“Must have been a false alarm,” the other muttered.
“Yes,” his colleague agreed woodenly.
If Masika were there, she would have pointed out how creepy that was. And possibly commented on Thor’s level. But she’d volunteered to stay aboard the Snapper and let Jelena know if trouble showed up. She was probably worried about people finding her again too. They would definitely find someone to remove her tracking device before leaving Arkadius. Jelena hoped that, after the chaos of the night, the Vogels wouldn’t realize that Jelena, Erick, and Masika were indeed still alive, but they might grow suspicious if their scanners showed a supposedly dead woman roaming the system.
The person at the front desk was helping someone else, so Jelena tapped her earstar. “Mom,” she told it.
A moment later, guitar twangs, singing, and the sounds of a boisterous crowd came over the built-in speaker. Jelena assumed the device had misunderstood and connected her with someone else—though she could not imagine who—but then her mother spoke.
“Jelena?”
“Yes, Erick and I are here. And an old friend.” Jelena lowered her voice. “Uhm, is Senator Hawk there?”
Thor was several paces behind, but his eyes sharpened, as if he’d heard that.
“No, he was here earlier, but he had to go to a meeting. His wife and Wren and Jay are still here. Tommy is cooking.”
“In the hospital? Is that allowed?”
“Not usually, but Leonidas made a comment about the uninspired food here while Tommy was standing nearby. That prompted a . . .” The music in the background swelled in some enthusiastic chorus. “Well, if you’re here, come on up. Seventh floor, room 12. And 14.”
“Leonidas is so big he warranted multiple rooms?” Jelena headed for the elevator.
The woman at the desk looked in her direction and opened her mouth, but something distracted her, and she frowned down at a holodisplay. When Jelena met Thor’s eyes, he gazed blandly back at her without comment.
“We’ve actually got the end of this wing to ourselves. Senator Hawk waved a few fingers, since Leonidas . . . well, this may be more my fault. We’ve assembled a sizable and somewhat rambunctious entourage. You’ll see. He can’t wait to see you.”
“Did Dad already have the surgery?”
“He did. Early this morning.”
Jelena was disappointed they hadn’t arrived in time, but relieved that everything sounded like it had gone well. Presumably, there wouldn’t be a party going on if he were on death’s doorstep.
On the seventh floor, Jelena, Erick, and Thor stepped out of the elevator where they almost crashed into Maya and Nika and Senator Hawk’s two boys—they were all running down the hall at top speed. A ball was involved, and it flew through the air, bouncing off a wall not far from Jelena’s head. A female android carrying stacks of sheets cleared her throat loudly and pointed toward an open door at the end of the hall, one that music floated out of. She wore an impressively beleaguered expression considering androids usually didn’t adjust their facial features.
“Jelena,” Maya and Nika blurted together, ignoring the android. They leaped at her, flinging their arms around her.
Even though it had only been a few weeks since Jelena had seen them, a lot had happened since then, and she returned the hug enthusiastically.
“How’s Dad doing?” she asked.
“He’s down there. We’ll show you.” Nika stepped back and tugged on her sleeve. “Wren and Jay, go get Jelena some kabobs. And get Erick some too. And, uh—” She squinted dubiously at Thor.
“That’s Thorian,” Maya blurted, then grinned shyly and waved at him.
“Maya,” Thor said, inclining his head.
Jelena felt strangely pleased that he recognized the twins and even remembered their names after so many years since their last visit.
“Thorian?” Nika asked, squinting up at him. “He’s gotten . . .” She looked at Jelena, needing help finding an appropriate word.
“Broody,” Erick supplied.
Thor sighed.
“Let’s go see Dad.” Jelena extended her arms to wave everyone down the hall.
