***
Some months later, Naiche glanced around the happy scene in her father’s quarters. It was the afternoon of her second wedding to Talako Jacoway, and she was enjoying the expectant and celebratory atmosphere. She had ceded the quarters she shared with Tal to his private use for the day. The bridegroom, his parents, and brother were getting ready there while the entire bridal contingent was crowded into Ricci’s few rooms.
Ricci had supplied a generous amount of champagne for the occasion and the festive crowd was partaking liberally of it. He was sitting between his mother and his best friend, Zache Charani, on the living room couch. Perched on chairs and stools nearby were his sisters, brother-in-law, and Zache’s husband, Nik Sinos.
Standing slightly apart, Naiche was chatting with Con and Aqila about the honeymoon the newlyweds had planned. Aqila said, “I’m sorry but camping in Chiricahua territory doesn’t sound all that romantic to me.”
“Especially not with your in-laws tagging along,” Con added.
“Okay,” Naiche said, “in the first place, this tent we’re using is so fancy, it has an actual bathroom. And in the second place, Tal’s parents aren’t really coming with us – they’ll be staying with my Great-Aunt Loza.”
Aqila asked, “But why are they going back so soon?”
“They fell in love with the place when they came for our wedding – and they want to explore some more. They’re looking to retire there.”
Con ran a finger under the collar of his dress uniform tunic. “Kind of an odd choice for people used to the hustle and bustle of Geneva, isn’t it?”
“I think that’s the whole appeal. And though it isn’t an immediate option, his mom is also interested in running the Naomi Decker Memorial Health Center that I want to have built.”
Straightening up in surprise, Aqila observed, “You’re going to have the former Director of the Ministry of Health running your mom’s memorial center?”
“I know – unbelievable, right?”
From her place on the couch, Nonna Ricci called out, “Come over here, Naiche, so Zache can get a better look at your dress.”
Naiche asked her friends to excuse her and walked over to show off her attire. She had chosen a dress by a Chiricahua artisan – it consisted of a simple white tank dress with a sheer silk overlay. The bell-sleeved overdress was swirled with all of the colors of a desert sunset. The purples, pinks, golds, and rusts of the dress was set off by her moonstone necklace – the only jewelry she had chosen to wear.
After Naiche twirled in front of them, Nonna said, “I like it much better this way.” She leaned past Matt to explain to Zache, “She almost gave me a heart attack this morning. Came out in that skimpy under-slip thing and told me that’s what she was wearing.”
Hugging her grandmother, Naiche said, “I was teasing you, Nonna.”
Zache said, “I’m really glad you’re not getting married in your uniform.”
After pulling her long hair away from her face, Naiche said, “I paid enough for this dress, I might as well wear it twice.” She waved a hand at the room, which was a sea of robin’s-egg blue – the color of the UDC dress uniform. “Besides, we really didn’t need one more, did we?”
Laughing in agreement, Zache looked down at herself. “Our dress blues are kind of eye-searing….” She paused to tap Matt’s uniform sleeve. “…especially with an extra row of gold braid.”
Matt’s older sister, Damiana, said, “Oh, but it was so worth it. Mama’s gotten to use the phrase, ‘my son, the commodore’, at least twenty times so far.”
At that moment, Ricci’s hand-held buzzed with a message. Upon reading it, he announced, “Jackie’s finally arrived and is waiting at the chapel. I’m going to head over and take my place.” He smiled warmly at Naiche. “To marry off my daughter.”
“It may not be recognized by the Uniterraen government, but I’m already married, Pop.”
“I know – I was there.” He stood up and clapped his hands, asking, “Who’s heading over with me?”
Damiana said to her sister and mother, “Let’s go. We’ll finally get to meet the girlfriend.”
Matt sighed, “I’ve told you, Jackie Bastié is my—”
“I know, I know, she’s your friend.” She rolled her eyes, saying to their sister, Carmella, “I guess the addition of the word ‘girl’ will make The Rock fall down.”
His mother stood up and eyed the rest of her family. “Let us go now and allow Matteo to have a few moments alone with Naiche.” She waved an imperial hand at Zache. “You will show us the way – yes?” Zache agreed and Aqila offered to help her shepherd the crowd over.
