Invasion

by Jerry Shepard

  Noah walked around the room and looked each cadet in the eye. "I know you are all eager to get to your duty assignments. I know I was when I had just graduated. But remember what you have learned here at the Academy. Remember that when things get tough, and the situation appears dire, your fellow crew members are all you have to rely on. Do not let yourself, or them, down."

  "One final thought. And consider this off the record. It has been eight years since the war was won. And only seven years since the Xen joined our Alliance. While the Xen may be living amongst us now that the war is over, I do not think we should place blind faith in their professed willingness to live in peace. I know this is not a popular decision and that it goes against the policies of the current administration. But just be careful. As an old Earth leader once said... Trust. But Verify."

  "That is all. Class dismissed!"

  DISMISSED

  Noah walked from the building toward his vehicle. He needed to get to his office and drop off the exam questions for the proctor. He was looking forward to a few days off before he had to return to campus for graduation. This was his first semester teaching and the routine had simultaneously frustrated and bored him. The rules that the Academy 'suits' had put in place had hamstrung him quite a bit in the last six months. The regulations on class trips. The ill-conceived teaching methods, and incomplete material. These nuisances, had irritated him. But the kicker for him was the foul language prohibition.

  Clearly none of the Academy Board of Supervisors had ever served on an Alliance starship. Had they done so, they would have known that many of the words that had been forbidden were so commonplace, banning them would practically cripple a ship. They were so ubiquitous that it was impossible to communicate most times without cussing. And if you couldn't communicate, the chain of command could break down. He thought about that old proverb and added his own line.

  For want of a good cuss word, an Alliance was lost.

  No matter, he thought. He would be knee deep in a trout stream while fly fishing in a few days. If the suits wanted to produce a class of shiny toy soldiers, so be it. But it would all be undone the minute they stepped onto their first ship. Either way, it was not his problem and he pushed that thought from his mind.

  "Welcome Captain Jameson," the voice of the central computer boomed from the ceiling speaker.

  "Good afternoon," he replied.

  "Do you require liquid refreshment or room temperature change? You seem to be perspiring excessively, captain."

  "No, I'm fine. And it's summer. It is Ninety Five degrees outside. If I weren't sweating in this heat I wouldn't be human, I'd be a fucking pug."

  Noah retrieved the tests from his briefcase and placed them in the top drawer of his desk. He left a note for the proctor to administer the test promptly at 0900 tomorrow.

  "Captain, records show that you have not signed on to be an instructor for the next cadet class. Is anything wrong?"

  Noah shook his head and began to gather up his clothes off the cot in the back of the office.

  "No. I'm going to take some time to relax after this graduation. Maybe try to find my way back on a ship." Noah located the remainder of his clothes and fishing gear and placed them in the travel bags.

  "That would prove difficult with the current administrative sanctions, against your returning to command of a ship, would it not?"

  "Don't remind me," Noah sighed. He took a moment to reflect on her statement and then returned to finish packing his gear.

  "As you wish, captain."

  On his way out, Noah made sure to grab the bottle of whiskey from the cabinet. He was going to need it when he was lounging on the lake tomorrow.

  "I'll be back in two days. Engage security protocol Alpha. The only entity with authorization to enter this office is my graduate assistant who will be proctoring the exam."

  "Noted captain. Enjoy your time away."

  Noah closed the door behind him and punched his security code into the panel. He picked his bags up and started walking back toward his vehicle. He was only a hundred meters away from it when he heard the yelling.

  ***

  "How is it possible that you were late, cadet?" boomed the voice.

  "I'm sorry, sir. I lost track of time. I was only late by two minutes sir," replied the other voice. Noah was intrigued by the discussion and found himself walking toward the voices. It sounded like they were just around the corner of the building.

  "Two minutes?! You know what can happen in two minutes? Entire battle groups can be obliterated in two minutes!"

  "Yes sir. Sorry sir."

