Galactic Axia Adventure 1: Escape to Destiny (20 page)

“About the same time Delmar turns twenty-one and is able to assume his half of the trust,” answered Mike. “It is my intention to see to it that Delmar has first offer rights to redeem the lien and assume full undivided title. That’s why I need someone to keep it up for him.”

“Let me check my files,” the lieutenant said as he pulled open a drawer. “I can think of several troopers and their families who might work out.”

∞∞∞

The two men accompanied the young trooper and his wife, Daren and RoseMary Sabeti, around to the front of the house. Mike was careful to stay on the left side of the young trooper in case the cane he was using slipped.

“So there you see the whole of it,” the liaison lieutenant said. “Some of the neighbors have offered to come in with their equipment and get those fields in shape, and I heard talk of a work party forming to clean and repair the house. What do you two think?”

“We like it a lot, sir,” the Sabeti said and smiled at his wife. “It’ll give me something useful to do while I recover, and will help us stop living out of a suitcase.”

“Your service pay will be unaffected, and you pay the rent by your efforts,” Mike said.

“Where are the owners?”

“One is going to a penal colony for a long time and the other has enlisted in the service,” Mike answered. “We’re authorized to find someone to take care of the place.”

“Why isn’t the one owner here right now?” Daren sat down on the porch to rest his injured leg.

“Because,” Mike continued as he checked his watch, “he’s just finishing his physical exam for enlistment.” The young trooper grinned at Mike and the lieutenant knowingly.

“If he approves of us, we’ll take it,” RoseMary said.

“I’m not too worried about it,” Mike said. “Let’s go back to the office and draw up the paperwork.”

∞∞∞

The ladies were just setting the dinner table when Jake and Delmar pulled into the driveway, followed closely by Mike who pulled in and parked his vehicle behind theirs. Together the three went inside, changed, and washed for dinner. Everyone shared their news around the dinner table.

Agnes and Sherry had been to visit Robert and had gotten to see him walk a little. Agnes wasn’t sure whether it was determination to get better or a desire to get out from under his drill instructor of a therapist. Either way, she was glad to see his progress.

Delmar told of his trials that day and received hoots of appreciation and sympathy while he described the trooper-first. The older generation winked at each other in anticipation of what the boy would experience in basic. Delmar was a little worried that something would prevent his enlistment but Jake and Mike both assured him that his chances were good if he’d made it this far.

Mike brought up the subject of a caretaker for the Eagleman farm. He described the young couple he and the liaison lieutenant had interviewed and their reaction to the place as it now looked. He suggested that Delmar meet them tomorrow at the office and the boy said it would be fine. Agnes interjected that she thought it would be better to have the meeting here at the farm so she could meet them too. Mike excused himself for a moment to make a call. Returning a few minutes later, he announced that the couple would come for dinner and Agnes’ reaction was all the confirmation Delmar needed.

Delmar found himself reviewing the physical exam again. Tomorrow he would find out for sure if he had passed and when he could finish the enlistment procedure. With blurry-eyed visions of his future, he excused himself from the rest of the group and drifted off to sleep in his room.

Delmar waited anxiously all day for the comm-link to ring. In the meantime, Jake had him over at his old farm cleaning. The trash in the house alone was enough to discourage anyone. One of the neighbors lent them his large truck, and Jake and Delmar made good use of it. They had already made three runs to the trash center and had not yet started on the barn.

Delmar was surprised to find that he had very few happy memories of the place. He’d expected his earliest memories of when his parents had been alive would come flooding back to him, but they hadn’t. Instead, he saw his brother at every turn.

Anything of value was long gone to support his brother’s drinking habit and parties. The boxes Delmar brought for mementos remained pitifully empty. His old room had been used as a dumpsite after he’d run away, and all of his personal affects either trashed, stolen or sold.

