Forge of War (Jack of Harts) (41 page)

“Sir…” Jack pulled in a deep breath as he searched for the words.  This really wasn’t the conversation he’d been expecting to have with her father.  “Would she be the Samantha we both know if you
didn’t
?”

“I don’t know,” her father whispered and shook his head again.  “I just wish there was something I could do.”

Jack blinked in confusion.  “Why?”

“I care about her.”

Jack shook his head and rubbed his temple.  “No.  Why do you feel the need to call me?  To be honest, I’ve never met a father who didn’t
dream
of his little girl kicking me to the curb.  And more than one tried to help me along himself.”

Mr. McEntyre stared at him for a long time before answering.  “I didn’t know you before Yosemite, so I’m not certain I can say.  And I’m not certain you’d want to hear my theory.”

Jack cocked his head in interest.  “Actually, Sir, I’d
love
to hear your thoughts on the matter.”

Samantha’s father shrugged.  “Very well.”  He shook his head and sighed.  “I’m going off what you’ve said here.  But if half of what you’ve said about your life back then is true, you were a young man with great gifts who completely and utterly wasted them in some young adult fantasy.  You were going nowhere, and happy to be doing it.  No father wants his daughter mixed up with a boy who doesn’t want to do anything.”

Jack swallowed and considered the man’s words carefully.  Finally, he let out a long breath and nodded.  “Well, I
did
ask, didn’t I?”

Samantha’s father smiled.  “You did.”

Jack shook his head.  “Well, maybe it’s a good thing we can’t reclaim the past,” he whispered.

Samantha’s father nodded.  “The trick is knowing when the past is really the past,” he said with a sly smile.

Jack frowned in thought for several more seconds.  Dozens of wisecracks ran through his mind, but he shelved them as quickly as he thought them.  It just wasn’t the right time for them.  “Yes, Sir,” he said with a smile.

Samantha’s father nodded in approval.  “Tell you what, Jack.  You can call me Bruce, and I’ll see what I can do with Sam.”

Jack sighed and looked away from Mr. McEntyre’s holoform, taking in the preparations on the landing field.  The launch day was classified, but the fact that they were preparing to leave was just about the worst kept secret in the entire Alpha Centauri double star system.  “There’s not much time, Sir,” he said, with half of his brain.  “I don’t know if there’s enough.”

Samantha’s father cleared his throat.  “
What
did I tell you to call me?”

Jack brought his attention back to the man, blinked once, and cleared his throat.  “Bruce.”

“Better,” the man who would
never
be Bruce in his mind said with a smile.  “No promises, but I’ll do what I can,” he finished before his holoform cut out.

Jack sat back down, hard, and shook his head.  Of all the people to be on his side, he’d never expected the father.  The universe had a truly
vicious
sense of humor.

It was Oh Dark Thirty and Jack was bored.

It was never good when he got bored.  Back home, people had learned that a bored Jack was a
scary
Jack.  Not that he was dangerous, but when he was bored he always looked for something to fill the time.  Whatever it was usually made him smile, or giggle like a schoolgirl if it was particularly amusing.  His conspirators always loved his ideas, though
other
people often ran away when he started giggling.

Right now, he was bored.  Very bored.  He wanted to do something.

Jasmine and Betty stood on either side of the watchtower, out of uniform as they usually were when alone with him.  It was a violation of the rules, but he’d never minded.  Rules were meant to be broken after all.  Betty’s yellow sundress shown almost as bright as Jasmine’s white tank top, though both had a red tinge thanks to Cen C’s red light.  They stood before the window looking out over Leif Erikson Spacebase, scanning for any irregularities.  He watched too, but in all honesty they were
much
better watchers than he was. 
They
never got
bored
.

Jack frowned in suspicion as a thought occurred to him.  “Are you two playing games right now?”

The two cybers glanced at each before turning to shrug towards Jack.  Betty answered with a smile.

Jack sighed.  “I wish I could.”

“
That
would be against
regs
,” Jasmine supplied in a commiserating voice.

“For
me
,” Jack grumped.  “You girls have it
so
lucky.”

The two cybers rolled their eyes in unison and returned to scanning the base.  Not that they’d really stopped when they looked at him of course.  They were monitoring every camera on base so didn’t really even need to stand there.  Still, it was the appearances that mattered.  He stood up and walked around the inside of the tower, staring out at the early morning darkness that covered the base.

Jack frowned and slapped his hands on his knees.  “OK.  This is bull.  I need something to do.  Anyone up for strip poker?”

Jasmine and Betty crossed their arms, cocked their heads, and just stared at him.

Jack gave a disappointed sigh at their response.  “I’ll take that as a ‘no’ I suppose.”

