Skyport Virgo 1 - Refuge (18 page)

"How's your dessert?"

Laleh smiled at Pike as she savored a bite of the creamiest, most scrumptious cheesecake she'd ever had. Caramel, chocolate, and pecan melded together so deliciously.

"Amazing."

Grinning, Pike watched her as she enjoyed the rest of her slice. She'd been pleasantly surprised when he'd swung by her office to take her out to lunch in one of Virgo's more upscale restaurants. For the last few days, Pike had been acting a bit more protective than usual. He hadn't quite ventured into the realm of annoying but wavered just on the edge.

Laleh took it in stride, knowing he only wanted to keep her safe. She hoped the complaints she'd filed with the security office and Pike's request for tighter perimeter control would convince Jai to give up or, at the very least, back off.

"I received a notice from the housing department," Pike said, his fingers drumming on the tablecloth. "We can move into our new quarters as soon as we please. I'll try to round up some movers."

"I'll start packing this evening." Laleh contemplated scraping the last yummy bits of cheesecake from her plate but decided against it for fear of appearing gauche. "I'll leave the necessities in the kitchen, bathroom, and office for the last minute."

"If you'd like, we can take a tour of our new home later this evening or tomorrow some time. I'm sure you'd like to start making some decorating plans."

Laleh nodded. "It's exciting, you know? Having our first real place together. Doesn’t it feel more like a home? There’s just something so inviting about having a nice, new permanent place."

A warm smile curved his mouth. Something flashed in his green eyes, and her tummy bubbled with heat. When he looked at her like that, Laleh always wondered what he was thinking. Was he feeling the same pull? Was his attachment to her deepening as hers was to him? Did he love her just as desperately as she now loved him?

Yes, she loved him. It had come upon her gradually, but there was no denying it.

Every time she spied Pike, Laleh's heart nearly burst. So many times over the last few days, she'd almost confessed her feelings. When he pulled her close in the mornings after his alarm sounded or when they enjoyed a bit of down time in the evenings, Laleh's head resting on Pike's lap as they watched television. But every time she'd hesitated and changed her mind. What if he didn't feel the same way?

Pike drew her attention as he reached inside his jacket. Curiosity got the better of her when he produced a purple card and slid it across the table toward her. She picked it up and glanced at the lemon yellow lettering.
Virgo Travel
. "What's this?"

Pike smiled indulgently. "Plug it in and see."

Laleh eagerly slid the small card into the slot on the side of her transmitter. A few seconds later, a travel itinerary popped onto the screen. "We're going to Skyport Leo this weekend?"

He shook his head. "You're going to Leo. I thought you'd like to see your friends, Ginger and Hassan. It's been a month, and I know you're a little homesick."

Touched, Laleh leaned over and pecked his cheek. She wanted to do more than that but knew it would be highly appropriate to climb onto the admiral's lap in the middle of a crowded restaurant. "Thank you so much."

Cheeks flushed, Pike glanced around the restaurant. Obviously embarrassed, he cleared his throat. "I got you three tickets to see Vega. I know you how much you love her music."

She nearly squealed at that tidbit. Seeing one of Vega's live shows had been at the top of her to-do list for the last two years. The tickets were notoriously expensive and sold out within seconds of going on sale. Try as she might, Laleh and her friends had repeatedly failed to grab tickets. She couldn't wait to message Ginger and Hassan with her awesome news.

"I wish you were coming." Laleh placed her hand on top of Pike's. "Not to the concert," she clarified. "I know you'd rather chew glass than sit through two hours of Vega."

Pike chuckled. "That pretty much sums up my thoughts on it." He turned his hand and intertwined their fingers. "I promise we'll try to get away in a few months. Once things have settled down around here, we'll disappear to some place relaxing and quiet."

"I'd like that." Her hand tingled where his thumb rubbed soft circles.

Pike started to say something else but was interrupted by the arrival of his
aide de
camp.
He angled to face the panting and sweating young man. Apparently, he'd been running. "Yes, Mr. Weelo?"

"Sir. Ma'am." Weelo inclined his head in her direction before turning back to Pike.

