-This excerpt contains language that is not suitable for all audiences.  One The Way to New Isosceles is not intended for readers under 18.
 
 

Chapter 1  It was Iowa, twenty years ago.  The wheat fields were golden, the sky aqua- but JJ knew it was just a dream again.  Every night Earth-luscious with life, vegetation, water-returned to JJ as it once was.  The powerful atmosphere blew an ever so gentle breeze through JJ’s astral red hair.  Her younger self walked knee deep in the swaying grains.  It was hot; the sun shone its mid day summer brightest. Her little dress billowed-she was bare foot, and the seeds itched yet tickled her soles and bare arms.  That morning it had rained, and beads of water still trickled from the budding grain and dropped between little JJ’s toes.  Her feet would get dirty, and her mother would send her to the hose before JJ was allowed to enter the house.   Just as it had then, a shadow slid over the glistening grains. Not simple wisps of clouds, but a sudden, massive blanket of darkness.  The golden sunlight vanished from view.  A red glow lit up the afternoon, the horizon streaked with the colors of sunset and wildfires, and a fiery red meteor smoked across the sky.  Hot coals rained down on the twelve year old, and JJ ducked below the equally defenseless grains.  Lava like fire smothered the ground, and sulfur filled JJ’s lungs.  The girl tried to turn and crawl home, but the ground was hot and quaked.  It was dark, and the burning grains cast the dim flickering light of a thousand little candles.  Iowa submerged into Hell.  The comet fell to earth, and all that humanity knew of Gaia was gone.  JJ sat up in her bunk and hit her head on the solid deck plating.  There was little room to breath on the Mother Ship, but better inside the hearty old ship’s cramped walls, then out in cold, black, oxygen-free space. Of course, JJ had chosen the top bunk. “Another nightmare?” Her bunkmate’s concerned feminine call came from beneath the top bed.   JJ pulled her hair from its messy bun and wiped the sweat from her chest.  Her heavy breathing calmed.  Her hair was still red, but shorter and darker.  She wasn’t flat chested, but her boobs weren’t as big as she would have liked.  And of course, earth was still unable to sustain life.  Well, it had been when what was left of humanity left ten years ago.  How her home planet had faired since JJ hadn’t heard. “J?”  “As you were, Private,” JJ finally acknowledged.  She laid back down and listened to their spaceship rumble.  She was a Lieutenant in the Combatant Brigade, she needn’t give explanations when she wasn’t ordered to by her Captain.  Ten years of space faring and  fighting their rival human factions didn’t give time to go soft.  Not that JJ was ever soft.  She would, however, drift off to sleep again if she was left alone.  Sleep was necessary to her business, but alarms stirred JJ again. “Combat Teams to your drop ships,” The intercom echoed.  “All Combat Teams to your drop ships.” “That’s us!” JJ’s bunkmate jumped up and pulled on her gear.  Her perfect uniform was on and her backpack ready before JJ slid off her bunk and carelessly tossed away her sleep shirt.  The tall, fit Korean was a proper soldier, and as strict as JJ was, sometimes Ina Wu’s no nonsense attitude irked her.  But JJ had little time to be irked, especially now.  Her uniform was on and in tip top shape.  Gear? Check.  Backpack-JJ halted at the sight of a third, empty bunk.  Their quarters were small for one, inconvenient for two, but their third roommate was not interested in bunking with other women.  “Wu, where is Kimmie?”  “I believe its been Private Lucas for awhile,” Ina informed. JJ buttoned her top and locked her gear into place. “If she’s not at the drop ship, Captain Westmayer better not chew my ass.” ****  The women jogged down the shaking corridor with other combat specialists in rustling dark spacesuits, helmets, backpacks, and jiggling space gear.  The team had been to the weapons lock up and took up their spacesuits with their rifles.  The hefty doors of the Mother Ship beeped its warnings and opened before them. “Let’s move it!” JJ rushed into the Lift Off Zone.  Shuttles and drop ships waited for their personnel as the Mother Ship shook and echoed. “Zone Doors Opening in two minutes.  All Combatants to your drop ships.” Combatants marched onto their drop ships, and Ina climbed up the rumbling ramp of Drop Ship 69.  The swift Asian strapped into her designated seat, but a tall shadow prevented JJ from entering the transport. “Lieutenant Johnson, I’ve told you before about the need for timely deployments.” “I know, Captain.” Where Ina’s severe stature and jaw line deceived about her dry wit and sometimes impish personality, Captain Scott Westmayer meant to look menacing, even if he was warm at heart.  Although JJ had known Westmayer on earth, so maybe his warmness was for her and her alone.  Not that there was time to really know people while hurling through space.  “Jess, you’re the best hand to hand combatant in the unit, but you’re lead by example attitude only goes so far.” JJ wasn’t a leader.  