Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  By the time supper was on the table, Tala and Katelyn showed up, soon followed by Zimuel, Tlase, Ibrihim, Lydia, Yadvega, just back from Tramlaw, Metsis, Uduak, who had become a regular, Michael, Dr. Joe, Hon IV and Eu Meh. After the initial novelty wore-off of eating supper with a bunch of aliens, it became a dinner full of lively conversations and socializing. Hon had come by to pick-up the cloaking body armor and stun-guns. Eu Meh came along because she had not yet seen Verron. After supper, Paul made a point of giving her a personal tour of the Mansion and Mountain City. Of course when they left the table the conversation quickly turned to what a cute couple they made. Alene laughed and commented, “That boy never slows down long enough to have a relationship. I’ll bet while he walks her around, he’s thinking of a million things he needs to be doing.” Zimuel and Tlase agreed and his brother Joe added, “With his batting average, he’s probably afraid to speak to women.” The Queen Mother threw a wadded napkin at him and told him, “Hush! There’s still hope for him yet.”

  After supper everyone was invited by 99 to get their cobbler and ice cream and enjoy it on the terrace. He hadn’t seen his friend Zeus in over a week and wanted to let him know what a good time he had on his honeymoon. He was trying to convince Zeus to have a mate cloned. They were headed for the terrace when, from out of nowhere, 99 got tackled by Finley. Those around him thought he had just been attacked by some vicious animal until people started laughing. Once the tussle was over, Finley had to inform Ilna and 99 that they had begun a mate for him. The three did the goat/monkey dance and headed for the terrace. As if these poor Earthlings had not seen enough, when they arrived on the terrace, Zeus was just returning from a fishing trip and was on final approach to land on the terrace. It was an intimidating image when a dragon flying a good hundred feet above you is observing you as he lands. The pilots looked terrified until 99, Ilna and Finley all raced to jump on his big long neck and began pretending to wrestle him to the ground. Marine Captain Wilkerson shook his head and pulled out his phone, asking, “Mind if I take pictures of this? I don’t even believe what I see and my kids will accuse me of lying when I tell them.” Tala was still with them and told them, “I’ve lived here over five years and still don’t believe it. Be my guest.” All thirteen pilots began taking pictures.

  By the time those in the enhancement chambers were ready to come out, the 13 pilots had each reached the level 10 required by Verron to begin training in an actual aircraft. They divided into smaller groups of four, with the one odd pilot going with 99, and were assigned training Speeders. Tala, Katelyn and 99 managed to get a day and a half of flight time in before it was their groups turn to go to the Medical Center for enhancement. At first the pilots looked doubtful when they climbed into the minute aircraft that seemed so tiny compared to the F/A-18 Super Hornets, AH-1W Super Cobras, F22 Raptors and AV-8B Harriers that these people had been flying. That doubt didn’t last long when they were soon flying at Mach 4 across the Northern Range. The four instructors were soon placed on a pedestal of pure envy when they demonstrated some of their maneuvers for their students. It wasn’t long before they were practicing the same moves and came to realize that 99 had been right when he said, “You must fly with your imagination not your instruction manual. Verron ships will do whatever you want them to do and they are very forgiving.” By the time the experienced pilots landed back at the Air Force Base for the last time, they felt like they had been flying antiques back on Earth instead of the most advanced aircraft in production. Captain Wilkerson climbed out of his Speeder after being the only one brave enough to attempt a Lame Duck. The others were congratulating him on his bravery and skill, when he asked, Tala, “Captain Verron, was your Little Pink Speeder, just like these?” She politely responded, “It was at first, but after I got better King Verron let me remove the restrictor controls.” Pointing to the little Speeders, she added, “These are capable of Mach 20 when unrestricted.” The group couldn’t believe they had been hitting speeds of Mach 6 in a restricted aircraft.

