Cosmic Captain: Epilogue

Sliding down the ladder to the engine room, my shoes thunked to the floor. After 3 months on the ship, I’d gotten pretty good at it and it was way faster to get down that way. Lovath was barely audible over the whomp of the ship’s power source cursing at one machine or another. He knew his ship like the back of his hand and had been captain and mechanic in Qwexil’s absence.

We were working on replacing him just as hard as we were working on finding the bastard. Lovath wanted to kill him, and I wasn’t about to argue. Knowing Lovath had and would continue to kill for me was disturbingly comforting, and I got hot under the collar every time I thought about it.

“Babe, Tal said we’re almost there.” I called out, stepping deeper in the engine room so I could be heard. “Which station did you say? Tal’s being grumpy and told me to drek off when I asked.” It was classic Talisaar behavior, and I didn’t pay it any mind anymore. He was just like that.

Lovath popped up from in between two of the machines that I was pretty certain controlled the temperature, and he had grease smeared on his face. He probably smelled like it too. Given the number of times we’d fucked while he was still dirty, I was worried I’d developed a Pavlovian response to the smell.

Wiping his hands on his pants, Lovath shot me a smile that seemed…nervous. “Let’s go up to the flight deck.”

So he wasn’t going to tell me where we were either. Nerves were starting to gather in my stomach. Were we back on Pretia? I doubted it. We were way beyond Lovath leaving me behind, and he could do that at any old station or planet if he wanted to.

Lovath was silent as we climbed back up the ladder and led me onto the flight deck. Talisaar wasn’t there, and the viewports were closed, so that was a little weird. Fidgeting, Lovath finally said, “Gray, I love you.”

“What’s wrong?”

Lovath rubbed a hand over his face, sheepish. “I was just thinking, I…well, I want you to have every option you can, and…drek, I’ll just show you.” Typing a few commands onto one of Talisaar’s consoles, the viewports on the nose of the Horizon rose slowly, revealing the blackness of space. Stars twinkled far beyond, but my breath caught when I realized what I was looking at.

A blue planet filled my vision, with swirls of clouds and green landmasses. It was starkly bewitching against the black of space; I’d seen so many planets through these viewports now, but this one was by far the most beautiful. Earth, the planet I never thought I’d see again. Maybe that was just because it was my planet. My home. I hadn’t even realized that my eyes had filled with tears until one slid down my cheek.

“Why are we here?” My throat was clogged with emotion, eyes fixed on the planet in front of me. I’d been so desperate to go back just a few months ago, and seeing it brought all those emotions back. There were just people down there, living life, going to coffee shops, watching bad sci-f movies with no clue how close some of it came to real life.

“Do you want to go back?”

I whipped to face Lovath, and if his green face could get any greener, it would. He seemed positively sick to his stomach. “What do you mean? How are we even here? You said it was illegal—”

“It is.” He cut me off, then swallowed hard. “It is very illegal. Every second we sit here, we risk being detected by Federation enforcers. We’ll be caught for sure if we enter the atmosphere to drop you off. We’ll do it if you want to go home, though.”

Is that was he wanted? To drop me back off on Earth like none of this ever happened? His sour face told me no. Taking a step closer to him, I asked, “What ramifications do you risk if you put me back?”

“Prison. Probably for a few hundred years. Then more debt in fines than all of us combined will ever repay. I don’t care, though. If it’s what you want, I’ll take you home. Even if…even if it means I never see you again.” Lovath’s expression had closed off entirely, so I closed in all the space and wrapped my arms around his waist, tilting my head back to look up at him.

“I don’t want to go back, Lo. I want to stay here with you.” I watched his face go through a range of emotions, until pure relief graced his attractive features. Then he was swooping down to kiss me, arms wrapping tightly around my body as if he could keep me from changing my mind.

I wasn’t going to change my mind. How could I go back to Earth knowing what was out there? With an entire galaxy to see and explore and an alien I loved by my side? Nothing was waiting for me on Earth. I’d found my place.

“If Gray is staying, can we get the drek out of the Sol System?” Talisaar chirped over the comms, and I snickered against Lovath’s mouth, then broke away.

“Yeah, Tal. Take us anywhere.”