Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (7 page)

She moved next to Luke who excused himself for a moment so she could whisper the situation to him as well as her orders.

When Luke turned back to the assembled delegates to make their excuses, Cindy waited for him to finish so she could escort him to where her team was gathering their charges.

She couldn't help but wonder who would grab her family? Who would have access to the advanced tech to be able to do it? Their Marine guards had been in light assault armor; more than enough protection from Earth-based weapons, but not much against a pulse rifle or laser weapon. At least her family had been wearing personal shields.

She walked close to Luke until he joined the group of dignitaries. Sam, one of Cindy's team members, had already handed out personal shields and made sure they were on. Seeing everyone was ready, Cindy motioned to Ben to lead the way. Ian dropped back to walk next to Cindy.

"Ty told me that the initial examination of the bodies of the Marines indicates Mark seven pulse weapons," he told her.

"Type sevens? Ian, we've never used Mark seven weapons. When Serena showed up we upgraded from type twos to type nines," Cindy replied.

"I know. But the Talosian rebels were issued type sevens because that was all they could get their hands on," Ian said. "My question is; how did they get here?"

"Why would Talosian rebels want to kidnap our family?" Cindy asked. "There's no motive here."

Ian shook his head. "There's something we're not seeing here. That's why I'm going with you."

"No fuckin' way," Cindy said flatly. "You're a god-damned Admiral, Ian. You’re not a combat officer."

He stopped and looked at her. When he focused his eyes on her, she felt shivers run down her spine. "I am going with you, or I'll ground the
Damocles
and let the other teams handle this. This is our fucking
family
, Cindy! I will not let these assholes get away with this. I'm going with you and that is final."

In all the time she had known Ian, she had never seen him this pissed off before. "Okay Ian, but you'll be under my command. If you don't follow orders, I'll stun your ass and worry about the Court Marshal later."

"My armor is on the shuttle," Ian replied. When she raised an eyebrow at his comment he smirked. "I always carry it with me; I call it my United Express Card."

Cindy snorted. "Because you never leave home without it," she nodded and shook her head. She knew it was the truth, Ian did always keep his armor with him. This time, it looked like his paranoia would pay off. "Still, it isn't as heavy as ours is, so be extra careful."

Ian nodded and got back on the comms to direct the response to this emergency. From what Cindy could hear, whoever had done this was going to be in a world of hurt when they were found.

They got the dignitaries to the shuttle and Cindy saw two Shadow fighters hovering nearby as an escort for it. Ian came right back out carrying the case that contained his armor. "Let's go save our family, Cindy," he said.

She nodded and as a group they ran for the Raptor parked next to the shuttle.

"Lissa, as soon as the shuttle is clear, get us in the air. Everyone else, armor up; we have a job to do," Cindy ordered.

"Destination, Cindy?" Lissa asked.

"Abduction site first. Maybe those assholes left a clue as to who they are and where they might be going," Cindy replied.

Ian and the team all stripped and did as ordered. They all armored up, but as soon as Cindy pulled her helmet on for the initial system test, her armor froze in place.

"The simulation has begun, Admiral," Lissa reported. "I've set course for
Star Dancer
. We should be arriving in ten minutes. The Councilor's shuttle has returned to the UN landing pad and the Marine detail from their shuttle is acting as their guards."

Ian set his helmet on the table and nodded. "Thank you Lissa."

The rest of the team finished putting on their armor and tested it before they too removed their helmets. "The General said this is going to be pretty rough on her. Is that really necessary, Sir?" Sam asked.

Ian sighed. "From what Ty explained to me, yes it is. We have to be certain she has recovered from her ordeal. If she were to lose control again, she could do an incredible amount of damage before we could stop her. Too many lives are at stake not to do this."

"What happens if she fails?" Sasha Yukonov, the
Damocles
weapons officer, asked. She was named Sasha because her father had wanted a boy, she claimed.