"Sir, I'm sorry for the interruption, but there's been a collision on the perimeter. The
Cassiopeia
struck a freighter coming in with supplies for the skyport. The supplies are acting like projectiles and causing quite a bit of damage. You're requested immediately in the Situation Room."

Pike wasted no time rising. He bent low and Laleh brushed her lips to his. "I'm sorry, Laleh. I'll see you later."

"It's all right. Good luck."

Pike hustled from the restaurant, leaving Laleh to settle the bill and make small talk with their waiter. She gathered up her transmitter and headed back to her office. With a few minutes left on her lunch hour, Laleh sent quick messages to Ginger and Hassan. She activated her sleeping widescreen with a wave of her hand and noticed the collision update crawling across the bottom of her screen.

Apparently all traffic in and out of Virgo had been halted. All non-emergency patients were currently being diverted to the sick bay on a starship docked on the opposite end of Virgo. Laleh winced at the thought of Pike trying to sort out such a logistical nightmare. She wondered what kind of mood he'd be in later. As of yet, Pike hadn't run into anything too stressful since they'd married. Would he bring his work home with him?

Having plenty of her own work to complete, Laleh resumed a memo for the upcoming vacation visit of the Sandrino imperial family. They were a rather quirky set with an extremely rigid social hierarchy and complex dietary restrictions. There were proscribed methods of address and expressly forbidden types of physical contact too.

Breaking any of those rules would lead to great offense and embarrassment.

As the cultural attaché, it was Laleh's duty to head off any disasters of etiquette. The memo was simply the first of her preparations. Next week, she'd host a series of workshops for the senior divisions of the various departments on Virgo, starting with the diplomatic service and moving through Spacefleet, hospitality, food service, recreation, retail, and any other departments she was currently forgetting. It would be monotonous work, but it had to be done.

The memo dispersed, Laleh turned her attention to a series of translations and queries from her colleagues. Most were simple enough to answer. A few she skipped over to tackle later when she had some time to research. She was three-quarters of the way through correcting a shoddily translated free trade amendment when someone knocked on her door.

"Come in!" Laleh frowned at her screen, wondering what use translations programs were when they made such elementary mistakes. She glanced up as Ambassador Floridan entered her office. "Hello."

Ambassador Floridan smiled and stopped in front of Laleh's desk. She tucked a strand of shocking green hair behind one ear. "I had a request from the diplomatic office on a planet I represent to pass along a message to you."

Laleh's brow furrowed. Ambassador Floridan represented the Skalox System and a total of nine different planets, none of which Laleh had ever visited. She couldn't for the life of her remember a single acquaintance from any of them. "Really? What kind of message?"

"It seems a friend of yours was recently deported from Earth. Houston, to be exact,"

the ambassador added. "From what I understand, she was a neighbor. She's exhausted all official channels. I suppose she's reaching out to you as some sort of last ditch effort."

Laleh's stomach dropped. "Is it Salida Noozeenus?" Ambassador Floridan nodded.

"Do you know why she was deported?"

"Apparently she was reported by an anonymous source. I suspect her name was handy when Immigration pulled together a list for one of their raids. She wasn't given time to file an appeal. Now that she's back on her home planet, there's not much hope. In any case, it's out of my colleagues' hands. We're past the point of being able to intervene."

"It's all my fault," Laleh whispered, her stomach roiling.

"I doubt that, unless you turned her in yourself."

Laleh shook her head. "I think it was my brother. He has a nasty streak."

Ambassador Floridan shrugged. "These things happen, Laleh. It's simply the way the law works. If it hadn't been your brother, it would have been someone else."

Even though the ambassador spoke the truth it did little to allay Laleh's clawing conscience. "Do you have some way I can contact Salida?"

Ambassador Floridan tapped her transmitter's screen. Seconds later, Laleh's pinged.

"There you go. She's staying with relatives, I think."

"Thanks."

"Let me know if there's anything I might do." The ambassador paused in the doorway. "I am sorry about your friend, Laleh."

As soon as Ambassador Floridan was gone, Laleh cued up the contact information and tried to put through a call to Salida. No one answered but she was given the choice to leave a message. She sat forward and looked straight into the recorder of her transmitter.

