Nova (27 page)

Strangely, or perhaps
not
so strangely given his hypothesis,
the typically jumping rec space, graced by large open view ports and a dozen or
so small round tables along with three cushion–pelted couches, was entirely
empty.

Placed atop the centermost table before the best view in the
house was a brace of silver–capped, clear–crystal decanters, each filled to the
brim with rich, lushly amber liquor. Two long and tall thick crystal shot–glasses
abutted the larger vessels, perfectly in match with the two chairs set at the
table.

“Gaius, Diana, Claudius, and Jenna.” Avara announced after a
moment, a sweetly–sad smile upturning the corner of her mouth as she stood looking
at the display.

“Yup.” Marcus replied. “Whaddaya say?”

“Let’s.” Serros agreed, then walked over and placed the
small case she’d been carrying on the table’s surface. It took only seconds for
her to remove and carefully position its contents: three blood–red, short and
fat old–fashioned wax candles and an elegant if antiquated, gold–lettered
platinum matchbox.

The two officers sat down in their respective seats with an
emotional sense of heaviness, and for a time, simply regarded the stars
painting the outer view before them, minutes sliding into more minutes. Each
fell into his and her own thoughts, yet still remained anchored by the other’s
presence.

After a period of time that for the life of him, Perez just couldn’t
pin, the Captain nodded to her EXO. As she shifted one of the candles to a centermost
position on the cool glass table–top between them and removed six silver–gilded
matches from their casing, he carefully poured the amber liquid, Kylosian
Brandy, into the duo of shot glasses, filling them to the brim.

Using her right hand, Serros slid three of the freed matches
towards Marcus, retaining the others. A second later, he twinned her action when
she picked up a single match, safely captured between thumb and forefinger.

“On this evening of August the twenty–fifth, Reckoning 3421,
we honor those who fell.” Avara’s voice was clear as she spoke, its rich timbre
vibrating throughout the room. With a gesture, she picked up her glass and
raised it in synchronous salute with Marcus’s own, and then the two consumed
the liquid in a single, continuous action. Perez could feel the brandy blazing like
hearth–fire as it rolled from mouth to throat to chest.

This time, Avara filled their empty glasses.

“We honor those who fell in the Kylos Raze, twenty–six years
ago on this day.” Marcus declared, his own tone as somber as the woman’s he sat
with. Again, the two downed the liquor in a single fluid movement, only to top
the tumblers off once more.

“We honor those that fell in the VanDorn Strike, twelve–years
ago on this day.” Avara continued. For a third time they drank.

Marcus picked up the first of the three matches before him,
Avara following suit with an almost languid motion. “Today, we honor family
lost.” The EXO declared, then with an audible
scritch
against the
casing, he and she carefully ignited their miniature brands, then simultaneously
set aflame the first candle–wick.

“My Da, Bedwyr Serros.” Avara intoned, voice husky as she
spoke. The two continued their ritual with another downed and immediately
refilled shot glass.

“
Mi Tia
, Cassia Perez.” Marcus saluted, remembering
the woman who had raised both himself and his siblings after his mother had
passed away, just after he’d reached his fifth birthday.

“My Brother, Tristan Serros.”

“
Mi Hermano
, Thomas Perez.”

“My Gran’da, Avek Serros.”

Marcus again refilled their glasses as Avara, who’d had a
much larger family than he, ended with, “My Gran, Francis Serros.”

Moving to the second candle, Marcus proclaimed “Today, we
honor friends lost.”

Her eyes glittering in the candle–light with unshed tears
like a storm–rocked night–sea, Avara saluted “Nai Fen.”

Swallowing, Marcus could see the face of their childhood
friend in their younger years: all dimples and bounding energy. Fen had carried
that enthusiasm and verve on through adulthood, had applied her questioning
mind to everything she encountered.

Until the day she died in fire and ash.

“Nai Fen.” He agreed, feeling his own grief welling further.
After a minute, Perez offered “Louise Hunter.”

Before swallowing her next drink, Avara repeated the name of
the woman,
girl, really
, who’d been Marcus’s first love. “To Louise.”

“Jamíe Stern.”

“Max Ming.”

