The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy)

by Mike Smith

  By the time they had managed to reach the outside patio the music had transitioned into something softer and slower and much more suited to the hot night. As she felt Jon hesitating behind her, she spun around to look at him.

  Playfully tugging his arm Sofia pulled him forward, until his body brushed up and down hers. “Not so fast,” she said. “You promised you’d dance with me.”

  Jon gazed down at Sofia and tried to pinpoint the exact moment when he felt out of his depth. He was thinking he had things under control. Now, suddenly, he found himself looping his arms loosely around Sofia’s waist, and what a fantastic waist it was too, as she danced him backward onto the middle of the patio.

  Dammit, she would want more than one dance, Jon thought to himself resignedly.

  Then again, seeing that he suddenly had no idea what he was doing, maybe he should just surrender to her. The thought of surrendering to Sofia took on a way too erotic connotation then, so he set the thought aside and tried to concentrate on something else. Unfortunately, his concentration seemed to be intent on erotic thoughts this evening, and they kept zeroing in on things they had no business targeting. Like how warm and silky was the bare flesh above Sofia’s skirt that his fingertips encountered when he settled his hands on her hips. Like how good she smelled up close this way, sweet and decadent and tempting. Like how fluid and natural her movements were when she propelled her body forward into his again. Like how unspeakably lovely her eyes were when she glanced up to see how he was doing.

  Like how he wondered what she would do if he kissed her.

  “Getting the hang of things, Jon?” she asked as she executed a stunning twirl that offered him quite a nice view of her back.

  “Oh, yeah,” he replied, the words coming out a bit rougher than he intended. “I’m getting the hang of things really well.”

  She laughed with genuine delight, oblivious to the fact that the two of them were talking about entirely different things.

  “I knew you’d be a good dancer,” she said, spinning closer still.

  “How did you know that?”

  “I notice more than you think, Jon.”

  “I don’t doubt that for a moment. Something tells me you miss very little.”

  “And you don’t miss a thing,” she responded, reeling and darting around Jon with the grace of a summer breeze, chuckling good-naturedly at his obvious and total confusion.

  Before he realised his own intentions, he snaked an arm out to halt her, pulling her to him until her body was flush against his.

  Then the strangest thing happened. Although the music kept playing, faster and faster, and the dancers surrounding them still pranced and staggered merrily about, the world enclosing them gradually slowed down to a halt. So Jon slowed down with it, spinning Sofia in a gradually more tight circle, pulling her closer with every turn, until the two of them stood utterly still at the centre of the dance floor.

  And then, although he never planned to do it, he leaned forward to kiss her... only to be abruptly swung around by a firm hand on his shoulder!

  His mind still full of her scent and the feel of her pressed up against his hard body he was slow to respond to the abrupt change of events. Trying to blink away the fog that surrounded his mind, he came face to face with a very angry pair of cerulean blue eyes.

  “You have some nerve to come back here, Radec! After the stunt that you pulled last time!” Following his gaze, down from the eyes he recognised a hard chiselled face, and the powerful body of somebody used to hard labour. Eyes blinking in the darkness he noticed a number of other indistinct shapes, hovering in the darkness behind. The realisation hit him like a thunderbolt.

  “Jack Stanton!” he exclaimed, “with family.” Recognising the other brothers as they stepped forward. “For crying out loud, it’s been over ten years! Have you not got over this yet?”

  “You broke little Becky’s heart,” Jack exclaimed angrily.

  “You sure this is not more about your wounded pride, when I took exception to you and your brothers using me for a punching bag? By the way are you not missing one? I only count four, I hope you didn’t lose James on the way over…”

  “Excuse me!” an angry voice exclaimed, interrupting their little jaunt down memory lane. Sofia stared in complete bewilderment at the group that had just interrupted their dance. And we were just about to get to the best part! Sofia wailed, stamping her foot in frustration. “Who are you?” she demanded turning her displeasure on Jack, “and more importantly who is Becky?” She demanded giving Jon a furious gaze. Seriously, before this night is out I am going to get a full list of all Jon’s previous relationships, chronologically. Sofia decided angrily.

  Jon had completely forgotten about Sofia, so caught up in the surprise of seeing Jack and his brother’s again. “Becky was…” at an angry gaze from Jack, Jon corrected, “…is Jack’s younger sister, we dated, briefly, during college,” Jon explained.

  “You broke her heart!”

  “Oh come off it,” Jon scoffed. “Becky had her heart broken once a week, but it must have repaired itself just as quickly as usually by the next week she had hooked up with whoever the new guy was. Jack and his brothers took exception to this and decided to use me as a punching bag. We’ll I don’t like being a punching bag,” Jon insisted with a dark look. “Anyway, it looks like most of the bones healed fine in the end,” Jon grinned.

  Sofia was about to propose that they take up this discussion at a later, well… date, as she was much more interested in continuing off where they had just been interrupted. However, before she could intervene a massive forearm encircled her around the waist, pulling her back against an equally massive chest.

  “Hey little lady, why don’t you find yourself a real man, instead with hanging out with this piece-of-crap,” an equally massive voice boomed out from above Sofia.

