“Sorry, General, but she has a particular expertise that we need right now and—”
“You listen to me, Pete. Charley Maxwell is still a cadet and she is under my command. You are her mentor and I expect you to deliver her back here in three weeks. If Karl Hayes wants her, he’ll have to wait until after she graduates.”
With that, the com went dead. Damn. Karl would go crazy when he found out and how was he going to break it to Charley that their relationship was on hold until after she graduated? They needed to talk and he wasn’t looking forward to it.
Outside, Charley was waiting for him. She stepped forward and kissed him. “There’s something else for you to do on Monday.”
Pete’s heart skipped a beat. Wiping a few seconds from the base security systems was the least of his worries. “I’m sorry, Charley, there’s a problem with your transfer. General Holmes won’t release you until after you graduate.”
“Oh.” Her eyes were bright with tears, then she covered her feelings quickly.
She was hurt. There was no point in stretching out the agony. “There’s something else, Charley. If you’re not part of the team, that means I’m still your mentor. So we can’t, I mean, there can be no relationship between us for a while.”
Charley put her head down and tried to brush past him. Pete stepped into her path, blocking her way. “We need to talk about this.”
“Talk about what, Pete?” Her eyes flashed with anger. “I’m off the team and out of your life, what on earth do we have to talk about?”
Pete rested his hands on her shoulders. He wanted to hug her, but that would only make things worse. “Charley, please don’t. It’s only until after—”
Gray eyes stared furiously at him. “Take your hands off me, Sir.”
Ouch. Now that hurt. Pete removed his hands and stepped away. Charley was freezing him out and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
Charley ran across the courtyard and up the stairs to her room. How could he kiss her and then dump her five minutes later? She had to talk to Misha. When she answered the com, Charley could hear the noise of a bar in the background. Misha wasn’t letting work get in the way of a good time. She wished she was in a bar with the other cadets instead of being stuck on a base in the middle of nowhere with no one to talk to.
“How is your mentor, Charley?” Misha asked. “Mine is awful. She’s fighting with her husband all the time, and when I come into the room, they’re all smiles and politeness. Now tell me everything.”
Out it came, the kisses, the new ship, which she couldn’t really talk about, and being dumped.
“Charley, listen to me. Pete is right. He can’t date you if he’s your mentor. Remember all the trouble I had in first year with the weapons tutor?”
Charley laughed. They thought Misha would be expelled for that one, but the tutor had been reassigned to another class and Misha was let off with a stern warning. She let out a deep sigh. “Maybe you’re right…”
“Of course I’m right. Now—”
There was a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass. “You idiot,” Misha shouted. “Sorry, Charley, it’s crazy here. I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The line went dead. Charley sat on the edge of the bunk and fingered the display on the com. There was only one other person she could talk to. With trembling fingers, she made the connection. After almost a minute, she heard a sleepy voice pick up. “Hello…”
“It’s me, Mom.”
“Baby, are you in trouble?” The voice was suddenly wide awake.
Charley’s heart skipped a beat when she heard her. It had been almost a year since they had spoken. According to her personnel file at the Academy, her parents were dead and she had been raised off-world by her grandparents. “No, Mom, I’m fine. I just needed to talk. I’ve met someone—”
“Oh, Charley, I thought we agreed. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll be careful, Mom. You’d like him.” Charley continued. “He’s a Fleet Command engineer, but we had a fight and—”
“What’s his name, Charley?” Her mother sounded anxious.
“It’s Pete. Pete Olafson. Why?”
She heard a choked sob on the other end of the line. “He was on Tarsus Four, Charley. He was one of the men who came here, asking about your father.”
As she listened to her mother’s words, the muscles in her stomach tightened. She was going to be sick. Charley could hear her own voice agreeing not to see Pete again, anything to end the call. When the com disconnected, Charley rushed to the bathroom.
