Solomon Family Warriors II

by Robert H. Cherny

  “How many ships do you have built?” Avi asked.

  “The first one rolls off the line next week.”

  “How many of the originals to you have in your fleet?” Avi asked.

  “Sixteen with the big reactor, including yours. Ten more with the small reactor. The ones with the small reactor will be retrofitted with the reactors you brought in your cargo containers. That will give us twenty-six fully functional P I ships within six months.”

  “If we subtract Myra’s ship that still leaves three with the big reactor unaccounted for,” Avi observed.

  “Two actually. One was damaged beyond repair in a training accident. It took a missile intended for a drone.”

  “Have you figured out the software override?” Avi asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then what do you need us for?” Greg asked. “It sounds like you have everything tied up all nice and neat.”

  “Not hardly,” the Admiral said, “we have lots of ships, but no crews.”

  “How many available pilots do you have?” Avi asked.

  “Other than the cargo pilots, ten, none with combat training. With the two of you and if we can include your daughters, four combat trained pilots. They can fly the P I’s can’t they?”

  “You have twenty-six combat craft with crew requirements of fifty-two, and you have ten untrained pilots? How do you even move that many ships from place to place?” Avi asked.

  “In addition to our freight pilots, we also have a couple of retired pilots who can shuttle them around, but they are old, and they would not survive the stress of a normal hyper jump let alone a short one. Now you see our problem.”

  Greg and Avi stared at each other in silence for a long moment. “Where do we start?”

  “We were hoping you would help us with that.”

  “Well,” Greg paused. “Now that we are in this up to our necks,” he commented, “are you aware that the Swordsmen are monitoring this system?”

  “How did you know that?” Admiral Sherman asked in surprise.

  “We ran into one on the way in,” Avi said. “He high tailed it as soon as we approached. We have his transponder data.”

  “Yes, we are aware that Swordsman scouts have occasionally monitored our traffic.” He paused as if to say something else.

  “That’s one, so, who does the other ship belong to?” Avi asked.

  The officers around the table reacted as if they had been hit by lightning.

  “What other ship?” Officer Mendelssohn asked nervously.

  “There was a second ship directly ahead of us after we dropped out of hyper drive,” Avi said. “Radar didn’t detect it. We caught it on visual. It looked like a V1 Buzz Bomb. It fled as soon as we approached it.”

  Several of the officers had lost their color. Admiral Sherman spoke slowly, “We don’t know who they are. We have observed them ever since we could detect ships in hyper drive. Our best intelligence sources are at a loss to explain them. We believe that the reason the ships are so hard to detect is that they have very little metal in them. We think they are molded out of glass. We call them the third force.”

  “Federation and Swordsmen being the first two?” Greg asked.

  “Yes.”

  Officer Mendelssohn said, “Some of their flight characteristics make us question whether they are even human. We don’t know. We don’t discuss it except in the closest circles. All we know for certain is that they come and go at random intervals and stay at the periphery of the system. Anytime anything gets close, they leave quickly. Now that you are here and can make short jumps, maybe you can find out who they are.”

  A cold silence filled the room.

  Admiral Sherman broke the silence and directed the conversation toward formulating the plans to accomplish the many goals they had for Greg and Avi.

  Greg requested that their P I ships be returned to the surface so their simulator software could be used for training pilots.

  Admiral Sherman signed the order exempting them from the rule prohibiting privately owned spacecraft on the planet’s surface.

  ERETZ - CHAPTER SEVEN

  ROSE WAS WAITING for the girls when they returned to their quarters after school. Faye Anne escorted them home and then left to get her gym clothes. Rachel and Wendy had hoped to slide in unnoticed and escape to the gym without having to withstand the tirade that rightfully awaited them. One look at Rose told them that she knew what had happened, and she was not pleased.

  “What were you thinking? Rachel, how could you be so irresponsible?”

  “I’m sorry Grandma, I didn’t think. I got mad.”

