“Acoustics,” she said, and Hugo groaned.
Acoustics?
“It’s amazing how words don’t carry, but everything else does,” she added.
Oh.
I looked at Hugo who was offering López a sheepish grin. She shook her head and looked at me.
I didn’t know where to look.
“There’s always the tunnels,” she offered.
“Thank you, Commander,” Hugo said. “That will be all.”
“Just trying to be helpful, sir,” she muttered and turned on her heel.
We sat silently for a while, and I wondered if he regretted it. He was the captain now, and captains didn’t get caught kissing people.
His hand came over and slipped into mine, fingers laced.
“I should have thought of the tunnels,” he admitted.
My lips spread into a small smile and I looked over at him.
He sighed. Then smiled back.
“It’ll make the rounds,” he said. “But at least we’re small in numbers. Not like it’s the entire AU crew in here with us.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He blinked. “What for? That was the best make-out session I’ve had in my life; I don’t regret it.”
“You don’t?”
“Adi,” he said, cupping my cheeks. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for days now. It feels like all I’ve wanted ever to do; kiss you. And it was better than I could have hoped for.”
He kissed me again then. Softly, slowly, tenderly. He pulled back, though, before I could make a sound.
“I’m twenty-nine,” he said.
I stared at him.
“Nine years, that all. It’s not that big a deal.”
“But I’m a Price. I’m his daughter.”
Hugo nodded his head in agreement.
“Yeah, but we can’t be blamed for the sins of our fathers, babe. My father was a long haul trucker. I never knew him. Not really. He was rarely home, and when he was, he was out drinking with his mates. My mother had a string of affairs. I was known to call many of them ‘uncle’ when I was a kid. Neither of them were pictures of perfect parenting. I did my time in Deline and then when I was old enough to sign up for the military, I left. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my dad, he was over in Nunavut somewhere, and I haven’t spoken to him since. I’m not sure he would have even known I was gone.”
“Hugo,” I said, not sure what else I could say.
He smiled at me.
“Hey,” he said. “That’s the first time you’ve not called me captain.”
I blushed.
“Should have kissed you days ago,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss me again.
Thirty-Four
It’s Quite The Paradox
Hugo
I could have kissed Adi all night. She tasted sublime. She felt right under my fingers. She smelled delicious, and it had nothing to do with the wet-wipes and everything to do with her natural scent. I was beginning to think Adi had been made for me.
She called forth the protector in me. She had a way of making me forget all my worries and simply be. I felt more comfortable with her than I had ever felt with any other woman. I admired her inner strength, and I cherished her outer fragility.
I’m not sure what that said about me, but I liked myself when I was with her. I wasn’t trying to be something I was not when I was with Adi. Unlike how I felt when I played at captaining. I knew my role as the most senior officer onboard, but captaining a vessel wasn’t really in me. I much preferred to be moving pieces in the background. Staying out of the limelight. Maybe one day, I would have been ready. But I could admit to myself, that right now, I was not. I was struggling.
But all of that was irrelevant now. I was the captain, and there was no changing that. I would not shirk my responsibilities.
But Adi. Sweet, sweet Adi; she made me like me. The me I was when with her. There was no pretending with this girl. No acting. No responsibility. It was all so easy. Despite the situation and her connection to the person who had caused all of this in the first place, Adi felt right. And she made me feel right, too.
I was never going to give her up; never. Adi made me feel too good, and she made all the captaining crap palatable. I could stomach being in the limelight and making all the decisions and having to be strong for everyone else if I had Adi. I knew what the regulations said about fraternising with subordinates, and they didn’t apply here. Although, fraternising with the leaseholder’s daughter was probably out.
But damn it. I wouldn’t be the captain I was if not for how I felt when with Adi. She made me see more than I had ever seen before. The civilians and the pay-for-passages. How their lives are onboard this ship. She made me see what Aquila had been before her father corrupted him. Adi allowed me to switch off and just feel. But most importantly, Adi gave me something more than just responsibility to fight for.
She represented the very best of humanity. Sweet and innocent with a core strength and desire to survive.
No. I wasn’t giving her up, but I also would not have her the topic of crewmen gossiping.
I kissed her one last time and then settled us in the pit. I tried my best not to curve my body around her, but by the time the wrist comm announced it was start of another day, Adi’s head was on my chest, and my arms were around her, and we might as well have been two peas in a pod.
I blinked open my eyes and stared up at Johnson, Armstrong and López.
“Morning, Cap,” Johnson said, grinning.
“Sir,” Armstrong offered.
López just rolled her eyes.
Adi stirred quietly beside me. All small curves and soft skin and I’d hoped to be able to wake her with a kiss this morning, but that was out.
“Turn around,” I said. They immediately complied. Sometimes being captain was good. “Adi,” I whispered. “Wake up.”
She snuggled in closer and muttered something adorable in her sleep.
I could love this woman forever.
I kissed her sweetly on the lips and then extricated myself. Ratbag immediately took my place, shooting me a very disgruntled canine look. He turned around a couple of times and then flopped down where I had been; head on paws, warm body tucked into Adi.
