Chase shrugged. “Well, kind of. But just until the Destiny battlegroup arrived; in the nick of time, I might add.”
“Still, ballsy move, Chasy boy. That was quite the suicide mission. You do realize that one of these days, your crazy gamble tactics might not work, right?”
That remark hit home, and for the first time Chase suddenly realized everything he had to lose. It wasn’t just him now. There was Sarah. And… the baby.
“Did I say something wrong, Chasy boy?”
“Don’t call me that, please. And no, I was just reflecting on what you said.”
She laughed aloud. “Hello! Chase actually listening to sound advice? I don’t know this Sarah, but she must be quite the gal. I like her already.”
“Perhaps I should have mentioned she’s pregnant. We learned it two days ago.”
“Oh... that explains it then. Congrats!” Her face softened. “Of course you can’t take any crazy risks anymore, or you run the risk of making your new little one an orphan.”
Chase ran his hand back through his wet hair. “Yeah... but on the other hand, I might need to take crazy risks sometimes to insure my child’s future.”
“Still obsessing about things you can’t control.” She grinned happily. “You’re nothing if not predictable, you know that?”
“If you say so. But there’s a few hundred wrecked Zarlack ships floating in orbit that would disagree with that statement.”
“Aww... There’s my show-off, know-it-all, over-the-top, arrogant Chasy—” she caught herself. “I mean… the Chase I know.”
He smiled. “Not that I dislike being called an avalanche of names, but was there a reason why you called, or did you just want to say hi?”
“Well that, first and foremost, of course. I actually had a rather specific activity in mind—we never did go all the way, if you remember—but apparently that’s not possible anymore.”
He chuckled. Same old Fillio. “Yeah, I’m afraid that ain’t gonna happen. Hope you understand.”
“Are you kidding? If you had said yes, I would have kicked your ass!”
“Now who’s predictable?”
They both laughed.
“I’d like to see the Omega fighter in action one of these days though,” he said wistfully. “I barely got a taste of it flying to Hellstar. I’d like to see what it can do in a dogfight.”
“It can do a lot, believe me. And sure, but from what I gathered, you’re installing stealth on your Earth modified fighters, no?”
“Yeah, but it’s not an exact match in terms of functionality. In fact, we lose shields entirely on the StarFury.”
“I thought it was called a StarCrusher.”
“Don’t get me started with this.”
She laughed. “Let me guess, Yanis named it that way.”
“Did you really need to ask?”
“Gotcha. Please don’t be too hard on him.”
Chase grinned. “Aside from his sheer suckage at naming things, he’s the best engineer and a dear friend. Of course… that doesn’t mean I can’t tease him from time to time…”
“Hey! Be nice to my little brother. He’s the only family I have left.”
“You have my word,” he promised.
She stretched out her arms with a yawn. “Alright, so it looks like I’d better go for a run or take a turn in the simulator to get my tension worked out.”
“You’ll be alright either way, I’m sure. Take care, Fillio.”
“Take care, Chasy.” She winked and turned off the comm.
Chase stared at the blank screen for a moment. In addition to being a skilled pilot, Fillio was a longtime friend. Of course, over the years she’d become a bit more than just a friend. Not in the same way as Sarah, but still. Now that she was assigned to the Fifth Fleet, he wondered what awkward complications might be in store.
He tried to put it away from his mind as he picked up the comm again and tried Sarah. There was no answer and he tried again. Still nothing. When she didn’t pick up on the third attempt, he decided to go to her place anyway and slip into bed. No need to wake her if she was asleep.
Thirty minutes later, he landed a shuttle on top of her building and headed down the stairs to her apartment. It was two in the morning on Earth—she was surely asleep. He felt bad, then, when he was forced to ring the doorbell to get inside.
One of these days, I’ll have to get my own key, he thought as he waited.
There was no reply. He rang several more times, but nothing happened. An anxious frown creased his forehead as he looked around.
Where could she be?
He was actually beginning to consider the idea of a search when he heard footsteps getting out of the elevator. He turned around in relief as she headed down the hall.
“Hello there,” he said cheerfully.
But the strangest thing happened. She passed right by him without registering his presence in the slightest. His smile faltered as she began rummaging around for her keys.
“Sarah?”
No answer. She unlocked the door.
Seriously concerned, Chase leapt in front of her and shook her shoulders. “Sarah!”
She blinked and took a step back, disoriented and surprised all at the same time. “What the hell? What are you doing here? In fact… what am I doing here?”
Chase paled. “Are you alright? You just walked right past without even seeing me.”
Her face clouded. “That’s so weird. The last thing I remember was coming home after the funeral and crashing on the couch. I…” She glanced around. “I don’t know why I’m outside.”
A chill ran up Chase’s spine. He didn’t like this one bit. “How do you feel now? Has this ever happened to you before?”
She shook her head. “Maybe I just sleepwalked. I know my mother used to do that when she was pregnant with me.”
Just a fraction of the tension lifted, but Chase was still uneasy. “I… I guess that could make sense.” He held open his arms, and she stepped inside with a tight embrace.
