Smoke on the Wind

by Sean Benjamin

  “I made the marriage proposal a business proposition. That is why I got so mad after you rejected the initial overture. I had no backup plan. It was all going to hell, and I couldn’t stop it. Then you said nobody does anything out of the goodness of their hearts. In reality, I was doing it for exactly that reason. I was doing it for my heart. I just didn’t have the guts to tell you. I think that is why I struck you. You were unknowingly pointing out my lies to me, and I couldn’t stand it.

  “Since that night when we agree to wed, I have not had a moment’s peace with my conscience. The talk over the midday meal during the fitting helped, but it faded away after you left. I’m not sure I didn’t subconsciously want you to call it off. After all that has happened today, I knew I couldn’t continue to do this. I had to tell you the truth. You can do what you want now. Whatever you decide, I will support you. If you return to the Badlands, I promise to support you as my consort and provide whatever aid I can.”

  She fell silent. He took one step toward her and pulled her into his arms. She grasped him hard and buried her face into his shoulder. He now knew the burden she had been carrying for the last three days, and he was determined to relieve her of it. He whispered in her ear. “I was standing here thinking I was trapped in the arranged marriage from hell, and it is actually just the opposite. I am in a marriage with a smart, beautiful, loving wife who just happens to be a queen. I’ll take that all damn day.”

  She lifted her head and looked at him. “What will we do now?”

  “We will do exactly what our schedule says we will do. I want all the time with you I can possibly get. A week at Haven Hill will be fantastic. I wish it could be longer.”

  She smiled a sheepish smile. “What about what I did to you?”

  Rafe smiled back at her. “Hey, what you did was you married me. That’s your own damn fault, and I’m not letting you take it back. You’re stuck with me so get over it.”

  He now bent down and put his right arm behind her knees and kept his left arm around her shoulder blades. He picked her up in the classic groom carrying the bride over the threshold position. She put her arms around his neck. He kissed her, and she returned it happily. They held the kiss for many seconds. After they broke apart, he said, “I think the major mistake here was mine. You know how on some planets there is a tradition of the groom carrying the bride over threshold?” She nodded. “Well, I didn’t do that. My mistake. We will rectify that now.” He gave her a knowing smile. “We will also rectify that unfortunate event you recently referred to, quite correctly, as a fiasco.” His smile widened. “At least we are going to give it one helluva try.” She returned the smile and nodded. They moved back to their bedroom. The second time was much, much better. The third time was even better than that.

  Chapter 58

  The next morning, the couple arrived at Haven Hill. They came alone. The Queen went around the estate and met everyone on it so nobody felt slighted and nobody would bother them. Then the two newlyweds retired to the guest cottage located two hundred meters from the main house. The cottage had been stocked with supplies. There would be no servants assigned to them. They would dine with Tobias Gallagher for one evening meal in the middle of their stay. Otherwise, they had no schedule and nobody would disturb them.

  The newlyweds walked. They rode horses. They had picnics. They prepared meals together. They gazed at stars. They made love. They laughed. They held hands. Through it all, they talked. And talked. They shared their dreams and desires, personal history, embarrassing moments, and happy triumphs. Both were in an occupation where trust was not to be given easily and honesty was not a virtue, but yet each quickly and completely came to trust the other. Rafe was surprised at the intimate stories he freely shared with his bride, and Alexis was clearly doing the same with him. Husband and wife tried to cram months of courtship into the first week of their marriage. Two people who knew they were almost strangers worked continuously to correct that. Raferty found the more he was with his wife, the more he wanted to be. The more he learned about her, the more he wanted to know. Alexis discovered the same about her husband.

  He took to calling her “Alex” when they were alone. She told him nobody ever had called her Alex. His response was nobody had ever been married to her. She decided she could live with it. She discovered he was a blanket hog. He discovered he didn’t like being pushed onto the floor in the middle of the night so vowed to be less of a blanket hog.

  The week fled in a hurry. The couple returned to the palace for one last night and the next morning Raferty would return to his ship while Alexis had a full schedule of being the queen. At dawn, they stood at the window in the receiving room looking down on the city. The city was just beginning to awaken. They had an arm around each other and were silently enjoying their last moments together as they watched the capital of the Aurora Empire swell with activity. They had watched Predator’s shuttle come in and pass over the palace to a landing pad in the back. Both knew Tactical would be at the controls and in no particular hurry, so they lingered a while longer.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said quietly for the third time.

  “Then go,” she replied for the third time and smiled at him. She turned to him, wrapped her other arm around him, and pressed herself against his chest. “This is so much more difficult than I thought it would be. If you were just a convenient consort, I would shove you out the door and hope you wouldn’t come back anytime soon.” She smiled at him. “No such luck.”

  Hawkins smiled at her. “I guess I gotta quit being so damn lovable.”

