Forge of War (Jack of Harts) (43 page)

Faith nodded in approval.  “That is the important question.”

Jack saw the shift behind her eyes and knew she’d gotten wherever she wanted to be.

Faith turned to the audience with a calm smile.  “To those of you who watch my show, you know that whenever I interview someone, I always like to ask what faith they follow.  Our faiths motivate us after all.”  She turned back to Jack and he believed he understood what an antelope felt when a lion licked its lips in his general direction.  “Who do you believe has your best interests at heart, Jack?  What faith motivates you to do what you do?”

Jack licked his lips at the question.  He tried not to think about that kind of stuff.  But he’d expected that question from here so had come mostly prepared.  “Well, my parents were holy rollers.  They believed that God did miracles and talked to us and everything.  We went to all those churches where people dance in the aisles and shout alleluias and all that.  I met a lot of nice people in those places.”

Faith cocked her head in interest.  “And is that what
you
believe?”

Jack shrugged.  “I don’t know.  You see, I believe that a lot of the people were more interested in the ‘Thou shalt not’ parts of the Bible than they were in the ‘Thou shalt do’ bits.”  Jack shook his head and winked at her.  “Honestly, I like doin’ a lot more than not.”

Faith frowned and considered his words for a few seconds before asking her next question  “So, have you walked away from your parents’ faith?”

Jack shook his head again.  “Not really.  We just had a disagreement in priorities. 
My
priority was doin’ to others as I’d want them doin’ to me.  I never did react well to being told what
not
to do.”

Faith shook her head.  “However did you survive your first drill sergeant?”

Jack laughed.  “Well, as to that, Marines have drill
instructors
,” he corrected with wry smile.  “And me and the Gunny came to a mutually beneficial arrangement.”  At her surprised looked he waggled his eyebrows.  “
I
accepted that the Gunny was always right, and
he
let me live.”

They laughed together, and the audience joined in.  He noticed the loudest laughter coming from a group of military men in one corner.  It was good to have someone on his side here.

Faith sighed and leaned in towards him.  “And from those humble beginnings, you became a Cowboy?”

“He did good with those of us willing to listen.”  Jack spread both arms out wide and cleared his throat.  “Which I suppose even
I
can be once you wack me enough times.”

Faith looked at him as if she was actually interested in him for once.  “Would you mind telling us how you became a Cowboy?”

Jack leaned back and considered the question for a moment before answering.  “Well, after the Gunny proclaimed me capable of pulling my own boots on without adult supervision, I got sent down to the Marine training center in Corpus Christi, Texas.  It’s pretty much
the
location where we were doing the advanced training.  Fighter pilots in our cases.”

There was that look of genuine interest again.  “By ‘we’ you mean the Ageless that were just volunteering after Yosemite?”

Jack smiled at her.  “Yes.  Most of us had never really fought for real.  We had everything from accountants to
tour
guides in my class.”  Jack spread his arms out wide again and winked again.  “And some partiers too.”

Faith shook her head with a rueful smile.  “Never underestimate the partiers, right?”

Jack laughed.  “They can be real scary when you spill their beers.”

She paused again, considering him for a moment before asking.  “Did you expect to be in a famous fighter squadron?”

Jack rubbed his chin in thought for a few moments.  “Yes and no.”

Faith looked confused.  “Why both?”

Jack shrugged.  “On the one side, we’re Ageless.  Better reflexes go with the territory.  But loath as I am to admit it, fighting is a lot more about
knowing
how to fight than it is just about speed.  The military in general didn’t think we really had the…killer instincts to be real warriors.  And they were right.”

Faith actually looked outraged at the statement.  “But you’re one of the best squadrons!”

Jack laughed again.  “Most of us were on our second month since we volunteered.”  He shook his head.  “Oh, we’d done boot camp and we’d been through an insanely fast class on basic space fighting and how to work with cybers and stuff.  But you have to understand that before The War the military spent two
years
training pilots, at
least
.  And most of us never would have thought of doing anything like that.  Only
two
of us were combat veterans.”

Faith looked down at the notes on her desk.  “You mean Colonel Johanson and Major Randalf?”

