Belinea

by Andrew Mack

  Nick just loosely nodded his head. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”

  Willits smiled and said, “Thanks.”

  The Ambassador and Alexis came walking up, Tunsall and Trujillo in tow, both with rifles. The Ambassador was going on and on about the attack. “I have never seen anything like that. This is much worse than the BRG has ever let out. Commander Willits, have you seen the security footage of the attack with Taz?”

  Commander Willits responded, “Commander Jones and I have seen it, Ambassador.”

  The Ambassador continued, “I need to send a full report to the Council.”

  As the four of them began walking toward the C-62T, Willits held up his hand and interjected, “Ambassador, not so fast.”

  As if on cue, two BRG officers were walking up to the Ambassador’s C-62T transport. Willits continued. “Your ship needs a complete security sweep before anyone gets on it.”

  The Ambassador looked confused, “Really?”

  Commander Devanoe chimed in with “Better to be safe than sorry, Ambassador.”

  Then Commander Jones added, “I am sure Commander Devanoe has some acceptable accommodations on the T-141 that we can use temporarily to send over your report?”

  The Ambassador did not like the sound of that. “Why can’t I just go back inside the base?”

  Willits answered, “Until Taz is caught, sir, I will feel a lot safer somewhere I can get you out of here in a hurry.”

  The Ambassador did not look happy but could see the logic. Nick finally added, “Ambassador, this way. We have a situation room and a private quarters area that I think you will find acceptable.”

  As all seven began walking toward the T-141, Jones went up to Willits and whispered, “What the hell is up with the girls from Vandabri?”

  Willits whispered back, “Just play along….”

  Nick and Alexis are walking side by side, in front of the Ambassador. Nick said, “How is Mom?”

  Alexis smiled. “Annella is as intrusive as ever. The unhappy hen unless she knows where all her eggs are.”

  Nick laughed, “Better than not caring at all, I suppose.”

  Alexis responded, “You and Connor get away with much more than I can.”

  Nick whispered close to her ear, “How is your assignment going?”

  Alexis smiled again, slightly rolling her eyes. Looking around to see if anyone other than Nick could hear her, she continued, “You can keep looking with a brighter light, but the light in that head ain’t going to get any brighter.”

  Nick smiled and said, “An Annella classic. And these guys?”

  Alexis sighed before whispering, “Not sure yet. The jury is still out. They are either brilliant or clueless. I trust the cadets the most.”

  Nick turned to look at Trujillo and Tunsall, both still with rifles in their hands, looking everywhere from something unusual to pop out. Alexis continued. “And you? Flight Commander means you are the First Officer of that ship, only behind the Captain. You gotta be the first human to accomplish that.”

  Nick embarrassingly half-smiled, almost a gush. “Not quite, but close.”

  Alexis responded, “Captain in no time big brother.”

  Nick shrugged, with a wince on his face. The Ambassador walked by and loudly demanded, “Commander Devanoe, where is this situation room?”

  Nick began walking forward and then to the left, pointing with an open hand, “Right over here, Ambassador. Alexis, you should find everything you need. This is Sargent Insignot. He can assist you with anything you need.”

  The Ambassador walked in through some doors with Alexis. Devanoe came walking back to Willits and Jones, who were still hanging out at the entrance to the craft’s belly. Willits asked, “Devanoe, I thought the T-141 was a big medical ship?”

  Nick Devanoe, just like his sister, was happy to talk about things he knew a lot about. While he pointed, he continued. “They mostly are. But to get more flexible, they shaved the medical and living quarters in half in order to store two F-81 Sirator’s in here, provided they fold their wings.”

  Jones asked, “Why?”

  Yet it was Tunsall who answered “Logistics. Getting the F-81’s on the Battle Cruiser without sacrificing the Patrol Craft makes it almost a mini-carrier.”

  Nick Devanoe was a little astonished. “That’s correct. Teaching you guys logistics at Odgins?”