The mirror felt cool against her forehead. When she opened her eyes, an ashen faced reflection stared back at her. Tarsus Four. Why could she never seem to escape it? Charley brushed her hair away from her face. It had been shorter then, cropped like a boy’s, and wearing a bulky flight suit, that was exactly what she looked like. Her Dad insisted on it when they were flying, or rather, when she was flying. Toward the end, he wasn’t up to much. Years of heavy drinking had left him with a permanent case of the shakes. She had become his unofficial copilot.
Tarsus Four was their last flight together—a week long pleasure trip for a dozen wealthy passengers. It should have been a lucrative job. Except that one of the passengers was constantly sick from the time that he got on board. She didn’t know then that his sickness was caused by the weapons grade Illysium he was smuggling, but her father knew, he was part of it.
The rest of the trip was a nightmare. Even now, she could see the armed soldiers boarding the ship and hear the sound of laser weapons. Her father had taken a gamble that hadn’t paid off and that was the last time she saw him. She had hidden in a service chute until everyone was gone and it had taken her three weeks to get back to her grandparents’ home world. The rest of the passengers had been held hostage while a diplomatic row threatened to spill into war. After that, everything had changed. There was no more flying or cutting her hair and Charlene Kendall became Charley Maxwell.
Charley spat into the sink and rinsed her mouth with water. Pete had met her mom during the inquiry. It wouldn’t take much for him to put two and two together. Any relationship between them was out of the question now. Charley made her way back to the room and lay down on her bunk. She had never known anyone like Pete. He was the first man who made her feel like a girl instead of a giant. Charley pulled the thermo-blanket around her, trying to stop herself shaking. “You can do this,” she told herself. “It’s just a few months until you graduate and then you’ll never have to see him again.
Chapter Four
Pete sat on a stool at the end of the bar. The place was half empty for a Friday night, but then, it wasn’t a regular base anymore. The work crews didn’t live on site and the other techies on the team weren’t exactly sociable. He nodded to the barman for another. A beer seemed like a good idea, but he knew that several beers weren’t going to put a dent in the ache inside him. What a complete fuckup. Charley was barely speaking to him and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
He heard the click of heels on the tiled floor and a shrill wolf whistle from the group near the door. Two slender hands covered his eyes. “Hi, Techie, have you missed me?”
Pete whirled around and swept her up in a hug. “I never thought I’d say it, but you are a sight for sore eyes.”
Dark-haired beauty Tanith Jasson was a Cyraelian com expert. On the long voyage back from her home world, she had tamed his womanizing friend, Jake, and their wedding was only months away.
“Jake is out of town for a few days. General Holmes thought that I might be able to help with your Array problem, but I need something in return.”
“Name it. With Liston gone, we can do with all the help we can get.”
Tanith’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I don’t understand human wedding rituals and Jake’s mother is driving me crazy. Please, Pete.”
“Sorry, Tanith, but you’re asking the wrong guy. What would I know about weddings?
�
�More than me,” she snapped. “I have no female companions on this planet. The human says talk to his mother and his mother is a witch. Did you know that she wants me to wear a white dress?”
Pete guffawed with laughter. No wonder Jake had left town. “Okay, Tanith, I’ll help you, but please don’t tell anyone.”
“I agree. Now buy me a drink.”
Several drinks later, they made their way back to his quarters. Tanith looked around her, eyeing the untidy mess. “When are you going to find a mate, Human? A female would not tolerate this.”
Pete shifted a pile of clothes from the couch to allow her to sit down. “I’ll find a mate when you walk up the aisle. Now let’s plan a wedding.”
Pete sketched out a seating plan—bride, groom, best man, bridesmaids and families. Tanith was all alone. No wonder she was nervous. “Okay, forget that. What kind of wedding would you have on Cyraelia?
“Well, if it was an arranged match, the friends of the woman would host a party for her and the bride-to-be would wear white, as a symbol of mourning for the loss of her freedom.”