  “Your first day in a new school, and you almost killed somebody.”

  “I didn’t intend to kill him. I winged him. Just a little hair.”

  “What if he had moved the wrong way?” Rose rarely raised her voice to the girls, but she was so angry she was shouting in Rachel’s face.

  “I guess I could have killed him,” Rachel tried to sound contrite.

  “You guess? Have you thought about what would have happened to you and to the rest of this family if you had so much as scratched him?”

  “No.”

  “What if some kid walked behind him and you hit them? What would you say to their parents?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know. You need to know.”

  “Yes, Grandma.”

  “Wendy, I am disappointed in you too.”

  “I tried to stop it! Honest I did!”

  “Not fast enough.”

  “No, Grandma.”

  “Wendy, you and Rachel are a team. You protect each other, and part of that means keeping the other from doing something stupid even if it means standing in their way. Understand?”

  “Yes, Grandma.”

  “I can’t believe you threw your knife at someone. Where were your brains?” Rachel and Wendy stood in silence.

  “If you are to accomplish the mission we agreed to on the trip here, you will have to maintain a constant hold on your temper. You both have a tremendous task ahead of you. A single missed step, a single slip of the tongue could destroy everything. The goal is too great and too important for a hot headed exchange to jeopardize all our efforts. This is too critical for you to screw it up. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, Grandma,” they said in unison.

  “Do you have anything else to say?”

  Wendy looked at her grandmother and said, “Grandma, don’t you think this mission is more than we can handle? I mean there are only two of us.”

  “There are the two of you and your parents. You have no idea what they can accomplish when they set their minds to it. Look what they did with Homestead.”

  “But we almost died there!” Rachel protested.

  “Almost doesn’t count.”

  “I know, horseshoes and hand grenades,” Wendy groaned.

  “And thermonuclear devices,” Rachel added.

  “Exactly. You didn’t die there, and you won’t die here.”

  “How can we be so sure?”

  “I’m sure. Trust me, I’m sure. But that does not excuse what you did. I met David’s mother this afternoon. She about took my head off with her bare hands. If she could have done it by shouting at me, she would have. I do not appreciate getting an earful from an angry woman whose son was almost killed by my granddaughter.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rachel said.

  “She will never be our friend, and we need all the friends we can get. In the midst of her tirade what she told me was eye-opening. Ladies, we are in the right place at the right time, and you have the right stuff to make the mission work.” Rose’s voice was no longer raised in anger, but in excitement. “When he was young, your grandfather believed in the mission. He believed in the balance of power which is only achievable if mutually assured destruction guarantees that neither side will step out of bounds. He actually supported the Swordsmen’s rise to power because he saw them as the balancing force. One of
the reasons he became so bitter later in life was because he saw the Federation frittering away its opportunities to achieve lasting peace. They forgot to care for their people and allowed corruption to take hold. Pirates feasted on the corruption, and the Swordsmen used it to build their force. Now that the Swordsmen are a credible threat, the Federation is taking care of its people again to keep them from turning against it.”

  “Grandma, you are asking a lot of us.”

  “Yes, and I know you can do it. Somewhere out there is a Swordsman. He’s probably still a boy. He will rise to power and I hope you will be able to reason with him. He will be the key to the balance of power.”

  “If you say so.” The girls had long ago learned the folly of challenging their grandmother.

  “I have kept you long enough. Go to your rooms and change. Don’t be late for detention.”

  Wendy looked up and said, “I like what you did with the apartment.” Rose had accomplished much in a few hours.

  “Don’t try to butter me up. You’re still in a world of hurt.”

  “Yes, Grandma.” They scampered off to their rooms.

  Twenty minutes later Wendy and Rachel reported to Rev Schwartz’s office at the field house in their workout clothes as instructed. He greeted them warmly. “David is such a putz,” he said. “If his dad wasn’t the chief agronomist, he wouldn’t get way with half of what he does. I am sorry he picked on you before you had a chance to settle in.”

