Return Of The Fontalo
by Linda Rigsbee
Chapter 21
The captain’s men were located and returned to the Fontalo ship. This time when Donte asked if there were more, the captain truthfully answered no. Donte surrendered Chait to Lochfowk and Bergen received a sincere apology from them. Chait’s fate was up to them.
Donte instructed Nieke to meet the Premier Infantry at the airfield the morning the Azar was scheduled for departure from Purlieu. She flew the shuttle to the spaceship and took care of Petra and Andras until Donte and Rianne arrived.
Donte, Rianne and Beier met Neirin, Quade, Akira and Tabia at the airfield later and took a shuttle to the Azar. They all looked back at Purlieu, aware that they might never see it again.
The Azar was rumbling in a warm-up as they arrived, her turbines winding up a full charge, should she need a sudden burst of speed to evade the Fontalo ship.
As the group came into the main chamber, Petra and Andras broke free of Nieke and raced toward them, screaming “DADDY!”
Donte stopped and knelt down on one knee; his arms unfurled. He laughed as they slammed into him, bombarding him with kisses and hugs. He hugged them and returned their kisses.
Petra clung to his neck. “Daddy, we missed you so much.”
His throat constricted as he hugged her again. “I missed you too, sweetie.”
Andras climbed on Donte’s knee, his entire face engaged in a delighted grin. “I knew you would come when we got on the spaceship.”
Donte released Petra and stood, lifting Andras. “We’re all going to go on a long trip together.”
Petra clapped her hands together. “All of us?”
Donte nodded. “But right now, I want you to go with Mommy. I have to send some messages.” He lowered Andras to the floor. “I’ll meet you in a little while and we’ll read together.”
Rianne smiled at Donte. “That sounds delightful.” She took each of the children by the hand. “Now, why don’t you show mommy to our room?”
Donte watched them walk away and then turned toward the control room. It was time to get the Azar going and he wasn’t sure how the captain would respond. He wasn’t concerned that the Fontalo ship would fire on the Azar while it left Purlieu. There were still two ships with their lasers locked on the Columba. By now, the captain would have no doubt that they would destroy the Fontalo ship if it threatened in any way. It wasn’t the Fontalo’s lasers that concerned Donte. It was his own reaction to the captain that concerned him. He was determined not to let the captain get to him. That wasn’t going to be easy. All the man had to do was speak and Donte bristled.
Tabia and Akira left to find their rooms but Quade and Neirin followed Donte to the control room and took a seat. Maybe their presence would help. Vidal shook Donte’s hand. “Welcome aboard, Monomi. We are ready to leave on your command.”
“Let’s take a course over the Columba. Can you contact the captain so I can speak to him?”
Vidal nodded and instructed the communications clerk to contact the captain. Donte took a seat near the speaker and waited. When the Captain responded, Donte explained what they were doing.
“I want you to remain in position until you receive word from commander Cadha or Adriaan. At that point you may follow us.
The captain was quiet a moment before speaking in a sour tone. “I am looking forward to joining you on Oriel where you can no longer give me orders.”
Donte didn’t respond to his complaint. “At this point, I would like to update that list you have. Niall, Xever, Pieter, Farasi and Eilig are all dead. Neirin and Quade are on the Azar with me.”
The captain was silent while the Azar passed over the Fontalo ship. Finally, he spoke. “Why do you want me to follow you? What are you trying to lead me away from?”
There was no point in trying to hide his purpose. “You have caused the colonists of Purlieu enough grief. No one there concerns you now.”
The captain’s response sounded like a grunt. “I’ll follow you.” He paused a moment. “I suppose you’re telling me the truth about the others. I don’t think you know how to lie.”
“I consider that a compliment,” Donte said.
The captain’s laugh lacked humor. “I consider it a lack of imagination.”
Donte said nothing more. He should have had the sense not to respond to the captain’s comment.
When Donte glanced at Vidal, he was leaning toward the speaker. Donte shook his head and concluded the call. “We’ll see you on Oriel.”
When the communications clerk disconnected the call, Vidal scowled. “How can he talk to you that way? Someone needs to set him straight.”
Neirin stood. “He’s trying to bait Donte. I’m not sure why, though.”
Quade shook his head. “Because he feels inferior.” He stood. “If someone will show us to our room, we’d like to get settled.”
Vidal nodded to one of his men. Donte followed his gaze. A red-headed man stepped forward and extended a hand to Donte, a big smile on his face.
“It is good to see you again, Monomi.”
Donte shook his hand and smiled. “Barclay! What are you doing here?”
“I signed up shortly after we met. I tried to get on the Moeder, but they were full. I was fortunate that it worked out this way, though.” He paused, looking confused. “But why did you decide to use the Azar instead of the Moeder?”
