The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper (19 page)

But instead of the colonial explorers she had been recruited by the military intelligence division. After training, her first and only assignment had been Hyson. It had been rumored that there was another race of beings living out beyond the rim in the same galaxy as the Allith. It was also rumored that the Allith feared this race. Emily’s assignment had been to collect as much data as possible on this new race and monitor for contact. The Trillond had been pretty tight lipped about the inhabitants of the next galaxy; they knew something that they were not telling. It had been a long six months.

She had collected old manuscripts and recorded conversations. Although she didn’t have any hard information, she felt there was truth behind the story. Now they were going to evacuate the planet before she could get any actual facts. She was supposed to wait for extraction by the CNS Warhammer. She had been sending burst transmissions of her data to an unmanned data station 40 light-years away that had been sending it on to the Warhammer. She hoped the Warhammer would get to her soon.

General Grey was on the vid looking at his warship.

“Captain,” he said, “you have to make way today. I can’t afford to have you babysit the freighter any longer. We have gone above and beyond and now our mission is getting to a crucial point. You need to rendezvous with the Falchion, get the rest of the major’s team and get to Hyson at the fastest possible speed. Once you reach Hyson, you are to extract a member of military intelligence. I will send you sealed orders just prior to your arrival with the name of the officer. She is your mission. If there are any others that need extraction, and it won’t hinder the mission, then you may do so. Major, do not use the name of the officer at all if you can help it. I will have a description of the officer in with your orders as well as a safe word phrase and answer.”

“Yes sir,” the captain and major chimed in unison.

“How are Reaper and the new Ensign doing?”

“Ensign Aok has been a surprise, General,” the major replied. “Her hand-to-hand needs work, but if you put a weapon in her hand she is quite deadly.”

“Did Reaper know any of this before we put her on the team?” he asked.

“I do not believe he did,” Andrea answered. “I think he will tell you it was a gut feeling.”

“His gut feelings are probably better than most. How is he doing?” the general asked again.

“He is healing well and exercising. He only fought against one pirate. But he was the biggest man I have seen him take on so far. Even in his condition, he took him down in about a minute.”

“Impressive,” the general said, shuffling some papers before continuing. “I have one more bit of information for you, Major. Our old friend Colonel Thomas will be at Hyson with a company of marines helping to evacuate the colonial civilians. Just keep that under your hat; I didn’t want you to be blindsided.”

“Thank you, General. Just when it sounded like a boring snatch and grab, you go and drop a bomb.”

“Yes Major,” he said drily, “that is in my job description — bomb dropping. I will contact you both again when you rendezvous with the Falchion and we will have a team meeting. Grey out.”

Ensign Aok arrived at the med bay and went straight to Natalia’s room. The staff all recognized her after seeing her in and out for the past couple days and didn’t bother trying to stop her. Natalia was awake, in good spirits and hungry again.

“I want to get up and do something, anything,” she said.

“We will have to get you some clothes,” E’Aria said to her. “I will work on that, and we will go get something to eat.” She went out to find Nurse Tanaka.

“Nurse, I was wondering if you had some clothing that Natalia could wear. She is awake and hungry and wants to get out of bed. I was thinking about taking her to the mess to get something to eat.”

“Would you mind some additional company? I haven’t had a break yet,” Nurse Tanaka said.

“That would be fine,” E’Aria answered.

They made their way to the officers’ mess. Natalia had on some of Nurse Tanaka’s clothes. The clothes were a little big, but not much. It took longer than normal to get to the mess because of Natalia stopping to look at everything along the way. She was fascinated by the lights, sounds and people.

She kept asking where Reaper was, and when she would see him again.

“He will be seeing you later I’m sure,” E’Aria said. They got to the mess and the smell of the food had Natalia bouncing around, smiling from ear to ear. They walked through the line, filling Natalia’s plate with anything she thought would like to try. The cook saw the malnourished little slip of a girl and felt a pang in his heart.

She ate like it was her last meal, taking a bite of everything and eating all of whatever she thought tasted great. The sergeant brought some fresh-baked rolls with butter and a piece of chocolate cake out to Natalia. The two women on either side of her looked at him and smiled. Natalia ate the cake and took her cloth napkin and wrapped the rolls up to take with her. She was so full she couldn’t eat one more bite.

Ben was in the gym. He was stretching, trying to get a feel for how much his back and shoulders would take. He decided some good old-fashioned pushups would be a good way to check. He had done about 100 when he sensed someone walking up to him. He saw two pairs of feet in his peripheral vision.

“Hello sergeants,” he said. Ben had never turned his head or looked at them.

“How did you know it was us?” Gunny asked.

“I smelled you,” Ben said, staring at the floor and smiling. He continued his pushups.

“No shit! You didn’t,” Gunny said in disbelief.

“I did! You smell like a medicine cabinet and the sergeant major just smells like moth balls.”

Ben could feel the air move as the sergeant major decided to jump on him. He rolled away, but not completely. He managed to push the sergeant major away and jumped up. The sergeant rolled the opposite way and stood up. They were facing each other, both ready to go.

“Come on, old man, over to the mat. Let’s see what you got.” Gunny started laughing his good-natured laugh.

“I’m going to get a good seat for this,” he said as he walked over by the wall.

Gunny sent a message to the major that the sergeant major and Reaper were in the gym about to go at it. He didn’t wait for a reply as he laid his com down.

Ensign Aok and Nurse Tanaka were giving Natalia a tour of the ship. They were headed for the gym now. They both thought it would be good for Natalia to exercise and build up some strength. They saw the major and captain coming down the corridor as they were turning to walk into the gym.

