Tila readied herself to fight.
The world around her faded away as all her senses turned toward the threat before her. There was one answer to this threat. There was only ever one answer. She would hit him and hit him and hit him until he stopped. Until he went away. Until Ellie was safe again. There was no negotiating with a monster like this, no way to reason with a mind like his.
She had options. There were always options. She could strike fast and hard. Attack the eyes to blind him or the throat to silence him? Then what? Evade, escape, and run? How far could she get in unfamiliar territory with no backup. They would be looking for her at once.
Under the table Tila's hands became fists.
She had no weapon. At least, not real weapon. In front of her were soft rolls and soft butter, but what damage could she do with those? The knife was blunt, and literally pointless. She would have to do this the old fashioned way. That way you could feel every strike. The impact on the knuckles, the shudder through forearm and wrist and muscles locked and turned, driving the point of her fist into the heart of her problem. Then the recoil, shoulders pulling back, hips twisting, feet shifting, until the fist of one had was back at her side, and the other fist already striking out.
Each punch was a release. Each hit a sign you were one step closer to removing one more problem from the world.
But she would have to act quickly. It was just the two of them for now but the others would be back soon and the moment, and her advantage, would have passed.
One swift punch and Ellie would never have to look into that face again.
There were always options, but sometimes you had to choose the one you hated least.
Then everything went black.
'Guess who!' Said a voice brighter than the sun.
Under the table Tila's fists relaxed.
'Malachi?'
'Tila,' said Ellie reproachfully as she removed her hands from Tila's eyes, 'You're not even trying. Mal's not here yet.'
Tila opened her eyes and the world rushed in to replace the darkness. Their perfect white tablecloth of their restaurant table, set for five, glowed under the soft lamps set into the orange-tiled wall of the terrace which was built on a small peninsular pointing north.
The ocean dominated the horizon from east to west. The evening sun warmed her face as it lowered itself gently toward the ocean on their left and underlit the grey clouds with pink edges. The sky above graduated from pale blue to black as the world turned. Soon the moon would rise above the waters on Tila's right.
The sea breeze tossed loose hairs playfully around her face, and the soft base line of the waves boomed against rocks and dragged sand sighing back to the water.
Tila sighed and the sound carried with it a mixture of frustration and happiness. And Jayce got to live another day.
'He's late?'
'Well actually we're early. I told Malachi that Jayce and I wanted to see the sunset from the beach. Actually it was his idea.'
'His? Whose?'
'Mal! Actually no it was Nina's idea, right Jay?'
Jayce inhaled a bread roll, as was his habit with food, and nodded.
Tila raised an eyebrow. 'Jay?'
'What's wrong with that?' said Ellie.
'It sounds stupid.'
'It's not stupid.'
Jayce reached for another roll and watched them argue. They often argued over him. He liked Tila, but he had never truly understood her animosity toward him. He assumed she was putting it on to look tough. After all what was there to dislike about him? He was clean, educated, nice enough and incredibly rich. They lived on the Juggernaut. His life couldn't be more different to theirs. Of course it was better. So what was Tila's problem with him.
'Jayce is already short for Jason, and even that isn't actually making his name shorter. Why are you making it worse?'
'No offence taken,' said Jayce amicably.
'Hush,' said Tila. 'Ellie, I don't know why you have to call him at all. Why is he even here?'
'He came to say goodbye.'
'He doesn't need to do that.'
'It's sweet.'
'Is it?'
'Tila, you don't travel all this way unless it's important, unless you care for someone. He cares for me. Why can't you see that?'
'That's true,' said Jayce.
'He came for his ship. You need to give it back.'
'Tila!' said Ellie.
'Jayce?' said Tila.
'That's true too,' said Jayce. It was like watching a tennis match. 'Those three Valkyries are sort of expensive.'
'Two,' said Tila.
Jayce shrugged. Technically they weren't his ships.
'See?' said Tila.
'Jayce, hush,' said Elle. 'But that's not the only reason he came, is it Jayce? You can speak now,' she added graciously.
Jayce stopped chewing and dropped a half-eaten roll onto his plate. Their meal hadn't arrived, the bread rolls were almost gone, and no-one else had yet eaten one.
"Well," said Jayce, taking the floor like the natural showman he believed himself to be. "I wanted to say goodbye to you all, deliver your gifts and of course, spend more time with Ellie before she flies away."
At the reminder of their gifts Tila was, for once, mildly ashamed instead of mildly annoyed.
"See? He has lots of good reasons," said Ellie, as if that settled it. "And you look good in that outfit."
"That's not the point," said Tila. She stole a glance at a nearby mirror on the restaurant wall. The white synthetic-leather jacket hung over the back of her chair and under her ponytail. "And I know how to look good without him."
"The new clothes are, um , new though," said Jayce. "You have to keep reusing things on the Juggernaut."
Tila sipped her water rather than make any sound that might be taken as her agreeing with him.
"Well I love them," said Ellie. "I never get to wear skirts."
"That's because you spend all your time in flightsuits," said a new voice.
"Nina!" Ellie leapt from her seat to hug their new companion. Standing on her toes with her chin on Nina's shoulder she scanned the room. "Where's Malachi?"
