Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Upon her return to Area 51 she was greeted by the entire staff of pilots and ground crew and given a birthday party. The cake was shaped like a flying saucer and had 20 little three inch tall ET candles on the top. She once again felt like she was among friends and family as no one there ever referred to her by any title except Major or Katelyn. When she finally made it to her room she had several messages on the telephone provided in the BOQ. She took her time checking them, deciding it was probably some military issue or question from the staff there at Area 51, everyone else called her on her communicator. After her shower and a little reading before bed, she got tired of watching the annoying red message light flash and decided to clear her voicemail. Grabbing a pen and a piece of paper, she punched in her access code to the mailbox. The voice she heard was vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place it, until the voice called her KaKa. No one called her KaKa except her little sister and her friends from Chattanooga. Then the voice informed her, “I guess it’s been so long I probably don’t sound the same anymore. Sorry. This is Jenifer from across the street, your best friend forever – Jenifer. Since I know you just had a birthday, then you may remember mine is the week after yours. I’ll be twenty-one next weekend and my friends, your friends, are taking me out for my birthday. I managed to find someone who knew how to e-mail Verron and today your Mom got with me to tell me you were in Nevada. Let me know if you can make it. You can stay with me; it’ll be fun.”

  Katelyn looked at her clock by the bed. It was already 11:40 in Nevada and much too late to call someone in East Tennessee. She smiled as she dozed-off, thinking about what it was going to be like when she visited the friends she hadn’t seen since she was 14. She and Jenifer had been inseparable from the time she was two years-old. She and her family had been invited several times to move to Verron but for some reason they decided to stay in the town where they had lived their entire lives.

  She called Jenifer the next day and caught her at school. She was a graduating senior at UT Chattanooga majoring in Psychology and hoping to be accepted to Emory for graduate school. The conversation was short since Jenifer had to make a class and Katelyn had some target practice scheduled with the group she was training. She and Tala had divided the pilots between them in order to maintain consistency with the pilots and build teams that worked well together. Brad and Cruz were of course on Tala’s team. Katelyn wondered if she would ever find someone she was interested in. She had met lots of guys that where good looking and some that where almost interesting, and a couple of her surfer friends were nearly date material, but every time she saw Brad and Tala or Amber and Robert, it made her feel like something was missing. She hardly ever saw Tala anymore. If there was time off, she was usually mountain biking or motorcycle riding with Brad. They had even attended a motorcycle racing school conducted by Freddie Spencer held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. One of the instructors turned out to be Elena Myers, one of Tala’s motorcycle heroes. Tala still had posters of her in her room on Verron. It surprised her that Elena actually knew who she was and had been following her success in Australia and the FIM Superbike win followed by the mess in Qatar. She took a personal interest in working with Tala, while Brad spent most of his weekend with Fast Freddie. After the first day of riding, Freddie Spencer and Elena asked Tala if she had any interest in racing in the States. During dinner with Elena and Brad, after the classes were over on Saturday, Elena asked Tala, “Would you consider being on my team for next season. My sponsorship money is a little tight right now, but if you joined, it might stir up enough interest to get a few people to support the team.”

  Tala thought about the question a moment and surprised Elena and Brad with her answer, saying, “I am not some sort of a novelty act. If people only sponsor the team because you’re a cute blond or I’m a King’s niece, then I don’t want their money.” Elena had been playing the sponsorship game for so many years she began to see her struggling team with only one unsponsored rider for the next years racing season. That changed when Tala continued, “The whole time I was in Australia no one took me serious even when I beat them every race. Then those idiots from Ducati in Qatar actually wanted me to back-off or back-out so their rider would have the championship. If I’m on your team, I’ll be on it for one reason – to win races – not to make some sponsor more money from my hard work. How much money do we need to have the best bikes and crew available? If we’re going to do this, let’s make them know we came to win a championship.” Elena was one of the most polite people Tala had ever met and one of the shrewdest young business women around. She wasn’t just a cute blond motorcycle racer; she was a team owner, manager and promoter and spent most of her off season scraping together sponsors for her female owned team. She replied, “With the new changes in the motorcycle modifications next season, the team will need new bikes to begin with and since I’m no mechanic we’ll need that as well. Then there’s gas, entry fees, tires, parts, travel expenses. I would say the winning teams spend several million to maintain their competitive edge.” Tala thought a moment and asked, “Do you want to manage your team or do you want to focus on racing?” Elena responded, “I love to race more than anything, but I have to wear both hats, no way I can afford to add a manager to the team payroll, I can barely afford mechanics and tires.”

