Chapter 23
Battle Carrier Hermes – Admiral De Ruyter's Conference Room – Alliance Fleet
Alexandra Schlein's blood had simmered during most of the conversation with the Colonial leaders. At first, the way that Roslin woman had tried to drag the Alliance into her people's lost war with their rampant creations had annoyed Alex. Then she snorted when she recalled how it certainly hadn't helped Roslin's case when the Colonial president had appeared to have lost her temper with de Ruyter. However, that woman had gone too far when she had snapped at then lectured Malcolm about his stance on the conflict between her people and their biochenes. The only thing that had halted any retort aimed at the ungrateful woman on Alexandra's part was when that woman had blurted out that her captain had foolishly leapt into the lion's den to battle one of their murderous biochenes armed with a nuclear warhead. That tidbit of distressing news had nearly stopped Alex's heart dead in its tracks!
Meanwhile, an apparently blithely ignorant Senior Captain Jackson seemed unaware of her distress and was busy using the ship's intercom to inform the Colonial pilot to meet her leaders on the flight deck per de Ruyter's orders.
That fact had served only to increase her ire.
So, moments later, after he switched off the device, the normally patrician Alexandra Katerina Schlein reared back and punched him in his left shoulder, hard.
"Hey!" he yelped. "What was that for?"
"You idiot!" she snapped. "While I was beside myself, worried sick that those people might have harmed you or worse, you decided to board an alien vessel seeking a confrontation with a genocidal, nuclear bomb wielding biochene?! Now, tell me, how in the hell do you go and risk your life in that manner after I had told you to 'travel safely and come back to me,' you half-witted moron?" she grumbled.
Just as it appeared that he was going to answer her rhetorical question, she cut him off ruthlessly. "Quiet! I do not want to hear it! There is simply no justification for what you did, Malcolm Jackson! For She's sakes, you could have sent Stenger to handle that thing. After all, the woman's meta-human strength would make her more than a match against a killer artificial life form!" When his eyes opened wide at her pronouncement, she smirked at him. "That's right, my good captain, I know all about her little secret."
"Well," he observed, "apparently the Schlein intelligence apparatus is alive and well."
She snorted and fixed him with her 'don't-mess-with-me' look. "Do not play coy with me, Captain Jackson. It is unbecoming of you. You know full well that our intelligence apparatus is still operative. And, though it pains me to admit this, you are one of the best operatives the Fleet has and none of my people are foolish enough to underestimate you."
Now he grinned brightly at her which only served to add more fuel to her raging fire. But before she could press her attack, he said, "Now Alex, if you respect my abilities then you know I'm good at my job. I'm sorry you were worried about my safety but you need to accept several things about me that are quite different from most Schlein Family combat managers. First, I don't ask anyone under my command to do anything I'm not willing to do. Second, I assign my assets based on their abilities and their likelihood of success in completing the mission. I assigned Stenger to the primary target based on our assessment of the threat because of the qualities you just noted about her. It simply was the luck of the draw that the weapon happened to be on the secondary target vessel."
Suddenly, he simply smiled at her and her eyes narrowed at him while her temper smoldered. The Maker damn him, he's right! Alex finally realized. Even so, as he stood there smugly, her anger couldn't release its hold on her. "May I ask what is it that you find to be so amusing about this situation, captain?" she queried frostily.
"Well, I think it's kind of amusing that it was only when you nearly dislocated my shoulder that I finally discover you're as mad about me as I am about you."
His answer made her eyes flash. "Oh! You are such an arrogant bastard! Of course, I am angry! Even after you had risked your idiotic life to save thousands of strangers, practically aliens for She's sakes, that Roslin woman had the unmitigated gall to chastise yo—" Suddenly, she lost her full head of steam when her mind had finally registered what he'd just said. "Excuse me…what did you say a moment ago?"
"I said, I'm mad about you, Alex."
"Wait…are you saying…" her voice trailed off, the question lingering.
"I'm saying I wasn't going to allow that Cylon to kill anyone because I wasn't going to let anything stop me from coming back to you. Alex…I love you."
For several beats of her heart, she simply gawked at him. She was completely, utterly gobsmacked. Then, all at once, a thousand watt smile beamed on her face the second before she launched herself into his arms.
Moments later, she drew his head to hers and pressed her lips firmly against his. As their tender salute to each other deepened, she drowned in the sensation of him, losing herself to the moment and whimpering as she attempted to connect with him on a primal level.
