Passion and Peril on the Frontier

Chapter 5

It was harvest day on Nova 3, and the town was ready to bring in the ripe crops.

Maxwell yawned as he stepped off the Excalibur's ramp and took a deep sip from his coffee mug. It was just before dawn, and it was still dark, but the sun was peeking out over the highest mountain peaks.

His crew was all up too, as were Colonel Elliot and his marines. Maxwell looked at them; they were a little sleepy but ready to go.

They all headed up the town hall and found the townsfolk all up and eating a hearty breakfast.

"Oh good morning, your grace; you didn't need to be up so early," said the governor as the prince and his party came in.

"It's ok, we're here to help; put us to work," said Maxwell.

Bethany gave him a big smile as he sat down. Maxwell smiled back, and she passed over a plate piled high with bacon.

When breakfast was finished off, harvesting duties were issued. The large fields of grain would be harvested by several massive harvesting machines and only required a few trained colonists to operate, so the majority of the colony set out to work in the orchards and vegetable plots.

Maxwell and his crew were assigned the apple orchards, and everyone set out to make the most of the daylight hours.

As they all filed out into the breaking daylight, Maxwell turned to Jack and Anderson.

"I have a job for you two," he said to them.

"Of course your grace," said Jack.

"There is an old imperial mining ship crashed out in the marshland, out west a bit; the drones or my bike should have the exact coordinates; I want you to see if you can get it flying," explained Maxwell.

"How badly crashed?" asked Jack.

"It looked pretty intact, but it doesn't need to fly well; just get into orbit," said Maxwell.

"You going to use it as bait, sir?" asked Colonel Elliot, listening in on the conversation.

"Something like that," said Maxwell.

"We'll do our best," said Anderson.

"Take Hudson with you," said the colonel, nodding at his tech expert.

The three men walked off back to the Excalibur and Maxwell, and everyone else headed to orchards.

The colonists didn't waste any time and got to work, picking the ripe apples off the trees and placing them in large crates throughout the orchard.

Bethany kept throwing looks and smiles at Maxwell as they worked, and Ava gave him an amused look.

"So what really happened yesterday?" she asked teasingly.

"I told you, we had a fun day exploring," he said simply.

"Oh yes, your grace, a thrilling tale; you sure didn't do other exploring?" she asked teasingly

Maxwell raised an eyebrow, and Ava chuckled with delight.

"Alright, we kissed," Maxwell admitted.

"Just kissed?" she asked.

Maxwell was about to answer when Bethany came over to them, saving him from further teasing.

"Hi," Bethany said shyly.

"Well, I guess I will go over here now," said Ava.

Ava walked away to pick apples off another tree, and Bethany stepped closer to him. She looked around and then grinned.