Dawn of a New Age (3 page)

“Aye, Colonel,” Sarah nodded.  “I was just informed of that.”

“Well, it’ll be a pleasure to serve with you.”  Mario took a sip of his drink.  “Make sure you’re on the White Knight before she leaves in just under six hours.  I’d hate to see such a pretty young thing as you left behind just because you weren’t on board on time.”

“I’ll be at my station in four hours, Colonel,” Sarah assured Mario.  Her smile broadened until it filled her entire face.

“Lower Pylon Five, Ensign,” Mario said as he stood.  He tossed back the rest of his drink.  He gave the girls a wink and another one of his winning smiles before turning on his heel and leaving the bar.

The girls all watched Mario go with the general awe that he tended to generate in women.  Sarah turned to the other three girls with a triumphant look on her face.

“So,” she grinned broadly at them.  “Do you know who that was?”

“Wow!” was all they could say at first.  They all looked at her with an open-mouthed expression of awe.

“I guess you weren’t pulling our legs after all, Sarah!” Kim said, shaking her head in complete disbelief.  “Sorry we doubted you.  Congratulations!  Have fun!”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I will,” Sarah beamed as she finished her root beer.  She stood and stretched.  “I should go get ready to ship out.”

The three girls watched Sarah go, looks of shock registering on their faces.

1.30.2136

0921

SLS White Knight

Captain Thala Ker’sal’s office.

K’Alan Bryce stood quietly before Thala’s desk.  He’d been standing there for a couple minutes, waiting for her to acknowledge him.  Even though he was standing at attention, he was fidgeting nervously.  The captain did make him that uncomfortable.

“You wanted to see me, Captain?” he said quietly.

The captain looked up and leaned back in her chair.  She looked K’Alan over and motioned to the chair across the desk from where she was sitting.

“Have a seat, Commander,” she said, equally as softly as he’d spoken.

“Captain,” K’Alan started without moving.  “If you have a problem with me...”

“If I had a problem with you, Commander,” Thala interrupted K’Alan.  She placed the pen she was holding on the desk and steepled her fingers.  She stared at the commander over her long steepled finger.  “I would not have requested you as my executive officer.”

“But the way that you...”

“My personal feelings for you have absolutely no relevance,” Thala interrupted again.  She leaned back in her chair and tugged on the bottom of her uniform tunic. “All I can and will tell you is that I would much rather have you as my exec than any of the other equally and suitably qualified candidates for the position.  Is that clear, Commander?”

“As crystal, ma’am,” K’Alan said sharply, an almost imperceptible nod the only motion he made in acknowledgement of her words.

“Good.  Now take a seat before you break,” she smiled. 

It was the first smile he could remember ever seeing from her.  It was enough for him to lower his guard slightly.  But only slightly.  He took the offered seat, turned it around and straddled it, leaving the chair back between himself and the Captain.  It allowed him a slight amount of comfort to have the safety net.

“So,” K’Alan asked, his voice rock solid despite how nervous he was still feeling.  “What did you want to speak to me about, Captain?”

“I have some things to go over with you,” Thala said.  She picked up a datapad and glanced at it.  “First of all, our Mr. Bonetti.  Do you trust him?”

“Mario?” K’Alan laughed.  it was a strained laugh but a laugh nonetheless.  Thala nodded.  K’Alan sighed and rubbed his chin before continuing.  “Well, I’ve known Mario about fifteen years.  We’ve served together a couple times.  To be honest, I’d rather have him on some of the hell hole missions we’re likely going to get than almost any of the highly trained ground troops we’ve been assigned.  And yes, I’ve gone over the records of our ground troops.  He’s a hell of a pilot too.  Almost as good as me.”  The last was said with a touch of pride in both his and Mario’s piloting abilities.

“Good,” Thala nodded. She laid the datapad back down on the desk.  “He’s your responsibility.  I’m afraid he was pushed on me by his father.  I don’t much like having my teams picked for me.”

