Kosimok was not a man built for gentle things. As the chief engineer of the interstellar cargo vessel Venture’s Wake , his hands were scarred from plasma torches, and his voice was a low rumble that could quiet a mutiny. The crew respected him, but they also whispered that his heart was as cold as the void between stars.
And for the first time in his life, Kosimok didn’t mind being wrong.
He didn’t answer. But that night, he didn’t sleep. He lay in his bunk, replaying her voice.
“Or they’ll become something new,” he said, sitting beside her. For the first time, he let his shoulder touch hers.
That night, he found her on the observation deck, watching a binary star system spiral into each other—two suns locked in an eternal, destructive dance.
“You push everyone away before they can leave you,” she said after a bitter argument about her wanting to send a message to her family. “But I’m not leaving. So stop treating me like a temporary crew member.”
“It’s not a debate,” he growled.
