Henry Gallant Saga 2: Lieutenant Henry Gallant (3 page)

Now the die was cast, and despite Gallant’s best efforts to forgive and forget, serving with Neumann rubbed salt into the wound.

“Kelsey,” muttered Gallant as he played with a small object in his hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the sharp look Neumann gave him and realized he had been overheard, but he didn’t care.

The small coin-like piece he rubbed in his hand wasn’t a coin at all, but a music box capable of holding every piece of music every recorded. In actuality it retained exactly one recording—the only recording that mattered—Kelsey’s.

He let his mind drift back to a place far away several years earlier. He recalled people and events passing through his life with a swish and then they were gone; their importance—to what might have been—remained in his memory of what was.

One night at The Lobster Tavern on Jupiter Station—
Kelsey was dressed in slacks and a sweatshirt with the letters UPSA. She was sitting in the center of the room, tapping her fingers impatiently on the top of her table. Her brown hair was pulled back from her face into a ponytail and fell across her shoulder. When she wasn’t tapping, she was making faces of displeasure, as if something important of hers had gone astray. With all of that, her classical facial features still made her the most striking woman in the room.

Unceasingly, men she knew, as well as locals she didn’t, would come over and try to join her.

“Hi,” she would say. “It’s great to see you, but I’m waiting for someone.” Then she would tilt her head to one side and flash a big smile, which somehow said she was disappointed and she hoped he would understand. This placated most, but one hopeful suitor remained hovering over her until she spotted Gallant. She stood up, waving her arms excitedly. As he approached, her last admirer capitulated and withdrew as Gallant sat down.

After a while the crowd convinced Kelsey to use her lovely voice to sing. She chose a sweet melody of passion and farewell. It mesmerized all who listened. The melancholy tones touched Gallant so much, he made a recording and kept it ever since.

Unfortunately, after her song was finished and she joined him again at their table, Gallant sat passively, looking on as . . .

Neumann crossed the room and asked Kelsey for a dance. She stood up, and he took her hand and led her onto the dance floor.

“It’s been quite an evening,” she said, placing her hand on Neumann’s shoulder, her bright eyes shining with delight.

“A wonderful evening—thanks to you,” he said as he drew her closer.

Kelsey nestled comfortably into his arms. Her sweet breathe brushed past his cheek; her soft hand gently caressed the nape of his neck.

Kelsey and Neumann made such an attractive couple they invited stares from the evening’s crowd, but they seemed indifferent to their momentary celebrity as the joyful participants of the evening’s festivities swirled around them in rhythm to the music.

Gallant’s mind refused to shrink from the churning desires of the memory—Kelsey would remain an unsatisfied yearning of his past.

Damn him.
Gallant looked down the length of the wardroom table.

The boisterous and good-natured atmosphere of his fellow officers did nothing to improve his spirits. During their journey together from Sol, Gallant had come to know his colleagues, their likes and dislikes, as well as their eccentricities.

The ship’s weapons officer, Lieutenant Stahl, was short and squat, but with broad shoulders and giant muscular biceps. He was a consummate professional. He never wanted to discuss anything but tactics or equipment, especially the latest upgrades.

Stahl nodded to Gallant and punched in his authorization code on the galley panel. The auto-server popped up and displayed a tray of synthetic entrees and side dishes.

“We’re getting close to the Earth-type planet,” he contributed, sparking a discussion on the planet’s attributes.

“What do you think, XO? Will we have real steak and potatoes instead of synthetics, sometime soon?” asked Lieutenant Rogers, the ship’s supply officer. Sitting there eating synthetic food stuffs, only whetted their palates for the goodies they expected to find on the planet.

“Don’t get your taste buds all excited—we don’t know what will be edible,” piped up the ship’s medical officer, Lieutenant Marcus Mendel. Despite the fact he was responsible for the crew’s physical conditioning, he was overweight and the least likely officer to be found working out in the gym. The ship’s “class clown,” he frequently victimized his shipmates with his witticisms. “I could save endless hours of toxicity testing if you would volunteer to be our guinea pig, Rogers.”

