ENSIGN (A Starship Hope Prequel)

CHAPTER 5

"I had no idea I was dating a princess," Chance said.

Dana bristled at the nickname. "I'm not a princess, and we're not dating."

He smirked back at her. "I don't normally sleep with women whose names I don't know. I had to do a little more investigating to get your full story."

"Don't believe everything you hear."

Dana caught Bonnie's eye and, with a tilt of her head, signaled she wanted to talk alone. She chose a table in the corner and sat down, Bonnie joining her as soon as she'd finished regaling her table with her story.

"Sorry I'm late. Glad you made some new friends," Dana told her, avoiding looking at Chance, who stood idly by them as if waiting for an invitation to sit down.

"You've made some new friends yourself," Bonnie said, giving Wade an exaggerated once over from head to toe and back again.

"Oh, we're not friends. We're dating," Chance interjected, using his most matter-of-fact tone.

"No, we are not!"

Bonnie tucked her tongue in her cheek, turning to Dana, the unasked question clear by her raised eyebrows.

"Ignore him," Dana muttered. "This morning's exercises were brutal. Tell me you at least liked your people."

"I'm not sure how to answer that, at the moment, since one of the senior officers in my department is standing right here," Bonnie said, sneaking a look at Chance, then back to Dana. Giving up all pretenses of ignoring him, she spoke to Wade. "Lieutenant Chance, were you wanting to join us?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he said, pulling up a chair from a nearby table and scooting forward to bump knees with Dana, who forced her legs closed and inched closer to the wall. "And call me Wade."

"I didn't realize you were working together," Dana said, keeping her eyes on Bonnie.

"So how long have you two been together?" Bonnie's eyes were wide open in surprise, but her smirk said she wanted details.

"We're not–"

"Since last night, actually," Wade said, cutting off Dana's protest.

Bonnie snorted as she tried to contain her laughter. "Sounds like a fascinating story that I'll have to catch later."

"How long have the two of you been friends?" he asked.

"Since first year at the academy."

"I've got loads more questions. Are you free later?"

Bonnie sputtered and blushed, pushing away from the table. "Sorry, Lieutenant, but I need to hustle. I promised the chief I'd help monitor the readouts for an engine diagnostic."

"See you later, Ensign." Wade gave her a wink, and to Dana's annoyance, Bonnie left giggling, abandoning her. Wade moved to sit across from her. "You're avoiding me."

"I hardly know you."

"Are you always this prickly after sex? Or is it because you're father's the captain?"

Dana's head snapped to attention, checking around them to see if anyone had overheard him. Two people a couple of tables over glanced in their direction, but then got up to leave.

"Please don't," Dana hissed.

"Don't what? Mention sex, or your father?"

"Stop it," she said between her teeth.

"Fine." Wade leaned forward on his elbows. "I'll pretend like nothing happened and you're not related to anyone else on board, if you agree to go out on another date with me."