Captain (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

Captain (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 4)
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stylized Asian lions guarding the door.  Inside was Korean kitsch, but it was the smell of hops in the air that grabbed their attention.  Two Navy lieutenants had already claimed a table, and from the look of it, had already made a good dent on the beer stocks.  They lifted their steins in a toast as the three Marines and Frank came in.
    Frank went right to their table and poured himself a stein out of their pitcher.  The ship was smaller than most, and most of the men already knew each other, and if the chaplain wanted some of their beer, then who were they to object?
    The drinking started, and the next six hours went by in a blur.  Ryck remembered the CO and the ship’s captain stopping by for a round.  He remembered seeing three young privates, probably just out of recruit training wander in and then look at them in panic as they realized who had laid claim to the place before they took off at a run, much to all of their amusement.  He vaguely remembered standing on the table with Felipe Something-or-other, one of the Navy lieutenants, and singing “That’s Why I Love You,” while getting doused with beer from the unappreciative gallery.  But that was about it.
    Somehow, probably with help, he made it back to the ship where he collapsed in his rack.  Tomorrow, he would be the good husband and spend time with his wife, but tonight, that had been righteous!

Chapter 4
     
     
    Thanks to modern medicine, Ryck felt surprisingly human the next morning as he went back down to the planet’s surface.  Shabah hadn’t made it back to the ship the night before, but the duty corpsman didn’t even ask when Ryck showed up at sickbay and simply gave him the injection.  Within minutes, his head shrank to half its size, and his brain actually started to work again.  His mouth still tasted like a sewer, but a quick shower and brush, and he was ready to go meet Hannah.
    He was looking forward to the four days with her.  During workups and getting ready for deployment, they hadn’t had much time together.  Ryck’s schedule, Hannah’s schedule, and most of all, the demands of the twins had them parenting instead of being husband and wife.  Now, with Hannah’s cousin watching the twins, they could focus only on each other, and Ryck could use the loving.  It was going to be a long stretch of sleeping alone, and he planned on making good use of their time together.
    There was a flower vendor at the commercial terminal, so he scooped up a dozen roses.  He buried his nose in them, inhaling.  These were some new strain, and their scent was heady.  It reminded him of Hannah—not so much that Hannah liked roses, but that Ryck did, and he continually bought her rose bubble bath and toilet spray.  The more he smelled them, the more excited he was to see her and the harder the wait.
    There were no immigration formalities for Federation citizens on Colt 45, but still, it took quite a bit of time for a passenger liner to unload close to 6,000 passengers.  Ryck looked up anxiously each time a shuttle unloaded, but it wasn’t until the seventh load that he spotted his Hannah.
    She looked a little bedraggled as she followed the throng through the glass entryway, pulling her small suitcase.  Hannah was a Torritite, and so she was never much into make-up.  She had gained a little weight over their years together, especially after having the twins.  But to Ryck, she was as beautiful as ever.  He still wondered how he had ever gotten her to fall in love with him, and he prayed she would never realize she was too good for him.
    They’d had a rocky patch after Joshua, her brother, had been killed by the trinoculars, but since then, Ryck thought their relationship had become stronger than ever.  And now with the twins, his personal life was about as good as it had ever been.
    She didn’t see him as she came through the exit.  He snuck up behind her and thrust the roses around and in front of her face.
    She took a sniff, then
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