“No thanks,” said Rogers.

“In any case, we’ll have an opportunity to explore a planet comparable to Earth. It should be a treasure trove of new knowledge,” said Stahl.

Mendel smiled and held up crossed fingers.

The youngest members of the wardroom, Lieutenant Junior Grade Richard Palmer and Ensign John Smith, stood up and showed thumbs-up. Palmer and Smith were spending every available hour of the day working to qualify for their duty assignments, Officer of the Deck and Engineering Officer of the Watch, respectively. Their study and duty cycles kept them fully occupied, so any chance for a diversion would be a welcomed opportunity.

Neumann made a wry smile. “Does anyone have further data on Tau-Beta?”

Gallant said, “I stopped in the CIC earlier and left the captain there reviewing the latest info. The images are showing many varied life-forms. We’ve rescheduled engine maintenance tests to avoid any delays.”

“I thought you still had engineering update issues to resolve, Henry?” asked Lieutenant John Paulson, one of the officers who shared a tiny stateroom with Gallant.

“Yes, Gallant, I’ll be conducting an informal inspection of the engineering spaces on the mid-watch. I’ll review your recalibration results then. I’ll expect them to be up to standards,” said Neumann.

“Yes, sir. Please excuse me,” Gallant said, rising from the table, annoyed by Neumann’s criticism in front of the wardroom officers. “I’ve got the next OOD watch and it’s time to start my walkthrough.”

His chest tightened and he gave Neumann a withering look as he left the wardroom.

Egotistical bastard.

He stopped abruptly in the corridor and reflected on his behavior and emotions. While he didn’t want to be jealous or bitter, he had to admit those passions had found fertile ground in his heart, and he was hard-pressed to exorcise them.

No matter how much he denied it, he would never find peace until he found a way to move on from Kelsey.

Twenty minutes later, Gallant had completed his walkthrough and arrived on the bridge in time to witness the
Intrepid's
approach to the Earth-type planet, only four days since they had entered the Tau Ceti’s system. He was glad it was impossible to die of curiosity because he certainly would have tested the proposition.

“What do you think is going to be down there, sir?” Chief Howard asked Gallant.

“I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out.”

“I’ve got a theory.”

“Spill it.”

“We’re going to find tropical islands with dancing girls—paradise, simply paradise.”

“Well, you would know. You’ve visited enough ports. I hope the natives are friendly.”

“Aren’t they always?”

“Mr. Gallant, we’ve reached the two hundred thousand kilometer limit,” reported Helmsman Craig.

“Very well,” responded Gallant. He pressed his comm pin and said, “Captain?”

“Coming,” responded the captain.

In a minute, Captain Cooper came bounding onto the bridge from his ready-cabin off of the bridge area. The captain used his ready-cabin during eventful periods to be able to respond instantly to emergencies. His normal quarters were an additional deck and compartment away, but they included elaborate furnishings and provided a small reception area which he found useful when he was receiving visitors while in port.

Gallant considered the
Intrepid
to be a sleek and beautifully designed ship. Its 180,000-tons were shaped like a huge missile with a length of 710 meters and an extended beam of 133 meters. It housed the engineering compartment’s dual engines.
Intrepid's
limited armament included short range plasma and laser cannons. Her crew of twelve officers and 214 men were highly trained and fully prepared to face any challenge.

“Captain on the bridge,” announced the Chief of the Watch.

The captain waited expectantly on the OOD.

“Captain, request permission to enter geosynchronous orbit,” asked Gallant as he admired the sights in the main viewport, which extended the entire height of the bulkhead.

“Permission granted,” said Captain Cooper.

“Ahead, slow. Helmsman, place the ship in stationary orbit over the planet’s equator at the specified coordinates. All stations evaluate data from land masses directly below.”

Gallant’s attention was momentarily captured by the sight of the curvature of the planet flashing across the viewport along with the detailed telescopic images at the nearby science station of the planet’s surface.

This was the United Planets’ (UP) first journey to another star system and they had an endless list of information to collect about the planets. The operations personnel were already collecting so much data the analysts were hard pressed in evaluating their windfall.