She was a fighter, but the Combatants needed leaders, and she didn’t argue with her superior.  At least, not when there was a mission to be had. “I know, Captain.” “You’ve got to show more authority, Lieutenant.” “Yes, Sir.”   A disheveled private approached the ramp, and both her superiors glared. Her uniform was mis-buttoned over her lacey bosom, and what gear she did have was tangled around her shoulders.  JJ was a bit jealous of her friend’s lust and carefree attitude, but sex doesn’t last.  Combatants were fighting for their very existence, and this private was not doing her share.  It wasn’t her fault.  Everyone on earth had to choose a side.  Kimmie couldn’t fly a spaceship, and she didn’t build nuclear weapons-she hadn’t the brains for those. “Kimmie Dejonaire.” The Captain sighed with slight bemusement at the messy blonde, but he entered the drop ship.  “Let’s go, Private!”     ****  The Mother Ship was old-scorched on its hull, and rather clunky as spaceships go. The Combatants didn’t exactly get first choice in spacecraft, but this Mother Ship had been JJ’s home since she left earth.  It was easy to personalize the old broad.  Still chugging after all these years in her routine.  The girl’s belly opened smoothly, and the Mother Ship’s doors released the drop ships one by one.  JJ looked out the tiny window beside her seat. Cramped rows of jury rigged chairs carried the Combatants as the smaller crafts fell into space.  Captain Westmayer stood by the controls in the drop ship and braved the descent.  Never seemingly disturbed by anything, Ina smoothed her cropped dark hair and snapped on her helmet. “Who is it Captain, Shitters or Nukes?”  The man next to her asked. “We’ve seen no signs of the Shippers,” The Captain stressed the proper nickname, and several of the boys laughed.  Westmayer remained business.  “We’ve learned the Nukes may be building more weapons on Asteroid 891X726.”  Westmayer put the information on the ship’s small display screens.  The images shook and jumped with the jittery ship. Maps and pictures of the asteroid rotated before the team.  All business as well, JJ studied the data. “That’s a pretty big asteroid,”  She cut in. “Still, all our drop ships won’t make the landing.” “It will be tricky, but we have to land as many as possible.“ Westmayer focused on the material, not his personnel, as was his usual custom.  “You’re objective when we land is to take their weapons facility by any means necessary.”  The Captain pointed to the proposed facility’s location, but the drop ship’s screens flickered. “If we land.” Kimmie found her headgear and held onto her jiggling helmet.  Their tiny ship shook more as it descended nearer the asteroid. “When we land,” the Captain repeated.  “If it cannot be taken, we will abort for an aerial assault.” JJ frowned.  “Why not an air raid first?  Our lasers were up to 87 percent.  The Mother Ship could be done before we…” “Those are my orders, Lieutenant.” Westmayer turned away from JJ and fiddled with the controls.  A hearty Latino man looked squashed in the locked chair beside Kimmie. “What’s going to stop the Nukes from releasing those pretty little bio hazards they like?” “Shut it, Miguel.” Ina snickered.  “You're always afraid a biological weapon is going to ruin your libido.”  “The Sergeant has a point,” JJ intervened, still perplexed at their unnecessary risk. “The asteroid could be flooded now. What guarantee do he have?” “None.”  Westmayer was grim.  “They've used chemicals against us in the past.  You all have your current inoculations.” “We’re five years behind them!” Kimmie grumbled to Miguel. If Westmayer heard, he did not let on. “Take them by surprise and get to that facility before the Nukes can push any buttons.  Good luck." “Don’t lay it on all at once.” Miguel crossed himself.  The drop ships fired their thrusters and descended slowly and evenly toward the asteroid.  JJ felt the rumbles and quakes, but she was used to it. When they first took to spaceflight, they all became ill and nauseous ascending, descending-every time a ship shook.  JJ turned from the tiny window and looked up and down her team.  This was old hat now.  Some of them even slept, but no one turned green.  “Check your comms,” JJ ordered as she adjusted her headset.  Already there was ships’ chatter. "Drop Ship 73 your coming in too fast!"  A drop ship zoomed passed the others and skidded over the rocky terrain.  It deflected off a rough peak and crashed onto the asteroid’s abysmal surface.  JJ blinked at the brief flashes outside her window.  Pieces of hot metal slammed against the other drop ships, and Kimmie jumped at the echoes and clangs.  More drop ships overshot the asteroid. “57 shorten your thrusts.”  "Drop Ship 34, we’re trying to circle back for another go." "Negative," Captain Westmayer ordered. He looked at the fritzing monitors and sensors.  "Stay off as reinforcements.  41, 83, you’re on call as well." "What number are we again?"  Miguel turned to Kimmie. "Drop Ship 69."  "Shit."

