“Aw, you don’t want to fly with me?” Thammah’s voice was full of amusement.
“No, Jace wishes to arrive at his destination in one piece,” Khoth answered simply.
Thammah let out a quick bark of laughter. “Are you making jokes, Commander Voor? If your mother hears those coming out of your mouth, she’ll really wonder if you’ve been infected by humanity!”
“On the contrary, that is the Kyptoria II, not I, for a reason. So I am being quite logical.” Khoth snorted and shook his head. The selchilite in his hair clacked together.
“Yes, that reason is that I was saving you. I should get a ta’na just for that, let alone losing my ship!” Thammah laughed. “Are you really sure you don’t want a lift, Jace? It would be an honor to bring the Pilot to the Osiris.”
“Another time, Thammah. I’ve been waiting for ten years to be united with the Storm Spike,” Jace told her.
“Ten years,” Thammah let out a breath as if the very idea of being parted from the Kryptoria that long would have crushed her.
Maybe it would have. He was practically quivering at the idea of getting his hands on the Storm Spike’s controls.
My very own spaceship!
He supposed that the Osiris was his on some level as well, but the Storm Spike was more personal. Or, at least, it felt that way. He knew that ship backwards and forwards from the dreams. To actually be in it, to be piloting it, was more than just a dream come true. He found himself anxious to be flying.
A “small” section of the side of the Osiris opened–it looked “small” compared to the rest of the ship, but it was likely huge up close–and out of it flew two vessels: the Kryptoria II and the Storm Spike. Though both were Paladin-class spacecraft he could easily tell the two vessels apart. Thammah’s had bright purple lights and components while his had a spacey green color. He found himself smiling so hard that his face hurt.
“I felt like you did once. The moment I saw my first F-22 Raptor I fell in love,” his father said with a slightly awed smile on his own face as they watched the three spaceships.
“You’re going to feel like that again, Dad, once I teach you how to fly a spaceship like the Storm Spike,” Jace told him.
Another thrill went through him. He had always admired his father. Captain Jack Parker was Maverick in Top Gun but without the grating arrogance. Before it was clear that his multiple illnesses were not going to recede, Jace had dreamed of following his father into the military to fly jets. Now he would have the chance to do something so much better than that with his father.
“The Alliance has never let us touch one of their spaceships… well, not officially,” his father said.
“Let me guess… Thammah?” Jace’s lips curled into a smile.
His father nodded. “She had me on training wheels, but it was a thrill.”
The Osiris’ lights painted his father’s face with greens, purples and blues. Its lights were reflected in his eyes.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Jack,” Thammah’s voice continued over his comm. “You were pretty damned good. Now that we have a plethora of spaceships, you’ll be flying your own in no time.”
“A plethora?” Jace let out a bark of laughter.
“Just wait until you see the hangar bay, Jace,” Thammah said, awe staining her voice. “It’s like fucking Christmas!”
“You have truly adopted the vernacular of the locals, Flight Commander Pyrrhus,” High Councillor Nova Voor remarked.
“Oh, ha! Hi, High Councillor! Didn’t think you were on his channel,” Thammah said, but it was unrepentant.
“You are on speaker,” High Councillor Nova Voor responded dryly.
“Sorry, Thammah. I only have my Syntheskin suit on,” Jace told her with a grimace.
“Well, I can’t very well be exiled further than I am, Jace!” Thammah chuckled.
Thammah proceeded to do several loops in her ship even as the Storm Spike gracefully flew to them and landed about thirty-feet away. Jace’s mouth was dry and his lips parted as the gangway lowered with a blast of cold air. He could taste his ship on his tongue. That faint bitter flavor of electronics and hot Calcanth.
“C’mon, Khoth, Mom, Dad. Let’s go,” Jace said as he stepped towards his ship.
But there was suddenly a blue hand in front of him, blocking his path. And it wasn’t Khoth’s hand.
“We need to speak, young man,” High Councillor Nova Voor aka Khoth’s mom stated with a lifted eyebrow.
