“Not if she swings first.”
“I love you, Mom.”
All eight of the cousins showed up in the morning to escort Fiona and Sabrina to the school for registration. Moses led the parade, Saul and Rebecca flanked Fiona and the younger ones kept Sabrina occupied with their chatter.
Fiona’s entire first day in the school was spent in placement tests just like everyone else who dropped in on the school system. By the end of the tests, she had been assigned to her classes. As it turned out, Saul, Rebecca or both were in all her classes. Once the academic tests were completed, she went to the gym. Fiona changed into her gym clothes and headed out to the floor. While she was still looking at the immense domed roof, one of the martial arts instructors walked over to her. “Fiona?”
“Yes?”
The woman wrapped her into a hug. “After all these years to finally meet you. I’m Alina.”
Fiona was stunned. This was her mother’s best friend for years, her combat buddy, her Captain, her mentor and she introduced herself by her first name, not her rank, not her married name, her first name. No one had ever greeted her so warmly. She did not have time to respond before the woman put her hands on Fiona’s shoulders and pushed her to arm’s length. “Let me look at you! You’re gorgeous! Just like your mother! No wonder Saul fell for you.”
Fiona sighed, “Does everyone know about Saul?”
Alina’s light laugh rippled like the clink of a crystal chandelier. “Yes, it’s a small town.”
Fiona sighed again. “Life on ship is much simpler.”
Alina laughed again. “But not as much fun.”
“So who is this Barbara I am supposed to be looking out for?”
“See the blond walking this way with her hands balled up in fists?”
“Yes.”
“That’s her and her hair is dyed.”
Fiona rolled her eyes. “Wonderful.”
The blond strode up to them and without a word of greeting poked her finger in Fiona’s chest. “You stole my boyfriend! Keep your hands off him.”
Fiona’s cold steel blue eyes bored deep into Barbara’s soul. “No,” she said softly.
Fiona expected the punch to be sooner, stronger and faster. She caught it neatly in the palm of her hand and held the fist fast. Still holding Barbara’s clenched fist, Fiona said, “This is stupid. If you want to fight, go find some drug dealers or slave traders.” She tossed Barbara’s hand away.
Barbara swung again and Fiona ducked the punch. Rolling away, with a quick motion of her foot as she had done hundreds of times in the simulators, Fiona kicked Barbara’s legs and made her fall to the concrete floor. “That’s enough!” Fiona said firmly.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a man descended on Barbara, threw her over his shoulder and hauled her away kicking and screaming. Barely able to hide a smirk, a boy held open the door that separated the swimming pool from the rest of the gymnasium. The man tossed Barbara in the pool still flailing around and after a few heated words in her direction, stormed off.
“Who was that?” Fiona asked.
“Rev Schwartz.”
“Oh,” Fiona knew that the title “Rev” was a term of respect meaning both teacher and leader.
“He’s stricter than he needs to be sometimes, but the kids love him. If he was your age, he would be worth fighting over.” Alina sighed. “He was already married when I arrived. Oh, well.”
Fiona connected the man returning from the pool area with her mother’s threat of the other evening. If this was the famous Rev Schwartz, she did not want him mad at her. He strode over to her with his hand extended. “Hello, Fiona, welcome to the house of books.”
His smile lit up his whole face. He turned to Alina. “Would you like to give her the placement tests or should one of the girls do it?”
Alina grinned an evil grin, “Might be more fun if Adam and Jeffrey do it.”
“And then Mary should do the marshal arts,” he suggested.
“Yes, or she can wipe the floor with Barbara.”
Rev Schwartz laughed. He turned toward two boys who were coaching some younger ones on the parallel bars. “Adam! Jeffrey! Come here please.” The two boys ran over.
“Adam, Jeffrey, please meet Fiona. I would like you to give Fiona the athletic placement tests.”
Adam shook his head slowly. “Saul’s not going to be happy.”
