Chain Reaction

She turned away from the smoking debris. “We ought to raze the compound, as well.”

“Keep PRAXIS from finding anything when they come back.”

“And they will when their emissary fails to return with the disruptor.”

“Let’s leave them nothing but ashes,” Nils said.

Together, she and Nils set up charges all over the compound. The sun began to set by the time they returned to the Phantom, long shadows streaking the dusty ground. They buckled in, and she engaged the thrusters for liftoff. As soon as they were high enough, Nils triggered the charges. Vibrations shook the ascending Phantom as detonations tore through the compound, large fireballs decimating the heavy perimeter walls and leveling the structures.

“It’s kind of pretty.” She watched the riot of color below as the explosion encountered more flammable material.

He chuckled. “Trust you to find an explosion aesthetically pleasing.”

They broke the atmosphere, the planet disappearing behind them. Not an ounce of regret touched her when the planet finally disappeared from their sensors.

“Time to head home,” she said.

But she didn’t know what awaited her at home. Would she be Stainless Jur or Celene? A fling Nils could boast about? Or did he want more?

Could she truly allow herself that kind of vulnerability? She prided herself on her courage, but in so many ways, the heart was more fragile than the body. A body could be destroyed only once, but one’s heart could be torn apart again and again.

It’d be easy to fall back into her old role again. To take up the armor of Stainless Jur, surrounding herself with other Black Wraith pilots who never truly knew her, and be content with the sterile admiration from the rest of the 8th Wing. Nothing touched her. Nothing hurt her.

Or she could take the chance with Nils. And possibly have her heart cut open with all of 8th Wing watching.

Nervousness danced in Nils’s stomach as the 8th Wing home base came into view. For the past solar weeks, he and Celene had been essentially alone. The flight back had been an exercise in delayed gratification—they’d kissed, and touched, but that was all. The stretches of space between Marek’s former hideout and home base were too dangerous to trust to autopilot, so Nils and Celene had stolen moments here and there, yet never made love.

They hadn’t talked about what would happen when they got back to base.

Anxiety and sexual frustration roiled through him. What was she going to do once they returned to their normal lives, their normal roles? She was Stainless Jur, one of the Black Wraith Squad’s best, if not the best. He was the pride of NerdWorks. The two didn’t intermingle, let alone become lovers.

During this mission, something had taken shape between them, an intimacy greater than sex. But would she try to deny it once she settled back into her world, and he in his? Would she push him away, or, worse, grow indifferent? He’d seen her eyes burn with passion. He couldn’t stand to have her look at him with cool detachment.

Resolution straightened his shoulders. He wasn’t going to cling to her boots, beg for her affection. If she wanted to move on without a backward glance, he’d let her go. Their time together had been…the best of his life. But he had more life left in him. He could move on, too.

A tense silence filled the Phantom’s cockpit as they approached the dock. The easy conversation and lingering touches fell away, leaving them precisely where they had been at the begi

The ship finally touched down. Outside the window, he saw Admiral Gamlyn, Commander Frayne, Ensign Skiren and a dozen other members of the 8th Wing—Black Wraith pilots, members of Engineering and Major Ishan, the head of Engineering. Though the higher-ranking officers looked serious, as befitting their station, many others smiled. Especially Ensign Skiren, who alternated between clapping and hooting something through her cupped hands.

Celene did not immediately rise from her seat. Instead, she stared out the window. “I thought I’d be glad to get back.”

Before he could ask her to clarify this, the door to the Phantom opened, and Admiral Gamlyn entered the small ship.

He and Celene finally got to their feet and saluted. It felt oddly uncomfortable to have the admiral on board, as if she were trespassing. Ludicrous. She was an admiral of the 8th Wing, and had every right to be on the Phantom. Yet it felt like a violation of privacy, just the same.

“Excellent work, Lieutenants,” said the admiral. “The fleet let out a collective sigh of relief when we learned that the disruptor will no longer be a threat.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he and Celene said in unison.

Admiral Gamlyn gestured for them to precede her out of the Phantom. With peculiarly heavy feet, he did so. When he stepped out of the ship, he felt a strange tightness over his skin, as if his old self tried to reclaim him. But he refused to sink into that former identity. When Commander Frayne strode forward to shake Nils’s hand, Nils returned the shake firmly and looked the commander right in the eye. The commander’s grip did not seem as crushing as it once did. Or maybe Nils had more strength than before. Frayne’s brow rose, and new respect appeared in his gaze.

“Lieutenant,” Major Ishan stepped forward, “you’ve given Engineering bragging rights for the next twenty solar cycles.”

“Should be thirty,” Celene said before Nils could speak.

Murmurs of agreement rose up from the gathered Engineering crew.

“Looks like the legend of Stainless Jur is only going to grow.” Ensign Skiren knocked a fist into Celene’s shoulder. “They’re using Jur as a verb now. You know, ‘If you want something done right, you have to Jur it yourself.’”

The Black Wraith pilots chuckled amongst themselves, nudging each other with their elbows.

Admiral Gamlyn cleared her throat. “Pleased as Command is by your results, we will need to conduct a thorough debriefing, as well as an inquiry into why Marek was not brought back for court-martial.”

“Impossible to court-martial a dead man,” Nils answered. Then added, “Ma’am.”

Everyone looked stu

The admiral cleared her throat again. “We’ll have the debriefing in a few minutes.”

Friends of his from Engineering swarmed around him, all asking questions. “What was the composition of the disruptor?”

“Did you get a chance to use the code hacking device you were developing?”

“Did you fire an actual blaster?”

As he tried to answer their questions, he saw her across the docking bay. Black Wraith pilots gathered around her, noisy and boisterous as they demanded her account of the mission. She gri

Both of them in their worlds. Back to who they had been before.

He would go back to Engineering, back to his training and hearing about her daring exploits. And eventually their time together would grow more and more distant, the stuff of a faded history vid.

This had been coming. He knew it would happen. And he’d been prepared to accept it. Walk away as if what they’d shared was an interlude in their normal lives.

No. If she wanted to end things, she would have to say so. He was determined to fight for her, for them.

Major Ishan was saying something to him, but he didn’t hear, didn’t answer. Instead, he paced forward.

He’d have to shoulder a path through the Wraith pilots, push his way toward Celene.

His heart pounded. He could be facing his greatest humiliation, and loss. If Celene rejected him, Engineering would see it. The Black Wraith Squadron would see it, and so would Command. News would be all over the base within minutes.