EndGame
By: Tara O'Shea

Part Five:
Dreams

  "What do you mean?"

  "We have three weeks. Where would you like to spend them?"

  "You mean, anywhere in the universe?" Her eyes were bright, cheeks flushed as she took a bite from a croissant. It had been wonderful, waking beside him. She wanted every single morning to be just as wonderful. And every night...

  "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" She blushed, realizing a long silence had stretched out between them as she sat there thinking. He was smiling that same cheshire cat smile that had not left his face since he had opened his eyes and saw her staring at him in the faint sunlight that streamsed through the door of the living room.

  "Perhaps the best vacation in the universe would be to never have to leave this room." He raised a brow suggestively, and she laughed. She had pulled a pajama top on, dark blue satin, and he unbuttoned the top button now, and ran a finger along her collarbone. He suddenly got up, moved the tray to the floor, out of harm's way, and then settled back down beside her.

  "I suppose we could go to Xanadu..." She thought aloud, as he traced the curve of her ear with the tip of his tongue. "I know Ariel would like to meet you..." He was unbuttoning to rest of the shirt, hands straying lower. "The coffee's going to get cold." She murmured, eyes dancing.

  "So we'll order more." He growled happily, pulling the covers back.

********

  "This is hideous." Niko craned her neck to see what Karen was reacting so strongly to. "Unisex dress uniforms! That's sick. The least they could have done was give you a skirt or something."

  "It's not so bad." She giggled at the affronted look on the girl's face. "If you keep inspecting every piece of clothing in that closet, we are never going to get me packed."

  "You asked for help, you are going to get help. Of the most important kind. I am lending you half my wardrobe. This," She gestured to the tiny pile she had approved thus far "will simply not be adequate."

  "I'll probably spend most of my time out by the pool anyway, in a suit."

  "Or nothing at all." Karen grinned lecherously.

  "Get your mind out of the gutter, young lady."

  "I have never, in all my years, seen anyone so prone to blushing."

  "I swear I never used to blush so often."

  "You had nothing to bring one to your cheeks before, I'll warrant. Ah, but I envy you. A romantic, secluded hideaway, a tall, handsome cowboy."

  "And no nosy teenagers." She sighed, and Karen punched her in the arm with a look of mock hurt.

  "Still, three weeks on Rees! It's supposed to be gorgeous there, not to mention expensive."

  "Well, we a little help in that department," Niko admitted. "Ariel has more money than she knows what to do with, so she wastes it on me."

  "She's like your mom, isn't she."

  "I don't remember my parents. I was too young."

  "Your file said you were five." Karen didn't mean to pry, but she was curious.

  "The first thing I remember was Ariel and the circle on Xanadu, in the council chambers. They found me... raised me."

  "Do you think you blocked the memories?"

  "I must have. When they psychtested me when I joined BETA they offered to regress me, but I declined. I decided that the memories would come back if they were going to, and wait them out. They haven't yet." She shrugged, and zipped up her valise.

  "My mom and dad died three years ago." Karen tried to sound like it was no big deal. "I was in school on the mainland when it happened. The power went down on the offshore kelp harvesting plant mom and dad worked at, and there was a faulty backup system. It overloaded and the whole pylon blew sky high."

  "Karen, I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

  "Hey, it's okay. But see, at least I got to know them for fifteen years. And sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have hurt as much if I hadn't known them. I guess that's why I asked."

  "I wish I had an answer, kid." She smiled, squeezing Karen's shoulder, and set about finishing packing.She removed her badge from her uniform, and placed it in a case which she then tucked in the pocket of her bag.

  "Think you'll be needing that?"

  "You never know." The door chimed, and Niko jumped up to let Shane in. He greeted her with a long, wet kiss.

  "Whoa, I saw tongue!" Karen raised a brow.

  "Naughty girl, don't you have class?" Niko laughed.

