ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---TREACHERY
Being the second part of
THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the
Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT SIX: A WATCHFUL
PEACE
I. SEEKING A LITTLE
CHANGE
Earth
The Great Megalopolis
Central Hospital: Doctor
Sakezo Sane’s Office
Saturday, September 7,
2205
01000 Hours: Earth Time
Nova
Wildstar sat naked on an examining table, wiggling her toes lazily with a note
of irritation on her face as Doctor Sane prepared yet another scanner for yet
another scan. Since the couple was still having a problem conceiving, Nova had
recommended that they see Doctor Sane. After two hours’ worth of uncomfortable
(and rather embarrassing) examinations for both of them, Nova was beginning to
wonder if she was doing the right thing or not. “We’ll be done soon, Nova. Just
one more scan of you, seated, please.”
“With
another cold scanner, I bet, right?” said Nova as she sighed at put her arms
above her head. Derek sat near her in a chair in his civilian outfit of a
t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops; he had just gotten dressed again after a
similar (and for him, very
embarrassing) exam of his own. “Isn’t the first lesson that you learn in
medical school is make all of those instruments as cold as possible.”
“You’re
being silly, Nova. You know better. You know it’s just the jelly that makes
these things feel cold,” said Doctor Sane. “Now put your arms up and relax.”
“Come
on,” said Nova’s friend Lieutenant Natalie Fisher. She was assisting Sane today
at the office.
Nova
did so, taking a deep, aggravated breath as Doctor Sane scanned her abdomen and
lower back yet again. As he did so, he went “Hmm, hmm, hmm,” over a video
screen.
“What
are you seeing in there, Doc?” said Derek.
“This
is interesting,” he said as he peered at the screen through his little round
glasses. “Very interesting…”
“What’s
in there, Doctor?” snapped Nova. “Is there a neon sign inside my uterus that
says ‘Eat at Joe’s?’”
“Oh,
aren’t we funny today?” laughed
Fisher.
“You’re
being ridiculous, Nova,” sniffed Sane.
“Well,
the way you’re mumbling, you two must be finding something interesting in there,” she said.
“I’ll
discuss that with you two in my office in a few minutes,” said Doctor Sane.
Time
passed. About forty-five minutes later, Nova (now again fully dressed in the
yellow backless sundress and backless sandals she had worn that day) sat with
Derek in Doctor Sane’s office as he said, “This is a rather interesting case.”
“Okay,
what’s interesting about it?” snapped Commodore Wildstar as he held Nova’s hand
as they sat together on a couch in front of Doctor Sane‘s desk. “I mean, we’ve
been trying, and trying to have children, and…”
“Well,”
said Doctor Sane. “I’ve done the standard protocols for both of you; scans and
physical examination of your reproductive tract, reproductive organs, sperm
count, and prostate check for you, Commodore, and a Pap Smear,
physical exam, and reproductive tract and ultrasound scans of your organs for
you, Nova. What I find interesting about this is that both of you are in
excellent physical condition, and everything is there inside both of you, and everything is working properly. And the blood tests
show me you two are clean of the birth control drugs now.”
“So
there’s no good physical reason that I’m not getting pregnant?” said Nova.
“No
physical reason,” said Sane. “Now, at the rate you two have been, shall we say,
trying to become parents, I would
normally have expected you, Nova, to be carrying already. Of course, I know
you’re not. So, leaving out any physical reasons, I have to conclude that it’s
all in your heads.”
“All
in our heads?” said Derek.
“That’s
crazy,” muttered Nova. “You’re saying it’s…?”
“Psychological,”
said Doctor Sane. “Sometimes, I have seen that when couples put pressure on
themselves to have children, the blessed event doesn’t happen, maybe because of
that pressure. It’s like a baseball player trying too hard at home plate to get
a hit. When a player tries that hard, they’ll often end up in a slump. But,
when the player relaxes, they can bat .350 or .400 and break that slump.”
“So,
you’re advising us to..?” said Nova.
“Just
take some time, take a deep breath, have some fun, and relax when you do the
deed, maybe try a new position or two. I know you two well enough to know there
is no problem with your technique, shall we say. Don’t get desperate, and don’t
think so much about getting pregnant. You do that, I’ll bet you a hundred
credits that I’ll be seeing the newest Wildstar in my scanners in a few weeks
or months. Okay?”
“Well,
that’s not quite what we expected,” said Derek. “But…”
Nova
took a nice deep breath. “I think we can take a hint,” she said. “The next
time…uh…we try it…”
“Good
luck,” said Doctor Sane.
“Yeah,
good luck,” said Natalie as she popped her head in. “I’m sure that you’ll need
maternity clothes pretty damn soon, Nova.”
“Yeah,”
she said with a blush as she picked up the woven white leather bag that matched
her shoes.
II. YET MORE TRAINING…
Earth
The Great Megalopolis
The Space Fighters’
Training School
Thursday, September 26,
2205
1430 Hours: Earth Time
High over
the
“Okay,” said
Deke. “Going through the checklist again, sir. Missiles Check.”
“Missiles
Check,” said a voice in his headset in a deep
“Heads-up
Display, Check,” said
“HUD Check,”
repeated Hardy. “Remember. When you’re really flyin’, this has to be
second nature,
“Yessir,”
said Deke. “Forward Guns, Check. Wing Cannon, Check.”
“You’ve got
it,” said Hardy as he made sure that the light dummy missiles were ready and
that all weapons were on practice intensity. “You should have that bogie on
your scope now…”
“Check,” grinned Deke grimly. “Brew,” he said wickedly. “I’m gonna roast
your six.”
In the
meantime, in his plane, Jere “Brew” Marrable had just gone through a similar
checklist in a Tiger II astrofighter with Bryan Hartcliffe as the instructor in
his back seat.
“Now, remember,
mate,” said Hartcliffe. “You’re a veteran. You’re hungry, man. You want this
guy’s butt!”
“Roger
that,” said Brew. “Sticks, you’re gonna pay for every time you’ve ever bugged
me about Dawn,” said Marrable as he grinned wickedly. “Head-on, huh?”
Brew had to
pull up like crazy when practice-intensity laser fire skipped all around him.
“Coming like
a bull, huh,
In his
plane, Hardy banged at the back of
“Roger
that,” said Deke as he swung up and around Brew’s plane, grinning as he began
to track him from behind at high speed.
Down below,
on the ground, other midshipmen looked up in awe and applauded as the loud
sound of the astrofighters’ jets reverberated over the distant reaches of the
campus.
“Look at
them, Petroksky!” laughed a female Midshipman named Ruth Brunner. “Those
flyboys are nuts!”
Midshipman
Sasha “Petrovsky” smiled as she looked up at the two knights of the air in
their sleek fighters. “I wonder who that guy in the plane with the thunderbolt
on it is?” she said. “He’s really good!”
