by Kimber An
“What?” Junior stomped her foot.
“Yes, Captain.” Naana’s voice was soft, but wise.
Delano strode from the room. His cape billowed after him in scarlet.
When the door closed, Junior said, “Geez, does he have a Julius Caesar complex or what?”
“I am unfamiliar with that condition, Milady,” said Naana. This Menelaen was the only one Junior had ever seen without a uniform or masked helmet. She wore a trim dress of burgundy with a wrap-over bodice and simple gold-tone necklace.
“Hi, I’m Junior.”
The Menelaen nanny bowed at the neck. “Lord Delano has instructed the crew to address Your Ladyship by your title and true name.”
“Oh, uh, I…” Junior bunched up her chin. “Actually, I really don’t like being called Genevieve, but you can call me Gennie if you want.”
“His Lordship has instructed us to address you as ‘Lady Rowan.’”
“Whatever. Everyone calls me something different.” Junior searched her memories. “It seems like we’ve met before.”
“According to my faith, some are destined to impact the lives of others. We become aware of one another without conscious thought.”
“’Kindred spirits’ is what my family calls them.”
“Kindred spirits.” Naana pondered. “Yes.” She held up the dress. “Does this please Your Ladyship?”
“Uh…
Naana took her utterance as an affirmative and proceeded to the dressing chamber.
Junior tucked her lower lip under top teeth. A few puffs of air found their way out of her nose, shaking her chest a little, and she muttered, “Well, if he wants to play daddy…” She left off speaking as inspiration swept over her face and curled her lips into a trickster grin. “Oh, yeah…this is going to be fun.”
Chapter 6
Olivia gripped the back of her desk chair and leaned hard, focused on the stars without really seeing. She’d known this day would come. The day Isaiah informed her Junior’s ADHD was incurable, coupled with all she knew about her ex-husband, she’d known this day would come. There was no debate. Instinct forbade it. However, she could not allow her crew to risk their lives and destroy their careers along with her. She straightened and strode for the Bridge.
The door slid open and Captain Olivia O’Keefe proceeded to her command chair, but she did not take it when Commander Owada relinquished. “Commander, ready a shuttlecraft. I’m going after my daughter.”
“Captain…”
“Your orders are to hold this position for a week. Junior will return, but if I don’t you can assume I died sending her back.” Olivia held up the data-disk. “My resignation from the United Fleet, effective upon my departure.”
“Olivia…” Isaiah emerged from the lift “…we’re not going to let you do this by yourself.” Obviously, he had figured out her intentions. He always did.
Jose stepped onto the Bridge, as well, and proceeded to the engineering console to left of tactical.
Olivia continued her stiff address. “Captain Delano’s ship is three days from the De-Militarized Zone, a violation of which is considered an act of war under the Nebo Armistice. Admiral Jackson would never grant authorization to cross the DMZ. I will not place the lives or careers of anyone else at risk.”
“Well, I think that’s pretty damn selfish of you, Olivia!” Isaiah took one long step, grabbed the disk, and crushed it. “Junior is just as much ours as yours!” One hand waved over the crew. “Why do you think this crew has stayed on two decades when there‘s no chance in hell we‘ll ever get promoted? It’s ‘cause we’re a family, dammit!”
Olivia listened, her eyes moist.
“Captain,” said Sachi. She’d turned down command of her own ship twice. “As your First Officer, I must inform you that if you attempt to leave this ship and crew behind, there will be a mutiny. Should we survive the conflict to come, we will all sit before a court martial.”
“Captain,” said Mr. Ashley from the communications console. “We’re Deep Space Fleet. We take care of our own because we’re all we’ve got. If it was my little Elijah who’d been abducted, I know you’d find a way to rescue him.”
“Admiral Jackson will have our heads on a platter.” Olivia propped her hands on her hips and glared at them all.
“To hell with Jackson,” Jose said under his breath.
Sachi spoke again. “Captain, we don’t have time to request Admiral Jackson’s permission in any case. If we don’t retrieve Junior before Captain Delano takes her across the DMZ, we never will.”
