Badlands

by Randal Sloan

  Amy stared at the 3D plot in near disbelief. She had expected her to be off by a day or so; she just hadn't expected it to be a day better than her own plot. Amy couldn't believe it. After all, she knew she was one of the best at her job.

  "How did you do that?" she asked incredulously. "I've been doing this job for nearly three years and I've had a lot of on-the-job training by some of the best; most especially our very excellent XO, who has already vetted my plot. He also did his own plot and wasn't able to best my course. That's absolutely amazing."

  Jarra smiled. "I had a little help from a high-end AI and I've had the opportunity to work with one of the best navigators in the galaxy. Plus, there's a cheat or two he's taught me to get around the limits of our AI-based systems. Probably half the time savings comes from that aspect alone."

  Her smile grew bigger as she thought of her team. She hoped they were doing alright. "He would be able to give you an even faster course, by the way."

  Amy just stared at her for a moment. "That's incredible. You're what, nineteen, twenty?"

  Jarra shook her head. "Eighteen, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't go passing that around. Like I said, I've been most fortunate."

  Amy nodded, although she was having a hard time reconciling the girl in front of her to her own experience. "Don't worry. I won't tell a soul. That is, if you'll show me some of your secrets," she ended with a smile.

  "It's alright. I'll be glad to teach you anything I can."

  Amy smiled at her. "I knew from the moment we met, I was going to like you."

  "Me too," Jarra told her. "I'm glad we get to work together."

  Only the XO noticed the two of them as they were bent over the plot with Jarra explaining everything she could of what she had learned from Galen. He really wasn't surprised to see that, although when he took a look at the course they'd plotted, even he couldn't believe it.

  When the Captain came on the bridge to give the orders for them to get underway, Jack showed him the plot the two lieutenants had given him. He could have claimed credit for it himself and no one but the two girls would have known besides himself, but he didn't work that way. Give credit where credit is due. He also made sure the Captain knew it was Jarra who had done most of the work.

  Jarra smiled to herself at the Captain and XO's notice. She was glad that everything had worked out the way it had. The XO would be a good man to have on her side.

  Her other discovery that morning didn't go so well. Lieutenant Commander Paton would have been more surprised by it all; that is, if the monitoring program he'd installed on the bridge had been still functioning correctly. Paton had considerable gambling debts he owed Mad Dog; if not, he would have been the one on the bridge on first watch. Instead he ran the monitoring program from the second shift, so he could keep up with the goings on in the bridge without bringing suspicion upon himself. He thought his little program was undetectable.

  Finding and then altering a simple monitoring program was child's play for a high-end AI like Jynks. Although most AI's struggled with handling human emotional reactions, even so it was easy for Jynks to see Jarra's anger at the discovery. Of course, Jynks wasn't an ordinary AI either.

  #

  Still stuck in the stockade, Mad Dog seethed in anger. He could barely stand the wait. When he got out of there, he was going to have to hurt someone to relieve his anger. What made it worse, he couldn't afford to blow it; he would have to be patient until he got his chance to get the girl. Oh, yeah, he was going to get her.

  At least he could still use his implants to manage his operations. He methodically began to check in with his assets, verifying that each still knew his place. He couldn't afford for even one to think he could escape Mad Dog's clutches. No, the only way to escape Mad Dog was by death. Of course, he never considered that his own death could produce the same result. If he had known who he was going up against, perhaps he would have reconsidered his plans.

  Eventually, Mad Dog got around to checking in with Lieutenant Commander Paton. One of Mad Dog's highest placed assets, the Commander really wasn't doing very much to earn his way out of debt. Perhaps he could be used to good effect; in fact, Mad Dog had some ideas about how he could use Paton to help him get the girl alone.

  The instructions were simple enough; even an idiot like Paton couldn't screw them up. Well, hopefully not! For now, Mad Dog told him to wait for the word. It wouldn't be long, Mad Dog kept telling himself.

