Cyra swallowed her mouthful seaweed slaw. “Gereth”
“I know him.” Rhysa’s tone held a load of innuendo and she grinned. “I’ll make a visit, chat with him, and confirm he’s notscrewingyou on price. Did you already reload the food and water?”
“Supposed to be delivered soon.” Another thing to check on.
“I’ll see Gareth after we finish, and I want to check out your nav systems before we take off.”
“Once you have our route plotted, can we review it? Our dust shields take extra energy.” Navigation wasn’t Cyra’s strongest subject, but she knew enough to evaluate the courses Rhysa defined.
“No problem. I’ll make sure to route us around the thickest clouds.”
Rhysa finished up her grains and berries, leaving Cyra and Veda to finish and pay.
Veda wiped her lips with her napkin and took a deep breath.
Cyra braced herself. Her friend had on her serious face and Cyra wasn’t sure if she could manage any more complications before they left the station.
“Cyr, you need to move into the Captain’s quarters.”
“What?” Why would Veda even suggest such a thing? Captain Auvi’s quarters had always been off limits.
“It doesn’t make sense to leave that area of the ship empty. It’s closer to the deck.”
Kind of a lame argument. “Most of the ship will be empty and I’m completely capable of walking.”
“You’re the captain.” Veda crossed her arms and glanced in the direction Rhysa had gone. “You have to take on the trappings of the office.”
“We barely have a crew.” And could she really be a captain if they only had two crew members and hadn’t flown anywhere? “And I don’t want to lord anything over you. You’re my partner. Blaize bought in as a partner too.”
“This trip will be successful. But only if you take the role Captain Auvi trusted you with. You’re not lording, you’re leading. That comes with filling the spaces Auvi left empty.”
Like Cyra’s chest?
A pang of loss ripped through her but she blinked back the tears. Veda was right, she had to fill the role even the parts that made her uncomfortable. “Don’t take offense at Rhysa’s confrontational ways. Smart people should question authority, especially if they don’t know the person.” Cyra gave her a pointed look. “And even if they do.”
Veda dropped her arms and a slight smile on her lips. “I guess so.”
Cyra found Rhysa at the navigation deck hours later. “I didn’t know you were back.”
Rhysa gazed up at her with those oddly pink eyes and a smile bloomed across her lips. “Captain. You’re going to love my news.”
“Yeah?” Cyra braced for whatever Rhysa might say. She didn’t know her navigator well enough yet to trust that she actually would like the news.
“The fuel rods?”
“Uh huh?”
“The invoice will have a fifteen percent discount.” Rhysa fluttered her eyes.
“That’s great.”
“And…we’re getting twice the number of rods delivered. Blaize saidThe Treasurecould hold them. So we have enough fuel to make it there and back.”
Cyra’s chest squeezed. “I don’t have the funds to pay for double the delivery yet.”
Rhysa tilted her head. “You don’t understand. Same total price, minus fifteen percent. Double the rods.”
“How…” Cyra sputtered.
