Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (18 page)

If he considers this merely a jam, I’d hate to think what a real mess constitutes
,
Frank thought.

“And I just want to get out there and pull my
weight.
Paul runs the show here, Mike has been through more than any of us combined
,
and I sit here and read old magazines. I
can’t frigg
in’
take it anymore
—
what am I going to tell my grandkids when
they ask
about the Rebellion!
Oh yeah
, kiddies,”
Dennis said with his best old
man voice. “
I watched some of the biggest heroes of our time take on the invasion force and kick their asses
.
M
e? What did I do? Well
,
I learned the
‘83
swimsuit edition was arguably the best of all time. Come on
,
Frank
,
you know I have to do this th
ing.
I’m honor bound.”

Frank could understand him completely
.
I
t was difficult to be surrounded by greatness and only be mediocre.

“Be ready by 1600
.
I’ll have the beer on ice when you get back.”

“Always a pleasure
,”
Dennis answered as he moved off of his cot and out the makeshift tent to round up his men for the briefing.

Frank stood there
a few moments longer
,
wondering if he had just spoken
his last words to a man he now considered one of his friends.

CHAPTER TWEN
T
Y-FOUR
- Mike Journal Entry 7

We were making excellent time across ‘the pond’ as they liked to
call it
, and I couldn’t have been happier. Number one
,
to get back to Indian Hill and two to get out of th
e
frigg
in’
tin can. I never considered myself a claustrophobic but th
e
sub was making a strong case for it. I relished the thought of getting hope back, of being able to stand up and fight the true enemy for once. I was done just trying to survive,
it was time to make them ‘just try
to survive
.’ I can’t say I was completely confident we could pull it off, but I’d rather die trying than not.

Three days into the trip and I was going stir crazy, I had had enough time to teach Drababan,
who was recovering nicely, how to play chess. And after our third game he beat me, from
there
on
,
it was a
fifty
/
fifty
struggle. His mastery of strategy left me hoping he was more the exception than the rule
. If his
brethren
could adapt this fast, what little fight we had left was not going to make much of an
intergalactic splash.

“Ah
,
Miiike, I must say I most enjoy this game of chess
.
I
t is
much like our game
of
,
he stopped to use the alien word, which sounded like a bunch of grunts and snarls,
but not quite as
difficult.
”

“You’ll have to teach me, er
…
that game (I wasn’t going to even begin trying to mimic his words) when we have a chance.”

That would be nice, his eyes said, but both of us knew the chances of that were pretty slim.
It was tough to tell his meaning as I was too busy
backpedaling from his aggressive, queen’s pawn opening.

“
Captain
.” I looked up to see
Sergeant
Yarborough
framed against the door jamb. “May I have a word with you?”

This was a new development, this was
the first time I had seen her use any type of military dictum with me. It was far too unsettling for my likes.

“
Sure
,
Sergeant
, go ahead.”

“It’s lieutenant now
, sir
.
I’ve been field promoted
.
”
S
he
pointed
to the gold bar pinned on her lapel. “And
I would like to speak with you
a
lone
,”
s
he responded as
she looked over at Drababan.

I got up off of Drababan’s bed. “
Congratulations
,” I told
her and then I turned to Drababan. “
Sorry
,
D
ee
,
it looks like we’ll have to finish this one another time.”

“No,
matter
,
” he answered
.
“I
t was mate in
fifteen
moves anyway.”

I looked down
at
him, his snout pulled back in a sneer, which I now knew was his equivalent of a smile, and I believed him.

“Maybe the next game I’ll show you will be
M
onopoly
,” I said
as I strode
toward
the door.

Drababan was still trying to grasp this new word as I headed out of sick bay with the
Lieutenant
in quick tow.

My quarters weren’t that far
away
and co
mpared to what the rest of the crew was sleeping in, it was the Taj Mahal
. My room consisted of a couch cushion
,
a desk
,
and
a
chair roughly the size of those unidesks we all remember so well from grade school. Still
,
I wasn’t complaining
.
I
t was infinitely better than any of my alien quarters or the crew bunks
,
if that’s what you wanted to call them. Those men had to get out of their bed
s
if they wanted to roll over into a different position. It was a phenomenon some seamen carried throughout their wholes lives much to the chagrin of their significant others. Even in a spacious king size bed, those old salts would get up out of bed, invariably disturbing their spouse
s
and then getting back in as if they were still packed like playing cards.

I sat down on my cot
.
I didn’t know if that was proper military bearing or not
,
but the last two years of my life had taken their toll and whenever I saw a chance to take a respite I did so.
Lieutenant Yarborough
didn’t seem to mind.

“Sir
,”
s
he began.

Well this was
getting interesting
, I thought.

“
I came here today to
apologize for my behavior the other day
and if you wish to press charges
for
insubordination against me I will secure myself to the brig.”

“This place is big enough for a brig?”
I asked

Her wonderfully gray-green eyes enlarged for no more than a split
second
.
D
id she really think I’d press charges?

“
Lieutenant
, relax
—
I mean at ea
se. I have no intention whatso
ever of pressing charges.” Her body slightly relaxed
.
S
he probably wasn’t even aware of it
,
b
ut after so many fights my senses were a lot more in tune with the
nuances
of the human body. “Listen
, Lieutenant
. I
know what you’re going through.
I’ve also lost a lot of people I
was responsible for
—you keep second-
guessing yourself whether there was something you could have done to
save them, let me tell you
,
Lieutenant
.
Y
ou couldn’t
help—
it was their time to die. And I’m not gonna give you any bullshit about it being a good day to die
,
because any day you die just plain sucks. If you want to ask me if your mission was worth it, I’ll tell you flat out, no. I wouldn’t sacrifice
that many
for one on any given day
,
no matter who that man was. I’ll guarantee you one thing
,
Lieutenant
.
I will make the aliens pay ten-
fold
for what they did to your team
, I promise that.”

“Thank you
,
C
aptain
,”
Lieutenant
Yarborough said as she turned to leave.

“
Lieutenant,
one more thing
,”
I hurriedly said.

“What’s that
,
C
aptain?”
s
he answered, never fully turning to look at me, I thought she might have had a tear in her eye.

“What time do you eat around here?”

“0600
,
”
c
ame her quick reply.

“Would you mind if I joined you?” I asked with an edge of nervousness in my voice.

“Officers always eat together
, sir
,” she answered
.

Not exactly the response I was looking for
,
but it was a start.

“Anything else
, sir
?”

“I meant what I said
,
Lieutenant
.”

“I know you did
,
Captain
,” she answered
as she leveled her gaze on me.
Yep
,
my heart definitely stopped.
L
uckily
,
she left fast or I would have looked mighty stupid having a heart attack at
my ripe old age.

CHAPTER TWE
N
TY-FIVE

Beth sobbed for the first mile she trudged through the ash that was Boston. She cried for Deb
,
for her family, for
Boston, for herself
,
but most of all she cried for the sheer hopelessness of it all. Who was she kidding
?
W
hat was finding Mike now going to mean even if he was still alive
?
H
e couldn’t right all the wrongs no matter how hard he tried. But she reasoned, she could make it right with him somehow and that counted for something. She was a good twenty miles from where she wanted to be and she was scared
,
but she had a purpose and with luck she would be in Mike’s arms within the next two days
.
T
he thought spurred her on.