CHAPTER 20 LEE
HOURS LATER, Lee and Kat still commanded a table near the railing of the Hideaway.
Its surface was now dotted with empty chip bags and green juice cups, the room teeming with post-training cadets.
Thankfully, they’d managed to get through the majority of their raid files before the traction started picking up.
“Do you ever think about why the dark radiation targets where it does? What the common thread is in all of this?” Kat asked, head sinking down onto her hand as she toyed with the straw of her latest green juice. “De Zolar and the De Myra grouping are nowhere near the next dark-ray infested system.”
“That we know of,” Lee said. They knew first-hand how many secrets were kept even from raider-level security status.
“Whatever the triggering factor, they definitely drew the short stick for this galaxy. It’s too bad for them, too.
I read in one of these reports that they used to have part of the trade route pass through, back before the dark rays interfered. ”
“Which file?” Kat flicked her eyes over to the holofiles drawn up before her as if she’d somehow missed some critical input.
“I read it here somewhere,” Lee said, sifting between his own holofiles. “I think I’m just glad we didn’t have to be the ones to confirm that death sentence.”
“Do you think it was Academy raiders?” Kat dripped a lazy search into the database, reading aloud as she typed, “Past raids to De Zolar…”
Lee snorted. “That’s not going to service us any…” His voice trailed off as a string of scripted and very obviously classified files appeared in the glowing holograms above her holoblock. “Leads,” he finished. Lee scrunched his forehead, eyes gaping. “How in the void did you pull those up?”
“I have no idea.” Kat sat up in her chair, untucking her legs from beneath her as file after file came up. “Pretty sure those aren’t supposed to be appearing for me.”
She flicked through to the control settings on her holoblock to read through the bit of code detailing the security allowances.
“Hang on—” She scooted to the side to make room for Lee as he crowded in beside her.
“According to our update history here, we never lost our clearance upgrade from a few months ago. We never did confirm that, did we?”
“I didn’t think we needed to. But it’s sure looking that way.
” Rather than retreating back to the other side of the table, Lee dragged his chair over with his holoblock, flipping it backwards as he straddled the backing.
Kat watched with drawn breaths as he replicated the same search for his own access.
A matching string of files appeared between them.
“One loose clearance is a coincidence,” Lee muttered.
“And two?” Kat asked.
“This has Nolan written all over it.”
They were nearing the dinner hour, but Lee hadn’t come up with any plausible explanations for why they might still have their security clearances nor what they should do about them. He knew he should be wary, but a part of him was relieved for the chance to hyper-stress over something tangible.
“It has to have been Nolan, though, right?” Lee asked, bracing his hands on the back of his chair. “No one makes mistakes like this. And there’s no way we have them purely for enhancing our raid experience with knowledge of trade routes.”
“He has been acting super sketchy. I wonder if he thinks we’ll turn him in,” Kat said thoughtfully, sitting back, legs once more tucked beneath her.
“I don’t know who he thinks we’d turn him in to, the General and I aren’t exactly in close cahoots.”
“We’re in pretty good graces with the Commander, though. Did you see her face earlier?” And she gestured up to the grimace currently in place.
Huffing a breath past the reluctant amusement bubbling up, Lee redirected the last of his tension into the hard plastic of the chair, before sinking down into it once more and clearing away some of the extra holofiles he’d left open before them. They could both probably use a break by this point.
The whole idea behind having that additional clearance right now was sending his mind through a black hole of endless possibilities. None of which were too appealing, they were already juggling enough as it was.
He watched as a couple of Ultra cadets sat down at the table next to theirs, carelessly dreaming of their next raid out, very likely without surprise clearances about to show up on their raider hub.
“What were you planning with this, Nolan?” Lee dipped his head down against the table.
“I wonder…” Kat began.
When he lifted his head again, he found her peering across the far side of the Hideaway, where their favorite long-haired cadet had just ambled through the doors.
Whistler grinned when he spotted them, the double red-brown buns going down his head bouncing as he carved his way towards them.
“Yo, yo! My team!”
Even Lee couldn’t help the grin that slipped to his face as he sat back, some of the stress evaporating at the Gamma’s approach.
“Just the one we were hoping to see,” Kat said.
“Moi?” Whistler gestured dramatically, stealing a chair from a couple tables over and collapsing into it with a swoon.
Waving the dramatics aside, Lee ran his tongue over his teeth. “Have you checked out the status of your security clearance as of late?”
Any lighthearted teasing slipped from Whistler’s face as he leaned both arms down onto the table.
“Yeah, actually. I wanted to talk to you guys about that... I noticed it a couple of raids back. Ciela didn’t think much of my—advantage, thank the void.
But it did come in handy.” Whistler didn’t add more about his co-squadron lead as his hazel eyes glanced from Lee to Kat.
“With the way you’re looking at me, I’m guessing you both still have it too? ”
“We do.” Lee scraped at a groove in the table. But if all three of them had the additional clearance to their names, there was a high chance that—
“Hey, Zaney boy,” Kat called out as the celebrated foe crossed into the Hideaway. His dark eyes narrowed in on Kat first at her derisive tone—as if daring her to try that again. He actually looked as if he might turn right back around, before he took in the rest of them sitting there together.
