Read My Enemy's Son (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 2) Online
Authors: J. Naomi Ay
Chapter 10
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Dearest Katie,
Tim had a bit of a cardiac episode last
week and he's fine now so no worries but I've been home with him ever since.
He did have a procedure at SdK Medical Centre and I can say, not as an employee,
but as a patient's wife, the care there was first rate. We are discussing our
options for the future. Tim can take retirement at any time and we are
thinking that perhaps this would be a good time to do it. I am really enjoying
my job though and am not ready to just ride off in that Winnebago in search of
sunsets.
I do have a bit of gossip. Thad is dating
Dr. Gina. Janet despises her, probably because she is a competent surgeon, and
probably because she had her eye on Dr. Ron about the same time Janet did.
Gina's good for Thad though. I don't think she's nearly as ditzy as Janet
makes her out to be. Thad seems happy and less rumpled when I see him. Maybe
this will turn in to something?
Tim, if he decides to go back to the Landbase,
has mentioned a need for an adjunct who will relieve a lot of the stress that
is currently on his shoulders. This person would need to be a full commander
though. Perhaps you know someone?
Chat soon,
Shelly
Dear Shelly,
I'm so sorry to hear about the Admiral's
cardiac episode. I hope he feels much better soon and if he does decide to
retire, I know that the Spaceforce will sorely miss his presence, but you must
do what works for you.
We recently had an encounter with a
distressed vessel and ended up losing two crew and a shuttle trying to save the
occupants. The whole event was very upsetting to our entire crew. We've been
lucky to have had very few occasions where we have gotten into fire fights or
lost crew through accidents like these. It's caused all of us to spend a great
deal of time soul searching. I know it sounds trite to ponder now about the
meaning of life et al but this incident has truly made me wonder what I am here
for and where I am going. I guess the whole point of telling you all this is that
I think the Admiral must do what is right for him at this point in time even if
Spaceforce will feel the gap in his absence. Your happiness is what's
important now.
On an unrelated note, I did pass my rank
test and am just waiting signatures to get my stripe. So that's the good
news. Don't interpret this as my asking for the adjunct position though, as I
can't imagine myself moving to Rozari anytime soon.
On an even more unrelated note, I received
a notice from my bank that a deposit, a substantial deposit of about four times
my annual salary, was made into my account. I figured it was an error but I
had the bank trace it anyway and it seems I received a quarterly dividend from
my SdK Corporation stock. I didn't realize I had any SdK stock let alone
enough to dividend sixteen times my annual salary. Is the company paying
massive dividends or am I just holding a large percentage of shares? Maybe you
can ask Thad about this when you get back to work. I don't recall ever buying
any shares and I checked and SdK is not a public company so I'm not sure how I
could buy shares anyway. Sounds like somebody gave me a gift and didn't tell
me. It's a pretty expensive gift too! Was it you?
Love to all,
Kate
Hi Honey,
Tim is doing much better. Thank you so
much for the lovely plant. How did you know I love jasmine? Our house smells
wonderful these days. Tim has decided not to stand down. He's not ready to
cut the cord completely as he hasn't figured out what he wants to do next. He
still needs some time to think about it
As far as your dividend goes, I did check
with Thad. He informed me that you own 50% of the company and that Dr. SdK
owns the other half. Hmmmm…do you know something that I don't know? I know he
hasn't called but he gave you half of his mega $$$$$ company. That must mean
something, right? Is that beautiful villa out on the coast (which by the way
is very nearly finished) being built for you? Thad told me the floors are
absolutely stunning, pink marble with gold veins. Apparently he's one of the
chosen few who have gone inside.
I'm so sorry about the loss of crew.
Please know that all of the Spaceforce families hurt when one of our families
suffers.
Seems to me it's been about nine months
since we last saw you. I should think we will be seeing you soon. I dearly
hope so. I think we've become great pen friends and I would love to meet you
again in person.
Shel
Dear Shelly,
I'm being written up by Spaceforce Command.
Apparently they began investigating me when they saw that huge deposit into my
account and now they are checking to see if I had any influence on the SdK
equipment contract. I didn't know anything about it! I didn't know anything
about my stock in SdK! I don't want the money and I don't want the stock. Can
you tell them to take it back? My rank advancement has been put on hold
because of this!
Kate
Dear Kate,
Don't panic. Tim is being investigated as
well due to Thad and my own employment at SdK. You'll be cleared as will Tim.
The sales team that worked with the Spaceforce procurement office has already
testified that they have never met or spoken to either of you and the
procurement officers have concurred. It will clear and you will get your
stripe because you have earned it and deserve it.
Shel
Dearest Katie,
I haven't heard from you in several
weeks. What's going on? Are you okay? Tim said you were cleared and you should
be getting your stripe within the next month. He also said he wants to talk to
you about the adjunct position as soon as you get here. Please write to me,
honey. I worry about you and I miss hearing from you.
Shelly
Katie,
Where are you? Write to me or call me as
soon as you get this message.