A few minutes later, the once bustling room held only Naiche, her father, Con, and Kayatennae. Ricci took her by the hands and told her how happy he was for her. “My only regret is that your mother couldn’t be with us for these ceremonies.”
“Me, too,” she whispered.
“I do believe she is here – in some way,” he said. “Speaking of which, let me get your bouquet.” Naiche had been wondering about that, since it was the one item her father had insisted on providing for this wedding. He dashed over to the fridge and presented her with a mixed bunch of Blackfoot daisies and desert larkspur.
“Oh,” she breathed in surprise upon seeing the white and blue flowers. “These were both favorites of shimáá.” For the wedding in Chiricahua territory, Naiche’s young cousins had gathered a mixture of wildflowers and fashioned her bouquet from them. She’d thought nothing could ever equal that – now she knew she’d been wrong. She dashed a tear from the corner of her eye and kissed her father’s cheek. She noticed he was still holding a ring of matching flowers and asked, “Is that for my hair or something?”
Ricci smiled through tears of his own and held it up. “No, this is for your canine attendant.” He called Kayatennae over and draped the flowers around his neck. The dog kept craning his neck, trying to get a look at his adornment, causing the three of them to break into laughter.
Ricci moved towards the door, saying, “Okay, give me a few minutes and then head over to the chapel.”
When he was gone, Naiche was left alone with her best friends – one human, one canine. Con nodded towards the door through which Ricci had departed. “I thought you two would be less sappy the second time around.”
“We’re sappy?” Naiche laughed, pointing at his damp eyes. “What’s that?”
“I got something in my eye.”
“Yeah, tears.”
After spending a short while reminiscing about their time together and all they’d experienced – good and bad, Naiche asked, “Have I ever thanked you for all you’ve done for me? Like, changing my life by recruiting me to the Lovelace?”
“Yeah, you’ve thanked me.” He nodded at Naiche. “Maybe not in words, but – I heard it loud and clear all the same.” He offered his arm saying, “Shall we?”
“I’m ready. Let’s do this.” They strolled to The Rock’s non-denominational chapel trailed by the ever faithful Kayatennae. When they arrived, Naiche’s heart swelled with happiness upon glimpsing Tal waiting for her at the altar, his handsome face glowing with joy.
When she took her place next to him, he whispered, “Glad you could make it – again.”
“Wouldn’t it miss it for a ton of kiatilium.”
Epilogue
Granted Chances
“…so those of us stuck here on earth know—you must be gods. Or friends of gods, granted chances to push off into sky, granted chances to hear so well your own voice bounced back to you….” Peggy Shumaker, ‘Spirit of the Bat’
8 Years Later
Naiche Decker jumped out of the experimental starship, Shadow Chaser, and waved at Tanja Petrović. The other test pilot came trotting over, calling out, “Well?”
Decker thumped the steinium hull. “The handling is amazing. That is, until you kick it into L-speed, then it really starts to fight you.” She and Tanja walked over to Captain Zache Charani, the ship’s d
esigner who’d been watching the landing and dictating notes into her hand-held computer.
“As you saw, the landing couldn’t be smoother but I was just telling Petrović—”
“Still wild on the jump, right?” When Decker agreed, she said, “Oh, well – back to the drawing board.” After Tanja left to pick up her daughter at the childcare center, Zache nodded towards the hand Decker had on her abdomen. “Didn’t the baby like the ride?”
“Not at all. Unlike his sister, I don’t think he’s gonna want to be a pilot.”
Zache scanned the perimeter of the landing pad. “Where is Lozen? Tal didn’t bring her out today?” She laughed, saying, “Oh, I bet Matt has her with him in the flight simulators again.”
“Not this time. Tal took her to Chiricahua territory for a few days to visit our families and check on the memorial center construction. He wanted to get another trip in before classes start next week.”
“I do not miss those days of having my time off ruled by The Rock’s class schedules. But Tal seems to love teaching as much as Nik.” Naiche nodded, recognizing that unassailable truth. “Why didn’t you go with them?”
