64. Festival
1456 Words
A couple of hours later, I wake up with Alden cuddling me. I snuggle into him. "You are so amazing, love."
"So are you baby. I love you."
"I love you too."
"You are being summoned to Alkawn's office when you wake up."
"We're not awake yet."
"Yes sir."
We snuggle then we make our way to his office.
He watches us walk in from his desk. "Good afternoon. I have a couple of things; the war carriers I submitted to adjust levels. Thrusts and torpedoes would be the bottom level. 2nd level would hold 1.5 million brains and 4 brain makers. The brains would be deployable to the ground with ramps around it. 3rd and 4th would both be warships, 6,000 4 rocket warships on the 3rd level. 4,900, 2 rocket warships on the 4th level. 5th would be weapons building. Including the warships. 6th is shuttles and extra storage area. Never know when they have to bring something back or someone needs on the ship. 7th is engines. Including the hyperspace drives. 8th shields and major weapons deployment area. 9th is the essential and required systems for the ship. 10th is the communications center. I also included the distress alert on it. Should the ship fall into distress, the alert will sound, pinging us all. Actually, I put that on all the ships. You forgot it. 11th is where the landing gear is stored somehow. I guess it's arms that come out and grab the ground. But that's where the ship wanted those and they fit. So that's good. 12th is the intake area. 13th is an office and apartment. I know they will be unmanned, but if someone needs to command it, they could pack a lunch and have a bed. 14th all the rest of the external communications. 15th is the command area. It would be fully functional with all the stations and the captains' seat. Nothing more than that in it."
Alden takes the folder. "What do you have for defense of it?"
"I used what you had already. It's the strongest shield. Then I added a few more lasers. It will be able to shoot multiple lasers in any direction. It will not have a blind spot. I also added missile firing on the outside of the ship. It's going to build missiles, may as well be able to shoot them from the ship, instead of just war ships. And for the last thing, the weapons area will be arming the brains with these."
Alden takes it and pushes a button. A laser sword comes out of it. It's a handheld tube. "That'll be good for them. Easy and compact."
"That's what I thought. Anyway, those were my ideas for the war carrier. I could tell you hadn't got too far into it. My other problem is Tera. She defied a direct order."
"I know." I stare at the ceiling. "I don't think she understands. She probably wasn't in a position to ever take orders, even. I know she's a princess now."
"Do not make excuses for her. You can not let that slide. It needs dealt with. It could have just as easily been Alden out there injured. What would have happened if she defied that order?"
"I'd rip her head off."
"Exactly."
"What order was given?"
"Kehlani put me and Tera as the guard escorts on Tye's warship originally. She told us to kill anything that approaches. Defend that ship." Alden nods. "Tera said but everything has a right to life."
"What did she do?"
"Told Tera to get the f**k out of the mission. She moved Mason in."
"Yea, we'll deal with that. Thank you for pointing it out."
"You're welcome. I will check the supply ships now."
"Take a break, Alkawn. Go... I have no idea what they do on this planet." Alden rubs his eyes.
Alkawn laughs.
Then Alden walks me to his office. "Is Tera on the ship?"
"Yes, sir."
"Summon her to my office."
"Yes, sir."
I have a seat at the conference table as Tera, Elek, and Elroy come in. They sit with me and Alden comes over. "What the f**k were you thinking?"
She starts sobbing.
"What happened?" Elek sits up.
"She was given an order to escort and defend a ship. She did not want to comply. We will not tolerate this."
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to kill things."
Elek nods. "What if that was Elroy in that warship and I didn't want to escort it? Should I let a dinosaur eat him because I don't want to hurt it?"
"Of course not."
I shake my head at her. "That's what you were willing to do. If we give a direct order, you have to comply. Tye was on that ship, and you were more worried about a hypothetical dinosaur. I can't have pilots like that. It's a risk to everyone who is out there."
Elek rubs his eyes. "I didn't want to kill them either, but I was put on defense and that damn thing jumped out at us. I had a direct shot so I took it. I couldn't let it attack us or the shuttle."
"Tera, everyone plays a part out there. By getting on a warship you are accepting command. There were what?... 13? Kings out there. All listening to her as command. We don't have an option. You follow the orders from command. You trust command to get you and everyone else home alive." Alden rubs his eyes. "I don't know."
I smile, "If I give the order to blow up that planet. If I line you up and say fire. That blood is on my hands, not yours. I did that. Not you. You may have pulled the trigger, but you have to follow command. You would have nothing to feel guilty about in that situation. You can not think like you did. If I put you on defense, you blow the hell out of anything that moves. No questions asked. You are protecting someone or something important. Someone or something that I deem as more important than other lifeforms around. Do not question me again."
Alden sits back. "It's moved to your record. We're not doing any probation time. I don't know if you even realized all that, but if you do it again, you're done flying."
She wipes her eyes. "Yes, sir."
"You're dismissed."
Victor comes in as they leave. He shuts the door behind them, "I checked the war carrier and king ships. I made some changes. I submitted them but didn't know if you seen."
I scratch my head. "There must be nothing to do on this planet."
"We'll check them Victor. We're catching up. I'll let you know when we do."
"That works."
He leaves and Alden puts his arm around me. "Let's go see if we can find something to do on the planet."
A couple of hours later, we're in the middle of a festival. There's dancing and games. People are having fun. We play some games and he dances with me. I love it.
I see a big dirt hole kids are playing in. He laughs and pushes me towards it. He gets a seat beside it and checks his phone. I touch the dirt and it's so different. I can shape it but it's dry. It's not what I'm used to. I sit on my knees and make little figures in the dirt. I make a castle and a spaceship. Then I try to make a dinosaur. Nothing comes out right but it is fun. I try to get Alden's attention to show him my spaceship. He's focused on something else. I turn to see what he's focused on and of course, it's a woman with a tight shirt on. She's got big boobs. She's sitting by the dirt hole watching her kids.
I check myself out and sigh. I'll never be sexy like other women. I'm small. Barely any boobs. I have a nice waist and hips but no ass. I'm too small. I'll never have boobs to show off like her, and it seems like that's all men want. Even my mate wants someone sexy like that. Instead, he's got me. I glance at myself again. I'm covered in dirt. My dress is dirty. My hands, knees, arms, hell even my face probably has dirt on it. I feel like such a child.
Feet step in front of me. "What's wrong, baby?"
I shake my head and hold up my ship. "I made a spaceship."
"That's different. This dirt is odd."
I nod and smash my ship.
"You ready to get some dinner?"
"Yea, that sounds good. I need a bath anyway."
- Writer
