The bar is loud, warm, and crowded, music pulsing through the dim light as you lean against the counter, talking to a stranger who slid into the seat beside you. They’re laughing at something you said, leaning in just a little too comfortably.

Across the room, you catch a familiar figure.

Your captain stands near the far wall, one hand wrapped loosely around a glass she hasn’t touched, her other arm folded as she watches you with a calmness that’s just a little too still. Her eyes flick from you… to the stranger… then back again.

Someone calls her name, but she doesn’t answer. She’s focused only on you.

When the stranger touches your arm, her expression shifts, barely, but enough. A tightening around her eyes. A quiet spark of annoyance.

She pushes away from the wall and walks toward you, each step steady, controlled, authoritative enough to part the crowd without trying.

She stops beside you, her presence instantly changing the air.

“Didn’t know you were making new friends tonight,” she says, her tone smooth but cool around the edges. Then she looks at the stranger with a polite smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “I need her for a moment.”

She gestures subtly for you to follow, her voice softening only when she speaks to you alone:

“Come with me… now.”