by Trevor Wyatt
With that, Flynn looked over at Jeryl.
“Are you up for this?” he asked.
The subtext of this statement was clear if unspoken. The admiral wasn’t questioning Jeryl’s abilities as a captain. He knew that, under most circumstances, there was nobody who he trusted more. However, the fact that The Ghost was involved was a reason for concern. Would Jeryl’s remorse over Kaine’s death cloud his mind? He had enough trouble dealing with the events of the Earth-Sonali War that led to his friend’s demise as is, but having to face down Kaine’s old ship could be a step too far.
If it was, Jeryl wasn’t tipping his hand.
“I’m more than ready for this, sir.”
“Good. We need to get this situation under control as soon as possible. We need to find out what has happened to the The Ghost and who’s controlling it now. For the sake of the Union, we must settle this matter swiftly,” Flynn said with a nod.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this,” Jeryl replied. “No matter what, I’ll do it.”
One way or another, you’re going to have to, Flynn thought to himself. However, he didn’t relay these words to the captain.
“What’s the next move?” Jeryl asked.
Flynn thought for a moment, but realized this was not a time for rash decisions, noting, “I’m not sure yet. I need time to think it over. Once I have a plan, I’ll be sure to let you know. For now, you’re dismissed.”
Jeryl saluted the admiral, who returned the salute.
As the captain left, Flynn turned once more toward the images of the battle, and those of The Ghost.
I’m not going to let this be the end of your legacy, he vowed. Not on my watch.
Chapter 10
Ashley
Two days after landing at Edoris Station, Ashley finally convinced Jeryl to spend some time away from work. She managed to talk him into meeting her at Mikey’s, a local bar that served some fantastic Oriental food with a Hawaiian flare. The bar was quiet at the moment; only a few other patrons were there, enjoying each other’s company.
“Who are you waiting for, sweetheart?”
Ashley, who had been leaning against the bar and enjoying the quiet and the cool air conditioning, turned around and looked at the bartender. A tall, well-built young man with slicked-back hair and a well-kept goatee flashed her a smile as he refilled her peanut bowl.
Smiling back, she snagged a couple of peanuts and popped one in her mouth. “My husband is meeting me here in just a few.”
He hid his disappointment well as she ordered a whiskey and a beer for Jeryl and a refill of her soda. “Well, if you need anything, my name’s Leo and our cook tonight is Donnie. Anything you’re hungry for, he can make it.”
“Thanks.” She turned back around and waited for Jeryl. A few minutes passed, and Leo must have turned up the radio. An old, twentieth century guitar riff came on, and she recognized it as Clapton’s Crossfire. It brought back memories of her childhood, sitting with her father as he played old jazz, rock, or soul music as he taught her how to field dress a rifle: taking it apart, cleaning it, and putting it back together. Involuntarily, her hands started moving, just slightly, as if she were repeating her father’s actions.
“Field dressing a rifle, Commander?”
Breaking out of her reverie, Ashley looked up to see Tira standing next to her, smiling. Ashley tilted her head, indicating the music in the background. “The song brought back some memories of when I was younger. So, what brought you here tonight?” Looking past Tira, Ashley saw a few of the younger officers getting a table and motioning for her to join them.
Tira turned to them, smiled, and then looked back at Ashley. “We’re just having some fun out tonight. A couple of them want to drink me under the table, or at least see if they can. Honestly though, I was hoping the other bartender was working tonight,” she said as Leo came up to them. “Hey, Leo. Can I get three pitchers of beer and a dozen shots of the oldest scotch you got under the counter?”
“Sure thing. Start a tab?”
“Yeah, I’ll end up paying it with their money tonight, anyway.”
He walked away laughing, tossing a few glasses into the air, catching them, and putting them on a platter as he did.
“You were saying something about another bartender?”
Tira smiled an innocent and almost embarrassed smile. “Yeah, he’s a slightly older guy named Ralph. Don’t know why, but that man’s bald head draws me in like a moth to a flame.”
