The Cresperian Alliance (15 page)

Piki was still uncertain about the human notion of intimacy—very much so—but she also wanted the opportunity to find out. And that meant ensuring that Bangler would be coming back from whatever missions he undertook. So Piki took especial care in enhancing him.

When Sira and Piki declared the transformation complete, Tomlinson called in Lieutenant Hand Anderson and Sergeants David McAllister and Michael Wang, then put Bang through his paces on an obstacle course. It wasn't until then that Bang himself realized how much he'd changed. He drove a double weight sled back as if it were nothing, scaled a net like a spider, broke the rope suspending a weight bag, and still ran the course in record time.

"Sheeeeit,” Hand muttered when Tomlinson clicked the stopwatch. “Now THAT is a Space Marine."

Bang jogged up to them; he was barely panting. “How'd I do?

"Broke every course record we've got,” Tomlinson noted. “By a substantial margin. In every case."

"WHAAAT?!"

"You heard the man,” Mac commented. “You beat every member of my Special Ops unit all hollow."

"We need to talk to the Crispies,” Hand decided, “all of them. I wonder how many of our boys and girls they can enhance at a time?"

"Just one each, according to Piki,” Bang informed them. “Takes about a week and a half. A week if they're in a hurry or more than one of ‘em works on ya."

"And we have... mmm, Sira, Piki, Chris, Peter, Karen, Dalunith, and Frstiminith,” Hand noted. “Do you think Dalunith is up to it, though?"

"Sira told me he was basically back to normal now,” Tomlinson said. “Chris, Peter, and Karen have been helping him. He's good to go. In fact, he and Frstiminith were starting to consider their own conversions to human."

"So we could do groups of seven at a time,” Hand decided. “We could have our platoon done inside a month's time."

"We could,” McAllister agreed. “Should we talk to Colonel Chadwick?"

"Not yet,” Tomlinson warned. “The Crispies have to be willing. This isn't a snap of the fingers for them, by any means."

"So we talk to our Crispies first,” Hand ordered.

Piki was walking back to her quarters alone, deep in thought.
I must discuss this with my fellow Cresperians,
she decided.
Bang-bang has struck upon an excellent idea. But Sira and I cannot do it alone. We will all need to...

Her musings were interrupted by a hand on her arm. She turned, apprehension gripping her insides, to see a vaguely familiar man standing beside her, a wide smile on his handsome face. A short shock of blond hair framed said face, and hazel eyes crinkled at the corners as they gazed at her.

"Hi,” he said in a friendly fashion. “I'm Pete McCord. I'm a NASA propulsion engineer. I don't know if you remember me. We sat next to each other at the last briefing."

"I... recollect you, yes,” Piki said warily. She could already sense what he wanted, and she only desired to get away. A knot of fear grew in her throat; it was a struggle to swallow. “I am afraid I am busy right now.” She resumed walking toward her quarters, moving swifter.

"Oh, this won't take long. You're Cresperian, right?” McCord asked, matching his stride to hers.

"I am,” Piki said shortly.

"Good. I've... heard a lot about you Crispies, and I was wondering. You're a gorgeous babe. Would you like to go to the movies with me sometime?"

"I am afraid not,” she said bluntly, spotting her door ahead with thankfulness. “I anticipate being extremely busy in the near future, helping Earth prepare to ward off any Snappers."

"Oh, surely you'll have some down time. You can't work twenty-four hours straight."

"We can do so for several days straight,” Piki corrected him. She arrived at her door and touched the lock plate. There was a click, and the door opened. “Excuse me, please. I must get ready for my meeting."

"Oh, I don't think so,” McCord said, forcing his way through the door behind her with a smirk. “See, I don't take ‘no’ that easily. And I've heard all about how sex starved and hungry you Crispies are. I think you're just playing hard to get, trying to get me all hot and bothered.” He grabbed her arm again and pulled her against him. “Guess what? It worked. And I'm here to fulfil every fantasy you've ever had, sweetheart.” He bent his head to kiss her.

Just then his shoulder was grabbed and jerked with enough force to spin him around. He lost his grip on Piki, who retreated across the room to the computer console, and found himself staring into the angry gray eyes of Sergeant Edward Bangler.

"What the h- blazes do you think you're doing?” Bang growled.

"Satisfying a little hottie,” McCord replied insolently, shoving Bang's hand away, “and three's a crowd. So shove off, kevlar top. The babe and I have some unfinished business—horizontal business. And believe me, she'll be more than satisfied when I'm done."

