Euthara (8 page)

Both Deatra and Terri stared at him as he spoke.

“What?” Jon said. “Name one, I dare you.”

“Well,” Terri said. “There was that time at school when you decided to…”

“Er, I mean after we left earth,” Jon said, cutting Terri off.

“Oh, well in that case,” Deatra said. “There was the time when you decided to engage two Invaru ships with
Atlantis
even though she wasn’t done with her shakedown cruise and only had a quarter of the crew she needed.”

“That wasn’t a scheme,” Jon said triumphantly. “That was spur of the moment thinking.”

“Still it was hair-brained,” Terri said.

“I see what you two mean,” Ifata said quietly. “I’m going to have to be a bit more on guard than I thought.”

“Then there was the time…” Deatra said.

“You know what,” Jon said as he interrupted Deatra. “Never mind, I realize now that no man will win when he’s involved in a hen pecking party.”

Terri laughed as Ifata and Deatra stared at Jon wondering what he was talking about.

“I’ll explain it later girls,” Terri said when she saw their confusion.

“You do that,” Jon said as he stuck his tongue out at Terri.

“A bit childish too,” Ifata said.

“You have no idea,” Deatra said giggling.

“Live it up while you can,” Jon said as he tried to act hurt. The smile on his face gave away his true feelings to the three women around him.

“You know I love you,” Deatra said as she gave him a hug.

“Sure ya do,” Jon said as he returned the embrace.

The sound of the coms going off filled the air. ‘ADF shuttle, this is fighter escort leader you’re directed to change course and land at the Royal Palace,’ a male voice said.

Jon reached over and snatched a free headset off the wall behind Terri and put it on his head.

“Fighter escort, this is Captain Hunter-C’loth,” Jon said. “Sorry, but we can’t comply with that order. I’m ordering you to continue your escort of us over the city on our planned route.” It was then that Jon looked out at the fighter and realized it was made of the same crystal substance as the buildings. The fighter just had a coat of paint covering most of the crystal which made him overlook it before.

“I’m sorry Sir, but I have orders to escort you and your party to the Royal Palace. Your course is being updated,” the voice said.

“Jon tapped the side of his headset as he looked out the window at the fighter. “I’m sorry you’re garbled and I can hardly understand you. Did you say stay on our current course?” Jon said.

“No Sir, you’re to change course to the Palace,” the voice said. “I repeat, you’re to change course to the Palace. Do you understand?”

“Roger that, stay on course,” Jon said. “Will do, thank you for your assistance.” Jon pulled the headset off before he could hear a reply as he shut down the communications system and started waving his arms as if there was something in the air.

The pilot started pointing at the shuttle and making motions. Terri looked over and shrugged as though she didn’t understand what he was trying to say. But, she knew perfectly well what he was saying.

“You know you’re playing with fire,” Deatra said.

“There’s something going on here and I plan on finding out what,” Jon said. He slammed his hand down on the ship to ship communications back up and called the
Atlantis
.

“Jon to Commander Taldage,” Jon said.

“Yes Sir?” Carla said.

“Carla, I want you to send a communication to Eutharan Planetary Control and tell them we have had a communication failure, and you lost contact with us,” Jon said. “That we’re working on the problem now, and it should be back up soon.”

“Sir?” Carla said.

“Long story, I’ll explain it later,” Jon said.

“As you wish Sir,” Carla said. “Get me EPC on the line…” The communication went offline as Carla was speaking.

“That should take care of that,” Jon said. “How long do we have until we cross the edge of the city?”

“Another two minutes,” Terri said.

“Four more Eutharan fighters have intercepted us,” Ifata said.

“This is getting dangerous,” Terri said. “Someone out there means business.”

“Two of the fighters are locking on to the shuttle as well as a few of the ground batteries,” Ifata said.

“They wouldn’t,” Deatra said.

“Oh, I think they would,” Jon said.

“Not with the current leaders we have on board,” Deatra said. “It would be a political disaster and suicide for my people.”

“Our people,” Jon said. “And whoever it is isn’t thinking about that. They’re trying to think of how to get rid of any threat they see all at once. How better than to shoot down a shuttle carrying all the leaders that could be a threat to whatever they think they’re protecting?”

