Yang answered. Johansson could hear the excitement in his voice. “We’ve taken down most of them, just a bit more cleaning up to do.”
“Any hits on your ships?”
“Smitty’s ship recorded a hit, but the damaged area has been isolated and wired around. It appears to be minor.”
“I’m sending you the coordinates of the base they launched from. Make that your next target.”
“Yes sir,” Yang replied enthusiastically.
Johansson got his Flight back together, and they turned for the Reptilian airbase at blinding speed. As they neared the base, surface to air missiles flared up at them.
“Sir, I’ve got a lock on the incoming,” called the gunner.
“Take them out.”
His response was missiles flashing past the windscreen. They found their targets and the computer marked the launch site for destruction.
“Sir, I’ve got the base.” The base was marked on the targeting list, and the gunner launched salvo after salvo.
“Sir, we’re getting low on missiles.”
“Hang onto what you have.”
Johansson radioed his wing. “Take the lead, and finish this target off.”
“Yes sir.” His wingman moved into lead position and rolled in on the target, missiles blazing. Soon there was nothing left of the airbase except smoldering ruins.
“Topside, have you found any more targets?”
“Nothing much, sir. There appears to be something small about fifty kilometers to your southwest, and another located at each pole.”
“Let me know if anything else sticks its head up.”
“Yes sir.”
“Yang,” radioed Johansson, “you take the target at the south pole. Danaher, you take the one at the north pole.
“Yes sir,” replied Yang and Danaher almost simultaneously.
Soon the Reptilian presence on the planet was smoldering ruins. Von Karlstad had been watching the battle’s progress with great satisfaction from out in the fringes of the star system. Now, we will make our comeback. A whole planet’s defense devastated with no losses to our side.
He called in his adjutant. “I want a ceremony when we return and put all the men on this mission in for medals. I want Commander Johansson awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.”
“Yes sir. Will there be anything else?”
“I intend to meet the men as soon as the bay is repressurized.” He got up and left the office.
Chapter 2 - A Brief Spring
“Excuse me Lieutenant. Do you think you can just sit down and put your head on my shoulder, just like that?”
Argie smiled. “You ordering me not to?”
“No, but what would Commander Fitzpatrick say, if he walked in?”
“I don’t think he is going to show up. I saw him with a civilian a couple of days ago. I think she’s keeping him busy.”
“Was she a tall, thin Chinese woman?” he asked.
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“I think I saw her on the Moon.”
“Well, Fitz deserves a little down time,” Argie said. She moved her head to a more comfortable position on his shoulder.
“I thought we were going out for a run.”
“Try not to make too much noise on your way out,” she teased.
Denver had stopped trying to see her as a surrogate daughter. Still, it was platonic. He had not even tried to hold her and kiss her, though she had pecked him on the cheek a couple of times since he and Cee rescued her. He was not sure where her head and heart were, and there was no rush.
She sat up to look at him. “You look like you’re thinking again, Grandpa.”
“I need to get a cane, so I’ll have something to beat you with.”
“I think I can still outrun you,” she laughed.
“Great, then outrun me to the beach.”
“Oh, you won’t let a girl have any fun.”
“I think you’re just getting lazy.”
“Lazy, I work at Intel and then twice a week, go over to the clinic in order to keep current. You call that lazy.”
“Isn’t your qualification with the rifle coming up soon?”
“I guess so.”
“Come on, on the count of three, we’ll go run.”
“No,” she said and moved to hold him on the couch. He tickled her.
“How do you expect to outrun me if you can’t even pry yourself off the couch?”
She pushed him away and jumped up off the couch. “Okay, Gramps, last one to the beach buys lunch.” He followed her out the door close on her heels.
* * * *
Fitz swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself up out of the water. Mei Ling handed him a towel. “Don’t splash water in the drinks,” she teased.
He sat down next to her and quickly pecked her on the lips. “Thanks,” he said as he accepted the drink. Their people had managed to find ways to distil alcohol from plants that grew under the sea a long time ago. This made the base for most of their alcohol drinks.
“You getting used to the gravity?” he asked.
“It’s going to take a while. Glad I spent so much time in the centrifuge.”
“I didn’t know they had one you could access.”
“They don’t,” she responded. “I rode the one at the park.”
“The amusement park? That’s not really a centrifuge; did that help?”
“I wouldn’t have made it otherwise, that and resistance training,” she said. “Besides, I might need to go to Earth someday.” She smiled up at him.
Fitz put his arm around her and kissed her on the mouth. After a long while, he pulled away. “If it wasn’t for this blasted war, you might be there already.”
“Are you sure? I mean, no one has asked me,” she said coyly. After a brief pause, she added, “I don’t want to think about the war, not now.”
“Thank you for coming,” he said tenderly.
“Thank you for asking me,” she responded.