It was a logical question, since the Moeder was a Bergen ship. Still, why would a Lochfowk colonist want to serve on the Moeder instead of the Lochfowk ship, Baigh?
Donte released Barclay’s hand and glanced at Vidal. “The Azar is our fastest ship, but I also thought Commander Vidal was the best choice for this mission.”
Vidal looked surprised, but said nothing.
Barclay glanced at Vidal, nodded and turned to Quade and Neirin. After he left the room, Vidal studied Donte for a moment.
“I thought I was fortunate enough to be commanding the ship you wanted.”
Donte smiled. “It was I who was fortunate, Vidal – and Purlieu.”
Vidal’s gaze followed Barclay. “How did you two know each other?”
Donte gave Vidal a wry smile. “Believe it or not, we met in a conflict with each other in Lochfowk. We have exchanged few words, and that over a period of a few hours.
Vidal lifted a brow. “You certainly made an impression on him in that time. He said you were his inspiration to join the service.”
It was Donte’s turn to be surprised. “Why?”
Vidal shrugged. “He said he wanted to run for president of Lochfowk. He said until he met you, he didn’t realize how much difference one person could make.”
If he wanted to run for president of Lochfowk, then why didn’t he request service on the Baigh? Vidal probably had as much influence on his choice as anyone else. Vidal was the first colonist commander of a spaceship, and he was one of the best commanders.
Donte sighed. “Let me know if anything happens. I’m going to spend some time with my family.
There were no days and nights in space. Still, they kept to a schedule of waking and sleeping hours. When they woke, Donte contacted Adriaan and Cadha, giving the captain permission to follow. The captain was not allowed to turn his ship toward Purlieu or either of the other spaceships. He complied, moving quickly away from the planet and reaching maximum speed shortly thereafter.
The Azar had been traveling at near maximum speed, but it settled into a less demanding speed as it left the Columba behind. The Azar was still traveling faster than the Fontalo ship could. The Columba would be monitored by the Purlieu spaceships for a while, and then by the Azar.
Four weeks out, the Azar caught up with the Centaurus. Travel would be much slower after that, as Donte didn’t want to arrive at Oriel ahead of Cheska and Gaige. The Centaurus was to be their escort.
The Fontalo ship would catch up with them, but four weeks had given them the opportunity to work the problems out of Donte’s plan. He didn’t intend to spend months with the Fontalo ship behind them.
***
Donica didn’t understand Donte. The Azar had been gone for no more than a day when Donte permitted the Fontalo ship to follow them. Dalziel said the Azar was a lot faster than the Fontalo ship, but it still didn’t allow them to get very far ahead. It was as if Donte wanted the Fontalo ship to catch up with him. If he didn’t have his family with him, she would have thought that might be the case. Saskia thought he didn’t want to get far away with the Fontalo ship so close to Purlieu. That sounded more like Donte. A week after the Fontalo ship left, Dalziel received the news that they could leave the shelter. Heri returned to Nyumbani and Donica and Saskia returned to the Groot Thuis with Tavin.
Gerritt was living in a room at the Groot Thuis and using Donte’s office. Saskia invited him to move into one of the rooms upstairs until Donte returned. He was uncertain about it at first, but when Donica said she would feel safer if he stayed there, he moved upstairs.
The last they heard about Chait was that he was living in a work camp with other criminals. In a way, Donica felt sorry for him. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried. Chait had put a lot of effort into becoming President and he hadn’t deceived anyone in the process. At one point she actually thought he liked Donte. Something had happened to Chait, or had he always been that way and she had refused to see it? Tavin still asked when his daddy was going to come home. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that Chait would never come back.
Even with all the changes in her life, the Groot Thuis felt like home. The cabinet welcomed her back with smiles and open arms. If Pieter had been there, it would have been like old times. In a way, Gerritt had taken Pieter’s place. Gerritt was nothing like Pieter, but he was in the office most of the time. Sometimes when they called him to eat a meal, she imagined Pieter rolling out of his office. Gerritt would appear, quiet and reflective, like Pieter. When they spoke to Gerritt, though, his response was always polite and cheerful. They tried to make him feel at home. It must be difficult to be saddled with the responsibility of Bergen temporarily. Yet that was the only way Beier had wanted the job.
Donica didn’t miss Beier. She had only known him for a short time, and during that period he assisted Pieter in tormenting Donte. Pieter had even named Beier as his second on his death bed. He had left Donte with the responsibility of telling Beier. Much as Donica loved her grandfather, she could never understand how he could be so mean to Donte.
The cabinet liked Gerritt. In fact, they liked him so much that she wondered if he would continue to be ruler when Donte returned. That thought was disturbing enough, but the idea that Donte might not return was even more disturbing. Even Donte had said that he wondered if he would be alive when The Prophesy was over. That idea was too painful to think about.
