BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 53
 

As the Righteous approached Joplin, the other ships of the task force sat along their entry vector to honor the vessel, her Captain and her crew. In a tradition that harkened back to a time when naval vessels were strictly ocean going, a maintenance team had affixed a broom to one of the bow antenna arrays to symbolize that they had swept their particular ‘sea’ clean.

  Elias stood before his chair, his chest a little tight as he realized this would be the last time that he put into port at Joplin as a member of the Spatial Police Force. As the other vessels of the task force slid by on the port and starboard, nearly all of the vessels bearing the marks and scars of this last engagement, he questioned his choice for a moment before nodding imperceptibly.

  He’d done his duty, had lost friends while following the SPF’s mandate and nearly paid with his life on more than one occasion. It was time to step down. There were others that would carry on where he left off, that would maintain the traditions of service in the protection of the Planetary Alignment.

  “We’re cleared for docking,” Cerise called out from her station. “Berth seventy three.”

  “Affirmative,” Elias said, turning slightly to give his wife a smile. “Saul, take us in.”

  The jaguar acknowledged the order and brought the cruiser in. With deft touches to the piloting controls he spun the large ship on its axis, dropping it with an intentional slowness that gave the slightly battered vessel an air of regality. When the enormous landing jacks touched the solid rock of the landing platform, it was without even the slightest shudder or bump. As the pilot’s capsule slid open, Saul stood and gave his friend a wide grin.

  “Excellent, Mister Reese,” the white fox said with his own answering smile. Elias tapped the intercom. “All hands, all hands, secure ship for port. Good job everyone. As soon as debrief has been concluded everyone is on one week leave. Enjoy sleeping in, you’ve earned it. Captain out.”

  The bridge crew secured their stations as did the rest of the crew members throughout the Righteous and Elias went to his ready room to gather the few belongings he had there before moving to his cabin. Most of the items that he had were small personal mementos, both 3D pictures and flat images of the people that mattered most in the fox’s life, the most precious being those of his wife and two children.

  From there Elias moved to his cabin. There were almost as few things to collect here and he tossed them into the bag he carried, also putting in one uniform, his dress grey being in a garment bag which he slung over his shoulder. The final item that he retrieved was the Tambor family sword and scabbard.

  Cerise was waiting in the corridor and gave her mate a weary smile. “The end of a journey,” she said as she slung her own bag on the opposite shoulder so she could take her husband’s hand.

  “The beginning of the rest of our lives,” he said softly before kissing her cheek then resting his head against the vixen’s for a moment. “You know there’s probably going to be some kind of formal recognition. By the Maker, speeches will probably go on for hours,” Elias said with a rueful chuckle.

  “I think I can handle that so long as they hold it off a day or so. I could use some sleep and woe be to the person that gets between me and my babies!” Cerise declared.

  The pair made their way to the hatch, waiting for the crew that was ahead of them to pile out of the hatch and down the gangway. They saw who else was holding back and smiled at their friends, joining them in their own little knot while humans and furs flowed around them. Elias nodded and smiled to the crew members that paused to nod in greeting, a few halting to salute.

   SPO Cabot from Randal’s combat team paused as he stepped up to where the command staff stood and snapped to attention, the human relaxing into a precise parade rest after his salute was returned. “Permission to speak candidly, Captain?” the young human belted out.

  “Permission granted, Cabot,” Elias replied. “Stand easy, lad,” he told the youth.

  “Sir…I…I just wanted to say what an honor it was to serve under you and…and to get a little back for my brother, Jimmy. The letters he sent while on the Scimitar…He said he was with a really great crew, and I can see what he meant. He…he was the reason I signed up,” the human said with a hard swallow, his eyes gleaming brightly with emotion.