“Hasyia Tesh”

“Bronwyn Cariad”

The list of their early friends, neighbors, teachers, and
acquaintances continued for several minutes, each recitation conjuring memories
and pictures until, along with the first decanter of brandy, the names swept
past childhood to others exclusively associated with the second attack. Those
the two friends had served with during the Strike.

“Sergeant Zachery Blake.” Marcus set forth.

“Lieutenant Theodore An’haad.”

“Major Kodja.”

“Ensign Veronica Miles…”

On and on, Marcus and Avara listed those lost, each
individual punctuated by another drink until, PV or no, he could feel his
entire body quivering with alcohol and memory.

Finally, Avara lifted her glass once more and declared “Durexium
and steel, yes, yet home she was, and
victorious
in the end! To the
MS
Sollus
!”

Seeing in his mind the white and blue battle cruiser that
he’d served aboard for barely three years before, under Avara’s direction, she
was rammed sure as a spear straight into the hull of the Human pirate Gosa VanDorn’s
cinder–wreathed
Tomahawk
, Marcus exclaimed “Victorious in the end! To
the
Sollus
! And a fine Lady she was!”

“To the Navy!” Avara half–shouted.

“The Navy!”

Second decanter drained and the third off to a good start,
Avara and Marcus lit the final candle and proclaimed together in a roar “Today
we honor Kylos!”

From that point forward, Perez found that things were
definitely beginning to turn fuzzy. The two spent hours talking about friends
lost and adventures shared, laughing, shouting, tearing up and at some point
during the night, singing rather loudly. Somehow, it didn’t seem to matter at all
that though his Captain was on–key (as befitting her musical pursuits), he, as she
gleefully pointed out, was not.

Finally, the topic had turned to a particular occasion spent
in a bar on the Braxien world of Herkish. “I’m telling you, they were related!”
Avara was asserting, laughter rippling in her voice as she slammed her open
palm on the table’s surface with enough force to rattle the piece.

“No! They were just friends.” Marcus protested. “The tall
one, En…”

“Enzia, you
ass
.” Serros finished for him, grinning.

“Yeah, yeah; I know! Anyway, Enzia said she and Farkah were
clan–mates.”

“Marcus, for the Mymren, that
means
family.” Avara stated,
exasperation clear as she drained yet another glass.

“Here, gimme that.” Marcus ordered, snatching her glass and
refilling it before she could, golden–liquid sloshing a bit over the rim.
“Farkah said they were rooming together while away from their homeworld to
study at Sadja University.”

“And
when
was this, exactly?” Serros asked, her crooked
grin in full appearance and eyes dancing.

“Well, that first night when we, uh, spent time together.”

“We?”

“Farkah and me.” Perez clarified, taking a deep swallow.
“She said she and Enzia were clan–mates.” Marcus added.

“And Enzia? What did she tell you?”

“Same thing, um, the next morning… after Farkah left the
apartment.”

Hearing Avara’s barely retrained laughter, Marcus hastily supplemented
“Enzia said that they were
Url–Tann Nahas
.”

Whatever was holding Avara back before completely
disintegrated as a fit of core–shaking laughter flooded forth. Her eyes were actually
tearing up
with mirth.

“What?”

“Marcus!
Url
translates to ‘clan,’ but ‘
Tann
’ means
sibling and ‘
Nahas
’ is a family name.” Practically wheezing, she added,
“They were sisters! The two ladies had a bet going about the Human, and you, my
brother, were it!”

“Oh.” Marcus uttered a moment later, comprehension hitting
him like the back of a rifle–stock.

“Yeah, I’ll say!” She responded with a snort.

He couldn’t help himself; a second later, Perez declared,
“Well, it wasn’t at the same time, and
damn
! Red never looked so
good
…”

Still laughing, she refilled their glasses and after they
had once more taken a shot and prepped for the next, she remarked, “I’ll have
to take your word for it, buddy. Here’s to the girl that finally catches your
heart!”

Laughing in return, Marcus commented “Hey, at least
I’m
open, unlike
some
people I could name.”

“Whaddaya mean by that?” Avara demanded, punctuating her
query by slamming her empty tumbler.

“I
mean
, at least I date.”

“Hey, I date too!” She protested, moving her glass so he
could pour yet another.

“No, I would say you
used
to date; now you just ‘captain,’
Captain.” Marcus drawled, his tone light but eyes serious as he regarded his
best friend.

