by Ron Francis
______
Lana’s training had been going quite well. Lieutenant Commander Briggs, who seemed grumpy with everyone else, lit up when she was around. He had told Captain Snyder she was the best student he had ever taught. The only time he ever yelled at her was when she was distracted, or not giving her best, just like her soccer coach used to. She already owned the best scores for the simulator in seven categories and she had only been training for a month. Aunt Nina and Aunt Ariel constantly let her know how proud they were of her. Uncle Serge would always sneak in her favorite snacks, which was against regs, but he didn’t seem to care. She suspected Aunt Ariel knew but pretended not to so she wouldn’t have to come down on her niece.
The next morning, when she arrived at the simulator, Lieutenant Commander Briggs had left a note:
Suit up and meet me in the landing bay.
She was really excited as she walked to the landing bay. She was also really nervous. She couldn’t help but think that everyone was looking at her wondering what this sixteen year old girl was doing in a real pilot’s uniform. When she arrived, Lieutenant Commander Briggs took her into an Eagle assault shuttle, and helped her through the preflight. He then had them cleared for takeoff and gave her the yoke. That’s when the fun started. He had let her know that as soon as she had a feel for the shuttle, they would be squaring off against other pilots in simulated combat. Within five minutes, she was in a dogfight with six other pilots. She dove as she curved around the engines of the Vanguard, using the ship for cover. She came out from underneath the ship and found herself in back of an unsuspecting pilot. She fired and saw the yellow light race across space. Her computer showed a direct hit but nothing happened to the shuttle. The shuttle did, however, leave the field.
“What just happened?”
“You vaped an opponent, Crewman. We are using low settings, the lasers we are firing cannot hurt the other shuttles, but they do register the hit and the shuttle leaves the field. Only five more to go. Watch your six.”
She had picked up a shuttle behind her and saw another one in front. She decided to play chicken with the oncoming shuttle. She took a seventy-degree angle into a tight loop as the shuttle pursuing her fired and hit the one she had been distracting. She came out of the loop behind her pursuer and knocked him out of the contest. “Not bad, kid.” Lieutenant Commander Briggs complimented with a raised eyebrow. Two more picked up her trail. When they had a lock on her, she stopped short, causing their lasers to miss and their shuttles to overshoot her. She gunned the throttle, fired her lasers, and hit both shuttles at the same time. There was only one shuttle left and she had no idea where it was until it was too late. The light came on, and the alarm indicated they had been hit, and she had still never seen the other shuttle.
“Well done, Evans, That was your first time in a real shuttle, and you were not fighting trainees. You were fighting seasoned pilots. The one that vaped you is actually the best pilot we’ve ever had. Don’t feel bad though, you’ll pass her soon enough.”
“Her?” Lana asked.
“Yes, none other than Captain Ariel Marcos.”
“My aunt? She never told me…”
“She wanted to surprise you, Crewman, and from the look on your face, I’d say she did. After you power down your shuttle, the Captain has requested you for a special mission planet-side. You are to report to her shuttle, understood?”
“Yes, Sir.”
When Lana entered the shuttle, she noticed sixteen armed men onboard with her Aunt. “Crewman Evans reporting as ordered, Captain.”
“For this mission, it’s Aunt Ariel. I’m so proud of you. I had no idea you would be this good, this quickly. Well done, Lana.”
“Thanks, but you’re my aunt, you have to say that. I never knew you were a great pilot.”
“You don’t know all my secrets,” she laughed. If you don’t think you did well, ask these two if you don’t believe me.” She pointed to two of the men on the protection detail. “They are two of the other pilots you vaped.”
“She’s telling the truth, Miss Evans, you can’t teach moves like those. I’ve been flying nine years. That was your first time, and I hate to admit, but you’re already better than me.”
Lana tried not to smile. She was not used to these kinds of accolades. Sports against girls her age, yes. Besting seasoned military pilots? Not in her wildest dreams. “So, where are we going, Aunt Ariel?”
“We’re going to see an old friend of yours, so you can say thank you.” She smiled as her niece’s face lit up. She loved being an aunt as much as she loved being a Captain.”
When they landed, they boarded an air speeder to meet Carmine at the restaurant he owned. Lana couldn’t wait to see him.
Carmine was very disappointed in his client. This man had made a foolish bet and lost, it wasn’t his fault his client was a bad gambler. Now he had to teach him a lesson and the older he got, the less he had a taste for these kinds of lessons.
“Please, Mister Sangia, I’ll have your money tomorrow, I swear. I just need to…”
Carmine held up his hand for silence. “Tommy, if I let you get away with breaking your word, it makes me look weak. Sal, show Tommy how much I hate waiting one more day.” Before Sal could take a swing, a voice called from the front of the restaurant.
“Hey boss.”