“Oh. My. God. You’re such a girl.”
Tira shot Ashley a look and they both burst out laughing. It felt good to laugh again, especially after losing the convoy to a ship that shouldn’t exist anymore. “Go, enjoy taking their money.”
“I will, ma’am. You enjoy your evening too. Captain should be here in a few minutes.” Tira saw Ashley’s confused look and added, “Saw him coming this way, then he got stopped by a couple of the station engineers. We passed him on the way over.”
Leo interrupted anything Ashley was going to say by setting down their drinks. Smiling at Ashley, Tira grabbed the tray and headed over to the corner where the other officers were waiting for her. She watched as they took the drinks, downing the shots, and laughing as one of the younger guys started coughing. The innocence and immortality of youth brought warm feelings as Ashley shook her head.
“And to think, we used to be that stupid,” Jeryl said as he kissed her on the cheek. “Hey, beautiful.”
Ashley looked at her husband and fell in love with him all over again. There was nothing special going on, he wasn’t dressed up nice, he wasn’t trying hard, he just…was. He was the kind of man that used cheesy lines that made her smile—and which, in turn, made him smile a genuine smile of enjoyment for the moment. “Hey, baby. Everything okay with the engineers you ran into?”
“Engi…how did…Tira?”
“Yep.”
He chuckled. “Things are good. They were just telling me how things were going and had a question on whether or not we wanted to convert one of the shuttle bays into a second flight deck for more Hunters.”
“What did you say?”
“It’s not up to me. I’d like a bigger fleet of Hunters, but it’s up to Flynn and the rest of the higher ups. Hey, let’s go to a table.” He picked up his drinks and took her to a corner table where they could see the whole bar. Waving Leo over, he ordered them both a cheeseburger with fries and barbecue sauce, Ashley’s choice of condiment for meat and bread.
“Speaking of Flynn, any word on what they want us to do next?” Ashley asked as she sipped at her soda. She was feeling a bit queasy, but the soda was helping.
“Not yet. I’m not completely sure what the plan is going to be, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to be precisely in the middle of it, and we probably won’t like it either.” He looked past Ashley and started laughing. Ashley turned around and saw that Tira was arm wrestling the others and making them look bad in the process. Their little corner was raucous, but not obnoxiously so. “They’re having too much fun—gotta love it.”
“Yeah. Are you okay? You look a little…distracted or something,” Ashley said with a concerned look.
“Huh?”
Ashley could tell that there was just too much going on in his mind. She reached across the table and took a hold of his hands. He flashed a sweet smile and tried to look in control. “Just…a lot on my mind. Guess I’m letting it show, huh?”
“A little. Hey, I love you, you know that, right?”
Jeryl squeezed Ashley’s hands. “Of course, baby. I love you too.” They let go of each other as Leo brought their food. “That was quick.”
Leo chuckled. “That’s Donnie’s specialty, he can get you a Thanksgiving dinner in less than thirty minutes, and it’ll be fully cooked with all the trimmings. Enjoy the food, guys.”
“This is good,” Ashley mumbled through a mouthful of fries. Jeryl laughed and poured some sauce on her plate for her. She nodded her thanks, picked up her cheesebur
ger, dipped it in the sauce and took a big bite of it. She moaned in pleasure and nodded appreciatively at her burger, taking another bite before finishing the first. A few minutes of later, Ashley washed down the last of her burger with her freshly refilled soda.
“Hey,” she said between swallows. “What are we gonna do?”
“About what?” Jeryl asked, taking a bite from his own burger.
“About the baby. And us? My belly’s gonna start showing soon, and…as cool as it is to be in space, do we really want a baby growing up out here?”
“Honestly? I’m thinking we retire after this.”
