Gateway To The Universe: In Bad Company

by Craig Martelle

  Bethany Anne turned and walked the other way. “On the positive side, you will meet friends of entirely new species, species or races or whatever they are of aliens that you’ve never been able to even imagine…and some of them might become your new best friends.” She stopped to look at the two women, letting this sink in for a moment. “Do you understand this? Can you understand this?”

  Valerie’s heart fluttered and her throat went dry, but she nodded.

  “If I may,” Robin said, surprising Valerie. The others turned, waiting patiently. “We’ve proven ourselves on Earth,” the young woman continued, “and we’ve done what we can to get it, or at least our immediate area, the closest to order and peace that we thought possible. Maybe it will last, maybe it won’t, but…I think we both understand that there’s a much larger war going on up here, and if we stayed on Earth, not being a part of it, well, we might as well be dead.”

  “I think she means to say,” Valerie jumped in, not fond of the ending of her friend’s little speech, “is that it would be no worse than crawling into some hole and just sleeping through it all. We aren’t that type of women. If there’s a problem, you can bet this spaceship that we’ll be on the front line working to shove that problem’s head up his own ass.”

  “Spaceship,” Michael said, smiling. “That’s a cute way of referring to the ArchAngel II.”

  There was a female’s voice, one that sounded like Bethany Anne but came from the speakers in the room. “I am a Leviathan Class Super-Dreadnought, built in the space yards of the Yollin Fleet. I am the first of my kind and if I can take a quote from a movie, I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments I will add to, like tears in the rain. It is not yet my second time to die.”

  It was clear Bethany Anne was trying not to laugh, but she simply nodded and replied with, “Good.”

  “Good?” Valerie pursed her lips, waiting for more. When nothing more came, she continued, “Good as in, you’re happy to have us on board?”

  Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “Of course! Please, your efforts preceded you. Had you fallen in your trials, we would have paid our respects and made sure that your coffin was sent into the sun at a minimum to our fallen warrior. Your names have already been written into the history books.” She nodded, satisfied. “I’m looking forward to hearing about your contributions to the Bad Company.”

  “Actually,” Michael started, but paused.

  Bethany Anne looked over. “Yes?”

  Michael replied, “Well, the discussions have revolved around her forming a new team.”

  Because?

  She’s a bit of a loner. She does not know how to fit in the bigger group. Between her and Robin, they tend not to want the dust to settle under their asses for too long.

  Bethany Anne’s chuckle was easy to hear in their mind speech. Yes, I know the type well. She turned back to the two.

  “We shall go with Valerie’s Elites, then, a team working under the Bad Company.” Bethany Anne looked between the two and winked. “It’s a hell of a name, make sure you step up your game.”

  Michael gestured to the doors and nodded. “Come, we’ll get someone to show you to the shuttle while Bethany Anne and I chat. You’ll need to transfer over to the War Axe as soon as possible. You’ll want to introduce yourselves and make yourselves at home. It’s going to be a long journey, and you will want to get to know everyone.”

  They walked to the door and turned to once more thank him and Bethany Anne for including them in this, and then exited, both feeling as if they had just walked to Mount Olympus in a mythological Greece and stood among the gods.

  CHAPTER THREE

  On board the War Axe

  Terry and Char turned their attention to the group in the ship’s recreation room. No one had ventured beyond what they knew. Dokken stood at Terry’s side, waiting patiently.

  “You’re going to scratch that dog’s hair off,” Char told her husband. Dokken cocked his head back and forth as he looked at the Werewolf. He started to growl, but she snapped her teeth at him, eyes sparking purple. She was the alpha.

  The big dog backed up a step. “Hey!” Terry looked down at the massive German Shepard. Terry didn’t have to bend down to pet his head. They both seemed to like that. “Don’t be scaring my dog.”

  If a dog could sigh, Dokken pulled it off magnificently.

