Home: Interstellar: Merchant Princess (37 page)

“He’s been hurt,” Meriel said. Becky moved to get out of the hatch, but Meriel held her shoulders. “I’ll take care of your papa, hon. You stay hidden.”

Meriel heard another creak on the porch and turned to see two shadows in the smoke and dust—one small, one huge, both with gigantic weapons.

“God, no,” Meriel said while raising the stunner again.

“Hi, Liz!” Becky said.

A slight breeze cleared the smoke and dust, and Meriel saw Elizabeth and Cookie standing where the door once stood.

Elizabeth saw Meriel and ran to help her. “It’s clear, M. Colonel Lee gave us a ride here.”

“Liz, can you help Sandy?” Meriel asked, and Becky waved Elizabeth to the basement. She turned to Cookie. “John’s down, Cookie. Call for a medic. And tie up this garbage,” she said, pointing to the unconscious assassin and black-suits. Then she went to help John.

***

When the medics arrived, Meriel limped over to the assassin. She took the pill from her pocket, crushed it between her fingers, and sprinkled the powder on his face. She stunned him again and leaned against the counter.

Becky rose from the hatch and looked worriedly at the medics helping her father.

“Becky, I need your help,” Meriel said and gave her the stunner. “Watch him, OK? If he moves, stun him.”

“Is he the one that hurt Papa?” Becky asked.

“One of them,” Meriel said. Becky frowned, turned, and stunned the assassin again.

Meriel picked up the link and walked over to check John. Cookie gave her a nod. Then she clicked the channel to Khanag.

“Looks like you lose again, thug. If I’m right, the troopers should have your position about now.” She stopped and looked up through what once was a roof to see the beams of laser cannon and flashes of light in space. Abruptly, the connection to Khanag dropped. Within the ribbons of laser fire, the explosion of Admiral Leung’s flagship appeared as only a momentary flash.

Meriel turned back to see Becky repeatedly stunning the assassin. His body twitched at the shocks and then remained still.

“He keeps twitching, Merry. When do I stop?”

“Oh, a few more will probably do it,” Meriel said.

“Easy,” Cookie said. “We need some residual brain function for testimony.”

Meriel and Becky looked disappointed.

“Maybe just a few more,” he said.

Becky grinned and stunned him again.

Elizabeth brought Sandy from the storm shelter in the basement while Meriel and Cookie built a lean-to over John to keep the muddy rain off the medics who prepared to move him to the field hospital nearby. When the shelter was completed, they sat close to John alongside Elizabeth and Abrams under the collapsed eaves of the porch. Each of them felt the occasional drop of mud from the holes in the roof. Sandy, still groggy from the stunner, sat in Meriel’s lap.

“You knew Khanag was coming?” Meriel asked Lieutenant Abrams.

“We figured BioLuna and Biadez would try again,” Abrams said and wiped the mud from his face. “When BioLuna dropped the embargo last month, we knew something was coming, something much bigger than Khanag.”

“I thought they pulled back because of the charges against them,” Elizabeth said.

Abrams shook his head. “They pulled back for safety. They knew what was coming.”

“And you didn’t tell us,” Meriel said to Abrams.

“He didn’t know, M,” Elizabeth said to defend him. “He was surprised too.”

“Was I the bait here?”

“No,” Colonel Lee said as he walked to the makeshift shelter. “A magnet. A concentration of forces.” He turned toward Abrams and handed him a flask. “You see the medic yet, soldier?” he asked.

“I’m next, sir,” Abrams said.

“You need to see the medics as well, Ms. Hope,” the colonel said. He looked over to the nondescript man who Becky had just stunned again. “Is that him?” he asked. Meriel nodded, and Lee waved his escort to take custody.

Becky watched them handcuff the assassin and frowned that she would not be able to stun him again. Meriel held out her hand, and Becky put the stunner into it. Then she sat next to Meriel, took Meriel’s arm, put it around her shoulder, and snuggled in.

“These weren’t pirates,” Meriel said.

Colonel Lee shook his head. “No. They sent corsairs and commandoes here to the farm, but this was a full-scale invasion. The mercenaries and most of the drones attacked the capital and Johnston Valley. We didn’t know that Khanag’s corsairs would come after you.”

“Meriel did,” Elizabeth said.

“Sorry that we were too busy to help you,” Colonel Lee said. “Say, Ms Hope. The intelligence team says they can see craters and debris from the compound for miles around. They’re still putting out the brush fires. What did John have up his sleeve here?” he asked but Meriel shrugged.

