“It’s mylife, Jack!” She couldn’t stop shaking.
“Hey.” He slid along the bench to take her in his arms. “Hey,” he said again, soothing and stroking her. “You are still Aria. The woman who captured my imagination, and my desire. Aria, the woman who is my companion in adventure throughout the galaxy.”
He put a gentle hand under her chin and tilted her head up. “Aria, the woman I love.”
Aria’s eyes filled with tears, and she buried her face in his chest. “Oh, Jack,” she said, sniffling, “I love you, too. So much.”
The pirate gently stroked her hair. “We’ll figure this out, my darling. We’ll figure this out together.”
Aria’s body melted into his, and she yielded to his strength. “All right,” she said softly, “my love.”
The two held each other for a long time.
***
Jack strode onto the command deck, where Quinn and Giles were waiting by his chair. He sat down and accepted a mug of coffee from a crew member.
“Thank you,” he said. “How long until we reach Tarma?”
“Twelve hours, Captain,” replied the navigation officer.
“Good.” Jack turned to his friends. “Any new developments?”
“Nobody following us, if that’s what you mean,” replied Giles.
“How’s Aria?” asked Quinn.
“About as good as can be expected. A lot has happened to her, without a great deal of time to process it.” He relayed to them what Aria had remembered.
“I don’t like the sound ofthat,” said Quinn. Giles nodded.
“Agreed,” said Jack. “While we’re traveling, we have two priorities. One is to see if we can discover the identity of this mysterious stranger, Aria’s supposed father. Giles, you have an eye for anomalies. Do some research in the Palamar government records and see if you can find out any information about an adoption or anything like that.”
“On it,” Giles responded.
“And the second priority?” asked Quinn.
Jack sighed. “I need to talk to my sister. Let her know that we’re not just coming bearing gifts.”
“What do you want me to do while you two are doing that?” asked Quinn.
“Somebody needs to keep an eye on the ship and the crew,” replied Jack. “I need everyone to be alert and shipshape, and I don’t want to take that for granted. Things could get hairy.”
His second-in-command nodded. “Understood.”
“Thank you both,” said the pirate, taking a long sip of his coffee. “Route a comms channel to my private quarters,” he ordered. “I’ll send my call from there.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” said the comms officer.
Jack left the command deck, taking his coffee with him. His thoughts were racing faster than he could walk.Slow down.Yes, this is a lot of stuff to deal with, but you know how to solve puzzles. Take things step by step, but don’t get lost in the details. Keep your head up, and an eye on the big picture as you go.
He reached his quarters, ran some cold water over his face, and sat down.
“Call Maddie,” he said, adding his authorization code for private encryption.
A moment later, the face of his younger sister appeared—her expression crisp and efficient, her features beautiful.
“Jack,” she said, her tone neutral as always. Her brother, however, knew her well.