"Hi. This is Laleh Sarafpour Grayson, and I'm trying to reach Salida Noozeenus. Please feel free to contact me any time. Thanks."

Laleh disconnected and scrolled through her contact list until she found Noozeen's name, but he didn't answer either. Feeling incredibly antsy, Laleh hopped out of her chair and paced her office. She racked her brain for some way she could help. She considered Melanya but doubted there was much her friend could do. Melanya dealt specifically with Spacefleet. Still it was worth a try.

"Sorry, Laleh," Melanya said after patiently listening to the circumstances. "There's nothing I can do. I can put you in touch with someone I know who works over in deportation, but I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing. Unless an appeal is filed before deportation, there simply aren't any channels to manipulate. The best your friend can hope for is a new spousal sponsored visa once her husband has reached the residency requirement."

Laleh sighed and leaned back against her desk for support. "I thought as much."

"Other than this, how are things at Virgo?"

"Very well." Laleh tried to sound upbeat. "We're moving into new quarters soon. I'm enjoying my work with the consulate. Pike's really taken to his command."

"I'm glad to hear it." Melanya grinned lasciviously. "And the sex?"

Laleh sputtered with surprise at her friend's blunt question. Her cheeks warmed. "It's fine."

"Just fine?" Melanya fished for details.

"Amazing, actually," Laleh admitted. "But that's all I'll say over my transmitter."

Melanya giggled gleefully. "Fair enough. I want the full details next time I see you."

"Deal."

"I've got to go. I have a backlog of marriage license applications to work through. I'll talk to you later. Good luck helping your friends."

Melanya disconnected and Laleh placed her transmitter on her desk. She kneaded her temples. Never had she felt like such a failure. Her friends needed her help. Despite all of Laleh's connections, she could do nothing. What was the use of working in the diplomatic service and being married to one of the highest ranking officers in Spacefleet if she couldn't even accomplish something as small getting her pregnant neighbor a new visa?

Suddenly Laleh needed Pike. She needed to feel his arms holding her close. She needed his calm, reassuring voice in her ear. If anyone could make her feel better, it was him.

Laleh snatched up her transmitter and strode from her office, pausing at the front desk to let the receptionist know she was heading out early. Taking all the shortcuts, she managed to reach the cluster of offices comprising Virgo's nerve center. All of the Spacefleet personnel hustling from office to office took Laleh by surprise until she remembered the accident.

She stopped and reconsidered. Only the knowledge she'd drop everything for Pike kept her moving forward. Laleh cautiously crossed the busy lobby, stepping out of the way as officers and enlisted men and women hurried between offices. She popped her head into the open doorway of Pike's office and found her husband rummaging through a shelf of memory cards. "Pike?"

Annoyance flashed across his face as he glanced over his shoulder at her. "What?"

Laleh hesitated in the doorway, suddenly uncertain. Maybe she'd been wrong to come.

Pike stopped his rummaging and stared expectantly in her direction. "Did you need something, or did you just come here to rubberneck?"

Taken aback, Laleh blinked and frowned. "I needed to talk to you."

Amid a seemingly never ending series of intercom calls for his presence on this deck or that, Pike resumed his search. "If you're not bleeding or dying, I really don't care right now. I've got a string of ass-packed freighters and taxiing vessels stalled on Virgo's perimeter, a starship hemorrhaging fuel, and a few thousand stranded passengers."

"Salida Noozeenus was deported from Earth." Even as she blurted it out, Laleh wished she could have stopped herself. It was obvious he didn't have time for her problems.

"Who?" Pike tossed a stack of cards onto his desk and turned back to the shelves, his fingers moving over the white cases.

"My neighbor's wife."

"And this concerns me how?"

"I don't know," Laleh admitted, feeling rather ridiculous. "I just thought you might be able to help."

"Help?" Pike scoffed as he rounded on her. "In case you weren't listening, Laleh, I've got a few thousand people clamoring for my help right now. If your neighbor's wife was so concerned about being deported, she should have followed the law."

Laleh's jaw tightened. "You don't have to be so rude about it, Pike."

"Goddammit, Laleh!" Exasperated, Pike slammed his hand onto his desk. "I don't have time for your bullshit today. Why don't you try fixing your own problems for once?"