“We were lucky,” Cookie said. “All of us.”

Colonel Lee nodded. “No plan survives contact with the enemy. The Blackout-Box is decisive in high-tech habitats like colonies or stations. The major purpose is to cut off life support. People give up pretty quick when they can’t breathe.”

“Kinda hard to do that on a planet,” Elizabeth said.

“They didn’t know how weak it really was. They had the men to overpower us, but we wouldn’t let ’em have it cheap.”

“But first you took out their command structure?” Cookie asked.

Colonel Lee nodded and smiled. “Well, yeah, there’s that.”

A medic called to them. “We’re ready for you, Lieutenant.” Abrams nodded, and Elizabeth and Cookie helped him to the medic station.

Colonel Lee turned to Meriel and said in a quiet voice, “You found the controller here with Annie’s stuff?”

Meriel nodded and handed the controller to him. “How did you know?”

“We captured a tech named Matsushita who tracked the signal. You’re the only ones out here along this vector.” Colonel Lee sighed. “BioLuna is in the dark about what happened here. We want to keep it that way to keep them guessing, keep them thinking we’re invincible and not just lucky. No one knows how close this was, Ms. Hope. You will keep our secret?”

Meriel nodded. “They’re not done, you know,” Meriel said “They’re too powerful, too well connected.”

Colonel Lee nodded. “I think this was just practice, Ms. Hope,” he said. “I think they’re heading for Chosho and tau Ceti-4.”

***

“Thank you,” Meriel said and accepted a stack of blankets from a medic at the field hospital the marines had set up near the farm. It was Colonel Lee who had expedited John’s surgery and found them shelter and cots next to John’s bed since the farm compound was completely leveled. And it was Colonel Lee who had demanded that she be treated by the medics. Now her face was covered in salve, except where the bandages and dark glasses covered her eyes and forehead. Her arm lay in a sling to protect her shoulder.

Meriel went back into John’s recovery room, where her whole team slept—Cookie and Abrams with Sandy and Becky tucked under Elizabeth’s arms. After covering each of them with a blanket, Meriel went to sit next to John, held his hand, and listened to the rain on the tarp overhead.

Meriel looked over her small group and played with the sim-chip on her necklace. She pulled up a reference in
Galactipedia
to songlines and listened to the article with her head resting on the back of the chair.

The native peoples of Australia still walk their songlines, paths unique to each tribe or language group. And as they walk, they sing the songs of their ancestors that tell the story of how the gods sang the world into being—the mountains, the streams, the plants and animals and all of the features of their world, songs that brought forth all of the distinctions of rock and food and poison that made their home possible to live in. When the gods had finished their songs of creation, they taught their people the songs and then lay down and became the landscape of the songs. For many thousands of years, every time the people walk their songlines, they sing their world and their gods back into being.

“It’s good to see you like this,” Colonel Lee said as he sat in the chair next to her.

Meriel laughed and then cringed as the dried salve stretched her burned cheeks. “Really? Maybe I should try for this look more often.”

“I mean happy.”

Meriel was not sure what Colonel Lee meant and looked at her team around her. “Yeah, it’s like they were born to it.”

“Not them,” Lee said, “you with them. You’re remembering what it feels like to be loved.”

Meriel frowned. “I put them in danger.”

“They’re here for you. They made a choice.”

“The girls didn’t. I’m a danger to them.”

“Perhaps. Living is not without risk.”

Meriel looked away. “I’m afraid I’ll disappoint them and this will all fade away.”

“Love is not without risk either, Ms. Hope.” He sighed. “You dream of a life among the stars?” Meriel looked at him. “I heard you might be leaving.”

“I need to protect them,” Meriel said.

Colonel Lee nodded. “I understand. They will miss you. It is your decision, of course. But don’t run away from them because you feel unworthy of their love or that your love will harm them.”

Meriel bit her lip.

“Hi, Pastor Lee,” Sandy said while rubbing her eyes. She rose and went to Meriel.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Meriel said. She scooted over to make a place on the chair.

“How’s my papa?” Sandy asked.

“He’ll be fine, dear,” Lee said. “He’ll just need to rest for a while.” He rose. “I must see to the other injured,” he said and smiled. “I am sure you will find what you seek.”

When Colonel Lee left, Sandy turned to look up at Meriel. “Becky and I heard what you said to the bad guy on the link.”

“What?”

“That we’re your kids.”

“You are. And nobody is gonna take you from me,” Meriel said and put her free arm around Sandy.

Sandy smiled. “Yup, that’s what we heard,” she said and laid her head on Meriel’s shoulder and fell asleep.

