Of Hearts And Stars (Classic Editon) (The Cadet Starship Chronicles)

by West, Edward

  After the twentieth year of the war, both imperial and rebel forces had suffered massive casualties. However the rebel forces had an extreme advantage in manpower, so their ranks were always bolstered with new recruits. In contrast the imperial forces had more ships than they had crews to man them. In short they were on the verge of defeat and talks of surrendering surfaced. On April 23rd 20XX Emperor Julius Antica signed into action an emergency act that would permit military academies to dispatch crews of exceptional students on low to medium risk missions. The goal of this act was to delegate lesser priority missions to said exceptional students, who would serve in a reserve capacity, while freeing up actual active military crews to accomplish missions of a higher risk and priority. Also it would further prepare academy students for enlistment into the military. The act mentioned no exact age requirement, but parental consent was mandatory. For accomplishing a mission, the participating students are paid the equivalent to an O1, modeled after the United States Navy, based on a percentage decided by their performance and time spent during a mission. Payment is limited to a per mission basis, with the actual amount rewarded after taxes, deductions, and any penalties.

  “So you see, we are those exceptional students!” Swift said dramatically as he tossed his folder onto the podium and asked “Any questions?”

  Felix raised his hand.

  “Felix.” Swift said.

  “That wasn't very brief at all.” Felix commented.

  “That ain't no question.” Swift corrected him.

  Jay raised his hand.

  “Jayzilla, go!”

  “Word. It was actually kinda longish.” Jay pointed out.

  “Okay dude, that's not even a word.” Swift said as he put his face into his palm.

  “Longinus? Longinor, Lon-ge-vi-ty...” This last word Jay chose to stretch out.

  “Right. If there are no further questions, let's get right to the briefing.”

  Felix raised a hand and Swift shot him a murderous glance.

  “Felix.” he growled.

  “Can we call it the longin' instead of the briefin'? It just feels so much more accurate.”

  Jay and Felix bumped fists.

  “Really Felix?” Swift asked.

  Later that week Felix would arrive in his room to find his stuff missing. After much freaking out he would soon discover his possessions stuck to the ceiling by a makeshift gravity distortion device. It would take him two hours and the aid of three super computers to figure out the algorithm for the password lock and safely return his things to the ground.

  “An imperial ship in the outer orbit of Mars is sending out a distress signal.” Swift said as a map of the galaxy appeared on the view screen behind him “It's relatively close and within The Empire's territory, so we've been assigned this mission. We are to go assess the situation and lend what aid we can.”

  The crew of LaCroix then changed into their shift suits, which are specially designed uniforms fit for a variety of climates and activities, and boarded LaCroix. Zhao and Cookie went to the engine room, Jay and Felix to the Combat Information Center, and Revy to the weapons and navigation console. Meanwhile Allie was going over charts and maps with Swift on the bridge. Everyone had something to do. Everyone except Gin.

  “Captain-” Gin tried to get Swift's attention.

  Swift turned and corrected Gin “Swift.”

  “Swift, what do I do?” Gin asked.

  “Gin, I'm so sleepy.” was Swift's reply.

  “Should I get you some coffee?”

  “No. I did not rescue you from mediocrity only to bring you onto the battlefield to serve as my secretary. That is redonk.”

  “Not all secretaries get coffee, nor are all those who get coffee, secretaries.” Allie chimed in.

  “That may be so, but he'll be working with Revy today.” Swift said.

  “What about your sleepiness?” Gin asked.

  “It is taken care of. LC! Ready the beans!” Swift said, pointing his finger straight ahead.

  “Java upload!” LC's voice said over the loudspeaker.

  “Magical.” Swift said in approval.

  Just then a buzzer sounded “Java has crashed.” LC said in a sympathetic tone “Program aborted.”

  “Dang!” Swift exclaimed, wondering if LC was Windows based, and briefly considered changing her operating system.

  “Just kidding!” LC replied and set about making Swift's coffee.