  Tala looked at her watch and did a little calculation in her head. She picked up her phone and made a call, “Neil, Tala, had any more problems with the Arabs lately? I don’t blame you, I doubt if I’ll be going to vacation in Qatar anytime soon either. Listen, Neil. Do you have a team you’re running next season? How would like to manage a team in the AMA Superbike Series? Of course I’m going to be on it, me and Elena Myers. It’s actually her team, but she wants to focus on racing and not spend all her time trying to keep everyone happy and on the track. No, I have no intention of racing a Ducati. In fact I’m tempted to get rid of the one I got for my birthday. Yea, I think they were wrong in Qatar too. How about we use BMW S1000RR’s for the AMA series? Sure, do you think four of them will be enough? Get them ordered and built to the new AMA Superbike Spec. We only have four months till the opening race and we’d like to spend a little time on them before the Daytona Opener. I’ll have Uncle Michael call you, same deal as last season good enough. Sure, tell Michael there will be more travel for you. Just let him know what you need. I can’t wait either. Let’s make next season a year the AMA will never forget. We’ll handle my licensing at this end. If you know someone who can speed along the process, give them a call. Think you’ll have the bikes ready by February. We could come to Phillips to test them. Good, we’ll be talking. It’ll be fun. Love Ya; Bye.”

  Elena looked dumbfounded when Tala hung up, asking, “Is that the Neil I think it was? Former FIM Superbike World Champion, Neil Hodgson is going to manage my team? How are you getting BMW to provide bikes?” Tala smiled and answered, “King Verron now sells more BMWs motorcycles than any other dealer and he is a partner with BMW Motorcars at his plant on Verron.” Elena leaned back in her chair and shook her head, saying, “You mean I don’t have to spend the next four months beating the bushes for sponsorship money and endorsements?” Tala grinned, “Not unless you just want too. Use the time to train and get in shape for the season. You’re going to need it to keep up with me. Just because you’re the team owner doesn’t mean I won’t try to beat you every time we’re on the track.” Elena smiled and replied, “I’m counting on it. I’ve seen footage of some of your races and was actually there in Qatar. After riding with you today, I believe you could be the first female AMA National Superbike Champion.” Tala, having no shortage of modesty, replied; “So do I!” Brad sat silently through the entire dialogue and as the girls hoisted their Diet Cokes in a toast, he asked Tala, “Do you always take charge like that, without even asking people if it’s OK?” She looked at him acting confused with the question and answered, “I figure that if someone doesn’t speak-out to disagree then my way of doing things is good enough. If someone doesn’t like
it, they should say so. Both Elena and Tala gave him a wounded look that he would even question what they had just done.

  Katelyn’s week had been very productive. The pilots under her supervision were chasing down and destroying every missile fired for target practice. At least for the present, her team was four points ahead of Tala’s team in points accumulated on the firing range. They were going through a lot of mini-missiles and ammunition for the laser and plasma guns. One of the cyborgs had been left behind to help service the ships. It was hilarious to see the alien cyborg interact with the Air Force ground crews. It actually joked and cut-up with the men as they worked to load the Interceptors after each flight. The guys had named him Tin Man after Wizard of Oz. What impressed the airmen most was the cyborgs ability to teach them about the weapons systems and how to service them. He was one of the best instructors they had ever met and spent a great deal of time allowing them to practice hands-on until they had something mastered. The week was drawing to an end and Katelyn was getting excited and a little nervous about her trip to Chattanooga. She decided to experience the entire Earth travel scene and booked a flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta with a connecting flight to Chattanooga. Early Friday afternoon Tala and Brad dropped her off at the airport, with Tala grinning as her sister drug her luggage out of the BMW transport and headed to the check-in counter, asking, “Sure you don’t want to change your mind. Even this thing will get you there faster than one of those tubs.” Katelyn was tempted to accept, but was determined to experience her first time flying on a commercial airliner. She kissed her sister on the forehead goodbye and waved at Brad, turned and disappeared into the terminal.

