Chapter 44

The crew of the helios is now bivouacked between the Embassy and the space dock, which is not the greatest. But, it must be done and in the end we'll have a new ship with technology that will surpass anything we have. Earth will catch up slowly at first, but it will soon be among the stars without as much fear. I sit in the temporary office that has been given to me, and I'm fiddling with my pledge ring hoping Jahní is doing fine.

From this office I can see the progress of the work being done on the Helios, so it offers a front row seat. I read the equipment report that has been taken to the Embassy, since we've had to take all of it out. A full week of work to accomplish that. I have my bag packed already for the trip to the villa to see Jahní.

I think about the shared vision we had and of the things that have been coming back into my mind...is this war and the implication of my involvement unavoidable? I don't want to lead an army that will just simply wipe out whole worlds; it's not what I envisioned when I signed up for this mission.

I just want to forget. Though, nothing is ever that simple, just like nothing ever takes five minutes; yeah. I get up grabbing my bag. I left Tom incharge, while I'm home with Jahní. I walk out of the office locking it, to keep the confidetial material safe.

I walk to the bay that shuttle two is standing by for me, as a couple Marines salute me right by the entrance to the bay and I return the salute . "You two holding on good here?"

"Yes Sir, were good to go." Alright! I nod and continue to the shuttle; I climb up the shuttle ramp and it starts to close. Sitting down I strap in feeling the shuttle lift off and begin it's yaw maneuver towards the exit, for smaller type vessels. I sit there rubbing my ring; it's been two weeks that I've been here and they've been busy, complicatedly dealing with the Majah-tu engineers.

They are set for the rebuild, and bit by bit the Helios is being taken apart. It hurts to see it happen, but now I'm going to rotate down so my EXO can take over. Two weeks will be a welcome time for me and Jahní.

"Standby for reentry." The pilot reports and within moments we are bouncing around, then we get through it. I unstrap and stick my head in the cock pit. "Five minutes Sir and we'll be at the mountain villa." I pound on his shoulder and take my seat once more. I take out the comm and click it, so she knows I'm on my way. Jahní returns the click making me smile; I focus on her feeling a strong heart beat.

"One minute sir."

"Thank you." I feel the shuttle bank to port and easily, and to the deck with a soft touch. The ramp opens and I step out; Jahní is there waiting and I can see the small baby bump now. Smiling I get to her dropping my bag on the ground we look at each other for a second, then she throws her arms around my neck. I grab her tightly and she laughs a bit.

"It's good to be back my Jahní." She put her head on my shoulder and we stay there like that, for a while. No words spoken, there's no need. Our hearts are in rhythm with each other; it's an amazing thing to feel, to know that your bodies are together. That you hearts are not separated no matter the distance.

We take hold of our hands, I grab my bag, and we walk in to the house. The servants come to us taking my bag, which is not that necessary, but, I don't resist because there is no point to do so. "Ant, how are things progressing?"

I rub my chin, which she has come to understand means I don't like what is happening. "It's hard to just watch, though I know this is the only thing that could be done." We walk up to our room and close the door. She unbuttons the shirt of my utilities, while I look at her touching her face. She smiles her eyes to mine, which she never looks any where else.

It's already dusk as the light come on automatically throughout the house. "So what's for diner tonight?"

"Well." She smile mischievously. "I was thinking that perhaps that the main course should be pahatu Antonio." That's 'main dish' in her language.

"Is that so?" She pulls off my shirt. I'm having a hard time focusing on anything, but her. "Boy, I hope all my home comings are like this." She smiles, as I begin to help her get undressed.

We are finishing dinner, at the table as one of the maids is serving us drinks and giving me and Jahní side glances. Curiosity is now starting to take hold among the women that work here. Jahní touches her hand. "Is something wrong?"This startles the servant girl that she stops pouring, and trembles.

"My lady please... I'm sorry for being so rude." Jahní looks at her surprised by the girls reaction.

Jahní pats her hand. "It's alright there is no need to be nervous. I understand that there is some interest in my pledged." The girl looks at Jahní. "Just know that I love him very much and he loves me." The girl smiles looking at me then to Jahní.

In a very low shy voice she asks the most fascinating question. "I... would like to... meet... a human man. Is that...possible?"

I look at her and smile. "With your beauty you will have no trouble attracting a human male. Just be yourself and look for good man." She bows smiling and leaves to continue in her duty. Jahní gazes at me shaking her head.

She just wonders how such a shy Majah-tu girl will ever meet a human male. "A good man? How will she do that?"

I chuckle at her question. "I'll set the whole thing up. There are good honest men among my crew, who would cherish her like the dearest treasure." Her face lights up; she must want more of her people to feel what she does. I take the last morsel of food on my plate thinking of my crew, and those that didn't make it this far.

Ah! what am I thinking about! More challenges are on the way and we have to ready, but right now we don't even have a ship. I fold my hands deeply thinking over our current situation. I don't think our enemies thought any thing like this would happen, so if I were them what steps would I take to prevent us from obtaining this technology?

"Ant." I look at Jahní. "You're so far away. Can I help with anything?" Oh wow, I was ignoring my Jahní. This is not the place to be thinking of anything, but my baby.

"I'm sorry I just need to relax, while I'm home." She takes my hand squeezing it letting me know that I'm not all alone here. "I know. I have you here and I don't have to hold all this inside by myself."

'Your things came from your ship and they are in our room. It's not too much." I recall everything I brought with me and the goodbye I gave my Mom that day. Once I left I realized that I should've brought a few more things, to make life a bit more pleasant. "There is this small device that I'm not sure exactly what it does." She reaches behind her and pulls out my music player. I laugh as she presents it.

"You know I've not noticed what music your people listen to, that is an MP3 player. It's been handed down from my Grandfather to my Father and now to me." She looks at it amazed at what it is.

She turns it around studying it and trying to figure out how it works. I ask her to give it to me and she hands it over. "This is a wireless unit that was popular when my gramps was young."Hold on." I run up to our room and look through my duffle pulling out a small wireless speaker heading back down.

Jahní sits there analyzing the new device I brought down with me; she looks to me to help her understand how it all works. turning on the player then the speaker, I watch as the player reaches and pairs with the speaker. I search out a group that is my favorite. I hit play and the music starts. Her reaction is priceless. Her eyes open wide and she looks at me and she actually starts to move her head to the rhythm. "Who are they?"

"Most of the music is from my gramps and my father, but I put some in. This group is called the 1975's" I like this group. They where from the time before the Unification War and you can here that in the music. It was a more carefree time on Earth.

"It's very... interesting. What other type of music do you have?" I start putting on different groups and styles and she listens attentively to everything I put on. She moves to some of it and to others she doesn't feel it, which is normal even for us.

"Well, that only a small selection of music that is in here. What do you think?" I have to know if she likes it or not.

She takes her time to answer, so she is really considering what to say. "I like the music you have, though there are a few that I can't really get into." Ok, that's fair. "Though the first song that you played; I like that one."

I raise an eyebrow. I have more from them; maybe she'll like it as well, or at least she she might open up to more of my music. "Hey listen, I'll leave it here for you to use and go through the music on here and you can figure out which is your favorite." She nods, so I give it to her and show her how it operates and how to charge it. "Write down the songs you like and keep track of it."

She smiles "I like that idea." Great I'll help her to create her own little library that she can listen to as often as she wants. The servant girls all look to each other since they were listening to the music as well.

"Hey, lets call this a day and get some rest." I offer my hand and she takes it. We go to bed hand in hand, so we can be ready for tomorrow.