Chapter 4: The Bad News Revealed

The cry brought Sophie dashing out of the movie room. I spun Theresa around so she did not see Sophie and then waved her back. Sophie nodded silently, and stepped back into the room as I pickup up Theresa and carried her into her bedroom. She was nearly choking me as she sobbed brokenly into my chest and I sat on the bed and just held her, saying nothing.

Outside, I could hear Sophie taking charge of feeding the others, as I held my mistress and let her cry herself out. It seemed like an eternity before the sobs stopped and I was able to wipe the tears away.

"How long have you been holding that in?" I asked quietly.

Theresa sniffled and pushed her hair back out of her eyes. The short boyish cut from nearly a year ago had been allowed to grow out, and it was nearly long enough to put into a ponytail. I thought Theresa was going to say nothing, but she looked up at me and sighed. "Ten days. Ten long and miserable days since we lost."

"You lost?"

Theresa nodded sadly. "It was terrible, but I need to talk about it. Can you summon Sophie here? I don't think I want to tell this tale twice."

I nodded and called out to Sophie who came in leading the other three children. I laughed to see how protective Sophie was towards the other children. "Well, I guess we'll make it household story time."

Theresa giggled for a moment but then squirmed around to face the others. She looked at Sophie silently for a long moment. "Sophie, please don't say anything until I'm done, but then, if you want to scream at me and blame me for your sister's death, I'll understand."

I could see confusion cross Sophie's face, but she merely sat on the floor as the Amber and Alex grabbed pillows from the bed and joined Sophie. Theresa watched this and then gave me another hug before taking a deep breath.

"I know I told you all that the Park Avenue had been transferred to the screen of the carrier William Pitt. It was part of an attack plan that Borneo Command came up with. The Sa'arm have been rather aggressive in this area, and we wanted to drive them back from a planet that they took over about eighteen months ago. From what I understood in briefings the corvette Hearst Castle had visited the system about six months ago, and found no Swarm ships in the system, so our task force was simply supposed to make sure that a follow up force of marine assault transports arrived safely," Theresa began.

I nodded at this. "That makes sense. I remember reading that military transports on Earth were often rather vulnerable, and needed protection. I guess that hasn't changed now that we are in space."

Theresa actually giggled. "And its one reason I'm happy that I am a weapons specialist. I'll never end up on a transport, and probably never on a carrier. I like knowing the ship I'm on can shoot back."

She then became quiet and sighed. "But I should continue. We spent two months in drills and planning in system here before jumping. Admiral Early wanted everyone ready for the jump. I'm not sure how he decided ship dispositions, but Park Avenue ended up in the rear door position. The other ships were in an arc in front of the Pitt, while we kept station behind and below the Pitt. I guess he wanted protection from a random Sa'arm interceptor, but all the drills concentrated on encountering a small force in front of us."

She frowned. "When we jumped everyone thought we were ready. We had all heard the original scouting report from Hearst Castle, and felt confident that we could handle any small force that happened to be there."

Theresa shivered and I put my arms around her to comfort her. She seemed uncertain about what to say next, and opened her mouth a couple times before turning to give me a kiss. "Thanks," she whispered. "I need you here right now."

I nodded as Sophie silently put her hand on Theresa's knee. Theresa accepted the hand in her own and took a deep breath.

"I'll probably never know if the Hearst Castle simply missed the Sa'arm, or if they moved in their ships after the Hearst Castle left, but it didn't take long to figure out that we were woefully outnumbered. Admiral Early had spread out our ships in a formation that could easily handle the light interceptors the Sa'arm use, but two Sa'arm attack spheres came in off our starboard flank, coming right at the Volund."

"Volund?" Sophie asked.

Theresa nodded. "Yes, we had two battle cruisers, both Hero class. The Volund and the Ivar Vidfamne. I understand that the names come from some Viking saga."

I looked over at Sophie. "Let's allow Theresa to finish."

Theresa just nodded and continued. "Well, I think we first realized there was a problem when the Volund exploded. Our position behind the Pitt blocked most of our sensors. Communications were a mass of confusion, but the explosion made it clear that we were in trouble."

"Admiral Early ordered all ships to break high right and make a run for it. Our sensor officer Martin reported that the Nassau was cut off, but the other ships tried to stay together. It wasn't much help though. Hearst Castle had barely begun her turn before she broke in half as several Swarm missiles got past her point defense. The other two corvettes that had been out in front, Medina and Monte Sano both lost contact, so only three ships managed to turn away together," Theresa said. Her hand was not nearly crushing mine as she remembered the battle.

