Victoria's Challenge (41 page)

“
Yeah.” She presses a few more keys. “See Brett, there’s grandpa and that’s Aunt Cassie. Now look to the stage.”

Lucas watches
a recording he’d never seen before. Cassie is so young, younger than Victoria is now. Maybe fifteen, and on the stage is Peter, in some type of uniform, singing. The song, obviously directly to Cyndy, a Cyndy who looks exactly like her daughter is sitting in a chair crying. As the song continues, Peter approaches her and to Lucas’ amazement, kneels in front of her holding up a ring. Cyndy nods and launches herself into his arms.

Looking across the room at the couple
, it’s hard to believe they are the same people. So much has happened to them since that day, but he sees happy tears in both sets of eyes telling him that it is a good memory.

“
That’s
mom and dad?” Brett’s amazement is easy to hear.

“
It is. Guess what?” Victoria waits until his eyes meet hers. “They had lives before us.”

“Really?
” Brett’s eyes are large.

“Yeah
. This is Aunt Cassie and Uncle William now.” Victoria pulls the official visual of the Queen in the royal robes of the House of Knowledge and the High Admiral in full dress uniform. Lucas watches Cyndy and Peter’s eyes widen.

“Victoria….
” Lucas turns her face to his. “They need to see the Challenge, to really be able to understand what happened. You can’t just show them the ending.”

“But…”

“They have the right to know what both of you went through. That it hasn’t been easy.”

“Challenge?
” Cyndy asks.

“It’s what Aunt Cassie had to go through to catch Audric,
the ‘Glitter Man’, to keep me safe, to become Queen.” Victoria tells her. “And Lucas is right, you need to know. This is the official recording of the Challenge by Cassandra Qwes Chamberlain, of Queen Yakira, trustee to the throne of the House of Knowledge.” Entering the last keystrokes, she settles into Lucas’ arms watching her past.

“Assemblyman Terwilliger, thank you for the introduction but I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed. My name is Cassandra Qwes
Zafar.
Now that my correct name is entered into the record, I will return to my seat so Queen Yakira may defend her appointment as trustee to the throne of the House of Knowledge.”

The
Assembly erupts as Cassie calmly returns to face them as she’s called into question. He listens as she defends herself. .

The ‘Queen’ approaches to defend herself, he sees the anger in her
stance. Her statement that they should choose her because they know her, is unsettling to Peter. No one is better than his sister is. When the leader of the assembly asks Cassie if she wants to call the vote, he’s not surprised the answer was no. Cassie always liked to argue her case.

However,
the case she presents, surprises even him. She presents a well thought out case, for what Earth was, why it was destroyed and what was destroyed. She challenges them with who truly caused it and why. He realizes she’s talking about Gram’s as she talks about the young woman abducted, about her birthmark. Watches her verbally slap at the man sitting next to ‘Queen Yakira’. Then she continues to talk about Victoria, about what had happened to her and why. He tenses as he watches his daughter confidently cross the platform to Cassandra, is shocked as she speaks.

“I’m not scared of you anymore
. I used to be, I’d have nightmares about you coming back, of finding me again but not anymore. You took me in the morning and put me on a table so I couldn’t move. It was bright, so bright it hurt my eyes, but just outside the light it was dark. In the dark, there were voices lots of voices. Then you were there. Staring at me, touching me.”

He listens in confusion as his daughter speaks in a language he’s never heard, watches the man she’s addressing stiffen
. Sees Cassandra continue to hammer at him, putting Victoria protectively behind her and when the man attacks, they step aside in unison, in a move he’d taught them and then he’s restrained, not only by Lucas and William, but another man who must be related.

As judgment is pas
sed on the man, this Prince Audric, for the first time, he sees panic in his daughter. She pulls on William’s arm and the large man listens, makes everyone listen. Hears his daughter state her case for life, a hard life and gets it. He looks to his daughter currently in the arms of a man in the film.

When a voice calls out for Cassandra to dissolve her marriage to be declared
Queen, he’s shocked to watch her walk away. To her husband, to leave, until ‘Queen Yakira’ stops her. Demanding to know what she was doing. Cassandra makes herself perfectly clear, no position is more important to her than to be the wife of Admiral Zafar.

Suddenly
, a man rushes the platform shooting the Admiral. Even knowing they are both alive, Peter’s heart races as he watches Lucas grab Victoria, making sure she’s protected as Cassandra taunts the man. Listening to her words, he watches as she finally reveals her birthmark its blazing white. Peter has never seen anything like it. When the man turns his weapon on Cassandra, Peter is half out of his seat as the Admiral tackles her, saving her as multiple shots take down the man.