They stepped into Room 12, the one with the open door, and found two empty beds shoved to the side, and a band set up. Two guitar players strummed next to two holo players, one tapping at virtual piano keys, the other drumming very enthusiastically for someone without real sticks. Jelena recognized two out of the four musicians. Admiral Tomich was one of the ones strumming a guitar while singing a song about cowboys and spaceships and lost loves, an odd choice since he was happily married these days, as far as Jelena knew. That was his eight-year-old son at the drums. Jelena didn’t recognize the holo piano player, but she thought the other guitarist might be one of Leonidas’s younger brothers. She remembered the older one had come to the wedding, but he wasn’t close to them and that was the only time she had seen either one. Maybe having a family member nearly die could bring relatives back together.
Senator Hawk’s wife, Dr. Suyin Tiang, mother of the twins’ playmates from the hall, sat with a couple of Mom’s cousins that Jelena remembered meeting a few times. She balanced a curly-haired, brown-skinned toddler on her lap. Jelena had never found Suyin as fun and interesting as Hawk—probably because she worked in a clinic and didn’t have pilot stories to share—but Jelena was glad she was here instead of her husband. She trusted Thor wouldn’t consider attacking Hawk’s family. Maybe seeing the children would even give him a reason to rethink his list.
“Jelena and Ostberg!” Uncle Tommy called from another corner where he’d set up a portable grill. He waved sauce-covered tongs at them. His wife Tanya, a plump and cheerful woman, was acting as assistant kebab-maker. She smiled at Jelena while she slathered marinade all over the meat cubes and strung them on sticks.
Jelena hadn’t seen either of them for more than a year and waved heartily. “Those are vat meat cubes, right?” she asked, alluding to an old argument. For years, she’d been trying to get Tommy to switch from using real animals for his concoctions in favor of meat grown in vat factories.
“Of course!” he said with a cheerful wink, which she was fairly certain meant he was lying. Cheerfully. “And there are cookies. I promise no animals were harmed in their creation.”
“Excellent.” That, she believed, at least.
“Cookies,” one of the boys blurted and raced to a basket. Maya and Nika trotted after him.
“There went our escort,” Jelena said, glancing over her shoulder.
She expected Erick and Thor to be behind her, but only Erick had walked in. Was Thor lurking in the hallway? Maybe he didn’t want to see Hawk’s children and rethink his list. Or maybe he wasn’t interested in walking into a gathering of people that would be strangers or near strangers to him. Of those here, only Leonidas and Jelena truly had a history with him. Poor Thor. Did he have anyone he considered family anymore?
Mica and Yumi, her mom’s friends who had been among her original crew on the Nomad, were sitting near the grill in chairs that looked to have been dragged in from a waiting room. Yumi wore a blue robe similar in style to a Starseer robe and had her long black hair clasped back. There were a few strands of gray in there now, but she grinned and waved enthusiastically to Jelena. Mica, wearing a business suit, might have looked staid and proper, but her short, tousled blue hair assured she would loathe being called such. She waved at Jelena, too, then crooked a finger for Erick, her former engineering apprentice, to come over to talk.
Erick complied, snagging a cookie from a basket on the way, and also said a few words to Uncle Tommy. Erick peered through a partially opened side door as Mica asked him a few questions about the state of the Nomad’s engines. Jelena sensed her mother and Leonidas in that side room, so she headed over, waiting until later for cookies. She’d already delayed far too long.
“Mom?” she asked, poking her head through the doorway. “Dad?”
Mom rose from a chair and locked her in a hug before Jelena h
ad time to do more than register that Leonidas was in the bed with monitors behind it and wearing a dreadful blue smock—or was that a nightgown? Then her face was buried in a shoulder, and all she could do was lift a hand toward Leonidas while returning the hug with her other arm. Mom was a couple of inches taller than she, and strong from training with Leonidas, so there was no escaping her hugs.
“I’m fine, Mom,” Jelena said when it was starting to look like she’d be a permanent fixture attached to her mother’s chest. “I’m sorry it took so long to get here. We had some delays.”
“Yes, we heard about them from Brad,” Mom said, sounding dry, but supremely relieved too.
