Nero Nights

"As far as I can tell, all the major connections to the core are intact," I say, wiping sweat from my brow. I've been crawling around down in the belly of the ship for over an hour, tangled in the mechanical guts of this beast, double and triple checking that every critical connection between the ship and the core is still working. "There are some cracks to the interior of the hull, but so far, all the majorly important parts of this ship are still functioning."

"So we can fix whatever is broken?" Valen asks. He's crouched on the floor of the mechanical room above me at the opening of the hatch, looking down into the tunnels I'm occupying.

My eyes rise to meet his. I shake my head and shrug. "That's the problem. I have no idea what's broken. I can't fix it if I don't know what to fix."

He extends a hand to me and pulls me up and out of the tunnel, back onto the floor of the room with him. "We will figure it out," he says, his tone reassuring. "There's a reason Cyrillius sent half the galaxy on a wild hunt for you. If he thinks you're the best, you can do this."

I look over at him, glaring darkly. I'm annoyed that I can't immediately tell what's wrong with the ship. I'm annoyed that this slam ship is so slam complicated and that I wasn't a good enough pilot to keep us from crashing here in the first place.

I turn away, facing the door, but I don't walk out just yet. "I'm sorry," I say quietly.

"For what?" he asks.

I take a deep breath, my eyes searching for answers without really seeing anything. "For being reckless. I guess that's something you should know about me. I don't exactly always think before I act. I'm sorry I thought taking this ship was a good idea. I'm sorry I thought I could handle it when obviously I couldn't. I'm sorry I'm not a good pilot. I'm sorry I got us lost and crashed us wherever the void we are."

Warm hands grab me from behind and I feel the heat of Valen warming the back of me. Gently, he turns me in place, making me look up at him. I feel heavy and worn down as I look up into his Neron-blue eyes.

"Survivors have to act fast," Valen says. "It's an evolutionary fact. Sometimes we make the right decisions in those snap moments, and sometimes we don't." The look in his eyes deepens. He brings a hand up to my cheek, caressing it. "Your quick thinking got us out of the Compound, Nova," he says. "Cyrillius has thousands of ships that could have taken us down in an ordinary ship. His soldiers are the best in the galaxy. If you hadn't stolen this exact ship, and if we hadn't somehow punched a hole through space, he would have won. We would be on Isroth right now, either locked in a cage, or being mentally twisted by his Kinduri."

My throat tightens with his words and it annoys me that my eyes well a little. I turn my face away from him, taking a hard breath, trying to regain control of myself.

But firm and gentle, Valen makes me look back at him. "Stop being afraid of yourself, Nova," he says softly. In his eyes I see acceptance. That I'm allowed to feel what I feel.

He can't be right, because he's done so many terrible things in his life. How can someone who's done so much bad be so right about my emotions?

Even so, his words reach me. I feel them. I need them.

So I let the tears come. And I wrap my arms behind his neck and I pull his face to mine.

We just crash-landed. I have no idea what all of this means for the future.

And it's insanity, the fact that I've only kissed this man twice before.

But I kiss Valen, with violence and desperation, even as I let the tears roll down my face and sobs escape my lips.

I cry and I kiss Valen, and Valen kisses me back and holds me like I'm going to shatter and his arms are the only things that can prevent it from happening.

He scoops me up into his arms, but he doesn't break the kiss and I don't release him. Like I weigh nothing at all, he walks across the mechanical room and maneuvers us through the doorway.

I don't know where he's taking us, but I close my eyes, letting the tears stream down my face in an unceasing river. I cling tighter to Valen. I deepen our kiss. I relish in the feeling of being safe and supported.

Dim light finds its way through the port window of the sleeping quarters. Gently, Valen climbs onto the bed, carefully lying me back where I'd woken just a few hours earlier.

I lay back, looking up into Valen's beautiful face, still keeping a firm grip on his tunic so he can't leave me. My heart cracks a little when I interpret the expression on his face.

Devotion. Protection. Acceptance.

Only one other person has looked at me this way. My father. I never doubted him, that he would take care of me, no matter the cost.

That's what I see in Valen's eyes. Which makes mine well even more.

He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch so gentle. "When was the last time you ate?"

I actually huff a laugh. It's so bizarre, this legendary Nero, taking such gentle care of me, asking when I last ate. "I...I have no idea, honestly. Not since before you got back to Isroth, probably."

"Stay here," he says. "Rest. I'm going to go find us something to eat."

My first instinct is to fight him, to tell him that I will help him, that he doesn't have to take care of me.

