by Jan Domagala
“We’d better go and see the Rand’s then and make sure that we are ready,” he said.
3
Jake Riley was walking slowly around the lake; his green eyes surveyed the scene before him. He had had time to cut his blonde hair since his return from their last mission and tonight he was dressed casually in shirt, cargo pants and loafers. He had quite a bit on his mind and just being where he was helped clear his mind. It was an idyllic setting, the sun was setting and the orange hues glinted across the surface of the water. Trees rimmed the perimeter of the lake casting shadows as the sun dipped below the horizon. He stopped and looked across the water at the house that lay beneath the tree line; a grand three story wooden Georgian style building that was the home of Admiral Garvey and his daughter, Natasha when they were not at work.
Jake had come to visit Natasha on her invitation so they could try to work out what they had between them, if anything. They had been lovers once, headed for marriage and Natasha had chosen her career over their relationship. Jake had taken it badly and they had gone their separate ways. They hadn’t talked in years until Jake and the rest of the Wildfire Team had been sent to Tartaran to help rescue her, Prince Aswan and Kurt Stryder. The moment they met again, all his old feelings, the feelings he had thought buried forever came flooding back to the surface once more.
He had thought he would never see her again and then they met at Tartaran and now he was at the family home and they were talking. Where it would all end he had no idea but at least they were talking. Perhaps this was the start of their renewed relationship, he had to admit that he had hopes that, that was where he wanted it to lead, but it was early days yet. The only decision they had made so far was to talk.
Natasha was taking some time off work while an investigation was undertaken into her actions on board the Colonial Queen, the diversion into the Tartaran Battlefield which was a direct violation of an Interstellar Treaty, the subsequent loss of lives and the danger that her charge, Prince Aswan was placed in. Of course the fact that it was Prince Aswan who coerced the captain of the cruise ship into taking the diversion would be taken into consideration in the investigation but until it was complete, she could not return to work.
“There you are,” said a female voice from behind him. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts and the view, that even his enhanced hearing had not noticed her approach. He turned to glance over his shoulder at her. Natasha stood looking at him, her long dark hair hung loose around her shoulders; her full sensuous lips were parted in a smile while her dark eyes studied him trying to work out what he was thinking.
“I wondered where you went to,” she added as she walked up to stand next to him facing the lake.
“It really is beautiful here, I envy you being able to live here,” Jake said.
“I love coming back here and I always regret having to leave but it looks like that isn’t going to be much of a problem now. I think I’ll be spending more time here, I can’t see them lifting my suspension anytime soon,” she replied as she put an arm through his. She leant into him for comfort, an old habit she had when they were together before, it seems that old habits did die hard after all.
“You don’t know that for certain,” Jake said trying to be supportive.
“Come on Jake, you know as well as I do that they’ll have to pin those deaths on someone and they sure as hell won’t be going after the Prince,” she said.
“They can’t charge you with those deaths, they have the official report of the incident, it’s on record by now so the most they can do is list your involvement. You did your best to prevent those deaths, it was Aswan’s fault, they should charge him.”
“But they won’t, you know that, he’s just too powerful.”
“Well whatever they do, it’s no use you worrying, there’s nothing you can do now so why waste your energy.”
“I suppose you’re right, you always were.”
“I’ll be leaving in the morning; I’ve got to report back to base. Will you be okay?” Jake asked his concern for her evident in his voice.
“I’ll be fine, besides you’ll come visit the next time you get shore leave, won’t you?” she said.
“If you want me to, yes. I can call you when I get back to base just to check in with you and see if you’re alright,” Jake said.
“I’d like that,” she said with a smile. “C’mon, let’s go back before it starts to get chilly,” she said and they turned and walked back to the large house.
*****
The rain was lashing against the window of the small cottage as Lieutenant Joseph Vance entered. His outer garments were soaked but he was thoroughly enjoying himself. The walk through the hills and forest of the area had been quite stimulating. Since his return to Earth from their recent mission on Tartaran he had gone through a series of debriefs the same as the others then allowed some R and R. Being the Team’s loner he had preferred to go hiking and his choice of area had always been the Forests of Canto, an E Class planet, highly populated with several huge cities, mountain ranges, deserts and a forest range at the base of the Quad, the largest mountain range on the planet. It was called the Quad simply because it comprised of four huge mountains called, quite simply Q1 through to Q4. Q1 was the largest counting down to Q4 being the smallest where the forest range ran.
Close by, a series of cottages which formed a small community, fulfilled the needs of travellers to the range. Vance had entered one of them, not to shelter from the rain but to take a short break and grab a bite to eat. He took off the hood of his Berghaus waterproof jacket and unzipped the front as the heat from the log fire hit him the moment he entered.