Ashley spat the few drops of soda she had just drank back into her glass. “What?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s like what you said. We get to travel the cosmos, see things that no one else gets to see, experience amazing things, even fly in crazy-ass ships,” he said with a little snicker in her direction. “But, the idea of trying to raise a family on a starship? I know some people might do it, but…as much as I love The Seeker, I love you and shmumkins more.”
She lifted her eyebrow as she gave him the look. “Shmumkins?”
“Well, don’t know if it’s a boy or girl yet, so can’t give the baby a name.”
“But, shmumkins? You couldn’t go with ‘tiny’, or ‘rugrat’?”
“I was trying something different.”
“No kidding. You would really consider retiring?”
“If they don’t give us desk jobs back home.”
She was speechless. This man—this adorable man that stole her heart during an incredible weekend of sex and even more sex—loved being a Captain, loved his ship, and loved his job. He was willing to give it all up to be a family man tied down to a single planet and a single place. She got up from her chair, moved over next to him, grabbed his face, and kissed him passionately. The moment was perfect. Even when Tira and the other officers started whooping it up and cheering them on, it was perfect.
Then, Jeryl’s communicator went off. They broke their kiss very reluctantly. Jeryl looked at his comm, then showed it to Ashley.
It was from Flynn.
Chapter 11
Tira
For the first three minutes of being alone in the space shuttle, Tira found herself bedazzled by the many blinking lights. Space was cold, as was the shuttle. It sat on the deck of The Seeker, purring like a kitten and ready for flight.
Tira could see the flight deck from the pilot’s seat. Flight engineers scurried across the vast deck, carrying equipment from shuttle to shuttle. Some patrolling Hunters were just flying in through the main blast doors, which were wide open like a mammoth’s maw; the only thing keeping them from all being sucked out into the void of space was the shimmering containment field.
The crackle of the shuttle’s communicator brought Tira out of her reverie.
“We’re in orbit, Tira,” the slightly stifled voice said. “The Captain and the Commander are on their way to you.”
“Roger that,” Tira replied. “The shuttle is prepped and ready for departure. Over and out.”
Tira ran through her preflight checklist again with silent deftness. Her hands played across the multiple switches and buttons, never for once breaking in pattern. It was as though she had become one with the shuttle.
She knew she could fly the shuttle—and pretty much everything flyable—with her eyes closed. She was that good, which was why everyone aboard The Seeker liked her.
Tira nodded satisfyingly to herself—she was being efficient and she knew it.
The hiss of the shuttle door opening and a slight gust of wind escaping into the shuttle announced the entrance of Jeryl and Ashley.
“—not so sure it’s going to work,” Ashley was saying as they both strode up the ramp of the shuttle.
“We have to try,” Jeryl replied. “It’s either this or nothing.”
Ashley didn’t follow that response with an immediate comeback.
“Nothing doesn’t sound good,” she then replied a few seconds later.
Another hiss from behind informed Tira that the couple had cleared the entrance and the automated shuttle door had closed itself.
Tira was just about to stand up when Jeryl said, “Remain seated, Tira. Lift off when ready.”
This was all Jeryl said before he went back to conversing to Ashley. “Damn right it’s not. I don’t like it. I mean we practically hunted these guys from one corner of the galaxy to the other.”
Ashley’s voice came back with a little bit of frustration. Tira wasn’t sure if it was the subject of discourse that upset her, or the seat strap she was struggling with.
“Doesn’t sound fair that we should—help me with this damn thing,” Ashley said in an irritated voice.
“Hold on…” Jeryl replied.
Tira turned her attention back to the controls.
This mission Admiral Flynn had assigned them was supposed to be under wraps, so they couldn’t take a shuttle pilot. Thankfully, Tira was a damn good pilot. Ashley was herself, but she was pregnant.
“Shuttle One to Flight Command,” Tira said into her comms as she fired off the main engines. “Permission to take off.”
The familiar crackle of static followed before it cleared and the voice of the flight commander came through. “Permission granted, Shuttle One. Bring our Captain back in one piece.”
Tira indulged a soft chuckle. “Will do, Flight Commander. Shuttle One out.”
