The Commander

by Kevin Groh

  Again they watched the traffic and enjoyed the presence of each other. »What do you say we knock over a few pins now?«, he asked after a while.

  She smiled at him and grabbed his hand to pull him along. The arcade she led him into was not clearly visible among all the colorful neon signs. The yellow sign on a purple background showed the title ›Ka-Bowl!!!‹. Inside there were ten normal lanes and a few more separated and closed areas. At the counter sat an acne-faced teenager in purple work clothes typing on a monitor. As soon as he noticed them, he looked up and got big eyes at the sight of Kelly. She whispered to Carter:

  »You’ll have to get used to that when we go out together.«

  He smiled and asked for a black light lane. The stammering boy told them the prices and said that there were enough lanes available. Since money didn’t matter to them, they chose a closed cabin. Inside, the lights were on and there were several bowls of fluorescent paint. Actually, Carter didn’t like having to paint himself, but since they’d been practicing camouflage on their marches more often, he’d got used to it.

  He smeared a little orange and green on his face and a little yellow on his arms. With two fingers full of pink he waited until Kelly came out of the toilet and rubbed it on her nose. She was spooked and squealed, but laughed and paid him back with a load of red on his forehead. They changed their shoes and picked out matching bullets. Soon after, Carter switched off the lights and as soon as the blacklight came on, the two of them glowed brightly.

  The game lasted a long time because in between he poked Kelly into the side and they smiled a lot and laughed. He didn’t have the date in his head anymore, he just enjoyed the time with her. He wasn’t a very good player himself, but she also hit the gutter quite often.

  »Would you like me to raise the children’s bars for you?«, he teased.

  She replied quick-wittedly: »Hey, then only for you, as often as you strike out empty!«

  In the end, Carter won with a little distance, but Kelly didn’t think it was bad. She said it would be sexy if the man won a game. They bowled again and this time she got the upper hand. He didn’t have a problem with losing, and she seemed to like that too.

  As Kelly was about to go to her ball, a strong urge overcame Carter and he sneaked up to her and touched her on the arm. She looked around at him and he pulled her towards him. He took her face between his hands and kissed her. Her fingers wandered unconsciously to his neck and back as she returned the kiss just as passionately. As it was dark, they kept their eyes closed and just felt it. Of course, Carter felt the need to touch her body, but he felt it was too early. He put his hands on her hips and she leaned into the kiss. When they separated, she said:

  »Wow ... that was really beautiful ...«

  Carter said dry: »Damn! I had aimed at scary ...«

  She laughed and cuddled him: »Don’t ruin the moment, dummy!«

  He turned the light back on and saw her smiling. It was the most beautiful sight he could imagine and he told her that too. They put on their shoes and washed off the paint before going outside. »It was really fun! But now I’m just hungry!«, Kelly said enthusiastically and her eyes wandered over the food stands.

  »What do you like? I’ve been thinking all the time about which restaurant to go to ...«, Carter confessed.

  She looked at him pitifully: »Restaurant? Did you want to have some kind of candlelight dinner? It’s only afternoon and I don’t like all that high-pitched stuff anyway. I’ve had to do that far too often with my family. All I want now is a fat-soaked pizza completely overloaded with cheese and a big Coke with it.«

  Carter was a bit surprised at first because he hadn’t expected it, but finally, he was pleasantly surprised.

  »I love how easy things are with you! Then let’s go get a huge pizza!«

  They found three different stands with different kinds of pizza. There were thin, medium thick and fluffy variations. Again Carter expected Kelly to like thin pizzas, but she wanted a big, oily pan pizza with a cheese crust. He loved this style himself the most and ordered an XXXL pizza with a carafe of cola.

  They sat down at a wooden table with metal edges on small wooden chairs, like in a bistro. A white parasol was stretched above them. Next to it was a large fountain that splashed cheerfully. The contrast of the light wood colors and the light gray stone tiles with the bluish-colored water in combination with warm wind and the smell of food was enchanting. The sight of Kelly sitting in her tight top looking at him was the icing on the cake. »You’re glowing.«, she said with a smile.

