Moving Target

by Melissa Good

  "Hon." Kerry murmured sympathetically.

  "I feel like such a jackass," Dar said suddenly. "Letting that happen to all of you."

  Ahh. "Sweetheart, it's not your fault."

  "It is."

  "No, it isn't." Kerry was gently insistent. "Don't take that on yourself. You couldn't know what that Captain was going to do, and if Dad lost his mind and didn't tell you that's not your fault. That's his fault."

  Dar gazed ahead of her. "Ow."

  "You know he didn't mean to hurt you, or me, or any of the guys," Kerry said. "Dar, he didn't even know where we were before it happened. Maybe he didn't think it would be that bad."

  "Peh."

  Kerry leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Honey, I love you more than life. Please don't chew yourself out like this."

  Under this onslaught of mushiness, Dar really had very little defense. As much as she really wanted to stay upset and angry, it was impossible in the face of Kerry's solicitous endearments. She let her forehead rest against Kerry's and gave into it, releasing the fury still churning inside her. "Eh," she uttered. "What would I do without you?"

  "You'll never find out, so who cares?"

  That produced a genuine, charmed smile on Dar's part. They stayed like that, just touching each other, listening to the creak of the deck plates until finally Dar cleared her throat slightly. "Guess we'd better get this done, huh?"

  "Before the server guys come trooping in here and find us snuggling? Uh, yeah." Kerry gave her another kiss on the forehead, before they both straightened up and Dar faced the terminal. She reached over and typed in a few commands, opened her mouth to say something...

  And the lights went out.

  Kerry slumped against her and just started laughing.

  "HOW MUCH TIME do we have left?" Kerry asked typing away as Dar sat on the floor near the rack's UPS systems.

  They had propped the door to the hallway open and some small amount of light was creeping in from the stairwell--enough to outline Dar's profile and cast a silvery dull shadow across the keyboard Kerry was working on, but not enough to really be useful for anything other than dispelling claustrophobia.

  "Um." Dar poked her flashlight around the front of the panel. "About fifteen minutes," she announced. "Glad you spec'd out sixty minute runtime models."

  "Me, too." Kerry wiped the sweat out of her eyes, then dried her hand off on her jeans before continuing to peck away. "You know something?"

  "Hm? No. What?" Dar seemed content to sit on the linoleum floor with her legs pulled up crossed under her.

  "I so want a glass of cold raspberry ice tea, our couch, and a pair of gym shorts right now."

  Dar reached over and patted Kerry's leg sympathetically. "How's it going?"

  "Almost done," Kerry said. "I just used the demo database we used for the proof of concept on it, Dar. There's no real point in customizing it, is there?"

  "Not really," Dar replied. "Well, you might want to put their name on the front screen."

  "How about I put S/S Jackass of the Seas, instead?"

  Dar chuckled, and scratched her chin. "I dunno, Ker."

  "You could do an animated jackass, right? Couldn't you have it sort of bucking around the screen while we do the demo?" Kerry mused, as she set up the screens. "I know you could."

  Dar scooted over and peeked at what Kerry was doing. The monitor she was in front of was plugged, like the servers, into the UPS and it seemed hard to believe she'd actually finish before the power was drained to the point they had to shut everything down.

  "We should almost be in port," Kerry said.

  "Almost."

  "Want to go check if we are?"

  "No."

  Kerry kept typing, but a smile appeared on her face. Now that Dar had stopped being furious, she'd subsided into a quiet peacefulness, not really helping Kerry in what she was doing, but not hindering it either. "Do you think you should call an ambulance?'

  "Mark did," Dar replied. "It's waiting for us on the pier." She held up her PDA that was stuttering gently. "They're done putting the machines out, not that it does one damn bit of good without any power."

  "Okay." Kerry stopped typing. "I'm done."

  Dar leaned an elbow on her thigh and peered at the screen. "Nice."

  "Pointless."

  "Pointless, but nice."

  Kerry saved the configuration, and then sat back. "It's done." She looked around. "We're done. Dar, we did this."

  "Yep, we did."

