Scarlett eased back on the controls and the ship slowed down. She knew that it would upset her copilot, Joanne, which was exactly why she did it.

            Joanne would come on deck to complain in three, two, one….

            The door behind Scarlett whooshed open. Joanne stormed into the room.

            “Why have we slowed down?” she demanded.

            “What are you talking about?” Scarlett asked.

            “We were going faster and now we’re going slower.”

            “No, we’re not.”

            “Yes, we are. I can feel it.”

            Joanne was always saying that she could feel things or sense things. It drove Scarlett nuts. They were the same rank in the Space Academy, the same age (thirty-two space years, six space months, and eleven space days, though different space hours), wore the same blue jump suits, and had the same regulation haircuts, which was almost no hair at all. Of course, there were differences. Scarlett’s jet black hair matched her eyes, and she was all lean muscle from a diet of plant-based protein bars. Joanne looked like they type of woman who had always rejected Scarlett – blonde and curvy. Even Joanne’s lips were curvy and when she pursed them together in anger, they reminded Scarlett of a strawberry. Her eyes were pale green and she was curvy in all the places that Scarlett wasn’t.

In her early 20’s Joanne would have been the first woman Scarlett would have approached at a bar. But after many heartaches, Joanne was the number one type that Scarlett avoided. Now she’d been stuck in space with her for weeks. Why did Joanne have to make things worse by thinking she was right all the time? Of course, she usually was, but she didn’t have to be so showy about it.

            “You’re paranoid,” Scarlett told her. “You’re bored. Your mind is making up stuff.”

            “You said that yesterday when my toothbrush was sucked into space.”

            “You were paranoid then too.”

            “No, I wasn’t. You threw it out there.”

            Scarlett turned back to the control panel. “I wouldn’t touch your toothbrush if you paid me to. It’s always wet and slobbery on the sink instead of where it goes.”

            “What are you doing?” Joanne asked.

            “What’s it look like?” Scarlett asked. “I’m flying.”

            “You’re slowing down more.”

            “No, I’m not.”

            “Your hand is pulling back on the accelerator as I’m talking.”

            “What are you in a rush for? We don’t have to be at Captain’s wedding for another eighteen space hours.”

            Joanne dropped into the seat next to Scarlett.

            “Captain isn’t here, and when she’s gone I’m in charge. I’m taking over,” she said.

            “You are not. It’s not your shift.”

            Scarlett slapped Joanne’s hand, and Joanne slapped back, and then they were slapping each other’s hands to the point where neither of them was flying the ship. A loud, droning buzz pierced the cabin. Besides being horribly aggravating, it also let the pilots know that they were about to crash into something large.

            They stopped slapping each other and grabbed the controls just in time to avoid an asteroid the size of a Toyota. The buzzing stopped.

            “Thank God we weren’t going faster,” Scarlett said.

            “Shut up,” said Joanne.

            “We would have slammed straight into that comet.”

            “I said shut up.”

            “It’s a good thing that I was at the wheel or we’d be toast.”

            Joanne cast a glance at her. “I thought you said you hadn’t slowed down.”

            “I never said that. I just said that you were paranoid.”

            “Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass all the time?”

            “Why do you want to get to Captain’s wedding so fast? It’s gonna be a big, stupid thing where we have to dress up, talk to stupid people, and she’s not even going to notice if we’re there or not. She’ll have a stupid wife to get all googly-eyed about.”

            Joanne stared off into space. But not the way that people usually say that they stare off into space because Joanne was in a spaceship, so she was literally staring out of the windshield into space.

            “Joanne?” Scarlett waved a hand in front of her face.

            Joanne snatched the hand and twisted it around.

            “Ow, ow, ow, ow,” Scarlett said.

            “You,” said Joanne through a grimace. “Are going to floor this son of a bitch to make up the time you spent being a jerk and get us to that wedding before it starts.”

            Scarlett’s wrist burned. “Why?”

            Joanne twisted harder.

            “Okay, okay, okay,” Scarlett said.

Joanne released her. Scarlett rubbed her wrist.

“Man, you’re a psycho.”

“Am I going to have to sit up here and make sure that you stay the course?”

