The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (7 page)

“
I trust you had a good journey here?” Parks said.

“
Uneventful,” Dodds shrugged.

“
You stayed out your entire suspension on Earth?”

“
With my parents. I was giving them a hand with the
business.”

Parks nodded and his eyes gave the young man a once over.
“Good to see you didn
’
t come back soft and completely out of shape after all that
time away. Too many do so after a few weeks of leave.” Parks came
to stand with Dodds by the window and nodded to the planet far
below. “Xalan. Where you will be spending the next three weeks
training for the ATAF project. Myself and Admiral Turner will also
be stationed there during that period to oversee your
progress.”

“
Who else will be there?” Dodds asked, figuring that he would
not be the sole participant in the training program. He had a hunch
that his old wingmates were on the surface.

“
Aside from yourself and the
White Knights
, there
will be two other teams of five who you will be undergoing the
evaluations. At the end of the three-week period, the team who has
successfully completed the evaluation and passed the final
examination will be the one that will go on to pilot the
ATAFs.”

“
Got it,” said Dodds. Sounded easy enough.

Parks paused, then said, “This isn’t an individual exercise,
Lieutenant. Your success or failure during these tests will be
governed by your ability
to work as a
team
and follow orders
.”

Dodds could feel Parks
’
stare boring into him even before he turned
around to meet it.

“
Don
’
t screw this up, Dodds,” Parks said
in a stern voice, his mood now a lot more serious than when he had
first entered the room.

“
I won
’
t, sir,” Dodds said earnestly.
Though Dodds enjoyed a good relationship with Parks - or maybe it
was that the commodore just tolerated him better than most others -
he was still only prepared to cut the young pilot so much
slack.

“
I sure hope you mean that, Lieutenant,”
Parks said, walking towards the door. “Now, whilst
you
’
re
here you may as well attend a medical examination before leaving
for Xalan. Your team mates arrived a few days ago so they will be
able to show you around. You should also know that since your
departure we’ve lost Wells to an accident during training, as well
as your own replacement. de Winter will introduce you to your new
team mate when you arrive at your assigned housing block.” The door
slid open as Parks approached. He hovered in the doorway, looking
back at the second lieutenant who hadn’t moved. “Come on. Get your
gear together, Dodds, we have a lot to get through before we
leave.”

Dodds
picked up his bag and followed the commodore out, his head swimming
with thoughts. It seemed a lot had happened since he had been away
and the multiple deaths within his flight group had hit home. Not
least because of the casual manner in which Parks had told him
about it, as if there were greater concerns than keeping pilots
alive. He wondered what other pieces of information the commodore
might be holding back.

* * *

Wednesday, April 23
^rd
, 2617

We
’
ve been
stationed here at Xalan for three days now and I
’
m beginning to feel more settled.
There hasn
’
t been
a lot happening so far, but Estelle is making us hit the simulators
for hours on end. She
’
s really cracking the whip, but I know this is a big thing
for her. She had us on them for sixteen hours yesterday, first
thing in the morning until last thing at night, with barely any
time for lunch. I had to just get in there, shovel it down my
throat and get back into the simulator suite. I thought Estelle was
going to choke at the speed she wolfed hers down! She was acting
like she hadn
’
t
eaten for weeks and like she didn
’
t know where her next meal was
coming from! She did the same thing at dinner, too!
I
’
m sure
that
’
s not
healthy. But there again something like this is a once in a
life-time opportunity and she
’
s determined to do whatever it
takes for us to be the first to test out the
Navy
’
s latest
creation. I can
’
t
say exactly what it is here or suffer the consequences.

We are getting our first briefing this afternoon and then
tomorrow we
’
ll
start our formal training. I don
’
t know any of the pilots from the
others teams, but Estelle seems to know a girl called Andrea.
According to her we were at flight school together years ago, but I
don
’
t honestly
remember. I haven
’
t seen her about since our arrival, but apparently
that
’
s
intentional since they don
’
t want the teams to all be mixed
together.

We
’
re in a
mixed dormitory here, no separate rooms, so looks like we
won
’
t be getting
any ritzy treatment even though we
’
re involved in a special project.
Luckily the room has been designed to accommodate quite a few
people, and since there are only four of us we have plenty of
space; so at least that won
’
t be a cause of any
tension.

Enrique is just getting on with it, as he does. With
everything that
’
s
going on, he
’
s
not really found the find time and space to practice his martial
arts or the other things he does. He was a bit put out that there
might not be anyone to partner with whilst he was here. Being a
research facility there are of course some people here, but I think
Enrique was bothered about “hitting nerds” as he put it.

Chaz, the new boy (he
’
s actually a bit older than us,
only known him a few weeks), said he
’
d spar with Enrique when they both
got some free time, but Estelle soon put a stop to that. Think
she
’
s getting
paranoid that one of them would hurt each other and then not be
able to compete efficiently.

