Paige pulled on the power breaker to the cavernous human section's hangar bay and hundreds of flood lights started buzzing at sixty hertz. Dim blue light came down from the ceiling and brightened as she led Rowan down to the dropship that would take them to Avior 7.
Rowan's teeth chattered as he followed the station officer with a crate of camping equipment to the service elevator. She smiled at him and winked as she pressed the down button. The elevator buzzed loudly and then rattled down its track to the hangar deck. Rowan stepped to the edge and looked over the railing.
He pointed to a red ship and looked over at Paige and asked, "What's that ship there? It looks sleek as hell." The shape of the spacecraft roughly resembled a horseshoe crab with a long tail spine. It had several gun turrets as well.
"Oh that," Paige replied, sidling up to him against the railing. "That's the Kabutogani, or KG-1. It was the last military attack fighter sent to the station before the station abandonment by the republic.
"It's got an odd shape for an attack fighter, don't you think?"
"Well, it's pretty unconventional. It was designed to skim across the surface of capital ships and deploy a high power plasma beam from the underside of its hull. It literally cuts a long gash along the ship, opening it up like you're gutting a fish. Enemy fighters and turrets can't shoot at it because it's so close to the target."
"It must have been amazing to fly."
Paige looked at Rowan and smirked. "You know, I could get you to train on the KG-1 if you ask me super nice."
"Pretty please? With sugar on top?"
"Hmmmm, maybe."
"Only maybe? Why not?"
"Well it all depends on how nice this weekend is." She twirled around. "If I have the time of my life, you'll get to do it. If it's boring, then you'll train piloting a garbage scow."
Rowan wrapped his hand around her waist as they looked down on the ships. "You're diabolical, you know."
"When I know what I want, I'll do anything to get it."
Rowan rolled his eyes and said, "I'll do my best to make sure you have a good time Paige. We'll have fun, I promise."
She turned her head and whispered into his ear, "You better watch out Rowan, I take promises very seriously."
….
The couple landed the dropship on the designated central island of the archipelago available to visitors. The spherical spaceship kicked up lots of sand at the landing site and rested its four giant feet on a landing pad made of sturdy metal grating. Palm trees grew densely around the small beachhead of civilization in the wilderness.
Both Paige and Rowan wore wide brimmed hats and smeared white sun block under their eyes and on their noses. The air was cool and dry, but when the wind died their skin would warm up in the hot sun. Rowan lifted his eyes to the sky and saw the washed out image of Pax Orbis soaring across the dome of the sky. He put his hand up and covered his home using the tip of his thumb and smiled. Rowan followed Paige as he pushed the cart of supplies and equipment from the landing pad to the boat house along a paved pathway.
"Hey Paige," Rowan said. "Doesn't this remind you of home? The plants and birds are so similar to the Caribbean."
"Umm yeah, sure." Paige stammered. "I lived most of my life off planet though."
"Really? That's a shame. Earth is so beautiful, despite everything we've done to it. Doesn't the republic's fleet make you take courses at the academy?"
"Oh, well you see, the years there were mostly studying. I was a bookworm." She tilted her head. "I guess I still am. I never got to appreciate home, but I'm glad I'm here with you."
Paige and Rowan approached the boat house and the station officer had her retina scanned to open the large metal garage doors. They walked inside to see several hydrofoil sailboats and a couple of hover skiffs. All were lined up at docks inside the cavernous boat house. Rowan shoved the cart onto one of the hover skiffs and deployed the sunshade on the boat.
Paige raised her hand and asked, "Rowan, didn't you want to sail down here?"
"I'll bring an inflatable dinghy we can play around with, they should be in the storage locker over there. There's too much risk to bring out equipment on a boat when you have no experience sailing. We could probably get a dropship to help us, but I don't know how long that would take."
"Right, I see. We really are out in the wild." She looked into the turquoise water, scratching her arms and darting her eyes around. "Are there sharks?"
"No, not in the shallow waters of this archipelago. In the northern latitudes there are giant aquatic marsupials, kind of like kangaroo whales, that are particularly aggressive. There's a reason why people are only permitted to land around here, it's relatively safe. Help me strap down the crate and we can get underway."
They activated the hover skiff and it glided out of the boat house. Paige looked back at the boathouse to see the garage doors close again. The hover ship glided over the crystal blue waters at a lazy pace.
"How long till we reach the campsite, sweetie?" Paige sat next to Rowan on the pilot's bench.
The man pointed to the nav screen, showing a cluster of islands in a large equatorial sea. "It should only take half an hour to get to the site. It's relatively sheltered, but there's also a concrete bunker just in case. I hope we can spearfish something for the grill before sunset. Looks like there's a storm system coming through."
Large blue sea birds checked out the boat at a safe distance, circling the skiff before flying off again. Vast schools of fish scattered as the sleek white ship slipped a couple of feet over the water. Paige took off her hand and leaned her head on Rowan's shoulder as the island they left slipped below the horizon.
….
Rowan had set up camp next to the emergency shelter that stood near the beach they had landed at. The gemlike quality of the waters of the lagoon were only matched by the deeper blue of the sky. Clouds raced over the islands like puffy hover cars. The concrete dome shelter next to camp was as large as a house and resembled a tortoise with four stout legs supporting a thick protective shell, which sported a shower and a latrine. He was just about to get into his swim trunks when he saw Paige exit the tent. She wore a white string bikini along with her wide brimmed sun hat. When she saw that Rowan was staring at her she looked away and subtly tried to cover what she could with her arms.
