ZOMBIE'S DOOM? "Chronicles of Jack Doom" (20 page)

Tired of the language games, and wondering if the up and coming officer's promotion was one of the few mistakes he had made in his career, Captain Xarr blurted out.

"I think, I believe, it might, I keep hearing these words that reek of insecurity, words that cause me to believe that you're not too sure of yourself, yet you seem to expect me to risk the success of this mission on your obvious self-doubt."

"Yes sir Captain Xarr, I mean no sir Captain Xarr," Lieutenant Zeem gasped, involuntarily exercising his already strained sphincter muscle once more.

"Lieutenant Zeem, the aura of complete ineptitude that you have chosen to display to myself and the other members of this crew is of monumental proportion.

Normally I would have already had a security detail taken you into custody and you would be joining Private Jol in the indoctrinating persecution chamber as we speak.

However, due to the unique circumstances that surround your particular case, I feel a rare dose of leniency is called for."

"Yes... Captain Xarr," Lieutenant Zeem stammered, not yet feeling totally relieved.

"Lieutenant Zeem, you will accompany me to the indoctrinating persecution chamber in which Private Jol is occupying," Captain Xarr exclaimed.

"Yes, Captain Xarr," the lieutenant barked, his body becoming rigid as he sprang to attention.

Lieutenant Zeem, although he did feel somewhat relieved that he was not being escorted to join Private Jol in the indoctrinating persecution chamber by members of the ship's security force, and instead seemingly taking a tour of the chamber with the Captain, he still felt uneasy about the impromptu visit.

"Number 3, take the helm, Lieutenant Zeem and myself will be on deck 13, Bay 5, indoctrinating persecution chamber 35 until further notice," Captain Xarr ordered. "That is unless Lieutenant Zeem decides to resign his commission and make his visit with Private Jol a permanent one."

"Aye aye Captain Xarr," the ships third in command responded as he too sprang to attention.

A unified sigh of relief gushed onto the bridge of the alien ship, as several command officers released the breath that they had been holding in anticipation of being on the receiving end of Captain Xarr's rage, and the possible forthcoming demotion of the new lieutenant in charge.

"Keisaf aae ehgssie fornaka," one bridge officer remarked in his native tongue.

"Are you insane, you know that Captain Xarr ordered all crew members to speak in the language, dialect, and vernacular, of the semi-intelligent indigenous creatures on the land mass of which we hover over?

Hell, even the gynandromorphs contained on deck 69 are being made to comply with that decree, there are no exceptions," another bridge officer reminded. "If Captain Xarr hears you speaking Annunaki, if you're
lucky
your new quarters will be on deck 69 with the gynandromorphs, and luck isn't something that you want to count on around here."

"Thank you comrade for the reminder, I hope my indiscretion will go no farther than this bridge," the offending officer begged, as he looked around the bridge to see if his remarks in his native Annunakian tongue had been overheard by any other crewmembers.

"We will see, indeed, we will see," was the cryptic reply from the shipmate, as he began to consider ways of turning his fellow space-mariner's slip of the tongue to his advantage.

Upon arriving at Bay 5, one of the indoctrination and persecution areas of the ship, Captain Xarr addressed the enlisted guard securing the door of chamber 35.

"I do not hear Private Jol, he is stationed here in Bay 5, chamber number 35 is he not?"

"Yes Captain Xarr, Private Jol is stationed right behind this door," the guard answered.

"Then why do I not hear the private? If the persecuting officer is not malingering, I should hear Private Jol being indoctrinated," Captain Xarr insisted. "Do not you agree Lieutenant Zeem?"

"Absolutely Captain Xarr, we should defiantly be hearing the sounds of former Lieutenant Jol's rehabilitation," Lieutenant Zeem concurred.

"You see sergeant, Lieutentant Zeem agrees with me because he knows that we will be able to hear his rehabilitation in progress if he continues to... how do those Americans down on the planet's surface say it, oh yes, if he continues to
fuck up
," the Captain warned, raising his voice and leaning in close to his Lieutenant's face.

"Isn't that right Lieutenant?"

"Yes... Captain Xarr," Lieutenant Zeem hesitantly confessed.

"The persecuting officer assigned to this bay is Rylo Kesbvoff of the Science Academy on Tarsa II," the sergeant at arms told the Captain. "He has been decorated many times for his unwavering devotion to his duty
and
his attention to detail."

Captain Xarr gave Lieutenant Zeem a knowing look as he nodded his head, revealing his confidence in the persecuting officer behind the door of chamber 35.

"Open the door sergeant," Captain Xarr ordered.

"Yes, Captain Xarr," the sergeant replied, as he pressed the protruding octagonal mechanism that operated the chamber's door.

The indoctrinating persecution chamber door opened and the former Lieutenant Jol, now Private Jol was seen sitting perched several feet off the deck in a shiny metal chair that was suspended from the ceiling and which resembled what one might describe as an early twentieth century art deco battery-operated execution chair.

The state of the art Annunaki rehabilitation seat came complete with a riveted reinforced skull cap that sprouted from the back of the seat and curved back down to encapsulate the upper portion of the victim's (the one being indoctrinated) cranium.

The heavy metal straps that pinned Private Jol's wrists firmly to the arms of the chair reflected the dim greenish-yellow light that flooded the chamber as the two Annunaki officers entered the room.

"Rylo Kesbvoff of the Science Academy on Tarsa II, it has been many cycles of Oraiya since we last served together," Captain Xarr said gleefully, as he greeted the persecuting officer in charge of Bay 5.

"Pacal Xarr my old friend who's name reflects his storied ancestor Admiral Pacal Xarr from our distant Anunnakian past." Rylo Kesbvoff stated, as he greeted the ship's Captain with the traditional Anunnaki military salute.