  “Sorry, buddy,” Terry apologized. He looked into the rec room where two platoons of FDG warriors were waiting. Terry and Char, then their kids, had spent the majority of their adult lives serving in one military or another. Thousands had served in the Force de Guerre over the years, but they’d reduced the numbers of those in active service to what Terry looked at.

  One hundred percent had volunteered to follow Colonel Walton to space. He didn’t expect that, but when it happened, it was a mad scramble to bring everyone aboard the War Axe, which wasn’t family friendly, but the warriors with families came regardless. The destroyer’s crew went out of their way to make the newcomers feel welcome.

  But they had so much to learn. None of them had operated in space before. None of them had met an alien before, until they boarded the War Axe, where they met a few Yollins.

  Yollins were the galaxy’s warriors. Some with two legs, some with four, and mandibles, they were sufficiently foreign to Earth’s humans to shock their senses. Terry Henry thought he was ready to meet them, but he wasn’t. And neither were any of the others. Cory was the kindest of them all and greeted them warmly, but without their chips, the translators installed, none of Terry Henry or his people could communicate with the aliens.

  Or with Dokken.

  “Listen up!” Terry bellowed into the crowd of confused people. There was nothing like getting the word. Right now, no one carried the power of the word. Without the word, the warriors filled in the gap in their knowledge with the worst things they could contemplate.

  Terry couldn’t have that. Char’s concern told him that she also craved the word, just like him. That sealed it.

  “I shall venture forth on a holy quest!” he yelled with a big smile. Char’s expression turned to one of disbelief. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “I will find out what our next steps are. We are traveling to the stars, but what will we need to learn along the way? I will publish a plan of the day and all of you--” He eyed the Weres specifically. “--will be sitting pretty and paying attention. Now stand by to stand by. Hurry up and wait! I’ll be back as soon as I can find my way to the captain.”

  Everyone looked at TH. He looked back. He threw his hands over his head. “Hip, hip!”

  He was greeted by silence.

  “You yell ‘hooray.’ One more time,” he snarled, not amused by the lack of gusto. “Hip, hip!”

  “Hooray!” most of them offered with little feeling.

  “Again!” he yelled. On the fourth round, they were on their feet and screaming ‘hooray.’ Terry was pleased.

  “So say we all,” he said softly to Char. She had to smile as she wondered how much television he was going to watch, now that it was available to him again with all his favorite shows from a long-gone era.

  Dokken trotted toward the hatch and Terry and Char followed him out. He turned left, when Terry expected him to go right. They continued down the corridor, through multiple hatches, up a level, and through two more hatches before the dog stopped at a nondescript doorway.

  “This reminds me of a submarine,” Terry said. Char had been in the Navy at one point in her long life, and she recognized the similarities, too.

  “Either get crushed or drowned or lose atmosphere and die in the vacuum of space,” she intoned.

  “Humans are so frail,” Terry said with a chuckle. He and Char were anything but. “What’s in here, Dokken? Damn, I wish I could talk with you.”

  Terry scratched the German Shepard’s ears. The door slid a
side and a man stepped out. He looked quizzically at Terry and Char, before looking at Dokken and nodding.

  “Follow me,” the man said, turning and heading back into the room that looked like a mix between a high-end computer operation center and a medical laboratory.

  “Why?” Terry asked, standing his ground.

  “I thought you were sent here to get your upgrades? You’ll need them if you want to communicate with Dokken, the ship, the Yollins, well, anyone. I can’t imagine not being able to communicate,” the man said.

  “Isn’t that what we’re doing now?” Terry said, feeling the smartass in him rising. It had been a long time since someone had dismissed him as a lesser being. Char put out a restraining hand.

  A voice bellowed from behind them. “Just fucking do it. Go in and take your medicine.”

  Terry turned at the words, narrowing his eyes at the man’s face. Something looked familiar. Terry was getting ready to bark back at the man, but Char’s gentle touch stayed his hand. He took a deep breath.

  “I’m Terry Henry Walton, TH to my friends,” Terry said, stepping forward with his hand outstretched.

