04 Dark Space (8 page)

He smiled wryly as he stepped up to the side of his corvette. It was a relatively large ship, and it dwarfed the Vastras’ own transport, taking up the bulk of their hangar. At five stories high and almost 50 meters long, it towered over Ethan, looking like a structure in its own right.
Alara wants a home, but she’s already got one—a mobile home with more rooms than most mansions.
Granted most of those rooms would have to be converted to extra cargo space, but they would still be left with ample living area.

A fresh coat of white and blue paint made the ship look clean and new. That had been his side project for the past four weeks—painting their corvette. Alara had convinced her father to let him use the paint they had set aside for the house, and Ethan had bought a heat sealer to protect the substandard paint during re-entry. Now the ship was looking like a real slick devlin. Every time he saw it his chest swelled with pride. It was the same way he felt when he saw Alara. He smirked, wondering if that meant he was in love with his starship. Reaching out to stroke the duranium side of the corvette, he whispered, “Just don’t tell Alara about us. She wouldn’t understand. . . .” He followed the gleaming lines of the ship, walking beside it and looking for imperfections. There weren’t any. The corvette had been given a complete overhaul by the admiral’s greasers, and now she was practically fresh off the stardocks. Ethan stopped walking when he reached the amidships section of the starship, and then he took a few steps back to get a better look at it as a whole. He stared up at the empty space on the hull where the vessel’s name was meant to go.

“I haven’t even had a chance to name you yet, have I girl?” Ethan reached up to stroke his chin. “What am
I going to call you?” He thought about it for just a moment before the perfect name popped into his head. “How about the
Freedom?”
Ethan smiled. It was perfect.

“Freedom from what?” A familiar voice called out, wiping the smile from Ethan’s face. “Not me, I hope.”

Ethan turned to see Alara standing in the open doorway to the hangar, already wearing her wedding gown. His heart began beating suddenly faster and his grin returned. He gave a long, slow whistle.

Alara started toward him, the train of her figure-hugging white dress swishing across the floor as she walked. “How do I look?” she asked, stopping just a few paces away from him.

Ethan shook his head and covered the remaining distance between them in a few quick steps. “Amazing,” he breathed. His hands found her waist and pulled her close, while his lips drifted down to hers.

She smiled and put a finger to his lips, pushing him away gently. “Not yet.”

“Right. Hoi, isn’t it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?”

“I think it would be bad luck not to see her, don’t you? Might be because she’s making a run for it.”

Ethan laughed. “Good point.”

“What are you doing out here? It’s almost time for the ceremony to begin.”

Ethan shrugged. “I needed to clear my head.”

Alara’s eyes flicked to the corvette, and she nodded slowly. “I see.”

“Hoi, not because of you, okay? I was thinking about our fight, and . . . look, Alara . . . I’m sorry.”

“No,
I’m
sorry.” Alara turned back to him with a faint smile. “You’re right. I can’t expect you to give up your dreams for me.”

Ethan blinked. “Well . . . apology accepted, I guess.”

“I’m just scared. Being a freelancer is dangerous work, especially here in Dark Space, and it’s only getting worse now with all the criminals pardoned, and with the Gors taking refuge here, too . . . I don’t want anything to happen to you, Ethan, and I don’t want us to get into debt again just to keep our ship running.”

“This time it will be different, Kiddie.”

“What if it isn’t?” Alara’s wide violet eyes searched his, and he felt an echo of her concerns ripple through him as he remembered how they’d struggled to make a go of it with their last ship, the
Atton.

That glimmer of self-doubt blossomed just enough that he was willing to compromise. “I’ll tell you what. Give me six months. If we haven’t managed to make enough money to keep our ship running and
save
at least 10% of profits for the future, then I’ll sell the ship and take your father up on his offer.”

Alara’s eyes widened. “You’d do that?”

Ethan nodded. “I will.”

“Six months isn’t much time . . .”

“It’s enough. You can start counting after the honeymoon.”

“Either you’re very in love with me, or you’re just
that
confident in yourself.”

Ethan grinned. “Why can’t I be both?”

