Pursuing Dreams (The Young Soldier Book 1)

by MK Clark

  “Startling is right,” Don muttered.

  “Watch it, General Nugget, or I’ll see you scrubbing the mess hall for the next three months.”

  “Yessir!” Don saluted with his fork, and then went back to pushing food around his plate.

  Silence passed between them until Syke could no longer stand it. “What were you thinking, O’Hara?” he asked again, his tone serious. “Your face was a little too...” He paused and seemed to search for the right word. Too dark. Sullen perhaps,” Syke finished.

  Don shrugged in answer.

  Syke shook his head and scooted over till he was sitting right in front of Don. “I don’t think so, buddy. It’s no good keeping all those negative emotions inside. It starts messing with your head, your judgment. I ain’t gonna be out there, flying around, wondering when you gonna break and go nuts.”

  Don rolled his eyes at Syke. “I’m not going crazy, man,” he said. “And I’m not going to go crazy either.”

  “Hell you aren’t!”

  “Listen―”

  “No, you listen!” Syke interrupted. “Out here, things is different. On Earth, you keep your thoughts to yourself, and nothing happens. You bottle it up, it’s okay. Here, you do that and you be out there one day with nothing but you and the blackness, and suddenly that voice in your head becomes really real. Suddenly, whatever you bottling up, your fear, your anger, your craziness, it come out. On Earth it’s okay, people can recover from that, but not us. You lose control or get distracted, even for a second, you go crazy even for a second, and we all dead.”

  Don could not believe what he was hearing, and from Syke of all people. He always had a certain look of madness in his eyes that no one questioned. “You’re paranoid,” Don stated. “You have more mood swings than a woman, and you’re the most certifiably insane of anyone on this ship.”

  Syke’s eyes flashed as he stood to leave. “Sit down, O’Hara.”

  Don sat, wondering if perhaps he had gone too far.

  “Wearing my emotions on my sleeve may get me into trouble occasionally, but at least my commanding officer know exactly where I stand at all times. She know when she can trust me an’ when she can’t. Now tell me what you thinking, or I’ll report you to Yo-Yo.”

  Don scowled. “Fine!” he snapped. “I’m sick and tired of being restricted because of who I am. I’m tired of having a father whose position gets me stepping into shit piles everywhere I go. I’ve worked too hard to get here, just to sit in the belly of a ship, grounded because my Cobra might get shot down. God forbid we ever get into a real fight. Lauden might have to tuck me away in a pod and jettison me from the Morning Star, lest she take damage!”

  “Well, shoo, General! It’s no good letting all that negativity build up. You go crazy like that. We all angry, but you don’t see Xena and me keeping it in.”

  “Xena?”

  Syke grinned wickedly. “That’s Ki’s codename. She don’t like it much, so she forbid us using it.”

  “She forbid you?”

  “Yup, she hates it.”

  “But you don’t obey anyone.”

  Syke smirked. “Yeah, well, she good in a fight. It’s why I trust her to back me up.”

  Don’s jaw dropped. “You’re actually afraid of her, aren’t you?”

  Syke guffawed but didn’t answer.

  “You are!” Don laughed and kept laughing as Syke scowled in response.

  “What’s up with him?” Lana asked from somewhere behind Don.

  One look at her perplexed expression was all it took to send Don into another round of uncontrolled laughter.

  “Not a clue,” Syke snapped. “Probably gone stir crazy.”

  Lana frowned. “I ain’t flying with no crazy man.”

  Syke patted her shoulder sympathetically as he stood. “It’s okay. He’ll be better in a few days.”

  “Not gonna cut it,” she answered. “Yo-Yo finally landed us a mission.”

  The words were hardly out of her mouth when Don sobered. He jumped up to face her. “When?”

  “Briefing in ten.”

  Syke and Don whooped and ran from the mess hall, leaving Lana to grab their trays and dispose of them.

