by Linn Schwab
It was eerily quiet among the parked fighters. No one seemed to be working in the hangar. Virginia stumbled several times as she walked. Her muscles were weak and she felt a little dizzy. She was conscious of the wound to her upper left arm, but refused to make it a priority. She could see some of her squadron’s fighters, and was determined to find out if any were missing. She counted the tails marked “117,” and realized only six of them were present. Oh, no! she fretted, moving closer to the planes. One of us didn’t make it back! Overcome with feelings of guilt, she forced herself to read the names on the fighters. Trixie, Zoe, Kelli, Nancy, Suzanne, Lisa. Jenny’s plane was nowhere in sight.
Tears obscured Virginia’s vision as she stumbled onto an elevator. She tried desperately to imagine a scenario in which her captain might still be alive. The only possibility she could think of was that Jenny might be out on patrol at the moment. But that one seemed like a long shot at best. Jenny almost never flew patrols.
The elevator carried her toward the cafeteria level, where the station’s living quarters were located. The corridors were dark when the doors opened up. Volaris was on early morning time. With great effort, Virginia dragged herself forward in the direction of her living quarters. More than anything, what she wanted right now was to open the door to her squadron’s room and find that Jenny was still alive. But her instincts told her it wasn’t to be, and that she was only going to end up devastated. Between the sorrow in her heart and the weakness in her muscles, she was already on the verge of collapsing. With each and every step she took, she felt her strength slipping away from her. As she passed within view of the observation lounge, she noticed two pilots standing in the darkness, quietly gazing out at the stars.
Virginia felt herself trembling now. It looked as if her prayers might have been answered. She knew one of the two pilots was Jenny. There was no mistaking her bright blond hair. Quietly, she made her across the room until she was standing behind her captain. She tried to read the expression on Jenny’s face from the reflection on the inner surface of the window. There was no anger apparent in her eyes. Only sorrow and a look of concern. A few seconds later, Jenny spun around and greeted Virginia with open arms. The emotion of relief overwhelmed her completely. She fell forward into Jenny’s arms.
Jenny clung tightly to the trembling mess and succeeded in preventing her from hitting the floor. For an instant, she experienced a sense of wonder that perhaps the most powerful Sentinel in history was literally quaking in her arms.
Nancy dashed over and joined the embrace, aiding in the effort to prop Virginia up. She exchanged a knowing smile with Jenny when she felt how strongly Virginia was shaking. “So,” she said, “this must be what happens when you keep your emotions bottled up for five years.”
Virginia let out a single laugh and immediately lapsed into unconsciousness.
“She’s been wounded,” Jenny observed, feeling the blood on Virginia’s upper arm. “Let’s get her to the infirmary.”
* * * *
Major Richards was surprised, when Jenny awoke her, to find herself still sitting at Commander Jeffries’ desk. In fact, she found the thought of it to be a little disconcerting. She’d been sleeping in the very same position in which she’d discovered the commander’s body. What is it about this desk, she wondered, that causes people to fall asleep here? And then it quickly dawned on her that perhaps it wasn’t the desk itself, but rather the pressure of the duties imposed on the person who ended up sitting there. She’d only been at it for a short time herself, and already the burden was wearing her down.
“Major,” Jenny insisted, “one of my pilots needs medical attention.”
The major rubbed her eyes and got to her feet. With her mind focused on her medical duties, she failed to notice a Command–net message waiting for her at the top of her display screen:
URGENT!
PRIORITY ONE COMMAND–NET COMMUNIQUE
FOR ACTING COMMANDER VOLARIS FIGHTER BASE—
Effective immediately and until further notice,
the CVS Wallaby is off limits to all personnel.
This directive is to be strictly enforced.
No exceptions under any circumstances!
“How bad is she?” Major Richards asked, following Jenny out of the room.
“I don’t know. She’s unconscious right now. There’s a bit of a gash on her upper left arm. Not really sure how much blood she’s lost.”
“She’s still breathing though?”
“Yeah. Or at least she was when I left her. Nancy’s with her in the infirmary.”
* * * *
Robin scrutinized the outline of a distant mountain — its snow capped peak glistening in the evening sunlight. Her eyes traced the edge of its silhouette against the sky, up one side and then down the other, leveling off ever so briefly for a plateau along its right–most edge, then plunging sharply downward again toward the depths of a forest that obscured the mountain’s base. There was something about this peaceful view that captivated her for some reason. Something about that mountain peak seemed to be deeply ingrained in her mind. It was as if the mountain itself was calling to her ... calling to her, just like the ocean…
The water! she suddenly thought in a panic. Where is the water? The scene before her vanished in an instant, and she found herself disoriented, unable to see, with no sense of which direction was up or which was down. It was as if she was suspended in mid–air somehow, with no reference points that any of her senses could detect. She flailed about frantically with all of her limbs, reaching out in desperation to locate the water...
