May 26th, The Last Promise

     For today's prompt, we were given the scenario: Tonight is the kids talent show.  Your character is determined to be there.  Unfortunately your main character is no run-of-the-mill suburban parent.  This time, though, they're not going to let that job get in the way.  No matter what comes up, they're going to let someone else handle it.  They can't stand the thought of getting that look from the kid one more time... (Prompt taken from Story a Day as it's written there)  This is an excerpt from an original work in progress.  All rights to the characters and story line are mine.

Stardate 2792

     I leaned back in my chair and stretched.  If I had to sign one more treaty agreement I felt like my hand was going to permanently be cramped into a writing pose.  Twenty-three separate treaties, and a total of twenty-eight thousand pages to get through signing.  The only positive in this is that I wasn’t alone in my misery.  Each one of the treaty delegation was feeling the same pain—some more than others because their appendages weren’t cut out for this kind of activity.

     There was a vibration from my com badge telling me that I had an incoming message, but my people knew these were delicate negotiations and under no circumstances were they to interrupt the proceedings.  Whatever it was would be left to my second in command to handle.

     Finally!  The last page was signed.  The delegation from Andromeda closed the treaty and pushed it toward the center of the table.  That was the sign that everything met with their approval.  There was only one treaty yet to be pushed to the center.  I leaned forward and added my script to the others. 

     Peace would finally come to the Halos Sector. 

     I stood.  Giving a nod to acknowledge the others in the room, I said, “Thank you all for coming.  Your diligence in creating this peace will make your people proud.”

     There were a lot of bobbing heads.  Of course, there is always that one person in every crowd that doesn’t seem as if their actions mesh with the person they are. 

     We had one such member in our midst.  Tul Lar from the Drone Sector.  He was dark as night and his red beady eyes gave one the feeling they were looking at something evil.

      To say we were surprised when they petitioned to be part of the delegation was putting it mildly.  Now that everything was signed, I found myself racing through the section they’d attached to see if there was anything in there that might not be what it seemed…just like Tul Lar.

     I looked up at the corner of the room where a little Bot was sitting recording the whole process.  I made a slight movement with my hand, giving the sign for the Drone and the Bot flew out of the room.  No one else seemed to be aware that anything had changed, but the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end.

     I stalled the ending to give the Bot time to find what I needed.  It was simple, really, I turned the floor over to the delegate from the Pegasus Sector.  Tron Dorian loved talking, especially when he had a captive audience.

     My com badge vibrated again and I frowned.  I moved to the back of the room and took out my planner.  There it was.  Sasha’s talent show.  How could that be possible?  Had we really been confined to this room for three weeks?  At this rate, we’d have to go at Warp five just so that I could get back in time to see my baby girl before she left to join her friends at the academy.

     I returned my planner to its spot.  This was important.  There was no way I was letting anything stand in my way this time.  I hated seeing that look in her eyes each time after I’d failed to make it to one of the important events in her life.  Fifteen years of events missed, and always that sad look as she put on a brave face and said, “That’s okay, Daddy.  I know you had something important to do.”

     My fist clenched.  There was no way I was letting my job get in the way this time.  Being the President of the Intergalaxy of Planets wasn’t going to deprive me of seeing my little girl perform this time.  Damn it!  I was the President!  This time if something came up, someone else was just going to have to handle it.

     The doors swooshed open and the Bot was back.  It was vibrating like mad and I knew that there was something in that treaty that everyone had missed.  The proceedings weren’t over so I still had time to act.  I went over to the table and lifted my copy of the treaty agreement. 

     I felt the tension as everyone watched my actions.  A few of the delegates that were our close allies moved back to the table and lifted their copies as well.  The Bot fell out of the air onto my copy and the page I needed magically appeared.  I scanned until I found the passage.  Holy shit!

     My hand went to my com badge and I tapped it.  “Shield’s up, Red Alert!”

     The Bot zapped the page and my signature was stricken from the line.  Another zap went out and I knew that the signatures from all the copies had been removed. 

     Tul Lar reared back his head and roared in rage.  “No peace to you.  War it will be.”

     A red beam of light infiltrated the ship and Tul Lar was gone. 

     I looked at the others.  We all knew what this meant.  If they were able to transport while our shields were up, then we were in deed in serious danger.  I hit the com badge again and said, “Fire the Nano Bots!”

     Swan Lee from the Dove Sector gave an imperceptible nod.  “We must all go to warn our peole.  There was no other way.  Safe passage to you, President Anders Steven Holt.”

