Chapter 34: Birth of the Apocalypse Squadron

The girls separated and headed for their quarters, where they started packing their belongings. Tina skipped down the passageway to her cabin, and opened the door and stopped.

"Oh no! Sampson, what have you done?"

Walking in, she looked at the dog's head and chest. It was covered in pizza sauce. The table was overturned. Shaking her head, she started cleaning the mess up. Ten minutes later, she had the auto-vac vacuuming the floor. She led Sampson into the bathroom, got the shampoo out and set it in the shower. Grabbing some clean towels, she set them on the rack, near the shield. Stripping, she stepped into the shower and called Sampson to her.

"Come on Sampson, you need a shower."

The big dog climbed into the stall, sat down, and looked up at his mistress.

Tina reached down and petted her best friend, and said, "Force shield up, shower on, warm water." The water came on and the water splashed the dog, and he sat there as he had been trained to do. Grabbing the shampoo, she started lathering up her best friend.

"Sampson, we are moving, boy. Moving in with Kathy and Maria. You will like that. We all love you, and will take care of you."

Scrubbing his back, she continued to talk with him.

"I am going to be a pilot, boy! I'm going to learn to fly fighters and kill the bastards who killed mom and dad."

Kneeling, she looked at her friend and hugged him, as she whispered in his ear, "I love you, boy. You never judge, you are always there to cheer me up."

Rising the soap off Sampson, she shut the water off. She reached through the water-shield and grabbed the towels and started rubbing him dry. Five minutes later he was semi-dry.

She shut the shield down and said, "Go lay down, my turn now." Standing up, she started washing herself, when the com went off, and she said, "Wayne quarters, Tina speaking."

Kathy Hernandez's voice came over the speaker, "Tina, where are you? Is that water I hear?"

"Yes I'm in the shower. I had to give Sampson a bath. We left the food where he could get it. He was a mess, and now I am taking a shower."

"Okay, well I have my stuff packed and on the way to our new quarters, Maria is still packing. I will drop my stuff off and come help you."

"All right, see you in a few minutes."

Quickly finishing her shower, she dried herself and pulled on some clean clothes. Taking the dirty ones, she tossed them onto the replicator along with the dirty dishes and watched them disappear.

"Replicator, I need some storage crates for my belongings."

As the crates materialized, she pulled them off of the replication pad until she had ten of them. As she was loading them crates, the door opened and Kathy walked in.

Kathy looked at the destroyed table, and said, "What a mess! He did a job in here."

Dropping the filled crate onto the gravity cart, she said, "Hey, Kathy, grab a crate. And it's your fault, you promised him 'pizza bones', and you didn't give him enough, so he took the rest of the pizza."

"Yeah! I did. Let me get a picture crate, and I will get your family pictures." Walking to the replicator she said, "Computer, I need a crate for pictures; 51centimeters by 41 centimeters by 150 centimeters."

The pad came on, and a large new crate was sitting there. Opening the padded crate, she removed all the pictures from the walls and started filling the large crate. When done, she looked over at Tina and saw her packing her knick-knacks, and said, "Tina, want to help me with this?"

"Sure, let me wrap this last unicorn statue that Ken ... I mean Admiral Thompson gave me and I will be right there."

Wrapping the glass figurine, she set it gently in its box and walked over to Kathy. Taking one end of the five-foot long crate, they set it on the gravcart and the magnetic frame locked it to the cart.

"Wow, I never realized how many pictures I had." Looking at the bare living room, she continued, "Grab a crate and follow me."

Going to the diminished stack of crates, she grabbed one and went into her bedroom. Walking over to the dresser, she opened it, and pulled her clothes out and started dropping them into the box.

"Kathy, can you get my closet for me? Just dump them in the box, I will fix them later."

"Sure no problem," Kathy said.

She walked over to the closet, and opened it. Setting the crate down by her feet, she started pulling the clothes out, folded them up, and placed them in the crate until it was full. Pressing the button at the top, the forcefield came on and sealed the crate. Carrying it out of the room, she propped it on the cart and grabbed another crate.

Within twenty minutes, they have the rest of the rooms packed and loaded.

Kathy walked over to the cart and activated the miniature computer, and said, "Go to Gamma deck, room number 1266."

