Dana Cartwright Mission 1: Stiletto (25 page)

The Master Surgeon smiled. “Well, eyes come from the male DNA.”

“Always?”

“Always for Enturians. I cannot speak for Alphans,” Tracy quickly appended, “Your Highness.”

Korwin reddened. “Please, my rank here is Cadet.”

Major Gage interrupted. “I had the honor of meeting your father just a few days ago, Cadet Kord. It is a great pleasure to meet you.”

“Thank you, Major,” Korwin answered.

Then Major Gage offered, “And Doctor Cartwright…a pleasure to meet you, too. I understand both of you have distinguished application exam results.”

Dana nodded, admitting, “We’ve been labeled the ‘VIP brainiacs’ by some of our classmates.”
 

“Well, that should prove a difficulty.” Major Gage returned, grinning, “I had that moniker myself at academy. They changed the exam the following year after Terrin Hale and I tested with perfect scores.”

Dana laughed along with them.

Doctor Tracy was about to ask Korwin a question when the security detail interrupted, announcing, “Doctor Jake Ankara and Ambassador Stone,” as the two men passed through the entry.

Stone wore a ceremonial Galaxean robe of dark gray and lifted his right hand to form the Galaxean salute. “Peace, my friends.”

All but Korwin responded in kind. The Prince saluted, holding up open palms.

Ankara bowed to Brettes but then went immediately to Kris Tracy and grasped the Surgeon’s hand, grumbling, “It’s been too many years, Tracy! So glad you finally made it for a visit!”

“Good to see you, too, Jake!”
 

Ankara then turned to Dana. “Doctor Tracy and I have some wild stories to tell you about our younger days.”

Dana blushed, “I’m sure you do.”

“I see you brought a friend.” Ankara noticed immediately Korwin’s eyes and winked. “Do I know you?”

“Cadet Kord, sir,” Korwin offered in introduction.

Ankara pointed to his left eye. “Do you know how rare it is to have mismatched eyes? One in three million…”

“And having two in the same class at Academy must be incalculable odds,” Doctor Tracy quipped.

Ambassador Stone offered, “It has never happened before to the best of my knowledge.” The Galaxean looked to Korwin. “Will Ambassador Kord be joining us?”

“My father returned to Centauri Prime with the Alphan delegation to honor Ambassador Cray,” Korwin answered.

“Such a tragedy,” Brettes offered.
 

The others puzzled the reason. Brettes told, “There was an assassination attempt upon Cray.”

Dana kept silent rather than correct the Elder.

Stone, however, spoke and reminded, “It was the fifth such attempt upon a member of the Alphan delegation. Four were successful.”

“And this nearly succeeded,” Dana admitted.

Major Brandenberg added, “That’s why security has been doubled for all members of the GCE delegation.”

Ankara scowled. “How could an assassin get that close?”

“Infiltration,” Dana blurted out, drawing their gaze and attention.

“A logical conclusion,” Ambassador Stone added.

“SSID has yet to reveal the results of their investigation,” Ambassador Brettes said, eying Dana rather sternly. “How is it you have intimate knowledge, Cadet?”

Dana felt his animosity and recalled how DOC Cartwright had a strong distaste for the Enturian Ambassador. She carefully weighed her words. “I was Ambassador Cray’s attending physician at the Medical Center the night of the second attempt.”

Though they all eclipsed her in age, she gained a great deal of respect from those present.

Even Korwin’s eyes gleamed with pride.

“Well-done, young lady,” Ankara offered. “You certainly are a fine, young doctor!”

“Cray lost an eye,” Brettes interrupted rather coldly.

“My specialty is neuro-ophthalmology. I might have saved it,” Dana answered coolly, “but the delegation decided to move the Ambassador back home for security reasons and Ambassador Santero took over his care.”
 

“Pity…” Ankara added, “I’ve heard from Doctor Garcia you did incredible spinal weaves on one of his patients.”

“My first…” Dana said.

“Quite successful…”

Korwin took the opportunity to interject, “Dana has inspired me. I’m thinking of transferring to medical and becoming a doctor.”

“Well, now,” Ankara said with a grin. “I’m sure it can be arranged, after you take your command core subjects.” And then the former Chief Surgeon of the
Starlight
added, “It’s never too late to change to medical division, but it’s hard work and long hours. Takes great dedication.”

