“You’re not telling me everything,” he said without a hint of doubt in his voice. But then he shrugged. “I’m used to that. But I’ll find out eventually. For now, I suppose it’s enough that you’re on our side. One thing though.” He motioned to the drones on the screen. “If those things are going to be our last line of defense against the Unity, they’re going to need raw materials. Probably more than Kan-Zin Tel and his bunch can provide. I suppose you think the Commonwealth should handle that.”
“I think if we don’t,” I told him, “no one will. And then we’re going to be left holding our dicks when the Unity comes back in force.”
“Maybe so. But you’re gonna have a hard time getting Munroe to sign onto that.”
I grunted, keeping my expression carefully neutral.
“Maybe someone should point out to him that this is a thinking, rational being he’s dealing with, and if he doesn’t give it the resupply, someone else will. And if Illyana doesn’t consider us her friends and family, well… she’ll find someone else to sign up for the friends and family plan.”
“Munroe ain’t the type who responds well to threats,” Deke warned.
“Then let’s hope he responds well to reality. Before reality comes back and bites us all in the ass.”
Before he could reply, a blur of bright colors sped across the bridge and directly into Vicky’s arms, both of them laughing as Luke hugged her tightly.
“I didn’t think I was going to see you again,” the kid said as his handler, a luckless Lt. Commander Chase, jogged in behind him, out of breath. “I thought we were all going to die! The ship shook so bad and it got really hot…”
“But we’re all okay now,” Vicky said, tousling his unruly hair. “Everything is going to be okay.” She looked him up and down. “I see someone has been playing with the fabricator.”
Luke’s clothes were a close approximation of a Space Fleet uniform, if the colors had been redesigned by a drunken Marine private, but he grinned, patting his shirt.
“Yeah, ain’t it cool? Commander Chase helped me set it up!”
Chase smiled weakly, looking off to the side to avoid Nance’s glare.
“He needed something else to wear and I promised I’d let him choose his own colors…”
“Where are we going now?” Luke asked, still not letting go of Vicky. And she, I noticed, wasn’t too keen on letting go of him either. “I don’t want to go back down there… I don’t know anyone down there.”
“You don’t have to,” Vicky told him, then shot a glare at Deke, Nance, and me, daring us to disagree. “We’re going to be heading back to Demeter, and we’re taking you with us. It’s a nice place… you’ll like it there.”
“And I’ll live with you guys?”
My first instinct was to say no, that we were going to be busy, that we had our military careers to think of and those were going to involve being gone most of the time. I shut up and instead looked to Vicky.
“If this works,” she said, motioning to the main screen and the drones hovering there, “and we can count on…” she stopped herself and I groaned inwardly, knowing Deke would catch it, “… Illyana to handle the Unity, then we wouldn’t need to be out here in Vigilantes, putting our asses on the line every day. I mean, we’re both colonels for God’s sake. Maybe we should act like it.” The corner of her mouth quirked up. “Besides the being assholes part.”
“Please, Vicky,” Deke mocked, putting a hand to his chest. “Language.”
I didn’t answer for a few seconds, leaning back against the bulkhead, eyes unfocused, and not from the concussion—a couple hours in the auto-doc had fixed that and my shoulder. She was right. We’d done enough, done more than anyone had a right to ask, and I didn’t give a shit what Deke thought about it.
“You know,” I said, choosing the words carefully, deliberately, “I’ve spent most of my life without anyplace I could call home. The streets were my home, then the Corps. And for a while now, home was wherever you were and that seemed like enough.”
I took Vicky’s hand, holding it tight. Luke’s eyes were wide with hope as he looked up at me, anticipating my answer.
“Yeah, Luke,” I told him. “You’ll be staying with us.”
“And where will we be going?” Vicky wondered, tilting an eyebrow at me.
“Home. We’re going home.”
This concludes the Drop Trooper series!
If you liked Drop Trooper, you’ll love his new trilogy, World War Mars!
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