“Yeah, Paulie,”
“We got guests, Captain Ariel Marcos and Lana Evans. They got a bunch of soldiers taking up position outside.”
He smiled and seemed to forget about Tommy. He turned back to Sal and said, “Take him out the back. Hey Tommy, these ladies just bought you one more day. Bring my money tomorrow or it’s both legs.” He walked out to the front of the restaurant with a smile and was greeted by a fierce embrace from a teenage girl.
“Thank you for saving my life, Carmine.” Lana said as she held the embrace.
Carmine returned the embrace briefly and noticed Paulie smiling at him. He shot him a warning look, but Paulie’s smile remained. “You’re welcome, kid, but don’t spread it around, I got a reputation to protect.” He smiled as she finished the embrace and took his hand.
“Maybe you should get a new reputation, I know you’re a good guy.” she smiled up at him as they walked to the table.
He looked at Ariel smiling at him and laughed. “Did you hear that, Paulie? Maybe I should get a new reputation, she says.” he looked back to Ariel. “Jesse is gonna have his hands full with this one.” She’s gonna have him wrapped right around that cute little finger and everyone’s gonna know it.”
“Carmine, I believe you may be right.” she replied. She loved Carmine’s restaurant. Decorated in a typical Italian “old world” style, it always made her feel nostalgic coming here. Jesse had been bringing her here since she was a teenager. It also happened to serve the best Italian food in the entire western hemisphere.
“She almost makes me wish I had a daughter.” He mused. “Almost!”
“Maybe you should, seems like she’s a good influence on you.” Ariel laughed.
“Maybe if I had someone like you?” He raised his wine glass.
Ariel raised hers to touch his with a clink and smiled. “You always say the nicest things to me.”
“Lana, I like you, kid, but I don’t think I’m the good guy you want me to be. Your father saved my life a couple times, and kept me out of prison once. He never even asked for anything in return. I owe him big and I always pay my debts. That’s all.”
“I don’t mind, Carmine. Deep down, I know you’re not a bad guy.” Lana smiled up at him again as the food arrived.
“Maybe really deep down,” he laughed.
“I think she’s got you pegged, Carmine, and you know I’ve felt the same way since I was fourteen. We can’t both be wrong.”
“Alright, alright, enough, ladies. Let’s eat in peace.” He looked up to see his two guests smiling at him and then looked at
Paulie, who still had the same smile glued to his face. He just shrugged as if to say he had given up, and went to work on his meal.
When lunch was over, Ariel hugged her host and said, “That was fantastic as always, Carmine. The things you can do with a tomato…thank you.” She left a huge tip for the waitress and she made sure she had take out for the men, so they could eat on the way back to the Vanguard.
Lana hugged him again and looked up at her hero. “Thank you, for everything.”
As they were leaving, he smiled as he thought, they almost make me want to be a good guy.
After a quick trip to Lana’s favorite clothing store and another stop for a famous milkshake, they were on their way back to the Vanguard. This time, Ariel let Lana drive.
______
Dobar looked over the fleet with pride. This might be the most powerful fleet our galaxy has ever seen, and it is arrayed against humanity, he thought with pride and satisfaction. My Syndicate is finally ready to begin the campaign against the Enclave, and soon those humans will be groveling at my feet. It was almost too easy to talk the Jarlevians into trusting me with their ships. They believe in me enough to send almost three hundred vessels. They are already tripling their production, so they will have replaced those ships within a year. None of the other Syndicate members could produce ships as quickly as our new Jarlevian allies, they are an excellent addition. Our four other members currently have more ships, but Jarlevia is a juggernaut waiting to rise. With their ships, we will be sending just over sixteen hundred ships after the Enclave. At this point, even if they allied themselves with Earth, they might not be able to repel our invasion.
Two hundred Syndicate ships dropped out of light space at the edge of the Enclave’s core systems. They launched a wave of fighters bound for the planet Unafarr. Their move had taken the Enclave completely unaware. The alien ships began an orbital bombardment while the fighters destroyed any personal vessels trying to leave the planet. Unafarr was a minor resource world and, therefore, left relatively unprotected. Forty-seven minutes after their arrival, a massive Enclave fleet exited light space. They began to take up position around the planet, while the alien ships retrieved their fighters. The imposing Enclave destroyers began to fire their purple energy at the Syndicate ships. The eclectic alien fleet returned fire while waiting for their final fighters to board. It was quite a site as the two armadas began to pound at each other. The battle was short lived as the aliens beat a hasty retreat back to Syndicate territory only a minute or so after the Enclave fleet had arrived.
“Admiral Tonus to Enclave Prime, the aliens have been repelled. They ran like cowards when we arrived. The fleet took minor damage and lost two ships. The alien fleet lost nine ships while it fled. They have caused considerable damage to Unafarr. They destroyed seven settlements and all of the mines. Casualties are estimated in the hundreds of thousands; mostly alien slave labor.”
