Donna rose from her bunk bed in the barracks to the sound of a loudspeaker.
“Rise and shine recruits. Time for the first morning of training!”
All at once, Donna realized that she was reliving that fateful moment in her childhood when she was sixteen and her destiny was permanently altered.
“Are you ok?” Laura asked as she looked at the expression on Donna’s face.
“Fine. Just had a bad dream, that’s all,” she said.
In the mess hall, the males were already eating their breakfast. The Barringe and the Lanthan were keeping to themselves while David and Ken laughed and talked. They paused for a moment when the women walked in, but instead of saying something inappropriate or staring, they simply went back to their conversation. Donna looked their way as if daring them to say anything.
“Well, I guess you’ve shown them,” Kadija remarked as the three women sat down together.
Just after Donna finished the last bite of her oatmeal, Sergeant Harris walked in with a smirk on his face.
“I trust all of you are settling in, but it is now time for you to begin the training for the mission that you’ve been chosen for. We will begin by partnering you up with one of the other recruits for a series of tasks that will prove to us once and for all that you are worthy of the selection process.”
“Cool, let’s be partners!” Laura said as she and Donna high-fived each other.
“And you will not get to choose your partners..” The sergeant added, overhearing Laura’s comment. Laura immediately began to pout.
“Listen for your partner. Once I announce your names, immediately report to the training facility in the dead center of the compound. Laura Phillips, you are partnered with Ken Densmore,” he said.
“Damn!” Laura said. Ken looked disappointed as well, but didn’t say anything.
“See ya later, partner,” David said, shaking his head.
“Sorry,” Donna said to Laura.
“Hey, no sweat.”
“Kadija Moumake you are partnered with Langur Keronalta!”
Kadija looked puzzled, but immediately figured out it was the Lantham that she was partnered with when he got up and bowed to her.
“Pleased to be your partner,” he spoke in a rather squeaky, but kind voice.
“Same here,” she said.
“Wish the male humans were as well mannered,” Donna murmured to Kadija under her breath, prompting Kadija to smile back at her.
“David Johnson, you are coming with me,” the sergeant said.
“Must mean that I’m the most capable,” David said with pride.
“No, it means that I want to keep an eye on the most potentially loose cannon in our ranks,” The sergeant shot back. David looked both hurt and shocked.
“That leaves Donna Stevens and Dedron Fildred,” the sergeant said. The Barringe immediately got up and walked over to Donna and extended his hand, but his expression was blank. Donna got up to face him.
Dedron shook her hand and gave her a half-smile.
“This is how you greet one another on Earth is it not?” he said. The sound of his voice was deep, soothing, and smooth.
“It is,” Donna said, smiling at his friendly expression.
Donna and Dedron walked together in silence most of the way to the training compound. Long silences always made Donna uncomfortable, so she tried to strike up a conversation.
“I was beginning to wonder if you could speak,” she said, prompting Dedron to turn towards her.
“We Barringes have a tendency not to engage in unnecessary chatter,” he said, keeping his eyes in front of him.
“I see. If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you to the Defense Squadron?” she asked.
Dedron seemed a bit annoyed that Donna wanted to continue talking, but he offered her an answer nonetheless.
“Purely for the defense of our people. The Remoirs are too close to my home planet for comfort. The more we can limit their reach, the better. And you?”
“Revenge. The Remoirs killed my father, long ago.”
“I am sorry for your loss, but revenge will kill the soul,” he said. Donna gave him a puzzled look, but didn’t try to respond.
When they reached the training building, they were both struck by how different the facility looked compared with the nondescript concrete buildings they had seen thus far. The training facility had modern movable ramps up to its entrance and was a hover building, unlike the rest. It had been added on in recent years to update the facilities as technology progressed.
As soon as the whole group assembled inside the large room just inside the entrance, the sergeant spoke again. The front room was round with several rounded doorways leading to other rooms. Just above their heads was a large control center where a couple of soldiers typed unknown commands into control panels and stared into large monitors.
“Inside each of the rooms is a scenario which will test your ability to work with one another, your use of weapons, and your judgment in make the right decision under extreme circumstances. Our staff will rate your performance as a means of proving that we have chosen the right people for this mission. Good luck, recruits!” the sergeant said.
Donna and Dedron were directed to the second door by one of the soldiers who stood nearby. They looked at one another, but did not say a word. Donna was still thinking about what Dedron had said to her about revenge. His words carried a sting because she resented being told that her life goals were ‘soul-killing’.
“I’ve got your back,” he said as a reassurance.
“Maybe you need me to have yours,” she answered as she walked through the door. Dedron shook his head, thinking to himself that the female human was too headstrong. However, he also couldn’t help but admire her statuesque beauty and gorgeous features. Indeed, he had never seen anyone quite like her and tried to keep himself from staring at her for too long. Just as she had the day before, she wore a fairly revealing outfit with a tank top and short shorts.
