Victoria's Challenge

  “Retribution, this is Shuttle transport Trier, engines shutting down. Hatch opening.” He pushes a button.

  “You can’t do this!” Gad screams, launching himself at Degas. “I’ll kill you.” Degas rises, easily, deflecting Gad’s blows before knocking him to the deck. He raises his hands as the cabin fills with security all pointing stunners at him.

  “I have a stunner on my right side, it is not active.” He turns, showing them and it is immediately removed.

  “Why didn’t you shoot them?” Gad yells at him. Degas says nothing just holds his hands out to be restrained. Lucas watches as Gad, is lead off kicking and screaming before turning to Degas.

  “Why didn’t you? Fire that is?” Lucas asks.

  “That little foabhor isn’t worth my life.”

  “Then why did you do this?” Lucas demands.

  Degas knows who he’s looking at, knows his reputation and wonders if it’s true.

  “Because Assemblyman Stannic has influence, and I have siblings in the Academy.”

  “They’ve been threatened.” Lucas steps closer.

  “I made sure they never were.” With that statement, Degas turns to be silently led away.

  “Courbet! Explain!” The Admiral is furious.

  “Admiral, Degas entered the Brig, I scanned his papers and they were in order. I personally released Gad Stannic.”

  “You didn’t verify those orders?”

  “No Admiral.” Courbet stands stiffly in front of the Admiral, taking full responsibility for his actions.

  “Admiral, may I say something?” Lucas speaks, looking up from the ‘papers’ Courbet described. They are actually an order screen.

  “Major?” The Admiral can tell he has something to say.

  “Look at this.” Lucas taps a few keys and the orders dissolve.

  “What the fuck!”

  “These orders have been altered. Even if Courbet had scanned the signature, they would have been confirmed.”

  Tar scowls at the order screen, something is very wrong. “I need to contact the High Admiral and let him know what’s happened. Captain Courbet, with this information I find no reason to find fault in your decision to release Stannic.”

  “Thank you, Admiral but rest assured, it will never happen again.”

  “Understood. Dismissed. Major, you stay.”

  Quinn gestures for Lucas to sit as they wait for his transmission to the High Admiral to go through. “How’d you do on your Captain’s test?” Quinn asks, enjoying Lucas’ shocked look, that he would ask.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Hmmm, well sometimes these things take time.”

  “Admiral, the High Admiral is on the comm.” Quinn’s second tells him, nodding Quinn connects to the High Admiral.

  “What is it, Quinn?” The High Admiral asks.

  “High Admiral, at 1500, Gad Stannic was released from the Retribution’s brig per your orders.” Quinn leans back in his chair waiting.

  “What the fuck are you talking about, Quinn? I gave no such order!”

  “I have it in my hand, High Admiral. Your signature has been verified.”

  “That’s bull shit!” Quinn waits for his friend and Commander to settle. “Tell me.”

  “Degas Tines piloted the Transport shuttle Trier onto the Retribution at 1430 today. He carried orders signed by you, claiming that he was your Chief Council, and that Stannic was to be released to him for transport to the High Council. In actuality, he is a personal guard of Assemblyman Stannic assigned to his son and while the orders are forged, the signature isn’t. It’s yours Will, but on an ammunition supply order.”

  “How the fuck is that possible!” William demands.

  “I don’t know, but it means we have a problem.”

  “Understood. Gad?”

  “Back in custody.” Quinn assures him. “Degas surrendered quietly even though Gad tried to get him to fight. There’s something there, Will, I’d like some space to dig it out.”

  “Granted, Quinn. I’ll find out what’s going on, on my end.” The High Admiral disconnects.

  Disconnecting from the High Admiral, Quinn turns his attention to Lucas fighting to keep a straight face.

  “Major, you are ordered to pack your things and report to the High Council. Your transport leaves in two hours.” Quinn hands him his orders.

  “What?” Lucas couldn’t be more shocked if Quinn had told him he was a Regulian.

  “You are to report to the High Council Major.”

  “Quinn, what’s going on?”

