“There is no intelligent life on Saffair and very little animal life. But there is a great deal of limestone in the crust of the planet. Chemical reactions with the limestone allow Saffair to have a breathable atmosphere, even though it only has half the gravity of Earth.”
Pantano smiled. “But this isn’t a scientific expedition. We’re going to Saffair to play a game and learn something about combat, teamwork, and survival. The game you’ll be playing is an ancient one called Capture the Flag.
“Our version involves no weapons, but it includes comm badges and a device called the coup meter. That’s the thing on your chest. Coup is the French word for ‘hit.’ The idea comes from the Native American belief that it requires more bravery to touch an opponent in battle, and leave him alive, than to fight to the death.
“When an opponent touches your coup meter, you are automatically transported back to the ship. You are considered captured, and you’re out of the game. The purpose of the game is to capture the other team’s flag, which must be displayed in plain sight. It’s that simple.”
She continued; “Four teams will be chosen of eight cadets each. The playing field is two square kilometers. That sounds like a lot, but the game can cover great distances because of the low gravity. In the morning we’ll beam each team up to the ship for final instructions and then down to an opposite corner of the playing field, where they will plant their flag.”
Lieutenant Pantano touched her comm badge. “Teams can talk to each other over a secured channel on their comm badges. But your comm badges have limited range. If your try to hail a teammate and don’t reach him, he’s probably been captured and returned to the ship. Comm badges are the only technology you’ll have.
“Today we’ll just set up camp and get used to the gravity. Tomorrow there will be two elimination games. The next day the two winners from the first day will play for the championship. The two losing teams will play for third place.”
Pantano smiled. “Now, if my four captains will come forward, we’ll choose our teams.”
Geordi felt embarrassed as he rose to his feet and walked down to the podium. Who was he to be captain of one of the teams? All he had done was show a little common sense when the fake attack started. Maybe, he hoped, there was a place in Starfleet for a cadet with common sense.
He took his place beside the other captains, trying not to look at Jack Pettey. At least, thought Geordi, I won’t have to worry about being chosen last.
“When you are chosen, come down and stand behind your captain,” said Pantano. “Mr. La Forge, you make the first choice.”
That didn’t require a lot of thinking. “T’Lara,” he said, pointing to the slim Vulcan cadet. Pettey glared at him, and Geordi tried to ignore the big cadet.
The other captains, Pettey, Swan, and Takama, made their first choices. They were predictable choices—the biggest and strongest cadets in the class. Now Geordi had to make his second choice, and he was stumped. Did he want the biggest and strongest, the ones who were always chosen first?
Geordi smiled and pointed to the little Neo-pygmy. “Kareem.”
Everyone, especially Kareem, was surprised. Jack Pettey snickered, but Kareem stuck his chest out and proudly joined his captain.
The others made their choices and looked expectantly at Geordi. He didn’t let them down. “Megan Craycroft,” he said, pointing to the delicate albino cadet.
Now everyone knew what Geordi was doing, and they weren’t surprised when he pointed to the chubby Tellarite as his next choice. And they weren’t surprised when he picked the small, purplish Saurian.
Geordi smiled at this team as they assembled behind him, and they smiled back. Maybe we won’t win, he thought, but at least we were hand-picked.
When it came time for his last two choices, Geordi was relieved to see that Jenna and Altos were still available. He snapped them up. Even with the stocky dark-haired woman and the tall Andorian, his team was funny-looking compared to the others. But it was a happy team.
Emma Pantano looked from one team to the other, and a smile crept over her face when she saw Geordi’s team. “Now, Mr. La Forge, you need to choose the color of your team,” she said. “Your choices are Red, Blue, Green, and Gold.”
“Green,” answered Geordi. He didn’t know what it looked like to others, but it was his favorite color.
Pantano nodded and took a small instrument from her pocket. She adjusted the instrument and touched it to the coup meter on Geordi’s chest.
At once his shirt turned forest green.
