Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) (18 page)

“I don’t trust him either, and if it makes you feel
better, then sure. How’s Ronan?”

“He’s fine. He’s onboard one of the Droxian ships in
orbit. I convinced her captain to let him observe and see what it is to be a
true Droxian warrior.”

“He must be having loads of fun then.” Chase flashed
her a grin.

“No, no fun! He must learn to be part of our
military; this war has only just begun—”

“I was joking, Ryonna.”

“Oh…” She tried to smile. “I see.”

Chase looked at Tar’Lock. “And you?”

“Me? I’m actually just bored. So where she goes, I
go.”

After leaving the
bridge, Chase hopped into a quick shower before heading over to Sarah’s. As the
hot water eased his tired muscles, he took deep breaths and tried to remember
what Ares had told him. Despite his fatigue, he was actually quite pleased with
the results. It was getting easier and easier every time.

The sound of an incoming comm disrupted his reverie,
and he got out of the shower and hurried over. Thinking it was Sarah, he
answered without bothering to put on any clothes.

“Now that’s a greeting.”

Chase gasped and covered himself as a woman laughed
loudly on screen.

“Fillio! I... I thought you were someone else. Give
me a minute to put something on.”

She grinned coyly. “It’s not like it’s something I
haven’t seen before, Chasy.”

“Yeah well, that… was a long time ago.” He jumped into
the first pair of pants he found.

“I take it you’re seeing someone now,” she deduced.
When he said nothing, she flipped back her hair and leaned closer to the
screen. “What’s her name? Spill! I want details.”

“You haven’t changed a bit. Her name is Sarah.”

“Why would I change? I think I’m great!” she
answered with a genuine smile.

“Difficult to argue with that logic.”

“How did you two meet?”

“We met when we came to save Earth from the
Zarlacks.”

“Yeah, I actually heard about that! From what I
heard, it was more like
you
against a whole fleet.”

Chase shrugged. “Well, kind of. But just until the
Destiny
battle group arrived; in the nick of time, I might add.”

“Still, ballsy move, Chasy boy. That was quite the
suicide mission. You do realize that one of these days, your crazy gamble
tactics might not work, right?”

That remark hit home, and for the first time Chase
suddenly realized everything he had to lose. It wasn’t just him now. There was
Sarah. And… the baby.

“Did I say something wrong, Chasy boy?”

“Don’t call me that, please. And no, I was just
reflecting on what you said.”

She laughed aloud. “
Hello!
Chase actually
listening to sound advice? I don’t know this Sarah, but she must be quite the
gal. I like her already.”

“Perhaps I should have mentioned she’s pregnant. We
learned it two days ago.”

“Oh... that explains it then. Congrats!” Her face
softened. “Of course you can’t take any crazy risks anymore, or you run the
risk of making your new little one an orphan.”

Chase ran his hand back through his wet hair.
“Yeah... but on the other hand, I might need to take crazy risks sometimes to
insure my child’s future.”

“Still obsessing about things you can’t control.”
She grinned happily. “You’re nothing if not predictable, you know that?”

“If you say so. But there’s a few hundred wrecked
Zarlack ships floating in orbit that would disagree with that statement.”

“
Aww
... There’s my show-off, know-it-all,
over-the-top, arrogant Chasy—” she caught herself. “I mean… the Chase I know.”

He smiled. “Not that I dislike being called an
avalanche of names, but was there a reason why you called, or did you just want
to say hi?”

“Well that, first and foremost, of course. I
actually had a rather specific activity in mind—we never did go all the way, if
you remember—but apparently that’s not possible anymore.”

He chuckled. Same old Fillio. “Yeah, I’m afraid
that
ain’t gonna happen. Hope you understand.”

“Are you kidding? If you had said yes, I would have
kicked your ass!”

“Now who’s predictable?”

They both laughed.

“I’d like to see the Omega fighter in action one of
these days though,” he said wistfully. “I barely got a taste of it flying to
Hellstar. I’d like to see what it can do in a dogfight.”

