They were in the lounge. The kitchen floor had been a little uncomfortable. They had had to be quiet in the garden, though it was not overlooked, so that had been fine. Nava had drawn the line at the mudroom beside the bath; that was a little too much.
‘We could probably do both showers.’
‘Okay.’
‘And what about the corridors?’
‘Uh…’
‘And there’s that service room. Might be a bit cramped. The front hall?’
‘Suki, I think you may be taking this a bit far…’
Admiral Aurora Trenton Advanced Training Centre.
‘How are we supposed to dance after that meal?’ Melissa asked. ‘I’m sure my stomach looks three times its normal size.’
‘It does not,’ Naomi said. ‘It looks just as it usually does, except with a little less fabric over it.’
‘You’ve never seen her in a bikini,’ Courtney said.
Seeing Naomi’s cheeks colour was both unusual and worth any hardship. ‘I… have not.’ On the other hand, he rallied well, ‘Something to look forward to in the summer, perhaps.’
‘My birthday is the first Monday of the summer holiday,’ Melissa said. Her eyes widened a little at how brazen that sounded under the circumstances.
‘I’m aware of that,’ Naomi replied. ‘I was hoping that I might join you to celebrate. Perhaps we could go out to Le Jardin Magique again.’
‘That would be nice, but I expect Nava and Suki, and maybe Courtney will join us there. This time.’
‘I’m sure that will be acceptable. I enjoy their company.’
‘Maybe Kyle could–’
‘I… won’t be there,’ Kyle said. ‘I’m deploying to Beherbergen for my first year.’
‘Oh. That’s…’ Melissa glanced at Courtney. The ex-captain was clearly not happy, but she was doing her best to hide it.
‘I may be going out to join him for a couple of weeks,’ Courtney said. ‘I’ve never been to Beherbergen and it’ll let me meet the prospective in-laws. It, uh, depends on my finances.’
‘I’ll be able to help,’ Kyle said. ‘I’ll be getting a second lieutenant’s salary from now on.’
Courtney flashed him a smile. ‘I know. We’ll see what’s happening. Right now, we’re going to dance and hope no one steps on my skirt.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’ Offering Courtney his hand, Kyle led the way out onto the dance floor.
Naomi offered his hand to Melissa. ‘My lady, would you do me the honour?’
‘Okay,’ Melissa said, ‘but I should warn you, I’m not very good.’
‘Then I’ll just have to make you look good.’
~~~
Melissa had a feeling she was now intimately familiar with the problem Nava had when dancing with Mitsuko. Even in heels, Melissa’s eyes were about level with Naomi’s throat. It was still romantic, dancing in his arms to something slow played by a military band – which, incidentally, trained at the same base. For a military band, they seemed quite capable of playing non-military music.
‘You know, I have no idea how we ended up like this,’ Melissa said. It was sort of an off-hand remark, but it was also what she had been thinking ever since Naomi had shown an interest in her. Even the comments she had received from her housemates had not clarified things for her. ‘I really don’t see what you see in me. I don’t think I’m your type.’
There was a pause long enough for Melissa to wonder if she had said something wrong. ‘If I am entirely honest,’ Naomi finally said, ‘I don’t understand it myself.’ That was not a good start. ‘To clarify, I don’t believe I have a “type.” I’m aware of a number of rumours which circulated at school to the effect that I was gay. I did not have a girlfriend while at school, though I have had a couple of… summer flings.’
‘Oh.’ So was this a ‘summer fling’ with an extended courtship?
‘I am also aware of another fact which pertains.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yes. You described me as intimidating. More than once.’
Melissa blushed, though she doubted he could see it with his eyes all the way up there. ‘I did. You are. Maybe less so now.’
‘I suppose that I am. Under the right circumstances, I find it useful. However… I began to find it utterly intolerable that you found me intimidating. I couldn’t tell you why or when I began to feel that way, but that became the state of things and I had to do something about it.’
‘That’s…’ Melissa smiled and leaned closer in to Naomi’s chest. It was a good chest for snuggling against, when you got right down to it. ‘That’s possibly the oddest romantic impulse I’ve ever heard of. But I can’t deny the romance.’