 
 

Chapter 2  The drop ships neared the rocky surface and inched towards the ground.  Landing gear sprung forth, but 69 hit a rock outcropping and jerked into the air. "Shit!"  Miguel yelled again.  Ina closer eyes, but the sleepless JJ was unwavered.  It wouldn’t be pretty, but they’d land.   The drop ship slammed onto the asteroid and skidded into the wasteland’s dirt.  The craft smoked, but the Captain held tight.  The small ship sped to a rough stop. It was stupid, dangerous, yet somehow fun-the perfect opportunity for JJ’s sarcasms. "Another happy landing." She smiled and locked down her helmet.  The drop ships’ hatches fizzed one after another, and the geared up teams filed onto the hard terrain.  JJ surveyed the battlefield with her rifle ready.  She knew the ins and outs of all the Combatant weapons, but every single Combatant was just that-a hand to hand lean, mean, fighting kick ass weapon.  But of course, in situations like these, weapons from a distance were best. “We made a noisy entrance.  Someone should be here to great us.” “Don’t jinx it.”  Ina followed her Lieutenant. “How’s she read, Sergeant?”  JJ called Miguel forward. The team tinker and engineer, Miguel pulled out his scanning equipment as ordered. “We’re all accounted for, so far.  No additional signals or pathogens.”  “The Nukes wouldn’t need any pathogens here.”  Ina put forth.  “Throw a rock and crack our face shields why don’t you?” “I didn’t come all this way to suffocate,” Kimmie grumbled and turned on her helmet’s lights.  Indeed the entire environment was deadly.  Dark, no atmosphere, and tough terrain as far as the dim combat headlights could show.  They marched on from the landing area, but JJ inched ahead of her crew.  She stopped and the column halted behind her.  She motioned, and the team turned to the left with her. Westmayer was a capable commander, in league with the other Mother Ship Captains.  Their fleet was small, but while the big wigs sat back in comfort, it was JJ who led her shipmates into battle.  It was how she got as far as she did.  She fought, and fought well.  What else was there to do?  JJ looked at the digital maps lighting up her gear. “The facility is this way.” JJ climbed over a pile of natural rubble, and the Combatants followed.  They marched over the tough terrain, and JJ continuously eyed her handheld diagram.  Stones slid under their feet, and her stride lowered. “It feels like we’re descending.” Miguel brightened the lights on his helmet and surveyed the area. “Let me risk a little more power.  It looks like a crater rim there.  We must be near the middle of the hole now.” “I’ve see one too many of those.” JJ pocketed her device.  “This intel is wrong.” “Asteroids are constantly changing,”  Kimmie contested.  “Good for asteroids.”  JJ looked towards the microphone inside her helmet.  “Johnson to Westmayer.” “I’ve got something!” Miguel raised his arm and the column trudged idle again.  “Heat signatures. 98.6.” “Us?” JJ turned to the Sergeant. “Are we moving?” “Fuck!”  JJ exclaimed.  “Ambush!”  Lights beamed from the crater rim and pulse weapons blazed around the trapped Combatants.  She knew it!  It hadn’t felt right.  She knew it was absurd, and now it was too late. “Take cover!” JJ ordered.  High tech colored lasers blasted all around.  The unit fell to the ground one by one-some as ordered, others victims of the Nuke’s carefully laid plains.  JJ flattened herself on the ground, but in the colorful firelight, she saw Miguel collapse next to her. “Sergeant!”  JJ called to him.  “Miguel!”  JJ crawled through the crowded crater basin, careful of enemy fire and the jagged rocks.  Such a perfect set up!  The sharp ground ripped the outer layer of JJ’s sturdy-but not full proof-spacesuit. “Shit!”  JJ increased the speed of her spider-like crawl.  She fumbled past her still comrades, unsure of the direction she was going.  “Johnson to Westmayer.” There was no time to look at her data-not that it was accurate enough to help anyway.  JJ scrambled to get clear.  Out of the shootout, she could fix her suit and get back to the drop ships.  “Any drop ship, please respond.”  Were the drop ships ambushed as well?  Did they prep for rescue as was procedure?  “Shit. No.” JJ approached the edge of the crater but looked back at the Nukes. They closed into the crater and finished off any twitching Combatants. “Any Combatant respond.” Had she alone the wits to delay the inevitable?  JJ rolled across the crusted crater’s edge.  The gravel crumbled beneath her, and JJ rolled down the sharp terrain.  JJ groaned and screamed at the rocks sticking her and tearing her suit.  Sharp pebbles reached her skin and scrapped JJ’s elbows.  Blood and dirt marred the rustling fabric. “Oh! Ow! Fuck!”  Jagged jabs and hard rocks punctured through the space gear one fizz and pop after another. JJ gasped and slowed her tortured descent. She rolled once more and smashed her face shield against a rock.