“Crazy couple of days, huh?” she said with her head pressed against his chest.
“You can say that again. And there’s more.”
“Please have mercy.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow after a good night’s sleep.”
She lifted her head with a mischievous smile.
“Who said anything about sleeping?”
Two hours later, they were lying in a tangle of sheets. Sarah was quick to fall asleep, happily exhausted to the point of unconsciousness, but Chase lay awake for hours. He kept thinking about what it meant to soon be a father. The responsibility, of course, but also the world they would bring their child into. In the middle of a war...
Sarah turned in the bed but did not wake up. He kissed the top of her head and stroked back her hair until she was finally still.
What a crazy couple of days. Crazy couple of weeks, was more like it. Everything was happening so fast. How was he supposed to protect the people he loved when it felt like the room wouldn’t stop spinning?
And speaking of spinning…
Sarah was twitching and moving so much in her sleep, it was like she was gearing up to run a marathon. Her face was tightened into a frightened pinch and when Chase reached out to steady her, she moaned aloud.
“Sweetie?” he whispered. “Sarah.”
Her eyes snapped open and she flew without thinking into his arms. He caught her and kissed her in surprise.
“Are you alright?” he murmured between kisses. “I think you were having a nightmare.”
She pulled back with a little shiver. “It’s the same one I keep having… I’m trapped in a confined space, completely submerged in water. There’s a breather on my face, so I don’t drown, and cables are attached all over my body. I see those awful reptilian Zarlacks again, and even though I try to get away… I can’t move. I’m trapped. And… and always very alone.”
Chase’s heart constr
icted in his chest. “I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help…”
“You just being here is enough.”
He smiled sadly but shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I wish… I wish there was some way I could go back in time and stop that from happening to you. All I can do now is promise you that Argos will pay.”
He looked up at her with fierce passion and was surprised by the soft expression on her face. “Chase, while that’s very sweet of you, I don’t want my man to be consumed with revenge. Forget about getting even with Argos. We have to stop him, sure, but not because he tortured me. Because he must be stopped, for all our sakes. All this hate inside… let it go.”
He stared at her in a moment of illumination and slowly nodded. She was right. It’s what was best for them all. And it was all he could do.
“You said there was more to tell me earlier,” she added. “Wanna talk about it now?”
Chase glanced at the clock. “It’s almost five in the morning. Don’t you want to get a little more sleep? If not for you, then for the baby?”
She smiled. “The baby is about this big right now.” She pinched together her fingers. “I don’t feel any different.”
“Surely you do a little,” Chase coaxed.
“Well, mentally and emotionally, yes of course. Just not physically.”
Chase sighed. “I think about it all the time. About the… the timing.”
She nodded gravely. “I know exactly how you feel.”
He brightened slightly. “You do?” It helped to know that he wasn’t alone in it.
“Sure I do, but then I just remember. Life is an ongoing thing. Babies are born all the time. We can’t just put our lives on pause because the timing isn’t convenient. It’ll be fine.”
Chase just stared at her in stunned silence. She was absolutely right.
“You know,” she continued thoughtfully, “lately I’ve been thinking a lot about things like that. The idea of controlling what’s going on around me to protect myself. And the other day at the funeral, I came to a very important decision.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“Screw it.”
Chase blinked. “No… what was your decision?”
“That was it.” She giggled lightly. “Screw it. I’m done fighting for control of things that realistically I have no control over. This war is happening. This baby is happening. This is our reality now. All we can do is the best with what we’re given.” She wrapped her arms around him. “And I happen to think I’ve been given an awful lot.”
He squeezed her hands tightly. “I will protect you,” he swore. “And our child. I will not let anything—”
“Chase, that’s exactly what I’m talking about,” she said with a sigh. “You can’t. You couldn’t protect me from Argos that day. He took me and there was nothing you could do to stop it. You couldn’t save all those people on Earth from getting blown to bits. It was beyond your control.”
He felt like she’d sucked all the happiness right out of him, until…
“But you know what? If you hadn’t made that jump in your fighter, I’d be dead right now. If you hadn’t gone to Hellstar, I’d still be a prisoner. And if you hadn’t single-handedly fought an entire fleet, we’d be talking about billions of lives lost, not millions.” She clapped him teasingly upside the head. “So lighten up, soldier. Start living your life now, instead of spending all your time fearing the future. You did good.”
He blinked again in amazement. He’d fallen in love with a rather incredible woman.
“Now, tell me what happened yesterday. What did the commodore want?” She was suddenly all business and he couldn’t help a little chuckle before he began his recap.
He started with the terrorist attempt on the EAD Hope and finished with telling her about the emperor and their plan to blow up Argos’ secret shipyard.
Sarah’s eyes widened in excitement. “That’s crazy! So when do we leave?”
“We?”
“Yes, we. I’m coming with you.”
