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Infinity Frontier:
The Salvation of Alitar
By: Michael Mulhollon
FLASH ALERT! FLASH ALERT!
“Captain Michael Weller has violated 10 United Earth Military Codes of Justice Articles including Stealing United Earth property, destruction of United Earth property, entering the Light Space and so forth and has been announced as a criminal and now fugitive of United Earth. He has also stolen property pertaining to the death of Natalie Gun and belongs to the United Science League that has been labeled Hazardous To Humanity. All United Earth Space Forces are hereby alerted to keep on a lookout for Michael Weller and his acolytes on the stolen starship UES HORNET. If found, any military or civilian person(s) are hereby to call confirmed reports in or else be labeled as co-conspirators and Michael Weller’s ally. When seeing him or his compatriots, follow them but do not engage till UES forces arrive at the scene. All star and planetoid bases are hereby LEVEL 2 alert status till the crisis is over. For apprehension, the status for Michael Weller and his compatriots has been confirmed to either be taken alive or dead……End of transmission.”
The Hornet zipped across space at Speed Factor 6 while inside the ship’s officers and crew are on standby alert status and walking about the hallways in a fast walk pace except a junior grade officer ran down one hallway (attracting attention of nearby crew members). The officer kept running till he reached a door and pressed the speaker button and spoke urgently, “Captain Weller this is LT jg Hemlock, I have a message from Commander Folley that you should read immediately sir!” He stood (looking almost out of breath) there and as he waited he heard a thump sound, followed by shuffling and a couple of more thumps that sound to be coming closer when all of a sudden the door opened and Michael Weller appeared with messy hair and black pajamas with a tired look on his face as he reached out and Hemlock quickly gave the note to him. Michael opened the note and began to read as Hemlock stood at attention but felt distracted as he heard shuffling and stifled giggling inside Michael s quarters but he is brought back to the captain’s attention when Michael asked, “Why couldn’t Commander Folley just call me through the speaker?” Hemlock replied, “Sir, unfortunately the explosion of the three ships knocked out multiple systems and Commander Folley has ordered internal communications to be taken down temporarily till it’s completed its diagnostics sir.” Michael sighed as he looked back down at the note and then back up and ordered, “Tell Commander Folley I’ll meet him on the bridge as soon as I get dressed.” Hemlock snapped his feet and said, “Yes sir!” And as he turned about and left in a hurry, Michael stepped back inside his quarters and saw Trudy (in her pink robe) sitting in front of the bathroom mirror, with the sink covered up by a board and covered by various makeups and perfumes as Trudy applied makeup on her face and she said (while continuing to apply her makeup), “Looks like you may be busy for awhile, especially since we have to make that detour that would take us to that world where hopefully we will be safe. So in the meantime I”m going to check on Anna and Natalie while you re gone.” Michael sighed, “Yes, this detour already took us about a day and now we won”t reach the Sirius Beta system till tomorrow.” He then got dressed and once he and Trudy finished they went their separate ways and when Trudy approached Natalie’s door she pressed the speaker button and said, “Hey Nat, it’s Trudy, can I come in?” At first there is no reply and just as Trudy was about to press the call button again, the door opened and Natalie appeared in her red uniform and smiled at Trudy and said, “Morning Trudy. Sorry I didn’t reply but I was finishing up getting ready.” Trudy smiled back and made a wave at her and said, “Oh don’t worry darling. Since we’re on a military ship and with less room, we have to make do wherever we can.” Trudy then noticed the case holding Infinity in her left hand and asked with a puzzled look, “What are you going to do with that thing?” Natalie looked down and then back up and replied, “Oh just going to make some more modifications. Are you heading to pickup Anna?” Trudy replied, “Yes and see how her friend Vivi is doing. Though I didn’t tell Michael because I’m afraid he may refuse.” Natalie looked curious and asked, “May I see her as well?” Trudy giggled, “Well of course dear!” They both left Natalie’s quarters and walked down the hallway towards the direction of where Anna is staying and Trudy said, “Oh, I’m not sure if you knew but I have decided to adopt Anna as part of our family.” Natalie looked happily surprised and said, “Really! That’s wonderful! Congratulations!” She then patted Trudy on the back and gave her a shoulder hug as they both smiled and continued down the hallway.