All the cadets watched with amazement as she did the same thing to every member of the Green team. Their skins may have been many different colors, but their tunics and coup meters were all the same. They were a team.
Cadet Swan chose Red for her team, and their shirts were transformed into a deep scarlet. Takama chose Blue, and their shirts became ocean blue. Pettey was left with Gold for his team, but he seemed happy with the color. With his blond hair and gold tunic, he looked like some kind of ancient warrior.
“You are now teams,” said Lieutenant Pantano. “You will camp together, eat together, and plan your strategy together. I won’t forbid you to talk to members of the other teams, but I suggestyou don’t. For the next three days they are the enemy.”
She tapped her comm badge. “Pantano to McKersie. We’re ready when you are.”
“Fine,” answered the captain. “We’ve been in orbit for about ten minutes, and the equipment and helpers are already down there. Send your first team to the transporter room. McKersie, out.”
Pantano turned to her students and added, “One more thing. You can jump twice as high on Saffair, but you still have to come down to the ground. Don’t go too crazy, or you’ll end up with a broken leg or ankle. Green team, report to the transporter room.”
Geordi nodded and glanced at his ragtag outfit. Kareem and the Saurian were about the size of little kids. The Tellarite was a blimp, and most of the others were beanpoles. But they were his chosen team.
“Come on,” said Geordi, “let’s show them.”
CHAPTER
5
Geordi took his first step on Saffair without remembering the difference in gravity. He bounded a meter into the air, landed off balance, and promptly fell down. Jenna bounced behind him and lifted him up with ease.
“Come on, Captain”—she grinned—“you shouldn’t look goofier than the rest of us.”
But everyone looked goofy for the first few minutes as they bounced around like children in a playpen. The Tellarite, who had never been a lightweight before, was having the most fun. “Look at me!” he called, taking a leap and sailing through the air.
“Careful!” Geordi warned them. “Remember what the lieutenant said about coming down. I don’t want to start out shorthanded.”
“Yes, sir!” said Kareem, who promptly did a high flip and landed on his feet. “See—no problem! Oh, I wish we could play basketball here—l could dunk one!”
Geordi laughed and shook his head. Well, he couldn’t blame them for having fun. They were almost like a troupe of acrobats—leaping and flying all over the place. Altos, the tall Andorian, was the only one having trouble keeping his balance.
Hmmm, thought Geordi, by accident he might have done something very smart. On Saffair, it might be better to have a team that’s small and light, instead of big and clumsy.
Geordi took some time to study their surroundings. This part of Saffair was a vast plain, with large, weird limestone formations. The limestone gave the soil and rocks a green, chalky appearance. There were no trees, just a few scraggly bushes. But, he decided, you could hide an army behind some of those big boulders and arches.
“Geordi!” called a voice. He looked over to see T’Lara standing on top of a large boulder, almost a hundred meters away. She jumped off the boulder and ran toward him with long, leaping strides. She covered the hundred meters in a matter of seconds.
“Wow!” said Geordi. “That’s incred
ible.”
“Not really,” said the Vulcan. “Perfectly normal, given the relative gravity. Be careful when jumping onto the limestone—it crumbles easily.” She pointed toward the boulder. “I believe I saw our camping equipment over there.”
“Let’s go,” said Geordi.
Without planning it, the trip to the boulder became a race. To Geordi’s surprise, the albino cadet, Megan, beat all of them. T’Lara ran a close second.
“I have to get in the shade,” explained Megan. “I can’t stay out too long in this sun.”
Atop the pile of equipment was an older cadet. He was fast asleep.
“Excuse me,” said Geordi. “Are you our survival expert?”
He blinked awake. “Umm, are you guys here already?”
“It would appear we are,” answered T’Lara.
The red-haired cadet staggered to his feet. “I’m Russ Wilmot. Pleased to meet you. Excuse me for sacking out, but I was up all night on the ops conn. Do any of you know anything about camping?”
“I do,” said Kareem.