  Tala was about to explode with excitement, but knew better than to let anyone else know. Brad was coming out of the chamber today. Amber had shown-up to see Robert when he came out. She was a little upset that no one had told her Robert was there instead of Area 51. She had shown-up at the top secret complex and managed to get a shocked security officer to finally tell her they had left in a spaceship with King Verron. She stepped away from the officer who was trying to detain her and vanished. He didn’t bother to tell anyone else what happened, he was beginning to get used to the weird things happening in Area 51 since the Verron’s had arrived. Thirteen starving pilots exited the Medical Center and headed across the City Square for the food court. Amber was hanging on Robert’s arm and didn’t care about what the others were thinking of General Lawson with this young Princess. Tala was walking between Cruz and Brad, but it was pretty obvious who she was paying attention to. After eating meals from several vendors, including their newest Chinese restaurant and then eating seconds, the pilots couldn’t wait to see what they were capable of. One of the Air Force officers walked into a sporting goods store near the food court and decided he was going to lift a weight-set display. On the floor in the back was an Olympic bar with 2-45, 2-25, 4-10, and 4-5 pound plates, add that to the 45 pound bar and he easily lifted 245 pounds off the floor with one arm. The others had to try it then and put on quite a show for the shoppers. Cruz jokingly looked at Tala and asked, “I still can’t whip you can I?” She grinned her big Southern grin and replied, “Who, little ole me? Not a chance.” She didn’t bother to lift the bar. It wasn’t enough weight to bother with. They knocked around the mall a while waiting for their ride to show-up to take them to the Space Center/Air Force Base. Paul Verron had already sent Renee and Michael off to Tramlaw in the Dragon Wagon. As they stepped out of the mall into the square a Gljarne Class Destroyer landed. Chase and Daniel were flying it and waved smilingly to the others to get on board.

  Once again 99 greeted them and gave them a factory tour. Tala took the responsibility on herself to give Brad Williams a personally escorted tour. She even took him to the prototype shop where she had built her mini-Fighter. When they joined the others in the simulator room, no one said a word, but there were plenty of smiles. She also helped him get strapped in and instructed him on how to use the teaching attachments, then waited around anxiously to see how he did. Two everyone’s amazement, Bad Brad scored a 9 on his first hour in the simulator. An excited Tala gave him a hug before she realized it was inappropriate for a training officer to be hugging one of her students. Brad turned the cutest shade of pink when he realized everyone was watching. Once again that evening the Dragon Palace was bustling with Earth pilots. Except this time King Verron was on the terrace grilling steaks and chicken. In a buffet style meal on the terrace, they feasted on Verron beef, chicken, fresh asparagus, salads, corn on the cob, French-fries, and the Queen Mother’s banana pudding. After the meal everyone was having so much fun they didn’t even notice that Tala and Brad had left for a tour of the Mansion and Mountain City together. Tala thought her toes were going to curl-up when he held her hand as they walked through the huge complex. Everyone in the Mansion was on the terrace, but when they strolled through other parts of the complex, they got plenty of curious looks. No one had ever seen Tala with a young man before. She then asked, “Would you like to see where I live. I don’t live in the Mansion. My home is a lot more normal than this.” Brad was quick to answer yes. Tala made sure she had a good grip on his hand and made a jump. Brad’s head was spinning when they were suddenly on the back patio of her house, over five hundred miles away.

  The first thing to greet him was Tigger. The big feline did not look too pleased that a stranger was holding her hand. He growled and showed his three foot long teeth to a terrified Brad, who bravely placed himself between Tala and the ferocious beast. Tala thought it was cute. Her Dad, who was sitting on the back porch watching the burgers on the grill, thought it was either brave or ve
ry stupid. Over the rumble of Tigger’s growling you soon heard a small voice say, “Tigger, no. Bad kitty” as MJ yelled at the 2000 pound Mountain Tiger to go lay down. Brad looked confused when it actually obeyed. Before introducing himself, Marcus took the biggest burger Brad had ever seen, over 2-foot in diameter, and tossed it to Tigger. It was gone in one bite. Marcus came over and extended his hand, saying, “You must be Brad, Katelyn has told us all about you. We didn’t believe a word she said.”