Jake made a point of staying near the boy while they dragged the debris out to the truck. The project was daunting but Delmar dug in and made amazing progress. The fourth load finished off the trash in the house and the two men broke for a quick lunch. The house was now empty, and Agnes, Sherry, and some of the neighbor ladies were coming later to give it a good scrub.

Although a disaster of its own, the barn showed less of the affect of Dorn’s neglect. Among the few broken-down pieces of farm equipment were bundles of tangled fence wire and shattered furniture. Delmar and Jake dragged it all out into the open and separated what might be salvageable from the hopeless. Three more trips to the trash center took care of the wreckage of furniture and other debris.

The old tractor looked repairable and the bailer available for parts. Rooting around in the shop area, Delmar found that his father’s old tools had actually survived in fair shape. Apparently, the mountain of trash prevented his brother from getting to them. Jake helped set them in order again for the new caretakers.

Up on the shelves above the bench were old partial bottles and cans of paints and solvents. A few were still good but most had long since dried up. Jake backed the truck directly into the barn so loading was easier and they made short work of the mess.

On the top shelf behind and assortment of cans, Delmar found an old metal ammo box that Jake recognized as predating the boy by many years. Delmar found a collection of old family photographs inside and mementos that his mother had saved. He pulled out an early picture of his long-dead parents.

Delmar found himself choking up for the first time in years. He let the grief he had buried explode from his tortured chest. Silent sobs racked the boy for a long moment while Jake comforted him, his arm around the boy’s shoulders.

When there were no more tears, Delmar carefully replaced the precious portrait of his parents into the box. Digging deeper, he found another picture of his father taken before Delmar had been born. There he stood, tall and lean wearing the uniform of Axia black. Scribbled below the image was a tiny, tight scrawl that simply read
T1 John Eagleman.
Delmar was surprised and looked up at Jake who looked at the picture of Delmar’s father but said nothing. He noticed that both father and son exhibited the same strong lines and determined expression.

They called it quits for the day and the difference in the Eagleman farm was astonishing. They got back to the Hassel farm and found preparations were well under way for their guests that night. Jake and Delmar went in and washed. Sherry chased them upstairs to change into better clothes. Mike arrived from town and the table was set when Daren and RoseMary Sabeti arrived.

 Seated around the table, Delmar was able to learn a little about these prospective caretakers. They’d been married only five years when he’d been injured while on combat duty with fleet. The doctors repaired what they could. Now it was up to Daren. A long convalescence, preferably outdoors, would serve better to heal the injury than any amount of medicine. Daren, frustrated by inactivity, had jumped at the opportunity to combine his recuperation with doing something useful but this was more than he had hoped.

Agnes and Sherry took to the young wife almost immediately and were likewise impressed with her husband. Delmar was concerned with the young trooper’s ability to take care of the farm in light of his injuries. But as he got to know Daren, he saw the challenge would be a blessing. Sometimes a person needs a challenge to help them overcome a setback.

After they’d finished dinner and some of Agnes’ delicious apple pie, they retired to the living room. The Sabetis told Delmar what they hoped to do with the farm. Their plans were ambitious but realistic, and Delmar felt good about leaving the farm in this couple’s care. Delmar saw that Agnes was also in favor of the couple. He looked them in the eye and told them he would be pleased if they would accept the challenge of being the caretakers.

Mike stood up and called for everyone’s attention. “While everybody is in such good spirits, I have an announcement to make,” he said. The group grew quiet and all eyes were on him. Mike saw that Delmar’s eyes were wide with apprehension. Pulling an envelope from his breast pocket, he opened it and removed several sheets.

“I picked this up on my way over,” he announced. He then read the letter aloud.

Mr. Delmar Eagleman, this notice is to inform you that you have passed all entrance requirements for enlistment into the Galactic Axia Trooper Service. You may report to the enlistment center at ten o’clock any weekday morning within the next thirty calendar days to accept the oath of office.

Mike finished. Attached to the letter was a sheet listing personal articles to bring, as well as prohibited items. The group remained silent for a moment and then exploded into cheers and congratulations.

