by Cher Hollis
Cassie appreciated the use of her nickname combined with an anonymous last name, which made it easier for her to remember. She’d been told that Lt. Colonel Black was the head of what UED called their Alien Intelligence Branch or A-Tell for short. She also understood his reference to “The Way” which was a commonly used nickname for the Milky Way Galaxy—it was where the battle against the aliens had been taking place.
What surprised her though was Colonel Wyatt’s immobile reaction to be seated next to the daughter of Dr. Ramon De La Fluenta. Colonel Wyatt had to be uncomfortable and frankly stunned, even if she hadn’t wanted to be anything significant to his race; she couldn’t help but be significant to any Variant.
Lt. Colonel Black’s robotic chair made a slight hissing sound, which shifted her gaze from his smoothly baldhead. He was around fifty years old with penetrating brown eyes, and he had an irritating secretiveness about him.
“And the background, sir?” Colonel Wyatt asked from her right as they faced the Lt. Colonel.
Colonel Wyatt sat straight in a crisp black uniform, which showed his service in the UED forces. Cassie glanced sideways at him, because she noticed the hint of suspicion in his voice. When she turned her gaze forward again, she found it locked into Black’s penetrating glare.
Then she heard Black’s damning response. “We have confirmed, Colonel, that this young lady’s father, Dr. Ramon De La Fluenta ... is alive.”
Black paused, stretching out the drama of that amazing declaration, while Cassie swallowed a wince. She knew, because of whose daughter she was, that Black’s announcement would be a horrible revelation for a Variant like Colonel Wyatt to hear. Everyone, including her, had thought her father had died twenty years before of a suicide, and she’d just found out less than a month before that he’d been still alive all this time.
Black released a whistled breath, then he continued, “That Dr. De La Fluenta is alive and must be the informant who is leading the aliens to attack our space colonies. Therefore Miss De La Fluenta has expressed it her duty to the people of Earth to attempt to contact her father and dissuade him from these catastrophic acts against us and our world.”
If Colonel Wyatt was surprised by those spectacular revelations, he didn’t let it show on his face, which was etched in hard angles.
Then with a voice set with military rigidness, he asked, “And the snipers for this mission are, sir?”
Cassie watched as Black flinched. She didn’t know what the reference to “sniper” meant, but it appeared to be some type of insult by Black’s reaction.
“Clones, Colonel,” Black snapped back, and then he leaned forward with a severe look. “Colony interned Variant criminals to be more specific, and any militant ones lagging around out there, causing trouble. It’s the sole reason that you have been selected for this assignment.”
Cassie shifted uncomfortably in her chair at the Lt. Colonel’s obvious prejudicial statement, as she wondered what underlying agenda the two men had. To call a Variant a clone was a demeaning insult and very untrue. The Variant race her father had artificially reproduced by the hundreds of thousands, were not clones. And even though Black had not directly called Colonel Wyatt that, his meaning had been clear.
Nevertheless, her heart raced when she heard for the first time that militant Variants could be involved in any of it. She gulped back her instant fear, while she clutched the arms of her chair. How could she go through with what she’d intended to do, knowing that?
Lt. Colonel Black relentlessly continued, “A Variant, such as yourself, has been determined necessary for this mission to handle any unwarranted confrontations with the more militant examples of your race, Colonel. Although it is only a precaution, this mission has been, and will be, undertaken with the utmost secrecy.”
Cassie shoved the clumsy big-rimmed glasses she wore back up on the bridge of her nose, and she wondered about the legitimacy of a Variant who would keep her safe from other Variants, which she knew, wanted her dead. But she took a deep breath and concentrated on her underlying irritation, because she thought Black had no call to be so rude to the Colonel.
“Colonel Wyatt,” she said, and she turned to face the Colonel. “I will feel much more secure having you personally escorting me to the U.S.S. Regan.”
Her lips had trembled, but she managed to smile, then add a look of admiration at Colonel Wyatt, just for Black’s benefit.
