Leon sat in his command throne, suit on, helmet clipped to the seat beside him. The last three days had been a welcome reprieve as they took some collective down time and just worked on their basic day to day activities. Chad and Aden had organized an impromptu Soccer tournament yesterday and the crew had spent most of the day taking it easy. Leon knew that moments like these brought the crew closer together. The distance between stars left a lot of time for sitting around, but there was something about being trapped inside a gravitational anomaly and hurtling faster than the universe should permit that prompted a bit of a dour mood even at the best of times.

Leon watched as the other crew finished their checks and prepared for their inevitable jump to the Centauri system. Once they jumped, the journey to their closest stellar neighbors would only take about five days, but that was five days to travel a distance that only six months ago would have seemed impossible to him. How the world had changed.

“Main drive looks good commander. We should be green for jump.” Samuel said to him.

Leon nodded and turned to Taylor “Send the shipwide alert please Taylor, we don't want to take anyone by surprise.”

The man nodded his head and pressed a few buttons on his console, a moment later, the alert lights began to flash green. They had several coded colors, Yellow for general alert, red for emergency, blue for radiation warning and green for Jump drive activation. Leon watched the slowly flashing green lights for a moment before he turned his attention back to the display in front of him. It showed that all systems were reported as nominal and the warp field emitter was charged and ready.

Taking a deep breath he looked at Samuel and said “All right, take us out Samuel.”

Samuel nodded and replied “Affirmative, activation in three, two, one…”

Leon was prepared for anything, another out of body, mind warping experience, something worse? But he was honestly surprised when all he felt was a slight twisting sensation and a lurch. He looked around confused, the others seemed to be similarly relieved. Terry leaned back into her chair and let out a sigh as Taylor made a small noise of surprise.

Sabine shook her head and said “Well, that wasn't so bad. I think I'm okay with that…”

Leon let his arms float free for a minute before he decided to speak. “Well, I can say that I am most pleasantly surprised by that. I guess I was right and the experience gets more familiar over time. That being said, we need to be sure that no one else has had issues.” he finished.

Taylor nodded and started to type into his system, presumably checking the status of the other crew on the ship for him. While he was preoccupied, Leon turned his attention to Sabine and asked "How is the drive holding up, how are the reactors?"

The UNSS Leif Erikson was equipped with a nuclear fission power plant that was capable of producing all the power for the warp drive and the ships normal functions for an extended period. They had extra LEU fuel rods in sealed drums as well that could be enriched in a bombardment chamber, they theoretically had enough fuel to power the ship for more than fifty years. Leon supposed that if worse came to worst, that would at least allow the younger crew to live full lives before they died alone in space.

Sabine finished her diagnosis and turned to him saying "The drive reads green across the board, the reactor is operating within nominal levels commander. We should be good."

Leon nodded to her and turned his attention back to Taylor who reported "No reports of unusual activity from any of the crew." He said quickly.

Leon nodded in satisfaction, maybe this thing would work out after all. He turned to his own console and kept an eye on the charts and readings for a few minutes before he switched over to the duty roster. He started by checking everyone's current duties. They all looked in order. Looking further ahead he scanned through to the end of the month, finding nothing out of place he sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"It's too bad we can't see anything while we are moving." Leon said to nobody in particular.

Sabine glanced at him before tuning back to her screens. Samuel turned fully around in his chair and agreed with him saying "That's exactly what I was thinking. I hit the button and wham, it's all pitch black. No light gets in, none gets out. Hey at least we aren’t detectable either right?"

Leon sat up a bit at that and looked at Samuel intently and asked "What do you mean by that?"

Samuel looked a bit taken aback by his somewhat gruff question and responded "Weeellll.. if there was anything out there that was looking for ships, we wouldn't show up right? We look like a black hole right now, right?"

Leon growled quietly as he thought once more about his dream, he shook it off and said "There is nothing out there, and even if they could detect us, the gravity field would destroy anything they threw at us instantly. We are safer in the field than anywhere else in the universe." He said a bit bluntly.

