Her Brother's Keeper - eARC (46 page)

Chapter 31

New Austin

Capitol Starport, Aterrizaje

Lone Star System

Five Thousand Hours Later

Marcus Winchester waited anxiously in the cargo bay as the landing tower locked into place. The rest of his team was with him, and all were excited to be home, but Marcus was particularly so: he was going to meet his
son
.

He’d been gone from home for well over a New Austin year at this point, and sending messages to his family had been next to impossible until they’d gotten to the Llewellyn Freehold. As soon as the
Andromeda
had arrived in the Lone Star system, he sent word to his wife that he was on his way home, and found himself trying to will the ship to go faster. Now, he could barely contain his excitement.

Wade laughed at him. “Fidget a little more, Boss,” he said with a grin. “It’ll make the tower go faster.”

Marcus laughed.

“Shut up, Wade,” Annie said. “You just want to get back to your gross sexbot.” Wade made a face at her.

Marcus noticed that Wade and Devree were holding hands. He was glad of that. Devree was a nice girl, and seemed every bit as crazy as Wade. Wade needed a good woman in his life, and to get rid of that ridiculous sexbot he denied ever having used. Jeremiah Hondo had a huge smile on his dark face, so happy was he to see his wife and kids again. Ken Tanaka had no family, but had confessed to his teammates that now that he had the funds, he was going to return to Nippon to find himself a Japanese wife. Benjamin Halifax was grinning like a fool, though no one really knew why; as far as his teammates knew, he had no family, and apart from crudely bragging about his sexual exploits he didn’t talk much about his personal life.

Then there was Annie. Looking at his daughter, proudly wearing her green flight suit, Marcus knew that she was a woman now. If he had known the tribulations the
Andromeda
was to face, he would have left her at home, juvenile detention or not. She had seen too much in too short a time. She’d seen combat. She’d seen death. He was so proud of how she handled it, how she carried herself. Wade was right: she was just like him. But he also knew that she hadn’t processed some of the things she’d seen yet, and that it might yet come back to haunt her.

He just hoped his wife would forgive him. He knew that she’d be proud of what their daughter had become.

A klaxon sounded, a warning light flashed, and the cargo doors slid open. As the gap between them widened, the mercenaries saw their loved ones waiting for them on the other side.

Eleanor Winchester stepped forward, and was nearly tackled by Annie. “Mom!”

“Baby, look at you!” Ellie said. She started to cry. “You’ve grown. You’re all grown up.”

“Ellie,” Marcus said, embracing his wife. He looked down at the baby in her arms.

“Marcus, I’d like you to meet your son, David Andrew Winchester.”

“Hey, buddy,” Marcus said to the child, choking up as he spoke. Little David clutched his father’s finger in his tiny hand. “It’s good to finally meet you. I’m sorry I was gone, but I’m home now.”

Annie was crying now too. “He’s so beautiful! Mom, can I hold him?”

“Of course you can, Annie. Here.”

Marcus and Ellie held each other as their daughter held their young son in her arms, rocking him gently and smiling ear to ear. For all the horrors he’d seen, Marcus couldn’t remember being this happy. Behind him, Wade was grinning ear to ear. Devree, at his side, covered her mouth with her hands and was unable to keep from crying. After Marcus introduced her to his wife, she asked if she could hold the baby. Annie obliged, and Devree carried little David in her arms while Marcus, his wife, and his daughter all hugged. Wade, seeing Devree with the baby in her arms, had a slightly concerned look on his face. Marcus winked at him.

Meanwhile, as the crew of the
Andromeda
disembarked to get some much-needed dirtside leave, Jeremiah Hondo was mobbed by his half-dozen kids. His booming, raucous laugh echoed throughout the cargo deck as they pulled him to the floor, laughing and crying at the same time. His wife, a heavy-set but nonetheless beautiful woman, with skin as dark as midnight, cried as she joined in on the group hug of her husband.

Then there was Ben Halifax. Two women were waiting for him when the doors opened. They came trotting through in very tall high heels. One, a tall blonde with fair skin, wore a slinky red dress that left little to the imagination. The other, a shorter, raven-haired woman of Asiatic descent, was dressed in booty shorts and a halter top. One kissed him passionately, then the other kissed him, while he grabbed both of their butts. The two women then kissed each other before leading Halifax off to whatever debauchery they had in mind. Mrs. Hondo covered the eyes of one of her sons, who had been gawking at the two women.

