Well, as it turns out the King did give us some very difficult restrictions. Their can be no public display, which is not a problem. This includes at the Embassy of course; though the time one... was hard to swallow, but if we want any time together at all, we have to follow it.
The other thing that is a situation is the nanny guard that is with Jahní. We get our moment alone, but she is here to make sure no one is around and nothing happens.
I read the Helios readiness report and it seems that their is some slacking going on, which is normal when nothing is going on. Fifty percent of the crew is rotated every couple of days, so all get a chance to come planet side. Though I think I'm going to have a talk with Sam about this and see how to improve on it. The Embassy personnel is showing signs of weariness, from the constant combat footing we're on.
We really can't relax here yet. Our enemies are quiet, but that is just a trick. They know that fatigue will soon numb the senses of the men, and when a mistake will be made, they will pounce on us. It's now a game of wills and stamina.
Unfortunately, some chinks in our armor are starting to show up and I've got this gut feeling, that something is on the wind.
Timing is what it's all about. I've got to get the timing close, or they will hurt us. The Majah-tu believe in strength especially in their allies, so an attack that could overrun the Embassy would show us as weak and useless.
Even if we escape and recover the Embassy the damage would be done. There's a knock at the door. "Enter." The Gunny walks in and salutes. I return it and then I motion him to come in.
"You wanted to see me Skipper?" He asks.
"Yes, I want a no BS assessment on the Marines." He looks at me and frowns a bit. "Hal." Using his name is a sign of the friendship that has developed between us. "I have a feeling that the enemy is just waiting for an opening. Then he will strike and his goal will be to overrun us."
"Well Skipper, if these men were anything other than Marines I'd be worried." He says. "We've started to rotate them out to let them decompress, but over all they are Marines and they know what they signed on to."
Damn, I love Marines! "Alright, how about you?" He looks at me puzzled.
"Well there's not much to tell Skipper, I'm doing fine is all." He doesn't know that I've watched his mannerisms Change every time Lahí come to see him.
" You've got nothing you want to talk about?" He looks at me not sure what he should say. "It's alright, Hal. Don't worry about it."
"Skipper," I look at him. "Actually I would like to talk to you about something personal, that I think you would understand." I motion for him to sit down and he grabs the chair. He sits there trying to put his emotions into words; I can see that it's not easy for him.
"Gunny..."
"Skipper, I don't know if it's right or wrong. I think I have feelings - for - one of the local girls here and I'm not so sure that I should." He pauses for second. "I don't know if it's acceptable here, with my age and all." Wow, he really opened up to me. I guess this is a testament to the friendship we have developed.
"Well Hal, I don't think age would be a problem. You see the Majah-tu have a much longer life span than we do." He looks at me surprised.
"Is that so?" He rubs his forehead wondering the what ifs. "Well, this girl is young for me."
I sympathize with him. "Well, you know Jahní is one hundred eight years old." I tell him even though it's not polite to give a ladies age, but it's a good cause.
"Really." He says and I nod
"I've heard from Jahní that her sister Lahí is about seventy five years old." I inform him and his eyes widen at that.
"Seventy five?" He sits there and is in wonder with these people. I smile inwardly because he can now relax about it. "Well this is new for me I never thought about it before." He sits there then shakes his head. "It still wouldn't be right because when this deployment ends I'd have to leave and she would stay here." He's thought it through to that point as well.
"Hal, how many years have you been in the Corps?" I ask him.
"Twenty seven years Skipper and all of them an adventure." He say and the pride for his years of service is unmistakable. He's had one hell of run and now he's here, at the spear point for Humanities bid to the stars.
"Hell Gunny, you're almost ready to retire!" I laugh and he joins in. He's there at the decision point.
"Yeah, well I took on this gig as the last road to glory, cause you know Marines don't die they just get reassigned to Heavenly guard duty." I see that the Old Breed still lives in this man.
"Urrah Gunny."
"Urrah." I'm sure he sitting for a minute thinking of all the years he's been in the Marines. "You know Skipper I never made time for a wife. I kind a regret that." He stands up adjusting his uniform. He salutes me and I return it with the utmost respect for this old Devil Dog.
