Tatum's War

The next three months didn’t do much to improve Tatum’s skills in hand to hand combat. The extra training only reinforced the fact that if he ever got into a fight with a skilled opponent, he would loose and die. But despite this knowledge, he continued his training so if he did get the chance to fight someone, he could keep himself alive long enough for MeerRhonda to rescue him.

Tatum picked himself up from the mat, wiping blood from his lip with his sleeve. Blood covered most of his forearm. He’d noticed that MeerRhonda over the months hadn’t knocked him down quite as much as before. Part of it was because he was getting better, but he suspected that she recognized his lack of skill and tried to leave him uninjured so he could still concentrate on finding out where the Draco Conclave might attack next.

During the times when he wasn’t training, Flexi and Tatum spent a good amount of his day going over the current fleet positions that the Conclave occupied. What the Commodore had said was strangely true. Large swaths of galactic space, which had been liberated by the Two’s army, known as the Observer Trifectoric, had returned their allegiance back to the Conclave. When he explored this further, the mystery deepened even more. Not only did they pledge their allegiance to the Conclave, but the Conclave armies didn’t even return to occupy those territories. It was as if the Conclave knew those worlds would return, and when they did, it was with the understanding that they were on their own. He could only find one time where the Conclave army had returned to reoccupy a specific solar system. And that system was so far removed from any strategic location that it boggled Tatum’s mind. Everything he remembered from school, T.V. and strategies taught to him by Mr. Chance, screamed this was a complete waste of resources. Therefore, it didn’t surprise Tatum that no one, including himself, could find a coherent reason for the way the Conclave conducted its war campaign.

“Preoccupied?” MeerRhonda looked down at him after a roundhouse kick put him on his back.

Tatum moaned as he rolled over and pushed himself up. “Just a little. Sorry.”

MeerRhonda shrugged. “Your body.”

Blood dripped off his chin as he smiled revealing bloodied teeth. “That much is true. But I think you like beating on me.”

“I do not…”MeerRhonda started before Tatum interrupted her.

“I was just kidding.” Tatum slowly got to his feet. He positioned himself in his stance and waited.

MeerRhonda shook her head. “I think that’s enough punishment.”

Tatum tried to look disappointed but the relief on his face couldn’t be hidden. He staggered over to a bench, grabbed a towel, wiped his face, and sighed as he leaned up against the cool bulkhead. He fiddled with at loose tooth.

“Good thing medical care here is free. I’d be broke.” Tatum winced as he probed his ribs.

MeerRhonda sat next to him, sweat covering her shirt. The shirt clung seductively to her chiseled body as it had on that first day.

“At least I make you sweat.” Tatum smiled while bloody drool dribbled out the side of his mouth.

MeerRhonda scoffed at him. “It’s only because it’s hot in here.” She threw her towel at him. “Wipe your mouth.” And with that she got up and walked away from him towards the locker room.

Tatum watched her go. He noticed from behind, she didn’t look any different than any other hot girl. The brown fur/skin looked like a firm tanned body. It wasn’t until she turned around to give him one last look that her alien features presented themselves. As she disappeared around the corner, he observed that her features didn’t bother him nearly as much as they once had. And those thoughts prompted his quick retreat to the locker room with the towels hung discreetly in front of his waist.

After a very cold sonic shower, Tatum dressed himself, and headed off to Dr. Oullwyyng’s office. Dr. Oullwyyng fixed his loose tooth, broken rib, and fractured wrist with ease and sent him on his way. After all was said and done, Tatum felt sore, but good. His pain tolerance had increased dramatically, which made him feel good about himself, despite being a less than perfect fighter. He grabbed his usual, sat at a table and waited while Flexi finished compiling the course and direction the Conclave army has traveled from the beginning of the war. Still amazed that the war had been going on for over well three hundred thousand years; Tatum still had trouble visualizing a conflict raging that long. What started out as a regional war in one of the furthest parts of the universe, had spilled over into system after system. From the data that he could understand, and comprehend, the Draco Conclave had moved steadily from one of the earliest galaxies created in this region, and had been jumping around the proverbial universe ever since. But instead of making a straight course towards anyone place, the Conclave had been moving around the edges after an initial strike on the opposite side of the universe. The time scale seemed unbelievable to him, considering the universe was over 13.8 billion years old. But if you could move instantly between galaxies, then time becomes less relevant. He knew he had to learn more about how this was done, and his attempts at having Iyara explain it to him, always turned into an uncomfortable fending off of sexual advances.