  Tala knew her sister was telling her Mom and Dad how old he was. She had hoped to pass him off for as young as he looks instead of his actual age. To her surprise, shock and amazement, after he introduced himself, Marcus told Brad, “The age difference is the same as me and Danyel. She was a year older than Tala when we got together. I guess I can’t say much about his age; now can I?” Brad looked relieved and Tala couldn’t believe her Dad was being so nice. He restored her confidence in her ability to read her Dad when he finished with, “Besides, my little girl can beat the brakes off of ya if you get out of line.” Tala knew he couldn’t resist saying something to embarrass her. That was just her Dad. The burgers were soon served. Chase, Daniel, MJ2 and Rachel joined them for supper and everyone there of course had embarrassing stories to tell about Tala, Mom even broke out the pictures of her previous birthdays receiving guns, knives and a Pink Speeder, and her racing her motorcycle in Australia. She invited Brad to attend her birthday party that was coming up in five days, Sweet Sixteen. Tala had been so busy on Earth and consumed with thoughts of Brad, she had forgotten about her birthday. After Brad had eaten for the third time in under eight hours, finishing the meal with a bowl of homemade ice cream, he and Tala made the jump back to the Mansion. By then they had been missed and it was time for the pilots to return to the Air Force base. She wanted so badly to kiss him goodbye, but there were just too many people around. She shook his hand instead.

  Over the next couple of days, while some of the pilots were working in the simulators or flying in Speeders with 99 leading the formation, Tala and Katelyn managed to prove their theory correct. The pilots no longer blacked-out when the Interceptors maxed–out to their 20g acceleration. Tala did a trial run with Cruz and Brad, while Katelyn started off with Major Brown and General Johnson. Amber took the responsibility to take Robert for his evaluation ride. Grandpa Paul had told her that he had been given a level six enhancement instead of the normal level four military enhancement given to Marines and Aviators. While the others were playing in the Interceptors, she took Brad for a ride in a Class X 2-Seat Fighter Trainer. Robert almost screamed with excitement when they hit 10,000 feet and she put the pedal to the metal, accelerating from Mach 2 to Mach 30 before reaching 20,000 feet and exiting the atmosphere at 80,000 mph. Amber didn’t stop there. Once free of the gravitational pull of Verron she continued to accelerate to 4-LS, as they sped across the Whirlpool Galaxy toward their nearest star system. She then pushed the Fighter all the way to 400-LS and the world around them went by in a blur. When she finally backed-off they were orbiting a small planet that was a little less than a light year from a swirling black-hole. Brad had never seen one and even a light year away was close enough for him. She told Brad that the Whirlpool Galaxy was full of them; at last count over 100 existed in the massive galaxy.

  The two of them spent the next six hours sightseeing then headed back to Verron. It had been the most amazing day of Robert’s flying career. He would have never been able to handle a flight like the one they made if not for the enhancement. Amber let him know that King Verron had allowed his to be two grades above everyone else. She then hesitated and added, “He felt like you may end up being around for a long time. I hope he’s right.” Robert just wanted to squeeze her, but it was impossible with them both strapped into body armor and a crash seat. He simply replied, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. I was kind of hoping I would be around for at least a couple hundred years.” Amber laughed, saying, “Well, you certainly picked the right girl for that. Wouldn’t it be cool to actually celebrate a 100 or 200 year wedding anniversary?” Robert was a man of few words, he told her, “It would be with you.”

  On the way back to Verron Amber let Robert play with the missiles, plasma cannons, and laser Gatling’s. He joked about what they would use for target practice when they blew-up the last of the asteroids. Amber was serious when she answered, “Grandpa already thought about that. He plans to blow up one of the dead planets and create more.” It made Robert shutter to the bones to think he could actually do it. That evening the pilots from Earth ended up at Amber’s Hacienda. Renee had returned from Tramlaw and convinced their French Chef to cook some American cuisine. He was pleased that they at least had French fries with their Filet Mignon with a side of Béarnaise Sauce and he slipped in some sautéed mushrooms and French Silk Pie for desert. He and Josh always argued when Josh insisted on doing the grill work. He kept telling the Chef that a boy from Oklahoma grew-up grilling meat; he didn’t learn it from some chef school. His one concession was that he allowed the chef to make the marinade sauce. When the steaks were finished, Andre the chef showed-up with grilled asparagus, crab meat and béarnaise sauce for those who wanted a more elegant meal. Renee had to smile when Josh began to pass around a bottle of Country Bob’s Sauce. Amber thought Andre was going to have a stroke. Andre went back to the kitchen mumbling under his breath, Renee looked at Josh and laughed, “It’s a good thing you don’t speak French.” Amber decided she would be sure to have eggs benedict or some crepes for breakfast.

