Her interest in his gift delighted him.
“That I was able to fly such an old aircraft?” he asked, purposely drawing out the moment a little longer. “Or that I went on leave with Hierax?”
“Both.” Her fingers slid down his arm to the back of his hand, gripping him lightly. “Are you going to show me what you’re holding, or will I have to resort to drastic measures to get it?”
“Such as?”
“You have other body parts I could grip.”
“That’s not drastic; that’s exciting.”
She swatted him, and he relented and opened his hand, turning his palm upward. A small carved ivory biplane rested there, the propeller pointing toward his fingers, the tail toward his wrist. He’d included a pilot with goggles and long hair back in a tail, the way she often wore hers.
“Oh!” She grinned and kissed him. “It’s wonderful.” She kissed him again, lingering longer.
He set the carving safely to the side and slipped his arms around her waist. Since they were both naked already, things shouldn’t take long to progress. Not that they’d taken long last time, either. He looked forward to some horizontal lovemaking.
His logostec beeped from the deck where he’d flung it.
Zakota groaned. Hierax couldn’t possibly be looking for him for another job. They were on the ground now. Resting. The captain had promised they could go back to single shifts.
“Do you have to answer that?” Katie asked, rubbing her hands over his shoulders.
“If I don’t and it’s somebody important, I could end up on double shifts for a lot longer. I might miss our date.”
She leaned back and dropped her hands. “That would suck.”
His gaze snagged on her naked breasts, breasts he wanted to spend a lot more time with. He had to tear himself away to fetch the logostec.
“Zakota, here,” he said, going for audio only. He didn’t need anyone to see him naked. Or Katie naked. Only he got to see that.
“You still on the ship?” Sagitta asked.
“Yes, sir.” Was he about to wish he wasn’t?
“Good. Round up your combat team for the public ceremony later. You’re going to get awards for risking your asses to blow up the weapons platform.”
Katie’s eyebrows rose. She looked like she might have jammed her fists against her hips if she hadn’t been sitting down.
“Uhm, just me and the combat team are getting awards?”
“I am too,” Sagitta said, sounding dyspeptic.
“Does that mean your command isn’t being stripped away and you’re not being thrown in jail, sir?”
“One would hope.”
“It’s good that we’re all getting honored, sir, but what about Katie? She was every bit as critical to the success of that mission as everyone else on the team.”
“More,” Katie mouthed.
“As she would humbly tell you if asked.”
Sagitta grunted. “No doubt. And yes, I put everything I knew in my report. She’s getting an award too. I tasked Tala to find her and let her know.”
Zakota debated whether to confess that he knew exactly where Katie was. It wasn’t as if Sagitta could complain about his pilot having a relationship when he was canoodling his doctor at every opportunity.
“I think I know where she is, sir,” Zakota said. “I can let her know.”
“Good. Sagitta, out.”
“You think?” Katie smirked.
“Yes, I believe I saw her recently, but it’s dim in here, so it’s hard to tell.”
“Not too dim for you to ogle my breasts.”
“Men have built-in night vision that comes on for such opportunities.” He slipped his arm around her waist, pleased when she leaned across him to pick up the carving and rub it gently with her thumb. “Are you excited to get a medal? It might work as well as a letter of recommendation.”
“I’ll take both.”
“Most pilots don’t get medals until after they’ve gone through the flight academy.”
“Technically, I have.”
“The space flight academy.”
“Details, details. Weren’t we doing something when your captain interrupted us?”
“Yes, I believe so. Shall we continue?”
“Definitely.”
This time, their kiss wasn’t interrupted.
Epilogue
“How do I look?” Sage smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles on his black dress uniform and turned from the holographic mirror that had appeared on his cabin wall.
Tala thought the rows of ribbons and medals on his chest looked pretentious, but high-ranking military officers were probably supposed to look pretentious when they went to meetings with presidents, prime ministers, and other world leaders. Otherwise, who would take them seriously? The pleated white sash sweeping from shoulder to waist across his torso looked like a nod to the ancient Greek chiton, and she wondered if someone would explain to the world leaders where the humans of the Confederation had originally come from. Of course, those leaders might be too busy being nervous about the ceremonial short sword at his waist and the dagger sheathed across the sash to listen. She imagined metal detectors screeching disapprovingly when he walked in.
“Honestly?” Tala asked as she finished scrutinizing him, especially the humorless aspect to his face and the way he was lifting his chin and looking down his nose at her. She recognized his commander’s facade by now, the one he adopted when he didn’t want people to know what he was thinking. “You look arrogant, pretentious, and like a bit of an asshole.”
Sage smoothed his tunic again. “Good. I got it right then.”
Tala snorted, but didn’t disagree. She hoped those world leaders would wet themselves when he walked in. Unlike the gray-haired space fleet admirals who had also been selected to accompany two of the Confederation’s archons down for the meeting, Sage looked like he could kick the asses of anyone who stood in his way. Which was probably a good thing. Those stuffed-shirted politicians needed someone cool and calculating and deadly staring at them as they spoke with the archons. And handsome.