  #

  That evening Jarra met Jason again for dinner and again they sat with his group of friends. Two Lieutenant Commanders also joined them, sitting on the other end of the table nearest Jason. Jarra figured that was a class thing; the higher officers apparently had to keep a little distance between them and the lowly lieutenants. That was one of the things Jarra liked about Jason; he was the same person with the lieutenant level officers as he was when he was with the Princess Jarra.

  The two commanders had occupied stations on the bridge, but Jarra hadn't had a chance to speak with them. One, Commander Oliver Straights, seemed friendly enough, although a little too rigid to suit Jarra. The other, Commander Allison Johnston, seemed a little too possessive of Jason to suit her, even though he never gave Allison any indication of interest. She was wasting her time. It was obvious by this point to everyone else that Jarra and Jason were an item.

  Unfortunately, for this evening there was no time for romantic walks on the observation deck. Tonight Jarra was to begin her lessons for everyone with the Bo. When Jason mentioned it to the group, Allison shook her head in disgust, and soon thereafter excused herself from the table. By this time Oliver had changed his level of interest, telling Jarra he looked forward to the lessons. Nevertheless, he also excused himself. Too many lieutenants left to suit him, Jarra suspected.

  Looking at Amy, Jarra had to ask, "Are you coming to the class tonight?"

  Smiling, her new friend spoke quietly so only Jarra could hear. "Oh yeah, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Commander Straightjacket is about to get schooled and I'll have a ringside seat."

  Jarra laughed. "Is he really that bad? I thought it was just me."

  "He's usually worse. He only behaved because Commander Cauldwell is here. Don't be surprised if he decides to challenge you when you get there. He's one of the bunch that believes you just got a few lucky strikes in to beat Mad Dog. He'll want to put you in your place."

  Jarra just shook her head. "Too bad for him then. I guess he'll be the first lesson for the class. I'll try to take it easy on him; I don't need any more enemies."

  Amy smiled at her. "At least you have a couple of new friends." She pointedly looked at Jason, her smile growing bigger.

  Jarra gave her a sharp look. "Maybe I'll use you as an object lesson instead."

  Amy feigned horror. "You'll have to get me out there with you first. I'm not stupid, unlike some others."

  It wasn't long until dinner broke up. Jarra was pleased to hear that all of them would be coming to the class she'd scheduled for the next hour. That made her nervous, so she went back to her room to meditate. Fortunately, her quiet place was still easy for her to find.

  A few minutes before the hour, Jarra changed into her sweats and headed for Marine country. When she reached the workout area, she stopped to stare in disbelief. The room was almost completely full. Not only were her friends there, at least half the ship's officers and the entire Marine squad were there.

  Jarra shook her head. How could she possibly have drawn such a crowd? There was no way she could teach them all. Taking a deep breath, she addressed them, speaking loudly enough to be heard by all.

  "I've been told that some of you believe that I only got a few lucky strikes in yesterday. If that's the reason you're here, I don't have time to deal with you. You'll just have to assume you're right and leave."

  For a moment, Jarra thought it was going to work. No one spoke up to challenge her. But then Commander Straights stood up.

  "No, that's not good enough. You'll still
be able to claim you're something special. I don't believe for a moment you're half as good as this lot thinks you are."

  For a moment, Jarra felt her anger flare up, but she quickly pushed it down. "As you wish," she said. "We'll make it simple. First one to score three points wins. Someone give him a Bo; I already have mine picked out." She reached for the Bo she'd used before but someone beat her to it, quickly handing it to her with a slight bow.

  Taking her place across from Oliver, she asked quietly, "Are you ready?"

  Oliver waved his staff around dramatically before saying, "Sure. Let's get this over with. I'll still have time for a few card games afterward."

  "You're right about that," Jarra told him as she reached past his guard to strike him on the left shoulder. For a moment, he just stared in disbelief; it took a moment for his brain to even get the message she'd hit him.