“Thought you
didn’t like guys that much,” said Ruth.
“Not quite
to date, but pilots are neat,” said Sasha.
“How do you
know?” said Ruth. “Fighter jocks are a stuck-up, arrogant bunch of…”
Sasha almost
blurted out. No, my Uncle’s a great pilot and a cool guy, too… before
she bit her tongue. She had two good reasons.
First, no
one was supposed to know that she was half-Iscandarian and that Commodore
Wildstar was her uncle.
Second, it
wouldn’t be a good idea to be thinking about the slight crush she had on her
uncle when she was about to meet her aunt (and her uncle’s wife!) in a class on
Radar Ops in just a few minutes.
Part of me wishes I could end up with a
pilot, Sasha thought. Part of me wonders if it’s worth the bother.
Sasha looked
up at the “dog fighting” fighters for a moment later before she said, “C’mon
Ruth…let’s get to class.”
“Okay,
Sasha…”
In class, a
while later, Sasha sat writing various formulae in her notebook as, down in the
lower part of the small lecture amphitheatre, Nova Wildstar, in a red-and-white
Academy professor’s blouse, skirt, and pumps, stood writing more problems on
the blackboard.
“Okay,” said
Nova as she stopped writing and then turned to face her class of second-year
and third-year Midshipmen; depending upon scheduling vagarities, cadets would
take the Radar Operations I Course at different points in their academic
career. “This is the underlying math for a basic Extended Gaussian
Model Adaptive Processing or EG-MAP clutter filter matrix. Who can tell me why
it’s important to have a clutter filter matrix on raw data? Ah, Mister
Caruthers?” said Nova as she pointed at a third-year cadet in blue and white
who had his hand up.
“Ma’am,
it’s easy; the clutter filter clears out extraneous data from the matrix of
received information.”
“True,”
said Lieutenant Commander Wildstar. “But, why is it important that extraneous
data is separated out from the matrix as soon as possible?”
“Bandwidth,
ma’am,” said Caruthers as he began to sweat. He hadn’t read the assignment for
today.
“You’re
closer, but why is extraneous data bandwidth a problem? Why do we need this
complex equation taking up milliseconds of processing time at the start of each
scan?” said Nova as she scanned the room; a few hands were up. She noticed
Sasha in her yellow-and-white uniform and said, “Miss Petrovsky?”
“Damn
teacher’s pet,” muttered Caruthers in a whisper to his seatmate as Sasha said,
“Ma’am, we need that data separated out so that it doesn’t overwhelm the
computer at the beginning of each processing cycle of the first-stage unit.”
“Correct,”
said Nova. “Do we mean the ship’s or installation’s main computer, or the
sub-processor in the radar desk?”
“Actually,
we mean the cooled and driven sub-processor hooked right to the aerial array,
ma’am,” said Sasha.
“Not
bad,” said Nova as she began to draw a flowchart. “Data goes here, through the
aerial array sub-processor first, to take care of the basic processing steps.
Then, it passes through the main computer and then is uploaded to the desk
sub-processor for final display on the screen before you. That takes just a few
processing bursts, and…”
There
was a good-sized sonic boom outside, and a roar as Deke and Brew flew past the
building. A window in the classroom cracked slightly with a loud clink as it took the air blast from the
nearby sonic boom and the classroom shook.
“Hold
on!” snapped Nova as she ran over to the window while the class began to buzz.
“Silence!” she snapped. She felt the window. Good, she thought. This one’s
just cracked; not broken like the other day. I’ve gotta talk to those guys
again about getting their students too close to the quad.
The
phone at the front of the classroom on the desk began to go off; Nova
recognized the incoming number at once as being from another lecture hall up on
the third floor. “Hi, Derek,” she said softly. “No broken windows down here on
this deck-just cracked. Did they break a window up there in your Basic Combat
Tactics class? Yeah…we’ve gotta talk to those Flight professors…no, we’re not
filing complaints…yet…Maintenance will probably do that. Yes,” she said as she
sat on her desk jiggling her foot nervously; one of her pumps fell off.
“Oh…darn” she whispered. “Lost my shoe again; if it stays hot, I’m gonna have
to wear something that buckles on tomorrow. Stop laughing, sir,” whispered Nova
in an annoyed voice.
“She
cracks me up,” muttered Caruthers as he began drawing a sketch of his professor
in a notebook.
“I
don’t know who’s worse,” muttered his seatmate, who was named Perkins. “Her or
the flying sophomore computer down there in row two.”
“Yeah,
she’s cute,” said Perkins.
“Who?”
said Caruthers. “The old lady or Miss Petrovsky?”
“Both
of ‘em,” said Perkins. “You think they’re related?”
“Why
do ya say that?” muttered Caruthers.
“The
eyes,” said Perkins. “Both of them have those long eyelashes.”
“I’m
asking Petrovsky out,” said Caruthers as Sasha played with her long hair for a
moment. That’s it, she thought. I’m putting this in a ponytail next week;
it’s going all over the place!
“Good
luck,” said Perkins.
“Why?”
“I
hear that Sasha doesn’t date,” whispered Perkins right as Wildstar finished up
with her phone call and slipped her shoe back on.
“Scuttlebutt?”
Nova
then turned back to her class. “I have been reminded,” she said. “That next
class session, we’re meeting in Richardson Hall Five next Tuesday with some
other classes. The reason why is that there’s going to be a joint presentation
by myself, Professor Sandor, and Commodore Wildstar about some recent actions
we experienced in the field over the summer. Yes, I fought in a battle,” she
said as the classroom buzzed. “And that’s why this material is important,” she snapped. “If you are in
battle and your radar goes down, you’re blind. Knowing why the radar goes dead
and having some idea of what to do to fix it can save your life in combat
aboard a vessel. This is no game, people. Owing to the fact that we are not
meeting again until next Thursday, I have to assign more in the book. Thus,
we’re doing two lessons; pages 180-225, and then pages 230-249. To make sure we
know what we’re talking about, there is the possibility I’ll give an evaluation
at that time. Do we have any further questions before I return back to our
material?”
“Not
bad,” said Jefferson Hardy a few minutes later as Deke came in for a landing;
he had beaten Brew in their simulated dogfight. “Pretty good grasp of basic
combat. Did you get to fly recon duhin’ the summer? You’re sharp!”
“Yessir,
I flew some recon during my time on the
“Keep
this up, and you’ll be in great shape for your final ops cruise,” he said with
a grin. “Of course, you know that a space battleship’s a lot harder to land on
than a landin’ strip, and it’s not like getting picked up by a cruiser,
either.”
