Chapter 33: Tina's Idea

Tina Wayne stormed into her room. The com had just announced that Admiral Thompson had reassigned all the adults under the age of seventeen back to Mars base. Grabbing a vase off the nearest table and hurled it across the room. It shattered into myriad pieces, against the far wall.

"How dare he do this to me? He has no right!" she screamed.

Sampson came boiling out of her bedroom, a half chewed bone dangling from his mouth. Seeing his mistress he ran over to her, his two hundred pound body hit the coffee table and it flipped over.

Tina stormed over to the desk. She swept the books from the top, and activated the computer.

"Computer, I want all laws regarding the removal of adults from combat. Can a commander remove an adult from a combat situation because they are under the age of eighteen?"

"Negative. No Commander had the legal right to remove any crew from a combat position, except for medical reasons. But, he can request that person take another posting, or transfer them to another base if they are needed there."

The wheels started turning inside Tina's head as a plan started to form, and she said, "Can he prevent them from being a pilot?"

"Negative. The only way to prevent the subject from becoming a pilot is if they fail their flight qualifications."

Tina bit her lip and thought for a second, before she continued, "Question, if I pass the flight qualifications, he has to allow me to fight?"

"Negative, only if there are open positions for pilots."

Tina's heart fell, her perfect plan was crumbling and then the last four words came back to her.

'We are short of pilots, ' she thought. Then she said, "Computer, if we are short of fighter pilots, what about then?"

"Affirmative, he cannot endanger the ship if there are qualified pilots onboard."

Tina's heart soared. She now knew she had her way in.

"Thank you, that's all," she said, and the computer shut down.

Turning to her dog, Sampson, she sat down on the chair and started rubbing his massive head, while talking to him, "Sam, I'm going to become a pilot. I'm going to get revenge for what the Crytherians did to our family, and for all my friends they have kidnapped."

Taking the bone, she tossed it across the room as she turned to the com unit and called her friend Maria. Behind her, the huge dog went running across the living room and up onto the couch tipping it over.

Maria's face came up on the videocom and said, "Sandalwood quarters, Ensign Maria Sandalwood speaking. How can I help you?"

"Hi, Maria, this is Tina can you come to my quarters? I need to speak with you. I'll make dinner."

"Sure, Tina, I'll be right up."

"Thanks have to run," Tina reactivated the com and called her other friend Kathleen.

"Hernandez quarters, Ensign Kathleen Hernandez speaking."

"Kathy? Tina, here, are you busy?"

"Oh. Hi, Tina. No, not really. I just got off duty. I was going to take a shower and then make something to eat."

"Well, come on over. I'll get a pizza and some sodas. Maria is coming over, too. I need to talk to both of you."

Maria's eyebrows went up and she responded, "Pizza? You're on! Be right there."

The com went silent as Tina walked over to the replicator and said, "Computer, one extra large combination pizza, pie sliced, hold the fish ... Two large Cokes and a Diet Pepsi. Also a large order of bread sticks with melted cheese on them."

The replicator came on, and a large steaming pizza appeared. She picked it up, and set it on the table. Turning back to the replicator, she took the drinks and set them on the table, as well. Two had red straws, and the third had a blue one. Setting the drinks down, she grabbed the breadsticks and then got some plates and forks. As she was setting the plates down her door chimed.

"Come in."

The door opened and Kathleen walked in, her ponytail bouncing on her head. "Hey, Tina ... oh that smells good."

"Hi, Kathy. Grab a spot. The blue straw is your Pepsi. We're waiting on Maria."

"Okay, thanks."

Kathy grabbed a plate, slid a large slice of pizza onto the plate, and started eating it as Tina opened the door for Maria.

She waved with a bite of food in her mouth, and said, "Hi, Maria."

"Hi, Kathy, Tina ... How are you two?" Reaching down she rubbed Sampson's head. "Hey, Sammy! How you doing, big boy, I promise you a pizza bone, so don't worry."

Tina walked over and hugged one of her best friends, and said, "Thanks for coming."

Maria hugged Tina back, and said, "Your welcome. Let's eat. I'm starved."

Maria and Tina walked over to the table and started eating their dinner.

Sliding two slices of pizza on her plate, she said, "So, Tina, what's up?"

"Well, I'm sure you all heard the Admiral's announcement?"

Maria nodded her head 'yes' as she had a bite of food in her mouth.

Kathy set her pizza down, and said, "Yeah, I think it bites to send us to Mars to keep us safe. Especially after all the hard work I put in learning how to fly a shuttle."

Tina swallowed her bite of pizza, and replied, "Yeah I know. It sucks."

Maria swallowed her food, and said, "I know, it's not fair."

Kathy set her pizza down, and took a drink and then said, "Yeah, I agree. I think it's so unfair! By law, we are adults."