She covered her shoulders with a light towel and asked, "Well, sweetie. What do you think?"
"I cannot understate how good you look in that swimsuit," he stammered. "Why they ever let a supermodel like you enter the space corps, I'll never know."
"Shush you," Paige dropped her shawl and approached, draping her arms over his shoulders. "But thanks for the compliment. I look so pale."
"You've been cooped up in the control section for so long, I'm not surprised." He put his hands on her sides. "It's good to get some fresh air and sun. Let me get into my trunks and let's have a swim, I'll go spearfishing after that." He brought her in for a light kiss. "This is nice."
"I think so too." She bit her lip and passed her fingers through his hair. "Care to spend a little time in the tent?"
"Ha! No, not yet at least. And we don't need to be in the tent, there's not a single individual from an intelligent species within several hundred miles, and that's in the up direction. If you're scared about people spying on us, we can just snuggle under the big concrete turtle."
….
Rowan and Paige brought out the blankets and started a fire on the beach after a dinner of grilled prawn and dirty rice and a dessert of cut fruit. The man also set up a mini-bar under the turtle and the pair had a couple of pina coladas, they were both comfortably buzzed. They now clinked their flutes of champagne in the flickering light of the campfire.
Rowan slid his hand up onto her belly and rubbed in steady circles, looked into her eyes, and said, "I'm so glad you could take a break from work to come down with me here. It means a lot to me. How did you like your first swimming lesson?"
"I should have learned when I was younger. Having you hold me in the water was a little distracting." She booped his nose with a light touch.
"You'll do much better tomorrow. If there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're a quick study." He took a sip of bubbly.
"Rowan, this is about as good a time as any, since I have you all to myself for the weekend. I know you told me your long term plans, isn't being here this weekend pretty close?"
"If anything, it makes me want to get there even more. I don't think I would ever get bored of it. I'm lucky this place is a preserve, or it would be turned into a nictid casino within months. I'll have to go back behind the great mine field to find a place I really want." Rowan saw a flash of worry cross her face.
She reached out for his hand and continued, "Sweetheart, is there a place for me in your dreams?"
Rowan looked at her hand thoughtfully and then answered, "I've been alone for so long. It's always been just me. I never in my life would have thought I could have someone like you in my long term goals." He finished his drink and set it beside him and continued. "I feel like that would be asking too much from the universe."
Paige grimaced slightly, "Rowan, if you have one flaw, it's that you sell yourself too short. Can I be there or not?"
Rowan nodded and squeezed her hand. "Having you there would be a dream come true."
She smiled and scrunched her body at his words. The young lady leaned in and closed her eyes and Rowan took the hint. As their lips met, thunder sounded across their little island.
"That was close," Rowan said, sitting up and looking across the lagoon. "Would you look at that, a thunderhead is coming right over the campsite." A dark cloud towered into the sky, lightning arced across its surface and flashed inside of it like purple white strobe lights. "I think we should move the tent under the dome so we don't get our clothes wet." The wind picked up and the seashore started to sound like a train.
As the couple pulled up the stakes of the tent and moved it under the safety of the dome, Rowan noticed that Paige's eyebrows were furrowed.
"Baby, don't worry about the storm. These things happen all the time. That's why the dome was put here."
Her eyes darted around in the firelight. "Right, totally, I get it. It's just that I was always a little scared of lighting. I mean terrified."
Rowan came to her and gave her a hug. "If it gets bad just hold me tighter in the sleeping bag."
"Yeah, I will." She said, but Rowan felt her grin lacked conviction.
After the skiff and gear was secured, they ducked into the tent to get out of the wind. Paige was about to undo her bikini to get into her pajamas when they started to hear a torrent of rain start to hit the concrete dome and come off the edge in pattering streams. A peal of thunder sounded and bright white light strobed behind the fabric of the tent.
Paige tensed up and her eyes went wide. She hunched over and grunted. Not stabilizing herself, Rowan saw she was about to fall over and caught her just in time. He squatted and eased her down and into a sleeping bag.
"Paige! What's going on?!"
She didn't speak, only managing to turn her gaze at him. Her body was rigid and her forehead was scrunched with lines. Her wide eyes told Rowan she was terrified.
"The emergency med pack is in the supply crate. I'm going to go get it and scan you. Hopefully it will tell me if we need to set up an evacuation."
"N…no." Thunder cracked again, this time right above them. Paige arched her back and screamed.
"I'm going to call for an emergency evacuation." Rowan accessed his comlink in his cranial implant. He tried to establish contact with the station but the only thing he was able to receive was static. "I can't contact the station, the storm must be causing severe interference."
Paige shot her hand out and gripped Rowan's wrist. The man winced and strained against her handhold.
"I'm not g…going. No evac. Don't leave m…me. Just hold me," she stammered as the storm raged above them.
Damn, she's got a strong grip. "Okay, Paige. But if it gets any worse I have to keep you safe."
Paige nodded and seemed to slightly calm down. Rowan rolled onto his side and threw an arm and a leg over her shuddering body.
"Is this…" he was about to ask a question at the wrong time so he stopped himself. He wanted to know she suffered from some form of epilepsy or if this was fear taking over. Whatever it was he felt helpless.
As the storm passed, Paige's seizing subsided. When all was done, Paige's belly rose and fell in long slow breaths. Her grip relaxed completely and she nuzzled her head into him. Sleep took Rowan as he held onto her tightly.