  "Everything's installed, the servers are up, the PC's are out--the network works. We did it."

  Dar swiveled around and extended her legs out, letting her head drop back onto Kerry's thigh. "Uh huh." She agreed idly. "We did finish it all. Freaking incredible."

  Kerry patted her on the shoulder. "Let's go congratulate our troops. No matter what happens, they came through for us, didn't they?"

  'They sure did." Dar sat up, letting out a sigh as she pushed herself to her feet and held her hand out for Kerry to grab on. "Let's do it." She kept hold of Kerry's hand as they left the server room walking together down the darkened hallway toward the stairs. "Know something?"

  "You've had enough of ships for a while?" Kerry hazarded a guess. "When we first started this thing, I was going to suggest a cruise but now...."

  "Mm."

  "I mean, our boat's nice. I like it."

  "Glad to hear that," Dar commented. "I was thinking maybe we could take a ride up the Eastern Seaboard, just check stuff out and see the coast." She swung their linked hands a little. "Visit New England. How about it?"

  Kerry was momentarily speechless. Dar wasn't talking about a week vacation, she realized. She was talking about something far more extended. Far more, and though the suddenness of the request shocked her, the fact that she had an eager agreement on the tip of her tongue surprised her even more.

  "Just something to think about," Dar added, a touch awkwardly. "Sorry. Didn't mean to dump that idea on you right now. Anyway, we should figure out how we're going to do this proof of..."

  Kerry squeezed her hand and stopped walking. "Yes."

  Dar stopped also and looked at her. "Yes?"

  "Yes. Wherever you go, I go," Kerry said. "Wherever you want to be, that's where I want to be, just so long as wherever we go, we go together." She felt an enormous sense of peace after she said it, and it was nice just to stand there and absorb the look of absolute delight on Dar's face on hearing it.

  Just let the future happen. She wasn't going to worry about it. "C'mon." She started down the stairs toward the atrium where she could hear a buzz of voices. "We're done. Let's get everyone and get the hell off this thing."

  Dar didn't answer. She merely followed, a rakish grin on her face.

  ALL THE TECHS were gathered in the atrium, with their overnight bags at their feet. Darcy was laying in the center of it, propped up on a pile of folded blankets with two pillows under his injured leg and a set of solicitous attendants nearby.

  They all turned around and looked as Dar and Kerry approached, most scooting around so they could face their bosses as the two came to a halt near the center of the atrium. Dar looked around at the darkened space, then at the techs, then she lifted both hands in exasperated appeal.

  A soft chuckle answered her.

  "How's the leg?" Dar asked Darcy.

  "Well," the tech said. "It hurts, but I think it may just be cracked or something, cause it doesn't hurt as bad as my arm did when I broke that."

  Dar rubbed her elbow in far off memory. "Yeah, that's pretty memorable." She agreed. "Well we're almost back home, so just take it easy." She produced a grin for the injured tech who bravely grinned right back at her.

  Kerry leaned back against the central marble column very content to let Dar be the focus of attention. Of the two of them, she was very aware that Dar was the more charismatic. Heck, she'd fallen under that magnetic spell the moment she set eyes on the woman after all, hadn't she?

  "Okay, fol
ks." Dar paused, considering thoughtfully. "We'll be back in port shortly. I want everyone to get their stuff, and get the hell off this damn thing as fast as you can. We've got medical waiting to get Darcy off, but after that, just grab and run."

  Everyone nodded, but said nothing.

  "I want you all to know how much we appreciate you being here." Dar went on. "No matter what happens with this contract, we completed the task we were asked to complete and nothing can change that."

  Kerry smiled, but remained quiet as well.

  "So I want all of you to take next week off, on us."

  Everyone's eyes widened including Kerry's. She turned and looked at her partner in some surprise. Dar had put her hands behind her back and was rocking back and forth a bit, pleased at the response to her announcement.

  "I think you all deserve it after the last few days." Dar went on. "So take off, have a blast, and don't think about this damn ship, okay?" She half turned to Kerry. "Remind me to send a note to Mari," she added under her breath.