  "I'm going, I'm going." Karen put up her hands in defeat, and slipped out the door, blowing kisses.

  Shane held up a garment bag, a gleam in his eyes. "This arrived this morning, for you." Niko looked puzzled, and unzipped it, a hand going to her mouth. It was the dress Ambassador Ramos had bought her on Boru. She ran her hand over the taffeta, a slow smile spreading across her face.

  "I think this vacation is going to be just perfect." She sighed.

********

  Shane didn't think he had ever seen anyplace that screamed money quite so loudly. The crystal dome of the hotel lobby stretched as far as the eye could see, and echoed with the roar of waterfalls and the cries of tropical birds. It was as far removed from BETA as anything he could think of, he decided as he plucked two blue and orange drinks off a passing tray and winked at the green skinned waitress. Niko poked him in the ribs and he handed her one of the fruit concoctions.

  "Hey, no more harem jokes, remember?" Niko grinned, and sipped the drink as they followed their bellboy through the maze of plants, people and vendors to the lifts. The hotel boasted an entirely organic staff, in the style of an old fashioned holiday resort. This far above the canopy of the Rees rainforests, the sun shone clear and bright through the dome, but as they entered the clear aluminum elevator they began to descend into the lush green tree cover.

  The habitat ring circled a glade of the forest, and in the centre for as far down as she could see everything was color. Birds fluttered through the trees, and further below guests all decked out like peacocks sat around the springs and pools, talking, taking sun, or sipping drinks. It looked like no one had a care in the world, and that was exactly the way she wanted to feel.

  "You like?" Goose prompted, giving her shoulders a squeeze.

  "Oh, I like." She grinned and kissed him. 

  The bellboy looked at the two of them out of the corner of his eye, and smiled. Kort liked his job for a multitude of reasons, the chief ones being the high pay, tips, and opportunity to speak twelve intergalactic dialects. But one of the lesser perks was watching people make out in the elevator. They may fight later on, but when they first got here, it was always the same.

  They stopped on the forty-third floor to pick up another passenger, but the two of them just kept at it, hardly noticing. However the fellow they had picked up leaned closer, peering at the two of them, squinting and chuckling. He was a grizzled looking old guy in the loudest hawaiian shirt Kort had ever seen and khaki Bermuda shorts. He continued to stare until the couple, suddenly noticing they had an audience, broke apart, the lady with high color in her cheeks and the big blond guy grinning. The old guys eyes went real wide as they passed the thirty-second floor, and the lady blushed a deeper shade of pink.

  "Why Miss Niko!" The old fellow's face was split with a wide grin, and the big blond guy laughed out loud.

  "Cody Wildfire Carson, you old space dog!" Goose exclaimed, and Kort shook his head as the three of them shook hands like old friends, which, he supposed, they were.

  "What are you doing here, Wildfire? I thought you were ranching on Ozark." Niko was recovering her color, and slipped her arm around Goose's waist, leaning her head on his shoulder.

  "Well, there's no law says a man can't take a bit of a holiday, now is there?" Cody winked at her, and she laughed.

  "What are you wearing." Goose eyed the shirt with distaste, and Niko collapsed against his chest with a fit of giggles at Cody's affronted expression as they slowed to a stop at the eleventh floor.

  "This is your stop ma'am, sir." Kort began to push the luggage trolley out into the carpeted hallway, and the three of them followed.

  "Just getting dressed for the part," Cody replied. "My buckskins would stand out a bit, dontcha think? And I see you two are out of uniform. Here on business or pleasure, though may I say it is always a pleasure to see you, Miss Niko, even if you are being all business like."

  "We're here on vacation too. Strictly pleasure." Niko was used to the blustery cowboy's flirtatious manner, and found it refreshing after the way her co-workers had been treading on eggshells around her ever since Green's World. She smiled genuinely at Cody, and the old man's eyes sparkled.