"She'll go back into the hospital, I imagine," Ian replied sadly. "They’ll also have to try to remove much of her training telepathically. She'll never be allowed to return to service."

"She'll make it," Ben Carson said with complete faith in his superior. "She's the strongest person I know." Ben was the Heavy Weapons and Demolitions expert.

"Once this is over, she's going to kill me for putting her through this," Ian said. "Our relationship was already strained; this could very well destroy it."

The team sniper, Jerry Conan sat down across from him at the table. "Admiral… Ian, we all know what's been going on. We all confide in each other. Never doubt that she loves you. She has always been completely devoted to you and your family, even when you were all mad at her for choosing this career. Yes, she'll be mad because of the deception, but I think she'll understand why it was done."

Ian smiled at the man. "I appreciate your words, I really do, but I don't think Ty told you guys exactly what she's going to be going through in there. This is a worst case, no-win scenario. She'll think that she has failed everyone and lost her family. If you can think of the worst hell she could be put in, multiply it by ten."

"Why so harsh? Why can’t you let her rescue the hostages?" Sam asked.

"She will be allowed to rescue one of them, as I understand it, she'll have to choose who she saves. The rest of us will die," Ian explained.

"Sir, none of us could pass this test," Ben said quietly.

Ian shook his head. "This isn't about passing or failing, she
will
fail. This test is about what she'll do afterward; how will she handle the grief and guilt. Will it shut her down, or will she face it and accept it?"

"We are landing, Admiral.
Damocles
is now on lockdown," Lissa reported.

"Thank you Lissa, please join us when you can," Ian said.

TDF
Star Dancer

Raptor
Damocles
Birth

High Orbit of Earth

Sol System, Sol Sector

Commander Jennifer Williams, Commanding

"We can watch what she's going through, Da?" Sasha asked.

"We could, but Lissa and Star didn't recommend it as it might introduce a lag into the simulation that she could detect. Ty said we shouldn't watch because of what she's going to see and be forced to do," Ian explained. "The doctors are monitoring her though, and we'll be able to review the mission after the fact."

"How long will this take?" Ben asked.

"At least a couple of hours, maybe longer," Ian replied. "It all depends on her."

Ian and the
Damocles
team sat and waited. They ate lunch and talked. During the time, Ian could see that Lissa was getting upset. She was one of the AI controlling the reality Cindy was in, so she knew what was going on in there.

"Mishka, are you alright?" Sasha asked gently.

Lissa nodded. "It's coming to an end. Doctor Williams has been killed, Commander Williams and the Admiral are both badly wounded, but the Commander was… I'm very glad this is only a simulation. The Admiral and Cindy split up; Cindy went to save the children while the Admiral went to try and save the women."

Ian sighed. "I'm sorry to have to order this, but everyone but Lissa, please seal up your suits and arm yourselves. She may be violent when she is released."

"Perhaps you should put your helmet on as well, Admiral," Lissa suggested.

Ian shook his head. "No, I want her to be able to see my face and know it was all fake."

"The children were put in the same situation as the ones on Talos had been, so far, Cindy has not lost control even though she knows one of them has already died. However, she is not allowing the bad guys to surrender either," Lissa said. "This time, she is very aware of her actions."

Ian only nodded. "I would do the same, but I would want to make them suffer more."

"She is at the final stage. She has to choose which child to save," Lissa replied.

Ian closed his eyes. He had been dreading this part.

"Huh?" Lissa said surprisingly. "She just… She saved all three?"

Ian looked at her." I thought that wasn't supposed to happen?"

"It wasn't. She used her suit to move very quickly and she shot all the bad guys before they could kill the children. She did accidentally wound Sean, but it's not life-threatening," Lissa explained. "Scenerio ending. Unsealing her suit."

The armored statue that had been Cindy moved slightly, as if looking around. Slowly she reached up and removed her helmet. She was covered in sweat and had tear streaks on her cheeks. "It was a test? It was all a
fucking
test
?" she said almost hysterically.