Nina squeezed Ellie back. "Hi Ellie. Mal's right behind you."
Ellie turned to hug her other friend but Malachi had made a line for Jayce and was already high-fiving him.
Nina nodded at Tila while Ellie made herself known to Malachi. Tila pushed out a chair which Nina dropped into. She immediately took off her shoes and began massaging her feet.
"Problem?" said Tila.
Nina nodded and closed her eyes as she massaged away the aches.
"The problem is your friend over there likes to explore when he's planet side. I'm not used to this much walking."
"Do you mean you can't keep up?" said Tila with a perfectly straight face.
"If that's supposed to be a comment about my age I don't care for it, Tila."
"I don't know what you mean," Tila said, but her eyes sparkled.
"I would punch you in the arm but I know you hit back harder."
Tila's eyes quickly flicked to the other side of the table.
"Only with people I don't like."
"You didn't used to like me."
"But Mal does, and he's not stupid. Plus if it wasn't for you we would never have found that ship and this rescue mission wouldn't be happening."
Nina slipped her shoes back on. "I'm glad it worked out. Mal only told me once how dangerous it was out there."
Tila raised an eyebrow. "Once?"
"He doesn't like to talk about it. You and Ellie seem to thrive on the excitement and danger. Mal runs from it. He wants a nice safe life."
"He's never said anything about that before."
Nina reached for the bread basket to find it empty. "I think he has different conversations with me than he does with you."
"He's one of my best friends, why wouldn't he tell me about that?"
"Oh you're absolutely right, or course, but we are, well, better friends."
"Ah. So what does he want in the future? A little spaceship of your own? Or a house on a planet? Does he want little Malachi's getting under his feet?"
"Little Nina's too."
"I had no idea. Is that what you want?"
"Ye-es, but the Juggernaut is no place to raise a family if you can help it."
"Things are improving in New Haven, thank's to Mal and Theo."
"New Haven is only one of a hundred different communities. They don't all operate like us. They aren't all as safe. You should know that better than anyone, you're always sneaking through the security perimeter."
"I find things we need. Sometimes that means exploring the older parts of the city."
"It's dangerous, and it gets you in trouble."
"I can look after myself."
"But you don't have to. Other people care about you and depend on you. Other people need you."
"Not like they used to."
Nina looked at Jayce. He and Ellie were sharing a seat. She had her arm around his neck for balance while his arm was around her waist. Both of them were intent on Malachi's story, but Ellie's fingertip kept touching Jayce's earlobe. It was a sweet, harmless gesture between two people in love.
"They still do, but not in the same way they once did. She's older then you were when you met now. She's not your child any more."
"She never was."
"Please. You've been like a mother hen around her for years."
"How would you know?"
"Like I said, Mal talks."
"Mal talks too much."
Across the table Malachi perked up at the sound of his name. "I what now?"
Nina stood up and walked around the table to join Malachi who introduced her to Jayce. Ellie, seeing that Tila was now alone, moved in to Nina's vacated seat. She smoothed her skirt as she sat down.
"You never wear skirts," she said to Tila.
"Have you ever tried to fight in a skirt?"
"Have you ever tried not fighting?"
"No."
"Well don't keep fighting me, okay? We're all together for the last time in a while. Don't spoil it."
"I wasn't the one who moved to Parador for three weeks."
"You could have come!"
"I wasn't welcome."
"You mean you didn't feel welcome.
"It's the same thing, Ellie."
Ellie opened her mouth to say something, then stopped herself. She tried again. "How come you never give Malachi a hard time about Nina? You didn't used to like her."
"She's older. He's older. They're more independent."
"I'm independent."
"You think you are but you're still too young."
"I'm older than you were when you saved my life."
"The first time?"
"That's not the point. The point is that you're still treating me like I'm a little kid."
"That's what Nina said too."
"Well then!"
"Well then what?"
"Tila, if everyone thinks you're in the wrong maybe you should listen to them."
"Two people is not everyone, Ellie."
"Jayce agrees with me."
"Of course he does, he'll do anything you say, but what makes you think I'm ever going to listen to him?"
"Hey, can you two keep the hissing down to a dull roar?" said Malachi.
Tila and Ellie both sat back in their chairs, arms folded.
"Sorry," said Tila after a few moments of awkward silence.
"Me too," said Ellie.
They relaxed a little, and searched for a new subject. Ellie found one.
"Are you nervous about the mission?" she said.
Tila relaxed a little further. This was a subject they couldn't argue about. Jayce would be light-years away from either of them.
"Honestly, yes. I don't know what to expect. It's going to be so new and I'm just there to watch. I'll feel useless."
"You won't be useless. And you'll have your mother with you. You're going to find out what happened to the Far Horizon. That's a good thing, isn't it?"
"I think that depends on what happened. It's not just the ship, it's all the people. Where have they been for twleve years?"
"And your father?"
"We'll find out I guess, one way or another. What about you?" said Tila changing the subject. "You must be excited."
Ellie's eyes shone. "Tila, I can't wait! I'm going to fly cadet ships. Do you know how fast they can go?"