Jack walked over and sat down at the watchtower’s main control console.  He cleared his throat, drummed his fingers on the console, and looked out into the darkness.  The cybers returned to watching and he felt more precious time crawl by.  He hated having nothing to do, and this was just starting to make him go crazy.  And very, very bored.

Jack sighed.  This was ridiculous.  “OK.  How about we
plan
to do something?”

“Like what?” Betty asked.

Jack shrugged and waved his hand at the console.  “I don’t know.  Something that makes me
laugh
, so I can at least
anticipate
the end of this soul-sucking boredom.”

“Don’t like watching?” Jasmine asked.

Jack grunted in annoyance.  “There’s nothing interesting to
watch
.  All those guys down there are
sleeping
!  I’d even watch a game of
beach
volleyball right now! 
Clothed
!” he finished with a theatrically disgusted shudder.

Jasmine laughed back.  “So what do you
want
to do?”

Jack smiled at her.

She lowered her chin and crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised at him.  “What
else
do you want to do?”

Jack sighed in defeat, leaned back in his chair, and furrowed his brow in serious thought.  Finally something came to mind and he smiled.  “What those tech wizards yesterday failed to do?”

Jasmine and Betty looked at each other in confusion.  Betty finally raised one eyebrow, questioning what he meant.

Jack chuckled.  “Scare the
crap
out of Leif Erikson Spacebase.”

Jasmine rubbed her chin for a moment, in deep thought.  “Didn’t Charles say not to wake him up?” she asked with a sly smile.

Jack gave her an answering smile.  “Then we don’t.  Reveille is after he wakes up.”

Betty smiled at him, brought both hands behind her back, and cocked her head to the side, asking what he was thinking about.

Jack shrugged.  “I don’t know…maybe we could start with fireworks?”

Jasmine shared a gaze with Betty before answering.  “Not very scary,” she finally said.

Betty smiled, nodding for Jack to continue.

Jack chuckled.  “Not until the fireworks start exploding at street level all over the assembled Marines.”

Betty laughed and shook her head at him.  Jasmine looked at him in surprise.

“Holographic of course,” he said with a smile and a shrug.  “I’d love some better ideas.  Come on and spill if you got any,” he added with a wink.

Betty looked out at the base and shifted back and forth.  “We could get in serious trouble for disrupting Reveille,” she said with a shake of her head.

Jack scowled.  “OK.  Fine.  Maybe we start the fun
after
Reveille?”  He frowned as a new thought came to mind.  “Say, are the Devildogs still on base?”

Betty blinked in surprise and cocked her head to the side as she accessed the information.  “Yes.  They’re scheduled to finish their packing for transport to the fleet tomorrow.”

Jack smiled in a conspiratorial manner.  “Good.  I may have a job for them.”

The cybers exchanged a doubtful glance and Betty pursed her lips at him.  “I don’t know if this is a good idea, Jack,” she warned him.

Jack chuckled at the two cybers.  “Nonsense.  It’s a
great
idea!” he said with upraised arms.

Betty sighed and shook her head.  “You are going to get in
so
much trouble.”

Jack chuckled at them.  “Not if they don’t catch us,” he said with a wink.  “Unless you think you’re not up to being able to do something like this without getting caught of course.”

Both cybers bristled at the idea that they weren’t good enough.

Jack smiled at them with a face full of cherubic innocence.

Betty’s eyes narrowed.  “You don’t fool me, mister.”

Jasmine giggled.  “But he’s right,” she said towards Betty.  “It would be
so
much fun.”

Betty glanced at Jasmine and they shared the silent communication the two cybers always had.  Betty finally sighed and gave Jack a reluctant smile.  “Fine.  I guess I’m in too.”

Jack clapped his hands in joy.  “Excellent!  This is going to be
fun
.  So…any ideas on improving the plan?”

Betty shook her head and smiled at him.  “Your vision, Jack,” she said and waved a hand at him to get thinking.

Jasmine cocked here head to the side and tapped her cheek.  “I might have a few ideas.”

Betty sighed and shook her head in defeat.  “Fine,” she whispered with manifest reluctance.

Jack laughed.  “That’s the spirit!”

Jasmine laughed and began helping him plan the morning’s festivities.  After a few minutes, Betty emitted a long sigh of disapproval at one of the ideas, and gave them an idea to improve it.  Finally, the minutes stopped crawling by, and Jack truly began to enjoy his time brainstorming.  They shot down most of his ideas, but in all honesty he’d always enjoyed the brainstorming as much as the actual prank.  And he
so
loved having conspirators who could think even faster than
he
could.

Jack found his eyes stopping on Jasmine, and he studied her lithe form for a long time.  A feeling of…melancholy began to fill him and he smiled.  She hadn’t been around much lately, and it felt good to have her blue jeans and tank top back, even for a short time.