“Stay the course,” Scarlett repeated to herself. “What a stupid way to phrase it.”               

Joanne threw a punch, but Scarlett was ready this time. Scarlett blocked it and wrestled Joanne to the ground. She kneeled on Joanne’s back, digging the sharp bones of her knees into her kidneys.

“We have to get to that wedding!” Joanne cried.

“Why?”

Joanne gasped and sat up.

“What is it?” Scarlett asked.

“I have a feeling.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes.

“Shh!” Joanne said.

Scarlett held up her hands. “I didn’t say anything!”

The alarm sounded again.

Joanne rushed to the controls. A crash rocked the ship that knocked Joanne into the copilot’s seat. Scarlett fell flat on her back.

“Asteroid field,” Joanne said, assuming the matter of fact tone she used for situations where she needed to be serious because they could die.

Scarlett scrambled to her feet and fell against the controls as something large smacked into the side of them. Clusters of space rock hurtled at them.

“How are we in an asteroid field?” Scarlett cried, seizing the gun controls. She blasted one as it sped towards their faces.

She had to force herself to look ahead. Scarlett usually loved looking out of the window into the universe, but not when it was trying to kill them.

“It’s hard to drive when you’re yelling,” Joanne said, pulling up to dodge an asteroid and then immediately down to avoid the next.

“It’s hard to shoot when you’re so calm!”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“We could die! Would you please be upset about it?”

“Don’t be stupid, we’re not going to die. We’re almost out.”

“And I suppose you just know that?” Scarlett shot another asteroid.

“Yes.”

Instantly they were out of the field. Scarlett held onto the gun and Joanne held on to the wheel as if something might hurl at them again. But nothing happened.

“Why,” said Scarlett, “did we hit an asteroid field?”

“I don’t know.”

“What is wrong with this mission?”

The Space Academy didn’t give missions that were particularly dangerous to pilots of their rank. Their journeys were plotted out to take them on paths of least resistance – no black holes, no warring planets, no moons where prostitution was legal, and no asteroid fields. Their mission was simple: go to the planet Kepleg 27, pick up the Captain’s dry cleaning, return to base. It should have taken one space day at the most.

“It’s been three space weeks,” said Scarlett. “No one’s even checked on us.”

“I know,” Joanne replied in a small voice.

“Captain must have given us the wrong directions. We’ve gotten lost, nearly gotten sucked up by a black hole, attacked by pirates.”

“And a space dragon.”

Scarlett rubbed her temple as if she was getting a headache. “Don’t remind me of the space dragon.”

Joanne looked out the side window and waved to a baby dragon that was the size of an adult horse flying alongside them. It had light purple scales and even a lighter fluffy mane. The dragon was such a gentle shade of lilac, in fact, that it was sometimes translucent and seemed to be made of stars. It had been happily frolicking beside them with its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth for about a week.

“I think she’s cute,” Joanne said. “She thinks we’re her mommy.”

“That’s because you keep feeding it.”

Scarlett actually thought it was sweet the way that Joanne would slip on her spacesuit, stand on the deck of the cargo hold, and toss the dragon chunks of meat.

“You had a bad feeling about all of this,” Scarlett reminded her.

Joanne sighed. “I know.”

“Why didn’t you refuse the mission?”

“Captain’s orders.”

“Captain,” Scarlett grumbled. “All this for a stain on her slacks.”

“They are her wedding pants, you know.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“They’re white. What did you think they were for?”

“She’s the captain! She’s always in white. Anyway, who cares? The wedding is tomorrow. She’s probably bought a new pair by now. Is that why you want to get there so fast? Because we’ve got her pants?”

Theme music, dangerous, foreboding theme music would have gone if just then if it had been a movie. But since this was not, there was no deep horns or drums warning the women of the craft was speeding up to them. The white, speedboat-sized vehicle approached in silence.

“Who the hell is this?” Scarlett asked.

The radio buzzed on the control panel and a woman’s voice screeched, “Joanne Lawrence!”

“Oh dear,” Joanne whimpered.

There was a black screen the size of a mobile phone on the control panel, and the round, scowling face of a woman in a tiara appeared. The face sneered at Scarlett.

“You’re not the whore Joanne Lawrence,” said the face.