Jack nodded.  “Yes.”

She returned her gaze to him, really curious again.  “They weren’t Ageless, were they?”

Jack shook his head.  “No.  They knew how to fight, and fight well, and they knew how to train us well.  They drilled us hard, and we learned how to fly the rivets off those Avengers under them.  They got us into shape and when it came time they got us into position to do
amazing
things.”

She nodded as she began to understand something that had passed her by before.  “You’re referring to Fort Wichita.  They died leading you into battle to save the Peloran squadron, right?”

Jack smiled.  “They’re the heroes.  They’re the warriors.  We just did what they taught us and we survived.  The rest was…well it was an impressive battle.”

She glanced down at her notes again.  “Yes, I hear that the
Constellation
is still undergoing repairs after that one.”

Jack cleared his throat, working hard to keep his eyes from flashing in anger.  Once again she was talking about military deployments.  Looking her in the eyes, he knew she understood.  She was doing it on purpose, but this time she had the presence of mind to look regretful.  “Well, Ma’am, I can’t really say anything about that of course.  What with
The War
going on and all.”

She nodded in understanding.  “Of course.  I’m sorry.  What
can
you say about the carrier you served on for…how many months was it again?”

Jack chuckled and decided to avoid the question with grace.  “Well, Ma’am, Connie’s a real amazing lady.  She’s a beautiful ship and I love her.  She always made me feel welcome on her decks.  It was a pleasure to serve on her, and I hope when she sees this she knows how much I miss her.  She was the first place that ever felt like home to me after Yosemite.”

Faith smiled in understanding and he thought he caught a part of her sense changing.  “How many homes have you had in your life?”

Jack returned her smile.  “Few enough that I treasure each one.”

Faith laughed with good grace, accepting that she wasn’t going to get an answer there either.  “OK.  So what’s it like growing up Ageless?”

Jack shrugged and rubbed his chin.  “Well, we don’t actually grow up Ageless.  We grow up like anybody else, go to school like anybody else, and get jobs like anybody else.  Though we
have
found some traits that
most
Ageless share.”

Faith paused for a moment, and Jack could tell he’d derailed her from what she’d been planning to ask.  “What traits?”

Jack smiled.  “Well, most of us don’t like to fight, really.  You won’t find many Ageless that used to be bullies for instance,” he said with a chuckle.  “And some of us are kinda special, in ways that parents really hoped we wouldn’t be in the past.  We sometimes see things other people can’t see, or do things other people don’t do.  Sometimes we’re just a bit hyper, sometimes we’re the kid who has a compulsion to turn left the same number of times they turn right, and sometimes we see the things that go bump in the night.”

Faith frowned.  “Things that go bump in the night?”

Jack laughed.  “The monster under the bed, or in the closet.  The spirit that keeps opening and shutting the doors in the house.”

Faith cocked her head to the side.  “So you believe in ghosts?”

Jack shrugged.  “I don’t
know
what I believe,” he said in a soft tone and shook his head.  “But I know this.  Back in the old days, the people in charge pumped others full of drugs so they could be ‘normal’ like everybody else.  But then they couldn’t think anymore.  I can’t think of anything worse to do to somebody than that.”

Faith stared at him, looking like she was afraid to ask the next question.  “Have
you
seen or heard things that others can’t?”

Jack chuckled and gave her a wide smile.  “I do every time I get into a fighter.”  He paused and turned to the studio audience, seeing that they were breathless, waiting for his answer.  “Space.  Freedom,” he finished and saw amusement run through it.  And agreement.  And some disappointment.

Faith stared at him and in her eyes he saw a question that she thought would hurt him badly.  He had some ideas of what it could be.  He’d seen enough hacked up “interviews” over the years to know the tactics they used when they wanted to make someone look bad.  So he watched and waited for her to commit.  She surprised him thought when she blinked, pushed the question away, and shook her head.  “Are you going to answer my question?”

Jack scanned her, interested by what he saw in her stance.  She didn’t feel as assured of her position as she had when the interview started.  But he didn’t know what she wanted.  She met his gaze with eyes that looked uncertain for the first time.  He let out a short breath, pushed his chair back, and rose to his feet in a fluid motion.  He stepped over towards her and held a hand out.