  “Thank you,” Rachel said, “What would you like us to do?”

  “Jog five laps around the track, and then I will give you your P T placement exams. Don’t run all out. Conserve your strength. This is just warm up.” The girls left. David and his friends were already on the track. Faye Anne had finished her run and was doing stretching exercises on the gymnastics mats.

  “I wonder how Reuben and Rashi are doing on the Math Competition,” Wendy said.

  “I think Rev Schwartz put the fear of God into them. I’ll bet they slaughter the opposition!”

  “Let’s hope.”

  David and his friends finished their run and flopped onto the gymnastic mat. Wendy and Rachel finished and walked the track one more lap. Rev Schwartz called them to the straight section of the track. “Fifty meter dash. Timed. Take your places.” David won handily. Rachel came in second with Wendy a second behind. David’s buddies were a distant fourth and fifth. Faye Anne barely finished.

  “Two hundred meters. Timed. Take your places.”

  David won again, but not by much. Rachel and Wendy tied for second and the buddies trailed. Faye Anne finished last.

  “Rope climb. Timed. Take your places.”

  Rachel and Wendy won easily and did not use their legs.

  “Ladies, it is not safe to climb the rope without using your legs. Please don’t do that again. Running Broad Jump next.”

  For an hour they competed in one event after another. David won about half. Rachel and Wendy generally placed together either before or after David. David’s buddies were lost in the dust. Faye Anne was not keeping up at all. They wound up on the gymnastic mats.

  “How about some take downs? David, we will pretend that this starter pistol is a real weapon. On my mark, go!”

  David fumbled for a few seconds, but was able to retrieve the weapon. They were still standing when the instructor said to stop. Rachel went next. She quickly retrieved the weapon, threw the instructor to the mat, put her foot on his chest, pointed her finger at his chest and said, “Bang” before the others realized what she had done. Wendy was not quite as fast, but the result was the same.

  “I’m impressed.” He grabbed a baton from where it lay on the floor and lunged at the girls. Their reaction was fast and practiced. They grabbed the “knife”, Rachel spun him around and grabbed his arms from behind. She backed against a pillar, and Wendy held the “knife” to his throat. Wendy teased him with a Russian accent, “Give us the information we want and you live. Or not and you die!” They released him.

  The instructor tossed the “knife” to David. “It’s your turn! Attack!”

  David looked at the two girls and turned to run.

  He had taken three steps when the instructor said, “Go get him.”

  Rachel sang out, “He’s mine!” and dashed after him.

  David tossed down the “knife” and raced across the field house dodging gymnastic apparatus as he fled. Rachel caught him and promptly threw him to the floor. He scrambled to regain his feet. She maneuvered behind him and put him in a full Nelson. She wrapped her legs around his waist and sat down. She rested her feet on his navel. Wendy pulled his legs together and sat down straddling his knees. Once settled, she tweaked his nose and said, “We win.”

  “No fair!” David whined, “Two against one!”

  “I don’t see your buddies rushing to your assistance. Then, it would be three against two. Much better odds!” Wendy countered.

  Rev Schwartz laughed. The two buddies stood open mouthed staring at David on the floor.

  “Let him up, please. Everyone, one kilometer around the track, then you can go.”

  Reuben and Rashi arrived as the girls were finishing their run.

  “Did we win?” Rev Schwartz asked.

  “Yes, we won!” Reuben shouted.

  “By our biggest margin ever, both percentage and total points!” Rashi effused.

  “Then I should threaten you boys more often, shouldn’t I?” Rev Schwartz said with his eyes dancing and laughter in his voice.

  The boys looked at each other, and Reuben quietly said, “Yes, I think so.”

  “Well then, here’s your threat. Every time you lose a Math or Science Competition you will run twenty laps around the track. Deal?”

  “Deal, Sir!”

  David sullenly headed to the locker room. One of his buddies came over to Reuben and said, “Your girl friend just kicked the shit out of David. Be careful she doesn’t kill you.”