  There were only a few pilots in the briefing room when they entered. All of whom, save the CP, were easily recognizable as Space Jumpers. Don sent a questioning look in Lana’s direction and received a shrug in return. It wasn’t until Moose and X-Ray entered the room that the CP ceased scowling in the corner and moved to the podium. The two flights slid silently into their seats.

  “Only your two flights will be participating in this venture. I thought that a mission of this quality would be best suited to your...” He paused long enough to sneer. “...abilities.”

  Kyomo was the only one who kept a straight face as Lauden finished his remark. Don could even hear Syke mumbling insults under his breath.

  “We have received,” Lauden continued, “a request from a convoy for escort from the Omega sector to the Gamma sector. This channel has been known to occasionally contain small pockets of pirates, from either side. Chances of a confrontation are extremely slim. Despite this, there are a few defenses within the convoy. If attacked, it shouldn’t be anything Bauer’s flight can’t handle on their own.

  “However, Lieutenant Patricks, your flight will accompany them to provide backup, in the extreme case it is needed. We are being amply compensated for our trouble, so I expect this mission to be carried out successfully. Lieutenant Patricks will inform you of the details for this assignment.”

  They all stood and saluted as Lauden left. The moment he was gone, they slumped back into their chairs. A disgruntled silence filling the room as Kyomo took the floor. Chip passed them all tablets showing their mission notes. As always, they would be expected to memorize the information before wheels up.

  A brief scan told Don all he needed to know. He pushed the tablet away in disgust as Kyomo began.

  “Today at 1340, the Morning Star will rendezvous with the lead ship, the Mina. There are six ships accompanying the Mina. Specialist Bauer and I will meet with Captain Jonathan Hendricks aboard the Mina and discuss the mission. The Morning Star will accompany the convoy to the Acceleration Stream. We will suit up at 1840. O’Hara will dock aboard the Mina, Ki aboard the Eclipse, and Syke and I aboard colonial transport Kitty Hawk.

  “Bauer’s flight will join the convoy at 1940, and we will enter the Acceleration Stream at 2000. My team will relieve them twice during the first half of the trip. The first time will span a two-hour period at 0200. The second time will be different. At 1000, the convoy will exit the stream and continue outside it for seven and a half hours to allow Bauer, Moose, X-Ray, and Amal time to rest. The rest of us will remain docked and on standby.

  “The convoy will re-enter the stream for the last leg of the trip at 1800. This half will go approximately the same as the first. My team will relieve Bauer’s flight once at 2300. We should reach our destination, the space station Baltimore, at approximately 0530. The Achilles is scheduled to make a stop at the Baltimore. We will catch a ride with them to MOP-385, where we will rendezvous with the Morning Star.” Kyomo looked up and asked, “Any questions?”

  “Yeah,” Syke spoke out. “For starters, how come we on standby almost the whole mission?”

  “I think that’s pretty obvious,” Don answered, and all eyes turned to him.

  No one tried to contradict him.

  “It’s as Lieutenant Lauden said,” Kyomo finally stated blandly. “This is Bauer’s mission. We are simply here to provide backup if it is needed.”

  “Seem like an awful waste of our time.”

  “That is not for us to decide. These are our orders. Are there any other questions?”

  X-Ray shifted in his seat. “How are we to communicate with one another while not in our Cobras?”

  “All messages will be passed through the communications officer on the bridge of each ship. Any critical orders will be given over the intercom by the
captain of the ship you are on.”

  X-Ray nodded, satisfied.

  There were a few moments of silence before Don stood. “Permission to be excused,” he asked quietly.

  Kyomo nodded, and Don grabbed his tablet and headed for the hall. A voice spoke from inside, and Don halted just out of view.

  “How long are you going to let this go on?” Lana asked.

  Kyomo sighed. “I am not in control of what Lauden decides.”

  “Oh, come on!” Syke exclaimed. “You’ve never been this passive about anything!”

  “And what do you suggest I should do? Lauden has backed me into a corner on this one. Despite what you may think, I have had quite a few conversations with him.”

  “Go to the XO. Tell him what Lauden is doing.”