  "I'll send it," Kerry murmured back. "I only wish we were included on that," she admitted. "Boy, a week off sounds good right now. That was a nice touch, hon."

  "Thanks." Dar glanced out the windows where the port of Miami was beginning to come into view. "Let's get ready to move out. I'm not too damn happy with the hospitality on this junk barge."

  A couple of the techs got up and went over to the pile of cardboard boxes they'd taken the equipment out of, now neatly flattened and stacked near one wall. "Should we take these, ma'am?" One of the techs turned back to Dar. "Are we going to have to take all this stuff back out again?"

  "Leave it," Dar said. "They're just getting one big bill for this, no matter how they decide to award the contract."

  "But I thought..." Kerry nudged her.

  "I don't give a damn what he said," Dar replied. "He'll get a bill, and I'll toss it to legal. Let them handle it."

  "Hm."

  "Ham'll love it." Dar wandered over to the glass wall and looked out as they passed the island they lived on. "Sure you don't want to just jump?"

  Kerry joined her. "Don't tempt me."

  Dar continued watching the scenery pass. In the window's reflection, she caught sight of her parents entering the atrium, but she resolutely kept her back turned and pretended she hadn't seen them.

  She wasn't really mad anymore, but now she felt very awkward about the whole thing.

  Kerry nudged her. "Dar?" she whispered. "The Captain's heading for you."

  Another mental train derailment. Dar turned in the other direction and spotted the officer, who was indeed, headed directly her way. "What do you think? Toss him overboard?"

  Kerry patted her arm sympathetically. "I want to go home with you today, not bail you out."

  Dar rolled her eyes, but assumed a mild expression as the captain came up to them. She held back a greeting, however, and waited for him to speak his peace instead.

  "Ms. Roberts," the Captain said. "I owe you a very big apology."

  Wasn't what she'd expected. "Mm." Dar responded noncommittally.

  "Along with some small drills, we had expected that stability test this morning," the Captain continued. "I had instructed my staff to inform you of it. They did not."

  Ah. "Now that's what I'd call insubordination," Dar commented.

  The captain nodded. "So it was. I am sorry your employee was injured. Of course, we will take responsibility for his medical expenses." He clasped his hands behind his back. "Please understand, there was no harm intended for any of you."

  Dar allowed herself to be mollified. She'd halfway liked the old salt, and had been very disappointed to think he'd deliberately put any of them in danger. "On your part, no." She wasn't ready to let him all the way off the hook, however. "I think your staff feels otherwise." One hand sketched the air around them. "Was the power going off another 'oversight'?"

  The captain remained relatively unruffled. "I wish it was, since I was in my cabin shaving when it went off," he said. "We managed to burn out our transformer. It's very old. My engineer's one of the few men in the world still able to sort it out, but it will take time."

  "How much time?" Kerry asked. "We have to demonstrate this system to your owners, and we need power to do that."

  The captain shrugged. "Impossible to tell. We need parts, and those are not easily obtained. We will do our best, however." He gave them both a nod then turned and walked off, circling around the techs seated on the floor and heading forward toward the reception desk.

  "Hmph." Kerry put her hands on her hips. "Dar, if they don't fix that power, we can't prove our concept."

  "I know."

  "Can we run a huge extension cord from the pier?" Kerry asked. "Or something?"

  "Let's worry about that when the time comes." Dar took a seat on one of the low benches that ringed the atrium. She noted her parents had done the same nearby, and now she raised a casual hand and waved at them.

  Kerry stood by a moment, and then she clasped Dar's shoulder with one hand. "I'm going to go get our stuff. Be right back."

  "Sure that's safe?" Dar asked.

  "Dar, please." Kerry chuckled. "Just make sure they don't tip the boat over again, okay?"

  "Okay." Dar stifled the urge to follow her, and merely watched as she walked through the crowd of techs on her way toward their cabin. They all looked at her too, and Carlos approached her shyly. Kerry paused, then glanced back over her shoulder with a humorously accusing look before she lifted a hand and nodded, and walked on with the young man following her.

