by Saxon Andrew
“If you want to speak to me, subvocal ‘Ka’. If you want Mila, same thing, subvocal ‘Mila’. The same is true for Indie. Now, if you want all three of us connected, simply subvocal the two-letters ‘ZJ’.”
“What about Admiral Talent?” Indie asked.
Ka smiled, “Subvocal ‘Tal’. If you want everyone on the ship, subvocal ‘Zak’s Jil’. Let’s give it a try.”
Tal was observing them using Ka’s invention and the silence was wonderful. Finally, he heard Ka say over his subvocal unit, “And that is how you link Tal in to our conversation.”
“Ka, do you think you can learn to do this in the stress of battle?” Tal asked.
Ka answered over the subvocal, “We’ll be using it during the rest of our simulations, Tal. We should be ready.”
Tal nodded, and he was eliminated from the link. They went back to their simulations and there were only a few lapses where one of them spoke aloud. Ka had come through again.
At the end of the day, Tal called a halt to the training. The three console operators turned to him, and Tal said, “We need some rest. Fatigue is going to set in and we won’t be performing at our maximum abilities. Call it a day.”
Indie stood up and said, “Ka, this device is amazing. Are you going to make it available to the other ships?”
“I haven’t really given that any thought. The thought of using it came to me when Tal popped a lid.”
“HEY!”
Ka turned to him, “I’m sorry, Sir, but you did get quite aggravated.”
Tal exhaled softly, before nodding, “I guess I did. But I so believe we do need to give this to the other crews.”
Ka lowered her eyebrows, thought for a moment, and then turned to Indie, “Can you get all the names of the crews along with the names of their ships?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Gather them and send them directly to Dr. Meier. I’ll have him program the subvocal modules and we’ll teach them how to use them in a joint meeting.”
“Ka, I want all of those codes in my unit!” Tal interjected into the conversation.
“Tal, most of them will be far outside the subvocal’s range.”
“What is the range, Ka?”
“I’m not really sure, but I do know that a ship in high orbit can talk to someone on a planet’s surface. I believe outside of twenty-thousand-miles it wouldn’t be able to make contact. The range in space is greatly increased but our ships will be scattered at great distances while scouting Andromeda. I don’t think they would work outside of a billion miles.”
“So, if we had to fight a fleet action, all my ships would be within range of it, right?”
Ka shrugged, “I suppose.”
“Then get those codes for me, please. You can help me program them in my module.”
“Yes, Sir.”
That night, Indie was in his quarters getting ready to go to bed and glanced at the mirror on his dresser. He flinched and then remembered that the image he saw was him. He hadn’t gotten used to it yet. He threw himself on the bed and put his hands behind his head. He was going to look like Nordstrum Haliday. How was that possible. Suddenly he heard over his subvocal module, “Indie.”
“Yes, Mila.”
“I want to apologize for my behavior on my first-day.”
“There’s nothing to apologize for, Mila. I fully understand your disappointment.”
“But you didn’t deserve it. I can see now that I was being short sighted and was acting like a selfish brat. I know that I have a lot of work to do to come even close to your talents. I’m truly thankful that you’re with me on the ZJ. I know I’m safer with you present, we all are.”
“Thank you, Mila. I know you’re going to be a great pilot.”
“If I am, it will be due to your helping me get there, Indie. See you in the morning.”
The contact ended, and Indie sighed. Mila had the misfortune to have to serve with three-genetically-enhanced-humans. She was holding her own…but…she might lose her spirit when she found she couldn’t match them. He had to make sure that didn’t happen. At least she was good material to work with; that would help.
• • •
The next morning, three-new officers reported to the simulation room. They came to attention and Tal looked at Indie. Indie stood up from his console after he paused the simulation. He walked over to the three-officers, stopped in front of the highest ranking one and ordered, “Report.”
A young woman answered, “Sir, I’m Lieutenant Montana and I’ve been assigned to Zak’s Jil as her coverage officer.”