Dana wondered if that last was directed at her.

Korwin simply nodded. “I understand, sir. However, it’s been a dream of mine for a long time.”

“Have you thought of a specialty?”

“Ophthalmology, of course,” Korwin said with a straight face.

Tracy and Ankara found that rather amusing, but Stone said it was an appropriate choice.

Food service teams arrived just then pushing a cart with refreshments and several trays of snacks, setting out plates and stemware for them in an informal buffet.

Though Dana and Korwin were invited to partake, both respectfully declined.

Ankara singled out Korwin or, perhaps, the reverse was true.

Dana noted how easily he steered the conversation to suggestions of coursework that would transfer to medical.
 

The Major Captains separated from the Ambassadors who were deep in a discussion. She joined Brandenberg and Gage.

“I heard chatter about a recent shuttle crash,” Gage commented. “It’s almost unheard of for a Blade Class shuttle.”

Brandenberg agreed. “I took one out last week, but without drone accompaniment.”

“Well, the drones are mostly for show,” Gage answered. “Where did the crash occur?”

Dana offered, “Capitol City Observatory the night of Ambassador Cray’s lecture. Apparently, it was the first attempt on his life.”

“Oh!” Gage responded.
 

“The pilot survived,” Major Brandenberg added, “which is amazing.”

“Were you at the lecture?” Gage asked.

The Major shook her head, “No. I’ve never been to one of Cray’s lectures on triple star systems.”

Dana admitted, “I’ve never missed one. His logic, of course, is overshadowed by his Centauri focus.”

Brandenberg rolled her eyes and whispered, “You should hear Brettes lectures on quad-systems…”

Dana merely smiled.

“So you were there?” Gage asked Dana.

She nodded.

“Pity… Beautiful shuttles. I love flying them,” Gage offered.

“It’s the reason I joined the Star Service. I want to learn to fly,” Dana declared.
 

“Wait until you get your wings,” Brandenberg tempted, “And you can fly a Dragon Class Enturian shuttle.”

Gage grinned. “Now, that’s an amazing craft!”

“Well, first I have to get through astronavigation. It makes spinal surgery look easy.”

Gage chuckled. “Best way to learn is hands on. You’ll find, however, that the Dragon Class shuttles are far more agile than the Republic’s K series… Or even Alphan Blade Class shuttles.”

“There are seven brand new ships, all from Ambassador Hale’s designs.” Major Brandenberg said, adding, “I did invite Terrin, but she had a previous engagement.”

“Too bad…” Gage responded. “I haven’t seen her in ages.”

Dana could not comment. She knew very little about Master Captain Terrin Hale or, for that matter, about the rest of the Enturian delegation to the Republic, save for Brettes. DOC had always steered her away from studies about the GCE.

She made up her mind right then to do her homework. Which reminded…

“Sorry to have to leave early, but Korwin and I have classes in the morning. Thank you so much, Major Brandenberg, for the invitation. And I hope we meet again, Major Gage.”

She bowed to both and went to collect Korwin who was just then learning how to make the Galaxean salute from Doctor Ankara. Even Doctor Tracy attempted to learn.

Dana demonstrated.

“Easy for you, young lady,” Ankara quipped.

Korwin sighed. “I apologize, Ambassador Stone. I just can’t seem to…”

“It’s quite alright,” Stone returned. “Peace be with you, Prince Kord and Doctor Cartwright.”

Dana returned, “Peace to you, Stone of Galaxea.”

She and Korwin MAT’d back to the lobby of his dormitory.

“That was fun,” he admitted, smiling now that they were back on familiar territory.

“You’d make a wonderful ambassador,” Dana commented.
 

“Yes, well, I’d rather become a doctor.”

“Santero is both,” she reminded.

“And good at neither,” Korwin moaned. “He should never have taken on Cray’s surgery.”

Dana shrugged. “It was Cray’s decision to make. Sometimes patients do that. You can’t save them all.”

Korwin sighed.

“The Majors were discussing a new shuttle design. Dragon Class! I can’t wait to research them!”

Korwin grinned. “I’ve heard of them. In fact, I think there’s one at the hangar deck of the spaceport. Maybe tomorrow we can…”

“We have classes most of the day,” Dana reminded.

“No problem. Let’s have dinner at The Viewery! Have you ever been there?”