On the bridge of the Hornet, the door opened and Michael stepped out to a bridge that is similar to the Palmetto but with the command chair on an elevated platform and there is a railing between the command chair and forward two stations to the rest of the stations circling the bridge. Commander Folley is standing by the navigation console (to the right of the helm) and looked up to notice Michael and he announced, “Captain on the bridge!” And stood at attention while everyone else sat ridged in their seats or stood at attention as well till Michael called out, “At ease and resume your duties!” Everyone on the bridge continued their duties as Michael approached Folley and asked, “Commander what’s this that Sirius Beta is no longer Sirius Beta?” Folley answered, “Sir apparently the mining company on the planet decided to take full advantage of ownership and notified the UES base there their demands and the commander there is no doubt in their pocket and accepted the name change to Alitar.” Michael looked down and sighed, “Corporate greed at its finest.” He looked back up at Folley and asked, “And what do the local inhabitants have to say?” Folley shook his head with a grim expression and replied, “Still no response sir. Ever since the Maxim Corporation and UES settled on the planet, there has been no word from the inhabitants ever since.” Michael looked grim and said, “Yeah, that’s not a good sign.” Then Michael looked fascinated as a thought occurred to him and said, “Though it maybe good for us.” Folley seemed confused and asked, “What do you mean sir?” Michael replied as he turned to sit in the command chair as he answered, “I mean for us trying to find a place to hide and get there without being detected. There is no better chance than both that corporation and UES base are distracted by the possibility that the natives could strike at any time. Meaning we would be able to achieve orbit without setting off alarms and find a place to settle while they tend to watching their interests, security and defense in case the natives should suddenly attack.” Folley seemed to agree and said, “That’s true sir. Though there is also another problem.” Michael looked curious and asked, “And what is that commander?” Folley replied, “Will the natives accept our presence there and allow us to stay.” Michael sighed, “That’s true. Do we have their language in the databanks?” Folley replied grimly, “Unfortunately sir when the mining company and UES settled there, they only bothered to translate a handful of words, mainly greetings because they only cared about mining and not interacting with the local population.” Michael looked disappointed and said, “Great. Then that means we are going to have one hell of a time to translate their language and asking permission to stay. Do we have any translators onboard?” Folley replied sadly, “We do but they are both in training sir.” Michael looked at him curiously and asked, “You mean LT. Havalon is not part of your crew anymore?” Folley replied, “Yes sir. A year after you left, he was offered a job at Delta II to train translators to the outlining worlds and he accepted it.” Michael smirked, “Well good for him. Then have our trainees get to work on translating, using whatever has been translated already as a base line before we arrive.” Folley replied, “Yes sir.” And he walked away towards the communications station, while Michael sat in his command chair and looked admired, even as he began pressing buttons on the keypad on the right armrest.
The door opened and a blond girl in a red uniform looked out to see Natalie and Trudy before her and Trudy asked, “Is Anna around?” The blond girl looked puzzled as she looked back inside and then back at them and shook her head and answered, “Sorry Mrs. Weller, but she didn’t come back into the room last night. Should I call her?” Trudy looked down, puzzled, while Natalie seemed confused and asked, “Do you happen to know where she said she would be when she left?” The blond haired girl replied (with a struggling look on her face), “I think she said something about going to see a crewman from the previous ship?” Trudy then began to snicker and she quickly covered her mouth (weakly) and left both the blond haired girl and Natalie look at her with confusion and Trudy looked back up at the blond haired girl and said, “Thank you, I think we can take it from here.” She then walked away and Natalie and the blond girl still looked at her with confusion before they looked back at each other and Natalie frowned and shrugged her shoulders before she walked away as well and the blond girl went back into her quarters with confusion. Natalie then quickly caught up with Trudy and asked, “Trudy, do you know where she is?” Trudy (still smiling) grabbed Natalie’s left hand and said, “Come on, I’ll show you.” She then began to giggle again and almost dragged Natalie along as she pulled her left hand and Natalie spoke with a sense of humor and laugh, “Easy, easy, Trudy! You re going to pull my hand off!” And Trudy laughed and Natalie laughed along as well as they proceeded down the hallway, entered an elevator, went down, exited and approached a door and before Natalie could say anything, Trudy immediately pressed the call button. There is a thump sound, followed by a girlish laughter and the sound of someone saying, “Shh!” And Natalie looked wide eyed at Trudy (as she smirked) and there is more thumping