Stormcrow: Book Two: Birds of a Feather

by N. C. Reed

  “That's not a bad thing,” he daughter assured her. “Wish me luck?”

  “You know that I do.”

  -

  “Where'd you get these?”

  'These' were training blades, knives roughly the same size as the one Jessica had bought the night before but made of a rubber like substance that gave them some rigidity, but also prevented them from inflicting a true injury other than a bruise or two.

  “Had 'em a while,” Sean shrugged. “We use these to train with when we're kids,” he added, then mentally kicked himself for it. Why in the hell was he always telling her things? Now she'd ask-

  “Who's we?” Jessica didn't disappoint.

  “The men who trained me,” he replied. “Now, first things first. How you grip the blade is everything. Some grips look cool in vids but don't allow you to do much with the knife. Take this one,” he held the grip in his fist with the blade extending point down out of his hand. “You see people all the time holding a knife like this, stabbing someone. Worst thing you can do, really.”

  “Why?”

  “First of all, it's inefficient,” he told her. “It limits you uses, your range, and your options. It limits both offense and defense, too. The only slight advantage it offers is a greater strength from the arm when you strike. There are times when that is a plus, but those times are rare. Rare as hen's teeth,” he winked at her and she laughed at having her 'old saying' tossed back at her.

  “It's not completely useless, mind you,” he continued, “but it's limited. We'll look at what it's good for later on. It's better to hold the knife properly, grip upright,” he twisted the training knife in his hand until the blade was extending from the front, or top, of his fist.

  “With this grip are two options; cutting edge up, or down,” he turned the knife to demonstrate each one. “Both have advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, cutting edge down. With the edge down and away, you can. . . .”

  -

  “Are you completely sure about this?” Talitha asked as she sat with Lucia, the girl making last minute preparations for her 'project'.

  “Absolutely,” the answer was firm and clear.

  “I mean, are you sure this isn't just some kind of hero worship because he was the one who found you?” Talitha went on as if Lucia hadn't spoken.

  “Saved me,” Lucia corrected. “You can say it if you try hard enough. He didn't just find me, he saved me. And no, that's not it. Might have played a part in the beginning, but it's got nothing to do with it now.”

  “You haven't spent a full day with this man, Lucia!” Tal objected mildly.

  “Hence my dastardly plot to make him spend time with me,” Lucia grinned evilly. “Look, I am well aware of how little I know him. I'm not running around like some horny teenager here, okay?”

  “Technically-” Tal started.

  “Don't you dare,” Lucia cut her off sharply. “And besides, that's out until my wedding night, no matter how much I like him. And anyway, he's not the kind of man who'd take advantage.”

  “How do you know that?” Tal asked, remembering that was almost exactly what Antonia Delgado had said.

  “I just do,” Lucia shrugged. “I can't explain it or I would, but I know.” She paused for a moment, her face thoughtful.

  “Have you ever met someone and knew, right away, what kind of person they were?” she asked her bodyguard slash 'attendant'. “I mean you just knew that it was someone that was supposed to be there. Be a part of your life.”

  “Not like that, no,” Tal shook her head. “But I do know what you mean,” she admitted.

  “Well, there you go,” Lucia said firmly. “The night he rescued me, I snuck into his room and spent the night. Did you know that?”

  “I had heard something to that effect,” Tal replied a bit evasively.

  “Best night's sleep I've ever had,” Lucia grinned at her. “Snuggled up to his side, I was absolutely convinced of two things. One; I was supposed to be there. I mean as in there is no other place for me than by his side. I'm supposed to be there, or he's supposed to be here with me. Period. I'm as sure of it as I am that your new underwear will come in handy sometime soon,” she winked and Tal coughed a bit.

  “What's the second thing?” she asked, as much to cover her embarrassment as to get the information.

  “That I'd never be safer anywhere than I was right there,” Lucia's voice grew even more firm if that was possible. “I don't know what kind of male influence you grew up with Talitha, but having Jerome Delgado as a father sort of makes it hard for the boys to measure up,” she said frankly.