 
 

Chapter 3  JJ grasped for air and felt her body tighten with the lack of oxygen.  She must move, but it was so difficult.  Did she move or merely think her labored limbs worked as she wanted? JJ’s vision blurred, but the temporary metal structure of the Nuke’s weapons facility was before her.  Some mirage! Determined as ever, the Lieutenant ran, crawled, stumbled, and fought the elements to reach the enemy shelter.  Really she should be dead.  Did the Nukes alter the atmosphere or release one of their precious pathogens?  JJ banged on the door and slammed the locking panel.  The controls broke, and the door slipped open with a whoosh of air.  JJ collapsed inside and fumbled for an internal key to close the door.  It was to JJ, almost as if the door took its time.  JJ pulled off her broken helmet and shook bits of glass, plastic, and rock from her hair.  The red head was crusted with blood, and dirty cuts littered her forehead. “Shit.”  JJ peeled off the irreplaceable but ruined spacesuit. What good was the crappy thing to her now? Her regular uniform was also ripped and bloody, and her gun was lost.  All her equipment was gone.  JJ sighed.  “How am I going to get back to the drop ships?”  Once again, JJ pleaded with her silent friends,  ney family.  Her real family was buried on earth.  Her team was all she had. “Captain?”  JJ picked up her helmet and whispered into the transmitter.  “Lieutenant Johnson to Captain Westmayer?”  JJ bit her urge to curse and flung the helmet away. “I’ll just have to do things myself.” JJ tiptoed down the enemy’s dim and plain hallway.  Maybe her team was slaughtered.  Most likely.  Perhaps the drop ships were destroyed indeed.  Maybe even the Mother Ship was under attack and losing against the newer Nuke ships.  If that was the case, JJ could at least finish her mission.  Hell, what else was there to do? The facility had looked small on the outside. Temporary, as most of the Nuke testing labs were.  Surely there was a command area.  JJ had fought similar battles before.  Turns, corridors, but no doors.  Was all the Nuke magic underground? JJ looked at the patterns under her boots.  Seamless!  All these hallways looked the same!  “Damn.”  JJ found a corner and slid to the floor.  She would swear she went in a complete circle, but she had yet to encounter her discarded spacesuit again.  JJ felt weak and examined her cut arm.  She must have lost some blood, but the cuts were crusted with dirt and dried blood now.  If only she could scan herself for infection!  The whoosh of the asteroid’s vacuum echoed again, and JJ heard the door seal shut.  She closed her eyes, then stood and braced herself.  If the mission was indeed a trap, then the tin can she was in was probably in fact, empty.  At least, JJ could take this Nuke before he took her. Combatants had a reputation for their fierce hand to hand skill, and JJ was the best.  She would let this Nuke know it. Clothes rustled, and the sound of a slow, long zipper echoed through the building.  JJ’s heard her own spent suit tossed aside again and her helmet echoed away.  The cracked headpiece skidded down the tin corridor passed JJ. “Hello?” A cheeky man’s voice called.  He no doubt enjoyed the situation, stupid Nuke.   “I know we have a visitor.  Who could it be?”  Footsteps came closer. Not too obvious to some, but JJ had a trained ear.  The man must have be tall, not heavy, but built weight lay behind his steps. “Come and play with me, please?”  JJ leaped around the corned.  Her boot was high and her sharp kick struck the Nuke in the nose.  He sprawled on the floor and covered his face as JJ kicked his gun away.  “Since you insist.” JJ smiled, determined to enjoy this last bout, but her enemy kicked away her ankles. “Normally, I’d find this very cute.”  He wrestled with JJ on the floor,  but she was by no means easy to pin. “But I just want to get off this rock ASAP.” “I feel the same way.”  JJ elbowed him.  She didn’t wish to converse, just insult.  “About leaving I mean.” “Feisty!”  He twisted her arm, and JJ struggled against him.  When was the last time she was this close to a man?  Oh yes, she had roughed him up, too.  The Nuke fluttered in her ear again.  “Easy, Tiger.” “I’m a dog person.”  