She returned his gaze with a questioning gaze.  “What?”

Jack shrugged.  “Just thinking I’m going to miss you.”

Jasmine cocked her head to the side.  “What do you mean?”

Jack smiled.  “Norman.”  He nodded in the direction of Samantha’s house, far enough away in the darkness that he couldn’t see it even from this altitude.  “It’s pretty clear how you feel there.”

Jasmine blushed.  “Oh.”  She shared a glance he couldn’t decipher with Betty before sitting down on the window ledge.  “Yeah.”  She stared at him for a long time.  “So what do you want me to do?”

Jack sighed and spent several seconds thinking before answering.  “Be happy.”

Jasmine and Betty shared another undecipherable look.  “The coward’s answer,” Jasmine whispered.

“Hey!” Jack erupted.  “It’s the
truth
!  I’ve
seen
how you and Norman are together!  I can’t…” the words faded away and he shook his head in anger.

“You can’t what?” Jasmine asked.  When he didn’t answer, she sighed.  “Jack, Jack, Jack,” she whispered in a sing-song tone.  “What do
you
want? Not what do you want for
me
?”

Jack shook his head, and let out a long breath.  He couldn’t lie to her, even if he’d wanted to.  “I don’t want you to go,” he said, looking her in the eyes.  “I’ll miss you.  But I’ve seen how you and Norman are.  Don’t walk away from that because I’m leaving.”  Jack pursed his lips.  “I have to follow my orders.  You
don’t
anymore.”

A cyber’s feathery touch brushed his shoulder and Jack glanced over without turning his head.  He recognized Betty’s hand, let out a long breath, and brought his up to hold it.

Jasmine slid over to sit on the window ledge before him, a soft smile on her face.  “So it really
is
my happiness you worry about?”

Jack nodded without reservation.  “Yes.  You’ve got a chance to live
forever
with that family and be
happy
.  Take it.”

Jasmine laughed and shook her head.  “And there’s the rub,” she whispered.

Jack raised his eyes to look at her, one eyebrow raised in a question.

She smiled back at him.  “Do you know what I enjoy the most out of
anything
I’ve ever been or done?”

Jack swallowed, thinking he knew exactly what she meant.  Flying really was amazing, but it wasn’t everything.  “Jazz, I had a family and friends and everything I could ever want back home.”  He paused to give her a very serious look.  “But that’s gone.  I can’t get it back,” he said with arms spread out.

Jasmine nodded slowly and pushed away from the window, standing tall in front of him.  “I know what you mean,” she said with a sad smile.

Jack had the sinking feeling that his words hadn’t had the effect he’d wanted.  “Jazz,” he tried one last time.

She raised a hand to stop him.  “Jack,” she said over her shoulder.  “After all that, you wouldn’t ask me to leave my
family
, would you?”

Jack sighed as he realized what she meant.  “Are you serious?”

Jasmine nodded with a firm motion.  “You’re not getting rid of me.  So man up, stand up, and let’s get back to work,” she ordered.

Jack came to his feet without hesitation, then shook his head in amazement.  He wondered if she had any idea how much she’d changed in the last month.  Probably.  But maybe not too.  Blind spots were always more powerful when looking on yourself after all.  And Jack knew he had a lot of experience with those.

Jack smiled at her.  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said in the tone of voice he used for amazing women.

Jasmine placed her fists on her hips and glared at Jack.  “And don’t be using that tone of voice with me.  I’m not one of your scrumpets.”

Jack chuckled.  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said in his superior officer tone.

“Better.”

Jack turned to Betty and cocked his head to the side, asking her if this is what she wanted.

Betty answered with a smile and slight nod of her head.

“I saw that,” Jasmine announced.

Jack and Betty rolled their eyes.

“Well then, where were we again?” Jack asked and turned back to their work.

“The wolves,” Jasmine and Betty answered in unison.

“Ah yes, how could I forget them?  Do you think the Devildogs would enjoy chasing them away?”

They continued planning and working, industrious little jokers, until the first notes of Reveille began and they had to salute the flag rising before the base headquarters.  The Marines assembled in front of it looked great, in perfect formation all the way through to the end.  Even the cannon shot went off with perfect timing, echoing across the base and declaring to all in earshot that a new day had come with the rising of the first sun over the distant horizon.

And then the fireworks began, first high up in the air, and then lower and lower and lower until they swept through the assembled Marines.  Wolves howled in the distance, pandemonium split the ranked formations apart, and the Jesters ruled the base as more and more of their ideas erupted into being around the targets that really
should
be on their toes enough to deal with them.  This
was
after all a
military
base.