R.A.E.C.E. Genesis

by Geoffrey C Porter

  Chapter 34

  A.D. 2135

  Jack returns to civilization, such as it is…

  Wilson wanted a complete report of Jack's activities on Amber. Jack spent two days writing up everything that happened, including a list of which people Jack wanted Wilson to recommend for Fleet duty. Sarah wanted in. Jack put her on the list, but also recommended a psychiatric evaluation of her beforehand. Colonel Henderson called, of course. She smiled on the other end of the video phone.

  "You survived," she said. "You evaded capture. You even freed a few Humans from the slave pens."

  Jack couldn't think of much of an answer. "Yes, ma'am."

  "According to your report, you took a great risk in freeing the first batch of Humans. You lost your cool in the peach fields."

  "On Artemis, my dad died in the peach fields."

  "Oh, I wasn't aware, Lieutenant."

  Jack paused, asking himself, why did she just call me a Lieutenant? He had at least two more years of Fleet university left. "You mean Sergeant, don't you?"

  "When you set foot on Orion, you'll be a Lieutenant. Fleet high command wants you to finish the university programs, but we need front line officers right now."

  Jack smiled. "Thank you, ma'am."

  "It wasn't my doing. If you want to thank someone, thank Colonel Wilson and Fleet high command."

  "Ok. Was that all, ma'am?"

  "I want you to pay attention to yourself on your journey home. People with a rage mechanism like yours ultimately break down, especially under combat conditions. You'll call me, if you feel any anger towards your shipmates or family. Do you understand?"

  "I don't think I'm any different from the other soldiers."

  "Soldiers break down sometimes, Lieutenant. We don't want that happening to you…" She paused and looked Jack in the eye. "There's a medicine I want you to try on the training ground. See if it alters your reflexes. As long as it doesn't slow you down, I think it'll help you in battle."

  Jack didn't want to take medication before battle, but for some reason he agreed. "Ok, Colonel, I can try something new I guess."

  "Good."

  * * *

  Wilson called Jack into his office and opened a fresh bottle of Scotch, making Jack honestly wonder where Wilson got the stuff. They didn't have the resources on Orion to manufacture alcohol, and Wilson's Scotch was always at least twelve years old. Still, Jack had become accustomed to the taste and the warmth that spread out from his belly.

  After Wilson poured the liquor, he said, "We're making you a Lieutenant once we reach Orion, plus I think high command has a medal they want to pin on your chest."

  "Colonel Henderson told me… Thank you…"

  "You've recommended some people for Fleet, apparently even started their training on Amber."

  "Yes, sir. Seemed like the right thing to do, start their training."

  "I want you to continue their training while we're en route to Orion," Wilson said.

  "Ok. Colonel Henderson wants me to try a medication on the training grounds, sir."

  Wilson paused. Setting his glass down on the desk, he looked sadly at Jack and said, "I'll call her, dismissed."

  * * *

  The door slid closed leaving Wilson alone to rage. The last three soldiers that came back with a "medication to try" ended up medicated out of Fleet. He pulled up his medical record to see what they were going to give Jack. It read, "Classified."

  Wilson punched the buttons on his terminal to dial up Medical on FTL, like he was trying to punch holes in his keyboard. A receptionist answered, and Wilson hissed. "Henderson!"

  The receptionist nodded and clicked a button.

  Colonel Henderson appeared, smiling. "Colonel Wilson, what a pleasant surprise."

  "You can't give Lieutenant Grean medication. He's one of my best."

  "Yes, I can, Colonel. I'm not going to order him to take it. I just want him to try it and see if it helps control his rage."

  "What are you giving him?" Wilson said with a vicious glare.

  "That's classified."

  "That's bullshit, Henderson, and you know it. I'll go over your head, and you know I have friends that can hack your medical files."

  "It's something new we cooked up just for Grean based on his genetics."

  "He's not a lab rat!" Wilson yelled.

  Colonel Henderson pressed a button sending an encrypted key to Wilson's desktop. She said, "You realize his genetic footprint contains engineered genes."

