Three Against the Stars
Page 21
“Vaya con Dios, my friend,” Cortez said, his voice choked with grief.
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Standing at half-mast, the three flags over Camp Corregidor danced under a warm and gentle breeze. Saigon Jack, the robot bugler, stood silent and motionless. Company E and the entire Third Regiment stood at attention as a funeral procession of Marine guards and pallbearers, decked out in full dress blues, provided a grim and silent escort to a sad parade of over three hundred coffins.
Sergeant Fernando Cortez blew Taps on an ancient bugle as tears ran down his cheeks.
On the viewing stand, Akira and O’Hara openly wept as they saluted the procession. Behind them, Cooper Preston, Colonel Dakota, Major Helm, and a number of Rhajni government officials snapped reverential salutes.
Last in line among that procession of fallen warriors passing in review was the bier holding Makki’s body, supported by Marine pallbearers in full dress uniform.
Makki’s still and silent body had been dressed in the uniform of a Marine.
Behind his bier walked three Felisian priests, each wearing a long, black and scarlet robe.
Sheel Pham, wearing a traditional Rhajni mourning gown of purple and gray, walked behind them. Tears dampened the soft down of her cheeks. Her hands were cupped in front of her, and in her delicate palms rested the origami starship Akira had made.
Chapter Twenty
To Beyond the Farthest Star
Five years later . . .
The Heinlein Space Station maintained a steady orbit high above the Earth. Docked in one of it numerous maintenance bays, a three-hundred ton, gleaming white starship of the latest design floated in space like a sailing ship on a gentle sea. This massive vessel resembled a sleek submarine, with two laser turrets, four wings mounted with laser cannons and photon missiles, and a graceful tailfin.
A tiny shuttlecraft cruised alongside the starship.
Inside the shuttle, O’Hara, a little heavier and more space-worn, wore the additional stripe of a gunnery sergeant. Standing next to him, Gunnery Sergeant Cortez, his hair salted with gray at his temples, smoothed his mustache and flicked a speck of lint from his uniform. Together they observed the magnificent starship through the shuttle’s viewport.
Off to the side, Akira, still looking young and pretty, also wore the stripes of a gunny sergeant. Beside her, Cooper Preston looked as handsome and as dapper as ever. He cradled a sleeping baby in his arms. They, too, gazed in awe at the starship.
Sheel Pham stood all alone at another viewport, gazing out into space. No longer a nurse, she now wore the white dress uniform of a doctor in the Imperial Fleet of the Terran Empire.
Once again, she held the origami starship in her delicate hands.
O’Hara turned to Cortez. “You’re a bloody idiot,” he whispered. “Here you win all that money in the Solar Lottery, and what do you do? You up and re-enlist!”
“Semper fi,” Cortez said with a smile.
“I heard you were wounded during the final battle with the Drakonians,” Preston said to O’Hara. “How’s the new leg?”
“Works so good, I’m thinking of havin’ the other one cut off so’s I can have me a matching set,” O’Hara said with a big grin.
Pulling up one leg of his pants, he showed Preston the realistic prosthetic leg bearing the traditional Globe and Anchor insignia of the Marine Corps. O’Hara then pressed the sides of his kneecap, and a panel in his calf popped open, revealing a small storage compartment. He reached inside and took out five packets of space rations.
Akira wrapped an arm around Preston’s shoulders. “Mister Preston, by any chance do you know what today’s date is?”
“Yes, Mrs. Preston,” he said. “I believe it’s the tenth of November.”
“Happy birthday, Marines!” Akira said.
“Say, Coop. Would you be wanting to share space rations with us?” O’Hara asked.
Preston smiled and nodded. “I’d be honored, Gunny.”
Keeping one packet for himself, O’Hara handed space rations to Preston and Akira, and placed two in Cortez’s hands. He nudged the Spaniard in the ribs.
“Go on, ya bloody pirate, she’s one of us now,” said O’Hara.
Cortez walked over to Sheel and handed her a packet of space rations. Together, they looked through the viewport at the starship and the vast splendor of outer space.
“Magnifico!” Cortez said. “What do you think, Captain Pham? She is a real beauty, no?”
Sheel smiled wistfully. “Makki would be so proud.”
“It is indeed a wonderful honor,” said Cortez.
“Aye, that it is, mate. That it is,” O’Hara agreed.
“The Corps’ first starship,” Preston said.
“The first of many,” Akira said, her heart swelling with pride.
Everyone moved closer to the viewports, to get a better glimpse as the shuttlecraft cruised along the port bow of the great starship.
O’Hara wiped his eyes. “I cursed him and insulted him every chance I got,” he said. “But Makki was a bigger man than this one could ever hope to be.”
Emblazoned in blue and gold across the gleaming hull of the newly-constructed starship were the words, Corporal Makki Doon, U.S.M.C.
The End
ABOUT OUR CREATORS
THE AUTHOR
JOE BONADONNA- started writing in 1970. Since then he’s published a few short stories and one novel. He’s the author of three screenplays, and has co-authored two others with novelist David C. Smith. One of their screenplays, Magicians, was a semi-finalist in the 7th Annual Writer’s Network Screenplay Competition back in 2000, and is currently in the hands of a young director. Joe is a former board member of the Chicago Screenwriter’s Network, where he lectured on the history of science fiction, horror, and fantasy in films, and discussed the art of writing screenplays.
A former guitarist and songwriter, Joe was born and bred in Chicago, IL. You can find him on Facebook under Joe Bonadonna. He’s also one of the administrators for the Swords and Sorcery League, and the Swords and Planet League; both are Facebook community pages. Most recently he sold a novella, The Order of the Serpent, to Weird Tales Magazine. Three Against the Stars is his second novel.
Joe’s picaresque novel of swords and sorcery, Mad Shadows: The Weird Tales of Dorgo the Dowser can be purchased from www.iuniverse.com, www.amazon.com, and www.barnesandnoble.com. It’s also available as an eBook for Kindle.
Check out his blog at www.dorgoland.blogspot.com, or visit him on Google+. Follow him on Twitter!
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COVER ARTIST
LAURA GIVENS is a Denver-based author and artist. Her art has graced the covers of numerous publishers’ books and magazines. She has provided illustrations for Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, Jim Baen’s Universe, Talebones, Science Fiction Trails and Tales of the Talisman. Her work may be viewed at www.lauragivens-artist.com .
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INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS
PEDRO CRUZ - is a portuguese artist and teacher. His work for Airship 27 includes interior illustrations for Jim Anthony Super Detective volume one , Jim Anthony Super Detective: The Hunters, Season of Madness and Dr. Watson’s American Adventure. He writes and draws his webcomic The Mighty Enlil, which can be read weekly at www.pedro-cruz.blogspot.com or www.comicrelated.com.
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
FOREWORD
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
ABOUT OUR CREATORS