Unknown Earth Volume 2

by Frank Wallace

  There was no-one else here. One kiss couldn’t hurt anyone, right? Her lips part impulsively as her eyes fixate on his beautiful mouth. A quick flit upwards confirms he has the same thoughts she does. They move towards each other. Their lips brush against each other-

  A blast of chilly air shoots into the pod, jerking them apart. The lights fully switch on, causing a pained yelp from Zhang as they both shield their eyes. A loud humming confirms the power return, and with a bump, the pod slowly starts moving again.

  “Good news, Captain” Ravaan’s voice announces from Nemmy’s Strap, “Lieutenant Tasarov has been able to repair enough systems to regain control of the ship”

  “Symone…” Zhang growls to himself.

  “The ship will require extensive repairs, but we have enough power to get us to the nearest base. We will have you both out of the turbo-tube within a couple of minutes” he continues.

  “Thank you!” Nemmy squeaks, instantly rushing to get dressed. The cool air has cleared her head. But it can’t prevent her entire face from flushing crimson. What an embarrassing position for a Captain to be in. Zhang reluctantly starts putting his clothes on. He nudges Nemmy on the arm.

  “Hey, look- “

  “Please. Don’t say anything. This is mortifying enough” She snapped, studiously avoiding eye contact. Within seconds she is fully dressed. A confused Zhang is still half naked.

  “Why?”

  “I can’t do this with you! If the crew found out, the embarrassment would be unbearable” she snaps, turning away from him. The pod arrives at the door, and Nemmy frantically hammers the door release. Hopefully, no-one will be outside when she escapes.

  “Embarrassment? Excuse me? I’m sorry for trusting you with personal information, Captain” he moans. Nemmy spins around, angrily jabbing a finger at him.

  “You took advantage of the situation to make a move on your commanding officer! And I nearly…God, it doesn’t even bear thinking about! Is this the trick you do with all those other women?” She shouts. An astonished Zhang tries to protest his innocence, but she cuts him off.

  “Don’t even try. This never happened, do you understand?” She commands. The door finally opens, and Nemmy rushes out of the pod and runs down the corridor. Zhang steps out watching her.

  “I was telling the truth” he whispers to himself.

  Time to Learn

  Numerous drones lock the Boomslang into place in the sparse docking area. Nemmy is relieved when they arrived at the ISF base to find most of the repair spots empty. She’d be able to requisition a large number of repair teams to get the work done quickly, which she is extremely thankful for. Bringing in a ship for extensive repairs without having seen combat would be extremely embarrassing, and she’d had enough embarrassment in the past couple of days. She had diligently avoided Zhang at all costs, although for once he was working as hard as everyone else. The engineering crew were perhaps themselves ashamed that the ship was in such poor condition. Nemmy had been pleased to see several other crew members offer help in their own way. No one had made the engineers feel bad at all. The closeness and team-work amongst the departments was inspiring.

  She sits alone on the bridge, as the auto-nav system of the base had controlled the last hour of the trip. Most of the crew would take a couple of days of holiday. This place was no Sanctum but giving the crew any kind of break is always appreciated. She knew Ravaan had training plans in mind for all the Shipmates. The junior crew members could do with the extra work. But her slate had been blank.

  Until she learned that both her parents were on the base. She could find out more about these Ghouls and ask about the secret installations at the same time. She isn’t sure how she is going to word these questions in such a way as to actually get an answer, but there is plenty of time to figure that out. She leaves the bridge and heads for the shuttle bay, where most of the crew would already be waiting.

  By the time she gets there, the auto-docking procedure has completed, and several crew members are already alighting from the ship. All the Shipmates were assembled, ready to begin training. Ravaan looms in front of them, running a critical eye over their uniforms. Zhang and the engineering crew come down, and he shoots a glance at Nemmy, who ignores his pained look. She instead heads over to Angela who is standing at Stefan’s name plaque. She appears to be talking, and she catches herself talking to the plaque.

