by Saxon Andrew
Chapter Five
The survivors of Gallager’s Unit entered the cafeteria to a tumultuous sound of people screaming. The people in the cafeteria were watching a recording of the four alien shuttles being led to a beach. Someone screamed, “THEY’RE HERE!!” The crowd rushed forward and began pounding them on the back and cheering their names. Jillian and the other four survivors tried to fight their way through the crowd but found themselves lifted on shoulders and carried around the cafeteria.
• • •
Jimmy watched the proceedings. His eyes narrowed and he said to Juan, “Those pilots don’t look like they’re celebrating!”
Juan looked over his shoulder and immediately saw Jillian, Butch, Gillian, and Keith fighting against being carried. He saw them punching the people carrying them and he lifted a microphone from the table. He flipped it on and turned the volume to maximum, “Attennnn-shun!!” Everyone in the cafeteria came to immediate attention and Gallager’s Survivors found themselves being quickly lowered to the floor.
The cafeteria was silent. Juan said, “Captain Gallager’s Unit, front and center!!” The five pilots ran forward and formed a line in front of General Alverez. Juan’s eyebrows were lowered and it was clear he was angry. “JUST WHAT ARE YOU DOING HITTING THE ONES CARRYING YOU TO CELEBRATE OUR GREAT VICTORY?”
Butch Herman looked at Juan and said, “WE DO NOT DESERVE TO BE CHEERED OR CARRIED, SIR!!”
Jillian looked out of the corner of her eye and saw pictures of Captain Gallager covering the walls. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth became a tight line. Juan saw her and said, “GRANT, YOU’RE AT ATTENTION. WIPE THAT SNEER OFF YOU FACE!!”
Jillian’s expression remained the same as she said, “I WILL, SIR THE MOMENT YOU REMOVE THE PICTURES OF THAT DAMN IDIOT OFF THE WALLS!!”
Juan glanced at Derik sitting at the Command Table and saw Derik roll his eyes and mouth, “I told you so.”
The entire room gasped at Jillian’s remark and many began showing their anger at her disrespect of their fallen comrade. Juan looked around the room and everyone immediately went back to attention. Juan said, “Explain yourself, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, I know the satellites recorded everything that happened today. I know you and the other members of the Senior Staff listened to everything that was said and done! We come back and you’ve got Gallager’s face plastered all over the walls when you know he was an imbecilic idiot, Sir! He nearly got us all killed because of his egotistical desire to be a hero!! And besides that, we walk in and are greeted like we did something heroic. Nothing is further from the truth and you know it!! There was only one hero today and that idiot Captain isn’t it. We’ve come here to thank the real hero for saving our lives!”
A woman pilot standing next to Jillian sneered, “You can’t be referring to the RAT!!”
Jillian hit her in the forehead so fast that Juan played it in slow-motion later. The woman hit the floor and Jillian was on top of her in an instant, “STAND DOWN, LIEUTENANT!!” Jillian had her fist drew back but she managed to stop herself. She stood up and went to attention with a red face.
Juan looked at Butch Herman, “Lieutenant?”
Butch looked around the room and said, “Lt. Grant is right. All of us could only run for our lives and without Ed, all of us would have died. Captain Gallager ordered his two best pilots to keep the large freighter from running and took us out to take on those two demons flying the white ships. The Captain not only got himself killed but Corry Brown with him. He is no hero!!”
The murmuring started and Juan looked at Jimmy, “You should show them.” Juan continued to stare at Jimmy and he said, “I’ve not liked hiding the truth but you insisted that making Gallager a hero would be a good thing. You should show them.”
Summer nodded, “It’s not going to work now, so you might as well show them the truth.”
The pilots heard the exchange and all of them stared at General Alverez. Juan turned around and looked at Rachel, “Is it complete?”
Rachel raised her phone to her mouth and said, “Suzette, have you completed the summary?”
“We’ve just synchronized the voice logs to the video. It’s ready for you to view.”
Rachel had her phone’s speaker on and she said, “Suzette, Jimmy has asked that you play the recording on the cafeteria’s monitor.”
“I thought you wanted this kept under wraps?”