  “What makes you think the XO will see this any differently than Lauden?” Eli interjected. “It doesn’t matter how you look at it. Don is still the son of the major general. He’s faced this since before Basic. You have no idea what he had to do to even get there. Something none of us could skip out on if we wanted.”

  “But the XO approved his transfer!”

  “That was before he was put in a situation, which, on all accounts, should have ended with his death,” Kyomo replied. “He is very lucky to be alive right now.”

  “That could have been any of us.”

  “It could have, but it wasn’t,” Eli stated. “Just like it wasn’t anybody else when the Streets took him hostage.”

  “People look at you differently when you’re the son of a major general,” Kyomo said quietly. “No one wants to be responsible for O’Hara’s death, and no one wants to be responsible for keeping him alive.”

  “But the XO knew who he is before he let him come here.”

  “And now Lauden has the XO convinced that he is too inexperienced to be put into these situations. Until Don is no longer a rookie, this is his lot.”

  “How’s he to get experience if he never flies?” Lana asked. “There’s only so much he can do on an FMT.”

  “He not gonna be fit to fly anything but an FMT, pretty soon,” Syke continued.

  “I don’t think you give him enough credit,” Eli said, defending his friend. “He didn’t just waltz in here.”

  Don had heard enough. He walked away, stepping lightly to avoid drawing attention. So he wasn’t fooling anyone. And he had been right. There was really no hope for him.

  He found himself at the steps of the ladder to his Cobra. He came here occasionally to remind himself it was real. He’d sit inside to make sure he didn’t forget the feeling. Today, he sat on the steps and skimmed through the mission notes once more.

  Not long after, Kyomo found him. “Hey, Nugget.”

  He glanced up and started to stand, but Kyomo waved him down.

  “How disappointed are you?”

  Don shrugged. “I really should have expected it.”

  “So why didn’t you?”

  He shook his head; he didn’t have an answer.

  “Of course you know,” she insisted and sat down beside him.

  “I just thought...” he started and then sighed. “I thought that maybe things would change.”

  Kyomo nodded. “You hoped they would change.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Hope is good,” she said. “Hope means you haven’t given up. That’s all that matters.”

  Don gave her a puzzled look. “I don’t understand.”

  Kyomo smiled and patted his knee, “You don’t have to,” she said and then stood. “Just keep hoping that one day things will change. Until then, don’t forget why you’re here.”

  “Why am I here?” The words were out of his mouth before he knew what he had said. “What am I doing here?”

  Kyomo looked down at him. He thought he saw a touch of sympathy in her eyes. “That’s a question you have to answer, O’Hara.”

  “I didn’t come here to sit on the sidelines!”

  “Why did you come?”

  “To be a pilot. To be a part of this war and make a difference.”

  “Look down at your chest,” Kyomo ordered.

  Don knew what he was looking for before he saw it: his wings.

  “Don’t you see?” she continued. “You are a pilot. You are halfway to accomplishing your goal. Not everything can be achieved at once. Some things take time. One day, Lauden will have to face that you are a pilot, a very capable one. He cannot forever keep an entire flight grounded because of one pilot. He’s already been forced to assign you and the rest of us to this mission. It may take longer than you would like for Lauden to come around, but you, pilot, will become part of this war. You will make a difference.”

  Don gripped his tablet tightly and nodded.

  “Chin up, Nugget. Things will change.”

  Chapter 16.5

  July 17, 626 T.A.

  “This is a surprise, old friend!”

  “Astoundingly enough, you’ll find that I can indeed be sociable when the occasion calls for it.”

  “The occasion?”

  “Your sister called.”

  “I see… So you’ve come to give a broken shadow of a man your last regards?”

  “Something to that effect.”

  “Well, it’s about time this useless body gave up the fight, but I guess fighting is just too ingrained in it. Enough about me, though. What have you been up to, you ugly, old war dog? To be honest, I thought your work had consumed you.”

  “Well, it has, for the most part. More so now than before.”

