Love, unconventionally. By Phoenix Rafael prafael@myprivacy.ca This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Disclaimer: If it is illegal to read this where you are, then don't read it. This story is completely fictional. Any similarities to any persons or events, past or present are purely coincidental. This story may contain scenes which involve sexual situations. Author's Note: The rank's used in this article are from the Canadian military, except for the Commander rank on which I made a mistake, so it represents the rank of Lt Col. http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/phoenix-writing From Chapter Sixteen Keith couldn't stand the tension. He thought they might come to blows if this didn't end, and soon. In an attempt to change the subject, Keith finally said, “Dad, tell us about the legendary warrior.” The Pharaoh finally blinked, looking into his son's face. “The what?” “The legendary warrior.” Keith replied. “I don't know what you're talking about.” The Pharaoh replied. “Old Cranky told me to tell you to shut up and tell us the story.” Keith said plainly. The Pharaoh's jaw just dropped, like he had just seen a ghost. Chapter Seventeen Ethan started pacing to and fro. Something was on his mind, and he wasn't sharing. It was just himself, Cindy, the kids, and Jason's family in the mess hall right now. A few of Jason's other friends were along, but were off sleeping, or up to other wholesome recreational activities. “Ethan, what's bothering you?” Cindy asked, looking at her husband as her two children watched some sort of cartoon on their portable DVD player. Apparently this war ship lacked entertainment for anyone under the age of 25. When they had arrived aboard, the party was greeted by Colonel Cormec, and of course, this was the RSS Halifax. After seeing the children, the Colonel pointed out that they might enjoy a trip to the ship's waste disposal area... for disposal themselves. Cindy had frowned at the comment.
As Ethan was thinking, a few of Jason's other friends finally came back into the mess hall. There weren't many areas of the ship open to civilians. In fact, a war ship rarely played transport service, except that this was the Crown Prince's new flag ship, and he was getting married. So they had to play diplomat to the in-laws. Ethan looked around at the room a little. “We're on a war cruiser that before today we didn't even know existed, since we didn't even know ships like this were flying.” Cindy looked at her husband for a moment. “Ethan, you go to work every day, and the kids go potty, and you don't know about it. One of them makes a cute drawing, and you probably don't know about it, as it was likely left somewhere. It's not the existence of interstellar travel that's bothering you though.” “No, it's not. It's this trip. Jason calls and tells us that we're going several thousand light years away, but doesn't tell us why. Doesn't that at all seem odd to anyone? Or how about those... personality assessments with Imperial Intelligence?” Ethan asked the group. Cindy blinked for a moment, “Ethan, you're being foolish. The personality assessments were likely a way to check us out before they let us come onto a fancy war cruiser like this first. They don't want us to turn out to be suicide bombers.” Doris couldn't help but laugh a little at that assessment. Of course that set off all the adults in the room into laughter. Commander Atfront stepped into the mess hall. The Commander was a short man, and by human standards looked asian, but his head was larger than the typical human, plus his hands and feet were webbed. The Commander looked around a bit, not understanding the laughter. “Colonel Cormac asked me to come and see if there was anything you folks required. I'm Commander Atfront, his first officer.” Ethan looked over at the man. “Why are we being transported, Commander, on such a fancy war ship to Rigel Prime?” The Commander paused a moment. He had assumed they already knew the reason. “No one has told you?” Everyone in the room shook their heads in the negative. Doris eventually spoke up. “My son Jason called and invited us to Rigel Prime, and told us we would travel on a fancy war ship, but left it at that. He didn't elaborate.” The Commander studied the woman for a few moments, and noticed Jason's sister Heidi. He could see the family resemblance. Looking back at Doris, the Commander replied, “Perhaps I had better let his highness the Prince answer that.” Heidi blinked a moment. “His highness the what?”
“His highness Prince Jason. He would be the best one to answer that.” The Commander replied matter-of-factly. The group cocked their heads to the right, and then to the left, looking awfully confused. “He didn't tell you that either, did he?” The Commander asked of the group, giving a sigh. Now he felt the Colonel's pain about the lack of memo's, or them being read. Eric, Jason's father, finally spoke up. “Would you please tell us already? We're not getting any younger.” “The title was a wedding gift from his Majesty the Pharaoh.” The Commander replied a little timidly. No real surprise in this statement, everyone in the room knew that Jason and Keith were engaged. “Don't you normally get wedding gifts after the wedding?” Ethan asked of the alien first officer. The Commander just sat back, stunned. No one had told these people anything. Zilch. Zip. Zero. Nada. If Jason wasn't his superior, he would have tore him a new hole. “You're all really clueless, aren't you? The entire military knows, along with almost every Imperial agency, but somehow the memo just didn't filter down to the citizens of Earth yet?” The Commander asked bluntly as Colonel Cormac came into the mess hall. “Everything okay here, Commander?” The Colonel asked. Commander Atfront looked over at the Colonel. “I think I missed a memo, sir.” “Which one this time, Commander?” The Colonel asked of his XO. “The one where no one told me these people hadn't been told about the title, or the reason for their journey.” The Commander replied. The Colonel just blinked, “They don't know?!?” This news didn't make the Colonel happy. “Would someone please tell us already!” Ethan almost started to shout. Watching the Commander's disbelief was worse than their own, especially since he had all the answers. The Commander plainly replied, “Princes Keith and Jason are getting married the day after you arrive on Rigel Prime. So that he would have time to enjoy his title as Prince, the Pharaoh gave it to him early.” Doris started to looked worried, the worry for her son. “Is Jason ok? Why wouldn't he be able to enjoy his title?” The Commander blinked again. This was worse than the interview to get into the military academy. “He and the Crown Prince are being inaugurated an hour after their wedding.”