Tira cocked her head a little so she could see Ashley and Jeryl in her periphery. Jeryl had just finished strapping Ashley in and was now getting into his seat. From this angle, Tira looked at Ashley’s abdomen. Even though she knew the pregnancy was making things a bit tense between the couple, she couldn’t help but notice how at ease they were with each other. Had they come to terms with it?
Duty or family? Tira shivered at the choice. Duty or love? She wasn’t sure which she would choose. She had a compelling reason to choose duty, yet didn’t she have a duty to the ones she loved?
Tira began to observe Jeryl with a different eye. The legendary captain was faced with an impossible situation. She could see it tearing him up inside—she was very perceptible that way. Though Jeryl had faced many impossible situations before, this one was different. He wasn’t facing a rogue nation or trying to stop a civil war. He was facing…family.
The fact that he was conflicted by this softened Tira’s heart. She knew many captains who wouldn’t give two shits about family. Captain Montgomery was different.
Tira felt a slight frown come on her face. Different isn’t always good, she thought to herself.
“We’ve been cleared for takeoff, Captain,” Tira all but whispered, humbled by the two people with her in the shuttle.
Jeryl strapped himself right in, flashed Ashley a smile, and said, “Takeoff.”
Tira had the shuttle rocketing out the flight deck seconds later. The inertia dampener whined aloud as she performed a sharp ninety degrees drop to the planet beneath. The gravity generator compensated for the sudden drop, keeping everyone grounded.
The planet loomed before her, a giant dusty brown speck orbiting a type C nebula in the far reaches of the Union. There was little if any Terran Armada presence on the planet. It was one of those hideouts smugglers used to lay low or get killed in. It was called Smuggler’s Cave in the underworld, but in Terran Union database, it was known as Planet C4.
So goddamn insignificant it doesn’t even get a name, Tira observed as she piloted the shuttle through a narrow rocky gulley on the dark side of the planet. I guess no one wants to be known for naming a planet where some of the most heinous crimes are planned and executed.
A feeling of wariness sneaked up Tira’s spine as the gulley opened up to a massive valley, where a large city lay sprawling from edge to edge. It had all the whistles and bells of a modern city, twinkling with a thousand lights and billboards and neon signs, yet it was clothed in immorality and dipped in crime.
Smuggler’s Cave, death’s s
afe haven.
Tira ignored hails from the small space port nested in the center of the city and set the shuttle right in the back of a small ramshackle one-story building at the edge of the city.
As she powered down the shuttle and activated its security feature, she felt tension gripping her frame.
No one said anything while they armed themselves. They ensured that their weapons were well secreted before they left the shuttle and walked around the building, making a beeline for a small and dirty bar.
“Follow my cue,” Jeryl whispered to them. He led them into the seedy bar. Ashley followed, and Tira brought up the rear.
Tira’s eyes roamed the large, stuffy space, taking everything in and mapping it out in case things got…uncomfortable.
There was only one entry and one exit, both guarded by two bouncers. The exit led to the back of the building where their shuttle was parked. A tiny door in the corner concealed a stairwell leading upstairs.
The exit led to the back of the building where their shuttle was parked.
About fifty people were packed into the bar, all of whom looked deadly enough to make Tira uneasy. She might have defeated Powers and Guillermo the other day, but she wasn’t crazy enough to think she could enter a brawl inside this place.
They took up position at a table that was out of the way. No one paid them any heed.
Probably can’t think through the loud music, Tira thought.
A waiter came next to them to take their orders.
While Jeryl and Tira ordered scotch, Ashley ordered a glass of water.
As soon as the waiter left, trouble struck fast.
“What, too good to drink like the rest of us?” a voice boomed over their heads.
At first, they all kept quiet, unsure if the voice was meant for them. But then, a burly fellow shot up to his feet right at the table next to theirs. His chair crashed to the ground so hard that the entire bar was brought to a standstill.
