by Kimber An
Lower lip drooping, Junior grabbed her sponge back out of the bucket and started scrubbing again. Why am I always on the schmutz-list?
Scrub, scrub. Her feelings churned inside her, but something about the stars in the window captured her attention. Traveling at Mark Two, the stars seemed to speed by, although it was only an illusion. The stars were fixed and thousands of lightyears away. She’d first noticed them from her mother’s arms.
In that moment, however, there was a familiar presence among them, like the last time her mother returned in a shuttlecraft. Mom’s supposed to be on the Bridge. She tried to shrug the feeling off, but it wouldn’t go away. Finally, she tapped her wrist-communicator. “Junior to Bridge.”
“I’m here, Junior,” her mother’s voice filled her. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re on the Bridge?”
“Yes. Something’s wrong. What is it?”
“Nothing. It’s stupid.” Junior shook her head.
“No. It’s not. Please, tell me…please.”
“I thought you were out in space…” Junior scrubbed “…in a shuttle or something.”
“Scanning.” Sachi spoke over com. Two seconds passed in tense silence. “Tactical alert! All hands to battle stations! Security lock-down all civilians!”
Red lights and sirens split the air.
Junior jumped up and ran to a computer interface. “Stella, what’s going on?” She studied the black and white spatial grid. Three red dots approached the blue one and she knew the blue dot represented the Maverick.
“Sensors detect three Menelaen battle cruisers.”
The urgency of it didn’t quite register in Junior’s mind. “The Menelaens don’t send battle cruisers out this far or we never would’ve been assigned to this patrol. This is a deep space starship with families on board.”
“Junior! What are you still doing here? Security lock-down!” Chef switched off all heating elements.
“But…they don’t want to hurt us.”
“Scramble!”
Junior ran out, bound for the med-bay. She passed some young children being escorted to the preschool room by Rehama, the teen volunteer. She caught the fear in her best friend’s big, brown eyes, but said nothing. Everyone knew what to do and no one made any unnecessary noise.
On the Bridge, Olivia stood to watch the forward screen a gigantic phantom with two lesser ghosts descended upon them against the backdrop of stars. “Mr. Mir, get us the hell out of here!”
“Yes, Ma’am!”
The Maverick banked and roared into maximum velocity even as she spoke the order.
The Menelaen battle cruisers resembled silver beetles with purple running lights. And they gave chase.
Spinning around, Olivia slid back into her chair.
“Captain,” said Mr. Ashley from communications. “We’re being hailed.”
Olivia rose slowly to her feet. "Lead ship‘s designation?"
“IMS…Mydis.”
Daddy’s home. Olivia's voice went hoarse. "Sachi, execute Command Security Protocol Junior-alpha-one.”
"Yes, Captain.” Sachi tapped the colored lights of her security console. “Owada to Team Alpha, place Junior in maximum security with a rotating shield modulation.”
A male voice responded in the affirmative as Sachi worked.
“Captain,” said Lieutenant Ashley looked up from the com board. “Captain Delano wants to speak with his daughter.”
Olivia looked fiercely at her com officer. “Tell him to go to hell.” She faced tactical. "Sachi, Re-calibrate static shields, full power to the Tryon Canons, evasive maneuver Psi-Demeter."
Seconds later, the Maverick shook in its escape.
“Captain, he’s firing non-lethal shots, targeting our engines only,” reported Sachi.
“He means to disable us and take what he wants! Target his weapons!” Olivia resumed the command chair and gripped the armrests. “Come about!” She studied the forward view screen. The destroyers swung hard to align their torpedo launchers. “Don’t give him a clear shot at our engines!”
“Captain! Those last laser shots are reconfiguring our shield frequencies.” Sachi worked tactical in quick proficiency. “Attempting to compensate.”
Olivia studied the monitor in her armrest. “Not working! He can teleport! Dispatch security teams to critical points!” She reached over and grabbed a plasma-pistol. “Arm yourselves!”
