Wizard Force
By
James Doyle
Chapter Four: Changing Course
The morning following the departure of Admiral Crumbs, Justin arrived just as roll call began. The absence of his sister Alex concerned him. However, he had little time to ponder this, as his turn came for SSGT Kovalchik to examine him.
"With all due respect, sir," said Kovalchik, "What are you doing in my training bay?"
"Reporting for training as normal, Staff Sergeant," answered Justin. "And why are you calling me 'sir?'"
"Last I checked, that was the proper way for a Staff Sergeant to address an Ensign," explained Kovalchik.
"Ensign?" asked Justin, still not getting it.
"I respectfully advise you to get your ass up to the bridge before the captain misses you," admonished Kovalchik.
"Duly noted," Justin said, his voice perking up. "I guess I'll be on my way. Carry on, Staff Sergeant."
"Yes, sir," said Kovalchik with a smile as Justin left. No sooner had he left the training bay when he found himself face-to-face with Captain Schiller.
"You're late, Ensign," Schiller admonished playfully.
"Yes, sir," Justin replied timidly. "Sorry, sir."
"And you're out of uniform," added Schiller, who then flashed Justin out of his infantry coveralls and into the jacket and slacks of an officer.
"On my six, Ensign," ordered Schiller as he led Justin to the bridge.
"Yes, sir," Justin obeyed enthusiastically.
"Now," brief Schiller en route to the bridge. "You'll be taking over the operations manager's station. Do you think you can handle that?"
"Yes, sir," answered Justin. "I know my way around the control panel."
"Believe me, there's a lot more to it than that," warned Schiller. "But I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Now, you should be aware that this a provisional rank. That means you'll still be paid at enlisted grade, and you don't give orders unless they come from me or the first officer."
"Understood, sir," acknowledged Justin.
"Here we are," announced Schiller.
Justin stood in awe for a moment at the sight of the bridge, a large, semi-circular room, lined with large gothic-style windows, under which sat a number of control panels and holographic displays. In the center of the room, the captain's chair loomed large like a royal throne, with the first officer's chair immediately in front of and below it.
"Ensign, I believe you know Lt. Commander Hemmeryn," reintroduced Schiller.
"Good to have you with us, Russo," greeted Hemmeryn.
"Good to be here, sir," reciprocated Justin.
"This is your station," noted Hemmeryn, pointing him to a control panel in front of the room, immediately in front of the first officer's chair. "If I'm not too much mistaken, you're already acquainted with our tactical officer, Lieutenant Hatchback."
"Tutor!" exclaimed Justin, finding he did indeed recognize the petite blond elf seated at the console to his left. "Er, I mean, 'Lieutenant.'"
Tutor laughed. "Only when we're on duty. Otherwise, 'Tutor' is fine. It's good to see you, Justin."
"You too," said Justin.
"Might I suggest you two get reacquainted over dinner," interjected Hemmeryn.
"That sounds delightful," agreed Tutor.
"Yeah, awesome," agreed Justin.
"Good," approved Hemmeryn. "In the meantime, we have a ship to run. Ensign, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Otherwise, carry on."
"Yes, sir," Justin said with a grin a kilometer wide as he explored his console.
Meanwhile, Alex proceeded as ordered to deck five, the area that housed the mission's mortal contingent. She scanned the training bay as she walked from end to end, seeing various Air Force and Marine personnel performing various tasks, including lifting weights, running on the treadmill, and inspecting their weapons.
"Private Dollface, reporting for duty," Alex said unenthusiastically as she found Colonel Sheppard.
"Dollface?" asked Sheppard. "I thought your name was Russo."
"It is," explained Alex. "SSGT Kovalchik calls me that to tell me apart from my brother."
"Well, seeing as your brother's not here, I reckon that's no longer a problem," argued Colonel.
"Yes, sir," said Alex. "Russo it is, sir."
"Lighten up on the decorum, Russo," admonished Sheppard with a chuckle. "'Colonel' will do just fine."
"So I'm guessing you're my new drill instructor," ventured Alex.
"Drill instructor?" reacted Sheppard. "Nah, I think I'll leave that up to those Wizard Force heute-teutes once you get back to Earth. In the meantime, I aim to teach you something you can actually use out here."
"And just what would that be?" inquired Alex.
Sheppard laughed. "Teyla," he called out. An exotic, busty, muscular, dark-skinned woman with unique bronze-colored hair approached them.
"You wanted to see me, Colonel," she greeted.
"Teyla, I'd like you to meet our new recruit, Private Alex Russo," introduced Sheppard. "Russo, this is Teyla Emmagen, a friend of mine and a valued member of my expedition team."
"Pleased to meet you, Private," greeted Teyla. "You may call me Teyla."
"In that case, I guess you can call me Alex," reciprocated Alex. "Is that okay, Colonel?"