Ian nodded to her. "Yes it was. I'm really sorry, Cindy, but we needed to know how you would react in a worst case. I'm really sorry we had to do this to you."

"No one was hurt or died?" Cindy asked, clearly controlling her anger.

"No hon, no one was hurt. The kids, Beth and Jenny are all right outside the Raptor," Ian replied. "Everything was a set up so you would believe the test was real."

She saw her team mates standing around armed and armored and nodded to them. "I'm alright guys. I'm not homicidal." She turned back to Ian. "Can you please put your helmet back on for a minute?"

"Sure, but why?" Ian asked, confused.

"So I can punch you in the face without ripping your head off," she replied somewhat angrily.

"You might want to wait on that," Ian said. "Your doctors are also waiting outside."

Cindy spent the next three hours with the doctors from Atlas after she made certain her family was really fine. However, they did finally agree to release her for light duty just as they had told Ty. This time, however, they insisted it really be light duty. She spent the early afternoon with her parents. Ian had them brought to Atlas when Cindy was originally hurt, and she had not had any time to spend with them outside of the hospital. There wasn't a lot to do on the ship, so Cindy and her team, Cindy's parents, Beth, and all four kids went to Phoenix Base for some rest and relaxation.

The meetings at the UN finished up and Ian had Jenny jump the ship back to Centauri to return the Councilors home. Cindy and the
Damocles
would meet them there. Cindy's parents had chosen to stay. Her father, Jacob had worked his way up through the ranks of an advertising agency and would be joining the public relations effort. Her mother Jean was a veterinary technician the also worked as a pet groomer. She had chosen to see if she could become a Veterinarian. While Cindy, Ian and their family took time off, they began their new lives.

Ian and his family took the weekend off to spend together. Ian hadn't realized how much they had needed the break until they finally took one. The kids were really happy with having all their parents together, even if only for a couple of days. Even though Jenny was in the late stages of pregnancy with Talena and Ian's child, Cindy was the focus of attention for the weekend.

TDF
Star Dancer

Trans-Lunar Parking Orbit

Sol System, Sol Sector

Commander Jennifer Williams, Commanding

Although Cindy never did punch Ian in the face, he did agree to a hand-to-hand training session with her. It didn't actually hurt him, and she got to work out her frustrations with him. Ty Anders, on the other hand, did not get away as lucky. He spent the night in the medical ward receiving therapy for a bruised deltoid and sprained left knee.

The return of the week signaled the end of the weekend off for Ian and his family, and they returned to the ship in much better spirits. For Ian, he needed to finalize the plans for the attack on Hyperion, which were mostly already finished; he only had to modify them in light of the discussions he'd had with ARC Command.

The delay in the attack had served to benefit Ian's forces as more of the equipment he'd wanted to use had been able to be built. So much had actually been built that both big Terran freighters were running constantly making deliveries. Jim Beecher's ship did get to take one of the runs out to an Alliance world as his normal cargo bound for New Talos could be loaded up into the new ships being sent there. Again, he would be returning with passengers, workers, and students for the new academy. Several Alliance freighters were also making almost non-stop runs out of the Sol Sector as well. At least until the back log was cleared and shipping caught up to production.

Work had begun on a customs and immigration station that would reside in deep space between Earth and the Centauri system. Traffic into the sector was getting heavy enough that there was now a need for such a station if for no other reason than to regulate the flow of traffic. Ian sighed, that was one more item on a list that seemed to grow daily. Which added more time to the overall construction they had planned. Well, with as many workers as the Alliance of Races seemed to be sending, that shouldn't be much of an issue, or at least wouldn't be an issue for much longer.

One of the things that Ian did do was record a personal message to the Benesian High Priestess, T'gan. In it, he apologized for taking so long to fulfill his promise, but assured her he hadn't forgotten it. He did not mention any details, or even what that promise had been; rather, he reassured her the issue was being taken care of.