Lars shifted his round metallic body as he saluted his Captain. "We're ready when you are, Sir."

Red clasped his hands behind his back and looked down at his shoes. Startled, he took a step back, glancing back up at Lars. Red was still in his prison uniform.  This wasn't a memory but rather a dream.

"What are you doing here?" He found himself whispering, the shock not quite wearing off.

"Captain?" Lars took a step closer. "Are you all right?"

Red lifted a hand through his hair in exasperation, the Mohawk, the piercings, they were all still there. He must be losing it.

"Lars, aren't you dead?" His voice was shaky. He glanced around the room they were in, no windows, nothing to indicate where or when they were.

"I don't know." The AI faced him, the metallic arms hung down at his sides as an orange cat jumped on top of his flat head and lay there. Lars reached up and ran a hand along the spine of the feline, which began to purr loudly. "Was I something that could die in the first place?"

"Yes," Red whispered. Lars had no face, no way of exhibiting a smile, but Red could feel it all the same. The cat on Lars's head purred loudly. 

"You rehomed Amity," Lars continued. 

 Red nodded, he'd gone to Lars' home that he shared with the orange feline and removed the cat, giving it to a family that could take care of it, and who were sympathetic to his plight. None of them were augs in any way, however, no parts and no public sympathies to implicate them. It was an odd thing for him to do, but he couldn't stand the idea of the one thing Lars had openly cared about being left to die. 

"I did."

"Thank you, Sir." Lars' metallic voice lowered an octave. He dropped his arm and simply looked at Red.  "What will you do now?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know." Red scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure."

"You're a leader, Red. Lead."

"I used to be better at this, Lars," Red laughed at his former second, not caring if it was a dream. "Some leader, I just beat a guy to death..."

"Because of Ember..."

Red shrugged, again seeing Andrej's face as he went after Ember. "You were way better at leading than I ever was."

"No," said Lars, he pulled Amity off the top of him and set her on the floor. "I encouraged the men and AIs under us. I never had to make the hard choices. That was always you, Sir."

"You encouraged--"

"And you led, Sir. Our squads were the best because of the decisions you made. The risks you took, and the ones you didn't take. You knew when to go and when to hold back. You were also well-liked, it's why they brought you in the way they did."  Lars brought up a hand and saluted. 

"I don't understand. They dropped us both."

"But they didn't kill you. Your men would have come for you. Men on that ship who followed you, not just augs, Captain. If they had known what was about to unfold, there would have been a unit, weapons ready, or they would have mutinied just to keep you. You still have those men, especially since rumors have spread that you are out of Helion 7." Red stared at the AI dumbfounded. His jaw hung open. Slowly, he returned the salute, knowing it was a dream.

"Lars, I really don't understand what's going on. What are you saying?"

"Time for you to lead again, Sir. See you on the other side..." Lars's voice faded away.

Ember opened her eyes to a dim room. She brightened the lights with a thought. Her gaze drifted around the room that Red had claimed and saw the toys that T and Alt had managed to bring with them. Then she remembered that they normally occupied this room and Red slept in the Pilot's chamber on the small cot. Crap.

Red... She took his presence in, he surrounded her, literally. His armed was draped over her waist. It tightened as he muttered in his sleep and he pulled her closer and curled around her, entwining his legs with hers before he settled again. His breath was warm against the back of her neck. She didn't want to move, didn't want to slip out of his embrace, but she was completely unprepared as to what she should do next. At some point, she needed to plug back in, recharge, reconnect in the same way that most people needed to get up and have breakfast. She could do almost everything remotely but it wasn't the same. 

At night she normally slept on her bed, fully plugged in, halfway between sleep and awake. Her subconscious dreamed and also monitored, her human brain slept. She could basically run everything on autopilot, but the flesh and blood parts of her needed rest at some point. She briefly wondered if Red would consider moving into the antechamber. She could get used to his presence when she opened her eyes.

She disentangled her legs and turned towards him, staying in his embrace, he pulled her back again, placing his chin against her forehead, scraping it with a 5 O'clock shadow that she knew he'd shave off at the first opportunity. His hand stroked her spine and then settled on her waist again. She reached around his head and touched the staples, he grunted but didn't wake up. Heavy sleeper and cuddler, she thought as she brought her hand back to where she could see it. Nothing, no blood, no seepage... 

She ran a cursory scan of the ship. Most of the passengers were going down for the night, a few were even committing the very act that she and Red had just performed. Her face turned crimson as she pulled out of their rooms. It was against protocol to look into one's private chambers. It was a rule drilled into them during early training. Their co-pilots had their own separate quarters, but after recent events, Ember couldn't help but check in on all the passengers. She didn't trust any of them now outside of the ones who'd come out of Helion 7 with her. 

Red grunted again, "What?" he kissed her forehead in his sleep, his hand once again stroked her back, but when she pulled back to look at him his eyes were still closed. She was going to have to add, talks in his sleep, to the list of things she hadn't known about him.

She reached out for another cursory check around the ship, her sensors triggered at a time when few were doing something other than getting ready for bed. The cameras became her eyes as she observed the hall from Red's arms, not seeing her surroundings but what was coming their way.  

Dag was bringing the boys from his room to this one. Her eyes widened and she gently moved Red's arm, thanking whatever god was out there that he was a heavy sleeper and pulled out of his embrace. She let the blanket fall, as she stared down at him... Wishing...

