Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (45 page)

It
was the way she said it that caused the tidal wave of instant
recognition.
"Alité?!"

"Yes,"
she acknowledged.

"I..."
he realized he had no idea what to say.

"Computer,
ambient light." The lights came up slowly, illuminating
the
room in a comfortable glow. Alité stood at the side of the
bed, a sheer black veil wrapped around her naked form, holding two
glasses of wine. She extended one to Jack, "Disappointed?"
she asked softly.

He
could not take his eyes off her, taking the glass of wine handed
him.
He took a sip and attempted to set it on the nightstand behind him.
He missed. The glass fell to the floor and bounced on the carpet. He
did not notice, nor would he have cared. He took her hand without
speaking and drew her to the bed.

With
one knee on the bed, she stopped. "Wait," she said,
breathing
deeply.
Alité placed her glass on the table on her side of the bed
and slowly unwrapped the black see-through veil of lace, letting it
hang loosely about her shoulders. She was tall, slender and shapely,
and Jack was losing his mind. She crawled upon the bed seductively,
far more beautiful than Jack could ever have imagined. She pulled
his covers off and laid across his legs, reaching up and running her
fingernails gently across his bare muscled chest. "I've wanted
you," she sighed, "from the minute I first saw you."

"When
was that...?" he asked in hushed tones.

"The
day you took the ship," she replied. She kissed her way up from
the
flat of his stomach to his lips, sloooowwwly. Her long auburn waves
of hair danced across his skin setting his nerves on fire. When she
reached his lips, he could take no more. He pulled her roughly by
the hair and devoured her mouth. She melted into his arms.

When
he pulled her away to gaze at her body, glistening with sweat,
she
stared back at him with sparkling emerald green eyes. Jack's eyes
narrowed. "Your eyes... I thought they were brown..."

She
smiled and traced his lips with her fingernail. "Brown, green,
blue,
lavender, they change all the time." Still laying on top of
him, she swung her leg over his waist and sat up, straddled him.
"But I like your eyes better," she whispered, sliding
south.

"Wh,
whhyyy izat..?" Jack stuttered, holding her by the waist.

Alité
closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, "Ohh... God!" She
opened
her
eyes and looked into his. "Well," she sighed as she rocked
back and forth. "I've never seen eyes so black..."

"They're
actually br, brownnn..." he managed to counter, gritting
his
teeth and scrunching his eyes shut.

"Well
they're beautiful," she said coolly. "I want to see them.
Open
your
eyes and look at me... or I'll stop."

Jack's
eyes popped open, "Oh God," he pleaded, “please
don't do
that!"

They
spent the next several hours with nothing between them but
their
sweat.

■ ■ ■

"Wake
up, sleepyhead!"

Jack
sat bolt upright in bed, still half asleep, "Huh?" He
rubbed
his
eyes with the palms of his hands.

Alité
placed a tray full of fruit and breakfast pastries on the bed
in
front of Jack. "Do you think, just because you're Captain of
this ship, that you can lay around all day doing nothing? Get up,
lazybones!"

Jack
shot a glance at his watch. "Crap! I already missed my morning
meeting.
We were supposed to look over the Nav System and discuss a possible
course for tomorrow." He looked up at Alité, she was in
full uniform, and it was obvious she had already reported for duty
and returned from the galley. She stole a piece of fruit off the
tray and walked into the other room. Jack could hear her at the bar
in the salon. "Hey..!" he yelled, "were you late this
morning?"

"Just
a little," she called back.

"Did
Marna give you a hard time?" He picked up a jelly pastry and
took
a bite. He handed another to the Shepherd who waited patiently at
the side of the bed.

"Not
really," she answered. "I just told her the Captain
summoned me
and
requested breakfast in his quarters this morning."

Jack
grinned, "So you're telling me, you were late for duty, you
lied
to
your superior, and now you openly address your commanding officer in
a familiar and un-military fashion?" He took another bite of
the delicious pastry.

"Is
this better?" Alité appeared in the doorway holding a
chilled
bottle
of Boolorean Champagne, two fluted glasses, and wearing nothing but
her sparkling smile. Her eyes, now bright blue, danced. She held the
chilled bottle against her body, making her nipples stand on end.

Jack's
eyes widened and he swallowed hard, "It works for me!"
Alité
moved to the bed and eased down beside Jack. She poured, they drank,
they ate, they explored. It was the most enjoyable way Jack could
think of to spend a morning.

■ ■ ■

They
laid side by side, their bodies touching, legs entwined,
feeling
comfortably worn and warm all over. The tangled bed linens lay askew
and partially covered their bodies. After a long silence, Jack
cleared his throat. "I guess we'd better get up, or people are
likely to put two and two together..."

Alité
looked at him. "You are worried about that?" Jack
shrugged,
he
wasn't sure how he felt about it, but he
was
sure how Maria would feel, and she was not one for tact. "You
are worried about Lieutenant Arroyo, aren't you? Is she your woman?"
She looked down at her fingernails. "Do you love her?"

"No..."
it was the first time Jack had honestly thought about it in a
long
time. "At one time I think I did. But not any more."