Rev Schwartz smiled. “You let me take care of that.”
“Promise he won’t beat the stuffings out of me, again,” Adam said.
“Promise.” Rev Schwartz picked up the clipboard and stop watch he had dropped when he picked up Barbara and offered them to Adam.
“Right.” He turned to Fiona. “Let’s get you warmed up, and we’ll see how fast you can run.”
The athletic tests took an hour. Fiona was high up on one of the climbing ropes when Saul entered the gym. Barbara intercepted him before Rev Schwartz could. While Fiona did not understand the words, she could hear the screaming and yelling from where she was. When it was over, Barbara stormed off. When Fiona touched the ground again, Adam said, “Watch out. Here he comes.”
Jeffrey had slunk back behind a support when Saul approached. “Hey, Fiona! Are these losers working you too hard?”
“No, but...”
“Adam, can I see her scores?” Saul teased.
“Only if she says so,” he replied, visibly relieved. Saul was not going to thrash him for spending time with “his” girlfriend.
Fiona got between Saul and Adam. “What makes you think I want you to see the scores? Huh?”
She pointed to the pool. “Why don’t you go join your lady friend and cool off?”
Saul stood and blinked.
“I’ll call you when I want you!” Fiona shouted and pushed him in the direction of the pool. Saul slowly slid away in silence.
Jeffrey moved next to Fiona. “Do you know what you just did? Do you know who he is?”
She cocked her head and said, “I have a pretty good idea.”
“Wow!” Jeffrey said, “Look, you don’t need to be my friend or nothin’ if you don’t want, but please don’t ever think of me as your enemy.”
“We can be friends if you would like,” Fiona offered. “What’s the big deal with Saul?”
“Think of him as a junior warlord in training.”
Fiona smiled. “And he’s all mine.”
“If you say so,” Adam said softly. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I do,” Fiona smiled. “Come on guys, let’s finish up.”
The last test was a marshal arts skills test. Mary was one of several examiners and was chosen to spar with Fiona because their heights and weights matched. When they stepped into the ring a small crowd gathered. Adam and Jeffrey sat to watch. The rounds were a minute each and were devoted to different styles of marshal arts. By the end of the tenth round Mary had failed to place a scoring hit on Fiona and Fiona had sent Mary to the mat twice. Mary threw her hands up and declared that Fiona was the better of the two.
Rev Schwartz shook Fiona’s hand. “I’m impressed. Are you up for a real challenge?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only done this in simulators and with my mother,” Fiona said.
“You spar with your mother?” Rev Schwartz asked.
“Yeah.”
“And you hold your own?”
“She lets me win sometimes.”
Alina had been listening to the conversation. She shook her head slowly. “No, she doesn’t. She doesn’t have it in her. If you’re beating her, it’s because you’re better. Sabrina does not lose intentionally. I’ll bet my life on it.”
Rev Schwartz thought for a second and then grinned. “Hey, Saul! Come here!”
“Yes, sir?”
“Fiona just beat Mary in ten rounds. Lunch for a week says she can beat you, too.”
Saul looked anxiously around the small group, “Please don’t do this to me, sir.”
Fiona looked square at him. �
��What? Chicken?”
“No, I, look, sir, she’s a girl and I can’t touch her like I can a guy.”
Alina kicked his foot out from underneath him. “I’m a girl. So what?”
Saul stood up. “I really don’t want to do this.”
“Put your padding on and get in the ring.” Alina ordered.
“Yes, ma’am. I really don’t want to do this.”
They went ten rounds. At the end of the tenth round Alina called it a draw. The crowd that had gathered during the match expressed their displeasure when it was ended. Fiona, Saul and Alina sat on a bench. Alina said, “Saul, I don’t know if you have ever watched your grandparents spar. Greg and Avi fight like you two just did. They have lasted half a century together. They went through a lot of pain and heartache to find each other after losing each other the first time. I hope you do not have to go through what they went through. Fiona, I know you think your mother lets you win, but I can assure you that Saul did not let you win. I have never seen him move so fast or so fluidly. This was a draw because you are evenly matched and for no other reason.”