sounds inside when all of a sudden the door opened and June stood in the doorway in his red uniform with some wrinkles and hair not fully kept and a little out of breath as he looked at Trudy and Natalie standing before him and was taken aback and stammered, “Ms….Mrs….ladies, can I help you?” Trudy smirked as she replied, “Is Anna here?” June just looked at her and then at Natalie (who just starred at him the same with her intimidating doe like stare) before he looked back at her and said, “Um….well…..” Then a familiar voice spoke aloud, “Oh come on June, just say it!” Anna suddenly appeared from behind and stood to the side and in-between June and Trudy, in her black pajamas, with a confident smile on her face as she continued, “It’s better to just say it than keep it in and regret it later!” June and Natalie looked at her with surprised looks while Trudy giggled but then looked upset as she noticed Anna’s pajamas and asked, “You didn’t bring another set of clothes with you?” June and Natalie then looked even more surprised when they looked at Trudy and Natalie asked, with her wide doe like eyes, “You mean to tell me you knew this….” She pointed at June and Anna without looking and continued, “….was going to happen?” Trudy lightly laughed as she looked at Natalie and answered, “Since last night when she asked me and Michael where June’s room is in her pajamas, it doesn’t take much to figure out what s going to happen next.” June and Anna both blushed (June frowning while Anna smirked) and when Trudy looked back and noticed them blushing, she waved her right hand at them and said, “Oh don’t worry you two, I’m not upset at all! I’m just surprised Anna you didn’t anticipate you are going to stay here overnight without an extra set of clothes.” Anna frowned and said, “Why would I need to carry an extra set of clothes?” Trudy looked up and down at her (as she waved her right hand at the same time) and replied, “Well because you can’t just walk around in a military ship in pajamas in the mornings. These people get up early.” Anna frowned and said, “Oh, okay, I guess you’re right mom.” June looked surprised at her and then at Trudy, pointed at her as he looked back at Anna and asked, “Wait! Your….she’s…your mother!” Anna then looked surprised at him and then at Trudy and touched her left shoulder as she spoke, “Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot!” And then she looked back at June and lightly touched his forearms as she continued with a smile, “Trudy adopted me early yesterday!” June still looked shocked and Natalie looked at him curiously, as she cocked her head to one side, and asked, “You’re not regretting it, aren’t you lover boy?” June quickly replied, “No, no, I….” He then looked at Natalie and noticed her puckering her lips (as she tried to keep from either smiling or laughing but failed on the first) and then he looked back at Anna and smirked and said, “No, no I do not!” Anna giggled and she leaned and rubbed the tip of her nose at June’s as he smiled and Trudy spoke aloud with an attractive smile, “Oh isn’t this marvelous!” And she made an inaudible clap with her hands and then Natalie looked apologetically as she said, “I’m sorry to brake this up you two but Anna, if you want to see Vivi I suggest….” Anna snapped her attention at Natalie (with a look of surprise) and exclaimed, “Vivi! We re going to see Vivi?!” Natalie smiled as she replied, “Yes, if you get dressed….” Anna suddenly turned back to June and kissed him on the lips and spoke (to his surprised expression), “See you later June! I have to go see to my friend! Tonight again?” June seemed to be taken aback but Trudy touched Anna’s right shoulder (and got her attention) and said, “Let’s just give it a rest for today honey. There’s always tomorrow dear.” Anna nodded and she looked back at June and said, “Never mind about tonight June. I’ll contact you later today or early tomorrow.” June smirked and replied, “Okay Anna.” And with a quick side glance he noticed both Natalie and Trudy were still looking at him (both smiling now) and he struggled what to do next but before Anna had a chance to walkaway, June quickly kissed the tip of her nose. Anna giggled and showed her attractive smile up at him before she turned away and walked quickly down the hallway and Trudy and Natalie gave quick bows to June before they turned away as well and tried to catchup with Anna. June looked on with a smirk and then turn away and the door closed behind him while Trudy and Natalie continued to try to catch up to Anna, as she already ran into the nearest elevator, and they both just made it before the doors closed and Natalie said, “My you are a ball of energy Anna!” Anna smiled at Natalie and said, “Sorry but I haven’t seen Vivi since we arrived here…” Then she looked depressed as she continued, “And she’s alone with that Kevin and Nick.” Natalie rested her right hand on Anna’s left shoulder while Trudy hugged her from behind and said, “Don’t worry Anna dear. We’ll get her out of there as soon as you get dressed.” Anna smiled again and turned her head to try to look at both of them but when the elevator sounded that it is slowing down, she looked back forward and Trudy let Anna go and when the doors opened Anna walked out, fast again, and Natalie’s right hand slipped off Anna’s left shoulder and allowed Trudy to quickly slip out before she followed with a weak smirk on her face.