  “Sorry Captain. I just like saying hello sometimes”

  “It’s alright Angela. He was such a friendly man” Nemmy offers. Angela smiles, polishing the metal with her sleeve.

  “Yeah. Will we be getting a replacement pilot? The trainees are all wonderful, but I like having permanent people down here”

  “I’ll try to confirm who and when during this visit. Now go out there and take Lynsey to a nice restaurant” Nemmy says, patting Angela on the back.

  “Ugh, you know her, she’ll complain that the soup is probably poison” she jokes. They quickly make their way into the base proper, and Nemmy leaves Angela to her own devices. This base is one she has experience of, so she briskly makes her way through the pristine white and green hallways to the station command centre. Yet again she finds herself being gawked at by various station crew members. Must be the red-tipped hair, she thinks. She loves it far too much to change it now. As she hoped, her mother is indeed in the central command room, discussing something with a number of staff members. Most of the people in the spacious room are too busy with various consoles, displays and datapads to even notice her arrival. Alondra, on the other hand, spots her instantly.

  “Nemantha, you’re slightly ahead of schedule,” she says, dismissing her group with a flick of her wrist.

  “Hello, Mother-uh, Admiral,” Nemmy says, saluting.

  “You don’t need to worry. Your ship will be repaired and indeed improved within a day. Although I’d suggest you keep a closer eye on your technical staff. Ships shouldn’t be allowed to get into such bad condition” she admonishes.

  “I’ll do better, Admiral. Since I’m here, I was hoping we could talk about some things. If you’re free” Nemmy replies quietly.

  “Hmm. I was going to have lunch with your father. You can come along. Perhaps he won’t prattle on about law amendments for once. I assume you remember the way to my office” Alondra says acerbically. Nemmy gets the message, giving another unreturned salute before leaving. Alondra’s minions have already returned to her side before Nemmy gets through the door.

  All the Boomslang’s Shipmates, juniors, and seniors arrive promptly in the base’s largest training hall. They line up as previously ordered, waiting for further instructions. They stand in rows for what must be several minutes, looking around the typically barren hall. Little more than storage units adorn the walls, with black mats decorating the otherwise grey floor. Kerry leans over to Emily on her right and nudges her.

  “Is this part of the training?” she whispers. Emily rolls her eyes.

  “Oh yes, standing still for hours makes us better soldiers. Idiot” she gripes.

  “I was just asking,” Kerry says quietly, returning to her silent fidgeting. Emily spins to give her a mouthful but her response is halted by the sound of machinery humming. Ravaan arrives in the room from the front entrance, stopping several metres away. A small orb follows him. He presses the orb a couple of times, and thin rectangular openings appear in between the mats before the trainees.

  “Attention Shipmates! Today you will take part in a simple exercise in loyalty and team-work” He shouts. He flicks his fingers, instantly drawing several officers from the entrance behind him into the room. They deposit odd rubbery looking blue tubes in groups in front of the rectangular openings, before silently fleeing the room.

  “Divide yourselves into groups of five. The openings before you have both light and weight sensors. Using only the tools before you, bridge the openings as such to allow a team me
mber to walk across the entire opening without touching the bottom. Begin” He says, turning to leave.

  “Uh, Commander, is this everything?” Alonso pipes up. Ravaan turns to glare at him.

  “You have everything you require. Now get started!” He barks, leaving before any follow-up questions can be asked. The Shipmates manage to separate themselves, but they nervously look around at each other, hoping someone else will take the lead. Emily decides that waiting won’t impress any higher-ups and picks up one of the tubes. She pulls it about, finding it very pliant and stretchy. A few other trainees gingerly follow her idea, picking up their own tubes and messing about with them, stretching them out, rolling them into various shapes. Emily looks at her group. Kerry, Alaba, Alonso, and someone she doesn’t know, and she has little interest in finding out.

  “Anybody else want to have a shot figuring this out or what?” she snipes. They all pick up a piece of the tubing. After wobbling it a few times, Kerry puts a piece in the opening. Alonso playfully slaps Emily with one. She doesn’t respond in kind.

