The ship juddered one last time and then we were through. A new set of stars greeted our exit from the wormhole. Starlight remained at full power as we moved out of the danger zone. Ships usually came out at the same point every time, but sometimes one went astray, and I didn’t relish a literal run-in with Lotkez.

I took slow steady breaths and let my heart rate settle. One down, two to go. Then we’d be on Bastion, and I’d get to see Lexi for the first time in nearly a year.

We were well out of the danger zone when Lotkez appeared on the sensors behind us. “Your ship made it through,” I told Torran.

He rolled his shoulders and some of the tension drained out of him. “Thank you.”

Luna jumped to the ground and gave me a plaintive look. I knew that look, even if she wasn’t sending me pictures of empty food bowls. I pointed at her. “No more food until dinner. We agreed, remember?”

She told me exactly what she thought of our agreement with a flick of her tail as she stalked from the room.

I laughed and sent her a wave of affection.

Torran shifted in his seat but showed no signs of leaving the bridge. That was fine, I needed to work on the duty roster, and I could do that as easily here as in my office.

And if my gaze drifted Torran’s way more often than it should, no one would blame me for keeping my enemy in sight.

Right?

I fed Luna, then pulled the lasagna from the oven and let it rest while I fixed a big salad to go with it. Greens grew quickly and could be stacked fairly close together on vertical shelves, so we often had salad with our meals.

Anja and Torran sat at the bar in cool silence. Anja had finally emerged from the bowels of the ship with a frighteningly long list of necessary repairs. Luckily, most of it was either low priority or easy, but there were a few things that needed to be addressed as soon as possible.

And none of them was cheap.

At this rate, I was going to have to actually catch the thief for Torran in order to come out ahead, which meant I needed to talk to him about the details. My mental to-do list just kept getting longer and longer.

“Would one of you mind setting the table? Silverware is in the drawer. Plates and glasses are in the cabinet,” I said with a wave in the correct direction, “and the extra faucet by the sink dispenses chilled water. I’m going to cut the lasagna and call the others to dinner.”