JJ kicked her contester away, then stood and faced him.  He was on his feet, ready as well.  JJ punched and kicked in her personal combinations, but the Nuke was no slouch, actually.  He blocked JJ’s blows, caught her foot, and threw her to the hard floor.  The floor hurt.  JJ recalled her outdoor ordeal, and briefly entertained the notion that she was not in fighting condition.  The Nuke stood above JJ, his buzzed head and muscular physique ready for anything.  He fought well, for a Nuke.  My, JJ must be unwell if she could admit that to herself. “As much as I don’t like to hit a woman, I hate the sight of my own blood more.”     He wiped the blood from his nose, and JJ came towards him again.  She would go on, just to shut him up.  Unfortunately he stuck to his words, and the taunting Nuke blocked most of her crosses and jabs.  “Now I’m having fun!” “Really?” Ha! JJ landed a perfect cut to the chin, and her fighting partner fell to the floor.  JJ slid for his gun, but he was on her.  He was heavy, yet his style held a slightly mocking tone. Why must her toy with her so?  JJ clenched the laser in her hand, rolled onto her back, and pointed the Nuke gun.  The man straddled JJ and pinned her to the ground, but he kept his distance from is own gun.  He perched below her hips and weighed her down, yet he put up his hands in surrender. “Still having fun?” JJ winked. “Johnson!”   He was upside down from JJ’s perspective, but it was Captain Westmayer all right.  He looked down at her, trying to look menacing again.  “Lower the weapon, Jess,” Westmayer ordered her.  “Lieutenant Rubelli will not hurt you.”  The Nuke stood, smiled, and extended his hand.  “That would be me.” He winked.  JJ stood, but kept the gun poised.  She looked between the Nuke and her Commanding Officer. “Captain, I think I’m entitled to an explanation, Sir.” “You and the rest of the unit, Lieutenant.” The Captain took the gun from JJ and squeezed her shoulder.  “Stun guns, Jess.  Tomorrow, 0800.  I’ll fill you in on the details then.  Suffice to say the Nukes are now our friends.”

 
 

Chapter 4  The Mother Ship drifted slowly near the Nuke’s asteroid, safe and sound.  Miguel stood anxious outside the ship’s Conference Room with his newfound friend- the ambiguous Lieutenant Rubelli.  Miguel fiddled with his finer uniform suit.  Black, with his Combatant patches and emblems delicately sewn on.  Ina was right, he was naturally skittish, and being here with a Nuke didn’t help Miguel-no matter how handsome the Nuke looked in his uniform.  Rubelli was tan somehow in space.  That was always a good thing. Perhaps aware of Miguel’s observations,  The Nuke cleared his throat. “Relax, Pedro.” Rubelli jabbed Miguel on the shoulder gently, but Miguel brushed the Lieutenant’s touch off his uniform.  He was still a Nuke. “It’s Staff Sergeant Miguel Carlos Santiago Rafael.” “Lieutenant Jason Rubelli,” He offered his hand so casually, as if there was never anything but friendship and allegiance between Combatants and Nukes.  As if!  “My friends call me Rub.” “I’m sure.” Miguel denied the handshake, but Rubelli’s uniform wasn’t so different from his own.  Dark blue, with shiny buttons about which Miguel suspected Rub was equally vain.  Anyone with that perfect a buzz cut was self centered indeed.  The Conference Room doors slid open, and Captain Westmayer joined the boys.  “It’s nice to see everyone getting along,” Westmayer hoped.  Miguel could tell when the Captain’s pitch changed.  Westmayer said what he wished for, not what he saw. “Where’s Jess?” “We’re waiting on her?” Rubelli rolled his eyes.  So he did have some animosity!  Although, JJ had that effect on most people.  She took getting used to, there was no doubt.  But she was a good officer, a well admired leader whether she knew it or not. “JJ will be here, Captain,” Miguel assured.  The clang of high heeled shoes echoed down the corridor, and JJ approached the trio.  Normally JJ was formal enough in her GI pants and hard pony tail, but this was an occasion! Her hair was clean, neat, and slicked back in a twist.  She wore her black dress uniform-buttoned perfectly from the collar to her knee grazing hem.  Medals adorned JJ’s left breast, and her hat remained tucked perfectly under her arm.  