MAJAR GENERAL ASI
I leaned back on the backrest
of my chair. Dropped whatever it was that I was eating back on my plate, pushed
the plate away, displaying my poor desire for food, even though there was no one
around to see it.
I sighed and leaned back
further, rocked back on the chair so that two of the legs were suspended in the
air, keeping my balance so that I don't tilt over and crash to the ground.
I cast a glance at the open
view-port.
Closed my eyes, for a moment or two, trying to relax. It was the only
time I could have my Si off. And when your Si is off you could relax slightly,
loosen your nerves. I wouldn't have to hear all the errands to be done, I
wouldn't have to race around and wrap up work here and there, not have to
worry about some crushing decision that could cost the lives of thirty human
warriors.
Military, I'm in the military. Actually, I played a crucial part in
developing the human military.
My name is Asi. Pronounced 'Ass-i'. A, soft s.
And it is after me that the female human warriors were named. I made
them. I had them exist.
What was funny about this was that the male human warriors had never had
a name until after the human female warriors had a title.
The male warrior had a title. It was Masi. Soft s, light i.
Like my name, I loved the light ring to the 'i's.
The human military, M.A.S.S. consisting of the Masi, male
warriors, Asi, female warriors, Sem-i, they were cadets, and then
there was the Sasi.
The Sasi ran the war council. They were intelligence officers. They were
the people who planed, plotted and investigated conflicts. They analyzed
information and gave us what they could, because I knew for a fact that the Sasi
knew everything, and they were not willing to share that 'everything'.
Little is known, or is made known about the Sasi's internal structure,
who rules, who is the real person who's issuing orders…which is just as good
because decisions that are made are hard and cruel. Nothing of the decisions
should leak to the…what were they called? They gave themselves a fancy, posh
name, but I couldn't remember it…what was it? CeeCee? It was how they said.
Yes it was.
The C.C. The commoner's committee. Well known as the sissy's
committee by soldiers as they are constantly joking about the nonsense they are
on about.
The C.C are a pain, they are
mostly poets, historians, scientists and writers who debate the importance of
this or that. Nevertheless they play an important role. They constantly remind
one how to act human, and respect human values. They are also the reason that
humans are still the way they used to be twenty years ago…after the before.
Stupid isn't it? I should say after the defeat. But I am a person who
does not admit to defeat. It was because of this stubbornness that I was able to
survive the 'boy's club'.
You see, I was the first female warrior. And…well it was rough.
I had to prove myself every single second of the day…
Major general Asi. The only female major general. It is a shame,
really, I would have wanted more of the Asi to gain higher ranks, but the
bulk of the Asi were warriors, soldiers, not generals.
There were a few that I knew about, and one of them is a friend and an
addition to my family Jordan. Asi Jordan, I should say. She hasn't been
promoted yet.
I glanced back at my plate; I
poked the food and narrowed my eyes at it. What was it that they were serving
these days? Fish? Chicken? I tasted it again yes it is chicken…
The doors of the lunchroom slid open and lieutenant Dominic walked in. I
cast him a glance then went back to eating.
"Major general Asi." He said, saluting, "I am sorry to disturb you
but there has been an emergency, they called for you."
They, be assured that it is almost always they.
I barged out of the lunchroom, touching the black earpiece that was
connected to a collar around my neck. My Si switched on.
You may be wondering what a Si is, I will tell; a Si is issued to every
human who has enlisted in the army, and when you have one on you neck and ear,
you can never get it off, it will be on standby mode when you're
sleeping or eating, but other than that it stays on.
The Si has a couple of jobs, all are very important, you may want to
think of it as a radio, a transponder, an identification tag and two way
communication all in one.
Also, the Si could transmit data directly to your brain, all you have to
do is ask for it, you don't have to speak, you can just order up whatever it
as you wanted, of course, if it was classified, the computers will check your ID
and cross-examine your files, if you are classified to open the file, it's
opened, if not…
The most important job of the Si is absolutely crucial for our survival
in this war, if you have a Si on you, no Yeerk could enter your brain, if your
Si is being removed, the Si is programmed to copy all of your memories and send
them off to a classified region in the Sasi, then memories in you brain are
erased. Not completely though, you are left with the knowledge that your Si had
wiped out the memory in your brain, you still know your name, the fact that you
are in the human military, you wouldn't know your rank, but you will know who
are the allies and who are the enemies.