“You know, the gravity here is only a little greater than Earth’s. It might eventually not even be necessary to return women to the cities under the sea.”
“Women?” she said mockingly.
What he meant were wives, pregnant wives, mothers to be. The fear had always been that the fetus might not develop correctly on the Moon or any of the asteroid colonies.
There had been talk of hollowing out one or more; then spin them up with centrifugal force replacing gravity. The inhabitants would walk on the inside of the hollowed out area with the horizons tilting upward until they met on the other side. One could see people walking across the interior who would appear to be upside down.
The Separatists had been kicking this around for a while. In fact, one large asteroid already had a tunnel drilled about two-thirds the way through it for the mineral content only. Someday it might happen, but others doubted it.
The fact was that most people were quite happy with the low gravity worlds of the solar system, and it would be centuries before overcrowding became a consideration. However, human embryo development was not something the leadership was willing to play with.
The bed of the Earth’s oceans had become the incubator for future generations of Separatist humans. Man had returned to Mother Ocean for the most basic need of any civilization intent on survival.
While there were always those who complained or did not want to go along with the program, most of the holdouts could be persuaded if the payoff was big enough. Indeed, there were those who did it for a living. If their genes were good enough, they could be inseminated, naturally or artificially, and make a good living at keeping the next generation of Separatists coming.
However, these were the exceptions. Marriage was encouraged, though some of them might not be recognizable as marriages to the
down-earthers. This did not matter to the Separatists, keeping the generations coming and not becoming inbred did.
Fitz had not said the words, and he was tired of fighting it. He wanted Mei Ling, to be his wife. But for this war, they would have each other already.
They had both talked all around it, but first, the navy shipped him off to school to learn how to work directly with the Greys. Then, they needed someone to recruit the Legion from Earth. Next, they shipped him off to the training world.
She could not help but to wonder, had it always been thus for women? If so, maybe women should take over the world and put an end to it.
Then she would remember, her people had deserted the earthers’ world and made their own world. Now they were in a fight for their lives.
Would the navy let them stay together on the training world? Once off the surface, people had to be more dependent on each other. This meant more control by the system of governance their ancestors had set up. As long as government types were not too intrusive, people put up with it.
As long as somebody was making babies and not inbreeding, parliament left people to their own devices. The government was not too worried about the details of how the babies kept coming, just that they did. Not making babies and inbreeding were the cardinal sins of this fledgling spacefaring civilization.
Having a husband who was the son of a woman from Earth, more than met all the requirements. She stole a glance at his body, strong and muscular. Mei Ling intended to develop her own body as well, and this planet would be the place to do it if the navy would let her stay.
Fitz’s com went off.
“Oh boy,” he said as he dug it from his kit. It was his boss, Admiral La Force.
“Sorry to bother you while you are on leave, Commander.”
“Quite all right sir. What’s happened?”
“I don’t know the details yet, but Admiral von Karlstad is claiming that a secret attack on a conquered world has successfully removed the Reptilians who occupied it.”
“How? They have no ground forces.”
“That’s the rub, isn’t it?”
“Everyone should know it by tonight. I’ve sent you some coded information. You should be able to get it at the resort.”
“Yes sir, do you want me to cut my leave short?”
Mei Ling’s eyebrows shot up.
“No, that will not be necessary. I just wanted to keep you informed. If there are any other developments, I’ll let you know. Just enjoy yourself.” The Admiral cut the connection.
Fitz assumed that faraway look she had come to recognize. She took his arm as though the effort would hold him and keep him from being sent away again.
He turned to her, and his face hardened. “We need to find someplace quiet to talk.”
* * * *
When Denver and Argie returned to the suite at the resort hotel, they heard noises coming from Farouk’s room. They had not seen much of him since arriving. After he got unpacked, he headed off to a dance club, and that was the last they saw of him.
They smiled at each other, and Argie raised an eyebrow feigning disdain. There was a message waiting in the common area for Smith. It read, “I would like to invite my motley crew of freebooters and cutthroats to the engagement party of Mei Ling and myself.”
“Well I’ll be hanged,” Denver said.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Fitz has gone off and gotten himself engaged and has invited us to a party tonight to celebrate.”
“Who’s the lucky girl?” she asked.
“Her name is Mei Ling. I assume she is the one you saw him with. Why are you looking at me that way?”
“What way?” she said, advancing on him and smiling up at him with her chin lowered.
Denver was involuntarily backing away. “Why are you running away?” she asked.
“I’m not running; I’m just heading off to the shower.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Alone,” he said.
“Oh pooh.”
“Besides, who is always calling me Grandpa? You are awfully young, as I recall.”
“Humph,” she snorted. I’ll be nineteen next month.”
He backed into a couch, she pushed him down, and they fell together. She kissed him on the lips, and he gave up fighting.