  “I can imagine,” Tal said honestly. Jerome Delgado was about as masculine a figure as you could find anywhere. A man's man, as her own grandfather would have said with an approving tone.

  “Well, Galen doesn't have that problem,” Lucia told her flatly. “Not only is he all man, but he doesn't feel even the slightest need to prove it to anyone. Watch him walk sometime when you get the chance. There's no swagger, no strut, no anything. It's more of a 'here I am' kind of thing. He doesn't care what you think of him, and won't go an inch out of his way to change your opinion of him, either. He doesn't care that my father is one of the most powerful men in the galaxy, or that my family is one of the richest. Didn't even try to molest me, even a little, when I was sleeping next to him, practically laying on top of him.”

  Talitha wasn't sure Lucia's tone was approving or remorseful over that last point, and had to fight down a smile.

  “I've been chased after all my life, sometimes by men my father's age, just because of who my parents are,” Lucia continued, not noticing Talitha's struggle with her facial expressions. “By boys my age, their parents wanting them to 'marry up', and by lecherous oldsters who were trying to find a good retirement plan,” her tone grew contemptuous at that. “Sean Galen is none of the above. And, he makes my breathing go funny and my heart race just being next to him,” she admitted, her face growing hot. “He's the man for me, Talitha. I'm as certain as I can be. And I'm going to get him, one way or another,” she declared firmly.

  “Whether he likes it or not?” Tal raised an amused eyebrow.

  “So you do know what I mean then,” Lucia nodded, completely serious. “I'll keep at it until he sees reason.”

  “Reason being that he should give up his life of crime and settle down with you somewhere to have two point three kids and a house with a picket fence,” Talitha declared, just short of laughing.

  “Laugh all you want,” Lucia refused to rise to the bait. “You'll see. He will be mine.” Her voice was firm with conviction. She was set on her course and nothing would make her veer away. Nothing.

  “You know what?” Talitha looked at her charge with a new respect, impressed with her determination if not her reasoning. “I believe you just might get it done, too.”

  “Believe it,” the girl nodded firmly. “Believe it. Now I have to get ready to go. And you should too.”

  -

  “Having a good time?” Linc asked as he and Meredith prepared to see a show near their hotel.

  “I am,” she nodded firmly. “It's a rare treat and I'm enjoying the time with you and away from everyone else.”

  “Good,” Linc nodded. “It's not good for us to always be cooped up on the ship with too little privacy and too much stress. We need some down time to enjoy life just a little.”

  “I enjoy being in the black, Lincoln,” Meredith semi-protested. “You know that.”

  “Yes, I do,” Linc nodded again. “I also know that too much vacuum is not good for you. And that ship will get awfully small once we hit space again. Three months direct to Liberty Vale? No stops in between? The bulkheads will be closing in on us by the time we get there, Mere. And there's a cargo already waiting on us when we get there, so there won't be much down time. I'd suggest at least twenty-four hours liberty for the crew though. Let them burn away some of that pent up energy before we begin the return leg.”

  “Are you tired
of being on the ship Lincoln?” Meredith asked suddenly.

  “No, that's not what I'm saying at all,” Lincoln shook his head. “What I am tired of is that ship being our entire life. Of everything we do being centered around the Celia. Our lives should be centered around us. The Celia should part of our lives, not our entire existence. Hence, nights like this,” he smiled. “Times like this when we're doing things that married couples normally do.”

  “You don't think we're a normal couple?” Meredith frowned.

  “Of course not,” Lincoln replied calmly. “When's the last time we got together with friends or neighbors for dinner? Maybe a cookout, watching a game, playing cards, things like that.”

  “Well, I. . .I mean we don't really have any neighbors, Lincoln,” she almost stammered. “And friends-”

  “Are hard to come by when you practically live in space,” Lincoln finished for her. “We don't have a normal life, Mere. And that's fine, so long as we take some time for ourselves to be as normal as we can, even if it's just a forty-eight hour leave like this. See what I mean?”

  “I never knew that was how you felt,” Meredith admitted suddenly. “I always thought you enjoyed being with me on the Celia.”