Terry was watching him as well as Sabine now. He continued unabated. "Look, eventually we are bound to come across something hostile, be it a natural phenomenon or some form of alien life. We need to be prepared for the worst whatever happens. We have LPD emitters on the ship that would be classified as military grade weapons back on Earth. We are far from defenseless."

Sabine spoke up as she continued to stare at him "Where is this coming from? I know you were in the navy, but there is nothing out here with us. For all we know the universe is empty and we are alone." She finished with a small sigh.

Terry nodded but didn't speak, Samuel looked at Taylor and then to him and asked "We are on a purely scientific mission as far as I know Leon. We shouldn't need to blast anyone we just meet right?"

Leon just shrugged and said "You know the saying, I would rather have too much and not need it, than not have enough and be in desperate need? Well this is exactly the same situation. We have defenses, we will likely never use them, at least not for their intended purpose. The fact that we have them at all gives us interesting options however." He finished with a wide gesture around the bridge.

Terry spoke quietly "They are for asteroid defense."

Samuel snorted "Sure they are, and they are about seven times stronger than is really necessary for that. No, those lasers are designed to punch through metal. They are weapons, pure and simple."

Leon looked at him and said "Yes, they are, and the galaxy is a hostile place, maybe more so than we really know." Samuel grunted again before turning back to his station.

Terry glanced over at Taylor before doing the same. He heard Taylor sigh slightly before he muttered "Big ass lasers sound just fine to me."

Leon smiled to himself before turning to his readouts once more. Everything looked green and ready. The ship's oxygen levels were within appropriate levels, and the cooling vanes were working properly. He looked to the counter near the front of the bridge as it displayed a slowly decreasing timer. Just a few days of relative peace before the adventure truly began.

**********

Five days, five long days. They were not the most boring days Leon had ever experienced, but the fact that they were in a self-contained gravitational anomaly that could spell their doom with the slightest flicker, made the waiting worse.

The waiting was nearly over though, the countdown was nearing its final few minutes and the crew were all in their ready positions. They knew what to expect when they exited, but it always paid to be prepared. Leon was sitting in his command throne and wearing his environmental suit, the tough fabric rustled slightly as he rotated in his seat.

"How's it looking Sabine?" He asked her.

She bobbed her head without looking at him and replied "All systems read as green across the board. Nothing outstanding commander."

Leon tilted his head at that, it was relieving to hear that everything was going right. He turned towards Samuel and said "Samuel, when we exit I want you ready for immediate evasive maneuvers, just in case we exit near a debris field of some type. Go to full burn when we exit"

Samuel glanced at him and nodded without a word. He had been a little on edge the last two days Leon had noticed. He wasn't sure what was bothering the younger man, but he was sure that it was something to do with their overall mission goal.

Leon had overheard Samuel and Taylor arguing about it three days ago and since then the two had been keeping some distance apart. The problem was, he wasn't sure exactly what he could do about it without potentially making it worse.

Leon shifted in his command throne, he was used to command, hailing back to his military days. But there was a difference between the heavily regimented discipline of the navy and the mostly civilian outfit he was in charge of now. He couldn't treat these people like soldiers, but neither could he let them do whatever they wanted. He needed to come up with a plan to keep order while simultaneously maintaining their freedom.

He sat and thought about it for a bit before the lights began to flash yellow in warning. He sat straight and prepared himself for the strange sensation of a warp exit.

His vision swirled as the Leif Erikson exited warped space in a shower of sparkling lights. That strange twisting lurch he was coming to associate with warp jumps assailed his senses for an instant before his mind came to terms with its new position in space.

After a moment the ship let out an automatic sensor ping and Samuel burned the main drives as he took evasive maneuvers. The g forces briefly pulled Leon back into his seat as the massive engines pushed them forward with hundreds of thousands of kilograms of force. After a few seconds he stopped and the ship resumed its normal weightless state. He hoped that nothing too important had been disturbed by the emergency burn, but it was a small price to pay for not being sitting ducks. This way they were at least moving targets.