Down in the Brig’s main security cell, Junior stood still and listened. Nothing made sense. As a Space Brat, she’d been in security lock-down while the Maverick battled bad guy aliens plenty of times. But, her lock-down area was the med-bay. Not the Brig.
The Maverick shook at maximum velocity, firing all weapons in defense.
Duke Sinclair and Billy Grant stood guard near the controls on the shield’s other side, pressure rifles at the ready.
The Maverick suddenly lurched.
“What? A tractor beam? No way!” Junior looked to the guards, but they only studied the console.
Another lurch and Junior flew sideways. She rolled with it like a good little klutz and when she came up she saw the guards smashed up against the far wall, unconscious.
The containment field was down.
Junior jumped up and slapped a com-panel. "Junior to the Captain!" She listened to static for a second. "Mom!" Ship-wide communications were down. She ran to the fallen guards. “Billy? Duke?” One look and she knew their wounds were beyond her skills. They needed Isaiah. She dashed out the door, hurdling fallen ceiling panels to find him, or at least some emergency medical technicians.
Crewmen dashed through the smoky chaos, putting out fires.
“Billy and Duke are badly injured in the HRC!” Junior shouted, but wasn’t sure if anyone heard. She sprinted down a corridor and climbed over debris. This shouldn’t be happening. There was no hostile intent!
Finding a work conduit’s door blown off, she climbed inside and ran on all fours to the end.
Junior emerged inside the hangar bay behind a toppled console. The two fighter craft and two shuttles still waited for their pilots. She ducked down when she saw a dozen Menelaens in gray uniforms and helmets with full masks. Their pressure rifles were leveled on four pilots, two co-pilots, and other flight and hangar crew, captured.
The two fighter craft waited in glimmers of white under the harsh lights, hatches open. However, it was a shuttlecraft which was closest to her position. Oh, schmutz. Shuttles are so boring.
What is happening? A young man’s voice.
Junior glanced around, but saw no one near her. Probably an echo. Up above and all around, she could hear the Maverick firing Tryon Canons. She reached down and grabbed a heavy crossbolt lying in the rubble. With all of her strength, she hurled the crossbolt like a discus thrower in Ancient Greece. It crashed into a power conduit on the far wall and sent sparks showering down on the Menelaens.
The pilots and flight crew lunged at their confused enemy.
Junior dove through the hatch of the nearest shuttle and activated manual lift-off.
“Time to kick the tires and light the fires!” She gloried in finally powering out of the hangar bay in a real spacecraft. "Stella, recognize O’Keefe, Captain Olivia.” She hacked into the computer on board to accept her as pilot, pulling wires and tapping controls. "Authorization O’Keefe-Charley-Zeta-Nine."
"O’Keefe, Captain Olivia recognized."
"Woo-hoo! I’ve been promoted and I didn‘t even have to go to the Academy first!” Junior grabbed the yoke and sent the shuttle into a clumsy spin through the stars. “How many Menelaen ships are still functioning out there?"
"Two."
"All right, fire up the rapid-fire Tryons and target their weapons." She finger-traced the targeting scanners and zeroed in on the enemy destroyers.
"Processing. Scanning. Target locked,” said Stella.
"Fire!"
Junior’s little shuttle stung the Menelaen battle cruiser like a mosquito might an elephant.
>
Some sort of port opened on the Menelaen battle cruiser and shot a blue light over her shuttle’s nose.
“What the schmutz?” Junior whipped her head around. Her craft lurched to a sudden halt and her safety belts grabbed. She looked over her shoulder to see the blue light enveloping the shuttle. “Ut-oh, now that’s a tractor beam.” She stomped on the floor and yanked back on the yoke, but her shuttlecraft only whirred, helplessly caught. The engines died altogether. “Oh, no, Mom’s gonna kill me!”
Junior wheeled around as her shuttle was pulled into the flight deck of the Menelaen vessel. “This has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my whole entire life! Why did I do this?” As soon as the shuttle slid to a stop, the great doors creaked shut and a white flash could be seen.
The Menelaen vessel had gone into hyperspace with her on board! “I am so toasted and fried!”