When oxygen finally became an issue for them, they mutually ended their impassioned kiss. Suddenly, like a dam bursting, words came rushing from her mouth. "When Amato told me where you'd gone, I had to come for you! You were cut off from the Fleet, from me, in the midst of desperate, frightened people who could turn on you in a heartbeat if you'd said or done the wrong thing."
"So," he observed with a gentle smile, "it seems you care for me a little, as well, Sector Administrator?"
At that, she smiled coyly, feeling relieved both that he appeared to be comfortable with her concern on his behalf and allowed her to regain her footing. Now she rolled her eyes and drawled, "Well, truth be told, I believe it is more accurate for me to say perhaps there was a smidgen of concern I had for your safety, my captain. Yet, I must confess that I am happy you managed to survive your ordeal, for you see, I have grown accustomed to your face."
He grinned then drew her unresistant body even closer to him. "I suppose I can settle for that, Alex."
Although she knew he was trying to lighten her mood, the emptiness she'd felt when she had considered the possibility that he might never come back to her made her gaze into his eyes with a tender seriousness. "Mal, you shall never have to settle for anything less than all of me. I love you…madly, I dare say," she offered with an impish smile.
He quirked an eyebrow at her playfully. "Although I'm glad you feel the same about me as I about you…you're a Schlein and I'm Fleet, through and through. Hell, Romeo and Juliet had better odds than us, don't you think?"
"No, I do not. Shakespeare's characters were merely children and were at the mercy of forces beyond their control. We, on the other hand, are devious, highly trained professionals who are the masters of our own fate. Also, we both can be quite ruthless when the circumstances warrant it and are completely comfortable visiting wanton destruction on those who dare cross us."
Just then a cloud seemed to pass across his face. "What is it, darling? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Alex…to stop the Cylon…I had to kill a Colonial woman. She never saw it coming. I put a bullet in her head before she even knew I was in the room."
In response to his confession, she drew him into a hug seeking to grant him both solace and absolution. "Was she armed?"
"Yes, she had an assault rifle. She'd been duped into protecting the Cylon."
"Mal, you had to act to save the lives of thousands. I know that taking that woman's life was unpleasant for you but, truly, you had no choice. You did the right thing."
She felt his body release some of its tension and sensed the feathery brush of his lips against her forehead. "Thank you."
"You are always welcome," she murmured into the crook of his neck.
His mood now lighter, he gave her a tiny smile. "So, we're officially a couple, I presume?"
"Unless you desire for me to punch you in the arm again, your presumption had better be the case for your sake," she noted with a hint of steel in her pronouncement.
He shook his head fervently. "I don't want you to hit me like that again, so you've got a deal!"
She smirked smugly. "Smart man."
"Hey, my mother didn't raise any dummies. Now, I know that the members of your Family had always had effective military combat training but who in the hell taught you how to hit so hard?"
"My mother," she answered simply.
He sighed resignedly. "I suppose I should never do anything to get on her bad side."
"That would be a very wise course of action for you to pursue."
Smirking now, he observed, "Considering our somewhat star-crossed relationship, I suppose once we break the news to your Family, it's certain to cause, would it be fair to say, some consternation?"
Alexandra Schlein's face fell. "My Father may take a little work on my part before he grants us his blessing. Meanwhile, this is going to kill the First Son." Then she perked up. "This is going to kill the First Son!" She had always hated that arrogant pillock, so it would serve him right if her relationship with Malcolm Jackson managed to give the bastard a heart attack.
"That's my Alex!" her captain chortled. "You can always find the silver lining in any situation!"
"Well then, my captain, perhaps we should leave the good admiral's conference room and go somewhere with a little more privacy to consummate…our merger, as it were?"
Grinning, he nodded. "I think that is a wonderful idea, Sector Administrator. May I escort you to your stateroom?"
She nodded regally, barely able to dampen down her fervent need to have her wicked way with the man right there on the admiral's conference room table, propriety be damned! "You may, my captain," she answered, her voice low and husky.
When they entered the corridor outside the conference room, her legs wobbled imperceptibly, almost as if she were at sea. They were committed to each other now; there was no turning back. Yet, the minute amount of trepidation she felt was completely overwhelmed by the exhilaration that encompassed her entire being.
"So, Alex," he said, engaging in the easy banter they had always shared from the moment they had first met. "What do you think of the Hermes?"
She shot a coy smile his way and drawled, "She's quite a lovely ship, darling. Perhaps I'll have one like her made for you if that is what it would take to keep you with me and out of harm's way."
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Author's note: Whew! That was a tough chapter to write to make sure the characters stayed true to themselves. I hope I captured them accurately! Thanks for sticking with this story!