Shinden Alliance School of Sorcery, 236/7/13.
‘We’re back,’ Melissa called out as she walked in through the front door, trailed by Courtney and Kyle.
‘Welcome back,’ Mitsuko called out from the lounge. Melissa was planning on going to her room anyway, so she pushed through the door. ‘If you hurry and get changed,’ Mitsuko went on, ‘we can all go to breakfast together.’
‘A military ball one night,’ Nava said, ‘and back to lessons in the morning. Good morning, Kyle and Courtney. I hope you all enjoyed your evening.’
‘It was good,’ Courtney said, nodding. ‘Now I have Kyle for a week before they ship him off to Beherbergen.’
‘I enjoyed it,’ Melissa said. She sniffed, frowned a little, and then shrugged. ‘I’ll get into my uniform and we can go grab some food.’
‘I’ll join you,’ Kyle said. ‘I skipped breakfast so we could catch one of the early trains.’
‘I’m sure they serve breakfast quite early at Aurora’s Base,’ Mitsuko countered.
‘Okay, I wanted to have breakfast with Courtney. And the rest of you, really. You can catch me up on events here.’
‘Sounds like a better excuse.’
Melissa had come to a stop in the doorway to the hall between the bedrooms. She sniffed. ‘Why does this entire house smell of sex?’
Mitsuko glanced at Nava and then put on her best innocent expression. ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.’
236/7/15.
The forensics lecture on Wednesday evenings was not just for SSF members. That was how it had turned out anyway. There were three recruits in the new team who were learning to provide technical support for the patrol personnel – including Lydia Bonfils Plank from Nava’s class – and it had seemed like a very small number to have someone come out from Alliance City to teach them. So, Nava had put a post on the info-net saying that seventeen additional students could attend the lectures by contacting her and arranging a place. She had not really expected much of a response. There were now twenty people in the class and she could have filled the lab it was being held in three times over.
‘More people want to do this kind of thing than you’d think, huh?’ Kyle asked. Nava was sitting in on tonight’s lecture and Kyle had asked if he could come along. Obviously, Courtney was there too.
‘And are willing to sacrifice an evening to learn,’ Nava said. ‘I believe some of them simply want another option. They’re adding to their portfolio of skills but may not end up using this in anger. However, some are certainly here because this is what they’d like to do after graduation.’
‘I should’ve thought of this,’ Courtney muttered. ‘I did think of something like this, but we had Don and it never seemed urgent…’
Nava nodded. ‘My lack of forensic cover does seem more like a matter I need to deal with as soon as possible. We haven’t needed these skills yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.’
‘What about computers?’ Kyle asked. ‘Don used to be a wizard with computer skills too.’
‘I’m fairly good. I also have Chess in reserve if needed. He’s actually not bad at computer intrusion, though we tend to keep that quiet around the faculty. I don’t think he’s at Don Ilbert’s standard, but he can crack a system if I need him to.’
&nbs
p; ‘I wonder where he learned that?’ Courtney asked. ‘I wonder why he learned that?’
Nava gave a shrug. ‘Chess has a dark side. Who knew?’
236/7/16.
‘Do you have any idea what you’ll be doing on Beherbergen?’ Mitsuko asked. Gathered in the lounge, they had finally got around to asking about the one thing Courtney was trying her best to ignore: Kyle would be leaving for his home planet the following evening.
‘Some,’ Kyle replied. ‘The ASF office in Hausman City mostly does liaison work with the House militia and antiterrorism intelligence gathering. My briefing says that the intelligence gathering has got a higher priority after the Alliance City thing. There’s also security for the Alliance administration offices and the ambassador.’
‘Of course,’ Courtney said, ‘if he spends the entire year on the ambassador’s security detail, I’ll be quite happy.’
‘You say that, but Befreit Beherbergen first came to attention when they bombed the Alliance administration building.’
