Page 3 of Radiant Exception
“Typical Aquarius.” She shook her head and placed the comm down on the desk.
“Excuse me?”
“You were born on January 30th, correct?” She leaned back in her chair, her eyes raking over me…assessing.
My skin crawled, having been on the receiving end of similar looks so many times over the years. Every time I lost someone, every time something bad happened…too many times to count.
“That’s correct.”
“You’re an Aquarius. Notoriously hard nuts to crack.” Her eyes gleamed with mischief. “But even I have to admit, between your experience and your sign, you’ll be perfect for the chief engineer position. Most Aquarians are natural-born leaders, but don’t like the attention. I bet you’re excellent at thinking outside of the box and incredibly loyal. I’ll just have to keep an eye on you isolating yourself.”
I blanched. “You can tell all that from my birthday?” Her accuracy was a bit spooky. I’d never believed in astrological signs or charts—and maybe Natalie was just good at reading people, but she’d been able to learn a lot in just a short while.
She gave a sharp nod before continuing. “I know you’re used to being a lone wolf, but theRadiantis a small ship with a tight crew. We need team players. I’m sure you know it’s life or death out in space. Can I count on you to at least try to ingratiate yourself with the others?”
“Yes,” I replied softly, still disarmed by how she could see through me so easily, bringing up uncomfortable truths I had barely begun to admit, even to myself. Of course, I’d always preferred to work alone…that way nobody would let you down. But I’d been a part of plenty of collaborative operations, and I prided myself on being a bit of a chameleon when needed. Then again, I was proving to be a bit rusty in the secret operative department if Darren’s intelligence was to be believed.
“If nothing else, you’ll have me.” She gave me a warm smile. “I’m not a formally trained psychologist, but the crew often comes to me to vent and mediate conflict. You can trust that anything we discuss will remain confidential, unless I feel you are a danger to yourself or the others. The captain will tell you the same thing.”
I clenched my teeth at the mention of the captain. My absentee husband of convenience. Did he know I was on board? Did he know what we would be to each other while on this cargo run-slash-black op?
Perhaps mistaking my response as concern or wariness, she offered some insight. “I’m not sure what you’ve heard about Captain Vaughn, but he’s a good man. He’s well-liked by the crew, albeit a bit stoic.” She paused, as if considering her next words. “And a quick tip: he prefers going by just Vaughn; don’t know why it bothers him when people use his first name, but he’s fired crew for the offense.”
I filed that tidbit away as I wondered what Natalie thought I might have heard about the captain prior to joining. It felt odd to need to refer to my husband by his last name, but it was as good asany, I supposed, and I was happy to have been warned before making such a misstep.
By all accounts, Captain Vaughn was a decorated military hero, gaining notoriety during the Enceladus Rebellion by staying behind to make sure all civilians were evacuated, at the cost of almost his entire team. He’d retired from service after that. His vacant eyes in the one photo I could find of him, during a press briefing after the incident, had struck me as belonging to a man who was haunted. I knew the feeling well.
After a few hours of filling out forms and reviewing ship procedures with Natalie, she announced we needed to stretch our legs and that it was time for the ship tour. “We’ll stop by to meet Rion first to grab your comm tablet and uniforms.”
The moment we stepped into Rion’s tiny office, nestled on the lower deck, I knew he was in love with Natalie. His round face immediately brightened upon seeing her. He ran a hand through his floppy, curly hair, pulling it away from his eyes before adjusting his glasses, then smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles on his uniform as he stood.
“Hi, Nat.” He beamed at her.
“Hi, Rion.” She batted her lashes at him.
Oh.
It would seem thefeeling was mutual.
Rion’s cheeks began to turn rosy.
“I wanted to introduce you to Lark Sterling; she’s our new chief engineer.” She motioned to me. “Lark, this is Rion Bancroft, our chief technology officer. He also helps me manage equipment and gear.”
“Nice to meet you.” I greeted him with a handshake.
“Hello. Welcome to theRadiant. We’re so glad to have you.” He smiled, but not nearly as wide as he had when he’d looked at Natalie.
“She’ll need a comm, uniforms, and a room assignment.” Natalie leaned against his desk, encroaching on his space. “Oh, I almost forgot!” She reached into a cargo pocket on her uniform and produced a small bag before handing it to Rion, their fingers brushing against each other during the exchange. “I grabbed you some sweets on my way back from HQ this morning.”
If possible, Rion’s face became even redder. “My favorite.” He looked down at the bag reverently. “Thank you, Nat.” His gaze met hers again.
I swallowed hard, feeling as though I was intruding on a very intimate moment between the two of them. My gaze fell to the floor, and if I could have disappeared through the wall, I would have taken the opportunity.
“So, her comm?” Natalie breathed after a moment.
Rion stuttered, “Right.” He shoved the bag of candies in a desk drawer and then pulled out a new comm from a different one. Turning in his chair, he clicked open a compartment on the wall behind him, revealing a stack of neatly pressed uniforms. He pulled three from the pile and set them on the desk next to the comm device.
With a few movements on his own comm and a retinal and fingerprint scan from me, mine was all ready to go. “Have you worked on a Starlane light freighter before?” he asked. “I can give you a tutorial on the non-engineering systems—those are universal, as you know.”