Just inside the door were chairs and a screen. Immediately, a woman in a soldier’s uniform appeared on the screen and began to speak.
“This is a briefing for your simulated mission. Please have a seat and listen to the details. Donna sat down, but Dedron chose to keep standing.
“Your squadron has crash landed on the moon, Albracht in the Yaltam galaxy. As soon as the first soldiers emerged from the ship, they were captured by Jerbinthiams. They are beasts who like to dine on the flesh of humans. You must find and rescue your crewmembers before they become dinner, and repair the ship so that you can depart the moon. Any weapons that you can find may be utilized in your mission. Good luck, recruits,” the woman said as the screen disappeared into the wall. A door suddenly opened in the wall and a voice announced the beginning of the simulated mission.
“Your mission begins immediately,” the same women’s voice spoke.
“Let’s do this,” Donna said, walking through the door first. Dedron followed immediately behind her. As soon as they walked through the door, they heard an emergency buzzer sounding, and were struck by the sight of the inside of a military rocket. The lights on the control panels were blinking, and the smell of something burning was thick on the air.
“We’ve got to look around for some weapons,” Donna said as she searched the shattered cockpit.”
Donna immediately picked up a laser cannon and two blaster grenades that she found mounted to the wall. Dedron didn’t seem to be interested in finding weaponry. Instead he looked out of the rocket’s windows and surveyed their immediate surroundings. Outside, it appeared that it was nighttime. There also appeared to be a desert-like environment with steam rising from the sand-like floor. Dedron looked around at the seats in the cockpit, took out a knife and began to cut off the insulated material from the chairs.
“What are you doing? We have to get out there and rescue them,” Donna said.
“Here, take this material and tie it onto the bottom of your shoes. If you d
on’t, those sands may melt right through your shoes,” he said.
Donna gave him a puzzled look; but then she looked outside and saw the steam rising from the sands. Using long strips of Kevlar material that the chairs were made of, both of them tied on a thick layer of the material to their feet. Barringes don’t wear shoes, but the soles of their feet are tough and calloused.
“Let’s go!” Donna said, trying to open the door that led to the outside. It was stuck, so she blasted it with her laser cannon.
“Don’t!” Dedron warned as she lifted the cannon, but he was too late. The door opened, but the sound clearly caught the attention of the monsters that lurked nearby. Dozens of fast-moving Jerbinthiams began to rush towards the door of the rocket with their tongues wagging madly out of their huge mouths. They resembled uniformed jackals that stood upright with spots and striped coats. Donna immediately began to mow them down with her laser fire, but more of them seemed to come up to replace the fallen.
“That’s not the way! Follow me!” Dedron said as he kicked open a side entrance. Donna stopped firing and followed him. When they got outside, the Jerbinthiams began to rush towards them.
“Let’s head over there to that dome. Maybe the crewmembers are being kept there!” she said, pointing to a building to their west. Dedron nodded. Then, he took one of the blaster grenades from Donna’s belt that she had placed there for safe- keeping.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m going to create a distraction,” he said.
“But we might need that later…” she insisted. Dedron ignored her, pushed the activation switch and threw the grenade off to their left. It made a deafening explosion, but it had the desired effect of attracting the beasts that had been headed in their direction.
“Now GO!” he shouted. Donna immediately began to run across the burning sands towards the nearby dome. Some of the Jerbinthiams broke away from the main group and began to come after them. One was just about to pounce on Dedron when Donna turned and shot the creature dead between the eyes. It fell to the ground, stunning Dedron for an instant.
“Thank you,” he said. She nodded and they continued to run towards the dome. Soon they reached its entrance. There appeared to be no entrances to the building. Donna raised her gun as if to fire into the wall, but Dedron grabbed the gun’s muzzle and pushed it towards the ground.
“Stop! If the crew is inside, you could harm them,” he said.
“But how else are we going to get inside?” she asked.
“There!” he said, pointing to a ladder on the opposite side of the dome. “Jerbinthiams always enter buildings from the top!” he said as he immediately went over to the ladder and began to climb it. Donna shook her head and followed him, wondering what might be awaiting them on the inside.
Chapter 3
As soon as they got inside of the domed building, they spied some of the Jerbinthiams and a few human prisoners moving out of the room that they were in to an adjacent one. Dedron began to go after them through the doorway, but several other Jerbinthiams were still in the room coming at him.
“This way you ugly beasts. Come and get me!” Donna called out to them. All of the Jerbinthiams that had been going after Dedron went after her. She led them through another doorway opposite to the one that the beasts had escaped through with their prisoners.