“May I join you?” Iyara asked sweetly.

Tatum smiled uncomfortably, but motioned for her to sit as he stood. Iyara placed her tray of food down, and slowly lowered herself into the chair, all the while leaning forward, which gave a great view of her cleavage. He tried not to stare, but couldn’t help himself from looking. After what seemed to take an eternity, she sat, and he plopped down in his chair.

“What are you working on?” She asked.

“Nothing. Just going over some data that Flexi has compiled for me on the Draco Conclave’s movements.” He stared into her large eyes.

“Oh, have you found anything?” Iyara very slowly slurped up some noodles from her meal.

Watching her puckered lips slowly slurp the noodles into her mouth, Tatum though it best to keep his eyes locked on her forehead or anywhere else.

“Nothing that makes sense. From my brief, and I need to emphasize brief understanding of war tactics, their movements are completely random. They don’t hold areas for resources, they don’t retake what we consider strategic targets, and even a layman like myself understands that most armies have objectives, but theirs appear not too.” Tatum sighed. “I can’t imagine that I can find an answer if your top military minds can’t.”

Iyara smiled. “So called military minds work upon a set of know principles. They look for patterns based upon what normal warfare is about.” She took a drink and a few drops dribbled from the side of her mouth. Iyara coyly wiped them away and continued. “They should have learned that the Gray Witch is anything but predictable. But they continue to react as if she will follow a set of doctrines that others also follow.”

“But what am I supposed to glean from a few months that others couldn’t over the three hundred thousand years or so of constant war.” Tatum asked.

Iyara shrugged. “I don’t know. Random must have thought you had a special insight or something. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

She smiled her seductive smile again, finished her noodles, and uncharacteristically rose and left. Tatum was somewhat taken aback, having been ready to fend off her advances or comments, but he watched her leave and she didn’t look back.

Not sure what to think of their conversation, Tatum returned his attention back to Flexi, who was close to finishing her task. While finishing off the last of his root beer, people suddenly began to get up from their table in an excited manner and leave the room. Tatum watched, unsure what to think. No alarms were going off, but people were scurrying out of the mess hall very quickly. Tatum’s curiosity got a hold of him and he followed a very excited group of Sciurus. He passed along the corridors, gently feeling the artificial gravity begin to slowly lessen. He wasn’t sure, but he had a good idea they were heading towards the shuttle bays, where a large observation window looked out upon space. He had wondered down this way a few times, when he had first arrived. It was an area usually empty, and the blackness of space reminded him of where he was. He couldn’t explain it, but there was a sense of peace looking out into the depths of space. The twinkling lights that filled everything, knowing that hundreds of thousands of species occupied the entire universe, filled him with joy.

He stopped in an inconspicuous corner of the observation area, and watched the gathered species talk amongst themselves. Most species gravitated towards their own, but there were a few mish-mash groups. Tatum continued to observe as more and more species wondered into the area. He couldn’t hear any of the conversations, so he bided his time, happy to watch the interworking of each species cultures. After watching a bizarre exchange between some Avians and Ermeerka, the buzz around the room grew in volume. Species began moving towards the windows, pressing their faces, and looking left and right. Tatum careened his neck in an attempt to try and see what everyone was looking at, without having to move from his own position. It wasn’t long before all their heads peered upwards, and Tatum watched something large begin to descend next to the station. At first he couldn’t tell what it was. Just some greyish looking outline that filled entire windows. He thought it strange that it would descend to dock, but then he remembered that you could come from any direction in space.

Stepping forward to clear his view around some Ovidads, who had stopped in front of him to get a better view themselves, the outline gave way to a deck bristling with weaponry. It reminded Tatum of a pirate ship with its cannon ports open. The ship continued to sink down. Soon the gun deck was replaced by a row of windows, and others were excitedly waving back at those who were waving at them. Like an elevator that never stopped, the ship continued its downward journey until it finally stopped at a small round hole. Several alarms sounded, and a metal tube extended out and attached to the circular impression in the ship’s hull. Lights flashed, then another round of alarms, before a hatch materialized from behind a bulk head that had slid back. Pressure spewed forth from the circle hatch before it opened and let forth a flood of species that were greeted by the awaiting crowd.