“I’m right here,” Joanne said.

The hologram eyes darted in Joanne’s direction. “You. Why are you still alive?”

“Was that not part of the plan?” Scarlett asked Joanne. “To stay alive?”

Joanne’s gaze fell to her lap.

“Who are you?” Scarlett asked.

“I am Debbie!” the face declared.

“Um. Ok.”

“The Captain’s fiancée.”

Scarlett then remembered Debbie’s picture form their wedding announcement. “Oh! Right! I didn’t recognize you, you looked less homicidal in the picture.”

“You cannot stop my wedding!” Debbie erupted.

“You must be pretty confident I can or else you wouldn’t be trying to kill me.”

“I’m here too, you know,” said Scarlett. “I could care less that you’re getting married. Can I live?”

“It’s unfortunate for you that you’re on the ship with the slut that seduced my fiancée,” said Debbie.

“You’d like to think it happened that way, wouldn’t you? I’ve been with her for three years. You’re the one who took her from me. You’re the…where did she go?”

Debbie’s face had disappeared when Joanne mentioned her relationship with the Captain, which really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Who wants to hear about their fiancée’s ex-girlfriends?

A blast rocked the ship.

“That bitch has a damn laser cannon,” said Scarlett.

Another red laser shot at them.

“Are we okay?” Joanne asked.

“Yeah, shields are still up.”

“Shoot her!”

“I can’t shoot her! Captain will kill us.”

“She’s trying to kill us!”

Scarlett pushed Joanne out of the pilot’s seat and took the controls. She dove, dodging the next blast.

“Go back and fight!”

“Is that really how you wanted to stop Captain’s wedding? By killing Debbie?”

Joanne didn’t answer. She unzipped her jumper and reached inside to pull out a picture of the Captain. The ship shook with another blast, and Joanne had to grip the picture tighter between her fingers as Scarlett rolled the ship upside down and away from the rageful bride. Joanne turned the picture around. On the back, in the Captain’s loopy script, it said, “I will always love you.” She traced the words with her fingertips as they could travel back up the pen and touch the Captain’s hand as she wrote it.

The ship spun, cornering an ad for Space McDonald’s, and hiding behind a much larger, slow moving freight. It looked like a large cement block. Because it was a large cement block. Scarlett didn’t know what it was filled with. No one did, really. These blocks were just like enormous, metallic cattle slowly roaming the skies. They were fantastic for hiding behind.

Scarlett leaned back in her chair and let her hands fall from the wheel. “I think we’re safe.”

Joanne stared at the back of the picture and began to cry. Scarlett leaned over and read the message. She exhaled and rubbed her face. Then she stood up and patted Joanne’s shoulder.

“Come on. We’re going to the kitchen.”

“Why?”

“That’s where the whiskey is.”

“I don’t want whiskey.”

“Heh.” Scarlett thought back to the last few weeks. “You don’t drink at all, do you?”

“I do. Just not at work.”

Scarlett shrugged. “You slept with the boss at work.”

The punch that came at Scarlett’s face was the worst punch in the face she’d ever gotten.

Scarlett bent over cradling her eye. “I regret saying that.”

“Good!”

“I’ll be in the kitchen. Call me if Debbie comes back.”

Scarlett staggered down the main hall of the ship, which wasn’t long. The whole craft was about the size of a two-bedroom apartment. Joanne and Scarlett each had a cabin, there was a conference room/entertainment area with a cozy couch, and kitchen with a small table and two chairs. The cargo hold was at the belly of the ship. It was large enough to hold 300 crates of supplies. At the moment it accommodated one garment bag of pants.

Scarlett took the whiskey and a glass from the pantry, and sat down at the table.

The kitchen door whooshed open and Joanne stepped through it. She leaned against the wall.

“You’re not going to mix that with anything?” she asked.

Scarlett shook her head. “There’s nothing to mix it with.”

Joanne went to the freezer and brought a metal ice tray to the table. She cracked the tray and dropped a couple of ice cubes into the glass. Scarlett watched Joanne’s hands as they twisted the cap from the bottle and poured enough whiskey to cover the ice. She admired her long fingers.

Joanne picked up the glass and pressed it gently against Scarlett’s black eye.

