)1)
The Scabrous Empire began invading planets in the Interstellar Alliance before the year ended, causing trouble for all of us. The Interstellar Armed Forces were called to action, and us cadets were asked to volunteer. There was no vacation in Mirandus for me and Dad that summer.
Lakan graduated with honors from the ISA, and his officers made him Captain of the RLS Celerity. He would have gone straight into battle and perhaps to his death had they not called him to escort a relief operations task force to the minor outlying planets in the Alliance. We all wondered why he wasn't sent to liberate Paterfa or Guidon like some of his classmates and secretly suspected that Dad had him moved to relief ops at the request of a certain royal family. But, Lakan did not protest and instead dutifully accepted the mission. Somebody had to do it.
I was one of the volunteer cadets and would have gone on the Steadfast, my father's ship, to serve alongside him. But he had me moved to relief ops, too. Unlike Lakan, I protested, but Dad was firm.
"I'm not going to lose you when I've already lost your mother," he'd said.
I'd answered, "But I want to be there if anything happens to you, Dad."
"If anything happens to me, Aaren," he'd replied, "it'll surely happen to you. And I don't want that." And that was that.
"There she is," Lakan said, "the RLS Celerity."
We stood at the bottom of the gangplank at the spaceport and looked up at the new craft. IAF ships are smaller and lighter than the huge space trade galleons and thus are their ideal escorts. These ships haven't changed much in design since the time of Dad and Treasure Planet, but they are faster and have better artillery and shields. We and the RLS Adept would escort the Montressor Blossom, which was laden with food and goods, to the outer planets that had been attacked and abandoned by Scabrous forces.
"The Celerity, huh?" I said, eyeing the ship. "Sounds like a vegetable."
"Or a famous person spelled wrong," someone put it.
I whirled around, nearly bumping into him. He wore a light blue, buttoned-up shirt and loose black trousers under a long black coat, and on his feet were a pair of shiny black boots. He had pale blue eyes, blue-black hair, a button nose, and a cheeky grin, with a dimple to the right side.
"What are you doing here, Marko?"
His grin widened, and he gave me a stately bow. "I'm a volunteer."
I raised my eyebrows. "I thought Princes were too good for this kind of thing, Your Highness," I said through my teeth. The only good things I'd seen in boarding the Celerity instead of joining my father were that I'd still be helping out during the invasion and that I wouldn't have to see Marko that summer. But here he was, in Montressor clothes and with that annoyingly smug look on his face - the look he reserved especially for me.
"I'm Prince of Mirandus," he answered simply, shrugging. "Mirandus, though insignificant and small compared to Montressor, is a member of the huge Interstellar Alliance. There've been devastating attacks on other members of this Alliance, and as is my duty - as, apparently, is yours too, Aaren - I have volunteered."
I scowled. All I could say in reply was, "If it's duty, Marko, then it isn't volunteering."
He only answered, "Nice uniform," and winked.
"Cut it out, you two," Lakan interrupted. "And get onboard."
So, we went onboard and below to stow our belongings in our quarters. My berth was far from Marko's - I was surprised he'd stay with the rest of us and not in a cabin of his own - but near Maggie's, and Maggie was my friend. I felt really annoyed, though, as I tossed my things into my locker and she sidled up to me to whisper, "Who was that?"
She was trying to stifle some giggles, and I frowned. "That's Marko: Prince of Mirandus and really big jerk," I snapped.
She snuck glances at him and blushed. "No kidding," she answered. Then, "You didn't say he was that gorgeous."
I snorted, slammed the locker door shut, and turned around. Marko leaned on the opposite wall with his arms crossed. He smirked and raised a hand to wiggle his fingers at Maggie and me. She tried again to suppress a giggle. I shook my head, rolled my eyes, and pulled her out of the quarters. "Come on," I said, irritated. "I think the Captain's calling."
We emerged on deck with Marko close behind. Sure enough, Lakan hollered, "All hands to stations and prepare to launch!"
In moments, the Celerity hummed to life beneath my feet. I looked around, hoping to catch Marko off balance when the ship lurched forward. I was unlucky. Not only did he seem quite at home and sure of himself on the ship, but some crates came loose and knocked into me. It sent me off balance and backwards across the deck, into him.
"Ouch," he said, quite calmly. "Why, it's Aaren Hawkins! What a pleasant surprise…"
I elbowed him in the ribs and began picking up the contents of the spilled crates - ripe yellow brubloos, and pale-colored ones that would ripen by the time we reached our destination. He got on his hands and knees to help me.
"No thanks, Marko," I muttered angrily. "You already saved me from crashing into the Captain's quarters."
He carelessly tossed some of the fruit into the open crate. "Gee, Aaren, I was beginning to wonder when you'd thank me."
"That's not gonna happen anytime soon, trust me," I retorted.
"Why, is it safe?" he answered.
He made me want to scream. Instead, though, I hissed, "Come on, Marko, tell me: why are you really here? I never thought anything like volunteering would stand in the way of a grand slam at the summer games."
He gave me that cheeky grin again. In an overly tender, fake and syrupy voice, he said, "Lakan told me you'd be here, and I thought I'd be miserable this summer without you." I raised an eyebrow. He laughed and did the same.
Just then, we reached for one of the fruits at the same time, and his hand covered mine. I felt the brubloo juice ooze out between my fingers; this one was rotten. For a few moments, we stared at each other, him smirking and me scowling. Then I snatched my hand away and smashed the rotten fruit into his royal highness's button nose.
He didn't shout, didn't throw fruit at me… Instead, he calmly wiped his face with his hand and flung the pulp off his fingers. His smirk had narrowed, but I saw a cold and taunting glare in his pale blue eyes.
"And I thought cadets had more balance, Aaren," he said softly.
)Author's Note)
Lakan's name is pronounced la-khan, with stress on the second syllable. And celerity is not a vegetable. ;) I use mostly abstract nouns or adjectives for military ships and anything else for private ships. Thanks also for the reviews. Here's something shocking: after rereading, I realized that there's an entire chapter in No Ordinary Voyage missing. I'll try to rewrite it soon - I can't retrieve the original text because my hard drive is fried.