Childhoods Lost (Sentinels Saga Book 2)

by Linn Schwab

  A sudden burst of murmuring spread throughout the room, and an uneasy hush fell over the new arrivals. They all glanced around at each other in concern, as if deeply disturbed by this new revelation. Even Pogo remained quiet for a moment as he struggled to come to grips with the news. He then attempted to pull himself together by making light of the situation. “Well then,” he said with a boastful swagger, “fortunately for them, there’s more than one side to Pogo Amarelli. So much the better if all of them are females. All I need to do is turn on the charm, and sweet–‌talk them into surrendering to us.”

  “Ha!” Angelo exclaimed. “They won’t even talk to us! And anytime something gets too close to them, they blast it into smithereens. They’d use a nuke to take out a dandelion if they thought we were the ones who planted it. Trust me, no amount of charm is going to win them over. They don’t want anything to do with us, other than to pump us full of bullets.”

  Jay decided it was time to intervene. He could tell by the looks on the new pilots’ faces that they were wrestling with deep concerns. Sending them into combat in their current condition would only serve to invite disaster. And Commander Ingman had just informed him that all of them might be needed soon. As the senior pilot on the Melbourne at the moment, it was his duty and obligation to prepare the new arrivals for what they were facing.

  “Alright,” he said, getting to his feet, “everyone listen up for a moment! I can see that some of you have doubts and concerns regarding the discussion you’ve just been witness to. I regret that I to have to be the one to inform you that everything Angelo just said here is true. Everything we’ve seen leads us to believe that all of the enemy combatants are female.”

  A brief swell of mumbling swept through the locker room, followed by intermittent grumblings of discontent.

  “Why is that?” one of the pilots asked. “I mean, why would they just send their women to fight us?”

  Jay frowned and shook his head. “No one seems to have an explanation. Or at least if they do, they aren’t sharing it with us.”

  One of the new pilots slammed his locker door in anger. “Man, this is some crap!” he complained. “Why wait to dump this on us until now? They should have told us this before we left Earth!”

  “Well, think about it,” Jay said, without really giving much thought to his reply, “...if they’d have told you in advance that your job was to kill women, how many of you would have signed up for this?” Even as the words passed his lips, Jay was convinced he now understood why no ships were ever sent back to Earth. My god, he thought, that has to be the reason! They don’t want news of this leaking out! If the public found out we were killing women, there’d be outrage and calls for an end to the war! And he realized that even if it meant placing Earth’s fate in jeopardy, there’d still be a significant number of people who allowed their emotions to cloud their judgement. It would be a serious setback for the war effort, and would likely result in fewer recruits signing up — something Earth’s forces just could not afford if they were to have any chance of achieving a victory.

  The new arrivals appeared deeply conflicted to Jay. It was clearly visible in their expressions. “Remember,” he said to them, “we’re at war here. They’re going to be doing everything they can to kill us. No matter how beguiling they may seem to you at first, you absolutely must not show them any mercy. Because they will not have any mercy on you. Make no mistake about it, gentlemen ... these girls we’re fighting are deadly serious. If you present them with even the slightest opportunity, they will not hesitate to cut you to shreds. So it’s best if you just make your peace with this now, because your own survival is going to depend on it.

  “Now that we have that out of the way, do any of you have any questions or concerns?”

  “Any advice you can give us?” Pogo asked, stepping out of his persona of bravado for a moment.

  “Yeah,” Jay said, “there is one thing. You should try to avoid looking at them directly, if you don’t want their images stuck in your mind. The ones you do see, you might as well be married to ... because their faces are going to stay with you forever.”

  * * * *

  Virginia awoke to a slight stinging in her arm and a dull discomfort in her lower back. Her wound had been stitched up and bandaged. That much she was grateful for. But whoever had performed the procedure had neglected to move her from the operating table, which wasn’t the most comfortable surface to sleep on. As she sat up and swung her legs off the table, she groaned and rubbed her back with her hands. She muttered a curse in irritation and tenuously pushed herself to her feet.

