Kira blinked away tears of relief. "Thank you, sir." Overcome, she forgot herself and offered the captain the best salute that could be given by an honorary lieutenant in the Queen's Own Lancers of Tiae.

"Get on with you," the captain ordered, touching his brow in response. "You're not getting anything that you haven't earned."

Kira went back toward the forward hold where Jason waited, elated by the news but also feeling reluctant. Once there, she discovered that she couldn't look at Jason, instead gazing to one side at the planks of the hull. "We're all right. The captain and the first mate know who you are. I told them the truth, that this is about saving lives, and they agreed to keep quiet and take us on to Kelsi."

"Really?" Jason sounded incredulous.

Was there also a note of glee in his voice? He was probably grinning at her, remembering their forced physical contact. "Yeah, really," Kira said, refusing to look his way.

"How did you manage that?"

"I just told the truth," Kira repeated, gazing fixedly at the crate to one side of her. There was a pause while Kira wondered what she should do or say next.

Jason broke the increasingly painful silence. "Kira? I wanted to tell you I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For what happened. It must have been really uncomfortable and unpleasant for you when we were in there. I'm sorry."

Startled, Kira finally looked at Jason and saw him gazing back not with a knowing grin but with an unhappy expression. "You're apologizing for that? I thought you'd enjoyed yourself."

"I would have, if it had been something you wanted to do," Jason said. "But you didn't want to. You had to. And that was not something I wanted, or something I could like. All I could think of was how miserable you must be."

"Really?" He wasn't lying. She could see that. "It wasn't your fault. Like you said, we had to."

"Yeah, but I could feel how tense you were to be jammed in there with me, and heard how angry you sounded, and felt awful the whole time because you were forced into it. I don't want that," Jason said. "Not with anyone, but especially not with you."

She brushed some hair back from her eyes, gazing at Jason in surprise. "Thank you. I'd been starting to like you some at times, and if you had enjoyed that I couldn't have liked you anymore."

"Huh?" Jason seemed shocked by the news, then relieved. "Guess I dodged that rock."

"You really weren't thinking of that?"

"No, I just felt bad about what you'd been through," Jason said.

He was telling the truth again. "Yeah," Kira decided. "I do like you. Don't tell anyone."

"Ok— All right. I don't believe you, but all right." Jason shook his head. "They're not turning us in? Despite the reward? My mom and dad are so wrong. People can be really decent."