Jack Campbell - Victorious

But he didn’t have any other option. Geary was about to order that when the bridge watch spoke again, now appearing startled.

“Sir, a shuttle from Inspire just reported that it’s on final approach for our shuttle dock. They say they have orders for a high-priority passenger transport. Is that you, sir?” Thank you, Captain Duellos. I don’t know how you figured out what was going on, but I owe you one. “Yes, that’s me. I need that shuttle ready to go as soon as I reach the dock.”

He ended up having to wait a couple of minutes, though, before Inspire ’s shuttle tore away from Dauntless . “Any particular dock in the passenger terminal area, sir?” the shuttle pilot asked. “It’s really big.”

“I need a dock as close as possible to wherever a passenger ship bound for Kosatka and due to leave soon would be loading.”

“Civilian passenger traffic?” the pilot asked doubtfully. “I can find out that dock assignment easily enough, sir, but I’m supposed to use only military docks, so I may still have to dock a long ways away.”

“There’s no way you can use the civilian docks?”

“No, sir. Well, there’s one way. If there’s an in-flight emergency on approach, and I need to get to the nearest dock.”

Geary tried to keep his voice casual. “An in-flight emergency?”

“Yes, sir, like … uh … the cabin-depressurization alarm.”

“I see. What do you suppose the chances are of that alarm going off while we’re close to the dock I need?”

He could hear the pilot’s grin. “For you, sir? I can feel it getting ready to pop right now. I assume we need the least-time-highest-velocity transit to the terminal that I can manage?”

“You got it.”

“Consider it done, sir.”

About twenty-five minutes later, Geary staggered off the shuttle, whose pilot had indeed done an enthusiastic job of hurling his bird through space. At the dock exit, he walked past some annoyed-looking civilians wearing outfits he didn’t recognize. One tried to halt him, but Geary held up a hand. “I’m in a hurry.”

“You still need to—” The civilian’s eyes locked on Geary’s face, and his jaw dropped. “I … I …”

“Sorry. I’m in a hurry,” Geary repeated, rushing past him.

There were plenty of uniforms among the crowds there, but the civilian clothing everywhere still felt jarring, not simply because of all the time he had spent aboard warships but also because the styles had changed so much in the century since he had been among civilians. The senators he had dealt with had all worn formal clothes, the sort of styles that changed very slowly and so had been close to what he had known a century ago, but these civilians were in casual clothing that looked odd to his eyes. He knew those styles were just the tip of the iceberg, a small part of the changes he’d have to deal with.

But that could wait until he reached the right dock. If he could get there in time. He kept running into bottlenecks and knots of stopped people that slowed him down. Geary kept his head lowered and plowed toward the dock whose number the shuttle pilot had provided, trying not to notice the curious glances turned his way. But then a cluster of sailors turned, saw him, and with broad smiles saluted, while some of the other military nearby watched, puzzled by a gesture still unfamiliar to them.

He couldn’t ignore the salutes. Geary returned them, then looked for the dock numbers nearby. One of the sailors, whose patch indicated he was off Daring , stepped forward. “Sir? Do you need something?”

“Dock one twenty-four bravo,” Geary replied. “I need to get there fast.”

“We’ll get you there, sir! Follow us!” The sailors from Daring locked arms, forming a flying wedge, and began charging through the crowd clearing a path for Geary despite angry and surprised cries of protests from those they shouldered aside.

Grinning despite his worry, Geary followed, hearing in his wake startled voices saying his name and hoping he could stay ahead of any gathering crowd.

Moments later, the sailors came to a halt, and their leader gestured. “Here you are, sir. Courtesy of the Alliance battle cruiser Daring . Are you going to be leading us again, sir?”

Geary paused and smiled back at them. “If I’m lucky. Thanks.” Another quick salute, then he was in the waiting area just outside the dock.

Tanya Desjani turned as he entered. She had on a dress uniform, standing out even among the other military personnel waiting to board the passenger ship. He stumbled to a halt at the sight of her, momentarily unable to both move and take in the fact that he had caught up to her, that Desjani was standing there, finally no barriers of honor or duty between them and their feelings, her face lighting with recognition, her eyes widening in what he thought and hoped was sudden joy as she realized that he was there.

Then she was controlling her expression, adopting the formal, professional posture that he had come to know so well. “Sir?” Desjani asked. “What brings you here?” She noticed his captain’s insignia, and new emotions rippled across her face too fast for him to read.

“I think you know the answer to that, Tanya. And I’m not sir to you anymore. I’m not in command of the fleet, we’re both captains, and you’re not my subordinate now. Just how the hell did you expect me to get here in that little time?”

That flash of happiness showed again in her eyes. “You’ve done more difficult things when you really wanted to do them. Are you happy you got here so quickly?”

“Happy?” Geary sighed. “Tanya, when I walked in here and saw you, I swear for a moment there was no one else and nothing else in the universe. Just you. Are you happy to see me?”

“I—” Desjani bit off her words and started again. “If you read my message—”

“I already read it.”

“You already … It wasn’t supposed to …” Desjani looked annoyed now. “All right, then. Wasn’t I clear?”

“Not entirely, no, but I figured it out.” Even he knew that mentioning Rione’s role in the whole thing would be a very serious mistake. “I don’t need time to think it over. I know what I want. I just hope you still want it, too.”

Annoyance shaded into exasperation. “I am giving you every opportunity to rethink things.”

“Thank you. I have no need for those opportunities.”

Desjani leaned close, speaking in a whisper as Geary became aware of all of the eyes turning their way. “You’re not being fair to either of us. You haven’t had any time to really see the Alliance today. In a few months, things will have changed.”

“My mind and my heart won’t have changed.” Geary shook his head. “Tanya, I had a life before Grendel knocked me on a new course. I saw a lot of people then. And I’ve seen a lot of people now, even though almost all of them were in the fleet. There was no one like you a century ago, and there’s no one else like you now.”

“Do not patronize me, Captain Geary! I know how badly losing everything in your past hurt you!”

He spent a moment looking at her, vaguely aware that an increasing number of sailors had gathered facing away to form a protective wall between him and Desjani and the rest of the occupants of the waiting area, as well as the growing crowd outside. “It did hurt. I lost everything. But eventually I realized that I’d gained something, too. If I hadn’t come to this time, I wouldn’t have met you. Maybe that was always what was intended. It just took me a while to get here.”

Desjani stared at him. “You actually believe the living stars sent you to this time because I was here?”

“Why not? Oh, I was able to do a few things, important things, but I couldn’t have done them without the people I met here. And you have been and are by far the most important of those people to me. You give me the strength to do what I have to do. I told you that before, sort of, as best I could at the time. I can’t face this future without you, Tanya.”