With a grimace and a near-death glare, Zane rolled his shoulders back and strode towards them. He didn’t sit. But Lee wouldn’t have expected him to. Not as Zane turned a leveled stare to him.
“We learned something interesting when we were preparing for our raid this morning—Kat caught it actually,” he said, Zane’s hard gaze dipping reluctantly towards her.
“What are you talking about?”
“Apparently the additional clearance we were given to check out Argos last term was never revoked,” Lee said, clearing his throat.
“Void,” Zane cursed under his breath, rubbing golden-brown fingertips into his temple. “And you all still have it?”
“I discovered mine by accident several weeks back,” Whistler admitted, lifting his shoulders dismissively. “I didn’t think much of it. More information is always a plus. But now…”
“I’ll check it out tonight,” Zane finally said, a sagging weight seeming to settle over his shoulders.
His eyes strayed around the Hideaway as if looking for an exit.
Lee knew that disconcertion well. It was the same look he’d worn this morning going in for their raid briefing.
The same one he wore before every raid now.
A workout and a quick shower later, with his holoblock tucked under one arm and his chin still stinging from the invisible nick despite his careful strokes under the water spout minutes before, Lee knocked on Kat’s portal door.
He didn’t know why he’d swung back to grab his holoblock, he didn’t expect to hear back from Zane so soon—even if he did, he didn’t know what he would do with that knowledge.
And after this morning, they had more than enough to go on for their raid tomorrow.
For many raids; they apparently had an entire database at their disposal.
He shifted the holoblock under his arm. Maybe he was reading too much into this, old habits resurfacing. And here he was, allowing it to barge into his and Kat’s world.
He still couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to have any sort of claim over her affections.
As if on cue, the goddess herself appeared at the door.
She wore his hoodie with a pair of very small shorts.
Tiny water droplets clung to the ends of her wet hair like glittering flecks of starlight, a flaming star, fresh into his orbit.
Flashing him an irreverent smile as usual, she waved him in with her hairbrush.
Lee offloaded his holoblock onto her desk amid the clutter, sinking down into her chair, while she picked around some things in her closet.
Miraculously, the only spot in her dorm devoid of clutter was her window box. The sill by her bed rested entirely vacant, save for the star flower, its stem rising determined from the lip of the recycled greenhouse pot.
He chuckled under his breath. It was only too easy to picture her shoving everything else off to make space.
A few seconds later, Kat sank down into his lap, bare legs dangling over the side of the chair. Lee forgot all about the plant as she balanced in his arms, his hand cupping her long legs as she dragged that zapping hairbrush through her hair.
He flinched as a water droplet flicked against his ear, angling his head downward.
But before he could get the droplet, Kat curled in his lap, reaching for him.
His entire body seemed to still and pause its circulation as she caressed the tender skin, every nerve ending drawn to the touch of her fingertip along the rounded shell of his ear.
He barely breathed as she drew back, just far enough for her pale-grey eyes to bob into view, like two luminescent orbs of light, searching for him in a vast sea of darkness.
Everything around him felt like darkness these days, painted in shades of fear and uncertainty.
Everything except for her.
Her breath caressed his nose and he let his eyes flutter closed.
Let his cerebral sight take over as she pressed her lips softly to one of his eyelids, then to the other.
This time it was his heartbeat fluttering.
But still he left his eyes closed. He left them soaking in the imprint of that touch as her hands wove around his neck and up his jawline.
And only when she had stilled, did he open them.
Lee could feel his lungs swelling. Goddess indeed.
The golden lighting overhead haloed her wet hair, making the shining strands glisten.
And her usual playful smirk was softer, tonight.
Holier. A million and two things he should be working on and figuring out, and all he could think of was her.
He adjusted the grip of his arms around her hips as she re-situated herself to straddle his lap, his hold anything but casual. He was the defender. He was the subservient. And only at her word would he ever let her go.
“You’re so serious tonight,” she breathed, some of the teasing lightness returning as she trailed her fingers over the planes of his chest and shoulders. Lee had to resist the urge to shudder again.
“Always, when it comes to you,” Lee ground out as Kat’s fingers lifted to trail across the freckles around his nose. But when she dropped her hand back down to the neckline of his T-shirt, his heart started racing again and he hitched her a little higher on his lap. “Try this with me.”
Weaving his fingers through her damp hair, he pulled her in closer, framing her lips with his. Still supporting her with one arm, he hoisted them up. Kat squealed as she wrapped both legs around his waist, her hairbrush tumbling to the ground with a clatter as he backed them against her bed.
He slipped a hand under her hoodie to palm the soft skin of her back as he lay her down against the faded duvet. His eyes traced the sliver of skin where her hemline met the waistband of her shorts, the promise of his lips soon to follow. Yet another mystery to unravel.
She was the brightness to ward off the dark. And he’d follow her light wherever she led them at the end of all of this.
But tonight, she was just his.
“Lee Waters,” Kat half-groaned as she reached for him, pulling him down to her.
Lee huffed a shaky laugh against her lips.
He planned to hear his name on her lips many more times down the path of their future.
He positioned himself around her, letting her guide them into that deeper kiss, imagining exactly what sorts of stars they would emulate together.