by Saxon Andrew
Mitch sighed and said, “You really don’t know me, Pixie.”
“I may not, but my mother examined you and said that she has only seen one person that reminds her of your raw warrior talent.”
“Who?”
“My Father; and I hope you know who he is. I’ve also seen what you’re capable of during training. Unfortunately, you don’t possess an ego and, while that is a good thing under normal circumstances, it will always hinder you in stepping out and taking the lead.” Mitch stared at Pixie and she said, “I’m just saying.”
Mitch spent the rest of the evening thinking about what Pixie said. Finally she said, “We need to get you back.”
“Thanks, Pixie. This has been a wonderful day.”
“Good. I was hoping you would enjoy it. The same transport pulled up and Pixie turned to Mitch, “I won’t be seeing you for a long time and I need to find out something.”
“What is that?”
Pixie stood on her toes and put her arms around Mitch’s neck and kissed him. It surprised him initially but then he put himself into it. He finally broke the kiss and looked in her eyes. “Thank you.” He hugged her and entered the transport. Pixie could barely breathe. She pressed her wrist unit and said, “I need to come in.”
Gregory said, “The suppression field will be dropped in five, four, three, two, one, now.”
Pixie pushed her wrist unit and teleported into her private quarters and found Jixie waiting on her. Pixie smiled and said, “You’ve been spying.”
“How do you feel?”
“If my heart beat any faster I think it would explode.” Pixie paused and said, “But you’re right.”
“He just can’t allow himself to consider he’s worthy of you.”
“I can see it, Mother.”
“Then he will have to find himself.”
“I won’t have anyone else.”
“You might have to, my darling.”
Pixie closed her eyes and shook her head.
• • •
Mitch put on his Life Warrior uniform and called the front desk. “I’m checking out.”
“Sir, you are welcome to stay for the remainder of your leave.”
Mitch was surprised that they knew he still had six days. “I need to go home first. Thank you for making this trip memorable. I can’t express how much this has meant to me.”
“Please come back. We’ll always have a room for you.”
Mitch smiled and took the elevator down to the first floor and exited with ten others. He knew that everyone was being scanned but he was two inches shorter and the newscaster’s equipment rejected him. He walked out and boarded a transport. Just before he entered he looked at the castle in the distance for a long moment. Then he got in and said, “Please take me to the spaceport.”
• • •
Pixie was on the spire watching him leave. She wished he had stayed longer but knew Mitch could not accept what was being given. If he had stayed any longer, she knew he would feel too guilty to make the trip a great memory. She sighed and knew she was going to have to wait for him to contact her. He had to feel it as well.
• • •
Mitch took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Emily opened the door and rushed forward and hugged him, “You are the nuke!”
Mitch smiled and said, “I guess that means you saw me.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Why did you come back!?”
Mitch looked up at his father, who had stepped up to the door, and said, “I can’t walk away with things not as they should be between us, Dad.”
Arthur slowly shook his head and said, “I guess I can be hard headed. Whatever you’ve been doing, it appears you have made an impression on someone.”
Mitch looked into Arthur’s eyes and said, “The only one I want to impress is you. I need you to support what I’m doing.”
“Come in, Son.”
Emily looked at Mitch and said, “Dad has his job back.”
“Really?”
Arthur smiled, “It appears the owner doesn’t want someone that has an in to the Royal Family to be angry with him. He’s also doubled my pay.”
Mitch shook his head, “That is really good news. I’ve been so worried about you.”
Four days later Mitch left and knew that Pixie had to have done something. To even let her know he suspected her would be in poor taste. He punched her number and she appeared on his wrist unit, “I just want to thank you for all you’ve done.”
Pixie tilted her head and Mitch said, “You really are a Princess, Pixie. You are the things dreams are made of. Thank you.”
Pixie smiled and said, “So what happens now?”
“I go through training and see if I can make it to Scout Training. I need to make it happen as quickly as possible.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t like not being able to see you.” Mitch ended the call leaving Pixie in tears.
Jixie came running up, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing; I’m just so happy.”
• • •
Mitch arrived at his unit’s location and saw a corporal with a clipboard giving directions to arrivals. He went forward and gave the corporal his name. He looked down his list and said, “Mitchell Callaway?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You have been reassigned. Go to the ship at dock eight and you’ll receive your orders there.”
Mitch wondered what was going on. He arrived at dock eight and found a Life Warrior Captain standing outside the small ship. He saluted and said, “Private Callaway reporting, Sir.”
“Private, you are going to Officer’s Training. You will then be assigned your unit.”
Mitch said, “Sir, I’ve done nothing to be promoted to an officer.”