  "Well now, Miss Niko, I expect it's time you had a holiday and let all us old outlaws have one too. You work too hard. And if you ever tire of this big fellah, well, there's always a place for you on the Buchanan."

  "I appreciate the offer, Wildfire, but I think you know my answer."

  "I know, this side of the law and all that. You'd make a wonderful outlaw though."

  "Goodbye, Cody." Shane smiled broadly, dragging Niko into the suite, and Wildfire made a lavish bow before heading back towards the lift.

  Kort wheeled the baggage cart into the centre of the room and opened the closet to set the suitcases outside the sliding doors. "There's a wet bar here in the room, all compliments of the hotel. The dining room starts serving at 6, but room service is available until 1 am should you wish to dine in. If there's anything else you need, fresh towels, etcetera just dial 'h' on the comm and they'll put you through to housekeeping." 

  He set the keycards down on a glass table near the door and then stood there, waiting for something. Shane stared at him. Niko sighed, and fished a credit chit out of her pocket and placed it in the young man's palm with a smile. Kort headed back towards the lifts, grinning. He didn't think he'd see those two till morning, if not afternoon.

  "I thought you weren't supposed to tip in a fancy joint like this." Shane circled arms around her waist, kissing the top of her head.

  "Apparently not." She leaned back against him, smiling, and then began unpacking. She stopped in the midst of hanging up Ambassador Ramos's gift to study the suite.

  The front room was huge, with a wall of windows facing the forest, sliding doors opening up out onto a small balcony set with chairs and a table. There was a sitting area with a vidscreen about the same size as the one in the lounge at BETA, except this one was equipped to show holos and vids, and a peek inside the cabinet beneath it revealed disks with just about every film ever made all the way back to the early 20th century.

  Goose had wandered into the bedroom, and she could hear his low whistle of appreciation from there. She gasped at the sight the greeted her as she passed through the double doors.

  There were fresh flowers everywhere, overflowing from vases and baskets on every surface. All of them were orchids. She grinned, recognizing Ariel's touch in this. The bed was covered in brightly patterned pillows and a real honest to gods down comforter over clean white sheets. She bounced on the bed, laughing like a little girl.

  "Damn, sure beats the quarters at home." Goose plopped down next to her, and she rolled over on her stomach to look him in the eye.

  "Oh I don't know, I have very fond memories of my quarters. Lots of good memories"

  "Oh really?" She nodded, and was glad the windows in this room were covered by sheer white drapes, because she definitely didn't want any witnesses to what she was fairly sure was going to happen next.

  Because anyone who watched would have been treated to quite a show.

********

  "Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to grow up with parents?" Niko rolled over, resting her head on his chest. The suns had set hours before, and in the dim light the orchids were bled of color, all painted in whites and blues from the moonlight streaming through the windows.

  "I don't know. I had Max, and then I was shipped off to Wolf Den. I didn't know anything else." She sighed, and he stroked her hair.

  "Me too."

  "Did you ever think about it?"

  "Sometimes, when I was growing up. I always wondered, who do I look like? Do I have my mother's eyes? Do I have my father's hair? Was one of them psi? Where both? Or neither? I don't know, I guess I could find out easily enough. I'm sure BETA has it all in the files."

  "What makes you think so?'

  "They did a DNA work-up on me when I first came to Earth. I chose not to pursue it."

  "But now?"

  "Karen started it. Then it was seeing all the orchids. I spent my life surrounded by them until I was 16. I had no idea they were so rare on Earth."

  "She really loves you, Ariel does."

  "I know she keeps an eye on me, even though she swears she isn't spying. Kind of like having a fairy godmother, except mine made me eat carrots, and study, and go to bed early."

  "None of the perks, eh?"

  "Oh, I think I got to the ball. I found my Prince Charming, didn't I?"

  "In slightly tarnish armor."

  "My off white knight." She giggled.

  "Max hated carrots. But he made me eat them anyway."

  "What about Commander Walsh?"