Fiona nodded. “Thank you.” She turned to Saul. “Look, I want this out in front of witnesses. I like you, but you don’t own me. I think you like me but I don’t own you either. I liked talking to Adam and Jeffrey. If I want to talk to them or anyone else, it’s none of your business. If you make a stink over it, I will wipe the floor with you. Got it?”
“Got it,” Saul said softly.
Alina broke the silence that followed. “Off to the showers you two. You have homework.”
Sabrina was waiting for Fiona when she came out of the locker room. “I talked to Alina. She said you did very well.”
“Mom, when we spar, do you let me win?”
“No, not in years.”
“Oh.”
“I heard you had words with Saul.”
“I let him have it on no uncertain terms. Does that screw up the mission?”
“No, it helps. You and Saul like each other and are good for each other. This way more people will see it and accept it when we leave together.”
“I really like him, but he’s such a GUY!”
“At fifteen most guys are like that. Most grow out of it. Some don’t. He will.”
“I hope so.”
“After dinner you start Catechism Class so you can have First Communion. We need to hurry.”
“Saul thinks I am doing simulators with him tonight.”
“I will explain it to him.”
THIRD GENERATION - CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE TWO MONTHS SPENT waiting for Warren Elias Rothschild’s reply passed quickly for Sabrina, Fiona and Saul. The answer arrived along with a regularly scheduled supply convoy. The convoy included several shipping containers of spacecraft spare parts marked for delivery to Greg Solomon that did not appear on the manifest.
Sabrina personally carried Warren’s message to Greg.
“Warren said that he is pleased with your offer and is happy to accept it.” Sabrina told him.
“No strings?” Greg asked warily.
“A few.” The first one had surprised Sabrina, but once she thought about it the idea made sense. “He wants you to do the minimum you need to do to get the ship space worthy and bring it to his shipyard for the remainder of the repairs.”
“There’s a surprise,” Greg said softly. He mulled over the implications. “It’s not like I can refuse him is it?”
“He does not want the ship to proceed directly there. He wants it to make a couple of interim stops so he can continue to keep the location of his shipyard secret.”
“Prudent,” Greg replied.
“He has asked that you send a member of your family with me and Fiona to meet with him as a good will gesture.”
“We anticipated that. Are you comfortable with Saul going?”
“Yes.”
“He wishes you and Avi to meet with him at New St. Louis independently of the rest of the team.” The date she named would allow her plenty of time to get to headquarters and for Warren to get to New St Louis.
“Rest of the team?” Greg asked.
“He has asked that the extended entire Solomon and Abrams clans with such additional family members as would be appropriate for the establishment of a new colony meet us at Stellar Interstellar Headquarters. He intends to establish a refuge for his family and would like you to be part of it. He also specifically requested David Shapiro and Faye Anne Sherman and their families.”
“I’m too old for this.”
Sabrina chuckled. “Let me read something. Quote. If Greg says he is too old for this, it’s too bad. Without him there is no deal.”
Greg sighed. “I’m in. I can’t wait to hear Avi’s reaction. When do you need to leave?”
“The convoy leaves on Monday. We will need that long to get the ship provisioned, and we can leave with convoy.”
“So we can have a rip roaring party Sunday and send you off with a hangover?”
“Better we don’t. We should make this look like business as usual.”
That evening when Greg had finished telling Avi the news, she smiled. “Well, old man, looks like we’re back in the saddle. It’s about time. I was getting bored.”
“You always did like the excitement.”
“Don’t lie to me. You did, too.”
“I know.”
On Friday before their planned departure, Sabrina and Fiona took a commercial shuttle to the space station where their ship was docked and oversaw the last of the preparations to depart. On Sunday, Rachel brought Saul to the ship.