Gallant reported aloud, “Tau-Beta has all the characteristics of an Earth-type planet complete with oceans covering ninety-three per cent of the planet’s surface in comparison to Earth’s seventy per cent. There are no large continents, however, only numerous island groups. The largest island group is in the temperate zone and geographically resembles Earth’s Hawaiian Islands only much larger, volcano included. And one more thing—I’m delighted to report—
life,”
said Gallant, his voice characterized by a higher than normal pitch. “Sensors show flocks of birdlike creatures, herds of mammals, and other abundant creatures of all kinds.”

“Are there any signs of intelligent life?” queried the captain in a general, informal way; invited all personnel to contribute.

Lieutenant Commander Reed, the
Intrepid's
Operations Officer, sat with his face buried in a virtual display. He was barrel-chested with a craggy face. His station was cluttered and his ruffled hair and scraggy beard, along with his wrinkled uniform, reflected his demanding schedule.

“Sir, I think I can make out fabricated structures clustered along the shore of the main island of the largest island group,” said Reed.

Gallant bumped into Captain Cooper as they bounded forward to catch a peek.

Gallant stared in bewilderment.
Is there a civilization?

Crouched behind a metal cabinet, Gallant remained waiting near the converging passages in the Operation’s compartment for the Titan warrior’s next move. The unnerving quiet was finally broken by a series of earsplitting explosions.

Kaboooom! Kaboooom!

The shocking roar briefly rendered Gallant deaf. He instinctively raised his hands to his ears. As he fought to shake off the concussion, an acidic stench of smoke and ash invaded his nostrils, forcing him to cover his mouth to suppress a spasmodic cough. The blinding flashes of plasma weapons shrieked into the compartment and left a smoldering display of fireworks.

What happened?

His methodical mind searched to unravel the possibilities.

His overwhelmed senses forced him to keep his head down as the aliens attacked the Operations compartment in force. The exploding grenades and plasma flashes splashed against the bulkheads seemingly aimless from all directions. Sound was the first of his senses to return, leaving a buzzing in his ears. He realized the attackers had no idea where he was hiding, but were merely laying down suppressing fire to flush him out as they moved forward. Breathlessly, he shrank into the depths of his hidey-hole, but the game was up.

His hit-and-run maneuvers had paid dividends, but ominously, the tactic was no longer viable. Feeling he had achieved all he could under the circumstances, he decided to execute his escape plan.

Touching the bulkhead behind him with his left hand, he extended his right hand toward his rifle. When his outstretched fingers grasped the weapon, he pulled it close. Then he crawled to a nearby duct vent and squeezed his body inside, vanishing from his enemy’s advance.

Calmer now, he peeked out of the vent to observe a large group of aliens swarming into the compartment. They passed his previous hideout and continued through the funneled passageway toward the bridge. After a few minutes, the sound of a raging battle made it clear the captain was mounting a robust defense. Gallant heard blaster shots and screams.

Focus!

He crawled through the duct works until he reached an exit point aft of the bridge, directly behind the aliens. As he squirmed out of the duct, he clutched his plasma rifle and pulled out several grenades from his pockets. Then he moved forward into the battle.

As he climbed up a ladder, behind the aliens who were engaged in the firefight on the bridge, he caught a glimpse of Captain Cooper jumping from spot to spot while engaging the aliens.

Gallant methodically targeted the aliens with his rifle, hitting those who could not be clearly seen by their companions. As a result, they didn’t know they were being fired upon from their rear. A few moments later, he again caught sight of his captain in the thick of the fighting, rallying his crew.

Gallant pulled the trigger on his plasma rifle and held it down, letting a continuous stream of hellish fire flow at his enemies, but soon the flashing red light indicated the weapon was completely discharged. Letting it fall from his hands, he pulled a grenade from his pocket and hurled it forward.

He then fired his hand blaster, but his luck finally ran out as he attracted heavy return fire.

A blast burned through the hatch he was hiding behind.

“Ugh—” he cried from the scorching heat of the near miss.