  “Be serious for a minute” she says.

  “I’m not an expert, but we don’t have enough tubes to fill this hole,” Kerry says. Emily looks over the opening, annoyed she didn’t spot it first. Kerry darts her eyes away from Emily’s searing gaze. She is right though. Emily looks across the other teams. Some of them have clearly figured that out as well. Will they need to fight to get more tubes?

  In the observation nook high above the large hall, Ravaan watches with interest. He is always amazed at how this simple exercise often befuddles even the sharpest of trainees. But they must be made to understand and learn.

  “You enjoy torturing these kids far too much,” a pleasing voice behind him says. Ravaan turns with a beaming smile to see his wife. He instantly embraces her in a tight hug, kissing her forehead.

  “Tasweer, my love! I was not aware you were on the station” He says enthusiastically. She giggles, flicking her hair back in that way she knows he adores.

  “I thought I’d surprise you,” she says with a kiss. They link arms as they watch the trainees continue to struggle with the exercise. Tasweer laughs softly as a couple of trainees start to squabble. Her laughter is the most beautiful music to Ravaan’s ears. She gives Ravaan a soft elbow in the ribs.

  “You never even gave them a hint, did you!” she giggles. He cannot stop the grin breaking out on his face. No matter what, she worms her way past all his barriers.

  “Well, they have to learn what it takes to be Imperial Officers. It is not enough to be told, they must experience it themselves” he replies. She raises a mocking eyebrow. “If they must suffer a little in the process, well…” he tails off, causing her to laugh even more.

  “You are such a monster, my sweet! Do any of your trainees ever figure this out?” she asks.

  “Very rarely. It appears obvious to me that the tubes are not capable of fulfilling the task alone, but there are other options in the room. Officers must be more than machines. If they cannot create a solution, at least they will bond as a team. Well, that is the intention at least” he replies. Many Shipmates were annoyed when they learned the real purpose of the test, but the benefits were time proven.

  “There are some decent candidates in this group. I shall give them an hour,” he goes on, locking eyes with his wife, “or perhaps longer…”

  Nemmy had forgotten the generous definition of “lunch” her mother employed. As soon as she had entered her mother’s spacious office, a table had unfolded from the floor and a handful of junior officers had bustled in, delivering trays of food. Real naturally grown food, no less from the finest biodomes in the Imperium. Nothing but the best for the Le Beau family, of course. Her father entered and barely had time to share a hug with her before Alondra followed, and they sat down to eat. For all her awkwardness and the slight discomfort at the opulence, Nemmy had to admit the food was delicious.

  “Nemmy dear, I was saying earlier to your mother that, with the new production tax rates we’re putting in place, certain budgets might have to be cut back,” Rayne said, amusement written all over his face.

  “And I was saying that such nonsense is unacceptable” Alondra snapped back with no trace of amusement. Rayne chuckles. Nemmy has heard this debate/argument a thousand times.

  “We aren’t at war, you know,” Rayne says. He draws in a long breath before continuing. “But I suppose we could move some money around”

  “See that you do,” Alondra says strongly. She takes another mouthful before motioning to Nemmy.

  “Your father has also informed me about your ship being investigated. I wasn’t told about that beforehand, which I find highly disturbing” she says, turning her glare back to Rayne.

  “I have to give the Regents something. I can’t just browbeat people into submission like you, darling. I’ll make sure our lovely daughter isn’t involved in any way” he replies.

  “I should certainly hope not” Alondra states.

  “Uh, I don’t think I should get special treatment” Nemmy pipes up. She gets confused looks from either side of the table.

  “You’ll get nothing less, my princess,” Rayne says.

  “But-“

  “It’s decided, Nemantha. Your father must jump through these hoops to keep these idiot civilians from causing a fuss. Just make sure the more incompetent elements of your crew are kept in line for once” Alondra butts in.