Jelena gulped. Admiral Tomich had been giving her updates? How much did the Alliance know—how much had Tomich shared? Had he looked them up after Erick had asked him for information on Thor’s location?
Mom finally pushed her back out to arm’s length. Her red-brown hair hung in a tail over her shoulder, and her eyes were moist. Jelena winced. She hadn’t wanted any of this to make Mom cry—she would have preferred most of it not even get back to her.
“I expect to hear more of the story from you—you’ve been awfully quiet and evasive in your videos, my dear. Which has led us to assume you were doing naughty things.”
“Not naughty.” Jelena lifted her chin. “Noble. At least, that was how it started. Since then, well. Uh, I guess I can tell you the whole story later.” Hopefully without further wincing.
“You better. Leonidas and I have been making decisions about your future, or at least the next couple of years, based on these reports that have been filtering in, but I’ll let him tell you about it.”
Er, her future? Her future where she was trapped on the Nomad and not allowed to ever touch another freighter or go off on her own again?
“How are you doing, sir?” Erick asked. Somehow, he had slipped past Mom and made it to Leonidas’s side first.
“Going out of my mind from all this enforced bed rest,” Leonidas rumbled. He must have been referring to the days leading up to the surgery, since the actual event had been that morning. “I would much prefer to be out battling pirates. Or throttling mouthy engineers.”
Erick blinked. “Was that comment for me? Or my little brother?”
“Yes.”
“Ah.”
Erick looked faintly worried until Leonidas gripped his arm and asked, “Did you take care of my daughter and her engine out there?”
“I tried, sir. The engine was most agreeable. Jelena . . .” Erick looked back at her, and she sensed him torn between wanting to be loyal to her and wanting to be loyal to her parents.
She propped a fist on her hip, ready to stick her tongue out or punch him, depending on how he finished that sentence.
“Has a noble streak,” Erick finally said, “and a good heart. And a total disregard for self-preservation, local and Alliance laws, and staying away from entities larger and more powerful than she is.”
“I know that,” Leonidas said, “but did you take care of her?”
His eyes glinted as he looked toward Jelena. She sensed he didn’t truly believe she needed someone watching over her, at least not in the capacity of protector, but he liked razzing Erick.
“I . . . think so, sir. We survived a few tough scrapes.”
“Who knew tough scrapes would be involved in a simple freight run from Orion Moon to Alpha 17?” Mom murmured.
Leonidas, with his enhanced cyborg hearing, had no trouble catching the question. “Well, she is your daughter.”
“By blood, yes, but you’re the one with the good heart and the noble streak. I’m sure we can blame you for giving those to her.”
Erick shrugged at Jelena, not looking like he knew what to make of this conversation.
“Isn’t it great when parents talk about you like you’re not there?” she asked him and came around to the opposite side of Leonidas’s bed.
His gray hair was a touch longer and scruffier than usual—he’d kept it military short for as long as she’d known him—but his color was good, and he only had a couple of tubes and wires attached to him, so she found that promising. The corner of a heart monitor was visible through the big V in his gown, the only outward sign that something interesting had happened to that particular organ.
“Do you have a neat scar?” she asked him, not sure how to touch on the mushy stuff, such as that she’d worried about him, and worried that she would be too late and would have to live with knowing she’d chosen some lab animals—and Thor—over hurrying to his side. But they’d always had a relationship where trading quips was more the norm than sharing heartfelt feelings. Besides, as a Starseer, she could sense his true feelings. She hoped he understood hers.
“A fairly unimpressive one. My battle wounds are larger and more garish.” He lifted a bare, burly forearm to display a faded jagged scar running from elbow to wrist. “Enemies rarely take the time to seal the wounds they give you before running off.”
“I’ve noticed. Most enemies are exceedingly rude.”
“I concur.”
“You didn’t bring your tassel hat to your surgery?” Jelena asked, referring to a gift he’d received on a mission several years earlier. It was hideous, but neither she nor Mom had let him throw it out. One didn’t throw away gifts, after all. One should take them out from time to time and appreciate them.
