To the Rescue (Remiet #2)
23 Jan 2023Jack Remiet
"I cannot believe we got away," Bug says, mixing the hot chocolate for her and her younger brother in the galley. Orion sits at the table, enraptured."Why couldn't I have been there?" he laments. Bug looks at him, surprised.
"O, it was awful. It hurt. Like, I didn't think I'd see you again. I was scared." She brings the mugs to the table and sits across from Orion. O is 19, a giant of a young man with two-and-a-half feet of thick, brown curls cascading from his scalp to below his impossibly broad shoulders, and a full beard which belies his baby face. He knows they call him "Jack's unusually large son." And he's proud of it. His sister is 22, petite, with a darker complexion, more like their father's. O got his dad's hair, at least.
Orion considers. "I just wish we could all go together. I understand why we can't. I understand why it has to be you when it's Thargoids." He takes a sip, feels the marshmallows tickle his mustache, looks at Bug and smiles. She's missed his wide, bright, green eyes and eyelashes as long as the rest of him. Bug takes a sip herself and sinks low in her seat, smiling. She'd told her dad she'd keep the secret, but she can't any longer.
"We are," she blurts. "Unrest is ready. We're going on the rescue!" She can't stop smiling. "Dad told me not to tell you. It's supposed to be a surprise."
"Wait, really?"
"I saw the paperwork!" She takes another sip. "Unrest has 60 seats now. We're going to the outposts to take refugees." O is smiling like she hasn't seen him smile in forever. "Pretend to be surprised."
O takes her hand and squeezes. "Won't be a problem."