JJ’s only blights were the cuts across her forehead and a swollen lip courtesy of Rubelli.  At least his nose swelled, too. “Finally.” Rub rolled his eyes more, but glanced back at JJ.  “Captain, Miguel, and you.” “Call me Rub, JJ.” “It’s Lieutenant Johnson.” Rub smiled and looked down at the rigid seams of JJ’s hose. “Is that what took you so long?  It’s good to know you clean up nice.” Oh my God! “You don’t.”  Captain Westmayer sighed and entered the Conference Room.  JJ followed and sat on the Combatant side of the u shaped table.  Miguel sat next to her, but Rubelli took his place beside a tall, dark man waiting in the Nuke’s corner.  “Colonel Gauthier, Lieutenant Rubelli of the Nuclear Division,” Westmayer stood inside the table and addressed his guests. “Thank you for coming aboard.  Lady and Gentlemen, we are allied.”  Westmayer sat and the solid Colonel Gauthier rose.  Also dressed in his finest and adored with ribbons, the Colonel might have been a looker in his day, had it not been for the ugly circumstances the comet put us into.  JJ shifted beside Miguel before The Colonel’s presentation even began.  Miguel looked at her, but JJ watched Rubelli’s sight line- it was beneath the table gawking at her rustling stockings again.  Gauthier sighed and Rub paid attention to his superior. “Captain, we’ve had this Alliance in the pipeline for some time, but I can tell Lieutenant Johnson needs an explanation.” JJ straightened and turned to Westmayer. “May I speak freely, Sir?” “Whatever you say isn’t going to scare them away,” Westmayer braved.  He’d love to control JJ on this if he could. Of course he knew he couldn’t. JJ remained collected before Colonel Gauthier. “You can’t expect me to change overnight.  We’re lucky most of the unit only suffered bumps and bruises from your stun weapons.  Two, however, did die, and unfortunately, 17 people were on the crashed drop ship.  I’m going to weigh this Alliance on those people.” “Not to mention the thousands of Combatants killed on Isosceles due to your chemical weapons,” Miguel supported.  Nukes had once been with Combatants against the Shippers.  The high tech shipbuilders had abandoned both factions on earth, but once the leftovers made it to the nearest inhabited planet, the Nukes turned, too.  “Part of this Alliance is accepting responsibility for our actions,” Gauthier admitted.  “The comet that ruined earth was beyond our control, but the war and factions we have caused can be rectified here and now.”  JJ put her elbows on the table. “As much as I dislike the past, I fail to see the mutual benefits here.” Gauthier paced inside the divided table. “Our common enemy is a fine place to start.” “My enemy’s enemy is my friend?” Miguel crossed his arms.  Was that their only negotiation?  “Captain?” “The rest of the Mother Ships are in concordance with this Alliance.  They will rendezvous with us before Isosceles.  A base, new weapons, supplies.  Our leadership wants to hear the Nukes’ case.” “Isosceles?” JJ crossed her arms, too.  “Again? Really?” “Isosceles is not a bountiful planet-naturally or since our weapons altered the planet.  We were wrong to put out what Combatants had come there, “The Colonel reiterated.  “But it is a home. Ground, not a ship. Lieutenant, Sergeant, your superiors are tired of running.” “Isosceles?”  JJ repeated in disbelief.  “That triangular continent can’t sustain cacti.”   JJ let the room still, but could not resist her stubborn tendencies. “What’s the catch?” Gauthier straightened his old school brown jacket and leaned on the table.  “Isosceles is running out of resources, but our intelligence has discovered a new planet within five light years.  It’s bigger than Earth, and capable of sustaining us all.” “It’s already inhabited,“ Miguel burst the bubble.  “Isn’t it?” “Yes,” Rubelli picked an inopportune time to speak up. “By the Shippers.” ****  JJ heals boomed from the Conference Room, but Captain Westmayer followed undeterred.   Two hours of particulars with the Nukes.  Ugh! “Jess, wait.”  JJ turned on her heel and confronted her Captain.  How could he?  How dare he! “You could have told me, Scott.  Everything I know has been turned upside down and I’m hearing why from them.” “I couldn’t tell you because you wouldn’t have gone on the mission.  