Heritage

Heritage (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6 - Elena

“Class dismissed,” I say once again to my Cadets. The last period of the day has finally ended, and after a quick, respectful salute, the Cadets file out of the classroom in a hurry.

Just as I’m stowing away the rest of my un-graded quizzes in the drawer of my desk, locking it with the external plasma keypad, Ethan pokes his head into the room, grinning in the mischievous way of his.

“What would you say if I told you that I have reservations at your favorite restaurant tonight?”  He asks me, crossing the threshold of the classroom and perching himself on my desk.

“Nova? You really got us reservations?” 

“I sure did, baby. For seven. So you have plenty of time to relax in the HabMod before you get ready,” he replies, taking my hand and bringing it to his mouth, softly kissing my wedding band.

We had a simple wedding almost immediately upon arriving back on Earth after the disaster on the XR3-Hercules ship. We had a quiet ceremony, performed by a Justice of the Peace in the living room of our just-bought home. Leon was just a week old when we tied the knot, and we lived quite peacefully until two weeks after his third birthday.

That’s when the President of the United States contacted Ethan and I, requesting a meeting regarding a new ship, a new war, and a new life. The President damn near begged Ethan to run the ship, with my assistance and we both immediately agreed. Leon has been raised upon Poseidon, this is our home. It’s just too bad that most of that time, there’s been a war going on. The second Sekrid war, to be exact.

“Elena?”  Ethan says, waving his hand in front of my face and pulling me out of my reverie.

“Sorry, love. I was spacing out,” I reply, “I’d love to go to dinner tonight. I can’t wait, thank you.” 

He just smiles and takes my hand in his, as we make our way to the Habitation Wing. The Officers HabMods are on the upper levels of the ship, with the Cadets, in order of seniority, on the lower levels.

Ethan and my module is by far the largest, the size of a small one bedroom home. Leon had the choice of staying with us in our module, or staying in his own and being independent as any normal Cadet. Ethan encouraged him to stay in his own to learn responsibility, and while I agreed that it was best, it was still hard to see my only child leave the nest.

After swiping his keycard in the slot outside our door, he waits for the blue light signaling safe entry and pushes the door open. I make my way to our bedroom and the first thing I do is unpin my dark auburn hair, shaking it loose from the tight bun it’s always in. I hate having to wear it up, but it’s necessary.

Ethan approaches me from behind, wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing his face into my hair. He’s always loved my hair. I smile to myself when he kisses the spot on my neck, just behind my ear.

“How was your day?”  I ask him softly, unbuttoning my jacket and tossing it onto the bed.

All of the officers have a special laundry chute, for the sole purpose of the cleaning staff to wash, dry clean and press their uniforms. The rest of our laundry is done in our personal quarters. The Cadets are made to do their laundry on the third floor, in a small room that is filled with washers and dryers.

“Besides our son wreaking havoc? Not too thrilling. Pushing papers mostly,” he responds, running his hands down my arms soothingly as I remove my regulation belt.

After I finish undressing, slapping Ethan’s hand many times for getting just a little too grabby, I smirk and flounce off to the bathroom for a long, hot bath, leaving him with a grin on his face.