Dialene Read online

  "You know he might have decided to break it off. Or found someone else."

  I nodded and stifled a sigh. "Yeah I know. But I think he would have told me. Jack's not the type to leave you hanging."

  She gave my hand a pat, "I'll check into it. Now don't worry."

  I nodded and went back to work. The guys who I hadn't seen in a while due to Jack's monopolizing my time on this off shift were pretty well lined up, so I wasn't lonely. But I was worried about him, quite a bit.

  Trell came over as my shift was in its last couple of hours.

  "Well? You find him?"

  "No," she said looking puzzled. "No one knows where he is or has seen him since the ship docked. Even the Warden's office can't tell me anything."

  I looked nervous. "You don't think he's trying to jump on that ship do you?"

  She shrugged, "It's happened before, but I don't see how he could pull it off. He'd stand out like a sore thumb. Besides, they didn't see too concerned at the Warden's office when I asked over there."

  "What about the Warden?"

  "He's busy with the ship, and no offense Dialene, but I'm not about to risk my relationship with him over your missing Beau."

  I nodded and sighed, "I understand Trell. Thanks for your help."

  "Well if he turns up, I'll have my boys let him know just how upset he made you." She grinned.

  "Ummm ..." I shook my head. "I think I can handle that one myself."

  "Up to you hon. Now I need to get back to work."

  My shift was just about over, and the customers where all making their way out when I heard him enter behind me.

  "Hey Foxy, sorry I'm late!"

  "Jack, where have you ..." I started as I turned towards him.

  It was him, and it wasn't him. Or rather it was him dressed as I'd never seen him before. And he was armed. Not even the guards carried anything more then a club and he was wearing a large combat pistol strapped to his thigh. Of course the thigh, as well as the rest of him was clad in a suit made of what I could only guess was silk.

  "What's a matter Foxy? Never seen a guy in a suit before?" He grinned.

  I looked up at him and smiled, "I'd kick you in the shin for making me worry, but I'd hate to ruin your pants. Now would you please tell me what's going on?"

  "Oh, well it seems that it's time for my vacation to end and for me to get back to work." He smiled ruffling my ears with a large paw.

  "Oh," I said. I looked down at his feet. I could feel my eyes starting to water. "Well I'll miss you Jack. Good luck."

  "I want you to meet my Boss Foxy."

  I looked up, "Huh?"

  "I want you to meet my Boss."

  "Why?"

  "Because. Dialene, this is my Boss, Ms. Samantha Harten, Vice President of Operations for Tri-Star."

  I then noticed the woman that had walked up from behind him. Her outfit was understated, but obviously expensive. The kind of thing that says, 'I have it, and I don't have to flaunt it'. She was a little taller then me, but not much, and had the same kind of well proportioned athletic figure I did.

  "Um, Hello Ms Harten." I said a bit bewildered.

  "Hello Dialene." She said looking me over with a critical eye. She then turned to Jack and looked up at him.

  "So is this the reason you made me fly all the way out here to get you?"

  He nodded.

  "What?" I asked looking from her to Jack and back again.

  "You know she's a redemptory, right?"

  He nodded again.

  "Excuse me?" I asked, a little louder. By now the bar had cleared out and other then Chet who was putting things away, and Trell who was keeping a discrete eye from behind the bar with Chet, there wasn't anyone else here.

  "It seems," she turned towards me, "that someone who was supposed to be on the previous ship sent a note instead saying that I had to come and get him personally."

  "You mean you could have left here a few months ago Jack?"

  "Yup"

  "So why didn't you?"

  He grinned.

  "You don't mean?"

  "Yes, he does mean." Ms. Harten growled. "It seems he got it into his rather thick skull that you should be my new pilot."

  "WHAT?" My jaw was just left hanging open.

  "My sentiments exactly!" she growled looking up at Jack, who was just standing there smiling.

  "Why me Jack? Why me?"