“I
know, sir,” said
“Yessuh,”
said Hardy to someone on the other end of the line as he put up his hand to
stop
“I
messed up, huh?” said
“Shoot,
you can’t make an omelet without breakin’ some eggs,” said Hardy. “Likewise,
you can’t fight an enemy half the time worryin’ about sonic booms. I’ll clear
it; I always manage to…”
“Gotcha,”
said
“Oh,
yeah,” said Hardy. “Don’t be here Tuesday. Be at
“Why’s
that?”
“Big
pow-wow next week with Commodore Wildstar and some other people. Seems we had a
little action back in the summer, and they want all of yew to hear about it.”
“Shit,
I’d rather be flying,” said
“Yeah,
you and me both,” said Hardy. “You and me both. Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Got
a girlfriend?” said Hardy.
Deke
stood in silence. “Not for a while, sir. Been…busy with my studies.”
“I
see,” said Hardy. “Well, the Fleet didn’t issue you a girlfriend, so I guess
it’s best you keep yoah mind in that fighter and not on those skirts for a bit.
This is gonna be a tough semester for yuh. Got it?”
“Yessir,” said Deke with a slight smile.
I wonder,
Deke thought as a wave of melancholy hit him again. I wonder what Dawn is up to
at
After
Nova’s class was over, the midshipmen filed out, gathering in the corridor as a
group of other Midshipmen came in to meet with Nova for her next class, on
Basic Xenobiology.
The
next group was a group of plebes, and one of them, Midshipman Decker, was
terrified of meeting Midshipman Caruthers again, remembering the special
harassment that Caruthers had given him the other day.
His
worst fears were realized when, while stumbling around, he ran right into
Caruthers.
“What
the hell?” muttered Caruthers as he felt someone running into him. Then, he
noticed green and white and snapped, “Plebe!
Shit, I’ve just been rammed into by a skuzzy, dirty, smelly Plebe!”
“Ask
him what his excuse is,” sneered Caruthers’ partner in crime Perkins.
“I
recognize you, shithead!” yelled
Caruthers. “Pop off, Midshipman Decker! What is your excuse?”
“Sir,
no excuse, SIR!” snapped Decker as he came to attention.
Some
others stood to watch this barbaric game as Sasha “Petrovsky” overheard and
immediately began to become disgusted by this harassment.
“I’d
have you do pushups now,” said Caruthers. “Except that I can’t do them in the
hall! So give me some plebe knowledge!” he yelled, about to make Decker recite
some of the many things that first-year cadets were required to memorize and
spout off letter-perfect to upperclassmen. “What is the Motto of the Defense
Forces?”
“Peace,
Freedom, and Strength, SIR!” barked Decker.
“How’s
the cow?” sneered Caruthers.
“Sir,
she walks, she talks, she’s full of chalk, the lacteal secretions of the female
of the bovine species are prolific to the nth
degree, SIR!”
“Name
the current amount of capital ships in the active Fleet, by number and vessel
type!” snapped Perkins.
“Sir!
There are currently forty-five commissioned space battleships, ten commissioned
spacecraft carriers, ten fleet cruisers, and eighty-three patrol cruisers in
the Fleet for a total of one hundred and forty-eight capital ships of the Line
in the Earth Defense Forces, SIR!”
“Wrong,”
snapped Caruthers.
“Sir?”
“Two
of those space battleships and one of those carriers are currently in refit at
this time and they are inactive,”
snapped Caruthers. “You piece of crap! You should know that! Now give me the
Chain of Command, starting from the Federation President…”
“Sir,”
said Sasha as she spoke up.
“What?”
snapped Caruthers.
“You’re
going to make him late for class!”
cried Sasha. “Remember, the ninety-second rule! They’re all in there already
with a minute before class! And don’t you guys have someplace to go?”
“Listen,
second-classman,” snapped Perkins.
“You didn’t sign your contract yet, so you have no idea of our duties with this
cadet! Get going before I start asking you
stuff!”
“Harrison
Perkins,” snapped back Sasha. “When you recognized me last June, you told me that
this would be the end of my being treated like a plebe.”
Suddenly,
the classroom door opened, and Nova came out. She immediately spotted Decker,
who had been late before for her class and earned two hours’ worth of
punishment as a result. “Mister Decker,” she said. “You have thirty seconds to
get in here or I’m going to have to write you another late slip.”
“Ma’am,
I’m sorry, ma’am!” he snapped.
Nova’s
eyes ran over Caruthers, Perkins, and “Petrovsky” and she said, “Were the three
of you holding up this plebe? You know the rules!”
“We
was having some fun, that’s all,” lied Caruthers.
“Yeah,
ma’am, we weren’t planning to hold this little guy up,” said Perkins. “Just
lost…track of time, ma’am.”
That first guy
was lying,
thought Nova quickly. But, that other
guy…maybe they just didn’t know what time it was. These are stupid kids, so I
guess they didn’t flat-out lie, so I don’t think I can Honor Chit them for
this. But, I can’t let this go. Not now.
“What
about you, Petrovsky?” snapped Nova. “Racking scared plebes doesn’t seem like
your style, Miss.”
“They were doing it, ma’am, “ said Sasha.
“I wasn’t. I just happened to overhear them, ma’am. I was just…sort of stuck
here. In fact, I was trying to stop it!”
“I
see. Not bad. You know, you two,” said Nova. “The requirements of the plebe
system prohibit you from keeping even a first-year underclassman from attending
his required classes. Therefore, you two are to let Mister Decker enter his
class at once; consider it a direct order!”
“Aye,
aye, ma’am,” said Perkins and Caruthers together.
Nova
took a pad from out of her skirt pocket and began to write furiously. “Six
hours of punishment tours each, both
of you,” snapped Nova as she handed Perkins and Caruthers punishment slips.
“The offense is delaying an underclassman from attending a required class.
Mister Decker, you are to see me after class in my office at sixteen-thirty.
You too, Miss Petrovsky.”
Sasha
looked startled at this. “Yes, ma’am,” said Sasha.
“Now
post out of here, gentlemen,” snapped Nova.
“Ma’am,
we get a warning,” said Caruthers.
Lieutenant
Commander Wildstar glared at Caruthers and said, “I warned you about this at the beginning of the semester, Mister! And you
can’t go and cover up your stupidity and abuse of the system any longer,
Midshipman! Now go to your tactical officer and set up arrangements to march
off your time! You are to begin tonight!”
“Aye,
aye, ma’am,” snapped Caruthers as he
came to attention. Then, he saluted. Nova returned the salute and said, “Mister
Decker, get in there. I don’t want to have to write you up, too.”
“Aye,
aye, ma’am!” he screamed. Then, he about-faced and ran into the classroom.
Nova
shook her head in disgust and slammed the door of her classroom as she prepared
to teach her Biology section.
“She
looks pissed off,” said Perkins.