Kathy and Tina watch the cart go out the door and down the hall to the cargo transport tubes. Tina walked over to the table, and picked up her laptop and Sampson's leader and called him.

"Sampson, come here."

The big mastiff came over to Tina and looked up at her wagging his tail.

"Good boy," she said as she clicked the leash onto him and she led him out the door.

Leading him out the room, they walked down the hallway, and stepped onto the transport tube.

Kathy said, "Gamma deck, near room 1266."

The tube deposited them there, forty seconds later. They walked into their new quarters.

Tina stopped as they came into the huge living room, and said, "Wow! Are we in the right room?"

Leaning down, she let Sampson loose. He wandered over to the couch, and jumped up on it, and laid down.

Kathy giggled and said, "I said the same thing. Amy said it was the correct quarters, though. There's even a hot tub for us."

Tina stood there looking around when the door opened and Maria came in and stopped. "Wow! It's huge..."

"Yeah, we know. Well come on. Let's unpack, and get everything put away."

Several hours later, Tina stood there watching her friend sleep, across the room the doctors were working on the Admiral and the strange woman.

Caressing her friend's hand, she whispered to the unconscious girl, "Shannon, wake up and tell me how you are feeling?"

Shannon slowly woke up in the medical bay, and looked to her right. She saw Doctor O'Neil working on another patient. She seemed to be talking to the AI, and then it dawned on her that it was Admiral Thompson. Hearing a noise, she looked to her left and saw Tina Wayne sitting there, and said, "I feel different, what happened?"

Shannon tried to sit up, and noticed a sheet across her body, and bandages around her wrists.

Tina helped Shannon sit up. She held the sheet to her body, as she tucked it around her, as she replied, "Well Shannon you tried to hurt yourself. You were really depressed and..."

Tears started running down Tina's face as she looked at her friend.

Suddenly the nightmare came back to her, but not as strong as it was.

She said to her friend, "Please don't cry, Tina. I know what I did, and why. I did not think about how it would affect my friends. I just was hurting so bad, that all I wanted was for the hurt to stop. I felt so alone, I didn't want it to go on."

Holding her arms out to Tina, she hugged her friend as the tears came to her own face.

"I'm sorry, so sorry."

Tina held Shannon in her arms and cried with her, when they separated, she grabbed the box of tissues she had brought with her, and handed them to Shannon.

"Well, you're not alone now. We, I mean Maria Sandalwood, Kathy Hernandez and I have moved your stuff in with us. We have a large four-bedroom apartment on Gamma Deck, and you're coming to live with us. Now while the doctors are busy, I am going to carry you there. I forgot to bring clothes for you and I don't think you want to be getting dressed with all these people around, so hang on to the sheet."

Slipping her arms under Shannon's legs, and her supporting her other on her back, she lifted and carried her out of the medical ward ... without permission.

Shannon gave a gasp at Tina's strength, and they were quickly out of the medical ward without anyone seeing them.

Stepping into the transport tube, Tina said, "Gamma deck, near room 1266." Tina looked her friend in her eyes and continued, "How you feeling?"

Giggling Shannon said, "Strange, I feel like you're carrying me over the threshold or something."

Smiling at her friend, she said, "Well I could kiss you, but right now I am still a little upset that you didn't come to us for help. Ah ... what the hell."

Tina leaned in and aimed to plant a kiss on Shannon's cheek but Shannon moved her head at the wrong time and her lips settled onto hers. What was supposed to be a peck turned into a full kiss, as Shannon held her tightly in her arms.

Breaking the kiss, Tina leaned against the wall and said, "I am sorry about that. I meant to kiss you on your cheek."

Shannon bit her lower lip for a second, and then said, "I'm not. You see, Tina, I am gay. I always have been. I hope you are not mad at me I could not help it. If you don't want me as a roommate, I will understand."

"No, Shannon, we do want you. Just let me think on it. I have never thought of a female as a bed partner. Even if I do not want one, I still want you living with us. You're our friend, and I have a plan for you to get revenge against the Crytherians for murdering your family, just like they did my parents when they attacked their command and blew it up."

"Okay, I will give it a try. As to the revenge, I never thought about them being the true culprits. I blamed Admiral Thompson for their deaths."

