Of Hearts And Stars (Classic Editon) (The Cadet Starship Chronicles)

by West, Edward

  “That's so ridiculous!” Allie said and then tugged on Cookie's sleeve “Oh look! She's asking!”

  Revy approached Swift from behind and tapped him on the shoulder.

  Swift turned around and said “Hiya Revy.”

  “Heya Swift. The Lunar Ball is coming up. Would you like to go (out) with me?”

  “(Absolutely, but I'm dumb, so I'll say) If you had asked me to do anything but that...”

  “Okay (idiot). Let's walk across hot coals tonight!” Revy suggested with a flare of danger in her eyes.

  “...I'd say I have sensitive feet, so I can't walk across hot coals.” Swift said and put his hands into his pockets before adding “Besides, you know I don't like dances.”

  Allie sucked her teeth when she heard this and asked “What kind of guy doesn't like holding a girl close while swaying to music?”

  “Dude, it's how you get the ladies.” Cookie said.

  Allie whipped her head towards him and asked “What!?”

  “So you're not going with anyone? (But you are going.)” Revy asked Swift.

  “Nah. I'm just gonna hide out in my room until it's all over. (Gotta get my tux cleaned...)” Swift said.

  “Every year” Allie said to Cookie “she goes to his room on the night of the ball in her dress, and every year he's waiting for her in his tux. It's like a bad romance.”

  Cookie gave her an enlightened nod and said “It's how you get the ladies.”

  “No it's not!”

  “Exhibit A.” Cookie said, gesturing towards Revy and Swift.

  Just as Revy was about to speak, Gin interrupted with “If Swift won't go with you Revy, I'd love to.”

  A devilish grin spread across Felix's face, Cookie's jaw dropped, and Allie's eye twitched. Swift raised his eyebrows in surprise, but when all Revy did was blush speechlessly, his expression took on a somber tone.

  “Well.” Swift said and his eyes flickered to Gin and back to Revy “Problem solved.”

  When Revy still did not respond, Swift turned and left the room without another word. Her face was still a scarlet shade of red when Gin asked “So how about it?”

  Revy shook her head and replied “I'm sorry. I can't.”

  Felix stood and began to speak, but was intercepted and drug into the conference room by an enraged Allie.

  “What did you do?” Allie asked, her voice cold like ice and smooth as glass as she quickly forced Felix into a headlock.

  “Nothing! I swear!” Felix shouted, struggling to break free, but Allie only tightened her grip, so he added “Okay! Okay! I may have encouraged Gin to ask Revy to the Lunar Ball!”

  Allie squeezed harder and asked “Why? You know better.”

  “I figured...” Felix gasped, but Allie did not let up “A little competition would push Swift into making things official with Revy this year. Ouch! You're really hurting me Allie!”

  Allie whispered “Fix this.” into his ear before tossing him to the floor. Felix quickly collected Gin and they headed into the hallway to find Swift.

  “I thought you said he'd be cool.” Gin said.

  “What? When did I say that?” Felix asked.

  “When you told me you were a love guru.”

  “That? No, you misunderstood. I said 'I'm a Louvre guru'. I know all sorts of trivia-”

  “Okay, there he is. C'mon!”

  They jogged down the hallway until they caught up to Swift, who was walking with his hands in his pockets and a plaintive look on his face.

  “Captain wait!” Gin called out, only to be met with that familiar look of weariness. Seeing this, Felix stepped in between the two.

  “Hey, you okay man?” he asked Swift.

  “Yeah.” Swift said, clearly not looking okay.

  “So you're cool with Gin askin' Revy to the ball?”

  “Totally.”

  “Just checkin', seeing as you and Revy go together every year and all.”

  “Not this year it seems.” Swift said.

  Perhaps he had taken too long. Maybe he wasn't ready yet? Was Revy ready yet? Now with this talk of portals, aliens, and especially that elevator incident a few weeks ago he wasn't sure. Before he thought that he could wind up dead at a young age because of the war, and now he felt certain that he would. Revy didn't need that kind of pain in her life.