  “Ah, yes, I heard about him. Read about him, too. It seems like he’s going to grow into a fine, strong young man. How old is he now?”

  “Seventeen today, actually. And he’s a pilot now.”

  “Is he really? He got accepted, then? Well, of course he did. He’s your son!”

  “Mmm… Accepted, graduated, and re-assigned.”

  “Fast thing, isn’t he? He must get his brains from his mother. Ah, now, she was a beautiful woman. Very intelligent, too. I do miss her conversation.”

  “Yes, we all do.”

  “Of course. Forgive me. How is your son?”

  “Literally or figuratively?”

  “You mean you don’t know?”

  “He doesn’t call much.”

  “Well, I suppose he’s busy; he’d have to be, moving that fast. What has it been? Three months? Four months since the Space Jumpers were selected?”

  “Eight months, almost to the day.”

  “How long has he been flying?”

  “Three months, I think. I hear his first flight was exceptional and that he received his wings with his first kill the third week.”

  “Does he call at all?!”

  “Not yet, but I suppose he’s busy.”

  “I suppose. Still… at all?”

  Chapter 17

  July 20, 626

  Don closed the hatch to the airlock and heard the sound of air being pumped in. When his helmet showed a safe reading, he unlatched it and pulled it off. There was a small click, and he turned to see the ship door slide open.

  “Pilot?”

  Don tucked his helmet under his arm and faced the crew member. “Pilot First Class O’Hara, permission to come aboard, sir?”

  “Granted.” The man stepped forward to shake Don’s hand and introduce himself. “I’m Jimmy Dukes, navigations, communications, and quartermaster, at your service. The captain said to bring you to the bridge.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Dukes.”

  Dukes made a face. “Just Jimmy or Dukes. I feel old enough, just standing next to you.”

  “Yes, sir, Jimmy, sir.”

  The man raised an eyebrow at him.

  Don grinned sheepishly in response. “It’s a habit.” Dukes seemed to accept this and motioned to the stairs. The journey to the bridge was a short one. The captain welcomed them in, and Don found himself in a much smaller area than he had expected. The two decks were tiered to fit as much into the space as possible. Dukes
squeezed past Captain Hendricks and climbed down to his seat.

  “Airman O’Hara, we are grateful to have you aboard,” the captain said, extending his hand. “We do not have the luxury of time to give you a grand tour of our lovely Mina, but you are welcome to stay on the bridge as we enter the A-Stream.”

  “Thank you, Captain Hendricks. It would be my pleasure.”

  The captain motioned toward the lower deck. “There is not much room, but I believe there beside our pilot would provide you with a very educational view.”

  “Thank you, sir!” Don answered with genuine gratitude.

  As he made his way down, the captain turned his attention to Dukes. “Jimmy, if you would, contact our guard and the convoy, and then we will be on our way.”

  Don reached the pilot and stood quietly to the side, scanning the controls. The woman glanced at him. “Name’s Jillian Spares.”

  “Don O’Hara. Pleasure to meet you.”

  She nodded once and turned her attention forward as the captain called out her orders. Well aware of the opportunity he’d been given, Don studied everything she did.

  “Approaching the A-Stream, Captain.”

  “Clear for entry, Captain.”

  Captain Hendricks picked up his com link. “All crew, be advised that the Mina is preparing to enter the A-Stream.” He clicked the com off. “Jimmy, connect me with the convoy.”

  “Captain.”

  “All ships, this is the Mina. Report when in position to enter the stream.”

  They waited in silence and then Dukes spoke. “Transports one and two at the ready, sir.”

  The captain nodded and waited until Dukes had accounted for all of them. “All ships, we will now proceed. Enter the stream at a speed of one five zero TKs. All ships will match the Mina’s rate of acceleration of two zero TKs upon entry of the A-Stream and capping at a speed of three three zero TKs. On my mark. Three, two, one, mark.”

  Jillian moved the throttle slowly forward. Don heard the Mina’s engines roar from behind them. He found the pilot’s NAV screen and watched the numbers change.