“Thanks,” Scarlett said, taking the glass, and brushing her hand against Joanne’s.

“I’m sorry I hit you,” Joanne told her.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

Joanne got another glass from the pantry, sat across from Scarlett, and fixed herself a drink.

“If I hadn’t had an affair with our boss you wouldn’t be in this mess,” Joanne admitted.

“Did you have any idea that Debbie wanted to kill you?”

“No. I didn’t know that she knew about me and Captain. No one knew.”

“Captain must have told her.”

“She wouldn’t do that.”

“Well, Debbie found out somehow.”

“Captain wouldn’t put me in danger.”

“Captain sent us on this job and we’ve almost died. A lot.”

Joanne sipped her drink. She set it down. Then she picked it back up and guzzled the rest.

Scarlett tossed back her drink and poured them both another.

“So what is it that you like about Captain? She’s kind of…” Scarlett waved her drink around as she searched for a word. “Dull.”

“Dull?” Joanne scoffed. “She’s brave, and smart, and commanding, and has the deepest blue eyes.”

“She’s got no ass.”

“She does too have an ass.”

“It’s flat and tight as a cement block, just like her brain.”

“You can’t talk that way about our Captain.”

“When she’s trying to kill us, I can talk about her however I want.”

“It’s her fiancée who’s trying to kill us.”

“She’s the jerk who hurt my copilot, then.”

Joanne sipped her whiskey and closed her eyes. “I knew what I was getting into. She told me we could never be public.”

“You said she was ‘commanding.’ I wouldn’t think you were the kind of woman who liked to be told what to do.”

Joanne smiled. “Sometimes.”

“Huh. What else did you like about her?”

“She knows everything.”

“You like ‘em smart, huh?”

“Don’t you?”

They talked about the qualities that attracted them in a girlfriend, which both of them found more pleasant than screaming at each other. When Joanne yelled, her face turned red and two veins made an angry “v” on her forehead. Now her face was relaxed and fair. Scarlett had never noticed how lovely Joanne’s smile was, probably because she’d never seen it before. Scarlett wanted to tell Joanne how pretty she was, but she was two whiskeys in. 

“You have a really smooth forehead,” Scarlett said.

“Oh. Thanks.”

“Your veins aren’t popping out.”

“Um.”

“Your smile is…there.”

Joanne blinked.

“I’m sorry,” Scarlett said. “I’m not good at flirting even when I’m sober.”

“Is that what’s happening?”

“Unfortunately.”

Joanne looked more perplexed.

“I’m trying to tell you that you deserve better than Captain. You’re a badass pilot, and you’re really smart and pretty, much prettier than Debbie. If Captain doesn’t know that, she’s a moron.”

Joanne’s face had a conflict. She smiled as if it wasn’t used to it. Or maybe she just wasn’t used to compliments.

“But she’s not a moron. If she’s marrying Debbie, then she must think there’s a good reason.”

“What about you? What about what you need?”

Joanne leaned across the table and kissed her. Scarlett was surprised and didn’t move at first, but then exploded.

When a person hasn’t been kissed in a long time, they have to relearn some of the finer aspects of it. Scarlett knocked her teeth into Joanne’s and devoured her lips, as if she were a starving person with a sandwich. But after Joanne pointed out that Scarlett was trying to eat her face alive, she slowed down, and relaxed into a kiss. And then into a touch. And then into Joanne’s bed.

The thing about space sex is that two people (or more) are not necessarily bound by gravity. While on Earth gravity is something that is constantly going, uninterrupted. But in a spaceship, it’s controlled by a switch on the wall. Anyone wanting to make their experience a little more interesting can flick the switch and float to the ceiling or wherever. Scarlett enjoyed the effect it had on the droopy parts of her, which also floated towards the ceiling.

What surprised them both, as they kissed and delighted each other in a corner of Joanne’s ceiling, was that they felt, for the first time in their sex lives, perfectly in tune with another person. Even the awkward moments somehow felt right.

They made love until they exhausted themselves. Then Joanne switched on the gravity, and all of her belongings slammed to the floor.