  Heh. Dar only had a momentary reprieve however, as her father got up and walked over, sitting down next to her on the bench. It creaked a little under his weight. Dar took a breath to speak, and then let it trickle through her lips.

  "Paladar Katherine," Andrew said.

  "Yeah?" Dar had laid her hands on her knees, and now she studied them, her eye catching on the subtle sparkle of the ring on one finger.

  "That was a damn fool thing to do, and ah was a damn fool not to cotton to it."

  "S'allright." Dar exhaled. "I don't really think they were out to kill us. Just embarrass us." She leaned back against the wall. "Bunch of jackasses."

  "Well." Her father folded his hands together. "Ah do not think most of them folks wanted to do bad by you all. Ah do think most of them cottoned to you," he said. "Few bad apples."

  Dar shrugged.

  Andrew was quiet for a bit as they both watched the activity in the room. "Been on this side of the fence a damn long time."

  "I know."

  "Didn't matter. Ah should have tracked you down and told you," her father said quietly. "Instead of being one of them jackasses."

  Dar turned her head and studied his profile. "You can't be a jackass."

  Andy's eyebrow cocked and he peered back at her with patent skepticism. "Ah most certainly can be, young lady."

  "Nah." Dar disagreed. "You're my dad," she said. "If you're a jackass that makes me a jackass too. You calling me a jackass?'

  Andy's lips twitched. "You ain't no jackass," he said. "You're a damn smartass, though."

  Dar chuckled wearily.

  "You get all the stuff done you need to?" Andy asked. "Fellers worked hard enough all night. Helped them carry some of them big boxes around."

  Dar hiked one boot up and rested it on her opposite knee. "We got everything in. Problem is we can't prove any of it works without power," she said. "I've about decided the whole damn project is just one big curse with my name on it."

  Andrew tapped the back of his hand against her thigh. "It'll work out. Always does."

  Would it? For one of the few times in her career, Dar had to admit that she really didn't think it would this time. And, for the first time, she had to admit to herself that she honestly really didn't care. She would hammer right to the end to get it done, get it right, get it proven, because her personal honor demanded that. But if it ended up that ILS lost the contract, well, then they did.
<
br />   Dar wondered if she should call Alastair and warn him. She owed him that.

  Didn't she?

  KERRY FOUND SHE was damn glad to get back on solid ground again though part of her inner ear was insisting that the pier concrete was still shifting underfoot. She was standing out in the hot sun near the ship, watching as her techs unloaded their gear and themselves. Darcy had already been transported out by a waiting ambulance.

  Down the pier, the other ships were also tying up and the amount of activity around their gangways was roughly three or four times what it was around their own. She spotted Michelle and Shari down there at the next ship, and despite their lack of power onboard, she was glad their part of the task was at last over.

  Unlike her rivals, she could now snag Dar and go off to get some lunch, then sit back and wait for the power to come back on so they could sign off on the system and be done with it. Kerry would, of course, have to work on presenting the official bid for the project, but that was just paperwork and it could be done in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with her feet up in her home office.

  "Hey, Kerry?" Mark detoured toward her. "We're all gonna go over to Bayside for some eats. You up for it?"

  "Maybe. Where are you guys going?" Kerry asked.

  "Hooters." Mark had the grace to at least blush. "I know it's all sexist and corny and stuff but you know they really do m..."

  "Make killer chicken wings. Yeah." Kerry chuckled. "Let me see what Dar wants to do. Maybe we'll meet you over there." The irony of it poked her in the butt, and she had to laugh at herself as Mark trotted off to help with a couple of large tool boxes.

  She spotted the Herald reporter headed her way though, and so she stifled the giggles and assumed what she hoped was a professional expression as the woman came up to her. "Well, good morning."

  "Good morning to you too, Ms. Stuart." The reporter greeted her with a smile. "I'm guessing it's a much better morning for you than for most."

  Kerry had a flash of a completely inappropriate memory of Dar, their cabin, and a comment about sea motion from the previous night and couldn't quite repress a blush. "Ah...yeah, probably," she agreed. "We got a lot done last night, and now, pending some electricity, we're ready to show off the results."