  "That's impossible!"

  "His grandfather was engineered," she said.

  Wilson thought back to the historical records. "Media reported that those embryos from the clone experiment were destroyed."

  "Yes, the media reported. America spent $600 million on 25,000 engineered embryos, and they were destroyed. The life expectancy was pitiful on average though. Most didn't make it to their 16th birthdays."

  Wilson's heart raced. "How do you know this?"

  "Anybody ranked Colonel or higher knows the truth. Check it yourself. Open the key I just sent you."

  He clicked on it. Files opened up. He read, and couldn't believe it.

  "There's another one on your crew. He goes by Snake." She had since pulled out a blade of some kind and was cleaning her fingernails.

  "You're experimenting on Jack, because his ancestor is a clone?"

  "No, he's one of our finest soldiers, and I want to give him every weapon at our disposal." She put the blade away. "His grandfather wasn't a clone. He was a genetically engineered soldier. Top athlete DNA plus top military scientists."

  "What are you giving Jack?" Wilson said.

  Henderson looked away from the terminal as if to make sure nobody was in earshot. "Colonel, I've prescribed a chewable multi-vitamin for Jack."

  Wilson laughed. He wanted to cry. "What's that going to do?"

  "Hopefully, it will boost his confidence, if he believes it'll work. You cannot tell him it's a multi-vitamin. If you do, I'll be forced to give him something stronger. He's dangerous, Colonel."

  "Yes, he is, Doctor…"

  * * *

  Between Jack's university programs and helping the Fleet wannabies, he didn't have much time. He missed his feline friend from Amber. Out of habit, he would look around thinking the cat should be right there. Sarah and Rob shared a cutout space in the ship, and they didn't have any privacy. Jack didn't feel too bad for them. They'd been together for the last year or so on Amber. Both planned to make their way into Fleet, and Jack helped them with their classes and with their martial arts.

  Sarah didn't fair well against Jack, sparring. Neither did Rob for that matter, but Rob learned quicker and proved stronger and faster. Sarah often acted as if it were Jack's fault--as if he wasn't teaching her like the others. Jack definitely didn't like the negative attitude. One day, while she was growling, trying to keep up with the martial arts Bot on level ten. Jack watched and said, "Bot, end program, authorization Grean."

  Sarah snarled loud and clear, causing people in the gym with them to look at her.

  "You're going about this the wrong way," Jack said. "You get mad, and mad doesn't win…"

  "You haven't seen me mad, Sergeant."

  "Ok, you get frustrated easily," Jack said. "Would you agree?"

  "If you don't like the way I play with the Bot, why don't you just lock me out of it?" She asked.

  "Because I want you to have a chance to get into Fleet. That's what this is about, getting into Fleet. If you can't beat the Bot up to level 15, you'll have a hard time getting past the instructors at the test."

  Sarah ignored Jack's comments. "Will you turn the Bot back on, so I can get back to my practice?"

  Jack replied, "Will you do it my way?"

  "Remind me again what your way is?"

  "Stay calm. Focus on nothing but the next move. Strike with precision and grace."

  "Easier said than done."

  Jack closed his eyes and shook his head wondering what it would take to te
ach this woman. "Bot program, reactivate, authorization Grean."

  Sarah went back at it. This time not growling or grimacing, trying harder to play more gracefully with the Bot. Jack simply noted the change and went back to his workout.

  * * *

  When Jack stepped off the transport ship, there was a huge crowd of people waiting for their families. Jack looked around and finally saw his, all of them. Lexi, his two elder children Junior and Ruth, who were both walking now, his infant Bart, his sister Meghan and that boy she apparently still liked. Jack walked up to Lexi and the kids and gave all three of them a big hug. He bent Lexi over and kissed her square on the lips. Meghan joined in the hug. Jack reach down and grabbed Ruth in his left arm and Junior in his right and picked them both up, saying, "Look how big you two are getting!" The kids just giggled.

  Meghan's boyfriend, Jack finally remembered his name, Johnathon, chimed in, "It's good to see you back, sir."

