Eric Olafson, Fleet Cadet 24

Chapter 24: Scorch Marks Interlude

Stahl’s suit shield had collapsed twice, and the scorch marks on his armor showed that he came awful close to making his ideas of retiring quite mute, but the Steel Gauntlet had managed to secure the alien ship, and the grey skinned Kermac Captain still struggled in his augmented suit fist. Stahl had grabbed him, before he could activate the self destruct. Sergeant Black Horse, a genuine Terran Apache shouldered his monstrous boarding axe and said.” Ship Secure, Big Chief.” None of the men in the Iron Gauntlet called Stahl by his rank or name, but woe to the poor soul who would even hint a disrespectful thought against the Admiral in their presence.

Stahl nodded.” Get Chief engineer Dohan over here on the double. I want him to go over this flying dodo pile with the fine comb and make sure it isn’t going to blow anytime soon.”

“You got it Big Chief.”

“Casualties?”

“Georg bought the farm Sir. He was a damn Yankee but a good man and Rumble lost an arm, but since he had four he won’t mind, besides I am sure the meds can get him a new one.”

“Make sure Georg is taken home. We will remember him later.”

“Aye Chief.”

Only now did he pay attention to the Kermac Captain.” Listen carefully, mister. I just lost a good man and I am in a very grumpy mood. I want to know everything.”

“I will tell you nothing. Your actions have perhaps postponed our victory but we have what we came for.”

Alyica appeared right there and she stared at Stahl, said nothing but her eyes told him all she wanted to say. Instead she said.”They have stolen several crates of Translocator cannons from one of the Stations storage holds. I can read him clearly and I am sure we can do a memory dump and get all his secrets.”

The Kermac struggled more.”How can this be. Not even a Saresii should be able to read our thoughts.”

“Looks can be deceiving Kermac. I am not a Saresii and what I do is not Psionics, but that is not important. The information you carry however is.”

She then stared at the scorch marks and the molten visor of Stahl’s battle armor.” I think you need to be in sickbay too, you look odd without eyebrows.”

“Can you take care of this fellow? I got to finalize things over here and then we need to find those cannons.”

The Kermac Captain floated, unable to move a limb toward the woman and they both disappeared.

Translocator canons were shipped in special crates. Only a Union Officer with the appropriate clearing could open it, without triggering the self destruct. However nothing was certain and any safety system could be fooled or bypassed. This was a civilization at least as sophisticated as the Union and to rely on a hope alone was not good enough. The Union was able to keep this technology out of the hands of others for almost 1500 years. These Canons were the main reason the Union was so successful. There was the Armageddon Device just recently put into field tests by the Terran WepLab and he had great hopes, but having this Celtest weapon in the wrong hands would still be disastrous.”

No one in the Galaxy was a better interrogator than Alyica, she would find out.

Something was very strange here. The Y’All fought like devils but he doubted he could have taken this ship with so few casualties if they were of the old kind. Also these Gray skinned Kermac acted differently than the ones he knew.

--””--

ITALIAN

I found the Commander waiting in the lobby. She wore a black velvet dress, that clung to her figure like a second skin and a fur stole in the same color as her silvery hair. She was stunningly beautiful in an exotic way and reminded me of the Saresii general I had met at the Academy Office and of course Master Alema. I wondered of all Saresii looked that way and how they managed to recognize each other. She raised an eyebrow.” By the Spirit, you clean up nicely.”

I blushed.”The suite did not have an auto dresser and the only civilian clothing I had was my Nifleheim stuff.” I had left the fur cape behind on Nilfeheim, but I had taken my leather suit and vest and that’s what I was wearing.

“I think it looks very good. I like black leather.”

I wondered why a Commander was so social and friendly. Did she want something from me? I was not entirely sure if her friendliness was genuine but I decided to play along. What could happen, having dinner on a fleet base planet with an officer of the fleet?

She presented her arm and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not. Part of me hated her for looking so good and my female side I tried so hard to suppress wished to wear a dress like that. I was suspicious of her motives too but then having a beautiful woman on my arm wasn’t the worst thing in the world either.

She said.”You look as if you contemplating half the problems of the Universe. If you would rather not go with me and have dinner, you can say so, I won’t be offended.”

As we walked to the exit of the Hotel, I sighed and said,” I am sorry, Ma’am but to be honest I am trying to figure out if there is a reason why you are so nice. Don’t get me wrong, I sure appreciate it but you are a Commander and I am a Midshipman.”

She looked at me from the side.” I am also a woman and you are very handsome. Neither of us is wearing uniform and I am hungry and rather go out with nice company than eat alone. I am usually not known to be nice, rather the opposite. It is part of being a JAG investigator and prosecutor.”

Outside the hotel a cold dry breeze blew from the desert and she pulled the fur stole over her naked shoulders. Somehow I found this unconscious move of her very feminine and attractive and said.”Well I am hungry too. The last thing I ate was breakfast on the Madrid and that was even before I took my shift.”

The doorman of the Hotel waved us a Taxi and she said while it approached.” You had a duty shift on the Madrid? I was under the impression you were just a passenger.”

We entered the cab and she said to the operator.” Antonio’s ristorante please.”

I answered her question.” Yes I was a passenger, but Captain K’Tngnk let me take helm and I was on that station for those four days.”

“I know that Ant. He is a stickler for Navy traditions and by the book as you can be. So K’Tngnk let you steer his beloved Madrid?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“You know you could call me Gwen if you like while I am not in Uniform.”