Olivia held her gaze without blinking.
“Pursuit course laid in, Captain,” said Lieutenant Mir from the helm. “Awaiting your order to get underway.”
Olivia nodded slowly. “What’s left of our engines, Mr. Fernandez?”
“I can give you Mark Two, Captain. If we need more, I’ll get out and push.”
“Understood. Mark Two, Mr. Mir.”
“Aye, Captain, Mark Two.”
On the forward screen, the stars against the black void of space flashed white when the hyperdrive engaged.
Olivia turned and sat down. Drawing breath and releasing it, she reached over and tapped a blue light on her armrest. “This is the Captain to all hands. The Maverick is on course to the De-Militarized Zone to retrieve Junior. If there are any objections, they will be noted and logged. Captain out.” She faced her First Officer assuming tactical. “Sachi, order a meeting of the senior staff. The Maverick is an antique held together with bailing wire and spit, but we have to rescue Junior off one of three top-of-the-line Menelaen battle cruisers. We should expect the disabled one to be back at peak operations by the time we catch up.”
“Yes, Captain.” Sachi ran her fingers over the bright lights of the tactical station. “We can also expect Junior to sabotage the Mydis. I know it didn’t seem like it, but she was listening during security training.”
Isaiah stood by his honorary daughter and folded his hands behind his back.
“You should all be hanged.”
He chuckled deeply, but didn’t let it spill. He was back to his reverent self.
“Do you think she’s all right?”
“You don’t really think Edward would hurt her?” Isaiah raised one brow.
Olivia shook her head slowly. “No. Even after everything we’ve been through, I know he could never harm his own daughter.”
“Yeah, but she sure can do him a lot of damage!” Deep chuckle.
In his dining room, Delano stood in contained fury. “What do you mean she’s not coming to dinner?”
Naana spoke. “Her exact words were ‘sometimes little girls drive their parents out of their stark, raving minds.’”
Delano said nothing, but swept away from the table, red cape flowing. He lowered his helmet back onto his head. He liked wearing his helmet all the time, even when not in battle.
Scared the living daylights out of people.
Captain Delano emerged from a lift a minute later, followed by Naana, and strode towards his daughter’s door. He pressed the door chime. “Rowan, open the door and come out.”
No response.
Delano pulled off a small panel and pushed the buttons behind it. “Computer, open this door.” He walked in, noticed a potted plant smashed all over the floor and the two wide lines of the guard’s heels dragged through the soil.
The trail led into Junior’s bedchamber.
Rape! Delano whipped out his sword and charged the door, smashing the lock with his boot.
The door slid open. The guard lay bound and gagged on the floor, trembling in terror, and wearing nothing but his underpants. Soil shook loose from his hair. He pointed to the ceiling with one free finger.
Looking up, Delano saw the vent panel hanging open and groaned. I escaped summer camp the exact same way. Sheathing his sword, he strode for the corridor. It had not occurred to him before that other members of his gender might see his daughter as a woman. Thank God the guard never g
ot a chance. “Naana, only female Kaiya Rangers serve and protect my daughter from now on. Inform the male members of the crew I will kill any one of them goes near her or attempts to initiate the Courtship Rites.”
“My Lord,” said Naana, the tone of her voice stopped him in the doorway. “Under Menelaen law, Lady Rowan is an adult. The Right of Protection would not apply, unless she requested your assistance.”
Delano let his anger increase his chest size and heat his eyes.
“Yes, My Lord.” Naana bowed and withdrew.
The poor guard was left to suffer in humiliation where he was. He whimpered and lowered his head back to the floor.
Within the first 15 minutes head-start, Junior crawled through the ventilation shaft above the main computer core and found an interface. After taking five minutes to memorize the ship‘s specifications, she sabotaged internal sensors.
At the end of the first half-hour, she popped a conduit hatch into the medical bay. Standing, she straightened the gray uniform she’d taken from the guard in an effort to blend in with the Menelaens. She’d gotten the idea from an old Robin Hood holographic novel.