I
’
m still
not too sure about Chaz. When he first turned up he introduced
himself and dispensed all the normal pleasantries, but
wasn
’
t too keen
on giving anything else away. He keeps his cards very close to his
chest. As far as I can tell it was Commodore
Parks
’
idea to
assign him to our team. We, of course, didn
’
t get any say in the matter and
Estelle was quite concerned. But during the routine flight
exercises before our transfer here he seemed to be a good fit.
He
’
s quiet though
and seems to spend a lot of his time reading. He
doesn
’
t smile a
lot either. I don
’
t honestly imagine I
’
d have too much to do with him if
he had not been assigned to the White Knights. He seems to be
somewh…

As Dodds
entered the room he saw Kelly Taylor stop writing in her digital
journal, and look up.

“
Dodds!” Kelly said. Dodds had changed out of his uniform for
the medical examination. He now wore a blue naval shirt and dark
slacks. The smart uniform that his mother had pressed and ironed in
preparation for his meeting with three of the CSN’s top brass now
lay crumpled somewhere at the bottom of his bag. He had worn it
twice in the space of six months, for the purpose of formal
meetings, and was not keen on putting back on again any time
soon.

“
Hi, everyone,” Dodds said, slinging his bag onto a nearby
bed.

“
Hey, Dodds!” A tall, sandy blonde-haired man over the other
side of the room got up and strode over to greet his friend. Dodds
noticed when he entered the dormitory that Enrique had been propped
up against the back wall, doing press ups on his head. He was
dressed down in a white vest and thin trousers and Dodds guessed
that he was doing the exercises to let off some steam. Another man,
whom Dodds did not recognise, lowered the book he was reading to
get a look at the long absent team member.

“
Hey, Enrique, how you doing?” Dodds said, extending a
hand.

“
They said we should expect one more person
to join the team, but I didn
’
t expect to see your ugly face
around here any time soon,” Enrique said with a chuckle, greeting
his friend with a shake of hands, an embrace and a hearty slap on
the back. “Made it back okay then?”

“
Just,” Dodds smiled. “I think I would have been on the next
shuttle to Earth if Hawke had had his way. Hadn’t been back hardly
five minutes before he was on my back.”

“
Don
’
t let him wind you up, mate,”
Enrique said. He, too, had suffered his fair share of encounters
with the commodore in the past, though in most cases on account of
Dodds, one way or another. If Hawke possessed a list of personnel
in the CSN that he most disliked, the pair could be certain that
they would be tied for the top spot.

“
Hey, how you doing, Kelly?” Dodds asked of the young woman
who was untangling her legs and crawling off the bed she occupied.
Kelly Taylor was a girl of average height, with a short face, long
brown hair and brown eyes. Dodds often found her quite
cute.

“
I
’
m well, thanks,” Kelly said
embracing him and giving him an affectionate kiss on the cheek.
“Nice to have you back.”

If things had changed a lot within the Navy during
Dodds
’
absence,
then at least he could take comfort in the fact that his friends
had remained the same; although the team had shrunk from its
initial ten members down to five, and there was now a new
addition.

“
Where
’
s Estelle?” Dodds asked.

“
She’ll be back in a minute. Think she went to check the
simulation stats or something,” Kelly said, rolling her
eyes.

“
Oh, this is Chaz, the latest addition to
the
White
Knights
,” Enrique indicated the
dark-skinned man who still lay on his bed at the far end of the
room, reading. After briefly acknowledging the appearance of Dodds,
he had turned his attention back to his book, looking quite
uninterested in what was going on. Now, he put the book down and
jumped from the top bunk. Dodds saw that Chaz was not only very
tall, but built with it. He also appeared to prefer to shave his
head.

“
Pleased to finally meet you, Dodds,” he
said, joining the others. “My name
’
s Koonan; Chaz Koonan. Only been
with the team for a few weeks, but I
’
ve heard a lot about
you.”

“
Nothing good, I hope,” Dodds replied with a wry smile,
shaking the massive hand that Chaz extended towards him.

“
Estelle assures me that
you
’
re a
fine pilot,” Chaz said, dodging Dodds
’
attempt to engage him in some
comedic banter. There was something in the man
’
s voice that Dodds could not put
his finger on. It was not unfriendly, but somehow neutral and a
little indifferent.

“
Where have you been transferred from?” Dodds
asked.

“
That
’
s a long story…”

“
Yes, and not one we currently have time
for,” a voice came from the doorway. A slender woman with long, jet
black hair that fell over her shoulders stood at the entrance to
the dormitory. Her attire was a close match to that of
Enrique
’
s,
a small white vest and black trousers. In her hands, she clasped a
number of sheets of paper.

“
Hi, Estelle. How are you?” Dodds said.

“
I
’
m well,” she answered, somewhat
pertly.

“
Good…”

“
Uh huh. Could I have a word with you out here?” she indicated
out the door and then left the dormitory. Dodds looked at the
others, who shrugged and then dispersed back to what they were
doing before he arrived. Frowning, Dodds followed Estelle out of
the small housing block they had been assigned to, incensed at the
way she had spoken to him within the first minute of being
reunited.