Ember, you're naked, move! She mentally yelled at herself. Fleeing into the bathroom, she yanked open the dryer for their clothing, grabbed them all and dumped them to the floor. She pulled up her underwear, pants, and bra in record time. She rushed into the room with the brown shirt pulling it down over her head as light spilled into the room. 

Crap. The lights came completely on and she stood their blinking as she yanked her shirt all the way down.

There was no telling what she looked like at this point. Her hair was in complete disarray. We did just put down a mutiny, she reasoned, although a quick glance in the mirror told her that wasn't going to wash. She heard them come to a halt, and the whispering started immediately.

Dag raised an eyebrow at her, not in surprise, her cheeks heated up. He knows... Of course, he knows, he's a grown man. 

She and Red hadn't even talked about anything, discussed nothing. Ember couldn't figure out why she was panicking, but she was. Most of this was new territory for her. At home, she'd never been alone with anyone like Red, never have been allowed to acknowledge his presence let alone... She pushed away from the thoughts, as guilt bloomed within her. Why did she feel guilty? Her parents if they could see her, would have disowned her on the spot. Called her wanton, but did it really matter now? Her father was hell-bent on taking away her ability to do anything because being an aug, a cyborg, had made her less than human. 

Her mother was dead. 

And being with Red made her feel more human that she'd felt in those long years she'd been hidden while her father campaigned against augs and made her prisoner. She hadn't even attended her mother's funeral.

Her shoulders squared, she looked Dag in the eye. "He took a knock to the back of his head, it's a few inches away from his augments. Don't wake him."

"I bet he did," Dag whispered back holding his arm up. The two boys were both wide-eyed.

"I'm serious," she snapped. "He's got at least 10 staples in the back of his head."

Dag's gaze moved to Red's head and he noticed it. "I see you put him to bed too."

Ember ran a hand through her hair, trying to undo the huge knot that was spiking the back of her hair up. A few quick glances at the boys behind Dag made her realize they weren't as ignorant of the situation as she was hoping. For some reason, this horrified her. Her mouth dropped into an "O" of surprise and she snapped it shut, her teeth clicking together. 

"I need to go charge," She whispered, once again thanking whatever gods were out there that Red was a heavy sleeper.

"His clothes?" Dag whispered back. "Is he going to need extra care?" 

"They're in the refresher... And yeah a real professional doc probably wouldn't hurt, but we don't have one. That's just fieldwork dressing. It's nothing deep, he should be fine." She started walking to the door before he could say anything else. 

"Hi, Ember!" T called to her, smiling. Dag cuffed him, rolling his eyes. 

"He'll definitely need his shirt back," Dag called to her, ignoring T, she looked at him and nodded it didn't quite register what he'd said until she was slinking up into her room. 

The brown shirt she had slipped on over her undershirt was huge compared to the one she'd been issued, The sleeves hanging down over her elbows. Great, I took Red's. 

Dag's whispering voice woke him. Red swore he'd had a dream but he couldn't remember much of it. Lars, his cat, and 'It's time to lead, sir.'

His eyes flew up open, noticing the lights were on, Dag, T, and Alt were staring at him. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"This is where we usually sleep." T managed from behind Dag. Alt giggled. 

"Ember was here too but she left in a hurry." Alt added exchanging a glance behind Dag.

Red glanced down next to him, the last place he'd seen her, confirming Dag's suspicions even further. 

"You dog," Dag said, but he said it with a grin as Red pulled the blanket over his torso, realizing he was completely in the nude. "I was going to put the boys down but I think you need your rest, you look like you worked really hard in here...  It's kind of--"

"Gross?" Alt, normally silent, supplied giving T a conspiratorial grin.

"Whoa, whoa, young man. Not gross..." Dag looked up at the ceiling anywhere but at his friend who looked like he needed a strong dose of coffee, a luxury neither had enjoyed in a long time. 

"But Red and Ember tangoed. We know they did..." Dag cuffed T on the back of the head before the boy could finish his sentence. 

"...and that's enough out of you two. Let's go somewhere else. Red needs to recover." Dag couldn't help but throw in one last jab as he grabbed both shoulders and ushered them out. 

Red hurled a pillow at him as the door closed. 

He sat staring at the room for a moment before scrubbing his hands through his face and hair. His fingers raked the staples and he winced. That part hadn't been a dream at least. Ember had taken care of his head, and then they'd... Well, he wasn't going to forget what was it like to have her pressed against him anytime soon. But where the hell was she? 

He started to lay back, laying an arm over the warm space Ember had so obviously been. It bothered him more than he let on that she'd left. But he was wide awake now and not going back to sleep anytime soon. 

It would be a few days more till they hit the end of this line, and it was either New Elysium at the end of it or another set of instructions, another waypoint.

He got up and headed into the refresher, stepping into the shower. Hell, even this bathroom was going to remind him of her. He turned on the water and let it steam over him as he mulled over what would happen when they arrived. IF they arrived. The trip since leaving known space was mostly uneventful. It's like they were due for something to go wrong...  

The ship suddenly rocked as it dropped unexpectedly out of hyperspace.

Red, Ember's voice filled the private channel. You might want to see this.

Ember, where are you? 

In my chamber, we're here.

Red picked up the clothes draped over the toilet that were his. The shirt was too small...she must have taken his by mistake. He slipped on everything else.

Grateful for the night cycle he stepped out of his room, dressed in everything but his shirt and moved down the hall. 

https://youtu.be/TvIE4EwdSEQ