“I believe you all know where Istand on that issue.”
The tone was matter of fact. Shehad touched on a personal subject, but his answer wasn’t a warning to backoff. Not yet, anyway.
“Maybe some of us don’t,” sheteased innocently.
“Then maybe you should asksomeone to enlighten you.” There was a hint of mischief in his eyes that daredher to continue.
“Why don’t you enlighten me?”
Now it was becoming too personaland he skilfully changed the direction.
“If you’re talking about Kat,” hesipped his drink, allowing a moment to gather his thoughts, “that’s all it is. Just a crush. She’s been in out of love a hundred times. I get the job ofpicking up the pieces.”
“And a good job you do of it, I’mtold.”
She had piqued his curiosity andhe threw her an inquiring glance.
“You may be surprised to knowthat you are not the current topic of discussion,” she informed him.
“Actually, I’m quite relieved. Iam, after all, only a man and just as susceptible to your feminine ways as anyman on board this ship. Once you girls set your sights, there’s no hope forany of us.”
She folded her arms across herchest, lowered her head slightly to zero her focus in on him and raised oneeyebrow.
“At the moment, I would probablysay it’s Giacomo,” he continued, barely hiding a smirk at her reaction.
“It was,” McReidy confessed. Sherelaxed, picked up her glass and sank back into the lounge. “Until Lorraine threatened to knock out the first one who laid a hand on him.”
“I hope you didn’t tell him that,”John grinned. “I don’t think his ego could stand it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“I assume Kowalski and Gillespiegot the usual rundown.”
A slight blush and lack of ananswer confirmed that comment.
“And what poor unsuspecting manhave you staked a claim on? Or are you saving that honour for Sean?”
He caught her mood darken as hefinished his drink and put his glass down. She had started getting personalwith him, now he was getting personal. As he resettled, she put her glass onthe floor, grabbed the cushion beside her and slammed it into his chest.
The first thump caught him bysurprise. As he realised she was going to make a second attempt, he wriggledout of the way and made a grab at her. He found himself leaning backwards overthe arm of the lounge. Catching both her forearms, he unbalanced her. Shefell heavily on top of him, the cushion separating them, their faces inchesapart.
His big brown eyes shone. He hadsucceeded in rattling her.
“I am not in love with Sean,” shetold him between gritted teeth.
“I know that.” His tone was calmand serious.
A sudden roar from the screengrabbed his attention. His eyes flashed to it, then back to McReidy.
“Would you mind getting off me? And pass me the remote since you just made me miss that wicket.”
She obliged and retreated to thefar end of the lounge, drawing the cushion back with her as though it kept abarrier between them. He straightened himself up and rewound the disk to justbefore the fall of wicket.
A tense silence developed,remaining for several minutes as they both stared at the screen.
John picked up the cushion fromthe corner beside him and let it fly at her. It skimmed the side of her headand landed on the floor.
“If you’re going to fall asleepagain, you’d better go home.”
She turned to him, eyes fullyopen and no sign of sleep on her face. But the mood softened.
They both stared at the cushionon the floor for a moment. Neither of them was willing to pick it up. Itlooked like staying there all night. At least the tension was gone.
The rest of the evening wasrelaxed. After McReidy left, John strolled back to the lounge to retrieve theglasses and bottle. The cushion was still on the floor. He shook his headslowly as he recalled how it ended up there; a small smile crept over hisface. He bent down, scooped it up and deposited it back where it belonged,then continued to clear away the glasses.
Back to top
Chaptereighteen
Bismarck gained ground on Shimodoand Antigua overnight. The crippled battlecruiser was underway, although shecould only maintain half speed. An intercept course had Bismarck reaching herby mid morning.
The two ships had suffered minorexternal damage, all of which had been repaired. Scarred burns to theirpaintwork were the only remaining visual signs of their encounter.
Captain Melchior invited thecaptain of Bismarck over to Shimodo for an “informal chat”. John graciouslyaccepted. Leaving McReidy in charge, he transported across.
An escort was waiting for him,moving to the console and speaking to the operator as the insignia of theirguest did not belong to a captain. The transporter operator shrugged and theescort shook his head and mumbled under his breath.
Nothing was said to John as he wasshown to the officer’s lounge. The escort beeped, and waited foracknowledgement before the door opened.
“Captain, Melchoir, sir, Captain–”
“Commander Madison,” Johncorrected, fully aware that the escort knew his rank.
“Commander Madison, sir,” theescort continued. “From Bismarck, sir.”
Melchoir’s eyes lifted from hisglass and ran critically over John, a deep scowl forming. He remained seated.
“I invited your captain.”
John felt the insult as intended.
“We lost our captain in anunfortunate accident,” he explained. “Commander John Madison, temporarily incommand,” he introduced himself.
He was acutely aware that hehadn’t been invited in and remained inside the doorway.
Melchior’s mouth twisted and heseemed satisfied with the answer.
“Come,” he waved John over. “Sitdown. We have much to discuss.”
John didn’t think they had thatmuch to discuss. It felt more like the beginnings of an interrogation. Swapthe captain’s uniform for an admiral’s and it could have been Powers sittingthere.
A waiter came and took their orders– another whiskey for the captain and a rum and Coke for John.
The captain’s mood remainedsombre. Understandable, considering the pounding his ship had taken. Physically, he didn’t seem damaged, but John couldn’t even guess at the numberof casualties they might have had.
To many of Melchior’s queries,John could not give a satisfactory answer. Transforming a transport ship to abattleship had been “A lot of hard work”. Detecting the Andromedan forces whenneither Shimodo nor Antigua had been aware of them was “More luck than anythingelse”.
To “What the