  A short distance beyond the operating table, she saw Sheri lying on top of a bed, and Robin sleeping on a nearby cot. Virginia paused briefly at the side of Sheri’s bed to get a closer look at her. When she was satisfied the young Sentinel was still alive, she took a deep breath and stepped out of the room.

  Making her way toward her squadron’s sleeping quarters, she began to wonder how her relationship with the others might change now that her emotions were no longer held hostage. She had a warm embrace in mind for each one of them, to show them how much she appreciated them. But her thoughts seemed to gravitate primarily toward Zoe, who had tried so tirelessly for so long to coax Virginia out of her shell and bring her emotions back to the surface. She remembered her earliest days as a Hornet, when Zoe had taken her under her wing and helped to guide her through the transition. She recalled their recent walk along the beach on Valhalla when Zoe had asked her why she wouldn’t be staying, and the disappointment that was evident on her face when Virginia had once again refused to open up to her. And she decided that as much as she cared for all of them, Zoe had earned the indisputable right to be the first person she shared a laugh with. Or the first person she cried with. Or any combination of the two. With that thought in mind, she made a slight detour to see if Zoe might be reading in the lounge — as she so often did when things were quiet. Her hunch turned out to be correct. Zoe was indeed sitting in the lounge, with her back turned toward the entrance, and a Portable Archive Interface in her hands.

  Virginia smiled when she noticed the device. It had always been very dear to Zoe, and it almost never seemed to leave her side. She was the only Sentinel Virginia was aware of who actually had her very own PAI — a gift from the commander of a carrier she’d served on, who had realized how much it meant to her. Only seldom had Virginia ever touched the device, when Zoe had left it lying on the top of her bunk. Curiosity had driven her to sneak a quick peek and see what it was that Zoe was reading. But on all of the occasions when she’d looked at the device, the display screen had been set to the very same image — the opening page of a novel called The Hobbit. And without giving it any further thought, she’d concluded that it must’ve been one of Zoe’s favorites. Either that, or it just functioned as a placeholder that she returned to when she wasn’t reading something else. But either way, it really hadn’t given her much insight as to what else Zoe might have enjoyed reading.

  Just as she’d done on an earlier occasion, Virginia quietly approached Zoe from behind and sat down directly beside her on the bench. Zoe recognized the cue right away. She smiled at Virginia, and said, “You wanna talk?”

  Virginia laid her head on Zoe’s shoulder. “Just read something to me,” she said, relaxing as she melded against Zoe’s side.

  Zoe tensed up immediately, as if Virginia had set off a hidden alarm. Virginia could sense that something was wrong by the way Zoe’s body had suddenly gone rigid.

  “What is it?” she asked, showing obvious concern.

  Zoe’s expression revealed a mild state of panic, as if she’d been backed into a corner with no means of escape. She was trembling as well, embarrassed and uneasy about sharing her long held secret with Virginia. But the time had come for her to fess up, whether she was ready for it or not. “Virginia,” she admitted with reluctance, “...I never actually learned how to read. All I ever do is look at the words and pretend to myself that they’re
telling me a story.”

  Virginia looked at her in disbelief. “What?” she said, astonished and bewildered.

  Zoe closed her eyes and continued... “When I was in the nursery back on Valhalla, there was a nurse who was very special to me. Everyone used to call her nurse Connie, but I think her name was actually Constance. My favorite thing in the world was to sit in her lap and have her read me a story. I always pretended to read along with her so she’d be convinced I was actually learning. But all I really wanted was to listen to her read. Then one day I found her lying on the floor. And I couldn’t make her wake up. Some other nurses came and took her away, and I never saw her again. After that, no one could ever teach me to read. I just refused to cooperate with them. I didn’t want to read stories to myself. I wanted nurse Connie to read them to me. After a while, they just gave up, and sent me to the academy anyway.”