Saul and Fiona spent their first evening on the ship finally getting the one on one he had suggested in the combat simulators. On Monday morning, the convoy departed in standard drive until it reached the point where jumping into faster than light hyper drive would not harm the shipping around them. As a single unit, the ships in the convoy made the jump toward New St. Louis which was their next stop. At the same instant, Sabrina jumped for a different destination. Only the most observant person in exactly the right location would realize that one ship had not gone with the rest, but Sabrina was taking no chances. Two days out of Eretz, she dropped out of hyper drive and changed course heading for one of the private freight depots operated by Stellar Interstellar.
One of the first surprises in their new life on the ship was that Saul could cook. Sabrina had forgotten that Ellie Mae and Elvira, Admiral Davidson’s ex-wives, now widows, had joined the extended families at Eretz as nannies and domestic “supervisors” running a massive common household. They had insisted that all the children learn to cook since none of their parents or grandparents could boil water without hurting themselves. Brian and Keith had been forced to learn to cook and when Ellie Mae found out that neither Red nor Rhonda nor their mother could cook, they were dragged into the kitchen as well. Saul enjoyed cooking and happily taught both Sabrina and Fiona what he had learned. For Saul, the times he had spent in the kitchen with the two crazy ladies from “the deep south” were some of his happiest childhood memories.
Sabrina, Saul and Fiona divided their days between the combat simulators, traditional academics and fitness training. The time in transit passed quickly and after two mid course changes, they arrived at Stellar Interstellar Headquarters in high spirits.
The explanation that Saul had been accepted to an “Academy Prep School” and was riding with the convoy to New St. Louis was met with guarded skepticism. When Greg and Avi suddenly disappeared in the middle of a “routine training mission” with one of the new convoy escort ships for a “top secret mission”, no one was fooled, although Greg and Avi did sometimes disappear and reappear without explanation. When Rachel, Wendy, Reuben and Rashi left with Elizabeth, secret courier missiles flew with speculations as to what was going on. When Peter, Buddy, Daisy and a hundred people all related to the Solomon and Abrams families disappeared without notice after Peter had been fitted with new passenger modules and provisioned for a very l
ong voyage, every intelligence service in the galaxy knew something was up, but none of them knew what it was. Even the Eretz service, arguably the best in history, could offer no explanation other than that they had all left in what could in retrospect be seen as a carefully planned operation. They issued their usual press release that they had been using for the last two decades which stated that to divulge such information would compromise valuable field operatives, and that was not how they did business. The intelligence services and the scandal mongering press were mystified. The affair kept talk show personalities in business for weeks.
Only one person not in on the plan knew what had happened, although there were aspects he did not understand. Major Emerson Winthrop III knew that the rash of sudden disappearances meant an attack was imminent, and he needed to be prepared. When it happened, he would turn the “unprovoked assault” into an interstellar war that the dissolute and degenerate Federation and their morally corrupt sycophants could not possibly win. His forces stood ready to repel the invaders.
Stellar Interstellar Corporation’s headquarters and shipyard was built on a moon orbiting a planet the size of Earth. The planet’s development was early being before the rise of large animals. The air was marginally breathable and with the exception of a narrow fringe near the poles, was too hot for unprotected human habitation. The airless moon was larger than Earth’s moon and provided ideal working conditions for the maintenance and construction of a fleet of interstellar cargo vessels. The docks sprawled around a central residential core with vast warehouses on one side and the construction shipyard on the other. It was certainly an impressive sight approaching from space.
Sabrina walked confidently towards Warren’s office with Fiona and Saul striding steadfastly behind her. Alerted to their arrival, everyone in their path made way and let them through. The secretary held the door for them, and they entered the inner office. Warren Elias Rothschild the fourth stood to greet them. He held his arms wide and said, “Welcome home!” He wrapped his arms around Sabrina and dipped her back giving her a long and passionate kiss which she returned in kind. “I’ve wanted to do that since the day you left!”
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