The Captain smiled, “Maybe not, but if you don’t get your butt on this ship, you’ll be doing something to deserve a month of latrine cleaning. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Sir!” Mitch boarded the ship and knew the Royal Family was throwing its weight around. He would not accept something he had not earned. He arrived at a huge vessel hanging above a desolate planet and the ship entered the landing bay. He went to the Lieutenant waiting for his ship’s arrival and was told to report to room 12148. He took a reading into his wrist unit and followed the directions into the heart of the giant vessel. He found the room and knocked on the door.
“Enter!”
He went inside and found Telah Dorg waiting for him. He came to attention and saluted, “At ease.”
“Sir, I cannot accept this promotion.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want something I haven’t earned.”
“What makes you think you haven’t?”
“I’m being given this promotion because of what happened on Ross. I can’t accept that.”
“What happened on Ross?”
Mitch stared at Col. Dorg and saw she was being serious, “I was with the Royal Family.”
“So?”
Mitch stared at her for a long moment and said, “Perhaps I should start over. Why am I being sent here?”
“All the commanders of the Realm’s training planets send reports to each other on any trainee that has exhibited extraordinary leadership skills. Those reports include observed behaviors of the one selected as well as interviews of the platoon members of the unit they trained with. We all look at the reports and decide if the ones we’re examining should be accelerated in their development. We are not allowed to vote on anyone that was trained in our commands. Are you with me so far?”
Mitch nodded.
“There are more than eight hundred training bases and you received 799 votes to enter officer training. We’ve never had anyone with that level of consensus among us. It appears your actions during training have impressed all of us. We need good officers to lead our warriors and I have no doubt you have what it takes to be a good one. Now are you going to embarrass me and refuse this vote of confidence?”
Mitch stared at Telah and said, “Sir, I didn’t do that much and I led a mutiny against our commander.”
Telah shook her head, “It was that mutiny that won all of us over. No one would want Slade commanding a squad of Life Warriors. You saved us the embarrassment of having to bust him. You did the right thing for the right reason. That, in and of itself, is telling but the fact that all of the survivors supported your decision and were happy with the result told us more about you.”
Mitch looked down and said, “Sir, I want to join the Scouts.”
Telah shook her head, “You are a tactician, Callaway. A good one and they are difficult to find. You should be leading Warriors in battle, not going out working alone. The Realm needs you in a leadership position. You will lead your Warriors and not waste their lives.”
Mitch now knew that it was not Pixie that had caused this. If he accepted the position, he would not join her in the scouts. If she did cause this then it meant she didn’t want him there. Either way, he knew he could not refuse and embarrass the Colonel. “Sir, I’ll do my best.”
Telah smiled, “I know, Callaway. That’s why you’re here.”
• • •
Mitch looked at his assignment and couldn’t get his mind on it. He tried but knew he had to do something else. He pressed the button and Pixie appeared on his display, “Mitch, it’s good to hear from you. How’s training going?” Pixie saw his expression and said, “What’s wrong!?”
Mitch stared at Pixie and said, “I’m not going to be joining the Scouts.” Mitch saw Pixie’s shock and then sadness.
“You don’t want to be here with me?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I’ve been assigned to Officer Training and I’ll be given a unit at the completion of the classes.”
Pixie looked like she was going to cry, “Congratulations, Mitch.”
“Pixie, you are the only reason I don’t look at this as a blessing. I already miss you and I can’t believe I’m telling you this. However, if I turned this down I would have embarrassed Col. Dorg and rejected the well wishes of our training platoon in making this possible. I just couldn’t do it.”
Pixie stared at Mitch and said, “I’ll talk with you later.”
Mitch saw his display go dark and he knew that Pixie and the Royal Family had not done anything to make his promotion possible. He opened his books and forced himself to study.
• • •
“He’s what?”
“Dad, please find out what happened. Please!”
Sam nodded and left the room. Jixie held Pixie and said, “Don’t let this get you down, Darling. Things have a way of working themselves out.”
“He’ll find someone else, Mom. I’ll never see him and I’ll lose him.” Jixie smiled and shook her head. “What!”
“Now who’s the one with no ego? Who could ever turn you down for anyone else?”
“You’re prejudiced.”
“We’ll see.”
Sam came back in holding some papers and was slowly shaking his head, “That is an extraordinary young man.”
Jixie looked up and said, “What do you mean?”
“He was unanimously chosen by all the Training Commanders in the Realm to enter an accelerated promotion class. That has never happened. The best until now was 502 votes. He received 799 votes out of 799. He’s right; to turn that down would be a slap in the face of our Training Staff.”
Sam handed Pixie the papers and she began reading with Jixie. “I didn’t know they recorded our actions every minute of training.”
Sam nodded, “After the first week of training, more than eighty percent of your platoon took their leads from observing what Callaway did. Surely you noticed him.”
Pixie shook her head, “I was too busy worrying about my own career path to the Scouts. I guess I also just assumed no one really offered any benefit to my plans.”
“That’s what makes you the perfect Scout. You work best alone.”