Sheppard smiled. "That's just fine."
"Shall we begin?" recommended Teyla.
For the rest of the day, Teyla trained Alex in her own proprietary form of hand-to-hand combat. Alex found Teyla just as demanding of an instructor as Kovalchik, and found herself lying on the mats more often than not. Nonetheless, she found the mysterious woman had a certain spirit and sense of humor about her, something she could really relate to. Even though Alex hardly knew Teyla, she wanted to make her proud, and with every fall, got back up again with increased resolve.
By the time dinner came around, Alex felt supremely exhausted. Nonetheless, she found herself in good enough spirits to share jokes and stories with the mortal contingent over chop.
"So a troll and an orc jump off a building," regaled Alex. "Who lands first?"
"I dunno, Russo," said Sheppard, still laughing from Alex's last joke. "Who lands first?"
"The troll," revealed Alex. "The orc had to stop and ask directions."
The crowd that had gathered around Alex burst out laughing once again.
"Hey, sorry I'm late," greeted fellow with a Canadian accent, who reminded Alex somewhat of her dad.
"Have a seat, Rodney," invited Sheppard. "You're missing out on all the fun."
"Who's the new girl?" asked Rodney, spotting Alex.
"This Alex Russo," introduced Sheppard. "She'll be training with us for the rest of this tour. Alex, this is Dr. Rodney McKay."
"Good to meet you," said Alex, shaking his hand.
"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Rodney replied.
"Rodney's been bringing the wizard specialists up to speed on Wraith technology," exposited Sheppard.
"How's that going?" inquired Alex.
"Ugh, it's a nightmare," complained Rodney. "I've never met a worse bunch of pig-headed know-it-alls in my life!"
"Gee, now who does that remind me of?" snarked Sheppard.
"Please," retorted Rodney. "I'm Sandra Dee compared to these assholes. They've been doing things their way for a thousand years, and don't see any reason to do anything different. Heavens forbid they should listen to somebody who's actually been shot at by these freaks!"
"I think you would be wise not to speak of Alex's people that way in her hearing," rebuked Teyla.
"No, it's okay," said Alex. "Dr. McKay's right about them. They're applying medieval methods to twenty-first century problems."
"Exactly," agreed Rodney. "What's ironic is, I could probably teach you more about combat magic than you'd get from any drill instructor."
"Really?" asked Alex, her curiosity piqued.
"Absolutely," boasted Rodney. "I've been reading all of their manuals, and working with them on all of their drills. If I had any magical ability of my own, I could run this op single-handedly."
"Modest as ever," commented Sheppard.
"I think he may be onto something," plotted Alex. "My dad doesn't have any powers, but he's gotten me this far just working through the materials. Maybe with Dr. McKay's help, I could learn something that would make them rethink these lame old policies and procedures."
"Or get yourself booted out of the Force," argued Sheppard.
"That's probably where I'm headed anyway," countered Alex. "If this doesn't work out, they take away my powers and send me off to live as mortal. Big deal! I won't be any worse off."
"Think about it, John," added Rodney. "These smug sons-of-bitches only brought us along because they can't do this without us. This is our chance to show them how indispensable we really are."
"Look," said Sheppard. "Even if I thought this was a good idea, and I'm not saying I do, there's a magic dampening field around this whole section. That's probably why they agreed to let Russo ride with us."
"A magic dampening field," corrected Rodney, "that uses a power conversion matrix that I invented. I can set up a separate magic generator using our own equipment. They won't suspect a thing."
Sheppard turned to Teyla for support, only to find her on the side of Rodney and Alex.
"You accepted Ronon and I onto your team because you valued our unique talents," argued Teyla. "It would behoove us to help Alex develop hers."
Sheppard groaned. "All right," he capitulated, throwing his hands in the air. "But be careful. And the minute something goes wrong, I'm pulling the plug."
"Understood," agreed Rodney.
"We've got target practice tomorrow," announced Sheppard. "After that, Russo starts her magic training with Rodney. The rest of us know what we need to do. I suggest we get some rack. We've got a long week ahead of us."
Meanwhile, Justin dined in the elegantly-appointed officers' mess. The senior officers (sans Sheppard) sat at the head table, and with the helmsman Ensign Jarvis preferring to dine with the other pilots, and the infantry lieutenants preferring to keep their own company, Justin found himself alone at a table. Thus, he found it a pleasant surprise when Tutor Hatchback approached him.
"May I join you?" asked the petite blond elf.
"Oh, of course Lieutenant," accepted Justin, getting up to offer her a chair.
"I told you, it's Tutor when we're off-duty," corrected Tutor with a giggle. Nonetheless, she accepted Justin's chivalrous gesture and sat in the chair he'd set for her.
"I have to admit," said Tutor. "The bridge of the Gandalf is the last place I expected to find you."