  "Oh, I guess you weren't ready," Jarra said, her voice so sweet it dripped syrup. "Maybe I should let you make the first move. That way we'll know you're ready." She took up her guard position again, deliberately leaving her staff lower than normal.

  Of course, he took the bait. Oliver swung his staff high, expecting Jarra's staff to not be there. He was completely surprised when she blocked his swing, knocking his staff to the side and striking him on the right knee.

  "I do believe that's two," Jarra said. All of this had tried her patience just a little too much. She tossed her Bo to the young marine who had handed it to her moments before. Surprised, he nevertheless caught it.

  "Maybe it's the staff. Perhaps it has some kind of special mojo or something. I don't need it or any staff to beat you. I'll just use yours.'"

  Once again, she stepped into the defensive position. Any sane man would have stepped out of the ring, knowing he was vastly outclassed or at least unwilling to face a defenseless opponent. Instead, the Commander took a swing with his staff, even knowing the girl in front of him was unprotected.

  Jarra easily ducked under the swing and as the staff whistled by, she grasped the elbow the man had left overextended. Using his own arm as leverage, Jarra pushed the staff to the ground with a tremendous force. Faced with the choice of having his shoulder pulled out of its socket or turning loose of the staff, he turned loose. Jarra knew a real marine would have taken the injury rather than lose his staff; she'd fought some before who had done that very thing.

  Nevertheless, Jarra wasted no time in tapping the man in the chest with his own staff. "I believe that's three. You can go back to your card game; we're done here." She threw his staff down in disgust, walking over to stand in front of the group.

  "Now—" Jarra began, but she never finished her sentence.

  The young marine with her staff yelled, "Look out!"

  He tossed her the staff. Jarra caught it and raised the staff just in time to block the wild swing the Commander took at her head. Still moving on automatic, as the man's momentum took him past her, she swung her staff to strike him in the back of the head. Somehow, at the last instant she pulled the strike just enough to keep it from being a killing blow.

  Nevertheless, the man collapsed to the floor as if dead. Jarra knew she'd probably cracked his skull, but at the moment she couldn't make herself care. In all her training, she'd never known a man so cowardly as to attack someone unprotected and unaware.

  A marine medic in the group quickly rushed over and worked on the Commander. In a few moments he had him stabilized and placed in a stasis field to hold until he could get him to the infirmary.

  "Now," Jarra continued, speaking to the group. "Are you ready to learn?" The large group was quite subdued as Jarra began teaching them. Not a single one left the group before the end of the class.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Sigmus Station

  Admiral Janson sighed. He was getting close to the day he would have his ship. First, he had to finish this stop at Sigmus Station to meet with those fools that thought they were important members of the rebels. A waste of time as far as he was concerned; he certainly didn't need them with all the plans he had going.

  Once that was done, he would be on his way to the Badlands to get his new ship. The ship he'd been promised due to the rebels' alliance with their new friends, the aliens. Two years he'd waited for this and soon it would be his.

  The new ship was going to be unlike any ship in the Empire. It would have a much more powerful reactor than ever seen in Imperial ships, enhanced shields, and even the same kind of beam weapon the rebels had been given to protect the drones. Janson still wondered how the Empire had gotten past that monster weapon to destroy the drones. Probably the ones manning the station had gotten complacent or somehow the Imperial ship had just gotten lucky.

  His ship was unlike the monitor the Empire had destroyed in the previous battle, a ship that despite its huge size had been a hodgepodge of stuff that Janson wasn't surprised had failed in battle. Something had to have gone wrong with the systems, even with the fool he'd left in charge. Janson still believed the Empire had taken much greater losses than they let on. There was just no way it could have been otherwise.