He bit his lip. “Sarah, I’d really rather you—”
She cut him off with a sweet but dangerous smile. “And as much as I appreciate the sentiment of whatever you’re about to say, let’s get one thing straight. I’m pregnant, not handicapped. I will be flying your wing on that mission. Are we clear?”
Chase leaned back and blinked mildly at her tone. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” She flashed him a sudden wink. “Now come on, we have at least two hours before anyone needs us to do any big, world-saving schemes. Plenty of time for a little…”
With a mischievous giggle, she pulled him on top of her once more.
It seemed as though almost everyone in the whole Alliance had somehow gathered into Admiral Thassos’ conference room to discuss the upcoming mission. While Chase may have gone into it with some ideas of his own, it was clear that the admiral was running the meeting. Almost at once, he was assigned command of the EAD Hope—something he certainly hadn’t counted on and had mixed feelings about. While he was thrilled with the opportunity to test out the new class of destroyer, he would have traded almost anything to be flying one of the brand new F-147s instead.
The emperor had contacted all the Obsidian ships he knew in the area and was having them meet the Alliance not too far from the Gatos Nebula near the shipyard, and with the added support of the Droxians, Argos might just have a fair fight on his hands.
Chase relished this notion as he listened to Thassos drone on about combat tactics. It felt good to be taking the fight to the enemy for once, instead of running away.
“People, you leave in three hours,” she concluded. “Lieutenant Athanatos, you are to take command of the EAD Hope immediately. Make sure she’s combat ready before the fleet leaves.”
“Yes, Admiral. May I request Yanis to be transferred to the EAD Hope for this mission?”
The admiral turned. “Commodore Saroudis? Any objection?”
“None. He helped build and design the ship. There is a lot of new tech that he might need to supervise and make on-the-fly adjustments. Seeing that the Hope will be the tip of the spear in terms of firepower, I think it’s the right move.”
The admiral nodded brusquely. “In that case, you’re all dismissed. Good luck!”
Chase and Sarah walked together to the nearest shuttle and took off.
“So, little announcement.” Chase smiled. “You are to be the Hope’s wing commander.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I am. You’re one of the best pilots I’ve ever flown with, and since I can’t fly my own wing, I really want you to do this for me.”
“What about Daniel?”
“Daniel is the Destiny’s wing commander. That hasn’t changed.”
Sarah beamed and nodded in delight. All this talk “convincing” him that she was going to be coming along—when he’d obviously thought it the whole time.
“Make sure you use the new advantages of these ships, too,” Chase added. “I think the drones in particular should give you quite the edge in dogfights.”
“And the cloak too.”
“Yeah, about that. Please make sure you’re very careful with the cloak. Remember that once you de-cloak, you’ll be without shields. So just… use them with care.”
“Is that any way to talk to a wing commander?” she teased playfully. But she actually clapped her hands in delight. “I can’t wait to test the StarCrusher.”
“Oh no, no, no!” Chase interjected gleefully. “I’ve decided the F-147 will be called StarFury.”
She chuckled. “I think I heard this name before, but sure… you’re a Fury—take it to the stars?” She laughed again at her own teasing. “How did Yanis take it?”
“He’ll survive.” Chase grinned. “It’s not like we called it ‘Doors’ or ‘Orange’.”
Sarah laughed at the joke. She never stopped to think about names like “Apple” or
“Windows.” After all, they were part of their society and culture for so long that they simply made sense and it had become second nature. But from the outside, she understood very well how they could sound a little silly.
“Now about your first order of business. You’ll need to brief your pilots upon arrival.”
“Anything in particular you’d like me to say?”
“I’ll leave it to your discretion. We just need to blow up that shipyard, so anything along those lines should suffice. They’re experienced pilots. They know the drill.”
“How many StarFuries will the Hope have onboard?”
“Only three. Yours; I suggest you give the second one to Jaris. He seems the most apt to use the neuronal interface. And the third one I want to be in reserve.”
“Of course you do.”
Chase raised an eyebrow. “Am I that predictable?”
She giggled. “It’s all part of your boyish charm.”
“Boyish, eh?” he teased. “For all we know, I’m over a hundred.”
There was a hitch in her step. “Wait… what?”
He sighed. “I haven’t gotten a chance to tell you that yet. According to the Olympians… I might have a gene that either makes me age slow or…
“Or what?”
“Perhaps not at all.”
She turned to him with a sudden frown. “But if you’re not aging, what does that mean for us? And for… the baby?”
He bit his lip as they neared the ship. “I don’t know. But we’ll sort it all out, I swear. For the time being, let’s just focus on getting back in one piece.”
They paused in unison when they reached the shipyard and stared up in awe at what was to be their home for the next few days.
To say the ship was magnificent would be an understatement. Sure, it resembled other Alliance battleships in terms of looks, but it somehow looked meaner, more streamlined; a true war machine despite its slightly smaller size.
Chase gazed up with more than a little hesitation. When he saw Sarah watching him closely, he tried for a casual shrug. “No pressure. How bad could it be?”
Then they walked up to the doors and found the entire crew waiting for them.
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 66