  Jack looked over at him. "Thank you."

  Lexi's voice cracked, "You were gone a long time, Jack."

  "You're as beautiful as I remember you."

  * * *

  The next morning Lexi busied herself in the kitchen cooking up breakfast. Real eggs and bacon, coffee and milk, toast and jelly. Once she finished cooking, she hollered out, "Breakfast is ready!" Jack, Jr. and Ruth were just old enough to know to come running at mealtimes. Jack joined them after a few minutes. When they finished eating, Lexi looked at Jack and said, "You have ten weeks leave coming to you."

  "Really? That's a long time. I'd miss the next offensive if I took it all at once."

  Lexi slammed her fist down. "To hell with the next offensive! You can miss one offensive in this war."

  "They're putting me in a command position," Jack said. "I'd likely lose that, if I took all that leave."

  "Ask Wilson--see if you can take the leave."

  "I don't need to ask Wilson. I know what he'll say. They're giving everybody a week's leave now that we're back on Orion, isn't that enough?"

  "A week, Jack?" She said. "I need you. I need you here on Orion."

  "I don't want to skip the next offensive… But I'll talk to Wilson about taking some extra leave. We'll see what he says…"

  Lexi smiled a warm smile. "That's all I ask."

  Jack went to the terminal to find Wilson, no telling where he'd be. Jack dialed up Wilson's office first. He answered, "Hello, Lieutenant. You know you're on leave for the next week."

  "Yes, I was wondering about that, about the leave. My wife wants me to take some of my leave, sir."

  "We're giving you a command position. You're about to have 10 planes, 30 hover tanks, 100 armored personnel, and a Kilken suicide squad of 30. They need a commanding officer as of next week."

  Jack licked his lips, and it kind of dawned on him, would he give up fleet for Lexi? Would he give up Lexi for fleet? The answer to the second question was no. "My kids, Wilson, they can walk and talk. I don't get to see them grow up. Can't I take some of the leave, if not all of it?"

  Wilson nodded his head over and over. "You can take one day a week, Saturday. On Saturdays I'll run my squads against yours, fair enough?"

  "Plus every other Friday."

  Wilson's eyes opened wide, but he nodded.

  Jack smiled, hoping that would be enough to please Lexi. "Yes, sir, that would be fine."

  Wilson had a forlorn look in his eye. "We've been losing a lot of starships to the Lithor lately, Jack. We're winning, clearly, but Fleet has decided to focus on starship production and readiness. This only affects us because it means more time on Orion. We'll be here at least three to four months. Give us a chance to really train the new recruits."

  "Losing ships?" Jack asked. "How many ships?"

  "The numbers I don't have. It's not that bleak."

  "Ok."

  "The downtime will be good for all of us. Login to your Fleet account. You've got Lieutenant status now, and you can see your troop's military records. Also, you'll find you have special requisition privileges now as a command officer. You can bring the Scotch next time you come to my office…"

  "Thank you, sir, I'll do that."

  Jack went and told Lexi the news. Lexi accepted Saturdays off and every other Friday off, and a three to four month layover. She had this look in her eye like she planned on acquiring a fresh prescription for the magic red fertility pills.

  * * *

  Jack's troop roster could be called thin, with 40 of 100 in armored suits and only 10 of 30 in hover tanks. Still, over three hundred planned to try and get into Fleet at the next test. Many of those will have checked the box on the application, "Front Line Assignment." Sarah, Rob, and the others from Amber would be taking the test. Jack gave Sarah about a twenty percent chance of getting in, and he based that on her sparring a generous instructor.

  Jack attended the test; it would be his first look at his new soldiers. Kevin, Snake, and Chewy put in transfer requests to move to Jack's unit when they heard Jack would be taking on a whole unit. Jack stepped into the testing area and took a seat, and he figured he would be waiting a while for the hopefuls to finish their runs.