Still
, there is a challenge that she cannot be married to a man outside her ‘House’. Until a man approaches, obviously a Zafar, and corrects the Assembly on the law.

As the recording ends, there is silence in the room.

“How long?
” Lucas understands what he is asking.

“Two moon cycles
after the destruction of Earth.”

“Sixty days?”

“Yes.”

Peter doesn’t know what to say, what to do
. His daughter, his sister, they’d gone through all this while he and Cyndy had been safely sitting in the shelter. They’d been traumatized and scared but they’d been safe. They hadn’t been fighting to survive in a strange world with strange rules, with people trying to kill them. What else had happened that he didn’t know? His eyes shoot to his daughter cradled in Lucas’ arms, and the man that had been there, protecting her during the challenge, when he hadn’t been able too.

“Can you play it again?”

Lucas replays the recording.

Victoria listens, her head resting on Lucas’ chest
as he stops the recording whenever her father has a question. As Lucas fills him in on who’s who, Carinian procedures, and the relationships, she sees the man she once knew returning as her father finds his way.

“Wow
, Tori! That was awesome!” Brett exclaims.

“You think?
” Looking at Brett, she smiles.

“Yeah
. The way you and Aunt Cassie moved together…”

“Dad taught us that move.”

“Really?” Brett looks to his father in awe.

“Years ago
. Cycles.” Peter corrects himself.

“It
worked and caused quite a stir, a lot of the moves you taught them have.” Lucas informs him.

“What are you talking about?
” Peter frowns.

“The Chamberlain women
, defending themselves with moves taught to them by you and your father. Cassie took out a highly trained member of the Coalition with a move that is now taught at the Academy. This move,” Lucas gestures to the screen. “Is now taught in every self-defensive class on Carina.” Peter sits back, thinking of all he’s seen and heard.

“Cassie told us you
’re a leader of a shock troop.” Peter looks at him confused.

“Special Forces
, dad, on Carina it's called Shock Troops.”

“Yes I was.
” Peter nods, confirming. “But I’m sure it’s different on Carina.”

“Maybe the where and
the equipment are, but not the hand to hand skills. You’ve already proven you can handle the equipment by taking out the Regulian ship. I, for one, am looking forward to being trained by you. I know others that will be competing for the right too. It will be a new skill set, never seen on Carina. The Elite of the Elite.”

“I think you
’re giving me too much credit.” Peter turns slightly red.

“No I’m not
. Just those two moves have made a major impact on Carinian life. Just thinking about the more specialized moves you know…. Once you’ve had time to recover and rebuild your strength, I have no doubt the Coalition will contact you.”

“You mean the High Admiral, your father.”

“Yes, I’m sure he’s already thought of it. It’ll just be getting Cassie to allow you out of her sight he’s going to have trouble with.” Lucas smiles at Peter.

Back in quarters, Victoria is silent as Lucas heads directly to the comm center. She knows something’s been bothering him since he talked to Lorre. Sitting down, she waits.

“Zafar.
”

“Dad
, its Lucas.”

“How are things going?”

“Good and bad. The Chamberlains are doing fine, better than fine but the Phoenix isn’t.” Lucas proceeds to fill him in on Lorre’s findings. On the couch, Victoria pales.

There’s silence on the other end
. “Scrapped?”

“I’m so sorry
, Uncle William.” Victoria knows the ship was a gift from Aunt Cassie.

“You hav
e nothing to be sorry for Tori, not one damn thing. It’s just a ship and its purpose was getting everyone home safely. It did its job, now we need to get you to Carina. Cassandra’s not going to wait much longer.” The High Admiral pauses, thinking. “I’m sending you the Arrow. It will be there in two days.”

“The Arrow
?” Lucas questions.

“The sister ship to the Phoenix
. She’s just been upgraded with the new cyclotron propulsion system. She’ll get to you 24 hours sooner.”

“I didn’t know that system was out of the testi
ng yet," Lucas says.

“Has been for almost a full cycle
. Jotham wanted it in the Guardian, Leander didn’t disappoint.” They all knew the Guardian has been built to replace the Sentinel, the House of Protection’s flag battle ship crippled in a Regulian attack while trying to assassinate the heir, Barek, an attack instigated by Barek’s half-brother Dadrian. Dadrian died during the Challenge, falling down the stairs in the Royal Suite as he fled from his father and Barek when confronted. It had never been made public, Dadrian’s betrayal, it would have done more harm than good, undermining the people’s confidence in the House of Protection.