This way, all the Yeerks can ever do are two things; threaten to kill the
soldier or infest the soldier. They cannot get any information out of him
because he hasn't got anything to tell them that is new. Him or her I mean.
Put it this way, the Si wasn't only designed to keep Yeerks from
impersonating us; it also would stop any Andalite spy from passing as one of us,
where would he get the Si? And what if he did? It wouldn't have the correct
identification number.
The second my Si was switched on, I heard captain Darrell in my head, my
earpiece I mean.
"Major general, we are facing a bad situation here, we've got another
blade ship coming towards us and the current blade ship has yet to be
terminated."
"Can we make a run for it?" I asked. I pressed my collar in order to
get the message through you had to press it or it would not be picked up.
"We can withdraw easily if
that is what you mean, I had seen this opportunity yet dismissed it, we cannot
run, at least not now."
"You want us to get killed
Darrell?"
I could almost see the expression on his face, the way his thin lip
pressed together in disapproval.
I understood why, Darrell wants us to push this fight; he wants everyone
to push the fight, any fight, any battle, work against insane odds like we
humans are known to do. But this is not allowed, the human army has yet to grow,
we cannot afford huge numbers of casualties.
"We needed to maintain our numbers captain. You know the drill, so why
do you want me to repeat it? Let us not waste time, is there any real reason why
we cannot run?"
"Yes major general. There is," there was a pause.
"Captain?"
No answer. I pressed my earpiece maybe I missed it?
I picked up my speed and headed to the bridge fast. I was almost there
when I heard Darrel.
"Sorry about that, but we're
facing mayhem in the stars."
I cursed to myself and hit the bridge.
The bridge wasn't huge, it couldn't be; we are a dispatch from our
great mother ship Planet Earth. Our ship is a small warship, I've seen
bigger, but we had to make it to Piranas' nebula quick, we were called to
assist the battered Dome Ship Blaster.
As I entered the bridge, the open view port showed that the Dome Ship Blaster
was not going to blast anything away. In fact, it was being cut away in space; I
could see numerous Andalite fighters and bug fighters filling normal space and
battling it out.
"Should we send our fighters in?" captain Darrel asked.
"No."
He tensed again, this time with a hint of anger flashing in his eyes.
Again I knew and understood why. He was captain of this ship. It was his
ship, but I was a major general, and he ranked bellow me, he had no choice but
obey. Obey me, a woman.
"Not yet." I amended, why bruise his swollen ego? What
possible motive had I behind it? None.
"Then what are you waiting for?" he said nastily, "Leave our allies
out there?"
I almost sighed, "You consider them as allies?"
"They are our most powerful allies. You know that."
"Let's stop arguing." I said calmly, "There is hardly enough
time."
I swear I am going to make Mac pay for this, he is my superior officer,
and he's the one who assigned me to Darrel. That clown. He knew Darrel and I
disagreed over a lot of things and Darrel hated my guts. What was Mac's
problem anyways?
Mac is a high-ranking officer of the Sasi, it is to him that I
report.
"How is their progress?" I
asked.
"The team we deployed?"
"Yes. Have they met the objective?"
"Three seconds, they're bailing out."
"Good." the team we deployed had an objective; it was to disable the
blade ship.
"But we still have another blade ship."
I nodded, contacting the computers I read the data concerning the Blade
ship's movements. "It will be here in ten minutes."
"We have to act fast." He said, "Deploy all fighters!"
"NO." I yelled, stopping the officer who had started to obey his
order.
"Why not, Asi?"
"That's major general to you!" I snorted, "And let me remind you,
captain, the Sasi had me appointed here, and that means that I have to
follow their orders, which also means that you have to follow my
orders. Is that clear?"
He was quite.
So I had to puncture his ego. I did not care. He pushed me, I don't usually
press my dominance, sure I was a major general, but I am a leader too, what is a
leader with many enemies and people who dislike her? How can we function
properly.
"Good." I said. I may have sounded calm, but I was tingling, it was
true that it was the Sasi's orders not to deploy the fighters, but I
myself had not understood why.
Why did Mac not want us to help
this batch of Andalites? It made no sense.