  "He didn't care if we ate our vegetables, just so long as we didn't kill each other."

  "Sometimes I wish you had." She said it without even thinking, and his arms tightened around her reflexively. "I'm sorry... I can't believe I just said that..."

  "You have nothing to be sorry about, ever." He sounded so fierce, and sure. "And you'll never have anything to worry about ever again."

  "Killbane's dead." She sighed, pulling the blankets up closer, and snuggling down next to him, yawning.

  He could tell from her breathing that she was sleeping, but he couldn't join her. He couldn't. He was remembering the hour in the cabin while he tinkered with that damned comm, cannibalizing parts from the scanner. She had been curled up on the cot, wrapped in a motheaten blanket, with cracked and broken ribs, the bruises darkening from yellow to angry red and purple before his very eyes.And her eyes had been empty. He had tried talking, but she hadn't heard a word. He knew it. The tears had all dried and there had been nothing left except pain.

  He never wanted to see her eyes that way again. Even if it meant searching every inch of the Universe for Killbane and ripping his heart out himself.

********

  Goose came up behind Niko as she was towel drying her hair and dropped a kiss on her neck. She jumped about a mile high, and his grin vanished.

  "I'm sorry, babe."

  "No, it's my fault. I didn't hear you coming, I guess it's this carpet." She smiled, trying to still her heart, which was beating like a hummingbird's. "You just surprised me." She resumed toweling her hair, trying hard not to admit that even though she had known it was Goose, could be no one else except Goose, she had still felt that moment of panic.

  "How about a swim?"

  "That sounds perfect." She flashed him a genuine smile, and he returned it.

********

  Walsh cut the visual on the comm, and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers, knowing that it would do little to prevent the oncoming headache. Normally, he would be glad for any tip Geezie sent BETA, but just this once he wished he had never heard what the nosy pedulont had to report.

  However, that didn't change the facts.

  He keyed up the comm, wondering what he was going to tell the man who was like a son to him.

********

  Goose ducked as she kicked spray in his general direction.

  "Hey!"

  "You're already wet." She laughed, lazily swimming a few strokes to his left.

  "You're going to be wetter, shortly." He growled, and she shrieked as he lunged for her. He picked her up and threw her into the deep end of the pool. She came up sputtering, and his face was split by a wide grin.

  "You're going to get it, Shane!" Her eyes narrowed.

  "Oh, am I really?" He arched a brow, treading water.

  "Maybe." She cut cleanly through the water, auburn hair streaming out behind her.

  "Is that they way this game is to be played?"

  "You don't know where, and you don't know when..." she giggled as his hand brushed her waist.

  "You're going to get sunburned." He whispered in her ear.

  "You feel like lunch?" She put her arms around his neck, kicking lazily.

  "Let me do some laps, work off breakfast first."

  "I'll go up and order room service."

********

  She finished towel-drying her hair, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. The message light was blinking. She figured Goose must have rung up while she was in the shower.

  Niko picked up one of the vases of orchids to put on the table, and on the way pressed the flashing message button on the comm. She froze at Commander Walsh's voice.

  "Goose, I'm sorry to disturb you and Niko on your vacation, but I'm afraid it's important. Killbane has been sighted on Tortuna."

  The vase of orchids slipped through her hands to shatter on the hard wood floor of the breakfast area.

  "I'm sorry, Shane. He's not dead. Zach and Doc have been dispatched, and I assure you we will--" She didn't hear the rest, her heart was roaring in her ears, and she stumbled into the bedroom, rummaging through her bag until she found what she was looking for.

  She closed her fingers around the gleaming gold badge, trying to will her hands to stop shaking.

  Killbane was alive.

  Not for long.

********

  Cody damn near had a stroke when he brought the lights up in his room and saw her sitting on the edge of his bed.

  "Miss Niko..."

  "I need your help."

  The way she was looking at him, he couldn't say no.

______________________________________________________

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