On the Maverick Bridge, Olivia felt the loss of her daughter like a rock in the chest. “Junior…” She jumped to her feet. “Stella, locate Junior!”
“Junior is not on board the Maverick.”
Delano & Daughter
Deep within the Mydis, Captain Edward Delano strode into a lift, his long crimson cape billowing after him. He gripped the rail with one hand and rubbed his chest with the other. He heard Commander Bo enter. “Has my wife been harmed?”
“No, Captain. Intelligence reports only two injuries among the Maverick crew, both security officers. The command deck was never struck.”
Delano nodded. The seconds passed, his head remained bowed. “She hid our child from me for 17 years.” He drew breath through his nose, lifting his chin. “I tried to open a dialogue and she refused my rights as a father. The Menelaen Empire and the Earth-Intari Alliance exist in a state of cold war. This is the only way.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Maintain continuous scans. Lady Olivia will come and her safety must insured.” Lowering his helmet, the Captain exited the lift. He strode through the line-up of his troops, his red cape striking against their grayness. He stopped six meters from the shuttlecraft framed against the white walls. The gangplank lowered and he gestured with one gray-gloved finger.
Two female security officers responded to his silent command by entering the shuttlecraft.
Commander Bo stood at his side, his cloak replaced with a First Officer’s uniform. Gray like the others, red slashes marked his uniform’s shoulders.
A screech rang through the flight deck and one guard flew out the shuttle hatch head-first. With a crash, the other one tumbled after.
Behind his helmet, Delano’s lips curled. His chest filled with pride. That’s my girl.
“She is her father’s daughter, My Lord,” said Commander Bo. “A warrior.”
Delano gestured again. Four more female security officers trotted forward and up the gangplank. The first two flew out head first. Then, there was an enormous thump and the third security guard slid out on her belly. The fourth followed almost immediately, but she gripped the wild banshee’s arm.
At the bottom of the ramp, Junior landed on her back, but instantly leapt onto her feet and side-kicked her opponent in the head. She darted eyes from side to side. There were Menelaens everywhere! They stood with their pressure rifles at attention. Their helmets with full masks kept her from seeing any emotion on their faces.
Junior’s focus settled on the Captain’s boots and rose up the tremendous height of him to his helmet. Awe dropped her jaw. “You’re humongous.” He stood head and shoulders above the tallest Menelaens. His long, crimson cape flowed over his charcoal gray uniform to his powerful calves. His silver helmet was Viking-like with eyes-and-nose guard. The sides of it curved forward like wings over his face. A sunburst emblazoned his breastplate. “Who the hell are you anyway?”
“Star Captain Edward Delano.”
Feeling a rush of emotions too powerful to process, Junior propped hands upon hips and let it fly the only way she knew how. “How dare you kidnap me? My mother is going to nail your butkis to the wall!”
Though the Captain’s face could hardly be seen, his nose and chin reddened. “Come with me.”
“Blow it out your magna-converters!”
The Star Captain took two steps towards her and reached with his hand.
Junior grabbed his wrist, whipped around and thrust her leg up behind him to sweep him off his feet. His leg didn’t budge. She shoved with all her might, but he might as well have been a skyscraper. He reached down, grabbed her by both upper arms and pinned her against the hull of the shuttle, facing him, legs dangling. She wrapped her leg around one of his arms and yanked with all her strength. Failing that, she kicked fiercely at his chest, growling
No effect. He didn’t even breathe hard. “Are you quite finished?”
“Ahhhhh!!!” Junior kicked even more fiercely, still with no effect. She stopped struggling for a second. He set her down, released, and took one step back.
“Come.”
Junior caught her terror and channeled it back into glowering at him.
The Captain suddenly grabbed her upper arm and dragged her away, leaving no opportunity for escape.
The troops snapped to attention and presented arms as they passed.
Junior noticed a female Menelaen, without masked helmet, and was sure she’d seen her before. “Who’s that lady?” She was dragged around the corner and lost sight of her. “Why…why have you kidnapped me? Did…did you destroy the Maverick?”
