In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 33: Together Again

Happiness flooded Tyrone's mind as he floated into semi-wakefulness. Why was he so happy? There was a reason, but he couldn't call it immediately to mind. It came back between heartbeats as Justine shifted slightly in her sleep. Feelings of contentment associated only with her seeped through him as he caught the scent of her hair.

Did he need to get up yet? He opened one eye to check the clock, and saw it was four in the morning. That was far too early to get up today. Sleep returned almost as soon as he established that.

When he next opened his eyes, it was just before six. More sleep would be nice, but there were still plenty of boxes at the apartment to move. They ought to get a reasonably early start. Careful not to disturb his wife, he slipped from the covers and into the small bathroom at the back of their quarters.

Justine was awake by the time he finished, waiting for her turn in the shower. She stopped him for a kiss before he could walk past, tossing her things toward the bathroom to get them out of her hands. "I'll head to the kitchen and get breakfast going," he said. She nodded and released him.

Coffee supplanted breakfast as the top priority when he got to the kitchen, because none was ready yet. Joseph must be sleeping better. Before long he had a large pan of scrambled eggs cooking as well, various vegetables they had lying around chopped into it for flavor. There was plenty of work to do today, a good breakfast could only help.

Justine arrived only a few minutes after the food was ready, her still-wet hair hanging haphazardly down her back. She was working on it with a brush as she walked. "Oh good, you're done," she said when she spotted Tyrone scooping the eggs onto plates.

"Got hungry in the shower?" Tyrone asked. He gave her a teasing smile.

"I was already hungry, I just wasn't listening to my stomach yet. I was hungrier than I thought I would be. We worked hard yesterday, so it probably shouldn't have surprised me."

"We'll be doing it again today." They prayed and began to eat, and there still was no sign of Joseph. When he finally did arrive, he hurried to fetch his own plate and pour some coffee.

"Change of plans." He set his food on the table and shoveled in the first few bites before explaining. "Spacedock just called, they want to start working on Garden Variety Animal at eight."

Tyrone's pace quickened as well. It was already a bit past seven. "Why did they change the schedule?"

"I didn't get a full explanation, but they need our original time slot for a rush job. The ship they were going to work on in our bay this morning will be easier to work on at moor than us, so they got moved outside and we got moved up."

"Did you mention they've disrupted our entire plan for the day?"

"No," Joseph laughed. "Usually we're thrilled to be bumped ahead like that, and the tech that called remembers us. He was excited, thought he'd be doing us a big favor. I didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm right before he works on our ship."

"Well, the change still helps us," Justine said. "We won't have to worry about getting out on time tomorrow."

"Nope, now we just have to rearrange our whole agenda for today," Tyrone grumbled. "It figures that the one time we actually didn't want a quicker turnaround is the time they're able to squeeze us in early."

"Life is like that," Joseph agreed. "Did we secure everything we moved aboard yesterday? We don't want that stuff banging around during maneuvers."

"No, we didn't. I'll see about that after I finish eating."

"Alright. Once that's done, would the two of you mind running to Tubman's Armory to pick up our replacement missiles? I'd still like to load them while we're sitting in the docking bay. I'll fly the ship over so they can get started."