Meriel leaned back in her chair and held Sandy tight. With memories of dancing in the rain with Sandy and Becky, she smiled and fell asleep without boost or meds or nightmares for the first time in ten years.

***

In the quiet of the hospital that night, Meriel received a text.

From S. K.:

This isn’t over, Ms. Hope.

Subedei

One month after Haven repulsed the invasion, Meriel sat at the kitchen table of the rebuilt farmhouse covered in dust with sweat streaking down her face. The white scar that crossed her tanned body was clearly visible in the sleeveless shirt, but she took no notice.

She and the other kids from the
Princess
had worked a long day rebuilding the dorms that would be their refuge away from their jobs as spacers. Meriel had started construction right after the invasion was defeated, well before John was back on his feet. The orphaned kids from the
Princess
helped when their ships docked, but it still took weeks to get the roof on and, until then, they’d all lived in tarps under the shattered walls of John’s farmhouse. That’s when Meriel had moved out of Becky and Sandy’s room to be more discreet, but the two girls often stayed in the new dorms with her and the returning orphans.

She remembered what John told them when they arrived. “Kids, these quarters are yours permanently,” he had said. “When you feel like coming home or on a vacation, there will always be a place for you here. Haven has citizenship papers for you and your fosters, and whatever happens, you will always have passage here.”

This would be Meriel’s last day on Haven for a while. A few days earlier, Molly returned from a dry run with Teddy’s new nav system. The
Tiger
was prepped to leave on their new circuit, and Meriel would leave for her first tour since the attack.

John poured a glass of water from the new sink, took a drink, and pulled up a chair next to Meriel.

“Sorry for blowing up your lawn, hon,” she said.

“Now you apologize?” he said and kissed her on the forehead. “Your kids look comfortable here,” John said.

“Some will stay. The others will probably ship out when their contracts renew. We can all get slots on routes that work LeHavre.”

“What about you?” he asked, but Meriel did not answer. “Do you still love me?

“Of course I do, but I’ll have a route as soon as I can get the
Princess
fixed up.”

“You’re not rated for captain.”

Meriel smiled. “I’m trying to get the Vingels when their contract on the
Tiger
is up for renewal.”

“Familiar faces?”

“I trust them.”

“You didn’t invite me.”

Meriel took his hand. “We talked about that, John. You need to stay with the girls. The
Princess
and the kids are my dream.”

“You willing to give me up for a dream?”

Meriel smiled. “Why would I need to do that?” she asked. “Will you stop loving me if I leave for a while?”

“No. Of course not. But the girls—”

“Don’t guilt me, hon.”

“I’ve gotta say it, M. They love you now. The only thing that will hurt them more than you leaving is if you don’t return.”

“I’ve always been honest with them, John.”

“Those were just words, M. They’re listening with their hearts.”

“And you?” she asked.

“I’ll be here. Just don’t be too long,” he said. “Hey, sailor, how about a little fun on your last night on shore leave.”

Meriel smiled back and then leaned over the table toward him and took his hand. “And just what do you have in mind?”

***

The next day, John and Meriel waited in the farm compound for the shuttle to take her to the station where the
Tiger
waited. It was another hot day, and the shuttle landing stirred up the dust into little eddies and dust devils. Elizabeth and Tommy waited with them, holding hands. Anita, Harry, Penny, and the rest of the orphans and fosters stood nearby to wish them off.

“When will you return?” John asked.

“Should be only a month or so Haven time,” Meriel said. “One circuit through the quadrant.”

Becky and Sandy ran up to her and held her hands.

Meriel knelt and took a well-worn book from her duffle. “Here, girls. Keep this for me,” she said.

They looked worried.

“Come home to us,” Sandy said.

“I’ll be back soon, girls. Don’t worry,” Meriel said with a smile, but the looks on their faces told her that she had said something wrong.

Sandy looked at her shoes. “That’s what Mom said.”

But she could not keep her promise, just like my mother
. Meriel hugged them both tightly.

“You two are a part of the most important thing in my life. Look around you.” Becky and Sandy looked up to see all the kids and their foster parents who had come to say good-bye. “This is our hub now, and I’ll always return—to you and to them,” she said and hugged the little girls again. “They’re new here and have no idea what life is like on a planet. Help them, just like you helped me.”

“Sure, M,” Sandy said. “I can show them the sheep and the farm and how to muck out a stable, and Becky can show them how to track varmints…” and Sandy continued well after the shuttle’s engines drowned out her
li
ttle voice.