Colonel Wyatt’s returned look was cool and distant with the structured outline of his mouth firm as his eyes caught and held hers. “It is an assignment, Private Ramona, one where I am ordered to do my duty, so I will.”
He’d said it so emotionlessly strict that she paled. Cassie’s lips parted with surprise, and then she was mad she’d tried to bolster his position. She dropped her gaze from his, while she pressed her nails to her palms, and she hoped he really would do his duty to keep her safe.
“The two of you will be boarding a land to orbit shuttle tomorrow morning at zero nine-hundred hours. Your destination is orbital station Orion, where you will rendezvous with a WAF transport that will take you to the U.S.S. Regan. Colonel Wyatt, it will appear that you’re arriving to take up leadership of the third wing, and Private Ramona will appear to be your attaché for the trip. I fully expect everything to go smoothly,” Black explained.
“Yes, sir,” Colonel Wyatt replied briskly.
Black picked up a hand-held data cubic and he slid its boxed frame on the glass topped terminal desk, to stop in front of Colonel Wyatt’s position. “There is your background brief, Colonel, all that is necessary for you to know about this assignment,” Black said, and then he absently rubbed a hand over the top of his baldhead.
“Yes, sir,” Colonel Wyatt responded, with his gaze forward as if he stood at attention, while he sat in his chair.
“I will expect Private Ramona to be delivered safely, and you will keep an eye on her until then,” Black ordered, and then he stood.
Colonel Wyatt followed, to stand at attention, and he towered above Lt. Colonel Black on the other side of the terminal desk.
Cassie stood slower, as she attempted to brush down the loose material of the wrinkled black fatigues she wore.
Black looked directly at her, while he cleared his throat. “Your country, ma’am … no, really the entire world will owe you a great debt,” he said, and it sounded like it was hard-fought sincerity. Then he extended his hand across the terminal desk.
Cassie was nervous about everything he hadn’t told her, but her course was already set, so she took his hand with a firm handshake.
“Thank you, Lt. Colonel Black,” she said, leaving it at that, while she silently prayed that a Variant Colonel really was honorable enough and hadn’t judged her because of who her father was.
Once Lt. Colonel Black released her hand, he turned to Colonel Wyatt and saluted, then he said, “Dismissed, Colonel.”
Colonel Wyatt returned the salute, then he did a precise about face, opened the door, and stood back to allow Cassie to cross the threshold first. She crossed the inner expanse in the next room and stopped at the door leading to the hallway, where she waited for the security locks to activate. Behind her, Colonel Wyatt exchanged salutes with the desk private, while the blue light of the security probe scanned her, and then it released the lock on the door.
Cassie walked into the hallway of Fort Briggs military facility. Fort Briggs was being used as the Earth forces base of operations. It was the staging ground for a war fought in space. A battle in space, which Cassie understood was desperately failing.
The alien enemy had driven all the countries of Earth to unite for the first time in history. Now UED seemed to believe that besides her father telling the hostile aliens where Earth colonies were located; he was also ... impossibly, leading the aliens to attack. Even more bizarrely, they seemed to think he was somehow involved with space-interned militant Variants.
None of it made any sense to her, and while she could believe her father was doing
something horrible, she just couldn’t believe it was with militant Variants. She couldn’t imagine Variants ever “following” her father to do anything, because his genetically enhanced race abhorred him.
But she had seen, like most people in the world, the vid-scans from the prison space colony at Duvall Station, which had shown that everyone was gone and the entire Station was abandoned—all souls disappeared.
Then the world had seen that one terrifying clip of a towering red alien, indistinct and blurred, but menacing nonetheless. She still wondered how those vid-scans hadn’t picked up more of the aliens and certainly more of her father.
Because the military had told her, by the way, that Duvall Station was where her father had been working all the last twenty years she’d thought he was dead. The military had made it sound as if her father was working for them, under their helpful security, and not imprisoned by it, like she believed had really happened.
“If you expect this ruse to work, private, you will have to start saluting at the proper time and in the proper way,” Colonel Wyatt stated from behind her. “Where did you find that excuse for a uniform?” he added in a growled breath.