She smiled. Even with that arrogant tilt to his chin, Sage was definitely that.
“Are we going to do anything special after you finish politicking?” she asked.
Tala supposed she should be more excited about the potential alliance that was forthcoming, but she was mostly hoping that the world leaders—the archons had let the Earthlings decide among themselves which nations were important enough to warrant representation—didn’t do anything stupid. Or get into fights with each other. Maybe if the humans of Earth realized what was going on in the rest of the galaxy, including the threats that alien civilizations represented, they would be less likely to war among themselves. There were plenty of quotes about that, weren’t there? Having common enemies was supposed to band people together.
“You look even more pensive than I do,” Sage said, abandoning the fidgeting with his uniform to come closer to her.
“I’m worried my people will make asses of themselves and cause us to be ostracized forever.”
Maybe it would help that the two peoples didn’t speak the same languages. Would Lieutenant Coric go along to translate? She’d been chatting with Yulia, learning some English, but Tala doubted she’d had time to master the language. The Confederation people could be bringing some of their translation chips to make things easy.
“I wasn’t a direct witness when other human worlds were invited into the Confederation during my lifetime,” Sage said, “but I follow the news, of course. The trend is for people to put forward excellent representations of themselves at the early meetings. If they’re asses, that generally comes out later.”
“Comforting.”
“There’s only been one world where we came to learn it had been a blatant mistake to invite them in. Unfortunately, that was relatively recently, so it’s fresh in people’s minds.”
“Even more comforting.”
Sage chuckled an
d wrapped his arms around her.
The hard sheath of that ceremonial dagger in his sash poked against her chest, but she welcomed the hug.
“Whatever happens,” Sage murmured, resting his chin against her hair, “whether the archons decide not to have further contact—or your people say they’re uninterested in further contact—I promise to fly you home to see your mother and your friends before the Falcon leaves your planet.”
“And before I leave with the Falcon, right?” Tala leaned back to look into his eyes.
They had discussed this before, and her willingness to stay aboard had generally been contingent on Earth being brought into the Confederation—or there at least being regular spaceflight between it and Dethocoles—but as the weeks had passed, she had grown more and more comfortable with her role in his sickbay. The idea of going back to the relatively poor medical technology of Earth, not to mention all the politics and bureaucracy she’d been fleeing from in the first place, was enough to make her cringe. Also, she had a hard time imagining going back to her empty apartment in Flagstaff, with nobody for company except her cat. Assuming Mindy had made it. God, she hoped so. She hoped the police had come to her apartment when she’d turned up missing, that the animal shelter had been alerted, and someone there was taking care of the cat.
“You know I would be pleased to have you heading up my sickbay,” Sage said. “And now that I’m back in my government’s good graces, I have the power to officially make that happen.”
He tapped one of the medals on his chest, a recent addition he’d received at a ceremony Tala and Juanita had been invited to attend. Katie had also been there, receiving her own medal. Indi, Angela, and the other women had been back on Tyrax Station. Tala wished Indi had been there, so she could have been recognized for the work she’d done to get them out of that ancient alien system. From the gossip Tala had heard, the Confederation was already scheming ways to get an archaeological team past the belligerent Scyllans and into the Wanderer System to study the ruins. The ceremony, however, had been more about honoring those who’d fought and died protecting the Dethocoleans from the Zi’i.
Sage had worn a stony, unreadable expression for most of the event, though he’d looked a little bemused when one of his commanding officers and one of the archons magnanimously told him his indiscretions had been forgiven. He’d never believed he was in the wrong, and she imagined he’d secretly wanted to pop that archon on the nose for not listening to him in the first place. At least he’d been given permission to bring all the women home while on his mission to reach out to the locals.
“Yes, it’s good to be a hero, I’m sure,” Tala said, resting a hand on his chest. “By the way, what finally made your government decide that sending representatives to Earth—and not breaking our wormhole gate—was a good idea? That didn’t come up at your awards ceremony.”
“I’d like to say that my brilliant oratory skills won the archons over.”
“But they didn’t?”
“No, it was Hierax’s brilliant oratory skills.”
“Hierax orates? To entities other than his tools?”
“It seems your friend Indi commanded Hierax to come up with a solution to our mutual problem.” Sage waved, perhaps to encompass everyone on the ship. “You see, she wanted to stay on Dethocoles and have a relationship with my chief engineer, but she also wanted access to her home world and her family and friends there.”
“Yes, several of us have expressed similar desires,” Tala said dryly.
“Perhaps, I should say it was Hierax’s bribery skills that came into play here. Once tasked with this difficult equation to solve, he researched the archons assiduously. And he also researched their families.”
“Was this before, after, or during the time he was creating super weapons and repairing the ships?”
“I’m not sure. He is a busy man. And possibly almost as brilliant as he thinks he is.”
Tala made a non-committal “mm” noise. It sounded like Indi might have been the truly brilliant one.
