Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (15 page)

             
“
I said, those pilots are not very talkative.” Denshire nodded his head toward the group President Sheehan had just been watching.

             
“
Yes, I was just wondering about that very same thing. All of the other pilots seem to have no problem speaking with the media or the dignitaries, except for those men and women.”

             
“
You know, I even notice several reporters calling up to the one known as Lieutenant Brennan--or “Ghost” as his fellow pilots call him--yet he didn’t even look at them. All he did was continue to stare forward as if he were elsewhere.”

FedEx Field, Washington, DC

              Indeed, Liam had been “elsewhere” as the Prime Minister had put it. He had been thinking of all he had done in his life. He had never really felt complete; it always seemed that something was missing, even with Sarah. True enough, he had loved Sarah with all his heart before she had passed away, but he always had a nagging feeling that he was destined for something more. He felt that, had he become involved with Leah, that feeling would still have been present.

             
The knowledge of what he was going to do, of what he was facing, seemed to have filled that void. However, even with that void filled, he still wanted to find a way back to see Leah--even if it was only one more time.

FedEx Field, Washington, DC

              Evan watched the crowd, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He had never been very much of a people person, and this was pushing it. Turning his head, he looked at Liam, who seemed to be deep in thought. Lately, Liam had seemed to always be that way; something was on his mind, and he wasn’t sharing it. He would have to ask him if he needed to talk about anything. Liam had been there for him when his wife and family had been taken by the bird flu, even though he himself had been torn up from the loss of his own wife and child.

             
Sighing, he turned away and looked to his right. Crystal stood there, examining a handheld computer. As if sensing his eyes on her, she turned and looked back at him. Smiling, she winked, then returned to her handheld. Evan didn’t know how he felt about Crystal, but he knew it was more than just as a friend. The more time they spent together, the more they knew each other’s thoughts before they expressed them. He was pretty sure she was feeling the same thing but still wasn’t 100 percent sure about it. Well, they were in for a long trip, so time would tell.

Hanscom Air Force Base

              Smiling to himself, Evan engaged his afterburners like his target had just done in an attempt to escape. The fighter banked to the left suddenly and pitched up again, attempting to evade Evan’s dogged pursuit. Anything the fighter attempted did nothing to shake Evan, and he was going to enjoy this kill. Squeezing the trigger, bolts of energy sped forth to slam into his target’s rear shields, causing them to collapse and impact against the armored hull. Great chunks of armor tore free but otherwise did no harm to the fighter. His ship comm cracked to life with the voice of Crystal--or as she preferred, Revenant.

             
“
Quit playing with him. We all know you could have destroyed him ten times over by now,” she said.

             
“
Yeah, he may be a pompous ass, but he has to know by now that you are the best, so just finish him off,” agreed Tim.

             
“
Oh, all right,” said Evan sulkily.

             
But as he closed on his target, he keyed the open channel and spoke.

             
“
Hey, Frenchy, just wanted to say good-bye before I destroyed you.”

             
With that said, Evan lined up his targeting reticule and squeezed the trigger. Energy bolts hammered the rear of Pierre Petiot’s fighter. The newly regenerated shields failed and the fighter burst into a fiery explosion.

Afterward, as Evan climbed from his simulator, he glanced over at where Pierre was standing and smiled. Pierre simply gave him a look of loathing
, then turned away.

             
“
You are going to cause more trouble for yourself, you know,” came Crystal’s voice from behind him.

             
Evan turned to see Crystal, Tim, and Liam standing there. Smiling broadly as he pointed at Liam, he said, “So? I have Liam here to beat his ass for me if he has any other thoughts in mind other than dirty looks.”

             
All four just laughed at that and stripped out of their battle suits. Ever since the demonstration, everyone had been wearing the battle suits, minus the helmet, during any training session, whether it was hand-to-hand combat or flight simulation. Evan had to admit, he rather liked the battle suits. They were very comfortable, considering they were covered in segmented armor plates. The shimmering armor plates were of a metal Evan had never seen. It was smooth to the touch, very thin and light, yet very strong. Evan had tested the strength by slamming a hammer as hard as he could against one of the plates; the blow didn’t even scratch the armor in the slightest.

             
The suits served several functions for the wearer. With a complete suit donned in ground combat, the armor plates would protect almost completely against most energy and kinetic weapons. In space, the suit functioned as a flight suit, but in the event the pilot needed to eject from his fighter, the suit would function as a survival suit. The suit could keep the pilot’s body warm enough to keep from freezing in the cold depths of space and also recycle the carbon dioxide into an endless supply of breathable oxygen. It also included a survival beacon that activated when a rescue ship came within range and about four days of water if the pilot drank only what was necessary. The only thing a pilot need fear was starving to death or being found by the enemy.

             
“
Did you hear we are to be knighted?” asked Steve, walking up just as the four left the simulation hangar.

             
“
What?” asked Crystal.

             
“
I said, did you hear we are to be knighted?”

             
“
We are? Where did you hear that?” asked Evan.