  He reached down and stroked my face, "Because I know I can trust you. And that Samantha will be able to trust you too."

  "That's all?" I blinked.

  "Well I won't lie to you and tell you that I don't like you, or that I don't care about you. I do. But I wouldn't have made Samantha come here if I didn't think you'd be worthy of the job."

  "I don't know what to say."

  "Say yes."

  "Yes! Of course I want the job. Especially if it means I get to be with you!"

  "Damn," Ms. Harten said under her breath.

  "What?" I asked turning towards her.

  "I was hoping you'd turn him down."

  "Why?"

  "Do you have any idea how much paperwork this is going to take?" She looked very unhappy.

  "Then why are you doing it?"

  "Because I asked her to." Jack smiled. Almost evilly too, which made me blink. I couldn't picture this woman being bossed by anyone.

  "Damn furball blackmailed me!" she grumbled in a voice so low that only Jack and I could hear it.

  "Now Muffy," he whispered back, and I saw her turn completely red, and not in anger, but embarrassment! "You know I have always put your best interests first, even ahead of my own. May I remind you who was right about Mr. Green?"

  "But She's a redemptory!"

  "Which means she's untouchable by any other company factions."

  "But ..."

  "And her being seen with me will allay all those other suspicions you keep worrying about."

  My ears perked at that and she looked daggers at me for a minute.

  "Okay, Okay! Pack your things Dialene, the ship leaves in four hours and I have to go pay a visit to the Warden to make sure the paperwork gets filed properly."

  And then she leaned in real close and whispered in my ears so that only I could hear it, "And just remember, I'll share him with you, but he's mine dammit!"

  Curiouser and curiouser was all I could think.

  Jack grinned and picked me up giving my bewildered body a hug and a kiss. Then he set me down and gave my butt a pat.

  "Go pack, We'll collect you on the way out." And with that he followed Ms. Harten out the door.

  I blinked and looked around. "Did that just really happen?" I asked of no one in particular.

  "Sure did hon!" Trell said coming over and giving me a hug. "Congratulations and let me help you pack."

  "Thanks Trell. Was she who she said she was?"

  "Sure was. I thought I recognized him, now I'm sure of it."

  "Huh?"

  "He's her personal bodyguard. She takes him everywhere. Sometimes corporate politics gets rather nasty. I guess he must of did something she couldn't totally gloss over so they sent him here to make it look good. Now that the heat is gone I'm not surprised she came to get him back. It's just your good luck he likes you."

  "I'm not so sure she does though."

  "Oh I'm sure that will change, you're a good kid Dialene. Just remember that in Tri-Star loyalty is always rewarded. Look at me, they should have turned me over to the locals for what I did. But for all my crimes I was still loyal to the company and never betrayed them, and I had lots of opportunity too."

  "But you're still in jail Trell."

  "Yeah, but I’m queen of the jail, and when I get out I'll still have a large bit of money stashed away. Sending me here was a reward, for all that I had to be punished. Your only crime was that they don't know if they can trust you."

  "I understand." And I did too.

  Two hours later, Jack came and got me. Samantha was already shipboard dealing wi
th a number of issues there he told me.

  "Am I the cause of these issues?" I asked embarrassed.

  "Oh don't worry about that. No one's gonna blame you at all."

  "Except your Boss."

  "Oh no, she blames me!" he laughed. "I told her that if my judgement wasn't good enough for her, she'd just have to wait until my sentence was up because I couldn't in good conscious leave early."

  "And how long was that?" I asked though there was another question I wanted to ask as well. Namely why she should care how long he was there.

  "Ten years." He grinned.

  "Ten Years? You risked Ten more years of that hell hole to get me out of it?"

  "Foxy," He smiled, "I want you to understand that I do care very much about you, okay? But I want you to also understand that if I didn't think you'd be the perfect choice to be Samantha's pilot, I would have kissed you and said goodbye."

  That stopped me. "What?"