“She
should be,” said Sasha. “You two guys
know the regs by now about those poor plebes. They’re fair game up until ninety
seconds before class. Then you have to let them enter their class. And you
can’t cover up with excuses, either. That’ll lead to even worse things for you!
They don’t tolerate these games around here, Caruthers! This isn’t your Junior
Space Cadet Corps unit at your school, my friend! This is the real military! Do
you wanna go up for an honor violation for lying to an officer? You’re just
lucky that Wildstar was in a rush and she didn’t write you up a green Honor
chit, too! You keep this up and they’ll catch you in something! Straighten up
and fly right!”
“What?”
said Caruthers. “Timing me with a stopwatch, Sasha?”
“Oh,
we’re on a first-name basis now?” said Sasha in an amused tone of voice. “Why?”
“Would
you like to go out with me to get some ice cream on the weekend?” said Caruthers
as he bowed.
“You?” giggled Sasha. “I wouldn’t go
out with you if you were the last man on Earth. Good day, gentlemen.”
Sasha
walked off with her nose up in the air.
“Good day, gentlemen,” mocked Perkins as
soon as Sasha was out of earshot.
“Yeah,”
sneered Caruthers. “Looks like she’s trying to imitate the famous Lieutenant
Commander Wildstar herself. Damn little blonde science geek. She probably
sleeps with her computer like our Prof does.”
Perkins
snickered at that.
In
Dawn
Westland sat in an upscale coffeehouse club in a nice, conservative blouse,
mid-calf length skirt with a matching vest and dressy open-toe pumps (it was a
warm night) with a young man she had decided to consent to a first date with.
“So,
you’re in the Nursing program,” said the young man, who was named Peter Hunt, a
fellow with red hair, freckles, and glasses. He had a rather cute, boyish face,
Dawn thought.
“That’s
right,” said Dawn with a smile as she stirred her coffee.
“You
know, you look like you’re going for a job interview,” chuckled Peter.
“You
don’t like my outfit?” said Dawn as she tossed some of her bleached blonde
bangs out of her eyes.
“No,
it’s not that at all…you just…”
“Don’t
dress like the other girls,” said Dawn with a smile. “Right?”
“Yeah,
you’re…different.”
“I
have a reputation to uphold,” said Dawn as she thought. And I have another reputation to kill. I remember the way I was those
first semesters…dressed like…that…when I knew that guy Stovall…after…after…him she
thought as her eyes lit upon a girl in a barely-there halter top. That me is dead and in the grave. Just like
the person I was in high school.
“You
too,” she said as she studied Peter. He was in black slacks, a white shirt,
tie, and a lab coat. “Pre-med, I take it?”
“Yeah,”
said Peter. “What do you think of that Blavatsky’s Advanced Biochemistry
class?”
“Piece
of cake,” said Dawn with a smile. “Preparing any med school applications yet?”
“No,
have to do my world service first,” said Peter. “I’m seeing the EDF Recruiter
tomorrow. He says that I can go in as a Survey Officer, Life Sciences Officer, or
Pharmacist’s Mate, and that with my grades, I’m a good shot to be able to get
into
“World
Health Organization Uniformed Corps,” said Dawn. “I’ve just signed up. Listen,
why don’t you tell that EDF recruiter to take a hike? WHO needs good people,
and you could probably get into med school faster that way, provided you have
the cumulative grade point average. I’m afraid I don’t.”
“Why
not? You’re bright. You could be a ship’s surgeon someday.”
“Like,
I take it, you are hoping to be?”
“Uh-huh.
Why not? Why not stand up there in formation with me at the end of the year in
a blue uniform getting sworn in? EDF’s a great career, you know.”
“I
partied too much my first year, had bad grades, and got thrown out of Sigma
Alpha Gamma as a result. But that was then. This is now. Mind getting us some
more lattes?”
“Okay,”
said Peter with a mock salute. “Be back in a minute, milady.”
Dawn’s
lip curled down as she looked at his receding back. He’s not Mister Right, and I can tell at once, she thought. Well, that’ll be another first date chocked
off. Wonder what Mom sent me in the mail?
With
Bach’s Canon in D playing in the
background (as a piano solo), Dawn took a letter out of her purse. It was from
her mother Lynn, whom lived here in
She
read the following:
Dawn,
Dearest:
How are you?
You haven’t written or called since the beginning of the month? I hope you’re
okay. I hope that you’re not doing anything that would make your Father ashamed
of you again…
I’m fine, Mom, thought Dawn.
I’ve just been busy, school and all…you
worry too much.
Dawn
skipped down several lines in the letter after reading some general
pleasantries to read,
Everyone in
the old neighborhood is just fine. I’ve been thinking, Dawn, what a tragedy it
is for you to throw away old friends…
Not this
again,
thought Dawn with some measure of irritation. I already know where this is going, Mom. I recognize his return
address.
….aside from
everything else, Dawn, I know and you know you haven’t hooked up with anyone
there at Pan-Am even though I know you’ve been dating. I think you owe it to
Deke to read this letter and answer it. I like him, too. I always have…
Dawn
looked at the letter again, recognizing Deke’s return address. Before Peter
could come back, she tore the letter quietly in half without opening it.
I’m sorry,
Mom,
thought Dawn. Deke was the past. I can’t
go back there again. I’d need to find someone with even more charm and kindness
than him to consider a second date, let alone getting married. And all Deke
wanted was vengeance, vengeance, vengeance, even naming his gun after me
and his mother…how freaky. I loved him, but sometimes, I have chills going down
my back when I think of him, and…him and the EDF. If I were to date someone who
was going to be an officer, let alone an officer, he’d have be a really great
person, someone who could charm a mouse into jumping into a trap, and I don’t
know any guy in the military who is like that. Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Deke. Much as
I think about you at times, Deke, you were the past. That was then….
Dawn
finished ripping up the letter from Deke and she wadded the pieces up into a
ball. She thought, Deke, and this is now.
I’m sorry. Dating just doesn’t do it with me right now, not you…not anyone…
She decided she had to get out of here.
When
Pete got back with the coffee, he found an empty chair, several credits on the
table, and a short note that said, Sorry, Pete, I have to go. Don’t call me.
I’ll call you. Dawn.
“Now,
what the hell did I say that turned her off so
much?” said Pete. He shrugged and said, “Oh, well, there’s that blonde in
Hagerman’s class…”
Unknown
to her, this would be the last date that Dawn Westland would be on until
Friday, December 13, 2205.
Then,
when that night rolled around, Dawn’s life would begin to change, forever.
III. MYSTERIES AND TALKS
Earth
The Great Megalopolis
The Space Fighters’
Training School
Thursday, September 26,
2205
1630 Hours: Earth Time
Time often creates funny coincidences.