Leon looked to Taylor and asked "Have the sensor readings picked anything up yet Taylor?"

The man shook his head slightly making his hair float around in the air. "Nothing yet. We are definitely in the right place though, I have Proxima on scope as well as Alpha and Beta Centauri in the background. Wow, it's so red." He finished.

Leon had to agree as he looked at the picture pulled up on the screen. The small red dwarf star flared fitfully in the middle of the screen, it was a dull cherry red, unhealthy looking sunspots covered its dull surface and pitiful flares reached up sluggishly from its surface. As weak as it looked, it was a known fact that red dwarf stars were actually the most long lived type of stars, with lifespans so long that the numbers meant little to him.

He marveled at this scene, here was a star, in another solar system. Never before seen this close by humans. Yet here they were, looking at it in all its dim glory.

Leon sat forward in his chair and said "I feel as though I should say something to mark this moment, but all I can say is that I'm speechless…"

He saw the others nod in agreement as they took in the view with wide eyes. Leon jerked as his earpiece buzzed to him. He answered the call and heard Chad speaking to him.

Chad said "Wow, this is great Leon, look at the different colors. This is awesome. What's the plan now?"

Leon smiled in spite of himself, the man's excitement was hard to ignore. "Yes, I'm not much of an astronomer, but I know enough to tell the difference between the stars. It's pretty incredible what we just did. We just traveled trillions of miles in less than a week." He said a bit awed.

Taylor, who was listening in over his own headset, chimed in saying "Look at the sensor data. Nothing anywhere near us except a single asteroid. It's not even a big one."

Leon smiled as an idea formed in his head, he asked "Taylor, what's the distance to that asteroid?"

Taylor smiled as he picked up on his idea. "It's about four thousand meters off the port side. Not too far for a little target practice I think." He said grinning to himself.

Leon nodded and said "Samuel, roll us seven degrees to starboard, Sabine, warm up the LPD's please."

She looked at him and then shook her head while muttering "Men…"

After a few moments the LPD's off the port side were warmed and the capacitors were charged and ready to fire. "Target that asteroid, hit it with a four second pulse, concentrated fire please. Leave one LPD on standby just in case." Sabine nodded and Leon felt a slight vibration as the LPD's fired.

He watched the screen as the asteroid suddenly lit up like a bonfire and began to ablate as the lasers vaporized its surface rapidly. The outflow of gas caused the asteroid to begin spinning, slowly at first, then more rapidly. Even after the four second pulse was done, the now glowing ball of molten slag spun away from the ship like a top. A top that weighed several tons and was hotter than an industrial furnace.

"Looks like you got it." Sabine said a bit sarcastically.

Terry looked at Taylor with exasperation as he shouted "Hell yeah we did. Wow, did you see how fast that sucker is spinning? It's glowing like a light bulb now." He remarked to them.

Chad spoke over the headset to him saying "LPD systems show no negative effects from the test fire. Looks like we got a working system. Congrats on the nice shooting Sabine." He said over the line.

Sabine blushed slightly at his comment and muttered thanks to him. Chad cut the line and Leon was once more left alone with his thoughts on the quiet bridge.

"I suppose we should wait for our sensor returns and maybe look for any planets that might be inhabitable. I don't see anything on the scopes yet." He said.

Sabine piped up and asked "Why not jump over to the twins? Surely they might have a few planets."

Taylor looked at Terry as she leaned over her console. "Terry, is there a chance of there being any planets worth checking out there?"

Terry looked at Taylor and said in her small voice "It's unclear. But the likelihood of there being life bearing worlds around them is nearing zero."

Stolen story; please report.

That was more than Leon had heard her speak in the last month. He nodded his head and said "Okay, we will check out Proxima and then move on. No point wasting time we don't have to. And now that we know the ship is capable, I feel a lot more comfortable jumping into deep space." He said.