Victoria
knew, she wasn’t supposed to, but she’d always been able to
accidently
learn things. It had only been the superior engineering of the Sentinel that saved so many. Now the Guardian would replace her with an even more advanced structure and propulsion system.

“When will the crew assignments be announced?
” Lucas knew the list of applicants was extensive. Every member of the coalition wanted the honor of serving on the Guardian. She would outshine all other ships.

“The Captain will decide that, once
he’s
selected.”

“I thought
Banchor had been selected,” Lucas responds surprised.

“Jotham
won’t commit to anyone yet and since it’s a House of Protection ship, he has final approval. He’s waiting for some reason.”

Lying with Victoria in his arms, Lucas lets his mind wander over the events of the last nine cycles. So much has changed, nearly all for the better but not all. While the Regulians continued to attack the border, without Audric’s help, they’d been unable to cause massive damage as before. Now they have this new stealth technology, and Lucas isn’t deluding himself that they only had one. Things are going to heat up, casualties will rise, and the twelve Blades lost are just the beginning.

He knows V
ictoria isn’t going to allow them to be separated, even if it means she has to change specialties to do it, and if he’s honest, he won’t allow it either. He’s waited too long for her and now there is a chance of a child.

Quinn’s comment
about him ‘
not ending up in one of Victoria’s beds’
flickers through his mind. He knows she fears for him every time he flies, it’s a valid fear. There’s no guarantee he’ll come back. Twelve didn’t last time.
He
wouldn’t have if not for her. He can ease some of those fears, if he’s willing to change and really, what is more important? Flying a Blade or Victoria. It’s time. He can feel it. Victoria would never ask it of him, but he can do this for her, for them, to make their lives better. With his decision made, he pulls her close and sleeps.

“Enter.” Quinn orders, still reading a report. Once he’s finished he looks up to see Lucas standing at attention.

“Lucas, what can I do for you?
” Quinn has spoken to the High Admiral earlier and knows the Arrow is enroute.

“Sir, I’ve
considered what you said.” Quinn raises an eyebrow. “I’d like to take the Captain’s test if there’s still time.”

“Really, what changed your mind?
” Quinn leans forward on his elbows, staring at him intently.

“Things are changing, heating up
. The Regulians took some hard hits in this last battle, but there’s no way they only had one of those ships. There will be more surprise attacks until the data Victoria collected can be deciphered.”

“I agree but that’s going to happen whether you take the Captain’s test or not
. So why?”

“Victoria
. She made sure I could fly again.” He glances down at his scarred hands then back to Quinn. “Even though every time I do, she’s scared out of her mind I won’t come back. She’d never ask me to quit.”

“No
, she wouldn’t.”

“I
can take the Captain’s test and if I pass, one day I’ll be able to get out of the hot seat. It will ease some of that fear. She’s had too much of that in her life. It’s no guarantee I won’t die in battle…”

“But the chances are less when you’re sitting in the Captain’s chair.”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure about this
? That this is what
you
want?”

“
It’s just like flying a Blade, Admiral, only bigger.” Quinn smiles at him.

“Then report to the
testing facilities, you’ve got thirty before they start.”

“Yes sir.”

Second meal comes and goes with no word from Lucas
. Victoria frowns, he didn’t say he’d join them but then again, he didn’t say he wouldn’t. Sighing, she realizes she needs to get used to this, this not always seeing him. They both have jobs, responsibilities and there will be times they will be separated.

“What’s wrong honey?
” Cyndy’s been watching her daughter from the couch.

“Nothing really, I just haven’t heard from Lucas.”

“You know that’s going to happen right?” Looking at her mother, Victoria sees she understands, she’s been through this, this not knowing where her man is, when he’ll return,
if
he’ll return. She’d been through it with every one of her father’s missions.

“How did you do it?
” Sitting down, she lays her head on her mom’s shoulder, taking comfort in her presence.

“You have to trust
in him.” Cyndy pulls her close. “In your love, believe that he’ll come back to you. It’s not always easy.” She takes a shaky breath. “And I’m not saying the fear ever
really
goes away but it’s who they are, your father and Lucas. It’s one of the reasons we love them.”

“I know
. It’s just… I’ve waited so long for him, mom, for us to get to this point, to lose him now… We’ve been spending so much time together that I’m spoiled. I want him around all the time. I miss him.”