The interior of the small cottage was just a basic rustic cottage. It had a wooden floor and walls made from logs sourced from the local forest. There was a bar at the far end of the long room where an elderly lady stood behind serving drinks and taking orders for food from those who chose to visit.
A group of men stood at the bar drinking and they all turned when this newcomer entered.
A sixth sense born of his years in the military forged by combat told him something was not quite right here.
“What do you want here?” asked the largest of the group.
“I was thinking, if it was possible, a nice hot meal,” Vance said with a smile.
“Don’t think so buddy,” another of the group said.
Vance’s expression altered from his normal smiling easy going face to a stern expression. His deep brown eyes looked at each of the three men in turn. They were large burly types with weathered faces of those who were exposed to the elements; their hands had the calluses of manual workers too. Vance’s training told him that these guys would not back down from trouble and could handle themselves in a fight.
Standing at six feet two he was athletically built with a lean hard frame but the serum he had been administered boosted all his physical abilities and some mental ones which he was still learning to master. He was confident he could handle these guys but he would have to be careful not to give too much away about what he can do and also not hurt them, too much.
“Really, are we really going to do this?” Vance said. “Tell you what; scrap the hot meal then, how about a nice bowl of hot soup. We can do soup surely?” he added with a smile.
“Nope, you’re gonna have to leave,” the third one told him. All three of them leant their backs against the bar and faced him. They were a little surprised with what he did next.
“Okay I’ll settle for a sandwich,” Vance said as he walked toward them.
“What’re you doin’?” the largest of the trio asked as he pushed himself off the bar to meet Vance.
“Getting a drink while I wait for my food,” Vance replied. It bothered the three men that he didn’t seem intimidated by them. It was something they clearly were not used to.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” the big man said as he reared up to his full height. Vance stood at around six feet one but this guy was at least thr
ee inches taller and had broad shoulders and thickly muscled arms.
“I have been told I’m not a good listener but I think it’s a misconception. Of course I listen, I’ve heard everything you’ve said,” Vance said with a straight face.
“Are you crazy, if you don’t leave here you’ll get your ass kicked,” snarled the man in front of Vance.
“Sorry, what did you say?” Vance said with a confused smile.
The large man stepped forward and placed a hand against Vance’s chest.
Vance’s movements become a blur as he went into action. His senses went into overdrive as the serum he had been administered boosted his output. He grabbed the hand over the top and twisted it off his chest forcing it against the joint. He lashed out with his right foot and kicked the second guy in the centre of his chest smashing him back against the bar. He followed it up with a roundhouse kick with the same leg to smash it against the third guy who took it on the side of his face and ended up staggering off toward the wall. Vance still had hold of the largest man’s wrist. His grip tightened and the thug could not move, a growl escaped his bared teeth as he tried and failed to bring his arm back around in front of him.
Vance simply pushed the arm down then leaned in close to speak into the guy’s ear.
“Easy buddy, you’ll hurt yourself,” he said softly, followed by, “And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”
The thug ceased struggling when he realised he was incapable of escape.
Vance looked up at the bartender and said, “Sorry for all the trouble.”
“No trouble at all son, it’s about time those thugs were taught a lesson. They’ve been causing trouble round here for the past few weeks now,” she said in a throaty voice, smiling for the first time since Vance entered the room.
“Really, who are they?”
“Just a bunch of campers who are on vacation. A bunch of bully boys who like to throw their weight around,”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about them anymore,” Vance replied then leaning in to the thug once more said, “They’re not going to be bothered by you again,” and to emphasise his point he twisted the wrist sending pain shooting up the thug’s arm which brought a vigorous shake of his head.
Vance allowed the man to get to his feet once more. He looked at the thug’s pained expression and smiled as he said, “Now go and don’t come back,” and his expression changed from one of friendly charm to that of stern determination.
The bully wilted before Vance’s gaze and he hung his head then gestured to his friends to come along with him as they left.
“Now then, how about that sandwich?” Vance said as he watched the door close behind the trio of bullies.
“I think you deserve more than a sandwich my boy, and it’s on the house,” the bar lady replied with a smile and she placed a drink on the bar for him and with a wink of her eye disappeared to fetch the food.
4
Lieutenant Angelina Torres stood outside the front door of the modest house trying to get her breathing under control.
The house was a white brick building with a red pantile roof; it had four bedrooms two bathrooms two lounges and a kitchen dining room within its three floors. It was the house she had been born in, grew up in and her parents still lived in.
Every time she returned home to visit she remembered what it was like to live in that house, to grow up there and it brought back all the uneasy feelings once again.
Wiping her moist palms on her pants legs she rang the bell by the front door and took a step back. It was always the same, after she rang the bell she toyed with the idea of just walking away and not bothering to go through with this, but she never did and she always regretted it.
