by Larry Hunt
Chapter Four
“CALL A CONFERENCE MEETING”
The Captain sat absorbed; thinking (for what seemed were hours when in reality was only a couple of minutes) then arrived at a decision. He waved his hand over the black glass top on his desk - his Personal Communicator. A facial image appeared in the glass.
“Yes Captain,” the face answered. It was Krista, the Captain’s office manager/chief cook and bottle washer, but most importantly - his daughter-in-law. She was married to the Captain’s son, Robert “Trey” Scarburg III. Krista might be Captain Scarburg’s secretary but paramount above all she was the mother of the Captain’s grandchildren. Robert the III didn’t genuinely like the nickname ‘Trey’, but Papa Scarburg had burdened him with it as a young lad, so he has lived with it ever since.
“Krista, call a conference meeting for 1300 hours Monday afternoon, with all the SCAR directors and include my family. I know Lou is in town for his annual budget review.” The Captain usually referred to her as ‘Krissy’, but when upset or absorbed in deep thought he would inevitably call her ‘Krista’. Krista knew something was up when she heard him use her proper name. “Make sure Spook and Tinker are there too.” He followed as a second thought, “you too Krista.”
“Why me Captain? Should I tell them the subject of the meeting?”
“No - you will all find out at the meeting Monday.” He followed as a second thought, “I want Trey, Lou, Forrest, Gabrielle and Olive Marie to attend this conference also.”
Forrest, Krista’s son, now there was a fellow - Robert Edward Scarburg the Fourth. He was the fourth because there are three others Robert Edward Scarburgs, which came before him. When Forrest, as he was known, was a small lad his Grandpa Robert Edward Scarburg Jr, began calling him Little Four. Little Four got to be confusing, so Grandpa began referring to him as 4-S. Four S... Four-est... Forrest. He didn’t think it was all that funny either, but he was stuck with it, like it or not.
Forrest’s brother Dr. Buddy (Bud) Edward Scarburg and his brother Dr. Louis (Lou) Edward Scarburg served as SCAR Regional directors. Lou was director of SCAR’s facility at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. Bud, before he was killed, managed a SCAR laboratory located at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Facility in Huntsville, Alabama. Marshall developed the Saturn rockets that carried the men to the moon on Apollo 13. The place was loaded with pointy-head rocket scientists and nerds with plastic pocket protectors for their pens. Bud was a natural, and SCAR fit in with NASA like a glove. During the early phases of the Southwest Asian War, Bud had been a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 20th Special Forces (Airborne), Alabama National Guard. While serving in an in-active status, his Guard unit in Birmingham, Alabama was suddenly deployed to active duty to Iraq. He was killed in one of Saddam Hussein’s poison gas attacks in 2007.