He turns to leave. "Gunny." I extend my hand and he takes it. "I'm proud as hell to have you here." He nods and then he turns leaving. God Bless those Marines.
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Jahní and I have had a hell of a time trying to get together now for several days, and it's not going well. I walk down a lonely spot in the factory section of the capitol city, it's late evening; I'm not in uniform so I don't stand out and I was sent a cloak to cover myself. I look around the corner and I see the small personal transport right where it's supposed to be. I reach behind me and feel for my plas pistol. it's comforting to know it's there.
Right on cue I see the door to the transport opens, and a female Majah-tu in a grey cloak steps out she uncovers her head and my heart skips a beat. Good Lord, it's just great to see her, so I step out from the shadows and she turns looking at me carefully. I remove my hood and her face brightens up.
I trot over to her and she throws her arms around me and we hold on to each other, for a while. The days are getting cooler and the nights are just down right cold. "Jahní... it's so good to see you." I bury my face in her neck. I breath in her scent as we stay there for a few minutes.
"Ant." She says in a whispered voice that just makes my heart jump. "I want to take a trip with you." She pulls away and takes my hand telling me to get into the other side of the transport, and she starts it up as I get in. She gets it air born and hits the thrusters full tilt and we're booking it out of there.
She handles this transport, as if it was a fighter and she is focused on her flight. "So why the hurry?" I have to know whats she's planning.
"Did you do as I asked and left your sub commander in charge?" She looks at me expectantly.
"Yeah, I sure I told him we would be gone for a few days." She smiles at me, and I hope Sam will be fine. "I didn't bring much clothes though."
She laughs. "It's fine I brought clothes that should fit you. Also there is a suit of armor that you will need, for what we will take to transport ourselves there." I've never seen her so happy and vibrant, as she is right now. She's doing something for herself, for me and it has nothing to do with her status as Crown Princess.
The trip took about thirty minutes and we arrive at a military base; a fighter base to be exact. She drops the small transport behind a storage building and she gets out, and I follow suit. She pulls out two bundles handing me one. She proceeds to get undressed and I can't help myself, as I stand slack jawed she turns to me and smiles. She's so trim and fit, her skin glows. "You must hurry Captain." I blink a couple of times and I start to change into the armor.
We move through the base with our bundles, and I ware the helmet as she asks me to do. She takes the lead handing official paper work to the base commander, and no one dares to question the Crown Princess. We head in to the tarmac and there is a Majah-tu fighter, a two seater waiting for us.
It's black and sleek looking with a forward swept wing configuration, but I have no idea of the propulsion system or how it flies. She looks like she's moving even when she's standing still. "We must quickly climb aboard, because I'm sure that base commander is checking the orders I handed him." She says.
I look back and I can see him looking in our direction speaking with a couple of guards, probably starting to realize the trick. Jahní opens the small cargo hold just big enough to hold our bundles; then we proceed to climb aboard. Once seated she and I strap in, she closes the canopy and she cranks the engines.
Just as she does that the guards run our way; she quickly pushes the thrusters and the fighter takes off vertically, at an incredible rate of climb. "I will make an in atmosphere fold that will just throw them off our scent"
"Ok." I look at the instrumentation and see the screen that is I assume the radar. I spot two blips on it and I look back, since I'm in the rear seat and I see the two bogies coming up behind us.
"We got company!" I report.
"Yes I know." She says. "Hold on tight!" Suddenly the fighter lurches forward at an incredible speed. The other two interceptors also increases their velocity.
"Jahní, won't they be able to jump as well?" As they close the gap between us.
"No, they are not equipped with a fold generator like this vessel." I see her punching coordinates into the computer. "They won't be able to track us once we jump."
"Roger that, but I think you better do it quick!" They're almost on top of us. Suddenly the sky in front of us literally explodes, and a black hole rips open the fabric of space. We zip through and in an instant I see stars and looking around, There's no planet.
"Brace yourself, we have to do two more of those." I think I might actually get sick.