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Mission Complete

Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11
Location: The Thelema Hangar; Nova Asteroidal Colony

“Heather, I bet I could beat you to the other side of the hangar and back!” Cordelia yelled as she slapped Lieutenant Kou on the back.
"You could not! You couldn’t beat me if I had a broken ankle and a sprained knee!” Heather laughed as she took a runner’s start position.

"One, two, three!” Cordelia yelled as she took a head start across the base floor.

“You cheat! You cheat! You cheat!” The Lilith pilot caught up with her and tickled her till they fell on the floor, barely able to breath. The Opiate pilot raced over and started tickling the Heather to help the Isis pilot. “Let me go! No fair!” Heather nearly choked she was laughing so hard.

“I got you now!” Josh yelled, as he pinned Heather to the floor and Cordelia got up just long enough to be tackled back down to the floor by Spencer. The boys attacked the girls mercilessly, until Heather was able to wriggle free and pulled Cordelia up, as they raced away from Josh and Spencer and back toward the Commander, who had come to get them.

“Okay, cut it out, you four. It’s time to get to work. Lieutenant Kou, Pilot Kirkpatrick, and Pilot Yuy, Dock Three has machinery for the training base. Everyone else, follow me. There are supplies in Dock One.” Commander Renata scolded as he led several basic troops toward the first docking bay.

“Yes sir!” Lieutenant Kou saluted as she scrambled to parade rest. The minute he was gone, she stuck her tongue out at the door. Cordelia climbed up onto the laid out machine and played with the wires.

“Cordelia! That’s not supposed to be there!” Spencer yelled as he began to work on the modifications to the Legerdemain, laying out his tools in the order in which he had deduced he would need them. The side panel of the large dark grey left leg stood open, several pieces already removed from position.

“Yea, so?!” Pilot Kirkpatrick yelled back. As usual, bright pink gum could be seen being rolled around her mouth with her matching tongue.

“Ugh! You are so. . . . So. . . . ” Spencer shook his head, at a loss for a horrible enough word to describe the affect he was having on his patience. He settled for trying to ignore her.

“Cute?” The Lilith pilot asked as her heels clicked her way back across the hanger. She smiled and tossed a package to Cordelia that had been forgotten in the chaos of her entry.

“That’s what I was thinking. We are really cute.” Cordelia smiled as she ripped open the top of the package. Something pink expanded from the top. She giggled.

“What you got, Delia?” Heather asked as she started messing with the Legerdemain’s leg wires. He pulled a red one loose from its socket and switched it with an orange one. Cordelia held up a fluffy pink bunny and then carefully returned it to the package so it couldn’t be messed up in the grease of the hangar.

“Stop that! Why don’t you two go annoy Levi?” Spencer sighed frustrated as he slapped Lieutenant Kou’s hands away from his switch board. He replaced the wires she had moved, only to move them back when he examined the effect. For good measure he changed them with two other wires just so she wouldn’t be right.

“Cuz he’s not here, genius. He left this morning for Port-Cartier. He’s going to try to pick up a shipment of titanium alloy for adjustments to the Miakoda. I think Pilot Yuy was supposed to go with him, but he likes to weasel out of supply missions.” Heather smiled as she slapped Spencer’s hands back and moved three more wires.

“Ugh! Why couldn’t they have taken me with them? You two are going to drive me nuts!” Spencer whined as he tried to finish his work on his P.I.F.S. He ignored her movements and replaced one of the wires with a new one from his tool box.

“So leave them to me.” Pilot Yuy smiled as he pulled the Lilith pilot off the top of the Legerdemain from where it rest on the base floor. His fingers were warm on her side where her white tank top had risen up. It was one of the few times she was out of uniform, and Josh fully appreciated the change. She moved away from the contact and around the right leg.

“Hey Josh, you friend or foe today?” Spencer smiled as he raised a loaded slingshot to align with Josh’s eyes. The heavy water balloon balanced in the center had been set aside for easy launch. He’d been waiting for a chance to get back at him for the last battle. When Cordelia leaned forward to take it from him, he swerved and aimed it at her nose. Swiftly, he slipped to the floor, keeping the sling in front of him, and his eyes trained on his comrades.

“Now that’s not nice.” Heather smirked as she slipped behind Chasez, and pulled the slingshot quickly out of his grasp. She twirled the band around her finger and smiled broadly. “You didn’t think you could actually shoot one of us, did you Spencer Mason? ‘Cuz that would not have been nice. You don’t want to be mean, now do you, Spencer?” Heather smiled as she pulled the sling strap and tested the toy. “You should tighten these,” she joked as she tossed the toy back to him.

“You’re actually going to give him that thing back after he tried to shoot us with it?” Cordelia asked, her jaw gaping in surprise. She quickly closed it to prevent her gum from tumbling out. “I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to get stung with rocks or whatever he’s got hidden in there.”