  All four of them were looking at Tunsall, trying to figure out how he knew that. Tunsall shrugged his shoulders as Nick Devanoe continued. “The Ambassador’s C-62T is so big that when we meet up with the Battle Cruiser, we will leave this T-141 here. Unless you want to fly the C-62T outside next to us.”

  Jones immediately scowled, “No, thanks, inside is fine.”

  Willits then walked off towards the medical area. Everyone watched him go through the sliding glass doors before Trujillo asked Nick, “How much longer until the Battle Cruiser gets here?”

  Nick Devanoe replied, “Should be real soon, I am going to check on that right now.”

  Willits then came out of the sliding glass doors and said, “Jones, can you come here and give me a hand with this?”

  Jones began walking to the medical area while Devanoe started walking towards the situation room.

  Belinea 3.7

  Corvalis System

  Battle Cruiser 54

  Malovex was standing alone, looking out the window of the bridge. He glanced over to the side, looking at a visual of the Patrol Ship in orbit around a moon. Captain Kimmel, a mere twenty feet off to the side in the bridge’s body, had an officer approach him and whisper, “Sir, it’s been almost three hours…..”

  Captain Kimmel merely shook his head and held up his hand to tell the young officer to be quiet. Captain Kimmel then walked over to Lord Malovex and stood next to him. “Lord Malovex, there has been no change in the situation. How long do you expect us to wait?”

  Malovex said nothing for a few seconds before responding, “Anxious to get to Braccus, Captain?”

  Captain Kimmel hesitated before speaking. “Those are my AuFa orders, sir.”

  Malovex went back to looking at the window before saying, “The AuFa would be much more pleased if you caught Taz then transporting an Earth Ambassador to and from.”

  Captain Kimmel was confused. “My Lord?”

  Malovex was always annoyed when he figured things out faster than everyone else. “Taz is after the Earth Ambassador. The attack on Braccus was a smokescreen, a way of getting this Battle Cruiser to respond there, away from the Corvalis system.”

  Captain Kimmel understood, he just was cautious. “My Lord, you believe Taz expects to find The Ambassador here?”

  Malovex continued. “ Yes, and your patrol craft out there has very similar dimensions and weight as to the Ambassador’s C-62T. When Taz arrives, we can only hope he takes the bait and doesn’t see us hiding behind this moon.”

  The black transport was drifting through space. Inside, Taz is surrounded by a team dressed in black, around a 3-D screen of the Corvalis System. First Officer Verkato addresses him. “We arrived just outside this area, sir, with a full engine shut down. If they picked us up, they likely dismissed us as an asteroid. Our scanners did a full sweep and only picked up this (pointing) small ship orbiting this moon. We can’t tell what it is, but it fits the dimensions of a small transport. I would like to send a probe.”

  Taz nodded and went back to studying the map. First Officer Verkato then went over to another screen and started punching in coordinates. Taz’s ship then deployed a small probe. Slowly it moved before an engine thrust shifted it into high velocity towards the moon the Patrol ship was orbiting. Taz then hit a few buttons, and the ship began a jamming sequence.

  Inside the Battle Cruiser, a sonar officer sitting in his chair noticed something on his screen. He shouted, “Captain Kimmel, I
have something.”

  Both Malovex and Kimmel walk over to the screen and see something racing towards the Patrol craft. Kimmel spoke as the two got there. “What is it, Lieutenant?”

  The Lieutenant looked confused. “Not sure, sir, It’s a small craft, I think. But it’s using a jamming sequence, which is not letting me get a reading on it.”

  Malovex responded. “It’s Dretelli jamming code. That has to be Taz. It’s either a fighter or a probe.”

  The Lieutenant responded, “Still can’t get a reading, but it’s moving very fast now.”

  Malovex looked for a few more seconds, verifying what he saw. “Captain, fire up your engines, we are going out there.”

  Captain Kimmel disagreed but followed his orders anyway. “Yes, Lord Malovex. Lieutenant Spires, set a course for the Patrol ship, best speed.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  On the screen that Malovex and Kimmel watched, it was clear that the thing heading toward the patrol craft was about thirty seconds away. Malovex asked, “How did they get here, unnoticed?”

