Chapter 71: Chapter 70: Payback

Two days after his last Council meeting, Alex received the news he’d been waiting for since he arrived at Vesta. It occurred while he was working in his office in Biosphere Five, and the transmission came from Hans who was currently stationed at the mining biosphere.

“Sir, how soon can you get up here?” asked Hans, the man’s beaming grin easily visible from his hologram.

“Why, what happened, Hans?” asked Alex. “The bears finally surrender and decide to go home?”

“Not quite but it’s the next best thing,” replied Hans. “We got two of them. Killed before they came down from the upper rim. Can you believe it, sir? We got two of the bastards!”

Not much longer after hearing that, Alex was in a rover as it sped across the plain to the foothills. He found the VDF forces as well as several of the miners, in a state of celebration once he got to the biosphere.

It wasn’t hard to see why. The bodies of the two bears had been strung up to show off the kill. All around them, the VDF celebrated, not having taken out a bear at long range in quite some time.

“It was all due to the warning system,” explained a joyous Hans to Alex. “The siren went off and they just started shooting at the rim. No sooner had the first shots got out then they struck the bears who were already barreling over the side. They were dead by the time their bodies hit the bottom. You were entirely right, sir. We got seconds back that we didn’t have before and that was all the difference we needed!”

“Job well done,” replied Alex with some excitement. “Who were the men that killed them? I want to shake their hands personally.”

The two men, long-term Vestans who’d spent their entire lives there, beamed with proud grins as Alex congratulated them.

“We couldn’t let you be the only Vestan who’s killed a bear,” said one of them to Alex, ribbing his commander.

“No, I agree,” replied Alex. “In fact, the whole city needs to see this so we can celebrate it. Let’s bring the bodies back and let them know what happened.”

As it turned out, nearly the entire city came out to celebrate the killing of the two bears. It was the biggest celebration that Alex had seen yet, driven by an optimism that perhaps the colony could get back on the right track. The two VDF soldiers that did the deed were soon hoisted up on the shoulders of the crowd and praised for their good shooting. Even as the commander, Alex took in his fair share of praise for setting up the sensors.

“There’s still a lot of work that can be done,” said Alex after he was asked to comment. “But those two soldiers just proved that Vesta can defend herself against the bears. As long as we can continue to provide them with the right tools to do the job, there’s no reason why we can’t stop the attacks permanently.”

Of course, that was carried off as a sound bite that made its way through the colony’s feed network by that evening. Someone managed to connect the dots and soon questions were being asked about just what Alex meant by the right tools for the job.

“Wait until our next Council meeting,” said Annette, laughing while they spoke through their P-coms. “Belladonna is going to be livid about that little sound bite. I can’t wait to hear her start off the meeting with ‘How dare you, Councilor Hawthorne?’”

Alex chuckled at her impression. “That’s really spot-on, Annette. Maybe you’ve been spending too much time hanging out with Belladonna that she’s starting to rub off on you.”

“Eck, I think that’s better said of Serrano,” she corrected. “I’m sure he has a lot of experience with Belladonna rubbing off on him.”

“What a disturbing visual,” replied Alex. “I could do with never having that thought ever again.”

“You and me both! By the way, have you talked with Jenna yet?”

“Funny you should mention that,” said Alex.

The truth was that he was thinking about doing it that evening. Alex thought that the festive atmosphere in Vesta might work to his advantage, and there was the possibility that enough time had passed that Jenna might have cooled down a bit. He explained his reasoning to Annette and she signed off with a wish of good luck.

“Let me know how it goes, and I’m thinking lots of good thoughts for you,” she said.

“I’ll need them, that’s for sure. Thanks, Annette. Talk to you soon.”

Annette’s well-wishes were one thing but Alex felt he needed some liquid courage to make the trip to see Jenna. He grabbed a bottle of bourbon from Rick’s stores but before it could go down the hatch, he stopped himself. Jenna would be able to smell the alcohol and he thought that might work against him.

That meant he was walking toward Biosphere Three just based on balls alone.

The city was still celebrating by the time he arrived. Alex took a moment to get his composure before knocking on the door. He didn’t use the biometric pass, wanting to show respect for her space at this critical junction of their relationship.

Alex almost thought the door would never open but to his surprise it did. Quite suddenly, he was face to face with Jenna once more.

She’d never looked more stunning to him. She was already dressed down for the evening, which for Jenna meant a simple pink tank top and baby-blue shorts that showcased her long legs. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wasn’t wearing a stitch of makeup. Even still, she looked ravishing to him.

If only she was as happy to see him as he was her.