“Hi Mom,” she said as the door opened and a frail old woman stood in the doorway. At five feet two inches tall she was six inches shorter than her daughter. Age had taken all the vitality of youth from this woman and she looked wrinkled like her skin had been left out in the sun to dry out. Her body looked so dried out and withered that the floral print dress she was wearing hung off her like a sack.
“Gina, didn’t expect you today. You been fired?” asked her mother.
“No I’ve not been fired Mom.”
“Then what you doing here?”
“I’m on leave so I thought I’d come visit, see how the two of you are.”
“Why the hell would you want to do that?”
“Beats the hell out of me. How’s he been?” Angelina said gearing herself up for what was to come.
“About the same. He spends a lot of time out back in the garage tinkering with his tools,” her mother told her.
Angelina walked past her mother into the hallway and into the lounge connected to it. Inside she saw a room steeped in memories from all the years the family had lived there. Photographs adorned the walls and sideboards side by side with bric-a-brac from years of life lived in that house, a life that Angelina had desperately tried to distance herself from yet was ultimately tied to.
She walked through to the kitchen where a dining table was placed in the centre of the floor with four chairs arranged around it. A sink was over to the left with work surfaces to the left and right of it. A washer/dryer was placed under the work surface to the right of the sink with a tall fridge freezer against the opposite wall.
Angelina walked to the door that led to the garage and placed her hand against the opening control pad. With a deep breath she entered the code and waited while the door opened.
The garage was made of the same building material as the house and was attached to the side with a large sliding door at the front which was the main entrance, large enough to drive the family car through, and another which led from the kitchen which was where she stood ready to face her father.
“Hi Dad,” she said as she entered. The garage was long, running the entire length of the house and at least eighteen feet wide with a work bench that ran around both sides that met at the far end opposite the main entrance. It had tools arranged on hangars on the wall with storage boxes under the bench holding a variety of other bits and pieces.
A man stood at the far end of the obsessively tidy room. He was around five feet eleven inches tall with a slim wiry frame that had cord like muscles running up and down it from years of working with his hands. He wore a dark blue chequered shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a pair of baggy corduroy pants that looked two sizes too big for his wiry frame.
At the sound of his daughter’s voice he turned his head to look at her. She was wearing her off duty civilian clothes, a loose fitting top in blue cotton and tan pants with walking shoes. It was an outfit she had chosen to accompany the tomboy image her parents had of her.
“Hi Gina,” he replied then returned his attention to what he was working on.
“How have you been?” she asked as she tentatively moved forward closer to her father. Their relationship had never been an easy one; her father had never made it easy for her to feel accepted for what or who she was. For most of her formative years her nick name had been Slugger and she had been treated like one of the boys, her two brothers and was part way why she grew up as somewhat of a tomboy which led to her joining the military.
“I’ve been good, how about you, been to any new bases recently?” he said and he carried on working, not bothering to look at her.
She felt the usual pain lance through her at the rebuke. All she had ever wanted was to make her Dad proud of her but all she ever got from him, no matter what she did was receive a lukewarm acknowledgment of her being in the military. In part it was her own fault, in the respect that she was not allowed to tell anyone outside of Col Sec exactly what she did. Now that she was part of General Sinclair’s new Wildfire Program it made it even harder to tell them anything, so what she had told them was that she was involved in on-base security. This made for even more problems for her as her father gave her derision at every opportunity about not being a proper soldier and never leaving the base
.
“No Dad, just the usual stuff,” she said, her voice almost catching. She longed to be able to tell him what she actually did, let him and her mother know of all her accomplishments since joining Col Sec. The last mission to Tartaran with her teammates the Wildfire Team would have made them sit up and take notice. It would finally give her the respect she wanted from them, it would make them proud of her just like she had always wanted but she had to bite back what she really wanted to say. Instead, she did what she always did and swallowed the hurt and said nothing.
“You know what gets me is why, if you’re on the damn base all the damn time why can’t you come round more often?” he said turning to look her in the eye, something she had not expected.
She stopped in her tracks half way to him caught in his stare like a small rabbit in the headlights of a car.
“I have duties Dad, you know that and I can’t just leave whenever I want.”
“Why not, it’s not like you’re a real soldier, you’re just a jumped up MP.”
“And there it is, the usual crap I get when I come here. And you wonder why I don’t come round more often? That’s exactly why I stay away,” she shouted walking forward to confront him as her anger flared.
“You stay away?” her father asked a little confused. He was incapable of seeing what he had done, because no one had ever picked him up on his treatment of his daughter, he could see no wrong in it.
“What do you think Dad?”
“I, I don’t understand. Why would you stay away, we’re family, your family?” he said backing up a little.
“Are you serious?” she pressed.
“What do you mean?” he asked as confusion contorted his features.
“You really have no idea do you?” she said standing before him her hands on her slim hips.
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about Gina,” he added, now not wanting to see the truth.