  Gin leaned past Felix and said “She told me no. After you left, she said she can't go with me. I think she still wants to go with you.”

  Felix held out his hands and added “Yeah dude. I put Gin up to asking her. It's like, either crap or get off the pot ya know? I didn't think you, of all people, would actually get off the pot.”

  “Crap or get off the pot huh?” Swift asked.

  “Yeah. She seemed pretty upset when you left.” Gin said.

  “Alright. I'll go talk to her.” Swift said, and the three of them went back to Ready Room One.

  Swift and Revy went into the conference room to speak privately while Felix, Gin, and Allie secretly listened over the intercom. Cookie had declined to participate, as he wished to avoid taking the nine AM bus to Awkward City.

  “I'm sorry for just walking out like that before.” Swift said.

  “You didn't even give me a chance to say anything!” Revy scolded him.

  “I know, it was a total jerk move.”

  “It's okay. I forgive you.”

  Swift smiled and said “I'm glad. Over these past two years we've never actually stopped to talk about what we are to each other. We've just been really happy together.”

  Revy smiled back and asked “So what are we?”

  “Obviously we're two people who care a lot about each other. You've saved me so many times, not just physically, but emotionally as well. You've protected who I am. Believe me, I know it never gets easy.”

  Revy laughed and said “You can say that again.”

  Swift stopped smiling and continued “I don't know how it got so bad with me. I tried to get past my own issues, but it hasn't been working. I guess I knew that all along.” As he went on, the smile broke and gradually fell from Revy's face “It's unfair that you're holding me up when I can't return the favor. Some days I can barely stand on my own.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “That you're better off on your own. If a good guy like Gin asks you out again, you should say yes.”

  “No.” Revy said, her voice willful and defiant.

  “I'm sorry.” Swift paused to consider his next words and added before leaving the room “If I were you, I wouldn't love me.”

  He strode silently past the eavesdroppers, and when he was gone Allie rounded on Felix.

  “YOU!” she roared in his face.

  “I can't fix this...” he whimpered.

  -48-

  On the cargo ship Hermes, two imperial soldiers were hauling equipment crates. When they had finished, Pvt. Watts stretched and sighed loudly.

  “God, what was in that last one? A pack of baby elephants?” he asked.

  Pfc. Concordia dusted his hands and said “Quit yer whinin'”

  “Whining? I was the one doing all of the lifting!”

  “No. I was lifting smartly.” Pfc. Concordia corrected him.

  “More like not at all.” Pvt. Watts said and the two left the room.

  Moments later the crate that the soldiers had been moving began to shake, rattle and then rolled over. Swift came tumbling out of the crate covered in packaging material, shaking himself off and dusting the few remaining packing peanuts from his jacket. The time on his smartphone indicated he has five minutes until the portal launch. Putting his phone away, he set off to find a spot where he could watch the launch without getting caught.

  As he made his way through the Hermes, he reflected back on his conversation with Revy and began to regret it, yet knowing it was the right thing to do. “I had to do this.” he thought aloud, trying to convince himself if nobody else “It would be selfish otherwise. She's still young, and she should spend her schoo
l years going on dates and all sorts of romantic stuff. Not sitting around worrying herself sick about me.” He thought also about his increasing involvement in the war, and the danger that entailed. He didn't want to get any of the cadets entangled in this mess, especially not Revy. If that was love, then he'd rather have her hate him so that she wouldn't have to suffer indefinitely. She will be heartbroken for now, but happy in the long run. As for himself, he honestly didn't know when he'd be okay or happy with this choice- if ever.

  From his hiding spot he could see imperial ships moving away from a large ring, it's diameter about the size of a small planet. “That has to be the portal.” he observed. For a few moments all was still as the technicians checked diagnostics and ran preliminary tests. Swift watched closely as history was made before his very eyes. Transmitters began firing positronic beams into adjacent receivers, one after another, until a colossal grid had been formed. Next the beams began to pulsate and then rotate, eventually coming together to form a solid field. Swift, like many others watching, had never seen such a thing before. He held his breath and waited on pins and needles to see what happened next.