  »Only because of you. This day is just great ... I don’t want it to end.«

  »Nothing ends yet, so relax. Since I have a really nice time with you, this won’t be our last date either.«

  Carter was more than happy to hear that. The pizza came and took almost the whole table. The pieces were so huge that he wondered if they hadn’t exaggerated. Kelly, on the other hand, got glowing eyes and laid the first one directly on her plate. He watched her eat. Halfway through she switched to her hands. Her oily, full lips, biting off, held his gaze in their spell while he chewed himself with pleasure. »I wove Pippffa! I could eat Pippffa evewy day, fowever!«, she smiled enthusiastically and Carter laughed loudly.

  »Wha?«, she asked with a full mouth, but then she giggled just as much about her own greed.

  After they had finished, they had actually crushed the entire pizza. Kelly had eaten even more than he had. For that, he got to hear a teasing ›weakling‹. They strolled around a bit and when she complained about her overfull stomach, they sat down under a tree on a bench. »Oh my God, I’m dying! I’m so full!«, she whined and leaned back to stretch her stomach. Carter sat next to her and just laughed.

  »Can you stop laughing at me all the time? I’m dying here!«, she protested, giggling about herself again and again.

  »The fun stops with eating, doesn’t it?«, Carter asked her jokingly.

  »Hell yeah! It was worth it. If I have to die, then please by an overdose of pizza! Best way to go.«, she said with a satisfied grin.

  »Could we still live a little before that? Becoming a couple, finishing the training, building a life together ... stuff like that. You can still die after that. Just saying.«

  She looked at him more seriously.

  »What? Are you going to hurl now?«, Carter asked half laughing, half worried.

  »Are you thinking about things like that?

  »I told you before our first kiss what kind of guy I am. Since you clearly like me, I automatically think ahead. And the just mentioned things are part of it.«

  She changed her sitting position. »Okay, so basically I’m all for it. Let’s see for a moment if it works at all.«

  Carter crossed his arms: »But, Miss Richards, are you suggesting that you’re willing to have a relationship with me?«

  Kelly tried in vain to sit upright on the bench. She groaned:

  »That depends ... do you even want to have a fat, full-eaten cow like me as a girlfriend? I’ll tell you right now, that’s how it always works with pizza.«

  Carter gave back: »Let me put it this way ...« He leaned towards her and kissed her still oily lips. When he removed his face again, Kelly beamed and got a hiccup.

  »Then it’s probably off- *Hicc* - official. The two of us are together now!« She cursed because she had imagined this moment to be much more romantic. They sat there for quite a while next to each other and looked at the people passing by. After some time Kelly seemed to be able to move normally again.

  Sunday was Carter’s first difficulty because, apart from Roderick and Billy, everyone in their group was there. It was very hard not to show the attraction to Kelly too much before the others. Leena noticed it the night before. He told her how it had gone and she seemed excited.

  Since then she always winked at him mischievously when he tried not to get too distracted by Kelly. She deliberately teased him by dropping things and bending down before him to pick them up. Or she sat do
wn next to him and stretched her breasts out extensively. On Monday there was an extra banana for breakfast, and after she ate it pleasurably in front of him, he hurried to the toilet and splashed cold water on his face. Even when he was on guard duty in front of the main building that evening, she ›accidentally‹ strolled past and had ›accidentally‹ wet her shirt before. Carter wasn’t sure if she wanted to heat it up or just irritate him. He doubted very much that he would endure this until the next date. She was off the following weekend, but he and Leena were assigned as guards on a diplomatic flight to Kunaz.

  Besides Tim, who had been on Zahkar the week before as escort at a state gala, they were the first to leave the planet for a service. Typically, recruits were only assigned to duties that took place within the Nekon-Traverse because the distances could be covered in a weekend. Since these duties would take up both free days, the recruits concerned were given the following week off. At lunch, Carter and Leena sat with Tim to question him.