It just so happened that while Dawn was
ripping up her latest letter in
Hey,
Dekesticks…
I’ve
got this friend who is really smart in most things but sort of hopeless with an
AK-01, even though she says she’s trying to improve her marksmanship. I’ve
heard stories about you and DJ, so I bet you’re great at marksmanship. Please
meet us on the range at 1730 today before dinner and give my friend some
pointers?
Thanks,
Trish
In the meantime, the very Midshipman
that Trish was referring to sat in a professor’s office with her arm around a
crying Fourth Classman named Decker as he said, “That’s right, ma’am. Those
guys….they’re always on my ass. I’ve
been late to class three times in the past two weeks because they wait for me in the passages and they
love to make me late with their plebe
games.”
Nova Wildstar sighed and said, “Mister
Decker, do you have a hard time with your Company Commander?”
“No, ma’am,” he sniffed. “Well, no
worse than anyone else in our company or platoon, anyway. It’s just those guys.
It started in Beast Barracks, and it’s been getting even worse. First week in
Beast Barracks, they said they were going to run me out of here by Christmas!”
“Midshipman, I think you’ve learned
enough to know by now that’s a standard line,” said Nova. “You don’t want to
know how many times I had people saying they were going to run me out of the program during my first
year’s ROTC summer training at the
“You’re telling me it’s all going to be
like that?” sobbed Decker.
“Actually, right after holiday break,
it begins to let up a little as these guys see you can do it and stick with the
program. In other words, it gets better. It is not the end of the world. You’re
a smart young man, Mister Decker. I think you can adapt and make it right
through here to be recognized by those guys in June. Then, they’ll call you by
your first name, and they’ll forget everything. It’s all like a big game.”
“Actually, ma’am, they won’t,” said
Sasha.
“Excuse me?” said Nova.
“Permission to speak candidly, ma’am,” said Sasha as she
stood in the office near the blue-striped partition in her gold second-year
Midshipman’s uniform facing Nova.
Nova nodded.
“I pointed out the ninety-second rule
to those two, and they said they were going to treat me like a plebe again,”
said Sasha. “They also made some pretty sexist remarks. They knew what they
were doing, I think. Playing games.”
“Now I see,” said Nova. “We might be
able to get them on lying, or at least give them a good scare that’ll teach
them a lesson. Do you wish to file harassment charges against those two and add
that they were probably evading about their answer to a superior officer? It
can be before the Honor Committee by tomorrow if you like. It’s a lot easier if
another cadet initiates it, Miss Petrovsky. I have more channels to go through
than you do on this, believe it or not.”
“Ma’am, it doesn’t go that far…not
yet,” said Sasha. “Least I don’t think so. Maybe the punishment you gave them
will give those jerks the hint.”
“I see,” said Nova. “Mister Decker,”
she said as he wiped away his tears. “Would you
like to swear before the Honor Committee? Those two are clearly covering
something. That’s probably lying under the Code, like I said to Miss Petrovsky.
And it’d look better if you spoke up.”
“No, ma’am!” he said.
Nova said, “The Code says that you
can’t lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.”
“I know! But, ma’am, I can’t be a
barracks lawyer! Not in my first month! Company commander hears about this, and
he’ll be racking my ass worse than ever!”
Nova shut her eyes and nodded. “It
seems very difficult for you, Mister Decker. Have you thought about seeing the
Chaplain about this?”
“I can’t turn in an upperclassman,” he
snapped. “Scared.”
“Seeing the Chaplain isn’t turning
anyone in,” said Nova. “It’s just talking…” she said as she thought, Maybe the Chaplain can make him see reason.
I’m not going to push him right now because he is so upset, but he really
should find an honor rep and start talking about those guys. Or maybe I should.
I know…I’ll talk to a JAG about it. I’d have to, anyway, part of the procedure.
He or she can tell me if we can make this stick or not.
“I can’t flunk out of here, or get
kicked out on demerits or resign,” sobbed Decker. “Ma’am, if you turn in
another chit on me, that’ll put me on the first step towards Aptitude
Probation, and…”
“I’m not writing a chit on you today
for being late,” said Nova. “Not as long as you make a bargain with me.”
“What?”
“If those guys ever start harassing you
like that again, you are to post around here and see me about it. Get up and
look around that divider, Mister Decker. Behind my desk. Whose desk is that?”
“Ma’am, Commodore Derek Wildstar’s
desk! But…”
“I know. Scared to talk with a flag
officer?”
“Ma’am, he’s…”
“He’s a nice person to talk to. You
have an open door to my office, and if I’m not here, you have an open door to
his office, too. If this garbage starts up again, you are to set up an
appointment with the Chaplain and then see one of us about it. We’ll get it
taken care of.”
“But, ma’am…the system…”
“Not even the plebe system allows
upperclassmen to set you up repeatedly for offenses like that that will get you
in trouble. Those midshipmen are abusing their authority, and the abuse of
authority is something that makes me sick to my stomach, and also makes the
Commodore sick to his stomach. Got that?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Decker. “I couldn’t
take it if I got thrown out of here,” said Decker. “My parents couldn’t
tolerate it, either. Especially my father.”
“I’m sure you can make it,” said Sasha
with a smile. “Buck up, Midshipman. I made it; so can you.”
“Thanks, ma’am,” said Decker.
“I’m not a ma’am,” said Sasha as she
stood up.
“Ma’am?” said Decker as he looked at
her in wonder and Nova looked a little wide-eyed. Then, she began to pointedly
look at a memo on her desk, deliberately ignoring the midshipmen for a minute.
While she knew what was going on, she knew that as an officer, she couldn’t
accept this breach in Academy protocol, so she just decided to pretend nothing
was going on.
“My name’s Sasha,” said Sasha as she
extended her hand. “What’s your name?”
“Jim,” said Decker as he swallowed. “My
name’s Jim.”
“Pleased to meet you, Jim,” said Sasha
with a smile as she shook hands with him and informally recognized him. “If
those jerks give you a hard time, come see me, too. I know some good men and
women here. Not all of us upperclassmen are assholes like those guys. Of
course, you know I can’t call you Jim out there. And don’t call me Sasha with
them listening or they’ll make it harder for you. In fact, I may even be in
trouble now for saying that.”
“Saying what?” said Nova. “I didn’t
hear anything…mind’s drifting a bit.”
“Ma’am?” said Decker.
“I was just thinking about what I’m
making the Commodore for dinner tonight,” laughed Nova. “Or maybe we’ll call
out for pizza or something.”
“Ma’am, I
didn’t know officers called out for pizza, ma’am!”
“We do,” said Nova. “And lighten up a bit! Okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Nova then sat up straight. “Okay,
Mister. Dismissed.”
