggling free of Nick until it bopped into her leg with its horns. She bent down to pet Maria or Melody, or whatever VI the goat was.

  Startling, the goat gently bit down on her hand just like it had when it led her through the dark hangar. It gently tugged her over to the bed before letting go and hopping up on the bed. Nick was sound asleep, the crook of his arm empty from where the goat had been cuddling him. His face scrunched up and twitched as if he were having a nightmare. The goat just looked at Sara meaningfully.

  Just like Nick always had for her, and she had for him their entire lives, she crawled into bed to lie down with him. He smelled clean, but his natural scent was still barely noticeable. Carefully, she crawled under his arm, tucking herself snugly against his chest. Her head was just under his chin, and she gently stroked his back, soothing his nightmares away. She could feel his muscles relaxing as he settled into a calmer sleep. He felt warm against her, and this close, she could smell his scent better.

  She was so tired, and still confused why she had been noticing the smell more. She couldn't put a specific description to it, but it made her think of salted popcorn, and the few times she experienced the smell of rain while visiting a planet on a Visa. For the first time, she let herself revel in it instead of just ignoring it as an oddity she had started noticing since they reunited on Grimoire.

  The sensation of his embrace, the warmth of his presence, melted her anxiety even more than he always did. The familiar comfort mixed with the foreign feeling of her tummy warming, and her skin prickling and feeling fuzzy. She didn't have time to pull away or consider anything as she quickly fell asleep.

  10 hours into combat, HFS Grimoire, approximately 2 hours of sleep, Nick

  Nick woke, startled. Rolling onto his back and looking around the room, unable to see much of anything. Anxiously, he tried to get his breathing under control, squinting to check the time on his wrist comm. He must have been asleep for two hours. He still couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front of him, most of the room an ominous blur. A reassuring baaaa and hooves scampered across the room before the goat jumped up on the bed. Everything was safe. There wasn't anything else in the room. It was just a bad dream. Everything was still okay, and he relaxed.

  He started to roll back on his side, only then noticing Sara. Her face was snugly tucked up against his chest, breathing softly. Her short blonde hair was frazzled and covered her face. Thick, soft red pajamas with short sleeves. He smiled, gently rubbed her head, and focused on her warm presence and the gentle sound of her breathing. Situating himself better and covering her with the blanket. Exhausted, he fell back asleep.

  ***5 minutes earlier. Sara

  Sara woke, her face flushed with embarrassment and confusion. She twisted her legs together, rubbing her ankles against each other. Her body still felt hot and bothered from her vaguely lued dream. She'd only been asleep for an hour, maybe an hour and a half at best. She couldn't remember anything specific from the dream, but being held by Nick during and after left her struggling with emotions. Her thoughts and feelings muddled into a soup of confusion.

  She closed her eyes, startled by Nick's sudden waking. Her frantic movement and confused mumbling must have woken him. She kept her forehead pressed into his shirt, unable to see but feeling him lean over and look around the room. A gentle baaa startled her, followed by the bed jostling from the goat jumping up.

  Pressed up against him, except for below her knees. Using the only free part of her, she anxiously fidgeted, slowly trying to dissipate her nervous energy discreetly by wiggling her toes. She completely froze when he touched her arm, gently stroking her bare skin. His touch felt reassuring despite his rough calluses. Internally, Sara screamed at herself at how uncomfortably detailed she was noticing details like that. What is wrong with me?

  When he tucked a small pillow between her hips and his, she almost jerked in surprise. Successfully staying still, not giving away that she was awake, she allowed herself to sleepily snuggle closer to him as he tucked the blanket around her. She felt stupid for worrying that he was about to get up after completely depriving himself of the blanket. When it was clear he wasn't leaving, the strong feeling of relief and giddiness she felt clashed with 21 years of status quo. As part of her wrestled with new emotions, she snuggled into his embrace again. Ignoring the new flavors of the two-decade-long ritual with her best friend. His muscles coiled and tensed around her, relaxed, then tensed again in a rhythmic loop for a few minutes until he worked his post-nightmare jitters back down to sleep.

  Sara closed her eyes in pleasure, his anxious ritual feeling weirdly calming to her, like she was siphoning his negative emotions and turning them into neutral comfort. Contented inside the cozy blanket cocoon he had wrapped her in, secured by his firm arms like a living bulwark of protection. She let out a happy sigh.

  After the confusing sense of relief at realizing Nick wasn’t getting out of bed dissipated, she tried to fall asleep with him again. His breath tickled her ear. The warm sensation and fuzzy feeling returned with a vengeance. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to think of her dad's weird, flabby arm, or her slimy ex-boyfriend from school, dark jokes Marines and Flight defenders sometimes say. Anything to scare herself or squash this anomalous reaction while she tried to fall asleep. She was just held in Nick's arms, like they always had. Since they were babies, kids, and teens, even the last time she saw him was when he was assigned to the ship, taking her to a new leg in her pilgrimage. Nick had always been like this, even now as an adult. This is normal. She told herself, but for the first time in her life, she was having to convince herself. It’s normal for us, and that's all that matters. I just need to stop thinking about his warm breath on my ear, or how he still smells like rain for no good reason, or about the stupid… cute way his face looks asleep right now. Sara swept the thoughts away again and again. She needed her best friend, and so did he, nothing more.

  Nick was firmly sound asleep. Sara was still groggily awake. Gently biting her pinky finger, trying to banish her less-than-platonic thoughts of Nick for the first time in her life. The same way Nick had a handful of times in his entire life. Trying to preserve their mutual respect and care for one another.