Chapter Eighteen
When I awoke the next morning Patty’s mother was waiting and said, “Now, the good doctor has left a schedule for you, but I think you can do much better than this, so we’ll challenge you a little.”
The following month was the most demanding one I had ever experienced. Every day when I got up I considered refusing to do the workout, but the realization that I was completely dependent on Patty’s family for food and shelter out here soon quashed any thought of rebellion.
Day after grueling day passed more slowly than I had ever experienced. I did not think it would ever end, but finally after about a month Rannor returned to check on me one morning. After talking with Patty’s mom he said to me, “James, you are a good week ahead of schedule on your recovery.”
“I assure you that was not my fault,” I said.
He laughed and continued, “You are well enough to return to school now. But you never did get your vacation, so take the next week easy and I will send a shuttle to pick you up here in a week. Do not completely stop your workouts, but you can scale them down considerably.”
“Make sure you tell that to the drill sergeant,” I commented.
He smiled and left to find my brutal taskmaster.
That night at dinner, I decided to tease Patty just a little and said, “You know, Patty, you still owe me a dinner out.” Almost before I had finished saying that, I wished I could take it back. I really should have thought that out better.
“That’s a wonderful idea!” exclaimed her mother.
“I agree,” said her father. “Bill says you are a pilot, so take the shuttle and go into town tomorrow night.”
“You two should go to The Whispering Pines. It’s a very nice place. You know what? I’ll call them after supper and get reservations for you,” said her mother.
This was getting out of hand fast. I looked over at Patty, who was in a state of shock at the speed of events. I tried to back out, saying, “I have not flown in over a decade … ”
“James, it’s a local shuttle, not a battleship. You won’t have any problems,” said her father.
“Well - I do not know the area. I would hate to get lost and have something happen to your shuttle,” I answered.
“James, stop your worrying. Patty knows the way; you two will be fine,” said her mother.
It appeared that I was completely outmatched, so I just said, “Thank you, that is very generous.”
“Great! It’s settled then. I’ll make a reservation for six - er, how do you navy types say it again? Six hundred hours?” asked her mother.
“No, honey, it’s eighteen hundred hours,” commented her father.
“Oh, yes, that’s right. Okay, then, that’s when I will book for,” she said with a smile.
After supper her father called me into his office. I had lived with this man for some time, but I was nervous about this discussion with him. This was a different kind of conversation: now I was someone who was apparently going out on a date with his only daughter.
I noticed he had a big, wooden desk like my father’s, so I figured I would try to start the conversation off on a more casual level. “That is a beautiful desk.”
“I guess you didn’t see much wood where you grew up?” he asked.
“When I was little I thought of all that metal, plastic, and glass in our sector as home. Then living at the school, which is mostly stone, became more like home, but after being here for a while it seems so sterile in comparison. Your walls are wood, and everything here is made from growing plants. It is so much warmer,” I said.
“Bill talks the same way about this house when he comes back from a long tour in space. It seems that, even though he lives here, he has to leave it to notice what he has. It’s kind of like this desk,” he said, brushing his hand across the intricate carvings. “I sit at this desk almost every day grading my students’ papers, and I hardly notice it. But now that you point it out, I’m struck anew by its beauty.
“James, that’s really why I called you in here. Oh, I know you must be thinking that I’m going to lecture you on how to treat my daughter and all that, but I’m a fairly good judge of character, and the time that you have lived here has told me all I need to know about you. I know my daughter will be safe with you.
“Like I said, I see this desk every day and barely notice it. I have come to depend on it being here, and should it ever be gone, I would sorely miss it. When Bill leaves this house to live in a spacecraft for a while, he realizes what he has here and misses it. In a week you will be back at your school with all your responsibilities and classes put back on your shoulders, and one day you will graduate and move on with your life to whatever assignment the master wizards give you. When that day comes it is likely that you will be separated from Patty, possibly forever, and I would hate to think that you might both realize only then what it was you had and lost.
“I will talk to my wife so that she doesn’t bug you about your exercises; you just use this week to really get to know each other. I would have offered to help pay for whatever you might wish to do here, but I know you come from a wealthy family, which we aren’t, so I don’t feel it necessary. I’m on break here and will not need the shuttle again for a few weeks, so feel free to use it.”
“I hardly know what to say to that, sir,” I started. He certainly had me thinking by now, and I needed time to digest my thoughts. It was starting to appear that I really was the only one who did not know Patty and I had been dating for the last ten years.
“You don’t have to say anything. Only a fool would think you followed a hare-brained scheme across multiple sectors, almost ending up in jail, to visit a family you did not know if there wasn’t a girl involved somehow,” he said.
“You know, that is almost word for word what my father said,” I commented.