"Has the lady told you she WANTED to be satisfied?” Bang asked, replacing his hand on McCord's shoulder.

This time McCord found he couldn't break Bang's grip, which was tightening uncomfortably. “That's between the two of us. And like I said, three's a crowd."

"I don't think so,” Bang snarled. “You obviously haven't got a clue who you're talking to, or what she's been through. I suggest you leave now."

"Oh yeah? What're YOU gonna do about it, bad ass?” McCord challenged.

"Oh, it's not what I'LL do to you,” Bang said with a wolfish grin, his hand continuing to tighten on McCord's shoulder; the engineer was now struggling to avoid grimacing in pain. “It's what SHE'LL do to you."

"Wha?"

"The last man who tried to force his attentions on my friend over there,” Bang nodded at Piki, “came away from the encounter with no balls and a dick barely big enough to piss with. Now, if you value your ability to reproduce—and given your level of comprehension, I'm not sure if you ought to be allowed to swim in the gene pool—I strongly suggest you apologize to the lady and get the hell out of her quarters. And never speak to her again."

McCord paled. “She's... she's THAT one...?"

"She is."

"Oh, dear God,” McCord whispered. “Lemme go! Lemme go, now!"

Bang released him, and he bolted out the door and down the hall, disappearing around a corner.

Piki stayed by the computer, seeming frozen. Bang turned to her. “I'm sorry, Piki,” he apologized softly. “I know I used some words you don't like hearing. But that idiot wasn't gonna get the picture otherwise."

"I... I know,” Piki murmured. “Thank you, Bang-bang. He... is as arrogant as the Prime Minister was, though in a different way. I... was able to record the incident, after you freed me.” She gestured to the computer, then switched off the video camera attached to it.

"Good. Send it to the NASA coordinator here at the Enclave. That'll fix his little red wagon well enough, I'd think."

"But... I thought you could not send them back."

"Given how public things are getting,” Bang noted, “that might not be true. But what IS true,” he added with a smirk, “is that we've got a brig now. I don't think you'll be seeing him again, even ‘across a crowded room.’”

"Oh,” Piki said, then managed a weak grin herself, as she sat down to email the video to the chief NASA liaison.

Later, she contacted Sira. They had a brief, intense discussion, then agreed to meet in Sira's quarters.

Anderson, with Tomlinson's help, approached the small contingent of Crispies already gathered in Sira Whitman's apartment. “Guys, we were wondering..."

"Yes,” Chris Roberts, one of the original Crispies brought in from the Rocky Mountains, said, before Hand could even get out his question. “Sira and Piki have told us what they have done with Sergeant Bangler. And we are aware of the enhancements to Sergeant Tomlinson, Dr. Trung, and Kyle Leverson. Piki also explained Sergeant Bangler's rationale. We are in agreement."

"You... you are?” Hand tried not to stammer.

"Yes,” Sira said softly. “John and I have talked about the concept a good bit in the past. Also the four of us—myself, John, Piki, and Sergeant Bangler—discussed it considerably while Piki and I were enhancing the sergeant. And judging from the video we saw from the
Zeng Wu
, we are agreed that the Crispies and the enhanced humans were the ones who were best able to hold their own in the fight."

"We believe this may be the best use of our abilities at this time,” Frstiminith agreed. “Dalunith and I have decided to postpone our own conversions until we can enhance—or ‘fix,’ as Piki likes to put it—as many of your Space Marines as is possible for us to do without exhausting ourselves."

"Which thing we do NOT want you to do,” Anderson averred. “May we go forward to our superiors with this?"

"With one caveat,” Peter Murphy, one of Piki's colleagues, added. “NO one is to be ORDERED to do this. Each space marine must volunteer, as we have volunteered. We will not perform the modifications against the person's will. We have had enough of that ourselves; we will not inflict it upon others."

"Understood,” Hand agreed.

"You're kidding,” Colonel Chadwick said blankly. “They want to enhance our people?"

"They feel, as we do, it may be one of our best edges against... whatever's going to happen,” Anderson explained. “But we can't issue orders. The Crispies made that plain. It has to be voluntary."

"I don't think we'll have any shortage of volunteers,” Chadwick observed. “Hell, I'll be at the head of the line, if I can pull rank.” He nodded. “I'll go forward to Washington and Terhune."