But I see it in his expression. He wants to do this.

And I think I want to let him.

"Okay," I agree softly.

He dips, pressing one soft kiss to my lips before he stands and heads to the door, to go see what there is to eat.

I pull the blanket up to my chest, curling up on my side, burrowing down in the surprisingly comfortable bed. My eyes fix on a place on the wall, but I'm not seeing its dull gray surface.

My mind is spinning, reeling, thinking of all the ramifications of the past twelve hours.

Cyrillius knows I'm a Nero. He knows Nymiah is a Nero.

Did she and Zayne and Edan get away? Are they somewhere safe?

What do they all think happened to me?

And...Dad...

I crush the thought of him, trying to push away the image of his cut throat and all the blood pooling around him.

I can't.

I just can't process that right now.

So I think about this ship. I think about its mechanisms. I think about the blueprints for every ship I've ever seen. I think about how I would design a ship like this if I were going to create my own.

This is what you know, I tell myself. This is what you're good at. Focus on what you know.

With pipes and bolts and combustors flashing through my mind, I drift off to sleep.

"Nova," a soft voice says into my ear.

Slowly, I blink, seeing the same eyes I was seeing just a moment ago. A little smile pulls on my lips.

Valen smiles too, and my heart flutters.

There isn't another smile in the galaxy like Valen's.

"Come eat," he says, extending a hand to help me up.

I blink, slightly confused as my brain wakes and realizes Valen is actually here and isn't going to fade away with the wind. I look around, re-orienting myself.

Right. We've crash-landed.

I take his hand and follow him from the sleeping quarters to the Command Deck. The hatch is still open, letting in cool air. Down the ramp, in a circle of rocks, is a crackling fire. On a roughly-carved spear, extending over the fire, is some kind of skinned animal.

"You know how to hunt," I say, slightly surprised as I follow him down the ramp.

"It's the only way to survive on Starvis," he answers as he takes a seat on one of the large rocks and I realize there are two, set up side by side, just the right height to sit on. "No government meals there."

"Starvis is a desert planet," I say, settling next to him, watching as he removes the spit and begins carving up the animal with a knife, dividing the slivers of meat onto plates. "What is there to hunt there?"

"Sand snakes, mostly," he says as he breaks a leg off the beast and peels the meat off, "but there were also rabbits and vultures if you could get your hands on a bow and arrow."

I sit in wonder, silenced as he hands me a plate filled with protein. I'm not sure what to say. Our beginnings were so vastly different. So I don't say anything. I take a bite of the meat.

"Wow," I say with an awed laugh. "This... Valen, this is actually really good."

He huffs a laugh. "Don't ask me to make anything in an actual kitchen, but an animal over an open fire? That, I know how to prepare."

I shake my head, taking another bite. "Well, it's a good thing you have that skill set, at least. If it were up to me to feed us, we'd be slagged. I've never had to do more than warm up a pre-prepared government meal in my life."

Valen chews a bite of the creature he killed and smiles. "Now that you mention it, it has always been me cooking the meals."

I smile, realizing he's talking about the future. We've both seen visions of them, over and over. The two of us, happy and together. A family. With two children.

I shake my head. "What a weird life this has turned into," I say. "You and me, we don't really even know each other, but...we've seen so much. Felt so much."

Valen nods. "None of my life has been normal, according to any standards in the galaxy, but it's certainly grown a lot more complicated since the day you showed up in my head."

I look over at Valen, meeting his eyes. It's getting dark, but sitting before the fire, his eyes are so bright I could swear they glow in the dark.

"It all feels backwards," I say. "It almost feels like we've already lived those lives, had our children. And now we're only just discovering the beginning."

Valen nods. "I don't know what's going to happen to us Nova-if we're ever going to find a way off this planet. But I'm grateful for the time the crash is giving us." And it makes me smile when he extends a hand.

He smiles, too, when I take his hand and he shakes it.

"It's nice to meet you, Nova Ainsley," he says softly with a hint of a smile. "I can't wait to actually get to know you."

A little laugh bubbles up out of my chest and I shake my head. I lick my lips, letting my head tilt to one side. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Valen Nero."

My body hasn't had time to learn this planet's schedule yet, but somehow I know it's early in the morning when my eyes slide open.

The blankets are pulled up to my chin. My body is relaxed and comfortable. It's actually...nice.

And I realize it's because I have some degree of peace of mind.

Right now, I'm not pretending to be someone or something I'm not. After weeks of hiding everything on Isroth, here, I don't have to be anything.