  “Don't start that,” Lincoln warned. “I in no way said I was unhappy or didn't enjoy my time with you on the Celia. I said that we deserve, we owe it to ourselves in fact, to do things like this that normal couples do. To give us a bit of life outside the hull of a freighter that is essentially our home. Since we don't have neighbors, and don't really have any friends in the traditional sense, we need to take every opportunity we get to enjoy what normalcy we can. And we are,” he indicated the theater they were standing in line for.

  “So you are happy being with me on the ship?” Meredith asked.

  “I am indeed,” Lincoln replied firmly. “I'm not dissatisfied with how we live, Mere, so long as we don't forget to actually live while we're doing it. We can't make the Celia everything. We have to make each other everything, and the Celia is just a bonus. We're extraordinarily lucky in that we have her to start with. We manage to make a good living and do so together, going where we want within reason, and doing as we please because we're our own boss, so to speak. But that doesn't mean that we don't need a life outside her hull. Like tonight. Like last night,” he added lecherously and Meredith actually blushed slightly.

  “All right,” she nodded slowly. “I think I'm seeing what you mean. It's like why we used to issue liberty whenever we could in the Navy. To give people a chance to let off some steam.”

  “Exactly!” Lincoln beamed. “I want us to do more of this. Set up a schedule of sorts. So much 'liberty' with ever so much time in space. Maybe one three day leave every two months or so. We can't have a strict schedule of course since we never know where we'll be, but we can average it out. Like taking another leave at Liberty Vale for instance. When we finish a long run, we give the crew seventy-two hours of leave to have fun. And that includes us. Fair?” he asked her, eyebrows raised.

  “Yes, that is fair,” she agreed with a nod. “And I enjoy these 'leaves' with you,” she smiled as she kissed him gently. “It is nice to have you to myself and not be surrounded by the crew.”

  “Now you're getting it,” Linc grinned.

  “I will be later,” she winked impishly. “But you owe me dinner first.”

  “A fair trade if ever I heard one,” Lincoln assured her. “Done.”

  -

  “So how long have you been in space?”

  Nita Callaveri hadn't actually asked Faulks too much about herself, so Faulks didn't really mind the few things she did ask. The two were ambling along one of the major thoroughfares in Porto San Lucia, Anita occasionally pointing out items of interest.

  “Since I was wounded,” she replied without much thought. “After I rehabbed, there was no place for me in my old unit so I went into space. Where I met the Cap'n,” she added.

  “Wounded?” Nita frowned. “Is that where the big scar came from?”

  “One of them,” Faulks nodded. “The other came when our ship came under fire. Cap'n got hurt too, but a lot worse than me. She as invalided out and I followed her when she got her own boat. Anyway, I've been with the Cap'n one way or another since I went into the black.”

  “The black,” Nita mused. “I've heard others say that. It's a common term for people who work in space. How come?” there was genuine interest in her voice, Faulks decided.

  “Ever been in space?” she asked. Nita shook her head. “Well, it's dark,” Faulks continued with a grin. “And I mean dark. You're moving between systems and sometimes there's no light at all other than what the ship emits, and in the darkness of vacuum that ain't much. Most stars are a long way off until you come outta hyper in their system. Even then the light isn't much until you hit somewhere with atmo. I guess there's some kind of sciency explanation for that, but I don't know what it is.”

  “It's the light refracting off the atmosphere,” Nita supplied. “The oxygen in the air, among other things, amplifies the light.”

  “Is that right?” Faulks was impressed. “See, I learned something,” she smiled yet again.

  “Ah, just something I learned in school,” Nita shrugged. “Anyway, sounds like you've been at it a while.”

  “I have,” Faulks agreed. “What do you do, anyway?” she changed the subject.

  “I'm an artist,” Nita replied. “And I work at an art gallery, too. Sort of a win-win, I guess,” she shrugged.

  “What do you paint?” Faulks asked, genuinely interested. She hadn't pegged the other woman that way at all.