Shelly
Dear Shelly,
I'm sorry I haven't written to you in so
long. These last few months have been very difficult and I just haven't had
the energy to even begin to discuss what happened. I think I can tell you now
and I wonder if you might already know some of it.
A little over a month ago, we were on
routine patrol near Spacebase 43. It was not very eventful. We had a minor
distress which we towed, a few vessel exams and a couple more small assists and
repairs. We were out in space for about two weeks and pulled into 43 for
restocking and fuel. We were given a few hours shore leave so my friends and I
went to get something to eat and do a little shopping. I had a laser and
Caroline's boyfriend who was in security had one. Neither Caroline nor Jerry
carry them because they are both med staff.
We were on base in line for food at the taco
stand and Jerry and Elton (Caroline's boyfriend) went to go get burgers instead
so Caroline and I were just standing there when a group of men came up behind
us. I didn't think anything of it at the time until they grabbed me and then
it was too late. I couldn't get to my laser and I couldn't get away from the
guy who was holding me before he slammed me on the wall and cuffed me, both
ankles and wrists. I was scared out of my mind because I didn't know who it
was. I thought maybe it was Spaceforce taking me to jail for making all that
money off of SdK or something ludicrous like that. It wasn't though. This guy
picked me up and carried me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. We
didn't go very far before Jerry and Elton came back and Jerry started to yell
and Elton took out his laser and I'm not sure entirely what happened but these
guys that kidnapped me had light swords (which as you know are totally illegal
and incredibly dangerous) and Elton with his poor little laser was no match.
They killed Elton but I didn't know that until days later.
They carried me through the space station
and took me into their ship and tossed me into a seat and chained me to it. I
still didn't know what or who they were and I couldn't understand what they
were saying except it did sound similar to Rozarian. I tried to figure out
where we were going by identifying the systems as we passed and when we passed
Rozari and moved on to the next star Erindad 37, I pretty much guessed we were
going to Rehnor. I didn't and still don't know much about Rehnor. I know Ron
had given me a brief history of how the Rozarians moved there after nuking
their own planet and I know that he is from there. But, why would they want to
kidnap me like this?
We landed outside a huge building and they
pulled me out of the plane and across a courtyard. It was snowing and within
minutes I was soaked and freezing. The balconies of the building were open to
the courtyard and we had to walk for a long time and I could only take small
steps because my ankles were cuffed. We had to go up several flights of stairs
and I couldn't even lift my legs enough to make one step so someone picked me
up and carried me the distance. I was staring down at the floors as I was
bouncing around on his back and thinking what beautiful floors they were, pink
marble with gold veining. I was just focusing on that so I wouldn't panic.
These people wouldn't take me to a place with such beautiful floors just to
kill me there would they? You said the floors in the house in Takira-hahr were
pink marble with gold veining so I wondered if these were similar. Maybe it's
a Rehnorian thing to have these kind of floors?
I was taken into a room, like a sitting
room and there were two men sitting on a sofa. One was about medium build and
had sandy brown hair, a long face and very deep emerald colored eyes. The
other was stockier and very pale with white blonde hair. Both of them looked
to be in their middle age, perhaps around fifty and both were dressed in robes
with a lot of gold detailing and had many rings on their fingers.
To tell you the truth, I took one look at
them and the word
dilettante
came to mind. The guys carrying me let me
down and I stood there and they spoke at me. I didn't understand a single word
they said. At some point I tried to speak Rozarian to them but they clearly
didn't understand me either.
The brown haired man sounded like he gave
some orders and then one of the guards came over and literally ripped my tunic
off of me. He tore my whole uniform and there I was standing there half naked
and furious with my hands tied behind my back. My first reaction was to head
butt the asshole which at least gave him a bloody nose but not much else. The
two on the couch thought this was terribly funny and then another asshole came
over and stripped off the rest of my uniform. I was able to kick him in the
groin once even though I landed soundly on my butt and then I couldn't move at
all because someone was pinning me down. So there I was stark naked, being
ogled by the two on the couch or laughed at, I'm not sure. Then the brown
haired guy ordered me carried off and the next thing I know I was thrown on to
his bed and tied there. I was thinking then that this was the biggest pile of
shit I could ever get into. Here I was on Rehnor (I think) about to be raped by
the two poufs and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it and no one from my ship
was within light years of me.
So the two poufs came in and honestly
Shelly, I don't know whether to laugh or cry now as I tell you this because
frankly it was the most ridiculous yet hideous experience of my life. Pouf
number one was bent on raping me for whatever reason but he couldn’t get it
up! So Pouf number two came over to help him. The two of them got so worked
up with each other that I think they forget about me. So while they are busy
going at it, I was just lying there reflecting on this whole damn situation and
wondering how in the heck I got into this. Did they randomly decide to just
pluck a spacewoman off 43 and drag her back to Rehnor so two poufs can test their
manhood or was I specifically targeted? After all, I was standing next to
Caroline and she's cute and she was in uniform too. On the other hand, was
this somehow tied into Ron? Was I famous on Rehnor and didn’t even know it and
if so why?