When Scarlett woke up a little while later Joanne wasn’t beside her. She searched the ship and saw her, through the window of the cargo bay door, flinging meat into the mouth of the space dragon. It dipped and rolled in the star-studded sky, its scales shining like crystals, happy for treats. As Scarlett watched Joanne reach out to scratch the dragon’s starry chin, Scarlett realized that she was in love.

When Scarlett woke up again she noticed that the ship was making sounds as if it was moving. It’s hard to describe these sounds. Kind of like a whoosh. Scarlett pulled on her jumpsuit and got some coffee, pouring a cup for Joanne as well.

            She hummed to herself as she tripped down the main passage. When was the last time she’d hummed? Or smiled to herself for no reason? She couldn’t remember, but found herself doing both.

            Joanne was at the controls, pushing some buttons that were blinking on and off.  Scarlett set the extra mug on the control panel.

            “Good morning,” she said, and kissed the back of Joanne’s neck.

            Joanne bristled. “Thanks.”

            Scarlett fell into the chair next to her. “Did you have breakfast?”

            “Not hungry.”

            Joanne didn’t look up from the control panel.

            “You don’t have to push those buttons,” Scarlett told her. “They just blink, they don’t really do anything.”

            “I know that,” Joanne snapped.

            “Are you okay?” Scarlett asked.

            “No,” Joanne said, finally meeting her eyes. “I cheated on Captain.”

            “Cheated?”

            “Yes! Last night! With you!”

            “She’s getting married.”

            “So? I always knew she wouldn’t be mine. We didn’t agree that I would be someone else’s.”

            “She expects you to stay faithful to her while she’s with Debbie? And while Debbie is trying to kill you? But you’re so smart,” Scarlett said.

            “What’s that got to do with anything?”

            “Your relationship is dumb!”

            “I know!” Joanne exclaimed. “But I still feel like I cheated on her. I don’t know why.”

            “I do.” Scarlett took her hand. “Because it was amazing. Probably more amazing than any time you had with her.”

            Joanne watched Scarlett stroke her fingers. “Probably. And I’m probably fired. But we still need to get to that wedding.”

            “Why? She’s no good for you.”

            “I have to know.” She took the picture out of her jumpsuit and gazed at it. Scarlett noted that it wasn’t a look of longing as it had been the day before, but a look full of questions. “We’ve been together for years. I just have to know if she still loves me.”

            “I think that’s a terrible idea.”

            “Well, it doesn’t matter now. Here we are.”

            A ringed, ivory planet, bright as a full moon, loomed before them.

“The Wedding Planet,” Scarlett groaned.

The Wedding Planet was a once a thriving place with its own people, art, music, dances, and religions. But once intergalactic travel began, its clear waters, white beaches, and year-long temperatures of 72-75 degrees made it a wedding/honeymoon hotspot for tourists. Soon the culture of the native people disappeared and was replaced by shops, pubs with pricey craft cocktails, and hotels for alien lovers. No one remembered the original name of the planet anymore, or if the ring of rice that belted the planet had been there the whole time or if it just came with the theme.

“So cheesy,” Scarlett said.

Joanne gripped Scarlett’s hand. “I’m sorry you’re involved in this at all. Debbie trying to kill us and last night…please help me.”

“You still want to stop the wedding.”

“I don’t believe that Captain sent us on this mission. She wouldn’t put me in danger on purpose. I know it.”

“Do you? You always know things. Is that what you really feel about this?”

Joanne’s lips trembled. She shook her head as if shrugging off whatever feeling had come up inside of her.

“I need to know,” she said.

Scarlett fell into the seat next to her, and also began pushing pointless blinking buttons. “Let’s find out then.”

“I’m sorry,” Joanne told her.

“You’re my copilot. Let’s finish the mission.”

            They entered the ring of rice, which pelted the ship with celebratory enthusiasm. Scarlett thought she heard music. When they cleared the rice and entered the golden atmosphere, Scarlett could clearly make out “Here Comes the Bride.” There were sparkling rainbows arching the surface of the planet, and doves and space dragons flew side by side.

            “Does that song play all over the planet all the time?” Scarlett asked.

            “Only at the check point,” Joanne said.

            Joanne queued up to a long line of vessels along an enormous, white and silver building floating in the sky. When they finally flew up to the side of the building, a three-eyed gold-skinned humanoid with a bow tie and a wide smile appeared on their screen.