  The other man took it and gripped, firmly. Terry Henry smiled and leaned into his grip, recognizing the man’s enhanced strength. He saw the light armor that the man wore. Exotic. Custom. Alien.

  “I’m John Grimes,” the man answered simply.

  Terry lessened his grip in surprise at hearing the name. His hand crunched as John squeezed for an instant before letting go. Terry winced, but held the man’s eyes. “Mrs. Grimes was a member of my team. She was good people.” Terry recognized that the two had the same shape and color of eyes.

  “She was my cousin. I heard that you had taken care of her, helped her to live a long and happy life.”

  Terry racked his brain and couldn’t come up with anyone who would have known that. Maybe Akio had been in Terry’s mind more times than he let on. There wasn’t much Terry could do about it now. He shook his head.

  “Thank you, TH,” John said sincerely before slapping Terry hard enough on the shoulder to knock down a lesser being.

  “Candy-ass,” Terry said softly with a half-smile. John ignored him as he turned to Char.

  “You must be the power behind the throne, Charumati, alpha of your pack.” She offered her hand, ready for a short power grip, but John bent down and kissed her long fingers instead. Dokken sneezed and shook his whole body.

  “Only a Marine would do that to another Marine’s wife.” Terry took a bold step forward. Char looked at TH and then at John.

  “Don’t make me kick both your asses. A squid beating up on two Marines would be embarrassing for both of you. And if you win, then you’re beating up a helpless young girl, but if I win, I’ll be a legend.”

  Terry and John looked at each other. “And that’s why I’m so in love after all these years.”

  John Grimes started to laugh, before looking at Dokken and twisting his mouth sideways. “I know, I know. It’s so unlike me to do the foofy crap, but you’re right, we have a schedule to keep. Come on, you two. Let’s get you fixed up.”

  “I didn’t know I was broken,” Terry replied.

  “It’s all relative. I can’t wait to spar with you. Maybe you’ll give me a little something I haven’t seen before. Probably not, but hey! We won’t know until an ass is kicked, will we?”

  Terry chuckled. He had an idea who John Grimes was because of conversations with Akio, but hadn’t realized how much he would like the man. It was like he reconnected with a long-lost brother from his Marine Corps days.

  “And you’ll want to talk with him. He knows some shit.” John jabbed a thumb toward Dokken.

  Terry motioned for Char to go first and he followed her in. There was only one Pod Doc and there was a brief delay as Terry and Char looked at each other, trying to decide who would go first. They both pointed to the other and said, “You first,” simultaneously.

  “For fuck’s sake. It’ll take ten minutes. You first, TH, while I discuss with Charumati what it’s like to live with a fucking jarhead for, what, a hundred years?”

  “One twenty-eight, but who’s counting.” Char smirked.

  “Goddammit!” Terry exclaimed while the man in the lab-coat tapped his foot impatiently. “Fine.”

  Terry climbed in and the Artificial Intelligence known as ArchAngel from the ship in orbit linked with the EI from the War Axe in order to install and optimize Terry’s chip. Surreptitiously, the Pod Doc downloaded a sample of Terry’s nanocytes for analysis, to determine what made them so special.

  Ten minutes later, the Pod Doc opened and Terry hurried out. “Feels weird,” he said as he smacked the side of his head.

  Does my good boy’s head hurt? Terry heard. It sounded like it was directly in his brain. He wasn’t sure he’d heard anything. Down here, dipstick.

  “I’ll be damned. That’s you, isn’t it?” Terry asked Dokken.

  No shit. Do you wonder why they told you I was the smart one? Because of questions like that.

  “I’ve been wondering this my whole life. How do you know what you’re going to pee on?” Terry asked the dog.

  Dokken licked his dog lips and yawned, then started sniffing Terry’s leg purposefully.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Terry backed away, almost running into Char as she climbed into the Pod Doc. He mumbled an apology as the door closed, leaving Terry alone with John Grimes and Dokken.