Tatum smiled. The scene reminded him of the airport when they had picked up his now dead grandparents when he was little. Happiness filled him, when his forearm began to vibrate. Tapping Flexi, he wandered off down the corridor reading over the information scrolling on his forearm. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, amongst the dates, places, and movements that had been documented over the course of the war, but he had hoped that some glaring fact would jump out at him. He bumped into several species, apologized, and continued to absently walk the corridor, until he found himself at the top of the station, where the central command offices were. The gravity was concentrated mostly here, and he could feel the extra weight. Coming to a set of stairs and ascending, he had to catch his breath when he reached the top. Iyara, Commodore Greystone, Zulutan, and Dr. Oullwyyng turned to him. Surprised to see all of them, Tatum gave a weak wave as his breaths came in gulps.

“I didn’t expect that?” Tatum wheezed. “I didn’t think it was that far up.”

Iyara laughed. “Silly, of course it is. It’s the tallest point on the station. But it has the best vantage to see the Alinnora.”

Confused, Tatum wondered over to them. When he reached the window, his reflection showed that his jaw couldn’t have dropped down any further.

Silhouetted against the blackness of space, floodlights illuminated a spaceship that appeared to be a third of the size of the station. The tiny viewing ports in the hanger, couldn’t have given any indication of the dimensions of the ship. The main part of the ship was long and rectangular like a candy bar. The front of the ship was docked to the station. The rest of the ship turned slowly with the station like a firecracker that was attached to a wheel. Above the main part of the ship, other sections were layered upon it like the layers of a cake. Each section getting progressively shorter, until only one section, which Tatum estimated to be the length of an aircraft carrier, overlooked the rest of the ship. From this distance, Tatum could appreciate its size.

“What do you think?” Commodore Greystone asked.

“It’s huge. Even if it is a little dull.” Tatum answered. Images of the spaceships from Hollywood flooded his mind. And when it came to ascetics, this one was bland.

“What? That is state of the art.” Iyara announced. “Void plasma lasers, Helium Proton Photospheres, Gravitational vector drive, Streem Entropy conversion directional navigation, and I could go on and on. What do you mean dull?”

Tatum shrugged. “I’m just use to seeing some really cool ships. That’s all. This just looks like a bunch of candy bars stacked on each other.”

“Those ships aren’t real. Nor practical. You just can’t go flying around in space like you can on your planet. You’d kill someone changing directions like that.” She told him.

“They say flying saucer do it all the time with their gravity drives. Don’t get all mad at me. I’m just repeating what I’ve watched.” Tatum said.

“That’s why you are a backwards people.” Zulutan pointed out before leaving.

Tatum watched him go. “You use to be backwards too at some point.” He yelled.

“Never like that.” Floated up Zulutan’s response.

Tatum fumed. “I don’t like him.”

“Well, I don’t like you.” Iyara mumbled as she left.

Tatum caught other insults as she descended the stairs all pertaining to his ape ancestry.

“Don’t worry. She still likes you. But, it isn’t practical to fly around in space like you see in your movies. Uses too much energy. Even for a Graviton drive.” Commodore Greystone laughed.

“What about shuttles?” Tatum asked.

“They are different. Just like your space shuttle, it goes from place to place. But it doesn’t fly around like a jet plane.”

Tatum looked at him quizzically.

“I’ve been studying your planet. Your development is just like everyone else’s. And we have movies too.” He assured him.

“I guess you would. So what is it?” Tatum pointed at the ship.

“That is the newest ship in the fleet. The Dreadnought Alinnora. Your new home, and our answer to the Habitation ships.”

Chapter Thirteen

Jailed

Tatum pointed to the Dreadnought. “You’re kidding.”

“What, disappointed?” The Commodore asked.