***
Cheska had been listening when the Azar left Purlieu. She had to smile when the captain said he would be glad when he got to Oriel so Donte could no longer give him orders. The captain was accustomed to giving orders, not taking them. He couldn’t resist a shot at Donte for being unimaginative, but Donte didn’t respond to his rude remark. There was no reason to do so. He had the upper hand and they both knew it – for now.
When the Azar joined the Centaurus, it had to slow down. The Fontalo ship would catch up with them at this rate. Cheska had no doubt that Donte had a plan. He always had a plan. She contacted the commander and requested permission to board the Azar. Vidal didn’t immediately answer and she suspected he was consulting Donte. Whatever the case, he gave her permission.
When Cheska arrived on the Azar, Donte and Rianne met her. Donte was holding his son in one arm and his daughter was holding his other hand. Petra made Cheska think of Celyn. She was going to be a beauty. That should come as no surprise, considering her parents. Andras was a handsome little boy with eyes like Donte’s. He had a shy smile that tugged at Cheska’s heart. She had thought children would help people think of Donte as human. These children would quickly win hearts.
Donte released Petra’s hand and shook Cheska’s. Rianne shook Cheska’s hand and looked up as a tall dark-haired man with brown eyes joined them. He looked into Cheska’s eyes as he spoke. “Welcome to the Azar. I’m Commander Vidal.”
“Thank you,” she said. She stared at his bearded face. “Pardon me for staring, but I thought all of the commanders were Mascots.”
He smiled. “That used to be the case but colonists are gradually taking more positions that were previously reserved for Mascots.”
Cheska looked at Donte. “How does that make you feel?”
Vidal chuckled. “Donte’s is largely responsible for that change.”
Cheska lifted a brow at Donte. He shrugged, as if his participation was insignificant. “People were ready for a change. I was merely in the right place at the right time.”
Rianne smiled up at him. “You worked hard to make that happen – fighting Pieter every step of the way.”
“He most certainly did,” Quade said as he and Neirin joined them. “Yet his efforts were rewarded with rejection and attempts on his life.” Quade offered a hand to Cheska. “I hope Oriel is more grateful.”
Cheska shook his hand. “I hope so too.” She offered a hand to Neirin.
Neirin accepted her hand. “I agree with Quade. Even now, Donte is the one risking the most for the freedom of the colonists.”
Donte motioned to someone and when Cheska followed his gaze she saw the young woman Donte had talked to before rescuing the captain’s men. The woman smiled and joined them.
Donte indicated the girl. “This is Nieke. She’s the highest-ranking officer in the Vlaktes militia. Nieke is one of the many colonists who have worked so diligently to maintain their freedom.”
Cheska offered a hand to Nieke. “I’m honored to meet you. Not only a high-ranking officer but also a woman.” Cheska looked at Donte. “Good choice!”
Donte frowned. “Nieke volunteered to come with us.”
Nieke looked at Donte and then at Cheska. “Lots of people volunteered. Donte had to choose who would go.”
Vidal chuckled. “I think you’re outnumbered, Donte.”
Donte shook his head, his expression somewhat displeased. “It doesn’t matter who did what. It only matters that we are working together.”
He obviously wanted to drop the subject, so Cheska obliged. She looked at Donte. “Is there somewhere that we could talk privately? We’re in a bit of a quandary over some of the lab results. I thought you might be able to give us some advice.”
Donte looked surprised. “I’m not a doctor. I wouldn’t know anything about the lab tests.”
Cheska smiled. “Well, I don’t expect you to know about the medical part of it…” She paused and looked at Quade. “But you’re a doctor.”
Donte handed Andras to Rianne. “I’ll be back in a little while.” He looked at Quade and Cheska. “Let’s go to the conference room and we’ll see if the two of us can help you.”
Cheska followed Donte and Quade to the conference room. Once inside the conference room, Cheska sat at the table with the two men and opened her brief case. She pulled out the paperwork as she spoke.
“First, I think that Quade and Kenyon’s blood tests will be most useful.” She looked at Donte. “You have that oval blood cell thing going on – I’m sure you’re aware of that.”
Donte nodded.
“The thing that is troubling us right now is some of the DNA tests.”
Quade frowned and leaned forward. “Why did you need DNA tests?”
She smiled at him. “A fair question and one I was certain you would ask. Actually, we were looking at genetics – specifically, how much is actually animal and how much is human. I expected to find a small ratio of animal, and we did.” She frowned. “But something came up that made us question the accuracy of our testing method. There were two deviations from what we expected to find. One would have made me wonder about that specific test, but with two…I wondered if there was something about the makeup of Mascots that would cause these deviations.”