Decker and “Petrovsky” saluted and
turned to go. But, as Decker left, Nova got up and said, “Miss Petrovsky, I did
not dismiss you yet. Stay there.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Sasha with a poker
face. She was expecting her aunt to rip her a new one for ‘recognizing’ Decker.
Decker left, and Nova shut the door to
the office. Then, she turned to Sasha. “Miss…Petrovsky...” she said with an unusual emphasis. “What you did was
against regulations. As an officer, I have to admonish you to be more careful
and circumspect about violating the plebe system.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Sasha with downcast
eyes.
“Sasha,” said Nova.
“Huh?”
“Stand up.”
Sasha stood.
“As your aunt, I’m proud of you,” said Nova as she hugged Sasha and gave her
a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sometimes, as a human being, you have to bend the
rules a bit to help your subordinates. Between you and I, you did the right
thing with that scared plebe. Just be careful, and don’t act like that in
public, especially in front of a company commander or a tactical officer or,
for that matter, most of the rest of the faculty. Although, granted, old
Berinovsky would understand what you did,” said Nova, who was referring to
Commodore Nikolai Berinovsky, the gruff old Dean of Midshipmen for the past two
years. While he was in charge of discipline, had been known to pull strings for
deserving midshipmen and would sometimes do whatever he could to make sure a
promising midshipman didn’t get kicked out.
“Ma’am, the old man would understand?”
“He sure will,” said Nova. ”Especially
after I get off the phone with him. We know it’s about time we pulled in some
favors.”
“I see,” said Sasha. “Uh…as long as
we’re not being formal…Aunt Nova?”
“Yes?”
“I have to go soon. I have to get into
fatigues and go see this guy at the rifle range. I’ve got to get my
marksmanship scores up.”
“Okay,” said Nova. “Do me a favor.”
“Yes?”
“Watch that Decker kid. I think he’s
about to crack. I know all the signs.”
“I’ll do my best,” said Sasha. “Ma’am,”
she added as she saluted.
Nova smiled and returned the salute.
“Dismissed, Miss Petrovsky.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” said Sasha. She
promptly left.
Later, Nova sat down for coffee with a
JAG officer named Commander Shizuko Matsuhira.
Matsuhira said, “Interesting story, but
it’s kind of close. But thanks for coming in anyway. I think you advised the
cadets to do the right thing by getting them to consider speaking to their
honor representative, Wildstar.”
“So, you don’t think I have grounds to
go up before them myself?” said Nova.
“The Honor Code is supposed to be the
Midshipmen’s department. I’ve done a few of these; they make officers
presenting cases before them sit down with a JAG for advice and consent like
we’re doing now and then a subcommittee first because they want to make sure
the charges are going to be 100% ironclad when an officer presents it. Call it
professional courtesy and deferring to higher rank, as it were. They don’t want
some officer up there proffering charges that are flimsy. Looks too much like
command influence on the Honor System, particularly when a professor is up
there doing it. There have been cases where some professors, not you, but some
in the past, have used this little mechanism to bounce cadets they didn’t like
through a side door. That’s the job of the honor people, tactical officers, and
the Dean of Students and Commandant. I’d say that you should get them to speak
to an Honor Rep about it. Even if those guys are called before a subcommittee
for consideration of a case, if a student offers what they think is a violation
in good faith and it is turned down, it doesn’t look so bad for them. That is
why I am denying your Advice and Consent for Requesting Mast as an Instructor
before the Honor Subcommittee. Of course, we need to note this. You know, the
paper trail,” said Matsuhira as he handed Nova a computerized padd.
Nova signed off after Matsuhira, and
then she said, “Thanks for listening.”
“You’re welcome. Between you and me,
just watch those guys. Idiots like that are going to try something again. And
if they tell a really bald-faced lie to you or another officer, and those other
two midshipmen don’t go into that walnut-paneled room to see the Honor people
first, I think that I’ll probably see this case again, Lieutenant Commander.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that, sir,” said
Lieutenant Commander Wildstar.
“Hey, you did your duty. Have a nice
weekend.”
“Thanks a lot,” said Nova as she
saluted and left.
It took a considerable amount of
bravery on Decker’s part, but he went to the Honor Committee offices in
Frankfurter Hall a while later. He was now sitting down with two senior Honor
Reps, a young woman named Naomi Clements and a young man named Kyle Lindenmuth.
The near-empty simulated walnut-paneled subcommittee hearing room with its
sky-blue carpeting looked very intimidating to Decker as he sat in a room alone
with these two rather grim seniors telling the story of what had happened
earlier.
“So,
let’s get this straight,” said Clements as she ran a hand through her hair
while the lights above gleamed off her mahogany-colored skin. “You’re saying
that Mister Caruthers is guilty of lying because in response to Commander
Wildstar’s question, namely, “Were the three of you holding up this plebe? You
know the rules!”
Mister
Caruthers said, “We was having some fun, that’s all.”
“Yes,
ma’am,” said Decker.
“And
then, what did Mister Perkins say?” said Lindenmuth in his most lawyerly tones.
Lindenmuth had just received an early acceptance to
“He
said,” gulped Decker. “He said, ‘Yeah,
ma’am, we weren’t planning to hold this little guy up…Just lost…track of time,
ma’am.’”
“I
see,” said Lindenmuth. “Would you excuse me for a minute?” he said as the light
gleamed off his blonde hair. He looked like some kind of cadet god in there to
Decker, who felt like a grungy little plebe in his wrinkled uniform. He was
surprised that these two midshipmen weren’t ranking him for his appearance, not
knowing that military bearing didn’t count for much in this building on campus.
Lindenmuth got up from his chair at what was normally a prosecutors’ table in
the small courtroom to lean against the bench and huddle with Clements out of
Decker’s hearing.
“Not
an intentional lie,” said Clements. “They didn’t deny what they were doing,
Kyle. They…you know…CYA…”
“Yeah.
Think we should be sitting up here in these five seats doing this one next
week?” said Lindenmuth as he looked up at the five-seat Subcommittee bench used
for preliminary Honor Code hearings.
“Not
enough evidence. We’ll open a file, but we need a witness.”
“We
could subpoena Wildstar,” said Lindenmuth.
“You
know professors don’t like that sort of thing,” said Clements. “And this is a
tight one.”
“File
13 him, then?”
Clements
nodded. “Get him out of here. Keep a case file open for fourteen days.”
Lindenmuth
nodded.
A
while later, Decker was walking to his dorm with his head down after having
been refused and then calmly lectured to by Lindenmuth and Clements about while
they were glad that he brought the case, that they could take no immediate
action unless someone corroborated what he had said.
Going
into his room, he found a blue chit sitting on his desk. It read:
QUARTERS
INSPECTION ADVICE
On
26 September 2205
Midshipman Fourth Class Decker, James
Was cited for the following Inspection
Irregularities.