Pixie sighed, “He does inspire those around him.” Jixie smiled and Pixie said, “You’re thinking about something.”
“Pixie, what would have happened after the two of you completed Scout Training?”
“We would have been assigned to our units.”
“What are the chances of being assigned to the same battalion?”
“What are you getting at, Mom?”
Jixie told her and Pixie’s face lit up with a huge smile.
Chapter Five
Mitch finished his first day of classes and wondered if he had what it took to learn the command circuits of an officer’s armor. He opened the program and began looking at the primary commands. He was going to memorize them before he went into the secondary levels of each. A green light illuminated on the top of his screen and he pressed the receive button. Pixie was smiling at him, “Hi, Pixie. I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to cause you sorrow.”
“What size unit are you going to be assigned to?”
“I don’t know. I assume a platoon.”
“The top two graduates of each class are given a company to command and are Captains upon graduation. You need to be one of the two.”
“Why?”
“I know you would never use anything to get ahead that you didn’t earn, but I don’t have that problem.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Well, if you’re assigned a company, then I can pull some very thick strings to make sure that I’m assigned to be your Company’s Scout. I’m not bothered at all by using whatever resources I need to be where I want.”
Mitch was stunned at her comment. Then he started smiling. “I need to get busy.”
Pixie smiled, “Indeed you do.” She blew him a kiss and the screen went dark. Mitch turned the program back on and set his mind on the circuits. By midnight, he knew all the primary and secondary command protocols. He didn’t know what she saw in him but he didn’t care. He went to sleep with the memory of her kiss in his mind. At five AM the next morning he was in the armory with his officer’s helmet switching between the circuits and following the pathways of the various information circuits. He learned at six a.m. that commands could be given to each protocol and he gave each of them a single letter and number to activate them. When the helmets were brought out in class four days later, Mitch blew the others away in activating the command circuits.
• • •
“Sir, one of the Zord has encountered a highly advanced aggressive civilization that is planning an attack on a planet that is the capital of a flourishing culture.”
“How advanced are they?”
“They’re not psychic but their beams and force fields are the strongest we’ve encountered so far.”
“Get this information to Sprigly and have him analyze their capabilities. Did the Zord say how long we have before they attack?”
“He says they’re wrapping up a recent invasion and will start their operations in about ninety days.”
“What about the planet they just conquered?”
Captain Ruiz shook his head, “Sir, they’re carnivores.”
Jason took a deep breath, “Get this out to Sprigly.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
Major Dinter looked out at the class of officer trainees and smiled. Callaway had buried the competition again. He had examined Callaway’s helmet and determined what he had done, but it was not appropriate to reveal it in a class competing for a higher rank. “Congratulations, Mr. Callaway. You’ve completed the assignment in the shortest time again.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
Derek Bender said, “I’m really curious about how you’re doing this.”
Dinter said, “He is not required to reveal his processes, Mr. Singer.”
“I’m aware of that, Sir, but we’re going to leave here to fight against the enemies of the Realm. I would think you would want all of us at the best level we could be. He has obviously learned something we don’t know.” Singer
looked at Mitch, “Are you willing to share that information with us?”
Mitch stared at Derek and knew he and Olivia Bander were his main competition in leading the class. He sighed and said, “Major, I’ll show them what I’m doing.”
“You realize you could jeopardize your class standing?”
“Bender’s right, Sir; if I keep this to myself then the warriors under the command of the others in this class won’t have as good an opportunity to survive.”
“Go ahead, Mr. Callaway.”
Mitch said, “If all of you will put your helmets on and key the main command circuit.” He waited until everyone nodded. “Now, if you’ll leave it active and activate the support button two rows up from the bottom. Now hit the learn directory and you’ll see all of the various systems in a list with a blank line next to them. Highlight each command and assign a one word or single letter to each of them. I chose the word ‘SCANED’ to help me remember.”
Derek said, “Tell me what you mean.”
“S is for scanners, C is for camouflage, A is for armor, N is for fleet network, E is for escape, which is the teleportation circuit, and D is for data download.” Mitch looked at the class making changes and said, “Now instead of having to say ‘Activate Scanners’ you simply say the letter S. I also use the letter A in front of each of these commands. To activate the scanners for a full scan of the surrounding terrain I say, ‘AS1’. Remember that the first choice in the secondary menu of the scanners is a full terrain scan. AS2 is a scan of the sky above your position. AS3 will scan for the location of the warriors under your command. I’ve set up all the menus to work with this system.”
Derek stared at Mitch and said, “How did you learn about this circuit?”
“I’ve been in the armory every morning at 5AM working with the helmets and suit systems.”
Derek smiled, “Would you mind a little company?”
Mitch shook his head and, “I’ll show you what I’ve learned.”
Derek said, “I don’t know that I would have given up this advantage if I were in your place.”
