Renegade Read Free Page B

road and sidewalk began to flash, and nearby pedestrians made room as the descending cruiser’s field gens prickled their hair.
    Erik scanned his ID and its doors opened to admit them — they could have fit another four at least, but Erik wasn’t sure at his family’s reaction if he turned up with half of third-shift in tow. Doors shut and the engines whined, and they rose past park trees and gleaming towers toward a cruising lane.
    “Any idea where it is?” asked Lieutenant Dean Chong, who sat Nav beside Erik’s command chair on third-shift.
    “Somewhere with a good view,” Erik replied. He glanced at Lieutenant Dale in the rear seat. “Lieutenant, did they tell you why I needed protection?”
    “No sir,” said Dale.
    “Maybe worried you’ll choke on an olive,” suggested Ensign Remy Hale, who was from Engineering.
    “I don’t think my olive-swallowing skills have deteriorated that badly,” said Erik. The cruiser reached an elevation where they could see past the towers to Memorial Avenue, cutting straight through Shiwon from Memorial Hill to the harbour like an arrow. Still the marchers marched, and the crowds cheered. No doubt it would go on for hours yet.
    “I’m not sure even Lieutenant Dale could save you from a homicidal olive,” said Second Lieutenant Raf Corrig, who sat Arms. “It doesn’t seem his skill-set.”
    Dale glowered out the window. Erik nearly felt sorry for him. Spacer officer corp tended to be well educated from fine urban institutions. The marines were blue collar brawlers and proud of it. Lieutenant Dale, despite his officer’s bars, had started off as a private after a rough childhood on a frontier world, and earned an officer’s commission by still being alive after twenty years in the field. The two cultures were chalk and cheese, and here was Dale, stuck babysitting smart-mouthed spacer officers as they sipped champagne and exchanged witticisms, when he could be drinking with his buddies in celebration of something that truly deserved it.
    “Pretty girls at the family functions, Lieutenant,” Erik told Dale to cheer him. “Lots of pretty girls.”
    Dale raised an eyebrow. “No doubt, sir.”
    “Just don’t touch the ones called Debogande, or there’ll be trouble.” And Dale actually smiled, just a little.
    Almost immediately the cruiser began to descend, and the dash display showed its skylane curling down between towers to a middle height but hugely wide building that directly overlooked Memorial Avenue. As they drew closer, Erik saw that the entire top floor was a domed glass canopy, and it was filled with people. Upon the adjoining landing pad, lights were beginning to flash.
    “Well Erik,” said Dean, peering wide-eyed from the back seat. “Your mother’s certainly outdone herself this time.”
    They landed on the pad beside the rooftop suite, holding their hats against the gathering sea breeze, and went to where guards opened the doors for them. Within were a cheering crowd of VIPs, and then Erik was swamped by his younger sisters Lisbeth and Cora, then with more grace, Deirdre and Katerina. And finally, and to even greater applause from the crowd, his father Walker, and mother Alice.
    The rest passed in a blur, him introducing his shipmates to his family, his family to his shipmates, then speeches, handshaking, and far, far too many introductions. All he really wanted to do was go off somewhere quiet with his family and talk, especially with Lisbeth, whose entire engineering degree he’d only heard about through correspondence, and Cora, who was now running most of Debogande Incorporated’s enormous arts and philanthropy program at the ripe old age of twenty-nine. Deirdre and Katerina’s lives were still more or less the same as when he’d last had extended family leave, but Katerina’s two kids were older now and eager to see their uncle, and Deirdre had racked up more travelling lightyears than he had lately with the family law firm, and there was so