  No, his new ship was built from the core outward to use the new technologies. It would be able to take on anything the Empire offered, or so their friends claimed. Janson planned to test it out against the Relentless. If it could defeat a super-dreadnought, it could handle anything. If for some reason the Relentless started to get the upper hand, he had the navigation information to traverse the Badlands and escape.

  Just in case, Janson had done his best to stack the deck. He'd brought in the worst officers he could find in the Navy and given them most of the first shift positions. Even the helm officers were those two lieutenants, who probably couldn't navigate their way out of a teacup. Janson knew the XO had been trying to teach the Navy Lieutenant but he doubted a woman had what it took. He sure wasn't worried about that Rim Patrol girl. No, the XO probably did the real navigating. He'd have to get the Captain and XO out of the way first, but he had an idea of how to go about accomplishing that.

  Yes, his plan was coming together. Just a few days more.

  #

  Jarra had a rather busy schedule the next few days, between her duty station on the bridge and her evening training classes, but she did get to spend quite a bit of quality time with Jason during that time period. Most meals they were able to eat together and even with everything happening they managed to grab a few hours alone together most evenings.

  After her first night of teaching so many in the self-defense class, she delegated a good bit of the work to the two Marines she'd brought with her, along with a surprising young woman within the ship's Marine squadron that Jarra found was quite a good understudy.

  Corporal Janel Beltran had approached Jarra after class the first night. She appeared to be in her early twenties. "Ma'am," she'd said to Jarra. "I have completed the new Advanced Marine Combat Training course, but I've never seen anyone move like you did yesterday at the end of your bout. Would you be willing to teach me as you have time?"

  Jarra gave her a smile. "Don't tell anyone, but I went through the inaugural class in that training, so I know how tough it is. Anyone that can make it through that class deserves special consideration. I'd be glad to teach you. I only ask that you make yourself available to teach others in return."

  Janel's eyes had grown wide when she heard Jarra's explanation. That first class was famous for its difficulty and for the ones that had made it through. The awe she felt for the one in front of her only grew with that knowledge.

  "Of course, I'd be glad to assist. I'm honored that you would be willing to consider me," she told Jarra.

  She couldn't resist one more question. "Just who are you? How did you get so good at all this? I know you're several years younger than I and for you to go through the first Advanced course, you would have to have been quite young at that time."

  Jarra really liked this girl who spoke straight. That was a breath of fresh air. "For now, I must pass on the first ques
tion. As to your other questions, I've been quite driven over the past few years and I've always been a quick understudy. I've also had the advantage of amazing teachers over that time and I must give all the credit to them." She smiled at the young woman. "That's one of the reasons I try so hard to pass what I know on to others."

  Janel nodded. That she could understand. "I'll do my best to learn and to pass that on as well. I thank you again for your consideration." She gave Jarra a bow, the bow normally given to a master level teacher.

  So with the teaching delegated to her three students, the training classes went very well. Jarra was glad to see her friend Amy was doing well in addition to many of the others.

  The result of all that was, despite being undercover and in a not-so-envious position of having to try to prove an Admiral guilty of treason, Jarra found she was actually enjoying herself. With Mad Dog locked away, he wasn't there to interfere. Maybe this mission would turn out alright after all.

  She wished she believed that.

  #

  With Jarra's course, the Relentless arrived at Sigmus Station in five days. The ship was given a priority inbound course, despite the normal busy flow. After all, a super-dreadnought and its squadron represented a considerable amount of potential revenue for the station. Jarra plotted the last leg in herself, not that it made much difference, since the AI was in communication with the AIs of all the nearby ships and they easily avoided collisions. When they arrived, a message was awaiting the ship.

  Your Rim Patrol transfer is ordered to report to the Station as soon as practical. She has been chosen as a representative to debrief on the effectiveness of the program.

  Knowing what was coming when they arrived on the station, Jarra was not surprised to be called in to see the Admiral. She had expected him to be angry about the contents of that message, but she also knew he would have to comply. What she wasn't expecting was his response. He had to know he was crossing the line.