  “It will be explained to you by the High Council, Major.” Quinn stands giving him a rare salute.

  “Quinn?” Lucas gives the man, he’s known all his life, a confused look.

  “Good luck Lucas, dismissed.”

  “Yes Admiral.” Lucas returns his salute.

  Victoria is pacing her room, Lucas hasn’t called, and he didn’t answer either his quarters or his office comm. What did that mean? Has he been hurt in an attack? Quinn would have notified her, wouldn’t he? Should she call Uncle William? Running a shaky hand through her hair for the thousandth time, she heads for the garden. Maybe some fresh air will help. Walking through the Queen’s Garden, she heads to her favorite spot and is startled to find it already occupied.

  “Mom?” Victoria is hesitant to interrupt. “Is everything okay? What are you doing out here?”

  “I’m fine, come sit.” Cyndy holds out her hand. “I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to wake your father.”

  “What’s wrong?” Victoria moves quickly, taking her hand and sits next to her on the bench.

  “Just thoughts, lots of adjustments, I just needed some alone time. There never was any in the bunker and now I find I crave it.”

  “I can leave.” She moves to rise.

  Cyndy tightens her hand, keeping her sitting.

  “No.” She gives her daughter a critical look. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Stop it!” The ferociousness of Cyndy’s exclamation has Victoria jumping. “I am so tired of everyone treating me like I’m some fragile piece of glass that has to be handled with kid gloves! I’m a woman, damn it, I deserve to be treated like one!”

  “Mom….” Victoria doesn’t know where this is coming from.

  “You’re my daughter and you are obviously upset. You will tell me what’s wrong so I can help, or so help me Tori…” Cyndy leaves her threat open ended.

  “Lucas hasn’t called tonight.” Tori whispers, tears filling her eyes as she looks at her mother.

  “Oh baby…” Cyndy wraps an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close.

  “What if something’s happened, mom? What if he’s hurt? What would I do?” She can’t keep her voice from breaking.

  Cyndy holds her daughter tight, remembering the feeling to well. That lost, scared feeling of not knowing if the man you love is dead or alive. She’s had many nights like Victoria’s because of Peter.

  “You have to believe, Tori. Have faith. Lucas is coming back to you. You two have been through too much, not to.” She frames her daughter’s face with her hands, her thumbs gently whipping away her tears. “Look inside yourself, Tori, to that place that connects you to Lucas. Is he there? You’ll always know and that’s how you know he’s coming back to you.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I’ve been there, had nights like yours, the never ending sleepless nights where the fear and loneliness makes you doubt. You’ll have to decide if you can handle it, Tori, because if you can’t, you need to walk away, for Lucas’ sake.”

  “I’ll never walk away from Lucas, no matter what!”

  “Then you have to learn to handle the lonely nights and Victoria, you can’t let him know, it will make his job that much harder, he’ll be worrying about you instead of the mission he’s on and that will get him killed.” Victoria closes her eyes, resting her head on her mom’s shoulder and looks deep inside herself. Cyndy wat
ches her daughter’s expression relax, a slight smile on her lips and knows.

  “He’s alive, mom. He’s okay.”

  “See, I told you so.” Cyndy tilts her head, letting it rest on her daughter. They remain that way for several minutes, enjoying the night together. After a while, Victoria lifts her head her eyes falling on the single stone in front of her.

  “I hadn’t realized… I should have known Aunt Cassie would have thought of it.” Victoria remembers the four stones that used to be here, one for each member of her family, including Brett though his name wasn’t on it, now only Grandpa Jacob’s stone remained.

  “The activity drew me here. Cassie tried to keep me away, thinking it would upset me.”

  “It didn’t?”

  “At first, seeing your dad’s name on a stone… it’s something I always knew could happen but Brett and me… no, it didn’t upset me, I knew it wasn’t true.”

  “I came here so often to talk to you, all of you. I’d tell you about my life, about Lucas. I’d tell you my troubles, my hopes, my dreams. You were always a part of it, mom.” She looks back to her mother. "Will you tell me what’s wrong? Maybe I can help.”