She gave him a confused look, but raised a hand to his.  He pulled her up, raised a hand to cover his lips, and whispered into one ear as she came to her feet.  “Do you really want to know the answer to that question, or are you just looking for ammunition to use against me for whoever pulled the strings to get you this interview?”

He stepped back with a grand gallant gesture for the crowd, grabbing their attention and giving her a second to respond.  He kept an eye on her, watching shock and worry running through her eyes.  Her face kept her perfect smile and she moved with him naturally, the perfect actor that kept anyone else from seeing that it wasn’t real.  But he could tell he’d hit a nerve, he’d found something close to the truth.

Finally, she answered his question in a whisper so low even
he
almost missed it.  “I want to know,” she said out of unmoving lips.  Her eyes met his gaze and for the first time in the entire interview, he truly and completely believed what she said.  He breathed in, breathed out, and decided that he didn’t need to destroy her career after all.

He smiled at her.  “Ma’am, I will never answer that question on a first date.  Or interview,” he added as the studio audience laughed at her shocked expression.

“Well played,” she whispered under her breath, her eyes looking at him in approval.  Then she turned to the studio audience with her blazing smile.  “Then we’re just going to have to bring him back for another interview, don’t you think?” she asked and the audience applauded and cheered.

Jack smiled back at them and tipped his hat, acknowledging their approval.  He’d been expecting to win the audience and maybe have to destroy the interviewer.  He looked down at Faith with a smile.  He’d never expected
this
outcome.  There was more to her than just what met the eye.  That would be a very good thing in the future.

It was a dark and stormy night.

Jack laughed as the words from an ancient story traveled through his mind.  The lightning was certainly lighting the sky, and the rain was coming down in sheets so bad even the
dogs
weren’t chasing the cats out there.  Which was a good thing.  Jack hated the smell of wet dog.  The thing that made him laugh was that it wasn’t even night at all.

The storm clouds had rolled in off the ocean, some time after what passed for midnight on New Earth, and even now after the first sun should have risen it was
still
dark as night.  Only the lights of Leif Erikson Spacebase illuminated the sheets of rain power washing the base and Landing City in the distance.  Not that he could
see
the nearby city through the clouds and the rain.

He could barely see the landing field, where the spider-like shuttles sat with their ramps closed against the weather.  The skies were devoid of traffic due to the storm, but at least the last of the trucks had been close enough to finish their route via surface streets.  They now huddled beneath the shuttles, waiting for the storm to end before they packed the shuttles with the last of the supplies.

Looking out on the base through the windows of the main administration building was an amazing sight.  Jack whistled as a pair of figures ran through the rain, the flaps of all-weather coats held nearly straight out by the wind.  The figures grasped their cowboy hats to keep them from flying off, but Jack didn’t know how much actual protection those gave when the rain fell sideways.  The doors slid open and a spray of rain flew into the building along with the two figures.

“Holy frak!” Jay bellowed at the Cowboys arrayed throughout the main entrance of the administration building.  “It is frakking
wet
out there!”

“No shit, Sherlock!” Jessie answered with a laugh and clapped the towering Indian on the shoulder.  “Tell us something we
don’t
know!”

Jay shook himself away from Jessie, took off his coat, and hung it on one of the many pegs next to the door where it continued to drip water.  Jay removed his cowboy hat long enough to shake himself some more, spraying the inside of the administration building’s main entrance with salty water, before placing it back on.

“Chief!” Jay called out, turning to Charles.  “Everybody’s good out there.”

Charles shook his head slowly.  “They’re staying?”

Jay shrugged.  “They’re happy.  As long as the wind don’t go over a hundred, they’re staying.”

Charles let out several tsks and shrugged.  “Fine by me, then.  We offered.”

Betty walked over and tapped Jack’s shoulder.  “Samantha’s on the way,” she whispered.

Jack frowned in surprise and turned to her.  “What?  Here?”

“Yes,” Betty whispered with a nod.  “She’s coming.”

