Pirates attack Fr. Nick’s shuttle! Otherwise Engaged, Part 2
New story! I kind of broke Ellie after the last story, so it’s time for her to have a break. …or is it?
Insight hit Ellie’s mind like a flash grenade, but unlike her usual insights when in a crisis on the Impulsive, this one brought a slow burn of anger.
Of course it was her—looking for a way to hobble her wild daughter and bring me home, to-boot. Does she want me to marry Todd—to get pregnant and planetbound and stuck doing Union HiLo work while she plays with her grandkids? Oh, she’s going to have another think coming—
“Ellie?” Todd touched her shoulder and she jumped.
“What? Sorry. My mind wandered. Mothers and daughters, you know.” She shrugged and applied a little Logic training to file away her worries somewhere cool and unemotional until she could unpack them to analyze later.
Father Nicholas said, “I was saying that I’d met your mother several years ago, at Merimac V Penal Colony. She managed to endear and intimidate the inmates all at the same time.”
“That’s Mother,” Ellie said, pasting on a smile. “Did she endear or intimidate you?”
He chuckled, but said, “Inspired, actually. She nudged me on the path that led to where I am today.”
“So you feel indebted to her?” Ellie asked. She forced herself to look only at the priest, lest she give her fiancé an I-Told-You-So look.
But he replied, “Grateful, certainly, but I am indebted only to my Savior, for He’s the one who brought so many wonderful people my way. And now, He has brought me the two of you! This is very exciting for me. So few couples do marriage prep. The Church hasn’t required it in centuries, but I think it has so much value, especially for devoted couples facing great challenges.”
“What does that mean?” Now, even Todd sounded a little defensive.
“Only that the two of you have a lot of hard and sometimes wonderful decisions to make. My job is not to help you make those decisions—although you may come to some as we talk—but rather to help you understand each other better so that when challenges come, you can tackle them from a place of mutual understanding. After all, marriage is the ultimate, lifelong Calling for a man and a woman. Once you are married, you’ll no longer have the luxury of thinking only as Ellie or Todd.”
“But as Toddlie!” Ellie said. She set her hand on Todd’s, her eyes now shining with love.
The priest chuckled. “I was going to say, ‘The Ahndmors.’”
“The Doall-Ahndmors,” Todd said, though he never took his eyes off Ellie.
“Even better. It has a nice ring to it. Very optimistic. So, Future Doall-Ahndmors, let’s get started, shall we? I have a list of questions we’re going to discuss.”
He handed them some tablets.
“For this next hour, I want you to each consider the ones regarding work and career. Take time to think about the questions, journal if you’d like, then we’ll come back together for discussion. Todd, there’s a small chapel toward the back if you’d—”
The proximity alarms started ringing in the small ship.
“Oh, no!” Father Nicholas moaned as he leapt from his seat. “Quick! You two get to your shuttle.”
Without waiting for a reply, he ran to the cockpit.
Ellie followed. “Our shuttle went to go check out a nearby nebula. What’s going on?”
“Pirates,” his said, his voice tense. “Strap in!”
Again not waiting for an answer, he hit thrusters to the redline. Ellie staggered before the inertial dampeners compensated. In the guest area, Todd fell over with a yelp. He yelped a second time as the blast of a torpedo shoved the ship sideways.
The cockpit only had one seat, but that didn’t stop Ellie. While Father Nicholas manned the controls, jinking and pushing even more power from the engines, she leaned around him and tapped the comms. “Mayday, mayday. This is the UFS Malta, registry Vatican 4948. We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack— Shoot! They’re jamming us. I suppose it’s too much to ask if there are weapons?”
“Yes. It is too much,” the priest replied, terse yet rather mildly for the circumstances. “I’m sorry you’re caught up in this!”
“Just point me to the shields!” If she could remodulate them to a rotating frequency, that could stop them from getting caught in a—
The ship jerked, throwing her forward against the pilot’s seat. The headpiece dug into her ribs. Father, too, was flung forward and whacked his head on the controls.
—tractor beam! Vac’ the void!
“Ellie!” Todd cried from the living area. Then there was a hum of rasers and a thump of a body hitting the floor.
“Todd!”
Ellie had just enough time to turn toward the back when a pirate stunned her, too.
Karina’s Choice
I can get a job, or I can write. Well, I have a part-time job and I’m writing, but the more jobbing, the less writing. If you are enjoying my works, would you leave me a tip?