Privateers in Exile
Page 30
"What's going on, Hoffen?" she asked, swinging back to face me.
While she'd been distracted, I'd dropped to my knee and waited, looking up at her. Tears formed in her eyes as I started speaking. "Tabitha Masters, you've told me that you don't want to end up divorced like your parents. I don't think that's even remotely possible."
"Liam …" she started, but I stopped her.
"Tabby, you're my one love. I do not want to spend one more day without us joined as husband and wife," I said. "What do you say. Will you marry me?"
"I already said I would," she said.
"No," I said. "I mean right now."
"In front of all these people?" she asked. "I don't have a gown. I haven't made any arrangements."
"That arrangements have already been made," I said. "Just say yes."
"Yes, of course. A million times yes," she answered.
Applause and bird whistles erupted from the assembled crowd of Scatters. They quieted as Joliwe approached and stood quietly next to us.
"Go ahead, Joliwe," I said.
"Liam told us that a white gown is traditional," Joliwe said, accepting a satiny gown from a man who'd approached at her nod. "If you'll accompany me, I'll help you change."
"How?" Tabby asked, but I didn't have time to answer before she was pulled away.
I walked to the front of the great hall and stopped when I came to the raised platform where Prince Thabini stood. "This is a traditional joining for humans?" he asked.
"Kind of," I said.
"What if she had declined?" he asked.
"Most of the time the woman has more input on the planning," I said. "I just didn't want her getting cold feet. Plus, she really likes grand gestures."
"The music you've chosen. We also enjoy music, but it is so … foreign," he said.
I chuckled, but didn't answer, instead accepting a fluted glass of bubbling water. "Oh, that's nice."
Thabini nodded. "It is difficult to produce in winter but we discovered stores within Chappie's buildings. It seems appropriate that it is used in a celebration such as this. I believe your partner is ready."
I looked to the back of the room. Beside Tabby stood Peter, dressed in a tux. With his hair and beard trimmed, he looked nicer than I'd have liked. The two were talking and for a moment, the scene caused my nerves to act up. At first, when I'd talked to him about participating in the wedding, he'd been reticent, but had finally agreed. I hoped he wasn't making a last-ditch effort to undo things.
"Cue Frankie Ballard, A Little Bit of Both, and start with the chorus," I instructed my AI. I'd received help in setting up speakers in the hallway and was thrilled as the song filled the large room.
Well… I like a little bit of bad girl, and I like a little bit of sweet
And I like a little Boom boom in a room
As the music played, Tabby's eyes locked on mine. It was a song she knew well as I'd played it on more than one occasion when trying to get her attention. She smiled, shook her head and started toward the front of the hall.
"That is serious old-school," Nick whispered as he stepped in beside me.
"What was in that punch?" Tabby asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes and flopping over on top of me.
"Why, Mrs. Hoffen, did you get a little drunk last night?" I asked.
She traced a finger down my bare chest and swirled it on my stomach. "No, but it did make me feel good. I can't believe we’re actually married."
"Are you okay with how it went down?"
"Married by a foreign prince in a fairy-book castle after vanquishing the beast?" she asked. "Uh, I'm not sure I could have asked for anything more perfect."
"What were you and Peter talking about?" I asked, still feeling a pang of jealousy.
"He told me that if I wanted, he'd walk out with me right then and there," she said.
"What, seriously?" I asked.
"Yup. He also told me that if I wanted to go through with it, he'd never bring up what we had again," she said. "So, push that jealous crazy man back where he belongs."
"Can you believe we're headed back to Mhina today?" I asked.
"Not really," she said. "Twenty years is a long time. I'm ready, though. What do you suppose it means that Moyo never got that comm crystal to your mom?"
"That we're headed into a crap storm," I said, sitting up.
She jumped up and ran into the shower. "When aren't we?" I followed behind her and made sure we were good and clean before exiting.
"Not sure I love the idea of getting in these stasis pods again," she said.
I'd exited the head and transformed the bed so the mattress was against the wall and the chambers we'd manufactured were open. We'd broken orbit from Fraxus a few hours previous. Jonathan would begin acceleration once everyone aboard had entered their respective chambers. Tabby and I were the last to enter.
"You first," I said.
"We go together," she responded.
I nodded agreement and we stepped into the gel. "Jonathan, we're just about done in here."
"Understood, Captain," he said. "We look forward to seeing you in two hundred forty-two point five hours."
I sat down and waited for Tabby to do the same.
"Please let me wake up in eight days," Tabby said. "I love you."
Without further ado, she dropped back, allowing her head to submerge. "Gah, here goes nothing," I said and followed suit.
I came awake, disoriented by near darkness and a red-throbbing light at the top of the room. The suspension gel had been drained from my stasis chamber and I sat up abruptly. The sound of a warning klaxon filled my ears and I quickly stepped into my vac-suit.
Tabby emerged from her chamber at roughly the same moment. "What's going on?"
"I don't know." I raced from the room and nearly ran into Marny, who'd exited her quarters at the same time. We didn't hesitate or talk, but dashed to our places, me in the pilot's chair and Marny at her gunnery station.
"We're under attack," she said as something hit the side of the ship.
"Captain, a fleet of hostile ships has detected our arrival," Jonathan said. "We took the liberty of engaging silent running protocols, but it would appear we have not escaped detection."
"Fleet? Who?" I asked, pulling up the holo display.
"They appear to be Mendari," Jonathan said.
Anxiously, I looked at our location. We'd arrived in the Mhina system just as planned and were within two hundred thousand kilometers of Baraka, the moon over Elea, where we'd once made our home in the settlement of York.
"Frak, Mendari this close to home?" Ada said, jumping over the back of her pilot's chair.
My ears popped as something pierced the hull and vacuum was lost somewhere on the ship.
"I've issued a distress signal," Nick said.
But of course, that's another story entirely.
About the Author
Jamie McFarlane is happily married, the father of three and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. He spends his days engaged in a hi-tech career and his nights and weekends writing works of fiction.
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Acknowledgments
To Diane Greenwood Muir for excellence in editing and fine word-smithery. My wife, Janet, for carefully and kindly pointing out my poor grammatical habits. I cannot imagine working through these projects without you both.
To my beta readers: Carol Greenwood, Kelli Whyte, Barbara Simmons, Matt Strbjak and Nancy Higgins Quist for wonderful and thoughtful suggestions. It is a joy to work with this intelligent and cons
iderate group of people. Also, to my advanced reading team, you’re a zany, fun group of people who I look forward to bouncing ideas off.
Finally, to Elias Stern, cover artist extraordinaire.
Also by Jamie McFarlane
Privateer Tales Series
1.Rookie Privateer
2.Fool Me Once
3.Parley
4.Big Pete
5.Smuggler’s Dilemma
6.Cutpurse
7.Out of the Tank
8.Buccaneers
9.A Matter of Honor
10.Give No Quarter
11.Blockade Runner
12.Corsair Menace
13.Pursuit of the Bold
14.Fury of the Bold
15.Judgment of the Bold
Privateer Tales Universe
1.Pete, Popeye and Olive
2. Life of a Miner
3. Uncommon Bravery
4. On a Pale Ship
Henry Biggston Thrillers
1.When Justice Calls
Witchy World
1.Wizard in a Witchy World
2.Wicked Folk: An Urban Wizard’s Tale
3.Wizard Unleashed
Guardians of Gaeland
1.Lesser Prince