  Sofia was more surprised than frightened, and while Jon had an extremely pissed off expression, it was more anger about somebody man-handling her, than the cold hard, I am about to kill everybody in the room expression that she had come to recognise on his face when he was deadly serious about something. “This is their youngest brother?” Sofia exclaimed in surprise, encased by the massive body.

  “Yeah well, Bill Stanton was a monster himself. Not that I would be surprised if a couple here are half-brothers, as I understand his wife must have laid with half of Carrington city. The male half that is…” Jon added with a smirk, purposely ignoring the fact that Jack had gone completely red-faced at the comment and was cursing a mean streak at him.

  Sofia just sighed to herself, wondering what it was about Jon that meant he always had to have the last word. Anyway Jon was a big boy and could look after himself. After giving him a reassuring look that she was fine, she turned back towards the monster that had her surrounded. Stroking him softly on the chest, she looked up into his eyes and cooed. “You mean a real man, like you…James.”

  Staring down, wide-eyed, at the stunning woman that was pressed softly against his hard chest, he was just able to make out the slight swell of a breast, encased in a silky emerald blouse; James could hardly believe his luck! He was still staring at her in complete rapture, when she added. “And who do you think you are calling little?” she demanded, slamming her knee straight into his groin. James’s eyes just rolled up into his eyelids and he collapsed onto the floor like a house of cards, hands to his groin, whimpering like a baby. Satisfied that he would not be going anywhere in the near future, Sofia turned around to see if Jon required any assistance.

  Jon meanwhile had everything under control, ducking under the ridiculously telegraphed swing from Jack and hammering his own fist into the other man’s stomach! Jon could feel the wind rush out from his lungs, and with a wheeze he collapsed onto the floor. Jon however, was not standing idle, already sidestepping a vicious punch from one of the other brothers. With a vicious kick of his own leg, targeted at the brother’s thigh, there was a loud crack as bone snapped and he too f
ell to the floor in a howl of pain. Ducking under a haymaker that would have taken his head-off, he quickly glanced around to notice that Sofia had disabled her own opponent. Momentarily glad that their days of training had paid off he caught her by the hand and quickly stated. “Sorry I think we will have to leave dancing for another time. Back the way we came, left at the bar there is a back door.” He stated breathlessly pushing her back indoors, ahead of him, into the packed crowd.

  “You seem to know this club, particularly well.”

  “Well I must confess, this is not the first time I have been here.”

  “I see, and did you need to make a quick exit, out the back door, during those visits too?” Sofia inquired, pushing her way through the crowd.

  “Not every time,” Jon replied noticing that the other brothers were gaining on them, simply by shoving other patrons of the club out of their way.

  Deciding that he needed to buy the two of them a little more time, he grabbed the two nearest clubbers, shoving them in the direction of the brothers and screamed out aloud, over the music. “Fight!” pointing in the direction of the brothers. As is often the case every head turned in the direction of the yell. What Jon saw was the brothers push the two clubbers out of their way. Of course, everybody else saw it as a challenge and piled in. Before they knew what was happening the brothers were buried under a mountain of bodies, with fists flying everywhere. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Security descending onto the dance floor to break up the fight.

  Pushing Sofia in the direction of the back door, he instructed her. “Wait for me outside, I won’t be long. I just want to make sure that the gang of five…” he motioned over his shoulder, “don’t have any plans for chasing us across Carrington city tonight.”

  Nodding her head in understanding, Sofia pushed open the back door, hurrying out into the night. Sofia was amazed at how undeveloped everything on Altair was, from the old manual swing doors, to public transportation that still ran on a combustion engine with fossil fuels. Sofia shook her head in disbelief that having come from this planet, Jon could even recognise a computer, let alone use one!

  Glancing around, realising that she was in some sort of enclosed yard, noticing the bins in a corner overflowing with trash she just rolled her eyes in disbelief. She wondered for a brief instant if they still buried trash on Altair; everywhere else everything was recycled or reused.

  Realising that it was not the best idea to be standing directly in front of the exit, Sofia noticed a gap in the wall next to the trash, and hurried through, glancing left and right she found herself in a narrow alley running along the side of the club. After a further few meters, she found another alley intersecting that one and ducked down this side alley. Finally out of sight, Sofia leaned against the wall to catch her breath, trying to suppress a laugh. That was fun!

  Trying to remember the last time that she had such fun, giggling, she decided that the time she sneaked into Jon’s apartment and caught him bare-chested had been almost as fun. However, her introspection was suddenly cut short when she heard footsteps hurrying down the alley after her. Tensing her body, she waited for exactly, the, right…moment. As the body flashed past, she timed her moment spectacularly catching him by the wrist, using his own momentum against him to slam him up against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. To be doubly sure she also kicked him in the groin, hard. Only to look up, into the misty grey, wide-eyed expression of Jon, staring at her in complete astonishment.

  “Whoops, sorry!” she giggled out, high on excitement and adrenaline. Jon did not say a word. Just slid slowly down the wall, whimpering painfully as pain radiated out of every pore of his body.

  It was quite some time later, when Sofia helped Jon back to his feet, after profusely apologising for hitting him so hard, assuring him that she thought he was one of the brothers chasing after her.

