War Angel: part two

2142- In Orbit Around Pluto

He gently shut the pages of the old book and laid it gingerly on the stand next to his bunk. Jack absently scratched at his chin, feeling the beginnings of stubble beginning to grow, and he made a mental note to see the Doc for a laser anti-growth treatment. Even though he was technically still a college student, he thought, he needed to focus on the military aspect of his life while he was out here.

“Plus, I owe them six years after I graduate,” he muttered softly.

The decision to join the Earth Air Defense Officer Training Corps had been an easy one when it came down to it. His mother, upon hearing that he wanted to enlist had told him that there were only three reasons to join EAD. “Son, the people that join the Corps are either too poor to pay for school, too full of a sense of duty, or simply have nowhere else to go.”

“I’ve heard that before, mother,” Jack had responded with a slight hint of exasperation.

She picked up a cup that Jack assumed was full of some sort of wine and took a large drink. He watched as she stood, smoothing her dress across her torso, and running her free hand across the back of her neck. For the first time, Jack had begun to see that his mother was in deep, desperate pain, and that she was self-medicating. “And so why are you joining, Jack?” she asked, staring out the window of their ancestral home.

He rose out of the chair where he had been sitting, slowing walking across the room to stand at his mother’s side. Silence reigned for a moment, before he finally began to respond. “A combination of all three reasons, I should think.”

She cut him off. “We’re not that poor…”

Jack raised a hand to stop her train of thought. “We aren’t exactly rich, either. Not enough, at least, to put me into a top-level engineering school. Which is where I need to be.”

Victoria Keys turned to face her son, a tear beginning to roll down her cheek. He continued, “Plus, you know how I feel about the government’s take on planetary security.”

“The Omegans were sent away almost thirty years ago. There’s nothing left to worry about,” she chided him.

He snarled. “Yes, right. Absolutely, let’s just trust that the warlike, conquering alien race that’s shown up on our doorstep twice and killed billions of people will just leave us alone from now on. I’m sorry mother, but no. Just no. Every member of this family has read Great-Grandfather’s journals. You know what those animals are capable of.”

She rotated on her heels and walked across the room to a small refrigerator, taking out a bottle and refilling her glass. “I was ten when we drove them away last time. I… I barely remember it, really.”

“Except the loss of Grandma?” he interjected.

Her hand shook. “Yes,” she said softly, “except watching my mother die.”

Jack adjusted his posture, striding confidently towards his mother. “Then you have to understand why I feel a sense of duty. I don’t want to experience that same sense of loss. If they come back, I want to be ready for them. I want to be ready and able to protect you, everybody. And where else would I go to do it? Nowhere besides the Corps.”

Victoria sat in the chair that Jack had occupied, staring intently at her drink. Unsure of how to handle her silence, he knelt down on the floor next to her as a knight would before his queen. Minutes passed before she finally spoke.

“You are a Keys. If you’re going to go down this path, you know what you must do.”

He nodded at her, feeling a sense of relief come over him. “Be the very best. Uphold our family honor. Live a life of courage. Do the right thing.”

She patted his head. “You have studied those journals well. The four pillars of life as expressed by your great-grandfather. Go, and with my blessing.”

Two weeks later, he did.

And now look at me, Jack thought, stretched out on his bunk. Orbiting Pluto, repairing and working on a spaceship. She’d have been proud, had she survived the accident that took her a few months into his schooling.

Jack rose slowly in his bed, using the wall to try and get his back muscles to unclench. “Hundreds of years of medicine, and it still comes down to using a bulkhead to get the kinks out. Unreal.” After sufficient time to get himself warmed up, he began to stand. But before he was fully upright, the door chime beeped at him. Before he could speak or move, he heard the code being tapped into the pad next to the door and it opened, revealing Sarah Matto in silhouette.

“About time to get yourself moving, champ,” she said with only a hint of sarcasm. “Why aren’t you out and working yet?”

Jack cleared his throat. “I got caught up in some reading.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really? What did you download?” He gestured towards the tattered old journal on the nightstand. “Wow! Is that your great-grandfather’s actual journal?”

“Volume one,” he said. “Yeah. Been a while since I’ve cracked them open. So I’m starting from page one.”

Sarah walked towards the nightstand, taking in the sight of the weathered old volume. “I wonder how many actual ‘books’ are left. Not many, I’d think.” Her fingertips brushed the cover. “Fascinating.”

“Gently, please,” he whispered, moving in behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist. “The journals are really old and have to be handled with care.” Her head leaned back into his chest and she reached her arms behind her to wrap them as far around Jack as they would go.

“Unlike me, huh?”

Jack spun her around to face him. “Definitely unlike you.” He kissed her hard, grabbing a handful of her hair. As he let go, and they stopped for a moment she turned her gaze back towards the journal. “Maybe,” she said, “you could read some of it to me later. I don’t really know much about the First Perioders.”

He exited their embrace, grabbing his uniform jacket from the back of his desk chair. “That could be arranged,” he said with a smile.

Sarah snapped to attention. ‘Then for now, I’d say we’d better get to work. We have a final project to finish, and I want to finish at the top of the class.” Jack mock saluted her, and finished buttoning. “Aye, aye, project leader. Let’s go.”