Tatum looked at him as if he were crazy. “Are you kidding?! I can’t believe that I’m getting on it! Even if it looks like a big gray chocolate bar, I get to go out into space!” Tatum couldn’t contain his enthusiasm.

The Commodore chuckled. “You know, you’re already in space.”

Tatum shook his head. “Yeah, but not on a starship. A Starship! Starship!” He tried to fathom what was happening, but the mere thought of going into space was taking up all the space in his brain.

“Glad to see your enthusiasm.” He walked over and put his hand on Tatum’s shoulder. “Just be careful out there. Space is as deadly as your movies portray. It is not a quick or pleasant death.”

Tatum sobered up quickly. The movies always made that part of space the least exciting. They only showed people exploding in their space suits for gore effects, but the threat was very real now. Tatum’s enthusiasm waned a bit, though his mind was racing with all the cool things he hoped he would see.

“I understand. But you must have a pretty good handle on space travel.” Tatum said.

The Commodore nodded. “But just like with your plane flights, accidents do happen. You’ve already lived though one, so I wouldn’t press your luck. Space is very unforgiving.”

Tatum shuddered as he remembered how close he had come to death when the bulk head had given way trying to save Iyara. “So, when can I move in?”

“How fast do you think you can get to your quarters?” Commodore Greystone smiled.

“Pretty fast.”

“Then report to Captain Dulutce at your earliest, Cadet.”

“Roger, Sir.” Tatum snapped a salute and quickly left.

Tatum bounded down the corridors with ease. Even if MeerRhonda had been wiping the floor with him, his strength and dexterity had improved. He cleared the ceiling with inches to spare and waved to the startled crew that happened to be surprised by his sudden appearance from above. With an apology and wave, he continued along his path until he came to his room. The door slid open. Tatum stopped in front of his closet. He suddenly realized that he didn’t have anything to pack his stuff into.

“Flexi, I need a bag to carry my stuff in.”

“Of course.” Flexi said from his forearm.

The cubby hummed and when it opened, a bag, like a shopping bag, lay before him.

“Funny. A suitcase, please.”

“Suitcase.” Flexi responded in a robot voice. “Roger.”

Tatum noticed that ever since he’d been talking to Flexi like a person, she had taken on some new vocal tones that weren’t present when he first got her. He liked it, he had his own Jarvis.

The cubby hummed and a suitcase appeared. Tatum grabbed it, opened it, and began stuffing the few clothes and items he had gathered into it. He opened one drawer and his collection of guns stared at him. He had always been fascinated by the different styles of phasors on Star Trek the Next Generation T.V. show. He though it cool that each species had their own type of laser gun. Here, each species had their own type of phasor that used different types of ammo.

“Probably not going to need these.” He mumbled. But he didn’t want to leave them here for someone to find.

“Flexi, I’m going to need a case to carry these phasors in.” Tatum stated.

“I need to scan them to make a proper case.”

Tatum ran his arm over the phasors, while a blue light covered them. Flexi glowed red for a moment, then the cubby hummed and a new case appeared. Tatum grabbed the case, and proceeded to place each phasor in its proper spot. After packing his ten different phasors, Tatum showered, changed his clothes, stuffed his phone into his back pocket, grabbed his two cases and headed towards the hanger deck. Upon reaching his destination, lines of aliens were being funneled to the air lock for boarding. Hesitant to join the large throng of aliens, Tatum sauntered off towards the mess hall for one more decent meal. He imagined the food would be the same. After all, the submarine shows on H2 had all said the food on a sub was the best in the fleet. With that in mind, Tatum ordered his favorite meal: double cheese burger with bacon, fries, and a root beer. He had finally gotten used to the slight metallic taste in the root beer, but it was the only soft drink that masked the flavor well enough. Even the flavored water he got after being beaten at training didn’t really get rid of the taste. When he asked MeerRhonda about it, she shrugged it off and complained about him being soft. Iyara on the other hand at least explained that the simplest components of water were the hardest to make. Surprised, Tatum proceeded to explain how they simply filtered the water on earth.

She countered with, “Are you making water from space?”