  »What was it like on Zahkar?«, he asked him.

  Tim shrugged his shoulders: »If I knew that. The ship landed in a closed hangar and I had to stay on board. During takeoff and landing, I guarded a door and couldn’t even look out of the window. The only thing I saw was a blue-violet Salvani diplomat receiving our procession.«

  »That’s disappointing ...«, Jane said.

  »I suppose it will be similar for us. We have only six months of training behind us and are hardly more than better weapon mounts. We are certainly not chosen as escorts for a high official when it comes to presenting humanity.«, it came from Leena. Kelly said: »I think that the services will only be interesting for us when we have the two years behind us. But whether we really do more than just guard duty or routine jobs is also uncertain.

  »Is that so bad? Personally, I’m not exactly keen on being sent to some combat area and fighting for survival with a shotgun in the middle of the turmoil. The fact that I’ve been drafted is already lousy enough, I don’t want to risk my life for these scumbags.«, Billy commented.

  »They don’t want your life at all.«, Roderick joked.

  Tom added: »Don’t worry Billy, they won’t send you into the field with a shotgun. Your ego is so huge that you can take out whole waves of enemies with it alone ...«

  »... because they have to laugh so much at the sight of you that they can only curl on the ground and no longer fight.«, his brother ended the sentence.

  The recruits laughed, even though Billy seemed rather offended.

  When the group got up to move towards the hell trail, Carter was pulled into a corner by Kelly and she kissed him with a fiery passion. Then she followed the others and he stood there completely irritated and had to pull himself together before he could follow.

  Banes still seemed to be out of action and the training was relaxed with the barely perceptible supervision of the older substitute. Carter had Leena show him the technique for climbing ropes. The fact that the rope was clamped between his feet and he pushed himself upwards seemed difficult to him. Jazzir had them ready so that they had learned enough movements for regular sparring. They fought more often against each other to simulate a real confrontation. Their instructor, however, made it clear that most alien races did not behave like humans. They had to study their individual fighting styles and learn their physical weaknesses to beat them. So they began to use the holograms of the other species to study their physique and attributes. Major Dunn also repeated this topic, practicing in the simulation room with moving targets and equipment, while alternating different types of aliens as enemies. They noticed in each subject that the difficulty increased because they now possessed the basic skills. However, as they were not yet very proficient, the exercises seemed quite challenging. Nevertheless, they were motivated because the instructors, apart from Banes, treated them with more respect.

  Reluctant Mission

  The following Friday, Carter and Kelly were on duty together. They were assigned to escort a convoy. A shuttle took them to a military outpost in downtown New Denver. There was hardly any personnel stationed on-site and most of it was used as a camp. A load of weapons was to be transferred from there to Osilon. For cost reasons, ground transporters were used to deliver goods within certain distances. Therefore, the two of them headed for a truck that was actually driving on the road with wheels. »Wow ... I didn’t think that there were still ground-based vehicles in active service. These things are prehistoric ...«, Kelly wondered.

  Carter thought: »I’m not sure how you can save money with them. The transport time by shuttle is much shorter. But what the hell? So we just travel for three hours on the road. We’re on Utopia, so what’s going to happen here?« Kelly had to admit that he was probably right. Utopia was a place with a lot of poverty, but in relation to it, there were few crimes, because the military presence was very high everywhere. That and the security bots floating through the streets were enough reasons for most ordinary people not to be carried away to commit crimes. The two were received by the coordinating officer and assigned to their posts without a long introduction. They were to stay on one of the transport trucks and keep an eye on the cargo. So Carter climbed onto the loading area of the truck, where there was enough room for two people to sit at the rear. He helped Kelly up, who settled across from him. No cover was deliberately thrown over so that the armed soldiers could be seen from a distance. Not that any criminal gang was crazy enough to attack the military. One simply wanted to permanently show an impression of strength. As soon as the convoy began to move half an hour later, the two were ordered to keep their assault rifles lying visibly on their laps. The boxes were securely lashed and there was a car with several guards in front of them and a mobile machine gun behind them.