Dedron was torn about whether or not to help Donna or go after the prisoners, but since it was only a simulation, he decided to go after the prisoners. He made his way through a narrow, silver corridor and caught up with the last Jerbinthiam, which turned and began to snarl at him. Now Dedron was wishing he had a weapon after all. It chased him to the other side of the room, but Dedron managed to outrun the creature and follow the others on down the narrow corridor. When he came to the end of the corridor, he found the Jarbinthiams facing towards him with their prisoners just behind him. They raised their laser pistols to fire at Dedron who quickly tried to back out of the room and back into the corridor. Dedron’s ears were filled with the sound of laser fire, and he shook his head knowing that they had failed the task. However, he was shocked to find the creatures that had weapons pointed at him had fallen in a large heap. Behind them was Donna standing amongst the four prisoners with a large grin on her face.
“Mission accomplished. Well done!” A female voice said from above their heads. All at once, the building that they were in disappeared, and they were back in the foyer.
“That’s close to a record! I might have to team you too up for the real mission,” Sergeant Harris said. Dedron didn’t seem to know what to think of the idea.
“You may take a break while we wait for the others to finish. We will meet in the mess hall for lunch in an hour,” The sergeant said.
Donna immediately walked back towards the barracks.
“Thank you. Isn’t that what you say in your language?” Dedron called after her. She turned and looked at him.
“Yep,” she said, as she turned away from him again. Dedron followed behind her, eventually catching up to where she was.
“I want to thank you for taking care of those creatures for me. I’m pretty sure we would have failed the mission if you hadn’t made the decisions that you did.”
“So you’re admitting that you were wrong?” she said, cocking an eyebrow.
“Wrong about what?” he said, looking puzzled.
“Wrong to say that we didn’t need weapons.”
“Well, I meant that we couldn’t accomplish the mission simply by shooting laser guns at the creatures. I have encountered Jarbinthiams in real life before. If you shoot them, two thousand more will come out of nowhere to replace them.”
“But you just told me that we would have failed our mission if it wasn’t for my actions.”
“Donna, it wasn’t your shooting that saved us, but the element of surprise. They had their attention focused on me and you caught them off guard.”
“True enough,” she said as her anger began to soften. “I have to hand it to you, you made a lot of decisions that helped us as well.”
“So maybe the sergeant was right. Maybe we complement each other,” he said, but she didn’t seem too convinced.
“Maybe,” she said, as they came to a path that split. Towards the east was the female barracks; the path that headed west led to the mess hall.
“Would you care to come to the mess hall with me? It’s getting close to lunch time.”
Donna turned and looked at the Barringe. For the first time, she realized how sensitive and caring his large, dark eyes were. Although he was much hairier than a human, he was well groomed. His coarse, brown hair was brushed back away from his face, and he wore what looked to be a brown leather one-piece that draped over one shoulder and covered his waist.
“Sure why not,” she said, thinking that he looked quite handsome.
After a bit of silence, which of course Donna could not stand, she began to talk again.
“So you are here purely for the defense of your people.”
“And you are here purely to avenge your father,” he answered.
“Well not purely, but mostly I would say. I’m also trying to carry on a proud tradition. My family has a history of being a part of the Defense Squadron.”
“Hmm,” Dedron said, as if such a tradition seemed less than honorable to him.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“Well, it could simply be a difference in our cultures, but such a family tradition would not exist in our society. We value things like self-expression or cultivation of the Earth over being a soldier. As I’ve said before, we only engage in such things as a means of defense. We are quite aware that there are several races of creatures that would have taken over our beloved planet years ago if we hadn’t begun to defend ourselves.”
“So what’s your home planet like?” She asked.
“It is called Silva. It’s covered in what you call forests. It is lush, beautiful, and warm all year round.”
“Ah, yes we have forests back home on Earth.”
“So I have heard. My father once visited Earth many moons ago.”
“Well maybe one day you can visit. I’d be happy to show you around.”
“Not too likely. Once this mission is done, I will be returning home as soon as I can.”
“Do you have family back at home?”
“You mean my parents?” he asked.
“Yes, that, but what about someone, you know, special in your life? Do you have someone like that?” Dedron looked confused.
“Oh, you mean a mate?”
“Sure, close enough,” she said.
“No, I do not. We Barringes are not allowed to settle down with mates to establish family groups until we go out into the world and do something to prove ourselves. Even after that, we all live together communally: the whole family lives in one tree dwelling,”
“Now, wait. I thought you said your people didn’t like to do things like that.”
“There are a wide variety of ways that we can prove ourselves besides being a soldier, and the main goal is to show that you are willing to sacrifice something of yourself for the greater community. My friend Foridon proved himself by painting a large mural over the meeting house in my home settlement.”
“How’s that sacrificing himself?” she asked.
“He gave lots of his own time to create something that everyone in the community could enjoy. The Sersay decided that the gesture, which we call a Shirshoy, was worthy.”
“The who?”
“The Sersay is our leader. He can see into the beyond and has visions that tell us what the shadow world has to convey for us. When he was very young, he went into the forest and had a vision. After days and nights of fasting in the forest, he came back and shared his vision with the village. He has been our leader and guide ever since. ”
“I see,” Donna said, trying to make sense of this alien culture.
“Do you have anything similar in your culture?” he asked.
A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance Page 30
