by Henry Vogel
As I floundered for the right word, Chris blushed deeply. “Like a…lover?”
As Chris leaned into me, I breathed, “Yes.”
It was more than one kiss and they were all really, truly wonderful. Finally, Chris’s exhaustion got the better of him. He leaned back, his eyes barely open, and began scooting down the bench seat. I caught his arm.
“Lay your head in my lap, Chris. You’ll be more comfortable.”
Even as his head sank down, he murmured, “But what about you?”
I stroked his hair and whispered, “I’ll be more comfortable, too.”
By the time the wreck of the Wind Dancer came into view, Chris had his face pressed up against my stomach with his arms wrapped around me. And I hadn’t been so comfortable since I was a little girl sitting in my father’s lap.
My parents and a crowd of crewmen gathered as I arrived. The men took lines from the pinnace and held them in place while I began venting gas.
“I’d like a few choice words with you, young lady,” Dad all but bellowed.
I put a finger to my lips and looked down at the head cradled in my lap. “Shhh! Chris—ah, Ensign Marlow is sleeping.”
“Who—and far more importantly, where—is this Ensign, Jade?” If anything, Dad’s voice was even louder.
Once again, I felt my cheeks color. God in heaven, I felt like I’d blushed more in this one day than I had in my entire life!.
Dad reacted like a typical father and began knocking on the pinnace’s hull. “Wake up, Ensign Marlow! If your head is where I think it is, you’ve got some explaining to do!”
“Mom!” I turned an imploring look toward her, hoping she’d restrain Dad.
With a nod in my direction, Mom caught hold of Dad’s arm. “Now, Lon, you’re overreacting.”
“Overreacting?” Dad’s voice was just as loud, but at least he wasn’t knocking on the hull any more. “Some Navy boy has his head in my little girl’s lap and you say I’m overreacting?”
“Dear, Jade is sixteen. She’s hardly a little girl anymore.” Dad opened his mouth to argue, but Mom put a finger over his mouth. “Do I need to remind you that I was Jade’s age when you convinced me to go skinny dipping in the river?”
“What?” My eyes went wide at the thought of my parents getting naked together a couple of years before they got married.
All of Dad’s yelling and knocking didn’t wake Chris up. My reaction to Mom’s announcement did the trick, though.
Chris sat up slowly, his eyes barely open. In a drowsy voice, he asked, “What are we talking about?”
My mind still reeling, I said, “Skinny dipping.”
“Oh. That sounds like fun.” Then his head dropped back into my lap. It stayed there for a split second, then his eyes flew wide. Chris sat bolt upright and looked at Dad in panic. “I’m sorry, sir! I didn’t know what I was saying.”
“Yes,” Dad drawled. “Jade does have that effect on people.”
Chris jumped to his feet and saluted. “Ensign Christopher Marlow returning your daughter to you, sir!”
“Duly noted, Ensign Marlow,” Dad responded, waving Chris to stand at ease. “I suppose you’ll be returning to your airship now?”
Mom gave Chris a maternal look. “The boy is absolutely worn out, Lon. He’s not in any shape to pilot the pinnace right now.”
Dad’s tone sharpened again. “Ensign, can I assume none of that exhaustion has anything to do with my daughter?”
Too tired to see the potential trap, Chris said, “Not all of it, sir.”
That set Dad off again. “And just what have you been doing with Jade?”
This time, I spoke before Chris could. “He’s been saving my life, Dad. And risking his own to do it!”
Dad looked my way. “Eh? Are you serious, Jade?”
“Yes, Dad. David will confirm it next time you see him.” Without waiting to be asked, I told the short version of how Chris saved me from plunging to my death.
By the time I finished, the pinnace was low enough for us to debark. Dad helped Chris down and offered his hand to the Ensign. “Please forgive a father his suspicions, Ensign.”
“You just want to protect Jade, sir.” Chris turned a smile my way. “I feel the same way about her.”