Okay, so no white dress. “What about the other kind, Tanith?”
“Now that is very romantic. My mother’s people come from the desert region. There, the couple elopes and they marry at night beneath the stars. The following day the groom returns to his family to show off his new bride and there is a big party.”
Tanith looked at Pete’s sketch. “How can you have so many rules? This one cannot sit here and that one must sit there and you may not wear this dress or that color. Everything I want is wrong on this planet.”
Pete watched as she rubbed her eyes. “Tanith, are you crying? It can’t be as bad as all that.”
“Of course I’m not crying.” She sniffed. “I am not weak like your human females. I must have something in my eye.”
Pete pulled her into his arms and stroked her back gently. Who would have thought that a girl who could fight with a stiletto knife would fall apart over the color of napkins? “How about I fix you some hot chocolate and you can bunk on the couch for tonight? Tomorrow we can sort out the wedding.”
Charley tossed and turned all night. She couldn’t sleep, wondering what she was going to say to him. Her mother was right. She couldn’t get involved with Pete. From now on, she would be cool and professional. She would learn everything she could from him, and when the month was up, she would never have to see him again. But first she had to make things right with him, and she couldn’t do that on the Pegasuswith the others watching. Charley hurried down to the mess and got some coffee and his favorite pastries. That should put him in a good mood. She climbed the stairs to his quarters and rang the door-com nervously. There was no response. Maybe he was already on the Pegasus.
She was just about to turn away when the door opened. The girl was wearing one of Pete’s tunics, which barely covered her slender thighs. Her long dark hair was tousled. She looked like she was just out of bed. The girl was petite and exotic-looking, everything that she wasn’t. Charley felt a stab of jealousy. Pete hadn’t waited long to find someone else.
She smiled sleepily at Charley. “Pete’s in the shower. Won’t you come in?”
Charley shook her head. She had to get out of here. “It’s okay, I’ll see him later.”
As she passed a trashcan, she dropped the coffee and pastries into it. Pete could get his own damn breakfast. Her hand shook, she couldn’t work like this. Charley headed back to her room to change. She needed a nice long run.
Later, when she got to the ship, Karl’s techies were already hard at work. They never seemed to go home. One of them waved to her, inviting her to join them. “Glad you’re here, Charley. Fleet Command sent us a Cyraelian com specialist. She might be able to help with the Array.”
“I saw her in the bar with Pete last night.” One of the techies gave an exaggerated wolf whistle. “She didn’t look like any com specialist I’ve ever seen. I think I’ll request a transfer to Cyraelia.”
Charley’s heart dropped. She grabbed her coffee and wandered up to the bridge. The first thing she heard was a peal of feminine laughter. The girl was lying on the com chair and Pete was leaning over her, trying to adjust the visor. Charley was struck by a sudden pang of jealousy and she reined it in quickly. It was none of her business. Pete could date a hundred women for all she cared. Just keep it formal, Charley.
“Good morning, Sir.” Her words came out a little more sharply than she had intended.
Pete stepped away from the chair and he frowned at her tone. “Good morning, Ensign Maxwell. This is Tanith Jasson. She’s going to be working with us on the Array.”
The girl slid out from under the visor. “It’s no good, Pete. I can’t implement the rest of the upgrades from here. I’ll be in the coms room.”
Recognition flickered across Tanith’s face and she nodded to Charley. “Nice to meet you again, Ensign Maxwell.”
Charley slid into the other chair and pulled down the visor. She was aware of Pete crossing the room to stand beside her. There was no point in talking to him. She had to get out of here. Pressing the control on the visor, she initiated the Array.
There was color. All her previous visits to Marc’s virtual world had been dull and gray.
“Hello, Charley.”
She spun around. Before this, she could only hear Marc’s voice and feel his virtual touch, now she could see him. He was taller than her, with light brown hair that looked like it had been bleached by the sun. His eyes were dark brown and he had a nice smile. Whoever had selected his avatar had picked a beauty and she was suddenly shy of him. “Hi Marc, you look good.”