“It can do a lot, believe me. And sure, but from
what I gathered, you’re installing stealth on your Earth modified fighters,
no?”

“Yeah, but it’s not an exact match in terms of
functionality. In fact, we lose shields entirely on the StarFury.”

“I thought it was called a StarCrusher.”

“Don’t get me started with this.”

She laughed. “Let me guess, Yanis named it that
way.”

“Did you really need to ask?”

“Gotcha. Please don’t be too hard on him.”

Chase grinned. “Aside from his sheer suckage at
naming things, he’s the best engineer and a dear friend. Of course… that
doesn’t mean I can’t tease him from time to time…”

“Hey! Be nice to my little brother. He’s the only
family I have left.”

“You have my word,” he promised.

She stretched out her arms with a yawn. “Alright, so
it looks like I’d better go for a run or take a turn in the simulator to get my
tension worked out.”

“You’ll be alright either way, I’m sure. Take care,
Fillio.”

“Take care, Chasy.” She winked and turned off the
comm.

Chase stared at the blank screen for a moment. In
addition to being a skilled pilot, Fillio was a longtime friend. Of course,
over the years she’d become a bit more than just a friend. Not in the same way
as Sarah, but still. Now that she was assigned to the Fifth Fleet, he wondered
what awkward complications might be in store.

He tried to put it away from his mind as he picked
up the comm again and tried Sarah. There was no answer and he tried again.
Still nothing. When she didn’t pick up on the third ring, he decided to go to
her place anyway and slip into bed. No need to wake her if she was asleep.

Thirty minutes later, he landed a shuttle on top of
her building and headed down the stairs to her apartment. It was two in the
morning on Earth—she was surely asleep. He felt bad, then, when he was forced
to ring the doorbell to get inside.

One of these days, I’ll have to get
my own key
,
he thought as he waited.

There was no reply. He rang several more times, but
nothing happened. An anxious frown creased his forehead as he looked
automatically around.

Where could she be?

He was actually beginning to consider the idea of a
search when he heard footsteps getting out of the elevator. He turned around in
relief as she headed down the hall.

“Hello there,” he said cheerfully.

But the strangest thing happened. She passed right
by him without registering his presence in the slightest. His smile faltered as
she began rummaging around for her keys.

“Sarah?”

No answer. She unlocked the door.

Seriously concerned, Chase leapt in front of her and
shook her shoulders. “Sarah!”

She blinked and took a step back, disoriented and
surprised all at the same time. “What the hell? What are you doing here? In
fact… what am
I
doing here?”

Chase paled. “Are you alright? You just walked right
past without even seeing me.”

Her face clouded. “That’s so weird. The last thing I
remember was coming home after the funeral and crashing on the couch. I…” She
glanced around. “I don’t know why I’m outside.”

A chill ran up Chase’s spine. He didn’t like this
one bit. “How do you feel now? Has this ever happened to you before?”

She shook her head. “Maybe I just sleepwalked. I
know my mother used to do that when she was pregnant with me.”

Just a fraction of the tension lifted, but Chase was
still uneasy. “I… I guess that could make sense.” He held open his arms, and
she stepped inside with a tight embrace.

“Crazy couple of days, huh?” she said with her head
pressed against his chest.

“You can say that again. And there’s more.”

“Please have mercy.”

“You’re right,” he agreed. “We’ll talk about this
tomorrow after a good night’s sleep.”

She lifted her head with a mischievous smile.

“Who said anything about sleeping?”

Two hours later, they were lying in a tangle of
sheets. Sarah was quick to fall asleep, happily exhausted to the point of
unconsciousness, but Chase lay awake for hours. He kept thinking about what it
meant to soon be a father. The responsibility, of course, but also the world
they would bring their child into. In the middle of a war...

Sarah turned in the bed but did not wake up. He
kissed the top of her head and stroked back her hair until she was finally still.