“Admiral, do we know what caused the attack? What made them choose this world?” Lucien asked, enraged that those disgusting aliens would attack any of his worlds.
“We believe it was because of the resources Unafarr provides the Enclave, Supreme Commander. The planet is not among our top producers, so we did not have a fleet presence in the system.”
“So, faulty information, then? Is it possible they thought they were depriving us of a more considerable amount of resources?”
“It is possible, Sir. Unafarr used to be a big resource planet, but we have just about exhausted this world’s resources. It is probable they had outdated information.”
“Very well, Admiral, keep me posted.” Lucien ended the transmission, but something didn’t sit well with him about the attack.
Dobar received a transmission aboard his flagship; Human Destruction.“Mission accomplished, Sir. Enemy response time was far slower than we thought. We could have inflicted twice the damage in half the time. As soon as we come across a world worth razing, we shall hit the humans where it hurts most. Once we have eliminated enough resource worlds, they will need to thin their fleet to protect nearly useless assets.”
“Very good, Captain, what was their response time?” Dobar inquired.
“Just over forty-seven minutes. We ran as soon as they showed like you told us to. We even let them destroy nine useless vessels to sell the ruse.”
“Ah, the decoy vessels worked out for us, then?”
“Yes, Sir, I believe they did. With enough of the useless shells, they will never know the true size or power of our fleet.”
“You have done well, Captain.” As the transmission faded, Dobar allowed himself a smile. The first move in this deadly game had been made. The human fools had no idea what his real plan was. The Syndicate was now one step closer to dominating the galaxy.
______
President Sandoval was on his way to meet up with Admiral Bliney and he had some good news. The Secretary of Defense had just let him know that the space dock was going to be finished a full three months ahead of schedule. This will put another twenty ships into the fleet ahead of time. He excitedly thought. The implications of this development have to be addressed and our people should be rewarded for their diligence. The President entered the conference room with a spring in his step. He left his protection detail just outside in the hall. Minutes later as he was still waiting, he heard a commotion outside in the hall. He commed his security chief to ask what the problem was, but received no answer. He commed his detail supervisor, but again, received no answer. He was about to stand to speak to the guards posted outside the door when Admiral Natora sauntered into the room. He had a blaster on his hip and President Sandoval did not like the look in his eyes.
“What is the meaning of this, Admiral? You were not invited to this meeting. Why have my guards let you pass?”
“Your guards didn’t let me pass, Sandoval, they died by my hand.” He smiled as he slowly drew his blaster.
“Why are you doing this, Natora? What will you gain?”
“I am doing this to put an end to your ineffective rule. I will gain a position of great importance among the Enclave when they arrive to subjugate your precious Coalition.”
“What are you talking about? The Enclave is all but dead. You and the mystery member are all that remains.”
Natora laughed a mocking laugh as the President was trying to make his way to the exit. “The twelve were just sleepers for what I believe you referred to as the Human War Machine. My people are heading this way. We need Marcos’ technology in order to defeat the Human Suppression Syndicate. They are not heading here; they are heading to the Enclave. If, however, we strike an alliance with the Enclave, the aliens will attack here. They have no wish to fight the Leviathans and War Hawks en masse, so they will seek to destroy the planets on which they are built. By that time, the Enclave will be in possession of a couple hundred of the ships, and we will be well on our way to building our own. With that technology in our grasp, and the Coalition taking a large enough chunk out of the enemy fleet, we will dominate the galaxy. We will rid it of all aliens, and any humans that will not bend their knee. This is what the Coalition has to look forward to.”
“I cannot believe you would betray us like this, Natora, we are your people.”
“No, you are not,” he replied sadly. He lifted his blaster and pointed it at the President. He smiled one more time and fired.
Admiral Bliney was entering the conference room as he saw Natora lift his blaster. He shouted, “No,” as Natora mercilessly executed the elected leader of the Coalition. Before the President had even hit the floor, Bliney had his blaster out and fired three times. He hit a shocked Admiral Natora twice in the chest and noticed his smile was gone as he rushed to the President’s side. President Sandoval was gasping for air as Admiral Bliney commed a med-team and called for the Marines to surround the capitol building. He could not believe what Admiral Natora had done. This could very well plunge the Coalition into chaos at
a time they needed to be focused.
President Sandoval knew he was going to die, but he had to let Admiral Bliney know what was to come before he did. “Admiral,” he coughed.
“Don’t try to speak, Sir. Help is on the way.”
“Admiral, don’t let the Enclave take the Coalition.”
“What? Sir, what are you talking about?”
“The human army we saw…they are the Enclave.” He coughed up some more blood as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. A moment later, he breathed his last. Bliney was shocked by what the President had just told him.
Only moments later the med team arrived; the emergency personnel began to feverishly work on President Sandoval’s body, but quickly realized they were too late. The President was dead.
