[15]
“But the old code… the old…” Derek tried to speak, but could not, the weight of the responsibility pressing the Captain’s shoulders burst out as rage of passion. Both kissed, Derek couldn’t stop, despite what he said. They tried to undress frantically.
“As the Captain, you should have the authority… to…” Sophie whispered overtaken by lust.
Amidst the furious kissing and undressing, he remembered that he did have the power to declare a legal marriage under the death threats.
“Do you Sophie… take this man Derek…to be your husband?” He spoke. They were almost completely nude.
“Yes!” She cried out as he held her close. Both stumbled into the shower.
“I, Derek O’Donnell… take you Sophie… as my wife…”
The warm water poured on them, the strong scent of disinfector mixing through it.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” he blurted out, pulled the transmitter from his ear, and threw it out the shower, only to hold Sophie closer pushing her against the wall, as the warm shower blessed their union.
***
Derek woke up with his mind blank and his limbs warm from external source of heat. Sophie’s body laid closely next to him; her head rested on his chest. Slowly the memories found their way back, increasing his heartrate and causing his cheeks to burn.
“I didn’t give you a ring,” he said hoarsely. He knew she wasn’t sleeping.
“I don’t need a ring to trust you. You’re a good man, Captain Derek.”
“Two men had taken bullets for me in the space of days. One died. What kind of a Captain am I?”
“The kind his men would want to die for,” she replied softly. Derek held her closer and showered her with kisses.
***
“Mornin’ Cap! You’re all good and… disinfected?” Jimmy said hardly supressing a smirk. Derek took a deep breath. Of course, the Gravedigger crew had heard last night’s hasty wedding vows. Derek even hoped they would because the wedding ceremony needed witnesses. Obviously, they were listening.
Derek cleared his throat.
“Gentlemen, I’m not discussing any details, but I am a married man again,” he said seriously. The whole crew burst out with laughter, congratulations, Derek received many - a- warm, brotherly embrace and handshakes. The Captain smiled warmly, moved by his crew’s reaction.
“Congrats’, Cap!” Doc Liz entered the bridge.
“Thanks, Liz!”
“Murblard Ake woke up some hours ago. I informed him of our whereabouts. He claims to know where the nearest Rebel settlements are,” Doc Liz looked at Derek, waiting for his reaction.
“What are ya’ thinking Cap?” Jimmy asked, because Derek kept his silence for quite a while.
“I think we should try to contact them before the Ghouls blow us up. I don’t trust the Rebels, but maybe we could be of service to them.”
“What do you mean, Cap?”
“Where there’s a war, there will always be a need for Gravediggers,” Derek replied, staring out into the red mists of Orpheus.