Authors: Bennett R. Coles
Jack still had trouble looking his former captain in the eye, even when she was smiling at him. He shook her outstretched hand with a mumbled greeting.
“Mr. Mallory, I know you don’t actually belong to my unit anymore, but I’m happy to put in a good word for you. I know the commandant of the fighter school quite well, and the season for the new course start is coming up fast.”
Jack felt his heart skip a beat. Fighter school? He tried not to look too stunned as Avernell waited for his response. Over her shoulder he saw Thomas give him the thumbs-up. But then he glanced at Katja and saw her doubtful expression.
For a brief moment he hated her for it, but her look spoke volumes, and he knew she was right.
“Thanks, ma’am, really. But I think I have a bit of an aptitude for ASW—I might stick with it for a while.”
Avernell was clearly surprised at the response, but her smile broadened.
“I’ll be keeping my eye on you, Mr. Mallory.” She excused herself then, muttering about having to go smile for the cameras.
As she left, Jack and his colleagues hunkered down low in their seats to avoid any chance of being dragged into the media spotlight. Once Jack would have loved to be in the news, but he suddenly had no taste for it.
Not that their presence went entirely unnoticed. Several senior officers made their way over to make polite conversation, including that scary, female Corps commander who ignored him completely and even seemed to make Thomas nervous. Katja actually struggled out of her chair to greet this woman—Commander Vici—even though there seemed to be little warmth in their exchange.
Nothing even resembling a compliment passed Vici’s lips, but when Katja sat down again after the conversation, she practically glowed. Jack sipped his beer and just figured there was a lot he didn’t understand about troopers.
Their drinks were done and they were just working up the energy to leave when Commander Brisebois finally swooped down on them.
“Hey guys,” she said with a dazzling smile. “I had no idea you were hiding over here!”
Nobody stood, but Thomas at least turned in his chair toward her.
“Hello, ma’am.”
She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “Oh, Thomas, call me Breeze! I’m still just the same person.”
“That’s true.”
She didn’t seem to catch his meaning, and turned her smile on Katja.
“Katja, you look great. I hope you’re going to get a long rest now.”
When Katja didn’t even answer, Breeze turned her full attention to Jack. He had to admit that he still thought she was gorgeous, and he couldn’t stop a smile from forming.
“Jack, handsome as ever! We’ll have to meet up when we get back to Earth.”
Was she serious? He felt a stirring in his loins.
“Uhhh, sure,” he said. “When?”
She shook her head, letting out a long sigh.
“So hard to say. I’ve been just so busy since we got back. The diplomats are all screaming at each other, and I can’t produce information fast enough for them. I’m sure you’ve been busy, too.”
Jack shrugged and glanced at the others.
“I’ve been learning to walk again,” Katja said.
“I’m just happy to be breathing,” Thomas added.
Their candid statements broke the charm spell, and Jack suddenly saw that Breeze’s beautiful smile didn’t really touch her eyes. She was a whirlwind in their oasis of calm, and he found the disturbance unwelcome.
“It’s good to see you, Breeze,” he said, “but we were just going.”
The brilliance of her smile faded just for a moment. “Of course. Get some rest. I’ll see you around.”
And then she was gone.
Thomas leaned forward. “So, where
are
we going, Jack?”
He looked at Thomas, then at Katja, then out toward the stars.
“Home.”
N
o book is the work of a single person. This tale would never have seen the light of day if not for the following folks: my fellow authors Steven Erikson and Mary Rosenblum, my agent Howard Morhaim, my editors Steve Saffel and Marge Gilkes, my beta-readers Jeela Jones, Craig Piccolo, Erin Stinson, Richard Coles, Brian Jalonen, and my beloved wife, Emma.
“Force, and fraud, are in war the two cardinal virtues.”
—Thomas Hobbes,
Leviathan
, 1651
B
ennett R. Coles served fourteen years as an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy and earned his salt on all classes of ship, from command of a small training ship to warfare director of a powerful combatant to bridge officer of a lumbering supply ship. He toiled as a staff officer in the War on Terror, and served two tours with the United Nations in Syria and Lebanon.
He has maintained an interest in military affairs since his retirement from active service and he makes his home in Victoria, Canada with his wife and family.
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