  On the way to Mars Gin learned the basics of navigation and weapons management while receiving “pro tips” from Swift. Once they were in range, Swift gave the order to open communications.

  “This is ESC-1 LaCroix. What is your situation?” Swift stood at attention and addressed a man on the view screen who appeared to be in his mid thirties.

  This man gave him a doubtful look “May I ask who I am speaking to?” he inquired.

  “I am Captain Leoric Swift.”

  The man gave him an obvious frown of disapproval “You look young. Very young.”

  In actuality Swift was 1X.

  “I am a specialist despite my youth. I can assure you that my crew and I are properly trained and fully capable of lending aid to you in a wide variety of tasks.”

  “Tasks huh?” The man asked.

  “Tasks, yes.” Swift confirmed.

  “We've suffered causalities to our propulsion system. If you can send over your engineers, we'll brief them when they get here.”

  “How did you sustain those casualties?”

  “That's on a need to know basis, and all you need to know is that our engines are down.”

  “I need to know if it was equipment failure or the result of an attack. There may still be enemy forces in the area.”

  “Look, kid, if there were enemy forces in the area you'd be in a world of trouble. Why don't you leave the fighting up to the adults and send your engineers over?”

  “Right. They're on their way.” Swift said and added “Jackass.”

  “Wha-”

  “LC end communications.”

  Swift found himself irritated by those who did not take him seriously. He was also confident that he would not be in the position he is today if he and his crew could not carry-out their missions.

  “What a clown.” Swift said with disgust.

  “Everybody loves a clown.” Revy quipped.

  “Not me.” Gin shuddered “Clowns are wicked creepy.” he said.

  Allie crossed her arms and frowned slightly “Something about his attitude seemed strange.”

  Swift crossed his own arms and said “He's a jackass, nothing strange about that.”

  “Yes, but he seemed like he was hiding something.” Allie explained.

  Swift put his hand to his chin and looked up, as if thinking “True.” he agreed and added “Revy, run a scan on their ship for anything out of the ordinary. Also see if you and LC can access their ship's diagnostics. Allie, in the meantime have Jay transfer Zhao and Cookie over to have a look at their engines.”

  -35-

  Upon arrival Zhao and Cookie exchanged skeptical glances. The man who had spoken with Swift was waiting in the teleporter room with a sneer on his face.

  “That captain of yours needs to learn his place.” He said.

  “Oh?” Zhao asked in a casual tone of voice “What is his place?”

  “You're a wise guy too eh?” The man asked.

  “I am pretty wise if I do say so myself.” Zhao noted.

  “Keep it up...” The man threatened.

  “Pardon” Cookie broke into the conversation “What did you say your name was sir?”

  “I am Steven Daschair, captain of this ship.”

  “Are you new?” Cookie asked, tilting his head to the side.

  “You've got some nerve boy!” The man said in a raised voice.

  “I'm sorry. Honestly am. It's just that as far as I know there isn't a captain in the Imperial Space Fleet by your name, so I figured that you were new.”

  Daschair waved
a hand and said “You don't know the name of every captain in The Empire.”

  “But I do. I actually keep a list of active and past Space Fleet captains on my smartphone.” Cookie said, and it should be noted here that Finnegan Cooke never fails a test.

  “Apparently you don't, because I am a captain. If you must know, I just transferred in.” Daschair explained.

  “Ah! So that's it!” Zhao exclaimed with a chuckle “Let me guess, you were in the Fifth Fleet?”

  “Wah!” Daschair exclaimed and asked “How did you know?”

  “Because there is no Fifth Fleet! The numbering skips directly from Fourth to Sixth and then on!” Zhao declared with a big smile on his face. In mid 20XX the Fifth Imperial Space Fleet was absorbed into the Sixth Fleet due to budget cuts.

  Daschair said nothing. He just stood there in silence with his eye twitching and a look of extreme unease on his face.

  “Nice.” Cookie said and high-fived Zhao.

  “Let's get out of here Cookie, he's probably just a department head or something lame.” Zhao said.

