Countdown, John Walker [online e book reader txt] 📗

out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank God…I’ve been worrying about her.”

“You think she’ll still work for us? Or will she go back to the military?”

“I’ll find out soon enough.” Erris gave her a hug…an impulsive action she immediately regretted. “Um…sorry about that.”

“No, that’s fine. You deserve to feel good about all of this. It’s over. We can get back to what we do best. Making money…building an economy…holding the universe together. And who knows? Maybe we can get the ervas in on our transportation goods. They’ll need some help to rebuild after all.”

“Always the capitalist,” Erris said. “I see why you’re in charge.”

“Nah, I’m always the spy,” Eliza corrected. “The company woman comes…well, from something else.” She stood. “I’m going to put together a report. I’m assuming we’re hanging around here for stragglers?”

“Yeah.” Erris nodded. “Though whether or not there will be any…”

“It’s all good. Alden and Northam will want to know what happened. I’m on that. You stick to this. We’ll talk later.” Eliza patted her shoulder. “You did well in getting us here quickly…pushing the team. I know there will be complaints, but this had to happen. This culture survived because you thought fast. Well done.”

“Thank you.” Erris watched her go. She couldn’t believe the news. Rita’s alive. The Morrigan made it. We won. The fighting is over! We don’t have to run around the shadows anymore. Life can crawl toward normal again. I started to doubt it was even possible. But now…here we are.

It was an amazing moment. One she planned to cherish as the conclusion to the wildest adventure of her entire life.

Epilogue

Nina hurried down to the hangar, shoving past people in the hallway. She’d received the news about those lost in the attack… several pilots she knew peripherally but one in particular: Katya. A longtime friend, an excellent pilot… and someone who died in a horribly unfair, undignified way.

Killed by those damn satellites! I can’t even believe it.

She stepped inside, scanning the crowd until she caught sight of Justin. Hurrying over to him, she grabbed his arm. They exchanged a look before embracing. Both of them knew her well enough to feel the pain but he’d been out there…and in command. That burden should’ve been mine.

“I’m sorry,” Nina said. “I’m so very sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Justin replied. He leaned back. “It wasn’t mine either. That was bad luck. I regret it, but I won’t feel responsible. That wouldn’t honor her name. It would just be… childish, in all honesty.”

Nina nodded. “We’ll have a service for her. A proper one. When this is done, when we’re out of here.” She gripped his hand tightly. “All of us that made it through here.”

They lost a number of friends throughout their mission to deal with the ervas. Wing Commander Chance Laurant, Captain Mulligan Danes, Lieutenant Quentin Anderson, Wing Commander Tracy Pond, Lieutenant Orlando Scott, Lieutenant Jessy Watson…all gone. And then there are those who joined us for this mission.

The service would reel from the hole these people left behind. A new batch of young pilots would take their place, recruits or the inexperienced. Nina figured Justin and people like him would be saddled with training those people, bringing them up to speed. She’d make sure his promotion was maintained… and that of Armand Barker.

They can be amongst the leaders of our new forces.

Nina backed away. “I’ll let you get cleaned up. Checked out. That was a hell of a fight out there. You did great.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I hope that’s true.” Justin clapped her on the shoulder as he walked away.

“Excuse me.” A tap on her shoulder drew her attention. Pol Komlin smiled at her but it was a sad expression. “I didn’t think I’d find you down here. Thought I’d have to go hunting in the upper decks with the fancy people.”

Nina huffed. “Yeah, well… I’m still a pilot at heart. What can I say?”

“Your people were amazing out there.” Pol gestured around him. “Truly.”

“What’re you doing on my ship anyway?” Nina tried to be playful, tried to push aside the heavy feelings making her heartache. It partially worked. “Shouldn’t you be on the Dusk Wing Two? Or the Broken Light?”

“I made up an excuse to come to the Morrigan, actually.” Pol winked. “Had to check on someone.”

“You came here for me?”

“I said someone.” Pol shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be you. Does it?”

Nina chuckled. “Are you trying to cheer me up by acting aloof?”

“Is it working?”

“I think you were more charming when we had a drink together.”

“Do we have time to do that now?” Pol looked around. “Even if it only takes five minutes?”

Nina took a moment to consider her duties. They had a lot to do but were on standby at the moment. “If it’s not alcoholic,” she said, “and you tell me when you’re leaving the Gold Empire to join our side.”

“Who said anything about that?”

“Come on, you want to be in a military that I’m not in?” Nina winked. “That doesn’t sound particularly rewarding.”

“Shit. I didn’t think of it that way.” Pol gestured to the door. “Lead the way, ma’am. I look forward to sharing a juice with you.”

“Absolutely, Commander. Let’s see where this goes.”

***

Rita stood beside Zem near Dora’s ship. Oliver brought a Confed shuttle over with a dozen security guards. It didn’t take them long to arrest the various pirates aboard. They were temporarily housed in their own brig but the idea was to return them to the Morrigan as soon as possible.

Other crew boarded the vessel to take over so they could get it home. Rita hoped they knew what they were doing. The damn thing proved to be the most advanced ship she’d even heard of let alone seen in action. She made sure