  After 3½ hours cramped between an obese man and a crying widow, walking and taking underground trains in Atlanta thinking she had missed her flight only to find it had been delayed for 2 hours, then almost being bumped from the last flight out of Atlanta to Chattanooga, Katelyn was ready to kiss the ground when she finally got off her plane at 12:45 AM. She had no problem admitting she was spoiled when it came to travel and was already thinking about just making a gateway for her return trip to Area 51. Jenifer, Patricia, Emily and Julie were all there waiting at the terminal when she finally came through the last security point. It took them a moment to recognize each other it had been so long. Jenifer had grown into a real beauty; long brown hair, a perfect complexion, full lips, brown eyes and a five foot eight inch trim figure. Patricia was a bit heavy, but still was the most energetic and bubbly of the group. Emily’s dark brown skin and brilliant smile radiated her personality. She was an avid tennis player and runner and had just finished Dental Hygiene training at Chattanooga State. Julie had changed so much if she hadn’t been with the others she would not have known her. Always skinny and sickly looking, she had joined the Navy as a nurse and was home on leave before returning to Newport, RI and Officers Candidate School (OCS); she looked strong, healthy and very fit. There were plenty of hugs and kisses for all and they left the terminal baggage claim with Katelyn’s wheeled luggage rumbling across the terminal floor. They climbed into Jenifer’s ten year-old Honda Accord and made it as far as Brainerd Road and IHOP. The other four girls had been out partying for a while and had not eaten supper, so breakfast would have to do. Katelyn, Patricia, Emily and Julie ate ravenously, but Jenifer only picked at her food and didn’t seem to enjoy even that. By the time they made it back to Jenifer’s home in Bal Harbor subdivision, it was 3:00 AM. Everyone was worn-out and crashed as soon as they got settled.

  The next morning, actually more like noon, the five girls were eating breakfast on the deck and getting ready to go boating and skiing on the Chickamauga Lake. Jenifer had moved since Katelyn had left for Verron. Her father’s construction business had done very well as Chattanooga grew and he had built the almost one million dollar home in Bal Harbor the year before. The girls enjoyed the water and spent the day in nonstop conversations about boyfriends, school, work, the Navy and of Verron. By the time the day on the water was finished, Katelyn was gaining a greater appreciation of just how blessed her life was, and how differently it would have turned out if she had spent the past six years in Chattanooga. While the other girls drank a beer or a wine cooler while out on the boat, Katelyn drank her usual Diet Coke and bottled water. The others didn’t give her a hard time about it, but felt like she was acting a little goody-goody for their taste. Katelyn realized that her friends had been partying together all through high school and college and what they were doing had just become a way of life for them. Their friends did it and that made Katelyn the odd one.

  Jenifer’s father grilled steaks and chicken for supper and her mom had a small cake for her birthday. Then the girls headed upstairs and spent the next two hours getting ready for a girls-night on the town. Every time Katelyn would model one of the outfits she brought with her, the other girls would declare it was not a girls-night-on-the-town kind of dress. She ended up wearing a designer label Black Floral Lace Off Shoulder dress with a coordinated black hat and string of long fake pearls with black high-heel ankle wrapped open-toed shoes. She really did look drop-dead gorgeous, but it was a little too short and showed far too much skin to suit her taste. The girls headed downstairs at 10:00 PM looking like a group of MTV models and were handed the keys to Jenifer’s Dad’s big Lexus SUV. They would be traveling in style as they hit the night life in Chattanooga.