As expected, there were no conscious Menelaens in the medical bay. The android doctors stood inactive and the one patient slept.
Junior came close and peered into the patient’s face. His features were fine and purple strands lit up his black hair. So far, she had seen three unmasked Menelaens, all with slender builds, her height or shorter. This one had dark chocolate skin like Isaiah, but eyelids like Sachi. She wondered if his eyes were purple, because Naana’s eyes were burgundy like the highlights in her black hair. The two males both wore their hair about shoulder-length. This one‘s hair was kept in a neat ponytail. He had tan spots on the outsides of his hands. She wondered if they were tattoos or freckles.
Junior spied a medical scanner and rushed to it. “Medical computer?”
“Please provide instructions.” The Medical Computer said in a male voice.
“All right, Medical Computer. Please, scan my DNA.”
A blue light flashed over her from head to toe. “Scanning. Refer to section Auch-nichilin.”
“Thanks.” Junior watched the double-helix snake across the screen in bright pink. “Isolate paternal DNA and identify.”
“Contributor of paternal DNA is Captain Edward Delano.”
Junior lip snarled. “Oh, I cannot believe my mother…knotted…with that…that intergalactic megalomaniac!” She could just puke. Throwing up her hands instead, she backed away. “Okay, that is not an image I want in my head right now.” Besides, as a Captain’s brat, she knew how easily a computer could be tampered with. “All righty then, computer, transfer my paternal DNA code to the main computer and show me all command codes authorized by it.”
“Working. Please refer to security grid.”
Three codes appeared on the wall panel. Junior studied them. “Not much, but they’ll have to do.”
“I have alerted Captain Delano to your presence. Security officers arrive soon. Please cooperate.”
“Stella never tattled.” Junior crawled back into the vent.
On the command deck, Captain Delano paced between his chair and the internal security monitor.
“My Lord, the ship is venting ionized gas!” The pilot glanced over his shoulder.
The forward screen showed the Mydis with clouds pouring out of its nacelles.
“Shut it down!”
The pilot didn’t have the opportunity. Suddenly, the great ship lurched and everyone, including Delano, flew across the bridge.
“Gravity plating is being tampered with! Inertial dampers…”
A girlish voice broke over ship wide communications and filled her father’s bright red ears. “Junior is bad! Junior is very, very bad! Bad Junior! Bad, bad, bad!” Evil scientist laughter. “Ooooh, but Junior soooo good at it!”
Whipping back his red cape, Delano strode into the lift while his daughter’s taunts continued and clouds of water vapor poured out of every crack, filling the command deck with white puffs.
“Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day. The Captain’s brat wants to play…”
Junior slid into the mess hall, behind the counter, and peeked at the confused Menelaens talking between themselves and trying to wave the clouds of mist away. She grabbed something like roast chicken and wolfed it down. “Can‘t storm the castle on an empty stomach!” Then, she reached for a large bowl of orange goo among the assorted foods ready to be served. “Oh, how I love goo of any kind!” Grabbing the bowl with both hands, she burst out of the galley, shouting, “Food fight!” The goo waved through the air and splashed over the dozen Menelaens who were too shocked to react.
Junior slid right through two who dove after her, causing them to smash into each other. The previously dignified Menelaens slipped around in the goo, grabbed each other for balance, and fell with little cries.
Junior raced out of the Mess Hall, pealing with laughter, as Captain Delano rounded a corner. She saw him and slammed right into the wall. She didn't have time for the pain. She galloped away.
With all the sirens blaring and clouds billowing, Junior found a dark spot in a cargo bay to hide, squished in between containers. She didn’t like the sirens. They rattled her spine. And she didn’t like hiding. Too much sitting still and being quiet. She heard troops charging to guard the door she’d just locked. That didn’t trouble her so much as the itchiness crawling up her neck. She dug fingernails into her cheek and scratched. “What a time to get a rash.”
