Per’s rare grin let Fallon know that her partner had put things back into perspective.
Fallon returned to the controls. “Not even close. We’re going to kick Colb’s ass harder than any other team could dream of doing.”
“And Hawk will tell the story at all the bars, and we’ll get free drinks for life.”
Obviously he couldn’t tell the real story, but he could probably cobble together enough of it to make that happen.
“I could use a few drinks. Once we get Colb, let’s make Hawk buy us a few rounds.”
Per’s mood had lightened, and she seemed like the Peregrine that Fallon knew, sure of herself and ready to take on anything. “You know, once all this is over our unlimited stolen funding from Blackout will end.”
Fallon hadn’t yet thought of that. She’d have to go back to requesting funds the official way. Pisser. “Guess we’ll have to make sure we enjoy our drinks extra hard, then.”
“A last hurrah?”
“Or a first one, while we contemplate our future.”
They both knew they had to survive their current endeavor to get to that point, so they fell into a companionable silence.
The next two days of waiting on the Nefarious to make their rendezvous passed with surprising calm. Fallon felt an odd sense of normalcy leading up to something that would be anything but normal. The end of this ordeal was coming. She could feel it.
She could only wonder how far-reaching the effects would be, once they’d captured Colb and ended his efforts.
Fallon and the others spent a fair amount of time talking to Krazinski, both giving and receiving details of the past couple of years. It made Fallon think again about the strange trajectory she’d been on all this time. How none of it should have ever happened, and how if it hadn’t, she’d have continued her regularly scheduled life.
As she listened to Raptor breathe in the darkness of her quarters, she knew she probably would have spent the occasional night with him, but that too would have been very different. They wouldn’t have an easy affection developing between them, or the open acknowledgement of the soul-deep connection they’d spent a decade denying. Yes, that had been her fault. She looked forward to spending the rest of her life making up for it.
She’d never been one to want an adventure to end, but this time she did. She wanted the PAC to be secure, and she wanted Colb to never see the stars again. Whether that meant imprisonment or death, she didn’t care. She just wanted everyone to be safe.
Only then could she lean in to Raptor’s sleepy warmth and not feel guilty to be glad for the way her life had been altered.
Fallon woke alone and lay in Raptor’s bunk debating whether to work out or get some breakfast. Her rumbling stomach won out.
She heard no sound as she approached the mess, making her think it must be empty. But when she entered, she saw Krazinski sitting at a small table, staring out a porthole.
“Good evening, Fallon. Though I guess for you it’s morning. I always find it difficult to keep track of the time of day when I’m on a ship. Strange, since a station isn’t so different.”
She grabbed two protein packs and a fresh tango fruit before sitting across from him. “It feels different though, doesn’t it? A large station is like a tiny planet. It has its own community, its own culture. Even between Dragonfire and Blackthorn, there are differences. And Jamestown is its own thing altogether.” She left off there, hoping to draw Krazinski out. He seemed melancholy, which was a bad mindset to have right before a battle.
“I’m an old man. I thought I’d managed to live my entire life without experiencing a major disaster. I flattered myself, thinking I’d had a part in that. And now look at us. Command in hiding, Jamestown critically disabled. The PAC in jeopardy. I didn’t do such a good job, after all, did I?”
Self-pity did not look good on him. “Old man, my ass. You’re as fit as my father, and he can throw down like a member of my team.”
He smiled sadly. “I failed in recruiting Hiro into Blackout. I tried for years. He’d have none of it. Didn’t even want to know it existed.”
“And then I joined up. Ironic.”
“He couldn’t have been prouder of you. Worried, sure. But he knew you’d never be happy doing anything else.”
That made her wonder about his own daughter. “How’s Hollinare?”
“Just before we evacuated it, she came to Jamestown to discuss a proposed new process for streamlining the admission of new planets into the cooperative. I didn’t like her being there during the battle with Colb’s people, but no part of that was what I would have wanted, even though we ultimately succeeded. Anyway, she’s with command, and at the moment there’s no safer place for her to be. It’s a great relief to me, but I feel guilty thinking about all the parents out there who can’t protect their children the same way.”
“The universe is an unfair place,” she observed.
“It is. The PAC is supposed to level the playing field, to help ensure a future for everyone’s children. And it may fall. On my watch.”
“Which part hurts more? The possible fall, or your part in it?”
“Depends on whether it happens or not. Even if it doesn’t, I’ll go to my grave knowing how close we came.” He ran a hand through his steely but thick hair. He claimed to be an old man but Fallon didn’t see it. He was fit and strong, albeit jaded.
“I’m not in the habit of comforting admirals.” She crumpled the wrapper of a protein pack between her palms. “Shouldn’t you be the voice of experience, telling me it will be all right?”
“That’d be nice.