  Light flashed and flared as the first alien ship passed through the portal. An uneasy feeling bloomed in Swift's stomach when he saw it. He recognized it, an assault craft, from the data he had acquired at the research facility. The unease heightened into a sickening sensation when he saw several more pass through. What came next raised every single red flag in his mind. The last ship to pass through was the largest, and it had taken LC an entire week to cross-reference and analyze the data about it. Swift had learned that this ship's size and armaments were roughly equivalent to a Planet Destroyer Class ship, or PDC. Even though the catastrophically destructive power of such a ship had a class, neither The Empire or The Rebel Faction had constructed such a monstrosity. Both sides agreed that a weapon of this magnitude would be too dangerous in the hands of mankind. This had the unlucky consequence of making the alien PDC like a shark in a school of fish.

  “This is no trade negotiation.” Swift whispered “This is an invasion. A slaughter.” He had already taken off running towards the hangar bay, but he just might have been impressed, and definitely horrified, if he had stuck around to see the alien PDC in action. It charged it's main cannon and obliterated an entire squadron of imperial ships in the blink of an eye.

  -49-

  Swift had his smartphone out and was running across the hangar bay as the ship's general quarters alarm blared over the loudspeaker. In the din and clamor of such a situation, he was able to sneak over to an unmanned craft.

  “LC, can you get me this fighter?” he asked.

  The cockpit door hissed open, and the on board systems began to initialize.

  “Magical!” he said and climbed in.

  By the time he took to the stars, the fighting had already begun and was devastatingly one sided. A squadron of imperial ships had grouped up, and apparently were going to push down the middle. Swift engaged his fighter's cloaking module and got into position. He was hoping to slip by undetected, and the squadron's assault would provide him with the perfect distraction. Part of him wished to fight alongside the imperial squadron, but he knew a direct attack would never work. This kind of behemoth needed to be slain from the inside out, and Swift knew from it's schematics that it had a massive cooling duct large enough for his fighter to get into. The corridors within could then be navigated if he activated his fighter's passive phase shielding. Once inside he would make it as close as possible to the engine room for the next part of his plan.

  When the squadron made their move, Swift slipped past the fight and darting off towards the alien PDC. Skimming the surface of it's hull, he checked his minimap for any sign that he might have been detected. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end when he saw what looked like an enemy vessel pursuing him. As it began to gain on him, he quickly went over his options and none of them appeared at all promising. His finger hovered over the button to disable the cloaking module. No sense in wasting energy if he'd already been spotted, he thought. Swift knew there was a slim chance of fighting his way back to safety if he engaged an enemy at this point. Just as he was about to hit the button he decided to double check his combat scanner. He blinked and refreshed it, but the display still showed that he was not being targeted. Swift then slowed down and the enemy vessel passed right by him. Once it had returned to the fray, Swift let out a sigh of relief and went on his way. He then safely made it to the cooling duct and maneuvered his ship inside, turning off the cloaking module and activating his fighter's passive phase shielding. A marvel of modern technology, passive phase shielding allowed for matter to pass through a portion of the craft completely. Using this, Swift practically reduced the size of his fighter by half.

