Voyages of the Solar Wind 1: A Fire in Heaven (19 page)

Solar Wind was clanking somewhere when we were still an hour out from Gurhin and Rilar, being Chief Engineer as well as First Officer, Gunnery Officer, and Chief Hottie, went to track down the source of said clanking. That left me and mom sitting in the galley catching up on old times without trying to outshout each other. (Ok, mom never shouts. I do most of the shouting. Mom stays cool and calm and just remains obstinate.)

"So Jeka and Rick are together now. I hope he knows what he's doing." Mom shook her head.

"Mom, seriously. Jeka is GOOD PEOPLE. She doesn't bleed him, unless he likes it and hasn't told me. But that's THEIR business, not mine or yours. As long as they're both happy, I'm happy for them. Harrana said that she hopes Rick doesn't allow Jeka to give him head, though." I shrugged, and mom laughed.

"And he crewed for Harrana for a few months before getting his own ship?" Mom asked, shaking her head and smirking.

"Yeah. I think he had one of the shortest pirate careers on record. As soon as he made enough with Harrana to afford his own Destroyer, he said his see ya laters to her and struck out on his own. He pulled off a few big jobs, but nothing that got him noticed by either the FTA or CFC. The few private bounties on him have long since expired, so he's pretty much free and clear." I explained Rick's situation for her.

"At least he made it out in relatively one piece." Mom said. Rick was almost a second son to her.

"Well, he tried Privateering for a couple months after the war ended, but you were taking all the business in that department, so he decided to go Robin Hood style with Harrana. They stayed friends, and now she's his main ear to the deck on shit happening around the galaxy when it comes to crime." I continued to explain the strange relationships that are my friends.

Mom nodded. "Harrana's two million is a big bounty, but I don't think very many people would be crazy enough to take her on."

"Except you were, mom! By the way, what the hell were you thinking taking on Blood Dog alone? Where was Avenger, and why the fu...reak did you take him on in Steel Siren?" I was keeping the F-bombs to a minimum now just to keep from getting slapped upside the back of my head.

Mom sighed. "I thought I would be able to take him. Steel Siren had some state-of-the-art weaponry, which decided to malfunction when I took the first hit. If it hadn't, I probably could have disabled or even destroyed his ship. Avenger is still in drydock after taking down Red Pete a couple months back."

"I heard about ol' Pete from Harrana. She said you brought him in alive." I raised my beer to her.

Mom shrugged. "He was worth twice as much alive as dead. Five hundred K alive, two fifty K dead." That's my mom. Always the pragmatist. "Avenger took a lot of damage in the battle, though. Nearly the difference in bounties. Looking back, I should have probably just fireballed his ship and called it a win."

Disabling a starship is a lot trickier than destroying it. Much more precision is involved in disabling weapons, propulsion, shields, and power plant.

"Well, you saw the fat bounty, but didn't count on his ship being able to hold her own against Avenger." I shrugged. I wasn't criticising her, since I would have probably done the same in her shoes.

Avenger is quite possibly the most badass ship ever built. Completely customizable, and mom had designed her to be the best of the best. It could take on Battleships and win as long as the pilot and gunners were on the job. It had also cost her most of what she made during the war to build.

"Yeah, Pete's battlewagon was definitely a tough nut to crack." Mom smiled ruefully.

"Speaking of Avenger, what will you do with her now that you're out of the game?" I was really hoping she would let me buy her. I would love to fly that ship at least once before I died!

"I'll take a shuttle to Helliot II in a week or so after I get settled on Gurhin and pick her up." She said.

Rilar came running in bouncing with happiness and jumped onto my lap. She tossed a tracking beacon onto the table. "That was in our cargo hold and seems to have been part of the Artifact shipment crate that somehow detached itself from the bottom of the crate itself and used these spider thin legs to move and hide behind our supply stores." She pointed them out to me. "Anyways, the power ran down on it and it decided to lose its grip on the wall and was clanking around back there."

I smirked. "Race must have had it as a failsafe in case we double crossed him."

"Probably, since it had a camera recording of us disinfecting the cargo bay after your spores attack." Ri kissed me. "I love you, baby."

"I love you too, kitten." I kissed her back deeply.

"WHOA! WHAT?! What spores attack?" Mom's voice cut through our makeout session, and Rilar turned to look at her.

