Adventures of Space Cadets 101: Weddings. Darryl Dean Wright
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new rank on her suit so he said, "Commander, congrats on your new promotion. It seems everyone is getting promoted."
She said, "Thank you, Admiral. It seems Captain Deana pulled a lot of your crew over to Derek's crew and promoted us all. I hope it's OK with you, Sir?" she asked Austen. Derek was watching to see if she was going to kiss his brother like she had kissed him, but she didn't.
They made it to the next flag and Austen said, "Sure," as he replaced the flag with a flag with a turtle on it. Then he said, "As long as he replaces my cadets."
Derek asked, "Why didn't Deana join us herself? And I will replace your cadets, someday," he said to his brother.
Clark answered, "She had to go and undo a mistake with our pregnant cadet, but she sends her best."
Austen made a joke by asking, "So she's going to make the cadet not pregnant? She's good."
Clark and the young adults were laughing over their headsets again, but they were being drowned out by explosions coming up the stairwell. She and the boys knew they had company.
Clark said into her headset, "We have robots coming up on our position, Sirs. We're going to have to jump for it. Let's go guys, follow me." She led the way as she jumped from the tower.
Austen said to her, "Cadets, take the west hole and we will cover your escape to our quadrant. As soon as you can now!" They made it to where the rest of the gang was without any problems.
Austen ordered, "Alright, Turtle people, let's move on to the next flag. Qworn, you lead the way, you robot killer you."
They shot their way into another high area but unfortunately there were four exits. As Austen switched the flag out, Qworn ran to one exit; Noah took the opposite exit, while Kirk and Clark took off to the other two exits that were left. They thought they were safe, but nobody checked their wristbands. In the far back area between Noah's and Qworn's exits, a robot came out from behind a column and fired a shot at Derek who saw the robot a second too late.
Commander Jackson jumped in front of the admiral taking the shot for him. Derek caught her in his arms as she went limp and disappeared from the game just as fast as she had entered it not that long ago. Austen shot the robot down. As it disappeared, Austen said to Derek, "She's damn good isn't she, but don't be taking any more of my cadets. She was one of my best."
Derek said, "I didn't take her, Captain Kester did; talk with her."
Austen said, "Fight with her, I don't think so. Whatever makes her happy."
Dale said, "I hear that," and Derek agreed with him.
Chapter 4
THE E.D. PRESIDENT
He was in the bathroom of the White House straightening his tie and looking in the mirror. He scratched behind his ear where he had a small scar. He left the bathroom and entered the wardroom where everybody was waiting on him. As the President sat down, everybody said either hello or good afternoon to him. He was giving everyone a tolerant lopsided grin.
He asked if the admiral had located the Turtle but the admiral was hesitating. Then Admiral Moore started with a 'no', and went on to say, "We think they've gone back to the planet Kess, Sir. We've sent Admiral Foreman and our best Navy Seals to kill the Houstons and set a flag on the planet in the name of UNOE (United Nations of Earth), but Sir, are you sure that this is what you want? They embarrassed us, but what they have given us and done for us also makes them reliable allies. I think you should reconsider the plan."
The President in anger said, "I don't care what you think, Admiral, I want that ship!" Then he calmed down some, cleared his throat, and addressed the entire table, "With that ship we can protect Earth from all enemies, alien and domestic. It would also give us thousands more ships from the Turtle's Fleet. I'm sure that would make you happy, Admiral. And as I understand it, they carry with them the universe's currency. I'm sure that that would make you happy, Mr. Treasurer, now wouldn't it?" The Treasurer nodded his head but didn't say anything.
General Wayne asked, "The planet Kess is so far away how will we know if the assassination went our way? I don't want to assume, and I do not like to wait."
President Paul said, "We are going to hope for the best and prepare for the worse. Send out recall activation for any troops onboard the Turtle. If they refuse, it is called desertion. Close down Houston Inc., and freeze their accounts; call it National Security reasons. Have the Army go around and arrest and detain all the family members of anyone we know on the Turtle, General. This way we hold all the cards and everything that's dear to them. And, Admiral, arrest and shoot that criminal JR Houston on our defense platform. It's long overdue. We'll take all of his ships too, and I believe he owns a Turtle ship. That will be our first objective. It has Turtle tech that will help us with defense in case the Seals don't succeed." He said all that in unrepentant pleasure.
Most of the people there at the table could not believe their ears, but they were afraid to object.
The Asian commander took the floor and asked the President about contingencies for all of the U.F.O. sightings around the globe. The President said, as he put invisible quotation marks in the air, "You mean 'alleged' sightings, and I'm not going to worry until ED in space or our jets can catch one. He started laughing and the General joined in with him.
A week later, "Yeah, they arrested Mother, and they have a warrant out for my arrest too, but my people and I are underground. We're safe for the moment, so don't worry about me. Oh, and the government has shut down Houston Inc. They have arrested Noah's and Kirk's moms too, so I'm pretty sure that they are coming after you," Mary Houston said effusively.
JR said to his sister, "Somebody grew a pair, but thanks for the warning. I can't help anybody on Earth, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I need my brothers and their Turtle to rescue everybody. Last I heard, they are in-between galaxies right now, so I guess I'll pack up my things and head for Kess where me and my boys will be safe until I meet up with them. Until then, be safe and take care, Mary."
He turned off his smart phone and went to the lounge with his lizard squad escort of twelve lizards that always went wherever he went for his protection, not just because of his aberrant behavior, but because he was their king, and being this far from home was the price they paid for eternal vigilance.
When he arrived only one pirate was there banging on a vending machine and cursing at it. JR said, "Veins, as much as you get paid, you can't afford a snack?"
Veins angrily spewed out, "It took my last token, Boss, and I didn't bring any more."
JR said, "Does the air taste funny?" It wasn't a question; it was pirate code for "We need to retreat."
Veins' eyes grew big but he remained calm, and just like it was rehearsed, he said to JR to acknowledge him, "I can't taste anything." And then the congregation broke up.
JR nodded and went back to his quarters to pack his things. He had his lizard squad put everything onboard his Turtle ship, the King, as Veins went to chat with the pirates.
While they did that, JR went to the computer room where he locked down the sickbay and the ED barracks on the asteroid belt defense platform. He also sent a coded message to the new Jupiter Station Two for Commander Winston's eyes only. It simply said, "They changed their minds. Stay away from the asteroid field for a while. I will also be taking your Caprice for a bit. Goodbye, JR."
Then JR took out a special mother-board and replaced the one that was used on the platform with it. His nephew, Kirk, had specifically built it for that instance hoping it would never have to be used. Because of the circumstances, any ship with life-forms would now be fired on with extreme prejudice.
The pirates had a list of special prisoners that JR would take with him if they ever had to abandon the platform and one of Jupiter's moons, Europa. There was no sense in them dying if it came to that, and they were useful, helpful … and some of them … pretty.
There was a Turtle outpost on one of Saturn's moons, Titan, but if a bunch of ships took off to Saturn it would definitely be noticed by Earth Defense. Right