Swinging around, Cassie looked up into Colonel Wyatt’s edged blue eyes. She didn’t like the sound of his tone. Thoughts nagged her that he could be the kind of Variant who hated her, because of who her father was. But it seemed to her as if they’d started off wrong, maybe it was the assignment and not her, so she was just about to say something conciliatory, when he cut her off.
“Stand too, private, here is your chance. That’s an admiral coming toward you. Follow my lead.” Colonel Wyatt paused, then with a tight-lipped aside, he added, “I’ll never hear the end of this.”
Cassie bit down on her tongue with an effort to stop her angry response. Then she followed his example, determined not to embarrass him further. She knew her appearance was disheveled, because it was intended to hide her true looks. She hadn’t wanted anyone to easily realize that she was Ela Cassandra De La Fluenta, so she’d fixed her long black hair into a loose and messy bun, worn a wrinkled uniform one size too big, and set it off with a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses, which she didn’t need.
The admiral returned their salutes and continued on his way without any outward sign of disapproval.
Cassie turned to Colonel Wyatt with a smile of victory on her lips, which died quickly at the look of cold fury that etched his rugged face. The intensity of his look made her take a step backward, until she realized he was looking at something behind her, and not at her.
She turned to follow the blaze of Colonel Wyatt’s blue eyes and she saw a lithe blond woman wearing civilian clothing, coming in their direction as she waved for their attention.
“Damn it,” Colonel Wyatt muttered, then he unexpectedly grabbed hold of her arm.
Cassie was surprised as she tried unsuccessfully to shrug off his tight grasp, but he pulled her backward ... stopped, and then he pinned her to the spot with a penetrating gaze. She was startled to see lines of pain slightly shadowing his handsome face.
His deep voice was tense and low. “This should be a personal matter. But I cannot leave you on your own. I need your discretion, Cassie.”
Cassie swallowed back surprise over the fact he used her name and actually asked her for something, while at the same time he showed that he took his newly assigned mission, to keep her safe, serious enough not to brush her aside and leave her.
That made her answer sincere, as she quickly said, “You have my word, Colonel Wyatt. Complete discretion.”
There was a brief flicker of some hidden emotion in his eyes, but then it was gone with the sound of the woman’s lilted voice.
They could both hear her, as she called, “Oh, Bo! I’ve looked everywhere for you. This is such a large facility.”
Cool restraint settled over Colonel Wyatt’s features as he straightened, and then he turned to face the woman. The woman was beautiful in a well-bred debutante way. She was impeccably dressed, and she wore an attractive short-waist red jacket with an accompanying tubular skirt.
“Ann Marie.” Colonel Wyatt’s voice could only be considered a growl, and not a happy one. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Bo, I never would have come if … well, I needed to speak to you, Bo, and I thought you might not take my call,” Ann Marie said, with a pleading tone and a little sniffle into a dainty handkerchief she held momentarily to her nose.
“This is my attaché, Private Ramona.” Colonel Wyatt gestured to Cassie. “This is my ex-wife Ann Marie Belmont,” he said to Cassie.
Cassie held her surprise inside. She couldn’t imagine the ruggedly edged Colonel with the slender and airy woman. Then Colonel Wyatt took his ex-wife’s arm and he started to walk her down the hallway, while she leaned into his shoulder as if she were seeking support.
Cassie took measured steps behind them and she tried not to intrude on their conversation as she looked out the tall solar-paneled windows to the grounds beyond.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Ann Marie,” Colonel Wyatt muttered.
Cassie saw that he seemed to be looking for privacy, and she could see through the tempered solar glass that there was a sheltered alcove of trees outside, a few paces to their right.
So she suggested, “It’s such a beautiful afternoon, do you mind if I step outside?”
Cassie knew the Colonel had heard her, when he turned to guide his ex-wife to the nearest door. Ann Marie stepped gracefully across the threshold with a winsome glance up at the Colonel. He released her arm and allowed her to go forward, then he stood back and waited for Cassie to precede him through the entryway.
