Auberon (The Jessica Keller Chronicles Book 1) (26 page)

This time, she let the cheers rolls on as she made her way out the door and went to take a nap. It had been one hell of a day.

Epilogue: Ladaux

Date of the Republic April 30, 393 Ladaux

Jessica let Marcelle fuss over her best dress uniform and stood still as wrinkles were flattened and imaginary dust wiped off. She smiled when Marcelle turned and did the same to Jež, standing beside her.

His uniform didn’t have nearly the awards and citations on it, nor had he had access to a personal steward like Marcelle to handle those things. Maybe she needed to fix that. Or at least suggest it.

Marcelle finally finished her task and fixed them both with hard eyes. “You will not muss them up, you two,” she said quietly, fiercely. “If this is an execution, I will not have you looking sloppy on the way.”

“Aye, sir,” she heard Denis say in all seriousness.

Marcelle stepped back and left them space before the airlock as they waited for it to open on the other side.

“Sir,” Denis continued, “have you ever gotten a reception like this from Flight Control?”

“Negative, Denis,” she replied. “Normally, we’d be slotted off to a small dock and met by a Quartermaster Yeoman to supervise linking to station power and recycling.”

Jessica took a breath. In. Out.

“I have never been docked at a central bay,” she continued. “And never been told to wait for the Stationmaster to arrive before they let us out of the lock.”

She had also never done something this big before.

“The
Fribourgers
make enough noise that we really are about to be arrested, and walked before the whole fleet in chains as a warning and example?” Denis looked concerned, but not frightened by the prospect.

Jessica considered everything they had done, starting at
2218 Svati Prime
and running up to the raid on
C’Xindo
. Even the near–disaster at
Qui–Ping
had worked out.

What were the chances that she was about to be given a hero’s welcome instead?

“That’s one scenario,” she finally replied quietly. “But I knew that when I ordered the attack on
Ao–Shun
. Court Martial was almost a given.” She took a breath. “This feels bigger. We might have actually succeeded in our original mission.”

“Well, Command Centurion Keller,” he said, “if this is the end, it has been my pleasure to serve with you.”

He smiled and stuck out a hand.

She took it fiercely. “There’s no way I’m not going down fighting, Denis.”

He nodded. “That’s what I’m counting on.”

A sound interrupted her.

The great bolts holding the hatch were finally retracting. It was a slow, noisy event, designed to make sure everyone in hearing range knew it was happening.

Jessica looked back over her shoulder. Normally, senior officers would be lined up behind her to debark, but today, pride of place had been reserved for Moirrey Kermode. Nina Vanek and Marcelle Travere flanked her, with the entire Flight Wing, in proper uniforms for once, lined up behind that. The rest of her officers were in back.

It looked wrong, but felt so very right.

The big door opened by swinging out into the drydock bay.

Jessica could see Senatorial Gendarme in full uniform lining both sides of the walkway. It did not look pleasant.

Still, she was an officer in the
Republic of Aquitaine Navy
. These people could not intimidate her.

She still knew her duty.

As Jessica stepped across the threshold, she spotted a small cluster of officials where she would normally have expected to find the Supply Yeoman.

First Lord Nils Kasum stood at the center of the group.

The man beside her was one she knew from pictures, but never expected to meet. Why would the Premier of the Republic Senate be standing there?

Beyond them, held back by the Senatorial Gendarme, a large group of people had gathered. They were mostly fleet–types in uniform, but there was also a large ratio of civilians for such a gathering.

Stranger and stranger.

As Jessica stepped into view, the crowd erupted in cheers.

She stood there, in absolute shock, as the First Lord and the Premier stepped forward.

Nils Kasum smiled down at her. The noise was so intense she couldn’t hear anything, so she had to read his lips instead.

“Welcome home, Jessica.”

Auberon Cast List

Auberon

Others

Pilots

Republic Officials

Imperial Officials

Also read
Queen of the Pirates
, volume two of the Jessica Keller chronicles.

If Jessica Keller wants to advance in the
Republic of Aquitaine’s
Navy, she must become more than just
Aquitaine’s
best fighting commander: she must learn diplomacy.

The First Lord sends her to a safe backwater ally,
Lincolnshire
, to learn.

However, Jessica finds herself neck deep in an
Imperial
conspiracy to over throw the King of the Pirates and ignite the entire border.

Jessica and
Auberon
must go to the very edge of the galaxy and far beyond mere diplomacy to stop them.

Available at your favorite retailers.

Read about Henri Baudin, one of the founding fathers of
The Republic of Aquitaine
in
The Story Road
.