  Noah turned the corner to see that a junior-grade instructor had jacked up a cadet. The officer was medium height and build with very few unit ribbons. A quick look at the ribbons identified the instructor as someone who was not in the Ship Command line.

  Bureaucrat in the making.

  The cadet was standing before him at attention, while the red-faced instructor proceeded to rip him a new one.

  "You will be sorry, cadet. I will ensure that you not only do not graduate this cycle. But that you have to repeat your last two cycles over again!"

  Noah loathed the self importance that some newly minted officers seemed to have. It was usually the ones like this officer, who had never been deployed to a ship, who felt like they needed to prove something. And these Sand Sailors, as they were called, got their rocks off by making cadets and anyone of inferior rank, feel their wrath.

  The cadet noticed Noah and snapped a salute in his direction.

  "Lieutenant!" Noah barked.

  The lieutenant noticed Noah, snapped to attention a moment too late and saluted quickly.

  Noah returned both salutes and put them at ease.

  "Lieutenant, you mind telling me what was so important that you felt you needed to disrupt a beautiful spring, Earth day by jacking up this cadet?"

  "Captain! The cadet was late for his duty in the mess hall!" yelled the lieutenant.

  "Take it down a notch, son. I'm standing right here. No need to puncture my eardrums," chuckled Noah.

  "Aye, aye sir."

  Noah turned to the cadet and smiled, recognizing him from class.

  "Cadet Torrance! I'm surprised to see you completed my tasks so quickly."

  "Sir?" asked the cadet.

  "The order I gave you after class dismissed, regarding the Admiral. You completed that task?"

  The realization of what Noah was doing, suddenly dawned upon the Cadet and he played along. "No sir. The lieutenant stopped me before I could complete your orders, sir."

  "Lieutenant, is this correct?"

  The lieutenant now started to fumble with his words. "Aye sir. I…was…was…on my way to the cinema when I noticed this Cadet had…had…not reported as he was supposed to."

  "He was on orders from me to accomplish a very important task, lieutenant. Given my position here at the Academy, I believe my orders trump his duties prepping food for tonight. Don't you think?"

  "Yes, sir. Absolutely sir!"

  "Well then," said Noah turning to the cadet. "Perhaps we should let the lieutenant be on his way."

  Noah turned to the junior officer and yelled, "You're dismissed lieutenant!"

  As the officer retreated from their view, Torrance spoke up.

  "I doubt he believed you captain. And I'm pretty sure it won't save me from getting on the lieutenant's bad side again. But thank you, sir."

  Noah turned to Torrance and regarded him quizzically.

  "Why were you late? Honestly?"

  The cadet's temporary elation evaporated. He shuffled his feet and stared at the ground.

  "I fell...asleep, sir," Torrance said. Noah knew the cadet risked being expelled from the Academy, but for some reason he felt compelled to tell the truth. "I had been pulling all-nighters for the last three days and I simply passed out due to exhaustion."

  "Cadet. Are you telling me that you haven't slept in over thirty six hours?"

  "Aye, sir!"


  "Why have you been staying awake?"

  "I needed to pass your class in the top tenth percentile if I'm to remain in the Ship Command line. I didn't want to be removed to a lesser line of duty after graduation. Who knows when I'd ever be able to transfer after that."

  "You're in the Ship Command line? Very interesting, Torrance," Noah said.

  "Sir?"

  "Yes, Cadet Torrance?"

  "Sir, are you going to report me now?"

  "For what? Trying to push your limits to meet an objective?"

  "No sir, for failing to report on time," explained Torrance.

  Noah let loose a full throated laugh. He looked at the cadet, placed a hand on his shoulder, and addressed him in a low, calm voice. "Son, remember the class we had earlier today regarding the Battle of Than?"

  Torrance nodded.

  "Well the reason why I was even in the position to come up behind the fucking bastards, was because I was late getting to rendezvous point. The fleet jumped without me and by the time I arrived in the system, they were already getting hammered. Had I jumped with them, I might not be here today talking to you. Who knows? We might've even lost the war!"

