Part 8 (1/2)

Kivi climbed onto my couch without asking. She scooted across it until she b.u.mped her hip into mine.

”Oh yes,” she said, ”the view from here is much better. Now, tell an old girlfriend what this is all about.”

”What if I dont want to?”

”Then Ill have to guess.”

I shrugged. ”Go for it.”

”Okay. Lets see... Natasha always has believed deep down that youre her private property. And Della...well, that girl is just plain crazy. I can see plenty of ways that a man might get caught between those two and yet shut out by both.”

I liked Kivi, and I liked how she felt all warm and vital laying there next to me. But her words were starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable. I squirmed a bit. I couldnt help it.

”Whats wrong?” she demanded. ”The McGill I know wouldve grabbed me by now. Oh my G.o.d...”

Frowning, I turned to look at her. Her eyes were wide and they searched mine intently.

”Its true, isnt it?” she asked.

”Whats true?”

”Id heard rumors. Someone told me Della is pregnant. Its got to be something like that. The James McGill Ive always known would of moved on by now to find another girl if it was anything less.”

I shook my head and smiled ruefully. ”Wrong,” I said. ”Shes not pregnant. She already had the baby.”

Kivis mouth fell open comically wide. She punched me then, right in the gut. I grunted and grabbed her small fist before she could do it again.

”What kind of an a.s.shole are you, James?” she demanded in a harsh whisper. Her mood had s.h.i.+fted as quickly as an autumn wind-but that was Kivi for you.

”Why are people always asking me that?” I wondered aloud.

She scooted away from me about a foot and crossed her arms over her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

”So,” she said, ”let me guess how this happened. Back on Dust World you met Della, screwed her, and left her there. Now, shes out here in s.p.a.ce trying to make a living training out legions to use these dragons while your kid is back on Dust World growing up alone.”

”You make it sound like I did this as part of some kind of evil plan. Well, I didnt. She was the one who wanted to get pregnant. She chased me on Dust World for that express purpose. Now I find out Ive got a kid, and I dont quite know what to do about it.”

Kivi was quiet for maybe ten seconds. To be honest with you, it was kind of nice.

”It was her idea?” she asked suddenly. ”The getting pregnant part, I mean?”

”Yeah, sure. Think about it. Those colonists were living separated from Earth with a limited gene pool. To their way of thinking procreating with new humans was almost a duty.”

Kivi nodded thoughtfully. She scooted back toward me and threw one leg over mine. I jumped a bit reflexively not quite knowing where she was going with this.

But then she kissed me, and I figured it out. The winds had s.h.i.+fted back the other way.

We made out on the observation deck as I hadnt done for years. Kivi, as Ive said before, is not a shy girl. Even though we were in semi-darkness, I didnt quite feel comfortable with some of the things she did while climbing over me on that couch. But itd been a while since Id made love to a woman, so I let her open our tops and kiss me pa.s.sionately.

At one point, I heard some giggling off to my left. I put a gentle hand on Kivis cheek and lifted her face away from my neck.

”How about we go someplace else?”

”Screw them,” she said hotly. ”Its nothing they havent seen before.”

”Yeah well, were giving them a live show, here.”

She made a frustrated sound and hopped up off the couch. She tugged on my hand until I followed her. There were more whispers and giggles from the dark around us as we left the observation deck.

I figured she would want to go to Green Deck, but we didnt make it that far. When Kivi gets hot, she gets really hot.

We made love in an ammo storage compartment. The metal containers were unevenly surfaced cold planes against bare skin, but Kivi didnt seem to care. After a while, neither did I.

-11-.

When we arrived at Gamma Pavonis, we came down directly from above the local plane of the ecliptic. In other words, instead of moving from one planet to the next, getting closer and closer to the central star, we dove straight down toward the target worlds northern pole.

It was no secret we were coming. Three Imperial capital s.h.i.+ps, dreadnaughts all, cant hide on approach. Once we turned off the Alcubierre drive and transformed from glowing blue-white spheres of light into what looked like a trio of comets with hundred-kilometer long plumes of exhaust, any alien watching the scene would have to be blind not to know what was coming next.

The good news was that they couldnt have detected us until we came out of our warp bubbles. As I understood it from the techs, we were technically visible as a bubble of light while the drive was active, but since that effect was moving faster than the speed of light in relative terms, there was no time for the light thus produced to reach the eyes of anyone watching. We were, effectively, out-running our own shadows.

But once we turned off the big drives-well, that was it. There isnt much in s.p.a.ce to occlude the view of a sensor, and any kind of traditional engine produces heat, light and other energy readings that were very visible. I wasnt sure what kind of sensors the squids might have, but I was pretty sure they knew we were coming in hot.

About the squids-I had no doubt that they were at least watching this system. If both the Empire and their Kingdom were interested, they had to have a survey team out here at the very least. I said as much to Natasha, who gave me a look then sighed and answered civilly.

”Youre right,” she said. ”Youve got to be right, if you think about it. They will have seeded this system with sensors and listening posts. We only hope that they didnt-”

That was as far as she got. An alarm went off. It wasnt a s.h.i.+p-wide klaxon, but it was a flas.h.i.+ng yellow-orange bar on her tapper. She looked at it then glanced at me in alarm.

”Ive got to go,” she said.

”Whats wrong?”

”Theyre summoning all the techs to battle stations.”

She looked scared, and I didnt blame her.

”Whats going on?” I asked her. ”Should we be preparing for action?”

”I dont know. Follow your tapper and the arrows on the deck. You know the drill.”

She turned to go, but I put a hand on her shoulder. I gave her a hug-no kiss, no rude squeezes, just a friendly hug. After stiffening up for a second, she relaxed, hugged me back and wished me luck. She left smiling.

I watched her race off down the pa.s.sage toward the weapons deck. There were arrows now, just like shed said. Green ones meant tech-only. Those lit up first and stayed lit, glowing on the deck plates.

As I walked farther down the pa.s.sages and ramps, the red arrows lit up. Red indicated combat arms, which meant me. I watched, but the other colors stayed dark. Blue was for bios, in case of a medical emergency. Golden arrows meant everyone should follow them, and they were usually reserved for abandoning the s.h.i.+p.

The way s.h.i.+pboard actions worked on an Imperial vessel was, well-odd. The Skrull who crewed the s.h.i.+ps werent allowed to fire the weapons systems. In Frontier 921, only humans were licensed-literally-to fight in star system beyond their own. Because of this, a tech like Natasha was invaluable because she had the skills required to run the s.h.i.+ps sensors and operate the broadsides in a battle.

Natasha herself was not part of my dragon-riding squad. Shed failed to impress the bra.s.s while operating a combat machine. She just didnt have the killer instinct, or at least not enough of it to satisfy Graves and the rest. But she was a good tech, so theyd decided keep her aboard Cyclops to operate the guns if we needed them.