Ben knew sparring with Matt would be tougher than anyone he had fought in the past week. Matt was of oriental descent and a marine, so he assumed he would be skilled in some form of the martial arts. Ben knew he didn’t want to hurt the sergeant major, so he would use Aikido as his form of defense to start and see what happened. He took a few cleansing breaths to calm and relax his body. E’Aria, Win, and Natalia saw the two men out on the mat. They were beginning to maneuver for positions, looking at each other’s style. Natalia saw Ben and began to feel some anxiety. They made their way to Gunny and sat down.

“This should be interesting,” he told the ensign.

“Yes it should. He’ll hold back and let the sergeant major win the match,” she told Gunny.

“Well, he picked the fight,” Gunny said.

“I’m sure he did, but just so he could test his wounds and spar with someone who knows what they are doing.”

Matt came fast, a combination of strikes and kicks at Ben’s legs. Ben blocked every move. It was all textbook. They danced like that for a little over a minute.

The major and captain walked in the gym and saw Matt on an offensive attack and Ben blocking and moving. They saw the small group sitting together and walked over and sat next to everyone.

“What’s this about?” the major said to Gunny.

“Reaper called the sergeant major an old man and invited him to dance.”

“Oh! Not exactly what I took away from your message, but this is better,” Andrea laughed. Just then, Matt struck at Ben’s neck with a chopping swing. Ben caught the hand, twisted and used Matt’s momentum to throw him. Matt landed on his back. Ben let go of his wrist, choosing not to try and use a arm lock on him. Matt rolled quickly and came up on the attack. Ben stepped into his attack and executed the same hip throw. Matt found himself on his back again.

The major got up and went to change. She thought she might jump in with the boys and help out the sergeant major. The captain saw her get up and go and thought that it was going to get interesting. She slid over next to Gunny and asked who he thought would win.

“I don’t know,” Gunny said. “Reaper is holding back. The ensign thinks in the end he will let the sergeant major win.”

“It’s about to be two against one, so what do you think will happen now?”

Gunny smiled. “I hope we have someone in command when it’s all over.”

The sergeant major didn’t exactly look happy with the major walking out on the mat.

“I don’t recall calling for reinforcements.” he said still moving looking for a opening to strike at Ben.

“I just want to see what he can do with two opponents at once,” she replied. Ben stepped forward quickly while she was distracted and punched her right in the diaphragm. The air whooshed out of her and she bent over, gasping. He then pushed the top of her head hard, knocking her on her butt.

“Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?” Reaper asked. Matt was laughing, and the look on the major’s face was priceless.

“We should probably be seeking shelter from the shit storm you just unleashed,” Matt joked. With each second Andrea grew madder. Matt attacked again. Ben blocked the punches and kept his body positioned so he could keep a defensive stance. They could go until they got tired and call it a draw, but the major was not going to let things just end nicely. She was on her feet now, breathing steadily and pacing like a tiger in a cage.

Ben kept his body in a position where he could see them both at the same time. Ben knew they were not fighting as a team in sync. They were both just coming at him. Andrea launched a high kick to Ben’s chest. He caught her leg while stepping back so the kick didn’t have any effect. Holding her leg, he now stepped forward into a punch from Matt aimed at his chest and used her leg to block it. He pushed her by the leg, throwing her back down on the mat. Matt came back at Ben, who dropped to his knees and threw a punch right to his stomach, doubling him over. Andrea came from behind, hoping to score while Ben was on his knees. She threw a punch at the back of his head. He knew it was coming and leaned to his left, grabbing her arm as it came past and flipping her over his shoulder, landing on top of Matt.

Ben stood up and walked off the mat. This needed to end before someone got hurt. He sat down next to the captain and smiled at everyone. The major rolled off the sergeant and they both stood up slowly. They saw Ben sitting over with the captain and their friends.

Andrea was still pissed. She walked over and stood in front of Ben.

“Get out on the mat,” she said. Ben ignored her. Matt walked up, and Ben said, “thank you, Sergeant Major, for the match. I would like to continue some other time, just the two of us if you like.”

“That is acceptable,” Matt said and sat down next to E’Aria. Andrea didn’t like being ignored.

“Get out on the mat,” she said again.

Ben looked up at her and said, “Major, we are done for the day.”

Andrea slapped him across the face. “We are done when I say we are done.”

The whole gym was silent. Ben leaped up faster than anyone would have imagined and stared down at her for a second. She had fire in her blue eyes. He turned and walked out of the gym. The sergeants looked at the major, both with disappointment, and got up and left after Ben.

“Nurse Tanaka, would you take Natalia back to the bay? I will be along shortly,” E’Aria said. Andrea sat down and stared at the floor.

“Captain, do you mind if I have a few minutes alone with the major?” E’Aria asked. The captain studied her for a second and nodded. She got up and left, following the procession. E’Aria looked at the major.

“What do you want from him?” she said, growling at her. “You have his respect, his loyalty, and most of all his love. Why do you feel like you need to break him? You will drive him away, and then what? Those two men were bonding, working things out the way that only males can do and you had to insert yourself into the ritual. Why? You are his commander and he is good with that. You are his best friend and lover. You know he won’t fight you like he would someone else and you shouldn’t push him to do it. He is better than you and he could beat you hands down, but he wouldn’t do that to you in front of everyone.” E’Aria watched the major, looking for a response, and got none.

“Major,” she continued. “Did you look at the people sitting here watching? A starship captain, a nurse, and a young girl. The first wants him. The second has a strong infatuation which could grow stronger and the third sees a reaper in black who didn’t come to take her soul but saved her from evil, her hero. You are very low on their list of favorite people. Even your own team who would do anything for you can’t understand you.” E’Aria stood up and walked away, leaving the major sitting in shock.