Marcus couldn’t help but laugh. He only wished Randy was here with them. One more thing to feel guilty about, he supposed. One more name to remember. But that would come later. For now, he let himself enjoy the moment, his long-awaited reunion with his wife and son.

Captain Blackwood surprised him when she spoke up. He hadn’t seen her approach. “Mrs. Winchester, I’m sorry it took me so long to get your husband and daughter back,” she said. “Thank you for your patience and understanding. It couldn’t have been easy on you, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t have been able to do this without Marcus. He saved my brother’s life, and indeed my entire ship. I am eternally grateful, and he’ll be rewarded accordingly.”

“I didn’t do it by myself,” Marcus protested.

“Of course not. We didn’t spend Cecil’s ransom money on Zanzibar, so I had planned to break a portion of it up and pay your team a generous operational bonus. Unfortunately, I spent most of it getting repairs on the Llewellyn Freehold.”

“Nothing in the Freehold comes cheap,” Marcus said.

“Nonetheless, Cecil has promised pay your team from the holdings of Blackwood and Associates. You will all be handsomely rewarded.” She looked back at Marcus’ wife. “Mrs. Winchester, I need to say something about Crewman Winchester here,” she said, putting a hand on Annie’s shoulder. “This young woman is a phenomenal spacer. She’s bright, she learns quickly, and she kept her head on during stressful situations. She’s an exemplary young woman and, if she likes, she’s welcome to become a permanent member of my crew.”

Annie’s eyes went wide. “Mom? Dad? Can I?”

Eleanor frowned. “Absolutely not, young lady. You’re behind on your school, but I’m not going to let you just quit.”

Marcus was about to step in and say something, seeing the crushed look on his daughter’s face, but Captain Blackwood beat him to it. “Annie, listen to me,” she said. “You did very well, and you’re always welcome on this ship, but you need to listen to your parents.”

“But Captain, didn’t you run away to be a spacer?”

“I did, but I was rather older than you. More importantly, I’d already finished my education. You were a valued crewmember, but you’d be more valuable to the ship with some formal technical training.”

Annie looked less like she was going to cry, and Eleanor didn’t look angry anymore. Marcus was pleased, but Captain Blackwood wasn’t finished yet. “I’ll make a deal with you, Annie,” she said. “If you stay home and stay in school, I promise you that you’ll have a place on my ship when you’re ready. I’ll send messages via courier once in a while to check up on you. It doesn’t matter if it takes you one year or five, I’ll find a place for you as long as I’m the captain of this ship. Your family has done a great deal to help mine, and returning the favor is the least I can do. Right now, though, you need to spend time with your family. You’ve got a baby brother to raise. Your mother will need your help. You also need to study.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Annie said. She seemed satisfied.

“Thank you, Captain Blackwood,” Eleanor said, also looking satisfied. “I’m glad she was able to be of service. I like to think we raised her right.” As anxious about losing her daughter to a career in space as she was, Marcus could see the pride on Eleanor’s face. He’d told her how Randy had been killed as soon as the
Andromeda
arrived in system, but hadn’t gotten into details of the battle, and how close the ship had come to being destroyed. There would be time for that later. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy a moment of happiness with his family.

“You most certainly did,” the captain said. She nodded and left the Winchester family to their reunion. Marcus was grateful for the mentorship she’d given his daughter. Maybe she’d try harder in school, now that she had a goal she cared about to work for.

There would be time enough to worry about that later. Right now, he just wanted to be with his family.

Chapter 32

The Blackwood & Associates ship
Highlander II

Deep Space

Baker-3E871 System

Eight Months Later…

The
Highlander II
was a huge transport ship, an aeroballistic cone one hundred meters tall from nose to tail. She was the largest ship in the Blackwood & Associates fleet, and yet she alone would not be enough for this operation. She was joined by half a dozen others, including an armed escort from the Avalon Space Force. This find was worth protecting.

Cecil Blackwood studied a 3D representation of the derelict ship
Agamemnon.
Amazingly, no one else had come across it, though it had been more than a standard year since his sister had found it. It made a sort of sense, though—it had drifted out here undisturbed for something like eight hundred years. One more year wasn’t so much in comparison.