“Why?” Jack asked as he rifled his brain for an answer to the question.  “We’re
leaving
.”

Jasmine stepped up with a shake of her head as if she were talking to a particularly dim child.  “Maybe she wants to
see
you.  Or say
goodbye
,” she added with a wink after Jack shook his head.

“Yeah, well,” Jack whispered with another shake.  “I think I got the message.”  He turned away and began walking towards the stairs.

“Jack!” Jasmine shouted through the speaker in his left ear so loud he cringed.  “There’s a
girl
driving through a
hurricane
to
see
you!  If you don’t go out and talk to her I’ll…I’ll…” she trailed off and he turned back to see her standing in place, quivering in anger.

He smiled at her.  “You know, it sorta takes the threat away when you can’t come up with a threat.”

Jasmine glared at him.

Jack sighed and looked at Betty.

She smiled and tilted her head to the side.  She didn’t say a word, but she didn’t have to.  Her expression told him that she trusted him to make the right decision.

Damn her.

He shook his head and looked at Jasmine.  “And for the
record
, it’s
not
a
hurricane
.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Be careful,” he growled back.  “You’ll get
stuck
that way.”

Betty placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned to meet her gaze.  She still trusted him.  Damn.

He looked down and nodded.  “OK, OK.”  He turned towards Charles and pulled in a deep breath.  “Hey, Chief!”

Charles turned to him with a questioning gaze.  Dorothy leaned in and said a few words.  Charles turned to look out at the storm buffeting the base.  After thinking a moment, Charles smiled and nodded.  “Hey, Cowboys!” he shouted, raising a hand to call everybody closer to him.  “It seems we have a bit of a storm here.”

The assembled Cowboys laughed at the understatement, slapping each other’s backs.

“Due to the storm, Leif Erikson Spacebase is to all intents and purposes shut down for the duration.  We will not be flying.  I am therefore placing all Cowboys on
liberty
until the storm breaks.”

“Oorah!” the Cowboys shouted back in enthusiasm.

Charles chuckled, shook his head, and eyed Jack with a smile that said he was never going to forget the reason for his next order.  “Now whatever you do, do
not
do anything that will get me
called
.”

The Cowboys from Earth laughed and slapped Jack on the shoulders.  The new recruits from New Earth didn’t look certain if they should laugh or frown.  They were new after all, still getting their feet wet.  Literally at the moment.

Betty smiled at Jack and walked over to the coat hooks on the wall.  Jasmine followed and they pulled their virtual all-weather coats off their virtual coat hook.

Jack extricated himself from the backslapping Cowboys and walked over to grab his all-
real
all-weather.  He paused to watch the girls pull their coats on with a smile, until they glared at him.  Then he averted his eyes and slipped into his with all due speed.

“Where’re you going?” Jay bellowed as he stomped over.  “It’s wetter than my grandfather’s
rain
dances out there!”

Jack paused and cocked his head at the Indian in confusion.  “I thought you did rain dances when you were
asking
for rain?”

Jay laughed and waggled his eyebrows.  “Grandfather got fast answers.”  He aimed a finger at Jack.  “And
you’re
changing the
subject
!”

Jack shook his head.  “
You’re
crazy to think a
rain
dance brings
rain
!”

Jay poked him with a finger the size of a sausage.  “
You’re
crazy to
doubt
it without ever
seeing
it.”  He stepped in between Jack and the door with a smile.  “And I’m not getting out of your way until you tell me what’s so God-awful important out there.”

Jack rolled his eyes.  “In case you missed it, the
Chief
just gave us
liberty
.”

Jay chuckled and leaned towards him.  “At
your
urging,” he answered, poking Jack in the chest.  “The
rest
of us are getting a
game
in. 
You’re
running off into
that
. 
Why
?”

Jack glared at him.  “Maybe I enjoy standing in the rain.”

“Hah!” Jay erupted.  “That’s not
rain
!  That’s a flying
lake
!”

“Well, that’s
perfect
, cause I grew
up
on lakes!” Jack retorted.

“He’s got a
girl
waiting for him,” Jasmine interrupted the argument with an impish smile.

