“What?”
“It looks like you are having way too much fun. Unfortunately, duty calls. We really need to leave.”
Oria and Karen headed back down to the main bridge. Borella was standing there wondering what Oria’s plan was. “Admiral, it would have been nice if you had given me more notice that you planned to take the Hercules for a spin.”
Oria stood facing Borella’s stern face and laughed. “Captain, your right, I guess this activity was a bit spur of the moment. We’re done now.”
Oria and Karen traded the usual formalities with the bridge crew and then departed towards Oria’s quarters. Oria had his arm around Karen as the elevator headed towards the crew decks.
Oria gave Karen a hug and then looked her straight in the eyes.
“Karen, I don’t know how to say this. The time that we’ve spent together has given me new life. I don’t want to lose you.”
“Me too Oria, I really like being around you. When Bronson told me that I was back in STAR Hawk operations, I was afraid I would not see you again.”
“Karen, I don’t think life can be normal for us. My greatest goal is to bring Earth into alliance with Azortec and create a coalition to protect Earth and defeat any Creyte attempt to farm Earth’s people for food. Yet my greatest fear of accomplishing this goal is that I will lose you. Your military rules won’t allow us to go out together.”
“I’ve thought about that as well Oria. There is one exception.”
“I know; when I last lived on Earth, a man and woman’s joining was about living and dying. The strongest man in the village chose his wife and gave presents to the woman’s family in exchange for the family allowing her to join him. Your customs are much different today.”
“Oria, are you asking me to marry you?”
Oria pushed the stop button in the elevator. He didn’t want anyone interrupting them at this moment.
“Karen, all I know is that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Azortec customs don’t apply to me and my birth customs are outdated. If you feel the same and that means marriage, then yes, would you marry me?”
Karen felt her heart pounding in her chest. The thought of marriage hadn’t crossed her mind. Yet, she loved Oria and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him as well. She felt Oria’s hands on her arms as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug and squeezed with all her might.
“Yes Oria. I love you too and want to spend the rest of my life with you as well. I wish we could marry tonight.”
“Me too; although I should warn you, I was married one time before. When I was 16 years old, I was married for one night and half of a day.”
“Oria, that’s okay. I’d be surprised if after 500 years you never had a relationship with another woman.”
“Then what do we do next? In the days of my youth, I would have stood outside of your house with an offering to your family. If you came out and accepted it, we were married. It was quite simple.”
“Things are more involved today. You get engaged, set a marriage date, obtain a marriage license, get married, and have a party.”
“Now that sounds complicated. My friend, Linda StalkingWolf is going through that. That would mean we have to set a date. I’m not sure what’s next for us.”
“Well, sometimes people elope on Earth. Also, a ship’s captain can marry two people.”
“That’ll work; since we are on an Azortec starship, Azortec laws apply, we don’t need a license from Earth. Do you want to get married tonight, right now?”
Karen’s head was spinning at the speed of light as her thoughts spun in a whirlwind of excitement. Oria was right; there was too much uncertainty in the future. Her relationship with Oria would be a lot less problematic for the military if she was already married. Why not get married now? She knew that Oria was the man for her.
“Yes, but who will marry us? Do we need to go to Earth?”
“You said a ship’s captain can marry two people on board ship. I’ll have Borella marry us. He’s the Captain of the Hercules. We can invite Jack, Ratface, and some others up here for a party afterwards.”
“Terrific. Let’s go for it.”
Oria punched the on button to the elevator and his communicator. He signaled Borella.
Borella quickly responded “Yes, Admiral. I thought you were headed for some rest.”
Oria bellowed back. “Almost; we have a change in plans. Would you meet me in the Officer’s Lounge and make sure that Ratface, Jack Peterson, their crews, and all available hands meet us there?”
“Aye sir, what’s up?”
“Karen and I are getting married and want you to marry us.”
“What? Marriage? Isn’t that an Earth custom?”
“Yes, and according to Earth custom, a ship’s captain can perform the ceremony.”
“Congratulations, Admiral. I’ll make it so.”
12:00 AM: Oria and Karen Marry
Oria headed directly for the officers lounge. Several crewmembers were already waiting there. Commander Turrani intercepted Karen as the wedding couple made it through the lounge doors. She led Karen back to one of the ladies rooms at the back of the lounge. Karen was shocked to see a beautiful full-length wedding gown waiting for her.
Turrani smiled at Karen as she showed her the gown. “Well Major, I thought you might want something more fitting for a wedding. I had the ship’s replicators generate this gown for you. I think it is in style with Earth weddings.
“It’s perfect; I had no idea that we could make something so beautiful so fast.”
“That’s one of the advantages of having had space travel technology for over 20,000 years. You’ll find most of Azortec quite into the arts and finer things of life. Oria is the exception! If you haven’t noticed, he sometimes is clueless on the finer things in Azortec life.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Only that Oria’s not originally from Azortec, and he is so involved in the war effort, that he’s not had time to become familiar with the more civilized parts of Azortec culture. I don’t mean that as a bad thing. There would be no Azortec if not for the Admiral. There’s not a member of this crew that doesn’t hold the Admiral in the highest respect and appreciation.”