******

The traditional Anunnaki military salute is performed by standing at attention with the heels of the feet together and toes pointed out at a 45° angle. The left arm is held stiff, straight down along the left side pressing against the body with the left hand clenched in a fist, and with the knuckles pointing to the left of the military personnel doing the salute. At the same time, the saluting subordinate bends the right elbow at a 90° angle, and places the right forearm into a horizontal position across the front of the body just below the rib cage. With the right hand bent upward at the wrist at a 90° angle to the forearm, and with the thumb touching the sternum and the fingers pointing straight up, the soldier stands rigid and does not look at the superior officer, even if eye movement is necessary to adhere to that regulation.

Then a slight bow of the head to show the proper respect, and admission of subordination within the military hierarchy is required, which completes the salute.

Done properly the soldier should look like he or she is standing at attention and momentarily praying to the Anunnaki Gods with only one arm. Similar to what it would look like if one could hear the sound of one hand clapping.

However, if the soldier's right arm has been severed from their body, then the maneuver is performed using their left arm, provided it is still attached to the soldier's body.

The only acceptable way a militarily ensconced Annunaki can lose their limb and still maintain their status in the current branch of the Annunaki armed forces, is to lose said limb during an active combat role in the service of the Annunaki Confederation.

If the soldier looses an arm or a leg in any other way, such as an accident, that soldier would be immediately drummed out of the Annunaki military and placed in a civilian organization for the remainder of what would have been their military service contract.

In the rare case that a soldier has been unfortunate enough to have had both of their arms dismembered from their body during combat, then he or she is deemed unworthy to serve the Annunaki cause and is summarily executed on the field of battle by his comrades.

The slightest failure to comply with the ancient Anunnaki military protocol of saluting, under any circumstances, even on the battlefield, is looked upon as a sign of disrespect to the superior officer and so deemed an offense that is punishable by death if the offended officer considers the execution of the perpetrator necessary for any reason whatsoever.

Most soldiers that
are
found guilty of this offence, hope that they are going to be the one that is lucky enough to receive the summary death penalty as their punishment.

For those that do not,
will
without a doubt end up in a place somewhat similar to the place that Private Jol now occupies.

******

"I see that the powers that be in the
upper
echelon have been wise enough to promote you to Captain, and not only given you an interstellar spaceship of your own to command, they have chosen to honor you with the command of the flagship of the Annunaki fleet," Rylo Kesbvoff the Captain's friend flattered. "However, I am slightly surprised that the Captain of the pride of the Anunnaki expeditionary fleet was not aware that I was aboard his ship."

"Rylo Kesbvoff of the Science Academy on Tarsa II. While you are slightly surprised and apparently overly concerned at my
assumed
lack of situational awareness concerning my crew and my command.

I, on the other hand am not only very surprised and overly concerned, I am disappointed as well. That
you
of all Annunaki's have surmised that
I
of all Annunaki's, would be so flagrant in disregarding my duty to the Supreme Being of our planet," Captain Xarr retorted, with a smirk. "While you busy yourself with dissecting the Captain's responsibilities, you seem to be failing in your conjecture to ascertain the identity of the person who was responsible for your assignment to this particular ship and mission."

"Still the same Pacal Xarr, all business, and no sense of humor," Rylo jested.

"You are wrong about that Rylo Kesbyoff, I do have a sense of humor. Did I not petition for you to be allocated as the overseer of the indoctrinating persecution chambers not only on Bay 5, but of all of the rest of the persecution bays on deck 13 as well?

Or did you think that you were placed in charge of all of the rehabilitation chambers on this ship because of your merit?" Captain Xarr again jested. "Besides, if I did not have a sense of humor, I would have already had you taking Private Jol's place in that high-tech rehabilitation chair of yours."

His Captain's remark amused Lieutenant Zeem and a slight smirk broke the stiff horizontal line of his mouth.

"I stand corrected Captain Xarr," Rylo admitted, snapping to attention and saluting just in case, as trading places with Private Jol was not high on his list of accomplishments he was trying to achieve during the mission.

"And speaking of Private Jol, have you authorized a break in his indoctrinating persecution regiment? Lieutenant Zeem and myself have been here for at least four of the earther's minutes, and we have yet to hear him beg for mercy, or even heard the slightest screams of agony coming from the direction of Private Jol," Captain Xarr inquired, pushing three of Private Jol's severed toes toward Lieutenant Zeem with a sweep of his boot.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to add the charge of dereliction of duty to the Private's list of offenses. It seems that during the separation of the interphalangeal joints of those three toes' you just kicked over to the Lieutenant, Private Jol passed out from the minimal pain of that process.

This action taken by the Private causes me to believe that he is either malingering, thereby being derelict in his duty, or as I suspect, he is no braver than a uniformed Annunaki school girl who sits crying in a puddle of her own piss after getting caught cheating on a final exam.

In either case, I am adding an additional charge to the Private's ever-growing list of transgressions, and several more digits will be removed from his extremities in accordance with the proper protocol for that additional violation.

How an Annunaki with as low of a pain threshold rating as Private Jol, has somehow managed to get into the military service of the Annunaki Confederation, let alone become an officer on a fleet interstellar spaceship assigned to carry out a mission as important to the Fatherland as the one we are now conducting, is well beyond my humble and meager comprehension," Rylo announced, again snapping to attention.

"I have brought Lieutenant Zeem to your indoctrinating persecution chamber in hopes of giving him a glimpse of his future if he keeps insisting on... let's just say, bending the rules," Captain Xarr claimed, as he inspected some of the persecutor Kesbyoff's instruments of indoctrination.