“No problem. I understand you’re working…” She knew who he was, but she wanted him to introduce himself.
He correctly interpreted her hesitation. “Oh! Sorry. Ford Caliban.
Mate.” He stuck out a hand and shook, hesitating before letting go of hers. “Do you prefer Doctor Hypatia, or is Doc okay?”
“Emi’s fine.”
She loved his smile. “Great. Emi. Just call me Ford, we’re pretty casual around here. Come on—this way.” He stood a few inches taller than her, on the slim side of the spectrum but athletic, naturally muscled, and he moved like a cat. She couldn’t help but watch his tight ass as he walked in front of her, leading the way.
Ford led the way through the vast ship. She was surprised at how easy he was to talk to despite his obvious nerves. It took them over five minutes to reach the crew common area. While it didn’t look like a bomb had gone off in the past five minutes, it did look like one had exploded within the past few days. It was a mess. Arranged chaos the men apparently understood, not a random disaster like they couldn’t pick up after themselves.
Ford looked nervous. “Seriously, I mean, we’re not neat freaks or anything, but this is so not normally us. Aar decided to go all captain on our asses last week when we lost his stupid spare razors. Now me and Caph have to do a full inventory and get it all tagged and logged.
This is one of the neat areas right now. The rest is worse.” Nervous energy washed off him. He was terrified she would refuse them on this basis.
She offered him a kind smile. “It’s okay, seriously. I understand.
Hey, this is what dry dock is for, right?” He relaxed a little, and was about to speak when another man bolted into the room, hanging onto the door frame as he rounded the corner. Caphis Bates.
“Holy crap, Caph. Show a little dignity,” Ford scolded.
“Sorry, man.” Caphis blushed, something that looked incredibly sweet and endearing on the large man’s face. “Hiya.” He walked forward, hand extended. “Caphis Bates, call me Caph. First officer.” His green eyes dazzled her. How could they be real? He was cute,
taller and beefier than Ford, but while a large man, he still wasn’t a muscle-bound maniac like the grunts had been.
She shook his gigantic hand. While his practically swallowed hers he was gentle, as if afraid to hurt her.
“Call me Emi.”
He smiled. She felt a little thump in her chest in response.
Definitely a cutie.
“Cool. That’s pretty.” He looked at Ford. “Have you seen Aaron?
He said he’d meet us down here.”
Ford shook his head. “No, haven’t seen him yet.” Caph scooped an armful of supplies off the table and moved them to the floor. “I hope Ford told you we’re not normally like this.” Emi laughed. “Yes, he did. It’s okay, please don’t worry.” Caph also relaxed, reassured by her tone. The three of them sat.
Ford and Caph nervously looked at each other.
The men spoke together. “Well.” They looked at each other. “Go ahead,” they parroted, then both grimaced.
She laughed. “That’s interesting.”
Ford glared at Caph as if daring him to speak. “That happens a lot.
I hope it doesn’t freak you out. Aaron calls us the twins.” Caph agreed. “When Aar’s in a foul mood, there’s been days he’s made us take turns speaking so it doesn’t happen. If it’s not our ‘day,’
we can’t talk around him.”
Emi tried to hold back her amused giggle. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
The men stared at each other for a moment as if deciding who should speak. Ford looked at her. “Any questions?”
“Don’t you think we should wait for the captain?” Both men looked nervous again. “Yeah,” Caph said. “Let me see if I can track him down. He should have been here by now.” He stood and walked to an intercom on the wall and paged him. Caph also had a smooth, fluid gait, a natural motion. His broad chest tapered into a narrow waist and tight ass she wouldn’t mind…
Yum.
“Hey, Aaron,” he paged. “We’re in the commons. Mind dropping what you’re doing? You’re keeping the doc waiting.” He winked at her. She knew she didn’t imagine the heat flare deep in her belly.
She hadn’t had any reaction even remotely like this with the other two crews.
After a long moment, the captain replied. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Go ahead and start without me.” The deep-timbred voice of before.
Caph shrugged. “Okay, Cap.” He rejoined them at the table. “He’s the boss.”
Maybe asking them some questions would help put them at ease.
“How did you go from Merchant Marines to exploration?” The men exchanged a glance. Apparently Ford got to do the honors. “We crew together, been together for years. We won’t split up. We decided we wanted to do something different, and the DSMC’s been after us for a while to transfer over. We’ve been hauling for a lot of years now. We thought maybe one last big run like this, before we settle down for short hops, it wouldn’t be bad. Put some money in the bank, you know?”
“Short hops?”
The men exchanged another glance, but Caph answered. “Yeah, moon runs are minis, day trips. Short hops are anything in this sol-sys.
Medium hops are to the range two sol-sys regions. Long hops are any sol-sys beyond that, and anything outside the galaxy.”
“What did you do a lot of in the Merchant Marines?” Ford’s turn. “Mostly long hops. Lot of military outposts, frontier stations. Some mediums doing larger transport loads.” They talked for several minutes, the men parroting each other a few more times before Lucio entered the room. She felt him before she saw him, his brooding, unwelcoming glare throwing a nearly visible pall before him.
Ford and Caph fell silent when he entered. He walked to Emi and
extended his hand. “Dr. Hypatia, I’m Captain Aaron Lucio.” He spoke quietly, the same voice as before, but softer.
She couldn’t quite figure him out, was having trouble reading him. They shook hands. “Call me Emi.” He nodded. Instead of sitting with them he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed in front of him. He was handsome, taller than Ford but shorter than Caph, his cautious brown eyes not giving much away.
His brown hair with just a sprinkle of grey at the temples lent itself to the overall “leave me alone” air he exuded.
Wow. How could a guy who looks that good come off so chilly?
Ford and Caph exchanged glances, and then Caph spoke. “Um, so.
What else?” he asked her.
She looked at Lucio. “You don’t want to join us, Captain?”
“I’m okay. I can hear just fine.” That was it.
All righty then. She focused on Ford and Caph. As of now, if it was just these two, she’d say yes in a heartbeat. They were sweet and funny and definitely welcoming, albeit apparently very nervous.
“You’re the third crew I’ve interviewed today. As I told the other two crews, I wanted to talk to all three if or before I make any tentative decisions.”
Lucio spoke up. “Which other crews?” He wouldn’t join them but wanted to speak up? Annoying. He made no apologies for asking about the others.
“The Kendall Kant and the Braynow Gaston,” she replied.
She watched immediate disappointment paint Ford and Caph’s faces. Before she could reassure them, Lucio spoke again. “Doctor, come with me, please.”
“What¯”
“Please.” He pushed off from the wall and walked to the doorway he’d entered, waiting for her.
Casting a look at Ford and Caph, Emi set off after Lucio.