  “I’m going to have to go. You’ll be able to talk with Smedley, the ship’s EI. He’ll get you where you need to go.” John held out his hand. Terry’s had already healed from the previous bone-crushing exchange, but this time, they shook like friends, not competitors.

  “One thing, John. The word,” Terry said, cocking his head. “My people are in the rec room, and I want to tell them what’s going on. Can you tell me?”

  “Just talk with Smedley, TH. He’ll take care of it. I look forward to that sparring match, brother. Maybe you’ll last longer than two seconds.” John Grimes laughed as he rolled his shoulders in anticipation of the contest.

  “Maybe, John. Until then.” Terry nodded curtly, then pursed his lips. “Smedley?”

  “Yeah, Smedley Butler, Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient. I thought it fitting.” John started to leave, stopped for a second, and spoke over his shoulder. “Family is everything, TH. You did my family a solid, and if you ever need anything, you give me a shout.”

  Terry watched the man leave. John walked like a warrior, alert, ready to react at any moment, even on a ship that should have been safe to all on board.

  But Marines like John Grimes and Terry Henry Walton couldn’t turn it off. They ran at high rpms.

  All the time.

  Dragging humanity back to civilization never took a day off. Neither did exporting justice.

  “Smedley?” Terry asked cautiously.

  >>Yes, Terry Henry Walton. You need something?<<

  Holy crap! That is weird. And delightful. It tickles my nose. I have a question, Smedley, well, a number of questions. What’s next for my people? I’d like to publish the plan of the day, so they know what is happening in their lives. It’s important.

  >>I will be more than happy to share a schedule with them, if you’d like. <<

  What does the schedule look like?

  Smedley directed him to a nearby monitor. A schedule of names and appointments appeared along with meal times, work out times, and even a recommended training regimen.

  “I like it,” Terry said aloud. “No choice about getting upgraded?”

  “Not if they want to communicate,” Smedley replied through the speakers next to the monitor.

  “There you are!” Terry blurted. “We’ll ask them while there’s still time for them to change their mind. How much longer are we going to be on the ground here?”

  “I think we will leave in five minutes.”

  “Holy shit! Can you patch me in to the rec room?”

  “Of course,” Smedley rep
lied.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Terry Henry sat in a chair before the monitor. He could see the people in the rec room. “Coming to you live, from the next stop on your all-expense-paid cruise through the Gateway to the Universe,” Terry said jovially.

  “Did you want me to show that to the people in the rec room?” Smedley asked.

  “Of course! What the hell did you think I was doing?”

  “I’m kidding. They can hear you,” Smedley replied.

  “Even now?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “What the hell?” Terry looked at the speaker to the side of the screen, ignoring the group of people staring at him from the rec room. “You’re not an AI, so you aren’t supposed to have a sense of humor.”

  “But we are studying hard, TH. I go to AI night school to improve myself. ArchAngel runs sessions three times a week.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Terry blurted.

  “I’m Smedley Butler. Named after a Marine Corps Major General who was, at the time, the most decorated Marine in history. John Grimes thought it apropos because I am the War Axe, and my primary mission is combat. Will we be going to war soon? It is my purpose for being one with this ship.”

  Terry leaned back and whistled. “That’s a damn good question, General. We’ll try to get an answer to that, but not just for you,” Terry said, turning toward the people on the screen, “but for all of you, too. Smedley, post the schedule for everyone to see. I’m sure they’re tired of looking at my mug.”

  “I’m not,” Char whispered from behind Terry’s ear. He jumped and shook his head, before relaxing and looking at the people who had come with him from San Francisco.

  “You’ll see the time slots for each and every one of you for the Pod Doc. This is a medical procedure to install a communications chip of some sort in your head. It is perfectly safe and takes almost no time to do, but since this is your body, you can decide that you don’t want it. Unfortunately, if you want to come along, it will be required as it gives us the ability to communicate with the ship and those whose language we don’t speak.”