The communications system crackled back to life. “Lady Rowan,” said Delano’s deep voice. “The cargo bay is surrounded on all sides. If you resist, my crew have permission to stun you.”
Junior busted up in little sputters of chuckles. “Geez, he cracks me up.” She crawled out of her hiding place and took inventory. “Crossbolts, baric terminators, velocity markers…” She stopped at a large crate; a crate larger than the shuttlecraft she’d flown. She peered in the breathing holes. “Ho, ho, yeah, if only I’d been around a couple of decades ago the humans would’ve won the war.”
Delano waited in the corridor with his troops, ready to stun her if necessary. As commander of a battle group, he hadn’t anticipated the need for a tiger trap. “Rowan, we’re going to blast the door. Stand clear!”
“Yyyou’lllll bee sorrrrrry!” Her voice squeezed out to him.
The blast disintegrated the door. Smoke and sparks billowed and flew. “Shriiiieeeeek!” Out flew thousands of tiny Borilliam Swamp-Bats, diving and darting, irate at awakening from hibernation a month early.
The Menelaens screamed and flailed at the stinging assault.
Delano stepped back through another door and closed it before the bats could swarm over him. In memory, he could hear his mother cursing, ‘Someday you’re going to have a kid just like you!’ He rubbed his throbbing head.
“Wee-ha-ha!” Junior’s unceasing laughter filled the ship over com.
Delano opened a different door into the intersecting corridor. He came to a vent and ripped it off so that it crashed into the wall behind him.
Junior’s laughter continued to rattle his spine and he heard her stomping against the walls of the conduit too.
Standing to full height, he pointed at the small vent. “Bring her out!”
Two female guards quickly crawled in. Seconds later, they backed out, pulling the girl between them.
Junior fell to the floor laughing hysterically, but she was gasping and holding her sides too.
Delano grabbed her and penned her against the hull.
The laughter squeaked out and her red face was covered in hives. She suddenly went pale and clammy, her breathing a squeak and the laughter gone. Her hysterics and some other mysterious malady, was robbing her of the ability to breathe. Her head slumped over, her body went limp, and her lips turned blue.
Panic shot through Delano and he cradled his little girl in one arm. Instincts and adrenaline took over. Lowering
her to the floor, he ripped a small panel from the wall. A medical kit fell out and grabbed the oxygen mask. He shoved off his helmet with his forearm and the mask onto her face in one swift movement. “Breathe!”
Memory of himself nearly dying after a raging fit.
With the coming of unconsciousness, the automatic reflex to breathe kickedin. Junior’s muscles loosened and she drew breath.
Delano kept the mask over her face and stood, cradling her in his arms. He looked down into her face, now resting against his dark gray uniform. “You’ve suffered enough.”
Junior’s red corkscrew curls spilled over her freckled forehead and ruddy cheeks. Her little nose glowed red again.
You will never go through the hell I did, I swear it. Delano kept his face turned away from his subordinates so they couldn’t see him tremble. He ran with his baby down the corridor.
Delano burst into the medical bay and carefully laid his daughter on a bed. “Computer, activate physician!” He grabbed the nearest android and hurled it towards the medical bed. “She has Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and she’s having an allergic reaction to something!”
The android fitted her with a new oxygen mask and scanned her.
Delano strode over and hovered around its shoulder. “She just had a hysterical fainting spell. You should check the chemical levels in her brain.”
“Pardon, My Lord.” The Physician bumped his elbow trying to work. “Yes, I see there is a chemical imbalance in her frontal lobe which inhibits her ability to control emotion and…”
Delano smoothed hand over forehead and down cheek. “Don’t medicate her. She’s going to master it on her own. Neutralize all medications in her bloodstream.”
“Yes, My Lord. I have detected an allergic reaction to monolaetomine.”
Delano stopped. “Monolaetomine…she’s allergic to seafood, just like me. Damn!” He slammed his palm against the wall. “I had that as a kid too. Synthesize Ickmachazine to counteract it.”
“Yes, Captain.” The Physician and his female-looking aide proceeded with treatment.