“I know honey, believe me I know.
” Cyndy lays her head on top of her daughter’s. “There were times I didn’t know how I’d survive when your father was gone. But I did.”

Peter leans against the hatch listening to his girls.
His girls
. He still can’t believe it. His daughter is alive and in her mother’s arms and she is in love.

Love
. His baby girl is in love. After Kayseri, he’d thought if she ever trusted a man, she’d want a small, quiet, nonthreatening man, one that wouldn’t question her need for space and distance. He’d been wrong.

What she
needed was Lucas and somehow she had known that, even at nine. He’d been like that too… with Cyndy. It had only taken a look and he'd know Cyndy was for him and while he’d always mourn the time he'd lost with his daughter, he couldn’t have picked a better man than Lucas Zafar for her. Peter would be proud to have him as a son-in-law.

Peter realize
s he owes his sister and her husband more than he could ever repay, for between them, they’d made sure his daughter was not only protected but also loved. Loved in such a way, that she’d overcome what had been done to her. She felt safe enough to face her fears, her nightmares caused by Audric, face them, and flourish.

She
’d spoken with great love of Lucas’ father, High Admiral William Zafar. He’d watched him protect her during the Challenge visual. Seen him listen to her, really listen, and understand that she needed to have a say in Audric’s sentencing to heal. The love he had for his daughter was obvious for all to see and it wasn’t because of Cassie. Yes, he owed them both a great deal.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Lucas looked at the time as he heads for the flight deck. Who’d of thought a stupid test could take so long. There is no prepping for the Captain’s exam. The reasoning being that you don’t get to prep in combat, you don’t get to refer to anything other than your own experiences and instincts. Those who passed the test never spoke of how they did or what their responses were, no matter who asked. Those who failed…. well no one ever asked them.

He had no idea how he did
. He knew he solved problems. The way the testers wanted them solved, who knew? He lost men in the scenarios, but he honestly wouldn’t have changed any of the decisions and had vigorously defended them. He followed the advice his father has always given him. If you can sleep with your decisions, maybe not well, but sleep with them, then it’s the right decision. Entering the flight deck, Lucas looks at his people because that’s what they are,
his
. Frowning, he sees a group of four standing around that he doesn’t recognize.

“
Dodge!” His voice cuts through all the noise on the deck.

“Over here Hawk!
” Turning he sees Dodge rolling out from under a Blade, they meet in the middle.

“Report.”

“All Blades will be up and running by 1700, then we can concentrate on the Phoenix.”

“Good
, but forget the Phoenix.”

“What
?”

“Lorre says its scrap
, then it's scrap. The High Admiral agrees he’s sending the Arrow.”

“The…
. the what?”

“
The Arrow. An updated version of the Phoenix. Who are the newbies?”

“
Some idiots sent over yesterday from the Conviction. One of them is supposed to be the son of an Assemblyman and apparently made a stink about not being
allowed in the action
.”

Lucas wonders if he could
get so lucky.

“Really
… so why are they standing around?”

“They don’t
know
anything,” Dodge says disgusted.

“
Then what the fuck are they doing standing on
my
deck!” Lucas demands.

“Politics
. Thank the Ancestors you were never like them.”

“Their records?”

“On your desk.”

“Find Lor
re. Tell her to finish clearing the deck. Warehouse the Phoenix until she can be towed back to Carina. I’ll be in my office.”

“Yes sir.
” Dodge heads off to find Lorre.

Heading
for his office, Lucas feels the newbies watching him. Opening the records, he smiles. The ancestors have truly blessed him. Walking back onto the flight deck, he finds Lorre and Dodge heading his way.

“
Hawk, you want me to warehouse the Phoenix?”

“Yes
. The High Admiral’s sending another ship…”

“Which ship?
” Lucas head whips around at the interruption. His people know not to interrupt unless they have something important to add.

“Was someone speaking to you…
” Lucas shoots a disgusted look at the Private.

“Sir
, I am Private First Class, Gad Stannic. My father is
Assemblyman
Rogue Stannic from the House of Knowledge.”

Lucas turns his back on him
, continuing his conversation with Dodge and Lorre.

“The Arrow
is being sent from Carina. It will be here in less than forty-eight hours, it has Royal security attached to it. Is that understood?”

“Yes Major!
” Both respond, understanding the significance of the order.

“There’s no such ship.
” Gad interjects. Lucas continues to ignore him.

“Make it so.
” Lucas orders, heading for his office.

“Major!
” Gad calls after him, arrogantly. “Major, stop!” The flight deck stills at the gall of the private.