  They both shouldered past Daschair and left the teleporter room. As they made their way down the corridor towards the engine room, Cookie and Zhao talked about Daschair.

  “He wasn't wearing his uniform right, and he's sposed to be a captain?” Cookie asked.

  “Maybe he's a scumbag?” Zhao suggested.

  “His medals and ribbons were on the wrong side.”

  “Extreme shitbag?”

  “You know, rebel officers wear their medals and ribbons on that side...”

  They exchanged skeptical looks once more and stepped into the engine room.

  Back on LaCroix, Revy had just finished the scan and reported the results to Swift “I found a couple of strange readings after the scan Swift.” she said.

  Revy had been quick and thorough in her work as usual, and now Swift leaned over her shoulder to look at the results from the scan.

  “Wow. They have quite a few extra bodies on board, not including Zhao and Cookie. Also, what is that?” Swift asked, pointing to the hangar bay.

  “Mmm, I was wondering whether or not you'd notice that.” Revy said in a teasing manner “It's strange given that it's a destroyer class ship. Perhaps there was some sort of emergency that required them to take on extra cargo.”

  “It's pretty huge. The shape of it looks kinda familiar too. Allie, what do you think?” Swift asked as he rubbed the nonexistent stubble on his chin.

  “An emergency might explain the surplus in personnel as well as the mysteriously large and curiously shaped cargo. However it doesn't account for the man you spoke with earlier. I still think he's hiding something. What was his name again?”

  “It's...I didn't ask. I should have, but I forgot to with all of the irritation he was emitting. LC, send them a comm request.”

  A buzzer sounded and LC said “Their ship appears to be blocking all incoming signals.”

  “Oh man.” Swift said while putting his face into his palm “Why can't we ever just have an easy day?”

  Zhao pulled a lever, while Cookie adjusted a knob. They both toggled a few switches each. Finally Zhao pressed the ignite button and the engines roared back to life.

  Zhao began to double check the system “Say Cookie.” he said.

  “Yeah Zhao?” Cookie asked as he came over to help.

  “Did you notice any faults? Anything wrong at all?”

  “Now that you mention it, there was one.”

  “Really? What was it? I can't believe I missed it entirely...”

  “An I/o fault.” Cookie gave Zhao a sly grin and Zhao chuckled.

  “Doesn't seem like the kind of mistake professional engineers would make and require our assistance for. I mean, all they had to do was turn it back on. Let's check in with Swift and get outta here.”

  Zhao pressed the button on his comlink, which vibrated three short times. This meant that it was either inoperable or could not find a signal. Zhao frowned and whispered to Cookie in a voice that was barely audible “Seems like our comms are being blocked.”

  Cookie nodded in agreement and mouthed the words “It's a trap.”

  Zhao calmly summoned his weapon, a phase multi-tool able to shift it's shape and capabilities to perform a wide array of utilities, and when Cookie was ready they both turned around as if nothing were up. However three rebel soldiers now stood between them and the exit.

  “Hey! We fixed your ship! Good as new!” Zhao exclaimed.

  “Better than that, it's mint! Money! So we'll just be on our way...” Cookie chipped in and attempted to walk past the soldiers. One put a hand out and pushed him back rather roughly.

  “You two are coming with us to the brig.” the pushy soldier said in a hostile tone of voice.

  “Oh! But how would three fine sirs like yourselves wind up in the brig?” Zhao asked, feigning stupidity for the heck of it.

  “It's you two that are going to the brig punk.” The pushy soldier was having none of Zhao's sass.

  “And just what are the charges might I ask?” Cookie dropped in.

  “Charges? Are you too dumb to realize when you're being taken hostage?” The pushy soldier asked him impatiently.

  “Oh! Cookie the jig is up!” Zhao cried to his fellow engineer.

  Cookie shrugged and said “They weren't playing our song anyway.”

