Solomon Family Warriors II

by Robert H. Cherny

  Sabrina giggled. “I am sure you did not lack for companionship.”

  Warren slapped his hands over his heart in a gesture of mock pain. “You wound me my sweet!” He turned to Fiona who eyed him apprehensively. “Just a hug my darling daughter.”

  She opened her arms for a hug. While he was hugging Fiona he winked at Saul. After breaking the embrace he said, “Mr. Saul Cohen, it is a pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand.

  Warren’s grip on Saul’s hand was firm. Saul returned the grip in kind. A knowing look passed between the two. Saul had passed the first test. He knew there would be more. “She was mine before she was yours!” Warren said with a grin.

  “You’re going to have to share,” Saul replied. “I am honored to meet you, sir.”

  “You realize that before I agree to let you marry my daughter you will have to prove yourself.”

  “With all due respect, sir, I believe that is her decision and not yours.”

  “And not yours?” Warren smiled.

  “Well, yeah, mine too.”

  “Then we understand each other. It is in the best interest of Stellar Interstellar that the two of you go to the Space Force Academy and for security reasons that you go as a married couple. Have I made my intentions clear?”

  Saul sighed. “Well, sir, I am about to let you down. I can’t go to the Academy. I won’t pass the physical. I am allergic to bug bites.” Saul’s face dropped from the confidence that he was pleasing the most powerful businessman in the galaxy to utter and abject failure.

  Warren turned to Sabrina, “Is this true?”

  Fiona answered saddened, “Yes, it is.”

  Warren wandered over to a small refrigerator nestled into the wall. He opened it. “Help yourselves. It’s not the end of the world.”

  When they had taken their drinks and settled in the comfortable chairs with a view of the shipyard beyond, Warren said, “I take it this has something to do with the incident when you went horseback riding.”

  “Yes, sir, it does,” Fiona answered.

  Warren took a long pull on his vitamin enhanced water and said, “Tell me about it.”

  Fiona described the incident in detail including her feelings holding Saul’s naked body in her arms. She also related her own allergic incident and guessed that it might be a problem for her as well if she were to go to the Academy.

  Warren assimilated the new information thoughtfully. “Well, as I said, it’s not the end of the world. This is a common problem with our freighter crews. When they go on leave they interact with the planet and often come back sick. The ships are so sterile they either develop auto-immune diseases or fall prey to the first bug that happens their way. So, I did what any responsible businessman would do under the circumstances, I threw money and personnel at the problem. We have the most advanced allergy and auto-immune clinics in the galaxy. Given what you described, we should have no trouble dealing with your problems.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Saul said.

  “Don’t thank me until it’s over. The procedure takes six months. It hurts, but it works. I have thousands of freighter crew members out there who know it works.”

  Fiona had listened to the last with only half her attention. She was working on a different problem. “Did you send me to Eretz to catch Saul? Was I some kind of bait to lure him into a trap?” She challenged him with the coldness of the steel in her eyes as the only sign of her anger.

  Warren stopped in mid swallow and choked on his water. “No, I might have if I had thought about it, but I didn’t. My only thought was since your mother knew the Solomon family, they would trust her more than anyone else I could send.” His voice rose. “I know better than to try and tell a teenager who they should love or not love. You do not get to be where I am making that kind of mistake. I am thrilled that you two are together. I want you to stay together now that you are. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever hoped for this. I intend to do everything I know how to do to make sure the two of you are happy with each other and with me. The success of this company could rest on you working together, and I damn sure do not want to mess it up! You understand me, young lady?”

  “Yes, sir I do.”

  “And you, young man?”

  “Perfectly, sir.”

  “That is settled. You need to understand how many lives and livelihoods are at stake with every decision we make. You are part of it whether you like it or not.” Warren paused for a few breaths. “Furthermore, none of my children will marry without my approval. There will be no divorces.” He paused again. “Tonight, after dinner, I would like the two of you to do me a favor. I have a couple of young security officers who think they are hot stuff. I would like you to take them on in the combat simulators, kind of like a doubles match. Are you game?”

  “Is this a test?” Saul asked with a grin.

  Warren smiled as he said, “Yes.”

  Saul puffed out his chest and hooked his thumbs in a set of pretend suspenders and said gruffly, “Bring ‘em on Cap’n. We’ll take the lot o’ ‘em scoundrels!”

  Fiona swatted him, and they laughed.

  When they had finished laughing, Warren said, “I think it is time for you to get settled in your quarters. I have arranged a three bedroom suite in the Visiting Officers Quarters.”

  Dinner was not as raucous as what Saul was used to, but still fairly lively. The two security officers they were to challenge, one male and one female, were there. Saul and the two officers traded stories much of the evening. Fiona felt a little left out because she had no such stories to tell. When she mentioned this to Saul, he smiled and told her that those days were over. In his family the expression was that life with his mother was never dull and he carried on the family tradition.

  The simulator was a detailed mock-up of the flight deck and fire control suite of the ship they had flown in. They had practiced in this exact type of suite in simulator mode the entire trip and were at home. They were told that the opponents were in a similar suite and were in an identically armed ship.