  “Depends,” Nita shrugged. “I do a lot of portraits, for one thing. There are a lot of old world type families here and they want family and individual portraits of their family members for their homes, so I do a lot of those. I paint landscapes for my own pleasure, along with historical items. Not much history like that here, really, but I take scenes from like Earth history and what have you. And I've done a couple of paintings about First Landing here on San Lucia, too. Things like that.”

  “Nice,” Faulks nodded. Nita was getting more interesting all the time. Not a bad way to spend leave at all, she decided.

  -

  “Well, I didn't expect to spend my leave getting my ass handed to me,” Jessica panted as they took a break from her 'training'.

  “Everyone starts somewhere,” Sean shrugged. “And you're a lot older than I was when I started. It takes longer, the older you are when you begin.”

  “Are you saying I'm old?” Jess demanded with mock annoyance.

  “No, I'm saying I was four when I started,” Sean chuckled. “You have to admit you're a bit older than that, Jess.”

  “True,” the girl smiled back. “All right, I forgive you.”

  “For saying you're old or 'handing you ass to you'?” Sean asked, grinning back at her.

  “Both!” she laughed outright then. “What now?”

  “Let's take a couple mats down and make some padding, then see if you can duplicate that knife throwing you did last night. Think you can?”

  “Yes,” she answered seriously. “It seems crazy I know but once I do something, I can remember how I did it and replicate it later. It's like once I've got it, it's mine for life.”

  “Then lets test that,” Sean told her.

  -

  “Are you sure you know what you're doing?”

  “How many times are you going to ask me that?” Lucia demanded, giving Talitha the stink eye.

  “I haven't asked you that exact question yet,” Tal pointed out. “All I'm asking is have you thought this through. That's all.”

  “Yes, I have,” Lucia assured her. “He gets one chance to do the right thing on his own. After that, it's my way from then on.”

  “You know, he just might be as stubborn as you are,” Tal warned.

  “And what does that mean?” Lucia's eyes narrowed dangerously.

  “He may say 'no', and ignore you fro
m then on just to be stubborn,” Tal shrugged. “Are you prepared for that?”

  “He won't ignore me,” Lucia said confidently. “If this doesn't work, then it's plan B and he won't have any other choices. And really? I'm not sure that I don't prefer Plan B myself in all honesty.”

  “Plan B is risky too,” Tal reminded her. “In more ways than one.”

  “Well, if it is Plan B, it's his fault, not mine,” Lucia declared. “Now lets go.”

  “All right, all right,” Tal sighed as she signaled to the others. The lead and chase cars loaded as the driver and shotgun rider climbed into Lucia's car.

  “To the port,” she said simply as the window between the front and back started up. “Dock D.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  -

  Space docks, at least on the more wealthy and advanced planets such as San Lucia, were laid out much as old Earth water docks had once been, albeit on a grander scale. No one wanted to be near a freighter as it went full thruster to lift off the ground fully loaded and clawing for altitude. Typically, the docks were separated by some distance, though from the air it probably didn't look it. San Lucia's docks were extensive, as befit both a major planetary capital and a major shipping hub. Like other major planets there was more than one dock, but only one like the Porto San Lucia's.

  Mile upon square mile of hard pads and harder roads formed a web-like pattern of landing sites and access avenues. Larger ships were sent to the larger docks further out into the port, while smaller ships such as the Celia shared one of the many pads on each honey-comb shaped 'dock' arm.

  D Dock consisted of seven such honeycombs, each of which could play host to five ships and still allow plenty of room for safe take-off and landing as well as loading and unloading of multiple cargoes at one time. Benefiting from an ample tax base and a steady flow of landing, transient and service fees, the Port Authority at Porto San Lucia was a very nice facility.

  Seeing what was clearly an armored car being escorted by two other vehicles was not an uncommon sight at the port or anywhere else on San Lucia for that matter, so Lucia's car did not immediately attract a great deal of notice. Once the cars stopped at the gate to be identified however, the news that the Delgado heiress was in the port spread like wildfire all over the grounds. First to security, then to various ships that happened to have a port representative on board at the time, and finally to others who had no need to know, courtesy of bribes and favors owed to various people who wanted to know what was happening all the time.