Chapter 1

Captain Dav Vad heard the alarms sound and forced herself to relax as the Vitae Gel was sucked out of her lungs. The oxygen, mineral, and protein gel had helped to sustain her body in the stasis chamber for twenty years. The Captain was nude, except for a small headset that connected her to a sleep program and to the bridge computer. "Control...have we arrived yet?"

There was a slight pause. "We have arrived at the coordinates on file, Captain."

"Very well then, " she answered. "Standard orbit. Prepare the colonists for disembarkation. I will be up in a moment to go over the figures. "

"Yes, sir, " the control answered her.

I always tighten up on these long trips she thought as she stretched. Cupping her hand, Dav bent over and began to squeegee the gel from her skin. Suddenly she doubled over and began to vomit gel. "Aaach... I hate this stuff, " she gasped and wiped it off her chin. "I always seem to swallow some of it. "

She admired herself in the mirror. There was something about her hair that didn't seem right. It seemed to be unnaturally long for such a short trip. When the crew had left earth, they had shaved off all of their hair and even though their bodies didn't age in stasis, their hair continued to grow.

I will have to check the computer for my protein mixture she thought. It wouldn't be good to arrive on Aqua, looking like an outback beast woman she giggled to herself. Besides that, with all the hair, she could clog the filters.

As Dav looked in the mirror, she saw a woman with long black hair that fell in ringlets down her ramrod straight back, but there were also highlights of red throughout, due to her mixed heritage. She needed a shower and after a few minutes in the auto salon, she was bathed and had her hair cut. After slipping on a uniform, she admired herself in the mirror again and saw the ramrod straight back.

Ramrod straight back she thought in shock. "I am a civilian now, " she whispered as she tried to let her back relax.

When she looked in the mirror she could see her back was ramrod straight again. "Too much of the military background coming back to haunt me. "Oh well, why fight it, " she thought with a shrug of her shoulders.

Her arms and legs showed scars from the countless sword and knife fights, that not even modern medicine could cover up. Not that she would ever want them to be removed. The scars were an honor of sorts. As her skills as an apprentice of the sword had progressed, the Master had put more scars on her to add to her collection, and to the Master's surprise, she had even given him a few scars.

Opening the front of her shirt, she examined the scars along the right side of her navel. Still tender after all these years she thought as she traced the scar with her finger. "This is the scar that cost me my military career, " she whispered.

It had been during the Fren-Cana Revolt on Luna Roush III, that a group of terrorists had tried to take over a military day care center on her base. On HER base. The nerve of those people. What an insult!

When Captain Vad heard the gunfire, all she could think about was the children. Charging in, she killed four of the terrorists with her parade sword. The fifth put a gun against her abdomen and fired. Instantly she retaliated and cut him down. The pain from her wound washed over her and she dropped to the floor. A pool of blood had begun to form by her head.

"My goodness someone is bleeding a lot, " she said to a medic that had arrived on scene. By the look on the woman's face, Dav began to realize that the blood was hers. Reaching down for her side, all she could feel were her intestines that had spilled out onto the floor. She tried to hold them in, but the blood made them too slippery. As she began to go into shock, the room went dark and the medic slipped a mental block on her brain and made her go into a coma.

Captain Dav was put into a Vitae Gel Stasis tank, while the replacement body parts were cloned for her abdomen. Upon waking four years later and undergoing extensive surgery, she found that a military court had given her the High Medal of Utmost Courage and a general medical discharge for "unacceptable risk to personnel under military care." Mainly it had been the children, even though the children had not been in the room. That she had risked her own life to save the children had not been taken into account.

The Captain had been tried and convicted while still in a coma, by a military court five hundred light years from earth. The Court had even tried her for dereliction of duty and abandoning her command, while she was being rebuilt in the Vitae Tank. In her mind, this was like putting soldiers on trial while they lay bleeding on the battlefield. She shook her head in disgust when the Military Command made her sign the discharge papers. With a heavy heart she was put on a civilian shuttle to return to Earth. It was the longest flights of her life. How was she going to explain to her husband that she had lost status?

So what does a fired military Captain do, she thought to herself, who can fly anything from a glider to a seventy-five trillion-megaton space fighter? Maybe roll up in a ball, turn your face to the wall, and kiss life, as you know it good bye. For her that was not an option. Never had been and never would be. Lead, follow or destroy was her motto!

Upon arriving back at earth, she discussed the situation with her contract husband and Dav told him about a promo she had seen for one of the new emigration planets on the shuttle. Too her surprise, the husband, who complained about the cold Panamanian winters, jumped at the chance to get off planet. They looked over the brochures together and they decided on a planet called aqua.

It showed a lifestyle of perpetual Caribbean cruises as major advances in technology now allowed for vast floating cities, and they could envision themselves lying on the pseudo beaches all day and dancing in the night clubs until they dropped with exhaustion.

As the controlling interest in the marriage, Dav went to the Emigration office and waited for an application to be reviewed, before they could get permission to leave earth. Because the waiting room was crowded with all types of rabble, she kept one hand on her gun and one eye on her wrist pad. She was not used to mingling with people of this status. "Get used to it, " she muttered to herself. The crowd tried to back away from the dogs that sat protectively at her side.

"Number 27?"

"That would be us, " she whispered to the dogs and they set up a protective screen as she walked to the desk.

"Dav Vad?" A man asked from behind the blast proof screen.

"Yes. "

"Good afternoon, Miss, " he said with a bow. "You are respectfully requested to speak to the Commander of Emigration. "Frowning, she let herself and her dogs be led through a door behind the desk and up the stairs to the main offices.

They passed through seven heavily armed checkpoints before stopping before a massive oak door. No one asked for her to check her weapon in at the desk. "Someone must really trust me...or are powerful enough to fear no one..." she whispered to Yang.

The door opened and a slight man stepped out. "My name is Commander Timmons, " he said as he welcomed her into his office. "Please come in. " He made room for the dogs and even opened an extra couch for them to sit on. "Your dogs are beautiful, " he started out.

"Thank you, " she said patting them on the head.

"Panamanian German Shepherds?" he asked frowning.

"That is correct, " Dav said, surprised that he knew of this breed.

"What are their names please?"

"Yin and Yang, " she said and they put out their paws.

Commander Timmons looked at her to see what the dogs wanted. They want to shake hands, " Dav said with a laugh.

"Oh my goodness, " Commander Timmons said as he walked around his desk and solemnly shook the paws of both dogs. "They are amazing, " he said as he took a seat.

"They are standard military issue, " she said trying to keep the dogs from getting a big head. Yang growled at her.

"Did she understand what you just said?"

Copyright © 2004 Roger W. Kramer