“I could list the inaccuracies of your claim, but I’m far too
much of a Lady.” She shot back.

Chuckling, Marcus shook his head. “Shit, Avara. No one’s
saying you’ve taken a vow of celibacy or something. What I
am
saying is
that casual, one–time hook–ups when on leave is not actually
dating
.”

“So says the eternal bachelor.” Avara fired, irony more than
evident in her voice.

“Hey, when the right woman comes along, I promise you,
mi
hermana
, our honeymoon will be booked as soon as she’ll have me.”

“Hmm. We’ll see.”

“You know it.” Marcus said with perfect equanimity.

“Okay, I know it.”

Perez was pleased to see his friend’s natural character still
disallowed her to be dishonest, even drunk and in the face of his ribbing.

“So what’s your point?” She finally responded to the
expectant look he was shooting her. “Maybe I’m waiting for the right woman,
too.”

“My point is that I think you’ve
already
met the
right woman, you jus’ have to figure it out and move forward.”

“What?”

“What indeed! Care to share with the rest of the class?” He
prodded knowingly.

Steadily regarding him for a moment, she finally sighed and
somewhat sheepishly answered, “Well… Diana did just kiss me two days ago, right
before we received our mission. We haven’t spoken about it yet.”

Carefully suppressing an internal whoop of delight at his
friend’s expression and
Pirotécnica
finally
taking action, he
simply prompted “And?”

“And… I dunno know. I never knew she felt that way about me,
Marcus, and so I never really thought about it before.”

“Like I said, you’ve been
way
too busy being
‘Captain’ all the time.”

Nodding in acquiescence, she replied “Yes, well… perhaps
you’re right. Ever since Jehara…Well, you know.”

“Avara,” He started as gently as he could, leaning towards
Serros, willing her to accept his words. “Cindrex was six years ago now; time
to move on.”

“Mm. You ever get tired of being right?” She joked,
playfully thwacking his arm.

“Not really; do you?” He laughed.

“Only sometimes.”

“So?” He pushed a second time.

Raking her hands through her short hair, Avara responded
“So, I just
don’t know
. I certainly love Diana a lot as a person and a
friend, and I
am
attracted to her. I mean, she’s damn sexy after all,
but…”

“It’s more complicated than that?” Marcus suggested after the
two finished off another shot and Avara’s comment continued to hover in the air.

“Exactly. I also… have feelings for someone else.” She
finally admitted.

Considering, Marcus could tell his friend the Quorum Shield was
having a hard time with her
very
uncharacteristic difficulty in reaching
some form of resolution. Avara never was comfortable when she couldn’t see the
path before her.

“Well, my friend,” Marcus said, gripping her forearm and
offering a reassuring grin. “Here is my advice: be honest, with yourself and
both Diana and K’llan, and it will all work out just fine.”

Chuckling a bit, she complained, “Guess I didn’t even have
to tell you, huh?”

“Nope, not really.” He affirmed, sounding more than a little
smug even to his own ears. “Come on. Let’s drink to finding the right woman.”
Marcus proposed, lifting his tumbler.

“And to incomparable friendship!” She added enthusiastically,
shot–glass slamming against his own.

“To incomparable, life–long friendship!” He wholeheartedly agreed.

 * * * * *

They were singing again. And swaying.

Yep, definitely lots of swaying involved. Nope, not the
ship at all. Swaying
is
happening.

Somehow, her inner reflection seemed uproariously funny, and
so Avara decided to share the observation with Marcus. As expected, he definitely
picked up on the hilarity and so the two had to pause for a moment as they half–gasped
with laughter mid–chorus. Spasms of amusement under control, they decided to
continue their somewhat wayward course through Deck 3’s halls. It seemed an
unusually long journey this night.

As they happily resumed their walking while belting the
verses to an old naval ditty about ports and lost love at full lung capacity
with a certain sense of conscious abandon, Serros realized that at this moment,
she and Perez probably more closely resembled second–year cadets than the senior–most
officers of the
Excalibur
. Her dark royal blue naval jacket was entirely
unclipped and thus, open at the front, revealing the fitted and light–weight,
full–sleeved black shirt worn under officer’s dress.
Definitely
not up
to on–duty regs.