“Your father and I might have grown up in different worlds and cultures, but some things are universal,” he said. “Now, I also want to assure you that you will always have a second home here. I know your family is over a year of jumps away, so feel free to come here on your vacations, even if they are not in sync with Patty’s. Everyone needs a family they can lean on, and we would like nothing better than to be yours,” he said.
“Thank you, sir. I will probably take you up on that. I love to hike, but all we have at the school is rocky terrain, nothing like the natural beauty of this world. And it is nice to be somewhere where people think of me as just another guy, not some superstar,” I said.
He smiled warmly at that. After a much less manly hug than I was used to, I left him and returned to my room to study a little before bed. I was not sure what I had gotten myself into, and I thought back to the brief moment in time before this trip started when Patty had asked me to come here. I wondered how different life would have been if I had said “No, thanks.” It seemed that so much had changed just from that simple decision to go with her. I did not regret it in the least because, had I done anything else, Patty’s mom would have died a horrible death. But still, the twists and turns that my life was taking led me to ponder what might have been.
Chapter Nineteen
The next morning we met for breakfast. Patty’s family ate every meal together, and at first it had taken me a while to get used to that. Growing up, my family was always so scattered that we rarely ate at the same time. Now, with only a week left, I realized I would miss these mealtimes. They were so relaxed and open; people even shared food from each other’s plates, which would have given my mother a heart attack. It was funny to think how alien this life was to me and yet how much more I liked it than the hectic city life of my homeworld.
“James, why didn’t you tell me you’re a spellweaver?” asked Patty.
“How did you find out?” I asked.
“When Rannor was explaining to me how to help you fight that spirit, he mentioned that you could fight it directly because you’re a spellweaver. The way he said it made me reali
ze he assumed that you’d already told me, and there was no time to question him further,” she said.
“I just wanted to be myself for a while longer and put that burden aside for a while,” I replied.
“What’s so special about being a spellweaver?” asked Patty’s mom.
“It is a very rare power, and I am the first student in the school to possess it,” I said.
“It’s more than that. It means he is next in the line of succession for the position of Grandmaster Wizard,” commented Patty.
“Oh, dear, that is an awful burden,” added her mother. She said that as if she truly did understand, but how could she?
“Patty is right. Only a spellweaver can hold that position, and at present I am the only one in the realm other than Grandmaster Vydor,” I said.
“Now your comment about needing a place to feel normal makes much more sense. Well, James, having gotten to know you, I can say that the future of our realms is in good hands,” commented her father.
“James, what time should I be ready to leave by?” asked Patty.
“How long will it take to get there from here?” I asked.
“About thirty minutes,” answered her father.
“Then we should leave around 1430,” I answered.
“Oh, James, I’m not that bad!” remarked Patty.
I just smiled. I knew better than to say that she was so I kept my mouth shut. The rest of the morning was fairly quiet. I spent most of it studying the books Rannor dropped off, trying to get as far ahead as I could before evening so that I would not have to worry about rushing home to study.
When lunchtime rolled around, Patty ate her meal very quickly and took off. When I asked her father what was up he said, “She needs to get ready for tonight.”
“Sir, that’s over four hours away. What could she possibly need to do?” I asked.
He laughed and said, “I guess you haven’t been around many women?”
“No, sir. Very few women ever reached command level in the Navy, and at the school there is not much opportunity for social events like this,” I replied.
“I’m sorry to hear that. If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you, James?” he asked.
“Sir, I recently turned 80,” I answered.
“You know, in a way it's odd: you're a seasoned combat veteran, which is very impressive at such a young age, but I get the impression you never took much time to attend to your social life. I suspect that this might actually be your first real date,” he said.
I sighed. “I kind of let life get away from me. I was so wrapped up in trying to please my father and excel in the Navy, I just never took time to have a social life; so it is really my first proper date.”
“Well, there’s no time like the present to change that,” he said. “Patty is not much different, really. She spent most of her life running from gymnastics practices to competitions. It paid off greatly in trophies and medals, but didn’t allow her much in the way of a social life. She buried herself in her sport and never got out much. Her mom and I tried to encourage it, but that never worked out. When we heard that you two were dating we begged her to bring you to a comm so we could meet you, but she always managed to have something crop up. Then when she told us you would be coming home with her on this trip, well - you know the rest. I’m glad you two will be getting a little dose of a social life before returning to your duties at the school. All that work can make a person rather boring, you know.”
I was starting to think that he already considered us virtually married and saw me as a son rather than just a friend of Patty’s who was visiting. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon just chatting about random topics. He told me anecdotes from his teaching days, and I shared some war stories with him.