  The Lieutenant responded, “I don’t know, sir. Perhaps from another ship undetected also?”

  Taz continued to look at his screen. A crew member looking at his sonar screen yelled “Sir, I have a reading on a ship that appeared from behind the moon. Engines now engaged and rapidly approaching the patrol craft the probe is heading to.”

  Taz then looked at First Officer Verkato next to him. Taz shook his head ‘no’ and began walking back to the big screen, before climbing into a Captain’s chair. First Officer Verkato barked out, “Get us out of here. Prepare for Hyper-EXtension, best speed to Torsalli. Put the visual of the probe on the screen.”

  Immediately, on the map screen behind him, Taz turned his head to see the probe approach. The tiny screen to his side showed the view from the actual probe.

  On the Battle Cruiser, Kimmel and Malovex intently watched the screen. The Lieutenant then said, “Five seconds, sir.”

  Kimmel barked, “How far out are we, Lieutenant?”

  Lieutenant said, “Fifteen seconds, sir.”

  As Malovex and Kimmel kept looking at the screen showing the Patrol Craft, they could begin to tell something was wrong. The approaching craft wasn’t a craft at all. Kimmel said, “Shit...”

  Taz, in his chair, continues watching the probe come up on the Patrol Craft. He had a button next to his Captain’s chair on the armrest. He waited until the precise moment and hit it. Immediately the screen went blurry from the explosion.

  Malovex and Kimmel were watching from their screen. Kimmel held up a hand to his eyes, to not let the light from the explosion damage them. The probe exploded right next to the Patrol Ship, which was instantly obliterated. Kimmel shouted, “Halt all engines!!”

  The Battle Cruiser slowed down immediately. Everyone inside was speechless, taking a few seconds to process what had just happened.

  With Taz looking in the background, the ship went directly to Hyper Extension speed after First Officer Verkato yelled, “Make the jump….”

  Belinea 3.8

  Port Braccus, AuFa Base

  It was nighttime, as Commander Willits was walking to the C-62T. He walked in through the side door and noticed the two BRG officers still working on the scene. Noticing their backs were turned, he went to a spot in the common room and unhitched a panel on the wall. Willits placed a tiny yellow box inside it and closed the panel behind it. He then turned to the two BRG officers, who were still on board doing a full sweep. “Hey guys, can you come here for a second.”

  The two officers walked over, and Willits opened the panel and showed them the yellow box. “Any idea what this is?”

  The first BRG officer asked, “Who are you?”

  Willits responded. “Commander Willits, DAG.”

  The second BRG officer said, “D-A-what?”

  Willits continued. “Delegate Ambassador Guard of Earth. I am in charge of this ship.”

  The first BRG officer said, “So you are the dumbfuck who has us doing a full security sweep on a ship parked inside a base.”

  Willits smiled. He pointed at the yellow box and said, “Yes, I am. And you two are the dumbfucks who missed this doing the security sweep.”

  The second BRG officer looked at the yellow box and said, “Does it matter?”

  Willits was almost amused “I guess your idea of security sweep is different than ours.”

  The first BRG officer responded, “I would assume your idea of a sweep involves vacuuming the floors.”

  The second BRG officer continued. “Who cares if an Earth Ambassador takes a bullet to the head? Just get the next shit for brains to take his place.”

  Willits was genuinely pissed now. “Well, for starters, nobody dies on my watch. If you guys are such prestigious BRG officers, how come you are in here doing security sweeps instead out there looking for Taz?”

  The first BRG officer got into Willits’s face and said, “I do not have to take this shit from you, Egglet’s. We would be so much better off if we just left you guys to die during your pandemic, you ungrateful fucks.”

  Willits kept a half-smile and said, “On behalf of all Earthlings, thank you. Now do us all a favor, and go fuck yourself, because your reproducing is killing everyone.”

  The second BRG officer got out a “Fuck You.”

  Nick Devanoe came walking on to the ship. He immediately yelled at everyone. “What the hell is going on here?!”