   Whatever more the young man wanted to say caught in his throat and Elias put his hand on the young trooper’s shoulder. “Jimmy was one of the bravest people I’ve ever known,” the fox said. “When we got hit, he kept his cool and was one of the reasons the others and I were able to make it. You couldn’t convince me it was his ‘prentice cruise and he acted with bravery of an old spacer. He was a professional and he was my friend. I think the same goes for you, Jerry. It’s been my honor to have you on board. Jimmy would be right proud of you.”

  Emotion started to get the best of the human until he clamped down on his expression. “Thank you, Sir,” he said in a thick, soft voice. Before he folded completely the young SPO snapped to attention and gave another salute before retreating, saving the others from watching his loss of self control.

  “Yep. I think things are going to be in fine and capable hands, indeed,” Elias said with his own eyes growing moist.

***

   The small entourage made it down the gangplank after the rest of the crew had left the ship, enjoying the camaraderie with one another. On either side of the tube that led into the depths of the Spatial Police Force facility was an honor guard of four officers in battledress with the carbines they carried at port arms. In the chamber reunions were still going on between the crew and friends while others headed singly, in pairs and small groups to the trams that waited to take them to the barracks section.

  At the far end of the chamber, Pala Lon watched over the children while Sharan ran to her mate, Keena a few steps behind her. While the elder vixen’s reunion with her husband was mostly quiet and somewhat dignified, Keena launched herself at her tiger, latching onto his neck and crying softly even as she covered him with kisses and nuzzles.

  Elias and Cerise greeted Pala with a hug each before doting on their children, both kits squealing joyfully at the attention they were getting, the sounds echoing in the chamber. “By the Maker!” Elias exclaimed with a laugh as he held his son tightly before lifting him high. “What have they been feeding you? You’re so much bigger!” The kit gurgled happily and began yipping excitedly.

  When Elias brought the child back into a hug, Van growled playfully and began tugging on his father’s uniform collar, trying to tussle with his parent, his little tail wagging furiously. The fox laid his head protectively over the child’s and closed his eyes with a deep feeling of joy filling him.

  Cerise was getting the same treatment from Renee, the little female just as rambunctious as her brother and she laughed when the kit wormed her way under her mother’s chin and tried to climb even higher.

  “You may want to consider nanny tethers,” Pala said, her normally aloof demeanor cracking as she watched the reunion of parents and children and tried to wipe her eyes clear as casually as possible. “They’re already scampering around and should be walking soon, which means five minutes after that they’ll start running. And before you ask I have five entire data sticks with still pictures and videos for you to look over.”

  The kits wore themselves out with enthusiastic greetings for their parents and before too long both were asleep in their tram while the group made their way to their quarters. Van and Renee weren’t the only ones that had grown in the few months of the operation and Celia and Gey were also noticeably bigger, though no less excited to have their father and big sister and brothers-by-marriage back.

  Sharan greeted her daughter and sons-in-law once the preliminary welcomes were over, then the rest of the contingent, including Jenna in the process, filed out to the residential sections. “I took the liberty of having a welcome home dinner put together for all of you,” the elder vixen said to the others as they boarded a tram that would carry the group further into the facilities and the living areas. “Fortunately all of you have a few days before the official welcoming ceremony and I don’t want to see any uniforms during that time,” she said firmly.

  The others simply agreed with chuckles and smiles knowing that it was better to agree than to argue with the strong-willed copper furred female.

***

   Breth Janes, the commander of the entire Spatial Police Force officiated the welcome proceedings for the task force herself three days after the return of the fleet. News of the endeavor had leaked out to the rest of the Planetary Alliance and Elias noted with some trepidation that there were reporters from INN with video crews and photographers from other news agencies in the large auditorium that was normally used for the graduation ceremonies of cadets. She looked out across the crowd below the stage where she stood behind a podium and let a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

  The SPF had started as an idea to assist the different citizens of the Planetary Alignment, a multi-jurisdictional police force that would aid and protect all of the planets of the PA regardless of political standing, species, gender or any one of a hundred differences that made the Alignment such a marvelous thing.

