Speechless!
Jaisa
I never intended to end up on this ship headed for the outer reaches of space and our new “home.” Riiiight. I’ll believe that when I see it. I haven’t had somewhere I could really call home since our house burnt and honestly, I never expected to have one again. I guess I’m here for the same reason Dad is – family. I almost didn’t come, but I just couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing my little sisters again. I love Dad. It would break my heart if I had stayed while he left, but he would understand. Aya and Arra need me though, almost as much as they need Dad. So here I am, 500 trillion miles from anything and everything I’ve every known. Kinda sucks. But then, this is the adventure every kid always dreams of. The Wild West ain’t got nothin on this! I guess I’m willing to give it a shot.
Dad put the room together just like he knew the twins and I would like it. He’d sort of been on daddy overdrive since Mom died, but I guess I understand that. Lord knows I needed it for a while, and I think the girls still do, a bit. All the moving has been hard on them. If this works the way it’s supposed to though, we’ll be done running. Like dad said, done running, done killing.
I’m not so sure about the second part though; there are still a lot of people that need to get dead, and the sooner the better. I guess that’s up to Uncle Gabe now. He certainly knows what the hell he’s doing. I doubt he’s good enough to get the job done, but then, I doubt anyone is. Not him, not Sinopa, not any of them. And it looked like The Fox was done fighting too. She’d been keeping pretty much to herself except for the incident with the exploding flour, and so had we, so I don’t think she noticed Dad or I yet. That would be a fun reunion when it happened. I certainly intended to give her an earful for running and not staying to fight, but that could wait.
After the twins got settled in (Dad was reading them The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe again) I strapped on my Python and headed out to walk off the buzzing headache I still had from the cryo. Waking up had been a bitch, but hell if I was going to let Dad know that.
I headed for the bar (the Last Stop I heard people calling it now). Seemed as good a place as any. Besides, a little Jameson’s or McPherson’s might help with the headache.
I hadn’t gotten a hundred meters when who walks around the corner but Kaye. Kaye, that gorgeous blond boy who proved himself resourceful, brave and quite literally hardheaded all at the same time in that little invasion we had before takeoff. I should have been the one thrown against the wall in the blast, not him! He was just a kid; he had no business getting blown up without me there to protect him! I froze in my tracks.
“Miss,” he said, taking my hand gently in his and bending down to lightly kiss it. A shiver ran through my body. What on earth was that all about? And that accent… “Me name’s Kaye. ‘Tis a pleasure to meet you. Heard you were quite the fine shooter back ther’ in the greenhouse.”
“Uhhh. I mean, I…it’s nice to meet you. Jaisa.” I blurted out, pulling my hand away. What the hell was wrong with me, stumbling over my words like a drunken toddler? He was just a kid! A fine looking one, to be sure, but he couldn’t be more than…
“So y’ know how t’ handle that un?” he asked, gesturing towards my revolver.
“I, yes, I shoot some,” I answered, lamely (I thought). Lord, if he tried to punch me I’d at least know what to do. This was torture.
“Neveh have m’self, growin up here ‘n all. Blastin’ I know. Guns ‘re new t’ me. Mebe y’ could show me sometime, after we get t’ tha surface?”
“Sure. Sure, I’d love to.” I smiled. I was regaining a little composure at least.
“Well, ‘m off. Cap’n has me on ‘n errand. ‘Twas good meeting you, little miss.” He dipped his head slightly and was off.
Why that little! Little miss? Damned if I was going to give him shooting lessons! Still…
I hurried on to the bar. My headache was getting better, but that Jameson’s definitely still sounded pretty damn good.