Jack spun his glare to shoot daggers in her.

A booming laugh washed over him and Jay slapped him on the shoulder hard enough it almost knocked him off his feet.

“Hey!  Watch the bones!” Jack growled back.  “I
like
’em where they
are
!”

Jack felt his hat come off his head and Jay’s other hand ruffled his hair like he was a kid.  “Hey boys!” Jay bellowed.  “The girl’s finally comin’ for
him
!”

“Oorah!” the other Cowboys shouted and came over to ruffle his hair or slap his back.  Jack weathered their expressions of approval with all the composure he could muster until Jay finally placed the hat back on his head and patted his shoulder again.

“See?” the larger man asked.  “That wasn’t hard at all.”  With that, he stepped out of the way and waved his hands for Jack to continue.

Jessie and Ken stepped up on either side of him, shaking their heads.

“You
really
going out in that?” Jessie asked in a skeptical tone.

Jack looked at Betty and Jasmine who both nodded before shrugging as if to say “what
else
am I going to do?”

Jessie shook his head slowly.  “You’re a stronger man than I.”

Jack snorted.  “It’s not that bad out there.  But remember this moment the next time
Mary
tells you to do sumpin crazy.”

“Not gonna happen,” Jessie said with a shake of his head.  “Me an’ her know who’s in charge.”

Jack looked around Jessie to see Mary glaring at her pilot.  Jack tipped his hat to her with a big smile and she nodded back.

Jessie gulped.  “Say, you need a wingman?” he asked in a hurried manner.

Jack snorted and patted Jessie’s shoulder.  “You know what?  I think I got this covered.  But thanks for the
generous
offer,” he finished, gathered his courage, and stepped towards the door.

The door slid open, letting in the howling wind and the water it drove before it.  Muffled curses came from behind and Jack smiled as he stepped out into the downpour, holding his cowboy hat down to secure it to his head.  The rain drummed into his all-weather coat, running off the ends to pour onto his boots where it met the water running across the base pavement.  The rain drenched his face in less than a second, and in that moment he realized that it really
was
that bad.

He paused for a moment, considering his options as the Marines cursed him from behind.  He could turn back around right now and…and his buddies would
never
let him live it down.  He blinked into the rain and realized that the storm itself was the answer.  She was weathering
this
to see him.  The least he could do was meet her at the gate.

He pulled in a deep breath through his nose, to keep from sucking the water down, and plunged out into the storm battering the base.  The wind picked up in the street, but it was steadier than the whipsaw of wind around the building, and much easier to walk in.  He focused through the rain, smiled, and walked down the deserted street, Betty and Jasmine on either side of him.

It actually felt oddly refreshing, like an early morning storm coming off Rainy Lake, only much stronger.  It also tasted of salt, and he could tell he was going to need a shower to get that off him.  And the salt made it smell wrong too.  Still, it reminded him of those storms, and he smiled as they passed through the base like ghosts.

They sloshed up to the main gate and stopped just inside the arms.  There they waited, the wind and rain running over and down them.  Within seconds, the guard shack opened and one of the local Marines stepped out to see what was going on.  The Marine saluted them and they returned the gesture.

“Can I help you, Sir?” the Marine shouted through the downpour

Jack shook his head with a smile.  “Someone’s coming in to see me,” he shouted back.

The Marine gave a wondering look down the road.  “In
this
?” he asked in a disbelieving tone.

“Women,” Jack returned with a shrug and steadfastly ignored the glares Jasmine and Betty aimed at him.

The Marine snorted.  “Yes, Sir.”  He looked down the road again.  “You good here, Sir?”

“I’m good,” Jack answered with a smile.

The Marine nodded towards the shack.  “I’ll just wait in there, then,” he shouted and turned moved back to it.  “Just wave at me if it’s your people!”

Jack nodded, the guard shack door closed, and they waited alone again.  It wasn’t long before car lights appeared in the storm, highlighting rain on the main road outside the base.  Betty pointed at the car with a nod, telling him that it was the one.  Not like there were any others out there.  Jack waved at the guard in the shack as the car turned onto the military road and slowed to a stop outside the gate.