Unable to respond with a ‘yes’, Tatum let the matter drop. That was until he got some ice cream. No matter how much he tried, the ice cream was the foulest tasting stuff he had ever eaten. Unsure whether the food machine couldn’t get the recipe right or if the ingredients were that bad, the ice cream always tasted like smelly rotten fish. Once again, when he had MeerRhonda or Iyara sample it, they both said it was fine. He shivered at the thought. All he knew was, that when he got home, he was going to spend a lot of time at Thinker’s Coffee house eating their homemade French vanilla ice cream.

“Ready to go?” Iyara sat opposite of him.

In her hand was a bowl of chocolate ice cream, fudge, whip cream and a very bad tasting imitation cherry on top. Tatum recoiled from her.

“How can you eat that?” Tatum slid his chair back. The smell began to intrude upon his personal space.

“What? This?” She smiled. “The yummiest stuff in the world.” She stuffed a big spoonful into her mouth, then squinted her eyes in delight.

“Disgusting. Wait till you have the real stuff on my planet. Then you’ll know what yummy is.” Tatum told her.

Her eyes popped open. “So, you are going to let me meet your Dad and sister.” She sighed. “It will be so FUN!”

“Wait…nothing was said about meeting anyone.” Tatum countered.

“On my world, when a male takes a female to meet their parents, it mean you plan on marrying them.” She leaned forward and batted her eyelashes at him.

“Whoa, nothing was said about marriage. I’m too young for that.” Tatum told her.

“Nonsense. They get married younger than you on my planet.”

“Not on mine!”

She leaned back. “We’ll have such beautiful children. My looks, brains, and personality.” Iyara sighed, lost in thought.

Tatum frowned. “What will they get from me?!”

“Nothing. On my planet, all genes come from the female, except for a few left over bits by the males. You are just needed for the breeding.” She smiled.

Tatum felt uncomfortable under the lustful stare.

“Okay, well, I best be going.” Tatum slid from the table, picked up his cases and tried to leave. Iyara jumped up, tucked her arm in his, leaving the ice cream on the table, and walked with him.

“I’m going too. Isn’t that great!” She cooed.

“Wonderful.” Tatum agreed hesitantly.

They walked arm and arm through the corridors until they arrived at the hanger. The line was down, and they fell in behind some Ovidads. Iyara laid her head on his shoulder as they approached the officer checking aliens in.

“Name?” The Sciurus officer said.

“Tatum.”

“Full name!” He barked.

“Tatum Harper.”

“Species?”

“Uhm, Earth…er?”

The Sciurus gave him a quick sniff before marking the electronic pad in his hand. “Very, well. Level 3, section 1b, quarter 34.”

“What? That isn’t anywhere near mine. Are you sure you have that right?” Iyara complained.

The Sciurus gave her a hard stare. “There is no mistake. Move along.”

Tatum thanked him. He picked up his cases and as he stepped through the door leading into the docking tube, alarms began to go off. The Sciurus turned and rushed him, while two more materialized out of thin air, and tackled him to the ground. Completely taken off guard, Tatum was on the floor, several knees pressed into his back, and struggling for air before he realized it. He could only be thankful that MeerRhonda wasn’t here to see him. He’d never live down the fact that he hadn’t put up any kind of a fight before being subdued.

“What do you have in the case?!” The Sciurus who had checked him in barked.

“Nothing.” Tatum wheezed. “Just some clothes and collectables.”

One of the other Sciurus fumbled with the case, but was unable to open it. “Biometrically locked.”

Tatum felt a knee dig deeper into his back.

“Is this really necessary?” Iyara sighed. “What could he possibly have in there? He hasn’t been here that long.” She laughed.

“Why are they biometrically locked? What are you hiding?” He pressed his knee harder into his back.

“I don’t even know what that means!” Tatum wheezed.

“The case is locked to your unique DNA sequence.” Iyara mused.

“What’s in the cases?” The Sciurus said again.

“I told you! Clothes and collectables.” Tatum huffed. “Get off me!”

“Open them!” The Sciurus ordered.

“Don’t you have some kind of scanner to look inside? How backwards are you people?!” Tatum growled. He was getting upset.

The Sciurus pressed his knee in harder, clearly not liking the reference to his lack of intelligence.

“If you let me up, I’ll show you.” Tatum finally offered.