“I guess I have a lot to learn too.”
“Don’t worry. You have a new family. This ship and its crew is Oria’s family and soon will be your family too. You’ll find that this crew is much closer to Oria than is typical of Azortec starships and their commanders. Let’s hurry up. They’re probably already waiting for us.”
Karen’s heart continued to pound in excitement as she slipped into the wedding gown. Turrani helped Karen finish dressing and then led her back out into the lounge. Oria was standing across the lounge in an Azortec ceremonial uniform with Borella, Jack, and Ratface standing nearby. The ships officers and its crew filled the room. A skeleton crew stayed behind to maintain the essential functions of the ship.
As Karen began to walk towards Oria and Borella, strange music began to play through the ship’s sound system. It was traditional Azortec celebration music.
1:00 AM: Bronson hears of missing shuttle
Bronson was in a hard sleep when his phone rang with a text message. He quickly grabbed the device, fumbled with it a moment, and shut it off. He always grabbed quickly for his phone to keep it from annoying his wife any more than necessary. The only thing worse than suddenly awakening was having his wife get mad at him at the same time.
Bronson was a bit surprised when he saw the return number. It was Colonel James Henley, STAR Hawks operations. He left his bedroom and walked into his home office. There he closed the door and dialed Henley’s number.
Only about 5 minutes passed between Henley’s texting the General and receiving the return call. He knew that he would dread the unavoidable conversation with Bronson. Henley picked up the phone.
“Hello, General.”
“Yes Colonel, and what is it that requires me to be disturbed at this early hour?”
“General, we’ve lost one of our shuttles.”
Bronson roared back. “What do you mean we lost a shuttle?”
“The shuttle piloted by Major Brown has vanished without a trace. We were tracking the craft and in constant communications with it. Then it vanished. We are doing everything we can to locate it again.”
Bronson felt a sharp jab in his stomach. Ever since this Oria thing broke, his life had been full of stress. His opponents at the Pentagon would have a field day with this event.
“Colonel, keep looking. It has to be either Oria’s doing or the Creytes. I sure hope there isn’t another alien entity involved. I take it that you’re pretty sure the problem’s not on our end?”
“Yes General. If the shuttle exploded or simply went dark, we should be able to see it. We can’t!”
When Bronson finally got off the phone, he wandered back to his bed with his mind racing. He climbed back in next to his wife knowing that sleep would undoubtedly elude him. Bronson’s tossing and turning woke his wife. She was much more sympathetic to his needs than Bronson gave her credit. She rolled over and hugged him hoping to distract his mind, at least for a short bit, and help him relax.
1:30 AM: Oria and Karen Return to Quarters
Oria and Karen finally left their reception and headed towards Oria’s quarters hand in hand. As a little girl, Karen had frequently dreamed of her wedding and wedding night. She never envisioned getting married on a starship. However, given her career, she felt that it was only right
that she got married in space.
Oria picked Karen up and off her feet carrying her into his quarters. As the doors automatically opened in front of them, Karen was surprised to see a room full of flowers. Oria gently put Karen back on her feet. He felt an inner joy and peace watching the pleasure on Karen’s face as she examined the display of flowers arranged in his living room.
After a few minutes, Oria took Karen’s hand and led her back to his sleeping quarters. Without much conversation, the two lovers embraced and kissed each other. Thirty minutes later they fell asleep pleasantly exhausted.
6 AM: Bronson Reads Newspaper Account of Oria’s Escape
At 6AM sharp, like clockwork, Bronson stepped outside to pick up the morning paper. It didn’t matter that it was Saturday morning, when most of the world slept in. Every day was a workday to Bronson, and this day was going to be busier than most. If things continued falling apart, someone somewhere would have Bronson’s head on a platter.
Bronson pulled the plastic wrapper off his paper and started to read the headlines on his way back into the house. The headline “Legendary Oria Escapes West Virginia Jail” provided Bronson with some hope that maybe something was going right. He hoped that the extraction team was successful with Oria in his custody.
Bronson dropped the paper next to his breakfast plate as he walked over to his coffee maker and filled his mug with hot black fluid. The old coffee maker had a timer that precisely started brewing coffee at 6AM every morning, provided of course someone remembered to fill the machine the night before.
Bronson sat down with a mug in one hand and the front-page in the
other hand. He was anticipating some good news for a change. As he read into the column, he dropped his hot mug of coffee when he read that Oria had disappeared long before a failed rescue attempt by a local militia group. At least that’s what the sheriff’s office claimed. Bronson’s anger intensified when he read that the sheriff’s office overlooked key evidence and that the perpetrator of the rescue was more than likely a military operation. The General sat at the kitchen table rubbing his right temple as a massive headache was threatening to ruin more of his day. Well, that’s just a perfect way to start my day, thought Bronson as he cleaned up the coffee he spilled. He now needed a couple of antacid tablets along with two aspirins with his breakfast.
