She lets out a little breath of relief, leaning closer to me.
"And as for us, the life support for the ship will be fine for hours and hours, but it won't matter because the back-up systems should kick on at any moment." I stroke her neck, trying not to think of my cock. "We just need to wait it out."
"You're sure?" Her arms go around my waist, and she presses her cheek to my chest.
Kef me, she's a cuddler. I'm such a goner. The only thing I love more than licking cunt is cuddling. Okay, I also love getting my rocks off, but I'm also happy to put that third on the list, like any good male should when it comes to his female. I press her against my chest, wrapping my arms around her, and I love that she leans into my touch. I bet she's clingy when she sleeps, too, and I love the thought of that. "Oh yeah, all these ships have a back-up system. It'll kick on, I promise."
So we wait.
And wait.
And I'm pretty sure that the system should have kicked on. I frown as I look around and my breath fogs in the air. Jade moves a little closer to me, shifting her weight, and she must be freezing in that tiny scrap of clothing she's wearing. I'm gonna need to warm her up…
But first thing's first. "Okay, so maybe the back-up is dead, too. I think we're going to have to go see for ourselves. I'm sure we can get it up and running again."
Jade clutches the front of my uniform. "Adiron, I don't know how to do anything on this ship. We manually clean the air filters, but…that's it. We're fucked if—"
"Shhh, hey, it's all right." She sounds far more panicky than I'd like, and my protective instincts come rushing to the forefront. "I know just what to do in this situation," I lie. "We just need to head down to the control room, pop off a few panels, and take a look at the wiring. This sort of thing happens all the time."
She lets out a shuddering breath. "It does?"
"It does," I reassure her. "You seem awfully panicked. What, are you scared of the dark?" I add a teasing note to my voice, because I don't like to see Jade so terrified. I much prefer her when she's full of sass and confidence. "You afraid of ghosts?"
"No. I'm afraid of dying because we run out of air!"
Oh. We're far more likely to freeze to death before that happens, but I don't say that out loud. "It's all under control," I tell her. And it will be. I'm reasonably confident I can figure things out. It can't be that hard. I know how the Little Sister runs like I know the back of my hand. Sure, this ship is three times the size, but I bet it's all the same when you come down to it. "Come on. Do you have tools you keep anywhere?"
"Tools?" she asks, her voice vague and a little panicky.
"Yes, love, tools." I find her hand in the shadowy darkness and take it in mine. She clutches at mine tightly; her palm is clammy with sweat. Kinda gross to hold onto, but Jade can't help it, and I'm not about to let her go. "Let's go find your tools, all right? Did they leave any behind when they left you here?" I prompt, heading down from the captain's station and across the bridge. "You girls scavenged whatever you could find, yes? Did you find tools of some kind?"
"Tools," she echoes, her hand tightening on mine. "Yes, I think so."
"Excellent. Where did you put them?" I'm sure there's bound to be more than one set of tools around here, but the less I have to go hunting for, the better.
"Ruth…" Jade murmurs. "Ruth keeps them in her room. She likes to do the maintenance."
"All right. We'll go to Ruth's room," I say easily. "Lead the way."
She sucks in a deep, steeling breath and then takes the lead. Her hand firmly clutching mine, Jade leads me back down the halls of the ship, past our personal quarters and toward more of the doors to additional rooms. She touches one panel and a door slides open, revealing what must be Ruth's private quarters. They're neat as a pin, completely austere, and her bedding is entirely in black. Oh man. Keffing Straik is gonna shit when he realizes he's stuck with the human female version of himself. I wish I could be there to watch when he finds out she's hiding on his ship.
Jade releases my hand for a moment and then heads to the closet. Inside the neat stacks, there's a small hardshell case of tools. Not many, but I'll work with it.