The Sciurus released him. Tatum took in a deep breath and slowly got up. He picked up one of the cases and opened it. The Sciurus started to search his case, but Tatum knocked away his hand.

“I’ve shown you. You’re not rummaging through it.” Tatum warned him.

“I’ll check it as I like. I’m responsible for security on the Alinnora, therefore, you will submit to my inspection.” The Sciurus told him.

“Look, I don’t want to have to hurt you. So, let me show you my collection. I’m sure that’s what set off your alarm.” Tatum explained.

He closed up his clothing case, set it down, and opened his phasor case.

“Nice collection.” Iyara congratulated him. “I’ve got a special one that I can give you…for a price.”

One of the other Sciurus made a move to grab him. Tatum was prepared this time. He caught the Sciurus’s arm, and pushed him into the wall. One of the others moved to tackle him, but Tatum dodged to the side like he had been taught, and using the Sciurus’s momentum, propelled him down the tube. The lighter gravity carried him all the way to the other side of the docking tube. The Sciurus, who had checked him in, swung at him. Tatum blocked it, then delivered an upper cut that knocked the Sciurus out cold.

He quickly looked around. None of the Sciurus were conscious. Pleased with himself, he turned to Iyara, who beamed at him.

“You can protect me!” She yelled, before running into his arms.

At least that is the way he pictured it. Reality didn’t go quite as well.

When the Sciurus rushed him, he was able to dodge to the side, slamming one into the wall, leaving him unconscious. The other two, quickly tackled him, where he hit his head sending stars though his vision.

They roughly picked him up and began carrying him along the tube towards the ship. Over his shoulder, he saw MeerRhonda, disappointment on her face.

“Hey, at least I got one!” He yelled to her. “I couldn’t have done that when I first arrived.”

They carried him along several passages that looked the same, until they came to an all too familiar looking room from plenty of movies. They tossed him into his cell where he hit his head on the floor. They turned on a shimmering barrier locking him in and left. Tatum crawled over to the padding on the floor, closed his eyes and passed out. When he awoke he had a spitting headache. Slowly propping himself up against the wall, he gingerly probed the area on the side of his head where he had hit the wall. Deciding he would live, a small smile started to etch itself on his face. As it spread like a crack in a glacier, he couldn’t explain why he found his current situation as amusing as he did. Tatum never liked conflict, in fact he tried to avoid it when he could. But the situation with his phasor souvenirs didn’t make any sense to him. He’d seen enough destruction on television from around the world to know that security was a big thing, but it also confused him a bit too. Considering the amount of people trying to kill other people, the actual acts of terror weren’t that high. He had always figured it was due to good information that the government received from their intelligence networks. So when the Sciurus tried to rummage through his stuff, and the fact that they couldn’t readily tell what was a serious breach of security and a person’s hobby, kind of made him mad.

Tatum thought about standing, but the throbbing persuaded him not to. He wondered where his stuff was.

“I see I have failed in your training.” MeerRhonda walked up to the screen.

Tatum rolled his eyes. “I think it’s more your student’s ineptitude than your training methods. But, at least I got one.” He hoped his smile might alleviate her disappointment. For some reason, he didn’t want to disappoint her. “Disappointed?”

MeerRhonda narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side. “Not the word I would use. Considering you did knock down the head of security on the ship.”

Tatum perked up.

“But you were tackled by two novice security agents. Unsatisfactory is what I was thinking.” She amended.

“I’ll take that.” Tatum chuckled, which made his head hurt.

“Tatum!” Iyara’s voice echoed down the corridor. Soon she appeared next to MeerRhonda.

MeerRhonda nodded curtly to her before turning to leave. Iyara pressed her face up against the security screen. “Are you okay?”

Tatum struggled to his feet. He leaned heavily upon the wall. “Yes. Thank you.”

Iyara frowned. “That wasn’t very smart of you. They might have killed you, then who would I have babies with.”

Tatum sighed. “I’m not having babies with you.” Though the thought didn’t necessarily disagree with him.

“That hurts.” She whimpered.