“Why not give it back? I’ve got one, and I don’t think it’s fair fighting with an unarmed person. Why do you think I refuse to battle wits with Renata?” Heather asked as she pulled out her sling and fumbled behind a larger red toolbox with a smaller box. She stood up slowly, revealing a large blue water balloon. Before they could catch on to what she was doing, Heather launched the balloon at Spencer and took off running toward the open hangar doors. Barely twenty yards stood between her and freedom.

“You get back here, you little witch!” Spencer yelled as he blocked her exit by closinf the doors with his remote and began to chase her around the hangar, dripping colored water from ever where, and leaving little blue puddles in ever step.

“No way! You aren’t going to hit me with that!” she screeched as she climbed up the ladder to the catwalk without thinking. “Mine was just a balloon, I don’t know what horrible junk you’ve put in there.”

“Umm. . .Lieutenant?” Josh asked, staring up at the rigging attached by chains to the ceiling. There was easily a story and a half distance to the ground.

“Yea?” Heather stopped abruptly and looked down at him. “Oh my. . .high. . .really high.” Heather grabbed the scaffold bars and knelt down slowly, her knuckles turning white with the pressure of her grip.

“Yea. Heather, just slowly go down the ladder. I PROMISE Spencer won’t sting you until you can fight back.” Josh said as Cordelia cast a glance at Spencer, who dropped his slingshot automatically.

“No way! I can’t climb down there. I might fall.” Heather whined gently, her voice carrying in the silent chamber.

“Well, you climbed UP there.” Cordelia retorted, which prompted a snort of suppressed laughter from the still dripping Spencer.

“Heather, get your ass down here now,” a strong, male voice demanded.

“Commander Renata!” Heather stammered as she struggled to get to her feet.” I, I, I’m afraid of, of heights, s-sir.”

“I know that, Kou, but you’ve got to get back down here. We’re going to break this little fear of yours.” Renata pressed as he grabbed the ladder to the scaffold and steadied it.

“No, no, no. . .” Heather sobbed as she sank back down off her feet. “I ca. . .I can’t. . .oh my, I can’t, I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe!” Her voice gathered strength and Josh could tell she was close to hyperventilation. Her legs refused to cooperate in her attempt to stand and she crumpled into a heaving mass.

In an instant, Drake was beside her. He pulled her against him and rocked her slowly. As her sobs stopped, Josh began to pace, wondering why Renata had to step in. He began turning red and Cordelia saw the storms flashing in his eyes. Gently, she pulled him back away from the scaffold. Drake turned Loeutenant Kou around and began to back her down the ladder. Josh rushed back and grabbed the base. When she got to the third step, Pilot Yuy snatched her off the rung and out of Commander Renata’s arms. Heather melted into him embrace and her body convulsed with wretched sounding sobs. Josh carried her out of the hangar and sat her outside to compose herself. He began to sit beside her, but with an insignificant flick of her wrist, she dismissed him. She didn’t like to be seen in this weakened position and would not allow him to witness anymore of it.

When Heather returned, the only sign of her tears were the red tinges around her pupils. She strode across the floor and picked up a toolbox. As she turned to leave, Commander Renata stopped her.

“Lieutenant,” he said in his low masculine growl. Anger radiated deeply from the one word. Weakness was not acceptable.

“Sir?” Heather asked, turning or her heels and raising her right arm to her brows. “I’m fine, sir.” She told him, answering his unrequited question. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, sir, I’d like to get back to Lilith.” Drake nodded and returned her salute as she left the hangar. Cordelia also saluted and left. She knew Heather couldn’t be left alone at this time, so she would leave with the pretense of working on the Isis.

“Alright, troops. Pilot Yuy, why aren’t you with Levi on the alloy mission?” Drake began to tick off items on a clipboard. Efficiency was his expertise, along with a complete lack of emotion.

“Julian and Kali Bellini went with him, sir. I was left with base bunker duty.” Josh replied.

“Right, okay, let’s go over tact. Tact includes. . .” Commander Renata droned on as Josh’s mind reverted back to Heather. He couldn’t help but wonder why the Lieutenant had started crying so much. She never would even tell him why she hated heights so much. He didn’t like her to keep secrets from him. Heather swore she couldn’t remember anything that happened on the mission she was rescued from, but Josh knew that was where she had developed her fear.

“Yuy, you’re on border patrol now. Yuy! Josh!” Drake’s voice flared as he finished checking off his clip list.

“Sir?” Josh’ reverie broke and he flushed a bright rose color. “I’m sorry. Border patrol? Yes, sir. Anyone else on border, sir?” his nerves fluctuated quickly.

“I have to talk to the girls. We may be getting a new recruit. If we do, they won’t be able to help you. They’ve got to train her here.” Commander Renata flipped pages on the board. “Okay?”

“Another chick?” Josh and Spencer whined.

“Aren’t Cordelia and Heather enough?” Josh asked. One love affair was quite enough to keep him busy, another between other crew members could cause a complete upheaval.

“Female or not, they are not to be treated any different than Lieutenant Kou and Pilot Kirkpatrick, understand?” A chorus of ‘yes, sirs’ was heard. “Good. Troops dismissed. Good luck men.”


Word Count this chapter: 1,988 words
Word Count so far: 12,217 words


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