Before their conversation could get any more embarrassing, Mom swooped in with a hug for Chris and then one for me. She made sure we got something to eat, listened to my account of everything that happened after I sailed off in the pinnace, and then laid some blankets out in the shade of large section of the Wind Dancer’s wreckage. She didn’t even bat an eye when I insisted on sleeping next to Chris.
Mom kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Thank you for saving my daughter, Chris.”
His breathing deepened even before Mom turned her attention to me. She ran a hand through my hair. “He strikes me as a fine young man, Jade. I think he’ll dedicate his life to you, if you give him the chance.”
I loved hearing her say that, but I still felt a perverse need to disagree. “I haven’t even known him for an entire day, Mom!”
“And yet the two of you have been through more in that time than many couples go through in a lifetime.”
I ducked my head, too embarrassed to look at Mom. “Do you believe in love at first sight?”
“I most certainly do, Jade.” She kissed me on the forehead. “And you’re living proof of it.”
“I knew Chris was the boy for me the second he swung into the cliff and wrapped his arm around me.” I snuggled up against Chris. My eyes were growing heavy, but I felt compelled to ask her one question. “Did you really go skinny dipping with Dad when you were sixteen?”
Mom nodded. “Your father was a silver-tongued devil—still is. He tried to talk me into more, but I made him marry me before he got that.”
Drowsiness made me more daring. “Does that mean you won’t mind if I want to go skinny dipping with Chris sometime?”
Mom actually laughed. Standing, she said, “Why don’t we worry about that when there’s some water to dip your skin in?”
Then my eyes closed and, arms wrapped around Chris, I joined him in sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
David
The search crews pulled twenty-three survivors and eighteen bodies from the remains of Thor’s base. Among the survivors was Jade’s former sort-of-boyfriend Forbose. From interviews with the survivors, it’s estimated as many as sixty bodies still lay buried under the mountain. The survivors were placed under guard, each of them destined for a trial sometime in the future.
Forbose was the most popular of the prisoners, though I believe the boy would have happily passed on that honor. Alas, I couldn’t be there when Jade visited him. According to Jade’s mother, the slap Jade gave the boy is probably still echoing through the mountains.
I suspect Forbose preferred the slap to his confrontation with Jade’s father, which boiled down to the warning, “If you come near my little girl again you’ll wish you were dead and buried under that mountain.”
Chris and the two Vanguard crewmen Forbose was abusing when Chris punched the larger boy also paid a visit to Forbose. They never touched him, but Jade told me Forbose was white as a sheet when the trio left.
It took the Federation less than a day to locate Freya traveling toward the southern city-states. A consulate aircar delivered her to Mordanian authorities a few hours later. Freya wore an expression of utter disbelief when she was dragged into the Mordanian Court a few days later. Callan took quite a bit of pleasure in Freya’s reaction.
Freya refused to cooperate with the Federation and she proved capable of defeating their best interrogation drugs. Callan, as promised, put her civilized behavior aside and brought forth the barbarian princess. She doesn’t like doing that but, after spending the day attending funerals for the airmen killed in storm-induced crashes and in the battle against Thor’s army, she readily gave the orders. Freya turned out to be a typical galactic citizen in one respect—she never believe
d she would face anything more than a prison sentence for her crimes. She remained in denial right up until she was taken into an interrogation room and strapped to a table. Freya broke when the interrogator carefully explained the purpose for each of his blades.
She works for a shadowy organization loosely associated with some of the Terran Federation’s neighbors—most particularly the Waaglar Combine and the Star Empire of Cromia. Somehow, her organization had smuggled a sensor drone into the system. Based on the drone’s findings, the Aashlan system has anywhere from three to five wormholes besides the one we all knew about. Wormholes represent huge opportunities for economic expansion, so Freya’s mission was broadened. While the other governments hoped Aashla might join them, their primary goal was keeping us out of the Federation. The false fipper operation was designed to throw the Federation into a poor light and give the other governments the chance to forge alliances with us. In the end, it did the exact opposite, pushing several previously neutral countries toward favoring Federation membership.
