The Reign_Mara_a Passion Uncontested

by Lance Berry

  They nodded their assent, and David leaned forward a bit, keeping his voice steady but somewhat low, so as not to draw undue attention from the other patrons. “To James Stubbs and Nichole Tamamura; two of the most wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure of calling ‘friend.’ Who knew that from such inconspicuous beginnings as sharing command, true love could blossom? May your hearts never waver in their course, may you find strength through each other, and may your union outlast the stars themselves.”

  “Hear, hear,” Mara added, and the four of them clinked their glasses and drank. As they did so, Mara looked over the top of her glass at David, to find him doing likewise to her. The spark from earlier, it seemed, had ignited. There were four of them together at the table, but David and Mara had eyes only for each other.

  Two hours later, David feigned going to the restroom in order to pay the bill. Stubbs playfully ribbed him about it, but was in all honesty grateful for the gesture. The quartet shared a lift together to the fourteenth floor, and soon were standing outside Stubbs’ room. As he and David chatted a moment, Mara pulled Tamamura aside.

  “So whose idea was it, introducing the two of us?”

  Tamamura smiled. “It was really James. I happened to mention one day that it’s a shame you haven’t met the right guy yet. He’s been friends with David longer than I have, and vouched for what a great guy he is. I knew what a big fan you are of his, and figured if you could get to know him and see through the glitter, maybe things would work out.”

  Mara smiled. “You guys are great friends.”

  Tamamura shrugged. “We’ve been through a lot together, Mara. You’re not just a senior staffer to us. We love you, and only want the best for you.” She tugged on Mara’s sleeve, signaling for her to move closer. She did, and Nikki leaned into her ear. “But on a personal note, one groupie to another…you better spill the beans on how he is, when the time comes. If you get my meaning.”

  Mara stood straight, a small gasp escaping her lips. “Nikki!” she exclaimed lightly, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You know I’m waiting ‘til I’m married to lose my virginity! You may be waiting a long time.”

  Tamamura raised an eyebrow at this. “Uh-huh. I’m sure.”

  “Sure about what?”

  Mara spun around to find David and Stubbs walking toward them. She shook her head innocently. “Nothing. Girl talk.

  You know.”

  David nodded slowly, not fully believing the excuse. “I don’t know, James…are your ears burning, or are mine?” Stubbs chuckled and shook his head. He looked about quickly, making sure no one else was around before taking Tamamura’s hand.

  “I’ll interrogate this one and let you know in the morning.” He tossed out a goodnight to them both, then led his fiancée inside.

  It was only then that Mara realized the captain had rented three rooms as a ruse to throw off others; he and Tamamura were, of course, sharing his room.

  Mara and David stood alone in the corridor, gazing at each other with anxious, hopeful looks on their faces—the type shared by couples who are aware the first date has gone well, and neither hopes to say anything stupid to mess up the possibility of a second.

  David reached out, gently taking Mara’s hand and draping her arm around his. “Here, allow me to walk you home,” he said with a wink, then led her the five feet from Stubbs’ door to her own. She laughed at this, and he was glad for it. They reached the door and stood in silence, another expectant moment drawing out between them. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said, then chuckled. “It’s a good thing the wine was synthetic. I’ve never been good at holding alcohol. If I had drank that much of the real thing, you’d be carrying me inside.”

  Her face suddenly turned serious, and then she said, “Not…that that would be a bad thing.”

  David moved closer, his hand reaching up to gently caress her face. “I would like nothing better than to carry you over this threshold, Mara. There’s something about you, I can’t fully explain it. A magnetism that draws me toward you, as inescapable as the pull of a gravity well. I’ve never been this attracted to any woman in all my life. I can’t even believe I’m telling you this much…” He paused, and Mara noticed that both their breaths were coming in shallow, ready exhalations. “It’s just that…I think we should hold off, at least for a bit.

  Anticipation increases passion, I believe.”

  Mara nodded absently, still trying to comprehend the facts that a. she had errantly tossed out her Marriage Before Loss Of Virginity rule, and b. he had just turned down an invitation to spend the night making love…something she had never had happen to her before, even though she had rejected every man who had ever approached her, with the exception of Brad Lutz.

  And that had ended terribly, anyway. Mara didn’t think that anything close to what had occurred with Brad would happen if she and David spent the night together. Brad Lutz was a case of youthful lust gone wrong. She knew in her heart, even though they had spent only hours together, that what she felt for David now was true and absolute love. And yet David had told her ‘no.’ For some reason she couldn’t fully understand, she now wanted him even more.