“Ha ha. All right, it’s a deal, Ethan.”

“Good. I
love
you,” he said, dropping a quick kiss on her lips before she could push him away again.

“I love you, too. . . .” Alara said as they broke apart. She turned away to stare up at their ship, and a faraway look crept into her eyes. “The
Freedom . . .”
she said, as if trying out the name to see how it sounded.

“What do you think?”

“Mmmm . . .”

“I could always name her after you,” he suggested.

Alara smiled and shook her head. “What about . . . the
Trinity.”

Ethan frowned and shook his head. “Why
Trinity
?”

Alara turned back to him with a hesitant smile. “Well, we’re not going to be just the two of us forever, Ethan.”

“I know
that
, but it’s not like we’ve got a baby already.”

Alara bit her lower lip and her eyes filled with tears. “Are you sure about that?”

He took an involuntary step back and shook his head. “How . . . I mean . . . never mind. When did you find out?”

“The day before yesterday. I wanted to tell you, but after you shot down my father’s solution without even a second thought—”

“Hold on—Kurlin knows?”

Alara gave a tremulous smile. “My mother does, too.”

“I can’t believe this. You told your parents before me!”

“I had to talk to someone!”

Ethan sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose until it felt like it was about to break. “You should have come to me first. What made you think you couldn’t talk to me about it?”

Alara gestured to their ship. “That did. You just spent a whole month giving her a fresh coat of paint. It’s all you could talk about—how we’re going to have such a great time piloting her together. I didn’t know how to tell you that your dreams were about to take a sudden turn in a different direction. You can’t raise a child on a starship, Ethan.”

“Why not?” he shook his head. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Do you remember how many missions we took that went sour before we could even get paid? I remember at least a half a dozen where we ended up working for some offshoot of Brondi’s organization without even knowing it. We carried more contraband than legitimate cargo, and we waltzed through at least a dozen pirate bases to make our deliveries.”

Ethan frowned. “It’s not our fault if they don’t tell us what’s really in the cargo crates.”

“No, it’s not our fault, Ethan, but who are you going to blame when outlaws hold your family ransom for a shipment that got confiscated by an ISSF patrol? It’s not going to matter whose fault it is. It’ll be yours for not listening to your wife and finding a safer job.”

“Look, I’ll make sure we only take jobs with the Freelancers’ Guild, and we’ll check the cargo ourselves before we agree to move it anywhere. We have a much bigger ship this time, so we’ll qualify for regular trade runs, not just courier.”

“So how’s that any different from being a freighter pilot for the agri corps?”

Ethan sighed and pressed two knuckled fists to his temples as if to beat away the encroaching headache he felt pulsing there. “Trust me it is. We can’t run from the Sythians in an agri corps’ freighter.”

“Okay,” Alara said in a small voice. She reached up and pulled his fists away from his temples. “Look, I don’t want to fight on our wedding day.”

Ethan shook his head. “Neither do I.”

“Good. So, let’s be thankful for what we have and not worry too much about the future just yet.”

Ethan let out his anxiety and frustration with a shaky sigh. “All right.” Suddenly he understood Alara’s change of heart about freelancing together. He glanced back over his shoulder and this time he winced to see his freshly-painted corvette. Something told him it wasn’t going to be
his
much longer. “The
Trinity
it is,” he said, nodding to himself.

“Six months, Ethan. Prove to me that this is a safe move for us, that we can stay out of trouble and make a living while we’re at it.”

“I will,” Ethan said, turning back to her. He found her hand in his and squeezed it tight.

Alara smiled and stood on tiptoes to kiss him. “I believe you,” she said, reaching up to smooth away the wrinkles on his forehead. “Now, come on, the future’s waiting for us.”

Ethan let her lead him away by the hand. They walked to the other side of the hangar and through a pair of doors to find both Kurlin and Darla Vastra waiting for them in the hall.

“What took you so long?” Kurlin demanded, his gaunt features making him look sinister in the low light of the corridor.

Alara smiled and answered for both of them. “I told him.”