  They had three mats going, with three instructors on each match taking turns judging. Each person that Jack brought from Amber passed, up until Sarah's turn. Jack moved over to that mat when she approached the end of the line. Jack wanted to watch, and perhaps even encourage her. Her opponent stood at least six feet tall and looked to be strong as an ox. The largest judge in the place. Jack hoped he gave her a fair fight.

  They entered the mat and did the customary bow. Both of them put their guards up and advanced. They met in the middle of the mat. The instructor reached out with his left hand and grabbed Sarah's wrist pushing her arms out of the way, and then he clobbered her in the face with his right fist. It knocked Sarah to the ground. Jack started to get angry when he heard one of the judges count.

  Sarah pushed herself up and shook her head to shake off the blow. She put her guard up again and advanced. The instructor advanced as well, and they met in the middle of the mat again, just like the Bot taught and just like Jack taught. Again, the instructor grabbed her arms with his left and hit her in the face as hard as he likely could. Sarah's body jerked, and she landed on the ground again. Jack's vision started to blur, and he started to advance on the mat without realizing it. His grip on the here and now slipped away. He looked at Sarah again, and the judge counted. He wasn't allowed to coach Sarah. He couldn't say anything.

  The instructor Sarah fought spoke. "It's ok, if you quit now. Most of the girls quit after the first or second hit."

  Sarah's eyes flashed open. She paused for just a moment and sprung to her feet. She spit blood out onto the mat and snarled. "I've been hit harder by Lithor!"

  She ran straight at him, swinging her right arm in a great right cross towards the instructor's jaw. Her left hand she drew back waiting for the time to strike. He blocked her right hook. She punched with her left for his stomach and started pulling back her right for another strike. He blocked her left, and he threw a jab with his right at Sarah's face. She ducked under it and came up swinging, punching at his face with her right hand and chest with her left. He blocked those and crouched down to try and foot sweep her. She jumped up and landed in a crouch as well. She swept her leg out and caught the instructor right as he stood up. He went down, and one of the judges called out, "Point!"

  Sarah acted like she didn't hear and started lifting her leg over the instructor's face bringing her heel down hard. The instructor rolled out of the way, two or three times, off the mat before a judge broke them up.

  As soon as the instructor took his place on the mat, Sarah ran straight for him again. This time she jumped high in the air and aimed a kick right at the instructor's nose. He blocked it and threw a roundhouse kick at her. It swished over her head. She punched towards his stomach with her right. He tried to grab her wrist, but she jerked it free. She had an opening and kicked upward with a side kick, landing it r
ight on the instructor's throat.

  The instructor dropped to the ground and wheezed for air. One of the judges called for a medic. Sarah looked down at him. "Get up! Get up!"

  The medic got there and pronounced that he needed to get to the emergency room right away. The man's face had a blue tint to it at this point. The med-evac showed up in record time, and they started feeding him oxygen. Sarah looked at the judges, who ignored her. They seemed to be in conference. Sarah looked to Jack, and he shrugged his shoulders.

  Then one of the judges turned to face Sarah and said, "Incapacitating your opponent counts as a win, you passed."

  As she stepped off the mat, she turned to look at Jack. He just stared straight ahead and smiled. "Well done, Private."

  "Thank you, sir."

  * * *

  One hundred and eighteen personnel files landed on Jack's desk the morning after the test. All applicants that passed the test and opted for front line duty. Jack only needed eighty--twenty though would be flying hovers. Jack scheduled the hover tank training pods for the next day and messaged all 118 Privates to attend. He wanted to wait and see how they checked out in hovers before deciding which to exclude from his troop.

  Forty of his soldiers passed the 25 minute mark in the hovers, including Sarah and Rob. They weren't in the top 20 score wise though, so they'd be in armored suits, if Jack let them in. Jack started to go through the remaining personnel records. He looked at test scores, read recommendations, and sorted through each file. When he got to Sarah's, he paused. He had ordered a psych evaluation for her, and he figured he held it in his hand.

  He opened the file--three giant black dots on her record. Dr. Michaels did the evaluation.

  The first read, "Danger to self or others, recommend daily psychiatric medication, to be determined.