‘I… hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Beherbergen doesn’t sound like an especially safe place to do your first tour,’ Melissa commented. ‘I’m sure you’ll be fine,’ she added quickly, ‘but still…’
‘It’s like anywhere,’ Kyle replied. ‘It’s pretty safe most of the time. Sometimes there are problems. That’s in the areas under clan jurisdiction, however. Outside clan lands, things are a bit more, uh, chaotic. Maybe not chaotic, but the rule of law is a bit more relaxed. Some of the people living out there are basically outlaws. The clan doesn’t get involved unless it’s affecting our internal trade relationships. Just about everyone out there carries some form of weapon, usually a rifle. There’s a sort of excuse given that there are indigenous animals and they can be dangerous.’
‘It’s an old Harbinger colony then?’ Nava asked.
‘It’s even got some archaeological sites.’ Kyle paused and frowned. ‘After what’s happened here, that worries me more than it did.’
Waving a hand, Nava brushed that aside. ‘We met one of the worst examples. We’ve also met Trudy, whose only interest in humans is observing them. If you were going to have trouble with Harbingers, you’d have seen something by now. The colony was established a couple of hundred years ago, right?’
‘Give or take. I guess you’re right. It’s probably not a problem.’
‘My advice would be to stick to worrying about the terrorists. Invisible voyeurs watching you in the shower should be the least of your worries.’
‘Nava,’ Courtney whined, ‘I’m planning to go out there soon. I do not need that thought in my head.’ Nava just looked at her. ‘You’re evil.’
‘So I’ve been told.’
236/7/17.
‘You’ll send me a message when you get there, right?’ Courtney asked. It was probably more of an order than a request. They were at the station. It was time for Kyle to leave.
‘I certainly will,’ Kyle replied.
‘How long is the flight?’ Melissa asked.
‘About three days.’
Melissa’s eyes widened. ‘It only took a bit over a day to fly from Avorna and I thought that was tiring.’
‘Beherbergen’s further out. Plus there are the flight-time regulations. The ASF sticks to commercial rules unless they’ve got a solid reason to break them. If you’re flying long distance, you have to take a four-hour break after every eight jumps. If memory serves, it’s fourteen jumps from here to Beherbergen. Plus, it takes about a day to get from the legal jump limits at each end.’
‘Huh, yeah. We spent more time flying in normal space than making jumps.’
Grinning, Kyle turned to Courtney. ‘There’s about a five-and-a-half-hour difference between the clocks here and there. Beherbergen is five hours and twenty-five minutes ahead. Keep that in mind if you want to call.’
‘The day lengths are about the same though, aren’t they?’ Courtney asked.
‘Yeah. That’s not a problem. The year there is only three hundred and fourteen days, but the days match up pretty well with Shinden’s.’
‘That’s something.’ Courtney paused. ‘You will try to stay safe, won’t you?’
‘As safe as I can. I need to be going…’
Courtney glanced at the train car waiting to take her boyfriend away for a year. ‘I know.’ Then she was wrapping herself around Kyle, attempting, it seemed, to give him a kiss which would keep him warm until he got to his destination.
‘She is going to let him go, right?’ Nava asked.
Mitsuko considered her answer briefly. ‘Not by choice. No.’
236/8/5.
‘Well,’ Mitsuko said, stretching languorously, ‘this is certainly a fine way to close out the first day of the summer holiday.’
‘I can’t immediately think of a better one,’ Nava replied. ‘Maybe if we also had cake.’
‘Cake would be an interesting addition. I think it might get messy.’
‘That’s a possibility. Is messy bad?’
‘Well… It depends, I suppose.’
Melissa said nothing. She was lying on Mitsuko’s bed, panting. At midnight, she would be turning seventeen and Mitsuko had insisted they have one last threesome before she became off-limits. They had been at it for ninety minutes. Melissa was not entirely sure she would survive to see her birthday.
‘You did set an alarm, right?’ Mitsuko asked.
Nava nodded. ‘We get a five-minute warning. I am head of the SSF now, I can’t really go around breaking the law.’
‘How long do we have?’
Leaning across to the bedside table, Nava checked the time on her ketcom. ‘Twenty-seven minutes.’
Mitsuko considered briefly. ‘Hm. I suppose it’s really time to start wrapping things up. Shall we carry her to the shower?’ Melissa let out a whimper.