Lucky dog.
I stood up and walked away from the sleeping end of the pit, pressing in an order for our coffees. Adi liked her morning coffee.
The others watched me silently, as I returned with the mug and placed it beside her head.
“Wake up, beautiful,” I said, and she blinked at me.
She smiled, and the sun might as well have followed us here from Earth it was so stunning.
“Morning,” she said, stretching and yawning wide.
I couldn’t look away. My heart did something unusual inside my chest. That was new, I thought and smiled at her. Then her eyes caught movement down the other end of the pit. López, Johnson and Armstrong.
I waited to see if she’d hide herself. I was used to Adi doing that. She did blush sightly, but she looked at them and simply said, “Good morning.”
“Morning,” they all mumbled at various volumes.
Well, that’s that, I thought and got to work.
“Everyone ready?” I asked quietly, keeping my voice low so Aquila wouldn’t overhear.
“Coffees wouldn’t go astray,” López said, nodding at Armstrong who started filling orders at the synthesiser.
I cringed at the idea that she’d been keeping them out of the pit to preserve my honour. I nodded my head at her in thanks and checked my weapons.
“Any news from our friendly neighbourhood AI?” I asked.
“Nothing, sir,” López replied. “But we haven’t tried yet.
“It might be a good idea to entertain him for a while,” Johnson whispered. “Especially as we all head out.”
“I can do that,” Adi offered.
I didn’t like that idea, but it made sense that it would be either Adi or me who captured his attention
the best.
“That’ll make us late to the habitats,” I observed.
“We’ll be fine,” López immediately said. Then added in a barely audible voice, “We’ve got enough teams to cover all the habitats. Nova takes Habitat Three, Flux on Habitat Two, and Mandy’s team in Habitat One.”
“We’ll join the Habitat One team then, once it’s started,” I said.
“That should give everyone enough of a chance to get into position and time our first blow together,” López agreed.
“Especially if Aquila is distracted,” I added.
They all nodded just as Mandy approached.
“Everyone’s ready if you are,” she said, eyeing us warily and flicking a glance toward Adi.
Adi met her eyes this time, and I couldn’t help feeling it was because I gave Adi the same sort of comfort that she gave me. That sort of thing helped a person find their courage. I’d long thought Adi had an enormous amount of courage, but sometimes having it and finding it are two different things.
Adi helped me to face the responsibilities of captaincy. I helped her face those things that hurt her.
I knew, eventually, we’d have to face her father; the ultimate source of her heartache. This here with Mandy was just the beginning.
“Hey, Adi,” Mandy said.
“Mandy,” Adi offered. And OK, so it wasn’t hearts and flowers, but it was something.
Mandy offered a small smile.
“Good luck out there,” the spook said quietly.
“You, too,” Adi offered.
The others began to turn away, heading in the direction of the hatch and the rest of the watches. Johnson with the wrist comm to allow them egress out of the computer core. Before Mandy joined them, however, she said, “I was always your friend, kid.”
Adi stiffened and said nothing. I shot Mandy a hard look. Most people tended to see only what their eyes told them about Adi. Small. Fragile. Sweet.
But there was more to my Adi than that. Much more.
Adi lifted her chin and looked away, then said loudly, making her voice carry so the AI could hear her, “Hey, Aquila! Read any good books lately?”
The walls pulsed red.
“I have been studying Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art Of War,’ Adriana,” the AI said. “Would you care to share notes on that?”
“It’s a little out of date,” Adi offered casually. “My father always recommended ‘How To Profit By One’s Enemies’ by Plutarch. Of course,” she added, “I was always more of a ‘The Strategy Paradox’ fan. That one’s by Michael E. Raynor. You should read it. Success is a recipe for extreme failure. It’s quite the paradox.”
Strategy. They were all strategy titles. Books I’d read in military college when I’d chosen to become a tactical officer. I stared at the woman before me; the computer core room disappeared.
Be still my beating heart, I thought.
Aquila said, “You raise an interesting…” And then nothing.
“Aquila?” Adi called. She looked at me.
It was too soon for the others to have made it to their respective decks, let alone time their first strike against Price’s mercs. I shook my head.
And then the ship rocked beneath us.
I reached for Adi. And then started running toward Johnson and Armstrong at the hatch. If we were under attack again, then we had our distraction. Aquila would be too busy with torpedoes to pay attention to what we were doing in the habitats.
The ship shuddered and groaned as Aquila announced a red alert.
Of course, we had to make it to Habitat One in one piece first.
Thirty-Five
We’re On Our Own
Adi
The tunnels shook. This was so much worse than the last time we’d faced Corvus. I could feel the vessel straining all around us. I could picture what Aquila was doing, trying to avoid the energy cannon fire from the other ship. It almost paralysed me with terror.
I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth and followed behind Lieutenants Johnson and Armstrong, with Hugo behind me. They looked worried, but it didn’t slow them down. In fact, I was certain they were moving faster with the more creaks and groans that the ship sounded out. It was as if the fear of what was happening to their vessel urged them on somehow.