  When she had taken command of the law enforcement group it had been understaffed, suffered budget issues, and all of the problems of that resulted with any attempt to bring so many diverse individuals together for a common cause. She had been there during the first growing pains, petitioning for and eventually getting enough autonomy to guide it to what it was now.

  So it was with considerable pride and satisfaction that she looked out at the sea of different species, male and female, dressed in the grey and crimson of the organization’s colors, uniforms of both formal dress and duty casuals that sat before her. Her heart swelled that there were so many that were willing to put their own lives on the line for others, to see something far grander than just welfare of a single planet and looked at the larger picture of worlds united for the betterment of all and worked hard to protect such.

  The first part of the ceremony was the promotion of the cadets that had gone out with the task force on their apprentice cruises. Janes herself called all fifty three cadets forward and awarded them their rank tabs after taking their cadet insignia from them, also handing citations as warranted. Most of the cadets were enlisted ranks for field personnel, though a few were given commissioned rank. Then the human called Jenna Brees up.

  “Cadet Brees, your pips if you please,” Breth Janes said after returning the ferret’s crisp salute. She accepted the pips before pinning the tabs of Warrant Officer on her collar lapels. “As Commander of the Spatial Police Force it is my honor to brevet you to the rank of Warrant Officer, Fourth Class for the successful completion of your apprentice cruise. As per the recommendation of your Captain and other officers of the Spatial Police Force Cruiser Righteous, I also bestow upon you the Star of Merit, with cluster, for your actions during Operation Hammer Stroke for acting above and beyond the standards of the SPF. For invaluable service regarding other aspects of the mission, I also award you the Sword of Valor medal, with cluster.”

  Janes stepped back and snapped a salute which Jenna returned, lowering her arm only when the human did.

  “Congratulations, Warrant Officer Brees. You may rejoin your fellow officers as a fully instated and valuable member of the Spatial Police Force,” the Commander said with a smile.

  “Thank you, Ma’am!” Jenna said sharply before turning on her heels and stepping crisply off the stage and back to her fellow former cadets. When she rejoined her cohorts there were no shortages of congratulations for the Sword of Valor, one of the more prestigious awards the SPF gave out.

  After Jenna, Janes called other SPO’s to the stage. One of those surprised to hear his name was Jerry Cabot. He stepped up to the stage and also went to attention with a salute that had Randal Mercks nodding in satisfaction.

  “SPO Gerald R. Cabot, as per request of your commanding officers, I do hereby award you the Star of Merit, complete with two clusters, for your service during Operation Hammer Stroke. I also ask that you accept a second Star of Merit, with clusters, for your brother’s sacrifice aboard the ship SPF Scimitar, and the Order of the Setting Sun, posthumously, on behalf of SPO Cadet James L. Cabot. It is also my pleasure to brevet you to the rank of Corporal.” Janes saluted and watched as the gesture was returned and the young man rejoined the audience.

  The commandant returned to her podium and looked out at the audience and nodded, her eyes seeming to touch every single individual that sat before her. Janes took a deep breath. “There is no doubt that Operation Hammer Stroke has been the single greatest undertaking of the Spatial Police Force in its entire, short, history. The task force itself was comprised of ships from almost every planet of the Alignment, members from every world, dedicated males and females from every species of this great organization of worlds.

  “While every individual that took part in it is honored, it is with a heavy heart that we now call out the ships that were lost, the individuals that did not return to us. May they find peace in the world that lies beyond this one in accordance to their own beliefs and know that their names shall be carved on the Wall of the Fallen in the Grand Gallery in honor of their ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of us may live safe and free of the danger they confronted.”

  From a balcony over the main gallery a veteran SPO called out the names of the nine ships that were lost in the endeavor and the names of the twelve hundred thirty one lives lost. When the reading, which took over two hours, was finished, an old ship’s bell was rung followed by a full minute of silence before being rung once again.

