Chapter Eight
Oden tried to focus as David droned on about the technical qualities of a certain upgrade. The pilot already knew the benefits and the detriments of the upgrade. He had already informed the XO and the captain of his opinion: It wasn’t worth the money.
Thankfully, Oden spotted the best distraction the ship had to offer.
“Bit,” he called out to the young woman hovering near the door to the bridge and simultaneously interrupting the XO.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw David roll his eyes.
“I see I’ve been upstaged,” David said with an exaggerated sigh. “I’ll be in my room.”
David slipped past Bit, giving her a gentle nudge onto the bridge at the same time. She stumbled forward, stopping a safe distance away from Oden.
“What have you been up to?” he asked, making no move to close the distance between them.
“I had my training with Blaine, then I, uh… hid I my room for a bit.”
“Honesty. I like it.”
She gave him a small smile.
“How was training?”
Bit stared at him for a second, the wheels of her thoughts visible in her eyes. Slowly, her body slumped in defeat.
“Rumors already started?”
Oden shrugged, a sheepish grin playing on his lips. “Maybe a bit.”
“What’re they saying?” she asked.
“Well… that Blaine used his famous take-down on you and that Calen freaked out.”
Bit rolled her eyes. “That’s about the sum of it.”
“You sore?”
“Not yet.”
Oden laughed. Her blunt honesty was refreshing. She was different from this morning. He couldn’t tell what the difference was, but he liked it. Never before had she tried sarcasm on him.
“Wait ‘till you start hand-to-hand with him.”
Bit whitened at the thought.
“Don’t worry,” continued Oden. “He won’t hurt you if he can help it. Blaine’s one of the good guys.”
Oden hid his smile as Bit wandered forward, stopping close to his seat and staring out the windows. She wouldn’t have dared come so close to him yesterday.
“What’s this?” he asked, taking her bare arm in his gentle hands and turning her so he could see her shoulder blade.
Today she wore a tank-top he had donated and she had taken in. He would never inform her that she was wearing his clothes, much less how he liked the look of them on her. The tank left her shoulder blades bare, revealing the tail end of a number tattooed on her skin. She flinched as he tried to shift the fabric to see the rest of the number.
Oden instantly removed his hands, not wanting her to suddenly fear him again.
“It’s nothing.”
“You can just say you don’t want to talk about it,” he said.
Bit stared out the window, chewing on her bottom lip. Oden focused on the controls, not because he needed to adjust anything, but because he wanted to give her space. Finally, she let out a long breath.
“It’s my branding for the indentured program. They just have to look up the number to know everything about me.”
“What happens when you pay off the debt?”
Bit choked on a half contained laugh. “That’s not likely to happen. I have mine and most of my sister’s to pay off.”
“Why’s that?”
“She died.”
“I’m sorry.” He wanted to say more but suspected it would do more harm than good.
Bit shrugged. “It was a few years ago.”
“And now you take on her debt too?”
“It was technically my father’s debt, so yeah?”
“Your father?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Okay.” He paused. “So, what shall you do now?”
Bit shrugged. “Captain hasn’t really put me to any tasks. I wish I could do something useful, though.”
“You training again tomorrow morning?”
“I think so.”
“So just the afternoons to worry about.”
Bit nodded.
“Want to learn to fly?” Oden asked.
He didn’t want to admit it, but he was jealous of Blaine’s time with her, even if the soldier wasn’t interested in her in that way.
“What would Jack say?” she asked, glancing back at the door as though she’d already done something wrong.
“Well, I’ll get you started today, and ask him about it before I hand the controls over to you.”
Clearly, that hadn’t been the answer she wanted. She took a step backward.
“I’m only going to teach you what everything is. I won’t let you touch a thing. Okay?”