"Yeah, I was just a regular grunt until the first officer thought I might be better-suited to bridge duty," added Justin.
Tutor nodded. "He's always been willing to go to bat for someone he considers exceptionally-talented."
"Is that how you ended up here?" asked Justin.
"Yes, actually," answered Tutor. "Just after I finished tutoring your brother Max, a tribe of orcs began periodically attacking my village. Hemmeryn heard that I'd developed a non-lethal automated defense system, and thought I'd be perfect as a tactician aboard one of the Force's new spaceships. So here I am."
"I assume you know why were on this mission," said Justin.
Tutor nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I do."
"Does it bother you at all that we're hunting down one of your own kind?"
"I'm half-human, remember," reminded Tutor. "So this is just as much my fight as it is yours. Besides, I find it unconscionable that an elf would use his natural charm and charisma to build his own power base, then conspire with monsters when that didn't work. I want to see him sentenced to half an eon as a toe fungus more than anyone."
"I see," said Justin.
"So what about you?" asked Tutor. "Do you see yourself pursuing a career in the Force?"
"If most days are anything like today, then I just might," responded Justin. "Though I'm still worried about Alex."
"Oh yeah, your sister," said Tutor. "How is she?"
"She's okay, I guess," replied Justin. "She's with this tour, actually. But she has some doubts about her future as a wizard. She didn't show up for roll call this morning, so I hope she's not in serious trouble."
"You know," recalled Tutor, "I overheard some of Grimsby's men talking about a recruit getting some one-on-one with Colonel Sheppard, the mortal commander."
"Yep, that's her," surmised Justin. "I'd really like to see her do something useful that makes her happy."
"Maybe Sheppard will help her find that," surmised Tutor.
"I hope so," said Justin.
After dinner that evening, Justin retired to the library. Knowing that he'd have to go through Officer Candidate School in order to retain his rank and position after this tour, he resolved to learn as much as he possibly could. Much to his surprise, he found his sister there also, nose buried in a book.
"Alex?" said Justin, almost not believing this bookworm was his sister.
"Oh, hey Justin," greeted Alex. "Er, I mean, sir."
"It's okay, we're off duty," assured Justin. "What are you doing here?"
"What's it look like I'm doing?" retorted Alex. "I've got a year's worth of off-world strategic and tactical theory to learn in a week."
"Sounds like a challenge," noted Justin.
"It is," affirmed Alex. "But I'm gonna do it. Colonel Sheppard believes in me."
"He's a good guy," commented Justin.
"I'm glad you think so," replied Alex. "Everyone else around here seems to think the mortals should be riding in the bilge tanks."
"Like I said before," agreed Justin. "It amazes me that bigotry is still in issue in community as diverse as the wizard world."
"Didn't somebody say once that black and white got together and ganged up on green?" asked Alex.
Justin chuckled and nodded. "Terry Pratchett. How'd you know about him?"
"Believe it or not," explained Alex. "Sometimes I actually those books I steal from your room."
Justin couldn't help but smile at that sentiment.
"Speaking of reading," said Justin. "We've both got a lot of it to do, so I won't keep you any longer."
"Thanks," said Alex. "Goodnight, Justin."
"Goodnight, Alex."
A few minutes before lights out, Justin made his way up to his quarters. Under normal circumstances, a junior officer such as he would bunk at least two others. However, the haste with which this tour had been launched left Gandalf understaffed to only slightly above a skeleton crew. Thus, Justin had a cabin all to himself.
After stopping at the head to perform his almost girlishly-long bedtime hygiene ritual, Justin entered his quarters. Not bothering to turn the lights on, he hung up his uniform and climbed into his billet. To his utter shock, it already had an occupant.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, thinking he'd entered someone else's quarters by mistake.
"Shh," Justin's impromptu bunkmate whispered.
In the dim light of hyperspace shining through the window, he discerned that his intruder was female; a blond, near as he could tell. Perhaps out of longing for her, he allowed himself to think that Juliet had stowed away, and was paying him an unauthorized after-hours visit.
Swept up in the romance of that notion, Justin seized her by the sides of her face, and crashed his lips into hers. She accepted his kiss with enthusiasm, at first playing with his lips as he played with hers, then parting her lips to summon his tongue. As Justin explored her mouth and buried his fingers in her hair, reality returned to him, and he began to sense something wasn't right. His suspicions were confirmed when he surveyed the woman's right ear, which had a very definite point to it.
"Tutor!" exclaimed Justin as emphatically as he could without shouting and getting them both in trouble.
"Don't talk," she whispered. "Just show me what you've got."
With that, she attacked his lips once more.
End of Chapter Four
A/N: It behooves me to mention at this point that I'm ignoring both the Chronicles of Moises arc and Wizards vs. Vampires. As such, Juliet is still alive. Stay tuned!