Dusty
Counter in quarters.
Books
in disarray.
Improperly
made Bunk.
For
these irregularities, Midshipman Decker is assigned Four (4) Hours of
Punishment
Commencing
1900 Hours this evening.
NOTE:
You have Accumulated Twenty-Four (24) Demerits this month alone for various
offenses.
This
is to advise you that you may be called before the Dean of Students at any time
for a Warning since you are less than five (5) demerits away from the
twenty-eight (28) Demerits that can be accumulated for one quarter to retain a
seventy (70) or above in Military Deportment, and Command may soon be required
to place you on Military Aptitude Probation. YOU HAVE ACCUMULATED THESE
DEMERITS IN THE FIRST MONTH OF FORMAL CLASSES. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, CADET!
YOUR MILITARY ATTITUDE IS A DISGRACE TO THIS COMPANY, MISTER! START
ACCUMULATING SOME MERITS TO OFFSET THIS!
Signed,
GK
Lieutenant
George King, Tactical Officer, Company D.
Decker did the only thing he could when
he saw the chit.
He put his head down on his desk and
began to cry.
In the meantime, Deke Wakefield had
arrived on the rifle range in his green fatigues.
His friend Trish escorted him to the
firing line where he found a young woman sitting there adjusting her rifle. Her
hair was tucked up inside her fatigue cap, and her eyes were partly hidden
behind firing range goggles; he couldn’t quite tell what color they were.
However, Deke thought she had an adorable face and winning smile. He vaguely
wondered what color her hair was; he couldn’t see much of it.
“Hi,” she said with a little smile as
Deke introduced himself. “I’m Midshipman Third Class Sasha Petrovsky”.
“Well, Miss Petrovsky,” he said softly,
wondering what her build looked like inside the baggy fatigues. “The first thing
we have to learn here is to be sure you’re caressing the trigger, not squeezing
it real hard.”
“Yes,” said Sasha. “I have a relative
in the Defense Forces; he keeps on telling me the same thing. Can you show me
how you do it?”
“Well,” said Deke as he took her hands;
which were hidden under thin riflemen’s gloves, “this is how you should place
your hands…”
About an hour
passed. Deke noticed that with someone guiding her, Midshipman Petrovsky’s
shooting scores were beginning to increase dramatically. However, he wondered
where she got a certain odd firing habit from; right before firing, her body
and arms would sometimes twitch almost imperceptibly, as if she was spotting in
on something that couldn’t be seen by anyone else. He noticed that after she sometimes
did this, and then took and held a deep breath to improve her sight picture,
she was almost always right on target. If
she learns to become more consistent, he thought, then she’ll be hitting Expert after about one or two more sessions.
However, for Sasha, strange things
sometimes came to mind when Deke touched her; precognitive visions of something; being with Deke on a beach,
sometime in the future. She wasn’t sure in her head where the beach was; was it
on Iscandar, or was it on Earth? Sasha
didn’t know for sure what it was.
Also, whenever she got one of these
visions, a strange chill went through Deke. He didn’t know what it was, or why,
but even though he barely knew this girl, he occasionally felt strange, strong
protective feelings that hit him hard and then faded away like phantoms.
I
don’t know what this is, or what is going on,
thought Deke. It’s odd. Maybe I’m going
crazy. I have no idea what is happening, but something is telling me to come
back next week; she’ll need more lessons, and something is telling me to run
like hell. What it is…I have no idea.
Finally, as if he was in a dream, Deke
agreed to come by again next week, on the afternoon of October the third, to
teach Sasha yet again. She gave him an amicable goodbye and he left.
As Deke was walking back to his billet,
another thought hit him.
Now,
this is really weird, he thought. I don’t know why, but when I was close to
that girl…I wasn’t thinking about Dawn at all. That in itself is strange; I
want to get back with Dawn; I want to meet with Dawn…we have to talk. But,
around this Staci, Sava…what’s her name, oh…Sasha…that’s it…I…what…feel like
I’ve known her since the day I was born? Now that’s a weird concept. I’ve grown
up with Dawn. Yet I just met this girl today. And I don’t even know if she’s
stocky, thin, what color her eyes are, what color her hair is, nothing. I don’t
know if I’m attracted to her…or why…it’s more like…I’m being pulled toward her.
But what? And how?
Deke, indeed, was beginning to
experience something unique, and so was Sasha.
Sasha’s unique… ancestry had created a
very interesting mix of genes and psionic abilities. Some abilities that were
normal to Iscandarians were muted in Sasha, while other abilities that were
almost long-lost in her race were again dominant.
Deke
Illustration
Below: “Summer 2003” from the
Japanese Yamato Fan Site “LUCK@10
Later
that evening, at the Wildstar residence, as the sun began to set, Nova sat
outside in the yard with Derek watching the sun going down.
“What a beautiful sunset,” she said as
she reached into a pizza box for yet another slice.
“Yeah,” said Derek, who had changed out
of his uniform into a white pullover, blue shorts, and brown loafers. “We
haven’t seen them like that for a while.”
“It’s because it’s getting towards
fall,” said Nova as she ate her pizza. She wore a white top of her own, against
which the sun shone pink, and she also wore tan cropped slacks and brown clogs.
“The sky always seems to look different around Indian summer.”
“Nova, is something bothering you?”
“Yes, Derek,” she replied after a long
pause.
“Is it me?”
“No. Remember that plebe we saw being
harassed the other day when we were at the Academy one evening?”
“Yeah?”
“That Caruthers guy is doing it again,
and I don’t have a good feeling about it,” said Nova. Nova then went into a brief
explanation of everything that had happened both inside and then outside her
Radar and Xenobiology classes earlier that day, along with her visit to the JAG
Office in Frankfurter Hall. “What do you think?” asked Nova when she was done
with the story.
“I don’t believe that guy turned you down like that,” said Derek. “It sounds
like the Honor Board should at least look into this. They should at least do an
investigation and put the fear of authority into that damn cadet, if nothing
else.”
Nova nodded. “I agree with you. But, as
I’m finding out, they don’t do things at the Space Fighters’ Training School
the same way they do them in our
outfit.”
Derek grinned. “The Star Force, I take
it.”
“Uh-huh. Sure, the EDF has a lot of…paperwork,” said Nova as she got up and
kicked off her clogs. She got Derek to get up, and he figured out why she had
removed her shoes when she began to walk him towards a seawall at the edge of
their yard that overlooked their small bay beach. He knew that Nova liked to
sit there and kick the sand around with her toes when she was thinking about
something. “But the paperwork here…,” said Nova as she dangled her legs off the
seawall, dug her feet into the sand and kicked some sand up quite a distance.
