She relents

"Are you sure?" Sasha asked Brenan her eyes filling with tears.

"Sure about leaving my crewmember on the dock or sure about keeping you with us?" Brenan tried to have the question lighten the mood but Sasha missed the joke.

"Well sure about both, and everything else that goes with it." She stopped suddenly as she evaluated some new information. "Do you want me to stay and have sex with you tonight?" Brenan coughed suddenly in surprise and Sasha continued. "I know it's not unusual, for a captain to ..." Sasha's embarrassed words faltered as Brenan shook his head at her.

'You can thank me by making me some coffee in the morning Sasha." After a second he added "No one on my ship should ever have to sleep with a superior officer, not me, and not Red or Mr. Michaels. Not unless both parties really want to and even then it had better not interfere with your duties." Brenan decided he'd better add that clause to the ship's articles, it would keep him from having the stress of turning down these offers.

Sasha was a fine looking woman, he admitted to himself as she turned to leave the cabin her tight jeans fitting around her ass like a mold. Suddenly she turned back and closed the gap between them with three quick steps her arms reaching upward for his throat. Brenan just barely controlled the block and counter that his hands started on their own before his brain registered that Sasha was planning on hugging him, not gouging out his eyes. Instead of the brutal self-defense, his arms closed awkwardly around Sasha's back as she pressed herself against his hard frame.

"Thank you Captain!" She pulled his head down so she could whisper in his ear. "You are one in a million!" Once again Brenan felt both a wave of pleasure at the beautiful woman's faith in him and a sour feeling in his gut as he wondered just how long it would take before something he did revealed his true nature to his crew. Perhaps aware of Brenan's discomfort Sasha pulled herself away from his arms and stepped back still smiling at him with her perfect teeth. Brenan had never met anyone with such even white teeth, or who's skin was so flawlessly smooth. He also noticed before she slipped from his embrace that she seemed to lack any detectable body scent. Sasha didn't just smell of perfume, or even soap, as far as Brenan could tell her skin didn't have any scent at all.

As she backed out the narrow door to his cabin Brenan wondered just who she was and how she knew as much about his vault-tech handgun as he did. He was surprised at how easily he fell back asleep considering his most recent encounter with Sasha.

He woke in plenty of time for the morning watch feeling better than he had for the past few days, probably because he got to sleep on his bed instead of under Pandora’s moons or on the hard wooden floor of Red’s cabin.

"The town was pretty riled up last night Captain." Tyler reported. "They would've strung up those Peregrine boys if they hadn't sailed yesterday. Things finally settled down around 2 bells." Brenan nodded to the seaman and sent him off to bed. He had Kyle climb up the mainmast and keep watch from above while he waited impatiently for the morning sun to rise fingering the Defender as he sat.

If his ruse was discovered he'd see a whole bunch of trouble coming at him after dawn. If not, he won't have any visitors until his cargo gets here. As he sat on the slightly raised aft deck above his cabin he replayed Sasha's visit over and over again in his mind. He had not forgotten her bare breasts and shoulders when he had first startled the woman. Purely objectively she was more attractive than either Red or Cindy (although not by much) but even though she had offered her body to him willingly, he couldn't quite take her up on her offer.

He wanted to get Ambrose’s luxury goods loaded early during the day. With any kind of breeze he could get out of this harbor if he could only get the cargo loaded quickly enough. Brenan could not help but feel a tingle of excitement as he thought about getting the schooner running under full sail.

Well before dawn Sasha stood just below the hatch with a steaming cup of coffee for him from a pot sitting on the galley stove. She must have gotten up a couple hours earlier than the rest of the crew to make sure she’d fulfill Brenan’s one request of her last night. The coffee was good too, strong but not the sludge he had had more often than he like to think. Coffee was one of the best features of sailing the island chains that dotted the tropics in this part of Pandora. A luxury usually reserved for officers in the Veertor army, Brenan quickly took to the drink when he first served on the Kranderkill, and had enjoyed it ever since. Perhaps it was the smell of the coffee or tension over yesterday's adventure, but nearly all the crew was up and dressed before the end of his watch.

“No hurry boys, get yourselves some coffee and meet me up topside.” After a look into the galley he added perhaps unnecessarily “Not you Sasha, I want you to stay out of sight until we leave port.”