“My people would destroy this world if anything happened to you or me,” Nefeit said from behind them all. Everyone turned to look back at her. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help overhearing what was going on.”

Jon nodded as he spoke, “Maybe that’s what they want.”

“Well if they’re going to do something they will need to do it soon,” Terri said. “We’ll be out of the city limits in less than a minute.”

“They’re waiting for confirmation,” Deatra said. “They know who’s on board and they want to make sure of their orders.”

“Bring the shields online,” Jon said.

“The shuttle has shields?” Deatra said.

“Of course,” Jon said as he smiled. “It was something Brad and Mike did awhile back when we had a lull on the station. Between those two and the engineering crew they had put together, they figured out how to miniaturize the shield emitters enough to fit on the shuttles and fighters.”

“The fighters too?” Deatra said in an amazed voice. “No one has figured out how to do that yet. The project was something that was scrapped years ago due to the power requirements.”

“Oh yeah,” Jon said. “The fighters have shields too. Brad and Mike figured out how to reduce the power requirements while they increased the power output from the plants in the fighters and shuttles. The new designs for the power plants from the Buranis combined with some tweaks of our own increased the power output by almost thirty percent.”

“Amazing,” Nefeit said.

“All the fighters and shuttles on
Atlantis
, as well as the ship itself, have new power cores installed,” Jon said. “The fighters and shuttles are all being upgraded. But that will take time to complete, and it’s being done both on ship and at the station.”

“I would have to say that was a well-kept secret,” Deatra said.

“I have a few more,” Jon said. “Just so you know, we’re not trying to keep anyone out of the loop. We’re just being cautious with our developments. It makes plugging leaks easier as I’m sure we have more than one spy and at least one saboteur.”

A small beep followed by a flash in the center of the cockpit made everyone turn to look at the small central table. Tatiana and another unknown Buranis female flashed into existence as holograms.

Tatiana spoke first, “Captain Hunter, the Titan has arrived, and all repairs are complete.

The Buranis spoke next, “Captain Hunter, I’m known as Zadra, it’s an honor to finally meet you. My counterpart Tatiana has spoken highly of you and the ADF. I would like to thank you for awakening me. The Scythe is at ninety five percent repair status, and we’re making our way towards the space dock to complete repairs and deliver personnel.”

“Thank you,” Jon said. “Nice to meet you Zadra, I’m happy the awakening went well for you. Both of you please contact
Atlantis
so you can get up to speed.”

The AIs spoke at the same time, “We’re already in contact with
Atlantis
.”

“Good, who is in command of your respective vessels?” Jon said.

“Captain Gilas,” Tatiana said.

“Captain Vaes,” Zadra said.

“Would you please have them both report to me at Deatra’s retreat,” Jon said. “Tell them to bring extra men and equipment if they don’t mind.”

“I’m sorry,” Tatiana said. “Captain Gilas is being ordered to report to the Royal Palace as soon as possible. I can have the second in command, Lieed, fill your request.”

“I don’t think I know him,” Jon said, then nodded. “Do so, please. Then pass on to Captain Gilas to join us at the retreat at his earliest convenience. That will be all, have a good day, both of you.”

Again as one they spoke, “Thank you Sir.” then both faded from view.

“More surprises,” Deatra said.

“What?” Jon said.

“The Buranis AI,” Deatra said. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I did say we were going to turn all the AI’s back on,” Jon said. “The Scythe’s AI database was intact from what I understand. She needed a few repairs and a new core upgrade, which was installed during the repairs. At least that's what I’m guessing as she wasn’t active at the Ga’sahde home system.”

“If you didn’t know then how come you weren’t surprised?” Deatra said as she nudged him.

“Because, after the last few months, nothing anyone does around me surprises me,” Jon said. “I was expecting the Buranis AI, I just didn’t know when. The Earth’s Revenge has also had her AI turned on, or will have shortly, although she will need a complete rewrite and systems overhaul. That’s why I’m guessing she’s not here. I would think that Carex and the station crew is taking advantage of the Ga’sahde cover to do some of the backlogged things they haven’t been able to do.”

“They are,” Terri said. “With the Flagship and her escorts there to protect them, they don’t have to worry about dry docking a ship.”