            “Hello and I love you,” he crooned. “Tell me your names, please.”

            “Scarlett Pierce and Joanne Lawrence,” Joanne told him.

            The creature looked down, appearing to type something. “I don’t see that you have a reservation. Pity. You’re a cute couple. The nearest wedding chapel is two planets over. Good bye! I love you!”

            “We’re not here to get married,” Scarlett grumped. “We have a delivery for a wedding.”

            He asked them for more details, typed more things, and said, “I don’t see any information about a delivery for that couple or anything about your ship. I’m sorry. And you really should consider getting married. It’s so much more fun than delivering pants.”

            They flew away from the check point.

            “She didn’t even have us scheduled for today,” said Joanne.

            Scarlett didn’t like the sad, defeated tone of Joanne’s voice. She reached for her, but something rammed into the ship.

The space dragon peered into the windshield knocking its snout against the glass. It looked at the planet and then back at them.

“She wants to go play with the other dragons,” Joanne said.

“How do you know it’s a she?”

“Same way I know you’re a she.”

“You had sex with it?”

Joanne rolled her eyes. She flung her hand at the dragon. “Go!” she told it. “Go play.”

The dragon whimpered and bumped her nose against the ship.

“I think,” said Scarlett. “We should take her to play.”

Scarlett and Joanne hid the ship behind a roaming, big metal thing, suited up, and mounted the dragon, who was more than happy to have them as riders. She, the dragon, seemed to think it was a game, and the second Joanne and Scarlett held firm to her mane, she leapt from the ship and did a loop-the-loop.

            “Ahhhhhhh, make her stop!” Scarlett yelled, pushing her body against Joanne’s back, gripping the dragon’s mane, and squeezing her thighs to stay on the animal.

            “Let’s go play,” Joanne said to her. “And careful. We don’t want to fall off.”

            The dragon seemed to understand Joanne. She rose up and dipped gracefully towards The Wedding Planet. They flew through the ring of rice and into the planet’s atmosphere, where the sky was teeming with other space dragons, flying in harmony with doves. The dragon, feral compared to the other space dragons who had been trained not to eat the doves, let one or two fly into her mouth and chomped down. 

            Scarlett opened her face shield and took a deep breath.

            “Smells like roses,” she told Joanne. She scanned the ground. “There are so many chapels. How do we know which one Captain is in?”

            Joanne lifted her face shield as well. “The biggest one, of course.”

            In the distance stood an ivory tower that towered over all the other ivory towers. Scarlett tightened her arms around Joanne’s waist, thinking that she wouldn’t be holding onto her for much longer.

Joanne squeezed her hands. “Almost there.”

Scarlett pulled her ray gun from her belt. “I’m ready.”

            “Is that necessary?”

            “We’re crashing her wedding. Debbie will kill us.”

            Joanne pulled her gun from its holster, and told the dragon where to go.

            The doors of the tower were open, with space dragons and doves swooping in and out of it. Their dragon easily blended in as she flew into the building. “Here Comes the Bride,” bellowed from an organ whose pipes were as long as the chapel walls. The guests that filled the pews were as mesmerized by the spectacle of dragon and bird above them as they were by the bride who marched down the aisle in a gown made entirely of white butterflies. She walked so fast up the aisle that the man who escorted her and the butterflies had a hard time keeping up, so Debbie sallied forth alone and naked a couple of times before both man and beast could get back into formation.

            The Captain stood at the altar, her white suit and Captain’s hat looking smart and perfectly together, as no part of her was covered in butterflies. Her back was as straight as the tower itself, her white blonde hair cut close to her scalp. The pastor stood with her, an old man wearing a tunic that was dotted with pink hearts.

            The music continued until Debbie made it to the altar. The escort, breathing heavily, did not hand Debbie off to the Captain, but sat as quickly as possible. The butterflies, also exhausted, dipped towards the floor, but rallied just in time to cover Debbie’s nipples.

            The dragon alighted on the steps, and the two pilots jumped of its back, brandishing their weapons.

            “What are you doing here?” Debbie screamed.