“Captain, if I may,” K’Alan began.  He was a bit amused by the fact that Mario had to be pushed on Thala.  But he refused to let his amusement show.  “I know Admiral Bonetti.  He and Mario don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things.  The admiral was none too pleased when Mario decided to go career enlisted.  He was the first of his family to refuse to take the officer’s exam.  He still gets offered it every year, and he turns it down every time.  If Admiral Bonetti did request Mario be assigned to this unit, then he must have had a very good reason.”

“Be that as it may,” Thala shrugged.  “I still don’t like it any.”

“Trust me,” K’Alan smiled.  “Mario will grow on you in time.”

“We’ll see.”  Thala flicked her glance back to the datapad then to the computer screen on her desk.  “Commander, are you rated to fly combat missions?”

“My personnel jacket should have told you that I was a squadron leader on my last two assignments,” K’Alan noted.

“Good,” “Thala smiled.  She made an entry on her computer.  “I’m assigning you as my strike leader.”

“I want Mario as my wingman,” K’Alan said simply.

That brought Thala’s raptor gaze back up to meet K’Alan’s gaze, telling him that his comment had had the desired effect.  “Is he combat rated?  I know you mentioned he was a good pilot, but I don’t remember ever hearing he was combat rated.”

“He was first in his class at the Academy,” K’Alan shrugged.  He stroked the cleft on his nose thoughtfully before continuing.  “I once saw him fly between two Brentax Kovat class light cruisers without a scratch.  The two cruisers...  Well, they weren’t so lucky.”

“Whatever.  It’s your neck,” Thala shrugged.  She slid a datapad across the desk to K’Alan.  You’ve been given the best pilots.  I want you to be tough and consistent in your leadership.  It’s your responsibility to make sure we have the best fighting team we can possibly expect to have.”

“What do we have for fighters and pilots?” K’Alan asked as he picked up the datapad and looked over the data.

“7 Starhawks and 56 Starfires,” Thala responded as she checked the stats on her terminal.  “And a full complement of 70 combat rated pilots, including yourself and Mr. Bonetti.”

“All right,” K’Alan nodded as he looked over the list of pilots.  “I think the best way to do this would be to have 7 squads of 10 pilots each.  One Starhawk and 8 Starfires per squadron.  Squad leaders and their wings assigned to the Starhawks.  I’ll draw up the squadron rosters and have them to you within the hour.”

“Good,” Thala nodded.  She glanced at the datapad again before continuing.  “I’m sure you’re wondering what our first mission is.”

“Of course I have,” K’Alan nodded.  He slipped the datapad with the pilot information into a pocket of his uniform.

“So have I.”

“You mean you haven’t been given our orders yet?” K’Alan furrowed his brow.

“SLDF Command in their infinite wisdom has decided to give us a couple days shakedown time before giving us our first assignment.”  There was a touch of disdain in her voice, implying that she didn’t agree that they needed the extra shakedown time.

“Great,” K’Alan said with a rueful smile.  “Just what I’ve always wanted.  More time to sit around and worry.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Thala chuckled.  “This will just give us a chance to make sure everything is fully functional on board.  Not like we haven’t already tested everything three times already.”

“Always a good thing,” K’Alan nodded, chuckling softly.  “Is there anything else, Captain?”

“There’s one other thing that’s bothering me.”  Thala pulled up a schematic of the White Knight and turned the computer screen around so that K’Alan could see what she was talking about.  “That blank area near the back of the ship.  I have no idea what it is.”

“Interesting,” K’Alan muttered.  He quickly scrolled through the schematics.  As he looked the schematics over, he noted exactly how much of the ship was taken up by this strange blank area.  “Why not just go check it out?  That’s a large part of the ship, almost half the total area!”

“I can’t go check it out,” Thala shrugged as she turned the computer screen back to face her.  “Only two people are currently allowed access to that area: Admiral Bonetti and Ensign Hodge.”

“Very strange indeed,” K’Alan said, frowning.  “What do you suppose is in there?”
Thala closed the computer screen and shrugged again.  “I have no idea.  I don’t much like secrets on my ship.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll find out what that section is for sooner or later,” K’Alan shrugged, an almost perfect imitation of Thala’s.