Indie stepped in front of the man to her immediate right and he said, “Sir, I’m Ensign Coronado and I’ve been assigned to Zak’s Jill as the forward missile operator.”
Indie stepped in front of the third officer and he said, “I’m Ensign Coronado and I’ve been assigned to Zak’s Jil as the rear missile operator.”
Indie looked back at the other missile operator and asked, “Are the two of you related.”
“Yes, Sir. The rear missile operator is my younger brother.”
Indie stepped back to the woman, “You have the same surname as Fleet Admiral Montana, are you related by any chance?”
“I’m his younger sister, Sir.”
Tal turned his chair around slowly and said, “Do tell. I didn’t know Duncan had a sister.”
“Sir, I was sort of an accident. He’s thirteen years older.”
Tal chuckled and smiled, “Is there a reason you were chosen to be my coverage officer?”
The woman’s face turned red and she answered forcefully, “Sir, I am the highest-ranked coverage officer in my class at the Academy.”
“That’s not an answer, Lieutenant!” Tal snapped at her.
The woman’s expression tensed up, as she said, “He didn’t like my joining the service and he may have assigned me to this ship to make sure I stayed out of trouble.”
“Do you mean danger?” Ka quickly interjected from her console.
The woman turned to her, “No, Sir. I have a way of getting into trouble.”
“Is that so!” Tal asked as he stood up, “We’ll discuss what that means later. Captain Wolfe, they’re all yours.”
Indie said, “At ease. Go to the back of the room and pick up some chairs. Bring them back up to the three-consoles at the front.” Indie turned to Mila and Ka, “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to pause the simulation we’re currently running at some specific points.”
Ka raised her right shoulder, “It may throw us off in our timing.”
“Sir, they need to see what will be expected of them.”
Ka smiled, “Do what you think needs to be done, Captain.”
The three-returned with chairs and Indie instructed, “Leave them here for the moment. I want you to gather behind Commodore Albritton’s chair and study her monitor while we’re going through a simulation. The monitor you’ll be seeing is an exact duplicate of the one that will be used by your missile consoles. The white blips on the monitor are enemy warships and the blue colored blips are missiles fired at our vessel, understand?” The three nodded and Indie continued, “Please notice that there are three blips on the target that are red and have a F or a R beside them. What do you think they are, Ensign Coronado?”
One of them asked, “Uhhh…which of us do you want to answer.”
Indie rolled his eyes and it was all Tal could do not to laugh, “What are your first names.”
“My name is Ricardo.”
“And you will be operating the…” Indie pressed.
“Forward missile launchers, Sir.”
Indie then turned to the second missile operator, “And your name is…
“Jose, Sir?”
“Alright, Jose, what do the red blips Indicate.”
“A target for a missile, Sir?”
“Absolutely right, Jose! And which of the three-red-blips will be assigned to your console?”
“The one with the ‘R’ beside it.”
“Very good, Jose. Ricardo, do you see the relationship?”
“I do, Sir, R beside a red blip is to be targeted by the rear missile launchers. F is for the forward launchers.”
“Now this is important. Your consoles will not be free to fire unless Commodore Albritton releases them. Once she announces ‘Missiles Free’ you will target the red blips assigned to your consoles and lock a missile on the target, launch it, and fire again if you have more than one target. You will target and launch your missiles without taking your eyes off your monitors.”
The two-brothers looked at each other and Ricardo spoke up, “Sir, we’ve not been trained to do that.”
“Well, you will be now. You will be able to lock the missile on the target or targets without looking at your consoles. We’ll start you slowly at first and then pick up speed. I’m going to start the simulation in a moment and I want all of you focused on what’s happening.”
“Yes, Sir,” they all replied.
Indie returned to his console and glanced at Mila and Ka, “Are you ready?”
Mila nodded, and Ka said with a smirk, “Let the games begin.”
