In The Beginning, Gail Daley [red white royal blue .TXT] 📗

They weren’t having it all their own way however. Roderick tucked into a ball and rolled towards Rogers’ feet, and Rupert leapt onto his back, pulling hair and biting. Lucinda succeeded in getting the car doors open and pushed the alarm for the city police. She shoved Violet into the car, yelling at her to talk to the police dispatcher.

Lucinda grabbed a metal torch and returned to attack the man struggling to hold Jayla and Juliette, hitting him as hard as she could in the back of the knees.

The last remaining gang member saw the murderous stare on Katherine’s face as she rose, and ran like a rabbit from the scene. Katherine turned and rushed toward the fight still going on. As she ran, she heard the muted hum of a combat air car coming in low and fast. She knew an instant of heart-stopping fear before she recognized Vernal at the controls.

As the car slowed to pass over the men fighting the children, Zack and Gideon dropped from the open door in a smoothly practiced maneuver. Each of them landed feet first just behind the two remaining thugs. Grouter’s men were street fighters. They were no match for two combat-trained veterans. Both children’s would-be kidnappers were dead with their necks snapped before Katherine reached them.

Seeing her children safe, she stopped to check on Lucas and was relieved to find him attempting to sit up. "I’ll take him ma’am," said Vernal who had finally managed to land the "borrowed" combat car and knelt beside Lucas with a first aid kit.

Gideon comforted a weeping Jayla as he went over to check on Lucas.

Zack simply grabbed all his children and Katherine in a stifling hug, holding them still for a moment. "Everyone ok?" he asked tightly. Muffled replies answered him.

"Okay," he said. "Kids, get your packages and wait in the car. I hear the sirens from the patrol and they will want to talk to all of us."

"Will they arrest us?" asked Roderick fearfully.

"What about you?" asked Rupert. "You killed them. Will they arrest you?"

"Even here, they don’t arrest you for defending yourself," Zack assured them. "Get in the car boys. I think there are a few restorative drinks in the dispenser." He dug out a credit chip and handed it to Roderick. "Here, use this and get something for all of us."

He then turned on Katherine, gripping her shoulders and giving her a small shake. "Woman don’t you know better than to come down to this part of town? You could have been hurt, killed or—"

Katherine gave a weak laugh. "I hope you aren’t going to be the kind of husband who yells a lot, because it can be quite tiresome. Anyway, how was I supposed to know what this part of town was like?"

"Husband?" Zack uttered, not even hearing the last part of her statement. She held up a crystal. "Yes, the matches came back today. I’m afraid you and I are stuck with each oth—"

Zack simply grabbed her and kissed her the way he had wanted to do for weeks. Katherine’s arms came up around his neck as she sank into the kiss.

They were interrupted by a cough from one of the two police officers who had belatedly appeared. "Excuse me, Sir, Ma’am, but I need to find out what happened here."

It had been very late before they had been able to return to the base since everyone had to make a trip down to the local precinct to make statements. The detective in charge had obviously had too many encounters with misbehaving soldiers on leave; he badly wanted to arrest Zack and Gideon for the theft of the flight car which base command had reported as stolen. Katherine had been forced to invoke her diplomatic immunity to prevent this. The local police had been less than thrilled to discover that no one was left alive on the scene to dispute Katherine’s account of the attack and subsequent defense or the death of Grouters men and that of the Grinders. The remaining Grinder who had escaped had gone to ground, and none of his mates seemed willing to talk about where he could be found.

It had been after midnight when they arrived back at base to be greeted by a tense Corrine and an almost hysterical Jayne who wept copiously on Katherine’s shoulder while apologizing for sending her and the children into harm’s way. Katherine had been forced to add a mild sleeping draught to Jayne’s tea as well as the children’s bedtime drinks before she could get them settled into bed. She briefly considered taking one herself but didn’t since she expected either Rupert or Violet to have one of the recurring nightmares that afflicted them. She would need to be awake to soothe them back to sleep. Her talent required a mind unsullied by sleeping drugs.

It was a good thing they all had the upcoming Governor’s ball and packing for the coming journey to distract everyone, Katherine thought. They would be leaving for the base on Selene the day after the ball and she was able to keep everyone busy sorting what they would need for the trip and packing everything else for storage.

The Governor’s ball was the last event before their departure for Vensoog and everyone was in a bustle to get ready. Katherine had decreed that her new family who attended should wear the Vensoog formal dress. The dress clothes were little more than ordinary dress made with finer fabrics and more jewelry, but everyone seemed pleased with their outfits.

The night of the Ball, everyone gathered in Katherine and Corrine’s quarters so she could check their ensembles.

"Now remember," Katherine admonished the children, "I expect you all to be on your best behavior during dinner. If you don’t like something served you, just push it aside. I don’t want to hear any gagging or puking noises, understand?"

She got "who me?" expressions from all five of them.

Jayla sniffed. "Only babies and