"Nothing to worry about now, Mrs. R.. Mom. We did a job for a guy who slipped Roshol spores into a shipment of artifacts bound for Gurhin. We handled it, though." She shrugged.

"ROSHOL SPORES?!?! Dex, what the fuck did you get mixed up in?" Mom had to be pissed to break her own F-bomb rule.

"We didn't know, and when we found out, we disinfected the whole damn ship with Chlorinol Nine! You should know me well enough by now that I would no more smuggle drugs than you would!" I told her.

Mom calmed down at that. "I'm sorry, sweety. But Roshol spores! Were you infected?"

"I was dying, mom. Hallucinating dead Jen and dying because my adrenalin was blocked. Ri gave me a shot of Atropine that rendered the spores temporarily inert, and gave my adrenal gland enough of a jolt to get me up and ready for anything. I took a ChlorTab after we disinfected the ship." I gave her the veggies for that part of the job.

Mom just shook her head. "I swear, Dex. Without Rilar, you would have been dead ten times over!"

"As would I, mom." Rilar told her. "Dex has saved my life about as often as I've saved his, if not more. He also saved the lives of my family on Gurhin when we were there last."

I explained before mom could explode again. "Race Nieman, the aforementioned asshole in question in charge of the Roshol smuggling ring, took Ri's parents and kid sister hostage, not knowing we were already there. We mounted a rescue op, and Rilar ripped Race's heart out... literally."

Two things you do not want to fuck with. Rilar's family, and me. Either one will get her claws around your cardiac muscle and it will be ripped from your chest, possibly while still beating.

Mom laughed. She knew all about Gurinkan honor as well as their inherent superior physical abilities. About all us Humans had on them was a slightly higher average intelligence. But even that was just supposition, since General Keldor was a prime example of Gurinkan military expertise and intellect.

"Ok, ok! I get it." Mom chuckled. I really hoped she would enjoy her retirement.

BEEP went the five minute warning. Thank the Lords of Haven for small favors!

"That's my cue! See you in a bit, mom. C'mon, Ri." We got up and headed for the cockpit, leaving mom with her beer for company.

We got to the cockpit and started checks on our systems to make sure everything was squared away for exiting the slipstream. Mostly I just wanted a break from mom. Don't get me wrong. She's my mom. She raised me, and I love her dearly. She taught me all I needed to know to survive in this big bad galaxy.

The problem is that I also get so exasperated with her, it's unreal. She treats me like I'm still a kid, even when she knows better. We barely spoke for years after the last big blowup we had over Ri's and my choice to go into business for ourselves rather than join her crew on Avenger.

I'm sure some guys have moms like mine... ok, well not like mine in that they're pirate hunting Privateers, but like mine in that they still see you as their 'little baby boy'. That's my mom, for the most part. The worst part, though, was how she would use my own exasperation and anger against me in our arguments.

We, blessedly, dropped out of the slipstream over Gurhin and I hailed Gurhin City Spaceport Control. We got landing clearance, and even congratulations on our impending wedding and honeymoon. That was nice of the guy.

As we touched down, mom joined us in the cockpit. She was looking perfect as always. Uniform sharp and crisp. No hair out of place. It kind of grated on me how she very rarely lost control of herself, unless there were Selarians around. I took a bit of satisfaction from her unease upon meeting Rela and Jeka aboard Port Royal. Does that make me a bad son? Probably. Ask me if I care. I love my mom, and I would never let anything bad happen to her as long as I was able to help.

"Well, mom. We're here. You coming to the wedding?" I asked. I wouldn't hold my breath, though.

"Of course I am, Dexten. Why wouldn't I?" She gave me her best motherly-guilt-trip expression, as if daring me to contradict her. My arguments about her not attending my highschool or Academy graduations died in my throat before even reaching my vocal chords. And she used my full first name again! GRRRR! When you get named Dexten Rossus Relway by your deadbeat dad, and have to go through life with that name, you get a bit aggravated when someone uses even part of it. I like Dex, but that's about it.

Something snapped inside me.

"Mom, it's not that I'm named after some famous pirate, ok? It's the fact that Blood Dog named me! I can live with Dex, or even Dexypoo from either Rilar or Harrana, but I HATE Dexten. Does that make it clear to you? Whenever I hear my full first name, or in the cases when I was really in trouble, my first and middle names from you, it made me wish all the more that Blood Dog wasn't my father! Ok?" I let it all out. All the frustration. All the fucked up issues that I had been dealing with all my life due to my deadbeat absentee father.