I could do that, I thought. I could use my fear to make me stronger.
And then the main boost thrust stopped working. No more deep vibrations through the gel wall. No more subtle hum of sound in the background. We couldn’t, of course, hear anything from outside the hull, but inside sounded as much like the vacuum of space as out there right now.
“That can’t be good,” Hugo said behind me.
“Main boost thrust,” Johnson said, slowing down. “We’ve taken a hit to one of the nacelles.”
“The question is,” Hugo offered, “do they intend to wound us and go in for the kill?”
My fingers trembled with the amount of fear I was feeling.
“It can’t be their first thought,” Armstrong said. “They know we have civilians onboard.”
“But if they can’t get through to Aquila and whoever pushes the AI’s buttons,” Hugo offered, “then what choice do they have? They have a fleet to protect, and that’s not even considering ours.”
Johnson stopped, making everyone else stop as well.
“What do you want to do?” he asked, looking past me to the captain.
Hugo looked down at the wrist comm he’d put back on after we’d left the computer core.
“Maybe this can get us into comms somehow,” he said.
“We’d need the bridge for that, wouldn’t we?” Armstrong offered.
“The bridge will be heavily fortified,” Hugo offered. “But there is one other place that has fleet-wide comms capabilities.”
The two lieutenants looked directly at me.
“The mayor,” I whispered.
“Yes,” Hugo said carefully. “You could wait for us in the tunnels.”
I was already shaking my head.
Hugo looked at me, searched my eyes. Then he nodded.
“We can take advantage of the battle’s distraction and our teams confusing the mercs,” he said. “But we need to act now before Corvus does something we all will regret.”
“Deck A then,” Johnson said.
“Deck A,” Hugo offered more quietly.
We headed toward the only other inter-deck ladder still available to us. All the way I was sure Hugo was watching me for a sign I couldn’t do this. I would do this. I had to do this. There was no other option.
I hadn’t seen the mayor since that disastrous luncheon in my father’s quarters. Since my father had sold me to him to win his loyalty. I wondered how that was going for my dad right now. The mayor was not a patient man. He hadn’t received his payment. Would he be causing problems for my father? Was that something we could take advantage of?
The ladder appeared too quickly. I'd been deep in thought and not prepared myself for its arrival. But there it was. We could head down to the habitat decks. To Deck F and Mandy.
Or we could head up to Deck A where the bridge was. Where my father’s quarters were. Where the mayor had his mayoral offices.
You can be scared of something, even terrified, and still have the courage to do what’s required. I was terrified of my father and his toady, but I would not let my fear rule me. I would do what I had to do to put this right.
And we needed to do this to stop Corvus, to get help, to end Aquila’s madness.
To stop my father.
I hadn’t yet put into words what that would entail. I still wasn’t ready. I could only hope he was on the bridge where the captain should be. But knowing my dad, and knowing how he liked to be the top dog in any situation, I knew that’s where he would be.
I hoped the mayor was there, too. If he wasn’t in his quarters, then we could get in and get out again without having to see him. It felt a little cowardly thinking that, but I was OK with a small amount of avoidance if it
meant we didn’t have to use the plasma guns on Hugo’s and Johnson’s hips.
I briefly touched the filleting knife on my hip and then started up the ladder.
I was proud of myself; my hands hardly shook. My knees held strong. We made the decks between us and the mayor’s offices in quick time, despite the rocking and rolling of the ship.
As we emerged onto Deck A, the ship was underway again.
“He’s using the auxiliaries,” Johnson advised.
“But he’ll have our engineering team working on the main boost thrust,” Hugo offered in a tone of disgust. They all scowled in agreement. “No movement out there,” he added, peering out of the grille on the hatch. “I would have expected at least a guard to be placed here.”
“They’ll be around the bridge like you said,” Armstrong offered. It almost sounded like he was wanting reassurance.
“I don’t like this,” Johnson said.
Hugo flashed him a grin, plasma pistol in hand, and said, “What’s not to like, Lieutenant?” And opened the hatch.
Johnson and Armstrong rolled out behind him, taking up positions in front of their captain in the next heartbeat. I slipped out next to Hugo, who was keeping the hatch open. He gave me a short nod of his head and then whispered, “Move out,” to the others.
We ran along the corridor toward the mayoral central hub. There was no way to know if Aquila had access to the security cameras on this deck, but I knew from previous experience that there were many. We could only hope the AI was busy fleeing Corvus or occupied with Mandy and the others.
I briefly wondered how Mandy was doing, and then pushed all those mixed up emotions aside. I had enough to contend with by being back on this deck.
We slowed as we approached the hub. I’d not come this way often when I’d lived up here. I’d avoided it like the plague more like. I waited behind Johnson and Armstrong while they checked the way was clear, and then followed the men and Hugo as they edged the wide open space, heading towards the mayor’s reception area.
Zenith Point (The Sector Fleet, Book 4) Page 18