  They made the scene at the Solid Gold dance club about 10:40 and Katelyn received a special stamp on her wrist that could be seen in black-light only with the letters ND, No Drinking; that suited her just fine. Someone had to be the designated driver and she was the only one who drank nothing but Diet Cokes or Dr. Pepper. Julie, Katelyn noticed, nursed the same bottle of beer for the entire time they were at Solid Gold. The other three were putting drinks away like there was no tomorrow. There was no shortage of male pursuers stalking the table with five very attractive ladies. Katelyn found a few of them sort of cute and managed to make herself dance with some of them. She hadn’t realized just how much men change when they’ve had a few drinks in them. While most were gentlemen and respectful of her, there were a couple who she thought needed to have the brakes beat off them, she smiled about her little sister always using the term she had picked up from Grandpa Kary.

  It was well past midnight and Katelyn’s head was pounding from the loud music and the screaming she had to do to have a conversation. Patricia had disappeared with some guy she met and left word with Julie that she would get home with the guy. The other four loaded into the SUV and headed across town to Jenifer’s favorite club. Katelyn was navigating the streets under the supervision of the other three girls and thought surely she was lost, but as she rounded the corner in the rundown warehouse district, Jenifer began to point with excitement at the small flashing neon sign over the door of one of the rundown buildings. To her amazement, the streets were filled with parked cars and there was a line that looked like opening day at the movies wrapped around the corner of the building, waiting to get in.

  Jenifer instructed Katelyn to drive directly to the front doors. A large black man opened the doors for the girls and held out his hands for the keys. He greeted Jenifer by her first name and told the man at the door to let them right in. There were both angry and jealous looks on the faces of those in line as the four girls strutted into the Club Salsa. The inside was totally different than the outside. It was amazing what could be done to an old warehouse with enough flashing lights, chrome plated furniture and a 10 man band playing the latest dance music. The dance floor was packed in this place and the dancing was much more unshackled than Solid Gold. Katelyn stood and watched a while and realized these folks really knew how to dance. They all looked like professionals and the moves were executed in perfect rhythm to the beat of the music. Jenifer grabbed someone she recognized and headed to the dance floor with a shrill of delight. Julie wasn’t far behind as someone she knew pulled her to the floor as well. Emily acted as if she knew everyone in the place and stood chatting with gi
rls and guys she had known from school and from her regular attendance at this club. She ended up on the floor with one of her many friends and Katelyn looked for a place to sit down away from the traffic of the busy dance floor.

  She worked her way up a flight of stairs and found a table for four on the balcony overlooking the dancers. As she sat alone it seemed like every other man that walked by asked her to dance. Katelyn loved to dance, but what she was watching below her was more of a display of total narcissism with each dancer trying to out-do the other and the more vulgar and raunchy it was the better. She decided she would not put herself on exhibition like that.

  One guy in particular came by her table and tried to coerce her to join him on the floor. He offered to buy her a drink and got more upset than one would expect for being turned-down. He left in a bit of a huff and returned with a few of his friends. After calling her a racist and a cracker because she wouldn’t dance with a black man, he turned-over her drink and left laughing with his homeboys. Finally Jenifer, Emily and Julie arrived and it soon became obvious why Jenifer had remained so thin and why she didn’t have much appetite. She was high as a kite. Katelyn had never been around drugs before but could tell her friend was not her usual self. The man with her offered Katelyn a hit off the joint he was smoking and was offended when she refused. Julie and Emily each took a hit and chased it with a drink. With four good looking women at a table and only one appearing to be accompanied, the male vultures began to circle the table. After a while the same three men who had harassed Katelyn returned and spoke on a first name basis with Jenifer and Emily and informed Jenifer what a bitch she had for a friend. Jenifer was much too high to argue and simply replied, “She’s not from around here. They don’t do stuff like this where she’s from. How boring is that?” Emily soon added, “What we’re doing is against the law there and they don’t allow black people.” Julie came to her defense and informed them, “What we are doing is against the law here too.”