Zak Mesa and Anna Komnene were with him, and were excitedly taking in every detail of the ship that the sensors could provide. Zak had read up on the entire history of the ship, the Cosmic Odyssey VI
program, and knowing him, the entire history of the Second Federation while he was at it. Anna, who it turned out
was
something of a “big deal” on her homeworld, had worked out a data-sharing program with the University Byzantium in exchange for a substantial donation to the recovery effort (including a research ship). Between that and the influx in funds from the sale of the Zanzibari artifacts, Blackwood and Associates was doing quite well. They were excited by the find, despite the gruesome description of what Catherine’s crew had found on board.

Cecil’s father hadn’t been thrilled with it, all, of course. He’d bellowed at Cecil for screwing things up so royally, and even bellowed at Catherine when she’d stepped in to defend her little brother. Cat, being Cat, bellowed right back, and the whole affair turned into one of those infamous Blackwood family shouting matches. As usual, it had ended with the vintage brandy and scotch being poured, and things calmed down afterward.

Augustus Blackwood had actually offered Catherine his legacy. He offered to let her be the elder heir instead of Cecil. Cecil might have taken that as an insult, but he knew that she’d run things better than he could have, especially since it entailed eventually taking her father’s seat on the Council. That would have certainly shaken up those stodgy old goats, he thought, and the image of them
harrumph
-ing and pouting about it tickled him so much he wished his sister had taken their father up on his offer.

But Catherine, like their mother, was a free spirit. She had a life of her own, a tall ship, and a star to steer by. That was, she explained, all she wanted in life. Cecil certainly couldn’t fault her for that.

His father also hadn’t been happy about Bianca. He’d been even less happy when Cecil confessed that he’d married her on New Austin. The Church of Avalon officially recognized marriages from outside the faith, even secular ones (Cecil and Bianca had a civil union at a municipal courthouse in Aterrizaje), so there was nothing Augustus could do but drink and fume.

Cecil, for his part, had been sober for a year now, and staying dry was getting easier every day. Bianca constantly encouraged him, and rewarded his progress with every decadent bout of bedroom gymnastics her devious mind would come up with. She was, as he’d once surmised, a better Avalonian wife than any of the stodgy, inhibited Avalonian women he’d ever met. She had no patience for the gossip and politics of Avalonian high society, however; upon hearing that a council member’s wife had referred to her as a whore, she’d punched the woman in the mouth, right in the middle of a garden party for charity. It had been quite the scandal, and had made all the celebrity gossip media. Fortunately, they’d left for their current mission shortly after that. Even Bianca could only get into so much trouble in deep space.

Despite the hell Cecil had gone through on Zanzibar, he had to admit a lot of good had come of it. He was still haunted by the deaths of the people who had helped rescue him. Randall Markgraf, Wolfram von Spandau, and Charity Delacroix were their names, and Cecil would never forget them. He’d given half his share of the family fortune to a trust fund for the families of the New Austin mercenaries and the crew of the
Andromeda
. Blood money to be sure, but money was the only thing Cecil had left to give. Fortunately, thanks largely to his sister, Zak, and Anna, he had a lot of it.

As for Zanzibar…Cecil took a deep breath as he recalled that awful place. The message Zak had sent out so long ago had definitely gotten the attention of the mass media on a dozen Concordiat worlds. The excitement reached a fever pitch when word of ancient Antecessor artifacts located there had gotten out later on. Even as Cecil was focusing on the salvage of the
Agamemnon,
the Concordiat government was about to pass a motion to officially annex Zanzibar and send in a peacekeeping force. When word had gotten out about the conditions there, the suffering, and the possibility of ancient alien technology falling into the hands of a man like Aristotle Lang, the constituency on a dozen worlds had demanded that their leaders
do something.

Cecil wasn’t sure the
something
in this case was a good idea. According to the various political punditry, it was expected that the annexation and stabilization of Zanzibar would be a quick and easy affair. The bloody fools had no idea what they were getting into. Lang wouldn’t give up so easily.

Still, none of that was Cecil’s problem. His mind boggled at the role he’d played in, essentially, altering the course of the history of a world, but he desired no fame or recognition for it. Too many people had died. Too many had suffered. Maybe some good would come of it, but he wanted nothing to do with any of it. Cecil was happy where he was, with Bianca at his side, Zak and Anna excitedly scanning their new prize.

That, he thought with a smile, was how things should be.