  The pushy soldier was the first to step forward and try to apprehend Zhao. He was promptly maced and began shrieking. As tears streamed down past the soldier's snotty nose, Zhao moved in and tased another who fell to the deck sputtering and convulsing. The third, not so big actually, Cookie kicked in the side of the shin and the soldier reflexively reached down to rub his leg. For his troubles he received a hefty punch to the face, sending him to join his cohorts on the deck.

  “Nice!” Zhao patted Cookie on the shoulder.

  “You too. That thing really is amazing!” Cookie said, pointing to the phase multi-tool.

  “It's just a ball point pen really.” Zhao mused, which was partially true, because after the struggle he had shifted it's utility once more.

  Zhao went to the door and glanced into the hallway as Cookie secured the soldiers. He immediately pulled his head back inside after only a glimpse.

  “They're coming!” He warned.

  “How many?” Cookie asked, getting ready for another fight.

  “Looks like all of them.”

  “Well dang.” Cookie put his hands down.

  Within seconds the rest of the soldiers rushed into the engine room and pointed their laser rifles at the boys. Zhao leaned in a cool pose against an equipment console, while Cookie had simply pulled out a Snickers. When Daschair had finished elbowing his way to the front of the soldiers, he stood victoriously in front of them with his arms crossed. Zhao took this opportunity to stand up and report the “success” of their work.

  “We fixed your engines!” He said cheerfully.

  Daschair strode forward and hissed at him to “Shut up.”

  “Turns out someone just powered them down.” Zhao continued as if oblivious to the situation at hand.

  “I said shut up!” Daschair screamed in Zhao's face.

  Meanwhile back on LaCroix, LC notified Swift of an incoming communications request.

  Swift rose from his seat and said “Put them through.”

  Daschair appeared on the main screen and Swift greeted him with a look of mock surprise.

  “Cut the crap kid. You know what this is.” Daschair barked at him. Swift's facial expression shifted to a poker face.

  “You're a terrorist.” Swift declared without blinking.

  Now it was Daschair's turn to feign surprise.

  “Terrorist is such a harsh word.” Daschair wagged a gloved finger and added “I consider myself a freedom fighter. What of your mighty empire though? Sending children to fight adults' battles.”

  Gin saw that weary but penetrating quality enter into the eyes of Swift as he stared down the re
bel captain.

  “When it comes to the hearts of men, age does not matter. Return my crew members, or I swear to the very stars that surround us that you will die in obscurity!”

  A sour smirk swelled on Daschair's face as Swift spoke “How precious!” he cried and asked “Do you really think that you could take a life when the time comes? Are you that naive?”

  Swift made no reply, but kept his eyes locked on Daschair's.

  “This is war!” Daschair roared at Swift as rebel soldiers brought Zhao and Cookie into view “And if I were to kill your little friends, would you kill me in retaliation? Kill my entire crew? That wouldn't bring these two back. They would be dead because of your poor decisions. At that point you can either blame yourself or God; it really doesn't matter to me.”

  Swift rethought his position and considered his options. Whoever this man was, he was serious. To make matters worse he had Zhao and Cookie hostage. To attack the rebels would put his friends lives at risk, but to wait might also be dangerous. What if these rebels just decided to leave before reinforcements showed up? Swift didn't care to picture his friends winding up inside of some interment camp on Pluto.

  “How about a trade?” Swift said with no change in tone or expression. Despite the age gap between the two, Swift addressed him with just as much authority if not more.

  “Oh? And just what could you offer me?” Daschair chided.

  “I'll take the place of my crew members. I'd make a better bargaining chip.” Swift knew it was completely wrong to negotiate with terrorists, but at this point he had to make a move and this was it.

  “And if I refuse?”

  “I will kill you all. I may not be old enough to take a life in your opinion, but my ship certainly is.”

  Just then a rebel soldier approached Daschair and whispered something into his ear “Hahaha.” Daschair laughed and said “Nicely put. I'll send your two little pals over when you begin the transfer.”

  “Deal.” Swift said and ended the transmission.

  As soon as the transmission was over, Allie said “I don't like this. It completely breaks protocol and puts your life at risk.”