“Just play it on the cafeteria’s monitor.”
“Play in two-seconds.” The monitor came on and everyone in the cafeteria looked toward the front wall.
Juan paused the video and said where everyone could hear, “There will be several images showing on the monitor simultaneously. The bar to the right of the screen is broken into two blocks. The names above the red line are the ones, in the Control Center. The names below the redline are the pilots that were flying against the Aliens. Each name has a different colored light next to it. When a light illuminates, then the name next to it is speaking. For Example, Grant’s color is Yellow, Herman’s is Green, Boyer’s is Grey…”
A pilot sneered, “That’s appropriate, aren’t Rat’s grey?”
Jillian didn’t have to hit him. Keith Soles dropped him like a bad habit. Everyone stared at Keith and expected General Alverez to punish him. Juan said, “I’d highly recommend that none of you in this room disparage Ensign Boyer.” The room was silent as Juan started the video.
• • •
They listened to Gallager’s orders keeping his best pilots out of action. They heard the Rat say he was trying to be hero and that he and Jillian would move close by to save as many of their unit as possible. They saw the two white ships flash in behind the four Strikers and Herman said loudly, “WE COULDN’T SHAKE THEM. WE WERE DOING EVERYTHING WE COULD AND NOTHING WORKED.”
They saw impossible maneuvers from the two white ships and Jillian shocked them with her piloting skill. But they were opened mouthed at what the Rat did. They heard the Rat talk softly to Jillian, “…long, slow, breaths. That’s right, long, slow, breaths. You’re safe.”
They saw the unit’s survivors turn to the Rat and he was the one that forced the giant vessel to turn back toward Earth. The video ended with the five Strikers leading the Alien ship toward Earth.
The room was as quiet as a tomb. Jillian said, “Sir, my unit would like to tell Ensign Boyer thanks for saving our lives.”
“He didn’t only save your lives, Lieutenant. If those white ships had won, the alien vessel would have escaped and we’d probably be facing hundreds or even thousands of them soon.” Juan looked around the room. “How do you think you would do against those ships? All of you need to think about that!”
Jillian nodded, “We realize that, Sir. Can you tell us where he is so we can thank him?”
Alverez’s head tilted, “I thought he was with you.”
Jillian’s eyes went wide, “We all assumed you were having him debriefed.”
“I’ve not seen him, Lieutenant.” Jillian’s mouth opened but she couldn’t respond. Juan turned around, “Rachel?”
“Sir, he’s not at the Alien Vessel and if he was in orbit, the satellites would pick him up. I inspected all the tapes before coming here and Ensign Boyer wasn’t on them.”
The five survivors were obviously distressed and Juan thought, if he’s not on the planet and he’s not in orbit…where could he be? Suddenly. he smiled and Jillian saw him, “YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS!”
Juan smiled and told them. The five survivor’s eyes widened and then they hung their heads. Jillian looked up and said, “Sir, permission to…”
“PERMISSION DENIED!” Jillian sighed and lowered her head again. Juan said, “Your unit has two-weeks off. You’ve earned it. And don’t any of you think for a moment that you didn’t play an important role in what happened. You worked as a unit and the success goes to all of you. Now get out of here and cleanup!”
They came to attention, saluted, and left the cafeteria.
Juan looked a
t the woman with a bright red bump in the middle of her forehead and said, “I should have allowed her to finish what she started; you deserve it.” Juan said loudly, “Dismissed!” And he walked quickly out of the cafeteria.
• • •
Ed watched the video on his phone and laughed. He knew he was too old to like old cartoons but he couldn’t help it. He liked the Road Runner and Wiley Cayote, but he found he identified too much with the poor dog. Tom and Jerry was his favorite and you never really knew which one would come out on top, although most of the time it was Jerry. He heard the cot across from his start vibrating and he rolled his eyes. He put on his flight suit and then laced his boots. Happy time was coming to an end. General Alverez came through the pressurized door and Ed came to attention.
“Sit down, Boyer!” Ed sat down on his cot and Juan said, “There are some distraught pilots worrying about you.” Ed shrugged. “Why did you come back here, Ed?”