  Those who liked to ride horses were invited to do so and if they were inclined to play on the crotch rockets used by the ranch hands to herd cattle they could do that as well. She had more horses than crotch rockets and should have known that a bunch of pilots would prefer them. They took turns riding them till it was time to call it a night. Amber and Robert went for a horseback ride by the river. Tala and Brad opted for a handholding walk in the opposite direction along the shore. Tala finally got that kiss she had been waiting for, actually several.

  Today was going to be a big day. The other half of the pilots were going to get out of the enhancement chambers this morning and Tala was going to have a not so surprising surprise party at the Mansion that evening. After eating massive quantities of breakfast, the pilots couldn’t wait to test their g-resistance. They knew that the next day they had to return to Area-51, so each was given an opportunity to take a ride in a Class X Fighter with two seats. There were plenty of pilots from Verron who were qualified to take them for the check-out ride. Tala of course took Brad and Amber took Robert. Pavel took General Johnson. Katelyn had Cruz. Chase ended up with Major Brown. The entire Dragon Guard was back home for the birthday party and was recruited to fly the Earthlings around Verron. Major Brown and Lieutenant Cruz made the mistake of asking Tala, “Show us how you lost those Qualoc Fighters.” The Dragon Guard escorts knew the show was on. The 26 Fighters blasted out of the Air Force Base in hot pursuit of Tala. They were in for the ride of their life and were about to experience the capabilities of both the Verron Fighters, and also the Dragon Guard pilots. Needless to say there was more than a little profanity when the Fighters raced through narrow river gorges and into the cave under the waterfall and when they disappeared into the cave winding its way through Mt. Alene, but they all seemed to find religion and silently prayed when Fighter after Fighter chased Tala through the Needle. The pilots had seen the crash of the Pink Speeder and were having visions of Speeder crashes going through their heads. Instead of flying across the glacier on the other end of the Needle canyon, Tala shot straight up, pulling a g force of 20 to 30. The ships followed closely behind. She hit the outer atmosphere in a direct course for Beriya-Haven and flew strait for it. The pilots from Earth soon realized exactly what they were looking at as they got closer to the Mars sized metal planet. Tala aimed directly for the center and the flashing strobe. Just as they arrived, the big access door opened and they stared in awe as the Fighters shot through the wide thoro
ughfare in the middle of the giant sphere. Tala soon began to shave-off speed and in minutes turned slowly into a hanger bay, where Uduak, Sekai and Paki, accompanied by General Klrxno awaited their arrival along with a welcoming party of a few thousand cyborg commandoes. After they landed and climbed out of the Fighters, Uduak laughed and said, “Princess Tala, you’re right on time, I assume you managed to keep your visit to Beriya-Haven a surprise?” Everyone now knew that Tala had planned this all along. Uduak really did want to show her hospitality to the pilots from Earth, only Tala knew that she especially wanted to show her hospitality to Lieutenant Cruz. She had met him at King Verron’s burger cookout; she thought he was adorable, the feeling was mutual.

  The Fighters and crew barely made it back to Verron in time to get cleaned-up and dressed for the night’s big event. Danyel and the Queen Mother had been planning the party for some time and agreed, sixteen, eighteen and twenty-one where the momentous occasions for girls, after that you tried to forget your birthday. The terrace was decorated in mostly hot-pink. Tala’s favorite band was scheduled to play and her favorite food would be served. Tala loved real pork BBQ much better than Kzki or T-Hog. Paul had hired out the cooking for the event since he didn’t want anyone to miss out on the party. There were some men from Alabama who opened a BBQ place in Farmington that had been flown in to cater the event. Paul no longer had a craving for Famous Dave’s in Tennessee; the Pig Master BBQ was far better and supported the local economy. Hidden away in one of the kitchen pantries was a five foot long cake in the exact likeness of Tala’s Pink Speeder. One of Danyel’s friends from Chattanooga had been convinced to open a bakery on Verron. She refused to buy her cakes anyplace else. Guests were arriving from every Allied planet for the event. Those people from Earth were really going to have something to tell their friends.