  As the final tone of the bell drifted into silence, all of the SPF personnel in attendance dropped their salutes and Janes reclaimed her podium. “Assembly, dismissed,” she called out sharply.

  Elias waited while the crowd dispersed. He’d asked not to be called up to the stage and because of his actions during the operation had been granted that his own ceremony would be a private affair. Eventually the crowd thinned enough so that he and the others could exit the auditorium and made their way to the Grand Gallery. The chamber had been carved out of the solid black and grey rock of Joplin. The fox remembered the first time he’d entered the chamber as a recruit and chuckled when he looked to see the latest batch of shave-tailed cadets stepping from the monorail shuttle that brought them from the docking bays.

  The others paused with the fox to watch as instructors ran up to the latest batch of cadets, yelling and getting in their faces, many of the recruits shaking in fear, their eyes wide, fur and human alike.

  “You think you’re good enough for the SPF?” one sergeant bellowed over the rest, the giant grizzly standing with his hands on his waist and glaring down with malevolent glee at the former civilians trying to comply with conflicting orders from different instructors at the same time. “You all wanna be big heroes? Look at the wall behind me! THOSE are heroes! Each and every one of those names is a real hero! What makes you think any of you are even worthy of reading those names? Don’t you look at that wall, cadet!” the bear bellowed at one unfortunate recruit. “You ain’t worthy of reading those names yet!”

  Elias chuckled. “It’s nice to see some things never change.”

  “It was the same way when we arrived, wasn’t it, Rovi?” Sandy asked with a wide grin as the sergeant continued to yell, his voice echoing in the huge chamber. He shook his head when the bear dropped every single recruit for push-ups to keep them from looking at the Wall that he’d intentionally pointed out.

  “Was it ever. There weren’t as many names on the Wall, then,” the black furred fox agreed with a nostalgic expression. “Did we look as motley when we first got here?”

  “I had to run around my entire class when I first got here for laughing,” Lena said with a frown. “I didn’t tell or even listen to a joke for an entire month after that.” She looked at her wolf. “What about you?”

  “The same. And push-ups, sit ups…I was a little pudgy when I first got here,” Randal admitted.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Cerise asked, glad that she’d been spared the indignity of being a cadet.

  “Serious as can be,” the wolf said.

  Their ruminations were interrupted by the sergeant yelling at another of the recruits. “Don’t you be eyeballing those officers, little girl! They’re probably wondering why I don’t ship the lot of you right back home! Now, you better be looking real hard at that floor! Go on! Doooown…and up! I said up! UP! Work those weak arms! You better give me a decent push-up or we will stay here all day and work at it until I get tired!”

  “Let’s get out of here before we cause a recruit mutiny!” Elias told the others with a laugh.

***

   The group had a quick lunch in the mess near their quarters before meeting with Breth Janes in Sandy’s personal auditorium. It was far less formal than the assembly for the cadets and news crews. She looked at the individuals in front of her. “Well, I can’t say that I’m happy about all of you leaving the SPF, but I do want you to know that you’ll always be welcomed back with open arms if you ever change your minds,” the woman said with a shake of her head. “I think we’re lucky that most of you have stuck with us for this long, all things considered.”

  “I can’t say I’m sorry, Commander,” Elias told Janes. “I’ve just had too many close ones. I have others to think about.” He lowered his head for a moment before looking the woman in her eyes. “It wasn’t an easy decision. The SPF has been good to me.”

  “I understand, Elias. I really do,” the human said. “Just don’t be surprised if you get a call from me out of the blue for something.” She stood and held her hand out to the fox. “We owe you for what you’ve done. If there’s anything you ever need from me, so long as it’s legal, you let me know.”

  Elias nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Breth Janes stood and sighed. “There’s a ship headed to Dennier in three days. The frigate Chamkata. You’ve already got assigned births on her for all of you. Just remember that you’re all still considered active until you actually make planetfall,” she warned with a smile.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.