Outside in the darkness, Jim and Sheel stood at the parapet watching the scene below, "What do you think, Sheel? He's reinstated the warrier status of that shiftless fool."
"He may have just been getting the Major out of his hair." She nudged him and laughed, "if he had hair."
He laughed. They leaned together in the late evening breeze, too comfortable to move, too full of plans to sleep. Tristan coughed behind them, "Ready, Sis?"
"I reckon,” she kissed her giant reluctantly and followed her sister to the flight deck. They flew off to check the new walls and bunkers Tristan's people were making.
Tristan turned to her sister, "Damned shame about the baby sister."
A single tear dripped down Sheel's face, "I feel so damned responsible."
"How can you be responsible? The military posted her here. Ma was so glad that you'd be here to look after her."
"Yeah, well, I'm the one who introduced her to that man."
Tristan was shocked, "You knew him?"
"In the Biblical sense, yes and I loved him once my own self."
"What?”
"Oh, you know the story. When I was first sent here, I was a wet nosed, shave tail. I met him in a bar at Space Port City. I was young and foolish. He was dark and handsome. Imagine what the Preacher men would have looked like twenty cycles ago.”
“Ooohhh, he’d have been irresistible.”
“He knew a greeny when he saw one.”
“And, he took advantage of you?”
“He was very pleased ta smarten me up some and I was pleased to let him."
"He apparently likes training young ones."
Sheel laughed sadly, "You know that he does. He was a great lover. I was lonely and he was so beautiful." She opened the pocket in her flight suit and handed her sister a holobox. Tristan pushed the button in the bottom and a series of scenes were projected off the surface. There were images of Sheel and an absolutely beautiful, red headed man, who looked exactly like their new boss.
"Does Jimmy know?”
Sheel's chin shot up, "Yes. I told him. It was half a lifetime before I met Little Jim." She took the holobox, flipped it out of the window, and blasted it into bits with her hand gun.
"Kinda dangerous, hangin' out with a pirate, weren't it?"
"Oh, there were rumors that he was a smuggler and a wanted man. He could get rid of small bits of Quallium, if'n I needed some cash. Besides, I think I was lookin fer a dangerous man at the time."
"Oh yeah, I blame Mom and her danged dangerous man stories."
"Well, Sis, the stories are true. I didn't care about any reputation, I was in love."
"Sooo? What happened?"
"I ferget! About five or six cycles ago, maybe a little longer, he disappeared for nearly two cycles. When I saw him next, I was second in command at the fort and his face and body were nearly burned beyond recognition, his hair was just starting to grow back in, and his feet were nearly gone."
"How awful..."
"He told me a stove had blown up in a mine shack."
"Why didn't the medicos regenerate his feet at least."
"He said that he would have to surrender to prison for that to occur, and he was not going to do that just so that he could become good lookin' enough to get girls."
"He was a hard case, huh?"
"He was the hardest case ever. A few moons later, I discovered the truth. He had been in a fire fight with an Emperion Cruiser. He and Doggy, his lieutenant, escaped in a pod. They drifted in space for almost six moons. Doggy thought Shannie was dead part of that time. Finally, a Pirate cruiser picked them up and brought them back here. It was too late for the regeneration by then, and he is stuck with his scars. If he had been found immediately, the Clone masters could have at least grown him some new feet."
"So?"
"He was still a great lover in bed, but his pain made him bitter. We drifted apart. One night, a few moons ago, Tantee and I were sucking some brews, and we ran into him in Space Port City. She's a young'un and she fell for him just like I had."
"Poor Tantee, a dangerous man is the easiest to fall for when yer a young un."
Tears were falling freely from Sheel's face now. "That's right, he was charming alright. But, nothing I could say could keep her from him. She was so sure that I had wronged him. She was gonna love him better than I had.”
“Oh, the arrogance of youth.”
Sheel wiped her face with a big paw, "Oh, the fights we had.”
“I’ll bet.”
“We some real knock down drag outs."
"I bet she's the one that's been leakin' all the info to him all along. Hell, he could've been stayin' right here in town, and we wouldn't've known it."
"That's right. When a town goes from a few thousand to over a hunnert thousand in a few moons, anything can happen. Anyways, this new construction of yers oughta help us."
"Thankee, Sis.” They turned and headed back to pick up the Cardinal. At first light, they landed, picked up their passengers, and headed back to the fort.
When they landed, Jimmy was waiting on the flight deck. Zeer jumped down, "Little Jim, what's wrong?"
"The network has located three camps of Pirates. We have sent recon patrols to check. MacTarn is not in any of them. I'm just going to wake the Viceroy."
“Let’s git some plans together first, okay?”
“My thoughts as well, Father.”
Chapter 20