The three officers suddenly saw Ka’s monitor come to life; they were stunned at the speed of what was happening. They stared wide-eyed at the monitor and became overwhelmed in seconds. Suddenly the monitor froze, and Indie shouted, “How many targets. Ricardo? Jose?” They were frozen staring at the monitor and both of them tried to find red blips on the monitor. Indie shouted, “Too late! The ship is dead.” Indie walked over and pointed to a red blip in the middle of six-white blips. He pointed to another one in the bottom right corner of the monitor and another one in the top-middle of the monitor. Indie looked at them and said, “I didn’t expect you to see them, so don’t beat yourselves up over this. You’re going to learn how to see them and you won’t miss them after you’re trained. Lt. Montana, you’re going to have to learn with them along with the pilot’s controls and my scanning console as well. You’ll begin at the missile consoles.”
“Yes, Sir. Sir?”
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
“There’s no way I can operate this weapons console.”
“Count yourself lucky; you probably won’t have to. However, you will be taking my place on the scanner console if I’m relieving Commodore Albritton.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Indie led them away from the front consoles to the missile consoles at the back of the room. Tal and Ka watched them leave and she turned to Tal with a concerned expression, “You’re right. These new ships are a beast to learn how to fight.”
“I hope we’re up to it,” Tal replied.
“They’re still better than the Epys, Tal.”
“If we don’t master the Sha’s systems, we’ll have to run if we encounter large numbers of Brotherhood warships.” Ka could only nod slowly in agreement.
Chapter Six
Tal left the simulation room and headed toward Duncan’s office. Duncan’s sister had him bothered. He had seen gung-ho graduates from the academy but this one was on an entirely different level. She was all spit and polish and she carried herself in an erect posture with her head high; she appeared to have a metal rod stuffed up her back. Her sandy blonde hair was cut short and she wore little makeup. Duncan was a handsome man, but his little sister looked rather plain. Tal thought about it and realized that they both had green eyes and the Lieutenant was taller than most women at around five-feet-eight inches tall. She was at least trim and in shape, what shape she had; there wasn’t much to see. Her eyes were the same color as her brother’s, but he could tell they looked out at the world differently. Tal decided she must see the world as a stark, hostile place to be dealt with head on. He arrived at Duncan’s office and put his thoughts aside.
Duncan saw him enter his office and waved him forward, “Does this have to do with your new crew?” Duncan asked.
“As a matter of fact, it does, Duncan. I didn’t know you have a sister.”
“I try to keep it secret.”
“Why?”
“She and I haven’t gotten along since her early years at the Academy.”
Tal leaned back in his chair, “Is she going to be a problem, Duncan.”
Duncan sighed, “I hope not. But I believe you and Ka are fully capable of handling her. I’m not so sure about your other commanders.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because she’s my sister and the others may cut her too much slack; I’m counting on you not to do that.”
“Did she break the law or something?” Tal asked.
Duncan sighed heavily, “No, at least not in the legal sense.”
“Why don’t you tell me about what happened.”
Duncan shrugged and sat back, “I tried to get her to back off joining the service, but she ignored my advice.”
“Why would you want that?”
“Katy has always been a hardheaded, stubborn, selfish, brat. She gave my parents fits and I just didn’t see how she’d ever fit in with the military. Following orders is not something she does well.”
Tal tilted his head, “Go on.”
“She went to the academy using our mother’s family name; she was enrolled as Katy Ingrid. She told me she didn’t want any special favors because she was my sister. I initially thought that was showing some rare maturity, but I was wrong about that.”
“Why?”
“Because it kept her under everyone’s radar and allowed her to do things that wouldn’t have gone unnoticed if anyone knew she was my sister.” Duncan paused and then continued, “The problems started the day one of the upper classmen ordered her to march with a spoon in her mouth with an egg on it. She was told that if she dropped the egg, she would clean it up from the marching field.”
“Duncan, that sounds rather…”
“Foolish?” Duncan added. Tal agreed. “Tal, the tradition of hazing undergraduates has been taking place since the early years the Academy was founded.”