  “Sure, okay,” she heard herself answering. “I understand.”

  David reached up, gingerly holding her face in both hands now. “Don’t get me wrong, Mara. I do want to see you again. I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to make me yours…”

  He leaned down and she stood slightly on her toes to meet him. They kissed, then wrapped their arms around each other tightly, almost in an effort to become one. Their kiss lasted for a very long while, and even though people disembarked from the nearby lift more than once, David and Mara took no notice of them, nor did they care. Both realized that something new, wonderful and inexplicable had occurred here tonight. It seemed that destiny had chosen to forge a bond between them, and no matter the concerns of others, the state of the war or the fate of the universe itself, nothing could stand in the way of their being meant to be together.

  Interim Three

  (Panther)

  “So you’re in love now, is it? Absolute bollocks,” Malcolm

  ‘Panther’ Edwards said with a sad, bewildered shake of his head. He sat back in his long recliner chair at his poolside and took another sip of brandy as he cautiously regarded his friend David on the vid-com, fearing for the man’s very sanity.

  On the screen, David’s shoulders bunched up a bit and Panther could hear him tapping his fingers on his own console a moment before he answered, “Panther, that’s the third time you’ve said that, and I’m growing quite annoyed. You say it one more time, and I swear I’m going to fly straightaway to your home and box your bloody ears!”

  Panther smiled slyly and took another nip from his snifter.

  He always knew how to get under his old friend’s skin, and loved doing it. “Absolute…fucking…bollocks.”

  He could tell in David’s movement that he was about to sever the line, and Panther swung his legs over the side of the recliner to sit up straight. “C’mon, David! This is me, fucking Panther you’re talking to! Now I’m not maligning this lass, I’m sure she’s a sweet girl. And knowing you, she’s one hell of a great-looking lay—”

  “We haven’t—”

  “Lay-to-be,” Panther corrected, interrupting his friend’s angry reply. “But you and I both know you’ve been here before!

  What about Susan? What about Lena? What about that

  Japanese chick, Nitalla…what the hell was her name?” He nodded to a pretty blonde who was just climbing out of the swimming pool.

  “Hey, Crissy! What in hell was the name of that Japanese bird David knocked around with on the East End?”

  “Nitalla something,” the blonde said with a shrug, then picked a towel up from the marble bench and began to dry her hair.

  “Bloody useless, that one,” Panther told David as he nodded toward Crissy. David shook his head and couldn’t
stifle a small chuckle in spite of himself. “You and Crissy back together again?”

  Panther shrugged. “As of last night. If she’s learned how to cook finally, it may last ‘til tomorrow.” He then waved Crissy over in a rushed manner.

  With an annoyed huff, she walked over and leaned on Panther’s shoulder. Her eyes lit up at the sight of David and she waved enthusiastically. “Hello, David! How are you?”

  “Fine, Crissy. Long time.”

  “True, true. When you boppin’ back this way?”

  “Don’t know. Got missions and such.”

  “Ah.”

  “Crissy…what did I call you this morning, after we woke up?” Panther asked.

  “The hottest piece of ass this side of Enfield.”

  “Thank you, love. You’re dripping on me.”

  Crissy huffed and smacked him on the shoulder. “Pleasure talking to you, David,” she said, then headed off to the marble bench once more.

  Panther sucked in an appreciative breath as he watched her derrière recede, then looked back to David once more. “There, you see? That’s what it’s all about, mate. Don’t give me this love, flowers, stars-in-the-eyes, Valentine’s card crap. No matter all the lovey-dovey reasons you can conjure up, the fact is that we’re beasts at heart, bred to it. It’s all pheromones, my friend. Your brain wants to reason everything out because that’s what it’s for…but the truth is, you just want to get your dick wet, because that’s what it’s for.”

  “Malcolm, I swear…I sometimes wonder why we’re friends to this day.”

  Panther could tell the tone in David’s voice was not altogether joking. He ran a hand through his prematurely silvering hair. “’Cause I’m the cold light of reason you’ve always been missing in your life.”

  David rolled his eyes. “Oh yes, that’s it exactly.”

  Panther emptied the snifter in one last gulp. “I still remember those other women, David.”

  David sighed lightly. “We were young, all of us, Malcolm.

  Susan was passion on the battlefield. Lena, well we know why that didn’t work out. And as for Natalla Kikukawa—“

  “Kikukawa! Yah, that was it!”

  David smiled, somewhat abashedly. “Well, we always did say Japanese women were the wave of the future.”

