Disclaimer:
Space Cases and all related characters are the property of Nickoloden and Cinsar
Productions. They are not mine. I am only borrowing them for the
story.
EMAIL: kareng123@attbi.com
"Auld Lang Syne by Karen
Commander Goddard scuffed the toe of his booted feet into the pewter- colored
carpet for a few seconds wondering whether or not take that old saying about
military spit and polish literally. Deciding that his boots were about as
polished as they were going to get, he turned his attention to tugging at the
gold braid. He hated dressing up.
It just wasn't his style, although he
did mind doing so when the occasion demanded it. Like now. In the past three
years he had only worn the full Stardog dress uniform a handful of
times.
"Not that I'm complaining. Be honest with yourself, Seth, if you
were offered the chance to go back and do it all over again, would do anything
differently?" he said aloud and looked down at the braid that he had
inadvertently pulled free without realizing it. He twined it about his fingers
of his right hand and for a few seconds, then casually tossed onto the bed,
where it blended quite nicely with silver colored sheets. He looked at it again,
debating on whether or not it was worth salvaging, and then decided against
it.
"Sure, there were times when I'd think what did I do deserved being
saddled with a bunch of StarAcademy cadets after the dust had settled after the
war. One never knows what will come to them. Would you have been satisfied with
anything less than how much of adventure these past three years have
been?"
He faced the mirror on the back of the door to his quarters, and
studied his reflection. "Not bad."
'Maybe it's just that after being
away for the better part of three years from the StarAcademy. Without the
benefit of proper military protocol, I've let myself become too lax in certain
matters.' He mentally added. As much as he wanted to push it the some back
corner of his mind; and put off as long as he could, he couldn't put this off
forever. After the initial warm welcome back and well-meant greetings from the
StarAcademy and other branches of the Stardogs, that after their disappearance
and even believed dead, there were bound to be the inevitable questions and this
preliminary hearing was just the first step. He had to admit that it was pretty
generous of the
StarAcademy to allow each of the crewmembers time to
relax, readjust and even to get back in touch with their families. Two weeks
later, a staff page arrived at his quarters, and handed him a coded information
packet, informing him, that a hearing would be scheduled for today at 1400 hours
in the Central Inquiry Office, and that he would be assigned legal
council.
In the back of his mind, "Okay the two weeks grace period is up,
now I have answer all their questions"
With that in mind, he turned around as
the automated door chime signaled a visitor.
"Come in."
T.J Davenport entered; as she moved across the floor her boots made a
soft swishing noise on the carpet. Her red hair had grown longer than ear-length
during their short visit to Earth and was now pinned in place with an ivory
comb, which matched the pewter gray color of her dress uniform. In one hand she
carried her Compupad and a brown expanding file that had a few document files
sticking out of it.
"Seth, are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be.
It's not like I didn't expect to have to eventually account for my actions, both
then, and during the Spung/UPP war".
"Do you believe that's what this is
about?"
"Why else would they send a sealed security document?"
If
it's any consolation, the war was a trying time for everyone, putting it mildly.
With her free hand, she brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "There were a
lot of misunderstandings on both sides, especially from what we now about
Andromedans."
"It's not like our disappearance from the Star Academy
wouldn't have caused at least, a few raised eyebrows, and more than a few
questions,"
