Kristi agreed with that, and we wound up staying in that night, since our building was surrounded. I wondered what campus security thought about it all, although technically we were off campus by fifty yards or so.
For various reasons we decided to set up in a business park by Colorado Springs. It was going to be a research company, so I wasn’t expecting to do more than lose money at first, but that wasn’t an issue right now, and I guessed not anytime soon. I also did some searching of real estate for a home in that area that was either gated or in an isolated area.
Kristi hadn’t liked that idea at first, but considering places like New York City, and Paris were now less than a five-minute flight by shuttle, she caved rather quickly about not living in the city itself. I was sure she’d eventually get her own place, but we figured it would be good to be roommates until one of us got a family.
I was betting she’d be first.
I wasn’t at all interested in big houses or servants, so I looked at some of the listings in Monument, which was just North of Colorado Springs. They had some really nice houses on very large lots for under three hundred thousand. There was also an excellent view of the Rocky Mountains in that location.
Kristy agreed, and now that we had plans made, we stepped back from it. I still had a month to go assuming my dissertation was even excepted, it wasn’t quite time to move on it yet.
It was getting a little late when Al said, “Incoming call, it’s your mother.”
Oh crap, my mother, adoptive mother, could be a little high strung at times. I should have called her when I was revealed to the world so to speak.
I cringed as I said to Al, “Answer it… Hi mom, what’s new?” I asked with false nonchalance.
She snorted, “Nice try, are you hanging in there? Me and your father are so worried, are you safe? Tina’s worried too.”
Tina was my younger sister, also adopted. We didn’t get along so well, but she was still family.
“I think so,” I couldn’t really be sure of course, but I didn’t think the villagers would show up with pitchforks and torches. At least, I hoped not.
She hesitated a moment, “Will you be able to visit soon? We haven’t seen you in months.”
I frowned, “Mom, you don’t seem very freaked out, I expected you to be freaked out.”
There was a profound silence on the line.
“Well dear, we knew of course.”
It was my turn to hesitate, “You knew?”
She laughed, “Of course, you learned to hide it, but not until you were ready for school. Did you know when you were a baby, your eyes used to change to our color whenever we held you, between my brown and your father’s blue depending on who held you at the time. That stopped when you were a toddler, but there were other signs after that.”
I opened my mouth, and then closed it. I wasn’t sure what to say to that. I’d thought I was perceptive but I’d never guessed they knew. But then by the time I’d developed that way they were probably over the shock of it.
Finally, I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She sighed, “Well we didn’t know you were an alien exactly, we just knew you were different. We decided not to make a big deal over it, I didn’t want you to think it mattered or make you feel set apart from us. When will you visit? It’s been a few months.”
I replied, “Soon? I’m almost done with school, and have a lot going on right now.”
She laughed, “I bet. Alright, but don’t wait too long, if you have time to go visit an alien world, you can get your skinny butt to Texas.”
I snorted, “Yes mom. Tell Dad and Tina I said hello. Hey, you want a ride around the solar system? You know, in my alien space ship.”
Sure, it was created here on Earth, but it’s my invention, so… alien space ship. I thought she might have been freaked out by the idea because the silence was dragging on.
My mother finally replied, “We can talk about it when you get here, which will be when?”
I frowned not really sure, “As soon as I can put a couple of days together. It won’t be long. How are things there, is the press bothering you?”
She replied, “No, not yet.”
We talked for a while longer before hanging up. I was about to call it a night when Al let me know another call was coming in. It was Nathan, and he said he could get away tomorrow night, so we planned another date. He couldn’t pick me up with the mess of people outside, so I planned to have a shuttle pick me up from the roof. I wondered how that would play out on the news, but didn’t really care. While I fell asleep that night I debated if I would count this as date number three or not, I was tempted…
Lira looked at her screen and read the rejection notice for her latest transfer request. Admiral Stenz, may he burn in hell, still hadn’t forgiven her for the incident. She was good at her job and with that one exception of knocking down the Admiral, had been an exemplary young officer expected to advance quickly by her superiors. This post was killing her with boredom.
The sensor alarm went off and she rolled her eyes. She wondered what minor annoyance it was now and took a quick look at the data, and all the blood drained from her face. She immediately forwarded the data to command with urgency. She couldn’t believe her eyes, the Seltan had returned once again, and in force…
I was awake at five in the morning. That wasn’t strange or anything, since I didn’t need all that much sleep. Although I tended to go to bed later most nights, at two or three, and sleep in until six or seven in the morning.
What was odd, is someone was knocking on the door.
“Al, who’s at the door?”
Al said in his emotionless voice, “There are two agents outside the door, the same ones that brought you to General Denton the first time.”
I shook my head and got up from the table and opened the door.
“Yes?”
One replied, “Good morning ma’am, if you’d come with me I’d appreciate it. Oh, if you have any sweats or workout clothes you might want to change.”
I furrowed my brow, “Why would I do that?”