  »A little over the top, if you ask me.« Carter said.

  Kelly just grinned and looked around. The beauty of this duty was the view. At first, they drove between the huge towers of New Denver and saw the curious working families wandering the streets in their spare time. It was more fear than respect visible in their eyes. Carter wondered if the current situation on Utopia was worth it at all. In fact, he felt the way of life and culture of the T’zun and Salvani were far superior to their own. When he spoke out his thoughts, Kelly replied: »That may be so, but the T’zun also had their phase of exploitation and self-destruction. Maybe one day humanity will get as far as they are today.«

  »I don’t know. They had only one world at the time and had already understood their mistake before they reached another. We may have left Earth too early. Perhaps a war by overpopulation would have been exactly what we needed for further development.«, Carter pondered.

  Kelly shook her head: »Why are you thinking about something like that? Enjoy the view. Look! We’ve left the city behind now and everything is green, wide and free.«

  Carter puffed: »I’m just not the type who can sit still for a long time without much thought. I enjoy a sight like any other, but after a short time, my head works again. Well, and so I thought about the next year and what comes after that. On the one hand, I want to commit myself and explore worlds, but support a system like this? I don’t think I can do that.«

  »You don’t have to. There are enough military tasks to make things better. Explore planets, defend innocent people, work for the initiative or be transferred as a guest to a troop of an alien military. There are many ways if you really want that.«

  As they talked, they didn’t notice the silence that suddenly surrounded them. The birds didn’t sing anymore, even though they were passing a small forest. Carter suddenly felt a pull in the pit of his stomach, a premonition. He warned Kelly, but then the first car of the convoy exploded in front of them, rolled over in the air and crashed into the car directly behind. Shortly afterward the same thing happened to the two rear vehicles. Now there were three trucks and one SUV with MG left.

  He grabbed the rifle and jumped off the loading surface. Kelly followed his example and the rest of the guards also moved careful
ly around the load. A shot came out of the forest and one of the soldiers fell over with a hole in his forehead.

  »Sniper!«, yelled another guard. At that moment, twenty men and women, armored with wildly mixed parts, came out of the thicket and pointed their weapons at them. They approached from both sides of the road, so there was no escape route. Carter put on his rifle.

  »Are you crazy? Stop it! You can only handle the gun for a few weeks. They’ll kill us if you shoot them!«, Kelly warned him.

  Deep down inside, this situation seemed familiar to him and he felt what he had to do. He shot the next best enemy, pulled a box from the truck and took cover behind it. The exchange of fire panicked all the guards and they opened fire as well. Despite the many exercises, no one had prepared them for the noise, fear, and chaos of a shootout. Kelly squatted with her hands on her ears next to Carter. He jumped out, threw a wagon cross at an enemy and fired three salvos at another enemy. Fortunately, the last one hit him and he dropped dead. The hustle and bustle had allowed a guard to man the machine gun on the car. He shot around with a hell of a noise and killed four enemies as he was blown up by a rocket along with the vehicle. The irritated enemy now had the cross in his hand. Carter waited until one of the guards shot around and drew the attention of most attackers before he stormed out. He wanted to punch the enemy with his fist in rage, but his hand bounced off his helmet and he sprained it. Then he got the wagon cross smashed against his upper arm and a kick against his leg so that he fell on his back. He couldn’t prevent a painful whimper from clearing his throat.

  With his healthy hand, he pulled his pistol and shot the man at close range from below. Unfortunately, another enemy had noticed him and put his gun on him. Carter’s eyes widened because he couldn’t possibly escape. Even before he came to think about the consequences in panic, Kelly jumped out behind the cover and let a constant fire sweep around without aiming. Some of the projectiles pierced the enemy by pure luck. A hit in the shoulder, followed by screams of pain, ended her firestorm and she fell to her knees. Carter fought angrily at her feet and aimed straight at a shooter who executed one of the kneeling guards from behind.