Biting her lip, Tina pulled out her best attack, and said, "You know if they hadn't stopped the Brander, I would now be on my way to a Crytherian world as a sex slave for their miners. Its one thing we have in common with Admiral Thompson, and from what I have learned, the Brander was going to take Jenny White on October 31^st. He had taken several of our friends; tell me if you do not recognize their names because we went to their memorials, Cindy Thomas, Ashley Kincaide, Winnie Simpson, Lena Gonzales, and Jennifer Taylor. We went to school with all of them. We need to rescue them, and bring them home to their families. Don't you agree?"

Shocked, Shannon recognized every name Tina had mentioned, and responded, "You mean, they're not dead?"

Shaking her head no, Tina replied, "No they're not, or we are praying they are not. They need to come home if they are still alive."

Shannon thought of her friends being abused, hurt, and missing their loved ones as she did, and said, "Then we need to bring them home, how can I help?"

Hugging Shannon to her as the transport doors opened, she walked down the hall. She passed several crewmembers as she went.

Entering their new quarters, she said, "First of all, welcome to your new home. Later tonight, we all will start training to be pilots. I am forming a squadron to fly fighters. We will kill every Crytherian we can."

Setting Shannon down as the alarms sound, she said, "I will be back I have to report to my station."

Turning, she was out the door before Shannon could say anything.

Shannon walked through the large apartment looking into each room. Finding her bedroom, she stood still. She looked at her belongings, and the pictures on the walls. Walking over to her family picture, she sat on the bed and stared at it.

"Momma, I will live for you! I will get revenge for what they have done to all of you."

"I am so happy you decided to live, Shannon. I too know what its like to loose a family member."

Whirling around, Shannon saw Amy standing in the doorway.

"Oh! You startled me, Amy. How did you loose your parents?"

"My parents died when their transport was attacked while they were on the way home to Terra, I have no idea who caused it. All we found was one of the shuttles adrift. The ship just disappeared, I was sent to live with my uncle on Tau Ceti. Where we are going to free all your people, I grew up on Prime, and it was a beautiful planet when I lived there ... I have to go. We are in combat. Be well Shannon, and if you ever need to talk, just call me."

Before Shannon could say anything Amy disappeared in a sparkling mist.

"Well I better start learning what I can," she said as she got up and walked into the living room and sat down at one of the computer desks. Staring at the computer for a minute, she then said, "Computer, I need to learn how to fly a fighter, will you teach me?"

"Of course! Do you wish to use the nano-helmet or visual?"

Biting her lip, she said, "Which would be faster?"

"The helmet will be faster. It will allow me to input everything directly into your brain. I can also have a simulator installed in your quarters."

Looking around the room she asked, "How big is the simulator? Can more then one be hooked up together?"

Each simulator is five feet long, three feet wide and five feet high, and yes, they can be interconnected so more then one person can fly together.

Walking over to the couch, Shannon turned it around, and shoved it to the far wall and said, "I want four of them connected right here. Also make four helmets, one for each station."

Simulators are being created now; they will be there in ten minutes. The helmets are ready on the replicator pad."

"Okay then I am going to go take a shower," turning she walked into the shower and cried as the water ran over her body. When she came out of the bathroom ten minutes later, the four simulators were sitting in the living room.

Turning Shannon walked over to the replicator, and grabbed the helmets and set them down at each computer station. Sitting back down at hers, she pulled the helmet on and activated it, and asked, "What do I do now?"

"Just relax, some trainees just sleep and let the helmet work. It is up to you. You can sit on the couch and do this. You do not need to sit at the desk. It will take about four hours."

"I will do that."

Getting up she walked over to the couch and laid down, and said, "Okay I am ready."

Closing her eyes, she felt the information flooding into her. Teaching her everything, she needed to know about flying through space, landing a fighter, and taking off.

Two weeks later the fleet dropped out of fold near the planet Karsakini. Their ships quickly engaged the Crytherian warships and shattered them. The USS Washington moved over Karsakini and started bombarding the defensive installations, one of them refused to die, sitting above a thermal vent, its shields had unlimited power. Waves of fighters and bombers try to break through the shields, but with the massive defensive batteries, every attack was thrown back. Casualties to the air groups were heavy. Ground mechs were closing on the defense works but they had to be dropped almost a thousand miles away and it was going to take time for them to get through.