"HELL, yes,” Terhune agreed immediately. “How fast can we get it started?"

"Wait a damn minute, Wayne,” Washington interrupted. “What kind of strain is this going to put on our Crispies?"

"Not that much, sir,” Chadwick declared. “They know their limits, and they know it doesn't do us or them any good to push too hard."

"Is the injured one from China up to this?"

"Right as rain, sir. Clean bill of health from our medics as well as the other Crispies."

Caleb Washington thought for a few moments, while Admiral Terhune fidgeted in impatience, and Chadwick waited patiently for orders.

"All right,” General Washington agreed. “I'm with you, Wayne. Let's get this rolling. Put out the call for volunteers, Chadwick."

"Yes, SIR."

"So,” Peggy said to Bang in the mess hall, “I hear you're Superman now. The first in a long line, it appears."

Bang flushed. “Not really Superman. Just... a little better.” He paused. “You gonna have it done?"

"Damn straight. If I gotta patch up wounded, it's a lot more useful if I can run like hell and lift a couple times my own weight. Or at least more than, to get TO the wounded and get ‘em outta more harm's way."

"Yeah, it works really good."

"Your pretty little Crispy do it for you?"

"She's not ‘my’ Crispy, but yes, Piki—and Sira—did it."

"Ah,” Peggy said, her brittleness wilting a bit. “Why did you decide to do it?"

"Because of what you said,” Bang shrugged.

"About what?"

"About having a bad feeling about the Snappers."

"Oh."

"I figured, if it came to a fight with some real bad boys, it'd be nice if I had a little extra edge,” Bang admitted. “Actually, Piki offered to do it to help me win you back."

"She did?” Peggy sat upright, dark brown eyes wide. “Damn."

"What?"

"I knew she cared about you, but I didn't realize it was that much."

Bang hung his head. “I..."

"Listen, Bang, it's okay,” Peggy said softly. “I... was jealous of Piki, getting you for that D.C. trip, and... and I threw myself at you. I'm sorry. I got to thinking, and kinda reading between the lines of what you admitted to. And you've got reason for being hurt, and reason for taking your time. And that's the mark of a sensitive, intelligent, wise man."

Bang nodded. “Thanks,” was all he said.

"I guess you should know,” Peggy began awkwardly, “I started seeing this guy over in Company C. It was a rebound thing at first, but he and I... it's... pretty intense."

Bang nodded, hiding his resignation. “You two serious?"

"I... think so."

Bang slapped a mischievous grin on his face to hide the disappointment and rejection. “But does he KISS as good as I do?"

Peggy blushed scarlet. “Um. Well, maybe not quite."

Bang grinned ruefully. “I'll take what I can get, I guess."

"Listen, are you and Piki...?"

Bang shrugged. “Subject's never actually come up, except for some really naive comments on her part back on the sub. And I sure as hell dunno how to BRING it up. Or even if I want to,” he admitted frankly.

"You oughta do SOMEthing for her, after all that enhancement,” Peggy pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess so,” Bang admitted. “Besides, all this waiting around for the other shoe to drop is killing me."

"What do you mean?"

"The
Galactic
is out there, somewhere. Did they find Cresperia? Did the Snappers find THEM? Are they still alive? Are the Snappers headed here? Are China and the Islamic Confederacy gonna push the button? One? Both? What the hell is gonna happen next? The suspense is getting next to me."

"Yeah,” was all Peggy could think of to say.

For lack of any better ideas, Bang asked Piki if she'd like to go to a movie, and she agreed. To make it easier on the pair, Sira and Tomlinson offered to make it a double date, and to cook dinner for four in their quarters. Bang and Piki accepted, and the four had a congenial evening together. The movie playing in the Enclave theater was an action adventure with comic overtones, and the two female Crispies sat side by side, with the men flanking them. Piki murmured the occasional question when the movie ventured into areas she didn't comprehend, and either Sira or Bang whispered explanations.

In the end, Bang decided it had been an enjoyable evening. So, for that matter, did Piki. They discussed it a little bit, casually, as Bang walked Piki back to her quarters.

"So this is a first date,” Piki murmured thoughtfully. “I think it was a nice first date, Bang-bang."

"Good,” Bang grinned. “I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Are you going to want to come in now and... do anything?” The lovely copper eyes were inscrutable, but the slight hesitation in her voice betrayed Piki's anxiety.