“I could wait right here, Colonel, just inside the building,” Cassie said.
“I wish I could let you do that, private, but you have to stay closer,” Colonel Wyatt said with a weary expression.
“I will stand over there then,” Cassie said, and she moved through the threshold to take up a position ten paces from them, while she was further impressed by his dedication to duty.
“Couldn’t we have some privacy, Bo?” Ann Marie asked, with a significant rise of her sculptured eyebrows.
“What the hell can you want after all this time?” Colonel Wyatt demanded, and his posture grew stiffer. “Whatever it is, you’ll say it with an audience or not at all,” he finished tightly.
Ann Marie gracefully shrugged her shoulders and she looked up at the Colonel with a new face, one lined with feminine anxiety. “I was so sorry to hear about the loss of your squadron the Falcons, Bo.” She tried to place her hand on Colonel Wyatt’s chest, but he visibly tensed, then took a step back, as she continued, “Darling, to lose your entire team in one day, except thankfully not you or Sergeant Tripadoe.”
“Do not call me that.” Colonel Wyatt’s face was an immobile mask. “I was in the damn hospital for the last two months. No visitors. I don’t remember your concern for me then.”
“Oh, but I do care. Really I do, Bo,” Ann Marie said.
“For a lowly Variant, Ann Marie? Hard to believe, after two years of divorce. What’s this really about?” he asked harshly.
“You always throw your Variant heritage in my face?” she exclaimed, with obvious anger. “You know that isn’t fair. Why can’t you see any children you might have wanted would have had to live under the same prejudice as you?”
Cassie wasn’t able to stop her puff of surprise. But then she nonchalantly tried to look out across the airfield in the distance. She could see out the corner of her eye that Colonel Wyatt glared in her direction, and she tried to keep her expression blank.
“This is old, Ann Marie. Over and done with—the divorce cubic signed long ago and our short excuse for a marriage dissolved. Get to the point—why are you here—or I’ll leave like I should have done, the minute I saw you.”
“Please, don’t leave!” Ann Marie exclaimed. She appeared to be in genuine distress and she grasped his arm. “It’s Robert, Bo. There is no w
ord from The Way, and I’ve tried every way to find out what’s happened to him. You must know what it costs me to come to you. To lower myself to your anger,” she said.
Colonel Wyatt threw off her handhold with an angry jerk, and then he stepped away from her.
“Him,” he uttered, as if it were a curse. “You are here asking about him? Damn nerve, woman. I ought to—” His jaw clamped tight, and he didn’t finish his threat. His fists were clenched so taut his knuckles turned white. “Private, we’re leaving now,” he ordered.
Cassie flinched and nearly jumped at his fierce order, then she needed no more incentive to move and she headed for the interlocking doors. Colonel Wyatt stalked close behind her as they both heard Ann Marie’s cry.
“He was your best friend, Bo. Please! He could be dead!” The cry echoed to the Colonel’s retreating back.
Cassie stopped at the door to wait for the security scan and Colonel Wyatt accidentally bumped into her as he grasped the door bar from behind her. His large hand was white-knuckled as if he could pry the barred door open by force.
She didn’t know why she let it happen, because she knew it was none of her business, and she’d promised the Colonel discretion. But the anguish in his ex-wife’s voice tugged unreasonably at her conscience, no matter what the woman’s faults seemed to be.
So despite her promise and because she was alone in a deadly situation herself, and then so only Colonel Wyatt would be able to hear her, Cassie spoke fiercely, “I wish I had one person I could call my friend in these dangerous times.”
At that moment, the doors retracted and Cassie stepped into the hallway, then she stopped, while keeping her back turned. She expected, at the very least, Colonel Wyatt’s explosion accusing her of interfering. But all that came from behind her was an ominous silence.
She did not want to turn around and look, but she’d been too bold by interfering. Immediately, when she turned, Colonel Wyatt’s gaze seized hers with a blazing blueness of such emotion, it actually took her breath away. She braced and returned his gaze as if she were locked to him.