  "You heard me. My first and strongest loyalty is to Samantha. I picked you for this because I knew it would be right. That I care about you is just an added bonus for me, okay?"

  I thought about that a bit. On the one hand he made it clear that Samantha came first. On the other hand he made it clear that he cared about me as well.

  And she had said something about sharing. Which while cryptic still sounded good enough to me.

  "Foxy?"

  "What?"

  "Just wondering if you were still with me. Your eyes looked a bit glazed there for a second."

  "Yeah, I'm still here, this whole thing is still a bit confusing for me. And oh, I love you Jack."

  He grinned, "Yes I know. I think you'll feel the same about Samantha once you get to know her. You're both a lot alike."

  "So what happened to her previous pilot?"

  "Him? Oh I ripped his head off."

  "What! Is that why they sent you here?"

  "For that? Oh no, it was for killing the twit in upper management who was paying him to help kidnap Sam. I take a very pro-active stance to bodyguarding. If the guy's uncle hadn't been on the board at the time, I wouldn't have even had to go to jail."

  "Geez, maybe I should have stayed in jail Jack."

  "Oh, and it's not Jack, it's actually Sabre."

  I grinned, "Okay Jack. Anything else I need to know?"

  He laughed, "Everything."

  Part II - Dividends

  Being on board a ship again was a real thrill. I hadn't been on one since I had been dumped on that rock, and I hadn't exactly been in good accommodations that time either. Now I was not only riding as a passenger, but first class as well! My room was attached to Ms. Harten's suite. Which was huge! I didn't know they had such rooms aboard a starship. Of course I was sharing my room with Jack. Or rather Sabre. There were two beds in it, but it was bigger then my room at the club was, so I couldn't complain. Not that I would have minded sharing a room half the size with him.

  I didn't have a lot of things with me really. Most of my clothes were working outfits. Which meant they really weren't for shipboard life. Or much of any other life I could think of. I had left most of my outfits for the other girls, and just took a few of my better ones. Better as in I could wear them and not get arrested, I might want to show off for someone someday. Otherwise I had two very plain coveralls that I used for Kitchen work.

  Ms Harten took one look at those and sent me off to ship's stores with her credit card. When I came back she took a look at what I had and sent me back out with instructions to buy more expensive stuff.

  "You now work for one of the richest and most powerful women in the corporation. You need to look like it. People are going to look at you, and I want them to like what they see."

  So I put my recent brothel experience to work and bought the best of what they had. I put on one of the outfits and Ms. Harten nodded and smiled.

  "Much better, don't be afraid to make the men drool a little. Keeps them on their toes."

  I nodded, "Thank you Ms. Harten."

  "Ms. Harten in public, Samantha in private."

  I nodded, "Thank you Samantha."

  "Now go down to flight ops and get checked out on the simulators here. I want you familiar with everything this company has that flies by the time we make port. Which is in two weeks."

  "Yes Samantha." I nodded again and headed off to get myself checked out.

  Twelve hours later I dragged myself back up to my room. I hadn't flown anything in over a year, and there was a lot of rust to clean off. The flight director knew I was coming out of 'detention' as he called it, and told me he was going to be hard on my ass because he knew I hadn't done any flying there and he knew I'd thank him later.

  It had been fun, it also had been a lot of hard work. He spent the first four hours going over technical stuff, and never once stopped grilling me on it, even while I was flying. If he was this hard on the rest of his pilots I suspected the people here were top-notch.

  I dragged myself into my bedroom, and noticed unhappily that Jack wasn't in his bed yet. I climbed into mine and went to sleep, I figured he'd show up eventually.

  My dreams were horrid. Nasty nightmares of death and suffocation all alone in the cold darkness. I woke up with a start, shuddering and crying. I noticed Jack's bed was still empty and the clock said I had been asleep for several hours. Getting out of bed I headed out to the main room feeling lonely and scared. Once there I looked around unsure of what to do. Back at the Club I could have gone to sleep with another of the girls there. Then I remembered that Gena was on board, I hadn't seen her yet, but I could probably call and ask her.

