Space Criminal and Chillboi

It was hard not to stare at how beautiful Nova looked. It wasn't appropriate to be gawking at her while they sat at a large table with so many other people, but she was turning up the charm so much that no one cared Jay was there. The only person who wasn't dazzled by her was Taylor, who was angrily poking at his mashed potatoes. No one shared his reservations about Nova, and Michael didn't seem to care. He was busy flirting with some heiress sitting next to him.

Nova's gaze caught Jay's and he gave her a small smile and a wink, making her cheeks turn a bit pink. She turned to continue her conversation with Mrs. Thorne, who seemed enamored by whatever elaborate backstory she had come up with. Jay's name card had been placed across from her at the table and he couldn't hear what they were talking about, but clearly the conversation was going well.

Dinner came and passed, and soon dessert was served. After four courses, Jay was feeling a little too exhausted to do anything but pick at the tropical sorbet. He looked up again and saw Nova's battery was draining as she took little bites of sorbet and listened to Mrs. Thorne talk about something, so Jay caught her gaze again and subtly tapped on his watch.

Just a little longer.

Once dinner was over, they could get up from their tables. She gave a tiny nod in understanding, but Taylor seemed to catch the exchange and pinched Jay under the table. He flinched, mostly because Taylor had unknowingly pinched him where the tattoo was still a little bit sore. He glared at Taylor and resisted rolling his eyes at the table.

"What's your issue?" Jay whispered.

"You're making eyes at Nova," Taylor whispered back. "It's inappropriate. Knock it off."

"Everyone is making eyes at her," Jay argued. "Michael is making eyes at her. I don't see you pinching him."

"Michael isn't getting married," Taylor said. "If Adelia finds out-"

"Then don't tell Adelia," Jay said simply. "There is nothing going on here. I'm just a man on my way to my wedding, and I thought my mentee would like to come. Look around, Taylor. You are the only one concerned about this."

Taylor shut up and pushed away the sorbet, reaching for his drink instead. It was his third that night.

"Do you think you should slow down a little?" Jay asked.

"I don't see you telling Michael to slow down," Taylor said, mocking him.

"Are you two talking about me?" Michael asked, turning to look at them.

Jay shook his head with a sigh and forced a smile on his face. He excused himself and made his way around the table to where Nova was sitting. He gave Mrs. Thorne a polite smile and took her hand, placing a kiss on her knuckles.

"Thank you for keeping my apprentice here entertained," Jay told her.

"Hardly," Mrs. Thorne laughed. "She's such a lovely girl, Jay."

"She is," Jay agreed. "Though if you'll excuse us, there are a few service droids here that I'd like to show her."

"Oh, come on, Whitley," Mr. Clayton chuckled. "Let the girl have one night off."

"There's no nights off for the Whitley Corporation," Jay joked. "Nova, shall we?"

She nodded and he pulled out his seat for her. They both excused themselves and she took Jay's arm, eager to get away from the table. He led her out onto a large balcony, where no one else was around them. There was simulated fresh air around them with the garden below. Nova leaned over the rail to look at the garden.

"That's where we first met," she said.

"You made a wish in that fountain that we'd both get what we want," he reminded her. "We both wanted to be free."

"I don't blame you," she said with a sigh. "I always thought the stuffy peacocks lived the easiest lives, but all that talking? I thought my head would explode."

"Well you did a great job at keeping it buried deep, deep inside," Jay said. "One of the first rules of business school."

"Did you go to business school?"

"My whole life was business school," he said. "Glad to leave it behind."

She nodded and they both looked down at the garden for a little while. Jay glanced over at her, seeing that she looked to be deep in thought about something.

"You know, you can still change your mind," he said. "I can't guarantee that things will go our way tomorrow. There's still time to jump the sinking ship."

"I'm not changing my mind," she told him. "What about you? You can still go your own way and marry Adelia. Use all that money you'll get to do lots of fun things."

"I'm not changing my mind either," he said. "No amount of money can replace the freedom we had on this trip."

He looked over to make sure no one was around, then leaned over and gave her a quick, but deep kiss that left her a bit flustered.

"You look beautiful," he said. "That card was put to good use."

She blushed and looked down at the garden again. They eventually had to go back in and mingle a little longer, but managed to excuse themselves at a reasonable time. It was a relief to be back in the privacy of the stateroom, but there was a still a bit of nervous tension in the air.

Nova tried to change into comfortable clothes, but Jay wasn't helping much as he made it difficult for her to put any clothes back on. Eventually she convinced him to go finish packing his things and he reluctantly let her hop in the shower so she could wash all the glitter out of her hair.

When she got out of the shower, she saw that he had called Otis in but had shut him down and was now messing with the wiring. She watched him work as she dried her hair with the towel.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Reprogramming Otis," Jay explained. "If we're 'kidnapped' Otis can be taken as evidence and his records might give away that we planned this. Instead, I'm removing and destroying his link to the Utopia and programming him to follow user commands. Basically, I'm turning him into a house droid. I'm sure he'll come in handy around the kitchen. Or I can sell him as parts."

"You will do no such thing," she frowned. "Otis deserves better than that."

"Don't tell me you're attached to a posh little butler droid," Jay chuckled.

"He brought us so much food," she pouted. "And he's cute. His little face."

"Fine," Jay said. "I promise not to sell him as parts."

Nova smiled and leaned down to kiss him before sitting down beside him to watch the rewiring process. Jay closed the side panel and turned Otis back on. As he hoped, the droid was fully restarted and looking for a new user to answer to. Jay linked Otis to him instead of the ship, and soon they had a fully operating service droid to help them.

He gave Otis two commands. For one, he was to take Nova and Jay's small packed bags off the ship when they docked early the next morning and hide them in the place they designated they would disappear to after they carried out their plan. Two, he was to type and hold on to the fake ransom note until after Jay and Nova had left. Then he would place the note on the desk and leave the ship to hide with the bags until Jay and Nova returned to retrieve them.

It was a bit of a sleepless night, but the next morning Jay and Nova got off the ship like they casually planned on doing some sightseeing. Some sightseeing they'd never return from. Jay glanced down at the address on his note, then at Nova.

"Ready?" he asked. "We do this, and then it's the start of the rest of our lives.

She nodded.

"Ready."