"Then
you should tell her."

Jack
thought about that for a moment. "I think she already knows."
He
got serious and in hushed tones, told Alité the story. How
they met, how they ended up on the Princess, and how they decided to
take the pirate cruiser. He explained how they drifted apart. Alité
listened carefully and agreed. She surmised Maria knew but felt she
would deny the reality as long as possible. Jack admitted, that
sounded like something Maria would do.

The
conversation was interrupted by an incoming call on the ship's
commlink.
Jack reached over and punched the button on the night table to
answer the call. He leaned back against the bed's headboard. "Yes?"

"Hey,
Jack, Paul here. Listen, I know you're probably involved in
something
vastly more interesting..." Jack could hear the smile in his
voice. "But we've come up with several viable routes and
possibilities for parts, we thought you'd like to go over them..."

"Sure,"
confirmed Jack, "I'll meet you in my ready room, say a half
hour?"

"You
got it," shot Paul. The commlink beeped once and ended the
connection.

Jack
stared at the beautiful woman, laying on top of him. She was
daydreaming
and absentmindedly drew circles in his chest hair with her index
finger. When she looked up and caught him staring at her, he smiled.
A genuinely warm smile that made her tingle. Jack peered into her
eyes, they were a pale lavender. He brushed a stray lock of silken
hair from her face. "Duty calls..."

She
kissed his chest and rolled off him. "Ok," she said,
pouting and
mocking
disappointment, "if you must."

"I
must," he countered, smirking. He got up and strolled to the
bathroom.
"Listen," he continued as he turned on the shower, "do
me a favor, take Fritz down to level three and let him run around
the officer's garden for a bit. Ok?"

She
climbed into the shower with him. "Sure. But then you owe me
a
favor.”

"Like
what?"

She
soaped his back, "Oh, I'll think of something..."

Jack
grinned, "Yeah, I'm sure you will."

PRINCESS
HEDONIST/FREEDOM: DEGOBAH SYSTEM

The
bridge was buzzing with crew members working on last minute
systems
repairs and software testing. Jack hurried through their midst and
entered his ready room at the back of the bridge. He was about five
minutes late, and everyone who was to attend, was already there.
"Good morning gentlemen!" He looked around but nobody
spoke, he was surrounded by seven Cheshire Cat grins. "What..?"
He looked down at his uniform for an obvious blemish or a missed
button, then it dawned on him. "Ok, Ok, good
afternoon
.
Ok? Is that better?"

There
was a good deal of chuckling and elbowing at Jack's expense,
but
Brian was the first to speak. "You've got somethin' right
here..." he pointed between his teeth and made a sucking sound
like he was trying to dislodge a stubborn food particle. It was done
so seriously, Jack didn't realize he was joking and began imitating
the routine.

"But
I don't feel anything," said Jack, picking the invisible
blemish
with
his fingernail.

"Well,
it's right there," continued Brian, pointing at his own teeth.
"What
does it look like to you, Pappy?"

"Gee,
I'm not sure..." added Paul, carrying the joke along. He
pretended
to inspect the spec and imitated Jack by picking his own teeth,
making his own sucking noise. Jack was oblivious to the others who
were desperately fighting to keep from laughing out loud.

"It
sort of looks like..." began Brian.

"Fur
pie?" finished Paul. The room exploded with laughter, and
Jack
tried unsuccessfully to look perturbed.

"Holy
crap! I didn't realize we were still in high school... seriously.
Ok, Ok, you guys, you've all had your little laugh. Can we get down
to
business now?" Jack ran his fingers through his hair.

"First
things first, Jacko," called Derrik as it quieted down. "Be
a
good
sport and tell us who the lucky lady was." The other meeting
attendees chimed their interest as well.

Jack
declined, “Nothing doing - you guys keep secrets like a sieve
holds water.” He hoped he could sit down with Maria and
square
things
with her before she heard it somewhere else first. He knew this
group of gossip mongers couldn't keep it to themselves. "Cmon,
let's get down to business here, what are our options?"

The
lights were extinguished, and the conference table projected a
three
dimensional holochart above it. Trigoss laid out several options
using an electronic pointer to illuminate the various routes through
the Genesis Gates and possible destinations. The object was to find
parts, for free if possible. Trigoss knew the exact location of one
such place. It was the closest of the three destinations,
unfortunately it was owned by the UFW. Salvaging on the sly would
not be a likely prospect and parts would be costly. The second was
an independent space salvage yard, but the exact location was
unclear. It was in a safer system, but they'd have to cross several
sectors heavily occupied and patrolled by pirates. The third was
suggested by Ragnaar. Its location was also not exact, and it too
required traveling in pirate occupied sectors, but for a multitude
of reasons, it seemed to be the lesser of all evils. Ragnaar
believed the third facility was owned by the pirates, but didn't
feel it was likely to be patrolled or protected, because it was
hidden and the pirates preferred stealing new equipment to repairing
old. It remained the best chance for obtaining the parts they needed
without cost. It was also possible that spare fighters and parts
might be kept there.