  I was looking around the room for the phone when Ms. Harten came out of her room, in a bathrobe looking a little disheveled.

  "What are you doing up Dialene?" She asked yawning.

  "I'm sorry Ms. Harten, but I couldn't sleep." My voice sounded shaky even to me.

  Her eyes quickly came into focus and she moved over to me and looked at my face.

  "Sam. And you don't look so good. What's wrong?"

  "Nightmares," I shuddered.

  "Well you're out of that place now hon, so don't worry about it anymore."

  I shook my head, "It's not from there. It's from when I got captured."

  She looked at me a little funny. "What happened?"

  So I told her.

  When I was done she nodded and looked at me, "That sounds bad alright. Did you ever tell Sabre about this?"

  "The nightmares? No, why?"

  "Cause I'd crack his skull open if he knew and hadn't told me that you don't like to sleep alone. Maybe you'd better come with me." And she stood up and took my hand leading me to her room.

  "I really don't want to impose Samantha," I protested weakly, but the fact was I did want to impose. Some of the images were still floating through my head. "I'll just wait for Jack ... Err Sabre to get back. Where is he by the ... Oh!"

  I looked up into the dark bedroom as she dragged me in and there looking back at me, eyes glowing in the dim light was Sabre. I also suddenly noticed the scent in the room and all over Samantha, which I had not been paying attention to, as for the last year it was typical for all the other women around you to smell of sex.

  I looked at her, and at him and at her again.Sabre for his part looked a bit confused.

  "She gets terrible nightmares when she sleeps alone because of the wreck."

  Sabre's eyes opened wider. "Oh! I didn't know."

  "In the bed ..." Samantha directed.

  "But ... Where," I looked back and forth as she dumped the robe and Sabre held up the covers.

  "You can have the middle tonight, if he gets randy try not to wake me, I have an early meeting tomorrow."

  I crawled in under the covers and my ears flattened in embarrassment. "I didn't know."

  "Of course not, no one does, though a few might suspect." She yawned and snuggled up against me eyes closed already. "But I'm sure you would have figured it out by morning. Like I said before, I don't mind sharing,
but Sabre's mine."

  "And," Sabre added, snuggling along the other side of me, giving another one of those massive yawns of his. "Sam's mine. Just keep it to yourself."

  I nodded and put my arms around him, confused about a few things, but content for the moment and happy to just be quiet and enjoy the company.

  Sabre did get a bit randy during the night, and I can't say I was any better. But we did manage to keep from waking Samantha. That or she could sleep through an earthquake. After she had left for her appointment in the morning we got a bit louder and more physical. I would like to have done it a few more times, but I had to run off to my sim training and Sabre had duties as well.

  "Why didn't you go with Samantha this morning?" I asked.

  "She's pretty safe onboard the ship, especially up here in officer country. Plus she wanted me to spend a little quality time with you."

  "She's pretty trusting." I said ruffling his fur.

  "She lives in a different world then most people, to the elite who often marry for money and business, casual sex is just casual sex. Plus as no one knows about our relationship, she has to be seen with other people and all that kind of thing. Otherwise people might look a little too close."

  "It must be tough at times."

  He shrugged, "If she wasn't such a high ranked executive we'd have probably gone to one of the colonies where no one really much cares, but as she has to live on earth to do her job, well, we get by."

  "So how'd it happen?"

  "What?"

  "You two falling in love."

  He grinned, "We're both two very ruthless cold blooded nasty people, especially when we're focused on something. I was focused on keeping her alive, she was focused on climbing the corporate ladder. We had so much in common in our behavior that I guess it was inevitable."

  "Neither of you seems very ruthless or cold-blooded to me!" I laughed.

  "Well, falling in love teaches you how to be nice to each other, as well as other people. But we can both be very dangerous people, don't think otherwise. And when we fight, I suggest you find someplace else to be very quickly."