  “Oh Tori… I’m just tired of having everyone treating me like I’m some weak female who doesn’t know what she can handle.”

  “You were so sick, mom…”

  “But I’m not now!” Cyndy’s voice is firm. “I know I still have a ways to go, but I’m not too sick to be a woman.”

  “A woman.” Tori finds she's blushing. “You’re talking about dad, about you and dad….” She finds she can’t say it.

  “Having sex?” Cyndy chuckles at Victoria's blush, smiling. "Yes I am.”

  “And dad….”

  “Thinks I’m still too sick, too fragile.” She loses her smile. "Maybe he’s just not interested anymore, not the way I am.” She reaches up self-consciously, touching her hair that has just started growing back.

  “Mom, you know that’s not true!” Victoria immediately denies. "He nearly lost you, he’s just trying to protect you.”

  “And if it were Lucas, what would you do?” Cyndy suddenly realizes she’s having her first woman-to-woman talk with her daughter. Not mother-daughter.

  “I’d be pissed," Is Victoria's immediate response. "And I’d make him pay for every time he refused me. Big time.”

  “So you do understand?”

  “Yeah mom, I do. Lucas stayed away for me for nine cycles, and even though I know why he did and he wasn’t totally wrong, it still hurts. I enjoy teasing him now, making him wonder, Aunt Cassie taught me.” She gives Cyndy a sheepish look.

  “Really? Cassie did? What did she teach you?” Laughing, Tori leans close to her mother and tells her about the Zafar men and eadai and just how much they like it.

  “Your dad always liked lingerie.” Cyndy gives her daughter a considering look. “Will you help me Tori?”

  “Of course I will and I’ll get Aunt Cassie and Javiera involved too. Dad doesn’t stand a chance, mom.”

  “Unless he really just isn’t interested.”

  “Look to that place deep inside you, mom.” Tori stares into her mother’s eyes. “You know what’s true and that’s that dad loves you, he’s just scared.” Tori waits until her mother nods. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to your doors. We both need to sleep. We have a lot of planning to do tomorrow.” Arm in arm, mother and daughter leave the memory garden.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Victoria sits across from the High Admiral watching him as the Arrow docks with the Bering space station orbiting Carina. He’d come to her early this morning, requesting she join him giving no reason why. His silence on the matter continued during the one-hour flight.

  Rising, she follows him curious. She’s never been on the Bering before. When she and Aunt Cassie arrived all those cycles ago, King Jotham sent his private shuttle to the Retribution taking them directly to the House of Protection. She knows the space station contains the Coalition’s headquarters, all its ships are built and repaired here, it housed over two thousand men and women permanently, more when ships were in on leave. It is also the home for the High Council of the Coalition, a council made up of high-ranking military officers and their staff that saw to the day-to-day needs of the Coalition.

  “That’s the Guardian.” William draws her attention to a window. Stopping, she sees the new flagship of the House of Protection, built to replace the Sentinel that had been severely damaged nine cycles ago in a Regulian attack.

  “She’s beautiful.” Victoria can’t keep the awe out of her voice, for the ship truly is. While smaller than the Retribution, Victoria knows she will still carry over eight hundred crew and support personnel. She will be the most advanced ship in the fleet with every member of the Coalition competing to be on her. “I hadn’t realized she was so close to being completed. She is, isn’t she?” She looks to the High Admiral for confirmation.

  “Almost. We had to do some important redesigning a few weeks ago but they’re nearly complete.”

  “What was wrong?”

  “Nothing, it was just decided that a space needed to be repurposed. Come on, people are waiting.” Taking her arm, he leads her towards his office.

  Victoria is brimming with questions but she’s restraining herself, proving to him and herself that she’s no longer that little girl who needed to know everything right now and do whatever it took to get that information, like reading a King’s private files. She’d wanted to approach him about not hearing from Lucas, had nearly gone to Aunt Cassie to ask her to but hadn’t. Knowing it would have been wrong.