  The two BRG officers stood back. Willits kept smiling. After a couple of seconds, Willits spoke. “The BRG officers were finishing their sweep. They found this yellow box for me to look at, once they get done inspecting it. That right, boys?”

  Devanoe looked at the two BRG officers. The first BRG officer, after a pause, said, “We were just finishing up the sweep, and needed to look at the box. Just like the Commander said.”

  Nick Devanoe kept looking at all three of them. Not really convinced any of them were telling the truth. Willits broke the tension. “The boys here told me they call this yellow box an Egglet. I was unfamiliar with the term, so they were explaining it to me.”

  Devanoe was now pissed. He walked over to both of the BRG officers and said, “I do not care what personal beliefs you have. You will inspect this ship, from head to toe. If there is so much as a bolt out of place, I am going to have Captain Vincella inspect this box after I bury it in your fucking skull. Do I make myself clear?

  The first BRG officer said, “Yes, sir.”

  As Willits and Devanoe began walking out, the second BRG officer said, “Whatever you say, Commander Egglet.”

  Willits and Devanoe stopped. Both turned around. Willits went right up to him and said, “I hope that was directed at me and not Commander Devanoe. Because all he will do is have you demoted.”

  The second BRG officer said, “Yeah, what are you going to do about it?”

  Willits calmly said, “I am just going to make sure you don’t say it ever again.”

  Devanoe grabbed Willits from the back of the shoulder and yanked him back. “Enough!”

  The two now walked out of the Ambassador’s C-62T. Both were steaming, Willits in particular. Willits said, “I do not know how you deal with that shit!”

  Nick Devanoe said, “The AuFa is not nearly as bad as the BRG. You just have to learn not to take the bait.”

  As they got outside, they heard a whistle from the guard gate. Both of them looked and saw Commander Jones in tow with two ladies. Willits smiled and said to Nick, “You mind letting these ladies in for me?”

  Nick Devanoe, begrudgingly, looked at Willits and said, “You owe me.”

  Nick then whistled to the security guards, raised his hand, and motioned to let them in. The security guards obliged, and the ladies walked in with Commander Jones. The three walked up to Willits and Devanoe before Jones said, �
��Nolan, you remember Harmony and Cocoa. Ladies, this is Nick.”

  Willits said, “Ladies, welcome. Thank you for traveling on short notice.”

  Harmony said, “Easiest money we made all week. We love working with professionals.”

  Both of the ladies then began putting their hands all over Nick. Cocoa said, “You did not tell me how attractive he was, we feel bad charging you.”

  Nick was blushing. “Thank you, ladies, but you are not here for me, same guy as before.”

  The two ladies looked at Willits with a little curiosity. Jones said, “Ladies, we are all professionals. Nick needs not here about any details of your excursions.”

  Willits smiled. This was going to be amusing. “Ladies, I apologize for not letting you get your hands all over Nick, he is a looker. But if we can get you over to the ship, we will begin the task at hand.”

  Nick just looked at Willits in disbelief. “Willits, my sister is over there.”

  Willits just looked at him, puzzled. Then responded, “I am sure she has seen it all, Nick.”

  There was a brief staredown before Willits finally said, “Fine. Jones, take them over there (pointing to the C-62T). Ladies, thank you for your patience.”

  Jones and Willits exchanged a look, and Jones began walking the girls to the Ambassador’s C-62T ship. Willits and Devanoe began walking the opposite direction, towards the T-141 that Ambassador Bird and Alexis were on. Willits asked Nick, “Any news on the Battle Cruiser?

  Nick Devanoe shook his head and responded, “No. Probably another couple of hours until it gets here. Personally, I think Taz is long gone.”

  Willits turned to him and said, “Maybe so, but either way, we have to keep moving. Staying any one place too long puts a bulls-eye on us.”

  As they were walking up the ramp, without looking, Willits said, “You know your sister really has seen everything.”

  Nick, still walking side by side with Willits, responded, “Willits, one more word about my sister, and it will be your last. I still haven’t forgotten you took her to Vandabri.”