  Noah took a step back and straightened as he clasped his hands behind his waist. "Ever try fly fishing, cadet? Do you know how many failed casts it took before I caught my first brook trout?"

  Torrance looked puzzled. "Sir?"

  Noah looked right in Torrance's eyes. "You are going to make mistakes. Everyone screws up sometimes, son. But it's what you do next after screwing up, that determines what kind of leader you are going to be."

  Noah moved in close to the cadet and pointed his finger at him. "So no. I'm not going to gig you for this infraction. But I am giving you a direct order. You are to go back to your room and get some sleep. I will leave word to the proctor for my class that yours is the only test that will not be administered tomorrow. You can make it up the following day. Get some rest. And do not disappoint me on that exam, Cadet Torrance! Understood?"

  "Aye sir. Thank you sir."

  "Dismissed."

  LILY

  The central computer greeted Noah as he entered his apartment.

  "Good afternoon Captain Jameson. Is there anything you require? Should I order food again to be delivered?"

  Noah set his bags down on the couch in front of the giant entertainment screen that filled the opposite wall.

  "No, I'm going out later. Turn on the news. And set my wakeup call for 0800 tomorrow for my trip to my cabin. I will be gone for a few days of fishing."

  "Certainly, captain."

  Noah pulled a beer from the refrigerator. As he closed the door, the cap on the bottle clicked off by itself. He loved the automatic opener technology, although he would never admit it because it was something that humans obtained from their alliance with the Xen. He still thought it was funny. Humans had obtained quite a few new bits of technology from the Xen. And the first application they thought of was something as mundane as opening beverage containers.

  The news came on the wall screen of the apartment. As the anchor relayed the headlines, Noah flipped through his bags and closets to start selecting the gear for his trip. He was halfway through packing his bags when something the news anchor said caught his attention. He stopped and turned to see the lovely female anchor on screen.

  "...Alliance authorities could not comment on rumors that an Alliance NAV ship has not returned to port or made contact in the last week. Rumors persist that the Alliance ship cannot be located anywhere in the galaxy. The official statement made by the Office of Information was that the ship was experiencing communications issues, but was otherwise safe."

  The official comment was troubling to Noah as he had experienced quite a few communications issues while commanding ships. Even if the ship comms were down, the Alliance command would still be able to track them on their long range scanner through their unique location beacon. Either this ship's beacon and comms had malfunctioned at the same time, or something very bad had happened. NAV ships, even with all their improved navigational gear, were still at great risk when they performed their blind jumps. In either case, it would be a long time before the ship was located. That made it a bad situation all around.

  ***

  Noah finished packing and retrieved another beer from the kitchen. As he returned to the couch he stopped to linger at the bookcase that ironically had no books in it. Instead, it was filled with pictures of a strikingly beautiful brunette woman and a cute little girl. Noah took the picture of the woman and kissed it.

  "Don't worry honey," he said, tears filling his eyes. "I'll never stop until I find the bastards who took you from us."

  Noah sank to his knees and grabbed the picture, softly sobbing as he looked upon that last picture of his wife. He knew she was gone. It never left him. That feeling of chaos, of the world spinning out of control. The emptiness. The loneliness. And to have her taken in a terrorist act, that he was sure the pugs were behind, made it even harder to deal with. Time drifted and he clutched the picture and remembered the good times he had with her.

  He flashed to one of the last times he had talked to her. They were arguing. He couldn't remember what the argument was about, but he remembered that she didn't want to argue with him and cut him off, asking "What are you fighting for?" He still didn't have an answer to that question.

  His reverie was interrupted by the central computer's voice.

  "Captain, I have an incoming call for you from Lily."

  "Give me a moment," Noah replied, standing up. He wiped his face, and settled his expression. He placed his wife's picture on the bookcase and turned to the picture of the little girl. He picked it up.