Two smiled, “No idea Miss Jones, classified orders.”
“Huh, alright, give me five minutes.”
I figured Kristi would want to be in on this, but she wasn’t home, she was spending the night at Joe’s place. I didn’t really have sweats, but I pulled on a pair of stretchy yoga pants, and a loose t-shirt that was large enough to cover my ass, and a pair of running shoes. I couldn’t think of a good reason for this outside of lab testing, but I doubted that was what it was about.
I was probably missing some critical information here, because I couldn’t make sense of the request.
I went back out and followed the agents down. It was five in the morning, and still dark, so there weren’t all that many people outside right now. They hustled me over to the car quickly and we’d escaped before I could be accosted by reporters, fans, or worse.
The base was quiet this early in the morning, and I was brought over to the track and field. It was pretty much deserted, except for one person. Master Sergeant Barbara Cooper was there in gray shorts and a gray army t-shirt, with a clipboard and a whistle.
Sometimes my life is really strange, but today was setting new records.
I got out of the car, “Hey Barbara, what’s going on?”
She grinned, “Classified, the general told me to ask you to play along for now, and he’d explain later.”
I frowned, not liking the idea of getting the explanation later, but I nodded anyway. The General had treated me well, and seemed to trust me. It bought him a little slack.
She said, “Good, and it’s good to see you, now get down and give me some pushups until you have to stop.”
I raised my eyebrow in question, but she gave me a military stare as if to say we’d already covered this, and I should get on with it.
I dropped down and did pushups. I got to about ten before my arms started to hurt, so I used the ability to cont
rol my body to increase my endurance and strength. She hadn’t told me not to, so…
I was up to ninety or so when she told me to stop, and she marked it on the clip board. Her eyes were appraising me differently now, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake by showing that ability. She didn’t look worried though… just intrigued.
“Okay, sit ups next.”
She stood on my feet while I did them, although I was almost sure that was the wrong way to do it, and once again she stopped me when I exceeded a hundred.
Next, she had me run around the track eight times, two miles. It occurred to me on the second lap I was doing a military PT test. They used it to make sure their soldiers were up to minimum standards of physical fitness. Of course, that didn’t answer my questions, it only made me have more of them. I ran the two miles in just over eleven minutes, which apparently was a little too fast.
“So… how’d I do?”
She looked reluctant to answer, but said, “You exceeded the requirements to score a hundred on all three tests, even for the male fitness chart. Before you ask, I have no idea why the general ordered me to test a civilian. You’ll just have to wait.”
I nodded and got back in the car with the two agents at their urging, who I still had no names for, and was brought to the infirmary. They escorted me inside, where someone seemed to be waiting for me. I knew something serious was going on, because the Army was known for hurry up and wait, not waltz in and we’ll be ready to serve you. It was… bizarre.
“Miss Jones, I’m Captain Ellers, I’m here to give you a physical.”
I nodded and followed him. The next hour or so I was poked and prodded as my temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and a number of other things were checked, including the arches on my feet. They didn’t take blood, but I was asked to fill a cup and shown the restroom.
When it was finished, I was feeling a bit annoyed, and violated. I would have liked to understand why and had the opportunity to decide yes or no before having this morning’s activities thrown at me. It was only my respect for the general that kept me there.
Doctor Ellers said, “Thank you, were done here. Good luck.”
Good luck? Good luck with what?
I went for gracious but my thank you came out grumbly, and I headed back outside where my two escorts awaited me. I was relieved a few minutes later when the car pulled in front of the building where the General’s office was. At last I’d be getting an explanation for this morning’s events. The two men insisted on walking me to the General’s door, even though I explained I knew the way.
He wasn’t in his office, so I took a seat in one of the guest chairs and waited. I was taking care of my e-mail and checking on Facebook, the latter of which was clogged with hello alien and die alien messages, when General Denton swept into the office and sat down.
I raised an eyebrow in question, “General?”
He grunted, “Last night at eleven forty Eastern, Carl contacted us in regard to the mutual support clause. Right now only the U.S. and China has interstellar space ships so far, although Germany, Russia, Japan, England, France, and a handful of other countries should have their own ship designs being fabricated soon. The point though, is that we have thirty-one ships now including yours. The U.S. has eighteen, with the fourth batch of six starting a few hours ago, and China has twelve.
“The result of that, is they expect us to send at least three ships, I was considering sending double that however.”
I nodded, “What does that have to do with…”
He raised a hand cutting me off, “Read this,” and he ported me three pages of text.
I read over it as quickly as I could. The first two and a half pages were a synopsis of the times Tressia was required to provide ships and the battles that followed. As soon as the ships arrived on scene they became under the control of the highest ranking Knomen that was present in their military. It looked like they were always put in a hot spot, in addition to the other member races of the Empire. They were treated as expendable troops, sacrificed on the tip of the spear, however it was said… it was an ugly thing.
According to the reports the Knomen ships always took the least amount of losses.