  “But how did you get through the academy? Didn’t they make you take all the tests?”

  Zoe nodded. “I failed every test they ever gave me.”

  “And they still sent you to fighter training?”

  “What else were they going to do with me? Besides, they didn’t choose me specifically. They just happened to choose my battalion, so they had to send me along with the rest of them.”

  “But how did you make it through fighter training? How can you fly if you can’t even read?”

  “My squad captain helped me get through the training. She knew I couldn’t read, so she helped me memorize all of the controls.”

  Virginia remained deep in thought for a moment, contemplating what it must have been like for her, trying to get by without knowing how to read. The fact that she’d been able to keep it a secret was nothing short of astonishing. But why so much time with the archive device if she wasn’t even able to read it? She decided it must’ve just been a diversion — a way for Zoe to escape from the war, and the harsh realities it imposed upon her. We all have our own way of dealing with the horrors, she realized. This must be Zoe’s method of coping.

  With a gentle yet assertive motion, Virginia reached for the archive device and carefully pried it from Zoe’s hands. “Well then,” she softly insisted, “...if you can’t read to me, then I guess I’ll just have to read to you.”

  For an instant, Zoe seemed to waver in uncertainty, but she surrendered the interface without much resistance. She poised herself in rapt anticipation as Virginia cozied up against her again.

  Virginia grinned to herself in amusement when she recognized the irony of what had just occurred. I came here to open up to Zoe, but she was the one who ended up spilling her secrets. For a moment, she remained puzzled over what she should read. She wanted it to be something Zoe would cherish. But as soon as she laid eyes on the interface screen, she realized the answer was already right in front of her. She drew in a breath, and softly recited, “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.”

  * * * *

  When evening hours were in effect on Volaris again, the training squads retreated to their sleeping quarters with a full day of waiting and hoping behind them: waiting for updates on Sheri’s condition, and hoping she might still make a full recovery. But though Major Richards had checked in on her frequently, the responses she’d offered remained painfully vague: “There’s no way to know; it’s too soon to tell.” So the girls were now trying to sleep with heavy hearts, while dreading what they might find out in the morning.

  For Mindy, the day had been filled with repeated visits to the infirmary. But each time she’d ventured into the room, Robin had still been asleep on her cot, and Sheri had remained under heavy sedation. She was certain that Robin would wake up eventually, but Sheri she wasn’t so sure about. The bandage that seemed to encase Sheri’s head was a continual source of torment for her. It was a deeply disheartening reminder that something was terribly wrong with Sheri. Something that even Major Richards couldn’t fix. The situation left her feeling helpless and sad. She wished there was something she could do for Sheri; some way to make her injury go away. But the ability to do so did not yet exist. Unless...

  A new thought popped into Mindy’s mind. A thought that seemed to represent a glimmer of hope. She realized it was likely a long shot at best, but it remained a possibility to her nonetheless. Deciding she really had nothing to lose, she tried to brace herself for what she had to do. It wasn’t a task she was looking forward to, but for Sheri’s sake, she decided she had to go through with it. She pulled her blanket aside and sat up in her bed, then quietly pulled herself to her feet.

  Moving through the darkness, between her sleeping comrades, Mindy made her way out to the corridor again. She stood as close to the metal wall as she could get, and softly asked, “Please ... if there’s anything you can do for Sheri...”

  * * * *

  Unexpectedly, a radar blip appeared on Veronica’s console. The contact seemed to have come out of nowhere. What the heck? she thought in concern. How did that sneak up on me? She leaned over her console to get a closer look at the data. “Another shuttle coming in,” she said to Miranda. “We’re getting all kinds of visitors today.” She entered a command to scan the shuttle’s ID number. As soon as the signal came back to her, she immediately sat up straight in her chair.

  “Uh–‌oh!” she said. “It’s an unmarked shuttle! Where’s Major Richards?”