“I’m sorry to break up this conversation,” Ifata said. “But, we have more pressing concerns.” She indicated the fighters they all started slowing down to take up attack positions behind the shuttle.

“I don’t think they will be much of a problem,” Jon said.

As Jon spoke, eight of
Atlantis’
fighters dropped in from the cloud cover and took up formation around the shuttle. Jon reached up and flipped the com back on so they could communicate with the pilots if needed.

‘Escort Leader,’ a male voice said. ‘This is Gold Leader,
Atlantis
Special Escort Group Alpha. I’m ordering you to stand down as we now have escort of the shuttle.’

‘Gold Leader, this is Escort Leader,’ a male voice said. ‘You have no jurisdiction and even though you have authorized flight plan. I’m ordering you to leave this air space at once.’

‘Negative Escort Leader,’ Gold Leader said. ‘Your rank doesn’t exceed mine and I am giving you a direct order to return your flight group to base. I’m transmitting my authorization codes now.’

There were a few seconds of silence as Jon guessed the Escort was checking the authorization codes. ‘I’m sorry Sir, but I have my orders,’ Escort Leader said.

‘Listen here, Captain,’ Gold Leader said. ‘I’m giving you new orders and unless your orders come from a Royal Guard with a rank higher than Captain you will listen to me. I’m personal escort for the Princess Deatra and her bond-mate and as such I have ruling authority here. Do as you’re told, or I’ll have you up on charges if you survive the fight. Do I make myself clear?’

“We’ve just passed the city’s outer marker,” Terri said.

‘I, uh,’ Escort Leader said as he stumbled on words.

‘It doesn’t matter anymore,’ Gold Leader said. ‘You’re out of your jurisdiction as we’ve just passed the city’s outer markers. You can return to base. Oh, and I’ll be filing a report on this incident with the Royal Court.’

Without another word, the escorts peeled off and headed back towards the city. Jon knew they had won this round and just barely. He had planned for something of this nature, though he expected a straight out attack instead of something like this. Now he had to sit back and wait for the next attempt, if this was an attempt and not an honest mistake.

‘Gold Leader to shuttle Alpha One, we’ll be your escorts for the remainder of the trip,’ Gold Leader said.

“Roger that Gold Leader, you have the lead,” Terri replied.

Jon turned to the back of the shuttle and started climbing down as he spoke, “See, not all my ideas are hair-brained.” He was beaming with pride at the fact he had enough foresight to set up this little escort. He had set up a signal with Carla that if he called he would need an escort, no matter what reason he called. It had worked perfectly as the escort was following the shuttle in a suborbital trajectory waiting on the word that they were needed.

Deatra rolled her eyes as she stepped down to the lower platform and spoke, “You’re right; you had a good plan set up. But wasn’t it Atlantis and Mark that came up with the safety patrol idea and you just refined it?”

Jon’s smile faded as he spoke, “Do you always have to knock the wind from my sails?”

“Oh, I give credit where credit is due,” Deatra said. She flashed him a big smile. “You did have the better way of executing the idea. I just don’t want your head to explode before we get officially married is all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jon said as he made like he was hurt.

“Besides the doorways in the retreat aren’t that big, and if your head swelled any larger I don’t know if you would be able to get through,” Deatra said.

Sam giggled as she spoke, “That’s funny.”

Jon turned on her and made claw like hands and flexed them as he spoke, “Hush you or your punishment will be severe.”

Sam put up her hands in defense and made like she was scared.

Deatra wrapped her hands around Jon from behind and leaned into his ear as she spoke, “You know I always think you do a great job, and that is one of the reasons, bond or not, I would love you so much it hurt.”

“I know,” Jon said as he dropped his hands and rubbed her arms. “But, you do a much better job at ribbing me when Terri is involved.”

“I heard that,” Terri yelled down from the cockpit. “Don’t worry your big head about it, there will be plenty of time for that later.”

Jon moaned as Deatra laughed and kissed him on the back of the neck. Nefeit had just stepped down, and her eyes locked on the two of them. Jon saw something in her face almost as if she was sad. She gave them both a slight nod and smile as she took her seat next to Sam.