  Alexis nodded while holding her smile. “Yes, that’s it. You definitely need to work on downplaying your lovableness, if that is a word. You’re also much too modest. You should work on that, too.” She raised herself on her toes and kissed him. She looked him in the eye. “I am never going to say ‘I love you’ until you say it first. I don’t want it to be awkward. The onus is on you, but you know how I feel. There is no hurry.”

  Rafe said softly, “I appreciate your honesty. Give me some time.” He stopped and then added, “I know I will miss you a helluva lot. Even now I’m trying to think of an excuse to get back here. Maybe we can fake my grandfather being ill. Maybe, you can do a morale visit to the Royal Navy Badlands Squadron.”

  Alexis nodded. “That might be a good idea. It may not help their morale, but it would do mine a great deal of good.”

  They had a long last kiss and walked hand in hand through the palace to one of the rear doors that opened onto the shuttle pads. Predator’s shuttle sat on the nearest pad with engines at flight idle. Hawkins turned to his wife one last time.

  “It’s been an amazing trip to the Aurora Empire. Surprises everywhere. I didn’t get killed and ended up married to you.” He smiled at her. “A profitable sojourn all around.”

  Alexis smiled back. “Just as fulfilling for me. A great victory, a path forward, and a consort.” She leaned toward him. “Be safe, my husband.” She paused and then added, “Don’t be stupid. If you get killed, I will feel obligated to get my revenge, and the Empire would find itself fighting the damn Goths.”

  Rafe nodded. “I’ll remember that. We need only one war at a time.”

  He reached up and caressed the right side of her face with his left hand. Suddenly, Emily Legrand, Killian O’Hare, and Skyler Mallory flashed through his mind. He had told O’Hare that he loved her countless times, and he never regretted it. He had never said it to the other two women, and he did regret that. He needed to cut down on his regrets. He had no idea when, or even if, he would ever see his wife again. He remembered what he had said only five minutes prior about needing some time but, maybe, there would never be any more time for them. Maybe, this was all there would ever be, and he needed to make the most of it. If something happened to him, he would want her to know how vital she was to him, and there was only one way to do that.

  “I love you,” he said softly.

  She was startled a bit. He knew she doubted him, so
he leaned toward her. “I know what I just said upstairs, but really, I want you to know how much you mean to me and that is the best way to express it. It is the only words that express it. I want you to know that in case the future works out badly for me. It is important to me that you know.” He looked into her eyes. “You saved me when you brought me here for this mission. After Sky died, I had doubts about… well, everything. It seemed like the price being paid and the results being achieved just didn’t work anymore. Ironically, I think we both had the same problem—a high price being paid for no results. You called on me to help solve that for the Empire. I think I did, and it helped both of us. For you, the war may have turned around. For me, I see that good results are achievable, here and in the Badlands, with the right plan and great support. I’m not just beating my head against a bulkhead and getting my people killed for a dream that can’t happen. You made me see that.”

  She smiled. “I’m here to help.” She then said quietly “You can win, and I will help there too. I love you.”

  “I know,” he smiled wide to match hers. “It all works out quite nicely, and I am very lucky.”

  They kissed again. “Be safe,” she said again, slowly, and emphasizing both words.

  “I will. I have to get back to you.”

  They kissed one last time, and he walked to the shuttle. He entered and moved forward to the cockpit and the copilot’s seat. Tactical sat calmly in the pilot’s seat. She gave him a slight smile. “You look like a happily married man.” He shrugged. She said, “No insult intended. It fits you well.”

  “Do you want me to talk to Mason for you, extolling the virtues of marriage?” he asked with a smile.

  She ran up the engines and then gave him a sideward glance. “You do and I’ll kill you. You’ll never see your wife again.”

  He maintained his smile. “Just an offer.”

  “Yeah, a bad one,” she retorted.

  He then changed subjects. “I love you.”

  She stopped her take off and looked at him. “I love you too,” she said in her matter-of-fact way. She then lifted the shuttle into the air. The shuttle returned to Predator without incident. On final approach to the shuttle bay, both occupants could see Nemesis close up on Predator’s starboard quarter. She was sliding into formation in preparation for breaking orbit. Once the shuttle was onboard, the two ships set a course for the Badlands. The other pirate ships had made for the Badlands immediately after O’Hare’s wedding and reception. The warships would be arriving there now while the freighters would take three more days. The crews of Predator and Nemesis had enjoyed five days of liberty on Barrett’s homeworld.

  Hawkins and Tactical left the shuttle bay together and walked forward. They parted when Hawkins entered his day cabin while Tactical continued to the bridge. Raferty would join her there soon enough, but he had another task that was more immediate. Once seated behind his desk he brought up his floating screen and called O’Hare. As he expected, she was in her day cabin waiting for the call she was sure would come. They knew each other very well.

  Hawkins looked at her image on his screen. She looked just the same. He honestly didn’t know what would be different about her at a glance but he was glad nothing seemed to be.

  “How’s married life?” he asked.