“I wanted to finish up our tests on the Chaser so you can get going on the redesign.” When Zache protested the sacrifice, Naiche said, “It’s no big deal – my turn is coming. Since my grandmother doesn’t travel anymore, my father and I are gonna take Lozen to Italia for a visit after his party.”
“Will Tal and Lozen be back in time for the party?”
“Most definitely – Lozen is so excited about it, you’d think the party was for her. They’ll be back late tonight.” They walked towards the Astronautics Center together, Zache asking more questions about the guest list for the party. Naiche said, “Practically everyone I invited said yes. The Lovelace arrived yesterday so most of his former crew is Earth-side – even Lindstrom and Clemente are coming.”
“Really? I don’t think they’ve been back to The Rock since they retired.”
“They haven’t. My father’s so happy about it, he’s putting them up in his quarters.”
Zache and Naiche brainstormed ideas for tweaking the ship’s light speed drive for an hour and then Decker said she was calling it a day. Upon leaving Zache’s office, she asked, “Are you guys meeting us at Pop’s for drinks beforehand or just heading straight to the banquet room?”
“It depends on when the twins are ready,” she answered, referencing her grown children, visiting for the occasion. “I’ll message you if we’re not gonna make it.”
“Okay – either way, see you tomorrow night.”
***
Naiche, Tal, Lozen, and Kayatennae got to Ricci’s quarters in good time the next night; they weren’t, however, the first to arrive. Naiche saw that her aunts, Jackie Bastié, Lindstrom, and Clemente were already present. Jackie, Damiana, and Carmela were catching up in the small galley kitchen while the others were in the living room.
Lozen immediately ran over to her grandfather, exclaiming, “Poppy, Poppy, I’m here!” Naiche and Tal followed their daughter, warmly greeting first Matt, then Clemente and Lindstrom.
Lozen held her hands up towards Matt, commanding, “Pick me up!”
He obliged, then gave her a hug and kiss. “You’re getting so big – before long Poppy won’t be able to hold you like this.”
“Yes, I’m getting very big. I am three years old.” Lozen held up three chubby fingers and then looked at Nils Lindstrom with awe – even in her grandfather’s arms he still towered over her. “How old are you?”
“Too old to answer that question.” Most of the listeners laughed but his response earned him an exasperated head shake from Rita Clemente.
Naiche and Tal went off to procure refreshments and greet the other guests, leaving Lozen behind telling Matt about her trip to Chiricahua territory. They made it back to the group in time to hear her say, “I telled Pokni and Mafo that you are getting to be a admiral. They said they was sorry.”
Matt set the squirming child down, chuckling at her pronouncement. “Yeah, a lot of people in the UDC feel the same way.”
Handing his daughter a small cup of cactus-pear juice, Tal corrected her, “Your grandparents said to tell Poppy that they’re sorry they couldn’t be here.”
Lozen chattered in agreement, then gulped her juice before twirling around to show off her rainbow-colored dress. “Shimáá helped me pick it out. It’s like Poppy’s party dress – see!” She pointed at her grandfather’s wrist, newly adorned with admirals’ braid which incorporated all of the insignia colors, mixing red, white, silver and gold.
“Party dress?” Rita looked at Matt with a grin. “Are you going to change now or is this for after the dinner?”
Shaking her head, Naiche explained, “I told her that the admiral’s braid is called ‘parti-colored’ and she’s been calling his uniform his ‘party dress’ ever since.”
At Lozen’s request, Matt took her over to see Jackie, leaving conversational room for the rest of them. Rita noted Naiche’s advancing pregnancy and asked how far along she was.
Naiche nestled more snuggly into the arm Tal had draped around her, answering, “Nearly twenty-four weeks.”
“Your father told us you’re having a boy. What does Lozen think about getting a little brother?”
“She seems pretty ambivalent,” Tal admitted. “Some days she’s excited – but on the way home last night she told me that she doesn’t need another brother….” He paused to point at the dog sitting next to them. “…since she already has Kayatennae.”