Freya’s trial was short and the outcome was never in doubt. She’s now a guest at the Mordanian Women’s Prison awaiting a date with the headsman. Word is that Freya believes the sentence is just for show and will never be carried out. All I can say is the woman is in for a very big, though very brief, surprise.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Chris
By the time we headed home, half-a-dozen Mordanian Naval ships were on hand. I was given a place on the Tercel and assigned to light duty because of my injuries. I’d much rather have sailed on the Peregrine, where Jade and her family were berthed, but Captain Jorson insisted the surviving Vanguards travel with him. It was meant as a show of respect and I was honored by the Captain’s gesture. I just wished I had Jade at my side.
Callan and David were also aboard and they paid special attention to me, regularly inviting me to dine with them and the ship’s officers. Her Highness even gave me a pair of Terran made binoculars so I could more clearly see Jade standing on the deck of the Peregrine and gazing my way.
It took four days to reach Morda. When we docked, I had one important duty before I could find Jade. The surviving crew of the Vanguard and the Tercel formed an honor guard for our fallen comrades. We escorted the coffins—constructed from the Vanguard’s wreckage—from the dock to the Naval Cemetery. A special burial service is planned in two days. Until then, the crews were given leave. Though we were all free to go, the surviving Vanguards lingered at the cemetery for a while, offering comfort to the families of the men who died. It was mid-afternoon by the time I left.
My family had been present to greet me when we docked, but returned home after paying their respects to the dead. I knew they were expecting me to come straight home, but I went looking for Jade, instead. Fortunately, Captain Wright offered his assistance. Officials who would have turned a deaf ear to a mere ensign readily offered information to a captain—particularly the captain of the Vanguard. Sooner than I had dared hope, I stood in the public room of the city’s finest inn while a servant took a message to the Cochrans.
A few minutes later, my heart leapt when Jade descended the stairs. Then my heart leapt into my throat when I saw her parents descending right behind her. After four days apart, I’d hoped for a less restrained reunion. Jade’s parents—intentionally or not—put a damper on that plan. I bowed to Mr. and Mrs. Cochran and gave Jade’s hand a chaste kiss. Jade was equally reserved, though her eyes promised a lover’s kiss when we were alone.
“Hello, Christopher,” Mrs. Cochran said, giving me a maternal hug. “Are your injuries healing well?”
“Quite well, ma’am,” I replied.
“I’m happy to hear that,” she said.
Mr. Cochran went right to the point. “Your message requested permission to take Jade out for the evening. Where would you like to take her?”
“To meet my family, sir,” I replied, “and join us for dinner.”
Mr. Cochran looked at Jade and cocked an eyebrow. “And would you like to meet Chris’s family, young lady?”
Jade didn’t even flinch at the thought. “Yes.”
“Nell, what do you think?”
“Oh, stop being so formal, Lon,” Mrs. Cochran said. “Of course, Jade can go with Chris. Just have her back here by ten o’clock.”
“How about eleven, Mom?” Jade asked.
“How about ten-thirty?” Mrs. Cochran compromised.
We agreed on the time and the Cochrans watched me walk away with their daughter. I offered her my arm, which she accepted, and we behaved ourselves all the way down the street and around a corner. Then Jade pulled me into the first alley and kissed me quite thoroughly. After the kiss, we just held each other for a while.
“I missed you so much, Chris,” Jade breathed in my ear.
“I missed you, as well,” I said, and returned her kiss with one of my own.
We spent quite a few minutes catching up like that, drawing curious glances from passersby. Most of them were amused. A few were scandalized, including one elderly woman who took it upon herself to instruct us on proper etiquette.
“You should stop this disgraceful public display at once!” Her mouth turned down in supreme disapproval as she waved a finger under Jade’s nose. “Young lady, what are you saving for marriage?”
“I’m saving what comes after the kissing.” Jade grinned at the woman’s shocked reaction.
I steered Jade around the woman, tipping my hat at her frown. “It’s time we were leaving anyway.”