Jenna crossed her arms and frowned at him. “What do you want, Alex?”

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“Five minutes of your time,” he replied quickly. “That’s it. Can we talk? Please?”

He fully expected her to turn him down like she had a half dozen times before. To his surprise, she sighed heavily and walked back inside, leaving the door ajar.

That seemed like the best opening he would get and he stepped inside. Jenna hadn’t gone very far in and she stopped to look at him in the living room, her eyes showing a hint of annoyance.

“I missed it here,” said Alex, looking around. “You never realize how quickly one place starts to feel like home until it’s gone.”

Jenna didn’t respond to that statement directly but she did start tapping her toe against the floor. Either her patience was running thin or her anxiety about the situation was showing but either way, Alex read between the lines and really launched into it.

“I’m sorry, Jenna. I’m so incredibly sorry for what I did to you. You didn’t deserve what happened whatsoever and it’s entirely my fault for putting you in that position.”

Jenna still didn’t say a word. She kept watching him with a mixture of curiosity and loathing that he found hard to interpret. Even still, he kept going.

“The last two weeks have been terrible,” replied Alex. “I know that you’re suffering just as much as I am, even more so. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t want to take back what I did and say no. If only it were that easy. I should have never hurt someone like that. Someone that I love.”

Jenna swallowed heavily when he said that. Her eyes focused on him at that moment, a direct glare that made him sweat.

“I love you, Jenna. And I haven’t been good to you, not like how you’ve been to me. Every day you tried to treat me like a king and I’ve definitely fallen short of extending you the same treatment. I just don’t know what to do. I want you back like crazy but I know I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve you at all. And that just kills me.”

Finally, Jenna spoke up. And it wasn’t the stunning rebuke that he expected.

“Do you remember shortly after our escape pod crashed on the planet?” she asked suddenly. “After we left the pod and had one of our first nights out in the wild? You told me all about your life and your experiences and how much pain there was with them. And then I did the same. I told you everything about my life, my pain, the reason why I had to get off of Earth and come to some distant colony. Do you remember that?”

“I can’t forget it,” replied Alex. “I remember that night well. All about Vince and your brother.”

Tears appeared in Jenna’s eyes. “Do you remember what you said to me that night? After I told you how much they hurt me?”

Alex shook his head.

Jenna wiped the tears off her cheeks. “You told me you’d never hurt me like that. That I was safe with you. You told me that again the first night we arrived in Vesta. When I crawled into your arms in our bed. You kissed my forehead and told me that you were always going to protect me, Alex.”

Alex’s stomach started to turn at that part. He finally figured out where this was going and it wasn’t a place he wanted to go.

“You lied to me,” accused Jenna. “You told me you would never hurt me and I trusted you. I really trusted you. At the time, I thought you were the man I’d been waiting my whole life to find. The one that would really love me and stop all the pain.” Jenna started shaking her head. “How wrong I really was.”

“Just give me another chance, Jenna,” he pleaded. “I won’t hurt you again, not like that. I know I have no way of proving that and my word doesn’t mean anything to you right now but let me attempt to make good on that promise. I won’t do that to you again.”

“No, no you won’t,” said Jenna as her tone hardened. “Because I’m not going to give you the chance to do that to me again. You don’t deserve it. You know what hurts the most, Alex? I knew Vince was never the one. I figured it out very early and so when he hurt me, it was okay. He wasn’t the person I wanted to be with in the end, so I could deal with that.” Jenna started crying again. “But you, I thought you really might be the one for me. You really had me fooled. And now I don’t know what to believe. I don’t trust any men. Even you turned out to be a bastard. What hope do the rest of them have?”

Jenna took a deep breath to steady herself. The emotion left her face until the only thing that was left was stony reservation. She moved toward the door and opened it.

“I don’t want to see you again but I know that won’t happen in a colony as small as Vesta,” she said. “But I don’t want to talk to you ever again. If it’s related to the VDF, I’ll be professional but that’s it. What we had is dead, Alex. I’m ready to bury it.”

“Jenna, please. We can fix this. I’m not ready to stop fighting yet.”

“I am ready, Alex,” she said firmly. “Now please, walk out of my life.”

Alex wanted to say many things. He wanted to protest, to fight, to plead. But he also knew when the moment had turned decisively against him. And now was that time.

With a heavy sigh, Alex moved toward the door and walked out.

“I’m sorry, Jenna. You deserved better,” he whispered as he left. “You deserved so much better.”

The walk back to Rick’s place was the longest walk of his life.

It was also the first time he wished he’d just stayed in prison.

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