Tina looked at her two friends and grinned, 'good they are as pissed as I am, ' she thought, and then she said, "I agree and I have a question for you. I know how we can stop it. I checked the law and he cannot do this to us. He can transfer us, but he cannot deny us the right to fight."

Maria handed the pizza bone to Sampson who gobbles it down in one bite. "So what can we do about it?

Tina grinned and looked both of her friends in their eyes before answering. "Well, I have an idea, but it's dangerous. We could be killed. We also would need a fourth member. Here is what I propose we do. We train, we work as hard as we can and we form a fighter squadron. If we all pass our flight status, and the ship is short of fighter crews, then the Admiral cannot deny us. We would need to think up a unit name and figure out what we want to fly. I want to blow as many Crytherian ships away as I can. I saw the video feed from my parent's death. The bastards attacked their ship without warning."

Maria coughed on her soda, and said, "You saw the video?"

Tina nodded her head, and replied, "Yeah, I did. Two Crytherian cruisers appeared on each side of the Dachshund and just opened fire on her. No attempt was made to communicate, no warning, and sixteen hundred people died."

Kathy thought on it for a second and said, "I'm in. What about you Maria?"

Maria sat and listened to Tina, and said, "Yes, I'm in, too ... And, I know who we can get for the fourth member."

Tina sat there with tears in her eyes, and responded, "Thank you, both of you. Who?"

"Shannon Evans. She lost her entire family during the Reno explosion. The only reason she survived is that she was at a friend's house across town. She's staying with them, now. Mr. Jenkins, Tanya's dad, has signed up, and they are onboard. I heard she cries herself to sleep every night."

Tina bit the tip of her straw, and set the glass down, and asked, "Can you call her? Ask her to come over, now."

"Sure, let me use your com."

Maria got up and went over to the com on the desk. Sitting down, she placed the call to the Jenkins' quarters.

Shannon sat in her room, her teddy bear clutched to her chest as tears dripped down her face. She was thinking of her family, all dead, in Reno. Rolling over in the bed, and covering her head with the blanket, she heard someone in the other room. Getting up, and going to the door, she locked it. She then struggled to move the dresser in front of the door. Taking a knife, she jammed it into the door control and shorted it out, to prevent it from opening. With tears running down her face, she walked into the bathroom and striped, looking at the razor sharp knife on the counter.

She picked it up, stepped into the shower, and said, "Shower on, hot."

Standing there, she watched the steam build up, and then she stepped into the shower. The heat from the shower scalded her body as she sat under the spray, taking the razor sharp knife, and placing it against her wrist. As she was about to cut it, she heard a voice.

"Shannon that won't work, I'll not allow you to kill yourself."

Turning around quickly, she saw Amy standing there, and whispered, "Why do you care? I'm all alone, all my family is dead." Tears ran down her face as she looked at the hologram. "I miss them so much! All I want is to be with them. If you and this ship hadn't come along, my family would still be alive."

Amy sat on the floor and looked at Shannon. "That is true, and in five hundred years the Earth would be destroyed and all of your descendants would be dead or taken as slaves of the Crytherians."

"I don't care what happens in the future."

It dawned on her what Amy was doing. She took the knife and cut her wrist from elbow to wrist. Crying out in pain from the deep cut, she flipped the blade to her other hand, she quickly sliced the other arm as the hot water flowed over her.

With tears in her eyes, she continued what she was saying, "There. It's done and not even you can save me."

Amy was surprised when Shannon cut her wrists, and said, "You're wrong, Shannon."

Amy materialized in medical and saw Doctor Gretchen Hillary doing her rounds, "Doctor Hillary, we have a medical emergency in Sergeant Jenkins' quarters. Room 1015 on deck 16, their guest Shannon Evans, is going to try to commit suicide. She is in her shower with a knife, and had blocked her bedroom... " Amy stopped talking for a second and then said, "Damn it, she has cut her arms and wrists. She is bleeding pretty badly. I'm trying to stop the blood flow with tractors, but they are not working. You have one minute to get to her."

Gretchen grabbed her case as she listened to Amy and said, "I'm on the way! Get the doors cleared."

Running out of the medical room, she stepped into the transport tube and said "Deck 16 room 1015."

The transport tube took off, with her in it.

Shannon looked at the wall as she leaned against back of the shower. The cut on her right wrist is deep almost all the way through her forearm and running about nine inches long. The other was only about a half-inch deep and six inches long. Holding her arms into the spray of water to numb them and to speed up blood loss she looked at Amy as her vision blurred.

"Momma? Poppa? I'm coming. Tell Lori I love her, and will see her soon."

Amy tried to activate her tractor beams in the bedroom and bathroom, but they were not working.

"Shannon, what did you do to my emitters? I'm sure your parents would rather you live."

Amy materialized in the living room and startled Louise Jenkins.

"Specialist Jenkins, we have a medical emergency! Shannon is trying to kill herself in her shower."