“Sir, I was ordered to this station for four days. There’s still a day left before those orders are completed.”
“The rest of your unit is embarrassed and ashamed that they didn’t come back with you. I’m considering what punishment would be appropriate for them.”
Ed’s eyes narrowed, “Sir, they followed the orders they were given! They were ordered back to Earth to lead the Alien’s shuttles down to the planet. Then they were ordered to the Community. They don’t deserve to be punished for doing what they were ordered to do.”
Juan thought, Good! Maybe he’s not completely lost. Ed was silent and Juan said, “You’re a different person from the one I chewed out a year or so ago.”
Ed shrugged, “I deserved it, Sir.”
“I don’t know which of the two I prefer. The angry, high-strung pilot or the subdued, quiet hermit.”
“They’re the same person, Sir.”
“NO, THEY’RE NOT!!” Ed’s eyes didn’t even blink. He just shrugged. “Ed, I’m not going to insult your intelligence by telling you the importance of what you did today. I’m sure you know what would have happened if you weren’t here.” Ed lifted one shoulder and then lowered it. “I need you, Boyer!” Ed’s eyes narrowed and Juan said, “My pilots stand no chance against those white ships and I have a real sneaky suspicion that we’re going to see a lot more of them showing up. I need you to train them how to fly.”
“Jillian can do it; you don’t need me.”
Juan chuckled, “Do you lie that easily?” Ed’s eyebrows came down and his eyes were little more than slits. “You told Jillian to run and don’t stop running. Are you suggesting she can teach my pilots how to fight those ships?” Ed’s eyebrows returned to normal and his eyes opened wider. “Are you?”
“Sir, it’s all a waste of time.”
Juan stared at him and then said, “Tell me why?”
“Because we’re fighting them with their technology! We’re using blasters that were developed from a small portable blaster those idiot Aliens rented for, God’s sake. I hit that ship more than twenty-five times and had absolutely no effect on it. They’ve developed their technology past blasters; their hulls are made of the same material as our Strikers and blasters will not work against them! They’re now using some kind of intense magnetic beam and I feel reasonably certain they’ve about moved beyond it as well. You know I was lucky.” Juan pursed his lips and Ed lowered his eyes, “What would have happened if I had to take both of them on?” Juan sighed and Ed said, “That’s right, I’d have lost. And no matter how good our pilots are, if they have to face more than one of those white ships, they’re going to die. If they arrive in high numbers, we’re all going to die.” Ed paused and softly said, “The only way to beat them is to use a weapon they’ve not developed defenses against. Those blasters are just so much trash.”
They sat in silence for a long time and Juan said, “If we can develop a new weapon, will you train my pilots?”
“If you do that, Jillian can do it.”
“Ed, I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. It’s due in large part to me for what I did.”
“No, it isn’t, Sir. I do think you and everyone else had it wrong about Charlotte; I didn’t intend to hurt her and it was really an accident. But those fights I was in were not an accident and they are what colored everyone’s impression of me. I deserved what you dished out.”
“I can see that you’ve come to terms with your anger.” Ed nodded. “The reason you didn’t go back with your unit was because you knew we were going to make that cretin Gallager into a hero, wasn’t it?”
Ed looked at Juan and said, “Was I wrong about that, Sir.”
“No, you were dead on.” Ed shrugged and Juan said, “Those of us in higher command…”
Ed interrupted him, “Should never…ever…hold up as an example of behavior what will get you killed. If you inspired your pilots to want to be like Gallager, you would be teaching them behaviors that will get…them…killed! There is no possible excuse for you or anyone else to do that…Sir!”
“Jillian agreed with you. She saw his mug plastered on the cafeteria walls and punched a pilot out because if it.”
Ed stared at Juan and said “I trust you won’t be putting her through what I endured.”
“No, I showed the tape and showed everyone what an ass Gallager was.”
“Really?”
