“Stop that. That’s not what this is about. We love you. If you never slept with us, or if you said that’s it, no more, he’d still have you on board. You’re a damn good doctor, your personality is perfect for ours, and you don’t give a shit about our personal lives. Seriously, you say, ‘Sorry boys, no more nookie,’ and that’s fine.” He wasn’t lying, but he spotted the doubt in her eyes. “Seriously, Emi. You say the word, we’ll get the refit crew in here today and have them build out a private cabin and head for you. I’ll go get them right now, it’ll be ready by tomorrow. You can’t leave us—we need you.” He gently shook her, punctuating his last words.
There was more behind his comments, she felt it, but he carefully hid it. Not the same way Aaron buried his, but his playful side masked it well.
“What happened to you guys?” she asked.
He pulled his hands away and dropped his gaze. “I can’t talk about it.”
“Crew story?” Her acidic tone returned.
Caph nodded. “That, and I can’t talk about it. I don’t like to even think about it.” He turned and walked out of the hydro lab, leaving her speechless.
Chapter Ten
Emi spent over an hour in hydro and decided to do a little digging into their past. The thought had crossed her mind before, but usually she didn’t have time or the boys were working with her and she didn’t have privacy.
She went to sick bay, and, using her secure med officer terminal, she pulled up their full personnel and medical records. Nothing jumped out at her at first, until she realized there was a time gap in all three service records, starting approximately two years after they started with the Merchant Marines, lasting about eighteen months.
She dug further and found an interesting message.
Records locked by joint order of Merchant Marine and ISNC
Tribunal.
The medical records showed the same gap. The only thing listed was that Aaron had received a Silver Service Star, and the twins both received Bronze Service Stars.
All three had graduated training at the same time. Before the gap, Aaron had been appointed as second officer on a ship named the Wayfarer Margo. At the end of the service gap, Aaron was promoted to the rank of captain, with the odd standing order that he and the twins were “bonded crew,” by declaration of the joint tribunal.
She looked it up and found the term listed in the confidential officer manual, accessible only by ranking fleet medical officers such as herself, captains, and higher ups.
Bonded crew members are those that, for whatever reason deemed, may not be separated despite wishes to the contrary of ranking superior officers. This designation is applied by the Joint Tribunal and is irrevocable except by request of the crewmen involved. Bonded crew might or might not be married to each other or others, and be any number from two members or more, and can be any combination of genders. If a crewman ever wishes to unbond from the others, they may do so without it affecting the status of the other bound crew unless it’s only two members bound. This designation is used when valuable crew members with specialized training or experience wish to stay in the service but might suffer irreparable psychological damage by being separated…
Hmm. What happened to her poor boys?
She researched further and found fewer than one hundred current designations of bonded crew, most involving in-laws or blood relatives, and no others involving unrelated men in the way Aaron and the twins were together.
More digging, and she discovered the captain of the Wayfarer Margo when Aaron and the twins had been assigned to it was executed about four months after the time gap started, the details, again, locked.
Executed?
She searched out information on the crew manifest for the Wayfarer Margo and tracked down the other five crew members, except one. Kelsey D’ambroise.
She was listed as deceased, killed in the line of duty at the time the service gap started, and she had been posthumously awarded a Silver Service Star. Details of her death were locked.
Was this Kelsey D’ambroise the source of the “crew story” and their shared grief? She couldn’t confront them about it, because she shouldn’t have been snooping. They had promised to tell her.
Now with more questions than answers, Emi closed out the files and went to cook dinner for the boys.
Aaron joined them for dinner. He was quiet, frequently glancing at Emi. The twins nervously made small talk, and when dinner was over they jumped to volunteer for clean-up. Emi excused herself and returned to the cabin. Aaron wasn’t as upset as he had been, but he was still not back to his normal self, and neither was she. She meant to stay awake, but when she felt the twins crawl in next to her later, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
She awoke before the twins. Aaron was already out of bed, most likely at an early meeting. She cooked them breakfast, and in a few minutes the smell of coffee and bacon drew them out. They hugged and kissed her.
“How you feel, sweetie?” Ford asked, concerned.
“I’m okay. I’m sorry I left you hanging yesterday.” He brushed the hair out of her face and smiled. “That’s okay. You can make it up to me.”
Caph stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck. “What can we do to make you feel better?” She patted his hands. “I’ll be okay. I just need to get through it.
That’s all.”
“I love you,” they parroted, glaring at each other.
That made her laugh, which in turn made the twins smile. “I love you too, guys,” she assured them.
They ate breakfast, and Emi left for her morning training class.
She ate lunch there instead of returning to the ship, and her short afternoon class was over before she knew it. She’d felt better being away from the ship. As she returned to the Tamora Bight, Emi’s funk returned.
The twins must have ratted her out to Aaron. He found her staring out at the dry dock facility through a port in the observation bay.
He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?” She stood up and quickly wiped her eyes, hoping he didn’t notice.
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
His worry shadowed him even more than his pain. “You’re not still upset, are you?”
“Not at you guys.”
He hesitated, and she spoke again. “No, I’m not reconsidering my decision.” She forced a smile. “You’re stuck with me for five years.” Aaron pulled her to him. “Then what’s wrong, Em? I thought we’d settled this.”
She closed her eyes and relaxed against him. He was her rock, grounding her, his strength flowing through her. “What happens after?” she whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“What am I going to do with my life after this is over?” His body tensed. She suspected he didn’t even realize he’d done it. “After?”
She looked up at him. “I don’t want to leave you guys after five years.”
He relaxed, every ounce of tension draining from him. His broad smile lightened his face. “Em, you don’t have to leave.”
“You guys said you’ll be doing short hops and stuff.”
“So?”
Realization dawned. “I can still go with you?”