Savage World (Babel Series Book 1) by Jennifer Slusher & Linda Thackeray

Author:Jennifer Slusher & Linda Thackeray [Slusher, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Creativia
Published: 2018-07-29T22:00:00+00:00

XV

The Valley

After an hour of inspection and diagnostics with Luke Rickman, Jules and Tom finally decided the hopper was air-worthy. The Firefly would never break atmo again, not with her damage, but Jules and Luke determined it would survive at least a few trips to the valley and back. She'd keep it low and slow, skimming the tops of the massive trees they'd hiked through.

Ideally, they should have waited until morning, but their position was precarious at best and could turn downright deadly if the weather turned or worse, the sky crabs returned.

Especially if the sky crabs returned.

“You sure this is a good idea?”

A bemused smile crossed Jules's lips at the barely concealed anxiety in Tom's voice as he braced himself in the co-pilot's chair next to her. His presence at her side meant a lot to her but she didn't dare voice those feelings. Not right now anyway.

Initially, when Jules proposed this plan on the hike back, she'd planned on doing it alone. Firing up the ship after the damage it had sustained was insane. Period.

Naturally, Tom insisted (“Bloody hell you are…!”) on joining her and here he was, despite Jules's best efforts to talk him out of it and what might be a case of the jitters.

“You're not scared, are you?” She glanced sideways at him, long enough to catch his scowl.

“Those are fightin' words, luv,” Tom retorted, straightening and bristling even more when Jules chuckled. “I'm not bloody scared of anything, I'm just mentioning we might be a little hasty.”

Smirking, Jules ran a thumb under the bank of switches that started the engines. With a solid click-click-click, she felt more than heard the whine of the powerful engine as it fired up. Tossing a wink at him, she said, “Don't panic, Marine. This is my thing.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “Bloody wingnuts. I hope you're better at flying than making jokes,” he teased back, giving his harness a final jerk to test it.

At what point this familiarity developed between them, Jules didn't know but she enjoyed it. After months of being the captain of the Rutherford where everyone saluted or tiptoed around her because of rank, it was nice to engage in the friendly relationships she enjoyed when she was just a pilot. She assumed the captaincy because it was necessary, but Jules was a pilot first and she missed the life. Remaining in charge of a big Bertha like the Rutherford was not what she wanted long-term.

Under normal circumstances, the conflict of their rank would never be an issue because they would be so far out of each other's orbit, it was a moot point. But the world was changing now, and she respected he'd never foisted unsolicited advice to her about running the ship or taking command or whatever. He never assumed she didn't know what she was doing, and he listened instead of telling her how to solve some problem. In the rare staff conference call, he often listened before speaking up and he'd never talked down to her, unlike that jackass in Engineering.

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