Soon enough, we reached my old neighborhood and word spread quickly that I was back. Tony saw me first and rushed over to greet me. His eyes widened when he realized I was holding hands with the girl standing next to me. Then a big grin lit up his face.
“There has got to be a great story behind this development,” he said.
“I’m happy to see you again, too,” I said.
“Yeah, welcome back blah blah blah.” Tony turned to Jade and his grin widened. “Leave it to the smartest kid in the neighborhood to go off on a boring cruise and—if the news stories are right—play a major part in the biggest story in ages. And he came back with a pretty girl in tow!”
I turned to Jade. “The guy with no manners is my long-time friend, Tony Collins. Tony, meet Jade Cochran.”
Jade released my hand to give Tony a proper handshake. That’s when Becca came flying out of her house, running straight for me. Her face was flushed and her eyes glowed with excitement.
“Chris, you’re back!” she cried, her tone one she’d never used with me in all of our seventeen years as neighbors. “I’ve been waiting for you!”
I realized she wasn’t going to stop, so braced myself and held my arms out to catch her. Becca’s arms were wide to embrace me, so I really wasn’t sure how I was going to stop her without getting way too familiar with her. Fortunately, Tony caught Becca around the waist and stopped her.
“You let go of me right now, Anthony Collins,” Becca commanded. “I need to give our new hero a proper welcome.”
Aware that Jade was watching all of this with a bemused expression, I said, “I thought Sam was the big hero.”
“Humph,” Becca replied, struggling to get free of Tony’s hold. “Did you know he made up that whole story about fighting raiders?”
“Yes, I did. Anyone who knows anything about airships and actual fighting would have known.” I turned to Jade. “You’d have loved the story. It was full of crisp, turn-on-a-penny maneuvers performed by a heavily laden merchant ship and raider battles that ranged all of the deck and up into the rigging.”
Becca, noticing Jade for the first time, stopped struggling and looked Jade up and down. “And just who is this, Chris?”
I wrapped an arm around Jade, pulling her close. “Becca, this is Jade Cochran, my companion in adventure and the love of my life.”
Jade’s expression cleared at my pronouncement. She smiled at Becca. “Pleased to meet you, Becca.”
Becca’s
mouth opened and closed several times before she finally found her voice. “Don’t be silly, Chris. I’m the love of your life!”
I shook my head sadly. “No, Becca, you’re a silly girl who falls in love with stories, not people. Now, if you’ll excuse us, my family is waiting for me.”
Jade and I walked around a stunned Becca. Tony gave me a little wave and then placed a comforting hand on Becca’s shoulder. He grinned broadly when she laid her head on his shoulder and cried.
“She’s very pretty,” Jade said. “Were you in love with her?”
“I thought I was, but now I know that was just an infatuation with the prettiest girl in the neighborhood.”
I opened the door to my family home and the familiar noise of Marlow family life blared at us. The usual chaos kept anyone from noticing us until I conspicuously slammed the front door. Carrie, the youngest except for me, noticed us before anyone else.
Every Marlow has a voice that cuts through the usual commotion, but Carrie’s is particularly piercing. “Chris is home—and he brought a girl!”
And then it was all hugs for me and introductions and hugs for Jade and stories and food. Lots and lots of food. In other words, it was home.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
David
The day after Freya’s trial, the crew of the Tercel lined up behind the surviving crew from the Vanguard in the palace’s largest audience chamber. King Edwar and Queen Elaina officially presided over the ceremony, but all eyes were on Callan. That’s not a fair assessment of the situation since all eyes were usually on Callan, even when she wasn’t dressed and coifed to regal perfection as she was today. But no one doubted this was Callan’s ceremony from beginning to end.
She opened with an impassioned account of what bards are already calling the Weather War, lauding the bravery and dedication of the men standing before her and acknowledging the sacrifices of those who journeyed home in coffins. Her eyes shining with unshed tears, Callan personally presented the families of those who never returned with folded Mordanian flags and a Cross of Morda, awarded only to those who give their lives in the service of their country. She referred to family members by name, hugged wives and parents, kissed children, and briefly shared grief with all of them.