“In researching the archons’ families, Hierax discovered something that I confess hadn’t occurred to me. Five of the archons have parents who are alive. Mothers, specifically. And two of those mothers know each other and are colleagues at the University of Euripides in the capital. One studies and teaches archaeology. Another is an anthropologist. With the help of Juanita, who had some data about Gaian history on her computer-phone, Hierax prepared an impressive presentation about Gaia’s cultures current and past that included images of all manner of artifacts, ruins, and imagery of Gaia itself—your planet has some beautiful scenery.”
“Yes,” Tala murmured, starting to see where this was going, and amused that some encyclopedia app Juanita had on her phone had been a determining factor.
“Hierax sent them the presentation and pointed out that it would be a shame if the Confederation chose to ostracize itself instead of opening up relations with Gaia, whose people would undoubtedly allow visiting scholars to come explore the various museums, archaeological sites, and the like. These two professors hadn’t been in the loop before, since the government was quite hush-hush in regard to your planet. But once they found out, I gather they grabbed their sons by the ears and said, ‘You will open up relations with Gaia, or I’ll have your father paddle you until you’re black-and-blue.’ Never mind that both of the archons in question are in their sixties.”
Tala smiled. “You never stop being your mother’s child.”
“Indeed. A short time later, I was informed that, even though two large and imposing space fleet warships would come along to make a good—also known as intimidating—impression, I would be taking the delegation of ambassadors, diplomats, and several chosen professors to Gaia.”
Tala remembered a gray-haired woman she’d seen walking the corridors of the Falcon 8 and talking to Yulia. “Is one of those professors along on the ship?”
“She is. She’s been talking to some of your female comrades, those who are still living in the rec room and haven’t…”
“Shacked up with Star Guardians in their cabins?” Tala offered.
“Yes.” His lips thinned in an expression of disapproval.
Tala swatted him on the chest. “You’re not having hypocritical thoughts, are you?”
“Me? Never.”
“Uh huh.”
“I don’t object—much—to those who are discreet. I do find it alarming that my chief engineer is having… coitus in the engine room with his chosen woman. His engineering assistants are afraid to go in there lest they walk in on relations in progress.”
“Oh? Does he not hang a tie on the door?”
Sage frowned. “What?”
“Never mind. Surely he has his own cabin though.”
“He stores his tools in there.”
“Some people would put the tools in engineering and the coitus in the bedroom.”
“Yes, thank you for being sane. That’s what I told him. He simply said that engineering is ‘his place.’”
“Maybe you should let the professor know that he can be found there,” Tala said. “She may wish to question him further on his knowledge of Gaian history. Or simply thank him for alerting her to our planet.”
“Are you suggesting I use a ninety-year-old woman to get in the way of my engineer’s intimate moments?”
“On my planet, we call that cock-blocking. If it gets annoying, perhaps he’ll rethink his cabin-as-tool-storage-shed strategy.”
“Or he’ll build a special cubby down there in engineering with sound-absorbing privacy walls. I suppose either solution works.”
“Seeing as you have a tie shortage, yes.”
He arched his eyebrows. “Are you going to explain that to me?”
“Maybe one day. Or maybe I’ll tell your anthropology professor about it. A quirky Earth custom.” Tala kissed him, looping her arms around his shoulders and wondering if he would be offended if she rumpled his uniform a bit.
Sage
did not seem distressed by having her body pressed against his clothing. He slipped his arms around her waist and returned the kiss, kindling heat in her body and reminding her that her reasons for wanting to stay weren’t entirely career-related.
The kiss might have continued on, but his logostec beeped.
“We’ve been given landing coordinates, sir,” Zakota said, “so we’re heading in. It should only be about fifteen minutes until you and the political types can depart.”
“Thank you, Zakota,” Sage said, gazing at Tala with hooded eyes. Was he thinking about all the things that could be accomplished in fifteen minutes if one didn’t mind rumples?
She would go along with him if he wanted to try, but she would prefer a long, romantic evening, lounging in a hammock out under the stars. As crazy as it seemed after all they had been through, it should still be late summer back home. A beautiful time of year in Flagstaff, when the monsoon season was tailing off, the temperatures were pleasant, and the foliage was lush and green—at least by Arizona standards.
“You never answered my question about what we would do after the politicking,” Tala pointed out.
“I won’t be politicking. I’ll be standing behind the archons and touching my sword in an intimidating manner.”
“My people aren’t super worried about swords. Despite your people’s certainty that we’re primitive, we’re exceedingly good at making war and maiming people.”
“So I should bring along a warhead to fondle?”
“I don’t think they let those past the metal detectors.”
“Can your detectors pick up the Wanderer alloy? I could bring one of Hierax’s super weapons.”
“There are more of them?” Tala hadn’t witnessed the Zi’i weapons platform blowing up from the inside out, but she’d heard it had been impressive. And scary enough to send the remaining invaders fleeing.
“Probably in his cabin with his tools.”
“I’m going to have to make sure not to do anything to irritate that man. It’s a good thing your medical scanner technology has made the traditional method of performing a prostate exam obsolete.”
Zakota Page 22