Dana nodded. “I’ve been there once. That’d be fun. Do we have clearance?”

Korwin winked. “I’m a Prince of the Elect; a rank that has many privileges.”

She sighed. “I’ll see you at astronavigation.”

“Don’t be late,” Korwin cautioned.

“Good point, I’d better set an alarm.” She grinned. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“Thanks for befriending me,” Korwin answered.

“We’re two out of three million.”

“Yeah!” He beamed, his mismatched eyes gleaming. “And VIP brainiacs.”

“Forever!” Dana chuckled.

She touched her voice-badge, requesting a transfer to her apartment building off-campus and received a ‘stand by.’

“See you in the morning.”

Korwin responded, “Salakarik. Bedmaspore!”

“You speak Enturian?” She teased in Alphan.

They both laughed as the MAT pod energized.

Dana readied her cadet uniform and set out boots, med-kit, and padlet for the morning then settled down on the sofa with a cup of tea. Staring off into vacant space, she mulled over the meeting with the Enturian Master Surgeon Kris Tracy. She knew deep down, in what Francis Calagura called his gut reaction, that Tracy was lying.

Why?

One possible reason dawned upon her. He could not speak freely before Ambassador Brettes, the elder.

“I need to see him privately,” She decided, setting her tea aside and retrieving her padlet, to
 
call up the history of the Galactic Colonies of Enturize since Republic contact. She read the details of the survey ship,
Calvary
, and the incident that started the whole affair. A virtual diplomatic nightmare resulted from James Van Corey’s trespassing adventure, which ended in forced diplomatic negotiations and the establishment of an exchange program. It all made sense.
 

Back twenty-five years, interspecies relationships, and especially offspring were believed impossible — except for certain blood types, such as those Enturians and Galaxeans shared.

Genetics labs, like that at Station Four, received grants to study the possibility of cross-species unions.

“A grant program!”

Dana remembered DOC saying once that Kyoko had participated in a grant program. “But the one at Station Four was abruptly terminated right around the time of my birth?”

She didn’t have the clearance to delve into the matter further.

Logically, the records were sealed because the whole program was terminated for ethics violations.

Yes, it all made sense.

However, it didn’t answer her question. “The identity of my parents has to be there — in those records.”

Dana set the padlet down and closed her eyes. “If it takes me two years to complete ground school at the academy, and I get an assignment somewhere off Earth, it may take several more years before I get to Four and can research my parentage. I will do it! I will!”

After class, Korwin singled Dana out. “Wish we got to sit together,” he blurted out as they stood on the sidewalk.

“I was nearly late again,” Dana grumbled. “It’s not like me to oversleep.”

Korwin shrugged. “My dorm neighbors were up before dawn. Actually, they never went to sleep. They partied all night.”

Dana groaned. “Eek!” She almost volunteered her apartment for him to stay, but remembered that academy rules forebode underclassmen from cohabiting, even for convenience. Instead, she suggested, “Maybe you can get an apartment in my building next semester.”

“Great idea.”

As they chatted, a voice came from behind. “Geeks!”

Korwin turned to look. Sargento struck, with a fist to Korwin’s right eye.

They battled for all of ten seconds before a second cadet went after Dana. That did it.

Korwin pulled out a small box from his belt and aimed at both attackers, shouting to Dana to hit the deck, which she did.

Both male attackers sank to the ground, as the disrupter field decimated their eardrums and scrambled their brains.

Quayle was at Dana’s elbow but they both went to Korwin, who had his right hand over his eye, Alphan gray-green blood pouring down his cheek.

Dana pulled out her medical kit and began to tend him, worriedly fretting, “Sir, call for a med-evac.”

Korwin fussed, but she hushed him. “Your eye, Korwin! I need to get you to surgery!” She pulled his hand away and did her best while awaiting the EMTs. Korwin began to panic. Dana injected a sedative, knocking him out. “Sir!”

The elderly man was leading the EMTs across the lawn. Ignoring the attackers for the moment, Quayle pointed the men to assist Dana.

“I need a C-FIIN programmed for an Alphan male, age 19, weight average.”
 

They didn’t respond immediately, until Quayle shouted at them, “Doctor Cartwright gave you an order!”

Clearly, they didn’t seem to want to obey orders from a cadet.

Quayle shouted, “ Move!”