“Oh, darling!” Darla exclaimed, her eyes skipping from Alara to Ethan. “How do you feel? You’re going to be a father, Ethan.”

“I already am a father,” he said.

Kurlin frowned. “Yes, well, let’s hope that
this
time you’re around to raise your child. Perhaps you’d like to reconsider my offer.”

Ethan turned to the old man with a frown, but Alara answered before he could.

“Actually, Father, we’ve agreed to give freelancing one last try before we sell the ship.”

“I see. That was the grub’s idea, I presume.”

“Father!”

“What? Being a grub is nothing to be ashamed of, not if you recognize it and do what you can to change your lot in life.” Kurlin turned to Ethan with a thin smile. “You don’t have to struggle. Sell your ship and you’ll have enough to buy a home—cash. After that you can get any old job to pay the bills. You’ll be better off than almost anyone.”

“And when the Sythians return, we’ll be just as dead.”

Kurlin snorted. “I’m afraid if the Sythians come back to finish us, it won’t matter how far you run, it will never be far enough. The admiral understands that, which is why he hasn’t ordered an evacuation of the sector. Where would we go that they won’t find us?”

“Can we
not
talk about this now?” Alara said, her eyes smoldering with barely contained fury. “It’s our wedding day, not a time to discuss the end of the human race.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right, my dear. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“And one more thing—Ethan and I have already made up our minds.”

“But, Alara . . .” her mother began.

“No buts. It’s our decision.”

“Be sure that it’s not your mistake,” Kurlin said.

“Your concern is duly noted,” Alara replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I believe the guests are waiting for us in the garden. I’ll see you both there.”

Ethan shot Kurlin a smirking look as they walked by. Kurlin glared back. Ethan and Alara turned a corner and passed through an open door into her father’s library. “Where did that come from?” he breathed as soon as they were out of earshot.

Alara shook her head. “I almost forgot why I left home. They want to control everything I do!”

Ethan smiled, thinking to himself,
now you know how it feels,
but he couldn’t blame her for considering her father’s offer. She was pregnant and afraid for the future of her child. That was enough to make any woman rush to put down roots. They reached the garden and Alara stopped beside the doors and turned to him, taking both of his hands in hers.

“No regrets?” Alara asked. Ethan smiled and shook his head. “Even if we do have to sell our ship?”

Ethan hesitated, but again he shook his head. “It’s just a ship, Kiddie.”

“It’s your dream.”

“Not if it means losing you. Then it’s a nightmare.”

Alara’s features softened and her eyes filled with tears.

“Hoi,” Ethan chuckled. “Don’t smudge your make up. I don’t want people to think you’re unhappy to be marrying me.”

Alara shook her head and smiled broadly. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

“Good.”

“I’ll meet you at the altar,” Alara said, nodding to the doors.

Ethan nodded back and pushed through those doors into the garden. All of five minutes later he was standing at the altar under a wooden arbor overgrown with hanging white crystal flowers and looking out at the sea of faces watching him. Over a hundred people had been invited—friends of Alara’s from her youth on Forliss, and friends of her parents. One or two distant relations of the Vastra family were also there, but no one had much extended family these days—not since the invasion had killed all of them.

Then the band began to play an old classical piece and Alara came walking down the aisle on her father’s arm. Ethan’s breath froze in his chest and all conscious thought came to a grinding halt. All he could think about was how beautiful his bride was, and how happy they were going to be together. All three of them.

Three.

I really am starting my life over,
Ethan thought, smiling. Alara reached his side, and Ethan took her hand as they turned to the priest. The music stopped playing, and a nearby fountain began to make itself known, splashing down into the swimming pool which lay behind the altar. A pair of blue birds flitted by overhead, chirping out a pleasant tune.

“
We are here today to celebrate the union of Alara Vastra and Ethan Ortane. In these uncertain times, after humanity has lost so much, we can only thank the Immortals for two such as these who remind us that no matter how much we’ve lost, life does indeed go on. Love, faith, and hope for a better tomorrow, these endure no matter whether we are a multitude or just two.” The priest spread his hands. “Ethan is there something you’d like to say to your bride?”