             
“
Just now I overheard some of the French pilots talking about it. Seems we are to be knighted the day we lift off on our mission,” said Steve.

             
“
Well, I will believe it when I see it,” scoffed Evan, who then suddenly pointed. “Guys, we have annoying company coming.”

             
Looking to where he was pointing, Liam saw that several members of the media were making their way toward them.

             
“
Oh shit, can’t these guys leave us alone for five minutes?” complained Crystal.

             
Crystal was right. One of the new conditions since the press conference was that now the media could have free roam to monitor the training of the Order. So far, Necro Squadron had managed to avoid any interviews, but the reporters had become increasingly tenacious in their attempts. Liam and Evan especially had been the subjects of curiosity, as it had been leaked out that Liam was unmatched with the plasma swords and Evan was unmatched in the cockpit. Looking around, Liam noticed an unoccupied Humvee idling nearby.

             
“
Quick, get in,” said Liam as he jumped into the driver’s seat.

             
The others quickly got into the Humvee, and Liam shifted it into gear just as the reporters caught up with them.

             
“
Lieutenant Brennan! Wait, we have a few questions,” said a skinny rat-faced man snottily. “You know you are supposed to cooperate with us;--you have been ordered to by your superiors!”

             
“
What are they going to do? Execute me?” asked Liam sarcastically.

             
Laughing, he floored the pedal and the Humvee sped away, kicking up a dust cloud that engulfed the snotty reporter. Looking in the rearview mirror, he could see the reporter sticking up his middle finger to Liam’s departing Humvee.

             
“
You know we won’t be able to avoid them forever,” said Tim.

             
“
Yeah, well, like I said . . . what are they going to do to me?” reasoned Liam.

             
They drove in silence for a few minutes before Tim broke the silence.
“
OH!” Tim shouted, causing everyone to jump. “Turn around. Take us to the physics lab!”

             
“
CHRIST, TIM! You scared the shit out of me!” said Evan.

             
“
What’s got you so excited?” asked Crystal.

             
“
Just go to the physics lab. I want to show you something I discovered while tinkering in the lab the other day. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, I think Liam and Evan might like it as much as I do.”

             
With his curiosity peaked, Liam turned the Humvee and headed toward the physics lab. The trip took about fifteen minutes and the entire time Tim suffered an onslaught of questions from Evan and Liam trying to figure out what the surprise was, none of which he answered.

Once they arrived, Tim hopped from the Humvee and walked
into the building without another word. Liam, Evan, Crystal, and Steve exited the Humvee and followed him in. Once inside the lab, Tim walked over to a cabinet and withdrew a deactivated plasma sword. Turning, he held it up for the others to see.

             
“
What color is a plasma sword’s blade?” asked Tim.

             
“
White . . . they are all white, why?” asked Evan.

             
“
Well, it occurred to me what would happen if I put a filter over the lens that focuses the plasma energy.”

             
Tim turned his wrist so the plasma sword was vertical to the floor and ignited the sword. A red plasma blade sprang to life, bathing the lab in red light. All stood staring in silence at the shimmering red blade. Evan was the first to react.

             
“
I want one--that is so freaking awesome. Wait, this doesn’t break any copyright laws, does it? ’Cause I have seen the movies, and that resembles a very familiar red shimmering sword I have seen before . . . or at least the blade part does. The hilt is different.”

             
Smiling, Tim shut down the blade and handed it to Evan. Then he turned, retrieved another sword, and handed it to Liam.

             
“
I have only modified three so far, but if the rest of the squadron wants one, I will happily modify them for everyone,” said Tim, looking rather pleased with himself.

             
“
Can I have a blue one?” asked Steve.

             
“
I would like a green one when you get a chance,” said Crystal happily.

             
“
Hey, what color is yours?” inquired Steve.

             
Without a word, Tim withdrew a plasma sword from the bench and activated it, and an orange blade sprang to life.

             
“
I have always been rather partial to oranges. Once we leave, I probably won’t get to have another one, so . . .” Trailing off, he hefted the sword to indicate the shimmering blade.

             
The new colored blades were a hit at the next hand-to-hand training session. Soon, Tim was inundated with requests for colored plasma swords. The only drawback was that the filters would burn out after continual use. They would roughly last fifty hours before they needed to be replaced.

The days
and weeks passed quickly. Soon the time to undertake the mission would be at hand. Liam continued to excel in the use of the plasma sword and in hand-to-hand combat.

             
Over the past few weeks, he had begun to notice that it seemed the instructors were moving slower. Whereas before he would have to do everything he could to stop the incoming blows of the instructors, now it seemed he had all the time in the world to simply deflect the sword and counterattack. Wondering if it was him or the instructors, he began to do tests in his own time. He acquired a tennis ball and had Evan throw it as hard as he could against the dormitory’s wall. Liam would then attempt to catch it as quickly as possible while moving forward until his reaction time was cut to a finite time. They soon discovered that it wasn’t the instructors, but it was in fact their reaction times that had increased exponentially.