BUaDS – Chapter 41 – The QuadriStar

BUaDS – Chapter 41 – The QuadriStar

Leanna O’Regan was laying on her side on the undulating fabric floor of the covered orange life raft, her head resting on the rolled up light grey jacket and her eyes lightly closed. She had gathered her long black hair together and pulled it to one side over her shoulder under her. She was only wearing a white t-shirt and shorts, and pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her, shivering in the ocean spray and breeze coming through the open entrance of the raft. Across from her in the raft sat James Stockard, his legs stretched out straight in front of him, and just as lightly dressed as Leanna in white boxer shorts and undershirt. His uniform jacket and pants were laying flat on the floor in front of him, drying in the cool air in the raft. James got up and went over to the entrance, feeling along its edge for the zipper to close it.


“Leave it open,” Leanna commanded him, “I might still want to throw you out through it.”


James sat down again, laughing. He looked out the entrance into the choppy ocean surface that disappeared into the horizon and watched the crescent moon reveal itself again from behind the high, wispy clouds backlit by it. The stars glittered around it and he tugged on the four-point gold star hanging from the necklace around his neck. “Punishment, Entitlement, Piety, Competition…,” he mumbled, gazing at the partially lit face of the moon.


Leanna’s eyes snapped open. “What did you say?” she said sharply, stiffening her body, ready to pounce.


“That’s what we were taught to recite in our training, as a part of our orientation before beginning our assignment on the QuadriStar,” James said calmly, running his hand over the short curly hair on his head. “Don’t worry,” he said, able to see Leanna’s rising anger on her face, “I know better. The four points of the Gold Star of the Cooperative are the best way to run a civil society, not the President’s perversion of it.”


“The only way!” Leanna said, sitting up into a cross-legged position with her arms resting upwards on her knees, her fists unclenching as she spoke. “Perseverance: don’t give up in the face of adversity. Empathy: understand the perspectives of others. Positivity: turn a bad situation into a good one. Collaboration: find solutions-“


“-that benefit everyone,” James recited along with her, sitting cross-legged as well, with his arms in the same position as Leanna’s, his eyes looking straight into hers, and his palms open along with hers. They looked into each others eyes for a few moments in silence, until James said, “Yes, thank you for the counter-propaganda lesson.”


Leanna closed her open palms into fists again and pulled her legs under her. “What was that crap they were telling you in place of the four points of the Gold Star?” she asked, “What did they try to replace the Five Principles with?”


James shrugged, saying, “I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention in the training. There was nothing about the Five Principles, so I’d say they don’t know about it.”


“Interesting. Perhaps that’s because only CIM leaders carry the silver rose and none have been captured or have defected yet,” Leanna said, reaching to her neck and dropping her hand quickly into her lap. “So I assume that the ‘QuadriStar’ is that ridiculous battleship you were stationed on. Tell me all you know about it.”


James continued to sit cross-legged, and drew with his hands in the air between him and Leanna a four point star, barely visible in the faint light entering the life raft, sayng, “The QuadriStar is a ship in the conventional sense that it has a long rounded bow and stern, but with a second one at right angle to the first. What’s revolutionary about it this battleship, despite it’s huge size, is that the four points can rotate and change the shape of the hull, making it agile and speedy for a such massive ship. By reconfiguring the hull, the battle station can slow down and change directions quickly.”


“Fascinating. And what sort of defenses does it have?” Leanna asked, her brow furrowed as she recollected her own experience of the ship.


“It’s covered in anti-aircraft guns, cannons and missile launchers. It can launch torpedoes from any of its hulls and contains several helicopter pads that have four helicopters lifted up to them from elevators underneath them,” James explained, a little too enthusiastically.


“You sound impressed by it,” Leanna said sarcastically, “And how about chemical and nuclear weapons? General Thompson is commanding this battleship, and those were his signature offensive in the SEA War.”


“I don’t know about that. That reminds me, there are long range and self-guiding missiles as well. This battleship just about has it all,” James said, “Except decent sized cabins and galleys. It’s pretty cramped for us grunts on the lower decks. There are sections of the ship that are off-limits for all but the most senior officers. Commander Valderez has an entire deck for his quarters.”


“How does Dante Valderez fit in all this?” Leanna asked, laying her head again on the rolled up jacket and closing her eyes.


“I heard he designed the ship and knows it inside out,” James said, and then swore loudly, “Bastard! He kicked me out in the ocean for no reason!”


“I don’t believe that,” Leanna retorted and was going to say more but stopped. “You’ve told pretty much all I know already about this ‘QuadriStar’. One thing I don’t know is what the purpose of this battleship is. Why was it built in the first place?” Leanna saw the doubt on James face and answered for him, “You don’t know. I suspect it will be used to subdue the California Independence Movement and will be deployed in the SEA War to bring it to a decisive end. But it has another purpose, one that the President and General Thompson don’t know about. Only Dante knows it’s hidden purpose!”


*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***

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