“Should I have?”
“Probably,” Jelena said. “Your hair is looking rough. I see now why you keep it so short. No need to comb it.”
“Huh, my secret is out.”
Erick looked at Mom. “I thought they might have a deeper conversation given that he could have died out there. And she could have too, if we’re honest. Would they be acting any differently if I wasn’t in the room?”
“No, this is how they share their feelings, whether there are witnesses or not.”
“It’s unlikely it would pass muster with a writer of drama vids.”
“Extremely unlikely.” Mom fluttered her fingers at Jelena. “If you two don’t hug, I’m going to tell Tommy to withhold the cookies.”
“From both of us?” Leonidas sounded truly alarmed. “I’m a recovering invalid. Isn’t it torture enough that I have to listen to that pained crooning in the other room?”
Despite his complaining, he was pleased that so many people cared enough to be here for him. Jelena also sensed that he didn’t mind the singing quite as much as he pretended. He was glad people were enjoying themselves and relieved that the outcome hadn’t been different.
Jelena swallowed and drew back from his mind, uncomfortable at the thought of him contemplating his own death.
“I can tell Tomich to play livelier songs if you want,” Mom said.
“Just push the cookie basket in here and shut the door.”
Mom snorted, but walked out. Whether she intended to put an end to the crooning or not wasn’t apparent, but she did set the cookie basket on the table by the door. Jelena thought she heard a protest from Nika.
Jelena wasn’t sure how to hug someone in a reclining position, but she bent down to obey her mother’s wishes. Besides, Leonidas deserved hugs.
“I’m glad you made it,” she whispered, blinking away tears. It was much easier to keep tears from forming when talking about hats and haircuts.
“I’m also glad you made it,” he rumbled, patting her on the back. “Though once everything has returned to normal—” he tapped his heart monitor, “—we’re going to have to have a family discussion about the future. For you and for the Snapper.”
Jelena straightened and gave Erick a concerned look. “Are we not going to be allowed to run more freight? I may have promised someone a job. And, uhm, I’m trying to talk someone else into staying with us for a while.” She wondered if Thor would stop lurking in the hallway soon and come in. There was another entrance to this room if he wanted to avoid the shindig next door. “If we’re not keeping the Snapper, do you by chance need a strong, burly security guar
d who also paints? Have you thought about redecorating the Star Nomad? She does wonderful murals, even though she’s glitter averse.”
“We owe money on the Snapper. We’re trusting that she can successfully run freight for years to come so we can pay her off and make the family business more profitable, so someone can go to the university if she wants.” Leonidas raised his eyebrows toward her, but he didn’t say more—they’d had this discussion before. “And so Maya and Nika can go when they’re old enough. So, the Snapper stays, even if we have to talk Mica into creating a new ident chip for her.” His eyebrows twitched upward, and Jelena sensed that he knew far more about her adventures than she’d wanted to burden him and Mom with. “And find her a captain,” he added quietly.
Jelena bit her lip. “You don’t think I can . . .” She stopped. What had she done to prove she could captain a ship? Oh, she’d gotten the cargo there on time, but since then . . . she’d been far too independent for someone working for someone else, and she knew it. But that was because she didn’t want to run freight for a living. She wanted to help people—and animals—and she wanted to figure out a way to make herself known in the Starseer community, so she might be accepted and not ostracized. She still didn’t know how she would do that, but felt the two goals could possibly be linked.
“I think she could make a good captain, sir,” Erick said.
Jelena nearly fell over.
“Oh?” Leonidas asked.
“She did get the cargo delivered,” Erick said. “And even though she’s created a few problems that may cause ongoing issues, doesn’t every captain need some time to settle into his or her role? Aren’t a few hiccups to be expected? And how better for her to learn from her mistakes than by having to live with them? I’m sure she’ll think twice in the future before rescuing animals without thoroughly researching the people or company holding them.”
“It would have been more reassuring,” Leonidas said, “if you’d ended that sentence earlier.”