Amy activated the tractor beams in the living room, yanked the doors off their tracks, and set them in the hallway. Using the beams, she lifted the dresser up and out of the way as Louise rushed by and into the bathroom.

Seeing the young girl lying on the bottom of the shower, she said, "Shower off." Stepping into the shower and through Amy's image, she heard Shannon call for her mother and father, and she cried out, "Shannon! It's me, Louise! I'm here."

Picking the nude girl up, she carried her into the bedroom and set her on the bed.

"Replicator, I need two large nanobandages, right now."

The requested material materialized on the pad and Louise grabbed them, wrapping them around Shannon's wrists and forearms. As the blood soaked the nanobandages, the nanobots embedded into them went to work on healing the wounds.

In the doorway, Louise's two younger children were standing there watching.

"William? Cindy? Go to your bedrooms ... now!" Louise shouted out.

From the doorway, a voice shouted, "Make a hole, people."

Suddenly, Doctor Hillary was there on the bed beside Louise and Shannon. Flipping her case open, she extracted an injector and filled it with healing nanobots. Pressing the injector against each of the girls wrists, she said, "Shannon, talk to me."

Shannon curled up on her side crying, and said, "Please just let me die! Let me join my family."

Shaking her head no, she said to the young girl, "Shannon, I cannot allow that. You must live, and I must try and save you." Reaching into her kit, she pulled out another injector, and said, "Now, Shannon, I want you to sleep. When you wake up, we will talk some more." Pressing the injector against the girls arm, she activated it and watched the powerful sedative go to work on the young girl.

Looking up at the woman beside her, she said, "Okay. Now, why would she try and kill herself?"

Louise looked up at the doctor as she brushed Shannon's hair out of her eyes, "She lost her entire family in Reno. She was spending the night at my house when the explosion happened. So we took her in, to keep her safe."

Gretchen looked down on the sleeping girl as she wrapped a sheet around Shannon's body, noticing that the wounds on the girl's wrists were not healing, and she blurted out, "She's not enhanced is she?"

"No, she didn't want it. She blames the Admiral for the destruction of Reno and wanted nothing to do with the ship or the technology that it offers."

Gretchen cursed under her breath, then said, "Stupid girl. Okay, well she's going to get it. We need to get her depression under control, too."

Sliding the sheet over Shannon's body, she tucked it in, picked the girl up, and said, "Louise, can you get my case for me, and follow me to medical?"

Going out the door, she headed for the transport tube and stepped in with Louise right behind her.

"Medical," she said.

Looking down at the young woman, she adjusted her grip.

"Hold on, Shannon. You're going to get better. I promise you."

Maria activated the com unit. "Can I have the Jenkins' quarters?" She waited for it to be picked up on the other end and a young boy picked up. "Hi, I need to speak with Shannon Evans, this is Maria Sandalwood calling."

William looked at the girl on the screen and replied, "I'm sorry. She's not here. My mom and the doctor just took her away. She hurt herself."

Maria sat there, fear ran through her for her friend, as she said, "Okay, thank you. Is she going to be okay? Do you know how she hurt herself?"

"I think she fell on a knife, there is one that's all bloody in the bathroom. Oh, here's my sister."

The image changed to a young woman. "Hello? Oh! Hi, Maria, what's up?"

"Hi, Tanya, I'm trying to get a hold of Shannon, but your brother said she'd been hurt, and something about a knife."

"I don't know, I just came in. Her bedroom door has been ripped right out of the wall and her dresser is lying against my bedroom door. I know she's been depressed over the loss of her family. Wait, here's my mom let me ask her."

The image went blank for a second, and then she came back on.

"Maria, it's bad. She tried killing herself, and they have her sedated in medical."

Shocked Maria asked, "Can we see her?"

Tanya shrugged her shoulders, and said, "I don't know, Maria. You can go down and ask, or call Doctor Hillary. I have to go. We have to clean up a mess."

Maria stood there looking at the blank screen for a second and then looked up at her friends eating their pizza. Walking over to them, she stood there with a shocked look on her face.

Tina had her pizza halfway to her mouth when she looked up at Maria and saw the strange look on her face, and asked, "Maria, what's wrong?"

Maria sat down, as tears started running down her face, and she blurted out, "Shannon tried to kill herself, she's down in medical. I don't know what her condition is, but we should go see her. We need to be with her, when she wakes up."

Tina dropped her pizza on her plate, "Yes! We should be there when she wakes up. She is going to need all the friends she can get." Reaching down she picked up her soda and she took a big drink of it and then set it back down, as she continued, "I'm ready! Let's go!"

Tina walked to the doorway with Maria and Kathy behind her.

As the door closed, Sampson got up, stood on the table and started eating the pizza. As he licked the platter it slid across the table and dropped to the floor, where the two hundred pound dog started eating his share of their dinner.

The three girls stepped into the transport tube, and Tina said, "Medical."