He just kept surprising her. She let her gaze trace the hard blades of his cheekbones, the strong, chiseled jaw.
Her comm badge chimed. “Agent Brandall? We are ready for take-off when you are.”
Honor nodded. “It’s time to head into space. Ready?”
Colm gave one decisive nod. “Ready.”
Colm followed Honor into the cockpit. There was a wide screen of glass showing a pretty view of one of Kavon’s fields. This one was left fallow, and dotted with yellow gaia flowers.
There were two main seats at the front, both occupied by uniformed agents, busy tapping the screens in front of them. Another woman sat at a console to the side. She, too, was tapping and swiping furiously, her brow creased. The two rows of seats behind them were empty.
“Captain Dagan and Co-pilot T’kon,” Honor called out. “I’d like to introduce our Markarian escort, Warrior Colm Mal Kor.”
The man and woman at the front turned.
“I’m Captain Amelia Dagan,” the older woman said. “A pleasure to have you aboard the Drake. We’re finishing the pre-flight checks now, so please strap in.”
“And Colm, this is Agent Ning Abora.” Honor waved at the young woman to the side.
The woman smiled. She had pale-blue skin and wide eyes. “It’s fabulous to meet you. Your world is fascinating.”
“Ning is our science officer. She’ll be running the scans today.”
The younger woman tucked some of her pale hair back. “This is my first mission. It’s rather exciting and I’m so thrilled to be visiting Markaria. A new world in uncharted space…” She gave a happy sigh.
Colm inclined his head. “Your enthusiasm does you credit.”
The science officer might have been of a different species, but she still flushed prettily.
“All right,” the co-pilot called out. “Everyone take your seats. Take off in thirty seconds.”
Colm followed Honor to two seats behind the pilots. He settled in and heard the chair creak under his weight. If it had been any smaller, he wouldn’t have fit in the damn thing.
“Here.” Honor leaned over him, pulling the straps across his chest.
Colm sat still and let her fuss. When her knuckles brushed his stomach, he pulled in a breath.
She froze and her gaze flicked up to his.
Heat flickered in her green eyes and Colm felt his nanami stir, like a hungry beast waking. As he tried to calm them, he clamped his hands on the armrests of his chair.
Soon. Very soon he needed Honor Brandall under him to quench this crazy need.
She sat back and went to work on her own harness.
“Ready for take-off.” The pilots’ hands were moving over their screens, their faces set in concentration.
Colm felt the ship lift, felt his stomach tense. There was a pressure that pushed him back into his seat.
But then his gaze glued to the glass screen in front of them. He saw a blur of color as they moved over the field. They shot upward and he clamped his hands down harder on the armrest, feeling the metal bend. By the warrior, he was very sure warriors weren’t designed to fly.
A hand discreetly pressed down over his. Honor wasn’t looking at him, she was staring ahead, but her fingers stroked his.
He suppressed a grin. She was trying to soothe him. He might find the new experience of flying…unsettling, but he wasn’t concerned. Still, he left her hand where it was, enjoying the contact.
Soon, Markaria was behind them, and they entered the black of space. Colm pulled in a deep breath. The Drake changed course, and he had a perfect view of his planet below. A ball of pale blue.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
He nodded at Honor. “It is more beautiful than I could have imagined.”
“So you can be surprised.”
There was a teasing note to her voice. He turned to look at her, lowering his voice. “You’ve surprised me at every interaction we’ve had.”
Her tongue darted out and licked her lips. “Colm.”
“Coming up on the first moon,” Agent Abora said.
Colm dragged his gaze from the confounding woman at his side and once again, felt a hitch in his chest.
The ball of pitted rock that was Markaria’s smaller moon, Myrine, was growing larger and larger through the window.
“You can undo your harness now,” Honor said as she unfastened her own.
Soon the two of them stood by the window.
“Starting scans,” the young science officer said.
“It is a rocky, barren place.” Colm saw no evidence of a ship or anything else on Myrine’s surface. All there was were craters.
“Nothing on scans. Moving to the next quadrant.”
They circled the small orb and Colm waited. Beyond Myrine, he saw the vast darkness of space, dotted with distant stars. Incredible. It amazed him that Honor and her colleagues saw this kind of thing all the time.