Nukes have intelligence, so do the Shippers.  It needed to look like real.  Shippers would double their advances if they knew we combined against them to take their planet.  Besides, it’s not like your life hasn’t been turned upside down before.” “Don’t say by the comet, Scott,” JJ almost turned away, but stepped closer to the Captain.  If he was going to use history, so could she. “Have you forgotten what the Nukes did?  They got to Isosceles first-deflected everybody with their bombs and toys.  They turned the Shippers away and stuck us on the Isosceles tundra-after they killed half of us with their engineered viruses!”  Westmayer sighed. “This isn’t about any ethical debates.  We can’t go over old ground-“ “Isosceles is old ground! As old as earth.  Let’s try there again.  Oh, wait!”  “Don’t play on words with me!” Westmayer wasn’t so much angry as passionate.  But why be passionate about this? “You don’t have a choice in this, Jess.  Think of it as one last mission before you retire.  We can finish this here and now.  No Shippers. No Nukes- not even Combatants.  Just people going home.  To a real home, not a bunk.” “I can’t do it, Captain.”  JJ backed away.  “Shippers just made off with the choice ships, but Nukes! They’ve always used the comet for their own agenda.  I don’t want to work with any Nukes.  I don’t want to be on the same ship with them.  I can’t.  I won’t even be in the same room with them!”  JJ sprinted away from Westmayer before the Captain could reprimand her, as she knew he would like to.

 
 

Chapter 5  The Mother Ship zoomed towards Isosceles, unstopped by JJ’s protests.  Ina and Kimmie crowded onto the latter’s bunk and looked out the ship’s window. They were excited, well Kimmie was.  Ina didn’t get so outwardly jovial.  JJ, of course, was neither excited nor jovial.  She laid on her top bunk with a book in her hands and a pillow under her neck, indignant to the gawking.  Her loss.  “It doesn’t look like I remember.” Kimmie squinted.  She and Ina were part of the Combatant group cast off by the Nukes.  When their Mother Ship was destroyed, Captain Westmayer took them in.  Make no mistake on his kindness, but the Captain often seemed too superior to Kimmie, in personality and rank. She watched the fast approaching planet. “Its just a brown and blue speckled ball.”  “We didn’t see this side of the planet,”  Ina observed.  “We’re going to Nuketown, and Isosceles never claimed to be as prosperous as earth was.” “I think I see it!” Kimmie pointed against the tempered window.  “Isosceles!”  The wispy clouds in the planet’s atmosphere parted beneath the incoming ship, and the sharp triangular land mass widened quickly with their descent.  Ina craned with Kimmie to see it.  “Oh yes.  It’s a stupid name though.  The two sides aren’t exactly equal.  Nor are our human factions equal.” “What?” Kimmie frowned at Ina’s slight air of intelligence.  “Land can’t be equal.  Not if it’s natural, anyway.” “Never mind.” “Kimmie, Ina.”  JJ kept her eyes on the page before her as the women turned. “Did I tell you how glad I am that your face shields weren’t shattered on that asteroid?” Well, that was uncalled for! Ina smiled at JJ.  Kimmie left the wise comebacks to her. “Only every time we mention Nukes.”  The svelte Korean climbed towards JJ’s bunk and poked her head over the bed.  Kimmie had no love for words.  Her talent for toying with people- well, toying with men-lied elsewhere.  She didn’t understand why Ina was more interested in herself then the people around her-unless she could spout moral wisdom. “How long do you intend to stay here?” “As long as the Nukes are infiltrating our ship.” “Infiltrating?” Kimmie slouched in her bed and tossed a plastic plate to the floor.  “Two weeks’ worth of doggie bags and crumbs are infiltrating my side of the room.” “You can bunk with Private Lucas if you like.” JJ turned her page. “Really?”  Kimmie thought it was important to have a steady man on board. Not a relationship per se.  Relationships meant obligations to each other, and considering their warring ways, obligations weren’t very good.  JJ finally gave them her true attention and put the book on her lap. ”No not really.  