  “Front or back?” Saul asked.

  “Front,” Fiona replied taking the pilot’s chair.

  “Hug for luck,” Saul replied before sealing himself in the spherical shell of the fire control suite.

  “Game on!” Saul said as he saw the other ship approach in his displays. The opponents first move was so stupid that Saul did not bother wasting a missile on them, but took them out using his lasers. No sooner had he downed that ship than another appeared and another. For two hours, Saul and Fiona battled an entire fleet of small warships conquering one after another without taking any serious damage themselves. There was no doubt that Saul and Fiona were every bit as formidable a team as previous generations of the Solomon family had been. Nearing exhaustion, Saul noticed an unusual notation on his display. He did not believe what he was seeing. A huge ship was approaching. As it loomed larger in his display it launched dozens of small ships. The small ships were an old Valiant type he knew how to deal with, but their sheer numbers would overwhelm them if they tried to fight them. For a second, Saul seriously contemplated retreat. Then he stopped. He slaved Fiona’s display to his.

  “Fiona, look at this ship. It has a dumbbell shape. If this is the ship I think it is, there is a hatch in the center on the opposite side. Our mothers fought one of these a long time ago. We need to hyper jump to the hatch and get some missiles inside.”

  “There are too many ships in the way. We can’t hyper through them.”

  Saul pointed to a space on the display. In ninety-six seconds there will be a gap right here. Can you jump through it?”

  Without answering, Fiona programmed the jump and initiated. In real combat if her math was off by a tenth of a percent, there would be a series of bright flashes and huge amounts of energy would be released in a dramatic fashion. Of course, they would not be around to tell the tale, but then neither would dozens of other flight crews.

  The jump put them neatly on the other
side of the giant mother ship. One advantage of simulators over real ships was that the transition into and out of hyper was imagined and not real. Saul had done short jumps enough to know how painful they were. Fiona, for all her time in a warship, had not and did not understand. Glad that he did not have to deal with the pain of transition, as soon as the ship was in position, he pumped four carefully placed missiles into the gaping hatch.

  “Hyper out!” he called.

  “Where?”

  “Anywhere out!”

  Fiona quickly programmed a jump. They leaped into hyperspace within seconds of the beginning of the end of the simulated mother ship.

  When they dropped out of hyper, Saul asked, “So, where are we?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Well, there are no bad guys around, but if you don’t figure out where we are, we can’t figure out how to get home.”

  “Good point.”

  Saul scanned his displays for a reference point to tell him where they might be.

  “I got it.” Fiona said. “Let’s go home and see how much mess we made.”

  As soon as they dropped back out of hyper, the “Game Over” light flashed.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted,” Saul said.

  “Me, too,” Fiona offered.

  They stumbled out of the simulator holding hands. A few dozen people stood applauding as they stepped down. Warren stepped forward with his arms wide. “Saul and Fiona meet your opponents!”

  First he introduced the two junior officers who had dinner with them and who they had eliminated so quickly. Then he introduced another pair of officers and another and yet another and by the time he was done, they learned they had fought off eight sets of officers from the security service.

  Saul looked at Warren. “Does this mean we pass?”

  “You passed half an hour into the simulation. After that, we took bets to see how far you would go.” He grinned. “I won.”

  Fiona glared at him, “Father! We are not race horses you can wager on for your amusement!” She spun to walk away.

  Warren grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. She slapped his hand away.

  “Now you look here!”

  “No!” Fiona shouted. “You look here! If you want us to grow up to be what you want us to be, you need to treat us like people and not like some kind of puppet on a string. You are a manipulative son of a bitch!”

  “Yes, I am, and you will be glad of it!”

  Fiona’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t ever use me for sport again or I will take that ship we rode in on and do some real damage. Saul, are you coming?”

  Warren’s eyes told him to go so he scurried after her.

  They ran the distance to their quarters and slammed the door. Once inside, Fiona collapsed into Saul’s arms. “Saul, what have I done?”

  “You stood up for your rights. Maybe he’ll respect you more now.”

  Saul was careful what he said. “You know after a simulation like that one, we sometimes say things we mean, but we should not say.”

  He wondered if the quarters were monitored the way his quarters on Peter were. Peter monitored everything including vital signs and fluid intake.

  “You’re pretty wound up. I don’t think you could go to sleep if you wanted to. Sometimes my mother says we should talk through the simulation we just did, and that will help us relax.”

  Fiona looked at him carefully. “What are you not telling me?”

  “Maybe we should be more careful what we say in, um, public?” He scratched his ear.

  Fiona’s eyes grew wide. “You think?”

  “Dunno. If it were me, I would.”

  “Maybe we should go to the gym.”

  Saul smiled. “Good idea.”

  They ran laps and played on the gymnastic apparatus until they were tired enough to go to sleep. As they walked arm in arm back to their quarters, Fiona said softly, “Saul, I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”

  Saul gripped her hand and said, “I’m not.”

  “You were happy on Eretz. I should have left you there.”