"Six minutes for the blade ship to intercept the Andaite dome ship."
A warrior called out.
"The Andalites do not know that we are here? Do they?" I asked.
"No." He replied. "We're screened off from their sensors."
I turned to the nearest warrior, "Then let them know we are here."
"Yes, sir."
I bit back a smile, sir; you would have though they'd have said ma'am
or something. But sir will do.
The second we were detected an incoming message was received.
"Put him online." Darrel said.
Humans, we need your help! Our great dome ship is soon to be
destroyed, the captain is going to fire all weapons-
I stepped towards the screen, "We have disabled the first blade
ship." I said, "There is a second one coming, we will never be able to save
you from it. However, we are deploying our fighters to assist you."
Captain Darrel stared at me, then snapped out of the trance he was in and
started to bark out his orders.
"Who are you?" I asked.
The Andalite looked at me with what could have been desperate eyes. I
am Prince Noroa-Distl-Atamol.
"Okay, Prince Noroa," I said calmly, watching the view-port, I saw a
great deal of Andalite fighters running to Z-space. "Of your
fighters that cannot make it to Z-space tell them to dock aboard our ship."
He nodded grateful.
Tritt Tiritt
My hand reached out automatically to my collar, to receive
the message. But I stopped short. Realizing my caller.
I turned to the captain, "He's all yours."
I left the bridge and entered my quarters. I answered the
call, it was Mac. I used the computer to allow a visual, real time transmit.
Secure channels of course.
"Well, well, well."
"News travels like fire these days huh?" I said, trying not to smile
at the hologram in front of me.
"Asi." The sturdy man in front of me shook his head sadly; his
short-cropped white hair had just a hint of gray in some areas. He had bright
blue eyes that seemed to carry a warm smile. I was glad he was not angry.
"You love to dismiss my orders. Major general." He said, Mac might
have been in his early forties but his eyes were those of a twenty year old. The
man had a kind warm sprit. I supposed, but that was only because he was in a
particularly good mood. He isn't usually like this; usually I'd have to put
up with his indifferent cold stare.
"You are going to punish me or something?" I asked lightly, this time
I smiled I could not resist it.
He groaned, "No, no. You did fine, no one is angry, actually, the
contrary, they are pretty pleased."
"What?"
Since when were the Sasi pleased about anything we military people
ever did, they were always criticizing us.
"You heard me," He said, suddenly, his blue eyes grew serious "We
need you on the mother ship."
"Why? What happened?"
"The Sasi had made a decision." He paused. I waited for him to
go on.
"Asi." He said suddenly,
"You do know who the animorphs are, don't you?"
"The morph capable humans?" I asked, "But they are dead."
"Hmmm, not really. Not that-"
"They are alive?" I said, I was surprised, "But you told us that
they had died. You said they were killed during…during the defeat."
"Hmmm, not really. Listen-"
"The Sasi held it a secret?" I was astounded, the feeling
didn't last long, I felt my anger flare.
"We held them in a deep freeze." He replied stonily, "It was the
only way to keep them alive. We are taking them off the deep-freeze."
"But why. Why all this time?" I asked.
No answer. I wasn't surprised.
"It's all part of the plot isn't it?" I said.
No answer. Mac's eyes seemed to stare blankly through me. "Okay.
Okay." I said, switching to English, until then I was speaking in Galard.
"So what is it?"
"You have to board on the mother ship, then you will see what al this
is about. Only then."
I said a word I wouldn't have wanted to repeat, and then I said.
"This is payback? Isn't it?"
"How's your arm?" He said, changing the subject.
"Nothing bad with my arm."
"Then why is it in a cast?"
I looked down, "It broken."
"You might want to switch back to Galard, major general, believe me,
your arm isn't the only thing that's broken."
"You are mocking my English?" I said with a hint of sarcasm.
"You're lucky I bothered learning it, English man."
"American."
"Whatever." I said in Galard with a slight sneer, "You're all the
same."
"Be there, major general. It shouldn't take long for you to come. And
oh," he said looking blandly at me, "get those Andalites as well. How many
fighters made it to our dock? Five?"
"I don't know. I haven't checked." I said, "What is it you want
from them?"
"Classified major general that's classified." He winked and the
hologram flicker off.