I'm just Nova.

Across the space, just five feet away, I see Valen. He's still asleep. He's sprawled on his back but his head is angled toward me, giving me a full view of his face.

He looks younger when he sleeps. I've done the math and figure he's roughly five solars older than me. But he looks incredibly young in sleep. He could nearly pass for a teenager.

His black eyelashes fan out over his cheeks. His lips are pink and soft. There aren't any creases in his forehead, furrowed with concern.

He just looks peaceful.

And I have to wonder, what a different person he would have been if someone besides Cyrillius had saved him from Starvis. What kind of person would he be if it had been Zara who had found him?

How much of what makes us us is in our nature, and how much comes from our circumstances?

What kind of person would I be if it had been Cyrillius who had found me floating in space, instead of Torin?

I roll out of bed knowing this thought could drive me mad, but in the end, the past doesn't matter. It's over.

All that matters is that we are both trying to change our futures.

I leave Valen to keep sleeping and head out into the mass of the ship.

I go through the wiring beneath the Command Deck and I count it as a small victory when I find where some of them had been knocked loose, but then I'm quickly disappointed when I find those wires didn't do anything to get the ship started again.

Determined, I follow them, going from one end to the other.

I find an electrical panel that has a crack in it.

It's something. If I can fix this, it should do something. But I know it isn't our biggest problem. I have yet to find what that is.

For over an hour, I've been up in the transformers that convert the energy of Neron into what powers the ship, looking for a glitch, when I see Valen appear in the door below me.

"Any luck?" he asks.

I shrug, aiming the light along the lines. Everything looks fine. "I found one issue, but I know it's not the main issue. I'll keep looking."

"Why don't we find something to eat, first?" Valen suggests.

As if it was pre-predicted, my stomach gives a massive growl just then.

I clamp my hands over it in embarrassment, but Valen just laughs and extends a hand up to me, helping me climb down out of the ceiling.

Through the ship we walk and then down the ramp.

"It's a lot colder this morning," I observe. There's dew clinging to everything, making the world glitter as the sun begins to rise to the top of the mountain to our right.

Valen nods. "We're at a high elevation. The temperatures dip their coldest right before the sun comes up."

My eyes rise up and up that mountain peak. There is white at the top of it. "What season do you think it is here?"

There has to be seasons. There's evidence of it all around. Leaves on the ground, snow up in the mountains, but the grasses at our feet are still green.

"Either spring or fall," Valen says, observing our surroundings. "It's hard to tell right now. We should try to gauge the temperatures over the next few days."

"Let's keep our fingers crossed that we're entering spring," I say. I've only ever experienced winter conditions once, on a planet during our run aboard The Corsair, and it was brutal. I'm not eager to test my survival skills while stranded on a planet plunging into winter lunars.

Valen nods. "There's water this way."

We crash landed in a valley. The mountains are closest to our right, where the sun is just breaking. But out across the valley, there are more mountains. We're entirely surrounded.

All around us are towering trees, both the kind that keep their leaves and needles all winter, and the kind that are barren.

Valen cuts through the meadow of grass and aims for the tree line. I follow behind him, taking in my surroundings with wonder.

"How similar is Kaelea to this planet?" I ask as I follow him down the narrow path between trees.

"There's a lot of vegetation there, so that's similar," Valen says as he summons a Neron spear and slices his way through the underbrush. "But Kaelea is always warm. More tropical. Three quarters of the planet is ocean."

Walking through all this dewy underbrush is getting me wet and it's still quite cool this morning. It's soaking me through.

"I'd do just about anything for some heat right now," I say, wrapping my arms around myself.

And I realize that I'm still wearing a Dominion uniform. I was still pretending to work for Cyrillius when we made our break. I don't have my own regular fingerless gloves. I'm not wearing my own heavy-duty boots.

I certainly don't have a coat.

"We will go there sometime," Valen says, looking over his shoulder at me. "Soon."

I smile and my heart breaks out into a skipping race. "Not if I can't get this ship fixed."

"You will," he says, and he sounds absolutely confident.

We break through the trees and I stop at Valen's side in absolute wonder.

A small sandy beach stretches out before us before giving way to the pristine surface of a lake. It stretches longer than it is wide, hugging the side of the mountain.

There, directly across from us, is a massive waterfall. It splashes as it hits ledges and rocks on its way down, creating a massive spray of mist. As the sun's rays hit it, it forms a huge rainbow that arcs over the entire lake.