I could see Amber sitting in shock, her arms around her brother and smiled sadly. She seemed to understand that Alex needed to remain quiet and was cuddling the boy.

Theresa however, was staring off at the far wall. I realized that she was struggling to say more and just tried to hold her. Finally a sob indicated she was about to start again. "We thought we were going to make it out intact. We had been on the far side of the formation from the initial attack, and so far no Sa'arm ship had attacked us. I could hear Martha at communications trying to assist the Pitt in recalling what fighters were still out there. The Pitt had taken several hits and lost communications with her squadron leaders. Still we were hopeful that we'd escape when the Ivar reported a coil failure in one of her rail guns. She exploded moments later and we quickly discovered that our frantic maneuvers to get turned around had taken us too close to the cruiser. Fragments from her explosion ripped into Park. I found myself frantically calling for crew to shut down the port rail gun, to prevent our own coil failure, as Captain Brandt worked hard to get us through the debris. We had just cleared the debris field when the Pitt jumped out."

Theresa finally sighed. "We followed. We had escaped a horror that claimed the rest of the task force, but that's when I heard the news." She sobbed wildly again. "The debris from the Ivar had blown through several bulkheads and thrown metal shards into the concubine's quarters. Traci had survived the initial hit, but she was attempting to rescue others and was pulling another concubine to safety when one of the cooling hoses for the rail gun burst. The resulting pressure wave drove her body into one of the walls of the hallway she was in. She was killed by the impact."

I just held Theresa as I looked at the others. Alex was too young to understand, but Amber had turned pale and Sophie had tears in her eyes. I thought Sophie was going to complain, but instead she sat up and put her arms around Theresa.

"Sister. Don't cry. Traci was so happy to be with you, and so proud of you," Sophie said quietly.

"But I killed her! If I had not made her my concubine she might still be alive!" Theresa wailed.

Sophie just held her and whispered again. "That's not true. You saved Traci. I know she told you about our childhood, but you never seemed to understand it completely. Theresa, my sister loved you. If you had left her behind she would have been destroyed. You meant everything to her."

Theresa obviously did not want to be consoled because she sniffed. "But I still killed her. I took her onto the ship. I was supposed to protect her."

I kissed Theresa lovingly. "She wanted to be with you. And you couldn't have known that the mission was that dangerous. Its not your fault."

Sophie nodded. "David is right. Traci and I had a long talk a couple nights before she left with you. She was so looking forward to helping you on the ship. For the first time in her life she could assist someone who loved her. It meant so much to her that she left Tanya behind, and I know that she didn't want that."

Theresa shifted to start at Sophie. "But Traci was afraid of children. I remember she had terrible motherhood scores."

Sophie giggled. "She did, but living with you and David, as well as these two wonderful little ones, helped her realize that children meant something to her. She was never going to be the parent David is, but she wanted to try. But she wanted to help you more."

Theresa sniffled one more time. "She's still dead."

I held her tight. "Theresa, I loved her too. I'm going to wake up some nights, and reach out for her long brown hair, thinking to stroke it lovingly like I did so many times these last few months, and it won't be there. I'm going to miss her smile, and her quick giggle when Alex surprised her. I'm even going to miss the tantrums and fights she and Sophie used to have back during our trip here on the Foxfire. You should never allow her memory to die. Remember her, and remember how much she loved you, she would want that."

Theresa sighed. "How did you score so badly on the CAP?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "I guess I was a different man then. But it doesn't matter to me now. I belong with you. Your happiness is what matters."

Theresa was silent for a moment and then appeared to be blushing. "Even if that happiness means I want you to get me pregnant tonight?" she said in a whisper.

"What?" I think Sophie and I gasped it at the same time, but Theresa just nodded.

"Naval command had some news at the debriefing. Because of the damage to the Park, and the loss of the other ships the task force is being broken up. I don't know the whole story, but I guess normally after two tours female sponsors are permitted to take time off to have a child. They decided that with conditions the way they are, Martha and I should get pregnant now, and return to duty in ten months. Because of that, they had me visit a medical bay to set me up to get pregnant," Theresa said quietly.

Sophie giggled. 'They make it so clinical. Do they not allow any honest pregnancies?"

Theresa smiled. "I'm sure they do, but there is a shortage of naval personnel. They can't just sit around wait for me to get pregnant, and they don't want me serving while pregnant. So they want to make sure I get pregnant right away."