Lindstrom asked, “And what is the corpsman up to these days?”
“We do Search and Rescue demos every few weeks,” Naiche said, “but other than that, he’s just enjoying his retirement. Are you?”
Rita and Nils answered enthusiastically and spoke of their fulfilling life in Columbia. When Lindstrom mentioned spending a lot of time on his writing, Naiche asked when they could expect to see his memoirs published. “These things can’t be rushed, Decker. Are you wondering what it is I’ve said about you?”
She laughed and shook her head. “Not really. I’m pretty sure I can guess what you’re writing about me.” Before he could respond, the door chimed and Naiche went to answer it.
Upon opening the door, she was delighted to find Commanders Lateef and Kennedy beaming at her. While being swept into a hug first by Con and then Aqila, Lozen spotted them. She ran over, calling out, “Uncle Con! Aunt Aqila!” Naiche was relieved that her daughter didn’t tack on her customary addition: “What did you bring me?” Apparently, the lessons from her parents in basic manners were starting to sink in.
After the new arrivals had lavishly admired Lozen’s dress and secured some champagne, they offered their congratulations to the freshly commissioned Admiral Ricci. Aqila said, “We’re so happy for you, sir, but I’m sorry we won’t be seeing you aboard Lovelace every now and then. That’s true, isn’t it?”
“I’m afraid so. Admirals are pretty much Earth-bound these days.” When Con offered condolences on that fact, Matt shrugged. “I don’t mind. In recompense, I was able to volunteer for a very important daily mission here at The Rock.”
“Oh, that sounds interesting. Is it something you can talk about?” Con asked.
Rolling her eyes, Naiche said, “Since he’s referring to him walking his granddaughter to pre-school every morning, I would say so.” She glanced briefly over at Lozen and Tal, who were busy chatting with her aunts. “Pop, it’s really not necessary. You’re spoiling Lozen.”
Matt declared, “Yes, I am,” a mischievous smile lighting up his face. “I also consider that my mission.”
“Speaking of missions….” Lindstrom said, pointing at the silver braid on Con’s uniform. “I trust you’re keeping up the high standards for Lovelace first officers which I established, Commander?”
“Captain Ramsey has no complaints.”
“Yes. Carla always was the stoic type. Is she coming to the party?”
La
ughing, Con replied, “It’s good to see you haven’t changed a bit,” before assuring him that both Ramsey and her wife would be at the dinner. He and Aqila went on to describe some of Lovelace’s most recent adventures.
Jackie Bastié broke in with greetings and apologies, before pulling Matt away to welcome the recently arrived Fleet Admiral Grace Stein. Rita took the opportunity to whisper to Naiche, “Now that your father’s stationed at The Rock, is Bastié finally going to move in?”
“She’s here a lot, but as far as I know, she doesn’t have any plans to move in with him.”
Nils asked, “What are they waiting for? That’s longer than we took.”
The arrival of Blythe Brodie interrupted Naiche’s full opinion on the subject. She settled for saying with a shrug, “The relationship they have…it works for them.”
While Bly was describing her work running the UDC’s Astrophysics Division, Con, Naiche, and Kayatennae drifted apart from the rest of the group. He said, “You’ll never guess who recently posted into the Lovelace as auxiliary pilot.”
“Ensign Moira Finnegan.”
Con chuckled and shook his head at his own stupidity. “Right. She told you – of course.” The room became more crowded when Zache, Nik, and the twins arrived so Naiche and Con took up residence in a quiet corner. He glanced around, apparently looking for potential eavesdroppers. After seeing the coast was clear, he said, in a low voice, “You know…I had my service evaluation last week and Ramsey told me she’s looking to muster out in the next five years or so.”
“And then we’ll have Captain Kennedy of the Command ship Lovelace,” Naiche quietly crowed. “Just like Pop always predicted.”
“Shh, it’s bad luck to say it before it happens.” He couldn’t hide a quick grin, despite his protests. “What I’d really like if that happens, is to have Lieutenant Commander Naiche Decker as my chief tactical officer. Think there’s any chance of that?”
The Risks of Dead Reckoning Page 24