All those issues compounded when my mom told me who named me when I was just a toddler and couldn't remember anything but that talk when I'd asked her "Momma? Where's daddy?"

Mom blinked several times in rapid succession as she looked at me. "Dex, I never realized you felt that way because of that."

"It's ok, mom. I'm just saying it was easier to let you think I just didn't like the name. You used to defend his choice of naming me. I mean, he put your maiden name as my last name on the birth certificate. That kind of made me think that he never wanted to have anything to do with me, you know?" I told her.

"I can see your point, Dex. I won't use your full given name again." Mom smiled and I gave her a hug.

"Thanks, mom." I said.

We dropped out of the slipstream over Gurhin and got clearance to land. Once on the ground, we went to the local FTAA office and got mom her cut. She gave us both hugs and said she would comm me with her new address, and we had better invite her to the wedding. I left Rilar with her and sprinted to the jewelry store across the street. I got a couple adjustable band wedding rings for Rilar and me, and sprinted back to show them. Mom had left already, but Rilar gasped at the diamonds surrounding hers.

Then it was time to get everything set up for the wedding. I commed Justicar Ryvars.

"This is Pax Justicar Chrys Ryvars. What can I do for you?"

"Sir, this is Captain Dex Relway, and my lovemate Rilar and I need you to perform our wedding. We have enough for the fees, sir." I kept it respectful.

"Very well, Captain. When would be a good time for you?" He asked.

"How about tomorrow morning? It will be just a small ceremony with immediate family and our closest friends." I replied.

"Hmmm... Yes. I can fit you in at 1145 hrs tomorrow morning, Captain. Will that work for you?"

"Sounds good, sir. Thank you." I smiled.

"Anytime, Captain. Have a good day." He cut the comm.

I turned to Ri, and she jumped into my arms, giggling. "Oh, baby! I love you so much!" She exclaimed while planting kisses all over my face.

"I love you too, kitten!" I grinned and kissed her passionately, our tongues duelling sensually.

I broke the kiss long enough to comm my mom and let her know when it was. She said she would be there on time, and that she was proud of us both.

"Oooh! Let's invite Rick and Jeka! We should have done that while on Port Royal!" Rilar said after breaking the kiss. Shit! I should have thought of that!

"I should have thought of that, sweetheart. I'm just not too big on ceremonies in general." I shrugged as I set her on her feet and pulled my comm unit back out.

"Dex Relway to Jeka." I said.

She picked up on the fourth beep. "Jeka here." Her voice sounded a bit strained.

"Jeka, is Rick with you?" I asked.

"Sure..ohmigod... is!" I heard her turn away from the comm mic. "Hold up, baby." Then she turned back to the comm. "What's up, Dex?"

"Well, we're getting married tomorrow morning at 1145 hrs. Would you guys like to come watch us get hitched?" I asked, and Rilar giggled as she knew what our call had interrupted.

"Sure!" Rick's voice said. "Now, can I get back to eating my fiancee out?" He sounded exasperated.

"Sure, Rick. Remember that trick I told you about! Dex, out." I cut the comm and looked at Ri. We fell over laughing at that as we started walking back to the landing bay for our hovercycles.

Once we got them out of the cargo hold along with our travel bags, we made good time back to her folks' place. Shilar met us at the door and let us in with a hug for Ri and a really big hug for me that left Ri growling in warning at her. She released me finally and blushed.

"Shi, you are my sister, and I love you. But if you so much as give Dex a lust filled glance again, I will flay the skin from your bones." Rilar said it conversationally, but Shilar looked like she'd been poleaxed.

"Sorry, Ri. Siilvvaar'kaatha crreekek'tha'kaan." Shilar replied, and I didn't catch the last sentence since it was in Gurinkan.

Rilar laughed. "Thuuvak'annar'covvannis."

"Ok, I really need to learn Gurinkan..." I muttered at them.

"Sorry, baby. Shilar said that if we weren't mated already, she would take you as her own. Then I replied that she missed her chance." Ri winked at me.

"Shi, what you have is called a schoolgirl crush. Trust me on this, Rilar is the only woman in the known universe that can put up with me for more than a few months, and I love her." I smiled and shrugged.