“Me, too,” said Jenna.
Russ yawned. “That’s great. Well, here are your tents. Put ’em up.”
Under the guidance of Kareem and Jenna, the three tents were assembled. Each was supposed to sleep four people, but Geordi had his doubts. He assigned one tent to the three young women, T’Lara, Jenna, and Megan. He assigned another one to the two largest members of the Green team, Altos and Zemusta, the Tellarite. He took the third tent for himself, Kareem, and Vernok, the Saurian.
Russ Wilmot finally proved useful in explaining to them how to use the portable toilets and inflate the sleeping bags. He also explained how to prepare their food, which came in sealed pouches. By twisting the pouches, chemicals mixed and generated heat that cooked the enclosed food. The tuna casserole tasted surprisingly good, thought Geordi.
“Everything you see here,” Russ explained, “is typical survival gear on a shuttlecraft. So if you ever crash-land a shuttlecraft, you’ll get to do this all over again.”
“Russ,” said Jenna, “are there any tips you can give us about Capture the Flag?”
Russ smiled. “I’m not supposed to. I was on a team that finished third, so I’m not sure I could be much help, anyway. There are many different strategies. Remember, one or two people can cover a lot of ground. And to hit your coup meter, they have to catch you first.”
No one interrupted him, but Russ wasn’t going to say anything else. He looked toward a mountain range in the distance. Its strange spires and arches glinted in the setting sun.
“The sun goes down quickly on Saffair,” Russ remarked. “You’ve got plenty of food and water. I’m sure you can figure out how to turn on the lanterns. We’ll contact you when it’s your turn to play. Well, good night. And good luck.”
They thanked him, and Russ tapped his comm badge. “Wilmot to Glenn. One to beam up.” A second later he disappeared in a sparkling column of light.
Now they were all alone on a strange planet, where the rocks were green and people jumped like kangaroos. Geordi looked across the barren plain and could see the lights of other encampments. Other teams. They could jog to one of those camps in a minute, but why? Lieutenant Pantano had been right when she had told them to stay away from the other teams. They were the enemy.
Geordi turned around and found every member of the Green team staring at him.
“Well, Captain La Forge,” said Jenna, “what now?”
Geordi sighed. “Listen, you guys, if you aren’t comfortable with me giving orders, we can choose somebody else.”
There was a chorus of protest. “No way!” said Kareem. “We’ll follow you anywhere.”
“To victory!” bellowed the Tellarite, Zemusta. He crinkled his piglike snout.
Megan smiled. “That’s right, Geordi. You made us all feel good about ourselves by choosing us first. Now you’ve got our loyalty, and you’re stuck with it.”
“Okay,” said Geordi, “but we won’t really rub it in their faces unless we beat them.”
“So let’s beat them!” crowed Vernok. It was the first thing the little Saurian had said all day.
Geordi nodded seriously. “All right. I’ve heard two pieces of advice that make sense. Somebody at the Academy told me to plant my flag high. Let’s make sure we do that, because we don’t want to make it easy for them to get it. Plus, if we put it on top of a formation with lots of arches and hiding places, we can lay in waiting for them.”
He shook his head. “But those other teams have some strong people. If we get into at wrestling match with them, I don’t know how we can score a coup first.”
“Captain,” said Zemusta, “I noticed that there are vines growing all over the rocks and ground. Perhaps they are strong enough that they can be woven into nets.”
“Great idea!” said Jenna. “Even if it just slows them down for a second, it’ll be worth it.”
“Fine,” agreed Geordi. “We’ll divide our team into two parts—defenders and scouts. The defenders will get to work making nets as soon as we beam down. I think it’s good advice that we only need one or two people to be scouts. Their job is to find the enemy’s flag, and the enemy’s troops, as soon as possible.”
He touched his VISOR. “I may be able to see things with this that the rest of you can’t. So I’ll be a scout. Megan, with your speed you’d make a good scout, but you have to stay out of the sun. So T’Lara will be the other scout.”