The Taxi floater dropped us off a moment later before the glass door of a warmly lit restaurant. Something smelled delicious even out here in the cold air. I opened the door for her and a thin tall man with a black pencil beard greeted us and he knew Gwen as he said.” Your favorite table is waiting for you Bella Signorina and I just got a delivery of fresh mussels from Nuovo Napoli.”

He waved and a green scaled Saurian, distant relatives to the Shiss, in black tuxedo guided us to a table that had the illusion of being outside, with torches flickering in the wind and a whispering fountain. The view was over an ocean and a single big moon was hovering over the horizon, a picturesque village and fishing boats on its shore below. There were several other tables and about three quarters of the restaurant was filled with guests. The Saurian lit the candle on our table and then handed us the menus, a printed list sandwiched between two stiff leather covers, not a touch and choose display.

She took off the fur stole and her strapless dress emphasized her ample breasts and produced a nice cleavage.”I recommend the mussel as an appetizer and then either a Pizza Napoli with seafood topping or Antonio’s famous Spaghetti Di Mare.”

“I know Pizza, but I am always open for new things and I do love fish. Why don’t you order then? It is the first time I am at an Italian restaurant. I guess they serve Pizza for those who don’t know Italian?”

She giggled.” Eric, Pizza is an Italian invention. I think you should try the Pizza then and then you know what a real Italian Pizza is.”

“No I didn’t know. Italy is a Saresii tradition?”

She was still amused and her eyes sparkled in the candle light.” No Italy is a national region on Terra, Old Earth.” She made a gesture towards the projected scenery.” This is a view from Antonio’s home. The ocean you see is called the Mediterranean Sea and that village really exists and hasn’t changed much for thousands of years. Saresii food is very bland and I am not too fond of it, but then I am not exactly Saresii.”

The waiter interrupted us and she ordered and asked me if I liked wine and I told her I never had any except Seaweed Berry Wine and I didn’t like that too much.

After he disappeared I said.” I thought you said something about Saresii in the JAG lobby and you sure look like one.”

She reached for a baked stick thing that was on the table and nibbled on it.” The Saresii are very similar to us and I choose that look as my civilization is not well known in the Union. I am Coven.”

I shrugged.” I am not the best in Xeno culture and I never heard of Coven, but then not many know of Nilfeheim either.”

“That is true, there are so many member civilizations and planets, and no one could possibly know them all.”

“My friend Narth, he tries hard to memorize the entire GalNet Content.”

Her left eyebrow rose slightly.” Yes I have read that in your file, you are friends with the first Narth that ever joined the Navy.”

Again I got this suspicious feeling.” I sure don’t want to spoil things and a nice evening, but this is not some sort of investigation?”

“No it is not, but I was preparing the case for the Admiral and I have studied the case in great detail and since you are the pivot point in this case. I had to study your file.”

The waiter brought the wine and made a little show opening the bottle by hand using some sort of knife tool, removing a stopper sniffing at it and pouring me a very little amount in a glass. Then he stepped back and waited for something.

She pointed to the glass.”He wants you to taste the wine if it is okay, only then will he fill our glasses.”

So I sipped and it did taste not bad at all, and quite different from the Seaweed wine I knew.” Yes its drinkable.”

He poured two glasses and left.

I looked at her.” So you know everything about me and I know nothing about you and this is not about the case?”

“I know the dry facts of a personnel file and that is not knowing everything about you and no the investigation of the case is closed. We needed to make sure the defense council had no ammunition to discredit you. The evidence is overwhelming and we would not even need your testimony, to make the case stick and get Stone and Swybar convicted, but it is not every day we prosecute an Admiral and a Commander and the charges are so severe that after a verdict the sentence will be the death penalty. This means the defense will try anything and while I am of the prosecution team and I know what had happened to you and I want justice done, I am glad there is a good defense, so justice is done correctly. I like these forms of checks and counter checks of this legal system and I think that it is an important part that makes our Union special.”

“I am still sore at what happened to me, but if it was only me that got hurt. I would not want them to die, but they caused my best friend terrible harm and that I won’t forgive them.”

I took a sip of the wine and said.”I have firsthand experience of a public execution and it was something that I don’t like to see repeated.”

“Yes I have read that in your file. The Justice Department has sent us the report on that and it was full of praise for you and they carry you still on the books as Deputy Executioner.”

The food came and the savory smell dispelled the dark memories and the mussels were delicious. The Pizza was even better, it was topped with fishy things and I could taste real fire was part of the cooking process.

After dinner she asked me a bit about the Academy and Nena and she told me about the impact her call to her father had made. To have this part of the story confirmed by someone else made me even more appreciate my friend’s efforts and I promised myself to send all of them at least a message and see how they were doing.

After a few more drinks and a nice desert with coffee. I felt alright with the world and we went back to the hotel. In the lobby she said, holding my hand.” I had a lovely evening and you are so much more than even the sum of your file. It is true you don’t know much about me, but I will make that up to you very soon.”

“Do you want to come up to the suite? I think it has a bar and we can have a final drink maybe?”

“I would like that very much.” She kissed me on the cheek, “but I must rise early tomorrow and I want you to get to know the real me before we go the next step and the next step would follow if we go upstairs.” What she said had a mysterious undertone and I was almost certain she was hinting at something I did not understand and I knew what she meant by the next step.

“I thank you for the great evening and the marvelous food experience and I guess the next time I see you it is Ma’am and Commander again, right?”

“I am afraid so, but after the case is over. I want you to get to know me a little better and what happens after that we will see...”