Not only am I your superior, but you are my friends.” JJ sat up. “You’re supposed to help me, stick by me.  And that includes bringing doggie bags from the Mess.”  JJ threw an empty bag at Kimmie, but Ina ducked and opened her footlocker.  Always JJ threw things when she was angry, but Ina’s timing for ducking and changing the subject was better than Kimmie’s.  “Yes we are your friends.”  Ina searched through the military issues and pulled out a tiny red dress.  Kimmie suspected the Asian did have a wild streak, she just didn’t know who saw it.  “That’s why we are taking you to Blast-Nuketown’s hot spot will change your ways.” “Nothing like music an anonymous men to revel for awhile!”  Kimmie added her cheer.  Ina held out the dress.  It looked small, but JJ did have a figure under her uni.  Kimmie tried to convince with her wide eyes and bright smile.  It worked on all men, but her Lieutenant merely squinted.  “Forget it.” JJ returned to her book. **** Kimmie and Ina strutted through the Mother Ship in their sexiest getups-  Satin and tiny, hair vamoosed.  Miguel hurried down the hall and fell in behind them, equally dressed for a shiny night on the town. “How do I look?” “Not as good as me,” Ina chuckled.  Well, she did look phenomenal out of uniform, if a bit scary.  Then again, she was taller than Miguel and always intimidated him.  “Where’s JJ?”  Miguel knew a little socializing would do her good, but he didn’t really expect her to join them. “Pouting.” Kimmie puckered her lips in mock imitation of JJ.  Her breasts entered the Lift Off Zone before she did, and Miguel was amazed by her ability to not give everything away when she hiked into the Nuke shuttle. “She’ll change her mind.” Ina followed with her long legs and high shoes. Who knew she knew how to dress beyond the required black?  Captain Westmayer and Colonel Gauthier waited by the Nuke’s small but streamlined transport.  They weren’t as gifted in aviation as they were with weapons, but the Nukes had updated their Shipper castoffs better than the patchworked Mother Ships.  Miguel entered the craft with the commanders.  The drop ships were bigger.  “Welcome aboard.”  Colonel Gauthier was not above noticing the women’s long, tone legs in the cramped craft.  Rubelli, however, was in the pilot’s seat and didn’t get a good view this time.  “Buckle up.” Rub smiled and glanced over his shoulder at the Combatants. “My piloting may disrupt your feminine sensibilities.” “No problem.” Miguel was closest to Rubelli and winked.  The Nuke seemed like a prick-the kind of guy who had to know his dick was bigger before he’d associate with you-but he was cute. “Right.” Rub titled his head in contemplation, then fired up the controls. ****  JJ closed her book and looked at her empty quarters. She had read it before when she was younger, but now the grammar was beneath her.  Still, it served its purpose in avoiding her roommates.  Now, the quarters seemed so peaceful.  Silent. No ornery bunkmates-much less Nukes to content with.  Was the entire ship devoid of personnel?  Had they all forgiven so easily?  JJ slid off her bunk and slouched onto Kimmie’s bed.  Carefully, though.  Who knew what or who Kimmie did on her bed when JJ and Ina weren’t around.  She stared at Isosceles below and watched the sliver blips of coming and going Nuke ships.  They reflected and flickered briefly, then disappeared toward the ground or under the Mother Ship.  Fools.  It wasn’t her animosity that could jeopardize an alliance, as much as everyone she knew tried to convince her and themselves.  No, it was the Nukes’ penchant for dirty bombs and itchy trigger fingers that would be the Combatants undoing.  The most idealistic part of JJ wanted an Alliance, really, but the reality of such a union and the notion of a peaceful home planet was simply not attainable.  They survived.  They were fortunate to have done that since the comet.  Why change things now?  JJ turned away from the window, let them play and mingle and learn more about the Nukes then was necessarily.  She knew all she needed to know.  But, the little red dress was laid out on Ina’s bed.  With matching shoes beneath.  The red was the perfect hue for JJ’s hair and light tone.  Damn Ina.