  “I’ll fulfil my duty to the utmost standards” Nemmy quips.

  “Don’t get smart with me. My people have to fix your ship because your engineering staff can’t even do the most basic maintenance work”

  Nemmy forms a response, but she chokes it back. There’s no point in arguing. She knows she must keep her mother in a decent mood before asking about the hidden bases. Preferably without her father being present. He is supremely important and all but discussing potentially treasonous behaviour involving top-secret military installations would be hard enough with one parent. Within seconds, her parents are softly bickering about some legal matter that goes way over her head. She decides to sit quietly and enjoy the admittedly delectable food.

  The Shipmates continue to squabble and stumble around, to Ravaan’s dismay. In truth, he feels this group is truly talented and skilled. Certainly not the best batch, but nowhere near the worst group of candidates he had worked with. The solution is obvious, but it also requires the kind of selflessness that most green recruits don’t possess naturally. The recruitment process was all about reinforcing your strong points, impressing and standing out amongst fellow candidates. It helps to deliver bright young individuals, but it was not necessarily conducive to producing the formidable team ethic that makes a good shipboard Officer, hence exercises such as this one. He watches Emily Maxwell intensely. She is sharp, skilled, and highly ambitious. Perhaps too ambitious, he muses, as she bellows instructions at a confused team-member. She will make a fine commanding officer one day if she can focus her skills and control her excessive anger, he decides.

  Alaba and Kerry walk around their opening, each armed with a tube, holding them at various places and angles to try to figure out how to solve this riddle. Emily watches them intently. This is so embarrassing. She can’t figure it out, and she certainly shouldn’t have to rely on others to do it. Alonso just stands there holding a tube in either arm, looking utterly gormless.

  “Kerry, what the hell are you doing?” she snaps. Kerry drops her tube in shock, before scrabbling around to scoop it back up.

  “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to get how this works” she squeaks.

  “Try harder” Emily spits back. She feels the rage rushing through her, but she can’t stop it.

  “I’m sorry” Kerry breathes, cowering away and staring at the floor. Just the sight of her stooping over, enflames Emily to breaking point. She snatches up a tube and launches it at Kerry, who yelps in p
ain as it slaps against her leg.

  “Hey! You don’t have the right to do that. Leave her alone!” Alaba interjects, stepping in front of Kerry. Emily immediately stomps over, mere inches from Alaba’s face.

  “Don’t tell me what to do, or you’ll go in that hole” she growls. Alonso quickly moves his massive frame in between the women.

  “Come on; let’s just try to do this. No one else has figured it out, see?” he offers, waving his hands around in a clumsy fashion. Emily scowls around the room. He isn’t wrong. There’s obviously something everyone is missing.

  “An extra part” she suddenly says.

  “What?” Alonso says. She looks at him. He was a huge man, and his constant exercise gives him great physical power. She always feels tiny next to him. She steps around him and looks at the others. Alaba and Kerry are both roughly the same size and weight, albeit both a touch taller and heavier than she is. Her anger instantly floats away, and she actually laughs loudly.

  “Alonso, you are the missing part. Climb into the opening and hold two of the tubes. We’ll put the other tubes across the opening, and I know you can hold my weight, so I’ll walk across” she says. Alaba and Kerry look between the opening and Alonso. They seem to be on board. Alonso though looks somewhat sheepish.

  “I don’t know. Isn’t that cheating, or something?” he queries. Emily shoves him towards the hole.

  “Just get in. You want to win, don’t you?” She states. It’s not a question, and Alonso accepts his fate. Slowly climbing into the shallow opening, he positions two tubes awkwardly across himself as Alaba and Kerry blur around the sides shaping the remaining tubes into place.

  “Don’t give me that face Alonso. Just stay still” Emily commands, stepping onto the tubes. They give a little under her feet but remain surprisingly straight. Sucking in her stomach, she quickly tiptoes across the opening, ignoring the very slight grunt from Alonso as she steps on his back. Alaba and Kerry cheer as she reaches the other side.