  * * * *

  Mindy waited patiently for any sign of a response, but there seemed to be no reaction to her plea. She placed both of her hands against the surface of the wall in the hopes she might be able to detect some sort of presence. But to her dismay, her senses picked up on nothing unusual. She moved along the wall in either direction, but still there was no reaction from within. Where could they be? she wondered in anguish. She looked along the length of the darkened corridor and told herself they could be anywhere. Wherever they are, I’ll find them! she vowed. If they’re somewhere on Volaris, I will find out where they’re hiding!

  * * * *

  The intercom at the side of Major Richards’ bed awakened her with a piercing alert chime. She wearily propped herself up on one elbow and looked to see who was paging her. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the screen, she could just barely make out Lieutenant Marlowe’s face. “What is it, Lieutenant?” she asked, praying it wasn’t another attack.

  “Major,” Veronica replied, “there’s an unmarked shuttle pulling into the hangar.”

  The major’s eyes shot open in alarm. “Thank you, Lieutenant! I’m on my way!” She pulled her blanket back and leapt to her feet, grabbing her uniform and boots as she scrambled toward the door. Only commanders traveled in unmarked shuttles. Something significant was happening here.

  * * * *

  Major Richards arrived at the hangar entrance just as two women stepped through the doors. Both of them were wearing the black uniform dress that was standard issue for senior officers. The taller one seemed to be the eldest of the two, and had a bright green card key in her breast pocket. The color signified that she was a commander — and the sight of it alone caused the major’s pulse rate to quicken. Green was reserved for a special line of commanders which Major Richards had never encountered before. They’d earned a reputation among the Sentinels as being more harsh than the “blue” commanders who served throughout the fleet in far greater numbers.

  At first glance, the shorter, younger woman appeared not to have a card key at all. This left Major Richards to puzzle over what her official rank might be. Closer inspection revealed the truth, however. The woman did in fact have a card key in her pocket — but it was black, and hence very difficult to see, as it blended with the color of her dress almost perfectly. This raised even more questions in Major Richards’ mind. She had no idea what the black card key signified, which left her feeling a little intimidated. A quick analysis of the woman’s body language suggested she played a subordinate role to the commander. The older woman was leading the way as they walked, with the younger one following a half step behind her.
She was also carrying some equipment at her side, which in itself was a little unusual. Officers rarely carried more than an archive interface. Other instruments were more the purview of technicians. But technicians did not wear officer uniforms.

  Harboring deep reservations about the two visitors, Major Richards held her hand out to greet the commander. Her throat seemed dry as a result of her apprehension, and she had to swallow to get her voice to respond. “Umm ... welcome to Volaris, Commander...?”

  “Eldridge,” the woman informed her. “Melora Eldridge. You must be Major Richards.” There was no hint of any pleasantry in her voice; no trace of a smile as she shook hands with the major. The stiffness of her handshake firmly suggested a complete lack of cordiality on her part.

  Major Richards felt her stomach tighten. The rumors she’d heard about the green commanders would seem to have been borne out thus far. By all outward appearances, this woman possessed none of the warmth and compassion that Commander Jeffries had demonstrated. If her reason for coming here was to take over Volaris, the station’s personnel were in for quite a shock.

  “Commander Eldridge,” Major Richards said, formally acknowledging the commander’s name. She struggled to draw in a breath, and reluctantly asked, “Are you here to assume command of Volaris?” Even as the words left her lips, she realized her voice betrayed the fact that she was uncomfortable with the thought. As much as she longed to be relieved of the added responsibility, having to serve under a green commander wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

  “No,” the commander answered her bluntly, sparking a brief respite of relief in the major. “I’m here to determine whether Captain Starling should be stripped of her command.”

  CONSEQUENCES 053

  The two women brushed past Major Richards, leaving her standing by the hangar entrance alone, with a look of astonishment on her face. Strip Captain Starling of her command? she wondered. How could she possibly even consider such a thing, after what Robin had just done for the Sentinels?