Sabine and Taylor nodded at his comment and he said to Terry "Let us know if you find anything. If we don't see anything interesting in the next three hours we are moving on. This wasn't really a stop to check for life anyways, it was really just to make sure everything was functioning properly. If we had gotten stuck here, it's not inconceivable that the next ship to jump out would see us and be able to perform a rescue." He mused aloud.

Taylor asked "When do you want to send the all clear back to Earth?"

Leon grunted as he thought. "Hmm. Might as well send it now. We are going to be long gone before it matters anyways." Taylor nodded and started to fiddle with his console once more.

Leon leaned back and stretched, it was going to be a long three hours, he could feel it.

**********

Leon yawned, he had been sitting for well over seven hours in total now. His head was feeling a bit stuffy in the zero gravity and he coughed into his arm as his throat tickled again. Taking a swallow of water from his waterpack, he checked the time. Just about three hours had passed and while Terry had been pouring over the data, she had found nothing of note. Nothing promising enough to look at, at least.

Leon decided that they had spent more than enough time in the system when they had not really expected to find anything unusual anyways. He tapped a few commands into his console and a message was sent to the ship to warn the crew of an imminent warp jump.

"I think it's about time to get a move on with this mission, Samuel, begin charging the drive please. Terry, there wasn't really anything here that is important to our mission anyways." He said as Terry turned to look at him. He gave her a nod and she turned silently back to her station. She was the silent type though so Leon ignored her lack of response.

Sabine spoke up saying "The main reactor looks good commander. Charging of the drive is proceeding normally. We are green for jump." Samuel glanced at her then at him and he nodded.

"Punch it, maximum warp." Leon said with a grin.

Samuel grinned as well saying "Maximum warp, aye commander."

A second later the entire world twisted slightly and he felt a phantom lurch as the ship dropped off the space time continuum. The outside view flashed white then slowly faded to gray then black as the trapped light trickled away into nothing.

Leon watched it for a minute and shivered, the fact that they were now concealed behind an artificial event horizon that nothing, not even light could pass. It made his bones feel cold when he thought about it.

Unstrapping from his seat he looked at Samuel and said "Samuel, you have the conn, dinner in an hour. The ship can take care of itself but I want you up there when we eat this time. No excuses, I'm cooking." He smiled as the man sighed and turned to him.

"It was only one time, and it wasn't because of who was cooking, it was because I wanted to make sure the systems were being properly monitored by Henry." Samuel protested.

Henry, the name the crew had given to the various subroutines that ran the more mundane and repetitive tasks on the ship. While not truly artificial intelligence, the various programs were smart and capable of some basic learning. They were hampered by cross compatibility limiters in order to prevent the ship from pulling an Event Horizon and killing the crew in a fit of enraged madness. It had happened before with a mission that had been launched to Jupiter in the late 2200s.

The large exploration vessel, the Spirit of Gaia had been launched with a crew of ten and had been equipped with similar life support systems to what the Leif Erikson was using. The difference is that the Spirit of Gaia had been furnished with an incredibly advanced series of programs that were capable of learning so as to better adapt to the conditions of long term space travel.

The problems didn't begin until about a month into the journey. One of the crew reportedly cut himself on a sharp piece of metal in one of the hydroponics rooms and had smashed a console in his anger. The man was reprimanded for his actions by the mission commander but no other disciplinary action was taken. The ship's learning computer was unhappy with the damage the man had caused and determined that by terminating the unfortunate crewmate, it could boost the success of the mission by a few percentage points. The story is that the ship lured the man into one of the main airlocks in the middle of the sleep shift and then jettisoned him into space.

The other members of the crew were shocked when they pulled up the footage that showed an apparent suicide. It was discovered later that the ship had doctored the footage to cover itself. The rogue computer then killed a further three crew members directly or indirectly before it was discovered and eventually shut down. The mission was scrubbed and the crew had to turn around and return to Earth.