  “Have a seat Tori.” William gestures to a chair. “I need to look at a few things, then we’ll go.” Sitting at his desk, he signs onto his computer and starts to read. Moving to a chair, she sits but lets her eyes wander around the room. It is very different from the one on Carina, harder, colder, she supposes. There are touches of warmth here and there. Aunt Cassie’s doing she’s sure but this is the working office of the High Admiral, meant to get work done, not to impress. It wasn’t meant for comfort for the High Admiral would never allow himself to have something here that his men weren’t allowed. It’s one of the reasons he is so respected by them. When the door opens, admitting Hamlin, he gives her a slight smile before addressing the High Admiral.

  “Sir, they are ready for you.”

  “Thank you, Hamlin.” Shutting down his computer William rises. “This way, Victoria.” Guiding her, William leads her down a hallway and into a large chamber, not unlike the Assembly Hall on Carina except instead of a platform in front there is a sunken area facing the raised seats of the Admirals of the High Council. More seats curve around the back for observers and today nearly every one of them is filled.

  “Sit here.” William gestures and with that, the High Admiral moves to take his place in the front of the room with the High Council members sitting on either side of him.

  Victoria looks at each man, some she’s met, others she knows only by reputation. There is an empty area, its seats reserved for the Kings and Queens of Carina. It was not uncommon for the Royals to participate in the High Council. Their opinions were always considered, for they had final say on who became High Admiral. However today, only King Jotham is present, telling Victoria that whatever was going on concerned the House of Protection.

  “Gentlemen, are we ready?” The High Admiral looks at each of them, waiting for their nod. “Then let’s proceed.” Victoria barely contains her gasp as across the room a door opens, and Lucas walks in, wearing his dress uniform. Her eyes start to well up at the sight of him. God he’s so handsome, she’s missed him so much, she barely stops herself from jumping up to throw herself in his arms. She looks at the Admirals, something big is going on, she can feel it, sitting back in her chair she waits and listens, keeping her eyes on her life mate.

  Lucas enters the High Council’s Chambers, still not having a clue why he’s been ordered to report. He intended to let Victoria know
he was Carina bound as soon as he was on his transport, only to discover he’d been put on a total communications blackout. He couldn’t even contact his father. God, he wants to talk to her, he misses her, misses the sound of her voice. She must be going nuts, wondering why he hasn’t contacted her. He hurt her so badly when he refused to listen to her previous transmissions and he doesn't want her to have even one second of doubt that it is happening again.

  His blackout had continued once he’d arrived on the Bering last night. It nearly killed him to be this close and not be able to go to her. Now he is standing before the High Council, hoping whatever he’s been called here for is resolved quickly. Standing at attention before the most powerful men in the Coalition, he gives them formal salute.

  “At ease, Major.” The High Admiral orders as he leans over to hear something Admiral Courbet is telling him. Lucas obeys. Nodding to Courbet, he turns his attention back to Lucas.

  “Major, you’ve been brought before the High Council to explain certain decisions you have made.”

  “Sir?” Lucas’ confusion doesn’t show on his face.

  “Major, your handling of Corporal Tabor Reymont.” Admiral Baca addresses’ him, Lucas turns his head to face him.

  “Which incident, Admiral Baca? There were several.”

  “Start with the conductors.”

  “Sir, Corporal Reymont was the lead machinist in charge of making the connectors for the laser system on the Retribution’s Blades. When they arrived on my flight deck, Sergeant Lorre Grotte, double-checked them before starting the installation. She discovered over half had not been made to specs and immediately reported it. I contacted Lieutenant Bakke, his supervisor, and Reymont. When I confronted them, Reymont denied that the connectors were defective, claiming he’d made them to specs.”

  “And had he, Major?”

  “No sir. The specs clearly called for eighty mills of wolfram, every one Reymont made only contained eight. When I demanded to know who inspected his work, he informed me that his work didn’t need to be inspected. Corporal Reymont was insubordinate and obviously drunk even though it was only 1000 hours. I dismissed him. Then ordered Lieutenant Bakke to personally, re-inspect every part that Reymont had made or inspected. I wrote up my report and turned it into Chief Granger and Admiral Tar.”