  The alien PDC was bizarre to say the least. Clear pipes ran all along the sides of the cylindrical passage, a murky red liquid gushing throughout them. Swift found himself reminded of blood being pumped through veins and cringed. He figured that he had passed through the border of a controlled release o-field, because now he found himself cruising past vents that were excreting a foggy brown mist. He wondered for a second what that might smell, or stink, like. His eye then caught another one of those pipes with the red stuff and he decided that he actually didn't want to know after all. He checked his minimap for the conduit that would lead him into the main part of the ship. When he found it he dialed down his auxiliary lasers quite a few notches and used them to enter the conduit as quietly as possible. Once inside the belly of the beast, so to say, he remained at cruising speed. However, this wouldn't go on for much longer. After rounding a corner he found himself fighter to face with an alien that bore a striking resemblance to the ones seen on Mars. This one, however, was armed and therefore probably dangerous. Swift often looked for ways to handle these situations while avoiding death, for himself and his enemy, but it wasn't as if he entered this ship without the intent of destroying it along with it's alien crew. Deciding that his morals would probably get himself, as well as the entire human race killed, he kicked his auxiliary lasers up to eleven and revved his his thrusters. The alien pointed it's rifle, or what looked to be a rifle at Swift's fighter. Swift opened fire and charged forward, causing the alien's body to rock with each shot before being knocked up past the view port and onto the deck behind the fighter in a ruined heap. Swift almost felt bad about it, but shrugged it off. He had a galaxy to save.

  -50-

  Racing down the large halls of the alien PDC, he mowed down whatever he came across as LC provided him with directions to the engine room. Karma would have it's way with him, but it'd have to catch him first. He came to a sliding stop right in front of two massive doors, which according to LC, marked the entrance to the engine room. Rather than waste precious time trying to open the no doubt complexly locked doors, he opted to detonate his fighter instead. Alien guards will be on their way at any moment, and the blast from his fighter self destructing would be more than enough to set off a chain reaction. Still, he didn't completely trust the explosives equipped to the fighter's self destruct system to pack enough of a punch on their own. However he did know that the two types of fuel used in this fighter, energenium monomate and dynamodine, created a highly destructive compound when mixed.

  “LC, override all safety protocols on this fighter and disengage the fuel separation module. After that I want you to activate the self destruct protocol.”

  A few seconds of silence passed before LC said “Finished Swifty. Ten minutes 'til self destruct.”

  “Psfft.” he blew a raspberry and said “Ten minutes? That's like forever. Activate my blink generator and take us back to the Hermes.”

  “You are not in range. Please move one hundred meters north.” LC replied.

  “Oh Jesus.” he moaned.

  Swift set off running down the north corridor. Seems he didn't have that much time after all, considering that he'd have to be careful to avoid alien guards. With the corridors be
ing so big and barren, such a task would slow him down by a lot. Checking the minimap on his smartphone, he noticed a shortcut down a side hallway. He approached it and stopped in his tracks. Despite every corridor he had been in so far being brightly lit, this one was pitch black. So black that upon closer inspection it was revealed that the light from the corridor, which would have normally splashed into this side hallway, stopped at the entrance. Not a single speck of light penetrated the deep darkness, and this gave Swift a bad feeling. Even though his gut told him not to, he entered the side hallway with caution. As he made his way through, he became aware of a faint whispering on either side of him, and when it swelled into a chattering he ran. The faster he ran, the faster the chattering moved with him. The side hallway seemed to go on forever, so he engaged Wrath and ran with accelerated speed. That's when the chattering erupted into words.

  “Flesh!” the walls seemed to echo in a guttural shriek.

  “What in the hell?” Swift yelled.

  “Delllishossh!” the walls hissed in delight.

  “You have got be kidding me!” he complained and ran faster.

  The light at the end of the hallway was like a beacon of hope, but not for long. Darkness crept from the walls and began to close off his exit. To make matters worse he was running slower and slower. Something was negating Wrath.

  “LC, what is this?” he asked.

  “We're surrounded Swifty.” she replied.

  “Surrounded?” Swift asked “By what?”

  There was a brief period of silence before the AI responded with “I don't know.”

  Swift cursed under his breath and ran harder. The light grew smaller and smaller, but in a final act of desperation, Swift vaulted through and crashed onto the deck of the brightly lit corridor.

  “LC, time.” Swift said between deep breaths.

  “Ten seconds until self destruct.”

  “Whatever. Range?”

  “You have been in range for the last fift-”