‘Probably for the best,’ Nava agreed. ‘I’m feeling a little sticky myself. We can get her clean and then put her to bed. And tomorrow, we can hand her over to Naomi.’
Melissa let out another whimper, though it sounded like more of an intrigued whisper.
‘I’m not entirely sure I want to give her up,’ Mitsuko countered.
‘Short of chaining her up in the basement, I don’t think that’s an option.’
‘We don’t have a basement.’
‘There’s that plan out the window.’
236/8/6.
‘Happy birthday, Melissa!’ It was a chorus. The table at Le Jardin Magique was pretty full, what with Naomi added to the regular members of the house. The toast was drunk with three out of the five drinking alcoholic drinks; Nava and Mitsuko had insisted that the others not be constrained, given that it was Melissa’s first chance to try alcohol. Legally anyway; no one was mentioning the night in Mitsuko’s apartment after Melissa had broken up with Rochester. Rochester had been invited to the meal, but he had declined, probably because Melissa had a new boyfriend.
‘Does being an adult feel any different?’ Nava asked. ‘I’m curious about what I should expect.’
‘Not really…’ Melissa looked thoughtful for a few seconds. ‘Technically, you’re an adult anyway. Sort of. I mean, if you were still working on old years, you’d be… nineteen?’
‘I haven’t bothered to work it out, but that sounds right. Unfortunately, the legal categories use Shinden, i.e. Alliance, years. Hence, I’m not even seventeen until November.’
‘Better than for me,’ Mitsuko said. ‘I won’t be seventeen until January.’
‘And aren’t we all going to suffer from your deprivation for those two months,’ Courtney said.
‘It’ll be hell,’ Melissa agreed, nodding.
‘You two won’t have her being an evil temptress the whole time,’ Nava said. Then, since Mitsuko was starting to glow, she changed the subject. ‘How is active duty in the ASF, Naomi?’
‘Relatively inactive,’ Naomi replied. ‘Useful in this instance since it was easy for me to get the evening off to visit. Th
ey seem to be unsure what to do with me. I’m riding a desk while they decide on diplomatic security or further training in strategy.’
‘Grooming you for higher rank?’ Courtney asked.
‘Mm. I believe I’d prefer the Diplomatic Protection Unit. Going back to school for another couple of years is not what I joined up for.’
‘You’d make a great bodyguard,’ Melissa said. ‘No one would be willing to attack someone you were guarding.’
‘I think that would result in a rather boring life.’
‘Boring is better than riddled with bullets,’ Nava suggested.
‘You have a point.’ Naomi looked across the table at Nava, narrowing his eyes. ‘What do you intend to do when you finally join the ASF, Nava?’
‘Oh, that’s more or less decided. I’ll be joining the Intelligence Response Directorate. What I’ll be doing there, I don’t yet know, but that’s where I’ll be.’
‘The ASF’s spy branch,’ Melissa said. She grinned, but it was a commonly held belief that the IRD were spies.
‘Intelligence gathering,’ Nava replied. ‘It’s not the same thing. Or that’s what I’m told. Besides, they do other things. For example, they act on the intelligence gathered where appropriate, which makes them more like special forces, and they act as a bridge between divisions of the ASF and outside agents to facilitate the communication of information.’
‘You sound like a recruitment post on the info-net,’ Courtney said.
‘I may have had that lecture from a number of people since I came to the Clan Worlds. Anyway, you’ve met Fawn Tyrell. Can you see her as a spy, Mel?’
Mel looked a little perplexed as well as thoughtful. ‘Well, maybe. I’m trying to imagine her in shades… That works. And the uniform’s already black, but maybe a suit… Oh, she’d need a good tailor or her bust would be bursting out all over. Okay, you got me. No, I can’t imagine Fawn as a spy.’
‘But that’s exactly what a spy would want you to think,’ Courtney said.
‘Oh! I hadn’t thought of that…’
236/8/7.
‘So?’ Mitsuko asked as she prepared coffee in the kitchen. ‘How was he?’
Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) Page 18