  Finally being able to see straight, breathe, and not being totally incapacitated by the pain radiating from his groin, he looked up into Sofia’s eyes and his breath caught in his throat. She was absolutely glowing; her hair a crimson red, her eyes sparking like the brightest jewels, and her skin, while covered in sweat, was gleaming from the starlight. She was like an angel, descended from the heavens; Jon had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

  As if via a magnet, he was drawn to her bright red, soft, lips. He dipped his head forward, Sofia tipped hers back, and oh, so slowly, he covered her mouth with his. Her lips opened easily beneath his, and the taste of her filled him, nourished him, intoxicated him. But it didn’t quite satisfy him. Instead, the kiss only inflamed his appetite, making him hunger for more of her than he could ever hope to have. Despite that, he deepened the kiss, cupping her face in his hands, tilting her head back further, plundering her mouth at will. Sofia was not passive through all of it, instead curling one hand around his neck, running the fingers of her other through his hair greedily. She returned his kisses with equal fervour, equal finesse, and equal fire. For the life of him, he simply could not let her go.

  Even many years later, when thinking back on their first shared kiss, he wasn’t sure how long they stood there, so entwined, perhaps seconds, perhaps centuries, perhaps forever.

  Chapter Nine

  Present Day

  Terra Nova, Zeta Aquilae System

  Several days after the senior staff meeting, Jon was overseeing the final loading of the nondescript freighter that they had decided to use for the assault on the Syndicate outpost. David & Gunny had submitted a comprehensive tactical plan for the assault of the station including schematics and detailed timings. Paul and Jon had spent many hours, late into the night reviewing the plan, discussing what could and might go wrong, refining it and preparing for various contingencies. Finally agreeing that any more planning would be pointless, they signed off on the plan, distributing it to the various department heads to update their respective teams.

  Now, the final stages of the plan were coming together, with the ship being prepared and the assault teams boarding. A loud clanking distracted Jon from reviewing the final checklist and looking up, was stunned at the sight of the Marine boarding party approaching. All of the assault team had been fitted out in Marine assault armour. With the modern Space Marine being expected to fight in all possible environments, from the cold vacuum of space, to the varied environments of the different planets that consisted of the Confederation, hence Marine armour had been adapted, until the point it had become a completely self-encompassing environmental suit. Totally sealed, heavily armoured, with integrated sensors, communications and weapon attachments it had more in fashion with a modern starship than the armour worn by the Marines of old. The effect was to make the approaching marines look like a troupe of darkly armoured beetles with multiple appendages. All of this made the armour highly restricted, permitted only for active military personnel and totally illegal to be in the possession of anybody else… like themselves.

  “Interesting equipment Gunny,” Jon commented dryly on recognising his bulky shape as he shuffled past. What Marine combat armour lost in terms of speed over the years, was more than compensated for by the sheer firepower and protection it provided. “You must let me know where you came across a dozen of those suits…” after a moment’s thought Jon added. “Come to think of it, I would prefer that I didn’t know.”

  “You would be amazed at what you find working as a cargo hauler,” Gunny’s voice boomed out of the concealed speakers within the suit forcing Jon to take a step back from the blast of noise. Trying to get rid of the ringing from his ears, Jon wondered what it was about Marines that they had to do everything in the loudest way possible.

  “Well carry on Gunny,” Jon replied stepping aside so the huge suits could squeeze through the airlock into the waiting freighter. Jon was glad he would be up on the bridge as the hold was going to be very tightly packed indeed.

  Ensuring that all the Marines and supplies were loaded and secure, Jon closed the airlock and sealed it before making
this way to the small bridge on the freighter. On arriving Jon slid into the co-pilot seat next to Miranda who was going to be piloting the outbound leg of this journey.

  “Is everybody secure in the back?” Paul inquired, as he took the remaining seat in the small bridge.

  “Sure are,” Jon replied calmly glancing over the flight instruments to ensure the ship was ready for departure. “If the Syndicate station personnel react in a similar fashion to me when faced with those Marines they are going to be in for a big surprise! Have you finished the pre-flight?” Jon directed the question towards Miranda.

  “Yes we’re ready,” Miranda replied. “The pre-flight check shows all systems are green and we are ready to depart.”

  “Very well, let’s get this show on the road,” Jon replied with a grin, flicking a switch to activate the communications system. “Terra Nova this is UCF1 requesting permission to depart,” Jon requested.

  “UCF1?” Miranda mouthed silently to Paul.

  “Under-Cover-Freighter 1,” Paul replied laughing. “What can I say, we have an outstanding tactical officer - who is completely useless at thinking up code-names.” Having received permission from C&C that they could depart, Jon nodded towards Miranda who after ensuring that the docking clamps had been disengaged slowly eased power to the engines and the lumbering freighter slowly moved away from the docking ring.

  With some surprise Miranda realised that this was the first time she had left the station in a couple of months, ever since her last disastrous flight. She hoped that this trip would not end so badly as the last.

  “What’s our flight time, Miranda?” Jon inquired recognising the flash of nerves that had crossed her face for a brief second.