Outside, solar flares from a nearby sun swirled and danced, twisting like eels through the void and lighting up the ship's interior. Shadows and light flickered across the floors and up the wall, orange and golden flames licking at tarnished steel with hungry tongues. Sparks and explosions smarted eyes, making one think of sunlight glinting off a window on a hot day or the crackling of a fire filled with wet wood. The heat could not seep through the think hull of the ship and all sound was sucked up and swallowed by the empty void of space.
The elegant dining room was cool and quiet, an eerie stillness settling over it as soft as a whisper. Rivers of light merged and separated, coalescing into shimmering pools here and there before flitting apart.
A dark figure sat hunched and broad in a looming chair the size of a throne, his black clothing blending into the shadows. A cape was wrapped around his shoulders and draped across his arm and his lap, the rippling folds offering glimpses of an underbelly red as blood. The blaze wandering over his body set his single eye aglow, a burning spot of amber that watched the playing sunlight with intensity.
A second figure sat watching him from where she was sprawled luxuriously over a chaise, a glass of dark liquid dangling from the tips of her fingers. Her softly green clothes were a jarring distraction from all the black and gold and orange, an unpleasant, cool blight on the warmth. She was insubstantial, ethereal, her gossamer dress and her body ghostly and indistinct, like a thick fog that was nearly solid; she was unearthly and spectral and strange. Her hair flowed lightly, as if a supernatural breeze stirred the pale strands and nothing else. Her voice was rich and low, a gentle sound that was nearly lost in the air, hardly noticeable but stole all attention.
"Do you love him?"
The man avoided her gaze, his single eye fixed on the fire crawling over the floor and up his body. "You already know the answer to that."
She smiled demurely when he turned to her with a pointed look. "True. You let him aboard knowing he was likely with Gaia and saved his life even after you already had confirmation, both from I and the ship. The Coalition should have known better than to let a spy aboard a ship with enemy technology; did they really think we wouldn't detect the implant in his eye?"
He stayed silent, his gaze out the window and lit up by the flares.
"You knew and you still allowed him to stay. He tried to kill you and you still allowed him to stay. He betrayed you and you still let him stay. I could understand allowing someone a second chance, even a third, if you believe they have the potential to be better, but love? You are strange man, indeed."
His lips curled in a small smile. "Indeed."
Silence fell over the two again, stretching out and living contently as the flares continued to drift by, the dance of light and shadow like tongues of fire still illuminating the otherwise gloomy chamber. The soft hum of the ship filled the space and worked its way into their bodies, unnoticed but welcome, and the minutes passed.
"And does he love you?" she said, just as softly as before but as if she were thinking out loud rather than genuinely curious.
His head turned slowly, his amber eye glinting and hard as he focused on her own milky, alien eyes. "No. He's not that stupid."