The next day, Hayes put through a call to Colonel Peters. “Sorry to bother you again, sir, but I was wondering if I could call round this evening to see Danyel, I want to see him face to face, not over a com link.”

There was a pause. “Ah. You haven’t heard then.”

That didn’t sound good. “What? What’s happened?”

“King has received his transfer orders. He’s joining the Samal this afternoon at 14:00. They’re departing this evening for a patrol of the Almaaz sector.”

There was a silence as Simon’s world fell apart around him. Then, “I’ll see if I can still catch him.” Simon ended the call abruptly and raced out of his room at the Blue Nova, not even bothering to lock it behind him. He glanced at this wristcom again; nearly 13:00 already. Please god he still had time.

Danyel King packed the last of his gear into his backpack and hauled it onto his shoulders. Matthew opened the door and they both went out, the least he could do was walk with King to his new ship.

Simon stood outside the apartment door breathing hard. He was too late, there was no-one there. To hell with it, he dashed off a quick message to Danyel on his wristcom, “Where are you? Which bay?”

He was already on his way to the docking station when he was relieved to get a reply, “Bay 3.” He had been quite prepared for Danyel to ignore him.

Simon sent another instant message, “Wait for me. Please.” Then he started to run.

He slowed to a brisk walk when he came to the entrance of the docking station. A running figure there was likely to attract the attention of a patrol guard and the last thing he needed was a delay while he proved his identity. He headed straight for the group of men he could see standing outside Bay 3, spotting Danyel easily by his black hair, standing slightly taller than everyone else. He also—to his dismay—identified several men from his own ship. Bailey was there, and Kumar and Harris. There was also a good-looking stranger standing too close to Danyel, who he assumed must be his friend, Ferris. A lot of back slapping and laughing was going on and he hesitated for a few seconds before approaching them.

Kumar spotted him first and did a quick double take. “Ah. Captain. Are you here to wish King good luck as well?” They all turned to look at him. Danyel had a quizzical look on his face, waiting to see what he would do. Damn! He had not expected an audience when he imagined his reunion with Danyel.

“Uh...yeah, I guess.” He needed to get Danyel alone, where he could talk to him in private.

“I hear you’re not getting married after all, sir,” Danyel was saying.

“No, I didn’t think it was fair. To anyone.” He paused. “Have you got a minute? When do you have to leave?”

“In about five minutes. I’ve just got time to say good bye to everyone, then the Samal departs for a two month tour of duty.”

Simon was starting to feel desperate. He couldn’t let Danyel go away for two months without telling him how he felt, but he couldn’t tell him in front of everyone else! So far Fiona had not delivered on her threat to disclose his sexuality to anyone, and he certainly didn’t want to divulge it to men from his own ship.

Harris began talking to Danyel about the Samal; he’d served several months on it himself and was eager to give him his opinion.

Simon interrupted in a loud voice. “I was wondering if you might consider transferring back to the Revel.” Everyone stared at him questioningly, Kumar starting to look rather anxious.

“Why?” asked Danyel, holding his breath. Would the Captain tell him the real reason, in front of Bailey and the others? No, that would be asking too much, he should talk to him via the console unit when he got on board, then they could discuss their feelings privately.

Simon compromised. “I need you.” Would Danyel understand what he meant? More significantly, did he still care? He couldn’t tell what he was thinking from the expression on his face.

Then Danyel gave him a faint smile, “I’ll consider it.” That was in fact more than he had expected from Simon. He looked forward to talking to him on the com link, maybe he could expand his horizons while they were apart, give him a chance to come out gradually.

One of the Samal’s crew called out, “We’re ready when you are, sir.”

Danyel shook hands with the other men, then turned to Simon.

The Captain hesitated, was he really going to let Danyel go with just a handshake? He was still standing there indecisively when Ferris acted.

“Well, I’ll go first then,” said Ferris, putting a possessive arm around Danyel and kissing him full on the mouth. Simon felt a hot rush of primitive jealousy flood through him, even when he saw Danyel push his friend away, saying with an amused frown, “Stop it, Matthew!” Then, to Simon’s utter astonishment, Ferris gave him a quick wink behind Danyel’s back.

“Actually, the real reason I withdrew from the marriage was that I found someone else.” The words seemed to come out of Simon’s mouth of their own accord.

Suddenly reckless— after all, he might as well jump into a supernova as a nova—the Captain stepped up close to Danyel and took his face gently in his hands.

“What’s he doing?” asked Harris, uncomfortably. His voice trailed away as it became extremely obvious what the Captain was doing. He was kissing King.