  "On screen," Noah turned to face the wall screen, still holding her picture.

  "Daddy!" yelled the young dark haired girl whose face filled the entire wall. Noah never got tired of that greeting even if the girl no longer resembled the tiny little one in the picture on his bookcase. It brought a smile to his face to see her so cheerful on the huge screen.

  "Hey Lily pad! How are you?!" Noah replied. He sat down on the couch in anticipation of a long call.

  "Daddy! Grandpa and Grandma are going to take me to the Grand Canyon! Is that okay?" she asked. If excitement could produce power, then he was sure that his little girl could light up an entire city right at that moment.

  "I'll have to talk to them about it," he started to say. Just as he completed that part of his sentence he noticed the look of disappointment start to cloud her face.

  "...but I don't see why not!" he finished.

  "Yay! Daddy, you're the best daddy, ever!" She turned to look behind her. "Grandma! Grandpa! Daddy says it's okay!"

  "Okay, okay," Noah laughed. "I'll talk to them about the logistics. I want to hear all about your day. How was school? Your friends?"

  She brightened at the change of topic as she began to replay every part of her day. Noah loved whenever his daughter called him, as he could unwind and just connect with his little girl. He soaked up every morsel of information no matter how tedious. If it was important to her to say it, it was important enough for him to hear it.

  He ached that he was currently assigned to the Academy and couldn't be there with her. Still, he knew that even if he were still in command of a ship, he wouldn't be able to take care of her full-time. He was grateful for his parents taking care of her. But ever since he had been shunted to the Academy to teach, he had started to let thoughts of retirement creep in. He had enough time in service that he could retire and live on that income. And the best part of it all, he could be there every day for his 'little Lily pad'. It might not be such a bad thing after all.

  "...Daddy! Are you listening?" she pouted, interrupting his thoughts.

  "Yes sweetheart. I was just thinking about how much I love you and want to come be with you every day," he said.

  "That would be so great! But I know that you need to be there to fight the Xen! It's okay. I understand," she sa
id with a slight frown.

  "Well the Xen war is over, sweetie," he said. "But I still have to help other people keep the bad guys away." He knew the Xen couldn't be trusted, but he didn't want to turn this nice call into something serious.

  For the next half hour, the two caught up on each others' days. Finally, Noah noticed the hour. "Okay, little one," Noah said. "I think you need to start getting to bed."

  "But Daddy, I wanted to stay up late and talk to you!" she whined. "You promised to take me fishing, remember?"

  "I want to talk to you too. And yes, I remember that we are going to go fishing. Tell you what. I promise that I will come visit next month and we will fish for a week!"

  "Promise?"

  "You bet sweetie. Goodnight!" Noah said as he blew her a kiss.

  "Night Daddy! See you soon!" she said and blew a double kiss to Noah.

  Noah killed the feed and opened another beer.

  He walked back over to the bookshelf, sighed, and then placed Lily's picture back where it belonged. He looked at the shelf full of pictures and then at his fishing gear.

  He wondered if this fly fishing trip was selfish. After all, he did promise to take her fishing. But he reasoned that she was most likely having too much fun with her grandparents to notice he wasn't there.

  And besides, he was going to be there next month for a whole week. That would surely make up for his absence this weekend.

  He had plenty of time to make it up to her.

  O'MALLEY

  The bar looked like it was packed as Noah walked up to it. At least fifty people, and a few Xen he noticed, were lined up and waiting patiently to get in. Noah greeted the bouncer, who recognized him immediately. "Right this way Captain Jameson," he said as he pulled the velvet rope aside to let him in. Noah smiled slightly at the bouncer. He still felt a little uneasy at the special treatment he had been receiving ever since the war ended.

  A Xen waiting in line shouted his disapproval to the bouncer for letting Noah cut in front. Noah stopped and briefly glared at the Xen. He hated even looking at these "pugs".