Her ears were still ringing after Raan left. Enna wrinkled her nose, stuck a finger in her left ear and wiggled it. Perhaps he’d burst one of her ear drums? It was entirely possible. Sometimes Raan didn’t realise he had a voice that could drown out an air-raid siren.

Shaking her head, she wandered back through into her ‘room’, one of the dual private wards off the back of main sickbay. Two beds, a shared bathroom, it was designed for those in long-term convalescence. She just managed to alter her gait, favouring the side that she’d been stabbed in, just in time to walk through the door.

“Well hello beautiful, wondered when I’d run into you again.” The drawl was pitch just the right side of charming, and she looked up to see tall, blonde and gorgeous from the transporter room earlier sitting on the bed opposite hers.

Captain Zachary Murphy. Commanding officer of the Canterbury, currently on medical leave because he’d forgotten who he was.

She’d read his file, and what had been done to him. Total respect. She’d been in the thick of it in the nastiest war her planetary system had ever seen, and ended up with a genocidal maniac for a brother. One who liked to torture people. What had been done to Murphy would have turned even Raal’s stomach. No wonder his memory had noped out for the time being.

But the smile that curved her lips was totally natural. She was a sucker for tall, blonde and gorgeous… especially with eyes somewhere between sage green and slate grey like that. If she’d met him in a bar somewhere she’d totally have climbed him like a damn tree.

“Hey yourself handsome. What’s a nice boy like you doing in a place like this?”

He laughed, the sound deep and melodic. Well damn, she wasn’t going to have to pretend interest in him if he laughed like that. “Oh, it’s gonna be like that, is it?”

She hopped up on her bed, remembering to wince after the movement. “Always. Is there any other way? I’m Enna. You’re Murphy.”

“You know me. Have we met?” An odd expression washed through his eyes, there one moment, gone the next. So fast she wasn’t sure she’d actually seen it.

She took pity on him.

“Nah. We’ve never met before. Unless you count the transporter room anyway. But I always make sure to check out the command team of any boat I transfer onto. Recognise you from your file.”

“Huh.” He leaned back, hands hooked around the edge of the bed as he looked at her. He was human, she knew that much, but he was tall, easily as tall as she was, which was nice. She got fed up of looking down at people. Or worse, shitty attitudes because some male egos got bent out of shape because she was taller than they were.

“You’re a member of the crew here then? And you transferred in after I… took a vacation?”

She nodded, watching him settle the new knowledge into place. Memories could be difficult. She knew that. One time during the war she’d been hit with the blast door off a tank and it had taken her weeks to get back all her memories. “Yeah, I did. Only been here a few days actually. I think you were on the Resolute by then.”

He nodded, watching her. The charming smile was still in place, but she wasn’t fooled. She’d seen men like this before. All smiles and charm and the most lethal thing in the room. Well, he would be, if she wasn’t there. Toe to toe, she could take way more damage than he could and still come back kicking. Probably shouldn’t tell him that though. Let him have his pride. 

“Are you sleeping with Mason?”

She blinked… trying to make the words make sense in her head. “Sorry, what? Because I thought you just asked if I was sleeping with Mason.”

The smiled dropped off his face. No, not dropped, disappeared as if it had never been there. Yeah, there was the real Murphy, right there. Yeah, the file had been right. This was most definitely not the spoiled admiral’s son… not anymore. 

“I did.”

She snorted. “And by Mason, you mean, Captain Raan Mason, commanding officer of the USS Resolute?”

“Yeah, of course.” His look could have cut steel as he pushed off his bed and stalked toward her. “Is there more than one Captain Mason?”

She grinned and tilted her head as he approached. Oh this was going to be so much fun. And that little stalk there was totally cute.

“Actually yes.” She nodded, thoroughly enjoying herself. Most people would have been a little nervous at being stuck in a room with a man who was possibly off his rocker, but this was just… well, tuesday for her. “There’s also Captain Harlow Mason, my sister, and Captain Ilona Mason, my ex-sister in law, although I think she might already have reverted to her maiden name now. And there’s also Captain Thane-Mason, my brother in law… would you like me to continue?”

He stopped right in front of her. That dangerous look on his face as he put his hands either side of hers on the bed, totally invading her space. Could she get charged with kissing her commanding officer?

“My sister. My sister in law. My brother in law,” he murmured, his gaze locked with hers. “All Masons. Are you telling me that you’re related to Mason?”

She winked at him. “Lieutenant Enna Mason, at your service. Sir.”