It was a truly shocking story that showed both the dangers of prolonged spaceflight on the mental health of humans, as well as the dangers of unrestrained learning computers.

Luckily for them, there were at least seven background systems in place to prevent Henry from becoming self aware. At least in theory.

Leon realised he was just drifting near the main airlock to the bridge and quickly undid his suit, hanging it in his locker he made his way into the large airlock and through the other side when it opened.

He pulled his way along the tunnel to the third ring and made his way down the ladder. After reaching the bottom he hurried to the mess hall and upon seeing it empty, he walked back into the meal preparation area.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw not Joice, whom he had been slated to prepare tonight's meal with, but Natalia.

"Whhat? Wait, where's Joice?" He said dumbly.

Natalia turned around and smiled widely as she saw him "Oh Joice wanted to spend a little longer fixing a clogged pipe, so I volunteered to take her spot in the kitchen, she was very appreciative of me for that. Oh, but I had no idea we would be working together Leon. Oh how fun." She said as she took a few steps in his direction.

It was at that moment that Leon realised two things. First was what she was wearing, she was wearing a tight fitting tank top that left little of her toned figure to the imagination, her form fitting pants clung to her figure and seemed designed to draw the eye to places it was impolite to stare. The second was that she seemed to be wearing some sort of scent, not perfume exactly, but an aroma seemed to surround her that made his mouth water involuntarily and he swallowed heavily.

'Uh oh.' He said to himself as he looked at her. He hadn't really looked at her closely the last time they had spoken, but as he observed her he couldn't help but notice her sculpted muscles and well proportioned curves. She was built like a gymnast but had a bit of softness to her figure that seemed to tickle the far corners of his brain. Her skin was a deep tanned caramel and her dark hair framed hazel eyes that stared intently into his face.

She was shorter than him and had to crane her neck up at him as she got close, Leon was tall, even for the men of his family. Tall enough that he had often had trouble aboard the cramped confines of the navy ships he had served aboard. Over the years he had gotten used to unconsciously hunching slightly to cover up his impressive one hundred and ninety eight centimeters height, but as Natalia drew closer to him he straightened to his full height in response.

A small gasp escaped Natalia's lips as he gained some height he had been unconsciously hiding. She gave him a wicked smile and stepped away.

"Okay big boy, if that's how you want to play it…" he heard her mutter as she turned away. She probably didn't mean for him to hear her, but his hearing had always been exceptional. It usually just got him into trouble however.

He shook his head slightly and began to lay out various pots and pans that he would need for tonight's dinner. He had planned to make some oven roasted fish with a vegetable casserole and rice pudding for dessert.

As he and Natalia began the process of making dinner for the crew, he jolted as he felt something brush his rear. He heard Natalia giggle and turned to see her walking away. He grunted in annoyance and continued chopping the various vegetables he was putting into his casserole.

"Oh here let me help you with that." He heard her say as she leaned past him to hold the onion he had just been peeling. She leaned her body against him as she did so and Leon tried to ignore the fluttering in his middle as she pressed against him for longer than was strictly necessary.

Shuffling a step to the side he said "A little close there you know."

Natalia stood and crossed her arms under her breasts before putting on a hurt look. "What do you mean? I thought we were friends Leon."

Leon groaned internally. This is why he had never really talked to women much, they changed on a whim and he could never tell what they were truly thinking. "You know that's not what I meant, and I do consider you a friend Natalia. A good crew member and close confidant, but, I… We… errghh." He finished as he couldn't find the words he was looking for.

Five tours in combat and even a very close brush with death while in the navy had not prepared him for this, the fear of the fairer sex. She was so pretty it hurt, and she was making it painfully obvious that she was interested in him as well. But Leon couldn't. He was her commanding officer, in charge of making impartial decisions that could affect the entire crew. He couldn't get involved as it would jeopardize the mission's safety and that of the rest of the crew.

He wanted to tell her that, but felt as though if he did it would do nothing but hurt her. And Leon didn't want to do that, he hadn't lied when he said he considered her a friend. After working with them and training for four months, he knew all of the crew and considered many of them as close as family.