What Bronson hoped would be good news turned out to be a total disaster. His enemies, particularly Helen Marshal, were probably already gathering forces to attack him at the Pentagon. Bronson knew he would be facing the fight of his career. His team had failed to gain custody of Oria, lost a space shuttle, and the press was implicating the military in an attack of a small town Sheriff’s Office. What a great way to destroy an otherwise beautiful Saturday.
7:30 AM: Oria Extraction Mission Debriefing at Pentagon
Bronson felt a heavy tension as he walked into the Laser Watch situation room. He looked around the conference table and saw General Sloan and Captain Jacobson at the head of the table. The rest of his team, with the exception of Karen, sat nervously around the rest of the table. Everyone expected Bronson to be in a foul mood and ready to lash out at them, everyone that is except for Bronson. Bronson knew that his recent losses had little to do with the efforts of his team. Something much bigger was going on, bigger than anything anyone on his team could imagine.
Bronson walked to the head of the table and took his seat. In a dull business like voice, Bronson started the meeting. “Team, this is likely to be a rough day for us; I assume everyone knows that Major Brown and her space shuttle are missing, we do not have Oria in custody, and we have a bit of PR issue with Jacobson’s operation. Am I missing anything?”
The room remained deathly silent. Martello finally braved the General’s wrath and broke the silence. “General, we completed our analysis of Oria’s and Karen’s canoe trip. We also have some reports in on his dealings on the Eastern Shore and in particular the Nanticoke Indians.”
Bronson waited what seemed like an eternity to Martello before responding. “Captain, your reports are probably as good a place as any to get started. Please proceed.”
“Thank you, General. The canoe trip was somewhat uneventful until Karen’s injury. We have analyzed film from our helicopter and some satellite shots. The blow that struck Karen’s head should have killed her. If that didn’t kill her, the 10 minutes that was under water should have!”
Martello paused for a second to pass a series of photos around the table. “The first photo is a clear picture of a branch striking the Major’s face across the eyes. In it, you see her skull being fractured and clear evidence of severe trauma. In the next two pictures, you see more clear images of the Major’s injuries. Her face clearly shows asphyxiation and her injuries are sufficiently severe to have caused death, at least by any standards that we know of. The next series of photos are of the Major after Oria brings her out of the woods. There are no signs of serious trauma. In fact, the Major appears quite healthy. The satellite’s infrared scans show Oria carrying the Major into the woods where they simply disappear. After 45 minutes, they reappear with the Major completely healed. We have no Earth based explanation for these occurrences. In my opinion, Oria must be from space the same as the Creytes.”
Martello’s last remark caused a stir in the room. He was stating the obvious, the obvious that no one wanted to admit. Bronson finally interrupted the commotion in a loud voice.
“People, let’s have some order in here. I agree with the Captain. We have two issues that we must resolve -- First and foremost, are either the Creytes or Oria hostile to Earth? Second, I believe that we would all like to know if Oria is truly from Earth. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter?”
Martello was the first to speak. “Yes sir. I think there is sufficient evidence to link Oria to Earth. We have a DNA match between Oria and the archeological findings on the Eastern Shore. Further DNA tests clearly show Oria’s DNA to be human DNA matching known DNA strands. However, there are some interesting emendations in his DNA. Since Oria has not shown hostile intentions towards Earth and he appears to be from Earth, at least human, I don’t believe he has a hostile agenda. We don’t have sufficient data from the Creytes other than some gifts that they have presented to POTUS.”
Colonel Henley nodded in agreement with Martello. “General, Martello’s analysis is right on target. However, I do have some concerns about the missing shuttle. Given the obvious attraction between Oria and Major Brown, I don’t believe Oria is behind any sinister attacks on the shuttle.”
The meeting continued for another 20 minutes with a general agreement to Martello’s assessment. Bronson and team worked to address the obvious
alliance between Helen Marshal and the Creytes. It was strange, even for Helen, how closely she supported the Creytes.
8:00 AM: SECDEF and a small group meet with Helen Marshal, the National Security Advisor
Helen always hated visiting the Pentagon. She would take the subway, get off at the Pentagon station, and take the long escalator ride to the Pentagon entrance. She then worked her way through security and made the long hike to the SECDEF’s office.
Helen reflected on the events of the last couple of days. Ever since that devastating meeting on Monday with the President, Helen had worked at damage control to keep her alliance with the Creytes on the front burner and Retilia from doing her in. If only Ratherson had not collected embarrassing information about her in the White House Database, then Retilia would not be able to blackmail her.
Helen entered the SECDEF’s conference room and took one of the seats near the head of the table. Several Deputies and generals were already there and waiting for John Wilson, the SECDEF. The room became quiet when Helen took her seat. She knew that most of them despised her and believed the only reason she had an important job was her secret relationship with Ratherson. She didn’t care; at least she tried to convince herself of that.
Wilson finally entered the room and took his customary seat at the head of the table. He glared right at Helen as he started to speak.
“Let’s get this meeting started. I believe everyone knows why we’re here. The President early this morning gave Helen a green light on her plan. She’ll make a presentation and then we can discuss our next steps. So Helen, go ahead and start.”