Thala came around the desk and sat down on the edge of the desk closest to K’Alan.  She looked deep into his eyes.  “I want you to know that this will work out fine, K’Alan.”  Her voice was soft and almost comforting.

K’Alan returned her gaze and held her gaze for several long seconds.  ‘You still don’t like me very much from our time at the Academy, do you?”

“If you only knew, Commander,” Thala snapped as she jumped back to her feet.  K’Alan could swear the temperature in the office dropped by thirty degrees.  “Dismissed.”

“Yes, ma’am,” K’Alan barked.  He wasted no time in leaving Thala’s office.

1.30.2136

1004

SLS White Knight

Colonel Mario Bonetti’s Quarters.

K’Alan couldn’t help himself.  He just had to laugh when he entered Mario’s quarters.  All of his belongings, except his weapons collection of course, were already in all their proper places.  But it looked like someone had inadvertantly put the armory in the morale officer’s quarters by mistake.  There were weapons everywhere, covering everything.  That is, where there was room for them to cover everything.  Mario’s quarters were the standard size for someone on the command staff, but it looked like he was trying to maximize every inch of space in the quarters.  A series of shelves in the main living area housed his collection of twentieth century memorabilia, including his most prized twentieth century possessions, a portable CD player complete with headphones and a stack of Billy Joel CDs.  There were weapons hangers all over the walls, but most of them were empty as Mario tried to decide which weapons went where.

As K’Alan was looking around the main living area, Mario came out from the bedroom carrying a wicked looking spear in one hand.  Mario’s usually carefully combed hair was slightly disheveled, bordering on completely messy.  His hazel eyes darted around the room, trying to decide what weapons should go where.  The front of Mario’s uniform tunic was open, showing the white undershirt the Colonel was wearing underneath.  He smiled at K’Alan when he saw his friend.

“You know, Kal,” Mario motioned for the Duterian to come further into the room.  ‘There’s definitely one major problem with transfers.”

“What’s that, Mario?” K’Alan asked, an amused expression on his face.

Mario spread his arms indicating the mass of weapons everywhere.  “My weapons collection is getting too damn big!  I ask you.  Where am I going to store all these weapons?  There is a definite lack of wall space here!”

“I’m sure you’ll manage,” K’Alan laughed.  He picked his way carefully across the room.  “I don’t suppose you have that drink?”

“Nope.  I haven’t gotten any drinks in here yet,” Mario shrugged.  He put the spear into one of the weapons holders.  “Is that straight?”

“Yeah,” K’Alan lied.

“So,” Mario asked as he turned back to K’Alan.  He cleared off a chair and offered it to his friend.  “What did the old battle ax want?”

“How would you like to be my wingman?” K’Alan said as he took the offered chair.  He was barely able to keep a straight face.

“She’s putting you in a fighter?” Mario asked with a raised eyebrow.  He picked up a pair of blasters and looked for a suitable place to put them.

“A Starhawk even,” K’Alan said.  This time, he wasn’t able to keep the smile off his face.

“Sweet deal.”  The blasters found themselves in weapons hangers on the wall across from the spear.  “How did you manage that?”

“She made me strike leader,” K’Alan mumbled.

Mario stopped and looked at his friend.  “I’m sorry, bud.  I didn’t quite hear that.  What did you say?”

“I said,” K’Alan said, much louder this time.  “She made me strike leader.”

“Oh, that’s a good one,” Mario roared with laughter.  When he’d composed himself, he started to pick up another weapon, then he turned back to the wall to find a place for it to go.

“Well,” K’Alan shrugged.  He picked up a wicked looking dagger and turned it over in his hands.  “At least she doesn’t hate me.”

“She say as much?” Mario asked.  He put he weapon he was holding in another weapons holder and turned back to K’Alan.

“Yeah, but I just don’t know.”  K’Alan tossed the dagger lightly to Mario.