What a crazy couple of days. Crazy couple of weeks,
was more like it. Everything was happening so fast. How was he supposed to
protect the people he loved when it felt like the room wouldn’t stop spinning?

And speaking of spinning…

Sarah was twitching and moving so much in her sleep,
it was like she was gearing up to run a marathon. Her face was tightened into a
frightened pinch and when Chase reached out to steady her, she moaned aloud.

“Sweetie?” he whispered. “Sarah.”

Her eyes snapped open and she flew without thinking
into his arms. He caught her and kissed her in surprise.

“Are you alright?” he murmured between kisses. “I
think you were having a nightmare.”

She pulled back with a little shiver. “It’s the same
one I keep having… I’m trapped in a confined space, completely submerged in
water. There’s a breather on my face, so I don’t drown, and cables are attached
all over my body. I see those awful reptilian Zarlacks again, and even though I
try to get away… I can’t move. I’m trapped. And… and always very alone.”

Chase’s heart constricted in his chest. “I’m so
sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help…”

“You just being here is enough.”

He smiled sadly but shook his head. “That’s not what
I meant. I wish… I wish there was some way I could go back in time and stop
that from happening to you. All I can do now is promise you that Argos will
pay.”

He looked up at her with fierce passion and was
surprised by the soft expression on her face. “Chase, while that’s very sweet
of you, I don’t want my man to be consumed with revenge. Forget about getting
even with Argos. We have to stop him, sure, but not because he tortured me.
Because he must be stopped, for all our sakes. All this hate inside… let it
go.”

He stared at her in a moment of illumination and
slowly nodded. She was right. It’s what was best for them all. And it was all
he could do.

“You said there was more to tell me earlier,” she
added. “Wanna talk about it now?”

Chase glanced at the clock. “It’s almost five in the
morning. Don’t you want to get a little more sleep? If not for you, then for
the baby?”

She smiled. “The baby is about this big right now.”
She pinched together her fingers. “I don’t feel any different.”

“Surely you do a little,” Chase coaxed.

“Well, mentally and emotionally, yes of course. Just
not physically.”

Chase sighed. “I think about it all the time. About
the… the timing.”

She nodded gravely. “I know exactly how you feel.”

He brightened slightly. “You do?” It helped to know
that he wasn’t alone in it.

“Sure I do, but then I just remember. Life is an
ongoing thing. Babies are born all the time. We can’t just put our lives on
pause because the timing isn’t convenient. It’ll be fine.”

Chase just stared at her in stunned silence. She was
absolutely right.

“You know,” she continued thoughtfully, “lately I’ve
been thinking a lot about things like that. The idea of controlling what’s
going on around me to protect myself. And the other day at the funeral, I came
to a very important decision.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“Screw it.”

Chase blinked. “No… what was your decision?”

“That was it.” She giggled lightly. “Screw it. I’m
done fighting for control of things that realistically I have no control over.
This war is happening. This baby is happening. This is our reality now. All we
can do is the best with what we’re given.” She wrapped her arms around him.
“And I happen to think I’ve been given an awful lot.”

He squeezed her hands tightly. “I will protect you,”
he swore. “And our child. I
will not
let anything—”

“Chase, that’s exactly what I’m talking about,” she
said with a sigh. “You can’t. You couldn’t protect me from Argos that day. He
took me and there was nothing you could do to stop it. You couldn’t save all
those people on Earth from getting blown to bits. It was beyond your control.”

He felt like she’d sucked all the happiness right
out of him, until…

“But you know what? If you hadn’t made that jump in
your fighter, I’d be dead right now. If you hadn’t gone to Hellstar, I’d still
be a prisoner. And if you hadn’t single-handedly fought an entire fleet, we’d
be talking about billions of lives lost, not millions.” She clapped him
teasingly upside the head. “So lighten up, soldier. Start living your life now,
instead of spending all your time fearing the future. You did good.”