“The stuff here is paperwork on top of paperwork. Procedure on top of
procedure. I thought I’d look forward to teaching cadets, and I do…but so much
of the Academy is filled with…bureaucratic BS.”
“Congratulations,” said Derek. “As an
outsider, you found out one thing they teach at the space school; Thou Shalt Learn to deal With Chits.”
“We had chits in ROTC, Derek. But,
here, everything seems ruled by paperwork; to the point where you exclude plain
old common sense.”
“Another astute observation,” said
Derek as he picked up a pebble and threw it towards the Bay. The setting sun
was now reflecting off the water, and it looked gorgeous. Then, he said,
“Changing the subject….”
“Yes, I’d like to try again today,”
said Nova. “Operation Stork.”
“You have that holo-video series you
like on tonight.”
“I can skip it for a week,” said Nova.
“You don’t get sunsets like that every day.”
“Yeah, that’s a point,” said Derek. He
smiled at her and said, “Let’s go in the house and open the blinds.”
Nova impishly got up. “Who said
anything about the house?”
“Nova?”
“We do
have a backyard, or we can do it here on the beach…” she said with a playful
grin. “What do you say?”
Derek stood and scooped his young wife
up off the ground, laughing as she squealed like a schoolgirl. “Sounds like a
plan,” he said. He gave her a long kiss and said, “Let’s go…”
Nova smiled at him as she was swept off
towards the beach; then she began to laugh as he sat down on the sand and Derek
began to playfully undress her, laying her clothes out on the sand so she’d
have something to lie on.
When Derek stripped, he came eagerly to
his wife’s waiting arms. It felt so nice to be with her like this in the warm
sunset…
IV. A SERIOUS MEETING…
Earth
The Great Megalopolis
Earth Defense
Headquarters
The Chambers of the
Earth Defense Council
Friday, September 27,
2205
1000 Hours: Earth Time
Commanding General Hiram Singleton
looked out at the recently reconstituted Earth Defense Council, which now
comprised seventeen members since a recent Act of Parliament had added the
Surgeon General, who was also the Minister of Health, Education, and Welfare,
and the Minister of Solar System Energy Transmission to the Council as full
members. The Council now consisted of sixteen members, with Singleton present
as presiding officer and tie-breaker if needed.
President James R. Mendellsohn,
who would be up for re-election next year, had just yielded to public pressure
in regards to the nagging and continuing Cometine threat and he had just
recently ordered Prime Minister Dixon Gelder (who had recently taken office
after new emergency elections) to form a new Government. Gelder had, therefore,
just shifted around the Defense Council, and he was present to oversee this
first meeting of his new Council with the President. General Singleton was
still the Commanding General of the Earth Defense Forces, and General Stone was
still his Chief of Staff, but a Doctor Harold Mattingly had just been chosen as
head of the Xeno-Cultural Bureau; he was the fourth person to have held this
post since Piper Sandberg had defected to the enemy back in 2202.
Doctor Mattingly nodded towards
the other two alien Ambassadors who were present to hear the report of the
newly styled Countess Inge Gernan, the recently chosen Gamilon-Garuman Captain
that Desslok had appointed as his new Ambassador as Gernan cleared her throat
and said, “To sum it up, they tried to assassinate Desslok. After I was
cleared, I aided in the suppression of the rebellion on Ashura, and Leader
Desslok decided to appoint me as the new envoy and Ambassador to your world. It
is a world which is, I must inform you, in grave peril.”
“What does this mean for the
Rikashan Federation?” asked Baron Hagil Cha’rif. The young Baron was a nephew
of the Lord Cha’rif himself, and the young warrior had considered it a great
honor to be named the envoy to Earth.
“Desslok has learned that R’Khell
is also involved; they have signed a treaty with Princess Invidia herself,”
said Gernan.
“R’Khell,” hissed Cha’rif. “My
uncle will see to it that we begin to break them, and soon.”
“I thank you, sir,” said President
Mendellsohn.
Baron Cha’rif nodded.
“The enemy’s actions are devilry,”
said Lt. General Hidalgo Camacho, who was still the chief of Logistics. “We’ve
had another submarine attack just this week that has held up supplies that we
needed at
Surgeon General Patricia Llewellyn
added, “That other attack this week held up medicines that the Mars Colony
needed. How am I supposed to maintain public health on the colonies if you
people can’t ship me the medicines that WHO and the EDF medical officers need?”
“We’re trying,” said General
Stone. “But these attackers are popping up faster than we can get patrol
cruisers and destroyers out there to intercept them.”
“I suggest you appoint some new
officers to run some additional squadrons,”
snorted Dr. Llewellyn. “I’m an old ship’s surgeon myself. You can’t operate on
people without supplies, and you can’t interdict raiders without aggressive
skippers out there. When those rotations come up in January, appoint some
younger people to run some squadrons and to fill in on other ones. Be
creative.”
“What are you finding out on your
end?” asked Singleton as he turned to General Franz Kohler, the Intelligence
Chief.
“There are still Josiahites out
there, unfortunately,” said Kohler. “The battle that Commodore Wildstar was in
back in the summer…well…they wiped out their most dangerous terrorist cell, but
I have word that they are recruiting others.”
“Who is behind this?” asked General Ryu Higashikuni, the new Military
Attaché to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We have intelligence,” said Astra
of Iscandar, the Ambassador to Earth, as she stood up. “The intelligence states
that there seems to be a mind behind this madness and hatred. We just don’t
know who that mind is…yet…”
“I propose that we create six new
Patrol Cruiser squadrons and deploy them by January,” said Singleton. “We’ll
have to pull ships out of reserve, and build others, but…”
“Seconded,” said General Stone.
The President and Prime Minister
nodded. “You should vote now,” said the President. “Commander?”
Singleton stood and said, “For the motion?”
Stone raised his hand, followed by
Llewellyn, Kohler, Higashikuni, Camacho, followed by
Samuel Plessis, the new Minister of Communications, followed by Daniel
Margolis, the Member of Parliament present who was the Assembly Attaché to the
Armed Services Committee. After a moment, Chinmaya Rajiv, the Minister of
Commerce, voted “yea”, followed by Minister Hugo Utrecht, who was the Minister
of Emergency Preparations, Defense Minister Neil Ainsley (who had taken the
place of the Undersecretary of the Defense Minister on the reorganized
Council), Minister of Science Brian Paulson, Operations Chief General Staci
Willis, General Muhammad of the Spaceship Design Bureau, Minister of
Interstellar Trade Deena Banks. Finally, John Bander, the Minister for the
Space Colonies, voted “yea”, followed by Karl Michaelman, who was the new
Minister for Solar System Energy Transmission. The motion passed, 16-0.
Singleton did not have to vote.
“Now,” said the Commander. “On to
other business….”
TO BE CONTINUED....
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