Then the time came for Patty and I to leave. When she came into the room I was stunned: I had never seen her dressed up before. Instead of her normal loose and unflattering clothing, she was wearing a very feminine dress that accentuated her figure in a grand way yet stopped short of revealing too much. The emerald green color was a nice contrast to her thick, curly, fiery red hair, and the whole effect made me catch my breath. Her father was right; I had seen her every day for over a decade and along the way had stopped noticing her beauty.
Thankfully her father had warned me that it was a nice restaurant and we would be expected to dress up. The only formal clothing I had with me was the dress uniform from my navy days. I had learned to bring it on any extended trip, as it commanded respect and often better treatment whenever I would wear it out amongst the general public. I am sure all my medals and badges also helped in that regard.
When we were on our way in the shuttle she said to me, “You know, The Whispering Pines is where my parents had their first date.”
“Somehow I suspected that,” I said.
The rest of that night and the following week were like a dream. Patty and I spent nearly every waking hour together exploring the local villages and gallivanting around the city, and we made sure to have a private dinner every night at a different restaurant. Every morning we would meet with her parents at breakfast and work out our plans for the day. Her mom was very good at subtly hinting suggestions, while her father would just tell us outright what he thought we should do. Most of the time we did not take their advice, but when we did it always turned out to be good.
Chapter Twenty
“Bill, you ready for this?” asked Mike.
A dozen of us were hiding in the gravitational shadow of a small asteroid field, waiting to ambush a small pirate supply convoy which our intelligence sources had said would pass by soon. While we waited, I wondered how James and Patty were getting along. Mom had said they were using this week to get out on some dates for a change, and I felt that was a good thing. My baby sister really needed someone in her life to help stabilize her wild and careless ways.
“Ready? Ha! I’m bursting at the seams here for the chance to start turning the tables on them,” I responded.
Pirate activity in this region had slowly been picking up over the past few years. So far they had attacked only merchants, but I knew that sooner or later they would begin to take over all the routes, including the civilian ones. When that happened things would get really bad for everyone. The Aleeryon Navy was just too young to stand up to any properly organized force.
“Teams, give me your status,” came a call over the command channel.
“Red Leader, all fighters hot,” I responded. Soon the other wings that were scattered about in various hiding places called in that they were ready. This would be a great exercise for us: our plan required numerous wings coming from multiple places all at the same time to attack the same targets while managing not to kill each other.
“All teams stand by. Enemy spotted, E.T.A. is five minutes,” said the fleet commander.
I was one of the select few in the fleet with actual combat experience, and I knew how dangerous this maneuver would be. Most of the pilots in my wing were fairly nervous, but it was critical that we start striking back now while the pirate fleets were small and ill-equipped.
“All teams go!” called out the fleet commander.
“Red Wing, jump!” I called out to my team, and we all jumped to the preplanned target area. As we came out, the autopilot computer set us in a scatterburst formation to give us time to recover from the post-jump hangover. As soon as I regained my senses, I took back control of my fighter and started calling out our primary targets.
The pirate fleet was much bigger than expected, but I believed we had enough firepower to take them down. My wing was an anti-fighter wing. Basically, we hunted their fighters and small craft to remove them from the main fight and allow our bombers and cruisers to rip through their larger craft.
“Red three, four, and five, get on alpha. Red six, nine, and ten, get on beta. The rest of you are with me,” I said. We caught them completely off-guard and in the first few moments of the fight w
e tore right through many of their craft, but as our bomber wings swung around for a second pass the pirates started to get their act together. They pulled all their fast attack craft out of the fight with us and sent them at our bombers. The bombers would be no match for them.
“Red Wing, break off all current targets and cover bomber wing beta!” I called out. I quickly punched my engines to maximum power and set my sights on the leader of the pirate attack. As we closed the distance I called out, “Break four!” which told my wing to work in four prearranged teams of three to start cutting down the pirate fighters.
The pirates pushed on towards the bombers, seemingly oblivious to our approach. That was not good; it could only mean they had good reason to think we were not a threat. My group of three fighters all began firing at once as we got in range of our target and made quick work of the lead pirate fighter.
I directed my team to the next target, and soon we had destroyed all the pirate fighters. “Great work, team. Now we need to guard these bombers all the way in,” I said.
Then I saw the battlefield, and a cold chill passed through me. The pirate force had grown considerably, not just in numbers but also in the type of ship they possessed: they had massive capital class ships, destroyers and battleships. I had not seen so much force in one fleet since The Great War.
“All teams, retreat!” came the almost panicked cry over the command channel.
We were no match for such a fleet. Indeed, I feared our entire Navy might not be. “Red Wing, cover the bomber’s retreat, then evacuate also!” I called.
How in the Emperor’s name did they get so much firepower? All the reports to date had concluded that the pirates could not muster anything resembling this kind of power.
The Academy Page 8