Tatum noticed a small humanoid looking alien behind her. If a feline species were to evolve than this alien would have fit the bill. Green jade eyes with black slit pupils looked at him with inquisitiveness and caution. Unlike MeerRhonda’s brown hide/skin, this alien had actual white short fur like a tiger with stripes running the length of her body that made it hard for Tatum to focus on her body that wasn’t covered with the white lab coat. When she finally stepped out from around Iyara, Tatum clearly saw that it was a female despite the white lab coat she had on.

“Who is this?” Tatum asked.

“This is Trindle. She is a Marguiy and the doctor on the ship. I coaxed her down to see you and make sure you were okay.” Iyara explained.

Tatum smiled and nodded his head. “Nice to meet you. But I’m fine. I’ve had much worse at the hands of MeerRhonda.”

Iyara’s eyes widened in anger. “She is a brute!”

Tatum was taken aback by the outburst. “No she isn’t. I’ve learned much from her. I couldn’t have knocked the Sciurus out cold without her training.” Tatum left out the fact that the other two were novices.

Trindle lifted a small scanner from her lab coat pocket. The scanner beeped several times, Trindle nodded, and put it away. “He has… a bump on the head.”

“Oh my god! He’s dying!” Iyara’s overdramatic scene played out in front of several officers that were walking towards his cell. “You have to help him!” She shook Trindle.

“I think he’ll live.” One of the officers commented.

Despite her display, Iyara snapped to attention as did Trindle. Tatum decided not to do anything except watch.

The officer snapped a crisp salute to the other before stopping in front of the security screen.

Tatum recognized the species as the same as Commodore Greystone’s, but his demeanor was much more formal, and his look far more intense.

He scowled at Tatum’s lack of formality. “I’m Captain Dulutce. You assaulted one of my officers, and brought weapons aboard my ship. Is there a reason I shouldn’t leave you in here for the duration of the voyage?”

Tatum shook his head. “I didn’t know that my collection would cause this much commotion, and your officer rummaged through my stuff without my permission. I was happy to show him, but he seemed to think that he had a right to attack me. I tried to show him that he was wrong. But I was only partially successful.” Tatum smiled, which deepened the Captain’s scowl.

“Security is Buccaneer Tekssur’s responsibility. His authority is the same as mine. Do you understand Cadet?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I like being a Cadet. Actually, I really don’t like any of this. If it weren’t for my friend Alexa being taken and held captive against her will, I’d just go on home.” Tatum said.

“You mean the traitor?” The Captain leveled his eyes.

Tatum threw himself against the security screen. “She isn’t a traitor! She was taken!”

“Our intelligence says differently.” The Captain assured him. “She is there willingly. Helping the Gray Witch subjugate a world as we speak.”

“Lies! Alexa would never help anyone who would hurt others. She isn’t like that!” Tatum slammed his fist against the screen.

“Clearly you do not know your friend or the enemy.” The Captain informed him.

His communicator beeped on his wrist. “Yes!” He thundered, but then quite suddenly his demeanor changed to one of great respect. “I understand…. Are you sure? If that is your wish, I bow to the wisdom of the Two.”

Captain Dulutce pushed a button on the side of the security screen. The screen shimmered then blinked off letting cool air rush onto Tatum’s face. He fell forward before being caught by Trindle. He never even saw her move. She looked up at him with her jade green eyes with concern. Tatum thanked her.

“You’ll report to your cabin and await until I call for you.” The Captain ordered.

“Not likely. Never been onboard a spaceship before. I’ll explore at my leisure.” Tatum told him.

The Captain was about to protest when MeerRhonda appeared. “Sir. I’ll watch after him.” She presented him with a flexipad.

Captain Dulutce snatched it out of her hand and read. Tatum could see he didn’t like the content of the message. He abruptly handed it back to her.

“He’s your responsibility, Cadet.” With a crisp turn Captain Dulutce left flanked by his two officers.

MeerRhonda nodded then snapped a quick salute to the Captain’s retreating back. Doctor Trindle reluctantly handed Tatum off to MeerRhonda’s abrupt embrace.

“Be easy on him!” Iyara complained as MeerRhonda half dragged him down the corridor.

“Give him plenty of rest.” Doctor Trindle ordered.

MeerRhonda nodded.

“I’ll bring you some ice cream, later.” Iyara yelled.

“Please don’t.” Tatum mumbled.