by S. W. Gunn
“In order to recognize Jans’ efforts and bravery he is being awards our highest award, the Medal of Honor, and this memorial will be placed in the center square of the main level of the ‘Skybound’. If you may Mr. Thomasson.”
The First Officer stepped forward and read the citation awarding Jans Johansson the Medal of Honor. Johnathan was impressed the solemnness of the moment. He had no doubt that Jans would be smiling down on them.
“Jans Johansson’s valor in battle was impressive but one other crewman stood above all in his ingenuity, technical prowess, and creative thinking in combat. There can be no doubt that without this crewman the defense of the ‘Skybound’ would have never been successful.”
She paused for a moment, which Johnathan guesses was to catch her breath. He wondered who she was talking about.
“Technician Johnathan Fischer step forward.” She announced loudly and firmly.
He was in utter shock. The last thing that he wanted was to have attention drawn to him. The auditorium broke in a soft murmur with many of them searching until they realized where he was and began to look at him. He flushed heavily. Rose gave a light gesture with her hand towards him signifying that he needed to come to the stage. He walked down the row and then moved down the aisle towards the stage. Once he got to the stage he climbed up the steps and walked up next to Rose. She tilted her head hinting that he needed to face towards the crowd which he responded to by turning to face the audience. He felt nervousness begin to build up. He was very unused to being the center of attention.
Rose whispered softly as she moved next to him, “Sorry I had to do it.”
She then activated her watch’s microphone and began to speak, “Even before the aliens attacked Technician Fischer proved to be integral to the defense of the ‘Skybound’. He designed both custom shields and a laser defensive system that eliminated five of the enemy vessels before they could even board us. We estimate the ships that successfully boarded the ‘Skybound’ had slightly over eleven thousand aliens. With the ships that Technician Fischer’s technological advancement eliminated we estimate somewhere around seven thousand more aliens were destroyed. This was before they assaulted us. Technician Fischer had just finished installing the last of his laser defense system on the eco-ship when an alien vessel broke through the lower hangar bay as he was leaving it. His creative thinking allowed him to open the hangar bay while anchoring himself to the control panel which destroyed this vessel and killed over a thousand aliens. While attempting to escape the aliens who survived the hangar bay, Technician Fischer discovered a weakness in their technology which allowed us to eliminate all of the remaining aliens aboard the eco-ship. He fought his way to the bridge in order to bring us this information and then personally executed the action. We honor him with our highest award but if I’m honest with you there is no award that can express the appreciation the crew of the ‘Skybound’ has for Technician Fischer’s efforts. We would not be alive if not for him.”
Rose moved to stand in front of him and as the First Officer read the citation she slipped a light blue silk neck ribbon with a golden star pendant that dangled from the front of it around his neck. She smiled widely at him as she patted his chest where the medal was resting.
Her voice echoed through the auditorium as she said, “As the time honored tradition in the military, all recipients of the Medal of Honor are to be treated as the highest ranking officer wherever they are, it is my privilege to be the first to re-institute that tradition about the ‘Skybound’.”
Rose then saluted Johnathan. He felt silly as he returned her salute.
Stepping aside Rose then said, “Please stand and honor Technician Fischer.”
She began clapping which every person in the auditorium followed her lead and applauded loudly.
Once the applause died down she spoke again, "We believe that processing the technology of these aliens and integrating it for our own uses is going to require someone with a high level of technical skills and advanced creative thinking. From this point forward Technician Fischer is to be promoted to the new position of the Head of the Research and Development Division and will report directly to the First Officer."
She waited again as the auditorium broke out in applause and once they stopped she said, “We have honored the living now we must place a permanent memorial in honor of the dead. Over the next several weeks we will have a monument placed alongside the back wall of this auditorium listing the names of all of those who died during this attack. We must remember them as we move forward.”
She took an unusually long pause before continuing, “In order to move forward I believe that we as a people need to change how we do some things. We have forgotten our roots of our culture and history as human beings. Now, more so than ever with the discovery of alien life, is the time to reconnect with our culture that we have lost touch with. I’m going to institute training programs and cultural events throughout the ‘Skybound’ once we have fully recovered from this attack. We must relearn what it is like to truly be human by relearning about our art, music, history, entertainment, and dance. We have become stagnant as a people and that ends immediately.”
Pausing again she took a deep breath before continuing, “With the loss of over a quarter of our population we need to change how we live. At this point in our journey we do not know how many, if any, other humans even exist outside of this eco-ship. It is our obligation to ensure the continued existence of our kind so effective immediately all birth control measures will be removed from the female members of the population and all female members are expected to rear children as soon as possible.”
She stopped talking and gestured towards a man standing off to the side. He approached her with a small medical scanner.
“As your Commander it is my duty to lead by example. Doctor Kiernan please start with me.”
The doctor brought the scanner to Rose’s arm and ran it for a few moments before declaring, “Your birth control has been deactivated Commander.”
She nodded at him before stating, “Please have the medical team posted at the entrance to the auditorium ensure all female crew have the same treatment.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Rose took a step closer to the audience near the edge of the platform before announcing, “This concludes our meeting. Please head back to your regular duties.”
Turning back to Johnathan she said, “Take me home John we have work to do.”
Thank you!
I’d like to thank the many people who helped to make this book happen. First and foremost I’d like to thank God. Without the inspiration of our maker I could never write so frequently. As always my wife Parneeta who pushes me to keep going with my novels in the hopes that people will love them. My three little ones, Shawn II, Spencer, and Astir who are the center of my universe. I would like to thank 4Steex (a unique online name I know) who did the cover art. And of course lastly but most importantly, you the reader. The hope that you would read and enjoy ‘Skybound’ is the reason I wrote it! Thank you.
About the Author
Born in Muskegon, MI and raised in Concord, CA, S.W. Gunn used his early experience as a roleplaying geek to expand upon his imagination. Unable to purchase the proper Dungeon and Dragons manuals at a young age, he developed his own roleplaying paper and pen game for himself and his friends to play. While living in Hawaii, he completed his Bachelor’s in Art degree in History at Chaminade University of Honolulu.
He is the author of the Heima series, which includes Heima: The Ninth Kostir and Heima: Challenge to the Crown, Acciaccato, and The Almighty Paw. He is married to his lovely wife Parneeta and they have three wonderful children, Shawn (2nd), Spencer, and baby Astir. They live in Tacoma, WA.
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