Donte glanced at Quade before returning his full attention to Cheska. Quade looked confused, but Donte was alert, as if he thought he knew what she was going to say. Hopefully that was the case. She continued.
“We thought that the…mutations might cause inaccurate test results. She pushed two papers toward Donte. “These are reports on the blood tests from Beier and Celyn. According to this, Beier is Celyn’s father. If that is incorrect, we would like some input about what might cause the error.”
Donte’s gaze lowered to the paper, but he wasn’t reading it. He slid the papers back to Cheska; his attention still on the reports. “That’s accurate. As you know, the serum given to the Mascots by Fontalo caused sterility. Neirin’s mate wanted a baby and resorted to a donor.” His gaze lifted to Cheska’s. “Neirin knows Celyn is not his biological child, but he doesn’t know who the father is. He doesn’t want to know. Celyn doesn’t know Neirin isn’t her biological father. She was told she was a miracle child.”
Cheska nodded. “Of that there is no doubt.” She fingered the edges of the other two papers, uncertain if she should mention it – but she had already mentioned two deviations.
Quade reached over and gently took the papers from her hands. He studied them for several minutes. Finally, he slid them back to Cheska, his expression sober. “I didn’t know that.”
Donte reached for the papers. “What?” He began reading the papers. Finally, he looked up at Quade. “I don’t know what I’m looking for here.”
“I’m sorry,” Cheska said, tucking the papers back into the briefcase. “You knew about Celyn and Beier. I thought you would know about this.”
Donte frowned. “What?”
Quade rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Apparently I’m not your father.”
Donte stared at Quade. “You are my father.”
Quade nodded. “In a sense; I raised you. I thought you were my son.”
Donte scowled at Cheska. “I am his son. How could it be otherwise?”
Cheska didn’t say anything. Donte and Quade were understandably upset. She wouldn’t have told them about it if she had realized they didn’t know. Quade stared at the table, lost in thought.
Donte continued to regard her. “If Quade isn’t my father, then who is?”
Cheska looked at Quade. “Maybe the test is wrong.”
Quade lifted his gaze to her. “I suspect you have already double-checked to see if it was an error.”
“I’m sorry,” Cheska repeated. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Quade looked at Donte. “It doesn’t matter, Donte. Blood relation isn’t what makes a man a father.”
Donte regarded Quade with a confused expression. “Who is my father?”
Cheska sighed. Quade already knew. There was no point in keeping it from Donte.
“Kenyon,” she said in a quiet tone.
Donte stared at the table; his voice barely audible. “He knew.”
Quade leaned toward him. “Did he tell you?”
Donte shook his head. “I should have known.”
Quade placed a hand on Donte’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”
Donte lifted his troubled gaze to Quade and studied him as if seeing him for the first time. “How…why?”
Quade squeezed Donte’s shoulder. “I knew there was someone else. Anica said she had to make a choice. I was glad she chose me.” He shook his head. “She never said who the other man was and I never asked. I didn’t want to know. It didn’t matter. She chose me.” He frowned. “You and Donica were born twelve months to the day from the time we exchanged vows. She couldn’t have known she was carrying a child.”
Cheska stared at Quade. “Donte has a twin?”
Quade nodded. “I raised Donte but Pieter and Saskia raised Donica.
Cheska glanced at Donte, but he was still staring at Quade in disbelief. Donica was the name that came up as Quade’s daughter. If Donte’s mother had been with two men the same day, it was possible. It happened sometimes with humans and animals. Cats were known to…She frowned. Quade’s genetics were mixed with that of a cat.
Donte and Quade looked at each other. Finally, Quade smiled. “It doesn’t matter, Donte. I raised you and that makes me your father. Pieter and Saskia will always be parents to Donica. I doubt discovering Kenyon is her biological father will make any difference to her.”
Cheska grimaced. “Actually…Donica was another one that I questioned, but since you have other children, I thought…it never occurred to me that she might be Donte’s twin.”
Quade frowned, obviously not following her thought train.
She took a deep breath. This was getting complicated. “Have you ever heard of heteropaternal superfecundation?”
He slowly shook his head.
She smiled. “It’s rare, but it does happen. Sometimes twins have different parents.”
Quade and Donte looked at each other, their expressions perplexed. When their attention returned to Cheska, Quade frowned. “Are you trying to say that Donica is mine but Donte belongs to Kenyon?”
Cheska nodded. “Exactly.”
Donte frowned. “If that is true, my twin sister would be my half-sister. If Kenyon and Celyn have a baby, it will be my half-sister or brother.” He thought about it a minute. "Celyn is now my step-mother." He shook his head as if to clear it of all the confusion. “Dad’s right. It doesn’t matter. He raised me and to me, he is my father. Kenyon is still my brother and Donica is my sister. Celyn is...Kenyon's mate – nothing more.”
Soft Science Fiction