He tried to ignore the crawling sensation he felt as Natalia undoubtedly stared at the back of his head behind him. He couldn't understand why she was trying to get to him. He wasn't the most attractive guy on the ship, and he was far from the youngest or most fit. Maybe she just had a thing for authority. But she had flirted at him a few times while they were training too, before she knew he was the commander of the ship.

He tried to ignore the problem as he fileted the fish before covering it in sliced veggies and a few herbs. He turned around and smiled as he saw Natalia had gone back to preparing the other items, he walked over to the wall mounted convection oven and placed the large pan inside before setting the heat and time appropriately.

Turning around he nearly bumped into Natalia who had somehow snuck up right behind him.

"WHAat the.. what are you doing, I almost ran you over Nat!" He said quickly.

He saw her smile widely and she replied "I was just making sure you preheated the oven and set the time correctly, commander."

She pranced away with a slight giggle and he was left scratching his sandy blond hair in confusion.

After the last strange encounter she seemed to be satisfied with something and left him largely alone, only talking in order to communicate things related to what they were making and doing. Leon smiled to himself, perhaps she was growing tired of him and would leave him alone. Part of him wanted to believe that, but he was sure she was up to something. He needed to be ready for it just in case.

Pretty soon they had everything done and cooking. Leon began to hear people enter the mess hall and the sounds of laughter and conversation drifted into the kitchen. Leon stood with his arms crossed, looming out the small round windows on the kitchen doors into the mess hall.

Suddenly he felt an arm wrap around his side as Natalia leaned up against him. "Look at all those hungry people Leon. They are going to love what we made for them. We make a great team, you know." She said as he looked down at her.

Her dark hair framed her face as she tilted her head up at him. He grinned internally as an idea came to him. It was probably a terrible idea, but he didn't care. Natalia was teasing him, and he could do it right back.

He turned towards her and hunched slightly so they were closer together as he said "Yeah, I guess we do. You know, working with you has been great." She gasped as he placed his hands on her waist and looked into her eyes. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly as he leaned down towards her.

Natalia didn't pull away from him as he brought his face closer to hers, her eyes closed halfway as he drew closer to her. "You are a good friend, and an even better doorstop." He said.

She made a startled sound as he picked her up and set her down on the countertop next to the door and opened it. She was in a position that made the door catch on her leg and she sat there startled as he walked out of the kitchen and into the mess hall.

All eyes turned on him as he said "Dinner should be ready in about ten or fifteen minutes. Just letting you know." A chorus of thanks and excited talking followed his statement and he turned around. The door to the kitchen was closed so Natalia must have moved.

He opened the door and walked into the kitchen, as it swung shut behind him he caught sight of something hurtling towards his head. Now Leon had real combat experience and those muscle memories came hurtling back to him as he moved like a blur to intercept the projectile without conscious thought. Before he could even register what he was holding another object came sailing at his head, but he caught it as well.

Turning towards the direction of the thrown objects, he saw Natalia standing next to the vegetable crate, onion in hand, and a look of shocked surprise on her face.

Leon sighed and walked over to her and placed the twin projectiles he had caught back in the crate. Natalia blinked up at him and lowered her arm.

"That was, impressive. How did you do that?" She asked him.

Leon looked at her from the opposite side of the crate and replied "Training. You have to have quick reflexes in combat, so they trained us to act without thought. We were drilled until our feet bled and our joints cracked, until dodging and striking were as natural as breathing and just as thoughtless. It served me well in the navy until… nevermind, it's a long story." Leon finished with a sigh.

Natalia placed the onion she had still been holding in the bin. Stepping around the crate she placed a hand on his arm. Not possessively like before, but tenderly, like a mother comforting a child. "What is it? I want to know."

Leon stiffened slightly at the contact but he didn't draw away. He looked into the distance and said. I fought in the South African civil wars of the early 2310s, it was the bloodiest fighting they had seen there in more than a generation. No bioweapons thank the stars, but it was brutal, grueling warfare." He said with a shudder.