  Reuben thought for a second and said, “I’ll have to be extra special nice and not be mean to her like David. I can do that.”

  The buddies shook their heads and wandered in the direction of the locker room. Once they were gone, Rev Schwartz said, “David has been a tough guy since he was a toddler. He never has played well with others. He is too aggressive.”

  Rachel thought for a second before she spoke, “How solid is his grasp of spatial relationships?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Can he look at something moving and tell which direction it is going, how fast and intercept it? How well does he catch a baseball or other small moving objects?”

  “Yes, he’s quite good.”

  “How good is he with tools, especially power tools?”

  “Very good.”

  “Electronic devices?”

  “Excellent.”

  “How does he react to surprises?”

  “Aggressively with a vengeance.”

  Wendy looked at Rachel and said, “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”

  “P I” Rachel said.

  “I thought so. I agree. We need to introduce him to Mom and Dad.”

  “Excuse me, what are you talking about? What is pee eye?” Rev Schwartz asked.

  Rachel smiled, “Pirate Interdiction. It’s an elite corps of Space Force officers that handle some of the most dangerous jobs in the Force. As the old recruiting slogan goes they are a Force of One. They work by themselves in part because they don’t get along well with others. Both our parents are P I. If we went into the Force, I think that’s what we would do.” Wendy nodded.

  “But don’t you have to fly to do that?”

  Wendy smiled. “We fly. We fly two of the coolest, meanest, nastiest, toughest, most heavily armed little warships ever built. We could take on a warship a hundred times our size and beat it. P I ships are the coolest things in the history of warfare. Maybe Dad will let us take you for a ride some day. It’s a lot of fun.”

  Excitedly Reuben asked, �
�Could you take us flying?”

  “If your parents agree, I don’t see why not,” Wendy laughed.

  Faye Anne, who had been silent the entire afternoon asked, “Can you teach me to fly?” All heads turned to her.

  “Faye Anne, I almost forgot you were here,” Rev Schwartz said. “This is the quietest I think I’ve seen you since you were a baby. Are you feeling all right?”

  Faye Anne huffed. “Yes, I’m fine!”

  “Fly?” Rachel asked, “Or fly in combat?”

  “Combat. I am tired of being protected all the time. I want to be part of protecting for once.”

  “We need to talk to our parents,” Rachel said.

  “Yes,” Rev Schwartz added, “I think we all do. Everybody shower and go home. You probably have homework for tomorrow. Oh, before I let you go, what sport do you want to play?”

  “Do we have to?” Wendy asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What’s your weakest team?” Rachel asked.

  “Basketball.”

  “Are we tall enough for basketball?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wendy, what do you think.”

  “Basketball will be fine.”

  “Good, practice starts in two weeks. See you there! Maybe this year we can win a few games.”

  Expecting a repeat of their Grandmother’s attack when they returned to their quarters, the girls were pleasantly surprised that nothing was said about Rachel’s lapse of judgment. Greg and Avi immediately downloaded to the girls the significant parts of their meeting of the afternoon. As the conversation progressed, the girls wondered if somehow their parents did not know what had happened although surely Rose would have told them if no one else did. The lack of comment was almost worse than being reprimanded. All through the conversations they wondered who would break the news first.

  After Greg and Avi brought the rest of the family up to speed on their briefings from earlier in the day. Rachel and Wendy briefed Rose and their parents on their day. Rachel decided that coming right out and telling them about their detention and the reason for it was the safest plan. Neither parent made any comment indicating that anything untoward had happened. They reminded Rachel and Wendy what was expected of them as far as their participation in the defense of the planet and the importance of their effort in the undertaking. The family’s mood was serious, but not somber. They knew the scope of the task that lay ahead. The enormity of the task was daunting. They knew that they would do everything in their power to accomplish the mission ahead of them, but they had serious reservations as to their ability to succeed. Only time would tell.