With a gasp that filled her lungs to capacity, Robin awoke and sat up in her cot. The sudden motion startled Major Richards, diverting her attention from Virginia’s wound. Robin took a few seconds to survey the room as she tried to get her bearings straight. Sheri was unconscious on one of the beds, and Virginia was lying on an operating table. Jenny and Nancy were watching Major Richards apply a bandage to Virginia’s arm. That’s right, she recalled, I was in the infirmary to check on Sheri’s condition. She now realized she must have fallen asleep, and experienced a very unsettling dream.
“Bad dream?” Jenny asked, studying Robin’s face.
Robin slowly nodded her head. She took a moment to catch her breath, then jumped up and moved to Sheri’s side. “Is Sheri gonna be okay?” she asked, staring intently at the bandage on her forehead.
“It’s hard to tell,” Major Richards said. “But at least for right now she seems to be stable.”
Robin glanced toward the operating table. “What happened to Virginia?” she asked.
“Virginia’s gonna be fine,” the major told her. “Just a minor combat wound. She just needs a little time to recover.” She held a hand up to her face to cover a yawn. “I guess I could use a little sleep myself. I’ll be in my quarters,” she said, “if anything else comes up that needs my attention.” She excused herself and stepped out of the room, leaving the others to watch over Virginia.
Nancy couldn’t hold back any longer. She broke into a uncontrollable grin and wrapped her arms around Robin. “Hey, little sister,” she said, “that was quite the christening flight you had! It’s too bad your ship wasn’t loaded with torpedoes. That heavy cruiser wouldn’t have had a chance!”
“You saw that?” Robin asked, confused.
Nancy nodded. “Yep! Saw the whole thing. At least up until the part where we thought you were dead.”
“That’s right,” Jenny said, “you gave us quite the scare. And how did you manage to survive those nukes? It’s hard to believe you’re even standing here. You all should’ve been reduced to ashes.”
“What nukes?” Robin asked, shaking her head. Jenny began to explain what had happened, but Robin quickly cut her off. “The shipyard!” she yelled, suddenly remembering. “What about the shipyard?”
“What shipyard?” the two pilots asked in unison.
“Come on!” Robin insisted. She grabbed Jenny by the hand
and pulled her toward the exit. “We have to tell Commander Jeffries!”
Jenny allowed Robin to pull her along while she quietly thought about what she should tell her. She considered breaking the news to her right then and there, but it appeared Robin had something important to say, so she decided just to let it play out for the time being.
“So, what’s this all about?” Nancy asked, following Robin and Jenny onto an elevator. It was now obvious to her that Jenny hadn’t yet told Robin about Commander Jeffries.
Robin pushed the button for the control room level, convinced she would find the commander there. “There was a shipyard!” she said. “And battleships! Maybe fifty or sixty of them!”
The elevator stopped and opened. Robin sprinted down the corridor, directly into the center of the control room. She looked around for Commander Jeffries, but the commander was nowhere in sight. Only two controllers were present at the moment.
Hearing someone dash into the room, Miranda and Veronica looked back over their shoulders. As soon as they realized it was Robin, both of them immediately got to their feet and greeted her with a silent salute. Disappointed to learn the commander wasn’t present, Robin failed to comprehend that the girls’ salutes were meant for her. “Did you get our message?” she asked.
Veronica reached for her console. “You mean this message?” she said. She entered a few quick keystrokes, and an image flashed up on one of the display screens. It was the image Katrina had loaded in the Wallaby’s rockets, revealing the enemy shipyard’s location.
Robin allowed herself to relax. It was clear that her message had gotten through. Jenny and Nancy stepped up behind her and stared at the overhead monitor in awe.
“Wow!” Jenny uttered in amazement, gawking at the vast armada of battleships. “Are we doing anything about this yet?”
“Don’t worry,” Veronica said, “all of those ships are scrap metal now. Major Richards had the Sunbright open up on them. I can show you the replay if you’d like to see it.”
“Are you kidding?” Nancy exclaimed. “Absolutely we want to see it! This could be our greatest victory ever!”
As a recording of the nuclear bombardment started playing, Jenny laid her hand on Robin’s shoulder and pulled her snugly against her side. “Nice work, little sister,” she said. “You just cost them a serious amount of firepower! This could set them back for years. They might even give up and go home now.”
A faint alert chime sounded from Miranda’s console. She checked for messages on her display screen. “A shuttle is just arriving from Orion station,” she announced. “They’re bringing us some extra repair crews.”
“Good!” Veronica said. “We need all the help we can get. Better inform Major Richards. I’m sure she’ll want to know about this.”
Robin turned to face Jenny with a look of concern and confusion in her eyes. It was growing increasingly obvious to her that Major Richards seemed to be running things now. “Where’s Commander Jeffries?” she asked. “Shouldn’t they be telling her about this?”
Jenny hesitated for a moment as she struggled to think of a way to break the news. “Robin,” she said with regret in her voice, “...there’s something I need to tell you.”