  She smiled. “Good. Everyone is really nice to you when you’re an admiral’s wife. We went to a secluded beach on his home planet. Only had five days, but we made the most of it. All the hotel staff recognized both of us from the publicity after the battles, and his family name is well known. Apparently, our marriage made it the perfect ending to the story for them, so they went out of their way to make sure everything was great for us. It really was nice and, surprisingly, nobody told the media we were there so we were left alone.” She nodded in satisfaction. “On top of all that, nobody from Flot 1 embarrassed me at the wedding so, all in all, it was well worth it.” She leaned toward her screen. “Tell me about your honeymoon.” She then added with a neutral expression and tone, “You can skip over some parts of it, of course.”

  He told her the gist of his wedding night conversations with his wife and what she had really wanted out of their marriage. He ended his narrative with one final comment. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

  O’Hare nodded sagely, “Yes, I knew.”

  Hawkins gave her a slight smile. “You’ve never even met the Queen until the wedding. How did you know that the only thing she really wanted was me?”

  “You’re easy to love.”

  “So are you,” he immediately countered.

  She frowned at him. “That’s insulting. You take that back.”

  “Nope.”

  She decided to counter with an insult of her own. “By the way, she is your wife now. Unless in an official setting, you should stop calling her the Queen. Sounds silly. Go with her first name, assuming you know it.”

  Hawkins was unfazed. “I can always ask someone. Blondie might know.” He paused and then added. “So, do you feel better now that we have traded insults?”

  She smiled. “Yup, I do.” She then grew serious. “It’s all different now, isn’t it?”

  He matched her tone as he responded, “Yes and no. We are married now but not to each other. However, our relationship remains the same and our mission does too. Once we are back in the Badlands, it will be just like the old days.”

  O’Hare nodded. “Yeah. Too bad.” She now smiled. “There will be one big change. I can’t wait to see how the Goths deal with the Queen’s consort.”

  Epilog

  The temporary commander of Sixth Fleet, or rather, what was left of it, Admiral Efim Dudnik, stood looking out a window from the fourth floor of the burned-out headquarters of Sixth Fleet on Rurik. From his vantage point, he could see all the repairs going on throughout the base. The speed and vastness of the work were astonishing. The base would be better than it was as all the newest technology and a bunch of money was being dumped into it.

  The repairs to the navy’s reputation and to the overall war effort would take much more time and effort. Over seven hundred civilians had died at the Metal Moon fight, and now civilian government officials were making speeches about it day and night. Dudnik smiled a small, bitter smile. Civilians hate it when other civilians die in war. It makes them feel vulnerable. Now every group of civilians that could organize themselves was demanding a military presence to protect them. Some of those groups would be successful and the military strength of the Orion navy and army would be diluted at a time when the war was in balance. The military didn’t need to be on guard duty; they needed to be scoring victories. He viewed it as his job to get victories but wasn’t sure how to accomplish that on a sustained basis. He didn’t know exactly why but he had a sense that the war was slipping away now and regaining the momentum would be beyond him or anyone else in the Orion Confederation.

  ~ ~ ~

  Admiral Jack Wilson sat in the briefing room and looked out at his destroyer squadron leaders and ship captains seated in front of him. He was unreadable as he calmly regarded the officers looking back at him. He had been in command only a short time, but he found he liked it more than he thought he would. He now commanded three squadrons of eight destroyers each. Also, each ship had a detachment of Royal Marines assigned to her. The three squadrons had been put together just for him. He had one mission: raid. Raid often. Raid deep enemy territory. Hit the enemy anywhere and everywhere, in space and on planet surfaces. He had complete freedom to accomplish that mission as long as he coordinated with Home Fleet. Jack relished that freedom and had no intention of squandering it away on missions that accomplished nothing.

  “After some initial training, we will be raiding in squadron strength. We will tie all the raids together so one raid complements another and keeps the enemy guessing. If you are not going to be aggressive and if you are not going to take the fight to the enemy, tell me now so I can fire your ass and get somebody who will do that.”

  He paused
as he waited for an answer. After a few seconds, he nodded. “Great. Tomorrow we will begin planning and training on a squadron level here at Wanderlust. I will look in on each squadron, but squadron commanders are responsible for their training and preparation. We have an opening mission for each squadron, but we will not execute it until we are ready.”

  He paused again and then added, “I will fly my flag in Topsail initially but will be in each squadron commander’s ship eventually while you are on a mission.” He smiled. “I want to see everyone close up while they are working. Any questions?”

  There were none. He continued. “I have issued supply orders that will fill each of your ships to the gunnels. You all have empty berthing compartments and spare spaces. Cram them with food, water, and munitions, especially the latter. Get used to using every available space, and if you can take more supplies, grab more, and stow it away. We will also be mounting single-shot missile launchers on each ship. Twenty facing forward and twenty facing aft. You will need them for our long-range missions. We are going to places where we will want all the firepower we can get. If we get into trouble, nobody will be galloping to our rescue.” He stood up. “Take tonight off and we hit the ground running tomorrow.”