  “I was bored on Eretz. I did everything I could to keep from going nuts. You were the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  “Saul, how much trouble are we in really?”

  “Heaps, but you know how you could make it up to me?” He grinned mischievously.

  Fiona eyed him suspiciously.

  “How about a big kiss right here in the hallway?”

  Fiona giggled and kissed him. Saul looked over her shoulder to see the athletic young woman who had been working out near them and who had followed at a discrete distance since they left the gym come to a sudden stop. He had pegged her for an ex-marine when he first saw her. Her presence was both comforting and disturbing at the same time.

  When they broke the embrace, Saul whispered, “We’re being followed.” Then loudly he said, “If you ever say that to me again, I’ll punch you!” He pantomimed boxing the air in front of her. She pantomimed boxing him back. They danced and parried back to their quarters. To those who did not know better, they were two teenagers playing silly games.

  When they returned to their quarters, Sabrina was waiting for them. She cast a worried eye at her daughter. “Are you all right?”

  “I am now. Saul is a magic man. I told him I’m sorry if I trapped him into anything he did not want to do, but all he did was kiss me.”

  Saul smiled. “Think of it as an adventure. It’s an adventure we will have together.” He picked her up and carried her to her room. He placed her on her bed and kissed her on the forehead. “Good night, my darling princess.”

  “Good night, sweet prince.”

  Saul quietly closed the door.

  “What is with you two?” Sabrina asked suspiciously.

  Saul leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek and instead whispered. “The walls have ears.”

  “Really?”

  “If it were me I would.”

  Sabrina looked at Saul with a new appreciation. “So what do we do?”

  “Give me a hug, and go to bed.” Saul said softly.

  “I need a shower,” Sabrina said passing on the hug. “See you in the morning.”

  “Night night, my queen.”

  Sabrina threw a sofa pillow at him. He dodged it and closed the door to his room.

  The security report that evening stated simply, “The kid knows the room is monitored.”

  The following morning Warren sat with several members of his operations staff in their daily meeting. After reviewing the reports of the previous evening, the most senior of his staff said, “You know, boss, you need to keep an eye on those two. I wouldn’t put it past them to kill you and take over the company in a couple of years.”

  “They could do it now and get away with it if they wanted to. I think Saul may have figured that out. I’m not worried. I don’t think that’s what they want. Did you hear how much fun they were having in the simulation?”

  “It was a game.”

  “Not to them. They’ve done this for real. They’ve killed pirates. They knew what they were doing. They were incredible together. They’re warriors born and bred, and we need them for exactly what they are.”

  “If you say so, but I think they’re dangerous.”

  “Oh, they are dangerous, very dangerous to our enemies. If we are not careful they could be dangerous to us. We need to give them no reason to turn on us. We need their loyalty. Disable the monitoring in their quarters. No point if they are aware of it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What about the shadow?”

  “Too risky to let them wander around alone. One of the half brothers or sisters could be a problem.” Warren paused for a moment. “You know, it might be interesting if one tried. Now that would be a fight!”

  The others smiled and nodded in agreement.

  “When do I need to leave for New St. Louis to meet the senior Solomons?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon.�
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  “Very well.”

  “When is my next meeting with the lovebirds?”

  The secretary checked her data assistant which had alerted her to a message. “They are waiting in your outer office. They are early. I think they wanted to talk to you.”

  “Show them in. They should meet all of you.”

  Fiona, Saul and Sabrina entered the room. After formal introductions had been made, Warren asked, “How are you adjusting to life here?”

  Fiona and Sabrina looked at Saul. “It’s your funeral.” Sabrina said.

  Saul nodded. “Mr. Rothschild, sir, a couple of things have come to my attention that I think we should discuss. It’s not that I am unhappy here, but we do have issues. I don’t have a problem with you monitoring our quarters as long as you don’t sell the recordings to the scandal mongers.”

  There was a collective gasp. Warren grinned. “I have already ordered it disabled.”

  “No, I don’t think that’s wise. Our ships monitor our activities for our own health and safety. My mother has often commented on the wisdom of monitoring the activity on her ships. I like knowing that if I sing out, help will be forthcoming.”

  “As you wish.”

  “Thank you. I have observed that you have two ex-Marines following us. I don’t have a problem with that either. It’s probably for our own safety. However, if we are to always be in the company of an armed escort, we should at least know who they are.”

  Saul scanned the table to see how far he could push this. “Furthermore, I have heard that Marines make the best martial arts instructors. Fiona and I could spar with each other and have a lot of fun, but neither of us would improve. I request that since you are already paying these two ladies to keep an eye on us that they assist us in our workouts and help us improve our skills.”

  Warren grinned. “Have them come in. It shall be as you request.”

  The Marines entered the room and stood on either side of Saul and Fiona.

  “One more thing. I want to train with your security people on real maneuvers in real ships in real space. Our escorts can accompany us or you can have your tactical instructors accompany us as you see fit. I understand that you might not be willing to let us take control of a warship by ourselves, but if we are to provide you the services you have a right to expect, we need to train the way I was taught to train by my parents and grandparents.”