|| Sunrise Gray ||
5.
"Alenko," Braith greets him as she passes the lieutenant on the stairs to the galley, crew, mess, and battery sections from the command and navigation deck.
"Hey, Commander," she pauses at his questing tone, seeking a moment of her time. He stands a step higher, looking down at her, light through the dark wealth of his hair standing slightly on end as it does, "…Don't take this the wrong way, but you shouldn't listen to Joker and Jenkins…They're only kidding around."
"Odd way to phrase it," her eyes don't blink, "…How is the wrong way to take it?" Kaidan's lashes batter against each other as he straightens a little, his skin on his cheeks blushing red. She smiles at him, "…At ease, Lieutenant…" He visibly tries to relax, "…I'm one who can follow the rules…Makes it easier if I don't find myself interested in men."
His face takes on an even wider expression, caught off his balance by her comment, "…That's great…Glad to know." He watches her continue down the stairs, a parting goodnight as she heads back to her cabin.
Alone again in her office and cabin space, Braith strips out of her clothes, down to a bra and underwear, and lays on her bed, pulling open and then settling the covers with herself underneath. She gazes off for a while, not trying to think of anything…Her hand comes out from under the blanket and she holds her palm open. Melding her mind with the power, she creates a small light. It dances in her hand. She stretches it and lets it grow thin and tall, brightening the corner she's in and almost licking the ceiling. A tear drips down her temple as she smiles at the affectionate source of light, her power curling down into her palm and disappearing.
That power, that familiar glow moving back into the separate box isolated in her mind, is what has saved her, cursed her, and taken her from nothing into a hero…How will she ever reconcile the incident with what her crew and captain understand of who she is to them?
Braith rolls over and turns off the light, thinking desperately of what her father and mother might say were they alive, what Anderson will think of her…And the future of her career so far removed from what she thought she had abandoned years before.
She can't tell them what she has done…Can she?