Then I got to the bottom half of the third page, where it explained the Empire’s rules. Apparently a Knomen admiral couldn’t take control of the ships under the command of another Knomen, unless they were specifically within their chain of command. It seemed to me as if it meant that if a captain from another fleet happened to join the battle, they could fight where they pleased. It didn’t mean they couldn’t coordinate, but…
I looked up, still confused, “What does this have to do with…” and I trailed off as it suddenly made a sort of absurd sense, “Oh for goodness sake, you’ve got to be shitting me.”
He shook his head, “Watch the language… Admiral Jones.”
I shook my head in denial, “That’s insane. I’m a scientist.”
He laughed, “It really is insane, but it was my idea so we’ll just pretend its genius.”
I added, “It’s also illegal, it takes twenty-five to twenty-eight years to be eligible for Captain in the Navy, or Colonel in the Army. Much less to make Admiral or General.”
He nodded, “It’s all moot if you say no… but listen for a minute. I don’t want to throw away all those men, and with a Knomen in command of our ships they won’t be used as fodder, so I won’t have to. I was impressed by your leadership and how you handled the Lieutenant in Tressia.
“Experience isn’t as important as you’d think for this, because we don’t have any at all in space battles. An admiral in the Navy needs years of experience to control and understand the limitations of ships and subs on and under the ocean. But in space a kid with an Xbox has more experience in space battles than a full admiral. In a way your inexperience might be a plus, the book for space battles still needs to be written.
“Add to that, you designed all our ships, and know better than anyone what they are capable of. We have to make it real of course or it won’t work, you would be in command, but you’d have a Captain on your flag ship, and commanders on the other five ships ready to offer advice during battle planning.”
Did he really trust me that much? Or just not trust the other Knomen that much. Probably a little of both I’d guess.
“What about the illegality, there are laws about rank promotions. Even the president can’t wave his hand and poof someone to Admiral.”
“Poof?”
I blushed and gave a series of one-word clarifiers, “Sorry, defense mechanism, humor, silly, sir.”
He sighed, “No the president can’t do that… but have you heard of Brevet ranks?”
I nodded, “Yes, it was a temporary promotion, it was used a lot during the revolutionary and civil wars, but was done away with shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, and replaced with awards and medals.”
He smiled as if pleased I’d known that, “Exactly, and the reason it was discontinued was because being a hero, or doing something heroic, wasn’t a good substitute for experience and time in. Except we’ve already covered that, experience on a battlefield, urban combat, in a sub, or an aircraft carrier won’t mean crap out there in space. So here is what the plan is.”
He stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts and said, “Basically if you agree to help us, you would sign on to the Navy as a Lieutenant J.G. which is their 0-2 slot. Then the president and congress will Brevet you to Rear Admiral for the duration of the mission, after which you’ll revert to a Lieutenant again.”
I frowned, “But then when I get back… I’ll be in the Navy. I have plans to…” was that selfish? He was asking me to make sure his troops weren’t used as fodder. I’d already done a lot to ensure the freedom of the world I grew up in to remain that way, was I going to balk now? I still thought it was a crazy idea, me lead people?
He slid a piece of paper across the desk, and I picked it up. It was basically an executive order excusing
me from military service when I got back from the mission. Apparently he’d expected that question.
I looked up, “Okay, this time I’d be volunteering, but I’m guessing the President can reactivate me at any time in the future without my okay?”
He frowned, “Yes but… do you think we want to piss you off? You’ve done more to help me put this planet on the path of freedom than anyone else. Than any country or company… I also expect that the improvement you showed me the other day to the FTL field won’t be the last, we want you where you can make a difference, not in charge of mopping the deck of a ship.
“I imagine if we made you too angry, you’d just jump on your ship and go home. Consider this a personal favor asked by me, and your president. We know you’re a research scientist, but your also so much more than that. I see leadership qualities in you, hell, I’ve done almost everything you’ve suggested to me over the last week. I wouldn’t be on board with this idea if it was only because of your race, and needing to not let the other Knomen throw human lives away”
I shook my head. I was a scientist, and a geek that watched old sci-fi shows on Netflix. Not… military minded at all. I just didn’t see what he saw in me. Then again, I couldn’t be much worse than a Knomen admiral would be, they’d just use the Earth ships as fodder to charge the wall so to speak if Tressian history was accurate.
“So the PT tests?”
He shrugged, “Everyone in the military needs to pass a physical exam and the PT tests to be on active duty. You did much better than I expected. If it makes a difference I’m going to assign Cooper, Alda, Naughton, and Smith to be your personal guards. They are not there to watch you; they’ll be there to watch out for you. There have been… threats against your life. Okay?”
I nodded. I could have taken more time to think about it but I knew what I would decide. I’d already put myself on the line for my adopted planet, almost begged to be allowed to do it, why wouldn’t I do it again? I signed my name to the paper, and the General swore me in. That last part made the craziness of the day feel… real.
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