  The two friends shared a small laugh over this, but David quickly turned serious once more. “But this is different, Malcolm, I assure you. This woman…I’ve never known anyone like her. Only a few hours in her company, and I swear, I felt as if I could spend my whole life with her.”

  Malcolm ‘Panther’ Edwards sat forward just a bit more, studying his old friend’s features carefully. “She must be something special, if she’s actually managed to snag the heart of Earth’s greatest hero.” There was no ribbing this time, nor was there any bitterness in this statement. Over the years, Malcolm had grown accustomed to the fact that David would always be the more well-known of the two of them. It was just the way the world worked, and there was no going around it. “The Calvorians have a term, you know. ‘Dushalla.’ It means ‘undying love’.”

  David considered it. “I don’t know if we’re there just yet.

  But I would say that for now, it certainly is a passion uncontested.”

  Panther nodded soberly. “Well, then…I want to meet this girl, David. Anyone hoping to tie up more of your time than I do has to meet with my approval first.”

  David chuckled lightly. “You will, my friend. I promise. But

  I also promise that if you mistreat her, even by accident, you’d best be prepared for a long furlough in the hospital.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it, my brother,” he replied in all earnestness. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Chapter 23

  “You bitch! You total, absolute bitch,” Missy King screamed in amazement over the vid-com. “You are not doing David Christenson!”

  Mara tried to contain her smile at the mention of his name— as well as her friend turning green with envy—but she just couldn’t. “No, I’m not, Missy. Not like that. And stop saying that, anyway…you make it sound so sordid. We just felt this thing between us, and made out intensely a couple times tonight.”

  “Oh my gaaawwd,” Missy cried, mouth wide in disbelief.

  She leaned so close to the screen, Mara could swear she could make out the pores of her skin. Missy huffed, her mind swirling, then said, “Okay…so the big question: Did you blow him?”

  “Noooo,” Mara cried, amazed that after all these years, her old friend was still so focused on that. She paused, then sighed in mild embarrassment. “I did think about offering it, though.”

  Missy tapped the screen on her end of the line. “Ha! I knew it! I should’ve bet you a hundred Unicreds! Slutty-poo!”

  “Oh, stop it, Missy,” Mara said, now beginning to grow a little annoyed. It had been almost two years since she and Missy had been able to sit down and chat at any length. In that time, Missy had moved on to become a ground-pounder assigned to duty aboard the Heavy Cruiser Delaware. Mara had done her best to keep tabs on her friend whenever possible, and had been concerned to hear her ship had had some close calls in recent theaters of engagement. Mara had come to realize that being soldiers, neither of them would be around forever, and it would behoove them to stay in touch more frequently in order to share special moments in their lives so they’d have no regrets later. However, Mara reflected, if she’d known Missy would act like she was still eighteen over her news, she might have reconsidered placing the call.

  “Oh c’mon, Mara. You know I’m just joshing you,” Missy said, in an only moderately apologetic tone. “What’s a friend good for, if they can’t rib you every once in a while?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Mara answered…not quite satisfied that she didn’t receive an apology, but understanding this would likely be the best she was going to get. “It’s just that…I don’t know, Missy. I’ve never met any man in my life that holds a candle to David. He’s amazing. So well-spoken, so thoughtful, intelligent, handsome…he’s got it all. It’s, it’s just… unbelievable.”

  On the other end of the vid-line, Missy sat back in her chair.

  “Wow. Sounds like you’re actually in love, Mara.”

  Mara thought about it a moment, then smiled. “I don’t know. Maybe I am, Missy. That would be something, huh?”

  Missy nodded. “I’m happy for you, Mara. Really. So, what’s next for you two?”

  “Next?”

  “Yeah! I mean, you are going to see him again, right?”

  Mara shrugged. “I guess. I’ve been so focused on how well everything went when we were at dinner, I haven’t really thought too much about it. We exchanged O-addys, we said we’d keep in touch. But I mean, with the war going on, us being on separate ships and—“

  “Duh! Transfer to his ship, lug-head,” Missy exclaimed, her mouth dropping open in astonishment that her friend hadn’t already thought of the obvious solution.

  To her surprise, Mara shook her head. “I don’t know…he’s already got a security chief.”

  “He’d be trading up.”

  “What if things don’t work out?”

  “And what if they do? Mara, he’s captain of Earth’s flagship! If nothing else, it would be one hell of a boost to your military career, regardless of how it panned out. But if it did… wow, you’d be kicking the enemy’s ass right alongside your boyfriend every day!”