     The delegates moved from the room to the transporters.  I knew Charly would transport them to their ships before we got underway.  It looked like I might be back in plenty of time to make the performance.  After all, we would now be traveling at Warp Nine. 

     If I thought the trip home was going to be easy, I was soon disabused of that thought.  The first Drone ship we ran into rammed us while they were cloaked.  It was a scout type vessel with a crew of nine, and the way they’d impacted along with the fact there were no survivors because they’d committed suicide seconds before impact told me they were on a suicide mission. 

     They did enough damage to slow us down while the crew fitted repairs to the damaged sections of the ship.  That gave the second ship enough time to reach us before we entered the Hailey’s Quadrant where we’d be better protected.  This time, though, we were ready for them.

     The crew knew my reasons for wanting to get back to Earth and they were doing everything in their powers to help me.  Sasha was well loved by the entire crew…or at least those who’d met her, which accounted for all but about five of the crew.

     Although we were ready and had been running with our shields up, the first hit came out of the dark and it was a mad scramble to get control of the ship.  Once that was accomplished, it was just a matter of waiting until the next volley was fired and our weapons would lock on target and automatically return fire.

     The explosion that rocked us when that occurred had all of us questioning what the Drones were doing.  The stellar class ship that had attacked us held a crew and compliment of eight thousand passengers.  Why would a race send so many of their people to their deaths?  Something else was going on here, but we didn’t yet have the answers we needed to know what questions to ask.

     It was at this point that Mr. Danvers picked up the third Drone vessel on long range scanners.  At our present speed, they would overtake us within two days, which would put us on the wrong side of the Hailey’s Quadrant. 

     All hands worked overtime to get the ship up to making a final run for it.  And in the end, it was Ensign Rand that gave us the edge we needed.  Rand was one of the five that had been added to the crew before we’d left for the peace negotiations, a nineteen year old engineering genius that had managed to get our repairs done in half the expected time. 

     Somehow, Rand had realized that the Drone ships couldn’t track us when we had our shields down.  Although this was more dangerous if they were to accidentally get off a lucky shot, they spent all of their time trying to find out why they could no longer see us.  He’d just adapted our shields and we were going to raise them to see if the Drone ship was able to detect us. 

     Since we weren’t in peak condition, I wanted to wait till just the right moment before raising the shields so that if they were able to see us once again, we’d be within our borders and help would be at hand.  Of course, that put us within minutes of Sasha’s scheduled tome to perform and it would take a miracle to get me there on time. 

     From behind me, I heard Mr. Danvers, the weapons officer, asking, “Mr. President?”

     My hand rose as I said, “Hold steady.”

     The tension on the bridge was high.  We all knew when we signed on that we could be called upon at any time to lay down our life.  It’s what men and women had been doing for centuries on Earth.  Brave men and women that went into harm’s way so the family they left behind would be safe.  How fitting that today it was our turn. 

     While Memorial Day had changed over the centuries, honoring the men and women who fought and died was an integral part of the day.  That’s why this performance meant so much to Sasha.  She was going to perform a piece that would honor him.  His eyes burned with the moisture he refused to let fall. 

     From behind him he heard, “Mr. President?”

     His only response was, “Steady.”

     The tension mounted.

     Finally, he lowered his hand and said, “Engage shield.”

     The shields went up.  They continued on course, anxiously waiting to see if the Drone ship would recognize them before they reached the outer boundary.  When the other ship veered off, a cheer went up and there were congratulations all around. 

     I sank back in my chair as I gave the command, “Take us home, flank speed.”

     Danvers replied, “Yes, sir!”

     My gaze went to the engineering counsel where Rand was.  I brushed off the feeling that something wasn’t quite right and as I stood, I offered the invitation as I said, “Ensign Rand, would you care to accompany me to a recital?”

     Rand came to attention and gave a slight nod of his head. 

     The feeling came back as we made our way to the transporters that something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  Shrugging it off, when we reached the transporters, I gave the necessary coordinates and seconds later we were materializing just outside the academy. 

     We turned and made our way into the academy.  I walked in the back door just as Sasha was taking the stage.  My eyes were glued to my baby girl.  She was the best of two worlds.  She had her mother’s ivory skin and ethereal beauty and my curly black hair and sapphire eyes. 

     Her eyes lit up as our gazes connected.  I felt an answering smile as she lifted her head to the stars that magically appeared on the ceiling and started to sing.