“I am happy that I please you, Charley. More of my systems have come online. Will you assist me in testing them? I need to ensure that they will accept commands from multiple users.”
Charley almost whooped with joy. To operate a ship just by using her thoughts—her classmates at the Academy would never believe her. She could feel the com chair supporting her and she relaxed and reached out. Propulsion systems roared to life. Charley pulled away, startled by the rush of power.
“Try again, Charley.”
Marc’s voice sounded as if it was inside her head and she reached out tentatively. The third time was a little easier. After a while it was almost enjoyable. By lunchtime she had a splitting headache. She was just about to tell Marc that she had to leave when she felt his fingertips against her temples, moving in gentle circles. His touch was unexpected and she tensed.
“Relax, Charley. I am fully programmed to do this and it will help with the pain.”
Marc’s fingers massaged her head and neck before moving along her shoulders. He found every little knot of tension and gently massaged it away. She sighed with pleasure. Was this what it would be like to be part of the Pegasus crew? To be so close to someone that they anticipated your every need?
“Yes.” Marc’s voice was inside her head again. “It would be like this. We would work together and communicate this way.”
“What about privacy, Marc? I mean, there must be things that you wouldn’t want others knowing about.”
Charley thought about Pete. What if he could see inside her head now? A silly ensign with a massive crush on someone she could never have.
Marc was quiet for a few moments. “Do you mean secrets, Charley?”
“Well, not secrets exactly, but what if you liked someone a lot, but you could never be together and…” How pathetic. She was discussing her love life with a machine.
“I am not a machine.” Marc almost sounded hurt.
“Oh Marc, that was rude of me. I’m so sorry. I only meant that humans sometimes have problems with relationships and they don’t want someone to know how they are feeling.”
“That is not logical, Charley. However, I enjoy our interactions. You may talk to me if you do not wish to communicate with the humans.”
She reached for his hand and squeezed it gently. Marc was surprisingly sweet, in an artificial life form kin
d of way. “Thanks, Marc, I just might take you up on that.”
Charley pulled the visor away from her eyes and looked up into Pete’s face. Oh God. How long had he been there, watching her?
“You’ve been gone for hours. I thought I’d have to go in and get you.”
Pete looked worried. Maybe he had changed his mind about letting her stay. “Is there a problem, Sir?”
Charley caught a brief glint of hurt in his eyes, but he masked it quickly. “The local law enforcement officials are here. They have a warrant to search the base and speak to everyone.”
The mess hall was crowded when they arrived. At this rate, they would be here all night. Pete ushered her to a seat beside the com expert.
“Hi, Tanith,” Pete kissed her cheek lightly and Charley turned her face away. How could Pete kiss someone else in front of her?
“None of us were on the base last week. I’ll see if I can get them to take our statements first.” Pete moved off to talk to Karl Hayes, who was arguing quietly with the law enforcement official.
Tanith shifted impatiently in her chair. “I hope they don’t keep us waiting too long. My work here is done and I have a fitting tomorrow.”
“For my wedding dress,” she responded to Charley’s inquisitive look. “Last night I was ready to cancel it. I’m sick of the human being away, leaving me to organize everything, but Pete persuaded me not to.”
Charley’s heart pounded. She wasn’t Pete’s girlfriend. Tanith’s words should have made her feel better, but somehow she felt worse. It would be easier to keep her distance from Pete if there was someone else.
Tanith gave Charley a teasing glance. “Pete likes you. He talks about you a lot.”
Charley couldn’t stop the color flooding her cheeks.
Tanith’s eyes filled with mirth. “I see that you like him too. Perhaps you should come to the wedding with him. It’s about time Pete took a mate. He needs a female to care for him.”
“Will you shhh.” Charley looked across the hall. Oh God, he was coming back and he was staring at them.
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