* * * *
Robin stood alone at one end of the hangar, peering somberly through the window of a cold storage room at a box that contained Commander Jeffries’ body. Her emotions were a mixture of confusion and sadness. The thought that someone she had personally cared about could be lying lifeless inside that box was difficult for her to reconcile. It wasn’t her first exposure to death, or the sense of loss that went along with it. But standing so near to the commander’s body gave her a very different perspective than what she’d experienced back at the academy. It was one thing to have someone just disappear, without leaving any trace of what happened to them. It was quite another thing altogether to have proof that the person was actually dead — to have the physical evidence displayed right in front of her, erasing all doubts or any hopes she might have clung to. This time there was a sense of finality that Robin hadn’t experienced before. Combined with the emotional grief she was dealing with, it was enough to leave her feeling physically ill.
What could have happened? she asked herself. It doesn’t make sense. She was still alive and well when I left. How can this even be possible? She pictured the commander in her mind, still alive and walking around on Volaris — speaking to people ... handing out keys ... giving orders without giving orders... It was that last thought that really stuck in her mind and made her realize how much she was going to miss the commander. First Sheri, she thought. Now this. What else is going to go wrong for me?
From a respectful distance, Jenny watched Robin from behind, allowing her some time alone with her thoughts. It pained her deeply to see her so upset. She could already sense the relationship she cherished was being irreversibly altered. This was yet another notch in the post that marked the stripping of Robin’s innocence away. She searched her thoughts for a way to preserve what remained, and hold on to that relationship a little while longer. But she realized she was helpless to intervene here. What still remained of the little girl inside Robin was slowly but surely being driven out by events that Jenny had no control over. Yet at the same time, she experienced a sense of pride when she thought about what Robin had managed to accomplish. It wasn’t enough to erase her sense of loss, but it kept her spirits from floundering completely.
At the opposite end of the hangar, several less experienced pilots were watching as a forklift dragged a damaged fighter from the airlock. They stared at the tattered wreck in fascination as fragments of its bullet–riddled fuselage broke loose and noisily clattered to the floor.
“My god!” one of them exclaimed. “I’ve never seen a fighter survive this much damage. How could anyone have possibly flown here in that?”
“I don’t know,” one of the others said. “What do you suppose could have happened to her?”
“That,” Nancy explained as she stepped up behind them, “is what happens when you tangle with Tiger Sharks and actually manage to escape with your life.” She waited for one of the girls to make a comment, but all of them seemed to be stunned into silence. After dragging the fuselage free of the airlock, the forklift slowed and came to a halt. When the fighter’s forward motion stopped, its body rocked and settled, releasing a portion of one of its engines which crashed to the floor with tremendous impact. The resulting noise echoed through the hangar and caused a painful ringing in everyone’s ears. After it faded, Nancy leaned forward and placed her hands on two of the pilots’ shoulders. “Well,” she said, “if you ever run into Tiger Sharks, at least now you’ll know what you can expect.” Another piece of the fighter fell to the floor, adding emphasis to the impact of Nancy’s warning. She felt one of the pilots shudder a little. “Not a very comforting thought, is it?” she said.
RECOVERY 050
After spending some time in the nursery, Commander Parks led Peter back through the agrisphere and into Paradise 01’s control room. It was the same room he’d first seen her in, waving at him through a large bay window. The room’s layout differed from that of a warship’s bridge, but the equipment was all familiar to him.
“Listen, Commander,” he said, looking around at the instrumentation...
“You can call me Karen,” she said, interrupting him.
“Karen. I realize outgoing communications are restricted here, but are you able to pick up any chatter from the fleet?”
“You mean as in transmissions that aren’t intended for us?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Can your instruments pick up transmissions this far out? I’d really like to know what’s happening out there, if there’s any way you can receive those signals.”
She nodded and gestured toward a nearby console where a woman with short red hair was sitting. “Megan,” she said, stepping over beside her, “Captain Straydel would like to know if we’re picking up any signals from the f
leet right now?”
“Yes,” Megan said, “there’s a lot of activity. Should I put it on the loudspeaker?”
“Go ahead,” Karen told her.
Megan turned a switch on her console, and voices began crackling out from its speaker. Peter listened closely for several minutes, trying his best to make sense of the transmissions. It took a while for him to piece together what was happening, but at one point he clearly heard the words “regroup” and “rendezvous,” which were frequently used following a disorderly retreat. One of the voices seemed to be issuing a roll call and giving directions to various ships as they arrived at the rendezvous point. The other ships kept addressing that voice as “Alabama,” so it was obvious that Admiral Sands’ flagship had survived, and that someone on board was overseeing the rendezvous. He wondered if Admiral Sands was actually on board, or if he was back on Earth right now. It was something he’d meant to ask Commander Ingman after seeing the Alabama parked at Trafalgar. He knew that the Admiral had received a promotion which should have guaranteed him a seat in Command Central. But if the admiral had returned to Earth, no one had mentioned anything about it to Peter. And to the best of his knowledge, no one had ever returned to Earth before. That made it seem all the more likely to him that the admiral was actually still in the war zone, still running things from on board the Alabama.