* * * *
Fitz had reserved an upstairs room at one of the waterfront restaurants at this seaside resort the navy built for its personnel. It was still modest but growing. It was hard to get accustomed to being outside in the open air, a situation many could not readily tolerate. Their entire lives had been in a city under the sea, in ships, enclosed on asteroids and moons, and in Rill City on the Moon. The leadership saw this new planet, as a new Earth.
Many would not readily leave the comfort of one-sixth gravity of the Moon or even less on the asteroids and other moons in the solar system. This was fine as long as there was space for all to live. Others had already come to relish the idea of going outside under an open sky without a pressure suit. Some had gone to the extreme of going stark-naked at every acceptable opportunity.
The only serious downside was that without the Greys and their star drive technology, the people here would be cut off from the humans back in the solar system. It was the unspoken fly in the ointment. Should a rift develop between them and the Greys, their people would be stranded, for all practical purposes. Any movement between the solar system and this star’s system would be a permanent colonization voyage.
Fitz was dressed in loose fitting gray slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt, open at the neck. Mei Ling wore a Cheongsam, a long Chinese style, floor length dress with a short stiff collar worn tight around the neck, except at the front. It was jade in color with storks and other animals from Earth printed on it. The material looked like silk but was actually made from some modified plant that had originally grown under the sea. Now they grew it in tanks on the Moon.
She wore her hair up and held in place with gold combs. Standing erect with her shoulders squared, she looked like an empress from ancient China.
Argie noted that she came to Fitz’s chin, but she could not tell if Mei Ling wore high heels. She was radiant. Argie could not help but think that she would make a lovely bride.
Both were beaming as Commander Fitzpatrick formally introduced his fiancée. “Mei Ling, please allow me to introduce my associates from the Star Legion, Captain Denver Smith, Lieutenant Argentina de la Fuentes, Lieutenant Farouk Jones, and I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting your escort.”
“Oh pardon me. Allow me to introduce Mademoiselle Juliette … Oh, how embarrassing, I don’t even know your last name.”
“Juliette will do just fine,” she said extending her hand to Mei Ling. Farouk’s lady friend conducted herself with elegance and grace, as though she was a person of some importance.
“Well everyone, this is my fiancée, Soong Mei Ling.”
Argie embraced her in the South American way and kissed her on both cheeks, in the French way. Denver thought she was gushing all over the place. He was just glad to see Fitz happy.
Drinks arrived, and they made toasts all around. After dinner, as the evening wore on, Fitz spoke quietly to Denver concerning the message he had received from the Admiral.
“That’s interesting. Wonder what they’re up to?” Denver said.
“What makes you think they are up to anything?” Fitz asked.
“The Admiral must think so, or he would not have contacted you.”
“I haven’t had time to get into the coded information he sent me in detail, so I can’t say as yet,” Fitz replied.
“Somehow, I can understand,” said Smith with a wide grin.
Fitz chuckled. “Yes, I suppose you can.”
“Can you send me a copy?”
“Sure, just st
ore it in coded form.”
“Of course, but if what you are saying is true, it will be all over the place tomorrow, anyway. Everybody will know,” said Denver.
“Yes, maybe that is the purpose.”
Chapter 3 -The Plot
Admiral von Karlstad tried to appear modest as the guests came up to him. Women in evening gowns embraced him and the important men of industry, government, and the navy vied to wring his hand off.
“Splendid!” praised a Parliamentarian, named Lee. “You have shown everyone what our technology and fighting spirit can accomplish.”
“Thank you Mr. Lee, but the credit goes to the fine engineers who designed the Me 147 along with Commander Johansson and his men.”
“You are too modest Admiral,” added a Grande Dame, the mother of five daughters and grandmother of twenty grandchildren.
“Now if parliament will do their part,” interjected some backbencher of unknown affiliation.
Von Karlstad held his peace. The speaker was not yet middle-aged and had obviously been making trips to the bar and the deli. The Admiral glanced over his glass at Mr. Lee.
“We’ll talk more later,” Lee said, turning to his wife. “Can I get you another drink, dear?” With that, he headed off to the bar.
As the evening wore on and some guests began to depart, von Karlstad sat with a group of influential men and women. They were situated in front of an imitation fireplace that produced fan blown, electric heat. It provided a place around which to congregate that touched something primal in people.
Von Karlstad, his adjutant, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Schiller were locked in conversation. “Mr. Lee,” began Schiller, “I think this mission of Admiral von Karlstad’s proves that we can fight this war on our terms. Furthermore, after two deployments this Legion has produced little, needing to be extracted by the navy to forestall its complete annihilation. It is clearly a drain on our limited resources, while not proving to be of any real value.”
“Perhaps,” began Lee. He had not actually been against the formation of the Legion, but only a weak supporter who took a wait-and-see attitude.
Hell Fighters From Earth Book 2 Page 2