“I haven’t kidnapped you,” the Captain stated, still dragging her along. “The
Maverick took minimal damage and only minor injuries. Your mother was not harmed. I would never allow your mother to be harmed.”
“Like hell you wouldn’t!” Junior railed back. “You took me away from her! You’ve inflicted the most pain on her anyone ever could!”
“She took you away from me first!”
“Oh, that’s a really grown-up thing to say!”
A breath lodged in the Captain’s throat. “Do not be frightened. Your mother will soon be with us, as well, and everything will be as it should.”
“I‘m not scared at all, but you should be! Nobody blasts bad guy aliens out of the stars like my mother. Isaiah says sometimes Mom throws the switch on her maternal instinct and she shoots right into hyper drive and the best you can do is get the hell out of the way! There was this time…”
The Captain turned aside to a door and tapped the security panel beside it.
Junior stopped prattling, chest frozen in terror.
The door slid open. He strode in and released her. The door closed.
Junior scanned the expansive room, decorated all in white with silver and gray accents, clear glass tables, a sleek educational computer desk in the far corner. A crystal figurine of a slender bird stood upon a round glass table. “Oh, crackling!” She swooped down and grabbed it up. “I saw something like this in my art appreciation text!” She spun around. “It…” And it flew out of her hand.
The Captain dodged and it smashed into the wall right behind his head.
“Oh! I am so sorry!” Junior’s hands went up to clasp over her mouth. She noticed his brow furrowed in bitter contemplation. She sent hands back to her hips. “Hey! Why should I apologize to you? I’m not the one who kidnapped me!”
“As I said before, I haven’t kidnapped you.“ The Captain removed his helmet. A few gray strands mixed with his straight, light brown hair, pulled back from the front into a leather-bound ponytail. His trim beard gave his strong nose a more distinguished profile than hers. “I’ve brought you home.”
Junior pointed at his face. “You’re human! You‘re…”
“Yes,” said the Captain in deep satisfaction.
“You’re a traitor!”
“I am not!” He slammed his helmet down on a little table which broke into pieces all over the floor with the shattered bird statue.
Junior shook a little. “Geez, you’re almost as clumsy as me.”
&
nbsp; “Did your mother never tell you of your father?”
“Tell me? He raised me! He was with me every day until he died two years ago! And, anyway, it’s none of your blam business!”
The Captain’s face went red and moist. “It’s one thing to hide you from me all these years, but how could she not tell you?” He paced away once.
“Tell me what?”
He faced her. “You are my daughter!”
“And you are a big dope!”
His hands went to his hips too. “Did your mother never teach you how to address your elders?”
“Yes!” Junior pointed at her temple. “But, sometimes things go through my head so fast they don’t snag any brain cells on the way! She says I get that from my father!”
“I’m your father!”
“And I’m Empress Junior, Scourge of the Freakin’ Galaxy!”
Delano pointed at her nose. “Don’t talk to me like that, Young Lady! As long as you live on my starship, you’ll do as I say!”
“I don’t live on your starship! I live on the Maverick and you kidnapped me!”
The door slid open and the Menelaen female walked in with a white dress draped over one arm and white shoes in her hand. She had keen burgundy eyes and smooth black hair. Her burgundy lips were striking against the pale skin of her face.
They looked at her in the same instant, both with hands on hips, and demanded, “What?”
Junior looked him up and down. “Why are you mimicking me?”
“I am not mimicking you. I am your father – you are mimicking me.”
“I am not!”
“Yes, you are!”
“Am not!”
The female Menelaen simply stood there, unperturbed, even serene.
Delano jerked his head back and forth between them. “This is your nanny, Naana.”
“Nanny? You have got to be kidding!”
Delano’s nostrils flared. He grabbed his helmet out of the debris field and lowered it back over his face. He glared at her for a second more, then at Naana.
“Remove all sharp and breakable objects from Lady Rowan’s chambers and remember she’s four years behind Menelaen children in development.”