“It was the right thing to do. Ed, I want you to think about working with my pilots. You can stay here another two days, so you can think about it.” Ed opened his mouth and Juan held up his hand, “Don’t answer now! Think about it and when you go back, clean up, get something good to eat, and come tell me your decision. Whatever you decide, I’ll not pressure you to change your mind.” Ed closed his mouth and Juan stuck out his hand, “Thank you for saving my pilots and the people on Earth, if only for a while.” Ed shook Juan’s hand and he turned and left the room. A few minutes later, the cot started vibrating again and then it stopped. Ed went back to his cartoons.
• • •
“Do you think he’ll do it, Juan? He’s due to return tomorrow.”
Juan sighed and looked at Jimmy, “If I had to say, I don’t believe he will. He’s been an outcast too long. He doesn’t feel anything for the others.”
“I don’t think he feels anything for anyone,” Suzette replied.
Summer shook her head, “I don’t know if that’s true.” Suzette looked at her and Summer said, “Have any of you really listened to him on the tapes?”
Derik nodded, “I have and he has an air of command about him and his directions were followed without hesitation. He’s a natural leader.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, Derik.”
“Then what?” Derik asked.
“When the second white ship was taken out, did you listen to his voice as he soothed Lt. Grant. He was gentle and soft as he talked her out of her fear.”
Rachel looked at Summer, “You’re right.”
Summer nodded, “And if he didn’t care about those in his unit, would he have stopped short of the freighter and waited to see if he could save some of them? Also consider, that if he didn’t care anything about them, he would have told them to shove it and come up with their own plan because they had a higher rank. He didn’t do any of those things.” Every one stared at Summer and she said, “It’s also clear that Lt. Grant loves him.”
Jimmy said, “Wait a minute! Just how did you come up with that?”
“You saw her anger when one of the female pilots called him the Rat. You saw her anger at how he was being disparaged in the cafeteria and you saw her shame when she realized she had let him down by not going back to the moon. She may not realize it in her conscious mind, but she loves him.”
Rachel shrugged, “It could be that she just respects him a lot. You’d get the same behaviors.”
Summer looked at Rachel, “Who do you respect more than any other person.”
“That’s hard; you, Dad, Alex, Candice…”
Summer smiled, �
�What do all of them have in common, Rachel.”
Rachel stared at her and blew out a breath, “I love all of them.” Rachel sighed, “Mom, you are the wisest person I know.”
“Does he love her?” Juan asked.
Summer shook her head, “He’s fighting it tooth and nail. He’s been devastated by that twit Charlotte and he’s not willingly going down that path again. He doesn’t trust her…yet.”
“If I could just find a weapon to use against the white ships, I might have a chance.”
Suzette looked at Juan, “What?”
“Ed says that we’re fighting the Aliens with their technology and they’ve developed defenses against it. He says we need a weapon they’ve not been able to develop a defense against.”
Derik snorted, “Their technology is so far ahead of us it’s like trying to take down a Striker with a slingshot.” Juan jerked his head around to Derik and smiled. Derik said, “What? What did I say?”
Juan looked at Rachel, “Have the Strikers found the debris from the two white ships?”
“We’ve managed to salvage portions of the second ship’s hull. The first ship is pretty much intact; why do you ask?”
“I want the salvaged pieces of the destroyed White Ship’s hull taken to the valley and Suzette, I need you and Patrick to meet me in the valley once it’s delivered.”
Jimmy looked at Juan, “What’s going on?”
Juan smiled, “Didn’t David kill Goliath with a sling?” Juan turned and ran out of the control room.
Derik looked at Jimmy and he could only shrug, “I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
• • •
Ed locked the door to Moon Base and went to his Striker. He jumped and grabbed the Striker’s glass before he sailed past it. Didn’t need a ladder in the Moon’s low gravity. He started the magnetic drives and waited for them to smooth out. He looked up at the stars and smiled; they were his real friends; they never walked away. He lowered the cockpit and pressurized the cabin. His eyes were barely open and he didn’t look forward to the meeting with General Alverez. He feathered the thrusters and lifted off the launch pad. Dust blew away and he pushed the magnetic units’ control lever slightly forward. The striker left the Moon in an instant. He looked at his panel and increased speed. He had timed his arrival at four AM Community time and he needed to get moving if he was going to be on time. The launch cave would be changing shifts and should only have a small crew.