Geordi pointed into the quickening darkness. “Since T’Lara and I will be out there, I’m putting Jenna in charge of our defensive positions. Maybe Altos should be the last guy they have to get through. If I get captured, Jenna takes over. If Jenna gets captured … well, then we’re in a lot of trouble.”
There was laughter all around. When it died down, Geordi thought he heard a sound. All of the Green team members were gathered around him, so he didn’t know what could be out in the darkness, scraping around.
“Did anybody hear anything?" he whispered.
“I did,” whispered T’Lara.
Quickly Geordi grabbed one of the lanterns and shined it into the darkness. A furtive figure dashed away. Kareem jumped to his feet. “A crummy spy!”
“Fiends!” shouted Zemusta.
“Let’s get him!” snapped Jenna.
“I think he was just coming close when we started to laugh,” said Geordi. “But this tells us something—those other teams want to win as badly as we do.”
“How can they spy on us?” asked Megan. “They haven’t even told us which team we’re playing.”
“They’re just trying to get an edge,” said Geordi, “any way they can. They probably sent spies to every other camp. Nobody said we couldn’t use spies.”
“Or nets,” whispered Jenna. She looked around. “I wonder where the actual playing field is. If we could get a look, it might help.”
Geordi shook his head. “We’re not going to go bouncing around looking for it in the dark.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Zemusta.
Geordi shrugged. “Anybody know any good campfire songs?”
“Nah,” said Kareem. “It’s better to tell ghost stories around a campfire.”
“No,” said Altos, examining a pouch of spaghetti. “Better to eat.”
In the end, everyone did whatever they felt like doing. While Kareem told African ghost stories, a few cadets ate, and others slept. There was no moon over Saffair, but the night sky glimmered with millions of stars.
Geordi asked T’Lara to take a walk with him. He wanted to get to know the slim Vulcan who would be venturing into enemy territory with him.
“Have you any thoughts about what we’ll be doing tomorrow?” he asked.
She cocked her head thoughtfully. “Only that we must be willing, and able, to outrun pursuers.”
“Yes,” said Geordi. “I had thought about that. That’s why I picked you to come with me.”
T’Lara nodded. “There are other reas
ons why I am a logical choice.”
“There are?” asked Geordi.
“Yes. We Vulcans are stronger than we look. Strength may be very important tomorrow. Plus, you are our leader. You must be protected at all cost. If you give me an order to sacrifice myself to protect you, I will do it without question.”
Geordi laughed nervously. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
“It may well be,” answered T’Lara. “Do not hesitate to ask it. As a Vulcan, I will sacrifice myself without feeling resentment. I am incapable of self-pity. When we locate their flag, it is imperative that you inform the others. You must be available to lead the attack.” T’Lara looked straight ahead. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”
“All right,” agreed Geordi with a shrug. “You can be my bodyguard.”
“A good decision,” said T’Lara.
Geordi chuckled. “I wonder if we’ll play Jack Pettey’s team? Wouldn’t you like to beat him?”
She shrugged. “Beating the Gold team would be the same as beating the Red or Blue teams.”
“Really?” asked Geordi. “You wouldn’t like to beat him just a little bit more? He is a jerk.”
T’Lara allowed herself the shadow of a smile. “As you say, he is a jerk.”
That was all Geordi wanted to know. Deep down, he was both afraid and anxious to face the Gold team. He had never really hated anyone in his life before. Geordi wanted people to like him, and it bothered him that someone didn’t. But now he and Pettey were rivals, and there was nothing he could do about it—but beat him.
Later that night Geordi curled up in his sleeping bag. Kareem snored softly beside him. Vemok, the little Saurian, remained motionless on the other side, with no covers around his thick, reptilian skin. Geordi knew he had to sleep, but he couldn’t. The excitement was too much. He had never pictured himself as a leader, but there was no doubt that’s what his team thought he was.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #4: Capture the Flag Page 4
