Miss Marathon Read online

  “Many types of vessels, primarily Markete. 30 in all, with more coming in.”

  Maggie received a hail from that fleet.

  A Markete like Raseen, but older, appeared on screen. “Hello Human vessel. This is Captain Mowver of Markete ship Latherling. We are here to take over for the Torvin in the matter of the quarantine of Earth.”

  Quarantine? Well here we go again. “Patty be ready, I’m going to blow all these ships at once if I can.”

  Patty shuddered, “Maggie, at least talk to them first.”

  As usual, Patty was right. Talk first. Maybe a good threat would scare them away.

  Maggie put her face close to the monitor. “There will be no quarantine. We’ll not allow it. We’ll fight you and win. See your Torvin friends and this crippled Ophiuchi if you doubt me.”

  “Ah yes. Miss Marathon and the Patton. We’ve heard of you. Lovely to finally meet you. I think you misunderstand. There has been a political compromise in the Galactic Control Counsel. The Markete have been given the job of quarantining this planet, and we interpret that to mean keeping the rest of the galaxy from interfering with you.”

  Maggie was confused. “So what’s that mean?”

  “It means we shoo away the Torvin and anyone else that comes snooping around, and Earth goes about its business as it sees fit.”

  “So really it’s not a quarantine at all?” Maggie was beginning to understand. Maybe.

  “Miss Marathon, that is a matter of interpretation. Translation between dozens of different languages is rarely perfect. What I do know for sure is at last count we have 38 ships, plus yours makes 40, and all of them interpret the quarantine as we do. Words might not translate so well, but math like that tends to be understood perfectly.”

  Maggie smiled at the Markete captain. “Well then. Captain Mowver. Can I leave it to you and your fleet to sort out the Torvin? Also we have an injured Ophiuchi vessel in need.”

  “Yes ma’am. I would be happy to handle all of these things. These are duties essential to the efficient functioning of our quarantine.”

  Maggie cut the connection.

  Patty said, “I think I like that guy. Glad we didn’t kill him.”

  “Me too. Let’s go home.”

  * * *

  Maggie sat in the new living room on the USS Patton. Patty had rejiggered herself into a ship again. She kept changing shapes every few days as she studied the new ships coming and going as part of the Markete ‘quarantine’ of Earth. She kept changing her mind on which one looked ‘the coolest’.

  She kept the living quarters relatively stable though, at Maggie’s demand.

  Maggie bent down to pick up the baby. Grandpa Wraith couldn’t be more than 6 months old now, maybe less. The ridiculousness of it all caused Maggie to laugh, openly.

  Misty was not so amused. “What are we going to do? He was all we had, without him we’ll be in foster care.”

  Misty was weeping. Balling her eyes out to be more specific. She’d been doing that a lot over the last several days, as the stress of the battle and all the changes that came along with it were settling in on her. It was too much for her. Maggie wasn’t quite sure what to do for the kid.

  Patty knew, she vibrated. “Don’t worry Misty. You and Damon can live with me.”

  Maggie looked up. “Don’t be so hasty Patty. You can’t just adopt kids. There are rules and laws and courts to deal with.”

  “The same courts that locked you up? The same rules that say I’m not a person and that I’m not allowed to fly where ever I want?” Patty was starting to yell, vibrating the ship, she lowered her voice. “I think we can deal with all of that. Besides, I’m already constructing bedrooms for them both.”

  Maggie looked over at Misty, who was looking at her with an earnest and hopeful expression. Maggie could almost hear the begging and pleading about to start. She cut if off.

  “Fine, live in the Patton. You still have to go to school every day. Same with your brother. And babysit grandpa.”

  Misty squealed. High pitched and annoying. That was going to take some getting used to, that’s for sure.

  Cannon walked into the room, he’d just gotten back from being fitted for a new jet pack. Damon was with him.

  Damon said, “You know that new pack still isn’t as fast as I am.”

  Cannon gave him a dismissive wave. “Yeah, yeah, as soon as you can toss a car we’ll talk about who’s more bad ass.”

  Cannon stopped and looked at Maggie. Then at Misty, who was dancing around bursting to tell everyone.

  Maggie beat her to it. “Cannon, looks like we are adopting Misty, Damon and baby Wraith.”

  Cannon barely blinked. “Do I get a say in it?”

  “Do you ever?”

  “Not really. I wondered why Patty was converting the torpedo room into bedrooms.”

  Maggie said, slowly, “So you are cool with it?”

  Cannon looked over at Damon, who shied away from his gaze. Then he looked at the wide eyed Misty, ever eager. Then down at Wraith who was doing his best to swallow his own fist.

  Cannon shrugged. “Yeah. Sure. The more the merrier.”

  --The End--

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Thanks for reading!