BUaDS – Chapter 62 – A Fury of Fire, Wind and Water
Dante Valderez stared coldly at the young woman resting peacefully on the helicopter cabin bench, flanked by two young officers in light grey uniforms. She lay on her side with your knees pulled up, and her hands under her face, letting her long, dark hair slide to the side of her face and below her chin. She was only wearing a white t-short and shorts, and had kicked off her tennis shoes, which were lying casually on the cabin floor. She shivered a bit in the cool air inside the cabin, the sunlight streaming in being blocked by they blonde man sitting beside her. He didn’t pay much attention to her, instead his blue eyes unfocused on the expansive ocean waves rolling beneath the speeding aircraft. The dark man on the other side of her watched her shiver and he stood up to look in the cabinets nearby.
“Sit down!” Dante roared at him, making him jump and fall back into his seat.
“Yes, sir. I was just looking for a blanket for Leanna here. Maybe there’s one under this bench-“ he said as he bent over and grabbed one of the handles of a chest stored there.
“Leave it!” Dante said sharply, and gestured angrily at the overhead bin above the bench he was sitting on. His black eyes were now smoldering with anger, and his breathing was loud from underneath his respirator mask. The blonde man turned a shade paler as he tried not to look at the furious Commander. “Lucretius!” he barked at him, “you know where the blankets are stored, you get one!”
Lucky’s head snapped to attention and he scrambled over to Dante, nervously looking through the overhead bins. He found a grey blanket and quickly tossed it to his compatriot, saying, “Here, James!” as he hurriedly returned to his seat. James unfolded the blanket and gently spread it over Leanna, covering her bare arms and legs, and tucking in in behind her back. She murmured slightly, and pulled the edge of the blanket over her face.
“So, her name is Leanna?” Dante asked James sharply, “Did you get her full name?”
“Leanna O’Regan, also known as the Silver Princess. She is most certainly one of the leaders of the California Independence Movement,” James offered quickly.
“And what else did you learn?” Dante asked, looking for a moment at the metal chest stored under the bench she was sleeping on.
“Not too much, other than she tried to test me on the Principles of the Cooperative,” James said smoothly now, “which I was able to use to gain her confidence. The CIMs are very interested in QuadriStar and its purpose.”
“And what did you reveal to her?” Dante asked, now looking directly into James’s eyes.
“Nothing, other than our counter-propaganda training program,” James said, lifting the silver four-point star from under his shirt, letting it glint as it caught the afternoon sun entering the cabin.
“Ah yes, Punishment, Entitlement, Piety, Competition… It is much more than counter-propaganda, it is the President’s decree and the inspiration for the QuadriStar. How did she respond to that?” Dante said, lifting out with a black gloved hand from under his black uniform jacket collar the same silver four-point star necklace.
“We had a discussion about it, yes,” James said, unsure of himself now and glancing sideways at the woman resting beside him and trying to look away from Dante’s piercing gaze.
“And what else did you tell her? She’s very pretty and compelling to a young man like yourself. What did you tell her about the QuadriStar?” Dante asked in a low voice, letting the necklace and pendant fall outside his uniform jacket.
“I didn’t tell her anything! How could I? I hardly know anything about it myself, other than it is a huge battleship with a hull that changes shape – but she saw all that when she was onboard before falling into the ocean!” James said, his throat tightening in panic as Dante leaned forward, closing the space between them. “Look, I don’t even know what the true purpose of the QuadriStar is!”
Lucky looked as panicked as James, and added, “None of us on the ship do! We don’t know much more than it carries a fleet of helicopters and an arsenal of guided missiles.”
Dante leaned back, his breathing steading and his eyes cooling and hardening again. He ran a gloved hand over his scarred, bald head and slightly adjusted the straps of his respirator mask before lifting the silver four-pointed star pendant to them, saying, “All you need to know is that QuadriStar battlestation was designed to fulfill the President’s wish to bring a decisive end to the SEA War. Indeed it shall, with a fury of fire, wind and water that our enemies have never seen!” He put the pendant back under his collar and turned to look out through the front windshield of the cockpit, “Pilot! How much longer until we arrive at the QuadriStar?”
The pilot gestured ahead of him through the windshield, to a grey ship looming on the horizon, “Another 15 minutes, sir!”
Dante turned back to look at the sleeping Leanna, and then addressed Lucky and James, “I want you to bring the CIM leader to my private quarters before you return to your posts on the bridge. You will also debrief me there on your experience with the NSRI. I’m curious to know what else you were transmitting to each other, other than what you were seeing.”
Lucky and James gave each other a quick, nervous glance and said in unison, “Yes, sir.”
The massive ship on the horizon grew steadily larger and filled their view as the helicopter rumbled towards it, low over the ocean. They were near enough to see that it was not moving, with all four points of the hull resting in the water. There was a swarm of helicopters taking off from it and flying away from it in every direction. As they got closer to the battlestation, they could see it was buzzing with activity, and Dante was getting visibly agitated with what he saw.
“That fool, General Thompson! How dare he configure the QuadriStar for starburst, without me on board! What is that idiot planning to do?” Dante growled. “Pilot, land immediately at the bridge landing pad! Lucretius! Come here and call up General Thompson and announce our arrival!” Dante was now standing in the cabin and almost picking up Lucky to push him into the copilot’s seat. “James! Wake up the CIM leader so she can witness the purpose of the QuadriStar! Starburst will bring all opposition to the President to their knees!”
*** 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. ***