            “Joanne?” Captain asked, squinting at the space-suited figure before her. “What are you doing here?”

            Joanne holstered the gun, pulled the white slacks from the satchel on her hip, and held them aloft. “Delivery.”

            “Ah. Yes. Well. I made do,” said Captain, glancing at the pants she was wearing.

            “Why did you try to kill me?”

            Captain looked indignant. “Don’t be ridiculous. You got lost! You were supposed to be here weeks ago.”

            “Because we followed your orders,” Scarlett said, keeping the gun on her.

            “Debbie tried to shoot us down,” Joanne said.

            “I did not!”

            “Debbie wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t hurt a thing.”

            The butterflies collectively sighed.

            “Guards!” Debbie cried.

            “There are no guards here,” said the pastor.

            “There’s no security at all?” Captain roared.

            “Why would there be?”

            “You said you loved me,” Joanne told her. “Even though we couldn’t be together, you said you would always love me.”

            She took the picture from her jumpsuit and showed Captain the proof of those words on the back.

            “I didn’t write that,” Captain said. “And I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never had an inappropriate relationship with any of my subordinates in my life.”

            “So you were trying to get rid of me,” Joanne said, meekly. “That’s why our ship wasn’t scheduled for delivery. You never meant for us to make it.”

            Debbie was suddenly looking very smug. “She said that she doesn’t know what you’re talking about, you insane person. Stop interrupting our wedding and get out.”

            “You don’t love me,” Joanne said, beginning to cry.

            Scarlett lowered her gun and laid a hand on Joanne’s shoulder. Captain, now without a gun pointed at her, shoved Joanne down the steps and ordered her out of the chapel.

            As Scarlett pulled Joanne to her feet, she heard a new sound. It was kind of like a growl, but worse, like the crackle of a fire filling a room of roaring lions. It was coming from the dragon. Her lilac scales darkened to an inky purple, and starlight streamed between them. Her eyes twinkled. She crouched, like a spring pulled back, directing her growls and her body at the Captain.

            Captain took a step back. “What’s happening? Call it off. Joanne? Call it off.”

            “You shouldn’t have pushed me,” Joanne told her.

            “And you should have loved her, you idiot,” Scarlett said.

            Dragon pounced on the Captain, tossed her in the air by the seat of her pants and swallowed her in one gulp. Then the starlight diminished and her scales returned to lilac. She nuzzled Joanne with her snout.

            “What the hell am I supposed to do now?” Debbie asked.

            “Your fiancée just got eaten by a dragon,” Scarlett said. “Don’t you care?”

            “I wanted to get married,” Debbie said, like it should have been obvious.

            “Our planet has the best single’s resort,” the pastor said. He patted her back. “Don’t worry. We’ll find you a new one. Fiancées can be eaten by dragons but love never dies.”

            The pastor led Debbie off of the altar, and the guests began to disperse. Joanne stroked the dragon’s mane while she purred.

            “You okay?” Scarlett asked.

            “Yeah,” Joanne said. She scratched the beast behind the ear. “Naughty Dragon. You didn’t have to eat her.”

            “Do you have a name for her? Or you just call her Dragon?”

            “Just Dragon.”

            “She protected you,” Scarlett said. “We should name her something.”

            “How about Twinkle?”

            “…We’ll work on it.”

            They mounted the dragon, and flew back to the ship. When they returned, Joanne fed the dragon, whose name they hadn’t yet agreed on, some chunks of meat, and scratched her chin before closing the cargo doors.

            “Thank you,” Joanne said, in the hall outside of Scarlett’s cabin. “You didn’t have to help me. I couldn’t have done that alone.”

            “I think you could have,” Scarlett told her. “But you’re welcome.”

            “Did you mean what you said? About Captain being an idiot for not choosing me.”

            Scarlett laid a hand on Joanne’s hip. “Yes. You are the most beautiful, brave, amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

            Joanne reached behind her and hit the button that opened the door to her cabin. She grabbed hold of Scarlett’s jump suit and pulled her inside. .            “Wait,” Scarlett said, and pulled back from Joanne’s embrace.

She grinned, and turned off the gravity switch on the wall. She reached for Joanne as they rose, their discarded clothes floating up to the ceiling one by one.