“What possible purpose does it serve, Duncan?”
“It teaches the under classmen that any order they are given will be followed,” Duncan answered. “It starts them on the path of learning that orders aren’t requests. Severe hazing is forbidden and carrying an egg in a spoon is not going to hurt anyone.”
“What happened?” Tal asked.
Duncan threw his hands up and explained, “Katy dropped the egg and the entire company watched her get down on her hands and knees and clean it up. There was good natured ribbing and that should have been it.”
Tal pursed his lips, “But it wasn’t?”
Duncan nodded, “No, it wasn’t. Katy evidently found a live chicken and snuck it into the cadet officer’s room who ordered her to carry the egg. I don’t know what she fed that chicken, but by the time the officer returned to his room, everything, and I do mean everything, was covered in the chicken’s droppings.” Duncan paused, and then added, “The funny thing about the whole thing was no one saw Katy with that chicken or saw how she managed to get it into the officer’s room. But the officer had no doubt who had pulled the stunt and, even though an investigation cleared her, for lack of evidence, he made it his mission to get even.”
Tal tried not to smile but couldn’t pull it off. Duncan saw him and exhaled sharply, “Tal, I laughed initially as well, but it quickly became no laughing matter. The officer would make her do something ridiculous and then would find after shampooing that someone had slipped neon-green hair dye in the bottle. It quickly evolved into all-out war between that officer and Katy. The other upper classmen didn’t appreciate what Katy was doing to their comrade and joined him in making her pay for her sins. I have no idea how Katy found the time to go after them, but she was ingenious in what she did to them. The Commanding Admiral of the Academy would have expelled Katy, but she was never caught doing any of the acts being perpetrated on them.”
“What happened?”
“I checked in with Admiral Glennon and casually ask
ed how the new class was coming along. He told me about the all-out war between the upper classmen and a first-year cadet.” Duncan looked at Tal, “I felt a cold chill run down my spine when I asked the cadet’s name. He told me it was Katy Ingrid.”
“What did you do?”
“I told him I would be there the next day to review the Brigade. He was excited to show how well they were doing in their marching skills and I took a flight to the Academy that night.” Duncan sighed again, “I was on the reviewing stand with Admiral Glennon and received the salutes of the companies as they marched past. Glennon was right, they were good in their execution of marching orders. After, the parade was over, and all the companies were ordered to stand-at-ease, Admiral Glennon handed me the microphone to address the assembled Brigade.”
“Uhh-ohhh,” Tal responded.
Duncan tilted his head, “I might have done it differently if I wasn’t so angry, but I was. I took the microphone and said, ‘Cadet Katherine Ingrid Montana, report to the reviewing stand!’”
“I think Katy almost refused to do it but knew she had no choice. There was a long moment where nothing happened, and then I saw movement in one of the companies. Katy marched out of the ranks and walked across the marching field with every cadet in the academy staring at her. She had her head up and I could see from a long way off that she was furious.
She arrived in front of the reviewing stand and saluted. I walked down from the reviewing stand and stopped directly in front of her and returned her salute. She was standing at attention and I kept her standing there. I stepped in close to her face and saw her rage. But…once she saw my expression, her rage was replaced with fear. She immediately saw I was beyond angry.”
“What did you say?” Tal asked.
“I glared into her eyes and said, ‘Cadet Montana, is your practice to not follow the orders you are given without complaint?’
“No, Sir!”
“It’s my understanding that you’ve been retaliating against the officers giving you orders you don’t happen to agree with.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing, Tal. I think she suddenly realized that was exactly what she was doing. I honestly don’t think she made that connection until that moment. I stared into her eyes and let it all go. ‘Cadet, you place yourself above all the others around you. Every other cadet follows their orders without complaint and you deem yourself too good to do the same. You are a disgrace to the uniform you’re wearing and the traditions of this great institution. If you can’t follow the orders you’re given, resign now!’” Duncan shook his head, “She remained silent and I saw that she was broken hearted.”