"Faster than your racer?"
"Sooo much faster. Maybe not as fast at the Valkyrie's though."
"Why don't you ask them when you get there?"
"I can't," said Ellie sadly. "Jayce said I can't talk about them. They were secret experimental ships."
"Isn't one of them still in pieces in Mal's workshop?"
"Shhh!"
Tila lowered her voice. "Are you telling me Jayce doesn't know?"
"He doesn't need to know, not right now. At least, until Mal can work out how to put it back together. After that I'll tell him."
"Ellie! I can't believe you are keeping secrets from him!"
"It's just one little secret..."
"Jayce!" Tila called out.
"What are you doing?!" muttered a flustered Ellie.
"Yo!" said Jayce.
"Are you hungry? We could eat now."
"Always!" Jayce leaned too far back in his chair to be safe so he could catch the eye of a waiter. His chair almost slipped from under him but Malachi's quick thinking and sure foot held the chair safely in place.
"I hate you," Ellie grumbled through her teeth.
"I'm just looking out for my friend, Jayce," said Tila.
The waiter arrived to take their order.
Tila quickly scanned the menu again. As long as she didn't have to eat anything with mushrooms, potatoes or rat, she wasn't fussy.
"Tila I know you. While you were waiting you probably spent the whole time wishing you could hit him."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
*****
In the end, Jayce ordered for each of them, selecting dishes he suspected they would enjoy based on snippets of conversation and comments he remembered back to the first time they met. Only Nina, to whom he had only minutes before been introduced, caused him to hesitate. For her, he settled on a selection of tapas reasoning that this way he had more chance to get it right. When the food arrived Malachi, who had never heard of tapas until that day, gave Jayce a sly thumbs-up of approval behind Nina's back.
Even Tila had to admit Jayce made good choices for them all. But they were, for tonight at least, in his world; where money and education ruled.
But he wouldn't last five minutes on the Juggernaut, she thought. Assuming he was even brave enough to leave his home comforts.
*****
When the meal was over, and the moon had crested the western sea, Ellie dragged them down a rocky path to the beach.
Born in space, Ellie had only been planet side for the first time in the last year, and she had fallen in love at once. She was still learning about seasons, and weather, and geography, and how the interplay of all these forces changed lighting and air and humidity. On the Juggernaut, when it was working, the recirculated air was a constant. You knew something was wrong when something was different. On a planet every day was different. Every view changed constantly, hour by hour, day by day, month by month. She had seen rivers and forests and plains and mountains and deserts, but it was the sea she loved most of all.
If the sky and land could change over days, the sea changed over hours. Every moment was a new discovery, and the changing tides remade the coastline three times a day.
Jayce had explained how it was the moons that affected tides, and different planets had different patterns, but three times a day sounded like the right number to her.
One thing she had not yet seen was an ocean moonrise, and she was determined not to miss it.
The light breeze had stilled during their meal, and the gentle sigh of waves upon sand had been quieted. Only a few lines of cloud crossed the sky now, adding texture to the dark night, and glowing like skeins in the moonlight. They were a final detail added by a master artist.
Ellie led them to the shoreline, pulling Jayce impatiently by the hand as she trudged through the sand.
Malachi and Nina followed. Nina carried her shoes in a hooked finger and walked barefoot so she could feel the beach between her toes.
Tila came last, alone.
They reached the breaking waters and stood in a line, beneath a frosty sky on a warm night. Ellie was barefoot too and gasped and giggled as the cold waves lapped at her feet and Jayce kicked more cold water on to her bare legs. Nina closed her eyes and remembered her childhood. Malachi breathed deeply in the night air and laced his fingers with Nina.
Tila pulled her leather jacket more tightly around her. The other four had their own adventures about to begin. They would meet new people, learn new skills, grow and discover new things. She was happy for them.
Her own destiny lay along a different path. This all too brief interlude planetside was only a pause. Tomorrow they would leave for the orbiting space station Skygarden. It might even now be one of the stars that turned overhead.
From there they would start their new chapters. Ellie would go to the academy to undergo cadet training, a gift of patronage from Alastair Conway as a thank you for their discovery in the Dead Fleet, while Malachi, who had refused any gift, and Nina went back to the Juggernaut to put their combined skills to use on the hardware and software New Haven needed to keep growing.
Jayce would go home to his life of luxury and await Ellie's return.
Tila's gift was different. She only wanted one thing, to be allowed to join the rescue mission. As a civilian it was a tall order. As an undocumented citizen of any Commonwealth world it was nearly impossible. Only the combined weight of Conway, the man funding a good part of the missions cost, and Grace Vasquez, Tila's mother and a mission specialist.
The mission was to be a military operation. The Cabal they had fought against on Parador and in the Praxis system was still an unknown quantity. They could not afford to take any chances in Baru either. They might find the lost colony ship Far Horizon, but it had been twelve years.
There was no way of knowing what had been lost. Or whom.
Tila knew the other's would be safe, but her journey could be the most dangerous she had ever faced.
Despite the warm evening air Tila zipped up her jacket, folded her arms and shivered.