Chapter Fifteen

The day was still showing some early morning clouds from the storm the night before when the ground car pulled out of the driveway and headed toward town from the Hassel farm. Delmar had been unusually quiet that morning and only managed to eat lightly. Although he was oblivious to the fact, he had considerable sympathy from the adults. Agnes tried to get the boy to smile but nothing would cause his gray mask to slip. Jake thought that he only saw that expression on a man’s face twice in life—when he enlisted and when he got married.

Speeding toward town, Delmar carefully examined his old home when they passed the Eagleman farm. The Sabetis had only moved in a couple of weeks ago but already the changes were beginning to show. Besides curtains, there were signs that someone had started attacking the well-developed weeds in the flowerbeds. Satisfied with the changes, he returned his gaze to the front for the rest of the trip.

Delmar expressed his desire to see Mr. Hassel before reporting at the enlistment center but Agnes convinced him that it would be impractical. Unknown to the boy, two troopers were picking Robert up from the hospital and taking him to the enlistment center. The doctor signed the release for Robert to go home the night before but they had managed to keep Delmar from finding out about it. They would meet Robert there for the ceremony and then take him home.

Arriving at the enlistment center, Delmar saw several of the young men he had taken the physical exam with three weeks earlier. When he checked in at the counter, the trooper behind the desk told him to listen for the announcement calling the enlistees to the ceremony. Delmar returned to sit by Agnes and the Senders and tried not to fidget.

The small bag of personal items the notice advised him to bring lay at his feet. He considered taking inventory again just to pass the time. He could mentally picture everything in the bag. He had packed and repacked it several times the night before.

A voice on the loudspeaker cut through his musings calling all enlistees to assemble. As per the instruction on the sheet, Delmar handed his bag to Agnes and joined the other young men in front of a double door.

They found themselves in a small auditorium with a curtained stage. Standing together on the small open floor in front of the stage, a trooper-third called them to form up in front of the stage. There were several familiar blue lines on the floor. A dozen tiers of seats also rose behind them. Out of the corner of his eye, Delmar could see people filing into the upper seats, Agnes and the Senders among them. The trooper-third gave the enlistees a brief rundown of what to expect and then stepped to the side of the stage.

The lights dimmed and the curtain opened revealing a large Galactic Axia flag and a small lectern. A spotlight highlighted each. A figure approached the lectern through the shadows. The trooper-third called the young men to attention as the figure stepped into the light.

The spotlight reflected off the silver in the hair of the speaker. Rank insignia denoting a major glistened in the light against the black of his Axia uniform. As he stepped fully into the light, Delmar caught his breath. He had hoped to see Mr. Hassel before the ceremony but had never expected this.

Major Hassel addressed the enlistees. “Today you take the first official step into the brotherhood of the troopers. You have all passed the stringent entry tests and the demanding physical requirements to qualify for enlistment.

I want you to be proud of making the cut thus far. The road ahead of you through a full year of basic and advanced training will test each of you individually and as a team. You will come to exceed your own expectations and discover strengths and weaknesses you never knew you had.

Right now is your last opportunity to withdraw from the arduous task ahead of you. Any who withdraw now may still enlist within the allotted calendar year without recrimination. We do not want you to enlist without carefully considering the consequences of your actions. We highly value honesty and faithfulness, and if you can’t be honest and faithful to yourself first, you have no place among the troopers. We will now dim the lights and any who wish to wait on their enlistment until they are confident in their heart of the rightness of their action may anonymously move out the exit and join the spectators in the gallery.”

 The auditorium darkened except for a few dim aisle lights. Delmar heard one or two men move out of ranks. After a couple of minutes, the spotlights came on and the ranks adjusted to fill in the vacant gaps.

Major Hassel gazed out at them intently for a few moments. “I will now administer your first oath as a trooper trainee,” he said, breaking the silence. “Raise your right hand and repeat after me. Speak your full legal name at the appropriate place.”