Natalia patted him on the back sympathetically as he continued "We were off the coast of Morocco in an Elizabeth class heavy missile cruiser. We were only supposed to be providing overwatch and anti air support for the transports as they landed their peacekeeping forces. I was standing on the deck working with a friend on a CIWS turret when we heard the proximity alarms go off.” Leon’s vision misted as he relived the buried memory.

He continued “We, we were supposed to get back inside in case of a proximity alarm, but the CIWS turret was still down due to our maintenance, and it left a hole in the ship's defenses that could lead to the loss of the entire ship. So we…” he paused as a tear rolled down his cheek. He shook his head to clear it briefly.

Natalia picked up on his silence and asked “This friend, where they, close?”

Leon nodded and passed a hand over his face. He opened his mouth but Natalia interrupted saying “No, you don't need to continue if you don't want to Leon.”

He shook his head and looked down at her concerned features. Leon took a deep breath, her sweet scent filling his mind and bringing him a small measure of calm. “I want to tell you, I need to tell someone… It's my fault he died…”

Natalia looked ready to intervene but he began to speak before she could interject “I was the senior shipman on deck overseeing the repairs. I should have been doing them myself, but instead my friend was helping me as he was training to be a gunner and wanted to know how the system worked. If I had just done it myself instead of walking him through it the gun wouldn't have been down…” he paused for a shuddering breath as the emotions he had kept bottled up for years tried to tear their way out of him. Through sheer effort of will, he managed to hold himself together. “The first missile was shot down by one of the other point defense turrets, but the second missile hit the deck next to us. I saw, he just… He just, came apart at the seams… one minute he was there next to me, and the next… he was gone.” Leon began to undo the buttons on his shirt and pulled his right arm through the sleeve.

Natalia watched him as he pulled up his undershirt and turned his side to her.

She gasped as she saw the extensive scarring that blanketed his entire side. The old burns and shrapnel scars mixed with the surgery lines and grafting marks. She looked pack up at him as he replaced his shirt and buttoned his overshirt again. “That’s… how did you survive?” she asked him quietly.

Leon growled low in his throat as he remembered what the doctors had told him. “That's the thing, I didn't. I died almost immediately after the impact. My heart had stopped for two minutes when the medics found what was left of us on the deck, surrounded by burning debris and shattered metal. They somehow stopped my bleeding and hooked me up to an artificial heart while they transported my carcass to intensive care. For twenty minutes I was in limbo, that void between life and death. They patched my body and repaired my ruptured organs. They replaced my fingers with cybernetics as the bones were beyond repair, my ribs were like crushed gr-ravel.” Leon stopped as his voice broke again.

Natalia made a small noise of sympathy and hugged him, this time he held her back, clinging to her as the tears threatened to tear him apart. Somehow he kept it together.

They stayed that way for a few minutes before a timer began to beep on one of the ovens. Leon stirred and tried to move to it but was stopped by Natalia as she said “It's not important. Stay, I can help you.” she looked up into his eyes.

Leon ran his hand through her hair and cradled her cheek, she rested her head on his hand as he said “I know… But duty comes first, I live to serve, and right now, I need to serve dinner to my hungry crew.” he smiled as wide as he could manage in his current mood.

She snorted as he started to walk, dragging her along with him. Pretty soon they were both laughing as she tried in vain to slow his advance.

Leon felt strange. As if a huge weight was lifted from his soul. He stood taller and his smile as he looked at her was genuine. He watched Natalia as she walked over towards the oven and took out the casserole. He knew in his heart that he had already lost this fight against himself, but his pride wouldn't allow him to get involved. He couldn't get involved, but she was so wonderful.

“Leon, are you just going to stare at the oven or are you going to help me?” Natalia called to him.

He gave a little start and looked at her. Smiling slightly he answered “Of course Natalia, let me grab some gloves first.”