Kelly replied, “Yes, ma'am,” and finished his meal.
After dinner, Kelly helped Angie with the dishes. She washed. He dried. They put the dishes away and retired with the wine to the couch.
Kelly looked in Angie's eyes, smiled, and said, “Angie, that is the best meal I have had in a long time. My folks have a gourmet chef and he doesn’t cook this well.”
“Thank you, sir. I’d love to meet your folks’ chef and trade recipes.”
“I can arrange for you to meet Arnold one of these days. I’ll call my folks and get us invited for dinner.”
“That would be nice. How about some more wine here?”
Kelly looked at the bottle and there wasn’t much left. “How about we switch to the Rose. This one is about done. Give me your glass and I’ll rinse it out while I get the other bottle.”
Angie handed him her glass and Kelly got up to open the Rose. He rinsed the glasses, dried them, and brought them back. He poured her glass and handed it to her. Then he filled his own and set the bottle aside.
He raised his glass and said, “To a wonderful meal and wonderful companionship.” He clinked her glass and took a sip.
Angie smiled, took another sip, set her glass down, and leaned forward to kiss him. Kelly put his glass down and received her into his arms. Kelly had seen Angie working out in the gym on the Bolivar. He knew her body was toned and hard, but she felt mighty soft in his arms. He kissed her again.
The next morning, Kelly woke up on his back with Angie’s right leg over his left leg. Her right hand held his left. When he stirred, she rolled over into him with her left leg over his right. Her head lay on his chest and her arm across his waist. It felt so good, he decided to lay there for a while before getting up. He had nowhere to go today and no schedule to meet. He dropped back off to sleep.
Angie got up first. Kelly woke up a little later, noticed she wasn’t there, and got up. He looked out of the bedroom and saw Angie wearing a short silk robe, gathering items from the refrigerator. He noted, from his angle, how short the robe was. He especially appreciated the view.
“What’s for breakfast?”
Angie looked around at him without straightening up. “How does eggs and sausage sound?”
“It sounds pretty good. Do you mind if I distract the cook first?”
Angie put the food over on the counter and came over into Kelly’s arms, “Oh, I wish you would.”
Kelly and Angie retreated into the bedroom and breakfast was delayed.
Later, Angie accompanied Kelly to the Vigilant for a change of clothes. Then they wandered around base, shopping, and sampling the offerings at the entertainment center. Kelly called his folks and asked Angie and him over for dinner. His parents were very gracious and looked forward to dining with Angie.
Dinner was preceded by several bottles of wine. The Blakes had acquired quite a cellar of local Armstrong wines. Arnold was outdoing himself by preparing vegetable soup, beef bourguignon, fresh asparagus, and a local green called moisache, similar to spinach in consistency, but tasting more like turnip greens. Angie helped him with the meal and the two chatted incessantly about recipes and cooking techniques. Kelly retired to the patio with his parents.
Andrew refilled his glass and said, “She’s nice. Arnold is having the time of his life. Your mother and I are hopeless in the kitchen. When we are working, we hardly ever think of food. Most of the time he has to chase us down to get us to eat something. It’s good for him to have someone to cook with.”
“Angie can hold her own in the kitchen. She had me over for dinner last night and she is a wizard with sauces. She could probably teach Arnold a thing or two.”
His dad took a sip of wine and said, “Tell me, son, how is your crew reacting to the upcoming test?”
“They are taking it well. There are a few that are a little worried. Most are looking forward to it. They see the potential for really expanding travel and commerce in GR space. We’ve got people from all over GR space in the Scout Force and they don’t get to see their families very often, if at all. Travel to even the closest planets can take more than a week. Some people haven’t seen their families since they joined the Fleet.”
Andrew beamed, “Well, that’s what we’ve been working for. We see the trade and travel potential, as well as the defensive advantage.”
“Dad, speaking of defensive potential, have you considered making mobile transporter rings?”
“What do you mean, son?”
“In your demonstration the other day, it dawned on me that if you could construct a ship that was, essentially, a flying transporter ring, we could significantly reduce our fleet patrol requirements. Imagine a patrol craft that could open up to be a full-sized transporter ring. It would give us mobile rings that could serve as the entry point for battle groups into trouble spots. We could use smaller patrol groups to watch the frontier and only bring the capital ships in when really needed.”
“I think I see what you mean. You mean a patrol-size ship that could open up into a full-size transporter ring if it needed reinforcement. Something the size of the Vigilant would be too small. We might could do it with something the size of a frigate. I’ll look into that. How do you think the Fleet will react to the idea?”
Kelly put his wine glass down and said, “It costs a fortune to keep battle groups out on the frontier. Something like this would allow them to maintain a presence for a fraction of the cost. Besides, once the K’Rang catch onto the fact that we can be strong almost anywhere along the frontier, it should calm them down a bit. It will give us an operational and strategic advantage they can’t overcome.”
Moira said, “It would be an odd looking ship, but it could be done. It would need escorts for protection, because the ring mechanism would take up most of the ship. Why don’t we talk to Tom on Monday and see what he thinks?”
A small gong sounded, signifying that dinner was served. The Blakes went into the dining room. Arnold was gushing with excitement over Angie’s assistance in the kitchen. With a special flourish, he held her chair for her as she sat down.
Arnold chastised Kelly, “You didn’t tell me your lady friend was a saucier. A fighter pilot and a gourmet cook-who would have imagined?”
Angie blushed at the attention. She said, “Oh Arnold, I’m not that good.”
“Oh, yes, you are. If you ever get tired of being a fighter pilot, you could have a position at a major restaurant.”
“It’s good to know I have something to fall back on if I ever lose my edge.”
Arnold brought out the soup course. It was marvelous. Angie had contributed the hollandaise sauce for the asparagus and an almond cream sauce for the moisache. They made a great meal even better.
When all had their fill, Arnold shooed them out of the dining room and cleaned up. Kelly escorted Angie out to the patio for after dinner wine.
Angie sipped her wine and said, “It was so good of you to have me over for dinner.”
“Nonsense, it was worth it just to see Arnold enjoy himself as much as he did.”
“He really is a fabulous chef. I helped a bit, but it was a joy just to have a fully-equipped kitchen to putter around in.”
Andrew sidled over and asked, “ Angie, how are the folks in your squadron reacting to the test?”
“There are a few that are cautious, but none that have any real second thoughts about it. We’re all fighter pilots, danger is just part of the job description. If you need ideas for other uses for your invention though, there are a number of folks with some good ones. If they could be fitted inside ships, it would greatly lengthen the time a ship could remain on station. Supplies and replacements would be as close as a supply base on the other side of the ring. The possibilities are almost endless. Troops could visit home in seconds versus the weeks it takes now.”
“Kelly gave us a similar idea for self-propelled ring ships that could reduce the number of ships required to be on station along the frontier. I can see we will be quite busy for years to come.”
The conversation went on quite late, but Kelly had duty early the next morning and they had to say their goodbyes. Angie gave Arnold a kiss on the cheek, which had him blushing crimson. Andrew and Moira each gave Angie a hug and invited her to come back anytime.
The shuttle was waiting for Kelly and Angie and they rode back to the spaceport. Angie lay in Kelly’s arms all the way back to the Vigilant. She kissed him goodbye in the shuttle and took it back to the Q, while Kelly went up the ramp into his ship.
As he dropped off to sleep, he pondered how lucky he was to have three beautiful and charming women interested in him.
